#I'll write a response to this later

[pearl484-blog]

Fire Opal's List of Unusual Things We Liked about Miraculous Ladybug

Here is a not-so-short list of things Me and Pearl liked about Miraculous Ladybug.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a neuro-divergent teenage girl lead with a heavy amount of ego-centrism. There is strong evidence that she has some kind of anxiety disorder and autism.

Marinette's favorite color is pink and she likes sewing, but she's not condemned by the narrative as being too "girly". She is still strong and physically capable.

Adrien has many feminine traits, like being a model and being sensitive, but he's still a fencer and the brawler between the duo. He's unashamed of his more feminine qualities and takes pride in his goofier traits as Chat Noir. We also see the pressure on Adrien to be more stoic and mimic his father's unhealthy habits of coping through violence.

I enjoy that between the male and female lead, she, the female lead, Marinette, has the stronger association with the traditionally masculine libido while her counterpart, Adrien, is associated with the more traditionally feminine romance.

Speaking of which, when solving issues, Marinette tends to lean towards directly solving the problem and tries to control as many variables as possible. This is very traditionally masculine which contrasts nicely with Adrien's feminine methods where he'll empathize and attempt to solve situations with more privacy.

This fits well with their backgrounds since Adrien is from an upper class society where such solutions are commonplace and expected. Your reputation is a VERY BIG DEAL, but your ethics....not so much. Being confrontational is a big no-no in his circle.

Meanwhile, Marinette is autistic with extreme social anxiety. If she doesn’t see it, she doesn't know it happened, and if she doesn't see a blatant reaction, she doesn't think you care. Her directness is partially because of her autism, but she's also taken several lessons to heart about appearing heroic and being a good example so these are IMPORTANT.

Ladybug seems to hold herself to a high standard as a role model, something many a female role model may struggle with.

Adrien's abuse is written very realistically, and I believe his justifications until I take a step back. His position as a fashion model also puts him in the feminine role of being treated like eye-candy with many people forgetting that he is a person.

Marinette is biracial, but seems to have lost most of her connection to her Asian identity. This is later revealed as having to do with her mother not wanting her to face racism she did. Marinette does seem to WANT a connection or address her heritage on some level (considering her uncle and the designs implemented in her clothes) but frequently fails except with references in fashion. I can relate in some ways.

Chat Noir's hair looks fluffy.

Marinette's hair bounces very cutely and vaguely resemble an exposed ladybug butt about to fly. I would use biology terms, but those are boring and sterile. If you have ever seen a Ladybug fly, you know what I mean. If you have not, I am sorry. You missed a true joy of life.

Memorable akuma designs. I see it, and I know about their powerset and recognize them. If not, their link to the goal is clear once it's explained. (Ie. Reflekta wanted people to look at her and remember her. Well, they do THAT)

It has puns.

The Lucky Charms are used very creatively and in a way that promotes spatial intelligence in a manner not often encouraged in children. The only two things I've seen that resemble this is McGuyver, who uses waaaay too much trivia and chemistry to interest me, and the 13th child, who also emphasizes something similiar, in teaching a lesson on ways to view a piece of chalk as other than a piece of chalk, which encourages creativity and flexible thinking without the need to break out the chemistry textbook. Yet, between the two series, Miraculous does it better and more throughly.

I can plot both Gabriel Agreste and Adrien's character developments in a way that mostly makes sense with incoming seasons. It is very rich and entertaining. The speculation between me and Pearl is priceless.

The classmates have their own unique personalities which are put in the lime light frequently. So many of them are adorable, and there are so many ships BOTH me and Pearl agree on. Yay!

The akumas are born of people losing emotions in various ways and we are focused regularly on their plight, so we understand their pain and empathize with them. In a show where the main characters share masculine and feminine traits, it is important that empathy be emphasized.

Its interesting that the main villain intentionally weaponizes emotions and engages in toxic masculinity while also being head of a fashion company, a very feminine industry. His focus on how one is seen and normalization of Adrien being treated as eye-candy are also examples of an external representation of the pressure women feel as well.

