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ataliagold · 7 months ago

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20 Questions For Writers!

I was tagged by @steviewashere, thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 72.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

513,481, which...has really escalated from deciding to post a random oneshot back in 2022...

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Only Stranger Things so far, and really just Steddie, but I also love exploring the Steve and Robin and Steve and Dustin dynamics within my fics too.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Wreckage Of You I No Longer Reside In

I Can Wait For You At The Bottom

But My Heart Is Just A Little Boy (which surprised me, being a recent oneshot)

My, My, Those Eyes Like Fire

Oh Darling, Please Be Mine

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, always. I'm grateful that people take the time to comment and they always make my day, so I respond.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't actually think any of my fics have angsty endings because I can't write anything except happy endings...if pushed I'd say As The Light Fades From The Screen , because it ends on a pretty grim note with Steve having been involved in a serious car crash but it's part of a series and is later resolved with Steve being ok, so I'm not sure if it counts.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All of them...haha. If I had to pick, probably The Wreckage Of You I No Longer Reside In. I sometimes struggle with endings, but I was happy with that one, and Steve Eddie and Dustin were just a lovely little family by the end of it.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Once. Someone took the time to read a 65k fic then write an essay in the comments about everything they hated about it, then messaged me telling me to never write again etc. I'm still confused as to why they chose to read the whole thing, but people are odd I guess.

Another time I got an odd comment from someone upset I included a very common tree in a fic because apparently it doesn't grow in Indiana. I wouldn't really count it as hate, I just thought it was a strange thing to get worked up about.

Thankfully, everyone else has been lovely.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

There's a little in some of my longer fics, it's just pretty soft and sweet. I find it kind of awkward to write for no particular reason, I just don't think it's a strength of mine.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. I tend to get obsessed with one thing at a time, so I don't think I'd ever have any interest in writing a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but quite happy for someone to if they ever wanted to!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I co-write the It Was Always Burning series with @floral--sunrise, there's 65 works in that series, some written by me and others by floralsunrise. So we individually write the fics but work together on overarching storylines etc.

As for co-writing an actual fic, I'm not too sure about if I'd do it, I'd have to think about it and it depends on the person. Definitely wouldn't rule it out!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Steddie, hands down. I've been in fandoms for a long time, since I was about...12, and while other ships like Destiel have pulled me in for a while, nothing's rotted my brain like Steddie.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you will?

Well...I only have one fic that I stopped writing, and that's Love Like Ghosts. I stopped for a couple of reasons - it wasn't getting much attention and I needed that back then, I'd only written a couple of things and needed feedback for some validation, I think, which I'm less bothered about now. I also had an idea for another fic at the same time which turned into Oh Darling, Please Be Mine, that one was more in my comfort zone and I ended up focusing on that.

But I still think about that fic often, and I think I'm going to go back to it maybe later this year. I really liked the storyline and that it was darker than what I usually write, and I had some pretty good ideas for it.

I did have another one that I'd written about 20 - 30k on, and had a few chapters up on AO3 when my laptop decided to delete the whole file and I couldn't get it back, I was so angry about it that I deleted it off AO3 and never started it again.

So I don't really have an answer to that question, because the only unfinished WIP I think I will finish one day!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Ummmm...I'm not good at talking myself up but I think I'm quite good at dialogue. I've been told a couple of times that the characters seem pretty true to themselves in my fics, even if the story is very AU, so there's that I guess.

Also I think action scenes I'm quite good at - there's a fair bit of violence in some of my longer fics, especially My, My, Those Eyes Like Fire and Keep My Hand In Yours, and I really enjoy writing those scenes.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot, sometimes. Probably because I don't plan longer fics in advance - I have an idea, a couple of key scenes, and a vague idea of an ending and then I just start writing. I don't do any planning, nothing - I just write and see what happens. Which has usually served me really well, but sometimes I get to a scene and I'm like...well now what?

Keep My Hand In Yours was the plottiest thing I've ever written, and I did really enjoy that one, so I think that's helped a bit.

Also smut. Just feels weird to write for me, maybe because I haven't written a lot of it.

And endings, I sometimes find it hard to wrap up a fic.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't know any other languages, so I don't think I'd be very good at it. I'd be worried if I did try to use another language I'd butcher it, or the translation would be weird...so no, I don't think I would? Unless someone who spoke the language was helping me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Not sure if this counts but when I was a kid I used to handwrite Doctor Who stories, mostly where I was the companion and travelling around in the TARDIS. I didn't know what fanfiction was back then, but there you go.

I wrote some Supernatural stuff too a long time ago but I'm pretty sure I never uploaded it anywhere.

Other than that, just Stranger Things.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I'm gonna go with what Stevie did and go top 5, because I can't decide.

The Wreckage Of You I No Reside In - This is the second fic I wrote, and first multi-chapter, and still my most popular fic. I wrote it when I had covid and was stuck in the house with nothing to do, and never expected the response to it that it got. This fic has a special place in my heart, but I've never read it back because I think there'd be stuff I would change now, being more experienced now than I was then. But I love it anyway.

My, My, Those Eyes Like Fire - This one was fun to write. It had a lot of action, (and sword fights which...I love) and was purely inspired by Joe Keery in his gladiator outfit for Finalmente L'alba. A very kind person made a ficbind of it, and I had some art commissioned for it too that I'm obsessed with.

I Can Wait For You At The Bottom - One of my angstiest fics, involving a severely depressed Steve and suicidal ideation. I enjoyed exploring Steve being at rock bottom and Eddie, Robin and Wayne helping him back to his feet.

Keep My Hand In Yours - My longest fic. I'd wanted to write a zombie apocalypse fic for so long, and this is what happened when I did. Probably the one with the most Steve whump too, and I really enjoy some Steve whump.

But My Heart Is Just A Little Boy - This was just a little oneshot where I wanted to project my dyscalculia onto Steve, and it was quite personal and sort of therapeutic to write.

Tagging some people to participate if you want to! @runninriot @augustjustice @katyawriteswhump

#steddie fic #writers questions

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thefinalcinderella · 1 year ago

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As always thank you for the tsurune novel translation!

Btw have you finished reading the 3rd book or are you still reading while translating? I'm curious as what are your thoughts so far about the 3rd book? I personally think the 3rd book is really too jarring with the prior books and I wonder why. In addition to the sudden surge of new characters, I really can't tell where the plot is going nor what the author is actually aiming for or the focus of the book, which I can tell easily in the previous books. I also find it hard following the jumping train of thoughts in all the chapters so far, it's like every new plot is jumbled up and one storyline isn't even finished before it jumps to a whole new arc. Idk if it's just me who feels that way or not...or if this style of writing will continue to the end of the book so I'm curious to know what you thought as the translator. Thanks!

You basically summarized my thoughts on this novel! Honestly when I read the synopsis I was like "...so what's the book about?" and while slice of life novels can get away with having a loose plot, I feel like there should still be an arc or something like that. Tbh the author has a tendency to randomly jump topics or scenes in the earlier books as well, but it's a lot worse in this book.

My personal theory is that the author was compelled to put this book out in conjunction with the movie and S2. The publisher probably wanted to repeat their Violet Evergarden success, considering how the novels got a big boost with the release of the anime and movies. There's such a big gap between this book and v2 that I got the feeling that they didn't plan to write book 3 (I feel like book 2 had a somewhat open but satisfying ending). Tbh as I translated the novel I got the feeling that the author had no idea how to fill up 200+ pages bc they couldn't think of a plot so they put a lot of random stuff in the book and wrote them in a vignette-style, so you got chapters made up of separate scenes that are only tangentially related. Idk how to explain it but it feels like when I'm trying to bullshit my way through a 10 page essay and I don't have a lot of coherent arguments, so I just try to write a big single paragraph on each page so that I'm at least reaching the page count. I think adding so many new characters was also a way to fill up pages, although it's all moot if you don't use them well. Having Minato and the others jump all the way ahead to their second year (v2 ended in summer of their first year so it's a pretty big jump) was probably a way to justify introducing new students.

I haven't really read ahead, but I do know some of the scenes that happen later in the novel and they are just as random as the earlier scenes imo. I think the novel would have read better if it was structured more like a short story collection. It pretty much is one anyways and I feel like there's a lot of characters from the previous book that could have their own spotlight, and we could see the characters' pasts or something like that.

Anyways I hope if there is ever a book 4, the author would be given the time and help that they need to plot it well.

#ask #tsurune

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thereallordgrape · 3 years ago

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Sooooo I just finished an anime and I don’t have anyone to talk about it with. So here’s a not so articulate essay on my feelings about it!

I watched Ranking of Kings and LOVED IT!!

I won’t go into spoilers immediately I’ll just setup a warning when I reach that point, but this anime is essentially about a young prince named Bojji whose deaf and a mute. Bojji is next in line to be king, but everyone (especially his own family) doubts he’ll be capable of leading their people. He befriends a shadow demon named Kage (who initially steals from him), but later learns to love Bojji.

Not a great summary, but going straight to the point, I absolutely adore Boji and Kage. Their friendship is so wholesome and is what pushed me to watch the show. I literally bought a whole Crunchyroll subscription because I was so eager to watch more of them. There were moments that made me literally cry and then there were scenes that genuinely pissed me off. Like when the children in the town were outright picking on Bojji for not being able to hear. (He’s the first-born prince, I was annoyed the townspeople didn’t outright scold those kids). Bojji is so sweet and people think he’s dumb just because he can’t speak. (He does a lot of grunting which sound so cute!!). And Kage had such a rough life and he too suffered a lot of abuse. These two fit so well together as friends and I want to see more of them so bad!! (I just might read the manga now)

I for sure give this manga a 9.5/10 (would’ve been a 10 but a few questionable moments happened that I will go into more detail in the spoilers below)

!!!SPOILERS BEWARE!!!

(This is basically a ramblings of what comes to my mind first, so apologies if you see writing mistakes)

Bojji is definitely a better person than I am because he is SO forgiving. Which is a good thing since it’s not good to carry hate in your heart. But from his step-mother to his own guards, they did not have any faith in him whatsoever. It’s wild because at first Queen Hiling (Bojji’s stepmom) was breaking her neck to get along with Bojji. She absolutely adored him and her son Daida together as a family. But as they get older, Hiling just becomes so cruel to Bojji and insults him to his face because she thinks he won’t understand but, SURPRISE he can read lips lady. Then King Bosse states on his deathbed that he wants Bojji to be king, but the moment the king dies, Hiling and everyone at the meeting disregarded what the king wanted. They gave Daida the crown and she had the audacity to be surprised Bojji ran off crying. Like wtf y’all outright lied and expected him to be cool with it?? They know he can’t speak for himself and they took advantage of that!

(I understand Queen Hiling is maybe ‘tsundere’, and I know she truly loves Bojji. But I don’t have the patience for a flip-floppy attitude of her caliber. I don’t hate her, just ‘meh’ about her. The queen’s relationship with Dorshe is cute tho.)

But only two people at that meeting voted to keep Bojji as king, but it didn’t go so well for them either. However, the Queen and those men’s plan to have Daida as king bit them in the ass since they played right into Manjiro’s hands.

Speaking of, I’m iffy about Daida. He came off as an ass the moment we meet him. Everyone was gassing him up on how so much better he was than his brother, but was getting played by a damn woman in a mirror for years! I was hoping we would see more of Bojji and Daida bonding as brothers (especially since Daida mentioned how he came to understand Bojji’s predicament more when stuck in that abyss). But instead we get a story about him and Manjiro. (I genuinely didn’t care about Daida’s mini storyline tbh). Then when that proposal happened I cringed so hard. I had to search up comments about it because I wanted to be sure I wasn’t the only one cringing from Daida proposing to Miranjo. It was sooo out of left field. I didn’t see it coming at all. Like the only times we see Manjiro and Daida are when she’s manipulating him to do what she wants, then she had Apease attack him and forced him to switch bodies. His whole reason for existence was because she wanted King Bosse to take over his body, so why do you want to marry her so bad?

I read a few comments saying it was platonic and that he was marrying her to keep her safe. But couldn’t he have just made her a member of his royal court? She really gets to be made a queen just like that? Good for her... I guess? I just wasn’t feeling it and I really hope it’s considered ‘platonic’ because the way he was talking to her and about her felt the exact opposite. Not to mention he’s stuck for who knows how long in King Bosse’s mind so who knows what side effects that had on his psyche.

I understand Miranjo had a shitty life, but just because something bad happened to you doesn’t excuse shitty behavior. She hurt, manipulated, and killed a good chunk of people! I think she should’ve stayed in that demon’s head longer and subplot could’ve happen to rescue her out because she was saved too fast.

