#this already has 6 characters on it lol. it's wild

[spotaus]

Doing New Age doodle page rn!!!

[showtoonzfan]

Rewatching the Hazbin pilot again, and ya’ll remember how Angel Dust was actually a dick on purpose? He didn’t care about the hotel, he was a selfish candidate who was just in it for the rent, he talked shit about Charlie and Vaggie behind their backs, he was a reckless jackass who didn’t know when to read the room and that was the point. He wasn’t a good person and he especially didn’t like or trust Charlie and Vaggie, so seeing his arc of gaining friends and being compassionate towards the people he didn’t appreciate at first in episode fucking 4/6 of the first season is so wild to me.

It’s so rushed and forced, especially for a character like Angel. It was clear from the pilot that while he had some redeeming qualities, getting along with others would take time. In the show however they manage to woobify him even more than he already was. He’s just so damn sensitive, there’s a big difference between him and pilot Angel. Pilot Angel didn’t give a shit about what other people thought of him, and he owned it. Show Angel is incredibly sensitive and pissed off at every little thing, he’s so whiny and desperate for some kind of approval, which on its own isn’t bad, it’s just too fast, not just that but it’s sudden with no buildup. In episode 2 of the show, he gets sad for some reason when Charlie is complimenting Sir Pen. Then in episode 4, he suddenly cares about her and there’s no explanation to why, same goes for Nifty in episode 6. Like yeah it’s nice to see him care about others but you forget to show us WHY he cares. Viv has gone on to say before that his character involves him putting walls up and blocking people out in fear of him getting hurt, so like….what happened to that lol, cause that isn’t showcased in the show.

Husk has the same issue. This guy is supposed to be a grumpy drunk, in the pilot we know he only took the bartending job for the booze. He’s a messy guy who doesn’t like anyone, and it should have been awhile till he actually started to care about people. Instead he’s like..almost instantly friendly after episode 4. This is the same writing issues Helluva Boss had btw. Viv is so incredibly desperate for you to like her flawed/bad characters that rather than taking the time to actually show them slowly improving, she instantly paints them out to be sweet and expects you to go along with it.

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 10 November 2024

Still feeling out how regularly it makes sense to do this; first one was 2 weeks ago on 6 October, second was--oops--3 weeks ago on 20 October. If you're interested in GL older than that, check out my GL rec list through Feb 2024 and my update in July 2024. New series marked with an asterisk*.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to 10 Nov):

*The Fragrance You inherit 1/8 (Japanese, Friday/Saturday-ish, no official distribution but fansub on @isaksbestpillow's blog [thank you Siiri!] I wrote about episode 1 already, but just to keep it all in one place: this one looks great. Not really a GL, more a family drama with a lesbian at the center of the story. I'm doubtful we're going to actually get anything other than closure for the romance in this one.

Pluto ep 4/12 (Thai, Saturdays 9:30 AM EDT, YouTube) This plot continues to be absolutely wild (at this point both of them have suspected the other of being involved in attempted murder?!) but Namtan and Film stay gorgeous and serving so I am still tuned in.

Apple My Love ep 5/7 (Thai, Saturdays 11:45 AM EDT, GagaOOLala and YouTube) This show is very sweet and continues to hold up the recent Kongthup pattern of being great about things like sidestepping the most annoying drama tropes, showing great friendship dynamics including asking your friends about sex, and in this one, excellent sibling dynamics too.

The Loyal Pin ep 15/16 (Thai, Sundays 12:15 PM EDT, YouTube) Anin remains so brave. This latest episode felt a little like we rushed to the finish line, but I've really enjoyed the way this show has handled things overall to date. The show continues to enjoy faking us out in previews so I'm not going to speculate on the ending until we get it.

Red Whisper ep 7/8 (Korea, [schedule is kinda unpredictable; vaguely every 5 days??], YouTube) Oof we've graduated to actively upsetting me with the way this show has depicted nonmonogamy and bisexuality. For the record: Not all bisexuals are nonmonogamous, and entering a monogamous relationship under false pretenses and then acting like your partner is being unreasonable by not wanting an open relationship is shitty behaviour.

*The Nipple Talk 5/10 (Taiwanese, weird schedule: the first 5 dropped on Nov 8 and the last 5 will air Nov 22, GagaOOLala) I honestly owe this show a separate post, it is great! This is an ensemble show with the main character being a heterosexual woman but her two besties are a gay man and a lesbian woman, and the show follows all of them through relationship issues. There is a lot of sex, great conversations about sex, and different relationship styles from one night stand casual flings, to nonmonogamous casual regular sex partners, to long term monogamous relationships. It is very funny, fun, and charming as all hell. It's made a couple small stumbles in the first 5 episodes but I'm still enjoying it a lot. If you liked Diary of Tootsies, this is highly recommended!

Recently Completed:

Reverse 4 U 8eps (Thai, 3 Sept-22 Oct 2024, Netflix / YouTube) I did not like this finale--in the end I was sad where we ended up with this show and I hope we get to see these actors in something else. Also looking forward to more genre GL, which is in the works!

Unlock Your Love 8eps (Thai, 11 Sept-30 Oct 2024, GagaOOLala / YouTube) This show was a little slow, but it stayed cute and relatively low stakes, and the actors had excellent chemistry when they were allowed to do their thing, which was relatively often--I appreciated the amount of good kissing in this show lol. The plot meandered, and we forgot we were in a worklpace GL by the end, but I enjoyed this in spite of that.

Chaser Game W s2 8eps (Japanese, 19 Sept-7 Nov 2024, GagaOOLala) @lurkingshan is already doing a great summary of this week to week in her JQL weekly round-up, but I'll add my thoughts to the finale here. Honestly this show did not do it for me for several reasons, but the main thing this final arc did that bothered me was introduce lesbian motherhood as a serious conflict, and then seemed to suggest that homophobia only exists because queer people are not brave enough. It rubbed me the wrong way. Plus the boss who sexually harassed characters in the first season was back to sexually harass characters in the second season with no consequence. I think this show was trying to do to much and as a result it didn't feel coherent.

Recent One-offs, Side Couples, etc.:

A very short and cute Chinese GL Oh General! My General! aired on bilibili and was subtitled by @douqi7s on YouTube This short manages to speedrun training, shared bath, cheek kiss, forced separation, timeskip, and happy ending in 2 minutes

The sapphic backstory in The Hidden Moon concluded with a happy-in-the-afterlife ending

We also got more of the Aim as a Lesbian plotline in the new Love Sick 2024 remake again (this was not a plotline in the 2014 version and it's one of the changes I really like and that I think works really well; her conversation with her mother was a good scene)

The Thai lakorn The Empress of Ayodhaya had a kiss that earned very high ratings on Thai television (This show does not have international distribution so I can't cover it in any detail unfortunately)

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so; that being said I haven't had time recently so if I've missed anything good let me know!

