#ofc their circumstances would be wildly different if i were to write it

[reineyday]

can't stop thinking about how cute a tangled au is for bloodweave. we've got the rakish, charming, swashbuckling, thieving rogue in astarion, and a magical, long-haired, interested-in-learning and extremely purple-coded wizard that's been sequestered in a tower for various reasons and has an animal sidekick in gale!!! it's perfect.

[calware]

i'm not a writer or a hal expert means so take this with many grains of salt but here are some tips i have based on hal fics i've read where i didn't like how he was characterized

he's not timid or nervous when talking over pesterchum

i saw a fic where he kept saying filler words like "um" and "uh" when that's not something he does. why would he do that? he has no reason to do it purposefully because that's not his style of speaking and he wouldn't do it unintentionally because he's an AI who doesn't need to rely on filler words

he's not a doormat

he tends to do what he wants despite the comfort or desires of others, especially if he thinks its for their own good. if you're going to have him follow someone's orders that he disagrees with, you need to have a good reason for why he's doing so

he is not intentionally cruel to others to a high extent

while he is frequently mean to dirk and jake, he isn't sadistic and wouldn't revel in severely hurting others. that doesn't mean he doesn't severely hurt people unintentionally (oh my god, unite synchronization had to be traumatizing), and he does his fair share of bullying and antagonizing, but it isn't "repeatedly stab jake and laugh as he slowly dies" levels of cruel. that said, there's nothing wrong with making characters evil for funsies <3 just realize that you're leaning into a very different characterization than the way he is in canon

he is a clone of dirk

i know this may seem obvious and if you are doing a fanfic that is within the same general premise of canon where dirk creates hal from a copy of his brain (there are ways to do this without involving AI), you'll be fine. if you want to do an AU where hal originates in some other way, like if he's a twin, or a non-clone AI, or what have you, he is going to be wildly different than he is in canon. you basically have an entirely new character! try figuring out how these differences would manifest and run with it! but at the same time realize that you might not really be writing about hal anymore. there are so many fics where dirk makes a robot and names it hal or there's a robot unrelated to dirk named after hal (I WILL NOT SAY THE NAME OF THE FIC BECAUSE I HATE IT BUT SOME OF YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT...) where the only actual similarity to hal in canon is the names, the fact that they're AIs, and maybe they're red too. girl you made a new character. that's an OC. that's called you made an OC. that's your robot OC that happens to be named hal. (again, not saying you shouldn't do this, just keep in mind that this is what you're doing and that it might have an effect on how you should characterize and/or treat him)

the flirting between him and roxy was the two of them essentially using each other for their own benefits

i don't know if this is just me but i think people sometimes overestimate the healthiness of hal and roxy's relationship. i'm not saying they secretly hate each other but i wish more people took the flaws of their relationship into account if this aspect of their relationship is part of the context of the thing you're writing. they were not attracted to each other. roxy had a crush on dirk and was using hal as a way to deal with those unrequited feelings. hal flirted back because he knew it pissed off dirk. this is their dynamic. (if you're writing an AU where they never flirted, then the context will be different ofc)

i also want to add that i think it's best to think of it not as "hal isn't [x trait] so i shouldn't write him that way" rather, if you really want to write him that way, ask yourself "what circumstances can i put him in that would justifiably make him act that way?" so for example, even though hal isn't a doormat in canon, maybe you can find a situation or circumstance to put him in that would change his behavior. you can absolutely write these things, just back them up so that they feel natural and believable

i don't know if any of this makes sense, i hope i explained it clearly enough

What do I need to keep in mind when writing Hal?

the love you have for yourself and the world around you ❤️

[swimminginanunknownparadise]

Bittersweet reunions

pairing: Soren x f!reader summery: after you choose to join Callum, Ezran, and Rayla on their journey and travel the kingdoms so save the dragon egg, you finally get to see your best friend again, however the circumstances aren’t at all what you’d dreamed of.  a/n: so like, I binged tdp in like two days, maybe three. I’m obsessed to say the least, so ofc I had to write something for my favorite child of Viren! This is very much not edited so if there are grammatical errors I’m sorry but I’m only human… a very tired human. I’d give you an idea if what I’m gonna write next but I don’t know either! I am working my way through a very, very… very long Zuko oneshot however I have no idea when I’ll actually finish writing that so there may be more smaller ones coming in the future. I write when I feel like it, so there’s no telling tbh. I love all y’all, so please keep reading my shitty fanfics please *puppy dog eyes intensifies*

