#i wonder if that could have been better

[prosebushpatch]

Was trying to figure out why Hansel and Gretel randomly appeared in a book I was reading, with candy house backstory and everything, in a story that otherwise was not directly informed by a specific fairy tale. At least to my knowledge, it all felt pretty original, until the villainous antagonist started spinning straw into gold and mentioned being betrayed by a miller's daughter and I cupped my head in my hands like, ah, th-the way to defeat him... they gotta figure out his true name... this whole time... he's been rumpelstiltskin.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Unsolved Mysteries.

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[vaguely-concerned]

'my cousin is all stomach and no heart' is such a funny thing for illario to tell rook if he maybe is picking up on a little bit of a Vibe going on there. the 'LMAO. well good luck with that friend. better hotties than you have tried and failed and dashed themselves against the legendarily unamorous cliffs of my cousin's complete obliviousness and lack of interest to no avail. (optional 'may I suggest a more hah-hem *undoes another few buttons on his shirt that thing is open almost to his navel now it's borderline obscene* available dellamorte for your consideration. I mean if you're like in the market for one anyway' devious undertone as you see fit)' energy is off the charts.

(illario is above all a funny petty bitch and that's why I love him so indescribably. no no lucanis is right we need him around to drop shade like this he is in fact also an essential crow. we all contribute in our own ways)

[leaderincrows]

Alright here are the majority of my thoughts on Sylus’ dragon demon fiend design as if I am some deranged naturalist spying on him from the mouth of his cave; if things are easily ruined for you please skip this post lmao

Like all of this said, I’m able to forgive it because I’m really really really into his battle animations. Just that entrance when he spawns into the pre fight screen where him and his tail hit the ground with some weight, and then the attitude when he hovers and whips his tail around?? The animators did their job well. I just wish there was more clear reasoning.

[peachyutdr]

i finished it, was kicked out of the game, and then spent the next 10 minutes drawing this. i will now go take a shower, most likely cry, and then go through the emotional turmoil of convincing myself to reset so i can do a geno run. i hate it here :D

[muffinlance]

Read "Suki, Alone". Liked it in general. But can they please, please hire someone who knows both the show's actual events and how to follow through on a character arc? Because guys. Guys. That comic is not implying about Suki what they meant it to be implying, and all because of literally one line.

So like. From a writer's standpoint:

What they meant to do: show Suki as a community-oriented person who cares for her people, and believes in everyone succeeding together.

As opposed to (spoilers): the thief girl they set her up in contrast with, who's pretty upfront and consistent on primarily looking out for herself. She betrays Suki for one (1) corn chip to improve her own life at the prison, no surprise.

But the problem is: they give Suki an inspirational line to the effect of "we're all working together and we'll all break out together"

You know

The thing she does not do in the show

So if both the show and this comic are canon, then instead of setting up a compare/contrast with the thief girl, they've just set up a comparison. One were Suki is arguably worse, because she's been leading a significant number of prisoners on with her "we'll all fight and win our freedom together!" business, only to straight up cut them out of the escape loop and abandon them, whereas the thief is only leading Suki on in the sense that Suki keeps telling her what it's morally correct to think and confuses snide replies with agreement

My dudes. My fellow writers. You people actually being paid for this. There were so many ways to fix those awful implications against our girl's character, the simplest of which would be to not include that line. Or they could have, you know, made it canon compliant with what actually happens in the show, so that this comic doesn't set Suki up as a betrayer instead of a community builder. Like... just send all her good prison buddies off to other prisons in the wake of the warden finding out they're colluding. Have it timed to be right before the next new prisoners arrive, thus setting it immediately before the Boiling Rock episodes, so Suki didn't have anyone left in the prison she'd want to take with her on a breakout. For bonus points, include a page or two of her and her Kyoshi warriors opening up the cell of one of her prison friends post-war, thus implying she's tracking down and actually fulfilling her promises. Maybe even show her doing the same with thief girl, who was established as being imprisoned on false charges anyway, and also showing that Suki is A) the bigger person, and B) willing to acknowledge her own role in mistakes (because I cannot emphasize enough how much thief girl was not hiding her own priorities, and it was Suki who approached HER with all this, not the girl ever doing anything special to weasel her way in) (this would also open up an opportunity for paralleling Suki's earlier in-comic mistake of not listening to one of her friend's very valid thoughts and feeling, which lead to the girl leaving their island alone pre-canon; a "seeing people as they are, not what you want them to be" moment)

