#i mean i know how it ends mostly. comes with it being a prequel. and theres a plot summary in catching fire

[doomdoomofdoom]

suzanne collins really just shows up every few years to drop an even more obvious allegory to current day politics huh

[lesservillain]

best friend!eddie x reader

cw: SMUT, unprotected piv, pregnancy scare, one sided feelings, sort of sad at the end? an: the prequel to baby daddy!eddie but could be read as a stand alone if you wanted wc: 3.4k

A few years ago…

Music played on the stereo in Gareth’s garage, filling the house through the cracked door that connected to the house. The host himself was passed out on his living room couch, the rest of the boys laughing at him for falling asleep. The only ones left at the party were Jeff, Grant, Eddie and you, the few other guests who came to celebrate their graduations left not long ago.

You rolled your eyes as they placed Gareth’s hand in a bowl of water, a prank that one of them heard would make someone piss themselves in their sleep. Instead of taking part in their stupid prank, you chose to help out with cleaning up. Empty beer cans and other snack bags started filling up the trashcan as you made your way around the kitchen.

“What are you in here doing, sweetheart?”

You turn to see Eddie leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, watching you as you pick up more trash.

“Trying to be helpful,” you say, shoving as much trash into the can as you possibly can. Eddie laughs, pushing off from the frame to walk over to you. He grabs the bag from the can and proceeds to tie it. You smile up at him. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” he says after a moment of looking at you. You get an overwhelming feeling of domesticity as you watch Eddie take the bag out the back door. You watch him through the window as he places the bag in the can. Lighting up a cigarette, he waves at you from the cans, and you feel your cheeks grow hot from being caught staring. 

Eddie was your best friend. Has been since he moved to Hawkins back in 4th grade. The two of you met after you spent the summer in the trailer park where his uncle and your grandma both live in. You rolled with most of the kids there, but Eddie was like a new toy to you. 

He was hard to get out of his shell at first, mostly due to traumas you weren’t aware of at the time. In retrospect, you really pushed him hard, ever persistent in your daily trips to Wayne’s trailer to get him to come out. But when he finally did agree to play with you, the two of you became immediately inseparable. 

Everyone always joked about the two of you spending so much time together, laughing at the grossed out reactions the two of you would have at the mention of the two of you getting married one day. If your grandma was still alive, she would probably be distraught knowing that you had a massive crush on anyone other than Eddie.

After replacing the trash bag, you decide to join Eddie outside. The cool air feels amazing on your skin. The boys don’t have a lot of friends outside of each other, but when all of them start drinking and playing games they seem to generate a lot of heat in such a small space.

“Want one?” Eddie asks as you approach, smoke billowing from between his lips. You nod and he pulls out his pack. 

“Did you have fun?” You ask as he lights the cigarette for you, your hands brushing as he hands it over. The feeling of your skin touching felt like electricity through your hand.

“Uh, yeah,” he says, taking a drag. “I mean, I think it could have been just the two of us and I would have been happy. I’m just glad to finally not have to go back to that hell hole.”

“I’m happy for you, too,” you smile, taking a step closer to him. “Eddie, you honestly have no idea how proud I am of you. Like, I want to shout from the roof tops that Eddie fucking Munson graduated!”

Eddie giggles at your praise, swaying a bit where he stands from the amount of alcohol he’s consumed tonight. He stretches an arm out and you oblige, accepting his tight embrace. He smells like alcohol, weed, sweat, and notes of cheap cologne that he sprayed on earlier in the evening. It was a bit intoxicating in your current state. 

Drinking either made you super friendy or super horny, and tonight you were heading towards the latter. 

You would never admit it, but you’d been watching Eddie all night. There was an air about him tonight. Call it confidence or call it something else, but it was something you’d never seen in him before. It’s like he’s gotten a new found sense of life knowing that he was finally free to do whatever he wants in life. There was nothing left to tie him down and he knew it.

And, maybe unfortunately, it was doing something for you. You’d never really thought about Eddie like that before, your long time crush on Steve clouding your mind when it came to paying attention to anyone else. But something has…changed.

And after a shot or two that you took with a few of his friends from theater class (those kids are wild), everything he did just seemed to be doing something for you. You almost fell over when he lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead, his stomach that you’ve seen a thousand times on on display looking extra lean and just…

“Hey, are you okay?”

You instantly went from feeling good to being super aware of the way Eddie’s body was touching you. With the way he was holding you, his hand rested just above your chest, almost resting on your breast. The veins in is hand seemed more prominent, the rings on his fingers suiting his hands well.

“Y-yeah,” you stutter, letting go of the breath you didn’t know you were holding. When he doesn’t say anything, you slowly turn to look at him. Which was a mistake, because the way he was staring at you took your breath away again. His big brown eyes stared into yours, lidded in a way that made you want to squirm.

“Eddie? Are you good?”

He doesn’t respond, only blinks. His gaze shifts, flickering back and forth between your lips and your eyes and you feel your stomach flip. 

This isn’t how best friends look at each other. Friends don't caress your cheek like he does. They don’t pull you in, making your fronts flush with each other. They don’t start to block out the light from the moon as they lean in. Their lips don’t meet yours, and you aren’t supposed to accept it, kissing them back.

But, before you know it, your kiss turns into kisses. Feverish and hungry, tongues dancing in sync like lovers do. You’re not lovers, but you feel that line blurring as your body is being pulled away. 

The two of you don’t disconnect until you suddenly stop. Eddie is the first to break off the kiss, reaching behind him to open the doors of his van where he pulls you in. You don’t protest, gladly jumping in and pushing him down so that he lays under you. You can tell by the look on his face he wasn’t expecting it. His eyes watch you as you pull the van doors closed.

Once they click together, everything happens quickly. Rushed touches and clothes flying in every direction, the two of you melt into each other.

Your perched in his lap, breasts are pressed into him with arms wrapped around his neck as you almost eat him alive. His hands rub down the expanse of your back until they land on your ass, palming you underneath your panties as you grind down against him.

Eddie is painfully hard under you. For the brief moment that you looked down at him, you were shocked at the size of the tent in his boxers. It was the one thing about him that you didn’t know anything about after all these years. It sent waves to your core that only made you feel things for him you’d never felt before.

In an attempt to speed things up, you let your hand trail down his chest, his stomach, and down past the hem of his boxers. Your brows shot up when you gripped him, his true size in your hand taking you by surprise.

“Mmmm, shit,” he moans under you, and your breath hitches. You watch him carefully as his face contorts in a way that you’ve never seen; a new side of Eddie that you feel privileged to witness.

And then his his hand is on your head, guiding your mouth up and down on his huge cock. Tears threaten to fall down your cheeks with how far down your throat he tries to get you. But you do your best to take it like a champ. Especially with how he praises you.

“Fuck, you’re amazing.” The words fall from his lips like flowing water. He lost the barrier to keep his thoughts to himself as soon as you took your bra off. “Please don’t stop.”

How could you possibly deny him? You can’t. You blow him better than you ever have before, until his thighs are clenching around your head. You were fully expecting him to blow his load in your mouth at this point and you would have let him. But he pops you off of him and holds you in his hands until he can catch his breath.

“Eddie, whats wrong?” You ask confused.

“I’m sorry,” he says with heavy breaths, “Didn’t want to waste this chance by cumming too quick.”

Your heart leaped in your chest at his words, insinuating that he wanted more than just a quick bj in the back of his van. You’d never thought you’d be doing this with him, but in your current state Eddie could tell you to kill someone you would without question.

“Okay,” you say with a nod, shifting your body until you were sitting in front of him. There was an awkward pause as the two of you stared at each other. You waited for him to make the next move but it seemed like it was never going to come. You’re sure Eddie is just as wrapped up in the moment as you, so you decide to go ahead and make the next move.

You crawl towards him until you’re sitting just above his lap. His eyes never leave your face, round and in awe of you as you move closer to him. You place a hand on either shoulder and you can feel how tense he is.

“Eddie, are you sure you want to do this?”

He’s frozen for a moment. Until his head begins to nod so quickly he could have given himself brain damage from the speed.

“Yes, yeah, I am. As long as you are…”

“I do, too,” you assure him. You look around the messy interior of his van for a moment before looking back at him. “Do you, um, have a…”

Eddie’s eyes look like they’re about to bulge out of his head as his face shifts into that of a state of panic. He starts to babble, words incoherent until he’s able to form a sentence.

“I-I-I don’t, um, I don’t have any…condoms.” The last word comes out in a hushed tone, almost ashamed as he admits it.

“Well, shit,” you say, finger coming to tap against your lip as you think. You’d never done it without a condom before, and even if you trusted Eddie, the last thing you two needed was an accident to happen.

“I’m sorry, I just--I’ve never done this, so--”

“Wait, what?” You say, stopping him in his tracks. He looks up at you like he said something wrong and it kills you. “Eddie,” you try and keep your tone as neutral as possible, “Are you…still a virgin?”

Eddie swallows, eyes now looking anywhere but you. Eddie’s never brought up anything about his sex life before to you, but you’d not really been all that open with him for that very reason. But you’d always assumed it was just a mutual respect thing, not that he didn’t have anything to share to begin with.

“It’s okay if you are,” you add, “It doesn’t bother me.”

Eddie looks at you again, though now with cheeks pinker than ever. He sighs, nodding once again, but with less vigor than before.

“Yeah, I’m a…virgin.”

