#intended to reveal character theme plot

[pynkhues]

I’m confused by what you mean when you say that Lestat was “cast out of the house” after the drop in 1.05, as this is not what the show tells us. Lestat left of his own will — he wasn’t thrown out. He beat Louis half to death and then ran away, as evidenced here — “Lestat had disappeared after that awful night. Vanished out of a profound sense of shame he would later confess to” (Louis, 1.06). Louis was in no fit state to throw anyone out of anywhere: as mentioned previously, Lestat had just beaten him half to death.

Apologies if I’m misinterpreting, but in instances like this you seem to paint Lestat as a somewhat of a victim — poor Lestat, banished from his house by his uncaring, domineering husband — when in actuality he was anything but a victim. He was the aggressor, the perpetrator of horrific intimate partner violence, and so to twist the narrative to imply that he was hard done to leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. 

Another instance of this is in your Byronic Hero post, where you suggest that Louis “decides when Lestat gets to live at Rue Royale”, in reference to him being “one of the monsters who’s controlling the household”. We’re talking about someone that has just spent months recovering from a brutal attack by their partner; Lestat chooses to not return because he is ashamed and he knows that Louis has not forgiven him. Louis is not forcing anything on him — and he certainly doesn’t have the power to keep Lestat from RR.

Can you understand why assertions like these are problematic? I understand you wanting to explore the push-pull power dynamic between L&L, but in doing so you seem to be missing the essential through-line in 1.06, which is that Louis and Claudia cannot leave while Lestat lives. Any power they may have once held is overshadowed by Lestat’s absolute control of the household, so to place Louis on level with Lestat as “one of the monsters controlling the household” is at best misguided, and at worst displays an unsettling disregard for victims of IPV. 

(x)

I mean, with all due respect, anon, you're responding to a series of tags I wrote last night that I specifically said I would later clarify and better articulate, so I'm not surprised you're confused and yes, you are misinterpreting me (again, I suspect, as I think you may have sent me asks like this before). I've been clear for months now that the drop is a singular act of violence on this show, and it's not one that I'd ever diminish or underwrite, and as a result, this feels like a pretty bad faith read of something I've both spoken about already and explicitly said I would be talking about again soon. Instead of paying me the respect I extend to all of you by giving me the time to reply in the way I've signalled I would, you've used my tags to make assumptions about what I will say and frankly made some pretty unkind accusations as to my character.

It takes me time and energy to write up replies, particularly replies on this sort of topic that require greater attunement, sensitivity and nuance than others. It's something I do for free, and at the sacrifice of other things in my life, and it's something I do with my name attached, unlike anons. And look, I enjoy doing it - I do - but if you follow me, you should know that my sister - a survivor of recent IPV and her two small children are currently staying with me, after I was a witness in her courtcase against her ex-husband in October - real people, not fictional characters - something I've also been open about, and so you telling me that I have an 'unsettling disregard for victims of IPV' feels like a particularly cruel thing to say to me right now.

I will answer the other anon's ask, as I said that I would, but I'll do it in my own time, and in the meantime, I'd ask that you perhaps don't put words in my mouth or mount arguments to things you yourself say you are confused about or feel you could be misinterpreting. I'll clarify, again, as I said that I would.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Reflection on Fanservice and the Hypmic Movie A.K.A. I Can't Stop Thinking About That IchiKuu Bait (But, Like, In An Intellectual Way)

Watching the Hypmic movie pushed a concept I'd been thinking about to the forefront of my brain: how to write cohesive fanservice.

Fanservice occupies an interesting place within a work by being both a departure from the main plot or setting while simultaneously furthering the works' overarching goals. Fanservice has to be Part of the whole but also recognizably Not--to acknowledge that something is fanservice is to set it apart from the rest of the work with a knowing wink, to say that this aspect of the work is in someway closer to the fourth wall than the rest. If we imagine elements of a fictional work to be two-dimensional panels, inserting fanservice is suddenly turning this two-dimensional stage on its side and revealing that the fanservice panel is closer to the audience than all the rest. It's adding a literal new dimension to the work.

Because fanservice is meant to provide some desirable Thing that cannot be satisfied within the constraints of the main work, fanservice often exists in a quasi-universe of its own. It's like we've jumped onto a new plane--one closer to the audience--when we shifted from the previous two-dimensional panel to the fanservice panel. This plane plays by different rules. Fictional characters can seduce the audience. Men can kiss men; women, women in otherwise heterosexual universes. Then the fanservice ends, the perspective snaps back to the previous plane, and the rules of the universe resume. Fictional characters can't flaunt sexual behavior to an audience whose existence they have no awareness of; homoeroticism can't be anything more than a joke when male/female is the only flavor romance comes in. Whatever happened in the previous panel breaks the rules of the universe--so what happens to it? In most cases, the events of the fanservice panel simply never happened in the main storytelling plane. They're never acknowledged again or contribute to plot, characterization, or themes. Fanservice simply floats on its own plane, disconnected, and can only ever be evaluated in respect to other events in that same plane.

And while that makes the fanservice no less compelling (this isn't a rant against fanservice), doesn't that feel like a waste? Why include a story element if it doesn't work toward some common goal?

Well, it does! Fanservice explicitly performs a feature the rest of the work handles implicitly: defining a target audience. Other story elements (plot, genre, characterization, etc.) create a synergistic effect that suggests certain things about the author's intended reader. People who enjoy misogynistic, medieval fantasy powertrips might also enjoy big titty anime men; handsome, spindly men who solve murders and get covered in blood might also appeal to those who want to see blood-covered men making out. Fanservice rewards those audience members for finding the work and, perhaps unintentionally, can drive away audience members outside of the intended audience. Apart from sheer joy on the author's part to include it, fanservice creates messaging about in-groups and out-groups. Don't like elf titties breasting boobily at the slightest provocation? Stop watching isekai. Don't want to see bloody dudes sucking face? Get out of the ikemen aisle. And so on.

This can cause difficulties, then, when a translator falls outside the target audience. While most established translators have an (often broad) focus, there is generally an aspect of "I sure do like having money for goods and services" that informs a translator accepting a particular assignment. One of the most common complaints I see about otherwise sound translations is a translator failing to recognize fanservice cues or play up fanservice to the degree expected by the target audience. On one hand, this can be really frustrating for the audience! It's understandable to feel slighted or robbed of part of the fun. On the other hand, it can require a lot of extra, unpaid work for a translator to familiarize themself with niche tropes/kinks/etc. It can also be profoundly uncomfortable to write--and attempt to write well!--something you find morally repugnant.

I think matching the author's energies is one of the few things I'm genuinely very good at, so I put a lot of thought into fan service. What does the target audience for this particular type of fan service like, and why do they like it? How should the why factor shape the English text? (This can be fun! Weird kinks? Well, I'm not in the having sex fandom, so off to Ao3 I go. Huh! Here's a byline running through most of these fics--this must be one of the central draws of the kink. I see that same byline in the work, and now I understand the author's intent better. Let's make sure to include that in the translation. This can also be...less fun. My job is to make sexual assault and incest look hot! I'm...not a fan of either of these! I don't really like looking at them, even in fiction! But hey, let's go figure out what the appeal is and see if it can't be reproduced here! Do I feel gross writing it? Yeah, I do. Does that make it any less of my responsibility to do a good job? Personally, I don't think so.) At the same time, it's important that the fanservice doesn't become so off the walls that it fails to integrate into the rest of the translation

This ties back into the question I asked earlier: Isn't it a waste for a story element to be so divorced from the rest of the text? Wouldn't it be nice if fanservice offered something more?

Enter what I call "cohesive fanservice." (I flirted with the term "effective fanservice" but I think that's disingenuous, because fanservice usually serves a different purpose than the rest of the text.) Cohesive fanservice is fanservice that contributes to the rest of the story--be it plot, characterization, themes, whatever.

But wait! Fanservice operates on a different set of rules from the main universe. How are those different rules reconciled? This is usually handled in one of three ways:

The rules aren't reconciled, and the audience is asked to consider the implications of this discrepancy. Here's a fourteen-year-old shaking her butt for the camera in a universe where fourteen-year-olds are sexy. Now we return to the regular universe where that's not true. What does your reaction say about yourself? What does this say about how we as a society sexualize young teens? And so on. It should go without saying that this is not the same thing as pushing the idea that fourteen-year-olds are sexy throughout the entire work. There must be a deliberate attempt to challenge the audience and/or discuss the topic.

The rules aren't reconciled, and this discrepancy has consequences in the plot or characterization. In one of the jobs I alluded to above, a fanservice scene sells a "hot" portrayal of sexual assault. In the rules of the fan service plane, sexual assault is acceptable. But upon returning to the rules of the normal plane, sexual assault is no longer acceptable. Sexual assault is scary and very serious! The assaulter and her victim have a falling out, and we're forced to examine what made the assaulter ever think it was acceptable to force herself upon the victim to begin with. How the assault changes the victim and assaulter and how, if ever, the assaulter can regain the victim's trust are then discussed through the remainder of the series. The discrepancy and its consequences furthers the plot and the characterization thus contributing to the story. While I didn't like translating this scene (it was emotionally draining for maaaaany reasons), I liked what it did for the story and respected the author's choice to include it. I think it's well-written even if not personally enjoyable.

The rules are reconciled because the fan service, outside of its main premise, obeys all the rules of the main plane. Not the same thing as "there's a heterosexual explanation for this." If a character bares their boobies to the camera, then we should expect them to be interested in showing off their body outside of fanservice. If one handsome man waxes poetic about another, he should be the type to deliver heartfelt monologues in general. In a work I have truly egregious creative freedom on (and thus the equally daunting obligation to produce good fiction no matter what), I frequently run up against fanservice walls of this nature. If the author wants character X to do Y--something they never, ever do--it's my job to figure out what would compel X to do Y, how this unknown third thing interacts with the world of the story, and how doing Y affects X. This is Really Damn Hard.

And here I turn to Hypmic for inspiration, because Hypmic is often superb at this third type of cohesive fanservice.

Hypmic is so fanservice heavy it affects the series' ability to cohere--just look at any time the worldbuilding is examined with any degree of seriousness. Between the contradictory and constant needs for the characters to look Hot, act Gay, and be Goofy Goobers (humor can 100% be fanservice), it's kind of a miracle there's any consistency anywhere. Except it's not a miracle--it's really, really good character writing.

Things like ARB that are almost pure fanservice don't need to cohere; there, it's fine if the story jumps back and forth between fifteen hundred different planes because the primary purpose is to entertain. Why not have pterodactyls and also body swapping? You want hot boys too? Sure! Have little a Gentarou bare arms. As a treat. Doppo and Hifumi are confessing their undying love in the corner? Sounds good! Why the hell not! Whee!

But because none of the stakes matter (if ARB!Dice got mauled by a bear, Gentarou and Ramuda would laugh, and then he would show up in the next card alive, shirtless, and pitifully covered in glue), it's hard for audience members to feel emotions outside of levity. Now it's more important for fanservice to follow the rules of the main story plane--because if those rules break in fanservice, why should the audience ever expect them to hold at other times?

Hypmic doesn't always succeed at this, but when it does, it does it very, very well.

The Hypmic movie has lots of good examples of this, but I want to narrow in on the three First Stage leader kiss tease scenes, especially now that the official account gives us references I can legally screenshot and share. There's one that I think is very, very cohesive (IchiKuu), one that I think is not at all (SasaSama), and one that is cohesive on a technicality so bizarre it deserves to be looked at too (JakuRamu).

As a side note, this has nothing to do with my personal enjoyment of the ships--I like SasaSama and IchiKuu pretty much equally. I'm coming at this with my translator hat on, which isn't necessarily objective but is informed on "what do the authors want to convey" and not "what do I, personally, want to focus on."

Let's start with IchiKuu!

Kuukou marches right into Ichirou's personal space and forces Ichirou to lean very far back for the duration of his verse. Then, in Ichirou's verse, Ichirou reverses the position.

Kuukou is shown grinning, and his eyes flare in interest.

(Please ignore the...I can only hope accidental...innuendo in Ichirou telling Kuukou to "take his overwhelming vibes" lol)

I don't think the overall premise of any of these scenes is especially coherent (can you imagine being Juushi in this moment and sweating in nervous horror as Kuukou holds world's most wicked lean, hips fully under Ichirou's, for a solid ten seconds? The way this would blow up on the internet... The questions you, as Juushi, would not be prepared to answer... The pointed silence from Hitoya in the car on the way home... Like come on lol), but each individual action feels true to the character. Both Ichirou and Kuukou would do those things unprompted.

Kuukou is physically comfortable with Ichirou, breaks social conventions, and otherwise gets in people's personal space all the time. Here are two quick examples from DoD chapter 3, which occurs before Ichirou knows Kuukou well.

We've seen Kuukou be aggressive (often and always) and invade Ichirou's personal space in somewhat odd ways, so it makes sense that he'd do so here.

We also know that Ichirou matches Kuukou tit for tat, even when he probably really shouldn't (see Ichirou watch Kuukou break his own arm, call him an idiot, and start fighting him in DH/BAT chapter 9), so it's reasonable to assume Ichirou will ignore common sense and do the exact same thing to Kuukou.

Then, and this is the part that THRILLED me because it showed such deep understanding of the character, Kuukou grins and eats up every bit of Ichirou flexing on him.

A recurring theme in Ichirou and Kuukou's relationship is the idea of Kuukou admiring Ichirou for being "strong." From that same chapter, here's Kuukou admiring Ichirou for beating him up (and being stupid enough to try and beat him up) while expressing anger that someone so cool (again, I must stress, "cool" to Kuukou means physically ripped and dumb as a stump) would be engaged in a morally rotten pursuit like shaking people down for money.

Kuukou doesn't just want to beat Ichirou. Kuukou wants just as badly to see Ichirou beat him and delights in evidence of Ichirou's strength. That's why we see his eyes light up, and that's what cements this scene to me as an amazing piece of fanservice. It reinforces everything we know about these characters and their dynamic and would be feasible, if not a bit exaggerated in this intensity, in a non-fanservice scenario.

Unfortunately, the SasaSama scene falls flat to me for these same reasons, which is an issue a lot of Samatoki and MTC fanservice shares.

Sasara leans in close to Samatoki's mic. Samatoki backs away slightly, surprised, then leans back in with an aggressive look. The camera lingers here for a while as the same "indirect mic kiss" is repeated with the second and third liners. It's reminiscent of MTC's and SasaSama's cigarette kisses.

While I agree with the framing--Sasara doing something to surprise/annoy Samatoki is in character--I think this scene is limited by its position in the song (a chorus where everyone does the same thing; if I recall correctly there's another moment like this further in which isn't much different and similarly failed to impress me) and the need to sell the image of sexy MTC.

It's not that I think MTC is unsexy. It's that I have no reason to believe Samatoki has any desire to make himself look sexy to us.

Compare this image of suave Hifumi (FP/M+ chapter 3) to one of Samatoki breasting boobily (BB/MTC+ chapter 22).

Hifumi is an entertainer by trade. Even not in front of a in-universe audience, as is in this scene when it's just him and the BBs, it makes sense that he would swivel his hips and push his hair back for the IRL audience because he plays up to audiences.

