#I think the skeleton for this plot beat existing but nothing being done with it makes it worse actually

[diaryofamadsunwukongfan]

Ya'know, in order for Yang to be Beast in the Blake-Yang-Adam/Beauty-Beast-Gaston theory, she would need to be someone that other characters/society at large fear and

"yOu WeRe NeVeR iNtImIdAtEd By Me" Oh my god that's why that line exists :0

[butterfly--empress]

So About BnHA…

Man! I don’t participate much on here but it sure has been an interesting popcorn eating time, lurking through the good, the bad, and the annoying posts in the spoiler chapter tags. For this week’s chapter, especially!

Not gonna rant (I save those for close friends on discord) 

I do notice that lines within this crazy ass fandom have been drawn, tears have been shed and righteous fury has been felt. And no matter wtf Mister Horikoshi has in stored for chapter 320, it’s going to be a make or break chapter for a lot of folks. I did try my best to keep this post Bakugou neutral grounds. I don’t think I’ve bashed nor favored the character just fyi.

But the most inconspicuous opinions can be taken too serious these days…

The Silly:

For chapter 320 onwards, I am and have ALWAYS BEEN 100% Team: The Legend, The Myth, The Champ, Izuku ‘Feral!Rabbit-Cryptid!’ Midoriya! Win or Lose, I ride or die with Midoriya, hands down! ON GOD!

While everybody yelling into the tumblr void over whose gonna win or lose.

I’m sitting here thinking about two things: A) Has no one thought that maybe some of Class 1-A might side with Deku? *coughsUraraka/Iida/Todorokicoughs* *coughsmaybeevenMineta/Asui/Yaoyorozu???coughs* *coughs maybe even a surprise Shinsou/class1-b reveal even though class 1-b don’t know deku that well* B) Did everyone forget in all the excitement that uhh my boi has yet to unlock the 2nd OFA user’s quirk???

I mean, I’m not saying if it does come down to a bawl of drama and angst, that Izuku’s gonna win.

But I am saying, if it does come down to a bawl of drama and angst, that Izuku’s gonna win…I regret nothing with this bet! If my boi loses we just gonna take that L but…ya know…*shrugs*…Baby, beat their Bakugou’s collective asses.

The Serious:

Personally, I honest to god really love this shounen series with all my heart. It is the anime that reignited my love for shounen after my fatigued of constant disappointment with two old shounen favorites. 

Now, having said all that: I truly have not had a serious issue with the writing choices made by Horikoshi. Yes, I have my…gripes…(it’s complicated) but considering what I got compared to the stuff I’ve watched/read in the past, it’s definitely better to me. Having read/watched a lot of anime/manga and shounen, (I haven’t watched them ALL, srsly after my great disappointment and real life I sort of had an anime dry spell if you must know. Watched some stuff here and there when I could/in the mood but not as frequent as I’ve done like yrs ago), I’ve come to learn to just…begrudgingly accept/expect certain; I suppose you can say, writing choices or ‘tropes’ that I can just easily ignore them, roll my eyes when I see them, and still enjoy whatever I’m invested in at the time. 

The only real frustrations I have is with a certain character. Yes, I mean Bakugou. I have come to tolerate him, I have come to begrudgingly like him, especially after a second rewatch of the series, I could see and accept that in a very typical shounen way, Bakugou did change, though very little, and it’s subtle and undeniably frustrating how it’s happening but it’s there. However, I do question Horikoshi’s writing choices when it comes to him at times. I see the character development, I know it’s there but….*sighs*

Now I’m one of these people who do believe that the creator of this universe, actually knows wtf he’s doing with his own story (even if rabid/hormonal younger fans loudly disagree but YMMV). One thing I’ve noticed, for the most part, he doesn’t just write/draw things for the hell of it, even if a certain plot or a certain character’s development takes a snail’s pace to get to the point. The conclusion of building up to arcs do have a pay off. (And I 100% understand that for some people, moving at a snail’s pace just don’t cut it. Everything cannot please everybody all of the time and that is FINE!)

Katsuki Bakugou…I know the crumbs and very subtle ways he’s changed have to lead somewhere and to something huge. When Bakugou admits to All Might he bullied Midoriya when they were kids, I had an ‘ah ha!’ Moment. The fact that a very prideful guy like Bakugou was finally starting to admit just that much, (even though, we the audience knows it runs way deeper than he’s admitting here) even in his frustrating roundabout way I like to think this is progress, is very in-character and cannot just be for the hell of it. It has to be leading up to something else other than Bakugou jumping in to take that hit for Deku during the war arc. There is unresolved tension still between Bakugou and Midoriya that is not going to just go away because they will it to.

Which brings us to Chapters 318 and especially 319. It’s the perfect set up for all the dirty skeletons to come out of the closet that both Bakugou and Midoriya have been avoiding/trying to pretend doesn’t exists between them, because it’s been a long time coming. The honest to god truth? This is actually how I always thought this confrontation will go, with a showdown that forces Midoriya into a corner where all those repressed negative feelings he’s bottled up inside is bound to come out; Because I Honestly think Izuku would take what Bakugou’s done to him to his grave if he had it, his way. (Boy can be very frustratingly stubborn when he wants to be).

It’s just, after saying all this, I don’t hold my breath that Horikoshi will take it there…The opportunity is there, I want it to go there, it NEEDS to go there! In order for both characters to come out for the better. But will Mister Horikoshi ‘DO THE THING?’

Remains to be seen. A little bit of me is hopeful, another part of me is resigning myself to feeling dissatisfied with what little we got for Bakugou’s character development and by proxy, Izuku’s getting stuck in limbo. I’m not kidding, Bakugou being a very contentious character within this fandom doesn’t just come from nowhere. But this post isn’t about me ranting into the void about Bakugou. (I don’t even think I can muster up the rage I felt the first time watching MHA blindly to rant to high hell about the bullshit Bakugou’s done now.)

I suppose I will just have to internally scream for 1,000 yrs over half baked character development if Horikoshi doesn’t do the FUCKING THING in giving a satisfying pay off to Katsuki and Midoriya’s history. I’ll just frustratingly chalk it up to old freaking shounen logic and just continue to enjoy the series because I’ve been here for Izuku Midoriya since ep 1 and I am not about to let Bakugou or Horikoshi’s unwillingness to do something with him derail that. And there’s always hoping that someone is writing some really good Bakugou gets actual Consequences fanfic out there because ooh boy…I like Bakugou but mofo can catch these hands…and I’m not even a fighter, but Bakugou…this lil shit does make you want to choke the hell out of him at times. 

I haven’t been this emotionally frustrated over an anime character since…maybe fucking Louise from Zero no Tsukaima and it takes a LOT to make me actually dislike characters, good or bad. 

All in All: Regardless of how the story goes from here on out, we are all about to lose our collective shits. No matter how you feel about which characters…

It’s about to go down!

[zelskzerker]

Mangadex went down so I read alot 1/7

Lets review a bunch of isekai and related stuff I binged because mangadex went down. The scale will be a single thumbs up to a single thumbs down in terms of how much I would consider recommending it in general.

Legend

Chapters 1-51 Pretty straight forward in most aspects. For the best. Nothing crazy bad or good happening, making it surprisingly straight forward for an isekai. [Insert isekai startup here] but this time the MC is given a super magic body and the knowledge of ancient magic. Which he promptly uses to create a griffon buddy. Gets a THUMB IN THE UPPER CORNER for just being a nice, believable stay in a world, but I have read some stuff that really has interesting sparks the way this doesnt. MC is brutal at times and General Princess is cute. They make a good pair for each other.  Although there are no ecchi situations, that artist really knows how to slide in the lewds, whether its mid combat flourishes or pre chapter artwork.

The Black Create Summoner: Revolt of Reincarnated

All Chapters

Truly is revolting. A resounding THUMBS DOWN.  Apparently this was just an advertisement manga, which means that its intentionally incomplete and unsatisfying. Ontop of that, the sketchy artwork was generally rough and got worse to look at the more it went on. [Insert isekai startup here] but this time he has a grimoire that lets him summon stuff he draws. The power isn’t used that much though or in that creative of ways. Characters didn’t really leave an impact except maybe the elf little sister that is stubborn yet knows she is incompotent and recruits a dragon out of stubbornness. 

Minotaur’s Sweetheart

Chapters 1-16

So what if a minotaur accidentally seduced the adventurer that was assigned to kill him? This is a good romance manga deserving a THUMBS UP because the pure-hearted minotaur boy and the unmarriageable adventurer girl actually develop a relationship and progress as people. The manga is ultimately about monsters and humans interacting and is fresh due to having a plot that evolves the situation a lot beyond the initial setup of the manga.

Moon-led Journey Across Another World

Chapters 1-64

[Insert isekai startup here] but this time the god of the new world calls the MC ugly and banishes him to the edge of the world to die off. In order to help out the MC, the god of our world (Tsukuyomi) gives him a bit of power. The MC is funny to watch once you realize that he is an incredibly cautious pureboy and expecting every common street thug to potentially end him but in reality he is a god-rivaling cataclysm himself and never realizes. He is so powerful that he recruits the blue haired mist dragon, Tomoe, and accidentally turns her into a weeaboo. Tomoe can read minds and access pocket space with her mist ontop of her sick weeaboo katana skills. She really shines as the most mature person in the story, gaining information that no one else in the story has and carefully withholding it from the MC in order to protect his innocence. She is a DAMN good tomboyish waifu and sarashii is a blessing. Other main girl is yandere spider, Mio, which has shockingly good and well conveyed bouts of emotion. She has an extremely rare “can’t cook at all” joke that is explained due to her “eat literally anything” nature. In terms of plot, the MC hates the god of the world he is in and pretty much plans to do everything she doesn’t want him to. Which means mingling with humans, and eventually, god slaying/usurption. Odd think about this manga is that it’s heavily Japanese-inspired. That may sound odd because its a manga, but generally isekai are most medieval/western skinned than this one which leans in on Japanese mythos. Just look at the god of our world in the manga.

THUMBS UP.

The Unsuccessful yet Academically Unparalleled Sage ~A Cheating S-Rank Sorcerer's Post-Rebirth Adventurer Log~

Chapter 1-10 So lets set up this genre here. This is a part of the “reincarnation” genre, which is a spinoff of isekai. They generally depict a very capable mage who reincarnates themselves into the future of their own world. At which point they realize that although they were pretty strong in their day, they are now practically a god in the deteriorated modern day. This genre will hereby be indicated by [Insert reincarnation startup here]. For this manga in specific, [Insert isekai startup here] but this time the MC could only use lightning magic and was the best at it but failed the gene gacha then [Insert reincarnation startup here] and he fails gene gacha again but is still the walking thunder god. These kinds of manga are always precious when the MC can walk through the world and see the fruits of their past labor. Specifically through Merlin, the MC’s adopted demon daughter who has grown up to be his heritor and bridge human/demon relationships. Truly adorable and heart warming. Lacks a bit of spice from themeing or ongoing plot due to its short length however. THUMB IN THE UPPER CORNER.

Older Elite Knight is cute only in front of me

Chapters 1-17.1

THUMBS UP. This is an oneshota manga where shota is a chad with incredibly good tastes. A really good ecchi manga with a light hearted story featuring Haru(the shota) knight that joins Karen’s(the oneesan) knight crew. As with all good romance manga, the main plot isn’t romance. Knight shenanigins are always happening, with a big (and lewd) bad entering recently. Top tier variation on the lewds, even including a princess loli in on the fun. Must read for all oneshota fans.

Lonely Attack on A Different World

Chapter 1-91

[Insert isekai startup forma de classroom here] but this time the MC gets leftover garbage skills and has to learn to survive. Learning to survive thus makes him the most op and he can magic trick his way out of literally anything. Strong start as the whole classroom first tries to get their footing, but after the starting arc is done this manga starts spinning it’s wheels. The manga is kinda lacking in themes, overarching plot and end goals, so stuff just happens to make this a sort of slice of life trap room escape manga. Magic “just works” in this universe so its not very dramatic when the MC pulls out a new trick out of his bag of million tricks. Just kinda stagnates too much for my liking. THUMB IN THE BOTTOM CORNER.

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

Chapters 1-34

Rentt Faina, the MC, is a good guy with no talent who aspires to be a legendary adventurer. But then he gets turned into a skeleton, giving the chance to evolve his way to greatness, kinda like in Spider isekai or Dragon isekai. The MC is most like Goblin Slayer in his serious and knowledgeable approach to the world, how characters that know him revere him. End goal so far is just him seeing how far he can evolve as he comes across other vampires and vampire hunters. Really want to see him go to the top. Fuckin great art. Girls drawn perfect. Like the hat on the guild girl, but nothing beats the witch Lorraine. THUMBS UP.

Teihen Ryoushu No Kanchigai Eiyuutan

Chapters 1-13

THUMB IN UPPER CORNER. Pretty funny comedy about a lord of a poor land who wants to be a stereotypical evil lord but can only use healing magic. Therefore he bumbles his way into accepting a heretical cult nun, beast men who hate humans, etc. All the girls are to crazy for him to want to sex them(weak. give the assassin nun your babies). Most interesting parts are aforementioned nun, his fujoshi assistant, and the MC’s willingness to use his power to commit heretical and immoral warcrimes. 

The Undead Lord of the Palace of Darkness

Chapters 1-11

Art average, don’t come to this one for spectacle. It’s strength is in the subertfuge that it’s recently-necromanced-back-to-life MC goes through to get his Master killed and to later, probably, evolve into a vampire. MC isn’t evil though, just wants to survive. Main girl on cover was born and raised to hunt vampires but has a compassionate heart. Obviously she goes easy on and relates to MC. Story is still kinda in it’s first arc so the overall trajectory of the story is a bit hard to gauge and not quite satisfying enough by its own right. Probably a thumb up with more chapters but for now THUMB IN THE UPPER CORNER.

