#character cast;

[a-drama-addict]

not caring too much about a fandom’s favourite guy is the worst. you’ll think “oh i’ll look into the tag see if anything new and cool’s there” and it’s just that fucking guy again

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:

In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.

A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.

In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.

[lackadaisycal-art]

I'm getting so sick of major female characters in historical media being incredibly feisty, outspoken and public defenders of women's rights with little to no realistic repercussions. Yes it feels like pandering, yes it's unrealistic and takes me out of the story, yes the dialogue almost always rings false - but beyond all that I think it does such a disservice to the women who lived during those periods. I'm not embarrassed of the women in history who didn't use every chance they had to Stick It To The Man. I'm not ashamed of women who were resigned to or enjoyed their lot in life. They weren't letting the side down by not having and representing modern gender ideals. It says a lot about how you view average ordinary women if the idea of one of your main characters behaving like one makes them seem lame and uninteresting to you.

[upon-the-snow]

I can’t believe it took me this long to draw her!

[tossawary]

This is petty fandom salt, BUT... I've been chewing on this phenomenon that I've been calling "Fandom's Darling". It is related to things like "Author's Darling" and "Mary Sue / Gary Stu" and "Protagonist Halo" and all that jazz, where one character gains a peculiar narrative weight in a story.

"Author's Darling" is when a writer has a favorite character, and the world and all other characters sort of get... warped to put the Darling in the spotlight. It's most noticeable in TV shows with multiple writers, when a character you personally like suddenly has their previous characterization destroyed to make another character look good somehow. Every other character might become weirdly incompetent. The Darling's feelings are treated as The Most Important Feelings in any given situation. The logic of the fictional world seems broken past suspension of disbelief in order to validate this one character's beliefs or skillset or some other fantasy. And so on.

"Fandom's Darling" is what I've been calling the pattern where a fandom essentially crowns a New Protagonist for their fanfiction stories (it's often a side character rather than the original protagonist, but it can also happen to protagonists). This character becomes the self-insert for all sorts of indulgent fantasies, gaining special powers or backstories, and/or becoming the focus of extreme whump, and/or hooking up with all the various hotties, starring in all sorts of tropey AUs, and so on. They're not always an obvious Mary Sue version of themselves, but the character's original personality and interpersonal relationships tend to get warped or dropped completely, and other characters tend to become a little flat around them. I call it "Fandom's Darling" because it's not just one self-indulgent fantasy fic (you do you! Have fun!) with characterization choices that I don't vibe with (I have neither the time nor the desire nor the authority to police anything, I am just venting), but rather a prolific mini-fandom of sorts revolving around this empty doll / fanon version of the chosen vessel character, so it becomes a little unavoidable.

I am salty about this (mildly frustrated) (imagine a soft sigh of disappointment before I just go do something else) because you are FUCKED if you actually liked the canonical version of this character and their interpersonal relationships. It's almost worse than liking an obscure character that no one cares about. There's about a thousand fics starring your fave, but maybe only about a dozen of them are actually rooted in any kind of recognisable canon.

[ribbonentrails]

Took a long time to complete my first run, so it's only right to celebrate it by doing an equally long piece of the companions 🫶

[anna-scribbles]

old doodles from the archives 🫶

[livingmeatloaf]

There is only one way to make a truly wonderful Avatar adaptation, not matter how bad it turns out to be:

A professionally shot, full length stage production of the Ember Island Players' Fire Nation propaganda version of the events

[lackadaisycats]

Lackadaisy Voice Cast + Crew are doing a signing and Q&A stream tomorrow!

Saturday, June 8th.

Starts at 2pm PT on the Lackadaisy YouTube Channel.

Come by to hangout and chat! Or, if you'd like a live-signed book or print, pick one up in the Lackadaisy Streamily Shop!

[ryllen]

a small taste of magic casting

[mooselybased]

So I wanted to draw a lil' something in celebration of The Adventure Zone hitting ten years old this year! Which turned into me drawing a pretty big something featuring (almost) every player character from (almost) every campaign from these past ten years.

So here's to Adventure Zone Balance, Amnesty, Commitment, Dust, Graduation, Hootenanny, Ethersea, Dadlands, Steeplechase, Versus Dracula, and everything that's still to come!

[cracklewink]

hear me out: moose in mlp

[bixels]

Scary Sunset.

I'm concepting things way outta order in this story, but I'm sure you can piece things together. Context is for a storybeat where, after defeating and capturing Adagio (thus having all three sirens in her possession), Sunset enacts her revenge plot to release the sirens on Canterlot as Thea discovers she's been manipulated. In a confrontation, the two scuffle and fight over the siren orbs while Sunset struggles with her conflicting wants and emotions.

[screensavorstudios]

Jill O' Lantern: Final Cut now available on Steam and Itch.io

[vriskan8or]

let her go

[feistyvampire]

@xzhonglix said: (question about you series meme. Would Edgar and his friends attend a pride parade? What are some of his other friends like? By the way, I really enjoy reading your posts about your characters.) | meme

hi, first i wanted to say a huge thank you for enjoying my original characters and engaging with edgar! it makes me happy to know people are enjoying them ;v ; a lot of the characters i have, i’ve been working on for years

and to answer the first question, yup! this post particularly while only talking generally in the post itself is definitely also about edgar and co attending bigger pride events: since he comes from a very lgbtq+ friendly place that holds all kinds of pride-related events, he and his friends have been going together for years! they’ve been very open members of the lgbtq+ community for a long time too. the art of ambrose and edgar waving their pride flags is to signify them celebrating pride too!

i’ve also been working on a lot of original characters for this universe, all with a lot of various backstory - edgar has met a lot of people in his journey too. some other characters that are likely to be heavily featured in my universe are:

andre

andre is both a fling partner and a close friend, also a chaotic force of nature who loves dnd-esque types of games and drags their friend seth into their shenanigans a lot of the time. andre and edgar met through edgar’s work, with andre being a frequent customer who was constantly coming back to dye their hair a different color. currently it’s a shade of pink.

if i had to show you one thing that embodies andre and how nerdy they are:

seth

a young man adept at seeing spirits of people who haven’t passed onto the afterlife yet. he often tries to aid them in this. his first boyfriend passed on from an illness, and in a reckless fit seth tried to actively summon his dead boyfriend’s spirit (a terrible idea, never try this) only to fail and become attached to the wrong spirit altogether. seth is the type to rarely smile, often holding a permanent neutral expression and speaking in a drawl. most likely struggles with depression. despite acting exasperated with andre’s upbeat and chaotic attitude he does have a soft spot for them.

kade

edgar doesn’t actually know kade well, as kade doesn’t like to talk much. seth and andre met kade through seth’s then boyfriend. kade also struggles with the same illness seth’s boyfriend had, but is a survivor and carries on for their friend. they have a weaker immune system due to their illness and still have to be careful, but they have long since been in the recovery phase.

arvin

this is ambrose’s (fraternal) twin brother! he’s a methodical type, likes neatness, and seems to easily become anxious in crowded areas. he has hearing aids for both ears, and has needed them since he was relatively young. he likes science and is often seen researching or working on something new. he’s not well known for his expertise though he is very intelligent, but that’s fine with him. he just wants to be in peace to work. like ambrose, he does have demon blood, but his is much stronger then ambrose’s and has left him with abilities such as blending himself into the shadows. shadow demon blood is common in his family - on the flip side, ambrose did not inherit any special abilities. their family is a mix of demons and humans.

bonus: arvin is trying to find ways to help people with chronic illness, as ambrose does struggle with bouts of chronic pain and a stomach condition.