#why I'll always take the stories with shitty writing but fun characters

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

wibta if i dropped my collab stories/partner* to focus on my own stories?

*i would still be friends with them (i hope). i mean not making stories together anymore

my friend (18nb) and i (also 18nb) make stories together. it's not rp, it's more like discussing ideas that we plan to turn into novels, comics or games one day. it's a fun hobby, we're creative people so it's a good outlet and we both want to let the world see our stories one day. that's what we've been planning for years

yeah except that things aren't going anywhere. i know we're young and busy with school but things aren't going anywhere at all, seriously.

let's take this story we mainly focus on as an example. we don't have a clear plot even though we worked on it for literal years. my partner loves the story in theory but they only care about the characters so it's hard to talk about anything else. sometimes i push them a little towards more productive things (i don't think i was ever pushy by the way, i only gave suggestions and asked for opinions) to no avail and it always feels like they're not interested. i tried communicating my frustrations with the plot holes and slow pace, they agreed, but it didn't change anything

yeah it's fun, yeah it's a cool hobby, but that's all it is. i hate to say this but i've lost hope on getting anything done with this friend. i tried to make it work, it's not working, and i'm not happy. i want to think about the future. i'm very passionate about creating, i would do this for a living if i could and i'm seriously considering taking that road

that's why i want to focus on my own stories. i think i'll stop bringing up our collabs and engage less, if at all. i know i can keep this as a side hobby but i don't feel fulfilled anymore, so i doubt i'll do much. and i know communication is key and all but telling them directly might hurt them more so i don't know if it's a good decision

i'm writing this here because i might be an asshole for dropping them all of a sudden after working with them for so many years. it's kind of like betrayal? it feels shitty to do. also they're neurodivergent, i mention this because it's a big reason why they can't work on this the way i'd like, they can't help it. most importantly they're a very close friend and i don't think they'll take it well, after all they're passionate about this too

so yeah, wibta tumblr?

What are these acronyms?

[goodluckclove]

A Very Very Muppet Christmas Movie Deserves All the Hate it Gets, and Maybe More Actually

Okay so someone said I can talk about this so I'm going to talk about it. Spoilers I guess? For a shitty Muppets movie?

This got long. Fuck.

I have seen, at this point, every Muppets movie aside from Muppets Oz. I couldn't really rate them in order of best to worst like other online sites do. I like The Muppets. Even the movies that didn't touch my heart like Muppets Treasure Island I still found fun and enjoyable. My favorite will always be the original movie from 1979, but I found all of them to be comforting and enjoyable.

Until this one. This one is bad. A Very Very Muppets Christmas Movie was so immediately bad on every level. It is the first movie I've seen in some time that actually made me angry.

A little context for those who haven't seen the movies. Muppets movies fall into two categories that I'll call Muppets Lore and Muppets Theatre. In Muppets Theatre you get a loose retelling of some classic story where the cast is primarily Weird Felt Perverts - think Christmas Carol, Treasure Island, Wizard of Oz. The Great Muppets Caper isn't technically based on source material but I'd put it in this category since they're playing characters.

On the other hand, the Muppets Lore movies focus on the origins/misadventures of the Muppets as an ensemble. Think the original movie, as well as Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppets in Space, and the two reboot films.

Muppets Haunted Mansion is technically both a Muppets Lore and Muppets Theatre film. It's also. I wouldn't say bad, but it - it's weird to talk about. It does canonize that Gonzo's worst fear is dying alone - which, like, yeah. That tracks.

Anyways, A Very Muppet Christmas (I refuse to keep using the full title), though it does heavily draw from It's a Wonderful Life (but badly), is primarily a Muppets Lore movie. The basic plot is that the Muppets, who by now are well-known for producing shows out of their own Muppet Theater, lose their venue. This devastates Kermit, driving him to believe that the lives of his friends would be better if he was never born. He gets to see this alternate reality, realizes it's apparently way worse, and begs to go back. He does, the theater is saved through randomly being declared a historical site, and everyone's happy forever.

I don't know where to start with this. Let me break it up.

They Had The Same Message For a Like 30 Years At This Point How Did You Fuck it Up This Badly

So a majority of the Muppets Lore movie focuses on the central theme of chasing your dreams. The main cast are all performers (barring Scooter, who seems to be the entirety of their tech crew. Kermit also directs and writes. I think Doctor Honeydew is a war criminal but no one talks about that.) with aspirations of making a living doing what they love. They make mentions of fame but are pretty loose with what that means. Miss Piggy is the only cast member who explicitly wants mass amounts of stardom.

The rest appear content with being career artists. Rowlf is chill wherever there's a piano. The Electric Mayhem prefer their jam rock but seem fine playing any gig with an audience and also probably a plug for hard drugs. In a lot of Gonzo origin appearances he's actually working a separate day job and just shoots himself out of cannon as a hobby. The major draw in the original depiction of their dreams (for me at least) is that it really does paint them all as people who would be doing their art anyway regardless of whether or not they Hit it Big. They push for fame, they try again and again to find an audience that appreciates them even when most of them don't, and it works out in the end. They get rewarded for the effort their dreams push them commit to - what Real Life, Non-Muppet Artist wouldn't at least acknowledge how that's cool to see?

I think this is why a Lore Muppet movie doesn't really work when it depicts The Muppets already being successful. The reboot worked for me because it took place when they were all major celebrity figures past their prime and mostly forgotten (except for Rowlf who I think was on so much Oxy that he didn't realize they were famous). When the movie focuses on their career the fame is a better goal than a starting point.

It really does make A Muppet Christmas fall apart immediately. They run the risk of losing their theater if they don't make the money to pay rent? They're famous. They're on talk shows. There's a statue dedicated to the joy Kermit brings to the world. I do not accept this to be a universe where they can't get another venue immediately. I wouldn't be able to accept this as a universe where they're both successful performers who sell out every show and also almost broke, if not for the fact that I can think of like four Muppets off the top of my head who probably generate a new court case against them every year. Legal fees.

They had one scene where Kermit calls a bunch of mid 2000s celebrities and none of them want to guest for the Christmas show. That works in the reboot where Kermit does the same thing only to find that most of his old contacts are either retired or dead. In this one? It's nonsense.

No, Really, You Fucked it So Bad

In every Muppet movie that focuses on following your dreams, that message is paired with maddening levels of determination. The Muppets, mainly Kermit, do not give up. All his friends ditch him while he's trying to get their musical produced on stage? He's gonna work a minimum wage job and keep looking for producers so he can get that venue and perform with his friends. His career is kind of over but he runs the risk of losing the studio that served as a landmark for the legacy he made with the people he loves? Fuck it, cross-country road trip to get the band back together.

He's trying to make a name for himself but there's a entrepreneur who runs a frog legs restaurant and, after being unable to hire him as a spokesperson, sends a paid assassin to kill him? That's less important than making the Big Audition in Hollywood!

So when being faced with losing the Muppet Theater in A Muppet Christmas, Kermit stays true to his character by giving up immediately and abandoning his friends to die alone in the snow.

Like I get it, you're doing the It's A Wonderful Life thing but you can't make Kermit do an explicit suicide attempt. But the film establishes he is fully frozen and unresponsive when his Religiously Unspecified Celestial Guardian finds him, and that is WAY more disturbing than having him jump off a bridge in my mind. It's just so bleak holy fuck. And this happens immediately. First fifteen minutes of a movie that inexplicably starts in the middle and Kermit slinks off to die.

It's not earned at all. He didn't fuck up to the extent for this to make sense. We find out later that the money was lost because he gave it to Fozzie to give to the bank and Fozzie loses it. Kermit then becomes convinced that he ruined all of his friends lives because of this.

Like it's a common thread to depict Kermit being the lynchpin that moves the ensemble forward. He's the guy with the plan, so it makes sense story wise to take that character and get him to a point where he's out of ideas. Only we never see him really try anything? He makes no attempts that fail before he falls into despair. He sits on the sideline and when things don't go well he's like "I fucked it" and loses his will to live. When people say Kermit is a boring buzz kill this is the Kermit they must be imagining.

All the Characters are Bad Here

The major crux of the film is seeing how the ensemble would live without Kermit, who inexplicably thinks he ruined their lives in a way I still don't understand (Did he take out a bunch of loans in their name? What happened???). The intention is to show that their lives are better for having him in them. This, for some reason, looks like the following:

Gonzo: talented street singer/musician, maybe implied to be homeless?

