#because i have more opinions on the pacing/ writing/ animation/ etc

[lordshroom]

Tales of the TMNT first viewing review: both non-spoiler and spoiler (underneath the cut, nothing major, but if you're avoiding all spoilers, skip over it).

Non spoiler- Very cute! The animation is gorgeous, and the action is dynamic and really fun. All the characters are entertaining and it's funny. If you liked the movie, you should check out the show.

SPOILERS!

Seriously, if you're avoiding spoilers but like clicking buttons, scroll down now. Or if you're on a laptop, you can hit "J" and go to the next post :)

Ok spoilers- I like the first six episodes more than the last six. The turtle's being "alone" was done much better there. I like all the new characters introduced and really enjoyed how they handled the legacy characters. It had a lot of birds and I liked that a lot.

It felt more like two ( and I mean this in the most affection way possible ) direct-to-DVD sequels. Like, here's some fun side stuff while we work on the next movie. It's doesn't have any deep character moments or really explore the world that deeply, but it was fun and I enjoyed it a lot. Again, the animation was really spectacular. Shout out to them, punching Bad Bernie and Lee doing anything I love her. Definitely worth a watch for the visuals alone.

So yeah, very cool beans, and I look forward to the new mutant mayhem stuff.

[smoochhyuka]

omg can you do soobin nsfw alphabet? im in love with your taehyun work

AHHHHHH!! Thank you so much!! My first commissions, I am so excited I immediately started writing because I took the time to write rn anyway lol. I definitely plan on writing an NSFW alphabet for the other three as well, in the future, but I have three Riize drafts and one Tyun draft rn TT. Feel free to request the next member for the alphabet, or other stuff (prompts, MTL, etc...) for Riize and Tubatu, and I'll get to it as soon as I am able to!

Soobin NSFW alphabet

Baby baby baby baby boy

-> Yeonjun Beomgyu Taehyun Hueningkai

○o。content warnings! NSFW, fem!reader, mention of hair pulling, oral m! and f! receiving, lingerie, edging, perv!Soobin, sex toys, mention of anal (m! and f! receiving), mention of marriage, pussy hair, mention of bondage, very brief mention of derogatory language, edited for spelling

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Immediately asleep, knocks out like a light bulb. He barely manages to pull out and climb off of you, and he's done for. The issue is that you couldn't clean up, either, because he pulls you into a tight hug you can't escape from. More often than not, is condom falls off in the middle of the night because he left it on.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

For himself, he really likes his hair, he thinks fluffy and a little longer hair compliments him so much. Another perk is how obsessed you are with it. The way you sometimes braid his hair while cuddling, how you ruffle it when you call him cute, the way you pull it when he eats you out...

The Soobie Boobie Toobie agenda strikes hard. He loves your boobs, doesn't matter if they're small or big, or if they may sag a little, he doesn't care, as long as you're pushing them up in a cute lace bra every time he takes you out for dinner, for him to look at. <3

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

His cum is very watery, almost completely transparent. He comes kinda... discretely? You never notice he is about to cum unless he tells you. Except for a little leg shake, his composure doesn't change, his breathing doesn't pick up, his pace doesn't increase, his groans don't get louder... He just busts, and you're left there, surprised, cum on your titties...

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He watched too many dirty animes and watched a few too many thirst traps during 2020 unfortunately... nothing turns him on more than the thought of you in a maid dress, bringing him tea and biscuits and sucking him off under the table, addressing him as Soobin-sama. Will take this dirty secret to his grave!!! (or you just go get drunk with him and ask him about his dirty secrets, will spill anything, guaranteed)

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

No because maybe unpopular opinion but I think he had a girlfriend or two before you. It was never very serious, though, it was just a hormonal teen relationship to get away with fooling around a little bit. Therefore, there are a lot of things he hasn't tried yet.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

He likes every position in which he can see a.) your tits and b.) your face. Missionary and cowgirl are the two top ones, doggy in front of a mirror is also fine and dandy.

G = Goofy (are they more serious at the moment? Are they humorous? etc.)

He tends to be on the more serious side, letting his hot guy persona show. If you're someone who cracks jokes, he will laugh at them, but don't expect any comments in return. He might tease you in a way that could potentially make you laugh, but it's not intentionally a joke. He tends to get more emotional, telling you sweet things or confessing his deeper feelings to you.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? Does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Tends to not care about shaving. He just lets it grow until it's too much for his liking, then he would shave it off completely in one go so he can, again, not care for a few weeks. After a few months of dating he will ask you, very shyly and very embarrassed, how you like it and will adapt from then on.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

In all honesty, I don't see him to be intentionally romantic. He's not someone who lights candles or prepares a bubble bath every time you guys do it. He is unintentionally romantic, though, as already mentioned he turns quite sappy, being romantic in the way he talks to you or handles you. Always asks for consent when trying something new, checking up on you if you get quiet. <3

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

LOVES masturbating together, you two just sit in your bed, fully nude and watch the other. It feels so dirty to him, so intimate in a way regular sex just doesn't feel like. It's also a great way to edge as foreplay, the feeling of sinking into your drenching, sensitive pussy after half an hour of this is as close to entering heaven as it could possibly get.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

I think Soobin is kind of a closeted perv, he'd be into any sort of sex toy, be it for you or for him. If it's late at night, he's barely awake, but you're begging to have sex with him, he won't shy away from using a womanizer on you. The following is husband!Soobin territory right now, but he'd definitely enjoy having a vibrating plug up his ass while fucking you, or being tied up and being edged with a vibrator.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

It's not that he necessarily has an exhibitionism kink, or a specific preference for a place that is not the confinements of your bedroom, it's just that he doesn't care a lot? If he wants it, and you want it, and you're somewhere else, it's not going to stop him really.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Likes it if you're being bold with him. You can either ask him straight up (doesn't need to be phrased sexily, a simple "Let's fuck" is enough to grind his gears) or just walk around in something sexy or just fully nude, he'll follow you like a puppy. Just in general, gets horny when you're horny, and if you're not in the mood, he loses his motivation as well.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

As already mentioned, he won't want to do it if you don't want to, he is not the type to try to change your mind or try to get you horny.

There are barely any no-gos with him, a perv like him will try most things if you're into them (he might even discover new kinks through you). It needs to be something seriously disgusting or illegal to be an instant no.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Prefers receiving by a tinie tiny bit, mainly because he can see your face and boobs while you give him head.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

He is fairly rough, fast and deep thrusts are the standard with him, especially at the beginning of your relationship. If you prefer it slower, you can tell him and he will adapt. It's just that he's excited, you feel so good, he can't help himself. <3 Even if you don't mention anything, he will get more slow and sensual overtime, especially as his feeling for you deepen.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

no.1 fan, the quickie invented itself for him, actually. Tied to what I mentioned during L, if you're both in the mood you'll do it, regardless of location OR your time limit. He's not afraid to be a little bit late to something to be able to pound into your pussy, so be it! Long sex is usually reserved for after dates or special situations, like an anniversary or if one of you is going through a tough time.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Definitely a risk-taker, tied to my very personal perv!Soobin agenda. The worst thing that can happen is a moment of embarrassment and if the sex was good he'd gladly pay that price. The only thing he won't risk though is your relationship, e.g. he won't have a threesome with someone you are close to, or someone he knows has a crush on you. Or something that could hurt you physically (not talking about little bruises, an injury that could drive a wedge between you and him).

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Doesn't have a lot of stamina! If he cums once, it's usually light out with this guy. Sometimes you can squeeze a second one out of him if you're determined, but that's it. He always makes sure that you cum lots, and that you have a good time before he does, because he knows he has bad stamina.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Already mentioned this during K, but yeah, you own every toy in the book. If a new one is currently trending or even completely new on the market, he'll get it ASAP. Of course, you have your favorites that earned their spot in your nightstand, but the rest aren't necessarily collecting dust either.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

A little bit of a tease, might use some lightly derogatory language if you're into that, or denies you an orgasm (or two) but he's not mean in bed, he loves you too much and wants you both to enjoy it. (Besides, he prefers it if you tease him...)

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Groaner! Grunter! Might even whine if you do it right, or if you have been edging for a while. He very rarely moans (aka only with a toy up his ass), therefore he isn't very loud. This beneficial since you fuck in the weirdest places.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Has a thing for pussy hair and thinks it's cute if you shave it in specific patterns or styles. His favorite was the heart you deliberately shaved for Valentine's Day. He also has a certain admiration for a full bush.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Big. Monstrous. Humungus. I have a more detailed explanation here. Lots of foreskin and small balls in comparison.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Fairly high, but he easily adapts to you. He isn't going to pass away if you go a week or two without it, but prefers to do it regularily and tends to miss it easily.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

immediately, snorring like zzzzz. He won't let you leave either, if you need to pee, hold it in!

[gamegirlx]

HEAR HEAR!!! LMK S5 SPOILERS!

i, as an individual human being with free speech, have just finished the fifth season of monkie kid, thus i have THOUGHTS that must be shared.

OK BUT TO QUICKLY ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WORRYING ABOUT FOR THE LONGEST TIME- THE ANIMATION.

it's... ok!

if anything, I GOTTA SAY, they are doing they're best! and it shows!

like okay, ofc the older seasons get better animation but like bro YOU GOTTA GIVE IT TO THIS ANIMATION STUDIO for sOmEwhAt keeping up with the animation!

One of the things I noticed is how they actually improve aimating the characters throughout the episodes, and that's pretty epic!

NOW, i wanna address the writing of s5!

