#i rly did like this scene tho. like not only was it one of the like... 2? meta!tucker scenes but it also showed all the fragments talking.

[harbingersecho]

let me go, please -- i don't wanna do this!

[padfootastic]

hohoho i am writing a remus & sirius confrontation that is ending up a little too mean and it’s verging on the edge of not fitting into FoD but by god, is it satisfying 😈😈😈

“Oh, stop pretending, Remus.” There’s a part of Sirius, not insignificant, that tells him to shut the fuck up. To bite back the words as he’d always done. They don’t expect it of him but he is perfectly capable of maintaining a civil tongue when needed. He just doesn’t want to, today. “You’ve always resented us, haven’t you?”

“Padfoot, do you even hear yourself—?” Remus’ amber eyes are bright, almost feverish, and Sirius knew that all he had to do was push.

So he did.

- brought to u by ‘i’ve been thinking about remus and i also recently read a fic that blindsided me w commentary on james’ and sirius’ social positions intimidating remus into compliance as an excuse for his cowardice and general temperament and got incredibly annoyed at how he is, yet again, victimised so i shall now endeavour to turn that idea around on its head using the ‘ol ‘u cannot help someone who does not want to be helped’ adage so help me god’

[llycaons]

while I enjoy an AU where sect cultivators stood by wwx in his defiance against the cultivation world or supported the wen remnants with him, they can't hit like canon does bc they always feel a little...hm. like if the author is super invested and insists THIS is what should have/would have happened its like they're missing the point of all the characters and their arcs?

[lichensbian]

film students should be hunted for sport (except my gf she's a perfect angel. but she's also dropping out)

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

GOD chapter 59 was SO GOOD n i have a lot to say so sending an ask instead of leaving it on the post.

i /love/ when you make things hyper detailed, because your shading techniques are so much fun to sit n stare at and soak in for a while. that being said, the coloring of the wine spilling is what does it for me this time. it still would have been really cool in bw, but not as cool as seeing all the shades of red over the dark blue bg. you did the glass really well too!! I don't think there's a noticeable difference between the wine color inside and outside the glass which is fine bc it's clear, so it RLY makes me appreciate the lighting you have around the glass rim to show the edge in contrast. that tiny little detail makes the image for me. stellar work. i love it

also i do wanna throw in appreciation for the handwritten serif. super well done at first glance it did look like you'd jus typed it out. idk what texture you have on the brush you use for words but it's rly nice to look at up close.

i think the color kinda tipped me off but i waffled bc i couldn't remember if either of his parents spoke in serif font and was a bit daunted to dig thru 50+ chapters to confirm who it was if it didn't turn out to be them. i'm glad i looked at your tags tho haha saved me the trouble. what a way to end the act too!! i read this one on my phone and was scrolling thru the images at full size and after four or so i kept expecting it to cut off. it was a very pleasant surprise to have it keep going, worth the wait to have a longer chapter :)

maybe it jus wasn't meant to be a la sabo getting the letter from sally. it might have to be stelly after all tho there are things that come before then. what a bad time to have one or both of his parents speak to him for the first time that night. oof can't wait for the next act lets goooo

Oh wowww what a beautifully long review!

Thanks so much im glad you like how it turned out, i’m really happy with it, too! Ive never drawn fluids like this before, but i really needed this page to have that extra kick because it was such a short one.

Because i couldnt figure out how to make this moment look slow mo with multiple different panels on one page, I really wanted to make a piece that is like,, frozen in time instead.

A page like this, you can keep on it as long as you’d like. You can make it as slow mo as you want it to be.

The serif lettering is that of outlook’s!

I dont know if you can see the difference between this and my usual handwriting, but it’s supposed to look taller. Higher up. Neater. Cleaner. (Still my handwriting though so like so actually neat or clean, but you know like,,, in comparison to the norm.)

His dad only talks in one scene, and his mother has never said anything yet, so i dont blame you if you couldnt find it. In my. Large repertoire of chapters ive accumulated.

I definitely felt the same about the pages when drawing them. But probably the opposite feeling lol. Mine was more like “ugh i forgot theres so many. How many more of these do I have to get through??? How did i do this the first act ending with 11 pages???”

Im so glad you guys are on the edge of your seats with the letter :)

Thanks for the ask!

[valenrepetto]

That's what I pointed out too. If Tom dies, it's obviously wasn't caused by Shadow. from what I've seen of him planted down on the floor that looks like it was about to explode, it looks like it was caused by Robotnik (either by Eggman or Gerald??)

Shadow's "what I had to" must have meant something else or he was only fear mongering Sonic.

I felt like Shadow in some ways would try and rescue Tom after getting a beat down from Sonic or finally got talked back to senses (this is why I believe Amy and Rogue have to be surprise characters)

Most people thought "oh he's gonna die" when we got that Tom scene.

