#if I make a comic about it I wouldn't set it from my own pov unless it's an experience I relate to

[itsaspectrumcomic]

Could you possibly do a comic about sensory seeking, extroverted autistics? I feel like we don't get talked about enough and I'm struggling to feel seen.

I usually base my comics on my own experiences and I'm personally pretty introverted, so I'm not sure how well I would be able to represent extrovertic autistic people, but I'd be happy to give it a go!

Are there any particular experiences you'd like to see portrayed or educate people about? Are there any myths you want debunked or representation you find inaccurate?

[genericpuff]

How should someone write for a comic? I want to start a comic but I’m a bit in the dark for how to write one

This is a very, VERY broad subject that, like the question of "how to draw comics", is very multi-faceted and impossible to tackle in one response. Especially because I myself also will not have all the answers.

What I will say is that regarding writing comics, let's say webcomics, it's not an uncommon thing in the slightest to see writers come into communities like /r/webtoons and ask for people to help them draw their passion project and to that I say... please don't LOL That's not to say that's what you were going to do at all, just wanted to throw that out there as an initial opening disclaimer. Ultimately the reality is that in webcomics, many of the people creating these projects are artists first and writers second (as one of those skillsets is way more accessible than the other), and already have their own passion projects that they're working on. So if you're going into purely writing comics, you're gonna need to manage your perspective on the industry and how it functions from a writer's POV rather than the POV of an artist who picked up writing as a consequence of wanting to get into comics.

That said, the beauty of writing comics is that, in general, it requires a lot less overhead than drawing a comic. That's not to say that it's necessarily easier, because god knows writing presents its own unique challenges, but writing a script generally takes less overhead and resources than turning that script into a comic. I can pump out 10 episodes of rough scripts for Rekindled in a day or two, with tweaking and editing along the way, but actually drawing those episodes takes weeks LMAO (and I wouldn't be able to pull off a lot of the stuff I do now without the help of my assistant @banshriek who not only provides a lot of expertise in drawing backgrounds, but lightens the workload in their help with shading and rendering! they also provide great feedback when it comes to the roughs stage <3)

So if you're starting out, just like the advice I give to budding webcomic artists, it's about starting. Build that experience, get some projects under your belt no matter the size or length that you can use to show your skills (and shop around for feedback from those willing to give it!), etc. Familiarize yourself with various genres, both writing AND reading! Like scripts for film, writing a comic script doesn't HAVE to come with the visuals even if that's the end goal, you don't HAVE to relegate yourself to finding an artist to draw your comic and then posting it online in the hopes it'll get seen. There's a lot that can be done with a simple comic script, whether it's sharing it to the world as is, adapting it to a novel, or pitching it to publishers/agents. Being a comic writer comes with a lot more flexibility in that way than being just a comic artist with no script (though, again, most indie comic artists will simply pick up writing to create their passion projects, it's a much bigger task for writers to pick up art for the sake of creating a comic).

Also establish your goals. Is your plan to write for some major industry some day? Or would you rather stick to writing for smaller productions? Just like with drawing webcomics, you should be setting your expectations in places that are reasonable to meet, rather than shooting for the top of the game right off the bat. If you're wanting to get into writing comics, your first major goal should be something like writing a complete script and NOT, say, getting to write for Marvel/DC lmao

As for the actual writing of comics, I highly recommend you read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, it delves into both the history and technical aspects of writing, drafting, and pitching comics in a very easy to understand way (it's a comic about making comics!)

Here are some other helpful resources I was sent by a pal recently that might also help familiarize you with the process of getting into the actual industry as a comic writer!

I hope this gives you at least a good place to start from! Again, it's ultimately a very broad topic that will vary from person to person (esp when it comes to the differences between genres and target demographics, ex. someone writing an action comic isn't likely going to use the exact same processes as someone who writes romance), but I hope this at least helps you find some direction in it all so you can establish your goals and start making steps in the direction you want to go in.

Good luck!!! <3

[moonstruckhaze]

to the crew member who is responsible for the Sprig plush in Hunter's room — i love you i owe you my life <3

(please pretend I finished and posted these last August before Thanks to Them aired - k thanks byyyyyeeeee~)

bonus doodle, thoughts, and reference credits under the readmore :)

POV grimwalker #58 is 8 years and frew up at 3am

Once I caught up on season 2 of TOH last summer and saw the Sprig plush in Hunter's room, my brain went BRRRRRRRR. Even though it's just an easter egg/cute reference someone snuck in, I immediately thought that Amphibia existing as a children's book or book series on the Boiling Isles would be a fun in-universe reason for him to have a Sprig plush; especially since Hunter canonically loves to read, like Luz. I thought it would have been nice for the Amphibia books to have been one of the few genuine childhood experiences he got to have before being fully indoctrinated by Belos. Since we don't have a full canon timeline for Hunter, I made a few artistic choices when I was originally doodling these. 1. His ear notch is from creation, and not an injury. I got the image stuck in my mind of a still clay-like toddler grimwalker, and Belos accidentally clipping his ear in the process of trying to cut his hair 💀 2. Hunter's face scar happens later on, maybe around age 12 or 13 (and almost definitely due to an outburst from Belos). 3. Before Flapjack (❤️), Hunter monologued to Sprig 4. While the thought of Darius, Lilith, or Belos being the adult to help make the plush is extremely funny, I couldn't imagine any of them actually doing that, LMAO. Darius and Lilith might not have even been a coven heads yet, and while Belos may have indulged the fresh child grimwalkers a little, I couldn't see him being kind or patient enough to do more than just allow them to have some of their own childhood interests for a short while. Gotta let your child soldiers have the illusion of personal choice and love so they stay loyal :,) SO, I thought to myself, "Who the fuck would be in the castle, but wouldn't hate Hunter for existing??" and then I thought about how Amity volunteered with the public Library to read to kids and help them with projects, and how amazing librarians are, in general. So I decided the castle library had this kind witch as an employee for a while during Hunter's childhood, and he is the one who helped Hunter make Sprig :,,,) Credits Non-native procreate brushes used: Star Brush Set for Procreate by CK Art & Design Ultimate Dynamic Comic Panels, Balloons and SFX Toolkit for Procreate By Ittai Manero

Hunter's bedroom layout referenced from Hunting Palismen (S2E6), and Leland Goodman's original design for Lilith's room (which it seems was re-used for Hunter's room later on in production).

[arceespinkgun]

just wanted to drop by and say that your takes on jazz are so refreshing. fandom is not kind to him whatsoever, no matter what version of him it is

Thank you so much! I'm like you like them! I really just try to center (the good parts of) canon lol

It was painful realizing Jazz was one of my favorites and initially being so excited because he seems so beloved and popular, but then seeing how he's actually treated on here and in fanfic and fanart... I really can't overstate to anyone reading this how prevalent treating Jazz terribly is in the fandom. Under the cut I'm going to talk about some specific examples because this haunts me so:

Here's an example of how inescapable this is: I ship StarShock (Starscream/Shockwave) which is a fairly small ship despite how popular each individual character is. That means I don't have that much content to see. They're both Decepticons. One of the most popular StarShock fics? It's set in G1—so, a continuity where the Decepticons are very clearly the bad guys and Jazz and the Autobots are very clearly the heroes and Jazz is one of the nicest ones... and it has Optimus Prime tricking Jazz into infecting Starscream with slave-coding. You heard that right—Optimus tricks the Black-coded heroic character into turning a guy into a slave.

And you know, there are tons of terrible TF fics. A lot of them are just fantasies about what people find hot, and while I think the prevalence of certain tropes in stories like that still warrant criticism, especially when they start taking over the entire fandom and misleading people about what was actually in canon, my expectations tend to be low about stories like that because of what their goal is. I understand what they're about. The most horrifying TF fic that was not just very blatant wish-fulfillment and seemed to be a full story was a fic from Jazz's POV.

I was curious and looking at JazzWave fics (Jazz/Soundwave) even though I don't see any reason to ship that because I was just curious if there were any particular shippers who might treat Jazz better than others. One of the most popular JazzWave fics again, was set in G1 where the Autobots would be heroes and Soundwave would be the "Cries and screams are music to my ears" guy... and it was set post-War in a time of tenuous peace where the Decepticons rule Cybertron. Megatron owns Optimus as a slave, a deal made in exchange for the rest of the Autobots having freedom. Jazz doesn't like seeing his leader as a slave, so he attempts to assassinate Megatron but fails. Megatron then gives Jazz to Soundwave as a slave, who makes Jazz do manual labor and much worse, and it even had a scene where Cyclonus (a canonical slave to Unicron in G1) tells Jazz about how being a slave can be tough, but it's okay because their masters have great plans! Which you'd think would mean the author didn't agree with Cyclonus... but the fic ended with Jazz telling Optimus something like, "It's okay, Soundwave just owns me as a slave because the Senate hurt him before the War, and really he's a very nice slave master and I think everything is going to be okay! ^_^" Even worse, most of the characters' dialogue was written alarmingly in-character and I could tell the author had an extensive knowledge of canon because they intentionally had all the more honorable Decepticon leads who wouldn't own slaves in G1, like Thunderwing and Scorponok, be dead... which is something someone would only know if they had read the Marvel comics.

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Breathing

First posted: May 28, 2018

Focuses on: Jason (and his family)

My favorite bookmark: "Jason Todd is sassy monster and Bruce has PTSD from this asshole dying. 🥺🤣"

My second favorite bookmark: "I CANT STOP CRYIIINNNG WTFFFU"

Tier: Pretty middle of the road in terms of metrics, but one of my personal favorites.

This is my "behind the scenes" series where I indulge myself frightfully by annotating my fics. Link to the fic itself above. Thoughts below the cut.

This fic was dedicated to @starknjarvis27 because she came up with the idea on one of our many BatFam discussions, and being a Megan Whalen Turner superfan, I couldn't not take on the idea.

For those unaware, this fic lifts the bones of an absolutely wonderful scene in The King of Attolia, the third (and best) book in the Queen's Thief series. I made sure you didn't need to know the series at all to enjoy "Breathing," but the girlies who know shriek more.

Jason was still breathing when Bruce found him.

Most of my fics, I may not totally know where they're going, but I know my first line. No exception here.

The voice of this one doesn't feel fully Bruce to me, which makes sense because it's so early on in my written works. Also I'm telling myself that's just young Bruce not sounding quite like his more mature self. Ah, the tales we tell ourselves sometimes. 💀

Jason’s chest, or what was left of it, rose again, the cavity of smashed ribs deepening as his lungs fought to work.

