#this is literally an introduction to their characters and we see that with how Cat describes Sansa and Rickon's reactions

[fromtheseventhhell]

The first mention of Arya in the story being "Arya is already in love" is so important and precious to me

[ticklinglady]

The Guild's actions during the story are so insane, when you think about them properly, you know? When I first read the arc with them, this moment hasn't really occurred to me, as I was too busy going nuts over finally seeing the names of the familiar writers, but now when I think of that... I am not sure, I comprehend how they managed to achieve such a ferocious reputation. I have already made a little post about how extremely dysfunctional the DOA members are, but at least those guys have a plan, which actually makes sense more or less, even despite the gang using cheatcodes/the Book. The same cannot be said of the Guild however archghhjkn. Like, what the hell were these guys even doing??? XD

So here are just some moments, which weirded me out the most

At first I'd like to address the entire story with everyone's favorite tsundere, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Her introduction leaves quuuuite an impression in the best way and nothing makes me happier than the fact, that she gets a chance to find happiness in the following chapters and actually becomes a reoccurring character! HOWEVER, her entire involvement with the Guild is super odd... I still can't wrap my head around her getting fired. She is a girl with a hella powerful ability, who got taken to the Guild from a terrible, terrible orphanage in order to fight for them in the war for the Book, so not only is she very strong, but she's also immensely dependant on the organisation and wouldn't do anything outside of its interests. Yet Lucy is also put under extreme pressure. As she herself puts it, the Guild doesn't tolerate failures and will kick her out the moment she screws something up.

Later we see that this is exactly what happens, when she messes up her first mission. Fitzgerald himself confirms that, since she failed and revealed her ability to the enemies, she's no longer useful, so now a powerful esper, like Lucy works for free as a... laundress?

EXCUSE ME??? WHEN HAVE THE GUILD MEMBERS EVER DONE ANYTHING, BUT FAIL AND REVEAL THEIR ABILITIES?

Let's be real, these dudes were successful like only once or twice...

This fact not only makes Fitzgerald look like an idiot for wasting such a talented and useful worker, because of one mistake, but also as one hell of a hypocrite, cause he is more than fine with everyone else fucking up. And in case of Lovecraft and Steinbeck: fucking up twice. To add to the oddity, we later learn, that Louisa genuinely cares for Lucy and despite her social anxiety actually stood up for her during the entire story, but even that wasn't enough to change Fitzgerald's mind on the issue, though Louisa is one of the few people, whose opinion he respects. Honestly, this is such a waste of a truly useful subordinate. And speaking of which....

The Guild has never even tried to implement Edgar Allan Poe during the war...

This man is actually rather op when you think of it. He can capture and neutralise literally any ability user in Yokohama (besides Dazai, Mori and Ranpo ofc) just by throwing a book at them. Seriously, as we see with Chuuya, they don't even have to read it, they just need to see the pages. Plus the book can be actually sent via email!!! So why has there been an absolute zero amount of strategies with the use of this ability??? They could actually try to catch Atsushi by sending him such email containing any of Poe's mystery stories and then safely carry him back to their base. And it doesn't have to be just Atsushi, it could be literally any of their enemies. Non-combatant, like Ranpo could use this pretty damn well to his advantage and it doesn't take a genius to understand the potential of the "Black Cat in Rue Morgue". But nooooo, it seems like everyone has just forgotten of Poe!!! (Tho to be honest, I can actually see this situation in a funny extra awfgbfggfjj. Not the main story however) The agency would never even learn of his existence, if he didn't personally decide to try to fuck Ranpo's life up. Like, what does Poe even do in the Guild? He's the master architect and, according to him, the third ranking man in the organization, but we never see him be of any use, so Idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Lucy at least got to do something, unlike this poor man.

Then there's the entire drama with the Guild's decision to destroy Yokohama. Where do I even begin...

First of all, Fitzgerald has no way of knowing that Atsushi is going to come to Moby-Dick to fight him. Poor guy is the Guild's primary goal and has already gotten himself captured once, so it would have been safe to assume that the ADA decided to hide him somewhere and not send him on any dangerous missions for the time being. That basically means Fitzgerald could have burned down not just Yokohama, but also the only person, who could actually help him find his precious Book.

But if we're to ignore this, let's also go with Wikipedia then~

"Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. Yokohama is also the major economic, cultural, and commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area along the Keihin Industrial Zone."

..........................

Good luck making up for the destruction of THIS, Fitzgerald 🖕

And if this in itself wasn't bad enough, most people, including me, tend to forget that all Guild members are actually big shots in the American government, which I think is very sad. Because first of all, can you imagine any of the Guild members actually working as politicians?!! The sheer idea makes me hysterical avshbgj. Like, just consider Lovecraft working as a senator or something. This eldritch horror of a man leaves the ocean once in three years at best LMAO. Second of all, I have a feeling, that the destruction of Yokohama at the hands of influential politicians from a foreign country would have resulted in an international conflict or two~ Like as if random deranged rich Americans arriving in Japan, wreaking havoc over there and destroying the second largest city in the country wasn't bad enough, these Americans just HAD to be super influential businessmen and politicians. Louisa, my dear, I understand that it wasn't your intention, but it's as close to a declaration of war as it can get, you know? Fitzgerald may be ready to do anything to resurrect his dead daughter, but I'm not sure, that the execution of himself and the rest of the Guild at the hands of the Hunting Dogs is something he'd like.

(And here's another funny thing that stems from them being politicians 🤭 As @originalartblog wittily pointed out, Fitzgerald wasting all his money fighting sskk has probably resulted in a market crash and recession over in the USA)

I also have some other questions in regards to this entire plan, such as why did they have to waste Moby-Dick just to destroy Yokohama? Yes, it works in the short term, but in the long term they loose a super powerful fortress with the stealth mode and as the practice shows, you better have a safe base, unless you want another lemon freak to blow it all up. I mean, you could just ask Lovecraft to destroy everything for free. Or, if the device is the only way to stop the giant whale from crashing, why didn't Fitzgerald just take it to a far away bunker or something and waited things out there without the need to spend millions of dollars just to survive the explosion? (And it would have been extremely funny, if during the fight with sskk he just threw the device overboard) But I think I have already rambled for long enough already atxhghbgv XD

The Guild is an even bigger mess than the DOA and I think that's glorious 🙌

[honestlyijustfindhersocharming]

A Needlessly Long Analysis of Every Single Cat King Scene in Dead Boy Detectives and Why I Want to Throw Him.

After many, many rewatches of Dead Boy Detectives for the sake of trying to get another season, I've found myself with increasingly strong feelings about a certain feline so... Can we talk about the Cat King? Yes? Great. Forewarning, I'm about to absolutely ream this shapeshifter because he's complex, confusing, horrible, and has so much potential that I need to talk about it.

Please keep in mind that this is my personal take !! I love the Cat King as a character, I just don't like a lot of his actions given the context.

Introduction to the Madness ...

The Cat King is a wonderful antagonist for so many reasons, but I feel like a lot of people have forgotten that he's an extraordinarily flawed person and can be incredibly creepy at times. Lukas does a wonderful job portraying the Cat King's charm, as does George in portraying Edwin's brief moments of falling into his traps, but the Cat King is not a good person. Let's go down the list.

The Cat King's Introduction: Episode 2

Episode 2 starts off with the consequences of Edwin's rash actions in Episode 1, something that I'm fully here for. It gives Edwin's jealousy real weight outside of just causing tension between Crystal and Edwin. However, I think people forget that the Cat King's "punishment" is (almost) completely selfish. Yes, while he claims that it's a consequence for harming the other cats, the punishment doesn't actually reward the cat Edwin used magic on, instead only benefiting the Cat King himself. It does force Edwin to distinguish between the cats, something that I figured out after another watch of the scene, but... I'm not sure if that was his main motivation when he blatantly says later that he wanted more time with Edwin.

The two options Edwin is presented with are sex and counting all the cats in Port Townsend. Option one is mildly horrific, even if Edwin is to consent it could still be considered coercive as the Cat King is in a position of power over Edwin. I personally don't think it'd get to that point - the Cat King sees the Edwin is a repressed Edwardian boy and wants to test that boundary - but... the implication is hard to swallow. When Edwin is given the option of counting cats, he emphasizes that he is a "fair and consensual Cat King", which we'll get back to later, but the offer itself is still - essentially - a move on Edwin as it forces him to stay in the Cat King's vicinity for longer. The task itself is stupid, but it again doesn't benefit any of the cats besides the Cat King. The only reason Edwin's stay is prolonged is because the Cat King is fascinated by Edwin. That's it.

While this interaction does contribute to Edwin's eventual sexual awakening, that does not make the interaction itself good. And this dichotomy between the Cat King starring in Edwin's journey of self discovery but doing so in the literal worst way continues in Episode 4...

The Cat King and Exploiting Emotional Attachment: Episode 4

I'd like to point out that this interaction starts out with the Cat King scratching Edwin, something that he explains by referencing "rough play". Now, this is obviously a joke, but it still brings up issues with the continued lack of Edwin's consent in something that the Cat King frames as sexual. What really kills me about this scene though, is how the Cat King exploits Edwin's other crushes - or potential crushes - to get a reaction out of him. The funniest thing about this to me, is that the way that the Cat King shapeshifts into people that Edwin cares for ends up paralleling him to Angie, our monster of the week. Angie also exploits the emotional attachment of someone to their loved ones for personal gain, but in her case it's to actively seek out food. What separates the two to me, is that the Cat King does not need Edwin to care for him, nor does he need Edwin to survive, he just wants Edwin, therefore making him kind of worse that the monster that we go into this Episode trying to slay.

