#merging them plotlines

[desertbled]

my friend said something to me about wolf that absolutely broke me and i will never recover.

[bmpmp3]

AN old oc ive been working on

[forthesanityofstorytellers]

(If you're still curious, lol)

I wait until one of them emerges from the wild untamed forest of my mind and begs for food and shelter and waits until my back is turned to attack me and drag me back to it's lair to feed the little WIPs that have been spawned in my absence of attention. Eventually I get away but never seem to learn my lesson.

...

I tend to juggle multiples. I have character playlists to help me focus. I have days when I sit on one location and I only work on a single WIP when I'm there (Tues/Thurs I used to go to a coffee shop with my roommate to write for a few hours, and when the pandemic hit we recreated a part of the house to have a coffee shop feel so we wouldn't lose momentum) so there's an environmental cue. I've got the coffee shop vibes for one WIP, I work in my bedroom for another WIP and both are on a laptop, while another I'm working on tends to be on my desktop while I'm eating some kind of food. So I guess that's how I balance them out...habit and environmental cues, lol

I tend to go from one to the other until hyperfixation kicks in and I have zero problems with following that mad rampaging wave until it crashes. So far I really can't get away with making notes as, if too much time passes between the time I made the note and the time I'm reading the note, I will have zero context and will likely have no idea what it was I was trying to say even with context. So I just have to do another read through and hope I can either remember where I was going or (more likely) come up with a new plot and know I'll fix things later.

As far as luring...I find an activity that has nothing to do with said WIP works wonders. As soon as I start on a new project of sculpting or beadwork or reading a book my WIP will go "HEY" and then I'm back to writing.

Hey multiple WIP babes, I have some questions.

Do you focus on one before you start another?

If not, how do you balance them out?

Do you write to that project you got inspo for or you strictly focus on one, and just jot down the ideas when they strike for the others?

If your focus diverted from one WIP, how do you lure back to it?

Please go off, I’m curious.

[wixenburr]

Saw some ppl talking about Reverse Robins and i had thoughts

Talking abt u guys @eldritchdreamss @brucewaynehater101

Why kill Tim when you could kill baby Jason? What I want is for all of them to keep their own backstories and personalities (Developed in line with the story of course) So ofc i had to write a 1,000 word brainrot abt it.

(Also i'll only be going over the main 4 batbros for now i will add more later but these guys are the ones im most passionate about so here we go)

Damian

Let Damian come in, desperate to be of use and be worthy of his father, only for a softer, less jaded bruce (since jason hasnt died yet) to help him open up his heart and let him act as a kid. With no competition for so long, I imagine he and Bruce get along very well while he works with him. Yeah, they need to work on the no killing deal and Damian's... i guess impulse control? But i think it would be easier with very intensely focused reparenting; no distractions of other kids you know? No favoring or anything.

I see Damian growing up as a stoic, jaded adult. He's had a rough life. Maybe he sticks with the vigilante business. but I really love headcanons where he gets out of it, and focuses on something calmer, like his art. (I do appreciate and love the veterinarian Damian AUs, but im going for FULL calmness, you know? And doctor/vet work is Not calm lol)

So yeah, maybe he grows a real passion for heroism, maybe he doesn't? Maybe he goes on to be an artist and that's just what he does. Bro is ready to settle down as a scarred, veteran trophy husband and i adore him for that.

(Sorry lol i just love Damian and i love the idea of him growing out of both of his parent's legacies. Let him live his own life!!! He fights so so hard for at least 15 years. ALL 15 years of his life. He deserves to have some peace.)

Tim

Tim i think would need a much different story to join the Batfam. He still starts out as a stalker who follows batman and. . . . . . . Redimar (meaning Redemption iykyk (I just spend 17min researching names rip)) at night, takes photos, etc... Since Damian doesn't die, maybe he finds Tim? and like, tim is like 11 and Damian is 17 or 18. He's started going out as Redimar less and less, not that B really minds? In fact hes probably happy for his son so...

But then Damian finds Tim, and now he has to keep going out because he can't let this kid get himself killed like this. He would hold himself accountable since hes the only reason Tim keeps going out so much- also i imagine Tim follows Redimar more than Batman.

Cue a classic Tim Joining The Batfam plotline. They get to know each other better, get a grasp on Tim's situation, Damian finally introduces Tim to Bruce... (Probably something like Dami: "Father, this is my new brother. Timothy, say hello to Father," Tim: "Hello, Father," Dami: "Perfect." Bruce: "*falls off the batchair*)

Anyway, so, Tim ends up kinda just merging with the Waynes. They start training him, its all good and nice, and Tim makes his own little hero team unlike Damian, which is actually pretty interesting here; its Tim who made the first young hero team. Damian only ever had Jon (Superboy 1 in this!!) and he finds Young Just Us and becomes a great leader and its all fine and dandy.

Tim and Damian get along well. Damian is the sage older brother whos kinda distant, but only because he has such high emotional walls (but secretly a softy). He is very much like Bruce- nope, nevermind, hes definitely worse than Bruce in this AU, since Bruce is depicted as being much more agreeable before Jason's death, you know? So yeah, Damian is the emotionally constipated bitch in the fam and we love him for that. But hey!! Tim does manage to get through his walls! And Bruce does sometimes too!! (Tho i imagine Bruce and Damian's relationship to be very.. idk let me try to expalain. Dami: "Father." Bruce: "Son :)" Dami: "Tt." Bruce: *nods* "Hrn." Dami: "Hmph." Bruce: "Hm.") DO U PICK UP WHAT IM PUTTING DOWN--- lmfao. They hardly need words.