I don't know enough medical things to comfortably get too detailed on Jason's injuries (and I wasn't friends yet with Audrey to ask), but since this was Bruce's POV, I worked to make it adequately gruesome.

If those panicked, roving blue eyes with their black-blown pupils could see anything beyond his own fear.

And sometimes I make up words for fun.

He wanted to hold him. Wanted to scoop that broken body into his arms and shelter it with his own until the miracle he was praying for arrived. Bruce wanted to hold his boy. But his stupid, awful, useless brain hissed warnings of spinal injuries and paralysis, of the harm he could cause by giving into sentiment at just the wrong time.

Apparently I also knew how I wanted this section to end because I was deliberately writing toward

And, at last, Bruce held his son.

This.

Trying to figure out the setting of the second half was tough because I didn't care about where they were coming from. I wanted it to be vaguely comic cliche and hopefully not racist or otherwise offensive but that's all.

Also, ugh, staging. Staging. I hate staging. Trying to mark where everyone is and why and keep them all straight as they start to move. Bah.

Of course, now, looking back, hewing more closely to the original scenario where the main figure (Attolis, Jason) turns and smiles at the narrator just before disaster, that sure would have been something, wouldn't it.

But Jason. The odd man out. The wild card, for good or ill. The unpredictable ace up their sleeve. Their magnet for trouble, collector of odd experiences. Too cynical to be Dick, too rash to be Tim, too undisciplined to be Damian. Raised on the streets. Trained by a Bat and a Flying Grayson. Raised again by assassins. Comrade of drug dealers, mercenaries, and thieves. Their family stories always seemed to twist on a “but Jason.”

I like this bit a lot, personally.

He had never seen Jason kill like this. It was the blinding flash of blades, the blur of a tan leather jacket and dark curls, the splatter of red blood on grey stone. And then it was done.

BAMF JASON TODD!!!

At the weight of three sets of eyes landing on him, Jason turned only his head and met Dick’s gaze. His face was pale, almost green, and splattered with a fine mist of blood. It took Dick a moment to piece his coloring together with the slant of his jaw and the blaze in his eyes. He was angry. No, he was furious. But when his eyes met Dick’s, he smiled. All teeth. “Let’s not keep Daddy Dearest waiting, boys.”

Jason is scary and I love him. I think if I could pick an audio narrator for him, especially the way I wrote him in the beginning, I'd pick the guy who does the Raven Boys audiobook, specifically in the voice he uses for Ronan.

“I could use a hand on this next part,” Jason admitted, voice steady and cool. 

And my brain recites, oh gods, stairs.

“I’m dying, Dickie. My insides are on my outsides."

Direct. Hecking. Quote.

“I probably won’t even make it to the Batplane,” Jason moaned. “You’ll have to leave me here. They’ll make me a trail marker. Reach the skeleton with the sweet jacket and you’re halfway to the temple of doom.”

A nice little trail marker. So like a thief in a ditch, one might say.

Jason lay still on the narrow cot, conscious but boneless. Even the furious greenish tint of his skin had faded away into a bloodless pale. Alfred had pulled up his shirt to reveal the truth. Jason’s grip down the mountain hadn’t been only to stanch the bleeding, but to hold himself together. At some point in the blurred fight, a blade had snuck under his defenses and slit open his abdomen, nearly from hip to hip. The blood that had trickled through his shirt and over his hand had been nothing compared to the steady flow that had soaked unseen into his pants. Over Alfred’s shoulder, Jason opened his eyes and met Dick’s.

This is full-scale lifting, my obscene apologies to Megan Whalen Turner, I love your work.

Alfred’s back blocked most of Jason’s body from view. Dick could see Jason’s face and upper torso. Bruce, being taller, could probably see a little more. Damian and Tim, being shorter, could probably see a little less. Both boys stood further back as well, Tim just behind Bruce and Damian behind Dick.

friggin blocking, my foe. Just lining up the stupid little dominoes so they fall right in a minute.

Six people breathing. Five people breathing.

I'm a genius. Good job, me.

Jason erupted like a tiger caught in a snare. He clawed at the cot, trying to push himself up. Alfred cried out, warning of wounds and fresh blood and popped stitches as he tried to force Jason back down. Dick sprang forward and tried to grab his brother, but got a fist to the face for his troubles. He staggered back.

Againnnnnnnnnn I'm so sorry Megan Whalen Turner

Dick slowly unclenched his fingers, first releasing Jason’s hair, then his wrist. Violent red streaks branded Jason’s skin like a cuff

I am a clever little clog with my symbolism and because these fics are for me, I can be smug about it

At least a couple people have said this fic have pushed them to read Megan Whalen Turner which is all I could ever want or hope for.

[magicalyaku]

I had vacation and tooth surgery and thus a lot of time to be lazy! <3 A chunk of it I spent listening to the narrations of some creepypasta series. Though, honestly, I'm not sure they can be called that? They're more episodic paranormal stories. Yes, there's monsters running around and dangerous, maybe scary stuff going on, but they're also incredibly wholesome and soo sweet and very queer! So if you're into that, go look for the stories written by @02321 on r/nosleep and Youtube! My Name's Skyler, I'm a Freelance P.I. narrated by Baron Landred (the title on r/nosleep is I Work as a P.I and a Government Agent approached me to help with a case) and I Deliver Mail to Cryptids narrated by Animas. (And also a bunch of stories more set in the same universe of the Silver King.)

Now back to our regular books! We have 4 princes, 2 kings and 1 queen this month!

Banshee Blues (Nina Blazon): I'm in the editing process of my latest novel, which I'm writing in German, so I felt I should read a German, non-translated book for once. This was the only one in my pile but it is from my favourite German author, so all was well. I have a lot to thank her for. The first novel read from her was Der Dunkle Kuss der Sterne (The Stars' Dark Kiss) and that was the first time I liked first-person viewpoint! Her next book had split POV and different tenses and I had to admit it was done well. Banshee Blues was not quite up to par with her previous works but it went a few new directions than usual which was nice as well. It tried very hard to lead you astray with what's going on and who is evil and who isn't. And while I liked how things turned out between the two leads it would have been monumental to have them stay platonic.

The Fallen King's Penitent Soldier (Tales of the High Court 5) (Megan Derr): Sigh, it's been a ride. I had a good time with the whole series. I love the worldbuilding, really. But it is alright to end it here, while it's still good, you know. In a way, these five stories are all built very similar: Being kidnapped by bad guys, running from the bad guys or running after the bad guys for the first half and afterwards waiting to let other people sort it out. There's probably a limited amount of iterations you can go through while still be interesting. But for these five volumes it was fun! As for book 5 by itself, I think it's a good thing it comes so late in the series. Because it really takes its time. There's a lot introspection going on for the two protagonists which is okay because they go through a lot but it's also very long and sometimes not much else happens. I liked the two of them, I liked how religion was handled, I liked how it went full circle back to Allen's story. I liked the series. Good times. :)

Prince & Knight (Daniel Haack & Stevie Lewis): I wanted this for the pretty pictures. But apparently the universe didn't want me to? I ordered this last year already, but the package went on an odyssee through several cities without ever arriving at my home. I ordered it again this year and … the same thing happened?! 8D The odyssee was shorter this time, mind you, but … why again?! I tried a third time and ordered it for pick up at a local bookstore and that finally worked. Geez! It's a children's picture book so the story is as basic as it goes. Is it goo for children? I wouldn't know. The dragon doesn't die and it's very sweet and very pretty.

In all seinen Farben (Boy Queen) (George Lester): I had some exhausting weeks at work and thought I could use something inspirational. Something about finding your own way and shine. Which happens in this book but there's also a lot of drama going on and I was not prepared for the rock-bottom-hit in the beginning. xD I mean, it was written in the blurb but I've owned the book for a year why should I reread the blurb … I know nothing about drag or make-up or anything in that direction (I did watch like 15 minutes of the drag show at Comic Con Stuttgart last year but that hardly counts), so it was charming and interesting to read about.

We Could Be so Good (Cat Sebastian): I have to apologise to everyone on the waitlist for this at my library because I could have read it faster but … once I realised what sort of direction the 70% drama might take I had a tough time reading on. They were so happy and it was nice and I just did not want to suffer! I did assume, since the book goes out of its way to address how all queer books published during the mid of the last century would have to end badly (and the protagonist outright refusing to read them therefore), it would probably take a turn for a happy ending. That was the only hope that kept me going. If I had known any of the author's other work I maybe wouldn't have worried so much, because it's written in her bio already that she'll only write happy endings?! Well … So for anyone else fearing the drama of a book set in 1959: No queer person was harmed in this book! (Nothing major anyway.) I like the book, though! Enjoyed reading it. Nick and Andy are both sweet. But that fear did something to me, took me a while to recover. :'D

Prince & Assasssin (Perilous Courts 1) (Tavia Lark): I needed something simple for my fragile heart and it seems gay fantasy is my comfort read now in the same way my mom reads stuff named like "The Little Bakery at XYZ Street". And what should I tell you, yeah, there're men who are tenderly and not so tenderly intimate with each other, yeah yeah, but there's also giant talking cats! Giant talking cats! Also, I really like the author's writing style. It's so smooth! I started reading and didn't want to put it down anymore because it read so smoothly! The book itself was so much better than I had expected (which was basically nothing). It won't blow you off your feet but it's pretty enjoyable and surprisingly wholesome. Also the worldbuilding felt just right. I'm looking forward to reading the next volumes soon!

King of Immortal Tithe (Darkmourn 2) (Ben Alderson): Did I buy the expensive hardcover just because I like the illustration more than the one of the paperback? Why hello, that's me. So this is the second fae book I read this year. It's apparently a universal truth now that fae men are the most beautiful and well endowed beings on earth and beyond. Not that I mind, you do you, but why does fae anatomy work the same as humans' actually? Anyway, this is a stand-alone in a series of stories all set within the same universe. I like that concept. Hunting for pieces of lore is fun. Arlo is a feisty character so following him was enjoyable. The switch from enemy to lovers was kinda sudden like … I can see why but personally it still felt sudden. Also Faenir calling Arlo constantly Darling was not my taste but you know, if it's just that, I can overlook it. The twist at the end had me barking out evil laughter (which means approval). I did hold back reading the final chapter until I read the first volume as not to spoil any more! (While they are stand-alones the previous story is referenced in this one.)

