#I think I work backwards in creating characters

[bezierballad]

this is gonna be one really hot take when it comes to the emerald witch arc, but the more I look at it, the more I kinda feel like it's one of the more... convoluted arcs?

Like, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying it's a bad arc. It's got a lot of great qualities (being the first arc to start diving into Ciel's trauma properly, showing more of Sebastian's demonic side, giving the servants—especially Finnian and Tanaka—more time to shine, and the new characters are enjoyable and interesting for the most part.)

My personal gripe, however (and this is 100% my opinion ya'll are free to disagree) is that the whole mystery itself isn't all that great.

Hear me out: it genuinely felt like Yana wanted to write a "fantasy village led by a witch that's surrounded by werewolves" and play it straight, but was too embarrassed to actually commit to it, so she bent over backwards to try and write a "real world explanation" to explain all the supernatural stuff that went on in the village, even bringing in stuff such as extremely advanced scientific devices (aka the whole high tech control room we see) that would clearly be unheard of in that time period.

And look, I get it: even Black Butler isn't free of its anachronisms.

But aside from the television and cell phones (which the story has long since stopped using) in the earlier chapters, and the high tech gardening implements that only the reaper organization uses (lawnmowers and chainsaws), the manga restricts to extremely minor anachronisms that usually wouldn't catch your eye immediately (like certain hairstyles that wouldn't exist back then, or the dynamic of servant master relationships, stuff that's not usually all "in-your-face").

Emerald Witch arc marks the point where the manga seems to completely drop the ball on this part: tanks started being used in the 1900's, not the 1880's. The high-tech control room under the castle? Impossible. They try to explain it as "oh damn they're 50-60 years ahead of us. No wonder they kept it a top secret project" but still. Why is poisonous gas such a big deal when they've created so much other crazy shit that would've been impossible back then?

And from this arc onward, these anachronisms keep piling up.

The Blue Cult arc that comes after it gives us speaker boxes, headphones and headsets, microphones, and punk/lolita boyband fashion. Hell, in the latest chapter of the current arc, we see a ferris wheel in the background. Those wouldn't start existing until about five or six years later.

Then there's the whole idea that the entire army is relying on this one little girl to create a poisonous gas that could kill anyone within seconds. Just this one child. No one else.

So no one else had the brains to create this? Just this little girl? You had to wait eleven years (at maximum) for her to create this gas herself before the rest of ya'll can start replicating it?

Even if relying on a single kid to create a military weapon isn't unheard of (which, fair, the manga's entire premise is a 13-year-old kid being assigned to solve murders along with his demon butler) why go as far as to create an entirely different environment with its own lore to get the job done? Specifically, why waste effort and resources creating this entire thing instead of using it to possibly train other chemists? Why witches? Why werewolves?

This kind of twist could've still possibly worked on paper, but there's not a lot of stuff that hints to the fact that it's all a ploy and that chemicals and futuristic machinery were involved. Because until the third act, the whole fantasy seemed to be completely played straight.

There's stuff you have to really think about to get that "wait a minute this isn't real" feeling—such as the village being comprised of only women. If it were real, there's no way they would've lasted generations without being able to reproduce. And the gas formula Sebastian finds in the "magic circle" written in a real-world mineral (I don't remember what they called it). And that's just about it—but other than that, the clues are extremely few and far in between.

There could've been more hints that the "curse" isn't due to the "werewolves" but rather the "miasma"/poisonous gas. I feel like they could've talked to one person in Germany outside the village and they'd say something among the lines of "my great uncle went into the forest to find the werewolves himself. He didn't see any, but he came back with his skin swollen and his nose bleeding".

Also, Sebastian can sense someone is human or supernatural, so why couldn't he tell that the werewolf he saw in the forest is a normal human guy in a costume and not a werewolf? Unless the gas was somehow strong enough to completely cloud his senses at the time?

(Honestly I'd love to see an alternate take where Sullivan is actually raised to be an 11-year-old scientist creating chemical weaponry without the elaborate witch scheme. Imagine all the Ciel parallels that could possibly have.)

(Though a part of me also feels like Sieglinde was created so Yana could justify why all the modern day devices are in the Blue Cult arc, cause they're Sully's inventions. Yet Sully hasn't been seen since that same arc. Just a hunch.)

[tillythemenace]

The fact that in the third movie they had to character assassinate everyone to make it possible already says that the movie was never good in the very first place.

Exactly. Like dumbing down everyone and make them do terrible choices for this new story they’re trying to tell and the themes to work is so so bad. Like who are these people even??? 😭😭

If you have to FORCE your characters into making choices they never would’ve done otherwise, you’re not letting them live essentially. You’re just checking out boxes to get to the ending you wanted, you’re writing outside in instead of the other way around. Dean just WANTED that book ending so bad and was razor focused on changing everything to GET to that ending for no good reason (Just like Game of Thrones writers), Lindsey Ellis describes in a great essay in fact the double edge sword of “planned endings” in storytelling. And how they should work. (time stamped to where she specifically talks about this)

His first mistake was thinking that the movies and books were the same when they weren’t and they could have the same ending when the characters that they wrote in the previous movies AND IN THE BOOKS are way different, then with that same ending in mind, he worked backwards for that ending instead of letting the story unfold organically after the second one like he should’ve. This creates changes in characters, shortcuts, plotholes and retcons -Grimmel's existence, everyone knowing about him killing all night furies, and the Hidden World, its existence, and Stoick knowing about it this whole time are the biggest ones- And instead he tried to fix problems that HE created by doing this. Big mistake of storytelling. It feels like backtracking.

This just leaves me to think that Dean had no idea how to end the franchise and halfway through the story for httyd3 (the one that got scrapped) he changed his mind at some point and decided for the book ending cause it was clear he couldn’t come up with an ending of his own… Hiccup and Toothless from the books have a WAY different dynamic than in the movies, and Toothless doesn't even leave Hiccup at the end, it's not a permanent separation at least. Also the reason dragons leave is because of COMPLETELY different circumstances instead of girl dragon cute, humanity bad, I will leave Hiccup forever! It's a weird fonky message at the end, NOTHING like the books.

Maybe it was corporate meddling as well cause they wanted to sanitize and make HTTYD more family friendly for some fucking reason and Dreamworks wanted to jump on this trend of “separating ur protagonists for shock value” that was way rampant in the 2010s animated movies with Hiccup and Toothless and FINALLY take the books into consideration after ignoring them for almost a decade and writing a completely different story for the movies, and take a bite off of those sweet sweet tearjerkers that was just cheap to me… like no HTTYD… you are NOT Toy Story 3…

Sighs it's just a huge mess from it's very inception...

