#I'm also trying to CONNECT THEM AND make it cohesive

[luv-again]

brain,, brain trying to remember all the things I have planned for ship week...

(really vague spoiling)

day 1 : overarch plot set up ✅️

day 2 : overarch (almost ✅️), espionage au, pirate au (my beloved !!!)

day 3 : overarch, witcher vibes au, more overarch

day 4 : overarch, 0000001 0000011 00000111 au, more overarch

day 5 : overarch, part of the sli reunion episode, overarch, prince of persia au

day 6 : overarch, assassin au, overarch

day 7 : overarch, oddworld au, overarch ties the little bow off to complete the series <3

[kombuuuu]

HEYY!!! Can you maybe write a fic or small drabble where fem!reader wants hobie to hang upside down so they can ‘spider man kiss’.

(also i luv the way you write hobie :P)

Spider Kisses

Hobie Brown x Fem!Reader

“What’re you— oh!”

small thingyyyyy, added a little twist tho C:

—

“Hobie?” Your voice rang throughout the empty alleyway behind your apartment, light disappearing behind the building wall your lover was currently — decorating.

“Wh— Oh! [Name], babe, come look a’ this.”

You partner turned to you, currently hanging from a suspended pole connecting one building to another.

Webs wrapped around his ankles to keep him hanging upside-down. Left hand holding a green can of spray paint, and right holding a paint ridden cloth.

His shirt was riding up (down?) due to gravity, the small peak of skin covered in different paint streaks that matched the tones the wall was now bearing.

“what’re you doing up there?”

He shook the van again, spraying a little detail onto the mural, then wiping a line through the fresh paint to reveal the colour underneath.

“‘M paintin’, love.”

He turned to you, synthetic eyes wide and emoted.

“C’mere, come try.”

He shook the cloth in a ‘come hither’ motion, paint flecks landing on his shirt. You approached him happily, getting close to his mask-clad face.

“Don’ get too close t’ the fumes now, babe.” You rolled your eyes at his playful tone, turning back towards the art to get your first real look at it.

A low whistle came from behind you, “Nice view.”

“Shut it, bug.”

“Arachnid.”

“Whatever.”

You felt Hobie grab his web, releasing his ankles and dropping down by one arm. His feet hurting the ground with a small scuff.

Taking the first good look at his creation, you noticed how you were the centre of it. A dazzling smile with your features painted in a light you’d never known. He’d made you feel so beautiful.

The colours behind you complimented the shades of your hair and strokes of abstract making your features evermore admirable.

“Jesus, Hobie — this is gorgeous.”

“All you, babe.”

He crowded up behind you, letting his slender hands carter’s the skin along your waist and stomach. His muffled voice dropped low to your ear. “Like this, doll.” His right hand travelled up your arm, sliding over yours and disconnecting to wipe at the fresh paint.

His left hand stayed put against your abdomen, squeezing unconsciously. He handed you the cloth, watching your fingers wrap around the fabric and bringing his hand back to your upper arm, rubbing along your skin in a soothing matter.

“Now drag it along there, yeah? Right where it’s still wet.”

You snorted at the innuendo. Hobie scoffing at your childish thoughts and softly pinching your skin.

“Oh, grow up.”

You refocused, dragging your hand along the shade of purple and blue. Streaking them together and revealing the pink underneath.

“Good, you’re a natural at this point.”

You laughed lightly, turning your head towards his.

“It was one stroke, Hobes.”

He winked, a devilish smirk rising his smile lines. “All it takes wit’ you, ain’t it?”

“Oh my god, you’re crude.”

“Nah baby, ‘m honest ‘s all.”

You brought your hand back towards you looking up at the painting again. "Finishing touches."

You gave him a quick, curious "hmm?", before you felt the cloth leave your hands too fast for you to realise. The "thwip" of his webs alerting you of his methods — right as the sound registered in your head, he had shot another back onto the aforementioned pipe, and reached to swipe at the paint around your hair, melting it into you and making you stand out stark against the cohesive colours. "Looks good, dun' it babe?"

"Uhuh."

He spared you a glance, smiling under his mask at the distracted sound of your voice, when he caught you watching him, and not his painting — he could excuse it.

A thought had breached your head, one that had been popping up ever since you had gone to dimension 1806 with him.

—

"Hobie, I'm not a spider person! I can't leave!"

"But I made you a watch?" "

Yes— thank you, I love it. But also that's not the point."

"But the watch.."

"Fuck, fine. Whatever. Don't use that tone on me again."

"Say it's for science."

"Fuck science."

—

That day you had found something.. intriguing. A comic. With a rather interesting cover design. Spiderman — not yours — plastered on the front, upside down, with his mask folded up and kissing Mary Jane. It was probably the most romantic thing you'd ever seen. And now you had the chance.

"Baby."

Hobie stopped wiping the excess paint, giving you his full attention. "Yeah doll, what's 'e matter?"

"Can you— do the thing.. you were doing before?"

He gave you a quizzical look, eyes in his mask squinting. "Painting? I'm almost done, sweethear'. Now I just got'a wipe way the—,"

"No.. no, the uhh.. Thing."

"Babe, ya' gon' have ta' be a bit more specific."

"The— upside down thing."

He snorted. Still hanging from his left hand. "Wh— yeah? I can do it, but—,"

"Don't question my decisions, Hobes."

"God damn, sweethear', speak t' me like 'at more often."

You laughed just as he did, glee falling from your lips as you shifted closer to him. He twisted his body to raise his legs above himself, wrapping the webs around his ankles once more.

"Now what—"

You brought your hands up to his spandex covered cheeks, tracing the lines of his cheekbones under the soft skin of your fingers. Tracing your hands higher, you toyed with the lip of his mask. Exposing the skin of his neck and watching his Adams apple bob out of nerve. "Can I?"

"Whatever you want, Luv."

You rolled the mask just past his nose, hooking it over his bridge, surprising him. He opened his mouth to question why you hadn't taken the whole thing off, before your lips stopped him.

He melted into you, your hands stroking over his cheeks and chin.

It was awkward trying to find your position at first, but you both quickly adapted, his hands finding the belt loops of your jeans and tugging you closer to him. You smiled into the kiss and he followed, laughing about how this was the motive to your request.

Your lips disconnected and he grinned like a fool.

"Tha's why?"

"Oh, shut. It was romantic."

He chuckled again, pulling you in for another kiss.

"Never said otherwise, pretty thing."

—

phone still broken , just like my heart hastag KIILL ME BOW

that was sarcasm but YIPEEEE HOBIEEEE!!!!!

[lover-of-mine]

hang onnn is eddie’s shirt/jacket/whatever blue? are they wearing blue and green in that scene? is that….. something? 😅

Okay, so, first, blue and green buddie. (Blue and Green Masterpost here, it was written mid s7 but it does explain the use of the combo in excruciating detail if you're up for it)

Buddie has 6 explicitly blue and green scenes (when I say explicit, I mean they have a top that is blue or green, in this house the coding counts for every element of the scene, but this exercise doesn't need it). 613 when they are discussing Buck's math powers, 617 when they are leaving the station and discussing the fact that Chim should propose, 704 at the hangar, 706 at dispatch, the street where Chim was and the wedding (I'm counting this as one scene because it's the same outfit), 805 when they are discussing the boils at the loft, and the hotshots scene in 808.

One thing you will notice is that Eddie is always green and Buck is always blue. Which makes sense. Except for the hangar (that has a few different rules at play considering the black jacket for Eddie and the red hoodie for Buck) those are not scenes that have any major developments for their relationship. The blue and green doesn't have to be Something, it's mostly about creating visual unity, since blue and green are analogous colors, which means they are right next to each other in the color wheel, and that's a color scheme used to create a harmonious look, it's about cohesion, bathena also wears the combo very casually, but madney does tend to have big changes happening in those colors, you can read more on masterpost.

Buddie is casual with the combo. Big changes with them tend to happen in blue and yellow, same happens with henren, you can read about that here (this post is very deranged tho).

But Eddie is a green character, Buck is a blue one, that makes sense.

Now though? We have the inversion of colors.

I feel like I made the fact that Buck being in green means something is wrong very clear (I will link my original post about that here because I feel like it's more detailed than the one that also explains the Eddie and maroon thing), and yes, that forest green color that we nicknamed the breakup green is part of something going wrong in his life, even if the breakups are meant to be, they're never fun.

But something about other instances he wears green (times that are not explicitly about his love life falling apart), those being the 316 arc where he's trying to fix Red, the coma dream, the cemetery scene, and the gym scene in 705, have a bigger problem that Buck is not dealing with. (There's also 707 when he burns the lasagna but I remembered it editing this and I don't want to add the image here, that scene has different rules because of the blue apron tho).

The thing with Red is about his fear of ending up alone, the coma dream is about him learning to do it for himself, the cemetery scene is about him not dealing with the way dying made him feel, the gym is about him not being ready to tell Eddie how he feels. But they all have Buck running around trying to ignore the source of the issue. He makes Red about himself, he tries to fix Maddie and Bobby before finally accepting that he needs to decide to leave the coma, "I feel like she sees me", talking around what he wants because he can't make himself say what he means at the gym.

Funny enough the cemetery scene and the gym scene are blue and green coded, because of Buck's green jacket and the blue elements around Eddie. And before you @ me with the fact that I'm using the sky being blue as proof, the sky is only blue behind Eddie, you can check the scene, they desaturated the sky behind Buck.

But anyway, there's an overall theme of Buck being misguided. Even surrounding some of the breakups, he's in green hiding from Taylor at Eddie's because he doesn't want to face it, he is asking Tommy to move in a desperate move to pretend their connection is more than it is. It's almost Buck going overboard to keep things in, because let's face it, this dude has no clue how to process a big emotion in a healthy way.

As for Eddie with blue, it's not a common color on him, but it is a color we see him in enough outside the uniform. That seems to be a denim jacket, and we discussed Eddie in denim a LOT this past few months lol, but I keep coming back to these 2. Deciding to move to LA and giving up the truck to have the chance to fix his relationship with Chris.

Granted that's a lot lighter than the one in the still. I just like the Eddie breaking free trying to move forward aspect of those 2 scenes.

That color is a lot closer to the blue of their uniforms, and the only comparable Eddie outfit I can think of is 701 locker room.

