#I mean this whole set of posts is probably redundant

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

@grimharuspex in the comments of that @zoe-oneesama post said it the best; Butterfly should’ve been Emotion and Peacock should’ve been Desire. I know that Zoe has a limit on what canon she changes for her comic which I respect/appreciate given the thought she puts into it (even when canon’s various nonsensical magic rules are especially grating like this) but how do you think things would’ve gone in-show if this was the setup from the get-go? On that note, do you think it’s a good setup for canon in the first place? Why or why not?

This is going to be a rather long lecture on lore and world building and how the peacock fails on every level, so before we get into that, let's start with the positives. I saw a few people pointed out the Desire idea - that being that the peacock's associated Force should have been Desire while the butterfly got Emotions - and I think that they're absolutely right. That one tiny change does fix the surface level issues and make the peacock make sense for its larger role in the narrative.

It would complicate the whole magical slave thing and also mean that you probably have to rework a few of the minor sentimonsters, but generally speaking, it makes way more sense for Desire to birth a fully realized human being. The sentipeople being people while also coming from a single emotion will always be total BS in my eyes.

At the same time, I blame no one for just sticking to canon's lore. Reworking the lore is a serious thing and even I only do it when I'm telling a lore-heavy story. There are plenty of stories where I just stick to canon's nonsense because the lore isn't important.

Now that we've done our positives, let's getting into the negatives! The issue of the day is this: changing the Force from Emotions to Desire doesn't solve the larger problems with the peacock. Problems that we'll now get into. Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.

Issue 1: Power Diversity

While I would not call myself a superhero expert, I have seen a good deal of superhero and magical girl team shows in my time. Most of you probably have. If you think about the power sets that we see in those shows, then you'll notice that one thing is pretty much always true: every power is unique OR the powers are all closely related in some way. You never do both because the two concepts don't mix. It makes no sense for half of the characters to have totally unique powers while the other half have copies unless there's some sort of special thematic reason for this like siblings sharing a power.

Without that sort of explanation, it just feels weird and it also makes the characters feel redundant. You don't need two speedsters or two supermen! One is enough. Heck, Avatar the Last Airbender takes place in a world where whole civilizations have the same power and they STILL didn't duplicate powers for the core team because they understood that it's important to keep the characters unique.

Miraculous is pretty obviously supposed to be the type of show where the powers don't overlap. Every character gets a unique power that's uniquely suited to them. We even have this confirmed in universe during that confusing scene in the episode Destruction where Orikko - the rooster - tries to explain how his powers work:

Orikko: No, you're mistaken! Time travel is Fluff's power and I can't grant the power that already belongs to another Kwami!

This brings us to the problem with the peacock: it is not a unique power. It's derivative on multiple levels.

Derivation Level One: Akumas

The first and most obvious level is how similar sentimonsters are to akumas. In terms of how they're normally used in the narrative, they're pretty much the exact same power to the point that you literally can't tell which one you're dealing with until someone tells you. The narrative uses them interchangeably with some episodes using an akuma, some using a sentimonster, and some using both.

In fact, I thought that it was really weird that Gabriel didn't switch to maining sentimonsters back in season four. You had akumas breaking their bonds left and right, which is a thing that sentimonsters literally cannot do, making them the obvious fix to this new problem.

To really highlight the whole "indistinguishable power" issue, allow me to highlight some dialogue from Kuro Neko to show that this is very much an in-universe problem:

Cat Walker: You think that's Cat Noir? Ladybug: Of course it's Cat Noir! He must've been akumatized because he regrets having given up his Miraculous!

Ladybug: You'll see once we deakumatize him. (She runs towards Kuro Neko.) Cataclysm his bell, I'm sure that's where the akuma is! Cat Walker: Hang on! (follows her) Ladybug, what if that's a sentimonster? If I use my power on him, he'll lose control and become more dangerous!

Cat Walker: (cringes) What I mean is you're right to doubt, and I agree with you. Until we know for sure whether we're dealing with a sentimonster or someone who's been akumatized, we shouldn't make any brash decisions. (Kuro Neko leaps away.) Let's find out more.

This sort of confusion should be impossible unless it's the result of clever planning by the villain, but that's not what we're dealing with here. Kuro Neko was not about Gabriel tricking the heroes. He sent out a normal sentimonster having no idea that Chat Noir had just quit. And yet Ladybug had no idea that this was a sentimonster. She looked at it and saw an akuma.

Cat Walker also didn't know that it was a sentimonster. He just knew that it wasn't Chat Noir, which was probably the only reason that he thought to question Ladybug and warn her to be cautious. They only realize that it's a sentimonster once they learn that there's a child inside it.

This is canon accidentally telling us that akumas and sentimonster are just straight up indistinguishable unless you see then made or do some experiments to figure out what you're dealing with. That's not a good look if your claiming that each miraculous grants a unique power. It is, however, a great lead in to the second power that the peacock copies: the power of illusions.

Derivation Level Two: Illusions

I said above that it should take careful planning for a sentimonster to be confused with an akuma. While we never see that type of carefully planned setup, we do see sentimonsters used to successfully impersonate humans on several occasions. One example is the episode Optigami which gave us SentiNino and SentiAlec. Seemingly perfect clones of Nino and Alec who did whatever Shadow Moth told them to. We even see a scene where Shadow Moth is telling SentiAlec exactly what to say.

You know who else gives us this type of scene? Rena Furtive in Rocketear:

Ladybug: You said that if Nino could have heard what you were saying, there'd be no misunderstanding? Rena Furtive: Absolutely! Ladybug: How well do you remember what you guys said on the balcony? Rena Furtive: Every. Word. Ladybug: Do you think you could make... a sound illusion? Rena Furtive: Totally.

Is there any doubt in your mind that the peacock can do anything that the fox can do? What's even worse is that the peacock does illusions better than the fox! Fox illusion vanish in a puff of smoke if you touch them. SentiNino was real enough to wield a miraculous because he was a fully corporeal illusion that would have kept on going if he hadn't been snapped away. This brings us to derivation level three: the power of creation.

Derivation Level Three: Creation

The peacock doesn't just outshine the fox, it outshines the ladybug! Lucky charms vanish as soon as Ladybug detransforms. Sentimonsters last forever. The ladybug is only useful in battle as it requires a super villain to cast its cure (which is asinine, but let's not get into that here). The peacock can be used at any time. The ladybug doesn't give you what you want, it just gives you a puzzle to solve. The peacock can fulfill your deepest desires and even create life.

Outside of the extremely specific circumstances that the show gives us - aka an ongoing battle with a super villain - the ladybug is kind of useless. If you want the power of Creation, you're going to use the peacock. This brings us to our second main issue: power balancing.

Issue Two: Power Balancing

The ladybug and the black cat are supposed to be the two most powerful miraculous in existence, but it really doesn't feel like that's true. Sure, if you put them together they rewrite the universe, but that's not part of their individual base power sets. At an individual level, they don't actually feel all that powerful when compared to the butterfly and the peacock. It's more like Marinette and Adrien are smart enough to make their very limited powers work while Gabriel and Nathalie are dancing along easy street and making fools of themselves with every step.

I've mentioned before that I can forgive the butterfly's overpowered nature because this is an episodic show. They want each episode's fight to be unique and interesting and so we have to give them room to have one power set that should be an insta-win card, but isn't because plot.

I can give them that grace once. I cannot give it to them twice.

There is no reason why both the butterfly and the peacock need to feel more powerful than the supposed most powerful miraculous in existence. I've even talked to one person who is rewriting canon with the assumption that the peacock and the butterfly ARE the most powerful ones because they are! Nothing proves this better than the fact that they've both made creations that can copy the powers of the ladybug and the black cat (see: Copycat, Strikeback, Ladybug, Sandboy, Miraculer, and probably a few others that I'm forgetting).

They're also the only miraculous that don't require an active user. You can create a sentimonster or an akuma, then detransform and have a snack while your creation does whatever you need it to do. That's so incredibly broken and such a terrible move in terms of power balancing. Either have all of the powers require active users or, at the very least, have more of a mix of active and passive powers. Why do Mirage, Shelter, and Lucky Charm vanish when their caster's detransform while akumas and amoks stick around? There is no in-universe logic to explain this. It works this way because that's what the writers needed these miraculous to do. A fact that makes it impossible to get invested in the lore of this show.

When designing a complex magic system, you generally don't want "because plot" to be the only answer to why things work they way they do. You want your magic system to feel real and organic to the world. That's how fictional worlds come to life! If Miraculous' magic system was well designed, then you could take it and use it to tell a wildly different story set in the same universe, but you can't. Everything about it is designed around making canon's story work and not around making an immersive world that you can almost believe exists.