It takes a moment of pondering and such for me to cooperate my thoughts into a neat paragraph of words but ALRIGHT-

The concept IS GREAT. The execution??? eh.

the first half of the show was OK, nothing more, nothing less.

the SECOND HALF of the show, now, they were cooking some really epic scenes, interesting concepts, damn good character interactions that *COULD'VE*, i say, COULD'VE been good, IF ONLY THE PACING was better.

here are some random nitpicks i have:

goofy ahh medusa monkie kid oc villian reveal was underwhelming, bruh- NOW HE'S COOL AND ALL, bro's got the sassiest voice ever oh fOR REAL THOUGH, BUT maaaannnn, he def could've used WAY MORE BUILDUP in the first five episodes of the season

that one samadhi fire episode with red son and mei was unneccesary, i think it exists just for dragonfruit content but in term's of shipping, the interactions between mei and red son weren't even that fluffy or romantic. :(

there are quite a few loopholes and, like, exxagerated moments that could've been fixed if the writers just paid more attention to, like ehhhhhh, u'll see moments here and now where the characters are kinda dumb for not doing this or that, etc

the writing and climaxes in past seasons were DEFINETLY better than season six, but okay lemme just say tho, maybe im coping real hard but HEAR ME OUT !!!

SEASON FIVE IS GOOD ENOUGH.

Ya'll shouldn't ghost this season just because the animation looks worse.

This is kinda like a Monkie Kid S1 situation, in which the show was still finding it's animation groove and the story was still in it's early cooking stages but LOOK AT WHERE S1 GOT US (psst psst s2-s4 were FIRE.)

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION,

i believe that the story buildup for the upcoming sEASON SIX of monkie kid will be fricking epic.

ah aH AH- NOT TO MENTION that the animators will inevitably improve, too!

I SAY, GUYS, instead of dumping this show and roasting it for it's so-so season 5, i say we support the team and the show! Let's show the cast and crew that monkie kid is WORTH investing the time into making better! BECAUSE MONKIE KID IS A GREAT ANIMATED SHOW.

AND LIKE GUYS i haven't even mentioned the silly little stuff i like about this show!

(those will be for future rants fr)

NEVERTHELESS. i've stated my case. please spread the word that SEASON FIVE OF MONKIE KID SHOULD BE WATCHED.

and i thank you.

[imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this]

Some early thoughts on Arcane S2

Just a few thoughts on the 1st Act of the new season. No strong commitments or opinions just yet, it's still early on in the story. I'll start with what I especially liked, then cycle into things I'd have liked to see done differently.

Animation

Visually, this season's a step up from the last. I've especially enjoyed the differently-stylized into sequences to each episode (the charcoal-like funeral, the overlords' last supper and the Grey, respectively). I've read some complaints about the music-video-esque treatment of the fights, but I enjoyed that. The music's not my thing, but it fits the steampunk/sci-fi-fantasy aesthetic pretty well.

Vi/Cait

Good to see it become canon! I also like the tragedy they seem to be setting up, and I do like how they wrote their relationship. Again, have read complaints about them getting together and breaking up too quickly, but I think it makes sense - the kiss is a pay-off to almost a season's worth of build-up. The breakup is the result of the gap between the characters' beliefs, conditions and natures. There's always been tension between them, and they're not perfect for each other, so them getting together all at once would not have been believable. Also, since Act 1 sees basically everything uprooted and thrust into chaos, it makes sense for them to make impulsive decisions trying to find comfort. Sure, they're probably not deeply in love, they've known each other for a short time, but they've clearly liked each other for a while. I don't really get where the people that think it's rushed are coming from.

Cait's arc set-up

I really like where it's going! The arc they seem to be setting up looks like it'll be about the effects of grief on perpetuating hatred and violence, which fits right in with the story. I do wonder if they'll attempt to take Cait to the 'extreme' and then bring her back in a sort of redemption arc. It seems like that might be difficult to do after some point. But I'm excited to find out where it's going.

Jinx, Isha and Sevika

Not much to say here, I like how Jinx's family themes continue even after Silco's death. All kinds of nice parallels going on. I like it.

Alright, now for the stuff I'm not so positive on. There's quite a bit, but simply because it is easier to criticize than to praise, especially when S1 has set a very high standard.

Too many plotlines

I've seen people talk about pacing issues, and I do agree, but to me the more fundamental problem (which is the cause of the first) is that this season's juggling too many plotlines. Just the ones that come to mind:

(1) Zaun vs Piltover, undercity uprising (2) Mel and the Black Rose (3) Ambessa's Noxus interference (4) "The Arcane is waking up" (5) Vi, Jinx and Warwick family drama (6) Victor's becoming (7) Vi and Cait relationship drama (8) Singed

My hope is that these will be bettered by uniting some of the plotlines. Victor and the Arcane will probably end up one storyline, same with the Black Rose and Noxus. Still, the story feels over-loaded with STORIES, and not in a very water-tight writing kind of way, but rather in a 'there's too much going on' kind of way. I'm afraid that they will not have enough screentime to set up, develop and pay off all of these, while also doing justice to the character arcs. I might be wrong, we will see.

For now, I feel like they should have cut one of the plotlines above to make more space for the story to breathe. It's also a little thematically messy. There's usually at least a loose thematic connection (family, using magic/science for good/bad, dangers of the arcane, oppression), but sometimes it feels too loose. Again, I'm sure some of this will come with time as we get these 'looser' plots developed, like the Black Rose, Noxus's political interests, etc. Hopefully, they can pay it off right.

A consequence of so much going on is, yes, some moments are not given enough time. This was most evident for me in the Jayce/Viktor goodbye scene. Perhaps it is meant to be underwhelming and this will be relevant later, but as it stands, it's rushed. I've seen someone given another good example, Jayce and Heimer's reunion scene - it should have been tensed with residual conflict, but there's kind of... nothing.

Another consequence is that some characters screentime feels insufficient for their story importance (e.g., Jayce, Viktor, Ekko), while others', excessive (Maddie, the enforcer dudes). Isha's screentime is fine, since she works as a parallel to Powder, and Salo's is also alright because of politics plotline. I've seen some leaks about Maddie which I will not detail here, but I'm not sure that they justify her abundant screentime.

Scale of conflict

I quite dislike the seeming shift away from the core Zaun vs Piltover conflict towards a more 'global' feel. Makes sense for S2 to have a bigger scope, but this is a little too big for my liking. Both the Arcane waking up and the Noxus stuff is very global, and since the show is more about Arcane than about world politics, I would've preferred to have seen the latter cut down in favour of more screentime to the former, as well as main characters from S1.

I also quite dislike the 'let's put aside our political differences to save the world' direction that this all seems to be winding up to, because it kind of puts the more interesting, interpersonal conflict on hold, and takes what I'd consider the 'easy way out' of the moral difficulties of the conflict. I do not know if this is what they will do this season, but it feels like they're edging towards that with the Jayce, Ekko, Heimer and Victor stuff (and possibly the Grey?).

Viktor and Agency

Once again, with so little screentime it's difficult to tell, but the set-up seems to suggest a certain direction here, which I can't say I like. It's unclear whether Viktor is controlled or mind-addled by the Hexcore, but I do dislike the seeming lack of emotion. If he's controlled, it kind of takes away from what S1 was building towards. I do like that Jayce is pushed to use the Hexcore on Viktor (he chooses to do it, despite promising to destroy it), but I feel like the fallout would have been more compelling, especially in terms of Viktor as a character, if he'd seemed more in-control.

They seem to have chosen to go with something else, and I don't doubt they have an idea for his arc, but I wish there'd been more of the original League concept in Arcane's Viktor. As it stands, all the desperation from S1, the anger and helplessness, have sort of... gone, without a good conclusion (I don't really consider Sky's death a good conclusion). Or at least, without one for now. I thought that S1 had been building up to the Machine Herald stuff. Maybe this is an intentional subversion. I've never found Viktor's character to be very compelling, but he was at his best when pushed to desperate measures by his dying body.

This is a matter of personal enjoyment, but I do genuinely hope they bring some emotions back for him, and I really hope he is not controlled by the Hexcore.

[linkspooky]

Just got done with reading your "How To Do a Dark Deconstruction of your Shonen Hero" post, first off amazing work as always! As much as it pains me to hear (good faith, non-reactionary and well thought-out) criticism due to having gotten into MHA in middle school when I was impressionable and attached onto works quicker than I do, it was satisfying to hear someone as well-worded as yourself put into words a thought that I had. For a while I could only summarize it by thinking "Man MHA sure does feel toothless and inconsistent about what it delivers on, and what ideas or themes or messages or what have you are left in the fridge and forgotten about."

It was also fun to hear about Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, growing up YGO was only ever a game some of my friends played or "HEART OF THE CARDS" and Kaiba memes, so hearing that there was a lot more to the series was a welcome surprise, even if quite anecdotal on my part.

As for the question part of this ask, near the middle of it you brought up how despite being quite captivated with the idea and the final result, you weren't as impressed with how YGO got there, and vice versa with MHA in how it was paced better but so far(let me have a little bit of hope lol) ultimately hasn't made good on it's "storytelling promise" if you will.

With the preface that no story is "perfect" along with the fact that everyone has their own interests, biases, icks, etc., I wanted to ask if there was a story which in your opinion, that blends proper pacing and build-up, with proper follow-up and payoff? I had the idea of deconstructing the perfect shonen protag or similar character in mind, but I'm also curious to hear about other ideas as well if you have them.

PS Thanks again for writing and posting these. They're often the highlight of my day when I remember to get around to reading them. And apologies for this long-ass ask hehe.

If you want a shonen series with similiar themes of "saving the villains" as MHA and Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX! but better pacing, buildup, payoff and overall story structure then both manga then I strongly reccomend another Yu-Gi-Oh series, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal.

