#more concise thoughts later as i go on with the show

[stripedtabbycat]

since I’m rewatching gravity falls rn I thought I’d make a post about my thoughts so far. (I wanted to start on August 31 which is dipper and mabel’s birthday but I ended up starting on September 1 instead. watching 1 episode a night and challenging myself to do the credits code each time)

under a cut because this will probably get long:

first of all this show is so funny. not all the jokes hold up but I really enjoy its sense of humor in general

i remember liking the second season better than the first and not just because it’s more overarching plot-driven, I just think the plot is a little more focused and the characters and their relationships are more solidified

I love seeing the development of Stan bonding with the kids over time. I noticed in “carpet diem” (the season 1 body swap episode) he’s commending dipper (who is really Mabel trying to turn him against dipper) for finally standing up to him and the next episode is the best we see them get along all season. it’s nice but still done in a funny/weird way that fits the show’s tone

dipper and mabel are siblings of all time. I love how clearly the show establishes how well they get along and work together and how often they’re goofin around and having fun at the beginning of episodes and how realistic their teasing and bantering and bickering feels…if you hate on mabel you’re wrong btw

i appreciate that the show doesn’t need to bluntly state the lesson we’re supposed to learn at the end of each episode but still has clear themes for each one. i also like when they kind of have a subverted/parodied version of a typical cartoon moral like in the truth teeth segment of “bottomless pit” when the expected lesson of “sometimes a small lie is okay” turns into “sometimes you have to let your uncle lie to the cops so he doesn’t get arrested for regularly committing tax fraud”

that said sometimes i’m a little :/ at the conclusions of certain episodes. I try not to harp on this bc I think part of what drives the more intense discourse about kids’ cartoons is the idea that they have to be teaching good messages to their target audiences, or at least not teach them harmful ones. I don’t think all kids’ shows should be Wholesome and Morally Edifying but sometimes you’re like. oh this is imparting a particular viewpoint I don’t love

anyway I’m just thinking about how “fight fighters” seems like it’s going to be about how physically fighting over petty relationship jealousy is dumb and immature but instead it kinda comes off like dipper has to learn “you have to fight your own battles” which…idk. I could be misinterpreting

then again I just watched “the love god” which tries to raise the interesting dilemma of “is it right/okay to meddle in others’ relationships [using magic or not] if they genuinely end up happier?” but given all the baggage around using love potions in fiction you can tell they had to walk that back a little in journal 3. I don’t think the element of “it actually wears off after a few hours” would have undermined the question too much but whatevs.

(i will say that stan in dreamscaperers saying he's hard on dipper to toughen him up kind of gets questioned later when we see the stans' backstory and it's clear their dad was not actually that great of a guy. room for interpretation there too i guess)

another reason I like season 2 better is because the show is finally done with the dipper/wendy crush plot that really dragged down parts of s1 imo. mostly because it felt like dipper had to learn that a relationship between them wasn’t happening a number of times before the show definitively said it and it lead to some of those dubious episode conclusions.

(whenever people claim that mabel was selfish and dipper always had to sacrifice things for her sake I just think…most of the time what he was “sacrificing” was a chance to impress wendy or spend more time with her, and I feel like this is more a problem with that aspect of the show than anything else)

(ALSO when people say there are too many "mabel's crush of the week" subplots - i never really got that impression? when she's going over her failed summer romances i realized there were only like, 4 episodes up to then where there was a plot about her liking a guy and it didn't feel overdone to me. however that's also why i was disappointed with her part of "northwest manor mystery" because i thought we were done with that. i guess they figured she and pacifica had already had their bonding episode in "the golf war" but i still wish she got to be involved with the main plot in that episode, even if i mostly liked it. kind of felt like the writers couldn't think of anything else for her to do)

anyway back to positive thoughts! I really appreciate the show’s creativity with the supernatural elements especially when they need a way to do a standard fantasy cartoon trope. need to shrink the characters down to miniature size? crystals that change the size of things that get caught in the light they refract! need to do a body swap? how about a carpet that swaps your electrons when you static shock someone? time travel? the time machine is in the form of a tape measure. they can get pretty outside of the box and it’s always cool

i also like the balance of humor and (kid-friendly) horror it engages in. there are a number of moments throughout the show that seem like a sudden intrusion of sheer horror but because of their suddenness and (relative) over-the-top nature they’re also really funny. I’m thinking of dipper opening the convenience store freezer and seeing a horrifying brain monster, the summerween trickster eating a kid, bill cipher summoning “a head that’s always screaming” and its skin peeling off (or like. anything he does in that episode), a lot of moments from the shorts like the island head in “the tooth” or the ending of “lefty”…

this show is i think a lot of people's first experience with a cartoon that has overarching continuity and encourages the viewers to analyze it for clues to the greater plot and i love how it does that. also love how it still works as a show even if you're not actively looking for clues to the mystery. they knew full well how much the fandom was engaging with it and both the show and supplementary material are just chock-full of details that really reward repeat viewings in a way that very few other children's shows do.

i did a pretty good job keeping track of the end credits codes in season 1 but by season 2 i had to just look up on the wiki what the vigènere key words were because i don't have the time to scour the whole episode for those sorry. especially when they get more and more hidden throughout the season. i'm still proud of myself for figuring out how to decode those messages using the grid of all the letters though

i think i first caught up with this show right when "not what he seems" was airing and now that's next up on the schedule. it's a very different experience watching the episodes all in a row and not having to wait at least two weeks between each one lol. on the plus side it gave the fans plenty of time to pick over every episode and theorize like hell

final thoughts: i love that a disney channel kids' cartoon devoted an entire extra-long episode to the surprisingly realistic and sad backstory of the main kid characters' great-uncles, one of whom had mostly been a comedic side character for the first season, and it's fantastic. once i'm done with this i cannot wait to get my hands on the book of bill

[felassan]

Some more DA:TV and related snippets from Sylvia Feketekuty, Part 2. rest of post under a cut due to length and spoilers. [Post One, Post Three]

The dev team really wanted to deliver on Emmrich's romance [source]

Sylvia Feketekuty has now left BioWare so there are likely some things she can't answer now "just because I can't look them up with certainty anymore" [source]

When Emmrich is first introduced, he has a skull helmet. Why does it never ever appear for the next 40-100 hours? "The helmet does indeed look wicked! I believe it actually shows up on his shelf in the Lighthouse eventually. (If I had been a smarter writer I would've asked if we could have it appear again, that one's on me.)" [source]

User: "In another post you mentioned shops in Nevarra City near the Necropolis. How far IS Nevarra City itself is from the Necropolis? Do only senior MWs get to go?" / Sylvia: "I'm reluctant to say what the distance is since I never defined it in game so it's Unknown™. But I imagine they can either walk or take a carriage, depending. Also I never imagined junior MWers are forbidden from going into town or such. It could be they have set hours and times where they're allowed. But got to get all those chores done first..." [source, two]

On the DA:I goat scene ([link]) - "The GOAT! God bless them, that was a delight." [source]

Brian J. Audette, on [this thread] - ""Better late than never" addendum to this thread. I just noticed that Isle of the Gods' writer Sylvia is on here now and I'd be remiss not to tag her in this thread. I can't say enough wonderful things about having worked with Sylvia on this mission." [source] / Sylvia: "Thanks Brian! You tackled an absolutely jam-packed mission with aplomb." [source]

Jo Berry: "Thank you for everything and everything else, on both Veilguard and Inquisition. Sunlight on your road, wherever it goes." [source] / Sylvia: "Thank YOU for all your writing Jo. Seriously, you were a godsend on Veilguard and DAI both." [source]

Trick Weekes: "It's been fantastic working with you, Sylvia, and I know you're going to crush it with whatever you do next. Thank you for finally letting me make you "the person who has to do journals so Trick doesn't" on one of our projects." [source] / Sylvia: "Thank you Trick! I'll miss working with you. It was an honour to finally be given the awesome responsibility of the journal system that still haunts my dreams." [source]

John Epler: "sylvia did you see i told the world Emmrich sleeps standing up like a horse" [source] / Sylvia: "It's days later but: yes. Yes I did." [source]

User: "As someone who also has a truly debilitating fear of death, Emmrich is so special to me. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it represented in such a clear and concise way." / Sylvia: "Thanks, definitely felt that fear myself. I really wanted to express it clearly and was hoping would resonate with others." [source]

User: "Do you have any thoughts or opinions on what nickname Emmrich might have gotten from Varric if he'd ever gotten one?" / Sylvia: "Oh man that's a good question, but ultimately since I didn't write Varric, that must remain a mystery. Nicknames can only be bestowed. ("Bones" like someone suggested below is funny though.)" [source]

User: "If Emmrich's hobby is alchemy/plants, Vorgoth's is art, and Audric's is architecture... what's Myrna's? (Next to Emmrich, she's my favorite Watcher - sorry Vorgoth!)" / Sylvia: "Myrna has a one off line, you may not have heard it yet, where she talks to Vorgoth about getting tickets to the Sword of Drakon.* She enjoys a night out at the theater, whether it's a play or an opera. *(I think that's the play I named, I hope I'm recalling my own line haha.) It's a bit indulgent of me, but I chose Sword of Drakon because it was one of the plays I made up for a series of codices in DAI about Orlesian theater. I had a lot of fun with these and wanted to give them life once more. [link]" [source, two]

User: "During Rook’s disappearance in the prison, how did Emmrich react? Considering their intense romance, did he fall into depression, or did he show a more vulnerable side? Could his fear of death have influenced the situation? In the immortal romance💀, Emmrich promises that nothing will separate them, not in this world or any other. How likely is that? Would he go to great lengths for Rook, even crossing boundaries? Or, at some point, would he accept Rook's death?" / Sylvia: "1) Very strongly! I think it's a bit more interesting if I leave details to your imaginations, but Emmrich feels things deeply and probably had some sleepless nights. 2) So this I can't say much on even though it's a juicy topic. The truth is, I wouldn't even know unless I was actually sitting down to write it. Again, Emmrich feels things very passionately, but this is the kind of scenario where I might want the player's choices to have an effect." [source, two]

User: "Any chance that color scheme [of Emmrich's coat] was based off the corpse flower?" / Sylvia: "I couldn't find anything on the colour scheme and the corpse flower. Afraid this one's a mystery to me." [source]

User: "I'm really curious if there's a Nevarrese language? We have Orlesian, Antivan, Tevene, Qunlat..." / Sylvia: "I wondered that myself, especially given its ancient ties with Tevinter and also Orlais which would certainly have affected the languages of power and influence. Could also have roots with the Planasene. We never talked about one though, as far as I know, so the answer remains...unknown. 💀 (I did introduce tomb-script, the language you see etched into stone in the Necropolis, but I thought of it as more of a specialist's language for occult and magical things specifically.) (If we did define a Nevarran language in some corner of the lore, now I'm going to feel embarrassed, but I don't BELIEVE we did.)" [source, two, three]

User: "I wanted to ask if you have anything you can share about MW grave dowry jewellery - is it the sort of thing they keep on at all times? Also, would Emmrich like jewellery gifts or give them to Rook?" / Sylvia: "I figured it would be something they wear most of the time, or at least in public. You don't want to be without your grave-gold if you pass away! Emmrich would love to get jewellery, especially if it marked a special occasion like his other pieces do! He'd also probably like to gift Rook a piece of grave gold himself, though he knows a non-MW Rook might look at that part askance." [source, two]

User: "Question: how much if anything can you tell us about the circumstances surrounding the emergence of Emmrich's magic and him going to the Mourn Watch? In my mind, his parents' death could certainly be a catalyst for the emergence of mage powers, but I'm so curious why the butcher's boy goes to what seems the equivalent of Nevarran Harvard instead of a regular Circle unless he immediately demonstrated outstanding ability?" / Sylvia: So timeline wise, I think his magic manifested after he was taken in. This part isn't canon, so much as a background thought I had that maybe the spirits of the Necropolis nudged the MW to scoop up this future corpse-whisperer. It seems like a kind of place ripe for that sort of omen. That said, it could've also been a kindhearted Watcher who saw how shattered and alone this young boy was, and thought an upbringing in the Grand Necropolis would be the better place to deal with his grief. It's the kind of thing I want to leave open unless someone goes back one day to fill it out!" [source, two]

