#will i be taking one anyway to be personalized because it has some similar worldbuilding vibes to one of my wips? YOU BET

[as-dreamers-do]

okay someone needs to revoke my used-book-buying privileges for at least the next two months (going to a multi-beloved-author signing in a few weeks and of course must buy copies of books to be signed, also have obtained lockwoods 1-4 and some assorted other books i needed bc an ebay seller had a sale on)

on the upside: MULTIPLE PAKIDGE COMING :D

[our-ensemble]

How else could HappyElements go about writing Ibuki?

Just a little exercise to see what else Enstars could have done with Ibuki besides what they're doing now. (This one is long!)

When it comes to putting Ibuki in another unit, its very debatable, but its not impossible. Below are just my own thoughts and I'll get into why I wrote this at the bottom.

So, units!

fine: Not the best. Writing-wise, I don't think it's impossible to fit Ibuki in... somewhere? But all in all, fine doesn't lend itself to a story that would make Ibuki's addition natural. Also, aesthetically, it doesn't seem up Ibuki's alley. While Eichi's actions in Okinawa could lead to an interesting conflict with developments for both parties which plays into real-life social issues, that depends on Enstars' ability to write it, which is currently in an unideal place. That being said, I am waiting for the day that Ibuki sues Eichi. Put your court skills to use!

Trickstar: Likely not. Again, like with fine, Trickstar's overall writing makes this difficult and unnatural. Maybe with a lot of pre-existing development where its made clear that he'll join, but otherwise, he's difficult to slot in Trickstar's current dynamic (and that's not even going into Trickstar's historical importance to its producers as being the four of them + Anzu).

Ryuseitai: Possible! Ryuseitai is currently in a directional shift + leadership shift, and Ibuki's addition plays well into this setup. Additionally, in Enstars, the pre-existing lore is that units must have 2 - 5 idols as a result of War-era imposed restrictions, and it would be interesting to see how that tidbit of worldbuilding holds up in relation to this idea. Ibuki and Tetora's interaction in Ibuki's Idol Story 2 also provides some idea of how Ibuki's inclusion would go, and the interaction also makes the inclusion less sudden. Though, if memory serves me well, he rejected being the leader of EsuPuri because it was child-like? or childish? Anyway, he might have similar concerns with Ryuseitai - or he could embrace his inner-child some more. Ibuki should watch Kamen Rider Geats.

ALKALOID: It can work! ALKALOID is in a bit of a lull writing-wise, and adding Ibuki could be just the thing to stir them up. Ibuki's personality + identity means that like each member, he is marginalized, but his narrative doesn't seem to be stepping on anyone's toes. He also seems more ambitious and energetic than the average member, which could be interesting. The points about Tetora made above also apply with Hiiro and Ibuki. However, how Ibuki would wind up in ALKALOID seems hard to determine, since they are weapons-but-not-really-anymore of StarPro. Unless Eichi takes interest in Ibuki? Plus, there are only 4 suits in a deck of cards. Guess we'll have to make up a fifth one... (Would Ibuki be "one of the kids" or would he be Tatsumi's grandchild? The world will never know...)

Eden: Highly unlikely. Unless Ibuki REALLY sweeps Ibara off his feet, its not happening. Eden also has an "it is the Four of them" atmosphere - and even if it didn't, I can't imagine Ibuki being the most comfortable in this setup. The aesthetics also aren't really for him. Maybe when you're older and more experienced, Ibuki...

2wink: How. (everything from this point on is a joke to be clear) In the twin unit? The 2 unit? Do we kick one of them out? Does Ibuki become a triplet? What's the thought process here? Where are we going from here? Is Ibuki the family therapist? Are we finally getting 3wink (thrwink... thwink...)?

Valkyrie: In Shu's words - Non. Writing-wise, this just wouldn't happen. Plus - and this really was the only way that I could word this - Valkyrie's freakisms are not for the weak of heart, and while I don't doubt Ibuki's tenacity, I'm not sure if he would want to be around these two for an extended period of time. The aesthetics also aren't tailored to him. Additionally, Shu's habit of calling Rinne a barbarian doesn't translate well here, and gets us into a situation with a lot of microaggressions and little to no resolution.

Crazy:B: There's a chance - if Lady Luck's in your favour. If any unit were to suddenly add a guy midway, it should be the rebellious unit, no? A unit that appeals to outsiders could also make Ibuki feel welcome as someone unfamiliar to Japan - or it could make him feel more isolated, but that depends on a lot of things. In their writing, Crazy:B has been focusing a lot on their interpersonal relationships lately, and Ibuki's addition might get them back into their greater theme of rebellion - or it could ruin what has been established about their interpersonal relationships, and we wind up going over the same song and dance when it comes to rebellion. Fans are also really fond of the Crazy:B dynamic now, so adding in another guy likely would not fair well. Then, same concern as ALKALOID - how would Ibuki end up here? Lady Luck'll have to be extra nice to Ibuki if he joins this unit...

UNDEAD: Hard to imagine. Honestly, I just couldn't visualize this one. In all fairness, Enstars' ability to integrate Kaoru and Adonis into UNDEAD's major arcs hasn't always been the most stable (see: HappyElements not using their names once in the original summary for UNDEAD's climax event) and Ibuki would likely get the same treatment, if not worse. Again, very hard to integrate Ibuki in writing-wise, and he would definitely be outright neglected. A shame, because while he might not be suited to UNDEAD as a unit, it's not as impossible to imagine his interactions with the individual members.

Ra*bits: Hmm... Ra*bits' recent attempts to mix "cute" and "cool" so as to stand apart from girl groups while still retaining their existing appeal gives a bit of room to work with. Ibuki's definitely a "cool" guy, so I imagine that he could teach them quite a bit - but it doesn't look like he gets much in return for now. Aesthetically, it bears for him the same problems that EsuPuri does. Again, that doesn't even go into Ra*bits as "the Four of them". Maybe if they develop a lot of interaction beforehand and clearly outline their future goal...

Knights: I have ideas (but Enstars might not)! With Esu formerly studying under Knights, do you have any idea how funny this would be? People were a bit peeved that EsuPuri and Knights had similar aesthetics, but introducting Ibuki into Knights then setting up Knights as their senpai + rival could be so fun, especially with a rivalry between Esu and Ibuki to mimic the older rivalries our protagonists had (Trickstar - fine, ALKALOID - Crazy:B). Like, the guy that dropped out of being leader, ultimately leading to you to become leader in his absence, is now singing and dancing with your senpai who are considered some of the best in the industry. Also, like with Ryuseitai, we get to poke at the worldbuilding that previously established that units cannot have more than 5 members. Please tell me you see the vision. (though I will concede that the aesthetics + goals of Knights don't scream Ibuki).

There's also something here that applies with some other units as well - which is that putting Ibuki in units where the leader is one of the younger characters in the franchise helps show off how pre-existing characters have grown. Since Enstars characters have been aged up a year 1-2 times, there's been quite a bit of growth for them, but people tend to be stuck with their impressions of when these characters were younger. EsuPuri + Ibuki can help show the growth of the younger characters by putting them into senpai positions, sometimes for the first time. So, for Knights, it means that Tsukasa would have a proper junior for the first time - which either leads to interesting developments for the Knights characters or neglect of pre-existing relationships.

Which is to say that a) we get to see Kasa-kun curbstomp a bunch of children and b) we get to see Kasa-kun realize that having an energetic junior isn't better than having energetic seniors.

Switch: Not the one. Can't really see Ibuki in this one for, as always, aesthetic and writing purposes. Additionally, SwitchPs have noticed that Sora doesn't get as much attention as the other two, which could go in two ways. 1) Ibuki and Sora become an in-unit pair akin to Natsume and Tsumugi, and their developing relationship allows them to battle this disparity in attention or 2) the lack of attention gets heightened, with either Sora, or Ibuki - or even both - being neglected.

MaM: Interesting. Madara and Ibuki both seem to be the independent type, and its noted that Madara isn't mindful of others when dancing in a group since he's used to being alone. Though, his experiences in Double Face must have changed that, and it would be interesting to see how he has changed since Double Face's creation - but if not written well, it could trivialize Double Face's history. On one hand, fans enjoy seeing Madara make friends, but on the other hand, Madara's choice of being solo has been quite the question, and Ibuki's addition might bury this worldbuilding away if not written well. It definitely has potential, but it has just as much potential to go awry. Ibuki could be Madara's lawyer instead I guess.

Solo: HappyElements, hire me and I will raise you to levels you could never fathom!

They could have made a whole show of it! Have Ibuki go from unit to unit where he's their understudy for the duration of the event and have him assess whether or not he wants to join! This would tie into the junior system in J-POP where idols pre-debut usually become backup dancers for other units, going on to do interviews, songs and other things to build up a reputation before debuting and using their now established fanbase to make a lot of dough! It would tie in so well to the idol-like direction that HappyElements is taking with 4piece!

It could have been such a grand event! Have them build up the hype over time, show off the pros and cons that Ibuki sees in joining a unit, and then when the time comes to announce his decision after months, maybe even years in real-life - pull the rug out from under everyone and have him go solo! And since going solo isn't allowed in-universe, have them confront the War-era rules that continue to affect idols! Let Ibuki challenge the idol rules that Eichi once established and mess with the system!

And if he were rivals with Esu? Imagine if he outperforms EsuPuri as a solo idol - that's gotta be a hit to Esu as a leader... Man...

and AKATSUKI...

The new AKATSUKI could have been "an idea of Japan that represents everyone" which acknowledges those beyond the Yamato. It could have recognized the diversity in Japan, and allowed for the "idea" of Japan to no longer be dominated by the majority - a unit that respects the people of Japan who are normally forgotten. An AKATSUKI were Ibuki's traditions are celebrated, not chiseled down.

Instead, Ibuki is being absorbed into "the traditional Japan" - a very different scenario from the above.

That's all from me. I have a little extra info below for the curious.

Why write this? It's not really related to your blog...?

Fair question. But for one, I think that we forget that writing is a part of HappyElements' problem of discrimination (but just one part). As people have mentioned for years with Adonis, its pretty clear that the message is that racism is bad - its just that in their writing, HappyElements reinforces the racism that it claims to be against, thus pitting themselves against their own message.

This is only exemplified more in the recent AKATSUKI event, but what I really want to address is fan reactions.

There's a bit of a rift growing now, particularly with AKATSUKIPs and IbukiPs

"If you were a real AKATSUKI fan, you would still recognize and support them as four."

"AKATSUKI is only ever three, the AKATSUKI with Ibuki in it is not who I grew to love."

"AKATSUKI fans are being so rude - there is no problem with Ibuki joining, and he deserves to be in a unit."

"Ibuki shouldn't be in this unit, and it hurts for me as his producer to see him here."

But here's the thing:

Fans are not the ones who created this situation, so why are they blaming each other?

Enstars did not write a good event for either AKATSUKI or Ibuki, frankly speaking. Even if you remove every incident of racism from Enstars, the writing quality is still bad. Even if the writing quality was good in this event, it would not change the imperialistic tones.

But this is not a dichotomy - HappyElements doesn't have to choose between making either AKATSUKIPs happy or IbukiPs happy. It could have written anything else, as I've demonstrated in my writing exercise above. Some fans have been theorizing about other units Ibuki could join, and some are rather amenable to Ibuki joining their own favorites! HappyElements chose the most divisive decision, sullied further by a slew of problems.

When the song Tenshou KAGETSU was first released, prior to the story release, there was a common sentiment in the comments:

"Let's hope for an event that will make us both [AKATSUKIP and IbukiP] happy!"

And their hopes weren't misplaced. It was more than possible.

HappyElements' choice is what made it impossible.

[dogtoling]

I know that Inkling societies mirror human ones because of plot reasons going back to Alterna, but I've really enjoyed seeing your 'convergent evolution' takes on the biology, so why not apply that same logic to something like, say, architecture? At a glance, sure, Inkopolis and the Splatlands look recognizable to us, but would for instance an inkling or octoling's home have a layout differently built for their unique needs and behavior?

