#somehow i end up watching both shows almost exactly a month before their sequel season

[halfdeadwallfly]

I finished our flag means death....

Fuck.

[sol1056]

let’s just leave this here

so let’s see how quickly I can get through a bunch of these, just so they don’t languish for the next month... here we go. behind the cut:  why the opening never changed, why DW is deploying Josh again, a few about Iverson & Hedrick, is a reboot possible, staying in fandom vs leaving... and some others in the same vein. 

why did they keep the same opening for all of vld seasons, considering the line-up was never supposed to come back to the original from s3?

Every indication is that originally, the team would return to the original lineup. Keeping the opening was probably meant to remind audiences of that inevitability. Or you could believe LM, who said the opening cost 20K to make, and thus was too expensive to do more than once. She’d rather spend that money on a vacation. 

So I've heard that Josh Keaton is doing damage control for S8. Do you think Dreamworks sent him in because they know that he's the one guy that no one can get mad at? After what some of the fans have done to him this past year [...] I’m amazed that he's willing to stick around and try to make his fans happy for as long as he can. I can see why people say "We don't deserve him."

Josh has somehow managed that sweet spot between charming the fandom and gaining its trust. Doesn’t hurt that he’s got the chops, voice-wise, to take written dross (no, really, some of those lines are horribly clunky) and spin it into gold. More than anything else, he comes across as genuine, and that adds a certain credibility to his words. 

But... Josh doesn’t really have a choice. Playing Shiro is what catapulted Josh upwards, and the last thing he can afford to do is piss off DW by refusing to play ball. He’d only be damaging himself (and his reputation among potential employers) if he didn’t snap to attention when called. Plus, I think he really does sincerely love the character, but it’s got to be a tough spot for him right now. 

When you get down to it, the only one on VLD’s (former) staff who seems to believe Shiro belongs in the story and should be respected as part of the story... is Josh. Who else can Shiro’s fans look to, if Josh stops speaking?

So, yeah, Josh is it. And I bet he knows that, and knows it’s just part of signing up for such a major role. This is part of his job. 

So I came across a pic of Mitch Iverson from SDCC 2018 where he and Tim Hedrick weren't in the panel ... and [Iverson] was wearing a SHIRO BLACK PALADIN top ... while the EPs & Hamilton were in the panel promoting S7, Iverson supported Hedrick & his story, and Shiro.

Hedrick was actively involved in every script as the story editor, and reportedly conceived of Shiro as an astronaut returning after his capture by aliens. Iverson got his start thanks to Hedrick, thus it makes sense that Iverson would be simpatico with Hedrick’s vision of the story. 

On top of that, by SDCC Iverson already had his next gig lined up. He continued to write for VLD, so he had to be subtle... but a t-shirt was a good way to make his sentiments clear. Can’t blame the guy, seeing he probably knew what was coming and chose a quiet protest of his own.

As an American, how would you take it if someone, that is, Iverson, called himself a redneck? From what I know thats derogatory term & for people not exactly inclusive & supportive of minorities. He also retweeted an art of Allura with a quote: ‘Laters’, which I found in really poor taste...

Redneck is another slur adopted by the in-group. My guess is that if you called Iverson a redneck to his face, he’d be offended. But if you introduced yourself as a redneck, and then called him one, it’d be different. And yes, as a term, redneck has a complex history, and it changes subtly in terms of how each generation defines/uses it. 

As for retweeting things in poor taste... eh, most people don’t have any training in social media. Jokes are the hardest; it’s so easy for them to go so wrong. Until VLD, I’d bet Iverson was lucky to have a few hundred followers. How many follow him now? It takes time to find your footing in striking the right balance of humor and dignity. 

Sometimes the best course is to ignore the stumble. They’ll either learn, or they won’t. Either way, it’s their problem, not ours. 

Will Tim Hedrick be allowed to continue the voltron universe the way he planned it?  

I doubt it. He’s got a new project. If you’re now an EP finally getting your name at the top, would you really want to go back and fix someone else’s story? Sometimes it’s just better to leave it behind, and make sure the next thing you do is something you can have pride in.

...why do you keep saying the last episode Tim Hedrick wrote was The Feud? A lot of people keep repeating it, like it was his last 'fuck you' to the showrunners. But official sources all say 'The Journey Within' was his last episode.

All we can say for certain was that tJW is the last Hedrick episode broadcast. That doesn’t mean it was the last one written. 

Here’s why a lot of us peg tF as Hedrick’s last written episode: the story editor credit. Hedrick's the sole story editor on all his other episodes; tF is the only one in which both Hedrick and Hamilton share credit. The simplest explanation is this episode was edited in that window during which Hedrick had one foot out the door, and Hamilton had one foot in. iow, Hedrick put it into the queue, edited half, and moved on. Ergo, last written.

