#super immersive storytelling

[uhohmarie]

Book Review: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

★★★★☆ It's a well-paced mystery with characters familiar to fans of NBC Hannibal or the Anthony Hopkins films. Would have appreciated more interactions with Hannibal. A star was removed for the glaring lack of sex or sexual tension between Will and Hannibal.

Red Dragon is the prequel to Silence of the Lambs, making it the first in Harris's Hannibal Lector series. The story follows Will Graham, the detective responsible for the identification and arrest of Hannibal Lector, as he's called from retirement to help catch another serial killer. This killer has, at the start of the novel, already annihilated two families. Graham is called in because of his curse gift of being able to visualize and retrace the crimes of psychopaths. The last time Graham was out in the field, he caught onto Lector, and Lector repaid him by maiming him. The new killer Graham is hunting calls himself the Red Dragon, after William Blake's series of paintings called "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun." The Red Dragon's motivations stump even Graham, so the detective travels to consult Hannibal Lector. Though it's the first in the Hannibal novel series, we see little of Lector, and the focus of the plot is Graham and the Dragon. Overall, it's a well-paced, well-written horror, and I definitely recommend giving it a read.

[eerna]

actually insane how you have no one to report to that you're done. the quest is given to you by Impa, but it is completed the moment the Big Realization hits, so you can't share the discovery with anyone. I tried to talk to people and scream at them but I can't. I will have to finish the entire temple section before I can finally explain to people that I've already found what we're looking for and get some proper emotional reactions

reached the end of the tears of the dragon questline. I knew it I had a feeling ever since my discovery yesterday I had a feeling and I am so so so sad and horrified but that was badass what a great idea A+ game you have such a good story opportunity here please please grab it

[cowplant-snacks]

hiya! any tips on creating an immersive save that will attract not only you as the player but others as the viewers? your aesthetic is stunning and im so obsessed with everything you do!! <3

oh wow, this is a super sweet ask, @plumday.

let's see. I interpreted this as an ask about how I setup my sim save in a way that engages me. Hopefully this is helpful!

Setting Up TS4 Gameplay

Revamp Sim Worlds

BRAVE THOSE LOADING SCREENS and leave your residential lot! (I promise it's worth it)

NEW LOTS - Each of my worlds have been renovated with lots I handpicked from the gallery - too much work? I recommend using a savefile! Here are some of my personal faves @ratboysims 1, @down-in-simsland 2, @folkling 3 & @sweetbeagaming 4.

RESIDENTIAL RENTAL - these lots help make the world feel more dense and lived in, plus condensing the local households to 1-2 lots leaves room for more non-residential lots to explore with your sims.

WORK AND SCHOOL - I recommend placing offices, schools, and daycare lots. These combined with a few mods (semi-active custom careers and Zerbu's go to school mod 2) and clubs are something I really enjoy.

Set Up Clubs

I really like @sojutrait's tutorial on how to use clubs to enhance your gameplay and is a MUST HAVE in my humble opinion. I usually have a family chore club, work clubs, neighborhood clubs, extended family clubs, etc... and it's so nice to click a button suddenly there are sims there making my game more lively.

To have more than 3 clubs per sim, I use this mod maintained by @kingzaceofsims.

I also use custom club activities so sims (MOSTLY) behave how I want them to. @srslysims has tutorial on how to make your own.

To be able to have club gatherings in vacation worlds I use this mod. It was helpful with sending my pixel kids to camp.

Set Up the Calendar

@aliennooboo made this AMAZING tutorial on setting up your sims calendar that I just adore. I find this helps me remember to do things with my sims and helps change up their day to day life.

Playing

ROTATIONAL GAMEPLAY - I find this keeps me engaged and prevents boredom. It keeps things fresh and allows me to explore different stories. Here is a great resource to get started!

GAMEPLAY MODS - I find adding various mods keeps my gameplay fresh and interesting. I recommend these creators (1, 2, 3, 4 & 5) in particular.

Screenies

POSES - As a gameplay person, I try to use poses sparingly. It disrupts the game for me but I find sometimes I can't convey what I want to without them, so I try to only use a few. This is what works for me, please do what works for you. Shout out to all the storytellers blogs, though, that keep me fed.

RESHADE or PSD files can add some fun color and effects to screenies. ONLY edit as much as you want to. I felt a lot of pressure to get better at this and I am finally finding the balance of how much and what kind of editing I actually like to do. I have collected reshades/gshades and resources here.

House Keeping

Keep back ups of your trayfiles, screenshots, households, lots, etc 'cause it's sims, things break and go wrong.

Keep your CC and mods organized otherwise fixing your game is a hug pain.

Reblogs and additional tips and recommendations welcomed!

HAPPY SIMMING!

[chloefraazers]

okay, i have something to say.

horizon is a franchise that rekindled my creativity and passion for art and storytelling after over a decade of burnout. and even with my love for it, i can and have expressed scepticism about offshoots that can put horizon 3 at risk.

for example, i am hesitant about the online project. i know the Scary Article posted yesterday has no official guerrilla sources, so i take all it says with a grain of salt. still, it worries me that sony could be considering pushing the online game (and so much more) before release of horizon 3 and completion of aloy’s story.

do i think an online multiplayer horizon would be neat? yes. but it's undeniable that now is a very risky time for live service games, and i’d worry that sony would bank so hard on this, then pull all resources for horizon 3 if it underperforms. (especially with the rumour that the look will be more stylized like overwatch or fortnite, which… lacks the immersion that makes horizon so special.) in fact, i’d be ecstatic to see multiplayer horizon included with horizon 3, much like red dead online, and the last of us online multiplayer, and mass effect all having their online additions as part of the game.

now, the remaster of horizon zero dawn was another one of them. i wanted to see it remastered someday to bring it up to horizon forbidden west graphic and accessibility quality, but i was willing (and wanting!) to wait until after horizon 3’s release.

so, when the hzd remaster was announced, i was super apprehensive because of previous remaster history in other IPs. instead, i was blown away and very pleasantly surprised.

