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ariadnaltos · 2 years

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ND Stevenson interview about She-Ra and animation in Celsius 232 (2022)

This post is a transcribe of second interview/talk made to ND Stevenson during the Celsius 232, a multimedia festival about fantasy, scifi and horror genres celebrated in Avilés, a city in the North of Spain. The interview was about She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power. There was another interview about his comics that I attended, but I couldn't find recordings of that one. In this interview ND talked about topics such as Catra's choices, toxic relationships, Nimona's film adaptation and Lumberjanes' TV adaptation. He also answered questions from the public.

Click on Keep reading to read the whole interview!

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Thanks to Comic Astur for recording the interview. They have another interviews during Celsius 232 in their channel, both to Spanish and non-Spanish authors. So check it out!

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! This post is being released on Christmas day in Spain, so I think it's a good moment to make a gift to the SPOP fandom. 🎁🎄

I don't do professional trancribes, I just want to share this interview. I love Celsius 232 and hearing ND Stevenson in person was a great experience. I want to share this with international fans. The interview is in a mix of Spanish and English, so I'll translate the Spanish parts (and also use some of Diego's translations that you can hear in the video) and I'll transcribe everything in English. I'll also add some notes here and there about the interview.

The auditorium opened some minutes before the beggining of the talk. It was almost full. There were some cosplayers of She-Ra, Adora, Catra and even one cosplayed as Finn, Adora and Catra's post-canon child. There was also a baby cosplayed as She-Ra (baby She-Ra!!). Some people brought with them pride flags because of the series nature. 🏳‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ When ND Stevenson entered the auditorium everyone started clapping.

In the scenario, as you can see in the video, there were three people. ND Stevenson (center), Jorge Iván Argiz (left, interviewer) and Diego García (right, interpreter). Jorge Iván did the questions while Diego translated everything to ND and then to the public.

The interviewer started the talk remembering that ND Stevenson will come back to Celsius next year, for Celsius 2023, and he also claimed the importance of animation. Then, he asked his first question:

Interviewer: When you make a comic you have full control. You have a blank paper or a screen. You have your pen and you can do wathever you want. However, when doing an animation film, even if it has a main creative, it's a hugely collective work. How it was your first experience? How it was entering the animation industry and realizing that it's a huge teamwork effort?

ND Stevenson: Getting into animation was actually kind of an accident for me. I didn't plan to go in that direction. When I started out writing comics I thought of myself as an artist first before I was a writer. And so getting hired as a writer in animation was kind of a surprise for me. And I wasn't sure if it was something I was going to stay with. But my first job was amazing. It was working for Craig McCracken who did Powerpuff Girls and a lot of other stuff that defined my childhood and other people's childhoods. It was a very cool job to work with him.

Thinking of myself as a writer... it took me a while to accept that. But also, the collaboration of animation was what made me fall in love with animation. I also had always loved animation as a kid. Sneaking into my parents room where the TV was, when they were out of the house, to watch Teen Titans, which was my favorite show. To be behind the scenes, to be able to share this world that we were building together with the rest of the crew, that was... I immediately became addicted to that.

To write a comic it is all you. And unexpected things still happen but it all comes from your own brain, you own hands. With animation, everybody has a little piece of that world. And so, I would look over people's shoulders and ask to be in meetings that I wasn't technically a part of, just because I wanted to know everything and see everything. And so that is what made me fall in love with animation and that's what eventually lead me to make She-Ra.

Interviewer: Now we're going to talk about She-Ra. She-Ra as a character already existed, created as a base for a series of toys. I think that it started in 1985 and it was a show with near a hundred episodes. She-Ras was a twin sister to He-Man and she had a similar story to him, it was kind of complementary. But you made something completely new with this character and this universe. This seems wonderful to me. The first example already appears in the tittle [of the show]. The original series was called She-Ra Princess of Power. But here we're talking about She-Ra and The Princesses of Power. This collaborative spirit that you liked a lot when making animation shows was translated to the animation series. I imagine that this was the first decision [that you made], to bring a more complete arc for characters and to create not just one, but multiple princesses of power.

ND Stevenson: Yeah, the show ended up being- it was about teamwork. It's not just what the show was about, it's also the way in which we made it. It was a show that was made under a lot of pressure, not just because of She-Ra, but because we didn't have the biggest budget and we didn't have the longest timeline for making it. And so it was really something that if we were going to pull it off, we had to rely on each other to do it. And so that was something that really brought us together.

But that show, taking it from being- I hadn't watched the show myself [before], the original show from the 80s [when I was] growing up. But I loved it when I watched it [as an adult]. I had a lot of love in my heart for that show. Trying to pay that off and take that so it could appeal to new fans as well and still make old fans happy was always the line to find and walk. Taking it from one princess of power to an entire team of princesses who are very powerful and making it more about that, about the group instead about the one individual. That was something that was very important for us to do. Because it was so personal for us, with how the show was being made, because we were so close to each other. It was important to show that aspect of friendship and teamwork, and relationships in general. And love in every form. That was our inspiration behind that aspect of the show.

Interviewer: I would like to know if from the beggining it was always clear that the series was going to have that format and that number of seasons. The first season was a presentation of the princesses, almost one per episode. For me the series starts having more pace when each episode develops these stories that connect with each other. I would like to know if the series was already thought like that or if after season one you still had freedom to make changes.

ND Stevenson: The production of the show was actually pretty unsual in animation. The show had already been greenlit for 26 episodes before I was even hired for the show. They just bought the rights to She-Ra and they knew that Netflix had already ordered the first season. They also knew that they wanted to do 52 episodes total. So when I was hired it was my job to pitch that second season. And so, when I pitched the show, I'm kind of a wordy person, so my pitch was supposed to be like 20 minutes and it was like over an hour [in the end]. And I was lucky that the people I was pitching to were receptive and interested, but I pitched all 52 episodes. That is part of why it was so long, because I wanted to have this conception of it.

Some things stayed the same and some things changed over time, but we had certain ideas that stayed the whole time. For example, an early idea was that Catra was going to get a promotion at the end of every season and move further up the ranks. And also she was going to betray somebody in each season. That really ended up in the show. She just keeps kind of working her way up the ranks and eventually decides that she's out of there, going back to Adora. That was something that stayed true over time, but there were some things that we found along the way. A lot of things were really unexpected. At the very least, it was very helpful to have those broad strokes figured out from the beggining. I'm glad they didn't just cut me off after 20 minutes of talking cause that would be embarrasing *laughs*.

Interviewer: One of the best things that has happened to YA narrative is the shift from just entertainment and fun spirit to topics that were forbidden before. This change probably happened because of the new young people creating new stuff for young audiences. Some of this topics are abuse, bullying, mental health... She-Ra is about some of these topics, toxic relationships are very present in the show. There are multiple cases. It has been talked a lot about the relationship between Adora and Catra, but the relationship between Catra and Scorpia is also another perfect example of a toxic relationship. Something that someone denies, although everybody is warning them. I would like to know more about these messages that can make the audience think about their own relationships. Tell us about it.

ND Stevenson: I'm of the believe that it's important just not to see representation of good behaviour and role models that we can model ourselves on. But is also, I think, a good thing to see representation of characters making the wrong choices and doing the wrong thing. And Catra is defined by that. This was [something that] the crew [asked about as well]. People would come and they'd be like: "so, you told me that she's gonna join the good guys again, right? She'll be OK? When is that going to happen?" And people started to stop believing me that it was going to happen.

