#also the nonsensical plot and characters developments

[achillesunly]

Watching Suits majoritarily for the darvey slowburn is fucking excruciating

[xbuster]

I think it will be a lot easier to enjoy Fate again after FGO dies

[berryblu-ocs]

Ash: *half jokingly says something abt commiting arson*

Sara: i am going to kill him, hes *actually* going to be a ghost this time

*fast forward several months and shenanigans later*

Roy *driving a modified scooter down the street*hey bestieeeee wanna go set fireworks on the neighbours who hate homeless people?

Sara: omg yea!!!!

*rides off into the sunset*

Ash *somehow there* : ??????? so do you just hate me SPECIFICALLY?????

[tofufei]

.

[morningmask27]

Hey so, do you ever feel.. Iffy? Bad? Disappointed? That the Fandom at large only became interested in whistlepaw thanks to faer ship with Frostpaw? I admittedly was feeling a bit like that when the ship first started popping up, although I understand that Whis is quite a background character aside from that (and up until then, more or less). So like I get why fae would gain more traction only now but Idk. I can't help but feel a little sad about it since you've made me develop an attachment to this cat. Just curious about your thoughts on the matter!

I get chronically attached to background nobodies, so I'm used to people not really caring about my faves and I honestly like it more that way because popular characters are A Mess of discourse and drama,

but yeah it is a bit sad that Whis is only really seen as a love interest for Frostpaw in the major fandom, but in a way that's also what fae is in the books. Whistlepaw does nothing outside of supporting Frostpaw (and that annoys me So Much for daily whis purposes, I want more material!!!) and I can't blame the fans for not latching onto background WindClan cat #78 and making up a whole world around them

in the end the fandom portrayal is kinda bland, but inoffensive at least. I made Whistlepaw my little silly and have never really cared about the fandom at large; Fae's basically my oc at this point and if a few people enjoy what I do then I'm content

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

#also the weird insistence to leave out sansa is. well. like if you absolutely had to do this at least make it six #bran sansa & arya are all written to closely parallel each other why would you leave out even one of them (via @branwinged)

#lbr these ppl don’t give a shitttt about bran or tyrion the whole key five thing started as a way to malign sansa #that’s all it was and then they played dumb about it like “we just like the main characters?? why do you hate main characters??” #no one hates the main characters everyone is just irritated by you performing your spite crusade as some kind of community passion (via @melrosing)

#<prev #they do nott care for bran or tyrion they just don't want the girl who reminds them of their 5th grade bully to be considered an MC (via @bastardofharrenhal)

#prev tags 100% #that's all there is to it #their weird hatred of sansa was stronger that whatever love they had for the characters they supposedly liked #in order to hold on to this key 5 idea they had to completely ignore grrm himself saying he was making shit up with that outline and #that the story had grown well beyond that #like I'd get if a show-watcher thought these were the only important characters #but not someone who has actually read the books? (via @rorygilmore)

what do you think about the idea of the main 5?

well i don't care what anyone's preferred way to engage with the series is, like, if you're mainly interested in those five characters (and are these bran enthusiasts in the room with us right now) that's fine. it's true there are certain characters that come close to occupying the narrative space of a protagonist within the series (bran, dany, and jon obvs) but i also don't care much for talk of them as the only ones that matter. how grrm outlined his original notes is not of any concern to me, i'm only engaging with the text. and the way i see it those 20+ povs are not meant to be extraneous or tangential to the larger plot, which supposedly centres around five characters. they are all intended to be in conversation with each other and with series themes at large. a question raised in davos's chapter ("If half an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. A man is either good or he evil") may be answered in sam's ("When Craster's wives brought onions, he seized one eagerly. One side was black with rot, but he cut that part off with his dagger and ate the good half raw.") and then bran's chapters ("If ice can burn then love and hate can mate."—the series is about dualism, not absolutes) and claiming otherwise is doing bit of a disservice to grrm's storytelling capabilities, no?

[svenjaliv]

I usually make spreadsheets for NaNoWriMo every year, but after all the *waves hand at the scandals and assorted nonsense* that, I'm not doing NaNo myself anymore. So I made a new spreadsheet, inspired by the old website to still get the NaNo feeling without using the site.

For anyone who wants to use it, it's available here for download. I've also put it up on Google Docs here, but it looks a little different because the fancier chart effects aren't supported. You'll have to download it or make a copy to be able to use it. (Please don't ask me for edit access, that won't work. File > Make a copy, and you'll have it on your own GDrive.)

I also made this in four other designs, available here. They all come with character and plot development sheets, and pages for novel info, chapters, timeline, etc. There are also versions for other months because really, there's no need to be confined to November, right?

And I've also updated my NaNo spreadsheets for anyone who wants to use those!

