#but also i need to establish wtf is happening

[aeros-lab]

so I'm currently working on rewriting Colony Zero and Immortal Whispers concurrently. (IW is a working title. I've never been super attached to it but I need a placeholder).

Anyway. I just finished rewriting Charity and Ilum's introduction scene which makes me giggle when I think of how they are later on in Fire and Silver. He's SO MEAN to her. And she's SO ANNOYED by him. Buddy you're gonna marry that girl.

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

In case it's hard to read/understand: "If I had a nickel for every time I had a story with a blonde girl named after a plant, who has a German father and a French mother but absolutely hates said mom, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice."

weird, extremely-specific tropes in my stories: pt 1

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[demelzathemer]

I'm watching the Doom Patrol episode for the first time ever and LOSING MY MIND, why didn't anyone tell me this is GOOD??? It's written by Steve Yockey and it SHOWS because the dialogue is absolutely the same as in the netflix series

Crystal is so catty and Edwin is fed up with people while Charles mediates, they're the same characters just played by different people?? I'm gonna add some shitty screensnaps here to yell about it

Obviously spoilers if you care about that;

Crystal <3 She looks closer to her comicbook self but has the same amount of sass as her netflix self

I swear I'm so normal about this bit of dialogue. Crystal telling Edwin Charles will protect him (with a baseball bat, mind you, they're in the States!) and their responses, I wish I could see Jayden and George act this part.

(I can hear "I'd do it anyway, won't I?" in Jayden's voice... weeps)

Edwin sassing out little girls again??? I lost it with the pose and voice

WEAK FOR THOSE BIG BROWN EYES

(Jayden's voice again. I know you hear it)

He should've been allowed to drape himself over Edwin like this too. Why would Netflix do this to me

"Love this." EDWIN??? He's way too happy that they're gonna smack their client with a shovel.

And CHARLES (pulls it out without anyone asking, he knows what's going to happen next) HANDS IT TO CRYSTAL so she can be the one doing the smacking???

And she's way too eager as well. What is happening here. Though I love how seamlessly they work as a trio now. Even if it's for the purpose of knocking out their unsuspecting client

"The price to open the door to afterlife is pain, and I'm the only one who can do it."

With the door handle being a BABYDOLL HEAD. With HELL FLAHBACKS. What the actual fuck?

I thought the doll spider was netflix original character??

And Charles immediately being "you don't have to do it, we can find another way in" I might be crying

Charles is afraid of water??? That's CANON?? It has to be, nothing has been changed about the characters so far!

Charles (with red-rimmed eyes): "I'm not scared! Just so you know."

Edwin (lying to make Charles feel better): "We know."

They're so in love. But what do you mean with "I'll make sure he's fine"? What are you gonna do, Edwin? Hold his hand on the boat ride? (They didn't show that part, so that's probably what happened.)

They had ONE episode and they still had to make sure that we know Edwin's gay.

I'm OBSESSED with this line and this repressed version of Edwin, I don't have the words right now but I read someone's brilliant analysis about it. (Pls link if you find it)

"I used to think that, too. But it's not 1916 anymore, you know?"

"Well, I'm not like you. But thanks for the concern."

Edwin, oh my god that is so sad. What makes you think you don't deserve happiness? I need to study him under a microscope

...Then STRAIGHT INTO death flashbacks??? They didn't leave anything out, watching this one episode spoils 7 out of 8 episodes of the netflix series?!

"She's good." Edwin appreciates Crystal! I love that they genuinely are a trio here and the boys know about her quirks like they know each other

Also David lore is unchanged too and Crystal bonding with Dorothy was so sweet

...THE NIGHT NURSE IS HERE TOO?? I thought she was a netflix original character too (Cat King, Tragic Mick and Jenny are, at least?)

AND SHE'S RUTH CONNEL??? ALSO WTF JUST HAPPENED

Her character is pretty different alright, and played very differently by the same actress??? And Charles just WENT FOR IT unprovoked?! Do they know about her in this universe, is she like a monster that's actively hunting them down and can be alerted by killing(?) I literally don't know anymore this is crazy

(Edwin was so cute jumping up and cheering lol. A bit jarring how much more he curses here though)

This is actually an insane episode, the trio with their huge amount of lore just drop in in the middle of already established group of characters and their lore and then, they're never seen again after this??

And they had flashbacks to both of their deaths without explaining ANYTHING about what the hell was that. Just five seconds of "being chased and covered in blood", teasing something about their relationship, Crystal dropping her goal of beating her missing memories out of a demon, no conclusion of wtf was "spider-face lady" aka the Night Nurse, etc etc. They needed their own show really badly huh

So netflix hurry up and give us a second season! After seeing this I'm blown away by the execution of Dead Boy Detectives and how Jayden and George really brought the characters to life. I'm so thankful we have that. Their chemistry really is what makes the show.

[azaharinflames]

Okay but like-

The wildest takes I've seen in this episode—negative takes at that—are so laughable, I'm sorry.

Of course, these criticisms come from that side of the fandom, which we had been expecting anyway, so it's not like it surprises me. I fully expected them to hate this episode once they saw GayEddie wasn't happening, and neither was Buddie.

But the criticisms are getting to me, to the point where I find them funny.

-'Why are Tommy and Eddie acting like they're friends?' / 'Why were they 'teaming up'?'- because they are, babes. That was established as early as 704, pre-BuckTommy going canon. They get along. They have a sort of similar humor and the same skepticism. And this is good, because for the first time we have a romantic partner of Buck's getting along with his best friend and seamlessly fitting into his world. But you hate that idea, sorry, I forgot.