Again, this does end up assisting Edwin in his eventual realization that he likes Charles, but it's the entirely wrong way of going about it. The scene ends with me just feeling like Edwin got thrown around like a mouse by this cat in the middle of something that's genuinely important to him. And then the confession of why Edwin does the casework. Sweet Jesus. Yes, it's good that Edwin gets that truth out for the sake of the audience, but the knowledge that the Cat King gains out of it is chilling to me. It's another display of the power the Cat King holds over Edwin because while you can argue that he uses the binding spell on Edwin as payback for what happened to his cats, forcing the truth out of Edwin was nothing but for himself. I think he believes it's for Edwin's sake, to make him feel more comfortable sharing things now that the first hurdle has passed, but it... really doesn't? The way that this backfires really emphasizes the way that pushing Edwin's boundaries like this isn't a good way to gain his affection.

The last thing to point out in this specific interaction is the last couple of lines of the scene, specifically the way that the Cat King taunts Edwin about the cat count of 142 being "way off". We know this is a bluff because later, he confirms that there are 147 cats in Port Townsend, including himself of course. The irony to this scene in my opinion is the fact that the Cat King just said to Edwin that he wanted him to be more honest, and then immediately lies. The double standard is insane, and I can't tell if the Cat King realizes it or not.

Something I feel important to note as well is the way that Edwin, in the same episode, when asked if he'd like to kiss the Cat King answers painfully fast. Monty he at least considers, but the Cat King isn't even an option to him. To me, this just displays further how horrifically the Cat King has fucked up any chances of a meaningful relationship with Edwin.

The Cat King Becomes an Incel for a Hot Minute: Episode 6

Episode 6... Oh boy Episode 6. Episode 6 is hard because he doesn't stop being a boundary pusher, but it's also ever the more evident just how much this stupid cat cares about Edwin. I would love to defend him and be like "oh actions speak louder than words" but his actions STILL suck in this scene. So, let's break down those action one by one.

First off, he goes to the forest. That's a big one because he mentions that he's been looking for Edwin the entire night, seemingly for no other reason than to explain to him the situation with Monty being an essential double agent. The first bit of the interaction between the Cat King and Monty isn't much to note, in my opinion, because it's mostly just taunting. But, in this case, the taunting is kind of warranted. Though I personally empathize with Monty's situation, he is still leading Edwin into a trap that could kill him. Where the Cat King pushes boundaries again is the goddamn kiss. It feels... icky. Predatory.

Again, there's no consent in this situation, and though it all comes from a place of worrying for Edwin's safety, I'm not sure that excuses it. I will grant the Cat King the fact that he's extraordinarily honest with Edwin throughout the scene, exposing Monty's identity and the case without beating around the bush much. The way that the Cat King ends the interaction, because though I'm not exactly sure what to think about the Cat King's approval of Edwin lashing out at Monty, I know exactly what I think about what follows.

Edwin, rightly, immediately thinks to take the information he just learned to Crystal and Charles, the two people who could still be in danger because of this now pointless case. The Cat King takes this time to make yet another move instead of just... accepting the fact that he helped and that could build Edwin's trust later. The way the Cat King says "I believe I'm at least owed a little thank-you" threw me off the first time I watched it, but I accepted it. I suppose Edwin could have been more polite. And then the Cat King said "By the way, the second kiss is always much better."

Dude. What. So, to break this down, the Cat King comes out to help save Edwin from a potentially life threatening situation only because he believes that he will get a reward out of it. When Edwin refuses (rightfully so, what the fuck) the Cat King asserts his power again by saying that he's "not someone to be dismissed". Edwin's words are harsh when he states that the Cat King is nothing more than the chain linking him to Port Townsend, but I don't feel as though he's entirely wrong to be upset in this situation. The Cat King, instead of making me feel bad for him afterwards, goes full Nice Guy™ on Edwin afterwards by yelling at him that he'll stop playing nice. Instead of taking literally two seconds to introspect, he threatens Edwin like that's going to keep his stubborn ass from doing anything.

Hello? What happened to fair and consensual Cat King, dude? He's so out of touch with how to actually express his affection for someone, and it's honestly insane.

Alone: Episode 7

Episode 7 is the third to last time we see the Cat King, and it's the first time that he's not in the presence of Edwin. We see him be more vulnerable here, and get a better understanding of how he acts when he's cornered. He starts off haughty, continues his antics with innuendo to offset tension, and then continues to taunt Ester until he gets literally killed by her. After his death he expresses his fear through anger, and continues to attempt to defend Edwin. First by trying to remind her that he's not going to give her the youth she desires, then by telling her to "keep your paws off of him".

It's somewhat heart warming to know he does truly care for Edwin, but he's still in it for himself, ultimately. He doesn't attempt to go against Esther again out of fear that he'll die for it, and his values of his survival above else. It's great character building, and a great flaw, but again annoying that he only expresses this level of care without Edwin around.

Redemption?: Episode 8

Episode 8 is meant to be his, sort-of, redemption Episode in my opinion. He is vulnerable with Niko and Crystal in regards to his fear of Esther (kind of, he does confess that he was killed by her), gives them information on Esther's background, and also gives them a tip off on something that could help stop her - black salt.

After Niko's death, when he presents Edwin with flowers, I believe he is meant to be at his best. He does not demand anything from Edwin in that moment, only apologizes for the loss of Niko and compliments her bravery. It's interesting to note that the lilies that he gifts to Edwin are toxic to cats, potentially a symbol of his attempt to be less selfish when it comes to him. And that he doesn't ask for anything more from Edwin when he is given the kiss on the cheek.

Of course, he still maintains his bravado and teasing nature, but that - it seems - is meant to be the Cat King's redemption arc.

But... is it enough?

Is it Enough?: Conclusions

I don't think so, personally. I think that in a Season 2, the Cat King could've become a better, less selfish, person. But at the moment, I think he's still stuck in the same middle ground that Monty ends up in where the one good deed he does ends up being a small drop in the bullshit that comes before that. While I do think that Monty is ultimately more forgivable, there is still a lot that would need to happen to truly get both of them to a point where they can be forgiven by those they harmed (and me, tbh). The Cat King may have done better eventually, but he still never really apologized for his contributions to everything that happened in Port Townsend, or the bullshit that he did to Edwin personally.

All this to circle back around to this: Fuck Netflix for depriving us of Season 2 and potentially truly redeeming the Cat King and having him actually learn to care about Edwin in a way that doesn't push his boundaries immeasurably. And fuck Netflix for not giving me a chance to see the Cat King start to accept the fact that he is fucking lonely and does way too much to cover it up. I need him acknowledging his fuck ups, becoming a genuine protagonist and not just someone who could be good! He has so much potential to be more than a mere predator playing with his food and Netflix took that from us.

Tldr; Netflix is the real villain here, but the Cat King sure does a good job of trying to be the best, most complicated, most annoying, most horrifying antagonist.

[autisticlalna]

okay. full episode analysis coming later because i have so, so much to say about that one clip, but:

so. Dominion references. that's the big thing. we got two of them back-to-back in a very hard to ignore way if you're familiar with season 2.

but it's not just been Dominion. that's been what we're all excited about, obviously, but there's been some other stuff blending in.

after all, we have Viking surviving the apocalypse and talking about how he has experience working with tnt bombers-- something said ooc, maybe, but he has been working with them on both Hardcore and Twitch SMP, and died on TSMP because of getting caught in the explosions.

there's also the moment earlier in the trial where M1G starts ripping into Milkman for what he did on Pleasantcraft. again, line between ooc and in-character is blurry here, but either way Viking recognized what M1G was getting at. (Viking also cut out the part where it got called into question if that should count as testimony against Milkman seeing as it happened on another server and Elffe said "let's get multiversal". god, literally everything elffe did in the trial was great)

but, speaking of multiversal, i'm going to bring up something i've been calling "multiversal bleed" for lack of a better term. sometimes the lines dividing the Vikings are... wiggly. history likes to repeat and mirror itself (as shown in the trial), but some stuff slips in regardless of reality echoing itself. this is the obligatory part of the post where i pull up the TSMP transcripts.

because, for some reason, this specific line from tViking sticks in my head:

Viking: [cat beckoning noises] Frickin’ cat, like the cat I had one time. C’mon.

the reason this is filed under multiversal bleed is because Viking had a cat in Gilded Hardcore. (Also in Dominion, but Cranberry is better remembered.) tViking also could've had a cat during the gap of time between his arrival in TSMP's world and tRuby's, but either way the reaction was "wait, Gilded?"

there's also an equally brief example in the solo Skyblock series, where Wanderer recognizes Avid despite neither of them having crossed paths on-camera before... or those specific versions, anyway. again, Gilded Hardcore.

multiversal bleed is kinda a consequence of mcyt in general when you have multiple series running with different iterations of your character. there's bound to be crossovers and quick jokes and the like. but, considering that Viking's lore has been steadily building up to his status as a universal constant, it's more on the table as "something with canon repercussions".

going off of what moxijunk has suggested before, Summertime might be having heavy bleed from other versions of himself. he's still a separate entity from dViking, or Hardcore, or tViking, but when things get a little too familiar, memories that aren't his start to spill through. it seems to be what's happening to Cherryby, after all.

there is another route, though. on some level, we know the Vikings are aware of each other... maybe. again, most of my evidence is going to be from Twitch SMP, seeing as that went deeper into the overall storyline that's been building since the introduction of V.P. as a concept.

Navigator, local Viking that knows about the multiverse and is very involved in keeping it on-rails, told Sapphire at one point:

Navigator: You won’t tell me anything. And none of the others seem to know… or know even he exists.

and Sapphire later brought up:

Sapphire: Well. I am me as much as this one… is nothing. Hm. Y’know? Me, myself, and I… always work together. We’ve always have. Just as all Vikings. And… Navigator: So you work together… Sapphire: Even to an extent, VP, back before… Well. He didn’t, anymore.

...so there's some level of communication going on between the Vikings. Navigator keeping himself hidden from tViking probably has more to do with "tViking being an unknown and dangerous variable" rather than "Vikings aren't supposed to interfere with each other". maybe. basically anything with Navigator involved is vague, though.

and then, of course:

Viking: So for me, [laughs] I may not build these things myself, but I wake up and they’re done, and I know it’s me, because me wants to help me. Vikings help Viking. That’s how it works.

