#best rvb writer ever

[asweetprologue]

I just finished a rewatch of s13 of red versus blue and it's so crazy to me that the show kind of majorly diverted in plot after the finale

I really hope s19 and the retcon finally give us what I feel like it was all leading up to: epsilon fracturing into the other AIs and each of the reds and blues getting one. in church's monologue it seemed so clear to me that he was planning to break himself up into those individual pieces - the others even appear when he says as much! but then s15 (after the hiatus season) just has epsilon gone, having left nothing behind. when the season 13 finale originally aired I was so pumped bc I assumed we would get something I'd been wanting since like season 6, which is for the main characters to get AIs themselves and armor enhancements. maybe not permanently, but I always thought it was a missed opportunity to once again highlight the difference between Project Freelancer and the sim troopers. and also it would have opened up so many opportunities for new jokes. really hope s19 goes that route

[zeravmeta]

Thoughts on RvB Restoration Finale

not really that long just my 2 cents

I wanna say I liked the movie because I did enjoy myself watching it, but honestly I'm very much gonna stick to the RvB17 open ended finale

Overall the movie was... ok? It wasn't unwatchably bad the way RvB Zero was but it also just made a lot of choices that I disagree with fundamentally both with the writing and the core themes of the series as a whole. I've had this take ever since RvB14 on the fanbase and the writers but this movie flat out says it:

The writers are fucking unable to let go of PFL and Chorus in a meaningful way.

For a series thats core message is about saying goodbye, they literally dont let that part of the show die. They are functionally unable to let go of the past peaks of the franchise and write something new. And I get it: RvB fundamentally cycles with its storytelling, but what was so refreshing to me about RvB14-17 was that it actually progressed itself Past those peaks of RvB10 and 11-13 (and honestly people REALLY dont appreciate the good in those later seasons). It felt like a natural (if wacky) progression, and it definitely wasnt perfect but it gave the extended cast more opportunities to shine in ways we didnt appreciate before

This movie just doesnt do that? Honestly the fact that they KILLED Sarge and Doc was so... disrespectful to me? Like not in the sense that it was as bad as how RvB Zero (fake) killed Tucker, but more like it felt like the writers killed them off because they were following a book titled "How To Write Story" and saw 'killing off characters is good writing'. Sarge got a dramatic send off that also didnt feel that impactful? And I did see it coming from the start but having Doc be Washs' guilt haunting him just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Its a really self contained story, a whole bunch of characters outside the main 3 reds and Caboose felt ooc, a good chunk of characters dont even show up (dude where was DONUT??? youre telling me he only has 5 seconds in Simmons' mind in a cheerleading costume?), it was composed of like 3-4 sets total, Carolina, Tex and 479er all just kind of Show Up to be badasses in the way The New Person would show up in an MCU movie...

Honestly watching this movie I kind of felt like it would have a twist ending. Like the credits would play and then itd zoom out to show the Reds and Blues post S17 in a movie theater watching this dramatic finale, because thats honestly what it felt like: The whole movie was a cheap facsimile of RvB as a whole. The fact that Trocadero wasn't allowed/signed on to make the music for this finale really does influence this movie, since they used a whole bunch of songs and osts that felt out of place (though I will admit Vale Deah softly playing as Grimmons said goodbye to each other did make me choke up a little)

Despite my negative review, I do still recommend watching it, since there was stuff I did like: Simmons in a leader role, Tex and the fun reveal during her fight with Tucker-Meta, Grif FINALLY getting to retire, Caboose as a whole was really well written, there IS good in this movie! And again it's not unwatchable bad, it just... kind of leaves a somber, sour taste in my mouth. This movie threw a whole bunch of stuff to the wall not to see what would stick but to break it all and leave for the insurance money. Just a "hey since we're sinking might as well make all these callbacks and break a bunch of stuff along the way."

Welp. Goodbye, RvB. At least this way I know that RT dies without riding your coattails any longer. And hey given that RvB technically has 3 endings (RvB17, Zero and RvB19) you can just take your pick on what you like best anyways. Quick edit no jutsu I forgor to mention there is the sequence at the beginning of the movie where it is implied RvB19 COULD also be one of the simulations in and of itself so. yeah you can in fact just take it as you will

[vexedjackal]

I was in the middle of taking a shower and this story came back to my mind. I don't know how many of you like RVB fan fiction but I'll tell you this, this one specifically is the best one I have ever read. I was smiling and laughing almost the entire time.

I'm not posting this to make fun of the writer, I'm posting this because I think it's actually beautiful and hilarious. Despite the numerous spelling mistakes, I find this story to be the perfect story in existence. " What story is that?" You ask, well none other than Locus in Equestria Girls

You have the power of Loyalty, Honestly, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic. But now it's time to add a seventh Element to the tree of Harmony.

The power of an SRS99 S5AM Sniper Rifle

Please tell me what you think. I can't not share this with the world.

[simmonsized]

🥑🌻🪐🥐☁️🎨 🧩 for Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

1. 🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

Probably the members of my Broblematic server (@outofstrings (bird and fae collectively, u may know of the Post-Cal ask blog), @future-geometries (Jess u are the first person I thought of) and definitely @alexharrier , who I think would probably hide me from the law even if I didn't explain the crime. I am not including beloved @chaton-katreal because I think she is too gentle, i would not want to muck up her life with murder!)

Or you know, my actual partner @notanotherdoodleblog probably LOL

All fantastic people, worth of hiding crimes.

2. 🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

Honestly most of my friends are pretty busy adulting 8( so we don't get to talk as much as I'd like to. @eggwyrt because our timezones are almost earth opposites. I love u!!!! I miss you!!

3. 🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

- I've got two real life best friends that I get together with and have coffee every weekend together, and sometimes do other things, and this is significant to me because adulthood makes it hard to keep friends, let alone see them.

- I got into the marine ecology lab at my school that I have been pushing for entrance into, despite missing a pre-req. I get to be on a boat for eight hours next quarter! Woohoo!

- I got fanart for a fic I am very proud of but very rarely interact with anybody about, which has boosted my confidence and made me feel really good, and each comment I've gotten since they posted the art has made my heart sing extra loud!

4. 🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh

Tbh I can't think of anything off the top of my head. My partner and I met through RVB, however, so we reference old seasons to each other fairly regularly, and I like to think we have a pretty good time c:

5. ☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

(i do not even like Simmons that much but it's a solid username and now is part of my brand. also I am classically a blue team girly lol)

6. 🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

This is an impossible task. Insurmountable, even. There are several!! Many!!! How can I pick one?? So I will list a few:

A. Everything anyone has ever drawn for my fanfics at all ever.

B. SPECIFICALLY everything @alexharrier has drawn for me, ever. Especially specially specially these two gifs which actually make me fucking insane every time I see them.

Honestly, this had me making sounds so incoherent only dogs could hear them, years ago when I did not consider my fic would be special to anyone. I really really really treasure them.

Also both my birthday gifts, Bro at Disneyland, and Bro at Home Depot 💕

C. This artwork for RNG chapter 66, from @101-sve . It is also special to me, and it's been my wallpaper on my phone ever since c: the atmosphere, the warmth, the halo of their hair i just... Yeah!!!!