@stagefoureddiediaz talks about this in her meta of disconnected, but there's also the way that they use this shade of blue to keep Eddie connected to LA. It's a similar tone to the uniform, it's an outfit you expect Eddie to wear in LA in a way that the plaid flannels aren't, so maybe there's something there too.

Okay, this is a lot of information, what does it mean for the both of them? Well, realistically, since they don't have big movements in blue and green, not much. BUT I talked about how the combo is about creating visual unity, there's a chance that is the goal, placing them as a unity, partners, because 613, we see bathena and madney in blue and green after seeing Buck and Eddie in it, so it ends up connecting them.

The same way that the couples, including Buck and Tommy (granted in a less obvious way than the rest of them, since the combo tends to be matchy matchy and Tommy in navy and Buck in mint doesn't really match, there's also the fact that Buck is actively matching Eddie, but that's a whole other post), are in blue and green in the same scene 706. (Maddie and Chim are blue and green in different ways throughout the episode, again, details in the masterpost).

So my current bet is that they'll have their own arcs, Eddie with his feelings about not being there and moving forward and maybe even back to LA, and Buck struggling with his own feelings while he tries to be a stabilizing presence for the rest of the team, because Bobby asked that of him and because he's Buck and he wasn't inside the lab, so that boy will feel like he's not allowed his feelings. And that maybe we will see other couples in blue and green, to create that connection in the same way as 613 and 706.

Anyway, this got long as hell, hope it makes sense, if you read this, I love you 🫶

[postcardsfromheapside]

I need to be salty for a hot second about people who are upset about aspects of Lucanis' romance.

I'll put everything else under the break for spoilers, but in general, I am so disappointed in a large portion of this fanbase who apparently thought "disaster" meant "romantasy," but also it's in keeping with how a lot of people seem unable to put things in context.

One of the complaints I keep seeing run past is that the scene where you commit to a relationship with Lucanis seems pefunctory, or out of the blue, there's nothing really romantic about it, it's too similar to the platonic route, etc, etc, ETC.

I romanced Emmrich, but I've seen other people's versions of romancing Lucanis. I'm just going to kind of word vomit here, and hope I can come up with something cohesive.

As someone who id's with Lucanis for "generational abuse" and "dumpster fire disaster bi" and "using socially acceptable drugs as coping mechanisms in place of addressing your problems" reasons, it's been really fucking annoying watching the almost deliberate misinterpretation of his character even after Mary Kirby dropped several explanations on social media. It's like a large part of the fanbase saw all that and turned into the "yes yes, very sad...anyway!" meme and went right on fetishizing him...then got mad when he didn't turn into the seductive Dom with wings they were hoping for.

You commit to Lucanis after (what I consider) a very intense scene inside his "mind prison." He's struggling so much internally that Spite wrests control of his body from him in front of witnesses and begs Rook to help them. Lucanis would never ask Rook to do so on his own, he's terrible at asking for the help he truly needs. Spite drags Rook into the Fade Ossuary and demands they free Lucanis from his self-imposed prison. And whether you're a friend or would-be lover, Rook slowly talks Lucanis out of a host of self doubts regarding his family and friends. Can he trust himself not to hurt other people, now that he's saddled with this affliction? Has he disappointed the people he cares about most? Do these new people he's coming to care about actually trust and care about him? The rooms are filled with fragmented thoughts that peter out into regrets. You're literally seeing Lucanis' fractured and complicated emotions.

One of them tore a hole straight through me: "You'd have to kill me...And Spite would die."

You'd have to kill him to get rid of the demon. And he'd regret the death of the demon that's protected him and given him strength, through a brutal year of betrayal and torment. I don't know if y'all remember the scenes in the Ossuary of the failed experiments and the corpses you had to pass to get to his jar of blood. It wasn't fun.

When you break out of the mind prison after helping him bond with Spite, it's intimate and momentous, even on a platonic route. You've seen desperate and lonely parts of him he'd never willingly show anyone.

As you're convincing Lucanis that it's okay to leave his mind-prison, you tell him you understand that it's easier to deal with problems like the Ossuary and Zara than healing and living with Spite, potentially hurting people he cares about. But he wants to. It's Rook's job to help him see a path out, a way for him to make the struggle easier so he can begin to heal himself.

I need to stress: you aren't "fixing" him. You're acting as his lighthouse, regardless of whether you're a friend or a lover. Sometimes people need help. He's still going to have to do the work to get there.

As a friend, it was extremely rewarding to come back to the kitchen and see him doing exactly as I'd hoped: moving on with the business of *living*. He made a nice dinner for everyone he's come to care for, and a special dessert for Neve. Cooking is where Lucanis finds creativity, and comfort, and connection with his friends and family. He isn't very good with words, but he will note everything you consume, and try to make you feel loved by expressing it that way.

Which is why I think it's important you don't dismiss the commitment on the romantic route. He remembers YOUR favorite drink and makes YOU a special dessert if you're romancing him. Lucanis isn't going to get poetic. You've already made him feel raw. You've seen the ugly, embarassing parts of him. What is he supposed to say? Usually it takes Spite reaching through his body to actually be direct. Instead, Lucanis reaches for food, his favorite medium, to try and apologize for inadvertently showing you those things, to thank you for helping him despite seeing what he considers the most shameful parts of him. Your commitment is letting him know that you value him, that he has nothing to be ashamed of, that you understand what he's trying to express with his struggling communication skills, which appear to get better as your relationship progresses from there.

It's weird that some of y'all don't feel that this is heartfelt and important, because you'd rather him act out some sensuous fantasy trope. It's also weird that some of you haven't figured out that many scenes in RPG's can be similar on platonic and romantic routes with tweaks to shade context.

(Also just in case this comes up: cooking is not his "love language" - that whole concept was invented by a misogynistic weirdo and we should remove it from our ideas of communication)

Anyway, this guy is my Rook's bestie and I'll go down swinging for him, you should appreciate the fuck out of him and stop acting like his writer didn't craft a perfectly funny little weirdo who is bad at showing people his tender parts and terrible at interpersonal relationships.

[kpop]

K-Pop Spotlight: DAY6

Come one, come all to a K-Pop Spotlight that is sure to dazzle and delight ’til the final curtain. This week, all eyes are on DAY6 following the release of their eighth mini-album, Fourever, and brand new title track, "Welcome to the Show." We caught up with the band to discuss their goals as they approach their 10th anniversary and their ever-growing connection to their fans through their music. Check out our full interview below!

Tracks like “Welcome to the Show,” “The Power of Love,” and “Get The Hell Out” seem to have very different themes. Can you tell us a little about how these songs relate to each other and what aspects make this album cohesive?

SUNGJIN: As we pursue the idea of being a 'band that sings every moment,' it seems like our albums, including the recent one, prioritize diversity in songs and situations rather than unity. Consequently, our albums contain various genres and narratives. However, there seems to be a commonality in most songs, depicting situations that everyone has either gone through or might experience.

Young K: First and foremost, I would say this album is a compilation of the best songs we could create. There's definitely a theme of love running through it. "Welcome to the Show," "The Power of Love," and "Get The Hell Out" all talk about the concept of love.

What goes into creating titles for DAY6 songs and albums, especially those that don’t come directly from your lyrics? Do you find it hard to condense the intentions and themes of a song into a title?

Young K: While there have been cases like that, all the songs on this album came from the lyrics. Sometimes, when choosing a title, we select the one that best describes the song—other times, we choose to give it a twist or make it more intriguing.

WONPIL: Naming songs involves a lot of deliberation. We often contemplate which title will catch the eye and capture the song's essence. Usually, we try to take it from a verse in the chorus. This can be a challenging part of the songwriting process.

Is there a creative project you’ve always wanted to work on but haven’t gotten the chance/found the time?

SUNGJIN: I'm very curious, and have a principle of "trying to experience as much as possible." There are so many things I want to try musically and personally, especially among the things I know but haven't tried yet.

DOWOON: I hope we can have a song that we can collaborate on with My Day, like a choir.

What does your work/studio setup look like? Where do you feel the most creatively inspired?

DOWOON: We try to keep the studio as tidy as possible and make it comfortable for practice sessions.

WONPIL: When working on songs, we talk a lot. We get inspiration from little conversations, joking around, sharing stories, and listening to music from various eras regardless of genre while giving opinions. We also try to build emotional connections with the songs. There’s a lot of communication going on. The songwriting process takes place in the studio of our long-time collaborator, composer Hong Jisang, with whom we've been working together since our debut.

How do you want to evolve as a musician/producer?

Young K: I want to be eagerly anticipated and awaited as an artist. Without those who wait for us, we wouldn't release or even step onto the stage. So I’m always thankful for My Day.

WONPIL: My biggest goal is to make good music for My Day and the public, so I think I'll continue to ponder. When working on songs, I pour my sincerity into them. I constantly strive to express this sincerity musically, fully capturing the emotions I want to convey. I hope to create songs that can still be listened to even after 10 or 20 years.

Design your own Tumblr blog: choose an aesthetic, a blog name, and would you be a frequent poster or lurker?

SUNGJIN: I think I’ll use it to catch up on friends' updates. For the blog name, THUMB BLUR sounds good to me. I might end up being a lurker who never posts.

DOWOON: Maybe a blog for plants? I think I'll post it like a diary.

Want more DAY6? Check out their new mini album Fourever and the music video for the title track “Welcome to the Show,” both out now!

[artist-issues]

Sounds like Moana 2 felt like the rushed tv movie it was supposed to be.

THIS IS THE MOANA 2 CRITIQUE POST

I'm tired of excusing things with the word "rushed." If you have less time to produce, you should simplify what you're trying to say. That way, all your small amount of time can be spent on carefully building the best way to say it. Moana 2 felt very unfocused. It felt like it was trying to say:

"You Can’t Survive in Isolation" (but like why not? why do they need their neighboring islands? Don’t make up a reason—tell me the reason the movie showed you.)

"There's Always Another Way” (what? As opposed to what? One way? What One Way was Moana demonstrably sticking to before the not-really-villainess sang her song? Wasn’t finding that One Way ((“learning where to go by remembering who you are/where you’ve been”)) the whole point of the first movie? Now we’re throwing that out the window?)

"Together But a Little Different" ("Different" as in 'In-New-Circumstances' not "Different" as in 'We’re-Different-So-It’s-Hard-to-Relate-to-One-Another,’ which would've been the better, more cohesive sense of ‘Different’.)

