#but also it was longer iirc so it had more time to develop the characters and their arcs

[jonny-b-meowborn]

Just read Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison, absolutely wild book, honestly loved it, surprisingly funny for what it's about. It's pretty short, I read it in one sitting in just a couple hours, and there's a lot put into it. I really liked how the author characterized the main duo, they're really just wild asshole people. I loved how much of a dick the narrator is, genuinely awful person, but still very entertaining with his annoying observations. Also the cover art is really beautiful, I love it. Generally great book, wouldn't recommend

[transhoverfish]

OK SO IM LATE BUT. MORE SUB3 NEWS!!!

so a few days ago, krafton (their publisher), apparently had this like presentation of their plans over the next like 2 years. and during that they talked a bit about sub 3!

and this obviously creates a LOT of questions. not to worry, though, because unknown worlds added on to this:

im honestly not surprised by this. iirc, when below zero released they said it would be a WHILE before the next game, and they only announced this back in like... january? now, the first game's release was in january, and bz was in may, so it's definitely possible early access with be in spring of 2025. those games did not have multiplayer aspections tho! its possible we'll wait until mid 2025, and full release will likely not be until 2026. but who knows? the first game took like ten to be fully finished!!

and honestly. THANK GOD. i can't imagine any subnautica game having BATTLE PASSES or LOOT BOXES. i would have just straight up ignored this game 😭

i do wonder what these updates will entail! "many years to come" is definitely something interesting to me, because other than bug fixes... i dont remember sub or bz getting many updates post full release. is this referring to bug fixes, or is it implying that it will be in a state of early access for much longer? are they going to just keep adding new things (like the building update for sub1) and taking fandom suggestions? very interested!!

maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but i actually,,,, dont want multiplayer. now i do like bz, and these games arent really intended to be horror games, but also bz is very noticeablely less scary than sub1. and some of it i think definitely has to do with all the extra characters and dialogue. its hard to feel isolated when you know al-an and marg are nearby. so im very happy that it's optional, bc i know i will probably enjoy single player a lot more enjoyable!!

so now... SPECULATION.

so the first thing im curious about that the development team didnt mention:

"uncover the mysteries on an entirely new alien planet"

apprently we are NOT returning to 4546b. which im kind of sad about!! ik the story is very obviously done there, but it feels weird that its going to be some other planet this time around. THERE WONT BE PEEPERS!!!! (well there could be but it would be weird if some other random planet had the exact same lifeforms)

now my next immediate thought is: is this a direct continuation of below zero? my opinion is: no. probably not.

mostly because it mentions up to four players, and robin and alan are, if you look very closely, only two people. now they COULD just create two new characters to go alongside them (my fanfic brain loves the au idea of marg and ryley 🥺) but im just going to assume that with the addition of a new planet, we're going to drop the old storylines. which means no more degasi, sunbeam, aurora, or ayou sisters. we might move away from architects/precursors altogether! (my basis on this is absolutely nothing and i could be wrong, this is 100% just theorizing)

also, i imagine that it would be difficult to keep the plot the exact same with two established characters and then two new ones, depending on how this multiplayer aspect works. if its another crash, it would be a lot easier to just have the extra players die/survive, then try to work in a balancing act of one guy playing al-an.

(also i like keeping the ending of bz vauge. if they show up again, they would have to mention what happened to the rest of the architects, and i think it's much more fun if thats a mystery!)

((also also, im gonna drop a bomb on u all for a second. i actually,,, dont like al-an. i have a deeper connection to probably every single other character in bz. i think they really fumbled al's character and story and he is so incredibly bland to me. it feels like they go nowhere with how he was responsible for the kharra outbreak because the game ends immediately after he confesses! it would be nice to give him another chance, sure, but i personally dread the idea of even more al-an. sorry everyone for this horrible news))

HERE'S A CONCEPT IMAGE

i hope they bring back some cut content creatures for this!! i noticed this new area looks VERY similar to the safe shallows, and several of the fish seem to be variations of ones we've already seen (im already seeing bladderfish and hoopfish color pallettes, and the shark resmbles some early concept art for the shadow leviathan, but with the ice worm's colors...)

will there be more land areas?? is it going to entirely underwater?? more kharra?? NO DISEASE AT ALL?? AAAAAA!!!!

[tobiasdrake]

love your db analysis posts! i'd love to hear your thoughts on ultimate gohan, if you have any. between him having little to no reaction to finding out everyone on earth is dead, and randomly letting gotenks fight buu instead of himself, he did not seem to be the same character at all to me, and iirc even piccolo says so, i just... find it hard to believe a non-rage-triggered power-up would do that to him.

Much like Android 16, I do wonder if there were more plans for Ultimate Gohan that wound up being scrapped by the shift in narrative direction.

We're first introduced to the concept of Ultimate Gohan as the Elder Kaioshin is explaining his abilities.

Gohan's dormant power has long been a recurring attribute of his character. In fact, this isn't the first time he's had an elderly sage draw out his dormant power.

Teaching him to draw out and control his dormant abilities was (stealthily) part of Goku's training with him. That Gohan was finally starting to make it his own and tap into his true ki is the reason for why he was repeatedly unimpressed by Goku's abilities.

Gohan didn't even realize it, but through his mastery of the Super Saiyan, he'd also begun to take control of and internalize the tremendous ki he'd always had stored away in him. And as he came into his own ki, what he could sense of Goku's ki proportional to his own didn't make sense to him.

Super Saiyan 2 was, then, the culmination of Gohan's development. His full power, channeled through the Super Saiyan and its amplifying effects - both for better and, uh, for worse.

But it's been seven years and Gohan's been indulging in his true love of academia, in accordance with the agreement Goku and Chi-Chi made about his future.

Goku may have successfully escaped having to get a job by conveniently dying at the last possible second, but Gohan's future is set on a course. He's going to be an academic. It's what Chi-Chi wants for him, and it's what Gohan wants for himself; Even Goku acknowledges that.

Seven years of rigorous study and zero martial arts practice later, Gohan isn't the guy anymore. In fact, examining just how much Gohan isn't the guy anymore is the whole point of his fight with Dabra.

Goku eyeballs Dabra as being roughly around Cell's power. This allows Dabra to serve as a yardstick for Gohan, so we understand what it means for him when he fails to measure up.

Gohan that was a Zanzoken/Afterimage. Nobody even does those anymore. They became obsolete after ki-sensing was normalized, because everyone can now easily sense which "image" is the real one. The one other time we saw a Zanzoken return post-23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, it was against Frieza, who can't sense ki.

Dabra is mocking you right now. He legit thinks you're so shitty at martial arts that you'll fall for this amateur-hour guff. And he's right.

I kinda feel Geets here. If I had to watch my last chance to ever fight my rival get wasted on this, I'd be losing my mind too. He fucking fell for a Zanzoken; Can I just take over already?

So. Yeah. Full Power Gohan isn't a thing anymore. He can still tap into the form - and for some inexplicable reason so can Goku and Vegeta - but this is no longer Peak Potential. Which is where the Elder Kaioshin comes in.

This is a classic formula of Dragon Ball. We've seen it in the RRA, Piccolo, Saiyan, Namek (twice!), and Android arcs. First, Goku gets the shit kicked out of him - sometimes even to the point of being presumed dead.

While the surviving cast members scurry about trying to find a way to face the bad guy, Goku - sometimes unbeknownst to them, sometimes not - is recovering and preparing to come back stronger than ever. This typically takes the form of some sort of godly trial or ordeal guaranteed to make him stronger than ever.

Then, at the 11th hour when all else has failed and all hope is lost, Goku makes his return to have one last epic battle for the fate of the world/universe/cosmos.