Anyway yeah enjoyable enough for a quick read but another one for the "this can't be canon or the characters are So Much Worse than they were in the actual show" pile

At least Aang didn't promise to murder anyone in this one

[lunarin64art]

That feeling when he can't stand to see you that way, no matter what you do, no matter what you say😩😭💔

[dirtytransmasc]

was... was Sevika just left to assume Isha was dead? Jinx didn't come home. she gave up. Isha wasn't with Vi or anyone who left the battle field. word probably spread of the explosion. but did anyone actually tell her Isha was dead? or did she just have to wait and wait and wait, waiting for news that would never come, until all she could assume was that Isha was dead. Jinx was gone. the war waged on. Jayce called them to fight. that was that. cause that's fucking awful.

[demaparbat-hp]

I used to just think Zutara was cool because Zuko and Katara had that whole fire-water duality, had more chemistry with each other than their canon love interests, Kataang gave me this sexist pseudo-incestuous vibe while Mai was just way too under-developed to interest me (Zuko gets the most character development out of all the characters but they pair him off with the most boring character in the series?).

Now when I actually think about it more deeply, Zutara genuinely made more sense for the narrative and characters too. Aang was told he had to let go of Katara so he could become a fully realized Avatar but then he just gets a deus ex machina so he doesn't have to. They dropped an entire arc just for Kataang to get together and made it happen in the most stupid way. The lion turtle deus ex machina was already badly done but at least it sorta made sense with the lore. The rock was just beyond ridiculous. Aang solved his problems by randomly hitting a rock even though they already established how Aang had this unhealthy attachment to Katara because she was his coping mechanism for his lost people. Instead of letting her go, Aang keeps that attachment and becomes even more possessive of her. He never learns to prioritize the world over Katara even though it is his duty as the Avatar! He didn't have to sacrifice or learn anything to achieve his goals and the way he became a fully realized Avatar NEVER made any sense. Katara and Aand were not always intended to end up together if you look at the IP Bible. Katara goes back to the SWT to help rebuild it while Aang goes looking for the hidden Air Nomads. There's hints early on in Book 1 that the Air Nomads are still alive (like how Aang was able to get a bison whistle from some merchants but they never explain where they got it from).

Meanwhile the whole Maiko relationship seemed like it was a metaphor to represent Zuko's false destiny and dissatisfaction with his life since Mai encouraged him to sink into his bad habits and ignore everything else, and Azula actively encouraged them to get together so she could control Zuko easier and keep him in the Fire Nation. Zuko leaving Mai behind felt like him embracing his true destiny. This entire thing falls apart when they get back together though, and them being so toxic in the comics is just further proving how dysfunctional they are (like, do they think this is going to sell us on the ship?). I also thought it was strange that apparently Zuko and Mai liked each other since they were kids but Mai never bothered to write him his entire banishment, Zuko never thought about her, Iroh never mentions her, Zuko was totally fine with going on a date with Jin (which Iroh also encouraged), and Iroh thought Zuko and Katara would make a good couple as soon as he saw them interacting as friends. It makes me think Bryke just created Mai and put her with Zuko as a way to discourage Zutara shippers but then forgot to develop her properly. Zuko doesn't even think about Mai after she risked his life to save him lol.

I'm about to make this a long answer, sorry about that :)

I love narrative, and I love to analyze how it is built. Narrative is the way a story is shaped to express its themes. Narrative is using the events within the story to build metaphors. Narrative is the smart foreshadowing, the parallels, the foils. Narrative is intentional, until it isn't.

