#seeing how the characters and plot changed from this is awesome

[homicidal-psycho-jungle-cat]

how are yall feeling about the pilot

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Since you've mentioned Scarlet Lady in one of your posts, what's your opinion on it?

I've mentioned before that I'm a big Scarlet Lady fan, which is the only reason that I'm comfortable answering asks like this one. I don't publicly criticize the content of hobby creators. That's wildly inappropriate! Punch up, not down.

The linked post was a general discussion of the adaptation process and how @zoe-oneesama did a fantastic job, so for this one, I'm just going to do some general gushing because I do actually like praising and enjoying things!

Scarlet Lady's chosen format (comic) allows it to have this wonderful conversation with canon where it can rely on the framework of canon to tell it's own story while also using canon for jokes and meta commentary. This means that Scarlet Lady is about as close as fan content can get to a direct reboot because it's able to have moments like this one from the comic's first post:

[Image description: Adrien standing in his room after transforming into Chat Noir for the first time. He is beaming and his eyes are shining with excitement as he exclaims, "This is gonna be awesome!"]

A single picture that communicates everything we need to know about Adrien getting his miraculous. When I've done this same thing in fanfic, I had to write out the full scene because that's how novels work. You have to give the full picture. With a comic, you can just quickly acknowledge this thing that we all already know and then move on to the new stuff. A picture really is worth a thousand words! (Or, in my case, more like two thousand...)

This allows Zoe to keep the same akumas that we get in canon without her story feeling like a boring rehash because she can focus on what's different in her version. A novelization of the same content would have to show both the stuff that stays the same and the stuff that changes for it to be coherent. That's a lot less fun to read and write. It's why I basically never revisit canon akumas in my own stuff. It's just too derivative for the written word.

This is one of the big reasons that I loved Scarlet Lady. Because it was able to have that more directly conversation with canon, it was able to take canon and say, "hey, why don't we embrace the tone that you established in season one and retell the story with that vibe?" That's something that I desperately wanted to see, but that is totally unsuited to my chosen artistic form. It couldn't be a novel. It had to be a comic.

If you want to know what a true formula show version of Miraculous would look like, Scarlet Lady is it. It does everything that Miraculous should have done:

Sticks to a lighthearted tone where nothing is ever super serious

Keeps Gabriel entirely unsympathetic

Has slow character development and background hints at a bigger plot as the only serial elements, allowing the individual episodes to be their own story while never feeling incomplete or rushed

Allows characters other than Marinette to shine while keeping Marinette as the clear main character

Makes Adrien narratively important

MAKES THE LOVE SQUARE CUTE SO I CAN ACTUALLY SHIP IT

Understands that Lila and Chloe can't coexist as antagonists

Reverses the love square, which is the best way to tell their story. Yes, I will die on my "love diamond" hill. It's a good hill. Come join me. I'll bring cookies.

I could keep going, but you hopefully get my point. While Scarlet Lady is certainly not the only way to do a formula version of canon, it's proof that a formula version does work! You don't have to go the serious route for Miraculous to be successful.

I want to take some time to gush about the ending, but I don't want to spoil it, so I'll put that gushing under a "read more" in case anyone hasn't seen it. I'll finish out this less spoilerish section with this:

I feel like some people are surprised when they learn that I love Scarlet Lady because - as some of you have probably picked up - it is quite different from my ideal version of canon. I'm not sure why that would stop me from enjoying a thing, though. It's important to remember that our personal ideals are not the only way to tell a good story. There are lots of ways to take what canon gave us and make something wonderful! It's part of the reason that I enjoy being in a fandom.

If I only wanted to see my ideal take on canon, then I'd stick to writing/imagining my own stories. But I don't want that! I like seeing alternate takes, too. Scarlet Lady is one of my personal favorites. It's completely different from anything that I'd ever think to write and that's why I'm so glad that it exists! I like being entertained just as much as I like creating my own entertainment and I don't want to only read stories that look like something I'd write. That's boring!

Spoilers below:

I've mentioned before that there are many, many ways to properly handle Chloe's character and Zoe did such a good job with her take on that! Chloe isn't absolved of all the things she did wrong, but she's also treated as a young woman with the ability to change.

While the comic bares the name of Chloe's alter ego, she was the never the main character. She never went on a journey. The story kept her to her shallow season-one self: a petty brat who just wanted attention. It did this because that's who Chloe was in canon and who Chloe needed to be for the comic to work.

The first time we see any complexity from Chloe is in the comic's final few episodes, which was absolutely the right call for Zoe to make! In a recent post, I talked about how the end of a formula show is the only time when you can break the formula in catastrophic ways and that's what Zoe did. She kept Chloe static until it was time to end the story and that's when the formula breaks. That's when Chloe gets depth because, once she has depth, the formula doesn't work.

That depth is not used to redeem Chloe, but to show us that there's hope for Chloe. That this petty brat who we've been dealing with has some serious issues and needs help. Help that she's going to get far away from the people that she's hurt because her issues aren't an excuse for what she's done. They don't erase the harm that she caused. At the same time, understanding her issues makes us hope that she can be better now and Scarlet Lady took a moment to give us that hope. To show us the START of Chloe's true story.

That is the kind of ending that I have wanted to see in so many properties!!! It was so wonderful to finally get one that did this right. A story that understood that full redemption to the team and damnation to death/suffering are extremes on a scale of possibilities. You don't have to go to extremes! You can fall in the middle and the middle is a perfect, natural place for Chloe to land in this kind of story. Fully redeeming or even fully damning Chloe simply doesn't work in lighthearted formula content. It's too big a lift as canon has already demonstrated.

I also loved Zoe's take on Emilie. I've mentioned that I don't like evil Emilie in part because it makes her revival feel like the start of a new story. She's back and she'd bad, so we have to take her down now! But I don't want that. I want the story to end when Gabriel is stopped. Zoe does this by giving us an Emilie that is another perfect middle ground. She matches canon's uncomfortable implications without feeling like a true villain who is a threat to society.

[mellosdrawings]

what's Leverage (this is an invite to infodump)

Hohoho ok ok ok. Wiki-level infodump incoming!

So, Leverage is a 5 seasons TV show from the early 2010s that has come back in 2021 with a follow-up show called Leverage: Redemption. It is a Robin Hood kind of series in which a group of thieves help poor/honest citizens get back at the rich/powerful who wronged them/stole from them/abused them.

Despite most episodes following the same format, it manages to stay interesting and attention grabbing thanks to its peak attention to details. Everything you see in the episode is a hint for how they get the bad guy, which should be a staple of the police genre but which is particularly well done here.

It's a character focused series, with very interesting development and overarching themes and plots. It also does an amazing work at blurring the line between "good" people and "bad" people. Some good guys are absolute pieces of shit, some bad guys are just down on their luck. Several episodes have the main gang changing plans totally because the "bad" guy they were trying to scam ended up being just another victim, so instead they started offering their help to fight the actual bad guys. Many times the bad guy is a piece of shit but when there needs to be nuance, the job is done incredibly well.

There's also a very purposeful Found Family Trope that's just... great. It's awesome.

Now, I just said it's a very character focused show so I'll have to dive in more into the actual characters. I'll be trying to keep it to the very first episode and remain vague on the rest but there will be some spoilers ahead! Especially so since every single in-show introduction is a masterpiece that I must talk about.

The Mastermind: Nathan "Nate" Ford is the brain of the group. He's an ex-Insurance employee who got fucked over by said insurance company when they refused to pay for his son's medical fees (something I'm sure many US citizens can relate to). He ends up having to work with criminals he has previously hunted down before, which gives him a good overall knowledge of how they all work while his time in the insurance company explains why he knows so many scams.

Despite being the "token good guy" in the first season, I'd say he's the most interesting at first. He's a self destructive genius with a terrible alcohol problem, and that alcohol storyline is just so beautifully handled in the first 2 seasons, I was completely hooked. Starting season 3 the line between honest man and criminal blurs though, as it should considering his activities for the past couple years, so he lost my interest just a bit. Still a very strong character with amazing storylines and a terrible personality.

Among the Found Family Trope, he is the depressed alcoholic father who pushes his kids too far but would still do everything to make sure they come home safe. His arc is literally going from deadbeat dad to the dad that steps up.

The Hacker: Alec Hardison is an early 20 years old sassy chatty black kid who, not content of being one hell of a hacker, is also an amazing grifter who picks up skills on the fly. While the sassy chatty hacker who is the comic relief of the show is a common trope, he's one hell of a charming character who will weaponise everything he has underhand to get away with stuff. Absolute kudos to his actor who was also in his early 20s at the time who regularly offer some of the best performances ever seen on TV. I swear that guy is too good.

His introduction depicts all that in seconds. He's the first thief to appear, already talking his head off and giving his opinion on the technology he's been given for the job. His introductory flashback is interesting as it doesn't show him in the middle of hacking, but instead getting caught by police having fun in a hotel room he stole and giving a Star Wars reference. Just from both of those you flag him as a young easy-going guy who still messes up a bunch.

In the Found Family Trope, he is the youngest child who messes up a lot. He has the most obvious father/child undertone with Nate, and an equally obvious bigger/younger sibling undertone with Eliot.

The Hitter: Eliot Spencer is a thirty something years old man whose job is keeping the rest of the gang safe. When it comes to the hardened ex-military trope, you expect scary brooding man who always avoids being hit while getting rid of his opponents in seconds. That's not quite the case with Eliot. Yes, he gives off scary and brooding vibes, but he actually has the biggest heart of the gang. He's regularly shown being the one who worries the most for others, and there's an ongoing thing about him being the defacto person to go to get help help when you're 18 and under. Eliot has an incredible amount of screentime being soft and helping/protecting children.

Not only that, Eliot isn't some kind of super soldier. He gets hit. A lot. But the point is that he always gets back on his feet to continue the fight. His hitter prowesses come more from the fact that he has a lot of knowledge in the matter, rather than from being a perfect fighter. He also has an underlying theme with self-control and anger issues. Eliot is a character that is constantly annoyed/angry, and who uses fighting as a self-regulating tool.