The Reincarnated Inferior Magic Swordsman

Chapters 1-38

[Insert isekai startup here] but this time.... uh... THUMB SIDEWAYS. Usually I am patient, but 31 chapters with no goal and just barely plot? Wow. Saving grace is uh... I guess the world of “other isekai people existed but they sucked because they didn’t level uncap like MC” could go somewhere but. I take it back, lowering this one to a THUMB DOWN.

The Invincible Sage in the Second World.

Chapters 1-12

[Insert isekai startup here] but this time a pro mmo player in a game called “Broken Balance Online.” Guess what his class, the sage class, was considered in the game? Not far along enough to really pop off but it isn’t horrible. MC is moderately cautious to a healthy degree which is actually rare in most isekai. THUMB IN BOTTOM LEFT CORNER. 

The Dark Queen and I Strike Back

Chapters 1-29.5

Although technically an isekai, no isekai startup here. This a battle manga with a big mystery on the backdrop of a war. That is to say, the MC gets teleported to a world to kill the demons but he ends up defending them from the humans with all he’s got. Of special note is the complete seriousness of this manga that whiplashes into debauchery like tentacles, the above cover, oneshota, and even really dark jokes in some of the omake. That tonal lash effect will be either make or break, and it is a HUGE make for me. I love when a single piece can have both absolute serious scenes and utterly lighthearted and fluffy ones. Or in this case utterly lewd ones. May the average-human-amount-of-perverted MC one day slam some demon lord loli. THUMBS UP.

Chillin' in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers

Chapters 1-24

THUMB SIDEWAYS. Has the feeling of a nerfed slime isekai. Nerfed in all ways except romance. Art surprisingly good.

[ljandersen]

Hi! I was wondering if you’d be willing to share a little (or a lot! I’m not picky) about your process for writing Burning Barriers? Things you researched, things that gave you inspiration, any of it. I’m having a blast reading it and I’m so curious about what all went into writing it! (And it’s totally okay if you don’t want to! I just had to let you know how much I’m enjoying it!)

Wow!  I’m incredibly flattered by this ask.  I think it’s the first time I’ve gotten an ask about my writing that wasn’t part of a game.  I was ecstatic to see it in my inbox.  Thank you for taking the time and interest to send it.  “Burning Barriers” is my favorite posted story.  I love talking about it.  I’m humbled when anyone actually wants to know something about it.  Anyway, seriously, I appreciate getting this ask.  It made my day!

On to the actual question though:  The inspiration for writing the book had a lot to do with what lead into me writing fanfiction. “Burning Barriers” was the first piece of fanfiction I wrote and the first novel-length story I finished.  In a lot of ways, it was a turning point in my writing.  I’d written my whole life, but for the most part, I’d gradually given it up during grad school and internship rotations.  It turns out, though, corporate healthcare can be quite dehumanizing and impersonal.  My career wasn’t what I thought.  I decided I needed to return to what I loved doing, which was writing.  

Initially, I decided it was time to write that masterpiece of literary fiction I’d always planned on writing.  I made detailed outlines and character sheets.  I had each beat perfectly aligned for a four-act story structure.  I had the character arcs.  Subplots were variations on the theme and parallel to the main story, just like the writing books recommended.  Everything was set to finally write The Masterpiece.  And . . .

I stalled out.

I was too overwhelmed to write this overblown piece of art.  I knew I couldn’t live up to my own expectations.  I’d decided to return to writing, but nothing as happening.

I loved writing, but I also always loved video games.  I’d played all the Dragon Age games as each came out.  I had no idea Mass Effect existed.  In 2018, my sister came across it.  After playing the ME trilogy, she recommended it to me.  I loved it.  With the three games tying together and having the same protagonist, who spoke and had a name, I became enthralled.  Then came the ending with Shepard dying on the Crucible.

The credits rolled.  Moon boy had just asked about “The Shepard,” and this was it.  Was Shepard alive or dead?  What about her love interest, in this case, Kaidan?  What about their story?  What about Shepard’s story as a person?  It just ended.  Cut off.  

While I appreciate the bittersweet nature of the ending, I didn’t have any closure.  I kept thinking, “How would I have ended it?”  There were a few elements in particular that I thought would be interesting to explore more: fraternization and biotics.  It’s always interested me when a super hero loses her power.  What if Shepard couldn’t use her biotics?  As for fraternization, I understood it being dismissed in ME-3, but what about after?  They want to be together but rules are falling back into place.  It’s always interesting when two people are forbidden to be together by external forces.  There were so many interesting way to play out these different ideas.

I kept thinking about this hypothetical ending for my game.  Finally, I decided I should just write it.  It was going to be a short story for myself.  I just needed it out of my system.  Maybe it would be a good warm up to finally writing The Masterpiece.  I started writing my ending for ME.

I had a very vague plot in mind.  As I started writing, the plot became more than just a vehicle for finding closure with Shepard and Kaidan’s love story.  I had only planned on writing Shepard’s POV, but as I drew closer to a section in the story that I knew Shepard couldn’t tell, I realized I needed someone else to take over the story.  Skipping forward in time as I initially planned wouldn’t be satisfying.  I decided to make the story three parts, and Kaidan would tell part two.  I would return back to Shepard’s POV for the last part.  

I was nervous switching POV and thought a lot about how Shepard and Kaidan would tell their story differently.  Shepard is fast, goal-oriented, no-nonsense, and avoids uncomfortable, emotional rumination.  Kaidan, however, is more self-aware and honest with his feelings.  He’s reflective, cautious, and has a deeper internal life.  The idea of contrasting the POV while keeping a consistent narrative voice was a interesting challenge.  In the end, switching POV didn’t turn out to be as difficult as I thought, and I really enjoyed writing a part of the story from Kaidan’s eyes.  

As I approached part three, where Kaidan’s POV would end, I realized dropping his side would feel disappointing in a way.  The story had become as much Kaidan’s story as it was Shepard’s.  They needed to tell the ending together.  The decision to alternate POV in part three even gave the story cohesion: 1. Shepard 2. Kaidan 3. Shepard and Kaidan.  It felt right.  I was surprised I hadn’t thought of that from the beginning.

The story was starting to become big.  Somewhere into writing part 1, I realized this was a more serious endeavor than a throw-away short story.  So I got serious.  I knew my ending for the story, and I decided to dissect apart what would make the ending truly satisfying.  What were the barriers to it feeling the best it could feel?  

Once I identified those elements, it influenced the story quite a bit.  I had to include new pieces to the story, like Kaidan’s family, and I had to emphasize character arcs in some of the secondary characters.  I also realized the thing keeping Shepard and Kaidan apart had to be more than fraternization regs.  I had to be something internal in addition to external to feel believable.

As I wrote, there was one big development I hadn’t planned but that felt organic.  It worked for the character arc I was creating, and I let it play out.  While there was one big surprise, a lot of the story’s details sprang up and were little surprises while I was writing.  I knew the points I wanted to connect, but I discovered the details as I wrote it.  It was like I had this skeleton, but the discovery process as I wrote gave it the flesh and beauty of being something worthwhile.

The story’s ending was everything I hoped, which was a huge feat for me.  I took a long time reflecting on how all the elements could come together at once in a way that felt right.  I needed to incorporate a lot of external elements into one moment: the Mass Effect shard, the Scorpion terrorist leader, an object they’re looking for in part 3, and all the secondary characters (Council, Alliance, Shepard’s companions).  I needed it to bring Shepard and Kaidan’s internal conflict keeping them apart to a moment of clarity, which would be easy if it was just about realizing they loved each other.  They already knew that.  Shepard needed to confront her fears and realize her false reasoning wasn’t just wrong, but that actually the opposite was real truth.  It was a lot to achieve in one ending, but as far as I’m concerned, I felt like I was successful in bringing everything together into one moment.  I was able to resolve many questions, external and internal, with one answer.  

Honestly, I have compared Burning Barrier’s ending to my current big WIP and felt like I can’t live up to my own benchmark of satisfaction in an ending.  Granted, all of that’s really talking up my own ending, and readers may or may not feel like the ending brought everything together in a satisfying way.  But for me, I was pleased with the ending to a story I was telling myself.  Since I had never finished a novel-sized story, it was huge moment.

I wrote "Burning Barriers” in notebooks over the course of four months.  I had no idea of the word count when I finished.  It all come together so naturally and simply, I actually thought my story would fall short of being novel-sized.  All three parts together I expected to fall into the novella range.  I was wrong.  I started typing it up and watched the word count climb.  This story that felt so simple and quick to me turned out not only to be novel-sized, but each part was novel-sized. I was thunderstruck.  I realized: not only had I finished my first novel, I finished three of them!  It was huge for me.  

Writing fanfiction and not trying to live up to this inflated, self-imposed ideal of creating “Art” had finally set me free.  I could finally write and finish a novel.  I even did it with a method I never expected to work for me.  Being an organized and kind of methodical person, I always assumed outlining was the best way for me.  It was the responsible, better approach.  It turns out, knowing my direction but finding my way as I go was what worked best.  It gave me joy in discovering, and knowing I could edit it later, freed me from every word being perfection in the first draft.

“Burning Barriers” had three major drafts.  After writing the story in notebooks, I knew what I needed to emphasize and cut away as I typed it into a second draft.  I could foreshadow and set up the ending.  I could fill in missing scenes.  It was a major overhaul.  I then read through the whole story a third time focusing more on the writing-level, sentences and wording choice.  Then it was done.

Now I needed to do something with it.  After a certain point of writing this story, maybe halfway, I realized I was putting enough effort into it, I actually wanted someone to read it.  My sister, who had recommended Mass Effect to me, was also a writer.  As I wrote and finished editing my story, I had her in mind as the one person who would read my story.  Unfortunately, fanfiction is stigmatized and on a much lower level than if I wrote The Masterpiece.  After I was finished with this story, by sister felt embarrassed for me writing fanfiction.  The idea of reading fanfiction was demeaning for a serious writer and it wasn’t her thing.  It’s fair to feel that way, I suppose, but I was disappointed.  

My other sister who isn’t a gamer but was aware of fanfiction as a thing suggested I post online.  The game had been out for so long, I doubted Mass Effect fans were still reading fanfic, but I decided to try.  I had written 300 K words that no one would ever read but me if I let it lay forgotten on the hard drive.  

I went ahead and posted it on FFN.  I made each part it’s own book, and I posted all three books and all the chapters all at once.  Then I sat back and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Nothing.  It was deflating.  I had a few favorites or follows scattered here and there, but it felt pretty silent.  I could see stats that some people probably had read the whole way through, but that was it for spending months writing this 300 K fic.  I actually felt worse than before I’d posted it online, because this felt more like a rejection.  My fear, my story actually being awful, could actually be true.

At the time, I didn’t know anything about fanfiction culture.  I didn’t know people posted before they finished a story or that it was common practice to post chapter by chapter to gain readership.  I had no idea my posting method could be playing a role in why the stories were lost to the void.  

My sister who had suggested posting online recommended looking for Facebook groups to information on other places to post.  I joined some FB groups and asked for recommendations where else to post.  I heard about AO3.  Now, I still didn’t know about this whole posting chapter-by-chapter thing, so I posted my story on AO3 the same way as before.  Unlike FFN, I decided this time to keep all the parts together, since so much of the story relied on in-jokes and references from earlier parts.  Plus, the story and plot arc were made to connect over the whole story.  Other than that, I posted “Burning Barriers” as one giant chunk of 124 chapters, like I had on FFN, and sat back again.  This time there was one difference: someone commented.

I got a comment from someone who read the first chapter, liked it, and said she would put it on her reading list.  That one comment changed my whole experience.  I replied to the comment, and I through a back and forth via email met my now very good friend @ripley95things .  She introduced me to another wonderful friend @rpgwarrior4824 .  Their comments on “Burning Barriers” made all the difference.  I went from feeling kind of devastated and being embarrassed about my story to being glad I wrote it.  It was a complete 180 just by having two people who cared.  It made all the difference.  

They welcomed me into the fandom.  I learned so much about the fanfic culture and started reading other Shenko fanfics.  I haven’t stopped since.  With all the encouragement I got from talking with them, I decided to write more Shenko fanfiction myself even.  I hadn’t planned to write anything more than “Burning Barriers,” but suddenly I had a new plot-heavy story I was writing (am still writing *sigh*).  I wrote a one-shot and some lighter, shorter multichapter fics.  I eventually joined Tumblr.  But it all started with “Burning Barriers.”

That’s a lot of extra information on “Burning Barriers” than just my inspiration and approach to writing, but haha, I guess, I got on a roll.  The story has a lot of meaning to me, and the history surround it feels integrated into its DNA.  If you read this far, I really appreciate you reading not only a very long book with “Burning Barriers,” but also a very long monologue about the very long book.  Haha.  Thank you!

Anyway, I’ll end here.  Thank you for your wonderful question.  It was fun to reflect back on this story that has so much meaning to me.  I appreciate your interest in “Burning Barriers.”  It means more than I can say that you read my story, and even more, to know you’re interested enough to ask a question about it (thought you probably didn’t expect how much you’d get!  Lol! :D)  Thanks again!

[tender-history]

Fic Plotting 101: How I Start from an Idea.

Hullo, hi, welcome! It’s Plotting 101 with Dee: Part One!

 Before we get started, here’s why I made this post:

 1) I get a lot of CCs asking how to approach plotting, pacing and especially story flow, and I wanted to link them all to something useful,

2) I see a lot of people wanting to write plot but unsure how to approach it because it can be overwhelming,

3) Google Searching ‘how to plot’ can be EXTREMELY scary.

