#edit: this was about personal tragic backstory stuff. but ok

[rackartyg]

mother: now that you’re here for the holidays we should go through the last stuff in your room and decide what to keep/throw away/donate

me: good idea!

us: [happily dig stuff out and sort it] [get to things from elementary school era]

me: i don’t want to look at this stuff actually. you can just throw it all out

mother: okay!

mother: oh but look at this! and this! and this photo, oh my gosh, you and your classmates were so cute 🥰

[deadlysoupy]

wait i just saw the fandom game too!!!! gosh i cant make up my mind between transformers and teenage mutant ninja turtles!!! i'll let you pick between the two. or omg both!? too much? aah well i wanna know your thoughts on it all LOL

-bumblebeesdoorwings 💞

since i already answered the tmnt one here's transformers!!!

the first character i ever fell in love with: absolutely tfa bumblebee. i remember like it was yesterday. it was like three or two years ago, i was scrolling insta and saw an edit of tfa bee (i can't link it and i won't put it here bc it's obviously not mine) where prowl said "we're gonna use bumblebee's greatest weapon. his obnoxious personality" and i LOST MY MIND it was love at first sight

but imagine my surprise when i finished watching tfa and realised that all the other bees... are just not the guy i liked. i watched prime and didn't enjoy it as much as i could have, had i forgotten my weird obsession with sorta hot shot-like bee and just appreciated prime's bumblebee. it didn't stick tho and i stopped looking for tf stuff for like two years (i realised i just gave like my whole backstory about tf ok sorry lmao)

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: swindle. idk why he's just another jerk to me now, tho i do like the tfa take

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: ratchet/wheeljack from prime. i like dratchet now <3

my ultimate favorite character™: still bumblebee. even tho he's not what i expected at first he's one of those archetypes i easily fall for, i simply had to stop looking for a comic-relief arrogant teen

prettiest character: drift <3 or starscream. or ratchet from prime and idw. or knockout from prime.

what are transformers so pretty for......

my most hated character: unicron? i can't get what his deal is and what is he even why is he in the plot in every continuity i'm kinda sick of him tbh get some new ideas

my OTP: STARBEE STARBEE STARBEE *dies*

my NOTP: starscream/megatron. i can kinda see it but like.... nah

favorite episode: it's not really an ep but. ALL OF TAAO. like all of it. superb character writing, beautiful art, gay. haters will say.. idk what they'll say i'm not a hater nor an empath so

saddest death: bee... in idw... and in prime... in idw specifically. "we're stronger together than apart" FUCK OOOOOOOOF

prowl from tfa was tragic too.... hxhdduirejejkf

favorite season: the first season of tfa actually! it's really cozy and humorous and character-driven i love it (and earthspark obviously i don't know if it counts as a season)

least favorite season: i don't think i have that but unicron idw the one that's the ending just pisses me off. everything gets re-set why. why is my otp Like That

allow me to rant here for a few seconds bc i can't even anymore

LIKE WTF WHY IS BUMBLEBEE A JERK TO A GUY HE WAS STUCK WITH FOR LITERAL YEARS DID HE FORGET OR SOMETHING THIS IS SUCH AN ASSHOLE MOVE

AND STARSCREAM DIES AS REDEMPTION???? that's just CHEAP and for the sake of it like they needed to tic it off the list of completed arcs that's not how it works!!!!! i mean yeah SURE it comes full circle when he comes back as a ghost tethered to bee but we could have had it all and for wHAt.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate: pharma? i have no idea. perceptor? yeah sure. shockwave too what an asshole

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave: STARSCREAAAM how did i even end up loving him

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: blurr lmao

but really it's prowl i think. especially now when everyone screams acab i don't agree. but i won't get into that. anyway prowl interesting but has poor execution

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: starbee also..... it's sooo weird for me to ship a "hero" and a "villain" i don't typically do that but idw changed me fundamentally

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship: megop. i just don't like optimus i think. he's boring... hot take right at the end there

hope you don't hate me now 🥺🥺

some of these are.... questionable for sure

[sixteenthshen]

my rant on episodes 31/32

I feel so conflicted about them.

On the one hand, I wanted to watch the shared horse scene so much. On the other,  there were so many inconsistencies and WTF moments. I can't bring myself to touch those episodes again to make more gifs, which is such a pity because WKX falling down the cliff? SO PRETTY. 

Spoilers behind the cut. If you do follow the drama with Chinese fans, you’ll probably have heard the same things like a million times. To save yourself more angst/stress, skip my post. 

The upside is that the director took the fans complaints to heart. They were making edits until 2am last night. I heard it’s already live, but I’m still trying to prepare myself. There’re some things that can’t be fixed >< 

*hopes for the best on Tuesday* 

In episode 11, WKX wanted to tear the Scorpion assassins into ten thousand little itty bits because ZZS had some blood on his lip, which made me mentally scream so much from joy. In episode 31, he  LETS Duan Pengju, that evil dickface(TM) go, just like that? Where's the rage? Where's the anger? Do you see the colour of ZZS's face? Can you see what he's wearing? Do you know what dickface did? 

Although it's a very touching moment when WKX decides to acknowledge the shixiong/shidi relationship, it's super weird that the ghosts are behind. I mean, I suppose it can make sense if we focus on the fact that he's planning to "retire" from being the big bad CEO of Ghost Valley. But it seems careless to expose a weakness in case someone tries to take advantage of it since they have to kill you to get to be the new CEO. 

There's no follow up on the injuries sustained from being tortured by the evil dickface(TM). How could they make WKX seem so callous? Maybe a scene where ZZS asked Wu Xi to hide his injuries from WKX, but WKX's right outside. He overheard ZZS telling Wu Xi to hide it from him, so he pretends not to know. *cue angsty scene for WKX here* 

The only thing related to injuries was when Wu Xi said ZZS could be saved from his self-inflicted nailing. Okaaaay. What about the piercing of the scapula? (穿琵琶骨 (piercing pipa bones) - it's supposed to cripple your martial arts ability until you heal ok) 

WKX suddenly decides to go off and be a career man, which is perfectly fine. But he suddenly has Gu Xiang watch over ZZS like a hawk, not letting him drink. (Seriously, I forgot if this belongs in TYK or if this is yet another thing stolen from Sha Po Lang) Where is WKX showing any concern over ZZS's total loss of 2 out of 5 senses? I ASK YOU MS. SCRIPTWRITER. What have you done to WKX's character??? Poor WKX, poor ZZS. 

And did everyone laugh off the fact that ZZS can't taste, so why should he drink wine? Ok, I can make myself accept this if I remind myself that ZZS would not like people making a fuss and pitying him anyway... (but shouldn't someone, anyone care???) 

We get many hints that WKX has a sneaky scheme, but he doesn't tell Gu Xiang, his closest friend since childhood. He doesn't talk to his soulmate about this either. 

WKX and ZZS's dialogue just before he falls down the cliff... Seriously reminiscent of Silent Reading, when Fei Du makes the same self-flagellating confession & Luo Wenzhou stops him. 

ZZS draws his sword and stands beside WKX. What is going on?! How does he still have his martial arts ability? Did months pass since WKX saved him from evil dickface (TM)? Nothing makes any sense!  

ZCL's hidden weapon is what forces WKX over the cliff. If ZCL did not know about the sneaky scheme, then WTF is this kind of scriptwriting? ZCL's character turned from a good, young child to a prop-causing drama and angst. Even if he felt betrayed, was he not there to see how depleted WKX made himself trying to save Han Ying? Did he not see how WKX tried to keep his shifu safe? Or taught him how to fight? Did ZCL become stupid all of a sudden just to create angst? 

 It only makes sense if ZCL knew about the scheme because of all the info he was privy to, such as Zhao Jing as the villain behind it all (when he heard WKX and ZZS talking). How would he go from knowing that to thinking ZJ should be the new head of the alliance? As a matter of fact, how could Shen Shen?  

Ye Baiyi has to be in on it unless WKX suddenly gained so much martial arts ability in the short time since they last fought. I mean, it only makes sense that WKX got so much stronger because he got injured by YBY, then depleted his strength saving Han Ying. 

So ZCL, YBY, Scorpion King and his buddies, fellow ghosts, possibly Shen Shen... WKX only kept it from the two people closest to him? The two most likely to do something stupid when they find out? *flails at this logic* 

The scene where ZZS's nails magicked their way out of his body... It's so awkward!!! I mean, we're supposed to feel emotional, but the special effects are just awful. I tried not to skip through it, I failed. 

So now what? ZZS essentially sacrificed himself to help WKX complete his goal. He gave up on his chance to be saved to fulfil WKX's pursuit of revenge (and take revenge for WKX's death). And it's all because of a misunderstanding. 

Between ZZS's nails and the ZCL-issue, I'm drowning in dog blood. What happened to WKX and ZCL's characters/personalities???? 