[tvckerwash]

despite what many people say, s2 is far more character forward than s1 is to the point that the plot and the world itself are warped around them. side and background characters no longer have lives of their own outside of the main characters—in fact I'd go as far to say that they're not characters at all, they're props and set dressings. it's the same thing for piltover and zaun as cities, they're no longer a big, lively world the main characters exist in, the characters are the world and piltover and zaun are nothing more than obligatory background elements.

this may be a hot take but I genuinely think s2's prioritization of visual spectacle and aesthetics ironically made the art and animation worse because it's so obviously being used to hide a story that is objectively poorly written. like you can't fool me arcane s2, I see how a majority of the overly stylized music videos use art styles that allow you to get away with using still shots and minimal, low frame rate animation. I see the excessive use of slow mo to not only avoid animating fight scenes, but to hide how bad the fight choreography is, and how boring the fights themselves are to watch as a result of the bad choreography. I see how you clearly designed orianna first and worked backwards, shoving that aesthetic on to viktor despite it not making any sense whatsoever for him to choose to create robot zombies that look like porcelain dolls and move like ballerinas—especially when he had a previously established design style for his mechanical creations in s1 with the hexclaw and the hexcore, as well as blitzcrank since he apparently made them off screen during the time skip in s1 despite it being chronologically impossible for him to have done so and undermining the purpose of the hexcore being a first of its kind magic ai because he would've already accidentally created a first of its kind magic ai. I see how you shoved mel and jayce into empty grey caverns for an entire episode each. I see how you attempt to match some of the trippy visuals presented in s1 such as ryze's realm warp ability—sorry, I mean mage viktor’s teleportation spell—in ep2, the cosmic imagery used during the meljay sex/viktor collapsing in front the hexcore scene, or the continuous use of close up shots of eyes, etc, with viktor’s astral plane mind scape stuff, the anomaly, the black rose shadow zone, etc. you ain't slick!! I am not deceived by your beauty!!

Also, I cannot exactly put my finger on why, but in s2 the universe feels empty. This time I'm not talking about the characters (although s2 characters are cardboards without personalities), I'm talking about the general feeling of the show. The environment, the worldbuilding. In s1, Piltover and Zaun feel like real places, filled with actual people living in it. They mean something. In s2, they do not, and I'm still not sure why.

[sp-growingpains]

I got a little more done today!! I'm so excited for more of Joel! Been thinking about him!

I take such a long time building new OCs. Building his playlist definitely helps. How do you guys usually go about making characters?

[coolcattime]

what sort of characters do you find yourself enjoying in media? and do you take inspiration for your ocs, or do you like go a different route?

Oh this is such a good question for right now because I’m like currently in development stage of a new character for an upcoming D&D campaign!

With characters in media, is honestly a question that is broad as anything but I do tend to have recurring character tones I enjoy.

I’ve before discussed my love of “older sibling (typically brothers) who are portrayed as comedic characters but have extreme angst about their dead sister”. Which is by far the most specific tone I have here.

Example of this type of character: Skipper Redbeard (Mianite), Alice Yabusame (Your Turn to Die), Laios Touden (Dungeon Meshi), Jean Pierre Polnareff (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Obviously, this could just be that I enjoy protective older siblings, but I weirdly think the comedy brings a certain aspect to it – idk.

Most of the rest of the characters I’m drawn to are on a kinda spectrum.

Of the top of my head:

Mean women. This can range from “Not really mean at all but still the meanest in the room” (Reko Yabusame, YTTD) to “This character isn’t all that mean but is kind of a bitch” (Emily, Until Dawn) to “Oh my god, she’s actually insane” (Ruraka Ando, Danganronpa 3 Anime). I think this is the catorgory where Capsize fits, probably between the levels of Reko and Emily (but tbh, Emily's level varies depending on how you treat her).

For guys, the above tends to be anime villain boys. Read Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa 2), Shuntaro Chishiya (Alice in Borderlands), Karma Akabane (Assassination Classroom).

Chishiya, I want to particularly point out the manga portrayal as Six of Diamonds made me just fall in love with this character. I have a lot of problems with how the live actions handles some of the games and characters (like I would need the rest of the manga first but I might eventually compare the games in the series to the manga just to kinda highlight the differences and the missing games).

Then there’s the opposite end of just people trying their damn best – Kaede Akamatsu (Danganronpa V3), Seong Gi-hun (Squid Game).

Oh and then my autistic beans who I relate to Gin Ibushi (YTTD), River (To The Moon), and Himiko Yumeno (Danganronpa V3 – not canon like the others, but I think she has the vibes).

For if I use characters I like to inspire my OCs – yes 100%.

Most of my OCs are developed for TTRPGs, so I want a character I’m comfortable roleplaying and have concrete ideas of at least some of their opinions. Hence, a lot of my OCs start with another character as a base.

This isn’t always true. Medli, who is kinda my main girl, was developed over a lot of months and since she didn’t need to be real to play in a couple weeks, she developed in a way not based on another character.

However, most of my characters, I will be playing without warning so I build them off pre-existing characters, so I have a voice and a couple of opinions there.

To discuss process, because again I’m building a character right now so I can present this quite easily. Development begins typically by figuring out what’s the character vibe and working out how I wanna move forward.

The character I’m currently working on (gonna call them Suzume and Hibiki right now because those are my working names), are the first time I’ve build a D&D character in a way so, that is working out a vibe and if that vibe can fit into a class.

Suzume is being written for a distinctly evil campaign. DM (my wonderful friend Atlas who also created half the OCs in the OC verse) requested evil characters, but evil characters without any real power. So we could make a mob boss, but they would need to have been deposed if that makes sense.

So I started workshopping. My original idea was to make Jinx from Arcane, high energy, explosions, complex relationship with sister. But to be fully honestly, I could not build the character I wanted in D&D (I miss my beloved pathfinder 😭😭)

Then, back to the drawing board, I was like “hmm, I’ve always played the magic classes, I think I want to try a martial class for once.” And started looking at rogue subclasses. Then I started looking at Phantom Rogues and I started to develop an idea of a character that briefly appears very innocent then they open their mouth and they are so very clearly a murder who wants to kill people.

This was originally inspired by V3’s Kiyo – but I then begun discussing the character with Atlas who presented the idea of her being similar to Yuta from Jujutsu Kaisen 0 with a dead friend as their ghost companion and hence Suzume and Hibiki rather than just one character.

Now I had the basic vibes, I started putting together my character board and I will develop her out further from these inspirations (yes, it's a screenshot, it's saved as a TIF so I can keep adding to it, and screenshoting is quicker than saving another image):

Over time, my OCs tend to become their own things. Katherine and Capsize really aren’t similar anymore, neither are Libitina Puch and Emily Kaldwin. But Sigourney, who is still quite a new OC and overall not been used as much, is still very Reko coded.

The other way to develop OCs tends to be when Atlas and I discuss OC aus. I will sometimes throw characters in as a “Fuck it, they can fit” kinda thing and develop from there.

Taurus was originally just a genderbent version of Libra made to balance genders for our Danganronpa AU, then he became such a fucking bastard that he became a separate character altogether. (Fun fact: we have three OC danganronpa games planned, Taurus is the ONLY character who appears in all three that never makes it to the halfway point AND Logan – the man who exists basically just to be a rat bastard – is in that AU).

Rupert Delaney was put into our YTTD au basically to be Mishima’ed but then… no one got Mishima’ed and Rupert ended up developing a kinda darker edge in the lengths he’ll go to protect Katherine even if he’s still a good aligned character.

Then there’s Lance De La’Fleur. A character invaded purely for the Danganronpa AU as the Ultimate Pro Wrestler. Arguably, he hasn’t developed past that but when I say I love Lance and try to put him into every AU, I mean I love Lance and try to put him into every AU (and am so very often told no)

[aimfor-theheart]

Hey there, Cielo! I’ve remembered an old but very vivid dream of mine about a ronin and an abducted daughter of a yokai. The two ofc will eventually fall in love and the ronin swears to rescue her, sacrificing all he had in the process.