On top of all that, he's also a good grifter who, when not there to hit people, is there to hit on girls. He's regularly used as eye candy to keep the attention away from the others. He's also (not so) surprisingly low key. Eliot is often described as "hiding his game well", his opponents often underestimating him.

Eliot is the second thief to appear on screen, being asked by Hardison what exactly was his job here and not answering, nailing in the "low key" aspect of him that confuses his opponents. It's reinforced by his introductory flashback which has him sipping coffee while having guns pointed at him, then cutting to the outside of the room so we don't see his skill in action, then back to the room where he's still sipping his coffee, unfazed, while everybody else is K.O. The last part of his introduction comes when he finally shows what he is capable of, appearing out of nowhere to put out of commission several guards who hold Hardison at gunpoint, to which he finally answer to Hardison earlier question of what exactly he was here for, with a smile. That's where you start getting a glimpse of his softer side that is entirely focused on keeping his team safe.

In the Found Family Trope, he is the eldest son. He bullies Hardison at least once per episode (and Hardison fucks him over about as many times too), and is the one who, with Sophie, keeps Nate in check so that he doesn't go overboard. Nate and Eliot have a lot in common and while they are rarely clashing, there is definitely a tension between them.

The Thief: Parker is a (most likely autistic (edit: she is indeed autistic, it's canon)) young woman who loves money and throwing herself off of buildings. She starts off as quirky/weird/off putting until we (and the main gang) start to understand her. She is both the most obvious and the most complex character of the bunch, who unabashedly loves what she does and has a lot of fun with her new partners, all the while having absolutely no idea how to handle interpersonal relationships.

She is the one that grows the most during the show, picking up skills left and right (fighting from Eliot, grifting from Sophie, etc), developing her interpersonal skills and empathy, learning to rely on others and falling in love. Her evolution is just the best and she never gives up her whimsy while developing.

She's the third thief to appear on screen, but she's actually the first one being mentioned! Nate tells his client that "Parker is crazy" before agreeing to take the job. She appears hanging upside down from a rafter, interrupting the boys to ask playfully if she can have an earpiece too, and finally jumping off the building with a joyful yell before Nate can give the go. Then in her introductory flashback, we see her as a young kid, with a terrible family situation, literally blowing up her house after her "father" dared her to become a better thief to get the bunny plushie she wanted. And so you know Parker is the wild card of the team who is actually pretty forthright once you've pinpointed her interests.

In the Found Family Trope, she's the middle child who has... whatever is going on with Hardison and Eliot. While the boys have more obvious family interactions with Nate (the father), Parker mainly has them with Sophie (the mom) who teaches her the most out of everybody. Nate still regularly is there to explain things to her when she's confused, and Eliot teaches her how to bully Hardison (lovingly of course).

The Grifter: Sophie Devereaux is an actress that the gang fetches when their client fucks them over. It's a bit hard to depict her personality like the others because her whole theme is that she has identity issues. As a grifter she has many identities, and she plays them so often that she comes to forget who she even is in the first place. She's a quick witted, caring person who helps tempering Nate and coming up with plans, she's a femme fatale who either seduces or instills fear in her preys, she's the one who puts at ease the clients who come ask the group for help, she's the one who comes up with on the spot solutions when something goes awry and needs an immediate fix, she's the one always at the forefront of the plans keeping the attention on her so the others can do their jobs, etc etc. Sophie is everything and nothing all at once, which makes her a fascinating character that is difficult to explain properly.

She's the last thief to appear on screen, being brought by Nate. She's introduced as a terrible actress, all three thieves being appalled by her prestation on stage while Nate is smiling wildly. Then we get a glimpse of the romantic tension between her and Nate when he asks her for help, and another glimpse at their closeness when the three thieves turn to her when Nate confuses them, only for Sophie to tell them he really hasn't changed. Her introductory flashback focuses on her stealing a painting, being intercepted by Nate, and them both firing at each other. Finally the last part of her introduction comes when she shows off her actual acting talents while grifting the bad guy, startling Hardison who was still worried about her acting skills.

Sophie is introduced with her acting skills and her relationship with Nate instead of her personality or quirks like the other (the only quirk here being that she's a terrible actress on stage but an excellent one when she's grifting), which keeps nailing down her identity crisis.

Since we're on Sophie, I'd like to point out how well the writing team handled the actress being pregnant and needing to stay away from the show for a while. Her reason for being away tapped into her identity crisis, but she still was there to give advices to the others, mainly the "kids". While it was obvious in one episode that they placed the characters and angled the camera to avoid showing she was pregnant, the rest was handled beautifully well.

The show seems very respectful of its actors, to the point it lets them showcase their skills in season 3 like Hardison and Eliot's actors' music prowesses. It also allows them to shine in the filler episodes by having them play other roles, to which they deliver amazing performances (especially Hardison's actor. I'll never shut up about him, he's just perfect).

And yes, that was the time when we still had filler episodes! And they are GREAT! Some of my favorite episodes are filler episodes, like one where the whole gang go over a theft they all accidentally did together years ago, constantly fucking each other over without realising, all from their own perspectives. There are jabs at each other, like Sophie's accent or Eliot being a ladykiller and a terrifying psychopath, but there's also an insane amount of details scattered. One of my favorite being that everybody else saw the head of security carrying a rifle while Eliot was the only one (save Nate) to see it as only a box. It's a minor background detail that the show doesn't even point out, but when I caught it I got super invested in the episode. At first I believed it was because Eliot hates guns and sees them as sticks to beat people up with, but with the last perspective being shown with the "truth", it turned out Eliot was the only one seeing it as a box because it was a box. Eliot would be attuned to the amount of danger the objects around him would pose, and so wouldn't mix up a box for a gun. Once more, it's a background detail but it just ended convincing me that the showrunners care a lot about this show.

Ok I'm officially out of fumes. I think I could go into more if I dove into the actual episodes but I don't want to spoil more than I already did. All in all, great show, handles heavy stuff like addiction and grief and neurodivergency incredibly well without being condescending, scratches a hitch by fucking over powerful people in the most horrendous ways, makes you aware of the kind of scams there are around, etc etc.

It's just one hell of a good show. 10/10 would recommend. I only wish the 5 seasons box set wasn't so expensive, I can't throw that much money in it ToT

ONE LAST THING! If you wanna watch, the seasons are all available on Youtube (US only, get your VPN ready if you're not from there) in the RIGHT ORDER! The first season was aired out of order by the network so you will probably find it in the wrong order online too. It's not much since each episode is mostly contained, but it did make me pause at one point because of consistency issues.

Season 1 link

Season 2 link

Season 3 link

Season 4 link (careful, the Playlist starts with the last episode and finishes with the first. You gotta reverse the order of the Playlist!)

Season 5 link (careful, the Playlist starts with the last episode and finishes with the first. You gotta reverse the order of the Playlist!)

Redemption S1 link (careful, the Playlist starts with the last episode and finishes with the first. You gotta reverse the order of the Playlist!)

You're welcome 😘

[sfthbattleroyale]

Best Luke character, FINAL POLL (307)

Edit cause propaganda:

julian is such a beautiful character and i fully believe he deserves to win.

luke plays him so well, awkward yet bold, young enough to be a sweet, lovable protagonist but old enough to have a meaningful character arc. he loves his parents but is defiant, which is so so excellently portrayed, especially in the kitchen scene, and gives him a sense of realism as a child character. he has depth but also is the main comedic relief throughout, both directly and indirectly. i personally think it’s amazing too how julian isn’t that involved with the phantom aspect of the plot (the most important part, it’s in the title) until the very end when he is held hostage , but is still a very effective protagonist because we get to see him hate and love and learn about the world and himself

he is also one of the few sfth characters that is legitimately a good person, well-meaning and kind, and THIS is his downfall, not some grand reveal of evil intent or mistakes o’ the past (/ref). he holds his own beliefs strong whilst accepting teachings from others, a strength turns out to be his fatal flaw as he allows himself to be influenced by phantom begruvia. this is such a cool change from the normal plot twist. plus it’s a great, if accidental, message about how others can offer help but only you can decide who you are and who you want to become

also also he is by inference trans (just like father andrews is. there’s a post by @mikesflaccidlemonade7 that i can’t link D:) like how much more awesome can you be,,,,,,

don’t get me wrong, jemima stevens is so good too, but quite honestly she didn’t have enough of a character arc to have a place in my heart as much as julian does. that being said i would be almost as happy if she wins, jemima is an incredible show of luke’s acting skills and ability to create wholesome characters despite their moral ambiguity

thanks for reading ^^

[skipper1331]

Secret (4) // Alexia Putellas

a/n: final part:)

| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | extra |

When Alexia arrived at home, she thought about the next day, the next week and the following months.

She was ready to fight for you.

And even if there's no chance of ending up together, at least she would have tried.

She wanted you to be hers.

But she also knew that it would take time for you to trust her again.

The two of you had to start over, getting to know each other like when you joined Barcelona.

She was ready to fight for months, even years if that meant being yours someday.

Shy smiles

Alexia started to send you a shy smile each morning when you entered the locker room, her cheeks turning red most of the time when you caught her staring at you.

It was weird at first as you saw the glint in her eyes - she had a plan in mind - but nonetheless you accepted the small acknowledgment from her. It was a nice way to start the day. And you had to admit, catching her staring at you made your heart flutter.

Greetings and good byes

Growing up with the rule: 'everybody gets greeted and a goodbye' you enjoyed it very much when Alexia started to say 'hola' and 'adios'.

But what you even more appreciated was when she greeted you specifically.

-

Alexia entered the changing room rather late for her standards, most of the girls already getting ready for training.

"good morning" she said to your teammates before walking over to her cubby, passing yours, "hola y/n" she smiled, her cheeks turning red when you looked up at her with wide eyes. You hadn‘t expected that - she talked to you, in a room full of people.

"Hi" you whispered, watching the girl walk away.

Both of you had red cheeks, this simple interaction making your heart race. What was her plan? She hadn‘t approached you properly since the flower incident, was that her way of fighting? What was her way of fighting for you?

-

She surprised you a second time that day when she came to see you in the physio room.