This is the Dragon Ball formula. Has been since the day the Four-Star Dragon Ball saved Goku's life from a lethal Dodonpa. Of course, getting Gohan back up to speed isn't going to be enough, since Majin Buu in his weakest form was able to do this to our Cell-adjacent yardstick.

I wonder what Dabra Cookie tastes like? I imagine it's like the wafer part of a Keebler cookie. Sugary and nice on its own but better with fudge.

So. Yeah. If Gohan's going to throw hands with Buu, he's going to need more than the power he fought Cell with. Fortunately, that's the Elder's specialty, and what makes this different than that other time Gohan had his dormant power drawn out.

That's right, we're limit-breaking again. Not the limits of human ability, the limits of Saiyan ability, or even the limits of Super Saiyan ability; We're limit-breaking Gohan specifically. Elder Kaioshin's abilities can not only draw out Gohan's full dormant ability but push it beyond Gohan's natural limits.

Full Power Gohan? Nah. This is Limit-Breaker Gohan. Not his full potential; Beyond his potential. Something entirely different from the Super Saiyan, but similar enough that he doesn't require much alternative instruction.

Kinda feels like a thing that shouldn't be able to exist, to be honest. After all the time that's been put into things like the strain of the Kaio-ken on a body, the effects of Frieza having power beyond his limits, or even what trying to use Super Saiyan 3 in a mortal body does to Goku in this very arc.

The idea of Gohan channeling ki beyond his limits seems like it should have some drawbacks, doesn't it? We do get some hints that something's weird about Gohan's new power. Piccolo can't even recognize his ki signature in this state.

This form is doing some weird shit to his ki. And, as Piccolo notes, Gohan's harder now. Gohan is here to take care of business, and nothing is going to get in his way.

But. Then. The switch happens. Suddenly, Gohan is no longer the protagonist and we need a way for Majin Buu to suddenly be too much for Gohan to handle. So we go from this:

To this:

In the span of two chapters. All so that Buu can ass-pull a brand new ability that's never once been mentioned before even though Kaioshin will later cop to having seen him do it twice, that will instantly make Ultimate Gohan stop being a solution to this problem two chapters after his debut.

A plan that, in fact, he began putting into place one chapter after Ultimate Gohan's debut. Never in the history of Dragon Ball has a brand new form or ability been obsoleted this quickly.

And then Gohan was basically thrown in the dumpster and this was never spoken of again, with Ultimate Gohan just becoming his new Strongest Transformation in follow-up products. You can feel the climactic final act being aggressively aborted around him, in favor of Goku and Vegeta's third act.

Hell, at one point, Goku even suggests bringing in Gohan to fight Pure Buu. Y'know. Since Ultimate Gohan is the strongest in the universe and all that. But Vegeta nopes it.

No explanation offered. He's just like, "That's not the plot anymore; Try to keep up, Kakarot." To be fair, Goku had a chance to bring Gohan into this too. They're both aggressively elbowing Gohan out of the spotlight here.

Mad disrespect.

[stillness-in-green]

Saw your latest ask answer and the idea the author really wanted destruction to be all shigaraki was meant for reminded me of Loki from the mcu. Spoilers if you haven’t seen the show but in the first episode a Loki from before all his character development is shown his entire life in the mcu and during that there’s a monologue from mobius about how Loki exists only to cause death destruction and suffering but he services of other people so they can become the best versions of themselves. Just was curious if you had any thoughts on how his portrayal and handling compares with shigaraki since horikoshi is such a fan of western media especially comics.

I’m afraid I can’t really weigh in on TV Loki’s presentation because I haven’t watched any of the MCU shows since the Netflix ones.  MCU Loki’s also one of those characters I resent just slightly because their runaway popularity negatively impacted the story of other characters.  (MCU Tony is the far, far worse version of this, but I remember reading that Malekith in Thor 2 had his scenes reduced to make more room for Loki.)

My impression is that their superhero intake is more DC-centric, but I wonder if @linkspooky might have any insight?

That said, I do think, “You only exist for the betterment of other people, none of whom have the slightest chance of improving you in turn,” is a pretty loathsome sentiment.  Like, there’s some leeway there when you’re talking about the narrative role of a villain in the story they occupy, and it does sound like that was meant to be a fourth-wall breaking moment that acknowledges Loki as that villain.  But it’s a vile thing to tell a real person, and therefore a vile thing to tell a character in-story, regardless of how fourth-wall breaking its intention.

It’s also a particularly odd thing to say about Loki, who I understand to be a much more sympathetic figure in the MCU than he is in the comics![1]  Like, the guy who whose father lied to him and weaponized against his original people for centuries?  The guy who was hugely traumatized by the time he spent with Thanos?  The guy who fought on Thor’s side to save Asgard from Hela, who fully supported Thor from then up until being killed by Thanos?  That Loki exists only to cause death, destruction and suffering?  #Yikes

1: This is not to say Loki is totally without redeeming value in the comics!  I haven’t read anything like enough Thor or Avengers comics to say that, and obviously the more recent Young Loki iteration (though himself influenced by the MCU, iirc?) is intended to be sympathetic.  But the baseline Marvel comic Loki I know of is the grinning dude in the bodysuit with the horned helmet and cowl that means you never see his hair, a grown man who delights in causing problems on purpose.  Not nearly as soulful as Tom Hiddleston’s version!

I guess in that sense, it does remind me somewhat of Horikoshi’s treatment of Shigaraki, in that no matter how sympathetic his backstory or what connections he’s made with others or what good he might be capable of doing in the world, he has to be treated as an existence that in the long run can only cause harm, that must only ever be opposed, because to do otherwise would be to upend the entire framework (both in-universe and meta-narrative) in which he exists.

It’s just a really cynical way of looking at a character—that they’re only there for protagonists to level grind against until they’re sufficiently heroic that the antagonist is no longer useful to that purpose, at which point they can be killed or put back away in a box until the story needs them again.  Again, that is what antagonists do in a story, ultimately—serve as a contrast/warning/foil/motivator/whatever all else for the protagonists—but (Marge voice) that doesn’t mean they have to say it.  And also too, it’s hardly the only purpose an antagonist can serve!  What about the ones who are ultimately saved/won over by the protagonist?  What about expanding on the worldbuilding in ways the protagonist might not be able to?  What about calling attention to some problem in the world that the protagonist might not otherwise have noticed?  What about propelling the plot in the traditional “villains act” fashion?  What about getting the best song numbers?

The reductive absolutism of the claim reminds me that, some years ago, I got really into Captain Marvel (the Shazam! version, not the Marvel one, no offense to Carol), but it was frustrating because the whole concept of him seemed so rich in potential stories but so limited by the needs of a serialized medium.  The stories I imagined you could tell with Captain Marvel/Billy Batson were so interesting in part because of where those stories would end, but in a medium like American cape comics, they can’t end, they’re never allowed to, not permanently.

That problem carries over to comic book villains—they’re virtually never allowed to really and truly change, nor can they ever count on being really and truly dead, and that means they do only ever serve to make other characters the best versions of themselves,[2] and the best they can hope for is spates of antihero/reformed villain happiness in between writers.

2: “Best versions of themselves” here meaning, of course, “best suited to the needs of the story”.  Do not ask yourself if e.g. Batman might better like the person he would be if the Joker were ever allowed to make a complete and total permanent recovery.

That’s not the case in manga, of course, where stories end and characters die, and the finality makes for a profoundly different medium.  The difference does not help BNHA’s case, however, because that means there’s no cynical marketing or medium-based explanation for why Shigaraki and the other Villains don’t get a more hopeful ending—only the cynical ideological one.  That is, Horikoshi is either too unimaginative to rewrite his setting’s status quo, too afraid of the reader response to try, or he honestly believes that the Villains deserve the endings they got.