AJ, who voices the character, I would [tell her] "We have a big run for you today, Catra is going to do something new, but I promise that she's going to be OK in the end". And she'll be like: "yeah, sure, you say that every time". But I think that's why [Catra] was very beloved among the crew and by me. She's a character who kind of consistently always makes the wrong choices. And it can be so frustrating. Because you'll yell at her at just be like: "OMG, you know you don't want that, why can't you just do the right thing?". And that, I think, in it's own way can be something that also tells us how to make decisions ourselves. So when you see somebody who we sometimes want to scream [at], sometimes we're compelled to do things that make us a bad friend or bad people. And it's important, I think, to know the consequences of those wrong decisions.

Catra is someone who expresses those things and my hope is that it is cathartic in it's own way, but it's also a little bit of a cautionary tell. She ends up alone at the end, without any friends. And that's the consequences of her actions. But then it's also something that it's- you know, there's nothing you can't come back from. There are things that if you work, if you make yourself vulnerable and open yourself up and try to make amends for your mistakes, it is possible to come back. That was something that was very important for us to show. It's my believe that it's important to see characters, specially female characters, making those bad decisions. We found it cathartic, and I hope that it was cathartic for others as well.

Interviewer: Now two short questions about the animation. First, it is traditional animation, or at least it looks like it, with some touches of CG here and there. I wanted to know if it was a conscious decision so the show would look like it was intended, or if it was because of the low budget and short production time which you said you had.

The second question is about the aesthetic of the ancient buildings. It makes me think about an illustrator called Roger Dean. I don't know if it's by chance or if it was an inspiration for this aesthetic.

*a fly 🪰 flies near the interviewer and he tries to hit it*

ND Stevenson: We had an option on pursuing 3D animation as well. It was something that was done at this studio I was at, at DreamWorks, pretty often. But it was also for an epic... There's a fly!! 🪰

*the interviewer and translator agree and everybody laughs* There's a fly in my... flying over and over... 🪰

Yeah, for epic action scifi fantasy it is harder, it's more expensive to do CG animation. And you have fewer resources. One thing that happens is that the characters can't go to many places because every room and setting has to be build in three dimensions. My friends who are writers working on shows in 3D have limitations of what they can use. They have a set number of characters and a set number of locations, which is true in hand-drawn as well, but less so. You don't have to design the whole thing if you'll only going to see it from one angle.

So that was a lot of the reason of just what was posible with the show. But also, I thought it was important because She-Ra was one of the last shows in the 80s animated in the US, before everything moved overseas to be animated in South Korea and Canada, France and Ireland. It felt important to stay true to the original and the hand-drawn look of the original.

As for Roger Dean, that was definitely one of my inspirations. You have very sharp eye! That very epic... The science fiction illustrations of the 70s and 80s that you would see on the cover of a paperback... That is how I wanted the world to feel. But populated by characters who felt a bit newer. As a kid, I always loved this covers because you would see these floating rocks or the sky with dozens of planets and moons. I wanted to capture that feeling. It always sparked my imagination to see those illsutrations and I wanted to capture that in the show.

Interviewer: Before starting with the questions of the public I have to ask about the adaptation of Nimona into a film, as well as Lumberjanes' TV adaptation. Tell us a little bit about both projects.

ND Stevenson: You're gonna see the Nimona movie early next year, I think february or march. *big applause from the public* So get excited because I just saw the newest cut and it has a lot of the animation. I've seen the board drawings for a while, but I started to get the animation and it is completely surreal to see really dumb drawings that I made as a teenager like, suddenly being executed in three dimensions and it's gorgeous and the style is amazing. So I'm very excited for everyone to see it.

And Lumberjanes is still in the development period. This is a little more standard. I said that She-Ra was unsual in the animation industry and part of that is that the development happened very very quickly. Less than a year. For most animated projects it takes longer than that. So on Lumberjanes we are still on the development phase. We haven't launched into the actual production of the show yet. It's still on the writing and creating the look of the show, finding a studio and everything like that. I think that I'll hopefully have more news about it soon for you. And I think that it's going to be also really cool. So... yeah. *applause*

Interviewer: Great. (To the public) Any questions?

#1 audience question: 1) I heard some rumors that you had trouble with Netflix because the series did not have as much advertisement as they wanted, the low-budget... That was the case? 2) Would you be interested to start working for other platforms like Amazon?

ND Stevenson: Something that not many people know it's that I actually haven't worked for Netflix. I created She-Ra as the show that you saw on Netflix, but I made it at DreamWorks. DreamWorks is it's own animation studio and they had a deal with Netflix that Netflix would stream the shows that DreamWorks was producing. So that was the deal. That's different now. They still do co-productions with DreamWorks, but they [Netflix] created their own animation studio after a year or so after I started working on She-Ra. So actually I didn't have much interaction with Netflix at all. I didn't get notes from them. I didn't know my executives there personally... Actually, I did, but... One of my executives was actually a good friend of mine. But I didn't actually have meetings with Netflix in any way.

If there's rumors about being trouble with Netflix it's certainly not in any kind of working relationship way. They are pretty mysteryous, they guard their algorithm pretty closely. But yeah, that was my experience with Netflix. For me it was very positive. I can't speak any more to what their reaction towards the show was because we were in different places. Hope that answers that.

I'm not currently working with Amazon, but that's something that is definitely... it's pretty common in animation to kind of move around from studio to studio. So it's definitely posible.

#2 audience question: I'm almost 30 so I'm a bit old for the She-Ra target audience, but me and my friend loved it because there is a lot of queer representation. For me and my friend that is very important. I was wondering how it felt because we're more of less of the same age, so we've grown up with similar cartoons and there was nothing that showed you what queer means. We didn't really see ourselves in mainstream shows. I was wondering how it felt to put for the queer community out there this clear representation.

ND Stevenson: It was obviously pretty important for me in a personal level. But another thing that I don't know if that many people know it's that when I got the job I wasn't out yet as gay. So it was certainly not something... Honestly, the show is probably responsible for making me way gayer, just working on it. *everybody laughs*

But it was something very important to me, just in the world of the show, you know? For me, it's always queer characters, they're always on the front of what I make, even before I was out. But also it's something that is defined by the show itself, what makes the world feel more alive. So I felt that having very fluid gender expression was an important par of the show. Because honestly, the original show has fairly fluid gender. He-Man wears pink and purple in his clothes and then wears a furry diaper when he transforms as He-Man. All the characters are wearing tights and belly shirts and men and women, there're not non-binary people in the original show, but it makes sense for us that there would be. So there's something for me that made the world feel more alive. And again, rainbows and drag queen princesses were such a big part of the original that it just makes sense to [have them] and it made our world feel bigger and more expansive. So that was a lot of my thinking behind it, and sometimes it was an easy sell I think. We were pleasantly surprised that the studio would be very receptive for Bow to have two dads. And Double Trouble, we were very excited about that and very supportive of hiring a non-binary voice actor.

And then there were other things that were a harder sell. I got on the phone with a lot of different people for the Adora and Catra relatioship and had to pitch it a bunch of different times to different people. Got a few notes at first. And then, you know, appealed it, and then the noes turned into yeses. And I still didn't believed it until I was actually watching the final season on Netflix. I didn't believed it'd really happen. But it did so, yeah, that was really cool.