-'For a moment I thought it was gonna be revealed Tommy was cheating on Buck with Eddie' / 'This is foreshadowing on Buck finding out Tommy first fell for Eddie'- based on what, exactly? I'm sorry, do you think your partner getting along with your friends means they are cheating on you? My God what an insanely toxic mindset. Imagine your boyfriend teasing you with your best friend, what a crime. And also, again with the whole 'Tommy couldn't get Eddie, so he settled for Buck' - dude. dude. Tommy slept on a couch to be close to Buck in case he needed it. He listened to him and took him as seriously as possible without enabling him when Eddie couldn't have cared less. Hell, Tommy dressed up for a mummy's funeral. You don't do that for someone you're 'settling for'. Wtf.

-'Tommy and Eddie were getting along better than Tommy and Buck' - I am sensing a pattern, and it is already exhausting. But also- no. They were not 'getting better'. They were the realists opposite Buck's more dreamer personality. They are skeptical people who were trying to find the logical explanation for what was happening to him - to make him feel better and not as worried. But to say they have a better relationship than Buck and Tommy based on that is wild. Especially after the end monologue.

-'Episode was overhyped and not all that' - well, I'm sorry you hate fun (sans Denny's accident, because 911 will not let the Wilsons breathe, it seems). 805 was a genuinely great episode, and honestly, the kind of episode 911 had been missing for a long time, yet exactly what they needed.

And last, and my favorite I gotta say:

-'The characters felt ooc' - they did not. They were very much themselves in canon. But this is what happens when you watch the show through shipper-goggles and refuse to see it for what it is. But this is our canon Eddie, not the eternal savior fanon version of him that you created. This is our canon Buck, not the dumb fanon version of him. And this is our canon Tommy, not the monster fanon that you've grossly created. It's so funny to me because in this ep everyone felt so much like themself, yet they claim that isn't the case just because Eddie wasn't defending Buck (against Tommy, apparently, but for no real reason), Buck was involving Tommy in his spiraling rather than Eddie, and Tommy was being the supportive partner Buck has deserved all along.

Long story short: the episode fucking slapped. And it's a shame that some people won't let themselves enjoy it for what it is.

[damagedcoda6669]

this is stupid

lets talk about this dumb ask for a minute. (leaving them anonymous so they dont get SLAUGHTERED)

ive gotten a handful of comments on my youtube video accusing me of the exact same things, so im gonna use this as an opportunity to teach you HOW NOT TO ACT TOWARDS CREATORS ONLINE. first of all, my financial situation is NONE of your business. i will establish that i pay rent, i have an income, i help synni out financially, but i dont owe you ANY of that information. making an assumption about my private life and then using said assumption to demonize me is exactly the kind of behavior exhibited by the internet growing up which ruined my childhood. you are making an assumption about me and using it to victimize synni and demonize me, two people who you have NEVER MET and in reality you know next to NOTHING about. stop making me out to be the bad guy in every situation, it goes to show that you have learned nothing from my video and are continuing the cycle of birdie hate for no good reason.

second of all, this is fucking ableist. assuming im mooching off of my best friend and being lazy because i happen to be disabled and mentally ill? fuck off. there is no "you need to get your act together" youre not my fucking parent, and also??? i need to get my act together??? you mean stop being disabled??? wtf are you on about??? synni chooses to vent about her financial situation, but i choose to keep that part of my life private. me and synni are in the exact same boat. you know NOTHING about me. for all you know i could be working a 9 to 5 like everybody else, but you never considered that possibility because im disabled. i did say in my video "fuck work" but guess what? people who have jobs also dont like working. synni has expressed the same "fuck work" rhetoric but instead of treating her as manipulative and evil in this situation you make her out to be a victim. we all know why youre talking about me the way that you are.

third of all, its not my fault synni is working 24/7??? its not my fault we're poor??? did you ever consider the economic climate rn??? or think to blame capitalism for making us need to work all of our lives only leaving us with a few hours to ourselves, barely surviving and scraping by? but of course, you dont want a rational answer to why synni and i are suffering financially. the internet always wants somebody to throw under the bus, and it will always be me because you will always see me as a mentally ill dangerous freak. think for yourself, unpack your own ableism. its exhausting.

OKAY BACK 2 NORMAL JACK MODE srry 4 writing a whole bible abt this, i feel VRY strongly abt this. my disabilities have been effecting me so badly ive been considering getting a wheelchair. (dont forget im physically disabled as well!!!) its not FUN 2 not be able 2 do the same things every1 else can (and it certainly isnt fun 2 have 2 explain that 2 ppl who dont care enough 2 understand) but i will never stop advocating 4 myself, becuz i never had any1 2 do that 4 me when i was a kid

[brisquad-unit-4402]

luxiem as bad sex

don’t worry about it this is mostly for the lolz. might fuck around and do this for other livers next time i feel restless. make sure to properly communicate with your partner

tags: gender neutral reader, established relationship, smut, humor/crack, chatfic in shu’s entry, public sex, uki violeta cameo, cheating/ntr mention, just imagine the baldur’s gate 3 scene with the luxiem guy of your choice you know what i’m talking about

⚠️ nsfw under the cut. content not intended for minors.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

🖋 Ike Eveland: anatomy

there is a chance that, when you sleep with ike, despite his title, it’s his first time.

25% chance says that he fully does not know what he’s doing, and asks you for a full-blown tutorial on how to stick part a into part b.

25% chance says that he fully does not know what he’s doing but he doesn’t even admit to it. it’s a lot of trial and error and insistence that no, don’t worry, i got this when he very clearly does not.