Starting soon:

My Ex's Wedding [in theatres in Thailand 14 November]

Mom Ped Sawan, Thai, 17 November [international distribution uncertain; it should be on VIPA app with subs, but that is region-locked]

Petrichor, Thai, 23 November, iQIYI

Mate, Thai, 26 November, WeTV

[freakartack]

what made orbulon one of your favorite characters?

Oh my god LOL thats a crazy question. Not because it is crazy to ask, but because it is crazy to answer. I guess i should break this down point by point

Due to my various neurological idiosyncrasies, I have a brain chunk that is specifically dedicated to fucked up little cartoon aliens. I own a frankly embarrassing amount of Marvin the Martian memorabilia and also several collectible items of the cereal called Quisp, which was discontinued in the 1970s*, because it has a little cartoon alien on it. (*it came back on-and-off later and the last time it was discontinued was actually the end of last year, which was very sad for me, the sole Quisp enjoyer in the world.) And yes i am just as insane and anal-retentive about these cartoon aliens as The Big Man Himself. So that was the hook

THEN, I realized that orbulon is not just the typical freaky little megalomaniac alien, but a DEEPLY INSECURE and SURPRISINGLY INTROSPECTIVE freaky little megalomaniac alien. This is important to me for the same reason that I am a fan of the Muppets. His endless internal struggle to not be seen as stupid on a planet full of ants is very compelling to me

Continuing that thought, the fact that despite his dubious motivations he is genuinely enamored with the beauty of both Earth and space really rounds out his character. Not only is he trying his best to connect with the creatures of the Earth after one thousand years of being here and not doing that, but one of his favorite ways to do so is to bring people onto his spaceship and show them the wonders of the cosmos. And I love it every time because on earth he is just a weird thing but when he takes them in his spaceship they are amazed and speechless at the beauty of space...it is like he is letting them into his world, and they can finally see and understand what he sees. Effervescent

Also, the fact that he is so god damn old leads to a lot of fun story opportunities (like it being possible for him to meet the four heroes from ttyd) but also opens the door for some extremely poignant and heart wrenching implications, summed up very subtly by one of my favorite Orbulon quotes:

5. On a similar note, the fact that Orbulon plays it fast and loose with the "alien traits" he has makes it EXTREMELY fun for the biology freak in me to go wild with the speculations. I won't go into it too much here because i've already covered this extensively but just know that this is a very big bullet point.

6. The fact that his luck is constantly in the shitter is very relatable. I like orbulon because things are always happening to him

7. I would be remiss to make a list like this without including his gender. The fact that he shapeshifts so freely for the purposes of both self-expression and disguise is very genderish indeed

8. He's just got a kickass design. The shades that are evocative of both the glassy eyes of a stereotypical grey alien and Men in Black, the amphibian proportions, the awesome wardrobe. The bowling pin head is both inexplicable but also feels effortlessly natural. He's truly got it all. Similarly, the fact that he is a space alien that crash lands onto earth simply because he is shit at driving is such a funny and seemingly obvious direction to take this kind of character, and yet he's the only one I've really seen cash in on that. I like orbulon because things are always happening to him pt. 2

9. We have the same music taste

[daouoffroads]

I just don't understand how you like S*l? He is actually right up there with T**g for being the worst. There is nothing good about him, sorry.

i don't understand the wild and weird hate against sol (or even remotely comparing him to tong) but here we are, anon. like if joe out right saying sol is a good person can't convince ya'll... idk why you're asking me?

anyway... you asked for my thoughts and opinions, so you shall receive.

sol is just a really interesting dude to me. he's just some guy that i think is really neat. he's a thai kpop idol and FAMOUS famous but he isn't like tong about it. he's kind and just a really good-hearted person. he's the sunny type, cheerful, caring, and loyal to his friends. like joe, sol is a sunflower in the toxic showbiz world msi is set in.

(tbh i see him and ming, who is also a fascinating character, as kind of two sides of the same "rich and famous" coin. ming is cold, aloof, calculating with walls as high as elon crust's ego is inflated. and then there is sol, open and kind-hearted. which is exactly why he and joe hit it off. funny though, ming and sol are petty but like on completely opposite ends of the petty spectrum.)

after lovingly bugging @zhouxiangs for novel spoilers i really wished the series had touched more on sol and joe's history instead of just a few throwaway lines here and there because sol's story ;3; my smol bean of a son. (and this is where media literacy and nuance comes in :D but y'all barely have any of that.)

joe and sol were very close . they ate, trained, and slept (sleeping type of slept lol) together. they did everything together. and then sol found out joe was gay (in the novel sol was also struggling with his sexuality) and then joe confessed to sol. joe liked sol first (not this weird warped reality y'all are living in where sol has been obsessing over joe). but anyway, sol was young and scared and dumb. he was afraid of being taken advantage of and also of his own feelings for joe and he ran away. joe got over it and never held it against him.

while in korea, it seemed that sol struggled to connect with people and went through some tough times as a trainee (i'm quoting from porsche's interview) and he realized his true feelings for joe so when he had the chance to return to thailand he took it and he sought out joe to reconnect. as a friend, as more.

was he supposed to have some sort of psychic link with joe that he was already seeing someone? obviously not. but when joe made it clear he liked ming, sol backed off romantically. he didn't back off as a friend though. (idk about y'all friendless gremlins but if one of my close friends was in the situationship from hell that joe was in... i'd also try and make them see reason, open their eyes. like sol once having feelings for joe does not diminish his friendship with joe. at all. (yes the scene of joe and sol in the van in ep 6 means everything to me. joe and sol were friends, brothers even. and that scene showed it.)

fyi, novel sol recognized joe too :D

ANYWAY, it was interesting to see the change in sol after joe's death. he isn't his usual cheerful self, but he's still kind and polite if a bit more reserved. and i for one love the cattiness with ming he has going on? LEAVE MING ALONE i see y'all shouting but me I WANT HIM TO PUNCH MING IN THE NUTS ONCE (if y'all can project, so can i) like ming deserves to catch a bit of shit from sol (his 'khun chai ming' sent meeee), since his and tong's bullshit directly contributed to the death of his best friend.

is sol perfect? no. (the fight with ming where joe got hurt. or the phone call scene that resulted in joe effectively being cut out of sol's life. again.) but are any of these characters perfect? absolutely not.

sol though is strangely villainized and for what? because he's trying to help and protect his friend (and is maybe being snotty with ming but... deserved tbh lol)? because he might be feeling a little righteous and fafo with the guy who took his friend away from him? because he once had feelings for joe but then redirected them into being a decent human and a good friend?

sponsored by: @zhouxiangs and porsche/lotte interview with iqiyi.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies - Kazuki & Trust Issues

I was just watching the Episode 5 dub of Buddy Daddies, and it made me realize that they did a great job of building up Kazuki not trusting Miri and how that tends to lead to him getting himself worked up. 

In Episode 5 it was with Miri being able to keep their secret. While Rei is also doubting that Miri will be able to do it well, this issue with trust results in Kazuki working himself up while they are scouting their target. 