I can’t believe how they just managed to anger literally everyone no matter your favorite character or ship.

I recall a quote from early on, where LM said they had a feeling they couldn’t please everyone. The problem (which I noted at the time, and has remained true) is that the answer isn’t to just piss off everyone. 

It’s to figure out who you want your audience to be, and to write the best damn story you can for that particular audience. If you end up with a story only old-timer DotU fans love, and kids are lukewarm about, fine. If the reverse is true, fine. You can’t please everyone, especially in a reboot/remake. So you pick your battles, and write your story accordingly. 

Looking around social media, most people I'm seeing are either rightfully upset, or they're hyperfocusing on the one single scene they liked because they just don't have the energy to deal with the show's bullshit right now. How can they fuck up the last season so badly that it seems like the general reaction is disappointment and denial?

I think there’s a common cause for the fandom reactions: exhaustion. 

In American broadcast television, a 26-episode season runs from September to May, then a summertime lull, during which people digest and discuss. Binge-watching is changing this, but it seems one thing hasn’t changed: no matter how fast we watch a show, we still require processing time. 

What did we get? A half-season, two months’ break, another half-season, two months’ break, a full season, three months’ break, and a final full season. If every season had provoked a spike equal to S1/S2, we might’ve been begging DW by June to just freaking chill. Fandom had barely begun to process one season and a new one was already landing on our heads. 

On top of that, S3-S6 weren’t exactly walks in the part, post-release. In terms of controversy, S7 dwarfed them all. That made an awful lot of people (across the entire spectrum, from almost every sub-group in the fandom) disengage. Those who remained dialed back on their expectations (”as long as X happens, that’s all that matters”), or they hung in there, insistent it would turn out alright. 

So either you’re exhausted from not being able to fully disengage with the final season still in the wings, you’re exhausted from convincing yourself this one specific thing would be enough, or you’re exhausted from defending what turned out to be indefensible. 

Frankly, disappointment and denial is a fairly soft landing, compared to what might’ve been. But any way you cut it, the fandom’s worn the hell out.   

Do you think LM and JDS are gonna address this or are they just going to ignore the complaints, wash their hands and move on?

They don’t need to do anything. They don’t work for DW anymore. If someone has to address the complaints, it’d be DW or DW’s chosen spokesperson. I guess you could call that washing their hands, but the simple fact is they’re not on the payroll. They’re not responsible for VLD anymore.

do you think it's possible for dreamworks to rewrite season 8? i've never heard of a show doing that before and i'm afraid that we'll be stuck with what we got, but damn, i really hope that we will get to see the characters get the endings they deserve, if nothing else.

I’m not sure why anyone would bother. S7 was rife with problems; S3-S6 meandered back and forth. If I were to do a soft in-series reboot, I’d go back to the end of S2. That’s the clearest break, story-wise. 

But if you’re going backwards 50+ episodes to the 26th, just keep going and start over. More to the point: not a lot of creators would sign on to inherit problems not of their own making. Same reason new directors on a property will want to rework the script in some way (if not start over from scratch). 

Do you think this is truly the end of Voltron: Legendary Defender? I know that a lot of the cast and crew wanted to continue on with a sequel, and there's so many possibilities and things they can do in that universe, not to mention that Voltron is (or rather, was) a money bank...

Your guess is as good as mine, really. Hopefully we’ll get at least hints when the SACanime panel rolls around in early January.

There's a change petition for the "original s8" to be released ... [people] believe that LM and JDS are NOT the ones who ruined the last two seasons and that it was "exec meddling." Like, no, sorry, exec meddling appears to be what made it good in the beginning.

If we consider Yoo an exec by virtue of being CEO of Studio Mir, then I kinda wish he’d meddled a bit more. 

...I'm wondering if the original version exists, completed. In one post, you said DW picked Tim over L/J so surely that got animated? What do you think? Be real. I don't want to get my hopes high thinking there's some buried treasure out there to find.

Ah, no, sorry, I wasn’t speaking in the sense of VLD but in the overall corporate sense. Here’s how the scenario often plays out: manager A and employee B do not get along. The longer they clash, the greater the chance A will find an excuse to fire B. The project is literally not big enough for the both of them. 

B could resign, quit, or do a preemptive strike: go over A’s head and ask for help. If B leaves the company shortly after, it means the higher-up said: “I’ve heard A’s side, and I think A is right.” The exec might offer a good reference, or blame it on a no-fault bad fit. Doesn’t matter; the exec’s chosen A’s side. 