*when the interpreter was translating this answer by ND he tried to hit the fly 🪰 and everybody laughed and applaud, it was really funny*

Interviewer: (To the public) One last question with a short answer?

#3 audience question: In the series there's a lot of characters. I wanted to ask who do you relate to the most?

ND Stevenson: I think all the characters have little bits of me and the rest of the crew. I think almost every character is sort of- there's someone on the crew who identified with them really strongly and that person became more expert on the character. So we have someone who strongly identified with Entrapta, or Tecnia as you said... (Tecnia is the name of Entrapta in the Spanish dub <3) I forget they have different names sometimes. Which is a great name, Tecnia is a great name! *public laughs* But yeah. Almost all of the characters had some counterpart among the crew.

For me, I think that I sort of related the most to a tie between Adora, Catra and Glimmer. One of the things I struggled with on the show was that I was very young when I was hired and I'd never been a manager before. And I mostly just worked on my own stuff and so, having to suddenly become a leader was a thing that I found very difficult and very scary. Like, I really really wanted to do a good job. I wanted everyone on the crew to be taken care of. And it was very difficult and terrifying. That's something that I think all three of those characters deal with in different ways.

Glimmer unexpectedly becomes the new queen. Adora changes sides and suddenly has to deal with all the guilt of having been on the bad guys side before. And Catra has this drive and this ambition, but she also starts to fall apart the higher up the ladder she moves.

I put a lot of those feelings into the characters. With Glimmer there's an episode where she can't go on missions anymore with Bow and Adora because she needs to stay and go to meetings, which was like my everyday. Everyone's going to do something fun and I have to be in a meeting, I can't hang out with [other crew members]. Like Adora in the episode where they play D&D and she keeps just being like: "no no NO, we're all gonna die and everything is gonna go wrong" and she's trying to anticipate every possible way it could go wrong. That was a lot of like, you know, having to conceptualize and keep consistent a story that was going to be told in such a long period of time, with such a large crew of people. That was how my brain felt a lot of the time. A lot of these feelings were poured into she show through the characters. Those are the characters that I think I have the strongest connection to.

(ND is, in fact, wordy, so it wasn't a short answer LOL)

Interviewer: There are big threats and the world needs to be saved a lot of times, and at the same time what you're woried the most is if the characters will recover their friendship... What's going to happen next? Someone will pay attention to Scorpia? *everybody laughs* This shows us something that happens in our lifes as well, that a big event can change you as much as an event that may seem small. This series also shows us that being different is cool, being the same as everyone else can be pretty boring. Being different can be even desirable. ND said that at the beggining he started working with someone who changed his life and who gave him a show such as The Powerpuff Girls, and I anticipate to him that right now, very very soon, there will be people that will say "I'm working for ND Stevenson, who changed my life thanks to She-Ra and his other works". To make easier our wait for the next year [Celsius 2023], when he comes back to Avilés, we're gonna say goodbye to him with a very very strong applause.

*all the public applauses, ND does a heart shape with his hands 🫶 He also thanked the Celsius 232 organizers and the public for coming*

This interview was done on Friday 22nd, july 2022. ND Stevenson made another talk/interview the day before. After that one talk I went to the signing and got my copy of Nimona signed. He was really nice and we could talk with him a little bit. He seemed really happy to visit this event in Spain and I'm really excited to see him next year. At that time the Nimona movie will be out, so I'm sure that we'll be able to know more about it and his future projects!

Photo with ND Stevenson during the book signing on Thursday. My boyfriend and I went together. We both love Stevenson's stories. <3

Thanks to ND Stevenson for coming to Spain and to Celsius 232!! I've been going every year to this event since 2018 and they always have great authors and the festival is really nice. I've learned a lot of stuff thanks to this festival and with talks like this one that ND made. The event is mostly about books and literature, but as you can see other forms of media are in Celsius 232 as well.

That's all! Thank you so much for reading this whole thing. I hope that it was interesting. <3

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anti-spop · 9 months

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I dunno if anyone else would be up for it, but I just had an idea. I know we all love dunking on ND’s little garbage fire of a shit show. I know I do. But I just got to thinking, most of us use our knowledge (all accurate, albeit limited) of the OG show for comparison of how things could have been different if not better. So I was thinking all is Spop critics could make a discord so we could group chat about that stuff since group chatting was essentially killed on tumblr. We could host watch parties for the old series, exchange ideas, redesigns, rewrites and be creative and stuff. Of course all criticism of ND’s thing is welcome, I think it’d be nice for us to have a gc with some positivity too and where we could all new things about She-Ra and MOTU in general. Idk, just an idea.

I honestly thought a Discord server like this already existed (maybe there is? If anyone wants to tell us). Regardless, I think this would be a great idea. Though you'd have to make sure no one with ill intent joined the server (like say, a SPOP stan looking for trouble).

#asks #personally i don't think i'd have the energy to join #i don't have the same creativity you guys have #i'm also just bad at servers in general lmao #but i support this idea!

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joshuasumter · 5 months

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Across the Netflix-Verse: Joshua Sumter Meets She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

SYNOPSIS: When creative and autistic Joshua Sumter teams up with orphan-turned-heroine/warrior princess Adora, Etheria will never be the same! But together, they just might save the universe. Think you know the story of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power? Well, think again because Etheria will never be the same as Joshua Sumter stars (and returns) in his latest self-insert, Isekai-turned-multiversal, retelling epic that not only flips the script on the hit animated reboot from DreamWorks and Netflix by ND Stevenson to reimagine and change the events of the show...but also spans across the wild, the wacky, the scary, the magical, the mythical, and sometimes very mature worlds and universes of the Netflix-verse, a multiverse featuring your fan-favorite Netflix shows and movies. Based on the hit animated She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series and in the tradition of Space Jam (1996), it's an Isekai-turned-multiversal, dimension-spanning epic that reimagines the narrative of the show -- with the inclusion of Joshua Sumter as an unlikely, live-action hero who finds himself on a strange, animated world and beyond that is familiar but slightly changed.

Life was carefree for creative and autistic Joshua Sumter (That would be me) of Earth (Our universe, the real world) as he was enjoying yet another typical, relaxing day and cozy life eating food, reading media tie-in books and comic books, and writing fanfics. Everything was perfectly normal...that is, until he lands smack-dab into the war-torn planet that is oddly familiar but yet slightly changed. It is the planet of Etheria, the world and universe of the hit animated reboot series from Netflix and DreamWorks She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, where an ongoing, full-blown war ensues and rages on between the princess-led Rebellion that wants to maintain peace and harmony for all of Etheria and the dreaded Horde that wants to conquer the planet in the name of its leader, Hordak.

At first, Joshua believes under the impression that everything going on is all just a dream of himself being in a reinterpretation of the rebooted TV series from the 80s as a full-fledged guest star, taking the first steps of his very own Isekai adventure when he bumps into Adora, Glimmer, and Bow, hangs out with them, and unknowingly accepting the full invitation to join in on the fray as a feature of his dream (All the way from Season 1 to the Battle of Bright Moon). But Joshua's enthusiasm falls flat when he quickly gets wrapped up in some very serious stuff during that experience, letting his newly found zany antics and madcap-style wits guide his ideas and actions enough to make Joshua fully consider the oddest possibility...that this ISN'T a dream after all.

