#there is Lore for the first and third edits btw

[anominous-user]

edits of a bunch of honkai stuff into whatever this is (sticks)

og pics

[kismetconstellations]

How do you rewrite Keith Kogane ? .

Btw it’s hurts me what they had done to these two pairing while the juneblade fans goes out of their way and says that

“these two have beautiful development”

Also loved your post.

Edit: The font size of the answer has been enlarged, per the asker's request. How would I go about rewriting Voltron: Legendary Defender's Keith? That's quite the question! Before we begin to answer it, I would first like to correct a widespread misconception: Legendary Defender's Keith, like Lance and Hunk, does not have a confirmed last name. Kogane is the surname of the character who pilots the Black Lion in the anime series, Beast King GoLion!, or The King of Hundred Beasts GoLion, which was rebranded as Voltron: Defender of the Universe when it made its way over to America and was dubbed in English and heavily censored and altered for American child audiences. One of the alterations being giving the entire cast new "American" names. I.E.; Akira Kogane became Keith.

Since that first/original iteration of the Voltron franchise, the "Keith" character's ethnicity appears to have gone back and forth. I can only assume the intention behind Americanizing the GoLion! characters' names was to change the Japanese human cast into white men, to make them more "palatable" for American viewers. In a similar vein, the American-made sequel series, Voltron: The Third Dimension, depicts Keith as a white man.

A second, later American-made continuation of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, 2011's Voltron Force, gave its Keith his anime counterpart, Akira's surname, reverting him back to his original Japanese ethnicity.

2016's Voltron: Legendary Defender, the series we're working with, is a complete reimagining of the original anime that made significant changes to its lore and plot, such as casting Takashi Shirogane as an older mentor to Keith, rather than a peer, and making him the initial Paladin of the Black Lion when his anime counterpart of the same name was the pilot of the Blue Lion, prior to his death.

And, most notably, changing the formerly entirely human Akira/Keith into a half-Galra hybrid.

One of the major selling points of Legendary Defender was its diversity. Hiroshi Suzuishi, the pilot of the Green Lion who became Pidge in the western world, was turned into a teenage girl, to add another female presence to what was previously a majority male cast. The Princess, Fala in the original Japanese and Allura to American audiences, was changed from a blonde teenage girl with fair skin, to a brown-skinned teenaged genocide survivor with pointed ears and platinum hair. Takashi Shirogane, who goes by Shiro in this iteration, is a gay man. And, four of the five human Paladins were given distinctly (superficially) diverse racial identities.

The fifth is unspecified.

Fans took it upon themselves to fill in the gap created by this pointed lack of specificity and adopted the headcanon that Keith is Asian, based on his fair complexion and black hair. And, they interpreted Keith's father's dark hair, eyes, and strong jaw being relatively similar to Shiro's as "proof" that this headcanon is actual canon.

Instead of, you know, accepting that strong, square jaws are a traditionally masculine trait associated with traditionally masculine hero archetypes. The young King Alfor had one, as well.

Poking further holes in the validity of this headcanon is Shiro's complexion having an olive undertone that Keith's noticeably lacks.

Shiro's eye shape, with long eyelashes (not "eyeliner", fandom) and elongated upper eyelids to hint at epicanthal folds, is a means of illustrating his ethnic heritage in animation shorthand. Keith and his father do not have this feature.

Keith's father spoke with a Southern United States Drawl-- a dialectical trait most commonly associated with white Americans. And, with showrunners so determined to be applauded for their inclusivity and progressivism, don't you think they would have made it crystal clear that their cartoon had two Asian male leads? Especially if one was Korean- the popular fanon identity for Keith, despite fans who utilize it persisting in giving him a Japanese surname- and the other was Japanese? Even more so with Keith being such a blatant creator's pet whose supposed "greatness" is repeatedly shoved down the viewers' throats.

Having a mixed race Korean lead would have been a point of pride for the staff who elected to change a previously all Japanese (plus a couple of aliens) team that then became an all white (plus a couple of aliens) team, to a team that featured a gay, disabled Japanese-American man, a Cuban teenage boy, a Samoan teenage boy, a brown-skinned alien princess, and an Italian teenage girl. Keith's race being left unspecified with all signs pointing to him being a white man, indicates (intentionally or not) that he was conceived as a white man by a person or persons who considers white United States American the default for human beings.

To summarize, Kogane is a surname that was borrowed from past iterations of the franchise, and adopted by the fanbase. Canon Legendary Defender Keith has no surname. His widely accepted Asian identity is a headcanon that became near-ubiquitous fanon. Canon Legendary Defender Keith is, for all intents and purposes, a white man that the white executive producers debatably used as a self-insert, crowned the universe's savior, and decided to make the temporary (I cannot stress that enough. Temporary) victim of racial prejudice from a traumatized brown-skinned genocide survivor. Yes, the prejudice stemmed from their alien identities, rather than skin color, but the point stands that the executive producers thought it acceptable to turn a white man into a victim of racism, with a brown-skinned teenage girl who survived a genocide enacted on her people by the race of alien that contributed half of that white man's DNA, as his "victimizer". And, these factors are the crux of the issue with the way Keith is written. Because he was so blatantly favored, Keith's numerous failings as a leader of Voltron are overlooked or forgiven. He can endanger his teammates, verbally abuse them, specifically the ones whose skin color is more than two shades darker than his own, abandon them, and prioritize his safety over theirs (see him keeping his Paladin armor and dagger on his person, hoarding oxygen on a planet with low oxygen and high CO2 levels, after the others had shed their armor and abandoned their Bayards, leaving themselves vulnerable

), and it goes unquestioned. They will continue to follow and support him and never unfavorably compare his leadership to his predecessor's, even though Shiro was indisputably a better leader. Even Zarkon informs Keith that his "Galra lineage" "makes [him] a great leader".

Because the executive producers who were dead set on lionizing Keith at Shiro's expense hated Shiro. And, judging by the way she is similarly mistreated (sometimes by Keith) and extensively punished by the narrative, hated Allura and her people, as well. While venerating the species of purple savages that conquered and destroyed or enslaved most of the known universe, and afflicted Shiro and Allura with their brain-breaking levels of trauma.

To go about "fixing" Half-Galra White Savior Keith, one would have to first: -Not be a racist, ableist, homophobic bigot who reduces a disabled gay man to a Damsel in Distress/Fridged Love Interest (without an actual romance between them) and Living Emotional Crutch for their able-bodied, heterosexual (yes, Keith is canonically heterosexual) pet white savior. -Not prioritize showcasing the "greatness" of their pet character over giving the rest of their main cast satisfying development, arcs, and endings. -And, not use their pet character as a mouthpiece to extoll the virtues of and act as an apologist for an empire of warmongering sadists while also framing him as being morally superior to a survivor of a deliberate genocide perpetrated by that empire. That criteria met, one would then need to pinpoint the exact place they believe that the series, and general narrative direction for Keith, began to fall apart. To me, the nosedive started the instant that Shiro, the gentle, patient, and steadfast leader whose presence allowed Keith the peace of mind to begin lowering his defensive walls and bonding with his teammates, was killed. Losing Shiro for a second time effectively hit a reset button on all of the progress Keith had made toward playing well with others. He shut everyone out, and down, and after abusing his new position of authority to place the other Paladins in danger, he was looking for any and every excuse to abandon ship and pursue Lotor on his own. Joining the Blades of Marmora further eroded Keith's development with the toll the Blades' blasé attitude about death had on his psyche, and the Galra supremacist sentiments held by the showrunners digging their claws so firmly into the narrative throughline as to be irremovable. I wholeheartedly believe that Keith is at his most insufferable when he is in a position of power and responsibility. He wants to vanquish evil and defend the universe, and only need to be responsible for himself and the people he considers part of his tribe (Shiro), in the process. His attempts to preemptively push others away before they can leave him, as a result of his trauma, and resolute unwillingness to attempt improve upon toxic behaviors that he is more than well aware of, make it impossible for him to work with anyone who doesn't want to be his therapist. And, unless they're Shiro, get yelled at for their troubles. The easiest remedy for this would be to not kill The Definitive Black Paladin who fought Zarkon hand to hand to strengthen his bond with the Black Lion, and Decisive Head of Voltron who loved the Heart of Voltron (Allura) and was unconditionally devoted to her, and replace him with his reckless, hot-tempered protege who never wanted to be saddled with the burden of leading a team and resented Allura for no reason that I can discern. (Aside from the obvious:

Racism.) Then, when the extenuating circumstances (his in-demand voice actor's scheduling conflicts and the executive producers' utter lack of foresight and contingency plans) necessitating Keith's removal from the plot came about, there wouldn't have been a need to also scramble to reintroduce an inadvisably dead character killed out of spite, via a sadistic and convoluted clone plot. Allura could have simply piloted the Red Lion- her father's Lion- acting as Shiro's righthand in a continuation of their dynamic as co-leaders of Voltron, in Keith's stead.

I have several other alternatives I could suggest, but this is the simplest fix, given the incompetence behind the scenes of this series, and the one that extends Keith the most grace. Thank you very much for asking! I assume you are referring to this post? If so, then thank you, again! (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) I was very apprehensive about sharing that analysis, with Keith being such a Fandom Darling. I legitimately feared (and still fear) backlash for highlighting his monumental flaws. But, his inexcusable hostility toward Allura and complete disregard for her safety is impossible for me to ignore. I'm happy that anyone has found that analysis of their dynamic worth reading, and hope that it enlightened at least a handful of folks out there to one of the biggest problems with this series that so many refuse to acknowledge.

[wilderlore-stuff]

This poll isn’t about who would win in a fight or who’s the best fighter btw. I’m asking which member of the Grand Three has the strongest or most powerful Lore abilities—just in terms of raw Lore power, not experience, or combat ability. Hope that makes sense!

Edit: for the sake of not giving any of them too big of an advantage let's pretend Audrian doesn't have his wild lore because that it's something that Runa and Cyril have no access to and it's kinda unfair (it's more fair when you just consider their first two beasts because all of the beasts are mythic, if that makes sense)

[lewisinho]

as the anon that asked for the race list: thank you!

now this is totally up to you if you have the time to spend on this, but this is my first year watching the races, and while I've been doing some background research to get up to speed, there is still a lot i don't know. i trust your judgment so what are some races and/or f1 adjacent things i should look into? i'm going through your McLaren list and have watched the last 4 seasons of dts and the brawn documentary. are there any other books/ documentaries/ races (especially seb's) / old youtube videos that are lost in the void that i should also check out?

again no pressure and thank you!

no problem!

