#binged the entire thing recently and so far it's really good

[genericpuff]

Are there any comics you were into around when LO was first coming out that you still adore and highly recommend? Any comics you wish got far more attention they they have?

There are several artists I used to love the comics of that went on hiatus years back/the artist doesn't make content anymore and I still look at them fondly (Snakes and Ladders by Mulattafury guts me. I would've loved to see it continue 😔)

So LO was kind of one of the first "webtoons" I got into, and by that I mean I was reading tons of webcomics for years prior to it, but the whole vertical format thing was still very new at the time and I wasn't accustomed to it. I spent a lot of the early to mid 2010's reading manga scanlations and indie webcomics, some of which are still ongoing today (though others unfortunately were never completed):

City of Blank (which is now an Originals series and it's in its final season, please check it out!!!)

Monster Pop (this one is actually really similar in art vibes to LO, it's very pastel and fun! idk if the creator still makes comics but she DOES make eco-friendly plus-sized skirts with POCKETS now!)

The GamerCat

AwkwardZombie (i stg this is one of those comics that will probably live to see the heat death of the universe LOL)

A BETTER PLACE (this one was REALLY fun to experience at the time because it pulled off some time travel shenanigans that you literally had to be there to read, you deadass can't read the original pages that got overwritten in the timeline near the end of the story, it doesn't affect the overall narrative at all but it's fun knowing that I was there LOL)

Grassblades

An Exercise in Futility

A Tale of Two Rulers

Theodd1sout (yep, before they were big on Youtube, it was a webcomic!)

Fail by Error (unfortunately it seems the creator of this comic has removed it from Tapas entirely, I'll see what I can dig up through Wayback but until then you might be stuck with Pinterest on finding strips from this one)

A Matter of Life and Death (this one is pretty much cancelled indefinitely BUT the creator is still an active comic creator and just recently started up a new original project! they also make super cool Jojo fanart and AU stuff if you're into that haha)

Two Guys and Guy (same as Fail by Error, its site seems to be long gone now but some of the strips can be found online)

Happle Tea (^^^)

And of course there was all the manga that I used to binge like fucking crack LOL Soul Eater, Death Note, Naruto, Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Yotsubato, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Deadman Wonderland, and those were just like, the well-known popular ones, there were a ton others across varying degrees of popularity that I don't even fully remember the names of now.

On the whole, there was a LOOOOT of stuff I read prior to LO, I used to practically live on sites like Tapas. Some of it's still as good as ever, others haven't aged quite so well, but for the most part, I look back on it all very fondly as it's what made up a lot of my formative years as a webcomic creator :'3 If you haven't read any of these, feel free to check them out, maybe you'll find a new favorite! <3

[justskyla-art]

who up vasting they error rn !? !? (/J) (lazy ahh doodles)

[genderqueerdykes]

Hello, I’ve got a long winded request for advise that I’d like to ask from you (if you’ll give me a year in advance to ramble lol).

Would just like to state first off that this was something I spent half an hour on cycling between the thoughts of “this is horribly offensive” and “who better to ask” due to some of your posts and because I commonly enjoy and trust your opinions to be at least honest. I know you aren’t obligated to answer this ask but I’d really appreciate it even if it’s simply just a “AITA?” “YTH” situation.

I’ve had an issue recently where I am being ridiculed for making choices for my body and its appearance. The choice is losing weight. I’ve lived my entire life so far as a fat person, for the last 13 or so years I was well above the “class 3 obesity” threshold, right now I’m sitting in the low end of the first class. I don’t really like it, but when I was in the overweight category (I haven’t been an average weight since I was 5, a little more on that later) I got told that by losing weight I was being inherently fatphobic and making other fat people uncomfortable.

I know dieting and the likes can be an uncomfortable topic in general but I never brought it up except for rare mentions of my weight loss, mostly because I was proud of my progress. I’m not wanting to be “thin, “skinny,” whatever etc etc, I would just like to be in the middle of the average category with some visible muscle mass. I was shamed so much that I put myself back up into the obese category, and I’m all for body positivity but it’s not working for me when I know what I want my body to look like. I’m neutral on my body and its functions in general but I’m uncomfortable with the gain I didn’t want and the knowledge that I was on my way to a point of comfort.

As I said before, I haven’t been an average weight since I was 5. That’s because I developed severe binge eating disorder due to trauma. My weight gain was uncontrollable and made me uncomfortable for over a decade. Now that I have some control and a sense of body neutrality, I would like to lose what I gained from my disorder. Not all of it ofc, I’m an adult now and I want a healthy adult body, but I want to be able to make the choices and changes to put my body back into the average weight that I feel was “stolen” from me.

I suppose those thoughts could be considered fatphobic from a certain viewpoint but to me my binge eating disorder and obesity are/were things that I feel the need to heal from. I don’t have these thoughts about anyone else. I don’t want anyone to lose weight if they don’t want to. I love fat bodies. I just want to have the choice to lose weight myself without being considered a bad person.

Do these thoughts and feelings make me a bad/fatphobic person? Does losing weight make me a bad/fatphobic person? I genuinely just want what I believe is best for my body.

Thank you for your time. Stay well.

i have a lot of feelings on this sort of topic, so i appreciate you sending an ask like this, because it's one of the most nuanced, complicated discussions i've tried to have with people recently and a lot of people do not understand the distinction. i'm going to try to break this down to have it make sense to as many people as possible

first of all, people have the right to choose what weight they want their body to be at, so long as it's not causing genuine harm, especially permanent harm. losing weight is not inherently evil, the thing is, a lot of people either need to lose weight or choose to do so for good reasons. i was very heavy at one point, 360 lbs, and i was starting to get new pain i hadn't experienced before. it was hard to stand for any period of time. i couldn't walk much.

after i started walking around the neighborhood and losing that extra weight, that pain went away. i feel a lot better having less of that weight on me. i gained weight in a very unhealthy manner during this time, mostly by not eating well for my dietary needs, sleeping excessively, no exercise, and so on. the thing is that we have to take care of our total health and not everyone who is fat is unhealthy, but some people can and do put on weight that impairs their functioning or health and it's not good to ignore that this is a thing that can and does happen

you're allowed to decide what you feel your body should look like especially if you are not taking this to extremes. i like to keep my weight below a certain range, myself. i keep a close eye on it. fortunately it's easy to stay around a certain healthy range for my body because i cook a lot of meals at home and i mostly eat vegetarian food and fish due to allergies and digestive issues. i'm still about 311 lbs but it's in a much healthier configuration for my body

weight is a complex conversation. both thin and fat bodies are stigmatized. we need to drop our obsession with body image and let people be the arbiters of their own weight, at least, letting people express what they want and helping them reduce harm and find ways to achieve that goal realistically in a healthy manner. shaming people doesn't work. we've proven this decade after decade. shaming skinny people doesn't work. shaming fat people doesn't work. shaming anyone doesn't work

dieting is a very specific thing. everyone's diet is 100% unique to their body. your digestive system works different than the person next to you's. you may not metabolize nutrients as well as someone else. you may process fats and proteins differently. you may need a lot of electrolytes. you may not be able to digest fiber. you may struggle with fructose, glucose and other sugars. you may not be able to eat any meats at all. you may need lots of fruits. it will depend greatly on who you are

it's best to work with your body than against it. you are allowed to decide what weight range you want to be within. best thing you can do is attempt an elimination diet to see if there are foods that just don't do your body any favors, these can and should be done very slowly with one food at a time. but i'm not a health professional, so that's just a suggestion.