Fozzie: pickpocket, apparently. Why? Bullshit

The Electric Mayhem: Irish step dancers I guess

Scooter: go go dancer. Living his best life.

Sam the Eagle: nightclub enthusiast. Seems fine.

Statler and Waldorf: I could be wrong but it did really look like they were depicted as a gay couple

Rizzo: I - actual rat? Rat actor? Non-sentient rat? I don't really understand what was happening there.

Miss Piggy: I thought they were going the path of having her give up on acting and become a crazy cat lady (not good but fits the era) but apparently she's a phone psychic who uses a Jamaican accent and wig. I guess Kermit is the only person keeping her from race baiting - which I can believe.

So my issue with this is that it's fully inconsistent to all of their characters. If you wanted to show how their lives would be worse without Kermit, it's very easy to do so using the aspects of their personality depicted in like 40 years of media. I think the issue comes in the fact that the obvious downfalls aren't really fitting for a kids movie, which is probably why Jim Henson didn't go there. But I will right now! Here is my take:

Fozzie: super bigoted comedian. He doesn't realize his audience are racists and he doesn't really get the jokes but he's happy people are finally laughing

Gonzo: drug mule

Miss Piggy: probably got famous but not though acting and she's trying to pretend like that's just as good

Rizzo: pays Gonzo be his drug mule

The Electric Mayhem: long dead. Either OD or murder-suicide. Maybe Animal lived but he's absolutely in prison.

Statler and Waldorf: divorced because they never got to bond over their mutual hatred of live theater

Scooter: still in technical theater but he gets treated like shit and probably has a drinking problem

Sam the Eagle: full-on Nazi. Obviously.

There's a plot there in showing what the muppet ensemble would be like without their director and biggest cheerleader. It's just that the depiction in the movie we got was so far removed from what they were like in the present reality that it didn't - like, without Kermit, Gonzo would've learned how to play the guitar? Huh? The only thing that's keeping Fozzie Bear from doing petty crime is making vaudeville theater? Fucking how? Based on what?

It doesn't work as a Muppets story and it doesn't work as a Wonderful Life reference because there's really not anything real that proves that Kermit is the thing that kept this from happening. Except for Piggy doing phone blackface. I can see him having to have that conversation with her a lot.

Anyways, it sucks. The framing is bad, the guest stars are weird (Joe Rogan and Matthew Lillard?), and the one song for the film is awful. Kermit's emotional arc is nonsense and the film fails to see that the point of the ensemble is that they're better and happier together, not that they're all useless and miserable without their leader.

Brian Henson did an important thing taking over for The Muppets after his dad died. He did a lot for the way the movies he wasn't involved in production wise - he worked on the rig that allowed Muppets to appear to ride bikes. This is his life and his dads legacy and it's clear - at least at one point - he valued continuing it.

But yeah this movie was awful. Near incoherent. It's like fanfic from someone who's only research was doing a Google image search of The Muppets. Christ.

[faksyan]

For the character ask thing, Decoy Octopus! No just kidding lol I'm gonna give you a Death Stranding character instead. Since you're new to the game and you might not have spent too much time thinking about the characters, choose one between these three: Fragile, Cliff Unger, Deadman.

Fragile!!!!!!!! Sorry I saw she was there and the decision was instantly made. Shame it's not Decoy Octopus though, love that guy and his many appearances (pun intended) in the game. And I do love both Deadman and Cliff. Fragile is just. I love her so much.

First impression

Being highly confused and intrigued about the world, that's what most of my attention was on during her introduction. Loved the spiky jacket!!! And I do love her umbrella, it's such a fun shape and. texture? I don't think they ever said what it's made of but it looks transparent and reflective and solid all at the same time? It's a really cool design. I like that she's a pretty mysterious character for a while and you know that she's There somewhere but not what she wants with Sam or overall.

Impression now

She seems pretty reserved and polite, but in a way that feels genuine. She respects people, even if they don't always respect her back, but she also doesn't seem the type to just take people's shit. Maybe she has been for a bit after people started labeling her as a terrorist, I feel like there was a lot of self-pity there that was well earned, she basically gave up her life for people who she thought would never know or appreciate it. I think her meeting Sam helped her a lot with processing all of that, and the fact that he let everyone know about what really went down must have been such a shock and relief, even if she didn't show it that much. I really like how happy she is about eating cryptobiots and offering them to Sam, and I love when he eventually takes one.

Also about Kojima's writing of women and in general, I think they are like fine wine, as in is better each year (the writing of women was a pretty shitty wine to start with though. magically got good in ds, and I genuinely wonder why, it hasn't been that long since v). She doesn't fall into the mother/sister/love interest pitfall a lot of his female characters do. I do love Amelie!! I do love Mama!!! Motherhood and family are very important themes of ds, but with the context of his previous games Fragile feels like breaking the pattern, which is great!! Decpite the running in her underwear in the rain bit, the way she's is written is kind of the polar opposite of Quiet. In terms of how society perceives bodies of older women its considered unsexy and whatnot, and the aftermath of what happened to her makes her hide her body as opposed to wearing a bikini. But it doesn't exactly feel like it's out of shame, even though it was definitely meant to be a humiliation when Higgs did it, it feels like Fragile still has so much dignity to her. I like that she is conflicted about her sacrifice and wishes she hadn't done it. Makes her feel very raw and real. It made me happy that the state of her body wasn't treated weirdly by anyone around her, and I get that it's because of the nature of the universe and that a lot of people must be affected by timefall all the time, but it still made me happy!!

Favorite moment

The forehead touch and conversation as she sent Sam to rescue Amelie, and the talk near the lake after she and Sam get rid of the bomb. When her and Sam are on the ship too, it was a quiet nice moment. I like when she pronounces fragile weirdly.

Idea for a story

I had a silly thing in mind where a bunch of characters ask Sam on a date to shoot their shot, and he ends up rejecting all of them, Fragile included albeit with the implications that it's sort of reciprocated but also things are complicated, and they both are fine with where they stand. I'll be honest, I thought I didn't really like any ships with Sam, but I really like his dynamic with Fragile, romantic or not.

I would've loved to think up something cool about the time she and Higgs worked together. We get a glimpse of Higgs' perspective on their relationship during that time, but very little of hers, only the stuff that's already clouded with her desire for revenge and not how she really felt at the time.

Unpopular opinion

Oh man, I haven't really seen enough ds takes to know what's considered unpopular.

Favorite relationship

Her and Sam. I really liked how respectful she was about his phobia, with everyone else there were points where they obviously forgot about it or used it for intimidation, and I kind of hated that since I do share it to some extent. She also kind of seemed to do that a few times, like when she was telling him about her history with Higgs, but even then she still kept her distance in a way that didn't feel the same as with other characters. I really liked that about her. Her and Higgs also. And I do think she's at least sort of friends with the rest of the main guys, the scenes of them sending Sam off and then rescuing him are so, so good.

Favorite headcanon

Ahh I don't think I have anything. I've read very few death stranding fics but there was this short one I really like where Fragile travels with Sam on bikes for a bit and they race. She also uses his shower a bunch and leaves or takes stuff around his rooms in it, I liked that idea a lot. It's the casual intimacy of something small, I feel like they understand each other in their love for solitude, so they can be alone together and be content with it.

[cfr749]

I totally, totally agree with your view of their relationship. The Barnes episode is one I can’t watch and I just pretend it doesn’t exist. The whole situation with Chris and Ashley was just…unnecessary and written horribly. I feel like Tim treated Lucy better when he was her TO and respected her and didn’t treat her like a child which is mainly what he does now. He became more patronizing AFTER she was no longer his rookie. Additionally, he didn’t say anything after Lucy told him he would do great in Metro - just gave her a half smile and left. He acted like a teenager during the Valentine’s episode when he gave her the silent treatment when he found out she did the five-player trade. And it ended with LUCY apologizing and Tim never once apologizing for his immature behavior. He also treated her horribly in the episode when Isabel came back. He invited her to LUCY’S apartment without asking Lucy, gave her a half-hearted apology only when Isabel was AT THE DOOR and then proceeded to joke around with his ex-wife ABOUT Lucy and IN FRONT of Lucy and then regressed to his TO voice with his “Chen!” later at the station, right after making fun of Lucy trying to help him relax. Like, hello, that’s your girlfriend! Why are you snapping at her when she didn’t do anything??? Chris was absolutely a shitty partner but Tim is a becoming a very, very close second. He treated her better when she was his rookie and especially before they dated. And im so bummed about it because I had such high hopes but the way they write Tim’s character is just ruining it for me.