[flibbertygigget]

McCoy-Centric Fic Rec List

Long as hell and split into slightly nonsensical sections because I have too many bookmarks :/

Episode/Movie-Centric Codas/AUs

Lots of "Mirror, Mirror"/"The Empath"/Post-TSFS stuff in here for Obvious Reasons.

Fal-Tor-Pan or: How to Accidentally Get Married on Vulcan by mymetalphantom - 5.7k, Spones. Lighter than the usual Post-Fal-tor-pan fic, very silly premise and excellent execution.

Oh, sinners, let's go down by raven (singlecrow) - 4.7k, Gen. The best Post-Fal-tor-pan angst I've ever read, bar none. Angst with a bittersweet, ambiguously hopeful ending.

Seven Times by SwissArmyKnife - 2k, Gen. Seven times McCoy got telepathically violated and it's all canon 😭

For This Space Would Be Hollow If You Were Gone by releni - 4k, Pre-Slash Spones. FTWIH has SUCH great angst potential, and this fic takes full advantage of that.

The Cause is Sufficient by Cirth - 2.5k, Spones. They're talking about the whole katra deal! They're talking about the whole martyr complex! They're kissing!

bad luck and broken soul by Rev (apathetic_revenant) - 12k, Gen. There are SO MANY Post-"Mirror, Mirror" fics, but this one is hands down one of my favorites.

Memories Are Made of This by GenuineSnoof - 6.5k, Gen. Another post-"Mirror, Mirror" fic, I really like how creative the reveal part is in this one.

Evasive Action by kcscribbler - 2k, Gen. "Space Seed" episode coda with some wonderful hurt-and-kinda-grumpy-about-it McCoy.

Incubation by SwissArmyKnife - 9k, Gen. Post-"The City on the Edge of Forever", featuring McCoy working through illness and really going through it and Spock being worried and protective.

something bright, traveling fast by inkatesbush - 7.5k, Spones. Mostly a Spock character study post-Fal-tor-pan, but when McCoy gets there his parts are really, really good.

Plotty/Case Fic (mostly McCoy Getting Hurt And Being Awesome)

I won't say these genuinely resemble actual ST episode plots but they're plot-centric ig.

40 Miles From The Sun by slash4femme - 10k, Spones. Didn't know whether to put this here or in the shipfic section, but it's mostly the BEST rape recovery fic in the fandom and only very slowly Spones. Excellent fic.

The Dogs Days Are Most Certainly NOT Over by ThatSassyCaptain - 35k, Gen. Pure episode-style casefic and a great one. Get adopted, idiot 😆

Rate of Exchange by scioscribe - 9k, Gen. Bulletproof premise of "get captured by Mysterious Bad Guys, get forced to hurt each other, get out and have Feelings about it". Perfect.

all in by milostollbooth - 13.5k, Spones. Spock gets to be in charge of the Enterprise and things Get Complicated. Like 50% casefic and 50% developing Spones.

A Hippocratic Proof by stillwaters01 - 5k, Gen. Less plotty, more of a friendship fic. McCoy doubts his abilities and Spock goes about reassuring him in the most logical way possible 🥰

it ends or it doesn't by Muir_Wolf - 28.5k, McSpirk. Bones being a martyr! Time loop shenanigans! The complicated process of getting together when you're also under an insane amount of pressure! I love them your honor.

Mudd in Your Eye by Avirra - 61k, Gen. Ok, it's an alternate take on "Space Seed", but it does its own thing so effectively that i'm putting it under plotty fic. Really big fan of how competent Bones is and his relationships with the various OCs in this one.

Shipping-Centric (mostly Spones)

Some McSpirk as well ig. There's some overlap with the previous two categories, but these are more shipping than plot.

Surgeon's Mate by belmanoir - 4.5k, Spones. It's the most-kudos'd Spones fic for a reason, and that reason is an EXCELLENT Spock POV with impeccable characterization.

Holocene by greenbloodedcomputer - 4.5k, Spones. Old Married Spones on Vulcan dealing with the in-laws :)

Traditions of Intimacy by swimmingwolf59 - 8.5k, Spones. Spock and McCoy sharing meals and slowly getting closer to each other. Just fantastic.

First Impressions by swimmingwolf59 - 16.5k, Spones. Y'all KNOW I love Sarek and McCoy being awkward buddies, and this fic has an emphasis on the AWKWARD. Love it!

Two Thirds of a Whole by sleepymccoy - 18.5k, Spones. Alternate universe Spock is such a sweetie and Prime Universe Spock is UNHINGED near the end, this whole premise is excellent and the Spones is immaculate.

Courtship Rituals by fangirlandiknowit - 30k, McSpirk. I love love love fake relationship shenanigans that become way too real partway through.

wish i was a better liar by Muir_Wolf - 17.5k, McSpirk with an emphasis on the McKirk. Uhhh, "The Enemy Within" dubcon threesome. Also Spock's there and being protective. Also it's HOT.

