#the story was meant to be split in 3 trilogies

[nucleiaster]

I redesigned some very old characters! Elian and his sister Danaé were the first characters I ever created, for a 9-books epic fantasy saga that I never wrote.

Also, here is a comparison between their 2011 designs and their 2023 designs

[enixamyram]

Just Saw Deadpool and Wolverine!

It wasn't as bad as I feared it was going to be. In fact, it was really quite good! Not perfect, unfortunately, but still really good.

Spoilers bellow:

Let's just get the bad things out of the way:

Why. Do. They. Keep. Splitting. Up. Couples. In. Between. Movies. Just. To. Get. Them. Back. Together. All. Over. Again?! Genuinely, they have Vanessa and Wade split up off screen before this film, they're still good friends so she still hangs around, he still has feelings for her and at the end of the film it's implied they're getting back together again. And it is so pointless! It would make no difference to the plot if they had stayed together throughout the film. It actually would have made certain moments stand out a bit more. It's just a completely unnecessary random trope that I am so sick of!

Channing Tatum as Gambit sucked... But he was kind of meant to... So I dislike Channing as an actor, I love Gambit as a character, so I was always going to have a bias about this. But genuinely I cringed at every moment of him on screen, but I think I was supposed to? I don't know if it really was intentional or not, but it seemed to me that the film was definitely playing up making fun of him. So while it was awful, it wasn't soul crushingly awful.

The NicePool dying joke went on for too long. I think every Deadpool film has that one joke that I laugh at. But then it keeps going and eventually my laugh gets a little awkward and it's still going so my laugh kind of dies. Not that big a deal, just something that really hit with this one.

OTHERWISE!

It was a really good film! It was funny in all the right moments. Ryan Reynolds continues to be supreme as Deadpool. Hugh Jackman is still the best Logan of all time. And I think the Deadpool films in general just mastered the act of upping the stakes in a way a lot of other trilogies fall down at. What I mean is, Deadpool 1 - the enemy was personal to Wade. Still a threat to others but the focus was on Wade's grudge. Deadpool 2 - the time travel aspect made it a little more intense than last time but it was still fairly personal and contained to Wade. Deadpool 3 - world ending drama that made this time really stand out against the others. It felt properly like the films before this were prepaing Deadpool to be the man he needed to save not just this universe but every universe.

Highlights:

X23!!! I was so damn excited when she came on screen! I love her, I love her comics, I love her movie, I'm just sad we probably won't get to see more of her but the stuff we did see was still amazing!

The Cameos I hated the Spiderman's film cameos because they felt cheap and pandering, but the ones in this film felt like they were done right! So it was a lot of fun seeing familiar faces popping in and reliving old stories or throwing out old lines (legit laughed hard at Blade's ice skating uphill throwback XD).

The Songlist Every song sequence, even the ones purposely out of place somehow worked so perfectly. It was hilarious in the right moments but even more than that, it was beautiful in all the right moments as well (I'm talking about you, Like A Prayer XD)!

Cassandra Nova A fantastic villain who I loved seeing on the big screen for the first time! She was delightfully psychotic and powerful and just perfect for the role as the ultimate big bad.

I think this is a good sendoff the Deadpool and the X-Men as a whole. I don't know if that's the plan, I don't know if Deadpool or any mutants are supposed to come back but I probably wouldn't rush out to see them to be honest. This feels like the right way to say goodbye. (At least until the MCU stops overdoing it and let's others remake superhero films on their own again. Not everything has to connect to the MCU for pete's sake.)

[physalian]

So you want to turn your one-off book into a series…

As a writer who decided only after publishing book 1 of a trilogy, to then make it a 4 book saga, here are my thoughts on series planning, or at least the insomnia-driven process I went through to reach this decision:

Firstly—I prefer to write multi-book stories with the structure like Lord of the Rings over something like Harry Potter. As in, it’s one long story with various hurdles to overcome split into multiple books, instead of each book being much more self-contained, with a reliable time skip, like years of schooling.

With that in mind, the very first thought I have is this: What are the new threats going to be? I don’t think about my heroes or any subplots or new characters. Priority one is my antagonistic forces: Do I have enough to each carry their own book?

A hero is only as compelling as their conflict, after all.

In my sci-fi WIP, I had 6 main characters and five books planned, and I based it off the structure of the OG Teen Titans cartoon—Everybody gets their own season and while not every episode is about them, the main threat is theirs first, with the rest of the team backing them up. The threat was always a twofer, both an external threat and an internal conflict that they had to overcome in their book. For example I had a character who “lead” book 2, and the external threat was Bad Guys from a different team member’s war, dragging her home into it. The internal threat was her “suffer in silence” tendency and extreme self-reliance, which becomes too much for her to handle when her powerhouse teammate is out of commission physically and unable to help her emotionally.

ENNS doesn’t have an ensemble cast and was not meant to. In this style, if it’s one long story, I’d need three major incidents in books 1-3 that all led up to a final conflict in book 4, all building off each other. I needed essentially two whole “Helms Deeps” for books 2 and 3. Not just in terms of story but literal conflict, as I write high fantasy and not having a big climactic battle for a whole book would flop. But now I need two of them, and I struggle with action scenes.

And without spoiling myself, I have them vaguely defined. For me, at least, so long as I have my little compass pointing toward my “North” of “this is the thing that every major scene should be dealing with in some capacity” it doesn’t matter what path I take to get there, I’ll figure it out. Heavily outlining only ever leaves me with plenty of outline but no book.

For me, once I have my main threat, I then have my main theme. Example for ENNS being that book 1’s main theme/question was “What makes a monster?”

Have yet to narrow it down and split the original 3 themes now into 4, but one I intend on exploring is “Can vampires change?”

Doing this, having your big picture at least in a foggy idea, helps with cohesion across multiple books, and within the same story. If you keep your theme in the back of your mind and relate as many character arcs and mini conflicts back to it as possible, it’ll really start to look like you know what you’re doing.

Otherwise you end up with a bunch of loose ends and dangling plot threads that get abandoned, or characters that feel out of place as their arc has nothing to do with the rest of the story, it’s just here because they had to do something to participate.

So if you want to see now book 1 of 4, check out Eternal Night of the Northern Sky on Amazon.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I know S1 was split because of covid and stuff and it resulted in book 1 getting 2 seasons and 15 episodes. and honestly, i dont think that was to many eps, with good writing it turned out it gave the books time to have enough pace to develop stories and characters perfectly I never felt any filler. so going forward I am actually little worried. because I assume not every next book will get 2 seasons even tho VL is longer for example. I worry VL will be rushed if it's only one season :(

But than again it's not like they have to cover 13 books in 13 seasons. I feel like VL and QOTD is the only that need full longer seasons coverage. TOTBT doesn't need separate season and can be incorporated somewhere. Armand's and Marius books are flashbacks that can be incorporated with other stuff throughout seasons. Memnoch is a trip but certainly not material enough of plot for a season of anything. Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle can't be ignored lol. Merrick can be incorporated in other stuff too. My point is most later books dont exactly need to be contained individual seasons and contained stories like first book was. that only leaves newest trilogy. so I dont know how they plan to do it.. but I feel like they could/should give Vampire Lestat 2 seasons. than have maybe 3 more seasons for everything else... because modern day plots are not that big it's mostly about flashbacks or tones of POVs

(I think you meant to say Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle can be ignored? Because then, yes^^)

I think Rolin will not be rushed, but I do think both TVL and QotD will get a "whole" arc - hopefully a longer season - and TtotBT might be combined with some elements of Memnoch and TVA.

I think the danger of Amel has already been hinted at and will be threaded through Akasha's arc already, and then the last big arc (and enemy) in the last books will be a big, overarching arc. Possibly spanning several seasons.

At least that is what I think might happen :) We'll see.

Rolin said the memory aspects and POVs would be done soon, and that makes sense, though some flashbacks or tales will definitely still be part of it.

Still, I am very much looking forward to the show moving "into reality" :)))

I cannot wait for it to be rooted in our world .... after all we saw the first tendrils with "Long Face".

I expect a loooooot more than that :)))

[trlvsn]

this is an explanation of why the later ace attorney games suck so, so badly, and it is probably common knowledge, but i will post it anyway.

so. i talked a little about the aa5+6 issue in this post and decided to look into it further, because i needed to know the reason why the later games are. well. like that. why did no one tell me it was this easy?

first four games? clearly written by shu takumi.

the last two have multiple different writers, and, also, different directors.

so at this point, it all makes sense, but now i'm curious about why this happened. here is a part of the wikipedia article that explains that:

For the fourth game, Takumi wrote the scenario and took on a supervisory role. He had wanted the series to end with the third game, as he felt Phoenix had been fully explored and that his story had been told; he said that it is important to know when to end a story, that he did not want the series to become a shadow of its former self, and that he did not see any reason to continue it. Despite this, the spin-off series Ace Attorney Investigations was created, being directed by Takeshi Yamazaki and produced by Motohide Eshiro; Takumi returned to the series to write the crossover Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. He also directed and wrote The Great Ace Attorney, which was described as being the first entry in a new Ace Attorney series. He said that he has mixed feelings about the series being developed by other Capcom staff, comparing it to a parent sending their child to their first day in school. Yamazaki and Eshiro went on to direct and produce the main series entries Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. Due to exhaustion after working on Dual Destinies, Yamazaki split direction responsibilities with Takuro Fuse for Spirit of Justice, with Yamazaki working on the scenario, and Fuse on the art and gameplay. In 2020, Yamazaki left Capcom.

aa5 and aa6 were basically never meant to exist.

i'm not saying that's a fully good thing. as someone who hasn't played anything other than that main trilogy and aai, it is wonderful to see the fandom interpret the characters from the later games (like athena cykes) in fanfiction and art. i enjoy it! i enjoy the potential and the ideas the new games have apparently given us, however, the games on their own seem to be disliked by the majority (at least the majority of my surroundings in the fandom).

there really is no point or solution to this, at least not from me. i'm just wondering what the games would be like if there were no other writers other than the original one. perhaps, there would be no other games except for the first 3 or 4 ones; perhaps, of capcom didn't push for profit, he would have written a new one eventually.

actually, scratch that, there is one point. the fandom is amazing in my eyes so far and acknowledging the wrongs in the games is important. collective outrage is a weapon in the era where companies make internet personas and interact with us. maybe, just maybe, aa7 will be better. if it will even be, of course. and if it isn't? i'm sure the fandom will pirate it out of spite make better content out of it.

[yogurthoviz]

I finished the raven cycle (my heart is absolutely crushed help)(i lost my mind)

Its just the way this book series touches the topic of time,, the thought that even though everything turned out quite alright at the end, the happy days arent meant to last forever,,,,, i love how it says that time is a cycle both for the characters and the reader making it extra fun to reread aaahhagghtg but the team splitting up at the end (even though its just a year) made my heart break

Also the opal short story,,,,,,,,,, it was so silly,,,,, it felt so much like a fanfic to me lmao (but i really enjoyed it too!!!!!!!!)

Now i just need to cope enough to read the dreamer trilogy:’3

[jeongyunhoed]

The third and final story in the 100-Day trilogy, taking place four years after the events of The 100-Day Relationship and two years since the events of I Do. When the patriarch of the Choi family suffers a heart attack, the entire clan decides to visit the estate in the hopes of getting in his good graces and parts of his fortune before he passes. Seonghwa and Juhyun now find themselves clashing with nosy relatives who threaten to split them up and have her removed from any possible inheritance.