(and btw welcome to f1 and the world of watching some glorified hot wheels every other sunday 😁 it’s great!)

i completely get how daunting it can be as a new fan in the sport. when i was getting back into f1 it also took me some time to get back up to speed with everything, especially all the techy stuff; i honestly learned the most through just watching the races (old and new), bc you get to see all the strategies play out, the pit-stops, the overtakes etc. and the terminology just becomes much easier to understand through sheer exposure. there are also some really cool f1 data analysis blogs you might want to follow on twt/x if you want some more detailed tech analysis and graphs if you’re into that sort of thing: (x)

as for seb, oh there’s a whole arsenal of recs i have!

monza 2008, rise of torro rosso wunderkind; i presume you already know the lore with that one but ig you can never get tired of it.

abu dhabi 2010, world championship no.1 “du bist weltmeister!”

interlagos 2012, the infamous one. this one’s a rollercoaster, chaos everywhere and the manifestation of murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. amidst a title battle against nando, seb was fighting the weather, bruno senna’s front wing, a damaged side-pod, no radio, and somehow managed to claim p6 to win the championship

malaysia 2013, multi-21 (iconique), he was faster, deal with it. 💅

singapore 2013, domination masterclass from quali to the race. (also just all of his singapore wins...lion of singapore and all that)

india 2013, title no.3 secured, changed tyres on lap 2 and came out p17, was third by only lap 13 and then won the race by nearly 30 seconds. it was also his sixth win in a row. he went on to win three more. speaks for itself. also this:

malaysia 2015, first win with ferrari, can't forget that one, also features sewis’ gay knee-touching on the podium.

germany 2019, CHAOS, in which merc got bewitched by the special livery curse 😅, with crashes, spins, 50-second long pit stops, and also features one of seb’s best drives from p20 -> p2

i also highly recommend watching Floz's fan-made docus on youtube about 'the silver war' (there are also docus for the 2014 and 2015 seasons) as well as the merc v ferrari (lewis vs seb) 2017 fight and 'fight for five' in 2018, they're so much better than dts and actually give a full run-down of what happened during the season, with all the action on-track, with interviews and providing all the context! it's so well-edited as well (you literally feel like you're watching a movie about all of the seasons) and they are just incredibly fun to watch.

in general, i love rewatching races from 2017/18 (literally my comfort seasons), personal favs include spain 2017 (strategy galore and lewis v seb), baku 2017 (for obv reasons), austin 2017; and basically the 2018 season in its entirety...

as for books, there are many driver autobiographies e.g. jb (he’s even got two lmao), mark webbah etc. but i think the best f1 book out there is adrian newey’s memoir ‘how to build a car’ if you want lore + great insight into cars!

i’d also recommend watching some older races (i could do a separate post on which ones are my personal favs) but it’s all up to you in the end! go digging, look around on yt for some highlights and just keep exploring! 🫶💜

[seven-thewanderer]

I realize now I forgot to give some updates about other characters of my Strayed! AU…

Like firstly (what I think is probably most important): Moon isn’t there for a good amount of the AU

After what went on with New Moon/Nexus, I didn’t really want to have New Moon (despite how much I liked them at the start), but I also wanted to have OG Moon (because of how silly they kinda are), but I didn’t want to go the Nexus route to get OG Moon back…

So I kinda just put Moon in a coma? So yeah in my AU once Moon & KC separate, Moon’s just in a coma from then until basically a year later, as Moon’s body basically shut down, and Monty’s trying to help, but things keep being thrown at him so he can’t do much to help, and eventually they just decide to make him a new body, transfer his code there, and it worked eventually! Like… probably 3 days later XD (which is then why he has his hunger)

Second thing: There is no Stitchwraith (since Stitchwraiths were apparently rare, there was like only 13? And I didn’t wanna have Bloodmoon secretly working for both Brainsick and Stitchwraith somehow at the same time

Third thing: There’s probably no Puppet… cus I don’t really want canon puppet in my AU, nor can I make a puppet design, and plus she’s rare anyways :P

Fourth thing: I made a new design for Earth!!

Since the last design I wasn’t sure if it was her first-design or new-design (it’s now her first), I kinda was won over by the Chubby Earth side of the fandom, so I made this!

(she still has a bow it’s just holding her ponytail together)

But yeah this is like… her 3rd design (the new body after figuring out the Creator’s a jerk) (she probably asks Monty to help with it - since I’m pretty sure they’d already be dating at this point - and it’s not like she could ask Solar, who doesn’t exist here, or Moon, who is in a coma and she doesn’t know well yet)

But yeah her second body (made by the Creator) probably is thinner like the canon one (cus that’s probably what the Creator wanted, but she herself didn’t exactly want that but was like ‘oh well, Father knows best :3’)

Fourthly: Frank (Forkface) - still needs a new name btw - may actually exist in my AU, since Frank (canon) found out there was a small amount of Negativity Embodiments like himself, so imma still have one :3 I may also make Francis & Fran too!! (im not sure what to do for them, but Francis may embody a Dog Plushie, idk for Fran yet [I had this idea that she just casually found a real Chameleon body and was like ‘oh well nobody’s using this’ and embodied it, a bit of her energy leaking out of parts that would’ve been like… decayed? Idk? But I didn’t really wanna draw a dead Chameleon… cus I like chameleons… and I didn’t wanna have to search up a ref for that… so that idea’s currently scrapped for now]) (also if I do make Francis a dog plush, he would squeak a lot, in replacement probably of his sniffles)

Finally (Fifthly): The Creator’s not a brain.

…but idk what he would be instead XD (but the Nice Creator - Sven I think - said a Brain Creator was new/rare, and most were robots - except for him since he was human - but I wanna do something else)

But ye I think that’s everything? Idk I have to leave it here anyways it’s a Sunday

[Not an Edit but quick addition I almost forgot: because of the whole FNAF Canon lore discovery with the Crying Child possibly being named Cassidy, I am using that for the CC in my Strayed!AU cus y’all are not getting me to name him Evan. E v e r.]

[mercyisms]

Niche Nona liveblogging: John 20:8 - Day Three

For fun and my own future reference, and to contain as many spoilers as possible, I am liveblogging NTN but consolidating my thoughts and some lines that especially jump out at me. Yes, there will be utterly too much attention to old Lyctor lore. I am what I am. I’m consolidating these roughly into thirds + scheduling them in intervals. I am not sure how interesting this will be but!! If you want to see me scream at every passing mention of Mercymorn, this is the place. Also apologies in advance for not editing. Spoilers up until page 129 in the hardcover, or the Day Three divider. 

“It was me and A—and M—at the start.” I know we’ve already got these first two chapters in the previews, but from this initial moment, I, and my Augustine&Mercymorn (and Augustine/Mercymorn) was sated and thanked Tamsyn Muir infinitely for sustenance. I was extremely vindicated to learn Mercy was medical and extremely thrown but delighted to hear Augustine was also a scientist, but of course “handled the shareholders.” God. “You know the worst part? She cried. She and A—both cried. In each other’s arms, like babies. They were so fucking scared.” At which point I was overwhelmed because of course, of course, they repeat and repeat and the potential that Augustine and Mercymorn lived and died as A—and M—died? I must sit down. Things that I obviously think and will state here, once, but assume it is happening over and over again: Nona, I love you, I love you, I love you. Pyrrha Dve, I love you, I am free on Monday, I am free on Tuesday, I am free on whatever days I am not promising to Camilla Hect, whom I love and am free on Monday, on Tuesday, on—and Palamedes, you are nice too. Also let’s quickly discuss these 10ish chapters in whole. I have always been team Nona is Alecto in whomever’s body. And we stake out, here, that I’ll be assuming it is Harrow’s body and Alecto’s soul. This assumption driven a) contextually, we know this was supposed to a blip in Alecto initially and frankly it being Alecto’s soul makes the most sense, sorry to meta-game, but b) that John is talking to ‘Harrow’ but clearly reciting Alecto’s history, or his history with Alecto and c) the end of John 5:20/start of Chapter 7 demonstrates that we only get John-to-‘Harrow’ when Nona is asleep, suggesting a tie (ingenious btw) and d) Nona being mistaken for a fourteen year old reads much more strongly of Harrow’s body (angry gothic shrimp) than Gideon’s (which, at last update, was perfectly preserved, with we assume muscle intact). I further subscribe to the Resurrection Beasts are the souls of the planets and Alecto is the RB of earth. We’ll pivot from these assumptions as necessary, but here’s where I’ve hedged my bets! Okay. “It was no fun, my child.” Take a shot every time Pyrrha is parental and then flashback to when Pyrrha just wanted to know why Wake had brought the baby and think very deeply about, I believe, Pyrrha’s longing to be parental. Pyrrha Dve, adopt me. “Nine million, Pyrrha. That’s the equivalent to the whole of the Seventh and Eighth put together.” This figure genuinely shocked me & I did not realize the scale of the empire and also that Silas was truly in charge of over a million people?? Props to that anemic teen. That is a big cult. (I am once again begging someone to show me the Eighth.) “You should… Gideon used to think about running away there. I know how to farm.” Previously stated, but I cannot believe Em and I called Gideon farming vibes (close enough!), Cassy lawyer vibes, and Mercy pre-med vibes. That’s almost a full bingo row! Anyway, eating up every detail about Gideon and signs of agency with a fork. “One of the reasons that they called her Nona was that the first thing she ahd said, when they saved her and brought her was ‘No, no.’” Having also participated in Nabokov brainrot rummer (shoutout @gothicenjoyer​) I am deeply intrigued by this thread of a character’s professed lack of consent becoming the basis for her name. There is something very tasty here. To be unpacked later? When Nona tells you all of Pyrrha’s code words and you’re like “this will almost certainly be deeply relevant to the plot later, but it’s also, like, chapter one so I’m not going to remember it.” Flagged p38 (page numbers in hardcover), and Nona’s burgeoning lessons on, for simplicity, “being human” to later compare with Mercy’s assertion that Alecto could never fake being human, was fundamentally inhuman – if Nona = Alecto. We’ll come back to this. We’ll also see if “Nona [felt] a little bit offended on the planet’s part” has any secondary payoff.   “Nona longed to lie, but didn’t know how to stop her body from telling the truth.” (47) I think I’ll want this quote later. Understanding all languages + body language + honesty. “… the pride of having Pyrrha, the familiarity of seeing someone and knowing they belonged to you.” (54) Kevin is a visionary. The Angel being referred to as sir. The Gender is beginning. Also really important having a crush on your teacher representation, huh? I see you Hot Sauce. Speaking of Gender, obligatory joke about using a sword or magicking bones being The Two Genders, but of course, ave has already written the essay on it. “Nice to nibble at, boring otherwise.” “She’s used to people loving her anyway,” I will also eat all of the Coronabeth content with a spoon. We are assuming based on the names and that The Captain is, obviously, Judith. “She was made to be immune to blue light.” I hope this book will help me resolve whether Mercy actually inadvertently looked at RB7 or what?? Or what???? Said the only person in the world who is still caught on that blip from HTN. “Making the same shape as his mouth had done like she did when speaking languages.” I’mmmm well, frankly, I cannot believe the way to fully invest me in Palamedes was to put him in Camilla’s body. This situation remains delicious and tragic. I will sit down in the bath now. “C—was panicking because… she was getting recalled to England” God I cannot believe Cassiopeia is British #representation, but I am very listening. Pyrrha being a cop. Checks out! “Oh my God, you’re drinking, aren’t you. You’re on anphetamines, Youa re on coke. You are on amphetamines and coke. I was all like Yeah. . . Coke Zero.” I cannot believe this. I cannot believe this, and I love you Mercymorn Nolastname. “G—always thought anything I did or said was fine. Not necessarily right, but fine.” Once again eating the G1deon content. “…all the ones I touched, all the ones I loved…” (76)

