#watch me worldbuild around canon contradictions

[setaripendragon]

So, because I've been working on this series again, I've been getting back into Charmed a bit, and I decided to do something I've been wanting to do since I was, like... eight? And that is to figure out exactly what the Warren Family Tree actually looks like... given that the one we see in canon has some laughably incorrect dates on it.

(Getting birth and death dates wrong on incosequential people I can forgive (Grams' brother apparently married a woman born in 1870-something? It's not impossible, I suppose? She's probably a demon or something.) but what I can't forgive is that they messed up the details of the crucial plot point of that episode that the family tree was made for. (Phoebe gets the family tree out to look up their past lives, and lo and behold, the family tree tells us that Prue's past life died after she was born.))

Still, it's the only real canon information we get about everything between Prudence Warren and P. Baxter (who is Grams' mother. Somehow, I don't think the creators thought through the implications of that. Piper was raised... by a woman she raised. Even if she doesn't remember it, that's still gotta be a bit of a trip if you think about it too hard. Like, do you think Grams learnt the 'keeping her hands busy in the kitchen' thing from her mum? And then teaches it to Piper, who is her mum...). Anyway! That's... over two hundred years unaccounted for, and I don't do well in a creative vacuum. Blank page paralysis is real and devastating.

So I did my damnedest to decipher the very blurry screenshots I managed to get off ITVX, and...

You know another mistake they made? The Charmed power is a female power, and given the show's rather, uh, unconsciously gender-essentialist approach to girl power, it boggles my mind that the family tree is still so patrilineal? Apparently, the Charmed Ones aren't even descended from Prudence Warren? They're descended from her little brother instead? What? How did that get past anyone involved in the process?

But! I jiggled some things around so that the line from Melinda to Prue is an unbroken line of women (trans inclusive!), and discovered that they also, to no one's surprise, didn't put any real thought into the rest of the dates on this thing! In order for all the generations I could see on the family tree to fit into the timescale given, a lot of these ladies were having kids, uh... quite young.

And, sure, one or two, I'd accept, even the majority being under 25 given the social mores/life expectancy/infant mortality of the times, but... I've got a whopping seven (out of fifteen) generations who were 18 or under when they had their first kid. It goes up to eleven if it's 20 or under.

I was really tempted to take a generation out. There's a few that are just one girl baby after another towards the end there, so I could've just whipped one out and rejiggled the dates, but for reasons to do with symbolism and also perfectionist nonsense (I may have been flipping genders left and right, but just toss the dubious canon info out the window?! Never! -rolls my eyes at myself-), I was reluctant.

And then I thought:

Technically, that spell up there that I wrote is a curse. A death curse, even. And I've since decided that both Prudence and her daughter also cast it on their deathbeds, it's a Threefold Death Curse. Because, well, on rewatching a bunch of episodes to check historical dates including, specifically, the one with Melinda's birth in, I was reminded that the Charmed Ones aren't just... extremely powerful witches, but The Most Powerful Witches Of All Time. As in, Eva cast a spell to summon the most powerful witches, and got the Charmed Ones, so it's not just a cute title.

(Now, given Charmed's dubious worldbuilding, you could say that's the Elders sticking their grubby little hands in and doesn't actually mean there will never be a more powerful witch than Prue, Piper, and Phoebe, but I'm going with, no, Eva cast her spell, and magic itself decided Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were what she was asking for.)

So yeah, whatever made the Charmed Ones the Charmed Ones has to pack a mean-ass punch.

Threefold Death Curse it is.

Which means that... Actually, there's an in-built reason why all these Warren Witches are getting pregnant as soon as they discover what sex is. They're literally cursed.

Melinda, dying, grasping onto her vision of her descendants as a last spark of hope: "...My line will continue unbroken, to my daughters this gift I now give..."

Every single future generation, in a chain of faulty pills, broken condoms, inconsiderate lovers, accidents, and possibly worse: "Fucking thanks, Mel" /sarcasm

(Also, we stan P. Baxter, who fought the curse for a whopping thirty-three (33!) years before popping out our beloved Grams. This even while fucking two (2!) guys on the regular for a while there. No wonder she was destined to be reborn into one of the most powerful witches of all time, she was already kick-ass even without that power-boost. The next oldest was Prudence Warren herself, and since that's before the curse got tripled ("Fucking thanks, Prue"), I'm quite satisfied with that.)

Apologies for vanishing again~ ^^” August has been a Hell Month for me, cause I managed, somehow, to break my ankle at the beginning of the month, and let me tell you, that has been an Adventure (and not the good kind). Writing is just not a thing I want to do when I’m having multiple-panic-attacks days alongside eight-hours-in-the-hospital days (the two are not unrelated). And spiffing up my writing for posting is even futher down my list of priorities, so, it maybe another month or so before I get any new writing posted (but! I’m pretty sure I do have a whole completed fic ready for editing and posting once I’m ready to get stuck back in =D)

That being said, I did get a creative itch after a couple of weeks of not touching my writing, so I started digging into some plotting/research I’d been putting off for the sequel to my Charmed AU, The Last Charmed One. (For those of you who remember that/are hoping for the sequel, I have about half of it fully written, but things didn’t go exactly to plan, so I had to re-adjust the entire second half of the plot to compensate… Which I have now done! =D And unless I go nuts at some point between now and then, I’m thinking I’m going to make finishing it my NaNo project this year, so… -fingers crossed-? =D)

Anyway, all this is a prelude to the fact that, in jiggling my plot about, I re-encountered a note I’d made about the… mechanics of the Charmed power in my ‘verse. And this may end up being spoilers somewhere down the line of this series (like… I think it might be part of the plot for book… seven? eight? Something like that…), but given that I have no real guarantee that I’m ever going to get that far, I figured I could throw it into the void now anyway?

Random Charmed/Gramarye backstory ahead (with bonus spell!):

Keep reading

[aquaburst3]

By popular request...or an anon commenting me last night about enjoying me creating posts about the flaws in TWST and wanting me to talk about the worldbuilding aspect specifically along with me having some free time between jobs, here it is!

Disclaimer: Keep in mind this is all personal opinion. If you enjoy the worldbuilding in the game and find zero problems with it, great! I don't care. You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.

Where do I even begin? The shorter question would be, "What isn't wrong with it?" xD But seriously, oh, boy—there's a lot. Hell, this is pretty much my go-to example how NOT to write an urban fantasy world.

The closest thing I can compare the world of TWST to is the movie Bright—and that's NOT a good thing. For those of you who never had the misfortune of watching that late 2010s trainwreck, it's about a cop played by Will Smith teaming up with an orc to retrieve a magic wand. Sounds cool, right? However, like with TWST, the worldbuilding is something to be desired. It's an alternate universe where two thousand years ago there was a big war between The Nine Races where the orcs supported the Dark Lord, but an orc defected and lead an army that defeated him. Despite everything, it's pretty much exactly like real life with a few added fantasy elements. It even brings up real world pop culture references, containing such cringey and problematic lines like, "Fairy lives don't matter" after the Will Smith cop squishes a pixie that's on par with a raccoon in that world.

The worldbuilding in TWST feels like that. It's exactly like real life but with a few Disney and fantasy elements slapped on top, like magnets on a fridge. There is hardly any deviation from real life. Things like planes, cell phones, methods of measuring, days of the week, etc all exist just as they do irl. When you stop and think about it, half of these things shouldn't exist and the other should be a little different.

Yana also never thinks of the implications all of this alternate history. Magic always existing and the Greek gods being real should have a huge ripple effect, creating a completely different history compared to real life, but yet it doesn't. Hell, the whole idea of knowing that the Greek gods are real alone would massively change world history, since they would be a proven concept, snuffing out every other religion in existence! The world should be more massively different than ours with Disney sprinkled on top. There's no imagination about how a world like this would work. To quote Lindsey Ellis, "You cannot import elements from our real world without including all of the history that comes with them. You can, but it's lazy, and it sucks." xD Sure, you can write a fantasy world with cars and stuff, but the histories and the ways those exist in those worlds cannot be the exact same. There must be some divergence for it to make sense.

None of the new worldbuilding elements sense or feels woven in. It feels like Yana tossing out whatever idea she comes up up with at the wall and seeing what sticks. A lot of it starts to fall a part or even contradicts itself.

Take the whole Stitch or Tsums events. The existence both of these imply that aliens exist. That brings up a lot of questions like...

What is this world's policy for alien life?

Are aliens well known entities for this world?

What are other's reaction to this?

How did his story play out in this world if that's the case?

Everyone in this world has a Disney counterpart, right? If that's the case, wouldn't that mean there's some TWST version of Stitch running around Night Raven?

Is any of this ever addressed? Nope. That's stupid. World shattering shit like that should be addressed. While I know these are probably more than likely corporate mandates, especially since Tmus are a Japanese Disney product while Stitch is super popular in Japan, she could've added a disclaimer saying that it's a crack au that has nothing to do with the canon. The fact that these are both canon is mind boggling.

Plus, both of these events create a giant plot hole. If aliens are known to exist in this world, then why the fuck can't Yuu go home? If aliens exist, wouldn't there be portals and other ways for them to go home? It just makes Yuu and the rest of the cast look like total dumbasses for never thinking of this!

It goes beyond stupid events, but happens in general. The game routinely brings up similar elements without thinking of their implications on the game as a whole. Take the whole existence of STYKs. It was never once brought up or foreshadowed in the game, but brings about a lot of questions that are hardly explored. Like if this has existed for hundreds of years, how the fuck hasn't anyone heard of it? If STYKS is attached has a branch which is like our world's, someone should've blew the whistle eons ago. Surely, someone as smart as Idia or another mage should've been able to hack them and expose that to the public. Right? Wouldn't there be more of a public outcry for stealing people away, including royalty? Wouldn't there be government oversight about this? None of these questions are never addressed. Yet that element is slapped in without a second thought. Same also goes for all of the new lore in regards to Lilia's past, those pointless prophet dreams or how Playful Land works.

The magic system and how overblot works also fall apart the more you think about it. According to the light novel, only one out of ten humans is a mage. The percentage goes up in other races, but it remains about the same. But that makes no sense. TWST isn't like the HP universe where mages are isolated from the outside world, they are a part of society. Wouldn't it be the DOMINANT gene after over centuries of mages fucking mortals? I think it being more like the ATLA or BNHA universe where mages are the majority would make a lot more sense. That's what I did in my fic. Hell, it would make the world more unique, because usually fantasy stories have it where mages are a minority.

How overblotting works is never fully explained. All that we know, despite being on the seventh fucking story arc, is that whenever a mage uses Okay, sure. But there are times where that isn't the case. Characters who hard use up any magic like Leona and Vil overblot. Even if you argue that they were emotional during those bits or something, wouldn't the other part play a bigger role, since they used up so little magic in those cases? How in the fuck is that unknown concept to the general public? Wouldn't that be common knowledge? Diseases like Alzheimer's aren't something that everyone experiences, but this existence of those things are still common knowledge. Hell, why is it extremely rare in the first place? Wouldn't it be more commonplace? I feel like having it be a biological consequence of a mage using up too much magic and it being a well known down side to the world like how it is in my writing makes a lot more sense and is much simpler.

The lore around the fae also make zero sense. Common elements in fae lore like never thanking them or accepting gifts from them for you owe them a favour to cream and honey making them drunk are never brought up or mentioned. These are not random tropes brought up in shit like Baldur's Gate 3, but ingrained shit to the fantasy genre. You can't strip them out, because it is what makes the fae, fae. Hardly any types of fae from folklore are ever brought up outside of dragons and Tinkerbell style pixies. Characters like Vil who act very fae like are completely human. To be honest, I genuinely get the sense that Yana has done no research into this topic at all, because that's how out of touch they seem compared to how they are in folklore and other fantasy series. But if that is actually the case, then she should've looked into it more or consulted another writer who knows a lot about it.

Plus, the whole idea behind Briar Valley also makes no sense. They are completely isolated from the rest of the world...because…well, nothing, besides possibly vague hatred of tech. That's dumb. Countries don’t isolate themselves for no reason. There is always some sort of explanation for them to do that, whether it's manufactured for political gain like Panem or out of protection like Wakanda. Seriously, am I the only one that thinks that Brier Valley is just the fantasy Amish? As for the Spinning Wheel Wars, that will be explored in more depth as the fics go on.

If you want to see a world similar to TWST done right, watch The Owl House. That series, too, has a modern fantasy world. Unlike TWST, it seems like a fantasy world with modern elements instead of the other way around. Despite having phone-like devices and manga, it feels like stepping into another world.

Either way, if you wondered why I came up with completely different worldbuilding for my fics—this is exactly why. The worldbuilding in this game is pure dogshit. I wanted to create something leaps and bounds better than the bullshit we got. The fact that me, an amuetur writer, gets complimented and praised for the worldbuilding in my fics and it being better then the game is truly sad. Yana is a seasoned professional with a published manga with dozens of volumes under her belt, she should be better at this than me, not the other way around! Same goes for @stormkitty97, because she helps me brainstorm ideas for my shit and uses it in her writing, too.

The biggest sin of all is that there are some genuinely really cool ideas in TWST. The idea of turning into a monster whenever you use up too much magic is terrifying. The story could've done so much more with that if it made more sense!

As much as I might get hate for saying this, Yana reminds me a lot of Stephanie Meyers in the sense that she can come up with cool concepts and ideas, but has no idea how to execute them properly. I would love to see a better professional writer tackle a concept similar to overblot, because it would be cool and scary in the right hands.

I think one big lesson that amuetur writers like myself can learn from the worldbuilding in TWST is that if you are a "Pantser", aka someone who writes on the fly, like Yana, great, all the more power to you. Hell, I confess that I'm more like Brandon Sanderson in the sense that I'm a mixture of both a "Pantser" and an "Architect" Writer, and I came up with some elements of my worldbuilding on my TWST fics as I was writing like the characters being able to teleport. But for fuck's sake, have a solid plan for your worldbuilding and stick with it. Because constantly throwing ideas at the wall beyond the outlining stage will eventually make these contradictions arise and make your world fall apart. Also, if you are building a modern fantasy world like TWST, always think through the implications each element bring. Adding in elements from our real world will always drag along all of the history tied with it. Having your modern fantasy world seem like TWST or Bright is the last thing you want.

[merinnan]

Hey, I've gotten interested in various chinese shows throigh your blog. I have next to no experience with chinese media, so would you recommed guardian, dmbj, etc. Or would I be completely lost when watching them?

I am always happy to drag more people down into the pits of my fandoms with me!

Guardian is one of my favourite shows, and I absolute recommend it to people, but with the caveat that the original production company went bankrupt partway through, so it was completed on less than a shoestring budget and it shows in terms of sets, special effects, etc. It also got hit by the censors after airing, so you can also see where they had to go back and dub over lines or cut some things out.

THAT SAID! I love the story, I love the characters, and the acting from the main cast (especially the two leads) is fantastic. You can really tell that the people involved in the making of the show loved what they were working on and put everything they had into it. You can find it on Viki and on YouTube.

If you are after shows with higher budgets, and therefore production quality, then The Untamed and Word of Honor are both good starting points. The Untamed was the show that first got me into Chinese dramas, and Word of Honor is an excellent show that came out last year. Both of them are on Netflix, and they're both xianxia shows (high fantasy).

Detective L is a very cute Republican-era (1930s) police procedural/Sherlock Holmes-esque show with a strong cast and excellent characters. The season ends on a horrible cliffhanger, though, and we don't know yet if there'll be a season 2. It's on YouTube and WeTV.

These four are all stand-alone shows of between 30-50 episodes, and reasonably easy to follow.

AND THEN WE GET TO DAOMU BIJI 🤣🤣🤣

As you've probably been able to tell, I love DMBJ to pieces. It's a very rich canon(s) to play in, with a lot of interesting characters, interesting worldbuilding, and some really crazy (and fun) plots.

Do I recommed it? Always.

Are you likely to get lost when watching? Yes. We all do. I don't think I know anyone in the fandom who hasn't got lost trying to figure it all out at one point or another.

There's about a dozen novels, not all of them completed. There's dozens more extras and written side stories. There's 8 TV shows, all of them based on different novels/parts of the novels, and most of them with completely different casts for the same characters. A version of the same scene appears in four of the shows. There's another 2 spinoff mini shows and several spinoff movies. There's the movie that's fondly classified as 'the official AU' by most of the English-speaking fandom.

We nickname it 'the pits' because it's not so much plot holes scattered around the place as giant gaping pits. And it's honestly part of why we love it so much. It's so much free real estate!

I think it also tends to be why this is a fairly low-drama fandom, because if you're happy to not worry about things that don't make sense, are never answered, directly contradict other parts of canon, etc., then you're generally chill enough to be uninterested in fandom drama XD

If you're interested in giving DMBJ a try, I recommend starting with either Ultimate Note or Reunion the Sound of the Providence (both on YouTube and iQiyi). Ultimate Note is partway through the story but gives a brief and good 'story so far' recap at the start, and Reunion is one of the sequels to the main story that is easily watched as a standalone. They're both really good intros to the characters, the world, and the kind of craziness the characters get up to.