“She’s gonna be spilling everything!” 

But she doesn’t. She works really hard at trying to use “Rei-kun” and “Kazuki-kun” when talking about them, instead of “papa,” and while she mentions Kazuki’s cooking, Rei playing games with her, and such, she doesn’t flat out spill everything like she did during the first daycare interview or something. She tries very hard to keep to the promise she made to Kazuki.

In Episode 5, we also see Kazuki not trusting Kyutaro. First, when Kyutaro offers to look after Miri, Kazuki’s first thought was that Kyutaro was going to harm her/kill her, instead of look after her.

With Kazuki’s mind already being made up, so he jumps straight to “Not even you’d be cold-blooded enough to---” before fully processing the clarification that Kyutaro made that he meant “look after/babysit her.”

Later in the episode, when Rei mentions that Kyutaro is a bit popular with the ladies, Kazuki’s mind instantly goes here:

To Kyutaro marrying a four year old Miri with Miri saying, “I’m gonna marry Kyutaro-san!” it’s a ridiculous conclusion and fantasy situation that Kazuki allows himself to get worked up over, but also definitely indicates a lack of trust.

Of course, in Episode 6, the lesson Kazuki learns is that he needs to trust his own child more. 

(Kazuki, in the car, saying, “But maybe I oughta trust my kid more.”). This lack of trust is something we with Kyutaro, even Taiga (the boy from Episode 6). 

Kazuki instantly jumps to the worst case scenario and is already cursing out this four year old child in his wild imagination, because he doesn’t trust the kid and his intentions around Miri (there are extra layers of sexism and heteronormativity that could be unpacked here, but I’ll refrain so this post doesn’t derail, lol).

(Kazuki stating: “You’re gonna regret making a move on my little girl!” when talking about a boy who is like four years old).

Of course, this all stems back to his issues with abandonment. 

(Kazuki, from the beginning of Episode 6: “Parental abandonment is the reason I turned out this way!”)

Being abandoned by your parents can easily lead to trust issues and could easily make a person jump to the worst case situation on default. That’s what Kazuki does. At the end of Episode 6, we know that Kazuki understands that he needs to get better with this in regards to Miri.

We haven’t seen the results of that resolution and character growth moment quite yet, and we don’t know how that will extend to others such as Kyutaro or Rei. Though, in Episode 8, we see Kazuki wondering if they [he and Miri] have been abandoned by Rei, and he does seem to worry about this.

However, Kazuki doesn’t allow himself to get caught up in any wild fantasies and ideas going through his head. He looks upset and concerned at the idea. But with Rei, he does seem to stay more level-headed. Kazuki reaches out to Rei (driving to him in the car) and brings him back.

Then they get caught up in their past, but Kazuki doesn’t get lost in any wild imagination. To me, this shows that Kazuki actually has a lot of trust in Rei. 

And now, after seeing the way Rei was so shocked at the party they threw for him, smiling at his Miri, their daughter, and writing a “thank you” memo to Kazuki (via the transmedia marketing aspect), I think Kazuki won’t be as worried about Rei leaving them or choosing his old blood bound family over their found family. 

Rei is still going to have to make that choice, though I think Kazuki will trust him on that. After the contents of Episodes 8 and 8.5, it has become very clear that trust is going to be a very important thing.

I feel Kazuki has learned to trust Rei and Miri, but let’s see if his trust will fully extend to Kyutaro too and if Kyutaro will live up to being trusted (I hope he will!).

[katyspersonal]

Another SOTE progress post!

1) Okay so like I said earlier in another post the highlight of today was finally defeating Rellana x) It felt REALLY rewarding to finally win after having to try so many things, Miyazaki forced me to use my brain AGAIN

2) After that I went to talk with the NPCs around the crosses by an advice by @val-of-the-north since not being able to summon Leda apparently meant that I've got the rune of Miquella broken. And hoooo boy.... At last I got to that part where Ansbach revealed the uncancelled Mohg's lore.

"Once, in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment, I challenged Tender Miquella, only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even and Empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken... Miquella the Kind...is a monster. Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying."

"Righteous Tarnished. Miquella the Kind makes my blood run cold. I am loath to admit it, but even at this very instant I wish to run very far away indeed."

Soooo, yeah.. Apparently the bit I was spoiled is later game dialogue, this is a different one and I see it for the first time! Damn, trailer quote tho x)

3) What I did NOT know is that all these characters were under the spell of Bewitching Branch too ;-; Guess Leda is going after the hornsent guy's throat now gfhgjg Wild to see how everyone now does what they actually want, SPEAKING OF:

4) Thiollier now wants to go seek the part of Miquella he earlier had sealed away with the spell wall branded with his Haligtree symbol! There is now outright confirmation that Trina IS Miquella:

"Would Kindly Miquella chasten me? For falling for St. Trina, while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is... I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything, just to gaze upon her, one last time."

Damn... either 1) Looks like both alters of Miquella have the capacity of compelling affection? Not just his Bewitching Branch, but whatever sleepy scent powers Trina is using or 2) Thiollier is Just Like This. Tea?

"I see you've thrown away... Something you should not have. Under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer... to those who cannot be saved? When you could not even save your other self? Kindly Miquella..."

5) The cross strangely has the message from Miquella, "I abandon here my love". All things considered it is not supposed to refer to his feelings, and recalling dialogue by Ansbach I'd say it maybe refers to his ability to wield love as weapon? Because look at how NOW Trina's power entices people into coma. Speaking OF:

6) Turned out my previous guess was wrong, and "bastardisation" of Trina's otherwise pacifist powers was not work of followers, but result of Miquella severing her from his being!

7) (or rather 6.1 lol) This is actually a good additional timeline clue! Earlier Freija mentioned that she received her Scarlet Rot wound in Caelid, so, as Malenia and Radanh fought, and Miquella was the one to heal it! So he was around that time yet. Then, change in Trina's powers happened as Miquella went to abandon his Empyrean entity, when Dolores has been using the powers as they were and she was in the Roundtable Hold! This I think will be useful for later to recover when could he have started with the plan! I already have a working suggestion for explaining events, just need more info!

8) Damn, not the area from the trailer ;-; Thiollier is so dead lol

By the way the boss in this area is RIDICULOUSLY difficult hghghg I gave up on him and kinda went to have adventures elsewhere just for the heck of it!

9) Discovered an actual dialogue by an old lady in Belurat, AND:

EMPYREAN?? I actually yelled at Val about it since I needed to know whether it is legit the same term or perhaps a loss in translation! And he researched Japanese script and confirmed that yes, indeed, this woman IS an Empyrean like GEQ, Marika, Ranni, Miquella and Malenia! @val-of-the-north be a dear and add the evidence you've found today in a reblog or another pose! Because HECK, WHAT????