Now, consider what actually happened: B gets transferred off the project, and gets a major promotion -- basically up to the same level as B’s former manager. Either B has some of the most amazing dirt ever, is phenomenally good at twisting reality to seem like the wronged party... or the higher-up reviewed the situation and decided that of the two, B was the one worth keeping. 

Having decided that, the exec made an offer B couldn’t refuse, which would be to run a show that’s practically tailor-made to fit B’s dream job. That’s what I meant by losing the battle (how VLD would go) and winning the war (being the party seen as in the right, by the execs). 

The only way for A to turn things around is to have a blisteringly successful final product. It could literally kill two careers with one stone: the (former) employee, B, who spun such a good story, and the exec(s) who believed B. 

Given the numbers I’m seeing for S8... that exec did choose wisely.  

ETA (sorry forgot this part): There might be pieces, but it really depends on what version control is in use (if any). For that matter, even if there were saved copies, who’s to say those didn’t get, whoops, deleted at some point? I’d put my bet on there being nothing, now, except what we got. Sorry. 

I could understand if you never want to have anything to do with this show ever again.

Oh, jeez, I was here before VLD and I’ll be here after. Once we all get over our mutual exhaustion (and the holidays, bloody great timing, there), it’ll be time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Fandom’s got a lot to do, putting things back together in all the shapes that’ll make us happy. This is the best time to be in a fandom, if you ask me. Everything’s just getting started!

[calcetineys]

Before the failure.

Note: This is a prequel to this. But honestly, I’m kinda curious how it reads if this goes first, so you do you. There are some spoilers for the show they’re talking about, but it’s pretty vague. 

“Piss off, Theo. I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls.”

The purposefully noisy footsteps heading from his bedroom window towards him pause. Stiles knew better than to believe that meant his instructions would be followed, so he turns the volume up and takes out one of his ear buds, deciding to see if he can pay attention to both the show and the annoyance behind him. 

“And you admit that?”

“Uh, yeah,” Stiles says, not bothering to look over his shoulder. Apparently, Theo isn’t satisfied not being the center of attention, because he comes up to Stiles’ desk and leans back against it.

“Any good?”

“Well, you’re here, so not really.”

Theo does that thing where he laughs at Stiles’ insults. It’s quite insulting in itself, so Stiles has stopped putting effort into it.

“Is it any good when I’m not here?”

“Most things are.”

Still not very original, but then, neither is the quiet snort from above him. Stiles doesn’t bother looking up to see the expression that goes along with it.

“What’s it about?”

“The description is easy enough to find online,” Stiles says, still staring at his computer screen. “And really? You might want to know the premise before you bash something. You’ll miss out on a lot like that. But I guess that’s a fitting punishment for all the bullshit you’ve pulled.”

“Now, does that mean you think my crimes weren’t that bad? Or are you just that serious about television?”

“The latter, definitely the latter.”

“Hm,” is all Theo says, and Stiles has to stop himself from looking up because that’s never a good response.

Turns out Stiles’ instincts are as good as they ever were, because Theo breaks the cardinal rule of talking to someone with headphones: he unplugs the jack.

Stiles stares at the now disconnected jack and Theo’s hand that’s still at the crime scene, the bastard, and if he weren’t determined to be the bigger person he might- well he’s not sure what he could do to annoy or maim Theo for this heinous offense, but he’d think of something and do it.

Like, a lot.  

He continues to stare as Theo’s hand trails across the keyboard to the volume button, pressing on the down button, because, okay, it was loud. It’s not like Stiles is the envy of hearing abilities anyway.

Ugh, and then Theo does that thing where he almost invades Stiles’ personal space, but not quite, even though Stiles can still feel the slightest bit of his body heat. Still, he rolls his chair to the side as Theo peels himself from the desk and stands next to him and looks down at the screen.

“You know, there’s this ingenious technology called Netflix that will let you stream this from the comfort of your own dank, horrifying lair. Less than ten bucks a month, too.”

“Thanks for the info,” Theo says, turning from the screen and smiling down at him as though Stiles just said something really great.

Which is somehow more insulting than snorting at his half-assed insults, because Theo knew Stiles could do better. He’d been on the receiving end of quite a few good ones, thank you. There’s no need to smile like that when Stiles basically just took the tagline from the commercials, alright?

And when did Stiles even look away from the screen anyway? This is why he doesn’t watch TV with people, not even people he liked.

“Are you just gonna stand there and watch? And no, that wasn’t an invitation to sit, you weirdo, get off my floor!” Stiles yelps when Theo starts to make himself at home on the carpet next to his chair.

“Really, Stiles, I don’t mind. Some people just aren’t natural hosts. I can help you make up for your inexperience.”