“Something-Something Stories Are Important” (literally they just substitute the phrase “we’ll die” with “our story will end.” No mention of why that’s bad, or what makes a story a story, no reason why stories are important, or what for, just throwing the word “story” around vaguely.)

And none of those "themes" I listed just now had a lot of work put into them. That’s it, in a nutshell. But I can flesh-out my argument for those, and present what I think they could’ve easily done differently, if they’d just picked one and worked hard to make it simply good. SPOILERS BELOW.

“You Can’t Survive in Isolation”

We're told in a quick vision that Moana's people will die if they stay in isolation—but there's no showing us that.

In fact, what we've been shown is that they're thriving, they're fine by themselves. They were in the first movie. They are at the beginning of the second.

So we're not convinced that they need what the whole adventure is supposedly about. Compare that to the first movie! Totally doesn't measure up to the storytelling quality!

In the first movie, the whole first act sets up the idea of darkness reaching through the ocean from Tefiti's missing heart, killing everything. That’s especially bad for Moana’s people. We know that because we’re shown how Moana's people are so deeply connected to the ecosystem of their island, and how every part of it is needed for their way of life to continue—then were also shown that Moana has a deep, personal longing to leave the island. There’s a real connection to home and an urgent need to leave it, and that creates really good emotional tension.

So by the time we're shown (not told in one scene, or through snatches of overdone dialogue, but shown) how the darkness will destroy everything if she doesn't go, we really believe it. We have lots of reasons to empathize with and believe in Moana’s reason for going on this mission. We also feel for her having to make the big decision; we’ve been shown that she’s trying to live up to her responsibilities, and leaving the island would seem like a dismissal of those responsibilities, but we can also see how doing nothing and staying actually would be a dismissal. We feel that tension because they showed us several believable reasons to feel it.

But when Moana is singing “Beyond,” which is supposedly about her conflicting feelings about leaving, and the need to go? I’m just bored. Not emotionally invested. I just saw her going back-and-forth, leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back, one song ago, in “We’re Back.” And everything was fine during that song. Leaving-And-Coming-Back is the dream she’s been living as a voyager. So why is she suddenly convinced it’s a hard decision to…leave-and-plan-to-come-back?

“Because the last voyager died doing this mission she’s about to go on! She might die too!” Okay but all you did was tell me that. You didn’t show me Moana nearly-dying (like she did the first time she tried to cross the reef, or the first time she tried to tackle Te Ka on her own) and then realizing, “gee, oh no, I could die this time,” and then having to make a renewed decision to go anyway. You didn’t put work in, so I don’t believe it.

But the emotion Moana is feeling about leaving is also undercut, like I said, because there doesn’t seem to be a need for her to leave. All they did was tell me that Motunui is in trouble if it stays isolated. But no proof. They were fine isolated from other islands in Moana 1. They have been fine up until now in Moana 2. One random vision of an empty pavilion for three seconds isn’t going to make me forget that and believe that continued isolation will do anything negative to them.

And another thing, what does “uniting with other islands” even mean?” Why would it be such a good thing?

Nobody mentions trade. Nobody mentions learning from one another, or demonstrates learning from one another. Honestly, having Kele teach Moana or Moni or the Kakamora, an actual other-islander, about farming would’ve been a great demonstration of “why we need to meet new people and get out more.”

Having Kele LEARN TO SWIM would have been a SLOW ONE DOWN THE MIDDLE.

But nooo. They just half-bake suggest the idea that the old man doesn’t like leaving his comfort zone, but then never let one of the others have a real conversation with him about why he needs to learn new things from new people. NEVER. It’s just “bouncy vague song, almost-jump-in-the-water-under-coercion BUT NEVER ACTUALLY DO IT, banter and one liners” for the rest of the movie! (And don’t tell me Kele “learning to speak Kakamora” was an example of him “getting out of his comfort zone.” No. Kele never demonstrated a lack of desire to meet and learn new things from strangers. He demonstrated a hatred of fun and the ocean. All the others could also understand the Kakamora literally whenever they needed to, so that wasn’t a special-character-arc for Kele.)

Even though, my point is, they could’ve easily had a character arc for Kele. And that would’ve had something to do with “learn new things from new people, or die stagnant and stuck in your ways,” look, see, a mini-object-lesson in one character’s journey about the theme of the movie. But noooo

They could’ve done the same type of “learn-something-new-or-die” with Moni. Have him be convinced that doing things the “traditional Motunui Wayfinding Way” on this, his first adventure, is the ONLY way to do things. But he’s not good at it, no matter how much head-knowledge he has. And then the Kakamora (or literally any non-Motunui-character) could’ve shown him a newly-developed style for him to learn and grow.

They could’ve done the same type of “learn-something-new-or-die” with Loto. But nope. She just has a really poorly-done, poorly-written, poorly-performed snippet of a song where she mentions how… “perfection is a myth, the journey is just failing, learning, then death, no destination, ever.” But that ridiculous, absolutely absurd worldview is not portrayed as something she’s wrong about or needs to grow out of. It’s portrayed as a good, quirky, revolutionary thing.

But that’s not the same thing as portraying the value I’m describing. Loto just sings about it and invents-and-reinvents canoes. She does not learn how to make canoes from outsiders. She doesn’t learn anything from anybody. She is portrayed as a solitary genius with her own ideas who’s never once shown to be wrong about anything in the whole movie, and everything she tries works. She never messes up or makes a mistake, for all her singing about it. So she never actually “falls on her face, then gets up and learns.” Even though learning from others would be the literal only way for her character to portray the idea of this vague theme they throw out there, “You Can’t Survive in Isolation.”

The point is: there is no reason, in-movie, SHOWN, for the audience to believe that Moana should “re-unite the islands.” There’s no believable demonstration of why that would be a good thing, and no believable demonstration of why not doing it would be a bad thing.

So then why do we care if she risks her life and Maui’s life to re-unite the islands? For a bunch of nameless nobody background characters to show up for a five-second afterparty on Motunui at the end? Ridiculous.

Moving on.

“There’s Always Another Way”

So BUMP ALL THAT, I GUESS.

Matangi, everybody’s Cherished Hope for a New Villain, sings a song and it’s about “get lost, there is no one way, there’s always a different way.”

Fine. Cool. Whatever. The whole point of the first movie was that there’s this symbolic, ancient, WAY of sailing and living your life bravely. And Moana doesn’t know what that One WAY is because her tribe had forgotten it, so she has to learn it. It’s cool, because you navigate by looking at where you’ve been, to see where you’re going. It’s the whole “remember who you are in order to face life’s challenges, not hide from them.” That’s “the Way.” But whatever. Dump that down the toilet, new movie. You know why? Because everybody’s obsessed with “There’s No One Truth,” and “There Is No Right and Wrong,” and “Let’s Experience Things Just to Experience Them, the Journey is the Destination Because We’re not Going Anywhere!” Blah blah blah ridiculous inane sewage slop.

BUT whatever, fine, IF you mean it in a “There’s Lot’s of Ways to Solve Most Problems, Try Try Again,” sense, that’s okay. That’s true for most problems (not all, but most, certainly there are more than one ways to sail.) Sure. that message, if that’s what they mean, is fine. That’s the sense in which Moana takes it, at least, when she dives down to touch the Core Island and break the curse instead of it rising.

But you know what? Yeah. They don’t flesh it out. They don’t take time to show that that’s what’s happening. Moana doesn’t try to teach her new crew how to sail, and they suck at it, but if she lets them do it their own way or whatever, then they work—and she learns there’s “more than one way.” That doesn’t happen.

The Kakamora that joins their team doesn’t solve all his problems with blow darts, or violence, or whatever—and then Moana, or the kindhearted Moni, or the peaceful Kele, tells him, “no, there’s another way, you don’t always have to do things your violent way.” That doesn’t happen.

Loto has one moment where she applies the way she was already living according-to, from the moment we meet her, not a NEW way, to the canoe so that the gang can out-sail magical waterspouts. And it works for like twenty seconds, is played like a great triumph, before they all get smashed into the ocean anyway.

Kele, again, would’ve been a great example of “learn to do things in a different way, or problem-solve by try-trying again.” Because he’s old and they set him up as hating life for no reason and not wanting to do new things. But they didn’t do anything with him.

And guess what else—at the end—when Moana has her own demigod powers, and her own magical-arm-tattoo ripped off from Tears of the Kingdom—guess what her magic power is?

To stick her oar in the water, and light up one current or “path” for the boat to take to a new destination.

A Path. ONE SINGULAR SOLITARY WAY.

Not “a new way.” Not “all possible ways.” Not “multiple ways.” Not even two ways. One. Even though the big lesson she sacrificed her life for, even though the one and only song Matangi got to sing, was about how “there’s always another way.”

WHILE they’re singing a reprise of, “We Know THE Way.”

It’s like being in a conversation with someone who starts a sentence and then forgets what they were saying halfway through, and winds up saying worse than nothing.

“Together, But a Little Different”

Like I said, if you told me that the Main Point of the movie (not one of many vague ideas, but the Main Point) was “Together, But a Little Different,” I immediately would’ve said:

“Oh, so it’s about having to adjust to long-distance relationships. Maybe even death.” Or, maybe, because I saw the trailers, I’d go, “Oh, so it’s about keeping what makes us unique, but uniting when we need to, in spite of our differences. ‘Together, But a Little Different.’”

No. It’s not about any of that. It’s just a phrase the Grandma’s Ghost says whenever she hugs Moana to remind her that she’s still “with her.” She’s still with her; she just glows and can shapeshift into a manta ray now! That has tons of application for real life. 🙄

It’s supposed to be her words of comfort to pass on to Moana, who can then pass it on to the people in her island, so they know that she won’t “ever really leave them.” But like. Then why should I care that she’s leaving them? Why should that be sad? If there’s no sacrifice in being apart, in leaving for the adventure, then the adventure keeps feeling low-stakes and boring and kind of pointless.

If you tilt your head and squint, it’s also maybe-applying to Moana’s pointless ugly annoying Little Sister character, Simea. Simea is in the movie so that someone can be immature for three seconds about how Moana’s always gone from home. And I do mean exactly three seconds, that’s all the emotional drama we get, and it’s not built up to either. She says, “Never come back? -sniff sniffle- I don’t want you to gooo!” And then runs away and then Moana takes a break from singing the next day to briefly explain to Simea about how she can pass messages through the ocean. Then she’s fine.