Hi anon!

First off, I'm glad you got to get all of that off of your chest 😂. I know how isolating and frustrating it can be to have all of the feelings about choices the show is making, but feel like you can't share those frustrations without pissing people off or experiencing backlash. So while I can't control anything other than my own response, I'll just say, you're always welcome to vent to me!

I'll be honest and say I didn't notice / react to all of the things you mentioned in the same way, but I can see your points and understand why those moments may have rubbed you the wrong way. Especially since, like I mentioned in my last post, the issue isn't any 1 isolated incident. The issue is a repeated pattern in the storytelling and messaging.

Something I want to be clear about before I go any further though:

This is not about my head canons or what I'd like to believe the writers were trying to convey.

Of course I think the idea of Lucy liking Tim more than Tim likes Lucy is ridiculous. That's why I can't figure out what on earth the writers were doing.

Of course I don't hate Tim (I literally could never!!) --- I love both of these characters deeply, and close to nothing excites me more than the idea of the two of them falling in love.

This is specifically about choices the writers made and what we actually saw unfold on our screens.

And if my takes seem to be more pro-Lucy, that's specifically because, IMO, the way the story unfolded was much more favorable to Tim that it was too Lucy.

Which isn't even surprising. Women often get the short end of the stick. Women of color almost always do. And that is literally the entire point of why this conversation is important. It's why shrugging off repeated instances of Lucy's character being eroded in service of the ship or maybe just as a result of the thoughtlessness of the writers really bothers me. It's why I'm not the only one who feels this way.

So, anon, for now, I'm just going to dig into the first item you mentioned as one of the first examples of this pattern -- the Katie Barnes of it all (sorry Katie - you were lovely - I promise it's nothing personal 😂). Setting aside the confession prank in 3x09 (which is it's own essay), this was the first time I started to really question the direction the show was going with making the ship canon. At the time, I hoped it was a blip, because we all remember that look in 3x14, and... yeah.

I believe this was the first appearance of jealous Lucy. And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using jealousy to tell a story -- as long as it serves a purpose and as long as it's not completely 1-sided.

But instead of moving Chenford forward, this actually moved them several steps backward for me.

Like you mention anon, in seasons 1 and 2, despite Lucy being his rookie, I felt that they were very much portrayed as equals. They helped each other in different ways. I’d argue Lucy often showed she was more emotionally intelligent than Tim and used that to help him navigate through the end of his marriage, and Tim obviously poured everything he had into getting her as ready as she possibly could be to move on to the next step in her career.

But this scene in 3x11 managed to re-assert the Rookie - T.O. dynamic in a way that slapped me harder than any moment when he was actually her T.O. -- asserting Tim's view of Lucy as someone he needed to teach not how to be a capable police officer, but someone he needed to teach about the world.

He said this to Lucy. Lucy! LUCY!

If you don't understand why this is categorically absurd, please go re-watch season 1 right now.

The fact that it was couched in compliments and we got to see Lucy go squee over his praise doesn't make this any less patronizing.

Literally, I don't need to hear any man say this to any woman ever. I especially don't need to hear a white man saying it to a woman of color. And I sure as hell did not need to hear Tim say it to Lucy.

So where'd we end up?

Lucy took some major hits to her character, blurring the lines between personal and professional by accusing Tim of giving Katie special treatment because he found her attractive, and ultimately came off as jealous, immature, insecure, and unprofessional amongst probably some other less than flattering things. And note, I'm not saying I think she is these things. I'm saying she was portrayed to the general audience as being these things.

Tim, on the other hand, got a windfall -- not only did he get to be the wise, all knowing teacher (let's not forget his deep love of meditation), he got to have all his past sins erased under the guise of helping sweet Lucy understand the world is a scary place.

***

So obviously you mentioned a bunch of other examples, but this is already too long and probably not at all what you were looking for in a response, so I'm going to wrap up here. I got another ask about the Valentine's Day plot, so I'll tackle what I did and didn't like there eventually (yes, I am capable of liking things. it's rare, but possible).

Thanks for the ask! 🥰🥰🥰

[genericpuff]

…Here is something a bit more serious I wanted to ask…

How do feel when it comes the fact that plenty of sexual themes inside LO are being told incorrectly to a young audience (I keep hearing on how most of Webtoon readers are still around 12-16 year old girls)?

Specially with the fact that Rachel keeps on sexualizing Persephone after some scenes showcasing her trauma….

I hope I’m not overstepping my boundaries here…thanks again for listening.

You're not overstepping at all ! This is actually a topic I've gone off about in the past at length on reddit and in chatrooms like Discord so I'm always happy to divulge about it and talk about it. It's a problem that goes way bigger than LO but I'll try my best to keep it focused on LO for the sake of getting to the point.

Before I get into it, obligatory TRIGGER WARNING for discussion surrounding sexual trauma/abuse/etc. and how it's romanticized and marketed in Webtoons media.

There are so many comics in Webtoons library that are just skeevy beyond belief for the stories they're trying to tell. Whether it's gratuitous oversexualization of its characters to the point of being absurd, to the implications of the romances in these stories that often border on non-consensual/toxic, Webtoons seems to be using these types of things as its main draw in a lot of their "big money" series - or at least, the ones they tend to market the most.

Now don't get me wrong, I've got a strong stomach for weird/creepy/dark shit and I'm capable of having suspension of disbelief when reading stories like this. I'm an SA survivor myself but despite this, I'm no stranger to dark romance or stories that 'toe the line' or even overstep it completely between morally acceptable and morally apprehensible, a lot of these kinds of stories have actually helped me overcome and heal from what I've been through. Suspension of disbelief is important and this is, after all, fiction, where we as creators are able to explore taboo or 'forbidden' topics in ways that either interest us or empower us or just feel like fun to write.

But there's still a line to be drawn because I'm an adult person who has literary analysis skills and is capable of picking apart these stories and what they might be consciously - or subconsciously - teaching us or portraying. Kids and teens? They basically are what they eat. This isn't to say teenagers are stupid or anything of the sort, but I was a kid too once and I know I internalized a lot of media that I straight up shouldn't have been consuming at the time. And I do think a lot of webtoons on the WT platform specifically dangerously veer into that territory all for the purpose of money and clout.

Again, don't get me wrong, I love morally questionable or otherwise abrasive characters, I think they're fun to write and fiction is a great way to explore those kinds of dynamics (and I've had pals weirdly thank me for how much suffering I put my characters through LMAO). But I'm also not gonna sit here and bullshit people into thinking my main projects are meant for teens. They're not. My main protagonists are in a shitty toxic relationship that should not be romanticized. My main character is a hyperbolic self-insert reflection of how awful I used to be as a person and how I was at the center of all my own problems for years. You should be 18 at minimum if you want to read my work because the stuff I write about isn't appropriate for or wouldn't be able to be observed and accepted as just fiction the way most mature adults can.

Now I'm not saying my work is "deep" or anything like that, it's stupid fun weeb shit. But it's the kind of stupid fun weeb shit I wouldn't want a teenager internalizing or taking to heart. It's why I'll include plenty of disclaimers to remind people that my stuff is a work of fiction and I simply enjoy exploring these kinds of tropes and dynamics through my characters, but I do not condone their behavior or the things I represent in my work. I fully respect other creators and writers who do the same.

Rachel is not one of those people. Rachel doesn't do this. She tries to claim to be progressive while completely misrepresenting the things she writes. She doesn't actually care about these topics, she just wants you to think she cares about them. Don't get me wrong, there are other series on the platform that are absolutely problematic when it comes to this sort of thing (Webtoons looooves marketing them, blech) but Lore Olympus is the absolute pinnacle of irresponsible, the sum of everything that's wrong with Webtoons.

It gets constant special treatment - often times being put in the banner reel every time it updates and in the prime spots no less that are rarely ever given to other - far more thought-provoking and well-written - series that could really use the ad space.

It markets itself to kids and teens despite having subject matter that either isn't handled responsibly OR should be taken with a level of suspension of disbelief that a lot of teens/kids aren't capable of having.

