#it’s such a interesting balance to have in a character so I’m glad I can show it off well!

[chloesimaginationthings]

i absolutely love your characterization of movie vanessa,, like she is so mentally unwell but also she is full of whimsy!

The duality of Vanessa Shelly,,

[welcometohellfilm]

Hi! I recently saw W2H2 part 1 and I must say it’s pretty amazing! Even better then the first one (which I loved btw), I know you anticipated that it wouldn’t have been full done, but I still wished the animation and the coloring were completed, like the first short. Nevertheless It has its charm anyway so good job, still amazing as always ! I just wanted to ask a few questions about Mephistopheles:

1) Is Mephistopheles actually capable of being evil and doing evil things as well ? Is he the type of guy that is usually pretty chill but can get REALLY angry if you piss him off? At the end of the first act, he said to Sock that he would fired him if he didn’t complete the job… did he mean literally “to fire him” (like burn or hurt him), or just meant “fired from the job” without causing him any harm? I am very curious about this character, I find him pretty charming and interesting! (I also love his character design)

2) How long will it be before the second and third parts of W2H2 release more or less (Months, years…)? And how long each part will be? Don’t wanna put preassure on you ofc , I’m just curious but I will be patient if that’s the case!

Thank you for this amazing little cartoon! I really love the plot and the characters and I look foward to see more! I hope you’ll reply soon and thank u again <33 (also sorry for my bad english but I am Italian eheh)

haha... yeah I'm getting that comment from a lot of people. But idk, when I look at the first short it looks pretty incomplete to me! Like to me, I think having better animation and less color is a decent trade-off, but I guess for a lot of people the color really did a lot of heavy-lifting. Anyway, I know it's a little disappointing, but my options were "call it good enough and post it", or "drive myself crazy working on it until I die", I know that sounds dramatic, and maybe I could've forced myself to finish at least throwing color on it, but I don't know, I didn't want to start resenting the thing I'm supposed to be passionate about. I kinda put myself between a rock and a hard place, didn't I? Sorry for the rant! I'm glad you enjoyed it anyway, haha. UHHH on to questions! 1. Mephistopheles is complicated. Or at least, I think he is, and I'm trying to figure out what that balance is. (I have an entire wordpad file full of notes/thoughts on Mephistopheles from one of my friends who's given a surprising amount of thought to the morality of the character that I'm gonna have to reference moving forward, haha). But as for my original thoughts on the character--- I don't consider him evil, but I think he's capable of doing things we would call 'evil', just like any human is. And like humans, he can be motivated by flawed, negative thoughts and feelings; spite, revenge, jealousy, whatever. But unlike humans he exists outside of space and time, and he's not a human himself, so his perception of morality is just different. The "you're fired" comment is meant to be a little confusing... like, you come to expect these stupid hell jokes from him, but then he clarifies "that wasn't a pun". And he's the devil, so maybe he's not joking. He COULD condemn Sock to hell. So that's the stakes of the story! If Meph is serious, Sock could be in a lot of trouble. We're not sure exactly how lenient he's going to be, or how trust-worthy he is. He's the devil! Toying with people is kind of his whole thing! haha. 2. It's not gonna' be another 10 years, that's for sure!!! Most of Part 2 is already rough animated (at least as much as Part 1 has been). There's still... one or two scenes that need more animation, and pretty much every shot of Shadow!Jonathan still needs to be done. It also needs more backgrounds, but there's FEWER backgrounds in Part 2 (Hell is just a re-usable Shadow-Realmy-y void), and a lot of the stuff from Jonathan's house can be re-used with different lighting. I'll have a better idea of the timeline once I sit down and crack it open again... and it's about to get kind of busy with the holidays and all, but it should be finished some time next year! Hopefully in the first half of 2025! I'll try to keep everyone posted. Anyway thanks for your questions! Hope this helped!

[shutupineedtothink]

AAA final thoughts + praise 🙌🏼

Ok now that I’ve had a few days to sit with the finale and let go of my preconceived ideas of what it should be, yeah it really was brilliant. I still don’t Iove ghost Agatha, but I get it. And now I’m really pulling for Wanda to come back so that she can bring Agatha back (this happens in the comics apparently) and we can do a MCU witch movie. Sign Jac Schaeffer IMMEDIATELY, Feige. Lock her down, we all want more of this shit.

As to where the show ranks overall in the MCU, I feel like at this point it has to be #1. Even above WandaVision, and certainly above Loki, as much as I love both of them. This show just does… more. Like I can’t believe how much they packed into these 9 episodes. This is what… a true six hander? Six fully defined characters with fully developed arcs and satisfying journeys? With the possible exception of Agatha and Billy’s journey not being over yet, which doesn’t take away from their arcs and development along the show. (Again, had to let go of my own theories there.) WandaVision at most had 3… Wanda, Vision, and Monica, and I don’t feel like Vision had much of an arc tbh.

And then all the little witchy horror movie references throughout, the incredible seeding of the Billy’s Road reveal, building up and breaking down the coven, Agatha’s incredible complexity as a character and not being able to neatly put her in any category, hero, villain, anti-hero, whatever. You really can’t pin her down and I don’t think I’ve seen that in the MCU ever. I guess the last character like that was sort of Loki, but he had more of a true redemption arc. Agatha just… exists in the gray at all times. You just never know what she’s gonna do. And it’s amazing.

Then there’s the Ballad and truly weaving that throughout the whole show in such a way that it’s instrumental (pun intended) to the plot… who does that? Plus the amazing score that feels just as present throughout. The only comp I can kind of make is Clara’s theme in DW, but the Ballad is way more intentional throughout.

I can’t possibly go into it all but the sheer amount of setup and pay off is incredible. And yet we leave with more mysteries to solve and more questions to ask, which is also incredible!

Not to mention the production design, the practical effects, costumes, makeup — every visual was stunning.