[tobiasdrake]

DuckTales Season 1: Worst to Best Episodes List

Here we go. Every episode of DuckTales Season 1 in order, from the worst to the best. If you've been following my work, you may not be surprised at what the top and bottom entries are.

The Corner of Shame

25. The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra

When I started writing this series, there were a few episodes I anticipated and a few I dreaded. "The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra" was the episode I dreaded revisiting most. This is the only episode of the season, possibly of the entire series, that I can honestly say I never, ever want to watch again at any time for any reason.

"The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra" is a trainwreck of thematic implications. It's impossible to tell if this episode is malicious or simply careless but it doesn't matter. The ideas it presents are supremely gross and I am happy to be able to wash my hands of it forever.

24. The Great Dime Chase

This is a worldbuilding episode disguised as a plot. It has three jobs: to introduce the Money Bin, to introduce the Number One Dime and its accompanying mythos, and to start off the glacial drip-feeding of the Della Duck mystery by planting false clues that undermine or even outright contradict the ultimate reveal.

The story is an excuse plot; the first of a few episodes revolving around Scrooge trying to teach Louie the value of hard work, but the cascade of chaos that ensues has little to do with that lesson. It quickly becomes clear that Scrooge has no hard work for Louie to do, and Louie spends the rest of the episode getting into shenanigans as he tries to reclaim the Number One Dime.

The episode ends in a weird spot where Louie is rewarded for those shenanigans with a payment of a dime. It's supposed to be a heartwarming moment suddenly punctuated by the punchline of Louie buying 1/11th of a soda with it, but it mainly demonstrates Scrooge's antiquated sense of value. The point is to teach Louie the value of money, but it instead reveals that Scrooge sorely misunderstands the value of labor.

23. Day of the Only Child

Credit where credit is due, this episode truly made me see the value of a vignettes episode. It's an episode structure I've never been fond of, as it typically consists of a series of short stories unrelated to one another. Sometimes those stories are even explicitly non-canon.

"Day of the Only Child" showed me how tying the stories together under a central theme can make for an engaging experience. The episode's function is to show that each of the Triplets is a capable individual who can survive an adventure or two on his own. They're not three pieces of one character; they are their own characters.

This is something that didn't need to be said out loud as it had been the main fixture of the show for over half a season by this point. However, it was still a cool idea. Shame the vignettes converge back into one another for a finale that shows that the boys, in fact, can't take care of themselves. Instead, they must rely on each other to clean up the messes they've each separately made.

The denouement indicates that the writers believe these events established the boys' independence. The reality is the opposite: these events demonstrated that the boys are utterly helpless without having each other to fall back on. The end result is a slightly better vignettes episode than I thought possible, which then slips and pratfalls on its face in the last minutes.

22. Daytrip of Doom

Daytrip of Doom is a setup episode, serving to answer important questions about the establishment of the show's status quo. It explores how Donald and the Triplets mesh with sharing a space with Mrs. Beakley and Webby.

Much of the episode's entertainment value comes from the sheer fact that Webby is consistently a scene-stealing delight. She's frequently the show's funniest character, which makes episodes starring her enjoyable to watch.

But as to the central question? This episode has no answers. It asks the question, "Webby is good for action scenes but she's also terrible at social situations. Why would anyone want to hang out with someone that's so weird and creepy?" And the answer it provides is, "...Webby is good at action scenes."

Webby and Donald share similar roles in that they don't fit in and are quickly loathed by Mrs. Beakley and the Triplets (Louie, specifically). This lack of fitting in is mined for gags and to build tension, but the ultimate resolution is that they're useful in emergencies, so I guess it's worth having them around. That's a bad resolution.

Decent, Not Great

21. Escape To/From Atlantis

This episode has the burden of being a setup episode as well. It's the second half of a two-parter tasked with not only delivering the first family adventure but also explaining why a loving parent would allow Scrooge to take these kids on adventures in the first place.

That last part is the weakest aspect of the episode. Dewey's quest to prove he can totally handle himself in perilous situations is the kind of story that makes sense in the context of setting up a Kid Hero plot but is impossible to justify from Donald and Scrooge's perspective. He wins because Donald and Mrs. Beakley must make recklessly negligent choices at the end so that the show can happen.

Never shine a spotlight on your Necessary Weasels. You might think that making plot points out of indefensible story elements gives you a chance to defend them, but it only calls attention to how indefensible they are.

But while the central character hook is bad, the exploration of Atlantis and introduction to Glomgold are a treat to watch. There's a lot to like about this episode's first look at a recurring thorn in Scrooge's side, as well as a few other delightful subplots such as Louie teaching Webby to lie (poorly).

20. Who is Gizmoduck?

Stop me if you've heard this before. A well-meaning Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera makes a mistake that jeopardizes Gyro's technology and is promptly fired. Mark Beaks snatches a piece of Gyro's tech that he doesn't understand, brands it for himself, and tries to sell it. When this decision goes disastrously haywire, Fenton must find the strength in himself to become Gizmoduck and thwart the problematic technology, with some help from his friends.

This episode is Fenton's subplot from "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System" expanded into a full episode. The margins are filled with generic superhero stuff; specifically, Fenton is used to tell the classic "Who is really the hero: The man or the powers?" storyline that many superheroes face. But telling that story for a character who's barely even established himself as a superhero is a bizarre decision.

This results in an episode that feels horribly familiar due to being an amalgam of a well-worn superhero formula and an episode we've already watched. What carries the episode (and spares it from the Corner of Shame) is simply that Fenton himself is a likable character. Both he and antagonist Mark Beaks are scene-stealing treats, regardless of what they're given to do.

19. The Shadow War, Part I

Huh, what's that doing so low on this list? Wait a second, is that....

18. The Shadow War, Part II

Might as well address them together then.

Yeah, I'm not terribly fond of this season's grand finale. As a follow-up to both "The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck" and "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser", the finale leaves something to be desired.

The first episode resolves the emotional conflict between the family so that the second can deal with the physical conflict that Magica DeSpell poses. I like that, it avoids putting a gun to the characters' heads and making them develop emotionally under penalty of death as many shows (including this one) often do. Violently gaslighting protagonists is a common writing pitfall that "The Shadow War" deftly steps around.

But despite the first episode mocking the idea of resolving the conflict by repeating "Family family family" ad nauseum, the ultimate resolution from Donald winds up being "Family family family". It's hard to feel satisfied by this resolution, as the deep and complicated matter of Scrooge's involvement in Della's fate ultimately warranted a more complicated resolution than half of an episode could allow. Putting the reveal this close to the end of the season was a mistake.

Magica herself is the highlight of "The Shadow War". But "The Shadow War" is not a highlight of Magica. She makes for a wacky yet threatening serious villain, but it feels like a step down from the role that built up to it: Lena's abusive parental figure whose hyperbolic shadow animations punctuate her domineering control.

Magica is a great serious villain, but being a serious villain is unfortunately the low point of Magica's character in this season. It's not that she isn't fun to watch. It's that she's been more fun to watch in other episodes, so the entertainment value takes a step down instead of up when she reclaims her full power.

There are other issues such as Lena being sidelined in the conclusion to her own storyline and given only empty promises by Scrooge and the writers or the atrocity that is Donald's personality with the Barkesian Modulator. But the end result is that "The Shadow War" is a serviceable "epic season finale" more so than it is a fun and engaging DuckTales story that builds on the arcs and characters leading up to it.

17. Woo-oo

This episode had a difficult burden on its shoulders. As the first part of the opening two-parter, it had to introduce all of the characters for the first time. The decision was made not to open the series in media res with the status quo already established but to instead explain why the status quo exists.

Escape To/From Atlantis shoulders the burden of justifying the status quo, however. All Woo-oo had to do was get the kids into Scrooge's mansion and then get into shenanigans that would reignite the old codger's lust for adventure. This puts much of the episode's emphasis on the kids' shoulders to be entertaining and engaging characters. Fortunately, this rendition of the Triplets Plus One are up to the task.

The one thing holding this episode back is that it's all setup. This is by necessity. Later episodes have the advantage of being able to do interesting things with the characters because "Woo-oo" has already done the legwork in explaining to the audience who these people are. It's not exactly the epitome of storytelling but a show often needs to have episodes like "Woo-oo" so that it can have episodes like "McMystery at McDuck Manor" down the road.

16. The Spear of Selene

Remember what I said earlier about drip-feeding the mystery of Della Duck? "The Spear of Selene" is an entire episode dedicated to following up on the clue from "The Great Dime Chase". It's literally named after its central question: what is the Spear of Selene, why did Della steal it, and why was Scrooge so outraged by this offense that he used his resources to unperson her?

This episode answers none of those questions. In fact, that last question will never be answered because the clues were clearly created before the writers had finalized the answer. The one answer about the Spear of Selene that fans get in the episode titled "The Spear of Selene" is that it's not literally a spear possessed by the Greek moon goddess Selene (who may or may not be an aspect of Artemis).

So that's a drag. But the rest of this episode is an engaging and thoughtful adventure in a Greek myth sandbox. The use of the mythology is well-researched and provides an adequate playground for Donald's emotional journey.

Donald's traumatized disdain for these zany adventures is heartbreaking. Unlike much of the Della Duck mystery, his trauma throughout the season becomes more emotionally gripping when you know the truth. He's terrified of losing his kids to the peril that took his sister away. He doesn't want to engage with the adventure, but here he is forced to confront the reality that the kids will only be in more danger if he doesn't.

While the final moral is awkward and tacked on, Donald's journey carries this entire episode.

15. Sky Pirates... in the Sky!

It was a bold decision to reinvent Don Karnage as a flamboyant musical troupe leader. He's still a malevolent pirate leader who kills his own men if they let him down artistically, mind, but his piracy is committed through an over-the-top music number. That's good fun.

Don Karnage is both the high point and low point of the episode. When he's in control, he's menacing and vicious but also silly and absurd. During the brief time when he's the victim of a mutiny, he's ridiculous in a way that's less funny and more embarrassing.

The message of the episode is about communicating needs - both conveying needs and listening to the needs of others. But the execution is muddled and there are a few places that feel like another draft was needed.

Ultimately, the story isn't phenomenal. However, the production values make the episode well worth a watch all the same.

14. The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks

This episode starts off with a lot of promise. The first half is a clever satire of corporate culture. Huey sets out to work hard and make a name for himself in the business world, but his efforts are undermined by his rival Louie Dewey for some reason.

Dewey connives and schemes, working the people around him rather than the job he was hired to do. To Huey's frustration, this pays off. Dewey is promoted above him into a management position because Beaks likes the cut of his jib, despite not doing an ounce of real work.

It's a neat story criticizing the culture of corporate management while also taking shots at other things like Silicon Valley's reliance on hype culture. However, despite firing these shots, the episode is ultimately unwilling to condemn the things it's poking fun at.

The episode ends with Dewey defending himself and Beaks to Huey, making the mind-numbing argument that it's okay for people like them to rise to success on little more than a cool personality because that allows them to compete with hard-working people like Huey. It's among the dumbest statements ever made in the show and it deals irreparable harm to the message that had been made up to this point.

Wow, That was Pretty Good!

13. The House of the Lucky Gander

Now we're getting into the good stuff. The intended message of this episode is that although fortune and privilege can be an avenue to wealth and success, it is ultimately unfulfilling when compared to success earned through hard work and diligence. The flaw in this message (and Louie and Scrooge's arc in the season, for that matter) is the assumption that hard work and diligence is rewarded with wealth and success in our modern day.

However, accidentally buried in that flawed message is a salient point about the indivisible role of uncontrollable circumstance in people's fortunes. Scrooge is baited into gambling his fate on a contest that he and his hard work have no possible way of influencing the outcome of. Instead, it's all left up to Donald.

Donald is presented as the embodiment of hard work and diligence, opposite Gladstone as the embodiment of privilege and luck. We're told that Donald (and by extension hard work) has never beaten Gladstone and luck before. But this once, just this once, Donald's hard work carries him through!

And then Gladstone gets rewarded with the prize anyway when Scrooge tricks the demon holding them captive. Donald winning is a big deal for him but for Gladstone, it doesn't even matter because he the universe won't let him fail. He loses the contest and gets the prize anyway.

The actual takeaway from this episode is that the world is full of Gladstones. Some people are born into success and insulated from ever facing consequences. Through no merit of their own, society won't let them fail no matter what they do, and no amount of Scrooge's vaunted hard work will ever bring them down. And they are every bit as insufferable as Gladstone Gander.

12. From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22

Here, we're getting into the good stuff. This episode serves to flesh out the backstory of one of the season's most mysterious characters. Not Della. Not Magica. No, it's Mrs. Beakley, the mysterious housekeeper with a secret agent past who raised Webby.

DuckTales has a lot of great villains and the one-off (until season 3) villain Black Heron is no exception. Her brutally sincere demeanor complements the absurdity of her ridiculous plans, allowing her to make exclamations with a straight face like, "They'll be bouncing here and there and everywhere! Mass destruction that's beyond compare!"

Speaking of which, a surprising amount of the episode is spent tying in a reference to the Disney Afternoon's Gummi Bears cartoon. It's a bold decision that pays off in hilarity for anyone who catches it.

While all of that is going on, the episode has a strong emotional story about Scrooge and Webby connecting for the first time. Up to this point, Scrooge has largely been neutral towards Webby, treating her as one of the boys but rarely interacting directly with her. That all changes here with a heart-melting story in which Scrooge accepts Webby as part of the family in earnest.

There's just one problem with this episode and it's a big one. A decision was made to present Scrooge as a hapless everyman who sucks at adventure. In both past and present, he is thoroughly incompetent and must be carried through the action by Mrs. Beakley and Webby, contributing little. This greatly hurts the episode. It's a bizarre decision to make for a character like Scrooge; he's a man with few positive merits, but throughout most episodes, his knack for adventure is unquestionable.

11. Terror of the Terra-Firmians

Lena's arc takes its first major step here in a story about being judgmental. Webby's hanging out with a local delinquent and Mrs. Beakley does not approve. There's an element of classism between Mrs. Beakley's posh ivory tower disdain and Lena's runaway delinquency that highlights the conflict over Webby's new friend.

At the same time, the episode serves as a first look at what will be Lena's arc: the tug of divided loyalties between what she wants and what Magica wants. Later episodes will build in that pull, but this one asks the biggest question: what kind of person is Lena?

The other plot is about Huey judgmentally dismissing the existence of the Terra-Firmians as unscientific. This is where the episode drags. It's not a bad concept, but Huey is played as overly aggressive to the point that it hurts both the character and the story being told.

10. The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck

There are two stories that take place through this episode. One is the climax of Lena DeSpell's entire character arc through the season. Lena has, to this point, been coasting on the idea that she can both have Webby's friendship and fulfill Magica's plans. She doesn't want to have to choose.

Here, at last, the truth is laid bare. Her twin goals are mutually exclusive. Releasing Magica would necessarily destroy her relationship with Webby. Though the tense and mind-blowing battle with Magica happens through an artifact-induced dream sequence, the impression it leaves on Lena leads her to the critical juncture where she makes her choice and severs her and Magica's plans once and for all.

Unfortunately, Lena just resolved her arc in a suspenseful and emotionally powerful climax the likes of which the intended season finale cannot compare to. However, "The Shadow War" still needs to happen. Thus, Magica spontaneously develops new powers so that she can lash Lena back onto the rails of the plot. Yay.

The other story is a bit of action concerning the Triplets trying to protect a conniving Sasquatch from Scrooge. It's an interesting premise undermined by an unnecessary plot twist that weakens the story's credibility.

End result, Lena's story is easily Top Five material, but is brought down by the rest of the episode surrounding it.

9. The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains

Goldie O'Gilt. The Catwoman to Scrooge's Batman. I'm not fond of the archetype but it's hard to dislike Goldie's sheer force of personality. As the show's femme fatale with all the baggage that entails, Goldie can easily rub me the wrong way, but it's hard to care about that whenever she gets a chance to interact with other characters.

This episode is non-stop Goldie. The cast is trimmed down to little more than Scrooge, Goldie, and Glomgold. It was a gamble, predicating the entire story on the idea that Scrooge and Goldie will be interesting enough and likable enough to carry a full episode just by bickering with one another. But it worked.

This is Scrooge and Goldie's story through and through. It's our intro to who Goldie is but it's also about how her existence influences Scrooge's decisions. It's a window into the mind of a man incapable of forming healthy relationships for fear of compromising his precious wealth and the weird frenemy dynamics he's developed as a result.