10) So I went to look around in random places since that boss was too hard. Found a small piece of some ruins by Val's advice, using one of those blue Keyswords. Then I wanted to go down in a village down near Moorth Ruins but for the heck of it could not figure how to get down there. While waiting for Val's slow ass to instruct me, I started to run wherever, really. And ironically, found the exact cave leading me to the FULL version of those Ruins! Felt surprised to find the golden tree inside!

11) Went through second poisonous swamp in the game yet, truly Miyazaki xD

12) Stumbled into Kindred of Rot, but they are RED in color!!!

This was so bizarre?? Damn, still, what ARE they doing here? First turned out that Formless Mothers and rituals for her that Mohg is using originated in Shadow Realm, now this.. Makes me wonder whether all Outer Gods come from this place originally, so God of Rot too, so, Twinbird too?

13) Hey @heraldofcrow how did you lose your clothes?? Put them back on slut gdghvgbvbbh

14) I decided to explore later and instead went to bully Horned Knights and Ascetics for their sets and weapon in Belurat. Belurat has places very close to Site of Grace for both! Horned Knight farming went pretty fast and easy! Ascetic... not so much. :/ He did drop his weapon and arm piece, but past this point he's been only dropping leg piece over and over! Reminds me of that 'Seebass? No, it's at least C+!' meme vffhhhh I think I will return for his mask later :/

15) This type of posts becomes a bit too structured, I need to post more random items descs

16) However I got a note from Val that we surprisingly got lore on Fingercrawlers (lol at my recent theory post aging like milk xd) and @jarognieva said something about a couple of spots on the map looking like giant fingerprints + having many fingers within 👀 No idea what is going on yet, but I can see it now!

Okay that's it for now.. until the tomorrow's work shift ends xD

[rowanisawriter]

Do you have a list of favorite video game characters you have romanced over the years?

yes 😭 i love talking about all my game husbands 😭 thanks for asking 😭

in no particular order..

zevran dragon age - my beautiful insane husband, i love how he starts out very flirty and confident and then slowly reveals his inner depth, the unexpected softness after you give him gifts, i love when characters have a facade you have to dig through to get to the real them 😭 can’t think about him for too long or i will start screaming

gale bg3 - i don’t need to say exactly why i love gale, im sure everyone who follows me already knows and loves him for the same reasons as me but his earnestness, his big ambitions, his love for knowledge and sharing knowledge make me feel like a feral rabid raccoon i know you know what i mean

thanatos hades - my favorite kind of man is one who has been numb to the world for his whole life until he finds a chance to warm up and be loved, i eat it up every time. unfortunately if i start talking too much about thanatos ill end up throwing my phone across the room and won’t be able to finish this post

kaidan mass effect - my beloved kaidan, he felt to me like a grounding and stable person amidst the chaos of mass effect, very principled and certain and confident in himself, and so sweet 😭 i have a soft spot for him always since writing him got me out of a 6 year writing pause 😭 loml

honorable mention: johnny silverhand cyberpunk2077 - while not technically a romance, i felt like his character was so intertwined literally and metaphorically with the player character that i saw it as a romance lol he is wild, he is full of hate, he is selfish and miserable, and by the end he’s ready to give up everything to save you 😭 fucking hell 😭

[huntressofartemis001]

for the ask game! 1, 6, 12, 17, 24!

thank you!!

1. when did you first watch/discover good omens, and how did you find out about it?

ooh thats a good one! one time i was at the beach with my family and my uncle (who is quite the cinephile) was watching it on tv. i arrived just in time to see azi and crowley beating their sentences and swapping back! which means when i actually watched the series i already knew about the body swap lol. this was before s2 even was announced. but i only watched it entirely after i started seeing memes about it on pinterest for no reason (??) so i sat down and watched it. that was also before s2, but only AFTER it came out that i got on the fandom

6. who is your favorite side character?

muriel! i just love them sooo so much <33 cupperty?

12. has your interaction with the good omens fandom been overall good or bad?

pretty good id say. ive seen discourse on my dash but i’ve always avoided it and ive never actually been part of any

17. what is your favorite husband-y moment between aziracrow?

oh i wouldn’t know! i love their moments from s1 lol but i think… “our car” and “our bookshop” are top close with “do we know a jim?” soooo married lol (yes none of these moments are from s1 im just contradicting myself ig)

24. what's a theory for season 3 that you NEED to be included?

ok i was going kind of wild with the theories in the beginning but now im kinda… chill? i dont really care, i trust Neil will do a great job with our husbands as he always has <3 but if i had to pick one, aziraphale completely wrecking shit up in heaven. in a structural way i mean (which is what probably is going to happen so not much of a theory… yeah idk)

[nineevees]

general thoughts on the wk “our blue and green world” special (for funsies)

they had me in the beginning, by the end they completely lost me tho lolol

!! SPOILER WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THE EPISODE YET !!

things i liked:

the intro was!! very good!! loved how they started in space and then gradually zoomed into earth, that was really fun :D

always excited to see how the background of the final shot changes in these specials !!

right away i am so glad they finally color corrected everything i couldn’t stand how bright everything was in season 6 T_T

chris being able to just effortlessly fold his t-shirts into a stack made me laugh lol

i don’t care if anyone says the song sounded flat as hell. the disbelief i had when it first came on. “what is this music what is goin- IS THIS A SONG??” the pure, unadulterated joy i experienced from it. it may be cringe but it has set me free.

idk. i’m just glad to see all these characters back after the hiatus :D

the resplendent quetzal is!! so cool!! so pretty!! i’d love an episode just dedicated to it

saw someone say this already but common aviva W for inventing two creature power discs at once !! it’s her world we are simply all living in it

BLUE WHALES ARE AS BIG AS TWO BRONTOSAURUSES?? waow

i think ever since i’ve gotten past the age of. elementary school. martin’s nicknames for animals have been kind of hit-or-miss for me? (though it might just depend on who’s writing the script i dunno) but i liked kablooey!! (kabluey?) it’s a very cute name :D

zach remembered that he has hacker bots he can use (which are. arguably his best invention?? i’m pretty sure?? i get why they don’t use them every single time zach shows up bc that would get old quickly but it establishes that despite being a whiny man-child who couldn’t tell a walrus from a wombat or a wallaby, he can still be a threat to the wk team)

indri lemur my beloved 🫶🫶

and everyone’s been talking about that so um. let me throw my hat into the ring then.

i can see the intention behind trying to redeem paisley, but it just. doesn’t really match with what’s been established by her character?

the entire special hit me with subsequent punches of “wow this is a kid’s show and i am NOT the target demographic” when they were talking about the water cycle and explaining global warming. so it makes sense, in a sort of wish-fulfillment kind of way that they’d try and redeem the villain whose goal is arguably the most realistic out of the main four.

zach’s main gimmick is using wild animals for his own technology. donita uses wild animals for fashion. gourmand cooks and eats wild animals. yes, the latter two can and do happen in real life (not… really sure about zach’s but that’s not the point). but paisley’s gimmick was never about harming animals, but destroying the environment they live in, in order to build things for humans instead. she’s the kind of person who you’d most likely encounter in real life. redeeming paisley has nothing to do with her character (a businesswoman who finds nature “yucky” as seen in the spirit bear and Asian elephant episodes), instead her general gimmick. wouldn’t it be nice if we could get the people destroying animals’ homes to truly see how beautiful nature can be? so much so that they stop trying to destroy it and instead attempt to help preserve it?