And I’m not even going to get into AgathaRio (and Nicky) and all the tragic complexity there. I get wanting a happy ending but… also what ever made you think this would be as simple as a happy ending? They are a. Capital S. STORY. They’re practically mythological. Who cares about happily ever after when you can have Epic, Fated, Complex Romance that literally transcends this Earth. Like what more do you want?? That is the top echelon of epic romance. Disconnect the “happy ever after” = “good romance” link in your brain, you know? Judge by complexity and emotionality and dynamic range rather than something as simple and boring as do they end up together or not. They’re so wildly interesting and I’m so glad we could get more of them in the future. (Ok I did get into it oops)

And the humor?? I don’t think I even need to say anything. But what comedic excellence from everyone across the board, with Kathryn Hahn leading the charge of course. And to balance that with the drama without undercutting either of them is not easy, but they all did it flawlessly.

I could go on and on but I just hope this show, and Jac, and Kathryn, and everyone involved gets their flowers for this work of art. There’s just so much love and care and intentionality here. It really feels like a standout not just in the MCU but in contemporary TV in general. Easily my top show of 2024, it’s not even a contest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[mapoeggplant]

skip to loafer chapter 58 analyze // spoilers

takamatsu-sensei continues with her beautiful and delicate writing, respecting her characters so that they themselves come into their own at the right moments — extending even to the secondary characters.

when i first opened the chapter and saw kazakami, i confess i was a little surprise. on one hand, exploring more of his character was something i was waiting for so long. on the other, it surprises me how she chose such moment to explore him a little further, but now I understand why she did it.

while we see the ending of the summer trip and mitsumi opening up to her friends as a closure to a long storyline, we do have to keep in mind that it only opened another door, way more tricky to explore. to dive deep into that right away would give her little to no time to explore the other characters that englobes the narrative and makes it function. it’s such an intelligent way to keep the plot flowing and adding more details to it.

well anyways, i digress. let’s focus on kazakami for now:

i’ve seen a lot of people often calling him a little selfish or self centered before, since the little scenes we had with him, his posture were always nonchalant. for me, it always felt like something was off, something he was hiding. not that i was sure about it, it just felt like “hm…this comes from a place of defense”. giving up soccer and focusing on being the president, for exemple, gave me an impression of him trying to find a distraction and a way to keep boosting his curriculum. and now, with more information, i have my doubts.

for kazakami’s backstory, sensei uses a plot she’s been using for a while: the “show not tell”, where she explicit give us a little of said character as a way to keep us going — for shima, the scandal; yasaka, her bedroom; now for kazakami, it was dive. opening the chapter with him pretending to be the main character was a very smart idea. that instantly broke the image we had of him, as this serious, ironical guy, specially after how ch 57 ended. now, we clearly see he’s just a boy with his own story and interests.

that brings the reader closer to kazakami (specially since us, the readers, also love anime and such lol). and she keeps on “showing, not telling” when she choses to show how kazakami is on school first to later expose his life at home.

that wall he build, that nonchalant attitude, it’s all a result of strict parents. it’s not that kazakami doesn’t want to be a normal teenager with interests: he was raised with the mindset of productive rather than pleasure. he was repressed into this box and feels guilty to break from it — by doing that, he’s afraid to sound ungrateful and selfish; that’s why he just swallows his food and accept his fate. the next day, a little more gasoline is added to the fuel. kanechika is the exact opposite of him, the perfect description of “freedom”.

but he also is someone who’s fighting for his dreams, someone who have his parents approval, someone who never let go of his interests and still have a bright future ahead of him. it’s frustrating for kazakami. he had to let go of everything in order to have the same future of the the “authentic” guy who never let go of anything. it’s a slap on the face, specially when kanechika holds dear the same thing as him: dive. the contrast between both characters is amazing and

i’m glad sensei chose to explore both at the same time. yes, we do focus more on kazakami, but we know a little about kanechika’s future and we also know a little more of his personality (i mean, he ran after kazakami just to talk about anime. he is observant, he can see that there is something more there). it’s a balance between narratives to maintain the equilibrium and use kanechika’s kindness as a way to tell more of kazakami’s backstory. but this is a conversation we will only continue when the next chapter is out…

thank you for reading it!! i’m sooo excited with what sensei have in store for us and can’t wait to discuss more with you guys

[confirmeddead]

Hello!

Can I ask you how you feel about the DM of it all following the season finale and the time that has passed since? If I recall correctly I think you expressed some disappointment at first, and honestly, I am really feeling a bit put off by it all right now… I would honestly be thrilled to be convinced to view it all in a more positive light

I’m just frustrated with a lot of the writing of the last few episodes and with what it may mean for the upcoming seasons. Like, the build up to s2e5 and s2e8 was incredibly but then s2e6 and s2e8 were both really anticlimactic. First the DM of it all, with Armand’s and Daniel’s interactions of s2e5 being basically only about other characters - clearly the DM of it all (their first meeting in the books etc.) was merely rewritten and adapted to provide Daniel with the motivation and clues to expose Armand for Louis’ sake. Don’t take me wrong, I loved the writing of most of Louis’ story this season (his complicated relationship with Claudia being the best part), but reducing another secondary character’s plot to only serve the main plot and characters really made me sad. As someone who really enjoys these secondary characters as well.

A lot of fans seemed okay with it after the episode (and I was too), given that it could be a good adaptation of their first meeting if and only if, DM did happened in the past following this event (or if a DM would have kicked off now in the present, but Armand turning Daniel arguably changes everything about this too much to make it a good prelude).

And now that it has become clear that there probably isn’t a past DM of which that event was a prelude I just feel empty about it. I might have felt more okay if the psychological consequences for Daniel wasn’t treated as a quick afterthought. I mean Daniel has basically one scene of being upset about the consequences of the psychological trauma before it all becomes about Armand’s deception of Louis. I literally rewatched the episode the other day and the turn is jarring. The scene of Armand “apologising” to Daniel being the only interaction explicitly about that event in the show afterwards, before Daniel fuelled by anger exposes Armand was just really strange. I do hope that Daniel’s anger at Armand for San Francisco is still a thing next season, cause otherwise this will all just fall really flat psychologically. And I just fear that it won’t be taken seriously given the writing of it in s2e6. Do you know what I mean? Am I making any sense here? I am glad that Louis’ and Daniel’s relationship was given some more depth though, so I guess there’s that.