“Because I remind her that her God was just a human being who could get tired and fuck up.” We are nibbling on the Pyrrha/Wake content, but also relevant, relevant. “I’ve got a broken heart and I’ll never love again.” Again, nibbling. Big bite of them. Thank you, TM. “Of course they were apart, separated forever by a matter of minutes” I am experiencing an emotion over the tragedy but also “but Nona knew they talked to each other in pages of letters and letters and letters” cf. their relationship to Dulcinea? The inherent epistolary form of the Sixth house? “When Gideon and I designed that trial, I used to crack his skull and sieve it myself, just as a control variable… The only other people I put through that damn trial were Mercy and Cris, because only Cris didn’t mind being trepanned on the regular.” Cristabel Oct I love you, I am obsessed with you, I want to put you in a jar and carry you forever. I am also deeply interested in how hands on this suggests the ‘cavaliers’ were + collaborative with the research (vs. ‘contemporary’ necro/cav relations) and also… Pyrrha and Mercy… collaborators… h*t. “On the first day, A—believed… A—said I looked cool. He was the only one.” At which point I began frothing at the mouth because man, Augustine (and Mercymorn, and everyone, but especially) really was fully in your corner, and you killed that guy. You really killed that guy. You killed your two+ best friends.  “A—and M—moved in with me.” We are also HIGHLY attuned to how often A/M are referred to and operate as a unit. I’m obsessed. I’m fed. “A—was trying so hard to bring me back down to earth… He’d swapped with M--.” At what point are they truly divorcees? You know? “…squabbled with A--. At least that made me feel normal. That was their usual double act. It was only when they felt the same thing that I knew it was serious.” Lmao, fuck me up. “make time go away” is of note re: theories that John can stop time. OBSESSED that Ulysses and Titania were ‘shells’?? WHERE are their souls and how does that square with, iirc, Augustine or John calling Ulysses “that madman.” SOMEONE tell me more. (Also “They weren’t around to say yes or no. I was starting to really care about that.” Casually tracking when/where John cares about autonomy and consent.) “still as a statue in the park, only her head was still on of course” “swim in salt water for hours” to me, this is further Alecto/Earth evidence, but I am too livid that Tamsyn worked in a JANDALS. Although, truly, Nona deserves them. But “salt water made her feel… she would suddenly know the words to tell them everything.” Cf. a reverse-engineered Ninth House tradition of saltwater and honesty? Are these related?? “or hearing the door open when you were really lonely” Noting Nona’s atonement to loneliness. Also it is very beautiful and all the more so for its framing as a human essential. (107)

Merv Wing. Someone called the Angel. Are we getting a hint of Neon Genesis Evangelion? Merv. Nerv. Merv. Nerv. Hm……. Feasting on Pyrrha’s caution and condemnation of the Eightfold. (115) Oh, I forgot but Pyrrha saying she’d have an easier time pimping out Augustine and Alfred… Augustine Quinque, seen murdered in the streets. But also. God, tell me more. “That’s a feeling,” said Pyrrha brutally. “Kill it.” A line to power many a Pyrrha Dve fic, to be sure. Noting that Nona can “hear [Varun/RB7] sing.” “I don’t let go,” said Camilla. “It’s my one thing.” “M—dry-retching in the corner.” I love youuu. I cannot believe all of these fuckers were varying degrees of Christian and am simply begging for Nigella, should she be (re)named after Nigella Lawson, to have some Jewish energy. Alas. I know. We are in the Christian book zone. “M—had been a hard atheist since she was twelve. But she got over it. She was a walking contradiction anyway. Her best friend in the whole world was a nun. Also at some point A—gave her a benzo and a shot of whiskey, so that helped.” A/M strikes again, but, like, come on. Come on. We’re not introducing a nun and not having that be Cristabel… I said, vibrating into the next dimension. Come onnn. Show me this nun and also tell me more. What kind of nun? Is this a Prime of Miss Jean Brodie situation or what? A Sister Act vibe? Is ther any Maggie Smith energy is what I’m asking. These are the totality of my nun references. “So of course, what do M—and A—do, they go raid a fucking graveyard.” FRANKLY the number of times these two go off and plot and execute things together on their own… Anyway, I will write this fic and I hope everyone else writes this fic too. I want 100 comedies of grave digging errors with M + A. Also, I feel gratified for spoofing that Hamlet grave digging scene (lightly) in my one Augustine/Mercymorn fic. I really, really do. “See, I did make a utopia.” He is joking, of course, but fascinating potential implications if John really does consider his project utopian and cf. Augustine’s analysis that the entirety of his empire is all for “symbolic retribution.” In the way that this series has constantly fisheyed outwards, from a competition between the elites of the empire (representatives of the internal politics of the empire) to the emperor’s inner circle (the external politics of the empire and its equally external threats), I think it is incredibly smart to take us outside the empire and into a contested place under occupation. I also think it is, thus far, really well rendered. And what an efficient way of fully re-orientating every assumption we may have abt John’s empire and how it operates. Good stuff. I’m sure there will be much more to say here in time. Future installments will be in this tag xoxo. Treat yourself to a Coke Zero is you did read this all the way through. God bless.

[trans-mink]

Istg these writer questions are all too good I want to ask you every single one but that'd be a lot so...17, 22, 34 + a question you'd really like to answer!

im so sorry this took a while things been all over the place on my end, this is going to be very all over the place but anyway

17. talk to me about the minutiae of your current wip. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

uhh so i got several wips that are v much on a break but I started reworking an old arcana self insert fic of mine from 2019 cos tbh the writing is ass and I can make it sound a lot better now idk how that bitch has so many kudos on it, its not good!!

the plot is basically that the MC (reader) has chronic joint pain in the winter when its cold and Julian helps to look after them. The inspiration was that i have chronic joint pain that's way worse when its cold and i wrote it as a comfort thing lol. its still up rn in its original state but will be updated soon hopefully

my other main wip is my dmmd fic that i worked on p much all of last year but now i have burnout so im taking a break rip.

its kinda a re-write of the reconnect game but with more characters and set in my own universe but i think once i get over the bump of the main story line its gonna be more slice of life/ romance focused as a change of pace to the first half. Unlike the reconnect game i also focus on other characters that arent the main character's love interest because if i was a reader i'd wanna know what everyone else is up to post canon. It basically feels like a sandbox for me to write my character head canons lol.

22. how organized are you with your writing? describe to me your organization method, if it exists. what tools do you use? notebooks? binders? apps?

everything is in google docs, i have notes pages and a loose colour coding system going with how I edit things e.g green= published, orange= needs work/ to be changed, purple= notes about canon/ in fic lore.

Sometimes if i feel my work is getting cluttered i'll move it to a separate doc so i end up with about 3 documents that are different editing stages of the same chapter.

Theres also a "cutting room floor" doc where i put stuff that didnt make the final cut in case i wanna refer to it later and its not lost to the back space button.

34. thoughts on the oxford comma, go:

fam I dont even know what a oxford comma is, I just be putting them shits wherever feels right. Like a granny adding seasoning to her cooking.

Ok i just googled it and I dont tend to use it i dont think but honestly do whatever u want, who give a shit. language and grammar are fake.

extra question picked at random :D

12. if a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current wips into lorem ipsum, i don’t make the rules

first wish is to know how characters feel in response to whatever is happening to them, my biggest thing rn is being unable to put myself in their shoes and i think it would help a lot.

second is to consistently remember HOW to write well, cos i have bursts of knowing wtf im talking about but will suddenly lose it even if im in the middle of a work

third is knowing the exact word or phrase to describe scenery, emotions and facial expressions. I struggle with those the most for some reason.

[synesindri]

what are some of your favorite/most interesting vampire folklore stories? or legends/myths/stories about vampires?

alright, my beautiful, patient anon, let’s talk about vampires >:D

(this is going to be mostly historical accounts, but i’d be happy to talk more loosely about common features of vampire stories or just to spit hot takes or whatever too, just let me know!)

my #1 recommendation is to look into the american vampire folklore tradition from the 18th and 19th centuries. most of these stories are about vampirism spreading within family units. there is usually blood involved, but there is rarely explicit blood drinking (there is nothing consistent about vampire lore...they are very much a ‘i know it when i see it but damned if i can define it’ monster lol) — instead, new england vampires were more about unseen contagion and disease. a great example of this is the story of mercy brown, who is usually mentioned as the “last” “real” new england vampire. i also suggest the article “vampires and death in new england, 1784 to 1892″ by michael bell, if you’re interested in an academic take on this stuff. people (rightly) associate vampires with central and eastern european folklore, but the american stuff is really cool and very creepy, and if you’re interested in weird old vampire stories you might like it!

okay so now skipping actually over to central and eastern europe, there are a number of accounts of “normal” vampire encounters that started getting written up around the 17th-18th centuries that seem like good examples. a few good ones are: petar blagojević (1725), a serbian vampire who killed about 9 people as a vampire and made himself a nuisance to his family; arnold paole (1725), the source of an epidemic of vampirism in his serbian village; “the shoemaker of breslau” (1581) [cw for suicide in this one...a pretty common theme in old vampire folklore], a german revenant/nachzehrer/”ghost” who caused a ruckus in his town post-mortem; and löwenstimm’s account of justina yschkov (1848), a young russian woman suspected of vampirism because of the circumstances surrounding her death (namely, cholera and pregnancy). there’s also joseph pitton de tournefort’s vrykolakas story from greece about watching some people, uhm, deal with (dissect, basically) a vampire. 

i have more if you want them but i think these are some of the best (well, ok, justina’s isn’t that good or easy to find material about but i wanted to include a lady vamp and there aren’t that many of those from this tradition). it’s hard to get really good accounts of these types of vampires because they were mostly peasants from regions that kept changing hands politically. most of the stories got written down by german people cataloging to-them unfamiliar superstitions of people now under their empire’s rule — often first-hand accounts, but definitely with some foreign sensationalist flavor.

a third group of vampires worth talking about are the central and eastern european nobles. it’s funny that vampires have become such a classy monster considering mostly the folklore is about poor working people, but anyway, there are three main notables in this category. most people probably know about vlad iii aka vlad the impaler aka vlad dracul (1428/31 – 1476/77), famous for defending wallachia against the ottoman empire and for, well, impaling a fuckton of people on spikes. another is countess erzsébet báthory de ecsed (1560–1614), who ~allegedly~ held prisoner, tortured, and bathed in the blood of hundreds peasant girls from her lands. finally, and probably least well known of the three, is princess eleonore von schwarzenberg (1682-1741), who was basically just a weird lady whose death made everybody extremely paranoid (to the point that she was not even buried with her family like other people of her rank and lineage usually were! i actually visited the church were they ended up burying her...nice place lol). 

and finally, some older short story/novella recs, because why not? carmilla (1872) by sheridan le fanu is great; the vampyre (1819) by john polidori is less great but still fun (the main character is wonderfully soft and dumb :p); good lady ducayne (1896) by mary elizabeth braddon; dracula’s guest (1897) by bram stoker; luella miller (1903) by mary e. wilkins-freeman; and for the blood is the life (1911) by f. marion crawford. (actually, all of these are in the penguin book of vampire stories edited by alan ryan, which is a great collection btw!) 

(also, weird shout-out to the novel the manuscript found in saragossa (1805) by jan potocki, which is...not about vampires exactly, but is also definitely about vampires imo? i haven’t actually finished reading it and i might not ever but the creepy isolated dreamy vibe is impeccable if you’re into it)

i hope this response makes up for how long it took me to get around to answering you, anon!!

[amandahontas]

An Analysis of Antfrost

For my first psychological analysis, I’m going to be talking about Antfrost. Antfrost is an interesting character to start with since so much of his lore is connected with other characters who I obviously haven't talked about yet. I’ll start with some general background information on his character in case anyone is newer to the fandom or just knows less about him. Afterwards I’ll be moving on to talk about Ant’s personality and my personal thoughts on what I have found. 

A few things to keep in mind are: this is my opinion based on my background in  psychology (which I am not claiming to be an expert in btw), and I’m trying to keep these as neutral and unbiased as possible. Also this is strictly about the characters and not the ccs because it would be weird to try and analyze a real person who I only know through limited exposure on livestreams and youtube videos. Finally, I finished writing this on May 14th, 2021, so there are spoilers for any events that have happened before that and if any new developments make this analysis completely wrong, it is what it is. (I may go back and edit some of these later, but I also might be too lazy.)