the remaster is such a labour of love from the dev team at guerrilla, as well as the performance actors who re-recorded 10+ hours of footage to give hzd the makeover it deserves. i don’t see it as a “remaster” — i see it as guerrilla making the horizon zero dawn they wanted to make a decade ago, and finally having the means to do so.

there are people who hate this franchise, and they spout the same ignorant, repulsive, misogynistic bullshit in every argument against it. they mock aloy’s design because she doesn’t fit their standards of what they think a woman should look like. they call her “fat” in a derogatory manner because her face is soft and round, when we know if it was thin and chiseled they’d call her a “man” because of course their misogyny comes with transphobia.

they mock the story because they can’t relate to a young woman’s personal journey that is about her finding and accepting different forms of love, finding where she belongs and who she is, and saving the world is incidentally secondary.

they mock the fans for existing because we love the franchise and express ourselves with no apologies; we show there is a place in this world for horizon, and that threatens their incel agenda.

recently i participated in a trend of fan artists posting their fave giving the middle finger. let me be clear: this middle finger is not mocking those upset that their favourite IP has yet to have a remaster of its own. it’s for those who are angry that horizon exists at all, and offended at the idea that there are people who love the franchise and are excited to see it the way it deserves to be seen.

you can love something immensely and be critical of it, especially when you know it has the potential to be something incredible and you long to see it reach that pedestal.

you can also not love something and instead of trying to ruin it for other people who do love it, you could choose to not be an asshole and simply not engage. bad faith “criticism” is simply hate speech, harassment, and bullying from angry, lonely people who can’t abide that the “gamer” space is actually diverse, and want to drive people away to feel powerful in their own smallness.

so, the tate salute is to all those who are personally offended that a single piece of media among a sea of options isn’t catered specifically to their desires. we are the ones under your skin, not the other way around. as long as horizon is here, so are we.

[comicaurora]

Hey red, what's your opinion on some modern writing that's very lamp shady? And do you have any advice on how to avoid "Well that just happened" dialogue?

It's an interesting question!

The thing is, lampshading exists for a reason, but it's not the reason it gets used a lot of the time. Writers might lampshade a narrative choice they're insecure about, while characters lampshade because the things they go through in a typical story are kind of bonkers, and we might expect them to notice. If a character signs on for a simple mercenary expedition and ends up discovering they're the long-lost prince of a kingdom they've never heard of, that's weird and they probably feel weird about it. If an ally is determined to 1v1 their super overpowered nemesis with no help from their friends, those friends might have opinions about how dumb that is.

This is a form of lampshading that doesn't break immersion because it's entirely in-character and doesn't lean on the fourth wall. There's a difference between a character noticing how weird their life is and a character pointing out how cliched a recent experience was. In the latter case, the character is treating their life like a story, and while it IS a story, they shouldn't know that.

There's a spectrum here, with "complete sincerity and taking every turn of the plot at face value" defining the 0-point and "complete self-aware uninvestment" at the far end, but healthy levels of lampshading live somewhere in the middle. Characters at the 0-point accepting everything that happens without question can feel just as weird as characters that won't stop pointing out the TVTropes entry they're currently living. It's about what it makes sense for the character to find disruptive or noteworthy. A hardened badass probably won't see the need to point out how bonkers a recent fight scene was, but a newcomer to the Cool Bombastic Adventure scene might be really excited when they pull off a cool special move and want to point it out.

I think this is why the recent D&D movie worked for a lot of people, because while the main characters all lampshade their lives to varying degrees, the way they do so makes sense for all of them. Edgin is a bard and storyteller so he has a slightly meta perspective on a lot of things, purposefully avoids playing along with certain narrative conventions and sometimes responds to other people's dialogue by critiquing their dialogue instead of just responding normally; Holga doesn't really care to understand how the world works and so keeps pointing out that they should just use magic to solve their problems, which is probably the most popular lampshade in the whole genre; Doric and Simon don't get a ton of time to shine character-wise, but they'll both occasionally poke holes in the pretense of the story they're in. The thing that makes this all work is Xenk, who plays absolutely every moment completely 100% straight and is entirely immersed in the objectively ridiculous setting of D&D. Same goes for most of the villains, except for Forge, who's probably the wackiest and most self-aware character in the entire movie, but in a way that makes him feel callous and disregarding of the people around him, like he's uninvested in the world not because he knows he's a fictional character but because he has too much money and power to care about anything. The ways each character does or does not lampshade their surroundings make sense for who they are as people and reinforce their characterization and place in the world instead of undermining it.

I recently watched a couple episodes of Stargate Atlantis and noticed something similar - the main character and, to a lesser extent, the rest of his associates from Earth have a tendency to make wry observations about his objectively bizarre life and the eccentricities of the people around him, which helps contrast against the extremely serious and businesslike Cool Space Warriors they keep accumulating, which helps make them feel (a) distinct from each other and (b) relatable considering all the weird stuff that happens. And the protagonist switches off the quips as soon as things start looking perilous for his team, so you never get the impression that they aren't invested in the story they're living, and as a result the various quips and lampshades come across more as a habit or a coping mechanism than a disruption to the narrative itself.

So basically I think you can get away with a lot of lampshades as long as the character doesn't feel like they know they're in a story.

[nondelphic]

nondelphic writing tips: unconventional (but super fun!) ways to work on your story when you’re not writing

hi lovelies! (｡♥‿♥｡) time for another serious post!!

i'd like to share some of my fav unconventional, but super fun, ways to deepen your plot, characters, and world-building on those off-days when you're not actively writing. because let's be real, sometimes the most creative breakthroughs happen when you’re not staring at the blank page! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ

♡ incorrect quotes for characters

okay, this one is my absolute favourite!! even when i'm not writing, i love coming up with totally out-of-context or incorrect quotes for my characters (think “they would say this” energy). they don’t even have to be lines you use in the story, just little snippets of dialogue that fit their personality and vibe! it’s such a fun way to get to know your characters better and explore their quirks.

bonus: it’s also super entertaining when you assign hilarious, offbeat quotes to your more serious characters (≧◡≦). trust me, it works!