But what if Sonic is the one in danger? That screams sounds like a worried one to me.

Let's think about it:

Sonic does something to stop whatever shadow did, and puts himself in danger. Tom is scared, GUN cops doesn't rly care and keep Tom down because Sonic is doing "Minor sacrifice for the greater good"

What if this is the moment where shadow changes his mind? Sonic's sacrifice... a parallel to Maria's

Is Shadow standing in the place of the ones who took away Maria from him?

.

Don't wanna make predictions because I want the movie to surprise me tho JSJA<3

[curtisberzattos]

ugh ik all the greasers lives are frusturating and fateful in soooo many different ways, but after reading ur most recent darry post the fact that he is seemingly permanently stuck in the one life he did not want makes me acheeee like he rly did do everything right and it all went wrong.

and now he can't stop scrubbing this kitchen <///3

but exactly he was so close to getting out. i do take some solace in the fact that once ponyboy comes around and realizes everything darry has done for them, he decides that not only is he going to make something of himself, but darry will too, even if it's not in the way he initially imagined ("just because my dreams are different doesn't mean they're unimportant" if u will).

also, using this as a chance to plug one of the most heartbreaking things from the musical imo. within the outsiders multiverse, this is the universe where darry does go to college for a while (at least a semester, at most for a year and half). yet, in the final scene he says pony is going to be the first curtis boy to go to college. not finish or graduate, but go. he diminishes his own accomplishments and writes them off entirely because he had to quit. he gives himself zero credit even tho just getting into college is hard, and not only did he get accepted, he went. but it doesn't matter because where's the diploma? breaks my heart

[liquidstar]

SEASON 3 TRAILER DROPPED HERES MY THOUGHTS (LN spoilers)

BROTHER AND SISTER OF ALL TIME THEYRE SO CUTE <3 love seeing how their relationship has progressed from beako literally throwing him out a window for stuff like this to her happily playing along its so so so so so cute. genuinely just one of the cutest and sweetest dynamics in the series

hi ram roswaal and fred :) this is probably all we're going to really see of you guys this arc lol

JOSHUA REAL!!!!! but not for long (also otto in the bg foreshadowing all the drinking hes about to do this arc. hes so stressed. poor emilia is trying her best)

julius looks so babyfaced here? they really emphasized his long eyelashes just like subaru has been on about every time he mentions him. they better include the scene where he checks him out, like, if they dont animate subaru looking dead at this mans ass im going to riot

i LOVE this shot of ana. you can really tell shes up to some corrupt capitalist bullshit as we speak. love her for that. wish i had this pic when i made that one money game anastasia video

the red dress actually does look really good on crusch like it compliments the green hair really well but also the crusch we know would not walk around in such a thing so its like. damn looks like the "memories are an important part of identity" story thinks memories are an important part of identity. who knew.

ALSO LOVE FELTS NEW LOOK SO MUCH! the only complaint is i felt (felt lol) like the red brought out her eyes more but the blue also looks cool. three primary colors all being used looks nice too

whatever who cares about all that THE CUNT!!!!!!! THE CUNT IS HERE!!! I CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL THE DRAMA SHE CAUSES TO BE ANIMATED FOR REAL

no fucking way... did they actually...

THEY DID! THEY CENSORED THAT HORRIBLE FUCKING DESIGN OH MY GOD. SHES WEARING SHORTS AND JUST A CROPPED SHIRT. AND CHAPS I GUESS? BUT ALSO A LITTLE SKIRT CAPE SO NO ASS SHOTS... THIS WILL MAKE WATCHING THE SEASON SO MUCH MORE TOLERABLE. i mean not perfect but STILL.

photos taken seconds before disaster lmfao. i still love how chin thinks subaru is a freak and weirdo for being so buddy buddy with him after he and his buddies mugged him. twice. (even more times from subarus perspective. hell he stabbed subaru once) genuinely cant wait to see more of this dynamic its so stupid.

THE FUCKING CUNT!!!!!! also the apples lol

oh you poor thing. you have no idea what next level family drama bullshit awaits. good luck. get ready to kill grandma AGIAN lol

:'( emilia still misses her terrible cat dad and its kinda sad when you know were not getting a resolution on that here either. they both look so sad :(

i cannot wait for garf mommy issues round fucking 2.

THIS CRAZY BITCH!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS CRAZY BITCH ANIMATED. I CANT WAIT TO SEE HOW THEYRE PORTRAY HER MANNERISMS. ESP W HOW WILD PETELGEUSE WAS ANIMATED IN S1. REAL LOONY TOONS BULLSHIT. AND HER POWERS ARE ALSO SOOOOOO MUCH COOLER I CANT WAIT

NO MORE DRESSES FOR CRUSCH YAY

he fucking bit it. yeah i guess thats what dogs do tho.