To begin with as a disclaimer I think Yu-Gi-Oh, but especially the spinoffs post 5DS get a bad reputation. For several reasons, the dub, but also the Duel Monsters anime adaptation is kind of bad. A lot of people forget that Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a very dark urban fantasy, or just the fact that it runs in the same magazine as MHA and JJK. Once you get over the fact that it revolves around card games, Yu-Gi-Oh is as much of a battle shonen as MHA or JJK.

If you give Zexal a chance, it has everything MHA promised us. A conflict where there's really no heroes and villains, a story about what it means to save people, and a protagonist who wants to save everyone.

Yu-Gi-Oh no Cristo!

If you want to take my word for it that Zexal is good, and avoid spoilers then don't read any further. However, I thought I'd demonstrate HOW Zexal tackles the same themes that My Hero Academia tried to tackle.

I'm going to limit this analysis to Zexal I, because while Zexal II is superior in every way I don't want to spoil the whole darn show. Zexal deconstructs the idea of what it means to save others, by having the central conflict in its first season focus on several different factions where no side is the clear good guy. it also tackles the theme of "revenge", and how no character's revenge is justified no matter how wounded they are.

Zexal has three main characters, Yuma, Kaito, and Shark. The latter two are deuteragonist, and tritagonist respectively, and vacillate between being rivals and outright antagonists. If you wanted a story where Shigaraki post My Villain Academy was basically given deuteragonist status alongside Deku then this is the story for you. From her on out I'm going to focus on the cycle of revenge and also the intertwining arcs of Yuma, Shark and Kite and how these characters develop the themes.

Before I get to the World Duel Carnival, I would be amiss to mention that Zexal has a faster start then any Yu-Gi-Oh anime barring 5DS. The introductory arc is episodic in nature, but it does two things really well, first establishing Yuma as a character and second laying the groundwork for both Shark and Kaito showing they are human beings with their own motivations even when they act as antagonists to Yuma. World Duel Carnival starts at 27, but in my opinion the real conflict starts in episode 33 with the introduction of the Tron Family.

In comparison My Hero finishes the Stain arc around episode 33, so I'd say they equally have as strong a start, and both works have introduced their main trio in that time.

With the Tron Family the secondary antagonists of the season we're finally introduced to the season's main confict of revenge. There are four factions and I'm going to take the time to explain each one's motivation before digging in deeper.

The conflict starts with the parents of the three main characters, Lord Byron Arclight (who will later return as Tron), Dr. Faker, and Kazuma Tsukumo. The three of them were studying alternate dimmensions together when Dr. Faker betrayed his two close friends. Kazuma and Lord Byron were dropped into an alternate dimmension as sacrifices to open the door between dimmensions. Kazumi did his best to try to save himself and Lord Byron, but he was unsuccesful and they both dropped out of the world.

Arclight wandered around between dimmensions, until he was eventually saved by the Barian world, a world of pure chaos kind of like the flipside of our world. However, his salvation came with a cost he was reverted from an adult man to a ten year old's body, and he also lost half of his face which is now a black hole (it's weird I'm not sure how that happened). The only thing that sustained Tron was the idea of getting revenge against Dr. Faker and now that he's returned he's determined to have it.

Tron had three sons, Michael, Thomas and Christopher. Which he renames III, IV, and V because he can't be bothered to remember their names I guess. Tron was once a very loving father and left his children behind on what was supposed to be a temporary research trip. However, their father apparently died, and Christopher the oldest was not old enough to take custody so III and IV were sent to different orphanages. At the same time Christopher was broken-hearted to learn that the man who killed his father, was the father of his student and close friend Kaito Tenjo, and ended that relationship for those reasons.

With the return of Tron the family was allowed to be back together with a now older Christopher taking custody of his brothers and now parenting his ten year old father (which is hilarious by the way). However, Tron distorted by the Barian world and his desire for revenge now uses his sons as tools in his revenge scheme against Dr. Faker. All three sons comply on the thin hope that if they complete their father's revenge, he will go back to being loving Byron Arclight. The Tron Family is a family united by revenge, but also defined by an intense family loyalty to each other, both as siblings, and to their father. While their father may not deserve it, all three sons love him deeply and would do anything to try to save him.

IV: You can't trust me that much. Just because I can't become an obedient servant to you like III and V. IV: But even so...I still also...for your sake. IV: Dad, you always smiled gently in the past. IV: But... after you returned from the parallel world it's like you had an entirely different personality. IV: Despite that we were still willing to follow you, Tron. Shark: Stop pretending to be a victim. Shark: Even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Which dovetails nicely into the conflict between Shark and IV. IV, obeying his father's orders challenged Shark's sister to a duel in a building that later blew up. He knew about the first part, but not the second, but still is somewhat responsible despite his ignorance. He did his best to save Shark's sister from the flames getting scarred in the process, but she was left comatose.

Soon after, IV engineered Shark's disgrace as a duelist, by purposefully letting his cards fall on the ground so Shark could see them during a tournament so he'd be disqualified for taking a peek.

All of these under his father's orders to turn Shark into yet another tool of revenge against Dr. Faker, as a wildcard to be pointed in Faker's direction. IV further antagonizes him by giving him a Numbers Card knowing that the darkness of the Numbers card will soon possess him in order to further his father's scheme. He also just wants to flat out defeat Shark so he can prove to his father he's more useful.

Shark looks like the clear victim in this situation, but his complete lack of sympathy for IV is total hypocrisy. Because, Shark is also only after revenge for what was done to him and his sister. Shark was hurt by IV's revenge, but Shark will also attack completely innocent people, including Yuma, just to get his revenge against IV. Shark is the aggrieved victim, but he fights only for revenge not to save someone and he just does not care for anyone other than his sister, himself and Yuma to an extent. Unlike IV, who has the added motivation of saving someone, and also is self-aware that he did something wrong that he can't take back.

Shark is very much a case of "well, my revenge is different from your revenge" somehow, and it makes him look like a hypocrite. Which is why Shark wavers between being an anti-hero and an anti-villain, because in spite of his mroe heroic qualities and his friendship with Yuma he pretty consistently is only motivated to duel for revenge and not for saving others like Yuma is and the show is clear on it's themes of "there is no such thing as a justified revenge."

Shark does not get his revenge, in fact the same way IV is manipulated to pointing his anger at Shark, Shark gets manipulated by Tron to pointing all of his anger at Yuma. Yuma basically has to act as the punching bag, in order to try to calm Shark down again and in Shark's own words even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Shark won't forgive IV, but he ends up committing the exact same unforgivable acts, and by his own logic manipulation is not an excuse.

Now that we've introduced Shark as the wildcard, the last faction is Dr. Faker's. Kaito and Dr. Faker both are fighting to save Haruto, Faker's second son and Kaito's little brother. Here is the twist with Dr. Faker's betrayal he's presented as a "I did everything for power" type of villain, but he's actually doing everything to save his son from dying and is willing to backstab his closest friends to do so, and turn his son Kaito into a pawn. There's an added layer of complication where Dr. Faker is legitimately using his son as a pawn, but much like the Tron Siblings, Kaito is also willing to comply because saving Haruto is just as important to him.

Kaito is a numbers hunter who rips out the souls of people in order to reclaim numbers cards from them, something which ages them and leaves them completely comatose. Kaito also blatantly says on several occasions, he doesn't care how many people he has to hurt to save his brother. So Kaito's motivations aren't revenge like Tron's, but he's also just as willing to get innocent people involved. He even attacks Shark once who didn't even have a number card, simply for GETTING IN THE WAY when he was trying to steal Yuma's key.

Kaito's not just an "I'll do anything to save my brother" type of character, he actively does not care about how many victims he creates along the way.

KAITO: You're wrong. Just one person matters to me. I only care about Hart.

And he sure does mean that. His own allies? Don't matter. His former friend Christopher? Doesn't care. Yuma who actively wants to save Hart too? Get out of the way bucko.

YUMA: Kaito, Droite fought desperately against Tron for your sake. YUMA: Droite liked y- KAITO: That's none of your concern.

Kite's obsession with saving his brother is all-consuming, and even ignores that Haruto does not want Kaito hurting himself for his sake, because it is just as much about Kaito as it is about Haruto.

Kaito also clashes with V from the Tron Family, and is deeply hurt by the fact that V will make punching bags out of both Kite and Haruto in order to get revenge against their father.

However, Kaito who has at this point put several people in comas in order to save his brother (the exact same motivation V has for his father and two younger brothers) is a complete hypocrite in this regard.

V: Friend you say? V: But that ideal was completely wrecked by Dr. Faker. V: Could you forgive that person's son? V: When I realized the truth, I... KAITO: Enough of this nonsense.

I'm sure none of the people Kaito put in comas had brothers, and they all kicked puppies when no one was looking. Even after Kaito realizes that Christopher was only trying to save his family the same way that he was, and promises to inherit his feelings, he forgets all about that when dueling Tron.

Kaito's one and only loss in the whole series comes from when he loses himself to revenge against Tron after he provoked him one too many times by tormenting Haruto. Once again, no matter what the reason revenge is never justified in Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal!

Tron: You're right I have no emotions. Droite and Shark... I was willing to even use my sons in order to create rage. Kaito: Say what? Tron: You did pretty well, too! You get angrier and angrier when it comes to Haruto. It's all thanks to you, have a look.

As much as Kaito would like to make a martyr of himself, he is just like the Tron siblings, just like Shark, an angry little kid lashing out against innocent people for the pain both him and his brother has suffered. Even kaito who has the most explicit desire to save someone, succumbs to revenge in the end when he's pushed.