Not only that, but the soul and consciousness of the previous She-Ra, Mara, resides in Joshua's body, along with all her past memories, allowing her to control his body as the two experienced many battles as possible in order to increase their combined strength. This transferal-like link allows both Joshua and Mara to communicate with each other, as if living in their shared mind, providing guidance and advice. When Mara manifests in the physical world as a corporeal spirit in her ethereal appearance and bluish glow, only Joshua can see her. Despite this unexpected turn of events, Joshua and Mara formed a cooperative relationship, much to Joshua's little shock and ire of Mara living inside him*. (*Similar to the term 'Emblems' from Fire Emblem: Engage; the Soul transferal from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; the Soul Link System from Dragon Ball FighterZ; Jaden/Yubel's relationship from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX; Byleth and Sothis from Fire Emblem: Three Houses; and Yuma and Astral's friendship from Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal in the trope of "Symbiotic Possession", "Fusion Dance", "Sharing A Body", and "Romantic Fusion")

Now forced into a whole, new universe, surrounded by characters he now considers his new Etheria pals, having the soul of Mara living inside him, and being completely aware that he's starring in his very own self-insert retelling of the animated show while helping Adora, Glimmer, Bow, and more allies like Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta, Sea Hawk, Spinnerella, and Netossa in their fight against the Horde, Joshua decides to flip the script on the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series to make some changes around here his own way by reimaging and changing events of the show that'll help turn things around for the future of Etheria and Adora's destiny...sort of.

As Joshua continues to influence the characters with his twisted action makajalaka of awesomeness in the form of a hard-hitting baseball bat that acts as his holy-sword-like weapon, his sense of imagination, his Official Handbook-level knowledge and more while imagining his fights in the style of the Persona 4 Arena games, Adora and her friends can't help wonder about what they make of Joshua and his bizarre, other-worldly perspective and shenanigans, not to mention how he fights like an entirely different person, courtesy of Mara's soul possessing him.

Along the way, Joshua later gets into numerous comedic adventures across the Netflix-Verse, a shared crossover multiverse of worlds and universes based on and inspired by your favorite Netflix shows and movies.

But when things in Etheria got a little too serious and with the help of the soul and consciousness of Mara, along with the animated worlds of the Netflix-Verse, will Joshua be able to beat the odds by letting loose the looniness and wreaking some hilarious mayhem in the process to help his new Etheria pals Adora, Glimmer, Bow, the Princess Alliance, and the Rebellion out of a real jam by saving the world his own way from a much, bigger threat than the Horde?

Based on and inspired by the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series by ND Stevenson and featuring the worlds of your favorite Netflix shows and movies such as "The Cuphead Show", "Green Eggs and Ham", "The Dragon Prince", "Tiger & Bunny", "We Can Be Heroes", "Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale", "The Sea Beast", "Maya and the Three", "Nimona", "Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous", "Dragon Age: Absolution" and much more, be prepared for a block-busting, hard-partying, mind-blowing, world-hopping, fourth-wall-breaking, live-action/animation mayhem in this self-inserting tale that spans both our world and theirs. DISCLAIMER: In the tradition and style of Space Jam (1996) meets Epic (2013), the Kingdom Hearts series, Gwenpool, and other Isekai tropes, Across the Netflix-Verse: Joshua Sumter Meets She-Ra and the Princesses of Power basically reimagines and changes the narrative of the show (Seasons 1-5), but with the inclusion of, yours truly, Joshua Sumter, and new twists and different outcomes inspired by some of the She-Ra and the Princess of Power fan fictions than the ones in the actual show for "anyone who wants to enjoy an entirely, different story with some few changes".

The Netflix-Verse, as the name implies, is a shared multiverse of worlds and universes that are mostly based on, inspired by, and from your favorite Netflix shows and movies in the tradition of Powerpuff Girls: Super Smash-Up!, Sonic Prime, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and the Kingdom Hearts series. The main hub of the Netflix-Verse is a vast expanse of space between that resembles Netflix's home menu, composed and surrounded by posters that served as gateways to these worlds. From the wild, the wacky, the scary to the magical, the mythical, the epic and sometimes very mature, it's a dimension-spanning epic into these Netflix-based worlds.

Inspiration and allusions from...

Space Jam (1996) and Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) – Just like how Michael Jordan and Lebron James are live-action superstars entering a spectacular animated world and teaming up with the Looney Tunes in their two movies, Joshua Sumter (That would be me) does the same as he gets forced into the animated world of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power to help Adora and her friends in the princess-led Rebellion in their ongoing war against the dreaded Horde.

Epic (2013) – M.K. is a teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and evil is taking place. In similarity, Joshua is a grown, autistic young man who finds himself transported to a war-torn planet based on a rebooted TV series from the 80s.

Kanji Tatsumi’s storyline from Persona 4: Arena – In Persona 4: Arena, Kanji Tatsumi still thinks that everything in the entire P1-Grand Prix tournament is all a dream until he eventually finds out it is in fact not, so when Joshua first lands smack-dab in Etheria, he believes that his experience in Etheria from Season 1 to the Battle of Bright Moon is all a reinterpretation/Isekai adventure dream, that is…until he eventually later finds out that it’s not a dream when he reaches the first episode of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’s Season 2.

Kingdom Hearts and PowerPuff Girls: Super Smash-Up! – The Kingdom Hearts franchise features Disney-based worlds and how Sora embarks on an epic journey across the multiverse and encounters Disney and Final Fantasy characters in their respective worlds and helps them while the Powerpuff Girls: Super Smash-Up! comic crossover mini-series is a dimension-spanning epic inspired by Batman: The Brave and the Bold where Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup visit other Cartoon Network universes. In Across the Netflix-Verse: Joshua Sumter Meets She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Joshua did the same thing - this time, it features worlds and universes that are mostly based on and inspired by your favorite Netflix shows and movies. In actuality, the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power world Joshua was first isekai-ed into was one of the Netflix-based worlds in the Netflix-Verse, so he then later goes on a world-hopping journey across the Netflix-Verse and encounters main characters in their respective worlds like The Cuphead Show, Green Eggs and Ham, The Dragon Prince, Tiger & Bunny, We Can Be Heroes, Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale, The Sea Beast, Maya and the Three, Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, Nimona, Firedrake: The Silver Dragon, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and Dragon Age Absolution and helps them out.

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duckprintspress · 8 months

Text

Created Works Round-Up: January 2024

Duck Prints Press’s monthly “created works round-ups” are our opportunity to spotlight some of the amazing work that people working with us have done that ISN’T linked to their work with Duck Prints Press. We include fanworks, outside publications, and anything else that creators feel like sharing with y’all. Inclusion is voluntary and includes anything that they decided “hey, I want to put this on the created work’s round-up!”

Check out what they’ve shared with us this month…

cruel forgiveness by Cedar McCafferty-Svec / @diroxy

art || transformers || m/m || idw rodimus prime/armada megatron || teen & up || no major warnings apply || complete

summary: Digital drawing of IDW Rodimus and Armada Megatron based off a scene from a roleplay server on dreamwidth. Megatron is faking his own death and making Rodimus watch.

other tags: self harm, canon mashup, based on roleplay

TUMBLR - LINK

Stay by Smehur / @smehur

art || baldur's gate 3 || m/m || astarion/tav || mature || no major warnings apply || complete

TUMBLR - TWITTER

Astarion by Smehur / @smehur

art || baldur's gate 3 || no ships || general audiences || no major warnings apply || complete

summary: This started as a silly colored pencil doodle and ended up my best drawing so far. Anyway, I love him.

