#this is always a fun exercise imo <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[the-clay-quarters]

taps the mic. any furries here?

If yall were to assign an animal to your ocs, what would it be?

Vincent already has a strong bug association (nerd <3) so, building on that, they'd either be a blue day moth (moths are reportedly common in the neath and are also just a favourite of mine, this species in particular is the perfect colours for them) or a blue papua mantis (smart vibes TM and awkward looking, specifically blue :3)

Pembroke would be a borzoi! Fancy and elegant looking, but still a hunting dog >:) Pretty but vicious~

Silverstein (if not something artificial a la robot) would be one of those big but gentle dogs, though I don't have a specific breed in mind. Would be a guard dog if you asked but is mostly content to just sit <3

[mysterycitrus]

top 5 dc writers & top 5 dick grayson writers pretty plssss

i feel like this q has to come with a big * beside each name because most of these writers have written twice as many terrible comics as they have good. like chuck dixon is a foundational writer for dick (and tim and connor) and he’s also a violent turbo-fascist who’s made the industry indescribably more toxic. devin grayson’s run on nightwing 1996 is an exercise in her weird racist fetish, but she also wrote for titans 1999, one of the better fab 5 comics. grant morrison wrote batman and robin 2009, and irreversibly butchered the popular interpretation of talia al ghul, etc.

so take these with a grain of salt —

1. mark waid — this should be obvious imo. there’s really no competition. the writing (for dick in specific) in worlds finest blows everything else out of the water rn. he can balance large casts well, his version of the titans was fun, he has an obvious knowledge of comic canon. i wish he’d pick up the ongoing nightwing solo and give back dick’s personality.

2. kelley puckett - unironically wrote the best run of all time. no one has done it like him before or since. i need him to come back and write for cass again (or damian). would love to see him write the dick + damian + talia dynamic.

3. scott snyder — this man wrote black mirror (the best dickbats story) and court of owls (which ruined everything). he's three dimensional. he is my enemy. he is not allowed to worldbuild unsupervised.

4. greg rucka — i met him at a con once and he was a very chill dude. he's an ally. he's always wearing a hat. no man's land, u will always be famous.

5. judd winick — this man either writes something that changes the status quo (utrh) or one of the worst books ever (titans 2008). no inbetween. he's a freak. he wants tim drake and kon-el to kiss. honorary ment for being another guy that ruined talia. he does get points for writing outsiders (2003).

also a shoutout to jeff lemire and amy wolfram

[ohmeadows]

with the experience you have now, what is something you usually do when you feel the creative block so bad that it makes you want to drop all your writing during an indeterminate period of time? (Not considering talking to someone because i don't have friends with the same interests as me)

Lately i have been writing consistently but now i am in a point between the overwhelming need to keep creating and the suffocating need to just stop. the last time this happened not a single word was written in over a year xd

oh and im so in love with your writing btw <3

thank you and i'm sorry to hear you're struggling with a creative block, i know the feeling all too well. (there's a span of years between 2013 and 2016 where i didn't write at all.)

while a little break does do good, i know the threshold to getting back to it becomes so high it feels insurmountable. but it sounds like you need to replenish the well, as i like to call it. think of your writing as a well you draw from, and it needs a steady supply of water to be able to sustain you dipping into it for the power and inspiration to keep going. feeding it involves engaging in texts in a different way. for me, that's reading, and a lot. i sometimes feel so parched i have to steamroll thru ten books before i feel like i have it balanced again.

i've made some posts beforehand on how to approach reading as a writer (wish i'd tagged them better), but it boils down to:

make lists of beautiful words and sentences that you like; could you emulate them? could you write them in your style?

how do the writers pull off the tricks you struggle with? for me this is knowing when to just move the scene along, or how to showcase that time has passed. (i did a whole study on this from my fave books and it boiled down to just writing "A day later/Weeks down the line/Three months passed before she/It didn't take more than forty-five minutes to get across town but it felt like moving backwards through time" which was fun to learn)

just reading for fun. cannot be understated. sometimes you just need to be pulled into a story and feel too dazzled to stop and think to be reminded of how delicious writing feels

and yes, this goes for mangas, comics, scripts, movies, tv shows, even game writing imo (visual novels are great fun for how they do dialogue and emotional appeal).

another thing to not lose touch with the writing as a practice but maybe take a little breather from the project is to start a journal. i like this one a lot personally, there's the concept of morning pages where you get up in the morning and write three pages without stopping or overthinking.

this leads into automatic writing, which is about setting a timer (25 mins is a good one i feel, but even 15-10-5 does wonders) and while it ticks, you have to keep writing. yes, even if all you write is the same word over and over, or your thoughts as they come to you. this is a key component exercise at all writing schools i've ever gone to. personally i like to "guide it" so to speak with a prompt, be it a word (Lust, Rose, Name, Echo) or a full sentence ("She didn't like where this was going.") or an image. what this exercise teaches you is to shorten the distance between hand putting the words down and your thoughts as they process and come to you, as well as embracing writing messy and ugly and shitty because you can always come back and fix a half-assed page, but you can't do anything with a blank one.

third and final thing: movement. go outside. look around. if you can, get moving, take in the surroundings. there's no expectation on you to write anything from this, just let the movement and your thoughts be it. whenever i hit creative rut, i go for a walk. the first half hour my brain is quiet and annoyed. then things start moving in there as well. i'll walk all the way down to the sea and look at the waves and back home and process an idea from it. (i do keep the notes app on my phone readily available for this, but a notebook or receipt or post-it notes also work fine.)

like all art, writing is a practice and the actual act of writing is maybe 20-30% of what it is. nourish the well and it will nourish you back.

+ for what it's worth, i also often try to edge in rest days where i don't write. at least two a week. be gentle and forgiving on yourself.

[persephoneflouwers]

i used to go here a while back even though i wasn’t rlly a proper larrie (complicated lol). at one point i started talking mad shit about them and everyone hated me only for me to come back and see how different people move now. womp womp :/ i genuinely feel like everyone dislikes them a teeny tiny bit, it’s weird to see. back then it was a big deal if you got away with a tad bit of criticism and anyone who was proper bitter was ousted into a small corner of this site where they stayed bitter with their anons. and it was also like 3 people. now im checking random blogs and literally everyone has some shady thing to say. DESERVED tbh. leaving before I say more. sorry if this is annoying or unnecessary. i just wanted to say it 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️

I mean… if you’ve been following closer, they have been clearly very hard on larries for a while. Take Harry for example. This past summer he made his life purpose to destroy all things larries used as… something lol blue bandana? Here, X*nder have it. Sweet creature? It’s for Gemma and he said it in front of 90K people which was very humiliating imo. Umbro shirt? Listen, he’ll have it for a pap walk he will have to promote his brand and yall like bluegreen nail polish. And the last one, the one people willingly ignore, he has O*ivia name tattooed on his INNER THIGH. I dont think it gets worse than this lol do I even have to mention the biking sessions to promote a theatre play or…?