And the subject matter that it does try to handle responsibly is flubbed entirely because they're leaving it up to the writing 'skills' of a privileged white woman from New Zealand who's either never lived these experiences or, those that she has, couldn't even write them into a narrative when she tries because she still exists with internalized biases that completely miss the mark because she's never tried to look at things with a viewpoint outside of her own.

She's just not a writer, full stop. But because it's Webtoon's golden goose, they market the shit out of it anyways and give it preferential treatment. And of course, they market it to kids and teens because it's cute and colorful, and kids and teens will be more likely to overlook its blatant problems because they don't have the literary analysis skills yet to identify them.

The other side of the coin they market to? The adults who don't think these problems are problems to begin with. These are the same adults who celebrated 50 Shades of Grey and After as if they're masterworks of fiction. Overall very shitty, problematic people. At least the teenagers have the potential to "grow out of it". The adults who defend Rachel like their life depends on it are grown up but not mature or empathetic in the slightest towards those who have found their own stories and experiences trivialized or otherwise misrepresented completely through LO.

I know, that's undoubtedly a lot of hot takes, but this is such a massive problem in romance stories today. I get it, it's "drama", and it's been around since the harlequin novels of old, but the way it's pushed and romanticized and presented as if it's somehow "couple goals" by the people - often women - who write them is getting to be exhausting.

At this point I put Rachel Smythe right up there with Anna Todd and EL James - ego-driven female "writers" who wrote shitty fanfiction that got a lot of views and happened to fail upwards in their success, but when you dig past the subscriber count numbers and the clout, they themselves are not that profound or well-read in any meaning of the word. They're just people with huge deeply-rooted issues who write problematic romances instead of going to therapy.

And that's all I'm gonna say on that.

[yonemurishiroku]

I’m going to be honest I think some nico fans are a little to hard on fanfic writer’s people are writing for free and I see it all the time the notes when y’all attack shippers solangelo do this pernico do that people are writing for free and it keeps fandom alive driving people away cause one don’t like a ship is shitty just don’t read the story it free heck I’m in an anime community and if you know anime fans it gets nasty but even they try to not attack writers everyone is agreement not to attack artist drawing but why not extend the same grace to writers

It feels kinda breathless reading this but yeah I get your point and I wholeheartedly agree.

Even before engaging with the PJO fandom, I've been made aware of how nasty a English/Western-based (yeah I made that word up) fandom can get, so I'm mostly prepared to witness some... incidents (?). It's hardly a surprise at this point lmao.

There's always a line to follow. And someone behind you that would yell "Hey! That's mischaracterization!" whenever you're brave enough to escape the prison. This fandom treats unconventionality as if it was a crime, which reduces a lot of the fun. Shame.

I reckon it happens to every character's fandom, not only Nico - like, there should be a line when the community crosses a certain number, their quality decreases as much as it grows bigger. 😂😂😂 And yeah by that same logic, the Nico fandom would be one of the harshest bc the nature of his popularity.

I'm aware of the anime community. Though, if I read it right, anime originates from Japan, and Japan is without a doubt the laxxest when it comes to borderless creativity, so yeah, in a way, it's still better than a fandom brainwashed by the Western purity culture.

By the way, I don't think artists are any better in... whatever this is. if one is hateful towards something, they will attack the creator regardless of whether they're a fanfic writer or fanartist. Perhaps, the artists would have better chances of gaining a certain amount of supporters, who would defend them should need be, but again, that also means they have more risk of encountering nasty viewers as well.

All in all, things are not the brightest (since when they are anw) - that's why I'm here! 🥰🥰 To help destroy it faster, really.

Jk (or maybe not). I am proud to serve as a secure haven for those with unconventional creative sparks, even if it means challenging societal norms - for nothing other than to spite the shipping police, really. I make a point of trying to encourage every type of creativity, moreso to fanfiction just bc I'm mostly engaging it with - not bc my support is limited lol. It's nothing much, but I'll take the fact that you feel safe enough to send me an ask about this issue that I'm doing at least a good job of being the patron lolol.

[koicrimes]

yall, this game is SO good. it had me cryin and shit. had me doubting myself. had me fucked up-- i highly recommend it. truly. best game i've played in a while.

major spoilers below

first game i played since the rgg craze that left a deep impact on me. i think i'll be thinking about this one for a while. i might go back and play from the beginning and make tyler and alyson raise hell with all their choices next time hahaha. gahhh so much fun. all the characters felt so believable!!! ALL OF THEM! and even though i didn't like that michael kept coming onto to tyler even tho i politely brushed him off once before, he still felt human to me as well. sometimes dudes just can't fucking take a hint- no matter how nice and cool they are.

what was so crazy to me was how he was talking about how tyler was 'sooo special' and blah blah blah but just 6 months later this mf already taking photos with someone else with a pet talking about 'the new addition to our family'. like bitch if you want me so bad--????? THAT'S WHY I SAID MICHAEL GAVE ME UHAUL VIBES!!!! eehhhhh- like, no, give a mf some time to know you my guy. shit. idk maybe that's just me. (6 months is a while but im just saying)

but anyways, so.

i loved alyson and tyler's relationship so much. tyler is so fucking 😩😩😩😩🥰🥰🥰🫦🫦🫦. he's so hot. the amount of screenshots i have of that man is abysmal. he and alyson does this thing with their mouth but idk, i feel he does it alot more than she does, where he kinda bares his teeth-- sometimes it's a smile but not always. unff. LOVE! i love minor mouth ticks. i have one and i always notice when other people have one- aizawa has one (he chews at his inner lip). nish seems like he would kinda does the same thing tyler does now that i think about it but anyways im getting side tracked~~~

i loved their relationship! the bond thing was sooooo neat- being able to share memories and inner thoughts. HELLA NEAT! i love that so much.

UGH the writing here was so fucking phenomenal.

all of the townspeople: tessa, tom, sam, eddy-- they all had their parts and they were all believable flawed. the only person who i think i'd consider a villian, really would be tom. because fuck that guy- you cheated on your wife, let her raise your kids on her own, watched her fall apart, watch her get stabbed, allowed her to drown to death, allowed two kids to make decisions about something that fucking major when you saw what happened and then you got the audacity to try to blackmail them for your shitty ass campaign???

i rate his bald score a -8 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾 he doesn't deserve that shiner. for shame.

more importantly, the one thing that i wish that we got to see was the perspective of mary-ann from that night. but i guess that's the beauty of the story. no one will ever truly know what was going through her head. everyone has their speculation but no one knows for certain and they sort of have to live with that in order to survive... ughhhh (i am relieved that ty can live his life potentially at peace believing that his mother would see him as her son- her SON- see him for who he is. i know that had to eat away at him while he was at fireweed.)

11/10

honorable mention for my girl denise, she didn't really have shit to do but she was there and i was happy she was. i was happy to see them braids too. like they kinda ate. ngl. i was like okaaaaaay. it makes me really happy. like someone trully put in effort on them! anyway, her and tyler are best buds now. i call it. it is my headcanon. <3

[nocek]

There's actually a deleted scene of Okoye trying to go rescue Shuri in her borders' tribe armor, and being stopped and confronted by Ayo and the Doras

Also the midnight angels in the comics are the most skilled Doras, her using the armor to defeat Attuma who has superhuman strength doesn't disminish her as warrior.

Hope they release that deleted tho.

Damn... sorry for such a late reply but it also grow up to quite a long rant. I'm sorry. I have too many feels about this movie

...

That deleted scene sounds interesting and I'd love to see it for more Ayo or just for the costumes because this movie, just as previous one, has glorious costumes.

It answers the question why she didn't go on a quest to save the princess. Problem is that this question only arises because she doesn't go on that quest because her plot thread has been cut.

I know it's a circular argument but hear me out.

That scene would be a logical explanation. A very realistic one too. It's a very real life thing to fuck something up and not be able or allowed to fix it. And it sucks and is very frustrating.

And that's why we invented storytelling with it tropes and all (ok I'm simplifying since it's after all a superhero movie but....). In stories satisfying plot will have an actual resolution. That's why the bomb is always disarmed in the last second and so on.

So if this scene was actually in the movie my angry rant will be at least 3 paragraphs longer and I'm glad creators realized that it's better to cut their loses, cut this plot thread cleanly instead of adding a tease that leads to nothing and would be even more frustrating.