“Oh, there are so many openings there, so many things I could say, but no, it’s not worth the effort.”

“Is it worth the effort to restrain yourself?” Theo asks, looking up at him curiously.

Which- okay, maybe him saying that was for the best, because it takes Stiles back to the conversation where Theo tried to bring back the void. Even if right now Theo doesn’t mean that, Stiles hadn’t thought he’d ever be relieved to hear anything like it again.

Because right now, with this thing that’s happening here? The banter about television and seating arrangements and whatever the hell else Theo meant by inexperience? (Stiles knows exactly ‘whatever the hell else’ he’s talking about is, but no, his mind cannot right now.) That was- that was almost normal.

Stiles’ stomach churns because that’s- that’s just not how it is.

Theo can see Stiles’ reaction, because some of the curious light fades from his eyes, and he looks almost- he looks disappointed.

Ugh, no, that’s not just it either.

He fucking looks sad.

Stiles looks back at the show again. It seems Theo does too, and Stiles can’t really make himself drudge up the energy to tell him to leave. Mostly because he knows it won’t work.

But jokes on Theo, because this is the middle of the second season and he’s gonna be so lost. Or well, at least he won’t get the full emotional pay off, which truly is a severe punishment. Or it would be, if Theo understood feelings.

Or had any.

Stiles conveniently ignores the sad expression he saw just a few moments ago. Because it’s like, 95% certainly fake.

But he was right about him not knowing what’s going on, because two minutes later, Theo asks, “Wait, so that’s her daughter?”

“Yup.”

“She doesn’t look old enough to have a daughter that age.”

“Kinda the whole premise of the show.”

“Teenage pregnancy?”

“They keep it classy though. Mostly.”

“Huh.”

Theo keeps his mouth shut for another two minutes before: “Is that really the premise of this show?”

“It’s actually more about terrible, pretty people with ridiculous problems. So it’s just short of reality TV.”

“Terrible, pretty people?”

“Yeah, they’re all pretty much horrible. Except Michel. I like Michel. I identify with Michel.”

“And Michel is-?”

“One of the only rational characters.”

“You don’t seem to like this show that much.”

“It’s a guilty pleasure.”

Theo, amazingly, doesn’t have a reply to that. Stiles is so surprised by lack of reaction that he glances at the other boy, who’s moved to lean back on his palms so he can see the computer. He’s staring at the screen now, though his eyes are a little distant and Stiles wonders if he’s imagining the faint flush on his cheeks.

Whatever, Stiles thinks. As long as he doesn’t start leaking mercury on the floor.

Stiles should really get better standards for company. 

“What does Richard think he’s doing with Pennilyn Lott?”

Stiles blinks and looks over to find Theo standing at his locker. He pauses and wonders if he missed some new supernatural creatures enrolling at the school, because at this point, that wouldn’t even be surprising.

He glances around the hallway, trying to spot who Theo’s talking about, but Theo’s just staring at him.

“Am I missing something here?” Stiles finally asks.

Theo frowns and says, “A person doesn’t just ‘have lunch’ with an ex-fiancé for thirty-nine years.”

Stiles just stares back at him, because he’s clearly not talking about high school students anymore. But then what-

“Wait,” Stiles says, feeling his jaw drop. “Are you seriously talking about Gilmore Girls right now?”

“Yeah,” Theo says, like that should have been obvious.

“Oh my god,” Stiles breathes, turning back to his locker because he does not have time for this. Theo doesn’t have time for this. Nobody has time for this.

“He’s happily married to Emily-” Theo goes on, apparently not understanding or not caring about the concept of time and how little they have of it. Stiles is praying for the bell to ring because honestly, failing his history quiz would make more sense right now.

“What does it matter? None of that show makes sense,” Stiles interrupts.

“It matters,” Theo says with such conviction that Stiles has to look over at him. He doesn’t understand the intensity in Theo’s eyes, or why he’s so adamant about these people who don’t even exist. It matters, Theo says, when there’s very little else that matters to him. Stiles stares back at him and wonders why- why this is what matters.

When the bell does ring, Stiles doesn’t feel the relief he’d hoped for. But he shuts his locker and gives Theo another glance and heads to class anyway.

“Why did she think it was okay to see someone else?” Theo’s voice asks quietly.

Stiles is ready for it this time.  

“They’re separated, Theo. It’s what people do.”

“It’s not what they do,” Theo says in that same voice, leaning back on the wall Stiles is sitting against. He takes a breath and looks up to meet Theo’s eyes.  

He doesn’t ask why it matters. He doesn’t ask why Theo cares. He’s not sure he wants to hear the answer.

He just finds that he believes that Theo does, however unsettling that is.