Thank you! also yes this is a good point! I've been avoiding doing anything too outlandish with the architecture or much of any of the worldbuilding to be honest because we know very little about Splatoon architecture and... well, stuff like this, to begin with. And it's harder to try and change major things about the world itself than it is to work with alternative biology for a creature in my opinion; all we really know when it comes to architecture and city- and building design in Splatoon that it is very similar to those of humans, and a lot of the elements are based on modern day Japan. I doubt the developers are doing that much to differentiate the architecture from human buildings and stuff because granted it would be a ridiculous amount of thoughts and work to sculpt a society and buildings that accommodate like 500 different species MINIMUM.... there's some little things here and there, like the Giant Doorways in the Deepsea Metro, but then there's other things like the freaking escalator in Inkopolis Plaza that's literally the width of maybe 1 Inkling and no other species even fits in that. Hell, it's not even the width of TWO PEOPLE which is at least expected of escalators to my knowledge--- anyway....

my point being I don't like to make sweeping differences to human architecture when it comes to Splatoon, because whether I like it or not a LOT of their stuff is just human architecture a little bit to the left. But that doesn't mean you can't make any changes to it, and it also doesn't mean there aren't any changes, those changes just might not be as visible.

Some random things I've thought about: Modern housing in Inkadia has VERY strong windows. Glass in general is very strong in urban environments, especially buildings near Turf War areas for obvious reasons... you don't want people Super Jumping through your window nor your window blasted to smithereens by a Trizooka shot that missed.

In apartment buildings, if there are mail slots on the doors, there's a container on the other side. Prevents people from slinking into your house through the mail slot. Apparently this is a common thing to have in Japan? We just have mail slots or postboxes out in the yard or lobby.

Also to prevent people from slinking into your house: residential buildings have dense grates, nets or spikes in their ventilation shafts. In some older buildings and non-residentials, these might be missing. But without things like this, any Inkling (typically) can just fit straight through a pipe as long as their beak fits in it, so you would end up having guests you maybe don't want.

Quickly about apartments; they're actually a very popular form of living not just for cost-cutting and because there's a fuck ton of residents in Inkadia, but because inkfish are mostly very social and do better surrounded with lots of people living in close quarters. The two most popular types of apartments are single-person ones that are basically just a single-room hole, and bigger apartments that have several small rooms and a community area that are meant for a whole school of squid (usually a friend group) to live in. People who live in the single-person apartments typically just go home to sleep and maybe cook or something... unless you're an introverted squid, or not a squid at all, and just settle for very little when it comes to space.

Inklings ALWAYS have some type of direct heating in their houses, from space heaters to a kotatsu to heated blankets to sun lamps. This is because Inklings are mostly cold-blooded and become very sluggish if their body temperature falls too much (for example from lack of physical activity or from cold room temperature), so there's a focus on keeping one's living quarters comfortably warm. Most lamps marketed for inkfish are actually heat lamps to the point where finding a lamp that Doesn't Make The Room Hot if it's on for too long is kind of hard.

Inklings are pretty vulnerable to dry air due to their thin skin and dependence on humidity to keep them thoroughly hydrated. As a result, you'll find air humidifiers in like, every house. In some AC units, a humidifier function is included. From a human perspective, the average Inkling apartment feels warm and humid - but to them it feels just normal. Due to the relatively high humidity, it's pretty common for electrical outlets to have covers for when they're not in use.

It's common for Octarian homes to have "sleeping holes" or "dens" carved into the wall. These haven't really become trendy in Inkopolis yet, but they probably will. It's also quite common for inkfish homes to have stacked furniture and interior made in layers - because they can fit in very tight spaces in swim form, maze-like interiors are still fully usable to most inkfish. Though it's rarer to find people who actually want to deal with the clutter.

Most Inkopolis bathrooms have a combined shower-bath. Inkfish showers come with a shower head that only really lets mist through on the default setting. (You're expected to test this BEFORE you take your first shower and replace it if necessary because you don't want to get into the tub and then find out it's a normal cross-species shower head on fucking Jet Mode.) Bathtubs are mainly used for re-absorbing moisture and soaking in ink rather than cleaning (because inkfish don't do very well with actual baths).

Most flooring is specifically made to be ink-resistant and non-absorptive. The combined humidity of the air and the ink that inkfish naturally get everywhere would ruin wooden floors IMMEDIATELY.

Toilets usually have a flap or gate blocking the drain that flips open when it's flushed. There are too many historical cases of people falling into toilets and just fucking dying or going missing forever because it's difficult to get out. (Mostly kids, but also people who fell asleep or too far into thought and just slinked into there. The world is full of danger when you can fit into any gap.) also lots of people accidentally laying eggs there which for obvious reasons is REALLY BAD if there's nothing to catch those.

All modern apartment buildings are required to have elevators. I'm pretty sure this is also just a real-life requirement nowadays. A lot of older buildings in Inkopolis don't have any, though... and while Super Jumping on street level is usually prohibited, most apartments have roof access, so a lot of people still jump between work/hobbies and their house. It is A LOT faster than dealing with traffic or walking (but it's also mostly illegal).

uh probably more things. My brain is empty now but hopefully that's some kind of inspiring ty for asking!

[bloop-bl00p]

Rewriting Vaggie because she was done dirty

Angel's backstory and my take if Vaggie was a human.

1. Angel Vaggie:

So, back in the Pilot days, I wasn’t a fan of Vaggie being an Exorcist theory. I was like, Vivienne is obliviously a decent writer, of course, she won’t do something so oblivious! The X on Vaggie’s face is because she lost her eye alive!

I was so disappointed, but I could still work with it… then I was double disappointed when the reveal had no impact on the narrative and all they gave us AMgy Charlie for one scene and fixed the conflict in one episode. 😐

That and the plot holes it created, what plot holes you ask? Well, Vaggie still speaks Spanish which means that she’s still Salvadoran but… Adam named her? Assuming everyone changes their name once they get to Heaven, why do they recruit humans to fight demons? Assuming that there’s like a whole process of giving angelic power to enforce a soul, why didn't they give to the whole army the Kamehameha rip-off Adam has? The Extermination would have been much more faster and deadly if they could just Kamehameha Pentagram Cities.

Most importantly, even if they have enhanced speed, strength, or whatever, if they are all humans, why did they think they were invincible?! Surely if they can kill sinners who are human souls, they’ll know that they can also be killed themselves? Right?! RIGHT?!

I hate the worldbuilding in this show, I hate it!! 🥲

Anyway my rewrite of Angel Vaggie, she won’t be Salvadoran and was fully created in Heaven so no Spanish.

Here’s the thing, the Exorcists were created with Adam’s ribs. A little bit of physiology here, ribs can regrow and repair even when a large a portion of it is damaged. So with Heaven's supervision, creating an army of women with Adam’s ribs was relatively a fast and painless process for the First Man.

You’ll ask me, why make them with ribs? Well, the reason why Eve was made with Adam was a reminder that God created her beside him. They complemented each other, I wanted to do something similar. Adam feels content with The Exorcists because he finally has a group of women who actually listen and are interested in him and not some random with wings. The Exorcists are entitled to Adam and feel worthless without following him around and his orders, a bit like Pearl in Steven Universe, they were created that way.

They still possess some form of autonomy and develop their own personality, not following Adam’s orders just feels odd to them. Then someone actually did it and we all know how that ended.

Whoops that must have hurted.

My take on Vaggie and Lute’s relationship ⇢ here ⇠

So, in Hell, Valtiel (I renaimed her) was totally distraught, she was scared and didn’t know what to do, she was so used to blindly following orders. Sparing this child seemed like it was the worst decision she’d ever made but it also felt right, the poor girl couldn't grasp her feelings correctly at the moment.

She managed to survive a few months in Hell by making a relatively short deal with a local gang to receive aid, in exchange, she used her fighting skills to help them steal food and survive as a whole, she did not develop any sense of belonging to the group and mostly did it for survival.

When her deal came to an end she separated herself from the gang and stayed for a long time in different disaffected buildings with other SDFs preferring to continue her path alone, she felt horribly empty, devoid of purpose without following someone.

Until she saw a star.

The Princess was trying to promote her Hotel on the street, and while Valtiel thought her project was very delusional, she accepted. The Hotel was an old establishment but it was certainly more well-kept than where she used to be, and it was free.

I’m sparing the details, they slowly fell in love and Valtiel projected the toxic dependence she had on Adam to Charlie. While the two truly love each other, Valtiel will need to learn to find herself and not depend on others to live. If she were to have her wings back, it wouldn’t angel's wings but a moth's wings. As a way to metaphorically represent the fact that she changed, like a moth.

She never told Charlie about her past.

I renaimed her Valtiel because it meant “Attendant of God” If you go search a list of angels in Christian Mythology, you’ll notice each of them has “El” as the last syllabus. It’s because “El” in Hebrew means God.

1. Human Vaggie:

Lemme do a research real quick…

Wait a minute..

… y’know. I’m starting to believe that Vivienne is just lazy, obliviously this is one of Vaggie's concepts of backstory, the famous one being that she died in 2014.

But am I the only one who sees the potential?!! Like all things are linked! It makes sense! The very militaristic attitude she had during the Redemption Exercises, the fact that she brought the cast to a war front to build their trust, jeez that’s a missed opportunity to do something that is (to me) much more interesting than a theory made by fans.

So as a good writer, I did a little research because someone had to do it since Medrano won’t, and here is what I came up with.

(If anyone sees any historical mistakes report them to me, I really don’t want to disrespect anyone and I know wars in a really difficult subject to write about. Sorry if I offended anyone.)

Her name is Vanessa she was born in 1968 in El Salvador and died in 1990. Before all of that, she and her brother Carlos were both children of war.

They were separated from their mother during the Salvadoran Civil War, the woman tried to flee with them during a fight between La Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN, rebel group) and La Fuerza Armada de El Salvador (FAES, military) but between the gunshot and the terrified civilians, she ended up losing her kids. Vanessa from afar saw her mother getting shot and tried to run away with her brother, he was 5, and she was 12.

The two siblings were later indoctrinated to join the FAES, they never tried to escape as a means to survive since they received food and somewhat clean water, which they originally didn't have in great amounts. However, Vanessa never really supported their ideology and Carlos was too young to really understand what was happening.

The young boy was frail and relatively weak due to his age and malnutrition he only worked in the support staff which was involved in helping to maintain camp operations. Vanessa was also part of it and sticked with her brother as much as possible, but as she grew, she was used to carrying around messages between units due to her being older and stronger, which she hated, it was dangerous and she was disgusted by the idea of leaving her brother alone with these people.

The two of them were victims of SA perpetuated by the soldiers (hence why she’s so wary of men when especially violent ones). Her brother died at ten, due to the poor condition and she blamed herself for it. She eventually died by accidentally activating a booby trap, the explosion sent shrapnel flying, hitting her in the face and causing the loss of her eye she expired due to blood loss at 22.

Vanessa found herself in Hell and tried to survive for a few months both scared and disoriented. However, she still managed to somewhat be fine punching her way inside buildings to steal food and find ways to avoid sleeping outside. She renaimed herself Vaga in reference to the word Vagabundo which means vagabond.

To her, home is where she’s with her brother, without him there’s no home.

Vaga heard words of Carmilla as she started to familiarize herself with English, what she understood was that she dealt with weapons and was a gentler overlord. She eventually met her and they made a deal. It didn't involve Vaga’s soul but just 4 years of working for her, testing weapons and such. Vaga assisted the woman and trained with her daughters, she also learned English and got a better understanding of Hell’s system.

At 26 too, Vaga's deal was done and she decided to distance herself from Carmilla whose door was clearly still open if she needed help. She met Charlie on the street when the Princess was just starting her project, and since Vaga needed a place to crash in, she went in not realizing they’d catch feelings.

Vaga has signs of Complex post-traumatic stress disorder due to being a child of war. This leads her to many emotional outbursts and this feeling of emptiness when she isn't helping, at least she sees it as helping. Her whole life she only managed to survive in a hostile environment by serving others, she may not view it that way but she unconsciously believes the act of Serving is a necessity to keep her alive.

She deeply believed she failed to protect Carlos, so she projected it all on Charlie. This could lead to an interesting conflict between the two, Charlie was highly shielded from the world by her mother, and this hotel is proof that she can survive on her own (in my rewrite at least.) If her girlfriend starts acting like an overprotective parent it won’t do.

While Vaga mostly thinks redemption is impossible, she holds that small tiniest sprinkle of hope that maybe if she managed to get into Heaven somehow, she could see Carlos again and apologize for failing him.

Vaga still hasn't opened up about her past.

More explanation:

Her human backstory is extremely Grave of the Fireflies coded and I admit I recently saw the movie and couldn't help it. It’s my way of coping, this movie destroyed me. Some may ask, why did Vannessa go to Hell, she did nothing wrong.

That’s part of my Heaven rewriting, you see you’re judged by the Seven Deadly Sins and the Holly Virtuous. But they only judge your actions, not why you did them.

Carlos went to Heaven because he was really young and hadn't developed a real sense of morality yet, if he reached 13 he would have gone to Hell. Vanessa died an adult and still helped in the War, even if it was out of her control she still got damned.