—

“Is this the afterlife?” You had been sitting with Bait and Zym shining your sword when you heard that all too familiar voice from the other room. Your sword clattered to the floor and poor Bait, who had been snoozing next to you glowed a nice berry red color when his eyes opened to look around for the source of the noise that had so abruptly pulled him from his sleep. Zym was already on his feet, eyes darting between you and the corner. His tail wagged back and forth eagerly, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Your fingers ran across the smooth cloth you were holding, eyes wide and watery. 

The blonde man, who had been staring at the boy king, whipped around when he heard a loud clatter from the room over. His hand fell to the hilt of his sword, the unknown spooking him more than normal. Sure, usually he would exude confidence, pretending he knew exactly what he was doing. But after what he seen? What his father had done? The unknown was terribly frightening now. His eyes were looking around wildly now, like a spooked horse. The others just watched him, unsure of what they could say or do to help ease his troubled mind. 

You had left your sword laying there, too swept up in your emotions to care about it. You jumped up from the step you’d been sat on and flew around the corner, unable to compose yourself even slightly. Zym ran after, chirping excitedly. “Soren?” Your voice cracked when you finally saw him. He looked different, tired. The stubble on his chin made him look older, and there was no mistaking the sadness in his eyes that aged him even more. His shoulders were slumped, he looked troubled. Your heart hurt for him. It hadn’t been that long since you two last spoke but leaving him again nearly broke you. And now he was standing right there and it nearly left you breathless. “Soren, you’re here?!” You felt hot, happy tears well up in your eyes. 

“(Y/N)?” The anxiety on his face melted away, being replaced with just about the brightest smile anyone had ever seen him have. His whole demeanor changed, it was lighter now and everyone could see it plain as day. Before either of you could say anything you sprinted forward, no hesitation at all. His arms were open as you barreled into him. You nearly would have knocked him over if it weren’t for huge dragon arm that had been there and helped him find his balance again. He was too overwhelmed with all his emotions to notice he’d needed the help. His arms wrapped you up in a tight embrace and all he could feel was relief. Relief because you were safe and sound and all in one piece.

His hand cupped the back of your head while the other remained around your waist. He held you as close as he could, as if he was scared you would disappear like the illusions that Lujanne had conjured up back on the Cursed Caldera. You gripped at the back of his shirt collar and stood on your tip toes in an effort to bring him closer. “I’m here,” he said softly. “And this time you’re not leaving me again, got it?” He pulled away from you and you nodded. 

“Loud and clear, Captain,” you sniffled and smiled up at him. He looked you up and down attentively, just like he’d done every time you’d seen him. You looked exactly like you had the day you parted ways. Still so confident, the same kind smile that he fell in love with, your eyes still lit up like they did whenever you were really happy. The fact that you were smiling like that all because of him, it made him feel all kinds of warm fuzzy feelings.

“Erm… Soren, not that I’m not happy to see you but… why are you here?” You placed your hands on his shoulders and his face hardened. Your brows furrowed when all he could say was “we’re all doomed.” Rayla tensed up behind you and Callum frowned, neither knowing what to say. Soren just frowned, holding you as close as he could. This wasn’t like him, he’d never been eager to show so much vulnerability in front of people before, whatever he knew had really shaken him up. “Hey, let’s get you a nice hot cup of tea. Sounds good, yea?” You looked up at him again and he nodded, just glad he hadn’t been turned away by Rayla and the others. 

—

“It’s my dad,” he sighed, gazing into his mug. He looked… sad. Oh, what had that horrible man done now? Callum was the first to interject. “Lord Viren, he’s here? In Xadia?” He suddenly looked anxious and Soren continued, not looking up from his cup. “He’s rallied the armies of four kingdoms. And it’s not just that.” You placed a hand on his shoulder and he leaned into your touch as he continued. “We went to the Sun Elf place and- and my dad, he stole some kind of horrible power. And he used it to transform his armies into….” You squeezed his shoulder and he closed his eyes with a frown. “Into something else.” 