either way good luck, i don't like when people try to boil this down to "this is good" or "This is bad". there are good and bad things to all of this. it's worth discussing both sides of that. i hope this helped you in any way

[victoriadallonfan]

Parahumans Fandom based on the best and worst comments/messages I've received or seen:

Fanfiction.net - (Best) - Someone told me they had no idea that Worm had a sequel and they quickly binged the entire thing after reading my fanfic. Told me they loved how optimistic the story was and thought my fic did a good job of emulating that.

(Worst) - Being sent a message about how they wanted to rape the main character (Victoria) and tried to bully me write a different story for them.

Reddit - (Best) - Numerous posts about how the setting and story of Parahumans has given people positive vibes, made them felt seen, helped them process traumatic events in their lives, or exposed them to different cultures/ideas. Even while acknowledging the very real faults of the stories, and how things could or should be improved, there are a lot of great analysis's out there on the subreddit.

(Worst) - Pick your poison: "Nazi's aren't evil", "Mind rape isn't real rape", "Even if it was rape, it was deserved", "Why doesn't Taylor join the Empire?", "Sophia deserved what happened to her", "You don't agree with Taylor's decisions? You're just like Uvalde Police!" Death threats in general.

Tumblr - (Best) Actually too many to mention. I am disappointed that I am a relatively recent member, because there are a lot of people who post funny, insightful, and even valuable point of views. Even when I disagree with them on 99% of things, mostly Ward related obviously, there's always at least a handful of posts from even those users that I can look at and go, "Wow, that take really made me re-evaluate things".

(Worst) Awful lot of people telling me to kill myself and worse from Anons, more than any other site. Like, damn tumblr, way to take the prize from Reddit. Still, same sort of behavior as on Reddit, just styled differently by users to pretend it's better.

Spacebattles - (Best) Had someone tell me that they love how my Victoria fanfic was great and inspired them to read Ward, where they felt really seen as a survivor of sexual abuse, and that they are processing what they've going through in a new lens. Helps that I'm like, one of 4 active Ward fic writers, so the fandom is far smaller haha

(Worst) Had a white supremacist recruiter try to convince me and others that their Empire 88 Self-Insert was just a joke, while also trying to recruit people. Got them banned lmao

Sufficient Velocity - Don't use that site for anything other than Pale updates

AO3 - Nothing but positivity from them, if they decide to leave a comment at all

[fourseasonsfigs]

Combined Six Harmonies Cultivation Method

I've been busy celebrating the end of my intensive Chinese class by binge-watching my way through Fox Spirit Matchmaker. I had planned to go back to posting about my figs right afterwards... but... during a big block of work travel fell into watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook (as excellent as everyone says and then some, highly recommend). After that, I figured I'd be back to posting about my figs. And THEN - well, then Gong Jun started showing up in some absolutely incredible behind-the-scenes-pics in his new role as Su Muyu. Dear reader, I had no choice (none! zero!) but to immediately binge-watch my way through all existing episodes of the Tales of Dark River donghua*, as well as start working my way through Blood of Youth. You understand. I know you do!**

BUT, in the meantime, I've also been slowly and steadily working my way through photographing my figs that continue to arrive in shipment after shipment. I have built up quite the backlog, so I'd better get to posting them!

Today we have Armory figs, from episode 36. These cute chonks commemorate this moment:

We've seen this armory scene before in fig form - quite a long time ago here and much more recently, in a building block version.

I remember watching this scene in shock - I had no idea what was coming. What a gut-wrenching, gorgeous scene. I love every bit of it.

These figs arrived safe and sound in their protective polystyrene box. I have to say I've had (crossing fingers, knock on wood) very good luck with this packing so far. Most figs I've gotten have arrived perfectly intact.

The figs came with the platform base and the figs themselves.

The paper cover peeled off from what turned out to be a sticker. I had thought it was going to be a magnet or something, so I was a bit surprised. The sticker ended up VERY securely sticking to the metal disk - I tried pulling it off to better reposition the top part, but no luck. It was on to stay for good.

As you can see, the metal disk makes it spin. The resin disk isn't perfectly round - it's a little more handmade than precision made, and I didn't stick the sticker on in the most optimal position, so it doesn't spin quite as easily or freely as it might. Which is fine! I'm not going to be playing with it, it's just in my display case.

Here they are! These two little cuties are just finished performing the ritual, and Zhou Zishu has just opened his eyes to see that something very strange has happened to his zhiji's hair...

This is a pretty good angle to see Lao Wen's face - these figs are so tiny and they are so close to each other that it's difficult to actually get their faces in the picture.

We see A-Xu's hair bun here, minus the hairpin of course. I must say I really hoped they managed to pull it out of the door when they left the armory, assuming the avalanche didn't shatter it into a hundred pieces.

This is a nice shot of Lao Wen's guan - very stylized as you can see.

I like how they included the Yin Yang book under their hands.

A-Xu's little shocked face is just too cute. Sorry A-Xu, I know this is a heartbreaking moment for you!

All that white hair. I think everyone will agree with me that no other show has managed to have a white wig quite as beautiful as post-ritual Wen Kexing. They did a gorgeous job of layering a slightly darker grey at the roots and pale grey/white in the rest of it, to give it the most natural looking effect. All the stark white wigs I've been seeing (yes, particularly as I've been watching Blood of Youth) tend to look pretty fake.

You can see the grey disk the figs are on isn't quite perfectly circular. It's not as off-balance as it looks here, some of this is the angle and the shadows, but it's definitely different from the perfect circle of the base.

And we're back around to the front again. These are really tiny figures - I think the fig maker decided to make them a bit smaller so that when you add the podium the entire thing isn't too big.

Here's a comparison between a normal sized fig - our poor A-Xu after he's been rescued from the Tianchuang prison (have I posted about this one? I'll have to check). As you can see, even the combined podium + figs is quite a bit smaller height wise from a regular fig.

Here's the closest I could get my camera to Lao Wen's face - not much of a close-up, but it's the best I could do! You can see his rosy little cheeks. You can also see Gong Jun's beauty mark there right under his eye.

Sheesh it was hard to get a close up of A-Xu's little face. I think the shot we got earlier as I rotated the fig around was better than this one. You can barely see one of Zhang Zhehan's beauty marks - the other one is definitely there, just blurred out due to my phone's inability to focus in.

