#if i speak about the third one -----------

[honestlyitsjustsam]

favourite moments of bg3 -> (5/?)

[casualavocados]

Chiang Tien as AI DI & Chen Bowen as CHEN YI KISEKI: DEAR TO ME textpost memes | part 1/?

[tennessoui]

Would you like to do this one for Obikin ? 👀

22. “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.”

💯

[from this list of prompts]

[2. 'have you lost your damn mind?' (LATEST) - 5. 'are you jealous' - 13. 'kiss me.' - 14. 'hey, i'm with you, okay? always.' - 18. 'this is the stupidest plan you've ever had. of course i'm in.' - 19. 'the paint is supposed to go where?' - 24. 'you're the only one i trust to do this' - 27. 'i'm pregnant' - 28. 'marry me?' - 29. 'i thought you were dead' - 32. 'i think i'm in love with you and i'm terrified' - 37. 'wanna dance?' - 44. 'if you die, i'm gonna kill you' - 41. 'you did all of this for me?' - 46. 'hey, have you seen...? oh']

22. 'I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice.'

"Oh," a very familiar voice says. "I wasn't aware you were attending the banquet tonight."

Anakin stares down at the empty plate before him. The servers are moving around the tables as guests rise from their seats and begin to chatter amongst themselves. Anakin thinks for a moment about trying to catch his master's eye, but Qui-Gon is across the hall in deep conversation with the representative of Alderaan the last time that Anakin checked. And anyway--he's not sure his master would intervene to help him with this problem.

Even though, technically speaking, this problem is half Qui-Gon's problem. Or, like. At least a quarter of it.

Probably.

"Though I suppose I would have known if you'd responded to my comm-message," the voice says in a lilting and crisp Coruscanti accent that Anakin knows is as much of a ruse as the rest of him.

Anakin scowls down at the table and counts to five. He is here to represent the Jedi Order as a senior padawan. He is not here to start a diplomatic incident by stabbing Prince Kenobi in the hand with a shrimp fork.

Or is it Lord Kenobi?

He thinks, yes, technically probably a lord. Or maybe it was a knight? A duke? Anakin can never remember all the words that make up Kenobi's title. He just knows that Kenobi's elder brother married the queen of Stewjon, so he's now the king consort, and Obi-Wan got to claim a bunch of useless titles without even doing any of the hard work.

And so Obi-Wan Kenobi gets to call himself a prince now when once, he'd called himself a padawan.

Once, even, he'd called himself Qui-Gon Jinn's padawan.

Anakin counts to five again and gathers up all the diplomatic words and scripts he's learned over the years. Then, he actually turns and faces Kenobi, and all of those words fly out of his mind.

Kenobi looks unfairly good in the ivory white of his outfit. The top half is mostly lace, which--isn't it cold in space? Isn't it cold on Stewjon?

He's wearing a small, ceremonial circlet atop his auburn hair, and the glinting gold of the crown offsets the white of his robes nicely. He just--

He looks so beautiful, even as he's lounging in the chair next to Anakin, eyes pinned on his face as if he'd wait all night just to hear him speak.

That sort of look is dangerous. Anakin knows that intimately well. That sort of attention...Anakin isn't built to withstand it for long. Not without succumbing to all and any of Kenobi's demands. He's sure he has a backbone, but it just melts when he's around Kenobi.

But not anymore. Anakin's twenty now, and he's going to be Knighted any day. He's above such weakness.

"I'm sixteen years your junior," Anakin bites out, hand becoming a fist in his lap. "Don't you think maybe it's a little inappropriate to be comm-messaging me without my master's approval?"

Despite the venom he tries to weave through what should be a cutting rebuke, Kenobi's eyebrows raise. He doesn't look ashamed nor does he look particularly discouraged. "After all the rest of the inappropriate things we've done together, darling, I'd think you'd overlook a comm-message."

Anakin's scowl grows exponentially, but Kenobi continues without pause, "Though if you'd like me to get your master's retroactive approval for every time we've interacted, I shall of course. Do you think he'd approve of your judicious but creative use of the Force when you used it to hold me up against the Senate Commons wall and kriff me silly before my meeting with the Chancellor, or should I leave that out?"

Anakin can feel his face flushing, and he's quick to stand, throwing his napkin onto his empty plate and striding away. He needs--he needs to be further away from Kenobi. He needs to not look at the man, not hear him. Then, he'll stop wanting him.

He must stop wanting him. It's ruining his life.