TUMBLR - TWITTER

Self Help & Writing Advice by Tris Lawrence / @tryslora

blog post || original work || no ships || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 781 || complete

summary: I don’t like self-help books. Which means I often don’t like writing advice books.

Which sucks because I really want to like both of them. I am positive there are things I could learn from them.

TUMBLR - PILLOWFORT - LINK

ND Creative: Time, Focus, Organization by Tris Lawrence / @tryslora

blog post, nd creative series || original work || no ships || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 957 || complete

summary: Time, focus, and organization can be complicated things as an ND creative.

TUMBLR - PILLOWFORT - LINK

Things I Thought Were Mine by enchantedsleeper / @iffeelscouldkill

fiction || fence comics || m/m || nicholas cox/seiji katayama || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 9,235 || complete

summary: Nicholas, Seiji, and the King's Row team are invited by Jesse Coste to join him at an exclusive summer retreat for elite fencers at the Coste residence. Surrounded by reminders of the life he could have had, and with Jesse determined to pick up where he and Seiji left off, can Nicholas survive the week without some closely-held secrets bubbling to the surface?

other tags: Canon divergence AU, hurt/comfort

AO3

a dream or two (away from you) by enchantedsleeper / @iffeelscouldkill

fiction || fence comics || m/m || aiden kane/harvard lee || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 8,845 || complete

summary: Everyone knows that magic isn't real. Never mind that Aiden, crown prince of Feldhaven, has been having strange dreams from a young age in which he meets and plays with a young boy from a far-away kingdom.

He can't explain it, but he isn't concerned - until years later, when an eighteen-year-old Aiden is suddenly introduced to the new Captain of the Guard: Harvard Lee. The boy from his dreams.

other tags: mediaeval fantasy AU, slightly handwavey dream magic, friends to lovers

TUMBLR - AO3

You Make Sense of the Devil by Hermit / @hermit-writes

fiction || mcu, criminal minds || m/m, f/m, poly (multiple genders) || james "bucky" barnes/emily prentiss, james "bucky" barnes/steve rogers || mature || rape/non-con || 15,772 || complete

summary: A ghost from the BAU past reappears and drags up unfinished business for Aaron Hotchner. The ripples are enough to call back missing team members and spread well beyond the circle of his influence.

other tags: Timeline What Timeline, MCU fusion, Criminal Minds fusion, liberties were taken with the legal system, Case Fic, No One Is Okay, canon typical trauma, Past Rape/Non-con, Flashback, discussion of trauma, Implied Polycule

AO3

A Godsdamn Kraken by Smehur / @smehur

fiction || baldur's gate 3 || m/m || astarion/tav || mature || no major warnings apply || 7,760 || complete

summary: Astarion and Tav met before the events of the game - and immediately got in trouble.

AO3

Tremble by Tal / @thatgirlonstage

fiction || link click || m/m || cheng xiaoshi/lu guang || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 2,096 || complete

summary: Cheng Xiaoshi has a bad time in a photo. Lu Guang is there in the aftermath.

other tags: Hurt/Comfort

AO3

Phase Shift by Terra P. Waters / @pterawaters

fiction || original work || platonic or familial, f/m || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 99,500 || ongoing series

summary: Despite being a self-professed science geek, high school freshman Camilla Mitchell has had a secret imaginary friend for years. It comes as quite a shock when said friend, Emma, accidentally drags her into a dimension full of hostile telepathic creatures. Cam’s friends, her brother, Oliver, and her mother, Kathryn, work furiously to solve her disappearance and bring her home. Other members of their small Minnesota town disappear, one after the other, including Lizzy Becker’s best friend, who is ripped from her arms. Lizzy badgers loner Oliver into working with her to rescue their missing loved ones. They discover a bridge between the two worlds—a bridge that allows the hostile creatures from Cam’s newly-discovered dimension into ours. If there’s a bridge, there’s a way to rescue the people taken. Right?

other tags: Tags: science fiction, alternate dimensions, teen characters, friendship, bisexual main character (minor references), lesbian character, nonbinary character, aliens; Content warnings: disordered eating, emetophobia, child abuse mention, homophobic bullying, teen characters in danger, gun violence, physical violence, abduction

TUMBLR - PILLOWFORT - LINK

The Last Drop Cafe by Terra P. Waters / @pterawaters

fiction || stranger things || poly (multiple genders) || jonathan byers/chrissy cunningham/steve harrington/nancy wheeler || explicit || creator choses not to use warnings || 77,500 || complete

summary: Nancy Wheeler is in her last year of college, about to graduate with her journalism degree. She's just working as a barista at The Last Drop Cafe until she can find a real journalism job. She loves her boyfriend, Jonathan, though there's been some tension lately, and she's not quite sure how long the relationship is going to last. At least she lives above the coffee shop, which makes rolling out of bed at five in the morning to go to work slightly more tolerable. Her upstairs neighbors, Steve and Chrissy, are newlyweds eager to start their family. When a case of sleep deprivation and mistaken identity ties the two couples together, things quickly get complicated. But maybe complicated is just what Nancy was looking for.

other tags: Coffee Shop AU, College AU, Mistaken Identity, Polyamory, Somnophilia, Accidental Non-con, Unplanned Pregnancy, Birth, Hospitals

AO3

Phase Shift by Terra P. Waters / @pterawaters

fiction || original work || platonic or familial, f/m, f/nb || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 99,500 || complete

other tags: Science Fiction, Horror, Aliens, Teen characters, Alternate dimensions, Friendship, LGBTQ+ characters, Hearing Impaired Character, Eating Disorder, Child Abuse, Gun Violence, Kidnapping, Teenaged Characters in Peril, Minor Character Death

TUMBLR - LINK

Prayers of Descent by unforth / @unforth

fiction || tian guan ci fu || m/m || hua cheng/xie lian || general audiences || no major warnings apply || 1,648 || complete

summary: After 800 years in the Heavenly Court, Xie Lian receives a prayer with a simple request: "can I see you, your highness, just one more time?"

other tags: Canon Divergence, Jun Wu/Xie Lian

AO3

#duck prints press #created work's round up #creator's spotlight

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faithfromanewperspective · 7 months

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Asking about a character I don't particularly care for but am thinking about right now: Lucie. Do you think she's neurodivergent? If yes, how? Why do you think she is... all the things she is?

ooh ooh!! neurodivergent yes. as to more specifics I’ve had adhd and autism both suggested by people but truthfully? I’ve not gone and done an analysis with the dsm on her because the dsm is limited and I do enjoy using it but sometimes I need to have a break from it having power over me and just really appreciate the diversity of human brains, of which lucie is a realistic portrayal!! tbh she’s a writer. crazy creative and a nod to fanfic authors many of whom are many flavours of nd. she’s also descended from aloysius starkweather, edmund herondale and linette owens and Cassie invented genetics so. also like with James and Lucie I do take the line in one of the tec books about the children (extrapolating it to likely include grandchildren) of greater demons rarely being ‘stable’ (ableist wording that usually applies to magical power I think but being nd def has some crossovers and applicability and both james and lucie are definitely both) so. that’s as much as I’ve got atm

she’s a ND female protagonist like many we’ve seen in stories especially mystery ones for younger children (sorry I can’t remember the specific examples she reminds me of) who is strong willed and curious (will and tessa right there!! Cassie invented genetics) but she’s also at the age where the teenage secrecy comes in and she’s learning that masking will make her appear more normal and hide the shame she’s starting to have sink in, during the series. and though she’s got the makeup of a main character she’s actually subverting the trope by being Cordelia’s bestie and James’s sister and while I def wish we saw more of her personality I do love her. I do think her development was quite realistic for a 16-17yo nd girl

#lucie herondale #the last hours #tlh #chain of gold #chain of iron #chain of thorns #james herondale #cordelia carstairs

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tryslora · 9 months

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ND Creative: Time, Focus, Organization

Time, focus, and organization can be complicated things as an ND creative.