Rayla and Callum shared a look, both troubled and worried. You just listened, barely able to comprehend what you were hearing. You always knew that his father was very… abrasive. But you didn’t think he would do anything like this. “What do you mean?” Ezran looked up at him, he was apparently the only one brave enough to ask. Soren looked at him and licked his lips, as if the words would come to him that way. After a moment to collect his words he spoke again. “They’re stronger, angrier, big claws,” his eyes were wide and panicked now and it unsettled you. “He’s made an army of darkness! And he’s leading them here…” he looked ashamed but he nodded to Zym with a deep frown. “For him. The Dragon Prince.”

Everyone looked at one another, taking in the new information that Soren had just given. It was a lot, some of it was unbelievable, but with his father nothing was impossible apparently. The sound of tea slurping cut through the uncomfortable silence and you looked at Soren, he was unaware of everyone’s eyes on him and you just sighed. When he was done he looked at everyone again and shrugged. “I did use the word doomed.”

—

You had walked back to the other room and sat on the step. Zym had trotted along with you and curled up at your side as soon as you yourself were settled. Bait was already back asleep and you made sure you were being as quiet as possible when picking up your sword off the stone ground. “Hey, (Y/N)?” You looked up at Soren, he was standing in front of you with a timid smile. “Yes, Sor Sor?” You grinned up at him and he huffed at the nickname you’d been calling him by since childhood. 

“I don’t think you can shine your sword without this.” He presented the cloth square you’d dropped in all the excitement of his return. You smiled at it and took it, dropping it in your lap. And before he could pull away, you grabbed his hand and pulled him towards you, your face soft with worry. He looked surprised, but he sat next to you anyway, not about to complain about getting to spend some extra time with you. He didn’t know why you would turn him away, but he felt like it was something that would happen considering he basically invaded Xadia with his corrupt father and his army. The two of you sat in silence for a moment, there were a million things racing through your mind and you didn’t want to overwhelm him. He was in the same boat, though you weren’t aware.

His hands were in his lap and he was looking at the ground when you spoke up. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” His brows furrowed and you hurried to continue. “I mean, I don’t mean it in a bad way! I’m not surprised that you left, you’re too good for your father and what he does. You have a better heart than him, that’s one of the things that I love about you.” You glanced over at him and he smiled a little, but it was a sad smile and you placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a good man, Soren.” Part of him didn’t want to believe you, after all he was at one point fully willing to kill the princes to please his father. He didn’t think that was something a good man would do. “As bad as the circumstances are, I'm still glad you're here. I missed you, more than I care to admit.” Your cheeks felt hot and he smiled at you. 

“I missed you too. I didn’t exactly know you guys were up here so seeing you was a happy accident.” He scratched the back of his neck and you nodded quietly. “I didn’t even really expect you to still be in Xadia. You guys seem to work fast.” You giggled and shrugged. “We do work fast, but not that fast.” He nodded and kept on smiling at you. You smiled back at him and you felt something bump into your hand. You quickly looked down to find that his had been inching closer and closer as the two of you talked. Your face got hotter but when he rested his hand on yours you didn’t pull away. He was looking at you so you looked up at him and you just looked into those pretty blue eyes you loved so much. He intertwined your fingers with his and you couldn’t help but lean in. He met you halfway and pressed his lips to yours in an only slightly awkward kiss. 

You weren't exactly sure what to do with your free hand so you just rested on his cheek and he did the same. You pressed on and scooted a little closer and he moved his hand to your waist. You heard Bait grumble from behind you and you slowly pulled away with a dreamy sigh. You were both red and you couldn't help but giggle at the look of awe on his face. “I never actually thought that would happen.” He sounded like he couldn't believe it and you just giggled again, too flustered to form actual words. “What?” he wrinkled his nose up a little and you just shrugged with a big dopey grin. “I liked it.” He nodded slowly and smiled yet again. All the two of you could do was smile or grin because you were just so simply happy with each other, despite all the bad that was going on at the moment. Without a second thought you kissed him again and he pulled you closer. You guys were just getting into the groove of it when you heard an awkward cough from the other side of the room. You pulled away quickly and saw Callum looking at you with a burning red face and a sheepish smile. “Hey, uh, we're all talking about what our game plan is… are you guys ready?” You both just nodded in unison. He nodded and hurried away to leave you two alone again. You quickly stood up and went to leave but he caught you by the hand and pulled you towards him. 