Also episode 32 is VERY choppy, it seems like we’re jumping to scenes randomly, the flow isn’t there. 

I can only say that the "Priest" spirit is gone; it's not a bad drama by any means. I'm still watching & I'm still going to buy the new episodes on Tuesday. But the random angst and abusive scenes inserted without no reason nor much logic are very un-Priest-like. 

I feel a little cheated about the scriptwriter being a fan of Priest. Priest's novels always feature couples who communicate. The supporting characters can come off flat in a drama sometimes because they're so normal. They don't have ridiculous backstories that make them tragic villains, and they behave logically. 

The angst "created" in Priest's novels makes sense. Characters don't suddenly change their personalities so that we can watch something exciting. The "dog blood angst/drama" is the big failing of so many Asian dramas. *CRIES* 

Now, the GOOD & HAPPY STUFF. 

WKX SAVING A-XU. *heart eyes* 

NGL, no matter how short it was, I liked the horseback scene 

There was a cute moment between Qi Ye and Wu Xi, scriptwriter knows how to ship!! & knows how to make it clear who’s gong/shou lol. 

THE HAIRPIN SCENE. IT’S EVERYTHING.

Even though I’m 90% sure the no-alcohol thing is copied from Sha Po Lang... I have so much love for Gu Yun and ZZS that it made me happy. My drunkards <3 

Did I mention WKX looks extremely pretty when he falls down the cliff? How do you fall so prettily? Plz teach me. 

WKX also looks pretty fake-dead. ZZS looks pretty when he’s heartbroken

I ship xiangcao so hard even though I know what’s gonna happen. (Cao Weining & Gu Xiang) They’re too cute.

I love the Poisonous Bodhisattva, I thought the Tragicomic ghost would be my favourite because of how gorgeous she is, but she’s too tragic & not enough comic. Poisonous Bodhisattva is my new goddess.

[uthseikoashx-inflamedme]

What I would love to see in the next Fantastic Beasts movies

(as always, sorry for the mistakes and for my poor english, I’m not a native speaker, etc! I will continue to correct it)

If you already read other posts I wrote, you know that I’m into plans and organised texts. So here we go again.

Just to be clear:

it's neither a request, nor what I think we should or need to see, and I won't be mad if we don't have the following scenes it in the next films. (I do have an opinion on what can be interessing to include in the movies, but again, it's my opinion! just ideas, and a lot of questions without answers also, etc) (and well it’s not groundbreaking but who cares)

About Newt and his friends

About Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald

About the Summer of 1899

About the other characters

About the Wizarding Society, Muggle world, etc

Some explanations we would like to have

1. About Newt and his friends

- Newt as a selfless and intrepid hero who loves all of the magic creatures

- To be honest, all the team as dauntless and loveable heroes and heroins facing bad guys (and Jacob - who’s already the kindest and smoothest man - being also incredibly brave)

- Newt and Tina, as a couple, loving each other, fighting together, having each other back, growing stronger and more confident with each other (like they’re fighting and are in symbiosis) (in the last film obviously)

- Queenie Goldstein as a powerful witch while she explains why she joined Grindelwald’s side - because she believes Ministry is going to do nothing for her, because she believes in a brighter future without the Statute

- (At least) some clues about Nagini’s and Riddle’s meeting

- Credence’s true family? And because his past is quite tragic and he’d already gone through awful experiences, maybe his happy end?

- Theseus not knowing how to act after Leta’s death: should he follow blindly the Ministry? Trust Dumbledore, his brother and the rest of the team?

- A character eventually agreeing with some of Grindelwald’s ideas about magic things which shouldn’t be hide and stuff, but fighting against him anyway (well, most likely Queenie)

2. About Albus Dumbledore and (or) Gellert Grindelwald

- Albus Dumbledore as the charismatic, incredibly marvellous and skilled wizard he is, while people around him are impress by his aura: imagine Albus walking in the Ministry, and people who are supposed to protect the whole country are amazed, even scared: he’s stunning, blazing with power (and with cold fury, because the Ministry obviously did something stupid and Dumbledore is mad at them)

(at this point, we finally understand why he is the most powerful, skilled, prodigious, dazzling wizard of his age)¹

- Albus with colourful and amazing clothes

- Albus facing his Boggart (which is supposed to be Ariana’s corpse, but well, who knows)²

- Gellert Grindelwald facing his Boggart (what could it be?) (ok, I’m just curious here)

- The backstory of the Deluminator: why and when Albus developed this magical device? Did he always used it to have fun with light, or was it initially a more personal object? Had Albus created the Deluminator to find Gellert Grindelwald to fight him, at the end?

- A funny and arrogant (and bitter?) Dumbledore’s rejoinder, while he’s conscious of his marvellous mind and skills (like in the books)

- Dumbledore’s reaction when he discovers who is the actual Master of Elder Wand (again, i’m curious)

- Are Grindelwald’s mismatched eyes™ a sign of something important about his past, his abilities? is his hair white - and not anymore blond - because of Dark magic?

- A moment when we see how Dumbledore is able to manipulate surrounding people, including allies and friends

- A heartbreaking and breathtaking dialogue in 1945, while they fight against each other - and I wonder if - how - they are going to talk about their past, shared ambition and dreams, sentiments, guilt, regrets, etc

3. About the Summer of 1899

- To be honest, it’s mostly: Albus and Gellert as remarkable, arrogant, impish, brillant and not wise at all young wizards in a flashback of 1899

passionate discussions about the Hallows, politics, the Statute, or complex magic things

wandless magic, non-verbal spells, forbidden and dangerous rituals³

Albus’ reactions while Gellert has his visions (was he already able to control his Seer’s abilities?)

how they have fun (common sense of humour, a bit bitter and jeering one most likely?)

And thanks those very quick scenes, we understand why Albus and Gellert fell in love with each other - they both were a freedom symbol for the other in a way, all what they always desired and dreamed of - and their common ambition elevated them, made them wanted a bright and glorious future

(ok, too much to show, yes, i know)

- Also, an already dangerous and extreme Gellert and an in-denial Albus (about the Inferi army, etc)

- A glimpse of the relationship between Abelforth and Ariana, between Albus and his family, and between Gellert and Albus’ siblings

(edit: and yeah i forgot, a kiss or something - an act only did by lovers and not best friends, because there are still people believing they are friends - and their relationship is technically still not canon?)

4. About the other characters

- Adult Abelforth, loathing his brother, suffuring

- Tom Riddle at Hogwarts, possibly facing Dumbledore, or as a young charismatic awful future Dark wizard, or acting like he’s jealous of Grindelwald’s influence and like he already wants to surpass him

(it could be great to see him, at least few seconds, to build the bridge between FB and HP and most importantly to have a more detailed vision of Wizarding modern History, you know what i mean?)

- Ministry people who do not like Dumbledore because it’s funny

- A character who’s scared by the war and finally who gives up, and who runs away to try to be as far as possible from the political troubles

(it would show how war is an ordeal - I do not have the impression that the pressure and all were something so exposed in HP books, it could be great to see it?)⁴

- Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody, Cornelius Fudge, etc, being young - if they are already born in 1945? It’s not written anywhere so idk

- edit: I forgot Hagrid, it could be awesome to see him as a teen in the last movie during the events of the Chamber of Secrets’ first opening!

5. About the Wizarding Society, Muggle world, ect

- The consequences of Grindelwald’s actions around the wizarding world and in the Muggle world: how things are destroyed, how he influences the governments

- The influence of rich and conservative pure-blood families through the war: how several of the sacred-28 families supported Grindelwald, how they influenced the whole magic society, why their inaction killed people, how the Ministry is corrupted, why it didn’t really change, even after the end of the war⁵

- The same conservative influence but in the very heart of character’s life: how Nagini is marginalized, for example⁶

- Why not political opinions expressed by several characters, to show how politics is a delicate and intricate subject, and why neither Albus Dumbledore nor Gellert Grindelwald are all white / all black, how Grindelwald gain influence, etc

6. Some explanation we would like to have

- Why is Albus Dumbledore DADA teacher? We know he wrote articles in Transfiguration Today before graduating, so why teaching DADA? (guilt, will to help young people to not be tempted by Dark magic and power like he was, or was there simply already a Transfiguration teacher?)(should I mention it’s never said in the HP books?)

- When and why will Albus be the Transfiguration teacher? (edit: we have clues in FBtCoG because Travers says Albus is not going to be allowed to teach DADA anymore so I guess it explains it)

- How can Minerva McGonagall be at Hogwarts, already be a young woman - if I remember well, she’s not even born? Or extremely young?

- How Gellert Grindelwald summoned a phoenix - and more likely, let’s theorize, how might he summon and control Fawkes?