“They aren’t happy,” Theo goes on.

“No,” Stiles agrees. 

He’s not surprised when Theo comes back a few days later, with a smile that Stiles decides to see as smug. He figures that Theo’s finished the series, and knows that his favorite couple are happy and in love and together and all that other nonsense.

Stiles wonders if he knows what happens in the sequel.

[fraysquake]

any question you have yet to answer :]

Ahh yay thanks lovely! Here we go under the cut with a heap of questions!

1. things that inspire youGoing through my inspiration tags for my stories, and chatting to friends about my fics too. When I get really stuck I just go rant to someone, usually @lady-baratheon​ or @duuvals​ and they give me great advice and help me get back to being excited about my writing again :)

2. things that motivate youEver looming deadlines haha. But when it’s a fic with no actual deadline I often just go watch the show to get into the feel of it, or with TMD I’ll watch some The Originals and just watch Davina’s scenes to get back into Ariana’s voice which is weird but it works!

3. name three favorite writersAhh so hard to pick! Okay here are three but I have so many more!!!@opheliamayers because she puts so much work into her stories and the little details in her work honestly make such a difference. Her Bad Blood series is so intriguing and every chapter has me sending her a hundred messages like ????????@papermoon262 yes you girl! Your writing is honestly such an inspiration. reading The Gloaming is always so satisfying because you have such a powerful way with words@lydamartin because Elsa was one of the first OCs i fell in love with! Alice always writes characters with such clear voices and you can totally imagine them fitting into their canon universe :)

4. name three authors that were influential to your work and tell why1. Maggie Stiefvater because the way she wrote the Raven Cycle books just blew me away. I love how she writes and ties in so much interesting mythology and her writing is so different from typical YA books. I read her books and I just want my work to be creative and intriguing as hers!2. JK Rowling because she set up her series so well and did so much planning and it really paid off! She really inspired me with how dedicated she was to her work and how she let the characters evolve and grow over the course of the series. also her writing isn’t super complex but it still feels complex somehow!3. E Lockart because We Were Liars honestly shook me up so much and it made me want to write the kind of plot twists that shake a reader the way that book did to me. The small subtle foreshadowing was so brilliant and i definitely think it influenced the way TMD has turned out so far.

5. since how long do you write?I’ve been writing since I was a kid, like no lie. I used to dictate stories to my mum and make her write them down for me because I was weird that way, and then after we got a computer I would type out all the stories floating in my head.

6. how did writing change you?It’s made me a lot more patient on myself for sure, and also just makes me appreciate other writers so much more like I understand how stressful and time consuming writing is!

7. early influences on your writingOh gosh i’ve been writing for so long I honestly can’t say! Definitely Enid Blyton because I grew up reading her books almost exclusively and I loved all of her mystery books! 

8. what time are you most productive?Haha almost never, but I’d say probably middle of the day or otherwise like late at night when I’m the only one still awake. 9. do you set yourself deadlines?I try to but it usually ends up stressing me out so now I just write with a vague idea of when I want to update but I don’t let it dictate my writing too much. 

10. how do you do your researches?Painstakingly! I like to know what I’m talking about and I like detail in my fics so I have a big folder of bookmarks just for each story, with any relevant links so I can go to them quickly. TMD has a heap of links because I stupidly created a chemistry nerd and I almost failed Science at school so I constantly have to look up little terms so Ariana can sound convincing! I also did a lot of research into poisons and the effects of certain poisons which can’t look great in my browser history but oh well! And then there’s a whole heap of Druid articles I have on reference too because I like to be prepared! So yeah I like my research! Hopefully it does show in the fic :)

11. do you listen to music when writing?Yes I either have my TMD playlist on youtube or I just throw on a Spotify playlist, usually like my Weekly playlist since it’s full of nice chill tunes :)

12. favorite place to writeI actually just sit in my kitchen haha. There’s lots of nice sunshine coming through all the windows (if it’s sunny) and my laptop charger is there so I can just write without running out of power :P

13. hardest character to writeOooh that’s hard! Maybe Genevieve just because she’s probably actually more like me with her anxiety etc but also has a lot going on in her brain and I want to get her story right so I often end up overthinking it and then she doesn’t quite read write. So her scenes are always harder!

15. hardest verse to writeRight now Riverdale because the show is still new and I don’t want to write too much and then have it all contradicted on the show so my story doesn’t make sense. I’m mapping out Madison’s story now and it’s just hard not knowing the direction the actual show is going to take things in. 