Tim ends up growing up very very capable. Once his parents die, he gets a little jaded, but hes still Tim. He and Damian become kind of an... ice prince duo? If you get what I mean. But Tim is the one whos actually the ice prince, Damian is secretly a HUGE softie. He is Delicate and Tim protects him lmfao.

Jason

Jason comes along like he does in canon. Has the same backstory. Tries to steal the Batmobile's wheels. Tim is sleeping over at Damian's flat for the night, so its just Bruce. They bond. Shit happens. Jason joins the fam.

I don't imagine them not getting along, but they don't immediately hit it off either. Jason is wary of all of them for a time, but he ends up warming up to Damian pretty fast after realizing what a softie he is. He pokes fun at Damian and Damian just freaking takes it lmao. Hes an adult he cannot be disturbed. Bro has seen too much and he finds Jason adorable. (Dami: "You were never this cute, Timothy." <- he is lying. Tim: *offended* "What the fu- flip!?" Jason: "Lmao Tim just say fuck." Dami: *deadpan stare* Tim: "JASON NO DONT SAY THE FUCK WORD-") ahem.

anywho and then Jason dies rip skill issue ratio.

The whole batfam is heartbroken. Genuinely shattered. Jason was a light in their lives. Not that they were WITHOUT any light, but Jason was the epitome of a sunshine child.

It's been too long since Damian has killed someone. Bro's god oodles and oodles of trauma. He can't bring himself to kill the Joker.

but Tim can.

It's a whole dramatic thing; Damian feels awful that he made his- now only- little brother kill. Bruce is hella upset but feels responsible for not seeing how badly both of his kids were handling the death of their brother. Tim goes a little off the deep end.

Things turn out.... okay. sort of. but not really. Tim changes his hero name to Red Cardinal. He feels pretty lost. Maybe he stumbles into Ra's al Ghul or smthn idk maybe smthn happens there perhaps. Maybe Damian has to put on Redimar again and rescue him? But its less of a rescue and more of a "Stop joining the dark side Tim jesus christ-" (and it does work).

They go home. Tim gets a boyfriend or two. Damian falls into his art. Bruce is throwing himself into work. They're all kind of a mess, but they keep moving.

and then

Dick

(lmao that sounded wrong)

ahem; and then the circus comes to town. The batfam- well, Tim, Damian, and Bruce- all decide to get together to do something fun. Take the opportunities given, yk? So they go to the circus together.

Wham bam rip the falling Flying Graysons.

They see Dick, breaking apart, and they know they have to do something. Bruce is the first to move. Then Tim. Damian is the last.

It's pretty quick getting Dick home, since Bruce is already a foster parent cuz of Tim yk. So Dick doesn't have to suffer in Juvie at all really. But that doesn't change the fact that he is ANGRY.

Dick is SO angry. he wants to kill the person who murdered his parents. He knows what he saw.

The fam of course do their best to investigate. Mostly Tim, who feels unworthy of being around an innocent little kid after his whole.... villain era, i suppose lol. (ofc Dick thinks Tim doesnt like him lol misunderstanding arc GO)

The whole "Dick accepts that justice is better than murder kinda maybe FOR NOW" storyline happens, and Dick becomes the conniving, bright, little Robin we all know and love. (Thinking of the Young Justice Cartoon Robin (but not the characters- just Dick's character) aaaand

Womp womp GUESS WHOS BACK

Jason's Back

but i'll leave that for later.

[faelorelia]

Will loves Mike. Will wants Mike. Will needs Mike. And he always will. ❤️

This is what "Stranger Things" has repeatedly shown us for all four seasons. The show has emphasized how hopelessly devoted Will is to Mike. Yet, many believe Will will get over Mike and meet someone else. So why would giving Will a random boyfriend in S5 make no sense? Let’s review the facts:

Will has known Mike and been best friends with him since they were 5. We know how they met and how important that moment was for both of them. (This memory even played an important role in S2.)

Since S1, "Stranger Things" has focused on the special connection between Will and Mike. Their bond has always been different from other friendships in the show, and it’s been an important plotline throughout the entire series.

Will has loved Mike for some time prior to S4, even though it became obvious only then. We saw him glancing at Mike when a girl asked him to a dance, hoping his friend would stop him. Will wanted to dance with Mike. When puberty hit, Will became even more sure of his feelings.

Would "Stranger Things" make Will say he isn’t going to fall in love, sad and hopeless, if he weren’t already aware of his love for Mike? Would they show us the rain fight and his breakdown afterward if it were just a passing crush? Would Will promise Mike not to “join another party” if he just wanted to move on? Would Will spend his time in Lenora expressing his love for Mike in a painting? Would he spend all of S4 pining for Mike? Would they focus on how deeply Will loves him, cares about his happiness, and needs him if he were just meant to get a random boy in the next season?

Will has felt lost without Mike. Sometimes, Will feels like a mistake, but then he remembers that it’s Mike who he loves, and Mike makes him feel like he’s not a mistake at all – like he’s better for being different. Will is scared of losing Mike and will always need him.

Will’s entire arc in S4 would make no sense if they planned for him to get over Mike and get a new love interest. His arc in S4 wasn’t just about being gay – it was about him loving Mike specifically. And we saw just how much Will loves Mike. He basically sacrificed his own feelings just to make the boy he loves happy because he believes Mike will never love him back. Was it all just for Mike to reject him and for Will to get an out-of-the-blue love interest in S5? This is "Stranger Things" we’re talking about – a show that gives people hope and shows how love can save the day.