In training, you had fallen awkwardly on your wrist, resulting in some pain which had to be checked. It wasn’t something tragic, but better safe than sorry.

Running through the tests with the physio, you got interrupted by a knock, Alexia appearing in the door frame, "just wanted to say bye" she smiled, the same shy smile appearing on her face which you‘ve had met many times before.

"So, um, bye?"

You chuckled at her nervousness, "bye"

"Sí, bye!" with that she rushed out, closing the door.

And like that the 'hi' and 'bye' continued for awhile.

Talking

"I‘ve finally finished watching the show, it was awesome" Alexia randomly stated as you walked next to each other towards the pitch, "I really liked how it ended"

"Right?! It was a great plot twist" you knew immediately which show she meant - the one you had recommended.

"Sí, sí. it made so much sense"

you fell easily into the conversation, sharing your opinions about the plot, characters and scenes and continued to do so until training started.

Seeing the two of you talk with one another became a regular occurrence, Ingrid, Mapi and Frido keeping an eye on both of you as they suspected something more soon, not knowing there had been already and Alexia was working on getting back together.

friends

Over the next few months, the two of you became friends, best friends if you were completely honest. and even though, both of you loved the other one more than anything was that an important step in your relationship. You had learned to start over again, getting to know each other like the very first time.

But you couldn’t lie, it was hard at times. Sometimes, it took every inch of self control… for both of you.

-

It was a hot day, everybody exhausted after the intense training session. most of the girls dropped on the floor, sitting there for a few minutes to calm down while they drank water. Ale was talking to Mapi and Irene while you stood there, drowning half of the water bottle. Your eyes kept glancing at Alexia, the girls shirt rolled up as she every now and then wiped away the sweat from her face.

That‘s when idea popped up in your head. With a few steps you stood in front of the three Spaniards, shielding Alexia from the sun, "just stay like that" she said, smiling, leaning back on her arms.

"Are you hot?" you asked, a mischief smile on your face.

"Are you not?" she replied, her eyes closed as she appreciated the shade.

"Let‘s cool you down then!" you laughed, pouring your water bottle over her. The midfielder gasped, one hand wiping away the water as the girls laughed, Alexia glaring at you, "you better start running" she growled.

And that‘s what you did. You ran over the pitch, Alexia already running after you before you ran into the facility, not knowing where else to go. La reina caught up to you when you entered the locker room, her arms gripping your waist before she pushed you against the wall.

With fear in your eyes, you looked at her, shyly grinning, "cooled you down, didn’t it?"

"Cheeky as always, hm?" she leaned her body against yours, both of you so close that you could feel her breath fanning against your skin.

"You‘re so beautiful" the girl admired, completely lost in your beauty, as your eyes flickered between hers and her lips.

In that moment, both of you wanted to kiss each other, feeling the blood rush through your veins, stomaches full of butterflies - you didn‘t know you were leaning in until Alexia took a step back, "this wouldn’t be right" she whispered as she wanted to kiss you just as much, "and I want to make things right." you closed your eyes for a brief of a moment, inhaling the scent you loved so dearly and enjoying the proximity until it was gone - she was gone.

date?

At some point, these kind of situations happened more often, almost everyday. Alexia caught herself wanting to and almost calling you 'amor' while you weren‘t driving to your home but in the direction of Alexia‘s house.

It was confusing for the both of you.

You loved each other but somehow it felt like new butterflies discovered the surface. You got to know one another in a different way - in a way that neither of you knew before.

The combination of the new and old butterflies caused a feeling that you never felt before. The old merged with the new and turned out to be strong. very strong.

So strong…

…that you couldn’t go to bed without thinking of Alexia- without imagining your future together.

…that Alexia was now 24/7 in your mind, or maybe even longer.

Per se, it wasn‘t different to the things you felt before but it was definitely more present and more intense. Maybe it was the acknowledgement of you as a person in training, outside of the facility and in general that made everything so special.

Alexia interpreted these situations as a sign. As a sign that now the moment had come - the moment she had been working towards for months. Now was the time to ask you for a second chance. For a date.

-

"Wait a moment" Alexia called after you as you walked to your car.

You stopped in your tracks, turning around, "yes?" you asked.

Alexia was nervous, you could tell by the way she played with the ring on her finger, her eyes darted around or foot tapping the floor rapidly. "Would- I would- um- I thought- maybe- um" taking her hand, you caressed the back of it with your thumb - it felt so natural.

"Breathe in, breath out"

Alexia followed your instructions, squeezing your hand for her own reassurance and sake.

"Thank you"

"Do you want to try again?" you asked, smiling lovingly.

"Sí" she took a deep breath, "do you want to go on a date with me?"

In trance, you pulled your hand away, stepping back, "I’d like to take you out to the restaurant Frido suggested"

"Take out?"

"Yes- wait no! I mean- eating in the restaurant"

"Like an actual date?" you sounded so surprised that it broke Alexia‘s heart at the way your eyes lit up and the way your smile reached the corner of your eyes.

"Yes, an actual date. Outside of our apartments. Only if you want to, of course"

"I‘d love to" Alexia thought your smile couldn’t get any bigger but oh, she was wrong.

With confidence, she stated, "I‘ll pick you up tomorrow at 7. wear the nicest clothes you have" happily, she pressed a peck to your cheek before skipping over to her car.

You said yes!

chance?

"What’s that?" you asked, confused about the item Ale held in her hand.

"It‘s a notebook" she replied, shuffling with her feet as you stood in front of your door, the girl insisting on walking you home after your date, "i, um, haven‘t been romantic before and i-" nervously she scratched the back of her neck, a habit of her when she got anxious, "I want to be romantic." her cheeks covered in a blush. You raised a brow, even more confused - what was going on..?

She pressed a kiss to your cheek instead of answering your questioning look, hurrying away before you could say anything.

Rushing inside, throwing your shoes somewhere, you quickly got comfortable on the couch. As you opened the little notebook you were met with Alexia‘s handwriting.

20th August

Today, I started. I smiled at her - she returned my smile. My heart fluttered at the sight of her, she‘s so gorgeous and her smile is so incredibly breathtaking. It wasn‘t her There-is-a-puppy!-smile (which is one of my favourites) or the bright wide smile that reaches the corner of her eyes (which I absolutely love) - it was much more than that. For me, it felt like a chance.

28th August

I can‘t help but drool at the sight of her. Especially after a won game. She‘s my Barcelona.

12th September

I said hi and bye today. Bye turned out to be a lot harder because she fell in training and hurt herself. It was very hard for me not to approach her then and there, I was so worried. Her nose scrunched up in pain when her wrist was touched or she tried to move - I hate seeing her in pain.

I hope she doesn’t think I’m weird because I disturbed the physio tests, I just wanted to see her (and of course, say adios).

13th September

I love her.

Entries like that filled the book, every step (and achievement) in her plan was documented and sometimes there were just adoration entries - pages about how pretty you are, what she likes about you, what you love, your character and habits described down to the smallest detail and so much more. It was clear to say that she loved you. And that she regretted everything (pages of explanations, apologies and regret showing that very clearly)

Two entries caught you off guard though, you didn’t know if you wanted to laugh or cry.

1st March

Dear diary - I guess it‘s a diary, isn‘t it? Correct me if I’m wrong..

Anyways.

Dear diary, it‘s almost midnight at the moment and Mapi just left. I had invited mama, alba and Mapi for dinner tonight, I had to talk to them about y/n. I should have done that ages ago but better late than never?

I told them about y/n, that we were a couple, that I kept her a secret, offered Alba money to keep her mouth shut - I told them everything. No, I’m not proud about how I treated the love of my life but they needed to know. I had to talk to someone. I have told mama about her before that already, not everything but she knew enough to know that I fucked up badly. Now, all of them know everything (not that we had sex, a lot of that too - just the.. yeah I think you get the point).

I want inner peace and it‘s already hard enough without her in my life, so that was the least I could to do to come in terms with myself, even though I will never forgive myself or won‘t regret it for the rest of my life.

Mama was not happy with me but I didn’t expect something else. She hadn’t raised me to be an ass and is very disappointed in me. I can’t blame her.

Alba was quiet most of the time, i think she is the one who understands most. My sister was the first and only one who knew about y/n. She saw what an idiot I was and how rude I acted towards the girl I love. I offered her money - how pathetic…

She got under my skin while she flirted with y/n and she knew that. She made me purposely jealous. And I deserved to feel that rage because I let y/n slip out of my hands while I knew that she loved me more than anything.

Mapi stayed here the longest, because I told her about my plan on winning my girl back. I want her. I need her. I don‘t deserve her, I truly don‘t but I can’t stop trying, can I? I‘m in love with her, I’ve never felt something so strong for anyone before. It scares me.

Mapi isn‘t proud of my behavior either because she knows what a ray of sunshine and pure soul y/n is but is willing to help when i need her.

…

22nd April (today’s date)

I‘m sorry for everything. There hasn’t been a day where I’m not regretting letting you walk through that door.

I hate myself for being so scared, selfish and rude but I love you. I love you with all my heart and every inch of my body - that hasn‘t changed.

You are probably surprised about the change of perspective who I’m talking to but I know you are clever, you know I’m talking to you, y/n.

Or questioning why I’m even addressing it to you, but i think, you will know me the best when you read all of my thoughts. It’s hard for me to let my walls down, I know you know that, and I want to give you the chance to see all of me to the time you weren’t my girlfriend and understand the reasons of my actions to- well, everything.

Right now, it‘s an hour before our date and I’m so nervous yet so excited. I want to make things right. I don‘t want to hide you, I want to show the world how incredible and gorgeous you are and how in love I am with you because I am. I think about you all day everyday. It might sound crazy but you are the one for me, I’ve Imagined our wedding multiple times, little y/n‘s running around calling for their mama.

I love you, I really do.

And no matter the outcome of this date, I will always love you, even when we don’t end up together. I promise you to love you from afar and forever so. And if you should ever not have a home - mine will be forever yours. I will always let that door open for you..

Happy ending?

Alexia took you out on multiple dates: the beach, mini golf, the cinema, every romantic place she could think of. She didn‘t hide you and the attention you got from her was making you feel special.