“Hey, can you promise me something?” He wrapped an arm around your waist and you looked up at him with a questioning look. “Promise me you’ll make it back to me by the end of this, ok?” You nodded, despite your better judgment. Runaan had told Athari he’d be back and that didn’t end up that way. Anything could happen but still, you agreed and told him you would. “You better come back to me too, then.” He nodded and pulled you into another kiss, far more passionate than the previous ones. 

[inknose]

mdzs read diary part IV, the end

It’s inspiring how much self care wwx is gonna finally get now that his husband will go along with whatever he does, so he’s gotta look out for lwj’s well being if not his own. that is emphatically the STUFF

dragging my hands down I face as I read this, after all these chapters of getting up close and personal with ghouls bleeding from every orifice, slaying ancient beasts, rebelling against the entire cultivation world, the two of them are absolutely paralyzed by middle school crush sleepover math

chicken

he actually drew kissy doodles .... he....

IDK I THINK I JUST DOCUMENTED THIS PART CUZ I WAS STILL SCREAMING you cant expect me to have very useful things to say at this point

this is torture you are both so mushy you are so GONE

This part really stood out to me, it’s an attitude I feel like wwx implies with his inner narration a few times but most clearly says here: he’s not one for allowing himself to exaggerate how bad his circumstances are/could be even a little bit - he’s already lived through some extreme low points and found a way to keep going, so he never makes sweeping statements about what he couldn’t live without (Inner JingYi: you’re supposed to say you’d be lost without him here!!!) Instead he seems to accept as a given that being alive doesn’t guarantee him any pleasantness or joy at all, and as a result his feelings toward being in TRUE LOVE are surprisingly pragmatic, but also colored with such gratitude. There are a lot of things in the novel that struck me, like this, as being just a little to the left of familiar tropes/sentiments, and were more touching for it. Whether it be the influence of culture difference as opposed to what I’m used to reading in most western romance stories, or MXTX’s unique outlook, or a combination of both, it was really refreshing and made me pause over it. Not “I can’t imagine living without you” but “I could be living without you, but instead I get to be with you and I think that’s the best thing that could happen.”

ADJFDKFJ THE UST BEING SO STRONG THAT EVEN THE VILLAIN COMMENTS ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF EXECUTING HIS EVIL PLANS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WILL NEVER FAIL TO MAKE ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF. hes like god damn! here I thought I had problems

it was at this moment that I realized we were doing this Now... I’m still recovering. What a scene. I am so glad I saw the most incredible fanart soon afterwards, bc the fact that someone has already drawn a perfect comic of this part means I don’t have to

I love you so much, you are so annoying, you are perfect... I like how he’s been experiencing openly requited love for all of ten minutes but he’s already figured out how to weaponize it to piss people off

doing!!! his!!! job!!!!!

ahh... it’s a really good story. JGY is a great character. One of the most interesting differences for me between drama watching vs. novel reading experience is that without an actor to bat his vulnerable doe eyes at you and smile faintly with his cute dimples, the book does not go much out of its way to try to lull the reader into a false sense of security around him or *endear* him to you the way the show does. But just by seeing events through wei wuxian’s POV, its still enough to evoke pity or understanding towards him. The overall impression is a bit more detached though, there’s less emphasis on the spectacle of how he could manipulate everyone closest to him and more of a general feeling of resigned tragedy that everyones the worst on this bitch of an earth.

I CANNOT DEAL WITH YOU FOR EVEN ONE MORE SECOND!!!!