Vikings help Viking.

this hinges on Summertime being aware, either consciously or subconsciously, of his other selves.

in a TSMP stream i don't have a clip of at the moment he did swap places with tViking / Navigator, but there was no meeting of the Vikings and we don't know if he understood what was happening or if he even remembers it. most of the evidence here is from Navigator, who is an outlier and probably should not be counted, and tViking, who has been voted "most possessable Viking" since near the start of TSMP's storyline.

good lord this post got long. i'm going to go get coffee. draw your own conclusions because i forgot mine

[aurorawest]

I finished The Mars House last night and have been trying to gather my thoughts beyond ADJFAWEHDHA; and AHHHHHHHH. Let's see how this works out.

In a lot of ways this is a pretty typical Natasha Pulley book, which makes you love complicated people who have done bad things, possibly for good reasons and possibly not. The love interest is to all appearances a xenophobic nationalist, but you better believe I loved Gale pretty much immediately.

In other ways this book is different from her past work—obviously there's the far future setting, but it's pretty clear that Pulley wanted to Say Something about gender with The Mars House. This book is a response to and shots fired at the terf ideology and it is not at all subtle about it. And of course, it's a Natasha Pulley book, so there's still empathy for the far-future Martian terfs.

So I would definitely call it the most...political? of her books, which for me was not at all a bad thing. It has everything that I love about Pulley novels—her gorgeous use of language, her ability to wring beauty and pathos out of the small and ordinary, the gay pining, the morally dubious main characters. I've seen reviews say both that the science is ridiculous and that the book is hard science fiction, and I would come down on the side of the science probably being a bit ridiculous, since it's definitely not hard science fiction (lol at the reviewers who are throwing that term around and not knowing what it means). I actually have no idea if the science is plausible or not and I honestly don't care, because that's really not the point of the book.

Anyway, now I'm just going to list things. Doing a read more for spoilers! And I'm not joking, I'm going to spoil the whole book under here so really, if you haven't read it and you care about that, don't keep reading.

The worldbuilding was so good. I mean, this is one of Pulley's strengths, but I had wondered how it would stack up in a sci fi novel versus her historical fiction. As usual, everything was so visceral and textured. Tharsis and Songshu feel like real places I could visit.

THE MAMMOTHS OMG OMG. When they decided to ask the mammoths for help pulling up the gravity train, I almost jumped up from the couch yelling (I would have, but I couldn't disturb my cat who was on my legs). The entire idea of communicating with mammoths and studying mammoth society almost made me cry. Having spent even a tiny amount of time around elephants in the wild, all of that rang 100% plausible. And true in my heart.

I need a sequel where River and January go to Alpha Centauri to talk to the aliens that the Penglai mission is going to find there.

I'M ABOUT TO SPOIL THE ENTIRE BOOK SO DON'T READ ANYMORE IF YOU DON'T WANT THAT.

Speaking of River, yeah I guessed that "Aubrey" was actually River. The clues were well done and I felt smug when I was right.

But!! I actually thought River knew more than they did! A literal chill went up my back when River revealed they had NO IDEA AUBREY WAS LITERALLY IN THEIR ROOM WITH THEM.

The scene in River's bathtub had me screaming crying throwing up.

Is Natasha Pulley working through something re: waifish orphans? I knew Yuan was going to end up being adopted into House Song within pages of their (his?) introduction.

I love that we never find out if River is biologically male or female. I love that January says it doesn't matter and he means that and never tells us.

Speaking of gender abolition, can I have that please for myself.

All of the animals were, as always, a delight. Shoutout to the puffin at the beginning who we never see again, as well as Shuppiluliuma in her basket.

The ancient Mediterranean references littered through this book (see above) were also a delight.

When you think about it, both of Aubrey's consorts fell for River, and that's funny.

The flashes of love between River and Aubrey were devastating.

The haptic implants are a dystopian nightmare and absolutely a realistic prediction of where we're going to end up.

Mori and Daughter!!

[bonefall]

Screaming crying throwing up at the Thunder spoiler thread because

-

-THUNDER SPOILERS-

-

Frostpaw coming to the realization that the Park Cats have a culture that she likes better than the culture of the clans, and wanting to bring elements of it back home with her? That COULD be an actually good use of a traveling book, and it WOULD be an actually nice change to see the clans do any kind of self-reflection on the violence of their culture. Unfortunately, I don’t trust the Erins even a little bit to follow through in any kind of satisfactory way on that plot thread, so I worry it’s going to result in the Clans once again looking at an outside culture and taking a very xenophobic lesson away from interacting with it.

I'm still trying to work out my feelings on the return of the Park Cats... overall, I think I'm feeling pretty frustrated, and it's coloring my perception of them

I also really disliked Riverstar's Home, though. I hated the traveling, I didn't find the Park very interesting in practice, was annoyed by a ton of small things. It felt like the book only got good once we were back in the forest, so, maybe I'm still tasting my sour introduction to the Park cats.

I also don't have any faith in the authors to handle Waffle and Wasp well, or any of the practices Frostpaw is planning to bring home. At this point I'm expecting it. What's really on my mind is... why?

Why did they create a whole little unchanging cultural bubble, a group under glass, exactly the same as it was during the dawn of the clans... when they were just going to blast Frostpaw with The Avatar State anyway?

She can talk to Riverstar whenever. And every ancestor who served under him. And you don't even have to waste 6 chapters on travelling. Could we not have learned about meditation from Riverstar, if the Erins are soooo eager to shove the ancestors into this and write him as her spirit guide?

Like, all this time dedicated to a culture whose one trait is meditating. I have frustrations with the Sisters and Tribe, but they're interesting concepts, with their own spiritual beliefs, government, and customs. So far, the neo-Park has been bland.

Like Guardians, a bare-bones group that showed up once in an SE and just existed to serve the Clan cats for a while, and send Tigerheart back with new characters.

But like, back to the Lesson of the Park Cats, whatever thing Frostpaw could bring home

I just... man, I go off about Clan Culture and its violence literally all the time, but this arc has been ridiculously peaceful. We are 4/6ths of the way through and there was one major battle, at the end of a book, which was bloodless. All the fighting has been arguments.

What exactly is Frostpaw going to learn from the Park cats? How to be passive? Is that going to help RiverClan get rid of the occupying army? Will the power of mindfulness help them un-forget all of their battle training and remind them how to do their own laundry?

If (if.) The Erins have planned all this out, then what they're going to do next is have Frostpaw take what she's learned, and use it to help un-divide RiverClan.

Which TO BE CLEAR would be good for Frostpaw as a character!

But that's not addressing the violence of clan culture or even leaning into it. That wouldn't really be a cultural change, so much as Frostpaw having learned leadership skills... which, again, makes me wonder what the point of a culture frozen in time really was, when they blasted her with this super strong, unprecedented magic connection to StarClan.

Idk. Just, generally not vibing with this book if the spoiler thread is to be believed.

[brunossan]

HOW TO NOT WRITE VILLAINS: THE SITH RESURGENCE EDITION

Note: The Post about The Fic resume is still on the oven. This is an extra about a thing i need to complain about on this damned fanfic.

Kylo Ren in this fanfic is more of a punching bag than a proper villain.

But lets start with a point.

A thing everyone who knows Lily Orchard knows is that she hates a certain group of characters. These characters are what she calls "The White favourites of fandom", and they all fall in the same archetype according to her:

1: They are male.

2: They happen to be White most of the time.

3: They usually start as villains or antagonists but get their redemptions at some point or are so loved by The fandom they are used in other media like references or even full participations that makes People change their vision on them.

Her list include characters like Hunter (The Owl House), N (Pokemon), Arthas (World of Warcraft), Silver (Pokémon), Laios (Dungeon Meshi) and a bunch of others, but there is one in the list that gets the crown of most hated one.

Kylo Ren.

Lily hates him A LOT. Like, when i say a lot, i mean that almost ALL HER VÍDEOS INCLUDE HIM AT SOME POINT. IN HER POKEMON REVIEW SHE NAMED SILVER KYLE RON JUST TO "Beat him without remorse", AND EVEN IN HER STAR WARS FANFIC HE IS THE WORST VERSION OF HIM.

Now, lets take one thing clear. Kylo ren is a trash character? Yes he is. He had a cool concept but got a bad execution, thats why in some fanfics People try to make him either a better villain or redeem him. However, in Lily's case, she made sure he is a pathetic punching bag for her main characters.

This is now a resume on how Kylo goes in this history and how to NOT write a villain.

1-Not a Real Threat

A thing Lily claims to love are "Low stakes histories", wich are normally histories focused on small things like personal problems. However, The Sith Resurgence is on the problem lots of histories fall that its called

The villain is not a real threat.

And still, Lily tries to sell the ideia on Kylo being a threat. Like, lets jump to chapter 2 of the fic.

The chapter introduces Kylo Ren as an explosive person, but while in the movies we see his first introduction as being more threatening and serious but with anger issues that make him a bad Darksider, in this fic he is literally a manchild with a Lightsaber. All his flaws are upped to 100%.

In fact, in chapter 2 he senses Aliana's presence and after she denies coming with him, they fight. However, Kylo gets stomped by Aliana and is forced to run back to his ship by her. After that, it becomes a snowball, because every single fight, argue or even a moment in the fic he SHOULD show his strenght...

It fucking falls on ground.

Not only he is extremely weak, Lily sells the ideia that he is actually extremely powerful but had a bad teacher and was a bad student.

A bad student i can excuse but luke a BAD TEACHER?

Go fuck yourself, Lily.

Anyways, right after this loss, Kylo Ren starts getting more and more disrespect, even from his own allies. He is bullied, disrespected and even threatened by his own companions. This makes him wanting more and more to defeat both Aliana and Rey so he could get his respect and pride back.