Symbiosis by weekend_conspiracy_theorist - 6.5k, Spones. Diplomatic function fake relationship! That very, very quickly becomes less fake lol, Spock's kind of a mess emotionally in this one.

i've seen time tell tales by Rusoe - 1.5k, Spones. Old Married Spones my beloved. Domestic fluff with a hint of angst.

Off-Beat/Stuff I Can't Fit Anywhere Else

For all your confused-by-how-the-author-got-there fanfic needs.

Bones - A Biography by Spock Grayson by AlyssiaInWonderland - 4k, McKirk and Spones. Early First Contact AU where Vulcan first interacts with Earth during WWI. The premise is excellent and the whole vibe of it is heartbreaking, I honestly wish this were longer because I want to live in this universe for like 100k words.

Nothing Unreal Exists by eigenvectrix - 16k, Gen. EXCELLENT fic. Transfem Spock, lots of examination of Vulcan culture, McCoy being both competent as a doctor and generally trying his best during difficult conversations as a friend. 10/10, it made me give up on the trans Spock fic I was kicking around in my head because tbh I could never live up to this.

AOS

I don't even like the characterization in the AOS movies, but these fics are great :)

Lessons by madwriter223 - 1.5k, Spones. Honestly, I always forget this is an AOS fic. Love Spock being so methodical in his romantic intentions/techniques.

Honorable Enemies by Zauzat - 24k, Spones. McCoy being sad, war being hell, Spock being surprisingly emotionally astute in his own way. Gets plotty in the last third. What more do you need from a fic?

Now the Sons Look For Their Fathers/ But Their Fathers Are All Gone by Straight_Outta_Hobbiton - 30.5k, Gen. McCoy taking care of Vulcan kids post-Star Trek (2009). Has great versions of Sybok and T'Pring for the Kelvinverse.

Fortunate Son by mardia - 50.7k, McKirk. I'm usually not a fan of putting anyone except Kirk on Tarsus, but it sometimes works with AOS since we don't get anything on that whatsoever. This is easily the best "McCoy on Tarsus" fic out there!

The Tribunal of Lieutenant Commander Leonard H. McCoy, MD PhD by stealthestars - 3.5k, slight McSpirk. I love fics where everyone's being all official while internally freaking out ♥️

This Must Be The Place by therev - 38k, Spones. A really sweet, existential look at the absolute mindfuck of finding out just what alternate universe you was getting up to and slowly realizing you want something somewhat like that as well.

Shameless Self-Recs

Just a couple of my fics that I'm personally very fond of. Because I'm shameless lmao.

some people crash to earth three times (and then learn from their mistakes) - 8k, Gen. Dropping TOS characters into a shortly post-First Contact scenario for shits and giggles. I loved writing street medic McCoy and his teenage bullshit.

the wind counts lost goodbyes - 2.8k, Gen. Look, give me an opportunity to write some Vulcan culture and angst and I'm bound to go all in. MCD warning.

sing for the damage we've done (and the worse things that we'll do) (2k, Gen) and i speak in smoke signals (and you answer in code) (6k, Gen) - Uhhh, the inherent limitations of the Prime Directive, Federation politics, McCoy being ride or die for his patients, Spock being ride or die for his friends.

strike another match (let's start anew) (3k, Spones) and hearing a voice i'd known (a couple of lightyears ago) (4.7k, Gen) - These are both post-Fal-tor-pan AUs where it, like, Goes Wrong in different ways. I love doing a little fal-tor-pan AU, mostly because I don't think it was given nearly enough focus in canon.

[twilightkitkat]

Everyone knows that Deadpool can break the 4th wall. It's a large part of his charm: being able to directly address the audience and make popculture references that don't exist in the MCU.

It's a common gag in fanfiction for Logan to be slightly weirded out by this but to just let it go.

But can we talk about the implications of knowing about 4th wall? The potential?

Imagine Wade, knowing that he's trapped inside a story that nobody else is aware of. Knowing that his fate is in the hands of the storywriters and that if he doesn't perform well for the audience, his universe could cease to exist. Knowing that he's just a character and being completely alone in that knowledge.

Knowing that he's played by an actor. Knowing that nothing is really in your control. Knowing how your fate rests in the hand of corporations and money. (Knowing nobody is safe as long as they can be used to further your character development.)

He knows that there's a plot and the general rules of it. He knows that The Conflict can't be resolved that easily and when the end of the movie is coming. He knows how to tell narrative death flags.

He partially makes references to keep the audience engaged (to keep his existence renewed) and partially because it's funny to see everyone confused over a joke only he gets.

But every reference is trying to see if anyone else knows, too. He's throwing out the bait. (Trying to see if anyone knows that the world they're living in is fake.)

