#because i get so bogged down on if my story is good enough for other people and if others would like it

[theletter-tmr]

You have no idea how much I needed to here this

if it's good enough for you, then it deserves to be made. don't let anyone else decide if your story is worth it or not.

[alexandraisyes]

What would happen if you were a writer for TSAMS?

I mean we'll never know unless we try, however-

God the temptation to make jokes about shipping ajfsdkg;ljfasd;l

In all seriousness I'm good at finding and fixing plot holes and writing consistent storylines. I've been writing solo for years, and recently I've been co-writing fics for this fandom. And stars I'll say it now, obviously I wouldn't drag fan ships into the canon lore, that would be stupid considering most of them just wouldn't work with canon.

If I had the chance to write for TSAMS I would definitely try to influence the way certain things (specifically things like mental disorders) are portrayed, because I understand being part of the audience and the frustration of only seeing part of the story and missing an entire important perspective. I personally find so much enjoyment in that because I get to tear everything apart, dissect it, and put it back together so the fandom can understand what the story is portraying, but the fact that someone is required to tear it apart to get what should have been an obvious message most of the time is an issue, in my opinion.

A consistent problem I've noticed with TSAMS is that it's overly omnipotent on some things while being too closed about others. This is a narrative problem that stems from not having enough time to figure out the best approach for new situations they want to incorporate. This is because the writers/VAs are so bogged down by personal projects, stream schedules, their servers, life, etc that they just don't have time to figure these things out. Especially when the company is pushing for more content/lore episodes and they're just a team of four. Four very very busy individuals that have to write AND voice act the entire cast of characters. I feel like having someone who is just a writer would help with a lot of the inconsistency and unresolved plot holes.

There's a lot of strong potential for things that would stem back as far as two years that would be so interesting to see incorporated, but they just don't have the time to work through those and it's easier to keep jumping on new boats and abandoning the ones they have to sink because of unresolved tears in the plot letting more inconsistencies trickle in like so much water. So I would absolutely work to correct those and clean up the holes and resolve unanswered questions.

I'd also push for more consistent characterization, or rather better worded, deeper characterization. Not that they don't have good characterization now, overall I think they do a decent job, but there are just some things that I wish they'd touch on more. Likes, dislikes, disorders, complications, relationships, etc. What really makes up these characters; I'd probably end up with a complicated character web for the main cast at the very least to help with consistent storytelling. I do this with my own AUs to keep characters consistent, including quirks (For example Solar Flare always refers to people by their full name in my writing). It would also be interesting to dig deeper into what makes the characters them. Their personalities, beliefs, interests, morality/standards (for those without morals), and what they did and didn't find traumatic (as well as what level of trauma).

God even just the thought of how I could potentially fix the dumpster fire (/affectionate /positive) of TSAMS and co is a little exciting because there's just so much potential lying around untampered with that I would happily dig my grubby little claws into.

[dynamic-swap-au-archive]

I'd like to offer gorillaz fans (and Potential gorillaz fans) another resource that I've spent over a year creating and perfecting.

The Gorillaz !

This playlist is, to the best of my ability, Every Single piece of gorillaz content that can be found on youtube in story order.

all of the music videos, all of the indents, all of the interviews, animations, radio shows, news specials, podcasts, audio books, tiktoks, Everything.

on top of that ! I made the decision to include select fan content! because Frankly the gorillaz fandom is unimaginably talented and creative. this includes Fully animating several music videos that were cancelled, but given to us in animatic form, original animations, animatics, and storyboards, fan visualizers and recreations of live visuals, even voice fan dubs for written material like the interviews and novels.

and more than that, with the (incredible) fan content that was available I've Also been able to flesh out the stories of each phase! a decision I made due to the plastic beach, the third album, never getting to finish the story officially (leading to the band breaking up and coming back 7 years later).

I'm so proud of what I've been able to do with it ! and even happier to share the picture I've been able to make as a whole :>

below the cut I'm going to include several other playlists that are based on this one, but made to be more digestible and less intimidating for newcomers ! as well as many other resources to fill in the gaps that this playlist can't ! (namely the written material)

thank you ! and I hope I can share something I love with all of you !

First is the simplest ! all of the music videos in order ! (plus a Few indents, because I can't help myself): [Link]

this obviously means that you lose out on quite a bit of context, as much of who the characters are as People and their relationships together are in the extra material (especially the shorts and interviews). BUT

this is the most Accessible, and also really convenient if you just want to vibe to the music. if you're not sure if you want to commit this kind of time to a cartoon band, consider checking this out! you may find yourself interested enough to learn more, or you may just have a good time and feel satisfied with what you've seen ! either way I'd be honored to have helped :>

Second, the Midpoint between these two extremes !: Phase 1-3 [Link] Phase 4-7 [Link]

these Include extra material like the shorts and animation, but Cuts Out some of the longer content like the podcasts and interviews! you can still get a pretty good idea about what happens in the story of each phase watching this, but it's not bogged down by videos that are hours long.

it'll give you a clearer picture of what's going on, include fun side content, while being less intimidating than the Full playlist. this is what I use to show my friends gorillaz !

alright, so you've got just the music videos and just the short stuff, now lets try just the Long stuff. all of the interviews, radio shows, podcasts, Etc: [Link]

maybe you've used my last playlists and now you'd like to listen to some of those long form videos you missed out on. maybe you just want to listen to these characters talk because it's Nice. either way, it's all here :> (I know, because I had to upload some of them myself)

Pirate Radio: [Link]

it's all here with One technical exception. pirate radio was the serial radio show for plastic beach/phase 3, that gave us insight into murdoc's frame of mind as a character. it Also used copywriten music. the reuploads on youtube cut the music out (likely because they wouldn't be available otherwise), while this google drive has the full unedited audio files if anyone would be interested!

this one may seem redundant, but I promise it isn't. All of the gorillaz albums in order: [Link]

this playlist (for the most part) doesn't Have any visuals, it's Only the music.

likewise, all of the music in the previous playlists are only those songs that Have visuals (official or fan made), which means not all of gorillaz's music is present! which is exactly what this is for :>

you have every album in order, filling in the gaps of what's been missed, As Well As special albums that are Associated with gorillaz, and gorillaz' guest appearances in other people's music !

now we're out of my playlists and into other resources :>

Lobotomy Pop: [Link]

this is a website that's worked for years to preserve and organize Every Single written interview gorillaz has ever done ! it's an invaluable resource and really just very cool.

it also categorizes several other things ! such as listing out all of the personal playlists the gorillaz members have put out over the years, or every profile that's ever been written for the characters ! it's very much so worth checking out as a fan.

Gorillaz Art Archive: [Link]

exactly what is says on the tin ! this is a google drive that's attempting to archive Every Single piece of official gorillaz art that was released from phase 1 in 2001, to phase 5 in 2018. it is Massive and it's such a joy to have access to

The Kong Files: [Link]

if you were wondering why the art archive stopped at 2018, this would be why ! the kong files has much the same goal, but instead picking up at phase 6 and continuing on Theoretically forever ! or at least it's kept up with all of phase 7

that said ! the kong files is attempting to document Everything relating to those phases. so all of the social media, all of the music videos, all of the written text, Everything !