People who seemed really interested when I first proposed this idea (I can add you if you ask):

@vulpes-ex-machina 

@head-full-of-things

Next up: BadBoyHalo (I’ll edit this to add the link when I finish writing it)

During the Manberg Rebellion, Antfrost, BadBoyHalo, and Awesamdude created the Badlands, a third party unaligned with Manberg or Pogtopia, and outside of the Greater Dream SMP. He also accidentally started the Second Pet War over accidentally killing a panda he intended to steal and keep in his animal sanctuary. The Badlands won the war. In the Manberg vs. Pogtopia war, the Badlands fought on Manberg’s side to try and keep the conflict going longer for profit. Ant specifically grinded a bunch for the war and gave Fundy and Niki a fox each. The Badlands peaced out when Technoblade became the enemy of the newly reclaimed L’manberg because they kept the conflict going in that way. 

Eventually, the egg began to become an issue. After experimenting on it and Skeppy, Antfrost quickly began to love the egg and was one of the founding members of the Eggpire. Ant destroyed the obsidian barrier around the egg in order to let its influence spread. Antfrost often takes the initiative to spread around the egg’s spores to try and infect more people. He has planted some in L’manhole, Snowchester, and Ranboo’s house in the past. He also celebrated along with the rest of the Eggpire when Tommy died. Outside of the Eggpire, Ant is a prison guard under Warden  Sam. 

Recently, Ant began setting up for the Red Banquet which was supposed to be a party to help bury the hatchet between everyone and the Eggpire. It turned out to be a trap with the Eggpire trapping everyone. The Eggpire brought Foolish up to the egg and Ant told Puffy that this never would have happened if she had stayed loyal to the egg before executing Foolish. Antfrost later died at the hands of Puffy, Foolish’s father and Ant’s former best friend, and we have not canonically seen him since (Antfrost (SMP), n.d.).

While I personally only joined the fandom after he was already corrupted, according to the wiki (n.d.), before he joined the Eggpire, Antfrost was known as kind and helpful. Despite this, he wasn’t opposed to occasionally causing chaos. He also cared very deeply about animals as evidenced by his animal sanctuary. Ever since the corruption we have seen him become careless and manipulative. He doesn’t care about anything other than the Egg, not his animals, not his friends, and certainly not himself. Ant has also said many manipulative things, such as blaming Foolish’s death on Puffy and all his attempts to persuade others to join the Eggpire. He is also the type of person who is more of a follower than a leader. He follows Bad’s lead as his right-hand-man when it comes to doing things for the Egg, and even when he goes off to do his own things, he is still doing them because they are what the Egg wants him to do.

What I'm trying to figure out is how the egg is affecting him. It appears to affect different people differently, which I will get into when I talk about other members of the Eggpire. In Ant’s case he seems to be fully unaware and possessed, though he is able to hide this when he wants to such as when he is a prison guard. The Egg almost seems to have given Antfrost a full personality swap, switching his kindness for cruelty and his care for carelessness. However, one core thing that has stayed consistent is Ant's tendency to be a follower, which can be seen in his willingness to follow Bad's lead in the Badlands as well as his complete devotion to obeying the Egg. This is probably why the Egg left this part of his personality alone.

Being a follower is not a bad thing. Ant is an exceptional right-hand man, which is an important role to any story.  He is fiercely loyal to the cause he gets behind and he puts in the hard work to try and keep the events that he is working on running smoothly. At least, he tries to keep them running smoothly, we all know what happened at the Red Banquet. Overall, I would like to see more lore from Antfrost in the future so I can get a better grasp on his motivations because as of right now he does not seem to be motivated by anything other than the Egg because of his possession. I also want to know how conscious he is of all his wrongdoings and if he is still possessed after dying. If he knew what he was doing this could definitely give him some trauma that he would have to deal with.

 I was hoping for another Antfrost lore stream to come out while I was making this, but alas I have not been fed. I’ll probably come back to this one if more lore happens, but I’ve been working on this for far too long, so here you all go!

References

Antfrost (SMP). (2021, May 3). In Fandom. https://dreamteam.fandom.com/wiki/Antfrost/SMP

[thequimmqueen]

Omg lynn time! Her third outfit is adorable. I like that her surname is hypenated 🥰 ok gonna type this ask as i read her bio. Nice shes still friends with her former gf :) btw theres a small typo in bio it says ‘bia’ no hate just thought id lyk. Very nice timm and quinn bring back their old law associates name. Damn dramatic reason for lynn to quit her job o_o good for her tho. Anyway i like lynn a lot she seems very nice 💜💝🧡 - amii

1. Her Style C is inspired in Timm's Disco Plumm outfit in Pl3! This time it's a Mix of it and a 60s Hippie Styled Outfit, Since i do remember mentioning lynn was sort of a Hippie.

2. First it was Quinn's Last name,then Timm's.. so they thought,why not fuse them?

3. Well of course! Josefina still is Grateful of A big legal problem Lynn got her out of when she was still studying Laws, and Lynn still has a big soft spot for her because she's seen her as a sort of Protector/Big sister even when Both Started working in Papa's Bakeria. Which also was the time Jose confessed her feelings to her and started dating.

4. Oops,I'll edit that out 😅

5. Weeell, i didn't say that,but now the idea seems great because of 2 reasons: one is Timm sometimes helps at investigations and other Stuff if Quinn's too busy with her own tasks and second is.. think of the potential Mocking for Lynn! Imagine all those Friends of her Parents saying she's the child of Two of the Top lawyers of Tacodale like how when you were a kid your parents's friends would pinch your cheeks saying how big you are and stuff 🤣

"Oh look! It's the Timm,Quinn and Associates Girl!"

"Oh look is the Lawyer kid!"

"Isn't she the daughter of that one guy and gal from that lawfirm?"

"You are Timm and Quinn's second Biggest Collaboration. Which was the first? Their lawfirm!"

😂😂😂

6. Yeah! There is actually a Nextgen related to Dario Rossi, Most specifically Tulip,Deano and Julep's Daughter,who's Role is to be Lynn's Arch Nemesis of sorts to avenge her grandpa. It's part of the Lore ;D

She may be Retired from The Law system but she can still solve mysteries on her Own! An art trade I did with FOF helped me decide that Lynn becomes a Lawyer again at a much more farther age (maybe at her late 20s to early 30s)

7. Dude, she is! Imagine you put Starfire (from the Original Teen Titan series), The FnF GF, Rose Quartz and Phoenix wright in a Mixer. You get her!

[cooltrainererika]

Hetalia Emblem: Once Upon A Hallowed Night (pt. I)

Hello! This is my entry for this year’s #hetaween #hetaween19/20! The prompt is 10/20 Crossover. And I have delivered! At least part of it!

However, this requires some explanation; this takes place in my Samuraiverse/Flagverse AU, or “Hetalia Emblem”, a theoretical Hetalia x World Flags (if you don’t know, it’s this: world-flags.org) x Fire Emblem crossover game. Basically, it’s Hetalia characters, World Flags outfits and weapons (as well as certain character elements; they will become apparent as you read along), and Fire Emblem gameplay, story elements, and lore elements. Unlike “Alt-talia”, the AU I usually write in, I’m thinking I might use characterizations closer to canon instead. Though they still may be slightly different.

So I saw the prompt, and thought this was a perfect place to spread my AU more. Basically, this is a human AU taking place in a Japanese medieval setting with international elements. A summary can be found here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DarthWiki/HetaliaEmblem

Now, this requires minimal knowledge of Fire Emblem, though some spell names and skills (basically things that can enhance a unit on the battlefield) and such might be referenced. (Also, if anyone wants to use this AU, go ahead! Please!)

And tonight, I have for you not one fic, but a batch of four! First, a spiritual tale. Second, a fun trick-or-treat story with a twist. And third, an action story (hopefully)!

Also these are being released separately so I can hope to get one out the door by the end of today. Though oh well, it’s the 20th in most of the rest of the world.

Also, this is an idea for a support conversation somewhat modified to fit the holiday. If you don’t know what a support conversation is, they’re conversations that you can unlock between two characters to make them bond more, making them perform better around each other in battle. As such, it was the one I was most sure about. And many, including many of the main characters, don’t have designs yet, as such if I need to describe their weapons they’ll be considered sword users for now.

I also haven’t decided fully on some names, or whether to use different names than Alt-talia, for those who were never given names or have inaccurate ones. However, I have decided to use the ones here for the time being. And Matthew keeps getting called by his full name because everyone’s name is spelled out in kanji in-universe, and in Japanese “Matt” doesn’t make much sense as a nickname for “Matthew”. Also, while a character mentioned in this fic has a name in Alt-talia, here I decided to keep him unnamed. It is kind of debatable if they’re the same character after all...

And since these were kind of rushed, they may not be best written. So yeah... sorry about that. The second one in particular may kind of meander a bit.

Without further ado... Trick-or-Treat!

..........

The night of the last day of the tenth lunar cycle, when the harvest is ripe and the harsh winter nears, the realm of the mystical and spiritual and this realm are at their closest, so close the barrier between them almost nonexistent, for the dead to see those they left behind, and for the mystical to give us a visit...

Closure

He had found her some ways away from the camp, bathed in the smoky aroma of incense, her pale hair seemingly glowing in the moonlight.

“Natallia?”

She turned, the ghouls departing.

“What do you want?”

The boy flinched a bit, but then continued to move towards her, revealing his face. Not that it mattered; his white kimono had made that quite obvious.

Yong-Soo hesitated, his face flushed a shade of pink, sputtering.

“H-hey, Natallia! Erm... it’s me again.”

“What do you want? Don’t waste my time again.”

Her voice was curt, cold.

The boy straightened himself out, shook his head, and cleared his throat.

“I won’t. You can talk to dead people, right? I mean, I heard that you have powers like that, despite not being a mage or anything, and...”

She could see exactly when his face turned uncharacteristically serious, she observed. Somewhat perplexing.

“Yes? And?”

“...I need your help.”

Natallia simply blinked.

Yong-Soo took a deep breath and continued.

“I need to tell you something.”

“...”

“...Hyung Yao isn’t my real brother. I used to have a biological brother. A twin, brother, actually...”

A brother?

His normally cheerful, jolly voice had a tinge of pain that was small, but as apparent as the luminous moon above, behind it. For whatever reason - though she knew why deep down - she felt her heart being tugged at.

“...But one day, he just disappeared. He was gone. I don’t know what happened to him. ...I spent a year looking for him, but... I never found him.”

“...”

“I want closure. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. But, if he is dead... I want to at least say goodbye to him.”

No response.

She turned.

“Please... please...”

The teenager’s voice was starting to break, but he didn’t care. He briskly bowed, his head down low.

“Please... Please, I only-“

“Come with me.”

The dancer lifted his head immediately, just as the woman was starting to walk away.

His face lit up, his eyes becoming misty from the shock and joy of her winds.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

———

The air inside her tent was heavy with incense, the ominous glow emitted from the small fire in front of Yong-Soo.

“What is his name?”

“It is-“

Once she had heard it, she simply nodded, calling upon it thrice in a hushed whisper.

Nothing.

“...He isn’t here.”

“What does that mean?”

“Even if he is dead, he hasn’t visited you. Yet. Now, quiet.”

The boy immediately straightened himself again, nodding

“Yes ma’am.”

————

Natallia had been silent, deathly silent. Even he wouldn’t dare raise a sound. It had felt like time had stopped. Despite the warm glow of the flames and incense, he felt chills; not just any, but a strange chill from within and without. He could have even sworn he saw glowing orbs flicker around her.

