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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 4 months ago

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Hi! I'm trying to get into writing twst fanfiction, but I'm having some trouble with keeping the boys in-character. What do you think are their base traits? Like, what's the foundation of their personalities?

Hello! I spent a long time debating about whether to respond to this ask or not. Ultimately, a lot of the thoughts I would include in my response are the same as what I have already expressed here. However, I've noticed that this has become sort of a recurring issue, so I'd like to address this more seriously.

I've recently been getting a lot of people requesting that I basically tell them how to write the Twst characters. Tens and tens of them, in fact (too many to include all in one post). Sometimes it's an ask like, "please list out strengths/weaknesses or a summary of their character traits", and sometimes it's more specific like, "here is a prompt I am working on; how do you think [character] would act in this situation?" I'm NOT comfortable with either type of ask and refuse to answer asks of this nature.

I want to be clear: this is NOT the same as asking for general writing advice; this is literally just asking to be spoon-fed the answers. There is a difference between seeking advice on how to overcome writer's block or asking what are techniques to show, don't tell (which is general writing advice) versus asking someone to specifically instruct them on how to write Leona Kingscholar from the hit Disney mobile game Twisted Wonderland. The former is okay with me, while the latter is not.

While I am flattered that people care about my opinion and hold it in high regard, I am not here to be a cheat sheet, and nor are my opinions the "most correct". There is no single "correct" way to write a character, and even if there was, it's certainly not mine. Only the Twst devs themselves are the "most correct", as whatever they produce is what ends up as canon.

As I have said in my previous post on this topic, having someone else tell you how to write does little to help you. Writing is a skill, and skills are not inherent. They are something you train in, practice, and learn. Looking at a bunch of adjectives will not help you write or understand the characters any better than you currently do. If anything, it just means you don’t develop or practice your critical analysis skills. In a worse-case scenario, it devalues what a writer does, as it places the burden on them to condense what they know into a laundry list of characterization--as if it doesn't take us tons of time to hone those writing skills. The only real way to get the results you want is to do your own research, develop your own interpretations, and practice, practice, practice. There is no magic pill or shortcut or streamlining or easy way to do it and come out with a quality result. You have to be willing to put in the time and the effort to learn a skill, and that extends to writing, be it for this fandom, another fandom, or even for non-fandom writing. Think about it like this: when you're writing a good research paper, do you go and ask a single other source to gather all your data and summarize it for you? Of course not. You have to go out and manually collect the resources, do the reading, take notes, and gain an understanding of those resources. Then you use your newfound knowledge to summarize and to synthesize your own conclusions in your research paper. The same logic applies for writing in fandom.

I'm not sure why there is this sudden interest in shortcuts. Is it social media shortening our attention spans? Is it the rise of A.I. like ChatGPT making people more reliant on and more comfortable with summaries? Is it that people are concerned with nailing characterization or instant success the first time around? Is it that the internet's so much crueler with comments + feedback that we want to avoid OOC-ness as much as possible? Is it that I just so happen to like talking about character analysis so people think I must know everything? It could be any of these reasons or a combination of them--but whatever the reasoning is, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's concerning to me that it seems like people are becoming less and less interested in thinking for themselves and instead are increasingly reliant on others telling them how to create. You NEED to fail and get stuff wrong. You NEED to be able to have the courage to try things on your own. Don't be afraid of failure--failure isn't inherently a bad thing, it is how we learn, grow, and shape our own styles and ways of thinking! I definitely was not perfect when I first started out. I had to fail and stumble and struggle to get my craft to where it is today. So did every single one of your favorite creators. Artists had stick figures, writers had their first words. No artist or writer started off making masterpieces. Arguably, they still don't. Every creator is continuously learning and trying to improve their craft. It's not as though they hit perfection one day and decided to stay stagnant. I feel that it devalues what we make when we try to boil down all the skill we've developed into easy "answer keys" for others to digest. Again, you can ask all you want and seek out as many shortcuts as you like, but that's not going to be properly absorbed into your brain unless you walk the walk for yourself. You can't assume that learning these things will be as easy as reading a summary, memorizing a tutorial, figuring out what brush someone uses, etc.--it wasn't for the people you're asking for this advice from either. Failing is normal and expected. You will also never be able to create something that pleases everyone or something that everyone agrees with--so instead of trying to appeal to an unseen audience, please focus on creating what makes you happy. You have your own creative journeys ahead of you, so don't be scared to walk that road! It can be tough and you'll hit roadblocks and challenges--but overcome them, and you'll become even stronger and more skilled than you were before.

Best of luck!

#disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland #notes from the writing raven #advice #question

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cbrownjc · 11 months ago

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My thoughts about Devil's Minion right now after Rolin Jones' comments (spoilers):

A meta so thorough, that I first wrote in a post/reply elsewhere, I'm putting it into a separate post, (with some more added to it), just because. And especially since I know I've gotten a lot of followers over the course of Season 2 because of my Devil's Minion posts as well, and I want this all in a separate, individual post for quick reference, just in case.

Fair warning: if you are totally happy and fine about what happened -- i.e. how Armand turned Daniel -- then yeah, what I am going to say here isn't for you. I'm not trying to harsh anyone's vibe, especially if you are just happy that Daniel is a vampire now, okay? This is just about how I feel and see things about it at the moment (particularly regarding RJs comments about it). So if you're not up for criticism, critique, as well as speculation about Devil's Minion right now, then yeah. IMO, just skip this post, please.

Okay. So. Rolin Jones just gave an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and this is what he said about Daniel's turning by Armand:

Jones confirms that, just like in Rice’s books, Armand is the one who turns Daniel into a vampire. “Will we see that moment of turning? No, but Armand finally made a vampire and clearly made him out of spite,” he says with a laugh. “It looks like it was really not a great moment [between him and Daniel], but that connects those two characters. They will have scenes going forward, obviously.”

-- Rolin Jones, Hollywood Reporter, 06/30/24

Okay so, to start. For me, someone who has been waiting since 1995 (when I was 17) for Devil's Minion, for Armand and Daniel's relationship to finally be adapted in some way, I'll be honest. There are only two ways this can go now that I can see at the moment: either Rolin is lying/trolling to hide the truth about all of this, or he is telling the truth and this is truly the way they are going with this.

If Rolin is lying/trolling to hide something about all of this, then I'll forgive that lying/trolling instantly once it's revealed that he was. (Put a pin in this.) Having to flat-out lie or troll is sometimes par for the course when it comes to running a show and not wanting to spoil anything about what might be coming up in it. So honestly, if that's what's going on with what he said here? Meh. No skin off my nose.

If he is telling the truth, however? Then I'll have zero desire to watch the show anymore, once I see it 100% confirmed in some way with my own two eyes in some way on screen somehow. (Again, pin in this.) Because I have very much learned my lesson when it comes to TV shows and lazy writing/bad adaptations after Game of Thrones.

Because Armand turning Daniel out of spite is the antithesis of what Devil's Minion is supposed to be for both characters. It is an utter and complete misunderstanding of both characters and their relationship together. It's an utter downgrade of their relationship from the books, and I am not here for it. I literally do not care what "romance" they might later have planned for them if this is how Daniel was turned.

Look. If you are someone who only ever cared about Daniel just being a vampire, then this is all likely fine for you, and that's okay. But not me. Because Daniel being a vampire never was, or has been, the important part of Armand and Daniel's relationship. Not in my eyes and, frankly, not when it comes to the original story. Daniel becoming a vampire is not the important part of the Devil's Minion story. The actual love and romance before Daniel is turned is because it is during that part of it that the actual character development and growth both of them go through from it takes place. Especially for Armand's character.

And that only has any depth when Daniel is human and Armand is forever refusing to turn him because of his hangups about making another vampire.

And Armand finally turning Daniel out of love was a huge step that showed Armand beginning to move forward and heal -- from not only his time in the Children of Darkness cult, but begin his healing when it comes to his Marius issues as well.

Armand turning Daniel out of spite undercuts all of that. It undercuts the whole story. And flat-out guts some of the major depth of the relationship and Armand's character development overall.

Not to mention it makes Daniel no better than someone like Claudia wrt Armand turning him now. Maybe even less than her since at least Claudia got turned out of Lestat's love for someone else. Daniel doesn't even get that? The person who is supposed to be his eternal companion doesn't even get turned by him out of love, an important point to the bond between such Maker and Fledgling eternal companions, but out of hate and spite instead?

Yeah, no thank you.

This is not what I've waited since 1995 to see with these two and the fact their relationship may have gotten treated like this -- if this is true -- utterly astounds me how this show could get Loustat so right (and even upgrade them so beautifully in so many ways such as with Louis' turning) and utterly fail Devil's Minion so badly. Because yes, it's failing them. It's a terrible and, moreover, just a shallow adaptation of Devil's Minion if this is how it really all goes down.

Because there is way more to Armand and Daniel than them just Daniel being a vampire and them finally "getting together." Or at least there is supposed to be. And this ain't it.

(Pin!) Now, with that all said? The fact that Rolin flat out says that we'll never see Armand turning Daniel? Yeah okay, I'm sus on that one. Because really. The only reason not to show Armand turning Daniel next season -- and visually confirm that Armand did it -- is if because . . . Armand never actually turned Daniel in the first damn place.

Or, if he did, it maybe was not fully Daniel.

I mean, you're not going to ever actually show Armand turning his first-ever fledgling (who he's supposed to go on to have a romantic relationship with at some point) after making a big ass deal out of the fact that Armand has never turned anyone before? Ever?

See I know damn well that Armand is being framed as a villain right now. He very much has to be given how the end of the book IWTV and how the upcoming book The Vampire Lestat, goes. Armand is the main villain/antagonist in it. Even in the present day, it is clear Armand hasn't gone yet gone through all of the growth that he does from Queen of the Damned on. So he's still back in his villain-era mode right now. And his post-breakup with Louis mode in the present day. Which is fine, it's how his story -- and the story where it is right now -- goes. I am thoroughly okay with that.

And the very idea that Armand turned Daniel out of spite? Very much plays into that framing-him-as-a-villian state where Armand's character is right now. And will be for the majority of Season 3, which I've already before now suspected and said.

So here is where the speculation on my end of things comes in. Because yeah, not only can I not help myself but because -- until I see this play out with my own eyes -- I'm willing to be reasonable and look at the various ways this all could still play out that doesn't completely gut out the very heart of Armand and Daniel -- as characters and their relationship together. (Or at least not have it be so damn shallow by the end when they inevitably get and stay together.)

So as @nalyra-dreaming can confirm, I gave her a few scenarios that could be behind Daniel's turning weeks ago, when I first suspected it was going to happen (before the screener leaks about it started). In one of the scenarios, I said that if Daniel's vampire eyes are any color other than violet, then that is NOT Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness in Daniel's body that has been made a vampire.

As the saying goes, "The eyes are the window into the soul." And am I really supposed to think this show got Lestat and Louis' eye color dead on correct but just missed Daniel's iconic eye color? Really? (Because no, I do not find it romantic that Daniel has his Maker's eye color, or whatever. Besides, vampire eye color doesn't even work like that -- the show didn't even do that with Louis and Lestat who are the main, grand romantic couple of the damn show.)

As I said here in this reblog, I stand by my opinion/theory that no way this show gets Daniel's iconic violet eye color wrong, even on accident. I said so weeks ago, before even seeing Daniel's eyes in that final shot in the season finale, and just predicting that he was going to get turned.