Something inside you flips when you hear him admit it out loud. A giddy feeling inside takes over your thoughts as you come to a realization.

“Do you want me to help you change that?”

You barely recognized your own words, and the look that Eddie gave you told you that it came out just as suggestive as you intended. 

“Are you sure?” He stutters out, “I don’t want you to do it because you feel like you have to--”

“Shhh,” you shush him, placing a finger on his lips. “I’m doing this because I want to,” you say, lowering yourself so that the tip of his cock sits right at your entrance. You feel it jump in your hand at the contact. “You just have to say the word.”

Eddie’s eyes are locked where the two of you touch, his breath hitching as your juices coat his thick head. 

“Please,” he says, still looking between you. “I want to.”

You smile, a heat taking over your body as you realize what you’re about to do. But, you try not to let the idea of taking your best friends virginity take you out of the moment. You had to be in charge here and you didn’t want to let Eddie down.

Without a second thought, you start to lower yourself down on him. He’s bigger than you’ve been with before, so you take your time to work him in since you didn’t get any prep before hand.

“Wait,” he says suddenly, stopping you just as you get the tip all the way in. 

“What, what’s wrong?” You ask, starting to pull off of him. But his hands land on your hips to keep you in place.

“I want to do this. Like, you have no idea how much I want this right now. But, what about the no condom thing?”

You blink, thinking quickly over your options. The two of you are too intoxicated to go and get a condom right now. Plus, he’s already technically inside of you, so what good would one do that pulling out wouldn’t, right?

“Just…when you’re about to cum, just tell me and I’ll get off. Okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“Do you want me to change my mind?”

Eddie mimics zipping his lips, and you roll your eyes at his playfulness.

“Can I continue now?” He nods again, giving you a thumbs up.

You try to get yourself back into the moment by slowly moving up and down, focusing on the feeling of Eddie’s cock inching deeper and deeper inside of you with each movement. Eddie’s head rolls back and you feel his hips bucking subconsciously beneath you. 

You decide not to torment him anymore and fully seat yourself in his lap. He bucks forward, face colliding with your chest as he’s taken aback by the feeling. 

“You okay?” You say with a giggle, though you’re barely holding back a moan yourself at feeling his cock fully stretching you. 

“Mhmm,” he whimpers into your skin, the grip he has on your hips almost bruising. 

“Do you want me to give you a minute?”

He shakes his head. “No, please move.”

And so you do. You take your time at first, really to give yourself ample opportunity to prepare to take him at a faster pace. But with the sounds he’s making, you feel yourself getting wet enough that you can bounce yourself on his cock with more ease. He keeps his face burried in your chest as you move up and down on his cock.

Eddie’s hands loosen on your hips and move themselves up your sides until they land on your breasts. He holds them around his face, fondling and groping as they rub against his face. He takes one of your nipples in his mouth, licking and teething at it softly, sending little shocks of pleasure through you.

All of the feelings were honestly a lot for you to take in. And the more you looked down at him the quicker your own orgasm was approaching. You let yourself forget about his pleasure for a moment as you chased your own high, fully seating yourself to let the thick patch of hair at his base rub deliciously against your clit. You rolled your hips against him and he whined into your chest.

Suddenly, your vision goes white as you feel yourself cumming on his cock. Your body starts to shake, and you’re pussy spasms around him, coating him in your cum.

“Is that you cumming? Holy fuck, I--”

There wasn’t much time to react as your pussy was suddenly being filled. Eddie’s body tenses under you as you’re only just now coming down from your own high. But when you finally realize what was happening, you jump up as fast as you can, head hitting the top of his van.

“Fuck! Damn it, Eddie!”

He snaps out of his post orgasm bliss and jumps up after you, also hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. 

“Shit! Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Eddie’s never been more panicked in his life than right now. Not even when he almost got caught by Hopper selling out in the woods. “I can fix this! I-I-I-”

“Eddie, how the hell are you going to fix this? Fuck me, this is my fault. I should have just said no when you said you didn’t have a condom.”

“No, please don’t be mad,” he says, grabbing your arms and giving you the most pathetic, sad look you’ve ever seen. 

“Do you have any money?” You ask him after a moment.

“I probably have like $3 to my name right now. Why?”

“Shit, I just paid my car payment so I only have like $10. I was going to say we could run to the pharmacy and get a Plan B.”

“What’s that?” 

“It’s like a pill that’s supposed to keep you from getting pregnant. But they’re, like, $20 or something crazy like that.”

“I’ll go to Rick. I can probably get some supply from him and sell it in a couple days.”

“I think it only works like the next day. It’s called the morning after pill for a reason I think.”

“Shit, shit, shit.” 

“What about Wayne?”

“I can’t go to Wayne.”

“Why not?”

“Why don’t you ask your mom?”

You sigh. He had a point. There was no way you could ask your mom without her asking why. And money was already tight so there wasn’t a good excuse to make up for you needing $20 out of the blue. 

“You know what, it’s fine.” You say, convincing yourself that it was. “My period should be coming soon, so I think we’re okay.”

“How soon is soon?” Eddie asks, clearly not convinced.

“Like, in a week and a half? Usually around the beginning of the month.”

Eddie breaths in, then out, head slumping. He drops to his knees before you and you can see his body start to shake.

“Eddie?” You drop down to his level and get a look at his face. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and it sent an arrow through your heart to see him so upset.

“I’m so sorry.” His words come out watery, his head starting to shake. “I didn’t want this to be how it happened.”

His words hit you like a truck. Of course he didn’t want his first time to be like this. He probably wanted it to be with someone he loved, not with his friend, and definitely not with the possibility of getting you pregnant. 

Guilt washed over you. You should have been the better person and not given in to your sick desire to share something like this with him. 

But it’s too late.

You can only hope that this doesn’t ruin your friendship forever.

than you for reading!

[twilightofthesandwiches]

… So, I think ever since Chapter 1 of Deltarune I’ve been at least a casual proponent of the idea of Deltarune actually being a Prequel to Undertale in a way. That the story is going to conclude with some sort of Cosmic Reset that breaks the Prophecy and creates the Undertale timeline, as a world where choices matter/people can choose who they are. With a chance that everything and everyone will turn out much better and more fulfilled… or a chance the Player used their freedom in the worst way possible.

I always thought it was a good way to tie all the themes together while still keeping the promise of Deltarune only having one ending and the endings of Undertale remaining unaltered. Deltarune’s ending will be the same every time, but the context will change depending on the Player’s actions back in Undertale. Did the characters’ desire to break their narrative restrictions bring about a better world… or a much worse one?

But now I’m starting to wonder… what if it’s not something that will be done to break the Prophecy… but is actually part of the Prophecy already. The Ultimate Tragedy that everyone’s worried about?

Like, the main hitch in this theory has always been the Darkners. Dark Worlds and Darkners are a concept totally unaccounted for in Undertale (outside of that one hidden Gaster Entry)

So it’s like… does Undertale have Dark Worlds? Is it possible that with UT’s Light/Real World already being a lot more magical than Deltarune’s Light World

...That means it’s kind of a mix of Light and Dark already and ‘true’ Dark Worlds don’t exist? If there are Dark Worlds (or at least the metaphysical possibility of someone creating them in the future)… would they have any of the Darkners we’ve come to know and love in Deltarune? Or even ones resembling them?

Cause you can certainly argue whatever a Timeline where the Monsters suffered through generations underground and the Royal Children Tragedy would be ‘worth it’ for the True Pacifist Ending (especially when you consider what a happy life Asriel seems to have in the Deltarune Timeline)… but the idea of wiping out the existence of every single Darkner… really does not feel like it’d ever be worth it.

And this feeling only grows with every single Chapter, as we meet more and more fun and charming Darkners and we keep emphasizing that they are people and that their feelings and hopes and dreams also matter and the worldview that their existence is secondary to the Lightners is super-fucked and unhealthy.

If the only way to stop the Knight and the Titans and the Angel and whatever else is to create a new reality where Ralsei and Lancer and Queen and Tenna and everyone else just don’t exist… that would certainly be an Ending that Susie will do her best to deny.

I’m mostly thinking about the idea that there’s all this emotional drama about the Inevitability of the Prophecy and whatever it would even be possible to defy fate

But like… for us the Players, familiar with narrative conventions, even with the Word of God that there’s ’only one ending’, we’re just kinda “okay so the Only One Ending is going to be about Susie flipping the prophecy off and getting her happily ever after, right?”. We don’t feel the sort of helplessness and inevitability the characters feel, because of our understanding of how that kinda story usually go. We hear “The Prophecy Can’t Be Changed” and we’re just taking it as a challenge.

But what if suddenly our foreknowledge as Players start pointing us towards the Prophecy’s inevitability? Deltarune is a ‘game to play after you finish Undertale’, and the Player’s experience with the other game is explicitly part of the narrative.

So what if it starts looking like the Prophecy itself just straightforwardly leads to the World of Undertale? Heading towards a Future the that the characters are very unhappy with the sacrifices that will take place in order to reach it, but the Player knows very well. A Future the Player already kinda thinks of as ‘True’. That might help to put us into a similar perspective to that of the in-universe characters, help us better emphasize with Ralsei’s fatalism and Susie’s hidden doubts...

...If we actually came from the Future where the Prophecy came to pass… at least that this is how it seems.

(I’m not necessarily saying the Prophecy would actually be unchangeable and create the world of Undertale by the end of the Game. I’m saying this would help the struggle against the Prophecy feel a lot more impossible and radical to us, the Players. Like how it must feel like to the characters.)