Objectively, I know what I need to do. I know all the steps. I even know that in order to get it done, I have to list out all of those steps, note how long each will take and their dependencies, then reorganize them into a timeline.

Then I stare at the screen, or the piece of paper, and my brain just stops. Says nope. Hits the mental and emotional back button to get the hell out of that mode.

Makes it kind of hard to get anything done.

I’m currently struggling with this exact thing on multiple levels. Why am I blogging about it? Well, I’m hoping that if I talk about the places where I’m stuck, maybe I’ll become unstuck.

Oh, the funny ways we try to trick our minds, yeah?

Big List Things I Need to Do:

Publishing stuff with DPP (timeline not under my control)

Publishing stuff for independent book (oh hey, a release date would be nice and I’m the one who has to set that)

Plotting and outlining the next PHU novel (is it over a year overdue? I’m sure no one noticed…)

Plotting and outlining the next 7Lakes novel (because when the first one comes out, “where’s the sequel” will hopefully be the obvious first question)

There are a million other things on my list in various sizes from small through medium and even large, but none quite as unwieldy as all of those.

I’ve been blocked on these timelines—both for publishing and for plotting—for a long, long time. I feel like I’m trying to do too many things at once, or attacking things on too many fronts. I worry about well, what if one thing overlaps with another—are the people who want to read my work going to be like “nah, I can’t buy two books” and just nope out of everything? Am I screwing it all up?

I keep telling myself I need to let go and just Do The Thing.

Seriously.

Do The Thing.

So, let’s break down what needs to be done at the highest of levels for the writing-related things (and ignore all the blog posts, TikToks, video editing, etc that also needs to be done).

For publishing with DPP, there is: 2nd edit on book 2, large revision on book 3 before it goes to first real edit, then 2nd edit on book 3, and final edits on all of that. Plus cover reveals, blog posts, teasers. Pulling out quotes I want to use for stickers. I am pretty sure I’m forgetting things. The nice thing is that all of the big overhead things like planning a campaign has been done for me. YAY Duck Prints (Seriously, they are AWESOME). I think my sticking point here is that I have no realistic expectation for how long each editing round will (or should) take, so I’m not sure how to slot it in. Plus I know it’ll be overlapping with the other book.

For solo (independent) publishing, I have so much more to do. I have to create accounts with both the private and public profile information that’s required on publishing platforms. I need to create a logo and develop a description of my “publishing company” (me, it’s just me) and I need to business work for that company, like buying ISBNs. I need to finish the final book editing, then do the layout so I know what the spine width is. Then I can contract for and get a cover. After that it should get easier, right? Pull out quotes, do blog posts, cover reveal, announcement of the release date (probably not in that order). Get the news out. I can set a release date once I get everything else on a calendar. And if the bulk of the editing is done sooner rather than later, my editing energy can be spent on the DPP books while I’m doing production and marketing for the 7Lakes book.

Okay. This all starts to feel like something I can get my arms around. I’m going to let the high level/low level plotting go for now, and come back to it in another post.

So—why is this a blog post anyway?

I mentioned before that I was trying to unstick my mind. By talking out loud to someone else—even though I can’t see that someone, and who knows, maybe I’m shouting into the abyss—I feel like I’m being held accountable. I’m working through it in public. In plain sight. It means I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, considering every word. It has to get out of my fingertips and onto the page because I am here, not just trying to make notes privately for myself.

I can’t back button out of it.

Sometimes that’s how I get things done.

Will this translate to me taking the things I’ve said above and moving them into something where I can add timeframes, and schedules, and put it all on a calendar with due dates and start breaking it down into even smaller tasks?

Gods I hope so. It’s a goal, anyway.

Getting back to where we started… time, focus, and organization can be complicated as an ND creative.

Time—I spent thirty minutes and a thousand words of chatter.

Focus—It’s like body doubling—by talking to you, I got something done.

Organization—I think I have a list. Or a start of one. It’s more than I had!

It’s a complicated way of doing things, but fingers crossed that my next step is getting to cross off the first part of my timelines task.

#writing #neurodivergent #nd creative #nd series

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rarilight · 8 months

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hiii. don't feel obligated to answer this ask i jus wanted to say how much i enjoy ur work. i discovered u through TEL and to this day,, the TELverse works are my comfort stories!! i just finished rereading and the moon horse arc in TEK still makes me cry .

anyway . as a fellow creative ik finding time and motivation to create can be rly hard at times, but i think even if there were never another ch in TEC and the series ended where it was i'd be happy with what we got. i love ur depiction of raritwi not just in the TELverse but in stories like crimson lips and the bodyguard au, too . they are just . perfect.

idk you very well or anything obviously but i'm rly grateful that i've gotten to read ur writing. Tbh. hope u are able to pursue what ever makes u happiest in life nd thank u for all the horse words :).

Hiii Thank you so much, I really appreciate this!! I've been going through hard times, and this cheered me up a lot c: Thankfully, one of my goals this year is to advance TEC so you will be getting more of it! I'm also hoping to finish the non-mlp version of Crimson, which I'm very excited about. Thank you so much for your kind words; I'm happy my writing has brought joy into your life <3

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outeremissary · 2 years

Note

4 & 5 for Dungeon Meshi? (I'm assuming you've been asked PF related questions)

DUNGEON MESHI IN THE INBOX?! This is THRILLING

From this prompt list.

4. what is your favorite CANON ship?

So a funny thing about Dungeon Meshi is that there are uhhh. Zero canon ships I think. Unless you count Chilchuck the middle aged halfling getting left by his wife or any of the several very one-sided crushes scattered among the side characters. I think that there is actually no romance that happens onscreen, the only mentioned romance is in one guy's backstory and was his brother marrying his crush. So I guess I don't have a favorite canon ship??? I'm just going to show you the most divorced halfling in fiction instead.

I think his adult children have also stopped talking to him but it's too late at night for me to fact check that one

5. who is your favorite character (and maybe why?)

Oh it is ALWAYS so hard because there are so many fantastic characters in this series and I'm going to do two anyway because I can't help myself. But seriously there's not a single bad one, everyone is so delightful down to the most minor side characters. but anyway!!!

First of all, Mithrun!

Mithrun is the captain of the squad of elvish scouts sent to the island, and is a relatively late arriving character (the Canaries arriving is a foreshadowed sign of the central conflict escalating to something serious). Mithrun is a terrible, lethal warrior with singular drive who strikes fear into most characters who meet him- he uses taunts so cruel they cause one of the main villains to despair, he's quick to suggest assassination as a solution to problems, and his creative use of teleportation has grisly, torturous effects on foes. He's also severely disabled. Without significant support, he struggles to function in daily life due to an inability to translate his body's needs into actions tending them. His life is managed with a combination of strict routine managing basic tasks and aid from comrades who ensure that he eats, sleeps, and carries out other essential physical behaviors. In social situations he's also blunt and generally opaque in his behavior, usually cutting straight to the point and often excluding others from his reasoning. Despite that, he's someone who has a certain charisma: his comrades consider him an inspirational leader and feel strong affection and loyalty towards him, and he's willing to take risks and extend trust towards others. He also still possesses a certain cunning that makes him very fun to watch. This has all been a lot of exposition to try to explain things, hahh...