Anyway, what do you think of those two backstories?

[jesncin]

Hello! I'm not sure if you read the Actions Comics #1074, but I wanted to get this thought out of my head. Spoilers ahead!

Clark got sent back in time when Krypton has yet to be destroyed. After saving a stranger from a malfunctioning flying bot, he was sent to Krypton Hospital and, after he was given treatment, a meal, and new set of clothes, he immediately went to place Lara and Jor-El were.

I couldn't help but think his sudden visit to Lara and Joe-El reminded me of how in some Asian countries, you could just walk into your neighbor's home, usually without a prior notice, and just...eat with them, talk with them, and other activities. I remember someone talking about how in their country, they would go to their neighbor's home so much and help them with chores like laundry, they knew the days when that neighbor does which chores and always got meal going there.

In my country, the Philippines, my grandpa's neighbors would just appear with no notice, and give my grandparents company!

Indeed, Clark did send some sort of message about his visit to that Lara received, but he immediately left from the Krypton Hospital to the place of Lara and Jor-El's, and even though the Science Council is conceited, the communal spirit must be so strong for Lara to just accept this stranger's sudden and quick request for a meeting, even though she doesn't know them.

just...something about community and how people just helping each other because they want to, which bring about an easier life and also a joyful one

Anyway! What comics have you recently read? I think Absolute Superman is out now! Have you read Absolute Superman? What do you think about it?

I gave said Action Comics issue a quick read!

It's definitely not intentional in the story, but it does serve as a nice jumping off point to thinking of Krypton as having a type of collectivist communal mindset for treating thy neighbors. Part of what fascinates me about Kryptonian worldbuilding is exploring what the idea of a doomed utopia could be like. I'd personally love to see writers pull inspiration from cultural philosophies like Gotong Royong or Bayanihan, along with challenging human structures of gender, class and spirituality. An indigenous-inspired Krypton would be phenomenal.

But as long as DC Comics continues to be a reflection of a white dominant industry, we're not going to get anything like that soon. The Action Comics story is charming enough, I like seeing Clark try out Kryptonian clothes and mention that he has a language barrier, but the white imagination can only go so far without having lived it.

I have read Absolute Superman! My feelings about it are actually pretty similar. I'm glad I wasn't excited for AbsoSupes because it sounded boring from the promos, and turns out, it (the first issue at least) was indeed dull. Something Absolute Superman shares in common with Absolute Batman is that it doesn't stand on its own. These takes rely on being contrarian (what they call "subversive") to their source material. If I didn't know anything about Superman, I'd honestly think this was a pretty generic alien superhero story.

I notice most of the people enjoying AbsoSupes are praising it because they've done 80 years of Superman homework to get all its references and recognize what it's twisting. But I think an over-reliance on expecting your audience to do reading pre-requisites to even like a story at all is weak. Absolute Wonder Woman on the other hand, is an outstanding, mythic take on the character- no homework required, just genuinely compelling characterization and storytelling.

(spoilers for Absolute Superman #1)

To bring this back to my feelings on Krypton, Superman writers and DC as a company; I think stuff like Man Of Steel, that Krypton tv show, MAWS and Absolute Superman reflect the very limits of the white imagination. New Superman writers are no longer invested in exploring Superman's origin planet as a utopia, because that's not something white people can relate to or fathom. Instead, they'd rather Krypton be a direct reflection of Earth's problems.

Kryptonians are now colonizers, classist and bigoted. Krypton is no longer the land of the future sending down their one hope to guide the imperfect people of Earth into a better tomorrow. There's no appealing contrast between Earth and Krypton anymore, and because of that- Kal El becomes an exception from Planet Colonizer. He's just some decent guy from the other equally shitty country. It's not that you can't make an interesting hero from that, but I've certainly seen that guy many times before. It's nothing new.

Kal now doesn't have a cast system and wanders around on his own, I've seen how that kind of character struggles because I've read Martian Manhunter stories. Kal talks to his suit because he's Iron Man now I guess. Kal was actually more grown up when he was on Krypton instead of a baby, so... just like Supergirl is in canon- well that's not new either. Lois Lane is a government agent here, because why have characters who occupy unique jobs like being a librarian or a journalist when you can make them yet another cop or agent? When the biggest personal experience integrated into Kal your Absolute Superman writer boasts about is how he's the first writer who is actually from Kansas to write Superman, this is what you get.

[chronicbeans]

Hi! Since I saw the illustrator wally series I've been exited to request this, it was also sad to see how nobody has yet come with this idea or at least I haven't seen anyone else bring this up so here I come!

It will be interesting how It would work a relationship between Human wally and reader who has maladaptive daydreaming along with autism, I thought of how would it be to meet someone who has to experience something familiar with you. ( since maladaptive daydreaming can be described as a variant of schizophrenia with some small differences ) anyways, I'm a desperate for representation-

ET TU, BRUTE? Omg I maladaptive daydream too (if I am reading it right and you mean to say that you do IT-). My therapist says that I am like, addicted to it lol. My family counselor also likened my case more towards depersonalization/dissociation/a variant of DID due to me only daydreaming myself as other people. This is actually the first time I have heard of it being described as a variant of schizophrenia, but it actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it! I need more representation too, so let's do this! I'll try to make it as broad as possible, because everyone daydreams about different things!

Illustrator Wally with an Autistic Reader who Maladaptive Daydreams:

TW: Mentions of Hallucinations, Maladaptive Daydreaming

🖍️ He is a bit confused when he sees you pacing around your living room. He is visiting, and decided to try to surprise you by sneaking up behind you and giving you a gift! Now, though, he is a bit enamored by how you are prancing around, muttering little things to yourself as you seem so carefree and happy in your little world. This is the first time he has seen you like this.

🖍️ You finally end up turning around, in his direction, and your face grows a bit pale from shock and embarrassment. "Uh... Hello... I'm so glad you came to visit!" You try to play it off, but he is too intrigued. Maybe you are like him, and hallucinate, too?

🖍️ You explain what you were doing. You daydream... WAY more often than other people! Intense worldbuilding, character arcs, and more all take place in your head the majority of the day. You like to prance or pace, finding it helpful to feel more comfortable. You also tend to stim in other ways if you cannot pace or prance. The odd facial expressions and mutterings were just you getting in character and reacting to what was happening in your daydreams.

🖍️ Wally is intrigued. It is so... similar, but different, from him. Both you and him are autistic, yes. He's known that for a while, since you told him around the second or third meeting between you two. THIS, though, is so amazing to him. He wants to know more about the stories in your head!

🖍️What do they consist of? Are they horror? Romance? Action? Comedy? He wishes to know. Are you in them? Do you play someone else? Is it from a third person perspective, watching over your creations? If it is something child friendly, maybe you can write a book and he can illustrate it!

🖍️ Even if it is something more... dark, disturbing, overall NOT a kid friendly topic... he would still want to draw it! Maybe he can start to expand his illustrations into more adult books. He is shockingly good at drawing horror, you know. Some of his vent art is a really disturbing treat to view.

🖍️ You might get onto the topic of how both of your conditions are similar and different. You have a lot of characters floating around in your head. Different worlds, stories, everything! Wally does have, in a way, characters, too! The little voices in his head count, right? Sometimes the same one will pop up every now and again. Both of your conditions seem, in a way, uncontrolled. Due to Wally preferring to not use medications, he simply lives with the voices and hallucinations, going to therapy to help him cope and learn to live with it. You just go with the flow, in a way. As far as you've heard, the best and only way to help deal with it is therapy. No real medication or anything.

🖍️ You both are finally happy to find someone similar to yourselves. The best part is that it is similar enough to be familiar, but different enough to have such interesting conversations!

[ms-scarletwings]

A Speculative Analysis About Irkens No One Asked For: Part I

Dem green fellas. Them lil guys, they’re an interesting pack of critters, aren’t they?

I used to really fixate on them back in middle and high school, stronger than everyone else seemed to be on the spazz in the dog costume. Jhonen Vasquez’s worldbuilding has always towed a very fine line between nonsensically ridiculous and surprisingly logistical, and this balance is typified in everything we know, and can infer, about these bug-eyed imperialists at the center of everything Invader Zim. So, let’s infer, and take a crack at it since no one’s stopping us anyway- More specifically, some thoughts and ponderings I had about how they “tick” as a fully realized society, not just a sci-fi monster..

A Homeworld Obscured 

Now, to really understand the history and “deal” of any civilization, or any animal, usually you would turn to their environment first to give you some handy clues and context.

Small problem, though: We actually don’t get much in the way of direct, explicit showing or explanations about Irk itself when it comes to the show. This makes some sense, given that the whole of what they do worth showing (and the most notable members of their kind) exists almost entirely off-world. So instead, we mostly find out more about Irk from what Invader Zim does tell us about its natives. As far as confirmed canon goes, we know that Irk’s atmosphere appears red, its surface is entirely and densely urbanized, and it’s long been depicted in starmaps with a set of Saturn-like rings. 

  This last fact is probably the most interesting, because planetary rings are usually something we, in our own little solar system, would only associate with massive, gaseous worlds, not terrestrial ones.  What These rings are made of is really anyone’s guess- could be ancient debris from natural satellites, Water-ice particles, maybe even some form of artificial defense network put into orbit by the Irkens themselves. If they aren’t artificially created, this would suggest that Irk has quite a strong gravitational field- greater than that of any of our neighborhood’s rocky planets. This is the common theory I personally like to subscribe to, because it would also go hand and hand with explaining why the average height of the irken race is so much shorter compared to that of an adult human. It fits neatly into the “why” question for the sort of athletic skill and agility we’ve seen invaders able to demonstrate on Earth, too, for otherwise being of meek physical prowess. It even adds some credible context for why the very achievement of growing to a more substaintial height is both uncommon and associated with extreme survival fitness to them.

A Fun fact that’s about to be relevant: “Rayleigh scattering” is the term given to when light wavelengths become shifted and scattered through an atmosphere medium. Long story short, it’s the reason our sky has color to it during the day. Stay with me on this.

I’ve also seen some people take a go at the red-looking surface, guessing a different gas makeup than the elements on earth responsible for our blue skies. I’m gonna go against the grain here, and actually contest that. I think that Irk’s atmosphere is coincidentally extremely similar to Earth’s. We know well enough that they both have a similar composition of gases breathable to both societies, given that Zim, Skoodge, and Tak all seemed pretty comfortable without some form of assistance on the same dirtball as humanity. Instead, I propose that Irk’s magenta skies are actually the symptom of heavy pollution. Sunsets and sunrises in the real world are known to make the sky appear more reddish-orange, even pink, as is. Usually, Rayleigh scattering has the light From the sun appear bluish in full midday, but during low sun, the rays are coming at an angle making them have to travel farther before reaching us, so you have already stretched light waves getting the same treatment from the air and, well, a higher frequency blue turns down to the lower end of the spectrum, red and yellows.

And wouldn’t you know, air pollution can actually do the same thing. THIS is why there's a scary ass orange haze known to accompany the presence of massive forest fires and volcanic eruptions. Earth’s most polluted cities even experience longer and redder sunsets for the same reason. 

Left: Image of a lilac sky over a Chinese city experiencing heavy smog levels Right: Intense red haze spotted over towns in Indonesia in the wake of rampant rainforest fires

On Earth, Zim stared directly into the midday sun without hesitation, nor concern that it would literally blind him. I think the planet hue and this is plenty enough to guess the likely case that Irk’s surface probably doesn’t get a lot of direct sun on an average day as is, and the sheer amount of unbroken cityscape that covers the homeworld would be the more obvious suspect than just having a more distant star from them. If they overcrowded to the point of their expansion, why build their civilization deeper into the ground, instead of up? Maybe there's actually a good reason or two they don’t raise their young topside.

A Psychology Molded for Domination

As well, I want to chirp about real world space again for a second. So, anyone up to the buzz in geek circles and aware of the math on the matter probably got the memo: humanity is almost matter-of-fact certainly not alone in this sandbox of a universe (or at the very least, we won’t always be alone). Like, about as certainly as we were about Black holes’ existence before we up and observed the real thing. And while it’s probably not going to happen in any of our lifetimes, sci-fi and media generally have been trying to take a crack for years at what the theoretical first contact with an alien civilization is going to look like. 

And I’m gonna go ahead and say it, 

As “cliche” and Hollywood as the conquering little green/grey dudes trope might have become… it’s actually not a wild take after all. The little and green thing, that’s creative liberty, but the part about them being hostile and something we may not actually even WANT to be aware of our existence? That’s an idea that even the smarty pants experts have been fearing the realistic odds of, even including the late Stephen Hawking .