25% chance that, for the first time in his life, eroge has come in clutch. he understands! kind of. it’s more like as he penetrates you he tries to compare your sounds to the moans of eroge characters. the more you sound like a hentai protagonist the better. it’s also worth noting he pumps into you to the beat of a huniepop song that worked its way into his head while he was trying to figure out what’s a good or bad sound.

and finally 25% chance that it’s just fine.

but let it be known that he 100% does not know how to find the clit. barely knows how to find the prostate either. ike won’t admit to either of these things

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

🦁 Luca Kaneshiro: openness

never let it be said luca is solitary. he’s social and likes to explore different spaces. it means dates happen often, and so does getting dragged off to give him head in public.

this would be fine if it was a bathroom stall. you know, the standard couple spots. what you didn’t expect was in a fairly open alley. or an amusement park ride with automatic souvenir pictures. or on the shady side of a beach full of people.

hell, even when you get into a changing room while shopping there’s still a risk. he’s gotten you to jack him off while wearing not-yet-purchased jeans more than once and as exciting as it was you have no clue what happened to the poor retail workers that had to find them hanging on the return-to-hanger rack.

at home he leaves doors open since it’s just the two of you, including when he goes down on you. he leaves them open when there’s guests, too, and guides you into your bedroom when he needs a break from talking to people. the doors are still open. you’re a master at being quiet but sometimes his puppy wanders around looking for his owner, and…

(side note: not about sex but i just know he would leave the door open or walk in on you using the bathroom and that terrifies me)

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

👟 Shu Yamino: attentiveness

Me: hey

Me: hey

Me: are you awake??

taro_twink: abt to sleep

taro_twink: what do you want shu

Me: idk c:

taro_twink: so you blew up my phone??? bitch??

Me: fjakajsjsldj i wanted to talk to my friend!

taro_twink: wish granted

taro_twink: wyd?

Me: reader

taro_twink: don’t text on a date

Me: we’re at home

taro_twink: go spend time with reader then ffs

Me: i am

Me: reader feels really nice c:

taro_twink: wait

Me: and i like making reader say my name too

taro_twink: SHSKDKLSJA

taro_twink: WHAT FHE FUXK

taro_twink: ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TEXTINF ME RIFHT NOW

taro_twink: SHU YAMINO WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU

Me: dw reader hasn’t noticed my phone yet

taro_twink: THIS ISNT ABOUT READER ITS ABOUT ME

Me: my phone is by the pillow so it’s hard to see

taro_twink: ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TEXTING WHILE SCREWING SOMEONE????????????

Me: yea :homiekiss:

taro_twink: you are fucked up and i’m going to bed

taro_twink: so done with you jfc

taro_twink: gn

taro_twink: bye

taro_twink: if you say anything else i’m blocking your number

Me: you’re no fun

taro_twink: you are literally texting me while you’re doing your partner i don’t want to hear it

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

👹 Vox Akuma: names

vox is noisy. delightfully so. it’s easy to communicate with him because he’s unconsciously vocal whenever he likes something.

these sounds, however, are usually limited to grunts, moans and cries. all well and good, but when things get more intense, he’s more inclined to scream your name.

and when his dick is in your mouth he can’t think straight, in the worst way.

this is just to say that even when you’re not roleplaying, he’s cried out a lot of names that aren’t yours. usually celebrities or fictional characters. you’ve lost count of how many tall/dark/handsome guys with long hair he’s cum to, or sassy women. hell, his celebrity crushes don’t even look like you.

if you have cheating fantasies this is excellent. if you have ntr fantasies, excellent as well. what isn’t excellent, however, is how last time you poured wax on him while fucking him from behind, he buried his face into the pillow and whimpered out your coworker’s name.

he was very lucky you didn’t have more wax to splash him with

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

✧. ┊ masterpost ✧. ┊ kofi

[rustfoxes]

Disjointed DAtVG feelings/opinions

I've played the game for a bit, I'm not too far in yet, and honestly? I hope it gets better. Spoilers & venting below as you might guess.

Everything seems to be tell, don't show. There's very, VERY little trust in the player. Characters happen upon a ruined village? "The village is ruined! There's no one here!" Yes, we can see that. Character looks upset? Text pops up on screen to tell you that IN FACT!! Character is upset. Couldn't have guessed.

Everything is explained out loud immediately, except the arguably actually important things. If I remember correctly, there's no mention of the 10 year (?) timeskip from DAI, everyone just now knows everything about elven magic and the Fade and the Veil EXCEPT FOR THE PLAYER. None of that is explained! New players are expected to just know, which in some games works, but when you throw characters into a magical forest and say it's Arlathan forest, how tf are they supposed to know what Arlathan is.

Why is Varric a brunette all of a sudden

Characterisation of returning characters is fucking wild. Fun, jokey Harding? Massive chip on her shoulder and real aggressive for some reason. Soft-spoken and measured Solas? Yelling, again, for some damn reason. Where is his iambic pentameter? And he hates blood magic all of a sudden?? Did the writers play the earlier games at all? Solas SPECIFICALLY says in DAI that blood magic has no morality to it and is merely a tool.

The game is linear to the extent that I cannot for the life of me see the point of the game asking you to wrap up unfinished business before moving forward. What unfinished business? You've locked us into a small room with 0 exits and 1 chest. There is no business.