You felt free.

You felt happy.

You fell in love with her all over again.

And you enjoyed every second of it.

The romance you always dreamed of became your reality. It was different than before with her. You both were full of life. It felt natural to hold hands as you walked down the streets, share kisses in the rain, or have a hearty argument in the restaurant over who paid for the meal (spoiler: la reina always won) yet things weren’t official. Alexia had the question resting on her tongue, not sure if it was right to ask you. She wanted to, she really did, but in the back of her mind, she always heard a voice "you‘re not good enough. You‘ve fucked up before. She‘ll never give you another chance" however Alexia wasn‘t the same - she wasn’t scared anymore. She was ready to show everybody how in love she was with you. She couldn‘t care less what the media would say about the two of you being together or what other people think about you.

She just wanted you.

So, she fought against the urge to believe the voice in the back of her head. She was stronger than that.

-

Your body was leaned against Alexia, her arms snuggled around you as your legs tangled together, her head resting on your shoulder as you watched some netflix show. The atmosphere was quiet and relaxing, the moment seemed perfect.

"I never want to let you walk through that door again, at least not without me holding your hand" she whispered, her grip tightening around your waist, "I’m forever sorry that I ever did, I promise."

Your heart stopped, everything before hadn’t been brought up since her shy smiles - the start of something new - "if you let me, I will show you every day that you‘re not my secret. That you are my girlfriend"

turning in her hold, you looked at her. Had she fought enough? Did she deserve to be forgiven? Will it be the truth that you won’t be her secret?

She showed you.

"Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, la reina?" you asked, smiling, pushing all the negative thoughts away.

She deserved another chance.

"Sí"

It will be the truth.

"Then ask me"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" her heart stopped beating, her hopes high for a positive responds, her nerves at its highest.

"Yes"

Relief washing over her as she heard the answer.

no secret

The girls knew right away that the two of you were a couple as you walked into the locker room with intertwined hands.

In training, Alexia would stay close to you, preferably touching you (an arm around your shoulder, hand resting on the small of you back, etc) and constantly engaging you in a conversation.

"Finally asked her out, hm?" Ingrid teased Alexia as she stood next to Mapi, Ale‘s hand tightening on your waist. While the Norse‘s comment was meant innocently, the three of you froze - Ingrid still didn't know the whole story.

"Yeah, took me a bit to realize that she’s special" Alexia said, eyes finding yours. Her eyes were questions marks - are you alright? was this okay? In responds, you quickly pecked her cheek.

As you turned back to Ingrid and Mapi, you left Ale’s touch, throwing an arm around your best friend, "What about a double date?" you asked excitedly, knowing the Norwegian woman would agree in an instant.

In the background, you heard Mapi groan, playfully shoving your girlfriend, "I’m blaming you for this" as she listened to Ingrid and you planning where you would go. Nonetheless both Spaniards followed you to the changing room like lost puppies, eyes full of hearts as love glowed around them.

It was save to say, that double dates became a regular occurrence.

-

"Amor? Can we talk about something?" the girl looked up from her dinner plate.

"Don‘t you like it?" you asked, referring to the new recipe you had tried.

"No, it’s delicious" she put down her fork, hand reaching for your free one, "mama invited us for dinner" she said in a gentle voice, "do you want to go? I told her, I want to talk to you about it first before I say yes. In case, you don‘t want to"

"Do you want to go?" you questioned, unsure if she wanted this as much as you did.

"Yes, I’d like you to meet my family officially. As my girlfriend."

This moment showed you that you weren’t her dirty secret anymore - not at all.

"Only if you‘re okay with that, of course" she squeezed your hand, letting you know that you can say 'no' if you weren‘t comfortable "we don‘t need to rush anything" as she wanted to do everything at the pace you set.

You were her first priority.

"Does your mother like wine?" you answered, agreeing to have dinner with her family while you felt the excitement rush through your body.

-

"My family loves you, amor" Alexia said as the two of you were in the car on your way home from dinner. Her hand rested on your thigh as yours rested on top of hers, "you think so?"

"Sí, claro. You‘re perfect" lifting your hand, she pressed a kiss on the back of it before settling back down, your cheeks turning red.

After awhile of comfortable silence, you broke the tranquil atmosphere "You know, we‘ve never talked about the notebook" you whispered. You didn’t know why the words left your mouth but you couldn’t take them back either. In fact, you wanted to talk about it ever since you had read the pages full of information, thoughts and love yet never had the courage to bring it up. There was no reason to do so, Alexia was your girlfriend, you had read about her build up plan on winning you back, all the things she loved about you and the pages of regret and disappointment.

She knew that this day would come eventually - always wondering when. It had been awhile since she had given you the booklet.

"I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I just want you to know that I really appreciated- still do the gesture of getting to know you in a way that I didn‘t know before."

She was very grateful that you didn't want to discuss the topic any further as she was still slightly embarrassed about all the feeling she had exposed in that book. But she also knew that the day would come where the both of you would have a very detailed conversation about every written word in there.

"Maybe one day we‘ll have a home where nobody had walked through that door and where you would never have to leave the door open for me." you whispered, smiling softly before looking out of the window at the night sky.

Alexia knew immediately what you were talking about

'I promise you to love you from afar and forever so. And if you should ever not have a home - mine will be forever yours. I will always let that door open for you..'

and what you were implying.

So, with the moon shining, the stars lighting, she promised that one day a shared home would be reality.

"I‘ll let the lights on instead" she chuckled, remembering the multiple times you‘d walked into something in the dark.

Ps. the internet went crazy when Alexia posted a picture dump of you on your first anniversary (finally confirming the rumours)

[bookcub]

Goose Girl Retellings Rated by Geese (metaphorical geese that is)

because apparently I haven't made one??? spoilers for most of these books but nothing too detailed.

From the princess's perspective:

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

The most classic and straightforward adaptation that changes the least from the structure of the Grimm Brothers' version. This reads in many ways like a fairy tale and has a very whimsical style to it. I really enjoyed how her connection to birds was established when she was a child before she worked as a goose girl. The romance was sweet and I liked that her maid didn't use magic to steal her identity but rather had the guards' loyalty instead.

8 out of 10 geese

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Initially, this was not one of my favorites as I read it near the start of all my goose girls but has actually stuck with me really well and engaged with the older version of the story in such an interesting way, so now is one of my favorites! I liked how identity was handled and the discomfort of living in a body other than your own. I liked how religion was incorporated. It was an important aspect of Thorn's character and not didactic in terms of ideology. I don't love the addition of the sorceress but the tension and relationship between Thorn and the handmaiden was really well done. A little too much going on, but definitely worth reading!

9 out of 10 geese

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith

This adaptation read like a typical (but enjoyable) YA fantasy. There was a lot of romance in this one, which was nice but not very memorable. There was actually both a maid and a handmaiden who impersonated the princess for different reasons, which was cool, but there was very little focus on them. I really enjoyed how the handkerchief was adapted, it was one drop of blood from three different people who would all die before the princess (like her mother and her bodyguard).

6.5 out of 10 geese

Secret Princess by Melanie Cellier

Honestly, pretty standard YA fantasy retelling, nothing special but fun to read. Even less subversive than Bloodleaf. An annoying aspect is how this is part of a larger series so there were a lot of references to characters I didn't know. The maid's plot and reasoning for switching was really well done. I liked the romance enough. It was decent and cute.

5 out of 10 geese

The Noble Servant by Melanie Dickerson

So this is a Christian fiction book, and it was not subtle with the story's morals. It was like being hit over the head with morality. I read the beginning and skipped to the end after like 4 chapters. Unfortunately, the didactic nature of the book made me unable to enjoy any other aspects of the story. I liked the concept of the prince being in disguise as a lower class citizen/servant, but unfortunately, I was unable to appreciate the execution.

0 out of 10 geese

From the maid's perspective

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

My favorite of all the retellings!! As a goose girl retelling, it is also awesome. I love that Vanja is a maid and emphasizes the issues of class and abuse of power. The inciting incident is revealed in a flashback and allows both Vanja and Giselle to be established as how this event has changed them before the reader sees it take place. I like that not only does the protagonist is changed from princess to maid, but the prince is changed to a villain as well. Vanja and Giselle also work really well as foil characters, with distinct character arcs. Vanja's reasoning for taking over is also easily understandable and the magic object that allows her to do so makes sense in allowing her. Also, interesting how many goose girl retellings exist as the first installment of a series, isn't it?

10 out of 10 geese

Identity by Camille Peters

I really enjoyed the idea of this but the execution did not take full advantage of the concept. I love that the princess forces the maid to take her place, making her the villian, although I didn't love the slut shaming the narrative put her through. I wish she had been more present as a character. Would have made the story more interesting. This is definitely more of a romance than the other books, although romance is often present. The magical artifact was not great and used poorly throughout. I thought identity was talked about a lot but ultimately, the maid didn't have to sacrifice her personality as much as she claimed it did. I would have focused on the dynamic between princess and maid more and made it a dual pov but alas. An interesting installment in my little journey, albeit unsatisfactory.

6 out of 10 geese

The Tale of the Handkerchief by Emma Donoghue

From a collection of short stories that are fairy tale adaptations, this story evoked a fairy tale feel. I like the switches without magic because I think it shows the power in privilege and position, and how regular lies can destroy lives. I also liked that the princess didn't want to come back, I liked how tedious the maid's position was as a princess. It was great commentary on class and royalty. A short read but a worthy installement in my journey.

7 out of 10 geese

Other perspectives

Stolen Legacy by Cathleen Townsend

This is a free novella I received for signing up to the author's newsletter and I did not do a wrap up or review of this one so I barely remember this one except Falada told it and I didn't really care for this version. According to the summary, Falada is a kelpie and the princess is a siren. . .It was not great.

2 out of 10 geese

The Goose Girl from Black Thorn, White Rose by Tim Wynne-Jones

The prince tells this story years later, after the events take place and he really cared about the maid. I believe it was implied or outright stated that the princess was attracted to women and the change between maid and princess was not forced. Interesting from a new perspective.

