#not that he dislikes the latter we just have different preferences

[vmbrq]

Can we get a best friend charlie who stalks us and somnophilia

i'm not sure if this is you submitting a request for an actual, official fic or not, but if it is, just know that at the moment, i do not take such requests. the most i will do is share some thoughts on it/write something as long as i see fit. but if the latter is what you were interested in when you sent this in, then absolutely!

WRITTEN WITH FEM/AFAB READER IN MIND.

see, stalker charlie walker who also doubles as your best friend is so POSSIBLE. in his brain, you're a pretty girl who genuinely cares about him beyond the plastic facade of feigned concern he's often regarded with whenever someone "accidentally" bumps into him or spills water on his shoes. you actually give him the time of day and believe that all of his rambling and cinematic knowledge are worth listening to.

after discovering kirby's intention of stringing him along like a puppet for fun, he couldn't afford to push your friendship into flirtatious territory. he'd risk losing you or opening the door to another round of disappointment, neither of which he believed he could handle. so, what did it matter that he frequently stole glances at you during class and often admired your profile instead of following along in the class textbook? what did it matter that when he would sit next to you, he would be painfully conscious of your proximity and get excited every time you called his name or turned to face him in such close quarters? what did it matter that he was utterly infatuated with you?

you trusted him. he couldn't just betray the foundation of your friendship and drop his feelings for you in your lap. he couldn't exactly ghost you, either. the only option left was to keep his feelings bottled up and only indulge them behind your back, which, he supposes, was still betrayal in a way. he couldn't imagine you regarding him with anything other than friendly intentions. surely, you'd feel disgusted if you found out how he really felt about you and that this "platonic" relationship wasn't actually platonic at all. but, in his eyes, all that meant was that you simply couldn't find out. what you didn't know couldn't possibly hurt you, right?

it's the excuse he would use to justify his behavior whenever he would tail you from place to place without your knowledge. the way you carried yourself was so enticing. what if some other guy felt the same and approached you and got too pushy? what if someone tried to kidnap you? what if someone hassled you for money? he just wanted to make sure you were safe, that was all. after all, isn't that what a good friend would want?

but soon, the basic stalking evolved into photographing. he was already seeing everything in person, so what was the harm in immortalizing a few moments for his own personal memories? pictures of you eating, pictures of you walking home, pictures of you smiling to another girl as you complimented her dress, pictures centered on your chest or ass whenever you bent down or leaned forward on a flat surface, pictures of your nude body framed by your windowsill as you changed from outfit to outfit.

cartridge after cartridge, shoebox after shoebox, the few photos multiplied. some even ended up gripped tightly between his trembling fingers and spattered with sticky strings of white during the nights he missed your presence a bit extra, a secret that always left him flushed with shame when he descended from his blissful high and his mind cleared. but did he stop? of course not. sure, he tried. sure, the guilt began to eat at him when he had to face you the following day with the image of your smile striped with cum etched into his brain. but each attempt ended up being fruitless, and the guilt never lasted as long as it probably should have.

he knew everything about you--your likes, your dislikes, where you'd go after school, what your go-to orders for different restaurants were, how you preferred to be touched . . . everything. and he would sit there, secretive smiles shrouded behind a veil of innocence and attentiveness, as he listened to you chatter away about what you did the night before. he already knew, of course. nobody knew you better than he did.

but that's the thing about making excuses--the more you make, the easier it is for them to snowball in severity. charlie walker was a textbook example. following you home turned into nonconsensual photographing, which in turn transformed into the ultimate violation of your boundaries. he lurked outside your window, camouflaged by the darkness and shrubbery, heart pounding, for about five minutes before he made his move.

silent and frighteningly efficient, he slipped through your window and maneuvered his way toward your bed. you've fallen asleep in his presence before, but nothing could compare to the unguarded tranquility that emanated from you as you laid there motionless, snuggled up and peaceful in the one place you deemed to be completely safe. safe from prying eyes. safe from all harm. safe from what charlie has been itching to do to you for months.

he almost couldn't bring himself to peel back the comforter, but he was immensely grateful that he had instead of chickening out and leaving. so much of your bare skin was on display, soft and supple beneath the pale moonlight streaming in through the window he'd left ajar. the heavy exhale that left his lips was involuntary, but he immediately choked it back out of fear of waking you. not now. not when he's so close. not when he made it this far. he can't recall the last time he's been so hard, so desperate to have you. would it truly be so bad if he took it a step further? if he confirmed whether your skin was truly as soft as it appeared, if your cunt was just as tight and warm as he'd envisioned, if you would make the same sweet sounds that dripped from your lips whenever you pleased yourself? he'll be careful--so careful you won't even wake up. you'll never find out, so it shouldn't be a big deal, right?

after all, you can't be upset over something you know nothing about.

[gorogues]

Each of the Rogues being taken individually, what's the most common way that they're written badly (in terms of personality)? E.g., when they're written out of character, what does that most frequently look like?

James: I'm torn on James because his two main OOC screw-ups thankfully didn't happen often and they're diametrically opposed to each other. But when writers have messed him up, they did so big time: the dimwitted homophobic jerk in Countdown, and the cruel Machiavellian mastermind in "The Greatest Trick Of All". The latter wasn't a mistake, it was a specific creative choice, but IMO it was a poor one which damaged his character.

Lisa: I think Lisa's problem was again a deliberate creative one, but I'm not fond of the post-Crisis decision to make her ker-AZY! for the sake of comedy. Yes she'd always been somewhat unstable and violent, but it got dialed up for laughs and not really dealt with by those who knew her. It would have been less frustrating if the people close to her had noted and been concerned about a decline in her mental health, because that's actually story development. Instead she became violent comic relief and ultimately kind of Flanderized.

Len: In the modern era (circa 2000 and beyond), I think the worst characterization done to him is when the writer makes him stupid or thoughtless, because he most assuredly is not. We all have our dopey moments, but stuff like him marching down the street in costume complaining about the heroes being fascists is just weird and very unlike him, as is the entirety of his appearances in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and Countdown. At least Johns salvaged the latter stories by making it part of his development (he realized he'd made a foolish mistake that cost the Rogues dearly, and reacted accordingly), but it never should have happened in the first place.

Digger: This one's tough, because he did a complete 180 in terms of personality after Crisis, and considering that I don't know if you can say he's really been out of character. I know there are some people out there who are unhappy about that change, and it's a valid complaint I'm sympathetic to, but IMO he became a much more interesting and more dynamic character once Ostrander revamped him and I can't really be mad about it. However, there's no denying that he really did become a different person…whether that's good or bad is likely personal preference. I will say that I really disliked DC ridiculing him and making him seem pathetic around the time of Identity Crisis so he could be killed and replaced, and wish they hadn't done that.

Mick: A full-on violent lunatic who revels in killing and hurting others. We saw it occasionally before the New 52, but the reboot turned it up to 11.

Roscoe: There are a few stories which make me a bit cranky, but IMO the only one that's done poorly is the presidential story. I like the general plot idea, but Waid had a poor understanding of Roscoe's character/personality and it sets my teeth on edge because it didn't seem the writer liked or cared about him much and it showed. From "the least of the Rogues" to the weirdness about him being from Brooklyn(??), to him being self-deprecating(??) about his intelligence and education(??) and his tops(??). The story would have been very good if Waid had characterized him properly, but botched it.

Hartley: For the most part, I believe he's stayed mostly in-character. He's appeared in some bad stories for sure, but I'd say the times he was truly poorly written were when the writer forgot or didn't know/care that he's suppposed to be reformed and heroic -- Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and Flash #775 come to mind. At least both were salvaged afterwards.

Axel: That Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp one-shot. That's the only time I've ever felt he was written out of character, though his personality has evolved over the years as he matures. Axel can be a vicious jerk on occasion, but casually murdering a bunch of college kids just for their stuff is IMO beyond him at his worst.