And everyone sees him as crazy for it. Schizophrenic, manic, insane. (And maybe he is. It's not like he can prove it to anyone.)

Wade assumes things about the world and they're generally correct. He knows the rules of the game, knows the writers, and has a razor-sharp intuition that has his allies questioning him sometimes (he knows popular tropes).

And so, when he realized that he was in a movie with Logan, he made a lot of assumptions. That they would have to work together. That they'd overcome their differences and grow closer.

But most importantly, he assumed the limits. Disney wouldn't make an openly gay character, would they? Deadpool is fine because he's a joke but Wolverine would never be seriously gay, even if he was queer in the comics.

So he sees it as safe to flirt and joke because it wasn't going anywhere. Being gay was funny to the target audience, but that was it. It'd never be taken seriously in a superhero movie. (Especially with characters as popular as Deadpool and Wolverine.)

Wade was either getting Vanessa or nothing. That was how the story was written.

So he never takes Logan's feelings seriously. He cared about him in a very family-friendly bro kind of way and that was it. He doesn't even consider the idea of romance. He jokingly flirts and spews innuendos, but they never went anywhere. Wouldn't go anywhere. Ever.

And Logan is confused because he thought Wade was attracted to him, yet he keeps brushing him off as friendly when he tries to be sincere. He one time legitimately shared a bendy heart straw with him by Wade's request and Wade just played it off as a bit.

And also, Wade keeps making references he doesn't understand. That nobody understands. And he'd chalk it up to saying random shit except Logan starting paying attention and it's all oddly cohesive and creates a singular story. It ties together in ways that complete nonsense doesn't.

And that's leaving out Wade's "intuition." How he makes comments about "tropes" and "cliches" like they're in a movie except that he ends up being right. Almost every time. It's like he can predict the future, but in a vague yet oddly specific way. Like he can see how things are going to go.

And sometimes, when Wade thinks Logan isn't paying attention, he notices how he mutters to himself in dread. And how something bad almost always happens after.

It makes him disturbed and painfully, achingly curious. What was Wade seeing that he wasn't? It could be that Wade was a secret prodigy, but that didn't seem to be the case? Some of this was too specific and far-fetched.

(All while Wade laments over the lack of agency in his own life, subject to the currents of the story while being painfully aware of it. He couldn't live a life of blissful ignorance like everyone else. It's like he saw a tsunami hurdling toward him—even if he ran away at full speed, the plot always caught up to him somehow.

Trust him. He'd tried to outrun it.)

[velvet4510]

Instead of yet another stupid apocalypse, you know what the final “battle” of Season 4 actually should’ve been?

The Umbrellas (including Ben) vs. Reginald.

No Cleanse.

No Keepers.

No durango.

NO REGINALD REDEMPTION.

None of that nonsense.

We should’ve had all of the Reginalds merge. So in the end, he remembers all the events of the previous seasons. Including the original timeline. He is the Reginald who raised and tormented and abused the Umbrellas.

The same should’ve happened to Ben; the Umbrella and Sparrow versions merge, and he has the memories of both versions. He is the Ben they once lost.

We should’ve learned the full extent of Reginald’s alien powers. It should’ve turned out that he is in fact a one-man army when he wants to be.

We should’ve seen Reginald’s plan backfire - the “tools” that he created in a selfish plot to get his wife back rebel and take back their autonomy from him. All his years of child abuse come back to haunt him as he is given no choice but to acknowledge that the Umbrellas are actual people, that they have found the real meaning of love in each other and his efforts to control them have truly failed. That there is more to these people than his own selfishness. All of his teachings come back to haunt him as their powers are used against him.

We should’ve had the siblings - plus Lila since she’s part of the family and also hates the man who abused her beloved Diego - finally face off against Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Both a physical and verbal battle.

Luther uses his super strength. Diego uses his trajectory tricks. Allison uses her rumoring for mental torment. Klaus conjures ghosts as backup. Viktor’s energy blasts bring Reginald’s worst fears to life. Five’s teleporting and time manipulation make their victory inevitable. Lila’s mirroring only doubles the effects.

And, through teamwork, the family win the battle and kill Reginald. (In Guardians of the Galaxy-type fashion.)

Together, the traumatized children finally conquer their abuser together.

Maybe they kill Abigail too, or maybe she sides with them and expresses disapproval at the atrocities that Reginald committed because of her.

Maybe Reginald is holding Sloane prisoner on the moon in Abigail’s place, and the final battle also operates as her rescue.

But definitely, the climax needed to be a confrontation between Reginald and his “marigold” children.

At least that would’ve been an actual emotional payoff to the 3 seasons of buildup and character development.

[fantastic-nonsense]

So what are the best Nightwing runs to read?

*sigh* this is a very loaded question.