They have said the van scene will pay off, they have teased a happy ending for Will, and they have been giddy talking about Byler on multiple occasions – would they have done all of that if Byler weren’t going to happen? And what could be Will’s happy ending if not getting the boy he’s loved for years?

Let’s also remember that Will’s love life isn’t the only focus of the show. There’s a literal apocalypse in Hawkins, with everyone in danger, monsters in the streets, and stakes higher than ever. There are multiple main characters who all deserve development and conclusion. They have many plotlines to complete, particularly the main supernatural one – will they really have time to introduce a new series-regular character in the middle of everything just to give Will a random love interest? Especially when Will is confirmed to be central to the supernatural plot and likely won’t have much time to look for another gay guy in a conservative town merging with another dimension. Even Robin, introduced in S3, got a love interest before S5. How can giving Will, one of the most important characters in "Stranger Things," a rushed love story with a random boy be a good tribute to his character after he literally said he’ll always need Mike?

Mike is it for Will. He is the ONE! Even if Will gets a new, temporary love interest, he won’t stop loving the boy he’s loved his entire life. Because that’s who Will is – loyal, devoted, and wholeheartedly in love with his best friend, as shown in almost all of his S4 scenes.

So is it possible for him to move on from Mike and get a real happy ending with a random, last-minute love interest? Well, I’ll let Will answer that question for me. 😉

[markantonys]

the good thing about the slog is that because such little of true import happens over such a long chunk of the series, the show is quite well-positioned to be able to tell the whole story cohesively in any number of seasons after 4. only 4 seasons would be tricky, but 5 or 6 would be just as doable as 7 or 8. (disclaimer that there has not been any news or speculation about potentially getting less than 8 seasons so don't panic haha it's just a topic i was randomly thinking about today! that being said, i do think 8 seasons is pretty ambitious in today's television landscape, especially if it continues to take 2 years to make each season, so while we're all hoping for the full 8, it's worth imagining how they could do it in fewer.)

i expect s4 to roughly coincide with the end of LOC, so, dumai's wells for rand and being raised amyrlin for egwene. perrin, mat, nynaeve, and elayne have more wiggle room in what they might be getting up to during s4 (it seems possible the ebou dar trip might be absorbed into tanchico in s3, and perrin may have to get an invented plotline or have a later plotline brought forward for s4 since he has so little in TFOH-LOC), so i won't guess at the endpoint for them beyond that it will likely leave them ready to kick into a fresh new storyline for s5. and nynaeve frankly doesn't have a book storyline after ebou dar (she's just supporting rand's & lan's storylines), so i'll ignore her in this post and just focus on the other 5 mains. fingers crossed the show will come up with more for nynaeve to do during this part of the story, but that's a separate topic.

after LOC, as far as i can recall, each of them only has 1-2 main things they strictly Must do before the last battle (obviously i've left out a bunch of stuff, but i'm thinking of just the absolute bare minimum essentials here):

rand: cleanse saidin (only requires 1 episode); reach his lowest point, then pull himself back up again, all the while simultaneously working to get as many nations under his banner as possible

egwene: unite the tower as uncontested amyrlin

perrin: finish wolf training; fold the whitecloaks into his army

mat: rescue moiraine (only requires 1 episode); get himself in charge of the seanchan forces

elayne: become uncontested queen of andor

so if s4 ends where i speculate, they'd all be perfectly positioned to spend 4-6 episodes of s5 doing these things, then the last battle for the remaining 2-4 episodes, and boom, we've fit all the most crucial things into only 5 seasons.

i know the instinct is to gasp and insist that they all have so much else to do, but.........do they really? everybody agrees that egwene & elayne & perrin only have 1 plotline during books 7-11 which is dragged out for more books than is needed to tell it, so mat and rand are really the sticking points. but if you think about it, mat spends this time repeatedly starting one plotline but then getting yanked out of it partway through to start a new one, so he doesn't actually accomplish that much story-wise. rand, meanwhile, is on a bunch of little 1-book quests (taking illian, seanchan campaign, hunting traitor asha'man, trying to meet with DOTNM) that could be cut for time or merged into his Darth Rand emotional arc from TGS. honestly, he's so emotionally stagnant for most of books 7-11 (he's either not present, dicking around doing nothing, or repeating emotional beats he already did in TSR-LOC) that i don't think going from dumai's wells straight to Darth Rand would be a bad idea at all, if the show had to; in fact, dumai's wells is kind of a perfect launchpoint for that arc, emotions-wise, and plot-wise, if they wanted to replace some of the arad doman events with some slog events, but just put the Darth Rand emotional spin on those slog events, they could easily do so (for example, him being reckless/arrogant with callandor against the seanchan and getting his own people killed could sub in for natrin's barrow in showing how ruthlessly Ends Justify Means he's becoming).

but anyway, these are imo the absolute most crucial pre-TLB plot points of the second half of the series (at least for these main characters, i'm not taking ALL characters into account in this post) and they could be fit into only 5 seasons without much trouble. now if you've got 6, 7, or 8 seasons, that gives extra room to expand these plot points and also add in some additional, not-strictly-required-but-nice-to-have plot points like more Little Rand Quests, elayne taking the throne of cairhien, egwene & gawyn hunting assassins in the tower, and the faile kidnapping plotline. (while making this post i actually had a wild thought of the faile kidnapping being perrin's s4 plotline followed by wolves & whitecloak stuff in s5 then into TLB, or alternately the whitecloaks being part of the kidnapping plotline as perrin's unlikely allies rather than the seanchan; could be a great structure for a 5-6 season scenario, but for 7-8 it would cause perrin to run out of content too quickly haha)

[asmodeus-682]

Cute Lumini headcanons

1. Castor loves listening to Lunar ramble about comic books and manga, to him it's adorable how happy Lunar looks when talking about the plotlines and everything.

