#I just don't like the narrative that what Non might want doesn't matter

[raelle-writing]

Would Non want this?

This question has been echoing in my head, ever since I made the post about New disregarding what Non might want. To me, that was a really damning moment in the narrative for New, because it puts him in a long line of people who have used Non for their own ends, for their own gain. It shifted his goal from "righteous revenge" to "selfish revenge" and since that put him in line with everyone else who didn't care about Non's agency or his desires, to me it marked him for death.

I've heard a lot of responses to that, including "revenge is always inherently selfish so that doesn't change New's character" and "Non is dead so what he'd want doesn't matter." And I disagree. Because narratively, what Non wants does matter. It's half the point of the show, that Non wanted to stay involved in the movie, didn't want to give up his script, that people pushed him around and framed him and coerced and manipulated him - stripping him of his agency at every turn. Even the people who thought they wanted the best for him (Phee, Jin) pushed what they wanted onto Non.

So even if Non is dead (and I'm not convinced he is), yes his agency and what he'd want matters. The problem is, of course, that we don't know what he might want.

We can speculate. Because of course, Non wrote the script, condemning everyone to die. He brought a knife into the woods, intending to use it to murder Por, Tee, Top, Fluke, and Jin.

But despite this, when push comes to shove, Non backs down. When Jin darts forward to apologize, Non lowers the knife. Despite the fact that Non wrote Jin's death into the script, and crossed out his face along with the others, Non couldn't kill Jin even in the midst of his psychotic break.

Yes yes I know Non didn't know what Jin did to him, but despite that, Non had clearly decided Jin was guilty by association, but he couldn't pull the trigger.

In the further flashbacks, when we see Non working with Tee to repay Uncle Joe, we also see he has a note that he keeps nearby to motivate him. And that note says nothing about revenge. Non simply wants to get out and move on with his life. He also has Tee right there in front of him, and doesn't try to kill him. He hits Tee's chest, but even that is pathetic in comparison to pulling a knife on him before...

So all of that leads me to believe that Non didn't want revenge. He wanted to move on with his life. He didn't have that kind of violence in him. He was a gentle kid at heart, pushed to the breaking point.

But for the sake of argument, let's say Non DOES want revenge. Let's say that he wants the group of friends to die for their crimes. Because he very well might.

I think some people are missing some crucial pieces of information here. Because while Non might want the group to die, I don't think that would extend to Phee.

Non loved Phee. They broke up. And even if Non viewed Phee sleeping with Jin as a betrayal (and he might not, since they broke up AND there's some muddiness there because of Non sleeping with Keng - don't come at me, it's coercion, but the narrative establishes that Phee views it as cheating, so that's why I mention it) - he might not want Phee to die for it!

Non might not want the person he loved to die a bloody death because of his mistakes. Even if he hated Phee for sleeping with Jin. That might very well be too far for the boy who hated feeling like a burden on the people he loves.

But okay, let's assume Non DOES want Phee to die along with the others. He might not want his older brother to be the one doing it.

As I said above, Non hated feeling like a burden. He hated the idea of people inconveniencing themselves because of him. Do you really think he'd like the thought of his older brother throwing everything away, his entire life, and now his future? Non might not want New, the last member of his family, to destroy himself that way. There's no one else to carry out that revenge for Non, but if Non weighed the choice between his brother having a successful future vs revenge...? I'm not sure what he'd choose.

There's a lot of complexities to the question of what Non might or might not want. And while I personally think he wouldn't want revenge, because Non was at his heart a gentle person until he was pushed to the absolute brink... I think there are layers to the revenge that he may or may not want. And I think that desire matters, and it frustrates me that people are once again taking Non's agency out of the story.

[edonee]

The belief that gender is a feeling, something interior and unrelated to sex is not only false, but it also upholds gender stereotypes. What does a transgender person mean, when they say they identify as the opposite gender? I've actually posed the question to a lot of trans people, and the answers were always something along the lines of "I liked things made for boys as a kid. I felt different from other girls. I don't feel connected to my biological gender because I behave differently" (coming from women who identify as trans) or "I preferred girls toys as a kid, I was always drawn toward dressing more femininely, wearing make-up, etc." (from men who identify as trans). I then ask, why does that mean you are a different gender? I thought we were all on the same page with the whole "boys can like pink, girls can like blue" argument. I mean, everyone has been saying that for decades, and we all agree that those are gender stereotypes, right??

So I always asked myself why transgender people used those as arguments to prove their point. The other argument, that a lot of trans people might bring up after reading this, is "Well, sex dysphoria is a thing though". And yeah, it is a disgnosable mental disorder, and there are people who seriously suffer from it. But so is anorexia. Do we see doctors performing liposuctions on people suffering from anorexia, though? Of course not: mutilating the body of a mentally unwell person is inhumane. People who suffer from eating disorders are offered therapy in order to recover and create a healthy relationship with their body. So why would dysphoric people get "gender affirming surgery" (which is an interesting name, because I thought y'all said gender isn't dependent on sex???) instead of analyzing the reasons why their body brings them distress? The whole narrative of "being born in the wrong body" is so...vague. And, *trust me*, I've tried to put myself in transgender people's shoes and comprehend their arguments, but they are just insubstantial. I see why for some of them (especially women) identifying as the opposite gender would be favorable: for women, because it's an attempt to escape their fate in a misogynistic world. It's freeing (I speak from personal experience here, I identified as non-binary for a while). It feels like saying fuck you to the patriarchy. You feel the rush of eluding womanhood (or at least you think you do). But, at the end of the day, it's truly just that: eluding. And (unless you medically transition, to the point you pass as male) it's not going to change anything. People hate us because of our sex, not because of our "gender identity". Men won't care whether you identify as ftm, non-binary, agender or anything else. They hate you because you are Female. That's what misogyny is at its core. And, if you push the idea that gender is just a feeling, something that you can identify as, and that biological sex doesn't matter, and that "anyone can be a woman, actually!" you are inevitably going to water down the definition of Woman until it is just that: a sensation, something intangibile. How can we fight for a category of people, if we can't even define who we're fighting for? Also, Women are the only class this applies to. Take Race as an example: the movement of resistance against racism knows exactly who they are fighting for. The definition of a Black person is not up for debate. People who identify as "transracial" (mostly trolls) are heavily criticized, and they are obviously not included in the Black movement. Why do we have to accommodate males in our movement? Use whatever pronouns you want, get all the surgeries you want, take whatever hormones: it's not going to do anything to defy misogyny. @kieransskin

[soft-dollie]

"Disorder" and "Disability" are NOT dirty words!!

A frustrated rant

I saw a video today and I can't get it out of my head, so I'll write about it instead. Excuse me and apologies if this sounds incoherent or if anything is incorrect.

The video was of a mom telling her followers about why she wouldn't tell her daughter that she has ASD (her daughter has autism) because she's "not disordered". It's frustrating to constantly hear this going around because it's false. If your daily functioning is not being disordered because of your traits/symptoms, you don't have autism. Autism is a disability, not a "superpower" like people in the comments were saying. I WISH that my autism didn't disable and disorder me, and that I "didn't know I was different", but that's what autism does. Yes, autism is a spectrum, but even Level 1 autistics are disabled because they have autism.

"Disorder" and "disability" are not dirty words, and by pushing the narrative that we should find a different name for the diagnosis, we are contributing to the stigma that disabled people get. Having a disorder doesn't mean you're fucked for life, it just means you have trouble functioning in a world that isn't accommodating for you, and that's not your fault or any disabled persons fault.

These "autism moms" also want to start replacing the diagnosis "Autism Spectrum Disorder" with "Autism Spectrum Condition". As an autistic person, the word "condition" sounds so much more demeaning and degrading than "disorder".

Autism is a Neurodevelopmental disability and disorder. AND there's nothing wrong with having autism. Both statements can be true at the same time. Being autistic isn't something to feel ashamed about, neither is being disabled or having another disorder.