Sam: He's a weird one because he died before most characters started getting properly developed, so he never had any truly standout OOC stories (he did come across as a whiny dork when visiting Gotham with Digger, though). Then he was brought back in the New 52 and became something of a cipher, and I personally didn't start finding him interesting again until he left the Flash book and started appearing elsewhere. I don't think I could choose something for him aside from maybe that Gotham story, and that was pretty minor.

Mark/Marco: The times I can think of him being notably out of character were in that same rough era that plagued a bunch of Rogues: Flash The Fastest Man Alive, Countdown, and Salvation Run. It was just a bad period for all of them, and he came off like a thoughtless idiot in those stories. That isn't necessarily out of character for him because he was sometimes portrayed as kinda thick before Johns, but it's clear that Johns intended for him to be relatively intelligent and cultured so it does seem jarring in that era.

Evan: When he loses the moral compass he had since the beginning, and doesn't care who he hurts or kills. He was quite firmly against killing women and children….but that hasn't been the case for the past ~25 years.

Albert: The whole modern Hannibal Lecter routine, in which we saw a decent man who struggled with his darker impulses become a sociopathic bookworm without real development or explanation. It made him a lot scarier, but at the expense of his existing personality.

Owen: Leaving aside the weird revamp he got post-Flashpoint, I found he was most often mischaracterized by making him really stupid and incompetent. A fair number of his appearances in the Outsiders series were like this (which is why I don't love the series), and of course Blackest Night: Flash #3.

Roy: This is cheating, because the only time I've truly felt he was written out of character was just a cameo; he appeared and died within a page. It was his death scene in Flash v2 #183, but in that issue he seemed like a common thug with no resemblance to him aside from the joke about art and colour blindness. It was poorly done.

[the-sun-and-the-sea]

Imo its more of a mass thing, not individuals. Annie is not a very present character in the sense we don't learn much about her. She's an accessory to a male character which is not good in itself.

So because of how little page time she has, there's no single way to "correctly" characterize her. But I see a lot of hatred towards certain tropes people assign to her. Expressing annoyance that some choose to have her come from an unstable background, annoyance that she has a certain trait. I would understand if it came from a view of infantalizing her due to her mental health issues. I agree with the takes saying that she shouldn't be portrayed as incompetent, due to the implications it has about mentally ill people.

What I'm talking about is constant complaint about backstory choices people make for he r/traits they give her. It's been a while since I've seen people actually just enjoying themselves in the odesta fandom. It's good to discuss differing opinions and viewpoints but the way it is sometimes done on here does not open a welcoming space to discuss these views. Instead they appear to try and assert an objectively "right" way to portray her personality and backstory.

There are others who feel like this, I am aware. I enjoy the debates in the fandom. Whether she was a Career and volunteered, or reaped. Those things. They open for an interesting and broadening discussion. What, and this is only *my* opinion, makes the community unwelcoming is the aforementioned. Constant complaints about the unimportant things that do not serve purpose other than to just re-express personal fanfiction preferences.

I think people need to be more open to other interpretations of Annie.

Yes, I agree people should stop being ableist about her character. But a lot of the community doesn't seem to understand there is a difference between an insensitive portrayal of Annie, and one that they just dislike. To try and discourage the latter and make it out to be the wrong characterization is what makes myself and others feel unwelcomed.

I'm pleased that there is greater awareness of how to write mentally ill people. But the Odesta tumblr community has started to feel like a large but tight private club that you have to gain validation to get into. Rather than being a place to share love for a ship, it has become a community you have to earn a relevant place in by having the "right" opinions.

Not aimed at anyone in particular, I must mention. I have yapped a lot but I hope somewhere I am coherent. 💜

you know what i have been thinking about this too, and i totally agree. We should be wary of portrayals of Annie that are disrespectful but i think that can sometimes be conflated with portrayals that aren’t to our personal tastes.

I also feel like the fandom on here has sort of attributed traits to Annie that have become widely accepted which can make it harder for people to suggest new or contradictory ideas.

Also I’m just going to throw my own popular opinion out there: when it comes to characters like Annie who don’t have a lot of canon info, phrases like “no one understands her like i do” just perpetuate the idea that there is only one possible interpretation. I am aware people say that as a joke and that’s not necessarily a bad thing but like…i don’t know how you can say that when there’s not a lot there to understand in the first place.

Thanks for clarifying!

[voxofthevoid]

WAIT LMAO I NEED TO HEAR THE TEA ABOUT SUKUGO NOW! i'm not fond of the ship either, so i'm curious to hear your thoughts

Ngl, I did crack up at how this landed in my inbox a handful of minutes after that post popped out of my queue. Also looping in @zyukan since you wanted to know too. Never change, y'all.

The tea isn't particularly scalding, just my take on canon events, but negative thoughts/assessment regarding sukugo to follow, so people who like the ship probably shouldn't read further. Unless you're into that, I guess, but then don't come bitching at me. There's also some relatively positive references to satosugu.

Initially, the ship was something I tried out during my exploratory phase in JJK. I thought I might like it but quickly realized I really fucking didn't. Granted, that applied to all non-goyuu Gojou ships because I'm a man with a pattern. Anyway, after that, sukugo was off my radar until the Shinjuku Showdown, at which point I got soured on the entire dynamic.

It's partially the framing, partially the execution, plus how these interact with what makes a dynamic shippable for me. There are moments of levity in the fight, and both parties (well, mostly Gojou if we're considering the explicit text of the fight) are having fun, but I could sense absolutely no connection between them despite the narrative trying to frame it that way. The repetition of Yorozu's words falls flat in that particular fight; it's there in her and even Kashimo's fight against Sukuna—that desire to reach him to fulfill themselves, one way or the other. In Gojou vs. Sukuna, the same is stated by the narrator, but I don't see/feel it. They're both focused entirely on themselves, even as they're enjoying the challenge.

Outside of the narration, whenever we see Gojou's and Sukuna's own thoughts, it's focused on either victory or external factors. The other person isn't anything more than an obstacle. After the fight, Gojou's happy he died a fun death and clearly respects Sukuna for his power and skill, but his focus there is on the fact that he went out the way he wanted. Sukuna praises Gojou immensely, but it's the same kind of praise he gave Jogo after he killed him—not the same extent, since Gojou warrants more respect and admiration, but both the driving factor and manifestation are fundamentally the same.

I'd say the lack of any genuine connection there is best illustrated by how there's no little chitchat between them after Gojou dies, the way there was between Sukuna and Jogo as well as Sukuna and Kashimo. That's explicitly presented as "the rare phenomenon of connecting with a sorcerer during the height of battle," and you'd think Gojou and Sukuna would have that given how much they pushed each other during the fight, but nope, it's just some slice and dice and then buh-bye.

Granted, none of this is a lack of shipping fuel—quite the opposite, given how the ship has taken off after that fight. But it's shipping fuel that's entirely antithetical to what I find appealing in a pairing.

In that linked post, I said I prefer even satosugu to sukugo, and I'd say the salient difference is that satosugu is a ship I was neutral about but ended up disliking due to fandom, while sukugo is a ship I was neutral about but ended up disliking due to canon. The former is ultimately ignorable, but the latter really isn't. Canon does a great job of presenting Gojou and Getou as two people who loved each other, and I enjoy poking at satosugu in my own fics, either when referring to Gojou's past relationships or even as part of Gojou/Yuuji/Getou. With sukugo, even that little spark is not there—I wrote an entire threesome scene with goyuu and sukuita, and Gojou and Sukuna didn't touch except in violence. I love Sukuna as a character while disliking Getou, but when it comes to ships, satosugu is more interesting than sukugo. I'll be avoiding both ships religiously, however.

[mr-saturnnn]

HELLO AND @veeeffvee THANKS AGAIN FOR INSPIRATION. I LIKED YOUR GHOST FAN FUSIONS SM SO I DECIDED TO DRAW ONE. QUITE A LOT???

I even gave him a name

✨Shuffle✨

I love Chris and Kennith so much so. yeah I gave them and their fusion much info and headcanons. hope you enjoy it

let's get started

✨Shuffle✨ is the fusion of Christopher and Kennith

He loves TV shows, design, music, gothic architecture, and smashing mirrors and faces of his bullies with a metal bat.