But

Every

SINGLE

TIME

HE GETS HIS ASS FOLDED BY THEM BOTH. ALL HIS FIGHTS, ALL THE MOMENTS HE COULD BE SELLED AS THE BIG BAD OF THIS FIC, THROWN IN THE GROUND FOR NOTHING EXCEPT MAKING HIM THE PUNCHING BAG OF THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HER WIFE!

Kylo Ren in this fic is not a real threat to any of them. He is just the punching bag. Why?

Because Lily hate him.

2-The Hate blinds a writer, so a cat on a blender.

Its not uncommon doing histories out of spite of things you dislike. But in case of lily, at least 90% of her histories (Iris and Kiera not included) are made because she spites things of a certain média. Pokemadhouse has lots of moments where Lily calls out things of pokemon world, like Pokeballs being the tools to enslave pokemon, and her Warcraft fantiction used to tackle a lot of both Blizzard and Wow mistakes. However, most of the problems came from The fandom itself.

And one the only things i can agree with her is that shippers can ruin a media or the reputation of it.

Yes.

Im talking about Reylo.

You see, Lily absolutely despises Disney Canon, the Star Wars fandom in General and Reylos. But her hatred moved her on this fic decisions, like the Curse on the Beniko Clan and the hatred the Force have for them. She claimed in one post from her now-deleted old account that she took inspiration on them for it, on People who dislike her fic, her vision on Sith not being evil or her critics about how star wars is handled by media. Wanna know the worst part about the Force hate in this fic?

In this fic, The Force is Reylo. Not exactly reylo, but you remember the Force Bond thing in The Last Jedi, where Rey and Kylo share minds and start talking with eachother then Snoke reveals that it was him who bonded them?

Well, it all falls to the ground because of this scene (TW: SA Mention below)

Where Lily compared the Mind Probe, a Dark Side Force technique to read minds.

To R4pe.

Yes. Mind reading counts as S3xu4l 4ssault somehow, and this is a Cat in a Blender situation on the fic.

Cat in a Blender is a term that is used to reference moments where the writers make certain characters do horrible things to excuse the main characters actions. In this fic, Kylo Ren actions are considered the worst of crimes, even when Aliana actions are literally pure evil most of time. She kills, and threatens and even uses mind tricks to get rid of all enemies in her way, and yet the punching bag of the fic is accused on SA just to excuse the "Punishment" he receives. The hate of this character is so big that his suffering extends for 46 of the 48 chapters of this fic. And not only that but ends with not only he losing again but in such painful and destructive way that makes it feel pointless.

The ideia of a villain being ruined because of the writer hating on the character is a reason why i took almost 2 months to finish this history. Because at some points, it was just Cat in a Blender situations all over again. And other points were just Lily using her fic to directly attack star wars and its fans over and over again. Hate can really blind a writer from its own mistakes.

3-The Hatred 4 years after the fic ended still remains.

We all need to grow up at some point, even if we keep disliking one thing. But the thing that lily cant stop doing is remembering People she hates certain characters and considers their existence like the coming of the anti-christ. Kylo Ren hate stopped being cool after the Rise of Skywalker, People moved on of it. But all the time she must remember People on her vídeos that Kylo Ren sucked, that his fans are thrash, that Reylos are thrash...

Girl, move on. Its a bad character and you made the character a punching bag for being bullied and tortured the entire fanfic where the Mary sues could do everything and him nothing. We get it.

But still, its been years the fic ended. Move on. You remember the warcraft reference you made on this scene.

"Its all NOTHING!"

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Can you tell me about Fitzloved?

"OH MY GOSH, AM I ABOUT TO INTRODUCE YOU TAYLOR SWIFT?!"

that's what i first meme when i saw your lovely ask! hahahah

Introductions

So its a fandom based on the epic fantasy series that follows for the most part, 2 soulmates, from their childhood all the way to their older years as they grow from friendship, partners to lovers. And I have to admit, the way it's written is almost euphoric. It's utterly lyrical.

So introductions now put aside, 'Fitzloved' is the ship name for "Beloved" (one of his many names) name of the characters and "Fitz". They are the two ongoing protagonists in one of the most respect and wonderful high fantasy series ever created, Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. They are the main couple shall we say that span the 16 book series. I think a lot describe it as the "mona lisa of fantasy series" within the genre. It's aesthetic is very much evermore meets folklore meets Merlin. Its veryyyyy cozy fantasy and perfect for the season but also the Fall/winter.

The big 5 writers of fantasy rn i have been told are: Brandon's, Robin Hobb's, GRRM (Although he's lost a lot of respect in the community because of his insane hiatus!), Steven Erickson's (Malazan series) and Joe Abercrombie. While you will see with the Cosmere, Brandon is very much straight to the point, prioritises fights, magic system building and very cohesive ensamble casts. Unlike her peers, Robin Hobb on the other hand, is a delicacy. A slowly made dessert that has sweet and salty tastes if you will. And another defining feature is that her series does not involve a massive war at the epicentre of the fantasy plot, which ironically is rare in high fantasy now a days.

Of Cats and Closed Doors by @tragediegh

HOWEVER. The WAY in which i was introduced to this series is kind of dumb and silly, i.e. very me lol. i stumbled across a fiction on ao3 under 'in a the cabin era way' tag and stumbled across @tragediegh's soul-binding, amazing wonderful fiction called Of Cats and Closed Doors that is still ongoing and she updates mostly weekly! At first, not joking i thought it was an original work, but only well into crying, loving, reading, laughing, did i realise when i looked better at the tags it was actually based on ROTE lol. I was new to ao3 that's my only defence :P

And what @tragediegh and Hobb are doing probably tell from my handle, is make literally my roman empire. Like I reread chapters everyday before going to sleep. It's fr fr my safe space. and what i love is the maturity in which they both write, as they create stakes in different ways. She creates a very tangible atmosphere, a world you can touch, the foods cooked, how they smell, and what the character's rely on. From banquet halls, to the wood carvings the Fool leaves behind, the well lit fireplaces, mugs of ale and coffee on the table, through jewels adorned, to how the dragons gleaming like jewels in the sky… it's simply amazing. You get me. There is NEVER a moment where you feel like it's a slog or dull moment. Like I did sometimes while reading the Stormlight Archive or Outlander (those books in their defence, are longer individually).

And like I said, the thing I LOVE the most with how they make us and fall in love with Fool (one of the protagonists) through the eyes of naive and a socially sometimes challenged Fitz. Fitz himself, is the most passionate, handsome, humble hero i've ever read. He is a bastard prince who from day 0 was neglected, abused, unwanted, un-named, manipulated, gaslit just all around most traumatised character one could read. Which most people end up overlooking and resenting bc he is riddled with insecurities (despite him being a hotttie hot chiseled smokie pie that everyone wants to cuffff) and developed unhealthy copying mechanisms that can effect the readability of the main series. Which is entirely relatable. I strongly believe the hero of Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson that everybody loves, is heavily inspired by Fitz in ROTE. In fact I think Brandon said it was one of his fav series.

But really, the masterpiece of this world is obviously the Fool. When I look at the other characters, its a bit like watching a glorious puppet show - I can see how the strings are moving and what the puppets are made of…But not so with the Fool, he is an infinite mystery and creating a character like that is something I`ll never be able to get out of my head. he is other worldly. Put Tolkien fae and beautiful faeries to shame with his grace, elegance, mysticism. His story with Fitz (the other main character) with that @tragediegh and Hobb are doing imo is one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Gender Identity

And I think also, Fool (also known as Beloved to a special someone 😉) is a lgbtq+ individual, and their identity and how they chose to present and address themselves daily (and not address it!) plays a massive role in the ROTE/OCACD overall. It extremely realistic, how it's writen, where for the most part some characters are confused, don't know how to navigate the topic. Which isn't helped by how private and mysterious the Fool remains. But for the most part, is heart warming, as the gender fluidity of the Fool is openly accepted by his mate (YES MATE) with open arms as he accepts it, and it's got me CRYINGGGG as i type this fr....! These characters were created pre-2000's, which just goes to show how timeless these gender questions and acceptances really are i think!

Music

CANON FOR ME swiftie songs that are FOR fitzloved to get a feel r:

ur loosing me

my tears ricochet

invisible string

stay don't go

the lakes

mastermind (YASSS beloved go manipulate ur boy fitzieee ily)

dress (as of chapter 48 and beyond hopefully alkdfjalkdjfj)

and Fitz's song for me for ever will be:

i see fire live and in session by ed sherran (i just feel the literal passion that fitz has through this song not to mention the howl XD)

Conclusion

So yeah, I cannot recommend enough this ongoing story and series to you.