(because Credence can’t be a Dumbledore - or at least, can’t be directly related to Albus, Ariana, Kendra and Percival - or is he the illegitimate and secrete son of Abelforth? a cousin of Albus?

but if we consider Credence is not a Dumbledore, Gridelwald had been able to control a phoenix which is linked to thhe Dumbledores, right? is it thanks the blood pact? of because of Credence’s Obscurus? we don’t know

edit: or there is the theory about Credence being created by the philosopher’s stone I guess, so with Ariana’s Obscurial and most likely Albus’ blood)

- Why nobody knew that Grindelwald and Dumbledore met each other when they were teenagers, when Rita Skeeter published Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore in 1998?

(i’m not so angry, i’m mostly confused)

The Ministry knew Albus met Gellet Grindelwald in 1899, right? How can a that huge information be a secret during decades? Why Rita Skeeter only found it after Dumbledore’s death? Albus said they used to be “closer than brothers”: after that and because Travers doubted of Dumbledore’s true side, Albus had been restricted and watched by the Ministry during FBCoG. It should exist papers, files, archives which confirmed all of this. So why everybody forgot that Gellert and Albus knew each other when they were young?

- Or about Albus’ and Gellert’s former close relationship, didn’t Travers or Theseus understand they were lovers? Or if they understood, they - again - didn’t tell it? (Travers is not fond of Dumbledore, it could have been a scandal, why he didn’t say it?) Can all of that make any sense?

- Why isn’t the Blood Pact ever mentioned in Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore - or most likely, how everybody (Albus; Gellert; Newt and Newt’s friends; the Minstry; Grindelwald’s acolytes, etc) had succeed to hide it from the press and the whole magic society?

That’s already a lot so let’s stop here Half of it is not so deep but I’m a simple girl, I’m always here for characters’ and background’s (lore?) development I will be pleased to hear what are your own wishes also

Notes:

¹ : certainly one of the thing i would the most like to see in the next movies, which is also something very important in the FB and HP universe - i have the feeling his power, skills, etc are more an idea than a reality. (and i indeed used a thesaurus to describe him)

² : Boggarts, Albus’ Boggart, how - in Albus’ situation - it mirrors his Erised reflect and how it might show important elements about him is a subject i really want to broach, i already planned it, it may be great to talk about it i think?

³ : talking about forbidden rituals, i talked here about the Blood Pact and why i think it was illegal, Dark, etc :

Why Albus didn’t tell Ministry employees about the Blood Pact

⁴ : to be fair, there are elements which are reminders of the pressure of the war in the book, especially in OotP and DH, but the Golden Trio did not experienced the war like the common people did, and the story - even very short - of someone who was scared is something i will be pleased to discover

⁵ : well, i talked a bit about pure-blood conservative families, their power and their influence in two posts:

How can everyone find their true-love and still be in love after years in HP? (”magic-soulmates” theory and conservative society)

Why are the Weasleys poor? (eng&fr) (theories about pure-blood families, inheritance, etc)

(it’s theories, but it can explain my point of view - headcanons? - about those families and the Wizarding Society)

⁶ : again, check the two posts if you are interested!

Thanks for reading!

I again apologize for the mistakes - and there might be incorrect informations, even if I hope there are not

[eddiethehead-uwu]

✨My jojo ocs for a possible fan part I might actually write but I'm intrudicing them to you in a tag yourself style template✨

(warning: long post)

(warning: I know cringe culture is dead, but it might get cringy)

So basically the main gang is an upcoming metal band going on their first world tour, weird shit happens and this fan part's Jojo finds out things about her past she would have much rather not known, like her real lineage and all that, and, you know, more stuff happens

This part is set in the future, in a universe very similar to the original one, except for a few things like the uhhh reset not happening and some things going differently in part 5, in Morioh. Some of the characters below are related to preexisting characters, some are not

Ok I'm done here's the squad

🌟JOUKO HIGASHIKATA🌟

-the lion, the witch, and the audacity of this bitch

-can be super annoying and quite manipulative like 80% of the time

-super determined, will cut a bitch to get what she wants

-"danger is my middle name 😎"

-wants to be a rockstar but needs to calm the f down like where the hell do you think you're going with that attitude?

-stand: Motorhead (aka punchy ghost n. Uhhh I lost count)

🌺MOMOE NIJIMURA🌺

-shady and sly af ngl probably invented the 300iq impostor strategy for among us

-a freaking beast when it comes to guitars (shares Jouko's same dream)

-looks always upbeat and happy but has a pretty mischievous personality

-*crushes on basically anyone*

-gets distracted pretty easily

-stand: Judas Priest (aka Chomp Ghost)

👿REJ ANSELMO👿

-A N GE R Y

-will fight you if you disagree with her

-pretty careless, doesn't really care about others

-gets pissed off super easily

-like, my God, chill dude wtf

-can't say what happens to her next bc it would be a spoiler if I actually end up writing this fucking story

-stand: iron maiden (fkn shape-shifting metal object thing hehehhe knife girl)

💕YOKO SHISHIDO💕

-an actual angel

-definetly stoned 24/7

-super friendly, will help you with everything and will hug you if you need support

-just the chillest person ever

-druggie mom friend

-rip srr i had to

✨MIYAKO KAWAJIRI✨

-shy 👉👈😔

-always anxious of messing things up or hitting the wrong note on the keyboard while performing with the band

-basic math? Idk her

-only wears black and red

-never gets angry, bottles all of her frustration up and when she lashes out it's usually when her second personality (kameko) is dominant

-stand: digital love (LAZERZ GHOST)

🦇HIDEAKI KAWAKITA🦇

-annoying bitch 2: simp edition

-"you spilled lipstick in my black Valentino bag!?"

-loves Halloween a bit too much

-did I already mention he's a simp?

-can't shut his mouth for 2 seconds

-who even made him part of the band? Ah yeah right he's the only one with a driving licence

🔪ROCHELLE P. 🔪

-CEO of tragic backstories

-doesn't display any emotion and doesn't display any eyebrows either

-has definetly killed someone with no regrets

-2 stands!?? Nah mate

-"you have beautiful eyes" "thanks. They don't work."

-stand: Nightwish (W A T E R G H O ST)

-bonus: also gets followed around by Chariot Re- AHEM ALESTORM YES SHE NAMED HIM ALESTORM because she doesn't know his real name nor who the user is/was

-he just,, follows her. When she was 5 she gave him a feather and he kept it ever since lol ok I'll stop

🔥SANTANA🔥

-bruh he still alive

-R E VE N G E

-got tired of being left out of his master's shenanigans and being treated like dog shit

-if it wasn't obvious he holds grudges for looooooong times

-will kill you just with slurs

-wants to annihilate into oblivion his old master

-still undecided whether to give him a stand or not

Ok I'm done, this is the main cast, some of them are not gonna make it through, sorry already.

I want to start writing something for them because I have a long ass list of things that could happen and how the story could jnfold, but I'm not sure where to write it. Sooo idk

[softcoregamer]

DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE - DEFINITIVE EDITION

I've never played a Dragon Quest game before, so all I had to go on with this game was the pretty looking graphics and charming character art by the Dragonball guy, which- combined with having a hankering for a JRPG, a genre I haven't played since probably the Digital Devil Saga games (minus an abandoned most-of-the-way-done playthrough of SMT3 and a partial of one of the Megadimension Neptunias) was enough to sell me on it. I'm having a tough time determining if it was worth it.

(spoilers)