There are stories that I wouldn't hold to that standard, but they're mostly short form stories. Anything as big and complex as Miraculous needs to have a solid lore system backing it or else you lose all sense of stakes. A great example of this is the Bunnyx problem where you know that she can show up at any time and reset the timeline even if things are happening in her own past, so why do we need to worry about bad things happening? And how are the ladybug and the black cat the most powerful ones when you have nonsense like time travel and the power to create human-like creatures? Early canon lore was decently solid, but the longer the show goes, the more nonsense the lore gets and that makes me sad because I love good lore.

Some Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that I didn't really talk about the sentikid issue in this post. That's because my dislike of the peacock came long before that fun little twist. While sentiAdrien is yet another great reason to dislike the peacock, it didn't need to be a thing for the peacock to be a terrible idea. Take away the sentikids and you still have an incredibly derivative and lore-breaking power set that never should have made it into the show.

I actually completely redesigned the peacock for my own rewrite which I start plotting back when I was first watching season three, long before sentiAdrein was even on my radar. That's not something that I usually do in my fix it stuff. I usually try to stick close to canon and make more minor tweaks, but the peacock is so fundamentally world breaking that I had no choice but to do a total overhaul. This is already an incredibly long post, so I won't go into that here. I'll save it for another ask that's sitting in my inbox. I'll schedule them to post back to back.

For this post, I'll just end by pointing out that switching the peacock to Desire makes it derivative of and arguably better than the pig, too, since the pig can only tease you with what you want. The peacock actually gives it to you. In fact, I'd say that the peacock may be a better pig even without the switch!

You can also argue that the peacock is better than or at least equal to the rooster and the goat because they're also just variations of the butterfly and the ladybug's power. Like there is legitimatly potential in taking those miraculous and doing an AU where each Kwami's power is an aspect of creation because the powers are so awkwardly intertwined. Probably make the peacock the master and all others spawn from that one or something like that.

Anyway, this is why you can't design powers around characters if you want good lore and a large team! You have to start with the powers and go from there! It's why I edit Nino's character to be more of a protector since that's his supposed True Force! Also because I want him to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.

[emerxshiu]

Kirby And The Forgotten 3rd Anniversary - Part 1

"Eco of my reborn soul"

I know it isnt the 25 yet but still, happy 3rd anniversary to the game that rewired my brain chemistry and rots my mind away (seriously i cant stop thinking about it) as much as i love it, the game makes me sad, it makes me sad i'll never get to experience it again like the first time, that ill never be able to play it completly blind (i already knew lots before i got the game) no matter how many times i replay it it will never be the same, it keeps aging and i do the same alongside it, knowing that ill never be able to go back to what once was, just thinking about the game makes me so happy, so happy it doesnt let me sleep, so happy i have to run around my room and jump, but it also makes me sad, so sad a lump forms in my throat, so sad it makes me so nervous of everything. im absurdly attached to this game and the characters.

And strangely, all of this reminds me of fecto, believe it or not. while i dislike the tought of fecto elfilis and forgo being the same character, i do like, chaos elfilis and forgo being one, its just forgo, sure morpho's soul is in there, and the other beast pack souls, but, that IS fecto forgo want to admit it or not. it should probably look like mix between morpho and forgo, yet it looks almost the same as elfilis, no matter what it went trough, no matter how much time goes by, they still cling to its former glory as fecto elfilis, an angel, a divine being, even tough its long gone.

being set on an abandoned planet with visible signs of aging doesnt help this certain bittersweet feling the game causes in me.

I tend to play forgotten land at least once a month, usually i only collect some coins and then do lab discovera again, lately i had been forgetting that, and today when i played it it felt, so different, i was on the verge of tears half of the time, especially hearing the music for some reason, remembering all the light-hearted memories i have in that little cartridge, how id take pictures of every cutscene frame, how i made two very stupid errors and only survived on a sliver of health the chaos elfilis and never did the ultimate cup z again because i did not want my deaths to extend beyond my already failed treasure roads. Aahh, sorry this game is so very dear to me and i talk lots about it, most of my content is about it, i think daily about it. and i cant help but share this love with everyone. and sorry for the incoherence i dont actually know to express my feelins well so everything ends up being redundant.

I should probably talk about the drawing now, the whole time thing i just talked about? i think no better drawing of mine to accompany that this one, sure, there isnt any symbolism or whatever of that in there, but its the external thing, i started this ‎the 2nd of may of 2024 around ‏‎21:27:39. yet i only recently finished it on the 22 of this month, thats 2 months away from a year! tough i have to be honest in a majority of those months i wasnt making any progress. tough if you follow me and seen some posts of mine, you can see wips of it, back when i was coloring, and when i said id post this when i returned, also yeah im returning fully today even tough technically its tomorrow, the actual anniversary. ejem- continuing, so, this is to me one of my most iconic drawings i have made, not for being popular or anything, but by the history i have with it, funny that i consider my drawing for katfl's 2nd anniversary my most iconic, tough i mostly mean the sai2 version i never finished. and also this was my first try doing lineless art, even tough it could be better i kinda think i did good, and ive started liking doing lineless, so expect it to be a bit more common in my drawings from now on. oh and also what holded me back the most from completion was the background god the background for some reason i tough itd be a good idea to fill it with something (i think its obvious what i wrote there but ill refrain from saying) and have it be written in forgotten land's lenguage.... done by hand, mostly due to me not having the font back then and more recently when i was finishing, i liked the idea of it being handwritten more, and i still do prefer it, but because this idea popped into my mind, but basically, i wanted it to look like its trying its hardest to be organized, clean, perfect. yet it looks off as it slowly degrades and progressively becomes shakier. an organized chaos, sorry i dont know how to explain, but uhhh

that took me 2 days to write, and it barely reaches 4 lines, sure, i could have done it faster if i concentrated and stuff, but hands do start to hurt after hours of redoing and redoing the letters because you cant just get them right. So i ended up using the font

Also, it was made during my trying to redesign my chaos elfilis era so bad thing, i still have to redesign my gijinka and set on one so thats gonna be fun! ...its even more fun how the drawing has a gijinka that is practically only gonna be seen on this one and i still have to change it yippie...

The part 1 you say? (if you noticed) well well well...as much as said i think this drawings as iconic to me, and how much i spent on it and everything, i find it quite underwhelming, and also i did not want to post a year old drawing for the anniversary, so i did another one, but i wanted to return with this one as promised, but i also wanted a more recent drawing for katfl and being the ever work obsessed katlf addicted i am, basically, uh, im gonna be celebrating katfl's anniversary whole week, maybe even more days than that the lenghts i go for this game man...id even get my memory wiped just to experience it again. i wanna bake a cake in its honor, i want to learn to sew and make plushies to those left forgotten in the game. i want to do those figures. i want to eat the game. dare i say it will be the cause of my death? /ref

You shouln't keep Chaos Elfilis waiting soon tough,

Let's go play with them!

edittt: forgot to mention this silly thing but while drawing and writing for the entire time i was listening to the dream discoveries tour and eternal echo of the thrilling tour-our-our on loop for a completly and truly sane and inmersive experience and i did not want to make it shut up at all

[bylerfanfics]

FIC DAILY: DAY 1

MAY 8, 2025: 3 NEW BYLER FICS!!

Yesterday's Fic Count: 12,699

Today's Fic Count: 12,702

I apologize if I miss some new fics. If you want your fic to be shared on this blog, please go to my asks: fic shout-out! And send me a link to your byler fanfic on ao3.

Show some LOVE to byler authors by leaving kudos and kind comments on their fics!!💙💛

LOOK AT THE RATING, WARNINGS AND ALL TAGS BEFORE READING!

Fics are not mine. Please support these talented authors. Happy Reading! — bylerfanfics

KEEP READING TO VIEW THE NEW BYLER FICS!!

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Sunset Yesterday (9076 words) by neneko_qwq Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler Characters: Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Scott Clarke, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on a Kagerou Project Song, Song: Yuukei Yesterday | Yesterday Evening (Kagerou Project), Online Friendship, nancy is in this fic but it's like one paragraph so i'm not tagging her, sorry for the dustin erasure, technically a byler fic but it's mostly platonic bc i suck at writing romance apparently, no beta we die like the pope apparently, Mike Wheeler-centric, Pre-Relationship, No Angst

Summary:

After being forced to work together on a group project, Mike realises that maybe him and his only classmate can be friends.

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starving works (when it costs too much to love) (4181 words) by delusionaltogether Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler Characters: Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, probably anyway, First Kiss, Sad Will Byers, incredibly redundant tag lmaoo, Angst, it's not too bad tho In My Opinion, Internalized Homophobia, Gay Will Byers

Summary:

“No,” Mike says forcefully, and then, with a frustrated sound, “I mean- yes, I don’t know. What I mean is, it’s bullshit that you had to deal with that, and it’s bullshit that you have to deal with-” here he gestures wildly to, Will assumes, the general shitshow that their lives have become, “all of this, and I just…” he sighs, and lets his hand fall to rest on top of Will’s. The contact, the casualness with which he initiates it, surprises Will so much that he stops trying to strangle his pinky finger with the couch thread. “You should have the things you want,” Mike says, squeezing Will’s hand.

