#so I keep trying to summarize more and more succinctly

[needlesandnilbogs]

The worst part about writing long aus is that you can’t infodump about it (without having to explain everything first so they get the context) unless you’re willing to make someone read 150k words

[zombie-eats-world]

Crocodad Theory: The not-so-Crack-pot Theory.

Making this post in order to replace my old Crocodad thesis since I think I can do better now. Plus I was still using the old theory name then and I dislike seeing it pinned on my tumblr now. You can find that older post HERE if you desire to!

Crocodad theory, chances are you have heard about this theory if you are even slightly invested in the One Piece fandom. But despite its infamy, and outside its stanch believers like myself, it's mostly considered a crack theory and used for a laugh.

Now let's be clear, Crocodad theory is not a crack theory. A crack or crack-pot theory is more of a headcanon built on vibes, it's a fun idea made up out of thin air and isn't really serious. If the Crocodad theory was a crack theory it would have evaporated into the nether by now. It's over a decade old, after all, and yet it persists to this day! That is because the Crocodad theory has real evidence from the canon, the One Piece offshoots, and maybe even Oda himself.

If you weren't aware of the Crocodad theory, sometimes lovingly called Dadodile, let me summarize it very succinctly. The theory is that Crocodile is a transgender man and gave birth to Luffy. Crocodile is Luffy's other father and his birthing parent. If you think that sounds ridiculous or even hilarious, let me walk you through it because I assure you- that is intentional.

Let us begin where the theory began... Impel Down.

The possibility for this theory was born in 2009 with these panels:

The simple fact that Ivankov exists and that he knows Crocodile, from "when he was just starting out" mind you, makes this not only possible but probable.

What other "secret" could Ivakov be speaking of here? It's definitely not his weakness to water, that would just be bad storytelling. It could be that Crocodile is the child of Rocks which is possible considering we now know Ivankov was at the Gods Valley incident. But if I could speak as a writer for a moment, it would really be a waste for an author to introduce a character that can change genders and then bring back one of the first big villains like Crocodile, AND THEN connect the two with the mention of weakness but not make that secret that Crocodile had once been a woman. Or even at least a part of the reason.

But if that reasoning falls through for you, here is some in-canon evidence for the idea that Crocodile is transgender:

First of all, the agents' code names are so gendered: Every single digit agent is Mr with a Mrs, or Ms partner.

Crocodile’s name. His moniker is different from almost every other powerful pirate the story introduces to us. He isn’t just Desert King Crocodile, he is Desert King Sir Crocodile. Again it is oddly pronoun-centered. As if he is trying to remind people that he’s a guy.

The introduction of Bon Clay. Bon Clay is our first canon queer character in One Piece. He makes mention of being a girl many times and feels like a joke character when we first meet him. But as we know in One Piece, a pirate crew is a reflection of the Captain. Crocodile isn’t prejudiced to queer people like Bon Clay alludes to others being a few times. Crocodile even allowed Bon Clay to be both the male and female of his team!

Next up was the reveal of Baby Crocodile and how it’s deliberating ambiguous what gender Crocodile is. In every other Warlord's childhood look reveal, their gender is obvious, so why was Crocodile left out of that?

Then of course we have Gold Roger's execution, and how almost everyone got a reaction panel. But not Crocodile. No, we only see the back of his head. Oda has shown that he loves to get every single character's reaction to major events, sometimes to a fault. So why is he trying so hard to hide Crocodile from us? It just isn’t Oda’s style to leave someone out unless there is some kind of secret he wants to build up too. Now be sure to keep this in mind for later.

Last but certainly not least is just how much of an absolute troll Oda is. This will not be the last time I bring this up, Oda is a HUGE troll. He loves to play to his favorite fan theories and he decides most everything on how funny it is. And wouldn't it be funny if the first antagonist in the Grandline was secretly the birth parent of Luffy?

I mean just look at this! Oda, you absolute troll.

Bottom line: Trans Crocodile is more likely than not.

But this is where a lot of people decide the rest of this theory is crack, they take Trans!Crocodile and leave Crocodad out for reasons I honestly can't understand. Despite that, Cracodad has just as much if not more evidence than the Transgender part of this theory.

Before I begin I would like everyone reading to keep a few things in mind. All throughout the Impel down arc and the journey to Marineford, and even the first few chapters into Marineford, Crocodile could not have given a shit about Luffy, Ace, or the war at all. He did not care who won the war or if everyone involved died. He came to the battlefield for the sole purpose of killing Whitebeard. PERIOD. He was never once shown reacting with any concern when Luffy began facing down anyone strong. Not even Magellan. Crocodile had been around Luffy, seeing him do inspiring things for a massive amount of chapters by the time we get to Marineford, and yet Crocodile literally didn't care if Luffy lived or died, he just wanted to fight Whitebeard.

With that clear let's move on to what happened after Luffy's father was revealed to the world in Marineford. This moment is where the most obvious evidence first came about:

When Sengoku announces Luffy's father to the world we get many reaction shots, but once again Crocodile is conveniently missing from the lineup. He even disappears for a whole chapter! The young man who took down his decade-long plan to take over Alabasta just got announced to be the most wanted man in the world son, and we get no reaction from Crocodile... its suspicious.

Crocodile stopped Ace’s execution: Now Crocodile explains this by saying he ‘didn’t want to let Sengoku have the pleasure of victory’ but seriously? What kind of petty ass BS reasoning is that?! Crocodile has dreams and ambitions, and yet he gives up trying to be the one to take down Whitebeard to randomly save someone he canonly mocks in Impel Down? Someone he doesn’t care about. Some people will tell you it’s because Luffy inspired him like Luffy does many others, but what exactly is Luffy doing in Marineford that he didn’t in Impel Down or even Alabasta? Nothing. That means Crocodile has an entire about-face for no believable reason while completely off-screen. Which we've already said isn't Oda's style.

Daz and Crocodile face Mihawk to help Luffy: When Daz blocks Mihawk’s strike, Luffy questions it. Daz answers: It’s an order from above! That means Crocodile ordered Daz to specifically protect Luffy. Again, why? What reason did he have to do that? If this was some latent Crocodile has been inspired™️ moment, why wouldn’t Oda show it? Oda loves to hype up those moments, and loves to detail it all to the smallest piece. But Crocodile just randomly decided to have his main man Daz look out for this person that he COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN A CRAP ABOUT JUST TEN EPISODES BEFORE does not fit within the story. Then, right after Daz blocks Mihawk, Crocodile appears out of the woodwork to block another attack.

When Mihawk questions why he’d protect Luffy, Crocodile’s only response is “I’m not in the best mood now, Mihawk, you better watch yourself.” It’s interesting that he has no reason, none, he just comments that he’s in a shit mood. Maybe because he just found out he once stabbed his own child in the gut and left him to die?!

Crocodile vs Akainu: The brother killing Lava Man™️ is probably the most dangerous person in the war. He has no mercy, no morals, no restraint. So the fact that as Luffy is lying comatose and weak, with Jimbe slumped over him, Akainu about to deliver the final blow, Crocodile coming out of nowhere once again is so telling.

The fact is: Crocodile went above and beyond to save Luffy. That final stand against Akainu is so powerful. Crocodile doesn’t just save Luffy, he rushes to Luffy's aid, slicing through Akainu and reassembles to stand protectively between them. He did not need to do this at all. Oda didn’t need to have him do this either!

There were plenty of other characters that could have essentially done the same exact thing, but Oda chose to have Crocodile, someone who shouldn’t have been on Luffy’s side at all, save his life in the final moment.

Lastly, without a word, Crocodile uses Sables to get Luffy to Law’s ship. He risked his life, faced down the one person who could kill him without a second thought, and sweeps Luffy away to safety without any stated reason at all. In fact, everything he says is deliberately vague. Crocodile doesn’t believe in loyalty, he dumps people if they are weak (see; Alabasta Crocodile vs Luffy desert fight) so his line of “you gotta protect the one you wanna protect! Don’t let them have their way!” Feels so out of character. Crocodile has to have a reason for this odd behavior. And no, it doesn’t end there! In the defense of Luffy, Crocodile has an awesome and powerful moment where he stands in unity with all the Whitebeard commanders. HIS ENEMIES. Crocodile stands in unity with the people, he himself stated he hated more than anything, for Luffy!

These are the moments that alerted people to what would soon be called the Crocomom theory, now called Crocodad. But just because it began there doesn't mean there wasn't foreshadowing from before Marineford.

Let's go over all of that now:

First to talk about is once again Crocodile's crew. Miss Father's Day debuted in episode 124 of the anime and chapter 205 of the manga. She has a green amphibian theme to her, which is interesting because she is a woman with the moniker Father's Day while also having a theme of an animal that is famous for being able to change its gender. Her debut episode even has her introduced along with the reveal that Luffy's using his blood to fight Crocodile.

The next point is something Oda has never explained. Crocodile has strange relationships with children. From hiring a sixteen-year-old Miss Goldenweek, leaving her out of the Mr. 3 assassination order, and her history of actually sinking Crocodile's ships before getting hired, all the way to how Crocodile lectured Luffy in their fight. It just had the cadence of a parent. Not even Luffy's parent, just a parent. He lectures like someone who has experience with children.

Next, Luffy does not look like Dragon. That is a direct quote from Luffy in the manga. But you know who he does look like?

That's right! Luffy looks a lot like Crocodile. If you need more convincing on this, there is a great post by Dashevacotton that puts together many of the best canon pictures of Luffy dressed up like Crocodile. That post is here!

Crocodile and Luffy are incredibly similar. Not just in looks, but in personality, and in their general life.

These two have so much in common. From having a way with animals, to the amount of unadulterated loyalty they've inspired in their crews, all the way to the cadence of their speech.

Crocodile and Luffy even have a similarly goofy reaction to seeing the underground passage to the Alabasta Poneglyph.

Episode 123, episode time 13:16 Crocodile spots the entrance and laughs, "Ha, now I see secret stairs." Also in episode 123, episode time 20:47 Luffy looks around and spots the secret stairs. "That hole... it looks gator-ish."

Even what we know of Crocodile's backstory is that he had a rapid rise to fame just like Luffy by being a rookie who came in and beat down non-canon characters like Douglas Bullet to the shock of the world.

Next, let's bring up an earlier point: Oda-sensei is a mega troll.