Lord of Eternal Night (Darkmourn 1) (Ben Alderson): "He was so tall and his hands were so large and his length was so great and so thick my fingers couldn't touch reaching around it. He was not just a man, he was a god!" I laughed. That's not a literal quote, but a good summary. Yeah. I laughed. And while praising one guy he was also dissing his former lover, the baker's son, for not being as large. Not the poor lad's fault, no need to get mean! Should have known at that point already who was the true evil mastermind. :'P. But in all fairness, there is a little more going on in the story. And well, these books know very well what kind of fantasy they're catering. There's a short guy, a little crafty and feisty, not too weak, and the very tall, very beautiful guy who everyone says is evil, but turns out he isn't so evil, he just has a tragic past, he also falls very hard for the protagonist and oops, maybe he does have some capacity for evil. I did like how the story subverted who's good and who's bad like three times. Otherwise, it's not really complex. But I'm kinda into the ending.

Alpha of Mortal Flesh (Darkmourn 3) (Ben Alderson): The third installment in the series, they've been getting more elaborate with each volume. So instead of the 2 and 3 half characters we had in the first one, there's actually a whole cast in here with motivations and backstories. That was nice. The writing style, however, is still as … trying as hard as in the beginning. It's not bad, mind you, I commend it for trying to use the full range of the English language, but there's a lot of words, making everything longer than needed, and sometimes their choice is really weird. Example: "My tongue broke free. It slithered from the confines of my mouth." But it's just a normal human tongue licking something eagerly yet still very normally! And, they're indie books, yeah, but I do wish all three books would have gone through another round of editing. The unnecessary repetitions and errors made me suffer a little. And while I got a little bored and impatient at the end I do like the story and what it's trying to do. Just that it was trying too hard in some aspects of the writing and not hard enough in others.

That's it for July! Apparently, August will be library month again. My TBR bookshelf disapproves but duh. Let's go and have fun. :P

[meggannn]

i saw another "Garrus accepts Shepard in ME2 when they come back, why can't Ashley/Kaidan" post the other day and was gonna reply, then i realized my response was less about discussion and more about info-dumping/being right, so i decided to just make my own post. so here is the long explanation of why I don't and never will hold it against Kaidan/Ash for reacting as they did on Horizon just so I can point to it for later

I'm not gonna go too far into Garrus’s POV to Shepard's resurrection, just the VS's (Virmire Survivor's). I want to add crucial context for the VS's Horizon POV that is rarely mentioned in these sorts of comparisons, which is: TIM has been spreading rumors about Shepard being alive and with Cerberus that the VS is fully aware of by the time Shepard's boots hit Horizon. if you accept the comics as canon, then TIM's actually been seeding those rumors since before Shepard even woke up on the operating table. (see this panel in which one of TIM's Citadel operatives gets caught pre-ME2 trying to steal classified info about Shepard. TIM is pointedly not too bothered about it.) when you talk to Anderson and the Council at the Citadel, they both already know you're with Cerberus. how? you certainly didn't tell them. it was TIM, and he confirms this himself as well after Horizon. (Joker also says "[Horizon] was probably a set-up" if you talk to him after the mission.)

so the VS hears these rumors pre-Horizon. Kaidan says he asked about Shepard, and Anderson stonewalled him. by the time they're posted on Horizon, Kaidan/Ash have been hearing "Shepard's with Cerberus" for weeks, possibly months. if you’re the VS, you probably don’t want to believe someone you trusted to lead you into hell, maybe even trusted enough to break fraternization regulations with, would 1) lie to you about being dead, and 2) work with a terrorist organization. but then they get there and find out not only are they fucking alive and didn't contact you (not knowing they COULDN'T contact you because THEY were also stonewalled by Anderson); not only that, they're now trying to recruit you to said terrorist organization. they’d be questioning everything they thought they knew about their old CO.

the VS meeting Shep on Horizon after Shep saves the colony is not a "holy shit, you're alive!" moment like it was for Garrus's rescue. it's a "fuck, you're alive, and you have a Cerberus crew with you just like I hoped you wouldn't" moment. a "the rumors were true, I just didn't want to believe them because that means you're either a traitor or compromised" moment.

imagine after Anderson dies at the end of ME3, he suddenly shows up in ME5 going “Hey Shepard I’m back, also come join my team in my mysterious quest, let’s talk it out together in this private room over here and you’ll see my reasoning.” do you think I’m an idiot, Leviathan? we-as-Shepard saw Anderson die ourselves—like the VS was on the SR-1 when it crashed. the player would be 100% in the right to think the real Anderson was dead and this was a mangled copy of his corpse the Leviathan or some new fucking thing was puppeting from afar.

for Garrus, who was just told "Shepard's dead" after the fact but didn't see the crash, Shepard being alive is an unexpected miracle he doesn't want to think twice about. (Garrus was drowning on Omega, but Shepard arose from the dead just to save his life; Shepard knows what to do; Shepard can save him from his fuck-ups. Garrus is finally free from the burden of being a poor leader and can fall back on following someone else; everything is right again in his world if Shepard's at the helm.)

but for the VS, some small part of them may even be hoping the rumors aren't true, that Shepard's NOT alive, because if they are, it means Shep lied to them, or isn't who they thought they were.

then, for the VS to be told on Horizon “you’re overreacting, of course working with Cerberus is the only logical conclusion here!” honestly? sounds like radicalization.

“I was dead for two years!” = of course you were, that was Cerberus brainwashing time, baby. Shepard, how do you really know what happened those two years? was it really just "reconstruction"? maybe the real Shepard IS dead. (especially after the Citadel DLC confirms Cerberus did make a Shepard clone, we know the VS actually has a point.)

“fine, but then why doesn’t Shepard just explain stuff better?” this is less into characterization (because Shep is a player character and people can headcanon their Shep's rhetorical skills differently) and imo gets more into what the narrative is telling us. I see this criticism of Bioware's writing on Horizon (and I can't believe I'm defending Bioware writing) but I personally like that the player isn’t given decent, successful counterarguments in this situation. because let’s face it, the VS’s concerns are valid, and nothing Shepard can say or do on Horizon really can placate any of them. sometimes you just get outplayed; sometimes fights or arguments are just unwinnable even when people are trying their best.

would a persuasion check have helped? maybe, but that's not the point. it goes against our RPG brain where we're often wired to think every path is open to us with the right attitude or enough red/blue points. the Horizon reunion is two hurt people who are upset at each other, not realizing/acknowledging they've been put in an inconsolable scenario. they're both victims of stonewalling, one by Anderson and another by TIM. the Horizon convo was never going to be a “victory: squadmate acquired” scene because the deck was stacked against Shepard + the VS before they both even set foot on the colony. Shepard never got a chance to control their return narrative: Cerberus controls their team, their ship, who knows what, who they recruit, and when. TIM also knew that the VS was stationed on Horizon, as he confirms in the post-mission talk. the VS reunion was always going to be a car crash. and that works out great for TIM—Shepard is cut off from former Alliance allies, painting Cerberus as their only path forward to beating the Collectors.

but even if, for RPG purposes, Shepard had been able to reach out to the VS first… it’s still completely valid of them to question the situation lol. Liara had a hand in it so she ofc she wasn’t surprised at the return; Wrex adopts a typical krogan attitude of “you’re not dead? well that’s weird, but I’m a thousand years old, I’ve seen weirder.” there’s a reason Garrus accepts Shepard returning so readily and Tali/Ash/Kaidan take time: they’ve got healthier coping mechanisms and better support systems. Garrus cut himself off from his friends and family and is living out a Spectre fantasy on Omega. they others have moved on; Garrus hasn’t. he’s desperate for Shepard to come back, and why wouldn’t he be? Shepard was there when he felt like a hero for the first time in his life. if Shepard's back, he can be a hero again. but for the VS, Shepard returning means something is awfully, awfully wrong.

[circlemidnight]

hey, so... do you (by any chance) know if the '"open ending/multiple endings" ship' is just about who ARCHIE decides to be with, or if it will included more couples as well? like, i could have never predicted JV would have an actual chance, and less that they'd have the same chance as the (arguably) main/long-lasting ships of the show!? it's nothing short of amazing. how powerful they are.

Ah, I think some of those rumors/leaks turned out to be false. I think it's better to just rely on the bts and statements made from people on the show. Rumors tend to snowball into unrealistic statements the more they are spread. Unless they are giving a specific detail of a scene then I wouldn't put much faith in them being true. And keep in mind the style of the season, it's been very simplistic, low stakes, with quick resolutions to things. I don't think they are setting up some big complex ending or a cliffhanger that's gonna enrage everyone. It's gonna be something bitter sweet, lighthearted but not crammed with possible what-ifs to every ship that came before. But I'm sure there will be many winks and nudges of nostalgia in the last episode. Right now if I could guess I would say it's probably just left unclear if Betty and Archie figure things out, but to me it seems like they are wrapping up Jeronica as an endgame pairing. There is a lot of mirroring of their first episodes this season together, she's helping him create Archie Comics, and they have written them more like a secondary romantic plot and not really this big will-they-won't-they dramatic conclusion to be reached in the final episode. They're also the only "random pairing" that actually got back together. From the bts, we know they are riding in the backseat of the jalopy together, which I doubt they would be doing if they have another breakup. also just my opinion but it makes a lot of sense to me that the two people hurt the most by the cheating would find happiness and move on together? If they are talking about changing the future, Veronica and Jughead never being hurt has a really big impact on the story. In comparison, the two who cheated are figuring themselves out and not committing to anything or anyone because they are still working on themselves. Plus, if the last episode is from Betty's POV it will likely focus on whether or not she finally gets with Archie this season, because her story is kind of meandering but rolls back to her feelings for him the same way that they showed hints that Veronica never got over Jughead. The multiple endings thing came from what Madchen said: No, we don’t get out of the 1950s. So I guess that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in three different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that’s safe enough. So, make of that what you will. I'd say it's either you get to see what would happen if they went back to their own time, their future in the next few decades if they stay in the 50s, or maybe the afterlife and some kind of cycle beginning again once they all die and time resets for them. The word closure implies that it's not really open ended though. It's possible if they go back to the future the ships reconfigure, but they choose to stay in the 50s, so does that count as canon? But like, I think in one dimension or another Jeronica is endgame. It's very close to the end of the season to be stirring them up with more drama again. At the very least I believe they will graduate as a couple, which is a win for me. It's been very out of the blue that we got so much content, but I'm glad they left it till the end so they have more of a chance of being happy together!

[northropi]

Alright been a bit so sona update post.