But Samatoki doesn't work in entertainment. He wants to appear tough, not sexy, so it makes no sense for him to turn to the audience and flaunt his body. For this to look natural, the manga often showcases his physical form as incidentally attractive while intentionally threatening.

It feels believable that Samatoki would lunge at the audience and if his shirt just happens to press itself against his massive pecs... oh no... woe is us who have to see that...

This is what makes the cigarette kisses as a whole feel weak to me on a characterization level.

Take the famous SasaSama cigarette kiss in TDD chapter 5 (a chapter so old I don't have it in Japanese...). What reason does Samatoki have to look attractive for the audience? What would compel him to light his cigarette from Sasara's instead of using a lighter, either his or Sasara's?

In general, I think many Hypmic writers struggle to write in-character MTC fanservice because MTC has far fewer reasons to pander themselves. Not only do Samatoki and Juuto have a vested interest in making themselves appear unapproachable, all three have difficulty (at first) trusting one another and (later) showing affection for one another. It's one of the group's core conflicts. While some groups can fall back on shenaniganry (Ramuda tackles Dice! Kuukou whacks Hitoya on the back! Ichirou bearhugs his little bros! and so on), MTC can only do so sparingly to avoid either a) being out-of-character or b) tarnishing the group's tough guy image, which is a major part of MTC's IRL sell. As a result, MTC (and Samatoki in particular) can often feel stiff or muted in group shots, which I felt hard in this movie and in certain segments of the stage plays.

How can this be mitigated? Apart from incidental fanservice (here's a good one from DH/BAT chapter 11--Samatoki lost his lighter in a fight, so he's forced to ask--and therefore trust--Sasara and just so happens to be a pretty boy in the process) and the odd MTC goofball moment, I'd love to see more authors lean into MTC's desire to have connections.

Here's an example from the BB/MTC+ epilogue that handles a group shot with stupendous ease. In it, Samatoki is watching the Buster Bros and Fling Posse after Fling Posse wins the 2nd DRB, swears, is prompted by his teammates, and leaves with a promise that MTC will win the next DRB. This is nothing exceptional--virtually every MTC loss in every medium ever goes exactly like this--but the presentation changes everything.

The deliberate pacing, the focus on Samatoki's attention, the refusal to show Samatoki's eyes/facial expression after the close-ups on the teams hugging, the stark shot of the palpable distance between the MTC members, the hunch in Samatoki's shoulders, and the close-up on Juuto's left-behind cigarette tell a completely different story than "Grr, I'm so tough I'll swear and say 'we'll get 'em next time.'" Suddenly, MTC isn't reticent because it's cool. It's that they're so stuck being cool it forces them to be reticent, but that's a heavy burden and not one MTC bears lightly. That's completely in-line with their characterization and a fantastic take on them! I want to see more like this!

As for what to do about the SasaSama kiss tease... I'd love for them to have justifiable, in-character actions that in turn support their dynamic. Sasara getting in Samatoki's face is fine; he can easily do so if his purpose is to annoy or as part of a physical gag. Samatoki can then fall for the bait and lean further in or grab Sasara by the collar and tug him forward intimidatingly--here's that happening in canon in DoD chapter 4--whereupon we can have another, less surface-level interaction.

Sasara and Samatoki's theme is partnership, so a good piece of fanservice should lean into that. Either Samatoki could suddenly finish the joke (as part of a verse, perhaps?) Sasara started (causing Sasara to be surprised, then elated) because Samatoki's a dork and a softie at heart--source: literally all of canon--or something happens to Samatoki's mic, necessitating Sasara to offer his and letting Samatoki finish the verse from Sasara's mic. (Sasara can still remain in kissing distance to chaperone it as need be.) Inherent trust, leaning on one another, etc. etc. I get that it's difficult to stress partnership in an adversarial scenario, but there's really so much room for creativity here. It's a shame we didn't get more.

Maybe the writers were saving all their creativity for whatever the fuck Jakurai and Ramuda were up to.

In this scene, Jakurai advances at Ramuda during a verse. Ramuda backs up, loses his balance, and falls on his backside. Jakurai, in a certified Jakurai moment, kneels down until he's straddling Ramuda and delivers the rest of the verse a few centimeters from Ramuda's lips. Ramuda blushes. (His model blushes often and freely in the film, including several other times Jakurai's around.)

In some versions of the film, there's a shot of this from the back where you can't see what's going on. This is a common visual shorthand for kissing or sex in JPN media.

Ramuda eventually has enough, flips Jakurai over, climbs on him, and repeats the same procedure. Jakurai looks vaguely unamused like he wasn't the one who started it.

I can't begin to pretend this is a sensible thing to do, so I won't. I cannot formulate a single good reason for Jakurai to have done this. (Ramuda has a weak case for payback, and I'd even understand it if Ramuda started it, since he gets in Jakurai's face to a) be obnoxious and b) bring Jakurai "down to his level" all the time--but Jakurai???) There's an element of entertainment in the DRB which allows us to suspend our disbelief for choreo and other flashy movements, but this isn't choreo and Jakurai is not a flashy character.

However, I can't knock it as hard as I knocked the SasaSama bait because, in ass-backward fashion, Jakurai has canonically exhibited so much inexplicable behavior toward Ramuda in the name of fan service that it's in-character for him to act bizarrely around Ramuda.

This psuedo-canonization of Jakurai's freakshit rests on three things:

Jakurai's universal character trait of socially atypical behavior and difficulty understanding social dynamics. Because Ramuda also behaves atypically and is inappropriately touchy-feely/affectionate in general, this gives all their TDD shenaniganry credibility. It's not. Hmm. It's not not distracting and obvious fanservice whenever Jakurai stares at Ramuda for five panels and the mangaka busts out the lens flares, but there's a whole canon's worth of characterization that the assertion "Jakurai is oddly hung up on Ramuda" can comfortably rest on. We see Jakurai nursing a similarly long-lived (if less in our faces every second of the day) hang-up on Hitoya.

Good lord, the sheer quantity of it. Like DoHifu or GenDice, there are so many examples of fanservicey behavior to point to that they can't all be written off as flukes. That is, we can accept to some degree that Samatoki and Sasara didn't really rap a chorus in kissing distance according to the rules of Hypmic's main story plane--romantic relations between the characters don't canonically exist and, uh, it'd be awkward to be that close. We can't write off every single instance of Jakurai being weird at Ramuda without it breaking the story. To some extent, lack of romantic relations be damned, Jakurai and Ramuda are getting handsy and being obsessed with each other.

Some JakuRamu fanservice is coherent fanservice type 2--it breaks the rules of the main story plane (no gay time for rappers) and this has consequences. Characters will remark that Jakurai and Ramuda are atypically close or even that they obviously want to be closer, two such conversations of which take place in this movie. Here's a more obvious example in the TDD vol 4 bonus. Samatoki and Ichirou find Jakurai's Ramuda-braided hair weird (there's flag 1, socially atypical behavior) and comment on the two of them being especially close (flag 2).

Here's Samatoki being annoyed at their bullshit as a freebie. (I just love the way the mangaka draws him here haha. "What the hell does that [made-up word Ramuda pulled out of his ass to describe him and Jakurai] mean?" He's so long-suffering.)

These three factors essentially instate a rule in the story plane such that, left to their own devices, Jakurai and Ramuda will engage in largely inexplicable shipbait behavior. Which is outrageously funny.

GenDice and HifuDo fall in the same camp, with the latter having somewhat stauncher reasoning (lifelong best friends) than the former (Gentarou, uh...gets a kick out of fucking with Dice). The thing is, whereas this was undeniably intentional with HifuDo--we see this degree of shipbait laid out for them in the earliest pieces of Hypmic media--and arguably so with GenDice, I genuinely don't know if the Hypmic writers intended for JakuRamu (especially Jakurai) to progress in quite this fashion.

While it's clear from creator comments that there is a central writing team and that creators are expected to follow certain mandates from this team, creators are also given a surprising degree of creative freedom. When one creator--a voice actor in a live, a stage actor in a show, a manga artist in a chapter--does something the central writing team/other creators think is clever, this will be picked up and added to the character. One example of this phenomenon is Kuukou backflipping, something first introduced in the stageplay and now ported to the movie. So while early drama track Jakurai is not unreasonably hung up on his old friend and betrayer Ramuda, the manga artists came out the gate swinging with their own agendas. As other manga original content was added to Jakurai's character (much of his body language in the stage play is from the manga; the hand motif is largely from the manga), I can't help but wonder if this came along for the ride. Sure, JakuRamu was always meant to be a marketable ship, but did the writers intend Jakurai to be the driving force of so much of it?

In conclusion: Did these three kiss teases feel "earned" to me?

IchiKuu? Yes.

SasaSama? No.

JakuRamu? By virtue of a loophole...I guess so?

[emperor-kumquat]

Transformers: Mercy is launching its first GOFUNDME! It has a larger goal of $10 000 CAD and I hope we can get some momentum for it. Every little bit helps though! I haven't been making a lot of money irl lately but I'm still trying to keep the art scenes flowing to make this game possible! I'll make a YouTube announcement later, just getting this started.

Description:

Hi, I'm Emperor Kumquat!

For years I have been writing multiple storylines for a massive Transformers: Prime choose your own adventure story fan sequel intended to be a free game on YouTube. You play as Predaking: a powerful but young character who has the chance to change the world and himself for the better or worse. And it all begins with your choice of what to do with Starscream: Will you kill him, or show mercy?

I write carefully crafted plots faithful to the lore of Transformers: Prime, expanding it creatively and adding in new characters. Each storyline has its own unique feel and takes you on an emotional journey with its plot and plot twists. Feel excitement and anxiety trying to navigate survival game portions against villains like Overlord and Tarn, and run for your life from Sunder! Reviews have also revealed this story's potential to make some cry...

You can see what TRANSFORMERS: MERCY is all about to know exactly what passionate and carefully planned work you would be supporting. Branches of stories are fully written and posted on AO3 (with choices) and fanfiction.net (guided playthroughs). This game has already collected around 1000 pieces of art from 100 volunteer and paid artists, most of which are viewable on my Ko-Fi page emperorkumquat. Example chapters in their complete video forms exist on the YouTube channel @Emperor Kumquat and the second channel (for official uploads) @Transformers: Mercy.

Until now, this story game has been funded entirely out of pocket and from the donations of kind supporters. However, much more art work is required to progress the development of the stories from written form into video form. 100% of donations will be used to pay passionate Transformers artists within the fandom (for the most love in every image). Transformers: Mercy is a project of high moral standing which supports artists in college or in difficult financial situations. It is anti-AI and beWelcome to Transformers Mercy lieves in the beauty of developing one's own skills. By navigating my Ko-Fi gallery and Tumblr blog (@emperor kumquat), you can see for yourself my commitment to supporting artists.

Transformers, of course, belongs to Hasbro! I am not affiliated with Hasbro, which is why Transformers: Mercy includes mature themes of violence and death (no sexuality!). This project is free to read or watch and all donations are immediately transferred to artists as soon as they come. I make no personal profit from Transformers: Mercy.

[untitledrockstar-if]

Q: WHAT ARE THE CONTENT WARNINGS?

substance abuse, allusions to abuse, sexual content, mental health struggles and infidelity. this game is intended for mature audiences and depicts dark themes that are sadly normal in the entertainment industry.

Q: WHAT IS MC’S ROLE/JOB?

they’re currently the partner of a rockstar and are considered an It boy/girl. you can choose a career later on and pursue dreams outside of the band.

Q: WHAT ARE THE CAREERS WE CAN CHOOSE FROM?

actor/actress, artist, musician and model for now. 

Q: HOW OLD IS EVERY CHARACTER?

mc: 27, ronan/roxanne: 29 about to turn 30 in game, charles/colette: 40/41, scarlett/samuel: 28, milan/margo: 23 and ????: 28

Q: WHO CAN YOU ROMANCE?

ronan/roxanne, samuel/scarlett, charles/colette, milan/margo and ????

Q: WHO IS ????

that will be revealed in game and I won’t spoil it now.

Q: ARE DRUGS REQUIRED TO BE TAKEN?

at the beginning, yes. mc has fully immersed themself in the lifestyle of the band and does drugs and drinks.

Q: WHY IS MC SO MEAN TO RANDOM CHARACTERS/THE REST OF THE CAST?

because they’ve been living this lifestyle for 3 years and the industry oftentimes changes people for the worse.

Q: WILL THE INFIDELITY TAKE PLACE BETWEEN R AND MC?

yes.

Q: IS THE CHEATING GOING TO HAPPEN REGARDLESS OF OUR CHOICES?

yes, it’s an important plot point later on.

Q: CAN WE CHEAT ON R IN RETURN?

yes, you can.

Q: DOES R REALLY LOVE MC?

they do! people still do stupid shit to people they love however. 

Q: CAN WE BREAK UP WITH R?

yes, but not at the start.

Q: DO WE HAVE TO BREAK UP WITH R?

no, you don't have to.

Q: CAN WE GET BACK TOGETHER WITH R?

yes, but that will take some time.

Q: WILL R CHANGE IF/WHEN MC LEAVES THEM?

they might try to get better. 

Q: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN (X)?

I won’t spoil anything. let’s just wait and see.

Q: HOW WILL R REACT WHEN (X)?

that will be discussed in game.

Q: CAN YOU TELL US WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THEY BREAK UP?

no, as we are at the beginning and I want to leave at least some things as a surprise. 

Q: CAN WE LEAVE R AFTER CHAPTER ONE?

no. mc and R are going to be together happily until the end of the first third of the game.

Q: ARE SEX SCENES MANDATORY?

yes. R and mc communicate through sex a lot and this game relies on romance and sex will be part of it.

Q: CAN MC BE ON TOP TOO/MORE DOMINANT?

yes, but seeing as there’ll be 4 different variations of every sex scene based on the gender of your RO and the mc themself, I won’t offer too much  input in terms of choices who will be on top when. the scenes play out the way I feel are best and you can’t be a strict top/bottom this time around. 

Q: CAN YOU ADD (X) TO THE STORY?

no. I plotted this game already and want it to play out the way I envision.

Q: WHY DIDN’T YOU WRITE R AND MC LIKE (X)?

because I didn’t.

Q: WHAT INSPIRED THIS IF?

general gossip I’ve read, shows and movies depicting the reality of what being a star entails. certain books like tshoeh and djats.

Q: HOW LONG WILL IT BE WORD COUNT AND CHAPTER WISE?

around 9/10 chapters are planned but I’m not sure about a wc yet.

Q: DID R LOVE THEIR EX?

yes, in their own way.

Q: WILL BE EXPLORE HOW MC AND R MET?

yes, mc’s and R’s past will be depicted and discussed at length.