No way this show got Daniel's iconic eye color wrong when he became a vampire, not when they went to all the damn trouble creating those vampire contacts and gave Jacob's Louis green eyes to match book-Louis.

And yes I damn well know they could just have Daniel pop up with violet vampire eyes in the Season 3 premiere and there goes all of that, and it really was all just laziness, incompetence, and a mistake when it came to the color of Daniel's eyes in the finale. But right now? I'm treating Daniel's eye color as the equivalent of Rolin saying "Lelio is so boring!" as to the question of why Sam's Lestat was playing Harlequin and not Lelio in the Season 2 theater flashbacks. Something the show changed on purpose and for a reason.

Because we all damn well know that we are going to see Sam's Lestat as Lelio in Season 3, correct? Because we are.

And yes. I know some people really hate the idea of a body swap scenario regarding Daniel, but I'm sorry. At this point, it really is the only scenario out of this whole storyline that I can see right now, that will keep it anywhere close to retaining the heart of the Devil's Minion storyline, especially if Armand really did turn Daniel out of spite here (even though, again, we'll apparently never see that turning to confirm that in full. Uh-huh, okay.).

And two things that I think do set up the possibility are:

1.) Louis says Daniel was turned after he left Armand alone with him. But Louis actually wouldn't know something like that unless he was told since he wasn't there. All we can really assume at the moment is that Daniel told Louis what happened after Louis left the room. And as RJ and Assad said, we'll never see the actual turning. So who knows when the hell it happened.

2.) Raglan James, via those direct messages asking Daniel for "reciprocation" for getting him a copy of the script, with Armand's handwritten notes, of the trial-play. Between that request and the Talamasca publishing Daniel's book, that loops Daniel into the James orbit very much. And ties Daniel very close to any Talamasca going on even more.

And, quite frankly, I've thought since Season 1 that David Talbot's character was out and would be merged with both Louis and Daniel on the show. And Sam pretty much confirmed in his interview with Autumn Brown that some characters from the books will be merged together with others in the show. So, yeah. David's character is very much a character I always thought they were doing that with, and I know I'm not the only one who's thought it before now as well.

And honestly, I can much better deal with some type of scenario in which Armand maybe ends up turning two versions of "Daniel" -- and therefore technically having two fledglings, even though they are kind of the same person -- over what is being put forth about this right now. One turning -- in spite -- of Daniel's body without his true spirit/soul/consciousness in it, and the other turning -- out of love -- of Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness inside a different body of some kind. (Which I won't go into now, as that is a whole separate long meta if I did.)

Because at least with that scenario then, in a weird way, Daniel being Armand's only fledgling would still hold. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Along with a few other things that can happen regarding Armand's character growth in between each turning.

But that is it. Because there is no way they can have Armand turn Daniel (as fully Daniel) out of spite -- as Rolin directly says he does in this interview -- and actually keep the heart of the Devil's Minion story and romance now. Not even if the Devil's Minion chase and parts of the relationship happened in the past IMO . . . another thing they are clearly avoiding talking about, btw. Which, at least right now, just tells me that, if we're lucky, we'll only -- once again -- get one episode that flashes back to that time in Season 3. Can't really be helped, since Season 3's primary focus will be regarding Lestat and Lestat's backstory. (As I've said before Daniel isn't even in that book. So whatever we get with him in Season 3 really will just be extra, added stuff.)

Oh, and something else I very much recognize is that Loustat shippers -- particularly book ones -- have gone through it these past two seasons, but now seem to be coming out of that darkness. Maybe now it's time for Devil's Minion shippers like me and others to face the same damn thing now. Because of something Assad let slip a few weeks ago about not getting Armand's full story until Season 4, I think that is how long we're going to have to wait to see the full of this play out.

But I advise right now that if some of you think you can't handle that and would just rather quit the show and binge things later, I totally get it. Waiting two seasons -- basically 4 years minimum -- is going to be a pain in the ass. I already know right now that there are some things I'm not going to have the patience for during the hiatus times in between, particularly this one. (One thing I can already say, at least right now, is that I'm not inspired to write any show-based Devil's Minion fanfic this hiatus like I did during the last hiatus).

But quitting the show altogether? No, I'm not there yet. Because yes Rolin does like to troll. Plus Hannah's tweet. Plus what was said about Devil's Minion at ATX Festival. Plus my thinking, long before now, that David Talbot was always out wrt the show, and the fact that Raglan James is here and Daniel's character has been heavily tied into The Talamasca plotline of the show.

And given everything I've seen this show do wrt it's writing up until now, I just can't fully believe they would really make Devil's Minion this damn shallow and devoid of its depth and heart. And just have Armand turn his one and only canon fledgling and immortal companion out of nothing but spite. When Armand loving Daniel and finally having to trust in Daniel's love for him, as well as his own love for Daniel over his own fear was a major point and culmination of the Devil's Minion storyline.

After everything I've seen these first two seasons wrt this show, I can't think these writers would miss such an important heart and point of the Devil's Minion storyline and romance so completely.

Not yet at any rate.

#Devil's Minion #The Devil's Minion #Daniel Molloy #Armand #The Vampire Armand #armandaniel #Interview with the Vampire #amc iwtv #iwtv #iwtv spoilers #iwtv Season 2 #iwtv Season 3 #iwtv speculation #writing #Rolin Jones

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mamawasatesttube · 2 months ago

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okay re: tana. i put these thoughts as tags on a different post originally but i think i will also put them here on their own:

assessing whether tana fits the predatory woc trope is thorny. like it's not at all cut and dry like liu in nightwing 96 or shado in ga88; in those cases an asian woman takes advantage of a white boy/man, but in tana's case its like… kesel doesn't actually think she's done anything wrong? the narrative even props her up as the morally upright and responsible one - like in aos502 when she kicks out rex and roxy and says they're trying to take advantage of kon. so like on the one hand yes a woc grooming a white boy fits the trope. on the other well. kesel didn't think he was writing grooming. he thought it was just the hot older woman fantasy, presumably bc he thought boys can't be abused by women.

like in the case of knockout, she's bad because she lied about committing that murder and used kon for her reputation/as an escape vehicle to dodge the law. she is not written as being in the wrong for grooming him. the only problem is that she's a villain; the fact that she's an adult woman dating and making a lot of sexual innuendos at a 15/16 year old boy is never addressed, because to kesel, that isn't actually a problem.

as far as tana goes, it's… hm. dissectable? to me, that one of tana's most consistent character traits is ambition. that she is shown to be using kon for her career, and that she isn't portrayed negatively for doing that? like the people who comment on it are generally written off as assholes in the wrong who are being shitty to tana, like vinnie edge in the bit w stinger where he blackmails her with her job. when people at work gossip about her dating a teenager behind her back, or talk about the conflict of interest re: her dating the hero she's always reporting on, she isn't really written as actually being in the wrong - she's written as a woman faced with a somewhat hostile working environment where people refuse to understand her. like, yes, she wants to use kon for her career, but she's still a Good Person™ for it (unlike, say, rex).

like kesel so clearly wanted the reader to like and sympathize with her and see her as the best love interest. he parallels her to lois directly at least once. she's mature and responsible and a classy woman with a job who thinks ahead. he wanted her to contrast with kon, who is a brash teenager fully living in the moment and concerned mostly with fun and the now. (and it's wild bc kesel writes it like she's supposed to be good for him in that regard but it comes off as like. uh. yeah man that is a grown ass woman dating a teenager. of course she thinks he's immature. even their breakup is written very much to portray kon as the one in the wrong - sympathetically to him, sure, but he took her away from her job and ignored her demands to go back and her protests that she was working on something important, because he wanted to go out with her for a day of impulsive fun, which was immature of him and disrespectful of her job, so of course she walks away. it's in line with her career ambition as a character trait, and it's written very sympathetically to her.)

and it's just so tangled up in kesel's fantasies of what teenage boys clearly desire. like imo it's genuinely not easy to say definitively that she fits the predatory woc stereotype, entirely bc kesel is so seemingly unaware that he's writing her being a predator. he writes her as a sympathetic character that a lot of other characters like and respect, such as dubbilex or sam makoa - the fact that any of her behavior is predatory goes entirely unacknowledged by the narrative. the only people who say she's weird for dating a kid are people she, and thereby effectively the narrative, brushes off as not understanding the bond she and kon have. which, ironically, is exactly the argument you often made see in cases of real grooming. (same as how in aos502, she, a grown-ass adult, describes this 15 year old she just met three weeks ago as her best friend. red flag much??? except kesel again isn't writing it as that.)

like, idk man, tana as a character and what she means narratively are kind of hard to pin down, because of the cognitive dissonance between what kesel thought he was writing vs what he actually wrote. he seemed aware that he was writing things that were like, actually fucked up! but at the same time narratively refused to actually engage with any of them as exploitative and harmful - kon's relationship with rex leech is another example of this. it's wild. lots to ponder there, though.

#rimi talks #kon #tana moon (derogatory)#grooming cw #i will also say i do kinda disagree when people say barbara r kesel was significantly better than karl #because in issue 49 she's the one who wrote kon's computer password being ''knockout'' 💀#like. at least karl did establish that knockout traumatized him and he wasn't into her at all after losin' it.#we see that both in ravers and in later arcs of sb94 (hypertension + issue 69)#so barbara kesel throwing in the idea of that being his computer password was VERY jarring to me.#also to be frank i didn't like how she established him going missing for months and roxy as the only person who cared/noticed/searched #but that gets into matters of personal taste as well so its kinda moot. w/e

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xsweetcatastrophe · 1 month ago

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You Broke Me First

part 38

Author note: there’s no cillian in this chapter again (frown) but i had fun writing it so im not entirely sorry but im sorry

also while we’re here this man has no business sitting like this and that’s all i’ll say about THAT

“See, and THIS one he writes ‘nbd’. If he doesn’t know what OMG stands for from the interview we just watched, how would he know what nbd stands for?” Zoe said, pulling up the text.

Zoe was in full FBI mode. She unblocked Cillian’s name from her phone, but the texts were still gone. After some research on her cell phone provider’s online portal, she was able to download a receipt of text messages according to phone number. Some of the texts were hard to relive, but she knew something was wrong.

This couldn’t be Cillian.

“Who would it be?” Jen said, still not entirely convinced. “This is some true high school shit.”

“I honestly think it’s Hannah…” Zoe said, deep in thought. “She didn’t like me from the start. She wasn’t happy when she started dating after the contract was over.”

Jen sat up straight. “Do you have any info on her? Any of her social media accounts, anything?”

“Let me check…” Zoe pulled up the PR company official instagram, and found a headshot of her pinned. No tag. “Damn. I thought it would be on her company’s page. Let me type her name into the followers and see if she’s following them….. damn. nope. nothing.” Zoe sighed, defeated. “And of course, she has a common name. If we type her name into the general search-“

“Hannah Woods?” Jen interrupted, looking up from her own phone.

“Yes… how did you find it so fast??” Zoe said, confused.

“Zoe.. she’s tagged. I went to the PR Company’s official instagram page. This headshot, right? she’s tagged right there…look,” Jen said, showing her the photo with the tag. Zoe held up her phone, still on her headshot.

no tag.

“Why does my phone show the tag and not yours?” Jen said.

“SHE BLOCKED ME.” Zoe exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Why the fuck would she block me?!?”

“Alright,” Jen said, in an authoritative tone, as she gathered her hair and put it in a messy bun on top of her head. “You get the wine, I’m digging into this.”

Zoe grabbed a bottle of wine from the coffee table and started pouring. She had faith they would get to the bottom of this.