This isn't exactly new information, Oda once deflected to bringing up a dick fight instead of answering if Zoro or Sanji was stronger. He is a Troll. He loves wordplay, and he likes to hint hint nudge nudge us all day long. Just look at Oda having Sanji call himself a prince in Alabasta as a joke, only to realize years later that he actually was a prince.

It's because of Oda's tendency to play around and make knowing jokes we've gotten some pretty compelling evidence for the Crocodad theory.

First would be the wordplay!

-Crocodile is closely linked to a Bananawani-> Monkeys like Banana -> Monkey D. Dragon is a reptilian Monkey attracted to Banana reptile. Fight me - A 'crocodile smile' is a term most often used to mean a fake or ingenuine smile. Crocodile's scar has been liked to look like a 'crocodile smile', which would mean Crocodile is the only character that always has a smile on his face. What a fun bit of wordplay to foreshadow the birth parent of Joyboy!

Then there is this SBS alongside the One Piece School spin-off manga by Sohei Koj.

What a great way to get out of revealing Luffy's parentage without actually revealing it!

And of course, we have the One Piece Mafia Theatre episode of the anime.

Oda would certainly make this canon just because of his troll tendencies. This is a hilarious theory because the story supports it yet only a fringe group believes in it. It's hilarious and therefore it's probably true.

Lastly, the symbolism makes this theory truly great.

I've already mentioned how Crocodile's scar being a 'crocodile smile' and thus giving him a permanent smile on his face would make him the most meaningful candidate for Luffy's birth parent. Joyboy, our Sun God Nika, was born from a man with a permanent fake smile; who is also named after an animal with the world's biggest smile.

It's just such a perfect setup, it makes my writer's heart swell.

Since Oda has stated a mother in One Piece would stop the adventure, it would fit that the first major villain in the Grandline to try and stop Luffy's adventure ended up being the man who gave birth to Luffy.

If we are going to speak of symbolism, I'd be remiss not to mention what a crocodile spiritually symbolizes. I really don't think I need to explain why adaptability, creation, ambiguity, and duality mean so much to this theory.

This theory could die or be confirmed any day now that we've entered a God's Valley flashback. I will love it either way but truly, honestly, I believe this. I hope I convinced a few of you to. If you are interested in the succinct list of Crocodad evidence that post is Here!

So in conclusion...

Crocodad is canon!

[lemonjamdraws]

Tell me, what do you like so much about Lila, and do you like any of the canon ships in Miraculous?

this is rooted in "you had to be there in 2016-2018" mindset in which the fandom was popping, we were young and innocent and full of zeal. and we sat thru the airing season 1 only for volpina to be the last aired episode (since it aired out of order) and then we had to sit for 2 years in hiatus.

how do i summarize this succinctly... with lila's appearance she had the potential to be the perfect marinette foil and anti-chloe. for example:

marinette: h8es lying but still has to lie for her identity. lila: wields lies but doesn't necessarily hurt anyone (in fanon, we were like she just did it to make friends).

chloe h8s marinette but loves LB. lila hates LB but could love marinette (with the assumption that we all thought mari would feel guilty post-volpina and try to make it up by being nice in civilian form)

those are both fun dynamics and the potential was mainly introduced via that one sorarts comic (and also this other one) and it was also the fuel for my biggest ML longfic (apparently The lilanette fic, at least at one point idk if it still is)

anyway that became like a whole thing where i started lilanette week and have run it a total of 7 times over like 7-8 years? so i was really in it. made a lot of friends, collabed on projects, i even did a lilanette secret santa?? it was the crux of my participation in ML fandom (and the reason why im friends with one of my best internet homies) and infinitely more compelling than "those two were made for each other" pathetic white bread.

EVEN when lila wasn't an UWU-lies-for-friends-because-insecure and she was a snake, it was interesting to have scenarios where marinette might need to reluctantly rely on lila for whatever reason. and in the end, any potential for her to become interesting was smashed just as astruc smashed any potential for anything in his show so it is sad. and i keep coming back every once in awhile out of nostalgia, and also spite.

canon ships? there's a universe where the love square is good and interesting, same with alya/nino but we don't live in that universe so they are bad and i don't like them as presented in canon.

[rainboq]

Meowdy!

I just wanted to start by saying that I adore Statistics and Purity Through a Prism.

Do you have any general advice you can give to less experienced writers? I’m also hella into making LiS fics, but I’m still trying to find my footing. Plus most of my projects fizzle out around chapter 5, and I’m not sure how to get momentum back after taking a break 😂🥰 how do you write stories that go for so long?

Thanks!

First of all thank you very much for enjoying my fanfics! I'm sorry that I haven't updated anything in a while, life and original fiction projects have pretty much taken over (I'll be self publishing a novel in the next few months).

For general advice, consider the following.

Keep an idea diary. Write down your ideas, just because you have nothing to go with it doesn't mean you won't later and don't be afraid to mash things together.

Learn about story telling as a craft. Study any and every medium and think about how to apply their lessons to word smithing. I highly recommend Every Frame a Painting, Thomas Flight, Hello Future Me, and Ellen Brock.

Read everything twice. Once for pleasure, once to tear it apart to figure out how the sausage is made. Dissect word choice, structure, pacing, foreshadowing, all of it. If you want to get better as an author, get better at media analysis.

Ask yourself why a project fizzles out. Did you lose sight of your original goal? Is it not turning out the way you hoped? Can you not remember where you wanted it to go? I tend to write with a few very specific scenes fixed in my head and I need to massage the characters to make those scenes happen and make sense. For Prism that was Kate and Chloe's clifftop kiss. Everything after that was kinda ad-libbed.

Embrace failure. Enjoy failure. Fail faster. As the Frizz would say: take chances, make mistakes, and get messy! You will learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. It's okay to be disappointed and upset when things don't go your way, but then dust yourself off and figure out what went wrong where and learn your lessons. (Just because you can write a novel in 3 months doesn't mean you should)

Your ideas are crap. It's okay, mine are too. Ideas always suck, they become good when you actually write the stories and find your blind spots. Make it work in the edit. You can change things right up until you publish, so play around and have fun.

It's okay to not finish projects. Use them as learning experiences. Practice writing better and better hooks. Find character's voices. Toy around with premises.

Practice with a purpose. With everything you write, pick something you want to focus on. Dialogue, pacing, structure, action, word play, imagery, etc. Pick something, study, execute.

Keep it simple. Elevator pitches are 30 words or less. If you can't summarize the crux of your story simply and succinctly, consider revising your idea to make it less complicated. Prism's premise is literally "What if Max never went to Blackwell". Statistic's premise is "What if Chloe was a homeless trans girl dealing for Frank". Complicated premises aren't bad, but they make executing much harder, and you don't need them to tell a good story.

Don't stop. Always be reading, writing, and thinking. Your creativity is a muscle, work it out. Hit the brain gym regularly with focus and intent and you'll see the growth.

I hope these help and good luck!

[stellisketches]

why? please explain the soldier, port, king in excruciating detail PLEASE

EDIT: ITS FINALLY DONE i'm so sorry this took me like six months I got really busy with school work and I wanted to make sure I wasn't half-assing this anyway thank you for asking please enjoy

For reference I will be quoting the “Poet Soldier King” test on uQuiz as I feel they summarize each role most succinctly.

"You wonder, sometimes, if anger is the only thing you can feel. Remember: love is passion too. You made your own rules and will follow them to death. You try and forget that there is only one rule, and that it is "FIGHT". You are tired of fighting. You try to forget that, too, and keep going. You dream of quiet. Your love is where you heal." -Soldier

It's a subtle element but Vylad’s entire character/existence is about enduring conflict. It's an easy thing to forget due to his calm demeanor, but Vylad has been fighting since the moment he was born (hell, even before). Fighting the ill-contrived gossip of being a bastard son, fighting to prove himself a genuine Ro’Meave, and fighting against Garte and Zane’s abuse over his childhood. It’s a subtler form of conflict, but it’s very interesting to imagine how he was able to put up with all of it (I’ve planned so many prequel fics about the Ro’Meaves you guys). Then there’s the whole shadowknight topic that really is indicative of itself. Vylad's whole arc was based upon leaving behind the violence of his past as a literal soldier within the Shadow Lord's army. Again it’s really easy to forget but this is someone who was revived to burn the world to the ground and slaughter any and every man, woman, and child that got in the way of it. He told Aphmau himself in season 2: “One good deed does not fix a thousand wrongs done. I'm not a good person, let's just leave it at that. Please.” We may not have seen it on screen, but who knows how long Vylad was traveling with Sasha and Gene. I doubt Phoenix Drop was the first village they targeted, and I doubt Gene or Sasha or even Zenix were ever like “oh yeah you can wait outside while we commit atrocities on this Lord and his family and burn the whole village to the ground.” Vylad has a very practical mindset (another trait indicative of a good soldier), and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was purposefully good at his job so it would land him more opportunities to get out of the nether now and again. He enacted violence well enough that he was trusted to be sent outside the nether to go fuck up the overworld. Vylad is a man thoroughly haunted by war and the violence he’s committed against others in a way his brothers just… aren't. Sure, Garroth knows fighting and violence as a means of protection and ensuring the safety of others, but he doesn’t know war. He’s never had someone he cared about die in his arms. He’s never seen a whole village burn to the ground and see innocent people slaughtered left and right. He’s never seen a child screaming at their dead mother to get up. He may use violence, but he was never a violent person. Zane, on the other hand, most definitely was, however, but he hardly ever enacted any of the violence himself. 90% of the time it was jurors or guards he’d given orders to. And while he was more than happy to get his hands dirty every once in a while, he never felt genuine consequence from it. 

Continuing on Vylad’s inner psyche, we see after he still keeps a very practical, soldier-like mindset out of the nether in company with Aph and Co: He gets annoyed at Aphmau when she puts off telling everyone about the Tuu’la invasion. He surveys Laurance from a distance and does not interfere even in danger because he’s aware of the long term effect of distrust it would cause him. Upon the chaos in Narhaka, he immediately goes to burn books that have important locations the enemy could use against them. This is actually one of my favorite scenes because of how subtly status-quo breaking it is. Tell me right now of any scene involving book burnings done by a guy the audience is supposed to root for. Vylad’s view of the world makes him incredibly pragmatic and able to calculate the win-loss ratio of his actions and let that decide whether or not he will go through with it.

Vylad may not have the typical surface-level look of the characters often put into the category, but if you really dive into his past, his mindset, and the way he views the world, he easily fits into the role of soldier; with the final line “Your love is where you heal” setting him on the path of redemption we see throughout the whole series.