User: "what’s the overall Mourn Watch opinion on the whole Weekend at King Markus’s the other Mortalitasi are pulling? I can’t blame Emmrich for not wanting to be involved with that political mess!" / Sylvia: "No clue what you're talking about. King Markus is in the finest of health!!!!! ahahahahaha (To my mind Emmrich's response indicates a tension between the orders, but that they're going along with the polite fiction to avoid a mess. I can't say what the future holds though.)" [source]

User: "Ah, one last note: whoever decided “DA liches are immortal protectors and not always evil?” Chef’s kiss. It’s all I’ve ever wanted!" / Sylvia: "Thanks again! It was in Emmrich's first draft. The other writers and editors gave me good feeback on lichdom and the philosophy behind it especially" [source]

User: "I'm an ICU nurse, and that is imagined to confer a comfort with mortality. Suffice to say Emmrich has been a huge comfort to see." / Sylvia: "Thanks so much. I really wanted him to struggle with it while also engaging with it, because it's something I find hard as well. And I hoped it would find purchase with players." [source]

User: "If you’re willing, can you share a bit about the other orders within the Mortalitasi? Is there a rivalry with the Tevinter Imperium?" / Sylvia: I'm afraid I don't have much, sorry. I left the other Mortalitasi orders a big open canvas in case we wanted to invent more some day. (We've mentioned the palace Mortalitasi are separate from the Mourn Watch, so there's one. As you probably caught, Emmrich's not a fan of theirs.) Is there a rivalry with the Tevinter Imperium? I can't really point to anything in the game talking about that, so I hesitate to call it canon. But to my mind it would be very natural and also very funny. So if that ever manifests, I approve." [source, two]

User: "was any of Emmrich's design or personality modeled on British actor David Niven? I think there is resemblance just wondering if that was intentional." / Sylvia: "Oh I love David Niven. But the more direct actor influence for me was Peter Cushing in a few old Hammer Horror films." [source]

User: "just wanted to say thank you for creating the character of Josephine in Inq!! Helped me learn some stuff about myself when I was younger and meant a lot." / Sylvia: "Thank you so much on all counts! I'm glad the lovely Lady Montilyet was there for you (and enormous credit to her actor, Allegra Clark. She absolutely nailed Josephine, straight away.)" [source]

User, on Emmrich: "He mentions he thought he would marry - is that permitted for Mortalitasi when it wasn't for regular Circle mages? Can they now raise their own children?" / Sylvia: Mortalitasi have a lot of power. I imagine the Nevarran Chantry might grant them permission to marry outside the Circle more regularly than in places where mages are given less respect. (Mages can also marry within Circles, so no permission needed in those cases.) The same might be true for mages raising mage-born children in Nevarra, but I say that with less certainty. I think that's a topic I would've wanted to discuss with the rest of the narrative team." [source, two]

User: "is there a particular reason why emmrich is always wearing a glove on one hand?" / Sylvia: "I like to think it's mostly because he works a lot with his hands. The glove seems useful if he has to, say, grip a rough outcrop of rock when traversing the Necropolis, or deal with a bitey corpse." [source]

User, on Emmrich: "On my 1st run I played a trans Rook and romanced him. It felt incredible how he was so accepting of Rook's identity, and in return she could support him as he did a transition of his own as well. Beautiful mirroring!" / Sylvia: "Thanks very much! If those scenes worked, it's thanks to some people at work who kindly gave feedback that helped get the tone right." [source]

User: "I've been wanting to thank you for writing Luck in the Gardens for 4 years. Hollix was the first time I ever saw a non-binary character given a real voice." / Sylvia: "I loved writing Hollix in that story, they were a treat, and I'm glad they meant a lot to you. (And a shout out to a nb friend who gave me some good feedback on the character, I don't think the story would've been as clear without their help.)" [source]

User: "I was curious about Audric from TN, and if he originally was planned to have an appearance in veilguard, and what he's up to now" / Sylvia: "Love Audric, but I never planned to bring him into VG. I'm not AGAINST it, but I didn't want the short stories to feel like required reading for the game, and I liked where his arc ended in DatDM. That said, I dropped in a few references to Audric to let people know he's around and well. And I imagine he's doing what he loves: being a force of order, in the library. (And reading books during the more quiet hours below.)" [source, two]

User: "As a consumer of (and probably future creator of) so called "erotic" fanficfion, I'm wondering how you feel about the fact that fans make it about a character you created?" / Sylvia: "No issues with it whatsoever. We put sex and romance into the game itself, after all. I think people use fan art and fanfiction to extend their time with a story they've grown fond of, or to figure things out. So it feels like a natural extension of that." [source]

User: "Maybe one day my rook will join the mw!" / Sylvia: "Well, the Grand Necropolis is always eager for more company...🪦👻" [source]

User: "did the flame eternal (short story) come first or the flame eternal (quest)? i’ve been wondering if the quest was named after the story or vice versa" / Sylvia: "I wrote the scene first, the short story came after. But I named the quest AFTER the short story had come out, so I'd say the quest is named for the story because I liked the callback." [source]

User: "1.I know John answered already that Emmrich sleeps like a horse but is there really no bed for this man? 2.How would he react to a bouquet made for him?" / Sylvia: "1. Unknown. Perhaps he brings out pillows and a blanket for the slab in his room (after scrubbing it, of course!) Perhaps he goes home to an elaborate silk-covered bed in his Necropolis apartments. Or the horse thing. (TBH: I never decided myself, so I've leaned into impish mystery). 2. Emmrich would be absolutely delighted and flattered by being presented with a flower bouquet." [source, two]

User: "I hope it's okay to pop here but it might interest you to know a lot of us have been headcanoning that he has a secret bedroom behind one of his bookshelves! It seemed to line up with his sensibilities somewhat." / Sylvia: "That would honestly be great. Pull out the right book and snooze time." [source]

User, on the cemetery date: "This makes me feel like Mourn Watchers include the dead in important personal milestones/events and, if so, I love that so much. Like they want to share these events and the joy/love/excitement/etc. with those who have passed (and perhaps linger.)" / Sylvia: "That's absolutely how I thought of it too." [source]

User: "was there any game/book/show/film that inspired the Mourn Watch and Emmrich? When I saw them in the preview content, I got reminded of the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir and playing through the game cemented those vibes." / Sylvia: "I hadn't read any Locked Tomb when writing Emmrich, I think we must both just have impeccable taste. (I actually tried to stay away from contemporary stuff on necromancy when writing him, out of a superstitious fear I'd be unduly influenced. I do want to talk about influences later though!)" [source]

User, on Josie: "Do you think she’s open to having kids/adopting with the Inquisitor? Lord Ontranto and Yvette are so ahead!" / Sylvia: "I think that falls firmly within the category of what you imagine she and your Inquisitor's romance looks like, which means: absolutely, if that's where you imagine life would take them." [source]

User: "Emmrich, his story & everything surrounding him absolutely played a huge part in helping to lift me up & connecting me with new friends online" / Sylvia: "Thank you! And I'm very glad to hear Emmrich and his fellow Watchers helped you out when you needed it. He'd be pleased to know so himself." [source]

User: "Was it ever considered for him to appear in the game?" / Sylvia: "(short answer is no, but I wanted to let people know Audric's doing well.)" [source]

User: "I enjoyed your short stories in Tevinter Nights. Emmrich mentioned working out in the morning. What does his morning routine look like, and what kind of exercise does he do?" / Sylvia: "Thanks so much! Those stories have a special place in my heart, so that's especially nice to hear. On exercise: He likes a brisk stroll, and does morning stretches, and for something more strenuous, he likes to go swimming. Why? It's a workout where you don't have to worry about sweating. That just seemed to align with his fastidiousness in a funny way to me. (I also imagine exploring the Necropolis keeps him active, climbing all those stairs and crumbling ledges and the outsized walls of hallowed tombs, etc.)" [source, two]

User: "Harding will turn to a MW Rook who's been talking nerdy necro shop with Emmrich, and goes (paraphrasing), "You're so different when you're talking about this stuff than you are when you hang out with us!" and I loved that" / Sylvia: "Yes indeed! And thanks. I really wanted a beat where you realize MW Rook has learned to swap between being a fancy nerd and talking a bit more like "regular" people in Thedas. It seemed like a fun trait for that background." [source]

Sylvia, on how she came to BioWare: "No formal training. The closest to practice I had was running tabletop RPGs for friends, which actually helped me a lot with understanding the different kind of RPG players out there and what people want out of a story. And honestly: I just kept applying, over and over. That was my main virtue. I was rejected the first couple times I applied to BW. And rightly, I think, I wasn't ready and practicing in between really helped me become a stronger writer." [source, two]

Some more on this topic ^ from Sylvia: "To be honest: mostly luck, some perseverance, and then writing skills, in that order. I was rejected at least twice from BW before I got in, and I think they were right to do so. I wasn't ready yet. The third round someone I knew passed on my sample to a writer there, I did two more rounds of samples while taking feedback and revising over the next month. And then I was lucky enough they liked it enough to interview me. I wish I had better advice than perseverance. I think having a small, completed game, even something text based or a mod, isn't bad either. Even if it's short, it shows you finished it. But: my entry was over 15 years ago now, and to be honest I'm not sure what BW's applicant process are anymore. I don't want to be discouraging though. I would say keep applying, and make friends with like minded people who also want to make games, and best of luck." [source, two, three, four]

User: "I've been wondering something about Mourn Watch Rook's background - their bio says they were found as a baby + raised by the MW, and they reference it in-game, but then they also say they were a street kid and left their old life behind to join the MW to Taash. I'm just curious how one - being raised by the MW - lead to the other - street kid era. I just hc'd it as a euphemism for my Rook's party girl phase lol but it did leave me a little confused." / Sylvia: "This is a case of the background changing slightly over time, and me not squaring it in time with dialogue. In my mind: MW IS found by the Mourn Watch, raised by them, and work for them. But MW Rook also had period(s?) growing up where they explored Nevarra city, to explain why they're more. street savvy and worldly than your typical Watchers who never leave the city. I've seen people noting some discrepancies, and in a perfect world I would've caught those lines in time to smooth them out to encompass the whole story. But perhaps your Rook gives slightly different answers to different people for their own, mysterious reasons! (Or, in reality, it's writer error.)" [source, two, three] "Anyhow, I encourage any head canons that help square these discrepancies" [source]

User: "I romanced him on a Rook that I perceived as about 42ish and my running interpretation of the lines acknowledging her being young were either Emmrich not realizing how old she is, a running bit between them, or some cute form of flattery to not remind her of her own age haha" / Sylvia: "That's adorable, I love it" [source]

User: "1. What would Josie's ideal date be? 2. Could adopted kids be heir of the Montilyet estate or would it go to Yvette? 3. What does Josie think of the Crows?" / Sylvia: "1. I think she'd try to structure something, but the Inquisitor taking her away from her strictly scheduled routine to relax would actually be better for her. A picnic in a garden, a stroll around a lake followed by a meal in a quiet little restaurant. Something with a soft evening. 2. I don't think I ever said so in the game, but to my mind Josephine had some nieces and nephews in line to be heir. If she adopted a child and thought they'd be a better candidate, they could absolutely inherit the estate. (And of course, she could bequeath money or personal effects as she liked.) 3. She thinks of them as a necessity in Antiva, and that it's important to appease them. There's probably highly placed Crows she would get along with. But she'd never be comfortable with them. At the end of the day they're contract killers, and she's no lover of violence. (If I actually DID mention who Josephine had lined up to inherit the estate after her, but just forgot, I will ask for mercy because the game came out over 10 years ago.)" [source, two, three, four]

User: "Would you ever consider making a playlist on spotify of the sort of music you could picture Emmerich listening to? Or perhaps sharing any of the music you listened to while writing Emmrich?" / Sylvia: "I actually have an itunes playlist of what I listened to when writing Emmrich on my old computer. If I dig it out, I'll post a screenshot! (A lot of ambient stuff, probably unsurprisingly)" [source]

User: "I utterly, completely adore the way Josephine was written, she's such a wonderful and complex character. Her history as a bard, her ruthlessness, her kindness and sweet nature and how CUTE her romance is." / Sylvia: "Lady Montilyet herself would be flattered to hear you liked it." [source]