————

Vlad felt the spiritual energy; what kind of dark mage would be if he weren’t. It drifted ambivalently in the air, but radiated from a certain, definite place. Huong Lien felt it as well, the mage having poked her head out of her tent as well.

He felt he now had a good idea as to why Yong-Soo seemed so excited when he had heard from him she could see ghosts...

————-

Connecting with the spiritual realm was a strange experience that was unlike any other. It was like being in one place but everyone, trancelike but alert.

On this day, when the other realm was the closest, however, made the process easy; relatively, at least.

Neither she nor Yong didn’t know how long she had been there, but in time, she found herself gently drifting back down, eventually until she was fully back in their realm.

Yong’s anticipation reached a boiling point. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to know.

“...So? Did you find him? Was he-“

“He wasn’t”

His face started to light up, but with a hint of hesitation, as if barely holding himself back from hoping just yet.

“So... so he’s so alive? He’s still out there somewhere?”

“Yes.”

Tears pricked the dancer’s eyes, as the information fully soaked into the teen’s brain.

Natallia hadn’t noticed herself make a rare, small smile at the sight, though not that he noticed - he finally broke down into tears of joy, repeating “He’s alive! Gods, he’s alive!” to himself.

“Congratulations.”

“Damn it, why did he leave me for so long?! That dastard!”

———-

By the time Yong had left, thanking her profusely of course, she had finally realized she had been smiling.

Natallia couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this... happy for someone outside her family.

But it was as if she saw some of herself in this annoying dancer boy.

Some of that scared, lonely girl and her sister as they called out into the cruel, unforgiving howls of the snowstorm.

————————————————————-

Story 1/3

(BTW, there is an edited version, please read that instead)

[smilesthroughfandoms]

Every Single Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode in one sentence or less

I’ll probably post a more in depth-review later this week, as I have opinions literally no one wants to hear but I will proclaim anyway, and then I’ll probably also due a revision of my ‘Past Queens Connection to Star’ post from way back in season 2. Cause that needs an update.

Anyway, enjoy!

Star Comes to Earth: Princess Cinnamon Roll that Could Kill you comes to earth and meets Misunderstood Safe Kid.

Party With a Pony: Spoopy Wardens hunt for the glitter pony while Star gets ice for Marco’s sweaty back.

Matchmaker: In which we learn it was probably a bad idea to give Star the wand in the first place.

School Spirit: Star misunderstands football and Marco tries to get Ferguson to blow his whistle not in that way.

Monster Arm: “Not my bowels! I love my bowels!”

The Other Exchange Student: Star is jealous of the meatball man from Bakersfieldville.

Cheer Up Star: “It’s supposed to be ironic!”

Quest Buy: Very accurate depiction of what it is like to work in retail.

Diaz Family Vacation: Both Marco and Star see new sides of their dads but that’s not necessarily a good thing

Brittney’s Party: Star and Marco party on a bus that Ludo hijacks

Mewberty: Star gets horny and snares boys in her web but not in that way

Pixtopia: Marco messed up and Alfonso marries Ferguson’s rebound

Lobster Claws: “… You can’t eat children.” “Really? Not even the annoying ones?”

Sleep Spell: “Camera Phooone!”

Blood Moon Ball: We’re suppose to ship them now, right?

Fortune Cookies: Love is never the answer kids

Freeze Day: Father Time offers Star and Marco some mud before riding away on his wheel-mobile pulled by giant time-hamsters I am not making this up.

Royal Pain: King Santa Claus destroy mini-golf

St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses: Princess Prison sure is a nightma–OH MY GOD ARE THOSE CLUBS?!

Mewnipendence Day: No wonder monsters hate Mewmans so much.

The Banagic Wand: Star still doesn’t get Earth and like all of us, Marco is always hungry.

Interdemensional Field Trip: Miss Skullnick fears the “Big Change” while Marco sends Jackie cat memes

Marco Grows a Beard: Ludo is out, Toffee is in, and Marco will probbaly be terrified of beards forever

Storm the Castle: “SURPRISE!”

My New Wand!: DIP DOOOWN

Ludo in the Wild: Wait, since when did Ludo become badass?

Mr. Candle Cares: “Star and I have recently become smooch buddies… On the lips.”

Red Belt: Marco searches for a meaning in life and Star searches for hammer.

Star on Wheels: *epic remix of Marco saying Star is in trouble*

Fetch: Marco can’t open juice and Star runs away from her problems and sending thank you cards

Star vs. Echo Creek: Star gets high and destroys a police car

Wand to Wand: Both Ludo and Star are terrible at magic also major ship tease

Starstruck: Star and her idol Sailor Super Saiyan destroy a park and Marco is 100002% done with this shit

Camping Trip: King Butterfly has a mid-life crisis and tries to control an eagle

Starsitting: They’re gonna be great parents some day.

On the Job: Buff Dad is best dad and buff babies are adorable

Goblin Dogs: “You might think this line is long, but listen to my goblin song!~”

By the Book: Ludo and Star still suck at magic and Glossaryck is a bigger troll than Alex Hirsch

Game of Flags: And I thought my family was dysfunctional...

Girls’ Day Out: Janna is back and is still awesome btw

Sleepover: “TRUTH! STAR HAS A CRUSH ON MA–” *cue fandom freakout*

Gift of the Card: R.I.P.  Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne… He couldn’ get his fucking chainsaw to work

Friendenemies: Star becomes one with Christmas tree while Tom and Marco go on a date and sing a romantic pop ballad.

Is Mystery: Meatfork is apparently a family name and Ludo is really starting to freak me out tbh

Hungry Larry: “He’s still hungry…”

Spider with a Top Hat: He tries and he is awesome and that’s all that matters

Into the Wand: SPAAAAADESS!!!

Pizza Thing: Marco is OCD about mushroom and Pony Head buys skinny jeans

Page Turner: Moon, how did you miss Toffee in the orb he was right there!

Naysaya: Marco is a mood in this episode

Bon Bon the Birthday Clown: Honestly my favorite episode overall

Raid the Cave: Glossaryck is the true neutral asshole.

Trickstar: Weird Al is a treasure and I’ll mes up anyone who makes Marco cry!

Baby: Aw, look at the little deadly baby, I love her!

Running With Scissors: Marco gets a new edition to his shipping harem and she is so cute!

Mathmagic: Why did the chicken cross the road?

The Bounce Lounge: Marco is definitely the mom friend.

Crystal Clear: The Chancellor guy is amazing and Rhombulus just needs a hug and wAS THAT ECLIPSA IN THE BACKGROUND?

The Hard Way: “SURPRISE!” 2.0

Heinous: Oh, so that’s how Marco got all that money.

All Belts Are Off: This is the negative side of “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” trope done splendidly

Collateral Damage: Marco how do you not know what a possum is?

Just Friends: I’m fine! *blows up sign to prove just how fine I am*

Face the Music: This song is actually a banger

Star Crushed: Looking back, I’m starting to think the writing peaked at this episode....

BATTLE FOR MEWNI EDITION!!!!!

Return to Mewni: This is… just an exposition filler. Not much else to say….

Moon the Undaunted: B4! B4! B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4!

Book Be Gone: Seriously, did Glossy take trolling lessons from Alex Hirsch this is hilarious!

Marco and the King: This is the  “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” done slightly better

Puddle Defender: Aw, look at the little buff babies, they’re getting so big!

King Ludo: The mime stole the show.

Toffee: Yeah, I think the writing peaked somewhere around here...

Scent of Hoodie: Huh, so Ponyhead can be written as likeable, who would’ve thought?

Rest in Pudding: The colors are not doing the censors any favor here, huh?

Club Snubbed: I literally yelled “Phrasing!” whenever they dropped the title

Stranger Danger: Is she the new antagonist of the series? I can’t tell

Demoncism: Tom is a wonderful baby boy and Ponyhead is written as likeable, part 2!

Sophmore Slump: *sobbing* Jackie deserved better, dang it!

Lint Catcher: I’m starting to wonder if there is any competant authority figure in Mewni

Trial by Squire: I think the writers were all like” You think these guys will ship anyone with Marco?” and decided to test that theory.

Princess Turdina: I got more lore out of this episode than I thought I would.

Starfari: Welp, she makes me uncomfortable.

Sweet Dreams: *Sailor Moon-ing intensifies*

Lava Lake Beack: Proof that this fandom will ship anyone with Marco at the slightest inclanation

Death Peck: Rich Pigeon is my new favorite birb and Ponyhead is written as likeable for the third time

Ponymonium: Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Night Life: The writers made so many new ships they had to get rid of an old one!

Deep Dive: “Chicken butt”

Monster Bash: Well, that explains the cheekmarks.

Stump Day: I think they just made an episode based around a picture from that bookcover.

Holiday Special: *insert every cheesy Christmas/Holiday episode trope here*

The Bog Beast of Boggabah: The title is fun to say and the episode is average at best.

Total Eclipsa the Moon: Seriously, I’m supposed to think she’s an ultimate villain.

Butterfly Trap: In which we are all Sean, don’t lie we were all him at the end

Ludo, Where Art Thou?: Dennis is best brother, hands down.

Is Another Mystery: *sniff* I got more emotional over this episode than anyone else did and I’m not sure how I feel about that

Marco Jr.: I… I just… Why? What’s the point?

Skooled!: Epic advertisment fakeout combined with wonderful character development and lore with a shock ending makes a 8/10 episode.

Booth Buddies: Old Man McGucket ships Starco, proceed to react accordingly

Bam Ui Pati!: Ponyhead is kinda likeable in this episod–nevermind she’s back.

Tough Love: Oh man, it’s happening! It’s happening guys here we go!

Divide: We are going to war everybody–And they’re all dead. That was quick.

Conquer: They should have paid Alex HIrsch to voice Glossaryck at this point, it’d be more in character for him.

Butterfly Follies: Proof that someone will always complain about politics no matter what.

Escape from the Pie Folk: Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that he kinda resembles Eclipsa more than Festivia?

Moon Remembers: I was expecting a freakout but was pleasantly surprised

Swim Suit: I’m starting to get a bad feeling about Rhombulus

Ransomgram: Why is everyone in this dimesnion hot?!

Lake House Fever: She’s a good mom

Yada Yada Berries: They missed an opportunity to have a Seinfeld actor guest-star, just saying

Down by the River: I’m glad that she can relax

The Ponyhead Show!: And Ponyhead is offically no longer likeable, can someone toss her into an abyss please?

Surviving the Spiderbites: SpiderSlime is canon proceed to react accordingly

Out of Buisness: How did this place go out of buisness???

Kelly's World: Man, they’re really setting these non-Starco ships up to fail, huh?

Curse of the Blood Moon: Pfft, yeah, sure, Starco won’t be canon at all!

Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell: I think Ludo has the most consistent character arc out of the entire show’s history.

Ghost of Butterfly Castle: Moon, Star is your daughter and Star supports Eclipsa, why would you not tell her?

Cornball: This episode has a heartwarming lesson that I hope more people come to realize

Meteora's Lesson: I’ll take any Toffee scenes I can get

The Knight Shift: I honestly don’t remember what happened n this episode

Queen-Napped: Seriously, can someone please dropkick Ponyhead into an abyss?

Junkin' Janna: The JanTom interaction I’ve been waiting for

A Spell with No Name: These types of episodes stopped being charming awhile ago

A Boy and His DC-700XE: I think Tomco has more ground to stand-on then Starco at this point

The Monster and The Queen: Don Panchito voices Globgor! There’s hope for this show yet!

