#revisiting for no reason in particular...

[alexanderwales]

When you finish writing a big story and you became very close the characters, was there a time after where you were like "i kind of want to revisit these characters again, but i should probably just let the story be, they deserve to rest" Im not talking about wanting to write a sequel, is more about still coming up with fun ideas for them, maybe a little scene or something, but choosing not to do anything with it because it'd feel disrespectful to the ending you gave them?

Hrm. I think for me, characters exist as a vehicle to tell a story, and when that story is done, I'm off to the next character and the next story. It's vanishingly rare that I want to revisit anything that's been "completed".

There are a few exceptions. Worth the Candle had some conceits that worked well for specific jokes and gimmicks and discourse, and sometimes I'll have an idea and then think "ah, but that only really works in the context of Worth the Candle, not the other things I'm working on". I keep having an itch to get back to Shadows of the Limelight because there's always stuff that interests me about fame, fandoms, parasocial relationships, and the act of creating for an audience. But in both these cases, it's about what the framework allows for.

I think that characters get slowly pinned down over time as you add in backstory and traits, and eventually you've pinned everything down. Or to use another metaphor, you've mined them out. Ideally they've gone through some kind of narrative arc in the process of all this, or maybe they haven't, but there's nothing "new" left to them, nothing to discover or explore or say. They're less interesting to me.

And in the course of writing webfic this is especially the case, because by the end you've done like three to five books, and what more could there be that you didn't already get at? Unless you're doing the sort of book with no interest in diving into their personality and psychology, I guess, where there's nothing you actually had to say about this person and how they operate.

That said, I do think that I'm drawn to particular archetypes, and those I'm much more inclined to return to, but part of the reason I'd prefer that to an old character is that there's new stuff to discover, even if I'm working within familiar ground. There's backstory that will provide a particular texture, there are variations, places that I couldn't explore the first time around because it didn't work for that other character. I'm sure that someone who's read all my stuff could draw a bunch of parallels between characters, but hopefully they would see the ways in which they're all importantly different from each other, and how it was worth doing "the same" character a second time.

And to answer part of the ask: I have no regard for endings, except that the ending usually means that I've said all that I wanted to say. If I had some hot new idea, I would write a short story in a heartbeat using some old characters, if I needed to use them. (But also, I would still probably not want to do that because of all the old stuff that I would have to load back into RAM, and all the continuity checking, which takes some time.)

[marypickfords]

The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Francesco Barilli, 1974)

[maize-is-lost]

Pikmin 4 au where instead of landing near the S.S. Shepard you land near wherever Leafling Olimar hangs out and instead of developing your fun little found family with your crewmates you're out in the wilderness reenacting Survivor with every castaway you pick up and this Leafling guy who wakes you up everyday at 4 am like "Wake up kid it's Dandori or Death" and keeps trying to convince you and everyone you rescue to embrace the leaves

[doodle-girl]

Hey mutuals who've been around me long enough/a fair amount and are also neurodivergent, genuinely asking here: What disorder(s) do you think I give off the vibes of based on your knowledge/sense for this shit, or do I just not give off much vibes at all? Genuinely asking please hit me with whatever you think I got 👀🙏

[moreaujeans]

semi came out to someone for the first time last night

[noel-levine-fan]

iiii have officially collected save files from nearly every part of every witch's heart game now

[waywardsalt]

song list from my crimson king au playlist :3

rn this playlist is a bit over 2 and a half hours long

again just listing songs w/ the artists/game or show of origin, and while the songs in the space au playlist were much more just there for vibes and the general feeling of that one, the songs in this one have a liiiiittle more to do with the actual tone/plot/what have you. (the big hint is the full name of this au being ‘in the court of the crimson king’ so feel free to guess the most important songs)

(like a few songs in the space au list a few of these have extra titling or w/e as a part of the title but for a few i’m just going to exclude it bc they can get long. side-eyeing the king crimson songs)

The Court of the Crimson King, 21st Century Schizoid Man, I Talk to the Wind, Moonchild, Epitaph (By King Crimson)

Waltz for Zizi, ELM (from Cowboy Bebop)

I. Shinji (From Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Night Running (By Shin Sakura feat. AAAMYYY)

Promise, The Reverse Will (from Silent Hill 2, 2001)

Enemy, Dirty Little Animals, Playground, Snakes (From/Used in Arcane Season 1)

Luminosa, Noms, Kansas (From Rising of the Shield Hero)

Again (By YUI)

Elegy of the Dynast (From Hunter X Hunter 2011)

Exorcist Kyousoukyoku Chapter4 D+T, Exorcist Kyousoukyoku 3rd Mov.: U & Cloud (From Blue Exorcist)

Ikebukuro: Underground District, Traffic, Black Market, Ueno: Underground District, Battle B-4, Shibuya: Underground District (From Shin Megami Tensei IV)

Murder, Behelit (From Berserk 1997)

Feast, Death Trap, Crossing Blades, Last Man Standing, Jaws of the Machine (Yanlao’s Theme), Smile at My Cursed Dream (Lady Ethereal’s Theme), Our Passion (Fuxi and Numa’s Theme), The Path for Us All (Yi’s Theme) (From Nine Sols)

[pixelnrd]

Thank you for reading the Langston Legacy

To all my dear followers and friends - it took me some time to post this final post for the Langston Legacy, because it is so hard to say goodbye to this group of sims that has been part of my life and many of yours for nearly 5 years.