(this is just a personal nitpick but paisley’s new design absolutely is NOT working for me srry)

after i watched the special i had some ideas abt how it potentially could have gone instead?:

don’t redeem paisley at all: again, i get the general idea of why they did this but also. it doesn’t?? line up with her character at all?? the way she was acting in the beginning was fine and perfectly in character for her. she just wants nature out of the way in order to complete her plans, and she has no time for zach being overly concerned with the wild kratts. you could argue that her knowing that dolphins and whales weren’t fish but mammals was foreshadowing to her redemption, but like… paisley’s not dumb?? donita has also corrected zach on not knowing his animals in the past so unless you’re also going to argue for a possible donita redemption in the future then. yeah. i dunno. the other villains didn’t need a redemption to make the special they were in interesting, i don’t see how this one should be any different.

another redemption fake-out, but do it much earlier in the story: i have. my own gripes about how the plot of this special went but we’ll save that for later. have paisley initially be dismissive of the wild kratts’s presence, but once she learns that the kratt brothers are arguing and that aviva, koki, and jimmy are spending all of their time trying to get them to make up, pounce on that opportunity. have her go all over-the-top (like she did in her canon redemption) and trick the wild kratts into thinking she’s turned good, only for her to turn on them in the second half. this might be too similar to “a creature christmas” though. this one would take up more of the plot if that’s any consolation?

give a hint to a paisley redemption arc, but don’t make her do a complete 180 right away: if they’re adamant on redeeming paisley (again, i see the general idea behind this gimmick-wise), then they could still do it and make it fit with her character. remember that paisley’s intentions are not to harm animals, but their environment (which is not any better, making that clear). she can still have her awed-by-coral moment, but maybe. tone it down?? she can have second thoughts about going with the plan, but have zach or rex* encourage her to continue. she steels her resolve, but remembers the coral, and hesitates. and the kratt brothers use that last-minute hesitation to defeat zach’s zachbots and paisley’s pavers. have paisley question why she couldn’t go through with it as she and zach leave madagascar. you could have aviva or one of the other wild kratts theorize that paisley has started to have a change of heart after seeing what nature is capable of, if left to thrive. but again: don’t redeem her right away. hint at it, and then explore it whenever she appears as the main antagonist in an episode of season 7.

*i’m admittedly not caught up on all of wk, but like. did paisley fire rex or something. WHERE WAS HE THIS ENTIRE SPECIAL??

as for the plot point of the kratt brothers fighting… yeah that definitely could have gone better.

(again, minor nitpick but jimmy saying that this was the first time he’s seen the brothers fight,, then implied that it happened every single laundry day,, but also he’s definitely seen them fight before? or had disagreements at least?? isn’t that the premise of at least two different episodes not counting this special. this script is also Not My Favorite. not sure how to explain it but some of the dialogue seems a little awkward?)

ik that the brothers get into danger 24/7 but i feel like. martin should be a little bit concerned that chris was getting squeezed to death by a green anaconda?? like you don’t have to make him overtly worried to the point of apologizing, but you could at least. make him look at chris with concern? i get that the point is that “oh no the brothers are fighting so they won’t help each other when one’s in danger” but. martin your brother is dying STOP SMILING NONCHALANTLY.

the resolution between the brothers was. kind of rushed? all it took was chris complimenting martin (“nice one, bro!”) and then activating some creature powers and then everything was fine. is. is that all it took?

if you liked it then that’s 100% fine !! i’m glad you enjoyed it :D it just wasn’t for me

just my personal preference but i think i would have preferred it if we spent more time with the brothers solo (martin at sea and chris in the rainforest) and have them come to their realizations that the planet needs both blues and greens to thrive separately. like martin sees the planktonic soup and acknowledges that the creatures who live in the ocean need a little green to survive. or chris sees how important rivers are in the amazon and remembers how the rivers will eventually flow into the ocean. and both of the brothers remember their adventures with each other (or aviva, koki, and jimmy remind them). they can still be stubborn and not forgive each other, but i’d like them to at least like. acknowledge each other’s pov and respect it.

or: do something with aviva trying to program two creature power suits at once (the brothers are both in madagascar at this point). like, what if there was a creature power suit malfunction where martin is a blue whale at first, but then turns into an indri. and chris starts our as an indri but then his suit malfunctions and he becomes a blue whale. the bros swap places, with martin going on land and chris going to sea, and then they realize that the other had a point - the land is home to so many wonderful creatures and so are the oceans. and how both are connected and make the earth their home. boom, reconciliation.

also another personal preference thing, i really wish they spent more time with kablooey/kabluey and mambiky (?). i’m here for cool creatures and i wanna see more of the cool creatures !! is that so much to ask for !!

also also. i think the indri-conda was born bc someone saw the pun potential and to that i say. no comment.

i still have. a lot of thoughts but i think i’ll just leave it there for now. ik i criticized it a lot but i did genuinely enjoy the special :D i’m happy to have the brothers back from hiatus and can’t wait to watch the other episodes !!

[arizonaaaaaa]

GLEE LGBTQIA+ HEADCANONS- HAPPY PRIDE MONTH PART 3

21- Unique Adams- trans

-canonically trans

-her story felt a little rushed in my opinion, she went from a drag queen to a crossdresser to a trans person in a spam of like 6 episodes

-underrated Queen

-the best singer in my opinion

22- Marley Rose- pansexual and asexual

-this could be an interesting story line

-like the reason she doesn’t feel ready for sex is because she’s not sexually attracted to anyone

-although this would potentially make Jake an asshole

-her and Unique are gfs tho❤️

23- Jake Puckerman- bisexual

-def wanted to smack Ryder

-he was watching Sam “twerk”

-just gives of energy tbh

-I would actually spend a lot of money to see Jacob Artist make out with a ma

24- Ryder Lynn- gay

-never liked Marley, he actually liked Jake

-i really like Rynique but gay Ryder just speaks louder in my heart

-we could’ve met his father in this possible storyline like the opportunity😭

-Ryan Murphy had a chance to do an actual love triangle on glee but NOOOO LETS MAKE THEM FIGHT FOR THE PRETTY GIRL AGAIN FOR THE FOURTH TIME

25- Kitty Wilde- lesbian

-“what would Quinn Fabray do?” She would be a lesbian

-she dated Jake, Artie and had a crush on Ryder yet she had absolutely 0 chemistry with all of them

-Marley on the other hand…

26- Roderick Meeks- aroace

- I find it interesting how him (and Madison) are the only ones that never showed interest in another person

- really wish assexuality was discussed more back in the 2010’s

- he should’ve been one of the characters introduced in season 4 and I would die on that hill

27- Jane Hayward- unlabeled

- probably thinks labels are stupid and shouldn’t exist because it’s misogynistic or offensive or sm

- idk I really dislike her I feel she would say something annoying like this

28- Mason McCarthy- bisexual

- yeah you’re not straight

- he’s also a really boring character for me so I have nothing to add💀

29- Madison McCarthy- aromantic and lesbian

- now THATS a feral lesbian

- her and Jane as girlfriends tho?