So of course Kenobi follows him because there's nothing he loves more than ruining Anakin, apparently. He's not even being subtle about it anymore, grabbing Anakin's wrist in plain view of all and sundry and using his grip to tug him out of the banquet hall and into an unused nook of space.

It's small enough that there's not much room to stand apart, but Kenobi at least makes the good faith attempt to drop Anakin's wrist and step away from him. In the Force, he feels strange. Worried, almost, which is not an emotion that Anakin has ever felt from Kenobi. Kenobi, who crafts an air of not caring about anything or anyone whenever Anakin and his master are near. Kenobi, who's purposefully disrespectful to Master Jinn, acts purposefully slow and air-headed and conceited.

He could have been one of the best of us, Jinn had told him once. It was the only time he'd ever talked about Kenobi. He made different choices, and I suppose he still blames me for them.

"Come now, Anakin, tell me what's wrong," Kenobi says, nudging at him almost clumsily in the Force. The touch startles Anakin. It's been twenty years or so since Obi-Wan left the Order. Or since Master Jinn refused to take him back as his padawan after a mission on a civil-war struck planet and Obi-Wan had had no choice but to leave the Order.

Jocasta Nu told him once: all stories have different endings and beginnings when the teller changes.

He thinks that's especially true when it comes to whatever tension exists between Kenobi and Qui-Gon. Though Anakin wasn't wise enough to keep himself out of it, he's certainly not stupid enough to shove his nose so forcefully into the middle of it.

"I've seen the way you've looked at me tonight when you think I'm not looking," Kenobi is saying, wheedling really, as his Force signature rubs even more insistently up against Anakin's, like a--like a loth cat winding around his ankles, searching for affection it knows it will be offered.

No. Not anymore.

"Enough," Anakin snaps, throwing up his highest shields and pushing away from Obi-Wan.

"Just tell me what I've done, darling," Kenobi says. Pleads, really. A part of Anakin thinks it's a very good look on him, and then hates himself for thinking it. Weak. Kenobi makes him weak. "It's not that you don't want me anymore, or you'd have spent less time gawping at me all night."

The words are cruel in their truthfulness and they hit unerringly at Anakin's shame, and so he's snarling back at him before he can stop himself: "Everyone was gawping at you, you're dressed like a schutta."

Kenobi doesn't look to be offended, which riles Anakin further.

But then--then the man steps closer and rests a hand on his chest. They're of a height now that Anakin's grown another two inches over the summer. Obi-Wan's eyes are right there. His lips, also.

"And yet who have I dragged off into a dark corner to ravish me?" Kenobi asks, voice pitched low and eyes blinking sultry blue at him from beneath his eyelashes.

"Yeah," Anakin bites, "only because even after twenty years you're still trying to get back at my master for throwing you out like trash. But the stupid thing is that he doesn't even think about you anymore."

The words hit the way Anakin had meant them to, but as he watches the way Obi-Wan's eyes shutter, the way his mouth tightens and the way he takes a step back and his hand coming up to hold his elbow, Anakin realizes that he didn't--he didn't realize what it would look like, to hurt Obi-Wan.

He hadn't realized Kenobi could be hurt, that Anakin had that sort of power.

And maybe he doesn't really, maybe this is just Anakin's master hurting Obi-Wan all over again, but it's still Anakin wielding the weapon. Anakin who was trusted enough that Obi-Wan did not see it coming.

"I see," Obi-Wan says, and Anakin can't hide his wince at the tone. He doesn't like that tone. Didn't realize how warmly Obi-Wan spoke to him until the chill set in.

But it's not as if what he said was wrong, Anakin tells himself. And it's not as if Obi-Wan's been fair to him either, using Anakin like that.

And--and sure, maybe when they first started...whatever this is--was--maybe Anakin had wanted to use Kenobi too. After all, he'd been eighteen and charged with guarding some rich senator at an event just like this one. And Padmé Amidala had been there, and Anakin had been so desperate for her attention that he'd thought--maybe if he could make her jealous by talking with Kenobi--

And talking had turned into kissing had turned into bedding, but it hadn't been about Kenobi, not really, not that first time. It'd been about Padmé and how much Anakin had wanted her to notice him, see him for the man he'd become.

And he's sure that Kenobi had bedded him with ulterior motives too--not to make Qui-Gon jealous, of course, which is a thought that Anakin doesn't even like to think about, honestly--but to make Qui-Gon upset. Master Jinn didn't like the slimmest reminders of his old apprentice. To find out that his old apprentice had bedded his new one...no, Master Jinn did not, in fact, appreciate that.