D. Recent, probably familiar still, this Holy Fucking Shit Beautiful Atmospheric work of art for metempsychosis!!!! by @askinsufferableprickmod . I really actually cannot stop looking at it. It's so gorgeous, and honestly even if it had nothing to do with me I would still be in love with it. The concept of the kids are Gods, as beings outside the mortal world they made for themselves, all that is visible here, and I really really love it!

* I know all of these are things people have drawn for me, for my content, but honestly that is why they are my favorites! It is touching to see someone put heart into something that is related to something you, yourself, also put heart into!!! I love it!!!! I love these talented artists!!!!!

ALSO: we all know Theater of Coolty, but it is so beloved to me, I can recite it in my sleep lol.

7. 🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately

On top of the other reasons I said I don't like things, you do actually have to convince me 6 times outta 10 if you want me to read a Homestuck fic in the third person. There is just something to the flavor of 2nd person that hits different. There is a reason different perspectives exist, and I think they can all be utilized well, but something about that classic, well-patterned "you, and then you" just gets me, you know?

[kitkatopinions]

I think Miles got it in his head that he's the best writer in the universe because he was the lead writer of The Chorus Trilogy (seasons 11-13 of Red vs Blue), which most RvB fans seem to agree is probably the best arc in the entire show. The douche can write, and write well. The problem with RWBY is he just doesn't care at all about that IP.

And for the life of me I cannot figure out how he went from writing the Chorus Trilogy to whatever the fuck the Atlas arc is. Unless someone else wrote Chorus and he got to slap his name on it like James Patterson most of his bibliography of ghost writers, there should be no excuse for how the Atlas arc turned out.

So, I've never seen Red Vs Blue, so I can't say anything about Luna's writing in that show. But correct if I'm wrong, Red Vs Blue is set in the already made Halo universe, right?

Let me tell you, as someone who has been writing fanfiction for over a decade but who has also been unsuccessfully trying to write my own original stories but has never gotten past concept... It's a very different thing to write stories set in an already created world - even with your own plot and your own characters - than it is to write up your own world. And as far as I know, Miles Luna came into not only an already made world, but a story with already established characters and story. It's a little different with RWBY. Although not all of it is his own creation, it's undeniable that he's been an incredibly strong influence from conception to the volume we currently have. Basically, he might be better as someone who writes for already established properties, but not have the skill level or commitment to come up with everything himself.

It's a bit similar to Steven Moffat, in a way. He wrote some incredible episodes during the Christopher Eccleston/David Tennent seasons, including the Empty Child/the Doctor Dances (a personal favorite of mine,) Blink, and Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. But when he took over as the head writer, he was just not great and just gradually got worse (I only watched up to the eighth season, so if he ever got any better than the failure of Peter Capaldi's first season, I haven't seen it,) and his work on Sherlock might've been more bad than his work on Doctor Who. But those early episodes he worked on were great! Some people are really good at working within other people's stories, but not as good at making their own.

It's also possible though that Miles Luna just.... Doesn't care as much about RWBY? Obviously I don't know him, so I can't say anything for sure, but RWBY wasn't quite his passion project, and sometimes with the way he talks about it, it feels like it might've been a headache for him. And there's a vibe that there was characters he just doesn't like or just does not care at all about, and the whole show just feels... Loveless, these days. So there's a chance that Miles Luna is apparently such a good writer for Red Vs Blue because he cared about it and had enthusiasm for the project, and with RWBY, any love and enthusiasm he once had for it has just died out. Again, this is all just speculation on my part, but it's a possibility.

[goodluckdetective]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Oh man, what a question. I tried to pick a piece each from a different fandom to mix it up a bit:

The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Overwatch)

Ship: McHanzo or Hanzo/Cassidy Summary: Fifteen years ago, Jesse McCree made a deal at a crossroads for someone’s life. Now, the creature has come to collect. Why I like it: I still think this is one of the best things I’ve ever written. The plot here is solid, I managed to showcase how important McCree/Cassidy is to Overwatch as a whole and I think the horror bits land well. I need to update it with new names but otherwise it holds, despite some bits being jossed.

Letters to Nowhere (Supernatural)

Ship: Destiel, Sam/Eileen Summary: AU Post Inherit the Earth. After God is defeated, Sam decides to text the one person they're still missing with regular updates. Castiel can read them when he gets back. Because they are getting him back. This isn’t Chuck’s story anymore. They’ve lost too much to him as it is. They’ve won: it’s time they feel like it. And act like it too. Why I like it: I tend to stay away from writing multi chapter works because I’m bad at finishing them, but this is one piece I managed from start to finish. My goal here was to write something that felt like it could be close to canon and while I do think it’s a little too sappy for that, I got as close as I could. Also, I adore the Chuck sections.

Smile, You’re Trending (The Magnus Archives)

Ship: Jon/Martin Summary: During an encounter with another Avatar of the Eye, Jon faces his past, Martin takes a turn at playing Kill Bill and Basira has a second look at the monster she’s determined to see. For three people associated with the Eye, they could all use some perspective. Why I like it: OCs in fic is always a gamble, especially if you want them to hold a chunk of screen time but here I think I managed it. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my avatar I used in this story as an antagonist and I think she works well!

System Failure (RVB)

Ship: None Summary: It starts like this. The Director needs your help. It ends like this: exactly how it starts. Why I like it: This is the best horror piece I’ve ever written, hands down. It fucks.

Tamper Proof (Ace Attorney)

Ship: Wrightworth Summary: Miles Edgeworth does not ride on elevators. It is perhaps this reason that he is the first to notice that Phoenix Wright does not drink from pre-opened containers. Why I like it: I tend to write only small little things for Ace Attorney but I think this is one of my better ones. I wanted to explore Phoenix’s trauma in conversation with Edgeworth’s, and I think I succeed!

[seeminglyseph]

I know this is like. Silly to look back on so often, but I also like… have not accomplished a fic this huge like. Ever. Since then, and I’m pretty sure I was manic at the time and that’s part of it.

But I do wonder sometimes if there’s like. “Normal” RvB fans who like. Go through the RvB AO3 section and go for the HSAU fic about the two villains from seasons 11-13 with these kinds of tags expecting crack smut fic they can riff on? And like. I know I’m not like… the greatest writer now and this is before I even went to University for English/Creative Writing (and dropped out but I’m hoping to eventually go back…) and seat of my pants manic writing is not the best way to create a narrative… it’s kinda like why you wanna make sure Steven King doesn’t do too much cocaine, things get a little crazy.

But I do feel like it’s like…. Surprisingly higher quality than the premise would imply? RvB HSAU about late season villains written technically before we got their backstory episodes, not featuring any of the main characters and with *those* tags? I also got Iritis in like… chapter 6.