Inheritance 

Member: Seonghwa Pairing: Seonghwa/OC Genre: I’m going to say angst-fluff, drama, intrigue. Things to note: Art Curator!Hwa, a lot of crazy rich stuff again (for real, this will have A LOT), and perhaps some adult-y things.

Watch out!: More drama ahead. References of childhood trauma/emotional abuse being one of them. Bitchy relatives ahead. Seriously.

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long but be assured that I finished this. Things just seem to get worse before they get any better for our two main characters. Tag list is open as always.

Tag list: @kflixnet , @treasure-hwa    

Masterlist

Chapter 3

The air was tense by dinner time, as everyone in the Choi clan gathered around what would be the large dining room, with a table so long Seonghwa thought it must have been taken from some castle or made just for the family patriarch. The two of them did some light catching up with Juhyun’s other relatives like Daeyoung’s sisters Chaeyeon and Yeri, both of whom attended the wedding as Seonghwa remembered. Seonghwa even engaged in conversation with Yeri’s banker husband, Kim Minhyuk, who congratulated him during the wedding for being another man to marry into the Choi family. Seonghwa wasn’t sure if he meant it nicely or as an insult. 

The dining room was just as large and opulent. While in keeping with the French rococo style, the table napkins were apparently heirlooms coming from Juhyun’s great-grandfather Choi Hyunbin, which explained their slightly aged appearance. Each place setting had the various spoons, forks, and even chopsticks laid down, along with several glasses that were meant to hold various drinks according to whichever they wanted. 

Seonghwa looked over to another, much smaller table in the room, where Yeri’s twin children, Seoeon and Seojun were with their helper who introduced herself as Lucy. Daeyoung’s teenage son, Choi Soohyuk also opted to sit with his cousins at the smaller table. Seonghwa later learned that Soohyuk wanted to avoid his father’s continued bragging about the wealth he has come under despite Japan’s inheritance taxes. 

Juhyun glanced at her husband. “If it’s overwhelming for you, we can have our dinner up in the room,” She whispered in his ear. 

Seonghwa chuckled and shook his head. “No need, Juhyun. We should join everyone for dinner at least once. But I’ll take you up on that in the next few days while we’re here,” He whispered back, his hand reaching to hold hers. 

The rumbling conversations among the family members started to die down when the maids started to enter the room carrying various platters and dishes full of food. Seonghwa and Juhyun glanced at Hyungsuk, who was seated at the head of the table, with Juhyun’s father and uncle sitting on his immediate right and left. Hyungsuk looked pleased at the food that was being set down. 

“All of you can tuck in, go ahead,” Hyungsuk gestured to them. 

“What about you?” Hyunwoo’s wife, Jina suddenly asked, with Dajeong looking equally concerned. Everyone was still quite hesitant to do so.

“I’m fine, if you had to wait for me to start eating before the rest of you, it’d take us forever,” Hyungsuk joked. “But in all seriousness, all of you should start, allow me to indulge seeing everyone in the family at home.” 

As if in an instant, most of them now turned to Hyunwoo, who also gestured for them to eat. Sangmin seemed to have gotten the message from the other table, tucking into his bowl of french onion soup, the sounds of the cheese toast on top crackling and making everyone’s mouth water. Daeyoung, however, looked unimpressed. Seonak was also in disbelief, huffing when she had to take the platter of filet mignons to place one on her topmost plate, setting aside her bowl of soup. 

“So, Seonghwa, do you have any plans to attend the art events?” Seonak suddenly turned to him in the midst of the continued conversations. Juhyun and Jihyun exchanged knowing looks. 

Seonghwa immediately remembered their conversation at the guest villa earlier. “I’d hope to if I ever get an invite,” He chuckled. 

“You’d want that, wouldn’t you?” Seonak said. Juhyun fought the urge to roll her eyes yet her expression remained clear. 

“Who wouldn’t? Those are prestigious events,” Seonghwa said, sensing that it wasn’t what the woman meant. Juhyun squeezed his hand, as if telling him that he’s doing fine.

Daeyoung, however, seemed to play off on Seonak’s words and he exchanged looks with his wife, who also knew what might be going on. “Didn’t your museum hold a fashion exhibit with Chanel pieces? I wonder how you pulled that off,” Hyemin suddenly said. 

“Yeah, that was years ago, when Juhyun and I were dating,” Seonghwa tried to stay calm, despite knowing that they were starting to close in on him. He was beginning to see why Juhyun hated them even more. “She helped me. I told her she didn’t need to, but she insisted anyway.” 

“If you two are trying to insinuate what I think you’re insinuating, you can stop it now,” Juhyun cut in, squeezing Seonghwa’s hand. 

It was Jihyun and Bin’s turns to try and defuse the tension. Jihyun suddenly cleared her throat, the attention turning to her. “So, Bin and I were thinking about having a destination wedding,” She said. 

“Oh? Where do you plan on having it?” Seonak said. 

“We were thinking Cannes,” Jihyun replied. 

“Why not Lake Como? Or the Amalfi coast?” Hyemin asked. “It’s wonderful there for a summer wedding.” 

Jihyun glanced at Juhyun and Seonghwa, then turned to their aunt. “Well, unnie already had her honeymoon in Italy, so I thought we’d go somewhere else.” 

Seonak smiled. Juhyun knew it was the kind of smile that meant she had an idea that had an underlying motive. She remembered that kind of smile since she was a child, when she was left to spend an entire summer in their home in Geneva, Switzerland. Seonak would always blame her for everything that likely went wrong and never allowed her own children to speak up, leading them to stay silent out of not wanting to be involved. There was a time that Seonak had even called her useless when Jihyun sprained her ankle while playing in their garden, something Juhyun remembered very well to this day. 

“Tell you what, let’s talk more about your wedding plans later, hmm?” Seonak suggested. 

Jihyun nodded. “Sure, after dinner,” She said, squeezing Bin’s hand. 

“Italy’s big enough for both of you to have something there though, did you not want Jihyun to have her wedding there” Seonak suddenly rounded on Juhyun. 

“I never said Jihyun can’t have her wedding in Italy,” Juhyun pointed out, trying to sound as polite as possible. 

Seonak chuckled.. “Why so formal all of a sudden? I was just asking,” She said. “Besides, your wedding has come and gone, Jihyun’s the one getting married this time, let the spotlight shine on her, okay, Juhyunnie?” 

Juhyun felt her blood boil. It was taking everything in her not to snap. She knew Seonak was purposely trying to provoke her, perhaps with some assistance from Daeyoung. Seonghwa noticed how she was feeling and instead gave her an assuring pat on the thigh as they focused on their food. 

~ 

Juhyun was furiously flipping through the channels of the smart television in the third floor living room after dinner, Seonghwa noticing the change in her mood. “Hey,” He said, sitting up next to her. “There are other ways to let your frustration out than to destroy the remote control.” 

Juhyun didn’t answer and instead changed the programming to Netflix only for her to furiously flip through the lineup of shows and movies. Seonghwa sighed, figuring that it was better to let Juhyun be, even though he was worried that the more Juhyun would furiously look through the selection of movies and tv shows, she might destroy the buttons on the remote out of frustration. 

As Seonghwa sat back, he suddenly saw Jihyun come in, followed by Bin. Jihyun looked a little unsure, while Bin seemed like he had no idea what was going on, but followed his fiance to the room anyway. “So, did you talk?” He said, Juhyun stopping her scanning. 

“Yeah, we did, Seonak actually offered to use the family summer home in Geneva for our wedding,” Jihyun said, while Bin looked surprised and pleased at the same time. 

“That’s nice,” Juhyun said. She was still too evidently frustrated to genuinely be happy for them at the moment. “Summer wedding in Switzerland, that would look amazing.” 

Jihyun smiled, then looked down, her expression falling slightly. “Unnie, there’s a condition though,” She said. “I knew she had an ulterior motive with her suggesting that since Geneva seems like her territory.” 

Juhyun felt a lump in her throat. “And that is?” She said. 

Jihyun was finding it hard to speak, while Bin seemed concerned. “What did she want in exchange?” He spoke this time. 

“Unnie’s not allowed to bring Seonghwa,” Jihyun blurted out, eyes closed. 

Bin, Juhyun, and Seonghwa stared at her. The room had gone quiet at her words. Bin looked especially shocked. Seonghwa now felt and understood why Juhyun was so angry at her aunt. “But-but that’s not fair,” Bin said quietly. 

“But it’s also our wedding,” Jihyun said, in what could be described as a poor attempt of justifying what she revealed. She held onto her fiance’s hand. “We’ve been having trouble deciding where our wedding should be, and we even wanted a destination wedding.”

This was what Seonghwa’s family and his own colleagues at the museum had long warned him about when it came to Juhyun’s family. At the time, he was certain that things were different, but now he wasn’t sure. He wondered whether he could speak first or if Juhyun would say anything first. Seonghwa noticed how Bin understood Jihyun’s point of view once she explained. 

“Is it because of what I think it is?” Juhyun suddenly spoke, still staring at her sister. 

Jihyun was still finding it hard to look at her. “Unnie…” 

“Is it?” 

“Unnie, it is my wedding, and the summer home in Geneva has a very nice view of the mountains…” Jihyun swallowed as she seemed to pluck up the courage to look at her. 

Juhyun felt like another weight was thrown at her. “Then I’m not going.” 

Jihyun gaped at her. “Unnie, please-” 

“I said what I said,” Juhyun cut her off. “Find another bridesmaid, find another groomsman. Your wedding gift will be in the mail,” She got up and left the room. 

Seonghwa quickly followed her, not wanting to see how Jihyun and Bin were reacting. He felt humiliated, demeaned by that simple condition. It was the first time Seonghwa felt like he wasn’t good enough. Seonghwa also felt conflicted. Juhyun loved him to put him first, but it also meant that she was skipping her own sister’s wedding as a result of being married to him. 

Juhyun fled into the room and started packing her things. “Juhyun,” Seonghwa closed the door behind him, grabbing her hands. “Juhyun wait,” He said. 

“Please call Eunhyung, tell her to have a town car ready, we’re leaving, we’re going home,” She said quietly, pulling away from him to place her things into her suitcase. 

Seonghwa sighed. “Juhyun, please.” 

“No, no, I’ve had it. Coming here was a bad idea, all the more so with the bullshit Seonak’s spewing all over the house,” She said, fighting the urge to cry. 

“But you didn’t come here for her, you came here for your grandfather,” Seonghwa tried to reason, even though he himself agreed with wanting to go home. He made his way to the intercom. “Eunhyung, please call a car for us, our stay has been cut short,” He said. 

“Really? But why?” Eunhyung sounded concerned. 

It seemed like a fuss for Seonghwa to explain everything, so he thought to give another reason. “Something came up in the museum, so we thought we’d go back home instead. I’m sorry we couldn’t stay after all.” 

“Alright, I’ll have the chauffeur get ready to drive you back,” Eunhyung said, and Seonghwa hung up.

There was a knock on the door. “It’s open!” Seonghwa called out, glancing at Juhyun, who was folding up her travel case that had her toiletries. 

In peeked Lee Yejin, Seonak’s eldest daughter, who Seonghwa remembered had attended their wedding. She was married to a pharmaceutical executive in Switzerland, Han Dongmin. “Juhyun,” She said calmly, looking apologetic. 

“Yeah?” Juhyun said without looking at her. 

“My mom’s just been up in arms around the fact that she wasn’t invited to your wedding,” Yejin explained. “You know how she is.” 