16. easiest verse to writeTeen Wolf and my little DOTN stuff for sure :) 

17. favorite AU to write I gotta say my Scallison AU where they do get back together because that was so satsifying to write. My fave fix-it fic that I’ve ever written :P

18. favorite pairing to write I actually love Stiles and Ariana because their banter and bickering is just so fun. They’re like a little argumentative sibling duo and it all comes very naturally to me :) I also loved writing Ariana and Violet whoops. 

19. favorite fandom to writeTeen wolf of course!

21. least favorite character to writeHonestly Derek because he’s so tricky!!! I don’t know why but I just never feel like I’m getting his tone correct which is why he makes very rare appearances in my fics haha. 

22. favorite story you’ve ever writtenTake Me Down because it’s the longest I’ve spent writing a story and Ariana is the most developed character I’ve created :)23. least favorite story you’ve ever writtenProbably my Chasing Shadows fic which I had a whole plan for but it got too complicated so I kind of abandoned it instead and it left on a cliffhanger so whoops.

24. favorite scene you’ve ever writtenAll of Chapter 11 in TMD because I’m just really happy with how it ended up and it set up a lot of things for the story ahead, while also being a good climax for everything I’d be building to!25. favorite line you’ve ever writtenEither “So much for always having clean hands.” or “It was never meant to be like this.” Simple but they both sum up a lot of things and they kind of capture the fic pretty nicely. I really like my little motif of Ariana and her determination to keep her hands clean but I also love the ending of the prologue because “It was never meant to be like this.” is a nice tag for the story :)

27. best review you ever gotAh all the reviews I get are always amazing! I did love the review on my Scott centric fic Numb where someone said they’ve gone back and reread it several times and still got emotional every time. That was really satisfying to read as an author, especially since that’s one of my favourite stories that I’ve written. 

28. worst review you ever got About ten minutes after I updated once someone just commented ‘update soon’ like hun I just did??? Let me breathe for a sec? But it wasn’t that mean so I can’t complain :)

29. favorite story/poem of another authorAh gosh probably Inkheart by Cornelia Funke because that book is just always going to be close to my heart even if the trilogy sort of went downhill. I will always treasure that book and how magical it was to read! 

42. do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?Oh honey I plan to death. My story outline for TMD is almost 2000 words alone, with detailed points for each chapter. I also have plot outlines of what needs to happen through the story and any foreshadowing that needs to occur, and when it comes to light. It’s a lot but I do love planning it out and I’m glad a lot of people seem to notice how extra I go haha :P

43. would you ever write a sequel for (insert fic title here)I’ll assume this refers to Take Me Down since that’s nearly done and hell yes! Book 2 is called Fight For You (which has multiple meanings yay) and I don’t have a date for it yet but it’s going to take place in Season 5A! 

44. do you write linear or do you write future scenes if you feel like it?I definitely write all over the place. If I have inspiration for a particular scene I like to just write it down before I forget and then I can tweak it and adapt it when I actually get to the chapter. I’ve actually got scenes from each of the last chapters of TMD already done so I just need to fill in all the blanks now! And I’ve got scenes from Book 2 already written already because I have no self restraint...

45. share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yetAlright here’s a little synopsis of my Riverdale fic coming soon:

(fic title tbc because i am indecisive af)

Madison Cooper has made it her mission to separate herself from her family as much as possible, especially Betty, her younger sister by just ten months. But after witnessing the breakdown of her older sister Polly at the hands of Jason Blossom, Madison couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. 

What happened on the 4th of July is a mystery to everyone, including Madison. All she knows is she came to her senses a week later in the woods, covered in blood with no recollection of what happened. But how long until Madison’s memories resurface? And what exactly will she remember?

[recentanimenews]

A Beginner's Guide To Dragon Ball

What is your great shame as an anime fan? What show has absolutely everyone seen but you? What titles in your backlog do you scroll over thinking you’ll watch it someday but never do? What series has your continued hesitance to engage with developed into an elitist disdain for? What colossal, inescapable anime will you never EVER watch?

  Hello, my name is Danni, and I’ve never seen a single episode of Dragon Ball.

      Let me explain myself. Growing up, there were few shows my siblings and I were allowed to watch on TV. It’s not just Dragon Ball Z that I missed out on. Name your favorite childhood show and I’ve probably never seen it. I did end up falling deep into the anime hole in my teen years, but I developed a habit of only watching short anime. My backlog was (and still is) massive, so I stuck to shows I could knock out in under a week. If it ran more than two seasons, I just didn’t have time for it.

  Lately, though, I’ve started to change my tune. I’ve been watching JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure since season one and got pretty deep into My Hero Academia last year. I’ve had a pretty snobbish attitude towards shonen anime for awhile now, but I think I’m starting to see the appeal. I could start watching Naruto...nah, maybe another time.

