#is hopefully justification enough for this plot

[theteaisaddictive]

The Squad are coming up with A Plan, feat. my least favourite running joke that i'm stuck with in the name of character development

[voluntarysubmission]

Modern AU proposal: Charles University Ice Hockey

I wrote up a long post with all my mental justifications for this but tumblr ate it so here's the abridged version. My apologies to the real Charles University of Prague I'm sure you wouldn't let a rich brat run wild on your main hockey team. (at least I assume the best IRL but it's convenient for this concept)

[Reposted from Hansry Kingdom community cos i'm an idiot who doesn't know how communities work on tumblr lmao]

Modern Day Czech Ice Hockey AU

One day, Hans Capon shall be the majority owner and likely CEO of Leipa Hotels and Resorts. In the present day though, he's a trust-fund fuck boy who parties hard and chases girls.

Hans is somehow achieving this while scraping through enough of his business degree at Charles University to graduate, and maintaining his position as a left wing forward on the university team.

Current steward of the company, Hanush, waits for Hans to graduate before he can take over, per his late parents instructions. He simultaneously hates how unseriously Hans takes his studies, but sees his present opportunity to shape the company while Hans makes it easy to justify retaining control.

Despite Hans' indulgences and excesses, late nights and missed practices, he's never truly disciplined off the university team due to his family's contributions to the university, but he still isn't quite liked by the rest of the team due to his arrogance.

Meanwhile, Henry grows up in actual Skalice, working for his father Martin's high end automobile maintenance and repair workshop after graduating high school. He plays hockey as a defenseman mostly just for fun after finishing school but the physical work at the shop keeps him fit.

After a tragic accident that claims his parents' lives, the mysterious rich regular customer Mr Radzig Kobyla steps in and makes him an offer: He will fund Henry to move to Prague and attend tertiary education enough to be a reasonable investment option, so he can open his own car workshop like Martin's, but in in the city.

Henry, already wanting out of Skalice, takes the offer, and moves close to the university. He finds another mechanic shop to work at in the meantime, and joins the university's social team, which uses the rink at late hours for games and practice.

After being given the responsibility to resurface the ice and lock up the rink, Henry one night finds Hans and a few mates drinking in the changerooms, and attempts to kick them out to finish closing up. After a failed attempt to "do you know who I am" him, Hans and Henry get into a brawl, and are both brought in by campus security.

Hanush, collects Hans and lectures them both, and assigns them both to do some community outreach work at a small town youth hockey rink together. He tells Hans to get his shit together and act like a leader, and then informs Radzig, who tells Henry that it's a good opportunity to get used to dealing with the whims of the rich folk who will hopefully become future customers just like he was a customer of Martin's with his specialty cars.

Cue plot and shenanigans and angry fights and male bonding and eventually difficult confessions of the depths of feelings and physical relations.

Eventually, due to injuries or whatever shenanigans, Henry gets called up to play on the main university team as left defence. Hans seems to actually play better with him on the ice, and they make some impressive plays together than help snag the team a high spot for finals.

Hans keeps up his womanising and drinking, but seems a bit more emotionally detached from it, unless Henry is out there making moves with him. And even then, he seems to have more fun doing drunken shenanigans with Henry than any attention he gets from girls. They drunkenly have a weird moment where they get really close, but Hans suddenly remembers they're out with the whole team and deflects at the last moment. Henry doesn't overthink it, but is getting wary of what would rock the boat of the whole team's dynamic, who have finally been coming to like Hans a bit more and just generally synergise on ice better.

Meanwhile Henry is just trying to keep up. Radzig and Hanush both told him they'd look favourably on him keeping Hans together enough to have a good showing at the finals, and if they're very lucky, survive exams too.

During an intense playoff run, where Henry both learned from another team that Radzig may be his actual father (somehow idk) and Hans was injured in an unsafe play, it's the night before the finals, and Hans and Henry are sitting in Hans' dorm room. Hans hasn't been able to stop thinking about Henry as more than a friend, and by now Henry has gone out of his way to bail Hans out of stupid and sometimes dangerous situations again and again (plus one ridiculous moment when Henry took a dangerous hit and Hans was the one to throw gloves with the 6'5" defender).

Henry is about to go, noting they he needs sleep before the game, and Hans realises he simply doesn't want him to leave. Despite his injury, while alone, he grabs Henry and kisses him "for luck".

Anyway that's as far as I thought, really. I thought instead of a heavily Christian society creating a barrier to a homosexual relationship, the dominantly rich white conservative culture of ice hockey could work! This idea brought to you by being stuck in traffic on the way to my own damn 11pm hockey game because beer league teams never gets decent ice time.

I know modern AUs don't have to 1:1 match the original plot, but it was fun thinking of analogous situations.

Bonus thoughts on the hockey element under the cut:

Hans and Henry are both depicted as right handed in game. It isn't hard or fast, but there's a kiiind of preference towards playing left stick if you're right dominant in hockey. At least, that's true in Canada. Therefore they play left side. They could play right, but it's a smidge easier to play left when you have a left stick.

Hans is a left forward, probably second or third line. No way he's dedicated enough to be first line, no matter how rich his family is in donations, and center is a lot of skating both offensively and defensively. I think he'd just take the flashy "easier" position, and be a bit of an annoying selfish player who takes shots even when he probably should pass the puck.

Henry plays left defense. He's tall, strong, hardy, and has good wingspan. He'd probably make great checks. Idk it just felt right. I don't think you can fight much at the university level but I can imagine Hans taking some hits and Henry being like "ok destroy time :) "

Hans actually reading a situation and passing the puck back to Henry on the blue line so HE can take a higher % shot would be a nice moment of character growth.

Why hockey at all? 1. I play it and I love it. 2. you wear armour and carry weapons (sticks) and have blades (skates), it's physical and dangerous. It's also a sport with a lot of rich kids because the financial barrier to play is pretty high - a full kit of gear is really expensive!

I like the idea that Henry gets a skate sharpener installed in a backroom of the mechanics he works part time at, and Hans starts insisting that Henry has to be the one to sharpen his skates after he does it one time and scores two goals the next day.

Hockey players are also superstitious as fucking hell so Hans having weird little hangups fits right in.

Hockey players also don't shut the fuck up, either in chirping their mates and especially when chirping their opponents. Hans and Henry would both fucking love it.

Jaromir Jagr played for my NHL team for 11 years so, this is for you Jagrmeister.

[markantonys]

hi :)) finale thoughts incoming!

i will not lie, this ep was a bit of a disappointment for me. i feel like a lot of it like the hanging and the tower coup were hyped up but i came away feeling very "meh" about it. an hour on each separate storyline would have done it justice, but this isn't a turkish drama lol so we need to make do with what we've got.

it's not all bad though! favourite parts:

rand tending alsera's garden like he promised! i legitimately teared up at that part. i do wish it had been aviendha that found him in retrospect; there's too much going on with egwene and i will not lie the way she was looking at him kinda ticked me off even if i know there's justification for it

elayne using balefire was awesome; i loved the bits with her and thom and that she came back to save him, as well as her finding out lord gaebril isn't real. haven't read the books so i'm not sure if thom is her real father or just sees her as his daughter but their relationship seemed very sweet and i hope we see more of it

the liandrin/nynaeve moment by the palace. love how nynaeve was just like "everyone run if you find the collar" but ends up waiting for them anyway. that good heart of hers is everything; i think even liandrin was touched by it for a second, however unwillingly. even if liandrin is extraneous to the plot from now on, i do like the idea of her being around for the sake of toxic yuri lol

rand and lanfear "breakup" for real. it was so satisfying to see him call her out, right when she thought she had him on the ropes. further shoutout goes to the scene with couladin and the other chieftains; i got chills! no matter what else underwhelmed me about this finale, josha's performance was outstanding

regarding siuan's death - i was a little surprised but not much. i understand it's a controversial point on wotblr so i won't go too much into it, but she was brave right to the end and i believe even elaida was a little bit frightened of her which was very satisfying to see (tldr having read up on elaida i can safely say she deserves exactly what's coming to her)

everything else felt a bit jammed together so i'll just randomize: sammael's death? horrifying, but at least we might still get asmodean. mat cpr? no hate to min, but i think it would've hit different if it were rand. eelfinn? creepy as hell, curious to see how that plays out. moiraine and lanfear battle? stunning effects and they both acted well even if it was anticlimactic

this has been a solid season overall, despite the fact it kinda missed the landing. hopefully this doesn't rob us of an s4 and the team spreads things out better for next time. there's more than enough quality in this show to keep it going - much worse shows have lasted far longer lbr

have a good weekend! see you on the other side :))

finale already! i can't believe it's over! i've loved reading your thoughts every week <3 hopefully we shall return for s4!

i agree that the finale felt somewhat anticlimactic because of being so jam-packed that most stuff didn't really get to breathe properly, but it's been getting rave reviews and high praise in general (currently 9.2 on imdb), so i think it landed well for most viewers, which is good and hopefully will lead to renewal! and i can imagine some potential s4 structures that would allow for grouping more characters together and not having as many separate Plot Groups, which would hopefully help with pacing, though of course it's way too early to really guess at how they might structure it.