I feel like there’s just a part of me that’s curious if there’s a secret reputation that I have no way of knowing about having kinda fallen out of the fandom since then… it’s a silly thing to wonder but sometimes I can’t help it. I guess like it’s that whole mix of wanting to leave an impact but also troll logic of knowing the concept of this story is innately ridiculous and I know people have judged it by tags alone because I was once put on an “RvB has a child predator problem” list based on the tags alone because antis have reading comprehension problems sometimes and can’t tell the difference between “this story has youths who engage in sexual activity please be warned” and “this is csem and I’m a monster” which was. Definitely an experience that freaked me out. I don’t even include explicit scenes because it squicked me out…. But they literally just scroll through the tags, a system used to warn people of content they don’t want to interact with, and then accuse people of the worst shit imaginable. Fucking absurd.

I’m not sure what I’m doing really right now… it’s been so long since I’ve written anything. I need some good motivation, and I think I’m just curious really if I do have a reputation or if people remember things I’ve written or created for some reason. Idk. That’s a weird thing probably to wonder about…

[hawthornsword]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag @lizardberries

How many works do you have on ao3? 7

What’s your total ao3 word count? 41,941

What fandoms do you write for? Currently just Star Wars and Red vs. Blue have anything finished, but there are many many more to come.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Loyalty As A Love Language (SW) 2. Altar (SW) 3. Multitasking (SW) 4. Marvels Have Gathered (RvB) 5. A Hard Day's Knife (RvB)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes. I adore getting comments, but I often find it really challenging to leave them myself, and I get really excited when anyone replies to me. I figure that others probably feel the same, so I do my best to reply to everyone who has put in so much effort.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Uhh, I guess Call Me When You're Ready To Be Real, although it's not really an ending since it's not finished. I just have no idea where I want to take it next. I'm not counting the cliffhanger on A Hard Day's Knife because I think I'm actually going to go back and change it.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Loyalty As A Love Language and Marvels Have Gathered are probably tied.

Do you get hate on fics? Once when I was still posting on ff.net I got a troll trying to bait me with the typical purity culture bullshit. Which genuinely was delightful to me. Like bro, you took enough time out of your day, literally hours, to read sixty thousand words just so you could leave me a comment about how I'm a horrible person for writing a few throwaway lines to make a fictional character accurate to how they're portrayed in canon? That's fuckin hilarious. So glad you'll never get that time back to use on something more productive. I kinda feel like a Big Deal if I wrote something popular enough to get noticed by the trolls.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. This is brand new for me. I am still tentatively trying things out. Up until recently I genuinely thought I would never write smut. It made me feel too awkward. But I keep having ideas!!!

Do you write crossovers? Crossovers rarely strike my fancy, but very occasionally I'll have an idea. I've got a few drafts, but honestly, those are lower priority than my other stories.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes, not by an individual (that I know of), but by Fictionhunt. Fictionhunt is an unauthorized aggregator; it scoops archives like ff.net without the authors' consent in order to re-post content. The only control a writer has, if they even know their work has been copied, is to ask that it be removed. They did take my stories down when I emailed them about it. You should go check if yours are there too.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I think that would be neat.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I've got a bunch in the works with my bestie. No idea if we'll finish them, but we're having a very good time. The bouncing ideas off each other tends to snowball into pure crackfic most of the time though.

What’s your all-time favorite ship? Haha, if you know me long you learn that I find it nearly impossible to pick individual favorites. There are too many things to like. Why limit myself like that? I like ideas. I will ship almost anything if you write it well enough, and I love to play what if and put characters in Situations. But anything that reminds me of my own marriage will likely always have a top spot. There isn't enough celebration of wholesome successful relationships in fiction. Too much focus on The Drama of it all. I like understated. I like comfort. I like devotion without obsession. I like a team that always has each other's back. I like making each other laugh. And that elderly couple still holding hands and walking in the park. I like "Together or not all."

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? It depends on what you count as a WIP. I've got literally hundreds of ideas sitting waiting to be worked on, and I know a lot will never go anywhere. But I'd consider that different than actual WIPs. Once it's at that stage for me, I doubt I'll ever ever abandon anything. (I feel like this is a good time to point out that Rebel Child isn't gone. I'm just reworking it because I changed my mind about some goals I had for the story. It will go back up on ao3 eventually.)

What are your writing strengths? Spending wayyyyyy too much time reverse engineering unexplainable timelines and plotholes. In seriousness though, I think I'm pretty good at dialogue and like, melancholic introspection?

What are your writing weaknesses? I'm usually too impatient to be very descriptive of settings. And I think I have a tendency to both over and under explain things depending on if I think it's obvious or if I'm worried I won't get my point across.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I have bilingual characters that I'm going to have to ask my friends to help with because I do not trust Google Translate. On the subject of Star Wars fics specifically - I see people saying the clones wouldn't speak Mandoa and they make a lot of perfectly logical points about why not that I actually mostly agree with. But you know what? I do not care. I will keep having my clones speak Mandoa simply because I like it. Sometimes you just gotta do something because it's cool.

First fandom you wrote for? Sailor Moon when I was about twelve.

Favorite fic you’ve written? Currently, Loyalty As A Love Language because it's the longest one I've actually finished. It reminds me every time I look at it that yes, actually, I can do this.

This was super fun. Tagging whoever wants to play.

[freelancer-intel-256]

Annepocalypse is the only thing I like about Season 16 because as much as I bitch, she's always there with thought and insight.

RvB 16.09

Keep reading

[riathedreamer]

I'm back again after binge-reading a few (five) more. I noticed you don't keep the same headcanons across stories, it's interesting and gives a sense of intrigue when I know I'm looking through your works specifically, though I'm not sure how purposeful that is. Everything is so fun to read, your pacing is engaging and keeps me invested in the characters and plot that I lost track of time reading. How do you go about writing the plot for something when you've got an idea? Do you write it out chapter by chapter, or have a vague list of points you want to hit?

I think part of the changing headcanons is due to the fact I've soon been in the RvB fandom for six years. You change your mind a bit, seasons give new information, and sometimes you just want to try something new. I don't think it's something I've done truly on purpose? More like, what do I need for this fic. And when canon leaves things unclear.

God, this sounds sort of douchey, but I just want to point out that I'm a published writer in real life. Not a big one. But there are books out there with my name on it. And when I had my first work published, it was a two year long process, going back and forth with a good (and therefore nit-picky) editor.

That means that sometimes (most times), I end up treating fanfiction like a treat. It has to be fun. So while in theory, I will always recommend planning out your fics in good details, I admit, often I just do a "fuck-it-let's-write-until-2am-and-then-post-it-right-away".

This is easier when it's just one-shots, or a collection of these. There, I almost always just let myself loose right away - unless the collection of one-shot leads into a greater narrative, for example with "seasons pass" (jesus Christ 2016-Ria was brutal with that fic, don't know what I was thinking with that ending. Lmao. Anyway, all the chapters built up for it) and my current Encanto fic "Magical Mirrors". However, for long fics, I definitely planning. Lots of it. Someitmes, I take the easy route and just plan like, half of it, cause the overall idea is good, I'll figure out the rest later, let's go, but that makes the overall fic weaker, and I know it.

I just finished planning what will probably be my longest long-fic ever yesterday. The process for that - I get a cool idea. A really cool one. Then I get more ideas. I bounce them off with some friends. This is where I will normally cave in and just write. But for the best result - I sit down with a notebook.