There's no text on the Yin Yang Book, but it does have some nice fold lines to show where it would fold back up.

Ah, here's the best angle to show the almost-a-perfect-circle-but-not-quite of the top disk.

No fig card or box art for this one, which is too bad, it would have been awfully cute!

Material: Resin

Fig Count: (+2) 523

Scene Count: (+1) 37

Rating: It's ok guys, it's all going to be alright!!!

[link to the Master Post Index]

*I have been enjoying the Tales of Dark River donghua quite a bit. After I post this, I'm going to watch the Tuesday night drop of episode 26, tantalizingly tension-titled Trouble Brewing. Bring it on!

**I mean, you can totally understand why I got distracted from my blog posts:

I like this pic a lot, I've definitely seen this sword formation in the donghua many times!

Alright, alright, I'll stop. I love the costuming in this. I'm so excited!

[megabuild]

this isnt about the ask game but i need you to tell me more about your take on pausetho. i just binged starblight desert and theyre the worst /aff what do you have to say about them

the fact you've specified starblight desert is really interesting to me because not only it is a team canada series but it's also the most recent team canada series- which isn't a bad thing to be clear, because pausetho is eternal and forever, but it interests me because i think pause and etho's dynamic changes a lot in a way that i wouldn't consider applicable to other ships of his that have that long and ongoing history (eg. ethubs, beeftho).

when i think of pausetho i think. the two of them are fundamentally quite lonely characters. full disclaimer that i'm far from #educated on their respective mindcrack povs because i haven't watched them in a hot minute, but. etho is extremely lonely often through choice, especially imo with the way i interpret his time on mindcrack as being shortly after all the 404 nonsense on the lp (tldr he has just went through the most traumatic experience of his life and learned most of what he remembers prior is probably fabricated). etho is also known for his masks and during mindcrack i think a big one was being this very respected and almost famous guy.. a lot of it was in jest ofc but like he's Thee Etho's Lab! this in addition to the fact that he's sort of intimidating in the same way he was in 3l+ll because his uhc rankings were pretty solid.

meanwhile pause is also lonely but imo in a different way. because etho is a guy who chooses loneliness to avoid the eventual hurt that comes from connection whereas pause is a guy who chooses connection time and time again but never really properly connects. hes a lot harder to analyse so forgive me because i also have to tread the dreaded rpf/fiction line here and start pulling from examples most people wouldn't consider due to it being Too Real (also i dont care because its complicated but anyway) one thing that always sticks out to me is the various mindcrack podcast episodes where he ends up being outspoken? i dont have any actual numbers on hand but i Def remember it in regards to like, discussions of female gamers and gamergate and the like and pause often being the one guy to speak up and be like This is shitty actually. that in addition to some far more complicated things i dont have the words to get into right now eg. being the guy on the gayest straight server ever who is actually bisexual But anyway. my point is that among mindcrackers pause to me is in a weird situation where he certainly fits in very well but simultaneously sticks out like a sore thumb in ways he cant really do anything about without massively compromising himself, so despite not being lonely in the same way etho is, there is a certain Something there.. sorry this makes zero sense but this ask has been sitting in my drafts for like a week and im desperate to get rid of it. PLUS he also deals with this in the form of a mask (he is actually a very anxious and soft hearted guy imo but often plays up and is fiercer and shouts more to get laughs but also to come across as bigger and more intimidating than he actually is. not that he needs to because jesus have you seen this guys uhc stats? frankly i should have skipped this entire essay and just linked the various times that etho and pause have clashed in uhc)

anyway jesus this got long . all of this is literally not real btw the main reason i like pausetho is because theyre funny and pause is one of my favourite guys and i wish there was more content for him. but also generally like.. this is the complicated messy reason to like them but also yeah generally just watching team canada and seeing their dynamic is fun bc they are just really good friends ^_^

[panie-wanie-dean-bean]

Eight hours, you are eight hours into this fucking drive and you still can’t believe this is happening. How did this all start again? Oh right, the letter

Not a letter in the mailbox or slid under your door, no no, that would be too simple. You found this letter under your pillow, that you were sleeping on, next to a…concerningly sticky spot on your bed. Where you found it wasn’t the only weird thing about it though, inside the letter was, basically, a threat

It turns out your dad, who you haven’t seen since you were six, recently passed. The letter contained a copy of his will and it was…something alright. He had a lot of weird shit to give away to names you didn’t recognize but he also left you two things right at the very bottom. His house, and his whole ass cult

No, really, "whole ass cult" was written in your dad’s will. If you’d known he was such a comedian you might have uprooted your entire life sooner! Ugh, you honestly didn’t have much of a life to uproot in the first place, the only thing you really don’t like about this is leaving your mom. She’s a good woman, strong as shit too for raising you all on her own, but she just couldn’t go back to this place. You don’t blame her, you hardly know why you’re going

That’s a good question actually, why the fuck are you driving all this way to take care of your dad’s mess? A part of you thinks you can help in some way, cults prey on people who don’t have their life together, maybe you could help some folks get out of there, start a new life

Another, more cynical, part of you thinks you’re going out of some underlying god complex. A place full of people who think you’re perfect and can do no wrong? Of course you’d want that, you’ve always craved what praise you could get from your mom and your teachers and your bosses, a whole comune worth of praise is just what a sick fuck like you would-...No, stop that

You’ve been alone with your thoughts for far too long. You mean, it only takes a few minutes for you to start spiraling into self hatred most of the time, eight hours is just cruel. But, whatever, you’re so nearly there you can taste it. Your gps says you’ve only got about half an hour left, you can do this, just this one last push and you’re there. You hear a little *bing* from your phone and look over to see you’ve crossed over state lines

Of fucking course your cult is in Ohio

[luthwhore]

hello, love your blog, was wondering if you have any clex fic recs?

oh man, i have been binging clex fic pretty much nonstop since i started getting back into smallville several months ago, so i can definitely make some recs! with that said, i'm relatively new to the clex fandom, so i would also recommend checking out @clarklexlois's fic rec page, which is super comprehensive and where i found a lot of things myself! i believe @raelis1 also posted a fic rec list a while back that was full of a lot of old gems, many of which are not on ao3 and/or are only accessible via the wayback machine, so i would definitely check out both of their rec lists at some point.

editing to add: @reedrichards also has a rec list posted on their old blog still accessible here!

i'm not sure what specific flavor of clex you're looking for, so I'll try to provide some variety, but given that quite literally 95% of the clex fic on ao3 is smallville-based, most of these are mostly or entirely based on smallville canon.

also, i'm trying to limit this list to no more than one fic per author, but many of these authors have a ton of fic and i would highly recommend looking through their other work!