User, on Sylvia's comment about Peter Cushing being a go-to for what Emmrich would be like: "This makes me so unbelievably happy given my love for Peter Cushing 😭 my love for Emmrich was inevitable." / Sylvia: "I want to talk a little more about it later but Cushing was such a wonderful actor. Wish we'd had him around even longer." [source]

User, on death and working in death care: "In the end, it’s always about memory." / Sylvia: "That's so true. We want to be remembered, or to have something that lets people know even a little about who we are. (It's why I'm glad newspapers still print obituaries, you can read about the most amazing lives.)" [source]

User: "I was starting to think the game was reading my mind and tailoring to me once he said his favorite color was lilac, and I was given the option to say darker purple." / Sylvia: "I'm glad you enjoyed Emmrich and his romance. And that the bit about colours worked for you, I was trying to think of what would be something fun there, and purple is one of my favorites too. (Fine taste!)" [source]

User: "“Down Among the Dead Men” is one of my favorite chapters from Tevinter Nights. I loved Audric and I was so happy when Myrna mentioned him in Veilguard! Was there any chance he might’ve appeared in game?" / Sylvia: "basically I didn't plan it, but I wanted to let TN readers know Audric is living well" [source]

User: "If Hezenkoss was also you ALL of that was a sheer stroke of brilliance!" / Sylvia: "Thank you! Hezenkoss was me, so glad you liked her. She was a blast to write. Oh my god, I meant to write Hezenkoss was one of my favorites not "me". (I think I snipped out something and consequentially sound like a maniac in that post above. SORRY. She is not me, I wish I had that kind of confidence.)" [source, two]

User, on behalf of their friend: "Well, spontaneously I'd be interested if she can say any more about Emmrich's past romances. Was there someone really serious among them, or all just fun and casual? I'm also curious how the whole mage training works in Nevarra. Are some trained from the start by the Mourn Watch or does everyone go to the Mortalitasi equivalent of a Circle first?" / Sylvia: "1. I think there was probably a mix of more serious romances and more casual ones over Emmrich's life. The serious ones just never panned out. (Until Rook, if you're romancing him.) 2. I pictured the MW taking in promising members from other circles, but I left their selection criteria vague on purpose, in case we needed to define it later. Of course, there's also exceptions. We've seen they take in some orphans or foundlings (MW Rook and Emmrich, for example) when fate, chance, or pity allows it. (I had an idea spirits might sometimes nudge MWers to take in someone, but that's not in the game, so it remains, I suppose now, my own head canon.)" [source, two, three, four]

User: "Emmrich is every bit the warm and kind academic that I looked up to in my undergrad/postgrad days, and I have taken time in the game just to wander the Grand Necropolis and take everything in." / Sylvia: "My pleasure, and thanks very much for saying so. (Props to all my teammates, it took a lot of people to bring those characters and places to life, and they were all so enthusiastic about our weird gothy corner of Thedas.)" [source]

User, on Emmrich's dream: "One of few cases where writers don't go for "actually immortality is lame" lesson to appease the audience for whom immortality is unattainable. Refreshing to have a character who wants to live forever, can do it, and it isn't treated as a mistake. One of the boldest bits of writing in the game." / Sylvia: "Thanks Mary - that was one of my aims, because so many times in stories, immortality is a fool's errand. I wanted it to have its rules, and its price, but not something disastrous or out of reach." [source]

User: "The MW as a whole was beautifully done and the way they handle life and death was deeply healing and aided tremendously in my own personal journey with grief." / Sylvia: "I'm very glad meeting Emmrich and the Watchers helped even a little, that means a lot to hear." [source]

User: "Amazing work in veilguard and inquisition honestly and the flame eternal was such a fun read! Unless it’s been answered before my query is where do the Mourn watchers live/sleep? Is it a case of they live in the higher parts of the Necropolis or do they live in the city and commute?" / Sylvia: "Flame Eternal was a fun one, hadn't written a story that short before but I enjoyed introducing Johanna and Emmrich's dynamic back in their good old days... As to your question, there's one line of banter between Emmrich and Neve that talks about this (so, very easy to miss.) The Mourn Watchers live and sleep in the upper (safer) levels of the Necropolis." [source, two]

User: "does mortal!Emmrich return to the Necropolis or spend more time in the world first? He plays detective with Neve & camps in Ferelden with Harding feels like he’d want to experience more of the world before returning home." / Sylvia: "Impossible for me to say what the future will hold with certainty, but I think Emmrich's enjoying exploring the world too much to go back to living in the Necropolis full time just yet. He'd certainly want to keep visiting regularly, but there's so much more to see." [source]

Sylvia: "The Watchers have a special place in my heart." [source]

User: "I just wanted to say how much I love Emmrich" / Sylvia: "Thank you very much! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed getting to know him." [source]

at this point tumblr stopped letting me add to this post !

[lushrue]

frozen hearts pt. 6

long time no see! sorry this part took me so long, life and motivation and all the things got in the way! now we start the fun stuff! should have some more writing coming your way this week, so stay tuned :) also i came up with a title, please lmk what you think

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9

you’d changed your outfit five times since the first time you got dressed. you started with a satin outfit that you only ever pulled out for special occasions. then you figured it was too formal, so you changed into a t-shirt and jeans. then you thought that was too casual, so you changed into a different formal outfit, then another, then another. now, you’d settled on a nice pair of pants with a dress shirt and shoes that would get uncomfortable if you stood in them for too long. twisting and turning in the mirror, you fought the urge to rip it all off and start over. it was a good outfit, but was it first date-worthy?

all kyle had told you was that he was taking you to his favorite dinner spot. you’d racked your brain for hours after that text, trying to remember what restaurants he talked about. a man like him had expensive taste, you were sure of it. maybe he was taking you to some five star joint and you’d get kicked out for not following a dress code. your cheeks burned with embarrassment at the mere idea. but would it be worse to show up to a fast food restaurant in what could only be described as business formal? glancing down at your phone, you realized you had a quick solution to your dilemma.

you stood in front of your mirror and snapped a photo, your face obscured by the phone but the rest of your outfit clearly visible. before you could convince yourself that it was a bad idea, you opened up your messages and started a group chat with johnny, simon, and price. the photo whooshed onto the screen, your fingers furiously tapping out a message to go with it.

“not sure about the outfit for tonight. any thoughts?”

the five of you had been chatting nonstop since your conversation at the coffee shop, your phone constantly buzzing with a message from one of them. johnny liked to send pictures of the dogs he saw on his morning run, and everyone would take turns guessing at its name. simon was mostly a passive observer, but he would occasionally send updates about his day or clarify plans with the others for later. it was through his messages that you figured out they all lived together. 

kyle liked to share playlists and songs he’d heard on the radio that he liked. mostly for his own memory so that he could add them to his spotify later, he’d explained, but he’d remarked a few times that he’d like to see you skate to his recommendations. price texted like your 60-something aunt who shared motivational minion memes on facebook. all caps when he didn’t mean to be yelling, he just wanted to show some enthusiasm. sometimes he’d send “good morning” gifs with flowers and glittery font.

johnny was the first to reply in your new, smaller group chat. three fire emojis, one after the other. you rolled your eyes, smiling to yourself. of course he thought you looked good. he’d barely been able to keep his hands off you now that he knew you wanted it. simon’s reply was next, concise and to the point.

“you’d look good in a potato sack, lovie. kyle’s gonna love it. don’t worry that pretty head of yours too much.”

where johnny had boosted your confidence, simon had soothed your anxiety. no doubt kyle had told the others where he was taking you tonight. simon’s assurance that kyle would love it assuaged the fear of being over- or under-dressed. john texts back as you’re putting the finishing touches on your appearance, adjusting your hair in the mirror for the umpteenth time. you look down at the message, laughing at the gif he sent. it’s a clip of snoopy from peanuts, eyes heart-shaped and bulging out of his head. clearly, your outfit was a winner.

your tendency to get ready for things a half hour early shoots you in the foot here. now, all that’s left to do is wait for kyle to show up at your door. he insisted on picking you up, like a gentleman. he was properly courting you. part of you wondered if he’d show up at your door with flowers, all nervous smiles and saccharine compliments. the thought made you blush, excited energy thrumming in your body. you felt like you were back in high school again, going on your very first date. the minutes ticked by with an agonizing fatigue. time clearly had no regard for your feelings.

you’d forgotten to check the clock in a while with all your fretting, and the knock on your door caught you off guard. fumbling for your house keys, you opened the door, putting on your brightest smile. there kyle stood, flowers in his hand. predictable. “hey,” he said, holding the flowers out to you. “figured i should get you these. ‘s only proper for the first date, yeah?” you took them in your arms, leaning down to catch a whiff. it was a beautiful arrangement, wildflowers and baby’s breath. it looked like something you’d seen on one of your pinterest boards. 

“they’re lovely, kyle! thank you.” you started to step back in to tend to them, but he placed a hand on your arm. “wouldn’t give them to you and make you do all the work. i’ll trim ‘em and put ‘em in a vase for you when we get back.” that made your heart flutter. you tended to shy away from flowers as a gift because of the work you had to put in. trimming them, arranging them in the vase, giving them flower food. not having to do that almost made you enjoy the flowers a little bit more. you set them on your entryway table, glancing back at them with a silent promise to tend to them when you returned.

you shut and locked your door, turning to meet kyle’s waiting gaze. he held his arm out for you to take, a confident smile on his lips. he was clearly enjoying playing suitor to you this evening, and you wouldn’t begrudge him that. you wrapped your hand around his bicep, letting him lead you to the waiting car. “don’t worry, john prepared me,” he said, and you almost wondered what he meant before he opened your car door for you. you stifled a laugh behind your hand, giving kyle’s bicep a squeeze. john was the most traditional of the four, the most concerned with chivalry. you could almost imagine him lecturing kyle, giving him a crash course in how to treat a date with decorum.

you slid into the passenger seat, running your hands over the leather beneath you. it felt expensive. hell, the whole car looked expensive. clearly, kyle had a taste for the finer things in life. idly, you wondered if that included you. he slid into the driver’s seat beside you, flashing you his perfect smile before shifting the car into gear and pulling off.

the restaurant was nice, but not fancy. just like the others had said, your outfit fit the occasion perfectly. what’s more, you matched kyle. you had both picked navy tops, but if you had to answer honestly, you’d say that his looked better on him. a nice polo, the top two buttons undone so that you could just barely see his collarbones. you’d been staring at it far too much, you noticed. you took a sip of your water, scanning the menu for anything that sounded appetizing. as you read the details of each dish, you willed your stomach to unknot itself so that you could enjoy something delicious.

“their salmon is good here. if you like seafood, that is,” kyle said, his knee barely brushing yours under the table. you give him a smile in return, flicking your eyes up to gaze at him over the menu. “i’m eyeing the grilled chicken. kinda hard to mess that up, right?” he chuckled in response, nodding his head. “yeah, suppose that’s smart.” the waiter came and took your orders, and kyle threw in a bottle of red wine for the two of you. merlot, like you’d mentioned in passing was your favorite. the realization that he remembered flustered you a little bit.

now the two of you were alone. well, not entirely; the restaurant was packed to capacity and kyle had commented how lucky he was that he’d gotten a reservation. but it felt like you were the only two here. the way kyle’s eyes fixed on you, the way he didn’t even acknowledge anyone around you, it felt special. he made you feel special. you smiled and shoved down the nervous butterflies that started to flutter. “so…how does this work?” you ask, folding your hands on the table. “i’ve never been on a date with a friend. it feels weird to do the whole ‘getting to know you’ thing like i usually do.” kyle smirked at that, raising his water glass to his lips and watching you over the rim of the glass. “go on that many dates, do you?”

you blush crimson, turning your eyes down to your lap. that didn’t come out the way you’d intended it. while yes, you had been on your fair share of dates, he didn’t need to know that when he was on one with you. “well, i mean,” you start, flustered. “not that many. just enough to have a formula, i guess.” kyle swallowed his drink and set the glass back down. “tell me about this formula then.” you hesitated, but decided to go along with it. it couldn’t make things any more uncomfortable than they already were.

“well, i always start with where they’re from. it tells me a lot about them, especially if they’re really closed off about it.” “london,” he answered without hesitation. “grew up in the city. ‘s not all it’s cracked up to be, tha’s for sure.” his answer caught her off guard, not expecting him to actually go along with the formula. “yeah, i know-” you start, but he cuts you off with a wave of his hand. “this is our first date, yeah? you know me as a friend, but i want you to know me as more than that. some things i only tell once someone’s committed.” with that, you sit back, content to listen.