“I don’t need you trying to explain on her behalf. I’ve long known the kind of person that she is. You of all people should remember that very well,” Juhyun side-eyed her. 

“I know,” Yejin nodded and looked down, suddenly noticing the open suitcases as Seonghwa was also packing his things. “You’re leaving already?” She said. 

“There’s nothing else here. As much as I already saw grandpa, I know she’s stuck to him like glue so there’s no point in me staying here. Besides, Seonghwa has an emergency at the museum, so all the more we need to go home even at this hour,” Juhyun pointed out. “It was nice seeing you and Dongmin earlier. I’ll make sure to give you my baby shower gift in advance.” 

Yejin looked down at her growing baby bump then at Seonghwa, as if hoping that he could convince her to stay, but knew that he ultimately agreed. “Well, I guess I’ll see both of you sometime. Maybe when the baby’s born I’ll facetime the two of you.” 

“That would be appreciated,” Juhyun went into the bathroom and closed the door. 

Yejin stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. “I’ve always felt sorry for not doing anything for her when we were kids,” She said quietly, Seonghwa glancing at her from time to time as he closed both their suitcases and put them down. 

“That long, huh?” He said. 

Yejin nodded. “I’m guessing she’s turned up the bullshit now knowing what’s at stake,” She said. 

“I can tell. Well, there’s always one in every family, right?” Seonghwa tried to joke, and Yejin nodded. 

Yejin stepped closer to him. “Please don’t tell Juhyun just yet. I also know you’re a good guy so I also know you won’t do anything untoward with what I’m about to reveal to you.” 

“You want me to convince her to stay?” Seonghwa asked. 

Yejin shook her head. “No, I can’t, and it’s a lost cause since she’s made up her mind,” She said in practically a whisper. “Juhyun actually stands to inherit a lot of what my mother wants, and what Daeyoung oppa wants.”

Seonghwa nodded. He wasn’t going to pry, but he was also curious as to what she meant. “No wonder she did what she did at dinner.” 

Yejin hummed in agreement. “Yeah. If our grandmother were still alive, she’d have Juhyun taken off the family register to be honest, simply because uncle Jongmin married auntie Dajeong, and now Juhyun married you. Her side of the family’s been through the most shit from the very people they’re related to, if I’m being honest.” 

Seonghwa understood what Yejin meant. Even if it seemed that Yejin was on their side, he was still careful enough not to say anything in case they were looking for something to pin on him. The door opened again, and it was Eunhyung. “The car’s outside. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the parents,” She said. 

The bathroom door opened and out came Juhyun. “Thank you, Eunhyung. I’ll see you soon. You should probably get back to your husband and get some rest,” She said, without looking at her cousin. 

“See you,” Seonghwa nodded at Yejin, while he and Juhyun brought their luggage out of the room. 

~ 

The incidents seemed to hang over Juhyun and Seonghwa’s heads even as they returned to Seoul and slept. While the fact that they were kilometers away from Seonak and Daeyoung gave them some comfort, knowing that Jihyun accepted Seonak’s offer to have her wedding at the family home in Geneva with an ulterior motive left a bad taste in their mouths. 

It seemed to spill over into the weekend, when they met up with Jea and Wooyoung at his restaurant for brunch, telling them everything that happened. “Why her husband’s still with her, I will never know,” Jea scoffed as they tucked into their food. 

“Decades of being told that she needed to marry someone like us is what happened, and besides, Dongmin’s too absorbed in his work to even pay attention,” Juhyun said. 

“If you ask me, your aunt’s behaving like those school bullies,” Wooyoung commented, taking a sip of his water. 

“She was one, she never changed,” Juhyun shook her head. 

Wooyoung glanced at Seonghwa. “See what I mean? It’s not a surprise. If it makes you feel better Hwa, her aunt would hate me too. I think she’d hate most of us guys here.” 

“You’re literally a Michelin-star chef,” Juhyun pointed out. 

“But I did not come from money,” Wooyoung was quick to counter. 

“Still a Michelin-star chef,” Seonghwa repeated with a chuckle. He was still cautious about saying anything about Juhyun’s relatives in case anyone who might know them heard them. 

“Well, in any case, you did good by just leaving. There’s no use for you to be there if they’re just bent on bullshitting you all throughout, it could’ve gone a lot worse if you still stayed after that,” Jea nodded. “Even if you’re related, it’s no excuse for them to put you through that. Geez, as if we didn’t have to put up with your ex years ago.” 

Juhyun nodded. “You are right on that one. I don’t feel like being near them for now,” She said. 

“You don’t have to be. Hey,” Wooyoung sat up. “Why don’t we go to Essence again?” He suggested. 

Seonghwa wrinkled his nose. “There? That bar we went to for the bachelor party? Why?” He said. 

“You two obviously need a change of scenery, so why not go somewhere interesting?” Wooyoung shrugged.

“Are we even allowed back there? You do remember what happened when we went there, right?” Seonghwa raised a brow. 

Wooyoung nodded. “I do, and don’t worry, it was only Jihan and his guys that weren’t allowed back. You’re fine.” 

Jea gave her husband a look. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve been back there more than once? Didn’t you say you didn’t like how you had to eat your drink?” She laughed. 

“Well, Jiho brought us guys back there one time while these two were off,” Wooyoung gestured to Juhyun and Seonghwa as he explained. “You start getting used to having to eat your drink. At least I didn’t get a gin and tonic, it took a while for that huge ice cube to melt.” 

Seonghwa remembered it well, and the thought made him laugh. He heard his phone beep and he looked over to see the notification. It was a message from his mother. 

Someone named Seonak called us yesterday, talking about you and Juhyun. Do you know who she is?

His expression fell and he put his phone away, not wanting to deal with it just yet. They’ll have to deal with it when they get home. Seonghwa remembered what Yejin said, the reasons why Seonak was so bent on making Juhyun’s life a living hell while they were around. His wife stood to get what they wanted, and if Seonghwa’s suspicions were right, they were trying to make sure Juhyun would no longer inherit those things. 

“Is something wrong?” Jea suddenly asked him. 

Seonghwa smiled. “It’s nothing. Just a work thing,” He said. 

The drive back to their apartment later on seemed quiet. Seonghwa wasn’t sure if he should bring it up then and there or wait until they were home. The weight remained on their shoulders as they returned to their apartment, Juhyun having noticed the slight change in Seonghwa’s mood earlier. 

“Was it a work thing that got you down?” Juhyun asked, sitting down at the dining table. 

Seonghwa shook his head as he prepared cups of tea for the two of them. “It was my mom. She said your aunt called them up, talked about us,” He replied. 

Juhyun sighed and closed her eyes. It felt like a building nightmare. “I’m sorry,” She said, leaning on the table. 

“It’s not your fault,” Seonghwa immediately sat down next to her at the table. “It’s not your fault. I don’t even know how she got a hold of my mom’s number to be honest…” 

“She has her ways. She probably hired a private investigator or something. I wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that,” Juhyun buried her face in her hands then sat up. “I should probably call her up and apologize-” 

Seonghwa shook his head, grabbing both of her hands. “This is not your fault. I know what I signed up for when I dated you, when I married you. This is just another obstacle the two of us will overcome together, okay?” He let go of her hands to cup her face. “It’s us against that, not us against each other.” 

Tears were streaming down Juhyun’s face. “It just feels like everything’s imploding,” She said. 

Seonghwa rested his forehead on hers. “I know it does. I know it’s frustrating, but we’ll get through this. We don’t need to go back there if you don’t want to, okay? We can just keep away from them as much as we can, until they leave and return to wherever they were coming from. At least you’ve faced them even if it’s just for a day.” 

“I still want to call your parents and apologize,” She said. 

“If it makes you feel better, we can do that. They’ll understand. In fact, they’ll know how you feel, I have no doubts about it,” Seonghwa assured his wife. “Your parents probably know about that by now, huh?” 

Juhyun nodded. “If Jihyun hasn’t explained to them, Eunhyung might give an explanation too. She knows how much I hated aunt Seonak,” She said. “Just as much as I hate Daeyoung.” 

“What about Sangmin?” He asked curiously. 

“He’d know. He was probably the first one Jihyun told about having her wedding in Switzerland,” She said, more tears flowing down her face. It only made her cry more when Seonghwa tried to wipe it away. 

Seonghwa pulled Juhyun in for a hug, stroking her hair to further comfort her, while also trying to give himself the same treatment. “It’s okay, it’s going to be okay, we’ll get through this,” He whispered. 

Juhyun’s phone beeped, and she pulled away, seeing that it was a message from her mother. 

Juhyun, your grandfather just passed away. 

[desolationlesbian]

AA5 is a catastrophe and AA6 is a mess with a few very strong points but they both suffer from the fact that the structure of an ace attorney game (5-6 cases) can't accommodate three simultaneous lead attorneys. It cannot. By trying to split the cases among all three of them you end up unfocused and unable to build a coherent theme or narrative arc throughout the game. Every AA game has plot-irrelevant breather cases, sure, but even the clown case serves to help characterize the leads and define their relationships! You can't just go around splitting the game's focus into thirds.

AA 1-3 worked because while there was a revolving class of witnesses and murderers, the center of every single game was Phoenix's relationship to Edgeworth and the legacy Mia left to him and Maya. AJ worked because it all revolved around a strong centerpiece of Apollo coming into his own as an attorney and developing a relationship with his weird new mentor.

What's the central arc of AA5? It's supposed to be Athena, but she only leads two cases out of five--she is reduced to a mere side character in what's meant to be her own game. Apollo's still here, but not for any...reason, as far as I can tell. Phoenix is here because capcom has ordered he be on the cover because he sells games.

If an AA games wants to give one or two cases to a different attorney than the game's intended protagonist for an important story reason or as a meaningful, intentional part of their arc, that's great--the original trilogy did exactly that to incredible effect with both Mia's flashback cases and Edgeworth's stint with Nick's badge.

The new games are not doing that, or anything with that much thoughtfulness. They appear to be assigning cases mostly with a mind towards squeezing everyone in, and AA6 pressured the narrative even further by insisting on having multiple prosecutors operating simultaneously too, so we don't even have that consistency available to build an arc around. And in a game series where a 4-6 episode length means our time with these characters is already squeezed, that doesn't work. The whole thing turns into an ungrounded, uncentered mess, and the pacing goes frantic.

[realroykoopa]

My Zelda Timeline

My Zelda timeline inspired by lorulean historian, Brian David Gilbert, and Bird Keeper Toby: Includes fan creations:

keep in mind not everyone may agree on this timeline. This isn’t to discredit anyone else’s personal timeline it is simply the way I see the games as fitting together:

Majora’s Mask prequel manga 

Minish cap and split:

Timeline 1: Minish cap bad ending: Zelda is turned to stone and Vaati briefly rampages but Link seals Vaati in the four sword leading to the rest of the four swords trilogy.

Four Swords

Four Swords Bonus Manga Stories 

Four Swords Adventures 

Timeline 1A: link to the past and other classic Zelda games: A branch off from the four swords trilogy in which Ganon tries to steal the triforce and gets sealed in the sacred realm. 