So far there's been zero time for any of the story to breathe. There are no story beats, because the drum machine that is the pacing just keeps hammering on. The gravity of the situation has no time to set in for anyone. THE ACTUAL GODS OF MYTH HAVE BEEN BUST OUT OF GOD-JAIL. THIS IS A HUGE FUCKING PROBLEM. "Yeah, well, people would've died if Solas hadn't been stopped from tearing down the Veil." And this is preferable???? What the actual fuck. DAI Solas wanted to rebuild and to safe-guard his people. TWO of the people he wanted to PROTECT EVERYONE FROM are now out. But oh man, that Solas, he would've hurt folks. You think the wondertwins won't? Jesus fucking Christ.

The gameplay more or less just completely scraps character classes. Playing a mage rn and for some damn reason she has separate ranged attacks. What the actual fuck. What is the point of making people choose a class if a damn mage has to stand next to enemies to attack?

So far doesn't feel like an RPG at all. Starts in media res which is fine, but your character is already established as a cool hero and an important figure. Why? Why weren't we along for that ride?

Character movement is janky af, DAI was much smoother 10 damn years ago. Hopefully they'll somehow manage to fix it.

Either they needed better actors or a much better voice director, because holy shit is the dialogue awkward and halting and just... no.

Writers have clearly had shoes far too large to fill. Dialogue wants to be funny and witty and clever. It is not. Specially not with the phoned in voice acting.

Where have my Welsh/Irish elves gone? Wtf happened there? Also why wasn't there anyone around to tell the actors how to pronounce the elvhen words??

Why the fuck is the rogue our healer.

All quests so far have been walking from A to B, collecting some coins along the path, and then fighting 5 or 10 enemies. No variation at all.

Idk man, I really hope the game will find its legs as it goes on, but so far? Massively underwhelming and honestly quite disappointing. Absolutely does not feel like DA. People critisised DA2 for being rushed and DAI for a whole host of shit, but at least I felt like I was playing a Dragon Age game.

[edgeray]

Ray! 🍅 anon again here xD

Was hanging around twitter and saw @arlecock (yes, wtf is that name) wondering what happens during Arle’s periods (I mean. Valid concern?) she’s probably so used to going on and functioning with them.

Indulgent yes but any Thoughts? I personally do want to spoil her with a massage and warm hugs and cuddling her if she ever had any cramps! (Okay this is just an excuse to spoil her but still) Though I would feel like Arle would be one of the ones who is so used to pain period cramps don’t really faze her anymore…

(Or when there’s a long established relationship post canon and Arle also uses it as an excused to get babied)

Lullabying Arle to sleep… hehehhehehehehehehehehehhehehehe.

She deserves it.

Hi 🍅 anon! I'm not going to be using this as a request since you're only asking for my thoughts, I'll just keep it to kind of a ramble lol.

first of all, arlecock is a valid af (and real af) user, have you seen the users on tiktok? lmfao, there's way worse on there. slightly irrelevant, but i saw a tiktok video of a literal arlecchino pride flag at a pride parade. what would that even be called? arlesexual?

anyways

arle powers through periods like nothing, regardless of how painful her cramps are. she has so many better things to worry about and concern her than whatever her body decides to do once a month (her curse hurts way worse anyways, cramps are incomparable.) I'd imagine she also uses her pyro vision to help relieve her cramps. i doubt many people can tell the difference between when she's on/off her period, except maybe you and her children. She's a bit more snippy, a bit more impatient, but besides that she doesn't really give off any signs of when she's on her period, and if it doesn't bother her, then she feels like there's no need to tell you.

however, you do you tracking them, mostly be noticing when your guys' shared bathroom's feminine products have been depleting. of course, cuddling arle is a given. she loves to cuddle with you and she will most definetely fall asleep to your pretty voice humming/singing to her as you stroke her hair.

to me, arle also seems like the type of person to secretly have a sweet tooth. i don't know why, but she strikes me as those type of people. you'll also buy her lots of dark chocolate candy to also help. you also make her a warm bath before she comes home, and that's where you usually massage her. y'know what's another thing that helps with cramps? sex.

I don't think think I need to say more about that.

but yeah, those are just this silly axolotl's thoughts <3

this may not be... super accurate in terms of what you should do for cramps, considering that I'm very fortunate to not have cramps during my periods.

[lemotmo]

Yeah what is time in 911 land 🤣. I think the Buck/Eddie/ Tommy (especially Lou) stuff is probably fairly accurate though. I can see that being the original plan. It certainly feels like that's where things were originally headed.

Q. I am so confused about the timeline. In episode 6 it supposedly had been 6 months but in episode 8 it's only been 3 months. WTF? I'm so confused. I'm very confused after episodes 7 and 8 in general. They were just weird episodes.

A. Right off the bat I will say that I believe episodes 7 and 8 were rewrites. I don't believe those episodes were the original outline or drafts of those scripts. Mostly because episode 7 makes absolutely no sense following episode 6. They are not complimentary episodes in any way. The timeline in general on this show is absurdly bad so we just can't pay too much attention to the ridiculousness of it all. But I do think a couple of things happened that led to the downright nonsensical timeframe so far this season. One reason for it was the audience's response to Brad and Hotshots. Tim wanted to play with that more once it became well received. The decision to extend the opening disaster from two episodes to three episodes allowed him to do that. But it came at the expense of the other storylines. The Buck and Eddie storyline was extended in part because of Tim but other factors beyond their control also contributed to it being bumped into 8b. Tim expanded the Tommy arc following the tremendous response to bi Buck. That was his mistake. Then the show got renewed immediately into the new season. The quick renewal and Tommy extension meant the Buddie storyline, which was clearly the plan going into season 7, got bounced to season 8. The original purpose of Tommy was for him to lead Buck to his Eddie feelings. That was still the plan as they were writing season 8. I think the jealousy route was clearly the direction they were going to go based on how present they physically made Eddie in their relationship. Tim even basically said that in his early interviews for the season. But a couple of things happened that forced some changes. One thing was that Gavin moved. Initially that would have worked in their favor because it gave them the ability to put Eddie in the middle of the Buck/Tommy relationship and not have it come at the expense of his onscreen relationship with Christopher. But they had to write Gavin's absence into the show and the way they chose to do that was stupid. So they had to spend time in the early part of this season trying to build up to correcting that mistake while still involving Eddie in the Buck/Tommy relationship.