But the way this theme is thrown around, you think it would mean, “Moana Has to Go Away Sometimes, But if You Remember Her She Never Leaves You.”

But seriously. Again I say to you, who cares? We know Moana is coming back. We know that. Nobody in the audience seriously believes she’s never coming back when she leaves for this adventure. If we did, maybe we’d care that Simea cares. But we don’t.

Even when Moana “dies,” and it’s the perfect time to be like, “seeee, what we feeeared has happened, she’s dead, she can never go home to Simea!” THERE IS NO FOLLOW-THROUGH. There’s not even a cut to Simea back on Motonui, feeling through the ocean or the Force or whatever movie mumbo-jumbo that her sister is gone. And there is not even a deadline, in the movie, for Moana to accomplish this mission, so it’s not like she could be running late and we could get some scenes of Moana’s family mourning. Simea having to do something, take some big step, that show’s she’s willing to go on even if she can’t be with Moana anymore because she believed Moana about how she’s always with her—something like that.

My point is, Simea has no real point, so she doesn’t add to this “Together, But Different.” idea at all. And we already know that it doesn’t mean, “overcome our differences” from what I said in the first Theme.

But what they could have done? They COULD have gone whole-hog and MADE MOANA A BELIEVABLE DEMIGOD. Instead of a vague joke about tattoos that leaves the question open-ended, a pointless and theme-breaking display of shiny superpowers, and no other change to the status quo—

—they could’ve shown that there are consequences to that action—maybe she’s a Demigod of Navigation, or something like that, and the condition is, she can sail around connecting islands, but she can never stay on one too long. So she’ll never be able to live with Simea and her parents again on Motunui, but it’s the price she has to pay to connect the islands. Then she’d have to show Simea how they can still be “Together, Just a Little Different.”

Or someone could’ve gotten hurt or disabled, giving off the idea that even though everything is “different,” they can still be “together.”

Maui could’ve died and passed his fishhook powers, AND MINI MAUI, on to Moni or Moana. “Together, but different.”

Nothing, nothing at all like that happens. It’s just a pretty phrase that could’ve meant something, but any meaning it actually has hamstrings the whole emotional weight of the story instead of fueling it.

“Something-Something Stories Are Important”

The thing here is. I already said it. You can’t just say words and expect them to be impactful, in a story. You’re supposed to show what they mean and why they’re true, and THAT’S what creates an impact.

So when you’re talking about “stories” in a story, you definitely should not have nothing to say.

And I can feel it. I’ve seen none of the promotional material, I don’t watch the interviews, I haven’t checked BuzzFeed or ScreenRant or the Disney Youtube page in a while, but I can feel it.

I can feel them trying to say, “Something Something, ‘Storytelling’ is a big part of Pacific Islander Culture!” I can imagine the headlines. “[Actor or Disney Exec Name Here] Invites You to Celebrate Your Story with Pacific Islander Heritage Month!” They’re so into “culture as a marketing tool” these days.

But they say it so lazily. Just repeating the word “story” over and over in the movie doesn’t pay tribute to how important “stories” are to Pacific Islanders. Or to anybody.

You know what makes stories impactful? They point at truth, when the darkness and misunderstandings and evil of the world threaten to distract you or hide the truth. That’s what makes stories impactful. I’m sure Pacific Islanders use stories in that way—to pass on what they believe to be true, in a way that can be retold and remembered.

So MAKE THAT THE THEME OF YOUR MOVIE. Instead of just having Moana replace “Nalo wants to kill us” with “Nalo wants to end our story” for Empty Effect—instead of having Grandma say something about “your e

Okay okay.

Nalo is a silly, lazy villain. He is clearly a Thanos rip-off in design and introduction in a literal post-credits scene, and his most-present form, in the movie, is just a big ocean thunderstorm. But the laziest thing about him is that he’s the Conflict that everyone is trying to rise up and overcome, and the whole reason he sunk the Island was “He gets power from humans being divided.”

That’s never explained. It’s never shown at all why he gets power from the vague “humans are divided” thing. He has no scenes. He has no interactions with other characters (till the end-credits scene.) A range of his power, like “here’s what it looks like when the humans are divided—oh, now here’s how much less-powerful he is when they’re together!” is never shown. So. No consequences if the heroes fail, no change to the status-quo, villain-wise, when they win.

If Nalo wanted to end their stories, though, that would be another thing.

Stories are meant to be told. They’re for the benefit of others. So what they should’ve done is made the secret key of Nalo’s power hidden. Unknown. Nobody knows how to beat him. And he’s not sinking some unfindable island in another dimension. He’s just devouring the resources of the weather with his ever-more-powerful storms, (kind of like the darkness leaking through the ocean from the first movie) and nobody can stop him.

But that’s because each island, around Oceania, has clues to how to beat him. Clues in their stories. But they can only sail so far from what they know before his storms kill them. So he’s literally making them weaker by using his power to keep them apart, and making himself stronger by defending his weakness. Now they can’t Wayfind to each other, and learn one another’s cultural advancements or stories or beauties, because Nalo is powerful enough to make storms that rip their boats apart. But if they could learn from one another’s stories about the things their ancestors used against him, they could get rid of him.

That’s what they should’ve done. Shown why Nalo was a threat and how the Main Theme was the key to overcoming that threat.

They did not do that.

They made stories just a hot button word to be thrown around with no impact. In a story.

The point of this post is that Moana 2 had a lot of potentially-good points, and it made none of them, so it was totally unsatisfying. If it had just focused on one, the other little benefits they were trying to fit in could’ve been mentioned more naturally.

The way that Beauty & the Beast is all about ONE theme: “True Love is Self-Sacrificial.” But because of the tools it uses to tell that story—a beast that it would take a lot of self-sacrifice to be stuck with forever—you get little side-themes thrown in, supporting and draping decoratively over the ONE theme: “Beauty is Found Within, So Don’t Be Deceived By Appearances,” etc.

Moana 2 should’ve just picked the Story One, and it could’ve had that theme, and it’s cultural-nod cake, and it’s unifying-effect cake, and EATEN IT TOO.

And we could’ve eaten it. And WE could’ve enjoyed it! But no. Money money money lazy lazy lazy.

[wanderingmind867]

I'm starting to get the sneaking suspicion that Rick Riordan treated the Magnus Chase books like side pieces to the Trials of Apollo. Because this trilogy does not feel nearly as well put together as the Kane Chronicles. The Kane Chronicles was a book with minimal connections to his other books. They work as beautiful standalone pieces of literature. The Magnus Chase books don't. Percy Jackson is in the last book. Annabeth Chase is in all three of them. The books always end with hints to the Trials of Apollo, etc. It paints a bad picture.

Also, the Magnus Chase books feel more haphazardly pieced together. In the Kane Chronicles, every character and plot point made sense. Set was chaotic and evil, but he wasn't the apocalyptic big bad like Apophis. He even helped our heroes. He was multifaceted. Miquel Desjardins was a man who valued traditional values and the old ways, but he still died trying to save the Kanes. This antagonist gave his life to save our protagonists, because he learned the error of his ways. That's beautiful. Sadie Kane can sometimes be abrasive, but she always means well by her brother and her friends and family.

The Magnus Chase books do not have that nuance. Alex Fierro is meant to be likeable, but half of their scenes involve them just teasing Magnus or calling him rude names. They don't show their warm side the way Sadie Kane did, and it makes their scenes feel very uncomfortable sometimes. Also, we don't have any villains like Set in the Magnus Chase books. Loki is just the big bad, without there being anything worse than him. But since Loki behaves almost exactly the same way Set did, you half expect there to be something more going on besides just one god's revenge quest. But there's nothing else. It feels simplistic, in a way that I can't quite say I love.

Also, the Hotel Valhalla is not explained nearly as well as the Egyptian afterlife was. Rick Riordan pretty much said that everyone sees what they want to see after they die. That did lead to a bit of a cruel remark about atheists just losing existence after death, but I can forgive him that one (mostly since his explanation in the Kane Chronicles was the only good afterlife explanation he ever gave). He pretty much talked about how the afterlife is different for everyone. It's personalized based on faith. So that was an explanation I liked. Mostly because it means that i don't have to go to the greek afterlife (which rick riordan always portrayed so horribly).

So, I really am starting to think that Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard was a series Rick Riordan haphazardly put together. Don't get me wrong: I still like it. There are still good scenes and elements. But it feels less cohesive than a lot of his earlier books. And no judgement on Rick. The man pumped out around 20 books in 12 years. That's impressive. It might explain why I find some of his later books slightly worse, too.

But again: this isn't meant to be severely judgemental of Rick. I still like his books. And I definitely like him as a person. Well, in the one way can like a celebrity they don't know very well as a person. He just seems like a nice enough man. I've never meant him, but he seems pleasant. So I mean so disrespect when I criticize his books like this. I just need an opportunity to get everything off of my chest.

[johaerys-writes]

Ok just a general writing question: how do you EVER manage to finish your works? I’ve been writing fics and books for a few years and I’ve only every managed to finish one and I felt like the quality just…decayed. Like your works stay invigorating throughout the whole thing and you like,,,,actually finish them. Idk what I’m even saying I’m like 8 days sleep deprived. Anyway,,,,

Okay first of all I'm sorry you're sleep deprived, my sleep schedule has been all over the place lately and I know that feeling like that is NOT conducive to writing or being creative or anything at all lolol.... and thanks for your question, I'm not sure I have a concrete answer to your problems but I'll do my best.

I don't think I'm the best at finishing works honestly lol, especially longer works.... I have a few longer fics that are either on hiatus or abandoned and they haunt me to this day, but as you already know writing is hard work and finishing a story is even harder, so I've sort of accepted that I won't be putting the effort into finishing them any time soon. So I guess a part of writing a longer work is sometimes needing to accept that not all stories are going to work, not all stories need to be finished, or they might actually need a long time of being away from them in order to be finished. There's absolutely nothing wrong with shelving a fic you're no longer interested in or that doesn't really work for whatever reason.