[discjude]

Oh boy oh boy its the discjude official COVEN bingo card!!! not many are about the coven themselves because i uh uh don't know too much about them but yeah. I've put a brief explanation of each of these under the cut (because a few are vague) (WARNING its a lot):

Lady Lesso mentioned: this one sort of coincides with "hester true evil speech". I reckon she's important enough to the witches to warrant a mention. Also. I think all of the Lessos might be relevant but I talk about that in my predictions

Obligatory Sophie cameo: she's Soman's favourite. She's showing up

Political commentary: based off of his substack, I don't think Soman will go too overt with it, but I think there'll be a more roundabout one. I'd love to see him address the fact that he wrote in that homophobia is a thing in SGE. Soman if you can hear me

Drag race reference: He's done this a lot before, in QFG mostly, and I think he'll do it again

TCY acknowledged: this could be like a "haha yeah you remember how the storian almost got destroyed? that was kinda crazy aha". I have a horrible feeling that he's going to completely skip over that part of canon

Hester gives a speech about "true evil": i mean come ooonnnnnnn. I also think this'll include something about evil love that contradicts the canon about it

No blatant fatphobia regarding dot: Soman phased this out in TCY I think he'll have stuck with it

Rats are, somehow, back. Not explained: Japeth killed at least one of those things and I genuinely think Soman will have forgotten it

Events of R+F acknowledged: ties into my predictions a bit, but I reckon the setup regarding neverland and the other stuff in Fall might come up

I'm right about my predictions: I think the entire thing looks very aquatic themed, and there's a lot regarding evil water stuff, so a) the mermaids are relevant b) the saders are (still) relevant c) the lessos are relevant. that's the big three in my opinion. I can't wait to be horrifically wrong

Storian still at fault: i mean. name one book where it isn't. and you cant say OTK that doesnt COUNT

Symbolic ending of the series thing: I want the storian dead. thats what this one means

Obligatory tagatha: come onnnnnnnnn

There is at least one twink: yeah. not much to say here

Vaguely pub-style setting: this one also includes "why is everything british" because i said so

None Japeth: Japeth is mentioned by name exactly no times. I'd love to have faith but I really don't

Tennis reference: I fucking CAUGHT Botic being a tennis player's surname in the prequels. he's GOING to try it again

Colour/lighting symbolism: have a draft rn about colour symbolism in SGE and I think Soman might lean into it

At least one snake: please i want to feel something

hestadil real: come ON he's doing this every tiktok post about coven has had the hestadil tag he's doing this

Aric is referenced: goes with my predictions and lady lesso being mentioned. I hate to say it I think he's far more likely to be referenced than Japeth

Big unanswered question gets answered: the BIG!! one is the Aric Dad Reveal. I want to know for parallel reasons and I think it could happen. maybe

no wait! We'll use the power of friendship: speaks for itself. something like this happens

major character death: goodbye dot. im being fr I think she's dying in coven

Thank you dearly to @liketwoswansinbalance for some of these entries I really struggled to think of some. Also no I'm not convinced of my predictions. But it'd be nice. right

[fishy-poof-crackers]

Why Trios Work - Part One

The Training Trio: Kaito, Maki, Shuichi

In Danganronpa: Killing Harmony, Kaito invites Shuichi and Maki to train at night. Though their time together comes with character and relationship development between the three of them.

Relationship & character analysis.

Disclaimers:

Spoilers for the entirety of v3: Killing Harmony.

Content warnings: illness/disease, discussion of blood.

I haven't seen v3 in awhile. I tend to think as I write and I may ramble and repeat things and not make any sense, haha.

1. Kaito has Maki's and Shuichi's best interests at heart.

The loss of Rantaro and Kaede has taken its toll on everyone in the killing game. It starts a sequence of events that leads into a downward spiral of bloodlust and murder.

Kaede's death hits the hardest for Shuichi. It's implied that Shuichi had feelings for Kaede. Even if it was a small crush, Kaito knows that they had a deeper emotional connection. They trusted each other, they were there for each other, etc.

But because Shuichi spent so much time with Kaede, he didn't form hard connections with the other students.

Kaito invites Shuichi to befriend him and help him cope with the loss of Kaede.

Shuichi makes a promise to Kaede that he will end the killing game. Kaito knows that Shuichi can't do this on his own. He knows that someone at least needs to be there to boost Shuichi's morale. By showing that he believes in him, Kaito is being his shoulder to lean on.

(Kaito himself also wants to end the killing game. He doesn't believe that he can do it by himself, or that Shuichi can do it by himself. It isn't just Shuichi fulfilling Kaede's wishes to stop the killing game; Kaito fulfills her wish to have everyone band together. He believes that it takes a team. Teamwork makes a dream work, right?)

Kaito invited Shuichi to help him grow stronger.

They have similar interests at heart.

Kaito invited Shuichi to achieve their goals.

Since this is chapter two we're talking about, there isn't much to say about Maki.

Kaito takes an interest in Maki.

Okay, Kaito isn't very smart, but somehow he's able to see inside her. The rest of the students brush her off, including Kaede, the main protagonist. I don't remember who, but one of the two (I think Shuichi) points out that Maki can't be heartless due to her talent. In chapter two, Shuichi still doesn't have the mindset of the others when it comes to her. He doesn't make an effort like Kaito, but he doesn't think she's some stone-cold bitch with a secret.

Yeah, it isn't much, but Shuichi sees something else in Maki, too. So, Kaito and Shuichi both see something in Maki (mostly Kaito).

Shuichi is surprised to learn Kaito invited Maki, but he's even more surprised when she joins. It's disappointing when she doesn't interact with them like Kaito and Shuichi have been, but as you probably know, this eventually changes.

Like Shuichi, Kaito invites Maki to help her grow stronger.

When I say stronger, I mean in all aspects. Emotionally, physically, mentally. He wants them to become stronger people, wants them to have stronger relationships- Kaito wants them to be strong.

Kaito invites Maki because he wants her to open up.

This is a big recurring theme in chapter two. Going back through this analysis in my head I simplified the reason why, and it makes me kind of sad. There are a few reasons Kaito wants Maki to open up. I'll do my best to emphasize how heartwarming they are.

Going stronger, yadda yadda.

Curiosity. This is far from the main reason, but I respect it. Heavily. I'm a curious person (sometimes) and I always want the fucking answers.

He sees her as a closely-guarded person. This ties into the third reason, so view this as a prequel, haha. Kaito doesn't think isolation will help her at all. I don't remember if he thinks this will make her a target (he probably does, but he's still not the main reason he wants to connect with her), but in general, he thinks isolated people are not happy. In a high-pressure situation, Kaito believes she's burying her emotions deep. He knows that isn't a good thing.

Kaito is genuinely concerned for Maki's well-being.

This hurt me a lot. It's so sweet, and it shows how good of a person Kaito is. As stated, the reason he's concerned about her is because he wants her to be happy. He wants her to be comfortable with herself. Kaito shows this throughout the game- evidence on this later.

Kaito wants Maki to heal.

Again, evidence on this later, but Kaito believes that if Maki lets her guard down and learns to trust others, she can learn to trust and love herself.

2. Dynamic (+Humor).

Their dynamic works beautifully.

Technically, their dynamic is called a "complex bro-ship" LMAO. ("Gym bros" also works, I guess. I hate that term, it's more sexualized than bro-ships.) But they ARE! This post was meant to be ambiguous- you can interpret it as a friendship or a romance. You still can! I just use the term 'friendship' a lot for this point.

Honestly, "bro-ship"s in media makes it seem like they have to be between two guys and there's sexual tension and they're probably fucking on the side, or it's a Disney Love Triangle where it's romantic and you have to choose one (not to mention that your love interests don't like each other), or it's one ship and friend-zoning and jealousy.

The Training Trio not only defies the typical stereotypes, but they go beyond it. It truly is a complex friendship. I fucking love it when relationships make the stereotype complex, but I love it even more when they break it entirely.

This trio also brings some good comedic relief.

And relief in general, but allow me to elaborate on the humor aspect.

When Maki first starts exercising with the group, the boys' reaction is priceless. They're like, 'Woah, where the hell did this come from?' It's hilarious.

Kaito doesn't do the workout with them. It quickly becomes obvious that he set the group up for emotional reasons, but it's still funny to watch. Maki and Shuichi call him out on it and he straight-up makes excuses and picks on Shuichi.

He isn't hurting Shuichi's feelings too bad either, and it gets Maki to laugh.

I adore humor like this if no one is actually getting hurt. Maybe this isn't the perfect example of how this humor works because Shuichi does feel a little put-down, and I don't think he should feel bad at all.

Even so, the way they make me laugh feels way less awkward than most of the other characters do in the cast. Partly because the other jokes used in v3 are rude and sexual, partly because the Training Trio brings a sense of comfort because it feels like a joke between friends.

3. Character Development.

Character development and a closer look to each of their characters.

I'll start with the most obvious one.

Maki

Maki becomes less cold-hearted and more open. She shows kindness to others while not letting them walk all over her. In the past, she kept up a prickly barrier that would poke you if you even touched it.

In the end, she falls for Kaito. She reveals it after the fifth trial when he's about to get executed for murdering Kokichi.

"I've never... fallen for anyone before."

Kaito replies that by learning to love and trust others, she can learn to love and trust herself.