I wouldn't try to Only use this for watching phase 6 and 7, but it's an Excellent resource for everything that could fall between the cracks

Rise of the Ogre on Archive dot Com: [Link]

rise of the ogre was an official novel released at the end of demon days (the second album/phase 2), that covered the entire history of the band up until that point! their backstories, how they met each other, what they'd gotten up to in the 10 years they'd known each other, and the shocking event that happened at the very end of the phase and the band's reaction to it. all leading in to plastic beach, (arguably) the Most story heavy phase of them all.

as I understand it, this novel has been out of print for a very long time and is quite expensive to buy second hand. so ! it's been scanned and uploaded here to the archive! there's actually several more scans available in the gorillaz art archive, but this is the most recent (having been uploaded just earlier this year).

Dawn of the Ogre: [Link]

dawn of the ogre is the fanmade sequel to rise of the ogre, attempting to fill in the gaps of what happened at the end of phase 3, the 7 year gap, and up to the (then) newest point of canon.

this is, of course, unofficial. so this is essentially fancy fanfiction. But it's extremely well done fanfiction that happens to be novel length, attempting to emulate the style of the original novel, and is fully illustrated. along with being available completely for free!

I'd definitely give it a shot, if you're the type of person who's already read rise of the ogre

the gorillaz wiki !: [Link]

I have no clue what the fandom thinks about it, but it was absolutely invaluable both in making my playlist, and becoming a fan at all. with all the work I've done my hope is that people won't need to go digging for themselves, but the Option is certainly always nice !

I'd Especially like to highlight this page [Link] which has transcriptions for all of the pirate radio show episodes !

I feel like there's a lot to find here :>

and of course, my own dynamic swap au archive! [Link]

if you've fallen in love with gorillaz and are desperate for more to sink your teeth into, then I couldn't recommend this enough !

keep in mind that these resources will continue updating ! as new music is created and new fan content is made! I'm keeping my eyes out on a fan project for a fully animated mv right now that I'm sure will make it to my playlists one day :>

[times-new-scrotum]

cw// discussion of CSA, sexual assault, predatory behaviour and the unmasked ghouls

hi, I want to give my two cents on what's been going on with Jutty Taylor and his behaviour towards young fans.

The initial allegations that were brought forward are MORE THAN substantiated at this point, the young person who brought these accusations forward provided more than was necessary.

It is no one's job to be microanalysing their story. You are not a detective, you are not the police. They have provided a photo and text messages. They have come out with their real name. That is more than enough, especially for a 15 year old.

Jutty Taylor eventually gave a proper apology but maintained that this was inadvertent; he didn't mean for it to happen. In his response, he said that he was hoping it would reach them and that he wanted to resolve this. As much as I've been thoroughly disgusted and disappointed by all of this, if he's serious about this, I am willing to wait and see if he actually follows through.

It is the victim's job to determine whether or not he is being truthful here. Not you. Let them come to that conclusion.

EDIT: this equally applies to people who are adamant he is telling the truth and those who are adamant he is lying.

You weren't there so you can't make that assessment, and while we all should be BELIEVING THE VICTIMS when they say what happened, there is no way you can parasocially analyse what is or was going on in his head.

Let's leave this up to the victims please, since a lot of these discussions tend to get bogged down in "he'd never do this" or "I think he's telling the truth" or "I think he's being performative here" or "I think he's lying" like, no, no you don't know any of that actually.

Jutty also responded to other allegations that had been brought forward - about inappropriate interactions in DMs with a 19 year old. He provided some context to a screenshot that was circulating, where it looked like he was encouraging underage drinking.

My thoughts about this are that going forward, he needs to be drawing some hard lines in the sand about how he interacts with his fans. It was inappropriate because he is an artist and they are his fan, and there is a significant age gap there. I think there is a concerning pattern of behaviour here.

Please, let's not throw around words like "p*dophile". This has a very specific definition, and watering it down is extremely unhelpful and does more harm than good. You can refer to his actions as predatory, and call him a creep, but please, let's not use this word when there are no victims who are prepubescent children.

Feel free to disagree with me, by the way. I think it's important for us to discuss these things.

[magpies-gold]

I got really bogged down this weekend on my writing. This is always the thing that wrecked me about NaNoWriMo: 50k words is juuust enough so that I hit the self-doubt super hard.

It’s where I have enough of the world and the characters down so that I can see them clearly enough to recognize where they’re held together with chewing gum and hope. It’s where I can see the road ahead but also I’m on the edge of the first really big gaps that I just have to put 2x4’s over as a makeshift bridge and fill them in correctly later. The piece I need for that is stashed somewhere near the end of the book. It’s when I find spots in the story where the wiring isn’t hooked up yet and the lights are out so I kinda know three or four ways to get from point A to point B and I can’t see which one’s correct so I just have to kinda write them all (the correct answer has a chance at being a Frankenstein’s monster mishmash of all of them!)

It’s nice that my mom’s been reading the mess as I work on it because it means that I have someone to call and say “It’s trash but it’s still trash with potential, yeah?” and talk my way back to having the confidence to continue. Thanks, mom.

So.

Reminder to Self.

First drafts are The Stupidest Version. The characters get spontaneous amnesia. They know things that they shouldn’t. They try to ad lib instead of sticking to the script. The equipment you ordered for the set months ago isn’t here yet so you’re making do with an old fridge and some cardboard as a stand in but it’s really obviously just a fridge that says “warp core” on it in Sharpie. No one can keep a straight face around it. This is all going to get rewritten from scratch in a few months.

It’s the vomit draft. Sometimes (often) you get caught yammering for three hours about one of the character’s childhood and the camera was running the whole time. The characters can’t quite remember their lines or motivations so they repeat themselves five times in five different ways over five different scenes before someone yells “We got it already! Shut up!” You all explore the basement and the sub-basement before realizing that you don’t even need the -house- that you’re in, but you found a key down there that’ll help elsewhere and so it was worth the detour. Two characters don’t jive naturally yet so you either take them out for coffee or hand them nerf bats and engage with -that- for 2k words, coming out the other side all the wiser but with 2k words that will not make the cut. That’s fine. It still needs doing.

And it’s a sketch. I did a drawing earlier today where I drew, erased, and redrew a creature in the background no less than twenty times (at one point just covering the canvas in question marks out of frustration) before I finally figured out what I was doing. Same diff, but writing takes longer. It’s going to have construction lines and eraser marks all over the place, but later I can pick out the good lines and go from there.

Anyone who suggests that writing is anything but barely controlled chaos is, in my opinion, slightly bonkers. It’s herding cats that can phase through walls and travel in time, and in the meanwhile, all you have is a butterfly net with a hole in it.

And sometimes you just need a good pep talk to remind you that yes, it’s supposed to look this janky. Keep going.

[bugtransport]

been thinking about "as far as i'm concerned all robots are transgender" for a couple days because when am i not thinking about robots. but also i don't want to write an essay on someone else's post so i'm doing it myself. i think there's a simple explanation for this one: there's an additional axis that you have to consider when you're considering the gender expression of non-human entities and that's how human or non-human they can and want to appear and be recognized as. i call it the humanity axis. 