The other thing that happened was I think Lou really did get fired. The temper tantrum throwing he's doing in his interviews reinforces that belief. Actors have contracts and all contracts come with provisions. There are rules the actor has to follow in order to keep their contract with the network. Lou clearly broke his contract stipulations with the cameo nonsense. The problem was they were too far along in the writing process for the early part of the season. So I think the show and network compromised and gave him a restructured contract with a set number of scenes. That scrapped the jealousy route because they would have had to have more Tommy scenes than they wanted in order to build up the jealousy arc. But they needed the onscreen breakup. Tommy's dialogue in the breakup scene was the entire reason he was brought back for season 8. They couldn't have Buck just relay that information via a conversation about them breaking up. They had to establish some kind of longevity within the relationship without actually showing most of it, so they just wrote the relationship length into the script. A 6 month anniversary dinner. But the 6 month timeline doesn't work for Eddie and Christopher's storyline because that would imply that Eddie has allowed it to carry on for far too long. So Tim wrote it both ways. It was 6 months for the Buck part of the storyline but as far as the rest of the show is concerned it's only been 3 months. He doesn't care that it's janky and nonsensical because I don't look for Tommy to be mentioned again. Tim pretty much put that to rest. So he basically reset the timeline following the end of the Tommy arc because the audience is supposed to no longer care about the Tommy of it all. Buck's Eddie/Buddie storyline has begun so he needed to be put on Eddie's timeline now. I think we're just supposed to go with the 3 month timeframe and ignore the Tommy of it all going forward and I'm more than happy and willing to do that.

Thank you Nonny!

I definitely agree with Ali about most of these topics. Nothing more to add really.

Also, It's really late here and I'm exhausted, ready to go to bed, but I really wanted to post this ask first, so here you go! 😋

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[pythoness94]

Fanon party and how they react to Byler. (and how it makes the party OOC.)

One thing I hate about some fics is that SOME people get to damn deep into the fanon. Like, I swear some people treat Will like he's incapable. It's like people think Will is going to completely break and fall apart if Mike is straight. Like no? Will already thinks Mike IS straight, chat he's sad but he isn't some "uwu baby". It's completely apparent that some people think Will NEEDS to be protected at all cost and it shows in how they write the Party treating Mike. Basically, in multiple fics and videos i have seen (Cough, cough, gacha reacts, cough, COUGH.) the creators write the party absolutely LOATHING Mike. Berating him, putting him down, taking apart his every insecurity, calling him homophobic, MAKING him homophobic, acting like he's satan for not showing that he likes Will back. I've seen a few were they kick Mike OUT OF HIS OWN PARTY, for not liking Will back. Like, I've also seen a couple where they treat the garage scene like it was worse than the upside down. They don't even have the party try to understand why Mike did that, or ask if Will forgives him, or even make Mike apologize. No! Because that would be just TO inconceivably. No, they say fuck that noise and chose the secret fourth option of making Mike into some homophobic dickhead that hated Will from the start and everything he did before that was just acting. Like WTF???

The way they treat Will is WORSE. Like I touched on it earlier, but they have the party FAWN over him. Acting like Will can do no wrong, and like Will needs every member at the party at his beck and call while sobbing every five seconds. This is, of course, the most extreme cases but once you see these things you can't UNSEE it. They make Will into some fragile thing that Mike sought out to break, it also seems to like babyfy? (i don't know the word.) Will, he's more childish and well fragile. he's not Will anymore. Like did we all collectively forget the POINT of season two's byler relationship? Mike was the only one who didn't treat Will like he was going to break, Will hates that shit, he would NEVER act like this and yet some fanfic writers do that. Also,also, Will would be SO FUCKING PISSED at the party if they excluded and bullied Mike like they do in those fics. He would lose his shit on him. People forget but while Mike and Will may have crushes on each other. They are BEST FRIENDS above all else.

One of the plots of season four was that despite the relationship getting in the way of their friendship, they will stay friends. That "let's make our own party" line wasn't just romance coding, it was saying that they are always friends solo. If Dustin and Will fought, Mike and Will would still be friends. If Lucas and Mike fought, Will and Mike would still be friends. If something happens to the rest of the party, Mike and Will are always going to be Mike and Will because they have their own "Solo party." they are best friends above everything. So the party bullying the fuck out of Mike would NOT slide with Will. The party babying Will wouldn't slide. The party trying to keep Mike and Will away from each other wouldn't slide. Which is another thing, the party would NEVER pull that shit on Mike, because they are FRIENDS too.

Season one was Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and El being best friends without Will. Mike even said that they are all his best friends. The party all adore each other, they would never side with one person and isolate the other. No, they would make each other work it out. They would help Mike make it up to Will and visa versa (REMEMBER THIS REMEMBER VISA VERSA!) because of that "Drawn first blood" rule. You think that they would establish that in season one for no fucking reason? Hell no, Lucas and Mike made up because Mike drew first blood, he apologized, and Lucas held no grudges and that the fucking point. The party doesn't do grudges, they are all each other have and they know it, they know that each member doesn't mean to hurt each other. They will make up every time because they care for each other EQUALLY above all else. So them taking one side doesn't make sense.