YOU. DIVORCE MAN. KILL YOURSELF. SLASH SERIOUS.

the empathy powers will have a glowing eye effect. very cool but i hope they dont show it too much in the first scene bc like in the LN i think its cooler if you dont know why everything is so... Wrong.

i dont rly have anything to say i just think ferris looks cool covered in blood. imagine being healed here like doctor catgirl will see you now

emilia be nice. that crazy bitch might be your mom. just like how the previous crazy bitch was in fact your dad.

THEY CHANGED UP CAPELLA'S DESIGN TOO honestly tho her being sexualized makes sense w a lot of the themes (the way its intentionally meant to be perverse and gross in a way explicitly stated) so i didnt mind as much and she still IS here but. this is still an improvement imo just a better outfit looks cooler. bug.

NAUR I DONT WANNA WAIT... OCTOBER.... AUGH

[onnoffwrites]

So I said I saw some post about this shot right? I'm back to talking about translation even tho I can't read jp but ppl who can talked about it!

But honestly? I feel like this translation did it's job.

Firstly, honestly one of eng translations never rly made sense to me, not bc it doesn't, but bc to my memory, it had some implications about "oh here he always assumed thief = culprit bc kid" which??? Huh??? That made no sense. Guess I'm glad that fan translation is forever lost during the great purge of mangadex??? (Oh my god, the more I think about my memories the more I think that's rly what happened. The old fan translation had saguru said something like, he's always worked on cases where thieves ARE the culprit of the crime. Which tbf he did was introduced via solving some crime with the culprit saying he needed money for his daughter

In this version here, it's just saguru going "whoops I'm wrong" and kaitos face is there for some reason???? (Dude can't stop thinking about his boyfri-) but that's basically what the post I found on Weibo said too. The "whoopsies I'm wrong" rly IS what saguru thought here. Specifically apparently it's a "can't believe I made this mistake, there's a thief who isn't a criminal and murderer [insert kaitos face]"

ISNT A CRIMINAL???

So apparently not only did he realize he's being a dumbass, he thought in his mind that he doesn't see KID as a criminal (ofc bc that's his classmate obv)

So all in all, points to Korn scans! Good shit! I'm gonna go kick the ghosts of the old scans bc that old translation that haunts my mind was legit so confusing I remembered I reread this arc like 3 times before mangadex died and rose from it's ashes

(that said the server is now poking at the panel where heijis all "you don't even go here!" And comparing diff translations and I was RIGHT TO REMEMBER THIS SCENE AS HEIJI BEING MAD AT SAGURU FOR NOT BEING SHINICHI. Within me is the memories of at least 3 diff fan translation and 0 wolves. The wolves are the diff translations)

[jack-kellys]

i hate the song something to believe in dearly and truly. it’s the one part of newsies i cannot reconcile because it’s just so bad

please fix it. or do something with it

it’s just not a banger i agree. alright.

send me issues from the Plot or Script of this darn show. and i’ll fix them onstage

so my rules for this is that i cannot cut the song. i cannot invent a scene bc i did that already & that’s cheating.

i do think tho that the key to being… fine with something to believe in is the scene right before. i think that scene MUST be fucking stellar in order for the song to be passable. and the scene before…augh. it could also be written better. the positionally of it and the context and the stakes are more interesting than what they say to each other. except. for.

“don’t say it like it happens every day. i’m not an idiot- i know girls like you don’t wind up with guys like me. i don’t want you promising nothing you’re just gonna have to take back later. but standing here tonight, looking at you… i’m afraid tomorrow’s gonna come and change everything.” EATS.

what’s rly important abt jatherine to me is that jack like. literally does not express his fears to anyone else except her. he talks about regret and anger with davey in wwh(r), i’m not counting that as fear. kath is the only person in the show he shares this with. and what he’s afraid of is being alone.

tomorrow coming means he did vote for the disbanding of the union, it means all the kids he loves are angry and done with him, tomorrow means everyone is gone from his life. (in his pov).

so katherine has a job with this song. she has to refute those fears, finally admit that she’s fallen for him, which means he won’t be alone, even if he leaves. he’ll be in her heart, he’ll have a home there, even if he were to get on a train the next day. she initially comes into this scene demanding something of him, but when she learns his actions were done out of this loyalty and his fear for others & himself… wow. “you snuck up on me, jack kelly. i didn’t even see it coming.” YOU KNOW?? going from “cocky little sonofa” to “of course there’s something” is wild for her

she needs to see him FULLY and completely by this point. idt she does until now, it has to be here for this scene & song to mean anything. this is her almost like. protecting his scared little heart. she says she’s in love (he doesn’t), she assures him it’s okay that it might be for a short time, that it’s random, that things like this CAN be something that happens any day. she offers terms that are accessible to jack, that can let him love her. belief conquers fear, undermines it, and if there’s something reporters are good at it’s getting to the root of something. she just has to take an angle that she didn’t expect from herself.