But we made it. All the way to the modern day! This Decades Challenge is complete ⌛️

I hope you all enjoyed the final walk with Mac through the Langston family back to their origins. I really loved revisiting where they came from and seeing old faces. It felt like the fitting way to round this Legacy out.

This is the end for the Langstons. Above you will see all the characters we met over 12 decades - and I have the wonderful @goldoradove to thank for helping to create a 51 sim pose that was so unique to this particular family and all of its individuals. The thing I love most about this community is the people I have met through telling my sims story, and collaborating on this pose to say farewell has been truly heartwarming. I have endless, endless thank-yous, Rilla 💖✨

Ew I’m crying now as I write this, how dare sims make me feel this kind of emotion?! But seriously. Thank you everyone who has ever been invested in this sims story. 5000 followers later (excuse me 😳), and I want you all to know that every comment and like and message has been so meaningful. You are the reason I was able to keep this going for so long, pick it back up after long hiatuses, and finally finish it in my own slightly-protracted way as my life outside of simblr has changed. What started as a pandemic hobby in lockdown turned into a huge project that has sustained me creatively and I feel a bit lost now that it’s complete.

So… what’s next? Stay tuned and I’ll update in a few days on where I’m at with my future plans on simblr. But in the meantime, go discover and read and follow and support all your fellow historical simmers and above all, create your own characters and worlds of your choosing without shame or inhibition 💕🥹

[thevulturesquadron]

Ok, I gotta get something off my chest. PLEASE don't take this as a 'well actually' post, because it's not. I am just expressing how that particular scene in Episode 8 made me feel.

I've seen A LOT of people thirsting over the shots of Magneto in the last episode (for understandable reasons, all you need is eyes and good tastes). And hey, outside of the context, but also as a result of the intention behind the shot - a fetishized display - I'd be 'I see what you did and I appreciate what I see'. If anything, this is an indication that there had to have been queer people involved in the production of the show, because there is a fine line to walk here and queer creators know how to do that better than anyone else.

BUT I need to speak about the levels of discomfort those shots made me go through. Magneto is depicted as EXPOSED, disempowered, and humiliated in all those moments, and it's terrifying. It's like a punch to the gut each time we revisit his condition, but it's also meant to inflict guilt upon the viewer for well... enjoying the sight. He is shackled and collared, his prisoner number is on display, and he is crucified in front of screens! In front of watchers! In front of nations and in front of people that are turned on by a power dynamic that would see those that they fear or hate in chains.

I cannot express what power those moments hold. Once he is freed, his anger, his pain, his thirst for blood feel personal, feel well... justified. You see him sending the world to hell and you can't do anything but say 'good riddance'.

[grandline-fics]

If request are open, could I ask for a pt. 2 of the siren song/hearing you sing, for Law, Marco and Ace please?

DESCRIPTION: The first time they hear you sing captivates them

WARNINGS: None

CHARACTERS: Law, Marco, Ace, Crocodile, Kid

WORDS: 2,612

A/N: Thank you for this request, I'm fond of this idea so I'm glad to revisit it with more characters. I hope you like what I came up with for these guys

*REQUESTS ARE OPEN*

DIRECTORY | PROMPT LIST

———————

LAW

When Law begins to ponder things he’s relentless until his curiosity is sated and the answer he sought was his. Usually these pursuits in knowledge took a small amount of time to accomplish because of how driven he would be and what he needed to know would be in one of the many hefty books in his, nestled somewhere amongst the thin papers and tiny printed words. However if the clear answer wasn’t there, at the very least his books pointed him in the right direction of an island or person who could tell him what his mind was currently fixated on knowing. This current question however could not be revealed to him through books or other masters of particular fields of intellect. No, the only person who could relieve him of this question was you. The question: what did you sound like when you sang?

It had honestly been something he’d never given much thought before. The cause for the nagging question had come one evening when he’d emerged from his study one evening and came across Bepo who was in a more cheerful mood than normal. Curious about the clear change in his navigator, Law couldn’t help but ask for the cause. It surprised Law to hear your name come from Bepo’s mouth. Then the surprise became confusion, you’d been part of the crew for a while now, why would you suddenly affect him? Obviously needing more information, Bepo continued. “I heard them sing! They’re amazing, it’s put me in a great mood ever since.”

While Law knew music could affect a person’s mood, he hadn’t seen something so strong which began to stir his curiosity more. Already he wanted to hear your singing for himself, mostly to see if the change in mood was something that happened for everyone that heard it but also because on the slightly childish reason he was annoyed Bepo had heard you sing before he had. He was aware of his attraction to you and to know that you were a singer only furthered his interest in getting to know you better. However he couldn’t just order you to sing for him, that’d be overstepping things entirely and while he was your Captain, he wasn’t going to act like you were his to order about to please his personal whims. No, if he was to hear you it would have to come about naturally. 

Sadly he wasn’t able to hear you for himself right away. With the current layout of the crew’s work patterns and the long stretch of travelling through a particularly turbulent part of the sea it meant everyone was laser focussed on their tasks to ensure the Polar Tang navigated the waters safely. This meant very little time for relaxing. For the duration of the journey everyone mostly ate their meals and went to bed in the spare windows of time they had between shifts. It wasn’t until the submarine surface at the new island that everyone let out a sigh of relief. Since you were the last one on watch you wanted more than anything to go and sleep. You could explore the island later and returned to the sleeping quarters while the others prepared for disembarking. 