    Come to think of it, Dragon Ball Super ended pretty recently, didn’t it? I feel like everyone I know was freaking out about that final battle. I’ve also had this Dragon Ball FighterZ game for a month now, and it’s actually really cool. I know I’ve always thought that Dragon Ball Z can’t possibly be as good as it is long, but maybe it’s time I gave it a fair shot.

  It’s settled then. I’ll try watching Dragon Ball Z. My favorite characters in FighterZ are from Super, so I guess I should watch that, too. Isn’t there also an anime that comes before Z? I hate starting a series from the middle, so I’ll watch that, too. How many episodes is that in total? 575? Great, this is gonna take me like six years or something. Ah well. I can always slip into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to watch them. I don’t know what that is yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon. See you all in a year!

    Wow, what a year! It’s been so long since I wrote all that other stuff before. That definitely wasn’t all a bit I just wrote because I hadn’t started writing for Crunchyroll a year ago. It’s been a whole eleven months since I started watching Dragon Ball, and it’s been about three weeks since I finished Super just in time to catch the new movie. I’m living in a post-Dragon Ball world now, and there’s a Goku-shaped hole in my heart that I don’t know how to fill. I have a deeper appreciation for this series now than I ever expected to have, and I’ve been itching to tell you all about it.

  What can I say about Dragon Ball that hasn’t already been said, though? Surely its legions of fans don’t need me to tell them what they already know. Then I realized something. I can’t be the only one who hadn’t seen it. Somewhere, somehow, someone out there right now has yet to experience for themselves the joys of Toei’s crowning achievement.  They’re probably sitting there right now asking themselves why they should watch it now after so long. Their thoughts might be clogged with preconceived notions about the series that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mine were. I’d like to right that wrong, so I’ve compiled a list of seven things I didn’t know until I saw for myself. This is the beginner’s guide to watching Dragon Ball.

It’s perfect for binge-watching

    The biggest lie you’ll ever hear about Dragon Ball from both fans and critics alike is that there are long stretches of episodes full of attacks charging and nothing else. It was something I had always heard about the show and was warned about when I decided to check it out. I waited and waited for these fabled episodes and by the end of DBZ, I realized they don’t exist (Before you ask, no, I wasn’t watching Kai). To be fair, there are times in the show when a character needs to spend most or all of an episode charging an attack. This isn’t near as boring as it sounds, though, as there is always a battle taking place to defend that character and usually a B plot to cut away to.

  Climactic battles do tend to drag on a lot in Dragon Ball, I’ll admit. So if you were a kid only able to watch at the pace of one episode a week, it would sure feel like nothing was happening. I watched the entire series at an average pace of almost two episodes a day, and that made all the difference. I was able to see battles play out over a few hours rather than a few months. If it ever got dull (which it did sometimes), I could just leave it on in the background and listen to some legendary voices shout at each other while browsing Twitter or playing on my Switch. Most of the time, though, my eyes were glued to the screen, anxious to see what would happen next.

  It’s actually about martial arts

I’m honestly a little embarrassed that I didn’t already know this. My second-hand exposure to Dragon Ball had only ever shown me clips and images of people flying around shooting energy beams and fireballs at each other. It wasn’t until I saw FighterZ gameplay in action that I realized there’s hand-to-hand combat in the show, and it took watching the original series for me to learn it’s the whole dang focus. In fact, a large chunk of the series’ sagas take place in or under the guise of a worldwide martial arts tournament, most of which can be found in the original series. Speaking of which…

  You can skip the original series, but you should still give it a shot

  Everyone I know thought I was crazy for not simply starting with Z. I thought I was crazy for not starting with Z. I had been told over and over again that everything that needed to be explained from it eventually gets explained in its sequel. I had been warned countless times that it’s so far apart from what it eventually becomes. I knew all this, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d be missing part of the story if I skipped it. So, I took the plunge. Now, eleven months later, I’m here to tell you that, yeah, you don’t need it to watch Z and Super, but you should still watch it anyway.

  The thing that will surprise you most about Dragon Ball is that it isn’t an action series yet -- it’s an adventure series. Loosely inspired by the classic adventure novel Journey to the West, the original series largely revolves around a young Goku’s quests to retrieve the seven Dragon Balls that can (presumably) grant any wish when brought together. Along the way, he encounters a series of villains who all seek the Dragon Balls for some nefarious reason, and Goku takes it on himself to stop them.

