#wiz rambles

[wiz-writes]

So I thought I'd manage to post the demos on itch today, turns out I suck at customising pages. Seriously, I'm about to chuck the computer out of the window.

Why does it look fine on mobile and the browser version looks like ****?

What's worse, I put one of my playlists on shuffle and the thing keeps playing only the instrumental versions of the songs... I swear it's doing it on purpose just to irk me. 😂😂😂

yes, i'm okay

[two-wizards-in-a-trench-coat]

i wonder why everyone usually depicts martin as being super tall. was he ever described that way and i missed it? always pictured him small and easily not spotted for obvious reasons lmao

[shoechoe]

i do enjoy how the clearly aged playerbase and changing state of media has drastically changed perception of the player character in wizard101

intent-wise you know the Young Wizard was whisked away by Ambrose to go learn magic and fight wizard battles as a fun magical escapist fantasy for children. back when most of the playerbase was children, and escapist fantasy stories like this were popular, nobody really questioned this much. but now that the wizard101 fanbase is full of adults everyone's like "What the hell? Your player is a child who was ripped from their home, trained to become a soldier and fight some old man's battles for him? Are they okay???"

[transgwender616]

L. Frank Baum: The story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written to solely please the children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart aches and nightmares are left out.

Modern writers: Okay but what if the Wizard was a fascist and Oz was a dystopia?

[piecesofchess]

Tartarus is still a little broken and that's Fun !

[wildandmoody]

Michael on a train in New York City during the promotion(?) of 'The Wiz' in 1978.

The placement of the overhead lights suggest that he was riding in an R-46 passenger car. The R-46s were constructed in the late 70s with the fleet being incorporated into the subway system in 1975-1978 - so they would've been brand-new at the time! This also suggests the train line he was riding - the N - which utilised the R-46 cars up until this year. 'The Wiz' was predominantly shot in Astoria, Queens, and this line runs between Manhattan and northern Queens with service ending in Astoria - so it just makes sense!

[memesandmusicalss]

FUCKING GET THEIR ASS PLAYBILL 💥💥💥💥

[ecogirl2759]

I am posting to literally every Fandom rn and I'm sorry but I neeeeed to get this out

I LOVE looking at Malorn Ashthorn through a very literal lense. Because that makes him literally one of the most tragic characters in Wiz <3

(Came back up after writing this whole post and realized it's kinda sorta very long. So, full rant is under the break ^w^)

Edit: Please forgive any spelling mistakes, I wrote this all on my phone, which sucks lol

Every time you go to Ravenwood, he's there. Malorn, without fail, is always standing by the crater at all times. (This is what I mean by literal lol, since his sprite just wasn't put in any other locations.) Other students keep coming and going throughout the day, able to take rests in their dorms and occasionally go on field assignments, but Malorn can't do that. He just has to stand there. Waiting.

He's practically forced to be there, too. He's "Acting Professor Ashthorn" after all. He has to be there just in case a student drops by, and everyone works on their own schedule. That includes all the other Death students, especially since they're on independent study and literally have no time table to work off of. So, to make sure he can actually do his job, he needs to be ready at all times. He needs to always be on the clock. He can't leave.

What's more, he can't even go to the headmaster's office. He can't leave his station, so he can't go negotiate with Ambros. He can't ask for breaks. He can't catch up on news. He can't give or receive progress reports, assignments or updates. Unless he's deliberately called, he is, quite literally, trapped in this catch22 of seclusion.

Malorn also can't further his own learning in any meaningful way. All his other fellow students are off on assignments, doing practical work and honing their spells. Not to mention that it seems--based on Penny's side quest--that Ambros is the one who gives them their work. But Malorn can't move. Even if he got assignments, he would never be able to complete them. He's literally not allowed to learn.

Also, no one really ever shows up to Malorn's little corner of Ravenwood anymore. The other students don't actually need to go to him for anything, since they know most if not all the same spells he does, as well as not needing to turn their assignments in to him. New lore suggests that studying Death magic is wildly unpopular now that Malistaire is dead/evil/dead again, and old lore states that the already existing Death students are actively being discouraged from continuing their studies / persuaded to study different schools. Considering how few Death students you come across in-game, (keeping in mind that they have to be out and about since they have no classroom to congregate in,) it's probably safe to assume that many of the previous Death students were successfully deterred. I can't imagine Malorn sees much traffic anymore.

Even after the Death School is found by the Wizard and classes are said to resume, (even though the connection to Nightside is unstable? Eh, anyway,) Malorn is never seen outside of his usual spot. He literally cannot go to class anymore because he's too busy being Acting Professor. He now has to stand there in his usual spot, directing students to the actual Death School. (Because no one can put the building back, I guess. -_-)

And Malorn isn't even recognized for his hard work, either! Despite always being as helpful and friendly as possible, doing a pretty great job at being Acting Professor (if you ask me), he's never rewarded. The Wizard graduates, and Dwargyn is promoted to Death Professor. AND MALORN STILL HAS TO JUST STAND THERE!