[utilitycaster]

I think 22 (and a half because I started watching the wrong episode yesterday lol) episodes into a rewatch of Campaign 2, which is something I haven't previously done, I can confidently say that while I understand the "meandering" sentiment from people doing an initial watch, especially if they're avoiding spoilers, it ultimately does not hold up as a criticism of Campaign 2 as a whole. Even stretches I remembered - as a person who enjoyed the campaign - as slower or less interesting are in fact rich with character development or subtle seeding of later plot. While I think the Mighty Nein ultimately cemented their bonds in the wake of Molly's death, episodes 12-22 are an incredible study in the party learning to work together, slowly revealing tantalizing amounts of their respective backstories, and often clashing while still working towards a goal.

I also think that the wrap-up for campaign 2 is great, but the Augen Trust storyline*, while intriguing, gave some people the incorrect idea that the party "avoided" the plot rather than simply picked a different one. I've talked before about how the early plot of Campaign 2 does require some degree of faith and patience; but ultimately, a story about a party learning more about themselves and their pasts while a longstanding cold war becomes an active conflict, juxtaposed with a view into the past of the world at large, manages to unfold with incredible grace and fluidity despite the party working with the other side of the conflict than Matt intended. Indeed, that ends up strengthening the themes! And on a more basic level, the plot was ultimately driven by character choices: the Mighty Nein's actions followed narratively from who they were and what they wished to accomplish (and what they tried but failed to accomplish) rather than them being passive bystanders or worse, steamrolled.

Ultimately, I think it's fair to say the early plot of Campaign 2 requires patience and an open mind; but that is also how I think any longer work needs to be approached! And it's a far sight better than the grim endurance of aimless waffling that the plot of Campaign 3 required.

*while we're at it though, the whole unrealized Jiana Hexum/Golem storyline doesn't get treated as Bells Hells avoiding the plot even though it's almost certainly a factor in why, as @wardensantoineandevka has noted, the location of Marquet felt overlooked, underused, and ultimately irrelevant.

[angelsglitch]

PARTNER

𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

cute lil fic 💋

there is some until dawn characters in this ;-;

content: ellie x fem reader, enemies to lovers, ellie catches feelings first, reader is lowk a bitch in the middle. r!receiving.

warnings: adult themes, smut, idk

extra: use of 𖤐 for readers name bc i don’t like y/n. a little ooc with some characters but idc, for example ellie would not be friends with mike😭😭��🏼 but it’s just for the plot LOL.

lowercase intended

you never really liked ellie, the two have you have never been friends nor did you want to be. it was hard to avoid each other since the two of you shared the same friends — but it didn’t bother you too much to be in the same room together

you’d been partnered up with ellie to go on patrol, however you had overslept leading it to banging on your front door in attempts to get you to wake up.

“god wake the fuck up! there’s no way you’re still sleeping, we should have already left!” ellie shouts through your front door, clearly aggravated. the door does open but ellie was confused to be greeted by someone that wasn’t you.

instead of simply opening the door, matt swings it wide, his disoriented expression suggesting he'd just woken up, clearly startled by the shouting.

ellie looked up at matt, clearly annoyed. "where's 𖤐?" she said bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. he rubs his eyes, blinking in confusion. "oh, hey ellie, man." he mutters, extending his hand for their usual handshake.

ellie looks at matt's hand, before looking back up at him and rolling her eyes. she doesn't do the handshake, which is unlike her. "where is she?" she asks again, more demanding this time. she was in a pissy mood.

her looks momentarily taken aback by her sharp tone. rude demeanour "she's asleep. why? are you good?" she sighs, getting more frustrated. "yeah, i’m fine…just- wake her up, will you? we’ve got patrol.”

“yeah, okay- but- seriously man, you okay?”

ellie sighs, leaning against the doorframe and looking away from matt

"it's nothing. i just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

"whatever you say, man." he mutters, closing the door behind him. two minutes later, the door creaks open again, revealing you, still half-asleep. your eyes struggle to open as you try to focus on her, you’re wearing a white tank top and small black shorts that you slept in the night before. rubbing your eyes, you glance up at her and murmur, "hey."

ellie's eyes look you up and down as she sees your outfit. she tries to keep her eyes from wandering and she looks away, trying to act like she wasn't checking you out.

"you finally decided to wake up." she said in a sarcastic tone.

“mhm.” you mutter, still clearly tired from being woken up.

ellie couldn't help but steal another glance at your body. she cursed herself in her head for letting her eyes wander again. “are you gonna get dressed or what?" she asked, trying to hide the fact that she was struggling to look away from you. "uh, what are we doing?" you ask, your voice thick with sleep, still struggling to fully wake.

ellie takes a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand. "we're going on patrol. so get your lazy ass dressed and let's go." you look at her for a second, processing what she said "ohhh, yeah," you mumble, closing the door once more. ten minutes later, it creaks open again, and this time, you're dressed and looking much more presentable.

ellie looks at you again, her eyes scanning your body for a brief moment before she snaps out of it. she gives you a nod of approval, attempting to act nonchalant.

"finally. let's go."

"bye, matt!" you call out into the house before quickly shutting the door behind you. matt's voice can be heard shouting back from inside the house."bye! don't die!"

“oh.” you say.

ellie rolls her eyes again at matt's words, shaking her head "ignore him. he's an idiot." she says, beginning to walk away from your house and towards the main gates to leave. you nod and jog a little to catch up to her. the guards let you out and you leave, you walk into the forest, ready to clear any infected you see and make your way to the next look out.

ellie leads the way through the forest, walking in silence. she steals glances at you occasionally, her eyes always lingering a little too long before she looks away again.

ellie clears her throat, breaking the silence.

"soo... how was your night?" she asks, trying to make conversation. she was struggling to keep her eyes off you, but she knew she had to try to act normal. you look at her, confused, wondering why she’s suddenly trying to make conversation when the two of you have never really been friendly in the past.

“if you’re asking why matt was there, nothing happened.” you say bluntly.

something did happen — but she didn’t need to know that.

she was friends with mike, your ex, and you didn’t need her going back and telling mike that matt was at your house.

ellie lets out a small sigh of relief, a bit of tension leaving her body. she wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of you being alone with matt.

"okay, good. i was just curious." she said, trying to sound casual.

“good?” you repeat.

ellie mentally cursed herself for letting her words slip. she hadn't meant to sound possessive, but it had come out that way.

“i just... i mean, it's not a big deal or anything. i was just asking." she quickly tried to cover up her slip up.

"well, no," you begin, rambling, your words tumbling out in a rush. "it's just... i know you're close with mike, and I don't want you running back to him saying matt stayed over at my house when i'm not anything with either of them anymore." you trail off, clearly stressed and trying to make sense of it all.

ellie clenches her jaw, feeling a pang of jealousy at the mention of mike. “i’m not going to run back and tell anyone anything." she says defensively, trying to hide her annoyance.

"sure." you scoff, clearly not believing her.

ellie rolls her eyes again, her frustration growing. “why are you being so defensive about this? It's not like I care who stays over at your house." she lies, knowing full well that she does care.

“ok but mike does, he’s my ex—he’ll be mad, and he’s your friend so you would tell him, it’s common sense.” you reply hastily. ellie sighs, knowing that you were right. mike would be pissed if he found out that matt stayed over at your house. especially since matt was a problem in the relationship when you and mike dated. since matt is another one of your exes. but we don’t need to get into that.

“fine, maybe I would tell him. but it's not like he has any right to be mad. you're not with him anymore." she replies

“just because he doesn’t have any right to be mad doesn’t mean he won’t be mad.” you say clearly annoyed by her naive answer. ellie stops walking and turns to face you, her expression a mix of irritation and something else. “why do you care what mike thinks? you're not with him anymore, remember? you don't owe him anything."

"yeah, but it's just drama," you sigh, frustration creeping into your voice. "mike had a problem with matt when we were dating because i’m friends with matt, and matt’s my ex. so, if mike found out matt stayed over, it would just start an argument. I just can’t be fucking bothered" you frown, getting increasingly upset that she keeps pushing the topic.

she laughs mockingly, crossing her arms over her chest. "so you're just going to let mike dictate who you can and can't have over? that’s bullshit."

"surprised you're not defending him," you say, looking up at her. "you always do when he's around." you narrow your eyes, wondering why she’s challenging you instead of automatically defending her best friend. ellie looks away, feeling a pang of guilt. she knew you were right, she always defended mike no matter what he did or said. "i'm not always defending him." she mumbled, knowing full well that she was.

“you are.”

ellie sighs again, running a hand through her hair in frustration. “okay.” she pauses “maybe i do. but it's not because i agree with everything he says. i just... i don't know. he's my friend, my best friend and I want to support him."

you scoff. “right.” you nod sarcastically, showing you think she’s full of shit.

ellie rolls her eyes again, starting to get annoyed with your tone. “what's that supposed to mean?" she asks, her voice slightly sharp. “what’s what supposed to mean” you reply.

she glares at you, her patience wearing thin. “you keep saying 'right' like you don't believe me—like you think i'm a complete idiot for defending mike."

you chuckle. “well you are.”

ellie clenches her fists, her anger flaring up. "oh, so now i'm an idiot? because i care about my friend?"

“oh my god!” you throw your hands up in the air “i don't care what you do all im saying is don't go running back to mike saying shit”

she takes in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "i won't, okay? i’m not gonna tell mike about matt staying over, but you have to understand that i'm not going to stop being friends with him just because you don't like him."

“when did i ever say stop being friends with him?” you snap

she looks at you, slightly confused. "you just implied it. you keep saying that i always defend him and that I'm stupid for it. it just sounds like you don't want me to be friends with him."

you pull a confused face “you and i aren’t even friends! why would i care who you’re friends with?”

you both stay silent for a moment

until you speak up “look, you and i aren’t ever gonna be friends and we’re obviously never gonna like each other and that’s fine.”

ellie feels a pang of disappointment at your words. she had been trying to deny it, but deep down she knew that you were right. she didn't like you, and you didn't like her.

“yeah, i know. enemies, like you said.”

ellie sighs again, looking away from you. there was a strange tension between you two, a mixture of annoyance and something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"can we just... get back to patrol? we’ve got a job to do."

you and ellie finish up patrol and head back to jackson. having neither one of you spoken a word since your little argument earlier.

the two of you walk through the jackson gates, both of you still feeling the tension from earlier. the sun is starting to set, casting a warm orange glow over the town.

"finally, we're done." ellie says, relieved to be back. she stretches her arms above her head, trying to ease the stiffness in her muscles.

“yep.” you say bluntly, then walking off in the direction of your house, your boots treading in the snow as you walked.

the next day your friends were chilling and drinking at dina’s house, and unsurprisingly, ellie was there too.

ellie is sitting on the couch, sipping a drink, being more quiet than usual. she glances around the room, noticing that everyone is having a good time. however, she can't help but feel a bit on edge. she looks over at you, trying to gauge your mood.

ellie notices that you seem to be deep in thought, your eyes fixed on the wall in front of you. she debates whether or not to approach you, not wanting to push you too hard. she decides to give you some space for now, but keeps an eye on you from across the room.

as the night goes on, ellie can't shake the feeling that something is off with you. she's used to you being more outgoing and talkative, but tonight you're quieter than usual. she finally decides to get up and make her way over to you.

she takes a seat next to you on the couch, trying to sound casual.

“hey, you good?”

you snap out of your thoughts then an annoyed expression takes over your face “why’re you being nice to me all of a sudden. what do you want.”

ellie is taken aback by your bluntness, but she tries to hide her surprise.

“i'm not being nice, i was just checking on you. is that a crime?”

you scoff “you’re never nice to me.”

she rolls her eyes, a hint of defensiveness in her voice.“i’m nice to you sometimes. we just... obviously don't get along that well."

“so keep it that way then.”

ellie clenches her jaw, frustration building up inside her. she can't believe how stubborn you're being.

"you know what? forget it. i don't know why i even bothered."

she gets up from the couch and walks away, leaving you alone once again.

ellie joins the others, trying to distract herself from the tension between you two. she chats with jesse and dina, but her mind keeps wandering back to you. she can't help but feel like she did something wrong, even though she was just trying to be friendly.

as the night continues, ellie finds herself stealing glances at you every now and then. she sees you laughing and joking with the others, but she can't shake the feeling that something is still off.

she can't understand why you always push her away. she thought maybe you two were starting to get along, but it seems like every time she tries to get closer, you shut her out.

her mind stops racing suddenly as cat, her ex, sits down next to her

ellie is caught off guard as cat takes a seat next to her. they had broken up a while ago, and ellie had been avoiding her since then.

cat smiles at her, trying to act casual.

"hey, ellie. how've you been?"

ellie forces a smile, trying to be polite despite her discomfort. “i’ve been good. just been chilling, you know." she glances over at you, wondering if you're watching them. she feels a pang of guilt for some reason.

you cast a sharp glance at cat, your face twisting in distaste. the tension between the two of you had always been palpable, a silent feud that had never quite dissipated.

cat notices your glare and rolls her eyes. she's never liked you either, and the feeling is mutual.

ellie sees the exchange between you two and sighs. she knows that you and cat have a history of disliking each other, and she wishes you would just get along.

cat turns back to ellie, ignoring your glare.

"so, any plans for the weekend?"

ellie shrugs, still feeling uneasy. "not really. just the usual patrol and chores. nothing exciting." she tries to keep the conversation light, but her mind is still on you and the tension between you all.

cat's sharp gaze flickers over to ellie, noticing the distant look in her eyes. she raises an eyebrow, her voice laced with curiosity.

"you seem off. something bothering you?"

ellie pauses, a brief flicker of uncertainty crossing her features. she weighs the decision in her mind—whether to confide in cat or keep her thoughts to herself.

ellie sighs again, deciding to be honest. "it's just... i don't know. things have been weird lately. between you and me, and... well, with her." she gestures subtly in your direction, hoping cat will understand who she's referring to.

"𖤐?” cat’s brow furrows in confusion before she lets out a short, incredulous laugh. "what about her?"

ellie nods, her cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment. "yeah, her. i don’t know what’s going on with her. she’s been acting... weird. meaner than usual. it's like something’s off, but i can’t figure out what."

cat scoffs, her tone blunt as she leans back slightly.

"well, yeah, because she doesn’t like you." she says, as if stating the obvious.

ellie frowns, feeling a pang of hurt at cat's words. “yeah, i know she doesn't like me. but i thought maybe we were getting somewhere. i thought we could at least be civil."

cat rolls her eyes, clearly unimpressed by ellie’s hesitance. "honestly, i wouldn’t bother trying to befriend her. she’s always been difficult to deal with." she says, her tone laced with frustration.

ellie bites her lip, torn. she knows cat has a point, that you can be difficult, but there’s something about you—something she can’t quite put her finger on—that keeps pulling her in, making her want to understand you despite everything.

cat catches the conflicted expression on ellie’s face, her eyebrow arching skeptically. "you're not seriously thinking about being friends with her after all this time of you two at fucking each other's throats?”

ellie looks away, her gaze drifting to the floor as her mind churns with indecision. she knows she shouldn’t try and create a friendship with you, considering the two of you have never liked each other and never planned on liking each other, but—something deep inside her won’t let go of the pull she feels toward you.