Because here we would have glorious potential. Suddenly the Lawful Neutral character is being cut from the external lawful codex she was following. She would have to make a hard choice and switch to her internal moral compass and move towards Lawful Good alignment. (not my fav thing as there is so few really interesting lawful neutral characters but I'll take it gladly)

We would have a buildup, a big breath before a leap of faith just to have it suddenly stopped by external factor. Typical bait and switch which is very unsatisfying. It doesn't necessary need to be bad story writing tho. But it would require some additional scenes with Okoye dealing with her being stopped and this movie just didn't have time for that.

So in a way thank you for telling me about this deleted scene. I actually feel better knowing it all was mercifully cut cleanly instead :D

Damn, that got a bit ranty again. Sorry! So just a quick thing about Midnight Angel armors.

Comics are great and everything is better established there. Problem is we are talking about a movie where comic reading audience rounds up to like statistical error :S even people that will learn bit more from youtube comic fun fact videos are comparatively small to general casual audience. Besides we should evaluate the movie by it's own merits as a separate and complete project.

And in the movie it's more like Shuri side project of iron man but better because it's Shuri's. Probably they wanted to add bonding moment with Riri of you make armors, I make armors, armor sis hell yeah! But they didn't have time for that also. With presenting Iron Heart armor movie doesn't have time to give audience info about Midnight Angels besides that maybe it will be mass produced?

Instead of showing us (or just even telling, I'll take telling at this point) it being given to the best Dora Milaje as an act of honor and recognition of their skills is given to Okoye because she had to have something to do to appear in final battle and to Aneka which we don't know anything about besides she likes knives above a spear, is a bit quirky and is Ayo's wife (blink and you miss it, classic shitty Disney "Representation-first-ever-again"). Nothing about her above average skills :(

And even this had potential that this movie didn't have time for. Disgraced general and a free spirited soldier she previously scoffed at? Aneka being very open and enthusiastic towards new technologies while Okoye being traditionalist. So. Much. Potential.

And I'm not even mad and I'm not shitting on this movie because I hate it. Quite the contrary. I liked it I see all the potential and all the heart that was put into it and I'm just dam frustrated that the "Marvel formula" works so hard against it with it's shitty gray cgi grand battle at the end that just takes away the runtime from things that are actually interesting :(

[like-rain-or-confetti]

Hey vanity I remember you saying something about if you wrote twilight again you'd make the Romanians and the Volturi darker. Any headcanons on that?

Please Vanity I need my fix. I'd remember you said you'll fund it because you don't do rehab.

Hey I'll pay if I have to... just name the price

(This is a joke btw. Don't feel pressured. I loved that last fic you posted)

When I tell you this had me hysterically laughing 😂😂😂...

Headcanons, I don't really have- mostly just thoughts of what I could differently and revamp some characters.

So I tend to wonder myself. Like a part of me thinks, they're less approachable. A.K.A Demetri and Felix- I'm looking at you buds.

I also wonder if some -like the Romanians- have any kind of compromising bone in their body? Like realistically, women have had to spend years fighting for their right to be heard and taken seriously. We still have people out there who would take that away and they aren't centuries-old vampires. So would a very old vampire male who has always gotten the first and last word be willing to give up that kind of power? I see this as one of the Volturi or Romanian covens thinking "Oh you want to do this? Tough shit. It's my way and that's that." Covens like the Cullens that interact more with humans have changed with the times but I wonder to what extent older and isolated covens would still be stuck in rigid ways and how that would go with humans who are of this time?

Beyond a revamping of sorts for Demetri and Felix- I tend to think about the level of violence. The Volturi have definitely gotten their hands dirty over the years and the Romanians literally enjoy torture.

Although all of this could be utter bullshit because I've recognised from writing for different fandoms that I have written for twilight frightened of what people take of my writing and what people will accuse me of rather than just let the story write itself without fear of judgement of those few who take it too seriously. Whereas say for Batman, it has been a case of expect shitty actions from shitty people. I think we all know the Volturi and the Romans especially are a collective of shitty people so anticipate shitty behaviour that's driven by outdated philosophies.

But I'd definitely say Caius, Demetri and Felix needed to be amped up a notch.

The flirty or goofy Felix should be reserved for those he is friends with or more at a certain time or place.

Demetri should be almost silent, as he has been in the books and movies. This might be mistaken as being shy but is really a predator ready to strike at any given moment. When he's interested romantically, that's when he becomes the irresistible dude he knows he is😂😭

For Caius, I'd like to put him more to use. Whilst he is undermined and overruled by Aro constantly throughout the movies. I'd like to display this as a rarity rather than a constant crutch. The two are sadistic lil' shits who bond over this.😂

For Marcus, I think I'd like to have him more of darker side too. Like beyond Chelsea there's a reason why he's still there. He isn't always this zombie who saves the day per say because he likes a good love story- all of that.

I dunno, these are just things that pop into mind. I think their brutal reputation could be kicked up a notch in my writing but worry about the consequences of that since this blog is only for fun and only intended to have fun. Not to mention I think I'd like to have the other Volturi guards more known in my writing.

I'm curious! Let me know what you guys think!❤️

P.S.

what did I say I'd fund now!? What did I get myself into this time?😭😂

My price...

Hmmmmm...

Could do with more Volturi and Romanian content? Anyone willing to annoy SMeyer into giving me that Volturi book or Romanian coven stuff? Not sure if I trust it but beggars can't be choosers!👀

[redrobin-detective]

So I’m actually taking the time to watch Ben 10 Alien Force and it’s, okay. I can admit it has a more cohesive long term plot process than Omniverse and some of the stories ARE good I just can’t really vibe with it. I’m still watching it but it’s not the same burning need I felt with OV and I’m not sure how much further I’ll get before I entirely lose interest. 

I know a lot of people like AF so I’m going to put my slightly critical thoughts under a read more so those who don’t want to see it can skip it.

The reason I can’t get into the series like I did OV, for me, is the characters are lacking in any true dimension making me not invest in the series. Ben in particular, the heart and soul of the series, feels like a cardboard cutout of a character without much defining personality to make me believe he’s Ben much less an actual person. Having watched both OG and OV I can describe, off the top of my head, what Ben is like. 

Ben of the original series was a horrible little gremlin child with a heart of gold in there somewhere. He was childish and reckless, sometimes acting out or going too far with his pranks. He has a variety of interests and things he doesn’t like but finally gets a handle of his abilities and learns that being a hero isn’t just about beating up bad guys, it’s about standing up and protecting others.

Likewise, OV Ben has been around the block as a teen superhero. While he is still a bit full of himself and reckless, a lot of it is a carefully constructed façade so people don’t see how stressed and nervous he is about the heavy burden on his shoulders. He’s desensitized to how weird his life has become and is good at adapting and thinking on his feet. Like his younger self, he has a variety of likes and dislikes, some the same and some different as he grew up.

15 eps in AF and I still can’t really think of how to describe Ben, he’s got the personality of a freezer burned low fat waffle. He’s just a very standard teen boy without any true defining traits. I haven’t seen him talk about any interests, express any real opinions on anything. Like he had to put on the Omnitrix again after taking it off for a normal life and it doesn’t seem to have any impact on him. AF Ben is also almost always in the right, always the calm one (esp compared to Kevin who’s his own mess of one track stereotypes) with a perfectly straight moral code. He’s quiet, polite, he makes a few quips but otherwise is just kind of there. When he’s not actively engaged in the plot, he’s just sitting there with a vacant expression and a half smile. In an attempt to make him “normal” and “relatable” they not only stripped the character of anything that makes him stand out but also anything that makes him Ben Tennyson. 

OS and OV Ben are always moving, either fiddling with the Omnitrix or bouncing their leg or lounged in a precarious position while mouthing off. He’s a very energetic sort, spirited in a way that’s as admirable as it is aggravating. To watch AF Ben sit passively in Kevin’s car, hands on his knees, back straight. It’s like looking at a stranger. 

I loved Ben because he was fiery lil shit, half feral and running into everything half cocked because he’s stupid but also has a big bleeding heart. He’s a good boy, theoretically and gets better as he matures but he struggles with his self image and decision making. Kid has also straight up, and knowingly murdered and will do so again. He is a one universe force of nature running around, causing and fixing problems in the same breath. God I love this disaster. AF Ben feels so far removed from this Ben and it frankly bores me.