The last one is the most harrowing, because it would mean he was willing to actively sabotage the development and conclusions of his story’s protagonists because punishing the antagonists was more important to him.  That is, the Heroes are forced to end up distinctly less than the best possible versions of themselves because if they weren't—if they were allowed to be the idealists their world needed them to be in order for it to truly change—then the Villains might have gotten anything less than the fullest, heaviest extent of retribution their author believed had to be levied against them.

Thanks for the ask, @9trixieturner6!

[dsaf-confessions]

sorry. big long ramble about dsaf 3 steven because i feel like the idea is cool but he also just feels like a whole different character

Ok. Starting this off. Steven was dumbed down so much in dsaf 3 and I hate it. Put them side by side they are not the same character. 3 has no trace of anything that made Steven an intimidating boss. There can be characters who are protagonists and also just aren't that good of people without it being goofy like Dave is! I think in dayshift 1, Steven was the antagonist, and that's why his character is the way it is. And the issue is, dayshift 3 gives him such a good setup!

First off, the endless hallways thing (assuming its not just that one hallway, which doesn't fit with the rest of the layers at all, and also how would more souls fit on there well, if we're going off the lore created in the game (which also makes little sense imo)). It's so good. iirc, even in dayshift 1, Steven is still scared constantly. He's good at not showing it, but he still is scared. The endless hallways, everywhere to run but nowhere to go, are so good for him as a character.

Second off, I feel like it's really not considered, by the fandom or in game, how long he spent there? He was there from 1987 to 2023. The kid that was killed earlier the same day? Didn't remember his parents. Hardly remembered living. "Oh, but Dee and Dave have been there longer!" you cry! They have ties to reality. Dave has their body, Dee iirc freely moved between the two dimensions before settling in The Flipside. They have some way to keep themself tethered to reality. Steven did not. Thats why I headcanon phone guys don't forget things; "Steven" would no longer exist if they didn't. He would've faded away just like every other soul there. Also, "he's an adult", shouldn't mean anything! Why would a literal dimension bend how it works just because he's an adult.

His layer and his character in general feel so rushed. I kind of get the argument that he had so much time to feel guilty, but the issue is, until dsaf 3 you never see him feel guilt. He shows pity but that is not guilt. The way hes made out to be in dsaf 1, having run minimum 2 locations (though more would make sense, just so he did a little bit more and it actually be reasonable to group him in with the kennedys and dave, who are all vital to the story), makes him seem like the strict, cold boss he is intended to be.

In conclusion: Dayshift 3 Steven feels rushed, poorly written, and like a completely different character. His layer was the smallest, his character development non-existent (the whole time youre with him hes just "ohhhhh ohhhh im such a bad person ohhhh peter ohhh no" aside from his very few interactions with dave where you see a snippet of his old personality), and he could've been so much better. I would love to go on a rant about how he works better as an antagonist even while working with jack, but this is long enough already.

i dunno. maybe i'll go replay dsaf 1 and 3 soon and see if anything changes my mind, but i doubt it. ive stood firm on this for all 2 years i've been obsessed with this man and i doubt it'll shift very much.

.

[fancyfade]

Ah thank you for answering my questions actually I am the same anon of a blended family that pointed out the reason why Damian consider Bruce “only” son because a lot of people at dc views the batkids as Bruce’s students or soldiers. Iirc there was a deleted thread of a editor that confirms that.

Not saying there isn’t official lore of the robins acknowledged each other as brothers. Isn’t just me or is their dynamics mainly just

1. The boring Batfamily events Dc love to do. Seriously anyone excited for them anymore

2. Or around Bruce

Not to say they deep bonds, is it just me off dc often make the Batfamily…idk extremely antagonistic to each other to the point their characters are better fleshed out away from the family vs together?

Maybe because how Bruce is written recently but man it’s rough.

I definitely do think that writers flip flop a lot on how they consider Bruce's kids, or they want to treat them as mostly soldiers for the angsty Bruce thing and to explain why they don't have to show Bruce being a dad on panel. Or more of different writers have different opinions, rather than flip-flopping.

WRT bonds... I think that they have some that are well-developed on page, and some that are just not. Most of the characters' dynamic with Bruce has gotten panel time, though inconsistently, so we know pretty much what it should be. We also have seen Dick with Tim and Dick with Damian. There are characters who are not antagonistic, but just don't have a ton of panel time devoted to them (Dick and Cass pre-the dark cass era). And Damian and Tim are no longer antagonistic to each other for the most part but also just. don't have any panel time showing them actually becoming close.

rather than being antagonistic to each other being the reason main batfam events are boring, I think it's b/c they honestly all fill pretty similar niches.

like think about No Man's Land. That was a pretty big batfam event, but we almost never have all of them on panel at once. When we see them in big groups, its often just when in Oracle's clock tower between missions, like saying hi to Cass when she just became Batgirl.

But like. We see Dick go off and do a mission alone in the jail. Some Babs and Dick defending base stuff. Dick and Tim work together in the tunnels for ratcatcher. Cass and Tim when Tim has to be evacuated out of Gotham. Cass and Jean Paul infiltrating that one manipulative guy's camp. In general the missions are pretty small in terms of actually number of people actively on them.

Ok so going back to:

trying to have every single batfam member in a mission just makes them boringer. You have "so and so is the smart one" "so and so is the angry one" "so and so is the nice one" etc... but like. They're all smart. They can all be angry. They can all be nice. they all fill the niche of "generally competent fighter with stealth skills and usually above-average computer and detective skills". IDK its like having a party of 6 rogues.

So in general what you have is you have to diminish characters in one way to make the other stand out more. Like Gates of Gotham, which has stuff I really do like, also had stuff I really don't like like Tim being the only one having ideas. Because Tim had to be "the smart one". And this isn't unique to Batfam! It happens in many team stuff. 1960s Teen Titans diminished everyone's brains to make Dick stand out more, JLA does the same for Bruce. Writing complex dynamics is hard so it's easy to just find 1 or 2 character traits and exaggerate those.

I think that's why Batfam members are better fleshed out in their solo titles - they get to be full characters. I think they may also get to be better fleshed out in team comics, but normally because they get the narrative focus instead of other characters and are treated as the "batman" of the team. Like I love NTT, but Dick is clearly Marv's writer's pet and he gets so much narrative focus.

... I am not sure if I actually answered your question, but those are my thoughts in general.

[pttucker]

Okay so it seems to me like the Fourth Wall (AKA “the largest Fragment of the Last Wall”) is becoming more and more present in the story. And by that I do mean more sentient but also just more there. In the world that Dokja is living in. It’s almost like it’s being pulled into the story more and more, or maybe like the barrier between the it and the world is getting thinner?

It’s gone from being a passive skill that only Dokja could see with very general [The Fourth Wall is strongly activated] type of messages to being something that seems alive when it eats Nirvana (which was outside the physical world, actually, because Dokja and Nirvana were both in soul form inside of Joonghyuk iirc) and then it fully becomes sentient and can directly talk to Dokja after it eats Devourer of Dreams, but more importantly, after Dokja turns it off for the first time and looks at his Attributes Window. And then it’s only after Dokja turns it off a second time (and looks at his Attributes Window again) that Secretive Plotter can not only see it, but identifies it as Fragment of the Last Wall, as does the sentient portal door.