"Loneliness. Strength. Joy. You are powerful, but struggle believing it. You think you're not enough. Here's the truth : you are. You sing songs and hope they carry faith, because you have run out of it, and yet you still throw your heart out to the world and hope it makes it through. You convince yourself that pain is art because at least then, you will always have something to create. You are tired of stumbling through life. You dream of a ground you can stand on. One day, you will dance. Your love is where you feel - without fear." -Poet

Now I admit for Zane it does require a more particular perspective to place him as poet, but I’ll start simple and slowly transition to red string and corkboard. Firstly, from the original song lyrics, “He will slay you with his tongue” applies in at least two different ways. The first being obvious: Zane is incredibly charismatic- you don’t just make it to High Priest without a certain degree of people skills included but not limited to negotiating, preaching, and being able to reason your way through any theological question a questioning sinner could ask you. It’s a shame we don’t see it put into use very often throughout the series, but I think his position gives enough testament to his people skills. The second way this line applied is a bit more literal and a bit more dark, which would be the sheer amount of people who were murdered not by his hands directly, but on mere orders. He can quite literally have people slain in just a few words to the right people. Moving to the more esoteric; the line “You are powerful, but struggle believing it. You think you're not enough.” seems like it be a hitch to his characterization, as it first invokes the idea of someone who lacks self-confidence, which is FAR from what we see Zane characterized as in the story. However I see this from the lense of artists becoming blind to the depth of their own skill. Zane is powerful, but it’s not enough for him. He’s become so accustomed to the level of influence he holds he’s become desensitized to it, like how you stop feeling the cold of the water once you stay in it long enough.The power he’s been swimming in his entire life no longer brings that vitalic shudder of control he craves. Thus he seeks power that goes beyond mortal influence to raw, unchanneled divinity, as that’s the only thing that he has ever been told is above him. He hungers the same as any artist— to be something greater than they already are.

“You convince yourself that pain is art because at least then, you will always have something to create.” The idea of creation draws back to Zane’s relationship with control and divinity. I think it's highly debatable as to whether or not Zane has actual “faith” in the divine (i.e, seeing them as gods he wishes to emulate or simply as extremely powerful beings minus the religious element), but in either case it again leads back to desire for more. (sidenote: Zane’s fatal flaw being lust is such a delicious piece of irony and I could make an essay of its own on it). Anyway, back to the point I was originally trying to make: Zane sows pain and destruction as a means of asserting his power/importance both to others and himself. The “pain” spoken of would normally belong to the poet themself— but this is no ordinary poet, and there is no specific indication where said pain emerges from. 

"Duty. Strength. Resignation. You were told to do things and you did them. The world is something that was put into your hands and that you must deal with - so you will. You have a rigid back and steady hands, either metaphorically or physically. Is it nature or nurture ? You don't know. You are tired of being steady. You dream of feeling alive. Not that you aren't, but, sometimes, it's hard to remember that there is a heart between your ribs. Your love is where you breathe." -King

God where do I start. “Duty. Strength. Resignation” It’s like someone just said ‘describe Garroth in three words’. Duty has been his entire life, wanted or not, which leads directly into resignation. “You were told to do things and you did them.The world is something that was put into your hands and that you must deal with - so you will.” He learned his history. He learned the politics. He followed the dogma. He believed in Irene and his father and the glory of O’Khasis and his divine duty to lord over its people. His people. He said it himself in episode 68 he wanted to be exactly like his father, and that he thought to be lord was an honor and a privilege. To him, the weight of the world has rested upon his shoulders for so long that he becomes accustomed to each additional hardship quickly and quietly, never kicking up a fuss about his growing stress and dissatisfaction, like a frog in a pool of water that is steadily increasing in temperature. He locks his festering disdain for glorification of leadership away from his father, his family, and the rest of the world because he cannot show that he is anything but the Atlas of duty he was born to be. 

Until, one day, he has enough. He saw what happens to his dear little brother, likely the only person he felt he could truly bond with, and despite everything he still dealt with it, for the sake of the people around him, but when his father commands him to marry a girl he has never met (likely while he is still processing his grief) in the name of ‘duty’, it is the straw that breaks the camel's back. He sees that everything he has worked towards is meaningless as he will never reach a point where his father will be satisfied with him. That his father will continue to take and take from him until there is nothing left but a soulless puppet that will continue to speak his words even after his reign has ended. Every burden he has carried, every grievance he has hidden, every struggle he’s overcome and the hard work he’s put into building himself a true heir of O’Khasis— it all amounts to nothing.

So he leaves. 

Now, let me ask you: what would you do if you were a runaway prince escaping the crushing weight of expectation? Take a bunch of money from your no-good dad? Buy a boat ticket and live a new life in luxury on the other side of the world? Never work a day again and dive head first into careless relaxation? Surely, you wouldn’t look twice at a dilapidated little village on the coast. Wouldn’t bother to stop by and lift a finger to help it. You're free, you have a whole life of sweet exemption to look forward to. You wouldn’t give it the time of day.

“You have a rigid back and steady hands, either metaphorically or physically. Is it nature or nurture?”

Garroth finds himself in Phoenix Drop— a rickety dead-end little town as far away from home as possible. He stays, and he helps. He keeps the village running, he helps the Lord wherever he can. He takes in the broken, starved boy he finds in the woods. He does whatever he can to improve the lives of the people around him. Why? He owes them nothing, he’s spent a lifetime crushed under the weight of people's expectations and he turns around just to find himself carrying the weight of more lives on his shoulders. He is doing everything he was taught and everything he ran away from. 

But this time it’s different. This time, he sees how he’s helping. There’s no more grating voice telling him none of the effort matters. He has a rigid back and steady hands, metaphorically and physically. For the first time in his life, he can see with his own two eyes that his effort is worth it. There isn’t doubt and lies and corruption floating in and out of his mind. Just the warm, honest smiles of the people he helps. He feels it and it is real. The question “Is it nature or nurture?” is genuine: Is Garroth helping these people out of the kindness of his heart or because it was what he was always told to do, and now that he is without the purpose he was assigned he’s leaning on something familiar? Personally, I think that’s for the audience to decide. I myself would say a mixture of both, leaning more so towards nature. But I digress. 

It’s better then, when he helps and can see that he is doing good, but of course, that peace is not to last him. With the Lord’s death and impending turmoil of Phoenix Drop, Garroth’s role in the village shifts drastically to closer resembling the role he ran away from. People are treating him with near as much kindness anymore, no. The most forgiving are losing faith and the least are blaming him. Blaming him for failing to meet their expectations. Now, as things are deteriorating, he has more than enough reason to leave. He gave it the good ol’ college try, and he failed. With the sentiments of the village becoming scarily familiar to that of his father, he should just say “fuck it” and head on off to that faraway land where no one will know his name.

But still, he doesn’t. We see him in Rebirth and how desperate he is to fix the village, to make it work. Even when everyone else is telling him to give up, he refuses. Even sinking, a captain stays on his ship. (Side note: it’s scenes like this that cause me to start tearing up people’s lawns whenever I see takes that label Garroth as having a “fear of responsibility”). And he is completely ready to either make things work or die trying, regardless of what stands in his way. 

‘You are tired of being steady. You dream of feeling alive. Not that you aren't, but, sometimes, it's hard to remember that there is a heart between your ribs.’

Aphmau wasn’t the first person he saved. Zenix had likely been around for at least a year beforehand. However Zenix was a hothead teenager in need of guidance, which simply made him become another responsibility Garroth set upon himself. Don’t get me wrong, he definitely cares for him, but their relationship is far different than the one he has with Aphmau. 

With Aphmau, he finally has someone who shares the burden. Not only that, but sharing it willingly and with a smile on her face. He’s not used to having a person who presents themselves as an equal sharer of responsibility. Much less, someone who is willing and wanting for him to put his burdens on her (At least, that’s how he sees it). He can’t remember the last time he truly allowed himself to be vulnerable with someone. All the desires he’s pushed down start to bubble back up again, and he starts to imagine things he’d long tried to do away with. He sees Aphmau as a strong leader, one whose idealism is a strength and not a weakness, and how she accomplishes things he never quite got around to doing. An admiration grows for her, yes, but that’s not what makes her different. The difference, he sees, is her vulnerability. How she allows herself to be vulnerable around him. How despite the brave face she puts on, she has just as much fear that she isn’t enough. And she tells him this, directly, because she trusts him. And all of a sudden he realizes that if she can be strong to the rest of the world, and yet still let him see her weakness, her softness, then maybe, just maybe

“Your love is where you breathe.”

He can take his armor off, too.

[theneighborhoodwatch]

002 - Popstar, Franklydear and whatever we call what Wally and Home have going on

(send me a character/ship to hear my thoughts)

i've gotten Multiple asks about all of these pairings, so let's not waste anymore time. under the cut bc unsurprisingly this got Long.

POPSTAR

when or if I started shipping it: i think it first Really started with this pokemon AU post clown made talking about what he thought they'd be up to in that universe... the language he uses in that post really caught my eye, and it just kinda snowballed from there, especially as canon started picking up and we saw more of them interacting 1-on-1.

my thoughts: i feel like we don't really get a lot of yuri in this specific Type of horror (i.e. cute thing is secretly fucked up), at least not in the west. i think that's a crying shame, but i believe popstar has the potential to truly open the floodgates. unless i'm forgetting herstory - idk i feel like there's definitely some rpgmaker game out there that'll prove me wrong but you know what i mean. more mascot horror yuri NOW.

What makes me happy about them: i think it's super cute that they both kinda geek out whenever one of them asks the other for help, like they're being asked by this big huge celebrity and not, like. their literal next door neighbor lol. sally in particular - as bullheaded as she is, her insistence on trying to put poppy in the spotlight more often isn't because she thinks poppy is untalented and needs to train up, but because she genuinely thinks poppy is Just That Stunning And Talented And Beautiful, and doesn't want that to go to waste. nepotism has never looked so romantic <3

What makes me sad about them: sally seems to enlist poppy's help Way more than poppy does sally's, and while sally clearly Wants to take poppy seriously, she has a hard time not immediately brushing off other's concerns in general because She's An Auteur, Dammit, She Knows What She's Talking About. it does make me very worried for poppy! i think things between them are gonna get Way worse before they get better lol. not dysfunctional enough to be toxic yuri but certainly painful enough that it will Get Me when it happens.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: THAT NOBODY WRITES IT

Things I look for in fanfic: MORE OF IT

My kinks: again, serious in-depth answers go on the nsfw blog only. i will say i think they're definitely those people who keep trying to set up roleplay scenes only to get distracted by trying to figure out the technical aspects and/or getting so in-character that they forgot what the end goal was.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: poppy partridge if you read this im free on Thursday night and would like to hang out. Please respond to this and then hang out with me on Thursday night when I’m free.