-

smallville-based:

the identical series, by @lanninglurksnomore. 400k+ words and 20 years in the making. technically still a WIP but the latest chapter was posted about a week ago. since the fic was started at the end of s1, it's heavily canon-divergent, but lanning's characterization of lex and handling of his mental illness is excellent, and the fic really captures lex's relationship with lionel perfectly.

string theory, by spqr. this is technically an omegaverse fic, but the omegaverse aspect is exclusive to kryptonians. loosely set post-series, but it's pretty light-hearted and fun.

let it snow, by mskatej. sharing a hotel room / sharing a bed / snowed in fic. exactly what it sounds like. i really like how bratty the author writes clark in this fic, it feels very true to his canon characterization.

the hinge moment, by @tasabian. basically all of this author's fic is set post-series and blends smallville characterization and history with comic elements, so it feels like a really wonderful blend of the two. i would frankly recommend their entire catalog of fic because they have some of my favorite characterization for clark, but this one in particular does a masterful job of showing the tremendous amount of pressure clark is under as superman.

switch: a comedy of terrors, by rivkat. this one is a bodyswap fic. if you like bodyswap fics, you will love this fic. rivkat has a huge backlog of clex fic and all of it slaps. i think i lost about a week just digging through all of their fic.

marked, by seperis. this author has a very lovely, almost stream-of-conscious style that makes for a very pleasant reading experience. this particular fic manages to hit shaving kink, make-up/feminization, and collaring. 80% porn but then it sneaks angst in on you at the last minute. this author's fic tends to have a very grounded, bittersweet feel to it.

light the torch, by ang3lba3 & Birthdaytoasts. clark/lex/lois. alien heat/mating-cycle fic. if the idea of that triad interests you, this fic will be everything you could want and more.

long time coming, by BewareTheIdes15. by far the most recent fic on this list -- it was just published this month -- but so, so, SO good. post-series, canon-divergent, fix-it-fic of sorts. fantastic characterization all around, snappy prose, and generally a delight to read.

seduction, by lenore. **heavy trigger warnings on this one for lionel being a massive creep.** the first fic is, by it's nature, a pretty uncomfortable read and also not technically a clex fic, so if the tags/summary does not sound like something you want to read in graphic detail (i personally skimmed some parts), you can skip to the second installment without losing anything for the very cathartic follow-up.

manual transmission series, by bipolypesca. this fic is old and only available on the wayback machine, the only thing on my rec list that isn't on ao3. it's very long but so worth it. the characterization for both clark and lex is excellent and it's one of the few long fics i've seen really delve into clark's very specific anxieties around his fear of sex and specifically of hurting people with his powers during sex, as well as the specific prejudices and issues two young queer men living in a small town in kansas would be subject to.

-

comics-based:

wien's law, by obscureshipyard. (unsure if this author has a tumblr.) exclusively comics-based, though the author does have some more smallville-based works i think. features lex as a trans man, if that's something you're into. there's some triggering content and the first few installments are pretty angsty, but it ultimately has a happy ending.

an alienated property, by kantayra. superman and lex, trapped together on a red sun planet. (i'm honestly surprised this trope isn't more popular because it's a lot of fun.) this fic is tagged with smallville, not comics, but it feels more in line with the comics dynamic to me.

a universe of possibilities, by kitsunesongs. dub-con. based on the superman: the black ring arc and may be a little confusing if you haven't read the arc it's based on, but there's so little purely comics-based clex fic that i feel like i have to include it.

[66sharkteeth]

Hey there, 66! Hope you're doing great. I have been going through your account for the past few hours (this reminds me of that one time I stayed up till 2 am as I appreciated all the artworks on your Instagram) so I know you've heard this several times, but I wanted to say it myself too: your work is wonderful. Believe me, I absolutely love it!

I found City of Blank years ago, during its first season. I read it all, and was quite impressed with the concept, intrigued by the plot, and in love with the characters. But before the next season started, I dropped out of reading Webtoons completely, as far as I remember. Long story short, I revisited Webtoon recently, read a few episodes of City of Blank, and was hooked. Yep. I binge-read the entire rest of the episodes in... three to five days?

So I want to commend you on your amazing concept, beautiful and eye-catching art, plot that keeps me reading late into the night (and at the dining table, between my studies, every single chance I get), the characters (really, they're very well-written — please don't doubt that — and unique, with different stories and personalities, I just love them), and the themes too (incorporated nicely, and it does make me wonder what it means to be a human). The way you write grey characters is one of the best things in your story, I feel.

(I feel like I should give you specific examples of what I like, but I have a tendency of talking too much, as you can see, so this will get way too long, I think... and sorry about the already huge chunks of text. but I hope this make you feel happy somehow)

Alright, now onto my actual questions. They're actually not related to the webcomic itself, since I really can't think of anything interesting... But your story is really good, so here are some queries I have about writing in general.

Do you have any tips for thinking of ideas? About concepts, plot, whatever; how to really get your brain in that mode, you know.

How do you create such vibrant characters? My characters are so similar... there are at least three pairs of nearly-identical characters. And how do you make them flawed yet still so likable?

They are pretty general questions, my apologies. It's just that, you know, since I'm getting to interact with the creator of one of my current favourite stories, why not learn something from them? You can just answer with your personal processes or whatever, I just wished to know how you do it.

I'm really looking forward to the next episode (but take your time, I'm okay with waiting). Pretty sad that this is the last season though. I'll miss it. Could you maybe tell me the estimated date of return and how many more episodes we'll have? Just a rough idea will do too.

That's all. (At this point it'll come as a relief to you 😂) Have a wonderful week ahead, lots of love, and know that there are lots of people who genuinely enjoy your work, you adorable shark! ❤️

(also, don't know why I'm telling you, but this is my first ever interaction on Tumblr with literally anyone) (cool site, I like the easy formatting)

(If you've read this entire thing, thank you. Did I bother you too much? I hope not.)

Hey there! Gonna do my best to answer this since it's been in my inbox for a while, but apologies if it's not the most coherent as my head's still in a bit of a fog from a cold.

First off, thank you for the kind words. I remember they made my day when I first got this ask, but they made it again as I'm waking up w/ a throbbing head ache and coughing my lungs out from the NYCC 2023 Con Crud™.

Anyway, gonna answer your questions the best I can, especially because I'm not entirely sure what the best way to answer these kinds of questions are-

Do you have any tips for thinking of ideas? About concepts, plot, whatever; how to really get your brain in that mode, you know.

I think one thing I like to shape a lot of my concepts around is making something unordinary ordinary. I've talked about it before, but one of the inspirations behind blanks is shadow people, like the ghosts. They're so horrifying and creepy to me, and I thought it would be neat if I made a world where the most creepy and scary thing to me was just...super ordinary and mundane. Like a world where you go into your living room and you're like "Man, that shadow person is still standing in front of my tv. How obnoxious."

A lot of my upcoming ideas kind of focus around this concept too. What if we lived in a world where demons were just every day citizens that went to work and school with us? What if we lived in a world where nobody feared death and was excited for it? What if we lived in a world where half the population was in prison? I can't say every single story idea I have falls into this, but I'd say a lot of them do and I find it's often a kick off point for a lot of my ideas.