But let's say you absolutely, 100% want to finish a fic but you keep running into obstacles? I think first of all you need to recognise why you're having trouble finishing stuff. If you take long breaks between writing sessions and you end up losing interest or forgetting where you were going with something, then maybe you need to be more consistent with finding time regularly, even 15mins, to write (a little goes a long way). If you are someone who starts a fic without an outline and then ends up getting stuck halfway through, then maybe you could try deciding the important story beats ahead of time so that you know where you're going. If you're someone who plans too much and ends up getting bored, you could try leaving room for more for discovery during writing, like leaving certain sections largely unplanned so that you can figure it out on the spot. So I think it's important to identify what exactly is your problem with finishing fics, and try to find a writing process that works for you.

You mentioned that in the one fic you finished, the quality decayed as you kept going. That's definitely a problem that a lot, if not all, writers have encountered at some point. It has definitely happened to me, and I know that I have that thought at least once during any kind of fic I've written lol. When you start a story you're excited for that new idea, you want to explore it, it's all very invigorating. As you keep going, that enthusiasm dampens usually because you have to think about cohesion and connecting the dots and making the plot work and laying the foundations for later things to come etc etc and other kinda not so exciting things like that lol so I think it's normal to lose a little bit of steam midway. As for the quality of the writing getting worse, it's also part of it because as you reach certain points in the story that need to be more "technical" it feels little bit more forced and not as fun as it was at the beginning.

But I feel like a) quality is subjective, especially when it comes to your own writing, and something that reads kind of mid to you might just be perfectly okay for the reader, and b) you just need to keep going!! Push past that feeling, ignore it, go to that friend who always encourages you with your writing and whine about it. Don't let all those "my writing sucks and is horrible" thoughts get to you, every writer I know has had them at some point, so do your best to ignore them and keep going. Your story will have flaws no matter what you do, and if finishing your fic is your goal, a flawed story that's finished is better than a great one that isn't.

One thing that's always stuck with me is something a friend told me a long time ago, which is that if you're looking for perfection you're never going to be happy with what you put out, but if you say "this chapter/fic isn't 100% how I want it to be, but it's 80% or 70% okay, so we're good to go" then that takes a lot of the pressure off you to make things "perfect". Leave some room for yourself and your stories to be just okay sometimes instead of great, I feel like it makes a lot of difference.

And most importantly, remember to have fun with it! Writing is supposed to be fun, so don't be too hard on yourself for not finishing longer fics, sometimes banging out a short one shot and posting it is the way to go.

Hope this helped!

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

Hello! I just found your blog and am very grateful there’s someone out there who’s trying to help people like me with my writing endeavours 🙏

I do have a question about plot I was hoping you might be able to help me with? Essentially, I know what I want my plot to be, but as I’m writing it out, I just can’t seem to make the story flow? Like I can write point 1 and I can write point 2, but u can’t connect them.

I don’t know if this makes sense. I’m sorry if it’s confusing 😅 But I’d appreciate any help, and thanks for reading this. Feel free to discard!! 💕💕

Sorry if this response was a bit late! Thank you for this question!!!

I'm so glad you stumbled upon my blog and that you're finding the content helpful. I promise, It's writers like you who inspire me to keep creating these resources. 💕

I totally understand the struggle with plot flow - it's one of the most common challenges new writers face. You don't need to worry, you're not alone in this! I've been there myself, especially with the projects I'm currently working on. and I'm happy to share some tips that might help you smooth out the tricky transition between your plot points.

First off, it's important to remember that a well-paced, cohesive plot doesn't just happen - it takes work to craft the "perfect" seamless narrative. But the good news is, there are some techniques you can use to bridge those gaps and keep your story moving forward in a natural way.

One thing to consider is your character's motivations and how they drive the plot forward. Ask yourself: What is my character's goal in this scene? What obstacles are they facing? How do those obstacles create tension and push the story onward? Grounding each plot point in your character's inner and outer journey can help you find those logical transitions.

It also might be helpful to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of your story. Try mapping out your major plot points on a timeline or outline. This can reveal areas where you might be missing crucial details or inciting incidents that would naturally lead from one point to the next. I've tried this multiple times and it really helped me.

And PLEASE don't be afraid to experiment! Try writing different versions of those tricky transitions - maybe your character reacts in an unexpected way, or an external event could shake up the status quo. Play around until you find an approach that feels organic and true to your story. Your story doesn't need to be linear, it can truly change however many times you want, especially during revision until you publish (if that's what you choose to do.)

Most importantly, be patient with yourself. Developing a compelling, well-structured plot takes time and practice. The more you write, the more you'll hone your skills and gain an instinct for pacing and flow. Pacing and flow is a really big issue for me. Sometimes it makes me even want to rewrite my entire draft. However, I make sure to know it's my world, my characters, and my story. I can change switch around any time I want.

I hope these suggestions give you a helpful starting point! Let me know if you have any other questions - I'm always happy to brainstorm and offer feedback. Wishing you all the best in your writing! 🙌 - Rin T

[readingtoinfinity]

DC Pride 2025

For all that it is rainbow capitalism, I'm glad DC released a pride issue this year, especially because the queer community has a decidedly unfriendly environment with the current administration. That a corporation would take pride in it still says that we're not quite so far gone as we could be. It's not the be-all, end-all of activism, but it's a canary that's still happily chirping in the coal mine.

With that said, there's no expectation of quality, so I'm going to go through these individual and giving some quick thoughts... or at least I was. There's apparently only two stories in here, those being "The Heart Wants" and "Master Planner". Scrolling through the pages it does appear that "The Heart Wants" is a step-through story connecting a bunch of little stories into a larger whole, so it's not titled. Instead I'm going to try to go over each individual bit, making it clear by focusing on the character named.

"The Heart Wants"

Alan Scott, Green Lantern: Seems to be the framing device, being as he is on a date with a trans soldier named Ethan, telling about the community he came out (and then left) from the late 30s.

I have really appreciated Alan's coming out story, even if it doesn't jive with the canon as it's been set down so far. I could make some arguments there were signs in the comics I've been reading, but for the most part if Alan Scott is gay then he's the most heavily-closeted man in the universe. But the resulting discussion of Alan's relationship with his son and the queer community in the 20th century provides a look into the dark, more repressed eras that the United States has lived through, and a warning about what it may become if we let things slide back too far.

Each of the heroes is connected by their queerness, obviously, but I don't know if there's a different reason they're all being pulled to this one bar. A desire for a better life, maybe? Each of the characters is affected by an illusion giving them everything they think they want, and how each of them pulls themselves out of it is distinct for each; and it turns out that the location informs more of why they've been pulled in than the person.

And indeed, he becomes the focal point of this pride comic, which explains why he's so prominent on the cover. I won't get into it for spoilers but his history with his sexuality forms the crux about which the stories revolve.

(Also how did Robin and Catman get here. That wasn't in previous bits of the story. I think they just get introduced as the story proceeds and we don't get to see their stories. Also I just realized that Extraño is a pun on Doctor Strange, that's pretty funny)

The ending is bittersweet, reaffirming that we will almost always have to fight for the right of queer people to exist. There's always work to be done.

Wasn't expecting a theme like that to come from this anthology, but it brought everything into a cohesive whole, making each individual part stronger as a result. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the ways human behavior can be wrapped into superhero comics.

(editing note: I wanted to include thoughts on all the sub-stories but that didn't fit in a single post. Just know I liked all of them and loved a few)

"Master Planner"

Thank you to Sara Soler, whom I follow on Instagram, for reminding me this book was happening this year!

I also had no idea that Jenny Blake Isabella, aka Tony (a name she continues to use, so I feel comfortable with), the creator of Black Lightning, came out as trans earlier this year. It's a brave thing to do, obviously at her age, in this administration, but I especially love the way she writes about the way comic books and superheros informed it, something like what Kevin Conroy did in a previous comic. It's a nice story, and I'm glad it's being told.

There's also a bunch of letters at the end for what superheros and pride means for fans of these series, and it's just pages of affirming the queerness of these comics, in the past and present. I got misty-eyed scrolling through them, and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to see the queer side of these characters represented.

Years ago, Seduction of the Innocent tried to use the inherent queerness of the comics to say they were vile, of the devil. I think it's a wonderful turn of irony that we affirm this today as a cry - nay, a demand! - for equal rights.

Happy pride, everyone. Stay alive, stay safe, in brightest day, in blackest night.

[creampuffqueen]

Miss ma’am, resident Yangchen books expert, I have questions🙋🏻‍♀️ [you’re two years younger than me; I say this with deep respect]

Did you catch anything mentioned about the environment at the Western temple when Yangchen grew up? Or maybe something mentioned in between the lines that can indicate something? Throw away lines? (A bit secretive maybe? Yangchen did listen in on a some of their conversations after all) Anything mentioned about the nuns there, as well? There were no outright descriptions of who Abbess Dagmola or Librarian Tsering were and their personalities, were there?

I fell down a rabbit hole last week and I can’t stop thinking about it, and I only have one book on me at the moment, so asking in the case I’ve missed something (which is likely, I haven’t learned how to switch between ‘this-is-fiction’ brain and ‘this-is-Buddhist-text’ brain yet)

hello there! thank you for trusting me with your very important inquiries; i'm always happy to answer! apologies for the wait, you might not even need this anymore, but who knows. life has been, well... *vague gesturing* you know?

anyway, getting on with it! i am also only in possession of one book at the moment (my copy of legacy is on loan with my bestie) but pretty much all of the description of the western air temple happens in dawn, so i hope this is cohesive enough!

things i picked up about yangchen's childhood at the western air temple, both people and general life:

tsering's title is "chief caretaker" of the books in the great library. she scolds jetsun for making a long jump without her glider, but later does the same thing herself

abbess dagmola took notes of yangchen's rambling, and is the one who made the connection about the visions and the past avatars

the western air temple is described as being incredibly echoey (something i imagine makes it hard to keep secrets)

something i find interesting is that when she is young, yangchen is seen to "frequently" have peaceful, pleasant visions. however as we experience her visions when she's older, the pleasant ones seem few and far between. food for thought...

tsering has a secret custard recipe

at one point jetsun makes a scoffing remark that the eastern air temple's reputation for spirituality is just that -- reputation, and not actual fact

dagmola and tsering are both present for yangchen's first trip into the spirit world, and everything that happens after. both women have no problem deferring the lead role to jetsun and treat her as an equal. abbess dagmola is the one who was ringing the meditation bell, and was the one trying to wake jetsun up after yangchen returned from the spirit world alone

not exactly about yangchen's upbringing, but she notes at one point nujian is a bit jittery around spirits after the face-off with general old iron

at some point when she was eight years old, yangchen met the chief of the southern water tribe -- and his polar bear dog, who was reportedly "eating out of her hand". it's not said if she met the chief in the south pole or somewhere else, so i suppose it's up for interpretation

yangchen did, however, 100% spend time in the northern water tribe as a child. abbess dagmola took her to meet the world leaders and introduce her as the avatar, and yangchen has fond memories of playing with chief oyaluk's nieces and nephews in the palace. no age is given here, so that i suppose is also up for interpretation

after her death, jetsun was honored as a temple elder, companion, and savior of the avatar

the elders of the western temple were the only ones who knew the full extent of yangchen's condition, meaning that one of them was a member of the white lotus. we never find out who, and we aren't given the names of any other elders

i hope this helps a little bit! yangchen honestly spends most of her time at the northern air temple during the novels, and she never has a direct conversation with any of the elders outside of flashbacks. i may be missing a couple details from legacy, but i truly don't remember anything large being mentioned about her childhood in it

again, thank you for the ask!