I might be grasping straws here, but claiming that autism isn’t a disorder because your child “isn’t disordered” is excluding and silencing the hundreds of thousands of autistics who ARE disabled and disordered (like myself). It’s tone deaf, and seems to come from a place of privilege that might not be recognized in some situations.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but trying to change an entire diagnosis because you “dont agree with the wording” is counterproductive. ASD is autism, no matter how you put it. You don’t have to use “ASD” to refer to yourself, but don’t act as if the words disabled, disorder, and ASD are malignant.

Words have meaning, and ASD was called a disorder for a reason. This "ASC, non-disordered autism, autism is a superpower, autism mom" movement feels like it is pushing the autistic community back, and its frustrating to see.

[jiminsass-istant]

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE HICKEY

This post was triggered by an anon moving around in these spaces trying to explain away the hickey/bite moment as something trivial. I will save my thoughts on the hickey for the end of this post.

First of all, to that anon- Get off your high horse. Not being a shipper doesn't make you superior. You are probably one of those cringey people cancelling queer armies on tw!tter these days. Now readers, sip your drink as you read this short think piece-

OT7 Captains in the fandom bubble:-

I really don't get the superiority complex of so called OT7s who love to live inside this cute little bubble they have created for themselves or as they call it nowadays:- " a curated tl". Cancelling people everyday and actually driving people away from the fandom. Every bio says "multis, solos, shippers dni". What are you afraid of? Little pixels? I have personally followed solo fbs of all members and boy the things I have found! They can get extreme at times, but it takes 2 minutes to fact-check their claims and draw your own conclusion.

I follow wholesome ship pages too, they are a great way to not miss out cute moments between various duos. If you are blocking them out, you'll be swept into whatever the OT7 decide the important interactions are. 🤷

Have y'all watched 'The Social Dilemma' on Netflix? I would actually want all bts fans to give it a watch. A very prominent tech figure admitted that she follows a good number of Tw!tter accounts that disagree with her to ensure that she gets to see all sides and all opinions. When you deliberately 'curate' a timeline to feed only your opinions, to make a 'safe' space that doesn't trigger you, without letting new thoughts penetrate it..THAT! That's the beginning of a cult.

Army is not a cult for defending BTS or for calling out billboard and other big authorities, but army is indeed a cult with the way they move against people within the fandom.

I said what I said.

With a curated 'OT7 captain' timeline, you start internalising things about the artists that the people you follow want to believe:-

1. All true army are OT7 and non shippers. 💫💫

Sure some of them are. But biases exist for a reason, right? If you think people don't run their bias's playlist more than the other 6, you are so deluded. Spotify wrapped'23 was a prime example. With the solo era, the rise of solo fanbases was unavoidable.

2. Your favourites are spotless, impeccable people. 💌💌💌

They are so not. They date, they make mistakes, they hurt people (like we all do). Heck, they might even offend certain groups of people, unknowingly or knowingly. Being ignorant is also a flaw.

3. Everything they say on camera is true.🙊🙊🙊

Everything they say on camera is what they want you to know. As Park Jimin of BTS, as Kim Namjoon of BTS and so on. And yes, your perception of them should be built based on their words alone, but it doesn't mean that you purposefully stay blind in a way that serves your personal projections onto the members. As Jimin once said " please take our words as they are"(Festa 2022). Read between the lines, and you get- "please do not make assumptions about us, please do not project past or future narratives onto us." No matter how much it makes BTS look like a saint, DO NOT paint them as perfect human beings just because they are your idols.

Once you get into the fandom bubble, you start rejecting all opinions that threaten to puncture that perfect bubble. In that process, you end up never getting to know about how some member promotions were horribly managed, how company delayed certain stuff, the obvious company agenda and different business strategies for different members. It's not about victimising members, but calling out the company when they make obvious mistakes. You do not see when hate against a particular member gets aggravated to the point it affects streams and sales.

And musical preference? The way the fandom just collectively decided that if you hate any song except 'ON ft Sia", you are basically an anti. I have no words.. I'll come out and say: I don't like DNA. SORRY JIMIN. Sure it's a great concert song, or maybe at a party, but it's never making it to my down-time personal playlists. Cancel me?

Top Social Artist?

This is my personal opinion. BTS having a huge presence on social media is both a boon and a curse. While it ensures that new fans are made everyday, the bts social media presence is an uncontrolled monster right now. Millions of insta, YT channels- most of them spreading a superficial image of BTS. It's for this reason, there are so many 'fans' out there who just love BTS for the few members and their visuals. I can guarantee you that they don't even know how streaming works, but they'll be sure to have an insta name like "mrs.jeon jungkook". If you made it to this part, I don't need to tell you how certain ships inducted their shippers through these very channels, spreading misinfo about the group dynamics and a completely manipulated idea of the boys, as if it's not real life, but some shitty bl drama.

While the company is obviously doing nothing about this mess, it is YOUR duty to focus on what's important as a fan and participate in projects that plan to counteract this mess. ( Of course only if you have time)

So..what does the hickey have to do with all this?

When you finally grow out of your perfect pure breed OT7 agenda, who considers this group of men a picture perfect family who can do no sin, you'll be ready to view the hickey/bite mark as a normal functioning member of the society who's in touch with reality.

Did I just write "pure breed"..

Let's say the hickey/bite does not actually mean anything intimate in a romantic sense. Sure. Even I think it was probably not an exclusively romantic thing. And this is coming from someone who ships them, but I do not see them as 2 people who are dating each other (because I don't claim to know their personal lives).

An older person biting the neck of a younger person long enough to leave a mark is NOT A NORMAL LEVEL of skinship. For friends, for family, for brothers. And this goes for Korea as well as at a global level. Not only k-jikookers but also k-armies had raised eyebrows when that happened. If you didn't raise your eyebrow at this, you need to go out more, have a social life, hang out with long term friends, idk.

But I'm sure if it was a man and a woman, you would have already declared that they are f@cking.

If you have observed jikook through the years, they have had an abnormal level of skinship that even surpasses skinship within their own group. Reminds me of the Butter photoshoot behind, where JK's hands so naturally slid under JM's crop top, like it was a usual thing. Now if one of them reacted differently or in a goofy way, I'd still brush it under the rug. But what had me scratching my head was the indifference. How close do 2 people have to be, for someone to SEARCH for familiar skin to touch?! Let's not forget how JK always touches JM's neck like a habit, massaging, holding, or just caressing, usually a little inside the collar.

Now if they were a man and a woman, you would have already declared that they are f@cking.

If you don't at the very least, acknowledge that it's an abnormally high level of skinship, and that jikook are at the very least, a highly interdependent, symbiotic, close, 2 souls-1 body entity, the closest duo in bangtan..then you are the delulu here. 🫵

I would advice such anons to stop visiting shipping spaces if you are bringing nothing to the table. (As I always say, opposing views are always welcome as long as you bring receipts and not hate). Maybe spend some time talking to real life people, couples, friends, you know?

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

It Should Have Been Jonathan: Why Swapping Jonathan and Mina's Roles for the Blood Ceremony Makes Dracula a Better Story Both Thematically and Plotwise

Bram Stoker did not write it this way, so swapping Jonathan in is not a headcanon, but rather an adaptational choice that adaptations like Murray Mysteries or fic writers (like me!) choose to make over and over again. Here's why you should engage with this premise.

(No spoilers for those caught up to October 3rd of Dracula Daily)

(non-graphic mention of rape, sexual assault, etc)

The Story As It Is: The Good Points

Jonathan um. Goes Through it this novel. If you hadn't noticed. Mina takes care of him a lot, and after the blood ceremony, Jonathan gets to take care of her. This is very sweet, and I do enjoy that both Mina and Jonathan take turns rather than Jonathan always needing help.