- aromantic part is bc I feel she’s the type of aro who’s disgusted by love

-still likes touching boobs tho

30- Spencer Porter- gay

-canon

- interesting storyline for the first seasons

- although it’s kind off like Dave’s storyline

There’s a limit of ten pictures per post but I really don’t want to make a fourth post just for the students so…

31- Alistair- gay and genderfluid

- Billies brother wow

- this is just based on vibes cause I have no idea if he ever spoke on glee

32- Myron Muskovitz- trans and lesbian

- Josie Totah it’s trans so I feel her character should also be

- maybe figured out when she was about 16?

- so by dreams come true she would already be in her transition🥹

33- Skylar- polysexual

- who? Oh yeah the Blaine of season 6

- again based on vibes

- he’s also a really good singer go listen to the album version of take me to church

34- Super Gay Warbler- indeed gay

- behold the oracle has spoken the truth

- also a good singer go listen to the album version of rise

35- Sunshine Corazon- trans and pansexual

- same with Myron, since the actor is trans I feel like his character should also be

- just imagine after all those years Sunshine returning on season 6 for his transition

- what would be his name tho? Moonlight? *old people laugh plays on the background lmao lol haha*

That’s it for the main kids, prolly won’t do a fourth post for the adults because I don’t really care about them but only time will tell

[corner-for-kourei]

Book 6 Thoughts

!!SPOILERS FOR BOOK 6!!

Honestly, I've been re-reading through the TWST books and I didn't really pick up on it, but there was a lot of hints about Grim dropped in Book 6.

Anyway, not only does he have a curse/blessing placed on him that is super complex and would take ages to unravel, it has traces of ancient magic?? Plus there's the whole thing with Phantoms having the possibility of becoming beasts and hiding in the wild? I'm sure someone out there has already theorized about this, but let me have my little moment. (Maybe we can back each other up lol)

But taking all that into account, would that mean Grim was a Phantom and then became a beast and maybe was pitied by one of the Gods (Hades, I suppose) who then placed a slew of curses/blessings on him that kind of limited his power? Or maybe it was the Great Seven that did that to him? They do seem as though they are the most powerful characters in game. They could've seen him and placed a bunch of magic on him. I mean, he does have elements of every single overblotted character (who is a representation of the Great Seven) during the tutorial screen. It could be representation of his connection to them but I've also held the theory of the blot stones influencing the form for so long that I'm not sure either.

If he was a Phantom then it would make more sense as to why he didn't have a family to turn to. He could've gotten amnesia and then forgotten his past as a Phantom which would then lead to why he was alone.

Idia also mentioned how Grim's blot accumulation levels would jump from red to zero, so that could also indicate his past connection as a Phantom. It might spike at times, but then because of the curses it sort of dies down?

This is purely speculation from an avid fantasy reader, so it could be very out there tbh. What do you guys think?

[the-blind-assassin-12]

20 Questions for Writers

I was tagged by the lovely @maggiemayhemnj - thank you!!

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten. I was cross-posting everything for a minute there, but I lost steam and now I only post here - except for Aphelion, which I am co-writing with @something-tofightfor. That still gets posted in both places.

2. what's your total AO3 word count?

68,449 - not counting Aphelion. My tumblr word count is... a lot higher.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Right now just Pedro Pascal characters.

4. top five fics by kudos?

Gonna go by notes on tumblr instead because that's where most of my stuff is:

Bes'laar Din Djarin x F!Reader (based on artwork by @stealyourblorbos!)

Survivor Blues Joel Miller x F!Reader

Forever Din Djarin x F!Reader

The Cold Offends Me Oberyn Martell x F!Reader (The Viper & The Wild Thing universe)

Point of No Return Ezra x OFC Clara

5. do you respond to comments?

I try to respond to all comments because I appreciate them SO MUCH MORE than I can accurately convey. I love hearing from people about what they liked or what shocked them or what made them feel things, and I really love the chance to sort of have a micro mini chat about it in the comments. That being said, sometimes I completely check out and miss a whole batch or a whole fic worth of comments goes unresponded to for far too long. And I always feel bad when that happens, which sometimes results in me responding to things WAY after the comments were left, to the point where it wouldn't surprise me if the person has already forgotten the fic/what they wrote... but I haven't forgotten how much it meant to me that they read and commented on my work. So even if it's 6 months to an eternity late, I intend to respond to them all.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It Pours From Your Eyes Joel x Tess

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I feel like most of them have happy endings, but we'll go with A Little Christmas Magic - Frankie x F!Reader as perhaps the fluffiest happy ending.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I have gotten non-fic specific hate directed at my writing before, but that was a few years ago and it hasn't happened since. Which is cool because the fewer people wasting their time and energy on being unnecessarily mean about things - let alone about stories about silly little fictional guys - the better.

9. do you write smut?

I do, but I do not consider it one of my strong suits, and I typically only include it if it fits with the overall story though a few times I have written smut just to be filthy as a challenge... and as a treat.

10. craziest crossover?

I've been slowly spinning a True Detective x Tim Rockford crossover like a rotisserie chicken for months but I've only managed to jot down a few unconnected snippets thus far. And a title. It's gonna be called (maybe, if I ever actually write it) Flat Circle, Twisted Game.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, but if I did I would be absolutely PISSED. And I can't say I'd be nice about it.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but that would be cool AF.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I am currently co-writing Aphelion with @something-tofightfor and it is so much FUN.

14. all time favorite ship?

In all honesty it's probably Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt. I was straight up ready to stop watching Parks and Rec if they didn't end up together.

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

lol what kind of passive aggressive, self-doubt feeding question is this? I'd like to finish them all and I try like hell to believe that I will.

16. what are your writing strengths?

I think it's probably describing natural settings? But maybe dialogue. Idk.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Smut. Also keeping the momentum to finish things in a timely fashion, but mostly smut.

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I try to only use it when it makes sense or when it benefits the story and not just as like... a novelty or an afterthought.

19. first fandom you wrote in?

Teeeeeeeeeeechnically? Like first one I ever made content for? I guess that would be the Twilight series. But I will not be sharing where to find that here. And if you find out where it is, you take that knowledge to the grave with you, you hear me? DO YOU HEAR ME, FRIENDS?

20. favorite fic you've written?