I have no idea to keep this idea as on original story or convert into a fic. If it ends up as a fic, I’ll need some guidance that’s why I’m slipping into all my fave writers inboxes.

So, to you, among your faves who is the most sad yet vengeful samurai coded character willing to burn down the whole world for the one he loves?

i know you said “he” so i apologize but the first person to come to mind to me is maki!!! she really is sad yet vengeful samurai coded will to burn down the world for who she loves.

honestly tho! i think this could fit a ton of favs 😭 it just depends on who you want!! i think revenge is one of those things that can be given to many—maybe not your most golden hearted of heroes! but gosh even yuuji has some….vicious wolf of revenge in him.

(i’m thinking of that line he has to mahito after he kills junpei about…..the next words out of his mouth made everything else he’d ever said feel like a lie because it was filled with so much truth: “i will kill you”)

so sorry i’m not a ton of help but i do really think you could pick many characters and many favs! and there are quite a few that have a natural theme of vengeance in their own stories—they might be easier to apply it to!

good luck on your writing!!

[dunmeshistash]

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & ''Delicious in Dungeon'' Exhibition

"Delicious in Dungeon" Artwork

Cover illustration draft, vol. 1

Since this was the first volume, I tried out a few different drawings and had the editor and designer choose which ones they wanted, then made small adjustments. I personally liked the top-down draft, and the one of the cooking processes (back cover) the best. But looking back, I sincerely think it's good that we didn't go with those. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 2

The format was decided for volume 1. So, volume 2 came together quickly. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 3

I thought it might be cool to make the character Chilchuck darker in the foreground, and the background brighter! But it didn't quite work out the way I had imagined. I think it could have been a bit better. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 4

I remember that the overall shape of volume 4 came together very quickly. The character Senshi's hands didn't fit nicely, so I moved them backwards and to the side. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 5

I thought people might start to think "how many have I bought?" so I wanted to create a slightly different impression with this volume. I decided to put the character right in the center and try putting it together all in blue and green hues. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 6

With the Red Dragon defeated, have we reached the halfway point in the story? With this in mind, I thought of how many volumes were left to go, and the number of characters, and decided to pair up the characters Namari and Shuroiro. In hindsight, it would have been fine to have them on one cover each. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 7

The image is of focus lines converging on the character Izutsumi. This is the kind of cover, with upside down characters, which I've always wanted to try once(?) I submitted it as a trial, thinking that at this point the cover wouldn't dramatically influence sales. However, in the end, we decided it would be better not to have it upside down. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 8

I tried blurring the mushrooms in the foreground, then I accidentally saved over it, and couldn't go back to the original. I remember apologizing that it was probably tacky, when I submitted it. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 9

I don't think snake meat is marbled at all, but if it has an unfamiliar look, people might not recognize it as meat… so I made it look like beef to make it easier to understand. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 10

I thought it might be interesting to have more than one of the main characters on the cover again, so I added the character Falin. I remember it wasn't badly received, but it still ended up just being Thistle on his own. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 11

I wanted this cover to be covered in shiny gold. After I finished it, it didn't have enough color, so I painted the tablecloth green, and it ended up looking like Christmas colors. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 12

Up to this point, the covers have featured one of the main characters holding cooking utensils in the foreground and a monster in the background, but I thought it might be interesting to reverse the format just before the final volume, so I drew this cover with that in mind. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 13

volume 13 was meant to be the final one, but it was too thick to be published as a single volume, so we decided to split it into two. The question of “so, what should I draw next!?" may be at the forefront of volume 13. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 14

I had decided that the final cover definitely needed to have everyone eating together on it, but because I was publishing two books at the same time I was pressed for time, and it was difficult to have a cover with so many characters on it. I also submitted a rough for an illustration that didn't need me to draw any crowds, but such obviously easy ideas are never adopted. (Kui)

TV anime "Delicious in Dungeon"

About the ending illustration.

I drew these based on the director's instruction "This kinds of pictures." I hardly ever have the chance to draw color illustrations, so it was a valuable experience for me. (Kui)

[Kui's commentary is from the english pamphlet]

[beatrice-otter]

AO3 Tagging changes

AO3 just announced some changes in what nonfandom tags will be canonized (and what will be synned with what). They're all changes that will work well going forward, I think, but on a couple of them I'm worried about backwards compatibility with fic that already have certain tags. If you're a fic author you might want to check it out to make sure your tags mean what you want them to mean.

For example! They are creating a new tag for "Sensory Overload" and changing "Overstimulation" to "Sexual Overstimulation"

I think it's good to separate those two concepts to make it easier to find what you want and filter out what you don't want, but also, if you have a fic with an autistic character or someone who experiences sensory overload, now might be a good time to check what exactly you tagged it and make sure it's got the tag you want.

There's also some changes to gender-related and pregnancy related tags, and if you have fic about trans characters you might want to check it out.

[revelboo]

Hey! :D

Disabled dude-guy anon here, I know what it feels like to get a sudden diagnosis and have to wrangle with that.

Just know that we're all here for you, Rev!!!!!

You don't have to write anything for this one, but if you do, just write something that you enjoy (I know you enjoy a lot of your writings, but just a scenario or character that's your favorite.) You deserve it! <33

I’m okay now. I just wish I’d asked some questions instead of freezing up. I was pretty much just nodding and saying ‘okay’ while she talked 😅

I’m sure Wheeljack will put a stop to this nonsense

Or not

Warm

Wheeljack x Reader

• Watching him work, you pull your blanket up around your shoulders. Hearing him humming absently to himself. And you’re half tempted to ask what the song is, but you’re not sure he even knows he’s doing it and he might stop altogether if you call his attention to it. When he’s focused like this, he seems to forget everything else. The world falling away until it’s just him and his work. Even forgetting you, but you know he doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s happy working on projects, visualizing and creating. And you like when he’s happy.

• Reaching for a tool, he catches a glimpse of you from the corner of his optic and hesitates. Trying to figure out how long he’s been working. A couple joors? Longer? Frozen in place, hand outstretched, he vents. “Are you hungry?” Feels guilty about as he realizes he’s been at it for nine joors and he can’t remember how often humans eat. But he’s sure you should have by now just like he should have refueled. Don’t you realize you’re allowed to complain? To speak up?

• Sitting up and stretching out the kinks in your back, you watch his vocal indicators flicker. And even with the battle mask covering the lower half of his face, he’s clearly embarrassed. Thinks he’s neglected you. “Share a meal with me?” You ask, smiling. It’s not like you couldn’t just walk across the counter to the little fridge he’d set up for you and grab something if you’d wanted to, but you like sharing meals with him. Wanted to wait for him.

• “Sure,” he murmurs, unable to understand why you won’t just interrupt him. Why you never get agitated with him for forgetting you and your needs. Setting his tools aside, he leverages himself up and mass shifts to join you. Getting better at it so he doesn’t nearly face plant or fall backwards when he tries to hoist himself up with you. And you’re padding barefoot across the counter in a loose shirt that flirts with the top of your thighs and he’s not sure there’s anything underneath. Following, he curls his arms around you when you lean to get an energon goodie out of the fridge and a snack for yourself. Resting his chin on top of your head, he grounds himself with you, your scent, feel, and warmth. “You know you can interrupt me, right?”

