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dropoutconfessions · 11 months ago

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this is directed towards the owners of the account, and sure, any "fans" too. you cannot pretend to not realize that ALL you're doing is bringing toxicity into the fandom.

it's been less than a week and your posts are already mimicking 2018/2020 fandom misogyny.

you're giving hate a platform. that's all you're doing. it's not fun, it's not interesting.

that in addition to how clueless you are about slurs and general etiquette and respect on the site, maybe should be a hint that you shouldn't be running this.

You can go ahead believe that I am clueless about slurs, but personally, as someone who's very identity gets called a slur all the fucking time, I get pretty annoyed when someone makes the call that something is a slur when it doesn't apply to them. Whenever something annoys me, I tend not to do it to others, but that's just me.

I may be a minority on a couple different fronts, but unless I was suddenly an expert in Native Canadian or Alaskan culture and general opinions of the term, I'm not making that call, and in my opinion, neither should anyone else who isn't either well informed or affected personally by that specific term. I know how etiquette on this site works. I've also been on this site, for long enough, to have formed my own opinions on how well this site practices etiquette. (That means I've watched enough people get run off this site to know this site kinda doesn't practice etiquette). I have explained, in my pinned post, exactly why I choose to ignore the rules people have decided are the standard, because they do not work for spoiler tagging, and we are discussing a media partially locked behind a pay wall. There are dropout fans, who can't watch every season of dimension 20, because they watch through YouTube and/or Spotify. I am going to continue using the primary tags as well as the anti tags for tagging purposes, because I do not want to be the reason someone learns about a character death, every time someone wants to talk about how they kinda didn't like a character who may or may not be a backup character wink wink to those of you who know which season i am referring to I fully gave everyone a new tag (#negative dropout confession), that I retroactively went back and applied to all the posts I believed it fit, so that you could block posts that were negative. Now I'm not perfect, and am actually pretty shitty at social queues and kinda forgetful, so if you find a post you think is negative in a way that isn't "i kinda would have preferred this, but i loved the season" let me know, i will retag it as such. I'm only human and just like everyone else, not above being checked on my shit. If that's still not enough, it's a 3 click process to block this blog entirely. We here at dropoutconfessions will be sad to see you go, but I'll still understand. A place of anonymity, to freely share how you feel, is going to attract people who have feelings that usual get them hatred. And yes, some people misuse it. Typically, I do one of 2 things when that happens.

If it's a misunderstanding of the media, I'll add corrections to to the response to clarify, anything I miss, 3-5 people will probably take care of within an hour of the post going up, just check the replies

If it's something truly awful to say, I'll block the asker and delete the ask. Something I've had to do about half a dozen times already.

I have, multiple posts, debating those very posts you are referring to I have, multiple people, defending those characters, in the replies and reblogs of those posts you're referring to I have, multiple posts, in queue (as of me writing this reply) because i don't like flooding people's blogs, that are saying the exact same thing, without calling me toxic and clueless I understand you don't like the hatred, I don't like it either. But I do believe everyone deserves a platform if they'll be civil about it, and they give their opponents an opportunity to call their take absolute dogwater, once again, check the replies, some of these asks get flamed almost immediately. And no. I don't think all I do is bring toxicity to the fandom. People use this as an outlet for how they feel about just, the story. There's like, multiple posts about how people are a bit overbearing expecting perfection from the cast and how certain seasons deserve more love and how amazing some of the other shows are and how amazing some of the cast members are. It's easy to see the negativity, but it's not all there is. And trust me I'm not immune to that either, it's exhausting sometimes. I have gotten more asks about how "obsessed everyone is with Brennan Lee Mulligan" than I ever have about Brennan in a context outside of d20, the show that he runs. Tunnel vision is a bitch sometimes. And at the end of the day, if you think I'm doing a bad job at this, you can make your own confessions blog. This blog exists cause I got bored of my statistics homework, and realized there wasn't a confessions blog. You can too, and if everyone prefers yours, they can use yours, I truly do not mind. This blog is just something I feel like needs to exist, and since no one else was actively doing it (as far as I could tell, no one has told me the contrary). It's really just something to do with my hands so I can focus on dnd games and my video calls with my gf. That's it. If you have any specific suggestions on how I can improve, I'm open to listening to them, as I have proved in the past, but beyond sharing how I feel and addressing how you feel, I don't really know what to say or do. Thank you for telling me how you feel about this blog, this fandom, and Dropout, a media company we love. That's all I could ever want from an ask on this blog.

#ask #important notices #negative dropout confession #dropout #dropout tv #tw slur #tw exonym #cw slurs #cw exonym #dimension 20 #d20 #dimension twenty

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scooby-review · 2 months ago

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Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season One Episodes 13-24

13. Scooby’s Bull Fright

I’ve compared this series in particular to Looney Tunes a few times prior, however nowhere does this feel more evident than in this episode, which feels wholly inspired by Bully for Bugs. They follow incredibly similar story beats, just here we have the Scooby trio.

It’s incredibly by the books, and to this end, it accomplishes its goal. This trio works fine as a comedic group, in my opinion, largely thanks to Scrappy, who diversifies the cast hugely. He’s a perfect foil to Scooby and Shaggy within these stories, he’s headstrong and runs into danger, it forces them into these situations, yet I never find it annoying that he’s done so.

Comparing it to Bully for Bugs, I do feel like this episode pails. It’s not bad by any means, but Bugs is a perfect character to drop into a situation like this, he always escapes while stringing together increasingly wild problems for his antagonist. For me, the Scooby trio don’t work as well in these settings, it’s why most of my favourite episodes so far are almost seven minute chase sequences, they play with the original aesthetics and themes of Scooby while twisting them into a shorter formula.

14. Scooby Ghosts West

To me, episodes like this demonstrate exactly what I enjoy most about this iteration of the series, it’s where I feel these episodes can shine, when they continue to lean into the horror elements introduced in Where are You, while retaining the focus on comedy.

Here the trio fall out of their train and into a literal ghost town, and wacky antics ensue. It’s incredibly gaggy, which works nicely here! Every character has a handful of moments where they can shine, such as Scrappy not being phased at all by the queue of ghosts to the bathroom.

It’s a lot of fun! This formula very simply works, Shaggy and Scooby work best for me (at least in their current states) when they’re scared of something more substantial, like ghosts and ghouls, something more spooky rather than a worker in a hospital (we’ll get there).

15. A Bungle in the Jungle

In contrast, I find this to be one of the worst the series has to offer, a truly lifeless short on par with Scooby's Fantastic Island in how bland I find this setting and plot.

Here the villain is a man in the vein of Tarzan or George of the Jungle, which aren’t characters or stories I care too much for. It’s the most basic escalation of this idea - of course they’re lost in the jungle, of course the animals and “Nazrat of the Jungle” will be threats to them, chasing them through the jungle, until the episode ends.

Scooby has always been formulaic, but it’s far more evident when there’s little substance to the episodes. I can forgive most episodes of Where are You or Show having similar setups, pay offs, etc… However, I find it difficult to derive much enjoyment from this story, I don’t care for the villain, he’s a man who lives in the jungle, there aren’t any jokes that I found myself laughing at, even Scrappy couldn’t redeem this one for me.

16. Scooby’s Fun Zone

Here the trio head to a carnival, where the strongman Killer Krunch grows angry and chases Shaggy and Scooby around. Again, it’s the same formula as most of these episodes.

Despite this, I did enjoy some moments from this episode, specifically when Shaggy and Scrappy are having fun with the funhouse mirrors, and when Scrappy leads Killer Krunch to the dunk tank where Scooby and Shaggy were hiding.

For the most part, I’m not touching on the designs of the villains, mostly because they’re uninteresting, by the books' designs. Which is fine - this episode is a caricature of a strong man, and as such, I don’t feel much need to discuss the nuances in the design the way I would with the monsters seen in prior series.

This is another fine episode!

17. Swamp Witch

Here’s another episode I enjoy, although I can't describe it as being better than any prior episodes. Here the gang are chased around by a witch and her ghostly henchman Globby.

I do enjoy the set up of this one - the pair of villains need frogs legs, and so they chase after the trio, attempting to turn them into frogs, where we get the somewhat infamous Shaggy Frog.

Much like with other villains in this series, the witch is a fairy by the book's witch, she’s an old woman fit with grey hair and a magenta and violet colour scheme. However, Globby is a fun design, and undoubtedly one of my favourites of this series. He’s evocative of a gargoyle, he’s sky blue in shade, using shape design within his head to denote him as somewhat bumbling and overall, an incompetent henchman.

Other than these bright lights, the episode feels like a less interesting take on prior episodes where a villain chases the gang, namely The Old Cat and Mouse Game. Although here it lacks much flair which made that episode interesting. Shaggy becomes a frog, and then one minute later the witch and Globby are frogs, great.

18. Sir Scooby and the Black Knight

Here’s a fun premise - the gang (somehow) mistake a castle as their hotel while on a holiday to Scotland, and this castle, just so happens to house a man who dresses up as a knight, who rightfully attempts to chase them from his house after their intrusion and after they devour all his food. It’s therefore a shame when it falls into the same “plot” structure as so many of these episodes. It’s just another chase.

At the very least it’s a funny twist to not have the man be a monster, but rather, have the trio genuinely causing problems for this poor man while refusing to accept they messed up.

Also, this episode has one of my favourite characters - Sir Morbid. Design wise, he’s a skeleton in a sleepy cap, holding a match. I just enjoy his presence in the episode, that’s all :)

19. Waxworld

Inspired by House of Wax, the episode sees the trio entering a building searching for their missing coin, when the owner of said building attempts to turn them into wax statues, mimicking Vincent Price’s role in the movie.

Although another very fun concept and setting, and I love the Dracula inspired design of the Waxmaster, who’s so distinct because of his large bulbous head and sharp eyebrows, however, the episode itself grows somewhat repetitive.

I understand why - there’s not really anywhere else to take this idea. The gang are almost turned, but they escape, and then they’re almost turned again, and the cycle repeats. But as is, it’s okay!

20. Scooby in Wonderland

This episode acts as a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, as the title suggests. I have fairly mixed opinions on this style of episode writing - when I was younger I used to love Tom And Jerry And The Wizard Of Oz, so much so it was likely one of my favourite movies. As it suggests, it’s The Wizard of Oz, but Tom and Jerry join Dorothy on her adventure.

