#or just change my politics and expand the blog theme

[meet-this-stuttering-character]

I’m running out of submissions 😔

[ammoknightsofficial]

If you have any worldbuilding ideas for any games you like i would like to hear them. Sits politely.

Generally, I try to keep stuff like that relegated to my own personal fan projects, just because I vastly prefer the wiggle room that provides. I don’t really like making major changes to canon like that, and just projecting that image onto the actual work itself. There’s a weird pressure that comes with that for me. If I have things stacked into a fanwork, that looks less like I’m wrong, and more like I’m vibing.

Analysis is a different beast. Though sometimes one must take a little bit of artistic liberties in an essay, I generally just extrapolate upon what’s already there. I try not to lose the plot too badly, though, lol. I like to think I just amplify parts of the text that are already there, and tend to keep things character focused. Such as my various analyses on “aberrant” sexuality in Pikmin, and how that ties back to the very heavy criticism of harsh, restrictive societal expectation and capitalism present in the series. And also my entire Homestuck blog.

I had a couple really eloquent paragraphs written about this previously, but Tumblr deleted all of them, so you get that instead. Lol.

That said… here’s some sloppy brief overview notes. Could definitely expand upon these, if there’s any interest.

In Graveyard Broadcast, my Splatoon “rewrite” project, the Octarian Military is structured in a specific funny way that makes “General” not be the Top Dog. The top dog is the Shōgun King, which is Octavio. Turf War is a propaganda tool, a surface-dweller having a relationship with an Octarian is seen as bedding the enemy, and you can get charged with treason for it. The segregation is enforced with laws and lethal force. The surface is extremely intensely militarized, yet has such impressive PR through its deeply intense levels of consumerism that hardly anyone even realizes they’re living in a military state.

Haven’t named my Pikmin fanworks yet somehow, but a lot of my worldbuilding is just compounding the already present themes. Hocotate is a deeply conservative hellish desert planet that is deeply intolerant of anything that dares to diverge from the norm. Yes, there are individuals who are chill, but the overall culture is pretty oppressive. No one’s truly happy under this system, not even those who fit the exact mold society wants them to fit in. I’ve also got a lot of Spec Bio. Pikmin is basically begging on its hands and knees for you to do Spec Bio at it given some of the weird lore it gives you, and the literal amateur xenobiologist main character, so I’m taking that bait. That’s not what you’re asking for, though, so… That’s for another day.

[tea-earl-grey]

Weapon of Choice "live"blog

yeah sorry it's really long so i'm putting it under a cut.

also obviously spoilers for this episode but also spoilers for the whole Gallifrey series as i mention a few future plot points.

i swear to god i can recite this entire episode from memory. it’s so engrained in me.

Nepenthe’s description of the bondspeople (slaves) is such a good parallel to Leela’s role in Gallifrey. she is tied to this planet forever whether she wants to or not and when she leaves, she will be condemned to death.

also. thinky thoughts on why the Warpsmiths changed to Warpwrights and why the element of their being non-corporeal was almost entirely dropped. i mean. i think the human slavery thing was maybe not the right tone for future Gallifrey releases & i think there were copyright issues with the term “Warpsmiths” but i like to imagine that sometime in the gap between season 6 & Enemy Lines, there was some sort of civil conflict that led to two factions – Warpsmiths vs Warpwrights. maybe the Warpwrights advocated an end to the bondspeople/slavery aspect of their existence and advocated for a permanent corporeal existence (maybe through synthetic bodies or something?) rather than temporarily inhabiting various humans for 80 years at a time. idk. i’m desperate for more worldbuilding around the temporal powers.

forever really want to study Andred’s weird political opinions. he obviously isn’t as xenophobic as other Time Lords (not a high bar to clear btw) and he does genuinely see aliens as people but the weird pretense of xenophobia he’s had to maintain in his disguise as Torvald (if it was ever a pretense) has just warped his view & moral compass so much… he’s fascinating to me.

i'll never love anyone as much as I love the s1-3 theme song.

NARVIN. BRAX. I MISSED THEM SO MUCH.

i genuinely don’t think I’ve listened to any Brax audios since I finished my novel-length character study about him so uh. this will be interesting.

i love Narvin & Brax’s shitty workplace relationship so much. they are such good foils to each other (i’ll expand on this in a future post i’m sure)

ROMANA. MY WIFE. I’VE MISSED HER.

Seán Carlsen is simply so good at playing Narvin. he’s always so earnest when he could have just portrayed Narvin as another sleazy Time Lord. but Narvin cares so much! even if before his character development it's for the wrong things!

Narvin saying that Project Alpha is “hardly relevant” after knowing the events of The Inquiry is SO FUCKING FUNNY. man really lost a version of the device they’re looking for, literally saw it vanish in front of him, and then thought this has absolutely no bearing on the fact that someone now claiming to have this device. i know you were trying to cover your ass here but... c'mon.

WHAT DOES BRAX MEAN WHEN HE SAYS THAT NARVIN & HIM ARE THE LAST SURVIVING TIME LORDS TO KNOW ABOUT PROJECT ALPHA??? like Time Lords live for thousands of years and Narvin & Brax are both implied to be pretty young during Project Alpha and were the most junior members involved. like did the CIA really kill everyone else associated with the project? why spare Brax? why was no one else recruited to the CIA like Narvin? (it is a recurring minor problem i have with the show that the entire span of events from here to the Time War could only cover a couple of hundred years which. is not that long for Time Lords. and yet anyone else who worked in the government or CIA before Romana’s presidency is entirely gone after s3. sure a lot of them probably died in the Civil War but all of them? did they all see the mess that was happening and just nope out? i mean i know in a novel i think it was stated that there was a big overhaul of the government after Trial of a Time Lord due to general corruption (which is how Romana got so high up in politics so quickly) but… i need more answers y’all)

LEELA.

i really wish we got to see her and the Outsiders together more (on Gallifrey Prime at least). like she ostensibly had contact with them since before the series (and i headcanon that she often went to stay with them on trips away from the Capitol) so she never really talks about them. could she feel herself growing more distant from them over time as she became more engrained in the fabric of Gallifreyan politics? as she became more and more of a Time Lord without her even noticing?

still so fucked up that we never actually get to see Andred & Leela happy (in the audios at least, they are in Lungbarrow together!)

lots of feelings about how the Outsiders are so removed from Time Lord society that they can’t tell the difference between a Cardinal & a Guard because presumably they associate any uniformed Time Lord with the Chancellery Guard as that’s the only body of Time Lord society they have contact with

"Many of these arrivals claim they cannot return to their own time. Apparently. Oh you wouldn’t believe the excuses. ‘Oh the Daleks will get us!’" Obviously Narvin at this point is just hideously xenophobic but god the fact that he’s making fun of refugees from the Dalek wars when that will eventually become himself is so wonderfully prophetic. Especially as when this was written, the Dalek version of the Time War didn’t exist yet.

obsessed with how Narvin rolls the r in Gryben in this scene. hello? i don’t remember him every rolling his rs again.

it’s been said a million times but Romana’s hypocrisy in being extremely moderate in her compassion for refugees as a whole but entirely compassionate to Leela (albeit in a patronizing way) is so delicious and is never really something that she makes an effort to fix over the course of the series. like. again she’s less xenophobic than other Time Lords but the amount she cares and is willing to make exceptions is so deeply attached to her personal feelings. (which is perhaps the reason why she’s always making exceptions for herself both out of egotism & self-hatred)

again it’s been said before but Narvin’s character development from here to being the leader of a resistance movement against Gallifrey is so fucking delicious

“If I knew anymore, I would tell you.” says the woman who allegedly has access to all of the information recorded in the universe

my Andred/Leela & Romana thoughts deserve a separate post. stay tuned.

i don’t normally outright headcanon a lot of characters with specific disabilities/neurodivergencies but Leela is autistic and i will die on this hill

i’ll never be over how absolutely horrible all of these characters are at intelligence work despite all of them, at one point or another, working for supposedly the most powerful intelligence organization in the universe

“Lapdog of Rassilon” is such a loaded insult considering the future of this show

Leela’s monologue about how she hates the Time Lords will never not be so good. and her criticisms of them are so well followed through the rest of the show

Leela threatening to kill “Torvald” from Andred’s perspective is so wonderfully fucked up and tragic

“That’s so CIA. All intervention, no intelligence.” has to be one of the funniest lines in the show tbh.

the true eventual role reversal in this show is that in ep 1, Braxiatel is the only character talking sense and being reasonable and by the end of the show he’ll be threatening to destroy most of the universe to save a single planet (i have complicated feelings about Beyond but. i love that he got so much Worse)

“Torvald” insulting Andred to Leela’s face by calling him liberal will never not be funny

“We are all of us willing to die to defend our beliefs.” GOD THIS LINE!!!!! it’s really one of my favorites in the whole series because it’s such wonderful foreshadowing because 1) as we’ve all pointed out numerous times, Romana reallllly can’t stop martyring herself. as in. she tries to kill herself “for the greater good” at least 20 times in this series (literally in half of the episodes she appears in). 2) though her self sacrificing nature remains consistent, over time and especially in the Time War series, she tries to self sacrifice more and more for her friends, not for Gallifrey or for lofty ideals (this can probably best be seen in Unity where Romana’s supposed last words to a Dalek she knows will kill her is “I will never betray those I love”). 3) aside from Romana specifically, it’s also just kind of the main thesis of the show. Wynter dies in an effort to stop Pandora/save Gallifrey. Andred dies because he finally decided his loyalties to genuine compassion for people means more than politics. Braxiatel sacrifices himself to Pandora to save Romana. even villains like Darkel die because she so adamantly won’t budge from her traditionalist/conservative views. as the Doctor would say – "Who I am is where I stand and where I stand is where I fall."