• Leaning back into his warmth, you awkwardly shut the fridge door with your hands full. “I like watching you work,” you say and his battle mask rubs your jaw, a vocal indicator sliding against the back of your head. “You were humming,” you add and he clears his vents with a little huffing laugh. ‘Sorry about that,’ he murmurs and you feel his mask retract. His lips teasing your earlobe and you suddenly don’t care about the food at all. “Could you sing for me sometime?” You ask and his vocal indicators are ruddy, his expression embarrassed when you turn in his arms to look up at him. ‘Sure,’ he mutters, sounding like he’d much rather face down Decepticons to make you smile. His voice too raspy to be pretty, but you still want to hear it.

[glowettee]

Hi Mindy! I’m a college student and I’m struggling to go to bed at a decent hour (think 3 am bedtimes every day) because of the amount of homework I have. Do you have any tips for time management so I can figure out how to get my homework done all during the day so I’m not losing sleep? (Any app recommendations or suggestions on how to schedule my day would be greatly appreciated). Thank you so much! I love your blog and I love seeing your posts🩷

how to get your life together & actually sleep: time management tips for college✨

hi love! 💌 first off, thank you so much for your sweet words. they genuinely made me smile. i’m so proud of you for wanting to improve your time management and prioritize your sleep (honestly, sleep is like the ultimate self-care, and you deserve it). i know college can feel like a whirlwind of assignments, deadlines, and just… life. staying up until 3 am is no joke, and it’s amazing that you’re ready to make a change. let’s make your routine feel a little more manageable and a lot more magical.

☁️ romanticize your productivity: first thing’s first: mindset. instead of viewing homework as this scary, endless task that eats up your nights, try to romanticize it. create a cozy study ritual. light a candle, make a cute study playlist (ex: lo-fi mixed with soft acoustics), and set up your space in a way that makes you actually want to sit down and work. i know it sounds silly, but giving your study sessions a soft, aesthetic vibe can make them feel less like a chore and more like a peaceful little routine. i have a lot of posts talking about this

🌙 break down your workload: sometimes it’s not about how much work you have but how it’s organized. take a few minutes in the morning or the night before to make a list of what you actually need to accomplish. break it down into small, bite-sized tasks. for example, instead of “study for chem exam,” write down “review chapter 4 notes,” “do practice problems,” and “make flashcards for key concepts.” checking off small tasks feels way more rewarding than staring at a big, vague to-do.

💡 create a time-blocking ritual: i’m obsessed with time-blocking because it feels like giving each task its own little home. instead of doing everything all at once (which is just chaos), dedicate specific chunks of time to each task. for instance:

🌼 9-10 am: review lecture notes

✨ 10-11:30 am: work on that essay (no distractions)

🍓 11:30-12: take a break, stretch, grab a snack

💻 12-1: group project research set timers to keep yourself accountable. i use the “focus keeper” app for 25-minute work sessions with 5-minute breaks. it’s surprisingly motivating!

📅 the magic of reverse scheduling: if you know you want to be in bed by, say, 11 pm, plan your day backwards from there. schedule your evening wind-down routine (like skincare, a little journaling, and tea) and work your way back through the hours, assigning tasks in reverse. this way, you’re prioritizing sleep as non-negotiable and shaping your day to respect that.

✨ my fave apps for dreamy productivity:

notion: perfect for creating aesthetic, organized to-do lists, study schedules, and even journaling about your progress.

flora: turns studying into a game by planting a virtual tree while you focus. if you leave the app, the tree dies (no pressure, right?).

toggl: tracks your time so you can see how long tasks actually take. it’s eye-opening to realize you might be spending way more time scrolling than studying.

clockify: like a little personal assistant that tracks your study sessions and breaks. it’s simple and kind of addicting to see how productive you’ve been.

habitica: makes productivity feel like an RPG game. complete with character upgrades when you check things off. honestly, it’s too cute to resist.

💖 mindy’s personal tips:

📝 batch similar tasks: do all your note-taking at once, then all your problem-solving. your brain doesn’t have to keep switching gears.

🎯 use the “two-minute rule”: if something takes less than two minutes, do it right away (like replying to emails or organizing your notes).

🕰️ the 1-3-5 rule: pick one big task, three medium tasks, and five small ones to accomplish each day. it keeps your to-do list from being overwhelming.

✨ romanticize rest too: treat your sleep as sacred. create a pre-bed routine that you actually look forward to, like reading a few pages of a lighthearted book or doing a little night yoga.

🌸 don't forget how important 'no' is: sometimes, we overcommit because we’re too nice to say no. it’s okay to protect your time! practice polite ways to decline extra responsibilities when you know they’ll eat into your sleep. like, “i’d love to help, but i have to focus on my assignments tonight. let’s plan something for the weekend!”

🌙 gentle evening wind-down: your body needs time to transition from productivity mode to sleep mode. about an hour before bed, turn off your screens, dim the lights, and switch to calming activities. i like using the “calm” app for guided meditations that feel like little bedtime stories.

🌱 become a morning person (yes, it’s possible)

one trick that really works is having something to look forward to. think of a tiny, indulgent ritual that you save just for mornings. maybe it’s a frothy matcha latte with vanilla syrup, journaling in a pretty notebook, or listening to your favorite podcast while you stretch. the key is to make mornings feel like a gift to yourself rather than just the start of a grind.

set your alarm to a song that makes you feel good!! something soft and happy. bonus points if it’s different from your usual playlist because it’ll feel special. place your phone across the room so you have to physically get up to turn it off. i also love using the “alarmy” app because it makes you solve a simple puzzle before it stops ringing (annoying, but effective).

once you’re up, avoid falling back into bed by making your bed immediately. it’s like telling your brain, “we’re up now. no going back.” then, try a quick, gentle morning stretch to wake your body up without feeling rushed. mornings can actually feel soft and peaceful if you give yourself permission to take it slow.

as for getting enough sleep the night before. make it non-negotiable. treat your bedtime like an important meeting you can’t cancel. remind yourself that a well-rested mind works way better than a sleep-deprived one. it’s all about romanticizing rest as part of your productivity rather than seeing it as wasted time.

give it a week, and see how you feel. even a small shift, like waking up 30 minutes earlier, can make your day feel more spacious and less chaotic. being a morning person is just about creating tiny habits that make mornings feel like a calm beginning rather than a rushed scramble.

🌸 micro productivity okay, let’s be real... sometimes the idea of sitting down for a three-hour study session feels completely overwhelming. that’s where micro productivity comes in. instead of blocking out huge chunks of time, break your tasks into mini-sprints that fit into the small gaps of your day.

for example, while waiting for your coffee to brew, you could make a quick list of your priorities for the day. during your commute or while you’re eating lunch, review your flashcards or skim your notes. those little moments add up, and suddenly your workload doesn’t feel as intense because you’ve been chipping away at it throughout the day.

one of my favorite apps for this is “quizlet.” you can make digital flashcards and quickly review them whenever you have a spare moment. or use “ankidroid” for spaced repetition. it’s great for subjects that require lots of memorization.

another trick? the “two-minute rule.” if a task takes less than two minutes, do it immediately rather than adding it to your to-do list. this helps clear out small, annoying tasks that tend to pile up (like replying to emails or organizing your desktop).

i also love the idea of micro journaling. sometimes, when you’re overwhelmed, writing down just one thought or feeling can give your brain the clarity it craves. it doesn’t have to be a full journal entry, just a few words that capture your mood or intention.

don’t underestimate the function of small wins. every tiny task you complete builds momentum and makes the bigger assignments feel more doable. it’s like telling yourself, “i’m already being productive today. let’s keep that energy going.”

the goal is to make productivity feel more like a series of little achievements rather than one massive to-do list. micro productivity helps you stay on top of things without burning out, and it feels way more manageable when your schedule is packed.