The story starts off very weak. Your glowing hand marks you as the chosen one, you have to collect glowing orbs to defeat the dark lord. It's like the story of a generic videogame you'd see in the background of a movie. They do throw in a little novelty to keep you on your toes- you present yourself to the king and he throws you in the dungeon, you go back to your hometown and travel back in time for some reason- but I really never warmed to the setting. It's just a collection of cliches and cute gimmicks, like the town of people who speak in haikus, the town of people who speak in rhyming couplets (you're stuck with these people for the bulk of the exposition at the start of act 2, which is a nightmare) and the town of- ugh- Italians. There's no sense of these places being places. It's just a nice pleasant fairytale kingdom of the kind that's normally mentioned in Snow White or whatever as the place the handsome prince comes from, except here you spend dozens of hours trudging through it looking for glowing tree roots and orbs. The big problem in Gallopolis is that the sultan's son isn't brave enough for god's sake. Acts 2 and 3 pick things up, and there's some neat reveals- I like that the lil red star you've been seeing in the sky right from the start was the stain of the original hero's failure to slay the villain, literally hanging over the entire setting all this time. Also the annoying act 1 scene where you get handed the name of the villain and an orb quest in an exposition dump is retroactively improved by the fact that the exposition isn't quite correct. Act 3 reintroducing time travel and actually being thoughtful about it was welcome as well, but sadly that has the effect of making you redo story points you already did since, logically, you're back in time to where you haven't done them yet. Sometimes this comes across as getting a do-over to get a more positive outcome for something that previously ended more tragically, in keeping with the way time travel is explained in-universe as essentially reloading an earlier save (and, as revealed in the end, continuing in a separate save slot). The 8th party member's act 3 quest is a standout here. In reading discussion of the game I've seen people insist on referring to this character as 8, presumably to preserve the plot twist of his existence, so I guess I'll do it too. But more often than not, act 3 quests consist of just doing the same stuff as act 2 again, in a somewhat more curt manner. This sticks in the craw after so much of act 2 already consisted of just doing the same stuff as act 1 again. The party members aren't much better, for the most part. The first three people you meet all say "ah, you're the Luminary, I was sent to help you" and there isn't much to them beyond that for a long time. Sylvando has a lot of personality, which is probably partly why he's become the game's big meme character, but it gets grating and he is insanely trite. The Dark Lord takes over the world and purges the unclean, and Sylvando's overriding concern is that he wants people to laugh and smile more. It's like he takes advantage of the fact that I need him for his boat to get my goat by acting like a fucking teletubby. Things pick way up when you meet Rab, and the 8th party member is genuinely really good. Even the early-game party members end up having their moments (Erik's backstory was pretty fun) but the game really doesn't put its best foot forward with these characters. Not that it needs to; for the first few I was just glad to be getting some help in combat. The combat is excellent in this game, when it gets going. I played with the "draconian quest" tougher enemies mode on, and I turned it off right at the act 2 end boss. The difficulty curve flowed really well this way, with act 3 enemies not feeling noticeably less tough than "draconian" act 2 enemies. The abilities and spells you get are carefully balanced so that it's very difficult to put together a perfect 4-person party, you're always missing something. This means the fact that you can change your line-up midfight isn't just a nice quality of life feature, it's a potentially vital mechanic. They tread a fine line where sometimes needing to swap people out during the battle doesn't mean the characters themselves feel useless; everyone is capable of some extremely tough stuff. And on the other end of the scale, enemy damage is heavy enough that buffing your attack and using big-damage abilities vs healing or defending can be a properly difficult choice; a heavy hit or a big heal at the right time can turn the tide of an entire battle, as can your big hitter suddenly getting put to sleep or your healer getting knocked out. Again, this is all with the caveat that I had "draconian quest" on for the first 2/3 of the game, from what I've heard combat without it is insanely easy. My big gripe with the combat is that there's very little in the way of tooltips. What's this enemy's magic resistance? Does my Sap have a better chance of landing if I up my Magical Might, or does that just increase spell damage? Does Oomphle affect Quadraslash? If I increase my agility will it go up by enough that I can take my turn ahead of these enemies? Does agility even do that? Does using abilities and spells mean I go later in the turn order vs generic attacks and defending? You just have to guess at all this; the wiki has some info on enemy stats but I don't know where they're getting it from other than datamining. There's an entire bestiary with almost no useful information which is functionally just a model viewer for all 700+ enemies. The only way to know anything is to experiment, which I guess at least adds some purpose to combat when you've filled out the bestiary for an area but still have to grid encounters- which will be required at some point, because fighting is the only way you get xp and money. There is also too much RNG. Critical hits being rare and certain attacks having a chance to cause Confusion or whatever is fine (although I'd prefer for attacks which are labelled as having a chance to inflict status effects to actually inflict the status effect way more often than they do) but why the fuck does the resurrection spell have a 50% success rate? Under what possible circumstances would I be using that spell other than needing my dead teammate back right now? Same for all the abilities on the skill tree that say "doesn't connect very often, but when it does it can cause a critical hit" OK that "CAN" is telling me that this ability which doesn't often connect won't even necessarily crit if it does. Why would I choose this ability? To handicap myself? How is this going to help me defeat the Timewyrm? All that said, when the combat is good it's really good, and whenever I lose a fight I'm thinking "I can win that next time if I do XYZ". The 2D battles are much less fun because the pace is much slower and there are no cute animations to liven it up, but it's always satisfying when the "flash" of an enemy taking damage becomes the "flash" of them disappearing, and you know you have slayed yet another blob. Non-combat gameplay is a mixed bag. The early-game fun of running around looking for new enemies to fight and fill out the bestiary wears off hard once act 2 begins and everything is either a reskin or a glowing-eyes "vicious" version of something you've already fought, and many maps are fairly sparse with just the odd treasure chest and locked door to liven up your path to the next area. That said, there are also several areas and dungeons which make a minigame out of traversing them; the Eerie Eyrie and the Battleground were standouts for me. Especially the remixed version of Eerie Eyrie you go to later on, where you get a flying mount to ride around. Crafting is surprisingly involved, with a whole minigame around it and hundreds of recipes to find all over the place. In most cases you can just use money in lieu of ingredients, which means minimal farming is required to get a lot out of the system, and the recipes with ingredients that can't be bought feel special instead of bullshit. In terms of items and recipes there really is a deluge of content- there are recipe books all over the place, with new ones available even in the last couple of maps that open up in the entire game, and there's an undeniable cookie-clicker rush you get from getting better at crafting and taking something you could barely get to +1 all the way to +3. I play games like this as a magpie, accumulating items with nice pictures and effects that make me do a 😲 face, and DQ11 certainly delivers. This even extends to character advancement, with Hidden Goodies incentivizing picking skills you might not want otherwise, and entire new skill trees opening up as quest rewards.

Overall, DQ11 is a good combat system with loot and progression systems that are well-executed enough to feel rewarding after 100 hours, all wrapped up in a style and tone that is not up my alley at all. A good litmus test for how much you'd like the game is probably: watch this scene and if you think it's the most epic thing you've ever seen then Dragon Quest 11 is for you.

[thundergirl007]

I remember you saying that you had a persona 5 + tag au and I'm so sorry for getting back to you do so late but I'm so goddamn down for that like tell me everything... their personas.... their arcana..... e v e r y t h i n g

ALRIGHT BUCKLE UP GUYS I PUT TOO MUCH EFFORT INTO THIS

Full disclosure here, but like, I created an OC to be the Wildcard Character. For the sake of simplicity, let’s just pretend they aren’t a thing. I also couldn’t decide to make their personas based on Egyptian or Norse mythology, so let’s roll with both.

ANYWAY ON TO THE GOOD STUFF (feat. terrible edits. No really, some of them are AWFUL).

Scott is of the Emperor Arcana, specialising in physical skills, because Big Bro would absolutely fight anyone and anything head first.

His initial persona is Heimdall, (Norse Mythology, Guardian) and his Second Awakening would be Horus (Egyptian Mythology, war/sky/falcons). Wanting to protect the others but also taking the lead, the hotheaded leader and everything, doing what they have to do for their dad.

I had the idea that his social link would be based on needing to take the reigns after their father’s disappearance, which he sometimes doesn’t really feel like he is living up to very well.

John is of the Hermit Arcana, and he is the navigator of the group.. (I mean, EOS could be his Persona but when I thought of this I set it in the boy’s school days, so EOS wasn’t a thing in context). It should be obvious why I made John the navigator in this little Persona crossover.

His initial persona is Bragi (Norse Mythology, poetry and eloquence) and his Second Awakening would be Thoth (Egyptian Mythology, knowledge and wisdom). Just, the Hermit Arcana absolutely ties into him being up away from the action but watching on to help from the sidelines.

I had the idea that his social link would be based on coming out of his shell a little more in the real world (Futaba SLink much??) even though he is great as a navigator when he is in his element.

Virgil is of the Strength Arcana, specialising in Zio skills as well as the group’s main healer. He is the Big Strong One and that’s why he’s the Strength Arcana, because he is very much the rock that helps them up when they fall down.

His initial persona is Geb (Egyptian Mythology, Earth) and his Second Awakening would be Thor (Norse Mythology, lightning god). Being the healer of the group but also a powerful attacker is a beautiful image in my head.

I had the idea that his social link would be based on embracing his creative side a bit more openly and not being worried about what others think of it. Idk, I struggled for this one.

Gordon is of the Magician Arcana, specialising in Bufu skills (IT’S CLOSEST TO WATER OK). Of course he’s Magician Arcana. The happy-go-lucky prankster with some sad tragic backstory (aka. Hydrofoil accident?) is just GREAT to think about.

His initial persona is Hapi, (Egyptian Mythology, Nile) and his Second Awakening would be Aegir (Norse Mythology, the sea). I had to make his personas water based I’m sorry it would be an insult to the Fish Boy to do any other!

I had the idea that his social link would be based on putting down his facade of a happy-go-lucky person when he needs to. Maybe people don’t always take him seriously because he is insanely smart but a bit of a smartass, and he needs to learn to maybe focus on the task at hand where something serious is at stake.

