#but it's kinda cool??? i guess???

[level1cleric]

i love this chapter page. all the different ways our party is and could have been formed. you can even make your own!

i'm a big fan of "Baby Squad and Their Begrudging Adoptive Father"

[somnimagus]

My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

[ym523]

🩸CW: Blood 🩸

[acidpeaches]

who could match they freaks like them 🪷

[littlecrittereli]

Something about CPS malfunctions make the best angst (I don't like drawing backgrounds if you couldn't tell)

[that-one-weird-cloud0]

Danny: damn bro you smelly as fuckkkkk wtf you bathe in? Sewage?!?

Jason: wtf did you just say

Danny: yo hold still a sec

Jason: wha—

Danny, pulls toxic dark green sludge out of Jason’s chest that fucking wiggles around like a parasite: there the little bugger is

Batfam: 0-0

Danny:

Batfam:

Danny: *eats it*

Batfam: ?!?!!!!?!??!?!!!?!!???!!!!!??

[rapidhighway]

trying to show you the absolute cinema i had the pleasure of watching in tonights dream. We could’ve had it all

[ruikasas]

marcille icons

[felis-rach]

Been doodling my team and this bunch of guys from pmd2. Have I mentioned this game is perfect

[catsaah]

After many times installing and uninstalling this app I fell in love with it and now I want to post my drawings here! Hello Tumblr, I offer you a drawing of Grian, the fisher of mending books, as my input for this delightful app ♥️

[squidsystem]

fire emblem dragons are so cool and awesome when they actually interact with the implications of them and it's a shame that some of their character designs are just really bad which obscures the cool stories involved with them. Because fire emblem dragons are just people, they think like people, they grow like people, they act like people, but they live a mind bendingly long time. I love the child dragon characters because more often than not they're either unnerving with how much they've lived and how much they understand when they literally just look like 10 year old, and or they are too young to even comprehend the meaning of their quite literally thousands and thousands of years lifespans. The fact Tiki is still grappling with the traumatic experience of losing everyone she's ever loved 2000 years after losing them is just such big frown. Like imagine the existential horror of being an 11 year old weird girl but for centuries instead of a year. The old as fuck dragons are really cool too, I think the degeneration lore is really cool and I don't see concepts like it get explored enough, the idea that being so powerful that mortals consider you an unknowable is so unsustainable that they essentially lose their sanity and eventually their sapience is so fucked up. And they probably didn't even realise it was happening until entire ages had already passed. Imagine being a member of a species with a fatal flaw that no one could know about until it was far too late. The fact pretty much all dragons in Fire Emblem are the humanoid manaketes is literally because the ones that didn't are more or less extinct because they were too prideful to relinquish their power, and in some sense, their entire identity. More FE stories should examine the experience of their dragons. Are any manaketes dysphoric because they're forced to live in a body that doesn't reflect who they really are? Imagine the angst. I love fire emblem

[mermaids-ate-my-dinner]

Hot Take

Heros of Olympus would be so much better if everybody was single.

[ribcage-bitch-ass]

hey who are these losers

[bonefall]

Hey, what makes a character a 'plot device but not a character'? And how do you not do that? I'm trying to do it on purpose but also I need to still make them interesting because it's on purpose, yknow?

A good skill to pick up is to learn to criticise criticism itself. A "plot device" is simply a thing that moves the plot along, it's a neutral literary analysis term! Usually, when people are angry that "a character has been used as a plot device," it doesn't mean they hate plot devices. It means they're gesturing at something deeper.

Runningwind and Bumble are equally plot devices in their deaths. They are both killed by the antagonist to escalate political tension. Runningwind is rarely "accused" of just being a plot device, and yet, we're talking about Bumble for the same thing.

So, why?

Well, Runningwind is just a background character, but in life, he was a part of the community. He was characterized as impatient but responsible. Yet, he wasn't SO important that he died with a bunch of unresolved plot threads.

He is mostly an extension of the entity of ThunderClan. His killing by Tigerstar, and the fear and paranoia that settles on the group after this, feel like a progression of the story insteas of something forced.

Bumble, on the other hand...

Is hated immediately by Gray Wing, when she's established as Turtle Tail's friend. Bumble's abuse at Tom the Wifebeater's hands invites even MORE investment. The rejection is shocking and upsetting. There's a story there about our main characters being imperfect; jealous, bigoted, and judgemental.

But, she is simply killed off. Everything they set up for this character is gone with little personalized fanfare. It's not a tragedy with a lesson about cruelty, or something anyone regrets.

It's just... plot. Gray Wing whinging that no one will like his shitty brother now that his body count is 2.

More than that, in the discussion of women in particular, "Fridging" was coined to give a name to the way women characters often don't get their stories told at all. There is a CULTURAL trend of female characters facing disproportionate violence, for the sake of advancing male plots.

Bumble has a lot going for her. Petal had a lot going for her. Turtle Tail had a lot going for her. Bright Stream had a lot going for her. When they died, they took their potential with them.

It's not always wrong to kill off a character of high potential, mind you. In Gurren Lagann, Kamina's death is sudden and shocking, leaving a massive hole in the hearts of the cast that never heals. Grappling with that loss, but also letting his memory fuel them, is a major theme of that story.

All that to say... there's no formula for avoiding it. You've gotta identify what the deeper issue is, in your specific narrative.

I can't say for certain what that will look like for your story, but here's some things I keep in mind;

When you make characters who exist to die, make sure they're people before you axe them.

Ask yourself; what about them does the cast miss?

If they just miss them because they were (pre-existing relationship), go back to the drawing board.

Fluttering Bird as an example. Who was she? Dead sister. Why do they miss her? Dead sister. No traits until after her death.

Runningwind was short-tempered and helpful. Kamina was a valuable leader who made people believe in a brighter future. Swiftpaw was fiesty and desperate to prove himself. The better characterized, the more profound the loss usually is.

If this is a female character who is dying just to serve the plot, be aware of cultural bias and tropes. How is the gender ratio looking in your cast? Is this happening disproportionately with your girls?

Note how Quiet Rain's litter had both a boy and a girl, but the girl was chosen to be "weaker" and wither away.

And how most of the time in DOTC, whenever a man had to be upset, a girl would get killed for it.

If you ever feel like the character on the chopping block is NOT a full character, ask yourself why it needs to be a character at all. You don't need to spend narrative time building out someone when a literal object of high value might suffice.

"My sister died when I swore to protect her and I can't face my family" = Old. Tired. Ive seen this.

"I lost my heirloom sword when I swore to protect it and I can't face my family." = Fascinating. Why was the sword so valuable? Will they really not take you back? How did you lose it?

When you do kill off "high value" characters, try to make sure you're not leaving too many plot threads hanging. Or at least make a point of how they will never get closure.

[starrysharks]

vivica wip that i never finished for months

[upsidedownsmore]

Tennotober 2024 Day 3: Fragments

Zuud

Previous (Day 2: Gemini) || Next (Day 4: Alchemy)

i remember when i told myself i would keep this one simple so i could go to sleep early

good times

lmao