Now, here is where visa versa comes in. Some fanfics treat Will like he can NEVER be in the wrong, ever. Like even if it's a throwaway line. i've seen in some really good fics that the characters first reactions, even Nancy and El's, are "Oh, what did Mike do now!" When they have a fight. Like it's never. "Oh what happened?" It's always. "What did MIKE do?" It's a small thing but it shows how DEEP fanon has it's claws in all of us, hell I'm at fault of doing it and I try to go back in fix it. Since, being for real, not a single party member would say that other than Max. As said about, they are all about equality, equal grounds and first blood, they would always say. "What happened?" instead of, "what did Mike do?" because they would be drawing first blood by saying that since it's a unfair slight against a party member. Especially since they've all dealt with bullying in the past, they all know how hard words dig into you, so they would never do something like that to one of their friends. I also hate how some authors don't make Will start a fight too? Like relationships always have dumb fucking fights from both sides, Will would pull some stupid shit just the same as Mike. They are both fourteen in season 4 not only old enough to work their own shit out without being coddled but also old enough to be responsible for their actions.

Will lied to Mike, it doesn't matter if he's trying to save Mileven, he lied and Mike would hate that. Pulling up Mike's past actions doesn't change the fact that Will can slight Mike just as Mike can slight Will. So the party dismissing that but hounding on Mike for paying attention for his girlfriend (even if the way he went about it was dickish and completely messy.) is OOC. Jonathan hating Mike is OOC, the party hating Mike is OOC, Will hating Mike is OOC, Mike hating Will is OOC. They are all equal and equal rights is equal fights. Also, doubling back for a second. Jonathan would NEVER fucking hate Mike. EVER, he's worried for Will's feelings. He wants Will to be happy, but he's known Mike is WHOLE life. Jonathan would be more concerned about why tf Mike is wigging out like this then angry. He knows well enough that you can't make somebody love you (Being in love with Nancy and the whole Steve thing.) He would be annoyed that Mike hurt Will and El, but not pissed of and cold to him. That's the thing fics get wrong. Jonathan would be CONCERNED not COLD. He would grill Mike for answers but not interrogate aggressively, more like gently guide it out of him. Creating a safe space to get the information.

Now, going back to the Will thing. if you can't imagine your party that you're writing, your cast if you will, being mad at Will but can imagine them all being mad at Mike with ease. Then you aren't writing them in character. They can all be mad at each other; Jonathan can be mad at both Will and Mike. Nancy can be mad at Will and Mike, the party can be mad at Will and Mike, and it's never all on one person. The party are scientists and detectives at heart, they don't jump to conclusions, they get the full story. Also, shovel talks. Another thing I hate is when the entire CAST, not just the party, tells Mike that "If you hurt Will, i'll kill you." but Mike is never given the same treatment. They will have NANCY threaten Mike about hurting Will but not Will? She'll threaten her own brother but not his boyfriend? No fucking wonder Mike doesn't really care for Nancy in some fics, I would to if my sister expecting me to hurt my own fucking boyfriend! WHAT THE HELL??? Like, never, in any fic that I have seen. (if you guys have one that does, DROP THE LINK OR NAME! I need to see it and comment my praises.) does any, ANY, of that characters give Will a shovel talk for Mike. They never do a "if you hurt Mike." it's like everybody expects Mike to being a callous bitch at all times.

Like if I was Will, and heard all my friends threatening my other friend and boyfriend but I wasn't getting the same talk, I WOULD BE PISSED. Because not only is that a dick move, since they are already expecting the worse out of my boyfriend and that's THEIR FRIEND too. But because they don't think that i'm capable of the same thing, I know damn well that i can accidently hurt my girl, I don't want to and I would never if i could but I know it. So it would feel like my friends expect me to be some frail thing that my partner could only hurt. FUCK THAT! I want my relationship to always be EVEN, no power imbalance and a shovel talk on always one party is implying one. (i'm not explaining this well but I hope my point is getting across.)

Anyways TL:DR, Will's not an incapable UWU baby that can do no wrong he's a fourteen-year-old boy as of season 4. Mike's not satan incarnated and is also a fourteen year old boy as of season 4. And the party wouldn't pick sides in a fight. Write your characters more in canon instead of STEEPED in fanon.

[internerdionality]

And just to be clear, it wasn't just Izzy's death or the way it happened that I found incredibly disappointing about that finale. For that matter, while there were some great moments, the entire season felt rushed and incomplete, with a lot of decisions that just baffled me.

The Olu/Zheng/Jim/Archie polycule got no resolution whatsoever and just felt crappily done. It felt like Jim and Olu transitioned from romantic to platonic between seasons and then got shoved at new love interests, instead of actually grappling with the interesting poly dynamics, jealousy, NRE, insecurity, etc., that they could have engaged with. And to be clear I LOVED every moment of Olu/Zheng and Jim/Archie! But it felt like the show didn't believe you can have meaningful romantic relationships with multiple people at the same time, so they had to make it as if Jim and Olu's romantic sexual encounter at the end of last season didn't mean anything and that the two of them are perfectly happy being chosen siblings. This after Oluwande is explicitly described as in love with Jim in the first season! WTF?

It also felt like they just abandoned Lucius and Pete being poly in favor of having a cutesy wedding? Like don’t get me wrong, yay for weddings, but honestly it felt very mononormative and forced instead of queer and affirming. Even if Lucius had like, kissed Fang on the lips right after, or if they'd had more affection shown between the whole crew during the wedding, that would have been something. It just felt off.