2. Similarly, Lunar loves when Castor and Pollux ramble about their work. It's mostly thrm complaining but he doesn't mind. At least they're letting out frustration in a healthy way.

3. Pollux and Lunar show each other affection through gift giving, whereas Castor prefers to give physical affection to Lunar.

4. Both Gemini twins do show affection through biting, each have claimed a shoulder each when giving Lunar little love bites.

5. For their first official date as a Vee relationship; Lunar took Castor and Pollux to a museum. Followed by sharing 2 pizzas together, all 3 of them had a lot of fun that day.

6. Castor doesn't necessarily like eating unless it's during a date night. However Pollux likes eating in general, Lunar finds both of their eating habits rather cute

7. Moon found out about the relationship after walking in on Lunar making out with Gemini (Castor and Pollux merged just so they both could kiss him). Moon was surprised to say the least

8. Lunar likes being held by Gemini, in an odd way their height difference when his two partners are merged into Gemini makes Lunar feel safer when in romantic/intimate moments.

9. Lunar once made a sexual joke towards Castor who didn't understand it, Pollux having understood ended up explaining the joke to Castor (she was trying not to laugh at the same time)

10. Castor gets the most flustered when Lunar flirts, Pollux is more likely to flirt back instead. Lunar loves both reactions equally

[thesupernaturalhouse]

Okay.....I love hazbin hotel, don't get me wrong

......but I think exploding kittens did the plot of hell being overpopulated and stuff a lot better

It has better explanations and worldbuilding for the plot as well. It's an amazing show, and I think everyone should watch it, spoilers beneath

Basically god is slacking off because he thinks humans have basically lost all hope, and the executives send him to earth in a cats body to help him reconnect with his creation

He does this by going to answer a human family's pray, which the mom made while drunk but anythign that starts with 'dear god' counts as a pray

Beelzabub, Satan's daughter who is revealed to be half human down the line and current ceo of hell, is sent up to earth in a cats body because she needs to learn how to be evil and what not

There's a whole lot of shenanigans, teens go to heck which is hell juvi, bee and god cat go to her cousins wedding, they get romantic and I called it form episode 1 that they were gonna be romantically evolved, 1 for me! Bee is revealed to be half human, etc etc

Anyways, the overarching plot, which is hinted out throughout the series, is that hell and heavn are planning a merge behind god and bees backs because heaven has too little souls while hell has too many, and it's messing everything up

A god game is held because bee and god fight over the ceo title, and, of course, it comes down to them competing against each other which is awkward for the both of them

Even mroe awkward when bee mentions 'sick' symptoms to Greta whoooo points out point blank that shes pregnant

And, wedding party, their god cats.

God cat does win, the last round was thst their human/mortal game partners needed to compete against eachother (said partners are twins but it's in good sibling fun for them)

And it's revealed that the board actually want to get rid of humans for good, because they realized that they are the problem and that they need to start fresh, and despite Greta and God cat giving speeches they fire him, make bee the ceo and tell ehr to do what God cat couldn't

She pretends to but instead fires them, aka, fire torching them with fire breath! And then tos revealed dishes pregnant, someone survives long enough to push the doomsday button, God cat has to go and stop a meteor, and bee has about 900 kittens

I assume season 2 will be about rounding up the little chaos kittens and fixing heaven and hell

Each episode is 25-27 minutes long, and the season only has 9 episodes, and it's on Netflix

And compared to hazbin hotel I think hey executed the plot of hell being overcrowded and god/angles being absent a lot better

Obviously, their two different shows are going for two different things, but for this specific plotline, I think that exploding kittens executed it a lot better then hazbin hotel

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk/rant, please go watch the show

[l0stfoster]

What's your opinion on Cursed Tulsa OC's?

Answering this real quick bc I just got the notification for it but I am SO open for OC's!! The AU in itself is a creative medium, I'd love to see how you guys would find a way to merge any Outsiders OCs you have into the mix! Hell, I did the same thing when posting about Sam. I like to imagine OCs would simply pop up in the background as extras; it also opens up the chance to experiment with the types of curses that populate Tulsa!

I think my only criterion for OCs within the AU is that you don't break away from characters' canon plotlines or their relationships, and don't make them weirdly overpowered. I don't think I need to specify that problematic shit is a no-go. For example, an OC can't interrupt something like Two's jumping or Dally's near-death experience, nor can they do something like impact the familial relationships characters (like Ace, Two, n Dally) have. A curse-related example is that an OC can't be a witch unless they're related to Paul, due to his bloodline being directly tied to the curse's creation. Soc OCs are sort of difficult to go about since they aren't supposed to have curses, but if you'd like to give them one, just keep that and power balance in mind. Things like omnipotence or reality-bending are also off the table due to generally being very overpowered, apologies </3. I'd love to see you guys experiment, though! There might be a few things that don't work with what's currently set in stone (ie; something like a centaur curse wouldn't exist) so don't be afraid to ask if you aren't sure!! Shipping OCs with Canon is where stuff gets a little,, messy. Since a lot of the plot does include focusing on pairings (such as QPR Johnny & Pony, or Darry x Paul) I don't really know how someone could go about doing that while keeping it canon to the AU's plot. I'd definitely recommend waiting to character-ship until I can get our sexualities/relationships listing posted since that'll provide some clarity to what the writers and I think, even though I like to leave stuff up to interpretation. You can draw ship art of your OC's with them if you'd like, but there's a lot of grey area at this time. TLDR: OC's are welcome and, to an extent, canon in the plotline as background and world fillers. I'd love to see how you guys merge your characters in, but avoid OC x Canon for now.