Cornonation: They’re the best couple/parents/anything around!

Doop-Doop: I honestly think Rick just put Morty through some flux-capacitor or something

Britta's Tacos: Hey, remember these people that we suddenly brought back? No? Me neither!

Beach Day: This feels like a Season 1 episode and it’s nice

Gone Baby Gone: I want a TV show aout them now! Disney, please!

Sad Teen Hotline: Mr. Diaz is way to invested in Star’s love life.

Jannanigans: Hello last minute Janna character development!

Mama Star: So that’s how Mewni came to be--and I don’t care anymore

Ready, Aim, Fire!: Let’s get that finale ball rolling people!

The Right Way: Ok, that spell is actually pretty badass.

Here to Help: There, Starco’s finally canon will you guys just shut up now!

Pizza Party: Moon you idiot you ruined everything!

The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse: Toffee was right all along... I think we all knew that in some way

Cleaved: I expect nothing substanial and that’s what I got

[kingofthewilderwest]

Don't worry, I take over my sleep time to read and write fanfictions. I wouldn't have time otherwise! I have an entire Word page with only links to fanfictions I still have to read! And it's all right to not read fanfictions if you don't want to. It's just an hobby among others. Anyway, you wrote fanfictions?? Now I'm curious, could I have a link, if you don't mind? Have a good night too and sorry for my grammar mistakes, english isn't my first language (btw, thank you for the likes <3 )

From this. Sorry I’m slow replying!! thanks for your wonderful messages! :)

No worries about grammar! Your English is great, and even if it weren’t, that’s no bother to me either. :) The fact that you’re communicating in a language that isn’t your first… just means you have extra skills and are even more awesome! :) 

I love how dedicated you are to looking at others’ fanfictions, even creating a Word document page to make sure you remember them. That’s beautiful and cool. And I’m getting curious about what you’ve written, too! 

Thanks so much for asking about my fics - this touches me! Sure, I’m happy to share! I tend to post all fics on tumblr and FFN, with FFN being my primary hub. On tumblr I use the tag #my fanfiction and tag all stories by their title. My FFN profile is kingofthewilderwest.

I’m so so so so so SO touched when anyone reads or interacts with my fics (though since I write casually, I ask no constructive criticism <3). Fanfiction tends to be my more casual creative writing avenue. Original novels are where I spend my most time, effort, editing, and attention - fanfiction comes out as a recreational side project. ^.^ I love connecting with fans and writing over the mutual fandoms we love. I hope it’s alright with you if I use this ask to self-advertise, list some of my fics for others who might be interested??

THE VIGILANTE’S WAR

HTTYD. YEAR: 2014. LENGTH: 57,110 WORDS. A mysterious, antagonistic dragon rider dubbed “the Vigilante” crosses paths with Hiccup, and her increasingly violent actions appear to be leading to war against Berk. 

He tightened his hands, loosened them again. Breathed in, breathed out. He could feel himself stooped in the dirt, his shoulders hunched over his head, his knees buried in the ground and tucked underneath his torso. His neck was bent low close to the earth, providing him a good view of his hands and the ground and nothing else.

Well, and the blood.

That can’t possibly be all mine.

- PROLOGUE: FROM OUT OF THE HAZE

HTTYD 2′s original drafts had Valka as the main antagonist. I found this so interesting that I decided to rewrite HTTYD 2 - with a few of my own spins - on this concept. One of my most well-known fics, “The Vigilante’s War” is where I’ve gotten the most thorough reviews and most emotional reactions.

THE VIGILANTE’S LEGACY 

HTTYD. YEARS: 2014-2016. LENGTH: 20,546 WORDS. There’s been four years of war between three factions. Drago’s army. The Vigilante and her dragons. Berk and their allies. But now, Chief Hiccup believes there’s a way to end the conflict. Sequel to “The Vigilante’s War.”

Hiccup spoke up. Cleared his voice. Tapped his pointer finger apprehensively on the cell’s iron door. “You said we were making a mistake.” Might as well speak straight to the point of his visit. “Something about ‘you and every one of your warriors are making a mistake’ or – or something like that.”

For a moment Hiccup wondered if Valka actually would reply. The calculating gaze she gave him from the corner of her prison certainly did not seem a positive sign. However, then, with a steady, lilting cadence to her voice, she succinctly affirmed, “I did.” Just those two words. Nothing more.

- VIII. THE MISTAKES OF WAR

It’s unfinished; I haven’t updated because I ran out of steam and didn’t receive enough reader feedback encouraging me to continue. Though I did have a very vivid final chapter in mind… that I still love… which I never got to…?

MEMOIRS

HTTYD. YEARS: 2015-2016. LENGTH: 44,289 WORDS. My ongoing collection of drabbles for HTTYD. Angst, pain, comfort, humor, crossovers, crack, it’s all there. Favorites include “Family Portrait,” “Stubble,” “Buffcup the Brawny,” and “Remember When.”

He held her hand softly, one wrinkled hand laid gently on top of another. It was just her and him now in the house all alone – for their children had left on a voyage with the grandkids, and would not be back for a week yet, if even two. It evoked the quietness of the old days, back before they were old, back during the times when they were newlyweds and younger even than their grandchildren were today. Oh, but the smell of her hair was just as refreshing now as when it was blonde.

- REMEMBER WHEN

DINNER AT DRAGON’S EDGE 

HTTYD. YEAR: 2015. LENGTH: 5,452 WORDS. The gang’s settling in at Dragon’s Edge. To make sure everything operates smoothly, Hiccup suggests a chore rotation system. That means everyone has to do their fair share of the cooking… but it doesn’t mean everyone is a fair cook.

“Oh my gods, is this dinner or what the rats threw away?” Snotlout exclaimed, terrified at the Unidentified Edible Object before him.

Tuffnut picked it up with one experimental hand and held it out before him at a safe distance. People would have held poisonous snakes or bloodied torture devices more cheerily. Squinting his eyes and peering carefully at the peculiar specimen pinched between his fingers, rubbing under his chin with his other, free hand, Tuffnut remarked, “Looks something like what Barf and Belch poop out after they get sick and…”

- 1. ASSIGNING JOBS

This humorous fic I think is where I do best capturing HTTYD character personalities and interactions.

[SUPER]HERO THE HARD WAY 

HTTYD. YEARS: 2014-2017. LENGTH: 86,566 WORDS. In a modern world where Berk is full of superheroes battling the League of Outcasts, power-less Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third struggles to receive appreciation for who he is. Through his crime-fighting journey, Hiccup learns that, while he might not have powers, he can become a Hero the Hard Way.

“I wasn’t born with anything. Don’t have anything. I’m the son of Chief Stoick “Skullcrusher” and I don’t have anything. Not even a superpower to turn objects purple. Which frankly would be completely pointless but at least it would have been something.“

He realized he was babbling and promptly shut his mouth. He looked over at Fishlegs, who appeared to be wordlessly processing the information. The teenager appeared baffled moreso than anything else, which at least meant he was not outright rejecting him.

“So you’re going to train to be a superhero… and you don’t have any powers? I got that right?”

“You got that right.”

“Wow.” Fishlegs said.

Hiccup waited for more.

“That’s actually really cool.”

- CHAPTER THREE: SIDEKICKED

This started as me intending to write one crack chapter. It turned into me envisioning a ROB / DOB modern AU where all characters were superheroes. The final product became a retelling of HTTYD 1′s basic concept: Hiccup gaining his peers’ approval despite being different. Somehow, despite me 70% adlibbing by the seat of my pants (should I be admitting this?), I had great fun. And it brought in the most reviews, follows, and favorites of any of my posted stories! Thanks for the reads and support, everyone!!!

RESET OR RESUME 

UT. YEAR: 2016-2017. LENGTH: 85,841 WORDS. Gaster’s research unlocks the secret of time travel. After the Royal Scientist’s untimely end, one of Gaster’s colleagues - Sans - finds himself with the power to Reset. Confronted with unpleasant timelines and dangerous choices, Sans must decide how to navigate through time… if it’s worth resetting for a better future, continuing with hope for the present, or simply giving up.

No longer timid and silent, the human happily babbled all sorts of nonsense to Sans, everything from how to bake snow pies to how weird Sans’ skull looked to how beautiful the ribbon in their hair was to their opinions of Papyrus’ ‘battle body’ to how their mom didn’t like the color black to their personal opinion of ferrets to a long narrative of their encounter with a snail-loving old lady they met on the other side of the Ruins door. Everything could be the topic of a conversation. There was no filter and even less sense of restraint for this child.

“How are you a SKELETON?” their happy little high-pitched voice squeaked. They flew gallantly over a twig that rested, flat, on the surface of the snow. Powder flew everywhere as they landed heavily into the snowbank. “That means – that means you should be DEAD, you know!”

“who says i’m not dead?” Sans trolled with a wink.

With a shrieking giggle, they exclaimed, “Don’t be silly! Only ghosts are dead!”

“i could be a skeleton ghost.”

“No you – no you can’t.” The human seemed to be quite confident about their knowledge in paranormal metaphysics. “You can be a skeleton. You can be a ghost. But nobody – NOBODY – can be a skeleton ghost.”

“is that so?”

“YES so! You CAN’T be both. That would be wrong.” Maybe the human mentally categorized skeletons and ghosts as separate Halloween creatures, ensuring they were mutually exclusive concepts. It was always challenging to comprehend a child’s train of logic. “Except…” and now the child paused, leaning down and tugging at the sleeve of their sweater. Something thoughtful – at least as much as one so young could be thoughtful – passed over their eyes. They cocked their head to the side and stared at Sans. In the same sort of innocence with which they had talked about ferrets, the human inquired, “…can ghosts also be dust?”

- 5. KNOCKS [[File 5.2 IH-20150701-3-3]]

I have particular fondness for this fic. I spent more energy and care with this than any other I’ve posted. Drenched it through with UT lore. Edited and revised thoroughly. Had two beta readers examine my ASL for accurate representation. I wrote extensive outlines that were several page long color-coded charts, had all this meticulous structuring going on…

The problem was, this was an impossibly ambitious project. Life got in the way, too. The 85,841 words here aren’t close to the end of Part 1. The final two Parts were going to explain the weirdness within Part 1 (the story doesn’t begin in chronological order - it gets pieced together like a puzzle). What I planned to write would have included a complex characterization arc for Sans, every human child that’s visited the underground, and multiple resets containing main character deaths… until the story would end with Sans confronting Frisk in the Genocide Route.

Hopefully, despite the incompleteness, this is enjoyable from its comedy to its angst! I would at least encourage people to read the first few chapters! Or “Socks” - an entire chapter devoted to Sans and Gaster pulling sock pranks on each other.

SOMEHOW THEY’RE STILL OFFICERS

FMAB. YEAR: 2018-2019. LENGTH: 6,036 WORDS. Ahhhhhh yes. Team Mustang. The hand-selected, elite group of military officers who effectively spend their time… doing nonsense. 

Everyone was scrambling at once. Mustang rushed forward to greet their guest, perfect composure only broken by the fast pace at which he moved. In fact the colonel’s posture was almost a proud enough display to make his lack of shirt go unnoticed. But Falman chucked his cards away at the same time he tried to salute; Breda was ducking from Falman’s sudden card shower; Fuery was launching pants and underwear in Havoc’s face; and Lieutenant Hawkeye, obviously abashed to be in this room at all, was covering her eyes with her hand in what was either her life’s longest sigh, or a pathetic attempt to hide her face and identity.

- WE WERE JUST PLAYING CARDS

My collection of FMA drabbles, particularly stories of Team Mustang shenanigans. Prompts / requests welcome for more adventures!