The girls were on either end of the couch, busy in their phones. Zoe was trying to figure out how to get in touch with Cillian, She went through her email and found an old email with Joseph’s cell phone. She sent him an email asking him to call her. She hoped he would.

“Okay, here’s what I have so far,” Jen said, sitting up.

“I looked up the journalist who wrote those Daily Mail articles about Cillian going out with the cast and Miss Long Legs or whoever the hell she is,” Jen continued, standing up as if she was presenting a sales pitch in a boardroom. “Well, Hoebag Hannah follows her, Tara Russo. Tara posts articles on her feed, and Hannah likes all of them. When Tara posted the article she wrote of Cillian, not only did Hannah like them, but she commented the handshake emoji underneath. Now why would she do that?” Jen said, fanning out her hands for dramatic effect. “Well, I did some googling regarding the relationship between rag mag journalists and PR people.. turns out they work together a lot of the time to get their clients publicity, good OR bad,” Jen paused for dramatic effect. “I, based on the evidence bestowed upon me, am led to believe that Hannah called Tara and tipped off that Cillian would be out and about.”

“This bitch…” Zoe said, in shock.

“Now, why would she do that?” Jen said, puffing her hands on her hips. “While we believe that Hannah is conniving and heartless, she is still, at the end of the day, a woman. And she knows the reaction these photos would pull out of you when you saw them, on top of the subject material being Cillian getting back to dating after he broke up with… i believe the direct quote from the article is, ‘Zoe Parker, journalist’” Jen concluded.

“But that doesn’t explain the texts messages,” Zoe said. “That part all makes sense Jen, but -“

“Zoe, Hannah’s younger than us. There is reason to believe that this was actually her on his phone.”

“That’s ridiculous… I thought that too, but I have no evidence of that.”

Jen sighed. “I know. That, I can’t give you concrete evidence on. But my gut feeling tells me it’s true. Call it intuition.”

Zoe sighed. “I can’t believe this is my life. Hannah never liked me. I think she felt i wasn’t glitzy or glamourus luck for Cillian. Which really made me feel like shit.”

“I know. She’s a mean girl and this is mean girl behavior. No other way to put it.”

“I have some choice words to describe it, believe me,” Zoe muttered.

“….You know what I was thinking about?” Jen said, plopping back on the couch next to Zoe. “Remember all those Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen tapes we used to watch, when they were detectives?”

“Olsen and Olsen detective agency,” Zoe replied. She turned to look at her sister.

“We’ll solve any crime by dinner time!” they said in unison, followed by a laugh.

“We used to run around with our magnifying glasses mom got us at the Dollar Store and try and solve cases, and Dad used to make some up… he’d sprinkle dirt on the floor and call us and say we need to figure out who came into the house with their shoes on, and he’d leave clues around the house for us….” Zoe said, thinking fondly of those memories.

“And we said we would be detectives when we grew up,” Jen laughed.

It was silent for a moment.

Zoe looked at her older sister, who was already looking at her. She grabbed her hand.

“Thanks for being here, Jen,” Zoe whispered.

“Hey, look at it this way, we’re just living out our childhood dream. it’s an honor to have YOU as our first case.”

Before Zoe could react, her phone rang. They both jumped up. “Who is it??” Jen whispered.

“I don’t know,” Zoe whispered back. “Do I answer? why are we whispering??”

“Yes, answer and put it in speakerphone!”

Zoe clicked the green “accept” button and put it on speakerphone.

“Hello?”

“Hello Miss Zoe, it’s Joseph. You asked for me to call?”

Zoe spun to her sister and threw her first in the air, signaling a VICTORY pose. Jen smiled but motioned for her to keep going.

“Hey Joseph! Ohmigod, thank you so much for calling, i’m so sorry to bother you, it’s been such a crazy day, I actually just got out of the hospital, well not just got out, i got out a couple weeks ago -”

Zoe was interrupted by a slap on her arm. She turned and Jen had written on a piece of paper “word vomit, shut the fuck up” and was motioning a “zip it” motion with her hand.

“Uh, anyway, sorry. So good to hear from you! How are you?”

“Joseph chuckled. “I’m okay, thank you. I’m sorry to hear about you and Mr Murphy, and i’m sorry to hear you were in the hospital. I hope you’re feeling better. What can I do for you? Did you leave something at Cillian’s? I'd be happy to drop it off if you’d like.”

Zoe had to think fast. What would the Olsen and Olsen detective agency do?

“I was actually calling because I reached out to Cillian, he got back but now I can’t get a hold of him again. Have you heard from him? Does he have another phone or something? Like a business phone and then a personal phone?”

“No, not that I know of. But if you can’t get in touch with him, I’d check with Hannah.”

“Yea, I don’t have her number��” Zoe said, starting to feel defeated. She didn’t need HER number.

“No, I mean just send another text and let Hannah know it’s urgent,” Joseph continued.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, I found out a couple weeks ago, when I reached out to Mr Murphy myself regarding a scheduling conflict, I thought you knew.”

Zoe’s heart stopped. Jen’s eyes were wide.

“Knew what, Joseph?”

“Hannah has been in possession of Cillian’s phone ever since he landed in England.”

can i just say i love writing Jen? lmao she’s so fun. Also, did anyone else watch The Olsen and Olsen Detecvive Agency tapes when they were younger?! I was obsessed!

tags: @lau219 @shopgirl6us @cillianmurphyvevo @bleakmidwinter00 @amelyyyyyyy @teawonderfultea-blog1 @lavender-haze-01 @cillianinlove @supershadowymiraclestudent @allie131313 @borntodiemp3 @kikimurphys

#cillian fic #cillian x fem!reader #cillian murphy x oc #cillian x reader #cillian murphy #cillian murphy x reader #cillian murphy fanfiction

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sparklejumpropekitty · 3 months ago

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Since it was announced James was involved in a future acting project in Mr Fanboy (as a villain, which he wanted to do for awhile now and DMD granted him that), I see many people spreading lies about him saying he quit acting which he never did. He has explained this MULTIPLE times for A YEAR and people still be twisting his words. This is just one quick compilation, there's more actually. There's also two quite recent interviews where he talked more in depth about the many factors that led him to withdraw from the series, and how the decision was a collective decision. This narrative has been consistent as Net also has said the same thing - they have talked for almost a year prior from the withdrawal announcement (James, Net, and their management). The two interviews are on YT - one with Poppy and the other one with Pondonnews. You can check out @xxjdesu translations for the interviews on her X account.

Summary of his interview, some factors that made him stepping back from Love Upon A Time:

1. He was struggling mentally while and after filming Bed Friend for awhile (he said it was more than a year). He often couldn't detach himself from the role of Uea (and as we know, Uea is such a depressing character), his family noticed this. (This makes so much sense of his demeanors during that time). He felt like he was losing himself.

2. He was miserable and found joy performing on stage - singing, dancing. He felt truly happy doing those more than acting at that time.

3. He also thought about how many more things he wants to do, while he is still able and young. Remember at this time, LUAT still has no progress to go into filming? No workshop, nothing. They only has shoot for the trailer (2022). That's all there was to that series at that point.

4. The company along with him and Net has had multiple discussions regarding their future with LUAT for almost a year. Then a decision was made and the announcement happened. I'm sure they're aware how miserable James was, but Net still wanted to continue the project, which he has every right to pursue, just like James has every right to withdraw. What they wanted for themselves at that time simply has divided, they no longer shared the same dream. IMO, the way DMD handled that announcement was what that makes people misunderstood and blame it all on James. He kinda was used as a scapegoat. It was a collective decision, but the announcement made it seemed like it was only James' decision and Net and the company just granted him that.

5. James read all the comments blaming him, right after the withdrawal announcement. He felt real bad and considered jumping off of his balcony. I remember him deactivating his X account and had bad feelings about it. I never would have guessed my bad feelings about it is actually horrid. He activated his account again the next day and I remembered him saying he's okay, he just fell asleep. Little did we know, he was thinking about ending it all. Remember he also injured his leg really badly. Just imagine how horrible he must felt. Luckily, his younger sister and her bf were there, taking care of him. If not, there would be no James anymore :'(

James revealed it has been two occasions where he has suicidal thoughts, one is what I wrote above and the other one after he was severely bullied for the Cover MV we all know of. And that one is also a fail from DMD. James took full responsibility on his own, saying it was his mistake not to do another version with proper mixing and post production. The sound they used for that MV was from Melt into You concert, it was only a backtrack. In the concert, James sang live on top of the backtrack, and with the stage production and dancing, of course people never noticed how the backtrack truly sound. So many were praising that performance. Of course, Idk what truly happened behind the scene, but DMD didn't do any quality checks before releasing that MV? The way all of them kept silent (still is until today) and left James being bullied alone truly baffles me. They didn't take down the MV or close the comment section, etc. They did nothing. Even My Chemical Romance, one of the legendary bands turns off their comment section when people stepped way over the boundary. When one of their controversial ex-band mate passed away, they turned off the comment section also. Why can't DMD do any of that? Just take down the TT videos and whatnot, that people still using to this day to mock him. And not one soul in DMD ever talked about that. It was only Neoul from MeMindy that said something multiple times to defend James (and also some people that supposed to be James band mates but that project is not happening anymore, so..)

What this man has been through are just so tough and challenging. I'm not even in his shoes but I cried multiple times because it hurts, knowing he's hurting so much. All he wants is to do his job and chase his dreams. Why people are so cruel to him to the point of spreading lies and accusing him of many things, when most of the time, those people don't even know him that well..

If you don't want to support him, that's fine. But don't lie and throw untrue accusations. That can tarnish his name and made him target for bullies (Which he has had to deal with multiple times throughout his lives, some since he was a kid.)

#james supamongkon #jamessu #thai actors #domundi #netjames #thai bl

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1ightsen · 1 year ago

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Maxie Infodump #1 - Little known character details from official media

I promised to post some of my maxie infodumps and headcannons, and I think I'll start it off with something simple. His official character bio that was hosted originally on the first release of ORAS (this will be ORAS Maxie focused)

here is a transcript for easy reading: "Maxie is the leader of Team Magma, the team seeking a world ideal for humanity. He pays attention to even the smallest of details, and is quite sensitive in some regards. He has a habit of describing situations in numerical terms. He possesses a cool-headed outlook, thinking that some sacrifices cannot be avoided if he is to achieve his goals." Okay, so first, after looking at the original japanese version of this page,

小さいことまで細かく気にする、神経質なところがあり、さまざまなことを数字を交えてあらわすのが口癖。目的を果たすためなら、犠牲が出ても仕方ないと考える冷徹な思想の持ち主でもある。 The one word in here I wanted to be sure of was 'sensitive' since it can have many meanings, and the original japanese gives us some possibilities with:

Personally I think (being) highly strung is the most likely option here, but either way its an interesting character trait. And we all know he certainly builds up frustration and tension and explodes a bit like a volcano. Even if he does manage to correct himself afterwards.

~ ANYWAYS ~

Now that we have the bio, let's break it down a little and look at some fun examples of it in action! Maxie has a habit of describing situations in numerical terms. This typically comes out more when he is nervous or stressed. Here are some examples: Ill just take ORAS as an example here since this is already getting pretty long... In ORAS after fighting him at mt chimney, he lets you know in a specific numerical way, how much he fell behind:

And then again, when you battle with him and lose in the Battle Resort where he just has to let you know the situation in numerical terms by giving you the exact lose chance according to his own calculations of course:

"So the great Maxie has fallen, even when battling alongside your team... I shall commit this curious phenomenon to memory. It had less than a 1 percent probability of occurring, you know."

this culminates in a really interesting interaction between him and courtney after the delta episode. While It's pretty clear that Maxie cares for his team and especially his admins, he definitely struggles when faced with his crying admin, and being unsure of what to say, he settles with a numerical quantifier again.