♡ acting out dialogue

confession time: i suck at acting but i love to act out my character’s dialogue to myself (ಥ‿ಥ). yes i do have a problem with daydreaming BUT walking around my room and speaking the lines really helps me figure out if they sound natural and realistic! if it feels awkward to say out loud, it might need tweaking. plus, it’s a great way to channel your inner actor for a little while (〃＾▽＾〃).

♡ using ai to brainstorm ideas

i love using ai tools as a sounding board to help with world-building decisions! like if i’m stuck between two options for how something should work in my world (magic system, politics, etc.), i’ll type it into an ai and ask, “what would be more realistic, option a or b?” ai can give you that nudge in the right direction and spark ideas you didn’t think of! it’s like brainstorming with a friend, but faster (￣▽￣)ノ

i have another post on using ai responsibly for writing here !!

♡ character playlists and mood boards

this one is so fun for those “off” days when you’re not writing! create playlists or mood boards for your characters or setting. find songs that capture their personality, struggles, or even the overall tone of your world. or scroll through pinterest and make a visual mood board that reflects the vibe of your world. it’s super immersive and helps you build your story’s atmosphere without writing a single word! ♫(◕‿◕)

♡ role-playing conversations between characters

this is one i like to do when i’m really feeling stuck. it's similar to acting out dialogue but rather than focusing on how realistic it sounds, it's about the characters themselves. i’ll imagine my characters just… hanging out and chatting. not even plot-related stuff, just normal conversations they’d have in their everyday lives. how would they talk to each other when they’re relaxed, annoyed, or excited? it’s such a fun way to build chemistry and relationships between your characters! (*≧ω≦)

♡ build “what if” scenarios

sometimes, i’ll brainstorm totally unrealistic “what if” situations just to see how my characters react! what if they were stuck in a completely ridiculous situation? how would they handle it? even if these scenes never make it into the story, they give me so much insight into how my characters think and behave. plus, it’s ridiculously fun (≧◡≦).

the key to all of this is to keep it light, fun, and creative on days when you’re not in the mood to do “serious” writing. storytelling isn’t just about the words you put on the page—it’s about the world, the people, and the relationships you’re building. so don’t be afraid to play around with it in unconventional ways. ♡＼(￣▽￣)／

happy writing (and daydreaming)!

[mmikmmik]

One underrated aspect of Mouthwashing is that it's really good as a video game.

I thought the player feedback was super strong. There's so many little gimmicky nightmare worlds and "minigames" and the game really helps you understand them very quickly and keep up the momentum. There were only a couple times I got stuck for long enough that I felt like it was breaking me out of the narrative, and I was able to resolve them pretty quickly. And one of them was my own fault - I was trying to use an item somewhere the devs had already indicated it was impossible, because I forgot about the little framing that pops up to indicate you can go into "interaction mode". That's a great little UI mechanism for making it super obvious what is and isn't interactive while still being unobtrusive and letting you feel immersed in the ship environment. Oh, and using the birthday cake scene to introduce the sawing mechanic? So when the player saws at Curly's leg, it's an incredibly powerful callback and the player already knows what they're supposed to do, defending the emotional punch from a "wait... which buttons am I supposed to press for this...?" moment? Brilliant.

Mouthwashing also has beautiful interplay between its gameplay elements and its storytelling. I think of Mouthwashing as "movie-like", because I feel like the pacing + tone + themes remind me very much of horror movies, but this story is meant to be a game. Think of the scene where Jimmy is basically telling Curly that he intends to destroy the ship. It starts with the player controlling Curly in first person POV. But right as Jimmy is talking about how Curly doesn't have agency in his own life ("You're standing at the top. Feet in cement. I get it now.") the camera escapes Curly's perspective and moves into a third person perspective, giving us our first look at pre-crash Captain Curly.

That was the last moment Curly had to avert the tragedy. He knew Jimmy had attacked Anya. Anya told Curly that Jimmy must be physically prevented from accessing the means to hurt the rest of the crew. Jimmy said it would be best if they all just died and then walked away saying "I'll take care of it" and Curly stood there watching him and did nothing. In chronological order, the next scene is the first time the player controls Jimmy. The agency and control, the status of "player character", has left Curly. He let himself become a character in Jimmy's story. And by the time he gets control again, it's already too late.

(Not that I think the game is actually presenting "player character" status as something that's true or real. Look how much Anya's internal life and deliberate choices shape the story, before and after the crash, even as Jimmy casts her as an annoying quest-giver NPC.)

I also really like how much playing through the little nightmare vignettes have the player recreate Curly and Jimmy's decisions. Like when Jimmy is forced to stare directly at the post-it note that's telling him to take responsibility (or whatever the exact words are), but he simply backs away from it. It's all about the way he finds mental and emotional loopholes to get away from what he's done, no matter how directly he's forced to confront it. What other medium could so intimately guide you through that metaphor, to express its internal logic so clearly without words? God, I love video games.

[preciouslittle-bhaalbabe]

Making Astarion super possessive with tomie doesn't seem healthy

Yes well, it's....Well it's not. I guess when applied to irl standards. But they're both fine with the dynamic and his possessiveness doesn't become toxic until he ascends. In which case they'll probably have to have a conversation but it's a video game and all these little facts and dynamics about my oc and her future vampy husband just live in my head. Would I like a dynamic like that? No, I'd get overwhelmed. But it makes for good immersion and storytelling.

Headcannons don't always have to be perfect and healthy with nothing wrong. There are PLENTY of examples of "unhealthy" relationships in media that work for the characters and are totally fine in universe. My headcannons consist of two consenting adults who understand each other. There is no victim and no abuse happening. Just people finding their way in a world that has been flipped upside down.

RPGS are just another form of interactive storytelling. Bg3 is as much of a creative expression for me as it is entertainment. I got whole worlds in my mind dedicated to my little pixel people :3

[aihoshiino]

chapter 142 thoughts!

HEADS UP: In this review I discuss fictional depictions of sibling incest as well as a brief reference to both fictional and a real life suicide. As usual, feel free to skip if you're not in the right zone and I'll see you next time.

thank you for the kind words from everyone when i was still in the Slime Era of feeling sick lol. i'm like 80% back to full power now!