He has a pink metal bat, a microphone and a megaphone (I thought that would be a good mix of Chris and Kenny's stuff).

Shuff is quite a joyful and cheerful fusion. Easy-going, big hearted and broad minded, but tricky if he has any intention. Usually he doesn't carry violence first— only as a defense. During self-defense, he becomes ruthless since he doesn't feel sorry for the aggressors— he will attack and move on as if nothing happened.

Shuffle is rather less (passive-)aggressive and less impulsive than Christopher but he is much more brave and sharper than Kennith.

From Christopher, the fusion has a pronounced theatricality and mannerism— it won't be difficult for him to make the right impression and play out the right emotion. The only difference is that Shuff is actually able to feel emotions unlike Chris. The latter has a long way to develop and express his emotions.

From Kennith, Shuff has a vision of the world as an opportunity to turn any of his ideas into reality. Shuff is not shy at all about experimenting with many things— the eccentricity comes entirely from Kennith.

Kennith himself is a simple boy, he is very sincere. Thus the fusion is very communicative, talkative and has zero hesitation. Similarly with Christopher— this goes well with independence from the opinions of others and the ability to protect himself.

The main difference between Shuff and both of them is that he has a basic trust in the world, although that sounds like a paradox.

Shuffle doesn't mind doing anything active and social. However, Shuff will never do what might be annoying for one of his halves. Kennith dislikes to be watched by a crowd, and Christopher can't stand to be idle, either. Therefore, we find a compromise and something in between.

Shuffle is independent from his creators, he has his own will, his own personality and own hobbies. He is not just an appendage of Chris and Kennith. Although Shuff is very impressionable and sometimes not the most stable, especially in the case of a mental breakdown of one of his halves (often Kennith).

~Headcanons~

▷ Christopher is 190 cm (6'3") tall. Kennith is 165 cm (5'5") tall. Shuffle is 267 cm (8.76), very tall fusion

▷ Christopher plays in the theater. Kennith is passionate about technology and works in a modest electronics store (he graduated from high school and gave himself a couple of years to save money for college). Shuffle has skills in both of these areas but he isn't such a fan of electronics. He prefers social and active work

▷ Christopher is still able to transform into his shadow (distortionist) form or simply summon dark arms from his back. Shuffle can do that too :))) and this is the best feeling for Kennith in the fusion, and outside of it too, hugging and cuddling with six arms is great

▷ Crispy's sharp tongue and his perception greatly affects Kennith both in the relationship and inside of the fusion. Learning self-defense and reflecting back on himself, so to say

▷ His pronouns— Shuffle uses both 'I/me' and 'we/us' depending on his mood

▷ Shuffle has scars on his body. On his hips and arms most of all, the wrists, forearms and elbows are covered with striped scars. But Shuff doesn't have burn scars— he is afraid of fires

▷ Shuff looks at his scars with severe sadness. The scars are a reminder of his most difficult time when everyone was against him (Kennith, honey, all these b!tches will burn in hell which you will set up for them together with Chris). Shuff felt how helpless Kennith was during that time, and feels bitter that he couldn't help him

▷ Shuffle likes to wear colorful socks

▷ Shuffle likes to crunch his fingers and all bones

▷ If you think about their relationship, Christopher felt very bad about Kennith's scars. Usually a sense of justice only works towards Crispy, but he was surprised when he felt the same towards Kenny. Chris is of the same sexuality as him, and he would have smashed all who disagreed, to pieces with a metal bat. Also Christopher taught Kennith how to use a bat don't change my mind

▷ If Chris acts on a momentary decision, Shuff thinks about his feelings here and now. That is, first he feels, and then decides. Chris lacks empathy (which he began to develop in the relationship), but Shuff has enough of it, especially for himself

▷ Shuff knows how to be cheeky, this is both toxic from Chris and hostility to the world from Kenny

▷ Shuff drinks a barrel of wine at once. He doesn't get drunk at all

▷ Yes, Christopher loves red semi-sweet wine

▷ The first time Chris and Kennith fused, Shuffle was unstable and had a slightly different design. For example, unstable Shuff had pink hair with parts of white and chaotic mixed clothing from both members

j'aime mon garçon

[rolloollor]

heyy if someone already asked you this my bad, but wdyt would happen if mallerollo have their roles reversed? like rollo is a fae and malleus is a human (or maybe a lizard beastman if it exists), it’ll probably open up to a bunch of things in their relationship since a human/half human is dominating a fae

No one's asked me this before, no worries! This is interesting. I'm trying to explore this role reversal in the vampire AU (with vampire!Rollo and human!Malleus). I've never really given fae!Rollo and human/beastman!Malleus much though to be honest. This concept leads to a lot of questions and I feel like a story with this premise might push so far into AU that it wouldn't fundamentally be a story about Malleus and Rollo anymore. Or, at least, Rollo would be a completely different guy.

If Rollo was fae, right, would he just be a peasant living in Briar Valley? Would he take Malleus' role as the prince and with the same circumstances, like being raised by Lilia? I feel like the latter would change who he is at such a basic level that he wouldn't be Rollo anymore. Plus, if magic is essential to who he is as a fae, then his brother would be fine, right? I think Rollo would be an entirely different person as a fae: his brother would be alive, he would use magic for mundane things as that's just what fae do, and he might not end up in any magical school at all. What would be the purpose of him going, say, to NRC if he's just some rando fae? I doubt he'd be interested in humanity, the same way he doesn't have a particular interest in fae as a human. In canon, he doesn't dislike Malleus because he's fae, he dislikes that he is essentially a representative of magic. And what would reason would he have to leave whatever hometown he's in? Maybe instead of Fleur City, he loves his fae village.

If we try to maintain the backbone of Rollo's character and ensure fae Jehan dies, the question is how. It doesn't seem like it's easy and we only really hear of fae dying due to age or because someone (humans) killed them. If humans went out of their way to slay Jehan, Rollo would not be as quick to forgive as someone like Lilia or Malleus. It's not the same as magic killing someone due to their own inexperience--that's a tragedy. Magic is a tool and essentially his death is like (though not the exact same as) a kid playing with a weapon. Humans going out of their way to kill a little fae boy who is just some kid? That's... I think someone could feel like eradicating humans was justified (but I'm not saying it would be justified.) A fae Rollo dedicated to human genocide would be terrifying. Removing magic from the world is a peaceful option in comparison.

As for human Malleus, that's easier since we can have some version of his loneliness and isolation present in a human backstory. That part of his character is very human in that real people can have similar issues. He could still be a royal, his parents could still have died tragically/vanished (at war with another kingdom maybe or even due to some kind of disease). Lilia can still raise him and his impending death can still agonize Malleus. Maybe, due to being raised by a presumed old man like Lilia, Malleus has trouble connecting with peers his age and instead prefers the company of his elders.

Now, I don't mean that the idea doesn't hold hold any interest for me. While I don't think fae Rollo and human Malleus would necessarily work (though I'm sure others might have better ideas to make it happen), the role reversal thing is definitely something I'm curious about. That's why I went with Rollo being the vampire (and thus being centuries old, way stronger than humie Malleus, and having a lot more sexual and romantic experience). Vampire Rollo, who naturally had to be human once, can have had a similar experience with Jehan, which I think is the thing that makes Rollo who he is. Though I am altering the Jehan stuff a little bit... I don't want to give too much away about the vampire AU, but I think it'll be interesting to see the difference in their interactions when Rollo is the one who can impose his will onto Malleus via power, vampire hypnosis etc, while Malleus has to rely on more human things like persistence.

Anyway. I hope this doesn't come off as, like, harsh, since that's not my intention at all. I just have a lot of feelings as it turns out. I would love for it to be able to work, I simply don't know how it would.

[elliepassmore]

For She is Wrath review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: retellings, female rage, revenge, schemes

Big thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was fairly entertaining and fast-paced. Despite requesting the ARC, I dragged my feet when it came to reading it, but once I started I sped through it and was eager to see what was going to happen next. Was it perfect? No. But it's definitely entertaining and definitely scratches the itch for scheming characters.