THAT’S THE TROUBLE WITH BEING A MARTYR. WE DON’T BACK DOWN, DO WE?

the mention that one day Braxiatel will own a K9 is one of the things that I was never quite able to fit into atbm

“I only go forward.” ironic statement from a woman who was literally created to bring back an ancient line of dictators

the fact that Arkadian is only in three episodes is such a travesty. he’s the only character aware that of the genre that he’s in and he’s having a blast with that self-awareness

Romana’s last line here being “I’m planning on keeping this job for a very, very long time.” ends up being so sinister knowing what she does to keep her position, how she eventually keeps trying to escape the Presidency & Gallifrey and yet it always draws her back in…

hey

did you know that i really love this series?

[phantalgia]

Introduction and Purpose of My Blog

I’m at a position in my life where I feel...stuck. I’m sure this is a scenerio many know well just in different and unique ways. A blog has been something I've been planning to do for quite some time but never got around to it. Right now feels like the right time.

I will give a basic jist about me but I want to expand upon them in seperate posts as time goes on. Then see how much has changed. I’m a 25 year old demiboy going through a life crisis and feeling like I’m either at a dead end or crossroads. I've been dealing with some "health stuff" and "mental stuff" for the past few years. I put those in quotes because I'm not entirely sure what I’m dealing with and it's been really unclear what doctors think. This is something I will expand upon in later posts.

My interests have evolved over time and frankly, I can barely keep track of them. The social sciences, specifically philosophy, sociology, pedagogy, economics (heterodoxic economics specifically), psychology, psychiatry, post-psychiatry/anti-psychiatry, critical theory, politics, epstimology, anarchism, socialism. I could go on and on. Outside of that sphere I have an interest in art, drawing, animation, fashion, nature, music, guitar, gaming (sorta has changed now), and various aesthetic movements like hauntology, weirdcore, dreamcore, and liminal spaces.

I haven't been able to spend too much time with many of my interests as of late which again I'll explain with time. But these these things mean a lot to me, some more than others, some stronger on one day than another. I'm hoping a blog will get me more motivated to get back to them.

Ultimately the purpose of this blog is to serve a few purposes:

Facilitate and aid my interests (talk about music or things I’m learning for example)

Organize my thoughts and reflect on things

A place to make notes on things I read or resources I consume

Have discussions and form relations with like minded people on topics of interest

And a place to just vent and get the verbal diarrhea that just stews in my head and causes me to pace constantly

There might be more reasons but this is all I got.

Why Tumblr?

I think one of the things that turned me away from Tumblr initially was what the demographic was and the "culture shock" as I'm new to the platform. It seems like Tumblr is more geared towards fandoms, aesthetics, some shitposting, but then I thought "Wait I’m in some fandoms (Hazbin/Helluva, Welcome Home, Furry, etc), into aesthetics, and a little tomfoolery" so that's already covered XD. All I have to worry about now is culture shock. The other reason was it didn't seem like a serious place to call my own. Alternatives for me were Neocites, Blogger, or Bear Blog. Neocities was out of the question (for now) as I didn't want to bother with learning HTML. Blogger was a no because I don’t want to start off that seriously. Bear blogs was a no because it was just too small in terms of community.

So really Tumblr offered the following advantages for me:

An unserious place to not worry about my deteriorating writing skills and grammar.

Get my feet wet in writing and blogging

A place to form community out of shared interests, like mindedness, or other reasons

Microblogging allows me to have balance between something more professional and casual (I guess)

A very queer space, which I desperately need.

Perhaps there will come a day where I evolve past Tumblr, but who knows.

The Name and Theme of My Blog

Jacques Derrida's coinage of the term "hauntology" has really influenced me. Especially Mark Fisher's additions to it. On a deeper more personal level, I felt attatched to the idea of being haunted by futures that never materialized, hence the dreams. How individual past histories to societal, and political histories have shaped our lives and haunt us growing up. How interesting it is that we seem to be completely engrossed with nostalgia for childhood or pasts we never grew up with as if they were some magnum opus of human existence. We see hauntology everywhere, through nostaglia of Y2K aesthetics, vaporwave, and so on. Liminality comes in where hauntology exits. If hauntology is about how the past disrupts the present, liminality comes in to be the transitional phase between that present that is disrupted and the future. So to me, it's a form of reconciliation and comfort, harmony. I will really dig deep into hauntology more at later times from a personal perspective and how it's made me see the world differently. I want emphasize this that this blog is not purely about hauntology itself but is more of an aesthetic choice.

Concluding Introduction

I probably didnt need to go all out like this for an introductory post but I did it anyway. I really want to get an introduction done and dusted and move onto the things that really matter to me. I think my first post will be more geared towards the circumstance I find myself in right now. I also gotta keep exploring with Tumblr and learn how to use it and how I can incorporate ideas of what I want to do with it. Also get better at writing at some point like god damn...

What this blog is NOT

This blog is NOT a place of complete knowledge and understanding of things. Many of my more passionate blog posts are just me venting my heart out and having a place to say what is on my mind, often abstracting from an intellectual point of view. This blog is mostly me learning about things in real time or having very strong emotional reactions to what I learn and dumping it all in a place where it's no longer stuck in my head causing me more distress. I'd like to be more intellectual but I think those dreams are over. My big fear is that as I have become more frustrated over time in life and disillusioned, I have distanced myself from ever possibly engaging with things intellectually. I have noticed this internally, and it puts me in danger of entering the realms of pseudo-intellectualism or just speaking in very basic emotional populist terms. Instead I propose an alternative to how you should see my blog: See my posts as a means to spark your own innate curiosity as to why someone like me feels the way I do. And when I bring up certain topics and subjects, please engage with them with the same curiosity and do your own research and come to your own conclusions, build your own understanding. And if you know more about a topic that I discuss, get wrong, misunderstand/represent, etc., please let me know! I will edit my blog to add extra context or update, I want people to teach me new things!

[bellatrixnightshade]

MY INTRO POST

Hello!

I am Mara. (Only close people online can call me by my irl name in private, though I have to admit I am curious to see what people think my name is.)

I love reading, writing, arts and crafts, cooking, baking, and travel. And history, too, especially anything involving crime or assassination. I don't mind things like true crime, autopsy, surgery, so you don't have to worry about me getting upset about it. My blog will be a jumble of things. Oh! And also, I can't forget the very things my ever changing themes are based on: fantasy, dreams, astronomy, and deadly plants and ones that can also have a medicinal purpose are things I love.

I hope to stay as bellatrix nightshade, but I warn you my url changes all the time.

I can also be found on:

This SGE plus prequel themed discord server: https://discord.gg/PE7pCq72Nx

Wattpad

Ao3 (though I'm not too active on here)

Spotify

and instagram, which is private and only followed by a few people.

As of now, my main fandoms are SGE-related, especially the prequels and classical literature stuff. I hope to expand my horizons, though. I also am part of the Lunar Chronicles fandom, and I have read the Belladonna series by Adalyn Grace. I have a looong tbr so I hope to finish that...eventually.

About me:

I am still in school and I am homeschooled. BUT I have a job (oh sorry, two) and i do have weekly co ops so I'll mostly be on here when I am not busy.

I really want to get into the culinary field, especially working as a pastry chef. And I want to also eventually become a general manager or some form of high manager of a restaurant! My ultimate dream is to save enough money to study to work in a university as some sort of literary professor. (Aight I'll stop since this is sounding wayy too much like a resume.) But lastly, I would love to study on how to invest so I can have shares and all that, responsibly.

I don't take it seriously as a real life thing that should dominate anyone's lives, but here are some of my "personality stuff:"

☀♓🌙♋⬆♋

INFJ-T

Melancholic-choleric

Type 5

I am spiritual as of now, and while I respect other religions don't really wish to be a part of an organized one. My beliefs are something I am set on and things I would rather research or seek out myself if I wish to.

Some things to keep in mind:

I don't care which pronouns you use for me as long as it isn't related to inanimate objects (outside of jokes, of course)

I don't mind most "politically incorrect" jokes or anything that otherwise may bother some people, but please be considerate when there are other people around. They may take it the wrong way, and understandably so. What I don't tolerate is religious blasphemy, suicide jokes, and jokes about SA and pedophilia

Be respectful of people's religious, political, fandom related, and so forth beliefs, even if they don't align with yours. if you really don't like someone, block. It's that easy. I don't accept most forms of cancelling on this blog.

No doxxing or plagiarism. Especially don't plagiarize my writing please, otherwise that earns you a block.

No NSFW and no pedophile behavior, please.

No discourse, especially political, activist, and religious debate on this blog. I am interested in these issues, but only in certain spaces and tumblr is not one of them.

No DMs from most people. If you really have to tell me something or it is out of consideration for another blogger, then please just ask me or let me know. ALSO, do NOT expect me to continue engaging with you in dms on an intimate level.

Asks are totally welcome, as long as they aren't NSFW, trolling, or hate. I also don't take writing requests.

Toxic behavior is not welcome, whether that comes from snowflakes, rad-SJWs, sexist and so forth.

Thank you for checking me out!

With love,

Mara.

[whyscserious]

Hello and welcome. )))) I'm Penny.

I am not affiliated with Heath Ledger or his portrayal. I have high respect for this actor and everything he did when he was alive to give us this amazing portrayal-----When COVID hit I was bored out of my mind and watched a lot of HBO Max. (I still do) The Dark Knight was one of my got to's. Christopher Nolan's films became my favorite Batman adaptations. I thought I would give this muse a shot. I write for another fandom which is now sadly dead/dying. I also got absorbed by TDK/Joker fanfiction. This is my own interpretation based on that information.