("humanity" is an oversimplification - a lot of the times when you're discussing robots you're talking about them in the context of a sci-fi story which some of the time can have robots living in largely non-human societies (for an easy silly example off the top of my head think BMO who lives with exactly one human for most of his life) but even then we're contending with the gender dynamics of the organic beings around them that make up the society they're based in. not to mention that we ourselves as humans view and create everything from a human-centric point of view that's kind of inescapable imo. for the sake of getting through this with any kind of coherency i'm going to use the term "humanity")

the closest thing that i can imagine to be what i would consider a “cisgender robot” would be a robot that was created by robots in a world where humans don’t have an influence. this can’t really be the case – robots being inorganic have to be created by some outside being and therefore will always be formed in the image of the societal opinions of their makers. you’re working with a blank slate here; you don’t have to be bogged down by what evolution might just decide on its own. sure, they can in turn create their own robots that may be influenced by other factors and get further and further removed from their original designs, but that begs the question of whether it’s possible to dilute the original influence far enough to where it’s no longer a factor. personally, i don’t think so? 

so, we can agree: every robot has the influences of humanity in them but is still distinctly different, creating the humanity axis. there’s a place that they each physically on there depending on how they were constructed; there’s also a choice each of them must make as to how much they want to adhere to their assigned spot. to fully be human is not an option, as they would have to not know they’re a robot, and to be fully robot isn’t an option either, as they were made by humans. i suppose you could be happy with your assigned place on the humanity axis but you could never truly be viewed by the organic society around you as anything but “other” unless you tried to fully pass as human. then we can bring in characters who never had to consider the humanity axis until, well, circumstances changed (things like cyborgs or mind backups or a good ol’ brain in a jar) and now they have to learn that they actually experienced a kind of privilege that they weren’t even really aware of until they had to question their relationship to their humanity. they don’t even have to view it as a bad thing – it’s not a bad thing. you can be very confident and happy with who you are and your status outside the traditional human framing of whatever society you’re in. being othered isn’t always a bad thing and some can take solace in the fact that they’re able to dictate who they are without having to technically abide by whatever norms biology has been divided into. it lends itself easily to exploring beyond what’s been set out for you from the start. not always, not every robot wants that or cares to explore it, but it can. 

a robot can be a girl and inhuman; they can have no relationship to human gender and identify very closely with humanity. it's about the interactions with those that made you. it's about having to dictate who you are for yourself. tl;dr: yeah every robot is transgender

[no-where-new-hero]

This weekend I finally will sit myself down and play catchup on the EONMBC, but since I'm currently battling with the opening chapters of the WIP-that-hates-me, I'm realizing how good Maud was in the beginning of EONM for scaling the amount of detail of Emily's life we're allowed to see.

Like, Maywood and the "Maywood people" are purposefully vague. I remember someone said something like "who did Emily choose as her pallbearers (during her eavesdropping-on-the-Murrays scene) she doesn't know anybody." And to our eyes, this seems to be the case. Emily is certainly not close to anyone. But there are still butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers that Douglas likely bought from. He made enough of an impression on them to be disliked. They presumably went to church and socialized there (she writes sadly in her account book about her sunday school teacher moving away). I'm sure Ellen Greene would have chattered about the locals. Would one or two local ladies have flirted with the apparently beautiful Douglas?

But it's not important to us to know about them, so they fade into the background. Emily's integration (or lack thereof) into Maywood has no impact on the story--in fact, it works better that she seems to exist in her Edenic glass bubble, so that when she goes to Blair Water and New Moon, it gets written onto her as if onto a clean slate. Part of this is that she comes of age there, but it also works so well narratively because then we aren't bogged down by comparisons and other old baggage. It can all be new and wondrous and also suddenly very social. Hard as it is to believe, it seems like Emily never tried to make any friends at all with Maywood kids, even if she didn't go to school. Her account book is all just descriptions of sunsets and cat conversations, never people (we hear her biting tone in accessing people in the letters to her father, yet these also feel like a product of her fall lol).

This is all a lot of useless analysis, but I guess my point is that Emily clearly had a life in Maywood that LMM simply didn't find it worthwhile to focus on or describe because its only use would have been for nostalgia and that's not the story she's telling. And IDK I just think it's incredibly subtle in how she knows what she wants us to know and doesn't have to painstakingly "world-build" if it's not going to effect the plot. And her very vagueness contributes to her theme.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 36

Somewhere along the way with the fragments I started to get filled with a small sense of dread that the story will at some point, more or less just slam on the brakes and drag it to a crawl. I also started to become apprehensive that there will be some unanswered questions on my part. Maybe not necessarily large ones, but ones that I personally would’ve been more intrigued by a potential answer. Not for the first time the thought occurred that I just might have to look at the console arcs to see if I might get some of the answers I desire. Whether you view the console arcs as canonical or not.

A red capsule

I’m starting to think that the intro to the fragments section might have been full of it gang. Except for the first fragment the explanatory meeting, none of these seem to be from Hanyuu’s perspective at all. Perhaps it was said to act as a sort of framing device for jumping around from narrator to narrator?

For a small amount of time I thought this was a Tatarigoroshi ending era Keiichi. I have no good justification for why I didn’t immediately figure this was Rena.

I know this is meant to be residual amounts of Hinamizawa Syndrome talking, but I do think Rena is being too hard on herself for not immediately picking up on her mother’s infidelity, and Akihito’s duplicity as a small child. I know I mentioned it quite a few times before in Tsumihoroboshi, but I cannot for the life of me remember what they had diagnosed her condition as in Onikakushi. I sort of want to go back and find that out because I think it’s an interesting notion that her already pre-existing mental disorder is also remarkably similar to Hinamizawa Syndrome. What are the odds? Do you think that if Irie or Takano had access to Rena’s medical records from the time she smashed up her classmates they would’ve gotten any sort of boost to their research? Is that how Takano was able to so efficiently manipulate Rena in Tsumihoroboshi?

Eh? EHHHHH? Think about it.

I guess it’s only because Rena’s the one character we really see at these heightened levels, but it’s interesting to me how different her symptoms of the syndrome seem to be. You never see any of the other infected people exhibit this penchant for self-harm/mutilation. Well except for the most fatal stages of the syndrome I suppose, then you see them just tear into themselves. I guess this means that Rena is already at L5?

Initially when I read this it didn’t really affect me that much, but reading it again it grossed me out pretty severely and made me physically recoil while reading about her pulling the blood vessels open. Narrative narrative, I just wonder how Hanyuu became aware of Rena’s suffering to the point that she was able to sense she was going to kill herself because of the syndrome? It’s established later on that there is fundamentally an infinite number of fragments and permutations of events through the series that exist. So it stands to reason that in at least a few of these Rena did die from the syndrome. In the very first version of all the timelines that all the fragments sprung from did Rena just so happen to resist the symptoms long enough to get back to Hinamizawa? Or is it more likely that by some random fluke of fate she survived, became friends with Rika and the rest, and then Hanyuu realized she was a pivotal character to Rika’s survival? With the earlier revelation that there’s nigh infinite amounts of fragments Higurashi really is rather friendly to fanfiction isn’t it?

