#basically filler scenes imo

[bobbie-robron]

I was trying to decide which is more annoying: Andy’s snoring or the noise you two make all night.

Poor Katie can’t sleep because of all the noise from their lodgers and sorry Andy, she’s not in the mood.

22-Mar-2004

[kikicolors]

Screaming into the void about Veilguard. Spoilers!

I have this written somewhere else, but I might as well put it here.

It feels so shallow. None of the places we visit feel like they're even on the same planet as how they're described in the original 3 games, and there's no current politics or set world-state as you can't transfer over choices/saves from past games.

I was surprised when we didn't see an intense scene about slavery or the horrors that regularly occur in Tevinter when Dorian paints such a detailed picture of his home in DAI.

Elves have been turned into humans basically, Dalish no longer exist or feel like they have culture. No longer are they suspicious of outsiders. Hey, join the veil-jumpers and get your grubby shem fingers all over ancient artifacts! Essentially Jesus Christ has come back to earth and none of them seem that bothered about it. It should be chaos among the Dalish as they're so hardcore in their beliefs, established by lavellan and Solas' encounters with them in DAI.

The factions just feel like filler that all have the same feel and milquetoast goody-two shoes goal.

Everyone's accents are all over the place. I heard maybe 1 guy sound Tevene in Tevinter, everyone else was American/Dwarven-esque or Fereldan. It's like Andromeda all over again. They just don't care about the details.

No true arguments or bashing of heads, no characters have a strong opinion one way of politics/beliefs that could be seen as morally wrong. No one feels real.

Not even to mention (SPOILERS!)

Solas for some reason 'abhors' blood magic, when in DAI he was willing to teach you if he knew it.

They butchered Solas' character. They're acting as though he's always been cold and evil, out for revenge, and even in his memories during his rebellious days he sacrificed tons of spirits to get what he wanted, which couldn't be further from his character. They also forgot about the implied elven uprising that was growing at the end of Trespasser. Not once does the game mention an agent, or does he have any followers.

There's an ending that says every big choice in past games (Loghain's betrayal, corypheus going into the golden city) was orchestrated by a secret no-name organization that is basically the illuminati, destroying all agency of past characters.

I haven't finished the game, but I hear the titans are never truly touched on other than Lace's powers.

The crows who torture and kill innocents are seen as this group that helps keep the streets safe...?

Why was solas so against the grey wardens killing archdemons if nothing bad happens when you kill them and they're just creatures assigned to each of the elven pantheon? In DAI he acted as though killing Archdemons was a dangerous thing and would worsen the world.

What ever happened to the soul of the old god that Mythal took from Morrigan's child, then Solas took from Mythal? Is that ever touched on?

What about the well of sorrows!?

I should've steeled myself against this game being bad. I knew it was coming. But man, I love the other three dragon age games so it's still horrible to see it happen. I think solas' character assassination was one of the worst things this game did as he's one of the most interestingly written villains IMO (In inquisition).

[moldybonessmell]

The Umbrella Academy season 3 review post

I finally finished season 3 of tua even tho I've watched first two seasons first day they came out and oh boy do I have things to talk about-

To begin with, the things I like about new season:

- The way we finally dug into Allison's trauma and how she starts going psychotic is actually a good plot line especially the accent on how she just like any other Umbrella Academy people indulges in self-distructive behavior, she's really just like them

- Diego getting a kid as someone with the biggest daddy issues out there is a realistic plotline because having a kid (even if Stanley's not actually his) heals him in this regard tho he and Lila would get a kid anyway eventually but they really should've been more sad about Stanley thanosing out of the existence you know

- Five being the founder of The Temps Commission makes so much sense as he's the one with the power to travel time of course he's more powerful than it seemed

- Good music scenes. Music is what season 1 was incredible for and what I love about the show. In season 2 there weren't many scenes that caught my attention but in s3 it's definetely better. We got Klaus's death montage with "Crystallised" by The xx and celebration scene with "Another one bites the dust" by Queen + Luther on moon and "Friday I'm in Love" by The Cure these were really nice.

- The Oblivion Hotel is such a cool location and concept (a place for everyone) I like the change of place of action a lot, but the way it's a portal is kinda overused imo

- Lila and Five are still the best characters and carried the season

- Fei is such a cool chara with a distict character design (which most of Sparrow Academy lack tbh)

Now things I don't like:

- Ben being just a placeholder character is such a bummer because instead of getting angst and drama we got a mostly one-dimentional anti-hero who has a completely different personality from Ben. We got a tiny bit of his character when he admitted he just wants to be involved with everyone but it's really minimal.

I can't believe Klaus says "He's an asshole and he's dead to me" like WHAT DO YOU MEAN fuck no Klaus would not say that shit and he would not just give up on him. Yeah Luther says stuff like "I'm glad to see you even if you're different" or whatever but it's Klaus who've spent the most time with Ben.

The way literally any other actor could have played Sparrow Ben and nothing would change is lame af I hope in next season we will see more changes

- Same goes to my dear Grace who's just a placeholder for black hole worshipper like what do you mean we just got one phrase from Diego and that's it??? This whole bit with fake god and stuff really threw me off it didn't go anywhere

- The Sparrow Academy being one-dimentional characters in general like I get producers probably didn't have enough episodes to actually develop characters but holy shit are they boring.

Even if you want to make them just antagonists we had such cool villains in two previous seasons they were original and interesting (aka The powerless podcast-fan male manipulator Peabody and The Cunty Handler)

Also the way the fisrt Sparrows who died were the most annoying and cliche assholes makes them just filler charas

- How show tried to make us feel compassion to Reginald Hargreeves holy shit do I hate this guy- After Klaus realised his father was basically killing him over and over in his childhood instead of Klaus getting mad or upset and having a breakdown we got nothing.

He even came back to new timeline Reginald who's "nicer" for this asshole just to hurt him AGAIN

- Klaus mostly being a comic relief in this season is so fucked I love this character and in previous seasons we had a great look at his life and experiences but now he's just kinda there being high and that's it

"mm I guess he died a few times it's probably enough" - plot writers

no character development whatsoever is just upsetting.

And the amount of unnecessary traumatising aka Reginald training him was really not it, even if it's supposed to be a joke.

- Reginald being a two-faced ass like holy shit is this terrifying. Pogo was the one who gave Sparrows pills and now Klaus helped him to stop taking them and this asshole is taking advantage of naive and vulnerable Klaus.

It is in fact a good plot twist but bro I really did prefer Reginald being a cartoonish villian instead of actual pure evil like how does he have shitty motivation but still does just so much shit.

- The Umbrella Academy family having no improvement in their relationship. They still don't care Klaus relapsed, they still don't care about Viktor. All they care about is their own misery which is really in character but with three seasons out of the way and only one more left I would expect at least something you know.