I'm gonna be totally up front and say I really think this is one of the worst chapters we've gotten in a while but here's the twist: it's not for the reasons you probably think!

We're following up basically right off the back of last chapter and immediately I am kind of mad at how shitty the series is continuing to do Miyako with regards to the movie arc. She was a total non-factor in the RBKN conflict and now that Aqua and Ruby are being pressured into doing something they have both verbalized that they don't want to do she's just like well gosh i feel complicated but what can i do :(. Having the setup almost 20 full chapters ago of Miyako expressing that she wants to step up and do more for Aqua and Ruby as their mother and then having her completely failing to intervene on their behalf here is just wild.

In general, the way everything is being set up to force this kiss feels so… well, forced. Even if Kaburagi (as the story says) insisted there be a kiss scene, there are a million ways to fake a kiss that doesn't involve actors actually kissing. Body doubles! Camera angles! Putting your thumbs in the way! Unless Kaburagi said "I want 20 full seconds of Kamiki sticking his tongue down Ai's throat center frame", there is absolutely no reason "a kiss scene" needs to mean "these two blood related twin sibling actors actually kiss". The whole thing is just so incredibly contrived.

And honestly? The fact that both Ruby and Aqua have expressed a 'no' and are being forced to do this anyway is the part of this chapter making me the most actively insane. It is absolutely mind boggling to have spent half of last chapter on a Miyako monologue about how immoral and unethical it is when people's ability to give informed and sincere consent is compromised by the entertainment industry and to then follow it with a whole chapter of basically every character we're supposed to like flaunting a total lack of respect for Aqua's comfort and consent in this regard, up to and including the completely insane scene of two adult women lecturing Aqua about how he isn't allowed to have boundaries. What the fuck is going on here!!!

This is especially frustrating because I actually really like a lot of things about the scene with Yoriko and Abiko… even if there's some stuff that really kind of broke me lol. Like uh, wasn't it a really huge plot point in Tokyo Blade that a mangaka couldn't be expected to turn out an entertaining theater script because those are two entirely different kinds of storytelling…??? But whatever.

Off the bat, I have really mixed-leaning-negative feelings about the reveal that the KamiAi romance scenes we'd gotten were entirely fictional. On the one hand, I actually feel pretty validated - I had guessed that the full-immersion-flashback presentation was a hint that we were being presented with a falsehood and it implicitly confirms something I've been saying from the start that 15 Year Lie's version of events has to be taken with a grain of salt, both because it contradicts known events and facts and because so many other people have interfered with it. Having that made textual and being able to confidently say it helps a lot in discussing what this means for the story.

But like… that means we wasted a whole bunch of time on shit that was made up and didn't matter! Like, thematically speaking, I think this is potentially interesting but I just keep getting stuck on the fact that we were given a super interesting scene finally fleshing out and giving us info about both a character and a relationship we've been absolutely starved for details about, only for the story to turn around not two chapters later and go "and my source? i made it the fuck up". It just totally dashes all the enthusiasm I was feeling and it also makes it way less rewarding to try and dig into what 15YL is doing when at any time, all of this potentially interesting character work could be revealed to be total piss in the wind.

Stepping back from that… in total isolation from everything else, I do think this talk with Abiko and Yoriko about what it means to write stories is interesting from a lot of angles. While I don't think these two are the 1-to-1 author avatars for Aka and Mengo fandom treats them as, they nevertheless clearly serve as reflections of the two's experiences and viewpoints about the manga industry and specific and the art of storytelling in general, allowing the story to play around in the quasi-metafictional space it does sometimes, where it uses in-universe fiction as a method of commenting on itself.

In that sense, I think Yoriko can be understood as speaking for Akasaka here and discussing some of his feelings as a storyteller of Oshi no Ko specifically. OnK has never made a secret of the fact that it's drawing on Akasaka's real experiences in the entertainment industry but perhaps less obvious to overseas fans is the inspiration it takes from real life issues in contemporary Japanese pop culture, too. Infamously, Akane's arc very transparent drew inspiration - if it wasn't reconstructed entirely - from the suicide of Hana Kimura, not even six full months after Kimura's death. When the anime aired, Kimura's surviving mother (imo, rightfully and deservedly) lambasted the series for using her daughter's death as the fodder for entertainment without consulting her surviving family. It wasn't even that she disagreed with what the series was saying - she just wanted someone to have some consideration.

This is what Yoriko means when she talks about the responsibility a writer has to their stories. When you write a piece of fiction as highly visible as Oshi no Ko currently is, it is your responsibility to consider the impact your words will have on the world. No, fiction does not directly impact the real world in a physical, tangible way but if we are careless with our stories, we can regurgitate and perpetuate dominant cultural narratives that very much do cause real, tangible harm to marginalized people. Hikaru Kamiki isn't a real person, but there are undoubtedly people in OnK's readerbase who see their experiences mirrored in him. Airi Himekawa isn't real, but people like her exist. Akane Kurokawa isn't real but Hana Kimura was.

This discussion also serves as an interesting warning to Aqua himself, though maybe not quite in the sense Yoriko intended. Aqua's revenge has always been something treated, in-universe, as a sort of fiction in of itself; Aqua calls it his 'revenge play' and his primary method of pursuing it is to become an actor. It's a retribution narrative about real people and Aqua is its author. But as Yoriko reminds him… stories can kill. Especially ones featuring real people. Aqua has been telling himself a comfortable lie for years that only he will be hurt by his own inevitable self destruction but Yoriko reminds him that he isn't the only person involved here and that he is inevitably going to cause great pain to the people he loves if her continues down this path.

That's why this chapter is so frustrating. This is all good, meaty character work with some great thematic overtones… and it's all in service of contriving this scenario where Aqua has no choice but to tongue his sister on camera and for some reason, nobody is pointing out the million and one alternatives to this deranged scenario.

But anyway. Enough beating around the bush: let's talk about That Scene. And despite what everything I've said this post might lead you to believe… I actually really like it.