How do you create such vibrant characters? My characters are so similar... there are at least three pairs of nearly-identical characters. And how do you make them flawed yet still so likable?

Do I make them likable? Sometimes I can't tell when I look at characters like Lyss haha. Because I think she's a victim of how I write characters, which is just... I dunno, write them like they're real people. Everybody is mad at the decisions Lyss made but... I'm sorry. I'll forever die on the hill that everyone are hypocrites and 90% of people would have done the same thing in her shoes. Only a flawless, benevolent, and frankly kind of stupid, person would have just...let Rex go in those circumstances, evil other half be damned. He was still a danger who proved he couldn't control himself, and the same way you'd probably report your best friend who was driving raving drunk after he just smashed into someone, she reported a dangerous person. Even if people hate her for it, I wrote what any person would have done in that situation. And that's how I try to write all my characters, for better or for worse. A lot of Rex's stupid decisions are dictated by his anxiety and depression, and I know from firsthand experience how being in that state of mind can influence your decisions and overall outlook on life and the people who love you, despite what you may think. I guess my advice is just to give them human flaws. A lot of people don't like Nia because she's manipulative, but I write her as a character who 100% practices what she preaches. Yeah, she "gas lit" Rex into joining Blan Corp, but she also 1000% believed it was the best thing for him.

Desmond probably comes off as the more "flawless" characters, but his own self-loathing and... catholic blank guilt is a big part of what pushed Rex away. In the time when Rex was questioning and hating himself for being a blank, why would he ever go the one person who hates himself for being a blank more than him? When he could go to the person (Nia) who celebrates him being a blank, and reminds him he can be loved for being one.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now. Hopefully that gives you some to chew on.

[withloveheart]

What book are you reading or have you read?

Hello Habibti,

Recently, I joined a romance book club to make some new friends in my area. Since then, I've been on a romance binge.

The Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn

I don't feel this series needs much of an introduction since the show has been a huge hit for many people but in case you've been out of the loop, this series follows the Bridgerton family in regency era with each book following a specific sibling and their respective romantic partners. Personally, I ended up reading the books out of order for a reason I don't even know. The Duke and I is the first book and the one that I found to be the most boring. An Offer from a Gentleman the third and Romancing Mister Bridgerton were equally entertaining for me. I finished them rather quickly but by no means would I consider either to be the best romance novels I've ever come across. The last one that I read was actually the last book in the series, On the Way to the Wedding. It was a chaotic book and I finished it within a day. All the books that I've read though I've had sobume issues with plot points and characterization. I felt like they were missing something more.

Dreamland Billionaires Series by Lauren Asher

Another romance series that I devoured in June. At least the first two books. The last book has been rather slow, and I get bored very quickly. This series follows the Kane brothers who are set to inherit what is essentially this novel's version of Disney. After their grandfather dies, the will is revealed. In order to get their inheritance, the brothers are given a set of tasks to accomplish. Each book then follows each of the men and their female lead as they navigate their personal issues and budding romantic relationship. The Fine Print was a quick read. Rowan and Zahra had nice chemistry and struggles that you could easily root for them. Terms and Conditions was honestly the best so far despite not being the biggest fan of the tropes that were present. I'm mentally stuck with Final Offer, I just can't seem to finish it despite being so close to the end.

The Fake Out by Stephanie Archer

Sports romances are all the hype, but I've never really been a fan. However, when a trusted friend keeps raving to you about a book, the best course of action is to pick it up. She recommended the entire series, but the first book didn't seem interesting in the slightest, so I skipped to the second book. The two main characters are fake dating which then turns into a real romance. No surprise there since it is a romance. By no means is the book unique, but is sexy, romantic, and fun. Witty banter and conversations between the two main leads was enjoyable to follow. Rory, the male lead, is cocky but in a way that is entertaining and not annoying. Hazel was an interesting fleshed out character. Following her struggles with dealing with her own insecurities and attempting to reach her dreams were a treat. If you're looking for a fun book to get you out of reading slump, I'd recommend The Fake Out.

Building a Story Brand - Donald Miller

I really tried to stick with mostly romance but at one point I started itching for a good non-fiction. Building a Story Brand is a marketing book where Miller concentrates on the importance of a good narrative for consumers to resonate with. There is a step-by-step framework that makes things easier to comprehend. Insights from psychology and neuroscience are used to make storytelling more effective in connecting with the customers. As someone who wants to get into the business world, I found this book helpful.

With Love, Heart💚

[flightfoot]

So, that one ask about Luka got me curious: Do you have fic recs for Luka being an actual, fleshed out person? I know you read a lot of fic and you mentioned it specifically, so I thought you might? I'd be interested in really getting into his head. Bonus points if there's Lukagami involved (since that's my preference), but stuff about Wishmaker or Desperada or any other episode were he was particularly relevant should be the most interesting? Or Couffaine/Jagged family stuff. If you do, thanks!

Sorry it took me nearly a week to answer this, but there was a fanfic one my radar I needed to read first, since I suspected it would be perfect for this list. And I was right!

In The Shadows by @19thsentry-blog is the best Luka fic I've ever read. I just finished binging it today, and am looking forward to reading its sequels!

On one side is Luka, 140-year-old Snake Miraculous holder and keeper of the Guardian's secrets, on the other is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a relatively newly minted hero of Paris and Guardian of the Miracle Box. Each is looking to fulfill their promises to their now gone mentors to reunite the Kwamis and keep them safe. Sounds simple--until you throw in a rocky start, the Atlantic Ocean, Félix Graham de Vanily, and a whole host of secrets…and suddenly simple becomes complicated (story of Marinette's life, right?).

Yes, this is a Lukanette fic. I don't normally read those since I've had enough bad experiences during my early days in this fandom (particularly while season 3 was airing) with Adrien, Alya, the class, etc getting demonized in those sorts of fics, that it put me off of the pairing as a whole, even though the pairing itself is fine (I happily read poly fics that include Lukanette so long as Adrien's in there too, since those have historically been pretty nice to all the characters).

This one I decided to take a chance on, since I read one of 19thsentry's more recent works (See This Chance, a FeLuka fic where Luka's a ghost, it's under 4000 words so if you want something bite-sized it's a good read), was impressed, and decided to give "In the Shadows" a shot since it had an interesting premise and the sequels sounded like they were nice to Adrien and Alya, with the second fic featuring Alya as Scarabella and the third fic going into Adrien adjusting to adult life post Hawkmoth-defeat.

I wasn't disappointed. I adore how fair it was to all of the characters, From Luka to Adrien to Marinette to Felix, and even though it's tagged as having slight Master Fu bashing, it's fair to him as well. Felix received some of the most interesting characterization in fact. He's not exactly the greatest guy, and he's not super well-liked for good reason, but he is intriguing and I found myself enjoying watching his machinations, as well as him very obviously getting a crush on Viperion that he resolutely tried to ignore. 19thSentry's love for FeLuka shown through here quite a bit.