 Let’s take Number 3 first. If you’re going to Google ‘how to plot’, you’re going to end up with advice on everything ranging from ‘don’t plot’ to six sheet spreadsheets with fifty columns each that wants you to put down everything from your character’s eye color to what exactly they think of instant noodles. You’ll end up with diagrams, beat sheets, templates, storyboards, and find guides that range from six-step plotting techniques to fifty-steps. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow that method - sometimes, if you’re a person who likes character design and questionnaires a lot, you’ll love that method. But I’m not like that, and a lot of writers I know aren’t like that either. There’s nothing I hate more than some spreadsheet asking me my character’s weight and height. And if you go down that road, chances are that you’ll just go down the rabbit hole of intricately designing your characters and settings for AGES instead of actually writing anything at all.

 So - if not through spreadsheets or beat-sheets, how DO you plot?

 If you ask me, the best plotting method is to do WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.

 How do you find what works for you? You try things. I tried many different ways of plotting before I decided what worked for me. So this is going to be less a guide on how to plot and more an explanation of the ways I plot, with the hope that maybe you can find something in here to help you.

 > For me, step ONE is the IDEA.

 This is your big shiny nugget. Your driving force. This is EXTREMELY important, because no one idea is equal to another.  Some ideas are better, because they can help you do something unique, something only you can do, which makes you stand out. For the sake of demonstrating this whole thing, let’s take The Tender History of Tides. Tender History lived on my Ideas folder in my Notes app for months before I began writing it. This was my one-line quick jot-down: ‘what if I wrote non-royalty historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea?’

 Done before? Yeah. Can be done in a unique way? Heck yeah.

 Your idea is very very important because it’s the axis on which you’ll pivot your entire plot. It’ll grow and develop and change if you just give it some thought.

 So, plotting suggestion #1 right here: Keep an Ideas folder. You WILL forget your idea, however shiny it is. Keeping it all in one place helps in more than one way: 1) You know it won’t disappear from your mind, 2) Sometimes ideas can overlap, come together, and turn into a whole new story.

 For Tender History, the historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea idea very, very quickly merged with another idea I’d had: taegi dark-fic with sea-monster Tae and monster-hunter Yoongi. They were disparate thoughts, things I thought of at different times, things I then put together to create something more unique than what they would have been individually.

 I often generate ideas this way. I’ll consult my Ideas folder for thoughts I’ve had in the past, then see if they can be combined with something else to make a better shiny.

 Few examples:

 1) vhope magic shop au + but what if the whole thing is set in a game arcade?

2) taegi vampire au + but what if this was set in the fashion world?

3) vmin library au + but what if they went to a magical school?

 Combination is one way of idea generation. Other ways of idea generation that I sometimes use:

 > Use images. Go on Pinterest, check out some aesthetics, let your imagination run wild.

> Use online prompters. There are so many prompt generators floating around! For Fantasy, I use Seventh Sanctum sometimes (they have hundreds of different sort of prompt generators, and some are really good if you’re stuck on banal things like naming, or a quick character design). For fan fiction, there are prompt bots on Twitter. You can even google writing prompts, there are several websites that offer one per day, which you can then use to kick start your imagination.

 > Now you have your idea. Step TWO, for me, is developing the idea.

 This is the step where you can really stand out in the crowd when it comes to plotting. It’s great having a unique idea, but this is the part where you flesh it out.

 Here’s how I do that:

> Scribble down a skeleton of what you think the story will be: In my case, for this Taegi fic, the skeleton looked something like this:

taegi, yoongi is a detective, tae is a supernatural being of some sort, setting is joseon korea, time period is (???), wintry, monsters and murders, dark, atmospheric, there’s a romance and it’s both soft and dangerous, side: noble seokjin, scholar namjoon, doctor jimin (?). they’re in a village and there are these murders and everyone is keeping secrets. 

This, as you see, is a ramble. It’s just whatever’s in my head, being committed to paper. Now, plotting is WORK. Putting what’s up there - that ramble, that mess of ideas - into a functioning, well-paced, structured, organized plot requires you to put work into it. It’s not easy. But it’s a lot of fun. And when it starts coming together, you really feel very good about your writing and your story!

So, moving on to the actual work now:

> Write a 250 word pitch of the story. Organize your ramble into something coherent, meaningful and easy to absorb. Imagine that this is exactly like the back blurb on a book. The back blurb on a book is meant to entice you to read it. IF it’s enticing enough for you to read, then you can imagine that it might be enticing to a reader. But first - you have to make it enticing for YOU. As the writer, YOU have to feel like, ok, this is gonna be a killer story if I tackle it.

 The objective of this pitch is two-fold:

1) You have to be able to tell three things from it: the idea, the characters, and the main conflict.

2) A complete STRANGER - i.e., someone who has no idea about your story - should be able to look at this pitch and tell what exactly the story is about.

 I can’t stress the importance of this step. Often times, it’s not until you force yourself to explain your plot in 250 words that you find possible issues with it.

 Here’s how I explained Tender History in 250 words or less:

 “In late 1700s Joseon Korea, a string of strange murders sends Inspector Kim Seokjin to a frozen northern province. Accompanying him is Min Yoongi, once a scholar of the supernatural, now an indentured laborer until a debt for his crimes against the palace can be paid. Quickly taking on eccentric artist Kim Taehyung as his assistant, Yoongi sets out to find the monster that’s terrorizing the land. But there’s more to both the icy lakes and the people here. More to Taehyung and his unflinching ease at drawing scenes of death. Yoongi just needs to figure out what.”

 Note a couple of things here.

A) You as the writer knows who the important characters are, because they are named.

B) You know the setting: 1700s, Joseon Korea, icy, winter.

C) You know the characterization and how they play into this world: inspector Seokjin, indentured worker Yoongi, artist Taehyung.

D) You know the conflict: murders, monsters, secrets.

E) You ALSO, if you look deeply enough, know the inner character conflict - Yoongi has debts, he has no free will until he pays them.

 If I show this to you, a stranger, you should ALSO be able to glean these basic details from this 250 word pitch.

 It’s not easy. It just looks easy. I spent hours putting this down in a way that was completely right: precise, simple, yet very explanatory. This pitch will force you to confront what is the story, its actual plot and actual characters, and what is only set dressing. You can’t ramble about it anymore for hours. You can’t have a bunch of disconnected ideas anymore. You HAVE to fit it into something concise, something easily absorbed - not just by you, but by a reader who can’t see into your mind. 

You will also know, by putting this down, if the characters aren’t developed enough inside your head. Because why would anyone go to a wintry frozen land to catch a monster? You can’t answer that unless you know, by forcing your thoughts into coherency, that oh, Yoongi has no real free-will here.

 > Step THREE, marry external and internal conflict.

 Or this is step 1.5, actually. You cannot plot a story without both external and internal conflict. Or, you can, but then you won’t touch your readers as much as you would want to.

 What do I mean by this?

 Your external conflict is something that exists outside of your characters - your regular villain, say. This is your Darth Vader, your Voldemort, your Capitol.

 Your internal conflict is what your character feels. This is HARDER. In Hunger Games, Katniss ponders and combats her own ruthlessness. In Harry Potter, Harry’s desire to fit into the world and live a normal life continuously contrasts with his own fame and the symbol of hope he becomes.

 In Tender History, my external conflict is very fancy: murder, monsters, scary villages, etc. Internal conflict is a lot less so: Yoongi in this fic continuously has to wrestle with feelings of guilt and unfairness, with wanting to do good but feeling too burned by the system. If you’ve read Murmuration, the external conflict is the Scarab, but the internal conflict is their own ambition, their guilt over what they had to do to survive, their (terrifying) loyalty to each other.

 Internal conflict is where you find your character voice. If I’d set Tender History Yoongi in a celebrated position at his job, he’d be a much different character. His voice would be much different. He has power! He has resources! Versus this Yoongi, who has nothing, and hence has to trust the people he’s allowed to work with to tell him the truth.

 Think of it like peeling the layers:

 1) The Idea,

2) Develop the Idea,

3) Fill in the External Conflict,

4) Fill in the Internal Conflict.

 I have a few major rules I follow at this point of plotting. They’re like this:

 1) Are these the right characters for my story? - This means I do a round of thinking about whether these people are the perfect vehicle to tell this story I want to tell. Great, I want to tell a story about wintry Joseon Korea, and monster-fighting. But. Is indentured-worker Yoongi the best person to carry this? What if I make him a village leader instead? What if he’s a runaway prince? What if he’s the monster? Depending on what you want your story to be, you have to think of your character to fit the telling. In Romance of Old Clothes, I chose Tae POV for the whole thing because I wanted to illustrate his reading of people vs. other people’s reading of him. Taehyung’s internal conflict in that fic was that he lies to himself extensively. He’s got this idea of who he is, which is untrue, which is then broken down in a climactic moment. He’s my perfect character to tell that story, because of his obliviousness. Similarly, in Tender History, Yoongi’s the perfect character to tell this story, because of who he is in society, his internal troubles, and his monster-hunting experience.

 2)What are some details I would add to this world? - I have a basic idea of the conflict, the world, and the characters now. This is where I take out a chart or a notebook and get to work. I do this like a mindmap: I jot down anything I can think of - say, okay, Joseon Korea: food, art, paintings, caste system, civil examinations, scholars, winter, roads, Confucianism, shrines, religion, music, monsters, gender roles. Then I begin detailing it. ‘Food’ for example: royals eat different food from commoners eat different food from untouchable castes or peasants. Summer food is different from spring food is different from winter food. When I read about food for this fic, I read about the ‘barley gap’ or the gap between barley and rice cultivation during winter. People historically starved during this time. If my story is set in winter, this is an important detail.

 Let’s take something more contemporary. I’m writing about a vintage clothes store. Details I would need - clothes, brands, size of the shop, layout of the shop, how do they procure clothes, how do they test authenticity, what are their customers like, who do they interact with, where is their shop in the city, what does being in that locality mean, what seasons are busy for them.

 A mindmap is just a page full of words, questions, things you know, things you don’t know. Filling it up is the next major step.

 3) What is character development going to be? - This is very important. Okay, you have an external and internal conflict. Now, start of the story being point A, and end being point B, what exactly is A and B for my character? What do I want them to become? In Romance of Old Clothes, Taehyung at Point A is lying to himself about his own nature. By Point B, he’s able to identify that he needs to let people in, open up more. In Wonder Woman, Diana at the beginning of the story is rather naive, believing that if only she could destroy the God of War, the whole war will end. By the end, she understands and admits that things are not that black and white - that people sometimes fight wars because they want to, not due to some external influence.

 You have to know this to continue.

 Step 4, in how I plot, is to put down a starting scene, a few story beats, and the rough idea of an ending.

  But I’ll get into that - and more, including pacing - in Series 2 of this series of posts! Please let me know here or on twitter if these are helpful, or if I’m just rambling too much.

Since I am now struggling a lot to balance writing with work, and if you want to help me keep on writing posts like this, please consider donating to my ko-fi.

I also made a post on how I world-build, the tools and templates I use for the same: it’s over here!

 https://tender-history.tumblr.com/post/185910085044/on-research-worldbuilding-and-culture

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Enchantress

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

I really feel bad for Enchantress. Like, she has such a cool design, she has such a cool concept, and Suicide Squad just does diddly squat with her. Part of it is obviously the jarring tonal clash of having a bunch of relatively normal criminals going up against a superpowered demon witch for their first mission, part of it is the awful writing for her holding her back, and all of it adds up to a disappointing mess that continued the proud DCEU trend of having dull, unengaging generic doomsday villains (a trend that wouldn’t truly be broken to any great extent until the release of Aquaman).

Actor: Cara Delevingne portrays the wicked witch of the DCEU, but sadly she doesn’t really get to showcase her acting chops here. Enchantress does nothing but writhe around like a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man, and June Moone is just a satellite character at best. She doesn’t bring anything to this role, but at the very least I can say the fault here much more squarely lays upon the shoulders of the writers, unlike with Jared Leto where it was clearly his suckiness that was ruining things.

Motivation/Goals: So, Enchantress discovers people don’t worship or even know who she is anymore, and instead worship machines. So, she decides to do the logical thing: build a giant magitek doomsday weapon to wipe out all technology, all while doing weird interpretive dance. Yeah, our villain is a demonic Luddite womanchild who hates that people aren’t paying attention to her and so throws an epic temper tantrum. Wonderful.

Personality: She’s crazy, selfish, and entitled, but really, the most we get from her is very surface-level observations, as she’s not really characterized all that well. There’s not much to even talk about here, becsue even what could normally be gleaned from watching a film like this is contradicted – she treats her brother like an expendable mook for the entire film (which he is, to be fair), but then when he dies she seems actually upset, and actually begs to be killed so she can be with him again. This comes so out of nowhere and flies in the face of how she’s been this whole movie that it feels like a flaccid attempt at pity for her than anything. It doesn’t help that Incubus isn’t exactly much of a character himself.

Final Fate: Flag kills her by crushing her heart, meaning she actually does get to go and be with her brother in the pile of dead, crappy villains.

Final Thoughts & Score: Enchantress just does not work in the confines of this film. Like, at all.

The whole entire concept of the movie is that the Suicide Squad is a black ops group of criminals roped by Amanda Waller to do the dirty work heroes can’t do. None of these criminals are so-called metahumans, save for Diablo. Most everyone here is just a regular person with really good skills in their respective fields, be that assassin (Deadshot), escape artist (Slipknot), boomerang-themed bank robber (Captain Boomerang), or clown (Harley). Now, when you look at this group, do they seem at all like the kind of group who, on their very first mission, one where they do not know each other and frankly can’t stand each other, should be going up against a magical, apocalyptic interdimensional witch demon and her army of zombies? Does that make any sort of sense?

Like I’m all for mashup movies but I really think something like this should have been saved for a sequel, perhaps after building up Enchantress more, giving her more of a character, and have her actively helping the Squad. As it stands, she comes off as a weak, generic, underwritten villain, and it’s a real shame, because her design and concept are top notch (at least until the final confrontation). On paper, she seems a really cool villain, but she’s just not a cool villain the Suicide Squad should be facing, and so she just comes off as an overwhelmingly large threat to a ridiculous degree. This movie is like what you’d get if you asked the Paw Patrol to take down SPECTRE; narratively, it could happen, but should it happen? Would it really be cool and satisfying? It hurts even more because the Joker is, like, right there, and I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say I would have loved to see Jared Leto get his face beat in.