On one hand, I had a fun enough time with this episode, I enjoy Alice in Wonderland, and this episode doesn’t act as a parody, it’s honest to the source material, the backgrounds are pretty, it’s a fun time! However, it’s also just Alice in Wonderland with a smattering of gags thrown in - I like that Scrappy is the White Rabbit, but simply because of his design, it’s a sudden rush of endorphins, your brain calling out “I like those two things!”. Here, Scooby is Alice, so it doesn’t act like a crossover, it’s a seven minute condensed version of the story. As such, I have to ask, what’s the point? There is fun to be had, but there’s no reason to ever return to something like this, it’s somewhat lifeless, thoughtless, the largest decision comes from picking which character becomes which character, and when your show only has a cast of three characters, the rest of the characters from the story are left remaining as themselves.

It’s something different, but that’s pretty much all this one has to offer. The longer I think about it, the more frustrating it becomes, there’s no substance here, which leaves this just a quick sugar rush.

21. Scrappy’s Birthday

On Scrappy’s birthday, Shaggy and Scooby recount his birth.

Here we’re introduced to a new Doo - Ruby Doo, Scooby’s sister. Much like Scooby, she’s a great dane, although Ruby is an ashy shade, a little darker in hue than Scooby-Dum. Of course, she has a trademark violet bow to tell us she’s a woman. Surprisingly, she will return in a few shows time, although completely redesigned.

I enjoy the actual birthday, it’s sweet to see these characters just talking, and again, Scrappy is constantly a bright light in these episodes, I truly love him. Although, that can’t exactly be said for the rest of this episode, where, post birth, he runs around talking in a higher pitched voice, and being a real little tyke. It’s his character pushed to his worst, as if the marketability were being stretched thin, it’s frustrating and only aids in how dull this episode becomes.

Another good aspect of this episode is how weird Shaggy and Scooby act as Ruby Doo goes into labour, there’s something really off about them and I love it. However the moment this episode devolves into a chase sequence with a doctor, I lose all interest. It’s maybe one of their worst chase sequences to date.

Also the origin of Scrappy’s name is not something we needed. Having the doctor call him “a scrappy little tyke” only for Ruby Doo to decide that Scrappy is sweet is abhorrent in an incredibly comedic way, albeit, inadvertently.

22. South Seas Scare

While on a holiday in Hawaii, the gang run into a lava monster.

Here we have an actual monster, seemingly inspired by the same statues of deities as the Aztec Statue Monster from The Scooby Doo Show, even if this design feels oddly proportioned, I enjoy that we can still see some villain designs that offer something.

Another positive about this episode is that Shaggy gets a Hawaiin shirt, his usual shade of forest green, dappled with dandelion flowers. It’s a simple change, but an incredibly welcomed one - I adore adding yellows into his palette, they compliment his character perfectly.

Otherwise, the same abundant criticisms persist. It’s an episode that shows promise, but similarly to the previous one, falls into the same tropes as most others here.

23. Scooby’s Swiss Miss

I have a personal distaste for any Scooby romance stories, so this episode speaks specifically to tropes I despise. However, I was plunged even further into despair upon seeing the design of Scooby’s titular Swiss Miss.

This is maybe one of the most egregious examples I have seen of drawing specific sexualised feminine traits for animal characters that aren’t in any way present for their male equivalents. Already there is a common association between poodles and femininity, they’re seen as nimble, meek and small in contrast to a dog like her opposition, the Bulldog, who often alludes to more traditionally masculine traits with his overbearing anger and larger build. Even if this alone is a tired way of designing characters, leaning into fairly rigid and patriarchal ideas of masculinity and femininity as a binary, they push this even further by making the design of the poodle far more anthropomorphised, they give her pale skin, her fur acts as hair, she’s given a tiny waist and a dress, and the entire design leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Evidently, she’s designed with the male gaze in mind, she exists for the audience to sexualise, be it to demonise her (as is the case with the end of the episode) or to understand why our heroes would bother interacting with her.

In particular, the final line of “Oh well, at least he can’t run away” in regards to the bulldog’s injury and subsequent accidental marriage to the poodle is gross. She’s treated as a conquest for these male characters throughout the episode, but come the end, when one dog can be with her, she’s suddenly vilified for wanting marriage, it suggests a dichotomy between sex and romance, and it’s an infuriating end to the episode.

24. Alaskan King Coward

For the final episode of the day, the gang go prospecting in Alaska, where they discover a prehistoric creature, frozen in ice, that’s soon unleashed and seeks to murder the trio.

Everything you expect to happen happens.

To end on a positive note, we do get new winter outfits here! I love them a lot, they’re uniform winter jackets, Scooby’s red, Scrappy’s blue, and Shaggy’s green with yellow fur. I really enjoy mixing up these designs, something that they don’t have to do for an episode that lasts seven minutes, but it goes a long way in giving me something to chew on here.

Also, I feel like I should touch upon the monster, who has a totally fine design. He draws upon dinosaurs and, to me, feels inspired by Godzilla, although he doesn’t have any specific connections to any animals in particular. Yet the scaly, towering design does feel evocative of an undiscovered prehistoric beast, it’s a cohesive character that holds menace, and feels like a true threat to the gang.

Thank you for reading this review! I took a little while away because man is this series not all that good! It's fine in short bursts, a few episodes are even good, but the majority is a slog to get through, and writing about twelve episodes is far more work than four despite the difference in length! So I'll stick to releasing these every other Monday until the episode lengths return to normal :)

Have a great week!

Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season One Episodes 25-36 (Coming Soon!)

Previous Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season One Episodes 1-12

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jgyapologism · 1 year ago

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tag game 🫧

tagged by @icouldhyperfixatehim - thanks for thinking of me <3

1. why did you choose your url?

i don't even remember what my url was before this honestly wow. umm so about 4 years ago i was introduced to the untamed by a close friend and we binged all 50 episodes in a week and then i proceeded to be obsessed with it for like. a year and a half after. i chose THIS url b/c [untamed spoilers incoming] jgy = jin guangyao, who is by all accounts a little meow meow who has done nothing wrong ever *wink* and who i will protect against the haters at all costs. jgyapologist didn't have the same ring to it, and i have MULTIPLE apologisms for him so. jgyapologism was born

2. any sideblogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

i used to have a fandom one but deleted it in a fit of rage back in 2012. no i will not divulge which fandom it belonged to.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

this blog specifically since 2016 i think, but i've been on tumblr since 2010.

4. do you have a queue tag?

honestly i've never much gotten into queuing. i should. i should do that

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

i mean. because tumblr

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

ah yes. my current hyperfixation is bnha and he (bakugou katsuki) is one of my favorite characters.

7. why did you choose your header?

cherry blossoms!! it's a shot from bnha again. and cherry blossoms signify new beginnings in japan. i think it's sweet.

8. what is your post with the most notes?

i am tumblr illiterate, despite how long i've been on here. i don't really make posts, and i don't often check how popular they are. so, idk. i'm just here for the posts man.

9. how many mutuals do you have?

no idea. room for more?

10. how many followers do you have?

i am but a meager blog. a tiny ant in the sea of crumbs searching for its place. (198)

11. how many people do you follow?

219. so my follow/follower ratio is actually pretty level.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

idk probably. who hasn't?

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

how often do i pick my nails? how often do i yawn? how often do i walk into a room in my house and forget wtf i went in there for? <<< keeping this b/c it's too perfect of an answer

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

hahahahha on a side blog once yeah. all the time. i've been here for over a decade. have you truly experienced tumblr if you haven't been in a blog war?

15. how do you feel about 'you need to reblog this' posts?

i've done it. you've done it. we've all done it. you do you, man.

16. do you like tag games?

i do!!! they're fun and i like that people think of me when they're tagging people to play them. it makes me warm and gooey inside.

17. do you like ask games?

same as above! i feel honored that anyone would want to grace my ask box

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

ummm i know of one that's pretty well known but idk their follower count so how can i truly know whether anyone is tumblr famous?

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

all of you ;)

20. tags?

you get a tag! you get a tag! you all get a tag! otherwise @muqingapologist @original-robin @autisticbokutoenthusiast @jimmysea @burnsuncomet @khaostache

#tag game

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cy-cyborg · 2 years ago

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I've read a lot of stories with disabled characters, and I've enjoyed some of them more than others. I'm wondering, can non-disabled people write disabled people in stories? Is it possible to do it respectfully and accurately?

I recently read the book "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes. I really enjoyed the story, but I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if I had been disabled myself. The main character, Will, is a quadriplegic, and the story explores his relationship with his caretaker, Louisa. I thought the book did a good job of portraying Will's physical limitations, but I'm not sure if it did a good job of portraying his emotional and psychological journey.

What do you think? Can non-disabled people write disabled people in stories?

Sorry for the late reply, I thought I posted the answer to this already, but I saved it to my queue instead 😅

This is a really hotly debated topic in disability circles, but in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with non-disabled folks telling stories featuring disability, so long as you're respectful and do your research/hire sensitivity readers. Stories where a character (even the main character) is disabled, or becomes disabled during the story, but that's not what the core of the story is about. Disability is a natural part of life, the disabled community makes up nearly 20% of the total population according to some sources (though many people think this is an under-estimate and the real numbers are much higher, since what is considered a disability isn't universally agreed on), it's unrealistic to just straight-up not include it.

But stories that are specifically about the disabled experience, about what life as a disabled person is like, about learning to live with disability and learning how to adapt to it, where any of those themes are a part of the main plot, then I think that's usually best left to disabled people to tell those stories. There are some things that, unless you've lived through it, you can never truly understand, and I do think disability is one of those things (this doesn't just apply to non-disabled people, but also to people with disabilities different from your own. I know what life for an amputee with autism is like, but that doesn't mean I also know what living with DID or paraplegia is like). If you try to tell a story where those things you haven't lived through are the centre focus, the holes become very visible to those who have. I do say usually though, I've seen some exceptions where people still do a good job, but they're usually from very well-established writers who have a team of people like sensitivity readers, consultants etc, and a lot of them who are able to pull it off.