So they'd both had ulterior motives the first time they slept together, and they'd probably had them for a while after too. It was an arrangement. A casual affair.

Before Anakin had gone and developed feelings for Kenobi, of course.

And now it's not fair. None of it's fair, because Anakin's in love with him and Kenobi's still just sleeping with him for the sake of some bruised pride he's been nursing for twenty years and now Anakin's gone and hurt him, genuinely hurt him, and he doesn't feel the way the Chancellor had told him he'd feel when he told the prince where to shove it. He just feels awful, like he'd been hurt too.

"I apologize for wasting your time, Padawan Skywalker," Kenobi is saying when Anakin tunes back into his voice. His face is hidden behind a cool mask of untouchable indifference. His arm is still crossed in defense over his chest. "I was mistaken in the understanding we had between each other, and I have thus overstepped erroneously."

It's not fair, Anakin thinks wildly as Obi-Wan steps away from him like he's going to move out of the alcove altogether. It's not fair that Obi-Wan's apparently so good at the diplomatic script of the Jedi that he can fall back on it at any moment, even after all of these years, and it's Anakin who can apparently only ever use his words to hurt.

So Anakin doesn't use his words. It's instinct, probably the first one he ever learned, to reach out in the Force instead. Nudge their Force signatures closer together and drop his shields so he can feel--truly feel--the heat of Obi-Wan's presence in the Force entangled around his own.

It's easier after that to reach out his hand and catch Kenobi's wrist. Then it's easier than anything else to use that hold to push him up against the wall and bracket him in with his body to keep him there.

Kenobi doesn't fight against his touch, but he doesn't bloom under it either, the way Anakin's gotten used to him doing. He doesn't even look at him, keeps his eyes on the neck of Anakin's Jedi robes.

"No, I'm sorry," Anakin murmurs, squeezing Obi-Wan's captured wrist. "I didn't--I didn't mean that. Not at all."

"If you didn't mean it at all, you wouldn't have said it," Obi-Wan points out, which is...well, correct, technically, but Anakin doesn't like to hear it.

"I was just...someone told me that," Anakin admits. "And I--I mean, I know you and I know--what we have. And what it is. And I'm fine with that, I understand it. I just let it get to me, that maybe you only like me cause you're still out for revenge against my master. But, um."

Obi-Wan is looking at him now, something soft and quizzical and confused coloring his gaze.

"I thought I couldn't stand being nothing but revenge to you," Anakin makes himself say, even though his breath feels caught in his throat. Danger, danger. He is skirting too close to the truth. He is saying too much. But if he doesn't say anything, what then? "But that's not so bad, I guess. It's better than being nothing to you at all."

Which is a lesson that Anakin has just learned and is eager to never experience again. Even if it makes him pathetic and weak and spineless and some prince's playtoy, or whatever else the Chancellor had implied. He'd like to see the Chancellor stand up to Obi-Wan's dignified yet wounded eyes.

"Darling," Obi-Wan says, and for a moment his hand cups Anakin's face. It's just long enough of a touch that Anakin can't help but to lean into it with an exhale. "You've never been nothing to me."

Anakin gives into the urge to kiss him. It's a miracle that Obi-Wan lets him.

It's also nowhere near enough; Anakin is a greedy sort of man. He doesn't want nothing or a little more than nothing from Obi-Wan. He wants everything.

[redbootsindoriath]

A cast of characters I put together for fun over the course of like a week. The setting is supposed to be some kind of generic medieval fantasy. I tried to be as historical as I could with the clothes and armor, but didn't hold myself to a strict time period or location and instead went with a vague "European middle ages".

While I personally am fond of the whole grimdark fantasy thing, I love how colorful the real middle ages could be and I wanted to be sure I was sticking to that as closely as I could manage.

[ryllen]

imelda

but she also sounds the friendliest when calling ravenclaw

[ dress ]

[myokk]

My writing/reading question of the day:

Do you prefer present tense or past tense? Or something entirely different like future tense? For writing AND reading🫶

The more I write (I wish I realized how fun it was before this year😭😭😭) the more I realize I like to play around with language & tense choice can have such a profound impact on how your writing comes across & even how I feel as I’m writing. With my oneshots I’ve been playing around with only present tense & my main fic is past tense (but present during the flashbacks - idk don’t ask it just felt right😆).

Or does nobody else think about tense and I’m just alone in this😆😆😆 LANGUAGE IS JUST SO COOL !!!!