I am not a professional. I do not have a college degree on this subject. I just like to think about what can make writing be great or lacking. I am merely expressing my personal opinion on this show and these characters, not stating an universal truth.

ATLA is such a well-written show. It treats its themes maturely and builds the story and characters masterfully. Of course, it isn't perfect, as nothing made by human hands is meant to be. ATLA has issues with its storyline and characters and, ultimately, with the narrative itself.

Aang's character arc is different to Zuko's in that, while Zuko's is focused on change, Aang's ultimately ends with him standing his ground. (And isn't that poetic? That in order to grow they need to embrace the philosophy of their opposite element?)

Zuko was forced to change in order to survive from a very young age. He learned to suppress his true, compassionate nature, to become The Perfect Prince—that which Azula embodies. When Zuko fails to do this, he is burnt and tossed away and forced to change once more. He has been hurt and thus is the farthest he has ever been from his true self—Zuko almost forgets who he is.

Zuko's arc, in that way, is similar to Aang's. It's about staying true to himself, but also about learning, about opening his eyes to the horror and using that same passion he has always had to do the right thing. Zuko changes, not into the person he was, but into someone who could, in the future, turn into the better version of himself.

Aang is different. Aang is a child born into peace, who does not have the personal, terrible experience of his people's genocide or the hundred years of war that have left the world wrecked. Aang's arc is about changing and learning and adapting to this new reality, about accepting his role as the Avatar. But it's also about standing firm and saying, "This is who I am, this is where I come from—pain will not break me".

Aang's struggle to control the Avatar State was all about that. The Avatar State meant that Aang lost control. It meant the pain and the hurt had turned him into a thing of anger (righteous as it was) and instinct and awe. Aang needed to be at peace with himself in order to control the Avatar State.

That tiny rock at the final battle felt like an easy way out. It felt like taking from the sheer terror of watching yourself almost kill a man as if from afar. The real moment of triumph for Aang in the finale happened when he stopped. It happened when he took control back and ended the Avatar State, stopping himself from betraying what he believed in.

Was not killing Ozai truly the best choice? I won't get into that debate. I know where I stand on it, but it's not really the point I'm trying to make here.

Aang's triumph, character-wise, happens when he stands his ground and refuses to abandon who he is and what he believes in. And for someone whose flight or fight response almost always turns to flight, this is a huge deal.

Now, where do Katara and Mai stand on this?

It has always been clear to me (even as a Maiko shipper) that Mai was always supposed to be a narrative device. Her relationship with Zuko is supposed to give us, the viewers, and him, another reason to see that this isn't the life he wants, that everything isn't perfect even when it should be on paper.

Zuko goes back home. Zuko is welcomed by his nation with open arms. He is revered. Loved. His father tells him he is proud of him. Zuko has a doting girlfriend—a beautiful, noble girl who can kick his ass and is everything a Fire Prince could wish for. She is adequate and things with her are easy, untroubled. Zuko has everything he could wish for.

And yet he is not happy.

Mai and Zuko have issues that should not be pinned fully on either of them. They had trouble comunicating. They wanted different things in life. They had different ways to look at the world. Different ways to look at each other. Different ways to cope. Different ways to express themselves. Different expectations.

And that's okay. It's possible to make a relationship like that work. Nobody is perfect and no relationship is flawless. Opposites attract and it's possible to find a middle ground in which they can both be happy.

Except they never truly did.

Mai and Zuko's relationship was a plot device. One that did its job damn well... Until it didn't.

If your relationship with the girl is supposed to symbolize the lowest point in your life, and going back into being someone you don't like anymore, then why get back to her when the story is over?

As for Katara, well...

Many things have been said about the abandoned Letting Go Of Katara arc. I'd like to avoid that discussion right now, if that's okay.

I think Zuko and Katara's relationship would have made a lot of sense both narratively and thematically, but also (and most importantly) it would have made sense character-wise.