I don't have many rules just one big one. Do not lie to me about your age. If you are underage. I'll block you. Final word.

Wanna know mine? Just ask. I am obviously over 21. I only write with those over 21. I do write what some would say is problematic & triggering material. I can tag most triggers if you like. ( I have triggers myself that I will not write. R*pe, i*cest, decapitations, some gore that is excessive. But I can still write in a mild censored fashion ) But This is obviously the Joker. (TDK) If you have a problem with that. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS BLOG.

I have no desire to use super small font, themes, the like. Maybe in the future that will change. For right now it is what it is. I am just here to write a homicidal clown. I do use icons and gifs ( occasionally ) credit to jokerous and fanpop.

I like to keep a clean dash. I will not always reblog things pertaining to the Joker on this blog. I like for the replies to show so others can see the writing. I will not reblog gore to his blog. I will probably reblog knives, weapons, things on fire, gifs and pictures of TDK Joker occasionally.

I CANNOT CUT POSTS. IDK WHY BUT TUMBLR DOES PUT THEM UNDER AN EXPAND AS THEY DO FOR LARGE GIFSETS. If this bothers you just tell me and I will do my best to copy and paste into a new thread. Sorry for the inconvenience.

WARNING JOKER IS NOT SHIPPY. HE IS NOT ROMANCE MATERIAL AT ALL. BUT I DO SHIP CHEMISTRY AND I DO LIKE JOKER AND HARLEY /JOKER AND BATMAN. IF THIS IS A TRIGGER FOR YOU OR YOU DO NOT LIKE THESE PAIRINGS THEN DO NOT FOLLOW THIS BLOG. I also have NO PROBLEM writing them as enemies.

I am very picky about who I write with. If I like your writing I will follow you. I don't expect a follow back but do know I am interested in plotting something with you in the future. If you don't follow back, my feelings will not be hurt.

This is not my only blog. I have a few others. If you are interested in writing with me on those, just ask.

I have no problem writing in other fandoms. (except for some Marvel characters which might be tricky considering the fact that Joker does not possess any magical powers. If you feel we can work out a thread possibly then come and discuss something with me. I am flexible.)

I am not always available. I do have a life outside of Tumblr. Please be patient with me in answering your replies and everyone will get along just fine.

I keep weird hours. If it says I am online, chances are I am not. I am probably by the computer but doing something else.

I promise I am friendly, I have just been on this website for a while and dealt with a lot of bullshit, witnessed a lot of bullshit, and roped into a lot of bullshit. I really do not have the time to get involved into Tumblr RP politics. Do not try to involve me in gossip or any of that malarkey, please and thanks.

[four2andnew]

Wrapped 2022

Thank you @gryffindorhealer for the tag! Finally getting around to this, only a week into the new year and several days after the tag, lol

Post the top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

Comfortable - I feel like this was probably my most cohesive fic and I just really love the soft, warm vibes

Everything - born out of a frustration after reading a whole slew of angsty fics where Harry and Ginny dance around each other after the Battle, this one was satisfying to write because I finally got all my feelings about two fictional characters' intimate relationship worked out.

Softer - Short 'n' Sweet, a real life conversation between myself and the hubs turned fanfic for all the other mothers out there struggling with that weird not-hating-your-body-but-it-not-feeling-comfortable-anymore feeling

Weasley Pub Nights - I laughed out loud way too much writing this one

Cat and Mouse - I know the ending fell flat, but this was the fic I was finally brave enough to start sharing my writing with the world. It will always be special.

Your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year

A Rose in Winter - an Edwardian AU based on a novel of the same name. No horcruxes, Voldemort dies and the Death Eaters spend the next seventeen years licking their wounds before starting up their campaign again. The Weasleys are on the brink of total poverty after several horrible events and their ever expanding family. They decide to offer up Ginny for marriage to help ease the financial burden (I promise this isn't a Weasley-bashing fic!). Ginny's hand is awarded to Lord Potter, the recently returned to the country young Lord who hides behind a mask to cover all the scars left behind when Voldemort tried murder him. Predictably, Ginny is pissed, drama ensues.

Taken - Voldemort never created horcruxes and dies that Halloween, but that doesn't mean his Death Eaters disappeared too - they simply changed tactics and took over the Ministry through calculated political maneuvers (I'm sensing a theme, lol). The Order of the Phoenix works underground to rescue and educate Muggleborns and occasionally throw a kink in the new regime's plans. When pureblood women from notorious Blood-Traitor families start disappearing, the Order scrambles to infiltrate the Death Eaters and figure out what is happening to these young women.

Fade In/Fade Out - based on the song of the same name by Nothing More, a collection of Father/Son moments between Ron and Arthur

Their Most Closely Guarded Secret - I'm not actually sure I'll share this one. It deals with themes that are pretty controversial and frankly I felt icky writing it, BUT it pushed me out of my comfort zone and I think my writing is better for it.

Your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

Simply sharing it. I've written stories (both original and fanfic) for nearly two decades now, but only now have felt brave enough to share my work. If that isn't the biggest improvement, I don't know what is.

More details. My early writing reads very much like a bare bones movie script, very dialogue heavy and not much in way of scene setting. No ambiance at all

Uh....actually creating an outline. Not that I use them, but hey, I made them!

Your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year

Run on Sentences. Apparently, I ramble a lot and it shows in my writing.

Better planning/outlining. My current outlines are pretty useless, hence why they don't get used, haha

And your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year

The (two) lines that spurred me to actually start sharing my stuff:

For now, he fucks her in the room of nightmares where no one ever will know.

And she lets him because she isn’t in love with him, but dammit if she isn’t attracted to him.

Thanks for reading :)

[fruitcoops]

Accidental Family

Hey folks! This is one of two fics for the six month celebration of this blog! Woohoo! Blood on the Ice is one of the most popular series I've written, and expanding it into Josie’s (@prohibitionincurls ) Winging It world with her was unbelievably fun. Disclaimer: one of the OCs has ADHD and it is a central theme of the story--while Josie based some of his characteristics on her own experience, we both recognize that this is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Thank you again for six amazing months, and I hope you enjoy!

Lots of love,

Eve <3

TW for mentioned injury

“Oh my god, they’re gonna kill me,” the kid whispered in a wavering voice, sounding much younger than he actually was as he left the penalty box.

“They’re not going to kill you,” Bowie soothed, still watching the tunnel where Remus had disappeared mere minutes earlier. From what he saw, there had been a bit of blood, but the bruising didn’t look too bad. Then again, there had barely been enough time for anything to visibly swell before he was whisked away.

“Can I just stay in the box?” Felix cast a look toward the Lions bench and his voice cracked. “They can’t yell at me in the box, right?”

“Hey. Look at me, Marty.” Bowie took him by the shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. “The Lions are good guys. They’re not going to hurt you, but you did just fuck up one of their best friends. What would you do if someone hit me in the face?”

“Come on, man, I’m a terrible fighter. I don’t know how well I’d be able to defend your honor after something like that. It was an accident. Do you think they know it was an accident? Should I go tell them?”

“I know. They know. Loops definitely knows. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re a little cold at first.” He ruffled the rookie’s hair and turned back to the game; the Lions were moving fast and brutal, slicing right through their defense for yet another goal. Shit. Felix clearly felt bad enough already--losing the game wouldn’t make him feel any better. 

They ended up losing the game.

Bowie had figured it might happen; he would have had the same fire if it had been his teammate that got clocked like that. Hell, he used to have the same fire when he and Remus had played together, so he completely understood. 

That did not change the fact that once they got home, Felix was still borderline inconsolable. The 18-year-old wasn’t technically billeting with them, but the apartment he was renting just so happened to be in the same building, on the same floor, and right across the hall from his and Simon’s. This led to an informal adoption of the rookie and he was around their house at least five times a week, if not more. 

Felix Martin was a good kid, and that idea was confirmed when Kronk immediately took a liking to him; the cat loved nobody but the three of them. Bowie was grateful that he and Simon were there to quell some of the homesickness that came from moving out to a new city on his own for the first time. The transition was always tough, but they could provide a little support.

They parted ways from the team when the bus got back from the rink and drove to their building in silence. Once they made their way up the stairs and down the hall, Felix moved to go back to his apartment. 

“Nope,” Bowie said immediately, placing a hand on his shoulder and steering him through the door to his and Simon’s place. It wasn’t a good idea for Felix to be alone right now--there was nothing to do alone after a loss aside from beat himself up about it, and Bowie would be damned before he let that happen. 

Simon and Kronk were perched on the couch, but they both moved into the kitchen as soon as the door clicked closed. Simon took one look at the pair and carefully wrapped his arms around Felix; the kid practically melted. The three of them stood there for a moment until Simon pulled back a bit and tilted his head toward the living room. Felix nodded and Bowie followed the two, sharing the couch with Simon while the rookie curled up in the large armchair diagonal to them. 

He...well, if Bowie was being honest, Felix looked like hell. He chewed his lower lip like an anxious beaver and fiddled with the loose threads of the closest armrest; everything about him screamed discomfort. Bowie caught Simon’s worried glance in his periphery and let out a slow breath, trying to relieve at least a little of the tension in the room.

“You don’t have to relive it if you don’t want to. I saw the game. But if you want to talk about it…” Simon trailed off with a significant look.