Picture because these don't get a lot of traffic without one but I don't have much else at the moment ANYWAYS

I'll start by saying, as always, I have plans to tweak any characters I leave behind into non-sona OCs if I make big changes, and that's especially relevant here as all three of these characters are very suited to being PoV characters for stuff in the world. Each represents a domain of things I'm hyperfixated on and by extension a subset of stuff in the setting. Technology, biology, mythology. They have interesting dynamics as mostly comical frenemies. They all have interesting backstories and personalities.

And this is a problem.

None of them feel like me anymore. They've strayed from the ideal of how I want a character like me to look and act in an attempt to avoid having three characters who are just idealized versions of the author running around. Frankly on a bad day Theriadh in particular is... Almost uncomfortable. The way I do her jawline is visually nice but as a character who's just me she kinda gives me a twinge of dysphoria. Her personality has also grown increasingly unlikeable in an attempt to make her a borderline villain and it's dragged her into a darker place than I'd like- and I should probably fix that either way, but I'm not sure I want to fix the rest. Maybe it's time to just let her be her own thing.

499 is also just... Kind of nothing. I like how her canonical job as a character, initially as essentially a delivery drone and then adapted into running it herself to deliver supplies across her entire region, is something sort of menial, but helpful and a little whimsical. I'd rather have a job like that for my sona than The Arbiter Of Life And Death or something, OP sonas aren't bad but they're not mine. I also like that she's a robot. That's... That's it. Sorry girl I've been an irresponsible parent.

Q.C. is probably in the best place and I'm not sure it's just because I'm attached because she got more work done recently. Her backstory is nice, her design on a species level is very appealing to me with all the quirks Harpies and Vampires have (Harpies grouping with Fey in the setting so she essentially has a double-dose of weird vulnerabilities, magic antics, and compulsions, so literally me), but the character under that is... Not me. Developed, but not me, and even her looks sort of have the opposite problem of Thia where I made her too dainty.

This makes a good argument for sort of making Q.C. and calling it a day, though in practice I'd probably be splitting the difference between her and another character. The Vampire who turns her, I realized during a shower thought last night, should probably also be a Harpy, hence why they know each other- well, maybe. I could essentially just drop a genderbent Q.C. design, role as "magical member of the trio," and personality on him and then rework a (probably more Aequornithes-themed) Q.C. design out and just use her as my sona. Short of that, obviously, he also wouldn't need to be a Harpy, and there could be a dynamic between pre-mortem Q.C. and him of a sort of mutual mystique where one being Fey and the other being Undead puts them worlds apart and stuff.

However, I also just can't control myself.

I'd want mechanical features back, I think. There's just an occasional "oh to be a funny doll/robot" longing I have, which having three characters was intended to solve. Making 499 also made me realize that having a robotic character and having a character with robotic traits were really not substitutes for each other. If I just stop caring about the rules of my own setting a Vampire Robot would probably be doable but there's a certain game I'd be associated with (it's a good game, but I don't want my whole branding to come off as just a parody) and making it carry the equally important bird themes would be complicated. It's more tempting at that point to make a character that's just innately flexible on a conceptual level, and the idea of modifying Thia from an explicit Dragon to a more generalized monster has been very compelling for a long time (considering the species name Jabberwock, which is fitting because other than my tendency to throw big scary mystery words around I'm kind of the exact person the poem was making fun of).

The third and most developed option for a replacement character is back to robot, but in a more flexible way- essentially a techno-slime. Could rework herself to look different or utilize new pieces of machinery, letting her cover a lot of conceptual space. This is... Just a really cute concept, I think. I definitely want to keep an avian slant which could make that all confusing but we'll just say she chose a frame to inhabit most of the time that just looked birdy, because she likes flight.

Now, obviously, you might here me lay out three concepts once again and think "wait, we're back at square one." Well, true, but at this point I'm getting tired of not being able to just say "I'm Northy and this is my coherent, singular OC that represents my personality, Northy." I think I need to get back to that, even if it carries a lot of weird conceptual baggage. Or maybe I don't and just get comfy with having three again, wouldn't be the first time. Until then, uh... Hope this is actually appearing on people's feeds, seems I haven't been getting as much reach as before.

[bryhaven]

Can we start a Game? I will give u a few words or a Situation and u Write a Little Story, fanfic , conversation about it or give me your thoughts How the Situation will goes in?

Levi as a dad : How would he react if his son would bring a girl home and How would it be if his daughter would bring a boy? Give us also mikasas POV..

Sorry for the late reply, anon, and thanks for the tag, @levi4mikasa!

I also received the same ask in my inbox, so I'll be answering it from here 😌

I may have some other things that are slightly different from @chaosisbeauty23's and @nuri148's headcanons. But it still revolves around the fact that Levi and Mikasa are protective and watchful parents to their kids regarding partners.

Levi and Mikasa when their son brings home a girl

●Levi isn't particularly a friendly sight to behold. But since it's a girl they're meeting, he won't be acting like an ass because he is respectful of women. And a young woman around that age will likely trigger his protective side.

●Levi will be quiet and let Mikasa do most of the talking and interrogation. But he will still keep an observant eye and will only talk when necessary.

●Levi will indeed make sure that his son is treating the girl right, that his son keeps to curfews and protects the girl, and such. In fact, during the meet up, he will more often glance to his son to make sure he wouldn't misbehave or so.

●Mikasa is the one who will be very welcoming, given her motherly instincts and she will make sure the girl feels comfortable, during meet ups and things like that.

●Mikasa will remind the girl that that's just how Levi looks and that she shouldn't feel too intimidated.

●Mikasa indeed will find Levi's ways amusing since he struggles with manners and such himself and she will tease him about it, but find it endearing.

●Both parents will remind their son about consent, protection, responsibility, and things like that. But it is Levi who will often reiterate it. Because of his clean freak side, and yes, because he'll want his son to be better than he ever will be (because of his self-deprecating behaviors) and he wouldn't want any other woman to suffer fates similar to his own mom's (because again of his respect towards women).

Levi and Mikasa when their daughter brings home a boy

●When it comes to this, I can see Levi being overprotective. Yes, very overprotective.

●Levi will have his favorite knife or dagger sharpened beforehand, ready to attack. I mean this mostly in a comical way but I can see Levi being protective of his daughter to this level. He won't hesitate taking it out if the situation calls for it is what I'm implying.

●Mikasa and their daughter will warn Levi beforehand to not be an ass in front of the boy during the meetup. But he will still glare daggers (with matching crossed arms) at the boy the entire time and their daughter will just sigh in defeat about it.

●This time Levi is the one who is interrogating because only a proper and perfect boy deserves his little girl.

●Mikasa has to calm Levi down a number of times because of this. And she will always try to make the boy comfortable as well, and remind him that Levi is just that protective.

●Levi will set down rules for the boy to follow, for example, curfew. If they're even a minute late, they can expect to see Levi with a long wooden stick in hand, glaring while waiting at the front door.

●Levi will make sure indeed that he has taught his daughter all the attack and defense tactics in the world, but that doesn't diminish his overprotectiveness.

●Levi will indeed let Mikasa handle the talk to the girl this time, given that Mikasa knows about all the girl stuff involved. But he will remind his daughter that she can punch the boy whenever.

●Mikasa will remind Levi that he helped raise and taught their daughter a great deal and that he should trust her enough in this matter.

●But when the boy finally earns Levi's trust, it will be definitely worth it.

I've said before in my Ackerbaby headcanons that I can see Mikasa being the more lenient one, especially when the kids are younger but a bit more strict when they're older. But she wants their kids to experience living their own choices, and they will always be her kids whatever happens.

Levi is the more strict and protective, especially when the kids are younger but a bit more lenient when they're older. And even though he wants them to be responsible for their own choices, they will always be his kids and ultimately, he'd rather have them hate him for not letting them have their choice, if only to ensure their safety.

[mengyao]

3, 5, 6, 22!

3: What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need?

my problem is that i can always be arsed to write all the set-up and context and this is how i get into Pickles (all my wips get out of hand.) i'm sure there's something though… OH i know. it's the ling wen/pei ming/shi wudu fic of my dreams, which involves escalating bets/wagers and culminates in a sleazy threesome but they all have feelings about it but the feelings are complex and unnameable. they are not in love but they love each other but also they don't. but they do. you know.

to get the vibe i want, it couldn't just be pwp though. like i would want this to be a trojan horse of emotionally dense 3 tumours character study. but also funny, because they're comedians to me. minimum 5k of buildup necessary, and in order to do that and have it be good i would have to Get A Degree In Pei Ming And Ling Wen And Shi Wudu and tbh the reason i don't write more poly ships is that having to canon review to get two characters' voices down is enough work as it is… you expect me to do more than that……………….

5: What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

i've flippantly posted about this before but i do feel like i have an elevated level of insight into the nhs + nmj dynamic due to the circumstances of my dad's health issues/head injury/death lmao. i would never do all of that though <3

6: What character do you have the most fun writing?

nie huaisang is the obvious answer (assigned comic relief at birth. a font of earnest sadstuck. deserves to go to prison. the swiss army knife of blorbos.) but shi qingxuan is edging up there. i thought my beefleaf sex pollen fic was going to be 3k but it ended up 8k because sqx as a pov character just kept going and going and going and i was having a GREAT time. i used to shy away from writing characters who are talky and have big personalities because i felt like whatever i wrote would turn out feeling fake and/or annoying, or that it would be more obvious if my characterization was off than if the character was more subdued… i guess i'm just more self-confident now?

more than just being extroverted and chatty, i think what's sooo fun and novel to me about shi qingxuan is that they're such a doer. after primarily writing cerebral repressos for the past 15 years it's so refreshing to write a character whose reaction to most situations is to follow their instinct… they keep the plot moving! never a dull moment!

22: Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

ah ha ha ha ha yeah no i reread stuff i wrote in the last ~2 years allll the time. i know what i like! and if it already existed up to spec i wouldn't have written it! there's definitely stuff i find cringe and parts i skim if i'm not happy with them but overall i spend a lot of time on my own ao3 page......