Give them a few years, let them explore the beautiful friendship they had at the end of the series. Let them find themselves and grow into their roles in this different, exciting new world. Let them reconnect.

If they fall in love in the process? Well, maybe it was a long time coming.

[illegiblehandwriting1]

"Sky, wait. Wait!" He grabbed Sky's wrist. "We love you. I love you! You do know that, right? You know I love you. Right?" 

Sky stared at him, his bright blue eyes widening. Was that…was that shock? 

"Right?" he pleaded. He felt his face crumple into something desperate, something scared. There wasn't enough left in him to hide it. “C’mon, Sky, tell me you know that. Please, tell me you know that!" 

-

i think that's my favorite fucking thing right now. Just letting you guys know.

[homestuckreplay]

Homestuck with a Different Starting Character

In some video games, players are given a choice of which character they’d like to begin the story with. Homestuck doesn’t allow this – Act 1 begins with the player as John Egbert, and Rose Lalondegets seamlessly folded into the story – but Acts 2 and 3 take us back in time to the moment the story starts, and give us a glimpse of what a Homestuck starring Dave, Jade or even the Wayward Vagabond would be like.

Starting with Dave. This means beginning with pages 309-333, 337-357, 381-384, 443-466, 562-613, and then Dave’s full strife with Bro (p.665, 836, 871, 1070). During this whole time, both the narrative and Dave’s friends would be talking about Sburb and stressing the importance of Dave playing it to save Rose’s life, and as readers, we would either have to take it on faith that Sburb is capable of that, or we’d be skeptical and ultimately very surprised when Dave eventually boots up the game and sees Rose. In other words, we would get an immersive Dave experience. Dave also really loves John and makes that clear in his earliest pages, so as readers we’d be excited to meet this even cooler guy that the existing coolguy loves so much. However, Dave’s resistance to reader commands such as ‘retrieve arms from cinderblocks’ wouldn’t stand out in contrast to other characters, and the Midnight Crew would be the second characters we meet visually, making this comic within a comic feel plot crucial.

Starting with Jade. The story would begin at the start of Act 3 and continue uninterrupted to page 835, followed by several other Jade sections scattered throughout the act leading up to ‘Jade: Pester John’ (p.1073). This would be out first glimpse of ‘real’ John, but we’d actually see him sooner in the Midnight Crew intermission, which would call into question his entire character arc when we met him for real – does John suck so bad at his sylladex because he’s just escaped from a comic into the real world? Jade is the weirdest character who breaks narrative patterns, but her fourth wall breaking, naming herself, interacting directly with the reader, and having multiple fetch modi, instruments and home decorations would feel like the norm. Going from the weirdest to the most surface-normal character could be an interesting story, but I think it’d work better if it was done intentionally. Jade has a life filled with exciting things like her dreambot, radioactive pet dog, and mystic frog ruins, so we’d be waitingfor the other shoe to drop with similar weirdness for the other characters, and it never would. Also, Jade’s story is so interlinked with WV’s that I think introducing them consecutively was a really good move, so it’d have to be Jade and WV before meeting the other kids.

Starting with the Wayward Vagabond. This would mean beginning with the ‘Years in the future…’ pages (p.248, 271, 439, 509), followed by WV’s extended sequence creating Can Town in the bunker (p.666-756) and ‘WV: Ascend’. This would introduce us to John through WV’s command terminal and an incomprehensible list of past/future commands, telling us right away that John is being commanded in-universe as well as out, and to Rose, Dave and Dad through brief glimpses of their positions at the end of act 2. I actually love this idea, and think this would be a fascinating prologue. The first glimpse of Skaian cosmology would come from WV’s wall drawings and chessboard, and we’d unearth Sburb like an archaeologist, piecing together that something very bad happened centuries earlier and that a very small number of humans might have survived. It would probably raise a lot of curiosity about the meaning of ‘captchalogue’, which is mentioned only for WV to say he doesn’t know what it means. It would also emphasize the role of timeloops and paradoxes much sooner, and begin with an already large-scale, zoomed-out story, instead of the slow build we currently have.