The irony that you used Me Before You as an example though is a little funny. I try not to talk about that story specifically because I couldn't even finish the movie, let alone the book 😅 but the online disabled community has made their thoughts on both known. The general consensus as I've seen it is it is a perfect example of the author doing everything wrong, but getting it close enough that most non-disabled folks won't notice, and the movie just following in its footsteps. Take this with a grain of salt of course, but I've heard that the author didn't even talk to anyone with Will's disability directly, she only spoke to and consulted with healthcare workers/carers who worked with people like Will, which will always give you a very incomplete view of life with a disability at best and a very jaded and pessimistic view of things at worst - both in regards to the emotional side of things and the ability of the disabled person. I'm not here to say you can't enjoy it, but it does play into a lot of very harmful tropes and stereotypes. I'm not the best person to discuss it in any real detail though, sorry. There's some great video essays on YouTube though, including a few from people with the same disability as will, so I'd definitely recommend taking a look at them if you want to know more!

TLDR: I don't think there's anything wrong with non-disabled folks telling stories that contain disabled characters, but stories about our lived experience should be left to those with that lived experience.

#disability #disabled #disability representation #writeblr #writing #authors of tumblr #writing disability #creative writing #writer #on writing #writers on tumblr

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directingscreenandstagepx7401 · 2 years ago

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Week 4 - Write up on activities

Vocal warm-up

First chunk of the warm-up required us to repeat after Bell. I enjoyed this section of the warm-up because the lines we repeat are quite long, twisted and fun or challenging to say, which creates a sense of play as well as getting our vocals ready and making us feel that we can overcome any mistakes in rehearsal.

I did feel the chunks of each line given to us to repeat were too big, and so difficult to repeat, especially for those who didn't have English as their first language. I've done similar exercises before where the leader would start quite slow and break it up a lot more, then pick up the pace gradually and saying more and more of the line. This helps performers to pick up the rhythm to begin with and get into a flow.

For the second chunk, we stood in a circle and moved as far back as possible, so that we were all practically at the walls. We then had to determine the person who was as far from us as possible and "send them a note." This could be at any pitch and be said in any way, the idea was to make that note stretch and reach the farthest place from us in the room. This was fun to play around with as Bell guided us to do low notes, high notes, to just test ourselves and what we can do. This task felt like it was an opening up, to each other and to ourselves. It was also fun. It helped us to consider dynamics, volume, tempo. It also built a bond as we would applaud each other after if somebody was holding a particularly long note.

Physical warm-up

"Form banana, form, form banana. Peel banana, peel, peel banana. Go bananas, go, go bananas." Did the same thing with walls. Very physical exercise that allows you to just run around and go a little nuts.

It's a good exercise as it introduces play into the space. Also because it's a little silly, it helps to create ensemble and bond because you are laughing together. From previous readings (mostly from week 3 - belief and truth) there's been mentions of holding onto a childish nature, because this helps us to believe what we are acting (the same way that children play make-believe and truly believe it.) It's an access in to that childish mindset. It's also a great way to leave whatever baggage you may have from the day outside the door.

Art gallery

Treated the space we were in as an art gallery. We'd queue up outside and each time we went in we'd have to go in as either "intellectual," "emotional" or "physical" based on Stanislavsky's ideas. Each time that we did, we had to take note of how it impacted our physicality and our interaction with the environment.

This exercise was great for: making actor's aware of their bodies, their own toolkit, bodies as instrument, stillness vs physicality, how you perform something intellectual and something emotional etc. Also good for becoming aware of themselves and their environment, specifically the ways that their characters may come out.

Would be awesome to do this exercise in a completed, detailed set (for example in a Punchdrunk setting.)

The exercise also allowed for a unique experience for everybody in the space, which is important because not every performer will connect with every asset in your toolkit and so where you can, having broadness in your exercises will allow actors to find their own access points and their own ways to what you are trying to achieve. Focus without limitation.

It definitely allows for possibilities.

Circles of attention

Began with reading a specific scene with a partner. We were told to keep a line in mind from that reading, from that scene. Although it was never mentioned again, it stayed with me through the entire circles of attention exercise and informed the way I performed, which was really interesting.

During circles of attention, we'd do the usual thing of paying attention to breathing, breathing in the body, the four walls around the body and the space outside the four walls. One of my initial reservations about this exercise when we first did it was how open the idea of the space outside the four walls is, however Becky took time to contextualise it this time, telling us we could play around with it and limit ourselves. This helped me to remain within a certain boundary and stay grounded.

Getting us to feel what was in our body was also really clever - since we've done a lot of reading about actors bringing what's going on in their physical bodies into their performances on the day, I paid attention to sensations in my body such as neck pains and then brought that into what we did next.

We then had to think about what character we were in the reading of a specific scene and stand up as that character. My neck pains then informed how that character stands. That was thrilling as a performer, it felt freeing.

After that, we had to walk around the space using that body/stance. Becky did inform us that we can redo it and start again if it doesn't feel right, which was nice because I didn't love how I first stood or walked. In fact, when we were told to think of the character and stand on the character I felt a little put on the spot, because I felt like my mind had gone elsewhere before that. A little more time to really merge my mind with the character before standing would have been helpful, I think.

As we were then walking around, Becky asked us to become mindful of our previous scene partner as we moved around the space. Not necessarily looking at them or finding them, just being aware. This really created a sense of peripheral, which we've been playing around with in other exercises. I think it's an excellent way to raise awareness and trust within the ensemble, to create an energetic connection. Also creates awareness of the space!

She stopped and started us a couple of times, reminding us to be mindful of our partner and to stay close. She then got us to stop and face them from where we were. We were allowed to either step forward or back, or stay in the same place based on how we felt. This created a real intensity of emotion and suddenly a sense of our relationship was being created just from looking. My partner and I discussed afterwards and spoke about how we both felt compelled to move close to each other and wanted to, but were too hesitant and shy to actually take that step, worried that the other character did not want to. There was a massive sadness and anger between us. My line from the initial scene reading kept playing in my mind: "I don't want it."

This was exciting as a performer, and I think it constructed a real sense of what my character and that person's character's relationship felt like without analysing it from the play itself and then trying to bring that analysis in. I also experienced this feeling from week 3 during Mark's warm up, where we built a relationship with the house from August: Osage County and then connected with another person in the space and took steps forward/backwards.

I think these exercises do a brilliant job at giving performers access to the emotions, interrelationships, complexities and dynamics of their characters and the ensemble characters before getting to work on the play and relieves a certain pressure, whilst also creating an access point.

BONUS: Asked Becky a question

Have actors read the text by the point in which she is doing exercises with her ensemble that do not introduce the play?

By this point they would have done a table reading, she'd get each actor to simply read until they were bored and then the next person would read.

#performers exercise #warm up

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sunsetsover · 5 months ago

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you know i'd never hate you for this. you know i value your opinions and your perspectives on things, and you know i adore you. i truly didn't mean to bring discourse on your doorstep or anything 😭 i just happened to see the post while i was filling up the queue and was like hm. don't like that! so yknow lmao. but i know how it feels when someone mischaracterises your Character n i would never want to inflict that on you or turn this into a Thing i just. disagree that's all.

and it's not that i completely disagree! everything you said abt the school and the system i completely agree with - this show can't be divorced from it's queerness. and i do think he was projecting on the jums and i do think there's a conversation to be had about how by punishing the world remembers gang he was, in a way, punishing himself for what he believed to be some kind of 'wrongness'. for that reason i would never try to sanitise akk's actions. he did what he did and it was fucked up.

but i do think characterising it as 'specifically committing crimes against the queer students of suppalo' is untrue. like if you say we can't divorce what akk did from the gang's queerness, then we also can't divorce what akk did from the context in which he exists. their queerness, as far as i saw it, was never AKK'S issue with the jums. akk's issue was chadok. chadok's issue was the school. the school's issue was queerness. and ofc that's simplifying it a lot, and there's an argument to be made that it therefore leads back to the issue of queerness, which it does! but there's also a lot of nuance there that's missed by boiling it down to 'akk was targeting queer kids'. there's also an implication there that i don't like.

akk was a cog in a machine. he had his own issues going on with his own internalised homophobia that yeah, probably without him noticing or meaning it DID slip out in the way he treated the jums. the problem was the jum's queerness, yes, but akk did not strictly have a problem with the jums BECAUSE they were queer. if he had, i feel it would have been written differently - the source material had akk significantly more homophobic. had they wanted to, they could have easily used the version of akk they literally already had and make his externalised homophobia a much bigger issue, but they didn't. instead they went out of their way to write akk differently and remove a lot of the homophobia that already existed within his character in the novel. and sure akk made a few stupid comments, but to my recollection he never insulted the jums. he never ridiculed them. he just wanted them to stop causing trouble. and yes it all goes back to queerness, but AKK only had a problem with them bc chadok had a problem w them, bc the school had a problem with them. that context is essential, bc that's akk's motive, and that motive was never 'let me pick on the queer kids'. it was never 'these kids are queer and i must destroy that'. if it had been, he would have had a problem w thua, but he didn't. his problem was their disruptiveness. it was how unwilling they were to yield to him and that school. and yes that's tied to their queerness, but it's not the queerness itself.

do you see what i'm trying to get at? characterising his actions that way makes it sound like something it's not. saying that akk specifically targeted queer students to me implies that he was going out of his way to abuse queer students purely bc they were queer. it makes him sound like a homophobic bully, and that's never what he was. and it's complicated and i feel like it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other bc when you zoom out yeah the jums WERE targeted for their unapologetic queerness and yeah akk WAS enforcing that homophobic system. but i feel like boiling it down to 'akk targeted the queer students and abused them' turns it into something that is no longer accurate bc it's devoid of context. do you see what i'm trying to say?

and like. i feel like talking abt thua would probably be pointless bc i feel like we just fundamentally view him completely differently, but i also feel like it's kind of important too? bc both akk and thua played the role of the curse. and to be clear my dislike w him has nothing to with akk, it's just that to me there was no condoning his behaviour at the end. bc yes, objectively what akk did to the 3 jums was worse in the sense that it was more extreme and put people in danger, but what thua did to them (and to akk and ayan) was so unnecessarily cruel and viscous and as far as i'm concerned would do WAYYY more damage to the other queer kids in that school than ANYTHING akk ever did.

i understand why thua wanted akk caught and punished. i understand why he continued the curse. but i will never understand why he chose to go about it the way he did. as far as i'm concerned HE damaged his community far more than akk ever did. akk was stupid and fucked up for what he did, sure, but thua was vindictive. he didn't have to make a sign calling the jums misfits and hang it up for everyone to see. he DEFINITELY didn't have to post it online and expose those kids to even more abuse and potentially put them at risk of violence. he more than ANYONE should have known what it was like to experience that homophobia and abuse, so why the hell would he expose the 3 jums to even more of it?