[fandoms-and-salt]

(this post is mostly a subjective rant about real people I don't know personally, which is not what I usually like to write about on this blog. regardless, I am interested in exploring why writers might make certain bad writing decisions (because it's almost never intentional! no one is immune to accidental bad writing). kind of a learning from the mistakes of others type of deal)

so. i have a feeling that hazbin and helluva have fundamentally different problems that lead to their poor pacing.

both series jump from idea to idea throughout most of the plot, but in hazbin it feels like it's because the writers wanna stuff as much of their passion project into it as possible, and with hb it seems more like. the writers just get bored and distracted a lot?

hazbin is a show that got decades of piled up character, lore and plot ideas and all of that that is just getting suffocated by the budget, time constraints, the creator's determination to show as much characters and cool moments as possible and (as far as i can tell rn, bc god some of these characters and plotlines have no reason to be in this season) lack of ability to clearly prioritise for the sake of a better plot that has time and space to breathe.

helluva, on the other hand, seems like a show that started out with barely any idea of what they want to do with the characters and the plot and resorted to making up things on the go. and unlike hh they do drag out some of their plotlines, the ones they like the most and thus want to keep them plot relevant as long as possible.

and i feel like if the shows' production circumstances were switched, maybe the pacing issues of both of them would have been fixed? Or at least smoothed over. Hazbin would have been a idk 8 season webseries with all the time in the world to show every little and big thing. Helluva's time constraints that would force the writers to cut the stuff they least care about and it would be a much lesser pain and grief.

tho, ultimately, blaming this on circumstances and what-could-have-beens is not really productive. the writers still need to understand the importance of having at least a story outline with an ending before jumping into making a serialized show. you can't just "figure things out as you go" without your story suffering from it. And sometimes if you have a massive cast of OCs and plotlines, the best thing is to cut some of them out, give their plotlines to other characters, merge some characters, etc, this may be painful and headache inducing, but your story may end up better and cleaner from it.

[follows-the-bees]

I haven't done any cinematography/camerawork meta analysis threads recently and it's making my brain itch. So here's a small analysis of how negative space is used in the show to express characters' emotions. This is the first in a series.

The use of greenery in negative space in episode 1x7: This Is Happening

First, Jim stands alone in a field with Olu small in the distance, reflecting Jim's mindset of being on their own, isolated. We know from Olu that Jim doesn't talk much about their personal past, and this shot is right after Jim confronts their past, which turns negative.

They isolate and go to their old land, seeking comfort in the openness and of the past: where everything changed.

Olu follows them, not leaving Jim alone in this vast negativity: literally and figuratively.

Next, Olu and Jim face each other, with space in between them, a stone wall behind Jim, and open space behind Olu. This once again reflects their mindset.

Jim opened up to Olu, telling him the truth about their past, introducing him to the person that raised them. Shooting them in profile, completely facing each other shows how open they are now after that previous shot: they are on equal footing, no longer Jim with their back turned to Olu in the distance.

While they are drawn to one another — they almost kiss — what is behind them foreshadows the end of the episode.

Jim still has a wall behind them — they have decided to continue on their journey of revenge — and therefore must leave. Olu on the other hand, has open space behind him because he is open to Jim and whatever is happening between them.

Now moving into the A storyline of Lucius, Ed, and Stede. This overhead shot consists of mostly neutral colors, the only pops are the fire, the purple of Ed, and the green leaves. Ed and Stede sit right next to each other, but their bodies are turned inward, knees almost touching. (This exact same position happens multiple times throughout the show including in 2x4 on the couch in Mary and Anne's home.)

The green is attached to the humans, especially to Ed and Stede, and it being the main pop (along with a kindling, warm fire) in this scene reveals what is important in the scene: the people.

When we move to the two shot, Lucius still dirties the shot in the foreground, but the focus is on Ed and Stede. Just like with Olu and Jim, there is a small space between them and larger space on each side, particularly the green is more on Stede's side, but Ed's purple shirt — which shows his growing feelings for Stede — is out and proud.

That kindling, warm fire is now shown between Ed and Stede, bringing that metaphor up front in this angle.

This whole episode is Stede subconsciously trying to get Ed to stay. His space on his side is open and green, just like his feelings for Ed.

A large palm tree sits behind Ed in his space because his feelings are shown through his purple shirt. Just like Stede, he has growing love for him but isn't as open at this point. (Lucius talks to him about not being a dick and Stede has feelings for him.)

I also love this shot when both the A and B plotlines merge together.

Stede is in the same position as when he looks at the ruined, burned map, but this time he's excited, he found the treasure. Ed and Lucius are on one side and Jim and Olu on the other, Stede bridging the storylines and characters.

Greenery, the stone wall, and particularly the sun are the bright spots in this shot of mainly neutral colors. The sun shining down on all these characters shows how their relationship has changed since the previous shots/beginning of the episode. Olu and Jim are about to split up so they stand in more darkness, while Ed and Stede are right under the sun, the light that is used throughout the show to represent their love (especially Stede's — but that a whole other post I'm working on) is bright and center.