Though, that also calls into question whether or not he actively wanted the role of Acting Professor or not. Sure, he's great at it, and yeah, he makes the most with what he can. But is he Acting Professor because he genuinely wanted to take up that mantle, or is he Acting Professor because he was the best of the Death students at the time? (I mean, I imagine it's because he wanted to, but we technically don't know for certain.)

Last but not least, no one likes the Death School kids. Both in old and new lore, some of the kids express how creepy the Death School is to them. They think the Death students are weird and freaky. The kids are ostracized by the rest of the Ravenwood student body simply because necromancy gives them the heebie-jeebies. So for Malorn to be stuck in Ravenwood, all day every day, surrounded by people who other him and look down on him not only because he's a necromancer, but because (I imagine) some of the kids would see his title of Acting Professor as him "sucking up to Ambros" or "thinking he's as great as Malistaire was" or "looking down on other regular students" or any other number of uncharitable assumptions. It would be hard for anyone to handle that kind of treatment for an extended period of time, including Malorn.

Malorn probably feels an immense amount of pressure from everyone's expectations of him as a Death student, an honor student, and as Acting Professor. Even though there's nothing for him to do most of the time, he still has to do it perfectly. He can't afford to fail his classmates. His friends. He's now in charge of their education, so if they fall behind, he'll be the one to blame. He has to show Ambros that Death is still worth studying, even if Malistaire might be gone. He can't make the Death School seem weak in the eyes of the other students by slacking off or being inhospitable. So he keeps a smile on his face as he stands by himself, forced to play Professor without ever getting the recognition or power of one, all while still being a student actively in school, unable to grow and get stronger with his peers due to being secluded and forbidden to leave.

"Acting Professor Ashthorn" isn't even a Professor. He's just a lonely school boy, trying to do his best, yet always coming up short.

It's sad.

[seaside01]

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS

WHATTTTTT

I'M A BIG PROJECT YBTFC FAN BUT LIKE THIS IS CRAZY

Okay so for context

I had a dream that project ybtfc/Wiz somehow got my discord account and snuck into my DMs and said "I know you watch my videos, Ocean"

And I sent that to the hitscord dream journal

and that was the only place I sent it

And, at the time, I wasn't in tallyball's server or project's (I'm still not in her server 😭)

And about 8 or 9 hours ago Wiz did that community post but I didn't see it until a few hours after

So somebody from hitscord, who was also in project ybtfc's or tal's server (most likely project's bc I went searching through tal's) sent my dream

which resulted in Wiz making that post

So if anyone who watches Wiz and saw that and was confused, that was directed toward me because of that dream I had jeagdjnaidnkaha

TY WIZ!! A DREAM COME TRUE!! ^_^

Okay I'm done ranting now ^_^

[stormy-sierra]

helping a friend through khrysalis and like....god theres so much to talk about and so much that has already been said because its an absolute banger of a world but like. i have to say i really love the themes of transformation, experimentation, and manipulation from all aspects of the world itself more under cut becase i have So many Throughts

like the obvious baseline is shadow magic, which you learn about and gain in khrysalis itself, representing changing reality and form, manipulation and trickery. we see how it changed khrysalis itself, and the people of khrysalis, from the mantises and bees and mice and how they deal with Morganthe's influence to how the arachnid empire LITERALLY transforms other creatures into goliaths and shadow weavers through shadow magic.

this also reflects what happened with Morganthe herself, which I find really interesting. world about transformation that ends in defeating a woman who lost herself in shadow and transformed at the hands of others, in some foolhardy attempt to transform the Spiral itself. not to mention that the wizard finds themselves being changed as they pass through; it just all makes me go a little insane i think it makes me feel very normal

[wiz-writes]

AAAAAAH, CH2 IS DONE!!!!

Mostly.

Just need to add stat/relationship changes and then reread it at least a thousand times.

If you don't see the update posted within the next two hours, then I've gone to sleep (as I really should) and the update will be playable tomorrow!

am really nervous to hear what y'all think

[powersurger]

If I knew how id totally make a Kacchako (platonic or otherwise) wicked What is this feeling animatic

[corntort]

I LOVE U STEJ ARTISTS ILUUUUUU

[spiralwanderer]

Okay but real talk how has CM Sparck been able to have his job for so long lmao

[shoechoe]

the shoechoe fanbase appreciates Morganthe more than the average wiz fan does, I fear

[screaming-guy-in-a-bin]

Imagine if aliens came to earth and the first time they see a human with braces they just think “oh some humans just wear armour on their bones thats cool” without knowing what they’re actually for