[vaguely-concerned]

walking through lucanis' mind prison. the tam lin of it all

[odd-chips]

Tim's First Pride! 🌈 ✨

I think he would be a little uncomfortable in the beginning, but he'd be very glad he went!!

Bonus sketch of a post-Pride Tim featuring his sister, Josephine, who pushed him to attend in the first place (and another sketch of accidentally bumping into a familiar face):

[moxyphinx]

AMBER IMAN & EDEN ESPINOSA talk about fries

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

...yknow, i'm pretty sure jarthur either actually died, or were supposed to die, falling off that cliff into the gug's habitat in part 16. john explicitly says "there's no way we would survive that fall," and then they do fall and there's this moment where everything goes quiet and faroe's song plays (seemingly as a memory of arthur composing it?) and then they hit the bottom and are. not dead. which arthur expresses disbelief at. i think they were both right the first time. i think under normal circumstances that would have killed them.

[oceandiagonale]

Actually, Guzman is his spanish name.

OH YEAH some other folks pointed that out too, makes sense since it's an irl Spanish name (probably why I see it around a lot!) 😳

(normally it's a surname, I've only seen it used as a first name once in a blue moon -- but also in the pokemon world it's pretty clear that naming conventions aren't the same lol)

[luciddreamingstuff]

Putting That English Degree To Use For Stickmen

[Credit to Dearest Friend for the arts. They do not have an online presence so you won't find em.]

Wooden Pickaxe: Overview. 

So, challenge accepted. Disclaimer: just because I have said degree doesn’t mean what I say is the be all, end all. Honestly this is just personal opinion at the end of the day and how I viewed certain choices. I always say: do your own research and come to your own conclusion. In this case? GO WATCH IT! THIS THING IS AN HONEST TO GODS EXPERIENCE IN THE BEST WAYS POSSIBLE!

I’mma be honest, I remember when this series first came out (ie, I’m old by fandom standards) and yeah, I remember the first few episodes, loved it, watched some of the series and then randomly stopped. Honestly a huge mistake on my part because I missed OUT! My closest and dearest friend of a long ass time came in one day and dragged my ass back. And we watched the whole thing until 1 AM my time. But my gods, was it worth it. 

It all started with a bunch of stickmen breaking into my beloved game of Minecraft. 

And somehow it became a masterpiece. 

So I will break this up into sections for my own sanity and give a blurb for each. If you read through all of this, congratulations, there is a plate of cookies at the bottom. 

Now for my overall thoughts: it is stickmen, STICK-MEN-IN-MINECRAFT. You couldn’t get more basic than that and yet it became a grand adventure with fantastic character moments, a beautiful score, actions and choices made where words were not used, the lore is awe inspiring and just hits all the storytelling notches that truly make it something that Hollywood is never going to replicate. When I say this is the Minecraft Movie for me? I fucking mean it. 

I think there’s a saying, you don’t always need dialogue to tell a story. And the Alan Becker Team did just that. 

Stone Pickaxe: Storytelling. 

Show, Don’t Tell. Or Showing Versus Telling. You hear this all the time and wonder, what do they mean? There’s a difference between showing your audience what's going to happen versus telling your audience what’s going to happen. If you wanted a visual example of Show Don’t Tell, then look no further than the beloved Color Gang. Show Don’t Tell is something that we should all be practicing. Of course there are times where you do need to tell your audience of what is going on, but your story shouldn’t be all exposition. Let your audience discover the world with the characters. When first starting this series way back when it was just four episodes and not shorts, we got to learn about how everything worked with the Color Gang. After all, they are on cartoon logic with a video game. So we were learning along with them how everything worked and being just as surprised along with them about the key features of this new world so to speak. For those of us who have played the game for years and years, we have our understanding of the mechanics. But of course certain rules are thrown out the window once you apply cartoon logic. If you really want to equate it to something, it felt more like modded Minecraft. Which is perfectly fine. And then later on we get into actual famous mods such as lucky blocks and how they expand on the lore of it. But the lore itself of the Animation vs Minecraft will be discussed later. Anyways, throughout the story, we are mostly showing, not telling, in the literal sense. After all, none of these guys actually speak our language, communicating through gestures and examples. So how much can they actually tell us? Again, in the literal sense, nothing. But when you are talking rhetoric, you can still tell without saying a single word. And in the cases of when we find out the backstories of our main villains, that’s when you ‘tell’ so the characters, and by extension the audience have a greater understanding of why they did what they did. 