I clearly paused to take note of less and less parts at the end & the extras due to: a) too excited to reach the end b) too spicy to photograph and c) too sleepy cuz I kept reading in the middle of the night. but I absolutely took the time for Bro We Are Teens appreciation corner:

I’d absolutely read 40 more extra chapters of their monster-of-the-week field trip antics.

god... poor Jin Ling now basically has to deal with divorced parents that talk shit about each other to him whenever he is saying with one of them. except they are both his uncles. just a disasterhood of all uncles from start to finish. AUUUGH wei wuxian and jiang cheng have fucked me up completely, I dream of them reconciling but I also REFUSE to believe it would ever be easy. let me know if theres a fanfic that absolutely tortures you for decades before they hug

HAHAHA oh no this man ain’t making it to immortality thats for damn sure. HE’S JUST GONNA TRY AS HARD AS HE CAN HIS WHOLE LIFE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM BUT THEYRE *MARRIED* SDLKFJSF ohhhh it’s too funny, like... the mundane domestic family drama IN the fantastical swords and sorcery setting is what really ratchets up these things from amusing to fucking hilarious I think

aaaa the end... final random thoughts? No not final, I would like to please keep discussing at length and exhaustively, all the time please - CQL has gotta be one of the best TV adaptations I’ve seen. ANY adaptation of anything would be lucky to be so good!! reading the novel has just made me appreciate it even more.

- I don’t think I can do justice to what I find most fascinating about comparing the two versions briefly, to do that I need to get drunk and ramble at my friends for hours but... the condensed version is something like this. Really all the significant differences between the two versions (besides the ones which can be attributed to censorship and therefore aren’t worth discussing) are a side effect of the structure of how the story is told - there’s barely anything changed arbitrarily. Aside from having a cold opening, the drama sticks to a very linear version of the story, and I think for a TV show or film, that’s probably the best way to do it. We see everything, we get shocked and tricked and betrayed and surprised along with the characters, we feel the biggest impact at the climactic scenes having experienced all the build-up. The novel on the other hand is not only much more non-linear in WHEN we learn bits and pieces of information, but that information is also obfuscated under wei wuxian’s multiple layers of Unreliable Narratoritis, which are as follows: 1) difficulty remembering things because of personality/avoiding painful memories/actual memory loss, 2) No Homo Goggles still on, and 3) a wry sense of humor that makes the reader unsure of how much they can trust his attitude toward things, especially near the beginning. The experience of reading is a puzzle the reader has to mentally piece together through all of the above listed camouflage, and the puzzle itself is a three-sided mystery: One - How Bad of a guy was Wei WuXian really, and how exactly did all the bad stuff in his life go down; Two - wangxian epic pride & prejudice gambits; Three - political murder mystery. (I love stories like this btw... though I fully admit I’m glad I watched first this time bc it might have taken me a long time to tackle otherwise.) Because of this, where the drama wants to pull you in and submerge you in all the most potent emotional parts, the novel in direct contrast deliberately side-steps around these things and asks that you hurt yourself by filling in the blanks. In fact the more intense emotions and painful memories involved, whether it be his relationship with jiang yanli, his DEATH, the darkest days of war times etc, the more the novel evasively withholds details. I actually really like both styles of storytelling but each one is obviously way better suited to its medium. ANYWAY.... THATS BASICALLY WHERE MY BRAINS AT WHILE IM READING GAY SWORD WIZARD BOOKS

- The extras are so saturated with domestic married bliss that it’s a good thing I stopped taking pictures because I’d just take a picture of every page. this is too much for me to take... I did jump the gun a few times and read a few fanfics while I was still mid-read of the book (I tried to hold out but alas I am mortal) and at one point after finishing I was like “wow what fic was it in where lwj says something cute and wwx kisses him in public but they’re in the corner of the restaurant so no one really sees... OH NO WAIT that was actually in there.” and ... and that’s the LEAST OF IT... *stares into the distance* theyre married wow

- I ofc couldn’t help but see a few vague blogs beforehand so honestly I was braced for something like, wildly ooc for the sake of porn to happen in the extras... I definitely appreciate how the incense burner porn interludes could be uhhh a lot for many people and not my personal cup of tea in terms of smut however [here follows the words of a poisonous frog who has dwelt her whole life in the rainforests of BL] the concept is also surprisingly SWEET SDFLKJF like wwx sees lan wangji’s darkest mixed-up violent teenage fantasies and he’s just like aww babe you had a crush on me!! just... good for them