More than vulnerability, allowing herself to care, and showing the two on numerous occasions, Maki allows herself to feel. After Kaito's death, she admits she cried that night. Although she also says she wouldn't allow herself to cry about it anymore.

Shuichi

Honestly, most of his character development can be chalked down to Kaede, but... Nah. I do believe that she was a huge influence, but hear me out.

I believe Kaede pushed Shuichi towards being more confident, but there were still times when he doubted himself. Shuichi is always doubting himself; however, we see Kaito and Maki not only back him up, but sometimes they even go so far as to give words of encouragement.

There were multiple times when Shuichi said he didn't think he could fulfill Kaede's wishes. At some point, he thinks about how he doesn't think he's able to do it without her...

...But he has Maki and Kaito.

Shuichi will never be alone again.

Kaito

This was harder to think about, especially because I didn't really care for Kaito in my v3 phase. I did go back to be able to form an opinion.

Kaito is encouraging, brave.... and full of himself. Maki (and Shuichi) have to put him in his place multiple times. Kaito listens and tries to become a better person while still maintaining his own beliefs. He sticks to what he believes in, which is also his downside.

But that's a character description, not development you're saying?

Yeah. You're right.

Kaito more or less stays the same. Not all the characters are going to develop that much. Especially in v3.

4. Mutual Relationship.

I implied before that their relationship doesn't lean one way or the other, meaning it's extremely mutual.

"But Maki has a crush on Kaito!"

Yeah.

So?

Maki still looks out for Shuichi after Kaito dies. While they're training Maki chooses to talk to Shuichi to get his view on something. She says that Shuichi can give her different viewpoints than Kaito, so she goes to him instead.

You have to understand that Maki and Shuichi went through Kaito's downfall together.

I've already explained how Kaito cares for Shuichi and Maki and how they care for him in return. So, there's no need to elaborate on that, but I will add a point.

Kaito's illness. They're both genuinely horrified. Neither of them wants him to die, and both of them want to do their best to help Kaito recover. He brought them together.

Conclusion

I've never been good at ending things, haha. I really like these three! I believe they were crucial to the plot and they definitely didn't waste our time.

If you have any suggestions you can put them in my inbox, but I also read comments and reposts.

Speaking of which, both of those are very appreciated! I've never done an analysis on my own time before. Thank you.

[mutelunacy]

What’s your opinion on the Pikmin 4 Koppaites.

Or as most people call them.

“Bootleg Alph, Britanny & Charlie.

this might be a little unpopular but personally, I like them. given how p4 is... all over the place in terms of timeline, I'm glad we got their relatives instead of the actual p3 koppaites.

they add to the worldbuilding of koppai pretty well and they also confirm that p4 is a prequel to 3 (thank god the timeline at least got confirmed in THAT way. now fix the rest) and overall i like the lore they give for the p3 cast.

that being saidddd. i do prefer yorke and nelle. they make sense; both alph and brittany comment on their family members. don however... i feel like if don was someone else without any connection to charlie these three would've come across as less "bootleg." he kind of sticks out and doesn't really contribute much to the overall narrative which really does make his character read as existing only to reference charlie and nothing else.

but i still do like him, even if there's the least to go off for him. personally, i like to write him as being really bitter and jealous over charlie and being a really unreliable source about him. he seems to blame everything about their relationship on charlie so i just think it'd be interesting if it was projection. i mean, most of the times characters in this series complain about other characters they've got something going on (cough cough, brittany's fruit notes and olimar arguing with his damn car, cough.) so i just think it'd be interesting. i honestly ship him with charlie in an inverted way, being purely interested in how their relationship ended and how they had to learn to put up with one another as their lives remained entwined. i have a playlist for them with far too much fall out boy in it, mostly songs from infinity on high, so that should probably explain it to those who know what the fuck i'm talking about.

yorke is pretty solid. making one of alphs many siblings into a character with some degree of plot relevance is neat. given how it's established that their grandfather inspired alph it makes sense that he'd have other siblings in the same profession. iirc, he has a line (or one of them anyway) where he says that alph is better than him at the trade, which i also find pretty silly. as a younger sibling who beat their older sibling's exam results... yeah, the topic still comes up to this day. they're neat.

nelle is also again pretty neat. her being noted to not like talking about her family aligns pretty well with brittany's notes where she only elaborates on her homesickness in writing and only ever mentions her aunt. it adds another layer of depth to both of them; why don't they like to talk about family much? very interesting to speculate about. i also find their differing reactions pretty interesting. brittany despising louie and nelle essentially asking the player directly to not hate him. vets and botanists are both rooted in biology, too.

so yeah. those are my thoughts. i like them a lot, though don leaves... much to be desired. i can change that for myself by headcanoning him as a major fucking prick, though.

[rom-e-o]

So I went back a re-listened to this entire episode. And here's the official transcript in PDF form. There are typos, so I'm not sure if it was auto-generated, but it's here and it's nice for skimming! All the good stuff is there.

This came out Oct. 10 (I listened to it in traffic in the Central West End while setting up a pop-up shop downtown). The game came out Oct. 31.

This was the FIRST time we got to experience Emmrich's voice, attitude and personality (outside the previous two short stories we was featured in) before the game came out. The first time we really got a comprehensive look at what was to come, for around 40 minutes.

So, after a re-listen:

The episode does a great job showing how enthusiastic, kind, elegant, intelligent and helpful he is. He's super kind to Nadia, and a little dweeby in moments. And a stickler for proper introductions. Wonderful.

In the game, we see him serve as a physician to Harding, mostly. Here, he does have a more medical angle, I'd say. Asking Nadia about her sleep, checking a broken ankle, etc.

He also had a more mad scientist-esque vibe? That would be more in-line with the concept art we saw, where we see him holding vials and in lab settings.

We get to see much more of Manfred acting like an assistant here, in. He's getting supplies, prepping kits, performing ritual steps, and actively helping Emmrich with tasks. We didn't see much of that in VG, so hearing Manfred being such a hands-on help is a treat.

This moment where Emmrich calls a spirit back to its body is fun foreshadowing for ThatTM game decision, if its intentional.

I thought Rolet would return in VG, since he and Emm seem to know each other and have an understanding of each's personalities. He almost felt like something of a butler to him? All the chapters have characters like this, but I liked how fun they were!

Rolet "what the hell is happening" Lastname, you are relatable.

Emmrich talking to a possessed body like a dog that got caught stealing a table scrap is hilarious.

And then ... that part.

Well, THAT was a traumatizing thing to witness. And it's not mentioned in VG at all. My first thought was, "Well, they wouldn't use a moment from a supplemental podcast for canonical, in-game characterization." But then I thought, "Why not?" Well, this was all likely written way before the game came out, and at the time, we didn't know how important all this information would be.

The podcast really was a fun sneak peek at the characters more than an official prequel/set-up. To that tune, it's a fun ride!

So this moment, to me, is a nice way of cementing Emmrich as a genuinely kind-hearted, morally good necromancer. A pretty unique take for this type of fantasy trope.

It would have been truly evil if, in-game, the phrase "this is on YOU" reared its head again, especially after Rook fell in the Fade. Ouch.

Adds new meaning to why he calls Rook "flame of my heart" if romanced, yes?

[nevergraciee]

Hunger Games names and their meanings

Panem: Panem is named after "panem et circenses," which is latin for the phrase "bread and circuses." bread and circuses refers to how in Rome, the emperors would give the poor food and entertainment to keep them satisfied. Their living conditions were often poor, with unsafe and unsanitary homes. However, the elites and rulers figured they could distract them, and they did. While bread and circuses refers to (primarily, but not exclusively) grain and circuses refers to, as you guessed, circuses, it is different in Panem. Food refers to the monthly tesserae allocations so long as they put their name in the reaping bowl one time per recieval, and the circuses refer to the Hunger Games. With these, the people are kept silence.

Katniss: At surface level, Katniss refers to the arrowhead plants. She knows this is where her name comes from, and we learn very early that her father used to tell her if she could find her namesake, she could always eat. I'd like to add additional interpretations to this. Katniss relies on people a lot, not in a dependent way, but as in she grows to lean on people when she does not expect to. However, at her core, she is independent. She doesn't often put herself first, but she trusts her own judgment and knows what she can do. As long as she continues being who she is at her core, she can live and eventually thrive.

Peeta: I probably should've added this right after Panem to better explain, but I've already written Katniss' explanation and it gets confusing moving things around. Anyway, while Suzanne Collins has not explicitly revealed the origins of Peeta's name, the general consensus is that he is named after pita bread. This is likely due to his family business at a bakery, but there is also a clear parallel: Panem and Peeta. In fact, it's a distinct contrast between the two. Panem represents everything horrible, at least until the end of Mockingjay. However, Peeta is constantly showed as an amazing person, clever and kind. One thing I've not seen anyone mention is how Panem grew better, and Peeta grew worse. Panem became a democracy, and while we don't know how good the state became, we know it became better than it was. In contrast, Peeta's hijacking ruined him for quite some time. This is probably all a stretch, but it is how I see the naming.