As it stands, Enchantress is just an absolute tonal mess who does not fit the movie she’s in at all. She’s a ridculously powerful superhuman physical god in a movie about a bunch of jerks without superpowers being sent on a black ops government mission, and she just doesn’t gel with it at all. Ultimately she gets a 2/10, though I will say this: she doesn’t fill me with revulsion to the same degree Jared Leto’s Joker does, even if she has the same score. At least her design and the idea behind her are cool, and her actress seems like a nice person, which is more than can be said for Leto’s Joker and Leto himself, generally speaking. I really think Enchantress should have been saved for a sequel and been built up more, but I suppose nothing can be done about that now.

I really can’t stress enough though how much I love Enchantress’ design, though. It’s just so cool, and kinda hot in that evil stringy-haired ghost girl kind of way. Though the less said about that weird form she takes at the end, the better…

...Yeah. No. Maybe it doesn’t look so bad in a still screenshot, but in the film it is such awkward and terrible CGI it makes Delevingne look like a living bobblehead amd swan dives right into the uncanny valley. Give me the creepy witch demon, thank you very much.

That actually reminds me, there’s actually another villain related to Enchantress in Suicide Squad, though one who I really don’t think warrants his own review. So for the first time, we’re having a Two-For-One Analysis! This one’s gonna be quick because there’s not much to talk about, but still, get ready for...

Psycho Analysis: Incubus

Enchantress has a brother. I feel the need to say this because you probably forgot this guy even existed, which I think tells you almost all there is you need to know about him. Still, I decided I’m doing this, so I’m at least going to try and be fair here.

Actor: So the only reason I even bring up that he has an actor – Alain Chanoine is his name – is because I thought for the life of me this guy was just a big, ugly CGI creation. I didn’t even remember this guy speaking until I looked it up. That’s how little is brought to the table by his actor, but at the very least I don’t really blame him, because what exactly could he do with a character like this?

Motivation/Goals: He’s basically just assisting his sister. He really doesn’t have much more to him than that, he’s just the muscle.

Personality: So here’s his defining feature: His lack of personality. This guy hardly talks, hardly contributes to the plot, and just exists as an excuse for some fight scenes and to kill El Diablo, who dies heroically sacrificing himself. This guy is just so dull I forgot he was in this movie until I started writing the bit on his sister, and then decided maybe it would be good to just toss him in as a bonus.

Final Fate: El Diablo turns into a giant flaming Aztec skeleton (for… some reason) and fights him off, and then they blow him up with a bomb. Yeah, this ancient demon dies to a bomb, which is especially egregious since he takes worse in earlier scenes. Then again, a pathetic, stupid end to a pathetic, stupid villain is pretty much fitting for this guy.

Final Thoughts & Score: I already think that Enchantress was wasted in Suicide Squad, and if I think that, I feel it doubly for Incubus. This guy barely got to speak or do anything before unceremoniously being killed in an absolutely ridiculous way. Why was he even in the movie? It’s not like he’s a really famous villain to begin with. Why even bother using him if you’re just gonna dump all over him as a character like this? Like yeah, sure, he’s obscure and not a big name, but that’s the point of a movie like this: you should be taking these obscure villains and turning them into something memorable for the audience, so that they become household names. Look at villains like Ego or Thanos or Mysterio; they’re more villains that the comic book savvy would recognize on sight, and not what I would call household names like, say, Green Goblin or Joker or Magneto. But their movies helped elevate them to become truly iconic and well-known and well-regarded among even more casual fans. Here, though? They did the exact opposite somehow. They managed to make an obscure character so forgettable and pointless I forgot he was in the damn movie.

Incubus gets a 1/10, but obviously he’s not worse than Malekith. At the very least Incubus is just a crappy minor antagonist and not the main threat of the movie; his narrative function is basically as an elite mook serving his sister. He sucks, yes, but it’s hard to muster up the sheer revulsion I feel for a travesty like Malekith. There was just a lot less going for this guy in the first place, so when he failed to deliver, I wasn’t really surprised.

[roseyturtles]

Good Morning Lads

I just thought of a possible plot to Deltarune’s full story and broke my own heart.

The demo? Monday. You go to the dark world every day until Friday. Every day you take a new companion from the classroom with you; Tuesday it will probably be Noelle, Wednesday it might be Jockington or Berdly or that cat on her phone whose name I can’t remember off the top of my head, and so on and so forth. Every time you bring in a new party member the Dark World will have changed drastically and will present you with a series of challenges that ultimately have symbolic relevance to your lightener party member’s life. For example, if Noelle joins your team, it’s likely the Queen will arrive to fight at the end of it all, which addresses the fact that Noelle has a lot of trouble with her mother. Unlike the King, however, the Queen will likely be more reasonable, and it will probably be something Noelle says that finally dissuades her of her crusade. Then, yadda yadda yadda, everyone cheers and breaks open champagne bottles, the day is saved once again, you seal up the fountain, you go home.

Of course, all the while, you’re gathering little bits and pieces about Dark World lore. Why are the kings so alright with being locked away? Why does the dark world change so much? What exactly were the darkeners supposed to do for the lighteners? Is there a reason the dark world presents itself only to those desperately in need of a turn around in their life? You can explore as far as being right next to the answers, but not quite having them. In all your investigation you find out that there’s someone pulling the strings behind it all. Someone who exists between worlds...

But Kris doesn’t care. And a word about Kris---they and Ralsei are the only constants in The Dark World. Of course, we all know exactly why that is: Kris is having problems without Asriel around, lashing out in strange and frightening ways. Ralsei is a temporary substitute for Asriel. He doesn’t come close to the real thing: No, never; but he’s the best Kris can have for a companion. Each time Kris goes to the dark world Ralsei helps them become more and more independent in their life without Asriel.

In all this complicated mess there’s only one thing that remains simple: Your daily playdates with a little skeleton called Papyrus. He’s younger than Kris in this game, young enough to be in Toriel’s class (Though he’s probably just a year away from graduating into Alphys’s class.) Every day you go over to Sans and Papyrus’s house and you play superheroes or racecars or spaceman with him, and all the while you talk about your favorite foods, your favorite games, your family...your memories. And you get just the barest impression that maybe, just maybe, these skeletons aren’t as happy as they’re letting on.

Finally Friday rolls around, the big pompous grand finale. You guide the final classmate through the dark world, they work out whatever personal issues they’re going through, the day is saved, the fountain is sealed, the world is safe forever and ever. Even Ralsei says something to the effect of “We’re okay now. The time of heroes is coming to an end. I’m sorry we couldn’t spend more time together, but...I think you’re ready to go on without me, Kris.” And it’s all one big emotionally satisfying moment, because you know the inhabitants of the dark world are safe. If you were playing as Frisk or Chara, they would be fine with this ending. They saved the world, they can go home happy...but then, you’re not, are you? You’re playing as Kris. The one who knows exactly what it feels like to be pulled by puppet strings. Yes, the inhabitants of the dark world are safe. But they are not yet free.

So comes Saturday. Picture this for a moment with me: Kris wakes up far, far too early. 5am, perhaps. It’s storming outside. The orange leaves on the trees are nearly fallen off to give way to black bark. The town is silent. Empty. ...abandoned. Kris makes their way to the school without any input from the player, and with three strong hits, they break the locked doors wide open. You regain control of Kris for a moment, and you can go to each of the classrooms one last time for some extra dialogue, but ultimately you know what must be done. With no hesitation, Kris goes into the Janitor’s closet, and, as if practiced, jumps down.

The dark world, too, is far too empty and quiet. The areas you went through on each day now seem to have...melted together? A horrible amalgamation, a corruption of what was once pure and good, as if the entire place is screaming “You should not be here.” Finally you reach the castle, the final sanctity of sanity, and at the top floor you face your foe...

...

Papyrus?

No. No, this can’t be right.

Even Kris is taken back by the little boy’s presence. When he turns around, he looks tense, and not a little bit scared. Instantly you’re in a fight with him. The most difficult fight you’ve had so far. He’s silent all throughout. Kris ACTs over and over again, trying to get him to explain why he’s here, what he’s doing, is he the puppet master?! ...after several rounds he finally says something.

“...THIS IS ALL JUST A GAME. THAT’S ALL IT’S EVER BEEN. YOU KNOW THIS.”

“MY DAD...HE KNOWS THIS BETTER THAN ANYONE. HE’S THE ONE WHO MAKES ALL THESE GAMES AFTER ALL.”

“DON’T YOU SEE? IF I DON’T KEEP PLAYING ALONG, HE’LL RESET EVERYTHING.”

“HE’LL CRUMBLE UP THIS WORLD LIKE PAPER AND THROW IT IN THE TRASH, AND THEN HE’LL JUST DRAW A NEW ONE. LIKE THIS ONE DIDN’T EVEN EXIST.”

“...AND WE’LL BE ALL ALONE AGAIN. ALL ALONE WITHOUT YOU, KRIS.”

“AND THAT’S NOT ALL---KRIS, HE’LL GO AFTER YOUR FAMILY TOO!”

“HE’LL GO AFTER YOUR DAD AND YOUR MOM, A-AND...AND ASRIEL, TOO. HE’LL DO SOMETHING TERRIBLE TO ASRIEL IN THE NEW WORLD.”

“SO JUST GO!!!”

“LEAVE!!!”

“...”

“PLEASE, KRIS...YOU’RE THE FIRST PERSON WHO’S EVER LISTENED TO ME.”

“YOU’RE THE FIRST PERSON WHO’S EVER PLAYED WITH ME.”

“I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU...”

“PLEASE...I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE AGAIN...”

His attacks get weaker and weaker as he starts to break down, until finally he collapses. Kris, without any input from the player, goes up to Papyrus and hugs him. They stay like that for a little while, then the little skeleton pulls away and wipes his face. Kris and Papyrus both agree to stand up to the people controlling them, together. So this time, instead of sealing the dark fountain, you actually step inside of it.

From there you’re transported to a completely black room. You have to wander around for a little while before you find a computer---just an ordinary computer, at first, but when you interact with it---

The world turns off.

The world turns back on.

Dr. W.D. Gaster stands in front of you instead.

Of course from here you have a battle, and I’m sure Gaster does a lot of infodumping on why exactly he resets world after world and all that, and Papyrus stands up to him and says why this isn’t right, but even if I knew the Good Doctor’s motives, I wouldn’t want to spoil them, nor do I really have the energy to even really do so right now. All I know is, during the fight, your control over Kris gets weaker and weaker as they start to take their body back. Your choices from there are to try and keep controlling Kris, or to take a step back and let them have their freedom. Either way, Kris eventually wins out. Naturally, depending on how hard you fought, what Kris says to you afterwards changes, but after all is said and done, both you and Gaster are pulled away from the strings. Kris then releases you, the SOUL, to go off into the wild blue yonder...

The final cutscene shows how each of your companions are changing their world in little ways. Things aren’t perfect, not by a long shot, but nothing is ever completely perfect. Susie is shown in some nicer clothes, eating a ham sandwich with Noelle by her side. Noelle and Rudolph are shown talking to Noelle’s mother. (I’m not sure who the other companions will be but whatever they are and their issues are we’ll yadda yadda them.) Papyrus is shown playing superheroes with other kids his age while Sans watches on the stairs. Kris gets the most screentime, of course. They’re sharing a pie with Toriel when there’s a knock on the door---it’s Asgore. Toriel reluctantly lets him in. Asgore apologizes for harassing her before and thanks her for letting him visit. She sighs and says something to the effect of “Yes, well. We both love Kris. One visit on their behalf is not so bad I suppose. But I do expect you to stop sending flowers.” They share pie a little longer, and there’s another knock on the door. “I wonder who that could be...? Kris, do you mind answering it?”

A few beats as Kris goes to answer the door. When it opens...Asriel stands there.

“Hey, mom. Hey, dad. Hey, Kris. Am I too late for pie?”

Roll credits.

[baconpal]

so heres the long super paper mario post

strap in for why super paper mario is fucking bizarre and why that’s pretty much awesome

gonna be a good amounts of spoilers, so if you’re on desktop then hit that read more, and if your on mobile, then here’s your punishment for using this god awful app

super paper mario is a game that is incredibly difficult to put into words, but it leaves such a powerful, lasting impression on me and i can’t come to say anything first other than I love it so much, and if you havent played the game, please just go do it now, even if you have to pirate or emulate or something, just let yourself play this game. It’s one of those games that I really feel I can just recommend to anybody

it’s difficult to think of where to start with dissecting this thing so i’ll just start with the art since lookin at things is pretty easy

ART/WORLD DESIGN

every world in SPM is completely unique, not just in what type of environment, but it’s art style, and this is premised with the fact that none of these worlds are capable of existing together and are completely separate, and NOT part of a cohesive universe (LOOKIN AT YOU ODYSSEY I STILL THINK YOU LOOK STUPID)

The hub and the first 2 worlds are mostly just slight variants on the same general style of simplistic shapes and colors, with world 1 delving into more linework type aesthetics, and 2 focusing more on impressions and silhouettes, 

world 3 changes this completely with what is obviously an 8 bit kind of style, but instead of jarring over sized pixels, the world is composed of detailed tiles arranged to look like pixel art that imply a more real world, and not a gamey one, 

world 4 focuses on patterns and big patches of color to give the impression of the vast emptiness of both space and the surface of a barren planet, before giving you the “Whoa Zone”, with a striking mix of wire frame and futuristic UI style to it

world 5 takes the idea of nature being crude and simplistic and humanity being sharp, angular, and extreme and flips that on its head, with humanity and the space they occupy being these absolute memes with no sense of depth, and the plant life existing in a system of clean cut caves with futuristic technology and elegant historic values

world 6 simplifies a kind of colored Japanese painting aesthetic, down to the funny cylindrical cloud clusters and brushstroke trees

world 7 depicts what is essentially hell (yes there’s hell in this game keep your pants on) as a squarish blur of bright greens and warm reds and purples, and depicts heaven as fluffy land of clouds and Greek temples

and lastly, world 8 is inverted greyscale, where light is black and darkness is white, its simplistic and striking and i couldn’t think of a better style for the final area of a game so focused on the concept of light and dark

MUSIC

I’ll just try and keep it simple, the musics fucking cash money

The game makes great use of motifs when it needs to, where specific themes and instruments are used in other songs to suggest relationships and put battles and travels into perspective

And when it ISNT doing that, it’s just fucking funky stuff, with a weird trend of BOING and PLOP and SPLISH noises in the percussion because fuck you i guess

There’s a lot of good songs that do lots of interesting things, any of the like 5 final battle songs are great things to point to, but i’ll just go ahead and say the main theme of world 8 “Castle Bleck” is one of my favorites that isn’t super highly rated. It brings in the types of instruments that have been associated with the villain the entire game, but also throws in 2 very important things; a sudden triumphant burst of almost JRPG styled chiptune that pushes away the constantly building tension, which is then followed by the sound of a clock ticking, which is a musical motif only present in the songs “Memory” and “Promise” which is played whenever the memories of the player’s little guide thing and the main villain’s past lives together are alluded to. This one song holds a lot of weight, as well as simply being a fucking cool song.