Also, Bosse’s and Miranjo’s relationship is weird to me. He called her a mix between his daughter, mother, and mentor. I’m like ‘that’s a new combination’. But they way Miranjo spoke of Bosse and how they danced together, you can tell she LOVED him. Bosse even called her the most important person in his life and was willing to DIE for her. I would think when he actually died he would leave a heart-felt message to his sons, but he’s like “Daida take care of Miranjo!”

Bruh that man is a shitty dad. I also wasn’t sure if he loved his actual wives. Like he compliments Hiling and cares for his first wife, but her I didn’t feel as if he LOVED love them. Then he has the audacity to think Bojji’s weak when he’s the reason Bojji’s strength is gone in the first place, BRUH!! (Also that demon was freaky as hell, nice design!)

Then there’s Domas the twat, like he genuinely thought Bojji was weak and attempted to ASSASSINATE him. But newsflash asshole, YOU’RE NOT A GOOD TEACHER! Granted, Despa had some magical abilities to asses Bojji’s weaknesses. But magic or not, a good teacher knows how to use said weaknesses and flip them into a strength. They also realize when a technique isn’t working and switch it around to improve their student. Domas did none of that and just assumed Bojji sucked. Bojji clearly struggled with a sword, so he couldn’t just find him another weapon to practice with? Why just a sword?? Hokuro said it best that Domas is only good at training himself.

A few positive notes, Bojji’s fighting scenes are top tier and I was so hyped when he whipped the shit out of his dad (in Daida’s body). Despa was such a good mentor for him and I adored their dynamic. In fact, besides Bojji/Kage friendship, I enjoyed all three Underworld brothers. Hoping Desha and Despa save their baby brother Ouken is what keeps me more interested. I know Bojji forgave all the people I bitched about above and that’s perfectly fine! I’m just glad he moved on from that kingdom and plans on creating his own from scratch.

I have sooooo many more thoughts about this anime, but this post is already ridiculously long. If you read this far, thanks and feel free to give your own opinion if you watched the show!

#ranking of kings #ousama ranking #anime #anime opinions lol #grape talks #long post #I finished another anime but this one had more talk about #I'm on an anime roll because I usually don't finish them this fast #yay me lmao

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teveya · 4 years ago

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I thought it’d be fun to rate all the sports animes I’ve watched up until now! So if you’re looking for sports anime recommendations look no further!

Warning: ✨may contain minor spoilers✨

PSA: This is just my opinion and it is totally okay for you to disagree with me I understand everyone has different tastes!

1. Haikyuu!! 10/10

Listen I know you’ve probably already watched it but just in case you haven’t I adore this anime it is probably one of my all time favourites! MC is a wholesome ball of sunshine who just wants to play volleyball, all the character are so well written and have satisfying character development (it took us 3 seasons for Tsuki to get his shit together but we love him now) Plus the manga is finished so you don’t have to worry about being stuck on cliffhanger! I love that the other teams actually get along with each other and aren’t just a source of conflict for the main characters to overcome. Honest to god this is a super show!

2. Run with the wind 10/10

A very close second, this anime is a masterpiece, it’s so well done I honestly cried watching it. Can basically be summed up as evil mastermind Haiji blackmails his roommates into running a marathon with him. It’s a little angstier then haikyuu (the last couple episodes always get me) but its also got a lot of funny moments. The characters are diverse, with many of them not being athletes at all - it’s definitely an underdog story. The anime’s only got one season which wraps up the whole story so you don’t end up with a cliffhanger ending!

3. All Out! 9/10

Much less popular then most of the other animes on this list but it’s so good. Like run with the wind it’s also a bit on the angstier side and deals with some darker topics, but it mostly has lighthearted episodes. It follows the very typically sports anime storyline - loud, short boy wants to play rugby and has to prove himself despite his size. The team is so supportive and nice to each other (We love our supportive team parents Sekizan and Hachioji). The only downside to this anime is that it’s sadly incomplete.

4. Daiya no Ace 8/10

Has my favourite sports anime protagonist ever Sawamura (another literal ray of sunshine - Sawamura I would die for you). Probably one of the best animes for character growth, much more realistic portrayal of the struggle and pain it takes to improve. There are so many well written characters to fall in love with (stan Mei) and so many episodes to watch (like over 150) and it’s still ongoing! My only bone to pick with this anime is how no one ever appreciates (my sweet baby) Sawamura like they should and it frustrates me so much (I could honestly write an essay on my frustration but I’ll hold myself back lol - but I stg Miyuki if u don’t pull ur head out of ur ass I will find u and hurt u). Overall a great anime that I would definitely recommend!

5. Kuroko’s Basketball (6.5/10)

Pretty good overall I love that their coach is a girl and that she’s a confident well written character. But other then that it isn’t really my favourite (I’m sorry y’all), the games are just way to long and basketball just isn’t that exciting. It’s a decent anime but I couldn’t ever get into no matter how much I tried. It’s also a bit darker the some other sports animes (Haizaki and Hanamiya are a warning in and of themselves). But still worth the watch if you like sports animes!

6. Free 5/10

Honestly I feel like all the issues between the characters for the first 2 seasons could have been solved if they just like talked to each other and weren’t passive aggressive?? Like? Plus why was Sousuke such a prick? (Rhetorical question please don’t come for me Sousuke stans) It’s not my favourite but I still watched most of it because it’s a fun anime with lots of colourful characters!

7. Days (4/10)

I couldn’t even get through the first 4 episodes. I don’t understand how MC took a 3rd years spot on a very good team despite the fact that he can’t play soccer like at all? I just generally didn’t enjoy it, I only watched those episodes for Kazama.

#daiya no ace #diamond no ace #ace of diamond #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#run with the wind #kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru #all out!! anime #all out #kuroko's basketball #kuroko no basquet #kuroko no basket #free!#daysanime #sports anime #anime rec list #anime recommendation

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perhaps-in-anotherdream · 4 years ago

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..."STAR-CROSSED LOVERS"??? YES.

Thank you so much @cheri-translates for translating Victor's SAND AND SEA DATE. You're an angel. 🥺🥺🥺

Now I'm gonna start blabbering since I've many feels about this date LOL~ 🙃

⚠️Warning: There are some spoilers regarding Victor storyline from the main story chapters that haven't been released in EN yet.

🌹

From "I won't save you a second time" [CH 1] to "I don’t need you to save me a second time." [The date in discussion]-- LOL as hilarious as this is, the irony.💯

Ngl this date felt like, the writers thinking since, under the context of the theme, the physical pain of time travel & crossing countless of dimensions & timelines is not possible-- let's just nearly kill him by spilling blood & dehydration but still we gotta nearly kill this man cause he wants to be in love.🙃

Idk why I'm getting so emotional LOL but there are so many call-backs I can remember on top of my head right now--

[The lines & moments from the date are indented & in bold letters.]

MC: "Victor, I’m helping you look for a water source. Let go!"

🌹 The sad broken cup scene from [CH 18-16], MC urging Victor to let go & him stubbornly refusing, until she gives in.

MC sacrificing herself to revive the river, part of it is to save Victor- other part of it is also for the greater good of the people in the city.

🌹 [CH 18-18] MC's monologue- "This time, put everything on my shoulder & let me be your hero one last time."

& sacrificing herself for the peace of the world even though it only made more chaos.

Victor releasing the hand that supported him at the edge & deciding to sacrifice himself with her. & the vow- "No matter what awaits you, I’ll be with you."

MC's monologue: "It turns out that no matter what the ending is, he’s willing to be with me."

[CH 18-28] Victor deciding to use the sundial watch one last time despite knowing that'd kill him for sure & might lead the world to perish as well. Dummy & Selfish in that moment. His final vow before MC disappeared, "No matter where you are, I'll always find you."

[CH 19-6 Dream World Victor route]

MC: "What if this really is a dream. Then what?"

Victor: "Then I'll turn it into reality."

[CH 25 phone call- In the Hospital]

"No matter what you are facing in other space-times...Wait for me."

[CH 36-10, after Victor returns from his 10K years time travel]

Victor: I thought you are never going to be afraid again?

His warm breath moistens my eyes. I inhale through my sore nose. Resisting the urge to bury my face in his chest, I look up, staring straight into his eyes-

MC: I will never be afraid again. Because you really came back. Victor is standing here before me like a treasure once lost and now found. What do I have to be afraid of?

Victor is stunned for a moment. The corners of his lips loosens a bit, while the contours of his face softened a lot. He raises his hand to wipe the wetness from the corner of my eyes.

Victor: It seems that this dummy has grown up a lot during this period. Listen carefully, I will never return to a world where you are not.

[CH 37 PV line]

"Whatever choice you make, I'll always be here."

[CH 37 karma by-line]

"I will accompany you on the road leading to the future."--

Basically the eternal insistence of him having an internal MC GPS tracker LOL ALWAYS being by her side.

Kidnapping incident.

🌹...[CH 30-7 to 30-10] Agio Street underground gambling den mission- wants to say a hello.🙋‍♀️

Abandoning the honor & glory of leading a comfortable life as a feudal lord to restore the river & to find the fateful couple, probably hoping to find his love too, but won't admit cause even if it's AU, he be like- "I'm still Victor" LOL

[CH 11 karma by-line]

"I won't let go of you & the world."

The physically-mentally painful exhausting wait & time travelling of 10K years, walking through endless dimensions & timelines, only to start from the very beginning every single time- hoping to find a way to save the world & protect the girl-- wants to say a hello too 🙋‍♀️

MC's monologue: Still, I want to have one more look at Victor… before leaving.

🌹 This specifically reminded me of a [CH 37-5 Victor split route] monologue from MC--

"It didn't matter what was waiting for me. I would face it with my head held high. Even so, I still wanted one last second...just one second. Let me call his name one more time...let me take a good look at him...just one last time..."

Victor: In that case, stay here. Stay by my side.

🌹 He has said the same sentence in different ways under various circumstances but one I can remember right now,

[CH 24-12 Black Cabin reunion]-- "But right now...Just stay by my side."

MC noting down how she always finds herself in his arms whenever she's fainting or getting in trouble. How Victor has been quietly taking care of her & protecting her. How the person before her walks in steady steps with forceful heartbeats.

When she was in her most depressing state [CH 18], he was there like the steady pillar of support, helping her in every way he could. He was pretty much the glue that kept her in one piece.

Again, in winter world, he stood by her side even as a stranger.

Not just these two incident, throughout the entire game, especially in the latter part of the story, they work together like partners, she learns to trust him with pretty much everything & they work through everything they can together.

Those few mentions in the date-- could be referred to how Victor has always been the constant source of warmth, encouragement, strength, support, protection in her life. No matter what world or when, he never really changes. He is still the same man. & His constant state IS choosing MC every single time.

Victor lies on the sand quietly, and it’s as though everything has returned to the beginning when we first met.

🌹 Indication towards how their storyline ALWAYS goes back to square one or comes in a full circle-- from Victor saving her from the car crash as a kid [& this being repeated many times afterwards, even in winter world], to the lightning incident [MC jumping in front of Victor both as a child & an adult], to both being in coma for week, staying in the hospital & taking care the entire time [MC in CH 11, Victor in CH 32], to stabbing each other countless times. [CH 18, CH 36-- & every other times Victor has seen those incidents happening before his eyes while time traveling.] *que tears*

🌹▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️🌹

I could possibly make a full blown essay which I already kinda have out of some other specific call-backs I can remember right now. Specifically the theme of the date being star-crossed lovers-

Legend tells of two lovers. Because of the pressures of their nations, they could not be together, and decided to drown themselves in a river for love.

Because of this, the River Goddess was enraged, and she cursed the land nourished by the river which was under her control. Since that day, the Socya River gradually dried up.

The Goddess left an exhortation-when the fateful couple reappears on this land, the river will be surge once again...

& This perfectly echoes the canon theme of Victor x MC storyline--

🌹 As in, Victor being someone who, objectively speaking, seemingly has everything & yet sacrificing practically everything--

[giving up over-seas university offers, staying in the city instead of moving abroad even though his business could be expanded more, relentless search of 17 years, appointing private detective for 6 years, building up Souvenir etc.]

--- to find MC & then in the mission of keeping her safe, even at the cost of his own existence. Trying everything beyond his limits to prevent the destined deaths of MC he has foreseen- from happening & it being doomed to no end every single time.

🌹 Every single time he had to give up the ONE thing he wanted to protect the most or wanted the most.

🌹 Both of them being so willing to put each other in the front line just to give each other happiness.