It's not like it's unrealistic. Dracula would totally retaliate against the men fighting against him by targeting Mina. He super would see this as very apt revenge, and he's definitely that brand of sexist that sees women as a prize.

This plot point goes out of its way to frame the actions of the men in excluding Mina as utterly disastrous, which is cool.

Mina as the Victim: What is it Accomplishing + How Did She Get There

Mina spends most of the novel taking care of the people Dracula's victimized. She is a force to be reckoned with, but as Stoker wrote her she is a very good sort of English woman, pious, obedient to the men, respectable, etc. etc. Although she and Lucy have very different characters, when Dracula targets them they serve the same role as good English women who are coming under attack by Dracula, an evil Eastern European man. In Lucy's case he literally kills her and in her place is a hot sexually impure corruption of the original person. Victorian nightmare fuel. In addition, there are all kinds of sexual non-con rape vibes to what he does to both Lucy and Mina. Hot forceful foreign men are invading England and targeting good women. That's the whole fear that Dracula represents.

This manifestation of xenophobia doesn't hold up at all. For me, it's always been the worst element of the novel. I don't find it compelling.

Something else you might have picked up from this update: martyr talk martyr talk martyr talk. While (trust me) Mina is still smart and still given a lot of agency by Stoker to break her own curse, after the blood ceremony, she suffers Very Piously. Like a hair's breadth away from publishing a video entitled "How To Suffer A Tormentor From Hell in A God Honoring Way" on her Youtube Channel.

I personally don't find this interesting. I don't think it holds up. I don't want to see Mina suffer like a Perfect Little Christian. I want to see her kick ass and take names.

In conclusion: the driving forces behind Mina's attack and trauma are at best uninspired and outdated, and there is a very nasty undercurrent of xenophobia and sexism there as well.

I don't love it. I'm either bored or actively turned off by what Stoker is trying to say.

Jonathan as the Victim: What Could It Accomplish?

Dracula choosing to attack Jonathan again would shift the narrative so that it becomes a story about an abuser who will Not Let Go. An abuser who follows across a continent. An abuser who waits until you've just started to recover from the first round of trauma and started to feel safe again to start an onslaught even more vicious and concerted than the last.

I think Stoker laid the groundwork for this twist to be more terrifying and compelling than for Mina to be targeted 2/3rds of the way through. Obviously Dracula is an abuser no matter what, but it so much more terrifying to me to think of him playing a long-term game of cat and mouse over like 6 months with one man, than it is to see him target Mina over the span of three days.

This is also in character for Dracula. I agree with the common interpretation that Dracula continued to target Lucy even when it got ridiculously difficult and dangerous to continue because he can't stand to lose a test of dominance.

If we carry that over to Jonathan there is absolutely no way that Dracula would be ok with learning Jonathan escaped and is recovering. He would Hate that. He would absolutely want to target Jonathan again.

So you remember "I too can love" "tonight is mine" the gaps in the journal? All that abuse that is hinted at and never explored? The same sort of sexual assault motifs that are so present in Lucy and Mina's attacks? The implication that Jonathan was fed on by Dracula? All these hints that Stoker doesn't do anything with or develop further? Well Making Jonathan the one who undergoes the blood ceremony gives us a very natural chance to discuss them again.

In conclusion: Jonathan's history with the Count makes him being the victim (again) a more compelling story. We've watched the Count slowly escalate aggression with him over the course of a novel, and this final attempt to literally claim Jonathan's soul and make him a thrall is the natural conclusion of that. To me those are some compelling stakes

Jonathan being Targeting Makes for Less Plotholes (and less Infuriatingly Sexist Plotpoints)

Not that Mina being excluded is unrealistic or unworthy of engaging with in the original novel but I find it to be such a drag

And actually to a certain point it is unrealistic to me because I think the decision to completely cut her off and stop talking to her about anything comes completely out of left field. Everyone was acting like she'd work with them in some capacity right up until Van Helsing says differently. I find that jarring.

Switching the target to Jonathan eliminates that plotpoint entirely, which I think is cool. Maybe Stoker never would have written Mina as one of the boys, but it's not the 19th century anymore and we can write Mina however we want. I think having a Mina that sticks up for herself and refuses to be excluded is neat.

But on what grounds would they choose to exclude Jonathan? Well I actually think that some obvious solutions present themselves.

Murray Mysteries goes the "Jonathan you have PTSD you shouldn't retraumatize yourself route" which works for them, since it's a 21st century retelling

But I actually think it could potentially make sense for Van Helsing to want to exclude Jonathan, and to need to be secretive about it.

So you know how in the canon Dracula gives Mina his blood partially because his intention was to make himself a spy? The plan was to use an unwitting Mina to his advantage but the polycule bursting in killed that idea.

Well if I were Van Helsing, I would immediately suspect that the Count had fucked with Jonathan at the castle. I mean it would make so much sense wouldn't it? Jonathan was there for two months, he could be compromised in so many different ways.

If Van Helsing had these suspicions, then it would be the natural next step to try and exclude Jonathan from the business as completely and utterly as possible under whatever flimsy excuses he can make up (and this man has been making up flimsy excuses for the whole novel so it's in character).

This adaptational change would lead into Jonathan getting attacked again very smoothly, except in this version, Van Helsing's reasoning has more grounds to it than just Sexism, so he would be not only a smarter character, but also one I'd want to punch less.

I think that makes for a stronger plot

Also it seems very natural to me that Jonathan wouldn't realize he'd been attacked again by Dracula. More natural than Mina not realizing. This man has been having PTSD nightmares and flashbacks about Count Dracula attacking him for the entire summer and early fall. Canonically his trauma made it difficult for him to separate dreams from reality in the past. He would just assume they were particularly nasty dreams.

This would also apply to Mina not noticing Jonathan was being fed on as well. She's used to him not looking well and having bad nights. It would not immediately be apparent to her that this was different that the usual.

In conclusion: Jonathan being the one who is attacked opens the door to other obvious plot changes that create a better story structurally.

Okay You've Convinced Me, I Want to Explore This

Listen to Murray Mysteries! Listen to Murray Mysteries if I haven't convinced you, it's really good and it's the only adaptation I know of that actually adapts the Polycule in a good way.

Read my series! I don't mean to self-promote but if you couldn't tell I feel incredibly strongly about this premise and I don't see people tapping into the potential so I've had to do it myself. Strange Wonders is a series of short stories that explore the plot of Dracula if this change had happened. The goal was to create something that mimicked Bram Stoker's tone and style as much as possible, while being the story I liked better in my head. The first in the series, Uncommon Horrors and Unnatural Hurts is Dracula Daily friendly, and the next in the series The Resilience of the Dawn will be Dracula Daily friendly by October 4th. I'm still updating as well although the story is technically complete and has a climax.

here some would stand between you and death by princ3ssf33t is a great little one-shot fic I've found that deals with the role reversal and features some stellar Jonmina

There is a Pleasure in the Pathless Woods by calliopes_pen is another epic reimagining where both the Harkers are targeted by Dracula

Your fic/art/content here!! Endless potential.

TL;DR

Having Jonathan undergo the blood ceremony instead of Mina makes for richer horror, stronger character arcs, less teethgrinding sexism, and less plotholes. The Dracula fandom should be exploring it more.

[if-seal]

Say hi to your new advice-giver, IF Seal!

In honour of the dear dormant @if-confessions and the even older, beloved Story Hospital I am here with an advice blog to hand out cheerleading, encouragement, advice, and maybe even some writing and narrative design wisdom to interactive fiction creators and players.

If you have questions like...

I'm stuck on a branching scene that's turned huge and can't figure a way of getting through it.

I'm worried about players wanting to take actions in my IF that I don't want to include.

I've fallen in love with an IF and want to give critical feedback but don't want to offend the author.

I've made some characters that I LOVE but once I start the story I just don't know what to do with them.

Readers are saying my game doesn't take their choices into account and I want to change that.

Readers are saying my game doesn't take their choices into account... and how much does that really matter?