- Viktor is still left out. Like bro the only compassion he had is only when he transitioned but this is it?? Bro's still waiting till someone comes and cares about him but not only this doesn't happen, he even gets rediculed by Sparrow Ben for that and called emo are you actually kidding me what's with all the hurt with no comfort???

It feels a lot like when you're mentally ill and your family kinda "walks on eggshells" to not trigger you but it's in quotes because they don't actually care. They act nice just because they think you're psycho and you would make less problems if they pretend. And this is very sad, Viktor is such a tragic character.

Okay that's it for now. If you have any thoughts please share in comments!

[elizabethshaw]

hm. thinking thoughts

under the cut for spoiler reasons:

this is literally just me writing stuff up in no real order so there is probably not all that much coherence to it. ah well

loved how unsettling it was having something wrong with the tardis! the tardis (in the tv show at least) is usually the one guaranteed safe place in any given dr who episode and so to have it suddenly a threat like that felt genuinely unnerving

the time window sequence was cool. really liked the fuzzy, there-but-not-quite-there visual effects

i also loved the monologue/prophecy/whatever, built things up very nicely and idk. i just vibed with it. i have more to say but the words are not coming to me right now

"and standing on high is the Mother and Father and Other of them all" i haven't even read lungbarrow but them saying "other" here immediately got my attention lmao

for an episode called "the legend of ruby sunday", it felt like (particularly in the last third of the story), there was remarkably little actual focus on ruby. while i do genuinely like her as a companion, i do feel like she's been one of the biggest casualties of the shift to a shorter series length with less time for "filler" episodes - we simply haven't had the time to get to know her on a deeper level, and i was hoping, given the title, that this story would do something to rectify that a bit. and then it didn't.

saying that, i did appreciate them giving her some more scenes with her mum this episode, i think she has a really nice dynamic with her family and we haven't seen enough of it since the christmas special imo

no trickster :( he got a mention at least but i was hoping he'd be the villain ngl

i have watched pyramids of mars once, four years ago, and barely remember the plot (my main memories of that episode are sarah with a gun ngl), probably going to have to rewatch it before next week. dailymotion you may have to be my saviour once again

not entirely sure how i feel about sutekh as the main villain. this is at least in part because my memories of pyramids of mars are hazy as anything, but i'm just... undecided. to its credit, the episode itself actually did a good job of getting me very excited about the reveal while i was watching, but as an overall thing? i don't know yet. i think i'm going to have to wait until i've watched the finale next week to form a full opinion

i reckon he must have hitched himself onto the tardis around/during "wild blue yonder" though - this is the first time where the tardis starts making The Noises, and is also the first time susan twist turns up, and that can't be a coincidence, especially given that, as previously established, it was likely fourteen's salt trick in this episode that let the toymaker back into the universe

i rewatched "the church on ruby road" earlier this week bc i figured it'd be a good shout and i hadn't watched it since broadcast, and during that i felt like mrs flood was maybe a "retired" companion, possibly a future companion (maybe of a future doctor) that we haven't met yet. after this ep though, i'm not so sure. she seems at least aware of sutekh in some way, and also seems potentially antagonistic, but i'm not sure she's actually directly linked to him. i'm fairly sure as well rtd said at some point she's more of a mystery for later series so. hm. it'll be interesting to see what more we get of her in part two

i can't shake the feeling that they are going to do something with susan further down the line. there have been more mentions of her in this series than in basically the rest of new who put together and i can't help but think that this must be for a reason even if susan twist wasn't her

anyway the real mystery for me: what is the vlinx. i have been thinking about this on and off since december. what is it. how did it get into unit to begin with. i need answers

[bthump]

I wanted to ask what you mean by this? "It takes some liberties with filler, and makes a few subtle changes with big fallout in terms of Guts leaving the Hawks imo (ie removing the inherent criticism and portraying it as necessary, which changes the central theme of the story lol)" What do you mean the 97 anime removes inherent criticism for Guts leaving the hawks and portrays it as necessary? I don't get what you're saying at all so I'd appreciate an explanation.

lol sorry, I breezed right over that because I've talked about it before and I have a tendency to forget that no one's read everything I've ever posted.

So basically

a) Guts leaving the Hawks was a Bad Decision in the manga. If you don't agree then this requires an essay behind it, so voila, here's that essay.

b) The anime portrayed it as a Good Decision for Guts, something he needed to do in pursuit of a noble, worthwhile goal.

The anime does this by changing a few key moments. One obvious one I always cite is the scene at Godo's, when Guts does his waterfall log exercise. In the manga this scene occurs in flashback after Wyald knocks him unconscious. Erika tells Guts he's going to die if he continues on the path he's going, and asks why tf he's doing this to himself. Guts basically says he has to get strong enough to defeat Zodd. End scene.

This contextualizes Guts' dream of sword swinging as an irrational need to defeat the guy who beat him. His goal is to fight Zodd again and win. Symbolically, due to the similar imagery they have in Guts' various nightmares and the essential themes of the story, Guts is driven to self-destructively fight monsters because of his csa trauma.

The anime, conversely, turns this moment into the first part of a training montage, dumps the conversation about fighting Zodd, and ends with Guts successfully slicing logs in half, signifying that he's now Strong Enough. It flattens all the nuance and implicit criticism of Guts out and turns it into a typical inspirational shounen moment.

There's also the Guts/Casca sex scene changing from two traumatized and miserable people hooking up ("licking wounds") into a much more cliched and straightforward romantic moment (using Guts' theme as a music cue, cutting out the choking and rape flashbacks and denial ("Don't think about those things right now,") swapping "I don't know if you'll get in the way of what I want to do or the opposite, but I wanna have you a hundred, no a thousand times" with "I don't know what the future will bring, all I know is I want to keep holding you," etc). All this adds up to Guts wanting to leave again with Casca being framed as the happily ever after that got foiled by the Eclipse, rather than part of the bad decision pile up that caused the Eclipse.

Cutting out the night after Guts leaves is another big one, removing Guts reflecting on whether he's making the right decision or whether he's throwing away a home and family based on a meaningless ideal that he can't even fulfill because it's a contradiction ("In the first place I got this idea in my head from hearing Griffith's words. If I hadn't... so can I say I've set out by my own will?") Spoiler alert, it's the second one. This theme is reinforced during the Lost Children Arc, so while it's not the anime's fault it cuts off abruptly, losing most of the Black Swordsman stuff also doesn't help.

The loss of the Wyald sequence in general cuts out so much implicative Guts character stuff - the irrationally driven to fight monsters due to trauma thing I mentioned earlier, but also Casca crying about it indicating that she would not be supportive of his goal if they did go off together, the self-destructiveness of Guts' monster hunting, and the parallels between Guts and Wyald (ie the other Hawks wondering if Guts is human, Wyald's forces being called the Black Dogs).