My happily ever after for them: after a series of trials and tribulations, complete with at least one breakup arc, the two of them reconcile in an appropriately dramatic apology-that-looks-suspiciously-like-a-marriage-proposal scene. i don't really know what happens after that. i was going to say they go on to become lesbian statler and waldorf, but i think they would both be too invested in trying to give actual constructive criticism, so maybe they just mst3k it instead.

FRANKLYDEAR

when or if I started shipping it: i dunno! i don't remember ever being opposed to the ship, but there was definitely a period of time where my approach to it was more "hmmm i wonder what this ship being canon means for welcome home's Themes" and less "ough fuck they make me so sick," as opposed to the current day where it's a pretty even mix of both.

my thoughts: god what haven't i said about them. i think i peaked with this post. i don't think anything i say can summarize the appeal of their relationship to me more succinctly than that.

What makes me happy about them: when it comes to eddie, frank is like. frank is so fucking funny bc he seems to be under the impression that he's being subtle. yeah get mad whenever anyone who isn't you makes fun of that beautiful big breasted mailman to the point where you'll even defend his honor in the merch advertisements and also when you Do make fun of him be sure to be gentler than you would be with almost anyone else but also don't let up entirely bc then you won't get to see him be adorably flustered and also enforce a surname-only basis with him so people don't think you're getting too chummy but ALSO drop the surname-only basis whenever he seems genuinely upset to let him know that you're worried about him and want to help. and also do this in front of everyone at a holiday party. nobody will suspect a thing. and the best part is that IT WORKS ON EDDIE. EDDIE ALSO THINKS FRANK IS COOL AND TRUSTWORTHY AND RELIABLE ENOUGH THAT HE AUDIBLY/VISIBLY RELAXES WHENEVER FRANK ENTERS A SCENE.

What makes me sad about them: EDDIE'S ASS IS NOT PREPARED FOR THE DAY THAT IT'LL BE FRANK IN THE PROVERBIAL LOVESEAT OF TORMENT. arguably neither is frank but like given how eddie saw frank at the end of the homewarming special? it's going to FUCK him up.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: when i click on the eddie dear/frank frankly tag. and i filter out all mentions of wally darling. i should not still be seeing wally darling. do u understand. get that little yellow cunt OUT of here!!!!!!!

Things I look for in fanfic: pre-established relationship hurt/comfort or angst. i realize i may be alone in my interpretation of franklydear as not being Together together yet, but i am stubborn.

My kinks: i wonder how many times i can say "ask for my nsfw blog" without it getting old.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: GOOD QUESTION. i don't think either of them would particularly struggle to find a partner if they didn't end up with each other, but i also can't see either of them being attracted to any of their other neighbors.

My happily ever after for them: these two images specifically. in general they should get to be huge cornballs for at least a little while should they successfully endure The Horrors.

HOME AND WALLY. HOMEWALLY? WALLYHOME? WHO KNOWS.

when or if I started shipping it: an old friend of mine made a joke about it once in 2022, waaaay before there was any like, huge fandom presence outside of a few scant discord servers. i thought about it too hard and now i'm here.

my thoughts: romantically or not, THEY ARE SOOOOO DOOMED, DUDE. THEY ARE SO FUCKING DOOMED. and i don't mean, like, "yeah they have some stuff that makes their current relationship less than ideal but i'm sure they can work things out ^-^" no i mean DOOMED. there's only one way this relationship can end and it is in BLOOD and TEARS. and i will be there with a tissue box and a big ol' bucket of popcorn. i've written about them so much on this blog already but by god i will write more.

What makes me happy about them: the obsessive aspect to their relationship, like. it feels very mutual. it would be so easy to make home coldly imposing 24/7 and/or just have them be taking advantage of wally's love for them, but. no. they seem just as attached to their inhabitant as he is to them, for better or worse. i get a lot more mileage out of a relationship where both parties Love each other and desperately want to be all-encompassing for one another in All aspects of relationships, but live in a reality where that simply cannot be, and their relationship is wildly unhealthy as a result. home is a monument to a past that either never existed or cannot be revived without Severe consequences. but wally doesn't care about that. all wally cares about is that he is his home. see also: this post.

What makes me sad about them: [copypastes the entire above paragraph]

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: most wally/home fic is either pure crackfic or fic in which home gets hit hard with the ron the death eater treatment. like jesus, he's already pretty morally ambiguous in canon by just Standing There, you don't need to make him an actual rapist to establish that his and wally's relationship isn't exactly ideal.

Things I look for in fanfic: i don't look for it because i've pretty much given up on it being there at all, but i hope more folks write some actual character study-adjacent stuff about them some day!

My kinks: i do have actual answers to this but no way am i stating them here. again, i have a separate blog for that.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE.

My happily ever after for them: you know that's not gonna happen.

[letsplaydcttrpg]

Wheel of Destruction pt 29 - The Tar Pit Tango

Start this module here!

Previous part here!

Links to all posts for this module in the pinned post!

Time for SCIENCE. We have a 7 for our Science skill and the check is a 6, so we need to roll at least a 9. We have a +2 from the professor and a +2 from our last movement roll, so we actually only need a 5!

And a 13 (plus 4, so 17) will do it!

Homo Erectus [sic] appear [sic] a bit too erect.

We get a +1 to any combat rolls we make at the Tar Pit, and we can't be surprised! Gee, I wonder what will happen...

The tar is bubbling and the sulphurous ooze fills the air with an overpowering stench. One sabre-toothed tiger seems permanently trapped in the tar. Another stands on an overhanging rock, poised to attack. A Neanderthal man stands to the side, looking on dispassionately...until he swings his club in an arc worthy of Pete Rose. It's aimed at your midsection.

Normally this would be a surprise attack, which would be Bad News for us, but we just averted that! (Also, side note: Neanderthal and Homo erectus are not the same thing. Which is extra funny when we specifically did a SCIENCE roll.)

Anyway, we're in a fight now! Good thing we got those bonuses! Our enemy is DEX 5 STR 4 INT 6 BODY 3, so he's not quite as tough as us but he's not as much of a pushover as the previous goons we've fought. We win on Initiative because ours is a +22 to our roll and they didn't give him one so on a single d10 roll he can't possibly beat us. Too bad about that surprise attack, buddy.

Our first maneuver is to try and dodge his attack, which uses our Acrobat skill of 10 (because we're Dick Grayson) vs the OV of 6, so we need at least a 7. We got double 7! It hasn't come up until now, but in this game rolling doubles means you get to roll again and add them together, so it's sort of this game's equivalent of a nat 20. Our second roll is a 10, so we got a total of 24! Man, too bad this isn't one of the checks where the amount you succeed by really matters, we would've wrecked this dude. Instead I'm imagining we not only dodge his attack but really embarrass him in the process.

Having successfully dodged this initial attack we're now just in a fight. It's gonna be a bunch of dice rolls, but I'll try to summarize things succinctly!

First attack, DEX 7 vs DEX 5, we need 9 or higher and we got 14, which means we get two column shifts. Our STR to determine effect is 4 v 4, but with 2 column shifts that means we get a full 4 result APs, which means that's 4 off of his BODY of 3 which means he's unconscious.

So I guess I didn't need to worry so much about succinct combat summary, huh. Good job, Dick!

The Tiger leaps.

Well dang. It's Acrobat 10 vs its DEX of 6, and it's a really good thing we got that unable to be surprised bonus so we only need a 7 instead of an 11. Although we did get an 11!

If it misses, it lands in the pit and becomes hopelessly embedded. The Neanderthal, not surprisingly, is gone.

And we're back to the map to keep exploring! Good job not dying in a tar pit, Dick! We got a 4 on our movement roll, so we can go directly to the Savanna and it's pedestrian path or the Administration Building, or we can start heading for one of the more distant locations.

(There are SO MANY redirects to the section for "You're stuck in the tar pit, good luck", this was very stressful for me)

[crystal-lillies]

Just got out of The Marvels!

I will try to avoid major story spoilers for now.

It was a lot of fun, and exceeded my expectations. I was really worried going in, but I had a great time watching Monica and Carol and Kamala all together (and Kamala's family and Fury haha).

The story also felt fairly tight, with only a couple loose ends that I wanted addressed before the credits rolled.

And while you do need some homework in watching WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and at least up to Endgame in the movies, it does a good job at succinctly summarizing the necessary information for the story, and it feels like a proper sequel for the Captain Marvel movie, and not just like a movie Carol Danvers happens to be the main character of, if that makes sense.

It's not perfect but I feel like it breathed life into a nearly dead body of the MCU and it is giving me some faith for future stories. And it single handedly tied more Disney+ shows together unobtrusively and in a relevant manner than Multiverse of Madness. (I can't say for sure how well Quantumania tied to Loki aside from Kang, if Loki and the TVA were mentioned at all bc I did not yet see Quantumania)

PLUS it solved the "how are we going to address the mutants and Fox-verse" issue in a way I was not expecting, and hardly expecting to work! I think this will be not only how Deadpool fits into the MCU, but could potentially keep the Fox-verse alive in a narratively interesting way.

Overall I would give The Marvels an 8.5/10. Definitely recommend it! Definitely stay for the hefty mid-credits scene.

I love Kamala Khan with my entire heart and I am so happy for Iman to be living her fangirl dreams and ON THE BIG SCREEN finally!! I cannot wait to see her and the other D+ show heroes in more stuff.

[zalrb]

i literally just saw a tweet re: challengers that basically said that it’s kind of hard to achieve the type of eroticism and sensuality that movies like that are supposed to have without life experience and zendaya doesn’t have that yet. i think there’s merit to that argument because i feel like zendaya either gets these roles for these huge franchises where she’s just meant to be The Girl like in spider man and dune or she gets these roles that seem too mature for her??? not that she’s immature just that it seems obvious that these films are supposed to establish her grown woman era but are just edgy in the most toothless way possible? i really think she did a great job with rue and euphoria but her film career kinda confuses me.