i figured they probably would include a scene of rand harvesting alsera's squash, and i'm so glad they did! it made me emotional! but agreed, i wish aviendha had been the one the wise ones sent to get him so that they could've taken a brief moment to talk and get a little more closure about alsera. lots of rand-egwene tension in this episode, like in this scene, where of course we understand why egwene is being standoffish with him but it also hurts to see rand grieving and in need of just a moment of support and egwene not giving it to him - it illustrates just how far they've drifted from each other, since back in s1 egwene wouldn't have hesitated to reach out to offer comfort in that moment, but now their relationship is too fractured. (it also kiiiinda retroactively proves rand's breakup point that he doesn't feel supported by her as a partner, basically, because here we see an example of her keeping him at a distance when he needs comfort. if we'd had an example of this BEFORE the breakup instead of only after, that might've lent more credence to viewers about rand's side of the argument. like, if alsera's death had happened in an earlier pre-breakup episode, and if egwene had gotten really spooked about rand's unhinged moment due to her Mad Rand Arches Trauma, and if this had led to her avoiding rand and then being standoffish when she found him grieving alsera in the garden, and THEN the breakup had happened AFTER all of that, rand saying "you claim you came here for me but you're not actually there for me when i need you" might've carried more weight for the audience and would've gotten the "understandable that egwene is afraid of rand going mad but also understandable that rand is hurt by this" point across better.)

continuing on, elayne had some excellent moments, yes! very exciting that she's now on the right path about gaebril/rahvin - hopefully that will become a major plotline for s4. and her relationship with thom was very sweet in this episode!

awwww i hadn't clocked nynaeve telling whoever found the collar to leave right away without the others but then still waiting for everyone after she found it, that's my girl!! <3 haha yeah, the liandrin-nynaeve dynamic is always fun to watch, so i can't be mad about it continuing for another season! as of now i think liandrin would surely die in s4 because now that she's firmly committed herself to the dark side and lost her last chance in nynaeve's eyes, i don't know if she'd have more than 1 season of juice left in her before nynaeve deals with her once and for all, but who knows.

josha really killed it in this episode! i loved seeing rand call out lanfear - i read a post-finale josha interview where he was saying that this scene is a script-flip on the dynamic where for the first time, rand is the one playing a game with lanfear instead of her playing a game with him. i'm curious what their dynamic in s4 might be like now that they're openly hostile to each other! and yessss, the alcair dal scene was so wonderful! rand's channeling at the end was such a beautiful visual <3

yeah, i'd been suspecting siuan might die in the coup in the show since in my opinion the coup is the peak of her story in terms of drama/narrative tension and her post-coup storyline as written in the books doesn't offer as much meat, so with siuan being portrayed by such a talented and high-caliber actress who you want to make sure always has worthy material when she's onscreen, it would've been a choice between either bulking up that storyline or letting her go out on a bang at this peak moment, and i understand why they chose the latter. but she kept her head held high and stayed true to herself and to the light no matter how hard elaida tried to silence her, and her death will not be in vain! rafe mentioned a cut scene of leane, verin, ryma, and other rebel aes sedai planning to gather near siuan's birthplace, so it sounds like siuan is going to be held up as a symbol for the rebels. in the book version, even though she survives the coup (but does die anyway, just much later and in a scene where her death gets such little attention that it's practically a sidenote), she is largely disdained by the rebels and treated as the failure amyrlin, so for me personally, i don't mind her dying early but getting to have a better legacy as somebody who inspires the rebels and represents what they're fighting for.

and i will leave you with the book version of cauthor cpr so you can appreciate it in all its glory! featuring book!rand's weird as fuck cpr method, bless him

(yes, the "girl in the stone" is indeed the story beat that alsera covered. imagine show!rand getting to give mat cpr and save him when he couldn't save alsera! i'm fine!)

[william-o]

I participated in the Seasons of Gensokyo Zine!

I'm back once again in a collaboration Gensokyozine to share a fic I've made for their zine! Last year I wrote two short poem pieces but this year I did something I rarely do and wrote a whole short story!

You can read my piece on its own on ao3 here! But I highly recommend looking and reading all the amazing pieces this new zine has to offer!

I have quite a bit to talk about for this piece I wrote, it's been a journey! If you're interesting keep reading below!

So I knew there was going to be another event like this this year but I had no idea what the theme would be until the announcement was made. When I heard it was going to be based on seasons it was actually pretty tough figuring out a story revolving around that. I was also determined to write more than just a poem this time around so it had to be somewhat substantial.

Thankfully in the application where we had to pitch our idea there were a few topic examples provided, one of which involved using a story involving cicadas. So I started to do some research on cicadas, and what I found as a source of inspiration was a story about Cicadas by Lafcadio Hearn. Perhaps you've heard about him? Me being a *somewhat* superstitious individual saw it as a sign that this is what I was to write about for the seasons of gensokyo zine!

With further research I discover the existence of Dog Day Cicadas. They share the name of the shot type in the extra stage of Hidden Star in Four Seasons, they have folktale of how they're a sign of the end of summer and beginning of the next season, and strictly as a bonus for myself they're green and black just like me! It sounds like a story perfect to feature Yukari!

Now one of my biggest fears about writing a fanfic is completely misinterpreting a character. So I did all I could to try to get Yukari written just right. My idea was that it was most common in Gensokyo that people hated the sound cicadas make, except for Yukari. I was however advised that I needed some kind of reason that Yukari would like the sound cicadas make, or some kind of justification. Thankfully I found just what I needed in Chapter Five of Cage in Lunatic Runagate where Yukari states "The moon was unthinkably silent compared to the Gensokyo that was constantly noisy from bickering between humans and youkai. ~ Whether it was decay or pure heaven, I hated it. I needed the noise of the city." Close enough in my book to say that Yukari prefers noise over silence whether it be from people, a city, or cicadas.

Now when it comes to Son Biten, I didn't pressure myself as much to try and get her character right as I did with Yukari. She is one of the newest characters after all so there was less material to analyze her character. Although if I were to criticize myself about this fic, it would be that she's only there to be a plot point. I'll admit, I only really wanted her in here as a way to have the great sage equal to heaven and gensokyo and an actual sage interact. I will say I did a little bit of research to Son's personality, but I more or less just had her trying to do her best pretending to live up to the title she gave herself (Even though her character is more than just that).

And for good measure at the end I threw in a poem, this time in the tanka form (5-7-5-7-7). This was overall a lot of fun to write! I tried to format the story as a whole similar to a Hifuu story as well as the "A Beautiful Flower Blooming Violet Every Sixty Years" story. Speaking of Hifuu, I did throw in a little reference to Taboo Japan Disentanglement, did you happen to catch it? Well I hope you enjoyed my little story, I'm gonna go order some pizza and I'll see you again next year! (Hopefully!)

[heartfeltletters-written]

onyx storm, chapters 1-4 spoilers

“My next breath shakes, and I force everything I can’t handle into a neat, mentally fireproof box and stash it somewhere deep inside me.”

omg i'm tired, i thought we'd discussed this last book, babes the box doesn't work !! she's gonna end up having another mental breakdown by the end of the book omg.

i know its part of the theme but it bothers me that every two lines someone is calling venin soulless, like yall do not know enough about them and jack barlowe is a very bad case study bc he's just trash overall. Venin have nothing to do with his trashiness levels.

i hope we change this very insane way of thinking by the end of the book. wrap it up Rebecca !!

“Every possible path may require breaking a few laws.

girl since when do u care about breaking laws ??

I don’t like Aotrom exposing his throat to Tairn as a sign of submission. I wanted that to be a Tair x Sgaeyl thing.

Tairn is being dramatic for no reason. so what if Xaden turned venin?? God forbid boyfriends have hobbies *rolls eyes* but on a serious note was he not the one who told Violet he'd go against the empyrean if it meant she lived or sum ?? why is he mad at Xaden ??

(I know its trauma bc of Naolin since I'm like almost 100% sure he turned Venin)

LOVE Imogen and Violet being besties, im sure NOTHING will happen to them !! (side eye to RY)

On the topic of Imogen, she deserves better. Garrick im under your bed and the fact that HE KNOWS pisses me off, I hope Imogen gets a partner this book. IM TIRED OF HIS ASS

However points for Garrick and Bodhi for trying to keep Violet safe, I don't like it for obv reasons but they're trying. With Garrick it makes total sense, not only did he want for xaden and violet to get together in past books but it was implied that he told xaden repeatedly that he should inform violet of things. Bodhi I wish we had more interactions between him and violet for his protection of her to make sense. I don't think her being his cousin in law is justification enough but hopefully we'll see more of them together this book.

I have a complain about a very specific line on chapter 2 but I'm not brave enough to expose myself bc its not about the plot its about redundant writing. If u want to know and be messy with me tho ... do dm me.

Eran Norris random mention ?? what the hell, sure.

HAND HOLDER XADEN RIORSON

The nobles of the provinces .... fanfic ideas are already storming in my head.

Daggers as bookmarkers is hilarious I cant lie.

Did love that sex scene, very cute, very established relationship coded. Also If this was fanfiction him sucking the life out of her / draining her would be a kink. I know what *I'm* writing fo this year's kinktober.

“I’m too selfish to give you up”

They were jealous because *I* spoke the truth. I know Xaden is too selfish to abandon her. I called it !!

First Brennan appearance and I'm already bored and throwing up. Get him out of my page !!! also stop with the "you're sleeping with my little sister bs" we're all grown.

If my sister answered me with “shut up cadet, the officers are speaking” I would simply have shut the door in her face. Violet is too nice.

Still don't understand how that disc is going to help. understood zero of it but maybe that's bc I didn't do any reread prior to read OS so I think that's on me.

[synthient]

15th Doctor Season 2 predictions

Spent this morning mapping out a vague direction of where I think the show is going (more on the level of "themes" and "emotional stakes" than specific plot beats, which I mostly handwave as "meanwhile, alien antics ensue"). Because I love to look for Patterns and Signs and things of that nature :)

Christmas special:

This is what I wrote in my notes app on the train this morning, before I even knew about the comic-con trailer:

We see "what the Doctor gets up to when he's alone." Which, I predict, mostly consists of him trying to convince himself that he doesn't need companions and he's fine on his own, while being obviously miserable.