///

you also asked about foowd extras... i still find writing + sharing these kind of mortifying because despite bravado about my trans fanfiction brand, part of my brain is still like "okay but NOW it's cringe because NOW it's not 'suicidal closeted trans character is depressed and makes bad choices' but 'comparably emotionally stable character is a known transgender and has some good things happen to her' so everyone will point and laugh over your SELF INDULGENT WISH FULFILLMENT!!!1!1!!1" because the particular brainworm i find very difficult to remove re: residual shame over writing trans fic is the idea of anything you write being automatically discounted as personal projection basically on par with readerfic rather than coming from being genuinely interested in the canon character(s). and wanting to write about nice things happening to fictional trans people being like, THE WORST MOST CRINGE thing you could ever do. but i persisteth.

it's funny because i WOULDN'T even say they are just fluffy wish fulfillment stuff... the four "chapters" i'm planning on posting have a bit of an emotional arc, and what interested me enough to write them out instead of just leaving them as comfy eyelid movies were questions like "now that it's actually happening, how WOULD nhs actually feel about the prospect of not only stepping down from sect leadership but uprooting her entire life to go join another sect," with the idea that, if that were to actually happen rather than stay an escapist fantasy, she'd probably feel... pretty conflicted about it! it would be weird (even if ultimately worth it)!

so there's that. and then there's the fact that the entire original fic largely sprung out of ideas about sangcheng eventually being in a long-term relationship that looked a certain way, and then reverse engineering the interpersonal arc that would be needed to get them there (and that becoming the main fic.) foowd proper ends when they've only just even actually "become a couple," and you don't get to see much of that... so i wanted to chuck at least SOME of what i imagine about straight married sangcheng's day to day life into the world. (not that it's even at that point yet LMAO. EVENTUALLY!!!) if for no other reason than that there's a strong chance that sometime i'll reference something from the extended foowd lore in casual conversation forgetting that no one has any idea what i'm talking about because it does not exist anywhere except my brain

[kdj-225]

um um short royalty isekai joongdok???? kdj transmigrating into a world where he is the emperor and yjh is his trustworthy knight 🤭🤭🤭 (its ok if you cant write this or if it's not exact, i love your writing so much!!!!!!)

[!!! I'm so glad you enjoy my written works, thank you so much!! I had fun writing this prompt, I hope you like it as well!! 💕💖💕💜]

note: this is first person POV, from KDJ's perspective!

cw for: passing jokes on death / dying

----

※DO NOT REPOST / HOST MY WORK ON OTHER APPS OR SITES

A year has already passed since my transmigration into this web novel.

A year of struggling not to fall into anxiety at my current reality as the emperor of a fictional kingdom, a year of fooling my own people that I was perfectly hale and healthy and not going insane at my own transmigration, and a year of me having to figure out just what I could do so I wouldn't accidentally set myself up with a death flag with the smallest of actions.

One damn year, and the heroine could finally take my dangerous knight commander away so I didn't have to keep being under his watchful eye, and they could have their happy ending.

For all that I'd read what felt like a million webnovels in my original life, and for all that I loved certain tropes enough to read them over and over in different stories, I could still remember the plot for this novel I'd been thrown into.

It was typical, for a romance fantasy fiction.

The heroine was a saintess born into the life of a commoner, with a heart of gold intent on serving the people. Her male lead was the cold and unfaltering Knight Commander, the youngest person to have ever received such a title in the empire, and her childhood friend. Both people skilled on opposing sides—one in saving lives, with the other in taking them—yet with loyalty similarly sworn to the kingdom.

And between them was the emperor, who sought to have the saintess to himself. For power? For love? For sheer greed?

I had no idea. I wasn't able to finish the webnovel, considering how it had been ongoing the last time I read it.

"Your Majesty. Stop shaking your leg."

I stopped shaking my leg, realizing a little too late that I'd been doing it at all. "I admire your gall to tell your emperor what to do," I said, frowning when I gave Joonghyuk a look. "Can't you guard me from the outside?"

"You have a window behind you."

"If I die, I die."

Joonghyuk scowled at me. Somehow, he could still look handsome while making such an ugly expression. "Your Majesty. I don't appreciate such jokes."

Oh, but were they really jokes? Maybe I could go back to my original world if I die. It wasn't like I was brave enough to test it out myself, so if someone else could do me a favor...

I smiled. Well, there was no point to thinking such things when my Knight Commander was so scarily efficient with his work.

"My apologies. I'll try to be more tasteful with my jokes next time."

"Please don't joke at all."

"Ah, but where's the fun in that," I sighed, finishing signing off on a document about opening an investigation for a potentially corrupt baron. "You are boring enough as is, Joonghyuk-ah. I can't let you get any more boring when you're with me."

He raised a brow. "Is that why you've set up a ball for me."

It wasn't even a question. This guy really was a weirdo, regardless of his status as the male lead.

"You're my favorite knight," I teased, putting my pen down so I could rest my cheek into my upright palm. "Isn't it only fair to celebrate you and your achievements?"

"You wish to marry me off."

"I wish to see you happy."

I received a mysterious look in response. If this series were a webtoon, then perhaps I'd have a better chance at deciphering his expressions, but it had yet to be adapted into comic form when I read it.

Ah, really. This guy was the one who made things so much more difficult for me than they needed to be. At least Lee Seolhwa was easier to deal with, given her prioritization of healing as a practice.

"How about Your Majesty?"

I cocked my head to one side in question. "What about me?"

"If marriage equates to happiness, I don't understand why you haven't chosen your own spouse yet."

I wanted to tell him that I had no right to such happiness in a world that isn't mine. That I didn't deserve to create a family here, when there was still a chance of me going back. That I wasn't meant for marriage at all.

But I couldn't.

So I said, "Your happiness is enough for me, Joonghyuk-ah."

"Is that so."

"Yes."

He gave me a long look. Again, it was difficult for me to decipher.

"Then you will not question my choice later," he said.

I blinked at him, then smiled widely. Of course, it was like that. Yoo Joonghyuk has known Lee Seolhwa for long enough even before my transmigration that he must have built up such feelings for her even without my meddling. He must be wary that his emperor would feel envious of his choice, right?

But I wasn't that emperor from the original novel. I wouldn't interfere with their happiness.

"I won't, Joonghyuk-ah."

He nodded.

Was it just me, or was he smiling a little?

"Good to know, Your Majesty."

---

I should have taken his words for the warning that they were. I should have realized that something was wrong from the start.

If I had prepared myself better, I would've known what to say now that my Knight Commander was kneeling in front of me.

I couldn't even swear.

"Joonghyuk-ah, what is the meaning of this..?"

My voice was shaky, for all my efforts to remain calm.

Joonghyuk didn't mind it, as he did just take my trembling hand. I had just announced what the ball's purpose was with him at my side, I had told everyone of his achievements—

Then he'd abruptly kneeled upon one knee in front of me, and told me that he wanted me.

This couldn't have been in the novel at all. The ball itself might not have been prepared by the emperor in the original novel, but surely, such a change couldn't have led to something this insane?

"I told you," he said, taking my hand closer to press a kiss upon my gloved knuckles. He didn't seem to mind the increase in volume from everyone else's gossiping and murmuring. "You are the person I want as my spouse. Did you not say?"

His eyes, dark and deep as they were, glinted brightly under the chandelier lights.

"You won't question my choice, Your Majesty."

Fuck.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

The only thing against the idea of Ozai arranging a marriage i can think of is, and i know this topic is fraught, the Search, and what it confirms/elaborates on vis-a-vis Ozai’s marriage to Ursa. If we take those comics as an interpretation of “Bryke” collective intent, Ozai was forced into an arranged marriage with a woman he never met for the purposes of his dad‘s breeding project, and it fuckin sucks. She produces one kid that he thinks is pathetic, taunts him with infidelity, and basically sounds like an extremely stressful situation to live in, knowing you can’t divorce her bcz FatherLord said so. (Not that im callin Ozai the True Victim, just sayin how his POV might look). I dont know how much “empathy” people think Ozai possessed, or his tendency for consistency vs hypocrisy, but i do wonder if Ozai would not *want* to deal with the untrustworthy wildcard of an arranged spouse for his kid- especially given that his wife killed his own father. Does this make sense or am i off base here?

I've actually played with this concept! Specifically the ways Ozai would reconcile his own experience with an unhappy arranged marriage with his right/duty to arrange successful marriages for his child (or children, in the case Zuko became useful to him).

I mainly use the Fire Nation Royal Family as a source of complicated drama because i think that fits the dynamic best, so i'll try to trim this down to only context that completely matters. Everything below is from the headcanon-laden timeline I put together for my fan writings.

When Azula was still quite young, Azulon began to have doubts about the prophecy and after reviewing it and weighing his options, he decided the safest course of action was to keep that Avatar blood in the main bloodline another generation. He arranged for Lu Ten to marry Azula when she came of age (twenty-one years old in the Fire Nation, judging by The Search) unless a more suitable match could be arranged. Everyone was uncomfortable with this, even Ozai, who coped with the news by considering it to be the most favorable match Azula could hope for and that his own grandfather married a young cousin when he couldn't ignore his need for heirs.

Ursa was distraught at the news for the same reasons Ozai was annoyed: they weren't given the choice to refuse to give their daughter to the union, and, even if Ozai didn't want to admit it to himself, that she was going to be given to someone who outranked her, was older than her, and far more favored. You'd think this would make him reconsider the unequal relationship he has with his wife, but he continued to ignore her wishes and didn't stop touching her that night until she slapped him. Probably justifying himself with the idea that princes and princesses exist to make more princes and princesses

The general hope was that Azulon would die before Azula came of age and Iroh could decide what makes up more suitable matches. Naturally, you couldn't actually say that and the only back up was not telling Azula until she was old enough to understand and have Lu Ten be especially nice to her so the idea of being stuck with him until one of them dies wouldn't feel like a punishment.

Lu Ten dies long before Azula ever learns she was betrothed to him. The Firelord himself is found dead the next day and Ursa is nowhere to be found.

It isn't long before Ozai sets Azula up to be the princess her mother was not. It isn't long before she gets to have adult conversations with him; the kind of conversations Iroh would disapprove of if he wasn't in a state of constantly flipping between catatonic and blubbering mess over the death of his son (and father, one right after the other). Azula isn't like that, perhaps in part due to her inexperience with death, but also because her father expects more from her and her duty is fulfilling those expectations.

Ozai resents his father for many things, including the arranged marriage. He words this resentment toward the former Firelord incredibly delicately when discussing it with his daughter, but not his resentment toward his wife and the union that bound him to her. "Dissatisfying," he describes her, as well as "ungrateful, willful to the point of childishness." Rather than suggest to him that marriage is best as a partnership of equals, his experience seems to have taught him that it ought to be that one party is unquestioned and answered to and the other knows its place. He promises his daughter that she will be better off than he was, and the husband he chooses for her will be grateful for her, and he will fear her. Azula, as the ideal daughter and princess her father wants her to be, thanks him for the care he takes with her future and praises his wisdom.