It's about a back-and-forth feud between Scrooge and Goldie that Goldie ultimately wins. And as she walks away with her prize, Scrooge can only laugh and applaud her boldness because it was never about the money. Competition is simply the only way Scrooge knows to engage with people socially. And that's fascinating.

8. The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck

This is another episode with two storylines, but for the first time on this list, neither story is bad.

There are points worth criticizing about the Triplets' plot. The demon dog is a forced bit of action designed to put a gun to their heads and force them to reconcile under penalty of death. It's also a Liar Revealed plot for the drip-fed Della mystery that didn't need to be drip-fed or have a liar to be revealed.

But despite these problems, the boys' camaraderie in working together and solving problems with their respective skillsets is great to see. Also, while I disdain the arc that brought us to this point, the emotional gut-punch in the Liar Revealed scene is well done. The heartbreak in Louie's voice as he airs Dewey's betrayal kills me every time.

The other arc is about Scrooge and his disapproving father Fergus. The story starts out making Fergus seem like an unpleasable dick before diving into a heart-wrenching re-examination of how Scrooge got his Number One Dime. Capitalism runs in the blood for McDucks but when Fergus accuses Scrooge of taking too well to capitalism and abandoning his penniless parents, the audience feels it. It's a hard accusation to rebuke and it sets up a heartwarming acknowledgment of wrongdoing and reconciliation.

7. Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System

What do you get if you put Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera, Gyro Gearloose, Mark Beaks, and Launchpad McQuack in a can, shake them up, and then spill them out over a twenty-minute episode? You get a grand old time.

A lot happens in this episode. Fenton is introduced. Mark Beaks unveils a new tech that makes Gyro jealous, only to turn out to be stolen Gyro tech in a genuinely surprising twist. This results in a dire threat that is well foreshadowed and gives Fenton a chance to become Gizmoduck for the first time. All while Launchpad tries and fails to replicate the famous story of John Henry.

None of it is especially impactful or dramatically powerful which is why this episode isn't further up the list. But it's one of few episodes where all of the pieces click together with little issue. There's no friction in the messages or characterizations. It's not the greatest story the series has ever told, but each little piece of it comes out to a solid "good".

A Masterpiece of Storytelling

6. The Beagle Birthday Massacre

The episode that gave us Lena DeSpell. The way this episode plays with expectations is phenomenal. Lena is introduced as a slice of life antagonist. She's the cool kid, the edgy kid, the kid with a hint of danger and mystery.

Right from the start, it feels like Webby's being set up for a brief infatuation, only for Lena to leave her holding the bag so that she can learn a lesson about who her real friends are. But that's not where the story goes. In fact, shame on you for even making that assumption upon seeing Lena. "Terror of the Terra-Firmians" will see you after class.

Lena is not a slice of life antagonist after all! She really was trying to be Webby's real true friend this whole time. Right up until the episode pulls the rug out again to reveal that Lena is, in fact, an adventure plot antagonist!

That last twist is the brilliance of the episode because it changes so much of the context. Lena's behavior through the episode is a strong depiction of a predator. It's something you only notice on the second watch. She targets Webby as soon as the Triplets are away so that she can build a rapport with her, then seeks to tear down Webby's opinion of the Triplets so that she'll emotionally rely only on Lena. She fails, but the effort is there and it's chilling once you know the twist.

Of the entire Lena DeSpell arc, this is the one and only episode in which Lena is full-on a villain. And what a villain she makes.

5. The Missing Links of Moorshire

I've often said that Scrooge as at his best as a character when he's being used to antagonize the other characters. He's awful enough as a person to be an easy source of social conflict, while having just enough redeeming qualities to justify being in the kids' lives. When I say this, there are two episodes that I think of.

When I say that, there are two episodes that I think of. This is one of them. Scrooge takes it upon himself to teach Dewey the game of golf. However, when Dewey excels at it, Scrooge becomes bitterly jealous of the positive encouragement he receives from the family.

This is an episode about toxic mentorship. Scrooge mentors Dewey in bad faith. He wants Dewey to learn the game, but not to excel at it. The very suggestion that Dewey might one day surpass him causes him to feel threatened, at which point Scrooge turns mean.

This subject matter cuts deep. Most of us will meet a toxic mentor like Scrooge at one point or another. It can be a parent, a teacher, a friend, a lover. There are many shapes and forms a toxic mentor might arrive in. But the result is always the same: damage to the relationship and damage to the love of the activity.

The one thing holding this episode back from a higher point on this list is that it's ultimately aimed poorly. The message falls squarely on Scrooge's shoulders. He's forced to learn not to be toxic in his mentorship. That's good advice but it misses the point of telling this story in children's media. The story advises Scrooge to stop being toxic but it has no advice for Dewey on how to escape a toxic mentorship. That's a messaging flub when the kids watching this are more likely to be Dewey than Scrooge.

4. The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest

This episode is one of only a few in which it feels like every character involved has a story to tell. Not just something to do, but a narrative of their own. There are three storylines running through it. Dewey teaches Webby to sled, Louie avenges Launchpad's ice fever, and Huey dukes it out with Scrooge over endangering the family out of unchecked egotism.

Dewey and Webby use their subplot to deliver a rare but valuable lesson for the kids watching: you will not enjoy every new activity that you try and that's okay. If your friends don't like an activity that you love, that's okay too. Trying to force an activity down someone's throat won't change their mind.

This is the other episode that I think of when I say Scrooge makes a good social antagonist. "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest" draws a parallel between Scrooge's ambitions and Huey's. This forces Huey into a position where he must learn the value of humility from seeing Scrooge's arrogance in action, then culminating in a showdown where Huey must persuade Scrooge to see reason just as he has.

3. McMystery at McDuck Manor

This episode provides a thought-provoking Whodunit mystery featuring twists, turns, and a Who's Who of likable recurring DuckTales antagonists.

The Beagle family doesn't get to do much of interest this season. For the most part, they serve as what I've termed fill-in villains. If you need some action to spice up the episode that isn't in any way relevant to the plot, throw in the Beagle Boys. They're always available as context-free Bad Guys Doing Bad Things.

This was the one episode in the entire season to flesh out the Beagle family as interesting characters. It gives Ma Beagle a solid hook to the story of the Duck family for the first time, and it places this introduction right alongside the ever-delightful Mark Beaks and Flintheart Glomgold.

The handling of the mystery and ultimate (multiple) reveals show great care in the art of mystery writing. There are ultimately three true culprits in the disappearance of Scrooge McDuck. All three are technically guessable with the information presented, but easily overlooked due to being beyond suspicion.

Well, Scrooge himself is easy enough to guess. However, Black Arts Beagle is quickly dismissed as a suspect and Duckworth, though brought up in conversation several times, is literally dead. The true answers are present in the clues, but in a way that doesn't necessarily look like a clue. This is the key to writing a good mystery.

2. Jaw$

Like "The Missing Links of Moorshire", this episode delves into some heavy subject matter. Magica DeSpell is more than just a big villain; she's Lena's abusive parent. This episode talks about the influence that abusive parents have over a child's ability to empathize with and connect to other children.

That's the heart of the episode. Lena wants to trust, but her ability to do so has been damaged by Magica's abuse. She's been torn down and made to believe in an uglier world than the one her friendship with Webby represents.

What I love about the character of Lena is that she's not a villain (except in that first episode). She's a child of a villain. She's had a distorted worldview engrained in her by her cruel parent, but she's still a fundamentally good person. She's a victim, pure and simple. The show doesn't say her victimization made her strong, nor does it say that her victimization made her cruel. It just is.

Jaw$ is all about that victimization. It has a supremely heavy subject matter that it handles with about as much grace as can be expected from a kids' show. Webby can't make Magica go away. All she can do is offer Lena a hand of love and support, but Lena must find the courage despite her abuse to take it. And she does. And it's great.

This is not a perfect episode. The writers fudge the proximity of the mansion to the Money Bin to make the plot work. The Triplets and Launchpad are along for the ride just to get eaten and raise the stakes. But it does have a B-plot where Scrooge is subjected to a humiliation conga and then loses lots of money. What more can you ask for than that?

1. The Last Crash of the Sunchaser

This is a perfect episode.

The kids finally get the answers of Della Duck's fate that the show's been dragging its feet on all season, and they get those answers by... well, doing what they should have done from the start and just asking Scrooge.

This episode is every bit as calamitous as its factually incorrect title implies. The entire premise of the show is turned on its head. Remember what I said earlier about not shining a spotlight on the Necessary Weasels? Mrs. Beakley shines that spotlight, but with intent not to defend the Weasels but to tear the premise in half by calling them out as indefensible.

The kids work together to achieve their mutual goal, resulting in action as goofy as it is tense before the dramatic confrontation between Dewey and Scrooge occurs. When it does, it takes a hammer straight to the feels.

The truth is complicated and messy with no clear bad guy (though Donald is the clear good guy), and it tears the family apart. Scrooge flies off the handle into the worst parts of himself while the kids sling unfounded accusations at him due to their hurt over his genuine guilt. It truly feels like there's no going back from the damage this secret has inflicted on the fabric of this family.

There are many things I would change about the Della arc if I could. But the only thing I'd change about this episode is its placement in the season.

[cuddlyhell]

here's the aforementioned addition with the explanation! kept you waiting, huh? i'll be putting it under this cut because of how long it is + the fact it will contain some spoilers for Rediagnosis... so watch out, i guess!

Cuddles was very important to show off first for Rediagnosis because he is (obviously) the reason why any of the story happens. no Cuddles; no hospital; no story. Because of that, this will both be a deep dive into Cuddles as well as the Sparklecare Hospital itself.

For a story like Sparklecare; having the main antagonist be essentially the devil incarnate for no reason than to have the conflict happen is honestly pretty silly to me. The fundamental issue is that the world of Spinch wants to have the best of both worlds: A story about a horrible hospital and its traumatized victims and a world where everything is way better than how our own world is, even if it contradicts itself heavily, so there is no room for discussion on how a person could become so evil; he simply is that way because we need conflict even if this world is meant to be virtually perfect. One of my big goals with Rediagnosis is to fix the worldbuilding specifically. I'm still not at all finished on my revamp of Spinch's worldbuilding (which is a very daunting task as I have a lot of issues with the worldbuilding) but know that many things are changed greatly. I'll probably make a whole post on Rediagnosis' Spinch later. For now, just know that life on Rediagnosis' Spinch may be a little better in some aspects- but it is still heavily flawed, much like our own.

Getting back to the main focus: My biggest change so far is making Cuddles & the hospital not ridiculously evil. While not the perfect sanctuary that some make it out to be; Rediagnosis' version of Sparklecare Hospital is not as bad as the canon counterpart, relatively speaking. It's still a very terrible place but it isn't ridiculously evil for the sake of it. Of course, this is also the case for Cuddles; he's not a good person and he does, indeed, do terrible things- but he isn't straight-up evil incarnate like how he is in the original canon.

Cuddles here is driven by an insatiable need to help the world, having a very flawed savior complex. He wants to help as many as possible even at the cost of the health, happiness, or even lives of the few. He isn't out to kill and torture people but he could (ultimately) care less if one person dies if it means he can save a million. This is directly reflected onto the hospital, as it is known all around the world for its advances in the medical field with new procedures and discovering cures, though the way they do all this isn't bound by morals. When its found someone has an illness no ones never seen before? They're sent to Sparklecare. Another hospital has too many patients to deal with? Send a few to Sparklecare. And when they wind up there, they're not heard from again-- or at least; not in a very, very long time.

Cuddles life began with strife and horrible conditions, he had to crawl his way out of the circumstances he had been born in, abandoning his abusive, controlling parents to become who he wanted to be. To even get to a simple nurse position just to start helping people, he had to go through the hoops of getting a formal education with what little he had, even having to cheat, lie, and bribe his way there. Throughout his life, it was reinforced to Cuddles that the ends justify the means because he was forced to live that way. Also because of his childhood; his one soft spot is children as they remind him of his long-lost (or perhaps broken & buried) innocence.

He is extremely serious about his work and will not let anything get in his way. You're either with him or against him.

Some other notes and tidbits:

Something I forgot to add onto the ref sheet is that he has outlines of little wings stitched onto the back of his coat! It's a little reference to his (sadly) now removed Cupid wings and acts as a quirky detail representing his savior attitude.

Also related to this; I've been thinking of having Cuddles parallel a couple of characters in specific ways, both visually and story-wise. His most strong parallels are Barry and Uni, I'll probably talk more about this some other time.

Cuddles often neglects his own well-being on top of others'; this was already alluded to in the ref sheet with the comments about his hygiene but it goes deeper than that, as he neglects to eat, sleep, and etc. He hides a lot of this scarily well, especially to outsiders, he learned to do this from his childhood and while moving up in life during early adulthood.

His whole thing about brainwashing/hypnotizing people is basically gone as I felt it was a huge copout for the story, most likely being another symptom of wanting a perfect world with conflict. Now, Cuddles and the hospital are just very good at covering things up and being quite convincing, as well as charismatic in Cuddles' case. The only thing about the hypnotism left is his eyes which turn into a hypnotic pattern when his emotions are high, usually when he's excited. There is no explanation for this nor an actual reason, I just think it's a very cool detail about his canon counterpart that I wanted to keep.

He's still a narcissist, though its more realistically subtle now than his canon counterpart's cartoonishly large ego. I don't really think he'd live in a mansion either.

He still indulges with prostitutes, though he seperates that part of his life from his work, so don't expect to actually see them in the hospital like in the original comic. I can't imagine him hitting on his staff at all though.. At least, not the vast majority of them.

He always had gender dysphoria but it was made much, much worse by his childhood experiences. His gender expression is very much a middle finger to those who bullied him and his parents; much like how his goal of helping others is a middle finger directed entirely at his parents and their planned pre-destined path meant for him.

that's about it for now! there's more i could talk about but i don't want to go on forever and ever. of course, you can also send me asks if you're curious about something. now i gotta get to working on the other staff member's references...

Sparklecare: Rediagnosis - Cuddles

decided i wanted to finally get around to making some stuff for Rediagnosis, so i made a reference sheet with some lore for Cuddles! it's only fitting we start out talking about my favorite character :P

i'll put a image description below this cut i don't think the image description would fit in the limit, so the description below will be describing the image and text clearly while the image description itself will be a transcript.

i'm also going to be adding onto to this post later with a deeper explanation of his character, the changes i made to him and why i made them.

[Description]

Cuddles is a 4 feet tall naked mole rat/bunny hybrid anthery. He is, assumedly, around 40 years old. He is a bisexual transgender man who goes by he/him pronouns. He is the owner & head doctor of Sparklecare Hospital.

Cuddles is a fully pink-skinned and furred anthery, with white spots across certain parts of his body, signifying actual fur which appears glittery. (These areas include his ears, tail, the tops of his feet, as well as tiny amounts on his collar/neck and cheeks.) He has a chubby torso, contrasted by his skinny legs and arms. His hands are wrinkled, with yellow, small yet sharp claws protruding from four fingers on each hand. His feet are quite long, a little wrinkled, and are obviously stitched onto him below the knees. Despite having no paw pads on his hands, he has hot pink ones on his feet; three for each toe and one other, the metacarpal pad (the biggest, centermost one), which is shaped like a heart. His tail is outrageously large, essentially being the same size of him, even reaching over his head a tad. It's fur is incredibly curly, fluffy, and a little untamed, akin to cotton candy.

His face is only a little bit chubby, his snout is quite stubby and is wrinkled at the bridge of his nose. Three whiskers protrude from either one of his cheeks in any given time. (I suppose like Mickey Mouse ears?) The line of his lips is, seemingly, naturally wrinkled or mishappen near the corners; resulting in a slightly crooked smile. His lips are also formed like a cat's. His many teeth are yellow, much like his claws, as well as being incredibly long and sharp. He has shorter, yet still sharp, buckteeth. His eyes are large and off-putting, due to his sclera being pure black, his relatively small irises are hot-pink with small, heart-shaped, black pupils. His ears, much like his feet, are obviously stitched onto his head where there were most likely no ears before to begin with. They are long, bunny-esque ears which hang down just below his head, lay flat and limp against either side of his head and are, of course, heart-shaped with hot-pink inner ears, which are also heart-shaped.

Cuddles wears an undershirt with pure blue accents on the collar and hem, the entire shirt is also covered in a rainbow polka-dot pattern. He wears his staff badge on the left side of his chest on his undershirt, attached to a custom-made badge reel of a hot-pink heart, split down the middle in one single crack, which appears to be stitched back together. (This is a purposefully stylistic design, it's not actually broken.) Over his undershirt is a large, wrinkled doctor's coat with popped-out collars. Resting on the bridge of his snout is a pair of solid, pure red reading glasses. He also wears a red, short skirt. (The skirt was a random element I threw in on a whim as I wanted him to wear actual clothing on his lower body, I may replace the skirt with something else later.)