Even little tiny things like Guts telling Casca to stay back in the torture chamber, phrased as though he wants to spare her the sight of Griffith, rather than like he's irrationally guarding Griffith from anyone's approach, as is the manga vibe:

I don't think these changes are exactly intentional. I think they're mainly for pacing/content reasons - Guts stay at Godo's needed to be fleshed out because now it's half an episode, Guts' rape trauma is cut out so the Guts/Casca scene becomes less complicated, Skull Knight got cut so no long dark night of regretful contemplation, the Wyald sequence is a nightmare of pacing that had to be cut lol, etc. But they all add up to a Guts who is less flawed, less driven by trauma, and more driven by a noble, shounen-esque goal to be the best. It simplifies the story a lot imo, and downplays a lot of what makes Guts' narrative interesting to me.

Thanks for asking, hope that makes sense!

[raayllum]

i feel like people were expecting something as impactful as s3 felt, especially after the 3 year wait and just the hype in general for s4 – which, imo, it was more about the Saga returning and new plot points taking shape + ppl had a lot of personal opinions over the hiatus of how the story should go and which character should do what, so i guess this is making some reactions feel... biased, at least from my standpoint

I think what gets me is that structurally and pacing wise, the season isn't that different from basically any other in the show. A lot (not all of course, but some) of the S4 criticism just feels like people not giving S4 the slack and/or patience they gave every other season of the show. Which is a pet peeve of mine that I've talked about before specifically re: people's complaints at S3 Rayllum back in the day, when it was beat-for-beat very much the same amount of plot focus and importance they'd gotten in the previous seasons. If you're gonna complain about something show wise, I expect that complaint to be consistent (probably bc of my autism) not just when it occurs to someone that it is a Thing that is happening that they Suddenly don't like (as though again, it hadn't happened in every other season)

Eps 1-3 are typically set up (we see this in s1 and s2 first hand). The kiddos have a more specific goal than ever before (going to see someone somewhere specific, i.e. Rex Igneous at Umber Tor) and it's more detailed than just "seeing the Dragon Queen just somewhere in Xadia" and with very little reference in universe as to how close to the border the kids are at any given time up until 2x07, lmao.

Now that Claudia and Soren have been fully bumped up from side characters (S2, S3) to main cast members a lot of their previous screen time is allocated to Janai and Amaya's subplot. Viren's subplots were often disconnected entirely from the main plot (i.e. anything after 1x06 for Viren never affects the main characters in any significant way until approximately 3x04, and even then, only with Ezran) but nobody complained about that, because it was compelling and interesting to watch. And if the Sunfire elf stuff wasn't to someone, okay cool - but again, very subjective. Now Viren's plot line has been merged with Claudia's, so again, it's about the same amount of time allocation.

(And part of the reason I know that is because I once did the math to see literally how much screentime Rayla and Callum - and often including Ezran - get in previous seasons, averaging 50+ minutes in S1 and S3 and under half an hour in S2, due to the flashback episodes and no interaction in the first ep and minimal interaction in 2x08. I would expect S4 to be over half an hour simply because a scene like the end of 4x01 would count and once they're together, they're rarely apart / not talking about each other.)

Like 1x05 and 1x06 are some of my favourite eps in the whole show, and they are effectively filler, particularly 1x05. You could remove Viren and Amaya's plot line and remove very little (particularly because Gren's imprisonment didn't amount to anything in the first arc, and likely won't in the future since we already know Runaan is in the coin). 1x06 is plot relevant for Viren and Claudia but arguably only plot relevant for the trio at the very end. As expressed before, significantly more is established and discussed in 4x01 than almost any premiere except 1x01; very little substantially happens in 2x01 and 3x01 besides either 1) worldbuilding or 2) travelling. 2x04 is another one of my absolute favourite episodes, and it is entirely filler. The Amaya-Janai storyline doesn't come back all season and purely exists to set up their S3 storyline and Callum's struggles with magic. Of course all these filler eps do the work of furthering the trio's and particularly Callum and Rayla's bond, but outside of emotional stuff, they are filler in regards to the plot

But suddenly 4x05 and 4x06 are too filler-y? Episodes in which the kids determine their specific goal is to hunt down Claudia, go to Rex Igneous, stop Aaravos, the immediate fallout of the possession, starting to actually mend Callum and Rayla's relationship (they hadn't gotten a significant scene together since the beginning of 4x03, after all), demonstrate Soren's place in the group, etc etc? The purpose of these episodes and the plot beats are exceedingly similar to 1x05-1x07 smushed together (with 1x07 again being mostly filler, there to set up how Claudia does the tracking spell and how the kids find out about the 'miracle healer'). There is a shit ton going on amid setting the stage for emotional beats, giving room for some to happen, and getting the rest of the season's plot under way.

I've also seen some people saying that that indications we've gotten that Rayla has changed isn't enough bc it's only a couple of scenes, but 1) the girl who was once like "I don't have to explain anything to you" / "time for my least favourite course of action: reason" is now leaping up like "I love talking" because she wants to make things work and 2) her "We can't save everyone" scene in 4x05 hits so hard because it's her most basic core character trait that's been utterly decimated in a major way. Not completely, as we see in 4x09, but like, this is her Core Character Trait. Every season show us this. Forget a needle in a hay stack in terms of big flashing lights of This character has changed!! It's like smashing a sledge hammer into a wall. It does what it needs to because they know where to hit the hardest in the time they have

And once again, we see this pattern in earlier seasons. Rayla has one (1) scene expressing doubts regarding being an assassin in 2x06 before the immediate next episode is building on that to set the stage for the entire conflict of 2x07 and the rest of the season by extension. We get one (1) scene of Callum being interested in magic and Ezran sneaking around the castle before it's being utilized by the plot and Callum being a mage is his main drive for the first three seasons. If anything I like that we're give this sledge hammer moment, its immediate consequences, and a meta-narrative reflection that since the one person Rayla routinely opens up to doesn't want to talk to her, we're not privy to what she's going through either, and that it's given time to stew.

And I'd be more willing to take structural criticism of the season seriously if there was one that acknowledged the structural similarities 1) virtually at all and 2) so much of S4 criticism wasn't couched in very subjective opinions. Like for me, S2 is the season with the slowest pacing in some ways for the first half of bc 1) 2x01 isn't my fave although I have grown to appreciate, 2) Viren and Aaravos' plot line isn't that engaging to me personally up until like 2x08, and 3) 2x04-2x06 is virtually all filler that just reaffirms things we knew or gives more context to events prior, but the flashback eps are absolutely crucial theme wise. And again, S4 is doing some major thematic heavy lifting that I want to explore further, so like - for me it just doesn't compute why that has to be so dissimilar in public opinion?