Felix sighed and his shoulders caved in a bit. “It was just one of those moments. All of a sudden, I didn’t really have a grasp on what was going on, which feels like shit because I’ve been doing pretty well so far. I dunno. It was just...bad.” 

That was it. Bowie knew Felix had seemed a little off. When Felix mentioned he had ADHD at the start of the season during one of their ‘getting to know your neighbor’ chats, Bowie hadn’t thought much of it. But as they grew closer, he began to notice when Felix forgot to eat or drink, or got overwhelmingly excited about something, or when he suddenly spaced out. It wasn’t just Felix being Felix.

The whole team stepped up and became intensely protective, of course. They not only helped him remember meal times, but also scheduling, directions, and everything in between. Bowie felt especially responsible for reasons he didn’t entirely understand--there was just something about the kid’s sweet heart that struck a chord.

He also knew that Felix was highly emotionally intelligent, but had no concept of whether people liked him or not. He was someone who assumed the worst, all the time. So, Bowie decided to do the only thing he knew would work: after a few more beats of uncomfortable silence, he pulled his phone out, tapped a few buttons, and pressed ‘call’.

“Hey, Remus, are you alive?” 

An amused snort came from the speaker even as Felix blanched. “Hello to you, too, Bowie. Jeez, you’re worse than Sirius.  I’m one hundred percent alive, just a little swollen. Your rookie’s got a helluva shot, but maybe tell the kid to hit the puck and not my face next time.” 

Felix flushed red and put his face between his knees, though hearing the laughter in Remus’s voice and knowing that he was okay clearly took some of the weight off his shoulders. Bowie whooped internally and shot him a quick, reassuring smile.

“Yeah, the kid’s got spirit, but he’s also got ADHD. He’s great most of the time, but sometimes under extreme pressure he can’t figure out where the fuck he--or anything else around him--is. Something about focusing or neurons firing the wrong way, maybe? Either way, it’s why he’s a terrible fuckin’ driver.”

Felix flopped back against the chair with a groan. “How the hell am I supposed to know how far away the cars around me are based on the mirrors? And how am I supposed to park?!” 

Remus’s laugh echoed once again. “Don’t ask me, kid, I’m not allowed to drive, either. Not because I’m ADHD, but because I’m terrible at it.” 

“You can say that again!” a muffled voice called from behind Remus. 

“Please excuse my fiance,” Remus said politely. “He’s a jackass who’s trying to make me lay down again.”

Felix smiled, though it was a bit pained. “I didn’t get a chance to apologize earlier. That stick was totally on me. And--I mean, I heard some of the guys talking afterward and it sounded like you got pretty banged up, so I’m really sorry. Like, really sorry.”

“Hey, woah, you’re fine,” Remus soothed. Bowie recognized his ‘talking to newbies’ voice and hid a smile in the cuff of his hoodie. “It’s the name of the game, after all. Did Bowie ever tell you about the time I accidentally checked him into a wall? Or when I broke his visor with a puck? For context, this was when we were on the same team.”

“Or that time you kicked my legs out from under me and sent me sprawling across the ice during practice.”

“That one was on purpose.” 

Bowie glared at the phone, but Felix was snickering and his grin was genuine. It calmed him a bit. “Thanks, Loops.”

“No problem, kiddo.” Remus paused for a moment, then mumbled something inaudible to someone in the background before clearing his throat. “Bowie.”

“Yes?” Remus had never been a wild card, per se, but he certainly had a knack for asking strange questions out of the blue.

“Did you accidentally adopt a child or do my ears deceive me?”

Bowie was about to laugh at the absurdity of it, but then he took a moment to think, looking back and forth between Simon and Felix. “Fuckin’--maybe I did, Re, but he’s ours now. And if that’s the case, I’m going to formally request that you tell your fiance to quit being mean to my son.”

Remus laughed on the other end of the line. “Will do. Felix seems like a sweetheart, I’m glad he’s got you two.” 

Bowie nodded with a slight smile, even though Remus couldn’t see him. “So are we. I can practically sense Sirius hovering, so go let your boyfriend fuss over you for a little while.” 

An offended noise came from Remus’s side, followed by a lower laugh and the click of the call ending. 

Simon looked Felix dead in the eyes. “I’m seconding the ‘kid’ thing. You may just barely be a legal adult, but it doesn’t mean we can’t adopt you. Congrats on your new gay dads.” 

Felix’s bright laugh sent a wave of relief through Bowie. “You guys are only, like, eight years older than me.”

“Silence, spawn,” Simon said, pointing a playful finger at him as his grin widened into something sweet and lopsided. “Now both of you need to come eat something. I made cookies while you were getting pushed around for a living.”

Bowie was still worried about Remus’ face--he made a mental note to call the next day to check in--but all his concerns disappeared as Felix scooped the cat up for a snuggle and followed Simon into the kitchen. They may have lost the game, but he would lose a million Cups to keep that moment forever: his Simon fussing over them both, his cat purring in pure bliss, and his kid settling into place at last.

[annjiru]

ABOUT    THE    BLOG    ⸻  low  activity  due  to  my  work  as  an  attorney.  mostly  active  in  the  evenings  and  weekends,  but  generally  available  on  discord  for  plotting  and  ooc  talk.  unless  otherwise  specified,  every  thread  operates  in  its  own  verse.  common  triggers  will  be  tagged.  

MODUS    OPERANDI    ⸻    The  following  rules  have  been  established  based  on  past  experience  and  are  subject  to  change.  You  are  advised  to  read  them  carefully  before  interacting.  Keep  reading  for  more.  Thank  you.

     note  that  mun  and  muse  are  18+.

 i  will  not  add  anyone  underage  on  discord  or  other  social  media  platforms. do  not  lie  to  me  about  your  age  or  you  will  be  blocked.

  this  is  a  private  blog.

 i  will  only  write  full  threads  with  a  small  group  of  affiliates  that  i  know  ooc  and  with  whom  i  have  built  a  significant  relationship  between  our  muses. For  other  mutuals,  i’m  happy  to  respond  to  memes,  asks,  and  write  one-liners. Once  we’ve  developed  a  dynamic  between  our  muses  and  established  rapport  ooc,  we  can  discuss  expanding  our  interactions  into  more  fleshed  out  threads.

please  do  not  be  offended  if  i  politely  decline  an  rp  or  if  i  do  not  follow  back/unfollow  you.

In  the  past,  i  have  generally  taken  up  commitments  i  could  not  fulfill. This  inevitably  lead  to  dreadful  pangs  of  guilt  and  general  periods  of  unease. I’d  like  to  avoid  feeling  this  way  and  for  this  reason,  i  will  be  more  selective  with  the  threads  i  pursue  and  the  people  with  whom  i  interact  with.  

  my  reply  pace  is  incredibly  slow.

  like,  excruciatingly  slow. Anyone  who  has  roleplayed  with  me  knows  that  i  sometimes  take  weeks  or  months  to  reply  because  of my  job  as  an  attorney. If  my  pace  bothers  you,  kindly  send  me  a  message  so  i  can  drop  our  thread. I  understand  my  pace  is  not  for  everyone  and  i’d  rather  we  drop  our  thread  on  friendly  terms. Dropping  a  thread  does  not  mean  that  i  will  not  roleplay  with  you  in  the  future. It  may  just  mean  that  i’ve  lost  my  muse  for  said  thread. Or  it  may  mean  that  i  haven’t  got  the  time  to  provide  you  with  an  adequate  response.

furthermore, my  health  will  always  take  precedence  over  my  replies. Passive  aggressively  pressuring  me  into  replying  will  not  speed  up  my  pace. If  anything,  it  will  discourage  me  from  working  on  our  thread.

  i  am  a  multiship  blog.

if  you  wish  to  pursue  a  dynamic  with  my  muse,  please  send  me  a  message  and  we  can  discuss  it. Otherwise,  please  do  not  expect  anything  more  than  a  close  friendship. There  must  be  at  least  a  sense  of  camaraderie  between  your  muse  and  my  muse  for  a  romantic  relationship  to  form. Also,  please  do  not  force  me  into  a  ship  or  interact  with  me  for  the  sole  purpose  of  shipping  our  muses  together. Relationships  —  romantic  or  otherwise  —  are  dynamic. And  oftentimes,  a  relationship  often  blossoms  from  a  friendship  or  an  alliance. Catch  my  drift? 

note:  i  do  not,  under  any  circumstances,  roleplay  smut  ! 

 i  am  more  than  willing  to  tag  triggers.

 note  that  this  blog  will  touch  on  triggering  topics  and  mature  themes  that  will  be  tagged  accordingly. If  you  have  another  trigger  that  i  am  not  aware  of,  just  send  me  a  message  and  i  will  be  sure  to  add  the  tag  in  the  future.

  please  refrain  from  causing  drama.

 i  have  a  zero-tolerance  policy  with  regards  to  such  behavior. You  will  be  unfollowed  and  blocked.

 please  do  not  steal  from  this  blog 

 my  psd  and  captions  are  very  unique;  it  is  quite  easy  to  spot  a  thief  and  i  will  not  hesitate  to  call  you  out. The  theme  was  coded  by  maruja  (©  hyruleshop),  who  also  made  my  icon  psd. My  mobile  banner  and  promo  was  made  by  stella  (©  theircurse). Icons  are  edited  by  me.

  if  you  have  any  questions  or  concerns,  feel  free  to  pm  me  so  that  we  may  communicate  in  private. Thank  you  all  for  understanding. I  look  forward  to  interracting  with  you  in  the  future! 