He assesses the situation, and decides to comment on how MUCH courtney is crying. His "paying attention to even the smallest details" trait also ties into this habit of his, and is probably why he jumps to conclusions a little too early because of small things he's noticed. Accusing Tabitha of wanting his spot as leader, just because he disagreed with him is one of those situations.

Pokemon Masters EX has a lot of new scenes with Maxie, and I would love to talk all day about them, but I'll just pick out one here, and that's from the "A pasio Spectacle" event. In this event, Maxie overhears team break members simply say the word 'glasses' and instantly jumps to the conclusion that not only did they want to talk to him, but that they noticed his "magnificent mega glasses" and would like to hear a lecture on how they were scientifically made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZmmaf9bhD8&t=144s here's a link to watch it, its worth it :D He certainly picks up on small details, but tends to miss the bigger picture sometimes, which is fun because I believe archie tends to do the opposite. Perhaps his mega glasses are actually designed to reflect this, because they work like horse blinders, and keep maxie looking straight ahead (trust me, I've made a pair of these, and you cannot see someone standing to your immediate side). Looking straight ahead is also relevant to his life goal, of ensuring the bright future of humanity, and as he says: "propel humanity to greater heights of progress and evolution." And that concludes my infodump regarding this one little bio that is no longer available without the wayback machine, and I just wanted to share it with any other Maxie fans out there :D Next I think I might tackle the bigger topic of how Archie and Maxie have so many fun contrasts in personality and more. and then maaayyybe I'll feel comfortable enough sharing my headcannons and theories. But only if people want more lol, I am not good at writing big posts :>

#Maxieinfodump #magma leader maxie #team magma #maxie #pokemon #text post

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lilly-chou-chou · 2 years ago

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Lolita fashion: A guide for beginners and love letter to seasoned Lolitas (Fashion guide part ll)

Hello everyone!! Few days ago I had made a guide for people interested and doing gyaru fashion (interested people please visit my account to read about it <3) moving on I was intrigued and ready to take on the world of Lolita fashion as well, I hope this guides helps newer people and makes other old followers of this amazing fashion culture realize that it is all about fun and feeling pretty. Some may agree with this and some may not either way I am posting this <3

(Kindly please stop sending d#ath threads regarding this post. Kindly also refrain from sending comments saying I deserve those threaths please 🙏🏼)

My guides start from here on. So as a lot of people know, this culture of fashion was started by taking inspirations from Rococco and Victorian era. Over the years this subculture of Japanese fashion has definitely evolved and this subculture has given birth to many sub styles like most famous being sweet Lolita, gothic Lolita and hime Lolita.

So now that you know the gist of this style let me educate you further that the reason Lolita fashion exists is purely just for fun. People especially women wanted to feel that elegance and olden time beauty and dressed up in Lolita just for fun!! So no. 1 rule of Lolita is to have fun. Enjoy what you wear and buy.

Yes, when you first begin it is necessary that you browse through the summary but make sure to ONLY browse through the history of Lolita fashion. Never pay too much attention towards rules of Lolita because again just like gyaru fashion it was and has always been foreigners who police others and are way too anal about rules when as a matter of fact the whole reason Lolita and gyaru existed was to have fun! Of course but only gyaru had a backstory of opposing with stereotypes of women in Japan.

I am here to tell you that I have lived in Japan during the hype of Lolita and gyaru (also being an avid follower of both fashion culture since the age of 4) and having talking with foreigners and locals I suggest you to only LIKE ONLY listen to locals because they truly know what's up. My guides are filled with my experience and what they have told me.

So let's talk about rules like lace and materials and shit. What I have been told and have been doing my life is that pick any lace design that you feel pretty in because in the end even back then Lolita fashion magazines and shows would only tell you what a typical Lolita would wear like poofy dress and small details like pretty wigs and such but people in streets be it Harajuku or Shibuya or etc etc didn't follow these rules themselves and they were covered in latest Lolita trends from head to toe.

The magazines and such only give you an idea of what you can do or typical image of a Lolita fashion follower. That doesn't mean you have to do exactly that. Things like "stop wearing that" "your lace is ugly" "wow you purchased dress from Amazon? Fuck you" "that dress quality sucks you are NOT a real Lolita" is all doing of foreigner Lolita fashion followers.

I am so sorry if you ever encountered any of these people but Lolita girlies in Japan will never harass you like this.

Plus buying stuff from Amazon is OKAY because even though these days there are many affordable Lolita dresses and accessories, it is okay to still look for options and I understand that some people don't have budget and just because you are tight on budget doesn't mean you should be left out. YOU ALSO DESERVE TO FEEL PRETTY! Amazon might not be authentic if that's what you can afford atm then go for it please, enjoy and have fun because you were to meet other Japanese Lolitas they will say things like "wow I didn't know these days Amazon sold such good quality Lolita dresses" never feel guilty for buying off brand.

What people don't tell you is that these days even brands break some of the rules from Lolita fashion and honestly if the household brands break them then you also shouldn't feel bad about messing up. I just want Lolita fashion culture to be welcoming and I don't want beginners to be afraid and I don't want old members to feel the need to be always classic authentic.

Even the queen and ambassador of foreign affairs kawaii aka president of Japan Lolita Association Misako Aiko who has been doing Lolita fashion for 25 years also mixes and matches from different fashion and breaks so called rules like poofy dress shape, owning few dresses with no laces, hair usually styled in a simple way, not always wearing a blouse or a head wear etc etc.

In conclusion if the president of Lolita fashion and household brands are breaking rules then you should also not feel guilty for few little things here and there. Aim of Lolita fashion is to feel pretty and have fun. You are the prettiest person alive, embrace it and have fun with this style. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Do what makes you happy and don't ever feel guilty about buying off brands because sometimes food, shelter and bills is important and that is understandable.

I love everyone of you. Hope my guides help you a lot <3

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lukolabrainrot · 9 months ago

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Just a little palette cleanser after the wild day yesterday, and what I anticipate (might) be a pretty interestinggg week.

I want to add a few things as well:

I am not going to be talking about JD anymore unless we get SOLID confirmation something is going on with him and N. I can't stress this enough though (I WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY SHOCKED IF THEY WERE DATING). If you read between the lines just a little bit with the publicly available information regarding JD and what we know about N, you would understand why I have come to that conclusion. However, I am not going to specify about that anymore here, you are free to do some research though if you would like through SM. DO NOT LEAVE ANY COMMENTS THOUGH ON ANYONE'S PAGES, PLEASEEEEE.

I want to paint a little picture for you on what I think is going on (just a theory of course):

SOOOO many things played out on a VERY public stage for L/N during the PR tour for like 6 months. And they were NOT subtle about their feelings for each other, which is why a lot of us are still here on the ship. However, the situation was pretty messy BTS (particularly for L). I talked a lot about my theories on that here. Sooooo, I think L/N might have taken some space after the London premiere to process a lot of things, and I think things were quickly unraveling with A. The Italy bday trip bs was the last straw, there was a HUGE falling out of some sort, and L and N started talking/hanging out again and something shifted (in a positive way for us Lukola fans), and tbh this shift has probably been bubbling for a while. Then N proceeded to post all those L coded crumbs (and tbf, this man is ALL over her grid and L is okay with it apparently, she's been sending a message for a while if you put the full picture together). N has ALWAYS been private about this part of her life since being in the entertainment field, but for L, she isn't. Just think about that for a second. Why might this be? I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that... So how do the JD pics fit into all of this? Well, I think this theory sums up my thoughts pretty well. I think the pics served as a distraction to take the heat off of L (and L/N) because of all the hate and attention L is still getting because of his personal life. We know N is very protective of the people she cares about (and I think she REALLY loves L and knows he's going through a really hard time rn), and so she coordinated for the pics to be released early this week to get some of the attention off of him and onto her for a change. And JD is a good friend, so agreed to it, and will get some exposure from this which could help his career a little since he doesn't have the same level of "stardom" as N. I think the pics might have also served as a statement of sorts that a lot of the hate towards L was totally unwarranted and not justified. She can do something VERY similar to his "papgate", and not get the same type of hate. Lastly, I talked about my thoughts on a lot of the recent L coded crumbs from N here. My thoughts really haven't changed. N is VERY tuned in to the fandom, and wanted us to know about her mans y'all. If she was with someone else, she wouldn't have posted WHAT she has posted since the Italy bday trip. She can definitely be a little shady sometimes, but she is NOT cruel. Why would she kick him when he's down? She wouldn't! Sooooo, everything else we've seen the last week is kind of just smoke and mirrors imo.

One more thing, please remember to critically analyze all sources of information. Look at the FULL picture of everything before jumping to any conclusions.

I've had a lot of thoughts the last couple of days, so I wanted to get it all out. Just my thoughts of course, but I don't think there's any real reason to freak out right now.

#lukola theories #timelines #just my thoughts #i know not everyone will agree with me #and that's okay

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dancingontheblades · 1 year ago

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When did Viktor choreograph Stammi Vicino and did he commission the music?

When it comes to Viktor’s last free programme, there are two questions that fans have been discussing since the beginning of time—err since Yuri!!! On Ice first aired: 1) the question of whether Viktor did commission the music, and 2) whether he created the programme because of his encounter with Yuuri at the Grand Prix Final of Sochi. In this post, I will examine the source material regarding these two questions and discuss possible answers in the context of storytelling and figure skating as well as their likelihoods.

1. Did Viktor commission the music for Stammi Vicino?

According to Mitsurou Kubo, the aria is a piece of music that exists in the world of YOI. It was written specifically for the anime and did not exist before like Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Lilac Fairy (Young Viktor’s SP) or Mozart’s Kleine Nachtmusik (Fujiwara Hikaru’s FS, ep. 5). However, it’s unclear whether the aria exists because Viktor wanted a special piece of music to surprise the audience it or whether it exists on his own. All we know is that Sayo Yamamoto instructed the composer of YOI, Matsushiba Taku, to compose the song in the style of an Italian opera from the 19th century, using some prepared plot for the piece—the story that is told through the lyrics. Unlike Shall We Skate, Destiny of Nights, or The Inferno, which are from movie soundtracks that indeed exist in YOI, Stammi Vicino has never explicitly been labelled as a song from an opera—neither in the anime nor in any interview.

Or in other words: The information the creators provided can be interpreted either way.

However, we have this shot of Viktor skating Stammi Vicino overlayed with Yuuri’s inner monologue:

That suggests as if Stammi Vicino is one of the pieces Viktor commissioned, doesn’t it?

Of course, it’s possible that the YOI creators used this shot because they lacked the time to animate Viktor skating to an entirely different routine. However, that would be misleading and confusing and would be discouraged from a storytelling viewpoint. Given that the creators had to condense to plot of YOI to ~50% of its initial size to fit it into 12 episodes, they had to be smart about it. Every scene and every image needed to be filled with meaning in order to convey as much of the story within the given constraints as possible, leaving no room for accidental misdirection. If conveying that Viktor had music written for his own programmes was their intention but Stammi Vicino was not one of those songs, a smart solution would have been a series of pictures showing Viktor in different costumes. To save time, they could have recycled the posters in Yuuri’s room for that purpose. The fact that they didn’t do that, suggests that Viktor had the music for Stammi Vicino written.