"i'm not—" she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper. "i just... i don’t know. there’s something about her that makes me want to keep trying. i mean- we’re all in the same friend group; we’re not little kids anymore we should be able to be grown and be civil with each other—friends even. and that goes for you and her too.”

cat scoffs, shaking her head with a mix of frustration and disbelief. "you're too nice for your own good, ellie. she’s not worth it. trust me, i’ve known her long enough. she’s just going to keep pushing you away."

ellie sighs, the weight of cat’s words sinking in. she knows deep down that cat was probably right—that you’ve built walls so high it seems pointless to try and break them down. but still, there’s something inside her, a gut feeling that there’s more to you than the cold exterior you show the world. and for some reason, she can't shake it.

the conversation is interrupted as jesse calls out to ellie, asking her to join him for a game of cards.

ellie looks at cat apologetically before getting up to join jesse. she glances back at you one last time, her mind still racing with thoughts about your relationship.

as the night goes on, ellie tries to focus on the game and the conversations around her, but her thoughts keep drifting back to you. she can't help but wonder why you're being so difficult, and why she feels so drawn to you despite your attitude.

she glances at you again, noticing that you're talking and laughing with the others, but you don't seem to be paying much attention to her.

after a while, ellie excuses herself from the game and heads outside for some fresh air. she needs a moment to clear her head and think things through. she leans against the wall, staring up at the sky as she tries to make sense of her feelings. why does she care so much about someone who clearly doesn't want anything to do with her?

"that’s cute.” a voice cuts through the tension, causing ellie to jump in surprise. she turns quickly, only to see you standing behind her, a smirk tugging at the corners of your lips.

before she can respond, you casually close dina’s front door, the sound echoing through the quiet. without missing a beat, you drop to the ground, sitting in the snow and crossing your legs, taking in the cold air with a quiet exhale.

ellie jumps slightly at the sound of your voice, not expecting you to come outside. she quickly wipes away the heart she drew and turns to face you, trying to act casual.

"what’re you doing out here?" she asks, trying to hide her surprise.

"needed some air." you say, your gaze flicking over to ellie as you settle into the snow, your tone surprisingly casual. you seem unfazed, as if the cold doesn't bother you in the slightest.

ellie nods, looking at you as you sit in the snow. she can't help but notice how peaceful you look, with the moonlight illuminating your face.

"yeah, me too."

there's an awkward silence between you two, both of you unsure of what to say.

"who’s the heart for? cat?" you ask, the words laced with a hint of sarcasm, though there’s an edge of genuine curiosity in your voice as you glance toward ellie.

"what? no, it’s not for cat." ellie snaps defensively, her cheeks flushing slightly as she shifts uncomfortably. she wasn’t expecting that question, and it stirs something she wasn’t quite ready to confront.

“but she’s your ex isn’t she?” you say, challenging her.

ellie sighs, knowing that there's no point in denying it. "yeah, she is. but it's not like that anymore. we broke up a while ago."

“so who then?” you push the subject, genuinely curious.

ellie looks away, her cheeks flushing slightly. she's not used to being so vulnerable, especially with you. "i... i don't know. no one important, i guess." she can't bring herself to admit that the heart was for you. she's afraid of what you'll think, of how you'll react. she was supposed to hate you—she always hated you, she didn’t know why just today she had a sudden change of heart.

you scoff “what?”

ellie looks at you, annoyed by your reaction. "what do you mean, 'what'? i just told you it's for someone who isn't important." she crosses her arms, feeling defensive.

"if they weren't important why would you have done it?" you ask, a sharp edge to your voice, frustration creeping through. you can’t quite mask the annoyance at her secrecy—it’s clear she’s holding something back, and it's starting to get under your skin.

ellie rolls her eyes, trying to keep her cool. "because i was bored, okay? i just felt like drawing something in the snow. it doesn't mean anything."

she knows that she's lying, but she doesn't want to admit the truth. she doesn't want to admit that the heart was for you, that she's been thinking about you more than she should be.

the two of you say silent.

ellie lets out an exasperated sigh. “why do you even care who the heart was for?" she's starting to get irritated with your questioning, feeling like you're picking at her for no reason

“i don’t. i was just asking, is that a fucking crime?" you snap back, your irritation rising as you glare at her. "jeez." you mutter, clearly fed up with her attitude, the tension between you both thickening.

ellie clenches her jaw, trying to control her temper.

"no, it's not a crime. but you're being really pushy about it."

she looks at you once more, her eyes narrowing slightly. "why are you even out here again? shouldn't you be inside with everyone else?"

“needed some fresh air, like i said” you say frustratedly

ellie nods, feeling a bit guilty for snapping at you. "right… sorry. i didn't mean to get all defensive." she takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "i just... i don't know. you're always so difficult to talk to."

"what’s that supposed to mean?" you ask, confusion flickering across your face, quickly replaced by offense. you hadn’t expected her to react like that, and now you're left questioning her tone, wondering if there's more behind her words than she's letting on.

ellie shrugs, feeling a mix of frustration and confusion. "it means exactly what it sounds like. you're always such a fucking bitch and just- so rude, like you don't want to be around me."

she looks at you, her eyes searching yours for any sign of emotion.

"we’ve never been friends," you say, your voice tinged with confusion as you try to make sense of what she's getting at. "why are you acting like this is some kind of big deal?" the words feel sharper now, a mix of frustration and genuine confusion.

ellie sighs, a deep, quiet disappointment settling in her chest. “i know that," she admits, her voice soft. "but i thought maybe... i don't know, maybe we could be."

she gazes down at the snow, tracing small patterns with her fingers.

"but you always push me away. every time i actually do try to be nice you always pick a fight." the words hang in the air, the raw honesty in them unmistakable.

you stay silent for a moment then speak up “you’re mean to me too, I thought maybe you’d grown up and we could just be civil but no you always have to be a bitch.”

ellie's eyes widen in surprise at your words. she wasn't expecting you to call her out like that. "i'm not a bitch," she protests, her voice rising slightly. "i just... i don't know how to talk to you. you always act like you hate me."

“you are—and you have literally said, multiple times on, multiple occasions that you hate me” you huff

ellie looks away, feeling a mix of guilt and defensiveness. "okay, fine. i have said that i hate you. but it's not because i do. it's because you make it so fucking hard to like you." she turns back to face you, her expression softening slightly. "you're always so… i’dunno.. cold? and standoffish. you never let anyone in."

“well maybe because they’re all bitches like you.” you laugh as a flash of annoyance creeps into your expression.

ellie flinches at your words, feeling like you just punched her in the gut. "you know what? forget it. i don't know why i even bothered trying to talk to you." she stands up, brushing the snow off her pants. "cat was right. you are impossible to deal with. i don't know why i thought you would ever change."

you scoff, the words leaving your mouth with clear frustration. "you're such a bitch!" rising to your feet, you fix her with a glare, your eyes intense and full of resolve.

ellie clenches her fists, trying to hold back her anger. "and you're such a stuck up one at that! you think you're so much fucking better than everyone else!" she takes a step closer to you, her eyes blazing with frustration.

ellie stares back at you, her chest heaving with anger. She can feel the tension between you two growing stronger with each passing second.

“what? cat got your tongue?" she snaps, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

you shove her away, the tension in your chest snapping as you storm back into dina's house. the door slams behind you, and you take the stairs two at a time, your heart pounding in your chest. ellie’s footsteps echo behind you, relentless, but your friends are too lost in their drunken haze to even notice the storm brewing between you two.

you can almost hear their laughter and slurred chatter, distant and hollow, as you reach the top of the stairs, alone with your thoughts and the weight of what just happened.

ellie follows you up the stairs, her anger fueling her steps. she's determined to get the last word in. “i wasn’t fucking finished talking to you!" she demands, catching up to you in the hallway.

you storm into the guest bedroom, the anger surging through you like a tidal wave. without a second thought, you slam the door behind you, the sharp bang echoing in the quiet house.

your breath comes in heavy, controlled bursts as you try to shake off the fury bubbling beneath your skin. you can hear her muffled voice from the other side, but you don’t care. she’s pushed you too far this time.

ellie grits her teeth as the door slams in her face. she stands outside the door, debating whether to barge in or walk away.

after a moment of hesitation, she reaches for the doorknob and tries to open the door.

“what do you want?!” you shout.

ellie pushes the door open and steps into the room, closing it behind her. she crosses her arms, her eyes narrowing at you. "i want to talk to you. you can't just fucking storm off like that and leave me hanging."

“you’re a bitch! that’s all there is to it!” you reply starting to get aggravated.

ellie lets out a frustrated growl, her patience wearing thin. "no you’re a fucking bitch! you know what? i'm done trying to be nice to you. you’re a brat! you don't deserve it."

“oh fuck off!” you scoff, trying to push past her

ellie takes a step closer to you, blocking your way and her voice rising. "no, you fuck off! I've had enough of your attitude. you're always so fucking difficult to deal with!"

“i don’t care what you think!” you snap, your voice rising with the heat of your anger. the words taste bitter on your tongue, a mix of frustration and hurt. every insult she threw at you feels like a weight pressing down harder, but you refuse to let it break you. you stand there, chest heaving, every muscle taut, as the tension between you simmers.

ellie clenches her fists, her anger boiling over. "oh, you don't care? that's fucking rich coming from someone who can't even bother to be civil for five minutes." she takes another step closer, closing the distance between you.

you scoff, looking her in the eye, “you’re the most aggravating fucking bitch I have ever fucking met”

ellie's face reddens with anger.

"and you're the most fucking insufferable bitch i’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing!" she's standing so close to you now, her chest almost touching yours.

you stand there, frozen in the moment, the sting of her insult lingering in the air between you. for a heartbeat, the world seems to pause, but then, something shifts inside you. without thinking, driven by a surge of defiance and emotion, you step forward and crash your lips against hers.

ellie's eyes widen in shock as your lips touch hers. she freezes for a moment, her mind racing to catch up with what's happening. but then, her body seems to take over and she finds herself kissing you back.

you pull away, your breath shallow, the heat of the moment still lingering. “fuck—sorry, i don’t know why i did that—” before you can finish, she interrupts, her voice sharp and cutting through the tension.

“shut up.”

ellie presses her body against yours, her lips crashing against yours in a heated kiss. she kisses you with a mixture of anger and passion, her hands still holding onto your wrists tightly.

ellie breaks the kiss, her breathing heavy as she looks at you with a mix of desire and annoyance. "you're such a pain in the ass, you know that?"

“could say the same to you,” you mutter under your breath, the words more challenging than you intend. without waiting for her response, you find yourself kissing her again—this time, more urgent and reckless, as if the world outside no longer matters.

ellie melts into the kiss, her hands letting go of your wrists and wrapping around your waist instead. she pulls you closer, her body flush against yours as she deepens the kiss.

“fuck… take these off” she pants, as she takes your bottoms off.

she pushes you onto the bed, her eyes filled with a hungry desire. she quickly straddles you, her hands roaming over your body as she begins to undress you more.

“take that off.” you say, tugging at the hem of her flannel.

she smirks at your command, her fingers slowly undoing the buttons of her shirt. she takes her time, enjoying the way you're watching her every move.

"patience, 𖤐.”

ellie lets her shirt fall open, revealing her toned stomach and the curve of her breasts. she tosses the shirt aside and leans down, her lips brushing against your ear. “you like what you see?"

ellie grins at your response, her hand trailing down your stomach and stopping just above the waistband of your underwear.

"good. because i’m about to show you how fucking angry you made me earlier."

“please fuck me” you whine, looking up at her.

ellie's eyes darken with lust at your plea. she hooks her fingers under the waistband and slowly pulls down your underwear, exposing you completely to her gaze.

ellie takes a moment to admire you, her eyes roaming over your body hungrily. she runs her hands up your thighs, her touch sending shivers down your spine.

"so pretty," she whispers, her voice low and sultry. “who knew a fucking bitch like you could be so pretty, huh?”

ellie leans down and presses a kiss to your inner thigh, her lips trailing up towards your core.

she positions herself between your legs, her breath hot against your skin.

“please.” you mumble.

"since you asked so nicely.

ellie begins to tease you, her tongue slowly tracing patterns along your inner thighs. she can feel your body trembling beneath her touch, and it only fuels her desire to please you even more.

ellie finally reaches your center, her tongue flicking over your clit. she takes her time, alternating between slow and fast strokes, savoring the way you moan and gasp in response.

“fuuck.”

ellie's pace quickens, her tongue moving faster and more insistently against your clit. she can feel you getting closer to the edge, your body tensing and shaking beneath her.

“you like that?”

all you can do is moan in response, ellie doesn't let up, her tongue relentless as she pushes you closer and closer to the edge. she looks up at you, her eyes dark with desire, and murmurs against your skin.

"cum for me baby."

ellie smiles at your reaction, feeling your body tense up as you reach your climax. she continues to work you through it, licking and sucking until you're completely spent.

she barley gives you time to catch your breath before she slides two fingers into your soaking folds.

ellie watches your reaction intently as she slides her fingers inside you, enjoying the way your eyes flutter shut and your breath hitches in your throat.

"atta girl" she whispers, slowly pumping her fingers in and out of you. ellie picks up the pace, her fingers curling and hitting just the right spot inside you.

she leans in and kisses your neck, her lips trailing down to your collarbone. "you're so tight," she murmurs against your skin. "can feel you clenching around my fucking fingers.”

ellie adds a third finger, stretching you even further. she starts to move her hand faster, her thumb rubbing against your clit in tight circles.

“fuck fuck fuck.”

ellie grins at your repeated curses, her fingers working you relentlessly. she can feel you getting close again, your walls starting to flutter around her fingers.

"that's it, baby," she coos. "let go for me."

“fuck— faster- please ellie.”

ellie obliges, increasing the speed of her fingers even more. she's practically pounding into you now, her hand moving at a frantic pace.

"you're such a needy little thing," she says, her voice dripping with lust. "begging for me to go faster."

“fuckkk, ellie” you moan.

ellie smirks at the sound of her name on your lips. she loves the way you say it, the way it sounds like a plea and a prayer all at once. "say it again," she demands, her fingers curling deeper inside you.

you moan again, even loader “mmh- fuck! ellie!”

ellie leans down and captures your lips in a bruising kiss, her tongue tangling with yours as she continues to finger you mercilessly. "that's it," she whispers against your mouth.

“fuckkk ‘ts too much” you say, feeling overstimulated from being so filled up.

ellie chuckles darkly, not slowing down her pace at all.

"oh, you can take it," she says, her fingers working you even harder. "i know you can.”

ellie can feel you starting to clench around her fingers again, your body on the verge of another orgasm. she leans in close, her breath hot against your ear.

“fuck— shit, fuck i’m gonna-”

ellie feels you tighten around her fingers, your body arching off the bed as you reach your climax. she keeps her fingers moving, helping you ride out your orgasm until you're completely spent.

once you're done, she slowly pulls her fingers out and licks them clean, savoring the taste of you on her tongue.

she smirks and lays down beside you, pulling you into her arms. she strokes your hair gently, letting you catch your breath.

“we should… probably get back downstairs with the others.” you say breathlessly.

“good idea.”