🌹 Another running theme of their storyline-- both of them keep losing each other countless times & then find each other again.

• Victor losing MC as a kid, finding her as an adult. Victor nearly losing her in CH 10.

• MC losing Victor due to the time rift in CH 14 & finding a way to contact each other through the sundial watch.

• Victor losing MC in CH 18 first-hand. MC leaving Victor behind in CH 19- dream world.

• CH 24 Black Cabin reunion & CH 27 OG timeline reunion

• MC nearly losing Victor in CH 32, due to him going to coma

• MC losing Victor in CH 34 due to Victor going on the time-travel journey of 10K years

• Final reunion in CH 36 [Then we have the journey to S2. But that's a whole new discussion.]

🌹So...both of them being able to truly be with each other is actually-- defying fate & writing their own destiny. *SOBS*

🌹I wanna end my blabbering with two precious moments from [CH 36- Victor split route] that echoes this theme even more.

MC: "I've always chased after your silhouette and I was never afraid. Because I know you'll always be there waiting for me. Victor, if you really disappear... I will be with you, and we will both be forgotten by the world."

MC's monologue: "Victor, once we have crossed countless dimensions and futures, and returned to each other’s embrace. If everything has to disappear with time, as dust into the wind... Then, I'm glad that we have our final promise."

[She's referring to the promise she made of being forgotten by the world to be with him & the promise Victor made earlier to never leave her again.]

#classic tragic love story at it's finest #yEs #mlqc victor #mldd victor #mr love victor #mlqc li zeyan #victor #li zeyan #mlqc zen #mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mlqc spoilers #mlqc cn

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puppy-phum · 4 years ago

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thank you once again @yibobibo for tagging me ♥ even if, like I said, this is pure torture. I have so many sons that I’ve given up on counting them sigh but here goes.

favourite male fictional characters.

I took it that this meant ten so am going with that (tho am not gonna try and put them into order). am also sticking to all the characters I loved this year. and gonna ramble and add gifs so cutting it here.

1. Liu Sang

The Lost Tomb Reboot/Reunion: The Sound of The Providence

I have so much love for this boy it’s not even healthy. it’s a bit funny tho bc once I started tltr, I didn’t really like him and almost forgot about him as the first season ended. he just felt so annoying and bitter in what I saw him, even if I did get that he had a Tragic BackstoryTM (I felt for him but well. tltr really made him hard to like at first). but then they brought him back in the second season with his sad puppy eyes and inability to handle his thoughts on wu xie and being all touch-starved and pitiful and whatnot and baam, I had the adoption papers ready. he’s wonderful and so strong and so smart and amazing. and liu chang as his actor has been wonderful (and he’s so pretty my god, have you seen him??)

2. Shen Wei

Guardian

never did I expect to just. fall into this hole after a year? I remember what a mess I was when I first watched guardian over a year ago, right after finishing the untamed. I was in shambles even as I knew how it would end. and now I’ve done this all again while also reading the novel and. my love for shen wei, especially bc it’s zhu yilong acting as shen wei? astronomical. I want to write poetry about him and his stupid responsibilities that he chooses to carry silently and his devotion to zhao yunlan and his love for his ppl and his didi and. I hope that one day I manage to write weilan bc I have this one idea and you can come pry it from my cold, dead fingers if it doesn’t get out there (am also super happy about the edit I made bc my god does he deserve at least that)

3. Cloud Strife

Final Fantasy VII

ok so stepping into the video games territory now. I was waiting for the remake like crazy and it was everything to me once the quarantine hit during spring. the game is so beautiful and I felt like I looked at this gorgeous boy once and was ready to give him my heart (tbh am quite sure he owned my heart before I even learned to know him). he is tragic in so many ways (I’ve only scratched the surface of all of his pain I know) and I wish I could just. hug him a lot. he is kind and cares very deeply even if he hates to show it and I love it how remake showed him also just being a human disaster (some of his scenes are just. peak comedy). I would kill for his smile (I have already cried for it a dozen)

4. Geralt of Rivia

The Witcher (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)

if there’s one grumpy, brickwall of a man I love, it’s geralt. I affectionately call him “papa wolf” while playing witcher 3 and his voice in it does things to me (I am just so fond of him ok, begone you dirty fuckers). I got introduced to him through the books and adored him in them bc he is so prickly and sarcastic and still so full of love even if he will never admit to it. he is the father figure I wish I could have in real life. (and yes, I’ve seen the tv series (or at least a couple of the first episodes) and it looks stunning but. this is my version of geralt and that’s the hill I will die on)

5. Xiaoge

Zhang Qiling, Daomu Biji (The Lost Tomb 2)

(wow finding a gif for him was a pain, apparently I gotta learn how to gif or?) ah, my dear boy who I’ve ended up just calling xiaoge bc he seems to prefer it over his real name/title/whatever zhang qiling really is. I got introduced to him through tltr where we really didn’t get to know that much about him bc he was just... there. huang junjie was absolutely stunning tho and his soft smiles made me super fond, but only in the lost tomb 2 did I really fall in love with xiaoge as a character. I was surprised tbh bc I didn’t expect it to be this drama? I had so many doubts about the cast in tlt2 but they all delivered! and I think cheng yi’s xiaoge is now my favorite bc he somehow captured that softness and the pain of him? (and we do not talk about that buxun storyline tyvm) tho now that ultimate note is on the way, I gotta say that xiao yuliang does a wonderful job as xiaoge too!

6. Wu Xie

Daomu Biji (Ultimate Note)

(sorry we have to go with a pingxie gif now but maybe it’s only fitting) tbh it’s hard to choose my favorite version of wu xie. I think all of the actors for him have done amazing job showing wu xie in different parts of his life (all of them are very distinct but still feel like the same person) but currently zheng shunxi takes the lead. I really wanted to put the reboot version of him here (bc I love that mature, relaxed and somehow very soft version of him and the angst is phenomenal and the thoughts he has about death... yeah) but I already have zhu yilong’s face here once so :’D wu xie is just one of those characters you cannot not like. he is so strong, so kind, so stubborn, so wonderfully stupid sometimes and in need of careful protection. I also adore it how smart he is and I could listen to him spew history facts for 10 hours straight (even if it was in a tomb full of blood zombies) ♥

7. Jiang Cheng

Jiang Wanyin, The Untamed

my darling boy! my beautiful angry grape! I love him beyond words. I love him in all of his raging, misunderstood, stupid, sassy, constipated, abused, tragic, bitter, big hearted glory. I could write novels about him (and I did and am still writing oh boy) and his love for ppl and his inability to show that love and his loneliness and his issues. I could also write another novel for all of his outfits etc. bc damn, what a fashion king. he is just so great. he owns my soul. he deserves happiness and in this essay I will

8. Isana Yashiro

Adolf K. Weismann, K Project

I rewatched k project this spring bc a) it’s one of my favorite animes ever (it just looks stunning with all the colors) and b) I love yashiro to bits. I remember falling in love with him when I first watched k project many years ago bc he was just so kind and bright. this time though, I ended up seeing another side of him and my god did I cry. he is... so sweet. he cares for others so deeply and is ready to sacrifice so much for them and his love for his two clansmen... yeah. I think I finally saw the tragedy of him too, all the pain and loneliness and insecurity he decides to hide behind his smile and obnoxious personality. he reminded me a lot of myself and watching him made my heart bleed in a good way

9. Qi Tiezui

Ba Ye, The Mystic Nine

(wow am going to riot for the lack of all the gifs hhh) yes, we’re continuing with the dmbj universe that sucked me in big time this year. the drama of the mystic nine wasn’t probably that earth shattering for me as it somehow got boring more than once but I did love ba ye to bits. he was just... so nice? I got it that he was somehow this “comedic relief” in the drama with all of his funny scenes and ridiculous mannerisms but I could see the brilliance of him. he is warm and smart and kind of a romantic too and he cares for all of his friends so deeply? it was also sweet how protective of him his two zhangs were (does that run in the family? the tendency to imprint into one smart but disastrous man and keep him safe? maybe) and I really hope I knew more about him bc he seemed to have a lot of knowledge and a lot of impact to ppl’s lives (I yelled when they mentioned him in ultimate note, I miss him ;;)

10. Dorian Pavus

Dragon Age Inquisition

(yes I’ve been replaying DA:I this year, this counts!) another darling boy! my lovely sass master son! I have so much love for him and his story in DA:I. he is my favorite companion (and his romance is my favorite too, probably obvious in the way am currently romancing him for the third time) and he has given me a lot of strength. the way he stands up against his father, how he’s ready to reform his homeland instead of walking away, how he’s so caring for those he sees struggling... it’s very warming and I feel like I’m safe with him. it feels a bit silly to say that but he really is that comfort character I will seek out when I just want to know am doing fine :’) (and I am so excited to see him again in DA4! probably?)

+ 11. Li Cu

Tomb of the Sea

yes I cheated a bit (with my own rules lol) to fit li cu here. I didn’t really expect to like him or tomb of the sea as much as I did once I started it? I’ve seen leo wu elsewhere before this (battle through the heavens, nirvana in fire) and his face always makes me think about a sad puppy so maybe I just grew fond over li cu instantly bc he was... so hurt? the first episode really slaps you in the face with all of it, showing him being abused, wounded, kidnapped, tortured, used and then just very, very scared and broken. he continues being that throughout the whole drama and I feel like tomb of the sea (or sand sea or sha hai idk) is the darkest and angstiest story in the dmbj universe. I know it deserves to be bc this is a dark time for wu xie but... my darling li cu. I wish him only happiness ;; he was so strong and smart and wonderful in this and it was just so amazing to watch him grow and find his own place in the world just bc he did something himself (even when he got dragged into all of this bc of wu xie) also I support the wu xie adopts li cu -agenda

Honorary mentions:

Zhang Rishan, Xie Yuchen and Hei Xiazi from DMBJ universe. The Twin Jades of Gusu and Ouyang Zizhen from The Untamed. The Iron Bull and Fenris from Dragon Age games. Thane Krios, Kaidan Alenko and Jaal from Mass Effect games. The whole lot of Assassin’s Creed protagonists (especially Ezio Auditore and Shay Cormac). Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch from The Raven Cycle. Neil Josten from All For The Game. Eduon and March from The Smoke Thieves. Qiling from L.O.R.D. Critical World. Luo Fei from Detective L (played by Bai Yu).

well, with this I can really see that I have a thing for those who are tragic :’D I have a thing for grumpy, prickly and antisocial guys or those who hide their pain behind a smile. maybe it’s bc I am somehow both, even if I can’t show my anger or be mean to others and even if I feel like my smile never sticks either. I just find kinship in all of the characters who are on this list. and I feel like I aspire to be as strong and as kind and as loving despite all the pain I’ve been put through.

thank you, this was so much fun! and sorry I made this so long and so complicated ^^’ but well, there are just way too many male characters I love haha

at the end I want to tag @i-am-just-a-kiddo @ashenwren @kholran @tiesanjiao @lan-xichens @aheartfullofjolllly @manhasetardis and @lzswy ♥ feel free to do this in your own way or not at all! and thank you if you managed to read through my rambling :’D

#tag game #wow this was something #i've been waiting for one #bc there is so much love in me #and this year i've discovered so many #new characters to just gush over #about me #random #edit: added a few characters #and tagged some more ppl sorry #also mobile tumblr wouldnt let me edit so lol

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notafrogblog · 4 years ago

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Who wants to read an entire fucking essay I’ve been writing over the last few months it’s about viddy games wooooooo

Video Games's Popularity

16% of entertainment hours in 2018 were spent playing video games, according to a study by The NPD Group, an American market research company (Stych). Video games have become more and more popular as they have become easier and easier to access through consoles, computers, tablets, and phones. Video games and gaming have become some of the most popular topics to watch on youtube, twitch, and other platforms, which is shown by the fact that youtube has a trending section just for video game content. I myself watch video game content whenever I get the chance. Merriam Webster defines video games as "an electronic game in which players control images on a video screen." If you use that definition for video games, it means gaming is a lot more widespread and prevalent than you'd first think. It would be a struggle to find anyone below the age of twenty who's never played a video game in some form. There are thousands of people in online communities who discuss video games and the people who play them, on sites like Reddit, Twitch, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and more. Video game music, posters, clothing, and general merchandise is popular and lucrative for the companies that make and sell the products. People continue to invest their time, money, and energy into playing and enjoying video games. Video games are such a big part of the online community and my life that I decided to take this opportunity to learn more about them.