Once more I’m just sort of letting my mind get temporarily bogged down in hyper specific details that don’t really matter. How long, for lack of a better term, is Hanyuu’s range? I’ve seen/read too many things that has a gods’ divinity or powers tied to the people who believe in them, so I think I’m trying in vain to tie that idea and Hanyuu together. Not that it particularly matters, but it’s just something I’m curious about. I doubt that Hanyuu has been keeping an eye on Rena the entire time she’s been away from Hinamizawa, but I don’t doubt she showed up in the vision that stopped Rena from killing herself. Whether or not that was actually her or just a figment of Rena’s mind I don’t know. It is entirely possible that Hanyuu never even really knew that Rena existed until 1982. It is possible that I am giving Hanyuu far too much credit.

Without wishing to get into an argument about antidepressants I admit that I find it interesting that for all of Irie and Takano’s research you can apparently completely suppress the symptoms of Hinamizawa Syndrome with prescription medicine like that. I assume this is a form of antidepressant she’s on, I’m not exactly well-versed in psychiatric medicine. To be fair, I don’t think Ryukishi07 is either.

There was the implication that Tsumihoroboshi was the result of Rena not taking her medication. At least before the parasite/alien invasion ideas got thrown around, so this kind of makes me wonder if she’s on her meds for this chapter? For whatever it’s worth when she shows up she doesn’t act particularly more aggressive than she does in any of the other chapters she shows up in as a non-antagonistic entity. Not that this particularly matters in the grand scheme of things. Just a random stray thought.

[prolix-yuy]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you for the tag @oonajaeadira! Funny enough I saw this go around a couple months ago and meant to do it, then life got crazy. This seems like a great time to jump on in!

How many works do you have on ao3?

48! Wowza! That's not counting fics I only post here (like my Writers Iron Chefs and the Bangathon)

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

338,089. That's kind of crazy, I'm not gonna lie. And some of those words aren't filthy :P

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Pedro Pascal Cinematic Universe!

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Something New, One Very Good Night, Both Sides of the Door, A Sweet Response to Tragedy, and Good Company. 4 out of 5 of these are from I Think of You, which does warm my little heart. I did laugh that their popularity is completely out of order from the series.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes yes yes! Every single one I get! I'll even yank your tags out and comment on them when they make me especially happy. It's the best part of sharing my stories.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

TECHNICALLY One Very Good Night had the angstiest ending before I continued the series. Same with Cognitive Dissonance! Apparently I get to an angsty end then just write a part 2.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think that's tied with the real ending to my Whiskey & Westworld series, and all the gooey soft fun of my Javi G series. Both make my heart glow in different ways.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Knock on wood, nothing so far. I've gotten a couple of interpretations of my fics that have made me cock my head because I just don't think the person read the story, or if they did they skimmed over the character development part. But otherwise I've had a very nice time with everyone here <3

9. Do you write smut?

If you don't know by now, I'm not sure what you've been reading...

10. Craziest crossover?

100% Whiskey & Westworld. Golden Circle meets android theme park? Lusting over cowboys and having existential crises? It fit better than I ever thought it would and I still love the crap out of it.

(though as a side note, having Javi P be the person who helped Santi find his girls in the SW!Frankie AU is another fav)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not? Yeesh.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that would be pretty neat!

13. Have you co-written a fic before?

No, but I have had the distinct pleasure of @psychedelic-ink writing a fic in the SW!Frankie AU that made my whole life.

14. All time favorite ship?

HELP I'M TORN. It's a tie between Din and my Reader in I Think of You and Dieter and Murch in Best Laid Plans. I think about both of them so so so much.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will

I have a handful of small WIPs in a folder that who knows if they'll come to fruition. I think the greatest contender is probably the Post-Apocalyptic Frankie I tossed around because The Last of Us came out and it might just meld into a Joel story instead.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm good at pacing and giving enough description to keep a reader engaged but not bogged down with details. People connect with my reader characters in a way that makes me super happy. And I write damn good smut.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can't write outlines or my brain says "it's done :)" and I never write the story. I can't write out of order. I struggle with making characters have meaningful fights and arguments because I'm non-confrontational IRL and it makes me anxious.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language

Flavor! I love reading it! I tend to shy away from writing it because as someone who knows another language, it never feels natural to me to throw it in. Pet names are a nice way to use it, and I'll allude to speaking other languages in descriptions, but it's difficult so I tend to not add it much in my stories.

19. First fandom you wrote for

Gundam Wing when I was about eight or nine. Part of my username is in homage to that! My friends and I would write our fanfics and then read them all out loud at sleepovers together. Pre-internet, this was my Tumblr lol.

20. Favorite fic you've written

You know, I love all of my fics a whole damn lot, and my top ones are still hard favs. But I think for a story that came out of my heart in a really nice way and that I hold a little closer than the others, The Plan might just top them a tiny bit.

NP tags: @iamskyereads @psychedelic-ink @julesonrecord @wannab-urs @ezrasbirdie and anyone who wants to play!

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Every week I will post various reviews I've written so far in 2024. You can check out my Goodreads for more up-to-date reviews HERE.

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241. The Discovery by Katherine Applegate--⭐️⭐️⭐️

That poor snake.

I feel torn about this one because while in theory, it was a good addition to the series, something about how the characters were at the end of the book when they had to make a big decision sat wrong with me. Maybe it's because I've been spoiled by their easy decision making, or their teamwork when it comes to important decisions.

BUT then again, I know that these are just kids and they've been thrown into a deadly and near-impossible situation.

I do think it's a very convenient storyline to push through the next couple of books and to teach our Animorphs team a very important lesson about trust and the dangers of war.

In a way, THE DISCOVERY is a sad one. Yes, the poor snake, but it's sad to see the beginning of the end of a type of trust for these kids. And the levels that some people will go in order to survive or deal with their grief.

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242. Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay, this was adorable AF.

I wasn't expecting to love this novella so much, but yes! It was adorable and the tension between the two MCs was palpable. I love that this takes place, for the most part, during one night of bravery since the one MC is incredibly shy and socially anxious.

I loved that even though this is a novella, we had a beautifully fleshed out story of two strangers letting down their insecurities for one night in order to connect. Even though we get hints of said insecurities, they both know the importance of letting themselves love every moment of their night.

My only iffy moment was the main conflict and how easy it could have been to avoid it, but I also understand the fear of something new, especially when you have presented yourself in a certain way instead of who you regularly are. But the ending was cute af and I like that the one character did the work and the other was pleasantly surprised. It was all so satisfying.

If you're looking for a seriously cute and sexy Queer novella, then I think you should 100% add this to your TBR.

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243. The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee--⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was cute, but something about it didn't have me hooked enough to keep me from putting it down often. I did love the rep and was intrigued by the bowling!

I picked this up for a twenty-four hour readathon and while I was hoping it would be a quick read since it's not exactly long, but every time I picked it up it felt like I was swimming uphill. The story itself was fun and cute, with a really unique concept--the bowling was something I haven't seen in a romance novel before--but something about the writing made it feel so bogged down. If it wasn't for me wanting to finish this for a challenge, I might have taken longer reading this or even abandoned it.

I did like the second chance trope and the fact that the one MC essentially had to win back the trust of the other MC. The tension between the two of them was pretty good and it got pretty steamy in some instances. I liked the side characters and how they interacted with the MCs. I do wish we had gotten some poetic justice against the principal. What a dick.