In short, the villain is the most toxic qualities of society's view of gender. While the heroes reflect the stresses of the roles placed on their gender and have traits both traditionally masculine and feminine.

[bonefall]

I personally like Thunder's prosthetic. Explained it to my friend (who does use a mobility device, a cane and wheelchair, and listens to me rant and infodump about BB) and they agreed, it's important to know that not every person needs what someone wants to give them. It's another example of "bad ableist person does a thing that hurts a disabled person because they are bad and ableist".

Clear Sky got Jagged Peak killed and would have killed Sunlit Frost! He would absolutely force his disabled son to be "normal" and present it like a privilege. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else, it's special, why don't you want to be helped?"

Thunder Storm should toss it in Clear Sky's face. (I would say toss it into the river but we do not pollute waterways in this house)

Thank you for telling me this, and tell your friend I'm thanking them too! If they have anything else to add please forward what they have to say

Since BB!DOTC tackles some of the heaviest topics in the entire series because its canon equivalent is so dark, I think very carefully about what I do here and how I show it. I take feedback on its sensitive aspects very seriously. If I'm understanding the criticism properly, it's that I should avoid stigmatizing prosthetics by making sure Thunder Storm's not the only one with it-- which he's not! And I'll add even more.

I don't want to avoid something only because it's uncomfortable if the topic is important, and my portrayal is respectful. Ableism IS uncomfortable! There are some situations where a prosthetic is not wanted! I think the rejection of this particular one is both a good opportunity to show a type of ableism and ALSO is very fitting for the characters.

In BB!Clear Sky's mind, the villain, he's fixing an old mistake. He can't admit that he got Jagged Peak killed or take REAL accountability for it (though he will, occasionally, apologize insincerely), but deep in his bones, he knows what he did was cruel. He'll never tell anyone this because he doesn't really cognate it himself, but Thunder Storm NEEDS to take his gift.

If Thunder doesn't take it, it blows a hole in his newest story. You see, throwing Jagged Peak out was All That Could Have Been Done back then. It was a Tragedy and he simply Made A Hard Choice. He regrets it very much, But You Have To Understand.

But now? Now? Well, behold. Look at what he's accomplished since the tragic death of his little brother. His cats are well-fed, cared for, and stable enough to make such incredible advancements. If only Jagged Peak had been able to hold on longer, if only he could be here now, I could fix him.

Just like I can (MAKE YOU JUST LIKE ME) fix you.

"Everything I've ever done is for Jagged Peak. For Fluttering Wing. For you." Thunder Sky is SPECIAL, but if he rejects any gift, tries to turn down the "privileges" offered to him, in an instant that becomes ungratefulness and arrogance. He both forces him to be special, and then leverages it against him if it's rejected. "Spoiled brat, doesn't appreciate what I've worked so hard to give him."

It all goes back to him and his own guilt. He can NEVER be wrong. He can't accept his family doesn't have to be "normal" or reflect his own ability. He won't see himself as a bully, let alone a murderer. It was never about his son's comfort or finding out what Thunder Storm wants or needs, it was about his own ego.

...All that said I'm still taking feedback if there's anything else I should keep in mind, or if anyone has a counter point, especially if you also have experience here.

(In the interest of having a link trail for posterity, here's the critique/call for feedback this is in response to)

[h3xactinellida]

I haven’t seen anyone say out loud that ‘maybe the person didn’t know the history behind the symbol’ but I’m sure there are people thinking this who don’t want to say it. Which, good, don’t say that. Because not knowing major events and periods of history well enough to recognize that symbol is just as ignorant. Like. Ask yourself how they wouldn’t know and come up with a valid reason. You can’t, there isn’t one. Do better. It’s really not hard. Holy fuck.

[tathrin]

5. …where it doesn’t hurt.

Oh what a tender choice, thank you for asking! Prompt taken from this; anyone can feel free to send other numbers in at any time.