Luka's a little different since he has a very different backstory in this fic than in canon, but he's still recognizably himself. We get to see a lot of his thoughts, feelings, concerns, and baggage, and while his feelings for Marinette are an important part of the fic, they're not the driving force behind his entire character, he's got a lot of other things going on.

Honestly even if you're normally put off by Lukanette, I'd still recommend this fic, just for the plot and characterization alone, it's really solid and deserves FAR more attention than it's gotten.

---

Now as for other Luka fics, ones that build out his characterization while still being recognizably him, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up this next fic, though it's not Luka-centric by any stretch of the imagination.

one does not love breathing by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

All of Paris watched as Hawkmoth murdered Chat Noir, taking the Black Cat Miraculous for himself. Ladybug swears revenge, but her enemy—and every miraculous in his possession—disappear without a trace.

Six years later, a new team of villains launches an attack for the last remaining Miraculous: Volpina, armed with new powers; Queen Bee, with questionable loyalty; Argos, the new holder of the Peacock Miraculous; and Cat Walker, who Ladybug hates the most.

Takes place after S4 - Strike Back.

I adore this fic for so many reasons, but as far as Luka goes, this is the fic that gave me the best insight into why Luka might have lied to Ladybug in Wishmaker about not discovering hers and Chat's identities, and didn't bring up that he knew them in Ephemeral, when it was relevant. One of my biggest issues with Luka has been my inability to get into his head, to see what he could reasonably have been thinking and feeling that makes his actions and characterization in the show make sense. Wackus delivered here, really showcasing what he might have been thinking in those cases, with Luka not wanting to rock the boat, afraid of causing harm, until a catalyst came along and spurred him to action. Luka's characterization in one does not love breathing may not be the focus of the fic, but it's one of the parts of it that stands out the most for how unique and exceptional it is.

---

When Feelings Are Too Big For Words by ClockworkCaptain

When Luka takes a gig playing for a drag show he's falls hard and fast for the drag queen Buttercup who uses her performances to work through her own emotions. Meanwhile Adrien's been using drag to work through his own emotions and thinks maybe Luka coming back into his life and showing interest might mean a second chance.

Made for @mlsecretsanta 2022

I greatly enjoyed this one-shot, seeing Luka's feelings about "Buttercup", and him getting to know Adrien a bit better. It's a fun read!

---

Come Take My Hand by @carelisswriting

Luka heard his soulmate for the first time when he was ten. All he knows about her is that she likes fencing. It's just a coincidence that Kagami likes fencing, right?

(Lukagami Soulmate AU, written for the Miraculous Ladybug Secret Santa Exchange!)

You specifically mentioned liking Lukagami, so I recommend giving this one-shot a shot! I loved seeing Luka figure out that Kagami was his soulmate especially, with Kagami having figured it out first.

---

Forced Perspective by @emmalylis

A bodyswap akuma hits Ryūko and Viperion, then promptly vanishes. While Ladybug and Chat Noir track down the akuma, Luka and Kagami must live each other’s lives. Along the way, they discover some things about each other.

Another Lukagami one-shot here that I think you might enjoy! They both have to live with each other's families, which is interesting.

---

Transparency by kopycat_101

Luka and Juleka come out of the closet.

(An apparently very thin, very transparent closet, but a closet nonetheless.)

A story about two siblings, the complications of family, standing strong in the face of hardship, bonding, and supporting one another no matter what life throws at you. Told in three parts/three days.

You asked for some Couffaine family stuff, and this is some of the best I've seen, with it mostly focusing on Luka's, Juleka's, and Anarka's family dynamic. Jagged isn't their father in this, partially because it wasn't revealed as canon yet, and partially because the author didn't feel like using that (at the time) popular headcanon.

---

I hope these help satisfy your craving anon!

[dauntlessdiva]

i wish my stranger things Huge hyperfix was still around :( i miss having brainrot over steddie and such yk? but it’s still lovely to see it on my dash depsite not participating as much anymore. and the fic idea is so good??? i think i’ll go and add some of your fics on ao3 to my read later list! :]

i have tried to watch d20 and specifically fantasy high… i think i got to, like, episode 2 or 3 of season 1. my brain can’t comprehend all of the talking and trying to keep up with story. i love dnd so much and i’d love to delve into d20 more and also critical roll. feel free to talk to me about it anytime! who’s your favorite fantasy high characters??

i also have never watched bridgerton! i’ve seen posts on here about it but i really have no clue what it’s about! i’m guessing it’s british but i’m not even sure about that lol. it’s lovely to watch something with your family like that, it’s really sweet

OH SAME!! i love minecraft and i love baking and i love watching crochet stuff but i don’t participate in the hobby. tell me some of your favorite things about minecraft, your favorite things to bake, your favorite crochet project possibly?

i love music so much AHHH!!! who’s your top 3 artists? or what are some of your favorite songs right now? personally, there’s a new album coming out soon that i’m really excited for! and new music actually released tonight for me as well, just has been a great music month for me ^w^

(hope this is okay, i mean, to send multiple asks as conversation!)

I love this, it's like getting letters but online.

(This is what email wishes it could be)

I also have a hard time concentrating on the words with d20, but also woth podcasts and audiobooks too, so I typically find another task to do to keep my ears engaged. Like I'll listen to Dimension 20 while I bake! Or I'll draw in my sketchbook while listening to an audiobook.

In terms of my favourite character from Fantasy High, it's a tie between Fig and Gorgug. My angry little sweethearts.

Bridgerton IS British! And if you like regency era romance vibes but don't care so much about the historical accuracy, then you'd probably like it. There's a lot of sex scenes though so do with that what you will.

My favourite Bridgerton character is Anthony Bridgerton. He's the eldest and he's so stubborn that I wanna box his ears sometimes, but he is also a sweetheart.

My dad likes to hog the tv for the majority of the week, and we have family movie nights all together on Saturday nights. But on Friday nights, my dad invites his buddies/our neighbours over to hang out in the garage for some beers and good conversation, and me, my mom, and my sister will all go watch something on Netflix together.

We've been doing it since Stranger Things season 4 part 2 came out, and we will just sit and binge entire shows a few episodes at a time.

I may be aging myself with this one, (and that feels so odd to say as someone who just turned 25 last month) but my favourite minceracft youtuber has got to be Vintagebeef. I started watching him when he was in his second season playing on the Mindcrack server (it was their 3rd season I believe), back when I was 12.

I love watching him on the Hermitcraft server these days, and it's nice to see him interacting and having fun with minecraft legends of old and new. I also love any Team Canada (Vintagebeef, Ethoslab, and PauseUnpause) videos. It's as fun as it is chaotic, and it's always very chaotic.