A man presents himself, a smooth-talking social climber whose ambition is best kept in check and loyalty best kept enforced. He plays the simpering yesman well enough, but his reputation betrays him. Azula is still young, and prodigy though she is, she could use a bit of polishing, but in time, she will put fear in him. It's what her father taught her and what her father expects.

[phoebehalliwell]

How would you have liked to see them reboot Charmed? With the P's in a new storyline, brand-new characters with no connection, or a mix of the two?

For me, when I first saw the potential 70's reboot they were planning, I thought that would have been a perfect AU setup. We could have seen Patty and Penny (and the little Charmed Ones) from the POV of these outside witches - maybe some witches that Patty worked with. And then, for the AU element, Patty gets pregnant in '77 and ends up asking the other witches to raise Paige.

tbh i wouldn't want to see the sisters in another storyline bc like. they already did that shit man let them rest like how you know they've not that new comic coming up w like buffy in her 50s still fighting vampires like doesn't that just depress you? obviously if i could have anything it'd be a next gen reboot but very crucially i want like all nine kids i do not want a wyatt & chris centric story ik like a lot of people were on that charmed sons kick back in the day but fuck no if i'm not getting a campy feminist show out of this then like. what's the damn point you know.

however, to completely undermine what i just said (& i've mentioned this previously) i think if you want to leave the warren bloodline alone going for a magical morrises au would so go hard bc like. it has just enough severance from the original lore that you aren't boxed in by charmed's relatively restrictive 8 season canon and you get the wonder of you know siblings discovering exactly what it means to be witches and you can add vague allusions to the halliwells but you get a story and characters that are wholly your own

in regards to a retro set up, i think it could have been cool to get some history on patty and penny, tho i would love it from a more internal standpoint, bc i want Info on patty and victor and patty and sam. only downside is it all eventually has to build to her death. every accomplishment, every victory, only pushes her closer to drowning in front of prue which like. harsh. total downer.

a young penny story tho could be really interesting bc like i think she was the one who really like settled the halliwell manor considering she was born in boston i think post cousin murder her mom moved away so penny you know got an adventure moving to san francisco to reclaim that seat of power

honestly if we're going really au i would love a source's heir bit that completely deviates from canon but i think would be just really fun and a nice way to continue the charmed line with a limited cast

tbh like. i think completely separate characters would be dead last my choice for a reboot just because the original was still like relatively recent and like. clearly wanted a next gen reboot & alluded to that like multiple times so just to completely upend that and go it's all brand new!!! it just like. & i've complained about this before. it's not quite charmed like just make a new witch show with your new sisters sister witches have been a thing forever in media and there are so many different places to go rather than just the "charmed" route.

& while i'm on the topics of reboots/spin offs now this one's a reach but i have a headcanon & i'm p sure i'm not the only one that prudence warren melinda warren's daughter was also matthew tate's daughter, making her half warlock, which i think could be righteously fun as a storyline. esp with coming off the salem witch burnings (which like i gotta make clear did not actually happen i just wanna say) But Coming Off The Salem Witch Burnings we could also get to see the rise of the phoenix clan

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

S.T. REWRITE - S2:E1; Chapter One, MADMAX - [Pt. 3]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

As the town preps for Halloween, a high-scoring rival shakes things up at the arcade. Will begins seeing strange visions as the anniversary of his disappearance creeps up.

Warnings: an instance of self harm TECHNICALLY. I don't know if I can even call it self harm but it is not out of depression, but it is for demonstration. Regardless I felt the need to warn you guys in case this might be a trigger to some of you. If you are concerned it might be, i will put a signal [▪▪▪] at the beginning and the end of the instance if that makes sense? Sorry if it's weird i just have never dealt with this issue before and i don't want to trigger anybody. Also, unedited and most likely filled with grammatical errors

[FLASHBACK]

"Come on!" The giggles of the girl were softly carried through the trees.

Will Byers and Y/N Henderson were lightly jogging through the woods to the infamous Castle Byers hand in hand.

"Okay, okay" Will laughed, trying to catch up with the girl ahead of him. It had been a few weeks since coming home from the hospital after his disappearance, and Y/N Henderson had yet to share her secret with him.

She insisted that she wait until they could talk in private, so Will had suggested Castle Byers, even though he was still uneasy about the woods since the incident.

Here they were, rushing through the trees to the makeshift fortress in the woods.

He had never stopped trying to pry any sort of information from her prior to this, but she wouldn't break.

Sure enough, the familiar flag and sign of Castle Byers came into view and the two ducked inside.

Will fought the shutter that creeped up when he took a look around. The last time he had been here was in the Upside Down.

When it got him.

But when he looked at Y/N, it was different. He was still spooked but he felt grounded with her here with him.

They both took a seat, her in her normal spot. Her having been over so many times, Castle Byers had become their thing, their hideaway and she had her own corner with some of her comic books and other things of hers.

"So what is it? Is everything okay?"

She chuckled weakly and looked down, her nerves began to stir. "Yeah, everything's fine, but uh, it's weird. I'm not gonna lie, it's very weird."

Will's brows furrowed but his curiousity was peaked. Silently, he urged her to go on.

She took a deep breath and began.

"So, do you remember all that stuff we told you about that girl who helped us, El? And how she had... abilities?"

He considered this and then nodded his head. Ordinarily, he would have difficulty believing it but after the whole ordeal he went through, anything seemed possible at that point.

"Well, I think - I think it might be better if I show you."

[▪▪▪]

Before Will could ask what she meant, she took a steep breath and exhaled pulling out a small pocket knife. She awkwardly opened it and hesitantly brought it up to her palm.

Will's eyes bulged and his face went pale and he frantically reached to stop her, sputtering desperately trying to find the words to tell her to stop. But it was too late. With a sharp hiss she dragged the blade across her palm drawing out a thick stream of blood.

"Crap, Y/N, what the hell was that? Are you okay?"

[▪▪▪]

Will began to look around frantically for something to stop the blood and settled on a discarded piece of cloth that tore from the ratty sheet that was used for the entrance the fort.

He quickly pressed the cloth to her palm and she hissed once more, glancing up at him, smiling and thanking him. She gently took the cloth and applied pressure for a few more seconds and then wiped the remaining blood away and set the cloth aside.

She shifts nervously taking a long inhale through her nose and closing her eyes.

She clenched her bleeding fist and Will watched with bewilderment as her brows furrowed slightly and body tensed for a brief moment.

Though only moments passed, Will took the opportunity to gaze at the girl before him. And although her face held a stern look of concentration, it had sense of emotional vulnerability.

It took everything in him to pry his eyes from her face and to focus on her hand and while nothing seemed to present itself as unusual he knew nothing would be the same somehow.

His heart began to pound against his chest, and then it happened.

Her fingers slowly unfurled and Will gaped at what he saw. Blood still stained her fingertips and palm but the cut itself was gone. Like it had never existed.

"Wh- I- How did-?"

"I know, even I still can't believe it. And no, I don't know for sure how I got it, technically, but, there's more,"

Will clung to her every word as she retold the story of her encounter with the bad men, only this time including every detail. All the way up to what the white haired man said to her as they tried to take her away.

It fell quiet for a moment and Will spoke up.

"So, do you think, do you think that place, is where you come from?"

She bit her lip nervously and met his eye, nodding her head.

"I mean, it's gotta be right? I can't think of any other possible explanation for it. And what's even more terrifying to think about is, if that really is the case, would I have grown up like Eleven? I can't even begin to imagine how awful it must have been,"

Y/N grew quiet and Will hung his head, sparing a glance at the girl.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up,"

"No, no," she laughed weakly.

"No, it's okay. This is huge, it's hard not to want to ask questions. And I'm sorry you couldn't find out until now, but I couldn't risk anyone else overhearing or finding out or anything. And I made the others promise not to tell you. I figured it should come from me,"

"No, I'm glad it did." He smiled. "So, how much did they freak out?"

Y/N laughed as she recalled the memory, explaining how after everything calmed down they bombarded her with questions and wouldn't let it go all as she wore a fond smile on her face. It soon fell as their laughter died down and she grew more serious.

"Will,"

"Yeah?"

Will felt his heart break for her.

"Will, you faced a monster that week. Spent every moment running and hiding. But in a way, we did too. Those men were," she paused, caution even in her next few breaths."Will, they terrified me. He terrified me. The bad men. I just... I can't get the way he looked at me out of my head. Or... what he called me.

And, I knew that if they got ahold of me - if he got ahold me - he could make me disappear forever. I mean, Jesus, they made and dumped a fake you in the quarry, Will. We buried you. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if things turned out any different than it did,"

Everything she had said was true. They all faced their own horrors that week, and it left scars that even she couldn't heal. Wanting desperately to console her, he reached out and took her hand in comfort.

"The point is," she wiped away the remaining tears and looked at him. "Will, you need to promise me that you aren't going to tell anyone. Especially my mom. The others know, obviously, can't risk anyone who isn't already involved to know, it puts them in danger."

"Don't worry, Y/N. You're secret is safe with me."

She smiled thankfully at him and the two of them shared a brief moment of peace which quickly turned to silence that needed to be filled.

"So, can you do it on command? You know, the wave thing?"

She smiled shyly and shook her head.

"No, it's rare, and pretty much happens on it's own in really bad situations"

He smiled at her and she chuckled.

"What?"

"I bet you could."

"Could what?"

"Learn to control it. I mean, look what you did with your hand! Imagine what you could do with your other powers,"

"You know, this might sound weird, but then again, all of this is weird," the two chuckled and she continued.

"But, I think all this might connect to my bizarre luck with plants. Like, who knows? I could be the next Poison Ivy," she joked.

Will breathed out a light laugh and nodded head. "Totally,"

The two smiled at each other and butterflies stirred between the two.

They both held each other's gaze and then Will speaks up.

"You should try. Practice your powers, I mean. You could do great things,"

"Yeah, I could, couldn't I?" Y/N giggled, a confident smile on her face.

She laughed and rubbed her hands together before reaching her hand out and gently placed her palm on the dirt ground and closed her eyes.

It was at that moment Will could have sworn he saw the smallest bit of movement-

[END OF FLASHBACK]

||Will's POV||

"Will?"

"Huh?"

It took a moment to come back to reality.

"Yeah. Yeah, sorry." I mumbled halfheartedly.

"Hey. What did we talk about, huh? You've got to stop it with the sorries."

"Sorry." I quickly realize what I said. "I mean, yeah, I know"

"And listen, you know, there's nothing to he nervous about, you know."

"Just tell 'em what you felt last night and what you saw. Hey, I'm gonna be there the whole time. So it's gonna be okay. Okay?"