MOBILE    LINKS:

Headcanons

Verses

[idiotacadamia]

Welcome to this fucking shit show

Sup, I’m Sam. As hinted, this blog is a shit show so proceed with caution. If you are on this list or if I know you in real life just politely, fuck off

About me: I’m Sam! Chances are I’m buzzed on coffee. I’m probably crying, reading or performing one of the seven deadly sins.

I have an English accent (I’m black British, not an actual Englishman) so get me to 200 followers and I’ll record myself saying things like “can I get a bottle of water” or “it’s Tuesday innit” (I reached 200 follower a while ago, this will happen very soon, just need to buy some marmite)

I like kpop and k dramas but I’m also in like almost every book fandom out there at this point. I also like coffee, knitting, reading and writing

Some of the tags I use are

#sams rambles or #sams rants , ya know, when I’m spouting bullshit

#shan and Sam time or #shan and sams corner, which is chaotic and you should all go look at the posts under those tags

And a warning that I swear 24/7 and I make dirty jokes but nothing explicit . There may be reference of crimes but I’ve never been caught so it’s okay.

Also, some fun facts

I like science but I also like literature

The reason this blog name is spelt wrong is because at first I genuinely thought that is how it was spelt and I can’t change it back

I speak English, Arabic, Spanish and French but I hope to expand my range! I finished my Spanish studies recently but I am doing French for an extra 2 years- Sending me asks I’m these last 3 languages would be very cool ( especially French). Feel free to send asks or rant at me in the asks and send me reccs for anything- books, fanfics, music, literally anything

My beloved parabatai is @ddepressedbookworm, if you look at his acc, you’ll see our themes match and we planned this and everythin-

I’m totally chill with people private messaging me, just don’t be creepy about it because je suis a minor y’all

My discord acc is idiot acadamia#8328

And join my Study room on here.fm! 

Also be my friend on goodreads

My Spotify

[plumrabbit]

DA Fandom and moving forward - Calling In vs. Calling Out

Hi everyone,

As a PoC member of the DA fandom, I felt I have been quiet for long enough on the issues that have been presented recently. I am not here to argue against or on behalf of any individual or group, I am only here to present some information that I hope will be helpful moving forward. This is a long post, but it’s my hope that if you read it and want to help contribute to making this place better for everyone, then you will be willing to try to put what is said here into practice.

Since I am a relatively small blog, I wanted to start with a little personal introduction that will segue into the topic at hand. My name is Liz (you can call me Jade too, that’s part of my middle name), and I am a mixed race, “ambiguously brown”, aspec person from Canada. I grew up around mostly other immigrant families, attended predominantly non-white schools that were run by mostly white admins, and completed my degrees at a very white university in a field that does not have much racial diversity. I have experienced racism first-hand many times including, but not limited to, name-calling/slurs, fetishization/exotification, being followed by staff, people second-guessing my name, jokes about hurting/killing people of my race, etc. as well as witnessing racism directed at my friends and peers. I know exactly what it’s like to be exhausted and feel unsafe or othered.  There is, however, one thing I need to point out about the multitude of instances of racism I’ve experienced - most of them were caused by ignorance, and not malice. Yes there are absolute assholes out there, but personally I can count those people I’ve encountered on one hand (I am not speaking for everyone, though). The vast majority of racism, bigotry and general harmful acts come from a place of ignorance, particularly on left-leaning tumblr (to clarify, this discussion is centered around well-meaning people and not the actual lost causes). When I say ignorance, I don’t mean a lack of education or intelligence, I mean not being able to see or understand an issue from another person’s perspective. It’s not quite the same as empathy either (where empathy means you are able to feel another person’s emotions), but fighting ignorance does require empathy. It also requires knowledge on the context of the specific situation, and that I believe is the crux of the problem.  I think the main reason why this is issue is particularly prevalent in the DA fandom is a result of the too-close-to-reality-to-ignore inspirations that have been confirmed by the devs. Yes, it’s fiction, but there are also a lot of people that see themselves (mis)represented in the themes and characters. And what one person sees as disrespectful, another person may not see at all. This can come full circle, too, for example: one person sees themselves and their trauma represented in a character, another person sees their race misrepresented in the same character. Person 1 uses the character as a comfort character or coping strategy. Person 2 thinks using that character in certain situations is disrespectful. Neither one sees the other’s perspective.  This is where intersectionality starts to come into play, and requires empathy and effort to address the intentions and emotions of the other person. Perhaps person 1 is LGBTQ+ and has been traumatized by being as such, and uses Dorian as a character to explore their trauma. Perhaps person 2 is Brown, and racism towards their people is their trigger, and thinks person 1 did not do Brown representation justice in their creative works.  Looking at this more specifically, person 1 may have put Dorian in sexual situations. Person 2 feels that the way it was conveyed was fetishist or exotified. Person 2 doesn’t know person 1′s intentions. Person 1 is not aware of certain descriptions that are racist (e.g. using food to describe a PoC’s skin tone). Perhaps person 1 was self-inserting and wanted to feel desirable on their own terms, but this gave person 2 that squick factor.  Now person 2 wants to address this issue, and I think this is where a call-in (not a call-out) would be appropriate. Here is a good infographic that compares the two: 

(Original source)

Note that there is quite a large difference in the language used. Going back to the above example, person 2 could privately message person 1 asking them why they chose to represent Dorian the way they did, with specific examples, and using call-in language (and I’m going to get back to this in a minute). 

The point of this post and infographic isn’t meant to tell marginalized groups how they should be bringing up issues (though it is a good guide if you are concerned about being polite, particularly to a first time offender), it’s intended to demonstrate to people unintentionally participating in harmful behaviour what a call-out vs. call-in looks like. For PoC and other marginalized groups, yes it does take emotional labour to use call-in language and to try to understand someone that wounded you (here is a good read that incorporates the concept of emotional labour for call-ins, and discusses asking yourself if you are ready to do so). For the people who have unintentionally hurt a marginalized individual or group, please understand that someone calling you in is not an attack, it’s a chance to explain why you expressed something the way you did. 

That being said, we may have reached another hurdle. What if you call someone in, and the person called in does not want to discuss the fact that they were inserting their personal trauma? I think this is where things start to get a bit messy, but I am of the opinion that if you’ve unintentionally triggered someone else’s trauma through ignorance present in your work, you owe it to them to at the very least mention that you were inserting your trauma, without having to bring up specifics (anyone is allowed to set boundaries). From there, the discussion can be hopefully be opened up to learning from each other, and reaching a consensus. Sometimes that consensus requires the creator to edit or remove their work. As an addendum, if you are a creator that unintentionally hurt someone with your work that didn’t have an ulterior personal motivation, it’s your responsibility to understand why what you did was wrong, apologize, remove the work and do better next time. I know some people cherish their OCs, but you are allowed to change your perspective and make adjustments to your character without erasing them entirely. Now we’ve reached another potential obstacle - what if an offender doesn’t respond to your call-in? First of all, ask yourself, did you actually call them in, or did you attack them? Here is a good opinion piece from a Black professor on this matter. I’d like to clarify that I am not trying to tone police, I am speaking as someone that used to go ham on ignorant people on Facebook and Reddit, and has since changed their tactics and has even gotten through to Trump supporters (some of this stems from my spiritual growth as well, but that is not the point here).  There is another issue to address here now as well - what if you have tried, repeatedly, to call someone in and they just don’t change their behaviour? Alright, then it’s probably time to call them out. But again, ask yourself, did you truly try to get through to them? If so, well, at the end of the day, some people are, unfortunately, lost causes. In summary, a call-in is meant to come from a place of wanting to help someone who has seemingly gone astray, because you are worried about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours towards a marginalized group. You know that if they made a mistake it isn’t them, isn’t their heart, and you want them to be able to understand why what they did hurt others, and give them the chance to correct themselves. It comes from a place of love and acceptance, because you don’t want your friends to harbour negative beliefs.  Finally, I want to give a real example of this in action. My cousin is a photographic artist, and was recently called in to discuss the nature of one of her pieces. Her subjects are usually people, and they come from a wide variety of backgrounds. To help support BLM (she does a lot of work to help fight racism in general), she auctioned off one of her pieces. The subject of the piece happened to be a Black woman. She was called in by Black members of her art community to discuss how people bidding on an art piece that featured a person from a marginalized group perpetuated the ogling and monetization of Black people. She gave a response that acknowledged that her piece did perpetuate this issue, because she wanted to raise awareness of this historical harm, and recognized that her intention was ignorant of this perspective. The Black community also acknowledged that the piece itself was not harmful in any way, only that the surrounding issue that they were painfully aware of needed to be brought to light. The auction went ahead, and the piece sold for ~$1000, all of which was donated to BLM.  I think as a fandom we should be cognizant of when a work itself is harmful, or when the intention is harmful. Sometimes they overlap, sometimes they don’t. Both are talking points, and we should not be afraid to discuss them, but this requires respect from all parties. We also do need to be able to recognize what is strictly fiction, versus what has real-world impacts. My askbox is always open and my DMs are open to mutuals if you would like anything clarified or expanded upon. Or, if you’d just like to discuss a topic, vent, or have any questions about my own beliefs, you are welcome to reach out. I am happy to discuss anything, as long as there is mutual respect. 

[songbirdcrow]

Hello all!

This is my first time making a writeblr and while I’ve been posting my art here for years, I was never really involved in artblr. I’m really looking forward to sharing more of my work as well as meet new people and their work! :3

My dream is to publish my writing and be able to live off that and my art one day.