thua put the jums in danger in ways akk never did. he was violent in ways akk never was. i know personally if i was one of the jums, having a sign calling me a misfit posted online and all of the backlash that followed and having a fucking EFFIGY of me with my NAME on it burnt in my own school would fuck me up far more than a falling plant pot or almost being hit by a car would. akk could have hurt them yes, but what thua did could have left life long scars on those boys' psyches, and to me that is unforgivable. and that's not even talking abt him outing akk (and ayan), which imo is one of the worst things a person can do, esp in a situation and environment like that. if he just wanted to fight the system and ensure akk got punished, he didn't have to do any that.

i feel like this is turning into a thua hate post and i didn't mean it to, but i do feel like it's important to compare his behaviour w akk's. to me what THUA did was targeted abuse of queer students. HE exposed the jums to danger they never would have been in otherwise. what if someone outside the school had seen his posts and decided to use that as an excuse to attack them? the blood would have been on his hands, no one else's. he EXPLICITLY targeted their queerness. like i said, he didn't have to do all that to get akk punished. and yet he did it anyway. why? to fight the system that was killing his siblings? to protect and advocate for his fellow queer students? what, by stepping all over them? by humiliating them and calling them names? by hurting them psychologically? by putting them in harm's way? no, he wasn't trying to change a broken system. he was voiceless, powerless boy who got a taste of power and revenge for the first time and let it get to his head, not caring that he was inflicting violence against his own community in the process.

i stand by what i said. but i also agree with you. i do think if the jums were literally anybody else akk would have gone after them the exact same way had chadok wanted him to. but it wasn't anyone else. it was the jums. it had to be them bc the story centers around queerness. these two facts aren't mutually exclusive! but that's also why i feel like its unfair to reduce akk's actions down to 'he was targeting queer kids'. it oversimplifies something that is really complicated, and reduces a really nuanced story and character down to something that, imo, isn't even really accurate.

but that's just my opinion yknow? we all view and experience things differently. i just wanted to explain why i felt the way i did without it seeming like i was just trying to absolve akk of all sins or ignore the inherent queerness of the story itself <3

another first kanaphan character that many people refuse to acknowledge is a red flag is akk. you guys remember when he almost committed vehicular manslaughter and also almost committed arson

#sorry i went off like this but i did feel like i had to defend my honour a lil bit #bc judging by the notes i fear ppl might think i have like no media literacy now #but that's just the way it goes i guess 🤸🏻‍♀️#the eclipse

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tf2-pngs · 2 years ago

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Official Pinned Post

Remaking this because the other one felt a bit clunky and too long.

Welcome to my blog, tf2-pngs, where I post transparent images of Team Fortress 2, all made by yours truly. I run this blog on my own and work request-based only. I do not have a queue or etiquette.

Credit If you'd like to use the pngs I make, please do! I would like to ask you to please at least credit me somewhere in the caption of your post. Thanks in advance!

Requests | Link My ask box is always open for new requests, unless stated otherwise. Be as specific as you want. I follow a "first come, first serve" order most of the time. Current Requests: None

Directory | Link I use a directory on my blog in order to help people find certain images more easily. I have a directory for 3 categories. The Mercenaries, Non-Playable Characters, and Sizes. If you feel like you want more categories or filters, please let me know!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #team fortress two #tf2 comics #png #tf2 png #tf2 transparent #transparent #comics

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flutishly · 2 years ago

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Why I’m not remotely excited about Picard Season 3

All of the SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 and 2. Also ranting. This is very, very long.

I genuinely didn’t realize that Star Trek: Picard was returning so soon. I knew that seasons 2 and 3 were filmed back-to-back, but I somehow still didn’t process that this meant that Picard would leap ahead of the Star Trek queue and be the next show after the absolutely delightful Prodigy ended its first season. (On that note: If you haven’t seen Prodigy, go do that now. In fact, you can probably do that instead of watching Picard season 3, which I obviously haven’t seen because it’s not out yet but for which, as you can probably guess from the title, I am not excited.)

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The new era of Star Trek has had its ups and downs, but fans rarely agree on what those ups and downs really are. I for instance genuinely love Discovery and think that even with specific flaws in its first two seasons and some sloppy pacing in its most recent fourth, it’s a fascinating show populated with characters that I adore. The vast majority of Star Trek shows come with their own flaws and criticisms, as one would expect of any TV show.

But unlike most other shows (including other new Star Treks), Picard is one that roots itself in a firmly established, beloved character while promising a new story. Legacy characters crop up in lots of different ways in recent shows, but none truly center a fully-fleshed character the way that Picard does. (SNW comes closest with Spock; I will touch on this again momentarily...) Picard also readily reaches into the backlog of TNG characters and arcs in order to further its world.

The problem is that it does so while having promised viewers something new. This, it turns out, is decidedly not true.

The show began promisingly enough. Picard season 1 made an active effort to be an independent show, focusing on a retired Jean-Luc Picard finding a new purpose to his life while surrounding himself with new mentees and colleagues. The season arc questions the humanity of synthetic- or synthetic-hybrid lifeforms. Despite a sloppy ending, the season has a decently coherent thematic structure, integrating elements from both legacy stories and new ones. Soji’s arc is quintessential Star Trek, as she questions her humanity and purpose. Picard’s arc sees him forced to grapple with his longstanding trauma from his encounters with the Borg, alongside reflections of his life, friendships, and role as a mentor/father-figure. Raffi’s arc sees her reclaiming aspects of herself and forgiving others; so do both Rios and Jurati (albeit in very different ways). In between, there are smaller threads of deeply human questions about purpose, doing good, and recovering from trauma. The season doesn’t work so well as a whole because of poor writing decisions in its wrappings (and the sense that it tried to do too much all at once), but it’s still a decently compelling bit of television that tries to give Picard a new perspective, alongside new challenges.

Picard season 2 takes almost everything that season 1 did and throws it out.

The season opening is not bad. It’s a fast-paced, almost whiplash-y set of action sequences that promise to set the plot moving. After watching the first episode, I was asked by someone who had not yet seen it to describe it in three words. I opted for four: “TNG movie meets Picard”. There were some emotional/melodramatic bits, but most of the time was spent on keeping the plotting snappy and the action moving forward. It promised certain themes and character beats. Except none of that came to pass. “The Star Gazer” was a reset episode, taking the characters from season 1 and placing them in new and different places (sometimes in accordance to where they’d been at the end of season 1 and sometimes not). “Penance” reset everything again, as did “Assimilation”. For the entire first third of the season, Picard seemed not to know what its point was.

Yet once it settled into a new normal, the show seemed determined to define these parameters. Soji was obviously gone from the first episode (even if actress Isa Briones was given a small minor side-role) and Evan Evagora’s Elnor disappeared almost as quickly (with even more minor reappearances in the form of baffling, narratively unjustified flashbacks or hallucinations). Rios was isolated from the main team and given his own plot (that can only be described as “extremely obvious” in terms of how it played out and concluded; this is not a compliment), thus also getting sidelined. Raffi and Seven of Nine spent the entire season circling around each other in trying to define their relationship, but the show played it coy for so long that it was genuinely bizarre to watch Rios kissing his new love interest within moments of meeting her, but Raffi and Seven getting dragged out for the whole season (despite... actually having been a couple? and one promised by the season 1 ending??). It made little sense.

There are two arcs throughout the season that work, though to differing degrees. The first is Seven of Nine’s. I’m a devoted Trekkie, but I’ll admit that Voyager is the gap that I’m still filling though I’m decently familiar with Seven’s arc and character. Yet even without having all of the background, from a writing perspective, Seven of Nine’s story is the most immediately coherent. She starts the season in point A and gets to point B pretty directly and understandably. It feels like a more mature version of the classic “what does it mean to be human?” question, taking threads that arose in season 1 and expanding on them. Seven of Nine struggles to see herself as fully human and bears the weight of her Borg past in physical and emotional manifestations. What I liked about her arc is that she never really fully comes to terms with any of it, even admitting as much out loud. Instead, she also learns to accept that despite how she views these as inherently bad pieces of herself, others see them as a whole that is worthy of love and respect. This gives her some space for herself, in a way. It could have been better-written in terms of the specific relationship aspects, but on the whole it works pretty well.

The second meaningful arc is Jurati’s, which mostly survives on the basis of Alison Pill’s excellent acting. I’m not convinced of the writing for this aspect; Jurati starts season 2 at a far lower point than she ended in season 1 and there is an inconsistency in how her character is presented. Her penchant for poor decision-making remains, however, and is the driving force behind her bizarre plot. That said, the core of her arc is not so unlike Seven of Nine’s - it’s one of finding oneself. We have already seen that Jurati is fairly weak-willed, but here it becomes part of a very disturbing bit of internalized play in defining her self-loathing and recreating herself. I didn’t like it, but Pill does an extraordinary job of selling Jurati’s motivations, discrepancies, and horrors. I’m not sure another actor could have pulled it off (given that the writing is still pretty sloppy), but Pill does and so it deserves commendation.

The rest of the season is, quite simply, not good.

There are decent ideas or lines throughout. Picard’s rousing inspiring speech to Renee is a lovely reminder of what Star Trek strives to be; the very premise of Renee’s mission being the linchpin on which humanity’s pluralistic approach to space travel and its environmental future turns is also fairly nice. There’s an important political message buried in Rios’s side story with immigration, as well as Guinan’s dissatisfaction with our contemporary Earth. These little sprinkles only serve to remind us how poorly they fit together.

More than that, there are pieces that could work but don’t, like Picard’s tragic backstory. It’s... fine? I guess it’s fine. It could have contextualized Picard’s emotional reticence and family issues. Instead, it was used with all the subtlety of a serial killer’s axe, in order to further a truly inexplicable romantic subplot that gave Picard absolutely no new depth nor made any sense given the characterizations of season 1. From a technical standpoint, it was also disappointing in its idealized/romanticized framing of mental health struggles. It could have been good; it wasn’t. The recurring theme of season 2.

Same with Q and Guinan in general. Q’s initial involvement is reminiscent of his TNG-era shenanigans. He’s sly and mysterious and his interests are muddled at best, other than the fact that we see their disastrous consequences. Except then... it turns out to be... a sign of love? A misplaced “last hurrah”? I’m all for acknowledging the depth and complexity of the love that Q holds for Picard, but like... seriously? That was the best the writers could come up with? How does it track with any of what we see throughout the rest of the season? All to get Picard to reframe his relationship with love, and with a total disregard for the real people who died to get there?