Coriolanus Snow: There is much more emphasis on his last name throughout both the main trilogy and the prequel, the meaning of his name is mostly rooted in his first: Coriolanus. He is named for Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, who may be a real person or who may be a legend. However, mostly, it's based on Shakespeare's tragedy of a man by the same name, who (as I've read on the internet, though I have not read Shakespeare's story of him) seems to be a dramatized version of G. Coriolanus. I'll be referring to Shakespeare's portrayal of him in this explanation. Coriolanus (the name he goes by, given to him for his marvelous feats) ran for consul, the ruler position during the Republic of Rome. At first, he was in favor of the lower class called the plebeians. However, two enemies rallied the plebeians against him, making Coriolanus explode in distaste. He quickly flies into a rage and explains that plebeians being allowed to vote shouldn't be allowed because they are lesser. He is exiled from Rome—this suggestion is not allowed. He reaches a new region and requests help to launch an attack against Rome, but is dissuaded by his mother and agrees to sign a peace treaty. However, when he returns to the region to explain this, he is killed for his betrayal. (Note: This information is from Wikipedia because that was the easiest-to-read source. If any Coriolanus experts are reading this, feel free to correct me.) G. Coriolanus directly mirrors Coriolanus Snow. Both of them are feverishly against the poor, seeing them as lesser beings, even going so far as comparing them to animals (G. Coriolanus described plebeians as "crows pecking at eagles" in the context of voting). They are both ruthless and care more about power than the people.

Cato: I can't find exactly how Cato is named, but there are two relevant items. One: Cato's name means "all-knowing." He's seen as intimidating to Katniss, but not quite revered for his intelligence. This does not go to say he isn't, because we only see Katniss' perspective. However, you do not get that far into the Hunger Games without wits. He is, almost certainly, fairly smart. Despite this, another explanation for his name would be the Shakespeare character named Cato. He is a soldier, which is definitely how Hunger Games Cato is portrayed. However, despite their deaths, that is as far as their similarities go. Shakespeare's Cato is a follower of the Roman Republic, and a humble man. This is very unlike the Hunger Games iteration. Their deaths, while extremely different, can also find similarities. Shakespeare's Cato dies before Julius Caesar's (the man who would've become the first emperor if not for the senate murdering him) legion arriving by suicide. He stands so much for the Republic that he'd die, as many Romans would. In The Hunger Games, Cato does not stand for a republic. He stands for the exact opposite of what Shakespeare's Cato stands for: an empire. In spite of this, they stand for their opposing views in the same way. Cato volunteered for the Games, and while he may have expected to win, he accepted he may die. He believed in his country, for better or for worse.

I will write more, but it's night and I have actual homework to do after spending an hour writing and researching just these four names. idk when i'll update this, but i swear i will (i'll reblog it to add on more, not edit this post.) i doubt anyone read all of this because it's really just me yapping about stuff i don't know much of (i know everything about the hunger games, but not Shakespeare). if i got anything wrong, pleaseee tell me and i'll edit the post because i'm definitely no expert. byeeeee

[dangerouslypassiveaggressive]

A Terribly Organized Almost-Essay About Suzanne Collins and Why I Think She Writes

Lukewarm take because it's been years, but here it goes: if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that Suzanne Collins is not a people pleaser. (The author, at least. I don't know her personally lol). And she be pleasing the people, that's not what I mean! I just kept hearing the same question being asked over and over again. "Why Snow? Why him?? Why not anybody else? Really?? A prequel about HIM??" It really made me think.

And don't get me wrong! I'd slash someone's tires for a Finnick prequel just like the next person (Suzanne please!), but that has never been the point of her writing. The Hunger Games novels, and by extension, the prequel book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, aren't just fun fiction reads. Yeah, they're gripping. The world-building is superb. Young people are at the center of it. And all these characteristics are great, but the thing that draws us in, that keeps us consuming her media like hungry little caterpillars, is that they are, time and time again, a captivating and accurate criticism, analysis, and deconstruction of the broken systems society experiences in the real world. I can only speak from my own experience as a Mexican American woman in the United States, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

The Capitol is colorful and fun and interesting and horrible and sadistic. And it is all those things because it is a symbol of our own real-world 1%, except our own glittering Capitol members here in the real world feed us the hope that we may reach their status if we only work hard enough for long enough. The Hunger Games system never makes that claim. In fact, they are fed the narrative that the system only works because they're stuck where they are. Suzanne Collins is taking everything one step further in her writing because it is a type of satire, a critique of the things we already know. So as an author, she blows it out of proportion so that her reader will say "look at this! How ridiculous! How would someone let the system treat them this way!" And it is ridiculous, it's downright laughable that an entire society, an entire country, would let itself be oppressed in such a cruel way by just a few people in charge instead of rising up and- oh wow, yeah, I see it. She wrote about us.

Suzanne Collins just organized everything neatly into boxes- well, districts. Because every district comes with some form of product that they manufacture, but much more importantly: a class. We go in order from 1-13. District 1 manufactures luxury items and District 2 makes weapons (but mostly trains Peacekeepers), so they have the most privilege and wealth. On the other end, Districts 11 and 12 are the agricultural and coal mining districts, respectively. That's back-breaking work. Not to mention District 11 puts kids as young as 12 to work, and District 12 is poverty-stricken and starving. "But what about District 13?" You may ask, "They make nuclear weapons! Why aren't they up there with 2?" Fantastic question. If we know, and the people of Panem know, that the hierarchy is very clearly set by literal number order, why would one of the most powerful and competent districts be given more power and be put at the top? Placing them at the end lets them believe that they aren't powerful or competent. I mean, jeez, look at 12 and they're before 13? I wouldn't believe I could make it on my own either. (We know now that's not how things go down, but it's a clever power move regardless.)

But after all this, would it hurt Suzanne to give us a single book just for fun?

Yes, I believe it would, that's the whole point. We're not meant to fall for the Peeta/Katniss/Gale love triangle. We're not meant to be interested in Finnick's secrets and early life. We're not meant to want to know the morbid details of how Haymitch won his Games (with double the contestants! Ooh. Aah.) We're meant to be horrified at every turn, at every story. We're meant to ask ourselves how things got so bad, how anyone let this happen. Suzanne Collins has written wonderfully fleshed out characters that grip us and make us want to know more, but the point has never been them or even their loved ones. It was never about Katniss or Prim or Peeta or Finnick or Annie. It's always been about the systems that let this story happen, and where Suzanne got her inspiration: the very real lives we lead. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows us the same thing.

So why Coriolanus Snow? Because he is the catalyst to a broken system that only serves the powerful. If Suzanne were to write a novel about any of our much more beloved characters, then she would be writing the exact same book over and over about the same oppression happening in the same system. She does not write for the sake of bringing her very well-written characters to life, but to flesh out the poverty, the starvation, the power struggles, the horrors they experience. We know this because she writes a lot of her characters as symbols. (Coin, for instance, as the symbol for a power-hungry figurehead, or Prim as the innocent during war.)

Snow is living in a slightly different biome than what we know from The Hunger Games series. He has to make sacrifices and decisions for him and his family, but it's different. It is a view and critique from the inside looking in. This is not Katniss getting to experience the Capitol for the first time and understanding just how terribly unfair everything is. This is someone who is very aware of the way things work and playing the game to stay in power and keep their privilege. Not only that, but it's someone who feels entitled to all of it. In this novel, Suzanne plays around with power and people's position in it. What if a mad scientist was in charge? What if the creator of the thing that brought a semblance of peace was just as horrified as the reader? How far is one person willing to go for power? What if we saw the dawn of a world we're already familiar with?

So I hope she keeps writing, because I love seeing our world through her eyes and the parallels she writes from our world to hers of the injustices happening every day. Even though we'll probably never get the stories we crave, but that's okay. Keep putting those kids through hell, Suzanne.

[stripedtabbycat]

peaks finale! what a time it's been!

i appreciate how they tried to wrap up almost everybody's stories in the time they had, even if i'm not sure they were aware while writing this that this would be the show's last season (at least for a while). ranging from characters who get to end things happily (andy and lucy, bobby and shelly, the briggs parents since it turns out garland did not die and in fact seems to have made a full recovery), characters who didn't so much (ed, norma, and nadine, who won't get a second chance at a happier ending until the return; the haywards, left in the wake of some last-minute contrived family drama, and the hornes who got pulled into it), and characters whose fates are left completely ambiguous for the time being (audrey and everybody else in the bank when the bomb went off, ronette pulaski and sarah palmer who are both last seen having some kind of disturbing vision again, and poor annie, who we hear is in the hospital but things aren't looking or sounding good), and whatever happened to cooper after all that.

i notice the finale takes the opportunity to bring back a number of characters the show seemed to have forgotten about in the intervening episodes - ronette, laura's forgotten fellow victim; sarah, laura's forgotten grieving mother who we hadn't heard from since leland died; sylvia horne, audrey's mom who we know basically nothing about (what is her perspective on all the drama that's gone down in her family? we'll never get a chance to know); and laura herself, appearing in black lodge doppelganger form, and in some other form if the clouded blue eyes of the doppelgangers mark them out as separate entities than their "normal" selves who appear in dreams. it seems wrong to say the show forgot about laura, since her picture still appears in the end credits of nearly every episode, but there's a long stretch of this show where she's hardly mentioned. norma bringing up how the miss twin peaks event is going to be a needed relief for the town this year because of her death felt like a reminder to the audience; this is who it's always been about. also in the lodge we see maddie and leland and caroline and various other people who have died over the course of this show and even before. (i bet if teresa banks had been cast at this point, she would have been there too. you know who's not there, though? josie packard, the last victim of BOB that we saw before this. perhaps they were implying she's not quite dead yet, but she's not in the return, so maybe i should be less optimistic.)

the whole plot with eckhardt and the packards really does come to nothing in the end, doesn't it. i don't think we ever learn why or how andrew packard faked his death, and it feels deliberate, with him dismissing anyone else's reaction to finding out he's alive in a "we'll discuss that later" way, while there probably wasn't any plan to explain further. he's most likely dead for real now anyway. adds to what i was saying earlier - none of this really means anything. (audrey's ambiguous fate here might be part of them trying to do the same thing they did with the s1 finale, leaving a bunch of cliffhangers unresolved so they'd pretty much have to renew it, but sadly it didn't come to anything. i'm sure everyone was hoping for things to be wrapped up properly with fire walk with me, but we got a prequel all about laura instead, and i wonder if that's why the film had such a negative initial reception. even though it was always about laura, like i said)

watching this for the first time age 17 i was mostly going "yes! yes! show me more weird shit!" all throughout the final black lodge sequence and while i try to look at things with a more analytical eye now, i mostly think it's also not worth trying to figure out what everything Means or Represents in the "weird" parts. we do basically know what's going on anyway, from explanations earlier in the series - cooper is facing his doppelganger on the threshold, and he flees, showing imperfect courage, and it gets him. there's not really a distinction yet between him being possessed and his doppelganger replacing him, but it's a devastating final image nonetheless to see BOB's reflection with coop on the other side of the mirror.