I’ll keep going but I remember when I first watched AF years ago when it first aired, I watched at least the first 10 episodes before I quit. I recall thinking that it didn’t feel like Ben 10 anymore and it really doesn’t. Yes it has some interesting storylines, yes the worldbuilding and lore expansion is appreciated. But god I just can’t invest in these characters. For all of Omniverse’s faults, at least the character felt not only like an actual person but who Ben is supposed to be. Ben is not and never was your ‘boy next door good boy superhero’ he’s ‘local child menace gains infinite powers uses them to steal a golf cart’. 

[maddu-oliveira]

💫 No Longer Fictional 💫

Erik Heller x Writer!Reader AU (Part 1)

warnings: mentions of alcohol, blood (reader get slightly hurt), bad language

word count: 1.1k

A/N: I tagged everyone I thought would might like to read this, so if someone doesn't want to be tagged just dm me or go to my ask and if someone wants to join the list do the same.

Taglist: @wtfobiwan @bewitchedignition @a-reader-and-a-writer @skvatnavle @11thstreetvigilante @lacontroller1991 @loverhymeswith

Reader's P.O.V

"Don't you think you should take some time off?" My friend asked during our video call, making me stop writing and look at the screen.

"Why? I'm fine, Alyssa! I like what I do" I said, starting to write again and shaking my leg because of anxiety.

"I think three books published in a few months is already too many and you need to rest, Y/N" Aly said with worry in her voice making me stop and take a deep breath.

“I just want to distract myself from the bad things happening in my life now” I ran my hands over my face feeling exhausted and now paying more attention to my friend.

"I know that's how you relax yourself, bestie but- It's not healthy and you can have a burn out" Aly was right, it wouldn't help me if I overworked and got over the thing I like the most.

"I'll just create the character, okay? Can you help me with that, Aly?"

We spent a few hours deciding what that character would look like, choosing a name as if it were our child, making jokes about being Frankenstein for creating something together, and choosing the language and appearance of the character. Maybe because I was drinking wine to accompany my friend during the call, we were having so much fun and with each new feature we laughed saying that this would be the mix of the men of our dreams.

"This man has a German accent and speaks French, he couldn't be more perfect" Alyssa said laughing and shaking her head.

"Erik Heller is the man of our dreams! I would totally marry him" I took another sip of the wine.

"Why don't you search for someone like him? You know, after that shitty relationship you went through" Aly said calmly trying to not make me mad or something.

"Because he's a character that we created to be perfect and perfection doesn't exist in real life, Aly" I sigh, finishing another full cup of wine. "I would only get a man like this if magic exists and I wish for him"

"Why don't you try? You never know if it might happen or not" She says, making me laugh.

"Oh shut up, Alyssa! How would that work? Blood sacrifice?" I stood up to open my bedroom's window.

"You're so dark! Not blood sacrifice but something romantic, I don't know" I heard Aly chuckles.

"Like a shooting star?" I asked, looking at the stars.

"Yes! A shooting star's wish would be amazing, don't you think?" She said smiling as soon as I got back in front of the laptop.

"Let's just finish his backstory, Aly"

"Why do all your characters always have a sad story?" Aly asked as soon as she finished reading what I sent her.

"Sad? They always end well and happy" I say, leaning back in my chair to make myself more comfortable.

“Yes, after suffering everything possible and being traumatized" My friend said, making me laugh.

"But at least they have happy endings, Aly" I say, arranging the table that my things were on and taking the empty bottle of wine from there. "Maybe I write like this because I'm waiting for my happy ending after going through so much"

“Aww bestie…” I heard her say but not paying too much attention until I saw something in the night sky.

“Oh shit, Aly! I just saw a shooting star-” I couldn't even finish speaking, because my friend started yelling at me.

“MAKE A WISH! Make a wish quickly, bitch”

"Calm down, Aly! I- I wish- I wish Erik Heller" I said laughing but stopped as soon as the power went off and my laptop turned off. "Shit- No no no"

I got up quickly to try to turn on my laptop, which resulted in me knocking over the bottle of wine that splattered into shards in the room, so I decided to use the flashlight on my cell phone to get out of my room and go try to turn the house power back on. Muttering curses I went downstairs to the kitchen to look for candles in the drawers, and as soon as I found them, I lit some and placed them in some of the rooms in the house. I took a candle to my room still using my cell phone camera, placed it on the table and took care with the shards, bending down to gather them using a sheet of paper that prevented me from cutting my hands. I finished collecting the shards by taking them to the bathroom and throwing them in the trash, as soon as I got back to my room I heard a noise outside in my garden.

"I just wanted peace.... These raccoons are very bold" I say, going to look out the window and scare away the striped intruder.

When I looked out the window I saw a tall silhouette, a man, who had probably fallen there because he was cleaning his clothes from the dirt. At that moment I froze, as soon as the stranger turned around I closed the window and lowered myself against the wall.

"What the fuck is this?" I muttered to myself as I looked for my cell phone that I had left on the floor. I lifted my head a little to look out the window, seeing if the man was still there and finding my yard empty, getting confused.

Am I going crazy?

I stood up looking better at the outside of the house, letting out a sigh of relief and turning my attention back to my laptop that still hadn't turned on even though it was charging. But my relief didn't last long as I heard something hit my window, probably a rock, making me take a step back and feel a burning pain in my foot.

"Shit!" I complained low, knowing that I had stepped on some shrapnel that went unnoticed when it came time to clean it up.

The noise at the window repeats itself, making me walk to it and open it prepared to throw the candle and other things on top of any possible intruder.

"Are you hurt? Scheiße-" The stranger could not finish speaking as I had already thrown the candle in his direction, causing him to mumble something I could not decipher.

"Get out of here or I'll call the police!" I tried to sound as serious as possible even though I was scared to death.

"But you're hurt-" The man approached the window, making me gasp, surprised by how he looks.

"Who the hell are you? Get the fuck out of here" I said firmly and closing the window quickly lowering my self next to the wall again. This just can be a sick dream because I'm exhausted. It's just a dream…

[ghoste-catte]

9, 18, 27

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

I don't believe in ghosts, but I am afraid of them.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

Aaagh, it's always hard to pick one of these, but I'll go with this bit from if you're really finally mine (i need to know that you're not lying)

“If we don’t die,” he’d said once, and fully expected to die. As he always expected to die. Had��always expected to die. Every putative mission since his storied, miserable childhood.

That fear of death was the only thing that kept him living, some days.

But then they hadn’t died. And Gaara had been promised this.

He’d planned for it like it was a job. Like there was a payout in hard cash and a meal of just-rare meat to be eaten across from Lee waiting for him at the end.

This fic is a little bit of a quirky one, because it's the sequel to a "mafia band AU" that was partially written and never published by @egregiousderp, which spun out from a hilarious misunderstanding of the way GaaLee Bingo was supposed to work. I am lucky enough to get access to their fic drafts from time to time (under the table porn exchange). So the lines referenced here are lines from that unpublished fic. There's a moment, for example, during their first time when Lee asks if they can do it again. They're mafia members undercover on a retrieval mission at a Battle of the Bands, and during it they realize they're in love (and then bone in the back of Naruto's shitty wizard van). So Gaara meant it when he replied, "If we don't die." It was a genuine possibility. Gaara was born into that life and Lee was conscripted into it (as Gaara's bodyguard and later his partner). So they've both faced down death, together and separately. Lee's taken bullets for Gaara. Likewise, the rare meat thing is a reference to the unpublished fic, where Gaara eats like a little bit of a monster and Lee is both fond and chiding about it.

Playing in someone else's sandbox is always an interesting time. Skuun has very specific characterizations for these two in this AU, so I tried really hard to hit those. Gaara is more unhinged and feral, and Lee is quite smitten with him but also willing to push back and tease him, because he's sort of the only person who can get Gaara to do things. And they've been in love with each other for a very long time, sharing beds and hotel rooms and stitching each other up but never saying those things, so Gaara especially has a lot of years of pent up UST. I tried to emulate Skuun's style a little bit in the fic, too, which is really fun and unique. It means a lot of rumination during the act and a lot of short, punchy sentences. I had to go back and break up a lot of my behemoth sentences to match the original tone.

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

Temari. I struggle with having a good bead on her character, which is unfortunate because Kankuro is so easy. I'm cognitively aware of a lot of her character traits and can list them, but I don't feel like I have the strongest sense of her voice. I am also very wary of having female characters care about nothing else other than the main M/M ship, because I know it's a common sidelining tactic that's especially prevalent in fic. This is difficult for me, because I tend to write fairly tight focus on the romance, and I know I don't always hit the mark with Temari especially. I often want to write her more mistrusting of Lee and taking a long time to warm up to him, which I think is true to her character, but I also don't want the weight of having to pull focus from the romance to deal with that conflict, and I definitely don't want to rehash it every time I have these guys fall in love. I really envy writers like @sagemoderocklee, who I feel captures her voice and priorities perfectly.