💫 stay motivated when your energy is low we’ve all been there. those days when your brain feels like it’s wrapped in a fog, and the idea of tackling your to-do list feels impossible. it’s okay to have low-energy days, but let’s find a way to work with them instead of against them.

first, check in with yourself. is your low energy from lack of sleep, stress, or just general burnout? sometimes just identifying the reason helps you figure out what kind of self-care you need. if you’re physically tired, maybe your focus should be on rest or low-effort tasks. if it’s more mental fatigue, try switching up your study space or doing something creative to break the monotony.

use the idea of “productive rest.” sometimes, resting doesn’t mean doing nothing. it can be as simple as switching tasks to something lighter, like organizing your notes or doing some gentle stretching while listening to a podcast related to your coursework. this way, you’re still moving forward, just at a gentler pace.

set up a reward system to motivate yourself. for example, after 20 minutes of studying, give yourself a 5-minute break to scroll through pinterest or listen to a song you love. use apps like “forest” to stay focused during your work session and then celebrate with a cute coffee break when your tree grows.

also, be kind to yourself. it’s okay if you’re not operating at 100% all the time. instead of pushing yourself to be overly productive, prioritize what actually needs to get done. sometimes, just getting one important task out of the way is enough for the day, and that’s completely valid.

remember, your energy levels fluctuate, and that’s perfectly normal. don’t pressure yourself to be endlessly productive. balance is key. the goal is sustainable productivity, not burning out from trying to do everything at once. listen to your body, adjust your pace, and know that it’s okay to take breaks when you need them.

💫 final thoughts: it’s all about balance, being productive during the day is great, but you’re human. you can’t be on 24/7. give yourself grace when things don’t go perfectly. the goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress. prioritize rest as much as you prioritize getting things done, and your mind (and grades) will thank you.

xoxo mindy

[dailyadventureprompts]

Do the ethnostates inherent in major fantasy ever feel real weird to you? You’ve got elftopia (full of elves, where everyone speaks elf and worships the elf gods), orc-hold (full of orcs and maybe their slaves, where everyone speaks orc and worships the orc gods), and dwarfton (made by the dwarves! for the dwarves!).

You might have some cosmopolitan areas, usually human-dominant, but those are usually rare enough in-setting that they need to be pointed out separately. Is this just based on a misunderstanding of the medieval era, and the assumption that countries were all racially homogenous?

This has been bouncing around my brain the last little while. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is it just in my head?

I think what you've noticed is a quirk of derivative fantasy writing, which like a lot of hangups with the genre originates in people trying to crib Tolkien's work without really understanding what he was going for:

Though it contains a lot of detail, Tolkien's world is not grounded. It functions according a narrative logic that changes depending on what work in particular you're focusing on at the time (The Hobbit is a fairytale full of tricks and riddles, Lord of the Rings is a heroic epic, The Silmirilion is a legendary history).

One of the reasons the races are separate is to instill the feeling of wonder in the hobbits as POV characters for the reader, other folk live in far off places and are supposed to feel more legendary than our comparatively mundane friends from the shire. The Movies captured this well where going east in middle earth was like going back in time to a more and more mythologized past.

In real life, people don't stay static for thousands of years, no matter how long their people live. They meet, mingle, war and trade. Empires rise and fall creating shrapnel as they go, cultures adapt to a changing environment. This means that any geographic cross section you make is going to be a collage of different influences where uniformity is a glaring aberration.

What the bad Tolkien knockoffs did was take his image of a mythical world and tried to make it run in a realistic setting. Tolkien can say the subterranean dwarven kingdom of Erebor lasted for a thousand years without having to worry about birthrates or demographic shifts or the logistics of farming in a cave because he's writing the sort of story where those things don't matter. D&D and other properties like it however INSIST that their worlds are grounded and realistic but have to bend over backwards to keep things static and hegemonic.

Likewise contributing to the "ethnostate" feeling is early d&d (backbone of the fantasy genre that it is) being created by a bunch of White Midwestern Americans who were not only coming from a background of fantasy wargaming but were working during the depths of the coldwar. Hard borders and incompatible ideologies, cultural hegemony and intellectual isolation, a conception of the world that focused around antagonism between US and THEM. These were people born in the era of segregation for whom the idea of cultural and racial osmosis was alien, to the point where mingling between different fantasy races produced the "mongrelman" monster, natural pickpockets who combined the worst aspects of all their component parts, unwelcome in good society who were most often found as slaves.

This inability to appreciate cultural exchange is likewise why the central d&d pantheon has a ton of human gods with specific carveouts for other races (eventually supplemented with a bunch of race specific minor gods who are various riffs on the same thing). Rather than being universal ideals, the gods were seen as entities just as tribalistic as their followers.

[drchucktingle]

Hello Dr Tingle! I wanted to ask you about that re: your post about how all your books are serious literature (hell yeah Love is real). How do you personally deal with the whole traditional publishing institution? It attracts a whole different level of coverage and it seems that they're very quick to try and box you and like turn you into a brand. Is it stiffling? Is it freeing? Does the attention help more people understand your trot? I don't know I've never been published but since you have experience in both traditional and self publishing I'm interested in knowing how that's feeling for you

well this is a pretty complex question with lots of different trots but i will try my best to answer. lets start with WHO I AM as buckaroo name of chuck

what i create has a very strong voice and my way is pretty recognizable. while buckaroos do not know what most authors look like, i REALLY stand out in a dang crowd with a big pink bag on my head. if you see 50 random author photos and mine is mixed in and then you ask 'which photo do you remember the most?' it is probably gonna be chuck. i also have a VERY UNIQUE STORY with what i create and my artistic sensibilities, not a lot of buds are out there making trans mothman erotica along with their big five traditional publishing bestsellers (SIDENOTE preorder BURY YOUR GAYS)

now if you were going to take 'CHUCK TINGLE' to a marketing department they would FALL OVER BACKWARDS IN THEIR DANG CHAIR with excitement. it is hard to think of an author with a stronger BRAND than i already have in the sense of 'instantly recognizable trot and specific unique style'. even in answering this you can tell that i dont even TALK like other dang authors.

what i am getting at is this: i am VERY VERY LUCKY because my existence just so happens to equate to what a company would see as GOOD BRANDING. it is not intentional on my part, it is just the hand of fate i guess. im out here expressing myself in a FULL ON WAY that is PRETTY DANG STRANGE TO SOME and it just so happens to work as mainstream branding too

on paper you might think 'what the heck no way chuck tingle will fly as a mainstream trot' but honestly the main thread of this timeline can be surprising sometimes. ive been saying the key ingredient for years and i will say it again: LOVE AND SINCERITY RESONATE. when you make art with this fuel, the timeline will feel it. when you stand up tall and shout with your whole chest THIS IS MY WAY AND I LOVE MYSELF. I AM THE WORLDS GREATEST AUTHOR TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, the timeline will listen

so all that said, i do not mind the idea of myself as 'brand' because i am not CHANGING myself to create this effect. what some might see as 'brand' i just see as another part of my art. i have always believed that art is THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE not just the painting but what is outside of the frame. WHO I AM is just as important as the books i write, and interacting with my way is a whole MULTIMEDIA experience that INCLUDES YOU TOO. it is the feeling when your friend shows you your first tingler cover, or the feeling when you realize that i am not playing a character. this is ALL a part of the tingleverse and it is all a part of my honest raw expression as a queer and neurodivergent buckaroo.