I couldn't help but think of Y/N, and what they would do if they knew about her.

And I didn't even want to think about the possibility of them knowing about her and the fact that they could take her away at any time.

I shook my head subtly, trying to rid myself of the awful thought.

The anxiety was creeping up on me again and I rested my head on the side of the window, looking out at the open road ready to let my mind wander.

+ + +

"Sir Will, how are you? Mom? Pop? Let's take a look, see what's going on here," Dr. Owens entered the room. He greeted me, my mom and Hopper who always came along to support us.

Dr. Owen's sat down next to me and begins looking through my file, stirring up conversation as usual. "I see you shaved off a pound since we saw you last. Must be making room for all that Halloween candy. What's your favorite candy?"

I lightly shrugged, clamming up a bit not used to the sudden spotlight.

"Desert island candy, if you had to pick on?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, life or death situation, what would you pick?"

"I guess..."

Mom mouthed Reese's Pieces.

"Reese's Pieces."

"Good call. Good call. I'm more of a Mounds guy, but I gotta say, peanut butter and chocolate, come on, hard to beat that. All right, so tell me what's going on with you. Tell me about this episode you had."

There it was.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and I felt a chill run down my spine at the recollection.

"Well, my friends were there and then they just weren't, and I was back there again."

"In the Upside Down?"

I nodded my head.

"All right, so what happened next?"

"I heard this noise, and so I went outside, and it was worse."

"How was it worse?"

"There was this storm"

I could still see the flashes as clear as day.

"Okay. So how did you feel when you saw the storm?"

"I felt... frozen."

《• • •》

I trembled as I stared at the monster in the sky. I could hear the faint echo of her voice.

"Will?"

It's staring at me. The shadow.

《• • •》

"Heart racing?"

"Just frozen."

"Frozen, cold frozen? Frozen to the touch?"

"No. Like how you feel when you're scared, and you can't breathe or talk or do anything. I felt... I felt this evil, like it was looking at me."

"It was evil?"

"Well... What do you think the evil wanted?"

"To kill."

"To kill you?"

"Not me." For the first time since he questioned me, I looked him in the eye.

"Everyone else."

My heart was pounding against my rib cage, and my palms were sweating.

I felt mom squeeze my hand.

"Do you want to tell him what you told me, baby?" She whispered.

I frowned for a second as I looked to her before I knew what she was talking about. It was a small detail I didn't even realize had happened until I was telling her about my episode.

"I remember hearing, very faintly," I took a breath, hoping to subtly stop my quickening heartbeat. "I heard this voice. My friend. She was the only one I could kind of hear."

"So your friend was with you when you had this episode?"

"Yeah," I mumbled avoiding eye contact once more.

"Is this regular for you? Can you normally hear others outside of an episode?"

"Never. And I wanted to hold onto it for as long as I could but I was too scared."

"What were you afraid would happen, Will?"

"It saw her," I could feel the color drain from my face.

My heartbeat quickened. I didn't want them to know about her. But if what I am about to admit out loud really is true, that means she could be facing an even greater danger.

"Was she there with you?"

I shook my head. "No, but I could barely hear her. Like she was calling to me from a distance. And I wanted to follow that. I thought maybe, if I did, the episode would stop but-" my eyes were beginning to burn, I hadn't realized I was fighting back tears.

"It's okay, take your time," Dr. Owen's said.

I took another deep breath and managed to swallow the lump in my throat.

"But I couldn't let myself,"

"And why not?"

"It saw her," I looked the man, unable to hide the growing fear in my eyes. "It saw her as a threat."

Tag List: @dickkwad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa @miscellaneoustoasts

DM me if you want to be added!

[sally-mun]

As someone who hasn't, wouldn't, and won't be experiencing Major/Minor (or whatever it was called) could you perhaps analyze more specifically some of the things you felt were missteps more in depth, so others who decide they might want to make a visual novel or even just a story, might be able to avoid the same issues? I realize this might not be your area of interest, but I'm always interested in these kinds of analyses.

Man, where do I even begin.

I suppose I should start by saying that this game could have been fine; I don’t necessarily hate this game for the story, even if I think it’s uninspired. I play lots of point-and-click games and usually enjoy them (even the stupid ones) so long as they have merit in one area or another. But that’s the core of the problems with Major/Minor: It has NO merit to work with. Its construction shows absolutely no understanding of this genre of game design. Or of writing. Or of entertainment in general. Or of simply respecting one’s audience.

First and foremost, let’s discuss visual novels.

The critical difference between a novel and a visual novel is interactivity; a novel is a set and done deal that takes its readers along for the ride, whereas a visual novel invites the readers to be part of the ride itself. The direction of the story is influenced by the player, and this allows them to personally take ownership of later events. It’s the sort of game that tries to put you in the role of the protagonist in the most direct form possible. Like other first-person games your view as a player is exactly that of the character you’re playing, but in a VN’s case it’s like reading a comic book in a choose-your-own-adventure format.

Major/Minor not only fails on both the visual and novel elements, but it also fails when combined as a visual novel.

1) Visual

For the most part, visual novels don’t have a lot of action. They primarily consist of conversations with NPCs and usually take place in static locations. For this reason, both the characters and the environments need to have a lot of personality. Players need to feel like they’re actually having conversations with the characters and that they’ve entered a unique location that sees real use. This is the red, meaty center of how VNs engage and gratify their players.

Designing characters in a visual novel is about more than giving each one a different face; it’s about giving each character enough of a range of actions and emotions to sell the idea that the character is actually interacting with you, and in a way that’s truly unique from every other character. In real life, people do all sorts of crap when speaking: Our expressions change, we gesture with our hands, our posture varies, and sometimes we even have small ticks associated with certain topics or emotions. Between these visual cues and the actual discussions themselves, players ought to know the NPCs well enough to be able to describe them like real-life friends by the end of the game.

This brings us to Major/Minor’s first serious offense: Every character has one face. Typically in a VN, each character has a minimum of half a dozen expressions, poses, and gestures/ticks to match the different emotions they’ll need to exhibit over the course of their conversation topics. The characters in Major/Minor can only make a single expression and pose throughout the entire game, which immediately leads to some seriously disjointed discussions. It’s hard for me to take a character seriously when they say they’re angry with me when the art staring through the computer screen is bright, cheerful, and apparently mid-laugh. Sorry, NPC #672, I really don’t care that you’re allegedly on the brink of tears, because your singular piece of character art is so smarmy and mischievous that I forgot you were trying to tell me something tragic.

What makes this even more annoying is that most of the characters DO have a secondary piece of art, but it’s only ever used ONE time as an introduction to a new character before the game chucks it in the bin and we never see it again. Each character COULD have had at least two expressions if the dev had planned his commissions carefully enough, buuut instead he chose to get two shots that are barely distinguishable from one another so there could be a ~=*FLOURISH*=~ when we see someone for the first time. Granted, two per character still isn’t anywhere near enough, but it’s a hell of a lot better than just one! It makes me wonder why he bothered to spend the money on a second image for each character at all, since half of these commissions only get about 10 seconds of screen time. What a waste.

And hey, speaking of wasted opportunities, let’s talk more about the environments! Lots of visual novels don’t spend much energy on their backgrounds, and although that’s usually fine (albeit not my first preference), Major/Minor seriously needed to think more about its settings. For the moment I’ll ignore the laziness of the fact that the backgrounds are generic photos with a blur filter over them; what’s more important is that this game loves to tell us all kinds of random crap about the rooms we’re in, especially during the scenes that take place in Japan. This game would’ve benefited dearly from simply having more detailed backgrounds and just letting us observe the goings on of the room on our own. Y’know, because that makes it more... visual.

Honestly, if it were me, I would’ve taken it all a step further and gone full-blown Ace Attorney on the environments. In AA games, investigating the scene is very important because you have to look for clues. I’m not saying Major/Minor needed to let you hunt for items, but I do think that it could’ve cut a ton of random information from the text by simply letting us inspect the backgrounds. That way the players that want to know what a kotatsu is can find out on their own time and players that already know or don’t care can move on.

Something else that would’ve brought the game a much-needed boost of interest is cut scenes. As noted earlier, visual novels don’t tend to have a lot of action, so when something physical DOES happen, it makes an impact. One way to maximize that flash of excitement is with a cut scene – or at least, the visual novel equivalent of one. A “cut scene” in a VN isn’t typically a full motion video like most video games boast; it still makes use of a static image, but it’s an image whose quality far surpasses that of the rest of the art in the game. Maybe it’s abnormally large and the camera slowly pans across for dramatic effect, or maybe it’s a scene drawn from an interesting angle that isn’t the player’s POV. Some games take this even farther and really do animate their cut scenes a bit (usually on par with a nice animated gif). Lots of VN cut scenes make use of sound effects or action-specific music cues to keep the player emotionally involved with the scene, as it’s a moment that’s out of the player’s control.

Major/Minor, on the other hand, does none of this. Much like the drought of facial expressions, the game simply pelts you with paragraph after paragraph to tell you about the events taking place around you, rather than simply letting you see for yourself and be, y’know, involved. Even a handful of cut scenes that had some real effort put into them would’ve really given this game some pep. Not only would it have kept me engaged as a player, but it would’ve weeded out even more unnecessary narration.

Oh, and speaking of weeding shit out of the text…

2) Novel

The writing in this game badly, badly needed to be edited. Like, so badly it makes me physically hurt from how poorly this text is constructed. I’m not talking about the simple things like misspellings and failed capitalizations, I mean BIG mistakes, like sentence fragments and improper conjugations and completely misusing some words all together. It’s also excruciatingly repetitive. Never in my life have I ever seen prose that recaps itself so frequently – sometimes literally within minutes of the event that it’s reminding you of. It even recaps itself within the same block of text a few times.

It’s pretty obvious the dev never allowed a seasoned editor to proof the text, but it’s so unbelievably bad that I’m not even sure the dev himself ever gave it a second glance. It reeks of being a first draft that was never once revisited; actually, it strongly reminds me of the sort of stories I myself wrote when I was about 13. At that time I wanted so badly to write big, dramatic stories! Stories that had deep themes and lots of intrigue! With a complicated plot and several subplots!! And lots of characters that would all totally be different and completely matter!!!! But the problem was I was so wrapped up in wanting to make my stories big, impressive epics that I stretched myself way too thin and everything came out incredibly shallow. It’s honestly kind of eerie to think back on the things I wrote as a kid while I play this game. The similarities are so striking that I can’t tell if this is something the dev wrote at that age and just never decided to polish, or if he did write it as an adult but has the writing skill-level of a teenager.