The Evolution of intelligent life is a hard thing to really pin down and predict, given that we literally only have the one example to study. Under the right conditions, what reason would another advanced species NOT have to be equally as expanding, as exploitative of its resources, self-destructively short-sighted, and as supremacist as humans have already demonstrated themselves to be capable of? There is a lot of very interesting literature that suggests BOTH empathy/altruism and or aggression/tribalism to be (at least in the short term) very rewarding characteristics for an intelligent social species to develop.

And that’s the thing about the behavior of the Irken Armada I think has always been fascinating. Their drive to be the biggest definitionally invasive species across the cosmos is framed exactly as irrational, bumbling, and pointless as it deserves to be; however, is it not just the extended conclusion of every empire that has existed here on Earth, if only it had survived long enough to achieve the technology of Irk? And yet, it’s reminiscent, like the rest of their design, to the far from sapient, yet very real world creatures they appear to be most inspired by: hive and colony building arthropods. Whether the next point I'm about to touch on should be seen as a rejection of that resemblance, or further elaboration of it is anyone's to answer.

Transhumanism, or.. Transirkenism, in this case?

Like the specifics of what Irk really looks like and how it realistically works, a bunch about the aliens’ physical biology is left to scattered tidbits to ponder and piece together into a bigger picture. A few of those tidbits are as follows, drip-fed to us over the course of aired and scripted but never released episodes:

+ From the mouth of Vasquez himself, it has been confirmed that Irkens lack any form of reproductive organs. Instead, they rely on industrialized facilities to grow and produce them in a factory sense.

+ Yet curiously, they still demonstrate something akin to sexual dimorphism, or at least the cultural existence of masculine/feminine genders, where females are aesthetically set apart by the presence of curled antennae, eyelashes, and higher voices.

+ Irken lifespans are able to stretch far past that of an average human’s (Zim himself is cited to be around 2 centuries old in earth years).

+ Invader class soldiers have been implanted with surgical upgrades to their eyes.

+ Every Irken is fitted with a PAK that serves a wide array of utility and life-sustaining functions for its owner. These units are physically and neurologically connected into an Irken’s spine from “birth” and contain a cybernetic backup of an individual’s personality, assigned occupational programming, and memories. 

That’s not close to a complete list by any means, but it’s got the gist of what I want to dwell on most, starting with the last bit; because the PAK isn’t done true justice in one statement. It is not an extra addition the way a prosthetic enhancement is, and it is not a tool the way armor and weapons are. It is literally analogous to a vital organ to these aliens, and they are shown to die within 10 minutes of being forcefully detached from their own.

The degree to which Irken bodies and minds rely on this technology, and how seamlessly they are integrated into it, ALONG with their completely artificial life cycle all directly points to the fact that their civilization has advanced into a cyborg-like stage of evolution. It may even be on track to reach a post-organical peak in due time, phasing out more and more of their “vestigial” and feeble meatsuits until they’ve become a true drone army. And that actually begs some huge questions now that we realize we will never know how much of the Irken anatomy was ever originally a natural feature. An Irken’s own brain practically comes secondary to the superior efficiency of the supercomputer on their back, capable of literally holding their own essence and being in the form of code. A code that can preserve the “self” even in the event of meatbody failure, being uploaded post-mortem into the Control Brains’ collective data and repurposed for a future generation of workers. It absolutely would stand to reason that the species has continued this biological self-tampering to other heights- extending their lifespans, incorporating untold amount of mechanical upgrades into their bodies, and maybe even genetically engineering their smeets to be so compatible with this technology.  The control brains themselves are a mesmerizing reflection of this change over time- the result of an evident shift long ago from technology serving them, to them serving the directives of computers. When you really pay attention to the control brains’ role in the series, it comes clear to you who (or what) is really in charge of their society. The Tallest still maintain their symbolic/cultural importance to the Irkens, but outside of their part in spearheading the active intergalactic invasion, they ultimately are figureheads when it comes to actually running the homeworld and ruling the lives of Irk’s inhabitants. If I had to bet money, I would say the Brains may even have the ability to choose and predetermine the next Tallest when a replacement is needed. But what does that make the Tallest? A meaningless title and transformation, chosen arbitrarily by the AI overlords? Well, I don’t think so, actually… but maybe that, and more on the “meaty” morphology of their race is all a tangent fit for another day and post ;)

[timeofjuly]

Soulmates in Wishbone, or how I think the soulmate trope would shape the culture of a Swapfell Underground.

Disclaimer: worldbuilding is not one of my strengths lol, so take this more as rambly what-if speculation than anything concrete. If I end up contradicting any of this in the fic, shhh no I didn't.

@blurry-palmetto wanted to hear more about soulmates in my swapfell soulmate au fic Wishbone, so instead of replying to their comment like a normal person, here’s a whole long ass post below the cut!

Here’s a recap of what we know about how soulmates work in the fic:

The soulmate bond is solidified by physical touch.

Soulmates share HP, LV, and EXP.

Soulmates can share physical sensation.

Soulmates can access each other’s thoughts, feelings, and Intent.

They can share their own of all of the above with their soulmate.

They can also prevent their soulmate from accessing these things.

Both of the above are learned skills that require effort to execute. Without knowing how to be intentional with the bond, you just kinda end up transmitting everything to your soulmate all day long.

Soulmates are unable to FIGHT each other.

The death of one soulmate results in the death of the other(s).

Extended time away from your soulmate(s) results in soulmate sickness. For Papyrus, this manifested as feelings of itchiness, restlessness, insomnia, palpable anxiety. Increased physical distance between him and the reader worsened these symptoms.

Soulmates are a strictly monster thing: all monsters have a soulmate, and those soulmates can be other monsters, or they can be humans. There are no human/human soulmate bonds. Two humans can be soulmates with the same monster, though.

Any number of people can be soulmates in many different configurations. In Wishbone, the reader is in a wishbone, V-shaped bond with Sans and Papyrus, where they’re the middle bit and the brothers branch off from them.

Before the events of the first chapter of Wishbone, there were no mage/monster soulmate bonds.

Nobody has ever survived an attempt to break a soulmate bond.

For Wishbone, it was important to have two differing cultural views on soulmates because I wanted there to be a huge disparity between how Sans and Papyrus approach the bond compared to the reader. This choice was made for a few reasons, but mostly for maximum angst potential lmao (the driving force behind most Wishbone related decisions). I wanted the soulmate phenomenon to be deeply respected and revered by the monsters, a cultural tenet akin to children wearing stripes and respect for the monarch. A Big Deal, basically. This is juxtaposed with the reader’s disdain and ignorance - they have no idea how any of this works because soulmates weren't a Thing before the barrier broke, and they don’t really care to know, because the bond is nothing but a Big Problem they plan on rectifying. Yay to miscommunication and misunderstanding!

Now, for the monsters to feel that reverence, there has to be some advantage to having a soulmate Underground, right? Particularly in the cut-throat environment of Swapfell (or any Fellverse in general) - if this was just another glaring weakness ready to be exploited, everyone would do their best to avoid meeting their soulmate.

This brings us to:

Soulmates in a Fell Underground; what’s so good about having a soulmate, anyway?

First off, let’s talk about the downsides.

The biggest one is if your soulmate dies, that’s it for you too. You share HP and if you’re both drained, you’re dust. No second chances. This is obviously a massive, easily exploited weakness, and one that I think would’ve shaped the way soulmates cohabitate and interact with each other. I mention in the second chapter of Wishbone that typically the weaker monster(s) will move in with the stronger; this is one of those things that would’ve arisen to protect against this weakness. I think collars would exist for a similar reason in this universe.

Soulmate sickness. An issue if you’re separated from your soulmate, but it would’ve been much rarer Underground. In terms of sheer physical space available, it’d be pretty hard to get physically far enough to cause major issues, and like Papyrus says in Wishbone, soulmates don’t try to avoid each other. The situation in the fic is practically unprecedented.

For the stronger monster, you’re now responsible to ensure the survival of someone(s) weaker than you. Kinda hard to just look out for number one now. You’ve got a whole other person/group of people to keep safe and happy. That's a lot of pressure!

For the weaker monster, you might now find yourself the target of someone seeking to hurt your stronger soulmate(s).

All of that really sucks. There’s gotta be some pretty good benefits to offset all of those downsides.

And there are!

You get to share HP, EXP, LV. We’ve touched on the negatives, but there’s a huge advantage to this too. Not everyone’s bound to a soulmate. In a fight with an unbound person vs a bound one, the bound one theoretically has access to double the power.

Having a soulmate gives you a built-in ally, someone you can trust to have your back. They’ll always have your best interests at heart, because their interests are yours. Underground, this would’ve been an advantage to have over your unbound counterparts who can’t really trust their allies fully.

There’s also all the stuff Papyrus said when he was telling the Second Mage about the origin/purpose of soulmates. Monster souls are composed of love, hope, and compassion, and they inherently seek connection with others. He explains that soulmates have existed for as long as monsters can remember, as a way for souls to find individuals who can fulfill their need for hope, trust, love, and compassion. In an Underground where finding this with others was scarce, this is a big bonus. (As a side note, I think this adds a new layer to Sans’ glove wearing. The gloves actively prevent him from touching others and finding a soulmate. For a tactically minded person who is very aware of the strategic bonus of a soulmate, it says a lot that he's purposely passing up on all of those benefits.)

And that’s just all the purely practical stuff. Finding your soulmate(s) is highly romanticised. A bright spot in the otherwise bleak Underground. The stuff of fairytales - literally, Sans talks about telling those stories to Papyrus in chapter 2. There’s a reason Papyrus is so excited to be a soulmate (note that he’s not fussed about who that soulmate actually is).

Okay, but now the barrier’s broken and everyone’s above ground. Now what?

Great question, hypothetical person!

Firstly: a whole lotta monsters find their soulmates in humans. Remember how monsters can have soulmates in monsters and/or humans? This means that lots of monsters Underground were unable to meet their human, above ground soulmates. Now that they're free, this changes. This is a mostly good thing for the monsters, but I'm sure that a lot of humans in pre-existing relationships now had to grapple with the fact that they're now telepathically bound to their literal soulmate after accidentally brushing hands at the grocery store.

In the wider context of human society, I think there’d be mixed reactions, but what’s more shocking, monsters having soulmates or the mere existence of monsters in the first place? I think by the time everyone gets over the monster thing, the whole monster soulmate thing would be a lot less crazy in comparison.

In the context of mage society - before Wishbone, this just wasn’t an issue, because everyone thought that monsters can’t have mage soulmates. We’re now dealing with the fallout from realising that isn’t the case in the fic.

Where does this leave us?

A fun angsty playground to play around in, full of pits and spikes and traps, in my opinion! There’s so much cultural stuff that the reader insert in Wishbone just doesn’t get. Rules and norms and expectations that they know nothing about and can't really learn on their own, because so much of this knowledge is passed down through oral storytelling.

This is just another issue the characters need to contend with - they aren’t on equal footing for a million reasons, and one of those reasons is that they all know and believe different things about the bond and nobody is communicating about any of it. Well, Papyrus tried, but was shut down immediately. Which makes sense - he tried because he wants to have a proper, close bond with the reader, the kind he's wanted his whole life, and the reader shut it down because they have no interest in any of that. Not to mention round-the-clock glove wearing Sans, who has some pre-existing Issues with the idea of having a soulmate altogether.

But like Papyrus said, the supposed purpose of the bond is to help people get their fix of love, hope, and compassion, things that all three of them need if they ever want to be truly happy. In particular; Papyrus is desperate to be loved, and also doesn’t love himself; Sans has put so much space between himself and compassion as a protective measure over the years that it’s almost completely foreign to him, both feeling it for others (note that the Second Mage invokes reluctant compassion in him almost immediately, despite how much he hates them) and accepting it from those who care about him; and the reader, someone so focussed on building a better future for others, is completely without hope on a personal level because they see no future for themselves in the wake of the loss of their twin.

So, in theory, this whole soulmate thing could be good for all of them. I guess we'll just have to see if that's the case in practice.

[daisywords]

5, 6, 9 for 2024 reads asks :)

5. Crowd Pleaser: Book you would recommend to almost anyone

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Listen. It's really Great Literature. Also it's really good. You get it. Feels fantasy-esque enough to recommend to fantasy fans but also High Quality Literature enough to recommend to people that don't know how to have fun. Made me experience shrimp emotions and feel personally attacked and have blorbo thoughts but also it's like objectively really excellent stuff. Best thing C.S. Lewis ever wrote imo. Would recommend if you are religious or if you aren't. wow. I need to reread this book. It's not even that long; I read it in one day. If you write it will make you a better writer. if you are a human being it will make you understand something new about being a human being.