And I'll end with this shot, which unfortunately is cropped, but in the full shot there is open space on either side of the couple. But luckily I want to focus on the space between Ed and Stede. The space here is bridged by their hands touching and holding the petrified orange. (Later on, Stede talks to this orange, calling it Edward in symbolism of his new versus old life).

Stede and Ed parallel Olu and Jim's earlier shot of facing each other but they complete the gap and touch. Their relationship has changed by this point, they are closer: emotionally and physically.

The negative space used in these shots show us the emotional state of the characters, from the green space around them showing their isolation, to by the end the greenery space shows how they have become closer.

[bengiyo]

My Love Mix Up TH Ep 7 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Atom and Kongthap navigated what dating might look like for them, and managed to have their first movie date, and a date up a mountain to make a romantic wish. Atom got some romantic advice from a new tutor/teacher, but we left at a potentially homophobic moment when that teacher spotted them together on the mountain. Meanwhile, Mudmee spent much of the episode frustrated with Half for not remembering moments that made her like him.

I feel like this dude has no real authority to ask about their relationship outside of school.

Oh, he told their moms. See, this is kinda fucked up because part of why I’m not a teacher anymore is that I was told that it is a requirement under the law that I report on homosexual behavior by students to their parents.

A homophobia fakeout again from GMMTV. 😑 I don’t think this shit is funny.

Every time they undercut the real world homophobia they make Atom look paranoid. It’s a terrible choice to have him be concerned about how people might perceive him when this show keeps making it seem like his instincts are wrong.

Nice save, Half.

Okay, this chocolate lava cake looks good.

Finally, Aungpao is back.

Man…I don’t think they way they built to this breakup at all. Queer people have real reasons to protect themselves and choose who they want to be out with, and I don’t think this show has earned this plotline at all.

Fourth is good at expressing sadness.

Poor Mudmee. She and Half have had such an awkward, bumpy road. At least they finally made some more progress.

This scene with the kids should play humorous, but it's just Atom's fault he's lonely?

Oh, Papang is here to prove once again that he can build chemistry with anyone.

I hope they do a heavy handed explanation to explain Atom of they want these two to reconcile in this episode.

Man, they really just stumbled all over the sexual awakening and dealing with how that affects how others perceive you beats.

You just knew they were going to shove a musical moment into this once karaoke got mentioned.

This whole Don't Say Gay thing is driving me up the wall. It's affecting the stories in a way I find super uncomfortable. I'd rather bubble shows not allude to any kind of homophobia if they don't want it in their worlds. I hate when they make a character worry about homophobia only to make them look "silly." It's offensive, and it makes the characters feel deeply unreal. I'm losing touch with this romance as a result.

It feels like they didn't want to retread on homophobic teachers since they did it in MSP, but I don't like the choice they went with here at all.

I will be dropping this show. I find that I hate everything it has to say, and I wish the cast and crew success in future endeavors.

Kieta Hatsukoi Comparison: Feels like they wanted to merge the source material but where Aoki's sister is a pastry chef with this senior, and then used Valentine's Day as the romantic stand in for Christmas. As mentioned last week, we're diverging heavily from the source material at this stage, so I'll leave that off.

[booksandchainmail]

Hugo Best Novel Finalists 2024

I've read all 6, so here's my impressions and loose ranking. The numerical ranking is only approximate for now, I'm going to pin it down once we get closer to voting closing. I could see the top two books switching places, or any rotation within books three, four, and five.

The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera This was one of my top books of last year and one of my own nominations. It's a very strange book, twisty and creative, and left me with a lot of thoughts, particularly about how it handles government. I appreciated the mishmash of worldbuilding, all sorts of things that felt incongruous next to each other but somehow fit together. It also felt more literary than most sff novels? I am not normally deeply noticing of language, but I kept coming back to individual turns of phrase here. All books should have a 50-page chapter in the middle where the protagonist wanders through a neverending surrealist prison land.

Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh Another of my nominations, this is a more straightforward exploration of, essentially, the deradicalization of someone raised in an authoritarian military camp. I respect how this book lets Kyr be awful, be completely convinced she is correct, and be defensive and lash out when confronted with her home's issues. I think the ending stumbles a bit, but really I mostly wanted this book to be much, much longer and have Kyr's character arc spread out more. Also, the choice of title and epigraph is excellent.

Translation State, by Ann Leckie Not much to say here, it's a new book in the Imperial Radch universe, I read it when I came out so don't remember detail. I liked the different intersecting plotlines, and particularly the Presger merge-and-devour adolescent instinct

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty This one I hadn't read before but enjoyed. I don't know how deep I'd say it is, but it's fun, a good classic adventure story with a putting-the-crew-back-together plot common to heist narratives. It benefits a lot from its setting: my main takeaway was that the Indian Ocean in medieval times is a criminally underused setting for any kind of nautical/swashbuckling/adventure story.

Witch King, by Martha Wells I read this one when it came out, and remember liking it a lot. The two intertwined narratives, set centuries apart, worked well for me to let the backstory unfold to inform the main plot as it progressed. I think I preferred the backstory narrative? But that might be due to also having the present narrative, since my favorite part was seeing how the echoes of relationships are still going on centuries after we get to see them form

Starter Villain, by John Scalzi I did not like this. I had some criticism last year for Scalzi's Kaiju Preservation Society, on the grounds that it was fun but not substantive enough for an award. But at least with that one I enjoyed reading it! My main thought while reading Starter Villain was "Well, at least it's short." I think my main problem with this is tonal: it doesn't commit enough to the over-the-top goofiness of "guy inherits his uncle's supervillain empire" and keeps trying to ground it in what an actual secretive genius billionaire pulling strings behind the scenes for his own nefarious purposes might look like, but then any attempts to actually be serious with the grounded stakes and world established kept running into the fact that it also featured sentient cats and talking dolphins! Also, I couldn't stop noticing that the protagonist talks the same way as the major supporting characters, which is the same way the protagonist talked in KPS last year

[knight-a3]

Some concepts for my TMNT AU. I just doodle for it because I like character design. Design notes under the cut.