A link to the past 

Nintendo Land: Zelda Battle Quest 

Oracle of ages and seasons 

Ancient Stone Tablets and Link’s awakening 

The Time Break and BS The Legend Of Zelda: Link goes into the multiverse after being stranded in the Mario universe, whilst he is gone the events of BS The Legend Of Zelda happen in which a different set of protagonists battle Ganon since link is absent:

Super Mario RPG

Donkey Kong Country 3

Captain Rainbow 

Super Mario Maker

Super Mario Maker 2

Mario Kart 8

Soulcalibur II 

Sonic Lost World Legend Of Zelda Zone

Scribblenauts Unlimited 

End of time break: Link returns to his own universe:

Oath of Riruto

A link between worlds 

Tri force heroes 

Zelda’s Adventure 

End

Timeline 1B: CDI Shenanigans: Instead of going to the sacred realm Ganon goes directly for Hyrule leading to the original Zelda games and media. 

Zelda Game watch

The legend of Zelda and the moblin’s magic spear book presumably takes place at some point during the original Zelda game. 

The Faces of Evil 

Zelda Game and Watch 

The wand of Gamelon 

Crystal Trap and Shadow Prince

Zelda Tv Show and Valiant Comics  

Captain N 

Zelda 2: Adventure of Link

Battle of Mirage Castle

End 

Timeline 2: Minish Cap good ending: the regular ending of Minish Cap leading to the prospering of Hyrule and a different origin for Ganon. 

Cadence Of Hyrule 

The Skull Kid And The Mask manga story 

Ocarina Of time 

Rouru Of The Watarara Manga story 

Link and the Portal of Doom 

Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

Tingle's balloon trip of love 

Majora’s Mask 

Link’s Crossbow Training

Twilight Princess

Wind Waker 

Phantom Hourglass

Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS 

Spirit Tracks

Timeline 2A: Terrako doesn’t go back in time resulting in the breaking of Demise’s curse and Hyrule prospering for eternity:

Breathe Of The Wild 

Tears Of The Kingdom

Timeline 2C: Champions succeed: Terrako Travels back in time allowing the champions to succeed. However Ganon was meant to be destroyed for good to break the curse so unbeknownst to them they have doomed The Hero, Hylia, and Demise to reincarnate for eternity meaning there will never be true peace in Hyrule:

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity 

Hyrule Warriors 

Hang ‘Em Hyrule a Zelda western fan Film 

Modern Zelda Fan Film 

Demise’s curse is never broken leading to Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf reincarnating for the rest of time. 

Timeline 2D: Cadence doesn’t come to Hyrule:

Octavo’s Ode 

Ganon’s Fury 

Symphony Of The Mask 

Ocarina Of Time 

Wind Waker Arc (Hyrule Warriors)

Leads back to Phantom Hourglass in Timeline 2 and continues as normal from there 

I haven’t been able to figure out where the hell Skyward Sword fits on the timeline though. It clearly can’t be first since the first timeline cannot logically include Skyward Sword as part of its backstory due to the fact that Zelda 2 gives a different origin story for the very first Princess Zelda. Unless the Zelda from Zelda 2 is the same as the one from Skyward Sword this would not work. It could go after Minish Cap but it would be hard to explain how the humans go from living on the ground to in the sky. The easy solution would be to say that the timeline was never unified in the first place.

[lavellenchanted]

As an OG ff7 fan who had almost no opinion on Zack prior to retrilogy I appreciate your answer! It's been an odd fandom experience to see how into Zack everyone on here is when my only exposure to him was OG and like you said, there's not much there for him haha I think I feel a little bit of... bitterness towards his presence in retrilogy because of fandom (all of the issues you mentioned in your response in regards to "cloud is zack", recycled OG content in crisis core, people who thought cloud would die this time and be replaced by zack lmao, etc) so I enjoy reading a more nuanced opinion of how they've handled trying to fit him into the story with crisis core and now his role in the new trilogy. I'm hoping he will grow on me more in game 3 and I am curious to see what their plans are for him. It would be interesting to see him take part in the lifestream sequence since Cloud has already remembered him Your response also reminded me that I am very curious to learn more about Cissnei and would like to see her and Zack to reunite, even though I have never actually seen them interact haha I'm intrigued simply based on the interactions we had with Cissnei in rebirth

No worries! I completely understand what you mean - I definitely hate that part of the fandom essentially wants to replace Cloud's role as the protagonist with Zack, and that so much of Cloud's character and his relationships with whole party are undermined by the idea that almost every significant moment he has before the LS sequence is him "being Zack".

(Tbh I have issues with the way the fandom talks about "real" Cloud generally, as if he's some sort of split personality rather it being a more complicated issue of his own sense of self and an adopted persona as a trauma response but. Nuance has never been the FF7 fandom's strong suit.)

Crisis Core is, I think, an example of a prequel doing as much harm as good to an IP. It is essentially meant to give us some insight into Shinra's workings and into Sephiroth pre-FF7, and Zack is an interesting lens through which to tell that story that allows for the fleshing out of his character a little bit and some nice callbacks to the OG. But they wrote it without ever thinking they'd be doing something like Retrilogy and it's elevated Zack's character in a way in the fandom that I don't think they expected. So now they're trying to incorporate elements of it into Retrilogy but also retconning other aspects and it's all ... a bit of a mess.

I definitely think the LS sequence is going to play out in differently in P3, both because as you say Cloud has remembered Zack already and because a significant portion of it was already covered in Tifa's section in Gongaga. My theory at the moment is that Sephiroth is going to use the "truth" of Aerith's death to break Cloud alongside the assertion that he's degrading/a clone and that the LS will then cover three main points:

Fully pulling back the curtain on the fact that Cloud and Tifa weren't actually friends as children.

Cloud not being a SOLDIER and his and Zack's true roles in Nibelheim

What actually happened at the FC and the multiple worlds

And since omni!Aerith has been shown to be able to move Zack through the Lifestream into different worlds I wouldn't be surprised if he does turn up for the second two reveals - particularly the last, proving that there are multiple worlds.

But I think his main purpose will be to heal the Cloud of the Terrier World, so that he can save Aerith (or maybe so main timeline Cloud can shift into that body to save Aerith).

Zack and Cissnei have a really fun dynamic in Crisis Core - there's a compilation of all her cutscenes on YouTube if you wanna watch them without playing the whole game - but the upshot of it is Cissnei leaving the Turks and promising to look after Zack's family, and to tell him her real name one day, so I find it super interesting that she showed up in Gongaga in Rebirth and was shown to be keeping that promise and still waiting for Zack to come back. I will be very disappointed if they've done that and then don't reunite them.

[chillyweirdoinacoffin]

Lots of talk on discord, twitter, reddit etc. about a potential endgame for TLT. And I have always said that I think the only way to “fix” anything is all three of the main girls working together:

The Holy Trinity: The Mother (Alecto). The Daughter (Gideon). And The 200 Holy Ghosts (Harrow).

In her Hungarian interview in 2021, Tamsyn once said the TLT books were meant to be 3 (now 4!) very distinct stories: “Some very great trilogies have essentially been one enormous novel split across three books -- Lord of the Rings being the defining example -- but the Locked Tomb is meant to be three different novels that belong together.”

I personally think the end will be the tying together of the 3 (originally intended) main characters. Otherwise: why have multiple POV’s?

[loganslowdown4]

(Long Post)

Hello Fanders! I present to you…

THE IMPORTANCE OF WARDROBE!

Season 2 of Sanders Sides has been paying a lot more attention to wardrobe and c!Thomas usually wears something to reflect what is going on in the episode. If he’s wearing dark colours, usually a dark side will appear. He’ll also sometimes wear colours to represent the sides he’s talking to the most that episode. Christmas episodes he’ll wear seasonal colours.

SO LETS GET INTO THESE OUTFITS ALREADY YEAH?

Both Christmas episodes he chose red and white shirts. Though I’m guessing it was more in the spirit of the season than to represent Roman, though Roman led the 12 days of Sanders Sides episode, so that is just a double whammy right there heh

Both back-to-back Roman/Logan episodes he wore both their colours to represent both sides equally. The black shirt (Logan) with red flower (Roman) from WDWGOOBITM has both sides in favour. And the Crofters episode has both their colours, though blue is over top red, and I think that meant Logan sort won over 😂

And also it’s definitely Logan’s blue shirt, as proved by the same shirt in this picture 👆🏻

Can Lying Be Good has the absolute perfect shirt. With the split skull he even put the skull pattern on the same side as the scales on Deceit’s face. When Deceit reveals himself, all it’s skull, and when he leaves, it’s all flowers. The brilliant part is you never see Thomas changing the design, it’s like it’s part of the mindscape, he shapes his reality with his thoughts. As his thoughts change, so does the pattern. 💀🌺

And with SvS, DWIT, and SvS Redux, c!Thomas wears the same brilliantly similar colour scheme in each episode because:

1. It ties the 3 episodes together as a sort of trilogy, and

2. Wearing prominently dark blue over white symbolizes his struggle with the darker parts of himself.

The black and white wedding tie represents his ‘black and white’ way of thinking and how he needs to change that. Nothing can be morally right or wrong, black or white, there are always nuance, or shades of grey, to every decision made.

Also note the shirt pattern in SVS carrying over to the tie in the mindscape courtroom. His dark shirt indicates a dark side influence, but the colourful flowers represent that hope is there for Thomas to do the morally right thing (even though we later learn this wasn’t a good decision).

In ATHD, Thomas obviously dressed in Roman’s colour to be bright and outgoing, and possibly look for love when going to this party. But underneath he’s wearing Virgil’s colour, indicating his fear driving him to stay home instead of facing Rico or his friends for the fight they had earlier.

Finally, the wardrobe change during WTIT is significant. Logan’s influence had him wearing a dark blue hoodie over a space shirt, which is very casual Logan, indicating Thomas would stay home and work as Logan wanted. But crazily enough, when he went to meet Nico, he didn’t wear red or light blue indicating a Roman or Patton (love or happiness) influence. He wore GREEN. Now it’s a very faded green with flowers over a grey shirt, indicating some fancifulness and a neutral stance. But the green from Remus symbolizes that Remus affected him a lot this episode. Even though c!Thomas didn’t once acknowledge Remus himself (he didn’t! go back and check for yourself, Thomas didn’t talk to or refer to Remus once, only Logan did), Logan telling him that he was experiencing intrusive thoughts was enough to affect his character.

👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔

I’ve noticed that Thomas in general is collecting more floral clothes (fanciful/fun), skulls (dark sides), and space shirts (logic). So if any of these clothes make the cut for the season finale, it may give you a hint what the episode will be about before they get into the story.

Like if you see him wearing this shirt in the season finale… DANGERDANGER ⚠️☣️⚠️☢️⚠️

We shall see what the future holds!

[Masterpost]

As always, thank you @thatsthat24 for all you do 💙-E

[dirt-apple-productions]

This megapost will be updated twice a day until NaNoWriMo 2021 is done. Minimal, microscopic spoilers for Seraphite. Alura, one of its predecessors, is available here and won NaNoWriMo 2019. Starwalker is still with betas atm, but should be out around February.

For those unaware, Seraphite is a post-canon story meant to redeem Shadow Weaver and condemn the glorified suicide that was portrayed in the show. I haven’t come up with a good synopsis yet.

Day 1: November 1, 2021

So far, things have been sailing smoothly. At the last minute, I decided to mess with the prelude letters and change the author entirely. I don’t normally do this, but I think it works because this is the final act in my trilogy.

I’m not used to writing Adora’s point of view. I’ve done multiple character studies on her, but because she’s the lead of She-Ra, she’s a bit tricky to write since there’s not a lot of wiggle room with her POV like Shadow Weaver and Micah. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon, though.

This scene was very interesting to write. My intention was not for it to be erotic in any way (although some of my alpha readers interpreted it that way back when the idea was in the germinal stage). Rather, it’s supposed to show a “rebirth” of sorts, and in my opinion it fits very well with the title of Part 1: “Grave to Cradle”.