Louis has been a dickhead on twitter since he was in the band. Yesterday he was even more of a dickhead than he used to. If he wants to be the third Gallagher brother he should be asking them first. He was unnecessarily rude with everyone and with the chicken parmesan thing he showed to me he doesn’t even read the tweets or whatever issue with reading comprehension he has going on.

The good thing about social media instead of live or interviews is that you can take your time to write down some articulated response and that you happen to choose what you reply to.

He announced he was going to do this thing 24 hours prior, went online and treated everyone with sufficiency. Totally unprovoked. Can you see how prepared this was? That makes it even worse because he is acting like this on purpose and everyone knows it. Like what’s the point of doing that speech on stage everyone gets so emotional for if you go online and bicker with your fans? They’re not taken for granted when they buy your tickets, but when they tweet constantly about you and keep you relevant on social they’re? This tells a lot to me.

The problem is he wants to deny what he created (he mentioned the recipe even for walls promo) but he puts a target on larries’ back as always, because his fans can be unreasonably nasty and the pop world hates larries already they don’t waste a minute to start alienating them, insult them and bully them out of the safe space they have created for themselves. It’s the marketing they have chosen, their propaganda.

It’s weird when accounts with huge following interact with this part of fandom, because they never do it to “protect” them. We’re talking about a loud, mostly queer and young side of his fandom… I wonder what would happen if larries finally decided to turn their backs at them (which I encourage to do). Yes, there still might be a target on them but at least it wouldn’t be like that. I’m pretty out of the fandom, barely talk about them but I still follow some blogs so I know a few things. I’ve realised I’m not comfortable anymore here. I still want to write a few stories because it’s fun and I like the exercise but that’s going to be it.

[tysonfurybattlepass]

What kinds of martial arts/fighting do you do? I've always been interested in stuff like that but I'm really short and petite. It doesn't seem possible for me to do.

haha, you’ve come to the right place. i’m 5’3 (160cm) and at my highest ever weight right now, a whopping 115lb (about 52kg). ive been training for over a decade now and competing/teaching almost as long so I’m Your Guy lol

i started with brazilian jiujitsu when i was thirteen. i thought it would be fun and i wanted to strengthen my heart and lungs, as i was a frail victorian waif with pots and asthma. started with once a week, fell in love, and soon was clocking in an hour or two five days a week. i exclusively trained and competed in bjj for 3-4years before i decided i was done being bad at standup fighting so i added in muay thai. fell in love with that too. competed in a couple national tournaments and took third and second. post-covid, hopped into boxing. my most impressive achievements are on that stage imo, having taken gold and silver in two regional tournaments last year (gold/silver match was against the same opponent both times! so i guess that makes us even…) just recently started seriously building my standing-grappling game (which is still weak rip) by adding in freestyle wrestling and judo. i train and spar mma regularly, but have not competed under that ruleset.

so to answer your question: i do a little bit of everything.

some advice from a small but determined combat athlete:

1. being smaller than your training partners and opponents is frustrating. it is disheartening. people will get away with doing shit that is objectively bad and wrong on you because they can brute force it. it’s not because you aren’t good enough. there are also ways to mitigate this:

2. as a small person, your assets will be precise technique, accurate timing, agility, and endurance. because you are small, you will naturally be more technically competent. if you do something wrong against someone bigger than you, it simply won’t work. thus, you will have more incentive to do it right! once you build up to a consistent training schedule, you will have better movement and endurance than a bigger person because you simply have less weight to move. ergo, moving yourself is an easier task. use this to your advantage. wether the storm until big boy gets tired and then tool him around👍

3. this applies to exercise in general and i cannot stress it enough: do not go hard at first. do not jump into the deep end. start out with two classes a week. ideally 45min-1hr classes, on different days, with at least one rest day in between. your body needs time to adapt to new workloads, or else you’ll just be hurt and sore and burned out. do that until it feels easy! then bump it to four days a week, which is when you’ll start to see real technical progress.

4. establish your goals for training before you commit to anything! are you looking for fitness? competition? self-defense? or are you just trying to have fun? each sport offers different benefits and potential drawbacks. i’d be happy to elaborate more on that if you wish. feel free to ask about whatever you’re interested in and i can recommend what to look for :3

combat sports is half my personality and the entirety of my irl social life nowadays. 10/10 would do again despite mild ouchie and being tired a lot

[meowzfordayz]

hi t!! sorry i just phase in and out of existence lol. wishing you a week as wonderful as you <3 what's something cool that's happened lately? also, what's ur writing process like?

Hihi, you've nothing to apologize for! 💖 I'm always happy when you phase in again, and totally understand that #life is a thing lol.

I recently started projecting a 5.11a lead climb 💪🏽 (and took a huge whip aka fall on it 😳 — very fun hehe), so that's pretty cool. 😁 I'm also fiiinally going to start managing my new store (not my store as in owner, but "my" as in manager of it) tmro !! 🥳

Sending you wonderful Wednesday vibes; hope things've been gentler toward you lately. 💞

Continue below for my writing process... 🤓

My writing process varies, but—for me—it all starts @ the point of inspo.

Sometimes inspo hits me like a truck, and the story simply flows until it exhausts itself i.e. a hug (or, a thousand words too painful to say, but too precious to be left unspoken). Other times, inspo trickles like a nearly depleted stream, and writing feels like wiggling a baby tooth from dawn till dusk, trying desperately (and tiredly) to pull it out i.e. NSFW Alphabet — Himejima Gyomei — I've been writing basically a letter a day, and am ~halfway finished.

As an occasional dabbler in playwriting, dialogue is def a stronger aspect of my writing, and I often outline scenes by their dialogue rather than their physical/emotional aspects. However, sometimes I write the other way around!

For instance, I started a hug (or, a thousand words too painful to say, but too precious to be left unspoken) w/ poignant imagery (the first paragraph) that drove the rest of its plot, but for i hear your heart, feel your soul, see your body; i love you, I actually wrote literally all the dialogue first, and then slowly pieced the rest of the scene together.