Law knew the island was a peaceful one so he opted to stay behind while you slept, letting everyone else explore. He’d even let the Polar Tang stay above the water’s surface and enjoyed the quiet this rare occurrence brought. Without the echoing sound of the water enveloping the Tang, without the sounds of footsteps against the metal floors and heavy doors shutting, and without the constant whirl and hum of the engines and computers, Law found himself enjoying the  peace as he lay on his sofa, eyes closed in contentment. Then he finally heard the answer to the question. 

Through the empty corridors, the song broke out and carried itself clear and alluring. Law sat upright and looked to his partly opened door as your remarkable voice practically called to him, pulling him from his seat and urging him to come closer to the source and he went oh so willingly, it was practically hypnotic. In a blink it seemed, he was standing in the doorway leading to the stairwell that would take him to the top deck. There you sat on one of the steps, singing perfectly and smiling when you saw him approach. When the song came to it’s natural end you had a look of satisfaction on your face. 

“I’ve always been curious about how good the acoustics were when the ship was silent. Definitely better than I’d hoped.” You explained. Law couldn’t help but chuckle, glad that both of you had found the answers to the questions you’d had and that for both of you it was more than worth the wait.

MARCO

Truth be told Marco hadn’t really paid you much notice when you first joined the Whitebeard Pirates. He learned your name and face at the first introduction and some of your medical history out of necessity but because you were in Izou’s division, everything else about you was a mystery and not exactly one he’d be in a hurry to unravel. For the first months of your recruitment, polite conversation only happened in the groups and parties on and off the ship. There wasn’t much one on one time between you both so you just melded into the background for the most part, only coming into view when you were needed. As long as you were loyal to the family that was the crew, pulled your weight and worked hard that was all that mattered. 

Then after a while, Marco did begin to take a slight notice. In fights you were capable and swift, able to act without hesitation while also making sure you weren’t acting foolishly and out of impulse. Everything you did had a purpose. You also had a good sense of humour and attitude that allowed you you settle in amongst the others quickly. You also weren’t afraid of voicing your own opinion and were ready to argue your point if something disagreed with you. Sometimes he’d find himself on the receiving end of that but anything you gave him, he’d return in kind. There was no real animosity between you both, any arguments between you were swiftly settled and you both returned to your own coexistence on the ship. 

Sometime along the way, Marco began to notice that Whitebeard held a certain soft spot for you, he couldn’t exactly pinpoint where it came from or when but it had left him curious about it all the same. Still, he didn’t pry into Pops’ reasoning for this. Whitebeard’s business was his own, for all Marco knew you simply reminded him of someone from his past. Knowing he’d probably never know, Marco pushed the curiosity and settled his mind on the things that were important such as the care of Pops and the crew. 

Then one night when Pops’ pain had flared to the point he found himself unable to sleep and not even the soothing flames of Marco’s Devil Fruit could remove the ailment entirely, Whitebeard asked for you. It wasn’t long before the nurse that had been sent to get you reappeared with you following close behind. With a kind smile, you approached his enormous bed and sat on the edge with enough room to ensure there was space for Pops to remain undisturbed. 

“Rough night Pops?” You asked with a knowing look. 

“Could say that, or maybe I just wanted my children to fuss over me a little more.” Whitebeard grinned, always trying to reassure and keep things light. Despite his words, he dismissed the nurses until it was just you and Marco in the room with him. 

“So what will I start with tonight?” You asked gently. “Your favourite one from home?”

“Yeah, always like that one.” Whitebeard nodded, letting his eyes close so he could focus on Marco’s flames while you began to sing. 

Marco’s eyes widened at the sound of your voice, so strong and yet so sweet, pulling his focus from Pops’ face to look fully at you. You controlled your singing expertly, the sound just as reassuring and soothing to Pops, the song one he’d known since a boy, comforting him as an extra salve to his discomfort. Another form of healing and just as powerful as the Phoenix who continued to look at you in awe, with fresh eyes and he couldn’t help but think it was such a shame he’d allowed you to fall into the background for so long. Perhaps if he’d given you more notice sooner, he’d have been there the night Whitebeard had heard your singing while you were perched up in the Crow’s Nest and understood his soft spot for you from the beginning. 

When you finished your song, Marco uttered out a single word. “Beautiful.” You whirled your head around to finally meet his stare, eyes widened and lips parted in surprise. Cursing inwardly Marco cleared his throat and quickly looked away from the force of your eyes that he now found just has much power over him as your singing did. “The song.” He added, trying to recover his brief slip, not wanting to make you uncomfortable around him. “Pops is sleeping now. You can go back to bed if you want.” 

Slowly you looked away from Marco and you smiled to see Pops’ chest rising and falling steadily, already fast asleep and thankfully looking more peaceful than he had been. Still you remained where you sat and shook your head. “Nah, I’ll stay. He might wake up again.” You explained before looking back to Marco smiling at him, trying not to seem too eager. “You got a favourite song Doc?”

“A few…” Marco admitted with a relaxed smile, glad you had decided to stay.

ACE

It took a lot to get Ace angry; unwarranted and unnecessary violence to innocent civilians who couldn’t defend themselves was one thing, disrespect to Whitebeard was another. When someone somehow managed to combine both things at once? He was beyond furious. His hands shook as he stared at the townspeople trying to help each other whether with medical aid or helping to clean up what was ruined and find what was still salvageable. Ace ground his teeth together and balled his hands into tight fists, flames rippling over his arms in growing fury. “I’ll fucking kill them.” He snarled, beginning to step forward.

“Woah, woah there hothead.” You quickly darted in front of him and stopped his advance towards the ruined town centre. “Take a breath and calm yourself.” 