I'll preface this review by saying I DNF'd The Count of Monte Cristo about 50% of the way through over a decade ago and haven't touched it since, so I can't really say how well this book does at reinterpreting it.

First, I'll say that I found the concept of zoraat interesting and I definitely wish we learned more about the different blends and effects. Taking too much zoraat, however, can begin turning you 'dark,' and taking the wrong mix can kill you. I like that the zoraat comes in the same general types, but it's the way the different types are mixed together that creates an effect. Noor does a good job explaining it, but getting an entry-level explanation is different than having lots of experience.

Dania is in prison for supposedly murdering a tribal chief from the north. She insists she didn't do it, and since she's an experienced swordswoman and the victim was killed via poison, I'd definitely have believed it in the king's shoes...but what do I know? She's spent her time in prison being tortured and plotting revenge, so when the moment pops up for her to escape, she takes it. While she's definitely rage-filled, Dania also craves human connection, and is unwilling to let fellow prisoner, Noor, continue to rot in jail when the other girl is why she can escape in the first place.

Noor is in prison for her mentor having stolen zoraat from the emperor, which is considered treason. She's been kept alive because the prison warden, and emperor, believe she knows where the stolen zoraat was hidden. Prior to being imprisoned, Noor was an expert at mixing different zoraat blends, and thus is an invaluable ally. I did like Noor, but for someone who says they want revenge, she preaches caution and letting go more than I'd expect.

Most of the book is spent plotting and executing revenge plans. Dania seems to be the mastermind behind the planning, with Noor helping to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. I really liked seeing their plans come to fruition, and I think one of the highlights of this book is that Dania doesn't tell us her plans ahead of time, we simply see them in action.

The two girls have a very specific list of people they're looking to take down: the captain of the guard, Dania's ex-lover, Dania's father's best friend, and the emperor. The first two are actually easy enough to accomplish with some planning, but the latter two prove to be more difficult, not least because Dania seems to still have some lingering feelings.

I have to say, I was disappointed in the direction things took with the ex-lover, Mazin. Obviously you can't just turn your feelings on and off, but man does Dania struggle to keep her head on straight when he's around. She does pretty well for a while, but it's clear pretty soon after their first time seeing each other again that Dania is probably not going to be able to carry through her revenge fantasy. Considering Maz doesn't have a good reason for betraying her (and betray her he did), I would have preferred Dania stick to her guns and get revenge on everyone, not just the people she dislikes. I wanted to see her punish Maz. I wanted to see her be villainous. And we just don't get that.

There was a good twist toward the end that I 100% didn't see coming. I was quite surprised when it happened and enjoyed it. However, the twist really does just serve to push the anti-revenge narrative, and I think it could've been more interesting if it had been used as a mirror to show how revenge can go two different directions: one unjustified and one justified.

Overall this was an entertaining read, though I will say the opening couple of chapters reads as an early-2010s YA book. The later prose is better and by and large I enjoyed the plot.

[rozetheeuwu]

1, 2, 3, 8 for Saphira, Taka and Victoria for the chara ask game😄✨️

Thank youuuu lets go.

A long post so putting everything under read more The first three questions honestly kinda overlap with each other answer wise so sorry about that slkdgjdlgdf

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Saphira - I adore her entire character arc throughout the story in both main and post game (even if there's like one quest in the latter for her). Even if I don't agree with a lot of her views in main game I can obviously understand a 100% why she acts the way she does and has a certain mindset.

I can't really think of anything about her character I dislike personality wise at the top of my head, but I hate the dragon design on her outfit because it's a pain to draw for me if that counts.

Taka - Idk I do have a weakness for characters with daddy issues I suppose. Similar to Saphira I like his development (in both routes) throughout the story. I also do in post game, but I have some issues with how that's done in certain parts.

I'm just gonna continue on that last part by saying I don't like how in Reshiram route his personality just kinda does changes after being freed from the umbral state.

Like I don't mind the umbral part and how he acted during that regard, but from that point on he kinda felt different. I don't mind the change and I did enjoy him in that route, but I wish we had seen his character change into that after being freed from the umbral state and being like "Yeah, I guess I don't want to be like this anymore."

It just feels a little jarring, especially since the other characters that were also umbrals literally got nothing in that regard, like they spouted how they felt and when they were freed were like "Oopsie, let's never talk about this again theehee."

Victoria - I can't keep saying that I like the character's development throughout the story so I'll say something different for her.

I do love her immediate action to help others in need. She's caring person and genuinely wants the best for others.

Idk what I dislike about her, I guess the way she got almost nothing in postgame quest wise but that can be said for a lot of the characters.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Saphira - Love that her ace is a Dragonite. Idk it's often seen as this cute dragon, so to see someone with her personality have one is really fun.

Taka - I love his color scheme! The greysih washed out colors, then his scarfs pop out with the red color.

Victoria - I love that her team slightly changes in main game after Kiki passes. Losing the Pangoro (panda's are often used to symbolize ying and yang) saying how she lost her balance/inner peace or whatever. Of course I could be looking way to into that.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

I honestly kind of explained this already in the first answer kgjfdlgjfd

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Oh boy, that's a good question. I have some good answers.

Saphira - Honestly for her I don't have an opinion on any takes or whatever on her. I can understand why people don't like her, as long as they like understand why she does what she does it's not an issue to me?

Taka - I hate how people downplay Zekrom route Taka, in fact I prefer that version of him. I'm excluding the Tao Gauntlet team up battle, because I want to focus on his character.

The development of going from the son of the leader of Team Meteor who's bloodline is (was) important to the region to a man who just wants to live a normal life is so special to me and the fact he's not as loved in this route or even said that this version of him isn't good SUCKS.

Victoria - Okay (some) people hate how she acted after Kiki and saying 'that's not what Kiki taught her that's not what she would want her stude-' Yeah no SHIT. Too bad a traumatic experience changes people and forces us to not work on logic sometimes. Fuck she literally learns to accept what happens and learns in end game and to forgive herself in post game.

I'm gonna be honest, I bet if she was a male character people would dislike her less about the way she acts after Kiki died.

Okay yeah I'll stop there with that dfngfdlg

Thanks for the ask!!

[aeliussaionji]

Scattered thoughts on my relationship to media

I often muse "since criticism is subjective, how do we confidently asses a thing? Who decided what makes something 'good'?". hbomberguy's "RWBY is Disappointing" video is making me do just that.

Going in I expected him to reveal things I overlooked, as I can be pretty bad at noticing inconsistencies in media. But to the contrary, in the first half of the video, he focuses on talking about aspects of the show I don't care about, or even find endearing. The latter half(ish) focuses more on how the writers drop the ball in trying to tackle the subject of racism. In the rest of these scattered thoughts I am not referring to that- largely because I didn't watch it all at once, and much of my thoughts happened following my first intermission.

But first- something else entirely:

Some years ago, friends and I discussed our thoughts on the new star wars trilogy. The movie where Kylo and Rey team up for the fight in the throne room is easily my favorite of the three. The first entry was boring and the third one is a crime. But the second- it explores new ideas about the Force not being binary, has amazing visual scenes (some of which everyone hates for the lore implications), it has that friggin' amazing throne room fight where Light and Dark team up, after which there's a very compelling "we should join forces" moment. Given how much the movie had broken off traditional star wars thus far, I was genuinely uncertain what Rey would do, and in that moment I was more engaged than I had ever been with any star wars content before.

People who dislike that movie counter with "but why would the commander do X in scene Y? Makes no sense!" or "the whole sequence with the casino was bad". And to me that's… I literally don't remember those things exist until people complain about them. I am laser focused on what I enjoyed and tune out what didn't work for me. In the discussion I was having among friends, the primary complaint they had is how the second movie breaks continuity of the trilogy. As I see it, the first movie is unobjectionable and technically good, I never hear passionate criticism for that. It's also just a nothing burger. I've near forgotten the entire thing. Nothing happens in it to pique my interest. It seems that's true for others as well, given that any discussion of the trilogy I've heard very quickly becomes about what the second movie did wrong. Would the second movie be "better" if it were as unobjectionable as the first? Would the trilogy? Many seem to prefer simpler works with competent execution, which, I can get into as well! But when shards of creativity capture my attention, I find myself either forgiving flaws, forgetting them, or filling in blanks where no details were provided. So: I don't give a damn that the trilogy is now incoherent as a whole! I really, really, like certain scenes of the second movie and give zero thoughts to the rest.