i think honestly the only line that genuinely bugs me abt this song is jack calling her “an angel come to save him”…. especially cause that boy ain’t white anymore we’ve grown passed that as a community so now it’s like. eugh like SURE, sure, but jack u did lead the strike. with ur boys. and ur leadership skills. and ur love for them. so i think this can be said as a knowing tease and she can wave it off and blush and whatever. u can make it cute i promise.

smth abt uksies that was stellar (wow what a shocker rizz is praising uk newsies…) was how emotive and present bronté’s kath was thru this song, she reacted to every word jack said to her. as long as she’s present i think this scene and consequentially the song can work. u just cannot forget abt katherine’s stakes and her journey of learning abt who jack kelly really is. it’s not a bad song bc it’s a love song it’s bad bc it’s not…. actually about how THEY fell in love. the courage and fear line from seize the day should’ve had a reprise moment here bc that’s what their relationship is based on.

if newsies rly was a love story i think that would be the proper theme through their whole arc together. jatherine is about fear and courage. and so is the show. tbh. just saying

[ca-suffit]

I hated the revisiting of the abuse scene that didn't even sound like louis ik he's still the victim of the situation even if he fought back but lestat looking worse and bloodier than louis i don't believe that the scene just felt unnecessary and a way to appease the fans what did you think of it

It sounded like Louis to me. We saw parts of this in 2x5 when he confronted Armand (while on drugs thru Daniel's blood but still) and we saw what kind of mother Florence was to him, which is the origin for a lot of this. This is the side of Louis that he doesn't like to be conscious of. Louis is a great, complex character and this only adds to it. It seems like a lot of the fandom struggles to understand these characters as they're a spectrum of emotions and actions, alongside the faulty memory issues. This is real life tho? U are the villain of someone's story just like ur the angel in another. None of us is ever a static identity of "good" or "bad." Emotions are neutral things. Anger is not a negative thing, but the actions taken while angry can have consequences (just like actions taken when happy can have that too, it's across the board).

I knew how the fandom would react to the scene, so I didn't like it for that part, but for itself as part of the story I didn't mind it.

It's again another Rorschach test for the audience. We already generally know what happened and that Lestat is the one responsible for crossing the ultimate line. The fine details of who did what otherwise don't matter at all. Lestat having injuries as well and Louis yelling at him don't change anything of what we already knew. A lot of the audience is looking for a way to actually tally the fight step by step or dumb shit like "mutual abuse" when that's not the thing to be looking at.

A lot of ppl want Louis to be more guilty just bc he's black, lbr. Lestat is the fandom favorite, this goes beyond the show into the book's histories. He's Lestat and he's white and the books don't hold him accountable for much of shit so the show doing it makes ppl feel a lot of things. The ways they want to lash out and defend him is similar to what these different angles of the fight are commenting on too. When u feel hurt, scared, unlovable, whatever, does that mean ur anger is justified to come out in ways that attack others? Especially if u think they're beneath u somehow or just wrong? Is there ever justification for hurting others? A lot of Lestat defenders are not asking these questions and instead are still seeking reasons why Lestat couldn't have been responsible for this himself, why Louis "had" to provoke him more or maybe have started it first after all. Ppl need to look at why they're bothered by this scene and ask what they're rly looking for in it, what feelings they're trying to soothe by doing that, and whether racial biases color those feelings too.

[genshin-hsr-rambles]

omg I just stumbled upon this account with perfect timing bc I had this wild dream last night and I need to share it with someone. It was like a fusion of HSR and genshin impact but like in a modern au kinda. And it revolved around Ratio, Aventurine, Alhaitham and Kaveh (with the obvious ships ofc bc even in sleep I’m a diehard shipper lol) but like Aventurine was the mc of sorts of the dream yknow like I wasnt seeing from his perspective or anything but it kinda focused on him. It’s so OOC that I was confused as well but it’s chaotic good.

but anyway so the dream started in what I assume was Ratio and Aventurine’s bedroom bc they were in bed and it was night n shit. for some dumb reason that I don’t remember there was a map of Florida on the wall (they weren’t in america or anything) and Aventurine was convinced that Ratio couldn’t fall asleep without looking at the map even though there was literally no reason to think that and it wasn’t even Ratio’s idea to have the map in the first place. This scene was wildly irrelevant and is only rly mentioned like once later and I find it hilariously out of pocket.

cue the next day where Aventurine and Ratio are invited over to Alhaitham’s house (and kaveh’s but they wouldnt stop calling it alhaithams) for a meal, dinner I think even though it was literally daytime? But yeah they were invited over and so they pulled up and for some reason in my mind the house looked weirdly like my house irl ig dreams are like that. Idk rly where Ratio and Kaveh go off to for a moment but they do go off somewhere whilst Aventurine climbs into alhaitham’s car.