Three things to keep in mind before we continue:

Dick's best writing historically happens in books that are not the Nightwing solo.

The tenures of Nightwing solo writers are usually pretty long, so despite Dick having a solo comic for nearly 30 continuous years, there's a limited number of writers who have actually written Nightwing.

The direction of Dick's solo book has been at times driven largely by the whims of editorial edicts rather than creative team desires, particularly the fallout from War Games and Infinite Crisis pre-reboot and Dan Didio's personal hatred of the character post-reboot. So most Nightwing runs already come with a huge asterisk beside them labelled "*Note: worse than it would have been without editorial interference."

For ease of answering the question, I'm not including Dick solo books that happened when he was Robin or Batman on this list. Since there's only 14 total Nightwing/Grayson writers to choose from (Dixon, Grayson, Jones, Wolfman, Tomasi, Higgins, Seeley and King, Seeley, Humphries, Percy, Lobdell, Jurgens, Taylor, Watters), your options are already limited. Of those:

Devin Grayson's run, Marv Wolfman's run, Tim Seeley and Tom King's Grayson run, Ben Percy's filler arc, and Scott Lobdell's Ric arc are all objectively bad, for various reasons. All have redeeming features, but I would rarely actually recommend them to anyone.

Bruce Jones' One Year later filler arc wins the prize for "had potential, ruined by the most utterly bizarre creative decisions of all time" (aka, everything about Cheyenne Freemont and Tentacle Monster!Jason).

Dan Jurgens' run is…fine. Unfortunately, because it's short and focused on cleaning up Joker War and the Ric arc, there's not a lot of redeeming plot features.

Tim Seeley's solo run and Tom Taylor's run are aggressively mid. They're both readable, and they both have some solid arcs and character development; they also have creative approaches, characterizations, and/or plotlines that are just. very bad.

tbh, my opinions on Taylor's run written prior to the sister reveal vs. post-reveal are funny because it's just a complete 180. my pre-reveal opinion was like "oh this is a fun lighthearted palette cleanser run after the nonsense of the last 5 years. I have issues with it, especially with the ableism and general treatment of Babs, but the run itself is probably needed to re-establish an actual status quo" and my opinion of the post-reveal part of the run is like "this run is dead to me."

So this ultimately leaves us with a Top 5 of Chuck Dixon (his og run, not including Nightwing: Year One, which I personally dislike), Peter Tomasi, Kyle Higgins, Sam Humphries, and Dan Watters' current run.

I'm still not sure where I'd rank these Top 5, since they all have really great elements and not great elements. Dixon's run is foundational but is more focused on worldbuilding than it is on plot progression; it's a great starting place as long as you don't expect consistent quality from all 70 issues. Tomasi's run had fantastic characterization, but his plots aren't great and are frankly racist in hindsight. I really enjoyed Higgins' run, but it was clearly held back by all of the New 52 era editorial edicts and Batfam history/relationship erasure. Humphries' run was imo great but ultimately too short to consider a 'top run.' And Watters' run has been incredible so far, but he's literally only 5 issues in and I can't guarantee he'll stick the landing or stay this good.

So. Probably Tomasi>Dixon>Higgins>Humphries, with the current run by Watters tentatively somewhere on the list as well?

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Dear Raven, do you have any opinion on the Tangled event in terms of it’s “story”? Cause I personally feel that it was rather underwhelming…

I have a lot of thoughts about Wish Lantern, so I'd be more than happy to expand on those here. First of all, I think a lot of us were underwhelmed by this event because we went in with a certain set of expectations. We thought this would be THE Riddle event and hyped ourselves up about how this would further his character development. And technically, the event did do that--even if said development was only relevant for parts 2-7 to 2-13, and the final part, 2-18. I think we just weren't fans of the execution. Rarely are story events contained mostly in a single room--but Wish Lantern was. Rarely are modern Twst story events a mere two episodes long--but Wish Lantern was. Rarely do story events call for characters to just stand around and reenact the exact same things the Disney characters did--but in Wish Lantern, they do. It was just a storm of blandness when I think we were wanting and expecting to explore a new place, and more in-depth exploration of Riddle's complicated relationship with his mother, especially considering we got Wish Lantern right off the tail end of his book 7 dream in the JP server. But we didn't get that, so many people ended up disappointed.

Now, how do I feel about it? Well...

I think I get what they were going for by cramming everyone into the library. The devs were probably trying to show us how claustrophobic and suffocating it is to be trapped inside and stripped of your freedom. They wanted us to feel the same way that Rapunzel did up in her tower, and they did it all without telling us to our faces "doesn't it suck, don't you feel awful about this?" But the problem with this setting is that it also makes for a dull story, especially when you combine it with the fact that Riddle and the others come to the stunningly stupid conclusion that they HAVE to live out the same life the Princess in the Tower did to get out.