I just really don’t know where they are going with Daniel, given how much they have changed everything now that Daniel’s already a vampire. Armand I’m not as worried about because there’s a whole long book to take inspiration from and adapt. I know it���s been said they won’t do the TVA book, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read before that they mean to tell Armand’s story as well - though probably not as it’s own season. Pretty sure AZ leaked it would be a big thing in s4.

Daniel however, only really has that one really intense DM chapter about him. And now that they’ve already turned him, a lot of what happens in it is off the table. There can’t be a Daniel who teaches and drags Armand into the human world, nor a fascinating and thrilling human-vampire relationship, nor intense fights between Daniel and Armand about immortality. Even their f*cked up and intense uneven power balance is pretty much gone now. Rolin saying they are going to do a somewhat Talk Radio version of Daniel just leaves me cold. Talk Radio already exists on screen, we don’t need another version of it. But I dunno, maybe there’s something interesting there? What do you think?

I was really intrigued to see that Daniel will make an appearance in the Talamasca show, but given the awful writing of Mayfair I’m just worried he will become a really dull Phil Coulson-esque character. Someone who exists to bind the shows together.

Regarding s2e8 I just felt it was very anticlimactic with the books falling over Daniel, after it had been hyped in probably all of the trailers - leading to absolutely nothing. And deciding they will never show Daniel’s turning, and just revealing it in a cheap horror movie twist manner, is just a decision I will probably always be upset about. I don’t knew, I just don’t have a good feeling about the upcoming seasons given the writing decisions here. Am I too worried? Hopefully so, I just feel really disappointed. Sorry for the downer ask, I just really enjoy reading your thoughts and feelings, so I just really want to hear what you think of it all. Thank you!

Hi!

Sorry for the delay in my response but let’s get into it~

First and foremost, let me answer your question- yes, initially I was disappointed with how they handled Armandaniel, but moreso Daniel’s turning and the “spite” comment. I’m sure if I were to look back at my post I’d disagree with a lot of what I said or find myself overdramatic haha

The truth is, my feelings on it have indeed changed. My understanding of them as characters and this newfound dynamic have helped with a lot of the apprehension you’re feeling. I’ll get into that in a bit.

For the writing, I understand your feelings. It’s not the first time they’ve done this. The whole Claudia and Madeleine murders were overshadowed with LESTAT SAVED LOUIS and ARMAND BETRAYED LOUIS and LOUSTAT REUNION with Claudia being almost an afterthought. Not for Louis, of course, but for the viewer and Claudia’s memory. Louis still felt it all and mourned Claudia deeply. I’m getting off track but my point is, DM was never going to be a focal point for anyone- characters or writers (I mean, they can prove me wrong!). I didn’t want to view it like this because of my love for DM and I don’t like saying that but I genuinely think it’s a fact. At least there’s Assad! DM is an afterthought.

This isn’t my critiquing of Louis or Daniel or even Lestat but of the writing that overshadowed poor Claudia. I’m not alone in this feeling.

So, my thing with Daniel is the absolute moment they cast Eric, everything for Daniel changed. It was all thrown out the window (I mean, the very few things we did have).

Them changing DM as a whole almost seems par for the course. They started from the ground up with him and for Louis, as well. But with that, I think the same level of care they gave Louis’ characterization will be given to Daniel because of this- and this is why I think they turned Daniel when they did.

Sure, it made Eric happy (I know what you are, Rolin), but they’re building the foundation for Daniel now (while Louis’ roof is being fixed (pun not intended))

Daniel’s vampirism is a stepping stone to everything he will be- and everything he and Armand will and could be. He’s gonna go into it with rockstar sunglasses and a middle finger up but it’s never that easy. I want him to need Armand and find themselves together. I think this is where their adaption of The Devil’s Minion could come.

Maybe the tender and weird past DM stuff happened, I couldn’t tell you. But if it didn’t, their story started incredibly fucked up and continues to be that (foundation, foundation). I don’t think Daniel is over what happened to him, I think he’s very much like Armand and he bottled that up and will Molotov cocktail it through Armand’s figurative window.

In all honesty, I haven’t seen Talk Radio so I can’t comment on that. But I think the weird stuff is still on the table, but it’s gonna be a little different. Armand hasn’t changed drastically, and his… mannerisms… are here to stay and use against Daniel. I’m interested to see what fucked up little relationship they do have.

And the power balance… physically, of course it’s still there but there’s a new dynamic. There’s a taut rope between them and they are tugging for the win, but it’s never that easy (and is it breaking clean in half?)

I’m excited for the Talamasca show! I’m confident Rolin and co gave them some notes or at the very least OK’d the script haha. I’d like to give some chance to the poor writers of the Talamasca show since they only have a few peas and carrots on their plate- they can do a lot at this TVC buffet (I don’t know why I’m talking like this).

Don’t feel bad about being disappointed, especially about the transformation. That I’m still bitter about… how did they fuck up the one unselfish, beautiful moment between Armand and his only fledgling, scrap it and laugh it off and and andkdfklansalknf

Okay, so maybe I’m a lotta sore about it all.

It’s OK to critique or have issues with a tv show and you’re not sounding unreasonable for wanting something of your favorite pairing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I do wholeheartedly believe they have something good up their sleeves for DM but are waiting to chuck it at the general audience who maybe has no clue what’s in store.