While researching this paper, I found different types of sources than I was expecting. Many articles on video games are outdated, poorly written, or simply didn't contain much information. Most possible sources were game reviews, tabloid-esque gossip, or talked about events occurring recently in the gaming community. These weren't very helpful for the type of topics I wanted to discuss. When I set out to write this, I expected to find more analyses of video games or game genres as a whole, or perhaps more in-depth writing. Although I did find articles that were in-depth, they were often very niche, scholarly, or outdated. Video games as a culture moves indescribably quickly, with new games always being released. The vast amount of content and places to share said content on the internet makes video games so widespread, it's near impossible to categorize and talk about video games a whole, rather than individual games or franchises. I suppose that's why there are so many game reviews. People are always looking for new games to play, new content to view. I did my best to find articles and sources I could use to talk about video games a whole, as a culture, and as a complex and nuanced form of entertainment. Part of my own interest in video games is due to the large variety of games and game content available. I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about video games, especially after researching this essay. But I don't know much about games as a whole, or why people play them. As much as I love to talk about and watch video games, I don't play them often myself. I wanted to know what made other people love playing video games so much. Both my brothers are very engrossed in their respective games and consoles, and I found myself wondering what compels them to put their time and energy into something that doesn't give me that same satisfaction. Which begs the question, why do people play video games? What keeps them coming back? What makes video games so enjoyable?

I started by looking in the school databases, and on credible sites like the Washington Post and the New York Times. Video games is such a broad topic, but many articles focused on specific games or events. While I researched, I wondered what is so compelling about video games. I had some hypotheses. Video games often have a plot, a list of tasks to complete, or some sort of storyline. I found an article about the stories and plotlines of first-person shooter games, one of the most popular genres of games. In the article, David M. Leeson explains what differs between a multiplayer and a single-player shooter: "Most multiplayer shooters are gameplay-driven: play sessions consist of one or more matches, in which players compete with each other (either individually or as teams) to win the game, either by scoring points or capturing objectives. Most single-player shooters, by contrast, are story-driven: play sessions consist of one or more levels, in which the player is told the story so far and then must overcome a series of obstacles to find out what happens next." Already this provides some insight into what compels people to play video games. Multiplayer shooters, such as Fortnite, some Call of Duty games, Battlefield games, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, depend on other players to keep you interested. Winning a match is the main objective. In single-player games, the goal isn't to win a round, it's to complete the story. In a way, this makes a single-player shooter similar to a book or a movie. The difference between them is that the player takes an active part in moving the plotline forward, which keeps the player interested and motivated to find out what happens next.

A storyline isn't the only thing that can be necessary to keep a player motivated. The gameplay plays a big role in keeping the player interested in continuing the game. Games have two main parts, speed and strategy. Speed-based games rely on fast reflexes, immediate feedback, and quick thinking to be enjoyable. Games like these require you to be in the moment the whole time, ready to react to whatever is thrown at you. Games that are more speed-based include titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and endless runner games such as Temple Run or Subway Surfers. Despite being very different games in style, aesthetic, plot, and goals, these all rely on speed as a main mechanic. Another aspect of games is strategy. Strategy-based games take a slower route, and are more based on planning and thinking before you act. Strategy games often have some sort of back-and-forth mechanic between the player and some sort of other entity, usually a non-player character (npc) or the game itself. This includes games such as battling games such as Pokemon, storyline games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and many mobile games. Strategy games require the player to think about what they want to do before they do it, and often have multiple storylines or options for how to play the game or what to do when. All games have elements of both strategy and speed, but usually one takes precedence over the other. Each category of game has its pros and cons and its own problems.

There are a few problems with speed-based games that the developers must remedy for the game to be enjoyable. Firstly, games with speed-based mechanics are often very easy to pick up and learn. Many Super Smash Bros. players will mash buttons or spam attacks rather than use combination attacks or the full variety of moves available. Speed-based games must introduce a learning curve for players to learn new skills, become better at the skills they already have, and some sort of challenge that requires those skills to be used. Another problem with speed-based games is the lack of variety. One character with only one set of moves can quickly become boring to play. Most games don't have this problem, with many games having multiple characters. Breath of the Wild, however, only has one playable character, Link. Nintendo keeps BotW from becoming boring by having Link have many weapons and clothing to collect and choose from to use, food items to temporarily boost stats, and a way to upgrade Link's health points as the game grows more difficult. Many endless runner games (i.e. Subway Surfers or Temple Run) lack this attribute, which causes players to become bored of them after playing for a while. While they may include customizable or lots of character choices, the changes are purely cosmetic and don't impact the gameplay.

Strategy games have issues as well, most notably those to do with speed. Strategy games often have a slower pace, and making the pace too slow can cause players to become bored. This was an issue with the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, a 1997 turn-based rpg by Square Enix. Final Fantasy VII is set to have a remake by Square Enix, the first part of which was released on April 10, 2020. An article I discovered addressed some flaws in the original game as well as what the remake should have to make the game better. The article reads: "Modern releases of Final Fantasy VII include an option to speed up combat by a factor of three, and after turning it on, you quickly learn that you almost never need to turn it off to more carefully manage the flow of battle, such is the monotony of just attacking and healing over and over. This speed boost is greeted by latter-day players as a crucial "quality of life" improvement. It doesn't matter how many oakleaves you've acquired in 22 years; when letting the player essentially skip the gameplay is treated as a godsend, you don't have a very good game." (Vogt) As said in the quote, the ability to speed up gameplay shouldn't be necessary. The gameplay is also described as monotonous. Games must be interesting to keep players motivated to continue playing. Keeping players interested in the game is a big part of video game making.

Game designers and developers must put player enjoyment first when making a game. Even if the ultimate goal is to make money or gain popularity in the community, player enjoyment is what leads to a game's success. If a player isn't having fun playing a game, they won't recommend it to others, or join an online community about it, or even continue playing it. For this reason, I decided to find information about the process of game design and development, where ideas came from, and how enjoyment of the game came into the mix. I found an academic study of a game jam in 2013. A game jam is an event where multiple groups of game makers come together to make games in an allotted time using a given prompt. The study discusses multiple aspects of the game jam, including initial ideas, prototyping, and game development and testing, the latter of which is shown in the quote here: "Participants [in the game jam] removed systems within the game (e.g. attacks requiring combinations of buttons rather than single buttons) or reduced the total number of components used (e.g. fewer game levels or types of enemies). Swapping mechanics occurred when already implemented systems were buggy or dysfunctional or when playtesting (personally or with others) showed them to be overly complex or unintuitive." (Zook) This quote shows how game developers must think about how the players will interact with mechanics, especially mechanics they aren't used to. Mechanics are how you do things in the game, whether it be with certain buttons, an item, movement, interaction with the environment, or a combination of these. Mechanics must be easy to pick up on and learn for beginning players, but difficult to master so as to keep players entertained. The quote shows how initially complex mechanisms such as button combinations or buggy systems can be unintuitive for the players, and therefore need to be fixed. If a player has difficulties with the game's function, it won't be fun to play. Games must be fun if they want to keep players interested.

For this paper, I interviewed one of my friend's younger brothers, an avid player of video games. Ian plays video games for a few hours every day, he says, on xbox, nintendo switch, and mobile devices. In the interview, he says that what he thinks makes video games enjoyable is having fun. Although he plays video games more suited to younger users, there were a few things he had to say about games he disliked. The main things he didn't like about games were the difficulty (too hard, too easy) bad graphics, or he "wasn't as interested as he thought he was." His viewpoint as someone who plays a lot of video games is very useful for the question I'm asking. Difficulty of games is something that is hard to balance for game developers. As discussed earlier, the mechanics must be intuitive so the player can pick up on them easily. However, if the entire game is easy, the player will get bored, just like Ian did.

"What makes video games enjoyable?" is the question I've tried to answer. So, what does make video games enjoyable? I'd say it's a variety of things. Video games are so complex, and what makes them entertaining is even more complex. There's such a huge variety of video games available to play, on dozens of platforms and consoles, and in many different ways. Expecting to find just one answer for such a broad question would be unjustifiable. So, I've determined a couple things that make video games enjoyable. As Ian said, games should be fun. Fun means different things to each person, so different games will be better for different people. Different difficulties and styles of games will be different for different people. A more casual game style, like mobile games or kid's games, might be more enjoyable for a gamer like Ian. However, strategy based games such as Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, or shooting games such as CS:GO might be more suited to older players. In short, what makes video games enjoyable is the variety of games there are to play. Games are for everyone, and each type of video game has people who enjoy it, and people who don't. There is no one clear answer to this question. Unfortunately, this means that if I want to be more involved in playing video games, I'm going to have to try some games and find out what I like. If you're interested in video games, I suggest you do the same.

Works Cited

Jabr, Ferris. “Can You Really Be Addicted to Video Games?” New York Times, 22 October 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/magazine/can-you-really-be-addicted-to-video-games.html. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Leeson, David M. "Northrop Frye and the story structure of the single-player shooter." English Studies in Canada, vol. 37, no. 2, 2011, p. 137+. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A294194389/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=e5b85bc6. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/video%20game. Accessed 5 November 2020.

S., Ian. Personal interview. December 2020.

Stych, Anne. “Americans' favorite forms of entertainment are digital.” bizjournals, 28 March 2019, https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/03/americans-favorite-forms-of-entertainment-are.html?page=all#:~:text=The%20shift%20to%20digital%20is,research%20by%20The%20NPD%20Group. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Vogt, Ryan. "For all its greatness, Final Fantasy VII wasn't a good game. Let's remember why." Washingtonpost.com, 7 Apr. 2020. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619723232/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=0b17c660. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Zook, Alexander and Mark O. Riedl. "Game Conceptualization and Development Processes in the Global Game Jam." School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, http://www.fdg2013.org/program/workshops/papers/GGJ2013/ggj13_submission_4.pdf. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

#idk what this is #hopefully now I won’t fail english class

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candicewright · 5 years ago

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So I'm finally getting over my denial and rewriting this post after Tumblr so rudely lost it yesterday. Except, this time I'm writing it on Google Docs first so that I don't lose it.

Jokes on you, Tumblr.

The two asks that I got for the character ask game requested our Once and Future King Arthur Pendragon.

@epic-sorcerer

Well, get ready for an essay, because I have opinions.

1. Do you love/hate this character?

My relationship with Arthur, as with many other characters of the show, is very love/hate. The problem with him, however, is that it's not his personality that makes me hate him, but the writing of the show.

And it pisses me off.

Despite being arrogant and emotionally constipated half of the time, he's a very good-natured and kind person. Pure of heart, as Anhora would say. Sometimes, he cares so much about others that he just trusts them, no questions asked. He's a noble man, and not only in the sense that he's royalty but in the fact that he strives to do what's right. He believes in equality in spite of rank and gives people chances based on their skills and aptitudes and not their position. He's kind and he always tries to learn from his mistakes, trying to be a better man. He even helps his friends advance in any way he can, making them knight or, in Gwen's case, the queen.

And yet, when it comes to Merlin, he seems to forget this.

It's like the writers wanted him to be purposefully mean to his best friend, which makes no sense.

He ignores him when he comes to him with a warning or advice.

He ignores when he's upset, like he doesn't notice.

But he does.

We know he does.

He doesn't give him credit for anything. And I'm not talking about the magic stuff, he doesn't know about that. I'm talking about him just being a good friend, someone he can talk to, literally the oNLY PERSON WHO CARES ABOUT HIM AS ARTHUR AND NOT AS A KING. And don't come @ me for this because literally everyone else gains something from their relationship with Arthur EXCEPT for Merlin. Like??? he doesn't even get a promotion or raise??? that we know of??? in like 10 years??? He doesn't have a seat at the Round Table, for heaven's sake! Why?!? He was there when they first created it, and Arthur acknowledged him then. Did he forget or something? (Can you tell I'm bitter about it?)

And I have many theories that explain why he doesn't give Merlin the credit he deserves, but it just feels like I'm justifying the blatantly bad writing, and I don't want to that. I may do a separate post about it later.

I love Arthur. He's a softie, a dumbass, a ball of sunshine.

And his relationship with Merlin is my favorite thing ever (if you couldn't tell). It's such a meaningful bond, whether you ship them or not. I mean, everyone can see how much they care for each other.

But it becomes very toxic at times and it SUCKS because I just want them to be cute and domestic together. I want them to buy that farm and live happily ever after. At the very least, I want to get used to hearing him call Merlin a friend and not be SHOCKED every time he says it. Because every time it happened (3x12, 4x05, etc) I was SUPRISED and I SHOULDN'T BE.

Okay, I'm going to cut him some slack here because I genuinely do love him and this looks like I hate him and I don't, I really don't. He has very wonderful moments. Look at him, he's so soft.