[lover-of-mine]

Welcome to the use of blue and green with 911 couples is not confined to clothing and how I believe this applies to buddie since season 2, a masterpost. (this does contain an explanation of the use of blue and green in the more obvious way, the clothes, so even if you don't believe the other elements of the scene part, this could still bring some clarity on the way blue and green is important)

Okay, so, after 706 a lot of people said they thought about me with the buddie/bathena blue and green scene, and I LOVE THAT, but a few people also came to ask me to explain more about the blue and green in general and why that is important and I realized my blue and green thoughts are scattered into multiple posts because I did figure out more stuff since I wrote the first one and season 7 is giving me more things to support the 2 main color theory theories I have when it comes to buddie/Buck, so I decided I need to write one long post about it all, including thoughts on 706 specifically.

Okay, so easy pattern to spot first, the blue and green thing is used with a lot of couples throughout the show, core couples, adjacent couples, random people in calls, the blue and green is used in a major piece of clothing in a couple, a shirt, a jacket, a dress, after s6 the use of pants was introduced more explicitly, and that has transferred to s7, but it is something heavily used since s2 (I can't find a conclusive example in s1 and the first obvious example is madney's first scene in 206) (this will have a bunch of tiny images because I'm trying to stay within the image limit, but if you click on them you can zoom in if tumblr doesn't decide to hellsite, I made them high quality enough)

And it is not just about meant-to-be couples, it's literally just a way to exemplify romantic connection. And while it is used a lot with most of the couples we see, the easiest couple to track is madney, since they have a lot of blue and green scenes, tracking back all the way down to their first scene, but bathena also have quite a few scenes. I love the scene at the station in 308 (last column, 3rd row down) because the cutout of kid Bobby makes it so there's a double blue Bobby there.

So the clothes element is very easy to track. It is a very real aspect of the show. And that is interesting when you consider the actual color theory aspect of it, because blue and green are analogous colors, which means they are right next to each other in the color wheel, and that's a color scheme used to create a harmonious look, it's about cohesion, creating visual unity, and it is what this accomplishes, the couples look balanced even if we don't fully register why, they just naturally work well together and that translates even if you don't know color theory.

This is the part we know exists in the show, but the thing is, I don't believe the show only uses that with the clothes, and again, madney is the easiest way to track that.

I noticed this while making a 512 set for the hiatus rewatch since I was focusing on the scenery to pick the shots I wanted because something about that episode is that it is green in nature since it is a Saint Patrick's Day episode. But everything about madney that episode is blue and green even when madney isn't dressed in blue and green. Pretty much everything about it has blue or green elements.

Maddie is wearing blue in the video, Chim is wearing green when he watches it, she's in blue while she's alone (even her hospital gown is blue, and that's not a common thing for the show), he's in green when he's alone, so we are still in the color scheme, there is a lot of green in the background that makes Chim and his vest stand out, we have green walls, that green bench, the blue red sox merch on the walls. But when they meet again, they are in neutral-colored clothing, contrasting with the background, and when Maddie tells Chim she wants to go home, both of them have blue and green shirts that are covered by a jacket, so the blue and green are not a focal point even if it's there, probably because they are not back in a place where they can get back together yet, and they are explicitly in blue and green in 601 when they do get back together.

They also did the whole make the episode blue and green with 706.

The backgrounds are very blue or green or both, a lot of the people are wearing blue or green, Maddie's phone is green, Chim's car is blue, there is a lot of blue and green happening there.

Something else about madney being blue and green is that their house has a lot of blue and green decorations. So, I definitely wanna say that the blue and green are being completed by other elements of the scene.

But I obviously have examples with other couples.

While doing the rewatch sets for 606 I noticed there are a few examples using Henren and other elements of the scene, 606 is also the episode that allowed me to include pants into this madness.

The thing about henren is that they don't have a lot of blue and green scenes, the 2 we had before s7, because s7 did gave us a few more, are in when they decide on fostering and when Eva comes back the last time, but since their color palette is based on patterns a lot, I decided maybe I should expand my definition of what counted, that gives us one of the flashbacks, because Karen's pants are patterned in green and Hen's shirt is patterned in blue, they also have Hen in green pants for one of the dates and there's the blue lighting, there's the scene with Hen in a blue hoodie and the green background. So more elements of the scene were being employed there.

Another couple is Eddie and Shannon. I will be honest, it took me a WHILE to clock they had an explicit blue and green moment in the form of Chris' birth. BUT, looking at them season 2 and the flashbacks in Eddie begins, they have moments where Eddie is blue or green and Shannon has blue and green detailing, her jewelry, her nails, her car, background of a scene. Also when they are fighting about Eddie reenlisting, they keep switching holding blue and green stuff. Shannon has a blue cup, Eddie is holding a green bottle, the rag on Eddie's hand is blue, the oven mitt next to Shannon is green, so even though Shannon is never a fully blue or green character, she always has blue and green accents.

Randon addon, but Thomas and Mitchell, the gay couple from Buck, Actually that is the couple that shows Buck what love is supposed to look like, they have a lot of blue and green details in their montage, the car, the driveway, the transition from a green cake to a blue cake, I just love that.

Now that we have all of this established, let's talk blue and green applied to buddie.

So, using the established, just the top, point of focus of the outfit, buddie has 3 blue and green outfits, technically 4, but we will talk about the hangar later, because I have a lot to say lol, the loft scene in 613, the station scene in 617, the hangar scene in 704, and the dispatch scene, the street scene, and the wedding in 706 (I will also talk more about 706 later)

One thing about buddie in blue and green is that they tend to have similar shades to past scenes with past love interests.

I don't know why they repeated the shooting combo, I guess it's just because Taylor's greens tended to be less earthy than Eddie's usual shades, but, I was scrolling through bucktaylor blue and green scenes to see if I could find a match for the hangar, and I do think that works, but I was fully ready to go full delusional here and say Buck's hoodie in 706 matches Shannon's nails in 207, because they do, BUT, that one seems to be a double kill and I don't have to sound all that crazy, because it seems like it is a bucktaylor combo from 509 too (the lighting on the loft is obviously different from two scenes in natural sunlight, but they are similar enough)

(Wait last minute addition that you don't know it's a last minute addition and can read more about here, but all thought s6, Buck and Eddie have matching blue and green phone cases, and the 706 scene seems to also somewhat match the shade of the phone cases from last season)

And these are the explicit ones, I would say the 706 scene is even more on the nose since bathena are also in blue and green right next to them.

Now, for other elements of the scene tho, we can go back down to the beginning. As in the you can have my back any day scene.

(Yes, I know the blue is because of the sirens, and it will eventually be red, but since red is such a prominent color for Buck, I can't really mind that all that much because I also have a color-theory theory that deals with the idea that Buck is red in scenes about doing the right thing about love and what more right for Buck than Eddie?)

But since I'm trying to stay within the image limit, let's rapid-fire some scenes here. If we ignore the uniform (I am choosing to because they don't have a lot of room with the uniform, it is what it is, and sometimes a scene will happen in the firehouse) Eddie is wearing blue after the tsunami and the will reveal, Buck's wearing blue after Chim goes after Maddie, Buck's wearing blue in the kitchen talk in 511 (and yes he's wearing blue because Taylor is wearing green, but he's still in blue), the shirt Buck has under the red jacket during the breakdown is blue, Buck is wearing something blue(ish) when they talk about the couches, Eddie is wearing blue on the poker date, Buck is wearing green on the cemetery. In the Carla scene, when Eddie shows up, they're not in the kitchen, and the backgrounds behind them are somewhat neutral. But funnily enough, it's only green behind Eddie there. (if you read my eddie fell first essay, you know I will die saying this is the moment that Eddie is done for so, love when an insane thought solidifies another lol), after the tsunami, we have green scrubs dude behind Eddie when Eddie sees Buck, even though most scrubs in the show are blue and everything behind Eddie is white, we have Buck and the blue of the tent, when they turn around, there's the green thingie behind Eddie and Chris, and the scrubs behind Buck are blue. Grocery store, the toilet papers behind Buck are blue and the outside along with the flowers behind Eddie are very green. Shooting, whatever that green thing behind Eddie is, Mehta's uniform, more blue uniforms, and a green medical person. 511 I just think are funny because Buck is wearing blue in the kitchen but everything about Eddie is white, and that's a fun contrast to the Carla scene and 517 is funny the way one side of Chris' room is mostly green and red and the other is yellow and blue and how Buck is on the green side and Eddie is on the blue (including his shirt). And the poker date, Eddie is in blue and the tables and chairs are green.

Considering using the pants, we also have the post-tsunami talk, the will reveal, and the 504 talk where Eddie has green pants on. Sure, the post tsunami talk, Eddie is both blue and green and there are no blue elements on Buck, but the will reveal, Eddie is both blue and green and the wall behind Buck is blue, and the 504 talk, Eddie has green pants and Buck has a blue hoodie on, considering the way the season 6 had the pants being in used with henren in 606 and with the girls from the oil well (both queer couples, I might add), I kinda wanna say that the 504 talk is traditionally blue and green lol

We also have my Roman Empire, aka the cemetery scene.