Right! My word count for today was 3,256 words.

Day 2: November 2, 2021

Well, today got off to a rough start. I woke up at 4:30 am and I’m downright miserable, but I still managed to write 1,418 words in my first session. A lot of it is garbled, emotional bullcrap about Catra, but at least I got the words on the page. Once I start Draft 2 I’ll be more judicious about writing when I feel like garbage.

On that topic: Catra. Although this fic is from Shadow Weaver’s POV as the lead, I wanted to show that not everyone forgave Shadow Weaver even when she chose to change. While I don’t think this is ideal - people should let go of grudges even if there’s no reconciliation - it does happen in real life, and one doesn’t have to be forgiven in order to be a better person. I also had a lot of beef with Catra’s arc in Season 5 and felt like it was broken on a fundamental level, so I wanted to complete it in a more honest way, rather than relying on the “pure catgirl uwu” image we got in Season 5. That to me justifies her actions, and I want to show a struggle for redemption on her part just as much as Shadow Weaver, especially since they’re supposed to parallel one another.

I went back in the afternoon and wrote another 927 words. Tried to squeeze out the last bit of Adderall from my system before I fell asleep again. These scenes dealt a lot with Micah’s psychosis and how it affected him post-Beast Island. I think that it was mild in S5, to the point where he might see a rat scurrying along the walls every so often when nothing’s there, but after Shadow Weaver died it got much worse. I never liked how the show refused to show any meaningful interactions between them, so Seraphite will have many of those.

Today I wrote a total of 2,299 words. My total currently is 5,555 words.

Day 3: November 3, 2021

Today was off to a slow start, but upon waking up (after a much better night of sleep), I wrote 979 words. Though I’m not exactly worried about meeting my WC goal each day - I usually end up writing twice or 3 times as much as what’s required, and even if I did miss it, I could fall back on that to survive with 50K+ - I’m finding that I have a very large succession of short scenes all at once. I’m not sure this is normal or good for the story, but if it doesn’t work, I suppose I can just change the beginning. I’ll have to do that anyway because the pacing is REALLY janky starting out.

I think in this story the biggest defining feature has to be directionlessness. So much of the world has changed since Prime’s defeat - heck, even the supercontinent was split into many smaller pieces, not to mention how much our characters have lost to the war. Micah in particular has had it especially rough. He’s lost his wife, his old teacher, and Glimmer is having a hard time reconnecting with this strange man she’s never met before. The only person he has is Nell, his doctor and companion.

Speaking of Nell, I realized some people are a bit confused about him. He’s my OC, obviously. He plays a major role in Starwalker so I won’t spoil too much for you all, but suffice it to say that he’s in love with Shadow Weaver and he’s also Micah’s best friend. There’s a lot more to his story, but you’ll have to RAFO once Starwalker is out. :P

I returned for two more “mini sessions” to write, because I was tired and panicked that Seraphite would end up badly written. I think that I’ve narrowed down the outline errors to the following: 1.) too many points of view, 2.) jumping into the action too early, 3.) just not enough scenes in general, and/or 4.) the time gap between Seraphite and Starwalker being so large that I probably need to write the memories first. Luckily these are things that can be easily solved with minimal reworking to the outline, so I think I’m going to keep writing.

Today I wrote a total of 3,229 words. My current total is 8,784 words.

Day 4: November 4, 2021

Today was the day to write a scene about the Velvet Glove! First session yielded 1,267 words. My writer’s block is much lower today because I know that the outline is fixable and I’ve been revising it as I go (if you guys don’t have Campfire you seriously need to get it - it’s a literal lifesaver when dealing with outlining and stuff).

As far as content goes, I’m very much enjoying the idea of Hordak’s clone rehab airship picking up survivors from the Velvet Glove (Tree). My friend and beta-reader @luna-tiel has already offered her OCs to me, and I’m planning to get more information on that before I keep writing. I figured it was the best way to repay her for all she’s done for me since reading Alura last year!

Bonus: have a snippet from Catra that’s an ode to the wonderful Entrapdak fandom.

Second writing session yielded 1,548 words, bringing my total word count to 11,599! I’m getting more confident in my ability to write this draft and do it well enough so I have a schematic for the rewrite.

I’m enjoying Catra a lot more than I thought I would. Her point of view skews a lot similar to my own in how I’ve characterized her, and her dialogue is very fun to write. I’m having her bounce off of Nell a bit (if you don’t know much about him, take a look at this fic, as well as this one too for a general idea of his characterization), and it’s SUPER AWESOME. They’ve got such interesting interactions!

Catra: Dad (derogatory).

Day 5: November 5, 2021

Woke up feeling fine (aside from swollen eyes because of a school-related meltdown yesterday 🥲), and I chugged 1,671 words this morning. My anxiety about the story has decreased heavily. The only thing I have to worry about now is the introduction and whether I need to subtract POVs, but that’s an issue for future Joye I suppose.

I’m really, REALLY thanking my writing software for existing and helping me so much. I will never get over how easy it is to revise the outline as I go if I sense more scenes need to be added next draft. That was by far the best thing about switching to a digital outline. Tip for all my NaNo buddies: if you win, you’ll get sales on writing software, classes, and more - and Campfire is one of the possible discounts! Depending on the amount of worldbuilding you do, the software can be $50-$75 USD, but it’s totally worth it!

If there’s one thing that I wanted to explore thoroughly in Seraphite, it’s the idea that returning to the past is sometimes impossible. All the character arcs demonstrate this to a degree. Realistically, I think that not everyone survived the unchipping process, especially Illuras since it was one of the first places Horde Prime destroyed and invaded. This scene does a lot for Adora in my mind because before, she’d held onto the reassurance that she was able to save everyone - and that helped her hold it together after Shadow Weaver’s suicide. But not everyone can be saved, and the only thing one can do is their best before they need to move forward, both for their own sake and that of others.

I didn’t end up writing more today because I had so much school to do, but I still wrote just above the word count goal and I’m sitting pretty at 13,270 words, so I think this day was still a success.

Day 6: November 6, 2021

I woke up and wrote 787 words, which is honestly way too low. I’m not sure why writing Adora’s point of view is so hard for me (if anyone is willing to let me bounce ideas off of them, please let me know), but it’s making all her scenes extremely short. I may need to seriously rework her chapters. Actually, that probably will absolutely need to happen. I need to reorganize the POVs way better for this rewrite because it feels like the story is way too thin.

I’m not going to be giving specifics due to spoilers, but I’m taking heavy evidence from the Steven Universe episode “Storm in the Room” for something major that happens in Part 3. I’ve been brainstorming this idea pretty much ever since I’ve decided to write Seraphite, and it’ll be wonderful to have it come to fruition.

Scarcely half an hour later, I went back to writing and did 1,807 words, bringing my total for the day to 2,594 and my overall total to 15,864. I’m thinking that I either need to add a lot more meat to Adora’s subplot or just have it so she’s aboard the Gossamer, and I’m not sure how much more I can develop this subplot exactly. Ah well. Notes for next time, I suppose.

Day 7: November 7, 2021

I woke up at 5 am and was able to pump out 1,125 words. I only have about 300 left to go, but given that I’m an overachiever, it’s probably going to be way more than that.

I’m finding as I write that Seraphite is much more a sequel to Season 5 of She-Ra than it is a sequel to Starwalker. I know that sounds weird, but it takes place after so much time that I feel explaining things would be fruitless. I can’t do much except recommend the show to others, but given that I prefer my writing to be accessible to everyone regardless, it’s a little disappointing. But I have to let the book be what it wants to be, so that’s that.

I went back about an hour later and wrote another 1,791 words, bringing my daily count to 2,916 words and my overall total to 18,780. I’m thinking that I might try a Stormlight-Archive style of POVs where I focus on different points of view depending on whose arc needs the most work. I think that may make the process of setting everything up more manageable.

Razz is so fun to write! People have asked me how I’m able to write her so well. My answer: I snort a big load of this guy before I go to write. Always.

Day 8: November 8, 2021

Well, I woke up at 3:30 am, because why not? Seriously though, this is one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve had in recent memory. I was able to get 1,297 words in on my first session, but most of what I wrote I wrote with my eyes closed. Why? Because I knew whatever I wrote would be garbage, so I decided I didn’t have to look at it. Plus, I would have just kept deleting everything I wrote over and over again.

Getting close to the end of Act 1! I’m definitely going to have to rework the plot on the next go, but just knowing that is actually relieving. Starwalker went through production hell because I didn’t alter the second draft enough from the first, and I really couldn’t take something like that happening again, given the stage of life I’m in right now as an overworked college student.

A few minutes after writing the first session, I fell back asleep till noon. After eating a tuna sandwich and taking my antidepressant way too late, I went to write again. Only 758 words, but at this point that’s exactly what I’m expecting from this crappy draft. Oh well. Total count is 20,835 words, which is pretty good for Part 1.

Tomorrow I finish Act 1! Woot woot!

Day 9: November 9, 2021

While I was talking to my best friend @kriff-the-jedi (who is doing her own NaNo megapost writing a Persona 5 fanfiction), I realized the problem with my outline. It’s the same issue as with Starwalker. The overarching problem is that the subplots feel very disjointed. One rule of thumb in writing is that every plot thread should be intimately connected with the others, and if it’s not, the story will feel “spread too thin”. I was confused at first why I couldn’t manage 6 POVs considering Starwalker 3.0 had 7 of them and I managed just fine, and that’s why. So, yay!

I finished Act 1, writing 759 words on my first session. From here on out I’m going to be avoiding posting snippets of my progress, considering the next draft will be very different on a fundamental level and I don’t want people to judge the fic too early. I’m sure everyone can understand.

During session 2, I wrote another 643 words, bringing my total to 22,237 words. Not the best, but at this point I’ve accepted I’ll need to rework the story’s outline on a fundamental level. I do plan to finish this draft before rewriting it just so I can have some sort of schematic to work with, but truth be told, I’m not exactly worried about the word count. I think I’m finally getting laid-back about my rough drafts.

Day 10: November 10, 2021

Well, I woke up at 4:15 am today because I was crying over math class yesterday and I can’t sleep when that happens apparently. I got 945 words on the page, and now that Adora’s subplot is starting to actually include relevant content, I’m having an easier time with it. Here’s hoping I don’t fall freakishly behind…

Speaking in terms of just general dynamics, I’ve had a very interesting time writing Nell. Nell’s past involves physical parental abuse, and though in the past he was fiancé to Shadow Weaver, the knowledge of what she did to Catra and Adora kind of broke him. He’s having a hard time forgiving her in this story, and considering the direction I want their dynamic to take later on, I have to be very careful not to invalidate his feelings for the sake of romance (which is what I felt like Season 5 did with Catradora).

Wow. Somehow when I went back to write, I managed to write 1,155 words, bringing my total for the day to 2,100 and my overall total to 24,337 words. I’m roughly halfway there! Here’s hoping I don’t have more tricky days where meeting the goal is a pain in the keister.

Day 11: November 11, 2021

Well, I woke up at 4:50 am after going to sleep at 8:30, so that’s still 8.5-ish hours of sleep. I can live with this. (I mean, I always do if it means NaNo.) On my first session, I wrote 1,234 words. It was a very good session and I’m glad I was able to actually write enough to feel like I’m getting somewhere in terms of progress.