Anyway, this isn't the first teacher sapphic romance I've read, but it IS the first one that just didn't immediately grab me. Oh well, at least the story was still fun?

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244. Pumpkin by Julie Murphy--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Immediately HOOKED!

Okay, I had forgotten how freaking cute these books were, or how well written they were! I loved Pumpkin and his personality. One of the things, I think, that's important when reading this book is to remember that the MC is a teenager. There are high emotions in here, as well as a journey to discovering who the MC is, even if it means being angry with his twin sister.

Also, please, I knew who the love interest would be from the very beginning because it would have been a crime otherwise. These two work so well together, especially because it teaches the MC to not judge others by his prejudices.

The process of how the MC finds what he likes was great and eye-opening. Drag has always been this concept that feels so much bigger than life and I think Murphy wrote a great story of a teen boy finding something that makes him feel whole and happy.

PUMPKIN also tackles that difficult concept of change--especially for teenagers because change can feel like the end of the world for some. Sometimes change can be difficult, but PUMPKIN shows that it's often necessary for growth, even if it makes a person uncomfortable or upset. AND with that concept of "change", comes the other concept of "figuring out what the hell you want to do with your life". It's okay to follow your own path, even if it doesn't look like everyone else's.

Being different is okay and being yourself is beautiful!

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245. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was cute, but I definitely liked THE GOOSE GIRL more!

PRINCESS ACADEMY had that similar way of writing that THE GOOSE GIRL had and that made me really excited. Something about Hale's fantasy writing feels so easy, but in the best way. Her stories flow so well and have a way of capturing my attention. Maybe it's the straightforward way of writing the situations, or if it's the personable MCs, but I love these fantasy stories.

I liked the MC in this one because she was pretty dimensional. She wasn't just a girl who was fighting for the attention of a prince, she was someone who acknowledged that she had a past before going to the academy. She was also kind and empathetic, but also rebellious in her own way. I loved her connection to her small village and the magic that can be found in that connection.

I also loved how Hale handled the prince situation and the ending. I kind of saw it coming, but it also still surprised me. Also, the level of trust and friendship that grows between the girls throughout the book was great. I think it's a great thing for younger readers to read so they know that even in the most difficult of situations, you can still make unexpected friendships.

I'd recommend this for anyone who loves the classics like A LITTLE PRINCESS, since this has that magical feeling of friendship, family, and an MC who refuses to let go of her caring personality.

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246. Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji--⭐️⭐️⭐️

When I first finished SHUT UP YOU'RE PRETTY, I was in a haze trying to come to terms with what I had read. On one hand, there were some pretty powerful moments where the MC realizes her worth and who she is as a person. On the other hand, however, this book just made me so incredibly uncomfortable. And as I finally write this review, I'm left with that icky feeling of discomfort.

I do, however, think it's important to acknowledge the great representation of that toxic friendship that verges on one's own sexual discovery. We never see into the best friend's mind during these sexually explicit times in their childhoods (ugh), but in their actions together we see two girls who are both seemingly escaping from either abusive lives and or that feeling of inequality that comes from being the "ugly" friend of a duo. That part hit me extra hard since my teen years and a good chunk of my twenties was full of me repressing my sexuality and being best friends with the "prettier white girl". It was a cycle that was hard to break and seeing the MC being pulled back in a few times until we never hear about the best friend again was lowkey triggering.

And we see how this lingers with the MC as she goes through an eating-disorder, body-issues, and a lack of self-appreciation in some of her relationships. The title is apt because this girl was verbally abused about her looks from a young age and despite her "physical change" as an adult, that young girl who was told she was ugly still lingers with her throughout her adulthood.

The lower rating was for the incredibly creepy things these two best friends did when they were younger and how it was described. The rest of the short stories were pretty powerful and a great exploration of how childhood trauma and grief can really change the trajectory of a life and how a person ends up seeing themselves and their worth for the rest of their lives.

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247. Land of No Regrets by Sadi Muktadir--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love stories like LAND OF NO REGRETS because it explores the coming-of-age side of boyhood. The silly pranks, the moments of self-discovery, the naive perceptions of the world around them, and that hope that there has to be more/an escape from their current lives.

Muktadir's book was, of course, a harder to read version of that coming-of-age trope because these boys dealt with some serious abuse in this school. It showed the extremity of some branches of religion and how some parents will do anything to ensure that their children end up the way they want them to (without considering the fact that these children have their own autonomies). As a result, this was a great and tragic fable of a childhood stolen by parents' inability to understand that children are not extensions of themselves (among other things).

I really enjoyed the way LAND OF NO REGRETS was presented. It felt episodic and like we were being shown the most important points leading to that hell of a conclusion. We have the misadventures and the different people the characters meet. We see alliances form, and identities be challenged. They weren't short stories, but they were like snippets of a young life lived in a toxic and abusive environment.

And while religion is definitely an important topic in this book, I think this was more about the extremist side of religion and we hella know that all religions have their extreme nature. I liked that the MC still found his voice and questioned all that he could.

LAND OF NO REGRETS was poignant, powerful, and a bittersweet exploration of boyhood and the consequences of over-the-top expectations and what could happen when control becomes a weapon and self-expression/moral freedom is put into question.

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248. Napkins & Other Distractions by M.A. Wardell--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Honestly, this author never misses. Wardell knows what he's doing and in this one, he doesn't hold anything back.

NAPKINS & OTHER DISTRACTIONS was such a sweet addition to this series. I think these characters are the oldest I've read in romance and it was great seeing them get their happy ever afters! This also introduced a sexual concept to me that I didn't even know existed, so that was eye-opening.

I loved the character dynamics and how they were each others' safe place, even when they felt those moments of insecurity. The representation of OCD was interesting and I feel like I learned a lot about the topic (I didn't know a lot more than the stereotypical information beforehand). I found the older MC so sweet in his treatment of his love interest. Let's not even forget to mention the level of respect between these two characters!

AND OF COURSE, that SPICE. Holy crap, this was a spicy one. I loved it, but it had even me blushing a bit. These two have a very healthy and active sexual connection and PHEW. Please. Excuse me, I need to get a glass of water.

My one negative might be the conflict and how it was handled (even if it was brief), but I DID love how it was resolved. I just think that for a couple that communicates so well, a part of the conflict was a bit of communication.

Other than that, I loved this book like I did the other two in this series! I am craving a re-read, but I don't know when it will happen because it's almost that time of the year when all I want to read are horror books…

Anyway, LOVED and highly recommend this series to everyone who loves beautiful relationships, spicy chemistry, and the cutest couples around.

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249. Delinquent Daddy & Sweet Teacher Vol. 4 by Tama Mizuki--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Devoured, as always.

I love this series so much and I'm so happy we got a new volume! In this one explores insecurities that can sometimes come up in relationships we think we don't deserve. I liked how these two characters worked through that and communicated, while also moving forward in their relationship.

There isn't much I can't say because of spoilers and it's further into the series, but this was just as cute as before. Even as things start to change and get a bit more serious when their secret relationship moves that forward step into maybe not being as secret.