YOU ARE PART OF THIS ART TOO

it is my nature of have a PUNK ROCK trot. always has been. but to me that does not mean just angrily going against everything for the sake of going against everything. for me, this punk rock trot means fighting to EXPRESS MYSELF IN THE MOST HONEST AND PURE FORM POSSIBLE and to create the art that i want to make without any boundaries

somehow i have threaded the needle in this really interesting once-in-a-dang-lifetime kind of way. my pure punk rock self as an OUTERSIDER ARTIST just so happens to resonate with this larger system of brand and traditional publishing and popular culture. i COULD reject this, but rejecting it would be LESS HONEST.

this is just who i am. i LIKE pop culture. i LIKE joy. i LIKE dressing in all pink and wearing my custom suits. I LIKE PROVING LOVE IS REAL WHAT THE HECK ELSE EVEN IS THERE? i love being a queer outsider artist and using my small voice to shout at the big bad devils and i like that every time i shout a few more of you buckaroos join the chorus and together we are just getting louder and louder and louder and WHO KNOWS what comes next for us all trotting together.

when i post something like 'WHAT A GREAT DAY TO PROVE LOVE' it is not me sitting here in a bad mood thinkin 'well i gotta make todays post to keep up with my brand'. i am ACTUALLY FEELING THAT FEELING and i actually believe it with every fiber of my being. honestly, half the time i post about the beauty of this timeline i am probably over here literally crying tears of joy (chuck is an emotional bud i get riled over the joy of existence A LOT)

and heres the best part of this trot: because i really have this punk rock way it makes me very powerful. others can pretend not to care about success and brand and all that but I REALLY DO NO CARE. i would write tinglers whether buds were reading them or not, this is just my natural state, and that makes me incredibly strong. if some big corporation says 'YOU MUST DO THIS' and i dont want to do it i just say 'no thanks'. it is not some big debate about my career or anything like that because I REALLY DO NOT CARE IN THE SLIGHTEST. i care about the art

because of this, my relationship with my GIANT TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING MACHINE is great. we trot like equals and we get along really well. i tell them exactly what i want to do and they let me do it. i really do not have to answer to anyone and they deserve a huge amount of credit for respecting me in this way.

and heres the thing, THEY ALSO HAVE SOME GREAT IDEAS

SPECIFICALLY my imprint of NIGHTFIRE is very dang cool. yes, they are the head of a giant hydra of a BIG FIVE PUBLISHER, but nightfire is SO DANG ART-FOCUSED

there is no right or wrong way to be an artist, and my path is not the only one, but i can tell you what WORKS FOR ME. this is the advice i would give myself, and buckaroos can take it or leave it

here it is: never beg the big book publisher, or record label, or movie studio to pay attention to you

do not let it become a lotto ticket in your brain. do not think that you are some weak little creature and maybe if you trot just right they will scoop you up and take care of you. do not go to their door begging to be let in

LET THEM COME TO YOUR DOOR

create something so incredible and beautiful and honest and powerful and unique and important that they would be foolish to miss out. create a community or a system or a timeline or a world of imagination that thrives on its own and THEY SHOULD BE SO LUCKY TO BE A PART OF IT

then when you sit down at that board meeting it is not 'please brand me, ill do whatever you want'. instead, it is 'lets make a deal and see how much love we can prove together.'

now lets trot buckaroos

[sapphiresaphics]

It truly is astounding that for the entirety of Season 1 of Arcane all of the characters go through tremendous growth in their arcs and end the season in a much different place than when they started… and then when Season 2 rolls around fans are ANGRY that the characters aren’t behaving the way they did in Season 1.

Like, I’m sorry, but what do you think an arc IS? When Jinx says to Vi at the end of Season 1 “you’ve changed too” did you think that was just a throw away line? Do you not understand that the changed Vi at the end of Season 1 is the same Vi we’re gonna start Season 2 with? Did you think all of the characters were just going to RESET to their default traits? Did you FORGET everything that happened in season 1???

I don’t think the writers “forgot who the characters were,” I think the writers were just continuing where they ended Season 1 at.

Like, yeah… Caitlyn behaves a LOT differently than she did in Season 1… because ALL OF SEASON 1 HAPPENED.

Jinx behaves a LOT differently than she did in Season 1… because THE FINALE OF SEASON 1 HAPPENED.

In order to believe that the writers somehow “forgot who the characters were” you have to willingly forget and ignore all of the growth (and setbacks) they had during Season 1.

Like… Caitlyn was a young naive cop who wanted to do the right thing and to see the world differently. And with the help of Vi, she learns about the plight of the undercity and champions for their cause…

But then she’s KIDNAPPED from her home while naked, tortured by Jinx, kept hostage for at least a full day, held at GUNPOINT by Jinx, and then watches as her mother is blown up by Jinx.

THAT is where her story ENDS in Season 1.

So when we come back to Season 2, seeing Caitlyn struggling to treat the undercity with kindness is difficult for her and she’s struggling with falling down a very dark path. And so when Ambessa sets up an attack on a memorial that was in honor of her dead mother… yeah… she’s gonna slide BACKWARDS.

All that goodwill she had romping around Zaun with Vi learning about the undercity’s plight is violently RIPPED AWAY from her.

Same with Vi. We end the season with Vi not being able to reach Powder. And now she has to confront the fact that her moment of weakness in hurting Powder all those years ago helped create Jinx. She ends the season with the burden that everything that happened is a result of her failures. “When people look up to you, you don’t get to be selfish. When you say light a fire, they show up with oil. And whatever happened next is on you.”

That’s where we BEGIN season 2 for Vi. Immense guilt and shame and a deep desire to make things right. Her Season 1 desire to get powder back was VIOLENTLY ripped away from her.

Like… I do not understand how anyone could watch this show and these two seasons and NOT follow along with their arcs and progression. Especially when the show does so much to show its work and make it as CLEAR AS DAY what and why characters feel the way they feel at any given time.

[tentenarchive]

In Defense of Tenten - the Chunin Exams' Written Test and Her Mirrors

A common joke made about Tenten is how obvious her mirror and line contraption, used to share answers with Rock Lee during the written exam, is. In this post, I'll show how her solution is perfectly reasonable and why she wasn't disqualified by the ninja proctors.