...I am here to help out!

I hang out in @hpowellsmith's bathtub from which I dictate my many and varied thoughts.

Please send in your questions and I will share my sealy knowledge and experience!

A few notes:

If you're talking about a particular game, please anonymise it. If you don't, I will assign it a comedically anonymous title

I am not much of a Tech Seal and it is unlikely that I can answer detailed technical questions, but I will try to point you in the right direction

I am not interested in answering "which scripting tool is the objective best" because unanswerable questions are beyond my sealy ken but I will have much more to say about "which scripting tool might suit this project best for which reasons"

If you send a non-anonymous ask, I will check that you're happy to have your name on it before I post an answer

Enjoy!

[eisforeidolon]

I feel fans should be able to interpret shows and characters any way they want but it really bothers me that shippers die on the hill of Dean is such a closeted bi sexual and Sam is the biggest heterosexual out there. I love these characters because they are extremely toxic and codependent on each other. The story would not be the same with out that. Why would anyone look to Supernatural to be their all time gay representation love story when it most obviously is not. it just blows my mind how out there Destiel shippers are and how much they truly hate this show and hate Dean without even realizing it. I need someone to figure out how we can get rid of them from this fandom...LOL

Yeah, IDGI either. Fandom is supposed to be about just having fun however you want with the building blocks from the canon + your imagination. It's not even the main point that they're hilariously bad at interpretation, project too hard onto the characters to even see them, can't understand context to save their lives, pointedly ignore a million things that directly contradict their agenda, and too much of their so-called proof is actually gross backwards stereotypes about sexuality and masculinity (neither of which they seem to understand very well at all). If they were just having fun with it, who the fuck cares? Sure, it's annoying, but a lot of fandom is annoying because it is so specifically tailored to things not everyone is gonna like. There are other canons with fans who are fine admitting they just like playing in the canon world but not the canon itself that much.

No, the problem is hellers are not content to just enjoy their non-canon interpretations in fandom. They feel entitled to flood any and every tag associated with the show, trying to demand their interpretations be considered indisputably canon fact because ... reasons ... and anyone who doesn't agree with them is A Bad Person because ... they say so. Their ship is the greatest love story (n)ever told, the best representation evar in media! It's the only important thing about SPN - and if they couldn't change the canon, they can change the fandom narrative! The fact there's actually no there there under their overblown thousands upon thousands of words of inept meta is why the very suggestion it's not canon, that someone doesn't see it as the greatest thing ever, that maybe Dean is actually just a heterosexual instead of putting on an elaborate performance of one or even that Sam might not be the straightest character ever written? Is taken as an attack upon their self-declared status as the real main audience. Which makes sense, because they never were. SPN was anything but subtle as to what its actual focal relationship was.

To some extent I get how they echo-chambered each other into believing their ship was/would be a thing in canon. If you just look at the size of the piles on piles of cherry-picked nonsense they accumulated over the years without actually engaging your brain to see how variously flimsy, out of context, or how many other more sensible interpretations there were for any of them? If you wanted to believe and surrounded yourself with others who did, too, and kept talking each other up, spending way more time doing that than watching the show? It's no wonder some of them ended up with really skewed expectations.

What I don't get is how they're still going this long after the show ended. SPN is over and there's no more 'Well, next season for sure!' to promise themselves. There are increasingly more stories out there now in a variety of media which are centering deliberately, openly LGBT+ characters and relationships they could invest in championing! Hell, just saying screw canon and burying themselves in writing their idea of "better" fanfic is a perfectly reasonable way to deal with disappointment, no matter how self-inflicted. Instead, they're still here making up elaborate conspiracies about how SPN was something other than what it blatantly obviously always was - because admitting they were wrong and the only thing they ever liked about it was their own OOC fanfic very, very loosely based off of it? Well, that's more than a bit embarrassing in light of how long they spent campaigning and how vehement they were about it totally being not just A Thing but The Most Important Thing Ever. So I don't know what would actually get them to move on, they clearly love being miserable and wrong and pretending to be martyrs over it far too much for me to comprehend.

[mdhwrites]

I feel part of the reason toh is hold in such high standart over series of the same demographic is how fast it abandons the episodic format in favor of a more serialized vibe. I have noticed lately that audiences have come to see episodic as the lesser form of storyteling in comparation to serial, and unlike series like amphibia that remain episodic the vast mayority of their runtime, toh feels very serial in his later half even if it still holds an episodic format for most of s2. People like that didn't bother them with 'silly & inconsecuental' episodic adventures more than other shows. There's a reason some people skip most of s1 of amphibia and a big part of that is how episodic it is.

Okay so this is going to get wild because I'm going to seem incredibly critical of filler but I want to make something clear here: Filler is flavor. As a writer, I'm actually happy that I personally think I've been adding MORE filler to my stories. There's a reason I have a good number of reviews on my early books commenting how surprised people were that I get a LOT done with a low word count after all.

But let's first define Filler. It actually refers to non-canon material in anime which... makes sense actually. The issue with filler arcs, even the good ones, in anime are that you have to reset to zero afterwards for the sake of being able to keep in line with whatever the mangaka creates eventually.

But how does that translate to Western animation where the director for a given show is effectively its mangaka? Well... It's complicated but many will position themselves as it being anything not critical to the plot, themes and core elements of the show. Put a pin in the phrasing I use there.

With that being the definition though, how much of TOH do you have to see to grasp its core narrative? Well...

A Lying Witch and a Warden simply to be introduced to the main three characters and for the setup.

The Intruder so as to learn about the curse.

Covention so as to learn about Lilith and Eda's relationship as well as the Coven system.

And then Agony of a Witch/Young Blood Old Souls to see resolution to the curse and the destruction of the portal door.

And if you're going "What about-"

What about anything else? Amity doesn't develop Luz's character in any way that changes her actions in the finale, though arguably at all in general. Gus and Willow appear in the finale and Covention but you don't need to be introduced to them. As far as the plot is concerned, "Luz's friends" is literally all you need to know and you don't need a full episode's introduction to that. Lilith and Eda's relationship starts catty and slightly childish and competitive and the last thing they do before the finale? Play a Grudgby Match that Eda would have probably tricked Lilith out of having to pay the consequences for if she'd lost... Literally just like back in Covention but less dramatic. Literally NONE of these elements matter to the story of TOH.

It gets WORSE for S2/3. Hunter's whole character payoff is in Belos' Backstory... Which doesn't matter. The Collector never matters. Going to Earth doesn't matter. Hell, the portal does so little to progress ANYTHING but Lumity, that it doesn't matter. The episodes that matter are:

Elsewhere Elsewhen because Luz is the main character so knowing the context for her angst arc is important, even if her angst arc goes literally nowhere. You might think this means Yesterday's Lie but the promise in that literally doesn't matter as her angst is unrelated and not about the promise. She wants to stay in the human realm for other reasons, rendering Yesterday's Lie and Vee pointless... Except this episode is pointless because the reveal of Belos as Philip is the only part that matters which-

Hollow Mind: Is done properly here to the cast as the one in Elsewhere Elsewhen only is to the audience and so demanded that it be done a second time, harming this one's reveal. You won't know as many specifics but as Luz claims the light glyph was part of her sin when we see literally no evidence of him knowing the light glyph matters... Yeah, the writers didn't care about the specifics either.

Edge of the World: I almost included Echoes of the Past because that introduces this issue but it's so different from how King is for 80% of S1 that really what you need to know is that King is the Titan's son. Not even that he himself as a Titan as King is not important to the story of TOH. Only the fact that he is related to the thing that will allow Luz to beat Belos matters to the story of TOH.