I did see your second ask and will respond later today

We’ll see what happens but until then…

[fruitageoforanges]

Hello, I read your aegond fic series recently and wow, it’s kind of crazy how so many small details you added to it actually ended up happening in the show 😭 the little sunfyre boops, theory going around fandom rn that helaena sometimes mends Aegon’s clothing when she’s embroidering. MOST of Aegon’s characterization this season. Even Aegon listening to petitions kind of felt like the scene with Helaena doing the same. And I think you captured the vibes I get from all 3 of them based on the show perfectly. Aemond’s temper and overall pragmatic attitude is so spot on, the scene of him dressing down larys reminded me of him talking to the substitute Lannister hand in your fic.

It’s like my fix it for all the wasted potential of season 2. Im so sad bc i’m loving the actors’ portrayals but i hate so much of what they’re making them do?? So thank you for writing it!! You took everything i liked from the show and made smth very lovely and emotionally cathartic from it

Also would love to hear your thoughts on season 2 bc I think your characterization for the siblings and Alicent is so spot on. Anything you liked or disliked from what they’ve been doing so far?

thank you so much! i’m glad you enjoyed the series, and that it can make up for a bit of the stupidity of s2! as you can probably tell from the way i wrote the yellow dress series, i’m not best pleased with a lot of the writing choices for s2. i’ll go through each of the characters and tell you what i think:

alicent: i’m torn, because while i feel like show!alicent (and show!rhaenyra) does a massive disservice to book!alicent, because the showrunners seem to have got it in their heads that a sympathetic woman is one who is constantly the victim of those around her and that sympathy is more important than making a character interesting, i also think her characterisation in this season is pretty coherent for the way they set her up in s1, and i do enjoy it. ironically what i really enjoy is her and aemond’s relationship falling apart — i saw a very good post talking about the driftmark incident, and how aemond idolises her for her expression of protective fury while she hates that she lost control like that, and him realising she’s never going to stand up for him instead of rhaenyra like that again is an excellent way to fracture their relationship.

helaena: i really like her characterisation! aside from the fact that maelor not existing really diminishes b&c, i think they’ve struck a good balance between showing her being heavily affected but not reducing all of her agency like in the book. the fact that they’re giving her and aegon’s relationship more weight than they did in s1 pleases me greatly.

aegon: i mostly enjoy his characterisation this season — i really enjoyed the second brothel scene as it showed he hasn’t really stopped being a bit of a shit to aemond over the years, and let’s be honest, he’s never going to stop, that’s just how their relationship is. what i don’t like is the ways the showrunners have deliberately exaggerated his incompetence, like him being shut out of the plan for rook’s rest, going into battle drunk and not even knowing high valyrian. i feel like this is partially because the showrunners really want us to know this is the rhaenyra show, and partially what i said above with regards to alicent — because it’s the rhaenyra show, they seem to have it in their head that characters can only be sympathetic if they’re victimised by others to some degree and not directly involved in prosecuting the war. so if they want some degree of sympathy for aegon, they feel like they have to diminish his involvement, and make him a victim of his own team, which leads me on to…

aemond: of all the greens, i’m most annoyed at how aemond has been characterised this season. the writers seem to have decided he’s the character they can make an unequivocal villain even to his own side in order to make alicent and aegon “more sympathetic”. this when they did such a good job in his 13 minutes of screen time in s1 of making him more than the one-dimensional psycho he was in the book. and even in the book, he didn’t betray aegon at rook’s rest!! that was the lazy way out of the aegond relationship — though i might’ve hated it less if it was given any emotional weight. ewan mitchell is wasted on this writing; he does so well with simple facial expressions, but the writers seem to have decided that aside from the first brothel scene, aemond doesn’t get to have emotions. or, you know, a coherent character arc — with aegon’s comments about him being a loyal hound in ep 1, i thought he was being set up to have to choose between his own ambitions and loyalty, or that he might have a scrap of complicated feelings about rook’s rest, but no, the evil switch has been flipped, so bye bye character arc. that said, i love how he’s demolishing the small council at the moment and cackled out loud when he put larys down. get his ass, babygirl. he’s also the only targtower at the moment to be actually focusing on winning the war, so well done my pragmatic wife.

daeron: he exists! at last! stupid to not even mention him in s1, but i’m so fucking excited to meet him and deeply tickled to think of him as a mini-gwayne.

i don’t have too many thoughts about team black other than that the show has done unforgivable things to baela the brave… but i must admit that jace has wormed his way into my heart by being a) the prettiest, most fashionable princess of the season and b) constantly done with rhaenyra’s bullshit. he and aemond need to get together and commiserate over having to deal with their mothers’ nonsense.

[paris-in-space]

Hey, I was wondering how you chose colors for the Dracula cast! (I love Arthur's red jacket.)

Hi! I am so sorry I only just saw this ask today, but I’ll answer it now, hopefully it was worth the wait (at least with the drawing asks I have the excuse of not having had time to draw things).

Okay so, a lot of the decisions I made when it comes to the colours was on instinct, but I can still try and explain.

Jonathan wears brown, with a hint of red in his tie, and has brown hair and eyes, I wanted his colours to be relatively unassuming, the little bit of red is for visual interest but also maybe hints that he’s not just an average guy, but his design is intentionally quite plain.

When I first designed Mina it was actually for an English Lit A Level class where I had to make a character sheet about her, so I actually googled her for inspiration and took some from her look in the 1992 film (I now hate that film although it does have gorgeous visuals) and I think the green from her outfits in that film stuck in my head. Initially in my mind I didn’t imagine her as a redhead however when it came to actually putting colour on her it felt like a good decision to make, and offers some nice contrast to the green. Her earrings are meant to be like drops of blood because symbolism.

Lucy wears pink because I think of her as being pretty and feminine, the choice to have multiple shades of pink in her outfit was just to make it more interesting although the ribbon she wears in her hair matches with Arthur’s tie. Her hair is a warm blonde because of the sunny ripples line in the book, and her eyes are brown to keep things warm.