Firstly, we have to stablish what the objective of this written test is: to cheat. The written test was designed to be too difficult for ninjas of their level to be able to answer, forcing them to cheat from each other. Such is stated by Ibiki in the end of the First Phase chapters:

Next, the proctors are all higher level shinobi, better prepared and used to seeing various tricks and jutsu. It's not an stretch to suppose they're aware of EVERY cheating attempt made by those Genin, but were responsible for judging if their technique is too sloppy, obvious or ineffective.

My theory is supported by this scene, where Izumo eliminates one of the ninjas doing the test, claiming he took "five strikes".

It implies the competitors are allowed five errors before being disqualified, and one of the eliminated Genin makes it clear to the reader the "five strikes" are five times being caught cheating.

Naruto is also implied to be caught almost cheating when Hinata offers him her test answers (it can be interpreted either as Naruto being closely watched or Naruto's nerves making him think like that, half the proctors' job is to scare the Genin) and even then he is not automatically removed.

Tenten's technique may be obvious for us, as readers who have been shown by the author himself how she did it, but it's a single and successful attempt, and it's not commentated by any other characters, meaning no one caught on her besides the proctors, and they would only disqualify her if she did it more than once (which wasn't needed, she found the mole with all the answers!).

A pettier criticism i've "how isn't anyone seeing the lines?" to which the answer is very simple: manga is a visual media and the author needed the audience to understand how she was manipulating the mirror. If you take in consideration Tenten's fight with Temari in the anime - which is filler, btw, and it's up to you reading this to decide if it's a fair assessment on their abilities or not - she's shown using invisible lines to manipulate her weapons after throwing them. The lines are, conveniently, only visible when the animation needs us to understand how the weapons are moving backwards. Any other frame they're invisible.

You can see in the panel how the lines fade out towards the bottom and only show where they're attached to the mirror.

Finally: that's exactly what Ibiki expected the genin to do. There have been a few posts, specially on twitter, asking "how are you supposed to pass if you don't have a kekken genkai??". Like Tenten. That's how.

Kankuro and Tenten are the only characters which Kishimoto showed us cheating that didn't use an exclusive DNA super power. Kankuro and Tenten both use hidden threads, one uses chakra lines for puppetry and the last manipulates mirrors. They also pass their answers to their teammates, Temari and Lee.

(Sakura is the only confirmed character to do the entire test without cheating. Congrats Sakura!! You could argue Hinata used her byakuugan to cheat like Neji, but if you think she did it by herself, I will give you the pleasure of congratulating Hinata too. Congrats Hinata!)

Tenten's method was practical, and used her specific skill set: summoning and kunai work (where do you think the mirrors came from? a scroll, that's for sure). It was probably set up before the test started, during the commotion Team 7 created with their arrival. We're not shown it because Tenten is a tertiary character and Kishimoto wouldn't invest 2-3 panels of set up for a 3 panel sequence pay-off that works by itself very well. She is smart, did great and made sure her teammate was not left behind.

Tenten is not even the most absurd method used in this exam, so, as a treat, i will show you, in order, the most obvious cheats shown in the manga from least to most!

Sasuke's Sharingan If you're a ninja from the Leaf Village, you know who Sasuke Uchiha is and what a Sharingan is capable of. Unfortunally for him, the Exam is being held at the Leaf Village and all the jounin and chuunin there are from the Village. Any proctor looking at his direction in a position in front of him could see clearly his eyes and know exactly what he was doing.

Neji's Byukuugan Like the Sharigan, you can physhically see when it's activated, with the downgrade of being noticible by people sitting at up to 95º from him, as the veins are visible on the sides of his face too. A fair trade for the ability to see better than the Sharingan, even if you're not able to copy, in my personal opinion.

Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu The jutsu's hand signal is simple and can be missed, but it's still obvious for any Konoha ninja watching, it is a very recognizable ability. There's also the higher chance of Ino being caught since she needs to do it three times (once for getting Sakura's answers, twice to pass them to Chouji and Shikamaru). Besides, the "dropping dead on the table" thing can be disruptive in a mostly silent classroom.

Akamaru and Kiba's communication Akamaru is barking all the way through the exam, and while the balloon used for the text is the one for thoughts, it's also the same used for whispered conversations up to this point in the manga. The anime makes the barks happen in the real world, and not in their thoughts, and as far as i could find, Kiba can understand dog language but there's no psychic talk between them. By the noise alone he could be caught. I think he wasn't expelled just because a full conversation between dog and human is a novel enough ability to not be considered by most ninjas unaware of the Inuzuka clan's special abilities.

The Most absurd one: Kakuro and his Puppet He put an entire guy no one knows and has never been seen in a room where all the authorities are from the same village and have, at least, a vague knowledge of each other's existence. To increase the absurdity, somehow everyone let Kankuro use his own puppet to guide himself to the bathroom. I cannot express enough how unlikely it is that, in a real info gathering mission inside a single room where all the higher rank ninjas are exclusively from the same village, Kakuro's plan could work. Most decent sensors could also catch the chakra line's signature.

I'll give it to him, making the puppet talk helps with the disguise, but it only fools his fellow attendees, not the proctors. He's too confident that he didn't raise any alarms.

But Ibiki goes as far as insinuating he knows (and has known from the start) about the puppet's existence when Kankuro comes back from the bathroom.

If Kankuro was able to finish the test and not get disqualified, even if he had what I consider the most obvious cheating attempt from the named characters shown, it's fair game for Tenten and all the other important cheaters. Besides, it's a single attempt at cheating, even if it required an entire prep work for it, so it doesn't matter if all the high level ninja's are aware, that's not enough to kick him out.

I cannot leave out the meta reasons why these characters weren't removed from the class: they're important to varying degrees to the story and they need to advance through the first phase to keep readers engaged.

Regardless of how absurd I think Kiba's and Kankuro's methods are, they need to go all the way to the fight tournament after the Forest of Death, where they have important roles to fill: Sasuke and Naruto are main characters and are prioritized by the narrative; Ino and Sakura will have an important character developments and flashbacks during their fight; Neji has an entire arc that only concludes all the way in his fight against Naruto; Kiba is the rival for Naruto in the surprise fighting tournament and he is one of the few characters able to match Naruto's silliness so he can win in a silly way; Kankuro and Tenten are both part of the two strongest cells present in the event, the Sand Siblings and Team Gai, both introduced as real threats to Team 7, and having anyone from these cells lose would undermine the narrative created around then. All of them would get through anyway.

Tenten losing against Temari in future parts of the Chuunin Exam has narrative importance too, a fight I will cover in the next In Defense of Tenten, but in short Tenten was introduced as a threat alongside Neji and Lee, her abilities and experience surpassing Team 7's. Having her lose against one the Sand Shinobi serves to show how big their gap in power is: if someone more experienced and well trained than them can't win against them, Team 7 has no chance. It's part of the build up for the future Naruto and Gaara fight, and the suspense about their real strength (since the fight doesn't exist in the manga, only the result is shown).

Conclusion: people are overly critical of Tenten because she's seen as a "lolcow" in the Naruto fandom, in part by the bad adaptation of her fight with Temari to the anime, which poisoned any feat of hers before and after it; but also because Naruto and Boruto don't give satisfying ends to any of the original female cast besides Hinata (she marries the man she loves and becomes a housewife away from the battlefield, an honorable decision i will never shit on, she never wanted to be a ninja and is a kind mother and wife, good for her!) so all female characters are seem as weak and useless when compared to their male peers. Naruto is a work riddled with undercover misogyny, never out right stated but always preventing the girls to achieve any meaningful resolution or permanent development.