To which my friend responds, "do that in a different story!" But does that mean they'd prefer something competently constructed and less creative, like the first movie was? After all, I see plenty of energy spent dressing down sloppy execution of the second movie, but hardly any energy is given to criticizing how creatively bankrupt the first movie is. In this dichotomy I've constructed, I feel I'm in the minority for preferring a creative mess.

(Also the reality of capitalism in Hollywood is that writers don't often have the freedom to just make new IPs; existing IPs are what's on the table and writers make due. That's how it's gonna be, might as well consider such stories to be standalone. Blame capitalism, not the writers.)

Back to RWBY: hbomberguy keeps complaining that RWBY's animation, writing, voice acting, songs, etc are all amateur. And, yeah man, it's literally a first work by amateurs. Halfway through his video, the point he keeps returning to is that the show has good ideas but the amateur efforts holds it back. And… yeah man, amateurs have good ideas sometimes? Ep1 pretty firmly establishes the level of quality the creators are bringing to the table, and I calibrated my expectations accordingly.

More than just calibrating my expectations, I can find the amateur aspect endearing, and I enjoy seeing the voice actors and animators and writers improve as the series goes along. It's like its own meta narrative- we the viewers get to witness the voice actors grow more confident over time. They come a long way from their early shy and clunky performances.

Now, I don't necessarily think that criticism should be "calibrated" to expectations, or that media should be graded on a curve. It's completely fair to judge what's on the table no matter who made it. I agree with basically all of hbomberguy's criticisms, I'm enjoying the detective work he has done to outline how and why the quality may have suffered, I'm laughing along with his jokes, and certainly his criticisms could help the team grow as creators. It's just that his delivery leaves me wondering if he's playing up his reactions for comedic effect, or if he genuinely can't engage with amateur efforts. This leads me to an introspective thought spiral- there are many examples of media I quite like where the execution is fumbled in some way. There are many examples of media with stellar execution, but I'm simply bored by the content. If I were to ever try and formally criticize something, what form should my criticism take in this framework? Should my criticism value execution over creativity? Excellent execution can be an art in of itself and I often do enjoy a job well done, but in general I don't derive much enjoyment from how technically well executed the art is. Should I, though? Are my media recommendations to friends worse off for my tendency to forget that which doesn't interest me? Should my critique spend time grading creators on form, even when the mistakes don't bother me personally, or is it enough to simply expand only on what I personally experience? Does loving content with poor execution mean I have mid taste in media?

There is another more personal layer to my thought spiral reaction. hbomberguy spends some time demonstrating that certain concepts in RWBY are not explained well and would be confusing to first time viewers. This leads me to think that I'm so accustomed to being out of the loop that I don't blink when something doesn't make sense, and in fact I might not even notice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

There are many works which avoid directly stating authorial intent, instead (hopefully) leaving enough information for the audience to arrive at the conclusion themselves. This is often stated as "respecting the intelligence of the audience". Problem is, I may not have enough context to work it out, and I'm not always on my A-game while consuming media. Probably most of the time I am very much not! I think I've come to assume that when I encounter a point of confusion, the failing is mine.

Me, enjoying a show as much of the subtler meaning flies over my head:

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 13

Chapter 13: “Traitor, Part 3”

Yes yes, bravo Norman. Very clever plan that would’ve fooled me as well, though I’m surprised Ray didn’t at least go check the first two locations, but I suppose he was just feeling that confident.

Of course it’s an unfair advantage to the anime for how it handled Ray’s laugh, since we can actually hear him (& i very much prefer said laugh in dub), but also because it’s just a better shot of his madness. The panel doesn’t show us much.

I know I always give credit to Isabella for raising such high grade merchandise (& yes i still hate how that sounds too) but is it fair for me to praise Ray as well? Surely he helped behind the scenes (if only just a tiny bit) in very casual and unsuspecting ways to both mom and the children, and I mean that like not only helping Emma & Norman slowly realize the secrets of the farm but perhaps assist with the other kids by improving their scores and their daily lives.

Sure he put all his efforts to just help Emma & Norman but we now know from ch181.5 that his initial plan was to save everyone. And granted, he’s the reason for some shipments due to tests involving breaking trackers, but he’s doing his best okay?

You dunno how badly I wished they would’ve had Ray just say “Yeah” again. I know it wouldn’t be true if he answered that way, but it would be funny. To me.

Alright, please have mercy on me Norman fans, but I think I finally realized the reason I’m not the biggest fan of your precious genius.. and that is because he was so ready to just use Ray and leave him behind. Ray. One of his very best friends. The boy who has been living in a hellish reality for the past six years, doing everything he possibly can in order to give Norman & Emma a chance to escape and survive at the cost of his own life. And Norman just decides.. nah, thanks but no thanks, traitor, we don’t actually need you.. like excuse me?

There’s many characters in this series who are ready to sacrifice everything (i.e. their own lives.. or memories) for the sake of others and then there’s Norman here who’s willing to sacrifice someone else (who he is very close to) for his own benefit. Yes I know Isabella basically does the same thing by raising the children to be essentially perfect meals in order protect her own life, but it just.. feels different to me. Probably because the latter is written as a fabulous villain who we’re supposed to dislike and the former is one of our main heroes we’re supposed to root for? But how can I cheer for him when said hero is trying to abandon another hero of the story? Granted, Norman didn’t know Ray was working as a double agent at first, but the fact he was so willing to ditch Ray at the drop of a hat just never sat well with me. But thank god for his chat with our literal sunshine child with a heart of gold before this scene even took place:

“I’d take that person with us. Because if we escape, that person’s life might not be guaranteed anymore. Also.. I want to believe in us. The thing with Gilda made me realize that. Ray told me to suspect everyone. And if he says that I couldn’t see through mom’s lies, I don’t have a comeback. But even if there is a traitor who is an agent of the demons, there’s no one among our siblings who is truly bad...(continued below)”

If it wasn’t for Emma and her optimism and devotion to her family, I firmly believe Norman would’ve kept quiet to use Ray and eventually abandon him, if given the chance. So thank you best girl for saving my boy’s life way before the escape even happened.

This cute flashback conflicts with the anime as ep1 did have Conny carry Little Bunny to the front door (it disappears after, somewhere), but the manga doesn’t show the stuffed animal in her hands at all, so this little memory makes sense in the manga’s case.

I believe this conversation happens somewhere during the events of chapters 10 & 11, between more tag practice and the library meetup with Don & Gilda, as we do see her carry a kid around in ep4 at least.

Favorite panel/moment:

He just looks so.. chill and unbothered, despite the situation. Ray’s just real intrigued that Norman figured him out so efficiently.

[sealeneee]

I know you’re working on the other ask but I had some more questions.

What is Doc/Katona’s love language? How does Katona respond to Doc’s nicknames of “beautiful” and “gorgeous”? Does she have specific ways she likes to be touched or talked to? Is she taller than Doc and if so, how does he feel about that?