Combining Yuuri’s inner monologue of Viktor commissioning music for his programmes with footage of Viktor skating to such a programme is clever storytelling because it transports additional meaning through images, which is how visual media work. Being Viktor’s fan, Yuuri knows which songs Viktor commissioned because skaters love to talk about these things in interviews.

The abovementioned scene makes it seem as if Viktor has been commissioning music for his programmes for several seasons at least. While this doesn’t rule out the possibility that he occasionally picked an already existing song for whichever reason, Stammi Vicino applies to Viktor’s situation so neatly that the lyrics must have been tailored to him. The commentator’s words during Viktor’s performance furthermore suggest that this programme shows a new and personal side of him. An while this could work for a song that already exists, it is unlikely that such a song matches the vision of a perfectionist sufficiently. A genius like Viktor would rather think “Okay, that’s nice. But this verse and that verse don’t align with my idea at all. Nah, I’ll call my composer and ask them to write a song for me.”

Stammi Vicino holds unambiguous references to Plato’s Symposium, which the YOI creators have talked about repeatedly. And while this is neither an argument for or against the song already existing long before Viktor even thought about a new free programme, it seems too coincidental for a plausible narration.

Having an aria composed to surprise an audience that is becoming harder and harder to surprise sounds a lot like Viktor Nikiforov, right?

That Viktor commissioned the music for Stammi Vicino is more likely storytelling-wise and aligns better with his characterisation, than Viktor using an already existing song for such an intimate programme.

2. When did Viktor choreograph Stammi Vicino?

Viktor’s first appearance in his Stammi Vicino costume is during the medal ceremony of the Sochi GPF. As the avid figure skating fan that I am, I could let the line of argument end here. But since many fans of Yuri!!! On Ice aren’t familiar with the sport, I’m going to break down why it’s unlikely that Viktor wore the same costume for two difference performances.

Let’s assume for one moment that he indeed wore the purple costume with the golden tassels for two different performances.

While there is no rule against that, it rarely ever happens. Some skaters reuse one of their costumes from competition for a gala programme, but that a skater uses the same costume for another short or free programme is unusual. And there are some very good reasons why that is so.

Music, composition, choreography, and costume build the concept of a figure skating programme. The more perfectionist a skater is (and many of the top skaters are hardcore perfectionists), the more specific you can bet they are about the concept. Having full authority over his programmes, Viktor can be as particular about his programmes as he likes and have costumes tailored that match his vision 100%. And while costumes like Viktor’s are expensive, some figure skaters even get a new costume mid-season if it matches the concept of their programme better.

Figure skating is an expensive sport, but of all the skaters in YOI, Viktor has to worry about money the least. Not only does his clothing suggest that he’s loaded—skaters at his level often get money from doing ads or having sponsors—figure skating is state-funded in Russia, meaning that his skating federation pays for all his expenses.

But wait, what about Viktor changing his free programme to Stammi Vicino right after the Sochi GPF?

Asking that question would lead right to another question: Why would Viktor wear the same costume at the Sochi medal ceremony as he wears three months later at Worlds when the YOI creators gave Chris and JJ costumes that look different from those we seen them wear later for a shot that only lasts a few seconds?

Could it be that Viktor kept the free skating costume because he met Yuuri in Sochi?

To answer that question, we need to take a look at the parameters of the encounter that made Viktor fall for Yuuri head over heels: Being the closing event of a figure skating competition, the banquet happens on the last day when all programmes are skates, all medals have been awarded, and the gala is done. Yuuri and Viktor met there, wearing suits, not the costumes in which they competed. So if Stammi Vicino existed because of Yuuri, wearing a suit would make more sense to narrate the encounter. Unless Viktor wanted to be super abstract about it.

Some skaters change their programme mid-season because their current programme doesn’t work for some reason. Some switch back to an old programme, while others create an entirely new programme. If Viktor had indeed created Stammi Vicino because of his encounter with Yuuri, he would have needed to postpone his work on the routine until late December because his schedule leaves him one week after the GPF to prepare for Russian Nationals—just enough time to pitch the idea to his composer.

A top skater like Viktor could absolutely pull off practising a new free programme in the month between Russian Nationals and Europeans and winning with it. There are a couple of skaters who are reckless enough to do that like Stéphane Lambiel who switched his free programme right before Worlds 2005 and won. Surprising the audience with a new programme mid-season would sound like something Viktor would do—with a new costume.

However, Yuuri started practising Stammi Vicino when his disastrous skate at Nationals ended his season and not one month later (Japanese Nationals and Russian Nationals take place at the same time). And while this isn’t a completely unlikely scenario if one doesn’t take his words of starting right after Nationals literally, it still contradicts the plot and would leave Yuuri less time to produce a perfect copy while studying for his graduation.

To sum this up…

Whereas fan theories deserve to be awarded for their creativity, the likeliest explanation is always the one that aligns best with the facts. There is no valid reason for a figure skater to change their free programme mid-season and keep the costume, even more so if that skater is a notorious perfectionist like Viktor Nikiforov who loves to surprise the audience. The fact that Viktor wore the purple costume in Sochi already can be taken as proof that Stammi Vicino has been his programme all season long. If Viktor changed his programme because of Yuuri, it would have needed to be addressed within the story in some way, even as subtle as giving him a different costume.

There’s an inherent beauty in Viktor having created Stammi Vicino before he met Yuuri because it gives him an agenda beyond his love interest. Well-crafted characters exist outside of their interactions and relationships with the rest of the cast. Viktor had a life, albeit a lonely one, before Yuuri and his (secret) longing for love was an inherent part of it. Especially in a show that is limited to 12 episodes and in which every image is filled with meaning, every little detail needs to be fitted into the narration just perfectly for solid storytelling.

If you enjoyed this analysis, please consider checking out my works on AO3 (link in bio)!

#yuri on ice #yuri on ice meta #yoi #yoi meta #my yoi meta #viktor nikiforov #katsuki yuuri #figure skating #anime #stammi vicino #character analysis #plot analysis #cat's yoi meta

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tbhimnoteasyonmyself · 6 months ago

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TL;DR: If You Dislike Jack & Joker, Maybe It Just Isn't For You (And That's Okay)

I'm gonna start this post by stating that you are free to dislike or even hate any piece of media you want. And you're also free to criticise it. I'm not trying to censor anyone, I just wanna give some perspective on 1 thing:

The Claim that Jack & Joker's Script Made no Sense

Bc, to me, it did.

I've seen ppl comment on grandma's ability to fight, on the 4 Horsemen's Games, on Joke's heist plans...

And it's fair you don't like any of that, you're allowed to find those weird or distasteful but I want you to consider what this show's whole thing was:

Cranking up real situations to ridiculousness in order to highlight and point out the absurdity that it is that we live in a society that is classist and full of judgments made based solely on what meets the eye that actually end up determining a lot of people's lives AND that lets powerful people toy with other human beings with no remorse, for their own profit, putting those people constantly between a rock and a hard place.

This is the ENTIRE THING of this show (YinWar's chemistry aside, of course).

So, of course, you can say you dislike it. Of course, you can wish they'd taken a more realistic approach or, at least, a less comedic one, but... The truth is: the show did what it set out to do.

If you don't like it, you don't like it but, at least, get it, you know? Understand what it is and judge it for that. Don't come towards it exclusively based on your expectations and what you wish it was. That's being narrow-sighted. And it's just not fair to the show.

So, idk, maybe my 2 scents won't matter to anyone but, at least, I got it out of my chest.

Anyway... Regarding the fact that we didn't get a TattooAran kiss, we ride at dawn, as scheduled. akdjskdjdkd

Cheers! 💜💜💜

#jack & joker #jack and joker #jack & joker the series #jack and joker the series

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meimi-haneoka · 1 year ago

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Report of CLAMP's Twitter Space - April 1st, 2024 (part concerning Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card)

As it was quite predictable, CLAMP sensei opened a Twitter Space on April 1st to celebrate this important and special day, which they consider their "birthday" as a creative group. ✨

It is also the birthday of quite a number of characters in their works, but it's hilarious they mentioned later in this Space how April 1st is actually only CCS!Sakura's and TRC!Sakura's birthday, as all the other characters have "ambiguous" situations going on. 😂 I'll delve into this part later.

You will find the full report under the cut, since the post became considerably long once again - it was inevitable since they kept bringing Sakura things up and the Space was almost 50 minutes long! 😅I also wanted to feature as many info as possible, and where I could, I wanted to translate their conversations directly rather than making a summary of it.

CLAMP celebrated April 1st going to a beloved cafè in Kyoto (they later revealed in their IG stories it's called Mont and there's always a cute dog there), spending some nice relaxing time drinking something all four together. That's when they got the idea to open a Space to celebrate with their fans too. CLAMP reiterated several times during the Space how grateful they are for being able to do a creative job like this, even after 35 years. A job none of them really imagined when they were little, as "to become a mangaka" wasn't a specific dream any of them really had.

And then, Ohkawa introduced the part of the Space where they talked about CCS Clear Card, starting by the mention of the release of volume 16 (which happened precisely on April 1st)!

Ohkawa: A serialization that lasted 7 years and a half, isn't it? Mokona: So long, right? Ohkawa: Yeah, quite long! Satsuki: Elementary schoolers have already graduated by now. Ohkawa: Yeah, the readers who were in the first year when the serialization started have graduated elementary school long ago. We had decided that Sakura would start middle school when Clear Card Arc began, and readers of her same age reached adulthood by now. Satsuki & Mokona: Ah, it's true! Ohkawa: They've stayed with us for long time, right? And now the final volume is out. *they all applaude* Mokona: It's quite a happy end, isn't it? Ohkawa: Uh? Mokona: a happy, happy, happy end. 🥰 Ohkawa: 😨...you mean, an APPEALING end, right? (Nekoi echoing her: right?) (note: happy and appealing start with the same pronounce in Japanese) Nekoi: 😅(to Mokona) What are you talking about? Ohkawa: What do you mean, Mokona? 🙃 *Mokona laughs nervously* Nekoi: Is that your headcanon or something? Ohkawa: Is this okay to say? Nekoi: Or rather, is this your conspiracy? 😂

Of course they all joked like this because they wanted to avoid spoiling how the story ended 😂 Ohkawa thanked all the readers for sticking with this story for such a long time. Long time after Sakura Card Arc, when the right opportunity came, they were able to draw this "Clear Card Arc". In that regard, Ohkawa mused that she can't even recall why the previous arc is called "Sakura Card Arc", despite no one actually calls those cards as "Sakura Cards" in the story itself (she said the characters do call them "Sakura's Cards", but not "Sakura Cards"), and Mokona seemed to agree with her, but here sensei was simply forgetting that it was Tomoyo herself the one who named them that way in volume 7 😅(in the beginning she wanted to call them "Sakura-chan Cards", then she settled for "Sakura Cards"....unforgettable Sakura's comment: "It sounds like the name of a credit card..." 😂) It was long ago, we can forgive them. 😉And they made sure to repeat the same thing with Clear Card Arc, since in this story NO ONE ever calls those as "Clear Cards" but actually just "transparent cards" or "new cards". 😂