I don't know exactly what activated to make her go sicko mode but Mengo has been really on fucking fire with her art on the series lately. It really jumped out to me in 137 but she's honestly been cooking since the very start of the movie arc. It stands out especially strongly in Aqua and Ruby's talk on the balcony in ways I really vibed with. The whole scene feels like Ruby's shoujo brainrot and the cold reality of what she's tiptoeing around suggesting to Aqua are battling out for dominance over the framing. Ruby's stubbornness is such a force to be reckoned with that it almost wins entirely but there are moments where the lens cracks and we see things as they are. Aqua's discomfort practically radiates off the page this entire conversation.

Not only that but… jesus christ, Ruby. Just look at how she's framed when she first enters the scene.

That oppressive silhouette, her shaded eyes and that sinister smile… I probably don't need to tell you that's NOT how you typically frame a romantic heroine. She honestly almost looks more like a villain.

But Ruby quickly reasserts control over the framing. Or rather, what she's suggesting is such a sugary shoujo fantasy, the framing has no other option but to comply. At last, Ruby steps out of the shallow channel of plausible deniability and puts into concrete words what she has been thinking and longing for these last twenty chapters: for her to retake her role as Sarina Tendoji and for Aqua, in turn, to play Gorou for her once again. More than that - she pushes him for a concrete response to her love at last, not as Ruby but as Sarina; not only does the paneling repeatedly cover the eye with her star but in the final panel where she unambiguously propositions Aqua, the star is completely gone. This is what Ruby is offering: to completely sever her connection to Ai and the new life she has built on that foundation and to return to being Sarina, if that is what the doctor she loves wants.

This is SUCH an incredibly effective scene. It's excellently done and the art is fantastic. It finally draws out and makes explicit the underlying disconcerting subtext that has been swimming under the twins' relationship since 123. It works fantastically well… in isolation. But when taken into the context of the rest of the story it just feels so… unearned.

For the last 20 chapters, we have had absolutely no serious insight into Ruby's feelings re: the reveal of Gorou's new identity as Aqua. We didn't see her grapple with it or have to adjust to it at all. It was like a switch flipped in her brain and she was suddenly a 2010s fanservice imouto splooging about her oniichan. Her interiority in this regard is completely absent. Whenever the subject is addressed at all, it is made into a joke with Ruby as the punchline. There has been no serious build up to this moment or any meaningful time spent on Ruby's feelings about Aqua and as such, being asked to take it seriously now feels so incredibly jarring.

I've said this over and over in other places but I'll make this clear here: the handling of Ruby's feelings is not bad because Incest Is Morally Bad or whatever. At the end of the day, OnK is fiction and fiction is a space that allows us to explore ideas and scenarios that would be unpleasant, dangerous or even downright immoral to try and interrogate in real life with real people. Not only that, but AQRB's situation is so far removed from anything any real person could experience there's very little risk of it acting as a harmful reflection of a real person's life. But because OnK had the space to do just about anything with this idea, I'm so incredibly baffled that it chose to do all of nothing. This is a plot point that has been cooking since the literal first chapter of the entire series and now, just under four years and over 140 chapters past our starting point… and this is the best Akasaka can do? Dated brocon humor that reduces Ruby to a shallow gag character, denying her the opportunity to have deeper, more complex and ugly feelings and denying her the respect of examining those feelings with honesty?

It sucks. This whole thing really sucks. As someone who loves Ruby so, so much… this really just feels like an insulting way to have handled what should have been one of the most interesting and engaging parts of her series long arc.

I do think this chapter is the beginning of the end of AquRuby's time in the endgame couple race, if it was ever seriously in the running to begin with. Ruby embracing Aqua with a proposition in those final two panels echoes Akane doing the same in chapter 72 and the fact that this cliffhanger ends on the proposition and not a kiss implies to me, structurally speaking, that we are heading for a rejection. On top of that, we're pretty far away from the manga's ending still and Kana's romantic resolution with Aqua hasn't gotten its time to shine. All those factors together makes me feel pretty certain that this is the final nail in the coffin and we're just waiting to see how Aka sticks the landing.

After all - Ruby is asking for his response as Sarina. And if this is Sarina asking for his love one last time… we already know how Gorou's going to respond.

[zetomato]

Brand New One (rant)

I need to understand something so I really want people to answer and tell me because I know my viewpoint on the QSMP cannot physically be perfect and whole.

I haven’t watched any POV in a few days (Due to being sick af, lel) but I’m hearing more and more confusing things coming from this fandom. I’ll point out some of them and hope people will explain more points of view to clear up the extremely confusing situations. (While tagging this neg because I don't want this on main for peeps trying to chill)

Ok so we can all agree that it’s impossible to watch everyone’s POV. Just taking the more active streamers gives you over 9h/day to watch, taking into account that they often are live at the same time and you get already more than anyone should watch their screens in a day (I say that as a Graphic Designer, I keep watching screens, that’s my job). Add everyone else and you got easily over 20h/day. So yeah, for viewers, that’s intense. So it’s even more impossible for streamers since, well, they have to plan their streams and… stream.

Good.

So why are people mad at Philza for not knowing Tubbo lore that happened while he wasn’t on the server, some even when he was streaming something else? I know that there’s always that weird moment when something happens for the character you main and then you switch POV and the information doesn’t line up, but why is it expected? Getting super into a storyline is incredible, it’s nice, it’s saying how immersive someone’s RP and storytelling is, how much it resonates with you. But this is live RP, not a script. People will read tones wrong, mishear/misunderstand, make mistakes, talk at the wrong time, mess with friends, have the wrong timing. A bunch of weird stuff will happen.

None of them are doing this out of spite, hell, they are making a point to make sure everyone is included and supported and they have ways to talk to each other when there’s a problem. The ones I know of who do chat with others/in other’s chat are Phil, Tubbo, Cellbit and Etoiles. (there are way more, those are the ones I saw do it/heard say it)

Then there’s the question of doing a critique of the CC’s under the guise of “Oh it’s about the character!”