I think there's merit to that argument but not in relation to the eroticism but in relation to elevating a character.

“I’ve been playing 16-year-olds since I was 16,” Zendaya said, having launched her career on Disney Channel before moving on to projects such as HBO’s “Euphoria” and the most recent “Spider-Man” franchise, both centering on high schoolers. “So it was nice to play a character that was not a child anymore. It was also interesting playing parts of my life that I haven’t experienced yet: I’ve not gotten married. I’ve not had a child. Those milestones, I don’t necessarily have a direct reference point for. That was different to feel. Ultimately, it felt like the right time for a character like this.”

And I get that, but also I don't think she really pulls this off. Because as I keep saying, Tashi was underwritten but in the hands of a more mature actress, she would've been imbued with a lot more emotional nuance which would've been illustrated her complexity more.

I'm just going to repost what I said about Malcolm and Marie:

That being said, there was a review that I think succinctly and accurately summarized my feelings about Zendaya’s acting in it:

Zendaya makes a worthwhile case study, a Disney kid turned Hollywood powerhouse on the come-up. After years of playing teenagers, she is transitioning to more wholly developed, adult roles. But while I mostly enjoy her quiet, mumbling heartbreak on Euphoria — the wild, glittering teen HBO drama Levinson also spearheads — Malcolm & Marie puts into an unforgiving spotlight her weaknesses. Her decisions are obvious enough to feel them coming on. A furrowed brow. Jutted chin. She smokes cigarettes like the parody of French actors you’d expect in a midcentury Looney Tunes sketch. There’s an air just before crucial lines like she’s clearing her throat before a big speech. She doesn’t carry the weight of real emotion and complication — whether she’s quietly crying, stripped down in a bath, or shouting obscenities.

So for a movie like this, micro expressions are everything and like, when I think of micro expressions I always go to Sonequa because she’s masterful at them

so like, something like this

vs something like this:

Sonequa’s quiver doesn’t feel like she’s putting on a quiver, it feels like she’s really trying to gather herself.

This pout is a little more petulant than intended

And this isn’t to suggest that she’s bad in the movie more that I think she’s still growing as an actress and she needs to do roles like this to get better and command the screen the way she needs to because it’s not that I didn’t see her try, it’s that I saw her try.

So I absolutely agree with the assessment that she's either The Girl in the movies or she's supposed to be in her Grown Woman Era (although frankly I thought she was written as The Woman in this movie as well) but for where she needed to be/go in the present day scenes, I watched it like you have presence but you don't have the gravitas necessary for this.

[infriga]

I watched the live action One Piece because of you and your excitement over it and I really loved it, so thank you! Wondering if you have suggestions of where to go next? Read the manga or watch the anime? It honestly seems a bit overwhelming, so not sure where to start.

That's awesome! I love inspiring people to try One Piece, it's a really fun ride! It's always great seeing new fans coming in to enjoy the series! 🤗

I wanted to be as informative and thorough as I could for anyone wondering about this, so this might be long, but I'll provide a summarized version to start then include the long version under a readmore if you want more info in order to decide. Sorry if it gets a bit rambling lol.

So the answer to the "anime or manga" question is not necessarily complicated, but it is a little more nuanced than some fans will lead you to believe (a lot of manga-only elitists have a hate boner for the anime to a degree that imo isn't warranted) . There are a few major factors.

Summarized version:

1) this one's obvious, but bears saying; if you prefer manga, go with the manga, if you prefer anime, go with the anime. If you like both, go with both, unless you only want to consume one. Some people tend to gravitate towards one over another, and that's fine.

2) if you're interested in consuming both, I recommend starting with the anime, then going to the manga after, to avoid tainting your experience with the anime by comparing it to the manga all the time. If you only want to consume one, stick to the manga, because it is the better version. If you're on the fence or haven't decided yet, start with the manga then decide if you want to also try the anime later.

3) if you want to consume the anime, then determine how much of the original experience you want to be retained. There's not many filler episodes, but they do exist, and there are watch lists that explain which episodes to skip if you don't want to watch them. Otherwise obviously the manga is the true original and is the best version of the story. The anime isn't terrible, I still enjoy it, but it does have its flaws compared to the manga. That said, it does also have some benefits you can't get from the manga such as the top notch voice acting (at least in Japanese) and incredible soundtrack. Also the animation in Wano has been sending One Piece fans to the emergency room with priapism lately so do with that what you will.

4) determine how much time you're willing to invest. The manga is going to be the fastest way to consume the series, but there is a fan edited version of the anime that speeds up the pacing to match the manga, and thus takes a lot less time to catch up on. You can also read the manga then look up your favourite scenes in the anime as a supplement without investing into watching the whole anime, either shorter or longer version. The only thing to keep in mind is don't ever skip any canon arcs, you WILL regret it later. Oda never forgets.

Where to watch/read:

If you want help finding a good place to read or watch the series, for free or otherwise, let me know and I can provide some links! I can also provide recommendations for which movies to watch and when if anyone is interested in those, or even just OP fanfic recs if there's a market for that lol.

Now, for:

The long version (oh god I'm so sorry this got so long I am incapable of talking about this topic succinctly):

1) what type of media do you prefer and have an easier time consuming? Comic or animation?

I have an anime only friend who struggles with reading comics for some reason (he can read books just fine, but he struggles with comics and he doesn't know why), but he loves the anime, and is even currently rewatching it so we can catch up on watching Wano together since that arc is ending soon and we like to wait and binge entire arcs instead of watching weekly. If you prefer one over another, then whichever that is, is fine fine to go with. If you don't have a preference, then your next factor is:

2) do you want to only consume one, or are you open to consuming both?

I read the manga and watch the anime. I get a slightly different experience from both, I prefer the art and pacing of the manga, but I love the voice acting and music of the anime, and some moments just hit harder for me in the anime. I haven't cried very often reading the manga, but I have cried quite a bit more watching the anime when seeing the same scenes, like full on sobbing at some points ngl. It's not that I think the moments are done better in the anime or that they're not just as sad, but I have an easier time crying when seeing something in motion with sound for some reason. I rarely ever cry when reading books or comics. It happens, but not as easily or as often. Also while the animation throughout most of the series is middling (not bad but not amazing) for most of the series, aside from major fights, the most recent arcs have seen a huge upgrade in regards to the animation, WCI to some extent but especially Wano. The animators have just been going HAM on the animation during Wano. Like, it's all but impossible to find good examples without spoilers because of just, how many spoilers there are at that point in the story, but I'll at least show Luffy being pretty lol:

That said, the anime isn't without its flaws, but I'll get to that in a bit.

If you do want to consume both, then personally I recommend watching the anime first. I find people who read the manga first are more prone to comparing everything in the anime to the manga and wanting things to fit 1:1, which I think puts the anime at a disadvantage and makes people a bit more hypercritical of it. But ultimately this is up to you. Maybe you don't know yet if you'll try both, in which case the manga is probably better because it's the version that, by its nature, is the best version, and will give you the original experience, and you can decide later whether you want to supplement that with the anime as well.

If you only want to consume 1, at least mainly, then the next factor is:

3) How much of the original experience do you want to stick to?

The One Piece anime doesn't have nearly as many filler arcs/episodes as other long running shounens have had in the past, and past Enies Lobby there's almost no filler arcs whatsoever, aside from the rare 2-5 episode arcs, usually ones that advertise the movies that came out not long after they aired. But there are some full filler arcs earlier in the anime, and the general consensus is that most are pretty meh. Not horrid, but nothing special, and many of them ended up accidentally contradicting canon when new information about the world or certain in-world systems came out later. There are watch guides for skipping these widely available, and most OP fans do recommend watching the G8 filler arc because it's viewed as the only one that is on par with, or at least close to, canon content. I enjoy it myself as well personally.

That said, one of my biggest gripes about the anime, especially after sabaody up until Wano, is how it takes Odas more mild level of sexualization in comparison and dials it up to 1000. At its worst it has taken scenes where a female character is introduced with a full body shot and a name/title card in the manga, and turned it into a scene where the camera zooms in on her boobs, thighs, waist, butt, and then slowly pans up her body starting from the feet, including boi-oing noises or weird many sound effects with each zoom in shot. It also increased the boobs sizes and decreased the waist sizes constantly, put a lot more effort and attention into boobs jiggles than was necessary, and at least one point they even blatantly zoomed in on Nami's boobs bouncing isolated on the screen while she was running for absolutely NO reason. Oda doesn't do this in the manga. He doesn't introduce women in bits and pieces focusing on their body parts in an oggling manner, he doesn't put their boobs front and centre unless it's maybe by accident because of necessary framing. Even when he has sexy shots of women, they're usually full body shots that also even manage to serve as establishing shots most of the time. I also often get the feeling that a lot of it is also him being aware of his target audience in Japan, which is teenage boys. You can see a lot of how his approach adjusted when he has a different audience in mind in the Live action, not only regarding stuff like diversity (which WAS present in the original, their real life equivalent ethnicities have been said to be diverse for a long time, but Oda himself, as much as I love him, only has one skin tone marker in his whole house apparently and he uses it for every single character in colourspreads and covers, including the characters that are supposed to be black, and the anime isn't much better on that front, so it's nice to really see the proof of the diversity visually in the live action in a way that doesn't come across as clearly in the anime or manga), but also in regards to adjusting shounen tropes to better fit a live action setting. You can see in a lot of his SBS answers that he takes his target audience and what he wanted to see as a young boy into account a lot even if he might otherwise explore different tropes or depictions or structures in a different medium or genre.

BUT the anime does have its flaws. I won't pretend that Oda doesn't draw his female characters sexier as the series goes on, and while he also does with the men (Zoro canonically has the biggest bust size on the crew according to Oda lmao) it's not to the same degree as the women. This is especially concentrated around Nami, possibly because Oda's wife is a Nami cosplayer and iirc he met her while she was cosplaying Nami. It's the most overt in certain later arcs, but not too present in earlier arcs up to, say, Sabaody. But, while he does draw the women sexier, he's not... Idk the right terminology to use but he doesn't employ an oggling pov towards the women very often. Not never, but compared to the manga you relatively rarely get much particular purposeful focus on body parts like boobs or ass, there's also never any panty shots (seriously, not a single one in the entire series). That's not so say that the series is always perfect in this sense, but rather that's to compare it to the anime. And while there are some things One Piece doesn't do perfectly sometimes, there are also a lot of things it definitely gets right about how the women are written as complex multifaceted people with conflicts and motivations just as deep and diverse and complicated as the men. They mostly just look extra seggsy sometimes, at least the main ones do. And YMMV, but personally I'm okay with some sexiness, so long as it doesn't compromise the characters story and personality and doesn't go overboard to the point of being softcore porn, which Oda doesn't do in the manga. And I also don't like how often criticism of sexiness turns into shaming any clothing that shows more skin. There's a difference between disliking fanservice and going full conservative prude.