I write down the ideas I have. Then I make a sort of timeline with them. What leads to what. And slowly, quite slowly, you begin to get new ideas. You edit the ones you already have. You get rid of some. I usually have "major points" when I plan a fic, and I will draw those in squares. Then the real magic is figuring out how to turn the squares into a pattern. And then, at some point, you have a fic. It might be a draft, some of the points more vague than others, and for me, that's okay. If I have a point going: "they travel to the mountain", then in the draft, I might not need more than that. But once I get to that point, maybe it's something I will split into more chapters, with more details. The story grows as you write it, and you need the wiggle room. As long as you know where to go next, otherwise, you will end up stuck, or the pace will suffer from it. Not knowing where to go is like riding a train where you have to build the rails at the same time. Some of the scenes are already in great details. I make sure to write those details down, because it might take me half a year to get that chapter. Sometimes, the points are actually bits of dialogue that I know will happen.

When I have the timeline, I sort of get a sense of where I will split it into chapters. In the past, sometimes, I would mark where a chapter will begin and end. However, these marks would sometimes change when you were finally writing the story, so I don't do that anymore. Right now, I'm writing the first chapter of the new long-fic. I looked at the timeline and the points written on them, and vaguely, I have now sort of planned the next three chapters in detail. I don't usually go further than that, because again, things change. Suddenly you get inspiration for dialogue. Moments that will work as foreshadowing. Small details. Just as long as you follow the draft, you can add to the pattern, make moments longer, fill-in scenes, all those moments between the BIG SCENES tm. And for me, I often first get a sense of these when actually writing chapters.

God, this turned into a whole novel. TLDR: I collect ideas, sit down with a notebook, draw a skeleton of the whole plot, makes sure I have all major plot points planned, however, I do not plan each individual chapter right away.

Thank you so much for the support! I'm glad you are enjoying my stories!

[ot3]

i watched red vs blue: zero with my dear friends today and i was asked to “post” my “thoughts” on the subject. Please do not click this readmore unless, for some reason, you want to read three thousand words on the subject of red vs blue: zero critical analysis. i highly doubt that’s the reason anyone is following me, but hey. 

anyway. here you have it. 

Here are my opinions on RVB0 as someone who has quite literally no nostalgia for any older RVB content. I’ve seen seasons 1-13 once and bits and pieces of it more than once here and there, but I only saw it for the first time within the past couple of months. I’ve literally never seen any other RT/AH content. I can name a few people who worked on OG Red vs. Blue but other than Mounty Oum I have NO idea who is responsible for what, really, or what anything else they’ve ever worked on is, or whether or not they’re awful people. I know even less about the people making RVB0 - All I know is that the main writer is named Torrian but I honestly don’t even know if that’s a first name, a last name, or a moniker. All this to say; nothing about my criticism is rooted in any perceived slight against the franchise or branding by the new staff members, because I don’t know or care about any of it. In fact, I’m going to try and avoid any direct comparison between RVB0 and earlier seasons of RVB as a means of critique until the very end, where I’ll look at that relationship specifically.

So here is my opinion of RVB0 as it stands right now:

1. The Writing

Everything about RVB0 feels as if it was written by a first-time writer who hasn’t learned to kill his darlings. The narrative is both simultaneously far too full, leaving very little breathing room for character interaction, and oddly sparse, with a story that lacks any meaningful takeaway, interesting ideas, or genuine emotional connection. It also feels like it’s for a very much younger audience - I don’t mean this as a negative at all. I love tv for kids. I watch more TV for kids than I do for adults, mostly, but I think it’s important to address this because a lot of the time ���this is for kids’ is used to act like you’re not allowed to critique a narrative thoroughly. It definitely changes the way you critique it, but the critique can still be in good faith.  I watched the entirety of RVB0 only after it was finished, in one sitting, and I was giving it my full attention, essentially like it was a movie. I’m going to assume it was much better to watch in chunks, because as it stood, there was literally no time built into the narrative to process the events that had just transpired, or try and predict what events might be coming in the future. When there’s no time to think about the narrative as you’re watching it, the narrative ends up as being something that happens to the audience, not something they engage with. It’s like the difference between taking notes during a lecture or just sitting and listening. If you’re making no attempt to actively process what’s happening, it doesn’t stick in your mind well. I found myself struggling to recall the events and explanations that had immediately transpired because as soon as one thing had happened, another thing was already happening, and it was like a mental juggling act to try and figure out which information was important enough to dwell on in the time we were given to dwell on it.

Which brings me to another point - pacing. Every event in the show, whether a character moment, a plot moment, or a fight scene, felt like it was supposed to land with almost the exact same amount of emotional weight. It all felt like The Most Important Thing that had Yet Happened. And I understand that this is done as an attempt to squeeze as much as possible out of a rather short runtime, but it fundamentally fails. When everything is the most important thing happening, it all fades into static. That’s what most of 0’s narrative was to me: static. It’s only been a few hours since I watched it but I had to go step by step and type out all of the story beats I could remember and run it by my friends who are much more enthusiastic RVB fans than I am to make sure I hadn’t missed or forgotten anything. I hadn’t, apparently, but the fact that my takeaway from the show was pretty accurate and also disappointingly lackluster says a lot. Strangely enough, the most interesting thing the show alluded to - a holo echo, or whatever the term they used was - was one of the things least extrapolated upon in the show’s incredibly bulky exposition. Benefit of the doubt says that’s something they’ll explore in future seasons (are they getting more? Is that planned? I just realized I don’t actually know.)

And bulky it was! I have quite honestly never seen such flagrant disregard for the rule of “show, don’t tell.” There was not a single ounce of subtlety or implication involved in the storytelling of RVB0. Something was either told to you explicitly, or almost entirely absent from the narrative. Essentially zilch in between. We are told the dynamic the characters have with each other, and their personality pros and cons are listed for us conveniently by Carolina. The plot develops in exposition dumps. This is partially due to the series’ short runtime, but is also very much a result of how that runtime was then used by the writers. They sacrificed a massive chunk of their show for the sake of cramming in a ton of fight scenes, and if they wanted to keep all of those fight scenes, it would have been necessary to pare down their story and characters proportionally in comparison, but they didn’t do that either. They wanted to have it both ways and there simply wasn’t enough time for it. 