Other notes about Cuddles are as follows: He actually does need glasses to read, this is due to his naturally poor eyesight by being born a mole rat. He dislikes wearing them all the time but is overall fine with them. Despite being yellow, his teeth and nails are simply naturally colored like that. He actually pretty good at hygiene, he just.. tend to get really messy with his work.. and he tends to be so busy with said work, that he forgets to wash off, from time to time. He has top surgery scars shaped like two halves of a heart.

[paradife-loft]

Hi! I absolutely love the meta about NMJ's Empathy memories being unreliable, and it's got me wondering about how his qi deviation and death actually went. Since LXC says he saw the qi deviation (and Fatal Journey says it was in public), what's your take on how JGY got NMJ into his secret room so he and Xue Yang could use the Tiger Seal (and eventually kill him)? Fatal Journey has the Nie sect holding a funeral for him, so presumably NHS had /soneone's/ body to bury, but then in The Untamed LXC later says something like he 'hasn't heard from' NMJ in years and had feared the worst, so things... don't seem to add up? What do you think?

Aaah, okay, so: first off, I’m incredibly sorry it’s taken me so long to answer this, and I nonetheless  very much appreciate your interest in my opinions here <3 If you’re still hanging around/following me/reading my blog, anon, idk how obvious it’s been that I’ve… not been having the best few months brain-wise, but that’s basically all I can offer as an excuse for why this reply is coming so late. Thank you for your patience!

So, okay, I think I’m going to try and tackle this question from a couple different angles. First of all, I think it’s worth looking at the material provided in the contained story of the 50 episodes of The Untamed on its own, to see what that suggests, before bringing in outside or supplemental sources, which is what for this purpose I’d consider spin-off movies, details in other versions of the broader MDZS story material, etc. to be. Also, I want to note upfront that while I do tend to incorporate different details and versions of events from both CQL and MDZS into my personal headcanon, what I write in my fic, etc. because I think they tend to provide interesting possibilities, elaborations, and what-ifs for a broader composite MDZS-adaptation-universe – for the purposes of this post, I’m going to stick to material from The Untamed and Fatal Journey only. Mostly, my reason for that is that there’s a few logistically distinct details of how the qi deviation happens in MDZS compared to CQL – one being, it happens at Qinghe rather than Lanling – that I believe affect the timeline of what Jin Guangyao is doing with Nie Mingjue’s corpse in the first place.

Alright so, in The Untamed alone, the evidence such as we have includes: the Empathy sequence involving the qi deviation in episode 41, and Lan Xichen’s statement in episode 39 recounting that he saw it happen himself at Jinlintai, and that after hearing nothing from/about Nie Mingjue since, he’s been “mentally prepared” - presumably, for the news that he’s dead. What I’m inclined to take from those two pieces of information, is essentially a story like this: NMJ qi deviates, very publically, and at some point while this is happening, he makes a break for it and leaves Jinlintai, and whatever presumably messy trail he leaves in the process ends up going cold for anyone trying to follow, with no NMJ around to be seen. With various factors at Jinlintai invested in retrieving him for attempting to turn him into a controllable fierce corpse, it’s pretty easy to imagine that, besides whatever above-board search party tried to follow him, there would also have been another party closely watching his movements for an opportune moment to slip in and scoop him up to bring him back to the secret treasure room for fierce corpse experimentation – hence why the trail would’ve gone cold.

Now, the actual scene showing the qi deviation itself doesn’t include multiple elements I’m positing or including here – specifically, the presence of a bunch of third parties actually witnessing it, LXC included, and then also the idea that NMJ ever left that one landing at the top of the stairs during the qi deviation at all. But, since we see in other parts of the Empathy sequence that the events shown can be… a bit more impressionistic than accurate; and furthermore since it seems reasonable to posit that the memories of the time when he has a literal break with reality might be even less literally reliable than the rest of them – I think those aspects can be reasonably explained away as that scene portraying more of what the qi deviation felt like from the inside, than what an outside observer would’ve seen. Nie Mingjue’s focus is Jin Guangyao, so Jin Guangyao is all he sees – up until Nie Huaisang breaks through that monomaniacal focus and is seen, finally, as himself.

(If you particularly want to pull out some feelings, I might even suggest the idea that finally seeing a distraught NHS was the thing that pulled NMJ sufficiently out of his rage to be lucid enough to flee – and that he booked it in part because he was terrified and ashamed to possibly hurt his younger brother, whether physically or emotionally by letting him see NMJ in such an awful state.

So then, aside from that: the question of what we see in Fatal Journey. I’ve actually been trying to find an answer about what kinds of mourning customs would be followed or even possible if a family didn’t actually have their loved one’s body on hand to bury, but thusfar my internet searching hasn’t really gotten me any useful information one way or another – if anyone reading has an idea or some good sources to point me to, I’d love to hear them! Everything I’ve read so far seems to very tightly marry the performance of appropriate rites and the presence of a body together.

That said, looking back through the actual funeral scene in Fatal Journey, I also wasn’t able to notice the presence of a coffin anywhere in the set, either? We see a memorial tablet, set up in the front of the throne room at Qinghe, and what looks like a brief shot of some offerings, and NHS stoking the fire, but in the couple brief scenes of the inside of the hall, I don’t think there was a coffin set up there? (Or, for that matter, out in the courtyard which we get a longer look at, either.) Compared to what I at least assume is a coffin with Jin Zixuan’s body inside during the mourning scene in episode 32, I feel like it’s reasonable to guess that, even with Fatal Journey included, whatever mourning rites took place at Qinghe after NMJ’s death, they may simply have not involved a body or a burial at all.

- And actually, now that I’m thinking about it, taking Fatal Journey into consideration overall suggests that it might ultimately be the norm at Qinghe to hold mourning rites without a body present – because per the lore additions in the movie, the Nie sect leaders go down to die on their own at the bottom of the saber tomb, and it sure doesn’t look like anybody had been going down there to retrieve them once they did? So, I don’t know, maybe there’s some sort of symbolic burial of something associated with the sect leader as a Nie custom, to keep things looking a bit more normal and less “we build a tomb for these resentment-filled blade spirits that eat our sect leader’s sanity”, and that’s also what ended up being done for Nie Mingjue?  But, yeah, there’s no real confirmation happening even in the movie that NHS was able to come back with a body to bury, so I don’t think that necessarily contradicts the idea that NMJ could have gone missing during his qi deviation and never been properly recovered for a 100% confirmed death.

(That said, I personally don’t tend to incorporate, oh, most of the specific events or points of lore from Fatal Journey into my own readings on various elements of the story? Like, quite frankly, I don’t really like the movie that much, and I think it opens up a lot more unnecessary character and worldbuilding questions without doing a good job of integrating them back into the rest of The Untamed’s continuity (er, such as it exists XD). So I don’t necessarily have an opinion on whether “the Nie sect generally doesn’t do bodily burials of is clan leaders” is an idea anyone should pick up for The Untamed canon; merely that if you do take the events of Fatal Journey as canon, it certainly seems like it could be a possibility.)

(And again, big, big big disclaimer here that, e.g. if holding any kind of mourning rites without a body present is actually super Not Done, then what I’m saying with this part might be totally moot, and then well…. who knows, there’s plenty of speculation that could be used to cover that gap up – maybe “they never found the body” wasn’t actually widespread knowledge, but rather just information LXC had special access to due to the relationships he had with the people involved? – and some set of people depending on your preferences conspired to get another body to stand in for NMJ’s to allow them to hold a funeral? ….Which honestly sounds incredibly sketchy to me on its own, but considering all the other professionally Yikes-style desecrations of bodies that happen in this story…. who knows? I’m really just tossing out ideas here at this point, not saying I necessarily endorse any of them outside of “I think this could potentially work in some way without being out of character for anybody”.)

Anyway… I hope that answers your question, anon, and is otherwise interesting for everyone else reading? Thank you for the ask, and apologies again for taking so long to respond! <3

[oohlook-thevoid]

Yes, this is another post as a result of me watching Chapter 16 of The Mandalorian.

Ok, so one of the most pivotal elements of a piece of media is character dynamics, right? I mean, I'd argue its one of the most important - a story can have good characters, plot and worldbuilding but without good character dynamics it falls flat.

For example:

SW Sequel trilogy - ok, so I know this had many flaws and factors in it falling as flat as it did but I'd argue a key one was the character dynamics. That being both that Poe, Rey and Finn weren't established as the new trio they deserved to be (or quad(?) following Rose's introduction), that they introduced random LIs in like the 3rd movie and that they bordered between maybe Rey/Kylo an actual fully fledged thing or allowing them to be actual enemies. Not having decent character relationships lessened the impact of certain points.

MCU Avengers - there was a reason why 2012 saw so many they-all-live-in-the-tower fics and that's because part of the Avengers appeal (in comics and animation) is the team dynamic; the way in which they interact, trust, and care for each other. That's also why when they do break apart it's all the more compelling because there was an actual relationship being broken. The MCU didn't put them together so strongly so CW etc. just didn't land so well.

On the other hand, to further evidence my point, some shows are (arguably) not that great but are still loved by virtue of the character dynamics:

BBC Merlin - I think at this point the fandom can agree that overall the show was a bit shit but there's a reason it's still loved 8yrs after ending. And that's the character dynamics. There's a lot but a few in particular: Morgana and Arthur - siblings who did care about each other but fell apart due to where they fell in regards to their father's beliefs, Merlin and Lancelot - the trust in Lancelot being whom Merlin trusts with his secret in Camelot, Mordred and Arthur - the kindness and care followed by betrayal etc. etc. There's loads and it's exploring them that makes the show so loved still.

Lego Ninjago - look, this show was made to sell lego toys and now it's a fairly long running show with a fandom that does actually exist online. And like, it's not w/o flaws (especially, if I recall correctly, introducing info in later seasons that contradicts prior canon) but it still slaps because of the character dynamics. Like Garmadon and Lloyd - father and son destined to fight each other but who still care for on another, Misako, Wu and Garmadon - the elderly consequences of when the girl picks the bad boy of the love triangle, all the varying dynamics between Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane, Nya and Lloyd etc. etc. The list goes on. Their relationships make the show at times.

And look, there's obviously more examples, and naturally this is somewhat subjective, but I think these are fairly solid with regards to the impact of character dynamics on the media.

Which brings me on to The Mandalorian. This show obviously has Star Wars fans as part of its audience but it also has non-SW fans and more casual SW fans (like me) who love it as well.

And I think what brought people to the show who may not have otherwise watched it was Grogu (or as original hype called him: Baby Yoda). And as they watched it was the relationship between Grogu and Din that sealed the deal and gained their continued viewership.

Because the dynamic and relationship between Grogu and Din is just phenomenal. Like, we have to acknowledge that is a puppet and Pedro Pascal in full armour (including a mask so we can't see his facial expressions) providing one of the most genuine fucking father-son relationships I've ever seen. Like the way a puppet and masked Pedro convey emotions and that bond etc. is like absolutely out there in terms of sheer damn talent.

And just going in universe, that's a bounty hunter Mandalorian who was meant to deliver this kid and ended up basically ditching his job and risking everything over and over because he got attached to the kid and would do anything to keep him safe. Like that's such an unbelievably strong bond of love that you don't exactly see like that everyday, like its beautiful man, idk what else to tell you.

So now, with the end of s2 having separated Grogu and Din, I worry about feeling so drawn in by the show when it's most pivotal relationship/character dynamic is no longer present. I mean, yes, I imagine they'll acknowledge the feeling of loss and that they'll eventually be reunited but I also think a new plot (the darksaber etc.) will take precedence over character dynamics (esp. in terms of making any as strong).

The Mandalorian is a show that, yes, had cool SW cameos and references, badass fight scenes, a great supporting cast of characters, cool space worldbuilding and so on. But it, so far, all worked around the pivotal relationship between Din and Grogu. That was the draw to the show and that was the driving force of the plot. And, I'm personally less certain about feeling so hooked on s3.

[rwby-redux]

Deconstruction

Worldbuilding: Genetics

If any of my Deconstruction posts were going to turn heads, I had a hunch it would be this one. You’ll probably find this topic incongruous with the others simply because—unlike Aura, Semblances, Dust, and Grimm—genetics isn’t one of RWBY’s unique gimmicks. If I’m being entirely honest, part of why this post exists is because I still had some miscellaneous talking points to address, but lacked a proper heading to file them under. Call it what it is: a dumping ground for wayward thoughts.

But there’s a bit more to it than just that. The reason why I want to talk about this is because, much like the other mechanical aspects, genetics does have a bearing on RWBY’s worldbuilding, and the stories that were subsequently built around it. It has an undeniable impact on the sociopolitical human-Faunus schism that set the stage for Remnant’s immediate past, and the present-day terrorist acts committed by the White Fang. Genetics is also an extension of RWBY’s adherence to color theory, reflected in the hair and eye color choices of the ensemble cast.

Before we can finally conclude Part 1 of the Worldbuilding posts, we need to discuss this topic from both a narrative and a production standpoint. Genetics is firmly rooted in the development and design choices of the writers—choices which, as you’ll quickly see, had long-lasting consequences for the show.

Today we’re going to be dividing this topic into two sections. Since I’m sure it’s already on your mind, let’s get the obvious one out of the way first:

The Genetics of the Faunus

The Faunus are going to have an entire post dedicated just to them, but it’s impossible to talk about genetics without at least a passing mention of one of Remnant’s two main species.

Subspecies.

Races?

Yeah. You can quickly see where this is going.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me provide some context. Just like the conception of the Maidens, the Faunus can trace their developmental history to a rather impulsive design choice:

“Monty really wanted a character with cat ears,” admits Miles Luna. Shawcross expands on how Blake Belladonna’s look resulted in a cornerstone of the show’s lore. “So if Blake has cat ears, does that mean anyone can have cat ears? Could they have other animal traits? It’d be cool to see someone with scales or a fox tail…” [1]

Let me clarify by saying that there’s nothing wrong with basing a decision on aesthetics (in principle, anyway). And RWBY isn’t the only franchise guilty of doing this. It only takes a few seconds of consulting TV Tropes to see that zoomorphism is extremely pervasive. And while I have a tendency to complain a lot on this blog, I’m not such a kvetch that I’ll deny that animal-people with lion tails and ram horns look fucking sweet.

The problem I have with Faunus (from a genetic standpoint) is the way they’re inconsistently described in relation to humans. While Qrow unambiguously refers to them as a separate species, [2] we have Faunus characters that contradict him by describing themselves as a race. [3] This leads to the inevitable issue of whose account do we trust? On one hand, the information provided to us by Qrow is through World of Remnant, a spin-off series whose entire purpose is to clarify information and teach the audience about core worldbuilding concepts. On the other hand, what we’re told about the Faunus being a race comes directly from Ghira Belladonna. In this context, who would you expect to be the better authority on Faunus—a human, or a Faunus?

Even if we set aside the complicated implications of an outgroup member talking over a minority, we’re still left with the issue of well, which is it? Are they a race or a species? And why does it even matter?

Before we can answer any of those questions, let’s quickly define both terms:

A species is a taxonomic rank used for classifying groups of organisms together on the basis of being able to participate in genetic interchange via sexual reproduction, to produce fertile offspring.

A race (in biology) is an informal/unrecognized taxonomic rank below subspecies, defined as unique subgroups with either geographic, physiological, or genetic distinctions from other subgroups within their species. In anthropology, however, a race is typically regarded as a social construct. In this case, it refers to an identity held by members of a population that share physical or social qualities that are seen as categorically distinct.

The answer, if we’re being objective, is probably something along the lines of “RWBY’s writers thought that the two terms were interchangeable, or they didn’t think the distinction mattered enough to do the research and settle on a definition.” Unless someone specifically reached out to a Rooster Teeth employee and asked, we’ll never truly know. Speculation will only get us so far, and where this blog is concerned, we need a definitive answer—or at the very least, we need to talk about why the distinction matters to us.

So, are Faunus their own race? Meaning, are they a self-identifying ethnic group with a common language, ancestry, history, culture, nation, or social treatment within their residing area?

Common language: That’s a definite no. RWBY still hasn’t managed to explain how everyone across the four kingdoms speaks the same language, let alone develop any conlangs.

Ancestry: We actually don’t have a canon answer for this. The show has yet to tell us where the Faunus came from, so we can’t make any assumptions about how related they are to one another.

History: Technically, yes. But the series has a gross tendency to homogenize the experience of Faunus across Remnant, so the history of Faunus in Vale is virtually identical to that of Mistral. This trend results in storytelling discrepancies, like the Faunus in culturally-unprejudiced Vacuo [4] being equally threatened by and involved with the Faunus Rights Revolution, when there shouldn’t have been an in-world basis for this scenario.

Culture: Don’t make me laugh. RWBY couldn’t even be bothered to give any of its four kingdoms distinct cultures. Apart from a few scenes in Menagerie where you see a bunch of background characters hanging out in the Shallow Sea district of Kuo Kuana, there really isn’t anything culturally unique to the Faunus.