Now from what I've seen this has gotten significantly better in Wano in the anime, probably because Oda himself purposefully played down even his own horniness during Wano because of the focus on traditional Japanese aesthetics and dress. Idk if it will get bad again after Wano, but a lot has changed regarding the way the anime is animated and directed since the last time it was bad, so hopefully not. But this can be a significant barrier to the anime for some people. If that's the case, then I definitely recommend the manga. It's the original, and in comparison it is practically chaste. It's not prevalent throughout the entire anime, it's mostly bad for the stretch from Fishman Island to the end of WCI, which consists of 3 big arcs and 2 smaller in-between arcs, but improves significantly in Wano, and isn't too bad in arcs before Fishman Island. Still more egregious than the manga, but not to the same degree. So it's possible you can tolerate it for that stretch since there are still lots of good moments in the anime in these arcs too. Though I'll note that there's quite a bit of censorship in the anime compared to the manga, Zeff eating his own leg for example, while included in the live action, was not included in the anime. Instead he lost it when it got caught in some ship debris while he was rescuing Sanji from drowning. Stuff like gore and blood are also tones down a lot. The live action honestly isn't any more gory than the manga is, even at the beginning. There's even less blood in the live action, the wound Zoro got from Mihawk was nastayyyy in the manga. Bro nearly got bisected fr.

Though I will say that I think one thing that helps make the more sexualized aspects of the series feel more balanced and a lot less center stage is that Luffy himself, the main character, is completely and totally 1000% gender blind. He's not blind to stuff like masculinity or femininity, but he's blind to whether masculinity or femininity is something that is only applicable to men or women. He likes plenty of manly things, there's a gag about him not wanting frills on his shirt because he doesn't think they're manly and he doesn't like that, but he doesn't think that it makes a man less of a man if he wears a frilly shirt, and he's not opposed to wearing other clothes that might be more feminine coded like his fuckin cute li'l dress thing in Egghead, or the literal dress he wears proudly for all of 3 seconds in Film Gold lmao. There are plenty of men in the series who wear frilly shirts. There are also men who wear makeup, wear pink, crossdress, etc. Luffy could not give less of a shit what men, or women, wear. He does not discriminate between women and men in how he treats them in any way shape or form, his awareness of gender expression is limited entirely in how he personally expresses *his* idea of *his* gender. If a woman pisses him off he'll beat them up just as easily as he will a dude. If a trans man says they identify as a man, he'll refer to them as a man, even if they have a more feminine appearance, and vice versa. He does not blink an eye at non-binary/genderfluid/queer characters, etc. That's one of my favourite things about his character, in part because I'm aroace and identify with him and his gender blindness a lot (among other things, he is an aroace icon for a reason lmao), but also because it's nice to have a 100% gender blind character as the main pov throughout the series.

Then there's the final factor, which is

4) How much time are you willing to spend?

The anime is undoubtedly the longer time investment. Which can be good or bad depending on your view. I know when I caught up sometime after episode 505, I was devastated at not having any more episodes to watch. I started out thinking "this will take me forever and I probably won't finish it", then shifted to "damn those 100 episodes went by fast, but that's okay, I still have 400 episodes left" to "200 episodes already? Well I'm not even halfway yet, that's fine" to "300... Oh God I'm already more than halfway" to "400!? Where are they all going?? Why aren't there more?!?" to "well I HAVE to read the manga now because I can't stand to wait for the episodes to come out weekly" then I banged out the rest of the series in the manga in a few days like I was a drug addict trying to hide my stash from the police by snorting it all at once. So to some, the length can be a blessing rather than a curse lmao. But if you are worried about length, the manga is a lot easier to go through without taking months and months to catch up, unless you take your time reading it. There is a fan edited version of the anime called One Pace, which takes out all the filler and adjusts the pacing to be closer to the manga, which might also be an option if you want to watch the anime but still want a less exhaustive itinerary to watch. They. Might even edit out a bunch of the excess sexual shots and editing in the anime though I haven't watched it myself to determine that. The main issue is that One Pace hasn't completed every single arc, but it is an option for watching the arcs it does have. I know Dressrosa is one of the longest arcs and might benefit from some trimming. I also recommend, if you choose the anime, to watch episodes in batches rather than weekly. While the pacing of the manga is quite a bit faster, so it lends itself to weekly updates better, the anime does suffer from being watched weekly. I've always binged arcs all together and I find that improves the experience a lot.

Aside from that, you can also always just read the manga then only look up and watch particular scenes you wanna see in the anime to get the experience with the voice acting and music and animation, without having to invest as much extra time into it. I may not be a dedicated anime hater, but I do agree that the manga is undoubtedly superior to it as a whole, so while I don't think there's anything wrong with being anime only, if you are open to both, but only want to choose one to consume, it's the manga all the way. You only have to start at chapter 1 and go from there. Or episode 1 for the anime.

I hope this helped, and wasn't too confusing or overwhelming. I know how daunting the series can be to get into so I wanted to try and be comprehensive and objective, and provide some approachable options for people new to the series by explaining some pros and cons of each approach.

[teaveetamer]

Not trying to start anything but being prejudice against white people won't actually solve anything.

Having that kind of attitude about it doesn't actually help combat racism. I like reading your blog and all but as a POC it's really jarring, from a personal perspective, when you start saying things and acting as if being prejudice against white people will fix anything. It won't, it just makes identity politics seem like a gotcha game.

I appreciate you caring about the issue but the approach of acting like using someone's status as a cis white guy to discredit them, even if it is the asshole raxy, just comes off as needlessly instigating the issue to be worse.

Sorry if it comes off as concern trolling but it's just incredibly off putting when youre usually so caring and aren't that antagonistic about it and then suddenly you are. Again, sorry if it seems like concern trolling.

I think your perspective, anon, would be very fair IF the message of anything I’ve been trying to say was intended to be “it’s okay to be prejudiced against white people and that'll fix everything” or "cishet white men are evil". That was never the intended message of any of this. There's a cut because this got long.

Here's my main point a little more succinctly: a cishet white man can be an ally, but he can also discard his allyship if it becomes inconvenient for him to be an ally. He may see oppression, he may even understand oppression, but if he doesn't want to deal with the backlash of oppression then he always has the option to walk away. That is a privilege in itself. I don't get the option to walk away from being a woman. I don't get the option to walk away from being queer.

So if you are going to be a cishet white man speaking on issues such as misogyny, racism, queerphobia, etc., then the first thing I'm going to look at is whether or not you are being a good ally to me. Do you understand my struggle? Do you stand by me even if things get hard? Do you respect me even if you don't agree with me?

Specifically with regard to Raxy-poo: I have seen no evidence that he actually cares about these issues beyond what he can use to "win" fandom arguments. He'll use the Supreme Court potentially killing queer rights as a "gotcha" to win a petty fandom argument, but then he'll attack a queer woman for trying to voice being uncomfortable with corporations commodifying her sexuality and he'll say nothing when his buddies are chuckling in "private" about how I'm a fake queer because my favorite character from a video game is male. That is why I keep pointing out his identity. Because he keeps claiming to speak for groups he doesn't belong to and then doesn't respect members of those groups when they disagree with him.

The racism thing I'm going to address further down below the cut because it's way too long to summarize up here.

I'm not interested in prolonging anything. He's the one who continually stalks, harasses, bullies, and berates people who blocked him months ago using these flimsy accusations of sexism, queerphobia, racism, etc. as "proof" that we deserve it. I mean his buds on that server literally accuse us of being Holocaust deniers or of being like Andrew Tate or Tucker Carlson or Alex Jones. Raxy helped instigate such severe harassment that it led to two people leaving the FE community entirely. I have said numerous times that if he would just leave people alone and respect the damn block button then I would never mention him again.

With regard to race, I will repeat: his race would not be an issue IF he had not made it an issue. He has been harassing BWIIDT for over a year now specifically because of her criticisms of a fanfic. He has accused BWIIDT all over the internet of lying about Cap to slander him (particularly with accusations of him being a racist), and he's been spreading her name around to try and bait uninvolved third parties into dogpiling her and shitting on her.

So we have a white man, in defense of another white man, harassing a mixed race woman in part because she feels uncomfortable with the way one of those white men wrote a mixed race character (and she criticized that publicly). I don't think I'm out of line to point out the very uncomfortable implications and power dynamic there. Especially when he's just lying about the things she said. AFAIK she's never specifically called Cap a racist, she's just said that she thinks it was unintentional, but still the way he wrote it is uncomfortable. Which is something she, as a mixed race woman, has every right to feel and point out without getting harassed.

Keep in mind that she has had him blocked for months now. He still stalks her blog with an alt account (he's literally flat out admitted that he has an alt account just so he can keep stalking and harassing the people who blocked him). He only treats you with respect if you already agree with him, and if you don't then he's more than happy to stalk and harass you. It is literally peak performative allyship.

Now on a more general note:

I didn’t take “you’re racist against white people” anon very seriously because, bluntly, “don’t you know the REAL racism is against white people” is an extremely common alt-right straw man/deflection tactic in America. It tries to discredit the concerns about racism by framing any discussion of racism as racism against white people. Essentially, it's a shorthand to try and "both sides are as bad as each other!" racism to distract from the damage that centuries of systemic oppression have caused for modern communities of color. So I'm approaching it from that context.

No, I am not saying that it's okay to be shitty to white people. I'm acknowledging that the power differential between white people and the communities they have historically oppressed makes the effect of bias a fundamentally different experience.

Just as an example of what I'm talking about: if you call a Black person a slur then it's going to invoke that entire history of enslavement, Jim Crow, disenfranchisement, violence, and generational trauma. If you call a white person a word like "cracker", it's going to invoke that entire history of... when white people did a bunch of really horrible things like enslavement, Jim Crow, disenfranchisement, and violence to someone else.