WHAT did the casual television viewing audience make of all this at the time. like everyone knew the show was "weird" before but they really went for broke in the finale and it was probably even more inexplicable to anyone who wasn't invested in the lore. (i mean, i'm over here reading all the tie-in books and enhancing my understanding of cooper's character and all the extra meaning some of these events have for him, but most people watching the show aren't doing all that.) and for it to end without "explaining" anything, introducing a bunch more weird black lodge business in the process? doubles and a mysterious forest portal and magically congealing coffee? i'm sure lots of people were pissed. i love it

[velvetvexations]

When I say "Disney Star Wars," I mean everything that grew out of TCW, because that's when the franchise stopped even pretending to give a damn about the tie-in media up until then and was a direct precursor to explicitly tossing everything out and starting mostly from scratch with newfound continuity hyper-vigilance that could only come from a mega corporation trying to squeeze money of nerd pedantry.

I don't hate the prequels and will defend many aspects of them that others dislike intensely, but I'm also not a Lucas loyalist in the slightest like some people who hate Disney Star Wars pretend to be because they get all "look what they took from us" about movies they hated with fairly good reason until approximately five seconds after realizing the next film would star a woman and a Black man.

Like I can bitch about how they fucked up things like Order 66 and Lucas's underlying political themes, but at the end of the day to even get to the point where Order 66 is a thing you have to set up all the contrived Sifo-Dyas drivel with the good guys accepting a random army supplied to them out of the blue by people they know were in league with the bad guys and that's a narrative knot that will never make sense for as long as I live.

This franchise I like hasn't been good since I was a preteen but unlike most other cases of hating new instalments in landmark nostalgic media I feel this is backed up by the fact that I've consistently thought the things that are dumb and bad about the prequels are dumb and bad even if I've always been a bit more generous to them than people were at the time, and I recognize the moment it jumped the shark is when it was still being helmed by the original creator. The tipping point is that he got several seasons of an entire TV show to take a chainsaw to what was being established in the much better supplemental material where previously there was only so much damage he could do with three movies because the EU mostly steered around the time covered by the prequels and what had to be discarded when they started coming out was marginal.

Disney pumped the gas on yet worse bullshit but Star Wars was in a freefall since 1997 with the EU doing all the heavy lifting in heroic spite of what was being released in theaters. What came next in an AU where Lucas didn't sell the franchise might not have been as bad as what we got, but that doesn't mean it was going to be good.

[merlyybird]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

I was tagged by @ferditheas ! Thanks for giving me a chance to ramble about my new favorite hobby hehe.

Just gonna chuck this at some of my other writer friends @mikaelmoviesandmore @bardic-bard @kksizzle @user-kanra @rashomonic and a couple fic writers I know from the Sonic fandom @mintenby @swirlyblast @funkyfandomlover . Zero pressure to do this btw!! I never do tag games, this particular one just appealed to me.

Questions under the cut! ❤️

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

18! Among that number I have some poetry, 2 unfinished longfics and 1 unfinished series, so it's not the most impressive number. Still, I only made my Ao3 about a year ago, so maybe I should be a little easier on myself haha.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

120,655. Wowza!

3) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Case of the Missing Helmet (first entry in my Team Chaotix series)

Dressing a Wound (Espio-centric post-Metal Virus angst)

what sad eyes you have (my Marihilda longfic featuring Demonic Beast Marianne)

day 5- memory (short, conceptual prequel to my Chaotix series)

The Case of the Swamp Creature (second entry in my Chaotix series).

It's crazy to see these statistics after wseyh dominated for so long. Team Chaotix is giving it a serious run for its money!! I guess this speaks to my interests and audience changing focus a little bit. I'm glad people seem to like the detective goobers as much as I do.

4) What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Sonic and FE3H. I just feel like those two are the most inspiring (although I could have recency bias with Sonic). I've written the occasional Zelda fic, but they don't tend to come as easily to me.

Everyone needs to watch their backs, though, because one day I'm gonna snap and write a multichapter Mariokart fic. Like, there's no "if." It will happen.

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I was so shy when I first started out---I didn't want to commit some kind of Ao3 etiquette faux pas, so I haven't responded to many of the comments on my older fics, just acknowledged my broad appreciation for them in the notes (I've had some regular commenters and essay-length comments that I think about all the time, but I totally haven't responded to them directly. Love you guys!!!).

I'm trying to ensure I reply to the all comments I get now, though. Reading takes a degree of time, commitment, and attention, even if it's just for a stranger's fanfiction on the internet. So if someone takes the time to read, enjoy, and comment on my work? That means a lot to me! And I want to show commenters that appreciation the same way they've shown it to me. Plus, maybe it'll encourage even more people to comment and start a conversation.

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably this one where Marianne kills Hilda in battle LMAO

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't think anything I've written has ended with a comedy-level resolution, but the entries in my Chaotix series tend to end in a happy kids-cartoon sort of way, and this one I just posted to Tumblr ends on just a pure cute note.

8) Do you get hate on fics?

Not to my face. In fact, so far, people on both Ao3 and Tumblr have been nothing but sweet and supportive!

9) Do you write smut?

Nah, not my thing. This is also a personal preference, but I like to keep my fics tonally consistent with canon even when they deviate plot-wise, and since I usually write about video games with General to Teen audiences, that's where my writing skews, as well. It just helps me with maintaining voice.

10) Do you write crossovers?

Not yet, but I would actually love to. Being a fan of Sonic and the Black Knight has made me want to put that hedgehog in a situation. Or maybe I'll put Team Chaotix in a situation. God can you tell they've taken over my brain

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware. I'd be genuinely shocked if that were the case.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I've co-written original stuff outside of Ao3. I've also done prose-style rp (both fandom and original) before, if that counts. I will say that @battry-acid and I have considered working on a FE3H fic together, if I'm not mistaken...

14) What's your all-time favorite ship?

I actually don't know if I have an OTP anymore, which almost feels sad to say. In terms of stuff I like, though: Marihilda has kind of become my bread and butter ship. In fact, any ship that involves Marianne gets a thumbs-up in my book (I actually wrote a little pre-Bernianne fic a while ago if that interests anyone 👀 I'm proud of how it turned out but it also kinda fell through the cracks lol). In terms of mlm FE3H pairings, Casphardt still takes the cake, I think. Basically I'm a FE3H multishipper who likes pretty much anything if you make a case for it, but I don't have any crazy strong feelings, if that makes sense.

I also don't really have any Sonic ships. Closest thing to a relationship I'm actually invested in is Team Chaotix found family (shocker!!). So if we're counting platonic or familial relationships, I'm definitely the most obsessed with them right now.

Oh wait I forgot about Alphyne. Yea that's my OTP nvm case closed

15) What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

For the record, I'd like to return to all my longfics that are on hiatus, but right now progress on taking back time (Sonic '06 au) feels a little up in the air. Maybe one day I will be struck by the inspiration I need to write more, but for now it's just gotta sit tight while I work on other stuff. I'm sorry Shadow the Hedgehog fans!!

16) What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at naturalistic dialogue that fits character voices. I also think I'm good at both dramatic, angsty descriptions, and little moments of comedy. I enjoy writing all of those things the most, anyway. Some people have also recently told me that I'm good at writing kids, so that too, perhaps ?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

I don't think I'm very strong at writing mysteries even though it's like the only thing I write. I hate planning out long-term mystery arcs and always worry that things will get too confusing/feel like a Lost-style "mystery box" that will inevitably disappoint everyone. My writing also tends to be either a little too sparse (not enough interiority) or a little too bloated in pacing. Lastly? I'm garbage at coming up with titles. Titles are my mortal enemy.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I haven't encountered this enough to comment on it.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Oh, god...Harry Potter technically, several years ago 😖 But I was a kid, didn't get very far and also didn't publish it. My catalyst for seriously writing fanfiction was actually Zelda---more specifically the first draft of rerun, my Majora's Mask one shot.