As Mithian says, he's a lovable person, isn't he? Underneath it all.

So, a big FUCK YOU to the Merlin writers for doing him dirty.

2. What’s your favorite trait of this character?

His kindness towards others and how much he truly cares about everyone despite having been hurt so many times. I mean, for all the difficulties he has when talking about or dealing with his emotions, he's extremely emotionally driven and I can relate to that a lot.

3. What’s your favorite moment/event involving this character?

You're all going to have me for this, but it's the finale. The amount of emotion he displays without having to talk much is outstanding.

Look at him.

LOOK AT HIM.

You know what's going through his head each and every second and it's so beautiful but so painful. It's one of the reasons why the ending hits so hard.

4. If you could have one power/attribute/etc. of this character, what would it be?

The sword fighting abilities, of course. I want to do the thing.

You know, The Sword Spin Thing™

5. When did you fall in love/hate with this character?

I fell in love from his first banter with Merlin in episode 1. I immediately adopted him as my dumbass.

I started hating him on episode 2 when he screams at Merlin for the whole snake incident.

It's been love/hate ever since. More love than hate though.

6. Who’s your OTP for this character?

…

….

…..

Do I even have to say it?

Other than that, probably Gwen? I don't like how rushed that storyline is or what they did to Gwen's character in the fifth season (that's an entirely different post though) but I do think they were cute together. They don't have nearly as much chemistry as Merlin and Arthur do, but they can still make me smile like an idiot at times.

Merthur is and forever will be my OTP though.

And that concludes this thing! Hopefully Tumblr decides to actually post it this time. Please, give me some love for my efforts; I'm sick, frustrated and tired. If you made it to the end, thank you💜

#bbc merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #arthur pendragon #merlin x arthur #arthur x merlin #merlin #meta #ask response #swearing #THEY DID MY BABY DIRTY AND I'M MAD OKAY

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signofwolf · 3 years ago

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Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – book review

Series: Throne of Glass #7 Genre: YA, Fantasy Theme: Fae, magic users, war Warnings: mentions of torture, imprisonment Star rating: 0,5/10

Why did I pick this up?: I wanted to end this horrible series once and for all.

[Heavy spoilers ahead]

To make myself clear, before this book I quite liked this series. It wouldn’t place in my top 100 books, not even close, but it was a pleasant pageturner to listen to in audiobooks when working.

Language

Let’s start slow. I lack the words to express how much I hate the words ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘mate’ after this series. Not even gonna try to express my trauma. But these 3 gems aside, Sarah J. Maas needs a dictionary. Or compress her work to a manageable size. Everything sang, Everyone melted, Every man roared, Every woman trembled, Everyone was unleashing themselves at least once a chapter (number of chapters: 122) ). And now I know definitely too much about Yrene’s ‘womb’. I know so much…

Dynamism

I thought that was a book about a war with heavy action content. Oh boy, I was wrong. This 984-pages monstrosity has maybe 5 pages of action. If you squint.

Every sequence, where by design action should take place was followed by one of two scripts:

Few sentences of action and then a few pages long internal monologue. Often repeated with the same character after the next few sentences of action, or with the next character and then the next (sometimes the first character made a second appearance and then everything would go all over again). And the word ‘character’ used in these sentences is not because I’m rambling. This book is written that way!

Few sentences of action and then action stops, and we are graced by a few pages long conversation. In the middle of a battle. Or spying. Or in Erawan’s chambers, when his castle is going down, and he is running up the stairs...

Time

Leaving alone the fact that apparently all series took less than a year (till this book I estimated the plot for about 3 years, Wiki told me it was 2, but Maas knows best), because that is a can of worms in itself. Time in this one? I honestly have no idea. There were many ‘few weeks of travel’ parts with two main groups of POVs. Personally my only time indicator was ‘Orynth won’t fall till Aelin gets here’. But nothing just fit. And I saw Lost Song when in the last episode we as the audience realized that our two POVs parallel storylines are in reality millennia apart. Lost Song made sense.

Emotional loading

… there wasn’t any. Really, it was like reading a milk label. Every time the scene was potentially emotionally impactful, Maas went ahead to overexplaining EVERY. GOD. DAMMED. THING. And it was abso-fucking-lutely everything. ‘Emotional dilemma? Let’s current POV explain it! 2 pages should be enough… Damn maybe it wasn’t enough. I know! I’ll switch POVs and explain it through the other character!’ <= My impression of Maas’ thought process. I’m fairly sure that the record was 7 POVs explaining the same thing in the row, but I was blacking out a little, so I cannot be sure.

And if that wasn’t enough, this book had a second way to defuse tension: random-plastic-repetitive-badly_written-smut. Really badly written and really repetitive. How could you not feel the spicy bits, when Manon (cruel, self assured 100+years old witch-queen) reacts the same in bed as Elide (20years old, virgin, ex-slave). And the rest of them were the same, there weren’t ANY distinctions.Just copy-paste.

The next point in current case: Someone died, it was impactful, I really liked the character, so I got sad. But then 2 of our characters came out of the room with a body, and after a paragraph of grieving they started making out, and then I was regaled with 2-pages-long description of melting cores. That was the place then this book stopped being badly written, and started being distasteful.

Characters

Remember when I was writing about switching POVs (which is 15(!!!) In the whole book. Oh and an omniscient narrator in places when our current POV was grieving too much to overthink something, but Maas still wanted to inform us about something)? They were all savagely murdered in the worst way: character mutilation. Somewhere between books our maybe-not-that-original but colorful and interesting characters became carbon copies of each other. I have no idea how many times I didn’t realise there was a POV switch. The only indicator was a change of pronoun, or when Maas was telling us the name of a current narrator. These were the only ways. And if you can't distinguish if you are in Dorian’s head or in Manon’s, that is the sign of a really BAD writing.

Romance

…there wasn't any. In all this book there wasn't any naturally progressing romantic scene. There were Maas’ endgame pairings which were sexing or pinning. As the author Maas loves to write about soulmates. And it’s not a bad thing itself. When I want some fluffy story I often tag ‘soulmates’ in AO3 and voila, +10 to good mood. But God above, it is not cute when every pair you write about are ‘true mates’ just BECAUSE. It is the only way Maas sees a relationship, as a fated pairing, written in the wake of the universe by the God himself. There is no choice, nor the work to put in it. They are the author's OTP and that means that they are perfect and they should have children right now. Point in case:

Guy was treating a girl like a shit on his sole, including throwing her naked out of tent, on a snow, with their friends present, all the while abusing her verbally in a worst way. But it’s okay, because when she almost died he realised his mistakes and apologised. Two scenes later, he was forgiven, because... fated mates?

The pathos

I know that many people don't like this type of scenes, but it's not my case. I’m reading by picturing images and not repeating words. I like sequences that I can imagine to be grand and glorious, even if they are a little corny. That said, the pathos scenes were the most disappointing ones for me. Maas likes to write parts that are more picturesquely exalted than logically possible [point in case: meeting of 5 armies/forces in the random patch of sand in Empire of Storms, and it being painted as ‘an Aelin’s great plan’. I laughed myself silly at that. But not taking logic and all the plot holes into consideration that was a nicely looking scene. In Kingdom of Ash that wasn’t the case. I would say that the author wanted to paint us a renaissance painting every 20 pages or so. In my opinion, every time she failed miserably. Each and every of those scenes was or to farfetched to be even remotely realistic, and evidently written only for a sake of the picture, or just plainly stupid.

Example, and it’s so priceless a scene, that I just need to share it: Battle of Orynth, 25th day or so (time in this book doesn’t exist), the 13. sacrificed themselves (like thousands before them but hush). And then, time stops: grieving Manon is going through the city, they open the gates for her (yes, the siege is still on), she goes to the place where they died, after her come out all of our main heroes, and half the city itself with ‘flowers, rocks and precious possessions’ and they lay it there in a tribute to these brave (evil till 2 months ago) witches. I honestly can’t remember when was the last time I saw such an abstract scene. It’s a material for an essay in itself. No, I could not take it seriously.

Additionally, it's hard to make an impact as every damn sentence is grand and lofty. In the end it became truly pathetic, Aelin vs Maeve was unreadable.

Character deaths:

Let's make a quick count: main characters in a series at the start of KoA: 12 secondary characters in a series at the start of KoA: 20ish minor and total background: a lot more

Death count: main: 0 secondary: 3 minor: 2 (11 if we try very hard)

Resurrections: 1 (possibly 3, but not gonna analyze it)

Did you feel emotions of this impossible war against this all-encompassing, all-powerful, invincible, immortal, cunning Evil with armies from 3 continents and 2 worlds? No? Me neither.

Oh well, but there were a lot of deaths of ordinary soldiers. I’m quite certain that all of Terrasen’s army was at least twice brought back to life for them to die in these numbers.

Logic or lack thereof

Oh, and let’s not forget about the Deus ex machina army of unbeatable, magical elves on wolves, from legends, living for the past thousands of years in the unreachable lands of the north, because they managed to run from the surprise attack 10 years earlier. Did I mention that they came from portals, which the whole book was telling us were impossible to make in this scenario? After the previous saviour army was already fighting there for a day? And that Aelin didn’t know they would come for sure (how did she contact them again?)? Even though they were waiting in the full armours for these portals? Ah, and also: that army didn’t do anything. They just came and fought for maybe 4 minutes. And there were just so many things like that!

And if we’re on the topic of armies I present you: ‘My favourite absurd-list in the series: allied armies’.

(As a comparison, in A Song of Ice and Fire by J.R.R Martin, in 7 kingdoms of Westeros, at the peak of war there were 7 forces present, but not all were even engaged in a war.)

First the ones that made sense:

Armies of Terrasen’s Lords (counted as one, not gonna nitpick)

The Khaganate army (also counted as one)

Galan Ashryver’s armada

Whitethorn fraction

Rebel Ironteeth witches

…should Dorian be counted as an ‘army’?

And there were some that did not:

Ansel of Briarcliff’s army

The Silent Assassins

Mycenians

Wild Men of the Fangs

Army of magical elves on wolves

And the ‘I don’t even know’ category:

Crochan witches

Overpowering and overreaching

Section title tells it all. The stakes were too high. I was honestly waiting for Aelin to become Super Saiyan and start to throw planets at Maeve and Erawan. I won’t spoil if this happened.

In my opinion it could be a really great series, if our list of villains ended with Arobynn and King of Adarlan, and the list of Aelin titles with an assassin and a princess. We could have had two main fight plots: one emotional with Arobynn, when Aelin would have to face a damage he had done to her, and overcome it. And the second one, with freeing Terrasen from Adarlan’s rule. That’s it. There was an asshole, power hungry king, who feared magic and wanted to rule the East part of a continent. A lot of plot, but not so much that we stopped to care, or didn’t have time to cover everything. We could really get to know what Terrasen and his people were like and not JUST GET TOLD that it was ‘the greatest place in the world’ every damn 20 pages.

Plus…should Dorian be counted as an ‘army’? It's a REALLY valid question.

Climaxes

IIf I have to write a list of things that disappointed me in this book, this review would be thrice its current size, but one of the worst grievances I have is the complete lack of acknowledging the plotlines that had been started. This book series has overall 4 372 pages (not counting novellas) and 12 main characters (still not gonna address this). All of them had their storylines and arcs but if they weren't tied up in the previous instalments they wouldn’t be in this one. I get it, Maeve and Erawan got beaten (in an extremely unsatisfactory way) but they were only a background in this series' plots.

Aelin Well, Aelin was one of 3 people (+2 paragraf-long insertion from Nesryn and Chaol) who got their own POV’s after the battle (second was technically Rowan, who was ‘Aelin’s POV outside of Aelin’.The third Dorian, who got almost a full two pages). And from this we got that: she got crowned, Aedion got his bond and that Maas have no idea how the city looks after weeks of siege. In her case what angered me the most was ‘Terrasen is my home’ subplot. Only in this tome we read at least 3 times that Aelin will be okay with dying, if only she gets to see Terrasen one last time, or if she get to die on Terrassen soil. But you know what? Maas forgot to write the scene where Aelin actually ‘comes in’.

Mannon Didn't get her own POV after the battle, but here’s what we’ve got: She is going to the Wastes with Croachans and Ironteeth. Whait. What? Yes, that was the ending of this 500+ years of feud. They fought together and they decided to unite their two species, completely forgetting more than half a millenia of slaughter. I can only hope that there were at least some talks behind the scenes… NO! F*** NO! This isn’t how it works!