Zheng felt like a wasted character by the end. Her just letting Ricky know where all her ships were was unbelievable for how competent and badass they made her out to be, and literally her only impact on the plot was serving as a vehicle to drive Stede from place to place. Also just killing off her entire crew other than Auntie? Hundreds of mostly Asian women? Yeah, that's not a good look.

Why did they feel the need to destroy the Republic of Pirates, for that matter? What actual plot or emotional growth did it create? At the end of Episode 7, I expected Stede to have to grapple with how he's managed to not just bring down Blackbeard but the *entire Republic of Pirates* and *the Pirate Queen of China* to add to his whole "I ruin beautiful things" trauma and instead he just doesn't seem to care at all. Like how did he get from all of his trauma and grief about being inadequate in the first season—the actual trauma that led him to leave Ed in the first place—to "oh, it's not so bad being a failure once you get used to it"?!?! Throughout the season I kept thinking that he was repressing and it would come back up to bite him in the ass but no, apparently he just fixed that issue offscreen? What the hell?

And it was the same with Ed! After all that build up in the first season about how Ed doesn’t like to kill people directly—and maintaining that through the first two episodes, even, which was hard! We never see him directly kill anyone! The guy he shot had already been run through!—he’s literally joking while surrounded by corpses he killed and the show barely addressed the trauma that the character we knew would have experienced. Just a completely dropped note. What happened to Ed's self-hatred that they spent an entire dream sequence episode establishing?

Ed and Stede’s actual conflicts and problems just basically disappeared at the end, with a “oh I actually do love you, babe” glossing over Ed’s very legit reasons for leaving and then Stede (apparently?!?) being convinced to give up piracy without a second of screen time spent discussing it. If felt like they were actually setting them up to just be the toxic lesbians from episode four, how is that a satisfying finale? I honestly would have rather had them end the season apart again, but this time knowing they love each other and they have to do some work to get back to each other. Like, Stede sailing into the sunset after kissing Ed and promising to come back and Ed going "i trust that you will, thank you for giving me the space I need to heal"—that would have been a satisfying place to leave them.

And then Izzy's death... don't get me fucking started on what a complete waste of screen time and acting that was. Wow.

[capt-t-leela]

why don't the new Futurama episodes scratch the itch in the same way that the classic episodes do?

I'm dashing this off quickly while my kid naps, so please keep that in mind when I speak generally and broadly and mostly from memory. It's also a very rough draft.

Classic Futurama had a pretty reproducible format that made it work from a story telling perspective as well as comedically and emotionally. The main source of humor was character driven - put a bunch of very different people into a sci-fi situation that they need to figure out and the conflict, comedy, and resolution will come together from that.

You could break the episodes down roughly like this and they'd all come together, with all of these established things paying off in the end in someway. Again, speaking broadly you establish the first act:

ACT ONE:

a. some big over arching sci-fi OR culturally satirical adventure / theme / scenario

b. an emotional conflict between some of the main characters / something someone is struggling with on their own and they need help with. This conflict is consistent with what we would expect from the characters and their development / traits.

c. a third seemingly goofy thing that was often played for laughs, but had some sort of plot relevance and helped drive the story forward.

Basically, in the first 7 minutes of the episode you'd get all three of those things laid out. The pacing is QUICK and it doesn't patronize its viewers.

Let's look at My Three Suns as an example:

ACT ONE:

a. delivery to the planet trisol - a unique and interesting setting that's new for everyone, not just fry.

b. fry is annoyed that Leela is so protective of him. Leela is annoyed that fry is being a careless idiot. Note: they both have VALID points here, one of them isn't just being irrational and easily dismissed.

c. wtf does bender actually do around here? SO once all of that is setup, we see the humor, conflict, and twists and turns stem from the questions all of these beats raise.

To boot, the characters work through whatever interpersonal / intrapersonal conflict in the context of the Big Adventure.

e.g. Fry realizes that his impulsivity has an effect on the people he cares about -- thanks to Bender's cooking leading him to drink the emperor and getting mixed up in another planet's dealings that then requires Leela to save him, despite her repeated warnings that he shouldn't be an idiot. None of this would have happened without the delivery to Trisol.

Another example:

Farnsworth Parabox:

ACT ONE:

a. the boxes with an infinite number of other universes. big sci-fi scenario to work through. with the potential for adventure! (big overarching adventure)

b. why won't Leela go out with fry??? they both know there's something there, but why is Leela so hesitant? what's stopping her? (interpersonal conflict / something emotional that needs to be resolved)

c. this episode spends a lot of time in the first act showing us key facets of the Planet Express Crew's personalities and quirks - how Leela goes about guarding the box (and her coin flipping, specifically), fry and bender trying to steal it and getting distracted (and Leela knowing what will distract each of them), professor being a crackpot, Hermes being a no nonsense pencil pusher, zoidberg being the worst - these are the goofy things that pay off because The Fighting Mongooses are our crew's foils and fun house mirrors and the comedy comes from their similarities and differences. (something seemingly goofy that helps drive the plot and conflict forward)

All of this is established in the first seven minutes of the episode!

Think about your favorite episodes, and I bet they breakdown similarly. Think about the episodes that don't land for you and I bet they're missing one ingredient (usually one, some, or both of the first two with the third thing usually being something completely irrelevant to the story).