I'm excited to see what's next for this couple! I'm loving their growth, not just as a couple but their independent growth as characters.

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Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

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Happy reading!

[facewithoutheart]

Thanks for the tag @valeffelees & @hushed-chorus!

Me & writing keep fighting… I’ll talk a bit about it under the break for those of you who are curious. Otherwise, here’s a bit of my exchange fic I wrote yesterday that brought me joy:

Daphne blew me a kiss, already on her way up to the fifth floor. “You’re a saint, Basil!”

After waving her goodbye, I picked up Sophie with a faked groan, settling her on my hip. “Let’s see you attack my shin, now.”

She kicked air with a grin on her face.

“That’s right,” I booped her nose. “Thwarted.”

Petra pulled at my pant leg. “What’s,” her eyes crossed as she forced the pronunciation, “‘thwarted’ mean?”

“It means I have seen Sophie’s plot,” I tickled her stomach to draw out giggles, “and have mightily stopped it.”

“What about my plot, Baz? Huh?” Petra tugged on my jeans. “Thwart my plot!”

If only Simon could hear her, I thought as I reached down and pulled Petra onto my other hip.

Let’s all take a moment to picture Baz with a twin on each hip, wearing jeans, and laughing.

Amen.

Tagging @annabellelux, @im-gettingby, @captain-aralias, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @martsonmars, @sillyunicorn, @scone-lover, @stitchyqueer, @forabeatofadrum, @thewholelemon, @raenestee, @onepintobean, @technetiumai, @palimpsessed, @tea-brigade, @bazzybelle, @larkral, @ileadacharmedlife, @johnwgrey, @artsyunderstudy, @cutestkilla, @fatalfangirl, @whatevertheweather, @moodandmist, @shrekgogurt, @skeedelvee, @aristocratic-otter, @ivelovedhimthroughworse & anyone else who wants to share ❤️

Sharing because I know it can be heartening to not be alone in writing troubles. Lately I’ve been fighting two problems: interest and flow.

Interest… the trouble with having written a lot is that I’m now really unmotivated to write anything that isn’t “a good enough story to tell”. (According to my fickle brain and attention span.) And the trouble with that is… I don’t seem to want to tell any stories right now. It’s something I’m trying to work on, and something @artsyunderstudy wrote in a fanfiction ask game answer about how she decides what to write has really been sticking with me. So, thanks Ashton 😘 that answer has really helped even though tumblr won’t let me link it 😤.

Flow… I’ve always been a chronic editor and I’m constantly thinking of ways to sharpen and enhance my writing. But editing mid-flow is the quickest way to kill creativity. Judgement doesn’t deserve time in the creation space but I can’t seem to keep it out. I think if I can fix problem one though, it’ll help with problem two. Like. If I’ve got something compelling enough to say maybe I won’t get bogged down so much in the weeds trying to say it.

And actually writing this out has helped me, ha ha. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS. OH, I’m a writer but it wouldn’t help me to actually write about why I’m having trouble writing. It’s not like I routinely process my life using words. Oh no. 🙄.

[wandringaesthetic]

Gonna be a niche hater for a minute.

If you look at top JRPG lists or classic JRPG lists or ask around for recommendations, some guy is always going to recommend Lunar. And I played Lunar Silver Star Story in like.... 2018 or so. (I tried to play it a couple of times years before this and quit a few hours in so this might be an object lesson in not powering through things solely because they come highly recommended)

And other than some very nice pixel art backdrops there is imo absolutely nothing to recommend about it. Like I guess your corrupted girlfriend the evil empress is an interesting enough idea. It looked really nice and I suppose was somewhat ambitious if (IF!) you were playing it on the Sega CD in 1992 but 99% of the time the version of this game people are gassing up is the PlayStation version. Were people that dazzled by voice acting in 1999? It's not good voice acting. The anime cutscenes look kinda bad? There is nothing about the plot or the gameplay or the characters that stood out to me. Bog standard. Boring. Charmless. Unfun. I can only assume this is a conspiracy of ancient and bitter Sega fanboys.

I played a bunch of old turn based RPGs at about the same time as I played Lunar. Dragon Quest I thru V? Immortal classics. Phantasy Star IV? SUCH cool setting and presentation. The first Wild Arms? Kinda basic with just enough unique ideas and early PS1 charm to keep me interested. Mother 3? I feel I am not getting out of it what its greatest fans are getting out of it, but if I squint my eyes I can see the vision. Lufia I and II? Well, knowing just how much they're riffing on Dragon Quest now brings them down a couple pegs but they're still very cute and II has those puzzles and whole second game in the form of optional early infinite procedurally generated dungeon.

But THIS? The disparity between this game and the way people talk about it and the games they mention in the same breath has me ??????? Are we even looking at the same thing? Why would you recommend this game in the year of our Lord 2024 I cannot understand.

[ripplestitchskein]

I have finished Arcane so I wanted to sum up my thoughts and take aways not necessarily from a “I need to tell the world my opinions, they must know!” But more educational, “Here are things I enjoyed I will use in my own work, or things I didn’t I will try to avoid”.

Bear in mind I do not play this game, I knew nothing about it or about the characters, even tangentially. I watched it because my son said I would enjoy it, and overall I did. Very much so. There was a lot to like, really solid storytelling, very rich characterizations and emotional weight given to every major beat, but the elements I didn’t like were also extremely prevalent. Some of this is down to me not necessarily being the target audience, and being perhaps a generation or maybe even two removed from that audience. As always this just my opinion. I am not an authority on anything. Any criticism towards an aspect you liked is not a reflection on you, etc etc. Mostly I write these to talk about things I learned from it or disliked that I want to avoid in my own work.

This is long as fuck as usual but some people like that about me. Obviously there be spoilers ahead but they are under a cut.

Right out of the gate I want to commend the writing. The arc structure they used was extremely effective. There were no huge major plot holes that jumped out to me. The stuff that was easy to predict wasn’t unsatisfying when it eventually played out because it was setup so well either narratively or through emotional impact.

I remain stalwart in my belief that you do not need insane twists and turns or elaborate payoffs if that payoff is both satisfying and executed in a way that is true to the story and characters. Clever audience members who are paying attention SHOULD be able to put the pieces of the puzzle you are dropping together. It doesn’t make it less enjoyable that they might have guessed what would happen. There’s an entire hobby of people putting together puzzles while looking at the pictures on the box and still finding enjoyment in the activity. I am also really good at pattern recognition. This is not a brag but rather a lovely bonus of my neurodivergence, it creates problems in my life in other ways constantly. The benefit is that I almost always know the rough shape of what is going to happen in a show or book, or at least have some idea on the general form, even if I don’t have the details, and look here I am so enamored with stories and the telling of them I pen tumblr novellas to them.

Maybe if I rewatched I would pick some plot holes or weak areas to nitpick but my rule of thumb is that if I don’t question it on an initial viewing it was communicated effectively enough. I don’t need all the details or there do be a plausible physics or psychology based reason for everything to enjoy a story. Most people don’t.

It’s a good lesson for writing in general: you don’t need to get bogged down in the details if you pay off the major beats, tie up loose ends, trust your audience to fill in the blanks, and it’s realistic enough in the world you’ve built to not leave your audience going HOW?? The world was fantastical enough and left enough mystery that it’s easy to hand wave and not feel let down as a viewer/reader.