We never got an explanation as to why this chain of events was even set off by the lantern to begin with. As a writer myself, this really bothers me :/

We got NRC library lore, but it was not that interesting because this could have been easily guessed, given the age and elite status of the school.

One bit of new lore I thought was very interesting was Jack saying that only a handful of mages are authorized to move humans using magic + there are restrictions on this kind of magic. This fleshes out the magic system of Twst and the laws around its use.

I found it silly that Riddle was the one to suggest that they pretend to be princesses and that this is what would help solve their problem. That's so nonsensical and such a huge leap of logic, I expected it of KALIM, not Riddle. (Maybe you could argue that Riddle has a desire to let his inner child out, but I do not see current day Riddle so overtly expressing that; he has shown time and time again he is uncomfortable going outside the bounds his mother laid for him, and that includes acting in traditionally immature ways.) And not only that, but why did they all insist and automatically invest so much in being princesses, and continue to dig into details about the Princess in the Tower's life, truly believing that reenacting it would get them out of this bind??? I know it's for plot convenience, but it was so contrived. They literally had no proof this would work yet kept acting in ways that implied they genuinely believed it would work. Why wouldn't they just believe "okay, this isn't working" after changing into their new clothes, makeup, and hairdos and try something else? No, instead they just fully dedicated themselves to this reenactment strategy after questioning their assumption maybe once or twice.

The Princess in the Tower is even a FAIRY TALE in the world of Twisted Wonderland. It's not actually a part of their history. The characters point out (at multiple points in the event) how silly the fairy tale is or how little sense it makes. So... that gives them even less reason to believe in reenacting it as their solution.

Shoutout to the part where Jack talks about how tight his shirt is in the chest area (boobs too big, lol) and how he had to alter it to be more comfortable for him...

There were strange parts where the event was like a... poorly written locked room mystery? In a good mystery, the reader is handed all the clues to come to their own conclusions. In a bad mystery, important details are not given to the reader, so there is no feasible way for them to come to their own conclusions until the story tells them that missing crucial information. This happens a few times, with Ace handing Riddle "something he'll need" (which turns out to be a frying pan), Riddle "taking a long time" to jump out of the window (because he was contacting Silver to tell him to bring Vorpal), and Vargas giving them climbing rope (to aid in their escape). We only anticipate these things to occur if you're familiar with Tangled already. If you haven't seen it, you would have NO IDEA what is going to happen with these scenes.

I liked that every NRC character, including staff, got their five minutes in the spotlight. We don't often get events like this, so I appreciate them when they do happen.

Mom!Jamil was so very prominent this event 💀

Jade killed me when he showed up wearing THAT STUPID VARGAS CAMP MONSTER MASK THING.

... Remember what I said earlier about how it's confusing how Riddle, Jack, Deuce, and Kalim are throwing literally their ALL into these hobbies??? Well. Leona comes in and tells them it's inefficient to do that. Why are they trying to play an entire game of chess when moving a single piece is enough to constitute fulfilling the (supposed) requirements? If they were so worried about the time crunch, they should have been more economical with their time and spent the minimum amount on every activity, not spend hours trying to do each one. AGAIN, I HAVE TO GIVE IT TO KINGSCHOLAR... HE IS CORRECT. Of all the characters, I can only really see Riddle being anal about doing everything perfectly, but the other three could easily coast by on the bare minimum.

This is a bit of my book 7 salt spilling over into this event, but I kept having this nagging thought that Riddle and co. (+ Crowley) seem VERY concerned with escaping the library before it rolls over to the next day. Like... I understand why they're worried--but they oddly do not demonstrate this same level of urgency for most of the dream hopping in book 7 even though the stakes are much higher there. It doesn't make sense to me...

The devs got creative with the framing of this event; there was the diagonal slice and then showing two characters in two different locations speaking, as well as the Jamils low fade in + vanish.

The new music tracks were nice; one emulated the Kingdom Dance, and the other was a combination of the instrumentation of When Will My Life Begin and At Last I See The Light, which I appreciated.

The rhythmics/twistunes were cute. Nothing else to add.

I did like the character development we actually got for Riddle—I just wish it came attached to a better event and was executed better. His development is sort of poorly spaced out (especially when compared to Deuce in White Rabbit Fest), the event itself is short, and Riddle doesn’t even bring up his mom until 2-13… when the last part is 2-18.

I still felt that the parallels between Rapunzel and Riddle were sufficiently conveyed; it just requires reading between the lines.

I loved that they made a point to mention that the Princess didn’t know she was kidnapped by a witch because the witch provided all that she could ever want in her tower. Delicious food and lots of things to do… why would she ever go against someone that provided these amenities for her? It is similar to the mindset many abused children have—simply because an abusive guardian provides for them, children are compelled to give them grace and feel guilty about disobeying. These kids don’t realize they are “kidnapped” (under the abusive guardian’s thumb). The same goes for Riddle.