TLDR: Fitzloved is a ship i read myself to sleep every night and cry about how amazing they are XD

Feel free to ask any more questions about them or even my favourite artists that do ROTE work bc ngl this post was 2x as long as i included artistic work but it was getting too long so i decided to leave that for a more specific ask :)) As you can tell i can just dedicate entire evenings singing from the top of these crusty english rooftops how amazing and life changing these two silly beans are. I hope this was enough of a good overview of my love for them and why! :)) Hopefully one day you will give it a go, and i swear your life will be changed for ever ! <333

[coldresolve]

squeezing mm through the danish lit meat grinder

so i know ive joked about mm having a boiling spaghetti plot structure where we start out mild and let that thing sit there until the whole thing boils over. and thats true, but if yall want a more in depth ramble about tension beats ive tried to hit, lemme introduce you to the narrative tension model thats been beaten into my head since i was 8 by the danish education system. presenting:

the narrative model

aka the hollywood model, aka the whale model (it supposedly looks a bit like a whale)

note that this isn't exactly a model for plot structure, as you see with ex. the hero's jurney, save the cat, etc - it's a model that can be laid on top of any plot structure and serves to illustrate narrative tension. and thinking about narrative tension this way is incredibly helpful in my experience. i feel like its pretty self explanatory, but in case it's not:

the impact refers to the "hook", or the inciding incident;

the introduction is where we get to know the characters and conflict;

the elaboration is where the story starts to get moving;

the turning point, or the point of no return, is where something major happens that alters something, whether it be the stakes, the nature of the conflict, etc. this is typically found around the midway point. i prefer calling it the turning point because point of no return implies things can go back to the status quo for a while before this, which they usually can't once the conflict has been introduced

the escalation is the build-up to the climax in which tension rises exponentially

the climax is where shit hits the fan. it ends with the revelation of the story's main theme

the fade out, or the resolution, is where characters settle in their new (or sometimes old) normal

the thing about this model is that you can put literally all stories into it and it checks out. sure, the length and position of each "phase" shifts around a lot depending on the underlying plot structure. sometimes the change in narrative tension is barely pronounced until it takes off for the climax, sometimes the escalation takes up 90% of the story, sometimes the fade out is literally just a single sentence. but thats the beautiful thing about models: who gives a fuck, do what you want

ive had this vaguely in mind for moneymakers and finally sat down today and applied it (ik its not done yet but shush). and honestly im kinda surprised with how well it fits. these things are pretty subjective, so you can make the argument that the turning point includes ratio, or the climax starts at the last stream or after The Confession, etc etc. but heres where i'd draw the lines

note my immaculate excel skills. also note that blue = conrad's pov and green = renee's pov, and that one pretty nicely fades into the other. im very proud of that switch okay. im a writing god is what im saying

anyway yeah i dunno. this is all pretty basic but i like it a lot, so

happy saturday. insert peace sign emoji

[anotheroceanid]

any tips on how to plot a story? Becuase I always come up with a vague idea but then i draw a blank because i have no idea how to put it in motion T~T

Opened my laptop to answer this, so it’ll be long. Still, I can make another post about it later if anyone else is interested. Important to say there isn’t a correct answer for that, each person does it their own way. That's how I do.

First, tell yourself the story: I know this probably sound silly, because technically we already know our stories, right? We know what we want to write. But then, I think that most of the times we have concepts, not stories. We have scenes we want to write, side characters that will show up in three chapters then die, so much dispersed information that we can’t properly link to write a cohesive story.

So, I literally tell myself my stories before I write any real paragraph. You can do it in multiple ways, you can write it down, record it, draw a mind map (I do it later in the process, but could work too at this point), explain it as if you were studying history (not a joke, I do that).

Think about, you won’t start teaching yourself French Revolution and go right into the Storming of the Bastille, even though is an important moment. You’ll first introduce yourself to the background, where it takes place, then you’ll name the main participants from each side, the time it lasted and its outcome. And all this in a very surface level. Only when it’s finished, you’d go into specifics.

Whatever way you feel works better for you, explain yourself your history.

Now that you know your history…

Second, pick a story structure: There are plenty of those, I particularly use the Freytag’s Pyramid. That’s what works for me. But there are many ways you can structure your story, and this you must personally try yourself each.

Here are some other examples for you to try:

Save the Cat

3-Act Story Structure

Fichtean Curve

Hero’s Journey (I personally prefer this to write characters arcs, but we’ll see it later)

Snowflake Method (I used this for some time, worked for me and I still use some elements of it)

Seven Point Structure

There are many other story structures you can try, the thing here is: the structure is meant to help you, not get you stuck. You can make changes in the story structure if you need to, the only thing that you must stick with it: Beginning (introduction of major characters and conflict), Middle (conflicts, development of the world and characters), End (conclusion of major characters arcs, be it good or bad).

Third, write the characters arcs: Even if you work has a lot of worldbuilding, what really drives your story are your characters. So, take your time to know your characters as they are in the beginning of the story, because these are the characters that will drive the plot. Who they are? Why they are like this? How do they look? How the way they look reflects how the world impacted them? Because the world also must affect your characters. How old are they? Do they behave accordingly to their age or not?

You must know where your characters are at the first chapter to know where they’re going from there. Do whatever it takes to get acquainted with them, create playlists, boards, draw them, make personality tests, etc.

Once you know who they are in the first chapter, you can start outlining their character arc.

But here is the thing, not character arc needs to be good. Sometimes, our characters get bad, sometimes they get good, and sometimes they don’t finish their character arcs (if you know you know). Treat your characters fairly, do not give them too much or too little unless it’ll impact them in the story.

You can have overpowered characters, but you’ll have to balance it with something else that’ll will drive their change throughout the story. You can have characters that are very delicate, but you’ll have to give them something to drive them to action, be it externally or internally.

Also, is important to know about your characters morals. Even if they’re in a grey area, what he’s more leaning to? What circumstances would drive them the other way? What are their priorities? What are their ambitions? What are the lengths they’re capable of going to reach it. Trust me, it’s important that your characters have ambitions. It doesn’t need to be something “in the real world” like a throne, or a job, or whatever. It can be living in safety; it can be learning something. But a character without ambition falls flat.

You can have morally good characters and morally bad characters, but even them must have something that readers can engage and identify with. Not necessarily something that turn them into a villain, not necessarily something that comes out as “they were never bad.”

For example, you can have an exceptionally nice character that makes choice that beneficiates themselves or a determined group that they personally support, it doesn’t turn them bad, because people will make choices all the time and it impacts other. At the same time, a mean character can be relatable through characteristcs that aren’t meant to be redemptive, they can be hardworking, they can have interests that not necessarily relate to their “mean” goal, they can even be on the “right” side but in a “reasons justify the means” way.

You need characters to take actions. Otherwise they'll become simply plot devices. And plot devices need to exist, don’t get me wrong, they can be useful. But the thing is: people don’t relate to plot devices. I could list a lot of characters with sob stories that were obviously meant to shock the audience, but I couldn’t care less about the sad things happened to them, because the author needed a bad thing to happen to go from point A to point B. Okay, I understand that. But it happened to a character we're constantly told we have to pity, and there is nothing else about them. People don’t care about plot devices, so if you want people to care and like your characters, give them agency.

Yeah, this is getting long. Sorry. But let’s talk about agency.

Allow your characters to make choices. Bad choices, good choices. Whatever choices they make, it needs to have consequences. A story without consequence is a weightless story. I  t’s also important to make the character make choices, even if they’re being highly manipulated by someone, they must—eventually—walk on their feet. The plot is consequence of the characters choices, so don’t let the character become the plot punchbag.

Trust me, it’s easier for a reader to enjoy an unlikable character with agency than a likable character that does nothing and never stands out for anything. Your character can be anything—annoying, ugly, spoiled, cruel, anything but agency-less.

Important to say: The characters are stupid. People are stupid in general, and we react terribly bad under stressful conditions. We’re like enzymes. We stop working if we’re not in the proper conditions of pH and temperature, some enzymes will work in the intestine, but others will only work if they’re in the stomach. Different enzymes work in different environments, and so do people. What drives a story is conflict, so your character is usually stressed. It’s not a 100% of the cases rule, but if you’re character is in a super tricky situation they never been in, don’t make it easy for them to get out of that. If everything turns out easily, why should I care if the character is in a live-or-die situation?

Of course, if they have fought two dragons and survived, I expect them to live when they fight the third dragon. But if they never fought any, I want a good explanation why they’re alive and cracking jokes. As I said, characters are like enzymes. Some will do well fighting dragons but will cry their eyes out if they’re exposed to a sea monsters. Each situation is different, so analyse it.

Now, the character arc.

Your character needs to go through change, they need to find out something at least. It doesn’t need to be a good change; they can become a worse person (negative arc). They can become a better person (positive arc). But they need to go through change. Even if you have an impressive worldbuilding, well-built universe rules, a functional magical system… Everything is meaningless if the character is conflict-less (internally or externally).

There are flat arcs, but they usually serve other purposes. You can read into it if you're interested, but I never focused much on it so... Let's keep going.

Your character arc takes character from point A to point C. Because between A and C there is B, that’s usually the moment the character thinks they have it all, or they give up their journey, then something happens, and they start moving toward C again.

Again, there are many ways to structure a character arc. I usually follow The Heroine’s Journey (Maureen Murdock) or The Virgin’s Promise (Kim Hudson). These were inspired by the Hero’s Journey (Joseph Campbell), which is great too, I just feel like these helped me more. They don’t have to necessarily be applied to female characters only, in the same way that the Hero’s Journey doesn’t have to be used for male characters only. This is just a structure to help you see how your character changes throughout the story and can be used to write any gender.

I recommend you reading the books, this will help you a thousand times more than I ever could.

These are archetypical structures. The “hero” and the “heroin” are archetypes, so is the “virgin.” I also recommend you reading about archetypes, because our characters usually fit one or other, and if you don’t know what’s your character archetype is, you should find out. It helps to identify problems, because sometimes you’ll fall into stereotypes that you not necessarily want.

Fourth, about side characters: In a way, all that I said applies to side characters. But at the same time, it doesn’t.

You don’t need your side characters to be as flashed out as your protagonist(s), but they need to have some depth. The way your side characters interact with your protagonists and vice-verse says a lot of your protagonist. If you create this real nice person, who is supposed to care about everyone and be a selfless person who would take a bullet for their best friend, don’t turn the best friend into the protagonist’s sidekick.

You know those 2000s movies with the usually POC, or queer coded or often regarded as less attractive friend is always there for the protagonist, but then they ask to ONE THING and the protagonist will be like “Actually, I have plans”. Yeah, that. Your very nice character can become a dumbass because they’re never showing empathy toward others, as your very mean character can become a fan’s favourite because they’re treating people with more respect than anyone else in the story. It can’t be intentional, it can’t be part of their character arcs, but if it’s not, beware.

The way the side characters interact with the main characters is as important as the character interacts with the world. The don’t need to have super detailed backstories, but they need to have something. A goal that’s not necessarily is related to the protagonist.