Arthur is the character whose design has changed the most since the first time I ever drew him, and I’m glad of it. (My original design of him was incredibly boring) although since first adding colour it has changed very little. The choice of red both looks nice next to Lucy and fits in with the other suitors whilst still being distinctly different. Choosing Arthur’s colours was very much a case of seeing what felt right rather than thinking too much about it in depth. (Also thank you for the compliment on his jacket.)

Jack spends a lot of time being sad so a cold colour palette made sense for him, I think the green has some medical connotations, and still allows for him to have some colour in his design without being too bright. Aside from brown shoes which sort of balance out his hair, any other clothing than his waistcoat and tie are grey because I don’t think he’s the sort to wear much colour. He also has the palest skin of the lot because he spends a lot of time inside.

Quincey on the other hand has such a warm presence as a character that his colour palette is full of warm tones. His mustard yellow waistcoat is the most memorable thing to me but it isn’t his only defining colour, I mostly just wanted him to have a very warm presence without venturing too close to Arthur’s red. I am also fully on board with the idea of Quincey being a person of colour.

Renfield is very grey all around with almost purple undertones. His clothes are very much inspired by the 1931 film which was of course black and white, and are also simple enough that many other colour choices wouldn’t make much sense for him. His hair reflects his age, and his complexion is somewhat unnatural (definitely unhealthy) to sort of separate him as a link between Dracula and the human world whilst also not really being a part of either.

I have barely drawn Van Helsing in colour so I don’t think I can really do a colour analysis on him yet, I need to get into the habit of drawing him and actually design him an everyday outfit, I’m pretty sure the only time I’ve done him in colour he was wearing black because of Lucy’s death.

Dracula himself is a mysterious black shadow with red eyes, mostly because I like the idea of depicting his menacing presence and dangerous vibe without specific details, I also really like the idea of a Dracula adaptation where you don’t actually see Dracula, and just have the mystery that the characters face and whilst drawing him this way isn’t exactly doing that, I think knowing this might make the design make more sense.

I hope this makes sense and was worth waiting so long.

(I had to re type a bunch of this a few times because I accidentally clicked off without saving more than once, having typed out multiple paragraphs)

[cfr749]

Thoughts on Chenford in 6x01?

**Spoilers below**

What I Loved:

I can never get enough of substantive emotional Chenford scenes, so I am here for that last scene (angst and all). Melissa and Eric are so damn good in those intense moments. 

I liked that they made the issue super clear at the end and didn’t make us guess at what the problem was or what either of them was thinking. 

Though I think they went a little too hard with Lucy being borderline hysterical as she spiraled (this isn’t commentary or judgement on anxiety, but rather commentary on how Tim and the other characters were interacting with her as a result), overall, I didn’t feel like either one of them was more right than the other.  (Balance - you are my favorite thing at the moment!)

IMO, Tim wasn’t particularly supportive, and he obviously did try and get in her head a bit (which is what I think she meant by undermine? that was a weird word choice for me, but maybe I missed something?). But he also wasn’t an OTT jerk. 

I am so, so glad the issue wasn’t that Tim had told everyone about her ‘clown show’ screw up. That would have been incredibly shitty, and I was terrified that was the direction they were going with the word undermine. 

What I Was Meh On: I’m not a huge fan of Lucy being portrayed as the one who screwed up, but she redeemed herself and I also don’t need her to be perfect, so I’ll let them have a free pass on this one. If it’s the theme for the season, I’m gonna have something else to say about it 😂

I’m also so ready for this dumb five-player trade storyline to be over. Truly there were so many reasons Lucy could have had a hard time making detective, the most obvious one being the consequences of her dating her former T.O. This could have been super interesting to explore. It drives me nuts that instead of using anything realistic, they made Lucy the villain in her own story and incredibly difficult to empathize with, which just makes no sense since obviously women do have a much more uphill battle progressing their careers in male dominated fields.

Final thoughts:

I am SO ready to see Lucy be a badass detective! 

I really hope they have a clear through-line and resolution planned for this UC conflict between them. I need a clear narrative for them this season and am excited about the possibilities.

What’d y’all think??

[writefullyrobin]

No spoilers past 1x10 folks!

1x01 – Pilot thoughts

Plots

My friend said that I needed to watch the “firefighter show” she’s just finished and I always see it on my Disney account so I thought I’d give it a try. I’m trying to avoid spoilers by just not looking up anything 9-1-1 related on here until I’ve finished, so let’s see how far I can get!

This was such a fun opening episode! It had me hooked from the get go! I loved the energy and pace it moved and we got loads of different emergencies all in one. This is a first responder drama so I was nervous about the baby in the pipe and the little kid in the house break in actually being OK but this ep at least, no sad deaths! Yay! Buck’s future career came close to termination but he managed to save that too. Happy start, happy ending!

I’ve decided to break it down by character for my thoughts for this opening since it’s a well-rounded ensemble.

Bobby

Tough but fair, I guess? He was well within his rights to fire Buck like he did. I’m glad he gave him another change though all the same. I like his leadership. He has good chemistry with the rest of the crew and he feels like the leader. Sometimes with main characters who are meant to be in charge, their actors take a while to settle into that authority but not a problem here.  I really liked his explanation to Buck that their relationship with patients end at the glass doors of hospitals.

Chimney

Not convinced I’ve actually seen the real Chimney yet so I will reserve judgment for now. I do admit I feel a bit sorry for him for feeling the need to take other people’s rescues for his own to impress a girl(friend?).

Hen

I’m going out on a limb here and going to guess she’s probably one of the more level-headed members of the team? She feels very big sister-y to me in how she interacted with Buck in particular.

Buck

Obviously the baby of the team in terms of age and job. I won’t lie, I honestly thought after his first few scenes he would be the cocky jock who didn’t think they could do any wrong but by the end of the ep, I realised he was just a loveable goof who wears his heart on his sleeve. He recognised Abby as the hero of that break in rescue and acknowledged it, rather than claiming the glory. He can also think on his feet! That trick with the water gun from the engine to help Athena was clever.