“i’m the middle child. got an older brother, showed you pictures of ‘im. younger sister too. she’s at uni, studyin’ interior design.” you smiled at the mention of his sister. your old college roommate had done the same thing. you volunteered the same information in turn, talking about your hometown. you were an only child, so your discussion of your family was much briefer than his. kyle gave you his full attention, all eye contact and leaning forward to hear you better. he nodded along with your words, taking in everything you had to say. he crossed his arms over his chest, facing you down like an opponent on the ice. this “formula” of yours was a challenge to him, a way to make you see that he was different from the rest. he didn’t fit the mold. he knew it, and he wanted you to know it too. “alright. what’s next?”

by the time your food had come, you had only made it halfway through the formula. usually, you’d have finished your line of questioning by now, trying to get it all over with as quick as possible. dates were painful, agonizing affairs that left you feeling worse about yourself and your prospects. with kyle, though, it felt like the easiest thing in the world. it was natural and simple. just talking, that’s all it was. you laughed as he finished a story about an old football injury he’d gotten playing with his friends in primary school. as an easy silence fell, you decided it was time to deviate from the formula.

“what made you choose hockey?” the question seemed to catch him off guard and he scoffed around the bite of food in his mouth. “always go on dates with hockey players, love?” he asked, and you tried not to squirm at the pet name. “no, but i can tweak the formula a bit for you.” you both smiled and his foot brushed up against your leg beneath the table. he cleared his throat and took a sip of his wine, swirling it in the glass. “i really love team sport,” he said, the answer almost sounded rehearsed. “played everything i could. i just like being a part of something bigger than myself. it feels good when you get a win that’s for more than just you. it’s for the team, the fans.”

you didn’t think there was a right answer to a question like that, but if there was one, that was it. the sincerity that sparkled in his eyes, the set look on his face, you knew he meant it. this wasn’t valiant bullshit, this was him. this was kyle. it took you a second to recover from that, your heart warmed. you’d bagged a good one. “yeah, that’s…that’s a really good answer.” he chuckled, taking another bite of food and motioning towards you. “what about you?” he asked, cutting a piece of salmon. “why’d you start skating?” you took a breath, gathering your thoughts before speaking.

“mostly because i was obsessed with watching figure skating as a kid,” you said, holding your wine glass and gazing down into the deep red. “i pestered my mom until she signed me up for classes and i fell in love with it as soon as i stepped on the ice.” you smiled fondly, remembering your first years taking skating lessons. you hadn’t intended to compete at first, but your coach had pushed your parents to sign you up. the routines, the glittery costumes, the magic you made when you danced on the ice…it all kept you coming back for more. it was hard to remember a time when you weren’t skating. “i’ve never lost my passion for it. i always assumed i’d grow out of it at some point, but i never did.”

kyle was looking at you with fondness, enraptured by you. the truth was, he found you amazing. more than that, you were overwhelmingly fantastic. from the first time he saw you skate, months ago before you even knew who they were, he knew you were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. when you skated, you embodied music itself, swaying and drifting with the ebb and flow of the melody. your routine to moonlight sonata was what sealed the deal for him. maybe he was a selfish man, but he wanted that beauty and grace all to himself. he wanted some kind of claim on you, because how could someone not fall for you when they saw you skate? that kind of charm was irresistible.

you squirmed under the weight of his gaze, choosing to take another sip of wine rather than splutter out words that really didn’t matter anyway. the silence was comfy, the two of you basking in the glow of something new and unexplored. adoration, affection, something blossoming into love. with kyle, it was so easy. it was like you’d known him forever rather than a few short months. you shared a knowing smile with each other and returned to your meals.

true to his word, kyle came back to your house after you finished up at the restaurant and took care of the flowers. he let you pick the vase, but that was the last time you lifted a finger. you sat at your kitchen island, watching him as he trimmed the stems on the flowers to make them fit. he cut them at an angle and placed the stems in a neat pile to be thrown away later. your head felt floaty, three glasses of wine going straight to your brain and casting a pleasant haze over your thoughts. it was his arms, mainly. you watched the veins and muscles flex as he arranged the flowers for you.

he looked back at you and smiled, letting out a huff of air as he looked at your spacey eyes. you weren’t stumbling drunk, but you had a good thing going. he finished putting the flowers in the vase and placed them on the island in front of you. his smile was full of pride, presenting the arrangement he’d made. “how do they look?” he asked, catching your gaze. you brushed your fingers over the petals, feeling the delicacy of them. they looked almost as lovely as they had wrapped up in the paper. kyle holding them made the image even more perfect. “beautiful,” you breathed out, your eyes darting between him and the flowers.

in truth, you meant it in both ways. the flowers were beautiful, yes, but so was he. he was one of the most beautiful men you’d ever seen. his skin was soft, smooth and well taken care of. you reached forward and brushed your fingers over his cheek, eyes rapturous and fixed on him. his hand came up to meet yours, holding it against his face. he was warm, the slightest hint of a flush on his cheeks. he’d hardly had one glass, so you knew it wasn’t from the alcohol. “what’s goin’ on in your head, pretty?” he asked, his thumb stroking over the back of your hand.

you hum, staring at his eyes. hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day, the rings inside of a fallen tree, light shining through fall leaves. “thinking about how much i want to kiss you,” you said, filter fully lowered under the influence of the restaurant’s finest merlot. a smirk tugged the corner of his lips up, his eyes boring into yours with the same intensity. “what’s stoppin’ you?” your eyes widen ever so slightly, but your surprise only lasts for a moment before you’re leaning in and catching his lips.

he tasted like salmon and red wine on the surface, but beneath it was his natural flavor. he was sweet, like honey, with a hint of spearmint. the cheeky bastard, that’s why he’d popped some gum in his mouth on the way home. it was soft, gentle, but no less passionate. your lips danced together delicately, much like you did on the ice. suave motions, no harshness or roughness to it. it was calculated, methodical. you tried to press for more, opening your lips to let his tongue in but he stopped you, pulling back.

you had to hide your disappointment, your lips still tingling with the sensation of being kissed. your eyes opened, catching his smiling face once more. “gotta take my time with you, sweet thing. got three others that want a taste. i’d never hear the end of it if johnny found out.” you giggle, the thought of the scot’s ire amusing to you in your buzzed brain. you pulled back from him as well, settling back into the barstool. as he made for the door, you followed, making sure he gathered his coat and keys. “thank you for an amazing night,” you said, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. he gave you a half hug with his free arm, squeezing you tight before pulling away.

“this was just the start, pretty. you’ve got three more comin’ your way.” with that, he wished you good night and headed back out to his car. you’d only just shut your door and thought about what he’d said before your phone buzzed in your hand. it was a text from johnny.

“free on friday? got someplace i wanna take ya ;)”

taglist: @cadotoast @jupiternighties @hxnneydew @kaoyamamegami @lolly145 @linaangel @bestbookfriends @callsignang3l @livingoutsidethetardis @msecho19

[signanothername]

firstly: AAA YOUR ART AND COMICS AND STUFF ARE SO AMAZING!!!!

secondly: do you have any advice on how to come up with comics and then get them out of your head and onto paper?

BZHXHXHD THANK YOU SM!!!

And ooh that’s a good question

I usually come up with comics in one of two ways, either seeing something (whether another artwork, a text, something irl, etc) that inspires an idea for a comic, or via artworks I made that I expand on

Other times, it can actually be both

For example, the “A little life update” comic was actually inspired by this beautiful artwork, I saw it, and I immediately thought of Killer, idk something something about the despair of being stuck between a rock and a hard place etcetera etcetera (yes the comic that shows Killer to be in such a better place in life and show the hope he has, was inspired by crushing despair in actuality)

It made me wanna do something with Killer trying to call someone on a public phone, and so the first page came to be

Here’s the twist tho, I originally was gonna just make it into an artwork (yes, one single decision could’ve meant that comic wouldn’t have ever been made)

But a lil habit of mine is ask myself a shit ton of questions when it comes to my own artworks (it actually helps me turn what’s supposed to be artworks into comics), and that’s another way of how you can come up with comics, ask yourself questions, why is the character doing this? What are they doing? What if character did this? Etc

so I saw what was originally gonna be an artwork, and asked myself, who would Killer be calling if he ever did and why?

And the answer to those two questions that made sense to me most was Nightmare, but that led me to two more questions, when would Killer be calling Nightmare and for what?

And that led me to have a basic idea of how I wanted the comic to go

So it was basically like

Who would Killer be calling? Nightmare

Why would Killer be calling Nightmare if he ever did? That actually had different answers, to taunt him, to inform him of something, cause he misses Nightmare in his own fucked up way, etc

When would Killer be calling Nightmare? After he’s saved, or while still under him? After he’s saved makes more sense

What would Killer call Nightmare for? To give him an update about his life with Color

How would Killer be calling Nightmare? Through a public phone

Where would Killer be calling from? Somewhere in an AU in the surface

These six questions, what, why, when, who, where, how, are important to think of, they give you a basis to work on when it comes to comics in general

You don’t need to have a very clear answer to each of them to be able to work on a comic, but if you can at least answer 3 of them, that would give you enough information to work with in a comic

Now that I have a tiny bit of a clear idea about what I wanted to do (it doesn’t have to be perfect or completely concise) let’s talk about how you take these ideas out of your head and into paper

You can do that by imagining the dialogue in your head and then immediately putting it into paper, as I mentioned here, I actually struggle a lot with dialogue, art? No problem, I can easily imagine the art, but dialogue? It’s hell (please take the time to read the linked post, I talk in depth about how I handle dialogue)

That’s why you shouldn’t worry about perfection at this stage, just put every little piece of dialogue you imagine into paper, even if it feels like it makes no sense or is out of character, that’s something you can worry about later

Put in the dialogue, every little bit of it, and draw the panels that feels right for the dialogue

Here’s a little bit of example about what I mean when I say put the dialogue in then draw panels that make sense for it

This is a comic I plan on making, I actually drew that first panel as a stand alone artwork, then that inspired the dialogue, I wrote the dialogue down immediately, it’s a rough version of it, maybe I’ll keep it the same, maybe I’ll change it up as I work through the comic, but so far, I’m drawing the panels based on the dialogue so far, see what I mean by write the dialogue down? It helps IMMENSELY

It doesn’t have to be perfect and it certainly doesn’t have to be the final version, but writing it down will help you imagine the art that comes with it

Does that mean you can never start with the art then think of the dialogue? NO

You absolutely can start with the art for the comic first, in fact, sometimes, doing that actually helps you imagine the dialogue better, other times you can’t really think of a dialogue but have a very clear image in your head about certain character interactions, draw that it’s ok, silent comics focusing on character interaction, is a thing that you can do without worrying about dialogue

Now when it comes to the actual making of a comic, first tip is find your own footing when it comes to comic making

Like listen, people are gonna tell you that the correct thing to do is that you have to make thumbnails for the comic before you make the actual comic to make sure the flow is good and you have room for speech bubbles and what not

Here’s the thing, making thumbnails for your comic is a life saver, it’s great, if you can do that go for it! But for a person like me with little to no energy, I can’t do that without losing interest and immediately abandoning my comic, I can’t do that without becoming frustrated and hate art for it

That’s why I say find your footing, if making thumbnails before working on the actual pages works for you go for it! or you can immediately just work on the actual comic itself like I do, it’s all about what you’re comfortable with and what makes more sense to you

That being said, when it comes to the panels themselves, always aim for less panels and more pages than the other way around

Sometimes, emphasis on certain emotions or aspects of the comic can only be done with fewer panels

That’s why my own comics would sometimes have pages that are either one or two panels max

The less panels you have in a page, the more concise, clear, and easy to follow your comic is, one of the biggest mistakes I made as a beginner artist, is that I focused on cramping the story in as few pages as possible rather than focus on the clarity of the comic

Here’s an example

Good luck reading that dggxgdgdh

This is a very old comic I made back in 2018? 2019?, I wanted the comic to be one page so bad I cramped everything into it without thinking about the fact people are gonna have a very hard time reading it, like this easily could’ve been 3-5 pages but old me couldn’t imagine doing that many pages (if she could see me now with 15 pages comics dhhdhdg) not only that, but the panels’ arrangement makes 0 sense

So when you make your panels there are 2 things to keep in mind:

1- less panels and more pages = clear easy to follow comic, as well as a better emotional impact

2- panel arrangement has to make sense and should be easy to follow, you can make sure it’s easy to follow by reading your own comic over and over as you’re making it, if you find difficulty following the dialogue or art, then it’s best to refine, change or edit your panel or dialogue arrangement

Another thing to keep in mind when making the comic is the flow, the best way to go about making sure that the flow makes sense is by thinking of the comic as you would an animation, how did the character go from point A to point B?