Guinan’s plot is similarly weird. The idea of recasting a “young” Guinan was cute and I’m fine with it, but... what purpose did she actually serve the narrative? I’m sitting here and thinking about the season and I simply cannot recall what she contributed. Summoning Q, sort of? Existing? Did it have to be Guinan? Was she there just because we know the name?

But the show is called Picard, so let’s focus on the man himself for a moment. What was season 2 about, if we look at Jean-Luc Picard?

On its surface, Picard’s arc was about making space for love. The lifestyle change suggested at the end of season 2 - in which he would no longer resign himself to moping alone around the vineyard and would instead set forth on new adventures with his new crew - was gone at the beginning of season 2. Other than seeing several of the crew newly in Starfleet (Rios, Raffi, and Elnor), there is little indication of how Picard’s synthetic body impacts his life or has affected his perspective. In fact, it seems to come up only haphazardly when he’s physically injured. (Which is itself a bizarre plot point, but sure! Sure.)

In one of the two major threads going for him in season 2, Picard has to come to terms with his parents’ toxic relationship and its complexities. As I mentioned above, this might have been thoughtfully handled, but it mostly wasn’t. The tonal dissonance between the portrayal of mental illness and the murkiness of the abuse/perceived abuse meant that I struggled to take away anything of meaning from the tragedy. It felt like it was constantly just trying to shock and tease the viewer, particularly in how it flipped the script of abuse. Why? What for? Picard might be well-served by a more detailed exploration of his childhood, but was this it?

The other thread is the one that had me rolling my eyes. Somehow, the season’s message of “Picard learns to love!” gets translated into “learns to have a romantic love!”, as though this is the end-all. Picard is certainly a character who has shied away from romantic relationships before and that could have been worth exploring in part, but why does it have to do at the expense of understanding Picard’s general discomfort with acknowledging love? There are so many ways this could - and frankly should - have played out, that didn’t involve a romance with a character that is... well, maybe technically of a similar age as Jean-Luc, but not really the same stage of life? (...synthetic life?) It was weird and uncomfortable and just... pointless. It didn’t make Picard’s character have greater depth, on the contrary - it promoted the extremely silly idea that there is one superior type of loving relationship. Why?

This isn’t a review of season 2, though. No, I didn’t like season 2. I wanted to, at first, but I found myself growing more and more baffled and exhausted as it progressed. Pockets of amusement or entertainment or appreciation (see again Picard’s speech to Renee, which I really did quite like!) appeared for brief moments throughout the episodes and then disappeared again. But the main problem? The main thing that angered me about season 2?

It seemed determined to forget that season 1 had happened, and it did so very obviously at the expense of its own characters. And THAT is why I’m not excited for season 3, or as I call it “the producers went: hey, wait, let’s bring back TNG oh my gosh!!!!”.

Once again: Star Trek has been a leader in the world of reboots and nostalgic callbacks. TNG is a reboot, after all. It opened with a hand-off from an extremely aged-up Dr. McCoy, as a way to tie things together to the Original Series. It found an excuse to include Scotty, Sarek, and Spock in plot-specific ways. Later, it gave Kirk space in its first movie. DS9 and Voyager both played on fan nostalgia in their respective series with the inclusion of legacy characters - Q, Worf, Barclay, Riker, etc. - and indeed even Enterprise tried desperately and disastrously to find ways to milk nostalgia, even as a prequel reboot itself.

As I mentioned at the top, modern Trek has continued this trend. Disco‘s worst earliest instincts were rooted in its attempts to mine nostalgia; while the inclusion of Pike and Spock in season 2 ended up being pretty beneficial for the franchise as a whole (yay SNW! itself an obvious exercise in nostalgia; I’ll expand in a moment), it wobbled in season 1 with Sarek. Lower Decks has consistently been at its most tiring when trying too hard to play to nostalgia rather than telling its own stories (except for the occasional wonderful gag, but the jokes are usually just... too much). Prodigy also felt a little tiring when it tried too hard to be nostalgic for the sake of older fans, rather than just telling its own story, but it did this only sporadically.

And then there’s Picard. Whereas SNW takes legacy characters who have either never gotten their due or are at an earlier stage than what we’ve previously known of them, Picard is the only real sequel to a legacy show, fully centering on a legacy character. In season 1, the show promised that while Picard himself was returning, the show was not a TNG sequel. Indeed, Picard’s biggest season 1 legacy costar isn’t even from TNG, a rather inspired decision on the part of the producers/writers. And with the exception of some cameos and Brent Spiner’s enduring mission to act out as many related characters as he can (a once-mildly amusing trait, now gone sour), the show made a point of introducing new characters: Dahj and Soji, whose stories kick off and define the season. Raffi, Elnor, Rios, Jurati... even the antagonists! Even the legacy characters are fresh! Seven of Nine and Hugh are both in vastly different places than where they’d been in the past. And yes, I’m including Riker and Troi - in their delightful interlude of an episode - who are there to demonstrate just how much things have changed since TNG. This is a new show, a different show, populated by characters who are guiding and interact with Picard in different ways.

So why is season 3 just TNG season 8? Without having watched the trailers, it’s hard for me to say whether or not I’m misreading what the plot actually is, but all of the promotion has been about the TNG crew and their involvement. Soji and Elnor - both wildly sidelined by season 2 - have been fully abandoned; will there be any plot justification for this? Rios and Jurati at least were given send-offs in season 2, but they too were cast aside. I can’t really figure out what’s supposed to have happened to Laris (though while Orla Brady still appeared throughout season 2, the character of Laris... didn’t). This leaves only two of the “new” characters for Picard season 3 - Raffi and Seven of Nine (who is, of course, actually a legacy character). And of course even season 2 seemed more interested in legacy characters, with the returns of both Guinan and Q, and even Brent Spiner’s umpteenth Soong.

Nostalgia can be great. I appreciate a good dose of nostalgia as much as the next person. I cheered at the appearance of Deep Space 9 on Lower Decks. The TOS-nostalgic Prodigy episode “All the World’s a Stage” was excellent. SNW is a great show. But nostalgia cannot be in place of something new. Say what you will about Disco, but it did something new in its first season, even as it tried to link its story to legacy characters (and indeed, failed most strikingly in that effort). Picard seems to have initially understood that lesson and then thrown it aside. Season 3 abandons any pretense of telling some kind of new story about Picard’s post-Enterprise life. It bends over backwards to include the old gang (including Spiner, who I dearly love, but seriously... why?) and to fully center them.

And... much as I love TNG, I find that I am incapable of getting excited about this. I look at how season 2 flailed in its attempt to tell an interesting story, how it fully wasted its potential (2024!!! the Bell Riots! they could have done so much!), how it dismissively discarded its new characters, how it backtracked on any meaningful story about Jean-Luc Picard that might have been told... and I ask myself what season 3 could possibly bring, especially knowing that the seasons were produced back-to-back. Will it rise above season 2′s mediocrity? Will it manage to actually say anything new and meaningful about these characters? About this world, which is the real point of Star Trek?

My sense is no. It’s hard to get excited over that.

#star trek #star trek: picard #tv shows #season analyses #star trek: the next generation #commentary #review #criticism

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pip-or-something · 4 years ago

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last twilight in phuket analysis

on growing up

1. hokkian mee

teh making hokkian mee seems very symbolic of growth here. throughout part 1 he’s always saying his mom will make it for them, but this time, his mom isn’t around, so he makes it himself

2. the loss of the private beach

@liyazaki pointed out that they have to make room for themselves in the public beach and that’s brilliant and i love that take and i think it’s important and correct! carving out your spot in an unfamiliar place is definitely a part of the learning to be an adult vibes

my focus in this scene was a bit different initially but still in support of that same positive change. i noticed that it is oh-aew who’s most bothered by their private beach being closed and not teh. remember when teh couldn’t even admit to himself that he wanted to be close to oh-aew? and now he’s holding his boyfriend’s hand in public! now they’re hugging on a public beach, and he’s emotionally aware enough to comfort oh-aew! *hugs teh*

3. the closing of funan tutorial school

funan tutorial school was this place kind of like their beach - the two of them knew it inside and out, so there were spaces that felt like just theirs. it’s a short scene, but that shot of them being locked out through the inside is really showing that they’re now on the outside of phuket - or at least they feel that way. i also think that scene is one of the many hints that teh, even though he’s mostly comforting oh-aew in this, is also unsettled and upset by the upcoming change.

the view zooms out after that, though, showing that they’re part of a much bigger word - rather than being locked out, it gives us the perspective of looking inside from a place of greater freedom

if we want to get really abstract, it could be symbolic of the kind of inward self reflection that occurs when we see that the world is much larger than we thought

parallels

1. this scene

has a backdrop with the same very distinctive teal color that we saw at oh-aew’s house in itsay

the scenes ultimately are like the same thing but they play out differently. the same because it’s always been oh-aew making teh come to him but now they’re actually talking like teh’s asking why and oh-aew is telling him to come closer and when teh doesn't want to do something he just explains why instead of forcing himself and it ends up being cute instead of angsty i’m so proud of them!!!

on top of that in the itsay scene they were deliberately hidden behind that staircase and now here they are out in public and teh’s shy but it’s okay because they understand each other now! and by this i mean teh understands himself enough to communicate that and not overstep his own boundaries and oh-aew understands because! again! talking!