Nation: I guess? I personally wouldn’t consider Menagerie a nation, simply because it’s not one the Faunus originated from, but were rather given in the aftermath of the Great War. As far as we know, Faunus have always been just as widespread across Remnant as humans.

Social treatment: We’re told that social treatment for the Faunus as a whole is shitty, but that the degree of shittiness varies from place to place. Forgive me if I don’t buy that. Not after we’ve seen students in Vale physically harass a Faunus, [5] shops in Mistral refuse service to Faunus, [6] and companies in Atlas extract labor from Faunus. [7] If social treatment is contingent on shared experiences, then why are we told that these experiences change depending on the kingdom? And if the kingdoms vary in levels of racial acceptance, then why are we repeatedly shown the exact opposite?

Based on the aforementioned criteria, I’m inclined to say that Faunus don’t fit the definition of race.

So, are the Faunus a separate species from humans?

“History gets a little fuzzy past a certain point, but we do know that their kind and ours are completely compatible, from a—a biological standpoint.” | Source: World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 6: “Faunus.”

That’s a resounding no.

As much as the taxonomist in me wants to talk about things like the multiple competing species concepts, or the fact that plants frequently violate the definition of species by producing fertile hybrids through polyploidy (chromosomal doubling), I have to restrain myself. For simplicity’s sake, we’re accepting that Faunus and humans are members of the same species on the basis that they’re not reproductively isolated.

The reason why genetics matters in regards to the race-species discourse is because we have yet to learn what the Faunus truly are. If we ignore the fact that they exist because Monty Oum wanted to stick cat ears on a girl, then we have to figure out what their existence means to Remnant’s past: Did the Brother Gods intervene in the early evolution of Humanity v2.0, by creating a subset of people with animal traits that would sow discord, for the sole purpose of giving Ozma another obstacle to overcome? Did Salem (who watched Humanity v2.0 evolve) try to influence their evolution, and somehow managed to bestow animalistic traits upon select groups of early hominids? Is Dust like a magically-radioactive fossil fuel that by pure chance mutated early people through exposure, resulting in their animalistic traits? Are the Faunus’ animal traits completely irrelevant to the plot, and are only there for the sake of style?

That’s why the Faunus’ genetic background matters—because as the story progresses, it’s going to inform what questions the audience asks.

There’s a good chance that all of this will end up being nitpicky conjecture, and there won’t be any storytelling payoff. But I think it’s still important to address, if for no other reason than to illustrate why pre-production worldbuilding is essential for telling a coherent story. But I digress.

Genetics, and Its Relationship with Color Theory

It goes without saying that RWBY is defined by color. It’s reflected in nearly every facet of the franchise—team names, wardrobe, Dust color, Aura color, emblems, characters’ names, even the show’s title—and it’s just as important from a worldbuilding standpoint as it is from a narrative one. [8]

Where color theory and genetics cross paths is in the field of character appearance—specifically, hair and eye color. For the moment, let’s set aside eye color as a visual device for foiling and paralleling characters (like Yang Xiao Long’s purple eyes compared to Blake Belladonna’s yellow eyes). Instead, we’re going to talk about these phenotypes from a hereditary perspective.

We’re going to streamline this discussion a bit by focusing on hair for the moment, and picking three colors that would be considered unnatural by our world’s standards. Let’s go with blue, green, and pink. Here’s a handful of characters who have these traits:

Blue hair: Neptune Vasilias, Ciel Soleil, Henry Marigold, May Marigold, Nebula Violette, Sky Lark, Trifa

Green hair: Emerald Sustrai, Marrow Amin, Bartholomew Oobleck, Reese Chloris, Russel Thrush, Sage Ayana

Pink hair: An Ren, May Zedong, Nadir Shiko

Now we’re going to take those lists and swap out the characters’ names for their inferred country of origin:

Blue hair: Mistral, Atlas, Atlas, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, Menagerie

Green hair: Vale, Atlas, Vale, Mistral, Vale, Mistral

Pink hair: Mistral, Vacuo, Mistral

We can conclude that these hair colors are natural on the basis that we never see characters dying their hair, and that similarly unusual eye colors (red, pink, purple, yellow) would also be natural in Remnant. Unless we’re assuming that everyone is wearing custom contact lenses, then it’s safe to say they’re legit. With the example of hair color, you’ll notice that they’re distributed across a wide number of nationalities, with little hint of consistency among them.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to write this off as “the writers wanted to have cool character designs and not have to think too hard about the worldbuilding implications behind them.” But there is a worldbuilding implication behind them, and it’s one that I’ll be focusing on in later Deconstruction and Amendment posts, so I want to make sure we talk about it now:

RWBY has repeatedly shown us that people are fairly geographically isolated from each other, and travel between kingdoms has always been difficult due to the Grimm. It wasn’t until eighty years ago, when the Great War ended, that a combo of international political cooperation and technological advancements made travel safer and more commonplace. Keep in mind that when populations of humans are geographically isolated from each other over prolonged periods of time, it results in those populations evolving specific anatomical traits.

Let me give you a few real world examples. Epicanthic folds are predominantly found in East Asian, Polynesian, and North Asian ethnic groups. Red hair, while not exclusive to any one nationality, is statistically highest in people of Northwestern European ancestry. Darker complexion is most common in equatorial populations, where high melanin production (especially eumelanin) protects against UVR exposure.

RWBY has every reason under the sun to ascribe certain phenotypes to the ethnicities of each kingdom, and for some reason it just doesn’t. Like, why not make green hair a trait common to people with Sanus ancestry? How about red eyes originating from Anima?

Avatar: The Last Airbender pulled this off by making dark skin, brown hair, and blue/gray eyes features of the Water Tribes. The Fire Nation, to reflect its broader geographic distribution, has a much wider range of phenotypes, with both light and dark skin tones and black or brown hair. However, it still retained golden, amber, and bronze eyes as a distinguishing characteristic of people descended from this ancestry. Frankly, I love that the show took the time to establish those traits among its ethnic groups. Not only was it a great way to visually communicate to the audience the ethnicity of the characters, but those traits took on entirely new meanings in the sequel Avatar: The Legend of Korra. When we meet the brothers Mako and Bolin for the first time and see their respective eye colors—amber and green—we’re immediately able to deduce that they’re the products of successful multiculturalism, something that would’ve seemed impossible seventy years ago when the world was gripped by war. It’s a powerful statement that was conveyed through careful attention to detail and excellent worldbuilding. Given that RWBY also takes place several decades after a global war, the writers had the opportunity to pull off a similar feat. And I don’t think it ever occurred to them once.

At the end of the day, it’s not the worst thing RWBY could’ve done. I think I’m just disappointed by the missed opportunities. The show already has so little going for it when it comes to shaping the identities of its four main kingdoms, so with color being such a vital motif for the show, this feels like it should have been a natural progression of those ideas.

On a more positive note, we’ve finally reached the end of Worldbuilding (Part I) - Mechanical Aspects! Next time, we’ll get to introduce the second section of worldbuilding topics: history.

-

[1] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 42.

[2] World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 6: “Faunus.”

[3] Volume 5, Episode 3: “Unforeseen Complications.” Ghira Belladonna: “[Adam’s] actions not only tarnished the reputation of an organization originally created to bring peace and equality to all, but to our entire race.”

[4] World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 4: “Vacuo.”

[5] Volume 1, Episode 11: “Jaunedice - Part 1.”

[6] Volume 5, Episode 6: “Known by Its Song.”

[7] Volume 7, Episode 1: “The Greatest Kingdom.”

[8] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 44.

[kikuism]

hi mariam!! 💖 okay i know pretty much nothing about the divergent series, but i love reading your pointed opinion tags about it, so if you could improve tris as a character how would you do it? or is she (and i guess the whole series) just completely beyond repair?

hi jenna! 💙 ohhh this is a fun question. i’ve never really thought how i would repair her character, but let me try to think of some ways that i could make her more tolerable ...

my biggest problem was that she really had no personality to me, as far as i can remember. and to me, if i can’t imagine headcanons for a character, it means that character just does not have a personality for me to latch onto and imagine them in situations beyond canon. so, first, i’d give her some kind of personality that doesn’t consist of her boyfriend and making ‘witty’ remarks. i’m not even mad that all she does is lash out; i know other characters who lash out, too, but tris just falls so flat because i felt like veronica roth was just trying to show how much of a badass tris is; she just felt like a caricature of ‘strong female mc’ instead of, like, an actual human being. take toph, a truly unhinged character in my opinion, who loves lashing out: but she’s not just like this. i always think of the scene in the desert when the sand benders take appa away and toph understandably could only hold them off for so long. it really did hurt her for letting the situation get beyond her control. oh, and remember when she kissed suki, thinking it was sokka? we love to see it. also, toph is ultimately limited in what she can do and she acknowledges that. tris? she can shoot her way through any situation. making her invincible like this is just a turn off for me. 

another unhinged character that comes to mind for me is kaz from six of crows. he’s selfish, utterly mean and so very despicable. it’s very hard to like him at first because his choices are so questionable. this is what tris should have been like but failed to be. why? because tris has no substance to her character beyond the aforementioned traits. i don’t get a sense of who she is as a person at all. but for kaz, we know why and how he’s come to be like this. he’s said so many times: he’s a businessman in a filthy city crawling with people ready to cheat you out if you aren’t prepared, kaz has honed himself over the years to be sharp as a knife and ready to do literally anything to achieve his goals, no matter how despicable. and eventually, you end up rooting for kaz, even though he’s horrible so much of the time. even so, he cares for his friends--at first, he sees them as pawns, but then eventually he sees them as partners. he even jokes with them sometimes. and with inej, especially, he can’t even he close to her without feeling like he’s going to shatter. it’s these nuances with his character that make him feel so real and enjoyable to read. 

tris? does her personality ever change with anyone she’s around? does she ever have any goofy or endearing moments?? it’s like she’s just forever meant to be in this ‘badass’ mode with no sense of why she’s like this. now that she’s in dauntless, she’s forever going to remain a dauntless, with no nuance whatsoever. if she had retained some of her abnegation traits, it would have made her so much more interesting. and i don’t like how being dauntless comes so easy to her. sure, she had to train physically to become a better fighter, but you can’t tell me that spending your whole life in a faction that values selflessness wouldn’t rub off on you mentally in some way. but no. the moment tris joins dauntless, it’s like her old life is just completely gone. i would have loved to see instances of her abnegation upbringing clash with her dauntless reality. i would have loved to see her struggle with these two aspects of her identity, considering they are so contradicting. i would have loved to see her think ‘maybe this was a bad idea’. then, maybe, her inclusion into dauntless would have felt somewhat earned after a struggle. but no. she gets there, endures some bullying, throws a few punches, loses, trains, jumps on and off trains and plays capture the flag. oh, and she does get a tattoo to honor her old life, but i can’t buy that at all. show me you’ve been struggling to fit in dauntless because of your abnegation upbringing before ultimately deciding to honor it instead of it being a random ass aesthetic decision. show me that old life meant something to you! it seemed like tris just despised being in abnegation and couldn’t wait to leave. so her getting a tattoo to honor it makes no sense to me. it does not feel organic and just feels more like some aesthetic choice veronica roth wanted to make with her oc knowing how much the kiddos would gobble it up. and it worked. i saw this tattoo everywhere on instagram and the like. 

what are her interests, hobbies? what does she like to do beyond the immediate plot? i really think it would have been much better if we’d gotten to see her acting outside the realm of the main story sometimes. like, i cannot make sense of who tris is at all before the choosing ceremony and before the whole divergent plot even happens. she was just vibing at her own faction, doing what ... ? why should i care? that’s one of the reasons katniss is effective as a character, we really got to know her life before the games and how that life affects her performance in the games itself. we know why she’s the way she is and it adds a new level of depth when we watch her training for the games and when she’s finally in the games. if katniss seems mean and aloof (and she is), we know why: she’s been the sole breadwinner for her family since her father died. her mother lost herself in depression and so it was only up to katniss to ensure her and her family’s survival. oh, and living in the poorest, filthiest district also puts it into perspective. katniss has been operating on survival mode for years and years now. her skill with a bow? same reason. her badassery with her weapon feels earned because of her backstory. we know how she got to this point. and it’s the same thing with toph: we care about her because we know where she’s coming from and what she’s going through. it puts everything about her sardonic temperament into perspective exactly because she’s lived such a sheltered life pleasing others and now she lives only to please herself.  i like toph’s character. she is a true badass. i love her scathing retorts and unwavering confidence. tris is just a cheap, watered down version of her; she annoys me because there’s no soul to her. when she brags about her prowess, i’m like, why should i care? what have you done that should make me care about how awesome you are? you haven’t earned that.

now, why is tris like this??  ....to show that true strength comes from having nerves of steel and a sharp tongue and that’s it? why is she the way she is?  in what way does her past affect her current character and actions? in no way, because i have no idea who she was in her old life.

also, can she just do things besides...lashing out and using a gun?? maybe give her a sense of humor or an unexpected hobby? that would have made her character more interesting for sure. 

and the worldbuilding is fucking atrocious. i’ve no idea to this day why tris is a special snowflake as there’s literally no reason for her to be. it just makes her character even worse because now she thinks she’s special and everyone should be bowing down to her because she’s such a big threat. why? because she has more than one personality trait......i can’t. this is just utter stupidity and gives me even more reason to be annoyed at her for thinking so highly of herself for something so stupid!! if she were like everyone else, maybe it would have made her the tiniest bit more tolerable, but no. 

i think all this just boils down to the fact that veronica roth just wanted to make a ‘badass female mc’ instead of a real human. it just feels so 2010 to me. girls can fight. girls can talk back. girls can hold their own ground. like, okay, yes, and? where is the nuance? the humanity? she just feels like an android to me, like a checklist of traits the author just piled on top of each other to create the ‘perfect feral mc’. toph’s and katniss’s characters just feel organic, coming from and developing at a natural place. tris just feels so forced, a product of, like, this aggressive brand of girl power i cannot vibe with.

[shadowsong26fic]

Some Stuff

Not a proper Coming Attractions post, that’ll come out on the first Monday of the month as always, but...a more general update on some projects (and also possibly looking for input?)

Basically, I’ve accepted the inevitable, that I’ve fallen back into ATLA in a big way. I haven’t actually rewatched the series yet, because my roommate was doing so and I kept popping in and out and I didn’t want to confuse myself by trying to do a straight rewatch while she was doing hers, but I have reread a bunch of old fanfic/RP logs, and have some plots I kind of want to work with again? Either as fulltext or as an AU Outline. Behind the cut are some more details, as well as seeking Opinions on which, if any, I should actually work on.

I am also Determined to not fall out of SW as this is going on, lol. More details about that behind the cut, as well.

(Also, I’ve talked about some of the stuff listed here on my writing discord, which feel free to come stop by and hang out! It’s basically an extension of this tumblr, only a little more interactive. Find us here!)

Star Wars Stuff:

I plan to take next weekend to bang out at minimum the next Precipice chapter, and possibly the next two (though I’ll stagger posting if I do manage to get both done). And then try and give myself a more active schedule to get the next parts of the series out.

I’m also working on a dragonshifters AU, which I’m enjoying a lot. I think OFLAM may be relegated to the back burner for a while, though I’ll probably kick it up again if I end up doing it for SWBB next year (unless I tease out enough of a Plot for dragonshifters to do that instead, lol). I’ve talked about some of the worldbuilding on my writing discord, too.

I also still owe some meme responses from way back, which I do intend to get to at some point I promise <.<

And I haven’t forgotten some other extant projects--Devoted!verse, the Ventress outline, Bail Unfucks the Timeline, Distaff, etc.--but they’re pretty back-burnered for the time being. If something Sparks in any of those, I’ll probably dive into it, but for now I’m not actively working on them in the way I am on dragonshifters and Precipice.

AtLA Stuff:

So, there’s sort of...four or five projects spinning around in my head right now, lol. One of which, if I do it, would not work as an outline so it would be fulltext. It’s canon-compliant, for the most part.

...well, I should interrupt myself here to say the following: I haven’t read a lot of the comics or tie-in novels, and my familiarity with more recent Word of God is limited. I’m basically operating out of canon defined as “it’s in the original show or WoG I’m specifically aware of, drawing in stuff from other sources as it appeals to me but otherwise ignoring it.” Where WoG contradicts itself (i.e., the timeline for Lu Ten’s death),I go with whatever answer I prefer.

In terms of worldbuilding details added in Korra--ehhhhh, it’s sort of held a little higher than the comics, etc. (in that, if I remember it, unless it Josses something I really, really liked/was foundational to something I’m doing, I’ll probably include it); but most likely whatever I’m doing will go AU enough during the first series for a lot of the other detail work/character-specific stuff to not matter.

Anyway! Back to the fun stuff.

