#event!coming to terms

[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.

[gbirrd]

DUN-DUH-DUH-DUUUUHN!

suprise! i've been working as part of ANOTHER Bang! I paired up once again with the delightful @englandamericaitaly to create this piece for their fic as part of the @dpxdcbigbang !

you can read their fic here- a really fun read, and of course I drew the scene with my boy Duke. we gotta step up folks! not enough art of this weird little daylight-loving freak out here!

Image ID:

A drawing of a very dark train tunnel, with a rail track stretching down from the top towards the bottom of the image. At the top of the piece near the back of the tunnel is Duke Thomas in his Signal armour, giving off a strong yellow glow as he is crouched over Clayface, arm raised in a fist to punch him as his head is raised to look up with glowing eyes. Clayface's hand is wrapped around Duke trying to pull him off. At the bottom of the page near the front of the tracks, Jazz Fenton stands facing Duke with a faint green glow. Three shadowy figures stand behind her. In the top right corner there is a close-up panel of Jazz's eyes, in all green, and mirroring it in the bottom left are Duke's eyes in all yellow.

[vineboom-sfx]

Back agin with my Almeda Mall au, colored this time!!

[read-write-thrive]

there are all of 6 fics on ao3 that come up when you search the word “disabled” in the dead boy detectives fandom. I’m dealing with a fibromyalgia flare up rn so I’ve decided to come up with some (potential!) disability/condition/syndrome/etc. headcanons. enjoy!

(oh and just to note: I stayed away from conditions with obvious facial / appearance difference as no actors with facial / appearance difference were cast in the show and I was unsure if it would be appropriate. while I have experience with a lot of the following diagnoses, I do not claim to be an expert on any of them and do not intend for this to be used as a diagnostic tool. if you feel any of these are offensive/inappropriate, please message me and I’m happy to talk about it :) this is more just to encourage broader disability representation within the fandom!)

Edwin: autistic, PTSD (from hell), chronic pain/fibromyalgia (from his death/hell), minor visual impairment (not enough to need the hard-to-come-by testing needed for glasses when he was alive and so assumed the various limits/effects were normal. was told otherwise by Niko), would’ve had shingles if lived long enough

Charles: ADHD, PTSD (from his father/growing up in an abusive household), dyslexia, Reynaud’s syndrome (either already born with it or as a result of his death—both angsty), was in the beginning stages of an ED prior to his death, post-concussion syndrome, near-sightedness (never given glasses bc he wasn’t about to tell his dad the board looked a little blurry sometimes)

Crystal: cPTSD (reminder that neglect is also abuse :), bipolar 1, IBS, endometriosis

Niko: autism, depression, POTS, hEDS, anxiety, sprite-induced agoraphobia, epilepsy, lactose intolerance

Monty: Depersonalization-derealization disorder, selective amnesia (this is not the first times Esther has messed with his form/killed and revived him, but the experience is traumatic and so his brain decides not to remember it), recurrent arrhythmia, synesthesia

Jenny: OCD, BPD, ED recovered, Celiac’s disease, diabetes type 1, anemia

TCK: autism, NPD, lactose intolerance, colourblind

Esther: chronic pain (I’m choosing to believe that the cane isn’t just for show!!), NPD, endometriosis

Tragic Mick: cPTSD, depression, HoH, arthritis, diabetes

(The Night Nurse , the Dandelion Sprites, and various other characters felt either too supernatural and/or not developed enough to assign anything to lmao)

[fishareglorious]

marcus dear child how could i ever forget you.....

[dennydraws]

Potion Permit got an update yesterday \o/ You can date the creepy graveyard man now! :D

[dailyaoyagi]

The duality is killing me.

[chirpsythismorning]

Yesterday toxic milkvans were angry because, according to them, Millie got asked a question about Will at the con, when in reality a fan asked Millie who her favorite character was, with her saying Will…

And now today they’re mad because according to them, Finn only got asked byler questions, as if it wasn’t one question about what his favorite byler scene to film was, with him saying the van scene, followed by elaborating unprompted about Will’s feelings…

If you’re mad at anyone, be mad at Millie and Finn bc they’re the ones bringing up your arch nemesis 😅

[cinnamonsikwate]

i still hate how the onus was on zon and his people to "prove" that orcs were capable of more than violence meanwhile marcille didn't do a goddamn thing to change their minds about elves being raging bigots. funny how she thinks elves (a long-lived race with powerful magic) and orcs (a short-lived race with no magic as far as we can see) are on a level playing field when it comes to securing land and resources!

and having bahai, zon's child, be the one to go "why can't we all just get along" like ooh ryoko kui some crimes cannot be forgiven

[aha-chuu]

That event though,,,,,

So Kaveh wins and refuses the money because of all the baggage attached, which Alhaitham already kinda knew about cos it's the whole reason he's involved. Anyway they're still roommates.

But mostly.

Kaveh takes leftovers home

Alhaitham expects him to do this

All his friends know he keeps talking about Alhaitham

Alhaitham worries too - all that stuff about Kaveh's dad and the guilt comes up and Alhaitham keeps trying to shut it down!

Kaveh thanks Alhaitham!!

Alhaitham is a teasing bastard who wants three thankus, please 🥺

Kaveh invited Alhaitham to dinner too, his treat

Alhaitham got all "uhh yes um yes that no no thanku" babe do you want him to take you on a date. Is that it.

Rn I'm getting a lot more pining vibes from Alhaitham but he's too tsundere to actually get any of it across, plus he quite likes whatever the fuck they have going on rn. Meanwhile Kaveh is trying to fuck off, sort of, except every time his friends ask him if he's okay he doesn't tell them so there's literally no opportunity for him to move out which sounds like he doesn't actually wanna move out tbh.

Like, he gets the prize money and he is a person of integrity so he doesn't take it. But some people characterise Alhaitham as weirdly abusive (which is wrong, just incorrect) but if he were actually like that then Kaveh would be surely desperate enough to take some of the money just to rent a new place?? Or at least take Cyno's money when he first offers, or accept the research funding so he can get more work - but Kaveh isn't desperate at all to leave.

If you read Kaveh's character stories, you know he mostly just feels guilty about putting Alhaitham out. But Alhaitham likes Kaveh living with him!!

They are very much still bickering old married couple who have divorced twice etc, but I do think this event is a stepping stone to a slightly more overtly stable dynamic. Kinda like how Diluc and Kaeya went from outright malice to something more understanding. We'll almost certainly see more Alhaitham in Kaveh's hangout event, so I'm sure more groundwork will be laid there.

Anyway yeah it's good, really very good. Kaveh is a great character on his own but their ship also exists and is very cute - I also am not certain, but to my knowledge they are the ship that has had the most dialogue in game together? Except a few traveller ships but, you know, that's 49.9% Paimon, 0.1% traveller.

I hope you all liked the event too! I wonder if there are secret locations to find everyone in after the fact?

[piedpiperart]

Part nine of Ghost hero!

Part eight 

Part Ten

[monards]

hoyoverse does albedo’s journey to understand flaws & humanity & nuance mean NOTHING to you.

[saturnniidae]

Modern au with a strong theme of Hiccup coping with his leg better than all the people around him and it's low key pissing him off

[navree]

i say this with all due respect, and so much love, cuz i do actually like him, but on what planet is martin an important name at the magnus institute? like, jonah created the place and stuck around for the entire time as its head over and over, jonathan is the lynchpin of the ritual/the archivist/the literal archive itself, martin is just A Guy!

[beatcroc]

Thoughts on the incident?

[mc-critical]

1.04 / 1.05