The tragedy of season 1 is that basically every faction involved has a case of "my revenge is more important than your revenge, and my loved ones are more important than your loved ones". Even though both the Tron Family, and Kaito are fighting to save their families, neither of them ever backs down or considers the other side's motivations because THEIR PAIN is more important.

The last faction of the story is Yuma's, and as stated above Yuma is the only one who attempts to see his opponent's side. Yuma's central motto is "if we've dueled each other, then we're already friends." He also believes that duels should never be used as tools for hurting each other, something Shark, Kaito and the Tron Family all gleefully do in their conflict against one another.

Yuma is a deconstructoin of the "save everyone" because while he is involved in the conflict too because he lost his father to Dr. Faker, unlike the other three factions he has a support system. He still has his grandmother and sister, childhood friends, friends at school and Astral.

This fact is explicitly called out in his duel against III who by that point Yuma considers a friend. III spends a day with Yuma, bonding with him over their shared love of archaelogy, seeing his family and home life, only to turn against him.

Yuma tries to reach out to III the entire time through the duel and talk him down, and it doesn't work because Yuma with his support system, cannot truly understand where III is coming from and the desperation that drives him. Yuma's not caught in the same rock and hard place that III is, and all the sympathy and good intentions in the world cannot overcome the difference between that.

Yuma also in spite of his desire to solve things peacefully is basically forced to still fight, because if he loses a duel his close personal friend Astral will die, so it's actively a challenge for him to seek the third way to settle things without contributing to the cycle of revenge.

So Yuma represents the correct path, forgiveness and understanding the other's point of view, but it also shows that Yuma is able to do that because unlike everyone else he has a support system. Yuma is not internally more good than Shark, Kite, or the rest. He's just in a place where he can afford to look at the other people's perspectives because he's not desperately fighting for survival.

It's also a challenge for him to do so, because Yuma is someone very immature. As I said with III he does not understand the depths of what they are feeling even if he wants to make the pain go away. He tries to offer his unwavering support to people, but he fails just as often as he succeeds due to his immaturity.

In Yuma's case it's less being a perfect hero, but rather making an unrelenting effort to help others and offer a hand that matters. Yuma's character development in season 1 for me crystallizes in his final redemption of Tron, the character besides Faker who makes him the most angry because of his gleeful abuse of his sons for the sake of revenge. Not only does Yuma start to get through to Tron at points in the duel, because he tries so hard to make Tron understand how much he's hurt his sons, but at the end of the duel he mirrors his father's own action of trying to save both himself and Byron Arclight I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Yuma: I won't give up! Tron: But why? Why are you trying to save me? Yuma: It's obvious, isn't I? Everyone I duel are my friends. Yuma: I don't understand all that complicated stuff, but we create bonds through dueling. And since you dueled me you are my friend. Tron: I finally understand. Your dueling goes beyond my desire for revenge. Yuma I can't live the same way as you and Kazuma, but I can't let Dr. Faker go either. I'll release all the souls I captured.

Yuma does represent the themes of love, and understanding being the only way to heal revenge (because more revenge does not fix anything) but he's not just propped up as a saint by the narrative. He's a character who has to go through serious character development before he's finally able to back up his good intentions with actual concrete action.

Yuma isn't just good internally, but rather his constant efforts to find the third path, and befriend other people is what makes him the hero of the story. Yuma is Deku done right and I will stand by this.

I hope I've been able to demonstrate the themes of Zexal, and I would be amiss to mention this is just Zexal I. Zexal II the second season does all of this even better. The Barians are an even better version of the League of Villains because despite starting a war with the main characters, they are all sympathetic and their point of view is just as valid as Astral and Yuma's. I don't want to spoil Zexal II though, so if anything about Zexal I caught your eye I reccomend watching both series.

[stormsbourne]

hello! i’ve been seeing a few of your fe3h posts recently and i’m a bit curious about something. i believe you mentioned that crimson flower was your first route and i’m just kind of curious… why? like, what motivated you to side with edel and what changed your opinion later on? it was the route that i played last (and enjoyed the least lmao) so i just kind of want to understand what that was like as a first impression of this game. thanks for your time, have a nice day.

Quite simply I decided ahead of time that I really liked her vibe and the vibe of some of the other Eagles. At the time I played I was under the impression that the route would be very different than it ended up being and that it would explain her pov. And it did do that a little bit, but not especially well. I really wanted to go with the female lord option because there's not many of those.

But unfortunately it's just not a very good route! As a first impression of the game it's not good! Multiple times I asked my friends (who were playing Lions) about clarifications of something that made no sense to me, like how sloppy the pre-timeskip scene was in CF or why specific other things happened that were poorly explained in CF. It's shorter than the other routes and the writing is all over the place. The pacing also isn't very good and the fact that you're already established in the monastery with a standing army post-skip feels bad compared to the other routes because there's no moment where your team comes to help you clear it out. They're all already there and are just like hi professor! Glad you're not dead from that cliff incident that wasn't clearly shown in this version!

What changed my opinion later on was playing Lions right after and also discussing things with my friends who were already in it. The deeper I got into lions the clearer it became how much was missing from cf. I think some people really want to believe cf has the best writing and is the secret "true ending" since you have to jump through some hoops to get it, but it turns out it was actually intended as a bonus extra villain route and was supposed to be more difficult to get to accordingly, like an unlock you'd only do after you understood the rest of the game. It also had less budget and time and it shows. Once you've played a different route the things you're missing in CF become like a slap in the face. No reunion cutscene? Nope, ss has that one for the Eagles route. No level where you scrap your way through until your dudes start to show up again one by one? Byleth goes off screen and Edelgard yells MY TEACHER and it's not even clear you fell off a fucking cliff! There's no anime cutscene for the siege of the monastery either! Absolutely insane! It is just a worse route!

I think people who played it first or only played it and no other routes feel like they need to defend their choices by making it out to be the best one and the correct ending for Fodlan. And you know what, it's fine to like the route you did first, but often they say things about the other characters or routes that just really indicate they haven't touched them or all their understanding of them is filtered through the Edelgard route. I did this too for a bit! It's also completely true that thanks to the budget, deadlines, etc. there is a LOT more space to fill in with your own interpretations of what going on, which is where you get the Edelgard as socialist revolutionary from, even though she is very much not that and tells you as much in her supports. There's a level of sports team to it which, who fucking cares, but it would be nice if they didn't repeat "dimitri murders women, not just kills but murders" level nonsense and then argued that if you say otherwise you're like, the bourgeoisie or something. I'm trying not to call some of these arguments twitter brained, but they really are lmao

[argoxnautilus]

FANCOMIC REVIEW: Fire in the Sky by akapen011

So @akapen011 recently released his Transformers fancomic Fire in the Sky, which is, in his words, a "gayer, angstier" of the G1 episode of the same name. I've been excitedly following the development of this fancomic for a few months, and it was finally released as a physical copy last week during the 2023 TFcon, and digitally this Sunday!

I have been asked to review the comic, so I'll do my best. Please keep in mind that I'm not a professional and that this is a casual review :)

With all that over with, let's get started!

Plot

The fancomic loosely follows the plot of the original G1 cartoon episode, which goes as follows:

Earth is rapidly cooling down

This kinda freaks out the Autobots, bc there is fucking snow in the American Southwest... that's not very poggers!

They head over to the Arctic, and guess what? The Decepticons are syphoning Earth's energy from a green crystal in the ground! Somehow!

Meanwhile, the Decepticons found a Really Big Guy in the ice, and Starscream recognizes him as his old colleague Skyfire

Starscream explains that he and Skyfire used to be scientists/explorers before the war, Skyfire got lost in a storm and Starscream couldn't find him

Skyfire wakes up, joins the Decepticons out of loyalty to Starscream

Skyfire attacks the Autobots, then rescues the human characters who tagged along for some reason (Spike and Sparkplug)

He takes them to the Decepticons to prove that they're not the bad guys

They're the bad guys

The humans are imprisoned, which troubles Skyfire

When some of the Autobots are captured, Megatron orders Skyfire to kill them. He refuses, and is shot by Starscream in a fit of rage. Starscream then shoots the Autobots...

But it's okay! They were just pretending to be dead :) they repair Skyfire and head on their merry way...

But the Decepticons attack! Prime and Megs fight. When Megs orders Skyfire to attack the Autobots, he refuses and attacks the Decepticons instead!

Him and Starscream have an aerial fight which ends in the crystal destroyed and Skyfire buried in the Arctic ice again, presumed dead. The Decepticons flee, and the Autobots mourn Skyfire's sacrifice at least until they resurrect him 2 episodes later lmao

Now, as with many things in the G1 cartoon, there's a lot of issues. The episode, though it has a lot of potential, is written haphazardly, and a lot of potential outlets for emotional exploration are left untapped. Not to mention that some characterizations make no sense; why would Starscream, who is shown to care deeply about Skyfire when he is first found, shoot him when he disobeys the orders of Megatron, who he despises? Why didn't the Autobots just dig Skyfire out? Etc., etc.

However, in his rewrite of Fire in the Sky, Akapen makes some minor tweaks to the plot that, in my humble opinion, make the narrative far stronger. I won't spoil too much of the story, but suffice it to say that the characters and their motivations--especially Starscream's--are a lot more well-rounded and complex. Plus, I can promise that the comic certainly delivers on its promise of angst--the ending had me turning off my monitor and pacing around the house with a blank expression muttering nonsense under my breath for a good five minutes, and I guarantee that is the greatest honor I can bestow.