When I think about it… the window is an important symbol for Riddle. The manga more explicitly shows us that Trey and Chenya knocked on Riddle’s window to get his attention. It’s also through the window that Riddle escapes to go play with them. Now, again, a window is his escape, and, learning from past experience, he hesitates to take that route even though it is so easily accessible. I've decided... Never again. Almost made me gasp out loud, honestly. This was the part I expected from the start, and Twst actually delivered.

Another point I feel is very important is how Riddle consistently brings up the rules as a means of depriving himself of basic things like food (because you cannot eat in the library). The others have the be the ones to convince him to take better care of himself. He even has trouble jumping from the window too—and this is the same as Rapunzel. It’s not that they cannot leave the tower. They can leave anytime they like—but they trap themselves in it, psychologically speaking, due to how they’ve been isolated and controlled. That takes real strength and willpower to overcome.

It’s great that Jack, Deuce, and Kalim support Riddle through this tough decision-making, even if they’re blunt about it. (Sometimes bluntness is what he needs to really snap into action!!) “I don’t want to see you turning into a loser that uses the rules as an excuse to not act.”, “Are you planning on staying there forever?” etc.

The ending nicely wraps up Riddle’s little arc. He connects the dots that both he and Rapunzel broke the promises made to their mothers—but it was worth it to see this amazing sight, wasn’t it?

I happen to have my own Wish Lantern rewrite if you're interested in an alternate version of the event. As it currently is, it's okay to pretty good in the Riddle development scenes alone and has some cute interactions, but everything else surrounding that is pretty bleh.

[flawseer]

3000 AS character drawings

(Fathom, Indigo, Pearl, Albatross)

I appear to have developed an addiction to drawing dragons. There is no known treatment, so I have been advised to just ride it out and see where it goes. Here are some ancient Seawings:

Prince Fathom

Fathom is said to look remarkably similar to his descendant Turtle, or at least Darkstalker seems to think so. He could be an unreliable narrator who assumes all green Seawing lads look the same though, who knows.

When I picture Fathom, I imagine him as looking visibly marred by what he experienced. He is careworn and looks tired most of the time because, at night, spiraling thoughts and stress dreams are interfering with his sleep. His general physique is a bit oddly proportioned, with some areas of his body (face and extremities) looking more gaunt than others, indicating that he has rapidly lost weight.

Hoping he was able to return to some form of normalcy and make a recovery after the conclusion of the Darkstalker book.

Indigo

Fathom's childhood friend, bodyguard, and numerous other things. I have no idea what the plans of the graphic novel adaptations are with regards to the Darkstalker book, so I don't know if she will get an actual depiction any time soon.

I gave her a forward-swept, somewhat wild-looking head fin because I thought that was fitting for her character. It contrasts with the more put-together, rounder, or rigid appearances of the royals she is surrounded by.

Princess Pearl

Fathom's uptight sister and future Queen of the Seawings. As far as I know, the books never go into detail with regards to her color scheme. I imagine that, in terms of looks, she takes a lot after her grandfather, resulting in a light blue coloration. Some of these traits would then later be passed down the royal Seawing line until they resurface in her descendant Anemone.

I do sometimes think about what happened after the Darkstalker book. Does she believe her brother is dead? Or is it assumed he evacuated with the rest of the Nightwings? Did Fathom ever try to reconnect with her in later years?

Prince Albatross

Fathom and Pearl's grandfather and person of historical infamy. The graphic novels draw him very blue, but he is described in text as unnaturally pale, almost white. Really minor detail in his luminous patches: I drew them that way to suggest he passed his spherical markings on to Pearl (which she then got her name from) and the crescent markings were inherited by Fathom.

Also, his ear is frayed and worn. I imagine he developed a nervous tick where he squeezes and yanks his ear whenever he is upset due to his sister's constant abuse.

------------------------------------------------

Errata:

I initially wrote that Anemone is Pearl's ancestor. This was a nonsensical lapse of thought, as, barring questionable time travel plots, she is obviously her descendant. Corrected.

[cabi-leodrann]

sincerely hope you don't mind the continuous likes I just gave over the past uh...I actually have no idea how long I've been looking at your blog 😭 I really love your story and characters :D I'm very very excited for the update, I kid you not when I say I have been WAITING. I really really enjoy it I spent ages tracking it back down one day bc I couldn't remember your blog name

also READING ABOUT THE LANGUAGE. The language I really like your language for THaB... I feel very inspired to make languages for my own projects now!!! I actually remember vaguely conceptualizing one for an alien race but I digress. Irrelevant!