I’m going to keep plot details vague to avoid spoilers, but when your story takes a direction you didn’t expect, it can feel so incredibly satisfying. I’m not even mad that I’ll have to rework my outline - I’m just happy that I have new ideas to play around with (and more words to write)! I’m taking a lot of inspiration from Sanderson’s Rhythm of War for this story, and I have no regrets.

I went back after crocheting and watching Carmen Sandiego, and got another 1,367 words down. This brings my word total for the day to 2,601 words and my overall total to 26,938 words. I deleted about half of Part 2 because of that direction the story took, but it’s no big deal. I’m going to be reworking the outline greatly anyway. I am getting close to the midpoint as a result of this change, though. That will signal a turning point in the book.

I think in this book one of the biggest themes is about forgiveness. This should be obvious for a redemption fic, but it shows that even the redeemed villain has to work on it, as well as her support group. It’s tricky, but I can work with it. This will be a good story in the end.

Day 12: November 12, 2021

Finally, I got a good night of sleep. This first session yielded 1,009 words, just above my preferred count for each writing sprint. I’m slowly making mental notes regarding what needs to be changed in the next draft, but knowing this one will be a pile of dog crap is pretty relieving.

I’m finding Catra’s character to be very easy and fun to write, which I wasn’t expecting given I loathed her arc in S5 and became a little bitter toward her because Shadow Weaver was sacrificed meaninglessly for the sake of a ship I didn’t even like. I’ve given her the hobbies of painting and singing in this story, and I think they suit her in a “goth-punk” way.

Went back after doing roughly 4 and a half hours of math, and I nailed another 1,267 words down, bringing my word total to 29,216 words. I had to make a sharp pivot regarding Nell’s character because the way I wrote him yesterday was so out-of-character I developed writer’s block just thinking about it. Luckily I was able to yeetus deletus the scene from the Seraphite Draft 1 canon, and now I’m doing much better. (No, I didn’t literally delete it. Never delete your work. Always keep a separate doc for cut scenes and all that.)

Day 13: November 13, 2021

I woke up at 6:10 am and wrote 1,132 words on my first session. I’m coming up on the first plot point of my story! Because Seraphite is a 4-act structured story, the midpoint actually occurs at the end of Part 3 (aka the middle of Act 3), instead of the middle of Act 2. I’m having a good time with this story, even if it’s going to be dog crap once I’m done.

I was talking to @kriff-the-jedi yesterday (who is my bestie and if you like Persona 5 she’s your girl). My basic trouble was that I knew this draft was going to be garbage, and the next one I’d have to reoutline completely from scratch. She seemed perplexed that I was doing NaNo if I thought this draft wouldn’t be a functional schematic, but we do have very different writing styles (I’m a discovery writer). Basically, I do think most of the ideas I have are redeemable, but I need to rework them in order for them to function better on the page and integrate with one another. I need to know what works and what doesn’t just on a fundamental level, and dog-crap drafts can still be useful in that regard.

I went back just before going to bed after doing some great work in math (if I do say so myself), and I wrote 1,793 words. That brings my total count to 32,141 words, and I am loving it! The midpoint is going to be nice even if I hate myself the whole way through this draft because I can finally start writing Nellura fluff. Whoever reads this story when it comes out is in for a real treat.

Day 14: November 14, 2021

I woke up at 5 am because I’ve resolved to finish two objectives of math today and I need to work on that. But not before NaNo! This session yielded 1,318 words, and I got past the midpoint. I’m having a decent amount of fun, but ignoring my writer’s instinct that something is Very Wrong with this draft is pretty difficult.

I’ve been working on this story for two weeks now! That’s pretty crazy. It doesn’t feel like that long, but it is! I’m 66.92% there to my goal, according to my NaNo dashboard.

This first session was a 3-scene one because my writer’s block got in the way today. I realized I had only 755 words written and realized I need to majorly up my game if I want to keep making good progress. I can do this! 👍🏻

I went back after checking on my Animal Crossing town and doing some crochet while watching Carmen Sandiego, as is my morning routine, and wrote 1,141 words. That brings my total word count up to 34,600 words, which is pretty great I’ll say. I’m trying my best to write at least 2,000 words a day, but it’s very hard some days because of how much I’m suffering with this outline. But I must soldier on.

Obligatory disclaimer about not giving too many plot details, but one important thing I had to research for this book was comas. One tender thing I learned was that talking kindly to the person and holding their hand/giving loving touches can sometimes be enough to pull them out of a coma. It’s got the potential for so much fluff in this story. ❤️ I may be struggling but I do enjoy the prospect of writing at least some of my disjointed ideas onto the page.

Day 15: November 15, 2021

Wrote 1,148 words on my first goal! So that’s something!

Well, I’ve reached the absolute. I’ve gotten to the stage where I’m writing random garbage that’s so repetitive it’s mind-numbing. I changed my mind - once I’m done with NaNo I’m going to be aborting this draft. There’s just too much wrong with it that I didn’t consider, so I’m just going to be puzzling that out till January when I go back to edit Starwalker again.

Day 16: November 16, 2021

I woke up at 7 am! Yay! Unfortunately, I have decided to abort this draft and start over. This does not mean I am stopping NaNoWriMo! The rules don’t say anything about working on multiple drafts, so I’m working on outlining the story right now. I can definitely still meet my goal if I miss a few days - I only have 15K words left and they’re going to be easy if I can figure out this stupid outline.

I have to be honest - the hardest part about Seraphite has to be the fact that I’ve been fantasizing about it for a LONG time. Normally this would mean I’d be able to write more passionately, but the problem is that my fantasies are very self-inserted. For example, I sanded down Micah and Shadow Weaver’s relationship a LOT because I personally would want comfort from loved ones after committing suicide and returning from the dead. The issue is that for them, it’s not that simple. I don’t want to turn into Noelle where I project my own desires onto characters for whom it just doesn’t work (that’s how we ended up with that dumpster fire of an arc for Shads to begin with). Thus, I’m going to be putting in conscious effort to write this story with a more nuanced lens.

Day 17: November 17, 2021

I had another good night of sleep! Let’s hope it lasts so I don’t keep falling behind in school. In other news, I’ve re-outlined Part 2 of Seraphite, and I feel a LOT better about this new draft so far. The path the story should take is a lot more clear to me, and I’m no longer feeling like I have to force myself to come up with something.

Assuming that I have the energy after going to lecture today, I plan to outline Part 3 as well. I could take 6 days off to outline and still be above my word count goal (thereby meaning I could still win), but since I’m an overachiever, I’m going to keep plugging away so I can get back to work ASAP.

Day 18: November 18, 2021

I managed to reoutline Seraphite in record time! I will update this post once I update my suffering word count.

Only wrote 864 words today but I already feel like this draft is an improvement. I’m just exhausted as heck and have no concentration abilities right now…

Day 19: November 19, 2021

I woke up at 5 am or so and wrote 1,207 words. I’m definitely still going to win - there are many perks to being such a chronic overachiever that you can win NaNo of all challenges after missing 2 days and straight up not meeting the goal for like, a week.

I’m feeling a lot better about this draft. There’s definitely stuff I still want to change, and I’m still slow-going, but I’m also suffering from intense school burnout so I’m not sure if my writer’s brain is already screaming at me that this draft sucks or if I’m just so tired that getting “in the zone” is hard. Time will tell, I suppose.

I went back in the late afternoon and wrote 1,630 words, bringing my word count up to 39,449 words. Yeah, I’m totally going to ace this contest despite my groove getting thrown off. It happens, but that’s the advantage of being an overachiever.

Day 20: November 20, 2021

After having an emotionally difficult night, I woke up at 7 am and wrote 1,121 words. I don’t really have much comment on this, except to once again shill for my writing software. With the worldbuilding panel I have, I can actually establish “systems”. Basically where you can organize characters, relationships, events, locations, arcs, and more into flowcharts and easily-accessible notes. How does this fit into Seraphite? Well, it makes organizing plot threads VERY easy and simple. I greatly enjoy working with Campfire Pro.

In this draft, I really wanted to rework the outline so Nell and Adora got more page time together. In the pilot draft, I think one of the most troubling things I observed was that I’d set up a relationship between them without actually letting them be in the same location for much of the book - not to mention that later on, Nell is very much focused on Shadow Weaver’s recovery, which already makes reconnecting with her abused daughter very tricky. Long story short, I think I’ve struck a good balance between the two relationships, although this will be the hardest story I’ve ever written by a country mile.

I went back and wrote 1,993 words, bringing my total up to 42,563 words. I’m 85.13% of the way to my goal! I feel very proud for recognizing the issues in my draft very early on and reoutlining in a way that establishes and does more with the established relationships in the story.

This is definitely the day for Dad!Nell scenes. I feel so good about this draft that I’m just going to blaze through it after NaNo so I can get it done. I’m not daring to hope that I can get away with this as the “working draft”, but if that did happen I would jump for joy.

Day 21: November 21, 2021

I woke up at 5 am and wrote 1,062 words, though I think the relatively low count is probably because of my exhaustion and annoyance from not letting myself sleep in. I don’t really have much more to say other than that.

1,278 words! Now my word count is at 44,903. Only about 5,000 words to go! I wrote a trash scene, but eh. Sometimes it happens.

Day 22: November 22, 2021

Despite it being the week of Thanksgiving, I still have to go to lecture. Hooray! At least I got 1,376 words down my first session. It’ll impede my ability to play Animal Crossing, but I’m so close to my goal I don’t mind anymore.

I’m finding that adding a little bit at a time to my finalized “timeline” as opposed to dumping it all in at once and dealing with disorganization later is hugely more helpful. I have it outlined scene by scene already, but finalizing a little at a time makes adding additional scenes loads easier.

I went back this evening and wrote another 1,065 words. This draft is like buttah! The plot is also picking up - I think one of the hardest things about beginning a story with six dynamic characters taking place 12 years after its predecessor is that you need a LOT of space to catch the reader up. And even catch yourself up.

Catra insulting Hordak when he doesn’t speak Meyan like she does is peak comedy. Change my mind.

Day 23: November 23, 2021

I woke up at 7:30 am because I was exhausted and anxious yesterday, and wrote 1,242 words. Due to being 97.17% done with my word count goal, I’m going to try and get to 50K today. Here’s hoping I can do it!

I’m getting close to finishing Part 1 of Draft 1.0. The pilot draft I’ve decided to call “0.1.” I think until I can figure out how to outline stuff better, I’ll have quite a few pilot drafts of future novels, especially considering I’m writing with completely original characters next year.

I wrote another 1,922 words today and updated my count! I have 50,508 words, meaning I have officially won NaNo and am eligible for the sales and prizes. But I’m not done updating this post! I said I would stop once the event was over. And as of now, it is not yet over.

I am enjoying Nell and Micah, though I am struggling with how they feel about Shadow Weaver. It is very complicated and not at all what I was expecting.

Day 24: November 24, 2021

I woke up at 5 am for lecture (because I don’t get a Thanksgiving break 😤) and wrote 1,135 words. It was a bit of a struggle to get over 1K, but I think that’s because these scenes I wrote are shorter by design. It’s nothing to do with the overall mentality or stamina I’ve got. Sometimes, there’s nothing left to say.

Went back after a lecture and wrote 1,595 words! I’m getting close to the end of Part 1, and that’s good news, because it means that hopefully I’ll be more engaged with my draft afterward. It is a slog to write, but not because of plot issues. Mainly just because there’s so much introduction that the action can’t really begin till Part 2. But don’t worry - it’s going to be good.