Should probably mention Alhaitham was already in the car so the two kinda just chat for a while and Alhaitham is pretty much like “hey can you not do something stupid or be an asshole for just this one day this is important to me” and Aventurine wasn’t offended by this at all bc apparently Alhaitham was genuinely his friend?? (I was expecting Kaveh and Aventurine but my dream said no) but Aventurine is a bit confused why having dinner with him and ratio is a big deal bc it’s just like having friends over tf. So Alhaitham reaches around to the back seats of the car and pulls out this big stack of books which seems random at first but Aventurine checks all of their front covers and discovers they all say Veritas Ratio on them. Alhaitham explains that he is fascinated by Ratio’s work and was looking forwards to talking abt it so if Aventurine could behave that would be great.

Aventurine doesn’t get to reply or anything tho bc Ratio and Kaveh come along and knocks on the car window to tell them that dinner is ready (looking back on it, I think Ratio might’ve been helping Kaveh cook which is a crime that I didn’t get to see it). When I tell you I have never seen anyone move as fast as Aventurine and Alhaitham did in my life I mean they were FAST bc neither of them wanted to be caught dead by Ratio himself with those books so they just kinda shoved the books into the back seat again (blackout windows I assume?) and got out of the car.

cue the dinner which actually looked really tasty but Aventurine can’t keep his mouth shut despite what Alhaitham said and neither can Kaveh. Kaveh won’t stop complaining abt all the things Alhaitham hasn’t done bc apparently it was his turn to cook and Aventurine for some reason is determined to ruin Alhaitham’s admiration for Ratio and proceeds to bring up the Florida map thing (again, entirely irrelevant). In a moment that must be why he didn’t get into the Genius Society, Ratio decides the only way to get out of this god forsaken dinner is to literally climb out a window… Yeah. Aventurine, Kaveh and Alhaitham are all equally confused.

After much confusion Aventurine decides to excuse himself and follow after Ratio. For some reason the two of them end out in Alhaitham’s car??? And Aventurine shows Ratio THE books and they talk and it was actually surprisingly sweet n wholesome. By this time its actually getting dark tho so they go back into the house eventually to say goodbye and go their seperate ways. When Aventurine and Ratio get home the Florida map isn’ there, then I promptly woke up and was like wtf.

Very long ask and there isn’t even a question either but I had to tell someone. thank you SO MUCH

Lmao this has made my day. I wish I dreamt about HSR and Genshin Impact, that’d be so fun. This has serious crackfic potential lmao.

But you’re right, the whole Florida map thing is so out of pocket. Why do they have a map of Florida? Why did Aventurine choose to hang up a map of Florida in the bedroom? And better yet, why does he think Dr Ratio can’t fall asleep until he sees the map? This is the kind of thing only dream logic can explain. Dream logic also likes to make fictional places look like places you know in real life.

The idea of Kaveh and Alhaitham inviting Dr Ratio and Aventurine over for dinner is actually quite nice. Definitely didn’t expect Alhaitham and Aventurine to be friends, nor will I ever get over Alhaitham straight up telling Aventurine “yo can you like not be a dick for once”. Also Alhaitham having books on Dr Ratio’s studies weirdly makes sense. I too am salty that you didn’t get to witness Kaveh and Dr Ratio cooking. Missed opportunity.

After everything that’s been happening in Penacony, I think Aventurine deserves to be chaotic and determined to ruin Alhaitham’s view of Dr Ratio. Though Dr Ratio straight up climbing out the window— anon, you’re entirely right about the Genius Society. Their sweet moment makes up for all the chaos though (even if Dr Ratio would definitely still be a little pissed Aventurine was spreading misinformation about him).

And to end it all off, the Florida map is just… gone? What, did someone take it down? Or was it never there to begin with? Maybe the real haikaveh/ratiorine was the Florida maps we met along the way.

Thank you for this masterpiece.