And I'm not discounting how uncomfortable and upsetting that can be for white people to experience, especially if you consider yourself an ally. I mean no good person likes living with the knowledge that they benefit from the dehumanization and subjugation of another group of people. No good person likes knowing that people they're directly descended from are responsible for some really fucked up shit. No good person likes hurting others, even by accident. It sucks to have to acknowledge that you're still benefiting from the horrific sins of your forefathers. It's bullshit that we're still trying to put everything back together because people of the past failed us. It's okay to acknowledge that those things are upsetting, and all of those feelings are valid. You don't have to stop feeling these things just because someone else had it worse.

But it's not the same kind of hurt. It is not equivalent to the racism experienced by people of color. Feeling uncomfortable about racism is not the same as experiencing racism. Someone pointing out that you're benefiting from racism is not the same as experiencing racism. To try and equate them in the way the alt-right does is insulting.

You can see a similar thing happening with TERFs and the word "cis" or "cisgender" or even the term "TERF". And I was going to go on because honestly anon I could write a dissertation on the dynamic here because it's an extremely nuanced and fascinating topic, but I'm trying to keep it brief.

Back on the topic, the "you're racist toward white people!" seemed like an obvious troll ask to try and get under my skin (I usually get a few whenever this bullshit fandom stuff flares up again, like the time I was talking about sexual violence shortly after a different Raxy incident and an anon told me to "get over your victim complex"), mostly because so little of my original postings were actually about race. I focused on queerness and being a woman. Like. Yeah I was a little mean, because I don't view alt-right talking points as worthy of my time or patience. I generally try to approach anyone coming to me with a measure of good faith, but you have to give me something to work with. Just spewing an alt right talking point on anon and then doubling down on it is not going to inspire a lot of confidence in me that you actually want to have a conversation about this incredibly charged topic.

If you're uncomfortable with the "you get one free pass to be racist toward white people" anon - I took that anon as an obvious joke poking fun at the alt-right strawman arguments not, like, a serious endorsement that it's okay to be a dick to all white folk, or that being a dick to white folk will actually solve anything. I can see why that might be unsettling and I hear you, but I have a bit of a dark sense of humor sometimes so it didn't clock my radar as anything that would be taken genuinely.

As I said in my original post, allies have an essential role to play. They can amplify marginalized voices in spaces where we're not respected or welcome, and the ones who do so with care and consideration are welcome in my books. I also have sympathy for the folks who just haven't woken up yet, but maybe aren't actively bigoted, and for the folks actively deconstructing from harmful ideologies who aren't quite there yet.

It's the people who claim to be allies but then treat people like shit who I have the biggest problem with, because they're purporting to represent me and people like me. My cause has no room in it for stalking, harassing, bullying, or speaking over instead of with the people you're claiming to represent.

[lazyyogi]

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between Tibetan Buddhism and Zen in my practice over the years. This has resulted in a sort of mush of various teachings in my head and a feeling of lack of clarity. Part of of me feels like I need to let go of one or the other and dedicate myself to one tradition to make progress in my practice. But then, what does “progress” even mean?

Why are you undertaking a spiritual path and practices? That is what will determine the orientation of your practice, its "goal," and what progress means.

There are as many reasons to practice the path as there are people in existence to walk the path, perhaps even more. But in my opinion, all of those reasons are subsumed within the ultimate goal of self-realization, or total enlightenment.

If you are seeking an end to suffering and the lived realization of reality, which is complete enlightenment in its fullness, then that is what "progress" means.

Some people don't like the idea of reducing enlightenment and its path to a results-oriented practice with a goal in mind. There are valid reasons for why they may feel this way.

Firstly, enlightenment is never attained by the individual in the same way we think of individuals attaining goals. Secondly, enlightenment only ever is the realization of what has already and always been the truth. It is not something new that is obtained. And lastly, the results-focused and grasping mindset we associate with this kind of seeking is the same mindset we try to loosen up during meditation and similar practices.

However, there are a few counterpoints to keep in mind.

The first is that while enlightenment doesn't change anything but is the realization of what has always been the reality, there is a significant difference between someone who is enlightened and someone who is not. Secondly, while we may debate whether or not enlightenment is the literal result of a practice/path, the majority of humans that have become enlightened did so while undertaking deliberate spiritual practice. So regardless of whether we consider enlightenment to be the result of practices, we may at least say that without practice it is unlikely a person will undergo self-realization, or enlightenment.

All of this can be succinctly summarized by the following teaching: You will not find as a result of seeking; but if you do not seek, you will not find.

There is a movement within the spiritual subculture called "pragmatic dharma," of which I think you are likely aware. It more or less applies the scientific model to spiritual practice for the purpose of delineating a clear map to enlightenment and the practical methods for attaining it.

Not every "spiritual" person is seeking enlightenment. Instead they are seeking a harmony with their environment, the people around them, the universe at large, and their mortal role to play throughout their life. They may have a specific spiritual tradition or group but most have formed their own perspective from various teachings and beliefs that appeal to them.

If you are seeking enlightenment, however, my advice is to find an enlightened human and practice what they teach.

From our personal exchanges over the years, my sense tells me that you are a dedicated and capable practitioner. However, it is likely you have come as far as you can with your current approach of mixing traditions.

So if you are seeking enlightenment, it is the time to pick a direct path and give yourself to it. See how it goes. Pick something that makes the most sense to you. You can always pivot and change approach/direction as needed later on.

Just my two cents, brother.

Much love!

LY

[zerolostwalks]

#16, with pouty Reggie and Julie, please and thank you.

(took a bit of inspiration from this small ficlet by @wr0temyway0ut)

.

Reggie inhales a deep breath, the salt heavy in the air, as he holds his arms out wide, closing his eyes to embrace a rare moment of relative quiet on the beach.  

A cool breeze carries off the crashing waves and surrounds him. Winding through his hair, across his cheek, over his outstretched arms, his flannel billowing around him. Imaginary wings he’ll never have no matter how much he wished for them as a kid. 

Whenever the world got to be too much or too loud he would always go somewhere where he could pretend to fly away, to escape, to be anywhere but amidst the disorder. Over the years as he got into music he found himself escaping there. Soaring in ways he never thought was possible, on the adrenaline and highs of perfecting a song, of sharing a piece of you with the world. Finding an exhilarating comfort hidden amongst boisterous chaos. 

Still, there were times when he needed the quiet. The peace of an imagined flight. To not necessarily run away but to seek out inner clarity.

He’s not sure how long he stays there. It doesn’t feel like very long at all but eventually there’s a warm pull deep within his chest. A gentle tug he can’t help but smile at. 

Julie’s wondering where he wandered off to. 

She isn’t trying to force him to move. No, she hasn’t knowingly done that since those first few times when they were still trying to figure out this connection they share.

He tries to send gentle reassurances back her way. Although he’s not sure how much the reassurance might come across as lies seeing as his head feels no clearer than when he first got here. This might not have been the best way to deal with this sour melancholy he’s been drowning in all day. 

Nothing seemed to be helping with it. Not his bass, not music, not silence, not his imaginary flight. Would anything help? Knowing what caused it in the first place certainly might help. And maybe…

He files the rest of that thought away close to his heart where he keeps all his secret wants and wishes. 

With a deep sigh, Reggie shoves his hands into his jeans pockets, eyes scanning over the dark waters as he fails to entirely shove his thoughts away. He feels another firm tug in his chest, but something is different about this one. Like he’s the one anchoring the tight rubber band rather than being yanked by it.

There is a small flash of light and a high pitched squeal and for a split second he’s sure that Julie forced him to poof. Except, he’s still standing on the beach, salty evening wind whipping around him. 

Instead, groaning in the sand at his feet, her hair in its usual nighttime half braid, is…

“Julie?” He squeaks out, his shock freezes him in place-wide eyed and gaping-for only a second longer. Then he’s quick to help Julie stand.

She sways unsteadily on her feet, shuddering, so he decides to sit them both down instead. At least until she looks less dizzy. He glances her over, thankful that she’s at least in her yellow sweater and jeans, though she does seem to be barefoot for some reason. A quick look around confirms her monster slippers did not make it to the beach.  

“Wha-What happened?” she moans, her hands grip his arm tight.

“You just poofed,” he says, much louder and more manically than he intended. 

“What?” her head snaps up to look at him. She attempts to shake her head before lurching to the side mumbling something about feeling nauseous. He maintains a firm grip around her shoulders the entire time. 

Once that passes, she hesitantly sits up. Still slightly leaning into him, using him as support, “I can’t poof.”

He chews on his lip as he slides one of his hands down to her wrist, “yeah, well you aren’t supposed to be able to walk through tables either.” The memory of the other day floods his mind. Another incident in a long line of questions all summarized succinctly by Alex’s ‘what kind of ghosts are we?’ from their first night back in the world.

Only now it’s not just them. It’s her. Well, technically, she was always involved but there was never this much cause for alarm before.

His fingers stumble on her wrist trying to remember how to feel for a pulse. It’d be easier to check her neck. 

She scoffs when she realizes what it is he’s doing, “I’m not dead.”

He scowls at her, and she rolls her eyes with a small exasperated smile. She adjusts how she is sitting, scooting closer between his legs but not quite directly in his lap. Gingerly she takes his hand in hers and guides it up to her neck, “see?”

He adjusts his fingers, uses the slightest bit of pressure and finds the strong steady beat. Proof she is in fact still alive and yet it doesn’t ease any of his concerns. If anything it worries him more. 

He’s definitely pouting now. Wanting answers and not understanding how she can be so dismissive over all of this. Feeling very much like a hypocritical ass. 

“Hey, I’m ok. I promise.” She leans in as she speaks, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing a fleeting kiss to his cheek, right near the corner of his mouth. 

He gapes at her, slowly blinking. He’s not sure if she’s ever kissed him like that before. She’s generally affectionate with her friends. However, the most intimate thing she usually does with friends is forehead presses. Right?

With a sigh, he shakes his head in an attempt to clear his head before he can overthink matters. That’s a train of thought that belongs locked away with others like it.

“What about you?” her voice cuts through his thoughts.

“What about me?”

“Are you ok?” she asks as she settles her head onto his shoulder. This is familiar, they’ve definitely cuddled before, there’s a small comfort in that. He slowly wraps an arm around  her waist and lays his head on top of hers. 

“I just needed some time to think.” he admits the partial truth. She pulls back enough that she can give him one of those piercing looks of hers. One of the ones that implies she knows he isn’t telling her everything, that she knows exactly what he’s hiding. 