There’s one story I’m playing with that’s not going to work as an AU outline. Depending on exactly what I focus on, there’s a couple different fulltext fics buried in it, and I’m not sure which I’d work on (or if I’d braid the two of them together). Basically, it deals with the siege of Ba Sing Se and Lu Ten’s death, and some of the fallout from that, focusing on an OC of mine and her daughter. I found a short fic I wrote for a challenge back in the day that ties into this concept, which is at the very end of this post. If I work on this, I’d probably change the names of the two relevant OCs and possibly how she gets her memory back (it was written specifically for a “what happened in the rest of the world when Zhao captured Tui” challenge; guess how many of them were Hama-related), but. Anyway, building on either the Siege portion of the story (which has a lot of West Side Story on its soundtrack in my head lol), or focusing on what she does after she remembers him. Or both! Both is also good.

The rest of the options are mostly Zuko-centric canon-divergence fics.

First option, Airbender!Zuko. This occurs because The Spirits Said So; he’s gotten very good at fake firebending using airbending. Probably to the point where he’s so deep in denial that he can’t even see the pyramids anymore, to stretch that analogy to the breaking point, lol. Basically, not much changes until the north pole, but there’s some ways for it to go from there...

Second option, Avatar Zuko. This one has been floating around in my head more lately. Reading old RP logs, my partner and I played through a bunch of different variants on how this all worked, but the one in my head right now is basically--a few months before he’s banished, they’re at Ember Island or something and he’s out on the ocean/fishing or something. Sudden storm, he stops the boat from capsizing through panicked waterbending. No other witnesses, for whatever reason. He initially decides he imagined it, something else must have happened. Except then, when he’s in the palace infirmary after getting his face melted, he does it again. At that point, he basically decides that his options here are “get turned into a weapon and kill A Lot of people, or get disappeared into some dark hole somewhere where I can’t cause any problems.” Neither of those is particularly attractive, so he decides to run away. He doesn’t know what his long-term plan is at this moment--if he’ll use the comet to regain favor/save his nation based on the context he’s operating under right now, or do something else. But he has about three and a half years before then. He figures he’ll spend a year at the Western Air Temple, looking for texts/mosaics/something to get him at least vaguely airbending; then go to the North Pole to learn waterbending for a year, then spend a year in the Earth Kingdom to learn earthbending. Planning, for the last two, to present himself as mixed and while he has a lot of his Fire Nation father’s features, he inherited bending from his other parent (or grandparent, when he goes to the North Pole). For those of you familiar with my original fic, this will also include the first iteration of a prominent secondary character from Feredar/The Farglass Cycle. Mostly so Zuko has someone to talk to at the WAT XD. 

Third and fourth options are a bit more nebulous, and both break off during the Ba Sing Se arc. First option, Zuko gets injured during the stampede when Aang moves the zoo (this will probably draw in at least one of my BSS OCs because I am pathologically incapable of not creating OCs, lol). Second option, Zuko leaves his mask behind in Lake Laogai, which means Aang will know he’s in the city. Not sure where either of those would go from that point but there’s some Significant Differences there, lol.

...anyway, that’s where things stand now. Which, if any, are y’all interested in seeing?

As promised, the clip from the Lu Ten story, originally written for a challenge back in...yeesh 2010 XD. Again, this is canon-compliant at least up until Iroh and Zuko arrive in BSS, and I’d possibly change the names and/or how she gets her memories back.

An Wei sat by the window, holding her little girl and watching the sky. Today had been one of Huai's bad days, so An Wei had her hand resting lightly on her daughter's neck, counting her heartbeats. The doctors had told her, back when Huai was a baby and they'd figured out what was wrong with her, to hope for seven years--but only to hope, not to count on them. So An Wei took special care to always, always watch. She never regretted her child, no. Occasionally, she wished she had never met Huai's father, but...well, she couldn't remember much about him, other than the kind golden eyes (false kindness?) that had taken her in so completely during the Siege. She didn't think about him very much. It was too painful--and dangerous. Above and beyond the dangers in thinking about the War That Was No War, her own father had... Well, he hadn't been pleased. She didn't remember the argument, but her uncle wouldn't have brought her to the Lower Ring midwife who had cared for her during her pregnancy if she hadn't needed to hide. Despite all of her vigilance, it was her own heart that skipped a beat when the moonlight filtering in through her window turned an eerie, dull red. She gasped and clutched her daughter a little tighter, praying that Huai would sleep until this went away, so it wouldn't frighten her. That is, assuming it would go away. She shivered and shifted Huai so the little girl was facing away from the window and watched in horror as the bloody moon failed to return to normal. "Please..." she whispered. "Please be normal when she wakes..." As if in response to her desperate pleading, the moon flared silver again after a half hour. But she barely had a moment to relax before it winked out completely. An Wei jumped and stifled a scream. "Don't be afraid of the dark, this'll light your way home." She jumped again. There was no one here in the room with her and Huai, but she could have sworn... The moon blinked back into existence and a pretty girl with long white hair rode in on one of its beams. An Wei stared up at her, still frightened, pulling her daughter away from the girl as best she could. The moon-girl bent down and kissed An Wei's forehead. "Remember now," she murmured, then faded out of sight. ** "Don't be afraid of the dark." He smiles and makes a little light in his palm, carefully transferring it to a bundle of sticks. "This will light your way home." ** She studies the hairpiece he wears in his topknot, turning it over and over in her hands. "There's something you should know about me, too. About my family." ** "We can make this work, Itsu." He's determined, hopeful, his golden eyes shining. "We'll talk to my father. He'll understand. We'll make it work. Meet me here, at the usual time." "I trust you." ** She waits and waits and waits, until long past dark, but he doesn't come. ** She hates speaking with her guardian, but she's scared and has nowhere else to go. "Please, help me," she finishes quietly. He nods. "I'll keep you safe, Highness. You and your child. I promise." ** The light spins around and around and around, and she forgets her name, forgets her lover, and in her place is An Wei, a young woman trained as a scribe, seduced by a nameless Fire soldier, rather than... ** Itsu let out a little sobbing breath. Huai shifted in her arms. "Mommy?" she whispered, still half-asleep. "It's okay, baby, everything's okay. Go back to sleep." "'Kay." Huai closed her golden eyes again and her breathing evened out as much as it ever did. Itsu held her daughter close. Twice over a princess, at the worst possible time, born with a broken heart. No wonder Long Feng hid us so deep.

[to clarify--Itsu is Kuei’s sister. I forget how I set the relative ages, but assuming, as seems to be the case in flashbacks, that Lu Ten is about 10 years older than Zuko, he’d be somewhere between twenty and twenty-two when he died, depending on which date you believe; Kuei is around the same age (possibly a year or two younger?) and Itsu within two years of them.]

[centrally-unplanned]

The Phantom of the Opera Movie: How (not) to Adapt Your Fanfic to Stage & Screen

I recently watched the infamously-maligned trainwreck that is the 2004 Phantom of the Opera film adaptation of the stage musical, which lived up to its reputation! Rehashing the atrocious casting of literally-sang-for-the-first-time-two-weeks-before-filming-Music-of-the-Night Gerard Butler as the Phantom is well-trod territory, but I don't think that is the real crux of the film's failings. Instead, I think it serves as a quintessential example of the failure to transition from stage to screen - and how lucky the stage adaptation was.

For the "PotO" uninitiated, despite the endless shipping the titular Phantom and the female deuteragonist Christine do not have a romantic relationship. Oh the Phantom is trying to get down with that, for sure, but she sees him as either a ghost, an angel, or a terrorist at various points, never a credible love interest. In the original novel this is extremely explicit, and it is actually preserved in the stage adaptation - though as you realize with this film not intentionally.

In a stage musical, audiences don't really "suspend disbelief" the way they do for something like movies. There is one or more human beings, right in front of them, being real people in a wooden box with minimalist decour - the artifice is inescapable. Which is fine, actually! Instead of being immersed in the worldbuilding the audience can appreciate the craft of it all, the acting chops of the leads and the high notes they hit and the cool set designs around them. As such strong plots for musicals aren't really required; details are skipped over in exchange for focusing on other aesthetic elements. More importantly for our purposes, in a musical like Phantom of the Opera the audience isn't set up to expect a tight directorial vision, with instead the characters being the a product of the choices of the actors themselves - people even look out for the different interpretations different leads will bring to the same script. Each performance is itself an adaptation.

This lack of verisimilitude does wonders for the musical version of Phantom of the Opera. Honestly, plot-wise and arc-wise? Phantom of the Opera isn’t that great. Christine, one of the supposed leads, has no motivation for like 90% of run-time, instead being buffeted about by the whims of other, more powerful characters (just like early 20th century France ooooh, eat it Leroux), and Raoul, her earnest, wealthy suitor-cum-fiance, is the dried cement of love interests with no arc to speak of. Lots of plot elements are covered quickly and left vague as to their meaning. But really, who cares? You get to watch a tortured, corrupted genius offer a panoply of shadowed delights to a beautiful ingenue in a rock-opera baritone, and Rage Against The System so hard when spurned they drop a God-damn chandelier on the stage - that’s really all you need!

In the stage musical there is often - lets be honest very often - sexual subtext between the Phantom and Christine. But that is the choice of the actors, it's not in the script, it stays subtext. You are there to watch those actors put their spin on it and take it to the limit - let them have fun with the material! On stage it serves a great metaphorical function; to be tempted by music, by the mystery of darkness, has been metaphorical sex for so long it needs no more explication. 

Now, however, we loop back to the movie adaption, with two key points to establish. First, movies do not work like musicals. There is no live person in front of you, every shot is the product of a dozen takes and as many hours of editing choices, and as a viewer you are dragged along lockstep seeing the results of these choices. All of this is in the service of building a cohesive vision that allows the audience to fully suspend disbelief. The price for this immersion is that now every moment of the film is imbued with intent. Everything has to be there for a reason, the way things in reality are - or more accurately the way we want reality to be. To quote Best Girl Mizusaki:

(Just when you thought I was going to write a media essay without being a huge weeb for once, huh?)

What's true for animation is almost as true for film, all of which means that how characters act is no longer an actor on stage doing their spin but the cohesive narrative of a story.

Second, the movie takes all of that fanshipping sexual subtext and cranks it all the way up the nosebleed seats, while changing none of the relevant plot points. In fact, it adds plot details to strip away the musical’s ambiguity! One of Christine's opening scenes, only briefly touched on in the stage musical, explains cleanly that she considers the Phantom the angel of her dead father come down to protect and guide her. Later in the show, as the Phantom's villainy becomes more apparent, when propositioned by Raoul her only objection is to how the Phantom might hurt her if he found out. Well after all of his temptations, rage, and villainy, near the climax of the film, she still sings in a graveyard about her uncertainty over whether or not he is a literal ghost or spirit of her father. So the plot structure is preserved and explicit - Christine is drawn to him due to his musical talent and offerings of instruction, is unsure if he is even human, but realizes his corporeality, villainy, and fundamental pitiable humanity at the end. Raoul throughout is her explicit, engaged-to-be-married romantic partner.

So then why are her and the Phantom fucking??

Seriously, I cannot undersell how sexual their scenes are.They are all over each other, fingers gliding over skin, and the next scene after this one is her in his bed with sex-hair all over the place! This subtext is continued in every scene they have together, long after he has been revealed as a murderer. At one point he confronts her in public, with her fiance watching, and it's still played like he is the Tuxedo Mask to her Sailor Moon. Even the scene where she takes off his mask is shot like it was foreplay-gone-wrong, and the Phantom just forgets to say his safeword in time (This is why you pre-negotiate about your kinks, all!).

Any movie-goer understands what the intent of scenes like these are, why a director would choose these actions & shots; they want us to know that they are getting busy off camera, even if only by implication. We know they don't actually do that because there is a book to refer back to but damn does this movie want us to forget that...in these scenes. Which is the problem, of course - the rest of the movie operates as normal! In the above scene Christine thinks the Phantom is, again I must emphasize this, the ghost of her father; apparently she is going for the reverse-Oedipus achievement but no one told the rest of the script. Is she lying to Raoul about her love and her reasons? Is she actually tempted? Stop telling me you are unlovable via haunted monologues Gerard Butler, you look like testosterone on a stick and y'all boned literally five minutes ago, I am not buying it!

The subtext and the text are at war with each other - and given that, as we established, the dynamic between the Phantom & Christine is really the only interesting part about this story, strip that down to a muddled mess and you really have nothing left. And in a movie, subtext like this is just another form of text - the director chose these shots, it's intended. Beyond the terrible vocal performances and sometimes baffling shot direction, the movie's biggest failing is this schizophrenic mismatch between the script and the actions on screen which is a problem the stage musical honestly didn't have to worry about. These scenes are not set up like this, and the ability to add subtext by the actors is just fundamentally limited by the medium; it cannot touch the story itself, which isn't even the focus of the audiences. Even if these contradictions did exist more in the stage musical, they wouldn't doom it due to the nature of said medium.

Which is very, very fortunate, because there is one final point to make - Andrew Lloyd Weber, the creator of the stage musical, wholeheartedly approved of this direction for the movie. He produced the film, wrote the screenplay, chose the director, the works - this is his film. And, as is apparently from interviews and a...not fondly remembered stage sequel to the musical that he wrote, he ships the Phantom and Christine hard. Not in the "oh I love their dynamic on screen way", but in the Ao3 sort-by-fetish-tags "they are my Trash'' way. And I would never begrudge a man his ships, but apparently he was not content to keep it away from the canon. He absolutely reads the stage musical this way as well!  It's just one of those interesting ironies of life - one of the most successful adaptations of a book to a stage musical was made by someone who, in my opinion, did not grasp the fundamentals of the story he was adapting. We just didn't notice because the medium didn't care, and also damn can he write a score that slaps.

I would not be the first person to say that this movie for Andrew Lloyd Weber is something of a George Lucas moment for him, a creator completely missing the appeal of his own work; but after seeing it the comparison rang deeply true. The Phantom of the Opera movie is truly the Phantom Menace of musicals.

No, I don't feel bad for that last line, why do you ask?

[fountainpenguin]

S and T for the ask

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

> Bittersweet endings. I don’t like completely perfect or completely depressing ends… I like little nibbles of both.

> Witty banter. Never get tired of it.

> I’m not normally one for AUs, but I love college AUs for worlds that don’t have a college equivalent. What do they study? I must know.

> Fleshing unliked/overlooked side character out with an interesting backstory and cool hobbies.

> We dislike each other but have to keep up appearances.

> Smooth, probably sexually experienced character is easily flustered.

> Alternatively: smooth character flirts with someone, takes it too far, and instantly backpedals while screaming internally.

> Sharing space on a road trip.

> Soft holiday stories! Especially fantasy holidays, because then I’m falling in love with the worldbuilding and pleased that the characters are happy.

> Blind dates.

> Tired but loving single parent who works very hard

> Two tired parents working very hard, so glad they’re in this together

> Someone falls in love with a single parent, asks their kid(s) permission to marry their parent, and lets kid help them pick out a ring and participate in wedding plans.

> HEALTHY!!! STEP-FAMILIES!!!

> Jerk messed with the wrong person and now they’re in for it… We don’t know when… but oh, they’re in for it.

> Petty villains (“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I call in an evil plan, and you send your B squad??? Frankly I’m a little insulted!” -Snaptrap)

> Petty heroes… Read: Randy Disher, a full-grown adult police lieutenant, getting his feelings hurt when the Captain says he’d save Monk, not him, if both were in the water because Monk can’t swim, and Randy persists by asking if his mind would change if Randy was holding an anchor and the Captain asks why he wouldn’t just let go of the anchor and Randy looks him in the eye and says “Family heirloom” and the Captain just >:|

> Gift giving is shown to be a valid form of affection and not played as a greedy, materialistic love language (Related: Character A buys cute little gifts for B sometimes and it doesn’t turn into a story about wasteful spending or needing to shower your partner in gifts or else they’ll freak out).

> Bed sharing / cuddles (As long as it doesn’t progress to sex… I have to be in the right mindset for that and 9.5 times out of 10 I’d rather have snuggles).

> Quick, casual, absentminded kisses. Convince me this character’s instinct is to express affection even when they’re distracted and you have me eating out of your hand.

> Kisses in awkward places… Up against walls, quickly stolen while the third wheel is out of the room, couple trying to hide even though their friends ship them and no one present will judge them for a kiss… Yes. The more uncomfortable the position or time, the better. Love that spontaneous cute.

> Fake dating and in the end they’re still good friends, no push into a romantic relationship just because they were in this situation together.

> Healthy mutual break-ups

> Asexual characters!!! I’m for any story that acknowledges people like me exist and are happy, whether it’s a story about discovery, the difficulties of being ace, or a story where the ace character is just at peace.

> People are close friends and not dating. Both are comfortable with their relationship and no one tries to make them feel bad.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

(Below the cut. Keep in mind these are my personal preferences and I’m not attacking anyone who likes tropes I dislike. This isn’t a comprehensive list, just some thoughts about tropes I don’t enjoy reading).