Writing

I've put this in a separate category from plot, because while plot and premise are the meat and potatoes of a good story, the way it is written--the dialogue, the ways characters interact with each other, the subtle intricacies of symbolism--are the spices that can make or break the meal. The original 1980s Transformers cartoon is notorious for having an interesting premise (what could be cooler than an eons-long civil war that's ripped a planet apart?) and incredibly bland spices (shoddy animation, poor writing, and staunch refusal to actually explore any of the implications of the aforementioned eons-long civil war), which overall leaves its value as a story based mostly on fan interpretations and nostalgia.

Akapen's Fire in the Sky, however, is abundantly seasoned with vibrant and intriguing spice. In sixty-eight pages, it manages to fit in superb character interactions; actually engage with the implications of the war; and portray the characters as three-dimensional, interesting, and overall enjoyable people to study.

Visuals

For most of this review, I have kept up a veneer of professionalism. This is the part where that shoddy disguise falls away. Akapen is one of my favorite artists, and it's obvious why--his art style is absolutely delicious eye candy! His line art is soft without being washed out, and I feel like I don't see enough traditional TF art....It's so Fucking Good...

Anyway, the comic is black & white with grayscale shading, and it looks amazing! The panel layouts are amazing too--there are so many pages with incredibly dynamic layouts, and I love them so much! Examples below:

These are the three best examples of dynamic page layouts in the comic, at least in my opinion. Akapen does an amazing job of using shape and design to highlight the emotion of the current scene, and boy does it show!

Also the way he draws faces is just....ough...OUGH..OUGH..!! *takes 15 screenshots and runs away*

I AM GOING FERAL.! THE EXPRESSIONS ARE SO FUCKING GOOD I AM GOING TO PUNCH A WALL

This is a really long post so I'm gonna wrap this up here. Please check out Akapen's work, and of course his comic!

[genericpuff]

What is your advice on handling criticism?

I saw your response to a critic on Lore Rekindled in the sub and it's very good and you could say, professional.

I have a big problem of people-pleasing, so if I get critcism (eventhough it's very polite), I get very sad at the fact there's fault with my work (I also suffer from perfectionism). It will drastically change how I see my work, and in the end I give it up 😭

fam i got teased tf out of for making it so wordy LOL

I totally get that struggle though, I know it probably doesn't seem it at times, but I do have the 'ole RSD (Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) due to being ADHD/autistic, so I totally relate to the whole people pleasing thing. It's hard to feel like something you made isn't making everyone happy! But that's also ultimately not what it's for. You can't make everyone happy, and your art doesn't deserve to exist any less just because some people don't find it their cup of tea.

I've definitely had to like, disconnect my work from myself over the years to get better at taking criticism. Not to the point that I get apathetic, obviously I should be invested in whatever I'm working on, but enough that when people criticize my work, it's not necessarily an attack on my own self.

And if they are clearly just out to attack me, then I dismiss the criticism, it's of no value to me.

Unless it's something that's specifically a result of my own values or biases bleeding into the work, most of the time it's people literally just saying, "I like this work, but I feel like it wasn't as strong as it could have been here and here" and that has nothing to do with me as a person, I'm just still polishing my skills and those outside opinions help to target specifically what needs improving. I think we as artists pour a lot of ourselves into our work, especially when we're just starting out, so it can be hard not to take criticism as an attack or rejection of yourself, but we have to ultimately remember that we are not 100% of our work. Even with works like LO, while some of the criticism I give of it is indicative of Rachel's values and personal preferences as a person, a lot of it is also just about the work itself and how far it's fallen beyond what I assume Rachel intended from the beginning.

I've also learned to separate helpful from unhelpful criticism. I'll use Time Gate as an example because I've gotten way more input on that series than Rekindled (just because I've actually like, intentionally sought out criticism for it). A common criticism in the past was that there weren't enough backgrounds and the story's pacing wasn't concise. It sucked to hear at the time, especially the backgrounds one, because I'd heard that one time and time again... but it was literally because I wasn't doing anything to improve them. You know what stopped those criticisms? Drawing backgrounds more LOL And I still suck at backgrounds tbh but I feel like I've definitely improved compared to the first few volumes when I was just drawing characters on top of white constantly LOL

old and busted:

new hotness:

(i think there's like a 4-5 year difference between these two pages. and the backgrounds STILL aren't perfect in those newer volumes but they still feel more finished than the older panels did)

So that was helpful criticism! My art wasn't as strong as it could be in a few specific places that people were clearly able to pinpoint, so I did what I could to improve those places and I'm still working on it.

Unhelpful criticism has just been either personal attacks (not valuable) or statements that are basically asking the comic to not be what it is, criticizing things that are features, not bugs. Things like "well I think the story is too anime-like", "it's a lot to try and read", "why don't you draw eyelashes on the girl character", etc. which are criticisms of things that I know are intentional. The story's anime-like because that's the story I want to write. It's a lot to try and read because it's intended to be a longform series for people who like reading longform series (people like me!). I don't draw eyelashes on Uzuki because she would look terrible with them LMAO (we even made a joke about that later on):

(the hilarious part is that that comment was definitely made with the idea that all women should have that makeup look, meanwhile mitsuhiro's pulling off the look so much better and he knows it LMAO

And actually, the example you're referring to where I responded to crit in the ULO subreddit, is also an example of unhelpful criticism, though the person who posted it definitely didn't mean any harm by it, but the crit was literally "why aren't Persephone's boobs big enough" which I thought was pretty funny. She still has boobs! I just don't draw them popping out of her top like Rachel does LOL I also don't give her the exaggerated pinched waist or broken spine that Rachel often gives her because that's all just to, again, emphasize her boobs, and it's often unnecessary, especially in a comic that's being marketed as a feminist piece of work, yet is often drawn completely through the male gaze. So yeah, that was definitely crit that wasn't really beneficial because it was literally just about Persephone's cup size lol

I know it's easier said than done, but when you feel that sadness coming on in response to criticism, remember that that criticism exists to help you, not hinder you. Considering you've been getting polite criticism, that means the people giving it likely have your best interests in mind and want to see your work improve. The only way to do that is to learn how to critically analyze your own work, and the only way to do that is to surround yourself with works whose quality you want to achieve, and get outside opinions. And if that criticism isn't in good spirit, then toss it aside. If it's not going to help you, then it's not of any value to you. And yes, it will take practice, there are still times I find myself getting overwhelmed, but ultimately I can't control what anyone else says or does, only what I do. So I funnel that into my work and I always keep moving forward.

Be at peace with the process of learning and improving, because you never stop having to learn, there's always something new to improve, and that shouldn't be taken all doom and gloom "I'll never be perfect", that's literally just the process and beauty of being an artist, there's always something new to learn and that's something that should be exciting!

Think about whenever you give criticism or have personal critiques of other comics. I'm willing to bet most of the time, you have those opinions with good intentions, you're not trying to attack anyone. So why not give yourself the same grace?

...holy shit, I forgot Uzuki's lipstick in the bottom right panel- （；´д｀）ゞ

[murderofsomeone]

What's up Mos, its me, creature, back with another interview, this time its lemon related

What music (genres and/or specific artists) do the characters like?

Does anyone in funkytown have unique clothing/jewelry?

Who is Garrett talking to in hip hop cherry pop?

What song have you had the most fun coming up with a story for?

What was the first song you came up with a story for?

What song has been the hardest to fit into the storyline?

What arc has been the most enjoyable to write so far?

What are some LD songs you want more people to listen to?

What items are baby lem not trusted with?

What are some items unique to funkytown?

If you could physically eat lemon demon songs what ones would you eat and why?

ironically a large amount of the cast don't really listen to music/have strong opinions on it, LD himself is one of the few denizens to have specific tastes (TMBG, Oingo Boingo, Talking Heads, Faith No More, DEVO, etc etc you know the pipeline). another character with defined music taste is indie cindy who likes lo-fi (obviously), hyper pop, and other scenecore genes.

funkytown is in a constant state of returning to a lack of identity, so as of right now most culture is just taken from human culture, but it definitely gets more abstract the longer something doesn't get interfered with.

zordechai the magnificent (wizard from the view-monster promo) has a side gig on running an ice cream shop, which is loosely based on the film. garrett is aware of zordechai's true identity during the song, hence why he's there to begin with.

lifetime achievement award and completely because the animation in my head is killer.

mold en mono is the reason the ncu exists beyond a simple concept. it was the first time I stylized Neil as he is now, drew the office fruits, "baby" lemon, and lucifer (who fun fact did not used to be a fruit object head, he was a demon in similar appearance as diablo).