It causes a small sheepish, partially nervous, smile to split his face. “I’ll be fine,” he assures, hugging her tighter, liking her in his arms maybe a little too much. 

No matter how hard he tried, those thoughts refused to stay locked away. 

He hums as he reluctantly gets them both to their feet. She’s looking at him, full of concern. He chuckles a little nervously as he says, “for now we should figure out how to get you home.”

[thumperdaetime]

I use it to help me manage my meal planning and shopping: consider keeping a list of meals you know how to make (saving recipes and their ingredients into a notebook or spreadsheet might help) and rolling a dice or randomly generating a number to help with decision fatigue (this has worked wonders for me when I have the energy to cook!). also, consider looking into food making for people with [whatever thing is keeping you from making food] there are decades of accessibility tips and writing for several brain types with overlapping symptoms and solutions. that have worked from the time before (De)generative Ai and will still work for you after it is dead and gone.

Being able to process your own notes and summarize them for a test is sorta a big part of the studying process. It's meant to help you further understand the material and practice explaining it succinctly. If you are consistently having issues doing this consider the support groups that are available to you, talk to someone in the accessibility department (or make a fuss about why there isn't one), or look at your schedule and try to lessen your workload to something more manageable. if you're in college please remember that you are paying for that education and should therefore try your best to learn everything you are paying for. and if you're in high school please know that it gets better. be kind to yourself please <3 but also it will help you forever if you learn how to study effectively now.

I don't actually have advice on how to avoid ai when the rest of the search engine is actively serving garbage. I way get the temptation and to be honest, my searches are often low stakes so if my accuracy is wrong only my pride is hurt, so I haven't put a lot of energy into finding a solution. To curb my own temptation ive switched over to Firefox as my main browser and Startpage as its default browser. but I would actually love to hear some more informed people talk about how to optimize searching going forward.

you have a calculator. hope this helps <3

[blink-slam-studio]

Mana Spark (Switch) Review - Should You Buy It in 2024

An Entry Point For Rogue-lites

A while back I was trying to convince a friend of mine to play Risk of Rain 2. “Yeah man, you run around the stage, gather up a bunch of random items, fight a boss, then move to the next stage. The game ends when you die. Then you do it all over again from the start!”. I feel like I summarized the gameplay loop pretty succinctly and beamed a big smile at him, thinking how could he say no to that. “Wait, you lose everything when you die?” he asked. “Yeah, then you do it again!” I replied. His face gave away what he was thinking. I could tell he was unimpressed. “I don’t want to lose my stuff when I die.” he said. I then spent another ten minutes or so spinning my wheels trying to explain how this was different from other times you lose your gear in games, and that dying was half the fun. I somehow managed to convince him to pick up the game (which he ended up loving) and after he played it a bit it all made much more sense. 

I thought about that conversation a great deal while I played Mana Spark. I’m sure that if I handed this game to my friend that I could have avoided a lot of the confusion of explaining a rogue-lite, while also convincing him of the genre’s merits. That’s what I think Mana Spark’s biggest asset is. 

Mana Spark condenses many of the aspects of Soulslike and rogue-like and keeps what works. Combat is king for any souls-like game, and Mana Spark does a good job of simplifying it without losing too much fidelity. Your weapon of choice for a good portion of the game will be your trusted bow and arrow. It will do decent damage to small enemies, but will require multiple hits on tougher foes. Your biggest weapon, however, is your muscle memory; enemies follow predictable patterns and learning how each one attacks will serve you well. Mana Spark also builds onto the combat, making enemies responsive to their environment. For example, the simple Goblat enemies are fragile enemies that shoot slow, easy to dodge projectiles. If a Goblat finds a Grey Wolf or a Wild Boar they won’t hesitate to hop on its back, creating a much more difficult enemy to take down. 

The souls-like combat sits inside of a rogue-lite framework. Each time you play the game (“run”) there will be slight, but impactful, differences that will change some aspect of your character and how the game plays out. No two runs will be exactly the same as both items and stage layout will change. This variation keeps the game fresh and adds a lot of longevity. There is a surprising amount of depth gained from the meta-progression that is available through your encampment (where you will go in-between runs). Different characters that you recruit along the way will show up and provide various upgrades and buffs that will help get you closer to beating the game. This is done by collecting currency called “runes” in your runs. This is one of two currencies in the game, but is the only one that can be stored for use outside of a run.

The game does have its limitations, though. Mana Spark has a standard price point of $9

.99, which isn’t an outrageous price. The ten dollar price point sets Mana Spark at the same level as fully fleshed out, classic indie rogue titles such as Risk of Rain and Spelunky as well as overall picks like Terraria and Undertale. I think I would feel more at ease if this game was around the five dollar mark, which seems to be a more fitting weight class for it. Mana Spark does have a consistent track record of being on sale, which is a bit of a saving grace. I picked up the game at $1.99 which is a great price for it. 

My biggest gripe with Mana Spark is a flaw in the game loop. Traditionally, after defeating a boss there is a moment of respite. A time to gather your thoughts, check your gear, heal, etc. At the very least you can save your game. Mana Spark eschews this dynamic and chooses to throw the player right back into the Buried Tunnels, which they will need to fight through to reach the next rest area. I’m sure this will become trivial as players gain more experience and can clear the stage without much hassle but it can be a major roadblock.

This formula creates a “feel bad” scenario. The boss you have just defeated has rewarded you with the same amount of runes you would have gotten from the starting area ten times over. I mistakenly assumed that I would be able to put this new loot towards my camp as I had unlocked the Turret in a previous run and was eager to unlock it. I was low on health and excited to get to the rest area only to find that I would have to fight my way through a massive stage filled with enemies and more rooms than I had ever seen. I promptly died and lost everything. 

Dying in a rogue-lite shouldn’t feel bad. As I explained to my friend, dying is a large part of the rogue-lite experience. What keeps death from “feeling bad” is that the meta-progression is in my skill as a player, and not always about what I unlock in the game. I found an item in the game (Turret) that I wanted to unlock. In an ideal world, finding the Turret would have unlocked it. In Mana Spark, finding the item is only half of the battle as you must also gather enough runes to purchase the item from the blacksmith. Because the rest area is placed poorly, I am incentivized to grind the first two stages for one or two runes and then promptly die to get back into a run to do it again. 

There is an obvious solution: move the rest area one stage backwards. If a player defeats the boss, they should be able to secure their reward. Simple as that. There is another more nuanced answer. I said that in an ideal world finding the item should unlock the item. Mana Spark already has a built-in upgrade system. If a player finds the item then it should be unlocked at the blacksmith, but it doesn’t need to be very good yet. In this scenario, the player gets to use the item they found, engages with the upgrade system that is already in place, and the developer can keep their level layout. Or just let me keep my runes. That works too.

Performance: The moment-to-moment gameplay is sharp and responsive. I think that things move a little too fast at times and can become hard to see, but this is usually after the stage has been cleared so it is mostly a non-issue.

Music: The music largely contrasts the gameplay. Even though the combat on screen might be chaotic, the music over top of the gameplay is calm and relaxed. It’s a nice fit.

Art Style: Character models are minimalist pixel designs that showcase just enough character to make them identifiable. 

Game Length: A person could reasonably beat this game in ten hours but because Mana Spark is a rogue-lite there is increased replayability.

Should you buy Mana Spark?

Mana Spark is an entry point into the rogue-lite genre. If you have played other rogue-lites then this game won’t necessarily be for you as it doesn’t do anything other games haven’t already done. This is a game for somebody who is completely new and is looking to enter the genre at a reasonable price. Mana Spark goes on sale frequently and can be picked up for around two dollars. I would highly recommend this game at that price point.

[b-a-pigeon]

Nanowrimo Update - November 13 Word Count: 2257 / 24285 (total)

First: I am so close to the halfway point but I am running out of steam and have other things to do :') Tomorrow, though!

Second: I have (mostly) recovered from my various ills and am trying to put my life back together... but here is a pretty simple and messy synopsis of the story so far!

***

So: Ara is a vampire; his memory has been tampered with through some mysterious magical process that has yet to be diagnosed. Most wizards assume his amnesia results from a curse gone terribly wrong, but the magic itself shuts out any attempts to pry into it, so all they can do is theorize aimlessly.

After spending unknown centuries searching for a cure, or at least an answer, Ara gives up. He passes a few decades living and working at a remote monastery, receiving snippets of magical information and news about the outside world from the travelers who pass through, otherwise isolated.

Our story opens when Ara decides to set out again, having forgotten the hopelessness that led him to hide in the first place. He hops trains across a now-unfamiliar landscape, transformed by a period of rapid political and technological change. The world he finds is inconsistent with the shadowy memories he retains; it's more connected than ever (trade, airships, steam trains) but also more divided (policed borders, wealth gaps), and he finds it all very alienating and overwhelming.

Still, he keeps pushing forward. His destination is the house of a wizard who holds his collection of old journals for safekeeping, its address scrawled at the front of his new journal so he wouldn't forget. But police and bureaucracy trap him in the border city-state of Avei, and he's forced to wait.

He only has one contact in the city, a stranger who turns out to be a scholar in the academic study of magic (who we'll call N). N is so fascinated by Ara's case that he agrees to house and study him while Ara figures out his way forward—and offers him work on the side. This is, obviously, a pretty sweet deal for Ara, who accepts.

It's supposed to be a temporary measure, but Ara feels increasingly trapped there. He waits for the local government to find him a way across the border, but they keep demanding bribes as they drag their feet; N seems to have outsourced all of his study of Ara's case to his conman of a wizard, L, who seems disinterested in anything but making money.

With time, Ara ends up increasingly drawn into the competing schemes and loyalties of N's employees as they all try to use him as a pawn to manipulate each other. He has his own mystery to solve—but there's a conspiracy brewing right in front of him, and he's not sure he ever had the choice not to get involved.

***

...and, so far, that's it! The last two paragraphs hint at what's to come, but otherwise this is just where I'm at now, optimistically 1/3 of the way through this story. There's just so much background info I want to explain that I've made it really hard to succinctly summarize this book, lol.

All I'll say about the rest is that everyone is hiding something, but some of those things are less dramatic than assumed; (obviously) there is a common thread connecting all these mysteries; and everyone in this book is either a vampire of unknown age, history, and motivation, or a wizard... and Ara helpfully shares in one of the first pages that you cannot trust chance or coincidence when it comes to wizards :)