For Purple, it was told via them explaining to Green why they have to be the best, why they have to be on top. Of course we watch that through the noteblock world and its music. Now we understand motivation and it was built up nicely with dropping hints here and there through their character actions. Purple needed the validation they lacked in their life, so of course they were going to do anything about it, shown through their actions of taking over a village and ruling it over. Of course here comes Blue and Green and it completely messes that up and infuriates Purple. On the other hand, with King Orange, we see why they do what they do through a flashback scene. It's still technically telling us why they are committing these atrocities. And come to find out, the poor guy lost their family member to the game, to the code due to a glitch. All of it makes sense and the reveal is just as delicious. You’re rooting for the guy to be derezzed until he shows care for Purple as the guy had a change of heart and is trying to stop King orange from destroying everything! Once again, a prime example of Showing vs Telling. and then we see the telling, the explanation of why. When you are putting together a story, know when to show, and know when to tell. For some, you might be looking at this and thinking “oh but that’s impossible to do within a written piece of work!” I can assure you it isn’t. Think of it this way, exposition versus character actions. Here’s how I would write out the scene to follow the example of Showing: 

“King Orange had it, he finally had it! A chance to change this world, to fix what had been broken, to undo horrific actions taken upon the damned code. The light from the control staff with the game icon tearing up everything around it. Gratification at its finest. No one could stop him, not those damn kids, not anyone! Until he heard it, the whooshing of an elytra. If there’s one thing far more bitter than Nether Wart, is the bitterness of betrayal. And looking down the beam of light, that betrayal came through. Purple fought against the code destruction, pleading and reaching out to the King. Purple had looked up to King Orange, but really Purple was just the perfect pawn. And yet watching their body be torn apart, something flashed in their mind. It hurt, the color changing from Purple to a yellow. The cubes and chunks falling off Purple’s body. Something stirring deep inside. It festered, demanding to be fed like the destruction above.

Why? Why now?

Did they actually care about a subordinate? All of those moments they had together, Purple running around and gathering the colorful gang of warriors. The children that laid before them clinging onto what they had left of their bodies as they were ripped away by the corruption. King Orange felt the bitterness rise up, seeing the one before them change colors. Their heart twisting and shattering over and over as Purpled screamed out at thim to please listen, to stop this. They don’t want to lose King Orange! That they can forget all of this and become something else! If King Orangehadn’t been paying attention, they would have missed the gesture of Father. The word stung so badly, they couldn’t fight it, not anymore. and Purple . . . . Oh maker what have they done!? Purple slowly being ripped apart by their own hands! A monster! The visage from before would have been disappointed. A finally cry out and Purple slowly drifted back, into the void of nothing. 

NO! THEY COULDN’T LOSE SOMEONE ELSE! NOT AGAIN!

All of this, all of this had been for something! And instead! another had to suffer, and by their own greed. The staff fell from their hands as they raced towards the dying Purple. How could King Orange let it get this far? What was their goal in the first place? And how many had to suffer to achieve it?! King orange couldn’t let another die to this damn game, they couldn’t make the same mistake twice! A leap of faith as the stream of bright destruction took hold. Their vision disappears, their hand grabbing into Purple and there, the reason for all of this, begins to unfold.” 

Give yourself a little more credit, you can absolutely Show through writing, leaving hints. And then we get into the line of tell, where we find out more about our main cast and what had happened to them throughout. That is the art of it all. Tell when necessary, but try to show, let the audience explore this new world with your characters. Just like what we did with the Color Gang. If you ever needed an example of how to show and how to tell, go back and watch this whole thing, especially if you are a visual learner. All the bits and pieces that we might pick up throughout the story are brought forth with an explanation that wraps it all up. The fundamentals of Showing Vs Telling. 

The hero’s quest, a journey to return home, all of it interconnecting and mingling with each other. When you break it down to its most basic components, it really isn’t that complex of a story. Of course that’s at the base, and again, that’s not a bad thing. I think what people have forgotten is going back to the roots of stories and things that have already been established is not taboo. Too many things try to be new and exciting and forget the fundamentals. Without the fundamentals of what story we are trying to tell, too many things get lost and it becomes too complex to the point where your audience needs a whole powerpoint presentation just to understand what happened in the worst way possible. Trying to get the surprise on your audience with too many twists and turns? Now your audience is dizzy and the big reveal is not so. A story of progression throughout the choices made with our characters. Don’t forget, at the base of this, you have our main cast coming in and eventually saving the world. They gather their tools and skills throughout the two seasons for it to all build up to the final moment with saving the digital world. Even with our first big bad, Purple, being a first step instead of being the only villain throughout the series. After their defeat, the Color Gang are able to return back to their lives, the interlude of season two, and continue growing their skills. I think what people tend to forget is having the payout be equal to that of the challenge. Fundamental of the Hero’s quest/to save the world that people often forget. You got to have your characters actually be equal to that off the challenge. If you had thrown their season 1 selves at the final boss, they would have been destroyed or have it too far of a stretch to really be enjoyable. Part of the Hero’s quest is that montage that we get with the training arc. And too many want to skip over that, to rush it. I think having season 2 is critical for seeing the growth of our characters. All of it falling into place neatly. If you don’t put up the frames before the walls and roof, it’s all going to collapse. 