“Calm?” Ace demanded looking at you in anger. “This is Pops’ territory and someone’s attacked it. Look behind you! We have to get those bastards back it and these people!” Only a small group of you had been sent out to the island to investigate reports of an unallied ship sailing close. By the time you’d arrived, they’d already docked and begun to wreck havoc. None of you could let this stand. It startled Ace to see you weren’t taking it seriously, instead you were fixing your anger on him. 

“Take your own advice, Ace and look behind you.” You snapped harshly. “These people are terrified. We need to support them first, they’ve had enough of seeing violent pirates for one day. Pops’ people are the priority.”

“But-” Ace’s mind began to clear slightly from the angered haze that had settled over his eyes when he glanced behind you to look at the civilians. He took a slow breath and sighed. “I just want to make them pay.”

“Those nobodies aren’t getting away, we destroyed their ship the second we docked. They’re trapped here and the others will track them down in no time. Come on, let’s do what we can here first. These people need to see friendly faces.”

Ace hated how you were right. Taking another breath he calmed himself of his outward fury and nodded, signalling you to start walking towards the town. By the time the both of you came into their line of sight, you saw their initial panic fall away to relief. The older members of the town recognising you immediately and hurrying over. From them you learned that those who attacked hadn’t realised the island was Whitebeard’s territory until the sound of your ship approaching reached them. When they learned of their mistake they fled into the forest and mountains nearby. While you were glad it hadn’t been intended to be a declaration of war against Whitebeard, their attack would not be forgiven and their fates were sealed. 

Still though, you and Ace kept your minds firmly on the people, first aiding their cleaning of the mess made. Your calm personality and Ace’s naturally charming nature swiftly allowed the civilians to relax and fall into conversation with you, leading those that had been hiding with the children to come out. Immediately the children flocked to you and Ace in excitement, knowing they were safe. You grinned to see the youngsters ultimately decide in unison that Ace was the perfect target to climb on and a laugh broke from your lips to see four children were hanging onto his outstretched arms for dear life while their legs dangled in the air. 

You were happy to see that the children had managed to distract Ace from his earlier anger just as much as he had served to erase the fear these people held. Already you could feel the shift in energy and just as you’d finished the cleaning, the others in your group appeared triumphant with the news that the pirates that had attacked had been swiftly dealt with. Now in the need to celebrate, food was prepared and furniture was assembled to create an impromptu party to celebrate and turn the bad day into a good one. 

When the food was served you took pity on the children who still excitedly clung and pulled Ace who while was having fun, wanted nothing more than to eat and enjoy the meals he could smell. The others in his group, his family cruelly taunted him by declaring how good their food tasted. You laughed and rolled your eyes, taking pity on him faster than the others. You approached one of the townspeople who you’d helped locate his missing guitar and sat beside him, asking him to play a song you knew. Immediately his face broke out into a grin, he played the quick and cheerful song and you started to sing. 

Like a flick of a switch all of the children and Ace’s heads snapped towards you, immediately fixated with the sound. Some of the adults had even started to dance to the song. In all the time Ace had known you, flirted with you, adventured with you, how had he not known you sang? Even more, how had he never know you sang so beautifully? Even with him now free from the swarm of children who’d demanded his attention he was following them to where you were seated and singing, unable to look away and completely lost in the power of your voice. There was nowhere else he could possibly find himself wanting to go.

From their spot at the table, the remaining members of Whitebeard’s pirates in the group grinned at Ace’s expression and utter captivation in you. Slowly they shook their head at how their Division Commander was obviously smitten with you. They were already aware of his feelings for you and that was before he’d heard you sing. He was powerless against you.

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

TAG LIST (If I've missed anyone or if you want to be added just let me know) @3v37773 , @tsaaps , @i-am-all-love-puns-and-lazy , @sanemisnonexistenteyebrow , @fiery-captain-spider-santa @kabloswrld , @atanukileaf , @chaotic-on-main

[yuurei20]

how muscle is the boy and who the most buff because i think silver gym clothes is lying

Hello hello! Thank you so much for this question! I have been hoping to talk about this for so long ⚔️

There is something special about the school uniform and gym clothes cards 👀

Summary 1) Sprites do not always visually represent what is actually happening in the game 2) Yana does not have full control over what can appear as sprites 3) Yana illustrated the gym clothes and school uniform cards from start to finish by herself!

Details/Sources 1) There is sometimes a disconnect between what the sprites are doing and what is actually happening in the stories, as the limits of the medium mean that they can only portray so much.

We will be told via dialogue that what is actually happening is different from what we're seeing on screen, which is where the "novel" part of "visual novel" has to do some heavy lifting.

(above: We are told that Idia is riding Ortho, Jack has tanned and Kalim is wearing glasses, without anything represented visually.)

This is also true of Silver being unusually well-muscled, with characters referencing such repeatedly! (especially in Book 7, for spoiler-reasons that cannot be shared on this blog)

(Ortho: "Silver is also incredibly built!")

In a vignette Silver explains he was able to beat a man in an arm-wrestling contest who had successfully beaten several "burly" members of Savanaclaw:

"All of Ruggie's burly friends had tried, but each lost within seconds. At first the owner went easy on me. Worried he would hurt me, he said. But once he realized I was no pushover, he stopped holding back...It was no easy feat, but all their encouragement helped me eke out a victory."

As for how Silver can possibly be so well-muscled, he explains it is from life with Lilia:

"I've never really struggled with anything involving physical fitness...my daily life back home was training enough. Drawing river water, chopping firewood...Chasing around the animals who lived nearby must have helped strengthen my legs as well...once I stalled while climbing a sheer cliff, and (Lilia) climbed right up beside me to show me how it should be done."