20) Favorite fic you've ever written?

wseyh is very long, unfinished, and probably not perfect, nor is it even what I'm most enthusiastic about at the moment, but it also holds a really important spot in my heart, among my friends, and in my history as a fic writer. Like, I made an Ao3 just so I could start posting it. It has more than earned a place in my personal Fanfiction Hall of Fame.

However, if you wanna read something that I will get really excited about right now, like right this moment? Chaotix series. Who would have guessed?

[bumblebyaf]

the pricefield breakup was good

just finished double exposure and while the game had many flaws i entirely disagree with one of the biggest complaints i’ve seen both before and after the games release: the pricefield breakup. in fact, the pricefield breakup is my favorite part of the game and one of the most fascinating character writing decisions that defined a lot max’s character for me…so here’s my essay on why max & chloe could never work long term, the breakup was incredibly natural, and how its the only way for both of them to move on. don’t bother reading of course if you don’t want to hear any of these opinions <3 

to start off the bat (and this will be the paragraph people hate the most): max & chloe are one of the weakest lis pairings (and again this is obviously all my opinion). they honestly never even had that much chemistry to me and i probably never would have shipped them had the game come out later but since the game came out when it did and it was the first gay game i’d ever played and they were like the only gay rep i knew it was brilliant & i think nostalgia for this clouds a lot of what people see when they think of pricefield but objectively they never make sense as a pairing to me and i find their scenes together quite awkward or boring. chloe is an asshole to max throughout the whole game (and i am a huge chloe supporter, i understand absolutely where all of her anger and issues were stemming from and it made sense!) and max is either a pushover who just lets her do it or like entirely indifferent to it/ignores it i guess depending on how you play; and max is shitty too i mean we know she ghosted chloe for years and then went back to blackwell for like a month or whatever without ever looking up chloe and who knows if she ever actually would have. which like max doesn’t have an obligation to do that but she clearly wanted to after she meets chloe again and then she spends so much of the game thinking about how chloe replaced her with rachel when max left first and trying to just slot herself back into the exact spot she left (also chloe did not replace her anyway they were entirely different relationships). (unrelated but this is why i hate when people have max add her name to the wall in the junkyard hide out lol) max spends the entire game watching chloe die in several different ways and trying desperately to keep her alive which has got to make a crazy trauma bond/attachment and honestly aside from one or two very obviously written “gay” scenes chloe barely registers as romantically interested in max to me (which…yeah chloe is spending the whole game going through a lot of stuff!) right up until the end where chloe realizes how hard max has been trying to keep her alive/max has been helping her with all the struggles she’s having this week/backing her up with her family drama etc during a time where chloe doesn’t really think anyone cares about her…which i don’t know again seems like a trauma bond to me! and then max sacrifices an entire town for her? of course they get together. you also have to remember that this game takes place during like the WORST week of these two young girls lives it’s just crazy to me how people define their entire relationship/personalities by this time period 

also like i know a lot of LIS fans don’t love BTS because its a different studio and the original LIS writers never wanted a prequel & that for some reason a lot of LIS fans think rachel is the devils fucking spawn BUT thats a different argument (bts being my second favorite game & rachel my third favorite character) but after watching chloe in bts (still with Issues and trauma but less heavy and more shared) and seeing her fall in love with rachel there i could never see her with max the same way

also to be clear i’m not saying at all that i think max & chloe don’t care for each other deeply; i do believe they love each other my argument is just that this relationship could never really last long term and mostly stemmed from the trauma they were going through which brings me to the main part:

max & chloe breaking up makes perfect sense for their characters, especially the reason given as well. chloe telling max that she wants to move forward and live in the future but max is always looking to the past- this single line sold me on the break up immediately i found it fascinating! max does live in the past! its her entire power! her entire game is about rewinding over and over to make the perfect moment etc. max’s character is constantly being brought into question when it comes to how she uses her powers even when she only ever tries to use them for good reason (in particularly i really like the subtle way the comics handled this too, BY CHLOE, but i know not everyone likes the comics either and they’re obviously not canon to the games since they contradict double exposure lore as well. but in the comics an alternate timeline chloe criticizes max on how reflexively she uses her powers to save/help people without considering how rewinding a moment affects everyone around them as well- and how sometimes things go wrong but can work out anyway. this is proven by us also following a second timeline without max there to rewind and we see how those characters navigate the issues max erased and in some instances they turn out even better and i like a happier healthier chloe having this perspective).  i feel like the chloe we meet in life is strange is so specific to that one game (she is going through so much active trauma and it is literally like the worst week of her life) but the pieces of her i’ve seen outside of that game show me how much her character can change when given space to breathe so i don’t think its fair to hold her to just that week. i can very easily see how chloe would want to put everything behind her and try to fully move on/away from everything that has happened and this being the only way she feels she can move forward- similarly how max could spend everyday stuck living with the choices she made and the effects its had on her, how much harder it is for her to separate and move on. 

i also think it makes perfect sense that chloe could grow some resentment towards max for her mothers death- i’m sure chloe wouldn’t act on this but i can see them both knowing it’s there and chloe not really being able to help feeling it. i mean chloe really is fully accepting of her death in life is strange and its max who makes the choice to keep her alive (and yes it’s shitty of chloe to make it seem like a choice at all but that’s also just like…the game having to give the player a choice too). chloe has to live with knowing her mother and everyone she knew died so she could live and max has to live with knowing she directly made that choice and both of them have to just…know and live and think about this everyday they’re with each other how can they move on? is that not suffocating? with some space they can at least maybe start to really separate from it 

i also think chloe’s implied insecurities around max rewinding parts of their relationship also make sense to be honest…max spends the entire game trying to fix every interaction to be the right one like i KNOW she would rewind mistakes because i DID that as her; and maybe you can say max would never use her powers again after the storm but to be honest i don’t think thats true…i think she would never redo grand scale things again (except i guess she does in double exposure) but i just don’t know if i believe she could resist the temptation to keep her and chloe’s interactions perfect- at least in the beginning. i’m not saying she DOES but i GET it- i understand chloe’s paranoia (if it is just paranoia and not fact) because i don’t think i could trust either because i also understand MAX. max who killed an entire town for chloe & their relationship- wouldn’t you feel like you had to keep doing everything in your power to make sure it works? to keep it good, to keep chloe happy?  it’s a really complicated feeling for both of them i’m sure

and i think chloe is right when she says max is always living in the past because we literally see her doing it during the game. she’s still journaling to chloe, she keeps chloe in her wallet & on her wall, we keep having flashbacks to arcadia, max keeps a box of arcadia with her (even though we know she’s also been traveling/on the road most of her adult life), she’s never discussed any part of her past with her friends, her photography focus is about the lonely and abandoned. the entirely of double exposure is about max learning how to really stop living in the past and the harm it could do (through what happened to maya and safi and how its still happening four years later because no one ever really dealt with it etc) and that’s why this undercurrent and the pricefield breakup is my absolute favorite part of this game and the best part of it

i also think it’s really worth pointing out what a lot of people seem to have missed (in the complaints i did see); max & chloe didn’t have some horrible explosive ending and they hate each other forever now and the two are forever ruined or whatever…chloe simply saw she could never truly move forward with max and maybe more importantly she saw max could never move forward with her (how could max move forward from the worst choice she’s ever had to make in her life when she’s also sharing a bed with it?) chloe still loves and cares for her, max still loves her, they could be on friendly terms very easily- in fact i think the only reason they don’t talk right now is because of max (which is for the best during this time i think anyway) and chloe would be absolutely open to their friendship whenever max is ready. chloe wants the best for both of them & chloe’s text at the end of the game proves she’s still thinking of max & open to talking again whenever max is. max also has feeling by the end of the game that’s ready to really start moving forward from arcadia now and one day she will be ready to confront chloe again and i think whenever that happens the two will be really good friends again- like they always were.

[merlinfromberlin]

Yoooo the Back to the Future and TFOne Prequel sound so interesting!!

Always love Dad!Ratchet. I'd love to know how he meets B-127 :)

Honestly, I'd love to know anything else you wanna share with either AU!

(Enjoy this picture of Ratchet <3)

Hi & Thank you ^^

First. Omg, that is such a goofy, amazing picture of Ratchet. I love him so much! He's going straight into my collection of TFP screenshots. :D <3

Back to the Future AU:

This is nowhere near as solid as my ideas for the TF ONE Prequel.

Right now, it's mostly just a "Wouldn't it be funny if Bee and Hot Rod were (accidentally, by Wheeljack) sent back to the time where Optimus was dating Megatron and need to deal with that revelation?" scenario. Then add Orion only being friends with Jazz, Ironhide, Elita, Ratchet instead of dating any or all of them and, if I'm feeling especially silly, sparkling Hot Rod.

And there you have it, your basic Back to the Future Set up.

Honestly, I could probably make something angsty with this, but I think it'd also work very well as something more light-hearted, focusing on the relationship between Bee and Hot Rod and them growing closer together through all of this.

I mean, just imagine the amount of "blackmail" they would probably gather on their caregivers during their time in the past. ^^

Or the shenanigans of Bee playing with sparkling Hot Rod while adult/teen Hot Rod stands by and watches.