Legolas was pacing. That was the first thing Gimli became aware of when he woke for the third time, his head finally clearing of the fuzziness of healing potions and injuries enough for him to focus properly on the world once more.

Legolas was pacing, which meant that he was worried.

The elf was almost never still, Wood-elves being apparently as prone to rustling as the leaves of their beloved trees, but it was a gentle, casual sort of motion, instinctive and subconscious. If called out on it, Legolas often evinced confusion, as if he had not even noticed the slight but unceasing motion of his lissome body.

Pacing, on the other hand...

Gimli tried to speak, and a groan emerged instead. Instantly, the elf was at his side.

"Gimli?"

The sound of that bright, cheerful voice drawn in to such a tight, tremulous trill of a word made Gimli's heart ache almost as much as his bones did right now. The sight of the elf poised on his heels beside Gimli's bed, his long fingers frozen halfway across the distance between them as though he was afraid of reaching closer; afraid of actually touching the dwarf, was even worse and the shadow of terror that flickered across his pale eyes was utterly unbearable.

Gimli forced himself up from the dregs of his drugged sleep and into enough consciousness to rasp, "I am well, Legolas."

It came out rougher than he intended, more of a hoarse croak than as actual words. He opened his mouth to try again and found the rim of a cool metal cup pressed to his lips instead.

"Drink," Legolas commanded.

It hurt, lifting his head enough to do so, even with strong elvish fingers supporting him from below, but Gimli forced himself to swallow the cold, mint-laced water. He flopped back to his pillows after a few gulps and cleared his throat. The results were pleasantly akin to a rumble of stone rather than a creak of brittle wooden timbers, so Gimli decided to brave the effort of speech again.

"I am all right, Legolas," he said.

"You are not," the elf retorted. "You are banged all to bits, and the fact that none of your bones are broken is nothing short of a miracle."

"Dwarven bones are strong," said Gimli.

Legolas snorted. "Yes, and their heads are hard—a fact with which I am both beyond irritated, and exceedingly grateful. Gimli, what were you thinking?"

"I did not expect the stone to break," Gimli murmured. Dwarven stone would not have broken beneath his feet; or if it had had no choice but to do so, then it would at least have warned him first. But the shoddy white stone with which the masons of Minas Tirith had built some of their more recent, less elegant and less impressive structures, apparently had no such concern for the beings what walked upon its pale surfaces, even when said beings walked with dwarven feet.

"No!" Legolas exclaimed. "No, I am sure you did not! Nonetheless, it did, and you took quite a tumble as a result!"

Gimli grumbled, and made to swing himself out of the bed. The world reeled around him and a hand like a splay of twigs against his chest stopped him as firmly as a block of granite.

"You are not getting out of that bed until Aragorn himself says you are well," Legolas declared, his lilting voice gone suddenly fierce. Then it cracked open like a wound as he added plaintively, "Gimli, you nearly died!"

"Poppycock," Gimli retorted, trying to hide the fact that he was panting from even that slight abortive effort. He sank back into the pillow and forced himself to breathe slowly.

"You fell almost twenty feet and landed on solid stone."

Gimli grunted. "Well, then of course I am not dead," he said. "Good stone would never break a dwarf that landed on it."

Legolas made a noise of exasperation that sounded comically similar to an angry bird scolding an interloper away from its nest.

"Hush," Gimli said. "Your point is made; I will stay in the bed and await the word of the healers." He was not sure that his body would allow him to do anything else anyway, but there was no reason to admit to that. It would only worry Legolas more if he did, and he would be surely be more mollified by Gimli's apparent surrender if he did not know that he was only acquiescing because he had no choice.

"Good," Legolas snapped, and dropped onto the floor beside the bed.

They sat there in silence for a few seconds as the aches in Gimli's bones throbbed and pounded, as though he were an anvil in Erebor's busiest forges. Either the draughts he could dimly remember being coaxed to drink by Gondor's kind were wearing off, or the pain was simply becoming more noticeable as his thoughts cleared.