> Redemption through romantic love. So. Much.

> Everybody Lives AUs

> Soulmates

> Forbidden love

> Amnesia

> Coffee Shop AUs (I’m all for “In the future this character gets a job” stories, but I dislike “I’m going to flirt with this person while they’re in a position they can’t leave” stories)

> Psychic powers / Twins can read minds. It’s not an immediate deal-breaker, but my interest will drop sharply.

> Falling in love way too quickly / confusing infatuation with genuine love and the moral of the story is that you should risk your life plans and dive headfirst into relationships with people you don’t know well yet (I didn’t watch The Sun Is Also a Star, but the trailers pushed ALL my wrong buttons).

> Physical touch is the only or most important way to express affection. I’m all for love language miscommunication stories. I don’t like being told those who don’t express physical touch easily are frigid or uncaring.

> Big rescue scenes in romance (Ex: Hero carrying love interest from a burning building… I’d rather see hero helping love interest up a tough patch of the trail they’re hiking, or leaving a party to find their partner a dessert they’re not allergic to, something small and affectionate like that).

> Asexual invalidation/correction stories (Related: Virgin mockery). I don’t mind reading these if the main character is asexual and it’s a story about sexuality exploration or a character facing difficulties because they’re ace (That’s what Origin of the Pixies is, after all), but if the author legitimately believes asexuality needs to be fixed or that ace characters can’t be in fulfilling relationships, that’s what I don’t like.

> Canon: *Characters state they don’t want to be together romantically*  Fanfic: *Makes them romantic*  As a reader, I’m willing to let you take my hand if you show me careful thought processes and honest conversations while the characters work through changes together in early chapters, but if there’s absolutely no explanation (or indication that backstory will be given later) and the story just starts with them together for some reason… I won’t play along.

> When two people in canon are very close but not an official romantic couple and the only ‘fics about them are romantic. I don’t mind some stories being romantic, especially if they’re set in the future of canon, but if I can’t find more than a tiny handful of ‘fics that match their canon relationship, I get frustrated.

> Oh, here’s a trope I despise with the intensity of a thousand suns… Animals that are not dogs behaving like dogs (Ex: Maximus the horse in Tangled). Other animals are interesting too!

> I dislike a lot of angst tropes in general. I like psychological horror, like the slow recognition of your own sins (which is probably why I write villain backstories). A loved one dying in your arms, or trapped inside a burning house, does nothing to me. You could not get farther from affecting me if you tried. My heart will break if someone hesitates in an otherwise cheery story and the other person staggers back, realizing things aren’t as perfect as they thought. I live for moments where the bliss suddenly snaps and in an instant, everything’s changed. But deaths drawn out with gasps and bleeding, or houses going up in flames, don’t really land. Angst has to be fast and hard or I find it tedious.

> Developing a crush on someone before you even see or hear them interact. See also, liking someone you have no business liking when your people raised you to dislike theirs. How do you exist outside your culture? I want reasons.

> Using new pronouns for a character who hasn’t revealed their preferred pronouns to the narrator and/or a character outs someone by using new pronouns without ensuring they’re okay with that. I’m cool with long-established pronouns, but if some characters don’t know yet, they don’t know yet.

> I’m personally not a fan of self-insert stories, especially Self-Insert x Canon. Specifically, I dislike the trope that self-inserts will draw canon character attention and take the focus away from a canon character development story, which is what I prefer to read. Self-inserts who don’t disrupt the status quo are fine by me.

> I can accept OC x Canon if you don’t contradict canon, but the OC has to be well fleshed out with realistic flaws, and if the canon character is completely OOC, I’m backing out (It’s specifically Main Character OC x Canon that I don’t like- I’ll happily dive into “Failed relationships in canon character’s past involving OC exes because canon characters won’t work for this”).

> Timmy wakes up one day and realizes Tootie’s the girl for him. I need a looong slow burn to sell me on that one. I’m happy to see him recognize his own judgmental attitudes and accept her as a friend, but if it moves into romance while they’re still young, I’m out.

> Wanda being pregnant instead of Cosmo… I 100% forgive this for anything written before “Fairly Odd Baby,” but if Wanda’s the pregnant one then I immediately scroll up to check the upload date. If I can’t trust you with that piece of canon, what can I trust you with?

> Wanda confronts Cosmo and argues that he’s being mean to her. That’s a can of worms I’d rather skirt around.

> I’m all for Cosmo and Wanda having a second kid, but NOT while they’re still with Timmy.

> Abusive Juandissimo.

> I also don’t like fluff. I don’t deliberately avoid sweet, plotless stories, but I don’t seek them out. I lose interest in fluff more quickly than anything else.

… I’m realizing now that the reason I don’t like romantic stories is probably because most of them revolve around expressing affection the literal opposite way of how I prefer it (Ex: Way more stories about physical touch and making out until impulsive sex occurs, not enough quick kisses in passing or time spent existing quietly on the same couch enjoying your separate hobbies).

I don’t inherently hate romance, I just have different romantic preferences than the media that usually crosses my path. I’m more about companionate love than fiery passion. It’s hard to convey the comfortable silence I like in words.

Fanfic Ask Meme

[gffa]

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but I saw there's an entire section dedicated to the SW novels on your page, so I figured you are the best person to ask this to. While I've watched the movies I must admit I'm a newbie in regards to any work that expands the canon universe, but I'm particulary interested in the prequels and especially in learning more on Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship, so I was wondering if you might be so kind as to give me a few suggestions on which novels I should read? :)

Hello!  That’s absolutely not a bother, I clearly love talking and I enjoy doing recs for things as well!  :D  Keep in mind that I haven’t read everything, so I may be missing some things, but I can absolutely at least get you started!Canon hasn’t explored Obi-Wan & Anakin much in the novels yet (though, I think we’re starting to explore that area), but if you’re okay with reading comics, the Obi-Wan & Anakin five issue mini-series and Age of Republic comics (or at least the Obi-Wan one and the Anakin one) are both really fantastic for exploring them.I would also suggest the Dark Lord of the Sith comic from Charles Soule, which is set post-Revenge of the Sith, it’s about Vader, but he is still very much Anakin Skywalker and it’s a 25-issue long look at his shitty choices, his attempt to deny that he had other paths he could have chosen, and still chose this, that he was too afraid to look at what he’d actually done, so he just keeps going.  (The first Darth Vader comic by Kieron Gillen is also really good, probably one of the best of all the comics, but it’s more centered on the OT and the events that happen there.  Still a fantastic look at his character, but if you’re more into the prequels, Dark Lord of the Sith is more focused on that.)Canon also has Choose Your Destiny - An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure by Cavan Scott, which I’m not fond of the CYA style, but I loved that book very much, it’s such a delight and has Anakin being an absolute human disaster, it has Obi-Wan and Anakin struggling to learn to work together, and, best of all, because Palpatine isn’t around at the moment, they actually have a chance at working things out between them here!In the anthology novel From a Certain Point of View, you should at least read Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, Time of Death by Cavan Scott, and There Is Another by Gary D. Schmidt, which all are really good for those characters, and Obi-Wan and Anakin especially.  The rest of the book can be hit or miss (and that’ll depend on who you ask, but I think An Incident Report by Daniel Mallory Ortberg is also a must-read, it is the funniest thing pretty much ever) but those three are really worth reading.The Ahsoka novel is definitely about the titular character making her way through the galaxy during the time of the Empire, but there are some QUALITY flashbacks and thoughts about Obi-Wan and Anakin, so I would absolutely recommend this one, too!  Same for Dark Disciple by Christie Golden, it’s not really precisely about Obi-Wan and Anakin, but they get moments in it, and it’s a continuation of TCW and adapting a story that was going to be part of the show.For Legends, I like Wild Space a ton, it’s not quite a coherent plot (it’s more like two books stitched together and it doesn’t really earn its ending, imo) it’s the single most quotable book I have ever read and I love it because it’s so over the top while still remaining fun.  It’s HIGH FUCKING DRAMA, everyone is dialing it up to like a hundred, Obi-Wan and Anakin can’t go five damn pages without thinking of the other, even when Anakin should be thinking about Padme or Obi-Wan should be focusing on getting out of a jam.  It’s just an absolute scream.  I haven’t read Miller’s other two books, but they’re probably pretty good, too.I also like Labyrinth of Evil (though, I haven’t finished it) by James Luceno, Kenobi by John Jackson Miller (it’s a very slow read with the non-Obi-Wan parts on Tatooine, but the Obi-Wan parts are nicely ouchy about his relationship with Anakin, even after everything that’s happened).  Yoda: Dark Rendezvous is good as far as I’ve read it, though, more focused on Yoda and Dooku, but if you’re interested in the prequels, it’s a great book to read!It’s been awhile since I’ve read the Jedi Apprentice books and they’re very, very obviously written before all of the PT movies were made, much less before The Clone Wars was made, and so I’m not sure I recommend them or the Jedi Quest books (I also have trouble getting into the author’s style), so you can’t really take them for their worldbuilding or that these events happened (because they’re contradicted by stuff that comes later), but I do find that Jude Watson can really write a quotable as hell turn of phrase when she’s on.  So, it’s a half-rec, just with some caveats!  (I would anti-rec anything by Karen Traviss, who has said some pretty awful things IRL, but also clearly haaaaaates Obi-Wan and all of the Jedi, so when she wrote about them, it wasn’t very much fun.)The novelization of the Revenge of the Sith movie by Matthew Stover is also no longer canon, but is an absolute MUST READ for Obi-Wan and Anakin feelings, because they are WILDLY INTENSE in that book and it’s a really fascinating look at both of the characters, Anakin especially.  Shatterpoint by him also gets a rec just for being by the same author!SHORT VERSION:  Start with the Revenge of the Sith novelization and Wild Space, both of them aren’t canon (and often are contradicted by canon) but are FANTASTICALLY ENJOYABLE reads, then the Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure and the From a Certain Point of View short stories, then Labyrinth of Evil, and then maybe some comics and go from there!  ♥

[disastergaze]

hi, so i binged all 7 season for the first time right. wrote season 8 aired and so i never really got the fandom experience and behind the scenes analysis that you’re talking about in your GoT post but i’m genuinely curious as to what you mean by D&D not getting the series? i’ve been watching it pretty passively and tbh because i think of when i started watching it, i’m not a fan of danerys. i’m so sorry the series has been ruined for you in this way :(

hey, thank you! i’m sorry to be a bummer if you’re enjoying it, of course you’re completely within your rights to continue having a good time. also i hope you don’t mind me publishing this ask, as when i was thinking about how to answer i felt that i would prefer to have a record of it for my own reference.

so as to your question, i guess the only way i can seem to explain it rn is like. imagine the ASOIAF novels as a three course meal. you’ve got the entree of sex and violence, the main course of political intrigue with a side order of magic, and dessert: the deeper themes and worldbuilding that george rr has put his heart and soul into.

when i say d&d don’t “get” asoiaf, what i mean by that is that i feel they have taken the entree and main course—abandoning the dessert entirely—thrown them in a blender, removing in the process everything that made them complex and interesting, and served the end result to us through a straw of suspension of disbelief.

you can see examples of this in the plot, comparing the show and the books, which is pretty standard for adaptations but absolutely maddening all the same. there are honestly too many examples to list but i’ve learned to accept them for the most part, until this current season because it has just been BANANAS. the night king being vanquished in a single evening? jon riding a dragon before knowing he’s a targ, when it’s canon that literally only targs can ride dragons and this is common knowledge? cersei’s choice not to help fight the army of the dead ultimately being THE RIGHT CHOICE, that she doesn’t face any consequences for? jaime going through a whole eight seasons worth of character development centering around distancing himself from the toxic, abusive relationship he’s been engaged in since birth, only to pull a 180 and go back to that relationship at the last minute for no logical reason? rhaegal dying from a ballista shot from behind a rock that apparently no one saw coming despite rhaegal, drogon and dany all being airborne??? jon and dany somehow NOT getting married, even though doing so would resolve any conflict of succession between the two of them????? (also jon caring about the incest is ACTUAL bs, seeing as in the books at least the stark family’s grandparents were first cousins and there is literally a precedent for stark men marrying their nieces but lol who cares about that, we gotta have illogical drama)

you can also see examples of this dumbing down when it comes to the major characters. dany, cersei, tyrion and even jon are big examples of characters with their complex edges sawn off in the show compared to the books. sometimes this is, imo, for the better. tyrion at this point in the books is a sadistic, alcoholic rapist whom i no longer have any investment in whatsoever, whereas the tyrion of the show has maintained his reason, compassion and kindness to the extent that i’m over here shipping him with sansa lmao. but it’s also been done for the worst for characters like jon. the jon of the books is honourable, but he’s also cunning, ruthless and passionate. he’s super simplified in the show, making dumb decisions and blabbing secrets left and right whereas in the books he’s far more introspective and calculated--more befitting of his targaryen heritage, imo.

most importantly, i feel like the deeper themes running through the series are completely lost in the adaptation, in particular in the last few seasons. in the books and the earlier seasons, every action, no matter how well meaning, has consequences, and these consequences are typically very logical and heavily foreshadowed. characterisation is consistent and changes organically. i just feel like in the show, especially in the later seasons but in earlier seasons as well, things essentially just happen because the writers want it to happen, even if it contradicts everything we’ve seen from the characters previously. it just feels cheap and like all d&d care about is shock value and ~provocative storytelling~. but idk. i could just be super bitter, and it’s not like the novels are completely without flaw and pulpy shock value. it just feels like the bad things that happen in ASOIAF make sense, whereas the bad things that happen in GOT are the result of characters making mind-bogglingly stupid decisions at every turn.

i could go on but this has already gotten super long, but in short, at least from my perspective, d&d have failed at almost every turn to capture what i find most enjoyable about the original series. i have been VERY forgiving of this in the past because i thought at the very least they’d nail the ending, but with every episode of this season that passes my conviction in that wanes considerably, and i’ve essentially lost all hope now in the show having a satisfying conclusion.

[so-shiny-so-chrome]

Witness: Kalashnikorn

Creator name (AO3): Kalashnikorn

Creator name (Tumblr): Main-force-patrol

Link to creator works: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalashnikorn

Creator name (other platform- please specify): @Riccarterfans (twitter)

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: My interest in Mad Max started early. I was maybe 12-14 when my mom picked it up on VHS at a garage sale because she had fond memories of the film when it came out (she saw it in theaters, which is rare for her). We’re both fond of cars and dystopian/apocalyptic stuff, so I easily connected with the movie and fell in love with WAY too many of the characters. So there was my weirdo self, in the early 2000s, loving MM1 but not really having a fandom to join. I had fun on my own, drawing stuff, making toys of the characters, writing doofy adolescent fanfic. You know, the works. But I did it in isolation, because I was a LONELY kid. Not just in terms of fandom, there were just never other kids around, or adults (other than my parents) around. Therefore, I spent most of my time online, and lost countless hours lurking on the MadMaxMovies.com forum. But I didn’t feel safe talking to people there, because the only other fans were guys my dad’s age. For years, if I had any kind of fandom-related wish that I’d give an arm to fulfill, it was that other girls and queer folks would embrace the MM series so I could finally share my excitement with people that would “get” me. Fast forward to 2015. Fury Road fulfilled that wish. I knew tumblr was my best chance at getting those friends I’d wanted for so long. It’s better than I’d ever dreamed. Mad Max Fandom, I love you! Special shoutout to @d--t, @crunkmouse, @sillyb0yblue, @sleepymayo, @lethalpr0tector, @legendofstraydog, @partyinvalhalla and @vanessa-geraldine-carlysle! 

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: I love to write first-person fic that delves into the darker aspects of the human psyche. How do we justify killing others? What impact does a hypermasculine culture have upon a man with depression and anxiety? Is violence really the key to surviving the apocalypse? I also enjoy writing about people seeking control or freedom, and wrestling with that they believe they need to do to achieve that. 

Q: What (if any) music do you listen to for help getting those creative juices flowing?

A: Since I do first person, I like something to get me into the head of the character I’m writing, so I make playlists for certain characters. 99% of the time, anymore, I’m writing as Roop, so on his playlist I’ve got a bunch of stuff quasi-hipster stuff that touches upon themes of isolation, anger, violence, and feelings of helplessness. There’s a bunch of indie rock, some seventies stuff, and A LOT OF PINK FLOYD. Oh, and there’s some Aussie rock in there too, of course. 

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: Finding the time to write! 

Q: Which character do you relate to the most, and how does that affect your approach to that character? Is someone else your favourite to portray? How has your understanding of these characters grown through portraying them?

