#mainly on what NOT to do

[kirric-the-fan]

There's a problem with Tropical Rouge Precure.

So I've been watching precure of late, and something odd started happening when I got to Tropical Rouge: I frequently zoned out or mentally switched off from the story during the episodes, particularly in the first half of the season, which isn't something that had happened with other series in quite the same way.

I've been thinking about it, and It's taken me a little while, but I think I've figured out exactly why (and it's quite interesting from a writer's/narrative perspective.) (And if you've been struggling to get into it yourself, you might benefit from watching EPs 30 onwards)

Tropical Rouge's issue, is that it lacks driving narrative, which for a series with motivation as its theme, is a massive faux pas. It commits the cardinal sin of being boring.

This mainly applies to episodes 1-29. The issue is, we have the setup of Gran Ocean being in danger from the witch of delays and her minions, Laura being sent away to find the pretty cure, and then...nothing. She just sort of hangs out in the human world occasionally stopping the Yaranedas, and seems to forget about her home entirely.

This situation isn't helped by the lack of character development too- there's barely any in the first half of the season (at least, any that sticks), and while the activities the tropical club get up to are fun, it ends up becoming a bit too dull and repetitive monster of the week stuff as a result.

It's also the only precure series where I've got halfway through, and I still can't remember all the cures human names because they've been that forgettable. In fact, beyond Laura and Manatsu, I still couldn't remember the others names!

(For context, the only cure whose human name I've forgotten before is Chiyu, and that was a. After I'd watched the series and had seen other series too, and b. Because I mentally got stuck on Saaya and forgor (sorry Chiyu! Blue cure blindness. But I did remember you weren't called Saaya. I just couldn't remember your actual name!)

Returning to Laura and her lack of action: okay, it'd be understandable from one point of 'she's been told to find the pretty cure, and they'll help', but then like, yeah okay they don't know what they're doing. But Laura never pushes the matter, and it comes across like she doesn't care about what's happening to her home, and then we don't care.

All it would take is Laura to be a little more invested in protecting her home, maybe berating the cures for being so inept (maybe implying they're unmotivated), and the Cures seeking to respond to that, to add that connection and driving narrative through the season.

Ofc, the response from the cures would be that actually, they don't know how to be cures, or save Gran Ocean either, and while trying to get stronger and save a whole kingdom would be overwhelming, focusing on what they can do in the moment, and what's important in the moment will play to their strengths, keep them growing, and keep them going through. (And preserve their motivation). Which ties back nicely into the tropical club and its activities. Those activities would also naturally boost their cure skills (which I'm surprised we didn't see more of), and doing a wide variety of activities like that should naturally boost each of their character development (which is another bugbear, as it seems almost non-existent before episode 30. Like there's very little beyond the character's introductory episodes that seems to stick.)

Like, character-wise, Laura could still be keen to become the queen, but it could be used as more of a mask for her missing home. It would make her character a bit more likeable, as she is in danger of coming across as too obnoxious sometimes.

Before anyone says 'It's a kids show, it doesn't need a strong narrative', please know I am comparing it directly to other precure seasons: every single one is a kids show, and every single one (I have seen so far, 14-15/20) has had some cross season purpose, or even a distinct per-episode storyline (another point where Tropical Rouge seem to be weak. Even where the club is setting up activities for other clubs, there seems to be limited consequences or payoff for things going wrong/right. There's not so much to get invested in early on from a narrative point. It tends to be a bit wishy-washy, which isn't good, and a sunny upbeat coating can only go so far.)

So yeah. I think the most frustrating thing is that the potential was there, but the writing seemed to almost like constantly stop short.

Which for a series about motivation...

...almost feels like they were lacking it.

(And one additional comment about the movie: there was a moment in the movie, which I thought seemed to sum up all the series issues very well: when they all start singing towards the end, the characters do nothing but sing. For almost the whole song, all we see is them. As perfectly stationary characters, singing. There's no movement besides their mouths. It's boring, it drags, and it was the perfect opportunity to be showing all the MC's memories of the place the song was about. A simple narrative/directing choice that would have added depth and connection to the scene. And they didn't. I don't know whether it was a cost-cutting measure for whatever reason, but the sheer lack of any movement or emotion in the scene (beyond the actual vocal work, which was very nice. But if that's not well conveyed onto the characters, then what's the point?) kills it. It was immensely frustrating, and made me wonder if there were moments like that which dragged down the TV series pacing too (not that I specifically picked up anything like that during the watch, I will caveat that. )

TL;DR: Tropical Rouge lacks driving main storyline, has weak character development in the first half, and there is a moment in the movie that has cheap directing choices, which makes me wonder if that happened at times in the series too contributing to pulling it down.