For example, Grover is Percy’s best friend and protector. But he’s main goal ain’t protecting or be Percy, his main goal is to find Pan. Which makes sense (and it makes me so sad, because I love Grover) why his story basically “ended” with PJO original series. He accomplished his goal, and though I’d love to see him amongst the Argo II crew, putting him in that situation would turn him into Percy’s sidekick and nothing else. He’d be throwing all his responsibilities away (he’s literally Lord of the Wild at that point) to help Percy, and though we can argue he could help… Gaea was rising, this probably affects the nature spirits he’s supposed to care.

And most importantly: Percy cares about Grover. We’re shown this multiple times throughout the story, and if he didn’t care as much about Grover (his first friend introduced into the story), we wouldn’t believe that his fatal flaw is personal loyalty.

We don’t know everything about Grover, but we know enough to not break the entire narrative when we think about his relationship with Percy.

Keep this energy with side characters. Not everyone needs their entire story to be told, but you need them to feel as their own person.

Same goes for characters that don’t like your main characters. Some characters can be annoying and mean, but why? Is there a reason this character pesters the protagonist? Are they prejudiced somehow? Does it have something to do with class? Is there a hierarchy that ends up facilitating that sort of behaviour? Why no one does anything? Is it jealousy? Are they getting something by acting like that? Was it caused by something the main character did in the past? Do you protagonist fights back or they don’t? In whatever case, why?

Not every character who dislikes the protagonist needs to be a villain. It’s normal that people might dislike others, nobody pleases everyone, is nice having characters who don’t think the protagonist is the most awesome person in the world.

Just like the main character, it’s important to allow side characters to make decisions and have agency. Even if the reader ain’t inside their mind, these characters need to have ambition. Sometimes, you can use them to drive the plot somewhere, or to teach the protagonist something. Again, look into archetypes it might help.

However, if you keep showing a side character and never gives them a moment to shine, it might disappoint your readers. At the same time, using a character mentioned twice without any foreshadowing might come out as a dumb solution for some conflict.

So beware how you use side characters.

Fifth, write as much as you can… but not chapters yet: If you, like me, is dealing with worldbuilding, timelines and different POVs, you should plan how will this work before you get into the actual story.

Now, you can draft the whole story down as it is in your head.

Again, you don’t need to necessarily write. You can record yourself, or you can draw (I do it a lot), make mind maps (which is my case, I make mind maps to see were different things meet), or you can write multiple paragraphs about it. Just make sure you have a general idea before you start writing, make slideshows, spreadsheets, etc.

Write think pieces about characters relationships, make memes, make incorrect quotes, anything that helps you set things up inside your head.

This is a part that never ends, because sometimes you’ll have to look back and see what is lacking, what needs to be done or redone. Don’t be afraid of coming back here, rearrange the plot points, redraw characters. Your first draft will hardly be the one you’ll stick with.

I use obsidian for worldbuilding. I cannot really explain how obsidian works; it’d be like trying to write down how to draw on Photoshop. But I use the canvas plugin to draw the plot as a mind map, and I also use canvas to make a linear timeline.

This is the outline for a part of my fic, I didn't screenshot it all because it'd be too big. But you get the idea.

This is my linear timeline, is very useful to check info quickly.

To outline chapters, I use spreadsheets. I make enough room for general info, then a little resume of the chapter, and the white blocks beside the chapter I can write what scenes I want for those chapters.

Again, very simple.

I check the spreadsheet occasionally, because I sometimes change order of chapters, or add something. Your outline is an asset not a rule, you can change it if you feel is not working.

Sixth, write: After you went through it all, writing will become much easier, I can assure. But even then, you’ll face moments in which you feel that you’re stuck. But if you can write one hundred words every day, is already better than no word at all.

If you feel it might help, try different writing tools, try editing your document to make it aesthetic and to fit your story vibe. I personally use scrivener (it’s great for organisation) for some stories, and for others I use Microsoft Office, but there are cheaper or free options. Obsidian does basically everything Scrivener does, but it’s a bit trick to use if you’re new. So, it might take some patience, and it’s not as editable as other software (unless you are now a bit of code, which is not hard but is also not for everyone), there is Google Doc, and some open-source options like Libre Office, you can even write on Notion (I used to, I have templates for it even).

When you’re writing, treat yourself. I make myself coffee or matcha, I put some music, or I buy myself cheesecake. Try not to make your writing session a “I have to do it” moment, enjoy it, even if you aren’t writing your intended 10k words (trust me, setting such ambitious goals won’t help you in anything).

Sometimes, nothing good will come out. Sometimes, you’ll feel like you should win a Pulitzer. Just enjoy writing and do be afraid of committing mistakes.

I think this is it. I wanted to go deeper into some things, I wanted to speak of antagonists and conflict more deeply, but it got big enough. I hope I made sense and I helped, be free to ask if my non-native english speaker ass wrote something senseless.

[skollwolf]

Okay this post has a target audience of me myself and I, I know, but a few days ago my 3 year old asked to see a movie I liked a lot as a kid, so I of course showed him the animated classic Quest For Camelot (1998) which I was absolutely fucking obsessed with at age 6

And on rewatch (and a second rewatch today because my kid has proclaimed it "one of my favorite movies!!"), holy shit is the way they play Garrett's character arc funny

Like, from minute one of his introduction, right. Kayley (the movie's deuteragonist) meets him, he saves her life, she asks to travel with him when she realizes his seeing-eye falcon knows the location of Excalibur so they can save Camelot together, and what does Garrett do but immediately launch into a musical number about how well he knows the Forbidden Forest they're in and how he's better off alone, as Kayley like...brute force stumbles her way through keeping up with him.

Which isn't, in and of itself, all that funny; the musical number is meant to establish that although he's blind, Garrett is in fact the more competent of the two by literal leaps and bounds while in the Forbidden Forest--and yes, it establishes that he's turned his involuntary isolation into a key part of his identity in a way that will become a late-movie problem. I get all that.

But the thing that makes this read as fucking hilarious is that literally the second he finishes singing a three minute musical number about how he's better off alone and Kayley can't come with him, Kayley immediately goes "okay but like...what if I come with you anyway 🥺" and Garrett responds with "oh fine whatever 😑" and lets her come along after all. No further argument, nothing happens to convince him, he just folds like a grumpy wet paper towel. Man literally no sooner finishes belting "all by myself I stand alone!" than he makes an exception.

And then after they meet Devon and Cornwall, he does it again! He's like "okay we made it out of dragon country, you two should fuck off now" and Kayley goes "but Garrett what if they came with us 🥺" and with no further convincing Garrett immediately goes "yeah okay they're coming with us I guess 😑"

Like is the practical reason for this that they didn't want to spend more of the movie's runtime and budget on scenes about Garrett being convinced to change his mind? Probably. But functionally speaking? It looks like the creators of Quest for Camelot really looked at their romantic deuteragonist and were like "you know what people want? A hot blind guy with the approximate attitude of a contrary cat" and they were so right

[yellowbluemoonshine]

League of Villains Redemption Discourse;

Its been a while since i’ve been talking about redemption for villains because it kinda become obvious that it will happen at the end of Bnha and all but there is still some discourse for villains, especially league of villains. That ‘Gentleman and La Brava fits redeemable’ type of villain better. That characters like ‘Twice are redeemable’ but Dabi isnt or Dabi can be saved but Shigaraki is bad blah blah blah. Like, the idea that ‘certain type of villain deserve to be saved’ while other doesnt. It is also ironic that people think characters like Shigaraki, Dabi and Toga are too far gone or they think this wasnt hinted. Well, here we go.

I would like to focus on league of villains to try to explain why i disagree with those opinions.

First of all, Shigaraki and Dabi’s redemption is hinted since the beginning.

The first time we saw Shigaraki, he was heaviely hinted that he is abuse victim and he was groomed. This his literally first introduction and story is telling you that this character is victim. And he had a conversation with Deku at the mall. Loosing his mind while saying ‘He hates Allmight because people are laughing as if there is noone he couldnt save’. And we get a little flashback form his childhood, ‘Noone saved you, didnt they?’. His entire character literally screams ‘SAVE ME. WHY NOONE SAVE ME? I HATE EVERYONE BECAUSE THEY DONT SAVE ME’.

And Overhaul arc. It is abour saving Eri who is parallel with Shigaraki, once again it is about saving Tomura in a parallel and we also seeing Shigaraki is capable of caring about other people which is a positive character development. And MVA arc is even more obvious. Not only story making his story more empathic because it is showing how tragic it is but also because we meet with Tenko who is kind kid who would help outcasts and well, Tomura even after ewvrything does the same with league. Showing that his inner kindness didnt disappear. Which is even making it more obvious.

Theme of Bnha is questioning the meaning of hero. Main character who wants to SAVE people in a fake hero society and his enemy who is entire character is about SAVE MEEEE, never really had choice because he was kidnapped by big evil, turns out still caring people and even helping them just like he used to be as kid. Its so obvious when Deku is like I WANNA SAVE PEOPLE and Shigaraki is like SAVE MEEE so yeah, well, it was always hinted that Shigaraki will be saved by Deku. Of course, he could die by being saved, we wouldnt know at first but one thing is sure that he would be saved. Shigaraki’s story didnt change. He was always redeemable and waiting to be saved. And the more story goes on, he only proved this more. Because in stories, positive character developments usually means noble death or redemption.

Btw, i dont think he will die because after everything happenned in story, there is no point of him dying. It also loose the point of being saved.

And Dabi.

This one is tricky since Dabi was mysterious character. I think two things make kinda hint that he will most likely get redemption. 1- He is heaveily hinted that he was Todoroki. He is doing what he is doing because he was failed by abusive hero. He is very similar to Earlyroki. So there is family drama there. Shouto is already tragic character in a positive story, so i dont see him ever killing his brother or something. Not to mention, if he is Todoroki, it would mean, he became villain because of his hero father so killing victim of hero, instead of saving would be very bad look. Not to mention, during the story, Dabi acts like dark cop or something. (Not to mention Frainkeinstein parallels). Despite revenge plan, he seems to care about morals, justice and even feeling remorse. What happens later, it doesnt change his story because he is parallel with Shigaraki a lot too.