I definitely end up having the most issues with bonus tracks (I don't think I used hardly any from damn skippy besides the instrumentals), but those are kinda an outlier since they aren't my focus to begin with. ones I particularly struggle(d) with are: chu chu rocket (got removed entirely since it's a cover), movie night, fire motif, hazel's modus operandi, bill watterson, consumer whore, between you and me, flamingo legs, everybody loves raymond, goosebumps (entirely because I don't read goosebumps), and ancient aliens (it's on its 3rd or 4th rewrite). this does NOT mean I don't like the songs it's just hard to write for them.

dinosaurchestra was complete smooth sailing and honestly my favorite arc, it's a nice change of pace from how serious things become and have been.

oh boy oh boy, listen to these: toy food, bottom line, funkytown (obviously), mold en mono (obviously), matches and nails, pineapple, behold the future, the machine with live backing, creepy, I know your name (crappy 4 track version), and happiest shit ever (some of the links might be broken/link to the wrong somgs my apollo cheese

lemon demon is actually a horrible influence and does not care if he carries any sharp objects, in fact he encourages it. baby lemon is smart enough to not do something stupid but that doesn't make him immune to getting grounded. I think the car keys and anyone else's phone is what he's banned from having access to, but this will not stop him

like I mentioned before, funkytown has an inherent lack of it's own culture, so any unique items would probably be the god relics like the magic 8 ball and spirit phone.

the machine because mmmm sheet metal

[jisreal64]

So I’ve tried to make peace with both the Hellverse community and the Kicktoon community multiple times to no avail. But I’m going to try one last time. Each time I’ve tried to describe what a Kicktoon is, people just get angry and confused, so I’ll describe it like this:

A Kicktoon is a genre of indie web animation that is crowd funded, thrived during the fake indie animation boom created by Hazbin Hotel, abd follows a “fight first, ask questions later” formula. With this being the said formula:

-Is often heavily inspired by or flat out plagiarizes other media

-Makes tons of week one merch based around a test pilot

-Features furry bait

-Features Tumblr Sexypeople

-And last but certainly not least, critics and cartoonists/animation nerds love them, while general audiences and people who are indifferent to the medium view them as bland or don’t care about them

“But what’s the difference between a normal indie animated web series and a Kicktoon?”, well the difference is that the non-kicktoon cartoons aren’t as successful/commercialized as them and the genre has quickly dominated the platform, but does this mean that every non-kicktoon is inherently better than every kicktoon ever made, no, there are ones that are definitely worse (ie Skibidi Toilet), I just miss the days when indie animation didn’t have to be so commercialized to be popular/successful.

Although to be fair, I haven’t seen any other Kicktoon outside of HB and the pilot of HH, but the problem is that I don’t feel comfortable watching these cartoons by myself because I’m afraid of what they’ll be like; and since I have been living on campus for the past 10 months (I recently got out on summer break btw), the only thing I have to go off of is the “gold standard” for this medium.

But I haven’t explained WHY I don’t like either HH and HB, and it’s a bit simple, I don’t like the pacing, humor, soundtrack, and writing. A lot of people mindlessly hate on it because they think it’s either racist, sexist, homophobic, antisemitic, transphobic, fat phobic, etc, but I highly doubt that a cartoon created by an openly queer Latina American woman would be so bigoted. If you want to see a more in depth review, watch this video made by this guy here, he more or less shares my opinion on both shows:

As for the soundtrack, it’s just so bland, and I expected better from the Living Tombstone, like this soundtrack is so bad that it feels like it was written by Jake Paul. And the same hypocritical idiots who accused the songs in Wish of being written by an AI fucking love it.

Don’t get me wrong, if you like these cartoons but have a valid reason for liking them (instead of being a shill like Saberspark or Cellspex), then that’s fine, this is just my opinion and I’m just trying to vent my frustration. If I offended anyone with these posts, then I’m sorry, I’ll try to make it up to any of you somehow.

Btw, I don’t think that the Kicktoon genre is a bad thing, I just think it has unexplored potential to be good/great. Also, I don’t hate HH and HB, I just think they’re mediocre (but they do have potential, much like the genre they started).

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Hi, Kim Yoonmia!

I like your writeup on Ki-sho-ten-ketsu and world worldwide story structures. As someone who looked towards Western authors to learn how to write stories, your writeup made me go back and reread stories from my own culture. It gave me a new perspective as a writer, so thank you!

Anyway, I wanted to know your opinion on web novels? What story structure do you think web novels follow?

I am amazed by web novel authors who write millions of words by the end of their story while keeping a weekly update schedule.

There is an opinion among the some people that web novels are poorly written and contain fluff. But one can't dismiss the whole media based on that when there are wonderful gems being published in web novel format.

Personally, I adore Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint by Sing Shong and The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba which is still updating weekly and has reached 10 million word count.

Anyway, just wanted to know your thoughts on the rise of web novels and web comics, where stories are updated online on a weekly basis and accessible worldwide to read.

I wrote this and then sat on it because I didn't like the totality of the answer, so I had to mull it over and think on it since it's not an easy thing to jump through. Clarifying a little here. There are media forms, genres and story structures. Sometimes the form will restrain the other two, or the genre will restrain the other two, or the story structure will. Or all three will work in tandem.

So a media form, would be say the basic comic book. (loose translation). Basically a series of images arranged together in page format with words and drawings to tell a story in book manner, often, but not always in serial form.

This doesn't dictate things like genre or demographic necessarily, though in the 1970's, generally in the US, most people thought of animation as "for kids" nevermind that early cartoons were for "adults" in the first place and many of the cartoons were "cleaned up" to be "for kids"

But it might be really difficult to do a story that is more word-heavy and word-dependent, thus this is why it has to be "adapted" for the media one is working in.

The genre and demographic often narrow the *type* of events that one can put into the work, not necessarily, but sometimes also, the characters, settings, etc. Most of it is looking at tone, theme and events. This could, in theory, if deployed well also influence story structure since often genre and story structure are the exact same thing.

One could argue, say Dream Record is both a genre and a story structure. One that US agents generally hate since it breaks 100% of the rules of the "list" of what makes a "good story" in the traditional agents eyes. It starts with a dream or death, which is on the no-no list and it forces you into a certain tone, event structure, event type and theme type. You cannot write a "cheery" Dream Record where you say everything was great for all time and nothing bad ever happened. You're required to put in an event that changes or dramatically changes the tone (i.e. mood), and the story center is dictated to you up front. When followed well, the gut punch, command of tone enhances the theme. It hits that grey area between story structure and genre.

Magic realism also has certain type of events dictated to be required in it which tilts it into the grey area and so on.

Story structure talks about events, character, *sometimes setting*, *sometimes tone*, *sometimes theme*, sometimes time management, and very rarely, but sometimes truly *character*. lol See, story structure/genre types like the Jewish Chelm stories. That one dictates event structure, tone, theme, genre, setting, and time management. (and a bit into character archetypes) Definitely things like pacing.

Of course all of these are dictated by culture. If you tell a US agent, "Hey, look, I wrote this story as a Robleto!" they most likely will have no idea what you're talking about. What? They might even think, of course this is a three story structure. And there are sometimes very subtle differences in story structure between countries, but I don't cover that in detail except in my lectures. When you have a story that is more than one scene, and needs to be serialized often the inherent bottom up structure is: Word->Sententce->Scene->Chapter->Arc->Overarching story.

A Light novel doesn't inherently limit genre. When it's serialized, it forces a certain type of story structure, in theory. For example, having a really long story that is only one act, one scene would be extremely difficult to achieve. (It would also take a ton of outlining to work and you'd have to be promised a definitive expiration date).

There are many story structures that do allow for serialization which are mostly in the stacked structure family. They have arcs, they have large events, and complicated relationships.

Some of these are:

European Epic

xiqu

soap opera (one could argue this is a different form of epic, granted)

Hakawati (loosely named here)

Marginally one could also argue if Melodrama is a story structure, though it might be in both. Sometimes it gets fuzzy when things are prescriptive in genre in timing and place beyond just a mere element.

One could also argue about Dream Diary marginally, if it counts since it pulls heavily from Buddhism which often also has stories with stacked structures. (Stacked structures is a neologism here used by me to avoid ethnocentricism). Dream Diary, BTW, doesn't have all of the research posted. 'cause I got to save something for a book. Japanese story structure, not the same as Dream Record and has different roots and reasons for existence.

So back to the Light novel

Light novel is a media that mostly uses that sort of stacked structure (choose whatever one you want...). And generally tends to use arcs that interlock together, where the character has a lot to change over the course of the story or a lot to accomplish for the audience to truly feel invested in their journey.

American comic books: Soap operas. Mostly marketed to boys and men in a power fantasy. (though large audience of women with the influx of manga and the changing market focus of marvel and DC, but that's a whole thing).

Soap operas have long, long arcs with lots of reminders of what happened in previous episodes so can be kinda repetitive. But they still have arcs with a character change, but also overblown events.

Rogue *elew* loved Magneto because she could touch him, but in another universe she has a child with him, but this Rogue doesn't know that, and is in love with Gambit, whom she can't touch because she can't control her powers so they can't really be together, until they could be together, because she finally, finally after years of dragging it out, can touch him. But in another universe, they have two children together where she also dies tragically. But secretly Gambit is an Alpha Mutant. But you must remember this isn't the official main arc.

And this is the shortest of the biographies. Long character arc. Has to control her really powerful abilities. Dramatic effects—has secret children she doesn't know about with two other men.

So it's likely it's a stacked (choose which) with arcs for the long ones.

Pirateaba is from the NE US from her accent here. I could get more specific, but she wants privacy, so I respect that. She is beholden to her culture and what she grew up with.

Oh look, there are arcs to The Wandering Inn with really Western names.

This throws the likelihood higher with this info that some epic story structure is thrown in there. Probably some influence from anime too.

But I've also seen light novels that have only a collection of stories. Or where it's only one volume long, so light novel is a medium, not a story structure.