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august slipped away into a moment in time (3974 words) by thisismadstrying Chapters: 1/6 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair Characters: Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair, Nancy Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Holly Wheeler, Jonathan Byers Additional Tags: Summer Vacation, Summer Love, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Internalized Homophobia, Minor Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler Being an Idiot, Italy, Fluff, Domestic, idiots having fun basically, All the characters are italian cause i said so

Summary:

As Mike comes back to his favorite place in the world for the summer, a small town in the South of Italy, he's sure it's going to be like it's been for the past four years: uneventful and lonely, as ever. However, thanks to a helping friend, his whole idea of a relaxing vacation is thrown out the window, along with a secret he shamefully tries to hide. Are the fireworks lighting up in the sky during a hot, August night as loud as the explosions that happen inside of him, as a boy he recently met blinds him with his sweet and simple smile?

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3 NEW BYLER FICS!! LET'S GOOO!!! See you tomorrow, byler authors and readers.

[lrgcarter]

Okay,

I've often posted links to my fiction, but I haven't ever written a post explaining what I write. I've always figured "meh, if people read it they read it. If not, then not. Whatevs."

But today the prose is coming tough, so I'm writing this explanation as a free writing/shake it all loose kind of thing.

So, imagine a seventeen year old in the very early 2000s. Tony Blair is prime minister. 9/11 happened less than 12 months ago. It is not currently common for people to have their own internet connection. You use one of the computers scattered randomly around college if you want to ask jeves to look for things online. But he probably won't find anything, because the internet doesn't have much on it yet. Strange times.

And I'm thinking "I enjoy creating shit!"

This creativity came in many forms. Writing lyrics with my friend who knew how to play Every Instrument. Making comics. Writing stories.

And being as I am 17, I am aware that I know jack shit about the world. I also know that I'm trying to figure it out, and it's hard, but day by day I'm getting there, you know?

I'm also starting to see how experimental books can be. I've read Robert Rankin, who like to put poems between each chapter. I'm reading Moby Dick, which swaps between traditional prose and script format and has one chapter that's just a limerick. (Edit: It might not strictly be a limerick. Tiny poem. Whatever, word nerd.) I've discovered Edward Gory, who does so much in so little space and who I could probably ramble on about for ever.

So, I'm particularly focusing on developing my own prose.

And all of these things come together. And I start putting together things to make a children's book.

Why a children's book? Because I'm a teenager who has yet to drown his earlier memories. I can remember what children want. Or at least what I wanted as a child. And the children's material of the time did not seem to be catering for Past Me (Edit: Oh, except for Captain Underpants! I discovered that while revising for my GCSEs. Add that to the inspiration pile).

So, I start sticking together everything I like into one big messy world.

I don't even know the style I'm going for yet. At one point I was going to do the whole thing in the style of Edward Gory. You know, because at that point I was pumping his stuff into my veins.

And then I go to uni, and my friend Chris takes me to the uni writing group, and they seem to like my stuff. Which is nice and encouraging. And so I keep writing from there.

Fast forward 20 years.

The world has changed. A lot. And in some other ways, not at all.

My work has not been published. No worries. I understand. I've had some very nice rejection letters. I'm painfully aware of its flaws.

Also, the world changing, and me doubling my age, means that what I want to write has changed.

My old stories are about a kid trying to work out what the world is all about. I had this idea that there is enough strange and fantastical shit in the world that you don't need to go through a wardrobe or whatever to find a fantasy land. My original aim was to write an exaggerated version of the real world with any differences being because it was "just a few years in the future, after a load of stuff has changed."

But since then the world has changed. And some of the stuff in my stories is now redundant. And plenty of it has been done better by others in the meantime. And I'm now working on new stuff that better reflects where I currently am as a person and as a writer.

But at the start of the ongoing pandemic I made myself a website. And I needed content. So I dusted off the first few old stories and threw them online. Where you can read them!

And at some point I'll dust off the next in the series. Book 3 needs a lot of work though, which is why it isn't already there. That story is set in a school and remembering that part of my childhood opened up waaay too many mind doors. So while the first stories have been through 20 years of drafting and refinement, book 3 is basically still in its first draft format. Which is a shame, because I'm really happy with book 4 and want to put that out one day. So if none of the rest of the series ever sees the light of day, I will get book 3 revised and put 3 and 4 on my site.

One day.

In the mean time, please check out my stories if you would like to see some metaphorical pictures of me as an embarrassing youth.

[soot-support]

[meant to be anonymous; I just wanna share my thoughts & idk where to post them, sorry if it's too long/offensive/redundant]

Time frame

They were dating the whole 2022 and months into 2023 (Shubb's words) idk how many months exactly but my guess is March/April 2023 cuz they used the same set up in April (probably Shubb was taking her stuff from Wil's flat)

I feel like they both had a certain idea in their mind but ended up badly. Their relationship was mutually toxic & I hope they both heal

The idea of marriage and kids + other issues

My only guess about Shubb with that idea that could make sense is that she was frequently fantasising about it (maybe Wil as well, especially at the beginning of the relationship)

They probably talked about the future at the beginning of their relationship (the biting, the mutual wish to get married & have children in the future, establishing boundaries, whether they keep their relationship public or private, ect) and it became an occuring theme during it (well or poorly communicated)

Wil either:

started having doubts about the idea (which is understandable)

could've changed his mind/starting to resent the idea if her daydreaming was an occuring theme in (like how many times can you hear the same thing before you snap or something?)

Another thing - compatibility:

(very likely) aro/aro-spec allosexual guy

alloromantic ace woman (who came out as demi during their relationship iirc but I think she's back to being ace)

Other contributors: poor communication, the pretty constant band touring, Techno's death, long-distance relationship, her feeling obligated to stay in the relationship/take care of him, Wil's depression/depressive state, possible eventual growing resentment towards each other, the issue with biting, ect

Another thing: Wil's love bombing (Shubb's words) Was it really love bombing or just honeymoon phase? (the guy was crushing on her since ~2020) Like there's a fine line between those things but very blurry

Shubb's Reddit post (using UTC)

The post was made on 17 Nov 2023 0:00-3:11 (I checked it few times. It was 12 months old on 16 Nov ~23:20; a year old on 17 Nov at 3:11) Coincidentally, it was when Shubb streamed & talked about not having been complimented for 2 months & you could hear Wil in the background (someone said it was Oli but I think it was Wil)

The post has one capture on the Wayback Machine made 18 Nov 2023 at ~17:30. The post has 2 upvotes & 8 comments:

1 from automoderator

5 made when the post was published

2 made when/after the stream happened

Idk when the post was deleted or if you can comment on deleted posts if they weren't archived. If you can't, that means the post was deleted during/soon after the stream. If you can then before it (idk when) but it got archived after the stream probably

/conspiracy mode/ at the worst, she wanted people to find the post to point more at Wil. At the best, it was her way of coping with the relationship

Side note, the account she used had 2 comments on r/HazbinHotel I think. I think the account still exists

^^^

[caliburn-the-sword]

tlc fairest thoughts

this is all gonna be one post because if i put every "levana wtf" moment i had. i would end up just posting the ENTIRE book. ngl will probably tag this as anti?? because i don't have very much that is nice to say unlike the other books. respectfully, do not press keep reading if you're gonna be upset about how i feel about fairest because i don't want you to have a bad internet experience and i don't want ME to have a bad internet experience. thanks <3

am i really going to be forced to go through a whole second-hand-embarrassment-fest as an explanation for levana's backstory

sorry the writing style is giving the cruel prince. and i am very much not a fan of that book

wait i'm really confused. levana was 15 yet is now celebrating her 17th?? did the mourning period last an entire year or???

levana is just as delulu as cress when it comes to love, but she doesn't have the excuse of being locked up for like a decade in isolation. what's her excuse lol

respect for evret for being the ONLY grown man in this goddamn series that doesn't go after minors

AND NOW LEVANA IS 16 AGAIN. looks like someone in publishing didn't notice the continuity error lmao

idk if it's because i'm tired but WHY does channary not want anyone to know the father of the baby?? and also aren't there dna tests for that which make it redundant anyway??? tho i guess if she's fucking THAT many men then she wouldn't even know where to start with testing even if she did want to

i'm sorry but there's something HILARIOUS about levana hating all these women having babies. knowing that the babies are gonna grow up to kick her ass off the lunar throne

is the queen being glamoured????? it's hard to say because she was ALREADY such a disturbed individual that it's hard to say whether this new shit is her own thoughts or someone else's