And then Watching and Dreaming for S3... Because Luz confronting Belos in King's Tide doesn't matter. It's not like it even weakens Belos in a substantial way and King releasing the Collector doesn't matter either. Moments like "I want to be understood!" in the first two parts of S3 don't matter to Luz's character because they actively make the dream sequence at the start of the finale worse because the show is still mining the same conflict for Luz that it has been since Hollow Mind. Luz's friends and Hexide are barely in the finale, you're only missing out on caring about them during the epilogue and despite skipping over Harpy Eda, Harpy Eda barely matters to Eda's character, same goes for Raine.

That's the thing with people claiming filler as much as they do online. They POSITION themselves to be about plot and narrative. About getting down to just what matters. If they were being honest, they'd admit that most of what they call filler is because it doesn't cover elements they care about. The Plantars are main characters of Amphibia but many who criticize filler in Amphibia explicitly don't give a shit about the frogs. A lot of them skipped S1 because it focused on the frogs and Anne was rougher...

But that's also why VERY little of S1 of Amphibia IS filler. I would argue it's more serialized, just in a more classic manner of making old elements eventually important, because the development of its characters and the push and pull the characters have about change versus who they are and how to handle change is important to the payoffs of the series overall. Hop Pop's Noir episode? Actively talking about things that will come up even in the FINALE of the series. Anne learning to ride Bessie? Teaches her about learning the quirks of others and the importance of doing something right instead of wanting instant gratification.

And instant gratification is what TOH is all about... Ruining its serialization. Like I pointed out with Lilith: Eda and hers relationship starts as sympathetic towards Eda and NEVER CHANGES. What if in Covention, Eda had to be saved and over the course of S1, we saw Lilith softening so the tragedy of Agony of a Witch hit harder as Lilith decided to go back to who she was. To do anything for the Coven... And thus make Belos' betrayal SO MUCH WORSE?

Luz starts as a genuinely good person. Hell, she regresses over the course of the series as in Young Blood, Old Souls, she chooses that sacrificing one life isn't worth her safety or her potentially not screwing up... And then condemns an entire world to death when she chooses not to go back in Thanks to Them. She doesn't learn and grow and her relationships are shaky at best. They also arguably do a poor job at pushing the themes of TOH because TOH struggles to keep consistent with its themes. If it's about community, why is the EC purely demonized instead of trying to be rallied so Hunter doesn't have to lose his community? If it's about self expression, why do both Hunter and Amity end up being clones of past generations where Amity is just her father, right down to being subservient to the girl who enchanted them in High School, and Hunter is just Caleb? If it's about individuality and creativity versus rigidity and order, why don't Amity, Gus or Willow ever actually pick up a second coven or just in general, why aren't the covens treated as the illegal thing they are instead of college? This is why I say TOH struggles with theme because it's all about wish fulfillment for Luz and how she's just the greatest person in existence who never had to change and grow which is a pretty shit theme.

BUT

With all of that said, TOH would be WAY worse without the filler... Because Filler is Flavor. Amity adds a lot of good to the show in S1. Hunter adds good flavor to S2. Raeda is neat. I honestly wish I had more good to say about Gus or Willow because their episodes are genuinely filler as they don't make the world more interesting, usually make it genuinely worse, and are kind of boring in general with their episodes. Or repetitive for that matter. Lilith and Eda though? I still like that Grudgby match they have, even if it's derivative because it's fun and it's neat to see different sides of these characters.

Honestly, I kind of wish My Adventures with Superman had MORE filler. Just more time to breathe and just enjoy these characters being kind of quirky or fun or just neat. Not everything needs to feel breakneck. If it's plot time all the time, an issue for S2D of TOH where after Hollow Mind everything is EXHAUSTING, then you never get a chance to breathe. Never get a chance to just enjoy the world and explore it.

I just wish there was more to explore with TOH but it's too busy not caring about its own elements or making an interesting world to explore anything. Not anything explore anything besides how clever it thinks it is. Just like how people think it's clever for claiming to be serialized when it really isn't.

After all: How much of green haired Amity do you really need to see in order to understand Purple Haired Amity? Like people kept pointing out: Would you believe these two are even the same character?

Does it even matter? For a serialized story, it should have and that's why TOH isn't serialized.

[tanadrin]

The Federation imperialism problem I wonder about is one that to the best of my knowledge has never been discussed in Trek: the legal status of non-member enclaves. It’s clear from all of the macropolitics/war arcs that the Federation has “territory”; i.e. regions of space it intends to deny to hostile fleets; it’s clear from the micro arcs that (as you say) Federation membership is optional/aspirational. So what of planets in the territory but not members? Does the UFP deny them foreign policy?

To be clear this problem is nowhere suggested by the text and is clearly just a weird spandrel of importing the idea of “big map with various colored swaths” to a star state without really considering the like Mare Liberum/archipelagan implications of deep space “territory” but still, it compels me.

yeah given that basically on the maps we see on-screen are effectively 2d maps the watsonian interpretation that suggests itself most readily to me is that these are schematic overviews used to get a quick general idea of the situation, not detailed maps for tactical planning. but of course it's television, trying to communicate concepts quickly to viewers who can't and mostly aren't inclined to linger over the practical details of how exclusive territorial control should work in interstellar polities, and given that the sci fi is quite soft it doesn't really matter for narrative purposes

but i have always tended to think that the model for territorial control that makes the most sense in most sci-fi settings is control around planets and maybe systems only. with warp drive providing fast travel on arbitrary routes through space (i.e., you don't have to pass close to star empire A's planets or systems if you're trying to reach star empire B) exclusive control of deep space makes no conceptual sense. the federation (and other interstellar powers) also don't seem to exercise much close surveillance of their border, except near space installations and on major travel routes

which is all just to say i think non-member systems, even if effectively surrounded by member systems, probably wouldn't be hampered much by having to avoid federation space, if for some reason they had to.

the other thing that makes the idea of exclusive territorial control of vast amounts of space kind of a non starter is just how many star systems should exist even within relatively small volumes of space. there are around 90 star systems just within 20 light years of Earth. if the federation is only about 100 light years across (which would be tiny), and roughly spherical, it would have over 11,000 star systems in its "territory," far too many to maintain even a nominal presence in. it might not want, like, the romulan star empire trying to establishing a military base in those systems, and might claim them for the purposes of signaling to other major powers to stay out, but it probably doesn't care about some minor civilization that has just achieved warp for the first time and is sending out colony ships to its local stellar neighborhood

[sophieinwonderland]

A Long Road Ahead And The Usefulness of the Tulpa Label

I try to be a goal-oriented person. As a long-term goal for the community, I believe we need to fight for plural acceptance. But getting there is going to be hard. We will get there, but we have to be strong, we have to be smart, and we have to be united. How quickly we can make this dream a reality will depend on our actions.

Scientific Validation

This is going to be a big point in gaining validation for all plural systems. Not just in syscourse, but from the general public. And the tulpa community is really the only non-spiritual endogenic community being studied today.

There are other very broad studies into "multiplicity" that might include endogenic systems. But these aren't specifically into endogenic systems. If the Stanford tulpa study shows neurological differences from singlet controls, this will be a huge boon for the endogenic community gaining acceptance.

I don't know for certain what the result of that study will be. It could be nothing. But right now, dismantling the narratives around tulpamancy is integral for being able to disseminate these studies and use them as evidence if they do show affirmative evidence. Because anti-endos will try to claim the science itself is offensive as a way of plugging their ears and silencing people. (I've already seen this multiple times when they're presented with studies into tulpamancy.)

And if people believe them, they'll feel uncomfortable sharing the research.

It won't matter what the science shows if nobody is out here actually sharing the science and spreading it around. It would be as good as if there were no studies to begin with.

Visibility

The tulpa community exists in this unique niche. Google "sentient imaginary friend" right now and see what you find.

All of the top results are about tulpamancy. And that's great. So many systems initially come into the tulpa and plural communities by researching imaginary companions, ourselves included. The fact that we've monopolized the concept of the sentient imaginary friend means that the tulpa community can provide a gateway to the larger endogenic and plural communities.