I've found that 500-2,000 words tends to be my preferred length of writing, so anything 2,000+ means either a. inspo hit me like a truck (for one shots) or b. it's headcanons/preferences, so it's really just a ton of shorter works strung together into a ~technically longer piece. I can't exactly speak on the process of writing longer works, bc they're just not my instinctive style.

That being said, when writing something 2,000+, I find myself only writing the most important moments to inform the entirety of the plot — otherwise I get overwhelmed/lose steam.

I suspect I float around 500-2,000 words bc I strongly dislike revisiting unfinished works. 😅 If I can't write it all in one sitting, then I (generally) don't want to write it! 😝

Imo, the most important thing about a writing process is that it works for and serves the writer. Ofc, professional/reknowned writers have their own recommendations, processes, "do this!", "never do this!", but discovering my own needs and boundaries has been the most helpful for me.

A deep love and desire to write, along with the ~somewhat consistent time and availability to write, are ultimately the basis of my writing process. No, I don't wake up at 5am every day to write; no, I don't do many quick write exercises; no, I don't consciously implement challenges to better my writing; but yes I love writing, and even a sentence is better than no sentence at all. 🤓

[nachosncheeze]

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

📚 & 🏷️

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

Definitely! It depends on what you are looking for, so here's a few of my faves in a couple different categories:

***Edit: I'm adding a cut bc it's just occurred to me to mention, anyone new who's not done the series but is seeing this - I do have a spoiler-safe fics list that Scotti and I were working on at one point, so if there's a specific season you're looking for, but not wanting to know what twists come after (or if you're looking for fic for a specific episode or event), feel free to inbox me and I'll send some links. :)

Below this cut there are descriptions that spoil all sorts of things, so.....***

For Jeller, everything by @indelibleevidence is outstanding. I'm gonna start out saying probably a majority of it has passages that are NSFW so if you're a minor or not into that, tread lightly. I'm currently revisiting Remember to Forgive, which has late-season 3 Weller suffering amnesia that takes him mentally back to early season 2; you know, when he couldn't stand to be in the same room as his wife. The angst! It's a fave and totally my jam, I could probably quote it. Torture Without You is... well. Read it. Amazing. I'm a big Remi fan, and here you will also find one of our two Reller champions: the Damaged Goods series is so dark (also very NSFW) but soooo good.

@idealisticrealism is another that everyone should definitely read, imo. The Fire is basically my favorite one-shot ever, and she's our other Reller champion - as complete AUs go I can not possibly overstate my love for From the Ashes and Into Flames. I could literally quote them both to you.

@gypsyscarfwoman is responsible for my other favorite one-shot, Nothing Can Come Between Us, which is Jeller after season 2, but from Sarah Weller's POV. It's just a tiny bit angsty but fluffy and sweet. I love the way she describes the interactions between Jeller as viewed by a concerned third party. There's also Shelter From Your Storm, which is another season 2 AU except that post compound raid there's legitimate concern Nas might throw Jane under the bus and let the CIA have her, so Weller fake marries her to legitimize and protect her.

@ladyriot recently did a lovely retelling of s2 but as a Jane/Patterson slow burn. The way they low key agonize over each other is tragic, but the ending is so sweet without being completely saccharine, and it's definitely worth a look.

I haven't read much Zapatterson but @narvaldetierra is actively writing them. I read Remembers from September and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished a while ago, and I'm excited to reread them soon and then keep working through this ship 😁

Dylan Cruca is worth checking out if you want a bit of season 2/3 Jeller canon divergence/extra scenes, or Jeller/Reller AUs - I thought their post-season 1 AU ended up being a particularly interesting twist - but they're not for everyone.

I could go on but I'll end with one that's basically the fic equivalent to a playlist of Sad Songs to Sob To: Silence Speaks by lochness20, in which Jane's black site escape attempt fails, and when they find her, she is in a REALLY bad state. Warning that it's pretty dark and brutal and tw for suicidal thoughts and an eventual very graphic murder.

🏷 Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

I don't really look for specific tags; it's not a huge fandom so there's not a ton of room to be choosy. I can say that straight whump isn't my thing, nor is pure domestic stuff, and I generally steer clear of pregnancy/kidfic unless there's some other compelling plot alongside the kids. I guess I basically love angst most of all 😍

Thank you for the ask!! :D It's always fun to revisit some faves. 💕

I'm trying to find my mojo and inspiration to start creating again, and I find these memes are a really good exercise to think critically about my ideas and hopefully get the juices flowing. If anyone else is curious, please check here and consider sending me an ask!

I've also recently done a WIP ask meme, which you can find here if you'd like a peek at what I've been working on before the words left me. :)

[nickelstudy]

My JLPT N1 Study Method (& Plan)

9/25/2023

As my introduction said, I'm trying to pass N1 by the next JLPT exam which is in this December! In this post, I will share how I study or prepare for N1

Books I Bought

Nihongo Sou Matome Vocabulary N1

TRY! 日本語能力試験Ｎ1

GO! JLPT N1 Grammar(Translated from Shin Kanzen Master i hate the renaming sm)

They are translated into Thai.

If you want to improve your Japanese understanding, people might recommend buying the Japanese version when you are at an intermediate level. But personally, I can completely understand it better when it's explained in my mother tongue, hence the reason why I bought them (plus I'm broke)

I bought them 2 months ago!

I start with TRY! and Sou Matome by reading the vocabs first from Sou Matome, then move on to TRY! doing their exercise as much as my brain can handle, usually not over a chapter.

Here's what my notebook looks like

As you can see, nothing fancy– just a pencil and a sticky note. I write words I don't or barely understand at the top of every page. As for the sticky note, it's for the words from the seventh day of Sou Matome that I can't remember their meanings. You might notice I didn't write their meanings. It's because I want to challenge myself to recall their meanings without relying on written translations.

I also READ the TRY! book in advance, so I'm always ahead of my actual exercise. Why you may ask? It came from when I read the N4 book. I always carried it everywhere because reading it was fun! So I'm trying to keep up this habit (despite taking more effort than before). When I read sample sentences, I try to translate them into Thai by myself before looking at the translations, because I want to practice my interpretation/translation skills too! (It'll definitely be useful in the future).

After finishing TRY! I will start reading GO! JLPT. Hopefully, I can finish this before the exam date.

OH! One thing I forgot to mention, I haven't done the listening exercises in TRY!. The reason is simple, it's a bit of a hassle to use a DVD player so I want to do them altogether when I am done reading GO! JLPT. I use Kanji Study (Play Store only) for studying Kanji. Right now, I'm studying secondary 3's kanjis. Believe it or not, it has been a year since I started learning secondary 3 and never managed to make progress.