This is a sideblog and I follow from @illuminatedmoth​

About Me

Call me Wasteland or Z, I’m in my late 20s

Queer; gender is a fuck, sex is cool

Mentally ill and neurodivergent

A furry :3c

I spend a lot of my free time playing video games including Splatoon, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, Fallout New Vegas, DOOM (new and old), and Persona 4 and 5

I'm bad at watching movies and TV because ADHD, but I've recently been into The Owl House

I've listened to a few podcasts like The Adventure Zone: Balance, The Magnus Archives, and Welcome to Nightvale

I don't read as much as I want to and I cannot wait to see what other writers on Tumblr have made or recommend.

Fun Fact: Some of the poetry I wrote in school was published in a book compiling a bunch of student writing

About my Writing [#songbird.txt]

I favor fantasy settings and non-human characters, I also really like steampunk and cyberpunk. I also like dystopias, post-apocalypses, horror, and mythology. I'm planning to work more elements into my writing as I expand my skills

I got my start in sharing writing attempts as a fanfiction writer when I was in middle school, though I had been attempting to write stories from when I was a child.

Being queer, mentally ill, and neurodivergent flavor my writing. I'm unlikely to write something without these elements or themes.

I'm balancing a few WIPs at the moment, though most of them lack solid titles.

Afterglow Electric [#afterglow electric] an adult, science fantasy, cyberpunk dystopia novel. It’s focuses on the power of community against the threat of hypercapitalism and companies that would try to crush people into being machines to make them more money. The people who band together and lean on each other for support, deeply flawed as they are and for all they fail or all weak. It’s not about focusing on how each person fails but how they can be there for each other. Deeply queer and personal and political. Focus of NanoWriMo 2021, first draft incomplete. Currently also working on a proper intro and blurb

Blood Magic (title definitely changing) a fantasy story about the lengths a man who go as a father and for love. A path lined with betrayal, magic, and loss.

Apart from these I plan to also write one offs features the same or unrelated characters and maybe some poetry

About my Art [#songbird.png]

This blog is new but I've been posting art to Tumblr for years; more of my art can be found here

I make a decent blend of original and fan content. My art leans towards non-human characters and has a lot of queer and neurodivergent themes and characters just like my writing

I tend to do character art though I am branching out and being experimental

I have an art heavy WIP also

Bitter Bark [#bitter bark] is a webcomic is a sort of urban fantasy setting revolving around a cast of young college age characters. The cast is largely non-human, heavily anthro. It's a bittersweet tale by design that's meant to explore self-worth, long lasting regret, oppression, and of course it features a lot of magic. Despite being my oldest wip, it's the one I feel least ready to start writing and drawing.

If you like my work consider leaving a tip! <3

For anyone interested I’ve got Commissions and a Patreon

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Design Theory: FFXV

For a class I’m taking, I’ve been asked to perform a thought experiment. At first I did this with XIV, but once we got into the “make improvements” section I decided I’d have an easier and also more satisfying time pondering a game that isn’t quite so critically acclaimed.

And I decided I’d rather blog it out than write it on notepad paper.

So. FFXV. One Final Fantasy With the Lads.

The MDA Framework - Mechanics, Dynamics, Affect (Aesthetics is the original A here, but for a game dev class we’re broadening it to include more things that evoke emotional responses) - translates into Mechanics being the rules, Dynamics being the play experience itself, and hopefully the play experience then produces an Affect of “fun.”

An example I’ve touched on before, where Mechanics produce Affect by way of Dynamics: In FFXV they have a very clean sense of being Injured. If you get down to 0 hp, your recoverable hp starts bleeding out. Get first aid or a potion and you stop bleeding out and recover some. But your “current max hp” remains lower than your true max hp. If you’re down to 1 hp and not injured and you get out of combat, you’ll be back at full hp in 10 or 20 seconds. If your “current max hp” gets down to half, you’re in a bad spot and it’ll take multiple minutes (current max hp recovers by 1 every 3-4 seconds, orders of magnitude slower than your normal health regen outside of battle). This mechanic produces a dynamic where during gameplay the player is heavily pressured to fight only when strong and run when weak. After all, you only die if current max hp hits 0, and getting to the state where you’re bleeding out is the full length of your health bar if you’re uninjured but could be much lower if you’ve already just barely survived a few fights. Emotionally this makes situations where you really can feel how much smaller the four of you are than the enemy army, especially when you get in a nasty cycle of them dropping more enemies on you just as you’re finishing up the prior fight. It ramps up tension, and makes you seek out safe havens and places the army can’t reach.

The storytelling angle on the MDA Framework sees the Designer’s Story as the Mechanics, the Storytelling (or play experience) as Dynamics, and the Player’s Story (aka the stories they tell themselves about how the game session went) as Affect. This is where FFXV loses a lot of people. It’s broadly panned by critics for how the Designer’s Story snaps from a freeform open-world game to being 100% on rails until shortly before the final boss, at which point it attempts to sell you on its open world again.

From a gameplay perspective, I don’t think XV gains much from its open world. There are a few counterexamples - the experience I had of encountering an Iron Giant at night, just kind of driving around the middle of nowhere is a good emergent gameplay moment - but I think similar experiences could be replicated in instanced content and meanwhile a lot of bland tromping across open plains could be removed.

Meanwhile because it’s so firmly about brotherhood and the fraternal bond between four young men, a lot of the moments that resonate most strongly with its themes are scripted to match appropriate story beats.

Ironically I think the better way to improve FFXV would be to strengthen its rails, not to take it off the rails. FFX was extremely on rails! Until basically the final boss, there wasn’t any way of going back to prior zones at all! The rails, clearly, weren’t the problem. I think a lot of the problem was in the expectation of freedom owing to the first portion of the story being so wide-open and choice-oriented. Because of the existing themes of Noctis entering adulthood, I like the idea of the nature of his options changing somehow. Maybe add in factions he can befriend in the political landscape, each with a specific flair and style. This gives the adult message of his actions now having consequences on people outside his immediate social circle, but also continues to expand options for self-expression. The idea that options for self-expression being constrained is part of the fundamental nature of adulthood is...perhaps one with cultural resonance for a lot of Japanese people, but a lot of people - Japanese people included - just plain hate it as an idea. So I’d make sure whatever options were present early in the game, there might not be the same kinds of choices but there would be just as many that felt meaningful. Perhaps the early game includes exploration and poking aimlessly at sidequests, but once the physical location gets on rails you get into a Mass Effect style of branching narrative tree instead, or that’s when the characters suddenly get access to a job system that lets you customize your play style itself like crazy.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to do it and they can come at the problem from fundamentally different angles. I think the truth of XV is that the design problem was financial; They’d have made the whole game this freeform romp through the countryside if they’d had the scratch, but they ran out of money so they had to focus on getting the story told. Some of the lazier late-game assets (detailed in various reviews, such as this one from Super Eyepatch Wolf) indicate the same. I expect if I got into that situation I’d take the same approach. To my eye it beats the Lord of the Rings Cartoon approach, where they did production front-to-back and therefore released a movie that’s a really cool first 2/3 of a movie and then it literally just stops without the last 1/3 happening. I think I also prefer it to kicking the can down the road and trying to call it “Part 1 of 2,” because the odds of a satisfying Part 2 getting made are never good in that kind of situation. Once they were in that pickle, they did the best with what they had.

But if I could catch things just a little bit pre-pickle, those are the changes I’d make: I’d take the focus off of the open world - particularly I’d remove most of the real-time travel in favor of environments I could pack more densely with interactions. From a production standpoint I think I’d use a hex map “quadrant design” system, where design teams would make individual hexes of content for a world map and then we’d design the world map to fit the number of encounters we were able to get done, rather than making a world map and hoping we could fill it up with stuff. I’d ABSOLUTELY avoid constraining the player agency, especially in association with Noctis’ journey to adulthood. That just...seems to imply a really shitty theme, and I’m not here for it. To combat this directly, I’d probably add in another cool system associated somehow with adulthood in the second half of the game. There’d be a direct statement from the game that you might lose some choice about some things but you have SO MUCH more choice about others!

So yeah. Those are the Mechanics I’d add to FFXV and how I think they’d change Affect by way of the Dynamics of play.

[veridium]

Hello all,

So, some news. I have gone ahead and deleted my side-blog, fandom-femme. Instead, I’m going to consolidate and expand this blog to be multi-fandom and multi-interest. While I once preferred this blog to be solely DA, that inclination has changed. Keeping up two blogs when I’ve been barely active for one of them is unnecessary. And since Veridium is my first and favorite blog I very much want to keep it. 

I will keep being interested in DA stuff, admittedly just a lot less. Passions ebb and flow and mine are no exception. I will be stepping back a lot from any and all fandom participation.

So this is me saying if you follow me on the premise of my content being 100% Dragon Age, no hard feelings! I have acted similarly in what blogs I tended to follow. Feel free to unfollow if that’s the case. I’m just giving a fair warning that starting next week, the queue will be posting content pertaining to all my fandom + creative interests. This includes: The Dragon Prince, She-Ra, ATLA, Legend of Korra, Studio Ghibli, Witcher, Dishonored, Stardew Valley, films and television shows I’m watching, and so on. I’m also excited to be reblogging a lot more art and illustration, particularly of mythology and related themes, because I have a sincere love for it. Activism, social justice, and politics will remain very important to me as well. This all to say: if you vibe with all that, by all means stay!

If you have any questions or concerns about what all of this means, my inbox is always open. 

Thank you for providing so much community the last couple of years. I am hopeful and excited for the future and what joys can be shared. 

All my love. 