And I think the trailer basically confirms this lol. Joy is a Doctor mirror. Her efforts to mask her loneliness under a plucky attitude are exactly what the Doctor is doing.

Anyway, at some point during or after the Joy-Doctor bonding session (if she's not going to be a companion, then hopefully nothing happens to her that reminds him why he was trying to be alone ☹️):

The Doctor runs into the new Varada Sethu character. He notices that she looks like Mundy and goes "oh weird! this is an impossible girl situation, just like Clara" (the intitial seeding of Clara-exposition for new viewers, a la the Doctor-Donna stuff or the Toymaker's puppet show. This Is A Surprise Tool That Will Help Us Later).

The mystery offers him a self-justification to bring her along (maybe he's not even endangering her! maybe she's already tied up in some supernatural shenanigans, and his presence could protect her, if anything. Is that why he agreed to bring Ruby along, when he thought she was at the center of a mystery? And is that part of why he left her as soon as he realized she wasn't?)

S2 E1:

Meanwhile, Ruby is becoming disillusioned with her ordinary, post-Doctor life. She's working a thankless customer service job. Her bio parents aren't as perfect as she always dreamed they'd be. She has new, more complicated family dynamics to navigate (and probably has to face the uncomfortable truth that, in the rush of finding her "real" mom, she hasn't been treating Carla great).

Some crisis bring the Doctor back to 2020s London. Ruby is thrilled to see him - but then, when she realizes he replaced her with another companion almost immediately, hurt and resentful. She thought they were best friends. She thought she was special. Are his human "friends" just interchangeable props to him?

A mid-alien-crisis emotional confrontation ensues. The Doctor tells Ruby that it's because he cares about her that he left. When he doesn't push people away, they get hurt. Clara is brought up as an example. (She's still fresh on his mind from the Impossible Girl/Mundy lookalike thing. More exposition is fed to new viewers).

Ruby declares that she cares about the Doctor too much to let him push her away, even if it's for her own good. And she loves their adventures enough for it to be worth the risk. With mixed feelings, the Doctor lets her back onto the tardis team.

(The Ruby/Sethu Companion dynamic becomes ?? Are they friends? Are they still competing to be the Favorite Companion? Will Mundy Sunday happen as foretold?)

Next few episodes:

Our Three Heroes set out on a series of one-off adventures. I won't try to predict the details, but I'm guessing the episodic stories won't have much literal connection to the Main Plot, but will tie in subtextually and thematically.

In S1, there were two big thematic throughlines: 1) abandoment issues, and 2) cultures that echo Gallifrey. Ruby was a Doctor mirror on the abandonment issues front. So my prediction is that Sethu Companion will somehow be a mirror on the "Doctor re-evaluating his relationship with his home" front. We have no idea what time and place Sethu Companion will be from - but Mundy's "soldier indoctrinated into an ideology that was all a violently-exploitative lie" background certainly tracks.

What is The Main Plot?

Again, I won't hazard many specifics. I'm going more for Themes than the exact way those themes are executed. But the big two reveals I'm gambling on are:

1. Rogue is the Master

2. We get a long-delayed payoff for why Missy introduced Clara to the Doctor (something to do with the hand that picked up the tooth?)

And with those two reveals, we unify our main themes: 1) The cycle of abandoment (the Doctor is abandoned by his parents, abandons the Master, abandons Susan and his future companions). 2) Re-evaluating his relationship to Gallifrey. And 3) What kind of relationships should the Doctor have with his friends? How much closeness can he afford? Is he a bringer of death? Of life? Of joy? What's the right time, and the right way, to say goodbye?

Not to get too Clara centric, but I am getting a little Clara-pilled re Mrs. Flood? I think it'd be fun if Clara spent a few centuries adventuring, eventually figured out how to undo the frozen heartbeat thing and start aging again, and came back to see the Doctor, with their old person/young person dynamic now reversed. Her Missy-coding fulfilled via an ominous, convoluted, yet twistedly-loving way of expressing her friendship. But I think there are multiple answers to the Mrs. Flood question that could still fit The Themes. Any timelord would work, for example

I'm also kind of leaning toward the "big bad" being not Mrs. Flood, not Missy or Rogue-Master, but Rogue and the Meep's boss. Who's some third party we can't really hope to predict, any more than we could've seen Sutekh coming. Assuming there's one at all - maybe Sutekh already met our "big bad" quotient, and we'll get more heaven sent-style personal stakes this time?

Entirely possible that there's some storyteller trying to craft a narrative out of the Doctor's life, put "perfect companions" in his path, etc. Mrs. Flood is the obvious suspect....but too obvious? What if the Doctor is subconsciously narrativizing his own life, and his story "ending in terror" is actually something Mrs. Flood is trying to disrupt

If Susan shows up, I think it'd be really funny if she was trying to parent-trap her two grandpas

Anyway, I think the biggest hole in my analysis is that the cue at the end of S1 was to look into Clara, Missy, and Romana. And I still haven't started my Romana Studies. Gotta get Romana-pilled

[nilnether]

I think canon is inconsistent enough that you can find justifications for almost anything. I don't think recoms were really intended to be more than background dressing so there is no consistency because they exist to support the plot direction not have plot support their personal development. Recoms aren't really characters with any coherent traits (design is not personality and everything else is fanon). Not even Wainfleet who gets something adjacent to personality.

On one hand he seems to take care of Spider when Quaritch is not around and he does it even when it looks like Quaritch dies. I was so sure he (and other recoms) would take it out on Spider because he tricked Quaritch. But there is none of that (even the first time it was like they were too nice about it - especially Wainfleet). And then Wainfleet seems to support Spider's plea to not kill the tsahik. On the other, as you say, he seems to have completely no issue shooting at Spider.

And the easiest explanation is this - he's just there to further the plot so he does what plot needs him to do. On the beach he is there to reflect Quaritch's doubts back to him. On the ship he's someone who Quaritch would stop. Both cases implying to us Quaritch cares about Spider even before the big reveal. This is even more true about other recoms who mostly exist to be part of the disposable cannon fodder on the obstacle course to Quaritch.

Maybe Cameron also wanted to throw some crumbs in there that humanise the recoms (and one day maybe humans too) so they aren't all about being monsters. After all there was no real need for Prager, the other recom who was shooting at Spider, Lo'ak and Neteyam, to die rescuing some guy from fire.

It's one of those things I wonder about when I'm trying to figure out why they were set up in this particular way (one I wonder even more about is that technically killing Neteyam might be the only thing recoms did that doesn't qualify as war crime since he was armed and returned fire and was that intentional). Just like we are shown Jake and Neytiri killing anyone in a way that's usually avoided with heroes - like Jake did with Prager and the guy he was rescuing and of course with Neytiri and Spider (even more in deleted version when Neytiri kills that guy who begs for his life).

So maybe the point is that in war there is no mercy. Only caring about the win. Unless it's your kid on the line. There is no glory and you are covered in blood and wrapped in loss. Hopefully, you don't do something that the people you care about won't forgive you for.

Or maybe it just looked cool.

OK, this got dark. I think I've been watching too much war.

EDIT: So I actually do know why it's Wainfleet who shoots Neteyam. It's because he's the only other recom who survives and personal grudges work better for audience engagement. This implies Sullys will find out it was him eventually. My best guess would be to give Lo'ak someone to take revenge on. Maybe Lyle will become to him what he was to Jake in the initial drafts of A1 and then die in some cool fight. It might be more interesting end than an underside of a foot. (But part of me really wishes we first get the "I'm Innocent" pun)

Which recoms do you think Spider bonded with the most? What would some of their interactions look like? Would Spider ever try to pry embarrassing information about Quaritch from them, would he ask about his mom, or just joke around?

I've seen a lot of fanfics, both AUs and canon universe, that expand on Spider's relationship with the other recoms, and that's really great and fun to explore, especially when Wainfleet becomes like an uncle to him.

But to be completely honest, if we're talking canon to the story of Avatar, I don't think Spider really had much of a relationship with any of the recoms other than Quaritch even though he did spend a lot of time with them. At the end of the movie, when Wainfleet shot Neteyam, Spider was running right next to him, and Wainfleet didn't seem to care if he hit him at all. Then after Neteyam's death, there's another brief scene where Wainfleet has a clear shot at Jake, but Spider is standing in front of him and would get caught in the crossfire. Wainfleet was ready to shoot Jake even if it meant hitting Spider too, and he only stopped because Quaritch told him to. And then right after that, Spider showed Jake where to ambush the recoms on the boat with zero hesitation. Spider didn't kill any recom himself, but his help made it a lot easier for Jake and Neytiri to almost wipe out the whole squad.

They spent months with each other, but when it came down to it, Spider and the recoms were willing to kill each other. Quaritch was the only exception, and even then, he had a long moment of hesitation before he could admit to himself that he did love spider more than he hated Jake. So even though in the og script and deleted scenes, we see Spider make fun of the recoms a little bit, I don't think Spider ever got comfortable enough with them to joke around or ask about such a sensitive topic like his mom.

Sorry if this is a boring answer, but I'm trying to stick to canon. And even though I don't think it's realistic to canon, I still LOVE fics that flesh out the recoms' relationship to Spider more! Fics are for bending canon anyway!

[phoenixyfriend]

Pass the Existential Dilemma, Would You?

Chapter 1 is now on AO3!

Anakin and Barriss are on a mission, undercover. Barriss insisted on doing this, but she may have bit off more than she can chew.

AKA: This is what happens when two people, who are both having doubts about their shared faith, have some conversations about that while in a high-pressure situation.

This fic is me trying to get into the head of Barriss as she's losing faith in the Jedi, but before she's actually there, and doing some risky things in her attempts to find that justification.