6. Dead Dove Do Not Eat: Book you would recommend to a select audience with a mountain of caveats

The Heretic by Nathan R. Allen Okay so the thing about this book is that it had serious pacing problems (in my opinion) and some things that made me cringe But. but. So many of the speculative elements are super unique and interesting and cool! Cool world, cool magic systems, compelling main plotline (once we finally got there lol) and character dynamics that made me want to corner the author somewhere and grab him by the shoulders and say WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THIS??? (complimentary [I think]) So I would recommend it to select people that I think would be interested enough in the good stuff to see past the flaws. Now that I've issued my vague cautions, here's a vague pitch: Disabled Magic/Tech PhD student has to scout for state secrets by going undercover to train as an enhanced supersoldier in order to get his brother out of being drafted. If that sounds interesting to you, and you're interested in a really cool magic system that interacts cleverly with a decent spy-type plot, and you can handle the fact that it sometimes feels like a chore to get through, I might recommend it. Anyway. Just kid of frustrates me because this book was okay but it could have been so good if it was good, you know?

9. Compels Me Though: Okay, maybe not all of it made sense, but you had a great time anyway

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard I have mixed feelings about the direction and execution of this book, but at the end of the day I enjoyed it very much. This was pitched to me as being similar to The Goblin Emperor, which I love, so I decided to check it out. I can definitely see the parallels, so I would pass that on as a recommendation. It feels like if the author read The Goblin Emperor and transparently took the elements she found the most compelling and took off with them. However. As a book I don't think it's very tightly executed and gets a little self-righteous and self-indulgent especially toward the end. It feels like the author started with a premise and then ran with it for a really long time as far as it would take her. A very very long book that doesn't finish quite where it started. I can see several reasons why someone could get very annoyed with this book. But it was such a nice read! I loved really getting to know the characters and the world (very extensive, interesting worldbuilding! And the world feels really vibrant and lived-in!). There was some very heartwarming and cathartic moments, and the characters were very endearing. The length and meandering pace allowed for a richness that really payed off in some places.

[teapotteringabout]

Stingray - Ep 2 Plant of Doom

So now we go from the brilliant pilot to the ok second episode. In my opinion. It’s actually a strange juxtaposition of pretty good and what the actual hell that cancel each other out. After writing this review out several times I think the best way to present my thoughts is to copy Jack Knoll and follow the episode’s plot rather than separate my review into categories. As a result, this is chonky, meaty, big fat one so strap in.

Over to Titan. He’s brooding as he often does in the series. He asks Teufel for divine guidance, to which Teufel uses his glowing mouth powers to make a nearby plant to omit a poisonous gas.

Just like the Hood in Thunderbirds, Teufel’s powers are never explained. At least the Hood used his several times, while Teufel will only show them this one time. It’s as much a shame as it is baffling – if Titan has this fish god that can make an innocuous plant deadly poisonous, why doesn’t he use him more often? We’ll see later how often X20 is able to slip into Marineville; why not give him a whole greenhouse worth of plants to put them around the base?

Anyway, it’s very amusing to me that Titan is nearly killed during this display, and that he takes it as a sign to use the plant to kill Marina and friends, rather than to get Teufel a bigger fish tank.

Oh, and you defeat the plant by knocking it onto the floor?

Look at the little shell plate it's on! The tiny details in this show are just *chef's kiss*

Over in Marineville, Marina is sad and glittering and ethereal and sad.

I quite like the scene that transpires for several reasons: first, the way Troy talks to Marina like she’s a child, or a scared animal. Note he never does this with Atlanta, suggesting that he might subconsciously see her as his equal. Second, that it’s Phones who works out that Marina’s homesick for Pacifica. I think it’s often overlooked that he’s usually the one to spot her reactions, or figure out her meaning. He has the patience that Troy lacks to take the time to read her.

Thirdly, the puppetry of Marina. The puppeteers were something like 4 metres above the set, so subtle movements such as the slight tilt of Marina’s head had to take the smallest, daintiest pulls on the strings.

Anyway, Troy asks Shore if they can take Marina to Pacifica, and when Shore states that they'll need a better excuse than a "pleasure cruise", Troy provides the excuse that exploring a new underwater city is of WASP interest. Shore then has an interesting line in “the explanation will take care of HQ. Let’s hope it satisfies Atlanta. Somehow I have my doubts.” According to Jack Knoll, in the original script this scene had more to it and Atlanta’s jealousy would have been much more apparent. Either way, Shore seems to be firing a warning shot. Troy’s two-timing is rather infamous, and this is one of the in-show instances that don’t help.

Aboard Stingray, Marina apparently knows where her home is by looking at a map which I personally find hard to buy. Because it’s not on eBay. But also because Marina can read Terranean maps of the ocean floor. You could argue that she’s learnt some things during her time in Marineville, or the ocean races use similar maps, but I counter with that a) she’s only been there a short while and b) it’s not the most convincing worldbuilding having your underwater race use largely the same stuff as humans despite having no contact with them.

As it happens, X20 is also on his way to Pacifica. Having spotted Stingray on his radar and (somehow) worked out that its on its way to Pacifica, he is tasked by Titan to deliver the toxic plant to Aphony, Pacifica’s leader and Marina’s father, under the guise that he’s well-wisher bringing news of Marina’s homecoming. X20 is accompanied by some Mechanical Fish which I will now refer to as their comic name Terror Fish because it’s easier to type, and I love that X20’s craft has Colonel White’s control desk inside.

A battle between Terror Fish and Stingray ensues, not least because they need to slow Stingray down so X20 can get to Pacifica first. It’s perhaps the only time we hear calm, soft-spoken Phones properly yell, as he alerts Troy to the surprise missile attack.

This is also when we get this awesome dolphin leap sequence:

Fun fact, apparently it took only one take to do!

X20 delivers the plant to Aphony. I love the design of Aphony and Pacifica in general. Its main building is a shell skyscraper, softer shapes compared to the Mysteron-complex-esque Titanica, making it more feminine I suppose? Simply put, you can tell right away that it’s Marina’s home. Inside, it’s quite Hellenistic, and as Troy notes, apparently a cultural epicentre. Pacifica are peaceful don’t you know. They seem to have an affinity for the arts, especially music as we learn in a later episode. Though they’re telepathic, we don’t know entirely how it works but it stands to reason that art is very important to them as way of expression, especially to those who can’t hear their thoughts.

When Stingray makes it to Pacifica, having exploded the first of many Terror Fish this series, we get this wonderful variation of Aqua Marina. The key and some of the notes have changed, making it recognisable yet different. Barry Gray was an absolute GeniusTM. This won’t be the last time I gush about him.

Marina reunites with her father, and it’s very subdued and I suppose quite befitting of prim and proper royalty. We see how their telepathy works – they wave their arms apparently as a way to transmit their thoughts to each other. We realise now that Marina tried to do this to Troy and the gang earlier on, which is just such a sweet little detail.

There’s a feast, I’m sure it looks delicious to all you seafood lovers out there but if I went to Pacifica I’d probably have to bring my own sandwiches.

The cast enjoy the flower X20 brought earlier, still encased in its tennis ball tube. Luckily, and because plot, Marina puts the casing back over it before the fumes escape. To be fair, Troy notes a strong aroma so it’s very likely it was kept encased so its scent didn’t overwhelm people.

At first it seems that Marina has decided to refuse Troy’s offer of returning to Marineville with them and assist in the fight against Titan. Troy is reluctant to leave without her and Phones, ever the voice of reason, simply points out if she wants to come, she’ll follow.

I couldn't get a good screenshot of it but in the Bluray, Aphony appears to be crying too which is interesting.

You can’t ignore the romantic undertones here. Marina is crying. Troy gazes wistfully at her and when he leaves, he’s frowning. And when she does go after them (apparently she can swim as fast as Stingray, presumably on its lowest speed), the pure elation in Don Mason’s voice is very sweet, but also, Troy, calm down bruh…

Back at the lounge, Troy recounts the events to Atlanta, who’s still frosty. She admonishes Marina for “abandoning her father” and accuses her of being a spy for Titan. It’s not very nice and though Atlanta has every reason to think this – after all, Marina’s a mute girl from the sea belonging to a whole world of civilisations they never knew existed – but it’s also quite clear that she’s trying to push her off Troy’s pedestal. God, I’m so glad the love triangle doesn’t survive for too long…

Despite all that, this is the start of what will be an excellent showcase of Atlanta’s character, and crucially so when you watch it in production order.  I remember when I first watched through Stingray, I thought that Atlanta was going to be the bitch of the show, and so far this episode seems to confirm that. Which is why it’s such a travesty how ITC scrambled up the running order for broadcast, putting what they deemed the stronger episodes earlier and pushing the weaker ones further back. Thusly, ‘Plant of Doom’ was broadcast at number 20 rather than number 2 (second in broadcast order is 'Emergency Marineville'). While I agree Plant of Doom lacks in some ways, putting it at any other than episode 2 completely ruins the continuation of the pilot’s story and Atlanta’s character arc. In broadcast order, Atlanta literally goes from being Marina’s bestie to accusing her of being a spy without any context or reasoning.

Anyway, Marina’s a sweetheart because she’s brought the flower with her from Pacifica and, presents it to Atlanta. Earlier, X20 claimed to Aphony that it was a symbol of peace and good fortune, so Aphony likely told her about it and she thought it would make the perfect peace offering. I do love that Atlanta is very touched despite her feelings earlier.

Alone at her piano in her ballgown(?) later that evening, the tennisball tube is whipped off and the dry ice fumigates. I can only assume the smoke is just a visual aid for us viewers so we know the toxicity has been released, because Atlanta doesn’t notice. As Jack Knoll rightly points out in his review, it would have made more sense to have the plant on a table behind Atlanta.

Smoke aside, now might be a good time to mention that every time the plant is uncovered, there’s a haunting 8 note motif played by a flute and harp, accompanied by a blast of trombones every few bars. It’s a fantastic piece of music that really drives amps up the tension and we’ll hear it again throughout the series.

It's called Plant of Doom - A Flower to Take Your Breath Away.

Finally, Atlanta passes out. Luckily, Troy has popped round for a date, bringing a bouquet of his own. At this point I really disliked Troy because on the one hand he was pining for Marina, and on the other he’s clearly pursuing Atlanta. For those who watched the broadcast order, especially back in the 60s, it’s obvious how Troy came to be perceived as massive love rat.

Troy rings the doorbell literally twice and is like “she’s ignoring me ☹”. It looks bad but once again it’s a victim of script trimming, in that originally Troy was meant to be stuck in the tower and had tried calling Atlanta to let her know he would be late for their date, but didn’t receive any response. But going off face value, once again Troy doesn’t look great.

Anyway, Troy breaks the door down and Saves the DayTM in a feat of brilliant puppetry.

The gang minus Marina (and Fisher ☹) smell something fishy’s afoot. And I don’t mean Marina’s flippers. Shore is outraged, Phones is baffled, Troy is in denial and Atlanta… seems genuinely sad. She says with almost forced chipper, “Marina must hate me pretty bad to do this…” She’s a hot-blooded enough character to angrily denounce Marina for attempting to kill her, but she doesn’t.

Ok, so from here on out the episode really falls apart. Because Dashing Hero Troy Tempest is so convinced of Marina’s innocence that he’d be willing to kill her for it.

The Spanish Inquisition called; they want their witch trials back.

I really don’t like how childlike Troy’s line delivery is here. Yes, Stingray is a children’s show but this is quite innocent and infantile for Troy.

So, trial by Plant of Doom ensues. There’s a beautifully sweet moment of Marina discovering the piano and tentatively playing it. Look at the puppetry. Look at how she reacts to the sound, wondering How’d I do that? And then she clink-clonks away, having fun with this thing she’s never seen before.

The gang watch her from… behind some glass. Great hiding place, 10/10.

As the fumes get to her, she slows down, clearly suffering. And here we get the completion of Atlanta’s character arc and making her a certified babe – she begs the lads to stop the madness, and is heartbroken when Marina finally collapses. She comforts Marina once she’s brought back round and it’s she along with Phones and Shore who apologise to her. Not Troy though. He might have believed in her innocence but this was all his idea.

Troy continues to spiral into unlikability this ep with his final quip, Marina’s piano-playing is terrible. Will you teach her to play properly, Atlanta? I know it’s the cheesy 60’s quip to end on but it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Like dude, this was your idea. You nearly killed Marina, you don’t apologise for it – Atlanta does – and you joke about her piano playing.