 2- Save the cat moment.

A “save the cat” is a moment, very early on in the story, where we meet or see our hero do something nice that makes us like him and say, “I want to follow this person's story.” It's important to have it because you want your audience to be sympathetic or empathetic towards your protagonist.

This was mentioned by @hamliet​ and other people. The scene when Dabi decides to spare Aoyama, despite noticing him. Note; Dabi didnt know Aoyama was traitor. ‘Save the cat moment’ for a villain can be hint as a possibe future redemption for him.

And others. League of villains. I think their redemption werent necessarely hinted or it was necessary. I think for them MVA arc hinted it.

For Toga, we didnt know her full story and life until MVA arc and it turned out she is also victim of society, not just crazy villain. She is parallel with one of the main kids like Shigaraki and Dabi so assuming that ‘if Shigaraki and Dabi are gonna be saved by Deku and Shouto, Toga will be most likely be saved by Uraraka’ wouldnt be weird. Not to mention is this whole arc was about the family bond between league, that they are capable of caring other people. Same for Twice, Spinner and Mr Compress too. Because story is telling you that those people are here because society failed them and they have still humanity in them, they are not doing what they are doing because of evil but because they are victims so it wouldnt be weird to assume that whether they will get redemption or noble death, like Twice did.

‘Characters like Gentleman and La Brava are better example of redeemable villains’

No, they are not. They are not even real criminals. They never even did serious crime. I like them but they are like joke villains, they are not meant to be ‘actually’ villains. Whole point of ‘redemption’ is people who did commit serious crimes. If there is no actually wrong action, then we wouldnt need redemption at first place. I think redemption exist for characters like league.

Note; Of course, other villains can get redemption too, i am just focusing on them because they are good example to use. Especially since even characters in story told them, characters like Stain and Overhaul and even Redestro seen as ‘better person’ just because they have ‘goal’, just because they dont want destruction, like Tomura did. But in the end, Tomura proved them wrong because despite being at the lowest of low, he still showed more humanity and positive character development than them, just by treating his comprades better.

And i also dont like it when people see one league of member more redeemable than another. Especially with Twice and others. Because Twice is very obvious when it comes to showing how much he cares about others. He is obvious victim. He is not ugly victim like Tomura, Dabi and Toga. But the thing is;

Every member of League has side that makes them look irredeemable but also they have their own redeemable features.

Tomura's desire to destruction makes him look ireedemable but he is the only villain who never had a choice at life, he feel miserable with his life and he is very kind leader to his comprades.

Dabi’s distancing himself from others, using people he cares, even trying to kill his brother just for revenge against his father makes him look irredeemable but he is the only villain in league that feels remorse for killing others. He has strong sense of responsibility and he doesnt think its justified. He doesnt even plan to live long. He just wants to punish his father for his sins and thats it.

Toga’s self centered side, not caring about others without remorse makes her look irredeemable but one, she is the only one who born with serial killer quirk, with urges, like damn and second, this one is interesting. Compared to Shigaraki and Dabi, Toga never once had a grudge against people who hurted her. She never hated the society, heroes, people for calling her monster. She just accept this monster label and decide to live her life according to it.

Twice, Spinner, Compress arent different from them. Their redeemable side is how much they care about league and how much they go for their friends but they also kill many people and they dont seem to care which makes them look irreedemable too. Basically, it is pointless to separate one from another.

Also, i think it is kinda wrong to decide who ‘deserve’ redemption (i am talking about hero characters because you can always hate bad writing) because it not up to you to decide. It is up to you to do right thing by giving them a chance to rehabilate and changing or not will be theirs. Well, it is complicated.

Point of league of members isnt that they are just pitifull victims or they are just evil. The thing is they are bunch of losers. And thats what makes them beautiful.They are mentally ill victims. They need help and they need to be stopped at the same time. They lash out because they are messed up. Their violence arent justified because there is no such a thing that violence that can be justified. Violence is bad. But you can understand where it comes from. The thing about league is especially main villain trio, they are written to be metahpor for pain of abuse/society victims. Some victims never get saved, some of them make wrong choices and they messed up but some of them can still be rehabilate which is why redemption is exist. It makes sense why they get redemption because they are not bad people. And redemption isnt a bad thing either, it means taking responsibility and healing. It also fits to their characters so its good writing, well, hopefully it will written good later as well.

[that-random-outsider]

One of the things I loved most about the marvels was the spotlight we got on carol. Like okay I know we literally got an entire movie on her but thing is we didn't really get an idea of who she was. Like I haven't re watched captain marvel in a while simply because it wasn't exactly one of my favorites but I do remember my thoughts on Carol as a character and to put it simply there just wasn't really many. Were first introduced to her as "veers" a member of the Kree empire. And then we find out she isn't, so instead we get snippets of "Carol Danvers" an air force captain who lived with Maria and Monica.

Except she had no memories of that life, so she's not going to be that same person. By the end of the movie she excepts herself as "Captain Marvel" a mix of both her life as a kree and her life on Earth but by then the movie is over. This is of course a great character introduction we have and idea of her past and get a glimpse of her future, and then she disappears for forty years and now she's some one different again. Even if she doesn't look physically older you still had to have mentally grown in those years time still passes when the characters aren't on screen something that marvel repeatedly reiterates in their movies.

So again we still don't know much about the captain or her life now, leaving us to infer based on the closed off angry snippets we get in endgame. I think for the longest in my head a good chunk of my idea on her personality came from that one scene where she;s like "hey Peter Parker, got something for me." Just because like I've always love every scene Peter was in and that was the only one he had with Captain marvel anyway sorry back to my thoughts. In The Marvels we finally get a clear no plot twist, interrupted or blink and you miss it glimpse at Carol's personality. And I felt like Kamala just trying to take it all in because we get like a clear unguarded idea of who Captain Marvel was.

That's not to say she had no flaws in the movie because that simply wouldn't be true but in this one I don't know I feel like since she got a chance to share the spotlight her flaws were a lot more on display. Like I'm seeing people describe her as this socially awkward girlfailure cat mom, and i'm like that's completely right because that is who she is. We finally see all the pressure that's been building up in her over the years, and how alone she's been and felt. All the tough calls she had to make all the resentment she has for herself that we just couldn't see in her movie because from what I remember she was too busy finding out who she was to completely experience all that came with becoming that person. Carol Danvers is a loser that lives alone, in a spaceship, and reuses to feel deserving of the only home she can return to. And I love her for it.

[chewysgummies]

Omg, not me thinking about "The bounty" again. The more I think about the episode, the more I realize how much of a MESS it is. For both Killbot 86 and Commander peeper. Especially for commander peepers since everyone always thinks "the bounty" is good for him cause it foreshadowed/reveal peeper to be badass, when in reality, it is not. Yeah, it did- but only temporarily before they made peeper cry over lord hater and exaggerated how much of a whiny crybaby he is.

Like honestly, remember how in "The prisoner" or something, Peeper managed to easily trick Wander into the ship? Yeah, he didn't capture him, but it wasn't hard to manipulate him inside the skullship, right? And I believe that episode came BEFORE the bounty so It wasn't hard to do that job of simply luring in wander into the ship. So like- Why was that so difficult of him to do?? And remember that line lord hater said?

"You can't seem to do the one thing I continually asked of you"

Noticed how lord hater mentioned he "continually" asked peeper to capture him? So he failed multiple times to get wander in despite how easy it was to manipulate him the first time. So HOW DID HE NOT SIMPLY DO THAT AGAIN??? You can argue that stuff happened off screen and there's a time skip for sure, but like- this is Commander peeper we're talking about. Isn't he supposed to be the "smartest" person? Y'know, to think of a plan instead of playing cat and mouse chase? Anyway, Peeper had his chances multiple times in a row until Hater had enough and straight up called in the bounty hunter cause he was so incompetent at doing his job.

And this is where I start to have issues. literally the first thing we see is Peeper whining to lord hater about what he's doing wrong instead accepting the facts he knew he screwed up and tried to apologize to lord hater for his failure before trying to convince him to give him another chance. Anyway, he proceeds to abuse his soldier, basically lashing out on other, and just- my god he fuckin suck holy shit. I get that the point but like- it made me question why I was into him to begin with.

So like yadda yadda, stuff happened. Sabotaging the bounty hunters. And my poor sweet, dearly beloved badass of robot man I love- I cannot go into details about how much I wanted to cry over him. Like genuinely speaking. I love him so much and realizing how horribly they mistreated him- holy fuck I'll never forgive this show. Fuck this show man- I already mentioned about what they done to him, but they literally robbed him. If given the chance, he would've been important. Especially since it was shown that he was actually crucial to Sylvia and peeper's parallel and the flashback as well. If Sylvia lost that fight, wander would've possibly ended up with killbot 85. I'm so pissed off that they shafted him like this. HE LITERALLY HAS THE MOST ERROR IN HIS DESIGN OUT OF EVERYONE AND THIS IS HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION- HOW DO YOU SCREW HIM UP LIKE THIS⁉️‼️⁉️

So yeah, anyway, my sweet robot got his shit kicked in by Peeper and near the end. Lord hater called him out on his shit and peeper admitted he screwed up. But then you see that fuckin peeper- HE LITERALLY DROPPED ONTO THE FLOOR AND START CRYING LIKE A BABY- i know that peeper is just a "pathetic little meow meow" but like- you gonna at least side eye at this part cause like wtf? Jesus Christ, they exaggerated the worst part of peeper's character here and genuinely I start to think that I kinda regret being into him in the first place?? Literally The Axe does a better job of displaying peeper competently and didn't make him into a full on crybaby.