Weird Questions for Weird Writers

[crystalkleure]

Do you still do those beyblade deep dives character study posts? If so then could you so one for Count Night? And if not then just talk about something you super duper like :)

Sure thing, I love writing long analytical posts! I just usually lack the time for it lately, sadly. Hey, I'll even throw in a Ye Olde Style character icon like I used to tack onto these things, for old times' sake!

Count Night

10/10. I fucking love Count Night. Count Night is so fucking funny.

I can't believe that the anime actually entirely neglected to mention the fact that Count Night is Zac's older brother, because those two actually act so much like eachother. It's fun to compare them and realize what personality traits apparently just run in the family blood.

Zac and Night are both so incredibly fake. They are extremely good at misleading and manipulating people, and they do it in the exact same way: They deliberately give off the impression of being far more benign and stupid than they actually are, so nobody expects them to do anything foul [or, at least they don't expect them to succeed when they try]. Zac has his Sweet Bubbly Dumb Blonde stage persona, but is vicious and outright gleefully sadistic when out of view of fans and cameras, especially if he feels he has been threatened in some way -- Zac will absolutely terrify and destroy anyone who challenges him, particularly if they are encroaching on his turf as an idol, and he's quite clever and subtle about it so as not to tarnish his image. And Count Night is...ridiculous. Look at him. He looks silly. He's dressed as a cartoonish caricature of a phantom thief, he looks like a kid in a Halloween costume. Would you ever expect some absurdly theatrical lunatic who looks like a low-budget LARPer and speaks shitty broken French for The Aesthetic to actually break into your place and steal your shit? Night looks like a fucking joke, so no one takes him seriously, so no one realizes he is actually extremely competent at breaching high levels of high-tech security and committing grand larceny. Count Night WILL steal your shit.

Also, in the manga [which is not translated to the best of my knowledge, and I can't read Japanese, so do note that I always hear Manga Details from other people], I do believe it is either implied or outright stated that Zac does not know that Count Night is a phantom thief? Night does not wear his silly costume around his brother, he wears shit like sweater vests and glasses and khakis during the daytime, he looks like a perfectly harmless little librarian in his plainclothes. I think his cover story is that he's a businessman or entrepreneur or something? However, I'm not sure that Zac really doesn't know, so much as Night THINKS Zac doesn't know, and Zac is possibly playing along with that for shits and giggles. Zac certainly did notice Night's Conspicuously Impressive Rare Bey Collection, and Zac's not stupid. I just feel like he would pick up on any Financial Oddities happening, any curiously-timed crimes being committed and making it to the news, coupled with the fact that his brother tends to Just Fucking Disappear sometimes, etc., that sort of shit, and eventually put the pieces together.

Which would explain why one of Zac's favourite Dumb Things To Do In Public is don that silly mask of his and call himself "Beyblade Mask", acting like people Surely Can't Recognize Him and then pretending to be surprised when they do [after he drops 500 hints at them lol] -- he's probably tickled by the fact that his brother has an actual Secret Double Life with a disguise [many disguises, actually] that is surprisingly actually convincing. I wonder if he's waiting for Night to put two-and-two together upon seeing him in his silly Beyblade Mask "disguise", realize that's a Cutesy Brotherly Mockery of his own nighttime habits, and realize that means Zac has realized what he's been up to. That sounds exactly like the sort of bullshit mind game Zac would play lmfao. I just feel like Zac's whole stupid silly Beyblade Mask fake-disguise thing and the fact that Count Night is an Actually-Disguised Phantom Thief isn't a coincidence, those two things have to be related somehow. Unless the overwhelming desire to cover half of your face up with a silly mask is just something else that runs in the Kurogane blood lol.

Also, it's cute how Zac and Night have the whole sun/moon thematic dichotomy going on. Zac the Sunshine and Count Night. Ha.

And on a completely different note, something curious about Count Night is the fact that his Eclipse has an Avatar inside of it. Right Artemis and Left Apollo did not have Avatars inside them until Count Night stole them and used them, combined into Eclipse. That...actually raises several questions. For one, Gachi explained how Avatars are formed, so now we know that they are some type of Energy Being that is created within the mind of their blader and then channeled into that blader's favourite spintop, so no question about what the Spintop Monsters are anymore. So, we know that the monster does not come from the spintop, the spintop is merely a vessel for it. Does this mean that Count Night created Eclipse's Avatar? It would make sense for those beys he stole to have indeed been empty, because they were created by Dr. Evel, who already has his Egis -- he's already made a bey Avatar, and people can't seem to make more than one of those things, they can only continue to adapt/evolve the one they've got. So, it would make sense for any extra beys created by someone who already has an Avatar-inhabited bey to simply be benign plastic shells, empty vessels with nothing to be put in them yet. So if Night already had Avatar Energy bouncing around in his brain, ready to Coalesce Into A Creacher and just itching for a bey to hop into, it'd make sense that he'd bond that energy to the next bey he grabbed and end up forming an Avatar for it, and in this case that bey would apparently be Eclipse. But Eclipse is also a unique bey. It is a bey made of halves of two other beys, Artemis and Apollo, both now owned by Night, though we never saw him use them not fused into Eclipse. We don't...HAVE any other cases where a fusion bey, made of parts of various beys, is comprised of parts of beys all owned by the same person. Normally, when Bey Fusion happens, the donor beys all have their own Avatars, which then either fuse or simply attack in tandem via the single fusion bey, and thus the donor beys all belong[ed] to different people. And, as stated above, it doesn't appear that one person can make more than one Avatar. Normally, when a fusion bey de-fuses, the borrowed parts go back to their owners, taking their attached Avatars with them. So, what, uh...what happens when Eclipse de-fuses into Artemis and Apollo? If Count Night were to use both of those beys together at the same time, not fused into Eclipse, how would that work? Would each one have its own Avatar, making this the only known case of someone creating more than one bey Avatar? And, if so, was that perhaps only possible because Night created Eclipse's Avatar while Eclipse was Eclipse, meaning that if Eclipse's Avatar splits into two [Artemis and Apollo], that's not so much "making a second Avatar" as it is literally, well, splitting one whole into two halves? So it technically is still one Avatar, just with the capability of dividing itself into two hivemind-type semi-physical forms at once? My brain hurts. Lore's too enigmatic and complicated and Technicalities In The Laws Of The Magical Fictional Universe is not my dissection strong suit, psychoanalysis is.

Anyway Count Night is incredibly interesting and has far more potential than was tapped into in the actual show. I say this about just about every character, but BRING HIM BACK, BEYBURST. DO MORE WITH HIM. He's so fun.

[mindninjax]

also not on anon but to starve away the boredom~

hey min min~ first of all.

second of all, am i the only one who every time i see Levi on my screen i instantly say or think "hello daddy" ? or is that just me XD *wiggles brows suggestively*

and third of all -here's the question- what got you into writing in the first place? and what makes you continue on the writing journey?

tee hee hello sweet Garnet💖

Second no you are not the only one. Levi Ackerman could tell me to crack my skull open like and egg and serve my brain to him on a silver platter I absolutely would.

Third! If you'll allow me to get mushy on main for a bit I'll put it under a cut :)

I will absolutely give all credit for me starting writing to this gem here @itsleese. Ms. Weese was one of my very first friends in fandom and legit took me in like a mama cat takes in a scared lil baby kitten. Her writing is amazing and legit opened my world immensely to fanfiction because ima be straight up, I dead ass didn't know this shit existed until December 2019. I remember reading Weese's Notice and Of Love and Lemons and being blown away that I could like be apart of the story. Everything felt so realistic and the way she wrote the characters, specifically Bakugo, made me feel like they were like attainable which is such an amazing skill to have.

NOT ONLY did Weese choose to take me in as a friend and be kind and loving and introduce me to so many other amazing people that have become my closest and dearest friends as well, she was also SUPER supportive when I had an idea to write something. She encouraged me to finish it, she read over it, encouraged me to post it and made sure to let me know how much she enjoyed it when she read it. I just.... I am eternally thankful to Weese and so fucking grateful that she considers me a friend because she's honestly one of the most kindest and beautiful and most amazing people I've ever met on this app.