Athena

I’m pretty sure it's actually illegal to dislike any character played by Angela Basset. I adore her, she’s a brilliant actor in everything I've see her in previously and she didn’t disappoint me here either. Athena had that great balance of being tough cop but you can obviously see how much her family mean to her. She’s had her world rocked recently with her husband coming out as gay after I don’t know how many years of marriage. Interested to see how she copes with that particular change.

Abby

As the one who literally can only listen to these emergencies, I have full admiration for her. My RL friend once worked as a 999 dispatcher and it’s a very tough job. She looks like she’s got it rough juggling both a hard job and a sick mother at home. I’m not sure if that’s a sustainable situation so I sense something is going to give with that at some point.  

Michael

I’m happy he’s finally getting to really be himself. I think it might take the rest of his family a little while to catch up to him though. He’s obviously had time to adjust to being a gay man as I guess he’s been thinking about it for forever but the rest family just been told so probably need a minute to catch up.

[idrellegames]

It’s so cool that the only way for a 60+ romance with Aeran rn is to fail checks on a boss fight. Something I would probably make 728 saves to avoid with any other game. Like that’s so cool. You really weren’t lying when you said ‘fail checks’ aren’t ‘losing’ that even those open up paths. It’s amazing how complex everything is. I’ve never played an IF like this and I’m super glad I found it.

Wayfarer is not a game you can win. There is no "win" state. The function of the dice rolls is to give variability and consequence to your actions, akin to how they do in a TTRPG.

So, of course there needs to be balance! My rule of thumb is that all options need to lead to something interesting and rewarding. Pass/Fail doesn't mean win/lose, it represents two potential outcomes - and sometimes those outcomes have ripple effects throughout the game. It's about action and reaction.

A pass could lead to your MC getting more information about something they can act on later on. A fail can lead to a character's romantic attachment to the MC spiking because he's a clown and doesn't realize he's in love with them until they literally almost die. 😉

tl;dr - never be afraid of skill checks! See where the RNG lands you, see how it plays out. The world and the text is reactive, everything is situational. You might learn something new about your character along the way. Sometimes it's good for them to get their ass kicked.

[shirefantasies]

do you have a fave member of the company and of the fellowship? if so, who and why?

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh ho ho! Well I’m glad it isn’t too overly obvious 😉 as far as the fellowship goes I’m a big Pippin girlie! From the company I love Ori so much, such a sweetheart and I love non traditional masculine characters every single time! And innocent cinnamon rolls are my kryptonite. I just love him! Bofur, he’s just so adorable and heartwarming and goofy and ahhh! Plus his early exchange with Bilbo is so iconic. “Think furnace with wings.” To quote what my personal blog @spacemanxpaninis has on its page about all my favorite characters:

On Pippin-

“My childhood fictional character crush! …that kinda carried into adulthood… I’m a sucker for humor and adorable innocent dorks, plus Pippin is extremely neurodivergent-coded and it does my clumsy screw-up heart good to see a clumsy screw-up type character. But you know what? Pippin is a hero. He overcomes so much and matures a lot and he’s not perfect, but that’s part of why I love his character. He’s different from all the other unique figures and has a heart of gold, but doesn’t always know how to use it. He wants to help and it breaks his heart that people around Pippin think otherwise and that in turn breaks MY heart. He’s just the cutest, sweetest man and I want to make him happy forever. Plus PLEASE that scene at Sam’s wedding I WILL maintain that is the funniest thing that happens in those movies darnit he is HILARIOUS. That and mission…quest…thing. Iconic. Who is doing it like him.”

On Sweet Ori-

“It kinda kills me how little screen time we got of each dwarf from The Hobbit because of sheer numbers and how much screen time they wanted to give to bigger names mostly the line of Durin. Because here we have dear sweet Ori, canonically in the movies the youngest company member and one of the most polite, this young scribe finding his courage alongside his big brother on a quest to reclaim a homeland he’s never even been to. Yes, more patterns, another cinnamon roll. I never said I had no blorbo type ok? I just adore Ori’s innocence but also the way he balances having traditional dwarf interests with other things like his art, writing, knitting, and such. He doesn’t entirely conform to his people’s standards, but seemingly isn’t too outcast for that either and I find that to be a high word of the dwarrow. Ori is just a little sunshine character for me that always makes me happy :) I wish others appreciated him more too!”

On Bofur:

I mean come on, everyone loves Bofur right??? If not THEY SHOULD! Like, his whole thing is being lovable come on. One of the most unique designs among the dwarves, Bofur looks far different from the stereotype and that’s a wonderful element of ‘not all of any given people look the same’ plus it makes him stand out even more. Bofur is such a comfort character- you know he gives the warmest hugs EVER and he holds you for as long as he can. Bonus points for being one of the first to really welcome Bilbo because he’s just that kind and accepting of a person, someone who would take a lot to really dislike somebody. Beyond being kind he’s also a great listener AND a great party companion, the epitome of ‘get you a man who can do both’ as equal gusto goes into dancing and singing and being with the people he loves and being there for them too. I just know he would be the best dad too ugh.

Lomls fr thanks for letting me rant and plug my personal blog anon 😉🥰

[gasha40k]

I have unfortunate news. I think that, in the last three months or so, this has unexpectedly become a Khorne blog. I really and truly did not foresee this when I first started posting. No factions really spoke to me on a grander scale, except for my own. But now I’m actually legitimately obsessed with the World Eaters. To be fair, I guess no loyal servants of the Emperor expect their corrupted descent into Chaos ahead of time. The tragedy is always in the lack of foresight, after all. I don’t think my own dark baptism is anything close to a tragedy, though. I’m having a good time with it so far I think.

Got quite a few things to talk about, but first and foremost, I got my hands on some Valhallan Blizzard and finally finished the bases on the few Berzerkers that I have painted. I’m pretty happy with these! The dry brushed stone beneath the snow gives a sufficient enough impression of, like, a rocky, mountainous environ, and the white contrasts really nicely with the red armor and dark ground, I think.