I enjoyed the different magic or power systems in play. I know a lot of that is from the game but they did a great job grounding it in the world and making it part of the overall societal concerns. The visual representations of the different power sources was also really well done.

The characters were most importantly given TIME to process and experience emotions. And had enough “here is why you should care about this” moments to really MAKE you care. Their relationships with each other were given just as much weight as the overarching plot and the fight sequences. A great balance struck there.

The main weak points for me were the nebulous time skips, characters that were probably game characters that were just cameos and no substance, some eye rolley plot armor, and a rather lot of ping ponging back and forth for characters without any really good catalysts for the change. And of course the horrible fucking musical choices.

The biggest writing related weakness overall for me was Jayce and his motivations. He has a very default character kind of vibe and I don’t know if that’s because of the source material or not.

In one scene Jayce would declare one course of action and then in the next he flips for no narratively or characterization declared reason. My boyfriend summed it up as “the last person he talked to is now his whole personality”. This may have been intentional, maybe that is what they wanted but it had the effect of making me go “Why would you listen to this character you have very few ties with instead of these characters you do?”

His interactions with Vi and Mel were my biggest like “Why are we doing this?” Moments, but overall I found him very frustrating. He was mostly the character you yell at for being incredibly stupid for no reason than the plot requires it. We could chalk this up to characterization, wishy washiness and being influenced on a dime as a character trait, but because they developed him so weakly, and didn’t really explore much beyond surface level he was largely a plot device when he could have been as fully fleshed out as the others with just a few focus shifts. Give us more about his family’s diminished position in society when they built the city, the legacy he feels like has to restore etc, give us good reasons why he listens to the people he listens to, give us more about his and Victor’s work together to flesh him and their dynamic out a bit more. The relationships he hinged these decisions on and his past were mostly just dialogue drops or lost to a time skip, we really only see the rescue of his mother who was irrelevant and flat.

I was satisfied with where he ended up but getting there was frustrating, where the same sort of back and forth with Jinx and Vi wasn’t, because for them we had a lot more context and emotional resonance to explain their frequent shifts.

There were several characters emphasized or given screen time too without explanation as well. This is something all these “based on a game or other property” projects have, a larger context that audiences members who don’t follow the original source are excluded from. Like reading a fanfic for a show you don’t watch, there are things the writer might include that have importance in the source material but you don’t have the details of. However this is a show for general audiences and while you can have cameos and little nods to source content they should not be critical to understanding. The show was effective at this overall but there were several moments where my partner and I would dully look at each other and go “Oh, is this a game thing?”

Plot armor isn’t something I usually buy into as a criticism because a story isn’t enjoyable if the characters just die because it would be more “realistic” for them to do so. Usually it’s levied at characters or halves of ships that are disliked and not dying soon enough for the criticizer. There will ALWAYS be some level of plot armor for focus characters who need to make it to an end point, but some scenarios in this show stretched credulity. A problem in this same vein was an overuse of coincidence or contrivance to drive action or get the characters what they need to overcome an obstacle or get them to a location. It’s a natural consequence of needing to get your characters in a certain place, achieving a certain result, or sharing time with a character they otherwise wouldn’t but not establishing it ahead of time. Largely they did a good job of this but there were several “Oh they just happened to be there?” “Good thing that just happened to be there” Type moments.

And my biggest criticism: the music choices. My fucking god. To be clear, I do not mean the original scoring, that was fine. There were also a couple of voiced songs that fit the scene or character well, but MOST of them were so cringey it made my shoulders itch. They were very “high schooler making fan vids of their “epic game play, favorite ship, blorbo”. Nothing wrong with that as a pastime, but in a show with a story like this it took me out of those scenes because I was laughing and cringing too hard. This is a show based on a video game franchise so I understand more than I would a property that wasn’t but it was also just like really awful to experience. It made me embarrassed FOR them. If I never hear Imagine Dragons again I’ll die happy.

Things I loved in no particular order (spoilers):

1. Viktor. Everything about him was solid. I was so compelled by his storyline.

2. Viktor/Jayce. The final Viktor and Jayce arc really helped fixed my dislike of Jayce as a character and I am a sucker for Howl’s Moving Castle romantic time based shenanigans. It was really lovely. I wish they had been developed more outside of the immediate plot but that’s what fanfic is for I guess.

3. Ekko - he was threaded through this entire story so well. His tip off being the catalyst for everything and the use of his control of time to help fix it was really well done, even though it was very telegraphed it was still executed in a way that was fun to watch. His focus episode was so sweet.

4. Silco and Silco and Jinx’s relationship was SO FUCKING GOOD. The voice acting omg, his characterization, his design. I loved him probably the most out of anything. I genuinely cried over him and Jinx. I cannot say enough about how much I loved him.

5. Vi and Caitlyn are cuuuuute. I felt like some stuff was a little rushed in their development but hard to tell if I just wanted more ship content or genuinely it was too fast for the intial feelings development.

6. The third episode. It was amazingly done. There were several hold your breath moments in the show but this episode was like “Oh nooooo”. It was a REALLY strong opening arc in general tbh.

7. The world building was really fun.

8. The story was cohesive. It seemed very well planned out across the 2 seasons, there was virtually no disconnect between them which is rare.

9. Most of the art. There were some beautiful shots in this show and great colorization. I liked the art style most of the time, sometimes the animation moved in ways that was unsettling, uncanny valley territory which is why I say most.

10. The characters and their development in general, aside from previous stated issues. Most of them were so well done. They were fleshed out and complex and archetypal in the best ways. And it was a very female led show which we like to see.

11. Jinx and Sevika’s relationship growth. I loved Sevika a lot too.

So yeah, a genuinely enjoyable ride that I while I probably won’t examine much further unless something major comes up I will probably enjoy some of the fic and fanart for.

[roseofhybrids]

Here's my idea for Uzi's human family for your human Uzi AU

I have 3 ideas

1. Khan finds Uzi inside the factory from episode 6.

He was in a factory because he wanted to take some stuff that could be useful and maybe to impress Nori. While looking for some stuff he finds her human parents dead. Her human parents were living in the factory after core collapsed and they survided. But after a while they were killed by sentinels. Khan was about leave after he sees her dead human parents until he heard Uzi cooing and laughing. When he hears her, he finds her hidden under the desk in the box. He also finds out that Uzi's original name was Susie by her name bracelet but was scratched a bit. As he was about to leave with her the sentinels attack which leads to wild goose chase but they manage to get out alive.

This was inspired by one scene in Tarzan movie how Kala found baby Tarzan

2. Her human parents accidentally left her behind.

Her human parents and other human survives had escaped through escape pods before core collapsed. They were about to leave but they couldn't get their daughter on time. As they flew and watched the core collapse they were devastated thinking that tgeir daughter was dead. But she wasn't and was eventually found by Khan, Nori or both

I think about how you can make the squad go to the planet where the rest of the humans are alive or make humans come to copper 9 to help the squad. And maybe maybe her humans parents see their daughter after so long or her relatives find her

You can make her human good or bad or make her parents good and her relatives bad guys or reversed

3. Her human parents are dead but have relatives

The same thing as the second one. You can make Uzi ask tons of questions about how were her parents like or something. I also think that humans would tell her about human stuff and how they work since she barely knows anything about her kind. You can make her relatives good guys or bad guys.