TF LEVANA WAS SET ON FIRE BY HER SISTER?????

ahhh. part of me wonders if channary glamouring her sister during early developmental stages is what made levana so fucked up to begin with

the description of how hair catches fire is entirely accurate

god. i feel so bad for evret. his entire life was ruined and then he was killed before he could ever see his daughter grow up

ngl levana didn't seem to be very proactive in HER OWN story?? it's just a bunch of things happening to her or falling into her lap CONSTANTLY. other than her glamouring evret and trying to kill cinder, she never actually DOES anything. it felt like the author had a checklist of things like "okay these all canonically happen before the events of cinder so i'm gonna tick all these off quickly". idk. didn't love it. i'm glad that at least she didn't go to any effort to redeem levana, but istg levana literally had the moral consistency of literal water. one minute she's like "time to toss this baby off a balcony" and then "boohoo i didn't realise that killing someone would ACTUALLY kill them" like girl what???? that's not to say that i WANT her to be good and whatever, in fact i mean the opposite. just let her be an evil bitch. stop with the totally random, OUT OF PLACE bouts of empathy that happen for literally no reason. pulled me out of the plot so hard every time it happened. maybe it's because of my negative feelings but it just felt very anticlimactic?? i'm just sitting here like "okay so what??"

managed to get through the slogfest but i can already feel myself slipping into a reading slump. yesterday i wanted to read winter SO bad but now i feel like i need time to recover from that read. lesbians give me strength to persevere because i KNOW that i will LOVE winter

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Important Fandom Interest Check Poll!

Please vote and share around if you would be interested in a Genshin fic rec archive blog!

The basic idea would be an archive of posts linking to tumblr or ao3 fics of extremely high quality. It would make it easier to find older fics that are finished but don't have the high kudos to come up when you search by most kudos. The categories would be based on main ship or gen and the ship tag would only have fics with that ship in it. All fics would be read by me or a second mod before being added to the archive and they don't have to be complete before being added.

I am just trying to see if there is any interest in this type of blog. If the no's seem to be a lot or the number of votes is small all together. I won't sink time into coding a tumblr blog template.

If you are interested please consider reblogging so your genshin friends can also vote!

More about how this might work under the read more.

I would have submissions open and you would be free to submit your own fics along with others. I just can't guarantee I'd put it on the blog. I'd have final say to veto any fic submission. But the main reason would probably be needless smut.

Yes I am aware the idea of a genshin fic archive sounds redundant. Check marking only your ship on AO3 never gives you 20 oneshot compilation fics with other ships before the first solo fic or anything. The whole point is to make it so you don't have to scroll through countless not great fics that just happen to include your ship in the tags. And again to help older fics not get lost in the pile.

Genshin gets 100s of fics posted per day on AO3. It's not easy to sort through all of it. The blog is meant to make that easier. Also Tumblr fics. Those get lost to the void of character/reader what if posts never to be seen again.

Even if nsfw fics are included fics that are 50%-100% smut won't be included. I just can't read through that much porn personally. Including 18+ would just mean slow burns with countless chapters of character build up before one smut chapter wouldn't automatically be excluded. They would still be tagged and stored separately from other fics in that ships category.

Kaeyluc will be excluded by default. Along with any smut fics including child characters and rape/noncon. Also Porn without plot like mentioned above.

Quality would not be judged by kudos or any other metric. I even plan to allow fics with questionable spelling and grammar to an extent. If your story is moving or does something interesting with the characters involved. Then I don't care if you mix up your there, their, and they're. I don't want to exclude non-native english speakers from this list. The fic just needs to be readable.

Most ship fics would probably be mlm or wlw. There is just a larger quantity of those in general on ao3. I don't mind including lumineXchilde or LumineXdainsleif. But any other het ships will probably be reliant on submissions to be found and added.

But none of this is set in stone except for what I would be excluding. Tho that list might get longer. This is all just the basic idea and any suggestions on how to make it better are greatly appreciated!

[youremyonlyhope]

The Star Beast

Am I excited for the 60th? Eh... I'm just glad to have Doctor Who to watch after a year of nothing.

Why in the world were my Disney+ subtitles set to Chinese?

Donna my girl. You are the only reason for me to be excited. This whole post has a lot of salt throughout.

Also, I don't know how I feel about the exposition to the camera thing. Twelve did it better. Interesting opening sequence. And I think I have said I like the retro logo. Ok Rachel Talalay directed. That's promising. Those robots in the background felt cyberman-esque. Ughhhhh I have so many thoughts about the choice to have Donna name her daughter Rose. Ugh. I like that the running gag of Donna not seeing the chaos for random mundane reasons continues. Glad she's still roasting him. Ok if this is supposed to be a NEW Doctor, I don't like him saying Allons-y. Please. New catchphrase. The same face doesn't have to mean the same personality. Plus I don't know French but isn't saying "Let's - Allons-y!" redundant? Ok shoutout to Nerys that's fun. Shaun's a good man. I'm very glad we get to see more of him now since he was a bit of a non-character in End of Time. OH GOOD UNIT IS REALLY BACK PROPERLY. Wait do I remember seeing pictures of Kate in promos... I was about to ask why the ship was right side up if it crashed. Ok. It landed. God I've forgotten Donna's mom's name but I'm really glad to see she listened to the Doctor and shows Donna appreciation now. I was just about to ask how long it'd been. Because End of Time aired in 2009/10 but the whole timeline of the RTD era was messed up. So does that mean that Journey's End was technically 2008? God let me not try to make sense of this right now. God I hate this Meep thing with a passion. I hate its eyes. So much. Ah. Nightmare fuel. I don't like the sonic reverting back to be so similar to Nine/Ten's either. It would have been funner if he was using Thirteen's. Plus he should have been in Thirteen's outfit but I've already complained about that for a year. Cowards. "Off you pop" I wonder if that's a reference to Clara in the 50th. What is that the Time Vortex or something? Does Rose crochet these toys? Love that. (For the record I got nothing against Rose at all I'm just mad she was named Rose for pure fan pandering purposes.) Ok now I see why it was hiding in toys in the promo. Sylvia you are totally right to be angry at the Doctor this time around. "Oh wow he's so cute" no, it's nightmare fuel. GOOD JOB SYLVIA. He deserves that slap. Oh poor Shaun. He's such a good man though. Sees the chaos, sees a literal monster, and decides to compliment his mother-in-law's cooking. Good job. "I loved that man." Aw. Me too. "He's not dead." "You idiot." Love it. Kate came in to help take care of Wilf? Oh. Ohhh. My heart. "You've got two hearts? So do I." "You've got what." Oh Donna. Hmm so the hypnotized soldiers are not on the same side as the Wrath... I don't know how I feel about this sonic force field thing but ok. Resonating concrete. I'll accept that reference because it's about Nine. "Or we've got things very, very wrong." Yep I agree that Meep is probably evil and as nightmarish as the Meep looks. A living sun. I'll accept that reference because it's about Martha. Please RTD, reference something OTHER than your era though for this 60th anniversary of the whole show. SEE I TOLD YOU IT WAS A NIGHTMARE CREATURE. "With your weird child." Ah so Beep the Meep is a transphobe too. SEE. SEEEEEE. I WAS RIGHT TO HATE THIS THING. "I'm just passing by" Ok I always liked that line. God I hate this thing. SHE SAID THE DOCTOR. Ok these random Winter Soldier trigger words would have meant more had they actually be put into the show at some point prior to this. Because I have absolutely no memory of any of this besides the repeated "binary binary binary." Donna Noble is descending. Fixing up all the burning caverns like that is nonsense. OK ROSE. OK.

Ok no wait now I'm mad again. At first when the show was in promotions the assumption was that Donna named Rose subconsciously. Because we weren't sure if Yasmin was playing a trans character or not. Then when this episode started I was like "Ok so Rose picked the name Rose by random when she transitioned and it's a coincidence. Fine I'll accept that." but didn't actually put it in the post. And now NO. SHE HAS SOME OF THE METACRISIS IN HER. SO SHE NAMED HERSELF AFTER ROSE. I'm mad all over again. Just let it go RTD2!