Not to mention it can act independently of his will to show 1863rd Joonghyuk Dokja’s story (…the story that mirrors the actual opening of ORV itself…) whereas before it only acted independently to activate. And when he gets back to Earth, for the first time ever it’s “shimmering faintly” and now Metatron and Briareus can see it too. I won’t be at all surprised if it starts to shimmer more than “faintly” in the future and more and more beings of lower power levels begin to see it.

And now Dokja has turned it off only a tiny bit and TWSA comes flowing out of it.

I think that the Fourth Wall is the novel itself, or perhaps the concept of everything being a novel, which I’ve sort of talked about before and which ORV has kind of shown us because we saw way back with Nirvana that it contained the text of TWSA and Dokja has long since realized that it’s protecting him from being too immersed in the story. A weird theory I’m starting to develop that kind of goes off an old theory that I had is that it might actually literally be TWSA in the form of a "character" and the real “novel” in ORV is…ORV itself. (I just can’t get over the fact that it start showing 1863rd Joonghyuk the literal opening of ORV…)

More than that, though, I think that every time Dokja either turns it off or looks at his Attributes Window, I’m not certain which maybe both, he makes it (and thus TWSA) more “real.” Possibly by losing his protection long enough for doubt to begin to creep into his subconscious? Or maybe just for TWSA/the Fourth Wall itself to creep more into “reality?” Or something like that. It’s worth noting that after Dokja turned it off the second time is also the first time Dokja saw a message stating he was a “character.” I'm thinking that if Dokja keeps messing with it, he may end up fully immersed and at that point idk if he'll even be able to read TWSA anymore? Because he no longer sees it as a novel?

Also, on a totally different note, I see that Dokja’s “new” Scenario Interpreter skill (who knows if it’s actually new or if it’s been there the whole time but he had to know about it to be able to use it since it appeared after he looked at his Attributes Window the second time) is actually giving Dokja information that he didn’t even know but which could have technically been “canon” to TWSA in between the lines. It was kind of glossed over when it allowed him to know exactly where to stab Surya in the previous scenario but it’s now outright showing him the memories of the giants.

I’m not quite certain how this is possibly related to the Fourth Wall becoming more sentient or Dokja being a character or anything like that. Maybe it’s not really related at all because technically interpreting a scene in a novel and thinking up what might be going on in the background is something a reader would do.

[art-donaldson]

when kaz goes up to inej on the boat after the ice court and tells her to stay in ketterdam, do you think he went up to her with the intention of telling her that? or did it just slip out in that moment?

you know i had never really thought about this until you asked and so i went back and re-read the scene so i can try to give a good answer (which will be under the cut just in case i start to get wordy again)

tl;dr: kaz may have had the intention to tell inej to stay & that he wants her, but it also very much could have been a "now or never" situation for him because he seemed surprise when she tells him she's going to leave.

so, yes and no? yes because he clearly wanted to say it and tell her because she wants to leave, but also no because he's surprised that she is leaving and has to make a quick decision in that moment (a now or never type of decision)

okay so there are a couple of things we need to keep in mind before we talk about the scene: inej has had her character development (the incinerator) and so has kaz (swimming in the ice court and can't think of anything but inej). they're different people than they were at the beginning of the story when this scene happens and i think we should keep that in mind

the other thing it keep in mind: nina has just taken the jurda parem and her powers are still amplified because of it. this is important because before kaz asks inej to stay, nina tells inej this:

"i can hear the change in kaz's breathing when he looks at you." "you... you can?" "it catches every time, like he's never seen you before."

now aside from the fact that that part makes me ABSOLUTELY FERAL, it's important to know that cause this is like the first time inej is getting hard confirmation of the fact that kaz thinks of her as something more than a friend. like kaz, the only person who isn't surprised by inej's presence and the only person who can sense her, still feels like he's never seen her before when he looks at her,,,

okay so after their conversation, nina says she's going to go check on matthias but kaz stops her and gives her a task to do (he's probably telling her she needs to tailor wylan to look like kuwei because iirc, i don't think that's happened by this point)

and then, it's actually inej that goes up to kaz, not the other way around. so she's seeking him out, not him seeking her out. inej tells him that she's going to learn to sail so that she can hunt slavers and that she also plans to seek out her family. then, she asks

"was there no one but your brother, kaz? where are your mother and father?" "barrel boys don't have parents. we're born in the harbor and crawl out of the canals."

inej is kind of just . done with kaz at this point she's questioning what he needs because he's about to be rich and seemingly have almost everything he wants so she's just kind of.... done with him and she asks him "was there never another dream?" after asking him what he'll do when there no more blood to shed or vengeance to take

and that's when kaz takes her hand and tells her stay in ketterdam to stay with him and that he wants her

obviously a big turning point for their relationship going forward cause now kaz is trying to vocalize what he feels and wants and he's trying to be that semblance of a man for her. and while inej wants to say yes, she knows her worth and won't settle for so little, which prompts to say the "without armor or not at all" line

NOW, all of this in mind: do i think kaz had the intention of telling her to stay and that he wants her? maybe. in the scene, he seems surprised that she's going to leave and hunt slavers, so i think it may have been a "now or never" situation for him. maybe if she was going to stay, he would have never said that or would have taken much longer to say that.

it's significant he does say it for multiple reasons like it's a big scene for them, but one of the big reasons it's significant is because it's the first time kaz is able to say what he wants to inej and open up even if it's just like . the slightest bit and it shows that he's starting to change and develop as a character.

and inej wants a reason to stay. she wants him to give her a reason to stay, but he doesn't. and she's not going to settle for so little (which she shouldn't!!!!) and so they both leave that scene hurt.

OKAY SORRY this took way too long to answer your question but i love analyzing six of crows

[sapphire-weapon]

I hope this new year grants you more strength because after reading your metas on these characters, I got addicted, i have never seen anyone put this much actual thought on the nuance of this franchise, hope that makes sense.

Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that I'm kinda curious to know what you think the devs will do with Ada and Leon's relationship especially if they remake 6, alot of people cannot seem to grasp the fact that they are literally no longer it, an end game or whatever, and realistically would have never worked out. Plus the original re6 had a writer that wrote damnation and some others too, which just seems like a completely different direction the new writers are going with since re4r with their relationship. This is precisely why i wanna see what they'd do with them in 6 remake. And also let Ada be her own fucking character for goodness sake.

Nick also iirc commented how there was a lack of "romance" and chemistry between Ada and Leon in 4, and dude would know cuz he seemed to like the pair initially, idk about now though.

So if all this is on point, then Ada and Leon are no longer what fandom thought they'd be. Who knows, can't wait to see

Thank u friend.

So I've given myself a big break from answering questions on Ada and Aeon, but like

I need to stress how impossible it is to predict RE6make.

It is IMPOSSIBLE. Not even Division 1 can predict it right now.

If The Evil Within and Assassin's Creed taught me anything, it's that you can have a story all worked out -- to the point of actual devs telling you you're right -- but it doesn't fucking matter because game development doesn't follow the direction of the story. Game development follows what investors and publishers want.

So, even if I or anyone makes an accurate prediction for the story direction based on foreshadowing and character development, the next game that comes out might have a completely different story from what was worked out, because the publisher wanted to go in a different direction, or maybe the actual development itself was mismanaged and things had to get changed or cut because of money and time, or whatever else.

There's also the possible monkey wrench of RE5make unkilling Wesker. And in that case, RE6make changes in a HUGE way.

I'm thinking about adding this to my pinned post, because I get asked this probably more than anything else, and I just don't know. No one knows. Capcom doesn't even know.

[no1ryomafan]

SKL started rotating in my head again over a unrelated 2000s song that just reminded me of Kaido and Magami-not even joking lol-but upon reflecting on its plot I sometimes wonder if it would’ve been better off if like- they didn’t make new characters and just recycled the base cast just characterization them in a different way ala how Getter does it.