Like yes, the search for Soren leading to the path to Rex Igneous and N'than's existence is convenient. But so is Ellis' existence (we see the path the kids take on the Caldera and a 9 yr old child carrying a heavy wolf pup in her arms somehow took the same path completely by herself?) and the fact that Claudia and Soren somehow reached the 2x07 town a day behind the trio (who travelled by boat and flight) while not being able to even use their horses because they had Corvus with them, thereby having to travel on foot? Or Opeli and Corvus' one line mention of going to Duren (not even Aanya by name) and relying on people listening for her name when Opeli lists off who's attacked and noticing who's not there leading to the event that allows the heroes to win the Final Battle in the first place? That Janai's forces just happened to go to the Storm Spire at all?

None of this makes the previous seasons bad by any means, but the writing is as consistent as it's always been. But no, season four is the breaking point, Apparently, of suspension of disbelief or a willingness to give slack / time for things to play out

Again, I don't want to dismiss anyone's feelings about season four. People are allowed to feel how they wanna feel! I waited like four years for "Blood of Olympus" to come out and it was the last PJO book I ever read and it was ultimately disappointing to me like, I know it can suck. But the book wasn't bad because I'd waited so long and then it didn't progress enough or anything like that. My experience reading the book would've been completely the same in terms of my enjoyment whether I'd waited four years or four weeks.

One of my big worries going into S4 was that during the hiatus, I'd gotten too attached to what I thought had to happen that I wouldn't be able to enjoy whatever did happen. Things like Callum had to go after Rayla because she'd never come back of her own accord. Aaravos was going to get out by the end of the season. Big stuff like that. I found the Rayllum reunion anti-climatic on my first viewing. Now it's one of my favourite scenes of the season and I love how much it parallels their first meeting (Rayla pursuing) while also inverting (lovers rather than enemies, Callum not wanting to talk vs talking to stall/convince her) and giving so many emotional layers at once

All of this being a very long winded way of saying

4x01 is my favourite premiere after 1x01. I think S4 did the best job at incorporating bouts of flashbacks without bringing the plot to a stand still in order to do so. 4x07 is probably my favourite ep7 after 2x07, and I adore 2x07. S4 does some of the most interesting thematic and character work in the whole show, mostly because we have three seasons of context to draw comparisons and correlations from, and it knows how to draw on those things exceedingly well. The most filler eps of the season is before Rayla even shows up, so how could time before her home coming be even effectively re-allocated to after?

Season Four is not what I expected in almost any way. It surprised me, did some of what I expected, plenty I didn't, and then so much more in a lot of ways.

I love(d) it, and I think my opinion and affection for the season is only going to grow as time goes on, tbh

[a-star-that-fell]

Hi! I’m wanting to check out Julian/Garak but no sure where to start! Can you rec any episodes/fics (if you have time)?

Cheers!

ds9 is tricky because it’s pretty serial! if you haven’t seen it before you might need to watch the whole thing to get as much of the picture as you can but

episodes:

-past prologue (they meet for the first time, lots of mystique lots of julian being kinda baby)

-the wire (much tenderness, half-truth half-lying, garak backstory, also addiction talk/premise if that’s something you’re sensitive to)

-improbable cause/the die is cast (more garak backstory, not a lot of julian but the scenes he’s in are top tier. delevian chocolates!!)

-our man bashir (half silly half serious, filler, basically james bond julian with garak as pussy galore)

-in purgatory’s shadow/by inferno’s light (lots of dominion plot, a little creepy, very whump-style episode, a good amount of tenderness and julian doctoring which is my Thing lol)

i honestly don’t have a lot of episodes past s5 that i rewatch often, just because i really am not a fan of julian’s character development in s6/s7 (imo they really went hard on the straightness and something else that gets revealed about julian becomes way too central to his character)

fic-wise, sanctuary of the mind’s eye by spacebrock (one shot, trauma recovery) and anything by lemonbandit2003 and talvenhenki are wonderful <3

[justrandomselfships]

So, with your Obey Me! posting, I finally broke down and played the game. It's--confusing but also fun!

BUT

I HATE how the game is trying to purposefully pushing Mammon on me. Like--he's such a dick and I have 0 interest in him. Leviathan is on thin ice (I see him more as a friend). I like Satan as a friend, (never thought I would ever say that lol) and Solomon came on REALLY strong during our text conversations, so hard pass for me.

I would like to get your opinion on this since you've played the game longer than I have.

@askthelovenest

IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT OBEY ME 1: OKAY SO: first off Mammon simply won't get off you there is a shit ton of moments with him (<- *laughs in good for me bad for you*) but other 6 brothers get quite a lot of screen time too (I'd say that it's like this with time Mammon> Lucifer> Leviathan> Beelzebub> Satan> Asmo> Belphegor) and then the rest of the cast doesn't get like almost any romance until lesson 40/60 in OM1 if I remember it right, ALthOugH Solomon gets some background love from start to finish. So for the other cast I'd say that screentime looks like this Solomon> Simeon> Luke> Diavolo> Barbatos

Second: I thought the same at the beggining of the game, the characters REALLY are the kind that just grow on you overtime (I USED TO BE LEVIATHAN HATER AND HE'S MY PLATONIC F/O NOW FOR EXAMPLE)

Third: post lesson 20 everyone is in love with you, but in game there are like...? maybe 2 moments where you get to CHOOSE who you spend time with. So 90% of the content with a potential F/O is in devilgram (so you need to get lucky and get the cards :/ BUT the Devilgrams are like FAR better than main story when it comes to romantic scenes, heck even platonic scenes are better). So at one point the lessons will just be filled with kiss/reject options and then just have some odd tropes just to drop deep lore bombs. It's a mess really.

I'm not even going to talk a lot about Thirteen, Raphael and Mephisto cuz they are basically a fucking joke of a filler characters imo. Nothing good gets done with them. Thirteen is basically "I hate Beel and Solomon. And I like traps so don't mess with me" 90% of the time she speaks, Mephisto has A LOT of potential but in the end he ends up getting the same treatement as Satan, but worse (and Satan does get poorly treated EVEN THOUGH HIS THEMES ARE SUPER COOL). Only Raphael was used in any way to do something interesting, but it was only interesting cuz it had to do with Simeon and he didn't really do that much.

IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT OBEY ME 2 (nightbringer):

I still need to motivate myself to even play it, didn't get even past lesson 1. From what I know it's just a hard reset and everything gets repeated. BUT I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S 100% THE TRUTH SINCE LIKE I SAID I DIDN'T GET PAST LESSON 1.

So basically, Obey me has a shit structure as a dating sim. But I am here more for the characters and the community! This game is very silly post lesson 20. AnD also anime is just full of goofy shit, I think it's very funny but you should play the game a bit more to understand a few jokes in it.