Written for the "Undercover" prompt of Anakin rarepair week! I didn't finish this in time, so you're just getting the first act for now.

I was a bit hesitant at writing certain parts of this fic, because I know Barriss is a high risk for accidental implications wrt to Islam due to how she was handled in canon, and any fic with her that isn't just pure fluff needs a second thought. Unfortunately, the people I reached out to were unable to get back to me in time, but I'm hoping they can look over the remaining chapters before I post.

Obviously, as this is a canonverse fic, she isn't actually Muslim, but the coding of her character and its effects need to be considered when writing.

I'm hoping the contrast with/existence of the Luminara fic from a few days ago, and the very internal focus Barriss has (as it's her POV and the driving non-ship plot is about her coming to terms with knighthood in an Order she's not sure is on the right path anymore) are enough to avoid those implications.

Hopefully, this disclaimer, the wider context, and my attempts to keep the character internally consistent add up to a portrayal that does not incidentally cross into iffy territory.

Read on AO3

[greatwyrmgold]

Seeing as how like, Katana Man’s grandfather was basically Denji’s boss, I honestly think a rather interesting au would be if he actually knew Denji as a Teenager when Denji first got the debt laid on him and gradually started warming up to him, seeing him as a younger brother or something despite what his grandfather is doing, and things drastically take a turn during the Zombie Devil thing. Idk, this idea just came to me, it’s probably not a good one but I figured I’d share.

Not sure why you wanted to share it on my blog, but yeah, that does sound like a cool AU idea!

It's a shame that we don't know what he was like before his grandfather's death. But that just means the writer has lots of freedom in plotting the hypothetical fanfic. And it's not like we know nothing about pre-Katana-Devil Katana Man.

(It would be nice if we knew his name...I'll call him Ken, which means "sword" in Japanese, and also sounds like an amusingly Western name for such a yakuza's yakuza.)

Ken isn't just any yakuza goon, and he's not just the oyabun's* grandson. He's internalized the yakuza's ideology and accepted its violence, to the point that he idolizes his grandpa for only killing a few women and children. Not for limiting violence in general, or even a consistent code against killing the "innocent," but just not killing them as much as he could have.

*We don't actually know the old man's rank, but it felt weird just calling him a yakuza boss. It would be like calling Vito Corleone a Mafia kuromaku. Or at least it feels that way.

Ken also has a strong sense of right and wrong. He knows that killing is wrong, even if he accepts the yakuza's justifications for it; he feels this so strongly that he feels guilt over killing zombies. If Chainsaw Man was instead Katana Man, Ken (or whatever his actual name is) might have a character arc where his guilt over killing people lead to him questioning some of his other principles. His blind trust in authority, for instance, which fits well with a certain devil (whose involvement is a big spoiler for anime-onlies, let's not name it).

But at the same time, Ken probably inherited a certain privileged mindset. He doesn't get much of a chance to talk about his beliefs, but it's hard to see him tell off Denji for killing his grandpa in self-defense and not conclude that Ken thinks some lives are more valuable than others.

Beyond that...it's a really obvious conflict between young Denji and young Ken, isn't it? Ken was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, especially compared to Denji. Denji inherited his dad's accounts payable, Ken stands to inherit his grandpa's accounts receivable. (Better than calling both of them "debt".)

Anyways. Ken respects Denji's hard work and obedience., but he doesn't understand Denji. Denji doesn't have a choice. Ken is obedient because he believes in his grandfather and wants to work for him; Denji is obedient because the other option is death. When he turns on the yakuza, it's at least in part because not turning on them is deadlier than doing so. (Also because the yakuza abused him and Denji's a petty dick sometimes.)

So we have two youths who assume they have a lot in common, only to realize that beneath the surface they're nothing alike. Denji would probably catch on first, both because this kind of thing is more visible from below and because Denji's specific circumstances mean he needs to act like the kind of person Ken thinks he is. Ken might not realize Denji is anything but another loyal soldier (just a private instead of a lieutenant) until he starts killing ex-yakuza and bails. (Or however the Zombie Devil incident goes.)

Anyways, I've rambled on long enough. There's another Chainsaw Man fanfic I'm halfway started on writing, I'm not going to pick up this prompt. Hopefully someone else does, though!

[nejigirl5]

| I’ll Never Leave You | [pt. 2/3]

Neji x Hyuga-Branch!Fem!Reader

Disclaimer READ!!!:  I didn’t watch Neji’s death, I stopped somewhere around episode 300 because honestly the plot was really getting bad and upsetting, and I already knew what happened in the future, so way before 364. Because of this, I don’t know a ton about the location nor some other things that would be essential for me to accurately write this scene and so through this I just decided that it would be best for me to just wing it… it probably makes no sense to people who actually watched it, but, it’s the best I could do with my knowledge and the amount of research I could do on it without actually watching the scene. 

WC: 2437

Warnings: Major Character Death (He’ll come back in pt. 3!), Mentions overeating food pills for energy, sad (but I didn’t write it very sad). 

A/n: It’s past 11:30 right now, and I am exhausted. I wasn’t able to spend as much time on this as I would like (thought I’ve been working on this all day) and so the scene is not emotional whatsoever and I apologize! It’s also very short and feels super rushed. Hopefully pt. 3 (which is the main part) will be a whole lot better and longer. This is by far the worst part there will be. 

The room that Y/n had spent so many days in felt surprisingly cold and unfamiliar in the new era. It was a different time, the announcement of war finally present and all able shinobi heading off to fight. They would be wearing a different headband then, one not of Konoha as usual, but one of the Allied Shinobi Forces, the united front against whatever threat was out there at the time.

Despite it's minimalistic and dull appearance, the gathering hall where all the Hyuga clan members had met so many times was a place where so many memories had been made, and so many people had been met by Y/n, including Neji. The cold feeling that came from the Hyuga elders was something that was often dismissed, even when talking about things as serious as the coming war to those who were not trained shinobi.

Lessons of tea serving and etiquette had been taught in the room, by the women in the clan charged with passing down their skills to the future generations. Announcements of the happiest occurrences, and the saddest passings had been spoken and echoed off those very walls. But even such as the one that was always expected, was never ready to be heard. Specifically, when it was finally time for everyone to leave for the war.

Shouldn't one who had grown fairly close to him, be happy for Neji when he walked up to the front next to Hiashi and the clan elders, seeing people quietly cheering for the genius prodigy that would be representing them. But like anything, it was a war. The sad fact of it all, was, that anyone could pass no matter their talent, which was the only justification Y/n could give to that feeling throughout all the guilt.

It was true that her relationship with him had improved overtime, especially since the announcement of the war had come. They weren't that friendly with each other still, but the stoic facade that was his expression seemed to have melted away slightly in Y/n's presence. The lack of acknowledgement had dwindled, her even picking up on the eye contact they shared for a short moment while he stood facing the crowd, a hint of softness and appreciation almost able to be captured, something that would have never occurred months before.

It felt like a crime, really, to have any doubts about his abilities in combat after all those years of training he underwent, so much so that his reassuring soft smile after the assembly wasn't close to enough to calm Y/n's nerves. If anything, it heightened them. The idea that he was finally leaving, only a few hours after that morning, easily made her feel lightheaded, so it was good he stopped her when he did.

It was a collected grab of the arm, one that was oddly familiar at that point, in which he pulled her to the side. "What's with that look on your face?" He asked, an obvious frown and expression of nervousness evident. "Look on my face?" Y/n responded, clearly confused. "Nevermind. Anyways, I'm leaving in a few hours. I thought that I at least owed you a friendly goodbye." Frustration filled her mind at that, furrowing her brow. "You don't owe me anything, Neji. I thought we clarified that." She scowled, tilting her head with newfound confidence with his strange behavior.

"Well, I'll be back before you know it. And then you can bother me again as usual." He smirked, letting her arm go and starting to walk out to meet with Hinata and the rest of the Hyuga's heading off to the Land of Lightning. "Neji... Your lunch." Her timidness caught up with her again, and something about that moment made the day feel like any other, which was comforting. The bento box with a cloth tied around it hung off her wrist as he grabbed it. No words were said, naturally, seeing as it was Neji, only another one of his small smiles and a nod of his head, things that were returned by Y/n as she walked off herself, trying to focus less on the predicament and more on preparing for the moment he arrived back.

-

Hours passed, and it could only be assumed that they were long gone on their journey. Still, Y/n couldn't bring herself to leave and head home. She wanted to try out some new recipes, as she learned he preferred the mackerel she cooked and had made the goal of making a portable nishin soba dish. Despite him not being there anymore, sitting underneath the tree near the training grounds made it feel like he still was. She could almost  see him training like she had witnessed so many times before if she squinted her eyes, but reality flashed between the scenes and the log was standing solemnly alone, avoiding the constant abuse after so many days of it being routine.

Maybe she was too attached, some might say obsessed, but it wasn't like anyone else cared. Just the thought that possibly, just maybe, he might have been thinking about her while he leaped through the trees, was enough to keep her sitting there, wanting to be as close as possible to him in these times. Y/n had always seen the way Hinata was with Naruto back when they were genin, and had never understood why one would fall for him, when Neji was right there. But she couldn't help but wonder now, is this what Hinata felt like? It was something to keep her mind busy as she pondered, at least until a voice broke her train of thought.

Read the disclaimer if you skipped it!

"Y/n?" A voice called, one that belonged to Hanabi. "Shouldn't you be at home? What are you doing?" She asked, sitting beside Y/n. The two had never been close, though they were the same age. Both busy on their own paths, as a shinobi life was vigorous and busy, they had rarely talked to each other. "Oh... well... it's just..." Y/n started, though was quickly cut off. "I get it. But if I were you, I wouldn't be that worried about him." She tried to relate. "Big sis knows him better than me... but you've seen him train. He's a genius. I'm sure he'll be okay." Hanabi gave a reassuring smile.