Ok the Keep Out on the shed might be a reference to Twelve's sign on his Tardis. Fine. Fine. I'll take that. Glad they didn't zoom in on the Adipose before that. that would have been too obvious. Because the toy is just straight up an Adipose. Also happy 10th birthday to Owen the Adipose plushie I crocheted around this same time. "We're binary." "She's not." "Because the Doctor's male" "And female" "And neither. And more." Ok ok confirmation of the Doctor being non-binary ok. This has been a rollercoaster of me being angry and me being happy. "My father would be impressed, I have no higher compliment" That is VERY true there is not a higher compliment than that. Oh is the episode going to be dedicated to Bernard... Oh and we're getting that Toymaker dude later right? And Rose makes toys. Ok I see why this random Old Who villain is relevant to this story. "Shame you're not a woman anymore, cause she would have understood." True. So they can just... let the time lord energy go... sure I guess? OK THE SIGN BY THE ROBOT THINGS SAYS CYBERDOG. I DIDN'T SEE THAT BEFORE. THEY WERE MEANT TO LOOK LIKE CYBERMEN. I do like Ten being insulted by Shaun saying "But not him." since I do somewhat headcanon Ten as being a bit in love with Donna.

Ok at this point I realized that Tumblr had stopped autosaving this draft around when we saw the Adipose. So let's see if I can even post this last half.

I don't mind this Tardis design. Kind of like One's mixed with Eleven's. Ok the set itself is actually impressive. I like it. Oh Donna. Ew I do not like the breathy Doctor Who theme nope.

No dedication to Bernard at the end. Did we already get something dedicated to him? Or maybe they'll just dedicate the episode he's actually in.

As an episode, it was cute and fun. I think RTD2 needs to take some of his own advice and let it go, specifically the Rose thing.

As a 60th anniversary special... Ok I was glad this episode wasn't just purely RTD era callbacks every other moment. But still, it's an anniversary special. Give me more about all 60 years. Or at least the very least more about the Moffat and Chibnall eras. I guess we'll have to see since all 3 episodes are supposed to be anniversary specials. But for the episode airing closest to the anniversary, I'm disappointed that it didn't feel like an anniversary episode.

Edit: I went to check the cast and at the time it had a 9.2 on IMDB and was above Blink as highest rated episode. It's now down to 8.2 which is more reasonable. But god I'm annoyed at the way some fans have just eaten up all this pandering.

[bloodyyconverse]

I understand how seemingly annoying it can be to come across people grieving in random corners of the internet but you have to understand how powerful grief is as an emotion. And if you have experienced it and you still feel annoyed or dismissive when other people express it, that's your prerogative, but I can't bring myself to.

I experienced one of the worst losses I will ever have to endure in my entire life roughly one year ago, and it has changed who I am as a person. It set my healing back years, I'm probably worse than I was then even. I cannot do or see or hear very normal things without having a breakdown. I am so prone to falling into crises, I am constantly on the verge of an anxiety attack. I cannot do the activities I used to love without having violent depressive episodes that can come and go so suddenly I feel like it couldn't have been real. Hearing a song, picking up a certain scent, tasting a certain food, even just seeing a movie title can throw me into a crying fit for hours.

Grief is not something you just move on from, nor is it easy to contain. I wish I could shut up about it, but it has consumed me in a way that I can probably never escape. I don't see the world the same. And I'm not the first or only person to feel this way. It varies from person to person, but it changes you.

It isn't your job to deal with some random stranger expressing their grief, but it is kind of you to not engage if you have nothing nice to say. You don't have to read it, no one is making you. You do not owe them condolences or support. But you, as a human, owe other humans empathy. That is how our species survives, that is how we are wired. It is the most merciful thing you can do to just leave it be if you know you're going to say something hateful or insensitive.

I also see a lot of people mocking the sort of things people post/where they post when they are in mourning. I can understand how it can be cliche and redundant, but I've grown to really understand it. Sometimes you just need to express how you feel, especially if it's somewhere like a music comment section where realistically no one is going to see it, especially no one you know. It gets the feelings out and doesn't pressure anyone in particular into responding to it. It's strange now seeing people kind of mock the whole "my mom and I used to love this song before [the tragedy]" genre of comment when I entirely understand how it feels. It isn't just an overwhelming need to share. For me, it feels like I'm being suffocated. I have this memory that means the world to me and no one will ever understand it the way I do. I will never get it back, I will never have someone else who remembers it the way I do (or remembers it at all), and I feel like I NEED to 'vocalize' it before I explode. It's strange and isolating and panic-inducing and lonely.

Please be kind. Please be so kind. And I hope, if you have never truly been gutted by grief, you will never have to do it alone or while being heckled online.

[ggitty]

(JN anon) Most likely, they loved doing stuff in the background both in the movie and the show. (It took me multiple rewatches to notice that the ice cream cone kid Jimmy nearly scooters into is in a later scene hanging off the side of the Candy Bar when Jimmy arrives to it.)

It's a very short one-scene-wonder. There are bigger oddities about that game. xD

Complete with a giant transparent brain, because we have to be on the nose as possible. :P

And he's literally just a giant white-haired Jimmy with a goatee and "devil horns". (Better yet, they all fight for control of the body and it ends when them beating themselves up.)

I knew I heard that name before. Neat!

Wouldn't be shocked if the Jetsons was another inspiration, we know Star Wars and Star Trek certainly were.

Archiving is such an underappreciated job, but it's a very important one. There's so stuff out there you wouldn't have thought existed, but it was a real thing!

I just want something more concrete so we know whether to start setting expectations or if we're left dry again.

I've also read that Keith wished he could have done more musical stuff with the show. But y'know, limitations and time.

-----------------------

(For the other ask)

That or having shaved sides. It's either him or Jimmy that's getting the mullet when they're older.

I had just managed to find it right after I sent the ask. xD

True. And with that, it's cool that Judy managed to avoid most "sexy mom" tropes. (Dexter's Lab is a little wild looking back, but that's par for the course with a lot of 90's stuff.)

Yeah, I've seen the stuff that came out from just Spongebob alone. Wild that someone found NSFW in the data discs of PS1 Spongebob games.

Oooh, and what would that be~?

(Sorry for the wait, as promised: Since posting links is a tight-rope walk, I'm just gonna say search "Jimmy Neutron Heritage Auctions" and "Jimmy Neutron Worthpoint". Also "Jimmy Neutron Dora mascots", have fun!)

Hey, sorry it took me so long to reply! (literally a month damn)

I don't know exactly why it happened, I just couldn't write a proper answer for a long time (I wrote it and then deleted it probably 3 times just because I didn't like the way I answered, it just didn't feel right, and it pissed me off) And, when I was going to do it last week, I accidentally saw that the Nicktoons united fandom was having an event on tumblr I felt kind of redundant with my solo JN yapping, so I decided to wait until they were done lol

ANY WAY!!

Yes probably, I mean whole game is such a dream and I honestly love it lol I just wish that back in my childhood, I don't get lost in game and actuality got to the ending. The ending would be such a memory to have, especially considering that I have like 0 sens of humor back in a day's, and my reaction would be so fun to remember now lol

YES, and it made me laugh more than I should lol

NO BUT THIS IS SUCH A CANON It's honestly harder to see universe in with they did not beat themselves up lol

Oh definitely! I forever respect people that archives, preserve and even recreate old stuff that otherwise be lost! Site's like Internet Archive are like a version Library of Alexandria of our time and I forever cherish people who preserve all this small random stuff for us to see! Recently, I even started making my own copies, albeit very basic ones, of small fan sites that I care about. Like, even if it's not much, it will still be something if anything happens to these sites lol (I really hope it doesn't happen, but sometimes I just get anxious lol) Oh yes, definitely! I'm not even trying to start sets some expectations before I hear some real conformation that we actually gonna get something And yes, especially considering reputation that original get for its visual years later But also, I mean, I think that people REALLY overreacted to Shrek 5 teaser in all ways possible lol (and they also forgot the Puss in boots TLW asmr teaser, but I don't)

And I agree that this its either september or january, from all the spots. But I would aim towards september, because november is a really hot spot for release a big projects and december is a spot for a “dead titles”, because they are completely overshadowed by big release (and after like 2 weeks they are sent to die into a streaming limbo) (btw still have no idea who decide that life action Rugrats is a good idea. did life action FoP teach us nothing as a society)

MAN, ITS REMINDED ME HOW MUCH MUSICAL NUMBERS THEIR ARE IN THE SHOW Like, I remember re-watching the show and realizing how much of these random musical numbers are in it lol Now I know who is responsible for that lol -----------------

And then he is proceeding to just shaved sides but doesn't trim the whole length, and he's get one of shaved sides and mullet lol If I had a dollar for each time that world makes me think about Jimmy thigh a mullet, I'd have 2. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice Yes, defiantly. They know their boundaries enough so it doesn't become here defiant feature in the show (also yes, looking beck some stuff was there not just for a simple artistic expression)

Ahamha I look it up and I just so curious to why to put it in the game files lol I remember something that sometimes artist and animators back in days add some stuff as a joke/tradition (before rise of VHS tapes where you can pause in any frame to look at it) So its like was here for people who know, but others didn't notice it lol With the rise of VHS it was replaced by other blink you miss type of moments that you supposed to find if you're observant enough. Maybe this was something like this in their minds, like you defiantly can't and wasn't supposed to see it in game, just in a game files lol

And don't you worry about the fact that you can't post link! It honestly makes this only more fun for me, because I can get sidetrack in google images and found more of this lol Also, mascots is such a meme icon that it haunts almost any JN video hnanhf

BTW Funko Jimmy, Carl and Sheen official exist (as well as the hunted ai generated image based of Sheens funko that is tbh is atrociously hilarious)

[slaphappy-hour]

I am by no means a good writer, and I will never claim to be such. I am, however, an impeccable editor, so take that into consideration when reading this.