[slytherinshua]

I 'm so out of touch (touch-touch-touch-touch), why is IST bad?

so basically some smaller companies were eaten by ist at some point in the last couple years (playm which had many artists and cre.ker housing tbz) ist focuses on the artists that make them money which basically was just tbz especially considering their road to kingdom and kingdom promotions gaining them many many fans.

i think they fumbled so hard with weeekly who had that one song (after school i believe) that was literally EVERYWHERE in 2021-2022 yet they’re still nugu because frankly ist gives them no promotion. their songs are genuinely so good idk why they couldn’t be a more talked about and popular girl group at this point ?? usually having a song as viral as after school would get you at a good place for future promotion and success

victon situation is worse. victon had a lot of potential to be super super popular and were doing just fine. like they literally had successful comebacks and a supportive fanbase but then just kinda fizzled out when seungwoo went to the military and they were promoting as 6. under playm management they did well but under ist they got so little promotions and no music show wins lead to even less. since they debuted a year before tbz and were kinda making similar ish music I feel like they were overshadowed and discarded in favour of tbz. even now they still haven’t “disbanded” but haven’t had a comeback since 2022 like alices are just waiting silently at this point for the final blow

also apink was the only other big girl group under playm and also fizzled out in popularity + members left the company. idk too much about their management and how they were treated but I can’t expect it was any better than victon.

as for tbz there was a time where content was being neglected and comeback showcases dance practice videos etc weren’t happening which fans were not happy about. and general overworking of tbz because they were the main group doing well lead to them staying relevant I suppose but it’s not a good thing for any company to do… like there are ways to give them proper rest and regular comebacks instead of constant schedules. and I think tbz could’ve been even popular if they had better promotion and stuff like they’re talked abt in kpop but still in that middle ground. I think ist pushed for a lot of tours for whatever reason instead of building their popularity with good comebacks. you can really see in 2024 as well just how busy they’ve been with comebacks and tours and musicals solo schedules etc like tbz have been crazy crazy busy nonstop for a rly rly long time.

I know for atbo another nugu boy group under ist that they’re on their 3rd survival show or smth??? if that doesn’t show how little promotion and success they’re getting due to ist’s negligence idk what does. it’s like they’re putting all their eggs in tbz basket and hoping that the other groups can get popular and make money without any help from the company

honestly we as fans don’t know the entirety of the inner workings of a company or how a group is truly being treated behind the scenes but it’s pretty clear tbz are happy to have left (and with so many other ist artists leaving the company last year and this year…. It’s telling) I’m just happy for a fresh start for tbz and hope they can achieve even greater things under a new company with other big and successful artists (viviz taemin etc)

I have more victon mismanagement thoughts I’ll add later but I gotta rush to a piano lesson rn lmao but I’ll reblog w more thoughts on them specifically after!! thanks for asking tho anon <3

[bestworstcase]

You’ve mentioned a few times that Salem is awkward, could you get into you’re reasoning and evidence for this characterization (as she is currently)? I’m fascinated by this reading and fully persuadable. Her origin story being the tower, it makes sense she’d be a little socially stunted but she was charismatic enough then to convince others to fight for her through words alone (tho that is different from in person social skills (to that point she persuaded kingdoms to revolt against the gods)). Millions of years of isolation wouldn’t put a shine on amicability, but these things /inform/ characterization. I’m interested in what you see in her as awkward in how she’s presented to us in the Current Era (Remnant Era?)

this post regarding her interrogation of oscar in 8.4 is salient because that's the scene that rly convinced me she's being written this way on purpose. there's a lot of contributing factors, though:

both then (fomenting rebellion) and now (recruiting hazel), salem's standard approach to getting people on her side involves basically walking up and "demonstrating her powers," i.e. inviting or just letting the person she's trying to sway kill her over and over again until they're willing to hear her out. she can (and did) make a compelling enough argument for people to follow her, but the way she chooses to make people listen is by subjecting herself to extreme violence.

further, it's shown in V8 that even within her own inner circle, there is a lot of confusion regarding what salem wants—so much so that tyrian and hazel think diametrically opposed things. why does this confusion exist? ozpin (and most of the fandom) believe it is because salem lies; but a) salem hates lies and liars, and b) the idea that salem herself is deceitful is founded on things jinn says of her in the lost fable, which is a verifiably unreliable narrative. if we look at the two onscreen instances of salem speaking of her goals—"the moment you put your desires before my own" and "in pursuit of a new world"—what strikes me about both is her vagueness.

when cinder questions her in V5, salem answers in a very oblique way: "working with bandits? leaving ruby alive? what's the point!?" -> "never underestimate the usefulness of others; take leonardo. he was one of ozpin's most trusted, but now…" both the bandit (raven) and ruby were or are among ozpin's "most trusted," and salem's point is that she wants to turn both of them against ozpin (like leo and summer). but she does not actually Say That. i made this analogy in the oscar interrogation post but i'll make it again: the way salem answers cinder's question is like showing her work on a math problem but not actually giving the answer. a lot of salem's dialogue is like this: she talks in examples, hints, and implications.