"If anything, I'm worried about her! - I mean, she's great and all, but I can't help but think..." Hanabi mumbled.  "The land of lightning is a long way away... I heard they were going to be stationed on the south part of the border with the land of frost." She continued. "The land of frost?" Y/n questioned, not having heard of that land in the small bubble that was her life.  "Yeah... They just left a bit ago, I guess they're already on their way now." They continued to discuss it.

"Y'know I'm surprised you didn't follow him all the way there." Hanabi mentioned randomly, pausing the conversation. "I didn't really think it was an option... I mean I didn't know where they would be... and I wouldn't be able to get there in time to do or see anything..." Y/n frowned. "Well you know where they're gonna be now... plus you got me. If I'm being honest, it'd be really fun to go on an adventure instead of being stuck in the village right now. Nothing to do, really." Hanabi smiled.

"Yeah... It would." Y/n nodded in agreement. "Well then, let's go!" Hanabi got up, holding her hand out to pull Y/n up. "Right now?" She asked. "Well yeah, if you want to make it in time." Hanabi gestured for her to take her hand. "I can teach you how to move through the forest, it'd be a whole lot faster than walking on roads." She started, earning another nod from Y/n.

-

After gathering up some basic ninja tools and a large stock of food pills, and showing Y/n how to awkwardly hold a kunai as well as jumping through trees, they were finally ready to set off. "No home cooked lunch box today!" Hanabi smiled, jumping onto a tree with Y/n following, trying to recover from a slight stumble. "You're a natural!" She said, watching Y/n trip over a branch. "Uh... yeah... definitely a natural." Y/n laughed softly.

In order to proceed faster, Y/n ate more and more food pills, gaining more energy and speed with each one and recovering from the obvious fatigue quicker. At least after a few hours, they were finally closing in on the border of the land of fire with the land of hot water. "Well this is where i'll be taking my leave." Hanabi handed Y/n the map, a compass, and her food pills. "Might be a bit hard to navigate, but i'm sure you'll figure it out!" She smiled for the last time. "You're leaving?" Y/n asked, surprised. "Well, I have to get back to the village, or people will be worried. Good luck Y/n!" She said, before starting to leave.

It was at that moment that Y/n felt a surge of energy. She was on her own, and it was up to her to get to Neji. It wasn't very clear to her what she would or could do for him, but she hoped, that maybe, if there was someone cheering for him, if there was someone who was waiting for him and he knew that, that he might try all that harder to keep living. Because even he didn't know how much she needed him. That it was his life that mattered, not anyone else's.

-

The battlefield was littered with corpses when she finally arrived, a long time after she had started her journey, and she was quick to scout the area for Neji. Shinobi were still there, fighting against a few of the white zetsu clones that were still occupying the area. As she moved closer to them, chewing on more food pills as her vision was already getting blurry, a shinobi finally noticed her.

"Who are you?" He asked, pointing to his headband. "I was looking for someone... Neji?" She asked quietly. "Neji Hyuga? He left with some of the others to assist the first division." He pointed north on her map. "But you should head out, clearly you're not a shinobi. I don't know how you even made it this far." He advised. "I have to go. Thank you, though." She started heading off again. "You'd probably be doing more harm than help, you know." He warned. That was something that she wasn't even thinking about at the time.

Hours later, a half asleep Y/n was fully awake after hearing the loud roar that echoed through the air. "Maybe it's just in my head?" She mumbled, eating more food pills to keep her going. She knew she would be too sore to move a muscle when she got home, and would probably have to sleep for days, but she was this far into her almost pointless journey, so why stop now?

-

READ THE DISCLAIMER IF YOU STILL SKIPPED PLEASE! - I know it is awful, I apologize.

Finally clearing the forest, it was clear that the noise was not just in her head. A giant monster, whatever it was, was miles away covering the battlefield. Despite the obvious danger, somehow, she continued on, now as determined as ever. 'If I'm good at anything, i'm at least a decent shield.' She thought, hoping she could be of use if needed. After continuing her sprint despite the burnout, she was only a minute away, finally able to get a glimpse of Neji, an unmistakable figure even through the battlefield. She gained a newfound appreciation for the hours she spent avoiding sleep and staying up to watch Neji, her able to handle the lack of it much better than others would.

Suddenly, the giant mass that was the ten tails, started to shoot wooden projectiles into the air at the shinobi, the sound like shattering glass as they rippled through the air at an incredible speed. As they ricocheted off the ground in the background when dodged, Y/n was forced to duck down to avoid getting hit, but was relieved to see Naruto, then Hinata in the line of fire, and not Neji. That was at least her thought in the split second that it took for Neji to jump in front of them. "Neji!" Y/n screamed, though it was muffled by the sounds of the battle, no one hearing it, let alone Neji himself. She was only a minute away. "I... I could have saved him... I..." She muttered out, tears falling down on her hands as she got up, running closer to see him. 'Maybe... maybe he'll be okay... if he gets a medic...' But in the moments that she was only some yards away, she could see it in his eyes. There was no saving him, because there was no one there to show him that they were waiting for him. Waiting for him to come home. He couldn't see her, how his pain wasn't just his own, how it was shared. Just like the caged birds on both their foreheads, though he had gone through so much worse, they were in it together. He just needed to see that.

It felt like being crushed by a boulder, like her entire life was crumbling apart. No one noticed her, no one saw her, and even Naruto and Hinata, who broke promises and never cared, weren't even sorry enough to save him. Those words the shinobi spoke finally got to her throughout the chaos, denial quickly approaching as she closed her eyes, hoping it was just a dream. Even if she was to stab them both with kunai, like she wanted to, she knew Neji wouldn't have wanted her to do that. A single second she could have taken away from Naruto's time could be the difference between life or death for everyone in the world.

Swallowing her grief, it was time to make her way home. She was one minute away from saving the most important person in the world to her. The one time she wasn't there was the one time it really mattered, and now he was gone, and she herself felt dead. He lied, at least that was what he thought when he pictured her face when she would hear the news in the village, not having noticed her presence. But part of him wondered, could he still keep his promise? Well the light was getting closer, he decided to think about it later. 

A/n: Pt. 3 will be 10x better than this (because honestly this was a very trashy chapter), and it will be a lot longer! It’s set in Boruto time and I will not finish it at 11:58 so it doesn’t feel rushed hopefully. 

[temenosimp]

Catching up with your octwo reviews for the day and y'know, it's really funny to me the complaints you have about Trousseau and Kaldena. Because I also was EXTREMELY dissatisfied with how Castti and Temenos's stories ended…

Castti's by all means I feel like I should have liked, but I really didn't have enough time with the rest of Eir's apothecaries to get attached to… except Trousseau, ironically enough. I really wanted him to get some sort of shot at redemption, or regret, or some last-minute sacrifice as he realizes that he's betrayed all of his beliefs. (Getting to Soothe Malaya was very nice, yes, but... I don't know, I wanted more.)

And then Temenos. Oh boy, Temenos. Well, first off, he's one of my Favorites of the travelers. So I had a lot of Big Expectations going in to Chapter 5.

And it made me so mad.

Large scale, I think one of my issues with the plot of this game (which these both fall into) is that they really focused on the NPCs rather than our travelers. I don't know if you played the first game, but it really felt like the individual travelers got much more of a chance to grow and have a character arc in that game. In this one, the travelers seem to me like mostly stagnant characters.

For instance: Temenos starts as this clever little quasi-heretic that is an personification of justice in the church. Crick was amazing because he forced Temenos to actually stop and examine his justifications and say them out loud (I really liked your post about Crick being his "sounding board").

But then he loses Crick. After losing the Pontiff. After losing Roi. And you know what? None of it changed anything. The showdown with Kaldena at the end went EXACTLY the same as it would have if none of them had died!

Honestly, you complained about Kaldena's whole "You could join me" thing, but I wanted more of that. Even a single line of Temenos actually considering all the pain he's gone through, whether the Gods actually deserve his loyalty? (Since he seems the most likely of any of the travelers to consider that they don't.) Or if he had been almost struck down by Kaldena and Crick's ghost came to give him one last burst of hope. Or something.

And of course Temenos would decide that "yes, good is Good" but at least he would have gained something by doubting it. Since Doubt Is What He Does, and all.

Hopefully this makes sense, I have a lot of feelings about this topic in particular.

Honestly, that came out harsher than I intended it. I can be a bit of a dick when I'm dissatisfied with something, and I'm sorry for that.

After ruminating a bit on Ochette and Castti's Crossed Paths event, I'm going to elaborate a bit here on my thoughts regarding Kaldena and Trousseau.

The Shadow taking control of people is a firmly established plot point. We've been seeing it try to do that to Hikari from day 1. At the end of the day, the Shadow seems to be the archvillain of most things going down.

When we fight Trousseau and Kaldena, it doesn't feel like we're really fighting Trousseau and Kaldena. Anymore than Jin Mei was really fighting Hikari when the latter was possessed by his curse. Rather, it feels like we're fighting that thing wearing Trousseau and Kaldena's skin.

They're both over-the-top cartoon supervillains because their personalities have been erased and replaced by what that thing puts inside people. A shallow, wicked caricature of a human that once was. At least, that's my understanding thus far.

And that's. Horrifying. As build-up to the ultimate reveal and confrontation with the Shadow, they are effectively eerie and foreboding.

But as the culmination for the individual character stories, fighting a hollow caricature of a human possessed by evil simply doesn't hit the same notes as fighting a genuine villain, like Dolcinaea or yes, even Claude.