Here's his cover by the way. All the covers are composed to be comedic and often aren't based in any real event, but you can see that teleportation at work!

Anyway, I'm fond of Mithrun because I enjoy seeing a character who's very, very ND-coded who's good at a job that isn't "inventor" or "knowledge guy," which I think is a niche that a lot of characters like that tend to fall into. He's badass, he's cool, and even though he's straightforward he's never naive. He's incredibly competent and strategic. He's also got a very dramatic, tragic backstory that's deeply intertwined with the plot and gives him a lot of really fun interactions with major villains- those are also the scenes that tend to draw a lot of high emotion out of him, and I love high emotion and drama! And yet despite the development of his condition being a central point of his tragic backstory, there's still never any lingering on "curing" or "fixing" him, which is... really nice, honestly. He has close, supportive friends and a life he's content with, and in some extra comics suggests that he doesn't like the person he used to be, even if to other people that was the time when he was full of potential. Both the persistence through significant trauma and the rejection of the telling of his life story as a pure tragedy are things I really enjoy.

But yeah another thing I love about Mithrun is that he's canonically just a little nasty and is drawn with these perpetually fucking chapped lips. He's jsut like me fr

Also you are being spared so many Mithrun Images by the late hour but I do happen to have this just at hand on my phone. I know this doesn't mean fucking anything without context but I want to look at this image so now we all have to look at it together. It's so so late

ANYWAY. There's also a SORCERER in Dungeon Meshi! This one. This little cunt. A fun fact about me is that there's a folder on my computer devoted entirely to images of this guy, whose name is either Thistle or Sissel depending on which translation you're reading. According to the guidebook, which is currently in my hand, Sissel is official so we'll just go with that for the rest of the post.

I fucking love Sissel. I love Sissel so bad. There's something so wrong with this little (4'3"/130 cm) guy. Look at that image. You already know why I love Sissel. It's because he's got a rancid, unstable little megalomaniac personality and he thinks he knows better than everyone about everything.

Just look at him. My little guy. I love a bitch who meant well once but has become lost in his darkest obsessions.

But like, more coherently, I also really enjoy Sissel as a villain who starts out as this legendary figure of fear- the "Mad Sorcerer" who's presumed to be immortal and all powerful- who's then gradually revealed to be deeply, deeply pathetic. He's so lost in his obsessive protection of those he loves that he hurts them and then throws a fit when they won't forgive him. His power lies in being a master of monsters, but he's so aggressively uninterested in the creatures at his command that they're constantly dying on him and the main character turns them on him just by knowing basic ecology. He has literally infinite power at his fingertips and he's so aggressively unimaginative that he can't do anything wit hit except react to what he thinks are threats. He's built up as a final boss character and Mithrun nearly kills him in less than a minute. He whines about someone cleaning his room. My pathetic meow meow. My cringe and fail sorcerer. I fucking love this guy. He spends a whole chapter carried around as a backpack and used as a human shield. The main character forces him to eat a homecooked meal. He's so!!! Lame!!!!

Anyway it would be a literal crime for me to end a Dungeon Meshi post without any mention of women. Look at my meme boy. Look at the monster wife.

I spent. More time than I intended. Looking for the page where she tore off her shirt. This isn't nsfw this is fine this is fine

Anyway very sexy of Falin to not only haunt the narrative but come back wrong as that.

#I was just going to answer the pathfinder ask that I got immediately before booting up princess maker 2 and losing my night #but. for dungeon meshi I can sequence break #ask game #me at my most incoherent.#I'm not fucking joking when I say Dungeon Meshi is one of the best fantasy stories I've read #ask me emithing #camelliagwerm #userharps #my love of shitty elves is so strong dungeon meshi understands me so well

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mendedrum · 1 year

Text

My discworld review after the first 17 books

1. Rincewind Series

I think the writing got stronger over time as the narratives became more plot driven. I still like the mystery/nondirectional aspect of TCOM and TLF though. There was an unpredictability about it that would be challenging to replicate with a main character that isnt like Rincewind: i.e someone who pretty much wants to live in boring times. Sourcery still bothers me the most. Firstly because the Wizards didnt get true repercussions about the damage they did. Secondly, while Sourcery ended on strong note, the sequel Faust Eric betrayed everything we've learned about Rincewind and the Dungeon Dimensions. It cheapened the drama invested on Sourcery and I found that aspect annoying. Interesting Times tho, picks up Rincewind's characterization once again and puts it back on the track, except that it doesnt explain what happened to Rincewind's status as a demon-bound-to-a-mortal kind of creature. It was great to see Rincewind showing off his political skills though. It's a good nod to his character being more attached and connected to the wider world compared to his wizard colleagues.

2. Wizards subseries

It's great that they've been fleshed out over time and over so many books. I like that since they're in Ankh-Mopork, they'd eventually get involved in many of the events that happen there. I like that their politics and power struggles are contained to mostly their own and don't really bother with the rest of the world. It's a refreshing POV to be in. Most surprising were their involvement in Mort, Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Lords and Ladies, Men at Arms and Soul Music. They help expand the worldbuilding better. I still dont like The Bursar's characterization being sacrificed to make Ridcully a bit more respectable tho.

3. Death

Why is it that every major Death story just revolve around the thesis of "what happens when death gets distracted from his job"? Like I know why of course, he's so damn efficient that without him doing the work, everything in time-space just falls apart and tries to correct itself. Anyhow. Pratchett's Death is still the best take on real world death for me. It has helped me go thru difficult times, over grief and over the celebration of life. Death being one of the heart of Discworld is what makes Discworld truly a gift. You'll probably have to pull teeth for me to finish Reaper Man tho.

4. City Watch / Night Watch / The Watch

I haven't gotten far in these subseries but I do know that whenever cops are involved their ought to be high stakes suspense/thriller/action and drama. It's where Pratchett can truly flex on his whoddunit writing style. I find a lot of the narratives pretty standard action-thriller wise. Samuel Vimes is still my favorite of the bunch. I just cant get behind the character of Carrot, unfortunately (stop chasing me with pitchforks)

5. Witches

I'm gonna be honest. I dread the Witches subseries the most not because they're bad but because they tend to be dragging. With the exception of Equal Rites, the coven trio of Esmeralda Weatherwax, Gytha Ogg and Magrat Garlick leads the reader to familiar fairytale paths only for it to get upturned at the end. There are always lessons in the ongoing battle of what it means to be good, to be evil and most of all to be human. That's what make them slow at first. Reader must endure that feeling of "yeah ive been here before" for quite a long while. The payoff is always interesting nd thought provoking though, which makes everything worth it. I still dont know what to feel about Esmeralda Weatherwax being the universe's ultimate trump card. (Kinda same like rincewind and they both hate it)

6. Industrial Revolution

My favorite of all the subseries. Not a lot of people like them and they always get skipped in most reading lists but I often find the stories as the most shocking and creative. I like how they expand on the worldbuilding. I like the blatant parody on how the real world works. I like it when new character, beliefs and industries are introduced. I always thought I'd prefer the other subseries more but here I am lol. Cant wait to read the others.