I have a few other drabbles posted, too. I also have unfinished chapters of Voltron fanfictions on my computer that I could share, too? Maybe I should? I’m currently working on several Royai fanfictions, other FMA drabbles, and a longer Deponia fanfiction.

Thank you again for being so nice and connecting with me over fanfiction and fandom and FMA and more. You’re a really wonderful and cool person and you made my day.

[youngshiney]

how i would run sm: Exo edition

starting a new series of posts in which i detail what i would have done for each sm group if i was in charge. im starting at Exo bc a.) theyre my ult sm group besides my beloved RV, b.) i think about them the most, and c.) they are where kwangya should have started properly instead of lsm/sm leeching off of their concept to apply to everyone else. anyway, under the cut bc this will likely be long

Early days (pre-debut to 2013): i have a few major changes, but nothing too out there.

first point of change: line-up and positions. Exo-K is fine as is, there isnt much to change about them besides Sehun and Kai needing more lines and better coaches early days to properly develop them like the rest of vocal line. Exo-M gets a major overhaul. first of all, Henry Lau should be leader instead of kw and even tho Luhan/Jongdae are both main vocal, they should cut their parts up more so Yixing and Minseok (and Henry) can shine as well. M has great vocalists, they should be used and while Minseok is perfect at everything, his vocals are underrated by p much everyone. Zitao should be the only rapper besides Minseok sometimes. putting kw was a bad move bc Zitao is their best rapper (equal to and sometimes better than Chanyeol) and he shouldnt have been put as lead rapper. the reason i chose Henry as leader btw is because he's friendly, a musical genius, handsome, and older while not being too much older than the rest of the group. he also wasn't doing much in suju since elfs wouldnt let him join the group and suju-m was a shitshow. he was wasted in that group and it shouldnt have existed.

second point of change: Mama should have gotten a webtoon/comic series to go along with their debut. Exo literally started the lore/storyline concept (afaik but please correct me if another group had an overarching storyline like they did), so why not actually flesh out the world/characters from the Mama intro and What Is Love? like a comic would have suited their story perfectly and would have drawn in a lot of interest, leading to a better reception of their debut.

third point of change: minor outfit issues. the drop crotch pants were ugly, Kai's Wolf hair, the entire Wolf era actually (besides pink Yixing and rainbow Sehun), uh the noose on Junmyeon for Mama. like so many style problems

fourth point of change: Miracles in December. K ver should have been Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon. M ver should have been Jongdae, Luhan, and Yixing. that's all.

Beginning Popularity and the Painful days (2013-2015): more changes! but mostly for promotions and schedules.

first point: Exo-M should have lived/worked in China, at least for six months out of the year. China was, and is, their biggest market and fanbase and they should have done more than like 3 Happy Camp episodes. They should have had more concerts and fanmeets and tv appearances in China, which also would have helped with the profit distribution and other issues. Tencent Video, iQiYi, and Youku all started around the time they debuted, and it would have been so easy to pitch a variety/reality show like Exo's Showtime to them, hell even a scripted show like Exo Next Door could have worked. Busking events and mini fanmeeting tours across China to replace music show appearances (ex. Boystory did a series of busking events which is along the lines of what I'm thinking of). i think doing that and maybe a shorter tour for Exoplanet 1 + 2 would have been better and allowed for more rest between cbs and schedules.

second point: 2014/2015 should have been the start of sm station songs, not necessarily the actual thing but the idea of members getting to make solo songs and mvs and release them. i think it would have helped with some of the creative frustration some members felt during that time (specifically Zitao). also they should have let members open solo youtube channels and soundclouds for the same reason.

third point: this era is important for visibility and impact so there should have been better quality schedules and more time for members to rest and heal. whats the point of having all those schedules if people are missing them constantly due to injuries or mental health issues?? better to have more memorable promotions than a lot of appearances. (i will never get over the fact that theres only ONE Call Me Baby stage with Zitao AND Yixing AND the fact that i will never hear the Chinese version live even tho Tao's parts are superior to the entire Korean version)

2016-2019: Lucky One, Monster, Lotto were great eras to continue the webtoon previously mentioned since so much lore was included in those mvs. other than that i have no issues really and the CBX debut was a great idea. no notes besides the fact that i would have had them do mvs more like Mama in that its all members but only their sub group sings instead of like Wolf or Growl where its ot12 in video and song.

THE WAR now here is where everything needs to change. besides Kai's hair (again bc sm never learns). so first of all, scrap Kokobop or make it a bside idc. its fun and all but the missed opportunity to make the Eve the title track makes me mad. and its not about the choreo bc i dont care about that, listen to the lyrics for both versions. its all about fighting a battle and the dawning of a new era and all that shit and it would have been so much better as the title for an album called THE WAR, not to mention the potential for the Exo storyline and perhaps even an X-Exo tease?? like the PLOT would have been immaculate (in my head anyway). Power is fine and gets no notes, wouldnt change anything especially the comic and album inclusions. oh also they should have worked around Yixing's schedule for The War

Tempo/Love Shot are also fine but i would have included more of the Exo storyline in the mvs and YIXING FOR LOVE SHOT. other than that, no notes. Yixing solo music, Jongdae solo music, Baekhyun solo music, SC are also all perfect.

Wildest years of their careers (2019-2021): SuperM was fine for Jopping but i would have changed the line up majorly (but thats for another day). also Obsession was perfect but i would have included the leaked footage. Junmyeon solo debut was also good (the solos are fine and i wouldnt really do anything with them changes wise). oh also how funny is it that Zitao did like two X-Exo concepts before Exo themselves (AB Style and AI). SuperM SuperOne was a mistake and shouldnt exist imo, like the songs are fine and i like some of them but there was no need to continue. Kai solo debut was also perfect and the nod to the Exo powers/lore was amazing

Don't Fight the Feeling was super cute and needed in Exo Planet and even though Yixing was a hologram, i was still happy to see/hear him. I would have done more promo for it but oh well, the Exo Arcade was good. Kyungsoo's solo debut should have had stages and performances even if it was just him alone in a room in the sm building. like there was no reason not to promote the album at all

2022: Exo Ladder was a really good idea and Junmyeon's Grey Suit was perfect. they were both the feel good content that Exols needed while there wasn't much going on. i would have had members maybe do a bit more solo/unit activities like maybe Sehun solo debut but it was pretty busy with Yixing's music and acting and Kyungsoo's show.

Minseok's solo album was decent, but personally i didn't vibe that much with the title or b-sides and I wish he had a better debut. but i wrote about that already when it came out.

small smtown mention: why the fuck didn't Yixing get to go bc he should have performed Love Shot with them bc he was there and he already knows the dance and he's a great vocal. like what the fuck sm

Future plans: SEHUN AND CHANYEOL SOLO DEBUTS, KAI3, KYUNGSOO2, MINSEOK2, JONGDAE ROCK ALBUM, EXO CB WITH YIXING, a totally self indulgent version of Phantom of the Opera with Jongdae as the Phantom and Le Sserafim Yunjin as Christine, SKY unit, Minseok/Sehun unit, my other self indulgent unit for Kai/Yuta/Joy.

overall thoughts: most of my changes are for early days and honestly i wouldnt change a lot in the later years besides capitalizing on the lore more and letting members have more freedom (creatively and personally). the divide between K/M should have been a little bit greater with only a few cbs in their career being ot12 since K and M were received and treated differently in multiple countries. i think maybe only the songs with lots of lore attached should be ot12 (thats with Henry btw). i think thats everything? if not, oh well its long enough anyway

[rosegolddm]

Intro from your lovely DM! My history with D&D:

Hi friends! I have decided to start a blog documenting my experiences as a DM running Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. I actually haven't been a tabletop gamer for very long, but D&D has been something of which I have been aware for a long time.

I think I've always been into the fantasy genre, going back to a love of fairy tales and mythology from a very early age. I liked being read to and learning to read came just as naturally to me as a result. My dad also had an ongoing series of stories about Prince Garbanzo and Princess Goldie-lips that he'd improv for my siblings and me as bedtime stories. As a young gay child, princesses and mermaids in particular always caught my interest. I remember attending renaissance faires and coming home with wooden swords and shields - no princess hats, but that would have been THE LOOK at 5 years old for sure.

My history with role playing started with console JRPGs. These of course owe a lot to D&D when it comes to monsters, settings and other genre conventions we assume have just always been there. The original Legend of Zelda is the first RPG I can remember watching someone else play. Final Fantasy IV was the first I played on my own, back when it was called Final Fantasy II and fans in the US weren't even aware there were two games in between that (at the time) were destined to languish in Japan. Several more games would follow, many still retaining those D&D roots of which I was at the time unaware.

Shortly thereafter, my sister had a high school boyfriend who gave me several books in the Dragonlance series. This was my first true exposure to Dungeons and Dragons. I tore through these novels under the age of 10 - some of the content admittedly went over my head (probably for the best), but I read them cover to cover. I also remember reading The Hobbit around this time - I even did a book report about it!

I don't think I necessarily made the connection that the Dragonlance novels were based on an actual game until around the time Eye of the Beholder was ported from PC to current consoles of the time. I distinctly remember renting the SNES version and would later go on to own the Sega CD port. Video game magazines gave me some familiarity with the rules and monsters, but overall they were more cool games to play, nothing I wanted to research further than that. At some point I also rented the NES Dragonlance game, but that one's also notoriously crappy. Perhaps the less said about it, the better.

The Capcom D&D arcade games, probably the furthest from playing traditional D&D, were what really piqued my interest in the tabletop game from which all these video game spinoffs derived. Among other things, they included a mechanic that sort of emulated rolling dice to make a saving throw - you had to move the joystick back and forth to get out of various status effects. For whatever reason, this stuck with me. The inclusion of several iconic monsters and spells probably didn't hurt. I was sold on all of it!

After having played a few video games using D&D rules (or at least the settings), I finally decided it was time to give playing the real thing a try. My mom wasn't about to take me to some hobby store to play with a bunch of old grognards - nor did I even know that was an option at the time! Instead, I was allowed to order my first D&D module - Menzoberranzan. I don't think I had any sort of description of what I was ordering other than it being a D&D product - I was going in practically blind. Without any other manuals and just what we knew from the various games we'd played, my brother and I guessed our way through, mostly just throwing random dice around and deciding arbitrarily whether or not we'd killed one of the many drow provided in the modules. Despite a ton of interesting setting information, we both lost interest pretty quickly. Menzoberranzan was either given away during a move to a new house or lost in a flood. We resumed playing the occasional D&D video game, eventually having our options widened through both emulation and PC gaming.

As I got older, I made more friends with similar interests. Some of them had played actual D&D (2E) campaigns - I was so jealous! I managed to rope one friend into acting as DM for me and another friend. We made it through about one session during a lunchtime period at school. I don't recall doing much in the way of rolling dice or anything one typically associates with playing a tabletop RPG. It's probably for the best that it didn't pan out. The DM loved pulling dick moves on PCs and had an arsenal of DMPCs to get out of any and every jam, all of whom were ostensibly cooler and more competent than either of us players could possibly muster. I don't think dealing with any of that at length would have left me with a very good impression of the game.

The release of the third edition of D&D was an exciting time! I ended up picking up the player's manual, DM guide, and monster manual. Later on I even got the Complete Psionics. I would use these to formulate several characters and come up with all sorts of cool ideas in my head, but none of it ever translated into a regular game. At the time I certainly didn't feel confident enough to act as a DM, especially with a system as rule-heavy and numbers-heavy as 3E tended to be. There was also a brief attempt to get a game of Vampire: The Masquerade going in high school, but again it never really got off the ground.