Starting with Rose is challenging, as her story begins already very entwined with John’s, but here’s some bonus options instead.

Reading Homestuck chronologically by when its pages are set would (right now at page 1088) mean starting with pages 999-1000, which take place on December 1, 2008. This begins with Jade’s birthday instead of John’s, and keeps the focus on birthday gifts that starting at page 1 has. It hints at Jade’s powers, and the supernatural elements of the story, right away, and it shows the reader John’s graffitied and clown-covered walls before we see his blank room, so we know something weird is going on with this kid from day one. The trolls are discussed more than Rose and Dave in this conversation, so starting here makes it seem like the trolls will be much more important to the kids’ adventures than they are so far.

Reading Homestuck at one page per day, an update schedule more comparable to other webcomics, would take almost three years to read everything that’s been posted so far. It would also dramatically change the story’s pacing. Jade Harley would spend five days picking up fruit (p.781-5) but ‘WV: Ascend’ would still be a single day. Flash updates such as ‘Dave: Abscond’ would help avoid a common problem with webcomics (including Problem Sleuth) where fight scenes take up a lot of out of universe time, but weeks of an extended sylladex joke would probably frustrate more readers into quitting.

Reading Homestuck with just the pictures. I have heard about people doing this, and it makes sense – most webcomics keep their text entirely within the strips, and external text is optional. Following John’s actions early on is okay without text, but it’s almost impossible to get a sense of his character.

Reading Homestuck with just the text. I think it would be nearly impossible to get to grips with captchalogue mechanics this way, which are already lots of people’s least favorite part of the story, plus it would remove all the interactivity and music, which are a big part of what scratches the brain.

Reading Homestuck by randomly sorting the numbers 1-1088 and reading the pages in that order. DO NOT DO THIS.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

A gift horse for @piosplayhouse

[youngyoo-apologist]

I think my least favorite thing ever of all time is when I’m reading a fanfic and Basen and Lily are villains like NO my children would NEVER

It’s usually the case in OG Cale fanfic, now don’t get me wrong I love the guy but also his family was not all horrible, and Basen and Lily were NEVERRRR at fault. Lily is literally like, seven years old and Basen is fifteen neither of them hate their brother either. Any child wouldn’t know how to approach their older brother who doesn’t talk to them and is distant(+ is known for having a bad personality) like that isn’t their fault 😭😭

OG Cale distanced himself from his siblings to protect them, there’s no one to fault in this situation for things turning out this way because it happened due to so many combining circumstances. Like IDK! I just don’t like it when Lily and Basen are treated like bad people cause I just find it a bit ridiculous.

Basen and Lily could’ve tried talking to OG Cale, but the real question is if he would let them talk to him ykwim, his act was perfect with literally no flaws. The reason it worked so well was because no one KNEW him and he probably knew that part too. The sadness to their situation is that they all had their reasons and cared for eachother but there wasn’t really any communication

Tbh it should have been Deruth’s job to ask Cale what was wrong, he’s not like the worst father ever okay but he also has extreme communication issues! The Henituse’s middle name is practically ‘communication issues’ like none of them are very good at it I fear. Deruth clearly cares for his son a lot, but he doesn’t know how to approach Cale possibly out of guilt/fear he’ll hurt his son even more. Which is why he just let’s Cale do what he wants

I think it’s important to note that the family did have faith in Cale, they all knew he wasn’t a bad person but they were all just so distant from eachother. I don’t think Deruth would have offered KRS!Cale to go to the capital after like a weeks worth of changed behavior unless he knew that there was more to his son than what the public thought. Again I think the big issue with the Henituse family is their communication

The characters all have complicated dynamics and personalities and it’s just something I don’t like when everything is treated very one dimensional

[villainvirus]

turn your back / hello world

[teafiend]