Iron Pickaxe: World Building. 

Okay here is one of my favorite things, World Building. I’d like to think World Building is my bread and butter. But at the end of the day, we’re talking about Stickmen and Minecraft. And somehow you got an amazing world from that. How so? It’s not rocket science I can assure you. But how they did it is truly fantastical! It’s a video game, it’s Minecraft. Sure it can be used as a medium for telling the story. But to use it as a part of the worldbuilding? I think that really is what sets this apart. It uses the mechanics of the game that was already established while twisting it in a way that makes sense. It’s based around the world of the game and the flexibility and imagination. With how they built the world of Minecraft into their story and the purpose it serves as a whole new land to explore, I dare argue that if you tried this with any other game, it would not be the same. What people tend to forget is how integral the world building is and what you can genuinely do with it. 

They took the game of Minecraft, added some mechanics here and there but once again kept to the heart of what it is. And that it’s a 16 bit game of blocks. With how they interact with the mechanics of the world, it meshes well with their own cartoon mechanics. And that’s the important part of when you are taking something familiar and putting it into something new. Your world building harmonizing with everything else around it is so, so important. How are you going to make cartoons fit in a game where blocks rule the land? Understand the game and the players at its core. Everything they do in the game itself honestly makes sense to me. They balance out the cartoonyness of it with something you can’t do in the base game. But with the cartoonish effect, such as Green using a fishing pole as a grappling hook? Technically you can do that with players, just not swinging around like Spider-Man. The versatility of minecraft as a sandbox is an absolute key factor here. Minecraft is what you make of it, not just as a medium to tell a story. Those who have figured out how to incorporate the world of minecraft, mechanics and all, within their world building are under-appreciated in my mind. And those who dismiss that brilliant effort do not understand the game at all. And people can tell me it's just a game. When I watch animation vs Minecraft, this is what I mean by it's more than just a game. 

Diamond Pickaxe: Characters. 

Characters! 

Love em, they are perfect, no thoughts. 

. . . .

. . . .

Okay so why are they such fun characters? I think it comes to the fact that they fully fleshed out and getting to see them with all their own moments. For example, we get to see Blue’s personality shine with them brewing potions and . . . . the Nether Wart addition (rehab, we need to get Blue into rehab.) But seeing how they invent their own solutions to problems with their love of potions. And that’s with all the characters, seeing their own quirks come to life to solve a problem. Like Red on the redemption arc and becoming a serious animal lover and all their moments involving an animal. Or how about Green getting into music and having a bit of an ego about it, only to get humbled a few times and learning to share. But likeI said, each character is getting put into a situation where you can see their bits of personalities really coming in handy in certain situations. Of course, the core of each of them being from a fighting game. And even their fighting styles drift from each other. When writing characters and seeing how they interact with others, what makes them stand out? and how well do they work with others? Simple questions to be asking yourself when writing a character. Once you’ve created the character, what makes them stand out from the crowd, if they do at all. Every character has their own unique trait that makes ‘em stand out no matter what. At their core, they are all still friends, with TSC being that pseudo leader still but giving the others a chance to shine. I think what really makes all these characters so special to me is how they balance each other out. How they learn and grow with each other and even on their own, we see how maybe the fiery determination and fierce loyalty excels in one part (think Red in Monster School) versus needing the gentle compassion and listening skills in another situation (Think Green in the Noteblock world with Purple). Because none of the characters speak, there had to be other ways to show their character traits and how it comes in handy. For Red, their loyalty to their friends is also reflected in their actions with his love for animals. Or for Green it was their music, needing to be a sharp listener in order to come up with the different pieces they play. Not to mention they have their fatal flaws as characters, which can be balanced out with another from the group. 