[pinkroseblooms]

Remmick is becoming super divisive in the fandom and I'm feeling bad for Ryan Coogler

As someone who isn't the biggest fan of Remmick (don't come for me, actor is cute, and I do think the character is funny and interestingly written and I've seen a few fics that are legitimately good) I don't get why people are saying the Sinners fandom is ignoring the PoC characters in favor of him and it's an insult to the film and it's themes.

For one, Ryan Coogler loves the character. He loves Irish culture. He says in BTS interviews he intended to write Remmick as someone who genuinely isn't racist and sees segregation as complete bullshit. Now, his actions and motivations are purposefully tied to themes of white assimilation and cultural appropriation and a lot of his character is still left to speculation; it's one of the reasons why I think people are churning out so much content of him, they find it easier to interpret Remmick as a character who's history and motivations aren't completely revealed. As a character, he can and at least partially is a reference to what white people have historically done to oppress other cultures/colonization, despite also being a victim of said oppression.

As for people shipping him with Sammie, I don't like the ship, but I saw it coming the first screening. People, especially tumblr fanfic girlies, love shipping villains and antagonists with the character who's the hero/protagonist/audience surrogate. Sammie is central to the plot, but he's also who the audience can step into the shoes of the most and as a result, people can project themselves onto him more. Also, tumblr girlies fucking love hyperfiaxting on the "I can change him" characters. Remmick is basically a tumblr sexyman. And it's not just white people writing reader inserts or focusing on him (side note, I haven't seen the plantation reader story and I hope to God I never do) there's a good number of black users and other users of various ethnicities I see posting content centered around Remmick. Everyone seems to thirst for this character and to be fair, Ryan Coogler meant for people to enjoy him as much as any of the other characters, even if he absolutely wants to centered black stories and culture in his work.

Still, it seems like once again a white character is becoming a fan favorite in a piece of media with a predominantly black cast, meant to be beloved by black people, albeit not exclusively. It fucking grating when you get representation and you want to interact with the fandom but it's seemingly overtaken by people focusing on the white guy.

While I don't think racial bias is the only reason Remmick is getting so much attention, I don't doubt for some fans thats exactly what it is (plantation reader insert, really? Fucking really?). But I'm not black so I'm not going to pretend I get it exactly. As a PoC, I can only empathize to an extent. There's valid reasons to be irritated and fed up so I'm not saying people who want to vent or post about their frustration shouldn't. That's not my place at all.

Mostly I just feel kind of bad for Ryan Coogler who actually put a lot of effort to write this enjoyable villain and Remmick's getting as much backlash as he is getting love from Sinners fans. And I don't think people making fan content for the character automatically means they're disregarding any of the black characters. People are also going feral over Bo and Grace and they love the Choctaw for the teeny amount of their screen time, but I don't see anyone claiming that fans of them are decentralizing the black characters in favor of them.

Also, on the subject of Sinners fan content, I want more Annie x Reader fics. But that's beside the point, she's just my personal favorite and I want to fantasize about her being in love with me because there's no way irl it would ever happen. 🥲

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

EVEN MORE SPOILERS FOR SEASON 6

I figured since I already read it, I'd give my thoughts on the recent interview Astruc and Thibaudeau took part in.

Due to incompatibility with the new animation engine, SAMG will not be working on the next seasons of ‘Miraculous’. The series is now being developed entirely in France, with the integration of Dwarf Animation.

Okay, props for no more outsourcing, even if I'm not sure what this means for the other ZAG shows.

Season 6 is considered to be “a new beginning”, aside from being a new story arc. It is sometimes referred to by the writers as Season 1.

I'm sure that isn't confusing to the executives at all. Also, maybe don't imply you're starting from scratch when you're already reusing the plot of the main villain using the Butterfly Miraculous.

The writing team already has concrete ideas for how Seasons 7, 8 and 9 will begin and end. They also have ambitions to make it to a Season 12, only if the support of viewers and executives allows them to do so. With this, they emphasize the fact that they would not continue with the show if it were no longer needed or interesting.

So basically, they're planning to keep this up for as long as they can until someone pulls the plug.

The opening of the sixth season is still undecided. They are still discussing whether they will change the musical arrangement or not. Thomas also considers the possibility of making a brand-new theme song. A song has been confirmed for S6. They have the music, the arrangement and a female singer. The character remains unknown.

Imagine how funny it would be if they brought back the woman who sang for Marinette in the movie instead of having Cristina Vee sing again.

Despite leaving Paris at the end of ‘Revolution’ (5x23), Chloé Bourgeois will return in Season 6.

Putting aside all the things I've said about her "damnation arc", what is even the point of bringing her back at this point? She has no powers, no influence, no allies, and isn't a threat of any kind. This makes her not being the next Hawkmoth make even less sense, becuse she has more of a reason to hate Ladybug than Lila does.

Also, with the news that Chloe is coming back, this means that she essentially escaped punishment or at least found a way to rebound like Lila did. So that's a grand total of ZERO villains who actually got punished for their actions after five seasons. I'm starting to think Ladybug and Cat Noir really suck at their jobs.

Sebastien Thibadeau: “[Cerise] (IOTA: I'm still calling her Lila for simplicity's sake) is a villain without costume. She is a villain all the time. There is a reason why, but this reason, neither I nor Astruc will reveal to you yet.” Interviewer: “You mean you already intend to tell it?” Thomas Astruc: “Yes. And you know what, we have already told it, but you haven’t noticed.”

Translation: Ladies and gentlemen, LET'S GET READY FOR RETCOOOOOONNNNS!

Seriously, we are approaching the sixth season of this show. It has been eight years since Lila first appeared all the way back in "Volpina", and we still know nothing about her other than the fact that she has some three moms for some reason. You can't pull the whole "This is something you need to rewatch to understand!" excuse because the last two seasons hinged on breaking the rules about Sentimonsters.

Speaking of, I love how this comment about Lila accidentally implies that Gabriel never did anything evil when he wasn't Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch. All that emotional abuse and isolation Adrien suffered was all out of love!

Thomas Astruc on Chloe redemption arc: “We put the characters in situations, and then we say to ourselves: “what would be the logic?” How would the character logically react in “such and such” a situation? And we tried, we tried everything. But every time, we say to ourselves: “if we write this, it’ll be wrong”. There’ll be no reason, it’ll come out of nowhere, the fact that she’ll face something nice and say: “Oh, I’ve been horrible, Marinette what have I done! From now on, I’ll be...” No, nonsense. I understand people’s desire for Chloe to be nice. I’d like that too. But I’d like it if in real life, people with a lot of power suddenly started doing nice things. But Chloé has no interest in changing. She has no reason to change, unfortunately.”

Ah, yes because Gabriel (Global terrorist and abusive parent), Felix (Betrayed Ladybug and temporarily wiped out all of humanity on a whim), Nathalie (Willing accomplice to Gabriel) Andre (corrupt politician and Chloe's primary enabler), Sabrina (Willing accomplice to Chloe) all had compelling reasons to change their ways.

Also, "I've been horrible, what have I done?"

MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, THAT'S HOW VIRTUALLY EVERY REDEMPTION ON THIS SHOW IS EXECUTED.

The fact that he's seriously acting like he actually wanted to write a redemption arc is insulting. Not only does it ignore all the things he's said to fans who were upset at the turn of events, but it makes no sense for him to take this stance because he's a writer. If Chloe turning a new leaf is too strange of an idea, then write an actual character arc allowing her to progress to a state where she recognizes what she's done is wrong. You control the character for God's sake! It's not like you're training a dog to stop humping the couch. You can change things to make a redemption arc possible.

In other words, Astruc is either lying to save his ass, or THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES about writing characters.

Sebastien Thibadeau talks about Andre's character development: In contrast to Chloe, “Andre Bourgeois evolved as a character because we had already imagined a back story. He had the potential to change, and that’s where the beautiful scene comes from — I think it’s magnificent — between Gabriel and himself on the roof of the Grand Palace, where he says: “But Gabriel, what’s become of us? We’ve forgotten the kids we used to be”. But we [writers] know what kids they used to be, and we’d like to tell the story one day, to show what young kids they were, when they were struggling through Paris and weren’t yet what you’ve come to know in the series. He’s sad about what’s happening to his daughter [Chloe], and he’s trying to change it, but he can’t. He is proof that a character can change.”

This. This right here is what cinched it for me. I've tried for years not to say it because it's a word that has been flung around a lot over these last few years, but I feel like this little snippet is enough of a reason for me to say it.

These writers are sexist.

They may not believe it, but whether they intended for it or not, they wrote a story arc where a grown man was shown to have more sympathetic qualities than his daughter. How the hell can you defend it in a way that doesn't highlight the misogyny that this show runs on?

The fact that they gush over how much "potential" Andre had right after saying how that same kind of potential wasn't enough of a reason to attempt a redemption arc with Chloe really shows how confusing their priorities are. I'm sorry to keep saying this, but for a show that takes a heavy anti-capitalist philosophy, it seems like the members of the 1% are the characters who get the most depth and sympathy... unless you're under 18 and lack a Y chromosome, that is.

A meeting will be set up in the coming weeks to decide on whether or not to make a live-action for ‘Miraculous’, Thomas Astruc reveals.

As a former Arrowverse fan, I'm willing to see this out. Not only did the Netflix One Piece series prove you can make an animated property work in live-action, Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie managed to do really well even without the usual writers behind it.

Thomas when asked about Gabriel’s wish in ‘Re-Creation’ (5x26) and whether he brought Emilie back to life: “All the answers are in the episode.”

For the love of--STOP SAYING THAT!

You keep claiming that we just need to rewatch the episode to understand things, but between the continuity errors and abandoned subplots, it's hard to tell what's important and what isn't. Either say "No comment" or give us an honest answer.

If people are still confused about how the season ended after almost a year, and you keep giving answers like this:

Maybe you need to change the way you tell the story.

Astruc when asked about ‘The Supreme’: “Oh, if only you knew... Nothing we do is meaningless.”

Sebastien Thibadeau on Season 7: “Once you’ve seen the start of season 7, I can swear you’ll watch season 6 a second time. That’s all I can say.”

Because it'll make Season 6 look like a masterpiece by comparison?

Thomas Astruc on the worldbuilding: There are Kwamis and Renlings, what makes you think there aren’t others [creatures]?

I swear, by the time we get to Season 10, we're going to get stuff like aliens, demons and talking mushrooms, or at least something ludicrous like that.

Zoe had a love at first sight when she met Marinette in ‘Sole Crusher’ (4x07), they confirm.

Of course! That's why it wasn't framed any differently from something like the umbrella scene and Zoe showed absolutely no signs of attraction to Marinette! It's genius!

Executives had Thomas write several alternative concepts for ‘Miraculous’, very different from what we know today or even the early PV. Among them, “a concept where Ladybug is the head of a group of superheroines, like Sailor Moon. There was no love story.”

Can you imagine a world without the Love Square?

The script writers’ favorite episode is ‘Simpleman’ (4x19) as it represents a personal, work and family attachment. Marinette’s grandfather, Roland Dupain, is inspired by Thomas Astruc’s grandfather.

Okay, either Astruc had a complicated relationship with his grandpa or he's been dead for years. While I understand that older generations have outdated views (for example, my great-grandmother yelled at me for saying I wanted to learn Japanese because "They tried to kill us!"), the fact that a caricture of a grumpy old man was based on his grandpa is a little concerning.

Also, between this and Sabine being based off an old flame of his, this only makes the theory that Chloe is based off a real person Astruc knew more plausible.

Astruc: “This is why our work is so difficult. We have to manage to bring in this generation of younger ones, and at the same time, we have to satisfy the generation that was here before and that grows with the series.”

First, if you're trying to please older fans, maybe don't get into fights with them on Twitter.

Second, you made a thread after "Simpleman" aired where you insulted fans for not getting the "meta" element to the episode and compared them to the character you just said was based on your grandfather.

You've also been burning away a lot of the older fans' goodwill over the years. Trust me, I have a few examples.

Despite sharing a similar appearance, the symbol on Nino’s T-shirt is not related to Hack-San.

Okay, is this a fan theory I missed back when Season 4 was airing? Why would anyone draw that conclusion?

Thomas Astruc talks about Season 6: “I’ll say it sincerely, I was very doubtful at the end of Season 5. I said to myself: “if we were to continue, how would we exceed?” Well, we did. It’s been a great season. The new writers have brought us a lot of great stuff. All the episodes we’ve written in Season 6 are fabulous. Each episode is on point, there is no unnecessary lines. All the scenes are really interesting, really well-crafted.”

Translation: Tons of filler, bad comedy, reused Akumas, and more Love Square drama that we're trying to claim hasn't been done before.

Thomas when asked if Marinette will get akumatized: “We never give any information about what may or may not happen.”

JUST. SAY. NO. COMMENT.

There are many important details throughout the series that no one has noticed. Thomas says that when we see the next seasons, we’ll think, “Oh, the writers had it all planned.”

You know, like how Season 3 established that Sentimonsters can be sent out of control by Cataclysm a few episodes before Adrien, a Sentimonster, gets hit by a Cataclysm and is affected in a different way. It was all planned from the beginning.

The Ladybug PV was an animation test and was not intended to be public. Jeremy Zag decided to leak it himself.

Honestly? Dick move on Zag's part. You have to wonder how pissed off Astruc was.

According to Thomas Astruc, what the ‘Miraculous’ series is today represents only 5% of what he wrote in the original bible he presented to Jeremy Zag. “The universe has evolved a lot since. I don’t know if the ideas I put there will be reused someday. It was very extensive.”

Thomas Astruc and Sebastien Thibadeau discuss the parallels between Marinette and Gabriel: Astruc: “Gabriel’s personal back story is the cause of his misery, not his will. And above all, it creates a beautiful mirror with Marinette, which is what’s interesting. They both have a lot of love for Adrien, they’re both designers, they both have a Miraculous, but it’s other choices.” Thibadeau: “That’s what makes it a great hero-villain contrast. Even if they don’t know it from the start, they have a real point in common. As we see at the end of Season 5, they both love Adrien. Except there’s one who does it by doing the right thing, and then there’s another who does it by doing the wrong thing, hurting people, to get there.”

And the one who did the wrong thing by hurting people ended up winning. What does that say about the contrast?

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

And that's it for the interview. I have to say Season 6 does not look pretty so far.

[friendship-test]

Scrapped/early concepts for friendship test:

-The first idea I had for FriendProgram and BestFriendProgram was that BFP WAS FriendProgram, this was so early on development the story wasn’t present at all. I just had the idea of the protagonist also being the antagonist, and how it would be FP vs a version of themself that tried to erase all they truly are. For a lot of reasons, I wasn’t happy with this concept and removed it completely

-Early on I thought that BFP would use some violence for her mission to create perfect friends. Like completely discarding programs that failed being good friends too many times, literally throwing them in a big pit of spare metal trash. I thought this was way too cruel and would make BFP completely irredeemable, and the more I wrote her character it just didn’t make sense for her to be anything but a pacifist (psychologically abusive sure but in a way that she thinks she’s helping)

-Spike was originally going to be alongside a program who was the antagonist of the heartbreak area and gave orders to cute innocent Spike. This program never ended up being fully developed and instead I created TNT.