He could not stop himself from groaning, although he clamped his lips tight over the sound as soon as it escaped—but too late.

"Does it hurt terribly?" Legolas asked. His voice had gone gentle again, small.

Gimli nodded, and regretted the motion with a wince. He screwed his eyes shut. "Yes," he admitted.

"Where?"

Light elvish fingers ghosted over Gimli's arm and up across his shoulder, their touch no more than the slightest breath of wind amidst slim treetops. The pain still seemed to dull a little at the touch, as though Aragorn's hands were not the only ones that held healing in their palms.

"Everywhere," Gimli moaned.

Legolas's fingers retreated at once, and Gimli could not help but sigh in regret.

"Well," he said, after a moment, "perhaps not quite everywhere."

"No?"

There was a faint rustle of movement, barely audible. Gimli could not bear to open his eyes and let the light in again, but he pictured the elf leaning closer and smiled at the imagined sight.

"My nose," Gimli said at last. "I think my nose is all right."

Legolas let out a surprised laugh, a burst of silvery mirth like the sudden ringing of clear bells.

Gimli's smile settled more firmly behind his beard. "Yes," he said. "My nose is definitely unharmed."

"And well that it is," Legolas agreed, gliding the faintest touch of his fingers across Gimli's cheeks and forehead before finally coming to rest against the side of his nose. "I would be grieved to see such handsome features mashed by such a fall."

"That's why I made sure to land on my back," Gimli teased. "To save my pretty face for you."

Legolas laughed again. The sound was watery, but stronger; the tremble was gone. "You are very kind," he said.

There was another, longer rustle of movement, and Legolas's hand fell away to be replaced by the light touch of warm lips upon the very tip of Gimli's unbroken nose.

In the darkness of his pain, Gimli smiled.

[ratwithhands]

School's done!!! I mean there's still like two random days I have to go back before it's completely over but I'm not getting anymore assignments!

Here's the drawings of high school Ingo and Emmet that made the advert and cover of my magazine culminating this semester. They also made it into the advice column for that project (though technically that was Ingo talking about Emmet in a message to the magazine). Fun fact I freehanded the perspective on Emmet in like 20 minutes because I had to rush. I think it came out alright considering I've never done that before ^^. Anyways I'll se if I can put up some doodles later for Burst.

We made it fellas :) I'll see you later, have a good night

[darkkitty1208]

"Don't touch that book!"

"...It bites back."

Curiosity killed the cat kitty.

[ut-scatteredextension]

So what happened to sans

threw him in the void 👍

[heroing]

love that my drafts thing says i only have 2 but there are definitely 5 things in there. functional website

[artekai]

Nothing I could come up with will ever be as romantic as Her Sky, Her Sea 💔

[sharkneto]

how is the writing progress going on the next JT chapter?

It's coming - it's like, I'll say... 80% there? I've had these last chapters half-written for over two years now, which one would think would make it faster but it turns out I'm a better writer than I was two years ago, so have to rewrite a lot because of that, and I've changed the specifics on how things go despite the overall events and trajectory staying the same. Also whoever let me write two giant chapters taking place explicitly at a physics conference where everyone has to talk at least *some* physics - terrible. Why'd I do that to myself lmao. But I am 99% through bullshitting physics and just have emotionally wrought conversations to write, which are difficult in a different way but at least I'm not squinting at physics words going "does that surface level plausibly make little enough sense that it makes sense?"

Anyway, it's coming. Life's been very busy and words have been hard. Good to know you guys are still out there looking forward to more!