No character is perfect, just like how no living creature is perfect. We all have our flaws. And without said flaws, the world would be extremely boring. Yellow is a genius when it comes to Redstone building, very meticulous and their inventions have come in handy. But their flaw can be a desire for perfection. Red can be a bit stubborn, childish even, as evident during the lucky block episode, disregarding any consequences that might come out due to their actions. Blue’s tunnel vision (especially with nether wart) can sometimes leave them without hindsight. You get the idea. A Fatal Flaw is not inherently something bad and that must be fixed. No, the whole point of a Fatal Flaw is to make the character interesting and to give them a challenge. Doesn’t have to be the most serious thing out there. You could have the Fatal Flaw be a phobia of bananas. A perfect person? No. Perfection is arbitrary, there is no such thing. Something can be perfect to you as it meets all your standards. But there will always be some flaw that isn't present to you but to someone else. Truly a "eye of the beholder," sort of deal. That's fine, fantastic even. Explanation aside now, since Nuance is a lost art these days . . . That's a whole other conversation. There will always be some kind of Imperfection, and we get to see it play out. Hell you can have characters have the same Fatal Flaw, in the case of the Color Gang, they are all competitive as shit. They can put their differences aside when needed. But given the chance of competition? None of them can resist. And it makes sense with their backstories and their nature. 

Redemption. Let's talk redemption. 

So it is no secret that redemption of a villain for me is hit or miss, mostly miss these days. Every villain is to get redeemed and some people aren’t just shitty people and blah blah blah. Personally a bad message to send about how sometimes, people are just horrible and there is a time and a place and not to mention not setting yourself on fire—we can talk about that later. We’re here to talk about Character Redemption done right. See, King Orange and Purple had their redemptions within the series. And it was one of the few times I didn’t roll my eyes. No secret to anyone I think modern villains being redeemed left and right is stupid. But with King Orange and Purple, it makes sense for them. Were their actions justified in the end? To some extent, no. But now we understand why they did what they did. For King Orange, the block game killed their sibling. If I were in their shoes . . . uh, boots? I would have done the same. Doing everything one can to bring back their only family member. But when someone goes too far, such as sacrificing the lives of many? Can he be redeemed? I think so. At least for here, King Orange became proactive, in trying to fix their mess. And especially do right by Purple who had been chasing that familial connection ever since they met. 

For Purple? Daddy issues! Woo! Usually it makes them an artist, but in this case, a tyrant? Sort of. Purple had been craving that connection and validation. And it took Green finally listening to them and their story, explaining why they took the actions they did. And this is when you can offer sympathy, to put them on the right path. And in this case, it makes sense. Green offered that bridge and Purple, through some soul searching, saw that bridge and took it. In this case, Purple worked to try and fix this, sacrificing themselves in order to reach King Orange and make them realize they had fucked up badly. If you do not make your redeemed villains proactive with their redemption. Or even have it be justified (looking at you White Diamond, fuck you Disney), there needs to be balance between time and action. If they didn’t do too much but are scrutinized to death while they are trying to be better? Then at that point, why try at all? And it has to be genuine. I’m not saying folks need to immediately forgive and move on. The Color Gang chose to forgive King Orange and Purple, and that’s perfectly fine. If they didn’t forgive right away and needed some time, that’s fine as well. Technically speaking, we see more of the Color Gang interacting with Purple rather than King Orange. For me that can be interpreted as they might not fully forgive him. It might take some time but both sides are trying. There’s a balance of time and grievance, for some, it was too much and they don’t have to forgive. While there is an understanding of lives fully separating and paths diverging, never to cross again. Perfectly fine. Once again, nuance, gotta love good old nuance. Why did the Color Gang forgive the pair? Well for starters, it was Green who reached out first, giving Purple a chance to change and help save the world. There that bridge was created for Purple to cross. And then later, King Orange would find that bridge and cross themselves. It was a great effort on both sides, with TSC coming in with the final clutch to stop Minecraft and everything inside completely disappearing. King Orange knows what they did was wrong, and put themselves on the right path to try and do Right. Both by themselves and by Purple, who had been at their side when the slip into utter madness and villainy took hold. For me, it will be a while before King Orange really finds their footing again. Their life had been absorbed into finding a way to bring their sibling back. But if we had learned anything about King Orange, they’re resilient and will find a way to stand. But at least this time, they won’t be alone. 

I am so sorry for the rambliness of all of this. You can blame the fact that media literacy is on a rapid decline and it is driving me insane. One shouldn’t fucking need a degree to understand that the door is in fact blue for a reason. As a writer, this disappoints me greatly. 