Future Plans

There can be a rare case where I finish these books earlier than I expect so here's what I should do (by that, I mean you definitely should because god those books don't cover the skill adequately)

日本語能力試験　対策問題＆必点整理　読解 Ｎ1 This book is incredible imo, because it explains the answers to every question which made me thoroughly understand it when I was studying for N2

Shin Kanzen Master 聴解 Ｎ1

These will be the books I borrow from my university's library. They are in Japanese too that's why I love borrowing from here! I think the CD resource can be found online because that's what I did for N2.

Lastly, if there is still time I'll take a mock exam from the official JLPT handbook.

AAAA Thank you for reading again. I will try to use this blog for archiving my knowledge and stuff like this more. See you in the next post!

[earth2068]

hey so if i'm remembering correctly you said once on the discord that e2068 was originally a homestuck fansession idea- if you don't mind what were the characters' classpects and were they derse or prospit dreamers before this became... not a homestuck?

ok before i answer this question im gonna need everyone to abandon any concept of cringe culture still lingering in their hearts. find the part of you that says "homestuck is cringe" and just turn it off for the next 10 minutes. done? alright.

so yeah as ive admitted before on discord, the cast of earth 2068 originated from a homestuck fansession* i developed when i was a kid, first when i was 9 then reworked when i was 12. im specifying my age at the time so you understand how deep-rooted this is.

*a fansession is when you write a story in which ur ocs play the game that the plot of homestuck revolves around. its pretty fun! you develop the kind of planet theyd have, their classpects, etc, good character building exercise imo

the pre-scratch** session was composed of the 5 ARACHNID members, flynn, vermillion, violet, lucille and viridian (screw homestuck naming conventions theyre stupid), with the post-scratch** session having leon, phil, jordan, and two characters who would eventually be combined with each other when i wasnt looking to become daniya.

**dont ask what a scratch is, it basically means everyones parents get to be teenagers and play the game in a different timeline.

every session ive seen written has an even number of players, so theyd be evenly divided between derse and prospit***. i, however, had five players in each session, so either one kingdom would have more players than the other, or i had to contrive some alternative. i ended up developing a third moon kingdom for the odd player out called vidium that was teal and kinda depressing. i BROKE homestuck rules for my Original Moon Kingdom Do Not Steal.

***depending on a characters personality they would wake up on one of two magical moon kingdoms when they go to sleep, either the purple and spooky derse, or the gold and fun prospit

i actually, on occasion, write an earth 2068 au in a series of google docs in which the characters get to play the session i planned for them all those years ago, which is entirely self-indulgent and only something i work on when im tremendously bored. i dont think ill be sharing it but if i do it will only be when people stop making fun of me for liking a webcomic when i was 9 years old

and now, what youve all been waiting for, the classpects of each character- under the cut bc Long

preface: these have changed a lot since i was 9. ill be giving the current classpects ive assigned them, the same ones i use for the session i write currently when im bored. ill let you know which ones have stayed the same.

ALSO- no one who analyzes classpects agrees what each class means, because very few of them were confirmed in canon! these are all dependent on my personal interpretations, which i believe are backed by canon, but people will disagree with me on a few of these and thats ok. just please shut up about it.

FLYNN - rogue of time; prospit dreamer ("but time players are always on derse-" shut up! <3). time is the aspect of, you know, time, as well as other things, mainly death, destruction and entropy. a rogue is a passive(+) class- one who steals their aspect or steals WITH their aspect, strictly for the benefit of others. so flynn is one who steals time, or steals with time. in the very first chapter, flynn steals exotic matter, a substance specifically used for the purpose of time travel, and gives it to vermillion, the one who needs it. his role in the "operation" hinges on being able to sway the timeline to save ten billion lives- stealing time (death/destruction) with time (time travel). and on a fundamental level, flynn is a person who will always, no matter what, protect the people who need protecting from those who would harm them.

VERMILLION - mage of mind; derse dreamer. mind is the aspect of decisions and their consequences; the general concept of causality. a mage is an active(-) class, one who is gifted/inflicted with knowledge of their aspect, and due to the type of person they are, keeps that knowledge to themselves, to carry that burden so no one else has to. so a mage of mind is someone with a great understanding of causality- being the one plotting an operation to save the world via time travel requires the ability to predict the decisions other people will make, and the consequences theyll have, and this is a skill we see vermillion utilize a lot in the story (mostly in parts we havent gotten to). theyre the one who comes up with the plan, who decides what everyone else will be doing, and how that will help them, without needing to explain themselves. theyre a leader, but a difficult one, who doesnt intend on seeking feedback. verms main problem is how their emotions and insecurity in their sense of self cloud their judgement, and with heart being the aspect of emotion and the self and the antithesis to the mind aspect, it makes sense that a mind players biggest problem would be their heart.

LEON - knight of hope; prospit dreamer. hope is the aspect of positive emotion, as well as optimism and belief. in the right hands, its one of the strongest aspects. a knight is an active(-) class, one who equips themselves with their aspect in order to weaponize it. on two separate occasions, weve seen leon experience extreme anxiety or anger before immediately covering it up to appease phil; he throws up a mask to protect himself and the people he loves. this is weaponizing hope, equipping himself with his ability to see the best in a situation, and put on a happy face to keep things stable. hes a theatre major, and puts those acting skills to use whenever he can. its easy to see this as an unhealthy classpect, and it sort of is, but its real strength comes from how leon is at his most powerful, most influential, when hes guided by his love for other people, and his belief in his own ability. this is one of the few classpects that has stayed the same since leons creation!

PHIL - thief of heart; derse dreamer. as i mentioned earlier, heart is the aspect of emotions and the self. meanwhile, a thief is the active(-) counterpart to the rogue, so while the rogue steals for the sake of others, the thief steals for the sake of themselves. in multiple ways, phil steals facets of other peoples identities and emotions for himself- he steals data from peoples devices, he forces leon to kiss him (stealing leons autonomy, not allowing him to express his feelings on the matter beforehand, to enforce his own desires and emotions), he creates a dynamic with leon where he cant express what hes truly wanting or feeling, he [CHAPTER 4 SPOILERS], [CHAPTER 6 SPOILERS], etc. phils emotions and identity are such powerful forces that those of others get trampled over, stolen for himself. this doesnt make him ontologically evil, its possible that he could use this for good, if only he could just point his black hole of a personality in the right direction, and learn to turn down his ego most of the time.