Alan is of the Star Arcana, specialising in Hama, Mudo and Almighty skills. He’s the little spot of happiness that helps keep them together, just being total raw almighty potential wrapped up in a smol body???? Yes.

His initial persona is Balder, (Norse Mythology, love and light) and his Second Awakening would be Ra (Egyptian Mythology, King of Gods). 

I had the idea that his social link would be based on wanting to be treated like a full member of the team and not asked to stand back and let the others handle situations, but also needing to know that they love and care about him and just don’t want to lose him too.

Kayo is of the Hanged Man Arcana, specialising in Garu skills. Honestly I don’t think I need to say more about her Arcana other than Nyx’s quote “in the face of disaster lies the opportunity for renewal...” just because of her connection to the Hood, and the way she tries to hide it.

Her initial persona is Serket (Egyptian Mythology, cures sickness) and her Second Awakening would be Syn (Norse Mythology, defence, truth, “refusal”). Syn’s meaning is basically what I envisioned her with from the start, need I say more?

I had the idea that her social link would be based on proving that she is not the same person as her uncle. She can’t choose her blood family, but she chose her found family and that it is better this way. (Just assume that the fact that the Hood is her uncle is not revealed until partway through the link).

Penelope is of the Empress Arcana, specialising in survivability skills and buffs (with a touch of Psi). She’s literally a Lady. Empress. I don’t think I need to elaborate here. She needs to be the headstrong young woman that she is, taking the lead where it matters of course.

Her initial persona is Hel, (Norse Mythology, pure nature, afterlife) and her Second Awakening would be Isis (Egyptian Mythology, healed the sick). Ngl I struggled with her personas here, but 

I had the idea that her social link would be based on keeping up a high profile lifestyle, attending charity functions and the like, but also needing to learn to relax and unwind from time to time.

And because we need a villain, The Hood has either Seth (Egyptian Mythology, god of chaos) or Vali (Norse Mythology, vengeance) as his Persona. I don’t have an edit for him, sorry.

---

When I initially thought this through, I did it true Persona style where it’s set during their school days, so their SLinks were based around that one or two times (*cough* Gordon *cough*).

I thought that their supernatural world would be something entered naturally (like in P3, but not with technology like in P4 or P5), like behind a waterfall (on either Tracy Island or in their hometown, whichever way you’d imagine it to be). A dark and dying world where people needed saving from bad things that someone kept causing (sort of like P4 in a way??).

I also couldn’t decide on how their Personas would be summoned. Definitely not with an Evoker, maybe in P4 style with the tarot cards, but I sort of like the idea that they have a little chain when they awaken their persona, a chain that symbolises their bond to one another, that they have to open to summon their Persona (sort of like P5)

TOO. MANY. SPECIFICS. I’M SORRY.

I think that’s everything???

This is a long post. Sorry.

[breezy-cheezy]

Mmmmmkay I have to rant about Nier: Automata for a bit; I accidentally triggered the end of the game (playthrough 2, ending B) last night and stayed up till 2:00 trying to finish the stupid “not allowed to save” phase. But y’aLL IT’S SO GOOD??????? AND 3RD PLAYTHROUGH ISN’T ANOTHER RE-RUN OF THE SAME STORY WE GET MORE STORY AAAAAAAAA

(more under the cut because there is ALOT for those who care;;;;;)

- OK SO THE MUSIC IS AMAZING??? I love LOVE that the music dynamics build in instruments and intensity as you progress towards danger/plot, but also softens again for quieter moments and just...musical storytelling is so sooooo my jam I love it. Also that the music goes 8 bit when 9S hacks stuff, it’s actually kinda cute X’D

- ON THE SUBJECT of 9S being able to hack into enemies and you getting to play that as a little teeny ship shooting down viruses and barriers and whatnot. Genius???? That added SO MUCG to the story on the second playthrough as 9S. Particularly discovering the fact that all of humanity?? Is actually extinct?? ...even BEFORE the aliens/machines attacked earth?? WH A T?????? WHAT THE HECK ARE ANDROIDS FIGHTING FOR THEN????? *every time an android salutes and says “glory to mankind” now* GLORY MY FOOT THEY ALL DEAD MOVE ON--

-  I realize it probably has alot to do with the lore of previous nier games and I’ll probably have to trawl through Wiki pages soon here. Emil himself really broke my heart aaaaaah baby...his side quest is so sad. I also looked at arts and he was a really cute kid?? Before he was turned int the freaky moon skeleton thing...?? Oh my goodness......

-  The secret lunar tear flower room is gorgeous. I just sat there for awhile to soak it all in...the music is so nostalgic and I’ve never heard that song bfore how do y’all DO THAT--

- Emil’s shop is pretty cute. He just drives around the ruins and sells stuff if you shoot him and he’ll stop X’’’D It did ruin alot of serious moments tho. *Engels, talking about how he’d sinned for killing so many androids and choosing death--* “S-A-L-E SAAAALLLEEE~~!! EVERY SALE’S A WIIIINNNNNN~~~~!!!! LALALaaaaaa~~~...” Me: *facepalm* 

- ...I just realized the little tune he sings is a cheerful rendition of the music in the flower room. H E C K

- ANYWAY. Onto the actual game. I really really enjoyed playing as 9S for obvious reasons (bABY) but it really did add so soooo much to the pretty much surface level story when you first play as 2B. Which sums them up pretty well...2B, Battle unit 2, pushes on relentlessly, avoids thinking too hard about things and what she’s doing because oh dear, EMOTION might get in the way...9S, Scanner unit 9, on the other hand, cannot stop his curiosity. He asks questions, he sticks his nose in way further than he should to some dangerous stuff. I think he realized Machines were sentient and had feelings long before 2B, but was in denial for a good while. You learn so much more about what you’re fighting as 9S, because he scans. He observes, searches, discovers. Heck, some hacking caused him to experience empathy for the poor things, to his horror...

- Actually, there are alot of scenes where either 2B or 9S questions why a machine they’re killing is screaming for help, of crying for lost family, or loudly proclaiming loyalty to a king they’ll give their lives for...they stop for a moment, but the other quickly jumps in and reminds them that it’s just imitation. It’s not real, it’s fake, machines can’t feel, yadda yadda...it was odd to me they kept switching off on reminding, but...I think they both know, deep down, what they’re doing. But denial. Because if machines DO have feelings, if they are sentient...what does that mean for all they’ve killed...? Just...hoo BOY the moral dellimas in this game?? Scary good. The quests get that across alot.

- I don’t like the theme of hopelessness in most of the side quests?? I do see many of them as cautionary tales though. We watch many characters lose hope and the will to live after their thing/person they’re living FOR is gone. It makes me worry alot about 2B, who is a soldier through and through. 9S actually does have hopes and dreams for things outside of the war, which I love ;7; they definitely lean on each other alot emotionally on this respect though...I don’t know quite what to make of the themes of the game this far in yet;;;; 

- The love between 9S and 2B is of course my favorite thing. Familial, romantic, idk. I, being me, see it as more platonic, “You’re my rock in this storm” only friend/sister/brother vibe, but as more of a fan of platonic relationships, that is what I tend to do. But 9s following 2B around like a lost puppy and trying to do all he can to help and do his job but also getting bored with said job and trying to make the most of things, asking all the “why” questions, 2B acting irritated but also always keeps him close and makes sure he’s safe....going ballistic when someone hurts her boy ;;v;; I love...2 kids. Their operators and pods are such fun dynamics too~~ 

- As far as endings A and B...DANG. It hit worse because you get backstory on the giant ocean machine (that 9S just hit with a giant missle, which he also had to ride to keep it on the right path...DX NO SELF PRESERVATION) he just...wanted his mama......;;A;;

- Also it’s not fair. 9S is so injured by that missle attack, then I guess Adam finds him and is like “HM. *sticks the lil boy impaled on a wall* Perfect. *proceeds to emotionally and mentally torture said child*“ like YO ADAM THAT’S NOT HOW YOU DO THINGS. Then 2B proceeds to kick down walls for her boy and kills Adam and walks off carrying 9S bridal style into the sunset. Lovely. I have a comic idea for this part, lol.

- Oh I don’t like Adan very much, he is pretty tho?? There was alot of blood though...how do machines bleed?? How do the androids bleed?? What??? I question this alot. 

- HHHHHHH THE BECOME AS GODS CHAPTER SCARED ME I DON’T EVER WANNA DO THAT AGAIN DANG SUICIDAL ROBOTS SCARED ME SO BAD

- Fighting Eve was...annoying but still heartbreaking. He misses his brother so much....even though Adam is a butthead and couldn’t care less he left his little brother behind DX just everything about that fight was Tragic. Also Eve developing more self awareness and realizing “Eve” is a girl’s name and being a bit miffed LOL that’s what y’all get when your first book is the bible kiddos...I realize they’re technically like what? 2 weeks old still???