Day 25: November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I woke up at 6:30 and wrote 1,070 words. I also completed Part 1 of Seraphite, on the official first draft. I’m still feeling great about this version of the story, and I’m sure things will be better.

For this draft, I opted for a Metroman-Megamind reveal that Shadow Weaver was alive. Because I can.

After stuffing myself with turkey, I wrote another 1,360 words. Currently character interactions are feeling very stilted, but I may be able to fix that with an edit or two. I think Micah might be aware that Shadow Weaver is alive before he goes - that would give them time to cut right to the chase without all the “filler,” so to speak.

Part 2 has begun! I’m hoping for a better time on this draft, considering the pilot draft started becoming literal torture.

I’m up to 19,920 words on this draft (since that’s the relevant information right now). Still very low for one part, but I’m not too worried about exact word count anymore.

Day 26: November 26, 2021

I woke up at 7 am and wrote 1,023 words today. I’m sensing something is still extremely tricky with the way Micah, Nell, and Shadow Weaver are interacting. The point is that the reunion is supposed to be awkward, but right now I can’t tell if it’s awkward because I wrote it that way, or awkward because I myself am having a hard time pinning down exact emotions.

Today I learned via Google that the Roman numeral for 40 is XL. Random, but cool.

I didn’t end up doing a second session because I had to go to the ER for a concussion. Yay.

Day 27: November 27, 2021

I woke up at 8 am (very late for me) and wrote 1,056 words. I think I’m getting better at uncovering my characters’ secrets in terms of their emotions. I think I’m going to keep writing and discovering, and see if there’s anything I can do to make this process better.

At 8 pm, I finished writing 2,062 words. Things are getting very interesting now because I decided to give an important revelation earlier on. Gotta create that juicy conflict, after all! ❤️ My total word count on this draft is 24,063 words.

Day 28: November 28, 2021

I woke up at 5 am for church and wrote 1,079 words. The aftermath of the bomb I dropped on my characters (a bomb that went undropped until Act 3/4 in the pilot draft) is so intense and significant that I’m feeling evil. 😈

Wow! My story SERIOUSLY ran away from me this time. I decided that Catra was going to kind of flirt with the enemy in this story on the spot, and honestly? It’s unexpected, but I like the idea, so into the outline it goes! I’m very excited to see where the story goes with this spontaneous idea in there. But I will absolutely have to alter the outline to accommodate this.

I wrote another 1,753 words, bringing my draft word count up to 26,894. I’m pretty proud of having written half an official “novel” within only 10 days. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

Day 29: November 29, 2021

I woke up at 5 am for lecture and wrote 1,264 words over 3 scenes. I’m getting close to the midpoint, and I think the way I’m writing Micah, Nell, and Shadow Weaver’s subplot is passable at least. I sense something is off, but I’m not overly worried about it since it’s a little minor.

[kingofthewilderwest]

Hello there! First things first, I just wanted to say I love your posts! And I would like to ask something: if there ever was made an animated series adapting the books of "How to Train Your Dragon", what would be your thoughts? Like, how long do you think it should be? Who do you think should be a part of the voice cast?

Hello there! And thank you so much! :)

So I know I have a post, several years old, where I go through this topic. I can’t find it right now because 1). I just woke up half an hour ago and my mind is as alert as a broken-up brick, 2). I’m lazy, and 3). even with all my tricks of refinding my old posts, sometimes the internet doesn’t want to cooperate. Anyway! Never hurts to talk about again. ^.^ I don’t think my thoughts have changed much in the intervening years, but might as well “update” anyway. XD

I love the idea of the How to Train Your Dragon book series being faithfully adapted into a television show. Specifically, I believe that the HTTYD book series would make a wonderful single season 2D animated series.

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I am very emphatic that the animation style be 2D animation. The book series has a glorious childish whimsy and charm to it. It screams for an adaptation where the animation style can be as whimsical and charming as it is.

Now. The movie series and the overarching DreamWorks Dragons franchise worked, yes. But while the DreamWorks Dragons franchise tried to thread the needle of whimsical dragon designs and 3D animated realism, ultimately the animation style and the storytelling constraints of a movie trilogy meant making changes to the source material. They made the right choice. Movies are a medium well-suited for certain types of narratives and not as well suited for other types of narratives. You have to sweep in quickly, hook the audience, rapidly stab a few themes in there, and sweep out. It only makes sense that, as DreamWorks sought to make a successful movie, they altered the source material to make higher stakes, more action, greater realism, story changes for succinct thematic material they could use, etc.

But when we’re talking about a faithful adaptation to the books, 3D animation wouldn’t evoke the right mood that the books’ story needs. Not as optimally, anyway, especially with the default stylistic trends we have in 3D animation today. 2D animation would better give us the vibe we want. Cressida Cowell herself made specific choices about how to illustrate the books. She intentionally started with simple, childish artwork. It matured and gained greater detail over the course of the book series, but that artwork never lost its youthful vibe. Now, I wouldn’t want the animators to draw the this hypothetical tv series like Cowell’s art, but I would want them to take inspiration from the heart of what she did. The HTTYD book series is the story of a small boy growing up in an enchanting fantastical world. That screams 2D animation use.

I would be immediately grumpy if someone tried for a live action remake instead.

I also would push for voice actors to come from the region HTTYD is supposed to take place. We’re not going to go back a thousand years and use dialects that were in use a thousand years ago. That’s too much. But the HTTYD books take place on Scottish islands. Make Hiccup’s English-speaking voice actor, make everyone’s voice actors (aside from like, the Romans, etc.) Scottish.

The DreamWorks movies intentionally created a dialectical division between generations. I understand the affect they were going for, but that affect relies on linguistic biases that need to be removed (why are North American voices considered “more modern”? why are we still in a world where Scottish actors get repeatedly passed over?). In truth, most linguistic shortcuts in movies rely on sociolinguistic stereotypes that perpetuate bias and crap, so I will always be in favor of removing those. Talk to me more about that later if you’d like. Plus, what DreamWorks did is highly unrealistic, and as a linguist, it’s hard for me to ignore, haha. I don’t care what Watsonian explanations you try to use, that’s not how languages work. Let’s get some good Scottish dialectical representation going instead!

I do not care as much what individual humans are part of the voice cast. I have headcanons for how each character sounds, but I can’t take what I imagine in my head and project that onto any real human beings I know about. If they’re good in the role, that’s what matters. I also think that, while there are marvelous VAs out there whose reputation is well-earned, who are working in their field of expertise, we need to get away from celebrity power impacting hiring choices, too. Some countries are better than others about this.

A television show for the HTTYD book series could be done in a single season. I am someone who believes that story should never be rushed, but it also should never be unnecessarily stretched. Good creators know how long a story should be and limit it to that. The majority of HTTYD books in the first half of the series could be adapted into single 30 minute episodes. Will that delete material? Of course. But that’s the name of the game of television show adaptations anyway. A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons would make a good single episode and a single episode is all we need. How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse would make a great single episode and a single episode is all we need.

For the latter half of the book series, the books get longer, and there’s more drama to cover. Some of these could be split into two episodes. Still, we’d be looking at what? A series of about 16 episodes, maybe? No more than 20. Do not make it more than 20.

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I think that a faithful adaptation of the book series could be INCREDIBLE! But they’d have to make the right artistic choices to successfully adapt the heart.

[grishaversecommunityyy]

The Grishaverse Ship Survey Results

So! After all of that, we finally have the results! What is the general opinion on the ships in the Grishaverse? Well, that’s for you to read below! It’s actually pretty interesting and, while some parts make sense, there were definitely some parts which... surprised me... Anyway, onto the results!

Everything in this post can be split into:

The Grisha Trilogy

Six Of Crows Duology

The Nikolai Series

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

Most Enjoyed Ships

Least Enjoyed Ships

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

Notes from the Survey 

(note from mod emily: i tried to bold all of fritz’ comments, but i might have missed a few! be aware there are two of us analysing here :))

The Grisha Trilogy

The first book series we asked about was, of course, the first chronologically: the Grisha Trilogy. The most popular ship, with 83% voters for this series selecting this, was Genya/David (Fritz was glad to hear that; Yes I am). This is likely due to the lack of alternate romantic interests in the series, which seems to be a major issue for Alina’s ships. It also seems to be one genuinely enjoyed by most fans, in contrast to Darkling/Alina and Mal/Alina (each around 30%) and Nikolai/Alina (just under 20%), for which I have definitely seen plenty of debate. The second and third most popular ships for this series were Tamar/Nadia (55%) and Nikolai/Zoya (47%). Interestingly, Genya/Alina (43%) and Zoya/Alina (30%) ranked surprisingly high, especially considering how few of my friends and associates I hear talking about them. Good for them!

Honourable mentions:

Alina/Sun (no doubt inspired by that crack fic I wrote a while back) (Still havent read that out of fear)

Alina alone (a common concept among those surveyed, though most mentioned it later)

Zoya/Genya or Alina/Zoya/Genya

Six Of Crows Duology

This series was a little less divided, I would say. Predictably, Kaz/Inej came out on top with a whopping 96% of voters (:relieved:), with Wylan/Jesper next (90%) and Nina/Matthias just after (83%). None of the others really came close, despite Nina/Inej gathering 35% of the votes and Colm/Aditi at 25% (yeah, I’m not sure why that was so popular on AO3 either, but nobody really has objections so I assume that’s why it amassed so many votes). As Six of Crows is decidedly less divisive about ships and doesn’t have such controversial ships (more on that later), it seems the fandom agrees with canon pairings and the votes are... pretty unanimous.

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper/Wylan/Kuwei

Polycrows (platonic or romantic)

Kaz/Inej/Nina

Whoever didn’t read the instruction about this being for only the book series and put Jesper/Milo. I will never escape. 

The Nikolai Series

This one is a little harder for me because I actually haven’t read this... so over to Fritz for analysis! But first, the stats. At 85%, the most popular ship is Genya/David, followed by Zoya/Nikolai at 77%. Tamar/Nadia and Nina/Hanne draw at 61.5% and Nina/Matthias has 56% voters onboard. There’s no real honourable mentions for this one, sadly. Hello Fritz here! Read the books and very glad to see Genya/David as the top ship as it damn well should. Although still a bit surprising since its more of a side-arc of the two and only ties in with the importance of the story at a specific chapter that I feel like I don’t need to elaborate about, if you read Rule of Wolves. (I believe the popularity of the ship also sky-rocketed due to ROW) Following of course Zoya/Nikolai, the high ranking makes sense, it is the main ship and lets be honest they deserve it <3

I think the only really surprising thing about this is the high votes for Nina/Matthias since [SPOILERS CROOKED KINGDOM] he’s dead so I feel like people should move on from that. Nina/“Hanne” having not as high a ranking as I would’ve thought, but with Matthias still being in the frame I guess we shouldn’t be surprised either.

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

This one is really interesting, with the exclusive show watchers now taking part! We have 89% voting for Kaz/Inej, 76% for David/Genya, 71% for Matthias/Nina, 67% for Ivan/Fedyor (that’s a thing???-->Yeah they had a few somewhat sweet interactions in the background-->nvm i watched it you’re right fritz) and 62% for Mal/Alina. What’s really surprising is how high Malina is compared to Darklina, with Darkling/Alina at 36%. Who knows, maybe Fritz’ analysis can shed some light on this?