Netherite Pickaxe: Final Thoughts. 

I think there is a lot to be said about the overall story here. Key Factor Here that too many forgot about: YOU. CAN. HAVE. FUN. TELLING. A STORY! It doesn’t always need to be something so stupid compelling and a chess match in order for it to be good. Read that again: IT DOESN’T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SOMETHING DEEPLY COMPELLING. It can absolutely can, which when you think about it, our beloved stick figures, it goes deeper and deeper, all the way to bedrock where we find the heart of the issue. And it's between a choice, a series of spiraling staircases that lead to the near end of an entire world. Sometimes I want to have fun, sometimes I want to be on the edge of my seat. And where Parkour Civ was a fun story about our underdog rising to the top. We had Animation Vs Minecraft starting out like that, but then it becomes more and more, adding onto these layers and watching it truly grow into something massive. The in depth story that we got to see from the Alan Becker Team was wrapped up in a nice little bow with the world being saved, the heroes returning home, and the reformed villains looking for their own space. But when you put in the thought and care into something, like AvM did, you could have something so simple and yet have it be remembered with such fondness. It can be outlandish, it can be something that has been thought of before but not in that context. Cartoons' interaction with the block game isn’t new. But they took that concept and ran away with it. And I absolutely love that. 

If you were to ask me how I felt about the whole thing when it first started coming out, I’d tell ya it’s pretty cool and you should go check it out. Now that I’ve ran through the whole thing and took it apart somewhat, I’d tell ya it’s honestly a masterpiece. There is so much going on here that I haven’t touched upon because I was looking at this from a writer’s point of view. A breakdown of the action and animation would be a bit out of my reach. So this is what I can do for the moment. Truly I do appreciate all the care and work that went into this series and I do wonder where in the world do you go from there? For me, the story seems pretty wrapped up and it’s back to shenanigans. Because you have a pretty clean cut ending. And with Animation vs. Animator, there’s a lot going on there. So for the most part, season 4 is going to look like season 2 where it's back to shenanigans after the world nearly ended. As we have been seeing with the recent videos. I wouldn’t mind touching upon the fact that the world nearly did just end. But with the Color Gang, life does go on, and that’s how they have always been. Who knows what the team has in store for this, if they were to decide to pull something like this off again. I don’t know in all honesty, what do you think? Personally, I think it’s a nice break from the craziness that we experience and the other series running alongside. 

Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this. I wouldn’t say it’s my best work. I was never good at essays, so if it seems a bit all over the place I do apologize. Writing a story and writing an essay about a story are two different things. But thank you for sticking around. And as always, I’ll be poking around. 

See ya! And don’t dig straight down. 

[kiwi-luminaryofthestars]

04/20/2025 Progress Update:

TLDR: About 1.5K written, we're at 26K drafted for chapter 6. Done with third section, now it's just fleshing out completed drafts of sections 4 and 5.

Sweeeet we got section 3 done. Now it's time to flesh out 4 and 5 and draft will be done. I have no eta on this because this is the last week of finals and I'll be pretty busy, but I'm hoping to get it done asap. YES SO HAPPY!!

Very sorry I didn't do a progress update yesterday. I wrote like a tiny bit (mostly just went over pre-written sections and moved around some things, small edits, that sorta thing) but then I started playing poker and got distracted lmaooo. I would call it fic research if I was not already done with the poker section. Just wanted to unwind and LORD I had so much fun. Won four tournament rounds and got second in two more. It's just Xbox poker so it's not that impressive but I still always love playing it, even in online form.

I fucking love poker. Have I said that enough lol? I don't think I'm the best at it, but I have a Texas Hold'em obsession and I am not ashamed lol. I would play it all the time if I had the option.

Anyway, I'm sleepy and getting the Sunday blues so we're gonna relax the rest of the night and get more writing done tomorrow. Looking forward to this chapter being done, we're getting there!! Sending all the good vibes your way for a lovely sleep and a better Monday.

[apollos-boyfriend]

this poster is so funny to me why is everyone in a new casual outfit but kanade 😭 why do they keep refusing to give my girl new clothes

[transmascutena]

these lines hit different when you read utena as transmasc

[girltakovic]

a guy brought a gun thru TSA at ohare today, grabbed his bag (where the gun was) out of the scanner and ran off into the terminal and they just...let him? yet i get accosted for bringing candles in my carryon???? pack it up everybody this years rosemont, il community theatre production of "airport security" was a rousing success