-Sparks was originally two different characters. There was the ex coworker of GAMES and a hugprogram in charge of the security cameras. I thought it would be better to fuse both concepts and make Sparks his own unique program

-There was going to be a giant reprogram in the middle of the act 5 party. They’re so big they aren’t able to do much and you keep them company. I didn’t like this very much though and removed it

-I did think the old organisms were going to be humans for a while, but it just didn’t make sense for a lot of reasons. The alien plot twist was the first concept I had but I was worried it was too dumb, thankfully I ended up making it work

-Exe was going to join you in act 6 instead of Clover

-Exe almost doesn’t have her awesome jester final boss. Instead she was going to be very serious. This wasn’t fun to me so I changed it after I remembered how much I like Marx from Kirby

-Clover was very close to not being part of the main cast. They were intended to be completely unlikable at first, just someone we are supposed to hate and use as a contrast to FriendProgram. I thought making them so one dimensional went against everything the game tries to say and I also REALLY started to like them the more I wrote them. I understood them very well and I wanted to give them a chance to be their own complex main character

-WB was going to become friends with Void on the story, but I thought the whole point was that WB should be happy even without friends, so I removed that, Void has plenty of friends already too.

-Void was originally going to get killed by Nick, only to be resurrected later. I thought this felt more like shock value than anything else, and I did not want to treat the topic of abuse just to shock the audience. The more I wrote Nick I also thought he would never do this.

-Super early on development the loveless themes were not going to be talked about throughout the story, there would be hints about it until it’s revealed in the last act. This was a terrible idea cause the whole point of the game is to fully discuss these themes right in front of you

-Super early on development I thought FP and WB would end up being friends, the reason for this is that the message at first was ‘you can have friends even if you dont feel love’, but the more I read about aplatonicism, lovelessness, etc the more this started not sitting right with me. Not that you can’t have friends if you’re loveless, but FP as a character is meant to showcase how you don’t have to make up for ANYTHING if you’re loveless, if that makes sense. I didn’t want a ‘they dont feel love but they still want friends!’, I wanted a character that just said ‘no’ and how that’s not a bad thing. I wanted a character that did not want friends at all because to me that seems way more difficult to see represented in any media. I wanted to make someone that I might not see again in any story for a while. Because of my research and writing the character I ended up figuring out I was loveless myself and it was overall so much fun to write someone like FP

[patrixjia]

Heat of The Moment

Plot Overview

You’re an independent songwriter tasked with writing a collaborative track for Stray Kids. What should have been your dream gig turns into a nightmare thanks to last-minute deadlines and your strained creative energy. You clash immediately with Bang Chan—too confident for his own good and infuriatingly talented. He insists on late-night studio sessions, constantly pushes back on your ideas, and doesn’t seem to know how to take no for an answer.

One night, when tension reaches its peak, an explosive argument in the recording studio leads to unexpected sparks. With tempers flaring and boundaries slipping, the heat between you boils over into something far more primal. The lines between frustration and desire blur, leaving you both vulnerable to feelings that neither of you wanted—or planned for.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fanfiction created for entertainment purposes only. I do not own or claim any affiliation with Bang Chan, Stray Kids, or their management. The events and characters depicted in this story are entirely fictional and do not reflect real-life personalities, actions, or relationships.

This story contains mature themes and is intended for audiences 18 and older. Reader discretion is advised.

━━━━━━━━━━━☾✧✦✧☽━━━━━━━━━━━

The studio air was thick with frustration. It wasn't the equipment, the hours, or even the looming deadline - it was him.

Bang Chan sat sprawled in his chair like a king, his dark eyes fixed on you with infuriating calmness. You could practically feel the smugness radiating off him as he leaned back, one arm lazily draped over the chair's edge, his lips twitching upward in what could only be described as a challenge.

"Again", he said, his voice low and maddeningly smooth.

Your fingers hovered over the keyboard, trembling with restrained fury. "We've already gone over this again five times! The hook works, the track flows, and it's done. You just want me to sit here all night because you've decided sleep is optional."

He didn't even flinch. If anything, that smirk grew sharper. "It's not about sleep. It's about getting it right. This?" He gesture at the speakers like he was dismissing a bad meal. "This isn't right."

You turned, fully intending to argue, but the look on his face stopped you. It wasn't disdain or boredom - it was focus. Relentless, unshakable focus.

You hated that he looked good while being such a pain. His hair was a little messy, his sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms that you were doing your best not to notice, and he had that maddening way of looking at you like he was already one step ahead.

But this wasn't about how good he looked. It was about the fact that he was driving you insane.

"Why don't you just write it yourself?" you snapped.

Chan shrugged, the movement deliberate. "Because i want to see what you've got. You're suppose to be the best, right? Prove it."

The arrogance in his voice set something off in you. Your hands slammed against the desk, the sound echoing in the studio. "You don't think I'm good enough?!"

"I think," he said, standing and crossing the room toward you, his footsteps slow and deliberate, "you're holding back. And I'm not interested in 'good enough'. I want something that hits harder."

By the time he stopped in front of you, the air felt charged. He wasn't touching you, but he didn't need to. His presence was overwhelming, his eyes locked on yours with a heat that send your pulse racing.

"Well," you said, refusing to back down, "maybe you should stop breathing down my neck and let me work."

Chan tilted his head, his smirk turning into something more dangerous. "Maybe you like it."

Your breath hitched, but you didn't flinch. "Don't flatter yourself."

The hours stretched on, the tension between you crackling like static. You were at the piano, furiously reworking the melody, while Chan sat behind you, watching. Always watching.

"Play the last part again," he said, his voice softer now but no less insistent.

You obeyed - if only to avoid another argument. Your fingers stumbled lightly, the fatigue of the night finally catching up with you.

"That's not it," he murmured, standing and moving to your side. "Here, let me."

You bristled but scooted over just enough for him to sit. His hands brushed against yours as he reached for the keys, and the warmth of his skin sent a jolt up your arm.

"That's not-"

"Relax," he said, his voice so close that you felt it more than heard it. His hands moved confidently over the keys, the melody shifting under his touch, morphing into something richer, heavier. "See?"

You hated that it sounded better. You hated him. And yet, you couldn't pull your eyes away.

"Show-off," you muttered, hoping to break the spell.

Chan laughed softly, his voice low and teasing. "You're cute when you're mad."

Your head whipped toward him. "What did you just said?"

He turned to face you fully, his face so close that your noses almost brushed. His smile was infuriatingly calm. "I said, you're cute when you're mad. What are you gonna do about it?"

Your jaw tightened, but before you could retort, his gaze dropped to your lips, lingering just enough to set your skin on fire.

It happened all at once. One second, you were glaring at him, and the next, his lips were on yours.

The kiss was fire and frustration, a tangle of heat and tension that exploded in the small studio. Your back hit the piano as he leaned into you, his hands framing your face, tilting it up to deepen the kiss.

You gasped, and his tongue slid against yours, sending a shiver down your spine. His hands moved to your waist, gripping you firmly, pulling you closer until there was no space left between you.

“This,” you managed to gasp between kisses, “is a terrible idea.”

“Probably,” he murmured against your lips, his voice thick with want. “But you started it.”

You shoved at his chest, though your fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt. “You kissed me!”

His laugh was low and wicked as he nipped at your jawline, his hands slipping under your shirt to skim along your sides. “And you didn’t stop me.”

Chan’s mouth was on yours again, hot and demanding, as he pressed you back against the piano. The weight of him, the way his hands gripped your waist, sent your pulse skyrocketing.

“You’re infuriating,” you gasped, your fingers curling into his shirt, tugging him closer.

“And you’re impossible,” he shot back, his voice rough, lips brushing against your jaw before moving lower.

His mouth left a scorching trail along your neck, and you felt yourself arch into him as his teeth grazed the sensitive skin there.

Your hands slipped under his shirt, fingers tracing along the ridges of his muscles, eliciting a low sound from him that made heat pool in your stomach.

“Touchy,” you teased, though your voice was breathless.

His response was a low chuckle, muffled as his mouth moved lower, his hands now sliding under your shirt to rest on your bare skin.

“Tell me to stop,” he murmured, his voice dark and rough, though his fingers lingered teasingly along the edge of your waistband.

You didn’t answer—didn’t want him to stop—so instead, you grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head.

The sight of him—flushed skin, wild hair, and that insufferable grin—shouldn’t have made your knees weak, but it did.

“You’re staring,” he said, voice teasing, though his eyes were anything but playful.

“You’re in my way,” you shot back, pulling him to you again, crashing your mouth against his.

This time, it was frantic, all pretense stripped away as hands wandered and clothes were pulled at—shirts discarded onto the studio floor, his jeans pressing into your thighs as he lifted you onto the piano bench.

The sound of the piano keys clanging beneath you should have been comical, but it only fueled the tension as his mouth found yours again, his hands sliding to grip your hips and pull you closer—until there was nothing between you but thin fabric and the weight of all the things you couldn’t say aloud.

With a swift motion, Chan flipped you back, his body now hovering over you, the heat radiating off him almost overwhelming. “You think you can just take charge?” he challenged, his voice low and teasing.

You smirked, feeling a rush of adrenaline. “Maybe I can show you how it’s done.”

He raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Oh, really?”

You leaned in, capturing his mouth again, your bodies pressed together, the warmth between you palpable. His hands slid up your thighs, fingers brushing the edge of your shorts, teasing but not crossing the line.

“Is this what you wanted?” you breathed against his lips, your own pulse racing with the thrill of being in control. “Something that hits harder?”

He chuckled, the sound low and inviting, “You have no idea what you’re asking for.”

With a swift motion, he flipped you back again, his body now solidly over yours, the weight of him deliciously grounding. “But I’m going to show you.”

His mouth found yours again, but this time, it was urgent, a claim that sent shivers down your spine. You gasped as his hands explored further, fingers slipping beneath the hem of your shorts, teasingly inching toward the waistband.

"Chan,” you breathed, the thrill of anticipation mixing with the heat of his touch. “You’re insatiable.”

“And you love it,” he replied, voice thick with desire, as he pressed his body against yours, the piano creaking beneath the weight of your shared urgency.

“Maybe,” you admitted, a grin breaking through as he captured your mouth again, the world around you fading into a blur.

His hands slipped under your shorts, fingers brushing against your skin, and you moaned softly, arching into his touch. The sensation was electric, sending waves of pleasure coursing through you.

“Tell me what you want,” he murmured, his breath hot against your ear, igniting a fire deep within you.

“I want you,” you gasped, the words spilling out before you could stop them. “I want all of you.”

His eyes darkened with desire, and in that moment, you knew there was no turning back. He kissed you fiercely, and as the world around you faded, you surrendered to the overwhelming need that had built between you.

Chan's lips were relentless against yours, each kiss igniting a fire that spread through your entire body. His hands moved with purpose, exploring every inch of you as if memorizing your shape. The world outside the studio faded into nothingness; it was just you and him, lost in the heat of the moment.

“Are you sure?” he murmured, pulling back just enough to meet your gaze, his eyes dark and searching. “I don’t want to rush you.”

You felt your heart race at the sincerity in his voice, but the urgency of the moment drowned out any hesitation. “I’m sure,” you replied, your voice steady despite the whirlwind of emotions within you. “I want this.”

His smirk returned, a mixture of satisfaction and wickedness, and he leaned in again, capturing your mouth as if sealing the promise of what was to come. You could feel the muscles in his arms flex as he held you against the piano, the heat radiating from his body enveloping you.

With a swift motion, he pulled you closer, his hands gripping your thighs as he shifted, positioning you to straddle him fully. The sensation sent another wave of heat through you, the feel of him beneath you amplifying the tension that had been building all night.

"Chan,” you gasped, feeling the rush of exhilaration mixed with a hint of nervousness. “Please...”

“Just wait,” he whispered, his breath hot against your skin. “I’m just getting started.”

As if to prove his point, his hands moved back to your waist, guiding you as you began to grind against him. The friction was intoxicating, and you let out a soft moan, the sound echoing in the dimly lit studio.

“Like that?” he teased, watching you with an intensity that made your cheeks burn.

“More,” you urged, craving the connection, the way he made you feel alive and desired.

He obliged, his grip tightening as he helped you find a rhythm, the two of you moving together in a way that felt both primal and electrifying. You lost yourself in the sensation, every touch, every kiss igniting something deeper within you.

“God, you’re incredible,” he murmured, his voice thick with desire. The praise sent a thrill through you, pushing you to go faster, to feel more.

You leaned forward, locking eyes with him as you whispered, “Show me how incredible I can be.”

His response was a low growl, and in an instant, he flipped you back, pinning you beneath him once more. The shift was exhilarating, and you reveled in the feeling of being completely at his mercy. He leaned down, capturing your mouth again, and the kiss was fierce and demanding, filled with all the pent-up frustration and heat that had been building between you.

His hands roamed freely, exploring every inch of your body, his fingers igniting fire wherever they touched. You gasped as he slipped a hand beneath your shorts again, teasingly brushing against your most sensitive spots, sending shockwaves of pleasure coursing through you.

“Chan, please,” you pleaded, the urgency in your voice echoing the frantic beating of your heart.

“Tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you,” he responded, his voice low and gravelly, the promise laced within it making your breath hitch.

You could hardly think straight, the need for him overwhelming. “I want you inside me,” you confessed, the words spilling out with a desperation you couldn’t hide.

His eyes darkened with desire at your admission, and he nodded, his expression turning serious. “Okay. But we’re doing this right.”

He took a moment to rummage through his bag, pulling out a small packet. You watched, breathless and eager, as he prepared, the anticipation building to a fever pitch.

"Strip for me, sweet girl," he said as he returned to you, helping you take off your clothes, taking a second to admire you. "Even more beautiful than i imagined."

You looked at him, with big, vulnerable eyes. "You imagine this?"

His gaze soften for a moment, "From the day you walked in this studio from the first time."

His hands found your waist again, fingers digging in as he positioned himself at your entrance. “Ready?” he asked, his voice a low rumble.

“More than ready,” you replied, your voice barely above a whisper, and with that, he pushed inside you.

The sensation was overwhelming, a mix of pleasure and fullness that made you arch against him, gasping at the intensity of it all. He filled you completely, stretching you in a way that left you breathless.

“Just like that,” he urged, his voice thick with desire as he began to move, each thrust sending shockwaves of pleasure coursing through you. You felt every inch of him, the way he filled you up, and it was almost too much to bear.

“Chan,” you moaned, your body responding instinctively to his rhythm, the heat between you growing with every movement.

He leaned down, capturing your lips again, the kiss deepening as he lost himself in you. You could feel the way he filled you, the way your bodies moved together, and it felt absolutely electric.

“Faster,” you urged, urging him on, your nails digging into his shoulders as you pulled him closer.

He obliged, his pace quickening, the sounds of your bodies moving together filling the studio as you both succumbed to the pleasure building between you. Each thrust sent you spiraling closer to the edge, the tension coiling tighter and tighter until you thought you might burst.

“God, you feel so good,” he groaned, his voice hoarse with need. “I’m not going to last long at this rate.”

“Neither am I,” you gasped, the pleasure reaching a crescendo. “Just a little more.”