(Incidentally, I fully expect to be right back here whining about this when we get to Harvey too. He's seemed like 100% a wicked caricature of a human since the word go, so much so that I actually thought he was fake for a while.)

[nanowrimo]

5 Tips for Finishing Your Novel

April’s session of Camp NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close, and you might find yourself nearing the end of your novel. If you need some tips on writing and polishing the ending of your story, author Derek Murphy is here to share a few! Plus, you can check out the rest of our novel-finishing resources on our #NaNoFinMo page. 

You won NaNoWriMo and have a 50k collection of scenes and sentences, but how do you clean it up and get it done? How do you make sure it’s finished, satisfying and enjoyable? Here are 5 powerful strategies for finishing your novel and some helpful writing tips that will push you past the finish line.

1. Give it a satisfying resolution.

In order to have a powerful story, your book should probably focus on a main character’s change or transformation. There’s an inner war, a.k.a. the character’s emotional healing, and an outer war: the conflict that forced the reckoning. If it’s a purely symbolic internal realization, you can mirror that with actual conflict in the real scene: the breaking of a dish, a fit of rage, a sudden ray of sunlight (or a storm… this should not be pleasant; It’s a breaking point and spiritual death/rebirth).

You can clarify the moment of change by setting up an illustrative contrast, a before and after, that shows how those internal changes have resulted in real-world consequences or benefits. Each character’s unique challenge will match their personal weakness or fear. The price for victory is the one thing they have so far refused to do, or something they cannot give up or bear to lose.

Make sure your protagonist has gone through a transformative struggle to arrive at deep insights, knowledge or awareness. Find a way to deepen the incidental scenes so that they become instrumental to a deeper purpose, leading towards an identity-shifting event.

The plot is what happens, and it’s important. But you can make it more dramatic and meaningful by making sure you demonstrate how hard it was and what it cost. It matters, it is remarkable, because it forced your protagonist to change.

Your conclusion might include:

Physical tension as allies perform a tug-of-war battle against resistance, that shows how difficult this struggle is, and how much force is required.

The consideration phase, as characters are tempted last minute or the price for victory is revealed: the sweet memories that give them awareness that this fight is worth the cost or risk (you need to show them making the choice, knowing what they will lose).

The final flashback, as the full backstory is revealed so we can see exactly why this conflict is so difficult or meaningful for the main character.

2. Add (unresolved) conflict.

Your story is made up of the events and scenes, where something happens. Each new event will push the characters further into the plot. Slow scenes where nothing is really happening can be red flags, so the first thing to focus on is increasing conflict, drama, suspense and intrigue. This is what creates urgency. The full reveal, demonstrating why THIS challenge is so difficult and powerful, should happen just before the final battle or resolution.

You want to make sure every scene, especially in your conclusion, has enough conflict. I recommend these three:

Outer Conflict (threats): Challenges or obstacles that prevent the character from achieving goals.

Inner Conflict (doubts): Moral struggles, decisions, guilt or shame, anger.

Friendly Fire (betrayal): Strong disagreements between allies or supporting characters. 

You want to extend and deepen the potential conflict, without resolving it too easily. The biggest destroyer of conflict is conversation: when your characters just sit around and talk to each other. Most conflict involves a lack of information, and a desire for clarity. A lot of conflict is perceived or imagined.

The most important information needs to come last, and come at a great price. The information that has an emotional impact, and influences their actions and decisions, should be big reveals at dramatic peaks. A surprise or twist should be treated as an event: each scene is leading towards a change or new piece of information that provokes the protagonist to respond.

3. Fill plot holes with character motivation.

After you’ve made sure that “what actually happens” is intriguing (opening questions and raising tensions without resolving them) you can focus on making sure the plot holes are filled, and characters are properly motivated – these two things are usually adjacent.

You can find and fill plot holes by asking:

Why are the characters doing this?

Why does any of it matter?

Basically, readers need to respect the main characters enough to care what happens to them, so their choices and actions need to make sense within the given information. If there’s a simpler, easier solution, readers will get stuck up on “why didn’t they just…”? To fix plot holes and gaps in logic or continuity, or make the story go where you need it to, you can add urgency, fix the mood of the scene (bigger stakes require bigger justifications), show characters in a weakened mental state, or raise concerns but have them dismissed, with an excuse or justification.

You need rational characters to make plausible choices that lead to dire consequences. You need show why they don’t do something easier, or nothing at all, or why they face clear challenges, despite potential obstacles.

They’ll also require a deeper motivation, for why they’re willing to put themselves in identity-destroying conflict, rather than just giving up or running away. Why do they stay in THIS fight, when they’ve run from similar ones? If they weren’t ready at the beginning, why are the ready now – what changed in them, as a result of your story’s journey?

Your protagonist needs to have a strong, consistent internal compass, and it needs to be revealed through incidents that establish their character. This is who they are. Without this reliable core identity, we won’t be able to tell a story that forces them to change. 

4. Let readers picture your story with detailed description.

In the final stages of revision, you can begin improving the description with specific details.

It’s smart to start – or end – a chapter with a vivid, immediate scene. You want to leave readers with an image they can see in their minds, hopefully connected to the feeling you aim to evoke. You can close a chapter with a reference back to a motif or image, with a deeper or more reflective context; applying meaning to the metaphor. This will help readers feel engaged, be moved, and leave a lasting impact.

Vivid scenes are mostly a matter of detailed description, so add the specifics about the story environment. Be precise, not vague. Instead of “she put a plate of tea and snacks on the table” you can write “she gently placed an antique porcelain teapot on the table. I could smell it was Earl Grey from the scent of bergamot. The half-sleeve of Oreos and can of onion-flavored Pringles seemed incongruous with the fancy dishes, but I knew she was making an effort to welcome me.”

Focus on the sensations and feelings; but also zero-in on any potential sources of conflict or internal emotions or states of mind. In my example above, the host might be nervous or ashamed of her spread; or perhaps she has a degenerative brain disease and doesn’t notice the incongruity. Tensions are unspoken, potential sources of negative feelings. They hover in the background of your description.

Readers will remember the pictures you put in their heads, not the words on the page.

Description should serve and be bound to the story, not distract from it.

It should be squeezed into and around the scene action, when the protagonist is using or exploring.

Show what’s different, not what’s the same.

Leave space for readers to fill in the gaps, but get them started in the right direction so they aren’t surprised later.

Sidenote: be careful about your metaphors, analogies and similes. Each one will put a picture into readers’ minds, and it can quickly get overcrowded with imagery. You’re asking them to ignore your real scene and think of something else. Use them to confirm and amplify the scene you have, and limit distractions.

5. Prepare to publish.

Typos are bad, but perfectionism will ruin you. This section is about editing and proofreading, but I don’t have time for all that, and you don’t either. The real problem with a story is rarely the number of typos. A very clean book isn’t better if people stop reading.

You can solve a lot of common writing problems, with my big list of 25 common writing mistakes, and self-edit your manuscript to make it as good as possible. After that, a copyeditor or proofreader isn’t always the best investment (and it can also be the biggest publishing cost).

Instead, use an editing software (I like Grammarly) to root out obvious mistakes, but don’t dwell on the small stuff like perfecting every word or rearranging the commas. Spending a very long time wrestling a poorly-written manuscript in shape is less effective than getting something (actually) done to the point where you’re comfortable sharing it.

This may be difficult at first, but you can’t learn and improve without genuine reader feedback (from people who aren’t your mom or best friend; nor the short-sighted opinions of a self-proclaimed literature enthusiast). You need to find readers who enjoy your particular genre, and the sooner you find them, the more valuable feedback you can get.

Shorten the feedback loop: Get over the fear and focus on learning by getting feedback early and often. However, this doesn’t just mean joining a writer’s club: writers are brutal and might focus on trivial things. The safest bet is to make it public, on Wattpad at least. Or get a cheap cover and throw it up on Kindle, Draft2Digital or even your own blog.

Making it public is scary and vulnerable, but it’s better than letting the fear of messing up keep you from the brutal, necessary experience of allowing readers to tell you what they liked and disliked about your writing. Will some people be critical? Yes! But guess what, you’ll get negative reviews even if you’re a brilliant, famous writer. Those are inevitable. And the first negative reviews may teach you more about writing than 10 years attempting to self-edit, afraid of putting your book out into the world.

PS. You can use resources, like my 24-chapter plot outline, as a way to spot story gaps in your manuscript and improve the structure (especially if your book suffers from a “soggy middle.)

Derek Murphy has a PhD in Literature, writes urban fantasy and is the founder of the alliance of young adult authors. More recently, he’s started sharing writing tips on http://www.writethemagic.com

Top photo by Adegbenro Emmanuel Dipo on Unsplash.

[daebakoreandrama]

Drama: The Penthouse - War In Life (2020)

Starring: Lee Ji Ah, Kim So Yeon, Eugene, Um Ki Joon, Park Eun Seok, Yoon Jong Hoon

Rating: ★★★★★ 

This might be one of the best kdramas I’ve ever watched. I was hooked from the beginning and my interest in the plot never wavered. There is so much that happens with each episode and it’s honestly SO dramatic to the point that you love it. 

This review is long, so grab a snack and drink and let’s dive into a few of my favorite scenes:

1) Ba Ro Na and Seok Hoon’s Relationship

Although we didn’t see much about that, I loved this tiny bit of romance that did occur in the drama. I was really rooting for them while watching the show, and I honestly still am (so hopefully their timeline gets flushed out more in Season 2 and 3). 

It made my heart pitter patter when Seok Hoon’s conscience came out a little. I’m going to admit he was a total douchebag to Seol-A, and the way that they bullied her. But even then I knew that he had a conscience because when she was going to burned in the car, he realized that he had made a mistake (even though he didn’t try to save her). 