I really love this idea, but overall, I'm still a bit murky on the details of it all. It's been years since I last saw Back to the Future, so I'd want to watch that movie again + probably read at least the first of the TFP prequel novels. ^^"

My biggest problem is Tyger Pax, though, and whether it's something that should have happened in this AU or not. Because Megatron having tortured Bee would definitely heavily impact everything in this story. But I think I tend to lean towards a TFP/G1 blend where Tyger Pax has not (yet) happened or maybe will never actually happen. ^^"

TF ONE Prequel:

Honestly, this "oneshot" has kinda been the bane of my existence ever since I first saw TF One. ^^"

Ratchet and B-127 meet basically directly after B's been forged. In this universe, Minibots are the last bots that get forged in a batch of "Newsparks" and they are called Minibots because they are usually smaller than their peers. Most of the time, that doesn't come with too many complications, but for B it goes wrong and he ends up in Iacon's Public Hospital. And that's where he wakes up and meets Ratchet and pretty much imprints on him like a duckling.

Initially, I wanted to write a 'simple' oneshot exploring B-127's state of mind in Sublevel 50. Then I realised that I needed something to kinda "ground" B and give him something to work for, something he can hold on to after he's met rock bottom. And I was like, well, I love me some Dad!Ratchet, so that was easy. And then I realised that I kinda needed to set up B-127's and Ratchet's relationship for that to work. And then Brawn, Gears and Huffer somehow snuck into my notes.

And now it's more of a dystopian story exploring a darker side of the society we see in TF One, so, in other words, it's officially gotten out of hand. ^^"

Also, I've had the prologue and first chapter of this story proofread and ready to go for at least a week now - I've just been struggling to come up with a title other than TF One Dadchet AU. So, yeah. It's going to happen on Saturday, I hope. ^^"

[idarafeka]

FFVIICC IS TRANS CODED

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core is trans. And I don't know if anyone cares or will even see this post, but in it, I'm going to explain why.

FFVIICC is the prequel to the famous FFVII and the game where the story of Zack is told. In the original game Zack is a character only presented to us through small dialogues and optional cut scenes, so they had room to expand the universe however they wanted, thus presenting us two new characters, Genesis and Angeal. Our two trans characters.

Genesis and Angeal, as presented by the game, are two first class members of SOLDIER, who on top of the already standard mako infusion they were experimented on with JENOVA cells. Genesis after birth and Angeal even before his conception, being his mother the one who got the "treatment".

That is what happens to them in the game. But now let's see it from another angle. Angeal and Genesis were both childhood friends. One son of a humble family with no food to take to their mouths and the other heir to a great fortune. They used to spend all their time with each other, even after joining SOLDIER they were never not together. Or at least, that was the case until a third force came in, Sephiroth, the hero. We don't know much of their friendship, only that they fought. A lot. And that Genesis seemed to be jealous of Sephiroth, or at least that was the case when they spoke, since Genesis was usually more invested in reading, and reading and reading the book for the play Loveless it stands to reason to think social interactions were not top priority.

But why was Loveless so important? Loveless is a play that tells the story of a godess, her return, and how she brings the end of the world, or that's what's thought happens, given that the last chapter is lost to history. Genesis is obsessed with that story. In every single scene Genesis shows up, Loveless is quoted to show the ambition Genesis has to bring the godess to the world. To become the godess. Genesis Rhapsodos is a trans woman.

Thinking about her this way gives a whole new meaning for her story and actions. Her running away from home, her hate towards Sephiroth and the world and, mostly, her friendship with Angeal.

Going in order, is not hard to guess why she would hate her family. They didn't accept her, that's why she runs away to only end up killing them and burning the whole town down once she finally comes back. Which makes sense, given that her diary shows us she was a lonely child, she was likely also not accepted by the folks in her hometown.

After that, we have the hate and evny towards Sephiroth. I see it as something as easy as the resentment she felt at someone who was happy and didn't know anything about the pain it brings to not have parental love because they hate your kind. And yes, Sephiroth may have been an orphan, but Genesis clearly seemed to think that was a better option.

Finally, we have Angeal. As I said at the start I also belive him to be trans, but in a different light. Angeal is presented as an stoic, no nonsense character, contrasting with Genesis' explosive and theatrical persona, which for me represents a different way of dealing with the heart break that was his mother not fully accepting him.

At first the thought of his mother being transphobic seems unreasonable, after all, she loves her son, she seems worried about him when you speak to her. Well, yes, but the problem is both things can be true at once. The reject of his identity, while clearly a hate driven action, in the eyes of a parent can be confused with an act of love. The real problem begins when they refuse to change that view, such as she does.

When we meet her she doesn't answer to "Are you Angeal's mom?" but only to Zack introducing himself after she remembers her son wrote about him in a letter. Now she knows who he is asking for, who Angeal is, and her first question is "Are you with Genesis?", or, as we are seeing this plot, asking if he is also one of them queers. Zack says no, which in turn makes Gillian willing to speak with him about Genesis and her son, who I belive treats in masculine not out of acceptance in this scene but because she understands Zack might not know and doesn't wish to cause troubles to her only child. After this interaction, next time we see her is dead, after taking her own life and with her son staring at her corpse. This also marks the time Angeal's character goes down a spiral that makes him a "monster".

With both chracters' stories more or less covered, now I want to talk about their struggles and ultimately their demise. Both trans people not accepted by their families and town, they run away together to the big city. Once there they try their best to live their life, Angeal manages to, at least to some extent, while Genesis unable to transition becomes more and more consumed by the pain and hate she feels. Angeal is unable to let go of the mother he left alone after his father died, and tries to mend the relationship, but fails time and time again, taking a toll on him. Genesis, on the other hand, doesn't care about those who didn't care for her, killing everyone that dared to wrong her. Angeal suffers when her mother died, Genesis finds it just. Angeal cannot go any further with what he caused, he might be trans but wishes he wasn't, he sees himself as a monster, thus becoming one and asking Zack, his only friend left, to end him. Genesis, with each day that passes, which each second she feels is pushed further and further from her goal, she loses it more and more, beliving herself to be the godess who will bring forth the end of the world, and so she becomes a bastardized form of the godess, who also ends up defeated and left to rot, alone and broken. Both of them imitating the play loveless. Stories about revolution and change, cut too short, the last chapter lost to time, forever.

And that's my trans coded reading of the characters! I know it's depressing and also not at all what the story and plot is about, but it's also something I clearly see when playing the game, and art is suppoused to be a personal experience, so this is who I choose to see my own experiences through this silly guys:)

also if you read this shit I love you and are entitled to ask me to buy you a gift as prize

[spritelysprites]

now that I've had some time to think about the wicked movie, I'm even more confused about the plot and the magic system than I was at first.

so elphaba is the best at magic and she gets to go meet the wizard. how do we know she's good at magic? what are we comparing her to? the teacher didn't do any magic and neither did glinda. obviously neither did the wizard.

(that's leaving aside some other major questions: what makes someone like this teacher able to tell a person's potential for magic? if she's able to tell these things, why did she say no to glinda and why does she serve the wizard? what exactly is she teaching elphaba in these magic lessons? what is it to "make good"?)

I don't know what the rules or limitations of magic are and whether she is working inside or outside those limits. we have no way to know she's good at magic except that the story tells us so. we know she's got a lot of force behind her magic, but I as the viewer have no idea whether that's a good thing or what good/bad magic look like.

and I don't understand what the school is for. is it a magic school? if they're all learning magic, what are elphaba's lessons for and why is glinda so eager to get in? if they're not learning magic, what are they even learning? if shiz is an exclusive private school, sure, it makes sense that people would be eager to get in, but it doesn't make sense that our main characters get to wear totally different things from everyone else's uniform. (for those who say it's to make them stand out: see derry girls, lady bird, heartstopper. we don't have any difficulty making out who we're supposed to be looking at there, and they all include scenes with multiple characters in school uniforms.) if it's because they're so rich and influential they get to disregard the uniform rules, wouldn't everyone at this exclusive private school be doing that?

coming back to the story, elphaba getting to meet the wizard doesn't actually make any narrative sense. she doesn't get the chance to improve at all with her magic by this point. we're told she gets to meet him if she "makes good," but we don't even know what that means, let alone how or when she supposedly did it. I understand that the plot needs it to happen then or else it's less of a wizard of oz prequel and more of a boarding school au fanfiction, but nothing the characters do seems to influence what comes their way (with the exception of glinda's prank with the hat, which makes glinda feel bad and step forward to help elphaba and so they become friends), and the timing of this summons makes no sense. she doesn't get the chance to earn this meeting, she just lucks into it.

that's why the ending didn't have any punch for me. first of all, we all knew the wizard was a fake and elphaba was being set up for disappointment. but mostly, it's because that moment where the rug gets pulled out from under her doesn't actually have any impact. this isn't something she's worked for, and the average viewer doesn't cheer for a protag who takes her first real action at the very end.

(and nobody in the notes had better mention casablanca, because that's a very different situation. the protag is actively choosing non-engagement in the larger crisis of the war and in his personal crises every chance he gets, and so his actions at the end are actually a different kind of choice that show a change in how he views and deals with his problems. elphaba is just kind of standing there through most of the movie. sure, she wants things, but she's not doing anything about it, and she's not even improving at the one thing (magic) which we're told is her strength.)

the only thing that felt earned through the whole movie was the beginning of glinda and elphaba's friendship. but elphaba attending shiz, rooming with glinda, getting magic lessons, meeting fiyero, and getting to meet the wizard all just kind of fell into her lap without her having to take a single action. cynthia erivo gave a good performance, but the writing really let her down there.

I don't know. I can usually ignore a bad plot if it has consistent worldbuilding, or interesting characters, or is just fun to look at visually, but the wicked movie didn't have any of that for me.