For example this page

Killer clearly has a bit of a distance from Nightmare in the second panel, so how did Killer go from being at a distance (point A), to right in front of Nightmare in the last panel (point B)? That’s what the two panels in between the these two points are for, is to show you that 1- Nightmare is using his tentacle, and 2- that tentacle wrapped around Killer’s arm, the rest would easily be filled in by your brain that Nightmare basically pulled him closer

Now for the ending of a comic, not every comic has to have a clear ending where it marks the end of a story, but rather, you can go for whatever satisfies you as an ending, or keep an ending ambiguous or open, to expand on a comic later

I say that the perfect ending for a comic is what gets the point of a comic across, if the point is made, then it’s a good panel to end the comic with

Don’t be afraid to scarp any page or panels if they make the comic awkward or if they don’t make sense or if it seems out of character don’t hesitate to change, edit or completely delete it

An example is the “choice” comic, it actually originally was 4 pages, I just decided to scrap the last page cause of two reasons

1- it added nothing to the comic

2- it was out of character for Stage 2 Killer

My last advice is don’t force the process, sometimes, the best way to go about making comics is to make them on your own time and slowly, sometimes, you get stuck with certain things in the comic, other times, you need a bit to figure out how to proceed with the comic, completely normal in the process, that’s why it’s important to work on comics in a way that suits you, but you can’t find what suits you without trial and error, so go and test the waters, you can never learn until you practice it yourself

Good luck, hope this helps, lemme know if you need more clarification or help, i’d be happy to help where I can <333

[goldsnek]

So, I saw the question about tips for aspiring comic artists and it actually reminded me that I am curious about the topic as well😅

I like to write stories and I like to draw so it seemed logically for me to try my hand at comics as well but I'm struggling extremely with the layout.

It's seems very daunting when you sit in front of the empty page and you have to consider how to arrange the panels.

I'm the kind of artist that sometimes does big changes to almost finished works, so the idea of having to make a final decision before I even start with the actual drawing process, is kind of terrifying for me.

Long story short, how do you put your drawings into panels?

Do you really have to make a final panel layout at the beginning, the way I've been attempting to, or are there other possibilities I simply haven't thought of?

Last but not least, I want you to know that I absolutely love your comic, both because of your spectacular art and the amazing story! ❤️

Hello! Okay this is going to be long but I'll try my best to explain and be concise (and truly sorry for the english!) So, the first rule you need to have in mind is that you don't imagine the scene PER PAGE but PER SEQUENCE. What I mean is, you don't have to imagine a comic (like ''what I'm putting in this page'') but you have to imagine it as a video in your head, like you're directing a movie ( movies and comics are a lot more similar than we think as a media) For example, try to imagine someone waking up and going to open their window, that's a full sequence. it can be done in various ways, depending on what your character is doing and what's the ''mood'' of the scene. Remember always that your character emotions sets the mood for the entire scene. A thing that helps me a lot is ( like I said XD) watching movies, I focus on the mini sequences, a kiss scene, a fight, I pause the movie and rewatch that scenes various times, trying to understand the mood of the scene and how is shot. A sequence can even take 3 or 4 pages or even 10, it depends from whats happening, even more if it's a fight! But like I said the number of pages comes later. another importart thing to remember is that your characters needs ''a place to live'' If you make a story and never show a single panel with a background, the story is gonna lack something 100%; and I know... backgrounds are hard (I hate them) but you need at least 1 panel where you show the places your characters are living in. That is called establishing shot and it needs to be used when your character are moving to other locations. (or if you're talking about other characters in your comic and they are somewhere else) I'll show u some establishing shots now:

Took 3 different comics (narratively and stylistic speaking) Bone, Batman and TinTin to show you that even if the setting of the panels is extremely different, they still all have an establishing shot. Now, of course you don't have to put this in EVERY page, but like I said at least at the start of your comic, or when the characters are moving somewhere else, it's very important to show that. Also remember that the biggest panel you need to have in your sequence is the one where the most important action is happening. For example, if two people are fighting and someone gets slapped, that's the most impactful scene, so that's the scene that will need the biggest panel on your sequence, because it's the most important. Another rule is to make the camera breathe. Let me explain this properly, you, as a comic artist, are like a movie director with a camera. You need to turn the camera in various ways, up and down left and right, but always remember this : Never make a page of faces only. example, here are character A and B having a conversation, a page like this is extremely wrong, because the camera is basically attached to the character face and the viewer/reader is going to feel like they're suffocating in the room with the story characters :

You as an artist have the power to zoom the camera in and out, showing extremely tiny details or making a big panel that shows how Idk... beautiful or eerie or mysterious the background is. The biggest advice I can give you is to read a lot of comics, try to find series you love and study them, see how they make the panels, how the sequence are shown etc. The last rule (there are a lot more so if you have more specific questions just ask) I can give you and this is about your question in specific is that: Yes. Unfortunately you have to make the structure first and that has to be your final decision, if you make a 10 pages comic for example and you decide you don't like some stuff anymore and decide to change all the pages, you're just gonna end up in a endless cycle of always fixing and fixing and never be satisfied. Remeber this: The sketches and layout of the pages are the MOST important thing in a comic. The coloring, lineart, etc... it's just decoration. So hang on and start making layouts, and focus only on those for a period of time and then when you're 100% satisfied with the structure, you go and start adding the ''decorations'' Hope this helps! I'm not very good at explaining , especially in another language, but I tried my best XD

[rat-rosemary]

anon who wants a summary:

the timeline:

dream published a meme which used the r slur to insult tommyinnit stans. this sparked outrage (because it's a slur).

dream defended himself by explaining he was called slurs by nicholas cantu and half the internet and people said that was justified because cantu was autistic and pan, and dream himself is autistic. he as a result thought he was allowed to say the r slur. dream also deleted the tweet a few hours later.

tubbo made a stream where he analyzed dream's response and brought up his own reasons for disliking dream. tubbo's (and most of dsmp twitter's) take is that the r slur was used as an insult in this case and therefore there is no reclaiming it.*

dream responded to tubbo's stream. however, his focus was mostly on addressing the context of why he made his tweet (what he feels was a constant harassment by Tommy and his friends who've been implying terrible things, such as Dream being a pedophile, for months) and talking about some of the problems tubbo brought up. he showed a number of evidence to back some of his main points, like this DM where he asks Tommy to stop making inappropriate jokes about him:

tubbo then responded to dream's stream. tubbo's main issue with it seems that Dream justified context, but didn't really go into the tweet itself.

Tommy also published a 5 mn video accusing Dream of various negative things, which basically reiterated most of tubbo's grievances. (none of them are criminal offenses or the like)

issues Tommy and Tubbo brought up:

feeling like Dream implied they owed their careers to them. There is no evidence of this. Dream has talked about a couple miscommunication/joke situations and brought up multiple times that he felt he was just shining a spotlight on people that would've made it anyways. Tubbo repeatedly said he "just doesn't believe this" and Tommy feels that in fact "[Tommy] made the DSMP."

Dream contacting Tommy's mom in 2023 following drama at the time. Tommy felt like there was a betrayal of trust and Dream apologized. I'll attach the DM, you can decide for yourself how you feel about it.

A situation where in the DSMP discord someone brought up skephalo porn art and Tubbo, a minor at the time, was there. Dream brought up in his stream that he was not there. Tubbo in his second stream said "that's fair." I think this is resolved..?

Dream's circle of friends being misogynistic. There is no evidence from this from Tommy and Tubbo, apart from vibes basically (which could still mean there's a problem! but atm it seems to be just vibes).

Tubbo vaguely accused Dream and his friend George of queerbaiting? Dream didn't address this but has multiple times said they weren't dating.

I can't think of anything else but I might've missed something! And obviously I think this is all correct but it might not be because I am a #flawed human being.

I tried keeping this as short, concise, and as unbiased as I could but obviously I rambled. A LOT more was said by everybody involved, but I tried my best :(

*this point is particularly interesting, because I've seen enough discourse on both Tumblr and Twitter to feel like it's a complicated issue that people haven't clearly cut one way or another. Making this point because most of dsmp twitter agreeing with something does not necessarily make them right (but you can ofc decided by yourself).

Thank you so much Star!!!

I'm going to once again plead for everyone to watch the original streams so they have full context, but I know they're long and not everyone can or wants to do it, so I am willing to further explain and give more context to anything you don't quite understand or have doubts about :]

[drabbletron]

Golden Boy: Trailcutter x Reader fic (PART 1)

|| BEHOLD the driest feeling first chapter I have ever written! I've been trying to figure out if I should just scrap it and re-write it, but I need this fic out of my system now. It's mostly planned out, but I need to polish it up so much to make it into chapters. ||

fic under the cut. just character introductions really.

(I'm gonna stick with "trailcutter" versus "trailbreaker" because he chose that name for himself and this takes place after megatron joins the ship, which is after he changed his name.)

MANDATORY STAFF MEETING: 09:00 Security Room 4.A

The newest addition to his inbox sent in bold font.

Trailcutter never really felt one way or the other about those, save for when they were held during his recharge cycle. Usually he wouldn’t have to worry much about showing up since there was usually a second one held for his shift by Red Alert, but this one was mandatory. Every bot had to be there or there would be some serious repercussions, as per Ultra Magnus. The thing is, Ultra Magnus wasn’t usually the one to send out the announcement. That job was often left to his supervisor, Fort Max. The ex-warden tried to make it so everything was concise and understandable, a very straightforward kinda guy. Trailcutter liked that about him. He was also pretty cool when he wasn’t having psychotic meltdowns and shooting up Swerve’s.

All seemed to be going as smoothly as any other staff meeting: Ultra Magnus droned on about the importance of ship audits, security logs, and making sure that everyone was exactly where they were meant to be at the time they were intended to be there. It seemed to be the only time that being early was hinted at being frowned upon because “being early meant you didn’t check thoroughly enough.”

Ultra Magnus was very clear about being extra on top of things, especially with the arrival of humans on the ship.

Humans. Trailcutter had been to Earth and knew some about them. Small, organic beings, bipedal in nature and governed by a brain in a similar fashion to cybertronians. They formed communities and had a vast culture and were spread far and wide over their planet. He’d only worked with them a few times, but never really went in depth with them. That was left to bots like Prowl and Optimus and even Bumblebee. Even Hound reached out to them and tried to absorb as much of the nature that surrounded their base as he could while Bluestreak, Blaster, and Jazz took to the more media aspects.

Trailcutter also knew that humanity and cybertron didn’t exactly get along. He felt bad for them, really he did. It wasn’t easy having your world turned upside down by war, especially when it was by aliens, something that you previously believed to be a thing of fiction. It had to be like finding out ghosts were real and wanted to take over your house but had to fight another set of ghosts that thought you were cool. Ghost gang wars. There’s probably some kind of earth movie about that. He’d ask Swerve about that later.

Trailcutter turned his attention back to Ultra Magnus who was now introducing the new liaisons to each member of the security team: Fortress Maximus (Director of security), Red Alert (former director now Deputy Director of security), and so on and so forth. Ultra Magnus went down the line until he came upon Trailcutter.

“And this is Trailcutter. He is our forcefield specialist as well as a very capable defensive strategist.” Ultra Magnus sure knew how to talk a bot up, albeit very stiffly. Trailcutter beamed at the praise, even if it was for his forcefields, and reached his hand out in human greeting.