I should also mention that my writing style is based solely around me not losing my train of thought. So, if you're constantly getting writer's block or not sure how to transition between scenes you pre-wrote at 3AM, this is probably for you!

There are a couple different symbols I use. (Parentheses), [brackets], and _____.

I tend to use parentheses when:

^ I don't like the word choice

^ I already used that word/redundancy

^ I don't know what other word to put and I'll find a synonym later

Ex:

Using random parentheses isn’t a (good) way to write, but at least it’s not super distracting when you’re rereading your work!

In this example, “good” obviously isn’t a very (good) word to put. Something better would be “efficient” or “structurally appropriate.” But you know what? Sometimes, you can’t always think of the word you want, which brings me to my next symbol: underscores!

I tend to use underscores when:

^ I have no idea what word to put but I know a word needs to go there

^ I don’t know how to end a phrase

Ex:

Using underscores isn’t exactly _____ either, but hey! Your brain probably filled in that blank all by itself, didn’t it?

And that’s how it works. When you reread/edit your work, your brain has a funny way of filling in those blanks in post, so don’t stress about the details!

And finally, the laziest one, brackets.

I tend to use brackets when:

^ I have a relative idea of what I want to say and no idea how to word it

^ I have an idea I want to work into my writing but my brain is off so I’ll come back to it later

^ I want to skip whole ass paragraphs and jump to the good part

^ I use [...] when I know I need to elaborate more, but once again, but brain is fried

Ex:

[something about a stream of consciousness; giving yourself a good idea of what to put; kicking writer’s block in the ass; very easy to find with ctrl+f]

Et voila! I gave myself a general idea of what I wanted to put there— definitely enough for me to build off of in three weeks whenever I decide to come back to my abandoned works.

Now, I guess I should show you how this looks in a longer, more ____ paragraph. Or, paragraphs, rather.

So, this is a DCA-centric blog and I’m low-key DCA obsessed, so I’ll just add an excerpt of an unfinished DCA wip I never posted and probably never will post.

“No, no, no, silly!” the Sun laughed brightly, setting her down. He made no move to step back, instead bending so he was curling overtop of her. “It’s closed! That means it’s just us! That means you’re here for me!”

And the idea filled him with (love). The parents never came for him. The children had no say in the matter— they were only being dropped off by their parents— and it wasn’t their choice. The staff never came for him except the mechanics, and when they did, it never meant anything good. She was here for him and only him. [...]

“Who else would I be here for, goofball? Of course I’m here for you.”

Just hearing her say it out loud was enough to flood his directory with (elated) interference. “I’m so so glad! Oh, I missed you! Do-? D’ya wanna play a game? We could do charades!”

“What about the daycare?”

“Hm?”

She peered behind him at the mess. “Don’t you want help cleaning up?”

“Oh, oh!” Sun chirped, having forgotten about the state of the daycare. [she was his top priority] “That’s- That’d be great!”

Obviously, this is criminally under-edited. But I got the words out… right? And that's half the battle!

Does anyone have any super specific writing or art tips that may or may not work for anyone else? Not the things you always see like "do what makes you happy," "be confident," "take breaks," etc. etc. Something specific, like how a writing method I used to have was to open a chocolate bar and take a small bite every 100 words

[accessibleaesthetics]

Informative Hyperlinked Text

Creating posts with informative hyperlinked text really helps boost the accessibility of your content for a number of reasons

Screen reader users don't have to listen to a whole URL read out

All users get to have an idea of where the link will take them before selecting it

Your posts look less cluttered overall

In relation to that second point in particular, keep in mind that your hyperlinked text should (ideally) be able to stand on its own even without context. That means not making your hyperlinked text vague like:

click here

here

more

read more

info

link

Now, I'm certainly not perfect about this; sometimes I will make my hyperlinked text read "this post" or something similar. But it's still a good think to keep in mind.

You should also avoid putting redundant info in your hyperlinked text. For example, there is no need to specify that a link is a link; screen readers tell users when they come across a link, so something like link to my blog might read as "link to my blog link" or something. Likewise, tumblr will underline linked text by default (at least in dashboard view), so users who sight read will be able to tell which things are links too.

Note: since underlining is such a common way of indicating a link, it's best to avoid using underlined text for anything that is not a link to avoid confusion.

Finally, you want to be concise with which text you choose to hyperlink. This means that it's probably best to post tags as plain text, even if it automatically copy/pastes as a hyperlink (you can remove that formatting).

It also means that you need to be purposeful with which text you choose to hyperlink in your post. Providing context around the hyperlink to further inform users of what it is and where it will go also helps.

Too Vague:

You can learn more about visual disabilities here.

Click here to learn more about visual disabilities.

Too Long:

You can learn more about visual disabilities on WebAIM.

Nice and Concise:

You can learn more about visual disabilities on WebAIM.

You can learn more about visual disabilities on WebAIM.

Concise and Uses Clear Page Titles:

You can learn more by visiting the Visual Disabilities page on WebAIM.

You also don't always have to stop the flow of your writing to point out the source; a link implies there is more information there. So, for example, you could just as easily get away with this:

There are many different visual disabilities that benefit from accessible content.

Final note: the length advice is not set in stone. Sometimes you need longer pieces of hyperlinked text. Just try not to hyperlink more than is needed!

[nettleshuttle]

Who do I ask about, who do I ask about... decisions, decisions...

Alright, throw me your thoughts on Juudai!

so, moving on to jaden!

fav thing about them: i actually wrote a separate post on that recently, but the pure, childish, selfish enjoyment of dueling as his chief driving force is what i really like about him. dude literally duels to the death with envoys of hell and goes like “that sure was a fun duel!” — and i respect that. on a more serious note, it fits his personality and motivates his development very neatly: the way he loses all excitement about duels when he is forced to play at too high stakes, which sets off a lot of his mistakes and leads to the miserable jaden/yubel fused entity…….. poetic. while we’re at it, that final duel with yubel was fantastic and forming jaden/yubel as a consequence, someone who is theoretically both still jaden and definitely not jaden anymore, very powerful and very confused, was also great.

least fav thing about them: the whole neo space chosen one bullshit seemed rather redundant and introduced a needlessly stupid arc with visits to space and what not?? i mean it’s gx, okay, but that was still hugely farfetched, even taking the context into account.

favorite line: i already brought up the “gotcha! that sure was a fun duel” quote and i feel like it’s really iconic for him, so yes. then maybe less of a one-liner, but what he says to chazz during their society of light duel (that stuff about how losing can be painful and that he apologizes because one of his friends went through all that and he never even noticed) also lives in my head rent free + is a great step forward in his development. lastly, it’s not even his quote, but the line “control the winds; there’s nothing that cannot be surpassed” is just peak jaden for me and i love it.

brOTP: jesse? i like them also as a romantic ship, but they’re great friends, especially with all the similarities and parallels established between them.

OTP: definitely chazz, it’s not even the yugi-kaiba relation analogy, but there’s just something about these two that makes me feel like they have the ultimate dynamic. still, the fact that jaden acts like a solid 80% of all characters were his boyfriends will never be not funny to me and i like the general uh relationship confusion that this all causes.

nOTP: no strong opinions here, but i kinda dislike shipping him with the kaiser or syrus. just very unfortunate combinations, romantic-wise, if you ask me.

random headcannon: i wrote a fic where jaden can’t really sleep during stormy nights because the sound of thunder gets to him and it just stuck with me and ever since. besides, i see him as extremely touchy feely clingy with all his friends, equally so with closer and more distant ones, but that’s at least half canon.

unpopular opinion: i disliked the supreme king jaden plot part — i get that he snapped hard after all that happened in that spirit dimension, but this whole situation seemed very exaggerated and didn’t really stick together plot wise either.

also i don’t know if that’s unpopular, but jaden’s ending in gx is probably the best i could have thought up for him myself. 100% satisfied with how his story was closed.

song i associate with them: the first opening, “fine weather rising hallelujah”! for non-op ones, probably either “new divide” or “burn it down” (linkin park), but that’s referring rather to jaden/yubel or his whole character arc, not the careless s1 vibes.

favorite picture of them: unspecific, really, but i remember liking this one from meeting jesse quite a lot.