2) In a tweet posted on 2020/5/12 Yana talks about submitting her idea for Crowley to be wearing a vacation outfit in Book 4, despite expecting it to be rejected.

So it seems that she does not have complete control over how the sprites look: she designs the characters but is maybe not doing the game development work of physically implementing them, and there are others who can approve of or reject her ideas based on in-game limitations.

Was a canon-accurate Silver sprite maybe one of those rejections?

Effort was even made to give Silver muscle in the 2nd anniversary PV, so it does seem to be an important point.

3) We do not know too many details about the team that is helping Yana with card illustrations but we know they have been there from the beginning, with the recently released English-version of the first visual book (called "The official art book" in English) providing translations of Yana's notes to the colorists for the ceremonial robes and labwear art.

(Above: hand-written notes seen on Kalim's labwear and ceremonial robes base art)

She also references a graphic artist in her 2020 interview for the Magical Archives:

"As for the illustrations, this was my first time having my original drawings cleaned up by a graphic artist. I am a very rough draftsman by nature, and I make overall corrections before a piece is complete. No matter how careful I am in my original drawings, sometimes details get confused, so whenever I receive a draft back from the graphic artist, I become a useless original artist who is constantly going back to say, ‘I am so sorry, but can you please make these corrections?’" - Toboso Yana (Magical Archives game guide)

But the gym clothes and school uniforms (the original batch of R cards) were different: Yana says she did them all by herself from start to finish, as they were going to be most people's first introductions to the characters.

Disney Twisted-Wonderland has been released today.  ・Character design ・Main scenario creation ・Card illustration (all rarities / including finishing for the R cards) ・Supervision of personal scenarios (writing several as well) I handled everything above. I hope you enjoy it! - Toboso Yana (Twitter, 2020/5/8)

I felt that the initial R school uniforms and sportswear cards are special, as they are likely to be the first introductions to these characters, so I was in charge of them all. I am grateful to have been trusted with them. - Toboso Yana (Twitter, 2020/4/13)

So there we are! 🥳

If anything we can maybe consider the base card art for the gym clothes and school uniforms as more "canon" than the sprite designs of those same characters, even though the sprites are what we're used to seeing, as card art is not being forced to change the characters' appearances in order to fit the limitations of Live 2D sprites ⚔️ Maybe!

(The sprites have this same issue with height! In the game Epel is made taller while Malleus is made shorter, in order to fit his horns in the screen.)

[ot3]

have u read the homestuck epilogues? what do u think of them if u have? and do u have thoughts on june egbert

when the epilogues originally dropped, i read candy but i did not go on to read meat because the experience of being a homestuck fan at the release of the epilogues was a pretty miserable and i saw no reason to prolong it.

i did not categorically hate everything the epilogues were attempting to do but i think they are fundamentally and irredeemably flawed for one extremely big reason: you can not release something as the official continuation of a work while also insisting it is not a piece of the canon. it felt like they wanted to have their cake and eat it too in a way that completely undermined the entire work. they released it with faux-ao3 tagging/styling, but weren't brave enough to actually release is on ao3. it had to be elevated Above fanwork, but if you got too upset about it they could always just point out 'well we said it wasn't canon' to deflect legitimate criticism. plain and simple, it all felt like cowardice. release something intentionally designed to provoke and antagonize a dedicated fanbase and then retreat to twitter to complain about how nobody can understand and appreciate REAL, SERIOUS, QUEER ADULT CHARACTER WRITING. but like. real, serious queer adult character writing still needs to be good and I'm not sure the homestuck epilogues Were that. having characters you know to be 100% fictional and are now being written by a brand new set of people pretty much look at the camera and say "if you think my character writing is OOC it's only because you don't respect my interiority as a human being" rang extremely fucking hollow to me.

i think it should be obvious to anyone who has been following me for any amount of time that i don't want or need sanitized and saccharine character writing to be pleased and my issue was not that the epilogues were dark, it was that they felt confused and contrived.

being a homestuck fan took up all of the formative years of my life, without exaggeration. it was the main thing i was into from ages 14-21 and has been incomparably important to me. so it's next to impossible for me to separate my feelings about my epilogues from what it felt like to be a homestuck fan during the absolute clusterfuck of these things dropping, especially since i haven't revisited them since. one event in particular that really soured me was an official homestuck team member who i was decently good friends with asking me to delete tweets i made criticizing some aspects of the epilogues. i found to be an extremely unprofessional to do as someone who is on the payroll of an IP speaking to a fan of that work, regardless of whatever terms we may have been on. additionally, i found the way she + the epilogues writers responded to criticism of the epilogues from the pretty significant demographic of teen fans on twitter to be at best condescending and at worst actively cruel.

it felt like a bunch of people who wrote shock fiction about a beloved cast of characters - something they were fully within their right to do, to be clear - but then could not handle the extremely predictable reception to it. my eventual homestuck reread is penciled in for 2029 and if i can bring myself to [re]read the epilogues at that time, im going to. we will see how my feelings change then

as for june egbert: love her, but this is once again soured by the way post-mspa era homestuck treats the concept of canonicity. john egbert is my number one favorite fictional character of all time. if you tell me "great news, she's a girl now" i am in fact overjoyed by that. i think its something that adds a lot of texture to the character. but i don't like people treating it like it's canon when it just simply isn't. i don't think you get points for portraying a transfem character until you have actually... portrayed a transfem character. i do not keep up with hs2 for reasons that are probably pretty obvious so i'm not sure if anything has changed, but to the best of my knowledge june egbert is not yet canonical there either. it's very frustrating.

