#this is factually how i write

[nondelphic]

how to write a plot twist:

surprise your readers!

surprise yourself because you have no idea what’s going to happen next either.

[mcybree]

I prepared this ask in the Notes app only for Tumblr to not let me copy and paste the text so here’s a screenshot bc I’m not typing all that again lol

there’s this funny trend i see in trafficblr art, in that, when there’s a lineup of every past winner, most players will be surrounded by symbols that were relevant to their POV, and perhaps drawn with the last emotion they’d felt just before death (or maybe just whatever emotion the artist most associates with the character). The winners might be doing something, or in a pose that reflects how they won—there are a million ways to make a life series winners’ piece. What’s funny about it is that no one ever seems to know what to do with Scott. He’s most often just standing there looking mildly disgruntled. And for the symbols he’s most depicted with, it’s typically poppies, which are only relevant to the first season; last life scott does not place any importance on poppies, poppies dont ever come up beyond a brief interaction in episode 1, and jimmy as a whole is less relevant to scott’s pov in last life than he is in every other season.

not that this is an issue with the art; the pieces are beautifully done, it’s just representative of how little fandom discussion there is about scott’s win thematically. Most discussion I see are about the watchers and how they hate scott for defying him or whatever, but watcher lore is not discussion of the series itself as much as it is a fan creation that is retroactively applied to create meaning.

Scott’s Last Life win, to me, was achieved through accomplishing what Third Life Scott could not.

Scott spent 3L waiting for his day one ally to die. He kept Jimmy at a distance, often fully gearing himself up first before backtracking to help Jimmy along. There’s a funny disparity in episode 5, where Jimmy spends the entire episode trying to get good enchants on his iron armor, while Scott sets up a villager and gets good enchants for the full diamond set that he’d already had in storage, in about half the time Jimmy took trying to accomplish his own goal, iirc. This disparity is also something scott acknowledges with the “I’ll always be more powerful than you” line, but it’s been a while since ive written a post like this so i unfortunately do not have the episode number memorized on that one anymore. But Scott goes on to explain that he’ll always have better armor and weapons, which is why Jimmy could never kill him. This is all to say that Jimmy and Scott do not stand on equal grounds in their alliance, and, more importantly, Scott does not depend on Jimmy. The progress Scott makes in Third Life is entirely his own, with Jimmy as more of an afterthought than a teammate.

This is what landed Scott his all time lowest placement. After Jimmy dies first, Scott loses sight of his priorities and dedicates his remaining time alive to avenging Jimmy, rather than focusing on his own longevity (like he’d go on to do in future seasons). And, in that way, Scott’s attitude towards Jimmy (disposable, going to die, unreliable) was an indirect contributor to Scott’s low placement.

In contrast: Scott could not have won Last Life without Pearl. Scott has to rely on Pearl from day 1, having only two lives to start with himself. Pearl gives Scott two lives total. Pearl and Scott are almost always together. They made it to the final four by each other’s side. And that forced day 1 reliance on pearl breaks down the role scott typically assumes (*he’s* supposed to be the person people rely on, he’s supposed to be the one bringing everything to the table) which curbs his tendency to see himself as above others, which then allows for the most genuine happiness i have ever seen him have in an alliance.

The comparison between the way Scott talks to Pearl and the way Scott talks to Jimmy is like night and day. Scott doesn’t compliment or otherwise say anything supportive towards Jimmy (save for the “I believe in you! MCC has trained you for this moment!” during Jimmy’s dare to flare attempt) until after Jimmy has already died. With Pearl, however, Scott is much more open about his care towards her, saying that she’s his best friend and that he loves her as early as episode 2. There’s more examples but between last life and third life, Scott’s attitude towards his primary ally is completely different, and i think it’s symptomatic of Scott allowing himself to love and be vulnerable rather than keeping himself at a distance. And i think that it’s so special that scott won the season where he was so close with his day one alliance, directly because of his day one alliance.

because, to me, one of scott’s defining characteristics is his self reliance. He will have allies, yes, but he often assumes a supportive role and acts as a supplier. He doesnt like taking things from other people. Last Life is different because Scott relies on Pearl, too. It’s also not a coincidence that last life is the only season where scott is normal about jimmy but that’s a different post

tldr yes scott won last life with the power of love but not in the way people say he did (ignoring the boogeyman curse was strategy ☝️)

I SHOULD NOTE, though, that the boogeyman curse was still a fail. Although purposeful, Scott receives the penalty and apologizes to his team. He says he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. I do think that his words here aren’t fully honest— he’d admitted earlier that this choice was fully for strategy. But I also think his apologetic attitude here is genuine. Scott is a perfectionist, he needs to succeed; failing, though purposeful, still hurts. He feels the need to apologize. It means so much to me that his win in last life directly follows the choice to fail on purpose. I’m insane though idk

third life scott embodies scotts flaws while last life scott is him overcoming them 👍 is what im trying to say 👍 last life scott is everything that third life scott could not bring himself to be, in allowing himself to love and depend on other people and overall just be a person.