2. the dancing around each other at the beach scene in part one

vs. the dancing to each other here

the connection here is pretty blatant in my opinion but the change is sort of subtle. in itsay, they ended up falling on top of each other, but then oh-aew essentially said he was hoping to run into teh, and this happened:

here, we have a role reversal where oh-aew is chasing teh, and when he gets there, they stick together

i just can’t get enough of teh being open to vulnerability here! and in public nonetheless!

i’m refusing to delve into too much color theory here but i mean-- in itsay we had the blue scene and the red scene and here there both blue and red scenes alksdjflaksjflkjaslkdjf

maybe the most important thing i have to say

at the beach, teh says “there may be lots of changes,” empathizing with and validating oh-aew’s sadness and fears, which is lovely because, wow! teh experiencing and expressing emotion fully? again, ✨ character growth ✨

and then there’s this thing: we know that teh is a problem solver. i know that he is because my brain works that way, too, and sure enough, i think he found a solution

when he says “i love you” he doesn’t just leave it at that. he says “i’ve never told you, not once” and he very effectively reminds oh-aew that not all change is bad

ahhhhhhhh everything in this series is so deliberate

barely coherent thoughts

i can’t believe how nostalgic this made me??? about a place i have never been??? the music and the locations and just!!! it hasn’t even been a year since itsay and i’ve rewatched it too many times to count but it feels like ages and it feels like coming home

twilight literally means half-light so as usual the nadao team is super on point with their titles - i mean it’s the perfect middle between the sun and the moon, the perfect compromise

the shirts and their colors are so unsubtle i love it

lkalkjsdfalkjasdf the blanket in the first scene i’m Suffering - i caught myself looking for yongjian on the wall lmao

did they not show them playing in the water because pp is scared of it because if so: that’s really considerate and cute and appreciated

i looked it up and lavender roses symbolize enchantment and love at first sight which is very cute and also feels like it demands growth, which would be fitting in terms of everything else i said. they also happen look very similar to genetically engineered blue roses which are actually super interesting to read about and symbolize the unattainable. so that’s very much in line with our title :’) in this case, rather than the romance specifically, it would be more likely to symbolize the inability to truly revisit the past, if that’s even what they’re going for

teh said i love you while oh-aew was filming them helpppppp i bet did that on purpose so that oh-aew will have it with him at all times when they’re apart [queue intense sobbing]

i think teh also needed to hear oh-aew say “i love you” here too and i have a lot of thoughts on how teh was dealing with all of this but i can’t figure out how to put it into words??? i wanted to peg him as someone who doesn’t do well with change but i think it’s more like he dislikes being in control and i confused the two because there tends to be overlap and here i think there’s multiple things happening. he’s mostly in control of the change, he’s always wanted to go to the city for university. but i don’t think he expected the emotion that is coming with it (and i really fully believe he’s experiencing the emotions for himself, too, not just empathetically with oh-aew). he seems to be handling the emotion pretty well? he’s not telling oh-aew anything outright but i don’t think he needs to, he’s expressing himself a lot more here than he ever did in itsay and oh-aew still read him like a book then

anyway i feel like we’re going to get a focus on oh-aew in this second part (it’s what i’m hoping for!) but i want to remember to keep an eye on teh and his progress as well because it might be more subtle but i am sure it will still be there

#last twilight in phuket #ipytm #i told sunset about you part 2 #itsay 2 #I Promised You The Moon #bkpp the series #Billkin putthipong #PP Krit #i wanted to gif things but my internet is too weak for that here #so pictures and links it is #oh-aew #teh #teh x oh aew #ipytm side story #side story uhhh this is my life now thanks #phuket i will miss you </3 #oh this is a stupidly long post bye

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wixenforever · 5 months ago

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^^ Me yesterday putting these all in queue and listening through all these songs.

Coyote Theory's "This Side of Paradise."

This lyric specifically:

So if you're lonely, no need to show me; If you're lonely, come be lonely with me.

You are so spot on it's almost uncanny. It really does fit for all the nice little scenes I have planned at Hogwarts. Scenes of Harry forcing Theo to stop obsessively working on....something (can't say what, it hasn't been revealed yet!); them meeting way up in the Astronomy Tower to listen to Harry's CD player and just not talk, or sometimes talk about anything and everything, things that aren't even that important; times when they're both frustrated, angry, sad, grieving, and just come together to share the silence together...

I have this great - IDK what you would call it...a "cornerstone" moment of the fic where Theo is a massive comfort to Harry. And I think this song fits so well as Theo -> Harry in that moment.

Anson Seabra's "Welcome to Wonderland"

I cry. I love sad slow songs like this. I think thematically this really fits well with an essential tension with Theo's character that hasn't been fully introduced yet: his fear of precious things ending (huge part of the next chapter). It's been mentioned before that his mother specifically taught him that "the dead must go on" and that translates to a larger message she tried to teach him, which is that nothing lasts forever, and that's okay.

So I imagine Theo sort of playing this song in his head and embracing it, trying to keep special moments or precious places safe so they can last as long as possible so other people can experience "Wonderland" like he has. I love your vision of him showing Harry the Library. If only Harry could transport into his head and see it all through his eyes, ACK!!

Jacob Lee's "Chariot"

PERFECT FOR THE THUS UNPUBLISHED FIC (which I definitely totally started today and am now calling 'Traveler's Rest')

I love this so much. The energy, the slow build up from contemplative to a little bit more energetic, and the underlying passion and conviction of loving someone so completely you just drop everything and plan to love them all your life (because that's the greatest gift of all!!!!!) UGH. LOVE.

I Prevail's "Hurricane"

LMAO okay meta note, I was so surprised after all your song recs to get this one. It's just way more hard rock and took me back to my screamo emo days, it was a fun surprise for me.

This song is EXTREMELY Harry-coded, especially this part:

Tell me I was never worth the time (I reach out but it's pulling me under) Or just blame it on the person you think I left behind

To me this is him with the Dursleys. I have thought about the Dursleys so much over the years (more than is healthy) because, canonically, like....they kept him in a cupboard, didn't buy him his own clothes, got him donation bin glasses, barely fed him, and yet Harry is undoubtedly full of life, scrappy, and so self-assured.

I mean, when you think of nature vs. nurture, it's easy to say "Well, that's just who he is" but the kid was ELEVEN. Like, his sense of self at eleven is just so....strong, despite not knowing the truth about who he is.

I can't help but believe that, maybe....MAYBE....between bouts of accidental magic, Harry was somewhat accepted by the Dursleys before his Hogwarts letter. Not loved, not truly accepted, but they probably had some weird symbiosis where Harry performs all the unfair tasks they assign him (don't get better grades than Dudley, does all his chores, doesn't talk back) and in return he gets some kind of....approval? I dare not say affection. But enough approval to give him SOMETHING to yearn for from them.

IDK I just think, even though it's blatantly an abusive situation, canonically there had to have been some kind of base-level relationship that was upended by the Hogwarts letter, otherwise Harry would be way more fucked up than he is (case in point, any fanfic where Harry's trauma is like, more realistic if we take everything we "know" about how he was treated, but remove ANY positivity in the house at all).

Anyway, all that to say, I think this song perfectly captures Harry, so so so well. And Sirius and John and Theo will be there to help him remember that he doesn't have to feel like he's "already gone", instead he can be himself with them and just be present and they'll love him the way he is!!! 😭😭😭

OKAY my turn, just one song tho, sorry! I just added this to my playlist the other day because it soooooooooo perfectly fits Blaise and Draco trying to get Theo to open up to them in third year. It will also, eventually, work with either Harry and Theo to the other, but I think the song's vibe reminds me of Blaise the most.

youtube

Sorry I'm on my laptop which does not have spotify downloaded so I linked a youtube music video I've never seen lmao.

Thank you so much for giving so much to think on and be inspired by!!!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hi, hello, @wixenforever I have more music cause my brain is braining, and I'm obsessed with botl if that wasn't already obvious haha.

This Side of Paradise - Coyote Theory

The backing track just sounds like adventures in Hogwarts to me, honestly. Like, just imagine them in a movie style montage; chilling in the Library working on assignments, Harry dragging Theo out onto the Quidditch pitch to watch him practice, or just running around the castle. Maybe Luna drags them both into the Forest for a bit, idk, just fits that vibe tbh.

Then we have the lyrics and idk if I think it's Theo or Harry singing/talking to the other haha. Like, it fits both, I think? The first verse screams Harry to me though, especially with the themes in botl with him realizing that he doesn't have much of a reason to be, and filling that hole.

Welcome to Wonderland - Anson Seabra

So, with this song, it's just another of those soft, kind of idle moments in the story, those breaks in the chaos, and they're (Theo and Harry) just sitting in one of their dorm beds, or in a nook somewhere, maybe it's a time when they just confess once more (because I'm sure something else would play for the confession scene haha), or they're just being soft with each other. Idk, not much to say this one, it's just such good vibes for a soft relationship imo haha.

The vibe is a lot more solemn than what I imagine, but, it brings ideas so here we go haha.

Honestly, while the tone doesn't fit quite well, I see this as Theo showing Harry around the Library once he's able to. When he finally gets the magic right to have his moving Library. Just, the Library having its (their?) Gift and Knight walking around, the shadows moving just so as it glides books and sections around, as they're one to do. Theo, if it's designed similarly as the one in the Tower, pointing out places like the chair and run that his Mother used to be around, and cute things like that. Maybe a re-created little nook they find or make their own in Hogwarts.

"Welcome to Wonderland, I'll be your guide

Holding your hand under sapphire skies,

Let's go exploring, or we could just go for a walk"

idk, it's just nice and cozy (except we ignore the last 4 lines cause that makes it all a dream, and while nice let's not have it only be that haha)

Chariot - Jacob Lee

So this one is honestly only here for two reasons, neither of which really connect with the fic haha. Number 1, is because of the post about Theo's eye color and the fact that I'm obsessed with it lol. And Number 2 is that it's one of my favorites from him, haha.

Hurricane - I Prevail

All I can see when listening to this one is, is Harry talking to the Order, Ron, or someone who's completely bought into the Boy-Who-Lived thing. Like, "Cause I can't be myself when I'm with anyone" just feels so Harry coded in general, but also for this fic specifically, it just hits for me.

Then we have the

"Tell me that I'm lost inside my mind,

Remind me I've been searching,

For something I won't find"

To me screams Theo/Sirius/John/etc trying to get Harry to be himself, find what he wants to fight for, create that thing to fight for and all that, like you'd mentioned in chapter 22. All while you have Albus (probably, along with Moody etc) trying to fit him back into the moldable Boy-Who-Lived shape.

And then, once Harry just starts unapologetically being himself around anyone and everyone, the whole "The storm is coming down" part kinda kicks in haha.

Anyway, that's all I got atm, hope you've had a lovely day haha ♥️♥️♥️

#song headcannons #botl #i love thinking about all the characters through song this is truly my greatest weakness #Youtube

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ghostofbambifanfiction · 4 years ago

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My dear little man (cat) is back home and healing after a stroke so now that my heart is back inside of my body I am here to list off just some of my (many) favorite things you have written. I’m keeping it to 5 because that seems reasonable.