Yes, QSMP and RP servers in generals bring you HARD into a story to the point sometimes things are hard to differentiate. I’ve reread books and got confused about something before I realized that they were headcanon things I grabbed from fanfics and not canon book events. But some of y’all need to step back. I saw people doing critiques of someone’s laugh or gesture or playstyle under the “Q!” excuse. These are real people, y’all. A CC not reading the room, Tubbo talking loudly over Bagi because he didn’t notice the situation and adjusting when told, Philza not immediately getting that Tubbo’s death was his canon last one and then adjusting to follow the mood. There’s been dozens of those situations since the start of the server, there will be a dozen more.

The players can deal with those situations themselves, they are adults, but I’ve seen some people on here getting weird information and spreading even weirder gossip about a character being mean/rude/an ass when they’re sharing friendly banter or just, not immediately getting a joke or an important moment.

No, Tubbo was not planning on talking over Bagi, he had a lot to say and didn’t notice everything.

No, Phil was not ignoring Tubbo’s lore, he was unaware this death was canon and did not watch a stream while he was already streaming.

People are people. CCs play Characters and aren’t professional actors with scripts. They chill in each other's chats sometimes.

Can we now play nice and take a chill pill about streamers being mean and heartless?

[pixelnrd]

Now that the decades are coming to a close, did you have a decade you loved playing with?

From a purely play-based perspective (as opposed to storytelling), I have several decades I have love love loved to play and these are:

1890s: I really enjoy the overall challenge of starting up a Decades Challenge with all the limitations of the first decade - no money, lots of restrictions, etc. This kind of gameplay gets me super invested and immersed in the family I am creating and navigating my way through all the difficulties.

1930s: when I played the 1930s Cottage Living had just been released, and I crafted the family story of that generation around rural farm living so I could play through the gameplay of the pack. Hands down my absolute favourite EP, I loved the soft slow rural vibes for the generation and its story as a whole, and I enjoyed the new challenges of playing with cottage living features. It was a throwback to the challenges of the first decade, which I loved (for above reasons!)

1950s: the previous generation had been very disjointed because of the war, and I loved the 50s because it went back to more of a family-focussed decade. I also loved just indulging in the vibes of the era, including the baby boom, and all the different character types I was able to explore with the kids born in this generation. Maggie's difficult personality and her big brood of kids always hold a special place in my heart.

1980s: possibly a bit random, but similarly to the 1930s I used the 1980s to explore the Growing Together EP and hone in on those family-dynamics vibes, especially in a generation where I planned marriage failure and divorce. Also, at this point I had came back to actual gameplay after a long hiatus and it was so much fun to explore the 1980s and all its aesthetics and vibes.

[sparklingspidey]

Immerse yourself in a world where fictional characters come to life through the power of words. Whether you're seeking solace during challenging times, celebrating a special occasion, or simply yearning for a touch of whimsy in your day, our letters are tailored to evoke feelings of joy, encouragement, and companionship.

Whether you're gifting a letter to a loved one or treating yourself to a moment of self-care, these comfort character letters are a timeless reminder that you are never alone. Let me guide you on a journey of healing, inspiration, and joy as you embrace the magic of storytelling and the power of human connection.

Fandoms: Disney, Marvel, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Spider-Man, Spider-Verse, Hannibal, Community, It's Always Sunny, Dr.Who, Sherlock, Super Natural, Dead Poets Society, The Hunger Games, Little Women, Legally Blonde, High School Musical, Avatar the Last Air Bender, Mythic Quest, Steven Universe, and more.

[radiation]

Video games talk dont even mind me

Bro video games as a whole are so far behind movies in terms of storytelling and pacing that it’s kind of baffling. Which of course is obvious and makes sense for plenty of reasons but like, just think about it — watching movies a lot can’t help but train a certain muscle that gives you a strong instinct for structure. I find that people who watch movies very casually, without too much artistic consideration, and don’t really know the language associated with it are still very often irked by specific issues with a movie’s pacing, dialogue, etc and are relatively capable of putting it into words. Likewise, for many movies out there, regardless of your opinions on any specific directorial choices, you do feel as if the movie is essentially cohesive and creatives involved reasonably knew what they were doing and were acting very intentionally, and there weren’t any major oversights. This includes independent films as well. Meanwhile I think both players and developers much more commonly lack the instinct for narrative cohesion when it comes to video games. Definitely a fair amount of exceptions to this, but in general I find it’s difficult to find video games that are very narrative heavy & aspire to great artistic heights that don’t suffer from inherent structural problems, pedantic dialogue, tons of dead air, etc in a way that wouldn’t slide as easily in a movie. A lot these flaws certainly have to be due to the presence of gameplay elements and having to balance that with story when the two are almost always, at least in some small respect, inherently at odds. As for the inability for devs and players to pick up on / fix these flaws…is it because gameplay can distract from it and make up for it? With longer games that have runtimes closer to the experience of a television series, is there a similar reaction where if it’s long enough you will sit thru smaller, momentary issues because you enjoy the bigger picture? Yet games are a lot more engaging than a show as a audio, visual, and tactile experience, you can’t multitask and tune the information out as easily as with a boring episode of a show, so you’d think people would be more picky? But maybe because it’s so attention-demanding people are more immersed, and believe in the experience enough to more easily accept the story? Books demand the same kind of active attention to experience though, and the bar for story in books is a lot higher, so what gives? Well a lot of these have kind of obvious answers but still Interesting questions to ask that lead to Damn , That Is Still Crazy How Much This Shit Is In Its Infancy like sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy with how many writing issues are present in games, particularly in indie games that are Trying To Be Good At Writing that feel excessively obvious and yet I often struggle to find my sentiment mirrored by others. IDK. And back to movies the thing is I feel like if the same people trying to write these kind of games had pursued movies instead then they would’ve ended up making well structured movies that avoided all of these pitfalls. WHAT IS IT WITH GAMES? Well we know what it is with games and we could spend all day discussing a million more reasons this is the way it is but no matter what I think we should just be super conscientious of these pitfalls when making narrative focused games and aspire to a greater level of intentionality that is absolutely possible . Build that muscle by really understanding the quality of storytelling long-present in other mediums.Well the other issue with indie devs is that everyone believes they are totally breaking new ground story wise that they don’t take a step back, humble themselves a bit, and cross-reference what they’re doing with the tons of other stories that have already achieved similar things But thats a conversation for another day .