“Ah forcefields, very impressive,” you say as you shake one of his servos, the other liaison following in turn. He can’t help noticing your little hand barely wraps around his servo. Your smile on the other hand was bright as can be, soft eyes gleaming and warm. Maybe working with you won’t be so bad? Although, he doubts you’ll stay impressed for very long once you see the drain he is on ship resources. He needs all the fuel and recharge he can get just to maintain prolonged forcefield usage, and not to mention his penchant for engex and the like. Yeah, you’ll probably be just like the rest of the bridge crew and only see him as the plain old “forcefield guy” after too long. Hopefully not, but not many folks seem to see him as much else.

 Damn, a drink sounds good right about now.

“I look forward to working with you! We’ll do our best to keep you and the other humans safe,” he assures you. He watches you move onto the next bot, holding onto his light and airy demeanor, sincere but frail. Man, those are some tiny humans.

Those guys are supposed to represent the entire human race? He doesn’t envy them that, that’s for sure. Too much responsibility, but someone’s got to do it right? If he had that much riding on him, he’s sure he’d drink himself under the table every night.

The introductions are quick, and you and the other liaison finish the meeting in a flash, all smiles and nods. Ultra Magnus seems satisfied with everything as well, mentioning that some of the bots you’ve met do nightly patrols along the floors.

“Not to worry, the routine is tight, and we have some pretty exceptional bots on the team.”

Your mind flits back to that Trailcutter guy, his golden visor and easy smile the face of the phrase “you’re in good hands.” He seems genuinely sweet, and you doubt there’s a mean bone in his body, not that they have bones. Surely he was good at his job otherwise he’d not be here, right? You doubt Ultra Magnus would talk up someone without having good reason to do so. He didn’t seem like the type to take protocol lightly.

“I’m sure there’ll be no issues.”

The meeting was followed up with more briefings with other departments of the ship’s crew and their respective sectors. Your day was an odd blend of flying by and dragging along, and by the end of it, there was so much information to be consumed that much of it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Thank goodness for Ultra Magnus being a huge fan of syllabi. After meeting all those new faces your fellow liaison suggests hitting the local bar, Swerve’s.

[scarlet--wiccan]

hi!

idk if you’ve said anything abt this before, i tried looking but didn’t see anything— so apologies if i missed it.

what’s your thoughts on the mcu wanda’s skin in rivals? personally i can’t help but think it feels really weird… like i get that they’re doing mcu skins for a lot of characters but it’s especially odd to me to have her be white but like nearly the same otherwise? idfk.

but i think its ESPECIALLY weird to me bc like, peni parker’s ven#m skin is still japanese and not black— despite the ven#m in the comics being black. like if they’re gonna race change for wanda to be white on a skin why ain’t they doing it for other characters, rather than just have them cosplay? like, choose one or the other. the whole thing feels a bit odd.

not to say i dislike all the character design in rivals (i think a lot of it is really quite good) and i enjoy the game. but like. hmmmm.

Again, I have to ask you guys to edit these messages down and make them more concise. This could have been one or two short paragraphs.

I mentioned the M C U costume briefly when it was first leaked. At the time, the discrepancy in her skin tone was not yet apparent. I did write about it later on Twitter, which you obviously wouldn't find here. You're welcome to read that thread, but it attracted a lot of bad faith arguments.

Realistically, I'm not surprised that the game includes M C U costumes, and I'm not going to waste my time or energy getting upset about it. The choice to actually change the character model's skin tone to be more in-line with the actress is strange-- I don't believe any other characters in the game undergo this dramatic of a shift, so it definitely stands out. For anybody who is sensitive to issues of race and representation, seeing a character who was designed as a woman of color be literally, visually turned white is jarring. The developers are clearly aware of Wanda's Romani background and were intent on representing that by taking cues from her current design in the comics. This awareness and sensitivity makes the literal whitewashing stand out even more.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a perfect solution to this. Retroactively making Olsen's character into a Romani woman of color, as they did in the TVA comic, is awkward in its own right-- but I agree that treating it is as cosplay is probably a better option. Let the characters dress up as their movie counterparts, rather than trying to make them actually be their movie counterparts. For Wanda, at least, I think that would have been a better way to commit to their intention.

I also want to add something that I brought up in the Twitter thread-- as important as it is for Romani characters to be represented with darker skin and ethnic features, superficial details like skin tone are ultimately less important than historical + narrative context. We know that the M C U versions of Wanda and Billy are emblematic of whitewashing and Jewish erasure, and that this informs many problematic aspects of their portrayal. This is why we have to be critical when they show up outside of the M C U-- especially in comics, and especially in pieces like this. It saddens me that so many fans lack maturity and insight to have that conversation with going "but the multiverse," or pulling up older artwork where the characters look white.

[virgilphobic]

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES SPOILERS AHEAD GO AWAY NOW IF YOU HAVENT FINISHED IT !!!

why does edwin’s voice change on his confession to charles?

my thoughts;

the simultaneous pitch change and voice crack in edwin’s confession of “charles i love you. as more than a friend, i’m afraid.” is a clear tell of edwin’s emotional turmoil.

edwin doesn’t lose his footing while speaking. ever. even when in the presence of the cat king, his tone is clear and concise. one could say that it does slip from a more confident standpoint to a less confident one, but that is entirely different from the raw, heart wrenching vulnerability edwin is giving out to charles. charles is edwin’s rock. his grounding force. we don’t see edwin’s speech falter any other time in the series besides when he is in hell. he keeps his wits about him and doesn’t show much emotion at all in his speech. (besides the ‘we didn’t matter, he and i.’ scene.)

i think he faltered because he knew that he wasn’t ready to say it, but he needed to because he didn’t know if he would be guaranteed to make it back to say it to charles later.

there is a clear desperate and scared tone to his voice, and he cracks while getting the sentence out. he also retreats his voice a bit, showing that he genuinely was scared. he was horrified. but he would rather charles know than have him not.

looking at edwin’s character interacting and talking to literally anyone else, (niko, monty, crystal, esther, mick, etc.) he has a sharp tone to his voice. a resonance that is both clear and confident. this is a complete 180 from the edwin we see on those stairs in ep 7, and i don’t think people are paying just as much attention to it as they should be.

edwin’s voice is his shield, and he lowered it for charles.

imagine you are in battle. would you lower your shield/armor for the person you love to tell them your feelings you might never get to act upon?

for edwin, that answer was a yes. even if it was one of the hardest things that boy has ever done.

[thepersistenceandthevision]

I loved the fanfic Beasts by whinlatter so much, I made an 8-tracks style playlist about it.

What makes it an 8-tracks style playlist?  Because it has 16 songs – 8 tracks for Side A and 8 tracks for Side B.  No more.  No less.

There were two songs that initially inspired this playlist, and it would have been easy to make a 5 or 6 song long playlist.  Or I could have every song that had a lyric that fit, and would have made a 20-30 song playlist.  But 16 songs exactly?  That was the challenge… and the fun. I wanted to make sure every song fit lyrically with the story and musically with each other.  Sometimes I chose covers rather than the original artist, not because I liked the song better, but because it fit with the other music. It got me to dig through old songs I half remembered and discover new artists I'd never heard before.

But I’m talking too much.  See below for each song and why I thought it fit.  Whinlatter has done beautiful work writing a story that is melancholy and hopeful, dark and funny, about characters that are broken and hurting each other and loving and strong all at the same time. I looked for songs that carried the same spirit.

“Side A” is Ginny trying, and somewhat idealizing her relationship with Harry, and everything up to New Years and their fight.  “Side B” is the fight and fear and hurting and growing and trying.

(The quotes don’t always line up in that order because sometimes characters have beautifully concise thoughts in later chapters about their earlier actions.)

Side A

i, Carrion (Icarian) // Hozier

Notes: This is one of the two songs that made me want to make a playlist.  When I first heard this song, I took all the references to flying and falling very literally and thought of Ginny struggling with Quidditch after the war.  However, after many re-listens and reading the lyrics more closely, I see this song as Harry’s and his unconscious dependence on Ginny being “light” for him, and so we start the playlist with his POV because we enter fanfics in general from the POV of the source material.

Lyric: Once I had wondered what was holdin' up the ground / But I can see that all along, love, it was you all the way down

and

 Lyric: If I should fall on that day / I only pray / don’t fall away from me

2. Dead Girl Walking // Jensen McRae

Quote: ‘And your name?’

She hesitates, a fraction too long to lie. ‘Ginny,’ she says stiffly. ‘Ginny Weasley.’

[…]

‘But [..] she – she died, didn’t she?’ he asks anxiously, turning to Tuft for clarification. ‘In the Chamber of Secrets debacle? In 1993?’

-Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

and

Sometimes I worry all I have to show for seven years of school are a lot of nightmares and bad memories. I don’t want to feel like that. I think I keep coming back because I think I can make it different, this time. 

            -Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

Lyric:  Aches in my body like I stayed up boxing / I’m a dead girl walking / but I’ve walked this far.

Notes: Jensen McRae is a really amazing up-and-coming singer.  I love this song in particular but there are many others you should check out and enjoy!

3. Landslide // Dagny

Lyric: Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? / Can the child within my heart rise above? / Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides? / Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Notes: A classic song about the struggles of growing up and life not being what you planned.  I knew I wanted this song on the playlist for a while and honestly the hardest part was figuring out if I wanted the original or a cover, and if so, which cover!  Ultimately, I went with Dagny because I thought her sound best fit with the rest of the playlist. 

4. Brooklyn // Emily James

Quote:  ‘Yeah. Sometimes. I mean – I know we joke in letters, and stuff. But it’s just – if I’m having a bad day, or it’s all a bit – much.’ His face twitches slightly. ‘I sometimes just go to a shop and buy something. That we could have in our house one day. I don’t know. It’s just nice. To buy us some egg-cups, or whatever.’

Beasts, Chapter 11: hatched by whinlatter

Lyric:  When I'm alone, I hold you like a locket / Next to my heart where you'll never get lost as / We run through moments we don't know yet

and

Quote:  It’s stupid how happy it makes her, seeing him all cocky, flirting with her in the old kitchen, letting him snog her up against the rough stone walls and hoist her up on the counter top.

Beasts, Chapter 9: wintering by whinlatter

Lyric:  I wanna wake up in my sheets and your T-shirt

Notes: Just pretend the singer is daydreaming about meeting up with her boyfriend in London instead of in Brooklyn.

5. Hope – Acoustic // Tom Rosenthal, Lizzy McAlpine

Lyric:  Can you hold me from afar? / Pretend that you are closer / Keep all our memories in the jar / And place it right beside you

and

Lyric:  You are in my heart when it has hope

6. Let Light Be Light // Lizzy McAlpine

Notes: Lizzy McAlpine might win the award for the most songs that are almost perfect for this playlist, but then had one or two lines that really changed the tone.  I switched many of her songs in and out but ultimately picked “Let Light Be Light” in honor of how hard Ginny was trying to be light over Christmas.

Quote:  ‘We’ve been writing a lot. Every day, pretty much. I’ve never – with anyone – I dunno. It meant a lot to me, hearing from you. But it’s weird to think you didn’t write down anything that was actually happening to you. That you were leaving stuff out, I mean. You must have been scared. But you never said.’

She looks past him, to the crack in the door to Regulus’ room, to floorboards covered in ink. Imagines childish handwritten words on a page, the rattle of the Boggart cupboard. To the Dark Lord. Dear Tom.

‘I just find it hard,’ she says, finally. ‘To say this stuff. To write it down. How I’m feeling, what I’m scared about. Especially to someone else. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that. It went so wrong, before.’

Beasts, Chapter 11: hatched by whinlatter

Lyric:   I don't like getting attached / It makes me feel like I've done something bad / 'Cause I'm not dependent and I know that / So why am I scared I'm reliving / That part of my past?

7. Speak // Ben Abraham

Notes: Another song for Harry – I think this song is a great fit for the room at the top of the house by whinlatter, which serves as a little “missing moment” from Beasts.