To sum up, this is an episode of two halves. On the one hand, you have the amazing puppetry, you have Pacifica, you have the kick-ass dolphin leap shot, you have the really cute scene of Marina messing about with the piano. Most of all, you have Atlanta. Like I said earlier, when I first watched this, I’d pegged her as the Bitchy One of the group. I really thought she’d belittle Marina and try to sabotage whatever relationship she had with Troy, because unfortunately that’s how it tends to go in many stories today. But Atlanta isn’t a bitch at all. After this, she and Marina are sisters, they’re besties, they’re wonderful, they should run away together.

On the other hand though, you have a bit of a lacklustre plot by Stingray terms made worse by Marina's "trial by death plant", Teufel’s random powers popping up never to be seen again, and Troy pretty much at his worst. ‘Plant of Doom’ is never one of those episodes I don't really think of much, and all these components together make it just an ok episode for me. That said, as we’ll discover, this will rank on the higher end of the Adequaphibian scale.

If you like Atlanta, watch this space because next week her awesomeness continues in ‘Sea of Oil’.

[utilitycaster]

you got me. i binged all of midst in two days and it was great, but now i dont have a lot of other podcasts to listen to. do you have other good fiction podcasts you like?

DO I. I am not the Most Podcast Person I know but I definitely follow a lot because I drive a lot and walk a lot and put them on in the background while I do chores. Also, I'm sticking to scripted/plotted fiction here and not actual play but I can provide some actual play podcast recs too, though none are terribly obscure.

Wolf 359 is a completed podcast but a great binge. It also is science fiction and deals with capitalism and corruption and complicated characters and weird space stuff; it regularly makes the "great fiction podcasts" to check out and I think is closest to Midst in that it's also a tightly plotted work that goes to a natural end point.

I frequently talk about and recommend the Silt Verses and the thematic nature is remarkably close to Midst, but the vibe is very different. It has a lot of folk and body horror elements (audio-only, but they are absolutely present). Also covers the "man what if capitalism and religion were working explicitly in tandem" element of Midst with the added dimension of "what if there were many many gods and and they all demanded literal, physical sacrifices". Sister Carpenter is cut from a similar cloth as Lark and I love her dearly. To draw other comparisons would be to spoil it. It's on season 3, which will be its last. It is extremely intense in that when I fell behind I found it tough to binge without taking breaks, but it's really fucking good. (I also recommend this to people who like Candela Obscura, though that's more for eldritch horror vibes).

The Penumbra Podcast is great because it has two separate storylines (it was originally intended to be an anthology, but people fell in love with Juno Steel specifically). I like both, but Juno Steel is the more popular one - it's set in the future, in our solar system but in space, and follows Juno Steel, a private eye. It's extremely weird neo-noir. There is a homme fatale and a fantastic cast of characters, and it's also an interesting ongoing plot. The Second Citadel is more fantasy rather than sf though it's also kind of in that general New Weird bucket and is even harder to describe but I think it's underrated. It's also on its final season but it's been going on a while so it will take a bit for you to catch up.

Within the Wires is also a podcast I've recommended in the past. It's by the people who do Welcome to Nightvale which isn't listed here both because I assume you are aware of it, and because that's an ongoing slice of life sort of thing; there are plots but there's sort of that sitcom-esque "nothing really changes the status quo" element though the earlier era had some more structured stuff. Anyway, Within the Wires is found audio, so each season is different - the first is relaxation cassette tapes, the second museum audio guides, the third voice memos, etc. There are callbacks/connections between seasons at times, and I would recommend listening to at least the first two seasons in full (which are very strong) to get a sense of the world before hopping around later. The reason I recommend it here is because the worldbuilding is spectacularly done in a way that reminds me of the elegance of the worldbuilding in Midst, and because it's found audio, while it's one narrator per season you will get those weird asides and interesting tonal choices.

Tentative rec for Camlann, a roughly modern day post-apocalyptic take on Arthurian legends and the folklore of the British Isles only because it just started and has 3 episodes. I like it, but I don't know what plot it's building to (nor how long it will be; they have funding for one season but aren't sure about future ones.)

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

An Interview with Julie Leong, Author of The Teller of Small Fortunes

One of the most anticipated cozy fantasy debuts of 2024, Julie Leong is a Malaysian Chinese-American author with a great love of citrus, round animals, and flavorful food. 

You can read here or on my substack

Julie, where’s the yuzu? You wrote this whole book and there’s no mention of yuzu?

Julie: I’m sorry! I need to save all my yuzu content for my eventual future book about a citrus witch; I’m sure you understand.

Teller opens up with casual racism and xenophobia directed at Tao for being Shinn, but one of the definitions I’ve seen of cozy fantasy floating around is that the worldbuilding is free of discrimination and the conflict is focused on something else. For authors who want to explore similar topics in cozy fantasy, what do you think is the right balance?

Julie: I think the definition of ‘cozy fantasy’ is a dynamic and inherently subjective thing, because ‘cozy’ is about how a story makes you feel, and different people will necessarily feel different ways in response to certain stories. Personally, I don’t think ‘cozy’ means the total absence of sadness or conflict. If anything, I prefer my cozy stories to have just a dash of darkness so as to highlight the warmth and joy all the better – like a sprinkle of salt in hot chocolate, if you will. 

There definitely is a balance to be struck, though. I do believe that cozy requires a happy ending (or mostly happy, at least), and that if a story delves too far into violence and heavy themes, it can be challenging to pull the reader back into the cozy mindset. I’d encourage authors writing cozy fantasy to try to be mindful of how they feel as they’re writing the story, and to take special note of any scenes that evoke tense or painful emotions – are they followed by scenes that soothe away those hurts? Is there catharsis by the end? Are readers ultimately comforted, or troubled by your story?

Ghibli has been a big reference point for cozy and a lot of their films carry a thread of grief or melancholy, an undertone that Teller shares. Do you think cozy and melancholy/grief are not only compatible, but those feelings are a necessary ingredient in a cozy SFF?

Julie: I don’t think melancholy/grief are necessary in cozy SFF, but as I mentioned above, I do think they can provide a powerful counterbalance that highlights the warmth and catharsis often offered by cozy stories. They can help make the joy feel more earned, as well, and give the story an emotional heft that may be otherwise lacking.

Kiss, marry, throw off the wagon: Mash, Kina, and Silt

Julie: Oof, that’s hard. Kiss Silt, marry Kina, and throw Mash off the wagon just because I know he can keep up on foot anyway.

We have fortune cookies and tea for fortune telling and Kina is a baker. If you were a fortune teller, what food-based style would you use and how does it involve citrus?

Julie: Hahaha. Citrus-based divination! Tangerine tarot? Peel open an orange, count the number of segments and seeds, look for patterns in the pith; burn the rinds and inhale the citrus-scented smoke… there are so many ways I could go with it. 

A lot of people unfamiliar with cozy are trying to define it, but I think it’s pretty defined by the community that has helped propel it from selfpub to traditional publishing. What do you think is the future of cozy and do you think the term is a bit more fluid than some might believe?

Julie: I do think the definition of cozy is fluid and still-evolving, as I mentioned above. I can’t say for certain where the future of the subgenre lies, but I can say what I hope we’ll see more of! Personally, I’d love to see more diverse voices in cozy, more cozy stories that don’t necessarily center a romance, more cozy stories that don’t involve small businesses, and more bittersweet cozy that plays with heavier themes without necessarily getting very dark.

A major theme in Teller is the importance of small changes and small moments, both good and bad, and how they add up. What other themes are you hoping readers will get from this?

Julie: I think it’s up to readers to take what they like from a story, but when I was writing Teller, other themes that were central in my mind were the different ways in which one can ‘belong’, the struggle between free will and fate, and the eternal conflict between self-interest and the common wellbeing.

You had a bit of a unicorn experience as Teller was the first book you wrote and you're launching with multiple crate deals. What has been the most exciting and the most humbling experience for you?

Julie: It’s been such a fairytale, honestly. I never in a million years expected all of the things that have happened to me and this book, and I’m so, so grateful – a lot of the credit goes to my fantastic publishing teams at Ace and Hodderscape, who have done so much to get this book out there.

One of the most recently exciting developments was my attending New York Comic Con at the invitation of my publisher. I have never (nor will I ever again) felt like such a rock star as I did signing 100+ copies of The Teller of Small Fortunes for enthusiastic readers at the Penguin Random House floor booth, and it was an amazing experience to co-present at a writing panel alongside brilliant authors like CM Waggoner, Sarah Hawley, and Rob Hart. 

The most humbling experience? I’ve had a lot, but the moment when I first visited the Penguin Random House office in New York, and strolled through a hallway lined with incredible, renowned, bestselling books whose authors I’ve loved for years and years – that was definitely a surreal moment of “Oh wait, there’s been a terrible mistake. I don’t think I belong here.”

Do you think you’re going to stay in cozy fantasy or do you want to branch out into cozy sci-fi like Becky Chambers or try your hand at an epic fantasy one day? Or, perhaps, venture outside of the speculative genres and try your hand at a mystery or contemporary?

Julie: I don’t know yet, to be honest! As of right now, I still have more ideas for cozy fantasies that I’d love to write – but I also don’t want to limit myself. There’s something thrilling and liberating about the idea that I might one day wake up and decide to write something totally new and unfamiliar.

Tao is very AroAce-coded, which is slowly becoming more common in fantasy. Was that a conscious choice on your part or did that organically reveal itself as you wrote the book or something in between?

Julie: It was more of the latter. I knew from the start that I did not want to write a romance-centric book, in part because I wanted to tell a story that highlighted the importance of non-romantic relationships like friendship and family. But it wasn’t until midway through the first draft, when Tao and Kina were having a conversation about romantic attention, that I realized that it felt very natural that Tao – as I had written her – was aro/ace-spec. 

Tao briefly considers the story of the Monkey Prince and how it mirrors her own journey. Is this a call back to Journey to the West and Sun Wukong? 

Julie: Yes! Journey to the West is such a classic tale from Chinese mythology, and also one of the first bedtime stories that I heard from my dad growing up. It felt right for Tao to know it, too.

Sorry, but I have to get a bit sappy. As an immigrant and the child of an immigrant, I found a lot of my own journey reflected in Tao even if there are some differences, including the part where she’s constantly othered despite having lived in Eshtera for a long time. It feels like there’s not that many fantasies that truly get into the nitty-gritty of what it means to be an immigrant. Were you filling in a gap that you saw or is there a treasure trove of immigrant fantasy I don’t know about?

Julie: I’m so glad that that part of Tao’s story resonated with you. I, similarly, have never read much fantasy that features immigrant experiences specifically, and I knew from the very start of writing Teller that I wanted to tell an immigrant story. I wanted to see myself reflected in a character who felt caught between cultures, and was wrestling with herself about where she belonged, and how she defined her own identity. Some of Tao’s experiences I took directly from my own childhood, and I’ve already heard from many readers how they shared those experiences and felt them deeply: the loss of language, for example.

Until recently, cozy was pretty much relegated to selfpub and then exploded on the traditional publishing scene with Legends and Lattes. When you queried Teller, the trend was just starting to pick up in traditional publishing. Do you think authors looking to be traditionally published should pay attention to what is trending in selfpub?

Julie: Absolutely! I think any aspiring authors should pay attention to what’s happening in their genres, period. 

Completely agree. You need to know your genre to write and sell in it.

There's all kinds of advice out there in regards to the writing process, but I've found that the best thing to do is experiment with a lot of authors' processes until you find a combination that works for you. What's your drafting process like?

Julie: It’s… chaos. I basically turn into a hermit and disappear into my writing cave for as many weeks as it takes to churn out a workable draft. I draft scenes out of order, I cobble together an outline only if and when I start feeling like I need one, I edit as I go sometimes and leave entire scenes as bracketed placeholders other times… basically, I give myself the liberty to write when and how I want to, and I don’t subscribe to any particular process or system. I’m not sure I’d recommend it to others, but it’s what’s worked for me so far!

We talk a lot in writers spaces about how you have to read modern authors to be part of the conversation going on in our genres. What books is your book in conversation with?

Julie: Love this question! Definitely Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes, which sparked the recent wave of cozy fantasy, but also with heavy influence from Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series, and the Singing Hills novellas from Nghi Vo.

Author as Brand gets thrown around a lot in some circles and not everyone likes it but it's impossible to stop the train at this point. What do you want your Brand to be?

Julie: Kindness. Humor. Warmth.

Some authors focus on food, others on clothes. What's your favorite way to worldbuild?

Julie: I'm a vibes-first writer! My worldbuilding happens sort of like piecing together a puzzle, where various sections and chunks of it come together first before I fill in the rest of it. Some of those starting pieces might be big (political and economic systems) or small (cats and bees are inherently magical beings).