but you see what i mean about canonicity: ignore the fact that we haven't discussed june egbert's gender in a single actual piece of fiction. the toblerone says she's real so she is! ignore the fact that the homestuck epilogues are official works that were on the shelves at barnes and fucking noble, they're "beyond canon" because weve put AO3 headers on. it feels like lategame homestuck treats canonicity like a switch it can flip completely independent of the works they are making, in whatever way is convenient for them. if the HS2 team (shoutout to floral, one of the best to ever do it and nobody deserves to be writing homestuck more than them) ever does get around to making june egbert canon, i will be standing by to pop bottles.

[railroadlion]

i love TOL so much its actually gimving me brain worms im a huge comic nerd and it gives off the same vibe as some of my fav comics ever like serenity rose or lost at sea or the gulf it feels like an old alt 'classic' i wouldv read when younger and changed my brain chemistry (it still is)... so so good and your paneling and page layout and characterisation all make it flow so well and its so easy to get invested in the characters.. jamie and santiago are real and They are my Friends... their dynamic and world feel so lively and real.... i love how you play with comic conventions in using the thought/narrative bubble and turning it into voiced speech its so clever and awesome... your inking is so alive and dynamic... i havent been this ThinkingAbout a comic in ages. would buy in print. ps do u have any comic reccomendations/what comics inspires you?

Thank you so much!! This kind of manic obsession is what all true comic creators dream of, so it touches my heart <3

My main inspirations for making TOL were black and white comics I read as a kid but didn't fully understand at the time, like Bone, This One Summer, and (like you mentioned) Lost at Sea!

Lost at Sea in particular was a huge emotional cornerstone for me when I was younger, and was one of the main reasons I kept TOL in black and white. I read it when I was too young to really understand what the characters were going through, but I could tell there was something really emotionally powerful going on below the surface, and it stuck with me into adulthood. The fact that the world in that story had been abstracted by only existing in black and white only made it more mysterious and fascinating to me.

I have such an affinity for B&W comics. It simultaneously makes a piece feel more obtuse and obscured without the specificity of color, but it also makes it all the more personal and unique to each reader who fills in the gaps with their imagination. That's what I'm going for with TOL anyway.

I know some people have only read comics like Bone and Scott Pilgrim in color because it adds a whole new level of artistic expression to enjoy in a story, but I encourage people to revisit their favorite comics if they were originally printed in b&w to see how different they feel without color.

As for other comics I recommend, I really love Blankets, Keeping Two, Ducks, and The Sculptor.

These are all sophisticated creme de la creme novels that really touch on some intensely beautiful themes, and I can't recommend them enough to people who want to read a comic with some real maturity.

But what if you like comics with action and fantasy and cool shit that are also top of the line? Then I recommend Kaya, Ultramega, Do A Powerbomb, and most importantly: Coda.

These comics are so amazingly well drawn and are told incredibly well, but Coda, drawn by Matias Bergara and written by Si Spurrier is probably my favorite comic ever and I recommend it to literally everyone. It's the comic that pulled me out of my era of reading shonen manga slop and made me start reading western comics obsessively.

The duo also made Step By Bloody Step, a comic told without any words- only pictures. This is the kind of thing you have to read if you want to really understand what the comics medium is capable of.

ANYWAY. That's my reading list. Creators like Hayao Miyazaki, Cliff Chiang, Moebius, Frank Pe, Kei Urana, and Ryoko Kui are also amazing and you should check out their works as well.

I'm making physical copies of TOL chapter 1, and at the end I'm also gonna include a reading list of comics made by indie creators who I'm lucky enough to call my friends for people to check out, but that's a post for a different time.

I hope people will read at least one book from this list. Thanks for reading my ramblings!

[togglesbloggle]

Insofar as I have a principled position on the matter- and I don’t, not really- it’s this: art does have the ability to alter our values and our way of interpreting the world. It’s absolutely a live grenade, and should be taken seriously as such.

Like, of course it does! Probably you can point to some book, some film, some story somewhere that touched you not just deeply but irrevocably. There are moments of aesthetic experience which give a before and after to our lives, just as surely as moments of extraordinary suffering or extraordinary joy can.

I’m lucky enough to have more than a few I can list off, personally. Profoundly transformative ones like Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited or the music of John Cage, sure. But maybe even more interesting (tractable?) to me were small moments of grace like the one I found in the Dragonlance novels by Weis and Hickman: the dark wizard Raistlin Majere wove back and forth across the line between ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ in exactly such a way that, after reading his books at a young age, I immediately and quite distinctly overcame my fear of the dark.

What a wonderful thing for a book to do! I’d be hard-pressed to explain exactly how, if only because I’m such a different person now than I was then. Perhaps your own intuition will bridge the gap a bit. It was all tied up with this distinction between good and evil, you see, and with the ability to stare in to the face of evil things without flinching, to understand that they have contingency and history just like good things do, and to be in some sense in community with them.

That was a long, long time ago, and I don’t think my model of the world even has evil in it any more, not in the sense that I believed in it then. But my fear of the dark never came back, either.

I don’t believe for a minute that Weis and Hickman had any idea that they were giving me that gift in particular, nor did they have any sensible means to achieve such a goal even if they somehow wanted to. It wasn’t a transformation mediated by intent, you know? It didn’t reduce to an argument that I believed or disbelieved in some intellectual way, or to some specific controlled experience that the authors had planned for me.