in fact the one time we have ever seen salem clearly state what she means is after ozma asks her "what are you saying?" <- i find this to be significant not only because it flags that other characters find salem's speech to be opaque or unclear sometimes, but because salem answers him honestly and without any hesitation, which indicates that she was not trying to be vague or obfuscate her meaning on purpose. asked for clarification, she clarifies.

then there is what she says to ozma once he tells her the whole truth: "why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans when we could replace them with what they could never be?"—now i am not going to get into my whole theory here, suffice it to say that i think that by "them" salem meant the gods in accordance with her longstanding ambitions—but the salient piece for this discussion is that this bolded phrase is a direct paraphrase from the final lines of 'the shallow sea' and i do think that that is, given the preponderance of thematic links between salem and the faunus, probably intentional, i.e. salem is quoting that myth to express her rejection of ozma's mandate (compare ozma's reliance on fairytales to communicate and make sense of his existence.)

lastly, there are several occasions when salem is talking (to her inner circle in 6.4, or to ironwood in 7.11, or oscar in 8.4) only to be interrupted with unexpected new information (ozpin is back; ruby used the lamp; oscar is fronting). in the first two examples, salem responds by either kicking everyone else out or leaving herself. see the linked post for a more thorough breakdown of her conversation with oscar, but suffice it to say that she responds in a very awkward and disjointed way before she's able to get herself back on track.

so we have a pattern of:

speaking vaguely or being cryptic, in a manner that other characters explicitly find to be confusing,

clarifying readily the one time she's asked for clarification,

paraphrasing the concluding lines of a myth about people embracing change and leaving their old selves behind to live their truth in a new world that is harsh but free, in order to articulate her rejection of "redemption" and the divine mandate,

and ending conversations very abruptly when interrupted mid-speech.

and this pattern exists in correlation with a pair of soliloquies whose language is markedly more eloquent, even poetic, and delivered with a clarity and emotional smoothness that is often lacking from her spoken dialogue.

what this suggests, to me, is that salem struggles to articulate her thoughts (the soliloquies) into words (her dialogue), and that she deals with it with preparation—by planning out what she intends to say and how she'll say it in advance. that she relies heavily on scripts and rehearses speeches and conversations in her head specifically to avoid having to speak off the cuff, in essence.

(and i think this is generally the basis for ozma's distrust and doubts: she told him the truth but in a really confusing and cryptic way that didn't always make sense. if she wasn't coherent—and how could she be after millions of years alone?—of course he wasn't sure whether he could believe what she said!)

basically, i think she's capable of being compellingly persuasive only under particular circumstances (planned speeches given to an audience primed to listen to what she says by violent, spectacular demonstrations of her immortality), and she flounders in ordinary conversation because a) she struggles to find the right words to express her meaning clearly, b) her natural affect is blunted and sometimes erratic (<- "well… :) perhaps you and i can have a better working relationship……… >:( oscar, was it? /:"), and c) she knows both of these things make her come across as an insincere liar.

<- there is a performative aspect to… nearly every scene in front of her inner circle or her enemies; that informs this reading too. as does the fact that there are many, many characters who are tangibly more charismatic than she is—ozpin, blake, oscar, cinder, robyn, ruby, yang—whereas the character whose manner of speech most resembles salem's is pyrrha, who speaks in an overly formal way and explicitly feels socially isolated and unable to form real connections with people.

[wolfhednn]

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: rai

Pronouns: it's complicated so she/he take ur pick

Birthday (no year): may 17

Where are you from? What is your time zone? the states, east coast beast coast. (not rly its swampy here)

How long is your roleplay experience? i regularly lose count. 17 years now i think?

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? neopets, p sure. at least i can't remember rping before that. warrior cats and gifteds rps on neopets were the one-night stands of my heart

How were you introduced to TOA? according to legend, ree was reported famously to have said "we could do it tho" and then i answered "yeah ig we could huh"

Do you have any pets? nah i've come to realize that im not very good at taking care of living things (including myself) and no lifeform should be subjected to that

What is your favorite time of year and why? i'm an autumn girlie, complete with the pumpkin spice. november specifically is my favorite time of year

What is your IRL occupation? i work at a community college writing center ob it's really rewarding to make a direct impact on other people's experiences

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? gacha games, reading, poetry, hearing the dank beat drop in a song and imagining some dramatic rp scene to go along with it

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? honkai: star rail, granblue fantasy, pokemon, jrpgs, otomes, vn's in general, whatever games my friends want to stream for me while i grind granblue fantasy

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: raichu, and flying types

Tell us some fun facts and trivia about yourself! 3 stuffed animals have pride of place on my bed and they are a fennec fox named luhan, a red panda named shizi (persimmon in mandarin), and whale tartaglia