Quote: he loves her letters. no-one’s written to him since 1996, not since sirius. and now the funniest loveliest most magical girl in the world writes him five times a week. they sail through his window, like little guiding balls of light from forever ago, pure illumination. they're the best bits of his week, her letters, paper proof of her love.

she's lying to him, though. she keeps saying she's fine. he knows that's not true.

the room at the top of the house by whinlatter

Lyric:  You're hiding like a memory / Teasing like a girl I used to know

and

Quote:  all he wants to say is: gin, stop laughing a sec. stop lying. he wants to take the box of photos off her and put it on the side and hold her hands and say come on, stop this, tell me. he imagines crouching before her, asking: what's going on? what's up with you? and what did you mean, when you said it’d be ok, if i left and did christmas without you? did you think that’s what i want? paranoid thoughts: are you trying to hurt me? why would you not tell me the truth?

the room at the top of the house by whinlatter

Lyric: I panic as you try to disappear / I reach out with my fingers / And try to pull the letters back in line / But your words spin out of order / And the pounding in my chest is out of time / And I just want to speak

8. The Archer – Live from Paris // Taylor Swift

Notes: Forgive me, I still remember listening to Taylor Swifts first album in middle school and must include her in almost all my playlists.  I think this song fits ridiculously well, though.  Look at all the parallels!

Quote: You ask Ginny Weasley if she thought of herself as a child and see what she says. By her own description, she was a combatant. She was a soldier. She had her own war to fight. 

Beasts, Chapter 14: the vulture by whinlatter

Lyric:  I’m ready for Combat // I say I don’t want this, but what if I do?

and

Quote: …she can’t bring herself to pick up the quill and tell him. It’s so lonely up here. I’m so scared about this inquiry. I’m so scared I’ll let everyone down. I’m so scared you’re going to change your mind.

Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

Lyric:  I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

and

Quote:  She’s sat up in her bunk, cross-legged in her old Quidditch jumper, eyes scratching from lack of sleep. Under her bare legs, the sheets are still slick from the sweat she woke up in, retching and shuddering, kicking furiously against the bedclothes. Sleep: always the first thing to go, the first comfort to leave her when storms are brewing.

Beasts, Chapter 3: nocturnal by whinlatter

Lyric:  I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost / The room is on fire, invisible smoke

and

Quote: ‘You think they tortured you so badly you think they might have broken something in your brain. ’

‘That makes it sound loads worse than it is. I don’t think that is what it is – ’

‘Like Neville’s parents.’ 

Beasts, Chapter 11: reared by whinlatter

Lyric:  All the king's horses, all the king's men / Couldn't put me together again

Side B

9. Sick of Losing Soulmates // Dodie

Quote:  ‘I wasn’t lying. It wasn’t like that, it’s not like I was trying to lie to you, to get some kick out of it – ’ 

‘No. You just didn’t tell me anything at all. Loads better.’ 

Beasts, Chapter 11: hatched by whinlatter

Lyric:  Brave face, talk so lightly, hide the truth

and

Quote:  ‘All those endless letters to you, how were you ever going to feel like you could be honest with him? Having all that to deal with.’ Hermione looks exasperated. Crookshanks flexes his claws, as if to back her up. ‘You know, sometimes I think he forgets it’s not your job to drop everything and look after him.’

Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

Lyric:  Watch how a cold broken teen will desperately lean / On a superglued human of proof

Basically, Harry and Ginny are both - Lyric:  I can finally see / you’re as fucked up as me / so how do we win?

10. Talking to Myself // Gatlin

Quote: […]there’s no letter. She’s not heard from him in ten days.

Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

Lyric:  I got used to your voice / Like it was my own / Now there's kind of a void / I'm totally fine though

11. Fear of Water // Noah Kahan

Quote: She sits down on the bed, the weight of it all hitting her all at once. Puts her head in her hands, starts to cry.

[…]

‘The inquiry. The stupid inquiry. They’re going to do it in March. It’s - it's not a big deal, I don’t know why it’s all made me feel like this – sorry, I need to get some tissues – ’

Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

Lyric:  These tears aren't some sweet response to tragedy / Today I can't say why they fall / Honey, it's all chemical

12. Summer’s End – Spotify Singles // Phoebe Bridgers, Maria Taylor

Quote: ‘How was your Christmas, Ginny?’

Her head’s pounding. Her ankles keep buckling in these stupid boots. ‘It was shit,’ she shouts back, over the the thudding of the music, the laughter and shouting, far-off smashing of glass. ‘How was yours?’

Beasts, Chapter 9: wintering by whinlatter

Lyric:  Well I can see that you can't win for trying / And New Year's Eve is bound to leave you crying

and

Quote: There’s [a photograph] of her, one she hasn’t seen before – […] Strange, to see her own eyes soften, the scowl fall away, as she looks at the boy behind the camera, watching a feeling she has only ever felt and never seen.

Beasts, Chapter 8: bones by whinlatter

Lyric: The moon and stars hang out in bars just talking / I still love that picture of us walking

Note: The voicemail in the beginning is like a little bonus for Ginny’s forgotten birthday in Chapter 10.

Additionally, I think the resounding chorus of "come on home" can be read in multiple ways, Harry wanting Ginny to live with him, Ginny wanting her mother to pull through grief, and even Ginny talking to herself, to "come home" to her own body, which is why it's on Side B, not Side A.

13. Shine – Acoustic Version // Anna Nalick

Quote: Ginny –The inquiry is DEFINITELY happening. […] You’ll be offered anonymity for any testimony you give because you were underage. Don’t take it. The others won’t testify publicly if you don’t, you’re the one who can tell them what really happened and to properly make them fucking listen. The time for sitting on the fence is over. I want us to tell the world exactly what happened, I want to bring them down, I want them to pay for what they’ve done to us. So can you start replying to our letters please??? – Michael

Beasts, Chapter 12: scarecrow by whinlatter

Lyric:  Isn’t it time you got over how fragile you are?

Note: Anna Nalick’s song is much more supportively encouraging than Michael Corner’s letter, but, alas, Ginny does not get perfect mentors, just friends and allies trying to muddle through as best they can.

14. Better Days // Menna

Lyric:  When I break in the same place /And I′ve made the same mistakes / Wonder if I'll ever change / Or my heart′s just meant to ache

and

Lyric: I know there'll be better days / Even when I don't know how

Notes: I really wanted an anthem that wasn’t a love song on this playlist, because while her romance with Harry is important in Beasts (because, after all, romance is important in real life) it’s not the whole plot.  Ginny gets to be a full person with dynamic friendships and allies and goals, and she ultimately decides to keep trying for the future in every sense – trying with school, trying with quidditch, trying with Harry, and trying with the inquiry – even when she’s not sure how any of it will turn out okay in the end.

Also, Menna is a fantastic artist!  She’s got a number of really great songs – I especially recommend Sex in Public, Dynamite, and Didn’t Peak in High School.

15. I’m A Man // Nathan Evans, Foy Vance

Notes: This was the first song that made me want to make a Beasts playlist.  In a reversal from “i, carrion”, I originally thought of this as a Harry song, but ultimately realized that it’s Ginny all the way.  Yes, the lyrics are extremely male-gendered.  But it’s Ginny’s song.

Quotes: The entire letter Ginny sends to Harry in Chapter 12 [feels too long to quote]

and

She reads through both copies of her statement again - one for the court, one for Harry.

Beasts, Chapter 14: the vulture by whinlatter

Lyrics:  I'm a man, therefore I'm proud / And I hide away all my fears and doubts / And I hope that you'll never find me out

and

I've been struggling, I've been hurt / Guess that's what I thought I deserved / I got drunk to try and pretend I didn't care / And now I'm calling you for a truce / Finally ready to tell the truth / I can face it as long as I am here with you

16. Orpheus // Sara Bareilles

Quote: [….] ‘Is all that true?’

She swallows, mouth like sandpaper, finds she can’t speak.

‘Ginny, I’m serious, what was he talking about?’

[…]

She looks over at Harry. His head is in his hands.

Beasts, Chapter 14: the vulture by whinlatter

Lyric:  You miss the world / The one you knew / The one where everything made sense / Because you didn't know the truth

and

Don't stop / Trying to find me here amidst the chaos / Though I know it's blinding / There's a way out / Say out loud / We will not give up on love now

Notes: Whinlatter’s story is still ongoing, so this last song is where I think the story is heading.  I wanted to end on a song of hard-won hope, of not everything being okay but knowing you’re going to work towards it. 

~*~

Lastly, I just want to say that reading Whinlatter’s work has been an absolutely delight, and I’ve had so much fun putting together this playlist. I hope you get some enjoyment out of it, too.

[datapacks]

i agree that mojang's insistence on uniqueness is not only weird, but also it makes every new feature feel like "oh hey, we wanted to add a new biome but it had to be unique enough for it to get added, so here's a whole new game mechanic we only got made through a blood sacrifice" i think the pale garden is *close* to a reasonable balance, but the fact it doesn't just Exist and instead requires a whole conference about what's new and unique about it makes it fit that precedent of "new things need to be NEW new" but also if the pale garden had just been a new biome with no new mobs or mechanics, with a unique grass and foliage colors people might would've complained about it being underwhelming

i think something that could make it feel a bit less like "this is a mod someone had an idea for that's completely self contained" would be making the mechanics more universal, like if we got a few different resin types (like an earthy green one in the jungle biome), or like if the hanging moss could generate in other forest biomes like how spanish moss isn't just confined to small areas. the new mechanics don't Need to feel isolated, but the way they're getting implemented makes it feel like they're just adding stuff for the sake of adding stuff and not considering the rest of the game *despite* saying they want to go back and revisit old things... it's so strange!

Yeah like they keep saying they always try to fit every feature into every pre-existing feature and that's "why updates take so long even when they seem to add so little" then you look at their actual development pipeline and 80% of what they show as examples is just texture tweaks. Idk I have a lot of scrambled thoughts on all of this I'll figure out how to word it more concisely later.

[vertical-sekai]

Is Wonderland Sekai the same as in canon? And how did AURORA end up forming then?

"Is Wonderland Sekai the same as in canon?"

Yes and no.

Yes, because in canon, Tsukasa's SEKAI formed when he was a child according to the VIRTUAL SINGER World Link event— but also no, because his SEKAI isn't influenced by WxS in this AU, so certain details have changed.

For example, the Miku in Tsukasa's SEKAI doesn't speak using many onomatopoeias because that was a habit she picked up from Emu. Some other things are different (particularly the plushies) because of the fact that the other members of AURORA affect Tsukasa, which in turn affects his SEKAI.

"And how did AURORA end up forming then?"

It's complicated, to say the least. I'll try to summarize the events leading up to their formation as concisely as possible (assuming I don't eat my words and end up going on a tangent again).

All four of them discovered Vivid Street individually during their time in middle school.

Tsukasa started composing tracks at home, finding inspiration in the atmosphere there shortly after RAD WEEKEND. He never actually saw the event himself, though, nor did he ever perform much on Vivid Street (he was a little, uh... distracted).

Mafuyu started performing at livehouses by herself, venting her suppressed feelings and thoughts through street music— finding safety in this town where it felt as if no one from her school or her parents could ever confront her.

Honami became a regular attendee to various livehouses in Vivid Street, similarly moved like how Mafuyu and Tsukasa were. She'd often take videos of live performances and show them to the Tenma siblings as well as Kanade (since she's still her housekeeper and they have a common interest in music). Honami is also a regular at WEEKEND GARAGE, and is good friends with An.

I think now is also a good time to share that Honami never had her falling out with Ichika and Saki like in canon because of her relationship to Tsukasa. Their common interest in street music allowed them to become better friends (even though they were always technically childhood friends, Honami was never really close to him), and knowing Tsukasa he'd quite literally chase her down and make her talk to Saki if he absolutely had to (the last thing he wants is Saki suffering any more than she has to).

Shizuku got lost one day while heading to a store and ended up in Vivid Street, witnessing one of Mafuyu's performances on the street. She was so deeply moved by this performance that she wasn't able to forget about it, even during her time in Cheerful*Days as an idol. After she quit the group years later, the sound of Mafuyu's singing was still ringing in her ears...

These events set the stage for the formation of AURORA.

Thanks for sending in an ask, by the way!

[markantonys]

More Twitter nonsense.

"Rand has no connection with Tam in the show."

"Rand's relationship with Tam is so central to his character and his development that he feels like a different character without it."