The story itself is… uninteresting. It plays out more like the flimsy premise of a video game quest rather than a piece of media to be meaningfully engaged with. RVB0 is I think something I would be pitched by a guy who thinks the MCU and BNHA are the best storytelling to come out of the past decade. It is nothing but tropes. And I hate having to use this as an insult! I love tropes. The worst thing about RVB0 is that nothing it does is wholly unforgivable in its own right. Hunter x Hunter, a phenomenal shonen, is notoriously filled with pages upon pages of detailed exposition and explanations of things, and I absolutely love it. Leverage, my favorite TV show of all time, is literally nothing but a five man band who has to learn to work as a team while seemingly systematically hitting a checklist of every relevant trope in the book. Pacific Rim is an incredibly straightforward good guys vs giant monsters blockbuster to show off some cool fight scenes such as a big robot cutting an alien in half with a giant sword, and it’s some of the most fun I ever have watching a movie. Something being derivative, clunky, poorly executed in some specific areas, narratively weak, or any single one of these flaws, is perfectly fine assuming it’s done with the intention and care that’s necessary to make the good parts shine more. I’ll forgive literally any crime a piece of media commits as long as it’s interesting and/or enjoyable to consume. RVB0 is not that. I’m not sure what the main point of RVB0 was supposed to be, because it seemingly succeeds at nothing. It has absolutely nothing new or innovative to justify its lack of concern for traditional storytelling conventions. Based solely on the amount of screentime things were given, I’d be inclined to say the narrative existed mostly to give flimsy pretense for the fight scenes, but that’s an entire other can of worms.

2. The Visuals + Fights

I have no qualms with things that are all style and no substance. Sometimes you just want to see pretty colors moving on the screen for a while or watch some cool bad guys and monsters or whatever get punched. RVB0 was not this either. The show fundamentally lacked a coherent aesthetic vision. Much of the show had a rather generic sci-fi feel to it with the biggest standouts to this being the very noir looking cityscape, which my friends and I all immediately joked looked like something from a batman game, or the temple, which my friends and I all immediately joked looked like a world of warcraft raid. They were obviously attempting to get variety in their environment design, which I appreciate, but they did this without having a coherent enough visual language to feel like it was all part of the same world. In general, there was also just a lack of visual clarity or strong shots. The value range in any given scene was poor, the compositions and framing were functional at best, and the character animation was unpleasantly exaggerated. It just doesn’t really look that good beyond fancy rendering techniques.

The fight scenes are their entire own beast. Since ‘FIGHT SCENE’ is the largest single category of scenes in the show, they definitely feel worth looking at with a genuine critical eye. Or, at least, I’d like to, but honestly half the time I found myself almost unable to look at them. The camera is rarely still long enough to really enjoy what you’re watching - tracking the motion of the character AND the camera at such constant breakneck high speeds left little time to appreciate any nuances that might have been present in the choreography or character animation. I tried, believe me, I really did, but the fight scenes leave one with the same sort of dizzy convoluted spectacle as a Michael Bay transformers movie. They also really lacked the impact fight scenes are supposed to have.

It’s hard to have a good, memorable fight scene without it doing one of three things: 1. Showing off innovative or creative fighting styles and choreography 2. Making use of the fight’s setting or environment in an engaging and visually interesting way or 3. Further exploring a character’s personality or actions by the way they fight. It’s also hard to do one of these things on its own without at least touching a bit on the other two. For the most part, I find RVB0’s fight scenes fail to do this. Other than rather surface level insubstantial factors, there was little to visually distinguish any of RVB0’s fight scenes from each other. Not only did I find a lot of them difficult to watch and unappealing, I found them all difficult to watch and unappealing in an almost identical way. They felt incredibly interchangeable and very generic. If you could take a fight scene and change the location it was set and also change which characters were participating and have very little change, it’s probably not a good fight scene. 

I think “generic” is really just the defining word of RVB0 and I think that’s also why it falls short in the humor department  as well.

3. The Comedy

Funny shit is hard to write and humor is also incredibly subjective but I definitely got almost no laughs out of RVB0. I think a total of three. By far the best joke was Carolina having a cast on top of her armor, which, I must stress, is an incredibly funny gag and I love it. But overall I think the humor fell short because it felt like it was tacked on more than a natural and intentional part of this world and these characters. A lot of the jokes felt like they were just thrown in wherever they’d fit, without any build up to punchlines and with little regard for what sort of joke each character would make. Like, there was some, obviously Raymond’s sense of humor had the most character to it, but the character-oriented humor still felt very weak. When focusing on character-driven humor, there’s a LOT you can establish about characters based on what sort of jokes they choose to make, who they’re picking as the punchlines of these jokes, and who their in-universe audience for the jokes is. In RVB0, the jokes all felt very immersion-breaking and self aware, directed wholly towards the audience rather than occurring as a natural result of interplay between the characters. This is partially due to how lackluster the character writing was overall, and the previously stated tight timing, but also definitely due to a lack of a real understanding about what makes a joke land. 

A rule of thumb I personally hold for comedy is that, when push comes to shove, more specific is always going to be more funny. The example I gave when trying to explain this was this:

saying two characters had awkward sex in a movie theater: funny

saying two characters had an awkward handjob in a cinemark: even funnier

saying two characters spent 54 minutes of 11:14's 1:26 runtime trying out some uncomfortably-angled hand stuff in the back of a dilapidated cinemark that lost funding halfway through retrofitting into a dinner theater: the funniest

The more specific a joke is, the more it relies on an in-depth understanding of the characters and world you’re dealing with and the more ‘realistic’ it feels within the context of your media. Especially with this kind of humor. When you’re joking with your friends, you don’t go for stock-humor that could be pulled out of a joke book, you go for the specific. You aim for the weak spots. If a set of jokes could be blindly transplanted into another world, onto another cast of characters, then it’s far too generic to be truly funny or memorable. I don’t think there’s a single joke in RVB0 where the humor of it hinged upon the characters or the setting.

Then there’s the issue of situational comedy and physical comedy. This is really where the humor being ‘tacked on’ shows the most. Once again, part of what makes actually solid comedy land properly is it feeling like a natural result of the world you have established. Real life is absurd and comical situations can be found even in the midst of some pretty grim context, and that’s why black comedy is successful, and why comedy shows are allowed to dip into heavier subject matter from time to time, or why dramas often search for levity in humor. It’s a natural part of being human to find humor in almost any situation. The key thing, though, once again, is finding it in the situation. Many of RVB0’s attempts at humor, once again, feel like they would be the exact same jokes when stripped from their context, and that’s almost never good. A pretty fundamental concept in both storytelling in general but particularly comedy writing is ‘setup and payoff’. No joke in RVB0 is a reward for a seemingly innocuous event in an earlier scene or for an overlooked piece of environmental design. The jokes pop in when there’s time for them in between all the exposition and fighting, and are gone as soon as they’re done. There’s no long term, underlying comedic throughline to give any sense of coherence or intent to the sense of humor the show is trying to establish. Every joke is an isolated one-off quip or one-liner, and it fails to engage the audience in a meaningful way.

All together, each individual component of RVB0 feels like it was conjured up independently, without any concern to how it interacted with the larger product they were creating. And I think this is really where it all falls apart. RVB0 feels criminally generic in a way reminiscent of mass-market media which at least has the luxury of attributing these flaws, this complete and total watering down of anything unique, to heavy oversight and large teams with competing visions. But I don’t think that’s the case for RVB0. I don’t know much about what the pipeline is like for this show, but I feel like the fundamental problem it suffers from is a lack of heart.