OK enough with the mushy feelings lol. Why do I continue to write? Simply put. It makes me happy. I've always kinda been a daydreamer with a kick ass imagination. Putting stories down on paper, exploring plot and relationships and characters I love is fun to me. It pumps so many good feelings into me when I am creating a story (even if I'm hard on myself or don't think it's worth sharing).

Recently though what's been keeping me going is escaping my current reality. Plunging myself into a setting that I can control, into a fantasy where things are a-okay or not a-okay should I choose to make them so. Life has been....shitty recently.

Last year was no cap and not to be extremely dramatic but dead ass the worst year of my life and will like forever and always be the worst year of my life. Writing absolute became a coping mechanism for me, it became a sanctuary where I could feel safe and warm. Escaping to a fantasy and writing or planning it out has saved my actual life on many occasions and I have no doubt that it will continue to do so lol. 💖

Come chat with me

[rainwolfheart]

Writing prompts

2021-10-31: Not actively taking prompts. I'll update whenever that changes! Just been way too busy to write fic lately.

I'm currently accepting writing prompts! If you send me a DA one, it'll likely be filled on Friday for DA Drunk Writing Circle.

I write in English and French, and I'm comfortable-ish writing dialogue in Spanish. (if you're looking for a french-english translator for a fic, hmu?)

I take any kind of prompt. If you need inspiration, here are a few lists I like: classical literature prompts, DA prompts, DA dialogue prompts, DA codex prompts 1, DA codex prompts 2, Trans Bingo cards, fic title prompts (send me a new title and I'll write a summary, or send me one I've already written a summary for and I'll write an excerpt)

I post prompted fics on Tumblr and repost them on AO3. Please let me know if you want to be credited anonymously on either platform, otherwise I will credit you for the prompt :)

Main DA pairings and topics

Feryn Aeducan x Leliana

Alistair x Dael Mahariel

Anders x Hamish Hawke

Anders x Nathaniel Howe

Branna Cadash x Lace Harding

Branna Cadash x Josephine Montilyet

Gaël x Marfisa Trevelyan

Bethany Hawke x Marijke Kader

Marian Hawke x Isabela

Marian Hawke x Isabela x Merrill

Marian Hawke x Merrill

Nathaniel Howe x Velanna

Isabela x Merrill

Dael Mahariel x Merrill

Josephine Montilyet x Rafael Trevelyan

Dorian Pavus x Rafael Trevelyan

Sigrun x Velanna

Marfisa Trevelyan & Rafael Trevelyan

The Bull's Chargers, Inquisition agents, multiplayer characters (Dalish/Skinner, Charter/Tessa, open to other ships)

Gen: team bonding (especially DA2 cast)

Gen: mage resistance/rebellion stuff

Gen: post-Inquisition Solas-hunting shenanigans (Tevinter Nights vibes)

Gen: crossovers and AUs (I've written Exandria AU and modern AU stuff before, feel free to suggest others)

More details & other fandoms under the cut

I can also write other people's OCs or a generic/ambiguous PC, and certain other characters and ships; don't be afraid to ask! A few notes:

I won't write anything focused on Aveline, Cullen, Oghren, or Sten (unless it's critical of them), or anything pro-templar, sorry.

I'm also not very experienced writing certain characters, such as red!Hawke, Sera, and Vivienne. But I'm up for a challenge!

I am always, always down to write characters as trans. I write Fenris as transmasc and Hawke as AFAB nonbinary unless otherwise specified. My Hawkes, Mahariel, Trevelyan and Kader are all trans.

I headcanon Josephine as ace, so I'm not comfortable writing smut for her.

If you send me a NSFW prompt, I may tone it down to my comfort zone. I'm new to writing smut and prefer vanilla stuff.

Other topics I'm currently open to writing

Check, Please! (Bitty/Jack, Holster/Ransom, Lardo/Shitty)

Critical Role (Allura/Kima, Beau/Jester/Yasha, Caleb/Essek, Caleb/Molly, Fjord/Jester, Keyleth/Vax, Percy/Vex; used to write Caduceus/Fjord and always down to write them as friends or queerplatonic nowadays; OC blood hunter siblings Sol & Hala)

Lovelink (MC x Adam, Ana, Blake, Charlie, Cpt. Muffin['s human], Dahlia, Dominic, Dr. Vile, Jake, Keanu, Milena, Nicholas, Rose, Ruby, Sage, Tiros, Vitoria, Zayn)

Star Wars (Finn/Poe/Rey, Finn/Rose, Greer/Joph, Black Squadron fun times)

The Witcher (maybe? I'm familiar with TW3 and started watching the Netflix show. Geralt/Yennefer or Geralt/Triss)

Bullet-point/short paragraph meta or headcanons (things like "headcanons about the M9's favourite foods" or "which DA story choice do you prefer out of these options and why")

Poetry (free verse or haiku; you can try sonnet, blank verse, etc. prompts, but no promises lol)

Short original fiction (especially high fantasy, fairytale-inspired, historical fantasy, near-future sci-fi, space opera, dystopian)

Very short plays and monologues (I tend toward postmodern/postdramatic/poetic stuff)

[patribrussou]

I never really liked to read long books, like times until I wanted to be bigger .... more or the desire to know soon what happened at the end of all that plot that goes on in my head and puts me there among the characters making an imaginary film .... So sitting and thinking about all the things I have lived so far, I decided to write short stories about parts of my life at sea ... But I will start with the reason I left Earth and looked for a life of "pirate"

I am one of more than 1 trillion women who believe in true love .... a sincere love .... a love that will take care of you, be yours, fulfill your desires, your dreams, be a man / woman Each one of course has a way of looking at life, this is my point of view ... How can I exchange my freedom and everything I am for a failed person who wants nothing more than have fun? while you believe it is love ?! I do not accept anything less than what I deserve, and how do I know what I deserve ?.... I know why I started working early, at 17 in a computer store in Arujá BR .... called reproshop ... and since then I won my freedom by being myself .... And I didn't stop there, I was always very silly and my greatest wish in this world is for everyone to have a decent life! A real life, not the shit I see on Facebook and Instagram .... I've helped so many people in life that they fucked me in my back ... It's been 30 years of trying to find a person I could trust and nothing ... none .... because you can never get to know anyone with so many masks on their faces and ridiculous superficialities that make no difference at all !!

Well.. coming back to talk about the reason that made me want to go to the sea, his name was BRASIL LIXO!"

Tired of living in a shitty country that still treats people as slaves and no one sees what's in front of them !! It made me lose all judgments I had left and before I freaked out I decided to sign up for this crewmember program ..... but the fact of having to stay away from everything I loved more than at the time, my pets, mother and ex-boyfriend. ... made me stay in Brazil for a while longer ... even though I passed the ridiculous interview I had to do in another city far from my home ... anyway ... I didn't go ... more years later again without any quality of life in a country that wants us to live with R $ 1,000 a month to eat, pay rent, bills (isn't that slavery for you?) Because it always has been for me! And it never left my head, because people do you accept that? They are so liberal with so many things .... What else can really change the quality of our lives??? FUCK IF!

Anyway, tired, hurt, full of animals to raise because I am one of those who cannot see a puppy suffering on the street, I already take it home .... I went to look for the ship again, because the fact of receiving in dollars that was triple in time of my money and being able to meet people from all over the world and travel to the whole world too and for free it seemed sensational !!!

So I got the contacts, went after, signed up and went to Costa! My first ship Costa Fascinosa .Ohhh my gosh! The first time on board a ship! Traveling and experiencing things I had never felt in my life, but I was always curious, brave, only when I see a snake that i runs, kkkk the rest I try 👽😂

I had a little problem at the beginning because the agency forgot to send me the flight, and I missed the plane but I would go to Rio which is not far from São Paulo / 6hrs around .... so the solution was to get one bus and go to Rio ... ... at that time I was in shit ... without money, work, friend, hurt ... anyway ... in Bad so everything that was happening was beautiful for me! I had never felt so excited and thrilled .... entering that beautiful, giant ship, full of happy people wherever I went .... entering the corridors on the boarding deck I started to realize that many people were looking at me, many people really .... while I was in line for an hour for someone to show me all that news, my friend who had taken the course with me appeared ... ready from then on, lots of hugs, laughter, come on, I'll show you everything .... and that's how * Pati no Fascinosa begins! *