- Veri 

[mst3kproject]

Curse of Bigfoot

This is a very bad mummy movie from the 60’s which was re-edited and re-released as an unbelievably bad bigfoot movie in the 70’s.  It would belong on the Satellite of Love even if it didn’t have a small part for Jackie Neyman Jones.  Remember her? Debbie from Manos: the Hands of Fate?  Yeah, as far as I know she’s the only member of the cast ever to do any non-Manos-related film work for the entire rest of her life and it was this.

Once upon a time, somewhere in the American Southwest, Primitive Man was terrorized by Even More Primitive Man.  In modern times, a Bigfootology professor is giving a guest lecture to a class of students.  First he shows them a clip of a movie just as bad as the one we’re watching, then we get an inaccurate history of bigfoot, including the tale of two idiots in a pickup truck who get a big, hairy ass-whooping.  Then, half an hour into the movie, we finally get to what’s supposed to be the main plot.  A professor of archaeology takes some of his students into the wilderness to help excavate an ‘ancient Indian campsite’, but along with the expected potsherds and prayer sticks, they find a tomb containing a mummy from a lost prehistoric civilization.  It comes to life and shambles off into the forest to kill people, because it’s a movie and mummies do that.

This movie does not waste time.  It starts sucking right out of the gate.  Almost everything that’s going to be wrong with it is introduced in the first ten minutes, as if the movie wants to prepare us for the ordeal ahead.

The opening sequence is an incredibly drawn-out scene of a woman getting up in the middle of the night to calm her barking dog, only to be killed by a zombie that wanders out of the woods.  This scene is around six times longer than it needed to be. We almost have to watch every moment of the dog drinking a bowl of milk she pours for it.  The woman’s voice was dubbed in post, and neither the voice nor the physical acting is any good.  The sequence is supposed to take place in the middle of the night, but was clearly filmed at high noon, reaching Attack of the The Eye Creatures levels of not giving a shit in having the sun appear in several shots, standing in for the moon!  The actual attack happens off screen, because the film-makers could not afford effects.

Then this part ends, and we realize that what we just saw was supposed to be a clip from a horror film that the professor was showing his students.  This provides a fleeting moment of hope, as we think perhaps its overwhelming badness was intended as parody. No such luck.  We then move into the two loggers getting stalked and killed by bigfoot.  The monster costume is different, but this piece is identical in anti-quality to the zombie scene.  The film-makers were just morons, and these mistakes continue throughout the entire ninety-minute run time.

It’s actually astonishing that the movie is so consistent in its incompetence, because we are in fact watching two different films here. Curse of Bigfoot has a backstory similar to that of They Saved Hitler’s Brain, in that somebody in the fifties made a short movie and somebody else, years later, added useless filler to expand it into something they could show in a late-night TV slot. They Saved Hitler’s Brain feels very bifurcated, the new material being both narratively and stylistically different from Madmen of Mandoras.  But if you didn’t know that Curse of Bigfoot was twenty minutes of extra film sewn onto a 1963 movie called Teenagers Battle the Thing, you might not immediately notice.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll probably remember that I thought Madmen of Mandoras was a significantly better movie than They Saved Hitler’s Brain (even if it still was definitely not a good movie) – the added footage was distracting and pointless.  These two films, however, I would say are about equally awful.  The footage added to Curse of Bigfoot is still pointless, but it looks exactly like what was originally shot for Teenagers Battle the Thing, the only noticeable difference being a slight change in the film stock! Both are depressingly earth-toned movies in which it takes for-fucking-ever for anything to happen, with night scenes shot in the blazing daylight, and lines dubbed in by bad voice actors over bad physical performances. Both feature shitty monster suits and every possible cost-cutting measure.

This leads me to wonder whether Curse of Bigfoot might be terrible on purpose.  The people tasked with turning Teenagers Battle the Thing into a full-length movie got a couple of the actors back to play their older selves in the added footage.  Making stuff match was clearly on their minds.  Could they have actually thought things like, “we’d better use the wrong filter for this, or it won’t be as bad as the day-for-night in the original footage!” or “we need to pad this attack a bit, to match the pace!”?  If so… I don’t know whether to be impressed, or just to crawl under the bed and cry.

On the other hand, Curse of Bigfoot does at least try to do one thing better than Teenagers Battle the Thing – it wants to have something to say.  It spells this thesis out for us in the opening narration and in the professor’s speech about horror movies: our society has forgotten about monsters.

We in the twenty-first century don’t spent much time thinking about monsters unless we happen to be film-makers, political commentators, or maybe paleontologists trying to figure out what the fuck this bugger is.  It wasn’t so long ago, however, that they were very real to many people.  Archaeological evidence suggests that people in New England believed in vampires as recently as the 1820s.  Nowadays, monsters have been taking out of the ‘scary’ category and placed in the ‘fun’ one, and so when people report things like bigfoot or a sea serpent, we don’t take them very seriously.

Bigfoot, sea monsters, and vampires don’t really exist, obviously, but in losing our fear of monsters we may have lost a proper respect for nature.  Every so often the newspapers in my city carry a story of some tourist who tried to get a better selfie with a grizzly bear and got mauled.  We are so used to thinking that we have tamed nature, that there are no monsters left, that we don’t recognize danger when we’re confronted with it.  This certainly seems to be a theme of the stories we’re presented with in Curse of Bigfoot: it never occurs to the woman in the opening that her barking dog may be trying to warn her of danger, or to the two loggers that the mysterious figure in the woods might mean them harm.

The party of archaeology students certainly don’t think they’re heading into any danger, despite the fact that they repeatedly do dangerous things.  A group of them climb to the top of a cliff to see where a fallen stone came from, and never worry about falling.  When they pry open the tomb entrance, the strange smoke that wafts out might be considered a warning sign, but they ignore it.  They head right into this dark hole without any worries about rodents, rattlesnakes, or cave collapses.  When one character warns the others that the mummy has just moved, they laugh it off. A couple go for a walk through the dark woods at night to get to a vending machine, without a second thought.

Lest you think I’m in any way praising this movie, I’m not – I just like my reviews to be at least a certain length, so sometimes I really dig for material.  This was a dig on the level of saying The Incredible Melting Man is about how we treat the elderly.  My high school English teacher might buy it, but I doubt anyone else would.

One thing I do wonder is why they chose to reframe this as a bigfoot movie.  The footage from Teenagers Battle the Thing makes it very clear that this is a mummy movie, although they couldn’t afford any of the genre’s traditional accessories.  Instead of a museum and a treasure, we get one cabin in the woods and… that’s all. When the characters talk about the situation, they always describe the monster as a mummy, and even when they theorize that it’s the product of a lost civilization, the idea that it may not be human never crosses their minds.  It is not particularly tall.  It is not remarkably hairy.  It looks nothing like the bigfoot the two loggers saw, although it does somewhat resemble the zombie from the opening.  Why the man telling the story decided this being must be bigfoot is an absolute mystery.

The only thing I can come up with as an explanation is that bigfoot movies were popular in the 1970s.  Having seen a number of these, I can’t say I find them particularly inspiring.

Curse of Bigfoot is almost incomprehensibly boring, to the point where I’m not sure MST3K could have done much with it if they had featured it.  In the opening sequence it takes forever for the woman to be attacked and then we don’t see it.  In the logger sequence it takes forever for the guy to be attacked and then we don’t see it.  And in the main plot it takes forever for anyone to be attacked and then we don’t see it! The only attack we see is when the mummy attacks the sheriff at the climax and that really, really wasn’t worth the wait.

Congratulations, Jackie Neyman Jones – you managed to be in a movie worse than Manos.

[helihi]

Thoughts on RWBY Vol. 7

Quarantine day 20: I finally force myself to re watch volume 7 instead of doing my French homework.

Spoilers ahead for RWBY and How I Met Your Mother (yes).

Volume 7: The Story of a Broken Narrative Kingdom

The day has come where I finally sit down and watch the whole season again. Some of you wondered why I didn’t simply do a The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty review on the last episode of the volume like I did with the previous ones. The answer is the same reason why Ozpin’s speech at the end of the volume encapsulates the volume’s theme as a whole: finales affect the way you look at shows, comics, movies, and books. It provides a framing.

Did any of you watch How I Met Your Mother? For those of you who didn’t, it was a often called the show “which could replace Friends”. Something that you may not know is that fans of the show renamed it something among the lines of “How I should date your Aunt Robin” after the last episode aired. You see, the ending of the show changed the way most viewers see the show in the present.

The show had main character Ted Mosby narrate to his children how he met their mother. However, the story doesn’t begin during the day that encountered happen; no, it starts years before, when Ted declares he wants to settle down and find the love of his life. In that very same episode, he meets Robin Scherbatsky. In the end it’s revealed that the mother (the character we spent years speculating about) is dead (which I expected), and Ted asks his children if they give him the blessing to date their Aunt Robin. Originally, the fans could excuse episode 1 centering around Robin because it was the instance where Ted decided he wanted to settle down, but after the veil was lifted; there were no excuses, this whole story was a Ted’s way of convincing their children he should marry Robin, the main woman in his life during the whole show (even if we spend the last season on her wedding with one of Ted’s best friends).

Perhaps the ending of Volume 7 didn’t destroy the character development of 3 main characters, but it drastically changed the way I felt about the volume.

“The Kingdom of Atlas will remain safe, that’s my promise”- James Ironwood, Volume 7, Episode 1.

If you go back in my blog and read my reviews for most of the volume, you will find glowing ratings and stars. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love a good politics game in the shows/stories I read, so I was really excited when the writing team started developing that during the first half of the season.

Our gang (RWBY+JNOR+Q+M) reach Atlas after finding out that Oz is a fraud, that Salem cannot be beat (by Oz), and that Cinder almost took another maiden’s power. They quickly realize that Atlas is in a state of chaos and Ironwood is consumed by fear taking authoritarian measures, which keep the kingdom divided.