JORDAN - heir of space; vidium dreamer (odd player out). space is the antithesis to time. its the aspect of, you know, space, the physical universe and its spacial dimensions, but also of creation. the heir is passive(+), and a bit of a complicated class, that boils down to inviting change in their aspect, or inviting change THROUGH their aspect. as an heir of space, jordan invites change in or through creation. theyre a creator, a roboticist, but also a collaborator with phil, so her influence isnt as direct. they thrive in a guiding position, where she doesnt have unilateral control, but has power in their ideas and words. jordan is a very good leader in a creative setting who has yet to realize this about herself.

LUCILLE - witch of light; prospit dreamer ("lucille cant be a light player she doesnt talk a lot-" shut up! <3). lucilles classpect manifests mostly in her position as the "girl in the chair." shes a witch, the active(-) counterpart to the heir, which has the ability to directly change their aspect, or bring change through it. light is the aspect of knowledge/information, fortune, and "the spotlight," and in her position in the team, lucille manages the information passed between the team, and can change who knows what with a single click. her classpect makes her someone who changes light, or brings change through it. for example, she turned fortune in the chapter 2 pleapods fight in flynns favor by imparting Gun Knowledge onto him. shes a person who helps mainly by knowing who needs to have what information. also, this is the second of the classpects that have stayed the same!

VIOLET - maid of blood; derse dreamer. blood is the aspect of bonds, friendships, ties, etc. a maid is an active(-) class, which focuses on creating and maintaining their aspect ("thats not what i think a maid is-" shuuuuut uuuuuuuup! <3). so a maid of blood is someone who creates and maintains bonds between people. this is pretty spot on for violet! we see more of this with her character later, but within the group, she has the most emotional intelligence, and is very good at resolving tension within the group and dealing with interpersonal issues. and between her and viridian, who do you think was responsible for befriending vermillion, thus creating the friend group? violet is the glue that keeps the team together.

VIRIDIAN - page of void; vidium dreamer (odd player out). void is the most fascinating aspect to me- its the antithesis to light, and is the aspect of nothingness, of secrets, uncertainty, the unknown, and irrelevance. also pumpkins. and pages are the passive(+) counterpart to the knight, so the knight equips themselves with their aspect to weaponize it, and the page equips others with their aspect. pages are by far the weakest class initially, but after a long journey of self-discovery, can unlock the greatest potential within themselves, surpassing every other class in sheer power. viridian is a confusing person that few can truly understand. he knows who he is, and is very sure of himself, but others, not so much. he has this way of barely reacting to anything that makes everything around him seem insignificant. he even specializes in quantum mechanics, a field of science literally built around not being able to know things. his greatest strength is this bubble of void surrounding him, but never swallowing him. he equips everything around him with void, but barely ever has it himself

[kyojurismo]

do you have any advice for new writers? i was thinking abt writing but i have no idea where to start

hello anon! this is my second time ever giving advices i think . . . and i’m very grateful you reached out to me for something like this, even if i don’t think very highly of me as a writer lmao

but that being said, here are some things that helped and are still helping me since i started writing <3

READING A LOT

follow me alright. reading helps increasing your vocabulary, and it also helps learning phrases and how to put words together, if that makes sense. it probably helps if you’re a foreigner writing in english, which is my case, but i still believe that there are many many words that we never heard and reading anything can help us learn something new.

DRAFTS

don’t be scared to have too many drafts, unfinished work, just a phrase or even two words. it’s okay, you’re just putting down something that came to you and sure don’t want to forget.

you don’t have to finish everything all at once. this is super important if you’re writing for fun, and in the past years i used to scold me for being too slow and stopped writing for a long period of time bc i didn’t feel good enough.

remember : take your time.

LONG FICS

if you’re writing long fics (multiple chapters, etc) i recommend writing down everything about your original character (if there’s any ofc) such as basic info, backstory, what they like / dislike, etc.

not only it helps you develop a complete character, but then you can keep track of your creations, so you won’t find yourself thinking “did my oc enjoy […] or not?” for example.

it’s also super fun imo, it helps spreading your imagination and your ideas. don’t be scared to put too many details too!

GENERAL ADVICES

now, these are a couple of things i just want to say before finishing lol.

1. don’t stress too much if you think that your story is obvious or anything such, remember that you are the one writing it, so of course it sounds familiar to you.

2. if you plan to post it on tumblr / ao3 / wattpad or anything else ig, don’t look too closely to the initial amount of ppl that will interact with your work. remember that you’re mostly writing for yourself and your own enjoyment, so don’t worry too much about it. it will come any time soon and people will give you feedback and show real appreciation to your work <3 so yeah, i speak like this bc when i was younger i used to delete my stories bc very few people interacted with them and i don’t think that’s right lol.

3. if you have a close person you trust, you can ask them to read your work if you’re unsure about posting it online. maybe someone else opinion about it can help, or also hearing just a “yes, post it!” can do the difference.

4. if you don’t know where to start, you can also search for prompts online so you have a starting point and it also can be used as an exercise. it helps me whenever i’m in a writer block.

5. HAVE FUN! don’t be scared to put silly things in your stories, don’t be scared to put a plot twist, don’t be scared of trying something new! it’s your story, you’re the one writing it. i assure you that out there are people who are gonna enjoy your stuff. don’t be scared of trying to write something new for you, you can always learn something. and that’s amazing in my opinion.

that was it, anon. i hope it helps you a bit <3

[peppertaemint]

I enjoy your breakdown of what's going on with SM but we differ in opinion where the music is concerned... well the stuff I've heard. I have not listened to the girl groups at SM much but I love the music everyone else has put out, even 2 baddies. I like like when groups experiment, some songs are going to not vibe with some people and some songs are but one of my favorite things about NCT and the sub units are you never what to expect. 2 Baddies is just one of those mindless fun songs to me, but for me NCT 127 are so versatile that they can make anything work. You got SuperHuman, Highway To Heaven, Favorite, 2 Baddies... they can mold into any concept imo Also I love Ay Yo and WayV's last album, the winter palace songs, etc etc... I think a change wouldn't be an awful thing but idk this seems really shitty. I know business can be cutthroat but these people are working there because of what this man Lee Sooman did to start that company and truthfully start of kpop and I just think he deserves more respect than this. This feels dirty and harsh. Another worry is SuperM. Capital seem to work closely with Lee Sooman considering how tied Mr Lee was to that project... do you think Capital will want to cut ties with a company that staged a coup? This is stressing me out lol Oh no and what if this makes some artists want to leave in solidarity with Lee Sooman??? Is that being really paranoid? Do you think Taemin would stay because I know he's close to Lee Sooman.