- The ENDING. From 9S’s perspective is especially scary....the corruption transforming him, 2B coming in to kill him to stop the pain, he BEGGED her to, just....hhhhhhh babies ;;A;; 2B’s soft broken crying over him as she’s forced to strangle her only friend to death just aaaaaAAAAAAAA I DIE ;;;;;;;;~;;;;;;;;;

- I was actually able to cry over it this time coz. It was 2 am. No parent awkwardly watching over my shoulder. Because the pose for this scene is...........super awkward..........like......really........their clothes are super torn up and uh. The first time I was just hoping my parents wouldn’t mistake it for a sex scene or something hhhhhghhhhh;;;;;; I really really REALLY wish the pose was different, the game does need to give the fanservice a rest, at LEAST for a scene this serious DX I’m able to ignore it but when someone else is watching I don’t wanna have to explain;;;;

- That IS a big gripe I have with the game. The fanservice. Just. Why. How is 2B’s outfit practical?? Self destruct mode???? REALLY???? Get this girl battle shorts or something please.....I guess if I looked at it more as a ballet outfit?? I might make some edits when I draw her because GEEZ.

- 9S gets some of this too. Self destruct mode, his shorts are blown off???? WHAT THE HECK???? Welp, never using that again. also why is he the only yorha boy android??????????? X’’’’D They never explain that!!

- BACK TO ENDING STUFF why were there random data hologram girls standing there, watching 2B strangle 9S?? Just...silently there...they weren’t there in the first playthrough?? I’ve seen them a couple times but they’re NEVER mentioned?? WHAT ARE THEY-- is it a glitch?? Wha--

- Teeny 9S being able to dump his consciousness into a giant machine robot guy and cradling 2B in his hand ;;~;; he’s fine y’all I’m so GLAD (I wanna draw something for this scene.... I wanna draw alot of things) 

- I love Pascal. He should adopt all the sad people to his happy peace village. He already started that...what a good egg. 

- The accessories option is lovely. I’ve been running around with 9S with a blue bow in his hair forever now ;7; replaced with the flower in his hair because BOYS AND FLOWERS I LOVE but I think I might give the flower to 2B because she’d look lovely with it and....I miss the blue bow X’D

 - Also the AMOUNT of things this could line up with a KH universe....as far as how androids work, hearts (black boxes), memories making you...you, being able to transfer “hearts” to new bodies when the old is destroyed, POWER OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP...there’s alot. I dunno what to do with this info...

Anyway, I have alOT of thoughts and feelings on this game, it’s like...a very cool book. I’ve had trouble putting down. These aren’t even all of them but idk who I can actually rant to so here it is for the Void

I’m so interested to see where it goes! 

[logophilism]

Character Creation Tag

Tagged by @esoteric-eclectic-eccentric. Thanks for tagging me ^-^

I’m doing this for Bree. Not literally for her, but you get what I mean.

1) What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.?)

Probably the backstory. I had the world set up and an idea for a plot that might spout from it, but I needed something to move the character to the right place to start. 

2) Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Since I had an outline of a plot sketched out, I wanted a character that would fit well with the characters I already planned to include. So I considered her parents and her friends when designing her, I guess.

3) How did you choose their name?

Ok, I’m horrible with names.

My original name for her was Chandra, after a name plucked from a random name generator a few years back for a base character. After writing the first chapter and procrastinating for a while, however, I realized that the name Chandra was far too different from the other names in her community, so I had to rename her.

Bree became the choice that I went with mostly because it was a nickname that would fit many longer names. Brianna. Gabrielle. Aubrey. I wanted to be able to write and get used to a name while keeping my options open. At the end I chose Gabrielle because the name Bree sounded harsh for her character, and I wanted a softer-feeling (at least to me) longname to balance it out.

As a footnote, the last name Raven was chosen entirely because it was the first suitable-ish last name that I thought of that fitted.

4) In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

Definitely the sickness. Her mother was killed by the Withering when she was a child, but her father drastically changed after her mother was gone, becoming irresponsible and untrustworthy drunkard that still cared about his daughter but couldn’t bring himself to be what he wanted to be for her. Then he died. Then the plot actually happens.

5) Is there any significance behind their hair colour?

Nope. (brown)

6) Is there any significance behind their eye colour?

Nope. (brown)

7) Is there any significance behind their height?

I wanted to give her at least some special physical feature that wasn’t being completely average, so I made her shorter than average. As someone who is taller than average, that was not good planning on my part.

8) What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

9) will be very informative about how I relate to the character. As for the story, I still relate strongly enough to it to write it. It’s hard to write something I can’t imagine, and it’s hard to imagine something when I (or some of my favourite book characters) don’t have the experiences to draw from, soo.. Yeah.

9) Are they based off of you, in some way?

Ok, confession. I’m really, really, really lazy. I had parts of their personality planned out and stuff, but when it came to the long stretches of hardcore writing required for NaNoWriMo, I threw my plans out of the window (not literally, since that might have killed someone), and just wrote whatever I’d do in their situation. Saves time and effort and you get something relatively consistent, but can’t be overused :/

10) Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

Nope. And I still don’t. Why I’m planning a romance story after this is beyond me.

11) What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: Writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

Drawing her. I’m horrible at drawing people, and much more suited to drawing stuff like smooth stone pillars. Luckily, @inkpot-dreamer has awesomely awesome drawing skills I’d never be able to duplicate, and I sent her my WIP story in hope that after she gave up trying to persuade me to draw my OC, she’d draw Bree herself. *hint hint*

12) How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

Considering that I’m considering making the ending tragic, not at all.

13) If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

I need to consider her interests and hobbies and habits and stuff, which are horribly underrepresented, and I need to consider her backstory and/or what’s happened in the story so far. That’s about it.

14) What is something about your OC that can make you laugh?

Her wit. It’s almost ironic how witty she is, considering I’m her writer.

15) What is something about your OC can make you cry?

What happens to her. I wrote some moments with myself as the target audience so I could at least pretend the emotional parts have actual emotional value. If I was in the right mood and I prodded myself really hard, I’d be able to make myself cry reading those parts. I think.

16) Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

Nightmares. I gave her nightmares because she wasn’t having the reaction I expected to her father’s death and I needed something more solid in her than a constant moping behaviour, so I gave her nightmares. Now I have to undo the damage from the nightmares, sigh. Really wish I had better foresight.

17) What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

She seems to have developed a habit of curling her toes when she gets angry or upset or afraid or something along the lines of that. I never wrote any of that in on purpose, but it’s definitely a thing. Welp.

18) What is your favourite fact about your OC?

She’s a mechanic from a small, backwards town and is utterly out of her depth when she reaches the futuristic flying island. Ha. Serves her right for being arrogant.

Tagging: @adventuresdooccur @wchwriter @pens-swords-stuff @starlitesymphony @crowswritetoo @meteorwrites @inkpot-dreamer @starryinscriptions and anyone who wants to do it :)

[lacylu42]

11/11 tag game

I was tagged by @contes-de-rheio​. Thank you!

1. The plot of the first original story you wrote

Oh, lordy... I’ll have to think back on that. The first original story I can remember writing was in junior high (which would be *cough* like 20+ years ago???). It was a science fiction about a team of people who invented individual spaceship/suits to fight an alien invasion (think mechs, but I’m pretty sure I had never been exposed to those when I wrote it). I didn’t finish it because it really didn’t have a plot beyond what I just told you. ;) 

2. What do you think about advising a story solely over the character‘s sexuality, ethnicity or religion?

Not sure I totally understand the question, but I personally would never write a story where the main plot turns on someone’s sexuality, ethnicity or religion — mostly because I’m a cis het white female who grew up protestant, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing a book ENTIRELY about the life or struggles of someone who had a very different experience. At least, I don’t feel up to the task at this stage of my writing life.

I am, however, big on including a diverse cast in my books, and their struggles do play into the plot sometimes. I prefer to make those characteristics secondary, though to the person themselves; I try to treat those characters as I would a cis het white male. If his skin color/religion/sexuality isn’t a big deal, then the other variations in other characters shouldn’t be either (though it’s a fine line between treating those things as normal and unremarkable and tokenism, and I’m aware of that as well...)

My last epic WIP (that has become something of a bottom drawer novel for the time being) had an allegorical theme of religious intolerance (and intolerance in general) and one of the main characters was a Muslim teenage girl who experienced some serious crap because of her gender and religion. BUT were that novel ever to see the light of day, I would want to hire a Muslim woman to help me read and edit it to make certain I’m portraying my character in a truthful and appropriate light.

WHEW that was a lot. 

3.  How many alternatives of your WIPs plot do you have in mind?

None. I built my current WIP using the plot of The Thin Man as sort of a template (because I suck at plot and was using this NaNo as an experiment and practice to improve). Of course, the details and even some of the plot deviated as the WIP grew, but I didn’t have multiple variations.