Ohkawa added that middle schooler Sakura grew up a bit more in the last part of the story, and people who have already read the last chapter can understand what she means by that. She also said that she'd like to leave a more in-depth talk for another time, when they get the right opportunity, but the biggest reason why they decided to open this Space was to talk about unknown "behind the scenes" trivia that the fans could ask about using the hashtag of "CLAMP day" and those of the campaigns organized by Kodansha (in particular, the one to win the big A4 size clear bookmark). She also said that she wanted to give this opportunity to Satsuki and Nekoi to say something about Clear Card since the last time they all talked together, they didn't get the chance. Ohkawa also brought up the last CLAMP Kanbukai podcast, where she talked about the trivia of Fujitaka's iron kettle and that shocked both her colleagues, cause they didn't know about that detail! 😆

Ohkawa: The story I'm about to tell you is something me and Mokona know very well, since there's a precise reason behind this trivia. In Clear Card Arc there's a "key character" called Akiho. Akiho's last name is "Shinomoto" and that was decided ever since the very beginning, but her first name was originally Sairi! Her full name was Sairi Shinomoto. Mokona: It gives off a different vibe, right? Ohkawa: Indeed. I had already decided the kanji for it and all, but at some point, before we even started to draw chapter 1, whenever I talked to Mokona...(to Mokona) please explain what happened. Mokona: Whenever I tried to write the hiragana for あいお (aio) in our conversations on Line, the autocorrect on my phone would change it to 秋穂 (Akiho). (Note: another reading of the kanji in Akiho's name is indeed Ai'o) Whenever I tried to write those hiragana characters, the autocorrect would change it to akiho once the message got sent, and I was like "what's that akiho?? I didn't want to write that". I couldn't understand, because it's not like I had ever used that word with other people (note: she means the autocorrect didn't learn it from other conversations). Ohkawa: The first 2-3 times it happened I was just perplexed, but then as this "akiho, akiho, akiho" kept happening every time, I just asked her "Mokona, are you doing this on purpose??" and she was like "no, not at all!" 😂 She told me "Look what (the phone) converts this into!", but when we tried to do the same on our phones, it didn't come out to any of us! Mokona: But I did show it to you, right? That it came out like that to me. Ohkawa: Yeah, you did! I found it strange cause she said she doesn't even have any friend who's called Akiho-chan, she even tried to recall if there was a character of any series that's called like that... Mokona: Right, but I didn't know any! 😅 Ohkawa: So we started to think about it...Akiho seemed like a really cute name, it combines the characters of "autumn" (秋) with the ear of rice (穂), we pondered about it for 0.02 seconds and then I said "Let's use 'Akiho' for her name". And that's how she became Akiho Shinomoto. Satsuki: You thought that the ear of rice was a nice "opposite pole" to Sakura's spring. Nekoi: What were Sairi-chan's kanji? Ohkawa: Well, it doesn't really matter now but initially, I had designed for her name to bear a kanji only for the "ri" part, and leave the "Sai" part in hiragana. In CCSakura all the characters have their name either in hiragana or kanji, and there isn't any character who's got a name that mixes both. So I thought to do that for her. Ohkawa: Speaking of Sairi-chan, it's a good moment to mention that there's this morning drama show on NHK starting right today, called "Tiger with Wings" where Sairi Ito is starring. I really love her as an actress and I think Sairi is a really cute name, so I had decided for Akiho's name to originally be Sairi, just like hers. It's not like I created the "Akiho" character in Sairi Ito's image, but I just thought that Sairi was a really good name and there was a time when I thought that it would be better for her to have a name closer to Sakura's one, so I had initially decided for that one. But thanks to Mokona's fated intervention, she became Akiho.

Many fans who were listening started to try to type "aio" on their phones and uploaded the screenshots of how their autocorrect would suggest "Akiho" as a conversion! Ohkawa and Mokona looked at the screenshots and commented that the same result can be obtained both on an iOS phone and on a Mac computer. Mokona felt relieved that it wasn't just happening to her! 😆 Ohkawa: It might be that Mokona-san unilaterally changed her name for us, but...😆 Mokona: it's not like I was scheming for it or anything! 😆 A fan also brought up the fact that in the prefecture of Yamaguchi there's an onsen facility called "Aio Onsen" written with the same kanji of Akiho's name, and CLAMP were quite surprised to find that out.

Ohkawa: If you look at the story you'll know what I'm talking about, but in the finale Akiho reveals her true name as a 'final move', and I did think in the past that the spoiler about her true name would show through the fact that we gave her an autumnal name, but Mokona writing that 'Akiho' all those times was just so guided by fate, to the point it shocked us. And it came from writing something trivial like "Yo!" (note: Mokona wrote "ai" as a colloquial way to say "yo", "hi!") 😆 Mokona: It seems like it's quite an unusual name but don't worry, it's not like I was scheming for it! 😅

Then, Ohkawa asked Nekoi and Satsuki if there was a particular scene or part of the story they liked or if they had a fun episode to tell about...while she was waiting for their answers, she said they received lots of praises for the cover of volume 16, with many comments saying how beautiful it is, and for them it's already enough if people can even just look at the cover on the internet.

Ohkawa: By the way, you said the tone used for Kaito-san after his eyes changed was quite bothersome to you, right? Nekoi: Yeah, because I kept forgetting it! Satsuki: I wonder if people will notice...his eyes are so tiny, right? Ohkawa: Were his eyes huge, before? Satsuki: No, I mean, when turned into a tankobon his eyes look so tiny... Ohkawa: Ah, I see, I see. Nekoi: it's because we're used to see it on a screen. Ohkawa: Lots of stuff happened to Kaito-san in volume 15, and....lots of stuff happened to his eyes too, as a result. Because of that, we added a tone finish to his eyes, and it would make me happy if people noticed it. Mokona: There's quite a non-human feel to his eyes, now. Ohkawa: Indeed, indeed.

Ohkawa then asked Satsuki for her own tidbit about Clear Card, and she mentioned a color spread she really liked was the one of chapter 55, with Sakura and Akiho seemingly springing out of water, each on a side of the spread. Satsuki commented it's "a pose quite common in our artworks". Ohkawa recognized it and said the spread was actually two pieces drawn separately (as it's quite deducible by how the spread is composed). Satsuki added that in general all the art of the last volume is quite cute.

Ohkawa: What about you, Mokona? Mokona: As for me.... As you know, right in the middle of the play written by Naoko-chan, they end up in the world of the book. Well, it's not like they really go to another world. When we reach the part of Syaoran's action, both Sakura's POV and Syaoran's POV progress simultaneously...and I think if this were a video, there would be a way to portray it smoothly, but when we were working on it, Nanase told me "I want you to find a way to portray it that is fitting for a manga". So when I've got down to draw the storyboard, I've arranged the panels in a way that was quite understandable to me, but I started to have doubts whether people would be able to get easily what was going on...💦 I could understand it completely because I knew the story, but what about somebody who was seeing it for the first time...? Would it be okay...? I was quite worried about that. Ohkawa: Ooh, I see. I think somehow they were able to understand it.

After this, Ohkawa mentioned Motoko Kumai (Syaoran's, Sumomo, Nataku's VA)'s quote-retweet of their announcement of the Space, where she wished them a happy CLAMP day and said all of the meetings with those characters are a treasure to her. She added "Thank you for pouring your heart in everything you do". It was very funny to hear Ohkawa say "I wasn't the right person to read this, I get embarrassed with these praises! 😳But no, really, thank you very much." ✨

Ohkawa then said "We've been told by Kodansha that they've never had a single manga that continued for two volumes after the end was announced...well, this is our volume 16 that was extended twice 😁"

Ohkawa: I say this every single time, but in my heart, this was the story where Sakura-chan acted as a proper main character, till the very end. I think this is the story Sakura painted for herself, following her own feelings. Sorry, but this is how I feel. Of course I think it's possible to not see it this way and you're absolutely entitled to it, but we think our Sakura-chan really did her best. Mokona: She truly did. Ohkawa: Also, we got lots of comments saying that Touya used too many cheats 😆But I would like to remind everyone that Touya was a "cheater" since long time ago. Mokona: Despite not appearing often, we stacked on him many strong points. Ohkawa: He was really a cheater all along. (note: of course here with "cheater" they're meaning his abilities that allow him to do unexpected and powerful things in the plot, in order to help Sakura at the most convenient moment) I'm talking about Clow Card Arc right now (note: this is a part concerning Sakura Card Arc, actually), but to have a magical power that allows you to transfer all of it to a magical being created by Clow is already a cheat to begin with. Satsuki: he can also see (non-living beings). Ohkawa: Sakura-chan was refusing to do so, but she's also someone who can see them.

While looking at the hashtags, I can't understand if this was Nekoi's personal comment or the comment of a fan, but she said "It's good that it wasn't Touya the one finding the Cards", mocking the way he would've said the incantation to capture the Cards, and Ohkawa replied "Well, he would probably be 'Cardcaptor Touya' now. But he was an high schooler! Feels a bit off..." and Nekoi along with Satsuki mused even more on the possibility of him having a transformation scene like shoujo heroines or if he would just go capturing cards in his school uniform 😂 Mokona: I don't really think Tomoyo would put that much effort in creating costumes for anyone other than Sakura-chan 😂 Ohkawa: Yeah, Tomoyo wouldn't make a costume for him. Therefore, despite it would be quite troublesome because I don't really think Yukito is particularly skilled in sewing, what I can think of is that he would make for him some kind of awkward outfits that don't even look like cosplay costumes. Satsuki: He'll make them by himself. Ohkawa: Well, it's not like Touya would make them... Nekoi & Mokona: There's no reason for him to do it, after all. Ohkawa: He wouldn't be doing this with a serious spirit. Nekoi: So he wouldn't feel a particular reason to change clothes. Mokona: What if he wants to hide his face? What do you think? Ohkawa: Ah, you mean a mask? Nekoi: Well, it's not like Sakura-chan herself had ever any eyewitnesses, after all... Nekoi: He gives me the vibe of someone who would go and capture cards swiftly like he just dropped an item...and hey ho! It would end immediately like a yonkoma (note: four panel manga)! Mokona: He might just pay attention to not get his school uniform dirty. Ohkawa: Then, if Sakura was in Touya's place, she would just go like "Oh, I think I've heard a noise" Satsuki: "There's some rustling" Ohkawa: But I don't think Touya would try so desperately to hide it from her, like she did with him! 😁

Then, Ohkawa tried to bring the topic back to the theme of the day, Clear Card and the release of volume 16.

Ohkawa: it was the first time we happened to draw again for one of our series after almost 20 years. Of course there's been a change in the design, it was impossible for us to keep it the same. I'd be happy if you could enjoy nonetheless. Moreover, at the end of the story, the front and the back of all the Cards changed. We were able to show the back of the Cards when the special chapter was published on Nakayoshi, after the story was over, but as for the front of the Cards themselves, we have just shown a peek. Mokona: Right, and just a few of them. Ohkawa: Truth to be told, we have modified all of the Cards in their manga version. (to Mokona) It was hard, right? Mokona: Yes. Ohkawa: Mokona has rewritten all of their names, too. Because the design is different. Mokona: Yeah. I had colored them too. I thought I would die. Ohkawa: Nekoi and Satsuki worked really hard on them too. Despite that, the truth is we have no opportunity to show the new designs of all the Cards in their manga version! Mokona: It would be good if we could show somewhere the colored version of even just one Card... Nekoi: Since we worked so hard...