Even though it's nowhere near done, I love and am so very proud of Survivor Blues. But then again, even though it's a few years old now and I feel like my writing has grown since finishing it, Point of No Return will always have a very big piece of my heart.

Tagging: anyone who sees this and wants to play! Please tag me so I can see your answers!!

[hughungrybear]

Me while watching Last Twilight Ep. 3:

I swear if P'Aof makes me cry (again) in this episode, I might send him my health insurance bills for the things he's doing (done) on my mental health 😂

1. Of course, the scene starts with a promotion of the upcoming merch 😅 I see you, GMMTV. You're making me want them too 😅😅😅😅 Also, Mhok and Day are acting like they are life-long friends now. Day is just adorable. I can see why Mhok has the urge to just scoop him up 🤭🤭🤭

2. To channel @dribs-and-drabbles' energy, I think Mhok's "Fitness Leader" is very apt for this scene as he tries to help Day to improve his other senses in order to enjoy and live his life despite his disability. 😭 Also, I wonder what Mhok saw in Day's phone? 🤔🤔🤔

3. Look at Day, Mum and Night 😭😭😭 Babying him was just doing Day a disservice. Maybe that's why he was so angry during the first episode. <after five seconds> Gods damn. You should have at least let him eat first 😭😭😭

4. Oh, so it was Mhok who broke up with Porjai? Also, I'm not liking the new bf. Why is she the one saving up for the wedding? Where's my girl, Gee (Film) at? 😅

5. Ah, this is what I was talking about last ep. It seems nobody knows aside from Day's family (and Mhok) that he is essentially blind. Why did the family kept it a secret though??? It would mean Day will never be able to show his face to the public. That's just wild. <after five seconds> Oh my gods, I am crying again. Damn you, kind chancellor of Day's uni admissions 😭😭😭

6. Sidenote: I know this series is not based on any existing novel, but damn. Looking for a book in which Day and Mhok are supposed to be the main characters is (as always) so meta of P'Aof 😂 Also, ngl, that's some effective product promotion they got there - even a blind man can smell and taste the difference 😂😂😂

7. Ooof. Mhok is definitely feeling something already 😳 The man is actively blushing. He is probably grateful that Day cannot see him.

8. That's awfully sweet of Mhok to let Day find the book. Also, who the fvck tears off the last page of a book and sells it off to a second-hand shop? And a novel at that??? Heathens. 🤬

9. Ah, I knew Porjai's new bf cannot be trusted. But also, Mhok, you forgot something important. Day is in trouble 😭😭😭 This is like the "incident" all over again.

10. Oh, my god. The hot pink shirt has healing powers 😭😭😭😭 If not for the ridiculousness of that shirt's colour (and Mhok's mustache), I might have cried again 😅😅😅

11. Mum, don't make me hate you. Mhok was the only person who treated Day decently and has not babied him to the extent that he cannot even come down to the dinner table to eat. The fvck. 🤬

12. Wait, Mhok, now that Day is okay, you need to tell Porjai about her two-timing boyfriend. 🤬

I don't get it - why did Day looked so shooked when Mhok said "good night"? Isn't it a standard greeting? Also, based on the preview, Porjai asking Day the right questions 😂😂 And my girl, Gee, confirming to Day that Mhok is indeed "hot" LOL I kennat 😂😂😂

[14carrotghoul]

Weekend WIP Game

Thank you to @welcometololaland for coming up with this game!! And thank you to @cha-melodius @myheartalivewrites @happiness-of-the-pursuit @inexplicablymine @read-and-write- and @cricketnationrise for tagging me!! You all have such an absolute treasure trove of WIPs!!!! So excited about so many of them!!!

I've been very single minded about witchy WIP for the last two months so this was a cool way to remind me of my other children lol

1. WIP List: here be my babies

A Love that Haunts the Land aka witchy WIP (currently posting but still working on it LIKE A FOOL)

Ellen drabble collection/character study

caterer!Alex and out Prince Henry meet at a state dinner

Las Flores 3

marching band/high school AU

anastasia-ish AU

alternate universe king Henry

Shaan and Henry pre-canon character study

"Anonymous" Henry and Alex wear disguises to explore and end up at the Strand

Canon-divergence no Cakegate

I wanna post the two character studies next!!

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?

Not counting ALTHTL, I believe it's Anastasia (~20k) but still has a long way to go

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?

I think canon divergence no Cakegate??

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

My favorite to write is las flores 3 but i also overthink it. Most fun to write is marching band au bc I get to reminisce and I always ham up their personalities when I write them as teens which is extra fun

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

Las Flores 3 haha I've set my own tone unfortunately and I feel like this one is all over the place as far as a theme. And I keep going back and forth on some character choices. Have already had two major rewrites

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

Ellen character study! It's hard to get in her head, especially bc I have a Thing about people in power

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

Probably anything that's a multichap! When a fic gets too long I get overwhelmed and can literally feel that I'm not editing as well as I'd like

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?

I flip between them pretty often but the ones that are probably the most dormant are no Cakegate and Anastasia AU (this one is bc I have a lot of filler left and it's hard to force myself to write that)

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?

Las Flores 3! My gang of family OCs is in it and I finally wrote Alex and Henry's children and they are both very adorable in different ways! I think Anonymous is the only other fic with an OC in it?

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

Probably Anastasia? I think literally that is the only one with an explicit scene in it (MY FIRST)

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

Shaan and Henry pre-canon and King Henry AU are both pretty angsty :(

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)?

ooooooh I think no Cakegate. Trying very hard to stay as close to their canon characterization as possible

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

ALTHTL has some very cool imagery bc I got to build a world from scratch!!

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

Either Anastasia (where i wrote 20k in one month) or no Cakegate (which is among the first fics I started writing)

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

Las Flores 3 hands down. I want it to feel like a natural continuation of that big overwhelming love from the first two, but so far it's more toned down and anxious haha

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

no haha which sucks bc I do have very vivid dreams and I think it would be fun

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't?

ALTHTL!!!!! My GOD the worldbuilding in this one is wild!!! I started by giving myself a bit of a cop out but then fully committed to Aztec mythology bc it was hard to find concrete info on brujeria. So there's still creative liberties bc I wrote it with the scraps of information I could find (a blend of a well timed ologies episode on witches, ingrained catholicism, and two sketchy looking websites on Aztecs) and THEN two weeks ago I found an extremely helpful book on Aztecs and have been tweaking my own worldbuilding (hence the still working on it). But what BLOWS MY MIND is that I had stuff I built from scratch that ended up aligning like CRAZY with the real beliefs. I shan't spoil but if asked later I will divulge!

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour?

Las Flores 3! And ALTHTL has a very pointed effort to remain humorous to counter the heavy material!