[koumeowkami]

okay now onto the actual serious stuff. remember when i said this anime was good? well i'm taking it back lol (long post incoming)

in my personal, humble opinion as a fan who honestly doesn't even care about some little differences here and there when watching an anime adaptation, i think this anime could've been a LOT better.

until episode 9 (aka the funny filler thingy we all loved) it was actually a very valid adaptation imo!! sure there were differences and some things missing but it was alright and portrayed the story in a way that could be enjoyable for both the fans and anime onlys (although, too much bae...). episode 10 is when the anime basically starts ruining itself for me, cause fucking hell, was there any reason to change the ending? like this isn't something that can be overlooked, even tho it may still look cool from an outsider's pov, that is simply... not paradox live yk 😭

now maybe i'm overreacting cause i'm like. the number one LIVE drama track fan but god the action in the last three episodes was handled AWFULLY... you guys haven't shown us one bit of cozmez backstory in 10 episodes and now suddenly everything is about them and of course it's confusing cause (rewind) no one knows their backstory!! and all of that (unnecessary) shit going on for WHAT? nayuta appearing in the last 30 seconds with no explanation whatsoever? no heartfelt reunion between brothers + shiki? that was important goddamn it. if the original scene in the drama track lasts 10 minutes there IS a reason i suppose?

i'm saying again, you either do something entirely different (so it's an original thing) or an actual Adaptation™, you can't go in both ways. so if they wanted to change the ending that bad i would've preferred if they did an original anime instead, telling a whole another story. killing off the entire live drama track after following the plot was a shit ass move to me.

[nickjunesource]

ill say it BM favors luke/ot over max/Nick.... he has stated that he sees himself in Luke (not something to brag about bud). imo that's were all this comes from. that's why I don't sew much hope for osblaine moving forward

Hmm.... we could maybe see BM favouring OT/Luke over Max/Nick because he sees himself in Luke. He's the basic, passive everyday man. It's easy to see yourself in that kind of a character. Nick is far too heroic, complicated, and cool for BM to be able to see himself in him. Bruce could never.

Though if we're being generous toward BM, stating that he sees himself in Luke could be a critical self-reflective comment. Seeing oneself in Luke isn't a positive thing and so mentioning that could be BM acknowledging his flaws. Luke is meant to exemplify the flawed modern "progressive" man; men who might have progressive beliefs and values, but who are extremely passive and don't act because they're content with the status quo. Men who don't see the bad things happening around them until they themselves are impacted. There are certainly times where BM was one such example of this.

But just because Bruce may see himself in Luke in a positive way doesn't mean that hope should be lost over Osblaine. The main reason that Luke is so present this season is that they needed something to fill out the plot and to give June "love" when it's not currently possible to do that as much with Nick and Osblaine. BM just sucks at his job. He's not very talented and this season with its overuse of Luke showcases that.

Further, Bruce is just one person in the room. We know that Lizzie has a fair bit of power and influence and we know that she's very clearly #TeamNick and Osblaine. Warren Littlefield also seems to prefer Nick and Osblaine. There are also writers in the room, notably Aly Monroe and Eric Tuchman, who love Nick and Osblaine. And don't forget that Bruce himself, while possibly preferring Luke, does like Nick and Osblaine as well. He's said a number of nice things about Nick and Osblaine. He's written some pretty good Nick and Osblaine scenes too. At the end of the day he's in the business of making money and he knows that Osblaine sells a lot better. For him it doesn't really matter how he sees himself in relation to characters on the show, but how much he can fill his own wallet. We fully believe that the next season will improve. It will never be as good as the first two seasons, but it will be better than this worthless filler of a season.

[thesearchforbluejello]

We've been seeing your reblogs of SNW on our feed, and we gotta ask... Thoughts and opinions? Is it good? Would you recommend watching it to a trekkie who hasn't watched any of the new trek properties since the first few episodes of Discovery?

Oh man oh man oh man. I have a lot to say. If you don't want to read all of it, there's a TLDR at the end.

✅ episodic format: It's SUPER different from Discovery, so if you prefer the older episodic shows over the newer serialized format, it'll definitely check that box.

❌ season arcs: even though the older episodic shows have two partners and/or small (or large) season arcs, SNW doesn't really... There's one that connects the end of s1 to the beginning of s2, and it's a big deal, but it's not drawn out. I'm not even married to season arcs, but I do think that if they're doing silly filler episodes, ten episodes is too short for a season and thirteen would have been better for them. I LOVE silly filler episodes, so let's get that straight, but they're better when it's not taking up literally a fifth of the season.

✅ space hijinks and the risks of exploration: It oscillates wildly between silly and dark, sometimes between episodes and sometimes within the same episodes, but I see that as one of its strengths. It gets really goofy in a fun way, but it's also bloodier than older Trek... mostly just because they actually show blood. The crew commits so many hijinks and they're all friends and fun to watch together.

❌ character development: the actors are really carrying the characters alone for this one. The characters are all lovable and for the most part the actors are doing a great job, but frankly this is my biggest complaint about the show. We get very, very little development for any of the characters even over the first and almost complete second season. They're just still not well established. The writers seem to think "trauma" is the same as characterization... which like obviously it's not, so. I get very irritated (which you've probably seen in my tags) about the fact that there's often "development" for the characters that builds on a foundation that's basically just toothpicks. It still takes them a step forward, but it's always a stumble imo. I know some folks who are casual watchers who don't mind this though (I'm just neurologically incapable of casual watching). This is also apparently an unpopular opinion, but (spoiler alert) I also think Kirk is in it too much. He'll have been in at least 4/10 of the season 2 episodes, but he's not even posted to the Enterprise. I LOVE Paul Wesley's Kirk like he's my favorite Kirk nobody @ me but the show is about the SNW crew, not Kirk. They're struggling to even develop the seven major SNW characters, so constantly throwing Kirk in constantly is kind of annoying me. They also don't do full ensemble episodes, so often some of the major characters will only show up for one or two scenes and someone else will be the focus. This isn't my preferred format, but I don't hate it-- that being said, some characters are being seriously neglected because of it, but I won't fully rant about that.

✅/❌ Discovery tie in: you don't need to have seen Discovery to watch it. I watched s1 without having watched Discovery. HOWEVER, it will spoil the ending of Discovery s2 in SNW 1x01, just be aware (as in it will totally obliterate one of the big reveals in Disco).

✅Anson Mount: I say this as someone who's literally never seen him in anything else, but he brought his A game every episode and he's the absolute MVP of the series. Really great performances and he makes Pike an incredibly lovable character but also a really great captain.