Many people in the "CLAMP Day" hashtag suggested for them to show them at the CLAMP exhibition of this summer. Then, back on the topic of volume 16:

Ohkawa: I know there might be people who won't think in that way about volume 16, and everything we're talking about might be a spoiler for others, but I personally think that both Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun matured little by little during this last volume, and I'd be happy for you to see it. Eriol ended up being that kind of character, as usual... (note: she impersonated him saying something, but unfortunately I can't really understand that line) Mokona: Beside him, the "camera" of the story focused properly on all the other characters, including the Kinomoto family. Ohkawa: This is something I wanted to do since long time ago, but...Fujitaka himself didn't have any powers, and although he didn't understand very well what was going on, he trusted Sakura-chan and in the end told her something like "I knew you were going out of the house at night!" 😁 I'm really glad we could draw that scene for him. I've always wanted to portray at least once what the characters of the "parents generation" did inside the story, it's not like Fujitaka-san was spacing out in a corner oblivious to everything...and I'm glad I could portray that in the story. Satsuki: He's collected lots of suspicious books too, right? Ohkawa: Yes. There's something I asked my three colleagues to depict long time ago, and it's connected to what happens in the end. Akiho-chan in the end says something like "I want to aim for a job like this in the future!", but not only that, she also looks for rare books while travelling to many countries around the world. The first time I wanted to portray what kind of rare books she would be collecting was in a scene of long time ago, when the girls visit Fujitaka's library. I asked to please put an homage to Cthulhu over there. Mokona: It's true! Please look for it! If I remember correctly, they were some kind of grimoires that appear in the Cthulhu mythos. We have included them clearly so please everyone, have fun looking for them! Ohkawa: We have intended all of those as homages, so I'd be happy if you could look at them. (note: the chapter they're talking about is the 26th one)

Mokona: It looks like something terrible is going to come out at any moment from a corner of Dad's library....💦 Ohkawa: Yeah. But Fujitaka is like "any kind of book is welcome here!", even with books like those ones. Ohkawa: And then, there's the matter of the chocomint. There have been questions like "why do you keep bringing chocomint up?" before. Among CLAMP, the ones liking chocomint are Nekoi and Satsuki. Mokona, what about you? Mokona: I've recently started to be able to eat the chocomint ice cream from Häagen-Dazs. Ohkawa: You didn't really like it before, right? Mokona: Yes. People from the "chocomint side" will probably think it's pretty mild tasting, but...😅 Ohkawa: As for me, I can't really eat it. 😅But I feel like when a person you love eats it so eagerly, you can't help but wanting to try it too. That's the reason why we employed chocomint in the story. Maybe people who like chocomint will disagree with me, but to me it's quite a divisive kind of food, you either love it or hate it. Mokona: Its color is so overwhelmingly cute too. I always end up wishing to eat it. Ohkawa: Are you like "ugh! This was a mistake" or "well this is quite good" when you actually try it? Mokona: If I do my best, I can eat it till the end. Ohkawa: Well, we have Lilie, an older character appearing in the story, whose person she fell in love with started to like chocomint precisely because she likes it too. That's something that can happen too, right? Mokona: Indeed. For Syaoran it was the same. Ohkawa: Uhm, right, didn't Syaoran dislike it? Nekoi: Yes, but when he tried it he actually started to like it. Mokona: He could eat it because it was something Sakura made for him! Ohkawa: Isn't that amazing? Mokona: It is 🥰

After this, CLAMP started to read some messages from the fans, and also mentioned that the word "Sakura-chan" ended up trending on Twitter. Ohkawa: We have realized it today for the first time, but among our characters, Sakura-chan is the only one whose birthday is TRULY on April 1st! Satsuki: The double Sakura-chan, right? Ohkawa: Right. First of all, I'm not sure we can consider as a 'birth day' what happened to the existence of xxxHolic's Watanuki. Then we have the birthday of Tsubasa's Syaoran, which was decided deliberately by princess Sakura, so even in his case it's ambiguous. Another one is Seishirou from Tokyo Babylon, and in his case the birthday is a lie. So that leaves us basically with just Cardcaptor Sakura's Sakura and Tsubasa's Sakura as the only characters who are truly born on April 1st? Mokona: In the case of Sakura from Tsubasa, I wonder if we should consider her calendar the same as ours. Ohkawa: Ah, right!! Because she lives in another country, right? Mokona: And another world too.

After reading some more messages, Ohkawa said that she's very happy even just with fans of the old Clow Card and Sakura Card Arc loving the new arc too, but what makes her the happiest is to know there are people who have discovered the CCSakura series thanks to Clear Card Arc, and will keep treasuring it from now on. They also mused over the fact that they've been in activity as authors for more than half their lives and the time they've spent working together is far longer than the time they've lived at their parent's home. All four of them are extremely grateful for being able to do this artistic job as a creative group for such a long time.

Taking the opportunity of a fan mentioning the CLAMP Exhibition in July, Ohkawa gave a warm suggestion to try to visit the exhibition if possible, because judging by the current condition of their original artworks and the difficulties they're having moving them around, they don't think there is going to be another opportunity to do this again in the future. 💦

Then, a fan sent them a particular question: "Do you have plans for another arc of Sakura and Syaoran from CCS? Maybe about their wedding?" Ohkawa: Hum, in my idea it'd be best for everyone to imagine Sakura and Syaoran's wedding in their own hearts, but if there's the possibility of a continuation after the events of the last volume, we will certainly let you know.

The person asked about an xxxHolic continuation too, which of course Ohkawa re-confirmed (they're currently preparing everything to resume the serialization) and asked us to wait just a bit more for the announcement from the editorial team of Young Magazine!

After some more messages from the fans, CLAMP gave their final greetings on such an important day!

Nekoi: We only have you to thank for reaching this anniversary on this day. Thank you very much. (they all clap their hands) There will be lots of things to enjoy ahead, and I invite all of you to gaze at the pink color of Tokyo Tower. Ohkawa: It seems we'll be able to watch it from Youtube too, so please don't miss the chance. Satsuki: I want to thank everyone for your support. Just as Nekoi mentioned, we have plans for more things ahead, there's the return of xxxHolic too, and...I wonder if there'll be a new work too? Ohkawa: (laughs) Well, more than anything, there's the Clear Card anime adaptation too. I think it will take some more time but surely, without fail, the announcement from Kodansha will come, so please stay tuned. Mokona: This one volume marks the end of Sakura's story. (note: the term Mokona uses, 区切り, seems to not be a "definitive end", but rather seems to be indicating more a point of "break", a "delimitation", a "place to stop"; there's still a marked sense of "end" - whether it's just to an arc or the entire story is not clear, so I chose that translation but I wanted to point out the other nuances in the term). I am extremely grateful to everyone who watched over Sakura-chan's growth and even those who grew up along with her! We look forward to your continued support. Also, I would like to add something that is probably a bit off topic, but there are also some anime projects we have created character designs for. Ohkawa: Oh, right, of course!! That's very important. Mokona, I knew I could count on you, thanks for reminding me. Netflix announced the "The Grimm Variations" series, then Code Geass, which we've been making character designs for long time, will have a new series: "Rozé of the Recapture". Moreover, the new season of the Vanguard D anime series was announced too. Please watch those too. 🙏 And then, as a leader, this is my turn for the final greetings. I truly feel like you've been watching over us in many, many ways for the past 35 years. Whether you've liked us before and now you're taking your distance from us, or on the contrary you weren't interested in us before but now you're following us, please know all of you are still very precious to me. If you stopped reading our works, it's all right. I hope we can be reunited with you again one day through another work that you'd feel like you want to read. For the moment, I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for all of your efforts, your strength and lots of energy that allowed us to carry Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc to the final act. I'm sure Tokyo Tower will shine with a bright pink color tonight! Please make sure to listen to our podcasts, and to other Spaces we'll open when we can. Thank you very much! ✨🙏

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #clamp #clamp space report #akiho shinomoto #sakura kinomoto #yuna d. kaito #syaoran li

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batsplat · 11 months ago

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Oh im obses whit your blog like you are such a great historian on vale and love the way you analys stuff admire the way of writing all of your toughs in such a corent way 🩷🩷🐹

this is so nice, thank you!! okay so this ask was initially sent in response to this post about how marc knew what a dick valentino was to his rivals and appreciated/wished to emulate that side of him, in particular in the context of copying the jerez pass. and... well, there is one more follow-up post to that I did want to make. it didn't really work within that post because it's pretty speculative, but I think it's fun! here goes

so you know argentina 2018, right, big drama, reconciliation over, bla bla (I promise this is going in a more fun direction, stick with me here). there's a bit of marc's post-race media scrum that I am a wee bit obsessed with. or well, two specific lines, one in english (0:00) and one in spanish (1:02) - I've included the full responses for context, but in this post I'm really only interested in those two lines

in english:

But he was in the past also 25 years old, and will remember, everybody.

and in spanish:

He has also been 25 years old and, well, I hope that people also remember.

... 25 years old, did you say?

okay, look, fair warning. the rest of this post is going to be reading too much into what was probably an off-handed comment - even if, I'd just like to point out, it is something he felt the need to say twice. but let's just have some fun here, and read too much into it. as a treat

so obviously the most generic way to read this is him saying 'well valentino used to be really aggressive on-track too, so people shouldn't be criticising me more than they did him'. thing is, I wouldn't say there was that much of a noticeable decline in how aggressive valentino was being, and 2017 did still feature some major scraps where valentino very much got his elbows out (cf assen and phillip island, I included a bit more detail on this in the marc race rec post). sure, valentino did increasingly have his reservations about some of the behaviour of younger riders, so maybe he was less aggressive now relative to the field... but I just don't feel like that's quite what this line is implying. it's also not about valentino making 'mistakes' in general, because there would have been no reason to refer back to past-valentino in that regard... the 25 year old version of valentino was considerably more error-free than the 39 year old

so then, my theory is that it's about valentino's controversies! that's what people "will remember", right - it's not the general style of riding, not just innocent mistakes, it's the times when valentino caused a bit of a stir on and off the race track. now, again, you could go the generic route here and say 'ah well maybe marc is just thinking of all the mess valentino got himself involved in when he was younger, from getting into a fist fight with max biaggi at age 22 to pissing off casey stoner through his aggressive riding at laguna at age 29'. but let's say for a moment that marc was thinking a bit more specifically than that... after all, if we're just talking about valentino controversies in general, surely marc should be able to think of a rather more recent example where valentino, like marc at argentina 2018, caused another rider to crash and was subsequently penalised for his riding? of course, marc probably didn't want to bring up that particular controversy - but it's still interesting he feels the need to refer back to a younger version of valentino at all, the fact that this crossed his mind in the first place to make him bring it up unprompted while making his case. so maybe when marc, who is after all a known valentino rossi fan, refers twice to what valentino was like at "25 years old"... he is in fact thinking of what valentino was like when he was 25 years old. and in what year would that be? well, here's the thing. it would be 2004

readers of the sete post can probably guess where I'm going with this, but let's just take a moment to review what specific on-track incidents marc could be thinking of here. let's give him a little bit of extra leeway in terms of the age, even though I trust marc to be more on top of the exact age gap than valentino was in times past. let's throw in one year either way, so 2003 to 2005, and draw up a list of any particularly controversial races valentino was involved in. here's what I've got:

assen 2004 - valentino executed a hard overtake for the win on the last lap on sete gibernau. he's not in complete control and almost loses the front at the next corner, which would have taken them both out

qatar 2004 - after his team rubber up his grid slot the night before, valentino gets slapped with a back-of-the-grid penalty. he ends up crashing out of the race and burns his relationship with sete in the aftermath

jerez 2005 - at a time when their relationship is already very chilly, valentino and sete engage in another duel. valentino executes a block pass with contact at the final corner and is booed by the crowd