Cause I’ve thought about while I’m generally more biased I think Shin vs Neo feels significantly less flawed compared to SKL despite its episode length for not only having the advantage of “it has a lighter plot where as SKL desperately felt like it needed a longer run time” but because it used all the existing characters before and the characterization isn’t even TOO off, they’re all just kinda water downed versions of themselves. (Neo!Ryoma is a really interesting case out of the whole cast though in terms of characterization compared to his go manga self but I’ll save that for another post)

SKL has the issue of it’s introducing NEW characters we never seen to mazinger but we don’t have a justifiable runtime to get to know most of them, Yuki I feel is the only character who is decently developed due to the focus put on her which is why I consider her the MC over the boys even if there can be more fleshed out about her. Kaido and Magami do have a dynamic that bounces off of each other which is why I like them despite not being super deep but its still not fully developed, kinda worst by the fact we don’t get to know ANYTHING about Kaido and Magami’s origins aren’t entirely explain either- and honestly only feel there for the plot rather than expanding his character even if it HAS the potential to expand upon who he is.

But then I thought how this OVA could’ve been if it was like: Kaido=Koji, Magami=Tetsuya, Yuki=Sayaka. (Jun could be Scarlet ig and the villains could be whoever as followed from base show but they could also still get away with the new villains with this tbh) You could keep everything the same, even to the point of having this be a canon where Koji and Tetsuya aren’t related-IIRC they aren’t even related in the Mazinkasier OVA and Tetsuya explicitly calls him Kabuto which would be weird to call your brother/nephew, which would be funny if in this hypothetical SKL scenario they are more referred to as their last names then first-since even if the SKL trio more obviously took more inspo from the devilman trio they match the archetypes these three from OG mazinger canon had.

I’m sure SKL would still be consider a “not really mazinger” series if all other elements were kept the same given Armageddon still is regarded as “not really getter” in terms of source material accuracy but I do wonder if it’s three episode formate could’ve worked better if it it as another au. That said I still like the SKL boys so I’m not saying this should’ve been it over “GIVING IT 13 PROPER EPISODES FFS” and I do wish they could just be reused in a different mazinger iteration whenever we get one-grendizer getting something so hey, there’s hope and it’s slightly more likely than a new getter show-since it be cool if Mazinkaiser had a pilot over just being Koji again but alas my boys are stuck in the void with the Shin Jeeg cast to definitely never to be seen again.

[fritextramole]

i know you love jenny and eric and hate chuck, but i’m really curious what you think about the other main gg characters and why?

Oh I love talking!!!! I love talking so much this is going under a read more bc it got unwieldy

I'm gonna talk about Blair, Serena, Dan, Nate, Vanessa, Rufus, and Lily here, but if there's anyone else you're curious about lmk

(and none of my feelings about the characters are black and white! I do find Chuck Fun To Hate and Jenny and Eric both have moments I pretend not to see. I just have my favorites and least favorite)

Blair

my relationship with Blair is the most complicated. the short answer is that the way she's venerated by fans has really soured me on her. like I'd like her more if everyone else liked her less yk

the longer answer is that I get why people love her. she had this amazing potential to grow as the show went on. I get the urge to pretend her character development stuck and she had a happy ending with Dan (I imagine I'll come back to that when I get there in the rewatch)

but season 6 went back on her character growth and had her go back to being classist and entitled and end up with chuck and I'm not going to pretend that's not canon

and like... ofc I don't think she deserved to end up with chuck (as you said my hatred of him is documented and I do think he'd be a shitty husband post series.) but I do think she deserves some consequences for her actions I'm not going to erase them to give her some happy ending the other characters have a right to be mad at her (this isn't just jenny she was a bitch to everyone at some point but they write it off bc "it's Blair that's how she is" like newsflash bestie we're all insecure most of us aren't terrible people about it)

Serena

I like Serena!! I do!! Blake Lively is charming and charismatic!!!! but she's maybe the worst about the whole Never Learning Never Growing thing most of the characters do which does get on my nerves a bit on a personal level. but more than anything it makes me not that interested in watching 121 episodes about her

I tend to be more interested in characters I can sink my teeth into (which is why I love Jenny's development and hate blair's character regression) but gossip girl is such a plot driven show that doesn't give characters time to feel things (and doesn't think about how they would feel at all.) and I think of all the leads Serena maybe gets that the worst bc there's a lot of things she should be feeling but it's like she doesn't get to (idk if that's a writing thing or a Blake Lively's acting thing (or a combination)) but it makes me not really care. especially bc iirc she'll be less involved in the main plotlines as the show goes on (which is also true for Nate)

Dan

Dan I always find myself becoming less fond of as the series goes on. I didn't find him annoying at the outset the way I know some people do. he's a good big brother and a good match for Serena getting her out of her ues bubble a bit. but the show goes on and he falls in love with Blair less than a year after she banished his sister (and never brings that up to her)

I've never gotten to the point of hating him but in the second to last episode he calls chuck "the best man I've ever known" (he raped your sister!!!!) and I get close

making Dan gossip girl was so bizarre and nonsensical that I'm just gonna say #gaslightgatekeepgirlboss those rich kids deserved it and move on bc I cant examine it seriously or we'll be here all day

Nate

Nate I mostly wish had been fleshed out more. in the early seasons he goes through a lot of really serious shit but his legacy is that the writers didn't know what to do with him after like season 2 so he just dated everyone.

for the most part I like him I just wish he'd gotten more depth in the later seasons

and I say "for the most part" bc he's got this unfortunate habit of looking the other way about how chuck treats women-until it's a woman he cares about. he has this line when he's fighting with chuck in s1 that's like "did you get what you wanted like you did with all those other girls" which makes it sound like he knows Chuck's a rapist and !!!!!!!!!

but that's unfortunately very common behavior in teenage boys. other than that I really do like Nate!!! I like that he looks out for his friends and doesn't send tips to gossip girl!!! I like that in season 1 he tries to write Blair an apology letter and in season 2 he writes a letter to Jenny I think that's really sweet!!!!! Nate's my boy and I wanna give him a hug (and make him stop being friends with that guy)

Vanessa

in canon, Vanessa has these little throwaway details about living with her sister and making socially powerful documentaries and being really well liked at NYU that we just never explore ??? even a little??????? I love Vanessa and she had her dark moments but they were forgivable (and not nearly as bad as anyone else's)

I mostly wish she had been a character in a different show I think is the best way to put it. like I wanna know about her family and her documentaries and her travels!!! but that's not Rich Kids Doing Drama

I was listening to Jessica Szohr's podcast and she said that at a certain point it felt silly that Vanessa kept talking about hating the rich kids but was still always on the upper east side and I think she's right. Vanessa should've been fleshed out more in canon (which maybe would've given her a reason to be in the neighborhood) but also Vanessa should've been the focus of her own show

Rufus

he's not the father of the year that's for sure

in the pilot Jenny says he "makes us go to private school" and I think that theme of attending Constance St Jude's for your education holds true but he doesn't seem to understand the reality of that?? there's this theme early on that "Dan doesn't have friends so why does Jenny need them" which 1. Rufus should be more concerned that his son has no friends!!!! and 2. Dan and Jenny are different people and I really can't fault a teenage girl for wanting to be popular or caring about her reputation

most of the time when I'm watching the show he doesn't get on my nerves in the moment. but then I think about it and I decide he's not a great parent and he needs to get better at actually listening to his children

Lily

she serves cunt it's a shame she traumatized her children

I'm being glib but also I'm not really. I like watching her!! I like that she went from groupie to socialite!!!! she's fun and I have a good time with her. and then I think a little harder about her kids and this post from @vanderwoodlings says it better than I could so I'll leave you with it

[rubylarkspur22]

Kochou-Kamado Swap AU(🦋) Explanation

So! This AU has two versions. I will go over both variations. This one is gonna have a lot more spoilers for the story in general, compared to Ship Swap(💕), so be ready for that.