Yes yes Fritz to the rescue: First of all we have to see their interactions a little different from what we already knew of them by the end of episode 8. I still think it is a surprising number, since the Darkling in the show isn’t as nasty as he was in the books BUT over all his actions are now seen on TV. We all thought the deer antlers were a necklace amirite? Well no apparently not, the darkling used the worst kind of small science to fit Alinas collarbone to the bone and out comes a gruesome sight: a reason why many people might have started thinking: Wow what a disgusting person he is. And on the Malina “ship”: Mal finally has personality!! jkjk :eyes: Mals and Alinas friendship has been portrayed way better in the show and I believe that the people noticed more chemistry between them especially by the end of season 1. So I’m still a little surprised Darklina has such a low ranking (what with him being all sweet and cuddly in the middle of the show) but it makes sense and the Malina ship as well. Their vibes are just *chefs kiss* and thats coming from someone who didnt even like any of these “ships” <3

Loving the quotation marks for the word ‘ships’, Fritz. Over to the honourable mentions!

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper and Milo (isn’t milo a goat? guys, why?)

Nadia/Marie (huh that didn’t appear anywhere else)

One person had several - Kaz/Inej/Jesper, Dubrov/Mikhael, Dubrov/Mikhael/Mal - and yeah, you can really see the show differences in these mentions right? (whose dubrov...and whose mikhael...)

16% actually voted for Inej/Alina which is wild to me because of book context (they did have chemistry in the show tho :cowboi_smirk:)

Another person with several! We have Nina/Inej, Genya/Alina, Zoya/Alina, Zoya/Genya/Alina. Very sapphic. Good for you.

Kaz/Jesper and Nina/Inej all in one

That’s a lot of honour and mentions but it’s so interesting to me and I think you should see too

Most Enjoyed Ships

The most enjoyed ship was Kaz/Inej. This had unparalleled support, being at 35%. Jesper/Wylan, which was next on the list (23.5%) and Nina/Matthias (18%) were also pretty popular. Most of the others were quite low, though interestingly Mal/Alina only had 1 vote (plus one for the show version). Overall, the SoC ships were a lot more popular in this section, which makes sense - this part is really about your favourite ship, and those were more unanimous in the last sections.

Least Enjoyed Ships

Most people said Darkling/Alina, which got 47% of the NOTP votes. A lot more people disliked Darkling/Alina than liked Kaz/Inej. Make of that what you will, but I take it as a somewhat general agreement among many of you guys. Mal/Alina was also strongly disliked at 22%, but around a half or more of these were clarified to be about the book version of the ship specifically. They really must’ve upgraded in the show! Jesper/Kuwei and any other Darkling ships were also voted by a few, but all of these pale in comparison to the anti-Darklina votes. Shoutout to the person who said Apparat/Anyone. I agree, though it’s not something I thought of before seeing this response. Also one person said they didn’t like the poly ships, which I hope meant just the ones mentioned earlier and not all poly relationships in general... Another shoutout to whoever said Kaz/Heleen, because why did I have to read that. A fun question, all in all!

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

I love talking about crack ships, so let’s start with that! This time, I really don’t want to have to count and list because... well, let me show you:

I think that sums up the sheer variety, to be honest. Then again, it would be rude not to mention that the most popular were Jesper/Milo, Darkling/Nikolai and Alina/Sun. (If you’re still confused about that last one, I take full responsibility.)

YES KAZ/KRUGE I SUPPORT!!!

Honourable mention to this:

which was a lot to take in, and:

Now for the discourse. Yep, the part you probably came for. 

Actually... maybe you didn’t? Looking at all of these responses, I see a lot of people genuinely don’t care about ship wars and so on, and often enjoyed the books regardless of the romances involved. Quite a few disapproved of the ongoing (though small) wars between Darklina and Malina, and others had a similar line of thinking, saying we should maybe stop focusing so much on it. You guys are right. I know this is a ship survey, and the conclusions should not include that shipping isn’t as important as we make it (Yes it should), but... that’s where it’s at.

And then again, a lot of you guys expressed disapproval for Darkling/Alina, discussing how it is often one-sided and manipulative and overall unhealthy, so I could be completely off with that last one. Some people mentioned that they ship this but as a slightly different version that the one given to us, recognising the flaws of the canon ship.

Someone said they headcanon Tolya as aroace (OMG YES!!). We need more aroace characters, so thank you for that headcanon :) We also have a few gay ships mentioned here, and one person telling us they love Malina. Yes, you’re right - it’s pretty unpopular, it turns out. Someone else said Alina should’ve been single, and I agree, actually!

One person rickrolled me here. Thankfully, Youtube’s ads saved me. *wipes forehead*

I leave you all with this, in the end:

Notes from the Survey

Statistics Stuff:

The top ships were taken from AO3, so some ships may be more focused on in other books and may not provide accurate statistics for an earlier series.

The main circles this was sent around may have had bias as most people are from the same discord server, which has debated these topics in the past. Hence certain ships may have lower-than-average results. In future, this could be improved upon by sending this to other servers and areas of the fandom.

Personal bias may be present in the analysis, though I have tried to minimise this in the more formal sections.

Observations and Notes from Me:

You guys really don’t like Darklina. Or you love it. Usually one or the other. Wow.

Be glad I didn’t talk about any of the cursed ships in this. The things I have seen... (:cowboi_eyes:)

I thought more people would rickroll me, ngl.

What Surprised You Guys:

Kaz/Inej/Jesper

A few of you guys saw some of those cursed ships, and that surprised you. Well, me too!

Nikolai ships being in the TV Show section at all, what with his character not being in the show (yeah what was up with that huh tztz)

Inej/Alina

The existence of The Severed Moon

Darkling/Nikolai(/Alina)

How fun the quiz was :D

Things You Sent Me:

Bee Movie copypasta

“Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!”, except via an AO3 link

A fun fact about enzymes! I liked this one

Fic recs for Feriku and Sarai (esp for Wylan/Jesper shippers)

Another rickroll

Nice compliments :) aww you guys

I asked everyone for some kind of placeholder name and never used it. Sorry! But hey, anonymity, right?

Closing Statements

If you got this far (I feel like ive been sitting here for hours), thanks for reading! This was fun to do and I hope you enjoyed all of this too! The survey is still open for anyone who hasn’t done it but wants to. If I get a huge amount of new responses, I might update this post! But for now, adios!

-mod emily (and mod fritz)

[radramblog]

Halo 2 is the most Two

According to a semi-reliable source (TvTropes’s Halo/Funny subpage), Halo 2 was once described by a Bungie PR guy as, and I quote:

               “like Halo 1, only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas ... And, the ninjas are all on fire, too.”

2004 really was a special time, huh?

But I’d argue the thing that quote fails to mention is how much 2 is in Halo 2. Duality is a core theme of both the gameplay and story, and that’s something I’d like to highlight.

Not because it’s important. Because it’s fun.

Halo 2 is a game about two. Literally, in fact, as the story revolves around two protagonists, whom you switch back and forth between as the Campaign progresses. John-117, the Master Chief, hero of the first game, who spends 2’s opening moments being hailed for his achievements during the previous story. And Thel’ Vadamee, the Arbiter, background villain of the first game, who spends 2’s opening moments being publicly humiliated and tortured for his failures during the previous story.

This cutscene is very much intentional, it’s a cool parallel that sets up the twin stories of the game, but it far from ends there. Because Halo 2 is a sequel, it’s setting up a grander universe, one that began in the novels that released between the games. However, because the game is still a big-budget sequel to a smash-hit game effectively owned by one of the biggest companies on the planet, the game could never be as experimental or the story as interesting as the world suggested by said novels and lore.

So there’s a lot of twos. We see a second Halo ring in the second Halo game, which is confusingly named Delta Halo even though it’s the second one we see in the franchise. Also, it’s official Forerunner name is Installation 05, even though Delta is the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet, and the Halo from the first game was Installation 04…

Tangents aside. Twos. Ultimately the story is less two-ey than what I’ll get to in a bit, but there’s still some there. The second Halo comes with a second Monitor, and the first of the two Covenant Prophets that are encountered (and killed) over the story’s course. Two of Earth’s orbital defense platforms are obliterated in the first level, uhhh, two new major Human characters are introduced (Lord Hood and Miranda Keyes) along with two named Sangheili (Both the Arbiter and Rtas ‘Vadumee, as the Heretic Leader isn’t given a name in the game proper). There’s like, two real boss fights? I guess? Regret doesn’t fucking count.

I think I’m kinda grasping at straws so I’ll move into the gameplay, because boy howdy there’s where the twos really come in. While Halo featured both Human and Covenant weapons, Halo 2 was the game that defined them as two clear opposed factions- much like in a Strategy game, each has equivalent items to each other. The Battle Rifle and Covenant Carbine are both new weapons that add a mid-range option for each faction, as well as making up for the severe nerf to the Magnum. It’s now effectively paired as a sidearm with the Plasma Pistol, their deadliness largely confined to one half each of the Shields/Health divide the game uses for Multiplayer. The SMG replaces the Assault Rifle to better mirror the Covenant Plasma Rifle, and the Beam Rifle is introduced as the Covenant variant Sniper Rifle. The Energy Sword and Fuel Rod Gun are both now actually playable, serving as counterparts to the Shotgun and Rocket Launcher respectively. You get the idea. This somewhat carries over to the Vehicles, with the Covenant Spectre being introduced as a counterpart to the Warthog, though that’s the only new vehicle off the top of my head. Yknow, because I’m talking out my ass.

Oh, also this is the game where they put in dual wielding guns.

The campaign progression is also fond of its twos, if you ignore the first level. Two cutscenes (or, a cutscene and a tutorial+in-engine-cutscene+cutscene), the one we’re ignoring, Two Chief levels, Two Arbiter levels, Two Chief, Two Arbiter, then we actually alternate. Twice. Because why not.

Late into the game, however, there is somewhat of a shift in this dual natured game. The Great Schism occurs in the plotline, as the Covenant Civil War begins, and a second Covenant faction breaks off after having been betrayed by its leadership. There is, in fact, a third Prophet in the form of Truth, who survives the game (but not the sequel). There is also arguably a third protagonist for this extra faction, but not one we get to play as- the game’s final boss, Tartarus, leader of the Brutes, and head of the Covenant military once the Schism occurs. This third faction adds a new weapon, the Brute Shot, the sole weapon in the game not in the style of the gunmetal-black UNSC or the typically colourful and gleaming Covenant armoury- the Brute Shot’s dull muddied grays and browns and wicked bayonet a reflection of its wielder’s personality. The two story paths of Halo 2 run alongside each other before meeting and splitting off following the dramatic introduction of the Gravemind.

This is a reflection of the true nature of Halo 2, as the final product strayed farther from the initial vision than many are aware of. There’s a little known fact these days that the Halo trilogy wasn’t meant to be a trilogy, with 2’s planned story extending into what would become the majority of the third game. 2 was supposed to end at the Ark, with the death of Truth, with the revelation of the truth of the Forerunners and the end of the war.

But things change. Halo 2 spent a lot of time in development on an engine that wasn’t practical for the game they were trying to make, so much of the time was wasted. Add in a hastened Christmas release date, and you get the abrupt finale and cliffhanger that is Halo 2’s story. This isn’t to say that the game is bad, far from it, but it had potential to be so much better. Like the endgame of its plot, Halo 2 could have also been Halo 3.

I’m going to be honest, I thought I had a lot more tangible points to hang on to when I started writing this than I actually did. Much like my last Halo-related post, there’s a lot of grasping and chasing shadows in this. Maybe next time I should just talk about why I like these games or something instead, that’s a lot easier.

Anyway does anyone wanna come play Firefight with me please do it’s been so long since I’ve done that with anyone other than internet randos