With a few more powerful thrusts, the tension snapped, and you came undone, the waves of ecstasy crashing over you as your body quaked beneath him.

“Yeah, just like that,” he breathed, his own release following closely behind, the feeling of him filling you driving you to new heights as you clung to each other, lost in the moment.

As the waves of pleasure subsided, you both collapsed against each other, breaths mingling in the stillness of the studio. The world outside faded away, leaving just the two of you, tangled together in the aftermath of your shared passion.

The room was quiet except for the sound of your uneven breathing and the faint hum of the studio equipment. You sat slumped against Chan, your heart still pounding as you tried to collect yourself.

“Well,” he finally said, his voice a low rasp, “that was… productive.”

You swatted weakly at his chest, though you couldn’t stop the small, satisfied smile tugging at your lips. “Shut up.”

He tilted his head back with a quiet laugh, his fingers tracing lazy circles along your skin. “You’re not gonna fight me on the hook anymore, are you?”

“Don’t push your luck,” you muttered, though the bite in your voice was gone.

Chan looked down at you, his expression softer now. “Guess I finally got your best work out of you, huh?”

You rolled your eyes, but when his hand slid back to your waist, tugging you closer, you didn’t resist.

“Maybe you’re not entirely useless after all,” you teased, brushing your lips against his again.

His laugh rumbled against your mouth as he kissed you back, slow and unhurried this time—like you had all the time in the world.

“Careful,” he murmured. “You’re starting to like me.”

You pulled away just enough to meet his gaze, arching an eyebrow. “Don’t let it go to your head, Bang Chan.”

But the smirk on his face told you it was already too late.

[tomwambsgans]

tom and greg (and willa) + a virus/sickness/death

as laid out by connor, there is an undeniable connection between the notion of a virus/affliction and Love in succession. as willa, tom, and (especially) greg proceed to be the only characters who get contagiously sick, it's made likely that those literal maladies run parallel to them having caught feelings. notions of greg having to deal with spores in his lungs in a potential new apartment (said by willa, no less) even appear in the very same episode that tom, also moving into a new apartment, gets sick in a way otherwise irrelevant to the plot, thus drawing the parallels even clearer. less overt, then, are how these themes allude to AIDS.

tom's reference to the knowledge of the crimes and cover-ups on cruises as a "virus" is interesting (and wholly unnecessary, thus worth examining) wording. firstly, this is said only to greg despite the same information being alluded to by gerri and being later revealed to shiv. so the vein through which tom wanted to share "the death pit" with greg is one entirely different than sharing it otherwise. he alludes later, still in the context of trying to make up for involving him in this, to innate bonds that he and greg share. particularly in the realm of vulnerability. consider in particular that 1) greg was originally intended to be an overtly gay character, 2) greg's dad is inarguably gay and was active in gay areas and promiscuous during greg's childhood in the 90s, which 3) is also the period of time in which the cruises crimes mainly took place, and 4) is the decade in which the AIDS crisis peaked in the US. meanwhile marcia's reference to someone "who was your way" being murdered is overtly directed at willa, but worded vaguely enough to seemingly address tom and "his way," too. even thinking only of willa, the goals that drive her arc are in an industry widely, historically, deeply associated with gay men. her play, Sands, has a plot that's left vague but also is wrapped up in viruses and bugs, both having its unfinished plot caused by one and causing one itself. finally death is undoubtedly haunting the whole of succession's narrative, but between tom and greg, it's ultimately a fakeout. other than logan they're the first to feel that they've sealed their fates, that they're fucked forever, that they're both going to die simply because of who they are and things that they can't avoid, in fact things enmeshed in their connection to each other... but there's also protection and ressurection. and as the theme of sickness and all it foreshadows comes to a close, it winds up benign. they're going to be okay.

[sageourplanetmeow]

Indie Animations I Recommend

Haven’t posted in a while since, as I have said, my Apple Pencil broke and I haven’t been able to work on commissions or that one hazbin hotel animation… which I was actually getting through for once. Also I have fallen into a Varian And The Seven Kingdoms obsession.

Anyhow I shall now take the chance to share a couple indie animations I’ve watched/been watching recently possibly with a brief note about what kind of audience would enjoy it (might not be accurate I dunno)

First and foremost The Epilogue Of Endings which released approximately 12 hours ago as of when I’m writing this. And just before I summarise anything I just want to praise this pilot for HOW AMAZING IT IS DESPITE ITS SMALL BUDGET! The animation is fantastic and I swear something about it makes me so happy. The art style is also amazing (in my opinion) and suits the character designs perfectly. I love the character designs, just saying, and the voice acting is superb. I think my favourite designs from it are Blu (because I mean the mask and metal arms are pretty damn cool) and the ————. I won’t say who they are because the reveal is too good to miss, but you might be able to guess who I’m talking about if you’ve watched it.

Now to say what happens. This takes place after the sun ya know, goes. I think I’m probably the most interested by what exactly is going on with Mole but I think my favourite character thus far is Blu. I suggest you go watch it, it’s very cool. I think if you like Indie animation in general then this is a good pic due to its indie feel (positive). Also would suggest to people who enjoy slightly creepy media (it’s not that creepy in my opinion but it does feature the downfall of humanity and what happens after the sun dies so it’s slightly unsettling, it masters that feeling).

And here’s their Kickstarter

We also have Dreamworld which also has a season 2, I’m just linking the first one though so just so you know you can find the second season on the channel. As said by the creator, it borrows certain tropes/aspects from analogue horror and has animatronics. As it says up there it is a sci-fi horror series that is intended to be accessible to younger fans of the genre. Again, I love the story and the character designs. So far, my favourite character and character design belongs to THE Star Light. I’m starting to see a theme with me liking sun/moon/star themed animatronics. I mean this guy has a BOW TIE and a charming smile. If I wasn’t already dressing up as Varian for Halloween then I think I would’ve looked into trying to dress as Star Light.

The pilot hasn’t released but the animation from this teaser is SO GOOD! I’m excited to see the pilot. There’s also been music/songs released by them, I can’t remember if I’ve gotten around to listening to any but I fully intend on doing so.

I’m sorry but how is the animation this good with only one person animating it (I might’ve gotten that wrong). I find the character designs really cool and the art style is fun. They’re in space. The voice acting is good. Also just gonna say, they have merch.

This is Dungeon Flippers, a fantasy real-estate cartoon following Maulie, a manticore. (I copied and shortened down the description of the YouTube channel)

The animation is great and the voice acting is really good. The story is interesting and The Ace Of Wands Theme is a joy to listen to every time.

I don’t know how to describe the plot but lemme just… the animation deserves praise, it suits the vibe of the pilot and the character designs are amazing. Voice acting is also fun and I’d recommend this even if it’s just sea side/coast vibes you’re looking for.

This one is a YouTube channel that posts OC animatics and has posted Sundrop and Moondrop animations, just saying I think they drew the Sun and Moon Q&A comics soooo that was my introduction to their work.

Just watch this and you will see some PEAK animation.

Again, the animation is awesome.

https://youtu.be/XPE3nTxV2_k?si=Rgd5yBL9_B-Fl5i7

And that’s where the video limit comes, alas, but check it out. It’s by Meppity and has some really good paper looking animation.

And this is where we have the indie animated stuff (I consider it that at least) centred around pre-existing shows.

I myself am looking forward to making my own indie animated stuff or comics (I haven’t really decided, I’m just working on different characters whilst also writing fanfics and drawing fan comics and other art stuff on top of art homework. YAY

Here is one… dated… animation I did a year ago which took me a while.

https://youtu.be/jmteRdRgHWI?si=o-p-l9gheLSkw7Xr

It’s for an OC, but with their old design. The new design has a satchel, otherwise nothing changed to be honest. I also have done another animation which was far more rough but it was me animating whilst seeing who would win the election so it’s political and not about any of my ocs or any actual characters. As I said, I already have another animation in the works for Alastor so I have to wait till my Apple Pencil gets fixed or replaced to continue working on it.

[the-ellia-west]

WIP Intro kinda because I'm too tired for this bullshit

(Placeholder WIP Intro)

I got 2 hours of sleep so excuse my lazy Description, it's more developed than that

This is my main project and the WIP I one day intend to turn into a comic if I can ever improve my art

It's always been my dream to make a comic, and I started this project originally as a fanfic of a Fandom I'm not quite comfortable revealing yet. But I've had this WIP for coming up on three years this August and I really love it.

-

Jest of Royalty -JoR- Genre: High fantasy Action adventure (With hints of Romance and Dramaaaaa) Media: Eventually a Comic! Currently Yapping, lots and lots of yapping. Themes: Redemption/Forgiveness, Found Family, The good in the world and what may result from it, Power and what it can do to you, and Mental health Status: What do you call uhm......... Sort of planning? I have remnants of a plot and mostly developed characters and It's mostly stagnant because I need to learn to draw but I'm terrified and don't have the time or motivation and I need a mentor but I don't have oneeeeee Description: Ronan breaks the staff of a god because he's an idiot and the protagonists have to hunt it down before the villains idk blow up the world or smth

CHARACTERSSSSS

Ronan - Elf - 17 - Male - Angy boy who likes to punch first ask questions later. He's spiteful and barely thinks before acting, but he deeply and desperately loves his found family. He likes fighting and his main goal is revenge

Finn - Harpy - 39 - Male - The Calm and collected oldest and most responsible of the group who accidentally assumes the leader role and grows into it. His main goal is to have Responsibility and somebody to protect and work for

Morena - Harpy - 38 - Female - The Lovely sweetheart of a healer who Finn has a hidden crush on. She tries her best to help and make sure everybody else is okay, Anxiety incarnate. Her main goal is to help as many people as she can.

Rose - Fae - 37 - Female - A Strong-willed plant Mage constantly testing her abilities and trying to grow and study her powers. She has an acute interest in magic and the realms and the way the world works and wishes to lead field studies in the future. Her main goal is to study and understand magic.

Jakkon - Satyr - 38 - Male - Rose's Brother (in-law) who is INCREDIBLY hostile and dismissive. He hates people and is generally a pretty bad person, but he's incredibly resourceful and intelligent, and the only person in the group capable of bargaining for information. His main goal is to escape his former life.

Mangrove - Fallen god - 19 - Male - A Sass master with quite a bit of an ego and a fundamental misunderstanding of how the world and mortals work. He's distrusting and keeps to himself but desperately craves connection. His main goal is to get his immortality back.

Wild - Half phantom - 13 - Male - A very young abuse victim who suppresses his emotions to survive and trails after the group, using his invisibility powers to help his new friends/found family. His main goal is to be safe and to find his emotions again

Phenik - Naga - 16 - Male - Phenik is a sweet baby who does his best to boost morale and loves everybody. He's an unrelenting optimist, seeing the best in every situation and just loving being alive. His main goal is recognition and approval/validation.

@palatablepain @geminiagentgreen

[shutupineedtothink]

AAA final thoughts + praise 🙌🏼

Ok now that I’ve had a few days to sit with the finale and let go of my preconceived ideas of what it should be, yeah it really was brilliant. I still don’t Iove ghost Agatha, but I get it. And now I’m really pulling for Wanda to come back so that she can bring Agatha back (this happens in the comics apparently) and we can do a MCU witch movie. Sign Jac Schaeffer IMMEDIATELY, Feige. Lock her down, we all want more of this shit.

As to where the show ranks overall in the MCU, I feel like at this point it has to be #1. Even above WandaVision, and certainly above Loki, as much as I love both of them. This show just does… more. Like I can’t believe how much they packed into these 9 episodes. This is what… a true six hander? Six fully defined characters with fully developed arcs and satisfying journeys? With the possible exception of Agatha and Billy’s journey not being over yet, which doesn’t take away from their arcs and development along the show. (Again, had to let go of my own theories there.) WandaVision at most had 3… Wanda, Vision, and Monica, and I don’t feel like Vision had much of an arc tbh.

And then all the little witchy horror movie references throughout, the incredible seeding of the Billy’s Road reveal, building up and breaking down the coven, Agatha’s incredible complexity as a character and not being able to neatly put her in any category, hero, villain, anti-hero, whatever. You really can’t pin her down and I don’t think I’ve seen that in the MCU ever. I guess the last character like that was sort of Loki, but he had more of a true redemption arc. Agatha just… exists in the gray at all times. You just never know what she’s gonna do. And it’s amazing.

Then there’s the Ballad and truly weaving that throughout the whole show in such a way that it’s instrumental (pun intended) to the plot… who does that? Plus the amazing score that feels just as present throughout. The only comp I can kind of make is Clara’s theme in DW, but the Ballad is way more intentional throughout.

I can’t possibly go into it all but the sheer amount of setup and pay off is incredible. And yet we leave with more mysteries to solve and more questions to ask, which is also incredible!

Not to mention the production design, the practical effects, costumes, makeup — every visual was stunning.

And I’m not even going to get into AgathaRio (and Nicky) and all the tragic complexity there. I get wanting a happy ending but… also what ever made you think this would be as simple as a happy ending? They are a. Capital S. STORY. They’re practically mythological. Who cares about happily ever after when you can have Epic, Fated, Complex Romance that literally transcends this Earth. Like what more do you want?? That is the top echelon of epic romance. Disconnect the “happy ever after” = “good romance” link in your brain, you know? Judge by complexity and emotionality and dynamic range rather than something as simple and boring as do they end up together or not. They’re so wildly interesting and I’m so glad we could get more of them in the future. (Ok I did get into it oops)

And the humor?? I don’t think I even need to say anything. But what comedic excellence from everyone across the board, with Kathryn Hahn leading the charge of course. And to balance that with the drama without undercutting either of them is not easy, but they all did it flawlessly.

I could go on and on but I just hope this show, and Jac, and Kathryn, and everyone involved gets their flowers for this work of art. There’s just so much love and care and intentionality here. It really feels like a standout not just in the MCU but in contemporary TV in general. Easily my top show of 2024, it’s not even a contest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[trixie-in-wonderland]

Event Theme Song 🎵

my main account: @trixiegalaxy

a fanfiction TWST Christmas event based off the game, Bridge to Another World: The Christmas Curse, with a female reader/MC.

Plot; After boarding the Polar Express, (Y/N), Grim, Ace, Deuce, Epel, Vil, Rook, Azul, Ruggie, Kalim, Lilia, and Idia find themselves in the north pole where a huge Christmas festival is being held. But the festivities come to a halt when Santa's evil twin brother, Krampus, attacks the village and starts turning people into christmas ornaments. Later on, it's revealed that Krampus intends to seize control of all the magic in Twisted Wonderland in addition to destroying Christmas forever. Will (Y/N) and her friends be able to stop Krampus? Or will this be the last Christmas in Twisted Wonderland?

Story Info (Please Read!)

Book 1 Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4

Book 2 Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Book 3 Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 [final]

Christmas Event Card Drawing Challenge

I thought it might be fun to add a drawing challenge along with my fake event, where you can draw your TWST OC or Yuusonas in your own event outfit. Please read my story and the challenge's rules before drawing anything! Event outfits are in Book 1 - Chapter 3 of my fanfiction story.