If a divide exists between these communities, it would severely inhibit our ability to introduce new systems to the plural community. "Thoughtform" doesn't have the same connotation. Terms like parogenic and willogenic are only going to be found after you're already searching for system communities. But the problem is that most systems don't because they don't realize that they're systems.

Obviously, the visibility for the individual system is great because it gives them words to describe their experiences and validates their headmates as real.

But it's also great for the plural community as a whole because more plurals means more normalization of plurality. Which brings me to...

Propagation

Like I've talked about before, tulpamancers have spent over a decade cultivating resources. We have the most advanced and detailed guides in the plural community for headmate creation. For prospective systems who want to create headmates, the best resources for them are tulpamancy resources. None of the alternatives offer the resources the tulpa community does, not just for headmate creation but even other plural skills like inner world immersion, imposition, switchingand partial possession.

And like with the visibility, this is not only important for the individual system but also for the community as a whole.

If someone is a prospective system, it's in the plural community's best interest to give them access to the best resources to create headmates. The more efficient the process is and the less questioning they have to do, the more likely it is they stick with the process instead of giving up.

Every prospective system who doesn't make it through headmate creation is one less plural in the world. And the more plurals there are, the more normalized plurality can become in society, and the more power the plural community will have.

Conclusion

I'm not here to tell people that they're wrong for not identifying as tulpas. That's a personal choice. But the community pivoting away from that label is not going strengthen the plural community. It will only weaken us.

Supporting the tulpa community is incredibly important to supporting the endogenic community and plural rights.

This is the strategic choice. This is the best path for the plural community on our road to acceptance.

The anti-endo and "endo-critical" community wants to divide us. They want to take away our power. They want to silence us. And they would love nothing more than for more people to be "pro-thoughtform, anti-tulpa" because they win if we're fighting amongst ourselves. They win by being able to distance endogenic systems from the science that supports us.

And know that this will only last a decade or so until a strong thoughtform community forms, and they have to make up lies to shut that community down too. It's the classic anti-endo move when they're scared.

Don't believe for a moment their promises that any labels you use won't be targeted. It's not like we haven't seen this already with anti-endos recently pretending the word "endogenic" is ableist, and pushing the repeatedly-debunked lies claiming that "system hopping" is stolen from RAMCOA survivors.

[quaranmine]

One more ask, lol.

Something just occurred to me that really drives home just how unsolvable this whole thing was.  Grian found Mumbo on pure accident, which just drives home the fact that Grian is not in control.  This is something you made clear through the narrative and in the authors notes. 

It had to be an accident.  Because I'm think back to when Grian and Scar were analyzing the initial search.  They both saw fault with the fact that they focused the search on Cloud Lake without even considering Pinnacles, and the fact that Mumbo was given a permit for a Cloud Lake, a closed trail, in the first place.

But Mumbo was SO FAR off trail in such a tricky, hidden spot that, EVEN IF the initial search would have led them to Pinnacles, EVEN IF they would have found the bag and the bike, EVEN IF Mumbo had been given a permit for Pinnacles instead of Cloud Lake from the very start... it might not have mattered.  It might have already been too late.  They STILL might not have been able to find him alive, or even at all, before the area was evacuated for the fire.

Just... there really was no rhyme or reason.  No hidden cause.  No fault.  Just...

There's this Irish folk song I'm low-key obsessed with in which the countryside is described as "where nature is seen both majestic and savage." 

Mumbo died due to the majestic, savage nature of... well.  Nature. 

And there's nothing anyone could have done.  

(I hope it's clear that I'm using the word "savage" as an adjective describing a fierce, violent force of nature and not... other contexts 😬)

Yes, exactly! Actually putting this under a cut it got long lol

Not going to lie I did Worry a few times throughout writing this about having a plot that was so heavily dependent on accidents. Like, is it undermining character agency to have significant things just happen? Do my characters drive the plot or is it just happening to them? The other hikers finding Mumbo's bike in chapter 3/4 was an accident. Most of the events of chapter 11 were an accident.

But genuinely from a real-life perspective...that's how things just happen. This story is kind of a non-mystery mystery. It's a mystery in the sense that we don't know where Mumbo is or what happened. But it's not a mystery in the sense that is some conspiracy to be unraveled, a killer to be arrested, etc. I talked about this in another ask a few weeks ago about how I mystery write, but this fic had a lot of unique barriers to it. Firstly, from a purely practical plot perspective, Grian has like nothing to work with. He has no access to any SAR tools. He doesn't have access to documents (at first lmao) or any other type of hard copy research. He cannot go out and interview people or do anything else a mystery protagonist would typically do to find "clues" because he's alone in a fire lookout. That's it. That's the setting. There is a guy who is alone in the wilderness who wants to find someone.....out of hundreds of square miles of nothing. With no real tools except his own two feet, a map, and a new friend who can only give voiceover help.

So.....there's already a hard limit on what he can reasonably do without the narrative helping him out a little. And I think I did my best harnessing everything he could do on his own. Now, Grian also THINKS he can solve it all himself. He sees no issue with this set-up. As the author though I'm forced to consider HOW he plans to do all this though lol. So again from a reasonable perspective, he ain't working with much. He himself would not have considered Pinnacles if the bike didn't get found. He might have pieced together that Mumbo took a different trail, but he would've had no way to figure out which one. Meanwhile, I just focused on building the plot of his personal journey. I also just focused on the parallels between how Mumbo got to the place he was and how Grian ended up there too.

Also speaking of the initial search at Cloud Lake, I want to highlight a case I listened to on the Out Alive podcast from Backpacker Magazine. It's the episode "Finding Life on the Edge of Death" about Andrew Devers who was missing for 9 days on the Pratt River Trail in Oregon in 2021 (and survived.) First of all, excellent episode. Also, I did not listen to this until after I had worked out the plot, but it really strengthened my conviction in the storyline I had laid out. And I did end up referencing something from this episode in chapter 10. Specificaly, Andrew went hiking alone on a trail that recently had a landslide. Because the environment was so drastically changed, when he turned around to hike back he couldn't find his way at all. And I was like, yeah. That's why Mumbo's search continued to stay in the same area even though the trail was closed. Because this happens. They thought he lost the original trail in the landslide, just like this guy did. They thought that the trail being closed actually increased his chances of being lost there because it increased his chances of losing his way. They just didn't realize he actually turned around and went somewhere else. No conspiracy. Just a misguided assumption on the situation.

Also it really is horrifying how difficult it is to find people in the wilderness. So many people who go missing are found months or even years later on accident. I'm also reminded of the tragic case of Geraldine Largay, who died after going missing on the Appalachian trail. She survived 26 days. Search teams got within a 100 yards of her location, but they didn't find her body until two years later. She was only two miles off-trail, and only 30 mins walk from a road. She got turned around after simply stepping off trail to use the restroom. It hurts my heart so much. More recently last November, in my own beloved Big Bend National Park, Christy Perry went missing on the Lost Mine Trail for 8 days and was later found alive. She was so lost but only 1/4 a mile off-trail. I've been on that trail many times. I've....um.....been off-trail on that trial many times....Anyway, I was keeping an eye on updates constantly hoping she'd be found because it looked so bad for her, but she was fortuantely okay.

Anyway I guess my point is that people really do get hopelessly lost all the time while being close to trails, and being close to trail doesn't mean someone will be found quickly or at all. And in Mumbo's case...he wasn't anywhere where people thought he might be. Grian's mission was a needle in a haystack. If I were truly being realistic, he wouldn't have found him at all, but that's where I'm using narrative power.

So yeah. Accidents. Sometimes you're just not in control. Sometimes bad things happen. Nature majestic and savage indeed....

[ckret2]

I think Bill and Dipper's dynamic would be like... Bill says some "fun fact" that *sounds* believable and might even be useful knowledge if true, but there's a 50/50 chance he's making shit up so Dipper is forced to waste time fact-checking him. Bill thinks it's funny, plus it keeps the kid busy and out of his way. Dipper thinks it's annoying but there *has* been some genuinely interesting and useful information so...