How did you get into Fire Emblem? was browsing the nearby gamestop in college shortly after fates came out, decided to pick it up on a whim because it looked up my alley. got hooked and blasted through the rest of the series in short order afterward

What Fire Emblem games have you played? everything except jugdral, but i've studied jugdral like i did ff7 back in the day in order to rp it

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: fates as mentioned above. favorite depends on the metric jsdjgsk but, simplified, binding blade remains near and dear to my heart

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! i cannot do this i do not hold enough characters in my working memory at a time

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! i think tsubaki. he was pretty and a pegasus knight, and i only liked him more as i actually saw more of his character HAHA

Any Fire Emblem crushes? huh. surprisingly, not really? was definitely expecting to have some for this one

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? 　　Awakening: lucina. and yes. always always 　　Fates: tsubaki, nishiki, and leo. and yes. 　　Three Houses: felix bc i liked his character and i always tend to s-support my faves just to see their lines. ambivalent now tbh im kinda roulette w 3h s-supports 　　Engage: gregory, mostly bc i'm also roulette w engage s-supports rather than any overt favoritism for gregory. maybe fogado?

Favorite Fire Emblem class? nomad ranger / bow knight

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? i've been told i'd be mage into mage knight but wielding dark magic. magic nuke but kind of whatever everything else. lysithea but mounted i guess. if i'm somehow playable the circumstances must be EXTRAORDINARY because good luck peeling me away from my nice quiet life for your continental justice war no thanks

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? black eagles probably and i'd cringe abt it

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? reason and authority boon. gauntlet, heavy armor, flying bane. i don't rly think i'd have a budding talent in any of the rest

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? tbh i'd probably be from elusia

How do you pronounce TOA? individual letters

Current TOA muses: felix, caeldori, rosado

Past TOA muses? too fucking many yall. ugh lemme see. volug, sety, idunn, leif, yuri, kurthnaga, ephraim, lucius, etzel, nel, citrinne, nishiki

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? will smith gestures at the grumpycat

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? reckless boys with hearts of gold (felix, leif, zeiss, ephraim); perfectionistic dreamers (caeldori), charismatic cunning extroverts concealing a boatload of issues, somber cerebral sages (sety, etzel, kurthnaga arguably)

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? there's plenty of archetypes i don't gravitate toward, but i don't really wish i did either. so not really

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? i like dramatic, fast-paced action scenes. i also like anything that explores complex topics and reveals how subjective the world really is, situations that challenge a character's views and beliefs and force them to reflect on what makes right or wrong

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? not really right now. i don't usually have rp wishlists like this because my enjoyment of a scene depends more on how effectively i feel it's being executed rather than just getting to do the specific scene by itself

Favorite TOA-related memories? probably running team mercy in lock&key? that was a really fulfilling experience

Present or past tense? present tense

Normal size text, small text, no preference? small text but idc what my partner uses

Got any potential muse delusions to share? i have muses falling out my pockets. lately i've been fistfighting the ilios in my head constantly. sometimes you just want to play a loser

[simpjaes]

hi simpjaes <3 might bombard u with questions!! okay first one how do u draft a fic like when you actually go about writing it like do you write bits and pieces and rearrange them do you write the juiciest bit first and then write around it how do you do it

man, i think it rly depends on the fic and how much effort i intend to put into it??

for instance, for night shift, i thought up a prompt during a drabble post and all i did after was make a banner, write a description, and fucking run with that shit. no outline, nothing. [part two has an outline tho, so it sticks to the plot. again, this was never even supposed to be a fic lol]

on the other hand, fics like frenzy and one of the damned girls required a pretty strict outline. i do not do first or second drafts like i would a college paper btw. i write a cohesive outline and edit as i go, then i post it. mostly bc this is my hobby and i do it for free. if i were like, writing a book there would probably be a million drafts before it ever sees the light of day.

i mean, i barely even proof read after i finish the final scene of a fic ;O; as long as it follows the outline, we are golden. [occasionally i do ask for someone to beta my work tho lol]

now, for fics like player rank: platinum , and drippin' [on ncteez], those are fics i wrote for my oomfie. meaning, i was WAY MORE STRICT. She told me what she wanted then gave me the freedom to make it happen. it can be super stressful writing for people, but it really pays off in the end. the outlines for those fics were....insane and important. like i had to stick to every single lil line because a lot of it had to do with the vibe or ideas she really wanted to see. I can argue that these are the only fics I have a 1st draft and 2nd draft for. and when i say draft, i mean like:

i finish the fic like i normally would, then i check in with oomfie, then i edit accordingly / maintain a decent word count/ and remove or add stuff to make sure it's nice n fluffy before posting.

i'd suggest, if you're a a new writer, write whatever you want. draft however much you want. there are no rules unless you wanna let people make rules for you!