- I swear I’m not gonna rehash every cute married thing they do but wei wuxian grading papers in the tub........................rEALLY GOT ME

- I want to Draw - ok thats enough if I keep going I’ll just write “wei wuxian grading papers in the tub” seven more times probably

[schtroumpf-a-lunettes]

under cut because long!!! this is roughly a discussion of like, children’s media (or something propped up as children’s media/parodying a kid’s show) being depicted with grimdark and/or mature content or w/e. I both agree that these ideas are often completely unoriginal and boring and stuff and bad. but also it can be done right and have plenty of merits. and in saying that, that’s not what my fic is trying to do as well though

I think I’m edging (relatively) closer to looking like a little bit of a hypocrite if I agree with the notion that portraying characters from children’s media in dark situations tends to be boring/unoriginal/edgy and I don’t know how to, fully express how much that I... well for one thing that’s not.. what I ever really want to go for. many of those kinds of portrayals are generally irreverent, wildly OOC, edgy for the sake of being edgy, purely for shock value. Sometimes the person doing it doesn’t rly know anything about the source material beyond the most basic surface level, and it furthermore can be boring if it doesn’t offer any meaningful commentary. ofc those things don’t usually intend to offer meaningful commentary, they just want the shock value of something like “haha the SMURFS but VIOLENCE/ADULT CONTENT, wild right???”, and they achieve that very basic goal, and it can be boring. it doesn’t tell us anything, it’s just, shock value and that’s it.

Ok I mean... it DEPENDS, sometimes (plenty of times) I actually find the Subverted Kids Show trope incredibly enjoyable, but like, hm. some ways of going about it are more tasteful than others. I guess part of that is personal preference though I do think there is a small amount of objective guidelines involved too

and you can still make insightful commentary on a text aimed at children through a Subverted Kids Show Format while having the characters be ooc! Robot Chicken smurfs (which I will discuss more in other posts) for me oscillates between making a surprisingly good commentary sometimes and mindless (but fun(ny)) scenes to, very tasteless/bad scenes that don’t do much imo. well its goal is to be funny and that’s it I guess, and it hits that goal some of the time

I guess the exact opposite of the surface-level shock value joke can also be super boring though. a text/theory that takes itself super seriously and tries to explain to you how Actually This Kid’s Show Dark! can possibly be even worse. e.g. “characters in kids show are just trapped in purgatory/it’s all a coma fantasy!!” or whatever. But I think, part of what would make a thing like that Bad is a fundamental misunderstanding of core parts of the canon and/or a... lack of regard for canon in the sense that you’re really willing to sit here and write of everything that the characters have ever been through as being Meaningless because it was all just one character’s dying memories? that completely robs the text of its power. Like saying Homer’s been in a coma since like season 5 of the simpsons. As a certain podcaster that won’t be named said because I have, a lot of bones to pick with them lol - there’s something so redundant and pointless about saying “everything that’s happening in this fictional show isn’t real”. what does it realistically.. add, kinda thing.

But I don’t think there’s cause to be automatically dismissive of anything that tries to.. approach children’s media from an angle where you can construct it as being just a little bit more sombre than it looks like on the surface or something? idk. because there can be worthwhile things to explore that make interesting commentary on the text, where you NEED to introduce less-than-happy concepts to derive them. (Sometimes the kind of commentary that deconstructions try to make is, not so good and misses the mark, although it’s not always the case.) there’s one argument against this which is like, Why can’t you just let kids have things? It’s not that deep. You’re trying to put a sinister spin on something when... it’s just not necessary. Why add to the darkness of the world. let people, especially kids, just have this bright and pure thing.