And I couldn’t find a gif for the moment that follows this, but Seok Hoon punches the guy in the face because he said to Ro Na, “Why don’t you date me now?”

HAHAAH that’s too funny. I think I’m too much of a romantic. 

AND I loved that he started thinking for himself to stand up for his sister and mom against his father (disgusting Joo Dan Tae)... Don’t even get me started on him.

2) The intricate scene where Su Ryeon kidnaps all of the parents and gives them a taste of their own medicine

I wish I could find a gif of them crawling through the mud and their horrified face when they were locked in the bus with the bomb. But this gif will have to do.

3) The couple from Hell

I hate to admit it because I despise infidelity, but I’d rather have these two together than with their ex-significant others because Dr. Ha and Su Ryeon were too good for these creepy people.  

I hated that they got their “happy ending” at the end of Season 1, but all will be restored in the following seasons. I know it will happen. 

4) When Seo Jin killed her father (and let him die) just to inherit the Director role of the Cheon Foundation

If this doesn’t show you what a psychopath she is, I don’t know what does. She literally left her father for dead so she could ascend the throne. And then she blamed it on him because she said all he ever did was reprimand her for not being enough. I see where she is coming from, but that isn’t a justification for murdering your own father.

5) The beginning scene, when Seol A falls to her death

I think the way the filmed this scene was brilliant. At first when I saw her fall, I had no idea who she was. And then as the drama played out, it all started falling into place. Seol A deserved better, and honestly, I would have been her friend in real life :(

6) Eun Byeol’s psychotic behavior

There was many times when I was truly freaked out by her acting because she captured the psychotic nature of someone with PTSD and depression really well. I just wish her mother would pay more attention to her and treat her as a human being rather than a trophy.

7) LOGAN LEE <3

He is probably my favorite character in the drama. He reminds me of Gatsby (if you don’t know who that is, google Jay Gatsby from the Great Gatsby). I loved that his and Su Ryeon’s relationship evolved from one where they were out to get each other to them being partners and working together. Their brains together were FANTASTIC. 

8) Su Ryeon and Yoon Hee’s relationship

I WAS SO SAD WHEN SU RYEON DIED. I seriously didn’t see this coming at all. And then Yoon Hee felt bad because she was the one who murdered her daughter, so she admitted to killing Su Ryeon. 

I think their friendship was very genuine and it was refreshing to see amidst the fake relationship all the Penthouse neighbors have. 

PLEASE WATCH THE DRAMA IF YOU HAVEN’T. You will not regret it!! Thanks for reading my review and Happy New Year :)

[norgestan]

Hello! I was wondering how would you have liked dani to be and how would you have liked the damira scenes to be ? (the changes you would have made to actually enjoy and ship damira)

okay quick bucket list:

recast dani with a muslim actor of color

rewrite the entire s4 script

done :)

with the funny answer out of the way... there’s simply no way that i could’ve shipped damira, i am sorry. it’s truly beyond me. nothing about their dynamic charms me or makes me think they’re better or any different than the superior option for a white/non-muslim love interest, aka amiris. i can even enjoy virihugo despite really disliking the way they got together and most of their clips anyway. (also this is a good post that explains why dani being amira’s endgame LI is a bit of a fucking joke)

however, there are a couple of ways in which i could’ve enjoyed damira narratively. and that requires heavily tweaking dani as a character as well of how their entire dynamic works. i’ve made plently of jokes of how i am Not an og purist but, if eskam had chosen at least one relationship to develop super closely as it was in og, then i would’ve wanted that relationship to be yousana. they’re my favorite pair in skam for a bunch of reasons and most of them have to do with yousef being so in contact with sana’s culture. one big example of that is the last clip of episode 9 where they go on that iconic date: it’s both a slideshow of their chemistry and sensual/romantic tension as a couple, and a showcase of the thing that makes me love them the most, which is their super long conversation about faith and their future. to me, those were the moments lacking in damira because they got too caught up on painting dani as this hyper-realized version of a LI which turned out to be a self-congratulatory asshole who disrespected amira in various ways. there were never instances in which they seriously discussed dani reverting to islam in the future, or actually conciliated their visions of their faith to really show where they were in sync and where they disagreed to start working on it. after watching the yousana date clip, i left with the impression that yousef reverting to islam was a real possibility, but i can’t say the same for dani. the damira ending in particular rewards dani for being the way he is, and the worst thing is that amira practically encourages him to never be a muslim because she loves him the way he is (what the fuck!). moreover, he never showed any interest in following amira’s conditions, never tried to familiarize himself with her culture and friends (he took her to a BAR to meet HIS friends but he’s never even shown bonding with las labass?), never really cared about anything that wasn’t to get amira to be physically intimate with him. see, when i think of the yousana dynamic i see the yousef as someone who can read the sana and therefore know what to say and do, not because he only wants to charm her but because he genuinely cares about her. even sofianne showed some of that on the earlier episodes of skamfr s4, but that’s completely lost on damira and dani in particular. and i’m not gonna pretend that this task is possible to do with a white, christian-raised love interest. for this to work, whoever sp!yousef is has to be way more in sync culturally with amira.

a way to partially solve that issue is to make dani be honest to amira throughout the season. i don’t doubt he’s genuinely into her but then he doesn’t communicate her his doubts about the relationships and lies to her about the whole “the only problem in our relationship is the haters <3″ bullshit that he spews out for three entire episodes. moreover, dani being honest from the start would’ve given amira enough hints (red flags) that dani didn’t really take any of her conditions seriously and he was just waiting for her to be less strict about the terms that he agreed on, and maybe there would’ve been a real critique to the character that 1) didn’t make amira look like an “annoying religious fanatic” (which she wasn’t at all lol) to most of the white audience who sided with dani when the relationship started falling apart, and 2) taught an actual lesson to amira about how would a relationship between a white dude who has no intentions to be muslim in the future would go like. i can understand why eskam still left the question pending on the air as they wanted to give amira an endgame and they probably didn’t want to make it seem like muslim/christian relationships don’t work in the slightest when this is the first mainstream show with a hijabi protagonist in spain... but eh. fucking cowards.

if it’s not obvious by now, to me, the ideal version of damira is the one where they’re not endgame by any means, even going to the point that i really dislike that dani even likes amira back. i would’ve really loved if dani stayed in amira’s daydreams throughout the season, where her idealized version of a childhood friends to lovers story is quickly replaced by a more realistic relationship with someone who actually makes efforts to be with her (cough cough bi!kasim anyone?). in that case, dani can be as douchebag-ey as he was for the entire season, idc, but now the show would really acknowledge that and drive the message that amira deserves someone who’s attentive and respectful and genuinely loving of her. and hopefully say that without making it seem like it’s impossible for muslims to date non-muslims: more like, it’s unlikely for amira to date dani in particular, and only because he clearly has no interest on following on the things that she values the most - which is a message that applies to every relationship, honestly.

if i had free reign on completely redesigning dani’s character and the damira dynamic, then i would make dani way more understanding and have his clumsiness be acknowledged and criticized instead of both the characters and the audience using it as a justification time and time again. he’d show genuine interest in islam, he’d thoroughly discuss boundaries with amira to assure that they’re both comfortable, he’d made sure to safely insert himself on her spaces and not just drag them to bars and basketball courts on every date, they’d have SO many conversations of faith that truly make him a nuanced character and also help flesh out the reasons of why amira loves being muslim. which i think are just ways of dani respecting amira’s agency and showing genuine interest on her besides his initual infatuation, as all the other endgame LIs of the show have done it. i’d completely erase the stupid “uwu islam won’t let me kiss dani/viceversa” plotpoint from existence, for SURE. with all of those changes i would be neutral on the existence of damira as i am with virihugo, i think. but also the thing that truly holds me back is that... just, the lack of characters of color in the show. with the way kasim was only used as a plot device and dounia was written out off her best friend role very early in, we truly don’t even have a significant presence of muslim people of color in amira’s season. whitewashing yousef is a big part in that too, and that’s why people were so eager to believe that kasim could’ve been amira’s endgame for this season.

[veilder]

What are some of your favorite tropes?

Oh my goodness, what a good question. Considering my writing is pretty much nothing but a walking trope factory anyway, I had to give this a good think to try and narrow it down. So here’s the ones that most immediately came to mind. XD

1. Enemies (to Friends) to Lovers: Man. Anyone who knows me knows that I adore this trope so much. There is something so automatically thrilling about a ship that starts off so contentious but then learns to see each other for who they really are. I love the emphasis on forgiveness and understanding this trope brings with it, of that there’s no doubt. But I also so love the absolutely compelling drama inherent at it's core, too. The rivalry, the battles (both physical or otherwise), the questioning of beliefs, the inevitable being forced to work together towards a common goal-- It’s all brilliant and it makes me so invested every time! Love this one.

2. Fix-it Fics: God. Fix-its. Anyone who’s ever been in a fandom that ended unsatisfactorily or had a favorite character who died will understand this one. And lucky me, I’ve been in a lot of fandoms where this is the case, omg. Sometimes fix-it fics were all that kept me invested. Seeing other fans like myself in such deep denial--scrounging around for whatever justifications we could find to make things better, changing canon, making AUs, inventing elaborate scenarios taken from canon scraps, etc.--it was enough to get me through the heartbreak. There was a sense of solidarity you could find in a fix-it fic, that steadfast desire that something you loved would live on and live better. They satisfied such a primordial need for me and I absolutely have to include them on this list.

3. Found Family: Bless this trope with everything in my soul. It really means the damn world to me. I absolutely adore the idea of any number of disparate people who are forced together by circumstance, who go through life-changing hardships together, who learn to love and trust each other implicitly. Of mentors becoming parental figures. Of soldiers who’s allegiance becomes to each other. Of criminals who’ve never trusted anyone discovering what it’s like to truly be a team. These people, they don’t have to be bound by blood to be family. And that is something I cherish deeply.