Rowan, Dorian, Chaol, Yrene, Lysandra, Aedion, Lorcan, Elide, Nesryn, Sartaq Lived happily ever after

Secondary minor and total background characters Survived (I acknowledge that they would be ignored in most books’ epilogues, but this abomination is almost 1000 pages of nothing!!).

Good Scenes

That saying, this book actually had 4 good scenes:

Crochan witches go to war - gathering-forces-to-fight trope, which is my *love-always trope* so I’m not even sure if it was relatively good, or if I’m just a slut for this trope. It was still only a paragraph long though.

[recurring] The children’s tale Aelin repeated to herself to remember who she is.

‘Lorcan Lochan’ - the only marginally funny scene in the whole book

I actually found Darrel making Evangeline his heir charming. Even if circumstances were far-fetched at least.

But the words crime of this book? It was agonisingly, mind-numbingly boring. If the overexplaining and repetitions were to be taken out I highly doubt that there would be 300 pages left.

For these 33 hours of audiobook I suffered through I give it half a star. Because Abraxos exist.

Please see my garishly accurate cover on my instagram! You can also like it there :D

instagram | goodreads

#book #book review #bookworm #review #signofwolf-book_review #opinion #throne of glass #throne of glass series #throne of glass spoilers #sarah j maas #kingdom of ash #aelin galythinius #mary sunderland #tog #fantasy #fandom

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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OPINION: How Umineko Changed My Entire Approach to Fictional Media

All screenshots captured on Playstation 3 by author

The following article contains a discussion of thematic elements and motives that appear during the second half of Umineko When They Cry. While no actual plot details will be revealed, some might still consider it spoilery. So if you want to experience one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever completely untainted, you should check it out on Steam right now.

The internet is pretty rad, isn't it? You can follow your favorite creators, watch tons of awesome shows, and talk about your favorite things with other people. How about we do that right now? Well, too bad, because YOUR FAVORITE THING IS BAD, ACTUALLY! You made the mistake of posting about it online, so prepare to be sent lots of negative comments linking to 5-hour video essays pointing out every single flaw about your favorite story and why you are wrong for enjoying it!

It's a situation I'm sure many of us have experienced at least a couple of times online. While the internet can be fantastic for finding like-minded people to chat with about things you deeply love, it can also be a gamble and sometimes you end up in a discussion where your conversational partner seems more interested in showing off their intellectual superiority over a work instead of openly discussing its merits or flaws. I certainly know — I used to be one of them.

"As I've eaten my way through countless tales to escape boredom, I haven't really been eating them. I've just been killing them." - Hachijo Tohya

The rise of social media has opened the gates for some incredible in-depth discussion and has changed the way I experience things over the years. But there is also a dark side to the discussions on the internet and that is the trap of wanting to feel intelligent in how you approach stories, which is often accompanied by not really being emotionally earnest. I myself tried to come off as perceptive by pointing out so many mistakes and bad things about media which led to exactly one thing: me becoming absolutely miserable. All I cared about was consuming as many things as possible (FOMO's also one of the many downsides of social media) and appearing as "smart" about them as I could. Until one fateful 10-month stretch in which I played a certain visual novel known as Umineko When They Cry.

Umineko really is tailor-made for catching people with that mindset: It depicts a mystery story about how mystery stories are told and consumed — and what genre would be more fitting to challenge someone concerned with intellectual superiority than one that is all about the clash of Author vs Reader?

"Books aren't a competition. It's not about who's read the most. But boasting that you've read all your ever need to read is just as wrong-headed" - Battler Ushiromiya

Umineko starts off with a well-known mystery trope: A family meets up in a mansion on a distant island, gets cut off by a storm, and then slowly gets murdered one after the other until everyone is dead. And just as in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (which served as one of Umineko's main inspirations), a bottle detailing the events of the incident to the public eventually washes ashore. But this only serves as Umineko's prologue, as its main character Battler quickly finds himself facing off against a self-proclaimed Golden Witch known as Beatrice on a meta-narrative level where he must prove these gruesome killings could have been committed by a human culprit, or be forced to acknowledge her existence and allow her to fully revive.

Thus begins a game of chess filled with exceedingly preposterous murders in which our protagonist's family gets killed by demons, giant goat butlers, and sharpshooting bunny girls — all supplemented by the so-called Red Truth, a truth-revealing tell not unlike Martha's vomiting in Knives Out. Battler must use these authorial proclamations and find a loophole that enables him to explain the murders in a way that does not frame any of his beloved family members as the killer and still allows him to deny the existence of the gruesome and torturous witch.

Umineko's all about how stories are perceived and told by both their creator and their audience. It explores how remarks by the author in every situation — no matter how off-hand they might be — can be used, applied, and twisted to shed a completely different light on a story regardless of its original intent. It shows how adding meaning to a narrative that wasn't meant to be there can both add to or subtract from its most important element: The heart its creator wanted to convey.

"If I had found meaning in only exposing the truth, I would have sunk to the level of a truth-revealing witch and fallen into ruin, spreading only hatred, [...], crushing and refusing to acknowledge anything but the particular truth I seek, unable to escape the cycle of misery." - Ange Ushiromiya

Umineko goes through many different angles of how we create, share, and discuss the tales that fuel our discourse. It ponders the importance of rules when creating storylines and tackles how easy it is to overlook major themes and motives by just focussing on minute details that are open to misinterpretation and irrelevant to a story's soul. It even includes the typical misanthropic yet oh so intelligent detective that usually gets idolized in most media (think BBC's Sherlock or House, M.D.) and puts them at odds with every other character because who would really want to cooperate with someone that completely disregards you as an equal human being and merely perceives you as an amalgation of hints, motives and alibis?

"Sheesh! Just one more step and I'd have been able to take a heart as innocent as the smooth sand just after a wave had pulled back and tear it to bits. What a shame. This isn't fun anymore." - Erika Furudo

And just when you start to really get into Umineko, it moves away from its main conflict, providing you important hints for its solution which most readers ignore as they aren't presented with facts and logic but on an emotional level distanced from the characters we long to get back to. But most importantly, it conveys how one single element is so indispensable to enjoying the narrative odysseys we embark on in our lives, to cherishing the characters that are presented to us in these tales, and to truly understand a story's message behind things like story developments, plot twists, and narrative tricks. I, of course, am talking about love.

Be it the love you feel for characters, for certain staging elements, phrasings of prose, orchestrations of music, design of sound effects, implementations of themes and motives, or cinematographic puzzle pieces — the one thing that is indispensable to truly enjoy all kinds of media, is love. Or, to quote Umineko directly, "Without love, it cannot be seen."

By the time, I was nearing the end of Umineko's eight main chapters, it had transformed from an intellectual battle between author and reader to an all-out war of a story against its community of readers who simply wanted to tear it down to cold, hard "facts." I had spent ten months and over 100 hours. The first half took eight of those months to get through (owing to a few lengths in Episodes 2 and 4), I finished the second half in less than two despite my busy schedule. I even dedicated a whole 15-hour marathon to the final episode as I was too glued to the grand finale to move away from it.

A new me came out the end. I no longer had an interest in tearing apart media for minor missteps. I enjoyed them much more deeply and honestly and began taking my time with the things I consumed. Instead of filling my plate at the buffet of stories as much as I could, I gave each dish its own course on the menu so I could appreciate its flavor in a different way — one bite at a time and not stuffed up simply to give the outward appearance of a seasoned gourmet. And for that, I will never be able to thank Ryukishi07 and his co-creators at 07thExpansion enough.

"The point of theory-making is not to create a culprit or to trample the truths that lie in the hearts of those who have not sinned. If you want to play detective, don't neglect the heart. Otherwise, we're just intellectual rapists. Don't forget it!!" - Willard H. Wright

If you are interested in reading Umineko When They Cry, you can find both its Question Arcs and its Answer Arcs on Steam, GOG, and MangaGamer. You can also read the manga adaptation digitally on Bookwalker (though I personally recommend the visual novel for its award-worthy soundtrack alone).

What work of fiction has touched your life in a profound way? Tell us in the comments!

René Kayser works for Crunchyroll as a PR and Social Media Manager in Germany. You can find him on Twitter @kayserlein where he tries to get people into Umineko every single day.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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the-irrelevant-trumpeter · 4 years ago

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My Ranking of StarKid shows

Okay, so I haven’t posted any original content for a while, so I’m gonna do some ranking. Note: I don’t dislike any of the shows, they’re all amazing and just because a show is low on my list doesn’t mean I don’t like it.

Also, spoiler warning for all of them (duh)

So here we gooooo

12) Holy Musical B@man

I don’t know, to be honest... the humour just didn’t click with me as much as the other shows did. I’ve never seen or read any Batman or DC stuff, so that doesn’t help, but it just really didn’t stick out to me. However, it’s still amazing. The soundtrack is great (Rogues are We is my 3rd favourite StarKid song), Brian Holden as Superman is iconic, and it was overall very sweet and fun.

11) Me and My Dick

This is mostly because I don’t like sex, but the other parts are really sweet! Joey/Sally is such an underrated ship (so is Tiffanessa... yeah I’m still thinking about them...) and it had a lot of good songs and funny scenes (AJ as Joey’s Heart was the best thing ever). It was made in 2009, so some of the jokes are outdated, but the good parts are great.

10) A Very Potter Senior Year

This is mainly so low because of some personal reasons (that I’m not going to go into). But it was really sweet and made me cry, had some great songs (looking at you Sidekick...) and was amazing when you take into account that they barely had any rehearsal time.

9) Ani: A Parody

I’m actually really sad about putting this so low. Ani is so good and is severely underrated. Chris Allen was amazing, and JJ’s death was, in my opinion, one of the saddest deaths in a StarKid musical. My only criticism is Tarkin and Emily’s relationship, which has got to be one of my least favourite ships, but it did provide some funny moments, and Joe and Julia were amazing. Nick’s Obi-Wan was hilarious. Also, the music slaps and anyone who says it isn’t a real musical because the cast doesn’t sing can fight me, because Clark and Pierce went too hard for us to say that it doesn’t count. Also, despite what a lot of people say, I have watched like 2 Star Wars movies and still understood most of the jokes. They actually did a really good job of making it funny for everyone, and the point of most of the jokes were that you didn’t have to understand them. I think that if I hadn’t seen or read Harry Potter, or watched Aladdin or Disney, I would have enjoyed Ani more than the AVP Trilogy and Twisted.

Wow, went on a rant there. Okay...

8) Twisted

This is going to be unpopularly low... I do love it, I just don’t vibe with it as much. It was really great, it was constantly making me laugh, the soundtrack was amazing, and I loved how it kind of had a moral to the story. I just don’t really care, y’know. It was great, but just didn’t capture my attention like some of them. I don’t really have any more to say on it.

7) A Very Potter Musical

Ah, the OG musical. AVPM has so much nostalgic value. I think it really holds a special place in all of our hearts. It was the first StarKid musical I watched, and I just have a lot of fond memories from it. Actual quality wise, it’s probably not as good as a lot of them, but it’s what started this whole thing, and it’s gotta go up higher.

6) Black Friday

I’ve seen a lot of dislike for this one, which I think isn’t really fair? My only real criticism is that it’s very busy and has got a lot going on, but so do a lot of the others. I think it has one of the strongest soundtracks, Jeff did an amazing job. All of the cast was great, and the filming was outstanding. I think a lot of people don’t like it because it was the most serious, but honestly, I like that StarKid is trying something new (AND it still had so many funny moments as well). Yeah, I just think it is amazing.

5) A Very Potter Sequel

In my opinion, this is definitely the best of the AVP Trilogy. It was the funniest for me, had the best soundtrack (Days of Summer, The Coolest Girl, Harry Freakin’ Potter, I could keep on going for ages). Obviously there’s the problem with the portrayal of Umbridge. I’m not the best with words, so I won’t go into it, but a lot of other people have put it really well. But apart from that, it’s really great.

Okay, the next two are basically tied. I usually choose them based on which one I’m vibing with at the moment, but just consider them the same.

4) Firebringer

I’ll admit, I originally didn’t like this one, but then I rewatched it and was amazed that I’d slept on it for so long. It’s very funny, the soundtrack is amazing, the choreography is amazing (thank you Denise Donovan), and let’s not forget, THE COSTUMES. HAVE YOU SEEN HOW GREAT THE COSTUMES ARE. JUNE SAITO IS A QUEEN. Anyway, yeah, it’s really well written, and i super sweet and fun to watch (also Jazzalil was not rushed and I can and will write a whole essay on it).