Also what do you think about the hoopla about Baekhyun's health and people blaming SM? They think because he was sick for 3 weeks and now eating once a day and working out a lot, that SM is to blame for not stepping in.

Always good to have a difference of opinion 😊. I think the SMCU Winter songs were outstanding tbh. I even liked the surreal painterly concept of the photos. But again, I really don't know who is behind what. Like what of Kwangya? Is that LSM or Chris Lee?

And I agree that on the surface of things, it feels like a really brutal fuck you to a man responsible for a lot of great music and careers. SM made a hell of a lot of mistakes, but they've become so artist-centric, it does seem a shame to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.

Regarding SuperM and their future - Capitol Records wouldn't cut ties unless their contract was up and they no longer were interested. I don't know what the profit sharing model is with Capitol or what Capitol has agreed to do marketing/resource wise (anything?), but honestly there's not anything to worry about here. SuperM's comeback has already been announced and is likely being planned as we write on this infernal website, lol. Artists and groups are not likely to up and walk over this. I would find it very surprising. Getting out of their contracts would be too costly, and we don't even know how they feel about SM 3.0 etc. So, no need to be paranoid!

Re Baekhyun's health... I just am sooo sick of the victimization. If Baek wants to do that, he's gonna do it. Fasting is not bad for your health. As long as his meal is not actual junk food he'll be fine. And I assume he's drinking water and taking supplements. Like, fasting is actually good for your health. Why don't we let Baekhyun, an adult, decide what's best for him?

To me, all that victimisation stuff comes down to infantilizing grown men and also this pervasive, misguided savior complex. I'm sorry but men in Korea do not need to be saved from the evil mistreatment of... choosing their own diet and exercise plan? He's not 14. He's a seasoned idol. Marge from Utah isn't gonna change Korean beauty standards and deeply ingrained cultural values by crying on Twitter that SM are evil. What she will do is cause more racist journalism in the West decrying that kpop's evil dark side must be tamed. Sigh.

[baphometaverse]

Saw the name Kevin three times today from three different sources, don't freak out I'm a youtube lurker also. Hope you're well king <3

Thank you and you too, friend.

All-time favorite quote:

"But then I viddied that thinking is for the gloopy ones and the oomny ones use, like, inspiration and what Bog sends." - Alex DeLarge

The other day I wasn't dealing with numbers in any way, not even eg. license plates or billboards etc, but saw the same 5-number sequence, twice on my two receipts that day (I could have subconsciously made this happen but my subconscious would have had to have planned it for several months). I said fuck it and bought a lottery ticket for the first time (wish me luck but I don't think I'll win- had to do something with those numbers tho I guess).

Honestly in the past several years I have been trying to get in touch with "weaponizing schizo mode" to put that in a joking way, I mean exercising one's intuition or tuning to synchronicity or whatever it could be called, symbiosis between self and the other. I don't necessarily believe there's reason we can fathom to the unseen we anthropomorphize, but there is often "rhyme" - or at least irony which can even be truly bitter and troubling, something like Loki trickster aspect when it's sinister.

But yeah, if it's a muscle just trying to get it in shape. That line in the blues song "I should have listened/to my second mind" - one thing that could be powerful is realizing how often second guessing or third guessing is or isn't the way to go, as a habit. I think the best thinking is something more like openness or listening rather than talking. Debate/dialogue is mostly so gross on the 'net, conscious logical thought is often extremely useless, and a facade masking the emotional and unconscious, which is vastly more tricky/intelligent and sophisticated.

(Recently there's the talk of people having no internal dialogue, and therefore being intellectually inferior or even "NPCs". Barf. Does a surfer catching perfect waves have to think in dialogue, or someone making genius plays in a sport, or an artist or musician...)

The "flow state" is a state to try and get, to have as much of in life as possible IMO.

All that said, some vigilance to try and keep purely in good tune (not to sound all new age-y there) is to your benefit. I'd tell you with caution from experience watch out for trying to be in tune with the schizo mode when in duress or high emotion. (Or under the influence haha.) I've taken a lot of risks in my life doing dumb shit but no more pushing luck/statistics so much personally. It can lead to trouble wanting it so much and being forceful I guess. Not me but I know a dude who the chick he was seeing, often told him she had fantasies of him breaking into her place with a ski mask on and forcing himself on her. When they were going through a breakup he got stoned and thought fulfilling that scenario would be the way to win her back. Didn't work out good for him, that dude went to jail! (Not for seckshual assault tho thank Christ it didn't get that far, just the b&e)

So yeah, sorry for this being super long but this is something I'm interested in and didn't know how to put all this more succinctly.

TLDR: I think it's like a muscle or skill that can be honed, and to have fun with it in lighter things, and for heavy things sleep on it!! and to not fuck around being heavily influenced by toxins or dark shit- could end up just an urban legend, a story of someone who did something stupid, and jah always deserve more than that.

[doingherbestbutnot]

TLDR: some of us really like donuts and want that sugar high, hold the steak please 🤣🤣 but I will still take that steak later 👀 👀

Full version:

1. This is certainly not hate 💖💖 I wanna say that at the outset because context online is always weird lol I’m just really excited to engage on the topic 😍😍

2. I’m the breed that LOVES AUs and almost exclusively writes AUs 👀 and is actively working on a college AU atm. My understanding is that you may be speaking specifically to fluffier/lighter stories?? If I'm wrong, please correct me 🥰🥰 That being said, here's my unsolicited response:

I’m from the camp that all literature - especially fiction - is a metaphor, projection, or escapism for dealing with, processing, and analyzing the ✨horrors✨ of real life. From that perspective, AUs (even fluffy ones) speak to my soul for the following reasons:

a) it’s helpful to have a new lens to process the same feelings of trauma, isolation, loneliness, self doubt, etc. from a different angle (even a lesser/lighter angle) and some distance where it’s less personal regardless of whether you use canon spaces/themes, etc. With Trigun, there are a lot of darker themes but the characters are also often silly and demonstrate traits that - while yeah we can see that a lot of their personalities are influenced by trauma - are common among people with and without serious trauma, so, in theory, removing all of that pain wouldn't automatically change them at their core.