Anyhow these are my discworld thoughts afer reading the first 17 books. Up next is Maskerade (which is making me groan coz i just finished Witches Abroad, which was very cool in fact and Maskerade is still Witch-centric)

But you can always not read them in publication order, one might say. But i wont do that. I'm a masochist unfortunately.

#heli and discworld #spoilers #if anyone wants to read anyway

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kcwriter-blog · 1 year

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Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Since I have writer's block where my day job is concerned, I thought I would get the creative juices going by typing up an introduction to my account.

Full disclosure. I've had a Tumblr account for years. I've never used it for anything other than looking at the gorgeous artwork. I am not conversant in tags or the etiquette. Apologies if I make mistakes.

So why now? I recently became obsessed with a game I picked up at GameStop for the low, low price of $7. You guessed it. Dragon Age Inquisition. Another disclosure. I'm new to gaming.

My daughter was never into video games so we never bought a console. I had no idea what I was missing out on. Last year I bought a PS4. I tried a few games and settled on Skyrim and Mass Effect as favorites. All I really knew about Dragon Age was that BioWare made it and people that enjoyed Skyrim also enjoyed Dragon Age.

I loaded the game and instantly fell in love. I bought the books and looked into playing the first two games in the series. No luck as I don't have a gaming PC or Xbox and can't afford either right now. Maybe in the future.

I also instantly fell in love with Solas. I knew romances were an important part of BioWare's games so I looked up the love interests. I inadvertently got spoiled and knew who he was before I played. I was not planning to romance him at all.

I got through the tutorial and began making the NPC rounds in Haven. Since Solas had saved my Inky's life (elf mage) and seemed to know the most about the Mark, I started a conversation with him. Let's just say I squeaked out a very audible, "oh no," during that conversation. I was hooked and I knew it. He was so smart, so erudite, so confident, so witty and so handsome. i knew his voice actor was one of my favorite characters from Torchwood and that added to the appeal.

I tend to hyper focus so I set about learning everything there was to know about Solas - which is when I discovered how much a lot of people hated him. I got the whole betrayal, dooming the world aspect but not the dislike of his baseline personality. It wasn't until I read some posts on Tumblr that I got it. He codes as ND. Everything people say about him, people have said about me. It isn't true about me and I don't think it's true about him.

I'm in Solavellan Hell and I know it.

I don't really have anyone that shares my obsession with the game or Solas. Most people I know played the game a long time ago, never took Solas with them and have moved on to BG3.

So I'm on Tumblr enjoying everyone else's amazing artwork, stories and ramblings. I don't know how much of my own musings I will add to them. I generally don't like putting myself out there in cyberspace.

Im looking forward to learning from others just as obsessed with the angsty elf as I am. Greetings!

#solasmance #solavellan #solas dragon age #solas dread wolf #solas dai #solas #dragon age inquisition #dai #lavellan

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popculturebuffet · 3 months

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Since I asked for modern Disney TVA I'm gonna ask for Cartoon Network too (but obviously splitting it up instead of every show at once). Who is your favorite character from each of the 90s half of the Cartoon Cartoons-era shows you've seen like: Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, Cow & Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls 1998, Ed Edd n Eddy, Mike Lu and Og, and Courage the Cowardly Dog?

I appricate that as there are a lot. But I'm also happy to talk about these and almost all need a rewatch from me (Ed Edd N eddy is the exception not due to quality but due to my top 25 episodes list, i've seen most of the ones i'd want to rewatch)

Dexter's Lab: An awesome show and one close to my heart. It has a few eps that are a bit too mean spirited for it's own good (a trait that most of these shows share, it's a common problem in children's comedy), but overall is just a fun show with a simple but effective premise. It also has Phil Hartman in one of his final and best rolls as Dexter's dad, so that's a bonus. I do feel the film and revivial seasons aren't as good, with Dial M For Monster being a better finale, but overall the series is a nostalgic classic to me.

Edit: So yeah turns out I was wrong. It was Jeff Bennet. I just always asumed phil hartman was his dad and that's why it was canceld. A good reminder to always check an assumption you had when you were 8.

Johnny Bravo: your timing on this one is good as I got the season 1 dvd on a whim a few weeks back at walmart and while I need to watch more of it, what i've refreshed is great. For a show about a wannabe pickup artist, the show's aged remarkably well: most of the violence against johnny is too slapstick to be a double standard and Johnny is more a clueless man child than actual threat to any woman and gets brushed off or outright punished when he does his cheesy pickup routine. Not only that but the humor.. is delightfully nuts. You've got episodes where Johnny dates an antelope, thinks time has stopped and in a faviorite bit of mine no one talks about gets a career in the moving pictures cumilating in the beloved classic

Cow and Chicken: This one.. yeah I have some nice things to say. The designs are nicely grungy, the theme song's a banger and it uh.. yeah that's about it. This one's a sadist show with Chicken sometimes getting punished for doing genuinely bad stuffa nd often getting punished for existing. It's far from the worst cartoon i've seen but is entirely not for me. Again except the theme song, and even then it's in an era of outright banger theme songs

I Am Wesel: This show .. is okay. The segments on cow and chicken were the highlight and while the show does lap into those sadist show tendicies I mentioned for cartoons in general it' snot nearly AS consitent with it as it's sister show and Weasel and Baboon are just fun to watch with great voice work. Weasel in paticular is just awesome. Solid show.

The Powerpuff Girls: one of cn's best shows and one of the ones i've rewatched more as my niece was really into it years ago. It has a sweet vibe to it at it's best, creative villians, some of the best voice actors there ever were in character defining rolls, and some solid aseops other shows weren't doing like how cops can be assholes and feminism can be complicated. Like i'm starting to realize ALL of these it once again has episodes that are just unwatchably mean, seriously I wasn't wrong when I said it was a common problem, but the bulk of the show is just a joy to behold.

Ed, Edd N Eddy: A true classic. I talked about this one a LOT in my top 25 episodes list but it's got slapstick gold for days, a great cast and a truly unique art style. It is held back a bit as episodes can be hit and miss, and out of the shows here it falls into the sadist show trap the most. It misses it more than cow and chicken, but it also has more standout examples of

It just stands out enough in it's GOOD episodes and has more than enough of them that I still love it.

Mike Lu and Ogg: A show I find highly underated and wish I could rewatch. It's where my decades long love of Nikkita Futterman as a voice actress began, and she's still great as Luna on the Loud House after all this time. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

Courage the Cowardly Dog: The best show here and that's saying something and one of my faviorite cartoons period. No hyperbole: long before I got neck deep into horror, this primed me for the genre, a love letter to b movies with a truly wonderful protaganist, the kindest damsel in distress in existance and the greatest asshole old man whose ever lived whose not named stan pines. The series has great humor, truly good horror in places, and a LOT of heart. I can't say enough good about this show and if there's enough intrest or someone willing to bankroll it , i'd be mor ethan willing to do a full series review of it at some point. I cannot say enough good about this show, truly one of cartoon networks best and only not firmly the best because Steven Universe came along later.

#cartoon network #dexter's lab #johnny bravo #i am weasel #cow and chicken #the powerpuff girls #ed edd n eddy #mike lu and ogg #courage the cowardly dog

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