No doubt, that's gonna be some part of their dynamic—although, considering Bill's currently a prisoner desperately trying to convince his captors that they don't really want to kill him, it would probably be more like "keeps sharing fun facts that sound suspicious, but to Dipper's frustration, they keep turning out true, so Dipper keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop and Bill is amused by the fact that Dipper's sooo annoyed at him for not lying."

But like—that's a surface-level dynamic. It's a dynamic Bill can maintain without putting more than two seconds of thought into Dipper as a person. It's a dynamic Bill could just as easily strike up with the mailman and he'd feel the same about it.

Bill's got rich, interesting dynamics with Mabel (Bill, projecting: "She's so fun, she's just like me!") and with Ford (Bill, still projecting: "He's just like me but in completely the opposite way than Mabel is!"), and even with Stan (they make eye contact and realize that they're like each other in the ways Bill doesn't want to acknowledge or think about, they have have an ongoing dynamic based on Bill trying and failing to minimize Stan's importance overall as a person and his importance in Bill's life narrative).

Bill's gonna get stuck in a giant robot with Fiddleford for several hours while they drag each other's terrible life choices and Ford awkwardly stares out the window third-wheeling their argument, and they don't escape until they've angrily shouted things they wouldn't even admit to their non-existent therapists.

Bill gets an arc with Robbie that involves them being astonished to suddenly see each other as equals with shared issues and that causes them to mutually grow and mature as people. Robbie. Robbie.

With Dipper, though? The best I've got is still variations on "Dipper is irritated" and "Bill finds it funny that Dipper is irritated" and "Dipper tries to irritate Bill back." Shallow, surface-level. Things like "Bill gives Dipper fun trivia" doesn't in and of itself open up deeper interactions. What would it take to get them to talk with each other rather than at each other? What would it take to get Bill to notice Dipper as Dipper rather than as "Mabel's boring opposite" or as "the baby Ford knock-off"? I've got events Bill and Dipper will go through together. I've got plot that causes them to interact. Dipper will have complex thoughts about Bill before the end of the fic. My struggle is in finding complex thoughts for Bill to have about Dipper by the end of the fic.

Admittedly, Bill finding some deep common ground (whether he likes it or not) with not only all the Pines but also half the town—except for Dipper—would be really funny. Dipper spent half a summer obsessed with him, and Bill's like "so what? Your great uncle's been obsessed with me for thirty years." Dipper still has nightmares about his body being stolen, that event will stick with him the rest of his life, and Bill's like "so what? I've borrowed lots of idiots' bodies." Over a matter of weeks Bill took on such an outsized importance to Dipper's life—and Bill struggles to remember Pine Tree's real name. ("Orion? Pollux? It's right on the tip of my tongue, I know it's a human constellation, lemme see your forehead.") It's so, so funny if Bill looms so large in Dipper's mind and Dipper's barely a blip on Bill's radar. And by "funny" I mean "really tragic and a damning example of how casual Bill is with his cruelty."

But like, as funny ("funny") as that would be, I'm not content to leave it like that through the end. At some point, Bill has to see Dipper with open eyes. Figuring out how to do that in a way that feels natural/authentic, and interesting to me, and without leaning on Dipper's similarities with a character Bill's already more emotionally invested in (I'm looking at you, Ford), is an ongoing problem I'm working on.

[decepti-thots]

Okay before I go to bed, my reactions to Void Rivals #1.

I don't want to approach this as A Transformers Comic, really, because that seems unfair. Kirkman is writing a new property that works WITH Transformers, is my read on this, and I want to try and approach this on its own terms. So with that in mind...

...this issue is paced in such a way it is staggeringly obvious it exists as a vehicle for the twist that Transformers is happening. I am not familiar with Kirkman's comics, so can't speak to if this pacing is common for him. But it's a slow start, if an occasionally atmospheric one. (Art's great. That title splash? Gorgeous.) The in media res approach is a solid choice, but it quickly becomes a matter of narrative redundancy; we re-establish that our two new leads are mistrustful due to their longstanding war and cultural norms surrounding it but have to cooperate and know it it a good, oooh, three or so times, which feels very odd on first read. Rather than simply slow the pace down so it only happens once toward the climax of the issue, going for more of a decompressed pacing, we spin our wheels stretching out the beat in a way that feels kind of weird, seemingly to fill the pages.

For a comic with only two people in a dead wasteland setting, it lacks both narrative efficiency (you could fit twice the amount of building-a-dynamic work in here) and a sense of sparse, lingering atmosphere build up (a slower pace with less talking could sell more isolation, paranoia and tension).

Why? Because the climax doesn't have space for the culmination to be 'and now they realise they have to work together', so it has to be sorted towards the start. But then there's nothing much to do in the middle, so it all gets stretched.

And the reason that can't be the climax is of course that the discovery of Jetfire is that. It's a great setup for this kind of twist conceptually- so obvious I predicted it without needing more than a solicit and his promo art. That's because it fits! But then he unexpectedly leaves, and I realised the setup probably wasn't to integrate him into this comic as an entrance into what role the crossover has here. It's to set up his story, I think, in the Transformers ongoing in October. That he's missed the war while out cold on this planet. (It is a fun use of the G1 cartoon story in a new context.) Which makes the end of this comic feel less... anything? If Jetfire was staying as the surprise third character, a fish out of water they needed to persuade to help them, that would have helped justify the prior meandering, I think. But he leaves, and the sense is that the comic only goes the way it does to set up another comic. Our actual protagonists then continue basically unaffected, so really, what does it matter, and was it worth meandering?

(Sidenote: imagine, a Cybertronian audience surrogate with humanoid alien protagonists! I want it. Maybe one way or another we'll fet it down the line. A nice twist.)

Maybe I'll be wrong and Jetfire will be back next issue- but if so, this comic failed to set up narrative expectations well.

It sounds like I hate it. I don't! It's got some interesting ideas, though exposition is slightly forced and dialogue is a bit clunky IMO. I like the basic concept. The ending where they take off their helmets is... we'll see where he's going with this I guess. But it feels like an 'issue zero', a possible prequel to two comics in one? Frankly, doing this AS a one-off prequel might have been wise, idk. A before-the-launch thirty page special or something. As the first issue of Void Rivals, it feels hijacked and unfocused; as the set up for Transformers, it feels a bit tortured, as much as I do still like the whole idea of starting it off in a non-TF book if you are going to do a crossover universe. (Really dig into the idea the universe continues around their war!)

Also, it truly just expects you to know who Jetfire is. Like, not just what Transformers is. Who he is. I'm surprised by that. As a way to hook non-TF readers, an overt reference to a single episode of the G1 cartoon most non-fans likely don't remember even if they saw it? Seems kinda deep cut. The whole thing revolves around knowing that this is him being someone who has missed the war. Hmmm.

Anyway. I'm interested to see how this pans out. Especially since the announced writer for the TF ongoing suggests this is definitely gonna be a war story.

[stormblessed95]

The problem when people say that they’re tkkrs, and they don’t engage in the vile rhetoric they often times spew + they say they love Jimin is the fact that there is no accountability and it makes them complicit to the other shit tkkrs do.

I’m not even defending jkkrs because they have a problem of their own, BUT the difference is that a MAJORITY of people who love and support Jikook call each other out. Whenever we see misinformation being spread we do our best to correct it and snuff it out and we come with facts and receipts. We hold each other accountable so that we make sure Jungkook, Jimin and Tae are humanized and not seen as characters in an AU.

So even though you - anon wants us to believe that tkkrs are nice and pro Jimin, the reality is that because your breed continues to be toxic, continues to spread lies, continues to harass people when the narrative doesn’t fit to your advantage, and continues to fetishize and I want to make it clear IT IS fetishizing, that even though they’re “nice” you’re also all silent.