So sorry for rumbling on about this, all of this come from the fact that I genuinely love killbot 86 so much that if anything bad were to happen to him, I'll cry. Or at least I wanna cry for him. And knowing how everyone seems to think this is a good peeper episode with the knowledge how messy it is, it just- idk. It really is not?? So sorry for the long rant. If you got this far, thank you for reading. Maybe you can argue with me but I'll be honest when I say that I have the tendency to overwhelm myself with bad thoughts and act out on emotion. This episode just made me so upset that maybe, just maybe killbot 86 would've been liked by the whole community instead of being so unpopular. I tried my best to get him noticed and put all my effort & love into him after YEARS of having nothing. It's not fair for him. It's not fuckin fair.

[ultfreakme]

What makes me more angry about the whole "Jon needs to be a child again" is that it doesn't really make any sense to do that now, like?????? how would that even work? he is almost 18 now, he has a boyfriend, that would be super creepy, and the most annoying part is that this is more about Damian than it is about Jon as a character, I'm so fed up with Damian fans, I'm sorry guys, but DC is not going to make Damian queer and make him date Jon, it's not happening, and I would love if DC stopped making this one shots stories of them in the past, it only fuels this people, It's time to make stories of them in the present, My dream story is to have a double date of JonJay and Damian and his girlfriend, I think it would be super fun.

Yessss say it!! This is all so true. Jon being aged down is more about Damian than Jon. Jon gets nothing out of being younger, all of his plots as a 10 year old was dependent on Damian or Clois. He never had a solo story like Damian back then, there was never enough investment in him alone, and frankly he wasn't bringing anything new to the table despite being the kid of a superhero like Superman, his backstory and motivation were just Clark's and his interest in journalism was all Lois(Which btw, never got utilized well so what was the point?). Now though, he's carrying two solos and has a character arc and supporting cast that is specific to Jon. His goals for being Superman are more complicated than "dad's doing it so I'll do it".

Controversial; I don't think people who want Jon aged down are fans of Jon as an individual character. When they do talk about him, they never mention the conflicts he has on his own(Goldie the cat dying, Eradicator & General Zod outright calling him and abomination, being seen as a future threat and weapon) He wasn't some chipper sweet sunshine baby all the time who 'helped heal' Damian amd is the light of his life or whatever. He was just as argumentative as Damian and they were bickering kids. I think the only part people miss is his dialogue with Damian. Jon genuinely loves Jay and they're compatible, Jay's literally made for Jon and they work well.

I wish they'd stop with the kid Jon stories too, the only one that I enjoyed was the Belle Reve one, because it showed exploration of his queerness a little and his introduction to it. Otherwise, the rest are pointless and are reiterating things we already know. Chances of Damian being queer are next to nothing, he's never had any queer coding intentions by his writers(unlike the other Robins, maybe not Duke, I don't think he's been written with queer coding either). On top of that, you can't have Superman dating a middle schooler.

And yeah Damian and Jon are still friends. This time, I think they're better, proper friends. Back then all they did was argue, now they're having deeper, meaningful conversations and helping each other's missions. We see them have conflicting views; Damian saying Jon being Superman is inevitable when Jon had talked about his hesitance as a Super, Damian and Jon disagreeing on how to approach facing the dark army in dark crisis).

I think right now, Jon's the most interesting he's ever been. I would really love a double date issue too! Sorta like a homage to batcat and clois's double date issue would be cute.

[mdhwrites]

Which character stands out the most for you in Star Rail?

Meet Guinevere, though known nowadays as Guinaifen or Little Gui after her planet blew up and she moved to the Xianshou Loufu to be a street performer.

She is actually one of the characters I DON'T have leveled right now, though she's high on my priority list. This also means that she's caught my attention despite the fact that I'm not mechanically using her and she's also a four star so she's not one of the characters you have to go hard on trying to get ahold of. In fact, come 2.0, one of the events for that patch will include the chance to get a free Guinaifen (if you pick her over the other options available.)

No, this actually just comes down to the fact that she is a very VIVID character, even without reading her character story. In the game, she has had two major appearances. One was when she first came out and was given a small introduction in the Pokemon parody event where she introduced herself as an outworlder living on the kiiiind of racist Xianshou Loufu as a street performer which would not be an easy job to put it mildly. Little Gui is her online handle/her performance handle and her performances include, not kidding or over exaggerating: Slurping Noodles While Doing a Handstand Brushing Teeth While Whistling Smashing Boulder on Chest (She even has a special equip that literally shows and talks about her doing this with her bestie) Blocking Pike with Neck Swallowing Sword to Stomach CATCHING BULLET WITH HANDS

AGAIN. NOT A JOKE. AND THAT'S NOT EVEN A FULL LIST.

And mind you, with this being a space fantasy, live streaming exists and yes, Little Gui is a streamer. What sort?

That sort. Also, meet Sushang, her best friend. They are maybe the only two female friends in this game, along with their HuoHuo, who I do not go "AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES!" But yeah, she's a bit loud, she's trying really hard and she's just got so much energy.

But... This is where we get into why she is actually interesting. See, when this cutscene happens... She's in a slump. See, the majority of her content effectively revolves around her being an outsider of the Loufu, where she lives now. Her first big hit series was actually doing food reviews and detailing the best dining spots and delicacies on the ship. She's not been doing those lately though. In fact, she hasn't been streaming as much either.

Also, if you question her as she wants to go to the haunted garden, she will actually drop the act. Her VA, English one since I don't play with Japanese voices, is actually INCREDIBLE here because you can genuinely tell the shift in just her voice to be a little deeper and little more relaxed as she stops trying to hype things up. Little Gui is NOT Guinaifen after all. It's just her stage name.

Mind you, she also isn't entirely a liar either. She is passionate and excitable, she has the right energy to do this sort of work, but the game doesn't try to pretend that she's cranked up to eleven at all times. She's just a human being trying to make it in this world. I haven't seen many streamer characters admittedly but I genuinely love how real she feels as a performer like this while staying a person.

Part of her standing out admittedly is helped by being a part of literally the best content on the planet she's a part of. Fyxestroll Garden is a great expansion with a nice story that eventually starts mixing the science and fantasy sides really well as Guinaifen helps lead the Ghost Hunting Squad! She deals with the social media side of it to keep rumors down and keep the rest of the Loufu from understanding quite what is going on while her, Sushang and the little girl with paw eyes from the trailer, Huohuo.

The trio are all helpless scaredy cats. Little Gui is the bravest of all of them and as you saw in the video, that isn't saying much. But through the events, she had to confront her old fans, show us how she works and be just a lot of fun. It also makes sure that you always remember her as part of this trio, giving her people to bounce off of and add to her cheer and charm.

And that's despite the fact that her PLANET IS FUCKING GONE. Yeah, the biggest antagonistic force of the universe literally destroyed her home planet. She can never go back and it's REALLY easy not to properly realize this because it comes up in a TEXT MESSAGE and from her character stories which you only get if you level her up. It's admittedly MUCH more explicit in her character story page, I'm reading them now on the wiki, but you only get those parts of her if you actually use her. Here is her singing of it as a part of a folk song, which is another talent she uses for her performances. I was truly from that outworld court named Camelot, and has my siblings altogether a dozen lot. Our days were peaceful and joyous to boot, but who'd thought that the Ruin Author made trouble all afoot. Parents fought back the invaders and arms they took, yet the Legion broke the nation's back. Powerless Dad stood. Elder brother led us siblings wandering without a root, to an IPC mining planet covered in dark soot. Eke out a living with meager scraps we undertook, homeless and meal-less often was our wont. My brother a timid man, doing back-breaking work. To piracy he was forced, interstellar raider forsook. Commercial shipments he only waylaid, homes he never burnt. They sing he was a hero among bandits, distributing his loot. He led hundreds of poor souls in a desperate force, terrible to look. Fallen wayward in the eyes of the law, just so we get enough food.

...Have Little Gui juggling to rinse that out a bit.

(This is one of her two idles and I love it.)

But the fact that this backstory isn't the core of her character, it is instead how she has decided to rise from the ashes that's important, is part of what I love about her character. If you just want to treat her as a fun performer, that's okay! If you want to see her as another pair of lesbians with ShangShang, the game allows for that too. But there's just... A lot. A lot of potential while still have a fleshed out and realized person behind it. It's part of why of all the characters I'd love to next see get a 5 star upgraded version (we've gotten one already), I'd LOVE to see Princess/Queen Guinaifen someday who manages to bring her old home and new together into something even better.

If she never does though, I won't complain either. Not when I'm already a fan of Little Gui and SMASHED that subscribe button.

And just to finish this off: She is currently considered the third best Damage over Time, DoT, character in the game (there are six if we count Black Swan who comes out in five days) and the best of the four star DoT characters. Her kit is actually REALLY strong, even mimicking one of the best parts of a 5 star DoT character in retriggering a certain type of DoT. Not only that but she debuffs the enemy to make them take more damage from anything the more times they get burned, her style of DoT. She also has just an absolutely amazing ult animation even though I can't tell you why these small dogs, called Ditings, are related with her so much.

(I wasn't able to find gifs for this that would actually work for either this or her idle, hence the videos.)

So yeah, if she's caught your eye too, she's actually really good and super viable as a sub-DPS/debuffer. It's something I will always keep pointing out because the 4 stars in this game are genuinely strong and Guinaifen is no different. I just unfortunately took a while to realize and have also been using so many resources on upgrading other characters.

But yeah, I could keep going but she herself would tell me to leave the audience wanting more. So leave another ask if you want to hear what I think you could do non-canonically with her or the like, or just to hear thoughts on other characters like the rest of the ghost hunting squad themselves. For now, she still stands tall as one of my favorites in the game and honestly, probably my favorite character from her planet, even if it isn't her original home. The Loufu desperately needed a laugh though and this firecracker is just what the doctor ordered.

======+++++======

As a note: I don't know if I'd say she's my favorite character. She's up there and almost certainly is top three or five but she's got some stiff competition. She is probably the person I want to see developed further the most though which is why I chose to talk about her for this blog.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.