I’m sorry to hear you’re having such a rough go of writing at the moment. Hopefully some effusive praise will, at the very least, distract from that. Here we go, in no particular order:

1. The Audition from WATJP

This whole fic is so excellent. Truly delicious writing. (Could I do five favorites just from WATJP? yes, yes I could) I love the relationships between James/Sirius/Remus/Peter - you’re always so good at setting up a clear and interesting dynamic between everyone with just your dialogue. I’m especially delighted by this after James has raised his hand - the interaction between James, Remus, and Sirius there is so funny and lived-in and real.

Of course, your banter between Lily and James is top notch, but I love how you can show so much of their relationship dynamic and their chemistry when they’re speaking someone else’s words.

2 - 3. James’ tells and general misinterpretations in (The Mostly Unwilling Participants on) The Bachelor

It’s so fun in this fic to watch James figure out that he’s into Lily - it’s not a dynamic we get to see often and you roll it out so beautifully - where there are tells long before James knows how to articulate it. One of my favorite examples is in Chapter 5, when you do this, first with James’ enthusiasm growing every time Lily plays along, and then with:

“"You’re not even his type!"

James’s sharp "Ha!" likely made it across the room, through the open (and stupidly) French doors onto the patio, and halfway across the garden.”

and finally with him getting so caught up that he hugs Lily.

You capture so much about the behavior of two people utterly smitten with one another and it makes my heart all fluttery!

Something else I love about your fics where you write from either James or Lily’s perspective is how you write their misinterpretations of each other’s behavior or words - it’s such a fun unreliability that, obviously creates some of the best dramatic irony. In this same chapter (because you are, despite how you may be feeling, rather prolific) is one of my favorite examples of this, with Lily’s pov:

“Clearly, the best she was going to get from James was confirmation that she'd been foisted upon him by Rita Skeeter, and a blokey comparison to a bloody dinosaur.

A velociraptor, of all things.

Dinosaurs were wicked cool, it was true, and she understood the compliment it implied, but he might as well have punched her in the shoulder and referred to her as dude for all the good it had done her. The resulting effect would have been exactly the same.”

*chef’s kiss*

4. James’ humor in Salmon Fishing in the Olympics

Ahhh, another that I love so much. James’ humor is especially delightful here. I feel like other people have brought up specific excellent quotes from this fic, but again:

She comes to a standstill in front of him. "As if you're allowed to eat at McDonald's."

"I'm not, but I sometimes press myself up against their windows."

"What a treat for the diners."

"Puts them right off their nuggets."

"What kind of car do you drive?"

"I—er—" Vernon is taken aback by the change in subject, but can never resist an opportunity to discuss his car. Lily has taught James well. "An Audi A4. What car do you drive?"

"None," says James. "I sprint everywhere."

Vernon blinks stupidly. "Everywhere?"

"Yeah, but I can only do it in 200 metre bursts. It took months to get to Rio."

"They always let me skip the queue at Starbucks because I'm a national hero."

"I hate you."

are all a sheer delight.

5. All the pining in Shelf Awareness

I’ve read this approximately 128 times because obviously your writing + bookshop setting is perfection for me. And my goodness, the chemistry of it all!

He's so fit that she can't look him directly in the eye without a tell-tale, inconvenient, irrepressible smile that screams, 'I want to wear you like pyjamas,' which makes her feel guilty for looking in the first place—she has a boyfriend, after all, and she's never been the kind of girl to flirt about when she's with someone—so she shrugs and buries her nose in her phone while he scans in the rest of the books.

Or: “smiling at her in a way that makes her feel like her secrets aren't her own” - I mean, come on! The economy of that. A whole culinary school’s worth of chef’s kisses.

All of this is to say that you are a terrific writer and I’m always happy to revisit your writing because it’s so full of humor and pining and banter. Every one of your characters are full, amusing and entertaining and so specific.

Also apologies for the wonky formatting - I am frustrated with my thumbs at the moment.

I don't really have words. I'm just sobbing reading this. I can't believe you took the time to write it all and send it to me, especially when you've just been through the ringer yourself. You have no idea how much this this means to me, no idea. I'm in tears. I'm so glad that your cat is recovering. Actual tears. Thank you so much.

Also I forgot to tag @fetchalgernon because she's responsible for James in Bachelor fic and she 100% deserves credit for that <3

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morethanaprincess-a · 4 years ago

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@truethes said: 11, 13, 29 & 31 for the experience yourself meme!!

Experience Yourself Munday Meme

what is a headcanon you have for [ Sonia ] that you haven’t posted ?

A lot of my unposted headcanons at the moment revolve primarily around Sonia’s family, as much of my brainstorming right now is coming up with how they fit into a few different storylines where bringing in the Novoselic Royal Family is unavoidable. But, they’re a lot of fun to think about and write for!

That said, here’s a slightly opaque, yet major, headcanon I have for Sonia specifically:

In the DR fandom, there’s been discourse in the past about how Sonia’s talent, among a few others, aren’t really real talents. She was born a princess, she didn’t choose it: why should she be at Hope’s Peak perfecting it?

I’ve taken this conversation and shaped it to fit a headcanon of mine: while Sonia’s talent is, absolutely, a real talent (just look at her listed canon skills that go along with it! It’s why I have a hard time believing Sonia to be stupid or dumb. She’s sheltered, has little in the way of common sense, and has trouble identifying when someone is being genuine in their feelings towards her and not putting her on a pedestal or just wanting something from her, but she’s not a bimbo), I headcanon that Sonia was not actually scouted to attend Hope’s Peak.

Instead, it was a deal made by the school and her family to send Sonia there, somewhere very far from Europe, due to circumstances that necessitated her to leave the continent for a considerable period of time. It wasn’t that she needed to go to Hope’s Peak to hone her skills as a princess: it was that she couldn’t go back to In Utero, or really any school that had students in the same social circles. In short, Sonia needed to disappear. As far away from Novoselic Castle as possible.

So, she’s not only excited to go to the motherland of otaku and live a normal life, she’s running from something. She’s also, very quietly and discreetly, in therapy during her time in Japan. It is not something the Royal Family wants known.

And yes, I’ve plotted out the circumstances that resulted in Sonia attending Hope’s Peak. However, I’ve yet to write a thread or build enough interactions up to warrant bringing that story up. In canon, it becomes a moot point and in Non-Despair modern AUs, there just hasn’t been reason to add it into a plotline yet.

But Sonia cannot, and will not, answer questions about why she’s at Hope’s Peak, and most characters would not know the reason anyway (including Junko, tbh! There were a lot of non-disclosure agreements made about it).

if you could tell your muse something , what would it be ?

Your family isn’t always right, and those you trust the most have hurt you just as deeply: you just can’t see it yet. Don’t underestimate the power of found family: even if it breaks with tradition, these are people who truly believe and want the best for you.

There are risks you take because they’re fun and ultimately do not add anything meaningful to your life, and there are risks you shy away from because you’re afraid of hurting someone else, including yourself. But people are resilient and adaptable, including yourself. At some point, you need to let others in and let them see you, support you, and love you at your lowest point. They will not think less of you.

The butter goes on the toast after you put in the toaster, not before. Cookbooks and directions exist for a reason, and not following them to ‘make the cooking process more fun!’ is not a legitimate reason to deviate from them.

what part of your blog’s style are you most attached to ?

Aesthetically? I love my new layout! I like pink for Sonia, but not as much pink as my previous layout. This one suits my muse much better, and is much easier to read.

In terms of process? The queue. Always and forever, the queue. Respect the queue. Love the queue.

I write a lot. The majority of my threads are long multi-paras bordering on novellas and I write novella-length drabbles (this is my reminder that I should write another one for bear because the plot bunny just won’t go away). Longer threads bring me joy. But with that joy, it can get tiring very easily, very quickly, to reply to everything I get every day and post them immediately. I’m an adult with a full-time job and other life commitments and I can’t be doing what I consider to be my best writing all the time.

Enter, the queue! I schedule my replies to post 2x/day most of the time and usually, that keeps both a steady work and writing flow and it allows me to be fair in my interactions. I try to work and reply on what I get first (or if I have a lot to reply to/start, I go with what I have the most muse for) and that way I can keep up threads with older mutuals while starting things with new ones as well.

A big pet peeve of mine is when blogs take on too much: too many threads, too many asks, and never get to/reply to everything. And eventually, they either delete every thread and ask to start over, or just make new blogs. I really endeavor not to do this. I write and queue the way I do so that as many threads as I can comfortably handle get continued and interactions are built. It’s why I don’t post starter memes/inbox/starter calls unless I know I can devote the time to new interactions, that everything I’ve currently got is written and queued.

Admittedly, I’m not a great writing partner for shorter interactions and quick replies. But I love the queue.

what hobbies do you have outside of roleplaying ?

I don’t have too many, honestly. I used to be more into power lifting but now I work out for the sake of staying fit only. I have a full-time job (and usually a lot of overtime) that keeps me busy, and I cosplay (and attend conventions) and really enjoy fashion (I post OOTDs on my personal Facebook and Instagram, usually). I’m in the process of buying a house with my fiancé that takes up a lot of my free time, and once that’s done we’re setting a marriage ceremony date and planning a honeymoon. Just waiting for travel to Europe to get a bit more relaxed! I miss international travel a lot (and trips to New York City and Disney World).

In short, Rae is old and boring and doesn’t have much time for many hobbies :(

#more-than-a-princess answered #more-than-a-princess musings #truethes #(Experience Yourself meme)#(Thanks for the asks! We should start some more threads soon. Something on this blog and something on your other multi? :D)

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synchodai · 1 year ago

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I'm explaining this in detail because apparently the conclusion I made in this post wasn't as clear as I thought.

The reason I wrote this in the first place was because I already went on and on about the nuances of agnatic primogeniture and inheritance laws in Westeros. Those are the detailed rules that determine the order of this fictional queue and it's not just firstborn, first-serve. I cannot emphasize enough that this is not a chronological queue and that it has rules over who gets to go first (think how disabled, elderly, and pregnant people get to go first before other people in IRL queues). I have already said that the rules this queue follows aren't fair.

Rhaenys would have been appropriate for what you added to my metaphor, but not Rhaenyra. By the rules of this queue, Rhaenys was first in line by default. If Rhaenys had decided to press her claim against Viserys, she'd be doing what the Hightowers are doing now (using the established queue rules to challenge the queue master's decision to pass her over). Would others say Rhaenys was being a Karen if she had asserted her place in line of succession and went against the queue master letting Baelon/Viserys skip over her?