3) Trail to Oregon

I just love how dumb it is. It’s so silly and immature, and it’s great to watch. It is, in my opinion, the funniest StarKid show. It has the perfect small ensemble cast (also let’s take a moment to appreciate Joey Richter. Thank you, you may continue) and it has CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! WE LOVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! The music is amazing (even You Gotta Go, which everyone seems to hate because of the fart noises). I just love it heaps. Also, it has my ALL TIME FAVOURITE STARKID SONG EVER! WAGON ON FIRE ROCKS!

2) Starship

I feel like most people assume this is my favourite because of my username, which is valid and I can understand why. Starship is my comfort musical. It’s my emotional support musical. It’s just... so cute? It’s silly and a bit of fun, and is just kind of a feel-good show. I don’t mind how busy it is, it keeps me entertained all the way through and makes me want to come back and watch it again. It is also the home of my OTP (Tootsie/Megagirl is the cutest thing ever and I will die with that opinion). It also has some of the best characters. Also, in my opinion, it has the best soundtrack, despite only having 10 songs - it’s got 2 songs in my Top 5 (The Way I Do at no. 2 and Kick it up a Notch at no. 4), and there’s not a single song I dislike. The puppets were freaking amazing! I just love it A LOT and I think all of the StarKid’s are really sleeping on it (looking at you Nick...)

1) The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals

Yes, I know, I’m very boring and stereotypical. I’m sorry I couldn’t have a more interesting opinion.

I really don’t think there’s much denying that TGWDLM has the best plot/storyline. It gives me big Dr. Who vibes, which I love. I’m usually not a big fan of horror, but this was the perfect mix of seriousness and comedy. It’s very engaging and keeps you wondering what happens next. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for angsty endings, which TGWDLM definitely provides. I just really love sci-fi stuff. It has a really strong soundtrack, top notch dancing, and was just overall the best StarKid show.

So yeah, that’s my ranking. Tell me what you thought! I’ll probably do some song rankings for each show. Also don’t be too angry at me please.

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miggydiaz · 4 years ago

Note

for the salty ask: 3, 7, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 27 for spn

I had to do this one today because I have a LOT of Supernatural feelings and so a lot of these are even longer than my CK one. But thanks for the ask @wonderwolfballoon!

UNPOPULAR SUPERNATURAL OPINIONS AHOY: INCLUDES ANTI-DESTIEL SENTIMENTS AND OTHER UNSAVORY ELEMENTS

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? 100000000% I have unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion in the SPN fandom. SPN was the fandom that taught me to make JUDICIOUS use of the blocking feature tumblr offers in order to curate my experience. I would actually encourage anyone and everyone to use the blocking feature if they disagree with people. Honestly, we don’t owe anyone our time or energy, especially on the internet! It is much healthier than sending or responding to hate, IMO. 7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?* This is actually a hard one for me to answer, so let me start by saying -- I have not seen a SINGLE episode since 9x05? I think? Whichever episode was the Dr. Deanlittle one where he talks to animals. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the first 5 seasons, and they are all I watch anymore and I pretend nothing else exists after that (except The French Mistake because that episode is hilarious). But uh... I guess the simple answer is when I was originally watching it, I really loved Dean. He was brash, snarky, rough around the edges... but kind of soft in a I’m too toxically masculine to deal with my softness sort of way that I love seeing characters grow out of as they mature. But when I go back and rewatch now, much older than I was in 2006 when I first started watching, I see how awful a lot of his older behavior truly was. I still love Dean, and I will be a Dean girl until I die probably, but sometimes you gotta remind yourself that your faves have been problematic in the past so you don’t put them up on fandom constructed pedestals.

10. Most disliked arc? Why? AND AS A BONUS, MY ANSWER to 11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? I could write a literal essay about all of the problems I have with the later seasons (the ones I watched, which encompasses 6, 7, 8, and a few episodes of 9). But by far and away, the thing I hated most, was the Men of Letters.

Okay, this is where I am going to recognize my love of certain characters is at FUNDAMENTAL ODDS with how that character develops later and what history and background we get later on them. I RECOGNIZE this character is problematic, and I would NEVER STAND for his shit IRL, but fiction is complicated and nuanced, and fantastic circumstances do not make for normal behaviors. That being said, with all warnings I could possibly give, and with the full understanding that what I am about to say is basically fandom blasphemy of the highest order...

I like John Winchester’s character.

I know, I know. If you wanna stop reading and block me now, you are free to do that. I will not hold it against you. I am not about to apologize for anything he has done. I just need to contextualize why I have such an issue with the MOL storyline and it starts with the simple fact that I liked John Winchester as he was originally presented.

To me, and with the full understanding that I am answering this from the perspective of someone who DOES NOT regard anything past season 5 as personal canon, John Winchester is the perfect example of a truly complicated character. Here’s a parent who, if we take the pilot and the original s2 Djinn episodes at face value, could have been a great parent, who then got shoved into a fantastically impossible situation and made terrible choices that he thought were necessary in order to keep himself and his sons safe. That does not EXCUSE the heaps of abuse that he piled onto Dean in any way. We know John and Mary didn’t have a great marriage. But we also know from the pilot that John was at least a caring and present father, mostly, for the 4 years he got to parent in a normal world, and that if Mary had lived, John would’ve been a softball playing dad who raised his kids and had a loving marriage with his wife. (Again, I need to reiterate, I did not watch anything past the early episodes of s9. If there is later canon that negates this, I do not know about it, nor do I want to because I don’t think of anything past 5 as canon) This is all important to me because these things emphasize that John was “NORMAL”. He was a mechanic, from a family of mechanics, whose father didn’t bail on him (a man in the episode where Dean is transported back in time to Lawrence tells John to ‘say hi to your old man for me’ or something to that effect). He was just a midwestern dude. Giving John Winchester a fantastical background through this Men of Letters bullshit made me SO MAD. First of all, I hate when later canon negates previous canon. I cannon TELL you how much I hate it. And the later seasons of Supernatural are riddled with stuff that doesn’t make any damn sense in the context of original, Kripke written canon, which is exactly why I stopped watching. That’s not ~Evolution of the show.~ That’s conveniently forgetting stuff that made your show and its premise so successful to begin with in order to keep filming episodes so you can keep making money. It’s the sacrifice of art for capitalism and yes I know this is a stupid TV show but as a writer myself it PISSES ME OFF.

/rant

ALSO, the idea that this toxically masculine family was set on this path by Heaven, and inherited this curse that put them on this path from their mother was such a good plot twist in its heyday. We spent four seasons thinking of Mary Winchester as a victim of circumstance, whose fate could not have been avoided because she was the mother to Sam, who is effectively cursed. And then, we learn that its BECAUSE of Mary that this ball even got rolling in the first place. IDK if you were around for that time in the fandom but at least in my circle, this was a big fucking deal. There had been so much (rightful) discourse about John before this, and what kind of parent he was, that Mary became almost deified in the same way Dean deifies her. And then we find out that this whole story gets set in motion by a decision she made because this was the life she found herself in. This was great. It was interesting. And even though the MOL doesn’t negate any of this, it does give John this weirdly fantastical that isn’t necessary. Let this guy be just some Joe Schmoe who fell in love with a kick ass hunter and had no idea any of this even existed. Let Mary and her want to be ‘normal’ be a complicated moral choice that fundamentally altered the paths of her husband and sons. It’s good tv!

Also, I fucking hate the bunker. The best episodes are Dean and Sam having moments in the car, or while in motel rooms on their cases, or whatever. I don’t mind them having a home base. I’m fine with that. But if a building could ever be a Mary Sue character, the bunker is it. I hate all of the MOL storyline, starting with this place.

I may not even tag this as Supernatural, I don’t need angry later season stans in my inbox.

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

There’s nothing good about anything that happened after season 6. It’s all a bunch of retconning bullshit. Season 6 had its moments where it was interesting, so I cut it a little bit of slack, but as far as I’m concerned, the show ended in season 5. I’m not sure that’s necessarily unpopular, but it does feel that way on tumblr, so.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

Aside from ending it in season 5?

Oooh, I’m about to blaspheme again. I am definitely not tagging this as Supernatural.

I would never have introduced Castiel, and I would’ve given that entire storyline to Anna. Or, alternatively, I would’ve flipped their story lines.

Look, for whatever it’s worth... I agree with the idea that Dean Winchester is a repressed bisexual. His Dr. Sexy love, the entire storyline with Benny in season 8, etc. I just don’t think he feels romantically about Castiel. And like, that’s okay! Just because you’re not into someone who is into you doesn’t mean you owe them a relationship or anything, no matter what the fandom thinks.

But I also think Dean has a big problem when it comes to women. Again, obviously later on in the series, Dean shifts and Charlie happens and Claire Novak and I know all of these things from gifs okay, context is not applicable here because I have none. But early on, Dean struggles A LOT with thinking of women as A) capable and B) trustworthy. He exists in a perpetual state of identifying women along the Madonna/Whore binary. Even Jo, however you feel about her, and to be clear, I loved Jo, but he doesn’t stop thinking of her really as a kid until they’re about to shoot the devil. Up until then, he’s genuinely surprised Ellen lets her out of the damn house.

Giving him a strong, capable woman who rebels against Heaven for HIM would have fundamentally altered Dean’s perceptions of women much earlier on than we get and would have forced him to examine some of that misogyny head on.

Dean has no problems trusting men. This is why the entire Gordon fiasco happens, right? It was less work for him to trust Castiel because Castiel is the inverse of Ruby. Angel to her Demon. Angels and demons don’t really have genders, but for the sake of presentation of vessels, man to her woman. Not even getting me started on the problematic parts of having significant demons mostly symbolized by women (Meg, Ruby, Lilith) and having significant angels mostly represented by Men (Castiel, Michael, Lucifer, Zachariah, Gabriel, Raphael), and how that ties into the idea of Original Sin and yada yada, but just like it’s interesting to have Mary and her decisions be the catalyst for the story, it’s interesting to have this badass warrior angel in Anna who marches down to Hell to yank Dean out, and through her interactions with him, decide to rebel against the ultimate patriarchy, while Dean gets an equally strong female counterpart to Sam’s Ruby, a woman for all intents and purposes that he respects as a soldier and an ally and not just a potential piece of ass.

Also, Castiel fans being literally unbearable is why I left the fandom. Nothing against Misha or anything, and not even anything against Cas as a character (who I very much enjoyed in seasons 4 and 5), but his fans have always been the worst and they try to insert him into everything.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Castiel/Destiel fans, which even though I also hated the direction the show was going, drove me out of the fandom. Not like, personally or directly, but just the sheer mental hoops they had to jump through in order to make their ship work and I just got tired of seeing all of the contrived meta on my dash. Oh, and the rampant misogyny that came out of those early Castiel fans. I didn’t appreciate it from the Wincest corner, and I definitely didn’t appreciate it from the fans of the new guy. Gross.

22. Popular character you hate?

Oof. I don’t know. I don’t really hate Castiel, because again, I liked him a lot in seasons 4 and 5. Even 6 was interesting, even if I don’t regard it as my own personal show canon. I don’t think there was a popular character in those first five seasons I ever really hated. I didn’t fundamentally hate a character at all until the MOL stuff came around. Um. Yeah, I don’t really have an answer for this.

23. Unpopular character you love?

Pretty much every female character ever. Jo, Ellen, Ruby, Meg... although Meg became more popular as the series went on, Anna. Um. OH, BELA. Bela ESPECIALLY, I recently rewatched season 3 and I cannot emphasize how MUCH I love Bela. She was the best purely human foil ever. Bela is hands down the character I love most that the fandom had frothing at the mouth hatred for. It doesn’t help that I legitimately think Lauren Cohan is one of the most beautiful women on the planet. But seriously, Bela. Hands down.

24. Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?

I have! Many of times, and ALWAYS WITH THE CAVEAT to stop at the end of season 5. Not a single one of them has listened to me and almost all of them came to me at the end of the finale and were like WHY DID I WASTE SO MUCH TIME, and I don’t want to say I told them so, but like, I explicitly in neon colored text once told them so, so like, idk what to tell them. But yes! I think if someone is interested in some classic mystery television that has an overarching theme of family and forgiveness and striking out against the boxes that life tries to put us all into, SPN is a great show. But only the first 5 seasons. Also, be prepared for some thematically problematic parts of the show because there’s a lot of cishet toxic masculinity in those early seasons, and we should examine our media critically. There’s also a lot of good though too, and IMO, the good outweighs the bad.