Leo is a cumberland slider. It's similar to a red-eared slider and yellow bellied slider and other pond sliders. They're quick and sleek.

Raph is a common snapping turtle. Common snappers are more aggressive than alligator snappers. And I thought it was fitting, since he's more hotheaded than rottmnt's Raph. Snapping turtles have smaller plastrons than most other turtles.

Donnie is an eastern spiny softshell. I probably would've made him a florida or smooth softshell so he was a little different from rottmnt Donnie, but I just like the look of the spiny the best. He has his own version of the battle shell, but it won't be as advanced as rottmnt Donnie. It comes with robot arms to give him some extra hands while he works, and serves as a protection for his shell since it's different from his brothers. Without the battle shell, he's the fastest and most flexible, but most vulnerable. With it, he has the best defense and can scale walls, but loses his speed.

Mikey is a midland painted turtle. Midland is like an in between of the Western and Eastern painted turtles. Mikey leans a little more western though. He has yellow markings on his face, but they're red on his body. They should technically be stripes, but I'm pushing it. Painted turtles are pretty similar to sliders, but smaller. I chose painted for Mikey because the name fit his artistic characteristic.

Mona Lisa is an MMA fighter, her real name is Elisabetta "Lisa" Miles. Her sister is Vanessa Miles(based on Venus). They may or may not get mutated, idk. Vanessa has a pet turtle. Probably either a box turtle or red eared slider because they're the common to have as pets.

Leatherhead is a must. I'm going for a primarily 2012 type backstory for him. Mutated Alligator prone to animalistic fits of rage. I always thought a loincloth would suit him. That tail will not accommodate pants.

Tokka and Slash are merged into one character, but I liked the name Tokka better. I chose the alligator snapper for them because they're very large and have an intimidating look, as well as a powerful bite. Again, Snapping turtles have smaller plastrons than most other turtles.

I liked Timothy(although they played up his annoying aspects a bit too much), due to his potential as a friend for Donnie. It was a shame they totally abandoned him without even finishing his plotline.

Fugitoid/Professor Honeycutt. Haven't really figured out how I want to incorporate him, but he's enough of a TMNT staple that I want to include him. I just don't want to get too crazy with alien stuff. Having the Kraang around can get crazy enough.

Renet is either a seamstress or physicist(maybe both?), because I don't like time travel gimmicks.

[smokestarrules]

May I ask about the Star Vs downspiral? I remember seeing commercials about that show but that's the extent of what I know. But I'm curious now.

Well, honestly there was a Lot that contributed to its fall from grace, but here are some of the lowlights.

(It's been a very long time since I watched this show so I may be forgetting some details; this is how I remember it).

A) Four prominent characters are drawn into a horrible, horrible love square. Star herself, Marco, who is the other main character whose family she stays with while on Earth, her ex-boyfriend Tom, and another character who we meet later, Kelly. I'm sure some people always shipped Star and Marco, whatever, but a significant amount of the fandom including myself were beyond content with their relationship staying platonic---romance was not a factor that needed to be brought in to make us care about their dynamic. In fact, romance just about killed any enjoyment for them at all because it was so poorly written.

Marco and Star go back and forth between taking that romantic step and subsequently rejecting each other for various reasons. At some point Star gets back with her ex, Tom, who seems to have turned over a new leaf. Marco and Tom even have episodes where they hang out together too. Then Marco starts dating Kelly at the same time Star and Tom start to fall out again.

Now that I'm writing this I've realized I actually forgot another entire character who was wrapped up in this; Jackie Lynn, who Marco has a crush on in the early season(s?). She and Marco are together at some point until she leaves him because he's clearly not into her anymore. There are five characters who get stuck in this terrible plotline.

It's just... so needlessly dramatic and completely unnecessary. Star and Marco end up together, of course, but in doing so they completely screw over those two other characters, and by that time, their relationship just leaves a bad taste in fans' mouths.

B) Star VS as a show initially started out as pretty episodic and pivoted to a more narrative-driven storyline later on, which isn't at all necessarily bad, but a lot of what I personally liked about the show ended up being pushed to the wayside because of the bigger emphasis on the plot, and it was disappointing. Not everything needs to have a massive earth-shattering narrative to be good.

The early episodes were character-driven, full of incredibly interesting worldbuilding, and just fun to watch. All of those things were shoved away to make room for something more dramatic and serious.

C) The main bad guys are also pretty much an entire species which is never a good idea because it breeds so many uncomfortable writing decisions. They're "monsters" and they are The Bad Guys, who the Regular People need to stay away from. The narrative kinda tries to challenge this concept, but in the end it's really just not important whatsoever.

Honorable mention) When the show was still good, Marco had a couple episodes in which really interesting things were happening with his gender; he crossdressed as part of Plot and then seemed as as if he was confused about how it made him feel? But later on that plotline turned into more of a joke than it already was and went nowhere. Just weird.

D) How the show ended was one of the absolute worst I've ever seen. I truly cannot explain to you just how--bizarre it is; anticlimactic, rushed, unexpected in the worst way. To stop people from fighting, Star makes the incredibly quick decision to just. destroy magic.