5 out of 10 geese

Falada: The Goose Girl's Horse from A Wolf at the Door by Nancy Farmer

Falada is the narrator and he is a fae horse who needs to complete a task in the human world to go back to the fae world. The maid is actually a fae who steals the princess' identity to help build her confidence. It was pretty short, interesting concept but not much happened.

4 out of 10 geese

The Grimrose Girls by Lauren Pohl

SPOILERS AHEAD but I actually hated this book, BUT I really liked how the goose girl was involved. The villain of the whole story (which was a boarding school of fairy tale characters) was the maid from the goose girl, except she was a modern day version AND she killed the "princess" to take over her life which is a great dark twist on an already dark story. Despite hating this book, I was very impressed with how the goose girl story was used in the story. It was the only good aspect of a very disappointing book.

2 out of 10 geese

Imposters

I was told these books were goose girl adaptations. I was lied to.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

This was well written, enjoyable, and only Goose Girl in the aesthetics. As a book, I had a great time with it, great emotional turmoil and a light horror in this fairy tale inspired fantasy. However, as a Goose Girl retelling, there was no identity swap. And with no identity swap, unfortunately, this does not qualify as a Goose Girl retelling for me. There may be a horse named Falada and geese, which are always fun, and while there is an attempt to change social classes (the most Goose Girl aspect of this story), the fact that this is marketed as a retelling, is absolutely wrong.

3 out of 10 geese

Dearest by Althea Kontis

I was told this was Goose Girl. After reading a few chapters, this was proven to be more of a Six Swans retelling. I did not read it after this realization as it was super boring.

0 out of 10 geese

Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl

Same as Dearest, except the prose was actively awful.

0 out of 10 geese

The Goose Girl from Other Ever After by Melanie Gillman

Maybe this is because it was a short story, but I didn’t mind that this was called Goose Girl but was not anything like the story structure I expected. It was also in a anthology of other queer fairy tales, so my expectations of being a loyal adaptation were low. I liked that this was queer, I liked the comic format, I liked that the characters were portayed having dark skin. I loved the commentary on social class, a key question at the center of a good goose girl in my opinion. One of my two favorite short stories, despite being an In Name Only adaptation.

7 out of 10 geese

[thatshadowcomic]

Here's the realest take on SonAmy you'll read:

Spoilers, Im not against it, despite being sonadow shipper:

The reason most people (or maybe just me) don't like Sonic X Amy is because it's not often done in a believable way or it's the "boy shifts their morals/goals/personality after finding the girl" which of course ends with one of them having no character at all, until it's convenient for the plot.

All fandoms tend to hate love interests because they often halt the plot and story for the sake a overdone cliches rather than working with their blooming interest, because they can't admit they need a second writer/team to help.

I could see Sonic not really knowing what to do if Amy shows interest in him, oblivious but cute-- If they can make it feel genuine that's great! But damn, I really pray we don't get this:

"oh no, he likes her, now it's just you and me knuckles. Let's either fight the badguy by ourselves and lose or we should try to stop their affections. Or, 3rd choice, sonic is too busy with any to help us and we don't talk about it because we don't want to get in the way and so we get angry and he doesn't seem to notice.

Either way it will cause a rift in our friendship until Amy somehow fixes it by being cool, and then we will like her after that and all be friends."

In defense of the Movie and my guesses:

Sonic has never been very romantic and that's what Amy seems to crave the most so it always feels like one of them has to change dramatically to fit the cute couple narrative in the fandom... BUT the movie sonic isnt the same as the game/sonic x sonic. No one is.

I think Sonic and Shadow would be able to grow from each other more, related deeper, but they could easily make them like brothers and I'd be okay with that. I'm not against Sonic X Amy.

Given how they introduced her, I could see Sonic being impress by how seemingly badass she is to him, and that starts it. Sonic definitely seems like he'd be the type to be in denial that he likes her.

My guesses:

He might honestly go on an adventure in time without anyone, ending with shadow needing to save the day with Sonic's friends. That would be awesome tbh. If Amy comes back with them, they might even have a mini series with some father son moments about dates or something.

I hope at some point we get a Chaos or Iblis trigger type situation, maybe in the post credit. Given they're doing sonic CD/time stuff, I'ts easy for them to bring in silver (or maybe rouge and GUN steal the emeralds in order to "keep them safe" only for it to fall apart. Hell, maybe Rockwell teams up with Stone or just turns GUN into another version of Robotnik land. Without sonic to protect everyone, we see what happens in the future.

I think it would be funny as hell if they made everyone mad and she fell for shadow instead hahahahah

[derww]

the thing that bugged me the most after watching the wormhole video is actually that we never got the proper ending for the main plot line that was in it: parrot and spoke's personal relationship.

even though spoke showed that conversation from the end of wormhole, where parrot stood in front of spoke, clutching the handle of the hyperion, and said that he refuses to let people down even if it means he has to sacrifice something very important to him, this does not answer the question hanging in the air. from the point of view of the narrator, after losing op, parrot seems to lose his autonomy, both as an antagonist and, more importantly, as spoke's best friend, after spoke himself talked almost exclusively about their friendship for an hour, both as characters and, first of all, as real people.

"i didnt just exploit a game, i exploited a friendship i had built over the years.". speaking about both parrot and mapicc, spoke mentions several separate times how much it went beyond just playing on the server, that he abused their real, actual relationship in order to achieve his goal. at the same time, spoke does not tell what happened between them – both characters and people – after him receiving an op. in the jungle part, parrot literally has almost no lines – he just stares and stares and stares and stares. until the very end of the story, he follows the path that spoke paved for him, living in the conditions created by spoke.

we see only glimpses that everything is actually – at least relatively – fine. not only because parrot continues to play within the game, but also how he complains to spoke about the unfairness of using teleportation and that after the season ending he even suggests for spoke to become the new lifesteal owner. grains that do not reflect full image. was parrot horrified and shocked, was he angry, at least for a moment, when he realized how far spoke's manipulation extended, did they have to somehow solve and discuss it, or was he immediately like, "wow, you made a lot of awesome moves, there will be cool content!" and everything was fine? sure, parrot loves risk moves and adrenalin, but wasnt it too far?

can it even be "okay" if your best friend has been manipulating you for months for a personal goal? does this cross the line of what is truly acceptable, even in a lifesteal setting? even if it's all for the sake of shared content, even if the community has the right mentality, even if no real harm has been done, even if you're willing to trust a friend that he won't cross the line, does all this change the fact that it's, in general morality, just plain cruel?

although this is undoubtedly too personal to just insert into the video, it should be noted when the whole story is about abusing irl friendship. although i absolutely understand this decision, this is by no means a critical review, from the point of view of storytelling it is strikingly incorrect, as if in the middle of writing a book the writer threw out all rules.

of course, this is an important conversation to be had on the whole – with the rules never mentioned out loud, with an unspoken agreement that everyone understands what's going on here and how, and what everyone is signing up for, when the price is friendship and connection, how far is it too far? lsers are friends, to a greater or lesser extent, but it's almost inappropriate to answer "everyone has their limits" when a relationship is at stake. everyone, including spoke himself, agrees that what he did in s4 was too much, but there were many, many other moments where everything was not so clear, and, moreover, there was no discussion, even in private, which never solves the essence of the problem.

lifesteal is not unique, but it is a very rare system in how far people can be willing to go in a war against others, despite the fact that everyone is friends: most of the pre–lifesteal stories of this approach took place on public servers and against strangers, and friends' servers either remained frivolous to one degree or another, or were scripted. post-lifesteal, many servers of a similar kind have appeared, but only a small part of them are comparable in terms of the proximity of the players and the rigidity of the approach, because it is incredibly difficult to simultaneously allow yourself to get involved as deeply as possible and, at the same time, having received a knife in the back, not want to bury the traitor underground. It's about trust, and it's about content, and it's so strikingly different for different people, and there's obviously no right answer here.

when playing league of legends, one of the important skills that every player needs to develop is not to tilt. at the same time, take the game seriously, but be ready to let go of defeat, no matter how much effort you put into the game. don't go crazy when you lose a line and die ten times, and jungler yells at you as the worst possible being. it took me a few years to stop tilting, and it carried over to minecraft too – where my friends got upset, angry, and gave up, i learned to just shrug my shoulders and try again. but that didn't teach me how to deal with betrayal, even in-game, because the worst thing about betrayal is that it always comes from someone close to you. not from an accidental co-player in a match, and not as a simple accident, but as an intention to harm, even if only in the game. it is a lot to take, and the cost is too high. and, while parrot and spoke are still good friends, parrot left owner role because of the distress it gave him, so doesn't it show the presence of a real impact.

i like that we got only half-truth tho. because it is who spoke is. when he needs you to believe him, he says something actually truthful, and then – his lie and manipulation, and you eat it because believe everything to be true. even now, spoke continues to metagame. he's fine with showing that he was a dick, and he's using that to cover a part he never wants to explain. and he wouldn't.

spoke tells the truth saying he liked to do the impossible, but it is not a full answer. while s4 ending was supposed to be a relief for him, an opportunity to stop lying and being a villain, there remains something else – not only the showdown, but the guilt, the realization that you were so wrong that you hide huge chunks and you refuse to get them for another year and a half. when everything ends, when there is nowhere else to run, reflection and awareness remain. a year and a half later, from the season 6, spoke can end the video on a positive note, but for that long-time spoke, who had just released the god from his body, covered with lightning scars everywhere, absolutely not feeling like a winner, it was a bad end, and perhaps for his character, it couldn't be good.

how old was spokeishere when he did all this, 16? there is an irony that he is the worldender, the trickster, the manipulator, and he's the youngest of them all. sometimes i want to call him dumb for not being careful enough or anything else but then i do remember how he played everyone in s4. not in a big picture, but in smalltalks, toying people while they thought him to be completely harmless. spokeishere being smart is like lifesteal having its unspoken rules – you need to be too attentive to see it. often it is like a... circles on the water. you can't see a fallen pebble, but you can see the waves radiating from it. and, in the end, he is the one who did it, who succeeded, and who am i to judge him?

minecraft roleplay can do something very wrong with you, how any acting sometimes can break you apart and turn inside out. because while you are letting yourself feel like it's real, it is, at some capacity, can be real. and while it is a known factor of being an actor, it's not something you do think about when you go to play a game with your friends. sometimes it changes something very, very important in you, and sometimes you look back on that experience and realize that it hurt you. or not. everyone has their unique experiences, as always.

also, we finally found out the reason the fishing spot was so important. not only a place of friendship but also a place of the exploiting! yay!