GAMEPLAY

This is, sadly, the one place I’ll not mince any words and say the gameplay is not amazing by any standard, it’s pretty much a classic mario game if it had RPG stats, items, and random abilities granted through the character and partner systems. The 3D flipping mechanic is nothing astounding, though it is very interesting to see how worlds are constructed

One of the biggest flaws people will mark the game for in its gameplay is that it’s tedious, and while I have to agree, that’s because I’ve already played the game before, and the tedium only comes from not being completely invested in the experience anymore. I’ll get some specific examples in a bit, but there’s a few cases of “tedium” that i believe are 100% intentional and drive the story in an interesting way

STORY/WRITING/GAME DESIGN

Thats a fuckin broad section, but its pretty much everything else i have to say on the game, and where the most spoilers and random praise is gonna be

I’m not actually gonna talk about the whole story, more just the strong parts of it, under the assumption you’ve already played it or understand a story as simple as “villain wants to destroy world, hero wants that to not happen”

The writing and characters are just flawless, everyone is fun to be around, especially the bad guys, who you see more antics of than your own party. There’s goofy running plotlines about O’chunks and mimi essentially getting grounded and being forced to write essays about why they fucked up at beating mario, and big stinky brother dimentio teasting and bullying them and sneaking them out to do his bidding when The big Count Bleck is away

The game is full of referential humor to not just mario itself but all kinds of games, there’s skeletons in hell who are clearly just Marios from the mainline games who died in stupid ways, there’s an actual dragon quest turn based boss battle in hell too, and chapter 3 has an otaku villain who tried to get with peach in a simulated visual novel

but the humor exists not just in references, but in simple good scenarios, with things like “Having a game show in a bathroom when everyone's life is at stake” and “locating an ancient manuscript to use as toilet paper” or “flying through black holes to find a convenience store” and things of that nature

It also interacts with the players emotions in many interesting ways, one of the more lauded being chapter 2-3, where mario is forced into working off a massive debt of fictional money, and is required to do hard, boring labor. There isn’t anyway to avoid doing both the hitting a block 100 times and the running on a treadmill for a few minutes thing, but the constant feeling of “there has to be a faster way to do this” drives the player to prod around, find the secrets, and slowly discover how to break the system wide open and get to the end, and i love it for that

This entire game is some sort of bait and switch, to put it simply, while it’s already a bit of a departure from both mario itself and the paper series, the first 5 worlds are pretty fucking tame stuff, other than the void, which is a giant black and purple spot that sits in the sky, always, every single world has the void growing in its sky, and it does grow, every chapter it gets bigger and bigger and takes up the sky, but where this truly culminates into the “switch” part is chapter 6, which starts itself by presenting you with the most TEDIUS sounding chapter possible, fight 100 enemies in a row, and nothing else, and for 25 straight fights, that is all it is, so you’ve locked yourself into it at this point, you know whats up, but the void in the background begins to grow to the point of being the entire fucking background, and every enemy you face speaks as if they know they’re all going to die, and by the 30th fight, one of the villains comes to stall for time as the void completely swallows the world, and the party is sent back to the hub. When they decide to go back in to world 6, its empty, the entire world is a white void with a single black line making up the ground, and colorless destroyed structures occasionally peaking out of the ground.

and you walk on this white void for so long and you just feel nothing but regret and fear and no matter how fast you make yourself go you feel like you’ll never find anything, but you do eventually get your plot item and escape

then, Dimentio, one of the villains you’ve seen the least of, appears in the hub world, the safest place in the universe, and kills mario

he just fucking kills him

he puts mario in a box and fills the box with explosions and mario fucking dies and goes to hell because fuck you mario

then you go through all of chapter 7 just to escape hell (called the Underwhere cus how could we possibly be allowed to take hell seriously) and join up with your full party before confronting the final world, which i’ve already stated i just love the design off

the game just takes the comfortable ride you’re on and throws it into the fucking sun and burns you alive and i love it so much, even the very end of the game doesnt let up, where the main villain is overtaken by that absolute madman Dimentio (Whose name is a play on both Dimension and dementia), who clearly was powerful enough to have done the whole “ending of the world” himself, but did it this way for the theatrics of it

there’s a lot i could still say about the game, but this post is absolute rambling and its 2 in the morning but as usual, i just wanted to shit my thoughts onto the internet to people could maybe learn somethin about either the game or me and how i think and look at and respond to stuff, and as always, anybody who read this whole thing is cool and i love you a whole heck of a lot

[lokgifsandmusings]

Definitive Ranking of Book 1 Episodes, #10/12

10. 1x11 Skeletons in the Closet

Bending is ILLEGAL, Asami drops it like it’s hot, a wild fanservice appears, and Noatak and Tarrlok build a snowman.

*Back a month later with Starbucks and more nitpicks*

Actually, real talk: can someone explain why part of the goyim gets upset with Starbucks not being Chirstmasy enough? Because I was just in one and it looks like Rudolph threw up everywhere. What ever happened to a nice autumnal display...

No, let’s get back to definitively ranking Book 1 episodes!

And let me just say: this has been a struggle. I know logically that Book 1 is fine. Obviously it engaged me enough to watch Book 2, even if I only saw the back-half in one sitting while I was drunk. But still, like I said in my first essay on this season, it just doesn’t get any deeper, unlike the other books. Instead, you notice all the hanging threads, and tugging on them leads to...well, whatever this is.

The thing is, I purposely do these definitive rankings in reverse order so that I sound increasingly more enthused. But when I saw I’d be writing about this one, I sat staring for five minutes trying to come up with a reason as to why it was better than “The One With All The Love Triangles” or “The One Where Amon Gets Caught.” It has slightly fewer contrivances?

Okay, stepping back, this episode isn’t all that complicated, or all that bad, really. The Equalists have taken over Republic City after their carpet bombing of it (you know...for equality!), so the Krew is underground in the sewers, eatin’ street gruel and flirtin’ with the person they’re not dating 10 feet away from the person they are dating. We get a glimpse of Republic City under the Equalists, which includes the apparent outlawing of bending, coupled with a line of handcuffed and blindfolded benders being paraded before Amon to be “cleansed of their impurity.”

Iroh II sails his face into a trap, and then he, Bolin, and Asami decide to go after Hiroshi’s army of biplanes (to prevent them from doing the same to Bumi’s fleet), while Korra and Mako want to go after Amon himself. They sneak onto Air Temple Island so they can ambush him, only to find a de-bended Tarrlok locked up. He explains how he and Amon are both sons of Yakone, and they can all bloodbend any day of the year. That’s how Amon has been taking away people’s bending. Korra and Mako then decide they’re going to expose Amon as a waterbender at his Equalist rally.

Let’s leave the Noatuk truth-bomb for last, cause that’s worth digging into a bit. Character-wise, this isn’t a very strong episode for any member of the Krew. Asami finally pulls the plug on Mako, I guess, which given that he’s acting like Korra’s boyfriend anyway makes plenty of sense. So that’s something? Otherwise, the biggest moment is Korra deciding she has to go after Amon herself. Which is kind of regressive? I mean, she doesn’t really have the skills or capacity to beat the guy, and the last time she tried to seek him out to fight on her terms, she got captured and very nearly lost her bending.

Korra: Wait, I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you tomorrow.

Mako: What?

Asami: Why not?

Korra: I'm sick and tired of hiding from Amon. It's time I face him.

Iroh: That's not a good plan. We need to stick together.

Korra: I'm not waiting for him to hunt me down. My guts tell me it's time to end this, on my terms.

Iroh: Korra, this is not a mission you should be handling alone.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s totally understandable why Korra would not want to just wait for Amon to go after her, and why she feels she’s not exactly needed in this “destroy the fleet mission.” But like, isn’t the protagonist supposed to have some kind of character growth?

I know I talked about this already in my “Endgame” piece, and yes, I think overall it’s a good thing that she had plenty of space to keep growing after Book 1. It just seems strange that her solution to the Amon situation is more “well NOW I’m going to do something about it!” despite her being no more prepared to take this on. Despite her having no strategy past “ambushing” him on Air Temple Island. And guess what, even when she has more information and tries to approach it in an inventive way, she still gets her ass kicked! She still gets de-bended!

Again, this is a narrative. What is the message supposed to be in Korra pursuing this option? Are we supposed to be cheering with her? Are we supposed to agree with Iroh?

Really, it’s this episode where the backwards nature of the writing becomes clear. Bryke needed Korra and  Mako pursuing Amon alone. They needed them to run into Tarrlok. They needed a way for Amon to get exposed by forcing him to waterbend. They needed Korra to get de-bended but then still airbend. None of this particularly flowed from character actions, and certainly not personalities. Shit just occurred *to* our protagonists, and that’s disappointing to think about in a story as thoughtful and intriguing as LoK.

I’m not saying that plot-points shouldn’t be planned out, btw! I’m just saying that they need to be done with respect to characterization and character journeys. Book 2 was one stumbling block after another, but that finale came together spectacularly well because the focus was on Korra’s arc. She beat Unalaq by literally tapping into the core of who she was and ripping her reality into existence. Sure there were contrivances that set it up, but we’re not talking Korra just randomly going against her own self-interest. That was Civil Wars!

Really, the emotional weight of this episode was Tarrlok’s story (and I know mileage varies there), so maybe this complaint is more along the lines of a nitpick. But it’s incredibly disappointing on a revisit to realize that Korra more or less stagnated after 1x04, with a small exception being in her attitude towards Asami (the result of exposure). Which maybe is what was behind Korra being the one to put up boundaries with Mako this episode? Mildly?

However, this also means that Korra’s most significant character development of the season was in the context of navigating the teenage dating game. And I’d be floored if that’s really what people wanted out of the Avatar franchise, or what Bryke even intended.

That’s maybe the kicker, here. This was the episode where it felt as though Bryan and Mike just had to start wrapping things up, logic-be-damned! But...wasn’t this the season where they had the most amount of time to plan?

Even a very small change could have gone a long way. A common complaint of “Endgame” is that the airbenders just showed up on stage, handcuffed. I don’t mind that it “undercut” Lin’s sacrifice (mostly because I don’t think it *did*. The point was that she was willing to do that), but I do think it felt like a total asspull when we more or less saw them get away. But what if word somehow reached the sewers (or was even intentionally delivered there) that Amon was holding the airbenders captive? Hell maybe Iroh could have brought this information. Then, that would have created a sense of urgency where it made sense for the Krew to split up, and it would have made sense for Korra and Mako to go to Air Temple Island specifically. Did they even have a way of knowing that’s where Amon was operating within this episode?

Again, writers should generally have an endpoint in mind that they write to. But it shouldn’t require contortions in logic to get there. And if you can’t think of a compelling reason for your characters to reach it...well...it’s probably time to rethink those beats, then. “Skeletons in the Closet” is an episode where just about everything that happens felt like it needed a second thought.

A perfectly good example of that is with the Equalists. In “Turning the Tides,” they bombed the entire city and captured enough benders where in this episode, they had an incredibly long line of them just waiting to be de-bended, including more policemen and White Lotus Members. The Equalists also declared bending illegal and stuck an Amon mask on Aang’s statue.

I have just...so many questions about how all this works. Like, logistically how have The Equalists actually taken over a city? I mean first of all, the crowd to whom Hiroshi announced bending being outlawed makes Trump’s inauguration look impressive.

Second of all, if we just talk about power dynamics of the universe, how does this work:

These are the SUPERPOWERED people. And the ones we’re seeing in this picture are literally trained fighters. They’ve got blindfolds on so...that’s it? Game over? No seismic-sense earthbenders? I’m not trying to victim blame here, but when you’ve got such a disparity in skill, to see these proportions of the benders to nonbenders here, with the benders doing absolutely nothing but being faceless and passive, it really pushes the envelope of believability.

Wasn’t the implication of the Equalist revolution that there actually was a revolution? That the *masses* went along with this, since they were the ones abused, ignored, and/or silenced under bender rule? Except then that makes the Equalists carpet-bombing the city even weirder, because this aftermath doesn’t seem to follow. Unless the only survivors were the people at Hiroshi’s rally.

Again, it’s the backwards writing. They needed the Equalists to have taken over, so they did. I’d totally buy the Equalists just controlling Air Temple Island and camping out there, maybe with important prisoners, but no. They successfully destroyed the United Forces and it was bad enough that their general had to retreat into the sewers and communicate his orders through Gommu.