So! Let's start with characters!

Kanae

Kanae, similarly to canon, still lives with her parents and sister and a pretty well-off life. However, here, they live quite a bit longer. Kanae is 15(as opposed to the 7 years old she was in canon, iirc) when she comes home from spending the night at a friend's house, finding her parents dead and her little sister gravely injured. She rushed to get Shinobu to a doctor, but shortly discovered her sister had become a demon. After calming Shinobu down, Kanae comes face-to-face with a Demon Slayer(though, not Tomioka Giyuu, funnily enough). After convincing the Slayer to spare her sister, she is sent off to train to become a Demon Slayer so that she may find a way to cure her sister.

Kanae still maintains her canon attitude of demons being tragic creatures, and hoping to become friends with some. Part of that may be so Shinobu doesn't get lonely, but she will neither confirm nor deny that statement.

And during her training, Kanae is surprised to come across someone with a kind smile and an offer to help her perfect her forms.

Something I did is give Kanae the ability to see auras, something she hones as she trains. It's actually how she noticed that the swords Demon Slayers wield are not the same as your average blade.

Shinobu

Shinobu is 12 when a demon(one very familiar to her in canon), invades her home, killing her parents and forcing his blood into her veins. When she woke up, it was with hunger in her stomach and what seemed like food surrounding her. Thankfully, her mind cleared up before she hurt her big sister, driving her to protect Kanae by any means necessary when faced with the mysterious figure who was so determined to cut Shinobu's head off.

Unlike Nezuko in canon, Shinobu becomes verbal not long after her two-year slumber. It's limited, but she has help in the form of her sister and those around Kanae. Since the Kochou girls have no connection to Sun Breathing or Yoriichi, Shinobu had no reason to hold off on her mental development.

Shinobu is also quite a bit more aggressive towards demons she fights. Without use of hypnosis. Many a demon, assuming they survive the little butterfly's wrath or her sister's blade, leave the conflict looking like a cat went at them. Bite marks, claw marks, Kochou Shinobu had no mercy.

Before we get to Tanjirou and Nezuko, I want to go over my two different versions of this AU, as these two variations determine their exact backstories and who's with them as well as the Kochou sisters when the time comes.

Variation 1: Tanjirou and Nezuko are still the only survivors of the massacre. However, it's all been moved back in time, and the two eldest children are 10 and 11 when the Demon King kills their parents and siblings. The two are rescued by Himejima, and sent to Urokodaki after they recuperate from the shock and trauma of losing their family. They meet Makomo(who is a Slayer already, having barely escaped the Hand Demon with her life), Sabito and Giyuu, and become good friends with them as they train. Then they go to Final Selection, and Sabito lives thanks to having two extra friends backing him up!

Tanjirou and Nezuko rediscover Sun Breathing during their training, but continue learning Water Breathing since it's easier on their bodies than the Hinokami Kagura. But, as time goes on and they become stronger, it becomes easier to use the original Breathing Style. And thus, two years after passing the Final Selection, Kamado Tanjirou becomes the Demon Slayer Corps first Sun Hashira in centuries(assuming the first Breath Users were Hashira, Yoriichi would be the Sun Hashira, but *shrug*)

Variation 2: The Kamado family, like the Rengoku family, is a long line of Sun Hashira. I actually made the two families related by making Ruka Rengoku into Tanjurou's sister, making Kyojurou and Senjurou the Kamado kids' cousins! The whole family lives, with Tanjirou, Nezuko, and Takeo having passed the Final Selection and doing missions, Hanako passing but choosing to become a medic after a scare on her first mission, and Shigeru in training. Rokuta hasn't found a Breath Style yet.

Meanwhile the Kochou family has taken in Aoi, Kanao, Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho. And they are all home for the demon attack.

Now with that out of the way, it's time to get to the Sun Siblings!

Tanjirou

Tanjirou, two years after his passing of the Final Selection, was given the position of Sun Hashira. While a dutiful Slayer more determined than some to end Kibutsuji's reign of evil for good, Tanjirou's kindness towards the demons who regret their actions remains.

However, his rank painted a target on his back. And his use of Sun Breathing only made that target bigger. Two years after he became a Hashira, when he was 17, he and Nezuko were pitted against the second most powerful demon in Japan, second only to Kibutsuji himself. Upper Moon One, Kokushibou. It was a losing battle, and the siblings' only hope of survival was lasting until sunrise. Tanjirou begged for Nezuko to run so she could survive, taking on the Upper Moon alone. A fatal choice, but one he does not regret making. His little sister's life was spared, that's all that mattered to him.

After that fateful battle, Tanjirou's spirit remained in the Estate he called home. Watching over his family, and eventually meeting a pair of sisters. One, a demon who retained her humanity, and the other an aspiring Slayer hoping to find a cure for demons. And these sisters, as a favour to his own, Tanjirou helped to train from beyond the grave. Watching over them until they departed on their mission.

Nezuko

Nezuko, at age 16, was dubbed the Flower Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. However, she doesn't use the same Flower Breathing we see in canon. Instead, she created her own version, based mostly on Water Breathing with hints of inspiration from the six core Breathing Styles derived directly from Sun Breathing(she found out about Moon Breathing from reading the Rengoku and Ubuyashiki family records). She also added poison to her arsenal, making her quite the force to be reckoned with.

Before the loss of Tanjirou, Nezuko was extremely energetic and exciteable. While she didn't possess the same kindness as her brother, she was hardly considered cruel towards demons. Aggressive at times, yes, but not cruel. Her rage was saved for Kibutsuji, for the monster who slaughtered her family. She did, however, threaten extreme bodily harm upon the Kakushi who made her initial uniform(the scummy tailor who made Mitsuri's uniform).

After Kokushibou killed her brother, however, there was a visible change. She became cold and resentful towards demons, and closed off from all but a select few of her fellow Demon Slayers(Giyuu, Sabito, Rengoku, Gyomei and Mitsuri were the only Hashira she said more than a few brief words to in a casual setting). The demons she hated most, of course, were the ones who took away her family, leaving her the last surviving member of her bloodline. She swore vengeance on both Kibutsuji Muzan and Kokushibou.

Nezuko has an extra trick up her sleeve aside from Flower Breathing and her poisons, but she's kept it a secret. Waiting until the right moment to reveal her extra trick, and destroy the demons who took so much from her once and for all.

[mousegard]

As one fic writer to another: what's your approach to revising/editing previous chapters?