Initially, I was going to really drench the snow with blood—I think you can see that in a few of the bases that I painted first—but I decided against that after seeing how it actually looked. The bloody snow is a neat effect, for sure, but it’s super eye-catching and makes the minis a little noisy when overdone. In the future, I’ll likely save the blood for the more notable or interesting members of my World Eaters army (likely on characters and standout grunts), so as to make them stand out and add a little bit of base variety to the army.

This is my third time painting an Ultramarine, and my second time painting a dead Ultramarine

Lord Akselos, though, gets next to no blood on his base, so as to make him stand out in an inverse fashion. The snowy, mountainous base here represents the frigid crags of Gorranax, the planet upon which Akselos landed after betraying the Ultramarines on Valefar. Gorranax is also where he would first encounter his Berzerker-Surgeon partner, Kastigor Spineripper, who would eventually be responsible for implanting the Butcher’s Nails within Akselos.

I think his base is probably the best of the bunch. The placement of the snow sort of visually balances the black, swooping cape, and adds some interesting color in that bottom right section, which is a spot where the model is otherwise lacking in visual variety. I’m mad happy with this and glad it looks as cool as it does! And with the base finished and his highlights complete (complete enough for me, at least), Akselos is fully finished, and ready for the tabletop!

I say this all the time but I love this sculpt so much, the 2002 Daemon Prince is the most iconic Daemon Prince—the fella from Dawn of War—even if it is pretty silly looking objectively

Speaking of finishing things, my big boy is finally complete. My ugly, ugly son is painted, based, highlighted, and Ready to KILL. This is, by far, the largest non-flyer model that I’ve finished, and while he definitely isn’t the prettiest or best painted model on the planet, I’m really proud of it. I pulled out all the stops on this model and utilized just about everything I’ve learned about miniature painting in the last few years. I also took a good handful of risks and learned a bit from him, too, and despite it being a kind of treacherous and elongated ordeal, it was a super fun experience painting him up, and I’m glad he’s done with. I did, however, lose the hilt of his sword to my carpet, but I’m working on replacing it with a cool little custom skull hilt, which I’ll post eventually, probably.

But with one big boy done, another boy has filled the empty slot in my to-do list with his huge red bod.

Finally got my hands on Angron, the man himself. I can’t quite describe just how obsessed with this model I am. Not only am I excited to have him because he’s one of my favorite characters in the 40k mythos, but he’s also a fucking Primarch—and a strong one at that—which is something I never thought I’d get to have as a custom Chapter player. All in all, I’m incredibly excited to paint this guy up and get him terrorizing my group on the tabletop.

I did have the opportunity to run a test game with my list on TTS a little while ago, which was both my 2nd ever World Eaters game and my 2nd ever 10th Edition game. Lemme just say about Angron: wow. He barreled into the enemy deployment zone in the first turn of BR1 and immediately mauled an Armiger. As a Space Marines player, I’m very used to none of my units being extraordinarily good at destroying shit, but those days are OVER!!!

Since he’s a big ass model, though, it also means that he’ll be a big ass painting project. I plan on making him a proper centerpiece, and after painting my Daemon Prince, I’m totally confident that I can make him look pretty fancy given a few weeks of work. To make that process easier for me, here’s the subassemblies that I’ll be painting him in.

I also got my hands on some Mephiston Red primer, which I’m using to expedite the painting process. As shown above, I’ve primed

My Khorne collection is getting pretty huge. So huge, in fact, that I now own more Khornate shit than Space Marines, both in bodies and points. My Khorne collection contains:

2,115 points of Adeptus Astartes units

59 individual Astartes models

2,995 points of Khorne units

107 individual Khorne models

Dark baptism confirmed. Corpse worshippers malding.

That being said, I’ve been focusing super hard on my World Eaters recently—mostly for economical reasons—but I’d definitely like to shift focus back onto my Astartes soon. There’s a lot of new, cool kits that I want to get my hands on, and a brand new codex, too. Feels neat having gone through an entire edition. Wonder if I could sell my codex from 9th. My current chore is just to paint my men, as per usual. I have some plans for my Thunderbearers that I’ll post about next.

[circusfable]

What. What possessed you to write the deaddove fic,,,,, it was so good and weird and aughh??? eww???? but INTERESTING and explored grief in such strange ways AND THE DESCRIPTIONS WERE JUST DISGUSTING ENOUGH to not be too much but also to communicate that WW was dead dead

Honestly though what was your inspiration???

I can’t think of a specific inspiration for this one off the top of my head although I’m sure there’s something that’s subconsciously influencing me such as conversations with friends about fucked up story ideas and the like. That being said the way I describe a lot of the gore in my fics is directly influenced by how it’s written in the podcast The Magnus Archives since my trigun tma au is what got me started down this path of gross dead dove.

I’ve had the idea of Vash carrying around Wolfwood’s corpse bouncing around in my head for a while now. There’s something about having a typically very sane and realistic character absolutely lose it in their grief that gets to me. Like Vash has felt grief before, with Rem, the people from the great fall, and anyone else he feels like he’s failed along the way, but none of them have been Wolfwood. None of the people who he’s lost have ever known and understood him in the way Wolfwood did. So what if when he dies instead of Vash mourning but ultimately moving forward and leaving Wolfwood behind in a grave he dug with his own hands, he doesn’t and takes him with him convinced that he can still be saved.

Then because it is me and I discovered my love of writing the grossest fics imaginable I had to add the element of necrophilia because why let Vash just want to save him. If he’s alive they should still be having sex, right?

Since the fic is told from Vash’s pov I needed to balance the descriptions between still disgusting and steeped in denial so they couldn’t be too gross otherwise it would’ve seemed like Vash was too aware of the reality of the situation. If this had been told from an outsider’s perspective it would’ve been much much grosser but that also would’ve taken away from the point of the story with Vash’s grief.