Because here's the thing, the sky is only blue behind Eddie and Buck is dressed in green. And also considering the way that they were being pretty consistent with Eddie being green and Buck being blue and the general breakup feelings surrounding the cemetery scene, the fact that bucktaylor switched colors mid-relationship, aka, when Buck tells her he kissed someone else, this is very interesting to me, because the colors in that scene feel like something that was accomplished on post-production, so they are like that on purpose.

This is also something that is used in the gym scene in 705, because Buck is wearing a green coat and Eddie completes the blue and green with the towel and the bottle, and considering green is Buck there is something wrong color and Buck is beating himself up for lying to Eddie, the switch in colors when applied to Buck usually means something.

With all this, let's talk blue and green in 706. Bathena is in 2 different blue and green outfits, the Buckley parents are in blue and green, bucktommy and buddie.

The bucktommy blue and green is very interesting because for one I had to swatch the color of Tommy's shirt and also because when talking about the blue and green in general, the shades tend to match, so to have Buck in a very light mint green and Tommy in a very dark, almost black blue is... a choice, especially considering that bucktommy did match during their date in 705, and Buck is in green, Buck in green is never a good sign (meta on that here), and considering Buck switches colors during crisis, I'm curious as to why they already switched the colors for them, since green is Buck's breakup color.

And the buddie of it all, well, they spent the whole episode matching, literally with the costumes for the bachelor party, but they also stay in their blue and green combo for the duration.

And to have buddie matching even in the bachelor party when the dude Buck is dating is there during the madney wedding episode is definitely a choice, even more, when you consider the way that Eddie is the one who is supposed to be the third wheel, in the costume design of it all Tommy was the one who was the odd one out, and considering the general married behavior buddie was exhibiting during the episode, it's a choice.

And since I'm already here, let's talk hangar scene.

For starters, with this scene, we had a blue and green scene for buddie 3 episodes in a row, which is something on its own, BUT, I will say that I watched the clip of this scene before 704 aired and said "oh, buddie just went canon", because here's the thing, for starters they are in blue and green and Tommy is in shades of beige, so the color on their clothes is the focus, but they are not really the focus, and they do match, but we have to consider the way Buck is wearing a maroon hoodie under his blue and Eddie is wearing a black jacket over his green. That clearly meant some sort of development was coming they're just not fully there yet. For me at least. Because the show has Eddie in the army green armor and Buck in the red jacket of love, and to have Eddie in the army green but with something over it, not using it to protect himself is something, and Buck not being in his brighter reds is also something.

To have this was very interesting for me, Eddie most of all because he's wearing black a lot and I have theories but I can't figure out why. But those are all colors used when Eddie is protecting himself and Buck is trying to understand something, so interesting. And then there's the actual dialogue of the scene "wait, you're not thinking about jumping ship?" "uh, no, I'm just, you know, keeping my options fluid." There is literally no more on the nose way to say don't jump ship than to literally have Eddie say don't jump ship. All that paired with the very obvious blue and green, definitely meant a plan was just set in motion for me.

I will link my Buck and the use of green and red again if you feel like reading more color theory theories. And also a theory about the use of blue and yellow this season.

Anyway, I think this is all, if you read this I love you 💜

tagging the ones of you who asked me about this or interacted with the post I asked about this: @dangerpronebuddie @missmagooglie @steadfastsaturnsrings @millymaki @inell @bella-bothered-and-bewildered @sparkedblaze @frihetstyrke @ilostyou @your-catfish-friend @estheticpotaeto @marmarthehatterverse @planetlet263 @mirrorbuck @lolpuppy

[deconstructthesoup]

Some STP Human Headcanons (Vessels)

-I mentioned this in my last Slay the Princess post, but Prisoner loves to dance. As soon as she's free to walk and move around, she learns how to dance as a way to a) feel like she's in control of her body again, and b) fully explore the freedom she's now offered. The day she learns swing dances is the first day that any of the others have seen her smile.

-Witch has about twenty different kinds of carnivorous plants in her house, and all of them have names. She likes talking to them, because plants don't say that you're dragging on when you complain about your day, or tell you that your outfit looks awful when you're trying something new, or tell you that you're a massive dork when you gush about your favorite graphic novel series.

-Oh, yeah, Witch is a comics/graphic novel nerd. She's a big fan of Alison Bechdel, Vera Brosgol, ND Stevenson, and Elaine Lee, and she loooooooooves Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. She reads DC comics for them and them alone.

-As a way to express some individuality while they're still figuring out what their personality is---and if they even have a cohesive one---Stranger dresses in incredibly elaborate outfits, and the style changes rapidly from day to day. They can go from dressing like a Southern Belle (complete with a parasol) to dressing like a Victorian swashbuckling thief (complete with a cane and masquerade mask) to dressing like they're heading to a 1980's roller rink (surprisingly, they make the skates work) on any given day, and all of the girls place bets on whatever they're going to wear next. Nobody has won.

-It's a terrible pun, but I'm ridiculously attached to the idea of Razor being a metalhead---and if not a metalhead exactly, then a major fan of any and all punk rock music released in the Riot Grrl era. She owns every single Bikini Kill album, every single Raincoats album, and will neither confirm nor deny having a Joan Jett body pillow. If she can sing-scream along to it, she'll listen to it.

-Adversary is the most kickass roller derby player you have ever seen in your life. She's got face-paint, she's got stickers on her helmet, she's got scuffed shoulder and knee pads from bodying the girls on the other team... she's fucking awesome. Razor shows up to every single game with a hand-painted sign for her.

-Damsel is obsessed with video games like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, the Sims---basically, anything that's cute and low-stakes, she'll play. She absolutely has a set of pink cat-ear headphones that Witch bought for her. (Prisoner has matching blue ones, but she never wears them.)

-Nightmare is a theater kid. She recites Shakespearean monologues at the drop of a hat, devours occult-themed musicals like her life depends on it, and has a flawless soprano voice that will actually give you chills. Her rendition of "The Ballad of Jane Doe" at a voice recital made several people cry. She relishes in their tears.

-Prisoner and Spectre both love books, but while it's more of an academic thing for Prisoner (she likes history and math, because it's just facts), Spectre is a total fiction reader. Mostly classics like Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, but she's also got a bit of a guilty pleasure for well-written romance novels, and she loves The Locked Tomb series. Even if the Alecto stuff hits a bit too close to home.

-Stranger is really into arts and crafts, to the point where they've pretty much learned everything from crotcheting to making clay earrings. Almost all of their creations end up being gifted to one of the girls, and they're all very much treasured and appreciated.

-Tower has a difficult time really connecting with most of the girls, since she's still trying to get herself to come down from her superiority complex, but she has figured out that they will always like her as long as she brings her credit card with her. No matter the setting, Tower is fucking loaded, and even the more masc girls like Adversary are willing to go on a shopping spree.

-That being said, I think Tower gets along the best with Nightmare, because they're both absolutely self-assured, barely care about other people (except their best girls, of course), and are both intimidating in their own ways. They're absolutely the kind of best friends who bitch about people while doing each other's nails.

-Witch and Spectre both do witchcraft for funzies, but Witch is more about the plants and herbalism, while Spectre's all about the Oujia boards and tarot cards. They're kind of in a two-person coven together---you gotta find something to bond over, and what better way to connect than your shared interest in magic?

-If I'm not just making Beast into a cat, I'm making Beast into a preteen, because just making her a human adult just doesn't... fit her. Besides, it's way more easy---and more fun---to imagine her as that low-key feral kid who's always digging for worms during recess, always gets into fights with bullies and winds up covered in Band-Aids as a result, always wears the same ratty cat-ear beanie every day, and hisses at people who annoy her. She has weird-little-girl energy, I dunno what to tell you. (She still tags along on hangouts when there's no alcohol involved, though---she's either Witch's little sister or her daughter, and Witch is very keen on making sure she's included.)

-Damsel bakes. Every time one or more of the girls comes over, she has something in the oven, something sitting on the kitchen table cooling, and something that's in the middle of being frosted. She likes doing it because while it is something that she largely does for others, it's also something that gives her a sense of pride, and she also just has a lot of fun with it. Even when she has to clean up, she's humming a song from a Barbie movie under her breath. Probably from Princess & The Pauper (the best one, fight me).

-Adversary used to play the violin when she was a kid, but she got bored of it quick, and she switched over to the bass as soon as she could. Spectre is very good at playing the cello---she even does recitals!---and Witch... well, she played the French horn in high school. During marching band. It was the only extracurricular where she could have free reign to be as annoying as possible to the people who said that she had to have one for college credit. (Oh, also, Razor plays electric guitar. She's a really good singer, but she's an even better growler.)

And... I think that's all I got for now.

[macking-cheese]

Okay so this probably sounds dumb but at least for now I'm calling it a Mindtrapped AU (my thing with ES Bumblebee getting put under Mandroid's control)

I went back and rewatched the last three episodes of S1 (I replayed Stowed Away. Stowaways so many times I can't count it) but basically I'm rewriting that entire episode plus tweaking the last two. Now I have a canon-relevant reason for Bee going into the G.H.O.S.T Headquarters (his secret mission) and the kids stay home!!!! What compelled them to follow him in canon?! It's like they wanted to get captured or smth,,

So Bee's basically crawling through the walls like a roach to get his business done *insert cool spy stuff that me am not smart enough to write*. I also think that (just my opinion) Optimus kinda acted too obviously suspicious of Croft and that ruined the element of surprise because she immediately clocked that something was up.

And Schloder's complete 180 opinion of Bee?! Wasn't he eager to put that minibot in cuffs just episodes ago??? I think I'm going crazy

Anyway I'm trying to make it flow more cohesively while I build up to the bigger events

I have an oc that would fit perfectly into the plotline but idk if I should actually flesh that out or keep it more canon compliant. On one hand, I'd have an excuse to write them (an unaffiliated Velocitronian bounty hunter with relations to G.H.O.S.T but not officially working for them), and on the other I wanna keep the main antagonist a human (Croft, Mandroid)

Orrrrr, I could write them in and turn it into a double betrayal? (They're so gonna get killed off btw, it was destined in the scriptures)

I'm completely torn on this, y'all can decide whether or not they debut in the fic.