I almost don’t even want to touch Iroh. He’s fanservice, and pretty heavy-handed fanservice at that. I really don’t care about giving people *something*, but fanservice that works is like...the picture of Aang airbend-juggling sushi rolls. It’s not some rando Mary Sue (and I truly mean a textbook Mary Sue here) showing up, ordering around our main characters to get us to the next action set-piece, and then watching him literally fly around with no explanation as he grounds Hiroshi’s fleet and saves the day.

He’s significant to us because we recognize his namesake, and because he’s voiced by Dante Basco. But just imagine if you were a viewer watching LoK without having seen ATLA. Wouldn’t this character feel incredibly odd to you? Wouldn’t you wonder why we were focusing on him at the cost of our regulars getting more time to contend with this new situation?

Like, oh I don’t know...ASAMI? I know, I know what this sounds like. At this point I’m gonna just lean into my reputation. But seriously, her FATHER just bombed the city, he’s making speeches about illegal bending, he blows up Iroh’s fleet here with inventions we didn’t know existed, they make a plan that revolves around facing head-on, and we get a single line of dialogue from her about it. Which the transcript hilariously describes as “somewhat bitterly”:

“It's time to take down my father.”

Yes, that was somewhat of a reaction. Does anyone want to check in if she’s conflicted?

Or like, Korra is apparently driven by extreme impatience now. Even though Mako says she won’t go alone, is there a reason we don’t get anyone actually challenging this or asking why she can’t help with the airfield and *then* go after Amon? Especially Mako, since he’s signing up for it, and he was the one with a slightly more cautious approach to sneaky things in 1x03?

“Hmm ... My grandfather would respect the Avatar's instinct. So will I.”

Aaaaand finally, speaking of “who are you and why are you suddenly the focal point?”, we’ve got the infamous bloodbending brothers.

Uh, so. Confession: I actually kind of like them? I mean, they ranked halfway up my list in the Definitive Ranking of Complicated Familial Dynamics, so that’s something. But really, I think their story in and of itself is fine. It’s about the futility of revenge, I guess, and there’s the poetic tragedy of the way both brothers did become instruments of their father’s plans despite the fact that they both wanted to escape that fate. Tarrlok wanted to be the city’s savior and have influence through upstanding, noble means; a clear backlash against his crime-boss father ruling from the “underbelly” through brute force. Noatak, meanwhile, truly believed that so long as people had the potential for the fighting dominance his father displayed, there could be no justice in the world. He was a bender who hated his own power, and emulated Aang’s course of action with Yakone, which somewhat ironically led him to think that he truly needed to debend Korra.

It’s a bit of flawed logic, I guess. “I’ll never become an instrument of revenge against the Avatar! Instead, I’ll apply what the Avatar did to you to *all* benders...including the Avatar!”

I guess he’s just an equal-opportunity debender who understands the symbolic importance of taking away Korra’s bending? Oh look, I made a pun.

But yeah, it’s a fine enough story, and I’m not sure we’re supposed to be viewing Amon as the world’s most balanced thinker anyway.

The problems with Amon are that the Equalist logistics don’t make much sense, as I noted, and the guy himself gleefully debending the sole survivors of genocide in the name of justice is a bit much to swallow, especially after Bryke tried to demonstrate how nonbenders really do have legitimate grievances with regards to their treatment by members of triads and law enforcement alike. Of course the puppy-kicker had to go down, and it’s kind of a shame that what was a nuanced issue was turned into something so black-and-white.

The problem with the bloodbending brothers, however, is actually one that’s kind of similar to the problem with Kuvira. Their personal stakes are entirely disconnected from Korra herself. She runs into them, and has altercations with them, and as the Avatar she has a unique symbolic and political importance. Therefore she “matters” in both of their plans, which is why Tarrlok kidnapped her (what was the long term of that, exactly?), and Amon purposely didn’t take away her bending when he first captured her. It’s similar to how Kuvira understood that Korra had an importance to the people of the Earth Kingdom and for that reason, took pleasure in knocking her down a peg after her absence for three years; but she was driven by personal reasons relating to the Beifongs.

And this is fine, by the way. I’d say LoK’s most successful antagonist was Zaheer, who again, was targeting Korra for strategic reasons, but not exactly personal ones. Not every conflict is going to be Clark Kent vs. Lex Luthor, with years of history and damage between them. I do happen to think that kind of dynamic is the most effective (Zuko and Azula, anyone?), but again, villains being motivated by something entirely external to the protagonist is absolutely fine, even if it’s their own personal familial baggage.

However, given that Book 1 tripped over itself and couldn’t actually land the beats of the main plotline, nor provide Korra with any sort of growth in its telling...having the focus on the bloodbending brothers is incredibly weird. Like, why was the creative energy put here, of all things? It’s a sad story, sure, but what does it actually mean to Korra?

Being generous, it allows her to create a plan where she exposes Amon instead of trying to brute-force the situation, but...that plan doesn’t work at all, and she wins by punching. Was this showing development in her strategic thinking? This goes back to the issue of her wanting to hunt down Amon again.

What it sort of feels like, and forgive me for saying this, is spin-off fanfic that people wrote who got interested in the villains. It’s not *bad* by any means. There’s interesting dynamics here. But it shouldn’t come at the cost of Korra’s journey, which it did. In the end, the biggest moment of the season was Tarrlok’s murder/suicide. It’s a tragic story, sure. It’s just not Korra’s. And at least with Kuvira, it was her arc that bent to suit Korra’s needs, not the other way around.

I’m pretty sure from here on out I’ll actually have some positive things to say about Book 1 episodes, don’t worry. It’s just the final chapter of the season is really where all the flaws of the storytelling came into full view, and though “Turning the Tides” arguably started that, this is the episode where the wheels came off. “Endgame” was the crash.

#12 1x12 “Endgame”

#11 1x05 “The Spirit of Competition"

1x11 photo recap found here

Book 2 ranking/essays found here

Book 4 ranking/essays found here

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #170: “... Though Hell Should Bar The Way!”

April, 1978

Oh, hey, Jocasta is back! Good ol’ unfortunately named Jocasta!

And this is a very good DC Silver Age-esque comic cover. Heroes acting inexplicably only to be sort of explained kinda on the inside. I can’t wait to see how this scenario does not even come about.

Remember the cover where Mantis was protecting Libra from the rest of the Avengers but inside she tried to beat him up for pulling a Vader on her?

Also, “The Return of the Bride of Ultron” is a very Hammer Horror-esque title. Drop the definite article and its basically one.

But enough admiring the cover. Lets get into it.

Last time: Back in issues 161-162, Ultron gave Hank Pym amnesia as part of a weird plan to trick him into turning the Wasp into a robot for Ultron to marry. It was foiled when the robot wife summoned the Avengers with ants and Iron Man threatened to destroy her, forcing Ultron to back off.

But also recently, there’s some unrest in the house of avenge. A series of overpowered foes have been battering the Avengers esteem and as a result one stalwart chums are at each other’s throats. Cap blamed Iron Man for his absentee leadership but then Scarlet Witch went OFF on Cap’s own performance recently.

The Avengers consist mostly of hurt feelings and bruised egos at this point, basically.

So we start with Cap taking his frustration to the gym.

Beast also tries to cheer him up, in his own inimitable way.

Problem: I don’t think Cap has ever been a fan of Beast’s sense of humor. There’s been several instances since Beast has joined the team where Cap has told him to stop clowning.

And he once again does so here.

So Beast tries a different strategy. He offers to tell him about some sexual escapades.

Because in the past, Cap seemed into it. It’s the closest they’ve come to bonding as teammates.

But Cap is in a Mood so he fakes a fall to freak out Beast before catching himself on the uneven bars.

Not cool, Cap.

He then angrily pumps some iron.

Because as someone pointed out to him, he’s been useless lately. And he doesn’t have superpowers unlike some people he could mention so he’s got to keep his few skills sharp.

Beast: “You know, Cap, you’re a lot like Witchy in a way -- you both take everything way too seriously! Now, me, I never take --”

Cap: “Get lost, Beast!”

Rude.

And then Iron Man shows up which just gets Cap more tightly wound.

Iron Man just wants to have a word with Cap in private.

So Beast, in his own display of pettiness, effortlessly picks up the 500 pound weight that Cap was working out with to put it away.

Savage.

Anyway, as soon as Beast is gone, Iron Man tries to start the word in private with Cap but Cap claims to be busy and passive-aggressively starts working out with the mobile stunblaster while Iron Man is trying to talk.

The mobile stunblaster is, of course, a work out machine that follows you around and tries to shoot you with punch beams while you have to block it with special gloves.

I expect that all gyms have one. Its basic workout equipment.

Cap isn’t really receptive but Iron Man manages to get out what he wanted to say.

Iron Man: “Look, Cap, what I came to say --”

Cap: “Let me guess, Tin Man -- you want to tell me I was way off base criticizing your leadership -- since I haven’t been earning my keep lately!”

Iron Man: “No. I came to apologize for myself and for Wanda! None of us have been setting the world on fire lately! She had no right to judge you!”

Cap: “It doesn’t matter! I’ve judged myself... and in my own eyes, I’ve fallen short! Maybe I’ve been lax lately --! It won’t happen again, Tin Man! Never again!”

Iron Man: “Fine! I want you to know Cap... I feel the same way about the job I’ve done as chairman! I’ve made some bad decisions... let other matters occupy time I owed the Avengers... and when I was around, I tried to do it all myself! I guess I felt guilty... and I kept trying to prove my worth! Just wanted you to know -- I’m aware of my failings! I -- I’ll try harder, Cap... or, if you think I should, I’ll step down! You can take over!”

Cap: “Wait! Iron Man, I guess my problem is that I’ve seen too many friends die in battle -- and when it seemed as if your job with Stark outweighed your Avengers’ duties -- as if you were taking your responsibilities lightly --!”

Iron Man: “I wasn’t! But... about Stark. Cap -- I should have told you long ago that --”

Cap: “No... keep your secrets, Iron Man! You lead... I’ll follow -- that’s enough!”

MmmMMMM. That is some good open and honest communication.

I love it. The me who first read this a couple years back was a fool to come off this run with the impression that it was just the Avengers getting their asses kicked and yelling at each other.

Its the Avengers getting their asses kicked, yelling at each other, and then having productive, emotionally honest conversations. It is my JAM.

Canonically, the first Civil War wouldn’t even have happened if Cap and Iron Man had set their feelings out like this.

I like that Cap passive-aggressively working out during this conversation keeps it from being talking heads because we get a bunch of unnecessary ACTION POSES as Cap works out.

But while Cap and Iron Man SOCIAL LINK GO or perhaps SUPPORT CONVERSATION depending on where your interests lie, out in the living room some other Avengers have less dramatic bonding.

Vision and Wonder Man play a game of chess together, Jarvis and Scarlet Witch admiring what good friends they’ve become off-screen. Much improved from existential angst causing Vision to try to punch him a lot and then they have to fight a gravity jerk.

They do, after all, have a lot in common. Like a brain.

But they get a phone call from Hawkeye who reveals that Two-Gun Kid has vanished. Disappeared even!

He tells Scarlet Witch not to bother coming. There’s nothing to find at the scene of the crime. So he’ll come to them.

Meanwhile, in Attilan, the Inhuman city in the Himalayas, Quicksilver is moody. But that’s nothing new, he was like that before.

He’s sitting on a balcony gazing beyond the city.

His wife Crystal asks if Attilan confines his spirit, having to stay in a secret city after all the glory and daring of being an Avenger. The battles, the thrills, the running full speed into a wall and breaking every bit of your skeleton bone.

But just as Quicksilver is saying he would never leave her, he vanishes mid-reassurance.

No, he didn’t run away in the most supremely dickish way ever. Like Two-Gun, he’s been disappeared.

What is going on here?

A story for later.

But for meanwhile we’re back to the Avengers Mansion where the Wasp shows off her new costume.

I don’t know what to say about it. Its not the worst she’s had. You don’t see as many superhero costumes that are orange and yellow. And Jan knows that branding is important because she put W for Wasp all over herself. Her gloves are cut to suggest Ws as are her boots. She’s got cleavage W and an abdomen W too.

Yellowjacket actually warns Wonder Man that if Wasp notices him in civvies, she’ll get him in a new costume so fast!

Wonder Man defers. He’s decided he’s not the costume type.

The thing about the Wasp is even if she makes a costume for someone else, she often makes it to appeal to her own tastes. Like when she made a costume for Angelica Jones, Firestar, with a pluuuuuuuuunging neckline. To Firestar’s lament.

So what I’m saying is that if Wonder Man let Wasp dress him, he’d definitely end up in thigh boots and with W’s all over his clothes.

Although, Wonder Man does become an actor later on who plays oiled up big muscles tiny shorts roles. So he’d probably rock it.

And then some colorful comic relief blue collar characters show up.

Wasp put her foot down and told Hank that she would not live with a Real Doll version of herself in the house so Hank hired Meyer and Mack to move her into his lab in the mansion.

Meyer is a real ‘seen it all’ type. Nothing impresses him. Avengers? Pssh. He moved Neil Sendaka’s ‘pianer’ once. Yellowjacket starts monologuing “[Jocasta] was conceived in evil, and yet while Ultron was transfering Jan’s life into her metal body, she unselfishly gave up her own existence by summoning us in time to stop the process and save Jan!” and Meyer all but taps his watch and reminds Yellowjacket that he’s on a flat rate.

Now Mack on the other hand? Mack is sure impressed.

And possibly discovering he has a new fetish.

Elsewhere in Saugerties, New York, the Guardians of the Galaxy secretly watch over a young Vance Astrovik. They’re sure that any day now evil cyborg from the future Korvac is going to try to knock off Vance to prevent the Guardians of the Galaxy from ever forming.

That is, if young Vance doesn’t manage to get himself killed first.

Since he’s playing baseball in the middle of a dark street and if Charlie-27 hadn’t been there, a truck would have run him over.

How he survived in the original timeline without future people being his guardian angels is a bit of a mystery.