I only do as much worldbuilding as I strictly need for a given book, in part because I like there to be some vagueness/unexplained things, but also to leave room for more worldbuilding in subsequent books, so I don't accidentally write myself into any corners.

What's next on the horizon for you?

Julie: I’m currently revising my second book, The Keeper of Magical Things, which will be coming out in fall 2025 if all goes as planned. It’s a sapphic cozy fantasy set in the same world as Teller but with a new cast of characters. I’m pitching it as The Spellshop meets Warehouse 13 with Stardew Valley vibes.

Are there any debuts you wanna give a shout-out to?

Julie: So many wonderful fellow debuts! I’m sure I’m missing some people (and apologies to them), but off of the top of my head:

Genoveva Dimova (Foul Days, Monstrous Nights)

Eliza Chan (Fathomfolk)

SA MacLean (The Phoenix Keeper)

Maiga Doocy (Sorcery and Small Magics)

Amy Avery (The Longest Autumn)

Riley August (The Last Gifts of the Universe)

Samantha Mills (The Wings Upon Her Back)

Lucy Jane Wood (Rewitched)

Frances White (Voyage of the Damned)

John Wiswell (Someone You Can Build a Nest In)

Jules Arbeaux (Lord of the Empty Isles)

I recommend all of those titles as well, especially Phoenix Keeper, Foul Days, The Wings Upon Her Back, and Fathomfolk.

Thank you so much, Julie!

Where to buy:

Waterstones

Amazon

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

Mysterious Galaxy

Penguin Random House

[dynared]

I'm so glad someone else brought up how insular IDW felt, I thought I was insane for thinking along the lines of a similar thing. To me IDW1 felt like a continuity made by the fandom for the fandom, and despite some of its great writing decisions it often felt flat and hollow in a lot of important aspects. The lack of communication between writers and failure to maintain basic narrative and thematic cohesion as well as characterization reminded me a lot of in-fandom arguments over interpretations and headcanons

It took on too much and stretched itself thin resulting in sidelined characters, bastardized character dynamics/relationships or forgotten plots. People praised IDW1's lore and worldbuilding but personally I don't think there was much of it at all and very little of it was to a good enough standard when you consider how long IDW held the licence. It told us a lot and yet nothing at all, which would have been a genius move had it at all been intentional– something I often found myself saying in relation to IDW1 and content inspired by it, which was around post 2010-ish give or take probably

Like I said, I firmly believe that IDW was essentially made by fandom, for fandom, but a very, very narrow cross-section of such. James Roberts, who was arguably the architect for most of it, was a fanfic writer and someone who wanted to make elements of his fanfics canon. Many of the writers were buddy-buddy with TFWiki moderators and the dingus behind Shortpacked, oftentimes parroting their opinions, which was that if you didn't like what they were making, you were a chud or a creep that wanted the entire brand to be Kiss Players. Especially as romance became more and more of a focus on the series, the idea was not "This is boring, I want to see robots punching each other and blowing things up", but "I don't want to see this because it's gay", which is a far easier position to defend. Even when they lost the license, Kit Harrison of IDW insinuated that the complaints were all homophobic in nature.

As an aside, while I think Kiss Players was terrible, it was literally nothing but a side-story manga and some collector's toys. That would be like me saying all the Western-created Transformers media is garbage because of The Car Wash of Doom, Afterdeath, that scene in Age of Extinction where the guy spells out the Romeo and Juliet Law in detail, the complete waste of Sir Anthony Hopkins that was The Last Knight, The Rebirth, numerous parts of Cyberverse, the WFC Trilogy, etc.

Anyway, because the audience was so narrow, it made sense that the audience that it did cultivate was so passionate about the material, but Greek to any audience outside of it, resulting in low sales and general dismissal from a casual audience. Any similarities to how fanfic is written, especially fanfic that has an active follower community and people addressing the work in progress, were purposeful, because that was the world that the writers came from, and the world that they were used to.

And then there were the attempts to integrate those ideas into shows, as shown by WFC not getting a sequel because Netflix said no, as well as Cyberverse and now Earthspark toys rotting on shelves in your local Ollies or Lot Less.

My conclusion remains the same. IDW was overly insular, fanfic-style writing, for people who liked that, and they could not care one iota about anyone outside of that little circle. Especially if you were a fan of super robots, humans that weren't complete jerks, or the mystic elements of the Transformers mythos. And this is why now even Duke's miniseries pretty much outsells anything that IDW published. (To be fair, Duke's miniseries is pretty good).

[sodaquail]

Dude I’m so hyped for your werewolf AU, you have no idea. I’m the biggest werewolf!Chip fan out there. Anyways, if you want asks (sorry if I misinterpreted your post):

What type of werewolf are we talking here? Classic bipedal or twilight style giant wolf? Somewhere in between?

Are any of the other characters werewolves, and/or does Chip know any others?

Is lycanthropy a known thing? How do people react?

One of my D&D books has a section on lycanthropy, and while you can play player characters affected by it, it goes hand and hand with the Evil alignment (it’s an older book, not sure about lycanthropy in 5E). Is this similar in your AU, or are werewolves misunderstood?

Don’t feel obligated to answer any of these haha, I understand that they could definitely lean into spoiler territory, I’m just so excited!! :D Werewolf world building is the best.

Im sooooo glad to see you're excited!!! I can totes add you to the tag list ^_^

for the TYPE of wolf... I totally leant more into mythology rather than werewolf movies. ive never actually watched a werewolf movie (although, a friend said wolfchip would be like the wolves from twilight so now im planning a marathon with IRLs.... oops) I'm doing a lot of worldbuilding into the nature and magic of werewolves and that stays hidden but.. - physically they are BIG. like twilight wolf sized... big big. - They have no tail (a mythology thing for werewolves!! common for creatures rumored to just be witches in disguse actually) I was VERYYYYYYYY much not going to pull the werewolf pop culture thing and have some 'weird human-wolf hybrid cross' because i did not like the idea tooooo much..... would rather be taken out back and killed with bricks than make chip bipedal wolf-man hybrid thing.... noooooooo...... also in human form werewolves are distinctly inhuman!! Won't go into TOO MUCH worldbuilding of mine but essentially, among other things their wolf form and traits fluctuate with the lunar cycle. on new moon they're indistinguishable from human, on full moon they're fully wolf, and all inbetween is a mix of traits. It all depends on when you catch em, whether it's day or night, whether it's new moon or close to full moon.... you might not know what you're signing up for if you find a normal person on the full moon only for them to change as the lunar cycle goes on, lol. but from mythology these are the traits which often identify a werewolf in human form - unibrow (not giving chip this one. no dice) - low, swinging stride (yes!) - lower set ears (also yes!) - when the skin is cut, there is fur under it! (yes, but i felt might be too obscure for people.... not included in common werewolf pop culture sadly...) as well as a few special things of my own!!! I ALSO HAVE A PHOTO OF WHAT WOLFCHIP LOOKS LIKE!! i found this on a dog grooming video on tiktok and went 'thats wolfchip."

2) Yes! I have one confirmed werewolf NPC (of my own making for the purposes of the story) and am toying with the idea of making another character a werewolf. It won't be too big of a deal though... just a neat little reference!! 3) now THIS is staunchly spoiler territory!! sorry dude!!! 4) this is also spoiler territory but what i will say is that I did not go off of DND modules (although it wouldnt hurt to give them a read...)!! I play BECMI and 5e as my DND modules among other TTRPGS but i did not lean from any of them. Honestly, I didn't take much inspiration for my werewolf worldbuilding outside of some mythology shit (and not a lot, anyway). I think i just went off the general, well known werewolf myths and said 'ok what can i do with this' and i sewed and cut and now it is a new beast. it is MY beast. TYSM for your questions!!! Hope you enjoy the final project ahhhh...... seeing the answers for the spoilers in the fic will be SO much better than reading them here i swear :3

[shining-scion]

Ok, here’s my thoughts/review on Pirate101 as a newcomer/someone who just beat arc 1.

I wanna start off by saying I did, overall, have a lot of fun with this game. I did. That being said—

The first thing I think is really worth addressing as a problem is just how… culturally insensitive this game gets. I’m not an expert on any of this stuff, and with Wizards I’m not sure how much is noticeable until at least Krok, but I noticed some stuff almost immediately here that I— while not an expert— am concerned about. Perhaps that’s because I’m older. I did start my Wizard playthrough very young.

First of all, the whole class of witchdoctor, the aesthetic… probably needs to go. I can tell it’s being sourced from “piratey” media, (wasn't the plot of one of the POTC movies that Jack Sparrow got tied up with a voodoo doll in some manner?) but it’s outdated and while I can’t speak for the cultures it affects, I’ve seen people speak out against using similar tropes. I’ve personally just replaced the class altogether in my own headcanons, but I don’t think Pirate has the budget or means to overhaul a whole class, and headcanons don’t fix canon, so I’m not sure what can be done here. I’m not an expert.

I can tell that, in general, much like Wizard, Pirate is a melting pot of different sailing/odyssey/pirate pieces of media. “The Road to El Dorado” is literally a movie.

In general, I don’t mind the media inspirations being blatant. It’s fun to see what I recognize and how passing bits and pieces of different stories make their way into the Spiral, and when it’s done well I think it gives the universe this really fun bizarro world vibe. The issue lies in the fact that popular culture is full of stereotypes, and it’s clear that those stereotypes were taken as face value and just seen as “tropes”— which, yeah, a stereotype is often used as a part of a trope, but that doesn’t make it ok. At all. Both games would need a serious rehaul to make some of this stuff passable, I’m sure.

In addition to the witchdoctor class, the whole entirety of Cool Ranch was really just awful to Native people, and so was the literal opening questline in Skull Island. Wizards has this problem at times too.

In general, Spiral worlds have a problem where they don’t take enough creative liberty from their source IRL locations. I wonder if they might have at least a little bit of an easier time with this stuff if they took the time to worldbuild each… well, world, until it’s a distinct thing from its source. They did so fairly well with Dragonspyre, and multiple pieces of fiction do the same, so I don’t see why they couldn’t except for maybe their “one world a year” cycle kind of stopping them from writing things like that as much as they want.

TDLR: KI, YOU NEED A SENSITIVITY READER. “IT’S FICTION” IS NOT AN EXCUSE. THOSE ARE REAL STEREOTYPES AND REAL HARM. YOU SHOULD BE DOING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN TO PREVENT PERPETUATING HARMFUL STEREOTYPES IN THE FUTURE.

I just wanted to hold space for that topic, because it’s important, and it’s probably my biggest worry above all else. I don’t know everything but it seemed worth mentioning.

Transitioning onto the brief background context I do have with this game, since that will affect my view…

I played Pirate101 once as a kid— in 2012, when it launched. My stepsister and I crowded around the home computer and waited with baited breath as we saw another side of the spiral for the first time…

I never got past like, level 3, and that first character currently says she’s “adrift in the spiral” on the loading screen so I can only assume she got shot by the Armada or something horrible. Anyway—

The idea of playing again was something I’d turned over in my mind as I got back into Wizards. Now that I was older, I figured I’d be able to grasp it better than I could as a kid, and I’d be able to pay for my own sub, as well. After a bit of thinking, I went for it. I’d heard a lot of things about the game’s current state, but I decided to try and push that out of my mind as much as possible and meet it on its own terms. I wanted to give it a fair shake and I wanted to experience it with all the unbridled joy I know it would have given me as a kid, without worrying about how the later content would or wouldn’t compare.

I’ll give the game this— I LOVE THE OPENING. Maybe I was just excited to cross the long awaited item off my list, or maybe my inner child was just giddy to start a new adventure in my favorite fictional world, but I could not stop smiling and laughing from the moment the curtains opened to the minute I landed in Skull Island. Escaping the ship was exciting, seeing the Armada was SO COOL— I can see why they’re a fan favorite 101 villain— and the way I got to pick my backstory was unique. When I realized a Swashbuckler was much the same as a Storm wizard, I was really happy to see that picking the choices that seemed to speak to me (in wizards, questions about my personality, here, what I thought would make for a cool backstory) landed me with a playstyle I favored. It’s a small, coincidental thing, but it worked and I settled into things fairly quickly.

…I did also notice that the game was a lot rougher around the edges. Small things, really— the bloom is a little too bright, some models aren’t entirely animated in the face, things like that. I didn’t mind, and honestly? It just reminded me a little bit of classic Wizard, and it grew on me within the hour.