[littlecrittereli]

It's been a long time since I watched Wild Kratts but I didn't even know he had a fandom, I'm so happy, and your story made my dream come true, I would love to create a story like you, but I'm not very good at writing stories What tips would you give to a beginner <3

I don't consider myself a super great author to be honest, I'm much more confident in my illustrations! But as someone who is completely self taught: here are some tips I use when I write my stories! (these may not apply to everyone, but they do help me) Outlines

If I'm writing a plot-based story I make an outline of all the major plot points I want to make and separate them into chapters. I reference this outline when I'm writing a chapter and it helps me meet all my "goals" for that particular chapter! Of course you can be flexible with this. Say one of your plot points dragged out a little too long and you want to save something for the next chapter, you can adjust your outline as you go! Sometimes your idea will change as you write it, and that's okay! revise your outline accordingly. For me, it's handy so I don't end up spiralling completely off the path I intended and lose the conclusion I wanted to have. Here's an example of the outline for my Reprogrammed AU. (Only chapters 1-5 to prevent spoilers for unreleased chapters)

as you can see, it doesn't have to be super formal. This is literally just in my notes app. As long as you can understand and follow your ideas, that's all that matters.

Get a Beta Reader!

I do not actually have a beta reader currently, but sending your writings to someone to proofread is one of the best ways to get genuine feedback. Try to find someone who is also pretty educated on proper grammar. I learned more about proper formatting from a fanfiction beta reader than I did in school im so fr. At the very least, make sure this person is comfortable with giving you constructive criticism. If something reads a little awkward or if a plot point doesn't make much sense/could be solved with an easier method, it's a lot easier for someone to point out when they didn't write the piece.

Study fanfictions/books you enjoy

Honestly... just reading a lot has made me a better writer. You will begin to notice the way authors describe certain feelings or environments, and that can give you insight on how to go about writing your own ideas. If I find an author I really like, I will try to dissect WHY I like them so much. Is it their accurate characterization? Do they describe emotions well? Are their plots engaging? Is their dialogue interesting? Find out what makes their writing so interesting so you can incorporate those traits into your own story. This goes for the way they format their writing as well. For example, I've found I prefer when chapters are around 1k-5k words. Really short chapters can make the story seem choppy when the reader has to constantly click to the next page, it kinda breaks the immersion of the story. Instead I try to use chapter breaks as interesting pausing points for suspense. I love it when authors leave their chapter on a slightly unfinished note. So I'm curious for the next chapter, but also I feel fulfilled with what I've read so far. And I've discovered this by analyzing the stories I enjoy!

And the most important advice I can give.... PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!

Writing is similar to drawing in the sense that in order to learn, you must DO it. You have to make the shitty stuff before you find out how to make it better! It's honestly just part of the creative process. I still have some short stories I wrote back when I was a preteen and ITS BAD LOL but I needed to go through that in order to learn and grow and be more confident in my storytelling capabilities. And just like illustrations, everyone starts at a different place and everyone's process is different. SO BE PATIENT AND DON'T GIVE UP! Write that story! Even if it's bad, who cares?! You wrote something! And next time, you will write something even better!

[kingdoms-and-empires]

MC and the rest of the gang of RO's in their frat club. Their reaction in telling/listening to a creepy horror story? Who would faint of out fear example?

Amina: Would tell some pretty good stories from Jelaytha, but get scared of stories from outside her country. Honestly the girlie is super into spooky shit and loves getting scared! Honestly the type of person who celebrates Halloween and goes all out!

Astrid: 100% in league with Lucina pretending to get scared so they can grab onto guys. Though stories about V'era actually do get her scared, so her reactions with those are legit.

Cheris: Will get scared, Cheris will act tough but straight up scream and yell. FemMC's should totally be near when scary time starts.

Edward: Will not be phased. Is more scared of people making a mess from being jump scared than anything else.

Lucina: In league with Astrid, will sit on your lap and act scared. Dont ruin it by being horny tho, its not about the horny. Its about her being able to be a damsel in distress, do not ruin it for her

Mary: Same boat as Amina, wants to get scared and loves scary stories. She doesnt like telling them though, she'd rather listen. Another one who would love Halloween and dress up. SHe'd dress up in cute costumes tho, like so lame its adorable.

Max: Max LOVES scary stories and loves telling them, one of the better storytellers who gets all into character, adding in sound effects and changing his voice to get people immersed. It reminds him of his family and their tradition for telling stories around the fireplace.

Nysthe:

Voryn: Will participate, have fun, will drink, and just be glad to be around his friends.

Veriel: Tries to notice the entire time who gets scared so he can tease them later.

Zera: Will pretend to not care, not get scared, and say "This is dumb." But will listen intently, care very much about the story, and will scream internally when he gets scared. Also has best poker face.

[aliceksoo]

IU "Love Wins All" MV analysis

Every once in a while one of my favourite artists releases something so good that gets me to the point of obsession, which means coming over here writing about all my thoughts.

And no one does that quite like IU (which is why she is my absolute favourite solo female artist, not in k-pop, just in Music).

Here's a short (LMAO, knowing me it will be super long) analysis of this MV!

The story begins with the two main characters in this story (interpreted by IU and V from BTS), running to escape from a flying box, the villain of this story set in a dystopic reality on the verge of apocalyptic doom.

The two characters run to hide inside a Mall, and from the first shots we can already notice few characteristics:

IU is mute, while V is blind from one eye.

the two are lovers.

Once they manage to hide from the flying cube, they get inside the Mall, where they notice a huge pile of clothes in the middle of it.

They keep exploring until they reach an old electronics shop, and they find an old camera: after trying it, they notice that while using that they can "imagine" an alternative reality, in which they both look healthy and clean.

A reality in which they can pretend to be happily in love, while enjoying moments in a world full of colors, which no longer exists...