In comparison to Red vs. Blue

Let's face it. This is a terrible successor to Red vs. Blue. I wouldn’t care if NONE of the old characters were in it - that’s not my problem. I haven’t seen past season 13 because from what I heard the show already jumped the shark a bit and then some. That’s not what makes it a poor follow up. What makes it a bad successor is that it fundamentally lacks any of the aspects of the OG RVB that made it unique or appealing at all. I find myself wondering what Torrian is trying to say with RVB0 and quite literally the only answer I find myself falling back onto is that he isn’t trying to say anything at all. Regardless of what you feel about the original RVB, it undeniably had things to say. The opening “why are we here” speech does an excellent job at establishing that this is a show intended to poke fun at the misery of bureaucracy and subservience to nonsensical systems, not just in the context of military life, but in a very broad-strokes way almost any middle-class worker can relate to. At the end of the day, fiction is at its best when it resonates with some aspect of its audience’s life. I know instantly which parts of the original Red vs Blue I’m supposed to relate to. I can’t say anything even close to that about 0.

RVB is an absurdist parody that heavily satirizes aspects of the military and life as a low-on-the-food-chain worker in general that almost it’s entire target audience will be familiar with. The most significant draw of the show to me was how the dialogue felt like listening to my friends bicker with each other in our group chats. It required no effort for me to connect with and although the narrative never outright looked to the camera and explained ‘we are critiquing the military’s stupid red tape and self-fullfilling eternal conflict’ they didn’t need to, because the writing trusted itself and its audience enough to believe this could be conveyed. It is, in a way, the complete antithesis to the badass superhero macho military man protagonist that we all know so well. RVB was saying something, and it was saying it in a rather novel format.

Nothing about RVB0 is novel. Nothing about RVB0 says anything. Nothing about it compels me to relate to any of these characters or their situations. RVB0 doesn’t feel like absurdism, or satire. RVB0 feels like it is, completely uncritically, the exact media that RVB itself was riffing off of. Both RVB0 and RVB when you watch them give you the feeling that what you’re seeing here is kids on a playground larping with toy soldiers. It’s all ridiculous and over the top cliche stupid garbage where each side is trying to one-up the other. The critical difference is, in RVB, we’re supposed to look at this and laugh at how ridiculous this is. In RVB0 we’re supposed to unironically think this is all pretty badass. 

The PFL arc of the original RVB existed to show us that setting up an elite team of supersoldiers with special powers was something done in bad faith, with poor outcomes, that left everyone involved either cruel, damaged, or dead. It was a bad thing. And what we’re seeing in RVB0 is the same premise, except, this time it’s good. We’re supposed to root for this format. RVB0 feels much more like a demo reel, cutscenes from a video game that doesn’t exist, or a shonen anime fanboy’s journal scribbling than it feels like a piece of media with any objective value in any area.  In every area that RVB was anti-establishment, RVB0 is pure undiluted establishment through and through.  

[whatthefuckisasweep]

Grif

For the character ask! Sorry this took me a while, I can't copy and paste on mobile, so I waited till I got on desktop tumblr! Thank you so much for asking about him, I could go on forever lol so this is gonna be fucking LONG. Please, anyone, feel free to ask about any other character, too. These are fun.

Why I like them: Grif is, for lack of a better word, complex. On one hand, it's like, okay he's just a funny comedy character. But on the other hand, he's like every all of my favorite archetypes of a character. He's crafty but stupid, selfish but selfless, antisocial but friendly, the straight man but the dramatic guy, he's snarky but oddly caring: the reluctant hero. It's kind of paradoxical, and I feel like not only do I relate to him, but I just really enjoy him overall. Whether it's because he's a good brother, being a complete dickbag because he doesn't know how to handle emotions, being a complete cynic on the battlefield, or being hyperactive and snappy, it's just... ah. He. Everything in his life just happens, and he has to deal with it, and yeah he'll kick and pout and probably eat everything but in the end, he's gonna choose his family and he cares deeply... even when he can't really show it.

Why I don’t: I see this a lot in myself too - the fact that he's impulsive and inherently negative when he speaks specifically. his words don't match his actions. He often doesn't hesitate when it comes to making negative comments because they are easier than saying something nice, but what his intentions are are completely different. in other words, he's a jerk, lol. Especially in season 15. I know people felt bad for him because he was partially right and went insane on Iris, but he lowkey deserved it. He said he hated his friends, and even his closest friend. He didn't want to admit that he was a good person just because he didn't want to help. yeah, it was valid, but he needs to learn how to make a case without fucking everyone emotionally and being so clammed up. >:/ sometimes it feels like he regresses in character, as much as he's matured. i guess that's realistic and just the writers making comedy, but also the way he handles Doc specifically irks me. so mean spirited for no reason, as funny as it is.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): OH MY GOD, okay, literally, every single episode with Grif starring as a main is fucking gold. I think for this I'm going to say, uh, This One Goes to Eleven. Even though it's not Grif-centric, it's the episode that's my favorite overall because it introduced me to RvB and made me like Grif right away, simply because he was attacked so much and I felt so bad for him. Another great one that sticks out right now in my sleep deprived state, is Grif does a Rescue. Augh. And the episode where Grif and Simmons get stuck underground in the caves.

Favorite season/movie: Season 8 (shotgun!!!, hyperactive ai grif), Season 11 (hanging in the canyon with simmons), Season 4 (the tank and blue simmons w/ grif), Season 5/6 (kai and rat's nest), Season 12/13 (the recruits, grif building the snowmen), Season 14 (backstory with simmons, Room Zero), Season 15 (you know why)

Favorite line: OK, don't make me choose. There are SO many that are good!!! I think one of my most favorite things that Grif says is "yoink!" It's so adorable! I also really enjoy "BLUEEE TEAAAAM SUCKKKKKS" with his epsilon double, the whole "invisible nap" scene, "what are we, on a date?"/"I can tell you what we weren't doing", "no one made me, I made me", "WERE GONNA FUCKING DIE" when charging at the meta, "that's a figure of speech?" [when carolina says im so hungry i could eat a horse is a figure of speech], "dexta grif he who shall not be messed with!"... I'm sure I'm missing a lot, he has SO many snarky funny lines, but these are some off the top of my head.

Favorite outfit: LOL THIS IS SUCH A FUNNY QUESTION BECAUSE THIS IS RVB. HAHAHA. Uh. Season 6 probably. I just like Halo 3 Graphics. Also s14 Room Zero because THEY DREW HIM FAT CANONICALLY. THANK YOU.

OTP: I'm with the majority of people in the fandom who like Grimmons! I think Grimmons is the only ship that I really vocally ship with my whole heart besides OC ships. I just very much enjoy their dynamic -- it's very angsty, dialogue full, intimate yet so unspoken. It's just a really good pair to write about and see the development of through canon. And, not to mention... season 15... hrk...

Brotp: I really REALLY want grif/tucker, grif/church, grif/locus BROTP. SO SO SO BAD. I've always seen grif and tucker as bros, grif and church are HILARIOUS together and we were ROBBED of more time together, and grif and locus are fucking adorable.

Head Canon: I have a lot of headcanons about Grif, but one of my favorite ones is that he has half-lidded eyes, like he's always sleepy. I also headcanon him as bisexual, though I think that is a popular headcanon!