There were a few glitches that have and continue to persist. The dialogue box when Boochbeard is psychically communicating with you, or your companions are talking while you’re doing something, is covered by the crowns shop symbol unless the menu is opened. This was a… mild problem for me, as I have an auditory processing disorder and need that text to understand what’s being said to me. As well, every time I was shown an image, it would be cut off and shown halfway above the screen. I never got to see the face of my mother. That sounds horrible out of context. Anyway—

I really enjoyed the moment you walk up to the dock in Jonah Town and see your parent’s ship. I think my little part of the game was how the chase to El Dorado often felt like you were moving in step with your parents, running beside them and only separated by time.

There’s a weird feeling of legacy and it all feels really grand in a way Wizard doesn’t. They’re both, objectively, stories about growing up and taking your place in the world, but the Young Wizard is not attached to the Spiral in the same way the Pirate is. If I were to name the difference, I’d say Wizard is about Destiny and Fate, while Pirate is much more about Legacy and Heritage. The Wizard is guided by the stars, the Pirate is guided by the echoes of the past. They’re both very different ways of addressing and justifying the great journey, but I think they work in step with each other.

Another thing that I think was done SUPER WELL is the sense of SCALE. Especially, docking at Mooshu made me realize that if anything, I hadn’t explored CRAP of the worlds I was going to. I was basically saying I explored a whole country when I was really just going to the capital. The travel times were boring and a little egregious at times, but I think they were overall needed to give a sense of just how big the Spiral really was. When you look at the illustration of the cosmos, it can almost seem sort of small, but that’s not the case at all and Pirate really wants to remind you of that.

Gear wise, I knew it was gonna be more open ended, but OH GOD. I wasn’t expecting what I got. I was waiting for a waterworks, or the Kane dungeon to be like Darkmoor, but it wasn’t like that at all. The openness was daunting, but eventually I really just pressed into the agility and attack stats, and I came through fine. Managing my companions was a little bit more of a daunting task, and I eventually realized that even on a normal playthrough, you needed to know how EVERY class played so that you could spec your companions accordingly. There’s a lot to keep up with and I don’t think the fact that I was treating it like Wizard102 helped. It took me until about Aquila to really have an idea of what I was doing.

As for Ship Things— coolest part of the game. I am REALLY impressed with how well it plays especially for the engine and when it was coded. The skyboxes are gorgeous, the fact you can run around on your boat and even get a little cabin was a pleasant surprise, and I liked the nods to Wizard’s spells with the ship combat attacks. I did play through the whole game with a partner and often rode with her, so this might not be an issue for others, but my nautical level was severely underleveled almost the entire game. I’m only on Sinbad part 1 now, but to my knowledge, I’m past the part where sailing is useful.

Now, as for purely story stuff…

This was Blind Mew’s game. I’ve heard a lot about him as a writer during my time on Wizblur, and I know he has pretty strong influence in Wizard now, but I wanted to see his writing “in his element”, so to speak.

…I really enjoyed it. I could tell that a lot of story beats were planned out in advance, with an idea of how and when exactly things would tie together. There was a thematic idea through the entire game and it stuck to that— the idea being of freedom, and choosing to seek redemption.

It was really interesting to hear this sort of idea of “redemption is an action an individual chooses to take— and it doesn’t always mean forgiveness or being allowed “back in”— it just means the person tries to do better.”

A lot of redemption arcs in the current day are very… uh… Catholic about it? You must Grovel and Suffer and Atone and only once you have Suffered and Killed All The Old Parts Of You can you be considered worthy. Pirate doesn’t do that. It kind of just says that at any point, someone can decide to turn around and do something different, and you should always give people the chance to TRY.

I know Valencia part two was rushed, but I think even then it was really good. Kane did something I really appreciated with was take the theme and add an addendum:

People can decide to turn around and do better at any point, and they deserve to be offered that chance, but some people will refuse to do better.

Kane SHOOTING HIS OWN HEART really tied a bow on the message for me. You could probably argue “well, could he really be blamed for that if he didn’t have the conscious to tell him it was the right thing to do to accept it?” But I really don’t think the whole nature of AI and how they think thing matters here.

The ending was great. I adored how all the companions sort of came to your side in the end and even explicitly said that they were your family. I’m not sure Wizard ever has a moment where an NPC says something that… close and caring to your PC.

Overall I enjoyed the chase for the map pieces, and chipping at the Armada’s elites was really well done. I wasn’t expecting them to treat the Marleybone war with so much gravity, but they did it about as well and as seriously as a kid’s game could. The finale with Rooke at the end was amazing, the atmosphere was really well done and Rooke died to my partner’s crab, which was just… peak 101 game comedic timing.

I also really loved the “GO GO GO AND GET OUT” way they structured Valencia part 1 and 2. I was genuinely tense and nervous in part 2, wondering if being Spiral Spain’s Attaché was even going work. Being so close to Kane and watching him get SCOLDED for daring to touch me was incredibly satisfying. I wish there was more time for Royal court shenanigans so that I could get to see Kane glaring at from across the room more, but I suppose that’s what fanfiction is for.

In terms of story execution and story execution purely, I’d give arc 1 an 8/10. Every beat was there when it needed to be and early actions affected the long term narrative, which was nice to see. With some Wizard worlds I do feel like they suffer from “this could have been an email” disease, but my time was less wasted in Pirate.

…Now, as for Sinbad…

I have unfortunately noticed the increase in insane difficulty, and an increase in glitches. Last night my partner and I tried to do the tower in Mooshu to find Sinbad, and we were in there for two hours, only to get teamwiped and find no dungeon recall. I understand Pirate was made to be harder than Wizards, but that is just straight up unfair for mainline content, I’m sorry. As well, a promotion quest my partner did had enemies that were almost level eighty. If the level cap is seventy, how in the WORLD is that fair?

It didn’t bother me so much initially, but now in the endgame it really does— how much is locked behind a timer. Oh, you want to level your pet? You have to constantly be starting timers for their training, and logging in regularly to stop their training and start a new one even if you aren’t playing. If your companions get injured they’re unusable until they’ve recovered, which is mostly fine in the early levels, until they need ten hours to recover at level seventy. If you’ve been trying to fight something for ages, and you keep dying, all your companions will be bedridden and you just— can’t play anymore. It reminds me of those really formulaic mobile games where everything is on a timer and progress is so, so slow that you maybe get five minutes to do things a day. Sinbad feels impossible right now because I’ve pretty much run out of ways to improve or maximize a stat to make it easier. There’s no team up either— so am I just supposed to hope I can figure out how to cheese a rigged combat system?

I am still, overall, interested in Pirate101. I want to support the game and allow it to come back to life like the developers have been trying to do. I am interested in what’s next for the story and how they’re going to expand or do something differently from the Armada. I can understand reused assets from Wizard, I can understand a few glitches or bugs, but if I can’t keep up with the gameplay, none of that matters.

It’s possible I just suck at the game. I came for the story and for the most part, I did get to experience that. It was really impressive to see how well it stood up against Wizard— it didn't feel like an aside or lesser, it had its own identity and part of the Spiral.

I’m not sure how to end this review other than… like, I can’t tell KI how to make their games, but please have a little bit of mercy. Wizard is fairly forgiving and I understand wanting to make a harder game, but there’s hard and there’s challenging. Pirate101 is not challenging me, it’s hitting me with a brick inside of a sock. I think it really needs some balancing help.

Adoring the amount of badass coats to pick from, though.

[lixxen]

can you tell us about the worldbuilding of your new au?

Why of course!

To start this off though, let me tell you a fun little thing about the Blog AU that is built in!

We made this AU with the idea that people who read it can put their characters into it. You know the Cafe AU that everyone is sticking their OCs in? You can do something similar! The fic is going to be canon to y'all but y'all won't be 100% canon to the fic so you guys can interact with the canon! So we genuinely encourage you guys to make outside content and make your OCs blogs or designs for this. Go crazy with it and join in! I will eventually need usernames and a few other things for the blog/forum skins. If you make anything, make sure to tag me on here (and if it's on Instagram, I'm Lixxendraws). I want you guys to be able to draw/write your characters in this AU because it'd be such a fun thing to do!

Anyways.

There are a few doodles of their official outfit designs but I don't like how they look. But I will post them eventually!

Here is the world building Under The Cut

Branch's Kismet identity is Bass while his in person one is Lapis for the sake of his safety and privacy.

Technology:

Napbug: digital audio sharing website whereP3 files are shared. Mostly for music rips and downloads

TOL: the internet hosting. Mostly known for the chatroom they speak on. You need to know the person's connection code to directly connect to them. You can chat on it and view forums/blogs directly from their TOL. You can have up to four identifications per computer

PHP (personal homepage): the blog domains they use. They can be reached outside of TOL, along with personal forums

Trollums: the nicknames for forums. You can find people's TOL & PHP on trollums and it is how people mostly find blogs

BeeperBugs (beepers): little hugs that act like pagers. They will send and receive messages somehow (they never figures it out). You will hear them beep and they can carry codes; you can put them onto landlines and they will put in the numbers. They also can use Morse code to send messages instead of needing calls.

Computers: dial up computers. They are simple and can connect to CD drives (not built in), VHS players, floppy disks, cassettes, and can burn CDs/DVDs. They're big and chunky; no laptops. Internet cafes and libraries are popular due to not as many people having them. People learn coding to break and customize them

Cassettes and MP3 players: they are popular and do not have earbuds. Only over ear headphones that are wired.

Very basic printer/fax machines that run off landlines

Televisions: tube/box TVs. Podbuster is a popular VHS and DVD rental/store. DVDs are barely used due to being new

Film cameras are very much still used and popular. People will develop themselves or take them to the library to be digitalized. There's services to develop photos still

Zines exist! They will be produced by a group of fans and sent out. They will trade items or find ways to collect money to pay for them. You will find forums dedicated to zines and posting zines months after print release. There is big fan culture

Blogs are every big. Normally personal blogs will interact with each other and have fun; but then there's fan blogs. They only post about their interests and will post some personal stuff. They're almost always anonymous unless you directly know them.

Blog lore:

PinkBandLyfe is a popular BroZone and Kismet blog that always has the best images, videos, and MP3s. They've nicknamed the blog owner Pinkie and know her bias is Clay, but since she is around Bitty B’s age, she has a soft spot for him. Bass in Kismet is her bias. But since Bass is a private person she promotes healthy boundaries and privacy. She preaches for Bitty B and Bass’s privacy. She's speculated a few times but that's it. Everyone gives her her privacy and keep her identity secret since she is big on that and they respect her (and fear her disappearing). Her blog is chaotic but well organized and out together!

BatterBug is a survival/doomsday blog that people learn survival skills from and it talks about literally everything and anything about tragedy and skills to use in them. They call the owner BB and call him paranoid. But it's useful so he has a following

ReverbFan27 is a Bad Hair Day blog that isn't as in-depth as PinkBandLyfe. The blog is run by the user who has been nicknamed 27. He tends to be more practical and people enjoy watching him ramble about the technical aspects of the performances. They know his older brother, who is nicknames Ef, was into them first and got 27 into it. They only know that, he is a Billy Reverb bias, and he is the youngest child. The rest is a secret. They speculate who he is because sometimes he has the best pictures of BHD. But they haven't figured it out yet. He's VERY organized

Everybody knows Pinkie and 27 are friends and they helped each other get popular. Sometimes you will see them give each other content to post! 27 somehow has never before seen BroZone stuff or will mention he has rare collectibles that Pinkie lives for

People ship Pinkie and 27. They laugh and brush it off

Misc story lore that isn't spoilers:

Bergens made peace 10 years earlier when Poppy accidentally ran into Bridget when she ran off angrily. She helped Bridget on her own and it creates positive political ties!

The kingdoms live how they are post Trolls World Tour due to (unspecified) events happening! It is noted to happen a generation ago with King Thrash and King Peppy taking thrones

The kingdoms now have bigger populations and are more spread out! They have multiple cities and towns. Neighboring troll tribes now touch, but you must put in effort to travel

Royals freely live amongst their people in society due to respect from the people. They're big on “humanizing” the royals. Royals are not big on public appearances outside of their kingdoms. The ambassadors are the only ones seen in the wild

Branch spends his free time reading/writing in the coffee shop or in a library. He normally has his headphones on with a Walktroll (walkman). He lives to write his blog posts by hand first, so he writes them in the coffee shop. He also carries around a camera to take pictures of things. He develops them himself in his pod and put them on the walls if they're good then in albums if they're okay or bad. He has a TON of childhood photos from Rosiepuff, who died a natural death before he joined Kismet. He uses her camera. He so takes a ton of pictures of Kismet and sends them to Pinkie!