[mattodore]

going to post those matthias poses i made that were just labeled "AAAAAAAAAA DOG" in a sec and they're a little horny so watch out

[supercantaloupe]

ANTI CHORAL SYMPHONY??? BLOCKED???

joking but omg I can't believe mahler 2 doesn't do anything for you it reshaped my bones

maybe if i heard it live or studied it i would change my tune but so far at least mahler 2 does very little for me. i tend not to be a huge fan of late romantic works in general, and the overwhelming length/size/expansiveness of these gargantuan symphonies from the likes of mahler tend to strike me as tedious more than majestic. and as for choral symphonies, i think in pretty much every one of them i've heard post-beethoven 9 i've not been terribly impressed by the addition of vocalists. (honestly, one of the things that frustrates me so much ABOUT beethoven 9 is that it really is the one that makes it work, and beethoven's legacy/impact was such that he made so many other composers think they can do the same things he did just as well if not better, which i think succeeds in very rare cases only...but i digress.) in its smallest form (ie a soloist or two added to a movement or two) it just feels like an unnecessary addition to me, and in its largest form (full choir in every movement that is the true focus of the work, a la vaughan williams' sea symphony) i kind of think these works cease to be symphonies at some point. like, apologies to vaughan williams, but that's just a cantata. you can just call it a cantata. it's okay. i know it follows traditional symphonic structure to some extent but it's vague enough and totally dominated by the singing to be a different genre to me. and returning to mahler for a second, a symphony like mahler 2 feels very much like the precursor to something like das lied von der erde, which is more of a song cycle with orchestra (or a "song-symphony" but you can probably guess by now my feelings on that name). mahler 2 of course isn't quite that voice-heavy but it bears strong resemblance to what would come later in his output, i think; i'm still comfortable enough calling it a symphony, but i'm not entirely convinced that the choir ultimately adds to the genre in mahler 2 or in any other late romantic-modern choral symphony. personally, i'm not convinced that we should even cling so fast to the genre label of symphony for all of these works; many of them i think can (and probably should) be classified with a different genre label, whether it's something extant like "cantata" or "song cycle" or something newly coined and retrofitted (it's not like musicians have never fiddled with the naming of past works without the blessing of the composer before). idk, maybe i'm biased as to accept a much narrower definition of "symphony" than most, but the distinction matters to me.

[panvani]

i know what he has going on behind the scenes but its just that of a coughing baby vs a hydrogen bomb when you compare it to the other main characters. and his personality is really boring and generic and the excessive infantilization of his character does not help

I mean the former perspective is pretty subjective and the latter is largely a fanon characterization

[sassenach082]

Really love your whole story! And I love how we can see like small funny conversations after reading each chapter. I gotta know how you plan this all out. Do you plan it all out from the get-go, how much of an actual outline do you have for all of this? I'd really love to hear about your process!

Also good luck with chapter 18, I can feel that it is being a bitch to work with, carry on soldier🫡

Oh boy nonnie! If only I knew how to explain this in a way that doesn't make me sound like I'm completely and entirely out of my mind.

I'll try and explain it in a somewhat coherent fashion!

I have a doc that I use where I organize by chapter more or less what I want to do. It doesn't usually end up being that in the final draft but it helps me to get where I need to go by putting in the key scenes that link the narrative together.

A while ago I took a creative writing class and the teacher said something that stuck with me. "If you get stuck, just put in brackets of what you want to happen and keep going. Come back later!"

This ended up being really helpful! I don't do brackets but I'll put in something like this: / and then something cool happens with these characters regarding xyz! OR this character says:

this character says:

this character does this:

/ and I just keep going with whatever the scene is. It helps a lot! I also will frequently go back and re-read my own stuff while checking my outline, and my brain kind of makes connections of extra scenes I can add. Sometimes I get a wild hair and just go "oh this would be perfect" but I don't know how to write it or what I want to say, so I'll put in the placeholder to remind me even if I'm not ready to write it at the time.

This of course leads to an outline that is a hot-freaking-mess, but it works for me. I have an outline doc and I kind of just highlight as I go. Sometimes scenes I wanted don't fit in that chapter (I tend to have REALLY LONG chapters) so I'll just keep it where it is and go back and add it in later, or I'll move it into the box for the next chapter.