motegi 2005 - the first chance to seal that year's title, and one valentino would very much have liked to take to spite honda. an unwise overtaking attempt on melandri leaves both on the ground

so, my guess is that neither assen nor motegi were really big enough controversies to fit the bill, though maybe they stuck in marc's mind as instances of 'reckless riding' that he includes in a more generic internal understanding of young valentino rossi. we do of course know for a fact that marc was more than aware of what happened at jerez 2005, not least because he, you know, directly copied that move twelve years later (again, link to the relevant post). like marc in argentina 2018, valentino barged into a rival in rather controversial fashion, and obviously it also made the relationship between him and said rival deteriorate still further. sure, you can't really argue the move was 'as bad' as argentina 2018, but as far as I'm concerned it has the same general vibe

you know what else has the same general vibe? here's a race description for you:

a 25 year old rider is sent to the back of the grid for a reason they consider unfair

they proceed to deliver a phenomenal performance even by their lofty standards, quickly working their way up to a position that seemed unattainable to them

they barge a rival out of the way in their impatience, reaching back to apologise for the move

the race ends poorly for them and they fail to score any points

afterwards, their relationship with a rival is ruined as a result of the events of the race, and the whole thing remains a lingering controversy for years to come

one race that fits this description is, of course, argentina 2018. the other is qatar 2004. there's obviously plenty of details that are significantly different - valentino's move on barros is less egregious and far less controversial, and his race ends in the gravel rather than with a post-race time penalty. still, that start of valentino's? the impatience? the post-race fury? the repercussions this race had? come on, look at the race footage I included in the qatar post and tell me there's not a little bit of a shadow of that qatar fury to the argentina recklessness

this is a point I snuck into the marc race recs post, where I included this excerpt from a post-argentina 2018 write-up:

phillip island 2003, hm? as it happens, in the qatar post, I did include a bit of the autobiography that compares those two specific races:

so, phillip island 2003: a performance that made everyone wonder just how much valentino had left in reserve to draw on whenever he needed it. what valentino is saying here is that this performance wasn't a result of him holding back in all the other races that year - this was speed that was accessible to him only in that moment because he was so angry. so yes, maybe it's a valid question to wonder what would have happened at phillip island 2003 if it hadn't just been the ghost of his bike that had to pick its way through the stragglers. then again, valentino says it's not just rage that does the trick for him - it's controlled rage... which is all well and good, except when you lose control

and see also:

that's what argentina 2018 is all about, isn't it? it's a performance that's rooted in impatience, in restlessness, in frustration - where marc tuns his "rage into pure speed", as valentino would put it, in a hubristic dismissal of the rest of the field. ideally, the two of them channel those emotions to spur themselves on to special, signature performances... but sometimes, it gets the better of them. it got the better of marc that day in argentina and cost him the tentative peace with valentino. at qatar, it could have cost valentino the title

(also shades of this in jerez 2020 - an error sets the stage for some extraordinary pace before it all goes wrong) (catalunya 2003 is a fun more compact nephew to that race without the unhappy ending)

now, look, am I saying that marc was really referring back to qatar 2004 specifically, a race that had happened fourteen years earlier, when making an off-hand remark in a post-race media scrum as he tried to do some damage control in the wake of one of the most controversial races of his career? well, no. he could have been! but it's unlikely. maybe he's shit at maths and was actually thinking about laguna 2008 after all. still, I would like to once again point out that he felt the need to mention valentino's behaviour at age twenty five not once but twice. he's telling us that he wants people to remember what valentino was like at that age, and in the most literal sense I am doing what he's asking for. surely it's worth at least noting that there just happens to be a race where valentino was at that exact age and his temper overcame his rationality, leading to him making a costly error... surely it's worth acknowledging this...

even if marc wasn't actually obliquely referring back to that race or indeed any of the races I mentioned above, of course the parallels between valentino's foibles and marc's are in any case interesting. it speaks to how they get those special performances out of themselves, the similarities in how they operate in that regard... but of course also in how they both sometimes stray rather close to the limit, how they repeatedly flirt with crossing the line. a stubbornness and a hubris and a rage that can sometimes lead to disaster for the both of them. and another thing - who knows if marc was thinking about qatar 2004, but he must have been thinking about something. that's the point of that jerez post, right... marc is valentino's successor in so many ways, he has fashioned himself in valentino's image - and he keenly grasps and remains aware of all the different aspects of that legacy. he's the most accomplished of valentino's students and he felt strongly that what he did in that race in argentina was in some way comparable to what valentino himself had been doing at his age, part of the same tradition even. yes, to some extent marc is obviously accusing valentino of hypocrisy here: how can you judge me when you were once young and foolish too? his tone isn't exactly filled with remorse either, is it, he's pretty feisty in that media scrum! still, there's something more to it... something almost poetic to the whole thing, wouldn't you say? valentino had just accused marc of ruining the sport - and in response marc wants people to remember that they are just the same

#the audience (sobbing): you can't just point at everything and say it's about the sete/valentino rivalry #me: *points at argentina 2018* this is about the sete/valentino rivalry #//it #//#2018 argentina #muxas-world #//curst #brr brr #and thank you that's REALLY sweet + appreciated

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piracytheorist · 6 months ago

Text

So I came across this post which does make some interesting points about how the vocabulary we use to describe things in fandom has been influenced by the impact of capitalism, and how we also tend to treat things in fandom like they're products in a market and we are consumers.

But I also looked at the post linked in that post, and I read through the thing and I'm like. God. Thank fuck I read something like this now and not ten years ago when I made my very first effort to write and publish a fic.

I don't want to tag the person who wrote that, because I might very well be misunderstanding their point, but what I get from their words is "You shouldn't write exclusively for validation and if you find joy in what you're writing you won't be discouraged by people not engaging with your fics". Which, look. I get what they're saying. Spitting out fics like a machine just for the purpose of getting kudos and comments without you actually enjoying the whole process and art of writing is an effect of capitalism. It's overconsumption and degrading your art just for the sake of getting clicks.

But here are two important things: WHO gets to judge when a fic is written as a mass-produced word vomit for the sake of engagement? And are you wording that critique in a way that won't make brand new writers feel like they're falling in that category?

Like, I'm thinking about my experience when I first wanted to post fanfic. To be frank, in retrospect the very first fic I wrote and published was... very bad. Hilariously bad to the point that after a few years I wanted to forget I ever wrote it 😂 Now I am good with it, because it was my first effort and it's okay that it was bad. I got better.

But back then, it got one single review. And it was a negative one. One that practically went like "He wouldn't fucking say that" and to be honest? Yeah, he wouldn't fucking say that. But the review felt so disheartening to me. I tried sticking to my guns, I left the fic up for a while, then seeing that it didn't get any attention, with that single negative review on it, i deleted it. I didn't write a single thing for an entire year after that, and when I did, I felt inadequate. I started with small writing prompts and writing exercises, and my tag for those was "[url at the time] wants to be a writer". I wasn't acknowledging those efforts as genuine writing. I was only thinking of them as my "trial period" until I would be accepted in the fandom as a "good enough writer". It took me two more years to actually post a fic on fanfiction.net and on ao3 and feel like "Yeah. I'm actually doing something".

Which, you know, that all was par of the course. I don't feel like I was cast aside or mistreated by the fandom or anything (at least not in that regard...). It just happened that my very first stupid fic got a negative review. And I don't agree with leaving negative reviews on fics but it was just one comment and they weren't even rude so like, yeah, don't do that, but it wasn't the end of the world.

But if I had seen that stance back then? The whole "If you're getting discouraged by lack of engagement then you're writing for the wrong reasons"? Pals I would have completely given up. Because hey. I wrote a thing, it got a negative review, I deleted the thing and didn't write again for an entire year. I was discouraged by lack of positive attention, therefore I was doing it for attention's sake, therefore I did it for the wrong reasons, therefore I shouldn't write again.

Like, again, I get their point. My problem is with the way it's worded, and that it doesn't take into account that we cannot judge people based on that. If we asked Erika Mitchell if she wrote Master of the Universe for the sake of attention she'd be like "Oh no that's my baby!" and I'd be like "Of course it is, it transformed into Fifty Shades of Grey and made you a millionaire" but look me in the eye and tell me we can judge strangers like that. WHAT sets the line between "fic I love and poured my soul into writing it" and "fic I wrote without care just because I want to see those numbers going up", and WHO gets to set that line?

I mean, we could set a line with "Don't use LLMs like chatgpt to write fanfic" but I was once called ableist for saying that so

My issue is that this stance can make newbie writers who are just now posting their first fic feel like they're part of the problem. I think it's very important to point out that most writers want our things to be seen and loved; if we didn't care about that, we would just be writing them and never posting them, because posting your writing can be very vulnerable. That vulnerability can range from "getting hate from fandom bullies" to "getting doxxed and your coworkers seeing your explicit omegaverse fanfic" (which call me dramatic all you like; but there are careers where people can be fired and never find a job again if they're doxxed as having written a certain type of fanfics. I know certain people offline would make sure I never found a job in my career if they discovered my whump account). So yeah, it's a vulnerable choice that we willingly make because we want to share. Posting is about sharing. Why the FUCK would we post stuff, why would we risk all that vulnerability, if we didn't care about people seeing our creations, and if we didn't care about people telling us they loved them? I have written stuff I don't care about sharing, because I love them as they are and honestly can't bother getting into fixing all their mistakes and formatting them into presentable fanfics. That's what you do when you "write for yourself".

So yeah I don't think we get to judge when someone writes only for the sake of attention, and while I understand where that stance is coming from, it needs to be worded in a way that won't make new writers feel like THEY are the problem because the lack of attention on their fic is getting to them. Like, yeah, write for yourself, share for the world - if you want. It's practically impossible to ask of people to not care about the attention their creations will or won't get.

To be honest this whole conversation also included thoughts about interacting with fics through comments, which I also feel comes in a weird wording because I also used to be someone who thought my comments weren't enough. I wanted to comment but being new in fandom and a non-native English speaker I felt that whatever I said wouldn't be enough. Which is why now I'm saying "leave a keysmash, leave an emoji, leave a comment in a different language I can use a translator", because if that reaches even one person who is like I used to be, then that will be a net positive. My point is not to pressure people to comment, this honestly sounds ridiculous to me, if someone doesn't want to comment they just won't. The alternative of a keysmash or an emoji gives the opportunity for people who don't have the words/energy/time/spoons for a long-ass comment to still show their appreciation.

But then there's the "You can't demand people leave comments on your fics if they don't want to". Cool. I'm not. If they don't want to leave a comment they have the option not to and are not obligated to feel bad for it. BUT THAT IS DIFFERENT THAN SAYING PEOPLE WHO GET DISCOURAGED BY LACK OF ATTENTION ARE WRITING FOR THE WRONG REASON.

Because in the instance specifically mentioned in that post, people did love the fic. They did make conversations about it and they were positively inspired by it. There was attention for the fic. And it's honestly absurd to even imply that the author was selfish because that attention their creation got was hidden from them, or because they got upset that people didn't realize that feedback was important to the author. If we are talking about a community, there's no fucking death of the author here. If we want fanfics to be a part of a community, we can give back to the author, and that's not a fucking capitalist view I'm sorry to say. "Give and take" is a basic human instinct. If we're gonna talk with political wording, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" is communism. People give what they can, and receive what they need. The problem is when they create without a need and demand more than others can give. That's capitalism.

Once again (too many times), I get what the original post is critiquing. But we can do that without going to the other extreme, no?

#fandom #fanfiction

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