[nururu]

I realized my disconnect when it comes to talking about one piece, and why I always say I like talking to dudebros more even if they're the worst... Is, I like to analyze literature. I like to analyze the source material and the canonic information. Shipping and stuff is for fun but I see it separately. The intersect bc canon inspires fanon but fanon CANNOT change canon.. I don't mix the two things especially not when I'm doing analysis... So I'll say things that are factual and ppl who are stuck in their headcanons or personal biases will think I'm saying something bad. What I'm saying isn't good or bad. It's not judgmental of the character I'm talking about. Nor is it a bias bc I like them/dislike them. I'm analyzing odas writing and his intentions as an author and what he's trying to say and portray. Most ppl online are too caught up in headcanons and personal bias while having no media comprehension and they think that I'm attacking their made up fanon stuff..... Noooo..... You're over there playing pretend and I'm over here doing analysis. We are not doing remotely near the same activity. They don't always need to intersect. Anyways it's hard to have genuine analytical conversations with ppl fully indulged in fandom and fanon. The only group of ppl who doesn't do that are dudebros but also... They get hung up on other stuff that doesn't matter too. Idkkkkkkkkk.

[civilization-illstayrighthere]

Desperately in love w the idea of writing pre-2077 silverdyne where the POV of johnny is always cyberpunk 2077 lore-centered (dramatic romantic in that staring over the cliff watching the raging sea way, johnny-centric where everything and the world revolves around him) and Kerry’s POV is ttrpg centered (cognizant of the corporate warfare going on the city, is not half as muddled by paranoia / cyber psychosis / hard drugs as johnny). and the only thing they agree on is those last lines shared between them

[desalvar]

ayo i'm not dead!

[delicateartisantrash]

Rambles

when A03 is down and I'm stopped from refreshing my inbox an unhealthy number of times in a day

also damn

A03 be stopping me from posting more chapters today

Might pop it on Tumblr if it's still down by the time this one's done being edited

Megatron and Bob are so chill not chill it's great

(my tag for personal posts on my art blog is "#Dat Rambles")

[nyctoheart]

I may understand KHUX inside and out, where I have all the little inconsistencies mapped out into some elaborate plan that makes sense after all....

but I still am so confused about KHDR

[girderednerve]

i really do feel so grim & bleak about Art, whatever we might mean by Art, less because of AI itself than because of what its current ascendancy indicates, which is that inescapable technological change is driven by a voracious hunger for improvements in productive output, the benefits of which are never, ever meant to help working people. 'oh micros*ft c*pilot will let you write emails faster,' great but i want to write less of them? instead of being an email machine who gets to watch the staffing fall off? i thought generative AI was an entertaining novelty & an interesting computer science question when it wasn't being pitched to me as the inevitable replacement for human labor. & sure a ton of what we see currently is in fact inflated marketing; it's a ripple effect of the fed raising the interest rate; but the whole sales pitch is that i'll be so much better at doing my job that i can just keep doing more & more work faster & faster, & my boss won't need to hire more staff, & in this future i have no leisure time & many people have no hope for gainful employment, & together our artistic output crashes into typing prompts into canva wizardpro or whatever garbage, & it's just boring sludge from here to the horizon because no one has the time or the energy or the space to do more. that's not a requisite function of AI, though, el problema es el capitalismo

[slingbats]

I am going to need that rewrite on my desk by tomorrow, 12 point font, times new roman, double spaced

noOOOOOO IT'S TOO MUCH WORK!!! I DON'T HAVE TIME AND I DON'T CARE ENOUGH........ girl help!

my rewrite where uhhhhhhhhhh. everything is the same except the writers actually care about female characters. a lot of decisions were made because of actresses no longer being available so plotlines like fish's are more or less the same but like, Ivy either gets to grow up normally or is never a child at the beginning to start with (you can go the weird plant body route if you have to keep her relatively younger since this is a prequel ig), and I don't... even know what to make of KK or Isabella, and Sofia should just be fucking. dont tell me there isn't a single female italian bodybuilder who can act, I don't believe you. let her be buff. let her take up space. let her be huge and wear vintage fashion.

also Oswald is fat and trans

[curiouschaosstarlight]

Way Too Much Of The Fandom: "He's just an asshole!! No one should ever write him as anything else!! He's killed people!!"

Canon: "Willing to erase his entire personality just so he can be used by others"

Canon: "First instinct to finding out he was lied to about how his first friend died is to kill himself, because that being a lie completely erases any and all meaning behind all of his meaner actions"

Scaramouche/Wanderer's Actual Chinese Voice Actor:

[weareuniqueandimportant]

I LOVE MURDER... I FIND THE TOPIC VERY INTERESTING... I ALSO BELIEVE ALOT OF ABUSERS WERE ACTUALLY NEGLECTED... AND THEIR "VICTIMS" ONLY REPEAT THE LIES THEY ALWAYS HAVE... OUR ABUSERS ALL CERTAINLY LOVE TO PAINT SUCH A PICTURE... DON'T WORRY... I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING... YET <3...

[weirdbabs]

i think this is one of my favorite pages. panel 2 and 8 max are adorable, isabel looks so free dancing around, creating paper waves and whirlpools, and the colors are warm and beautiful

[diamondnokouzai]

only a thousand years separate wu-jiejie from gegu and in the grand scheme of things,

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

“fiction by its nature cannot contain inaccuracies, only anachronisms” wrong. lie in the ground and bake bagels

[compacflt]

more on ice's cancer?

no.

[nururu]

don't ever read the idv wiki..... whoever is in control of that 100% shouldn't be..... everyone who likes this game is Like This