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

Ellen and Shaan's character studies. Ellen is hard to tap into!! Shaan is a bit easier but I get sad writing it bc Henry is going Through It :(

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

Las Flores 3 has a moment inspired by an actual photo of my dad from the eighties sitting on the hood of a lowrider wearing a v-neck crop top lmao he's blurry enough that I may post it as a reward when I upload the fic

No pressure tags for: @sherryvalli @indomitable-love @athousandrooms @suseagull04 @formorewishes @raysletters @historicallysam @dumbpeachjuice @cultofsappho @xthelastknownsurvivorx and @celeritas2997! <3

A list of questions for Artists!

1. WIP List:

2. Which WIP is your most complex?

3. Do any of your WIPs involve you using a technique/style that you haven't used before? What inspired you to try it?

4. Which WIP do you expect will take you the longest?

5. Which WIP are you finding the most enjoyable to create?

6. Do you have a favourite character to draw/stitch/paint/depict? Are they in many of your WIP projects?

7. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of creator's block?

9. Do any of your WIPs contain characters outside the main ship? How are you finding creating those?

10. What emotions are you hoping to convey through your WIPs?

11. Are there any features/details you are finding challenging in your WIPs?

12. Which WIP has the most complex shading/colouring?

13. Which WIP has the most complex background?

14. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for?

15. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

16. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other art doesn't?

17. Are any of your WIPs commissions?

18. Do you have a character that is more difficult to draw/stitch/paint/depict? Are they in many of your WIP projects?

19. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #5: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 1/The Great Ace Attorney Adventures

Completed: March 26th (main game) / March 27th (escapades/the bonus video content)

Time spent: 37 hours (main game) / 39 hours (including bonus content stuff)

Rating: 8/10 (but with caveats because of it being the first of a duology) thoughts under the cut because there are many and a lot of them are spoilery. but the tl;dr is that they were clearly still kind of finding their footing with this game but The Game Is Good. and the reasons i'm giving it an 8/10 are mostly because i need to see how dgs2 deals with some of the loose ends before i go higher

first, the positives (and I suppose the neutrals):

first of all, on the game design side of things, the music slaps. as usual for an AA game honestly but there does not seem to be a single miss in this soundtrack which is rare. can't wait to hear the inevitable remixes and reframing of themes in dgs2.

it took me way longer than i expected to warm up to the main cast, but once I really got into the meat of the game, i found that I do really like all of them (and I mean ALL of them, including the more minor characters. except mcgilded but fuck mcgilded). this kind of suprised me because I don't think i've come close to that in any AA game except maybe the first one and t&t. also maybe aai2 but that's pushing it. like this game reminded me why I like AA at all after the absolute slogs of 5 and 6. (and the absolute 'i remember fucking none of this' of apollo justice)

the character design of this game as a whole is INCREDIBLE. there is not a single character design that I don't like in some way. from the really good student uniform designs, to susato's kimono, to iris and sherlock's outfits.....and those are just the main ones. a lot of the witnesses and even some of the jury members are memorable just on character design alone. even the designs i think are kind of ugly (coughs. mcgilded) are clearly ugly by design and not by accident. it's a feat. hope that dgs2 keeps up the good work but based on the one (very big....oops) spoiler that i know, i'd be surprised if it didn't.

the parallel between ashley graydon and gina as kids raised in poverty in the last case. mwah. magnificent. chef's kiss. 10/10 no notes

dgs sherlock is such a good interpretation of the Man The Myth and the Legend

also i really adore ryuu as a protagonist. i can't quite put my finger on why, it might honestly just be because of how fucking distressed he is all the time LOL, but i like him in a way that feels a bit deeper to me than the way in which i like phoenix. he's clearly making the best of a bizarre situation and his Law Skills are more of a matter of natural talent rather than training

the ending is. man. it's good and a very good sequel hook but can you fucking IMAGINE if they had never gotten the money to make a sequel to this game. what a hell world that would be. imagine just dropping a major hint that three characters you already know of are involved in a huge fucking conspiracy and then never getting to explain why. vlr/ztd interface level catastrophe.

and then the few negatives i have which unfortunately drag this down a little bit for me, enough to the 8/10 level...primarily the first one:

this game has WHACK pacing. having essentially 3 separate tutorials is a wild game design choice to make. the pacing felt off to me to the extent that the end of case 4 felt like it was the middle of the game, and case 5 was almost half of my playtime at 16 hours out of 37 so i think it was close to LITERALLY being halfway through. i don't have a good idea on how to fix it, given that this game has to introduce both the new dance of deduction mechanic AND the weird jury summation examination mechanic, but....there should have been something. it really made it difficult for me to fully Care about the characters until i was into case 5. and I'm glad that case 5 was ultimately good enough to make me care about everyone (e.g. i didn't really care about gina in case 3 at all), but it's pretty rough. i genuinely don't know HOW you fix the pacing issue while also keeping the overall plot outline the same, though, especially because cases 2 and 3 are so crucial. the only thing i can really think of is introducing some of the background london information in case 4 instead of 5, but.......still. or making case 4 happen more than a single goddamn day after case 3. just something to make the pace not feel nearly as weird. sighs. idk. it needed substantial tweaking but I don't have a good idea on what tweaks needed to be made. i've heard dgs2 has much better pacing from someone whose opinions i trust on that kind of thing, so i really hope it pulls through there.

more minor critique: a lot of the cases, barring 5, are weirdly easy with very rare (and also weird) spotty difficulty spikes. of course it's always hard to strike the balance in an AA game, and i wasn't expecting the tutorial to be hard, but...case 4 just kind of dragged for me because of how long the trial goes on. 5 actually did have tricky moments for me thanks to eggman graydon wanting to hide the truth and the sheer amount of evidence, but yeah. still far more challenging than the dr games just giving you all of the facts at the very beginning of the trial, though...at least shu takumi knows how to write a mystery LMAO

asougi really needed a little more lead time before getting killed off, because i like him but, without the escapades, it's probably not as much as I think the game wants me to like him, and ryuu being his best friend is not super convincing to me even though he shows that a lot more in later cases. i'm not tooootally sure how i would have fixed that, maybe keeping him alive a bit in the first half of the 2nd case? doing some more slice of life stuff with him and ryuu? or making ryuu's reaction to his death a little bit more shocked? idk. i'm REALLY glad the escapades exist because they help a lot in fleshing him out, but i really think parts of them should have been in the game proper =========== all that said. if a game gets me to write this many fucking words about it..which took me a goddamn HOUR to write jesus christ i just checked my computer clock.... it's clearly doing SOMETHING right. honestly, if the pacing wasn't so bizarre, i'd probably bump it up a full point. i am absolutely playing the second game but im already worried its gonna hit full on zero escape and raging loop level catastrophe fixation (positive) once im done so…i'm honestly putting off starting dgs2 a little bit because i'm worried that it's gonna distract me to the point of my grades/job suffering a little LOL. i haven't had that happen in a while so, at least in that way....congrats dgs you won me over. i will never stop calling you dgs because thats how i was introduced to you 7 years ago as my best friend's first new-fixation when i first became friends with her. sorry it took so long for me to get around to you.