I'm quite curious how would her human family react to her being raised by drones

Anyway that's all. I really hope to see a fanfic about this au or a fanart. I really love this au. I had the same idea.

Also please tell me what do you think please

The first one could fit pretty well with the cyropod situation we talked about earlier. With Nori and Khan finding her down, there be it in a cyropod or with the deceased parents like you say. If the discovery location was moved from the bunker pods to the labs. It could give Uzi another reason to eventually go there, and make for an interesting scene as she sees where her parents found her.

As for having her humans parents still alive/having living blood relatives. I think it depends on how one chooses to weave them into the story. Because if they don't tie into the main plot enough, then you risk bogging things down with the side plot.

That being said, with how she views the human race, it's hard to say whether she'd want anything to do with any human kin she may have.

@the-lost-lights

[animehouse-moe]

Kagura Bachi Chapter 1: Mission

At this point, I'm sure everybody's seen all the memes and jokes about Kagura Bachi. #1 New-Gen Shonen manga that's better than God himself, or whatever. A funny joke at times, but a little overdone.

Kagura Bachi would never live up to that hype, but it's also not a series that's going down the gutter right this second. It struggles, as a first time mangaka will, but at the very least has the potential to turn things around. So, let's take a look at this first chapter then and see what it can do.

The art. All the teaser images you've seen around make it look surprisingly good, and in some places it is. But the default? It's not really that good. It's not awful, but it's far from something you'll routinely comment on.

Simple designs, simple faces, and not a lot that changes about them. Honestly, I'd put it on the same level as the Fantasy Bishoujo manga that I talked about earlier, but even then I think the average quality of the art in Kagura Bachi can struggle to keep pace. Anyways, it certainly doesn't hold a candle to other recent SJ additions. Not awful to be at the bottom of the pack, but the art itself certainly isn't an immediate selling point for readers.

Diving further into the art and style, same-face is a real struggle with the shape and designs of characters. Eyebrows and pupil/iris shapes are some of the main ways the mangaka forces distinction between their characters. Truthfully, it's not something that's a deal breaker by any means, but just points to the struggles of an early on artist (though it's not like I can really say anything when I can't draw to save my life).

A more important issue however is the action. It's got solid layouts and ideas, but the choreography can feel.. plain. Not a bad thing, but you need art that can fill those gaps, that can provide pace and movement within. Kagura Bachi does not have the benefit of art that can help with that. And so, because of that, the action ends up stuff, and even lackluster.

Well, I suppose that's enough about the art, let's talk story.

... it's essentially on the same page as the art. Some good, some bad, lotta mediocre. Bog standard revenge plot meets unique but highly underutilized power system.

Chihiro is the son of a famous blacksmith, at some point his father dies and Chihiro is out for revenge against an organization of sorcerers that, we as readers assume, are the ones that killed his father. But Chihiro's just a boy, how could he go up against sorcerers? Well, he's got some special katanas from his departed father.

Very typical, no? Which I think is a shame, because the chapter deeply limits itself. It starts with the story stating that "only" Chihiro has magically imbued Katanas, but anyone with half a brain knows that as the series goes on, villains will wield similar katanas as well. To clarify, we know that Chihiro's father has made more than just the katanas that Chihiro has. The core of the gripe is that only Chihiro's father was able to create them, and that there's no information about how many there are or who might wield them (spoiler, it's gonna be all the bad guys).

The second, and more problematic issue is how the power system is approached. It separates sorcery from the katanas themselves, which is a painful mistake. The magic should be tied to the swords, it would make for a way better power system to explore. Swords vs magic has been done a thousand times over, so I'm just not thrilled to see its opportunity squandered.

That's not where it ends though. Despite being a magic sword, and despite readers knowing, thanks to earlier exposition, that it has the ability to "ward off evil", the manifestation of that ability is... to turn the sword black and slash people really hard.

I really can't get more disappointed than this. You lead with this super cool visual of the goldfish that the katana is imbued with, and you follow with a single slash. Not even a fancy one. Just a big, fat, shonen manga slash.

So, at the end of it all. There'll be an audience for this type of story, there always is. Violent revenge plot centered around black haired swordsman fighting non-sword wielding enemies. About as generic as you could make it, really. I just hope that the mangaka sees the potential that they wield and changes it up. Different schools centered around various imbued properties. Allowing Chihiro the use of sorcery to attempt to create his own blades. Distancing itself from the revenge plot. The art will undoubtedly grow and improve if the series is allowed to live, but in these early chapters.... well it's now or never for shifting the focus of the story. It has the ability to go the distance, but by the hand of the mangaka, the story is going down a path that will destroy its potential.

[the-mspfa-200-favourites-project]

BENEVIOLENT

The “hits” (comics I have wanted to read for a long time and only now am getting around to them) just keep on coming. Next up, another webcomic I am sure to be an interesting read, BENEVIOLENT, AKA, the SBURBVENTURE daring (and mad enough) to try and pull off a Cherub Session. Because, like, it’s all well and good to use humans as your main species for a SBURBventure, or to use Trolls or a mix of both as the species, but come on. That’s trite. Cliché. Cherubs, though? Aha, now we’re talking! Because the lore behind Cherubs is contradictory, conflicting, and conflict-driven, whoever would set out to create such a Sburbventure must surely be both bold and mad.

Bold and Mad enough to start off their entire fanadventure with a “look, this is about to get weird” disclaimer? Yes, because that’s how Beneviolent starts off. Pretty interesting prose already on display here, not sure how I feel about trying to offload taking no responsibility for the thing you have wrought, but whatever, I’ll see how I feel about it at the end of my journey. Also, a little off-putting is like, the fact that they refer to it as an “autism-fueled fanfic” which is like. That’s a red flag to me, for sure. But I’m at least a little bit interested in seeing where this goes.

Btw, in case I hadn’t said this already in any other public forum, this blog or otherwise, the “you (x)” gags that you might find in these comics are absolutely hilarious every time they come up, and this time is no exception. Also, Idle thought, but I wonder if you could comb over my notes/reviews and, utilizing what I have said to be what I enjoy in those, conjure a fanadventure that I would consider to be, hands down, the best fanadventure of all time, bar none. I guess that’s literally what I *should* be doing when I next write a fanadventure. But that’s in the future I guess and this is now so let’s get back to reading this webcomic.

You know, I’m going to be honest. So far this seems like a bog standard, meme-cultured, irony poisoned webcomic. I was thinking something a little more…trickster-ish? Like, the Trickster Act from Homestuck? That kind of thing? Like, doing the Trickster thing but unironically and having lots of color and light and sound and random video games and just off-the-wall dialogue and just. No sense of toning down whatsoever. I was picturing more that, and less like…some random character bumbling around in their room. I’ve seen a lot of that before now. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m starting to lose focus and get bored of these vacant shenanigans, and also am starting to feel repulsed by this story because I have a feeling that a lot of the idiosyncrasies of the prose is not going to change when we do change to the other half of the cherub. I wouldn’t recommend this one personally.