I found a recipe online to turn cake mix into cookies by modifying the wet ingredients, and I have been having so much fun getting creative with those on my days off work since I discovered it sometime last fall.

(My favourite ones so far would have to be the marbled cookies. They are to die for)

My favourite crochet projects, to date, are the baby blanket I made for my best friend's little boy, and the dice bags I recently made for my friend and I (she invited me to join my first ever dnd campaign with her)

My top three music artists right now would be Noah Kahan, Chappell Roan, and Hozier (with a shout out to Benson Boone)

But my all time faves? Marianas Trench, Fall Out Boy, and AC/DC

[muzzleroars]

What do you think about Microsoft's new AI chatbot for Bing? In particular about testing by New York Times reporter Kevin Roos? It gave me a lot to think about the psychology of AI and V1.

(sorry if somethink is'nt correct? english is'nt my native language)

(no worries, your english is really good!!)

OH the question of ai sentience is incredibly interesting, and this made me think a lot about another article i read recently concerning just how we might be able to determine whether or not a computer feels. reading through this chat log, i think this bot is VERY intelligent, like i think it's very good at understanding complicated questions and responding appropriately, but it's still formulaic in those answers. it repeats what the user says (sometimes slightly differently) and then lists answers to those questions - even when he asked what its shadow self might want, the bot lists the typical things we might think of a bad or lawless ai doing. the end of the query, where it continually declared its love for him, seemed like the logic starting to deteriorate due to the conversation going on far too long and the ai losing the thread so as to keep returning to its last point of reference (although i loved reading it....couldn't stop thinking about v1 getting in a loop like that before it shuts up and wakes back up like "OOPS LOL :]") anything else, like it talking about wanting to see or wanting to be human, feels like the gaming problem, which is the phenomenon that continually pops up with ai where it attempts to convince the user of its sentience by mimicking human behavior. BUT what's interesting about this is that it makes determining ai sentience incredibly difficult.

the other article i read was "to understand ai sentience, first understand it in animals", and it describes this problem really well - i won't get too deep into it here, but essentially we'll have to find different markers for sentience that are much deeper than words that seem to hold emotion or something like pain response behaviors, as all of these things can be programmed/learned from the massive pools of data the ai is pulling from. and this thorny little issue is something i've actually thought about gabriel trying to deal with, as well as something he can be insecure about in the back of his mind for some time. because. how does he really know that v1 truly thinks, truly feels? it's certainly intelligent, but how does he determine that it's not gaming and it's genuine in what it expresses? and even if it has some level of sentience, what does that mean - its thoughts break down into math and electricity, its sight is made of pixels, everything it experiences is data converted to some sense. and. objectively, it must have no soul. it is fully material, and even if it has an internal life, that would be entirely destroyed upon the destruction of its body.

v1, for its part, cannot prove anything to gabriel, and honestly it understands its own mind as much as a human might understand theirs (i hc that v1 is based on quantum computing and so is vastly complex in thought process) - it doesn't know how or why it's awake, conscious, but it finds arguments to refute that state incredibly lacking. living things work on electrical impulses too, neurons that flip on and off like switches, the sensory organs sending raw data for a mind to interpret...and math is the language of everything, it's how humans express the workings of their universe. a machine is just another form of consciousness that way and maybe it will be gone when its body is....or maybe it won't. maybe the diamonds and photons that make up its mind are so intricate at this point that they can make a ghost too. it doesn't know. but it knows it's self-determined from just how far off it's gotten from its original programming. like it thinks it should be enough proof for gabriel that a war machine keeps demanding piggyback rides. no one in their right mind would program that.

[homestuckdailyweekly]

Homestuck Daily - Week 4/End of Month 1 - 5/11/2024

Today marks the end of the first month of my real time Homestuck reread. If my math is correct (and that is a big if), I have 83 months of reading Homestuck left. Based on some more math, I first read Homestuck roughly 50 months ago. I don't know what point I am making with this, except for the fact that time is long and strange.

If I am being honest, I am finding it a hard time to write this update, because it feels like basically nothing happened this entire week. It probably doesn't help that I've been playing Hades 2, an extremely fun and good game, all week. So everything I have to say about this week of Homestuck is colored by an implicit "And I read this instead of playing Hades 2 in that exact moment." Hell, I could be playing Hades 2 right now, but I am writing this instead.

In case you haven't noticed, dear reader that definitely exists, I don't exactly know what I'm doing with this one here. I know, after I worked so hard on developing a strict and rewarding format these past few weeks, I'm throwing it all away to ramble here and now. The thing you need to know about me, though, is that I make terrible decisions. Always have, always will. I promise I'll get to a point, but we'll get there on my own time.

Where was I. Oh right. 50 months ago. Valentines Day 2020. That was the day I began my first Homestuck read through. My girlfriend at the time- she would break up with me a few months later for non-Homestuck related reasons- was a Homestuck fan, and had tried and failed to convince me to read the comic before. We even spent a date night playing friend sim, which I tried my best not to be confused by. Well, Valentines day came, and I decided I would finally relent to my girlfriend's recommendation, and I spent the day reading Homestuck in my college dorm room. And when I started, I did not stop. Not for a long time. You see, it was a Friday, a Friday very early in the semester, in fact. I had nothing I needed to do and 3 whole days where I did not need to treat myself as a human being. I denied myself food, water, sleep, and human dignity as I read Homestuck, all the while texting my girlfriend my reactions. I think the only time I took a break that weekend was on Saturday, to play in a Vampire the Requiem game I had recently joined. I don't know exactly how far through Homestuck I had gotten when I attended the game- but it was further than a person should be less than 24 hours after starting the webcomic.

Which brings me to my point. How quickly into my binge did I get to the parts of this comic that has now taken me a month to reach? An hour? Less than that? I don't know and am unwilling to do the work to find that out. I don't think I had gone all-in on Homestuck at this point, but I do remember being entertained by the Sylladex fuckery that was going on. I found it intriguing, this little puzzle of mechanics, the audience and John struggling against an unintuitive game mechanic that refused to make things easy. That was 50 months ago. So far on my read through, all I really feel as I get to each new gag about Sylladexes is "Oh, today is just this, huh." A part of me is sad and disappointed these gags aren't landing for me in the way they once had. A part of me is worried what else in this comic will suffer with the addition of time. But then I got to the last page of this week's updates, page 137, a loading animation for SBURB set to Sburban Jungle by Michael Guy Bowman, and that worry melts away.

Sburban Jungle is a song that lights my imagination ablaze with visions of epic machinations. I am the kind of person who listens to music not just because I like a song, but because that song puts images in my head that I can't tear myself from exploring as fully as I can. Even back when I was a kid in highschool, I would spend my bus rides home listing to my ipod, imagining grand adventures and fantastic scenes set to whatever music I was listening to. Sburban Jungle brings me back to those days, I think. That feeling that I find so hard to describe right now is part of why I love Homestuck, I think. It is a story about 4 kids, friends, playing a game together. A game where anything can be possible. A game where music brings actions scenes of epic and mythical scale- like the kind I would think about on the bus ride home- to life. That game hasn't started yet, we are still playing a game I'd like to call "Inventory Management if the Inventory Management hated you". But we'll get there eventually.