Tabletop gaming fell off the radar for me for many years following that. I was aware of the 4th edition release, but unsure of what to make of it and not really willing to spend my money on a whole new set of manuals. It was a drastic change, to be sure, and I was probably more focused on dudes or partying or clothing. Every now and then, I'd get curious about a particular setting's lore and read up on that, but it wouldn't ever get further than that. I even went so far as to download a Pathfinder app that contained a huge amount of compiled information - being close in spirit to 3E didn't hurt!

It wouldn't be until a friend from Tumblr started doing artwork for the campaign he was running that my interest was again sparked in actually playing a sit-down game of D&D. I knew bits and pieces about the newest edition and it all sounded good to me. The party needed an arcane caster, I chose a Warlock, and I was immediately hooked. What really sealed the deal was having both an accommodating, engaging DM in addition to a great group of players. Over the course of about a year, we played through Lost Mine of Phandelver, adding lots of our own personal touches to the material through our characters.

What followed were some attempts at new 5E games, unfortunately hampered by the scheduling conflicts that often arise when you're trying to get 5-6 20-40somethings with jobs living in different boroughs of NYC to appear at the same place at the same time. Some folks moved away, some got bogged down in personal life stuff, but I never lost interest. If anything it made me more determined to get the right crew together for a really great campaign.

I am currently part of a mostly homebrew 5e campaign on hiatus best described as a mix of both Avatar series, Steven Universe, and a lot of interesting parallels to the currently running Not Another D&D Podcast (which I highly recommend btw). Kevin has been a great DM and we often spitball ideas that eventually make it into the campaign off each other.

During downtime from my main 5e game (we typically play about once a month and are currently taking a longer break), I started looking into Adventurer's League games for Kevin and I to try to give us both more opportunities to try different characters (and in Kevin's case, not being stuck as DM!). That didn't quite pan out, but in my search I DID randomly find a tabletop gaming channel on Slack at my job. I found a few mentions of D&D and decided to throw my hat in the ring with helping to organize a game. This was interpreted as me volunteering to be DM.

Honestly, I'd never considered it before and was a bit intimidated by the prospect. After stewing over it for a bit, however, I realized I could run Lost Mine of Phandelver, having familiarity with the material as a player. Once I had the books in my hands and the planning started, it all sort of clicked. Using tips from my friends who'd run games before and a variety of resources available online, I've gotten really into the whole process!

So that leads us to where we are now. In about a week, I'll be meeting with my players (2 experienced, 3 totally new to D&D) for session 0 to go over rules, expectations, and character creation. Coming up with characters is one of my favorite parts, so I'm very excited! I'll be using this space to discuss my own experiences running games, resources I enjoy, and other aspects of tabletop gaming. There's plenty more to come!

[smilesthroughfandoms]

Star vs. the Forces of Evil episodes in One Sentence (Season 3 edition)

Star Comes to Earth: Princess Cinnamon Roll that Could Kill you comes to earth and meets Misunderstood safe kid.

Party With a Pony: Spoopy Wardens hunt for the glitter pony while Star gets ice for Marco’s sweaty back.

Matchmaker: In which we learn it was probably a bad idea to give Star the wand in the first place.

School Spirit: Star misunderstands football and Marco tries to get Ferguson to blow his whistle not in that way.

Monster Arm: “Not my bowels! I love my bowels!”

The Other Exchange Student: Star is jealous of the meatball man from Bakersfieldville.

Cheer Up Star: “It’s supposed to be ironic!”

Quest Buy: Very accurate depiction of what it is like to work in retail.

Diaz Family Vacation: Both Marco and Star see new sides of their dads but that’s not necessarily a good thing

Brittney’s Party: Star and Marco party with someone who hates them while Ludo hijacks a bus

Mewberty: Star gets horny and snares boys in her web but not in that way

Pixtopia: Marco messed up and Alfonso marries Ferguson’s rebound

Lobster Claws: “… You can’t eat children.” “Really? Not even the annoying ones?”

Sleep Spell: “Camera Phooone!”

Blood Moon Ball: We’re suppose to ship them now, right?

Fortune Cookies: Love is never the answer kids

Freeze Day: Father Time offers Star and Marco some mud before riding away on his wheel-mobile pulled by giant time-hamsters I am not making this up.

Royal Pain: King Santa Claus destroy mini-golf

St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses: Princess Prison sure is a nightma–OH MY GOD ARE THOSE CLUBS?!

Mewnipendence Day: No wonder monsters hate Mewmans so much.

The Banagic Wand: Star still doesn’t get Earth and like all of us, Marco is always hungry.

Interdemensional Field Trip: Miss Skullnick fears the “Big Change” while Marco sends Jackie cat memes

Marco Grows a Beard: Ludo is out, Toffee is in, and Marco will probbaly be terrified of beards forever

Storm the Castle: “SURPRISE!”

My New Wand!: DIP DOOOWN

Ludo in the Wild: Wait, since when did Ludo become badass?

Mr. Candle Cares: “Star and I have recently become smooch buddies… On the lips.”

Red Belt: Marco searches for a meaning in life and Star searches for hammer.

Star on Wheels: *epic remix of Marco saying Star is in trouble*

Fetch: Marco can’t open juice and Star runs away from her problems and sending thank you cards

Star vs. Echo Creek: Star gets high and destroys a police car

Wand to Wand: Both Ludo and Star are terrible at magic also major ship tease

Starstruck: Star and her idol Sailor Super Saiyan destroy a park and Marco is 100002% done with this shit

Camping Trip: King Butterfly has a mid-life crisis and tries to control an eagle

Starsitting: They’re gonna be great parents some day.

On the Job: Buff Dad is best dad and buff babies are adorable

Goblin Dogs: “You might think this line is long, but listen to my goblin song!~”

By the Book: Ludo and Star still suck at magic and Glossaryck is a bigger troll than Alex Hirsch

Game of Flags: Queen has no patience and legs.

Girls’ Day Out: Janna is back and is still awesome btw

Sleepover: “TRUTH! STAR HAS A CRUSH ON MA–” *cube gets crushed*

Gift of the Card: R.I.P.  Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne… He couldn’ get his fucking chainsaw to work

Friendenemies: Star becomes one with Christmas tree while Tom and Marco go on a date and sing a romantic pop ballad.

Is Mystery: Meatfork is apparently a family name and Ludo is really starting to freak me out tbh

Hungry Larry: “He’s still hungry…”

Spider with a Top Hat: He tries and he is awesome and that’s all that matters

Into the Wand: SPAAAAADESS!!!

Pizza Thing: Marco is OCD about mushroom and Pony Head buys skinny jeans

Page Turner: Glossaryck is awesome and how did Moon miss Lizard-Loki in the orb?!

Naysaya: Tomco friendship confirmed and Marco finally asks out Jackie while Star the supportive noodle armed friend cheers on

Bon Bon the Birthday Clown: Starco fans cry, Jarco fans rejoice, and Ludo now has the book god dammit Nefcy

Raid the Cave: Glossaryck is the true neutral asshole.

Trickstar: Weird Al is a treasure and I’ll mes up anyone who makes Marco cry!

Baby: *glances around nervously* So… Star is similar to Eclipsa, huh? *Nervous laughter* Great…

Running With Scissors: Marco gets a new edition to his shipping harem and she is so cute!!!!!!

Mathmagic: Don’t worry Star, I can’t math either.

The Bounce Lounge: Marco is definitely the mom friend.

Crystal Clear: The Chancellor guy is amazing and Rhombulus just needs a hug and wAS THAT ECLIPSA IN THE BACKGROUND?

The Hard Way: “SURPRISE!” 2.0

Heinous: Oh, so that’s how Marco got all that money.

All Belts Are Off: “Jermey is the biggest dick…. around!~”

Collateral Damage: Marco how do you not know what a possum is?

Just Friends: I’m fine! *blows up sign to prove just how fine I am*

Face the Music: Moon=Badass, Star=Why?, River=Loving Husband, Marco=Shocked, and we got to meet Ludo’s family so pretty cool episode overall.

Star Crushed: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH–remember when we though Bon Bon the Birthday Clown was the end of the world?–AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

BONUS ROUND! BATTLE FOR MEWNI EDITION!!!!!

Return to Mewni: This is… just an exposition filler. Not much else to say….

Moon the Undaunted: B4! B4! B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4!

Book Be Gone: “I hate that fucking book!” -Ludo, at some point probably.

Marco and the King: *Party music intensifies… and then slowly dies down*

Puddle Defender: They’re bonding and getting so big and I am so proud–Star you idiot don’t go alone!!!!!!

King Ludo: The mime stole the show.

Toffee: I can’t…. I just… how do you want me to react?! To much happened and I mean…. what do you want me to say? I’m still processing just…. What do I say? *slowlys ponders how I will survive until November*

Scent of Hoodie: Huh, so Ponyhead can be written as likeable, who would’ve thought?

Rest in Pudding: Ish da Glossaryck! And he’s Globgoring all over da place!

Club Snubbed: I literally yelled “Phrasing!” whenever they dropped the title

Stranger Danger: "Something like that” whY WOULD YOU SAY THAT IF YOU WERE ON THE SIDE OF GOOD?!?! SERIOUSLY GUYS THIS BUGGED ME FOR WEEKS--

Demoncism: Tom is a wonderful baby boy and Ponyhead is written as likeable, part 2!

Sophmore Slump: *sobbing* Jackie deserved better, dang it!

Lint Catcher: Introducing a Lavaboe! He’s pure and wonderful and deserves a raise and did I mention I love him?

Trial by Squire: I think the writers were all like” You think these guys will ship anyone with Marco?” and decided to test that theory.

Princess Turdina: I got more lore out of this episode than I thought I would.

Starfari: Welp, she makes me uncomfortable.

Sweet Dreams: *Sailor Moon-ing intensifies*

Lava Lake Beack: Proof that this fandom will ship anyone with Marco at the slightest inclanation

Death Peck: Rich Pigeon is my new favorite birb and Ponyhead is written as likeable for the third time

Ponymonium: Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Night Life: The writers made so many new ships they had to get rid of an old one!

Deep Dive: “Chicken butt”

Monster Bash: ........ Well, that explains the cheekmarks. 

Stump Day: I think they just made an episode based around a picture from that bookcover, not that it was bad.

Holiday Special: *insert every cheesy Christmas/Holiday episode trope here*

The Bog Beast of Boggabah: The title is fun to say and the episode is average at best.

Total Eclipsa the Moon: Seriously, I’m supposed to think she’s an ultimate villain.

Butterfly Trap: In which we are all Sean, don’t lie we were all him at the end

Ludo, Where Art Thou?: Dennis is best brother, hands down.

Is Another Mystery: *sniff* I got more emotional over this episode than anyone else did and I’m not sure how I feel about that

Marco Jr.: I... I just... Why? What’s the point?

Skooled!: Epic advertisment fakeout combined with wonderful character development and lore with a shock ending makes a 10/10 episode.

Booth Buddies: Old Man McGucket ships Starco, proceed to react accordingly

Bam Ui Pati!: Ponyhead is kinda likeable in this episod--nevermind she’s back.

Tough Love: Oh man, it’s happening! It’s happening guys here we go!

Divide: We are going to war everybody--And they’re all dead. That was quick.

Conquer: So Glossaryck has upped his trolling antity and turns out Eclipsa’s probably evil, Meteora’s a baby again, and Globgor is her husband and imprisoned in crystal... Idk about you guys but I’m going to go scream into the void...