Unpopular opinion: I dunno if I have super unpopular opinions about Grif... maybe that I think that his labryinth wasn't as bad as it seems at first? A lot of people seemed to think that though, yknow. Like if you look deeply into it, it's actually kinda fucked. But I feel like we should have gotten the Hawaii scene anyways. Hm. I also didn't like how they altered the canon so that Grif wasn't drafted. I think it does add something to his char that he chose to go, but I always really liked the aspect that Grif didn't control that, and yet he still did this on purpose. He was good on purpose.

A wish: A badass Grif carchase scene for the love of FUCK. We need to have him drive more stuff !!!!!!!!

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Have him betray the reds -- i think every other red has betrayed the team at some point. please god for the love of god dont do this to grif. it really adds and says something about his character that he doesn't ever betray his team.

5 words to best describe them: (eye roll) eh. fuck it.

My nickname for them: this isn't really my nickname, since I mostly just call him grif -- but 'gif'. It's cute, and my QPP came up with it! I also really like dex. augh

[hannahp0calypse]

actually sorry to just randomly bother you, but i never got into RWBY but i was a RT Podcast fan at the time and remember hearing all their promos for it and Monty brought on to talk about how he created the world over years and how largely it was a matter of getting funding for this dream project he had personally developed for years, far before he was ever hired as an animator for RT/RvB.

is there a moment or season where the quality reflects his passing? rather, was there a slow shift as all his pre-existing notes were used and RT had to write original content post-Monty or was there an immediate moment where it was good and then it wasn't? i was on the outside looking in, and eventually stopped watching RT content, but i always wondered about this. i figure you might know, sorry if this is a lot.

im gonna take the metaphorical bat (my opinions) to the metaphorical hornets nest (rwby fandom) by answering this

id say theres an obvious and immediate dip in quality in volume 4 that reflects a lot of the effects of his passing; fight scene animation becomes remarkably worse (as after losing him their other best animator quit for reasons too long for this post), character design quality dipped (afaik monty worked closely with designers and designed characters himself), overall animation quality ran into a number of issues (change in the structure of the team and in the software theyre using without proper precautions), and also volume 4 in general was just kind of awful (miles and kerry are terrible writers and no longer had the oversight of someone who, while not a writer, had good ideas). a lot of those issues have since improved, except for the writing

ultimately a lot of the Heart of rwby was lost when monty died, and i have no idea how many of his notes and plans and ideas they have been following and no way of ever knowing. volumes 1-3 had issues of an underfunded and inexperienced team trying to produce a story that did not fit the format or team leaders, and the volumes since have had the issue of being headed by a shitty company with bad management and writers who think theyre leagues better than they are

we'll never know how much of the show as it is now is "monty's vision" but what i DO know is some of the worst aspects of the show got magnified and some of its better aspects got lost

[yuusaris]

Fic Writer Questionnaire

I got tagged by @ladymdc! I finally got to it! I'm glad and I wanted to do it and I finally have time!!!

1) How many fics do you have on Ao3?

A meager 19, tbh. I've written more on previous websites under a different username/internet handle, but it's mostly stuff I'd prefer to keep separate from my current b r a n d .

But, if I feel the answer is good enough, I will refer to my older fanfics under my digi12 handle.

2) What’s your total Ao3 word count?

34,184. Not a lot, but - I haven't cross-posted much of my older stuff to Ao3.

3) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(Will be censoring ship names to keep them out of the tag)

Coming in strong we've got the ever popular

1 - Pantless? In MY Chili's? with a whopping 220 kudos! Rh@ck and easily one of my best works.

2 - Followed up by Nice Face, a Tuck!ngton flavored fluff piece and the first fic I ever posted to Ao3

3 - Middle of the road goes to Dick, another rvb piece, Gr!mmons, sweet and short, it got 131

4 - We've left the rvb station, back to Rh@cktown, with Supply And Demand, a shameless smut gift that I'm surprised people like as much as they do, regardless of how popular smut IS... it got 126, which I'm not complaining about, considering how difficult it was to write satisfactorily.

5 - Last but not least, we've left the 100's and we're on The Morning After, Rh@ck with 95.

4) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Every time. It's a holdover from when I wrote on smaller sites and also, I just - get so excited when I get comments. Even if it takes me a while, I gotta respond. I gotta say thank you. =w=.

5) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Wow I... will NOT be going back to my old userhandle to comment on the REAL option here, I- I'll be sticking to my Ao3, tbh, but I think that's escape was only an option, it ends on a real bittersweet note. I'm not much of an angst writer.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think Earworms, a DNAngel ficlet that I wrote off the cuff. It's just some simple fluffy brotherly bonding.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

....Not anymore.

...But I will fight any Not-My-Husband motherfuckers who try to give me grief over the existence of, or lack of finishing, Sailor Canada from my Hetalia days.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Ah, one time, a very very bad fanfic I wrote so people would like me and maybe idolize me and think I'm a good writer - one time someone asked me to not make Yami and Yugi gay for each other, that they liked my story just don't make them be gay, so i replied with a big old essay about the First Amendment of the United States Constitution ands then they said they ship it anyway now, so, they were sorry.

But otherwise, no.

(...but I kinda look forward to it. That'll mean I made it, right? That'll mean my stuff is good. Yeah. That's how life works.)

9) Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

That kind that gives me grief and nothing but Pain Peko.

Supply and Demand is okay in my opinion, Dick is certainly my best foray into this... I am still proud, to an extent, of Yami no Yaoi - people still like it! I'm surprised! - but for the most part, my own gun-shyness about sex has been a real hinderance to any writing of intimacy or sexiness. I've got a lot of issues about my own... sexual participation and that includes writing it at all. It's a chore and a hassle and I want to write out the smutty things I like to think about, but... eh. It's just one of the more difficult things for me.

Tho - DollyFic [Doll House] was originally going to be more sexually oriented, complete with orgasm denial because I feel like Ryou would just be into that for some reason, but it didn't suit the prompt, it was a slog to write, a slog to read, it didn't really do anything for the dollification thing - it had to be dropped.

Though, it is mostly complete and this version can be found in my 'doc dump' tag.

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Uh, DeviantArt once had someone just mass uploading fics they liked and a few of mine got snagged - but I think that was their way of trying to bookmark their stuff, lol. They were really just grabbing any old thing. When contfronted they pulled them right down, so, I don't really count it.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

If I have, no one contacted me about it.

Though, it would be pretty cool.

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I was going tooooo.... for Rh@ck, there was a mass-fandom fic that each chapter would be done by a different writer, but I bailed very early. It just stopped looking appealing and it got really convoluted really quickly. I had a hard time following what to use on my end.

13) What’s your all-time favorite ship?

This is an unfair question, lmao. I don't have one. I have a variety and circulate like a sushi bar conveyer belt.

I guess Manipulashipping [Anzu/Malik] would be it, tbh - as much as my others circulate, I will drop EVERYTHING for a new manipula fic.

14) What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

Listen.

The point. Of my YuGiOh musical theatre au. Is not to be finished.