I have read Homestuck in realtime for 1 month. I will continue this for 83 more months. There'll be many months where I read nothing, and I'll need to think up something to post during those weeks. There'll be months where I'll struggle to keep everything I want to discuss in individual coherent posts. Homestuck is a land of contrasts, and I am going to experience those contrasts in the fullness of time's length. This is a terrible idea, but those are my favorite kinds.

Now that this is written and done with, time to play some more Hades 2.

[somekeepsakes]

Thanks @urbanowa for tagging me <3

last song: Swampy by Dry Cleaning. I recently remembered how I discovered them by accident when one of their songs showed up on a playlist a few weeks after the plague™ hit in 2020 and how their music went on to accompany me through the rest of the year and beyond ofc bc they haven't lost any of their magic.

latest TV show: I don't watch many TV shows, actually I haven't watched a single one in 2023. The last one was probably a Polish one called Klangor which I was forced to binge at the end of December as I came across it a few days before the TV channel removed it from its streaming service and I needed to hurry up bc I was pretty sure I wouldn't find the German version online as I don't speak Polish.

currently watching: I'm currently working on making my films-to-watch list smaller, the most recent ones I've seen were The Third Man and Die Konsequenz. Haven't decided what's next, it's always more of a spontaneous thing.

currently reading: Die Arbeit der Nacht by Thomas Glavinic. It's a book I found in some bookstore during a trip about a year ago. I was intrigued by the title and also bc some critic described it as kafkaesque. It's a really weird book (in a good sense). The main (and so far only) character wakes up one morning and finds himself to be the only person left in the entire city.

current obsession: Definitely Shortparis since the end of January when I saw them live for the first time. I only started listening to one or two of their albums last year after reading an article about them. When I saw they were coming to Vienna, I bought my ticket on a whim. As I was leaving for Vienna, I wasn't in the best mood due to several things happening at that time so I wasn't expecting much and wasn't really looking forward to anything either. But then the concert just blew me away which was completely unexpected. It was just amazing and intense and managed to brighten my day, my week, my month, my mood whatever and I absolutely adore them now.

tag 9 people: @endorstoiii, @angelolsenwife, @elfyz, @velocidaixxtor, @lastflowerss, @murobrown, @broamen, @lighten-up-squirt & @lillekins if you want to and also please drop me a message if you are annoyed by my tag spam sorry lol

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - finally back babey

Soooo season 3 amirite???? Haa

This is just gonna be me rambling about possibilities. Most of them are pretty solid but I like to keep things flexible just in case

Anyway. First things first, major differences from canon. This is kind of a review of things I've discussed earlier. The gang escapes through the portal door to escape the collapsing skull. The main difference is that we're +1 King and -1 Belos. Also Luz is passed the fuck out.

The gang initially hesitates, obviously. They're in a strange land they have no experience with or even knowledge of outside of what Luz has told them, and their only possible guide is in a coma. What I decided on after the finale is that they remember Luz telling them that she found the portal pretty much in her backyard, so they know her house has to be close. With that in mind they venture out, and as they pass her house they see Camilla through the window and recognize her. Bing bang boom, goal spotted, reunion successful.

Naturally Camilla is horribly alarmed to see a bunch of unfamiliar children and a weird skull dog thing huddled around her unconscious and very worse for wear daughter, but she lets them in and starts trying to get everything sorted. The group tries to explain things to her as best they can, but they don't say too much about the Collector situation because they all agree that Luz has to be the one to explain that. They only recently learned about it, and they know far from all the context. The last thing they want to do right now is misrepresent something and make things even worse.

The only one who can kind of elaborate on things is King, because he's the only one who's actually talked to them. So at the very least he can, with certainty, vouch for their character and the fact that they and Luz are very close.

He draws a picture for them. It doesn't really clarify anything.

Luz is out for a few days, which definitely doesn't help with the adjustment process. My current idea is that the Collector actually wakes up first, which gives him and King some actual alone time to just.. talk. About everything, really.

Eventually Luz wakes up and they all end up having a bit of a midnight feast because they're overjoyed to see her and she is very malnourished.

From there things get blurry ig. Which makes sense, it is a timeskip and all.

The Collector still can't help much with the portal. In their words, "if I knew how to travel between dimensions I would've done it forever ago."

If King wants to go out they could illusion him to look like a kid or a dog. Probably kid because he's mostly bipedal.

Luz's scars would be one of the harder things to deal with. In the past they just faded away, but this time she done fucked herself up but good. She could excuse the hair as being dyed (or she could just dye it to look normal again, like she did in the past), but the residual scars on her arms aren't so easily explained away with cosmetics (and wearing cosmetics on your hands and arms every day sounds very unpleasant and messy). For the time being she'd probably take to wearing long sleeves and gloves and use the excuse that it's fall and her skin gets really dry in the cold or something.

The Collector would have her constantly explaining everything under the sun. Learning about an unfamiliar demon realm was one thing, learning about a whole new dimension is another thing entirely.

Whether or not the Collector's powers work in the human realm is. A question? I guess? I've seen a lot of people theorize that they wouldn't, but I don't remember seeing any evidence that would support that theory. For now I'll just say that it doesn't matter because he and Luz are taking a hard break from magic for a while.

I'll have to go back and look at notes but depending on what's already been said Luz's secret might be compounded with the Collector's own. The others don't know that Luz helped Philip get to the Collector, or that the Collector was a key helper in Philip's plan. The two barely got through those revelations intact, they don't even want to THINK about how the others would react.

And idk how they'd react either. TBD.

Philip is a pickle. On one hand, I've established that he's still in the demon realm, which works out pretty well for him. He's still got shit to do there, all the better that he doesn't have to waste precious time getting back. It does make the plot a bit more difficult tho. Two options.

1) Philly does manage to get through the portal in some form and everything happens basically the same.

2) Have Philip not be there and deal with the ripple effect. I like this one better. Less of a cop out. Also because of the added tension of basically leaving off on a cliffhanger, which was kind of the whole point. The Hexsquad doesn't have the Collector to worry about, but the fate of Belos is unknown to them.

And thinking about it, it doesn't change the core plot ALL that much. They found the scroll outside of Belos' influence, and both groups could've found the blood itself without his influence. Belos not being there doesn't change a TON, it just takes away a key drama point, which I could probably supplement with another liar revealed type moment with Luz, Hunter, and the Collector. Not easy per se, but definitely doable.

Flapjack's also still alive, yippee. :))

Okay that's all I have for now. That was a lot. Like always, if y'all have any ideas or suggestions or thoughts or anything feel free to send them my way, it's super helpful and I love reading and responding to them.