As I’m outlining the sequel, I do have a couple of places in the outline where I say “either this happens OR that happens” because I haven’t decided yet, but they’re not big plot points. 

4.  Your favorite character ever

My own OC or character in general?

Right now, David MacInish, the half-fae detective in my WIP is my favorite. As for characters in other people’s works, I love the Doctor, from Doctor Who, and Remus Lupin.

(I guess I like a man with a tragic backstory...)

5.  what do you like about world building?

I love describing settings, and I love imagining fantastic, impossible places. There’s a magical, possibly sentient library that’s popped up in two of my WIPs and I keep wanting to find the right place for it. Maybe she needs her own book. ;) 

Question you didn’t ask: What do you HATE about world building? Working out the rules of my magic system. I sometimes paint myself into a corner and then don’t know how to get out. 

6. The longest time your worked on a WIP to finish the first draft?

OK, don’t judge: 10+ years. My bottom-of-the-drawer WIP took me more than 10 years to finish. I finally hired a book coach and finished the first full draft in 2017. In my defense, I was doing that thing where you write five chapters, then go back and rewrite five chapters, then rewrite those five chapters over and over and over again. But it took me 10 years to write the whole damn thing start to finish. And now I pretty much never want to look at it again. ;)

7. Movie or tv show adaption?

Oh man. I’m torn! What I really want is a thousand episodes of a TV show but with movie-quality production values. Is that really too much to ask? ;) 

Actually, I just recently watched the BBC miniseries of A Discovery of Witches and I thought they did a great job with the sweeping, epic feel, in 10 episodes or whatever it was. But I’m always like MOAR PLS. 

8. Your favorite part of being a writer?

I love the giddy explosion of creativity when I’m in flow, when I’m inhabiting my world, when I’m imagining new things. My daughter calls playing pretend “making movies,” and that’s really what it feels like to me. Directing and inhabiting these movies in my head. 

I think that’s why I struggle with editing, because it’s not the heady creation phase. It feels a lot more like WORK. 

9. Planer, Pantser or something in between?

Well, pantsing is the reason it took me 10 years to finish a WIP (that and I moved states, changed jobs, had a baby, and started a business in that time...). 

I found in writing this NaNo that it was SO much easier having a template to work from. Every time I got stuck, I just looked at the book to see what happened next and I could get moving again. So I’m working on a detailed outline for the next book. (Although, I am allowing myself to capture snippets of scenes and dialogue as they occur to me.)  

10. Writing by hand or via PC?

On the computer. When I was in junior high (see above) and just starting to write my own stories, I taught myself to type better, because I couldn’t hand-write fast enough to get the ideas out of my head. Now I type over 100 words a minute, so my fingers move almost as fast as my brain... ;) 

11. Your go to snacks while writing?

If I’m going to eat while writing, it’s the hand to mouth action I crave more than the actual food, so I try to pick something relatively healthy that requires a lot of that — like grapes, blueberries, or plain popcorn (love the buttered stuff, but it makes fingers greasy for typing). Mostly I just drink copious amounts of coffee, tea, or carbonated water. 

Thank you again for tagging me!

The rules are 11 questions answered, 11 questions given, and 11 people tagged! I’ll tag my new writeblr friends (but I tagged some of you in the last one, so just do the ones you like!): @iloveyouappleiloveyouorange​, @foreshadowingss, @starlitesymphony, @virginiawritesforlovers, @caberetofwords, and @kipoints. 

1. Have you had to “kill any darlings” from your current WIP, ie: quotes, characters, scenes, etc. that you LOVE but don’t fit and have to be cut? Please share.

2. What is your favorite genre to write in and why? Is it different from the genres you like to consume?

3. Do you consciously study existing works by other authors to improve your own writing? If so, what types of things do you look at?

4. Have you noticed any patterns in your own writing, ie: you always have a certain type of character, like to explore a certain type of story, etc.?

5. Do you do most of your world building before you write, while writing the first draft, or during revisions? 

6. If when your WIP hits the bestseller list, where would you like to go or what would you like to do on a book tour? Is there somebody you’d like to be interviewed by? 

7. How do you approach setting the scene in your work? Are you into lush descriptions or giving the bare minimum and allowing the reader to fill in the blanks?

8. Do you follow a set structure (ie: hero’s journey, 3-act structure) when plotting out your works, or fly by the seat of your pants?

9. What does your revision process look like?

10. Please share a bit of dialogue from your WIP that shows us something important about the character’s personality.

11. Please share any jokes or funny bits from your WIP of which you are ridiculously proud. ;) 

[c-bulletaftermidnight]

Ok I said I wouldn’t ask but your TFA answer was so awesome I’m curious - things you liked/disliked about TLJ?

Oh boy, oh boy

Liked:

_ Uuuh. Kylo becoming Supreme Leader and cementing himself as the true villain I guess since it’s interesting to work on it’s gonna the political & military landscape of the FO??

_ Kylo being shown off again as a good tactician when fucking up the Raddus.

_I’m glad Phasma’s gone. 

-Finn & Rey hugging at the end of the movie that’s it.

That’s it. 

Dislikes:

_ The worldbuilding has been fucked up just to respond to Rian’s whims when he have barely any explications about the context.

_ Fucking bad designs everywhere. 

_Boring cinematography except a few times. 

_ The fucking zooms-in and Kylo looking like he’s stuck in a washing machines when he barrels rolls around the TIE Silencer. 

_ The FO is suddendly overpowered with money and personnal. The loss of SKB has like no impact on the organization. This episode should have explored to their backstory but Rian simply didn’t care.

_ Everybody in this movie shut off their brains. 

_ Hux went from “officer didn’t had not much battle experience” to a total joke. His traumas due to his upbringing are ignored and his sufferings are reduced into supposed moments of comedy .And it’s not like Rian didn’t knows his past, he even gave him a first name. Hell he didn’ even bother explain Hux’s past to Domhnall and he discovered that his character had a first name when an interviewer asked him about it (Domnhall seemed pretty angry about it since he invest himself a lot in reserches and stuff for the characters he plays.) Knowing how Domhnall had to improvise the blaster scene, i’m sure he would have objected even more of Rian’s decisions.  His purpose half of the movie is to do Huxposition on the bridge, being totally incompetent and thrown around. It’s gonna be hard for JJ to repair this and have the audience take him seriously as a villain. 

 _ Poe, well, I never cared much about his character. I even tried to read the comics but I felt barely nothing about him. But I was hoping TLJ would help but instead they managed to makes me hate his character. The Poe/Holdo arc was badly written. There was many ways to make an arc like that make sense but also more emotionnal for these two characters. I hate how one second they makes him this macho man who keeps understimating lady officers but a second after, the female characters are “haha, I like him ;)”   Yeah sure. 

_Finn’s arc who is reduced as total coward and a joke and where war has to be explained to him (a fucking child-soldier) by a woman that constantly think about hurting him when he mentions Rey, the person he is close to the most and then is forced as a potential love-interest to him for some reasons. The DJ explanations are just bad (of course, the Resistance has to buy weapons. We knows that Rian, thx) The suicide run was also pretty stupid. Also the fact that him and Rey didn’t reuniting on the Supremacy screams so much Rian wanting them to interact as less as possible in the movie. Finn deserves better.

_ Rey’s arc. Can we even talk about an arc? Her character regressed. As if she didn’t dealt with years of abuse and survival on Jakku and as if Kylo never tortured her and hurt her closed ones. Hell she even get tortured twice in the space of two days because of Kylo. The Force-skype stuff feels so forced. Adam & Daisy only have good chemistry when their characters are set against each other. Rey talks about how she is scared of the Force within her but we see her then has no problem to deal with it and master everything in one second (rendering the existence of jedi school pretty useless like you just have to download the Force-powers of a master jedi and that’s it. The Force.exe is installed. ) The small training scene where she cut the rock looks pretty stupid, her sword fighting position is pretty bad during it. Going to the dark side has no consequences on her. She has no agency. Replace the word “Force” by the plot and you’ll see what I mean. 