And for Katona and Theron: what is their friendship like? What sort of things do they get up to? Does Doc ever get involved or is it purely Katona and Theron who hang out? What is Katona’s favorite and least favorite things about Doc and Theron?

this turned out quite long so i'm putting it under readmore jkhfakjfg

i think katona is more of a gift giver -- she'd buy or make anything that reminded her of her husband, while doc is more of an acts of service and quality time guy. physical touch is a thing for both of them.

at first katona find the nicknames a bit annoying, but starts to like them pretty quickly. she may not exactly share his views on her looks -- "i look fine, but nothing outstanding. aside from, you know, the veins and glowing eyes" is something she'd say -- but she appreciates it nonetheless. it's something nice amidst whatever disaster is happening at the time. makes her smile every time.

as for ways of being talked to, i think she prefers a casual, humorous banter kind of talk. unless we're talking about sex, in which case she has a praise kink.

touch is a bit hard to answer, but i think she likes having her hair braided/played with, and having doc's hand on her waist is one of her favorite ways of physical contact, alongside hugs and putting one's head on their partner's shoulder.

and oh YEAH she's taller. she's like 6'8, while i see doc as average or below average height. something like 5'9? having him shorter would be fun (not in a demeaning way though. he's just a little guy. stealing @rubensmuse's text here)

but would be too much of a height difference. so he's about average in my canon

i'd say he was just surprised at first -- not every day you see anyone, let alone a human, over two meters tall -- but quickly got used to it. he likes it, it suits katona's personality and skills in his opinion, makes him feel defended when she's nearby. she could snap him in half and he loves it and also knows that she wouldn't.

now for theron. i think they really bonded during kotfe/et, when they had to closely work together and got to know each other better. chaotic adhd siblings. i think most of their shenanigans either happen when theron asks katona to help him on whatever job he has to do, which can be a lot of things, from recovering intel to getting new allies or assets. we all know how theron operates, and katona isn't afraid of doing some insane bullshit either. also i think there is a lot of grabbing food and talking shit about everyone and everything. don't think doc joins on their bullshit too often, most times it's only if several alliance people are involved. group bullshit, if you will.

have i answered favorite things about doc? i think i have. poke me if i haven't. as for theron, i think what draws katona to him most is the similar chaotic vibe they have and the opportunity to bond over their weird relationship with the jedi order.

as for the disliked qualities, i think doc's vanity can get on her nerves sometimes. another thing that just clashes with her personality is his immense desire to help people even if it puts themselves in danger. sorry imperials on balmorra yall are getting stabbed. nevertheless she saves his ass on dromund kaas instead of moving to attack the emperor right away. that's because she's a little hypocritical. as a treat.

i think the latter is also a point of conflict with theron -- he is, despite his chaotic nature, a very goodhearted character, while she has... interesting morals. if it's not beneficial to her or isn't explicitly a part of her task it's very likely she'll stall doing the objective to help someone, i.e. the reactor on zakuul. there is no time to waste, she's super confused and fresh out of carbonite, and she didn't even cause the damn explosion! not her job. master surro gets killed as a weird way of showing mercy. and so on.

she also never lets him forget the """""betrayal""""" and especially the dumb haircut he got. the spy shenanigans greatly annoy her, and the hair was just ugly.

[sothischickshe]

Writing ask games are so fun!!

Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

I was JUST talking to a friend about this! Do you have a preference for narrative versus summary styles? Is either more challenging than the other?

Thank youuuu 🥰🥰🥰🙇🏼‍♀️ & 🤝I agree they are fun (+ maybe capable of shaking something loose 😅)

Although coming in hot with the hard question/s I see! 😅😄

Okay: dialogue vs description... I'm not sure I have a preference?! I like writing both, and I think both are challenging, especially to do well/succinctly.

And... ~it depends!! I find writing dialogue pretty fun generally, but if I'm writing Beth & rio speaking to each other my face gets grumpy & lots of stuff ends up crossed through bc I tend to violently dislike it when they speak (🤯🤯🤯) & also they're so taciturn, nonsensical, insane etc.

And description! I mean what even is that! Of settings, of ppl, of outfits, of how ppl are speaking (eg volume, pitch, facial expressions & movements etc)...? It's a huge topic to lump together as a preference no, and not to be that guy (just kidding! I love to be that guy!) there's no reason dialogue couldn't be descriptive eg 'what did the man look like?' '18ft tall with 7 feet and bright purple scales'.

So first of all: kinda false dichotomy maybe? But most of all: deffo false dichotomy, in that I think the really hard bit is knitting them together! Just back and forth dialogue btwn (espec only 2 characters, particularly of different genders so you can rely on pronouns as identification) isn't so hard, and neither is finding ways to describe whatever needs describing: and even if the latter doesn't come super naturally, I think if you can identify what needs more detail to bring it to life, that's a workable challenge. The heavvvvy difficulty is tying them together dynamically, & unforcedly!

~conversations (I'd say beyond only dialogue, bc there could be unspoken communication via say eye contact, body language, movement etc) can be a great way to pepper in descriptive texture (eg of the environment, the objects characters are interacting with, the characters & their physical responses) but it's a fine balancing act!

Typically when I'm reading a conversation, I want to know what the other person says next in response!! I don't always want a lot of superfluous detail abt where their fingers are dallying!! That can take the reader out of the rhythm of the dialogue! If there's a paragraph of motion and detailed description btwn each spoken line and/or relevant gesture, I might simply forget what the heck they're responding to by the time we get there!!

So I think ^structure & rhythm/pace (as well as what pov it's filtered through) become v important. If it's a "dialogue" scene btwn oh let's say 2 v taciturn annoying insane etc chars where actually only about 3 lines of speech are exchanged, having a lot of additional descriptive texture can help. If the responses are being eked out, then a lot of glaring & gesturing & looking away at other stuff indeed makes sense to be happening & makes sense that it would be noticed by the pov character. Whereas if it's a rapid fire screaming match, too much detail & motion can slow the scene down, be distracting for the reader & easily seem unrealistic for the pov character (eg why are they staring at the actions of each individual finger when it was established a moment ago they were glaring into another character's eyes? How are they taking in & enumerating micromovements when they're established to be apoplectic with rage & incapable of focus?).

I'm trying to type up a ragged paper first draft atm, and what I've been struck by for the dialogue + description sections is:

too many dialogue tags! In order to convey who is (still, sometimes) speaking + shove in some relevant description, there can end up being too much he says she says where it doesn't need to be specified, which can get clunky & repetitive, and inevitably slows scenes down

Too much/fussy visual detail -- description can be fun, but ultimately writing can never convey visuals the way TV/film/comics can. It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to make the reader 'see' the story, but again I think this runs the risk of slowing things down too much and also if everything is described in detail, it makes it difficult for the reader to pick up on what's important (but conversely, if only the important things are described, it can make it too obvious what's plot-critical)

Beth and rio are... There I guess? And... Wearing clothes maybe? And rhea is there!! Let me describe to you her entire outfit, including each pocket in vivid detail 😂 (the author might like one character more than the others and maybe she should just leave it like that cos she's right!!!!)

Sentences aren't that load-bearing!! You can't realllly just throw 24 commas into one and pray it makes sense, which can make knitting dialogue + description together more challenging, espec in terms of trying to keep sentence structure varied (eg not 12 in a row starting with a pronoun or name, or SVO generally)

I'm looking fwd to one day being at the editing stage to find solutions 😊 & I don't know if I'm cheating but I deffo vote for an idealised seamless combo as the really challenging bit!!

Which leads clumsily onto your second q, narrative vs summary styles, to which I'll start by saying (since it is the brand): false dichotomy...?

Firstly cos I'd probs term it ~scenic vs summary (given that I think summarisation IS still [or does still have? 🤔] narrative), but also bc they frequently operate in combination, and, as ever, ~it depends.

Dialogue (+ description) scenes are probs the perfect vehicle for the combo! In order to keep dialogue snappy & engaging, over realism, things like pauses or repetition are often culled from the genuine "spoken bits", and summarised eg 'he agreed & they organised the next meeting', 'he said her name again', 'she ummed & ahhed, until eventually admitting it'.

Additionally, I generally prefer summarised dialogue when characters are remembering something from the past, rather than them apparently having perfect recall of a conversation from ages ago. This also allows for them remembering in full detail one or two choice lines that were yelled @ them to stand out!!

Likewise, this switch is a device that can be employed to display information about the pov character/'s ~mood eg is there a full record of conversation with one character vs with others it's simply summarised? Or are their scenes with character/s when they're on good terms detailed vs ones where they're on the outs just staccato summaries? Or indeed vice-versa! What are they paying attention to, and what are they comfortable expressing even to themself?