I'm curious to know by the way, do you and your co-writer share the universe? or is it more of just them helping you with the logistics and worldbuilding so you don't like..unintentionally make nonsense or something?? for lack of better wording LOL

I'm wondering (spontaneously) as well if you have any sort of unique cultural things for toohlegs and/or specific species of animal? praying I spelt that right UH. Yeah!! I don't know Im just very curious,, this is also my first time sending anyone an ask about lore and such, I think mainly because it's the first time I've been invested enough in a cotl au to actively crave knowledge on a regular basis. Genuinely captivating I am hypnotized !!!

okay that's all I think I'll go hide away in a corner now

I absolutely don't mind the wall of likes! On the contrary, makes me happy to see I grabbed someone onto the brain rot =D I am so glad you were able to find the blog and that you're enjoying the AU this much! I'm also a bit sorry you have to wait this long for the next update- the bonus that comes with it kind of got way bigger than the update itself ='3 But we're getting there! For your language: I recommend you the game "Chant of Sennaar"! I understood a lot about language with it, and it's pretty much the base I used to make Lamb's language! There are so many more variables, but I think Sennaar is a good start at understanding some aspect of what you are doing! *Give mic to @wowhy-s-silly-doodles*

"Then I got some idea that I proposed to them, and slowly I started proposing more stuff. One thing to know is that I spend a looooot of time using the cotl wiki, checking everything single detail and flavor text. I ended up stepping on something BIG and went to Cabi with an idea for it and we both constructed a major plot point in the story. Ever since we've both been very implicated into the creation of the story and it' hard to know which part is mine and which is theirs."

*Take the mic back* I'm glad that you asked about the Toohlegs =D The culture we are developing with Wowhy concerns more the cult of the Lamb specifically, as we don't really know how things goes in other communities outside the one of Lamb.

So yeah, most of the adult in the cult have their memento planned. Nobody really gets to live old for many reasons. Those rituals weren't always there, so the first followers were buried, and crypts were created.

But there's another category of Toohleg, and they are called the Mystics =D

And there's more than just those categories, but, you know, classifying a spectrum is kind of an endless task. One last thing. If you ever do a dish with a Toohleg egg, EVERYONE will know. The yolk is red, and egg whites have a particular shimmer to it, created from a sort of dust mixed in it, and this shimmer will be visible in your dish. Eggs can be broken, for an infinity amount of reasons. But, even if it goes against the zero-waste-philosophy, nobody wants to eat the egg, and the followers will kind of hate you for what you've tried to do. And I think that's it so far! I understand the anxiety of sending an ask, (especially when the answer takes a while to come) but you did well to send it! Wowhy and I will never pass a chance to ramble about THaB =D Thank you again for the ask, and have a nice day✨

[utilitycaster]

After the fireside chat, its true what you said. Matt is TERRIBLE at anticipating what his players are going to do. I wonder if this is why c3 felt like both a railroad (as he held firm to his plot) and also aimless (as he did not expect bells hells to be so incurious, anti theist, and the lack of general care for the world. I know obe example is he didnt realise Laura would try to save Imogen's mom.

what gets me is that like...it feels he expected the players to keep doing something that was consistently not rewarded. Like it's true that this was an incurious and stupid party...but the fact that they DID want to do research early on which was genuinely revealing and then they got sent to Bassuras, got lore-dumped on extensively, lost contact or access to every NPC with a decent INT score, and kept relying on their initial tie to Keyleth is like. I'm not surprised they didn't research how to approach Predathos or defeat it when the vibe was "all this information was stolen, hidden, or destroyed"! Like I think the characters' antipathy towards the gods and those who follow them remains nonsensical, especially in an ending that leaves the gods intact, but at some point you have to pick up on like. no they are not going to go to the accord and ask for access to The Forbidden Texts, or dive into Luxon lore, because why would they, when Ryn got paralyzed and their Jrusar contacts were killed and they had to flee Yios immediately after learning things and there's a ticking time bomb in the Feywild you just dropped on them? On some level it's like no wonder these characters don't give a shit about the world; it keeps getting whisked by them too quickly for them to develop any care for it let alone learn about it.

[barrenclan]

What kind of characters or dynamics would you like to see more often in WC fanworks/OCs? Your characters are pretty unique in their backstories and dynamics with others, so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Well thank you! I suppose I'd like to see more people willing to push the boundaries of the series, rather than relying on the tropes, plotlines, and character types that come directly from the book. I think Warriors fancomics are at their most effective when they use the book only as a framework to move within, and it also helps avoid picking up the worst traits of the book (hackneyed plots, sexism, racism, nonsensical motivations, etc., take your pick).

I think, perhaps, some fans of Warrior Cats need to read books other than Warrior Cats and similar YA xenofiction, and that will help them develop a better literary diet and write more unique characters, if you like the ones I create.

Doe of Deadwood is a phenomenal comic, and one of the direct inspirations for me making comics at all. Highly recommend!