[friendship-test]

Scrapped/early concepts for friendship test:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[annymation]

Reimagining the characters in Wish

(Part 1- Asha)

Hey guys! I don’t really know how to start this, but let’s just say that I… Didn’t like how Disney’s 100th anniversary movie turned out, like at all.

But I can tell there was a lot of unexplored potential beneath this story, that in my opinion felt overly simple and bare bones.

But if you love it, that’s awesome, more power to you, I wish I could’ve loved it too. And I don’t want to rewrite it to show I’m “better than the writers at Disney” because I’m definitely not lol, I have no experience in writing, and I’m sure they put a lot of passion into the project and I respect them for that. But this movie inspired me with ideas for a different story that I think is worth telling.

But I won’t start telling it today, instead, I'll start a series of blogs sharing my ideas for changes in the characters and their stories, after I get some feedback I will start posting more of the story itself.

If you’re interested, then come along!

Asha✨

Personality

- Asha is a 18 year old girl, with a passion for drawing and helping those around her, sometimes even worrying more about helping others than helping herself

- She’s like a big sister to her 7 friends, always being the voice of reason and acting responsible, but not in a bossy way, she’s actually very playful with them

- To the people of Rosas tho, she's seen as kind of a weirdo, for you see, she spends almost every time of the day drawing in her sketchbook

- She practices everyday to become a better artist, and the people of Rosas find this to be very peculiar, after all, why would you take so much effort to perfect a talent when you can simply wait to turn 18 and wish for the king to make you an amazing artist?

- Asha doesn’t mind these comments, although they have made her less willing to share her drawings with others that aren’t her 7 friends

- As the story progresses we see Asha flourish from a shy and introverted girl to a brave woman who after discovering a terrifying secret about the kingdom’s rulers, steps in and inspires others to join her and fight an evil sorcerer king and his alchemist wife (yes, I made Amaya an alchemist, more on that on part 2 when I talk about how I’d change Magnifico and Amaya)

- Some Disney characters that share similarities with her personality wise are: Belle, Tiana, Pocahontas and Esmeralda

Main Traits:

Calm and mature

Determined

Passionate about her interests (drawing, dancing, philosophy and stars)

Helpful and generous

Perceptive and always questioning things around her that no one pays attention to (like why do all the artists only paint the King and Queen?)

Playful

Compassionate

Backstory

Oooh boy I gave this poor girl so much angst, okay let’s go

Asha grew up with her grandfather, her parents both died in a fire when she was just a baby

(this isn’t just to fit the “haha Disney princess has no parents” cliche, there’s plot relevance in this “mysterious fire” that I’ll talk about later)

Growing up with her grandpa, he’d always support her dream to be an artist, like her mother, who was an art teacher

Her mother not only drew really well, but she also was able to create the illusion that her drawings could move, by flipping through the pages of her sketch books

In other words, her mom was an animator

Asha saw this technic her mom used as a form of magic, so she would often tell her grandpa she wanted to “Do magic just like my mom”

Her father was a philosopher (this was established in the actual movie but never explored haha whyyyy), who taught people that working hard to achieve your dreams is not only rewarding, but also essential, because it’s part of the human nature to persevere and fight for what we believe, even if we fail, even if it’s hard, just keep moving forward.

This philosophy may sound very “umm duh” for me and you since we all know and hear everywhere nothing in life comes for free… But that’s not the case in Rosas

In this rewrite the kingdom wasn’t created by Magnifico, but rather the kingdom has existed for many generations, being ruled by different kings before Magnifico who also granted wishes… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The point is that the culture of just asking the king to give you or make you whatever you want to be has been in this kingdom’s culture since forever, so when Asha’s dad comes out saying “hey! Maybe we should stop just relying on the king to make our dreams come true, right?” He’s actually being quite a revolutionary… and sharing a very dangerous belief to other people…

At this point you might suspect what caused that “mysterious fire”

So, back to Asha, growing up with her grandpa, they shared a lot of happy memories together. Reading her father's books and her mother's art books helped Asha connect with them even tho she never had them in her life.

But as her grandfather grew older, he became senile.

Asha went from being taken care of by her grandpa to being the one who took care of him when she was still around 13 years old, and when she turned 15 her grandfather passed away of old age

Asha went on to live with her best friend Dahlia, the two became like sisters.

Though she managed to move on from the loss of her grandfather, she could never shake the feeling that he died without getting his wish granted... But she had no way to prove that, it was just a feeling

The wish granting system works different in my rewrite, instead of there being a public wish granting ceremony once a month, there would only be a public wish TAKING ceremony, that would work just like in the movie, you turn 18, you go give your wish to the king yada yada yada.

But the wish granting part would work like this: Almost every night the king would release the wishes up in the sky, they would float down like balloons to their respective owners while they sleep, and once they woke up in the morning they'd feel that their wishes were granted, for they would wake up changed.

With this method, there's no way of confirming if someone really got their wish granted or not, unless you went to ask the king.

Asha never did ask the king if he granted her grandfather's wish, but her grandfather would sometimes express how he wasn't feeling completely fulfilled in his life, he felt like there was something... missing.

This feeling of hollowness persisted in him until the very end, no matter how hard Asha tried to help her grandfather, she never knew him as his real self, because he gave part of his soul to the king, the most beautiful part of his soul, his wish.

Asha had no proof that her grandfather didn't get his wish granted, only a gut feeling.

But because of this, Asha wasn't that thrilled to give her own wish to king magnifico, knowing there was the possibility of it never being granted.

Not to mention she didn’t even know what to wish for, “I’m just 18 and you guys expect me to already know what’s my heart’s deepest desire? I’m still figuring that out, all I know is that I wanna draw”

Plus she wanted to follow her father's philosophy and achieve her wish on her own, eventually, when she figured out what her wish even was.

Asha never rebelled against the system tho, she wasn't a confrontational person. She just accepted the people of Rosas preferred to rely on the king's magic, but that just wasn't for her.

However, on her 18 birthday, when it was expected of her to give her wish to the king, she simply said she didn't have a wish, and even if she did she wouldn’t want to hand it over, she wanted to make it come true on her own. This lead to an argument with the king, and after a series of events (that I don't have time to summarize here, but you can find out about it on my rewrite) leads to her finding out a terrible truth about her kingdom. And that's how her story begins.

Design

- I’d keep these braid ornaments that Asha had in the concept art

- Since in my rewrite she’s not that invested in the kingdom of Rosas, I’d remove all the Kingdom of Rosas symbols that are present in her design (there are a LOT of them)

- I’d replace these Rosas insignia with more star and constellations themed symbols, to reflect how Asha believes that the stars are connected to people and they can guide us, just like how her father believed.

Final Thoughts

My intentions with these changes were to give Asha a strong emotional hook, and something that makes her feel relatable.

The emotional hook here is how she spent so much of her life taking care of her grandfather that she kinda never had time to worry about her own desires, that alone can be relatable to caregivers of elderly people that watch their grandparents or even their own parents lose themselves as time passes, and end up worrying more about the person they’re taking care of than themselves.

Asha has this internal emotional conflict where she feels she needs to constantly help others the same way she helped her grandfather, and one of the things she’ll learn as the story progresses is that it’s not selfish of her to want more for HERSELF.

Another thing that would be relatable about Asha is her passion for drawing, and how most people in Rosas would say she’s wasting her time practicing so much when she can just wait until she turns 18 and wish to be amazing at drawing.

She’d never stop believing that taking her time to improve on her talent and trying again and again was worth every second of her time, because let me tell ya folks, drawing is HARD, and animating like Asha’s mom did is even HARDER, it takes a whole lot of practice, and Asha was determined to keep trying.

She’d be much like Belle, remaining true to herself even tho those around her considered her odd, and very passionate about drawing just as much Belle was passionate about reading.

I also find it funny how Asha’s motivations are fairly down to earth, like in Disney movies you usually have:

I want to be free from these palace walls!

I want to explore the ocean!

I want to open a restaurant!

I want to find true love!

And then there’s Asha here like

“My life is fine, I just wanna chill and draw stuff”

And that’s it, but, in her environment where everyone is expected to have this great wish that they have to give to the king so he’ll make it a reality, she’s kinda the odd one out, and I love that. Would be a great subversion of the Disney formula.

Of course after she learns Magnifico and Amaya’s true intentions she gets a lot more agency and the desire to save her people, her “call for adventure” if you will.

But what are Magnifico and Amaya’s true intentions? Click here for part 2 and find out!

Thank You For Reading!

[emero0]

Someones said this already- surely- but i cant stop thinking about ruis whole “thank you for giving me a chance to change” mentality

Because its super sweet and all but i dont think either him or tsukasa have realized how much tsukasa has changed because of rui

Like- read main story or even early game tsukasa and then read the most recent (eng or jp)

HES CHANGED SO MUCH and its all because rui humbled him- told him that he’d never be a star—because at that rate, he really wouldnt have—in a moment of pain and hurt because tsukasa was being a bitch towards nene, and also possibly because this great opportunity rui wanted to have was turning out to be a lie

Until tsukasa changed

Realized his behavior and worked to better himself, and (lets be honest) practically begs this guy hes known for maybe 2 months (idk how long the main story takes place) to come back and make shows with him because??? Because tsukasa thinks hes just that good of a director? Or maybe its because ruis the one who made him realize his true dream again and what being a “future star” really means

Not to say rui hasnt changed either, him and mizuki talk a bit about it in ena5 and he mentions it a lot,

I think the wonder halloween event might be the best example

Cus the reason i thought of this post is because i was reading tsukasa side story from that event and MAN is he cocky- like annoyingly so- idk why he was (and still is) my favorite /j

But anyway- i remembered just now that the whole plot of that event is rui learning not to hold himself back, which is a big part of his character development imo

On the other hand, ruis impact on tsukasa is less direct

Like i said its because rui first got him to realize his “true feelings” (as the game calls it), but after that its really all on tsukasa—well not quite-

See- a big part of Tsukasa’s character development is his constant realization of- i guess “his place in the world”

For me personally the phoenix edge event is a good example of him acknowledging it- but i realize it actually started way sooner

In the pop in my heart event- he realized that his acting is so far behind these american (or atleast english speaking) actors who can convey feelings through language barriers

Its his “humbling” arc if you will, he realizes just how far he needs to go, and its not that he’s not confident anymore, but that hes more aware of where his talents lie and isnt overconfident

And this is all stuff he learned more on his own- however: rui still helped propel this growth

He realized in the torpe event (on the stage of dazzling lights i believe-) that he had been holding tsukasa back by typecasting him, and decides to give him more diverse roles as well as let wxs do the play torpe in the first place (because as director, it was his final decision)

But after that—and this applies to all of wxs, but mostly nene+tsukasa—he goes and tries to figure out how to keep wxs together while still giving them the chance to grow as actors and not be confined to a stage

And he succeeds, and off wxs goes to improve!