Shorter TL;DR: Setting's great, storytelling; not so much.

[papanowo]

i think dan should get to be a little weird too. as a treat

[bluerosefox]

Soulmate Across the Multiverse

A DPxDC soulmate au idea

So DCverse is a soulmate world (pick any soulmate way btw, words, touch, drawings on the skin, can't see color(s) until they see or touch them, etc etc)

DPverse doesn't.

Meaning Danny wasn't born with a soulmark BUT he gets one after becoming a halfa because he is now connected to the Infinite Realms.

SO its during another one of Vlad's schemes, he's popping into different worlds and stealing things or something like that (basically like that one ep where Danny chases Vlad through the timeline after he stole Frostbite's map)

During the chase they pop out into the DCverse in one of the hero cities (pick any, not picky on which) and their fight is getting a bit out of hand (Vlad's fault, he's using the stuff he's been stealing, and Danny is doing his best to getting innocent people from getting hurt)

ANYWAYS during the fight, one of the cities hero's come to try to help/find out whats going on when Danny is hit by Vlad and gets tossed at them. The moment they either touch or Danny/Soulmate says something to the other, Danny feels the odd mark on him burn up and is MEGA confused on whats going on but decides to do what he does best.

Ignore it for now. He'd figure it out later he still needs to stop Vlad.

He apologizes to the other hero and gets back into his fight, missing the look of complete smitten awe/shock said hero had on their face.

[quesocheeso]

Introducing another major character: Nezha!

For the AU I thought it’d be interesting to play with the design of Nezha having a younger appearance, since he is supposed to be the god of children and I’ve seen other medias do this too.

Nezha plays a major role in the development of the celestial realm and politics after Wukong ascends the role, admittedly this does not happen from the beginning. Nezha is allowed a role in the court around 400 years after the ascension of the throne due to his previous ties to the jade emperor and his court, his loyalty was strong until he realized he could help more from the inside and that his previous role on the court had not let him do much other than being a glorified guard.

He respects Wukong’s strength but he is not yet trustful of his abilities as the ruler of all realms, so he demands to be his assistant, to keep him on track and on the matters that are important. Although, once he does start working for him he does figure out that Wukong is not as bad as ruler as he was expecting, politically, his court is full of people who are experts in their own matters and provide a variety of discussion and solutions during meetings, and while he though Wukong had stayed the same Monkey King he knew from the wars and mayhem, he had grown as a ruler and cared about the realms in ways that Nezha had not seen other celestials had.

Nezha is closed off and even hostile for a while at the beginning, but he does start mellowing out around the time that Macaque is expecting, being the god of children he can’t help but be protective and clingy, leading to the Six-eared Macaque having a kid following him around like a duckling.

Also I find it really funny that Nezha was the first to find out Macaque was pregnant even before he did

Nezha is not shocked because Macaque is expecting, no he thinks he’d be a good parent,

He’s more in shock that Wukong procreated.

Bonus:

(Nezha becomes so close to the royal family that there is an inside joke in the court that he is the Emperor’s eldest child. Much to Nezha and Wukong’s dismay and Macaque’s amusement.

Remember this.)

[choccy-milky]

(ominis is already on his family's plan but he's there to annoy seb anyway)

[achillean-knight]

HOPE THIS LOOKS ALRIGHT! Papyrus Knight for @itsmebeff! Genuinely thought it'd take me a millennia to get around to drawing him, but the design was just too cool and gave me sm motivation that I HAD to give it a go! >:3!

[muzsmocsing]

Svsss is the funniest book ever written and I'm tired of pretending it's not

Chapter 17 is a ride. Shen Qingqiu's non-threesome fiasco was fantastic. But while all that was happening Liu Qingge was on a whole Liam Neeson Taken journey and we need to discuss that because I can't fucking breathe:

Luo Binghe kidnaps Shen Qingqiu, Liu Qingge goes "count your days bitch", powers up to the max and singlehandedly massacres his territory.

He doesn't find his beloved frenemy coworker there but he runs into Shang Qinghua. He's about to interrogate him in the only language he's fluent in (violence) but he doesn't even get to raise a fist before he frantically spills every last detail of Shen Qingqiu's whereabouts.