The fact that your solution is to block and report but not try to correct the narrative not only proves the way you are complicit but it shows that looking away from the problem IS why tkkrs are so toxic.

And I’ve been an ARMY for YEARS, YEARS, and no matter how nice you tell me tkkrs are at the end of the day, as you said, anon, it’s used as a way to “de-stress” and ship fictional/non-fictional couples together, it invalidates the point you’re trying to make because TAE, JUNGKOOK AND JIMIN are real people. People that are living in an ANTI-LGBTQIA+ society that doesn’t accept them. So for you it might be merely shipping them but for actual QUEER PEOPLE our lives are not a fucking way for you to live bi-curiously or join in the “camaraderie” as you so eloquently put it.

And the fact that you bring up the point that people just want to claim Jk or invalidate him to fit a narrative is precisely the issue. JUNGKOOK is a real person, not someone we covet or “ship” with Jimin, he isn’t a stand in for us to fuel our fantasies, he is a person THAT WE listen to and respect and support.

Miss me with that bs that some of you are nice, esp when the nice ones I’ve met in my 5/6 years of being an ARMY talk and think about Tae in inappropriate ways AND in fact do use Jungkook as way to fantasize some weird ass shit, because the moment that Jungkook does something to show you all that DOESNT FIT YOUR NARRATIVE, you all throw him under the bus. Not a single tkkr has been speaking out about the mistreatment that JK’s getting rn, and you want us to believe you see him as a person and that you’re nice?. Go and talk about important shit, not about how it’s a flip of a coin to trust tkkrs……..

Stop coming to our safe spaces and taking to us, leave us the fuck alone, why can’t you all just stay in your lane and not interact with us?!. TF???!

Because it's you... and I love you. And I agree with you and everything here. Imma post it even though I closed the topic. @chikooritajjk summed it up nicely. Imma just also add that it's not a flip of a coin to just trust anyone honestly. The amount of people I trust on this app I can count on one hand. And yall know who you are 🥰 I've yet to find a tkkr that ships taekook and doesn't let the harmful narratives spread around continue to be spread around. It's kinda like how people say "its not all men" when women talk about our experiences in the world and when the #/me too movement was happening. "It's not all tkkrs" gives the same energy. I understand where everyone is coming from here, but it is what it is. If it's not you, then you don't need to defend tkkrs or shipping. If you aren't doing these things and you are standing up against it or trying to call people out, then you don't need to get upset. No one then is talking about YOU. But if you aren't doing those things, then you are part of the problem too. And that goes for all shippers too.

[zmediaoutlet]

hello z, i have tried to pick some fun ones! 36, 62, 93

!! o bud of buds!! holy cow!

36. do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

this is a bit of a tricky question with fic, but of course the answer remains ultimately yes -- bc all those little details that don't exist in the original text need to come from somewhere, and it turns out that you can flesh out existing characters quite a bit in a way that still feels IC with details from your mom or bestie (cough) or that one waiter at that restaurant. With OCs, who are usually also NPCs, it's also best practice as far as I'm concerned to plagiarize wholesale from real life -- they don't really matter except as flavor or to act as a cog in the machinery of how the scene moves forward, so you might as well make it easy on yourself AND possibly get a tiny inside joke with yourself, and also they just naturally are believable because they're real. Trying to come up with someone Distinctive and Wacky almost always reads false, whereas if you just use a real human who is distinctive and wacky au naturel they just... work. Shout-out to the inclusion in one of my stories of that one Beowulf professor who looks and acts like Santa. (I wonder if he's still with us?) Making that guy up would be stupid and you'd be tempted to include Fun Details to color him in; as is he just. Exists. Much better.

62. what’s the weirdest reason you’ve ever shipped something?

I thiiiink I can say that my shipping reasons are almost never because something would be Hot (unless I'm lying, but I don't think I am), so I guess in the larger fic context that might be weird in itself. Off the top of my head weird is a big ask. I ship Sam/Eileen specifically in the sense that I want her to be really into it and I want Sam to think that he's into it and then realize very quickly that, oh yeah, he's never actually fully committed to a relationship and what was he thinking, and so they fuck once and then he takes a call from Dean practically before he's wiped off and Eileen realizes with sinking disappointment and humiliation that she's never ever going to measure up. Like -- the reason I ship it is out of weird spite, haha. That's pretty bad, isn't it. I also ship Paul/Jessica from Dune basically purely out of that one scene where they first climb into their stillsuits in the first movie, not because I actually want to but because they are so fucking weird about it, and what is shipping really but listening to the weird-ass notes that canon itself drops and going "...wait, you what?"

93. do you hear other people’s writing styles when they talk?

SUPER no. I mean for a given value of talk. I am lucky enough to have some writer-buds and the way they communicate in text hardly matches up at all to the stuff they put out, which I find really interesting. I've been told that I talk a little how I write but of course that depends on the fandom and the mood of the story -- like, Supernatural-from-Dean's-POV-the-way-I-write-it tends to be really naturalistic and straightforward and he even drops a lot of the same references I would (seriously, Dean would've gotten along with the z fam), so that just feels like--transcribing. But, you know, The Australian doesn't work that way, nor does The Ornithologist. (Last time I read narrative from The School was a long time ago but I think that was a little closer? We'd have to think about it.) I wonder if that's a deliberate choice from people? I wonder further if literally writing more volume of words might affect how you communicate non-narratively. e.g. David Sedaris (for this week's mild obsession) certainly talks how he writes, but which came first? Conundrums.

[chiptrillino]

"and… jee never expected to have kids… but here we are…"

Sorry for the long post, but I am compelled to come out of lurking for a moment because your incredible artwork and comments have filled me with THOUGHTS.

Ok, so Lt. Jee strikes me as the kind of man who knows exactly what kind of sacrifice/emotional intelligence/patience/etc.etc. is required to be a good parent and never wanted kids for that reason, but he also ALSO would make a good parent precisely because he knows how hard it SHOULD be. Like, maybe he won't be the most playful parent, but you can bet your fire nation minimum wage he'll always put the kid first and try hard to avoid unintentional damage.

But this is a lot more difficult than it sounds esp if you don't want to condition the kid into becoming a brat with low empathy, or a persistent perfectionist, or a child with poor emotional regulation, or a child with low-self esteem and general anxiety, or a clinically depressed child with high personal suppression and low trust, or an attention-seeking child with low impulse control, or a child with persistent unresolved anger, or a compulsive people pleaser, or a parentified child, or a neglected child who uses masking to survive, or a highly (and inappropriately) self-reliant child, or a complete doormat. The number of ways and permutations you can screw up parenting--esp during a global war--are limitless!

I think all this is why the "feral-child-falls-into-tired-man's-lap" is such a popular trope for Jee. He knows what it takes and absolutely doesn't want it, but unforseen circumstances will force him to meet his own standards. The kids he gets in fanfiction are *always* pre-packaged with severe trauma, which serve the common fanon narrative of premature aging and wry comedy with feels. I think he might also serve the readers' fantasy of how they wish they were parented by a male figure. For some readers, Jee further provides 10/10 husband material with no love interest in the text or art (because the reader/viewer is the silent, non-participstory "love interest"). It's his very specific market carve-out in fanart and ao3, which is why your most recent fanart is shaking all of us!

oh!

okay, this is a great analysis, my compliments and awe to you.  I apologise for the minor earthquake the image may have caused.

I am personally weak for these kinds of stories but it doesn't always have to adoption. idk just adults doing their job. odd that it seems to be a fantasy. 

I do agree that jee would take it awfully seriously. with all of this. I want to add. yes, kids are a big responsibility. and I believe jee will overthink things a little. but it is human to fail. he is not perfect I guess that is something he is dreading. doesn't matter if it is a toddler in his arms or a feral teenager standing next to him. the moment jee realized they are in his care it's over.

thank you for this ask!