25. How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

I would’ve ended it at season 5. I would’ve had Sam escape the pit and seen him standing under the street lamp, but then I would’ve had him walking away to leave Dean with Lisa (btw, side note, I DIDN’T like Lisa because I don’t think Dean would ever be truly happy with someone completely outside the life). Not because Sam doesn’t love his brother, but because he *does* love his brother, and because he would want Dean to be happy, even though Dean and Sam’s ideas of what makes the other happy have always been a little bit screwed up.. but that’s a different story.

27. Least shippable character?

Probably Zachariah. God, could you imagine? And... maybe Alastair, but I’m sure there are fics out there that I do not want to think about.

#wonderwolfballoon #I cannot for the sake of my own sanity tag this #I don't need angry SPN fans coming at me #I hope the bold text at the top helps people to understand what's behind the cut

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ziracona · 4 years ago

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With the rumors about Until Dawn possibly being in dbd I’m curious about what the game actually is? Could you give a description of it and it’s quality?

>:-D I would be thrilled to break it down!

So, I personally adored this game. Actually, back in 2016, I bought a PS4 for the express purpose of being able to play the game more times until I got a happy ending.

Basically, Until Dawn is a decision-based horror game that is a self-reflective on horror as a genre, with a special focus on the way mental illness is treated, and a secondary focus on native tradition in horror. There are 10 playable characters, eight protagonists. Everyone can die. You swap between characters as you go, and the storyline branches depending on your decisions. Your choices alter your characters’ relationships with each other, which is important, as well as their stats (bravery, curiosity, humor, romanticness, honesty, and charity), all of which impact game outcomes and events in the story. You cannot simply win by always being as kind to people as possible, and I’d personally recommend trying to do your best, but playing the characters in-character if you want people to live. Almost everyone I’ve ever seen loses at least Matt their first time. Often Josh or Jessica as well.

Anyway, the basic plot is, ten friends are at their winter getaway on a mountain. They’re late highschool/early college age. A bunch of them decide to play a super cruel prank on one of the friends, because they all know she has a crush on one of the guys. So he and a bunch of the others have him pretend he wants to make out with her, they film her, and then shame her, and she runs off into the night crying. Her best friend tries to warn her and fails, her sister didn’t know and is furious, and her brother and his best friend are both passed out drunk at the time, and have nothing to do with it. Anyway, older sis runs out into the night after baby sis. They’re at their family’s cabin on a mountain in Canada (their family is in the movie business and super rich). You play as the big sister. The girls do not make it through the night.

The remainder of the game, you play the remaining eight friends. They meet up a year later on the anniversary of the sister’s disappearance, because the surviving member of the family, Josh, the baby brother, wants to keep their tradition going and meet up to honor them. Things start to go wrong almost immediately. Some masked man is on the loose, and begins attack teens. Meanwhile, something weird is happening at the abandoned sanitorium nearby, and inexplicable things start to happen in the woods as well. The player does their best to collect clues, which go with one of if I remember correctly three storylines? It might be four. Anyway, all clues help your survival, and give you extra dialogue and sometimes choices. It’s very good to know. You have to make a lot of decisions, and sometimes doing nothing is the right call, so go with your gut. You also find totems, which give you a glimpse into the future, and come in multiple kinds (warnings of danger, death, death to friends, fortune, or guidance--the first three are bad, the last two you want to reach. They will not make sense, but then, when you hit the moment they’re connected to, a lot of the time stuff will click, so do your best to let them guide you).

Basically, your job is to try to understand what is going on, why, and to survive until forest service can show up at dawn to get you the fuck off the mountain to safety. There’s a ticking clock letting you see how long you have left to go, and each chapter has a unique title that changes based on player choice. Also, in-between chapters, you have segments where you play as someone who for most of the game is unknown, being interviewed by a psychologist. The player answers his questions, and makes decisions in the interviews as well, and these also effect gameplay and outcomes, and are responsible for chapter names. Actually, people still haven’t even found all the things the therapy sessions effect, which I think is extremely exciting.

Review wise, horror has long been one of the absolute best genres for intense character study, because the character can be the world’s biggest piece off shit, and you’ll still root for them not to die. Literally the bar is just they have to not be so awful you want them to die horribly. This exponentially increases in video games, because you have the added motivation of wanting to succeed/win. So, UD does a great job of having a super complex cast of characters it does not apologize for, but forces you to view as the complex whole and mix of good and bad they are, and is a great character piece. I hated everyone but Josh, Chris, and Sam when I started (the only three who didn’t do the prank), but by the end Mike, the asshole who pretended to want to make out with the sister, and Emily, the resident bitch, were both characters I loved, and I think I liked everybody but one member. It’s also just a super beautiful game, and it does a great job of being scary and intense, and there’s some amazing sequences. The structure is solid. Your experience will be different depending on how many clues you get ,as will your perception of characters based on choices and motives you understand or don’t, actions you see them take or miss, but that’s just kind of the nature, and it gives it some decent replayability. Also, the dialogue is hilarious and if sometimes pretty goofy, incredibly enjoyable.

The gameplay comes in multiple types. Sometimes you walk around free-reign and look for clues, and sometimes you’ll be in cinematic cutscenes where you act via quick one or the other choices (Run or Hide, Left or Right, etc) and reaction commands. There’s also shooting challenges, where you go into bullet time and line up the cursor on a target and press shoot before time runs out (and if you fail, probably die, but it depends on the severity of the situation), as well as Don’t Move segments, which quite literally mean hold the PS4 controller as still as humanly possible. You can see the glowing sensor on the front of it on your screen, and the bounds you have to keep it in, and can try to correct if it looks like it’s going too far left or right, but these are incredibly hard--I think most people consider them the hardest part of the game--and I know a lot of people just put the damn controller down during those bc they’re so hard. (For this to work you basically have to be playing with your arms already resting on a table though, or it will sense you going to set it down and you’ll auto-fail. It has to be a situation where setting it down legit just means letting go to work). It’s PS4 exclusive game, but it’s also a free game on PS now, so you if you get the 7 day free trial, you can play it on PS now on a computer, so long as you buy a controller (or borrow one or whatever) to play with.

Overall, I think the difficulty level is challenging enough to be fun, and varied enough to not get boring, but the don’t-moves--especially at the very end of the game--can be frustrating. So, I’d recommend either prepping for them and cheating a little in the finale sequence itself (which is like 7 extremely intense Don’t Moves back to back), or living by the age-old decision based proverb “If you hit power before it saves, it didn’t happen,” or both.

The characters are enjoyable, and the story is really good. There’s multiple, well-executed twists, and it’s incredibly sad and compelling as a story--to me anyway. Overall, it’s probably my favorite horror game unless you count season one of TWDG as a horror game, and I definitely wholeheartedly recommend it--especially if you like choice-based games. I’d 100% play it blind your first time, too--that’s the absolutely best way to experience it, even if people die. But, to keep it from getting super frustrating, I’d also totally recommend playing it the “I missed an action command and my fave just died so I hit menu or power before it could try and am gonna do the fight sequence again” way too. Games should be fun! Playing blind is fun, but having a fighting chance to keep your fave alive is too, and that gets you both. Also! Take looking for clues seriously, and do it before you leave an area--the free-walk events are not timed events, unlike in Man of Medan, so it is safe to do so. Some clues will literally change the fate of your character.

Scare wise, I’d say it’s a pretty creepy game. There’s a number of jump scares, but the biggest scares aren’t jump-scares, they’re chase sequences, which are quite nice. It is scary, but not like, any more scary than other horror video games tend to be, like Outlast or Silent Hill. Some of the deaths are pretty damn gorey too, so be forewarned.

And I think that about breaks it down? I’ll throw in some pics for feel.

I could write a whole essay on why I think the narrative has intense value for its meta commentary on horror and its work as a self-reflective genre piece, but that would be rife with spoilers, so I won’t right now. Feel free to ask if you’d like to hear the short version of that, but I want to at least keep in a different post so it’s easy for people looking to avoid spoilers to do so! : )

Oh! Also as a last note, the cast is all phenomenal! Hayden Panettiere, Rami Malek, Brett Dalton, Meaghan Martin, Noah Fleiss, Nichole Bloom, Jordan Fisher, Antonella Lentini, Galadriel Stineman, Peter Stormare, and Larry Fessenden all do bang-up jobs, and it’s a pretty diverse cast too. And there’s a good dog, so games get +10 for dogs. There’s super cool making of stuff in the unlockables I enjoyed a lot, and the checkable character stats are fun. Also the intro is beautiful, and the single prettiest rendition of O’ Death I’ve ever heard.

#ask #Anonymous #until dawn #dead by daylight

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earthfluuke · 4 years ago

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1/hello! i'm late (it's already night here) but i really wanted to take some time and send you an ask 🥰 what you mentioned in your last reply about tax being a lot about memorizing lots of tax code and such totally makes sense. I kinda just.. forgot about that part 😂 it doesn't sound like too much fun to memorize these different things but it's probably not why you choose to study accounting and now tax, right? if you feel like talking about it, why did you choose those as your majors? 😁 - 🎄

2/ going in undecided into uni is also not a thing here, so, yes, i've already chosen a major. it's korean studies, actually! (I'm so glad my parents let me do what i wanted instead of forcing something on me that i'm not passionate about...) - 🎄

3/ it's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work. the semester being online is an advantage for me though - at least in some parts! I live quite far away from the university and getting a flat or a room in the city is nearly impossible, so i don't have to spend nearly 4 hours of the day commuting from one place to the other. it's sad though that i can't meet the other students and my lecturers/professors... :( - 🎄

4/ and about your favourite shows, dw!! i can relate so well, i'm undecisive af when it comes to my favourites from basically everything 😅 i've watched all of these shows except for still2gether (i dropped 2gether after episode 10 or so though). dbk gave us the cutest side couple tbh! morksun stole the spotlight from petekao, for me at least! you're a huge petekao fan though, right? - 🎄

5/ uwma was such a nice watch. it was a bit heavier and i couldn't watch certain scenes (did not need to be reminded of my panic attacks, thank you very much) but over all i did like it. the acting, especially on fluke's side, was awesome but i wish we could've seen more of earth and kao's incarnation of the main couple... i wish kornin's story would've ended differently :(( - 🎄

hello! good morning! i’m so sorry i didn’t get around to answering this last night! i wanted to make sure all of your messages had come in ^^

i don’t usually talk about my career path online, because...it’s very boring? haha, it’s just not something of interest. but since you asked! i took some accounting classes in high school to see if it was a feasible major, and i found out i was quite good at it. so i figured why not? as for my master’s, there is this thing called the cpa (certified public accountant) exam that almost all accountants take. it honestly just makes you look good on paper, if anything, and companies are more likely to hire you. in order to sit for that, you need to have a certain number of credit hours. with just undergrad, you won’t be able to meet those. so i figured that i’d get a master’s to fill those hours. it was between taxation and auditing, and auditing is just NOT for me (auditors are the people who make sure companies aren’t doing anything illegal on their financial statements, and that’s just the most basic way of putting it haha). so that’s how i ended up here!

it’s so nice that your parents are supportive of the path you want to take! i know for me and many others, that isn’t always the case (if i could’ve, i probably would’ve gone down the route of psychology, but alas). i completely relate to living far from my campus, so while online school is hard, at least we don’t have to make that long commute! especially as it gets colder. i’ve had to walk a good few miles from the train to my building, and let me say, i will not be missing that this year! not being able to make connections with people is really one of the worst parts of online school, but hopefully you’re able to meet at least a few classmates in group projects or something like that (even though group projects are the WORST).

still2gether, to me at least, is the superior between the two shows. i don’t want to say i had low expectations, but i definitely didn’t expect so many things i wanted to happen in the show to ACTUALLY happen. it was just so sweet and lovely and comforting.

petekao...is everything to me? that sounds so dramatic, omfg. their relationship just makes my heart so full. i could write essays on them. but in fewer words, i adore that they’re an established couple and that they have such grown up, mature conversations. if we set aside the non storyline for a moment (which i could ALSO write essays on, and i’m planning on doing a complete rewrite of his storyline and therefore the trajectory of the show, because i’m crazy), they truly are so supportive of each other through everything. they’re just so GOOD, and i always wish we got to see more of them. but! i know morksun was The Couple of dbk for a lot of people, which i can understand. i should really go back and rewatch it, so i can pay more attention to them, because i really didn’t give them a fair enough shot the first time around.

until we meet again is my very favorite bl, and at this point, i don’t think that’s a secret haha. someone just recently asked me why i loved it so much, so i won’t go into too much detail here. but my tldr is: deanpharm best boys. they have my favorite relationship in the whole wide world. but i am with you! i want to see earth and kao act more together! maybe in a series of their own??

#answered #christmas chronicles #🎄#Anonymous

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