❌ Discussion of disability: I have a lot of thoughts regarding the treatment of disability as a horrifying thing and equating it with death. Like, fear of physical injury is a very human thing because it's literally a survival response that's wired into us, but there's both some sloppy writing that equates physical disability with death and just a failure to actually explore what a disabled future means for a person. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean without obliterating an entire episode of Discovery and the whole first season of SNW if anyone else reads this, so I won't go into it but I will say this-- I didn't find this weak point to be bad enough to stop watching, and it involves TOS canon that they can't escape, so they're not doing something that's deliberately offensive and disrespectful, but they're not doing it particularly respectfully either.

✅ special effects: there aren't as many REALLY alien characters as Discovery, so there has been less major prosthetic design on display, but what there has been has been good and the CGI is great.

✅ Old school nods: there's so much campy scifi in this show. They do the bridge impact lean and shake thing and they have cool props and the uniforms are a little silly but also so well designed. The ship design is really 2020s and not classic Trek but there are still elements of that design and it's still cool as hell. Also, like, it's the fucking Enterprise, so I'm going to be feral over it regardless.

❌ CO and XO: Listen, this is such a personal taste-based opinion BUT I'm mad about it so I'm going to COMPLAIIIIIIIIIN about it. One of my favorite things about any Trek is the CO/XO relationship, whether it's on a ship or a station or whatever. I just find that a really fascinating dynamic, and it's so different every time. This show has a FASCINATING CO/XO dynamic and the actors have really cool ideas... but developing this at all would require the XO to ACTUALLY BE IN THE FUCKING SHOW. She's in every episode but often not for long. I have some major opinions on this, in case that wasn't obvious. They've done 17 episodes and this relationship hasn't been developed very much. We've had some good scenes and a good plotline, but my complaint still stands for reasons I won't spoil unless requested.

❌ Strange New Worlds: there are barely any new worlds, nevermind strange new worlds. Half the time it's just Star Trek: Doing Stuff in Space and the other half it's Star Trek: Hey We Found Something Weird in Space and Are Investigating It. Not a big complaint, just... not quite what it says on the tin.

TL;DR I love SNW a LOT. It's fun and it's silly but it also confronts the big philosophical questions of existence and morality that are central to Trek. I do have a lot of complaints, but honestly one of the reasons I have so many complaints is because I love it so much.

It's definitely Trek in flavor and it doesn't demand high commitment to watch it. Someone will inevitably yell at me for this, but it actually reminds me most of Voyager-- it's silly and the relationships of the crew are prioritized, but they do some really messed up episodes along the way too. It's a very different vibe to Voyager though, to be clear.

If you decide to watch it, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think :)

[sweetescapeartist]

What do you think of the ending of Dragon Ball GT?

Like most fans, I like it. But part of me also doesn't. Goku just dies and goes to the Dragon World or something with Shenron, then comes back 100 years later. That part is kinda weird.

I get the transcending to a higher state thing & going to the heavens. Was just kinda odd since we have been used to seeing a halo above a character when they die. But this is GT and it has the dead in Hell keep their bodies (like in Z filler) while that is not what Toriyana had planned. So I guess Goku not having a halo when dead makes sense for GT. But did he become the new "god" of the Dragon Balls? The balls still exist and Goku showed up in the GT: A Hero's Legacy. So how does that work? Does Dende have a little statue of Goku now? Can Goku grant wishes? Is Goku limited by Dende's power? Who knows? Left more questions than answers for me.

Weird how Goku came back to see Goku Jr. fight but never said hi to Pan. Didnt even look at her and smile if I remember correctly. Just a bit weird imo. Kinda sad in a way since 100+ year old Pan was desperately trying to see her grandpa again. Which can be seen as a good scene of sadness or a bad scene. Its good in some ways imo. But sad overall.

But the ending of GT was a conclusion for sure. I liked that Goku went to see Krillin & Piccolo. If only they were more involved in the story, then this ending would've been more impactful than the two dying for no reason. Piccolo & Krillin were basically background characters in GT who have a special ending with Goku. That's... odd storytelling. But the interraction was nice and fun. Enjoyed that regardless. I also liked that they have to protect Earth without the Dragon Balls. Seems like everyone stepped up.

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy the ending with Goku going on a journey to train with Uub more than the GT ending. Its a good reference to Journey to the West. Makes it feel like Dragon Ball's story will continue in different ways for a long time.

[nhi-theuser]

GUYS WHO WANTS TO READ ONE PIECE WITH ME

I am about to yap so hard skip to the end to hear about the book club tldr

One Piece is a very cool series, but it’s also very long, so why should YOU read One Piece?

- One Piece(at the time of this post) seems to be about five years out from completion

- Geographically speaking, the Strawhats are about 95% of the way to the one piece

- One Piece has themes of freedom, happiness, and chasing your dreams, something pretty fun and optimistic for when you’re feeling down imo

- Reading One Piece after the one piece is revealed won’t be the same, that’s just the facts, me personally I want to follow their journey and be there when it ends

How long does it take to watch or read One Piece though?

Anime:

- The current anime is 436.8 hours long, or 18.2 days

- If you skip the opening and endings, it ends up being around 393.09 hours, or 16.38 days

- ONE PACE! For those of you who’d prefer to watch the series, but don’t like how long it is, check out One Pace! It’s a fan run version of the series where they cut out all the filler and extra scenes that aren’t present in the manga, as well as shortening scenes that have long paused

- One Pace is, as far as I’m aware, not completely caught up the the current anime, though it’s pretty far! 40% faster than the original anime and cuts out ~150 hours of watch time

- Disclaimer about that though, the filler and original scenes are very cool! Based on what I’ve seen, people like to watch One Pace when doing rewatches, and other times people like to watch the original show after watching One Pace to still see the original as is.

- You can watch the original series on most major streaming platforms like Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and a bunch of others, though some platforms don’t have the whole series

- To watch One Pace, just look up ��One Pace’ and the website should be at the top, just click the watch tav and they’ll have the series organized by arc!

Manga:

- The manga is currently 1111 chapters, and Oda is currently on an extended break (3 months iirc) after the passing of Akira Toriyama, so it should stay that long up until around early summer

- “1111 Chapters?!” 1111 chapters! If you read 10 chapters a day you’d be caught up by August, though for future reference, it would take about 3.7 months from whatever day you started

- One Piece averages about 20 pages a chapter, which is actually on the lower end of the average range of 20-30 pages a chapter. Attack On Titan averages 50 pages a chapter iirc, and JJBA is actually longer than One Piece in terms of how many pages it is, though the manga is currently around 960 chapters, so pretty close that way as well!

- The average speed it takes to read a standard 22 page comic is a range of 5-10 minutes, which basically means 5-10 minutes a manga chapter

- Based on your reading speed and how much time you have on your hands, here are some ranges of how long it would take to read one piece:

50 chapters a day would take 22.22 days, with a range of 4.16-8.33 hours a day spent reading

25 chapters a day would take 44.44 days, with a range of 3.7-7.4 hours a day spent reading

10 chapters a day would take 111.1 days, with a range of .83-1.66 hours a day (~50-100 minutes)

- If you lead a busy life, try a chapter a day! It’ll take 3.04 years, and there’ll be new chapters for sure by then, but it’ll get you significantly far just by reading one or two chapters a day!