A: Roop… And Roop.  And my understanding of him has absolutely grown through portraying him. He’s a character that’s in MM1 for like.. Ten minutes? And after the opening chase scene, he hardly has any lines. But Steve Millichamp does an excellent job portraying him with his posture, body language, etc. So I gleaned ideas from his non-verbal performance. Honestly, if you look at the number of times he makes a mopey face, it’s astounding. Other times, he looks at Fifi for guidance, the way a kid looks at a parent or teacher. He doesn’t seem to have any friends at work, partially due to his own personality. I could go on for hours. From all that, I extrapolated that he’s basically caught between childhood and adulthood, and he’s trying to sort out what it means to be a good cop and a good person. Sometimes those things aren’t congruent, and it tears him up because he’s a very type A, hardworking perfectionist. Growing up, he was told that he was gifted, smart, etc., and he feels like an imposter because he fixates on his shortcomings and mistakes. And when trying to live up to this impossibly high standard, he puts a lot of pressure on himself and struggles when he has to surrender or when he fails. There’s a ton more, but those are the highlights. The vast majority my MM/Roop fic stays offline. Pretty much all of it is irrelevant to the rest of the Mad Max universe, so there’s no point in posting it. It’s taken on a life of its own. Of course, some people have let me know that they dislike or disagree with my characterization of Roop. That’s fine. Nobody’s forcing them to read my fic.

Q: Do you ever self-insert, even accidentally?

A: Oh hell yes. And I’m completely shameless about it, because I don’t think the practice should be taboo or frowned upon. We wouldn’t shame an actor who tapped their lived experience to bring authenticity to a role, would we?  I think we should extend the same understanding to writers. Aside from being a great way to understand more about our selves, enjoy an escapist fantasy, or work through trauma, I think self-insertion can be a great way to evoke emotional authenticity in a story.

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?

A: I pretty much stick to what I consider my strength, which is genfic. So I mostly stick to portraying platonic interactions, both friendly and unfriendly. I particularly like exploring how Roop interacts with/judges his co-workers. I’m also fond of writing about good moms who love and encourage their kids. Sometimes the mom is the viewpoint character, sometimes it’s the kid. Regardless, I like looking at how parental relationships can shape a person’s worldview.

Q: How does your work for the fandom change how you look at the source material?

A: My work makes me hyper-analyze MM1 and its novelization. I mostly write MM1 fic because I feel like we could have gotten a lot more mileage out of exploring MM1’s world, before society fully broke down and became the more fantastical wasteland we know and love in MM2, MM3, and MMFR. As much as I like the later worldbuilding stuff, I can really appreciate watching a civilization crumble in a grounded, slow-burning manner. 

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: Depends on what you mean by “break.” I think a lot purists would say that I break canon, so I’ll put it this way: I like to write stories where I add to canon without directly contradicting it. We’re never shown Roop’s home life, for instance. It’s free real estate! I do this because I just want MORE MM1. More Roop, more MFP, more Armalites, all of it. I don’t feel the need to change anything, just add more volume to it. That said, I love it when others break canon! I have a ton of fun reading AUs and alternate scenes. 

Q: Share some headcanons

A: GRAB A SEAT AND PUT YOUR SITTIN’ PANTS ON. Here we go: In addition to recruiting local police officers and other traditional recruiting strategies, the MFP uses conscription to fill out its ranks. Roop is one such draftee. Roop doesn’t spend any time with Charlie outside of work. He really just tries to minimize contact with the guy. If we do all my Roop headcanons, we’ll be here until the Miller completes MM5. Charlie wanted to go seminary school and become a priest, but was drafted. Losing his voice pretty much killed his dream of preaching. Fifi takes an interest in his men, but only so he can better manipulate them into staying/reenlisting. Bubba was a former MFP officer who went rogue once budget cuts and bureaucratic decisions made law enforcement abandon his rural hometown.

Q: Who are some works by other creators inside and outside of the fandom that have influenced your work?Inside the fandom, the old RP crowd and I bounced a lot of ideas off each other, and interacting with their muses helped Roop’s story grow by leaps and bounds (finger guns at @d--t’s OC, Renholder, @vanessa-geraldine-carlysle’s portrayal of Charlie, and @legendofstraydog’s OC, Syrup!) Outside the fandom, my biggest influences are Kurt Vonnegut, J.D. Salinger, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, and Sam Esmail.

Q: Have you visited or do you plan to visit Australia, Wasteland Weekend, or other Mad Max place?

A: Not yet, but I'd love to go someday!

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project

A: “Autotomy” is my big current WIP. It’s 7 chapters into its 9 or 10 chapter run (I’ve literally got chapter 8 open in another window as I’m writing this). It follows Roop immediately after MM1 ends. He sees the aftermath of Max’s rampage, and begins to question his own ideals. Then his morals are put to the test when an unexpected guest arrives at his home. The word “autotomy” describes cutting off a part of oneself to escape a greater threat. Think of a lizard that sheds its trapped tail to avoid being eaten. I’m using it in the literal and metaphorical sense. At the end of MM1, we see someone have to make a literal life-or-limb decision. And in this story, Roop has to decide whether or not to cut off the toxic ideology that has guided his actions.

Thank you @main-force-patrol @richardcarterfans some of your tags got lost in reformatting.  You may want to retag your peeps

[prinzenhasserin]

Yuletide!

Dear Yule Goat/Creator/Person I Will Love Forever,

I am very excited for anything you write for these fandoms. Please feel free to take my prompts and likes any way you wish, as long as you stick to my dislikes. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the prompts! I’m always open for other characters. Generally, I will be delighted with any rating from gen to explicit. I hope you have fun creating!

My AO3 name is Prinzenhasserin, here. If you want to browse more of my letters, here are some at my exchange letter tag. 

Likes:

fake/pretend relationships, arranged marriages

loyalty

odd couples

found family, dysfunctional families that nevertheless love each other

historical stories for same-sex pairings that aren’t unhappy but that fit with the society of the time (so like, spinster ladies living together; bachelors-for-life)

cultural differences, age differences, height differences

heists, rescue missions, case fic

dragons, fairy tales, magical realism, urban fantasy

competent characters

people not realising they’re the most competent at their job/hobby

people failing their way to success

happy endings, earning your happy ending, open yet hopeful endings

cynical humour

mutual pining

suits, corsetry, fancy dresses

Identity shenanigans (secret identities, mistaken identities)

Blatant Lies

Enemies finding common ground and becoming friends/lovers; rivalry

outsider POV, 1st person narrator

epistolary, fictional non-fiction, worldbuilding, interactive fiction, poetry

orange/blue morality (that is, not entirely human morality); grey/grey morality

people not usually found in law enforcement solving crimes

non-verbal expressions of affection

contradictions: that is, I like my fantasy with the mundane (doing taxes in a mythical land of dragons, or space pirates!) and I like my mundane fiction with outrageous happenings.

Kinks:

wall sex! overcome with sudden desire! sex with clothes on! 

shifting power dynamics (outside the bedroom, and inside the bedroom), actions on both sides, basically

stiff characters letting go of their iron control inside the bedroom; characters feeling guilty of their desire but not guilty enough to stop; coming to terms with the guilt

lots of foreplay, drawn out orgasms, edging

desperate sex, drunk sex, we-just-can’t-help-it!sex, sex for life-affirming; sex pollen

sex toys

Dislikes (Do-Not-Want):

rape played for laughs, or as backstory

sexuality, or gender as the focus of plot or used for drama

suicide

tragic endings (ambiguous endings are fine, though!)

RED (Movies)

(Characters: Victoria, Sarah Ross)

This movie, goddamn it. It’s so silly, and so! much! shit! explodes, but I can’t help but find it charming and adorable.

If you want to write me Victoria teaching Sarah how to handle her weapons and shoot shit up, I am absolutely here for that. I would also love secret spy shenanigans, or a situation where only the secret skills of the customer service person Sarah or the filling skills of a bored bureaucrat (also: Sarah) save the day in a spectacular manner.

Or Victoria taking Sarah under her wing and teaching her everything she knows about life, men, and how to end both. Or trying to protect her from the fucked-up shit in her life, and then maybe realising that maybe Sarah doesn’t need to be protected.

I am a fan of the age difference, too, and I do ship them together, if you rather want to write that. Give me all the fucked up femslash! Going on murderous rampages together, and having sex amid the slain corpses of their enemies, yes, that. Bedsharing because circumstances have them hiding out in the Siberian Tundra. Victoria dressing up Sarah and taking her as a trophy wife to diplomatic functions? Seducing Sarah so Victoria can rub their togetherness into Frank’s face. Taking people of guard, because the expected a toy boy, and not -- whatever Sarah is.

DNW: mommy kink

Gokusen (Manga)

(Characters: any -- Fujiyama Shizuka, Kuroda Ryuuichirou, Sawada Shin, Yamaguchi Kumiko)

How do I love this manga so much? I have no idea. I’m not even near high school age anymore, and yet the plot (and tbh, sometimes its ridiculous nature) always gets to me. I’d read more about any aspect of this canon, and if you want to bring in any other characters, and leave others out, feel entirely free to.

Post-canon would be great, but anything goes really. Focusing on just one character would be terrific. Having all of them would be great!

Kumiko has adventures with another class, or her minions! Does she continue with being a school teacher? Maybe she starts leading the Yakuza group, and still goes to school to teach her kids manners, and morals, and how to fight the system?

Shin goes to law school/Africa/some place, but gets lost on the way there! Will he come back to Yankumi? Will he eventually lead the Yakuza group?

Fujiyama Shizuka doesn’t get why she’s the one without the beautiful student toy-boy, and tries to find one herself, and instead falls in love with, idk, the new female teacher? one of Yankumi’s brothers? the new janitor? Or she watches and cackles a lot as Yankumi and Shin date, and then maybe found a Yakuza orphanage, and/or marry.

Kuroda Ryuuchiro and his quest for the rightful heir to his Yakuza group! How does he feel about his granddaughter running around with the police chief’s son — does that bother him more than the whole student thing? Does Shin really inherit the Kuroda family group? Does he become a Yakuza lawyer? Or does Yankumi make him stay away, or maybe Kuroda makes them stay away?

I ship Shin/Yankumi but gen is delightful also.

How does Shin convince Yankumi to have sex with him? Is he getting kidnapped left and right before they actually get together because all and sundry already think they’ve been doing each other for years?

If they are already in an established relationship, how does Shin deal with Yankumi’s students (especially when one of them develops a crush)?

I have no problems about depicting violence, or graphic criminal activities, but please keep the violence perpetrated by the nominated characters within the spirit of the manga? I like to root for morally ambiguous characters, but not if they are truly evil.

Roundtable Rival - Lindsey Stirling (Music Video)

(Characters: Durango Black, The Violinist (Roundtable Rival))

I love this music video! It’s so silly and fun! It is here, if you want to watch it yourself, but basically, people are fighting each other with music instruments to a jaunty tune, set in the Wild Wild West.

Basically, fighting with music! Foiling dastardly plans! I want to read more about this! And anything goes, really. If you want to focus more on one character, or want to show this from an outside perspective, either would be great.

Lowkey, I’m really a fan of rival-dynamics, and love to ship enemies, so bringing a lovestory between Durango Black and the Violinist would make my day. Or if there’s a dynamic like "You are the only one allowed to catch me"? —Perfection

Maybe they know each other from before? Maybe there’s epic discussion about different ways to fight each other with music (I’d be into reading about that!).

Would also be into PWP where the Violinist dominates Durango Black. Some Bootlicking, maybe? Or creative uses of the music instruments. Or clothing porn!

Or case fic where The Violinist tours around the country, catching criminals; or just a glimpse into how music developed its own fighting style — or performing tricks like shooting an apple out of the air, just with music instruments!

(Additional question for worldbuilding: What is that clear liquid they serve in beer humps?)

DNW: rape (dubcon is fine, though!)

British Romantic Writers RPF 

Characters: John Keats (British Romantic Writers RPF), Lord Byron (British Romantic Writers RPF), Percy Shelley (British Romantic Writers RPF)

Okay, I’m not even vaguely sorry. Here’s my confession: I ship all of these with each other, as pairs, or as threesome. I’d read them writing spite!fic, or rather spite!poetry, about each other, though! Or a zombie!AU, in which they are all stumbling incompetently around the dead suddenly among the living. Or maybe they turn out to be surprisingly competent at killing/evading zombies! (I’d expect nothing less from Percy Shelley who seduced people on graveyards, tbh)

Hey — at least they knew of each other! I am into the really very dysfunctional relationships with each other, here. Who is to say they wouldn’t have been very happy with each other in various constellations? Lord Byron seemed to have detested Keats — or at least thought his poetry as "mental masturbation" — I’d dig them in a rival relationship, that suddenly develops into a sexual relationship. Maybe even romantic? (Definitely romantic in the original sense)

And I can definitely see Lord Byron condescending down on Keats for his poor upbringing, without being aware that this is what he is doing, and Keats so not having that. And Percy Shelley with his continued efforts into giving all his money to charity while having the luxury to seduce women and traipse around the continent!

How about an AU in which Keats doesn’t die and joins Percy Shelley in Pisa (and for some reason Lord Byron is there, too — I will not read this for the historical accuracy, believe me)

Basically! Literature! Orgies! Seducing people in graveyards, and skinny-dipping in French rivers, that’s all I really want. I’m not saying no if you do decide to go down the historical accurate road, but I’ll also read all sorts of wild AUs.

Or adventures in Greece during the revolution in an Everybody-Lives!AU?

Percy Shelley wrote an elegy about Keats, and said this when he invited him to Pisa: "I am aware indeed that I am nourishing a rival who will far surpass me and this is an additional motive & will be an added pleasure." Added pleasure? (He means fucking! says me) I am just very into rival relationships that turn sexual or more.

Look, I’m just here for Lord Byron and Percy Shelley seducing a reluctant Keats — and Keats maybe anchoring them a bit down to earth. Or various combinations.

I am not into the long-term effects of drug use and the suffering thereof, but if you want to mention it, that is totally fine. I wouldn’t want it glorified.

DNW: contemplation of suicide, vore

Miss Marple - Agatha Christie

Characters: Jane Marple

I am a fan of Miss Marple. I, too, have lived in a quiet town where you can see into the abysses of the human condition :D

I’d love to read something that lead her to the person we know her as, maybe when she went to the girl school in Switzerland? Maybe during her time in the cypher division, during the war — maybe the cypher division was really a cover for Miss Marple’s spy activities for the war office?

I’d also love fic about her as we know her: spending time in St. Mary Mead’s and solving crimes, quietly knitting her nephew another sweater. Holiday themed fic! Somebody keeps stealing the geese for the holiday celebrations!

Honestly, I’d also really like to read about her in a relationship, especially one that people wouldn’t expect of an elderly woman. Did she have a youthful indiscretion with the prime minister, and now that he is widowed, he visits her again, and Jane’s nephew is entirely shocked by the whole thing?

Was she maybe in love with a woman the whole time? Did she quietly retire into a cottage with her best friend, and they have a romantic relationship with each other?

(Or crossovers! It would be super interesting if Miss Marple knew a wizard from the Harry Potter universe, or maybe she’s a squib or a with herself? Or maybe she knows Phryne Fisher, or Lord Peter Wimsey!)

Island of the Aunts | Monster Mission - Eva Ibbotson

Characters: Dorothy (Island of the Aunts)

Look. This is one of my favourite books. I would read absolutely anything about every single character— I choose Dorothy, simply because she’s my most favourite, but if you want to write a story where she’s not the focus, I’d still be ecstatic.

That said, omg, Dorothy. I love her (and her wok!) and I would read countless stories on adventures she had while going off of the island in a rage to be angry at polluters, or hunters of endangered species, or both. I like that she seems to be the most competent in dealing with outsiders, even though usually she rather likes to resort to violence.

So! Pre-Canon, or Post-Canon, whatever; either would be great!

How is the work on the island? How is Dorothy dealing with her piranha farm? Maybe she decided to pursue some other, even stranger, protection against various and sundry? Does the Kraken return to the island?

How does Dorothy deal with the mermaids? Is she tolerant of their foibles, or is it a similar relationship to the one she has with her sister Betty, that is: polite bewilderment?

How does Dorothy feel to be suddenly the responsible one, who didn’t kidnap children and make them work with her? How’s her relationship with Etta, and does Dorothy milk it for all that it is worth?

Did Dorothy ever fall in love? Was it someone off the island, campaigning for more environmental protection? A mythical creature of her very own?

Who did she meet in prison? (Was Archie someone Dorothy pulled in?) How did she deal with prison in Hong-kong? Is Dorothy the reason there are now forest cities in China (— this is maybe a bit of a reach, since Hong Kong isn’t really mainland China and all, but I’d love if the Aunts have a bit of an influence on the world, even though Fabio is probably never going to be Brasilians prime minister. Though I would read a story about that.)

(Burning questions I have that aren’t relevant to Dorothy as a character: Is Herbert ever going to return? Is the younger Kraken?)

DNW: unhappy endings

If there’s something confusing, please don’t hesitate to ask! (Anon happens to be open, too.) And I hope you have a fun Yuletide!