Charlie-27: “It’s a wonder anyone reaches maturity in this idiotic backward era!”

An era where people toss spheroids in the middle of the road and where strange pieces of paper can be exchanged for food items. What strange customs.

The takeaway here is that, yes, the Guardians are busy guardianing Vance Astrovik and even though Korvac actually has bigger fish to fry and their vigil over Vance is misguided, its not pointless.

But meanwhile, back at the plot, Meyer and Mack finish carting the Jocasta crate into Hank Pym’s lab.

And just as Mack is marveling at how ‘real’ Jocasta looks (presumably for someone made entirely of metal with silly metal hair tentacles and also robot eyelashes) the robot girl awakens and OH YEAHS through the crate.

Jocasta: “He has awakened me! He calls! I must go to him! Let nothing stop me!”

Meyer and Mack flee the lab and run into an unhappy Yellowjacket who heard the crash of the OH YEAH and assumes that they fucked something up.

Which is probably not the case.

After escorting the movers out, the Avengers (Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Yellowjacket, and Wasp) run towards the lab.

But listening to the voice in her head, Jocasta finds the button that locks down the lab and then obviously locks down the lab.

Yellowjacket and Wasp managed to slip through the door before it closed. Doors never really bothered Vision anyway. But that leaves Wonder Man and Scarlet Witch locked out.

And the door is really tough! Its made of a special alloy almost as impenetrable as adamantium. Although the fact that it doesn’t get a name here sort of implies its going to be back to the drawing board.

But either way, the whole lab has been reinforced with it. For security reasons.

Scarlet Witch is sure that if she concentrates her probability altering powers, she can get the door to crumble but in the meantime, Wonder Man is going to keep punching like it personally insulted him.

Inside the lab, the three Avengers discover Jocasta up and about and creepy. She talks with Jan’s voice except cold and metallic. (Its never discussed whether Vision sounds like Wonder Man but since his body was the Human Torch’s I think probably not).

Vision isn’t creeped out. Somehow Ultron activated the Jocasta robot from afar and makes her speak like Jan hoping the Avengers will hesitate. But Vision won’t.

Drama is passed down in the family and as Ultron loves breaking Hank Pym’s things, so too will Vision break Ultron’s.

Except apparently Ultron planned for this. When he does the thing he always does and tries to intangible inside the robot to disrupt her circuits, he discovers an anti-matter booby trap.

It fills him with deadly energies and also copious amounts of pain.

Meanwhile, Beast has arrived at the door. He’s been looking for Thor but Thorry no Thor to be found.

That’s not one of his jokes. I just couldn’t resist.

Scarlet Witch is finally ready to do the thing she do and make probability weep but apparently the door has personally insulted Wonder Man by now. He proclaims a grudge match and finally punches it down.

Maybe its because it didn’t initially fall when he reminded everyone that his punches are approximately on the level of Thor’s hammer.

He says that a lot. That and the fact that he was created to fight the whole original Avengers roster.

I think its to remind the audience what Wonder Man’s deal is. But it also fits in with him being insecure, especially since nearly every time he talks about his fists being on the level of Mjolnir, the fight goes bad for him.

Inside the lab, Wonder Man, Beast, and Scarlet Witch find the Vision who tells them not to touch him because of the deadly energies. But that they need to pursue Jocasta.

Who has left the lab and is in the courtyard.

...

So all that effort to punch down the really expensive door was for naught? Did they really have no one guarding the other exit from that room?

Geez.

In the courtyard, Wasp and Yellowjacket fail to do anything to prevent Jocasta from strolling away, punching random plants.

Wasp: “Hank, I’m afraid Ultron’s strategy is working. I can’t bring myself to hurt her! It’d be like hurting myself!”

Yellowjacket: “I -- I know what you mean!”

Lets ignore, for once, the obvious and terrible irony involving future events. Lets go right in and focus on Jan not being able to hurt anything bearing an image of her.

Her one weakness. She just loves what she sees in the mirror too much to ever raise a hand to it.

The two heroes try to use their respective ranged attacks at low power to drive Jocasta back into the mansion but then Yellowjacket makes the mistake these two heroes always make and flies in too close.

She nabs him out of thin air and starts squeeeezing

Then Beast do what Beast do. DYNAMIC ENTRANCE, BOOT TO THE HEAD!

Then because Yellowjacket distracts Beast asking him not to smash Jocasta if he can help it, Jocasta shoots him in the face with eye lasers.

Because, of course, Ultron built her with eye lasers.

The family that slays together, right?

Wonder Man goes to punch her to scrap but she has a force field. Of course she does.

And even though he could punch through it eventually, in the here and now she shoots him in the face with eye lasers.

Scarlet Witch uses her power over nature (I guess she does just have both skillsets interchangably. Neat) to wrap Jocasta up in a tree in much the way a tree does not and cannot do.

Jocasta just flexes her way free. Because she has robot super strength.

Ultron, your wife is too powerful. You’re shaming the rest of us with your unstoppable killing machine wife.

The Avengers regroup and think about this. Maybe if they use teamwork and work as a team, assemble if you will, maybe if they strike as one they can overcome this robot lady.

Before they can, Iron Man comes in blasting.

Not at her, at them.

Iron Man: “Leave her alone! The first Avenger who harms her answers to me!”

And then Thor appears out of nowhere, calling it a long-delayed return (weird time stuff is still going on with him). Instantly deduces a battle is happening and decides that it would be a really cool way to enter the battle if he smashes this mysterious robot woman with his hammer.

I’m not saying that Thor always goes for the move that will fit best on an album cover but I’m sure that it runs through his mind sometimes.

Captain America is confused that Thor doesn’t recognize Jocasta since he was there when they stopped Ultron from putting Jan’s soul in her. And he’s not sure where he’s flying in from since he was just in the mansion minutes ago.

BUT HE HAS TO SAVE ROBOT GIRL!

And he throws his mighty shield and even Mjolnir must yield.

Also, after their little talk, Iron Man and Cap are back in the whole friendly pal/chum kind of thing. Like. Almost exaggeratedly so. Like Cap is making a real effort.

-Iron Man catches Cap after he jumps off the roof to throw his mighty shield-

Cap: “Thanks, Iron Man!”

Iron Man: “Good work, Cap! Took a heck of a chance, though!”

Cap: “Not really. I figured someone would catch me! After all, teamwork’s the name of the game!”

It practically screams I’M GOING TO BE POSITIVE!!

The other Avengers criticize Iron Man and Cap for letting Jocasta go. Which she does by literally walking through the wall. Geez. Ultron your wife is so strong.

Anyway. Iron Man explains the obvious thing. His armor sensors have locked on to Jocasta’s electrical patterns. Obviously they’re going to follow her and she’s going to lead them to Ultron!

Hot damn! Avengers being proactive! Kinda! I mean, Jocasta waking up was on Ultron but instead of just letting the killer robot lurk around somewhere and make a new plan to be murdery and oedipal, Iron Man is going to do something about it!

Unless this is a trap!

But that’s just the hazards of the job.

Also, I guess the cover was more or less accurate. The exact scene didn’t exactly happen but the spirit of it basically. Although Iron Man never blasted Wonder Man. In fact, he apologized that he had to blast near him to stop him.

So this is my second read through this run on Avengers. So like the brown bear I know ALL. But the first time around, I’m pretty sure I didn’t see Jocasta coming back.

I mean, it was only eight issues back. But that’s over half a year. Generally a loose end like Jocasta either comes back in the next issue or is teased throughout to remind the readers that its totally going to be a plot device.

If not, usually the loose end doesn’t come back so soon. And just gets brought back by the first writer who remembers it was a thing.

Apparently Jocasta has just been propped up in Hank Pym’s living room the whole time with Jan growing more and more disgruntled with it.

There’s not much to say about Jocasta herself. She’s kind of like the Wonder Man zuvembie. More plot device than character right now. But an intriguing one.

So next time: more of this. The Revenge of the Return of the Bride of Ultron. But it won’t be called that, alas.

[xb-squaredx]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review: The Joy of Discovery

By now, most everyone has heard about how amazing Breath of the Wild is, if all the acclaim and 10/10 reviews are any indication. I’m not exactly striking while the iron is hot or likely telling anyone anything they don’t already know, but I’d like to take this review to express my thoughts on this wonderful game all the same. Most of my reviews are somewhat…clinical, I feel. I dissect something piece by piece. The story was good, the gameplay was bad. This is why it was bad, etc. But for Breath of the Wild, I want to try something a little different and talk more about how I felt during the game than focus on all of the stuff in the game. Partially because there is a LOT of stuff in this game and we’d be here all day if I went at it like I usually do, and partially because this game fills me with the kind of joy and wonder that I haven’t felt from a game in a very, very long time.

This game is many things: it is a massive 3D open world game, a game that deliberately defies the conventions of the Zelda games that came before it, and a game that emphases the joy of discovery. Constantly throughout the game I am seeing and learning new things about the world and rules that govern it. Cries of “I could do that?!” have been constant in my time with the game, alongside excited (and sometimes terrified) squeals of “What’s happening?!” Breath of the Wild is a game that is constantly giving, secrets abundant. In the past, open-world games have been called “sandbox games,” games that drop you off in a big ol’ sandbox to play and shape the world around you, and that’s a great way to describe Hyrule this time around. Ravaged by a being known as the Calamity Ganon for 100 years, by the time Link gets around to saving the day, much of Hyrule has been largely overtaken by wilderness, not to mention monsters. It truly is a vast world, larger than several other high-profile open-world games out there, but Breath of the Wild doesn’t just go for scope; it goes the extra mile to make it a world worth exploring.

From forests of many different shapes and sizes, to snowy mountains, volcanos and deserts, there’s plenty of variety within the vast reaches of the game. After what amounts to the tutorial section is completed and players are given all of the tools needed to survive the rest of the game, you are given the option to go wherever you want. It’s even possible to make a beeline straight for the final boss, but good luck beating it that way. Link starts with nothing, in his underwear at that, and from moment one you’re basically on your own. Hyrule is treacherous and while it’s true you can go anywhere…if you aren’t prepared for what lies ahead, you’ll end up dead.

Breath of the Wild is unquestionably the hardest 3D Zelda yet, and that’s due in no small-part to the fact that everywhere you go, there’s something trying to kill you. From the many enemies you fight, to nature itself, it’s quite dangerous to go alone. I learned the hard way that enemies don’t just move fast and hit hard, but they’re also relatively smart too. My first encounter in the game with the common Bokoblin enemies didn’t go nearly as smoothly as I planned. Armed with fragile tree branches, I came upon a group of three. I successfully snuck up on them and attacked, but was only able to dispatch one before my weapons broke. I was able to snag one of their bows, only to discover I hadn’t gotten any arrows. My options were limited, so I ran away. I ran away from what amounted to the basic Goomba of the game. Constantly throughout my adventure, the enemies have proven clever and I’ve had to step up my game to best them. Think you can cheese them out by bombing them when they give chase? They’ll kick your bombs back at you so they blow up in your face. Fighting near a campfire, they might light their wooden weapons on fire for an extra edge. Should you catch an enemy unarmed, they’ll make for the closest weapon they can find and use it to good effect, and quite a few will improvise if no weapon is available. And so it becomes apparent that good tactics win the day.

When approaching any given enemy encounter, there are tons of ways to deal with them. I could just run in guns blazing and beat them all down, or I could pick them off from afar with my bow. Better yet, use a well-placed Fire Arrow on some exploding barrels to take them all out at once. Or I could light the dry grass on fire and let that do the work for me. Or push a rock down a cliff and have it stomp them flat. And on top of all of that, I could choose to be stealthy and run in, steal their weapons (and maybe the treasure they’re guarding) and run off before they even know I’m there. Keep in mind there’s likely ten other ways I could tackle the same scenario I’m not even thinking of, and that should give you an indication of how open-ended a lot of this game is.

This extends to exploration too. I could run through the entire game, or I could tame a wild horse (among other things) to ride through areas a bit faster. You can sail on rafts, or use your Cryosis rune to make ice pillars to cross watery sections. You can climb on almost anything in the game, provided you have enough stamina and then use a Paraglider to get down safely or cover large gaps in no-time. The world design is top-notch in this regard, giving you plenty of ways to get to most locations, and giving you plenty of locations to visit. At almost any random point on the map if you pan around, you’ll likely find something of interest to travel to, and you’ll likely get lost when something else catches your attention on the way to your destination. Breath of the Wild is the kind of game where it’s FUN to be lost, to let yourself be distracted. Some of my favorite moments in the game have often been on the journey to places, and not where I ended up.

When journeying to an important plot-related city, I was suddenly in a small bit of forest and unknowingly in the midst of an enemy camp. A camp filled with archers armed with Shock Arrows. From the darkness streaks of lighting came at me from all directions. Too many archers to count, no way to know where was safe. I could only run and hope for the best. Then there’s the time my horse and I tag-teamed an enemy in a moment that can probably never be replicated. Or the time I took on a skeleton monster while riding a bear. That was on fire. This is the kind of game you can get together with friends and gush about, trading stories. It might just be the only way you can find out about some of the more nuanced systems in the game or learn of an NPC’s existence. Having a game that doesn’t just completely bare itself is kind of…refreshing, as I feel a sense of elation every time I learn something new.

Breath of the Wild seems to be designed with the approach of a Zelda game, but following real-world rules when possible. So physics and common sense rule all, and mastering those rules lets you do some cool or funny things. Most of the time. In superhot areas, for example, you can just drop food on the ground and watch it get cooked. Or discover that a Bomb Arrow instantly detonates in your face when it’s that hot. You can use your Magnesis rune to control metal objects in a variety of ways, like using a metal door that’s been ripped off its hinges and make a walkway to a treasure chest…or use the rune to bring the metal treasure chest to you. If you can imagine it, often the game will let you do it. This leads to some comical workarounds, like making makeshift catapults, and in a lot of cases you can completely trivialize puzzles, combat challenges or platforming if you’re smart enough.