So she does.

The aftermath shows that the two dimensions (Earth and Star's original home, Mewni) are now merged together in some sort of 'happy' fusion, magic is completely not a thing anymore, and entire species that have before been shown to canonically need magic to survive are dead because of it, though the show doesn't think to provide a better explanation for that at all.

And it ends.

[fraudulent-cheese]

Think you would change any of the finalists of any of the seasons? Think you mentioned a Pahkitew redo or something, would that be a part of it?

OH BOY THAT IS. A QUESTION IN A HALF

I'll start off by giving my opinion on all the finalists of each season!

TDI: Honestly, i wouldn't change it. Both Gwen and Owen are pretty relevant characters, they're fun as the finalists and it makes sense they'd make it that far tbh. I wouldn't swap them out for anyone else this season outside of maybe Leshawna if her elimination wasn't so cheap? That or change it to be like "oh yeah we should make them stay in this nice resort instead of that shitty summer camp" as motivation for nominating someone during Haute-Campture. Idk. Id be more in favor of finalist Leshawna if Fresh TV, you know, gave her more relevance outside of being Gwen's bestie towards the end? And just gave her character depth? Or an arc on her own? But she's the only other candidate in my eyes

TDA: I'VE SAID THIS BEFORE AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN: THE FINALISTS SHOULD'VE BEEN LINDSAY AND HAROLD. why was Duncan a finalist. Literally why. What does he do that's interesting enough to justify keeping him for the ENTIRE SEASON. If you wanted to do the Courtney list plotthread, just introduce it earlier on in the season and kick Duncan then! Or better yet, make one of the early rejoins be Courtney instead and have Duncan get eliminated pre-merge and Izzy come back post-merge! Im less against finalist Beth, but her character's plotlines aren't compelling to me at all this season :/

Lindsay on the other hand has a full character arc this season of coming into her own and trying her hand at leadership, has a rivalry with Courtney, and she still keeps her character throughout! And honestly i just think Harold's an entertaining character and him making it further than Duncan for at least one season would've been great!

TDWT: As the season is written? I wouldn't change the finalists at all. Heather and Alejandro are the most important characters of the season outside of the Love Triangle and Cody + Sierra and if you want my opinion, none of them should've been finalists. Now, if you do rewrite the season, i'd say Courtney (or even Eva if you make her rejoin mid season) deserved at least to reach the final three. Don't have much to say here.

ROTI: JO. OMG JO. JO SHOULD'VE BEEN A FINALIST. Again, i've made a post about this earlier (which i CANNOT FIND. WHY) But Jo should've been a finalist! They didn't need to give Lightning a vilain arc in the last two episodes just because! Im not super against Cameron being a finalist, but i don't like Lightning being one. Granted you could argue for different characters making for good finalists if you're going to rewrite the entire season (Anne Maria maybe? Or Zoey)

TDAS: Oh boy, TDAS. Sweet, sweet TDAS. Listen. Listen. In an alternate universe where Total Drama is a good show, Mike and Zoey could be good finalists. Unfortunately for them there is a large, looming Courtney-shaped shadow over that idea, made even worse by how both Zoey and Mike were used throughout the season.

Yeah if you couldn't tell by now, Courtney 101% SHOULD have been a finalist! TDAS should've been her season! It's the only season where she makes it past Duncan! She's a strong competitor, a compeling character, she's been put through shit the entire series, hell she could have interesting interactions with all the cast members! But no, Sundae Muddy Sunday happened instead.

As for possible finalists? Lindsay. And Jo. Yeah look if they're not gonna be finalists in earlier seasons you may as well make them finalists here. You could still make an argument for Zoey if the season were rewritten, but otherwise yeah this is probably the worst season for canon finalists :(

TDPI: Honestly with the direction they took, im... fine, with Sky and Shawn being the finalists. They're relevant characters, they have the more important arcs and outside of Scarlett and Jasmine, some of the most competent characters, enough to get here.

I'll take this as an opportunity to say i haven't landed yet on finalists for my PI rewrite? I know for a fact i want Sammy to be one, but im unsure about the other. All i know is that i don't think it'll be Shawn or Sky.

TD2023 S1: Nothing wrong with Bowie and Priya as finalists i'll be real! Priya might be a bit predictable, but it opened up alot of avenues for different things to be explored within her character (that the show never took rip), and she honestly deserved to get far for this cast's first season. As for Bowie, he's pretty relevant all throughout the season and seeing a more antagonistic character make it to final two is really nice to see! No complaints!

TD2023 S2: ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS! ALL OF THEM! The final 3 kind of sucks this season because every option has at least one gapping flaw in it due to the writing over the season: Wayne is barely a character for half the season and only gets interesting moments before the finale, Caleb has the most dragged out and annoying romance subplot in all of TD (not just because it was boring and artificial but because it dragged down and arguably ruined one of the most interestin characters of it's cast) and Julia's just magically gotten amazing at everything, INCLUDING playing the game because these teenagers just keep! beliving her! and telling her things! for some reason! Urghhh

If i had to rewrite the season entirely i'd have an MK vs Raj final 2. You'd get the antag/vilain rep for a finalist position, and hopefully a more interesting character than Wayne (fuck you Raj's more interesting of the two by default.) Maybe Scary Girl could be a 3rd curveball option. Nichelle or Axel if they were given actual arcs. And characters. Whatever.

Sorry for ending this post on such a sour note! i just really don't like reboot season 2 everytime i think about anything outside of the Finale or Mkulia!