Also thank you so much for reading my fic!! I’m really glad you liked it enough to want to know more!!

[whilereadingandwalking]

“Such a difficult, constricted life as a woman was required to live! Moving things, amusing things, she must pretend to be unaffected by them. With whom was she to share the pleasure and beguile the tedium of this fleeting world? Since it chose to look upon women as useless, unfeeling creatures, should it not pity the fathers who went to such trouble rearing them? Like the mute prince who was always appearing in sad parables, a woman should be sensitive but silent. The balance was certainly difficult to maintain.”—from the perspective of Lady Murasaki in Tale of Genji

I’m so glad I read all of the Tale of Genji. It was dense but rarely difficult reading, full of intense romantic and family drama. It was moving, funny, infuriating, and fascinating in turn. The characters had all the complex reality of a historical tv drama, and the translator did an excellent job of keeping the text both rich and accessible. And I continue to be thrilled and happy that the first novel—and what a novel!—was written by a woman, and that her text went without equal for many, many years.

I made a chart showing all of the connections between the characters that was immensely helpful. Names can be a little tricky, as women don’t use their personal names at this time and so are referred to as “the 3rd princess” or “the lady of the evening faces” in the text. It didn’t help that some online guides and translations Anglicize some of these names in ways that can be confusing in a quick google search.

But my chart helped. If you’re interested in reading Genji, please hit me up for my chart! I have a fewer-spoilers version for the 1st chunk of the text, and then the full one that technically has spoilers but is also a full and complete guide to the characters you’ll need to know.

[thesoulsofthedarned]

TL;Dr : Reverse 1999 is great

So since yesterday I’ve been playing Reverse 1999 because I was interested in the story. Honestly I’d say this game is pretty good overall! The story is cool, the gameplay is fun and interesting, and the characters are really fun, not to mention the character roster has a much more unique and diverse cast than Genshin (sorry Genshin). So for this post, here are some of my highlighted characters:

Sonetto is pretty sweet, plus she has cool attack animations. She’s also a free five star you get in the main story, which is neat :3

Normally i dislike Tsundere characters because they can be annoying, but Matilda is an exception. She also has pretty attacks, plus she’s kinda funny so I like her.

Leilani is currently my favorite, i just love how cute and energetic she is! I’m really glad shes for free, even though she’s a 3 star :,)

Currently one of the MVP’s of my account. Does decent damage plus provides solid healing, an overall comfy unit for me. It helps that she reminds me of Diluc. I dunno why but characters who represent justice/judgement always appeal to me in video games. Maybe it’s because of their strong presence?

Mondlicht is another favorite of mine (even though i have trouble pronouncing her name ;-;). I really like how she’s a balance of cute and stoic, it reminds me of Razor (not 100% sure if they’d get along tbh). She also has an axe gun so she’s easily top tier lol.

Ok so from what I’ve seen on the internet, his name in the English language is spelled “Zima”? I think? Lemme know if I’m wrong. Anyways yeah, I like him a normal amount. He’s just a peaceful, possibly sleep deprived lil guy with an owl, you can’t compete with that! Plus he sounds like he struggles with speaking english, unsure if that was the intent but it’s a very cool detail.

Sweetheart makes me feel a certain way, plus she’s a really nice Dps. Her design reminds me of Betty Boop a little bit. Her voice is nice too, it really sells the kind of character that she is.

Pavia’s interesting to be sure. He reminds me of Childe with his murderous tendencies and unmatched charm. For real though, this guy is a borderline psychopath, the voice lines will tell you that much 0-0

La Source is a decently comfy healer, definitely worthy of the MVP status despite being a 3 star. Plus I love how sassy she is, she can be pretty funny. That being said, she’ll probably be benched as soon as I get my hands on a better healer.

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Stream of Consciousness (Episode 3, Part 1).

This rebel leader sounds like somebody but I don’t know who.

This very small plot twist has been ruined for me because I know what Lizzy Yu looks like.

Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai is awesome! He has a menacing presence that’s much more refined than just “RAAAAAH POWER!” One of the few things I think may have improved from the cartoon. And also what does he know about loss? Could be interesting.

AZULA I WAS ON THE FREAKING FLOOR SCREAMING I absolutely loved this intro. They’ve given her more emotional depth in this short clip than she got in like…all of book 2. And DAMN Lizzy Yu can act! She went through so many emotions so fast and barely said anything. The trolls who are criticizing her for not looking like a cartoon are not welcome on this blog. I hope the actual emotional depth keeps up.

Aang needs to stop teaching Katara waterbending let the girl be good at something.

“I never listened” FINALLY THIS KID GETS TO BE FUNNY

Gordon Cormier is adorable.

Dallas Liu continues to embody Zuko.

Zhao you devious asshole I’m glad he continues to suck. He does not need redeemable qualities.

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s lovingly disapproving looks are everything to me.

Omashu looks great!

Istg Katara may crush on this guy but OG Katara would never be this bashful. But who was he? He was hot!

CABBAGE MERCHANT

Wow Teo looks YOUNG!

Teo being desensitized to violence hits hard. I hope that kids being desensitized to violence becomes a theme (it happened in Azula’s scene too).

Gordon continues to do as well as he can with clunky dialogue.

Extended stay in Omashu could be an interesting change.

Sassy Azula we love!

I have already seen this clip so no surprises but I’ll share my thoughts anyway.

I knew this from interviews but Momona Tamada IS Ty Lee. She’s absolutely perfect.

I continue to love Lizzy Yu. She’s striking a balance of snarky but also clever and also you know she could kill you. I like that we get to see her be a little less guarded around her friends, and her feelings around Zuko/the throne make sense. Not sure if they’re going to make her all power motivated (wouldn’t love that) but regardless feeling like your work means nothing to those whose opinions you value is something I can definitely relate to, and it works for her character. Also her line about knowing which pieces to play? Chills!

More coming soon!