The stage is set:

 Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace Ops.

Robyn, the Happy Huntresses, and Mantle.

 Watts, Jacques, and Tyrian.

I thought the way everything was set was fantastic, I loved the political drama, and I thought the writers were taking their time properly. Even now I give huge kudos to the Schnee storyline, which is my favorite. The volume showed us how flawed Winter’s coping mechanism is, how Weiss is still susceptible to her father’s gaslighting and manipulation, and how the household isn’t just broken by Jacques (Willow apologists, pls read this).

However, the cracks started showing during the first episodes and I noted that on my reviews. We have characters used for exposition dump: from the Robyn supporter, that explains what we could’ve learned by the normal progression of the story, who gets killed as soon as he returns home, and other characters like Maria talking about Pietro while he’s standing right there.

In contrast to that, we get wonderful montages which show the passage of time. The kids interact with one another and the Ace Ops, they train, they help with Ironwood’s plan. It seems weird to have 2 different tools one after the other.

Also, it it weird for anyone that Qrow and Winter only interact 1 time during episode 2 when in Volume 3 a clear rivalry was established? Winter’s storyline was supposed to follow Penny’s, while Qrow was supposed to grow attached to Clover. Because these 2 characters had to reach a certain point in the story, they are not allowed to deviate from the interactions needed for the plot to advance.

Another thing occurred to me while re-watching the season again... Why is Ironwood so fixated in protecting Atlas when it’s floating in the air away from Grimm? Yes, we know that some Grimm can fly, but by the many times we see Mantle in chaos, you would think Ironwood would repair Mantle’s wall to keep it safe?

That’s the theme, guys, girls and nonbinary folks: a kingdom divided.

Just like the Atlas kingdom falls apart, the narrative of Volume 7 has a specific breaking point that marks the decline in quality (you can see that in my reviews). The moment everything went downhill starts in Episode 8, with the dinner at the Schnee Manor.

We spend much time developing the political tensions of the volume for Jacques to be promptly arrested and taken away from the scene in a second.

While Ironwood, Winter, Penny, and Clover are shown doing plot relevant stuff, team JNOR does that ridiculous gag to get Whitley out of Weiss’s hair.  The rest of the team do jackshit, and we don’t hear anything from them until everything is over. Again, the writers reached the plot point and forgot about everything else.

Also, Ruby looks sadly at Weiss when Whitley mentions that Klein was “let go”, yet Weiss has never talked about him to Ruby on screen. Claiming Weiss could’ve done that off screen strips away the possibilities of Weiss bonding with Ruby the same way she did with Yang when talking about their pain during Volume 5.

Such a large table, and only 4 council members, isn’t that kind of stupid? I mean, if Ironwood had 2 seats, numbers wise it makes sense, but who are those other 2 supposed to represent? Why haven’t we seen them before?

Robyn is told by Yang and Blake that Ironwood doesn't know who to trust. She proceeds to pressure him in front of people he clearly doesn’t trust. This is the first instance of OOC Robyn.

The walls crumbled, and everything became obvious as a viewer. Some other notable flaws:

Tension jojoing. The people in mantle will revolt! Except they aren’t. This happens in Episode 5, 6, and 9. The only real uprising is the last one. The other two were silly cliff hangers that make no sense when you watch the show again. (they didn’t make sense before either  and I complained).

Hey there, Watts! You may have an interesting backstory, except it’s only implied you are pissed off Penny got chosen as a major project instead of whatever yours was. Also, Paladin incident? What? If he is the main villain of the Volume, why not expand on him? I shouldn’t be surprised, Hazel and Tyrian are not that complex. And Cinder? It’s been 5 volumes and we barely know anything about her haha.

Robin! I love how civilized and smart you are when the volume started, choosing to observe and talk instead of acting against the main characters. How awful is it that you forget to keep your calm when a Serial killer is on the loose. It would be a shame if someone were to... die.

I already gave my 2 cents over Clover’s death, and I’m not going to repeat myself. I am sorry to all the Fair Game fans, I’m afraid bury your gays is till alive and well.

The nail on the coffin is the final episode: after making a speech about how Salem wants to divide people and how the only way to go is to remain united, James does the exact opposite thing the moment something doesn’t go according to plan. Don’t get me wrong, his PTSD regarding the queen chess piece was foreshadowed, but the moment team RWBY offer an explanation and identify the person behind it, he’s to far gone. Then, Salem shows up, and goes for Team RWBY when Ruby gets under her skin. This shows that Salem has a weakness and that Team RWBY can be trusted when it comes to defeating her, yet that is promptly ignored.

Also, Ironwood might be hurt about Yang and Blake talking to Robyn, but after everything, they were proven right: Robyn is to be trusted, Ironwood was making a mistake.

The whole setting up a trap to attract Tyrian wasn’t Ironwood going “mad with power” or something. Robyn knew he has lying and allowed Ironwood to catch someone who could hack everything. Not only that, but the camera zoomed in on Ironwood, so nobody could see Robyn’s handy Semblance going red. Or... maybe I’m looking too much into it and the writers expected you to forget.

Sorry, I guess James Ironwood had to take a bunch of stupid pills.

“I wish it didn’t have to end this way.” - Clover Ebi.

“It doesn’t have to, but the writers need that Branwen angst.” - Qrow Branwen.

Volume 7: Part 1 of the Atlas Arc

Have you ever heard of Checov’s gun? It is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Elements should not appear to make "false promises" by never coming into play. Let’s play a game called the false promises of the volume that may carry over to volume 8?

Renora: Nora sides with Robin, Ren sides with Ironwood. They do not communicate with one another and the tension builds throughout the volume. They kiss, nothing gets resolved. Ren cries when Neo turns into Nora.

Training: Ren is shown to throw himself into the enemy as a flaw, he repeats the same mistake when fighting with Neo. Oscar’s Semblance is questioned, nothing comes out of it. Ruby’s Semblance is questioned, nothing comes out of it.

Cinder got beef with Atlas? For some reason, Cinder talks about Atlas hoarding power when speaking with Winter. Bitch, where the fuck do you come from? Who are you? Do I know you? Sorry, the writers forgot to write a growth arc for you. My bad.

Nora, daughter of Atlas? Can someone explain to me why she became a SWJ (/s) during this season? We never get a backstory of her previous to Kuroyuri and for some reason Nora is super attached to the people of Mantle. The daughter of Atlas title was thrown around, why?

It’s so nice to see tea FNKI back! Too bad they are there for 5 minutes and never show up again, not even when Mantle is supposed to be defended by all huntsmen. I guess this was fan service.

What’s the purpose of the Happy Huntresses? Isn’t it funny how the only one who got wounded by Tyrian is the only character who could see in the dark, but didn’t tell Robin that Penny wasn’t guilty? Hi Fiona, I don’t know why you exist.

Marrow: the butt of the joke. Since the first episodes, Marrow is shown as the outsider inside the Ace Ops: his teammates don’t take him seriously, Ironwood doesn’t think Marrow is up to the challenge of some missions, and he’s the only Faunus, the only one that seemed to sympathize with Robyn at the end. Too bad he wasn’t allowed to break his mold.

The World Building looks pretty, but it doesn't play the part.

I have to praise the art direction of this season. I was blown away by the aesthetics of Mantle clashing with Atlas, the details in the backgrounds, the world building by back messaging, screens, and posters. My favorite scene of the volume is the penguins in the tundra.

However, you have to walk the walk, and the writing team failed to deliver.

Racism: hey, I know you guys kinda messed up the White Fang’s internal struggles and opportunity to expand on Adam’s power grab and Sienna’s leadership, but maybe don’t skip the racist elements of Atlas? All we get are Faunus mine workers looking angry, that drunk dude who yelled at Blake and Marrow making a simplistic comment about politics. What...? What’s the point of acknowledging u are bad at writing racism and then do nothing about it? Did none of the new writers know how to tackle this?

In-World Continuity: Hey, wasn't the Vytal festival broadcasted to the entire world? When I saw that camera focusing on Yang on episode 1, I thought there would be a call back to what everyone saw her do during the finals, but nope. Let’s not bring that up again. ever. The only important thing about the Vytal Festival is the tower, move on.

Weapons upgrade: We were told that weapons were an extension of each huntsmen; too bad none of our gang actually work on them. Pietro makes all the modifications and repairs. I remember the bumblebee fans eager for a scene of Blake repairing Gambol Shroud, don’t tell me you’re not disappointed.

Atlas ball: not found. Hey! We have Jacques Schnee celebrating his fake victory on the elections! It would be a perfect moment to showcase the disconnect between what’s happening in Mantle and what the people in atlas thing. Too bad we didn’t wanna make extra character models.

--

Closing thoughts

I wanted to re watch the whole season again to see if the bitterness left on my lips after watching that chaotic finale went away, but it only grew. There are so many character choices that made no sense, so many scenes where characters stood around in the background doing nothing.

WHY THE FUCK DID OZPIN ONLY APPEAR AT THE END?

Oh, I’ll tell you why: he needed to give a speech about themes to justify the stupidity that happened during the last episodes to get to that cliff hanger.

I am disappointed in volume that seemed to be doing so good at the begging, but hey... at this point we shouldn’t be surprised, should we? Interestingly enough, the people who dreamed about the ball and the scenes of Blake fixing Gambol Shroud grew quiet after the episodes aired... 

Almost as if criticism wasn’t allowed on the RWBY tag.

AN: The titty window isn’t justified Salem, your ex is now a child that’s PEDO—