They (and every character in game i feel) have changed and grown so much and its so awesome to see it happen—and its neat how much theyve influenced each other’s change through it all

So yeah— ruikasa(/p or /r idc) have helped each other grow so much and i hate them with a fiery passion /j

[inlovewithquestionablecharacters]

Heyyyyy,

I love your writings! The wording, the plot, the way the characters act is simply amazing and so realistic. Anyways,I was wondering if could please write a Hannibal x reader one-shot, where the reader is one of Will‘s FBI students and actually managed to catch a killer (even though she wasn‘t allowed), confronted him and arrested him. Even thiugh she didn‘t follow her orders, she got promoted and now works in the field, but needs to see Dr.Lecter every week. They start out as friends, but after seeing her interact with Will, Hannibal get‘s jealous and knows he caught feelings( is in denial at first).Maybe it get‘s steamy/ends with smut.

Have an awesome day and thank you for considering

Hannibal X Reader: The thrill

Warnings: smut, penetration ( p in v), unprotected sex, rough sex, kissing, jealousy, no use of y/n, female reader, not proofread.

Word count: 2K

Jacks yelling at you but the sound is muffled. A grin is plastered on your face as you watch your colleagues guide the killer into a police car. You weren’t supposed to be here but if you hadn't been there would have been a lot more killings. You know Jack knows that too but right now he's too busy telling you off for not “following the rules” to thank you. He’ll come to his senses soon enough. For now you’ll just continue to ignore his shrill shrieks.

You didn’t know what you expected to happen once you caught this killer. You supposed they’d give you another case and things would go on as they were. But that's not exactly how it went down. Instead Jack called you into his office and told you you were going to be promoted. You couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off your face as Jack spoke. That is until he got to the catch that came with your promotion.

“You’re gonna need to go to therapy.”

“What? Why?”

“Doesn’t matter why. You have to go every week or you have no promotion. That's the deal.”

It didn���t seem like a bad deal but it made you a bit uneasy. You couldn’t help but think that the FBI didn’t think you were mentally capable of handling the things you would see. But you knew better than to try and talk Jack out of it. You were lucky he hadn't fired you. So you’d do what he asked you to even if you didn’t want to.

“I’m only here because Jack gave me no other choice.”

Hannibal looked at you, a slight surprise present on his face. He’d barely managed to get you inside the room before you’d made it clear your lack of desire to be here.

“There's nothing wrong with me.”

“Well therapy isn’t only for people who have issues. Talking to someone might help you discover new things about yourself.”

You turned to face him, eyes scanning over his clothes for a moment. You moved over to your chair, taking a seat.

“So you’re here to what? Reveal my darkest secrets?”

Hannibal smiled at you.

“Not exactly. But yes something along those lines.”

“Not sure I have anything interesting to tell you.”

“I’m sure that will change soon enough.”

It was unnerving how right Hannibal had been. As soon as you got started working on the field odd things started happening in your life. You’d seen gruesome murders before but this was on a whole nother level. The killers you were dealing with acted like artists, only instead of using paints and brushes they used humans. 

And dead ones at that. 

Hannibal adored your sessions with him. He loved seeing you talk about the cases you were working on, your arms moving as you spoke about a particularly interesting detail of the killer's MO. He found himself watching your lips as you talked. Whenever you would ask him to help you with a case he couldn’t help but inch his body closer to yours as the two of you glanced at pictures. He’d worked with Will on various cases before but the way you talked about the killers was very different from Will. While Will could insert himself into the killer's mind you could only figure things out through what your own eyes could see. It made the process of understanding the killer a lot harder but it also meant Hannibal could see your mind at work. 

One day Hannibal was called to help Will on a case. When he got there he was surprised to find you.  You were standing next to Will, your arm resting on his shoulder as the two of you spoke. The sight itself angered Hannibal.  The sudden range that filled him was surprising. For a moment he didn't understand where it had come from. It was only when he saw you smile at Will that he realized why he'd suddenly found himself unable to unclench his fists. 

He was falling for you and that terrified him.

For the next sessions with you Hannibal couldn't help the way his face shifted into a snarl whenever you spoke of Will. He tried to remind himself that you were not his and that you had never been. But something in his mind desperately tried to convince him that his feelings for you were not real.  He couldn't bear the thought of seeing you with anyone other than himself and he knew that was a very toxic way to think.  You never made it clear that you liked him but then again you've never shown a lack of interest in him.  Whenever he spoke you always maintained eye contact, your gaze showing a deep interest in his words.  But that didn't mean anything and he knew it. 

On one particular night Hannibal found himself unable to resist questioning you about Will. Or more importantly about your relationship with  Will.  You were in the middle of explaining how you'd  found the killer in your last case when Hannibal abruptly interrupted you.

 “Have you been working a lot with Will Graham?

“Sorry?”

“I asked if you worked a lot with Will Graham.”

“No more than you have. Why do you ask?”

“You two seem close.”

“ Well he was my teacher, so yeah, you could say we’re close.”

You moved over to Hannibal's desk, looking over his drawings. Hannibal stayed silent as he watched you.

“He talks about you a lot.”

Hannibal's body moved forward in interest.

“Does he?”

“Yeah. It's funny actually he talks about you like you’re…”

“Like I'm what?”

Hannibal's voice was close to you, far too close for him to still be seated on the other side of the room. You turned around slowly, head raising to look into Hannibal's eyes. Your mouth went dry all of a sudden. 

“Dangerous.”

When Will told you about Hannibal he always seemed a bit on edge. You thought that was ridiculous. Hannibal had never shown anything other than a professional interest towards you. And you doubted that the man before you was capable of anything remotely bad. He looked like the type of guy who got annoyed when he stained one of his suits with wine. But the way Hannibal was looking at you now was drastically different from what you were used to. His eyes looked beady, like a sharks. And there was an odd shadow over half of his face. He looked like a mad man.

“Dangerous huh? And do you agree with him?”

“I’m not so sure anymore.”

Hannibal knew he had to stop. He was frightening you. It was clear from the way your body went rigid. He turned his head to the side observing you for a moment. He could see your chest rising and falling as he continued to stare at you. Perhaps you should have ran. Run out into the streets and into your car. You should call Will and tell him what had happened but you couldn’t seem to move. Or maybe you just didn’t want to. 

You had always been attracted to danger. It was what had made you choose to work in the FBI. The rush of adrenaline you got whenever you were working on a case was addicting. You could feel it moving through your body now and the only thing you wanted to do was chase that high. So you didn’t move. You stayed put in your spot waiting for Hannibal to do something. Hannibal watched your shoulders relax a bit, your eyes moving to glance from his eyes to his lips. You moved forward a bit, your hands going to rest on Hannibal's chest.

“Are you jealous? Is that it?”

Hannibal remained silent, but you caught the way his hands twitched at his side. You smiled to yourself.

“You mad Will gets to touch me and you can’t?”

A brief snarl appeared on Hannibal's face and you couldn’t help but laugh. You inched yourself closer to his face, until your lips were ghosting against his. 

“It’s okay. You can touch me if you want.”

Hesitantly Hannibal placed his hands on your hips. 

“See that wasn’t so-huff”

Hannibal's lips crashed into yours. Your body moved backwards into the desk, hands moving to grip the edge to steady yourself. Hannibal's lips continued to move against yours in a desperate pace. He’d longed to kiss you for so long he wasn't about to waste anytime. You moved to wrap your legs around his waist, allowing him to tug you closer into his body. You could feel the outline of his dick against you, the feeling making you wet. Your nails clawed into Hannibal's shoulder as he roughly sucked at your lip. You pulled away from him, panting as you did. Hannibal stared at you, his eyes blown wide with lust. 

“We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Okay.”

Hannibal placed you down, his hands moving to tug as your pants. You let him pull them off your body, throwing them somewhere behind him. Your own hands moved to unbutton his pants. Hannibal hissed as you pulled his boxers down allowing his dick to spring free. Your hands wrapped around his member, stroking it for a moment. Hannibal closed his eyes, trying to focus on the feeling of your hand around him. He moved his hand against your thigh. You gasped at how cold his hand felt against your skin. You tugged him into a rough kiss. Hannibal tugged your underwear to the side, guiding his dick to your pussy. You widen your stance allowing him to enter you. You moaned against his mouth as he slowed into you. Once he bottomed out Hannibal moved to grip your thigh, dragging your legs up. You wrapped your legs around him once more, allowing him to guide you towards the staircase. He placed you down on one of the steps, causing your ass to come in contact with the wood beneath. 

“You alright?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have to be quick we-”

“Will you just shut up and fuck me already?”

Hannibal smiled at your eagerness. He placed his hands on your hips allowing him to shift your body around. Once he had a good grip he began pushing in and out of you. Your hand moved to grip the staircase behind you. Hannibal started off slow but as your moans grew his movements became quicker. He hoped no one was in the waiting room at the moment. With the way you were gasping for him there was no mistaking what was happening in his office. You didn;t seem to care about getting caught though. Or perhaps you did but just couldn’t seem to stay quiet. Hannibal's ego grew a bit at the thought. 