Ppl talk about the difference btwn the two styles (& indeed showing vs telling) as if they're absolute, but I'm not sure I adhere to that. If you have a character who is v matter of fact (at least in some scenarios), their pov might come across as summarisation rather than scenic; if you have a character that doesn't want to engage with their interiority (at times anyway), scenes might veer twds the telling side. That's not necessarily bad!

Ultimately I think it depends on the type of story! Many will have both 'proper' scenes & summarisation, and I think they work particularly well in concert bc of the contrast! The latter is often used to convey the passing of time succinctly (although I think that can be done scenically too, eg with the length of them, or bg deets), and I'm a proponent of allowing things to be glossed over which arent super relevant bc the reader doesn't need to be bombarded with too much (as that makes it difficult to pick out what matters) & also cos otherwise it gets too bloody large (hell for author).

A seamless transition btwn the 2 styles (ie from general to specific) can be one of my fave narrative tricks to experience as a reader eg (à la 85% of dh Lawrence stories) 'he lived in a cottage, with a long lane behind it. Every day he took that route to work, climbing over the tall gate. The sun was shining, hot on his head & bright on the clover as he panted along', like oh OK we've arrived at the action in the middle of the establishing detail have we!!!! Conversely, it can be one of my most hated experiences to read (what! I contain multitudes 😂) eg a couple of proper scenes suddenly descending into summary with not even a line break between 🤯 (I suppose it comes down to whether it feels intentional, vs messy? 🤔)

& I think both have challenges! A story purely composed of 'real' scenes runs the risk of putting too much onus on the reader -- can you know that you've conveyed what you wanted accurately as the writer? And to whom? What implicit references could be clear universally? (is an audience of a different generation or region or experiences going to pick up on things the same way?) plus a bunch of similar scenes can become repetitive -- do you need to slog through each weekly meeting, or do you just want to display one or two, then establish that they keep going on? (repetition CAN be really powerful, bc if it's established then the breaking of that routine may be v striking, but you probs don't want eg the minutiae of several similar council meetings if they're not super plot relevant.)

But is summary too simplistic? Is stating things removing needed ambiguity? Are these things which could have been displayed elsewise and/or earlier?

I'm not sure I have a preference, and I'm not sure they can realllly be separated out (most proper snapshot scenes will have some degree of summarisation to them), and I think ~summarised storytelling gets a bit of a bad rap & is unfairly seen as juvenile where it can be such an effective way to move through time, can certainly be told v much via the pov character's lens, allows authors to skip over stuff which would bloat the story (or indeed paper over weaknesses) & can be so so effective in short stories.

Especially where the two are used in combination, I think it comes back to structure & pov for me. What's actually relevant to the story? What would the ~narrator bother to dwell on? How long do you want this monster to be?? What needs to be clear to the reader? If everything else is the other way, does diverting here feel weird or does the difference underline a change in mood/focus/whatever?

And ultimately: trying things out is the best! The more comfortable I've got/ten with being able to do different things, even if not to a very high level, the better I feel about the ability to utilise them as a tool!

Writing asks

[egg-emperor]

I'm happy that you can take that attitude and I wish more people were better about "I still love them even if there's a version I don't like" because, especially with long running franchises, there's always going to be different creative staff handling stories and characters in shared worlds and there's no way for it to ever 100% line up to how we see them. Add fandom to that and there are as many interpretations of a character as there are people who have been into the source material. It's best to look at it as the versions that matter to you will still matter no matter how many ways that same character exists to other people.

I've pretty much always been like that because there are so many versions of Eggman/Robotnik and so many different universes. There's actually always been more that I either dislike, just don't care for, or am only neutral on than like. But I don't inherently dislike or have a problem with them just for existing and being different when that's the point of them. It's just not for me depending on the changes they make and if they lack the things in personally interested in as a result.

But what I really dislike is when spin-offs and adaptions say they're supposed to be the same as the source material but then vastly change or misunderstand the characters and universe but still try to say it's accurate and faithful to it. That bothers me much more than ones where they actually intend for it to be totally different and separate. Because with the latter they don't have to be exactly like the source material and they can reasonably change some things up.

But I've realized recently that even that isn't really too big of an issue to me personally, compared to the actual source media itself suddenly being changed and treated as accurate and faithful, despite everything else prior in it showing otherwise. Such as recent events. And because of that, it's elevated my fears of Eggman being changed so much within the actual games that he becomes unrecognizable to who he was, though I hope I'm just being overly dramatic and anxious.

But I said that in the tag of that post because if it did happen, I'd still always hold onto the Eggman I knew and loved before, my passion is too great to just drop my love for him as a character. Proof is how unhappy am with major things in his Frontiers' portrayal but I still haven't. Though dropping the games would be possible for me, if it got to the point it was upsetting and not interesting to me anymore with those changes. I'd just remain a fan of the older games and version of the character.

I also don't mind different fandom interpretations as much as some think, I just wish people wouldn't come at me for having a different one, only liking and seeing him in a certain way, and having discomforts just like they do with mine, without being seen as a bad person. I wish I could express my opinions freely without demonization. I also dislike misinformation, when people insist things about game Eggman specifically are true when they're not and it's not a matter of interpretation and against blatant facts.

I'm never really asking for much when it comes to my own personal taste in Eggman portrayals, he's not a super difficult character to handle in a game canon accurate way when one looks at him without certain biases and for how he's presented in the games, rather than what one wants him to be. My preference in Eggman is just everything the game version has been in every canon game before Frontiers, because there's blatant contradiction without any explanation or development.

But that's a big bother to me because it's suddenly changing source media within the same media itself and isn't accurate and faithful to what was firmly established there. I have a lot less of a problem and complaints with completely different versions in non canon official media and fandom versions that aren't said to be one in the same with game canon Eggman, as sometimes that's the point. Though it isn't appealing to me personally then, who am I to say they shouldn't exist ya know

But yeah no matter what nothing is going to stop me from liking him as a character as a whole, no matter how many different versions exist or vast changes are made to the source media, though the latter would upset me. But the Eggman I know and love could continue to live on in my heart and creations with the amount of passion I have for the character, it's not like I'd suddenly let go of that just because I might dislike other things or even the different direction that my favorite version takes.

[savedpeople]

//✒️ the muse's canon //🌌 canon divergencies //🌓 crossovers //💟 the fandom's most popular ship that involves my muse //💙 crack ships //💌 multishipping //🗝 selectiveness in the RPC

Send an emoji and I'll tell you my opinion | Not Accepting | @wexarethewalkingxdead

We all know I have issues with certain writing decisions on the show, but I wouldn't have fallen in love with Negan as a character if not for the show's canon (he's the reason I decided to read the comics, if I hadn't liked him on the show I may have never read them), so I overall can't complain too much. I love the journey Negan goes on throughout the series.

I think canon divergence is inevitable in RP. Unless you stick strictly to canon events and canon dialogue without writing anything new, you're eventually going to canon diverge in some way, even if just a little. So I think it's fine. The only times I personally dislike it is when 1. their personality is changed so much that they're no longer recognizable, or 2. they're canon divergent in a way that directly affects other characters' storylines too, and the mun doesn't state this anywhere on their blog, so muns writing those other characters aren't able to know ahead of time.

Crossovers can be fun! I used to do them a lot more when I was newer to RP, nowadays I'm more picky about it. There's honestly so many characters from other fandoms I'd love to interact with, but I'm not comfortable crossing my muse over into other fandoms unless I know the fandom really well and can figure out a good way to fit him into the story, but I always welcome others to bring their muse into the twd universe (but I still likely won't interact if I don't know the fandom their muse is from.)

I'm not even sure what the most popular ship for Negan is anymore. I see Negan/Maggie, Negan/Rick, and Negan/Lucille a lot, those are probably the main ones. I love the latter two, I'm not as fond of the first one but I still see the appeal. There's another ship that I've seen a lot, but it makes me really uncomfortable so I'd rather not talk about it.