[duckprintspress]

How to Edit an Over-Length Story Down to a Specific Word Count

One of the most wonderful things about writing as a hobby is that you never have to worry about the length of your story. You can be as self-indulgent as you want, make your prose the royalist of purples, include every single side story and extra thought that strikes your fancy. It’s your story, with no limits, and you can proceed with it as you wish.

When transitioning from casual writing to a more professional writing milieu, this changes. If you want to publish, odds are, you’ll need to write to a word count. If a flash fiction serial says, “1,000 words or less,” your story can’t be 1,025 and still qualify. If a website says, “we accept novellas ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 words,” your story will need to fall into that window. Even when you consider novel-length works, stories are expected to be a certain word count to fit neatly into specific genres - romance is usually around 80,000 words, young adult usually 50,000 to 80,000, debut novels usually have to be 100,000 words or less regardless of genre, etc. If you self-publish or work with a small press, you may be able to get away with breaking these “rules,” but it’s still worthwhile to learn to read your own writing critically with length in mind and learn to recognize what you do and do not need to make your story work - and then, if length isn’t an issue in your publishing setting, you can always decide after figuring out what’s non-essential to just keep everything anyway.

If you’re writing for fun? You literally never have to worry about your word count (well, except for sometimes in specific challenges that have minimum and/or maximum word counts), and as such, this post is probably not for you.

But, if you’re used to writing in the “throw in everything and the kitchen sink” way that’s common in fandom fanfiction circles, and you’re trying to transition only to be suddenly confronted with the reality that you’ve written 6,000 words for a short story project with a maximum word count of 5,000...well, we at Duck Prints Press have been there, we are in fact there right now, as we finish our stories for our upcoming anthology Add Magic to Taste and many of us wrote first drafts that were well over the maximum word count.

So, based on our experiences, here are our suggestions on approaches to help your story shorter...without losing the story you wanted to tell!

Cut weasel words (we wrote a whole post to help you learn how to do that!) such as unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, the “was ~ing” sentence structure, redundant time words such as “a moment later,” and many others.

When reviewing dialog, keep an eye out for “uh,” “er,” “I mean,” “well,” and other casual extra words. A small amount of that kind of language usage can make dialog more realistic, but a little goes a long way, and often a fair number of words can be removed by cutting these words, without negatively impacting your story at all.

Active voice almost always uses fewer words than passive voice, so try to use active voice more (but don’t forget that passive voice is important for varying up your sentence structures and keeping your story interesting, so don’t only write in active voice!).

Look for places where you can replace phrases with single words that mean the same thing. You can often save a lot of words by switching out phrases like “come back” for “return” and seeking out other places where one word can do the work of many.

Cut sentences that add atmosphere but don't forward the plot or grow your characters. (Obviously, use your judgement. Don't cut ALL the flavor, but start by going - I’ve got two sentences that are mostly flavor text - which adds more? And then delete the other, or combine them into one shorter sentence.)

Remove superfluous dialog tags. If it’s clear who’s talking, especially if it’s a conversation between only two people, you can cut all the he saids, she saids.

Look for places where you've written repetitively - at the most basic level, “ ‘hahaha,’ he laughed,” is an example, but repetition is often more subtle, like instances where you give information in once sentence, and then rephrase part or all of that sentence in the next one - it’s better to poke at the two sentences until you think of an effective, and more concise, way to make them into only one sentence. This also goes for scenes - if you’ve got two scenes that tend towards accomplishing the same plot-related goal, consider combining them into one scene.

Have a reason for every sentence, and even every sentence clause (as in, every comma insertion, every part of the sentence, every em dashed inclusion, that kind of thing). Ask yourself - what function does this serve? Have I met that function somewhere else? If it serves no function, or if it’s duplicative, consider cutting it. Or, the answer may be “none,” and you may choose to save it anyway - because it adds flavor, or is very in character for your PoV person, or any of a number of reasons. But if you’re saving it, make sure you’ve done so intentionally. It's important to be aware of what you're trying to do with your words, or else how can you recognize what to cut, and what not to cut?

Likewise, have a reason for every scene. They should all move the story along - whatever the story is, it doesn’t have to be “the end of the world,” your story can be simple and straightforward and sequential...but if you’re working to a word count, your scenes should still forward the story toward that end point. If the scene doesn’t contribute...you may not need them, or you may be able to fold it in with another scene, as suggested in item 6.

Review the worldbuilding you’ve included, and consider what you’re trying to accomplish with your story. A bit of worldbuilding outside of the bare essentials makes a story feel fleshed out, but again, a little can go a long way. If you’ve got lots of “fun” worldbuilding bits that don’t actually forward your plot and aren’t relevant to your characters, cut them. You can always put them as extras in your blog later, but they’ll just make your story clunky if you have a lot of them.

Beware of info-dumps. Often finding a more natural way to integrate that information - showing instead of telling in bits throughout the story - can help reduce word count.

Alternatively - if you over-show, and never tell, this will vastly increase your word count, so consider if there are any places in your story where you can gloss over the details in favor of a shorter more “tell-y” description. You don’t need to go into a minute description of every smile and laugh - sometimes it’s fine to just say, “she was happy” or “she frowned” without going into a long description of their reaction that makes the reader infer that they were happy. (Anyone who unconditionally says “show, don’t tell,” is giving you bad writing advice. It’s much more important to learn to recognize when showing is more appropriate, and when telling is more appropriate, because no story will function as a cohesive whole if it’s all one or all the other.)

If you’ve got long paragraphs, they’re often prime places to look for entire sentences to cut. Read them critically and consider what’s actually helping your story instead of just adding word count chonk.

Try reading some or all of the dialog out loud; if it gets boring, repetitive, or unnecessary, end your scene wherever you start to lose interest, and cut the dialog that came after. If necessary, add a sentence or two of description at the end to make sure the transition is abrupt, but honestly, you often won’t even need to do so - scenes that end at the final punchy point in a discussion often work very well.

Create a specific goal for a scene or chapter. Maybe it’s revealing a specific piece of information, or having a character discover a specific thing, or having a specific unexpected event occur, but, whatever it is, make sure you can say, “this scene/chapter is supposed to accomplish this.” Once you know what you’re trying to do, check if the scene met that goal, make any necessary changes to ensure it does, and cut things that don’t help the scene meet that goal.

Building on the previous one, you can do the same thing, but for your entire story. Starting from the beginning, re-outline the story scene-by-scene and/or chapter-by-chapter, picking out what the main “beats” and most important themes are, and then re-read your draft and make sure you’re hitting those clearly. Consider cutting out the pieces of your story that don’t contribute to those, and definitely cut the pieces that distract from those key moments (unless, of course, the distraction is the point.)

Re-read a section you think could be cut and see if any sentences snag your attention. Poke at that bit until you figure out why - often, it’s because the sentence is unnecessary, poorly worded, unclear, or otherwise superfluous. You can often rewrite the sentence to be clearer, or cut the sentence completely without negatively impacting your work.

Be prepared to cut your darlings; even if you love a sentence or dialog exchange or paragraph, if you are working to a strict word count and it doesn't add anything, it may have to go, and that's okay...even though yes, it will hurt, always, no matter how experienced a writer you are. (Tip? Save your original draft, and/or make a new word doc where you safely tuck your darlings in for the future. Second tip? If you really, really love it...find a way to save it, but understand that to do so, you’ll have to cut something else. It’s often wise to pick one or two favorites and sacrifice the rest to save the best ones. We are not saying “always cut your darlings.” That is terrible writing advice. Don’t always cut your darlings. Writing, and reading your own writing, should bring you joy, even when you’re doing it professionally.)

If you’re having trouble recognizing what in your own work CAN be cut, try implementing the above strategies in different places - cut things, and then re-read, and see how it works, and if it works at all. Sometimes, you’ll realize...you didn’t need any of what you cut. Other times, you’ll realize...it no longer feels like the story you were trying to tell. Fiddle with it until you figure out what you need for it to still feel like your story, and practice that kind of cutting until you get better at recognizing what can and can’t go without having to do as much tweaking.

Lastly...along the lines of the previous...understand that sometimes, cutting your story down to a certain word count will just be impossible. Some stories simply can’t be made very short, and others simply can’t be told at length. If you’re really struggling, it’s important to consider that your story just...isn’t going to work at that word count. And that’s okay. Go back to the drawing board, and try again - you’ll also get better at learning what stories you can tell, in your style, using your own writing voice, at different word counts. It’s not something you’ll just know how to do - that kind of estimating is a skill, just like all other writing abilities.