That added to the ever expanding powerscalling abilities and fights make characters with simpler and down to earth abilities and feats outdated by its own universe. Knowing how big the Naruto fights and jutsu get in the future make people look down on crafty solutions like sealing scrolls, kunai and mirrors, when that is a perfectly respectable solution within the series and matches the powerlevel presented this early in the story.

Tenten is not weak, or bad, or useless. She's misrepresented by the most popular media consumed: the anime, and further misunderstood by the fans of said work. Large fandoms can be allergic to text interpretation and infighting is stimulated to the point fans of smaller characters are bullied off social media and forums (i.e. the forum where I got the list of all chapters Tenten is in is filled to the brim with comments about how OP should move the topic to "fan works" since no one would want to read about it in the canon work page, or how the mods shouldn't allow him to have a thread). I respect Tenten's feats, as well as other small characters', and refuse to be fed the same "uselessness" narrative this fandom always had, because i actually enjoy Naruto, even if i have many problems with it, and I take it seriously.

She did great.

[asha-mage]

where are you on the 'is P Carlo' debate post DLC? feels like the issue only got muddier

Where I was before, which is 'P isn't just Carlo in a new Puppet body but he also isn't entirely a separate being- rather he is a little both and neither'.

I actually think the DLC in general did a really good job of maintaining ambiguity on the subject- enough so that everyone will walk away having their existing point of view affirmed. Two characters who knew Carlo extremely well (Rosaura and Lea) come to radically different conclusions after meeting P, while P himself gains more parallels and more contrasts to Carlo.

I've said from the beginning that Lies of P doesn't answer this question for a reason. In-narrative Gepetto is the only person obsessed with drawing neat lines between what is and is not 'Carlo', because the version of 'Carlo' he is chasing is one that isn't real. Gepotto wants everything to break down into clean neat rules, structures, and binaries. He wants P to just be a automaton copy of his son and useful vessel for carrying out his plan- it doesn't matter if he has Carlo's skills, bonds, memories, ergo. He is a Puppet and a Puppet Can't Be Human, and Carlo needs to be human, needs to match up this idealized perfect version Geptto has in his head, or else Gepetto won't have successfully erased his mistakes and gotten his second chance. Rather then drawing conclusions based on what's in front of him and living with ambiguity and uncertainty, Gepetto starts from his idealized world and his idealized son and works backwards, doing whatever atrocities are necessary to get to that romanticized vision, without any regard for what anyone else needs or wants.

That's part of the difference between Gepetto and Romeo in their pursuit of bringing Carlo back: Romeo would have been perfectly content with P and he valued P/Carlo's freedom and well being more then his own selfish desires, deciding to mercy kill him rather then let him be chained by Gepetto after he realizes he can't persuade P of the truth. Romeo makes his choices based on what is rather then recklessly and callously pursuing what he thinks should be.

It's also the difference between Gepetto's efforts to resurrect Carlo and P's resurrection of Sophia. P's gives Sophia new life not because he misses her or because of guilt or regret, but rather to set her free and finally give her the chance to live her own life, something the game telegraphs very heavily through the butterfly symbolism. Again he places Sophia's well being ahead of his own desires or feelings, something Gepetto categorically can not do.

Any clear cut answer to the question undercuts the point Lies of P is trying to make. 'P is Carlo reborn' undercuts P's central arc of slowly gaining humanity through building relationships and breaking free of the neat clean rules lain down for him by Gepetto, while 'P is not Carlo' undercuts his most important relationships and their character arcs, since if P isn't Carlo then the King of Puppets isn't Romeo and the new Puppet at the end of Rise of P isn't Sophia- meaning Romeo's desperate attempts to save P wheren't an active choice but him just following his pre-programming/the wishes of someone long dead and Sophia's isn't really set free, but rather a facsimile of her is created solely so P can feel better, which is the exact thing he just fought Gepetto about.

Instead Lies of P rejects the premise of the question, because it isn't important to begin with. P is both himself and Carlo, both a Puppet and human, both a lair and a hero. Whichever answer is technically true, nothing changes that P is inherently worthy of love, autonomy and respect- things that Gepetto denies him in every version of the story. P himself probably doesn't real know where he ends and Carlo begins and that's okay, because the bonds, both the ones from before Carlo died and the ones P built after he awoke, endure and give him reasons to keep fighting and growing and making the world better. It's those voices that call to him during the final battle to give him the strength to defeat the Nameless Puppet- Antonia, Eugénie, Sophia, Vegini, Romeo, and those relationships that matter.

Overture only reinforces this idea because it is all about P coming to terms with Carlo's past, confronting the grief and pain left behind by Carlo's passing, and figuring out what he can and can't do about it. Throughout the DLC everyone heroic wants to save somebody: Gemini and Alidoro want to save Lea, Lea and P want to save Romeo, and of course Romeo, we know, wants to save Carlo (which Gepetto will prey on), but pretty much no one gets to save anyone, at least not long term. But just because they can't be saved doesn't mean their lives don't have value and the struggles to preserve them don't matter. Those relationships and the ripple effects from the acts of kindness and heroism taken in their name matter and stretch forward in time. Lea still falls in the end, but Romeo was held by his mentor one last time before Gepetto got his claws into him, and Lea dies knowing that their is hope for the future- that the love and loyalty and kindness she gave to Carlo isn't just lost to the void, but is carried forward by P.

The exacts of who P is and is not don't matter. What matters is that he is loved.

[andbrokenmemories]

Shard influence is something deeply tied to Taylor's story. I am reminded of this through the process of this reread, and it kind of makes stuff clearer to me. With the themes present of things like Taylor's relationship to escapism and violence and grand uncaring violence, that this force presses in constantly at the edges of the scene means something. As a character you can read as autistic in parts or in whole, it is a fantasied meltdown state, an abreaction. There're the times she fails to maintain control, like when she's knocked out by Bakuda, her inability to repress creating physical problems around her, invading the space relentlessly. The passenger is alien, alien in the space, often unwanted given the nature of the bug superpower of the whole situation. It offers her an alien sensationality: as in, an outside sensationality: hearing someones music through a wall, to the bafflement of those around (wow wonder what that's like). It literally buzzes.

I've been looking at when Danny locks Taylor in. In that scene her power isn't wanted -- "violence isn't an option here" as she begins to think of this as a battle -- but always present is the promise, what if it could be? In all scenes it can, her power constantly offers an alternative to her nonpowered solutions: "what if?" wearing down her excuses. She attempts to force the front door's lock with her bugs. What would Danny even think if that did work?

So then, we have an entire book of Taylor's opinions and solutions to her power making itself unwelcome, leading *up to* Amy's final failure of repression of herself. Leading *up to* Taylor hearing that powers can change your cognition, this rather from the perspective of Cauldron, and having to look backwards. This sounds a little basic as I write it out -- those introspections by Taylor at the end of the story can easily read as silly, like, yes, Taylor, it's been changing you constantly. But a lot of people only seem to talk about this overly mind-warpy version of shard influence that they've constructed off of memory and wogs! When it's truly a primary part of Taylor in the text while not really being that!