But honestly, I’d overlook all the technical flaws and melodrama this guy could throw at me if he would just show and not tell. “Show, don’t tell” is one of the oldest rules in the book when it comes to storytelling, and for good reason: Telling instead of showing is not only fucking boring, but it treats the reader like an idiot. If a writer knows what they’re doing, they shouldn’t have to tell, because they’d just demonstrate those things instead.

For example, let’s examine another huge flaw with the writing: Incredibly shallow characterizations. Early in the game the player meets a character named Rook. Rook is very rude. I know this because the game tells me. All. The. Time. I legit don’t remember how many times the game has mentioned that Rook is rude at this point. The dev seems completely oblivious to the notion that you don’t have to tell the player these things. You can just… write Rook as being rude. Trust me, my dude, I can figure out if a character is an asshole or not. Not only can Rook’s rudeness be demonstrated by how he treats me as a player, but it can be further reinforced by other characters reacting to him in a put-off manner. If you’re so concerned that I won’t pick up on the fact that Rook is a rude person just based on how he behaves, then you’re doing it wrong, end of discussion.

But then, as I said, the characterizations are shallow in general. Everyone tends to have their one basic trope and the story rests on the idea that you know what the character is. None of the scenes go out of their way to really dig into who someone is – which is kind of amazing, honestly, since the prose is so obsessed with making sure you know the most inane and unrelated shit half the time – and even after I’ve known a character for several chapters they still feel like a cardboard cut-out to me.

To be honest, I’m kind of impressed by the sheer volume of ways that Major/Minor fails at showing instead of telling. It tells you what characters are like instead of just letting you interact with them, it tells you about the places you visit instead of just letting you view them, it tells you every single time the characters have a mood shift or expression change because it couldn’t be bothered to give them each more than one face, and it hamfists unnecessary information into the script where it’s unneeded and interrupts the scene – and THEN, it makes SURE you notice that it’s telling instead of showing by repeating those things over and over and over again!

All of this is further exacerbated, by the way, because the dev has no idea how to tell a story in the first place. Even with all the above flaws, I miiight have still been able to enjoy this game if it was just a compelling narrative in any sense of the word at all. I will happily deal with poor construction and telling-not-showing if the story still has some intrigue. Even a flawed story can have a mind-blowing plot and keep you reading just to find out what happens next, right? I thought so too, until I realized that Major/Minor goes SO far out of its way to spoil its own plot that it frequently makes you sit through scenes that you, the protagonist, are not even present for. Yes, in a game that’s built upon being a first-person experience, the story will slam on the brakes and take you OUT of the protagonist’s shoes to make you sit by as an observer to events that probably would’ve been an great reveal later on had the dev just kept his mouth shut.

3) Visual Novel

So the visuals suck and the writing sucks, but hey, lots of games get by without investing much in those areas. Could Major/Minor pull it together and at least give the player an interesting mechanic? Hahahaha no, of course it didn’t. As far as the gameplay is concerned, Major/Minor is so bad that in many ways I hesitate to even call it a game.

The cornerstone of visual novels is making choices. They can range from serious decisions that determine the overall outcome of the game or small cosmetic details, but either way, the core of this gaming style is putting the player in the driver’s seat as often as possible. When playing Major/Minor, however, the player is strapped into a straight jacket, blindfolded, and tossed into the trunk of the damn car. This game is so reluctant to surrender control of the narrative that it’s not uncommon at all to go through entire sections of the game having made no choices whatsoever. It fails so spectacularly as a visual novel that I’d be willing to bet that the dev had never played one before. He is astonishingly disinterested in what makes a visual novel enjoyable to the player.

There’s a principle in game design called Illusion of Control. The goal of this idea is to allow the player to feel like they’re in charge of the game while actually keeping them within strict boundaries. It applies to a lot of games, but it’s especially important in visual novels. Players need to be able to dictate how the story progresses, even if some of those choices make no real impact on outcomes. For example, players can enter conversation trees with NPCs that seemingly offer a lot of control – perhaps the player chooses the discussion topics, or can decide if they want to be shy or snarky in their replies – and yet at the end of the scene there could realistically be no change to the story’s progress. The greater point is that the player feels like they handled the conversation the way they wanted to. This allows them to still feel like they’ve gotten somewhere and that they accomplished something.

Major/Minor appears to scoff at the very idea of this, like the game’s worried you’ll cramp its style if it gives you too much power.The player is allotted no input whatsoever on how the PC treats the other characters, what subjects to discuss, where they’d like to go, how to react to the actions of other characters… It’s truly mind-blowing just how consistently the game misses opportunities to allow the player even the illusion of control. For example, there’s a scene where the player character (PC) is awakened in the middle of the night by a pounding on the door, and no options are offered on how the player would like to handle this. A better game might allow the player to choose if they want to pretend to keep sleeping, or call out to whomever is knocking, or try escaping out a window, or crack the door open to see what the person wants. Even if it’s an absolute necessity to the plot that this person enters the room, it’s still better to let the player choose, because there are a plethora of ways to redirect each of those options back around toward the character getting in.

Unfortunately, Major/Minor is just too damn lazy to be bothered with gameplay, and the PC just lets the stranger in with no input from the player. Soon after, the stranger attacks the PC, which would again be a prime opportunity for lots of reactionary options: The player could duck! Or the player could punch their assailant! Or maybe they could kick instead! Maybe they’d try to run away or call for help! Buuut no, Major/Minor really doesn’t care what you want YOUR CHARACTER to do, and it’s already decided that you’re going to put up no fight at all and immediately pass out. It’s by far one of the most unsatisfying things I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

The disconnect between the player and the protagonist is so extreme that I honestly don’t feel it’s a fair assessment to refer to the protagonist as the “player character.” It’s not uncommon for visual novel protagonists to speak in the first person, but in most games it feels like the PC is speaking on your behalf because they’re acting according to your will. The protagonist of Major/Minor decides so many things for themself that it stopped feeling like “my” character a very, very long time ago. This character isn’t me and never was; it’s the main character of a book that I didn’t ask to read, who very occasionally pauses to ask my opinion on something.

HEY HOWDY HEY SPEAKING OF PAUSING… If you boot this “game” up for a session, you’d better hope you have plenty of time on your hands to get through it, because you’re at the dev’s mercy for when you can save your progress. Being able to save anytime you want is a staple of visual novels because 1) people read at wildly different paces, and 2) for many people, excessive reading makes them tired. Not only that, but sometimes life just plain gets in the way and you have to pick up and go on short notice. Major/Minor ignores all of these factors and leaves the player relegated to appointed checkpoints throughout the game.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying that checkpoints are inherently bad, but they do need to be used very, very wisely. Any game (VN or otherwise) that doesn’t allow the player to save anytime they want needs to be sure checkpoints are reasonably close from any given location, and furthermore that they’re spaced at regular intervals. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, however, the dev flushed that idea down the toilet along with what was left of his common sense and parents’ love. Sometimes Major/Minor stacks save points practically back-to-back within the span of a few minutes, and in other cases I’ve literally played for over and hour before the game finally rewarded me with the option to save.

There’s no discernible pattern or technique that I can detect for when save points are bestowed on the player; you’re not even guaranteed an opportunity to save when the game switches chapters! I would say that I can’t fathom why the dev thought this would be a good idea, but let’s not kid ourselves here, it’s clear that the dev never thought this through in the first place. If he had, he might’ve noticed that players being uncertain about whether or not they’ll be able to save their progress discourages them from playing at all.

Also, before I fully move on from the game design, I just wanted to make a brief side note about the music. To be honest, I turned the music off a VERY long time ago, so I don’t even remember what it sounds like; however, I’ve read that all of the music in the game is from the free assets you get in RPG Maker. I’ve further read that the free assets (both audio and visual) were the entire reason the dev decided to use RPG Maker for this game in the first place, in spite of the fact that there are other programs out there specifically geared toward making visual novels. This is worth mentioning because it further highlights just how lazy this entire game is. It’s not a sin to use free program assets – that IS what they’re there for, after all – but when you ONLY use the free assets and then advertise your game on Steam for being sooo creative and original, AND have the gall to charge $20 for it?? Yeah, that’s a gigantic slap in the face.

Speaking of Steam, you’d think a game like this would’ve been weeded out by the gaming community for being the garbage that it is, right? After all, there’s a ranking right at the top of the page showing the proportion of good and bad reviews it’s gotten, and right now it says the feedback is “very positive.” I will say that I do take community feedback into consideration when I’m thinking about a game that I haven’t otherwise heard of before, and my misstep with this game has definitely taught me a valuable lesson. When I saw that the game is ranked “very positive” and I scrolled down to see several glowing reviews, I felt that was sufficient enough research to know if the game was worth my time and money.

However, upon trying out the game and realizing just how badly I’d been deceived, I did a little more digging. As it turns out, the dev is known for flagging negative reviews as “abusive” and getting them deleted, allowing him to effectively filter out the bad press so long as he can make some kind of a case to Steam. This debacle has taught me that it’s not enough to scroll to the bottom of a Steam page for user reviews, as those tend to be the most recent; what you do instead is click the “Read all [x] reviews” link, as those reviews are sorted by popularity. THIS is where you’ll find the reviews that the community has deemed the most helpful and informative, and in this case, it’s like night and day. ALL of the highest-ranked reviews of Major/Minor are negative, and the numbers are staggering. Literally HUNDREDS of people have ranked these terrible reviews as helpful, and most of them are in the 80-90% range on agreement. You have to load more reviews four times to find even one single positive post, and once you do start getting into the positives, the upvotes are significantly fewer.

SO, in conclusion...

I want to say that’s about all I have to give on this subject, but the sad truth is it’s not. I could probably critique this game line-by-line, moment-by-moment, if I really wanted to. Fortunately for my sanity, I really don’t want to. … Not right now, anyway. I’m sure I’ll lose it at some point and decide to go through and count all the missed opportunities in the game or something, but I won’t be doing that right now, thankfully.

So in the vein of others learning from the mistakes of this game: If you were thinking about buying Major/Minor, don’t. If you bought it a while ago during a sale and were thinking about starting to play it, don’t. If you’re interested in making a visual novel and wanted to learn from this game’s mistakes… Well granted there’s a lot to learn about what not to do, but still, don’t give this lazy, deceptive dev any more money. Learn from this guy’s shortcomings based on the feedback of players. Hell, read or watch a Let’s Play if you really want to experience it first-hand. Just please don’t buy and play this game. As a favor to ME, please don’t buy and play this game.

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