...So they start to explore around the Mall while imagining their happy moments. They go through a restaurant, where everything is rotten and molded, but they sit at the table and look at each other through the camera, imagining how it would feel to share a meal together, taking solace in those simple moments of happiness, like having dessert together, wiping sugar from your lover's face, etc.

In this imagined reality they suddenly find themselves surrounded by people, but they all look anonymous, with black clothes and covered faces: this is because they do not matter, what counts in this shared fantasy is the happiness between the two main characters, the only focus they have is on each other and their love.

After playing around they run away from the crowd and find themselves in another shop, where they find wedding dresses. Full of love for each other they quickly change into those and play around, pretending to be a newly married couple celebrating their eternal love.

...But their reality is catching up, and in the middle of this happy fantasy, the cube finds them and forces them to resume their escape

While running away the two end up in front of an open gash in a wall, which shows to the viewer the bitter reality of the world in this story: these cubes are everywhere and are destroying the world.

The two keep running together and they end up in front of the huge pile of clothes, where they get cornered by that same cube.

The two stay together and try to fight it, but in front of the inevitable ending the two hold each other and face their destiny together.

We see from the dying camera on the floor that the two get taken by the cube to be vaporized, and after disappearing their wedding dresses fall on top of the existing pile of clothes.

There are many things I can discuss while reviewing this MV, but I want to focus on a few of them.

THE STORYTELLING - when it comes to the Art of Storytelling, setting up a whole world, characters, and narrative with a coherent arc NO ONE does it like IU and her team. This is not one isolated case, she made it a mission in her work to deliver intense stories, ever since her major successes after "Good Day" back in 2010 she slowly established her own sound and image while also experimenting with this focus on narration and "theatricality" that makes the viewer immersed in her stories. Go see: "Eight", "Celebrity", "Coin", "Above the Time", "Ending Scene", "The Red Shoes", "You&I", "Modern Times", "Good Day" and more to get a clear idea of this. You need talent, vision, hard work, effort, and creativity to constantly deliver this quality of work, and IU along with her team is just doing that.

THE ACTING - this ties in with the first point, but I'd say there is no great storytelling if the acting is mediocre. She is one of the most recognized Korean actresses in the industry AND internationally, and it is for a reason. Her acting is intense yet delicate, complex, and fragile, she always gives depth to her characters and develops their backstories to give us a 360° view of them, which makes them more relatable. No matter how involved you are in your work, and no matter how much money and effort your company and team put into it, in the end, if the artists do not make a personal effort to deliver their performative art to the viewer your work will never be 100% effective. IU goes all in each and every time. With her is always quality over quantity, and it shows. Shout out to V for delivering a solid performance: I could easily see parts of him in the "happy" scenes of the story! When he smiles his expressions always look genuine and innocent (if you are ARMY or even a casual BTS fan you will easily know what I'm talking about). He definitely improved a lot since his past experience in a K-Drama, and I can't wait to see more of him on screen once he gets back!

THE CUBE - this is the first important point I want to make in this analysis. Why the cube?! I am sure the jokes about the choice of using a flying cube as a villain are hundreds on the internet, but I haven't seen anyone pointing out a possible actual meaning, so here are two I personally thought of. - The cube immediately reminded me of bright screens: this might be an implied nod towards the online world, the media, and in general the hate that people (and idols especially) receive in the incessant scrutiny both professionally and personally, sometimes resulting in severe and dramatic consequences. If you are familiar with IU you know that her life has been exposed to the public since she was basically a child, and she is now where she is DESPITE all the criticism and invasions of privacy she had to face. You probably also know that she has lost more than one person very close to her, partially because of this online hate that people keep spreading, so it is not too wild to assume that she might have wanted to add that to the meaning of this work.

- ...But more than that, the meaning I personally picked up is more universal and relatable to EVERYONE watching this story. The cube, more than a cube, is a BOX. Which is a symbol for all those social constrictions, limits, labels, and expectations, that society forces on each and every one of us to "fit" inside a specific box. To blend in, to conform to specifics, to get in line and live your life within those metaphorical boxes, that determine whether your aspect, your personality, your career, your private life, etc. are all ENOUGH to the standards the society expects you to follow. It is not a random choice that the two main characters shown in the MV are both showing visible characteristics that make them "different" from the expected conformity. IU's character is deaf/mute (Not sure if it is both), and V's character is blind in one eye. They both have SOMETHING that makes them unable to conform and because of this, they will never be able to fit inside their specific boxes. Because of this, they cannot exist in this dystopic society, that starts to resemble our very reality more and more.

THE PILE OF CLOTHES - Tying the previous point regarding the cubes, I need to point out this last important element in the story. I am sure 99% of you already picked on the not-so-subtle nod to the "Spring Day" MV, which also shows a huge pile of clothes to represent the lives that were lost during the Sewol Ferry Tragedy that happened in 2014. This in turn is using the concept behind a work of Contemporary Visual Art by an artist called Christian Boltanski. With his work "Personnes", representing huge piles of clothes just like the ones shown in these two MVs, the artist talks about life, death, and memory.

He depicts the reality of groups of people that for several reasons (wars, poverty, etc...) have lost their lives. He urges the viewer to go beyond the random acknowledgment of this: he asks us to EMPATHISE, to actually understand that we are in front of the only symbol of lives that are no more. He demands our understanding by showing us something universal, like their clothes. We do not know their names, nationalities, aspects, or whether they were part of metaphorical boxes...

The same artists once said that used clothes, for him, are traces of lost identities, objects of a subject that is no more.

He leaves the clothes, forcing the viewer to focus on those details, to ask questions about those people, to imagine their stories.

He urges us to remember.

I think that the lyrics and the title itself are pretty explanatory of the intent of this song: IU wanted to deliver a powerful message of universal love, and she chose to do it through an MV that shows us how Love can shine bright even in the face of death and tragedy, and she did it in an original, dramatic, deeply moving way that leaves a deep impression on the viewer, perfectly on brand with her previous works.

She showed us that Love Wins All, and she reminded me yet again why she is my absolute favorite solo Korean singer.