Once I'm finished with my current fic, I'm planning on absolutely churning through the first half of it to better match how my style evolved over previous portions (paragraph blocking, dialogue clarity, characterization, character thoughts vs. third-person limited narrative, splitting up longer chapters, etc. etc.). When you edit, do you go for a hammer when revising to "published" chapters, or for a scalpel? Do you ever feel like an "original" version of the work should be left as it is as if it's a physically published bit of fiction, or could/should/can it be modified with impunity by an author given that it's a digital work?

when it comes to revising things, i prefer not to change things up too much. but that's because the fics i write are so goddamn long that even if i wanted to go back and totally rewrite the beginning parts my stamina would give out. the biggest after-the-fact edit i made to an eagle among lions was in changing edelgard's nickname for dimitri from the fandom-created "dima" to the canonical "dee" after the latter was revealed in a datamine leak of three hopes prior to its release. other edits included updating the names of minor characters who weren't named until three hopes came out, such as count bergliez and count varley. i also completely rewrote all of monica's dialogue to better match her characterization in three hopes, but given that she had like less than half a dozen lines across two scenes in the entire fic that was very easy (sorry monica). a few chapters also got renamed here and there, and a handful of continuity errors got fixed and minor plot holes got plugged

i don't think it's useful to get hung up on comparing digital media to physical media when it comes to whether a work "should" be edited because physically published media gets modified after the fact too. anime tv series get touch-ups for the blu-ray release, as will serially published manga chapters when they're collected into tankobon volumes. novels get touched up between editions as well; jrr tolkein went back and revised the part of the hobbit where bilbo meets gollum well after its initial publication to make it fit into the continuity of the lord of the rings. so physical works can be and are modified by their authors with impunity after publication, it's just not as easy as updating a webpage XP

if you have the stomach for it, i think it's a great idea to go back to earlier chapters and edit them to be more consistent with how your writing style has evolved since then. however personally i don't mind seeing somebody's style evolve throughout the story they're telling. for example in jojo's bizarre adventure araki's artstyle shifts midway through part four; in the middle of a chapter even iirc, and it's a little jarring when it happens but being able to see araki's development as an artist as he refines his style adds to the overall charm. and there are plenty of webcomics where you can see the artist's style evolve over time in a similar manner, such as, um, pretty much all of them

[hvndredbattles]

𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑻𝑶 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑼𝑵

yoinked from: @nezemny

tagging: whoever wants to!

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have?━━ fandom brainrot lmao In all seriousness, though, I do tend to build my muses toward whatever genres or fandoms I'm currently most engaged with. On this blog in particular, it was definitely falling head-first into CoD.(Teddy being the exception, though she doesn't have info yet; she was inspired by a different piece of media (Wingwomen).)

is there anything you don’t like to write? ━━ Not generally in a way that has come up? I don't like children/pregnancy plots, just because they're not of interest to me, and I'm not generally into period drama type writing? And crack, I suppose.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? ━━ I'm an old fashioned whump/angst bitch. I like giving characters a good thrashing, be it emotionally or physically, and sticking them with other people, and seeing what comes out the other side. (Shaking the snowglobe, as it were.) I also really like working within established/plotted dynamics! Not necessarily that the whole trajectory is plotted out or anything, but developing a solid basis in which to work. I enjoy when characters settle into something, and then presenting circumstances that can reinforce or change those dynamics.

AND SPOOKY SHIT. God, I love me some serious, thriller/horror type spooky shit, even if it's not quite in line with the original media.

BUT ALSO I do just really enjoy writing with my friends.

how do you come up with headcanons? ━━ Uhhhh I mean. I almost never write canon characters (too intimidated by the prospect of fucking it up), so anything "headcanon" is actually just canon, technically? In any case, I tend to sit with the character and start prodding at a concept I want to know more about. I'll try to visualize it and set the character down in related situations to gauge reaction and then build from there, if that makes sense?

do you write in silence or do you play music? ━━ It depends. I do have curated playlists for some characters, and generally have a genre or fandom playlist that I can put on. Sometimes I struggle to focus on writing if I have other stimuli, but other times I need something else to split my focus so I can actually get work done

do you plan your replies or wing them? ━━ RP to me is improv. Very little planning, a lot of feeling it out as you go, informed by whatever you've got in your noggin about the character you're writing as.

do you enjoy shipping? ━━ It's not what I write for, but I do enjoy shipping on occasion! I think... iirc out of all my ships, I'm rarely the one to suggest it first, but I'm not avoiding it. It's another one of those vibes-based things where I sort of just need to feel it out as I go, and approve or pivot as I feel is honest and appropriate to the character involved. Very chemistry-based.

what’s your alias/name?   ━━ This is a funny place to put this question in the order of questions lshdfhsdf I'm Squid! I've been Squid for years and years, at this point; longer irl than online, actually. I've had other names and aliases, but this is the one I'm likely to stick with. It rings true to me.

favorite color? ━━ I don't? Have one? Idk man, greens are pretty sick, but I couldn't pick just one. But I also rly like gold and yellows!

favorite song? ━━ Such a "depends on the day" answer. Uhhhhh. Can't pick. Have this one: Gloves (with Matt McAndrew) - Saint Punk

last movie you watched? ━━ What a great question. It's-- OH! It was the new Chicken Run movie, which I watched with my beloved Hannah.

last show you watched? ━━ Does stuff on Dropout count? If yes, I've been burning through all their stuff, and have been currently working my way through Um, Actually. If not.... it's been. A While since I watched any television. It might have been 3 Body Problem? Which I haven't finished, because it was Stressful, but I was enjoying it!

last song you listened to? ━━ lshdfhsd I've got music on rn, cuz I was trying to find one I vibed enough with to share for the fave song question. I bounced around for a while, and then ended up back on the playlist I have it in, so sldhfhsd see favorite song for the song I last listened to.

favorite food? ━━ Macaroni and cheese!

favorite season? ━━ Fall, maybe? idk, they all have their pros and cons.

do you have a Tumblr best friend? ━━ A few! My bestest tumblr friend (and actually just one of my best friends) is @ru5t!

[mekatrio]

to add on to these two posts; basically mca's "good ending" is more of a pseudo "good" ending bc theres just too many character arcs that it either entirely omits (seto and kido) or does not resolve with appropriate emotional depth (hibihiyo, ene, etc), so for my self reference, this is a list of what i believe every character arc needs to 'achieve' in order to be considered "resolved", and how 'resolved' they are in different endings (and sometimes ill explain how the resolution of these character arcs lends itself to the overall resolution of achieving STR):

kido -> she needs to stop using concealing eyes on her traumatic memories so she will be able to remember that mary is capable of summoning the kagerou daze at will, which is crucial in achieving STR (bc mca showed us that STR is achieved by mary swallowing her surviving friends into the kagerou daze). this is 'resolved' in the novel route (meaning her character arc is fully resolved in the novels, but only the 'telling mary she can summon the kagerou daze' part and not the 'summoning kagerou daze to achieve STR part'), but is entirely omitted in other routes (since its a rather late development, novel 7 was released in 2016)

SETO -> the resolution of his character arc is never touched on or explored in ANY media routes so i rly dont have anything to base his resolved character arc off, but i would imagine that itll have to do with seto telling his friends what he had known about for a long time, and also seto using his powers to their greatest capacity, both of which are things we never see him doing in any media routes.

kano -> his character arc is resolved when he no longer submits to the abuse being afflicted onto him by saeru via kenjirou, and he trusts others with the truths that he had been abused into covering up with lies. sounds familiar? basically kano's arc is resolved by doing what he couldnt bring himself to do back when he lived with his abusive birth mom, which is asking other people to save him from abuse. his arc is entirely resolved in the novels, and partially resolved in mca (seto 'learns the truth' from kano in novels and mca, but other members learning abt it is kinda glossed over in mca iirc)

mary -> mary's arc is resolved by her becoming at peace with the part of her that is a 'monster', and realizing that rather than this monstrous side of her being what inevitably dooms all her friends to their deaths, is instead what is capable of saving all of her friends from a destiny of bloodshed. and this is achieved when she successfully attains STR ending! (song route and anime) and of course, she is only capable of attaining STR when all of her friends resolve their own arcs, and more specifically, when she works with them and believes in them in order to keep herself from resetting time once again.