- To read the manga, you can purchase physical copies, though it’s pretty pricy even when you get the box sets, but you can find it in person at bookstores and online on Amazon and other websites, probably on the official Viz or Shonen Jump pages as well

- You can read the manga legally for free online as well! The Manga Plus app has One Piece an a whole lot of other series on there free to read. The first three chapters and the most recent three chapters are always free to read and re-read, and you can read everything for free if it’s your first time.

- What does that mean exactly? Every chapter in between has a first time ticket! You can open the chapter exactly once and read the whole chapter for free, but once you close it, you lose access unless you purchase a subscription, so be sure not to accidentally close it before you’re done!

- Of course, if you’re not interested in using Manga Plus, there are plenty of websites available at your disposal for re-reads and other such things, though be careful of suspicious websites and viruses, One Piece is long enough that it’s difficult to find the whole thing in one spot online without it getting shot down

**About OPLA (the live action)

- OPLA covers a big chunk of the East Blue Saga, and for those who don’t know, the One Piece arcs are grouped up into Sagas. If you watch/watched the LA, it reaches around episode 45 of the anime, and I believe it stops right before the Loguetown arc

- Please decide if watching the LA to get through the start of the series faster is worth it at your own discretion. (OPLA is ~8 hours, while the original anime up to episode 45 is ~16 hours.) People will always have things to say about adaptations, but as far as I’m concerned, OPLA is actually pretty well received.

- The LA has made changes to the series, but none are major or detrimental to the story. By nature of being an adaptation, some things will be missed or skipped over, so again, determine on your own what you want to

“Why do you want ME to read with YOU!?”

- I’m actually insane and am in the One Piece fandom without reading or watching!

- I’ve actually watched the LA and that one episode in August (1071), ever since that joyous episode I’ve been using OP like a crutch for my mental health, I have absolutely read well over a million words on the absolute lowest end of the range. Kind of ruined my ability to blind read haha

- That being said, I’ve only read fanfiction. There’s going to be a lot of nuances, characters, and even entire arcs that have been lost in translation that I haven’t experienced yet, so I’ll be acting as if I’m a blind reader when discussing how far I’ve gotten

“I’ve already read/watched One Piece!”

- Perfect.

- Join me on my little adventure and drop suspicious hints about what’s coming my way, I know what’s coming in theory but you know what’s next for real.

- Read/Watch it again too! If you’ve watched it, read the manga to see what got changed, and if you’ve read it you can watch it to see how the anime handles your favorite arcs and scenes!

How will we read together?

- It’s pretty simple! My goal personally is to follow the ten chapters a day pace, though I plan to bump it up when summer comes around as I’m currently a student.

- The idea isn’t that we’d all be reading at the exact same pace, but that we’re committed to something fun to do in our spare time. I fully expect that nobody will be sitting down and spending nine hours a day reading One Piece like it’s a full time job, that’s not fun, which is crazy because, how do you make One Piece not fun, how do you make a time passing hobby out to be like that??

- I’m personally going to be posting in a vaguely similar fashion one would livetweet their reactions while reading/watching something and will be tagging appropriately so that way I don’t spoil anyone I’m ahead of

- At the end of each arc/saga I think I’ll do a little summary about it and what I liked, occasionally I might drop a quick PSA on certain topics and maybe discourse?? Within the fandom??? I don’t like discourse but I can handle a couple intelligent and respectful discussions about opposing topics. Idk we’ll get there when we get there

- I’ll be making specific tags for certain things to keep it all organized as well!

TLDR; One Piece Book Club

Completing One Piece is not, in fact, an impossible task. Me personally I’m gonna try for ten chapters a day, but the goal is to go at your own pace and have fun.

Askbox is always open unless stated otherwise, and tag appropriately to prevent spoiling others.

Have fun!!

(Also I have some big fat exams this month so me personally gonna start reading sometime post May 10)

[formula-fun]

Hi!!!!

Im sorry this is absolutely not helpful but I think what you wrote is pretty good already!

Again not helpful at all: if you don’t feel like cutting anything, don’t cut anything?

Though in my mind you are (close to) a meticulous perfectionist, so I’ve just offered completely unhelpful advice.

So happy that your thesis(?) presentation is finished! Finally some rest!

Helloooo!! no no its always good to talk about it I think <3 there are things I like that are mostly filler/fluff scenes, and then there are plot-supporting scenes, but I think the issue is i don't really like the direction the plot has gone because it feels really rushed and like everything happens at once? so i think some of the plot points need to go. but I think you're right that if something is working it shouldn't go away, so i think i'm gonna try to reassess that tonight by taking out everything that's not working or that i don't like and then fill in the holes from there

i'm definitely a perfectionist about last chapters in particular because imo its the most important chapter in the entire fic!! so they always take a little longer for me. i actually just posted the final chapter of something on another account and it took six years to finally get it done 💀 promise this one won't be as long hahahsh

and thank you!! that quarter was evil fr. every quarter we design a building and then present it to a jury of professionals and basically defend it while they critique it. it's very stressful, but fortunately they liked mine a lot this quarter so it was just 20 minutes of praise instead of defense. the rest of school is just thesis, fieldwork and other random shit like that, so i don't have any more juries and im very very happy

thank you for the ask!!

[guardianofthestarz]

this year my goal was to read at least 25 books (which now seems too easy) and i decided to start with rick's books cuz i loved pjo

(i then realized i had actually never finished the pjo series - i didnt finish the LAST book... thats crazy)

i went on yt and found a vid that showed the RIGHT way to read all his books so my journey started.

anyway blah blah blah, i wanted to talk about the kane chronicles

obv spoilers if you havent read those and if you care

hell nah. that series was so bad 😭😭 (imo ofc and ill explain why i think so)

i should mention that i read the first and third book, but i only read half of the second book cuz it got very looooooong and boring to me (i just read the wikipedia summary for it)

also the only reason i read these books was cuz i knew there would be a collab between the magicians and demigods and that sounded rly interesting to me!

im usually not that picky when it comes to books/fics/anything so i was surprised i didnt like these books. first of all theyre so long, and for what.. the world ends in 3, 4, 5 days yet each book is 90k words at best and 120k-ish words at worst. it just dragged ooooooon and onnnnn and onnnnnnnnnn. i thought maybe its just the length that im not used to (even tho ive read way longer fics but i thought maybe its not the same..) then i started reading the heroes of olympus series which was a similar length and i sped thru those. which prob means that the kane chronicles were just boring. i was gonna say that it just felt like there were attacks and fights just cuz, but then again, thats kinda similar to percy jackson books. i cant put my finger on why some fights felt kinda useless and filler.. unlike in pj books. also when they beat apophis it felt too easy. there was so much build up to that final battle, and in the end he got destroyed in like half a page or smt.. not satisfying! and since we know the kane siblings are still alive (cuz of the recording being sent etc), it didnt feel like there was anything at stake.