[spacemanwandersstuff]

thoughts on the new sp special??

okay so this is definitely the best special since post covid, i think because it felt a lot like a typical south park two-parter episode. i wasn’t constantly checking how much run time was left and it felt really really really well paced like a two parter episode would be.

this special also felt like matt and trey were actually passionate about the topic. i’m guessing part of the problem of the recent specials is that they have been juggling so many things the past year (casa bonita, snow day, the contracts themselves). but something like the cred special didn’t feel like they were as invested or had a lot to say, which obviously isn’t always a bad thing because south park isn’t only social commentary. but for a special or two parter that does revolve around social commentary, a topic that matt and trey have a lot to say about just works so much better for the length. i think the panderverse had a lot of potential here because matt and trey seemed passionate about that too, and because the conversation between cartman and kathleen kennedy was really well done. but the end of obesity just executed it so much better with the pacing, b-plot tie in, characters, jokes, etc. the ending was so great too, just felt like a classic south park episode twist.

kyle and cartman were SO funny in this special. i don’t think they’ve had such good screentime separately or together for a long while, and their dynamic was so good. it’s the classic setup of kyle obsessing over something stupid cartman got himself into, but when they have to work together it’s even better. a lot like the dynamic in tonsil trouble, the cherry on top would’ve been if kyle and cartman argued more lmao

and kyle. kyle was UNHINGED this episode and it was hilarious. works so well with his character because he just can’t wrap his head around how stupid the healthcare system is, and the fact that people aren’t just selling ozempic for what it actually costs to make. also the fact that he’s like “yeah there’s tutorials for making ozempic on tiktok”, i think it’s funny he still uses tiktok. the episode also had him kill the twinkies mascot and casually dropped he has freckles, so that’s a huge win

this whole special just felt like it was made with way more… effort? the way the contract south park has with paramount and max have just really dragged down the beauty of its original format (6 days to air). specials like cred and panderverse just felt like they would’ve been executed so much better with a 20 minute episode made in 6 days. even in the behind the scenes documentary, trey says once an episode is finsihed he always feels like he could’ve added more to it or changed things, that their opinions may change while making the episode but they just gotta run with it, and that they usually wish they could work on every episode longer. that’s the south park’s strong suit, because having only 6 days to write, animate, voice act, and create the episode forces them to have no time to overthink. but there are exceptions with episodes that do need more time to make, and this special felt like one of those. it felt more like it had the right to be a special than most of the recent ones.

anyways, good special. had the classic south park feel and definitely one of the best specials as of late

[ridiasfangirlings]

I know you have been in this fandom for 10 years long. I must say I'm curious about your thought on this series. What does the series have that makes you stay with it for such a long time? Is there anything you find unsatisfied abt the series? Does this series have any effect on your life?... etc

I know this kind of ask is kinda personal, so you can refuse to answer if it makes you uncomfortable. Anyway, tysm for what you did for the fandom!

Honestly it’s mostly just the neurodivergence :P Well, basically I get really attached to things I like and will stay attached like a limpet until something else comes along to catch my fancy, and nothing’s made me really fall madly in love since K so here I (still) am. There are a lot of things that attracted me to the series in the first place, in order: Fushimi, Fushimi, and also Fushimi. He’s the first thing that attracted me anyway, his character type is just the kind I like a hot mess. I wasn’t really into him much when I first started watching, I’ve mentioned before but I was kinda eh on the series until after S1 ended and I listened to the drama CDs. The Sarumi interview and especially the Private Hero drama really hooked me with just the general complexity of Fushimi’s issues beyond the standard yandere that we saw in the series. I could really go on about how good Private Hero is, giving such a great glimpse into Fushimi’s feelings without outright saying it, and the bitterness that Mamoru Miyano infuses into Fushimi’s tone is fantastic. 

Beyond that I’ve since really gotten attached to just about everyone in the series, one of the things that always appeals to me with fictional characters in general is when a character appears to be a specific stereotype but then has some additional quirk going on. For example, how Fushimi seemed a flat ‘crazy obsessed’ character but really is just a messed up kid at heart, or Munakata seeming like a dignified manipulative megane character but he’s also a sparkly nerd, or Yata being a baseball bat wearing thug who is also a ball of sunshine and cries sometimes. K’s big cast means there’s something for everyone, and even some of the weaknesses in the writing turn into strengths — there’s enough canon there to get attached to but so many little cracks and corners waiting to be filled in by the fans and I love that sort of thing. 

That said there are definitely some things about the series I’m dissatisfied about, like I think I’ve mentioned a few times that I dislike how it feels like the narrative tends to be kinda biased against S4 even when they’re objectively right and in general I feel like S4 gets a lot more shit than Homra that they don’t deserve. I also found ROK in general to be rather underwhelming, Gora put a lot of great pieces in place and then kinda just tossed the board away in the end there (I went on about my feelings around ROK here way back if you want a deeper analysis). When I rewatched the series a couple years ago I was struck by how much better S1 was than I remembered and how much worse ROK was, the pacing issues are really prevalent in ROK and unfortunately I think the series didn’t deliver on its potential as much as it could have. That said it wasn’t bad enough to turn me off the show (which is something that has absolutely happened to me with past series I liked, that something happened near the end which disappointed me so much it kinda killed all my love for the series), it just didn’t change my opinion that the anime is, unfortunately, the weakest part of K and what makes it so hard to recommend, because all the best stuff involves a little more legwork than just watching the easily-streamable show. Also smaller disappointments, I wish they wouldn’t have put LSW in 7 Stories and just given us a proper movie, and I still want that last stage play because it will forever annoy me that ROK stage only got through half the narrative. 

[kiigan]

canon questionnaire.

what made you pick up this character?

Itachi was actually my first ever rp muse! Allllllll the way back when, when we didn't even know the truth about the massacre and Pein was only a silhouette and believed to be Minato but actually called Uzumaki Arashi. Good ol' days. But also - I picked him because I was just so drawn to his backstory, or lack thereof. At the time we only knew he was Sasuke's older brother who apparently had gone psycho out of the blue, and I just had this hunch that there had to be more about that mess. Also because, honestly, do you realize how cool Itachi's first appearance was.

how did you get into this franchise/fandom?

I got into Naruto because my first boyfriend was a big fan and introduced me to it lmao. And then I introduced my best friend and we started writing together just for funsies, and then suddenly our whole group of friends joined in and it became a glorious mess and so much fun.

what’s the best thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.?

I mean... it's the typical shonen anime? So it provides super cool battles and action sequences, as expected. But, not to be biased, I totally am the Akatsuki are one of the coolest antagonist groups ever created. I put them on legendary levels such as the Ginyu Force from Dragon Ball.

what’s the worst thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.?

Probably the ungodly amount of fillers. I understand why they happen but, personally, I would much rather wait and go for a few months without content than to be presented with low-effort ideas and plots that, often, only ruin the pacing and even provoke continuity errors. And I gotta say, Kishimoto's treatment of female characters is questionable at best.

what’s the best thing about the fandom?

The fandom itself! Fandoms are what we make of them, and especially on a website such as tumblr where you are responsible for curating your own dashboard experience (...if we do not count the stupid tumblr ads and recommendations). Meeting new people with similar interests, the possibility to make friends that live literally on the other side of the world, getting to write with super talented people that develop your own muse so much, watching people get passionate about their muse(s) and creating such wonderful headcanons and metas.

what’s the worst thing about the fandom?

Again, the fandom itself. There are nice people and toxic people everywhere and that's unavoidable. In my humble opinion, what matters is to focus on the good ones.

what’s the best thing about the canon you are writing?

Itachi's whole story breaks my heart. At the same time, there is A LOT about him that was never disclosed in canon (even with the Shinden novels) and I love to explore those parts. I love to imagine stuff like what would his hobbies be, how would he react to [insert situation], how would he get along with [insert character] if they met. One of my favorite things, at the moment, is to create headcanons for my post-war verse and to create my own canon about how Itachi would adapt to things such as now being practically blind, having to properly monitor his illness, his thoughts and emotions about returning to Konoha, how to try to fix things with Sasuke, etc etc - it's been so much fun!

what’s the worst thing about the canon you are writing?

Uhhh nothing really? I mean, there are the general issues about Naruto as a whole, but regarding Itachi specifically I can't really think of any huge problems right now. Other than him being dead T-T

have you tweaked the character from canon? if so, what did you tweak?

No and yes. No, because I try my best to be as in-character as possible and to be faithful to Itachi's nature as a character. But, yes, because I write a lot of canon-divergent verses and those obviously require adapting. Even in purely canon settings, I'd say I tweak some stuff in that, for example, I love writing Itachi as a quirky child (and then teen and adult) and as a very caring and nurturing person, even when he cannot openly show it. It's totally fine if not everybody agrees with my interpretation but, to me, it makes a lot of sense and gives me a lot of joy to write.

are there some things you dislike about how the show/series/etc. portray the character you have picked up? if so, what?

I wouldn't say I dislike... but also because, all in all, Itachi doesn't have much screen time lol. So there isn't much of a chance for Kishimoto to screw him over. I would, however, have loved a chance to see Itachi ponder on the circumstances that led to the massacre - for example, does he grow to regret his choice as he gets older? He does this reflection a bit when talking to Naruto during the Edo Tensei period, but that wasn't enough for me damn it! Also, while we're here, I'm gonna be forever salty that, in that same period, we were denied a chance for Itachi to reunite with Kisame and with Shisui.

what would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

Itachi has a lot of idiosyncrasies, which is one of the reasons why I love him. Little quirky nerd weasel~ Perhaps the most unique trait, however, is his idealism. He was severely traumatized by the third war and that is the basis for his idealism but, at the same time, he truly believes in what he preaches. He truly believes that he can get strong enough to make this world a better place and this is the sort of undying motivation to do good that, for example, I only see in Shisui. Of course, a lot of other characters have their own strong motivations (Naruto himself being the easiest example), but these two Uchiha idiots are mostly the ones who commit to the there's some good in this world and it's worth fighting for mindset.

are there any other characters from the franchise you’d like to play?

On discord, I have written little bits and pieces of Kimimaro, Temari, and Rock Lee.

are there some characters from the franchise you can’t stand? 