Art is transformative, but not in the way that effective polemic is transformative. It doesn't (principally) reason with us or persuade us. Rather, I think art is dangerous for the same reasons that travel to a foreign country is dangerous, or a friendship with somebody new is dangerous. It threatens us by expanding our conscious history to include new categories of experience, that is, by changing the context in which we go about the business of living.

It's wrong to think of art mostly as a tug-of-war dragging hapless consumers from one ideology to another, with the victory going to whichever faction can fill the algorithm with mass-produced and doctrinally compliant stories clamoring endlessly for their views. Normalization has its power, don't get me wrong, but there will always be far greater power in a single glimpse over the horizon.

Think about Whoopi Goldberg's account of seeing Nichelle Nichol's Uhura on television:

“Well, when I was nine years old Star Trek came on. I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, ‘Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!’ I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be.”

Once. It took one time, and the walls fell away, and everything was possible. The fashions and approved styles may come and go with the seasons, but the outer perimeter of our experiences, and the sense of what the world could be, can only ever grow, and sometimes it grows by leaps and bounds in an instant.

I guess this is why I tend to think of censorship and control over media as basically quixotic. Sure, with enough energy you can control what's normal and what's public, but controlling what's possible is an exercise in futility on a grand scale. You can never win that fight, only lose it fast or slow.

We all have this remarkably unpredictable collection of soft places and hard places: some things in us that deform to match the shape of their environment, and other things that break us before they can bend. And we all try to find a way to make these strange shapes work within the limits of our own experience and the world as we understand it. Some of us thrive in communities and cultures where others die gasping, and some of us spend our entire lives trying to smash through excruciating barriers that others can't even detect.

Art is one of the things that expands those limits, gives the strange creature inside us a little bit of room to stretch and grow and find a space for the hard bits to arrange themselves as they need to be. But it can't do that without changing the soft parts as well, because the soft parts need external force to maintain their shape. Socialization and ideology can only weakly bind us, because they rely on deliberate and conscious pressures to conform; ignorance is stronger, because it denies us the choice altogether. Without art, you'll never really be able to learn what kind of animal you are, as opposed to the kind of person your world has told you to be. But art will change you, too, as discovery always will.

The life you have now has real value- great beauty, and great meaning. For all that you are defined in part by the walls of your cage, knowledge and new experiences are not something to accept lightly, and they can never be undone. All I can say, really, is that I've never once regretted it.

[hatchetfieldtheories]

Will We Ever Be Free of the Implications?

No, no I don't think so. And neither will Paul by the looks of it.

Ooof, its been a while since something has gotten my theory brain working, and Starkid are very good at peppering in just enough clues for us to all get excited. And for me to start trying to cobble together some theories.

I think I made the gif in about 2021, so its nice to know I'm making just as much sense 4 years later.

Its safe to say the main take away from the new TGWDLM Remount trailer is that Paul and Emma are aware they're living the same day again. Paul in particular knows what his colleagues are going to ask of him before they say anything and he very quickly becomes concerned with the implications.

Now. Do I think this is going to be as explicitly obvious in the remount. Not at all. The show is still the show at the end of the day, but as Paul exclaims, let's think about where the implications of what the trailer is telling us leads.

No Exits From the Broadway Venue

This remount is being described as a bigger and longer run, which is very exciting. It also leads me to believe there will be a bit more filling out of story and connections to the greater Hatchetfield lore.

As @ashtxeman has pointed out here, we're already getting this in this trailer. The Black Book, the reference to the Nighthawks and... well... the big flying Pokey rock in the sky, are all very explicit links. So I think its reasonable that they're going to use this as an opportunity to bring TGWDLM a bit more in line with the other Hatchetfield stories and make the link to the Tellytubbies of Terror more obvious.

Based on all these clues, we can presume for now that all the references to this being "done before" is true to the story they're intending to tell, and not just an easter egg referring to this being a second run of the show.

Ok, that's great Tazzy, but this isn't really a theory so far, I can hear you yelling at me. Well to that I firstly say, please yell a bit louder, all I can hear is Paul and Emma screaming into the blue void, and secondly, I say, this actually gives us the basis for a very interesting theory. For which we need to revisit some other parts of Hatchetfield lore, and our old friend, Tinky.

Time is a Precious Thread...

Since the dawn of time, otherwise known as around the time of the release of Black Friday, there has been quite a bit of discussion regarding whether the shows in the Hatchetfield Series are parallel universes, or if Hatchetfield is going through a time loop of some kind.

Then Time Bastard and Nightmare Time happened, and we learnt a few things. Firstly, that 2005 was a catalyst for the timelines of Hatchetfield splitting, and from that point on each of the shows we have watched have been in a different timeline. In Time Bastard, Ted travels back to before 2005, and this act is the reason why Ted as the Homeless Guy is de facto in every universe. Because it happened pre-split. If you would like to see the split timelines in a handy dandy diagram, @abiimaryy created a great one here.

And so, we rested, accepting the timeline theory.

And then the implications arrived.

Because now we are in a situation where both theories can exist simultaneously. Yes Hatchetfield has split, parallel timelines, but it seems that in this one - there is a time loop.

So how does Tinky come into this? Well he doesn't really. But the way he works, and affects Ted's life makes me look at this loop in a very specific way.

It's a Musical

I dont know about you, but when I go to the theatre and see an amazing show, I get so excited about it. So excited in fact that I wish I could go back and watch it again each night.