the egyptian mythology was actually pretty interesting, i did like learning about it. however, at times there was just a LOT of info being dumped- so many gods/stories etc that i had a hard time remembering everything. i think w the percy jackson/greek mythology books there was just more time for rick to set the scene and build the world so it didnt feel that overwhelming (even tho it was still a lot, im ngl).

and now my biggest complaint... i thought rick could write powerful female characters butttttttttt maybe that was just annabeth LOL. SADIE WAS SO ANNOYING!!!!!! she was SO unlikeable but i think we werent supposed to dislike her??? yeah shes young but so was percy and annabeth and every demigod from the pjo series and they were much more enjoyable to read about. all she cared about was guys. more specifically, sadie, a 12yo, was head over heels for ANUBIS, a THOUSAND YEAR OLD god, who oh yeah,,, looked like a 16yo guy but idk if its just me, thats still a WEIRD/uncomfy AGE DIFFERENCE 😭shes so lucky that she ended up w basically both guys she had a crush on, but she still made it such a big deal when that happened.

like anubis had stabbed her in the back or smt lmfao. also should mention that in the pjo books for ex., percabeth didnt just happen when they were 12/13... a long time passed so that relationship could feel unrushed and natural.

dont get me wrong, liking a guy etc is all normal and very teenage-y (even tho sadie wasnt even a teenager when all this happened). but making that MOST of her personality, or smt she constantly thought about and prioritized during the END OF THE WORLD. she just seemed very irresponsible and immature (which makes sense cuz shes a child.... maybe i shouldnt be reading these books as an almost 20yo) (but i can still tell when some1 has annoying qualities objectively) (even if its still a kids book)

idk thats just annoying. carter was tryna save the day/world and sadie had other things in her mind. or when she wanted to go hang out w her friends for her bday even tho the world was ending VERY soon and they had to get going. yeah she wants to be a normal kid but rn theres more important things you gotta think about bbg (and yes i do understand that the dance or her bday hang out would help w morale but at least be on the look out for stuff and dont think that youre not still on the job and most likely putting every1 in danger..). save the world first, then enjoy your life. maybe take a cake to go while youre traveling. maybe call your besties and talk to them on the phone for an hour or whatever

carter wasnt perfect, but even his obsession w zia wasnt THAT bad. it felt more normal and smt the reader (or i) could get behind and not dislike him too much for.

(when carter said that i thought he was in my head cuz i was literally thinking that sadie always leaves him to deal w important stuff)

i feel like theres more i had to say but theres too much negativity in this post already LOL im sorry 😭 this trilogy wasnt a 0 or 1 star, it was closer to 2 or maybe even 3. i didnt mind ignoring most of these. the only thing i couldnt ignore was sadie's attitude sometimes and ofc the weird relationship between her and anubis, but when walt showed up etc i had hope and it did get slightly better!

ofc im not a writer and i couldnt prob never write anything half as good as any of rick's books, but this is just my experience as the reader. as i mightve mentioned , rn im reading the heroes of olympus books for the first time and im enjoying them quite a lot!

lmk if you agree or disagree w anything, i usually change my mind somewhat easily so id love to see this series from some1 else's pov

[by-kilian]

How are you doing kw! Hope your having a day that matches the beautifulness of your writings💙💙

I would like ask you something about your plotting process if you don’t mind dear!, how do you know that you’re not over-plotting your story or if you have a weak plot?

I have been writing for years now but I still don’t know how to have the right amount of scenes that fulfill my novel perfectly -like no filler chapters or not enough scenes to describe my characters in a good way- so can you please help me?😭 because I don’t know when to stop plotting and it’s been really getting on my nerves

Thank you so much in advance💙

Aww, hi lovey dovey!! My day's great so far, thank you so much for asking and for saying such kind things. I hope you're having an equally great day. And I'm ALWAYS happy to help with writing questions!!! This is a really good question too, re: plotting and trying to figure out if you have 'enough' and if it's strong enough.

When I plot, I actually do a rough outline of what I think should happen. I kind of explain it a bit here. I know what I want to happen, but as I write, I may change my mind and realize some things work better, etc. I think here is where the pitfall of possibly "over plotting" or under plotting can happen. But here's how I know if it serves my overall plot, and it's very simple: I ask myself, does this help progress my story? In contrast when I see I'm missing something, I ask, what will help progress the story? I know I'm not over plotting if my story continues to move along in a way that feels organic. I also know my plot isn't weak if I can always keep it moving towards the end goal and we're making progress to that end, so to speak.

In addition to this, I want to say that plots are simpler than people think they are. The resources I'll link you to later on in this post talk about it, but if you can't boil your plot down to some very basic taglines (think movie poster), it's too complex.

Here are some common plots: boy meets girl, falls in love. Good guys defeat the bad guys. Teens try to survive the night with a killer on the loose.

See how basic those are? Nothing is new. It's the scenes and your characters and how you CHOOSE to write those things that are. THAT is the stuff that makes your story. But those above things are actually your basic premise, aka plot. In regards to knowing whether or not you are plotting enough or not enough, it requires a good self-editing eye because you're really the only person who can answer that. I personally think as long as every scene helps your plot progress or advance or serves as some other important piece to your story like showing who your characters are as people and what they're like, you are good. If you're very clever, it's often both (imo, it should be both).

So when it comes to self-editing, you have to ask yourself if cutting certain scenes out makes any difference. I have cut so many scenes out of my stories before and they're always better for it. Don't treat your writing as so precious that you feel the need to hold onto everything, sometimes that can drag things out in a way that doesn't feel good. Also, discarding a scene doesn't mean you throw it away forever, it can also mean you use it elsewhere (sometimes even a different story) but maybe not necessarily here, right now.

Here are two really good resources I found that may explain over plotting and how to fix it better than me: x | x

A line I love in particular from those resources is this: "Over plotting usually occurs when you lose sight of what the story is about--a person with a problem. Put the attention back on that and you’ll find your way."

That's really it. Focus on the core of your story, your plot. If it is boy meets girl and falls in love, focus on how every scene connects back to that. Even if it's a solo scene and they're exploring their own backstories, maybe that helps dive into their reluctance to love or whatever else is going on. Every scene should be able to connect back to your basic plot and your characters. If there is no connection and you think it's still an important scene, make a connection. If there is no connection and you think the scene can go, scrap it.

I really hope that helps. Feel free to reach out to me again if it doesn't! I'm always happy to share my writing process and answer questions. :) Enjoy your day my darling! <3