  Admittedly, the original series takes awhile to get going. It’s incredibly dated in some of the worst ways, making the first half of the series a bit of a slog to get through. Still, though, it features the first World Martial Arts Tournament saga, which offered me my first glimpses at Dragon Ball’s potential. The latter half of the series kicks off with its second tournament arc, aka the Tien Shinhan saga, aka the moment I finally fell in love with Dragon Ball. It’s here that Dragon Ball offered it’s best action and most compelling characters to date in the show. It still sits as my personal favorite tournament arc in the series. Dragon Ball manages to keep the momentum rolling with great arc after great arc as it launches itself straight into Z. It has its fair share of flaws and isn’t altogether necessary, but it’s absolutely still worth your time.

  The titular Dragon Balls aren’t lost for long

    So when Dragon Ball’s first episode ended with Goku and Bulma beginning their quest to find all seven Dragon Balls, I got a little antsy. I asked, “Is this gonna be like One Piece where they’re gonna need over a thousand episodes just to find the Dragon Balls?” Turns out I was about 987+ episodes short on my guess there. It really doesn’t take them long at all to find Dragon Balls and make their wish, even if it doesn’t exactly go as planned.

Every time the Dragon Balls are used, they disappear for a full year. This means that most of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z’s first sagas bounce back and forth between quests to find them and killing time until they can be used again. At some point in Z, though, the goal posts shift to a point where obtaining the Dragon Balls becomes completely trivial and they merely act as macguffins for resurrecting dead cast members.

  Power levels don’t actually matter

    If you’ve existed on the internet at all within the last decade and a half, you’ve likely seen the most popular Dragon Ball meme over nine-thousand times already. Between all the memes and chatter from fans, I learned about Dragon Ball’s power levels long before I ever saw them in action. Everyone has a power level and if your power level is lower than someone else’s, you’re guaranteed to lose. At least, that’s what I thought. As it turns out, power levels don’t actually mean that much in the grand scope of Dragon Ball.

  They’re first introduced in the very first episode of DBZ supposedly with the rules I listed until Goku surprises everyone by actually raising his power level. The first few sagas in DBZ are filled with villains boasting about their power levels only to somehow be defeated by someone whose power level had been lower just moments ago. It doesn’t even take Goku half the series to defeat the highest power level in the universe, at which point the term has already become meaningless.

  Super nullifies the concept even further by bringing back characters whose powers had long since been eclipsed and making them legitimate contenders. I wish someone had cleared this up for me much sooner. I had always figured that Dragon Ball fights were done deals where the highest power level always won. Who wants to watch a battle anime where the underdog never wins? Thankfully, Dragon Ball is all about the underdogs.

  Goku is pretty cool

    The hero of the story is cool. Big shocker, I know, but bear with me. If you only know Goku through clips of him fighting, of course it makes sense that he’s cool. However, once you actually start watching Dragon Ball, you kind of forget all about it, because he’s a massive goofball 99% of the time. He’s a dork from the countryside who only ever thinks about eating and fighting and doesn’t know what a kiss is despite having two sons and a granddaughter. He’s childish and naive, but when the chips are down and he gets serious, he gets serious. It rules every single time.

  Get this, Dragon Ball is really good

    Like, really really good. Don’t get me wrong, I had hoped to appreciate Dragon Ball when I first began watching it, but I never expected to fall this deeply in love with it. I spent nearly a full year watching every single episode of this series -- a series I had never intended to watch before. I spent literal hundreds of hours of my year bonding with Goku and his pals, and it hasn’t even been a month and I already wanna do it all over again.

Dragon Ball is a monolithic, world-renowned series for a reason, and that reason is because it’s freaking GOOD. Its cast is iconic, its art style is timeless, its action is to die for, and it only gets better and better as it goes on. Seriously, it’s been more than three decades since the show began and it’s still blowing minds at the box office. It isn’t a series that rests on its laurels and name recognition alone, it constantly one-ups itself with every iteration.

  I know, there probably aren’t many of you out there who haven’t seen Dragon Ball and thus most of you won’t find this article very useful. That doesn’t matter to me right now. Because I know I’m not alone. I know there are people out there just like I used to be who at best think they don’t have time for Dragon Ball and at worst think it’s somehow beneath them. Even if there are only twelve people like that out there, I want all twelve of them to read this piece and rethink their prior misconceptions.

If that doesn’t apply to you, yet you’re still with me anyway, first of all, thank you. Second of all, I want you to think of the Dragon Ball in your life. What show do you think you don’t have the time for? What show do you think isn’t worth your time? If you’ve learned anything from me today, I want it to be this: that show might be your next favorite. You’ll never know until you sit down and watch it.

    Are you a lifelong fan of Dragon Ball? A relative newcomer like Danni? Did you not even know it existed before? Let us know in the comments below!

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Danni Wilmoth is a Features and Social Videos writer for Crunchyroll and also co-hosts the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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