Rhaenyra being queen would not better the conditions of women around Westeros. If people truly thought that the eldest inheriting regardless of gender would end up ushering a women's liberation, then they would be using Dorne as their champion and model (they already have that system), not this individual woman who has shown no plans to make any systemic changes and whose mission statement on the show is upholding her family's status quo which they achieved through subjugating others.

I made this post to show in the simplest possible terms how the queue system is the problem. Not Alicent who you turned into a Karen to prove your point nor Rhaenyra for being given a special pass by the guy in power. Zoom out of whatever personal feelings you have towards these characters and remember that this will keep happening regardless of who's in the queue. It doesn't take someone being a Karen (which you yourself admit in your tags is a misogynist caricature but that's a whole other discussion and the point of this post was to simplify things) to make this system fall apart because it is already inherently built on discrimination. Alicent and the queue master (in this case, Viserys) could have done nothing in this scenario and not caused fighting to break out, but they would all still be stuck in this shitty queue that makes people believe that being first in line is worth murdering someone over.

The queue rules which were supposed to keep people from killing each other aren't working if people are and will keep killing each other over this damned queue. No problems are fixed if you let specific individuals skip the line (whether that's Rhaenyra, Viserys I, Baelon, etc.) — it just makes people angry and question why there even is a queue if people just keep skipping it. You either change the rules (reformist stance), stop employing a queue master who has the power to decide he's above the rules (anti-monarchist stance), or abolish the queue system entirely (anarchist stance).

TL;DR: I don't know why anyone would see me as advocating for the greens who want to enforce queue rules when my conclusion at the end was that this queue and its rules suck.

Explaining the Blacks vs Greens conflict in the simplest analogy I can think of

Imagine Rhaenyra and Alicent waiting in a queue. The queue has rules including that men get to go before women. Not all the rules are fair or make sense but everyone following these rules is what keeps them from not killing each other over who gets to go first.

The queue master decides that Rhaenyra gets to skip a lot of people and go first just because he likes her.

And Rhaenyra is like, "Well, the queue master said I can, and he's in charge of the queue so..."

In the books, Alicent goes, "Hey, you can't do that! My son was in front of you in line."

In the show, Alicent goes, "Uh, actually, the queue master said it was my son who should go first."

Then the queue master dies leaving no one there to mediate the argument anymore, so they proceed to murder each other and everyone else over who should actually be first in line.

Notice how none of these people will actually change the stupid queue rules if either of them win the argument.

#long post #hotd #house of the dragon #hotd discourse #hotd critical #hotd discussion #never titling any hotd post black or green again #I did laugh when the reply assumed this queue was for a toilet tho #Comparing the crown and the throne and ruling Westeros to taking a shit was unintentionally insightful

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depizan · 4 years ago

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I was thinking about the post I reblogged about the loss of the Alliance in SWTOR, and some of my other disappointments with how faction is handled in the game, and how faction based MMOs in general tend to get stuck in this kind of "eternal conflict" mode. (Not that factionless MMOs don't get stuck in their own kind of weird "eternal conflict" mode, too. Look at Guild Wars 2 and the growing list of things that have tried to destroy Tyria.)

But there are stories that lend themselves to a faction model, and SWTOR does have - or does begin with - one of those. It's just that with no prospect of whatever conflict divides the factions ever being resolved, you have a weird permanent stalemate situation, kind of. The Sith Empire will never win, because that would make Republic players unhappy. The Galactic Republic will never win, because that would make Empire players unhappy. No actual solution to the conflict can ever be found because then it would be game over. (Also, no real faction shifting because how would you code that?)

Except... maybe none of that is true. There are games that have faction shifting of a kind coded in. Think of all the minor factions in World of Warcraft, some opposed to one another, some just independent. Sure, those faction shifts are mostly achieved with some kind of grind, but it does prove that mutable factions are codeable.

This might even solve the problem of the Smuggler and the Bounty Hunter being tied to specific factions when that leads to some very odd story stuff, particularly outside of each class story. It suggests a way to handle factional grouping and third faction classes without making those factions "better" because all flashpoints are available to them.

Here is Mac's theoretical redesign of SWTOR with a different handling of factions and playing into the story focus that is the game's best quality.

Republic and Empire each get three classes, Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are Underworld (a third, neutral to the others faction). Since the galaxy is supposed to be under a peace treaty - the Treaty of Coruscant - you design the game with flexible faction tagging and lean in hard to the Cold War set up.

You have degrees of faction, just like those minor factions in WoW. I'm going to borrow the middle part of WoW's faction set up for this. Theirs runs Hated - Hostile - Unfriendly - Neutral - Friendly - Honored - Revered - Exalted. We just need the middle chunk, from Hostile to Friendly. Hostile is typical enemy mob: bar is red, it will attack you on sight. Unfriendly is an orange bar, but will not fight you unless you attack. Neutral is a yellow bar, again, will not fight you unless you attack. Friendly is typical allied mob: bar is green, etc.

Imperial players can go to Coruscant, and Republic players to Dromund Kaas, but everything is Unfriendly to them, they can't buy anything (except maybe at the spaceport?), and there are no quests available to them. Underworld players start out one tick up at Neutral and have a few merchants and quests available. Ones that it makes sense would be available to random people. (This is to balance out Underworld space starting at Neutral to Pubs and Imps.) And, obviously, Pub space starts out Friendly to Pubs and Imps space Friendly to Imps. (Though I would be slightly tempted to have Korriban be neutral to the Agent class because, as a non-Force-Sensitive you don't really belong there.)

(As you can see, we're basically using a game mechanic to underline the state of galaxy. We can also set things so that people can't go fuck things up for their fellow players by coding it so that if you just go attack people on the opposite faction capitol, you get blipped to hostile and squashed like a bug.)

Now, we write the game like there is actually a Cold War happening. This means missions for Imps and Pubs that send people into "enemy" space (not, to start with the capital or Force User planets, though) where they have to accomplish their missions without attracting the attention of the other faction. We can take advantage of instancing to allow for diplomatic incidents, like thinking "well, they can't report I'm here if they're dead," without triggering the anti-trolling splat mobs. This is also where we introduce some side quests that give people the opportunity to work on becoming to Neutral with the opposite faction.

Smugglers and Bounty Hunters are off doing Underworld stuff, with some options to take quests that benefit the Republic or the Empire. (Giving them the chance to work on becoming Friendly with one or both factions.)

All class stories get written so that there are several potential outcomes. We're going to use the Agent story as a model here, and basically set it up so that everyone has a story line that ends with them still loyal to the faction they began with, now Underworld/Unallied, or loyal to the opposite faction. This gets paired with the ability for characters to keep doing things to make the other faction like them better and you're setting up defections or the decision to go neutral with mechanics and story.

You use the Cold War setting to ramp up general tension. Have more missions like that one on Republic Hoth where you can work with some Imperials. Or the times where a Sith Warrior can use Republic soldiers to their advantage. So the whole base game has this good overlay of people wanting peace and people wanting to go back to war (on all sides!). This lets you really flesh out the factions, and the good and bad people in them. Have a more positive sort of Gray Morality going on.

As far as Flashpoints go, you re-write The Black Talon/Esseles for proper Cold War subtlety. I think we want to use the intro flashpoints to give people a better idea of the kind of proxy conflict stuff, where you might be fighting what appear to be a third party (like pirates), but you get info (of the non provable kind) that they're working for the Empire/Republic. And maybe come up with some kind of mechanic where party members can get special communications based on faction. Like, the main (everybody) cut scenes for the Esseles talk about it being pirates that are attacking them, but the Jedi/Trooper characters get a quick comm call that the pirates are probably working for the Empire and after a particular person.

For all the shared flashpoints, you tweak them so they are truly shared. One queue for everyone, we still need to work out exactly how we're getting the different factions their special flavor bits, but there's more of that here. And maybe a kind of saboteur mechanic for things like what to do with the missiles on Cademimu, so that they can still be launched at a fleet for a DS option, but it's not in-character obvious that someone did it.

We can still have some Empire and Republic specific flashpoints, which we might allow Underworld characters who are Friendly with the right faction to do. (Or maybe not if we're keeping the ones we have. They've got a bit of a secret mission vibe. Maybe we add a fun treasure hunt flashpoint for the Underworld folks.)

The end of the base game becomes the Cold War going hot because of Revan (and let's say it's not the Republic at large backing him, but a smaller group within the Republic that's okay with his plan). Now we get proper fall out from someone wanting to commit mass murder, we get a good climax, and we can shift from writing eight class stories to three-ish main stories with class and faction related flavor bits. You'd have those fighting for the Republic (ex-Empire characters could get good flavor bits about fighting their old allies and some suspicion from their new ones - a suspicion ex-Underworld characters would also get), for the Empire (again, joined members get some good flavor bits), or who are with the Underworld now.

First expansion is the war, maybe with some of what we used to have in Chapter Three going on. I'm also kind of tempted to weave in some actual foreshadowing for Zakuul here. I'm not keen on Space Voldemort or the time skip, but other parts of those expansions seem worth trying to save. But maybe we have the player characters working with Lana and Theron like in the Revan expansion, but it's about hints that there's something bad coming instead.

Next expansion, Zakuul attacks, things go super to shit, Lana, Theron, some people from Zakuul and the player character(s) form the Alliance. Oooh, wait, lets go ahead and keep the Vitiate/Valkorian thing, and have killing the Emperor be the end of the first expansion (because he wants to eat the galaxy - he's gone mad, but the Empire as a whole won't acknowlege it and are following him off a cliff, the Republic isn't seeing him and the Empire as separate, even evil characters live in the galaxy, etc). Now, Zakuul invades because when you kill Vitiate, Valkorian keels over. Whoops.

(Zakuul is the backup plan. If he can't destroy the galaxy as Vitiate, here comes the uber-Empire! You just managed to off him, but the uber-Empire gets fired at the known galaxy anyway.)

Now we have one story going, with different flavors depending on the characters relation to the three old factions. Kind of like we do in the existing game. And we avoid bumping the player character up to a ridiculous level of authority by making them part of the leadership of the Alliance instead of the leader. Keep them more in line with the base game power level.

Not quite sure where we go from here, but basically you have this kind of flowing faction thing going through the game that meshes well with the story.

I don't know. Mostly I wanted to work out how you could do something more interesting with faction.

#Mac vs SWTOR #Mac rewrites the game #long post #very long post #god if they'd done it like this I might even like the expansions

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