ANYWHO,,,,,,,

Bee gets got at the wrong time and the mission is a failure, and instead of being put in a cell, is immediately put into interrogation (read: torture) for espionage and conspiring with "the enemy". Y'know how everyone else has a badge on their chest/shoulders? Well, Bee gets one implanted directly into his neural net, attached at the spinal cord in the lumbar region, and it's so tightly interconnected that it hurt, threatening to sever the delicate circuitry. (It's fully intended to actually cut the cord if it gets deactivated, a fun surprise for later. I plan on exploring the potential of Cybertronian mobility devices. I also like the prospect of Bee using a cane)

During the fight, Breakdown comes back after getting his shit together, feeling terrible for abandoning his bbg and his family. He takes the responsibility of doing everything he can to keep the mind controlled minibot focused on him and nothing else, which leaves the terrans relatively unscathed at the end. Breakdown just kinda,,, lets his shit get rocked, feeling like he deserves to get beat up like that for even thinking about abandoning Bee. He comes out less unscathed, but alive.

Because it's a different type of control chip, and also connected to a computer at G.H.O.S.T and not that hand thing Croft has, Bee is still under when that big energy wave hits in the last episode, though since the connection was abandoned, there's no input coming through and Bee is left standing there uselessly, waiting for a signal that never arrives.

I think it'd be funny if Breakdown were to try and mess with him, making stupid faces and poking at him to try and get a reaction. He manages to get a few doorwing and horn twitches, and a full body movement when he jostles him hard enough. Other than that, nothing, and it's lowkey disconcerting. None of the others can get any other reaction, and especially Jawbreaker feels somehow responsible and keeps clinging onto him like a koala, hoping that behind the chip, he can feel that his little brother is there trying to support him.

What if the only reaction he gives is because of Hashtag, due to her G.H.O.S.T affiliation? He can sense a signal bouncing through her from that computer and he gives attention to her, awaiting for a command. She of course is freaked out about it but also enamored, because that's one of the craziest situations she has ever been in aside from the major fight earlier.

She can't properly intercept the signal because it's out of access, but now they have a better clue on where to look to shut the computer down and get Bee back.

And boy is that reunion uneasy.

[quibbs126]

So some more sketches from my AU, from yesterday and this morning

On the left, we have Elita and my constant struggle with her, as always. You know the drill. I had to write "stop it" so I'd give up this endeavor for now and move on. I think that's when I switched over to drawing the Megatron ref yesterday

I wonder if maybe giving her a full body design would help me? Because I mean, Optimus and Megatron started out with those, even if I only use the top half. And I'm convinced I draw her proportions wrong anyways

But other than that, you can see I'm thinking of moving her cones to her top horns instead of her side. I like them on the side, but I think they're part of the thing holding me back, along with potentially her glasses

I spent my shift on Monday drawing various Elita head designs I found to see if I could find anything that could stick. I'm too lazy to take a picture of it right this second, but it's probably why I was trying to give her another shot in her design

But moving on, I also tried drawing Blackarachnia, since I was reminded recently that Sentinel is supposed to be associated with the spider ladies, and because a thing I gave one of my Elita designs I thought would look good on a spider character, namely the side triangle things

I kind of like the design I gave her, but I do also wonder if I'm just sticking to the first thing I thought of. I don't think it's bad though. I would like her head to be more trapezoid though

But her colors on the other hand definitely need some work, because I was not sure what to do with them. I knew I wanted to incorporate black and gold, mostly because I love her Beast Wars design the most, at least color wise, but I also thought it'd be good to incorporate the purples and reds too. And then I was just trying to move colors around until I got something that actually looked cohesive together. But I don't know if I like it this way. I think one thing I want is for her to have gold eyes and a darker "skin" tone, but I didn't know how to incorporate it

She's probably going to need more time to cook

As for her role in the story? I really don't know, other than being connected to Sentinel

When I made this, my mental thought was that she was Sentinel's complicated love interest. But that wasn't my initial idea, and she's supposed to have some connection with his old partner. I don't know if I want to keep the TFA idea of BA having once been his partner, thought dead but is actually still alive, but I also don't want to keep the initial idea that she ate his old partner, because why would he ever be interested in her after that?

And there was also me thinking on what Airachnid and Blackarachnia should be in this story, particularly with their differences between each other, like how Airachnid is a fully techno bot that just looks spider-like in her robot form, while Blackarachnia is a techno-organic who turns into a full-on spider. So I feel like if I were to make both connected to Sentinel's lost partner, Airachnid would make more sense as the one eaten, and Blackarachnia the one who ate her, since she's the more animalistic one. But that doesn't really jive with how Airachnid is usually the eviler of the two

I'm really not sure what I want to do with the spider ladies, I think they need more time in the oven lore wise as well. And I need to figure out if I want both or not. And who Sentinel's dead partner was, because I also had the idea of them being built alongside Sentinel, being more like a sibling, but dying soon after, possibly due to malfunctions in their systems. But I'm not sure about that, leaves little room for the spiders

But moving on from them, we also have Kiloton, who honestly I half feel like slightly altering the name of. Like my brain sometimes corrects it to Kilotron, which I like a bit more but I'm also aware is even closer to Megatron's name

I tried to give him a design here, and I don't think it's horrible, though maybe it needs a bit more work. Granted, I am working with very little when it comes to his design, given how basic the original Kiloton is, but oh well

I was going to give him his silver/grey, but it didn't look right with all his other colors, so I changed it to that sort of brassy color. I think I like it a lot more

But it was with him that I realized I probably need to adhere a bit closer to the Mega Man style, because I am simplifying it more than I need to, at least anatomy wise, and it could look a lot better if I did

Will I change? I don't really know, because I'm lazy and I like how I'm drawing them now. But maybe I should practice Mega Man characters too to get a feel for this style I'm trying to evoke. Well, I say style, I more mean the designs and robot things rather than things like how the face is drawn or stuff like that

But anyways, I do have more on Kiloton than I do Blackarachnia, but I don't really have all his essential details down

What I do know is that he and Megatron used to be a thing, though unfortunately Kiloton ended up dying. Details later

But they first met around the time Megatron first got infected. At that point, after whatever event caused him to get infected, he ended up wandering around the wastes of Cybertron, mangled from whatever battles he had been in, and with his processor on the fritz from the virus, until he eventually collapsed. Kiloton ended up finding him and nursing him back to health, as he only saw a damaged bot in need of help

I'm also thinking maybe Kiloton was the one to give Megatron his purple gem, or that when he had found him, his initial gem was broken, or whatever was in that place before it

Kiloton was the first bot Megatron met while infected, and so he never really felt the need to do violence onto this bot, which surprised him at the time. His time with Kiloton and the time after he had recovered was the start of his new life with a clear mind not clouded by violent thoughts, and it gave Kiloton a special significance to Megatron, even if Kiloton wasn't aware of this

It's the time after this that I don't really have the details on. I want to say that while Kiloton helps fight Decepticons, he's not necessarily part of the Autobot force, possibly some other independent party from them. And he's also a support bot as opposed to a field bot. I also don't know when he and Megatron went their separate ways or even if they did, and when their relationship turned romantic

And while I also don't know the circumstances, I do know that eventually, Kiloton died, and Megatron was the one who had to kill him. I'm not sure Kiloton got infected with the virus, he might have fought Megatron on his own terms, after something Megatron did despite his protests. I'm not sure, but Megatron was forced to kill him, and it weighs heavily on him

I also think that at this point in time, Optimus had feelings for Megatron, but didn't act on them because of his relationship with Kiloton, and it was only sometime after that they got together. Optimus was probably also the person to help Megatron deal with the death of Kiloton, as he took the event pretty hard, but I don't want to say Optimus used this as an opportunity to come in with his own romantic feelings, as I don't imagine Optimus would ever be that selfish. Megatron was his friend in need first, even if he had feelings for him at the time. I also don't know how long afterwards that they got together

I also think now with the addition of Kiloton, I may need to slightly tweak Optimus and Megatron's dynamic, because now Megatron had someone before Optimus. Also maybe Optimus needs some tragedy, because Megatron and Sentinel both have some while he doesn't really have any at this point

But yeah, those are the current updates to this AU. Not much solid, but some new things

Though if I'm being honest, I'm debating now how much people care for this AU. Maybe I'm being egotistical, but I don't know, I was kind of sad that my last two reference drawings for them have basically gotten no attention, and same with other more recent posts about it

It's making me think people are sick of this, particularly since AU ideas tend to die out with me, but like, this time I'm actually holding onto an idea, and I don't want it to die like all the rest. Do I just need to give it time and eventually people will come around, or are people genuinely sick of this and sick of me trying to do anything here, particularly with my bad looking designs and me butting in on things I have no real knowledge of? Or am I just being egotistical and annoyed that I'm not getting as much attention as I want, despite there not actually being a problem?

I don't know, I just wish someone would tell me what I'm doing wrong

[santae-salt]

petty complaint

the worldbuilding for santae makes no sense and is just lazy. i think some of this must be a holdover from so much of the groundwork on the site being AI-based.

for instance, why are some of the NPCs anthro (random) animals? why are some fairies? why are some normal "just a random guy" humans?

on neopets or subeta (which CJ is obviously trying to imitate), they had NPCs of similar different types but it made sense within the world.

in neopets canon, some neopet NPCs are anthro and some are quad. they have a population of faeries who live in a specific place and have generally cohesive designs. humans don't exist (exception for Staff that are represented but its treated more 4th wall breaking than true canon) and an NPC is either some form of neopet species, already established neopets creature/character, or a faerie

the santae fairy NPCs are just oh i guess this person is also a fairy for some reason? where do they come from? do they belong to the same population of fairies? do people in this world just sometimes have wings? wait they also have elf ears. and there are "elf" NPCs without wings. are these people from the same species?? do some have wings and some don't?? does this world coincidentally have elves AND fairies that have the same type of ears?? do some humans just happen to have elf ears??

subeta has more what i would call "just a random guy" NPC designs, but at least a majority of them have some amount of connection to their world.

the anthro NPC designs of santae bother me the most, though. like who are these furries and why are they in this world. they're not even anthro versions of existing site pets or creatures... i know the AI NPC art is being remade, but i don't think it can completely get rid of the "this NPC is an ambiguous wolf furry because that's what the AI pumped out originally" considering that the remakes still keep a lot of the original design.

anyway i think that despite the art being remade, santae is still tainted by AI usage and i'm not sure that they'll ever get rid of it. not at any fault of the artists who came after either. the second that CJ decided to not 100% scrap all NPC designs made with AI, it was over (really it was over when he decided to use AI over actually putting creative effort into "his baby")

i know none of this matters i just think about it sometimes

☁️