Well, I think Pokey has found a way to do just that.

Tinky traps Ted in his Bastard Box, which allows him to mess with Ted and affect his reality. Allows him to observe him.

Now let's look back to the Remount trailer.

We're told straight away, History doesn't repeat, it is - reprised.

We're watching old clips of the original run on a tv screen surrounded by black nothingness.

Look at Paul, sat there, in his little.. blue... box.. of a cubicle. Pokey doesn't have Paul and Emma trapped in a Box, but he does have them trapped. This is Pokey's equivalent. He gets to sit, and watch his favourite musical happen over and over and over.

Its a certainly a longer run.

And maybe, if that's the case. If Paul and Emma are acting this out every day, maybe the 2018 show, wasn't the first loop.

This would put the opening scene of TGWDLM 2018 into a more obvious context, especially in regards to the likes of Emma being involved with the opening song. That song takes place at the end of the previous loop, and is what brings the musical back into the new loop. It's Pokey's I Got You Babe.

[ajastu]

good morning. i still cant get over that fucking 'wanton massacre' post from yesterday

Like, don't get me wrong. I do agree that it would be interesting to revisit the whole architect plotline n maybe explore some more the consequences of darkspawn being able to be 'awakened'.

but oh my god. im going to chew this bone a little bit, as a treat

There are a lot of reasons why this take, worded like it is, is bad. Nothing against OP, obviously, i just want to put my thoughts into words. for funsies. this is enrichment in my enclosure

First of all. we do have to establish that this is a game we're talking about, and games have to conform to certain requirements for the sake of gameplay design. Having darkspawn as an enemy has been a staple of the franchise for as long as it existed, and so there is nothing 'weird as hell' with the fact that veilguard continues that trend.

Now, if we talk about purely just the lore, not looking at gameplay...there is a huge difference between a darkspawn and someone who is tranquil. The main one being: tranquil people do not try to kill other people on sight. They are also not able to infect someone else with the blight. And, if we look at the definition of 'wanton' in this context...

The lore never presented non-awakened darkspawn as harmless or able to be reasoned with. It has also never presented the tranquil as a danger to other people.

So, killing the tranquil? that Would be a wanton massacre. Killing the darkspawn? I'm afraid that's just self defense.

The fact remains that it takes a certain process done by a certain guy (The Architect) to 'awaken' a darkspawn. Even if he could teach someone else to perform the ritual, we are still talking about the few vs however fuckoff many darkspawn there are in the world. Not to mention, it is not guaranteed that the awakened darkspawn will even choose to remain peaceful, as was the case with The Mother in awakening.

And the existence of The Architect and his group of peaceful darkspawn isn't even common knowledge in Thedas.

So, even if the game did decide to go into all that and maybe pursue the avenue of awakening the darkspawn etc etc etc....what should the people of Thedas do in the meantime? Because that will not be a quick and easy process. And the darkspawn are not going to just stand patiently in line to The Architect's Awakening Kiosk.

Again, I do agree that it could be a fun story to explore. It would also be a whole another game that will require a completely different plot direction, and it is kind of unreasonable and unfair to present this as a failure on veilguard's part. For a story to be coherent, it has to follow a certain thread and theme, and that becomes even more strict and difficult to navigate in an rpg game like dragon age, which has to account for different player choices.

Hell, even some of the choices we are presented with in veilguard could mean wildly different outcomes for the state of the world (keep archive or not, return griffons to the grey wardens or not...even taash's quest-line, while not making you choose that particular aspect directly, has very different implications for the future of the antaam). And i honestly don't know how easy it would be to navigate if we do, by some divine miracle, get da5 one day.

It is similar to the criticism of "well why couldn't we choose to tear the veil down!". There is a story that needs to be told, and it needs to account for a lot of player choices, and so something as radically world-altering as tearing down the veil simply cannot exist in the canon of the franchise. It will lead to two completely different games down the line. there was only ever going to be one choice possible: either keep the veil, or destroy it. Not both.

And, arguably, veilguard actually opens the door to the possibility of exploring a different side of darkspawn with the ending where you convince solas to bind himself to the veil.

'I cannot kill the blight, but i can help to soothe it's anger'

Like, you see what im saying here? This could be argued as a possible beginning to the reform of how the blight works, generally. So, instead of relying on one guy to awaken all the darkspawn, perhaps the blight itself would let them 'awaken' on their own once it's sufficiently soothed. Of course, this is all theory and speculation and just a fun thought exercise etc etc etc, but it's the best shot for the possibility of exploring this topic properly in-game. Not that i think that this is the direction that will be chosen necessarily, but you know. nothing is certain at this point.

IN CONCLUSION, I think that this once again comes down to how people let their disappointment over a game not meeting their expectations cloud their judgement. If you think about it without letting your emotions control the narrative, it is quite reasonable that veilguard would not be exploring the darkspawn awakening aspect of the lore. There's just no space for it in the narrative that was required. Hell, they obviously had to cut it as much as they possibly could afford to, thanks to the development hell the team was put through. Exploring this plotline in a way that would do it justice would have been impossible in the game, and it would have cheapened both this concept AND the overall narrative.

Criticizing veilguard for this is similar to criticizing, i don't know, a cheese store not selling your favorite candy. Not the best metaphor, but you know.

It could be a fun discussion. It could be a fun project, to really sit down and work out the logistics of this whole thing. It could become a creative endeavor, but instead it's used as a way to dunk on datv for no reason, and i just think that's a fucking shame