Some Comedy Central era episodes that absolutely follow this formula to great success (not an exhaustive list):

The Prisoner of Benda

The Late Philip J Fry

A Farewell to Arms

Fry and Leela's Big Fling

Which leads me to my final point here....

IMHO one of the best Hulu era episodes is Related to Items You've Viewed, not just because I love me some Freela, but because it follows the formula. Momazon - tech company / monopoly cultural observation. Fry and Leela move in together, they have to navigate that big change together within the context of using Momazon. Bender does a Bender and feels left out, so he acts impulsively and runs away also to Momazon.

The formula isn't EVERYTHING, but it's a solid structure on which to hang lots of references and jokes and character growth.

Ok I gotta go actually like do parenting things, but there ya go. whatcha think?

[redfountainpostin]

Did I watch season 6? No. Will I watch it? Also no. Anyways- Legendarium could have been used well if it was ONLY creatures of Earth mythology, stuff that none of the main cast is actually familiar with. I know that they showed several established creatures in the show but meh, have the book toss something a bit niche at them, maybe not relying on norse and greek mythology and whatever else was already used. And then BLOOM knows all the creatures and how they can technically be killed because she was a huge nerd about it at 16. Like I know her hyperfixation was faeries, but she must have read a bunch of other stuff too! And I feel she was one of those kids just eating whole books in a day. I don't know, give her something to do. And give more relevance to her Earthly upbringing, maybe add some other stuff that she can deal with because of it, making Earth more than just a planet Daphne had to settle for in order to keep Bloom safe. But Jesus Christ do not have that on Earth. I understand why they had Winx run around Earth in season 6 bc the age demographic dropped a LOT and "lets learn about distant places with our heros!" is a common trope for kids cartoon, but I am not a kid and I don't like it so I'll just keep them in Magical dimension please and thank you. Also there was no need to have them on Earth in season 4 either. I mean- ugh, fine, I guess there was, but they didn't have to LIVE there. They could have visited here and there as the plot progressed and then popped over for the big battle. If they wanted the winx working at a cafe, MAGIX HAS CAFES! Or better yet, DON'T have them all work at the same fucking place at the same time???? What bloody cafe is THAT understaffed in the middle of the summer that they just flat out hire an entire friendgroup??? Yeah ik there is prolly an explanation but I don't like it. Why not have season four have them a bit scattered, actually??? And then when the big stuff happens (and no, I don't mean Nabu's death, jesus christ we just got him and you already broke him WTF- pick something else but don't perma kill the main cast damn it this is WINX. ) Anyways, they're scattered in season 4, maybe some grow a tiny bit distant (or not!) and then something horrible happens and they ofc work through it by the/during finale and then THEY HAVE AN EXCUSE TO BE ALL CLOSE TOGETHER AGAIN IN SEASON 5. It would feel less forced!

[shepherds-of-haven]

I've been wanting to ask this for a while but this story has stayed in me and my bff heads for literal years (this rarely happens)

How did you learn to write!? This is like a brainworm that won't leave. Sometimes I'd lay in bed and remember something from this story. It'll flash before my eyes like a mirage

You're magical wtf. Tell me your writing secrets.

This is one of my favorite messages! 🥹 You have no idea how gratifying it is for a writer to hear their story has taken up residency in someone else's head :') Thank you so much for the lovely message!!!

I learned to write the conventional way, I think: by reading my Favorite Things voraciously, and then chipping off little bits and fragments of them to plant in my own garden, where they mutated into their own variants and permutations over time. (This was everything from fantasy novels to manga to fanfiction to story-heavy video games and martial arts films, by the way, all of which you can see flavors of in Shepherds.) After that, it's just a matter of time, practice, and persistence!

For the sake of answering your question fully, though, I'll note that I did attend writing workshops at different colleges from a young age, then got my undergraduate degree in Creative Writing, then my MFA in Fiction, then taught writing at the university for a handful of years. But I don't want to make this sound like a deterrent of any kind! I genuinely think you don't need any of that to write or to be good at writing (I am also somewhat notorious in my programs for having stubbornly done my own thing for years and not really incorporating anything from my coursework into my writing, haha). But writing is truly special in that I think a lot of fiction from "amateurs" or hobbyists with no special background or degrees in writing can far surpass published works from established academics and professionals. So I don't think the path I took was necessary to learning to write at all: in fact, I think it can sometimes be dangerous, which is a ramble for a whole other day.

But my writing secrets? Patient and diligent practice. Absorbing and observing the writing you want to emulate, figuring out what about it you like and what speaks to you and how to replicate it in your own work. And! Telling a story that you are excited about, even if that's not the consensus from other people. The passion and love you have for a story will always shine through, whereas it will always be equally obvious if you're listlessly toiling away on something that fits others' desires, but not your own vision.

I hope that answers your question, or helps anyone else who's been thinking about writing out there! And thank you so much again for your lovely message!

[eiegg]

I just realized that during the last 500 years, only Rex Lapis was awake/aware of the world's happening, sort of, making another difference with the other Archons.

Venti slept for most of the time and recently woke up to help Dvalin.

Ei was in her plane and it was all the Shogun's doing.

Nahida, no need to explain. That poor child didn't deserve what she went through.

Focalors, it was a fraud (/j)/she was collecting that energy inside the Oratrice, so she wasn't really aware of the outside world beside what Furina whatever they discussed (I was spoiled but I still haven't finished the AQ so, uuh, correct me if I'm wrong.)

(I forgot there's also the Cryo Archon who changed 500 years ago and established the Fatui(and/or the Harbingers?)

Now it would be funny if the Pyro Archon was dead since the Cataclysm and she is resurrected and she's like "wtf happened there".