momo -> momo has 2 main arcs in need of resolution; the first one being her mastering her powers in the form of 'attaining meaningful attention she has long coveted for', aka making good friends (and this is resolved in the opening of every single media route). and her second arc is using these cherished bonds she just forged to help someone else (hibiya) to master their own powers, aka her otsukimi recital arc. this arc is resolved in the novels and anime, but not the manga. momo's mastery of captivating eyes + her fostering the mastery of focusing eyes plays a big role in achieving STR, bc captivating eyes is used as a diversion (as seen in the novels and the anime), and focusing eyes plays a major role in banishing clearing eyes into the kagerou daze (as seen in mr2, novel route, and the anime)

ene -> takane's character is very similar to shintaro's, in which they are both characters who would rather turn away from the heart-wrenching truth (that they lost friends who were very dear to them) than face their reality. we see her turning away in the song route (artificial enemy lyrics are crazy) and we see traces of this in mr2, where she states that she didnt want to get involved with the unfolding present day plot. takane meets her downfall in these two routes where she turns away from the truth. for her arc to be resolved, she has to stop being this person who turns away from the truth, and instead proactively go after it. she does so in the novels (and mca i think), which leads to kano returning her back to her body, and this control over her physical body + virtual body is what materially helps the mkd to defeat clearing eyes. (also, what sets her arc apart from shintaro is that ene is not just wary of the truth bc of the emotional anguish it gives her, but also bc the circumstances of her existence as ene has made her doubt the reality of the overall world. and so the resolution of her character arc does not just symbolize her moving on from her grief, but also finding security in the reality of the world.)

shintaro -> like ive said in ene's section, shintaro is a character who would rather turn away from truth than face it, and his character grows past from being this type of person every time he decides to face the truth of his reality instead of drowning in his regrets. bc of the unique nature of retaining eyes, shintaro's arc is 'being resolved' with every subsequent route, with every action in which he doesnt turn away from the truth being a culmination of many routes in the making. nevertheless, his arc is fully resolved when he realizes that he has the power of retaining eyes, and uses retaining eyes with ayano's favoring eyes to make mary remember the previous routes, which then achieves STR.

hibihiyo -> hibihiyo's arcs are resolved by 1.) mastering their powers, and 2.) reuniting with one another. hibiya masters his powers with the aid of momo in the novels, songs, and anime, while hiyori is implied to have mastered her powers with ayano's aid in the manga. their powers are attained thru the wish of wanting to see one another again, and so their character arcs are resolved when they achieve an STR where they are both together (mca ending). and like ive stated in momo's section, them mastering focusing eyes is crucial in attaining an STR ending.

konoha -> konoha's arc is resolved by granting haruka's wish to spend more time with his friends (which results in konoha disappearing), and by saving either hibiya or hiyori from the kagerou daze (which also. results in konoha disappearing. basically konoha will never ever survive STR </3) konoha's arc of granting haruka's wish is resolved in the songs and anime, but only the anime resolves his arc of wanting to save hibihiyo.

ayano -> ayano's arc is resolved when she stops trying to do everything on her own and lets herself rely on others. her resolution comes in the form of her using favoring eye in conjunction with shintaro's retaining eyes, and together they are able to make mary remember the former timelines, which is The Thing that achieves STR. this is obviously achieved in the anime. and of course her arc is also not just about her trying to save everyone at the expense of herself, but letting herself be saved as well.

[procrastinatorproject]

I think the really important part is, as @llywela13​ said:

They could have spent that time planning and coordinating, to ensure that everything tied together [...]. They just...chose not to. 

It was a conscious choice the writers made. Matalas might not have been in the writers room for the entirety of the season 2 writing, but he was the show runner. They would have developed an overall concept for season 2 and season 3 before they sat down to work on the individual episodes, so he would have been aware of what was going to happen in season 2, at least in broad strokes, and he would have seen the season 2 scripts at the very least after they had been finalized.

So, major plot points like Agnes giving herself to the Borg Queen and petitioning to join the Federation 400 years later, Rios staying in the past, the return of Guinan, Q being the driving power behind the plot, ditching Soji and killing Elnor - all of that would have been established in advance. Hell, some of it even happens on the first few episodes that Matallas was still head writer for.

He might have expected Goldsman to write a better wrap-up for the season (like... an explanation for what the hell the cosmic force was that the new!Borg were trying to protect the Federation from. Or, you know, anyone in the present acknowledging that Rios and Agnes have suddenly disapeared???) But the existence of the galactic threat, for example, was established when Matalas was still working on season 2. So the decision not to tie it into season 3 in any way was his, in part if not in full. And it was a decision they made in advance. (He has said as much, iirc.)

Also: even though the writing happened concurrently, and the production on season 3 sets, costumes etc. would have happened while season 2 was still being filmed, the actual filming of season 3 started after season 2 was over. If, after seeing the scripts for the episodes that Goldsman et al. ended up with, Matalas had wanted to, say, put half a scene in episode 1 where he has someone say “We just received a hail from the USS Exposition near the Borg-protected rift and they’re saying everything is fine and the mystery will be resolved soon”, he could have added that into even an already existing script. Might have interrupted the flow a bit, but there could have been ways to do it without too much trouble.

Not making any reference to that was a conscious choice. AndI think you can say the same about most of the things left unresolved from season 2 (though I don’t feel like there were nearly as many plot points left in the air as there were after season 1, since most of season 2 was contained in the past with characters we never see again).

So while the concurrent writing certainly would have made an interconnected story over two season more difficult (or even two relatively self-contained stories that more thoroughly built on each other), it wasn’t remotely impossible. If they had wanted to, they could have done it, but they chose not to.

They have picked up little things here and there, like suddenly remembering Raffi’s familiy and history for more than a throwaway line about losing her sons and a longing glance at a glass of alcohol. But they’re not really building on Raffi’s character development from either season 1 or two. At least not so far (though, let’s be fair: we’ve only seen 2 episodes). So far, Raffi is in... exactly the same place she was in season 1? Pretty much? Making the exact same mistakes? Except now she no longer has Cris to hold her hand and help her through it, and apparently also no longer has Seven.

There is a reference to Picard’s synthetic body, but no indication why in season 1 he was adamant not to involve anyone from his old crew in the dangerous mission, and then in season 3 he immediately runs to Riker. Is it because he learned something in season 1? In season 2? Or is it just because we need to bring in the TNG alumns somehow?

Season 2 gave us the holos for a brief, terrible moment, season 3 isn’t even attempting to explain why Raffi is apparently all alone on La Sirena.

So, yeah, I don’t think the decision to ignore season 1 and 2 beyond superficial callbacks (so far) has much to do with tight schedules or concurrent writing. It was a choice, from the start, and a very deliberate one at that.

(All of this with the caveat that I only know what I have heard Matalas and Goldsman say in interviews and have gleaned about the Picard production process on twitter and through publicity. I might be mistaken about the timeline, or their concept of season 2 might have been more vague before Matalas moved on and he would have tied it in more if he’d had the chance. So grain of salt. But from everything I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like this was an external problem.)

So I was wondering why there was such little continuity between the second and third seasons of Picard, and initially I thought that Terry Matalas just wanted a clean slate to bring in new (old) fans; but then I noticed that there were a bunch of callbacks to the first season, like Raffi's family and substance use issues and reference to Picard's "synthetic flesh". And then it hit me: Terry Matalas had no idea how season 2 ended before he started writing season 3. He had to drop out of the writing midway through season 2 and leave the rest to Akiva Goldsman because CBS didn't give them enough turnaround time; the two seasons were written simultaneously. And so the reason why he didn't even make reference to any of the rather large plot hooks left over from the second season finale...is because he had no idea that they were there.