It is to get me to stop listening to showtunes and ascribing characters to roles and giving them backstage drama to carry out, so I can write my actual goddamn projects and not this shit. This does not work in fic form. It would become songfic, and no one wants songfic where I'm also trying to poorly write choreography that I need to trust will be understood via my weird, janky, repetative way of writing movement.

I don't care how badly I want Bakura to be a West End actor. I don't care how good I could write Kaiba. I don't care if I think my Atem characterization and drama and gag rivalry with Bakura is fun, I don't care if Mani- I do care that it's a vehicle for Manipulashipping, I need to write more Manipulashipping in general, but it's not as important as what I want to write.

And I don't want to write this! I just want it to exist! Not write it! Writing it would be hard and suck out the fun!

So I wrote down an unfinished cast list and I'm leaving it at that.

15 & 16) What are your writing strengths/ weaknesses?

I've actually answered both of these, technically - It's hard to answer, I feel like my strengths and weaknesses are kind of based on what I want to get from it? I think my moods are strong, but my payoffs are weak. I like my characters, but my characterization is a different story.

The thing about being super self-obsessed regarding your writing is that it's a mask for being super insecure - and insecurity means you're never really going to believe in your strengths or weaknesses because you'll only ever think about what people like.

it's me, I'm super self-obsessed.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Not illegal, but should be used sparingly if you yourself are not fluent in the other language.

I'm not saying to go out and learn Japanese for your fic, I'm saying that the construction of sentences in different languages are different, so just running full-sentence translations through google will look stilted and awkward, especially to readers who know what language you're using.

I've seen it said that often the 'it's hard to switch back and forth' thing is more common with, like, singular words for things? And sentence structure? Like, forgetting the word for stairs cuz the character was just speaking Spanish to someone else, so they might be like 'it's up the... fuck, escalera, i'm blanking on the English- stairs. Up the stairs."

This is a piss-poor example, but it's what I've heard - on Tumblr - is more often the case.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

YuGio-....

no... wait...

...Fullmetal Alchemist.

The fic is lost to time, but it was just Envy sleeping in. And a bunch of me shooting the shit and basing it off my own feelings.

....Hhuh. Almost forgot about that one.

19) What’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

... Okay, I DO have a stupid soft spot for that GerIta In The Arms Of fic - I feel like I got some good tension there, I still think about it, especially since it can be hard to write Italy being, like, genuinely distressed since he's played to be such a dumbass. So, I feel like I got to a real sentimental spot there that feels genuine and not forcibly unditzy.

Yami no Yaoi is also, still, a personal favorite of mine. I also feel I got some creative elements in there and - looking back, I think it's the fic where I actually really started caring about characterization of who I was writing. I think it was my first I Wanna Try fic.

I've already said, If Pantless in Chili's ends up being my fandom opus, I will not be happy? But I... I still love it. So much. My husband hired a voice actor to read it. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Also Wing It does not get enough love, I worked hard to get that feeling across in so little words.

As for tagging my victims of choice are @tenderwulf @pyro-sea, @musicaldeductions and newest victim @bakawitch, as punishment for following me (I'm kidding).

[aces-to-apples]

I was tagged by @svartalfheimr!

1. Why did you choose your url?

Uhhhh I just wanted a change and my AO3 was TheAceApples and I kinda had Apples To Apples on the brain so I sort of tried to make a joke out of that? Some may recall that I actually tried to change back, like, two or three days later, but someone else had already snatched it up. It was @/thefreelancerdivision, for those who don’t remember/weren’t around back then. Why a League of Legends blog wanted it idk but whatever it’s been years. I just hate to think of all the links posted all over the internet that no longer work. :/

2. Any side blogs?

Not active but I’ve got uhhhh @tua-infinity-and-beyond @bitty-clone-shenanigans and @anagram-skywalker. I also nabbed the @ct-hardcase-week URL with vague thoughts of making that a thing later on in the year.

3. How long have you been on Tumblr?

On Tumblr? Since 2013 or 14 I think? On this blog? I think I made it in March of... 2016, it must have been?

4. Do you have a queue tag?

I don’t use queues and I don’t understand the point, quite frankly.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

I don’t anyone is still around from those days, but the original-original name of this blog was TheFreelancerCollaboration and I originally made this blog to try to drum up readership for a big Red vs. Blue collab-fic over on FFN. Once I left the collab, I changed the name of the blog to TheFreelancerDivision and became a run-of-the-mill RvB blog.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

@faeymouse drew it over here!

7. Why did you choose your header?

I don’t even remember specifically, it was a joke about how some stupid fanwank made me feel, I’m sure.

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

Oh for sure it’s that stupid Han/Leia joke post with the picture of John Mulaney going “My wife is a five-foot Jewish bitch and she’s the best!”

9. How many mutuals do you have?

..........I cannot overstate how much I am not going to cross-check the 230 blogs I follow with my follower list. A fair few? Idfk.

10. How many followers do you have?

1383, give or take a few bots that have slipped my notice, I’m sure.

11. How many people do you follow?

230.

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

Haven’t we all??

13. How often do you use Tumblr each day?

I still don’t have a job so it gets open many times a day.

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Have y’all bitches met me?? Just recently there was that weirdo who got pressed about fictional not-incest and then turned incompetent stalker for a couple days. Uhhhhh, after that I remember that annoying shit-head who decided to be a bitch on a post about Maul? Saw them being an obnoxious shit to other blogs after that as well.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

Sometimes I understand why people add that, because a lot of the time they’re on posts about important world shit, but also? Fuck you? People are not fucking obliged to put depressing shit on their blogs, which are literally a curated space generally used for personal entertainment. Blogging isn’t activism, and you can’t tell how involved people are in important real-world shit but what they do or don’t reblog. imo those “you need to reblog this/why aren’t people reblogging this” additions are generally just virtue-signaling.

16. Do you like tag games?

Yeah, they’re fun! Sometimes I don’t end up doing them but that’s usually because I either forget, have just done it recently, or I have nothing to really contribute.

17. Do you like ask games?

I reblog them a lot and try to answer as quickly as I can, but a lot of the time I end up hoarding prompts in my “when I have spoons/time/ideas” pile. Yes, I like them. No, I’m not good at them. I’m also not good at sending asks for ask games, unless they’re prompt lists or something.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous?

Uhhhhh, I have no way to measure that. I know Jer is, absolutely, and I know I’m friends with a few people who are really fuckin’ popular writers and blogs, but genuinely I have no idea how to measure “Tumblr famous” because I’m not really sure that precisely exists.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

*looks at blog description* We don’t do that here.

20. Tags!

Anyone who likes to play! (I’m also bad at this part of tag games, as well.)

[rubyinasnuggie]

Jaune-y boy!!

The biggest betrayal? He's not a natural blond! :o

Jaune is a co-writer of RWBY, but his speciality is dialogue rather than plot. A lot of his lines are improv, especially in volume one.

He was a little embarrassed when they started writing the Arkos subplot, because he's been best friends with Pyrrha ever since they worked together on RvB. But their friendship was so solid it didn't matter

Jaune is also a voice actor and writer for Camp Camp