Like...what? It's not missing we just didn't get as much of it as we would've liked. And how is he an entirely different character than book Rand? I hate this idea by the fandom that Rand is an entirely different character than he is in the books cause they didn't include this one specific thing. Rand is probably one of the closest adapted of the EF5 imo

rand's relationship with tam in the books is just a few scenes in book 1, the very occasional thought in books 2-11, and a few scenes in books 12-14. it's not that much! i remember spending much of my readthrough going "okay the rand-tam relationship is sweet but why does it get THIS much love in the fandom? it's barely been in the story at all after the first book?" their relationship is significant to rand's character arc only in books 1, 4, and 12, and even then, only book 1 has it as a book-long theme whereas it just comes up briefly in 4 and 12, but in 12 its brief relevance happens to be as part of rand's biggest turning point in the series, which makes people remember the relationship as being a lot more significant to his overall story than it actually is imo.

if you take all that and adjust it proportionally for the 4 million words:64 hours book:show ratio, then yeah, that's not going to work out to be all that much screentime. the show has and will continue to fit in what they can for that relationship, but it has rightfully deemed rand's relationships with his fellow primary characters as more important to the overall story than his relationship with tam, who is a secondary or tertiary character. and that's the case in the books too; i'm fond of the rand-tam relationship but it 100% is overhyped and isn't nearly as big a part of the story as people think it is.

plus, the thing that's "central" to rand's character arc is the idea that his upbringing and his roots in the two rivers have shaped him into a good, humble man who can succeed where LTT and his arrogance failed. in the books, the rand-tam relationship is one of the vehicles for that, but it's that broader idea that's important rather than the specific relationship. all the show has done is shift the focus to use the EF5 relationships as the vehicle for the very same idea, since the EF5 relationships are a much larger and more constant presence throughout the story than the rand-tam relationship. it was a good narrative choice for a time-constrained medium that must tell the story as concisely and efficiently as possible (the rand-tam relationship only serves this 1 theme & function, but the EF5 relationships serve many themes & functions and serve multiple main protagonists' arcs instead of only rand's, so you get more bang for your buck with them, so to speak). but a lot of book fans really struggle with the idea that the show can and does convey the same themes and emotional beats using different scenes/characters/relationships/etc, and so many Show Complaints stem from that inability to see the forest for the trees.

(also! it's very easy to "shortcut" parent-child relationships because the audience has a prebaked assumption of how deep such a relationship is and we thus don't need to spend much screentime showing its depth. for example, rand and tam had only a couple scenes in s1, but my show-only mom was very emotional when tam asked about rand in nynaeve's test in s2! i don't doubt that if the TGS scene were to make it into a later season, it would hit very hard for her regardless of how much time was spent on that relationship in prior seasons.)

[honeybeenibbles]

I was scrolling YouTube this morning listening to music and watching videos to wake up as i always do and stumbled across a question. "What was the aftermath to DICE losing their leader to the game?" Now. I'm not super good at nuance and I'm quite bad with words but for reasons I can't really explain, my brain said this would be an interesting one to break down my thoughts on. Now, please mind, I haven't finished the game, and have barely touched chapter 2 because life likes getting in my way. Buuuut since this isn't a breakdown of DICE as a whole and just my thoughts on the aftereffects of losing their leader, figured it was worth a shot. I'm going to cover three scenarios I can see happening.

1. Was Kokichi the first member of DICE involved in the game?

2. Was he not the first?

3. Simulation vs Reality

Yeah. This might get a little long but I'm going to try to be concise as I can and expand later as needed.

For a little context on how I view DICE's makeup. They are a found family unit, most likely post tragedy or even late tragedy for some. Some could be related directly but I see it more as a "didn't fit in" or "lost family during the tragedy" or any other number of reasons. They all have their issues, sure, but they support each other in any way they can and love each other dearly. Their ages may range, from all being right around the same age within a few year range, to a few adults even being trusted enough to be within their ranks. Lies are a daily thing to them, being a way to joke and play or even say "I love you" without needing to say it directly. And for people who have been hurt? Not having to be as open and honest could be nice. For some members it could even be a safety blanket.

Now. Question 1. Was Kokichi the first DICE member in the game?

It's hard to say for certain. For all we know, he's not. Others could have gone in before him and been lost. DICE theoretically could have been bigger at one point, and there could have been loss for them prior, but I'll cover that in my next point. If he was the first, I can see it being a lot for DICE to have their leader away and be terrified for his safety.

Their leader is strong and clever. And the bestest one out there. Hands down. And that's not just because they're his subordinates. I can see this being a true belief to them. The rest of the class treatment towards Kokichi would probably hurt or even piss off some of DICE. His lies aren't hurtful, they're playful, or even guiding at times. DICE can see it, why can't Kokichi's classmates at least try? Do they not see that he isn't being cruel with them?

The first trial would probably be hard for all of them to watch, and lead to a whole slew of emotions; anticipation (to see how their leader will handle it and take control), sadness, fear, hope, frustration, disgust, mild mocking at Akamatsu-chan's sad attempt to lie, any number of things. And the first investigation probably more so. Kokichi seems the kind to me who'd want to protect even those he doesn't know well, and I can see both Amami and Akamatsu's death hitting him hard. No killing. It was their one rule. So having to watch their leader deal with it again and again can not have been easy for any of DICE, especially Kokichi. And I can't imagine it got easier the further in they got. Every trial, every cruel remark to Kokichi was probably hard on all of them. Watching someone you love be beaten down again and again can't be easy after all.

But what if he wasn't the first DICE member to be part of the killing game? What if he was the second, or even third to be dragged into it? Is it possible he'd lost members of his found family to the bears and game? Was his motivation to join for revenge? Or an attempt to make it all stop permanently so no one else has to lose loved ones? To show how messed up it all was? Who knows. I personally subscribe to this thought process, but that is neither here nor there right now.

If he wasn't the first, it makes more sense to me why he'd join. I know the game seems to want you to believe at the start that none of them are there by their own choice but that just feels.... wrong to me I guess? Like it's not entirely the truth at the very least. My best guess is some of the kids are there for a reason, but I won't pretend to know why. I'm sure DICE discussed it, but I know if it was me, I would have fought tooth and nail to keep him from having to experience that, even if he had his own reasons, and I'm sure he'd do the same. But loss and grief can be hard and make you do stupid things sometimes.

If it was discussed as something he needed to do, it probably wasn't something easy for DICE. It would have been a last resort for any of them, and left them all a little broken that they even needed to consider sending another of their own to the slaughter, especially their dear Ultimate Supreme Leader.

Now, if Kokichi made the call on his own though and left during the night or with no warning after school or something, DICE would have woken up in quite the panic, wondering where they're beloved leader had gone until they found a note or saw the roster for the upcoming game? This could have multiple effects, from the entirety of DICE shattering and separating to being forced to helplessly watch their dear leader play a game none of the wanted involved in. And if he failed and it was all for naught? How would that effect his subordinates? Had he considered that? The effect of watching another person they loved being destroyed by that damn game. No. Wouldn't feel like that in the moment. I don't think they'd resent him, but I do think they'd be hurt beyond belief, left to flounder without any direction, maybe even leading to further bloodshed to the group trying to finish what he'd started..... or a desperate grab to understand why, or save the little family they had left before that's gone forever too and they're alone.

But if it was just a simulation it would be okay wouldn't it? Not like anyone actually died. Let me make this perfectly clear. NO IT WOULD NOT. I honestly think it could be worse than actual death in game for them.

Kokichi and anyone else in DICE who'd been through the game would probably be traumatized beyond reason, maybe even scared to even hide behind their own lies because it had just caused them so much pain in the game. And that could just lead to them bottling it all up until they'd break. Or it could lead to hiding even more heavily behind lies or whatever that member's coping mechanism is, maybe even unintentionally hurting themselves and further DICE as a result. Either way. Not a good outcome.

As for Kokichi, I can see it leading to DICE constantly worrying for him. Wondering if his lies are truly kind or if he's hiding behind a cruel lie thinking it's kind. It's not hard to do. People do it all the time without realizing, so who's to say that someone who excels at it could fool himself into it? And if he can pass it off, what is it doing to him and DICE in return?

[primalinfinity]

Random question but give that you are a another person that has good raven taste what are your thoughts on her

In general? Just my general thoughts on Raven? Well...hmm.

Raven is, genuinely, one of my favourite characters in RWBY. Hell, she absolutely breaks my Top 20 Favourite Characters In Fiction overall. Everything about her is utterly compelling to me.

RWBY often struggles at writing complex characters that remain complex for very long. Most of them untangle their intentions pretty quickly and concisely, they start off intriguing and complex and then we get a solid Point A To Point B explanation of who they are and where they come from.

But not Raven. Even all these years later, even with all the worldbuilding that's happened around her, Raven is still a compelling mystery to me. And every reveal we get, makes her more tragic.

Everyone in the fandom condemns Raven as a coward. They are correct for doing so, she is 100% a coward. But...we still don't know what it is she's actually running from. We never knew, and after the volume 9 finale we know that Raven was there when Summer failed.

And what she saw, made her run all the way back to Mistral, rejoin the Branwen Tribe, and try to go as off the grid as possible. Raven is the only person who knows the truth of the fate of Summer Rose, and she ran away.

Why?

We don't know. Maybe we never will, unless volume 10 somehow happens. But what we do know is that even though she ran away, she's always...been there; giving Qrow tips for his missions, keeping an eye on Yang in her bird form, saving Yang on the train...

Raven walked away as a mother because she dismissed her ability to do it well, and pawned off her daughter onto Summer. Let's not beat around the bush on that. But as we saw in the volume 9 finale, she...remained an active member of Team STRQ. She was on Summer's side right up until the end.

Whatever happened to Summer...changed everything.

Raven isn't just one of the most intriguing characters in the show, she's the key to what happened to Summer. She's the Spring Maiden, and a maiden at the height of its power. She's one of the best fighters in the show (I fully believe that beating Cinder was a walk for her, she spent 99% of that fight so at ease). She's the key to the final days of Team STRQ.

Raven is so, so important. And god, every morsel of her that we get I devour and dissect to the point of obsession.

Tldr; I love Raven. Fuck I love her.

(also, yeah, she's hot. sue me)

[nervousspacerobot]

Could you share some of your thoughts on the dynamic between Hot Rod/Rodimus and Kup? Love them

Aough oufh gifudb oufh

I don't know how to articulate my thoughts again OUGH

"Try to keep up, old timer!"

"'Old timer?!' Why you-"

Anon, these are my #4 and #5 on my top five favorite Transformers list, it may be a jumble of things

Longish response below

Ough the dynamic of all time

Old man with one million stories takes in reckless adolescent who jumps first and thinks later

Their dynamic in the movie is so good. Very strong start

Even with Kup's prickly nature, he never hesitates to help Hot Rod out or give him advice or try to stop him from doing something stupid

And Hot Rod does care about Kup. He helps Kup out when his limbs got torn off no hesitation. And Kup, even with all his complaining said he did a good job all things considered

And Hot Rod DOES listen to Kup when they meet the Junkions Hot Rod goes "How did that universal greeting go? Wait I remember-" and says it perfectly. To show he WAS listening

And then when he becomes Rodimus, Kup's like "I knew he had potential"

And then Rodimus gets like Super depressed which is understandable and then Kup along with Magnus is one of the ones there for him, offering advice and reassuring him because damn Rodimus is not doing well

... You gotta read The Transformers UK issue #132 Kup's Story

It's basically a little comic on how Kup and Hot Rod met and ough

Oughhhh

Basically Kup is traveling alone on a spaceship and has given up on life because his "War Fatigue" aka PTSD is so bad that he just can't fight anymore.

And then Hot Rod whizzes by being chased by two enemies, obviously in trouble

And Kup's like "That guy is so stupid I gotta help him"

So Hot Rod pulled Kup out of his situation by giving him the motivation to fight and Kup pulled Hot Rod out of his situation by looking out for his reckless self

And when they're introduced in Headmasters run they're seen traveling together

They don't have a lot of moments in the US comics, but in the UK comics they have more moments see this post from @arceespinkgun (Hope you don't mind me tagging you because I think you are able to sum it up more concisely than me here)

https://www.tumblr.com/arceespinkgun/743912888435146752/kup-and-rodimus-in-marvel-comics-how-heyre?source=share

But I really like they're dynamic and I'm a sucker for parental/mentor-like relations in Transformers

I'd probably be better at summing up my thoughts with sources and pictures if I took more time but I want to answer this ask in a timely manner

I think I want to see their bond in more Transformers things, I want it mentioned in Skybound or Void Rivals, I think Hot Rod being Kup's Iron Apprentice would make sense

But yeah I really like them I'm just bad at summing up my thoughts