When I'm writing I tend to focus on one character at a time, since I do third person POVs mostly. So on chapters where it's two character POVs alternating, I usually do one character first and then check my outline to go back and plug in the rest of the stuff for the other character. It can get confusing/frustrating at times, and sometimes I go completely off my rails and do something entirely different (thanks brain) but knowing a general outline of what I'm doing really helps. Once I have a general outline I can go in and write the scenes as I get inspired to write them. I'm very much not a start at the beginning author considering I wrote this entire beast with the final scene completed first which I've had written almost a year now.

I hope that was coherent enough to understand! My google drive is a hot mess of documents called Untitled with numbers after them and then drabbles and a whole bunch of other stuff. Currently the i'll ride au outline doc is 15+ pages and has the series loosely mapped out with bullet points of what I want to happen.

My poor beta is the best for putting up with me!

[spacedlexi]

i said in my seyka response that i wasnt going to be engaging with any weird fandom drama so know those asks arent seeing the light of day

[pridewon]

(headcanons: the kuroo family)

kuroo is a child born of a second marriage.

his father, hisashi, had been married once before, of this first marriage, he had a daughter: toshiko. when toshiko was three years old, her mother died from a misdiagnosed infection that led to a heart attack. the doctors at the hospital were unable to intervene in time - and hisashi was left a widower, and toshiko without a mother.

toshiko was five years old when her father found someone again, and six years old when that woman, nami, gave birth to her little brother: tetsurô. 

toshiko always knew her and her little brother had different mothers, but that detail never made a difference to her. as far as this little girl was concerned, that wriggly little baby in his crib who couldn’t talk or even play was her little brother, and she had very important big sister duties to fulfill. teach him how to play, most importantly - obviously. teach him how to walk, read, feed him - protect him, of course. being a big sister is a lot of responsibility; and little toshiko deemed herself more than ready for the job.

tetsurô, years later, will sometimes admit to it (when he feels magnanimous, or honest): toshiko really was ready for the job. when he thinks back on childhood memories, when he thinks about who took care of him (amidst siblings rivarly and her making his life a living hell, of course), it is his sister’s face that is conjured up. toshiko was ready to be a big sister... nami was not ready to be a mother.

hisashi and nami’s union was... a rocky one. she was younger - she was a bit wilder too. she didn’t know what she wanted in life, and she didn’t care all that much to figure it out. when she got pregnant, she didn’t know if she wanted to keep the baby... but gave in to hisashi’s insistence. why not, after all. why not give the family life a try. she gave it a try - she really did, for their sakes, for her newborn son’s sake... but it didn’t stick. 

they tried to make it work for eight years. for eight years, nami tried to be a mother, as best she could. sometimes, she was good at it. some other times, she was more like a fun older sister, and hisashi  and toshiko  quietly filled in the blanks of responsibility. some other times... she just wasn’t there, and tetsurô looked around, wondering where his mother had gone. 

for eight years, they tried to make it work, and toshiko would have the very important job of taking tetsurô outside to his very first volleyball practices or watch a science show on the television to avoid overhearing the grown ups arguing. for eight years, they tried to make it work... and one day, nami just never came back from a so-called visit to her sister. 

toshiko was fourteen, and tetsurô was eight, when their father sat them down to tell them the news, that nami probably was never coming back. no amount of searching, phone calls to disconnected numbers, desperate pleas to acquaintances who had no idea either, were enough to find her. their father sat them down, and toshiko held tetsurô’s hand the whole time. tetsurô remembers her grip on his fingers to this day. 

tetsurô was eight when his mother left without a trace; and when his father, feeling he couldn’t carry it all alone after losing too much, decided it was time to move back to tokyo, where his parents lived. they moved into the city (quickly, abruptly, before tetsurô could... really understand what was happening) with tetsurô and toshiko’s grandparents, and tetsurô... kind of stopped talking, for a while; and looked at strangers with big, frazzled eyes while hiding behind his dad or his sister. 

then he met the boy living next door, and started playing video games with him, and started playing volleyball with him... and kenma escorted him to his first try outs in tokyo; and toshiko escorted him to his first real practice.