As with all our writing advice - there’s no one way to tackle cutting stories for length, and also, which of these strategies is most appropriate will depend on what kind of story you’re writing, how much over-length it is, what your target market is, your characters, and your personal writing style. Try different ones, and see which work for you - the most important aspect is to learn to read your own writing critically enough that you are able to recognize what you can cut, and then from that standpoint, use your expertise to decide what you should cut, which is definitely not always the same thing. Lots of details can be cut - but a story with all of the flavor and individuality removed should never be your goal.

Contributions to this post were made by @unforth, @jhoomwrites, @alecjmarsh, @shealynn88, @foxymoley, @willablythe, and @owlishintergalactic, and their input has been used with their knowledge and explicit permission. Thanks, everyone, for helping us consider different ways to shorten stories!

[44del]

i actually just realized that if s3 is supposed to be like…part of the s2 experience for ii..then paintbrush’s arc got fucked over even more.

basically, in brian’s video explaining s2 ep 14, brian said that paintbrush’s arc wasn’t completely finished and that there was still something left for them in season 2, as they said “we can’t just leave, can we?” this, in my mind, would mean that they would probably do something similar to marsh and leave the parameters as well, and most likely try to find marsh too.

but season 3 messed this up, big time. since the story was laid out for paintbrush to be getting away from the game show…..wouldn’t it be completely redundant to bring them back??? to the same game show?? and have them be like…completely fine with it? when they weren’t before???

not only that, if their arc was supposed to still involve marsh, then why did AE decide not only to have lightbulb be their “main driving force” for season 3, (i didn’t know how to phrase this, please bear with me lmao) but also have them NOT be a central part of the whole “test tube and fan building a robot out of bow” thing??? a person that they knew, that their close friend knew and felt immense guilt over, now turned into a fucking robot, and they just sat there and didn’t say anything? literally the ONLY thing they were there for was to be the non-binary rep of the show.

so if season 3 is now supposed to be part of the experience, what now can paintbrush do? their arc was set up for them to quite literally follow in marsh’s footsteps, and now they’re thrown into another season, and now back into season 2 like nothing ever happened?

sorry for the long post, i am tired and very fed up over AE’s treatment of inanimate insanity and the characters in it. hope it makes sense to u guys lol

[strangerthings4theories]

Billy Is Going To Find The Byers

IMPORTANT: If you haven’t read my post “The Demogorgon Is Billy’s Dark Reflection,” please check it out, as it goes hand in hand with this one. Thanks :D

A few months ago, we all got our first look at some of the new characters for S4. I checked them out with great interest. 

“Lt. Colonel Sullivan... military dude in Hawkins... cool, makes sense. Victor Creel... ooooooh, played by Robert Englund, betcha he’s gonna be one of El’s predecessors. Eddie Munson... damn, he’s super sus. Argyle... Jonathan’s new bff, who delivers pizza for--”

I stopped.

And freaked. OUT.

Argyle delivers pizza for Surfer Boy Pizza.

Surfer Boy Pizza.

SURFER BOY PIZZA.

A whole constellation of dots connected, and I knew IMMEDIATELY where this is heading. Let’s walk through it step by step... starting with the inception of Stranger Things itself.

The Duffers love the movie Jaws, to the point that they give it pride of place in their list of inspirations. Hell, Stranger Things probably wouldn’t have existed without it. Initially, as a homage to the movie, the show was set in a Long Island beach town called Montauk. The setting didn’t change until the Duffers began pre-production:

They began by scouting locations on the northern tip of Long Island, but the community - so integral to the script - didn’t look as they had imagined, and its distance from New York City made the idea of anchoring the production there unfeasible. A new approach was required. (Worlds Turned Upside Down, p 25)

After that, they rewrote the script to take place in Indiana, and “Hawkins was born.” 

Still, you can tell their love for Jaws lingered. Hopper’s truck looks like Martin Brody’s:

Meanwhile, the Demogorgon was inspired by the shark, and the show isn’t shy about that fact. In S1, when Nancy explains her theory for what the Demogorgon is, she likens its bloodlust to that of a shark:

In the final episode, when Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve are hiding from the Demogorgon in Will’s room, the Jaws poster hangs prominently in the left side of the frame:

Furthermore, the Demogorgon’s behavior emulates that of the shark. Like Nancy points out, it hunts alone, emerging from the Upside Down (*COUGHTHEOCEANCOUGH*) to pick people off one by one. And though we don’t see its full form until the end, its presence haunts us throughout, infusing the story with dread.

Okay! So the Duffers originally set Stranger Things in a beach town, and the Demogorgon was inspired by the Jaws shark. Cool. What does this mean for us?

Everything.

Think about it. The Byers have moved to a new town. We aren’t sure where they went, but in S2 Bob suggested Maine. Maine is on the East Coast, not far from Long Island.

And as you can see, it has hundreds of miles of beaches.

If the Duffers have any sense, they wouldn’t drop the Byers in another town like Hawkins. That would be redundant and hella boring. Instead, they would seize the opportunity to explore a new setting with a different feel. Not an inland town surrounded by woods and farmland, but... oh, idk... a beach town.

On top of that, the Byers’ move gives the Duffers the perfect opportunity to return to the show’s roots. Finally, they can bring Montauk to life.

If that’s what they’ve done, and the Byers have moved to a beach town, we’re headed for prime Billy territory.

Billy OWNS the beach. In the context of the show, we get our first glimpse of a beach in his mind, for God’s sake. And he’s deeply connected to water as an element. He’s a surfer, lifeguard, swim instructor... need I say more?

He’s also likened to the Demogorgon - the monster inspired by the shark in Jaws.

I’ve already discussed the similarities between Billy and the Demogorgon. Those were fresh on my mind when I read Runaway Max for the first time. So, when I read this paragraph where Max describes the Camaro, I freaked out (I do that a lot):

Once, for two weeks back in April, I thought that Camaro was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It had a long, hungry body like a shark, all sleek painted panels and sharp angles. It was the kind of car you could rob a bank in. (pp 12-13)

It’s a motherf***ing equation, y’all. Billy (by way of his Camaro) = the Demogorgon = the shark in Jaws.

And the Byers have just moved to a town where the local pizza place is called Surfer Boy Pizza.

A name like that doesn’t make sense unless they really are in a beach town.

Hence why I completely lost my shit when I read about Argyle. When you take all the evidence together, it looks like the Duffers have set up a situation where, figuratively, our heroes will think they see a shark in the water (aka the Demogorgon). 

But they’ll find out it’s not a shark. It’s a surfer boy coming back to shore.

Hints and leaks have confirmed this idea so far. The Stranger Things social media accounts teased the following exchange last year:

“What if it’s the Demogorgon?” “It’s not the Demogorgon.”

Just a couple weeks ago, we got our first photo of the Surfer Boy Pizza delivery truck (credit: strangerinsidebr on IG). And the writing on the side is telling.

The writing in the center doesn’t say, “Surfer Boy Pizza delivered hot to your door.” It says, “Surfer Boy delivered hot to your door.” The ‘pizza’ is way off to the side.

They’re making a joke, guys. A fuckin joke.

“Surfer boy delivered HOT to your door ;)”

Jokes aside, the potential for Billy’s intro scene is so CLEAR and VIVID that I took a stab at sketching out how it could happen. Obviously I don’t think it has to happen this way; the writers have plenty of wiggle room. But it illustrates the kind of scene I have in mind:

Episode 3: “The Survivor”

All this time, hints have been building that Billy is still alive. Creepy things keep happening that remind us of Will trying to communicate from the Upside Down in S1 (flickering lights, people feeling "haunted" by his "ghost," etc). At the end of the episode, a thunderstorm rolls into the Byers' beach town. Will and El are together at home, probably alone. As it's raining and thundering, strange things begin to happen that frighten them. They get a creepy phone call; the power goes out, but only at their house; etc. Remembering that horrific night three years ago, Will races to the window to look out. El follows him. Through the rain, they see a form swaying toward the house. Terrified, Will wants to leave, but El stops him. "But El, what if it's the Demogorgon?" "It's not the Demogorgon." They back away from the door and wait. To their shock, the chain unlocks by itself. The door opens, and their visitor walks in, looking like a drowned cat with a nosebleed. Billy.

God, I’m freaking out again just writing all this out lololol. I need to go lie down. 

BILLY’S COMING BACK, BITCHES. 

Peace.  ✌️

»»————-　✼　————-««

The “Billy Is Alive” Meta Series (So Far)

Billy Is Not a ‘B’ Character In Stranger Things

The First Rule of Analyzing Stranger Things: The Upside Down Is Symbolized By Water

The Lifeguard And The Rip Current: Our First Big Hint That Billy Is Alive

Why Haven’t We Seen Dacre On Set?

The Demogorgon Is Billy’s Dark Reflection

Frequently Asked Questions

For updates, follow the hashtag #billy is alive meta