4. Asshole with a Hearth of Gold: Again, anyone who knows me is probably aware that I really gravitate towards characters like this. More often than not, my faves tend towards the jaded, the overly-sarcastic, the belligerent assholes who likes to pick fights. The ones with the tragic backstories that they hide away with their rough edges. I am a complete sucker for characters like this who have a hidden soft side that they've buried deep, usually because of some trauma. Characters you really have to earn the trust of to get them to open up. Ones who will potentially grow kinder and more sympathetic as part of an arc. They’re almost always my favorites in everything I love. Couldn’t leave them off this list, lol.

5. Happy Endings: Especially when it comes to angst fics or h/c, I really, really need a happy ending going in. This is the most integral thing for me. And yes, I've seen the essays. And yes, I've heard the arguments. And no, I don't care if you can enjoy a real angst-fest. But I don’t care about the emotions of hurt/no comfort. And I don’t care about the catharsis of id fics. And I don’t care if a mcd is integral to the plot. This is 100% a hard and solid rule for me that I will not deviate on. I need to know things will be okay. Not perfect, not idealistic, not even particularly fluffy or anything like that. But... better. I need a character to end up better than how we found them. It’s very important to me and my sanity, lol.

Anyway, I think I’ll leave it at that, lol. Those were the first five I thought of and I think the most important to me. Hopefully, I managed to explain them all well enough to at least get the gist of why I love them all, lol. And I realize these are all pretty general. Feel free to ask me about any of them or to delve into more specific ones in the comments, though! Or even make your own five favorite tropes response to this! I’d love to hear what everyone else loves! :D Thanks again for the ask @timebird84! This was fun to do! ^_^

[mahou-furbies]

It is time for

Last year the Dazzling Pink Precure were supposed to host the event but were unavailable due to being redesigned, but this time they are ready for the job!

Here is the magical girl (and related) media consumed on this blog this year:

(you can read my closing thoughts on them here)

Anime: Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel & the 2 OVAs, Twin Angel Break, Pretear, Happy Seven, Ojamajo Doremi (started), Healin’ Good Precure (most of it that’s out now), Magia Record (also following the game news though I don’t play), Myriad Colors Phantom World, Re:Creators, Concrete Revolutio)

Movies: Fresh, DokiDoki, Happiness Charge, Go! Princess, KiraKira & Star Twinkle Precure season movies, Spring Carnival & Miracle Universe crossover movies, Magical Sisters Yoyo and Nene)

Manga: Magical Girl Site (finished), Zodiac P.I. (reread), Sugar Sugar Rune (reread), Nogi Wakaba is a Hero, Puella Magi Suzune Magica (reread), Puella Magi Tart Magica (reread), Can You Become A Magical Girl, Colourful Macchiato)

(revisits to old familiar stuff don’t qualify for an award unless I had forgotten everything about it, Doremi is ineligible since I've only seen 1/5th so far)

Unexpectedly I managed to finish quite a lot of stuff on my last year's "plans for 2020 list".

As for blog stuff, this year the Precure Chibi Project was concluded for the designs that exists so far, but obviously it will continue when more are released and I'd also like to draw some more of the civilian clothes too. But this year over 400 chibis were drawn...

Then we of course had the Precure Dress Tournament, with Cure Magical emerging as the winner. Hosting it was a lot of fun since I like graphs and numbers, as the fact that I keep a google sheet that documents the dates when I draw the chibis (it also calculates useful data such as how many percent I've finished).

(Also Megumi's heart dress should totally have won the tournament)

The Precure positivity posts were also a thing this year. Usually the franchise is bitched at here at Mahou-Furbies so I tried to say something nice about each Cure that I had seen. Which was a major struggle in some cases but hopefully they don't come across as too much damning with faint praise. I plan on writing similar posts for the Cures from the other seasons too as I watch them, but also because I managed to write an entire post about Mana without complaining I take that as justification that I get to write a huge bitchy "the flaws of the Precure franchise" post later.

And then now at the end of the year the Dazzling Pink Precure finally managed to emerge again with their new designs. I hope I'll be able to post more about them in 2021!

And now, the Mahou-Furbies 2020 magical girl awards!

Let's start with Best Henshin Design: Megumi Moka from Magia Record! I always love a good sweets theme and I can't get over how cute she is.

(Kikko from Concrete Revolutio was also a strong contender)

Best Team Design goes to Nogi Wakaba Is a Hero, I've always loved the YuYuYu henshin outfit design.

The Best Powerup Look award goes to Lala's Cancer form in the Star Twinkle Precure movie! I just really like the fresh colour palette...

Runner-up is Nagisa's MagiReco Valentine's outfit which I like for being sweets themed but I guess it's more like an alternate form than a powerup?

There weren’t that many contenders for Best Civilian Design but let’s say that since I like the casual outfits in KiraKira Precure in general, The Movie was also good at this. So let’s reward Ciel’s look, it’s nice to see a more muted colour palette in Precure every now and then!

Oh, right! Also everyone from the Star Twinkle Precure movie! Love all their outfits. 

Best School Uniform is the one from Sukoyaka Middle School, from Healin' Good Precure! I like the colour palette, and the cut of the dress.

The uniforms from the Twin Angel franchise are also fun with their cherry ribbon.

Best Hair award goes to Kikko, from Concrete Revolutio! The "rectangular" cut ends are fun.

Best Magical Item is Mamika's wand from Re:Creators! There's really nothing special about it, I just think it looked nice enough with the candy cane and the heart crystal (and also not so merchandise driven since this isn't a kid show).

The Best Henshin Scene award goes to Sudachi from MagiReco! I don’t like how detailed all the body curves are drawn in the few seconds before her outfit appears, but otherwise there’s great backgrounds in this, starting from the space theme, twinkling stars, beautiful blue sky and then ending with cute hearts.

Best Fan Creation award goes to Marighoul’s comic “First Hunt”! (read it here) It was a fun little story and the colours were amazing!

Best Relationship is Hikaru and Lala with the alien in the Star Twinkle movie! I would never have guessed that I’d enjoy Precures raising a “baby” mascot this much, but it is true! I love how much role their bond had in the story, and the conclusion was more epic than anything Precure has managed to offer elsewhere. 

The Best Mascot of 2020 is... the aforementioned alien UMA! Unusual design for a girl show, doesn’t have an annoying voice or speech pattern (or in fact doesn’t talk at all), and has an interesting role in the story.

Second place is Nyatoran from Healin' Good Precure, he pairs well with Hinata and I love the scene where she records cat videos of him with her phone.

As for Best Supporting Character, this is a joke character, but I have to say Mayune from Pretear. I'm sorry I just like this kind of dumb diva characters (with the o-ho-ho laugh!) and always had a good time when she was on screen.

Discount Tuxedo Mask from the Twin Angel franchise was also fun, he had nice chaotic energy to him.

Best Visual goes to Kikko's magical effects from Concrete Revolutio! We always get the standard sparkles so I was so happy to see something different for once.

Best Audio award goes to Pretear OP! The song feels a bit dated but in a good way, this is just the kind of music I like.

The Best Scene award goes to Healin' Good Precure attack!

Usually in Precure I really don't care for the stock attack animation and instead just focus on the henshins, but in this one I really like the bit where the giant hands rip the element spirit out of the enemy. The music is so good in that part, and the huge hands compared to the tiny spirit feel majestic.

I also liked Re:Creators scene where the (in-story) writers create a powerup for their character by getting their audience excited about it by tweeting. It was dumb how a tweet from some ranobe author goes viral in a matter of seconds, but I still thought the scene was fun and worked well.

The Innovation Award for doing something magical girl related I haven't seen dozens of times already goes to Happy Seven! I thought it was fun how the main character wasn't on the magical girl team at all and instead was practically the Muggle friend for most of the story!

Re:creators is the runner up here with its "fictive characters show up in our world" story, but I think it could have done more with the idea, and I think Happy Seven is commendable for doing something that feels refreshing without having to be all smart and self-aware about it.

Then the Golden Mana Award for one thing that I really didn't like this year. 

The questionable honour goes to Meguru's unbearable behaviour at the start of Twin Angel Break, when she keeps pushing her friendship on the blue girl who has made it very clear that she'd rather be left alone. And of course the blue girl is secretly lonely and ultimately caves in so Meguru faces no consequences for being selfish and entitled and having zero respect for other people's boundaries. Stuff like this fuels my rage at the Friendly-And-Energetic-Stock-Magical-Girl-Heroines.

For Best Character I want to pick Lala from the Star Twinkle movie but she won Best Character last year so let’s pick someone else. To be fair nobody (else) this year made me super excited, but leaving such a broad category as this completely empty would be really stupid, so the winner is Himeno, from Pretear!

She had a lot more multifaceted personality than I initially predicted, had interesting and different relationships with many different characters, and of course had many unique henshin!

And finally, Best Work of the year... I know I picked Star Twinkle as the best series last year (award has been renamed now) so this feels somehow redundant, but I still can't get over how enjoyable their film was and as you may have noticed it has been mentioned in plenty of other awards already so it deserves the spot. On principle I liked that it wasn't centered around the pink Cure for once, and additionally it was about Lala who is my favourite Cure, and also since there wasn't really a villain the plot was more interesting than the same old "bad guy wants to take over the world". Also great visuals.

And that’s it for 2020! It has been a weird year, but that didn’t really show on this blog.

Plans for 2021:

Also once I finish drawing the chibis for the Madoka girls, expect a Madoka themed character tournament in 2021!