And I completely agree with that sentiment, honestly. The smurfs are good, happy, innocent, that’s the way they are and should be, don’t try to take that away from kids or people. Like 80%-90% of my enjoyment of the smurfs is all about that, I’m in full agreement, I just want happy little innocent elf society adventures and I’ll be happy. Although. It’s not like smurfs was always happy. there are plenty of tearjerker moments in the show, plenty of disasters and bad things happen to them (that they readily overcome by the end of the episode). and here I guess you also have to avoid patronising kids in thinking that only happy and nice stuff can be for them. as in, the smurfs does have really sad and upsetting moments but that Obviously doesn’t make it Not For Kids.

I think that in addition to that, slightly darker themes can be explored and exposed under certain extreme circumstances if smurf society was subject to it. And I think this in no way invalidates their tranquil, happy status quo and good nature as a society as we know it. Also it just so happens that my inspiration for fic happened to revolve around negative ideas instead of positive despite me, in fandom, just enjoying the positive/light-hearted usually (I think?). whoops. but these kinds of outside-of-canon things don’t do anything to the canon, canon stands as it is. I try my best to stick as close to canon as possible kind of, as a kind of canon purist, haha, in terms of characters and realistic reactions.

another thing is, for a positive kid show like smurfs, to have something really bad happen might seem off, but, one of the things I want(ed) to explore is “if x thing happened, how would the characters deal with it?” (I think this point will be, more pertinent to the next smurfs fic I have lined up once I finish the current one I’m working on. heh, heh, heh.)

I mean really bad stuff happened in the cartoon but it was never too extreme and it was resolved by the end of the episode normally. so for something long-term... yeah.

I also think occasionally I’ve done like. stupid smurf stuff that is kinda ooc over the years. and part of why is I think something happened where I was so anti-doing that that it kind of looped back around to the point where I Did it because, of course, I acknowledge how far-removed from canon it is that it therefore doesn’t mean anything, or something like that. and It Amused Me. and sometimes shock value smurfs at least done Somewhat tastefully is amusing to me too for that same reason because (if) it’s harmless fun or something

now this whole thing I’ve written up is mostly general thoughts and not actually much related to my fic. just, writing the fic has got me thinking about this kind of stuff so some of it is vaguely related. But fundamentally I don’t want my fic to be super dark. in fact, there are many very dark storyline paths that I could have taken which I actively chose not to, because those paths were not what I wanted this story to do. I just want it to be a fic where the smurfs experience a lot of hardship that they struggle to overcome, and I want to keep it very closely aligned to canon where I can, while other stuff changes, with.. time. Like yea there are definitely some dark elements though haha. But I’ve read some dark smurfs fic and haha.. don’t think mine really shapes up.

Like this whole post might sound like me being defensive or something, but it’s not because the premise of my fic isn’t “Edgy Grimdark Smurfs” or anything like that, and therefore that’s not a concept that I need to defend for my fic. and I don’t need to be on any kind of defense because nothing anyone else has said has prompted this post, haha. I didn’t set out to write Dark smurfs fic, I set out with an idea of some challenges the village could face and followed through with how I thought the village and its inhabitants would/could react to them, or some of the possible ways the village could react to them. And IF the results turn less-than-smurfy, I still follow up on them if I think it is realistic to the canon for it to happen and an interesting path to explore. Like I’m not really taking the world and adding/forcing dark elements in, I’m bringing out underlying currents that I already saw present when observing the society in the cartoon. Maybe I added some stuff to flesh things out, but the core ideas I bring out have basis in the cartoon imo. Anyway yeah like 70% of this post isn’t related to my fic, just kinda general thoughts type thing as I said lol.

Oh yeah also it’s like - I want my fic to still remain mostly in-tune with the show, I want to do my best with that. I don’t want darkness-induced apathy or for it to feel like it’s too far out of line from what is plausible. in-tune with the universe and the characters, but exploring stuff you wouldn’t necessarily pitch to young children at the same time type thing. And I’m not going out of my way to do that, moreso I’m not imposing that restriction on myself in terms of what I write. I’m tryin’ my best, haha. like, setting out to write grimdark fic is fine, but it possibly requires a different audience and authorial approach compared to what I feel is the approach I want to encourage for my fic. both approaches and writing styles are valid, just different type thing. I’d hate to turn people away if they’re not into grimdark stuff when it’s not what I was going for or w/e