Ex. my interpretation of Vash is that he is silly. Constantly. In all iterations. I love that for him lol but that silliness imo feels like its part of his core personality and not something that would simply disappear if his life changed. Sure, we see moments where the silliness is used as a mask and the weight of his burdens pulls him down, etc. but if that silliness is something a writer perceives as a core personality trait it will still exist beyond the pain and should be present in a coffee shop on earth lol

b) writers also tend to write what they know and make connections with things they know, which may involve removing the characters from the harder spaces and playing with different perspectives/ideologies in an atmosphere that still allows that specific writer to connect with the events without making it too personal and/or making the story more cohesive for them (i.e. some people just genuinely can't connect with all the darkness that the characters experience but still want to engage with the characters and may express that desire through fluffy AUs).

c) it can be seen as a fun game or thought exercise - when keeping X elements the same, but changing Y, how might the stories or people change? This is my personal favorite when engaging in a lighter tone 😍😍 playing around with my interpretation of the characters and how they might move around in a different circumstance/how my understanding of them changes too (plus the people in coffee shops/retail also experience ✨horrors✨)

d) expression of creativity or simply the desire to see the characters in a different environment - most fanfic writers writer what they want to read 🤣🤣 it could be self-serving, self-insert, a loathe of the canon, a love for the canon and thinking it perfect but wanting to express love differently, etc. It could also only be a momentary need for something lighter where they may not be in the space to dig into the darkness but still want to engage - a treat like say... a donut lol

e) and, lastly - and probably most applicable to the coffee shop AUs and what not - the belief that SOME CHARACTERS DESERVE MORE HUGS AND DONUTS THAN THEY GET IN CANON 🤣🤣 this one is silly but mostly meant to say that lol sometimes you take them out of that space because it's escapism for you and the character you love. I mean come on lol how are you gonna tell me this face doesn't deserve to be absolutely SMOTHERED in hugs, lattes, and donuts?!?!?! Is he perfect, no but I hope he gets a hug today 😭😭

3. My final thoughts: we're each looking for or expressing something different when we write/read and while I personally think that ignoring all the bad/darker themes that have molded the characters into who they are can be a disservice to the characters and their personalities/relationships (as I generally prefer to write darker AUs) sometimes a soft, fluffy, sugary treat satisfies an emotional craving 🥰🥰 (get it?? lol a donut 🤣🤣 I'm done now thx for putting up with me lol)

absolutely baffled by the existence of trigun college/coffee shop/flower shop type aus. like ok those aren’t my cup of tea in general but with trigun specifically i cannot fathom what could draw someone to the story enough to write fanfiction for it which would not be completely lost by changing the setting to present-day earth, removing all the violence, and making all the characters normal humans with retail jobs like how does that even work

[thegreatlibraryfangirl]

if the great library characters became animals, what would they be and why??

(I have seen your previous ask, it's epic, but my brain is currently refusing to answer it, apologies)

ok so, easiest first:

Wolfe

Crow.

Why? Because of 'Stormcrow', of course. Also:

They are fairly solitary, usually found alone or in pairs, although they may form occasional flocks.

Source RPSB website

Fun fact btw, Gandalf is referred to as Stormcrow, and this article has a lot of stuff about Gandalf being seen as a harbinger of chaos and destruction that works very well both for Wolfe's personal circumstances and his job confiscating originals.

Rather than wolf as an alternative, I could see Wolfe as a black panther (melanistic leopard).

Again, a loner animal, but this is more playing off Jess' obsession with pointing out that Wolfe is lean and athletic in physique (S&P has it like 3 times, other people say various things about Wolfe's size throughout the series).

Santi

Dog. Of some huge, imposing and loyal type. Suggest breeds for me in reblogs or something. Google informs me there is an Italian livestock guardian dog breed called Maremmano, so that'll do for now. Or a mastiff, maybe.

Jess

Ok so before I even think of anything at all - Thomas canonically compares Jess to an otter, in Sword and Pen. How very heterosexual of you, Thomas. So we have to consider this!

Other than that, thank you Thomas, I think Jess is a dog too, for how much he enjoys affection and the exercise of the High Garda Specifically a Jack Russell terrier (small, fearless, English in origin, incredibly persistent).

Jess himself might identify as a rat, as a fuck-you to both Dario and his father. The brown rat, which is actually apparently nicknamed "street rat" according to Wikipedia.

Note, the Wikipedia article on black rat gave me: "The black rat also has a scraggly coat of black fur, and is slightly smaller than the brown rat." paging @wheel-of-whimsy can you headcanon the Brightwell twins as these two rat types??

Khalila

I should really have put her first tbh, as the most solid one of all; I headcanon her as the blackfooted cat. It's one of the tiniest wildcat species, and it is known for being particularly fierce when it defends itself. Tiny predator Khalila. I will say no more.

Dario

Reluctantly, I'm actually going to call Dario a lion. Like, a lion who's bad at fighting. Royal associations obviously, needs a group around him to survive. Except he'd be bad at being the head of a pride for aforementioned fighting reason. Dario as Scar, is what I'm saying here. That or he's just a standard pampered housecat. Take your pick. (Note, the domestic cat is actually much more social than people think!)

Maybe he's a wasp. Stabby stabby, underappreciated lol.

Glain

Glain is a difficult one. Argh. Suggestions welcome. Soldier ant??? That seems unfair. Ink and Bone Glain is a bit of a honey badger tbh, but idk about later. Is she a lioness, actually?? Quite possibly. Part of a family team, killing machine.

Thomas

Thomas' two main traits are Big and Genius. (Yes I know there's obviously more to him than that but we're simplifying). Therefore he's an elephant.

Morgan

I know I always say this every time a personality/categorisation thing comes up, but god damn it Morgan is hard to do. Her entire arc imo, start to finish, is based around not wanting to be enslaved, ended up enslaved anyway, and then being a martyr. What does she enjoy doing? We don't know. What are her skills, hobbies, characteristics other than 'gets Jess' dick hard'?? Smoke and Iron and to a degree Sword and Pen does give us more insight into her, but only based around "How do I get out of this?"

OK, so creative, intelligent, ridiculously determined. Also magic powers. Idk. Grey parrot.