I think crack ships are fun, but idk if the meaning has changed over time? I've always understood crack ships to be ships that are super out there, ridiculous/funny, and/or technically impossible, like shipping characters from two different series. But nowadays I see people defining it as like... any ship considered unlikely. I've also never personally viewed "crack ship" as a negative term. Honestly I kind of miss when people would ship the wildest things just for fun lol.

I like multishipping, whether in RP or just fandom in general. Sometimes there'll be a ship I think just makes sense and I can't imagine those characters with anyone else, but I still love seeing what ideas other people have. And in RP, I'll never be single ship again, I had too many bad experiences with it. Multishipping just makes things easier and leaves room for more writing opportunities and exploration in my opinion.

Selectivity is perfectly okay. Every roleplayer is selective in some way, no one is going to want to RP with every single person out there. We all have our preferences, boundaries, and finite time to RP, and it's important we respect that.

[yume-x-hanabi]

*ahem* so for completely unrelated reasons what would be ur fave designs/outfits for wingul and gaius...

Haha, oh boy, I have opinions on costumes, mind if I use this post to ramble a bit 😅

In-game: So Gaius generally gets nice outfits. His default ones are both really good and fitting, the no jacket one is classy, swimsuit is hot (minus the stupid towel)... I'm a bit eeeh on the school one, aesthetics-wise, but it's funny as a concept. Gaius is too old for school anyway. Sports is okay, kinda bland. Would have preferred a kendo or iaido uniform or something bc sword, but what we got isn't too bad either. Cameo is not a costume I like much nor find fitting for him, but it works for the seiyuu joke (it's rare when I like cameo costume choices anyway).

There's only one I truly dislike, and it's the X1 default alt color. Like seriously, what the heck is that one??? Going darker/more black? Good idea! Purple? Awesome! ...Add some neon green? WTF. That makes him look like some alien or something. Who thought this was a good idea?? That color combination looks ridiculous af, I hate it. Make it silver or something, it would have been so much better.

Anyway my ultimate favorite is, of course, his last boss costume. It looks really good, the color scheme is awesome (white and gold really suits him, along with the red and black). It's really awesome.

Wingul, sadly, gets no new costume, which is a shame. The God-General got a wardrobe change in the last arc, why couldn't the Chimeriad? 😢

Mobile games: Sadly, Gaius is no Yuri/Ludger/Sorey/insert popular character, so he doesn't get a lot, but there's still a few and they're all good. Least favorite is his Rays White Day suit, not because it's bad (it isn't, it does suit him), but because his X2 default is already a suit, so it's pretty unoriginal; kind of a waste of a seasonal costume. At least the anni suit from Asteria is more different (and very good).

Kinda same about his spirit gear, like it's cool, I like how it's a mix between his last boss and default costumes, but it looks a bit too much like a simple alt color of the last boss one. More variety would have been nice (especially since one of the things I loved about the last boss one was how it departed from the 'red and black' scheme, which this one basically reverts to). But honestly it's still good, it's more about me wanting something more different.

Yukata is nice especially because it gives him a color he doesn't wear often, but sadly since it's a 4* we don't have full picture of it.

The best is his hanami one, absolutely gorgeous, great colors, nice hairstyle... just perfect. At first I wasn't too big on the coat but after looking more into taisho roman fashion I realized it fits (still prefer without it tho).

Wingul, surprisingly, gets a couple of costumes here. He looks pretty good in the idol costume (also, white suits him!), though the downside of it is that it's a generic idol crossover costume and many other characters have one too (plus side of that is that it matches with Agria's tho).

And then... there's the onsen costume. Which I love for the concept of it. But it's a mess lmao. Firstly, the color scheme is all over the place. The tie is horrendous, especially on that shirt. The... jacket thing (is it a haori? something else?) is nice, but combined with everything else just contributes to the overall ridiculous look. Seriously Wingul what happened, did Agria burn your clothes so you had to borrow a mismatch from other employees??? Ridiculous. It's a "so bad I love it" situation 🤣

Wish list: This category is like, if I could make Rays/Asteria provide more costumes for my faves, what would I like to see? Well, top of the list would be New Year or Lunar New Year outfits, the former because they're always so gorgeous and I'm jealous that plenty of characters I don't care about get them over my faves, the latter because it's a really cool concept and I wish they'd bring it back already.

Next would be Wedding for shipping reasons, but honestly it'd just be yet another suit so I can do without. Same for Orchestra, though I'd be curious to see what instruments Bamco would assign them (still not over trumpet Elize lmao). Halloween would be cool too. And pirates.

Also, for Wingul specifically, anything that matches with Gaius' existing costumes. Gimme that couple look, Bamco x)

idk if that answers your question lol, but those are my thoughts on Gaius and Wingul's costumes.

[twilightguardian]

I mean you're saying a lot of words but it doesn't erase a lingering RWBY problem that Raymond brought in:

Fundamentally, the White Fang shouldn't be antagonists and could easily be replaced with a human supremacist group. Keeping the WF around just keeps the same message about how there's fundamentally right and wrong methods of protesting and Adam/The WF at large are using the wrong methods so Blake can course correct.

Ray stuck too close to RWBY canon for V1-3. It's only now with V4 he's started diverging but it still means he has the skeleton of RWBY's problems.

Having a human supremacist group could be a good idea. But then it steers too far into the realm of "this is just America" with the KKK and the writers of RWBY and many fans of RWBY already are too focused on American centrism, a thing that I think is an issue.

Again, there are many routes to go over. No one is inherently the Correct one.

If you don't believe the White Fang or any individual within the White Fang should be antagonists, that is your right to think that as a viewer, just as much as its Raymond's right to think its interesting enough to play with from a writing perspective. We're all different, and we have different preferences and likes and dislikes. But that doesn't make it wrong and that doesn't make it bad inherently. I simply don't agree with you there. I can enjoy both within their respective contexts.

Stepping back and looking at this purely from a writing perspective...

What is more interesting?

A villain group who is villainous for the sake of hatred and being pieces of shit?

Or a villain group who is villainous because they might have a point?

Both of these can be fun, but Fixing is attempting to make RWBY more serious from the outset, so while the former option would be more appropriate to canon V1-3 of RWBY, I think the latter option better suits the more serious Fixing.

It's harder to argue against someone who has a justifiable reason to be upset, but the ultimate point is the theme of how far is too far? At what point does your commitment to a cause go overboard? Some people enjoy themes that challenge them, that reach into these hard-hitting dilemmas and questions. If these things don't interest you, then that's okay, but it's not bad to tackle them.

Plus, taking out the White Fang from the story destroys Blake's character and left with practically nothing. She'd have to be removed from the story, or drastically be rebuilt until she resembles nothing of who she used to be.

In Fixing, only Adam is in the wrong, not the White Fang as a whole. He used his charisma and passion to sway members onto his side, but they are a rogue faction, and we see in Fixing that he was vehemently opposed by both the White Fang and other faunus who were not WF. The White Fang's methods are not Adam's methods. And if someone thinks genocide and murder is justifiable, then I question their morality, as that can easily go into a slippery slope of a perpetual pendulum of violence.

I don't disagree that Raymond has issues because of the early volumes, but I don't think that this is necessarily one of them due to the intended tone. Despite his own reservations to it, I believe he could polish things a bit more if he decided to do an "HD Remix" of the early stuff now that Fixing has more people working on it. He could easily have kept RWBY a light-hearted story as what V1-3 had mostly been, taking out any references to racism and just made the villains dumb bad-guy-of-the-week types to fight alongside the monster-of-the-week grimm. But that's not what Raymond wanted to do.

I'd hope that somewhere out there, there is a light-hearted rewrite of RWBY that keeps to the more casual tone of the first volumes and takes the jank of the WF out, but I do know how grimdark some of them get that wrinkles even my nose.

If you don't think that I have a point with any of this, then I suppose we just simply can't agree, and I'm sorry that we couldn't see eye to eye on the issue. It happens. But I want to thank you for coming to talk to me anyways and having this conversation with me and being cordial.