After he's satisfied he's like "Nice. I shall strangle the traitor now." But the guy just falls on his knees?? And clings to Liu Qingge's thigh and just starts sobbing?? Gets snot all over his robes???

Before he can put an end to that mess, PLOT TWIST apparently Shang Qinghua has domesticated Mobei-jun while no one was looking?? All the crying and the clapping of his asscheeks alerts the demon that something's up and he comes do defend his pet hamster.

It's kind of a holdup on the rescue mission but they fight and they fully level half of Luo Binghe's crib in the process.

After that, he gets to the southern border. Fights some disgusting blood clot animals and successfully snatches his shixiong back, time for quality quiet time together! Perhaps some sparring!

But NO. The mission is too successful and got an unfortunate add-on: the weirdo bitch who slept with Shen Qingqiu's corpse for 5 YEARS came along??? The one he battled for just as long to get it back??? And now they're attached??? And trust each other???

Too tired to fight this reality he watches as the demon bastard peacefully naps on Shen Qingqiu's shoulder. Grinding his teeth.

ALL THIS IN THREE (3) PAGES.

[demaparbat-hp]

Oh, Lala...

[ckret2]

rock paper scissors time, here's how this is gonna work: you win if you vote for the option that beats the option that gets the MOST votes. you lose if you vote for the option that the most people choose.

[maddymoreau]

Thinking about how Diavolo’s feelings transcend time and how in the Nightbringer UR+ card Demon Lord’s Castle Tour this conversation happens.

When asked, “Do you wish to see your father?”

Diavolo responds:

“I suppose I do . . .” isn’t the typical reaction to how a child would feel about wanting to see their parent. Especially when said parent has essentially been in a coma for a year.

Along with how Diavolo describe his father.

It makes more sense why when you learn in Lesson 56 how Diavolo was treated by him growing up.

Diavolo can tell when others are lying but is unable to understand his father’s intentions.

Diavolo mentions that he lived a very sheltered life growing up. That from a young age his father never allowed him a chance to talk to anyone outside the castle.

His childhood friend was Mephistopheles. A demon literally RAISED to be his friend. Putting a barrier between the two because Mephistopheles would put Diavolo on a pedestal.

The isolating childhood he experienced riddled with his strict father constantly scolding him.

Despite everything MC is so important to him he wants to see his father again so we can meet.

[princema-k]

welcome to my evolution...

[bunnyboy-juice]

NO MORE ASSOCIATING THINGS WITH FEMMES ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE PINK!HYPERFEM FEMMES ARE GREAT AND I LOVE YOU CAMPY FEMMES WHO EMBODY PINK BUT ALSO JESUS CHRIST CAN YOU GUYS NOT GO MORE THAN ONE DAY W/O TRYING TO SHOEHORN FEMMES INTO BEING ONLY PINK UWU BABIES. I AM FEMME AS IN GRASS AS IN DIRT AS IN TREE BARK AS IN WEEDS SPROUTING THROUGH THE SIDEWALK CEMENT. FEMME AS IN GENDER NONCONFORMITY AS IN FUCK YOU MY FEMININITY IS WHAT *I* SAY IT IS. FEMME AS IN DEPTH AND DARKNESS AND WARMTH AND TERROR. FEMME AS IN CAVES. FEMME AS IN LIGHTNING. FEMME AS IN AN AMALGAMATION OF TRAITS THAT I HAVE DECIDED ARE FEMININE REGARDLESS OF WHAT SOCIETY SAYS. FUCK IS IT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!???

[lotus-lamps]

tysm the weekly light for giving me motivation to draw LMAO

a lil messy but thats ok. it was a lot of fun so thats all that matters haha (I LOVE RENDERING AND DO THE LIGHTING AND ALL THAT SHIT ITS SO FUN) rip mothy gilbert also had too much fun ig lmao

[cookiedough77]

something something ephemeral having a similar color palette to hawkmoth/shadowmoth

something something chat blanc and season 5 gabriel being all white

something something...

[theythemmer]

save me tattooed dan save me

(non tattooed version bc Arms and also this entire piece was inspired by this tweet x so i should probs make the top easier to see)

[arainywriter]

honestly, brennan getting completely fooled by zac is so relatable to me because whenever I DM, all knowledge of dnd leaves my brain except for the basics. like I cannot for the life of me tell you what a spell does when I DM. my player's abilities are unknown to me. I am simply here to be fooled by my players