Your body moved against the staircase as Hannibal continued to ram into you. You were sure you’d have splinters in some part of your body but you didn’t really care. Hannibal grunted against you, his eyes closing as his pace faltered. He was getting close to his orgasm and you were right behind him. Your jaw went slack as your orgasm washed over you. Hannibal felt you gush against his dick, the feeling causing him to spiral into his own orgasm. The two of you stayed still for a moment, trying to recover. The sound of Hannibal's cloak filled the room, the ringing telling both of you that your session had ended. 

Hannibal pulled out of you with a hiss. He tugged his dick back into his pants, before turning to grab yours off the ground. You climbed off the staircase, legs shaking a bit as you did. Hannibal handed you your pants and you began to tug them on. You watched Hannibal straighten his tie and comb back his hair before making his way back to you. He gave you a smile, placing a kiss on your lips. The two of you made your way to the door. Hannibal opened it, allowing you to step out of his office. 

"Maybe you could come over for dinner some day."

"Yeah that sounds nice."

“I'll call you later?”

"Okay."

You move forward placing a sweet kiss to Hannibal's lips. He grins as he watches you make your way out.  When he sees you're gone he turns around, making his way to the door on the opposite side of the room. He openes it up, eyes falling on the back of someone's head.

“Will?”

Will turns to face Hannibal, his eyes falling on the swollen lip of the doctor. Hannibal can’t help the sudden joy that enters his body. If only Will knew what had happened in this very room moments prior.

[karoochui]

What im hearing is:

Little crow feet outside my window bcs im feeding them- that’s besides the point!

Is there magic??? His shovel looks magic and they look magic

And do give me every detail you are thinking of for the series even if its in the distant future or not that relevant but you want to share

Crows!! Cute!! Also sorry i didnt get to this sooner my laptop BROKE (still broken but usable) and my mom and i have been looking for someone to fix it. Ive been drawing with it sparingly to be careful.

YES there is magic. Of course im still working on this storywise but im getting characters designs n whatnot done right now. Dynamics n stuff. BUT i do have some refs i made before my laptop broke.

I like to draw out certain stuff so that it helps with descriptions in the future; i have the worst memory so it helps to be able to do so. (More beneath cut)

Im so excited for moon's shadow form. Oh my god. Its probably my favorite thing right now.

Fun thing about it is that in this form he can touch you but you cant touch him. Something something you can be cast in shadow but you cant take it off yk? He's still light sensitive like this though, so if the area hes in isn't dark enough or he's hit with anything too bright he just reverts back. At that point he'd just have to rely on normal hand to hand stuff and his sand lol. The shadow form is just better for sneaking and speed. Really, he's some amalgamative idea of the sandman and boogieman. I thought it fit well with his whole "naptime attendant gone wrong" thing.

Sun's design, however, is more like if you mixed a cowboy, wizard, and gravedigger together. I made it a while ago on a whim with no intention behind it but then i ended up thinking "ykw would be so awesome".

The hat dips to cover the crescent side of his face (not intentional on his part) to symbolize his resentment towards moon and how he basically damned him to an hourglass. His eyes are easier to see bc of this which could seem more trusting (eyes are the window to the soul or whatever), but the thing is thats not normal for him (as we know) so it's meant to make him look suspicious and looming to 4th wall viewers. There's also the fact that i just thought it was cool too.

He also doesn't get a second form. Moon's sneaky and weird so i thought it would fit to give him some freaky thing iykwim. Sun, however, is a pretty "in your face" kinda guy, so his look and fight style is more extravagant and boisterous. Lots of swinging amd yelling and boom bang zap! Despite the showiness he's actually a longer range fighter. Mainly because unlike moon, thousands of years ago, he wasn't often one to get violent with his hands. His weapon is just obnoxiously large too though.

They are still one animatronic and their transformation is still triggered by light. Instead of an AI chip though (which is still in there but long dead), they live through the work of a soul. They're still physically inorganic but as far as spiritually they're as close as they're gonna get to being human. Their life and functionailty is derived from the magic itself, not the machinery. Like if for some reason they lost all their magic they'd just drop dead from a battery life long since drained.

The hourglass has a carousel-like design to it purely as reference to moon's level in Help Wanted 2.

Sorry for rambling so much but this is what i've got for you so far! I have a general idea for the plot but im tryna to make it more than what it is rn, so i dont wanna share too much of that just yet in case i change or completely toss away an idea.

[eelclaw]

okay new arc... my thoughts.

leafstar:

leafstar was one of my favorite characters as a kid, but not because of anything she actually did. i liked her graphic novels, but only mostly because i was delighted by sol being a pathetic girlfailure.

also my copy of skyclan's destiny was misprinted and had pages out of order, and i loved having a fucked up book.

i liked her in firestar's quest, but... she's done nothing in every book since.

sharpclaw pushes her around in skyclan's destiny, then tells her he was just challenging her to make her a more confident leader. nothing comes out of this.

she's worried about female leaders not being allowed to have kits and about inviting daylight warriors into the clan, and it would've been great to just skip these plotlines entirely. skyclan had a chance to be a different kind of clan, a breath of fresh air from the shit we normally read about, and they didn't take it.

in ravenpaw's farewell she decides that skyclan hates outsiders. then ravenpaw proves her wrong by helping chase out some rogues that skyclan somehow couldn't chase out on their own, so she changes her mind, but only enough to take in bella and riley.

the general back-and-forth and nothing getting done in avos, tbc, and asc just annoys me.

her going blind is actually pretty interesting, but it needs to be handled well, and it's not going to be.

she's pretty old at this point, so i hope she dies, but the kid in me still hopes she gets an awesome death.

tawnypelt:

the way she's treated in avos and in her novella is incredibly uninteresting.

her clanmates don't take her seriously because of how closely she was associated with rowanstar. that's cool! that's interesting! but how long has it been since avos? she's far and away proved herself to be a valuable member of shadowclan.

the "kids these days" plotline is so fucking frustrating, i don't want it to come back.

i thought her novella had a nice conclusion. she accepted that her lost loved ones were lost, and that she could not go back to the way things were, but she could keep moving forward, and she would see her family in starclan some day. from the blurb, this conclusion is going to be completely trampled.

i'm also sick of tigerheartstar changing every book, just to drive whatever the current mess of a plot is.

moonpaw:

not many thoughts. betting her parents are nightheart and sunbeam.

hoping she's distinct from frostpaw and shadowsight. i can't take a third one.

it would be interesting if nightheart dies before she's born, paralleling larksong dying before nightheart was born. then nightheart might realize a bit of what his parents were going through.

overall. not hopeful. i'm super tired of the formula they've been using for the past few arcs. i don't care about "the end of the cats' connection to starclan". just because these books are about religious cats doesn't mean we can't have deep, meaningful, character-driven plots. why can't we get one of those.

[truuskn]

Marvel comics Prowl is so good and interesting he cares so much about others and was absolutely devastated when Optimus died, gosh that hurt so much…

marvel prowl is awesome! i love his devotion to optimus and the autobots so so much. he will lay down his life so that his people can live and move further (while idw prowl will lay down other people's lives so that his cause can move further... oh, the difference... i actually find it interesting, don't hurt me, please), the autobot's cause is the cause of his life, their views are unwavering, the betrayal of their values is unforgivable and optimus isn't just a leader and authority to him, he's the foundation of his life

i really like the fact that the autobot's symbol looks a lot like his face. and i like to draw a parallel between how comics writers see both prowl and the autobots. in the marvel comics his characterization and motives show that autobots aspirations, dreams and views are as correct and truthful as prowl himself, sometimes there are tough and dual situations, but they always find the right path. and in the idw universe where they tried to show that the autobots can be faaar from being perfect and good as we used to see them - their symbol in prowl's face is also flawed. makes sense. or maybe i'm just making stuff up in my head :D

also, i wouldn't say he was changed dramatically in idw (although, yes, it's a completely new take on the character), after all he did have some harsh moments in marvel run, from which the inspiration of the idw writers could be drawn. it wasn't just his heavy character that slipped through sometimes but his questionable desires and actions too (tho some things are explainable by the plot and some things seem a bit out of character for him to me but whatever)

i don't want to go too far and start comparing these two versions of prowl, even if it's very interesting, i'm lazy and don't have time, but! i do like to look at the darker sides of different characters, it's refreshing. in prowl's case it maaaybe was too much for my taste, but i still think it's an interesting case

[sfthbattleroyale]

julian is such a beautiful character and i fully believe he deserves to win.

luke plays him so well, awkward yet bold, young enough to be a sweet, lovable protagonist but old enough to have a meaningful character arc. he loves his parents but is defiant, which is so so excellently portrayed, especially in the kitchen scene, and gives him a sense of realism as a child character. he has depth but also is the main comedic relief throughout, both directly and indirectly. i personally think it’s amazing too how julian isn’t that involved with the phantom aspect of the plot (the most important part, it’s in the title) until the very end when he is held hostage , but is still a very effective protagonist because we get to see him hate and love and learn about the world and himself

he is also one of the few sfth characters that is legitimately a good person, well-meaning and kind, and THIS is his downfall, not some grand reveal of evil intent or mistakes o’ the past (/ref). he holds his own beliefs strong whilst accepting teachings from others, a strength turns out to be his fatal flaw as he allows himself to be influenced by phantom begruvia. this is such a cool change from the normal plot twist. plus it’s a great, if accidental, message about how others can offer help but only you can decide who you are and who you want to become

also also he is by inference trans (just like father andrews is. there’s a post by @mikesflaccidlemonade7 that i can’t link D:) like how much more awesome can you be,,,,,,

don’t get me wrong, jemima stevens is so good too, but quite honestly she didn’t have enough of a character arc to have a place in my heart as much as julian does. that being said i would be almost as happy if she wins, jemima is an incredible show of luke’s acting skills and ability to create wholesome characters despite their moral ambiguity

thanks for reading ^^

Thank you so, so, so much for contributing to the discussion! You also got me to look at Julian from a different persperctive when I was kind of confused as to how he made it this far in the polls!