[tiredbiostudent]

i love seeing your posts it's very motivating. if you dont mind me asking, do you have any advice for studying (or tricks you use for urself) ((it's v vague sorry))!!!

hi, thank you! honestly I am absolutely awful at studying but I will try to provide some helpful tips:

1. watching university vloggers always makes me feel more motivated to do work! my favourites atm are nayna florence, moya mawhinney, paigeyy (her old cambridge vlogs bc I think she’s graduated now), linh truong, and may gao 2. I have a really hard time getting started so sometimes you just need to be like alright I can at LEAST open up this pdf or assignment. and I can at LEAST create a new word document and write out what I have to do. and occasionally this tricks your brain into actually starting ;) 3. when you plan a study schedule, give yourself at least one free day where you have nothing planned bc at least for me I will absolutely need it. don’t cram your days full of unrealistic things to do! 4. take advantage of your productive moods, but also don’t be too hard on yourself when you’re feeling super tired or burnt out or unproductive. you can also try and flip your productivity switch on (tho this is hit or miss) by doing less taxing stuff like going on a walk, making your bed, watering your plants- any task that makes you feel like you’re accomplishing something 5. have a hobby and life outside of school. easier said than done, but this will really help alleviate the stress and anxiety you feel when something goes wrong academically and that’s the only “important” thing you feel like you have in life. take time for yourself to learn new things, relax, spend time with friends, be in nature, exercise. all about balance baby! 6. study based on what your exam will test you on. if it’s short answer, study the material but also practice writing out example answers. if it’s matching labels to diagrams, practice that! go beyond just writing out your notes, try and fit your studying method to the format of your test. it helps s o much. 7. similarly, ALWAYS DO THE REVIEW QUESTIONS. if you have no time to do anything else, DO THESE!!! I’ve been burned so many times because I feel obligated to retype out all my notes (bc I have to have everything altogether) and run out of time to do the practice questions my prof gives, and those are always the most relevant to what you’ll be tested on. hell, do these before anything else. cannot stress this enough lol!!!! 8. don’t do the readings unless you NEED to or it helps you learn. otherwise it’s a waste of time (and money for a textbook!) imo 9. switch up where you study. unfortunately this isn’t really feasible right now but I find I’m most productive at the library- at your university (if you go) try to find your favourite study spots, and have a few you can cycle through! for me it’s the lifesci commons, law library and the comp sci building because they’re chill, productive atmospheres (as opposed to the SUB or the health sci building, which are too loud and too intense respectively) 10. keep your phone out of sight lol. and get one of those browser locks like forest to dissuade you from getting distracted. for me it’s more of a split second compulsion to check and once there’s a barrier in my way I’m like oh. nvm. 11. my personal note-taking method is taking written notes in lecture of anything important that’s not on the slides. usually your prof will emphasize the important of a topic too! but if they don’t, pay attention to what they’re spending a lot of time going over. after class I’ll add my written notes to the lecture to supplement it and better explain everything we covered. (for virtual lectures, I basically have the slides open in one half of my screen and the lecture in the other and type notes onto the slides as it plays) 12. practice explaining concepts to yourself out loud- this is a great way to see if you’ve actually understood the material! if you can do this once solidly, you’re good to go and it’ll stick in your brain for a while. 13. also try and make connections between topics you’ve covered because often this is what profs like to ask about on exams (cough ~synthesis~). for instance, recognizing that keratin composes tissues in birds, mammals, reptiles, etc. 14. if you’ve been working hard or having a stressful time buy yourself a nice warm drink because you deserve it! :) 15. this one’s a little weird but if you need to remember something like what the foundational traits of vertebrates are, focus on memorizing how many you need to know! if I know there’s 6 of something I need to remember, it makes recalling them SO much easier 16. if you’ve been sitting down studying for a while take a break to just jump tf around your room. you could also go on a walk I guess but jumping is more fun. 17. it’s good to get a reminder of why you’re in school and what makes you passionate about what you’re studying to drive you to keep going. for me I love to watch nature documentaries or go on hikes or look through field guidebooks or read really neat academic papers :) 18. for the love of god please get enough sleep.

I also have a whole tag of #study tips that is 1000% more helpful than what I can provide so definitely take a look through there! good luck, you got this :) ps sorry this got so long winded lol I hope it helps!

[300iqprower]

The problem nowadays is that nobody wants to figure things out except for very few fandoms. Undertale and Deltarune are honestly rarities simply because they're full of people who prefer to find out the mysteries of the game for themselves. Kirby has been like that for years. Other series see an easier route in the model fnaf and dark souls laid out and it works out just as well so that's why most other series go that road.

IMO it's half people wanting everything spelled out, which has always been an issue, but now in addition the new problem of people thinking anything NOT spelled out is "inaccurate" or "misinterpreting" even when it's something that explicitly meant to be interpretive. People have no just become too lazy to read into something themselves, but obsessed with the idea of concrete answers and direct validation. With Dark Souls it's the fault of those around it, not the series itself, but with FNAF it's totally its own fault.

Dark Souls has a masterful balance of implicit storytelling with text and then showing over telling when it gives its concrete info. The facts are there, but they're presented in an interpretive medium, and the series has gone out of its way to distance itself from fan theory. It has a story but it's not afraid of its audience devising their own take on it. The format works best with Bloodborne because as a brilliant post put: It's wet. It's something alive, changing, and in many ways unknowable, and all of that plays off the format. It has some of the most straightforward storytelling and yet several years later people are piecing new things together. Dark Souls meanwhile pretty much collapsed under its own weight when it came to creating a resolution. I don't think it failed per se let alone is bad but Dark Souls 3 was unfinished, and it really really really showed with the ripple effect that had on both gameplay and story. But that's going on tangents.

FNAF meanwhile is just bad. I think I've made clear i fucking hate that franchise in the past but even disregarding my personal feelings towards both the series' gameplay quality and the ethics of its creator, IT'S A FUCKING MESS. I watched the Game Theory vids like every other teenager online did, and it was only years later I realized I had a completely different mindset in enjoying them: I saw the fun as being the speculation, not because you were "getting answers" but the series itself decided to take that approach with all this cryptic bullshit and the series' creator egging on the theories himself and directly saying there WERE concrete answers to everything. It was certainly good marketing but it was shit storytelling and in the long term obliterated the storytelling process for such games, FNAF itself included; everything after the third one I'd say but I'm generalizing since I know there's like 2 or 3 between where I lost interest and where I checked in on the new one just to laugh at the dumpster fire I'd heard so much about. Either way my point stands that when the more it tried to elaborate on itself the less coherent it became, and in the general indie space now everything has to have speculation not for the sake of your own for fun elaboration, but just to piece together any canon at all.

TLDR, the point of speculation shouldn't be to have any plot at all, it should be a for-fun exercise to extract more personal investment from the plot. People copy Dark Souls's approach without understanding any of its nuance, and FNAF has created this idea that everything has a concrete answer that can be spelled out and if it isnt spelled out then it's "wrong" when narrative speculation and interpretation shouldnt be something that's "right or wrong" to begin with. And Toby Fox absolutely gets that, it's exactly why his narratives can be so multilayered and meta without becoming convoluted or losing meaning if you just experience it as is. And the series that inspired it like Kirby and Mother are much the same, thought I'd say Toby's work is easily the most emotionally gripping for me personally.