Challenge Rules:

If you do this challenge, please reblog this post!

you may tag your TWST artist friends when you post your drawing to see if they also want to do the challenge. But it's entirely up to them if they do it or not! And please do not tag an artist who has already been tagged!

When you post your drawing, please add the tag "A Twisted Christmas Story Event" and a link to this post.

Your drawing must be in the form of a character card! If you do an R card, just use the regular R card background. If you do an SSR card, you can draw your own picture or background for it. If you do an SR card, please use the following picture for the background (it was made by @k-looking-glass-house ):

You may add a full-body picture of your character's outfit in your post, along with your character card.

If you want, you can draw a Groovy version of your event card. You can also write your own Vignettes and voice lines to go along with your event card.

Please don't add any inappropriate words or pictures on your outfit! Such as curse words or nudity pictures.

Please do not add blood or gore to your drawing!

Do not draw someone else's OC unless you get permission or they commission you! If you do get permission or commission, please add who the OC belongs to in your post.

You can also add headcanons about what it would be like if your OC was in the event.

You may do more then one character for this challenge, but please post their event cards separately!

You may also make an event card of canon TWST characters wearing the event outfits, including the characters I add to my fanfiction story (but put them in the outfits I chose for them, it took a long time trying to find the perfect Christmas pajamas for each of them 😭).

Your character's event outfit must be in the form of Christmas theme pajamas. The pajamas can be in the style of a two piece or onesie. You can also do a night gown, but if you do, please give them pajamas pants underneath! The pajamas shirt must have long sleeves and the pajamas pants must be long legged.

The theme of your pajamas can be anything Christmas related: candycanes, christmas cookies, snowman, hot cocoa, penguins, Santa Claus, polar bears, etc. You can also mix themes together, for example: snowman & reindeer, Santa Claus & candy canes, or hot cocoa & christmas cookies.

The color scheme of the event outfit can be anything you want.

Your pajamas top can be replaced with a pull-on hooded sweat jacket, but the jacket must be the same Christmas theme as your pajamas pants.

You can make your character's outfit similar or the same as any of the event outfits I gave the TWST characters in my fanfiction story.

If you want, you can add a scarf, earrings, or necklace to your outfit.

Your character's hairstyle can be whatever you want.

Your outfit must include the following items (they don't have to be the same color or style as the following picture):

A santa hat - you can make the hat any color you want. you can add antlers, christmas lights, or anything like that to your hat. But if your OC is wearing a hooded onesie, you don't have add the hat, and just have your OC be wearing the hood on their head instead.

Mitten style gloves

An open front winter vest or sweater or sweater vest - But if you have replaced your pajamas top with a pull-on hooded sweat jacket, then don't add any of these.

Slippers that have soles on the bottom - the slippers can be plain winter ones or the cute character theme ones.

I'm tagging for this challenge; @cheekinpermission , @oya-oya-okay , @terminuslucis , @tickledpink31 , @cheerleaderman , @clovenoko , @deppytwistverse , @rizdoodls , @cozymochi , and @sunnysidesevenup

[frokenkeke]

Making of Today Forever

Well, it finally happened. After much toiling I managed to finish Today Forever, the follow-up to last year's Ashes to Ashley. Like last time, I also want to talk a little bit about where it came from. By all means, check out Making of Ashes to Ashley as well for full context if you haven't already, as a lot of the points brought up there still apply to this new comic.

Today Forever continues the day after Ashes to Ashley. It is a story about what happens after your great coming out, when everything is new but life still moves on in its familiar mundanity. Despite the elation of last night, Ashley has trouble fully letting go of the past. The loss of the Ride shirt becomes a symbol for the jarring and complicated emotions of reconstructing yourself. It is a story about the nature of happiness, it is an awkward romance, it is somehow also about the 90s band Ride.

While writing Today Forever I gave extra thought to the idea of sequels, in particular the second installment of a story. You do something once and it is the whole of itself, you do it twice and it's a mirror reflection of contrasts, you do it any more than this and it's simply "another one". I always intended Ashes to Ashley to be an episodic series with self-contained adventures. The original comic may be complete, starting and ending satisfyingly; it doesn't need to continue, but nevertheless I wanted it to. I don't want there to be just one story, or even two stories. I want "another one" to be in the majority. Yet despite how much you iterate on something, the second entry will always be the domain of contrasts; number two reveals what was unique about number one. In the differences and similarities we establish the boundaries and understand how the story will both change and remain familiar from here on out.

With this in mind, Today Forever is intended to be the polar opposite of Ashes to Ashley. I selectively reuse only the parts that are most crucial. We still follow Ashley, she's on tour with her band, she's rediscovering herself through a trans lens, the tone is cute and lighthearted, everything is drawn on paper with an old worn down Bic mechanical pencil and digitally colored with an ugly sponge brush built into Photoshop. However, this time we go somewhere new, with outdoor scenes in broad daylight, everyone is enjoying their leisure, they're all wearing different clothes, some characters are more prominent while others are less, shoegaze remains a crucial central theme but no one ever picks up an instrument. These points both expand what Ashes to Ashley can be while simultaneously reinforcing its core. The audience understands the story more clearly. Heck, the author probably also understands the story more clearly.

These were the first preliminary character sketches I made for Today Forever, including the cover art concept which remained more or less intact until the end. I went for a "first day of summer" motif to signify everyone being on their day off. I can't remember why, but it's explicitly written in the script that Gabriel and Miki change outfits somewhere after the breakfast scene. This was probably not that necessary, but it is admittedly funny that Miki puts on her Lush T-shirt (featuring the lemon from the Split album cover!) while Ashley is mourning the Ride shirt. Is Miki teasing Ashley?!

It should be noted that the script and story didn't arrive fully formed in my head! Today Forever went through some pretty drastic revisions, and I kept changing around elements until the very end. Above is the beginning of the first draft, you can see how parts were both cut and reshuffled, while a few remain unchanged. In the first version of the story Ashley actually spent the entire day moping in the van. The intent was to focus on her dynamic with Kate, as Kate was the least featured character in the previous story. To reinforce this, I wrote the rest of the cast out of the plot by sending them off to an amusement park. It was a scattered mess of ideas, quite miserable. I felt lost with the whole thing until my girlfriend Alicia took one look at the draft and asked a simple but crucial question; Why doesn't Ashley go to the amusement park? This practically saved the entire comic, giving me a fun central theme to work with. The ideas wrote themselves, the tone got lighter, the initial story became a bookend for the gang running off to the fireworks factory.

Here are the initial panel layouts for the "final" script. Somehow 32 pages became 37.

Today Forever commits the fatal writing cliché of starting with the protagonist waking up in their bed. This was to immediately connect it with the ending of Ashes to Ashley, to the degree where Ashley is wearing the exact same getup, complete with smudged makeup and loose tights. Rules are made to be broken!

The band's van is bigger on the inside for the sheer writing convenience of having a spacious motorhome. This was inspired by the comic Tank Girl where a throw-away panel blurb states that "the tank is bigger on the inside like the TARDIS". No more explanations necessary.

Debbie getting awkwardly up-close and casual with half-naked Ashley is one of my favorite gags. It's goofy while also suggesting a lot about the characters. I like that Ashley feels comfortable enough with her friends to wear nothing but underwear in front of them.

Floppy Park was initially named Playland as one of several Ride references, subtly alluding to the 1990 Play EP. I ended up changing this because it sounded like a playpen for toddlers.

The panel where Ashley is admiring herself in the mirror is another one of my favorites. She has so much self-love! Also, her face looks funny when pressed on a flat circle.

I was worried about having sufficient space for the breakfast scene, but luckily I fit it all on one page without too many compromises. My biggest dilemma was having choose how Ashley would respond to her day off; either with a puzzled "Hmm...? Free day?" or an understated "Wow". Both felt in line with her personality, but there was only room for one. Looking at it now I'm still conflicted on which to choose. The wow line is still funny to me.

Debbie truly is the ultimate romantic foil to Ashley. While Ashley is painfully clueless and uncharacteristically slow for a bunny, Debbie is kind to a fault, accepting the smallest suggestion with full sincerity. Debbie assumes Ashley understands everything about the situation, Ashley doesn't even parse that there is a situation. Ashley's cluelessness is based on myself, I suspect I unwittingly live every moment like Ashley.

Drawing angry Ashley was heaps of fun. I played around with doodling a full-on "aaugh!" Peanuts pastiche, which evolved into other monstrosities like the Ashley blob and the big eyed Ashley I used to represent myself in the Transparency Aquanaut's Holiday video.

Having the cast argue about the number one shoegaze band was among the most crucial pages to me, remaining intact from the very first draft. I'm just really into shoegaze and have no other outlets for this! I get excited whenever someone tells me they actually sat down and listened to one of the mentioned bands. They're all important to me.

I absolutely love the panel of overly melodramatic Ashley sitting in front of the stereo blasting Seagull (she didn't even pick a sad Ride song, she just literally put on the Nowhere album!). Her graceful theatrical display of sorrow contrasts the scene towards the end where she cries for real. Happiness is one of the core themes of Today Forever. Ashley encounters it as a conflict. She declares today the best day and the worst day with equal hyperbole as she flip-flops between emotions. Sadness is a comfort, sometimes sadness is easier, eventually happiness makes her sad, happiness seems forbidden, yet happiness doesn't declare its presence. In the end happiness always finds her again.

Every now and then I needed to do some warm-up sketches, usually after a longer absence from drawing. At some point I drew old pre-transition Ash again out of curiosity.

The scenes at Floppy Park take direct inspiration from my own amusement park memories. In particular, the setting is based on Gröna lund, the local amusement park in Stockholm where I live and grew up. Just like in the comic, their fun house Lustiga huset is accessed through a cumbersome staircase, has a zigzag hallway and ends in a carpet ride slide. Conversely, the hall of mirrors is in a separate building, and there's no Escher Relatively room.

Like with the fun house, the ghost train is inspired by Blå tåget at Gröna lund, a ride where you sit in blue carts while ghastly horrors jump out at you. I went through a bunch of different ideas for the monster that spooks Debbie so much she exists the comic panel, but ultimately a simple jaw creature with dark shading did the job. The burning scarecrows are of course a reference to the Sonic Youth album Bad Moon Rising.

In hindsight, I probably should've cut the claw game scene for brevity, since it's similar enough to the shooting gallery. If I could revise it I would have Ashley fail the game, for contrast and drama. But whatever, I'll let her have this one. Several of the plushies in the claw machine are old comic characters of mine, they live on as commodified kitsch in Ashley's world.

Returning to the rest of the gang in the Ferris wheel for a crucial shipping report and some cocky evil Ashley's on top. Ashley gets a power boost whenever her femininity is verbally reaffirmed, like when Um Jammer Lammy hears "dojo, casino, it's all in the mind".

The rollercoaster is the big climactic payoff to the amusement park setting. The moment Ashley says "ugh... rollercoasters..." we know she'll inevitably end up riding one! The name Grasshopper is taken from the Ride track of the same name, it's a lengthy instrumental piece which features screams that sound like people riding a rollercoaster, the choice was clear from the beginning. Drawing terrified Ashley was a blast, Ashley's soul slipping from her dead body in sheer terror is an obscenely exaggerated visual. I did not use it because it posed too many theological questions.

The shooting gallery scene was conceived by Alicia, she loved the idea of Debbie posing with a gun. It gave Debbie some depth and a slightly rustic lean. Somehow I find Debbie's marksman skills more believable than Ashley's claw game luck.

As Ashley states, the shark plush is a reference to the cover of Ride's Today Forever EP, which is where this comic got its name. However, it is obviously also modeled after IKEA's stuffed toy Blåhaj, whose blue-pink-white color scheme made it a trans icon.

Ashley and Debbie sit down at the end to emphasize the emotional core of the story. Ashley is peculiar, but in a special way. Ashley finally thanks Debbie for what we can presume are years of patient kindness. They have the perfect romantic moment, yet are both too shy to bring it any further. Theirs is not a "will they-won't they" relationship, it's a "please just do it now god damnit" relationship.

The two pages where Ashley cries and the rest of the gang shows up were late additions to the comic. I felt a lack of emotional punch and a too abrupt cut to the next scene where everyone is walking back home. As the sort of "day after" story this is, Ashley is expressing the feelings I felt shortly after I began my transitioning. Just sheer shock at the realization of how sad I had been for my entire life. Like someone flipped a switch to turn on the lights. That the darkness was so overwhelming I hadn't ever noticed it.

In case the young folks were wondering, Kate is working with screenprinting here. A technique in which one covers a mounted net with a special coating that can be manipulated by burning a monotone motif onto it. Essentially you convert a picture into a shadow that preserves the holes in the net. Stroke a batch of paint across the net and you've got a print!

I had immense troubles drawing the ending scene. For whatever reason I had crammed it onto one page in the script, giving it no breathing room and an abrupt ending. Eventually I just spread it out across two pages to spare me continued pain. I'm not quite sure what "makeshift karaoke" entails, but I imagine the reader will come up with their own funny conclusion.

The last two pages to be drawn were the ones where the gang arrive at the park and Kate's phone conversation with Floyd. These were primarily shoehorned in to make every double page spread satisfying and cohesive. They were seeds of ideas that had been cut because they weren't fully necessary, however they ultimately contribute some last minute additions to the story. The park getting a big establishing panel creates breathing room among pages that are otherwise quite cramped, I also get to elaborate Ashley and Rachel's buddy dynamic. In the same vein, Kate yelling at Floyd was important for her redemption, to truly show that she DOES care and will stand up for her convictions.

While I had a clear concept for the cover from day one, I ended up having a lot of troubles with the finer details. Like how the first comic's cover paraphrases Loveless, I wanted Today Forever to paraphrase the early Ride covers for the Ride EP, Play EP and Smile compilation, which feature framed monochrome beds of flowers. Ashley and Debbie were supposed to be superimposed on top of this, but I wasn't fully in the clear on what they would do, how they would pose, what expressions they would wear. I ended up drawing a bunch of different ideas until I ended on the double blushed side-eyes.

On top of a cover, I also wanted a quick recap of the previous comic, as it had almost been a full year since I made it. I ended up with pulpy mugshots of the cast, taking inspiration from the recap pages in the Dragon Ball manga volumes I read as a kid. The mugshot of Ashley accidentally lacks her ear fluff, oops!

I am glad people enjoy Today Forever as much as Ashes to Ashley. I am still partial to the first one. I do have my problems with the new comic. There are parts that didn't quite come together like I had wanted, it's probably a bit too long, I feel the tone may be too juvenile at points. Mostly I felt frustrated going from one month to make the first story to an entire year for the second one. The last comic is strategically set in vaguely defined void rooms while this one keeps having to establish new locations and props. There are more panels of all the characters hanging out together. There was simply more to draw and less time to do it. Somewhere along the way I got lost in being more careful and meticulous about the clean-up and coloring as well. However, it doesn't matter now that it's all out, from here on out it's in your hands either way.

I will have to think over what I learned from Today Forever and keep that in mind while working on the third comic. Hopefully I can balance it all out. Maybe next time I figure out how long Rachel's ears are supposed to be!

/Kiki