Speaking of puzzles, they’re a big part of the Zelda series, and some might be wondering how this game handles them. Outside of the few major story missions (which are still optional anyway!), traditional dungeons are largely absent in favor of Shrine Trials. Scattered all across Hyrule are shrines that house various trials within. Rarely you’ll find a combat trial or, rarer still, shrines that give you rewards straightaway, since getting to said shrine was enough of a challenge in the first place. Most of the time, though, they’re bite-sized dungeons, usually one or two rooms dedicated to a single puzzle or theme. As with the rest of the game, you can approach most of these puzzles in any variety of ways, some of which might not be intentional but were left in the game anyway. With more than 100 of these things, some aren’t all that fun or memorable, but they usually make me feel clever when I’m done with them, so they’re alright in my book. Acting as fast-travel points doesn’t hurt either, and you don’t even have to SOLVE them to warp to them!

Combat is a fairly chaotic experience, quite messy at times, but in a good way. You often have to adapt, and even when you think you have a plan, it can go awry, so you best be flexible. Link can use a bunch of different weapons now: from swords to spears, hammers, axes and more, with the bow and arrow being incredibly useful. You can find weapons anywhere; some are in chests, others can be found out in the open, or swiped from enemies. Generally, any weapon an enemy can use, Link can use (and vice-versa, so watch out!) But don’t get too attached, as they all break eventually. The weapon durability in this game is pretty much love-it-or-hate-it. For what it’s worth, I think as a concept it’s fine, but can be a tad extreme. It makes every weapon feel brittle, and often I dislike getting weapons from a treasure chest as a result. Coupled with this, you don’t have a lot of inventory space for weapons at the start and though that can be GREATLY alleviated later on, the actual process of upping that inventory can be kind of tedious and hard to figure out…or rather, hard to find the NPC that’ll let you do it. But the game, again, has weapons EVERYWHERE, so I never had to worry about being left defenseless. The Bayonetta-esque Flurry Rush attack is great, a reward for dodging at the perfect moment, and add to that a satisfying parry and combat’s solid.

Exploration makes or breaks these types of games, but Breath of the Wild largely nails it. I already mentioned how the game’s world is designed to almost always point you in the direction of something worthwhile, but it bears repeating. From interesting locales, to treasure, to enemy camps, there’s always something going on. At times, I’ll even stumble upon NPCs out and about when they get attacked by a pack of monsters, so I’ll divert from my route and help them out. There are a variety of sidequests you can engage in, some even unlocking shrines that are otherwise hidden. The areas you visit often have such life in them, so many small details coming together to create a genuine world that I loved exploring and being a part of it all.

That attention to detail shows real craftsmanship at work with Breath of the Wild, and those little touches often impressed me, endearing the game to me even more. From the fact that Link stubs his toe if he kicks open a chest without any boots on, to the NPCs having set routines you can follow them on, there seems to be no limit to the variables in this game. This extends to the weather too, and the time of day. At times it can be kind of annoying though. During rain storms, surfaces become slick and almost impossible to climb. In a game where climbing is pretty much THE way to get around places, sometimes the only way, it really is frustrating when some rain rolls in, usually right when you don’t want it to. Thunderstorms, while rarer, are also causes for concern. Lighting will strike down at times, and if you have on anything metal, you’ll get shocked too…and it’ll hurt. It’s not so bad if you have some wooden weapons or non-metallic armor to switch to, but there have been times I’ve had to pretty much become defenseless due to the rain and lightning. You CAN wait it out, or go a step further and make a campfire to pass the time, but that isn’t always ideal and leads to frustration more often than I’d like.

On the subject of story…it’s kind of a mixed bag. What’s there is genuinely interesting; we’re experiencing a Zelda story dealing with the fallout of the bad guy winning, for one. The characters you meet during the key quests of the game are often interesting and some (including a certain prince) have already endeared themselves to fans. And yet, there’s barely anything to them. This largely comes down to the game mostly giving you breadcrumbs of story, strewn about various landscapes that will trigger a memory in Link, and a cutscene for the player. These memories are the primary way we see Zelda fleshed out as a character, and her interactions with Link are great, right up there with Skyward Sword’s own Zelda (my personal favorite at the moment). And yet, there’s not a lot there to work with unfortunately, which makes it all the more confusing why THIS is the Zelda game that decided to use voice acting. I’ve seen a lot of people bashing the English voices, but I honestly don’t understand the complaints; the delivery seems fine and the voices are fitting enough….my sole complaint is that there’s so LITTLE of it. A character will be introduced, speak a few lines of dialogue…and then go back to the text boxes of old. Major cutscenes get spoken lines, but again, they are few and far between. Considering you can skip pretty much ALL of this if you really wanted to though, I can see why there wasn’t that big of an emphasis on it, but it’s still a shame.

And lastly, as fun as the game is, as much as its game world design is a triumph and the way it rewards creativity is to be commended…it does have some technical issues. No matter which version you play, there are some frame drops here or there, especially in more hectic scenarios. For the record, I’m playing the Wii U version and from what I’ve read, the Switch version isn’t all that different, so if you’re desperate to play it and don’t want to get a new console to do so, you’ll be fine in the Wii U’s corner. That said, the fact that the game can stutter and freeze whenever I fight a Moblin is worrying, as is the 10-15 second loading it has to do if you ever hit the HOME button and go back again.

With all of this said…and I said a lot more than I intended to…these flaws don’t really bother me much. The game’s high points are so high, these come off more like nitpicks than general problems. That won’t necessarily hold true for others (like say….a certain Mr. Sterling), but that’s the case with me. I won’t ever call it some flawless masterpiece; the durability issues, the annoying weather and the fact that you can’t pet the adorable dogs ARE flaws…but they’re miniscule imperfections in a beautiful gem of a game as far as I’m concerned. My time with Breath of the Wild has been…magical. A breath of fresh air (I just HAD to say it!) for the Zelda series and for games as a whole. Few games have gripped me as tightly as this one has. It’s the kind of game you can play all day and forget to eat, a weekend gone in the blink of an eye. As it stands, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a fantastic game I can’t recommend enough. Just like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time before it, I have a feeling it’ll be fondly remembered for years to come and will likely heavily influence the Zelda games that come after.

Until next time.

-B

[lavadog]

SRMTHFG 20 Day Challenge: Day 3: Least Favorite Character

Okay, so here's the thing. When I saw today's challenge, I thought "Oh! That's easy. I've always disliked Jinmay and hated it when she showed up." But I wasn't just going to say so without explaining why, and I hadn't seen Chiro's Girl since a year or so after the show was canceled when Disney still had reruns of the episodes playing. So I rewatched it to refresh my memory.

But watching it again some ten years later, I found that the episode wasn't as bad as I remembered it being. The episode still has several things wrong with it, of course. But most of those mistakes can be attributed to the fact that it’s the first episode, and as with any show, it’s marked by the Characterization Marches On/Early Installment Weirdness tropes. We have "We can't activate the robot without Chiro" even though it is later established the whole team doesn't need to be there to pilot the robot (They can, just with suboptimal results), and "We don't keep secrets from the team" even though nobody told Chiro about Mandarin or Antauri's masters (And so on). We also have the first instance of the writers trying to balance Chiro the hero, and Chiro the teenage boy, and what better way to distract at teenage boy than a pretty girl? Chiro comes off as uncharacteristically dismissive of the monkeys in this episode, which is honestly pretty jarring compared to later episodes (Hence the Characterization Marches On trope), but also carries the tone of stereotypical teenage rebellion that the writers thankfully moved on from. We also have the the beginning of the off and on again weirdness of just how necessary each member of the team is at any given point in time. The monkeys are shown to be in trouble in this episode without Chiro there to help them out, and this is later reinforced by episodes like Magnetic Menace where Sprx not being there put the team off their game. But then we have episodes like Pit of Doom where the team apparently works just fine without Chiro there to help them out (Granted, there weren't as many formless in Pit of Doom for them to fight at once, but the point still stands).    

Chiro and Jinmay's romance in this episode is filled with almost painfully cliche dialogue, and we have that horribly contrived moment where Chiro is apparently so absorbed in staring at her that he can't hear Antauri calling him for help or see the formless driving by outside of the window, but it isn't as bad as it could have been. Chiro meeting Jinmay is a pretty cute scene, and so is their subsequent shyness when they first start hanging out with each other directly afterwards. The betrayal on Chiro's face when he thinks Jinmay was only hanging out with him to get into the robot hit me pretty hard too. Overall, Jinmay is pretty harmless in this episode, and there isn't really all that much to dislike about her.

But here's the thing. Chiro and Jinmay's romance doesn't age well. Their relationship starts off as a cliche. Chiro sees Jinmay and is instantly in love because Jinmay is a cute girl his age. They hang out for maybe an afternoon or so, and then have no truly significant interactions until perhaps Ghosts of Shuggazoom. And even then, they spend what little time they have together fighting Valina. Afterwards, we have the Hills have 5, but that's ruined by Jinmay being brainwashed for the majority of the episode and the two of them only interacting with each other for less than 30 seconds in the entire episode (When she's not brainwashed). Chiro and Jinmay obviously care about one another, but the majority of their relationship seems to operate on tell rather than show. We get the implication that Chiro and Jinmay hang out a lot off screen, but we don't personally get to see any real relationship form between them. And as such, none of it really counts. How am I supposed to believe in their relationship if I barely see them spend any time together?

Because they don't show it, a lot of the writers attempts to prove to us just how much Chiro and Jinmay care about each other feels presumptuous, especially when the monkeys are on hand. Two specific examples that come to mind are in Savage Lands and Ghosts of Shuggazoom. In Savage Lands, the monkeys finally catch up to Chiro as he is trying to rebuild Antauri, and try to get him to come home because in their minds Antauri is gone and Chiro isn't in his right mind. When they initially fail to convince him, they try to contact Jinmay, like just seeing her is going to make him abandon Antauri and go with them because hormones or something. In Ghosts of Shuggazoom, Jinmay is the one to get through to him once he is turned into a wraith, and it's treated like she was perhaps the only one that could have done it because true love or something (Yes, I'm aware that the monkeys were all passed out at the time, but we've seen them power though this when the situation has called for it in the past). Never mind that the monkeys are there. Never mind that the monkeys are his family and that it’s been repeatedly shown just how much they love each other. Never mind that Chiro would literally move mountains for them and what we've seen them go through time and time again for each other. No, clearly only Jinmay could do it because of that one afternoon they shared with each other that one time.

Back to the matter at hand though. Is Jinmay my least favorite character? Ultimately, no. I think they could have done a way better job developing her relationship with Chiro and her as a character (Like Chiro, we know nothing of her past), and I think she mostly exists to be a plot device (I've gone into this in a previous post), but I don't think she's the worst the show has to offer. I can't even really find it in myself to dislike her all that much.

So who is my least favorite character, then? After thinking about it for some time, I'd have to say that it's Valina, and perhaps Ma and Pa Shinko by extension. Ma and Pa Shinko have to be the most contrived villains the show has ever offered us. I mean really. A cult in Shuggazoom City that worships the Skeleton King, the same guy who has repeatedly tried to wipe them from existence in some way or another? Who did horrible things to them like make them dig the Pit of Doom or turned them into mindless zombies? It doesn't make any sense. The best motivation the writers offer us is that Ma and Pa Shinko want power for some reason. Which, again, they wouldn't have gotten if the Skeleton King had managed to succeed in his plans at any point in time. At best, the only excuse I can think of for this so called Secret Society to exist is to inform the Hyper Force about plans to resurrect the Skeleton King, which kicks off the plot of the last three episodes. But the writers could have done this a number of other ways that didn't involve something this ridiculous.

Valina herself isn't that bad of a character or villain. But she makes for a very weak main villain compared to what we've had in previous seasons. In Seasons 1 & 2, we had the Skeleton King. He has an interesting backstory as the once good Alchemist who created the monkeys to stop the evil being that he was becoming, and is clever/dangerous enough to actually succeed in his ultimate plan despite our heroes best efforts. Said plan is to awaken a Dark One, a member of the same ancient evil race that corrupted him to begin with, and although he ultimately dies in the process of doing so (Or at least, loses his individuality), his success gives us the awakened Dark One as the new main villain of the series for Season 3. After Season 3, I couldn't help but wonder how they were going to top having an ancient evil as the main villain. I imagined something even worse happening, like a portal to the Dark One Dimension being opened and multiplying last season's problem 1000x fold. But instead, we got the seemingly one-shot villain from Savage Lands, and despite being the main villain, she seems to almost be an after thought in her own season. She only appears in 5/13 episodes, and she's only a legitimate threat in 4/5 of those episodes (Mandarin is the one using her powers in Night of Fear). Of these remaining four episodes, only 1/4 has her enacting some evil plan that isn't directly related to her ultimate goal of resurrecting the Skeleton King. When we do finally get to resurrecting the Skeleton King (Which was foreshadowed back when Mandarin managed to save the skull in Season 3), she can't even actually accomplish it on her own without the BS that is Sprx turning evil and basically doing it for her (Which by itself is jarring because it's suddenly as if Sprx is stronger than the rest of the team combined).

As a whole, Valina is a villain that is built up as being very threatening, but in practice is easily defeated when it comes down to a direct confrontation, usually by Chiro. This can be seen in both Savage Lands and Ghosts of Shuggazoom, where Chiro basically has enough of her shit and beats her in one or two shots (Heck, in Night of Fear she's still trapped in her medallion from Ghosts of Shuggazoom). In the end, she was apparently so insignificant that the Skeleton King killed her off, supposedly never to appear in Season 5.

If she wasn't the main villain of the season, I think she would have made for a good regular villain. But as the main villain she's disappointing and leads to a lack of focus in Season 4. Being connected to the most contrived villains of the series doesn't help her, and I can't help but wonder if the lack of focus she brought was what helped get the show canceled before we could get a satisfying conclusion.