I can't stand Danzo for all the obvious reasons, but that's also exactly why I love him as a villain. And, um... the same applies to Hiruzen, in a way. I do believe that Hiruzen is a man with good intentions, but he always falls victim to his own passiveness. The way Itachi goes to him after having literally just murdered his parents and traumatized his little brother for life and all Hiruzen can say is I'm so sorry this happened. Hiruzen is just a gutless Danzo, resting on the laurels of the whole Will of Fire spiel.

what are your thoughts on the canon ships for the character, if any?

Honestly, I'm not even sure if Itachi has a canon ship? Izumi is supposed to be his girlfriend but at the same time it can easily be taken as Izumi having an unrequited crush. Personally, I think they are very cute together but I would have loved to see more development other than to make it like "let's give Itachi a gf because he's cool and needs a girl to dangle as a trophy".

what is your personal ship bias for your canon character?

I am dying on the Kisame/Itachi hill and unapologetically so. Their bond is so special and precious to me, the way they grow from not-so-veiled death threats upon first meeting to genuinely respecting each other. The way Kisame, known as the Monster of the Bloody Mist, lets this scrawny Uchiha kid take the lead and trusts him without reserves. The way Itachi cares, even if he must keep up his detached psychopath persona, and keeps Kisame out of harm's way whenever he feels a battle won't go in his favor. THEIR MATCHING RINGS, IN BOTH THE FINGER POSITION AND THE SYMBOL MEANING. And the way Itachi is literally what Kisame thinks of as he's about to offer himself to his sharks. All of this is so *CLENCHES FIST*

are there any ships you can’t stand, why?

...Um. Sasuke/Itachi.

how long have you been writing the character?

Technically, for almost two decades. Not continuously so. If we are talking about this blog only, then it's been since January 2024.

should people get into the franchise you're writing from, yes or no?

I mean, sure? If they like the franchise and have characters they would like to write? I don't see why not.

if you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?

I already did it above, so: Little Quirky Nerd Weasel

which song do you feel describes your character the most and why?

I have a few, actually! For some examples: "Gasoline", by Halsey, "Second Chance", by Shinedown, "The World of Mercy", by DIR EN GREY (this one is particularly👌👌👌for my villain verse). I think they're very Itachi-coded in both lyrics and melody. And, of course, the song in my pinned post: "Scarlet", by Yamaoka Akira. This song is peak Itachi vibes, especially when you look into his eyes. And, uh. Generally, almost all DIR EN GREY songs inspire me a lot to write his replies, because a lot of them are also the songs that I started writing him to, all those years back.

tagged by : @sagemom ♡ tagging : if you're reading this you're tagged by default~

[ohnococo]

While I’m disappointed by the leaks, I have to say gege is a great writer! I think this outcome has been foreshadowed for a long time and I have to admit I hate it but geges ability to draw on information they put out hundreds of chapters ago to bring things full circle is incredible.

Yeah, while there are certainly things I don’t like or would call weak writing from gege, or things I wish went another way (like for me personally the quality took a nose dive post shibuya, which I know isn’t an unpopular opinion, never getting any interaction between yuuji and kenjaku, and the execution of the airport scene was… yeah…) in my opinion it’s less to do with gege being a “bad writer” and more to do with needing a better editor and the breakneck pace these things have to come out at.

Like people having problems with things seeming sudden or like asspulls, etc etc imo that’s down to gege’s tendency to either bury the lead or foreshadow SO sparingly where I think people want more—and that’s not gonna be everyone’s style I get it, but it’s clearly gege’s style and my baseless speculation is that he’s been given a little more free reign whereas some writers just need a more active editor.

Also these things come across so much differently when you read things after the fact versus waiting week by week or through breaks. I have my complaints about the way the sukuna fight has dragged, but I have no doubt that when animated (because action gets SO condensed) it won’t feel the same.

Basically, like all writers/mangakas gege has his strengths and weaknesses. Characters dying isn’t necessarily a weakness (although there are certainly examples of satisfying and unsatisfying deaths, and there are absolutely major mood shifts in jjk like the arc in the school vs shibuya vs culling games and it’s valid not to like all of those)

[actualbird]

Hi zak! I've been a longtime reader of your original works. Do you have any tips on what pieces to put in your writing folio?

hi anon !!! im very sorry it took me forever to get back to this ask, and doubly sorry if you are no longer in need of tips OTL. still, thank u for reading my original works, thats a pleasant surprise to know!! i havent posted my original writing website here in......a long while, since im the (very slow) process revamping the site HAHA,

but yeah, tips on what put in a writing portfolio!! if ever you still need em or if ever anybody out there can make use of this. all of these based completely on my personal experience of applying to writing workshops and writing jobs, so feel free to take what you think applies to you/would help you, and leave the rest behind

-

1 ) in general, put your Best Works. but take into consideration that You are usually your own worst critic, so you definitely could benefit from a second opinion (or many)

so, obviously, you wanna be putting in your best stuff. and thats still the general method that i'd choose, but with the added reminder that a lot of the time, writers can be blind to certain works that they themselves made that other people really liked or found immensely compelling.

this for lots of reasons: writerly self-esteem problems, that odd experience of mostly remembering the arduous Process of writing the thing and less the actual finished product, general blindness to stuff in your own work since you Wrote That (and probably revised it 76439754985 times) so it's just hard now for you to realize the level of skill thats apparent to many others

the opposite effect is also very possible, where you can be Incredibly attached to a work (maybe for sentimental reasons, maybe because the you learned a lot along the way, etc) but other people kinda found the whole work meh.

bottom line: by this point, you know youve got skill in writing. but the skill OF seeing and evaluating your own skill is a whole different animal

reach out to your friends, writing peers, or reading peers and ask them what they think some of your best works are. personally, i think it's good both to ask people who are Also in the practice/study/career of writing, and people who arent, simply because a more diverse set of information is always better than a lesser diverse one. if you want, you can ask follow up questions like "why?", or you can just stick to getting a general pulse check of what is resonating to the people who read your work. because [tv commercial voice] The Answer May Surprise You!

and once you know what resonates with others, you can start chopping down the list with armed with that new knowledge

-

2 ) "Best" should not be a catch-all term, cut it up into specific categories and showcase your Best in top categories you want to focus on. this way, you get a folio that's showing a wide range of your capabilities

if i were picking between two applicants, both of which submitted portfolios of their Best fiction works (and theyre both Very good), i would ultimately choose the applicant who gave a portfolio that showed a wider range of what Bests theyre capable of rather than the applicant who submitted 5 really great stories but they all still employed the same techniques/concepts/themes

......if that makes sense?

like, okay, let's assume the portfolio is a fiction portfolio. no specific lit genre limitations or whatever, just, fiction in general.

"fiction in general" is a ridiculously huge field! theres the genres of course, so many damn genres. but what im more focused on is Technique. there are so many ways to structure your plot and pacing, there are so many ways to create your cadence and tone, there are so many kinds of characters and so many ways you can make them clash, so many dang ways to make your story's themes come to light. theres a Lot

so take a portfolio as a chance to show the widest possible range of what you can do, and what you can do Well

let's say you did Tip 1 and coming from that, youve got a list of 15 stories you think would be good for a portfolio. your next step then is to identify which stories are doing the same Thing (whether that be in its genre, structure, themes, etc) and then decide which of those stories showcases your ability to Do that Thing best.

if ive got 3 different stories that are all magical realism pieces using a very subdued tone to communicate the plot's conflict and emotion, then im gonna need to pick just one to put in my folio, the one that did it Best. and then you can go back to Tip 1 and get a second opinion on that if you want, and THEN i repeat with the other stories, this time picking a different Thing-Technique-Structure-Theme-Etc to focus on

basically my point is that a portfolio, ideally, should show different Kinds of Bests. because that is much much more appealing than only seeing One kind of Best

-

3 ) you can make as many portfolios as you want, tailor-made specifically for what youre using that portfolio for

this is something i learned after college and when i was applying for various writing jobs. for context, i dual wielded fiction and nonfiction in college. though my degree ultimately/officially went into the nonfiction track, i still wrote a whole lotta original fiction, and when i was applying for jobs, my personal list of Bests included a lot of fiction pieces, as well as nonfiction pieces

but i was applying to all different kinds of jobs, and it would be slightly off-course to submit a fiction piece to a job like Feature Writer For Magazine. additionally, it would be slightly off-course to submit a nonfiction piece to a job like Romance Game Writer

(.....both of those real jobs i applied for and man, sidenote, can you believe i almost became a romance game writer? like, how ironic that is now that im into the fandom i am Currently into. guys. guys i got to the second interview stage of that job. Guys. jdhvfhvfkshd)

anyway, remember how Tip 2 is about showing off a diverse array of what youre capable of? well, dont get Too diverse. always remember the people/organization/etc that you will be submitting this portfolio to, and keep in mind what They are looking for

if youre applying for a sci-fi fiction workshop, submit your Best pieces that do different techniques or things BUT are still within the parameters sci-fi fiction, so they are relevant. if youre applying for a feature writing job, maybe fiction might work, but read the works that the magazine puts out, maybe. get a feel for their style, what they like. like idk , if theyre super into that Anthony Bourdain-esque kinda description of gritty details, then maybe a fiction piece that shows off that kind of descriptive skill can still be relevant.

make a new portfolio whenever the need arises to best adapt to whatever it is youre gunning for

-

in summary :

tip 1: Best works but cast a wider net and ask other people because us writers can get tunnel vision sometimes

tip 2: whittle down your list to show different kinds of Bests that you can do, avoid redundancy

tip 3: keep your Bests relevant to whatever the task at hand may be

well....thats all i can think of. i hope some part of this can be helpful to anybody out there. hope youre doing well, anon :")