_ Luke. Has someone who has to deal with depression, I think showing Luke as irritated and stuff can makes sense. I kinda relate since my temper changed a lot. I had a lot of patience & kindness but now, everything irritate me (from a member of my family intruding in my space to hearing the ringing of the phone) I’m scared to see my friends, I feel like a walking failure that I will never be satisfied about myself or will satisfy my parents, I just want to be left alone & if this lead me to die that way, then so be it. The problem is how wonky the writing leading-up to this Luke is bad. Everything is about to make us feels sad for Kylo (I don’t). Kylo’s turning against his family upon learning that he is the grandson of one of the most dangerous war criminal would makes senses. Luke blaming himself because he felt he failed to help his nephew after years of work instead of randomly popping his lightsaber would have made more sense. Luke’s grieving all his others students would make more sense. Luke attempting to reason Kylo after the massacre but still failing would make sense. Luke looking for a solution on the island and then failing to find one, thus made him feel unable to see his sister face to face would makes more sense. There’s is barely any emotionnal moments for Luke and the Final holographic showdown feels like they absolutely wanted to avoid Kylo to kill Luke directly (like c’mon, he’s been committing war crimes since the first minutes of TFA)

_ Kylo. TLJ is a bad attempt at Kylo’s pity fest.It’s interesting that his traumas are acknowledged while the other character’s are pretty ignored despite having a tragic’s past that should impact them as well. Everything is about him. Most of his actions are pretty villainous, he’s no grey character like people are trying to force us to believe because he looks sad. This is an humanized villain arc (which he didn’t need after seeing TFA), not a redemption one. At least he is now the main villain too, so there’s tha (But the “Uwu save ben solo” stuff going around spoil my liking of him as a villain. I’m not here to see whether Kylo is gonna turn LS for a third time in ep9. It would be too repetitive at this point) I just hate the “ You are truely Han solo’s son”line because it is obvious he is more like his mother. Only father figures are important to the characters in SW, it seems. Also the goddamn scar being moved on his eyes but it doesn’t impair his vision despite being cut by a freaking lightsaber. Like Rian could have gave us a legit explanation why Kylo was weakened & needed Rey to fight the preoatarians guards: Losing an eye would be an huge handicap tha het is not used to yet so he needed help to take the throne. 

_ Leïa is only here to looks sad and for Kylo’s momentarily manpain (and Marry Poppying around space). Like really, you reduce Leïa fucking Organa too that?? The woman ready to move time and space just for the sake of saving freedom? the princess of Alderaan who saw her planet being destroyed but kept up on? the woman who was mainly in charge of the strategizing of Hoth’s evacuation? The woman who was willing to stay on Bespin just for the sake of massacring stormtroopers because Vader gave Han away to Boba Fett & would have stayed if Lando didn’t pulled her off to the Falcon? The woman who had to face the galactic backlash of her being Vader’s daughter but still kept on? A woman full of anger but also sense of duty?

_ Rose, rose, rose… I was excited to meet her so imagine my disappointment upon discovering she was just here to lecture & push around Finn & being forced as another love interest that doesn’t even work. It’s like she forgot that her sister died the same day and that she should still be grieving. We don’t even get to see her use her mechanic’s skills in the whole story. The message about her character makes no sense between her last line in tlj and all the destructions she is willing to provoke (not all the ppl working at Canto bight are rich, has it show in the Canto Bight book) or let happens. KMT doesn’t deserve that. 

_ Yoda’s appearing bcos I hate this hypocrite of a gremlin and was expecting for Luke to dunk him in the sea. 

_ Chewie, the glorified cab driver.

_ The battles are a huge clusterfuck & the most badly written space battle I have ever seen. 

_The way Poe’s piloting skills feels to OP when you compare to other pilots, in particular in recently RO. 

_D’qar’s battle is a fucking tactical mess. Everyone has been conviniently dumb down. Same during the slow-mo chase. What’s even the point of bringing the whole fleet of star destroyers if they are just useless.

_ Bad infiltration scene on the Supremacy on the same level as RO’s one. I’m just tired of infiltration scenes in SW. Please stop that shit. 

_ The preotarian guard fight is a choregraphic mess that has no stakes for the characters. Everyone is just waiting for their cue and twirling around. It’s like it was shooted in one go. And there is a difference between Luke in ROTJ kicking a blaster out of the hand of a foe looking bad due to technical problems of the time. And a knife suddendly being edited out at the last minute because the mc would have die then

_ Crait. A good example on how not taking in account the worldbuilding that could be used in battle. So you’re gonna tell me that the Resistance decided to hide away in a base with no issue other than big metallic door in the front? Sounds like a good plan.

_ Leïa never taking command of the battle and strategizing and letting Poe deal with all that despite that she is the general that Poe is a demoted member of the Navy who caused a shit-ton of mess among the Resistance like 30 minutes ago

_ Hux is still depicted in a idiotic way & using bad tactics again. If this is supposed to be a movie about the characters learning about their mistakes,well it didn’t do its job.

_ What is even the use of the third cannon of the gorrilla walkers??

_ What was even the point to use these old speeders besides for being destroyed?

_ Rey shooting down 3 TIES in one shot seems to break a lot of SW physics. Her disappearing of the whole fight shows how much Rian didn’t care abt her character beyond having her interact with Kylo.

_ Y’know, I have Battlefront 2 and in the game there is mining tunnels on the battlefield that you can use to hide. In the movie they are not present, the whole Resistance sit dumbly in trench and just wait to be massacred. I was hoping those tunnels would re-appear in the movies & would be used to sink the walkers by bringing them down with bomb used for mining but nope. The image of walkers falling in a sinkhole, provoking a storm of red dust, coloring the outfits,armors and vehicles in red would have been pretty badass to see.

_ The ramming canon trained on like 10 kilometers instead of using the gorrilla walkers designs and adding to them the mini death-stars canons. They can’t use it all the time tho bcos it would need to cool down before shooting again. Aren’t these supposed to be artillery vehicles ffs???

_ The Resistance not even rigging their escape ships with bombs so if the FO penetrated their base, they can at least cripple them by exploding them. So much for a group that is supposed to be specialized in guerrilla warfare.

_ Talking about guerrilla warfare, i was expecting at least a pursuit and firefight in the mines. No use of the worldbuilding during battle scenarios once again. 

_ Leïa should have been the one to confront Kylo, not Luke. Showing her willing to fight her own son and dies during it for the freedom of the galaxy would have been a good way to send her off and building her as this strong, resilient, legendary leader willing to fight her own family for the good cause. It would have been a good middle finger to people who slandered her upon learning she was Vader’s daughter.

_ Rey effortlessly levitating these rocks. Showing her struggle would have made the ending scene more rewarding.

_ The news of the Battle of Crait spreading super fast despite that the Resistance official journalist, Suralinda Javos wasn’t even present during it for documenting or something.

_ Broom boy & the way it is implied that he might join the Resistance or something because of his Force-powers. A fucking child.Involved in a war. I thought Finn being a child-soldier was bad thing?

And I’ll stop there for now, because there is so many problems with this movie, i’m never gonna be finished with it. 

[moonmothmama]

ok. so. The Princess Bride. i read it yesterday.

and right up front, before even a review, i’m gonna go ahead and list everything objectionable in the book that i can recall. please don’t take the length of the bullet pointed items to follow as an indication that the book was wildly problematic and offended me at every turn; it wasn’t and it didn’t. but there were some things that made me go: 😑 or 😒, and here it all is, presented with context, before anything else, because to be honest, i didn’t expect any of it. the film is relatively spotless, which is pretty rare for that era, and if any of you are thinking of reading it, you could do with being more prepared for this than i was.

first off, racism. two passing remarks. one isn’t even in the story proper; it’s in the first whole long intro bit from the author/narrator. that takes some explanation, i suppose: like in the film, the story is presented as a book having been written by “S. Morganstern,” except instead of a grandfather reading to his sick grandson, the narrator is interjecting with notes on the original text that he has abridged. the beginning is a whole long shpiel that, in my opinion, could have been significantly pared down with absolutely zero loss to the story (which! hey! the film did perfectly! go figure!). anyway, the first racist remark is an absolutely tasteless line in which the narrator pisses and moans about his fat son, making a crack about “painting him yellow” and making him a sumo wrestler. y i k e. the other passing remark is from Miracle Max (really, truly, the film version of this scene is miles better than the book version, but contains an important plot detail, so you should prob still read it, but i’ll give you the lowdown if you wanna skip). he refers to Iñigo as a sp*ck (rather bafflingly, i might add, bc Iñigo is a Spanish man... from Spain... not a Hispanic or Latino man from Latin America. so. i mean i’m certainly not an expert on slurs but... i have never in my life heard that term in reference to a person from Spain, and am virtually certain it was invented to refer to ppl from the americas) and in the same breath uses an objectionable term for a Polish person. sooo... again: y i k e. what gets me is that... these could’ve just been edited out? why weren’t they? i mean i know why but

fat shaming! see above. though to be honest, any true negativity about fatness is restricted to the author/narrator’s interjections; there are a few minor fat characters in the story and those depictions, without being too long-winded or spoilery, didn’t offend me (fyi: i’m fat). if you want the details, please feel free to message me about it.

if we can go back to the whole long beginning shpiel from the author/narrator, it’s just... eh. he comes off as kind of a jackass, tbh. not even halfway through it i found myself more than a little impatient for the story to begin, and that could be at least partly because the film spoiled me with a lovely, not annoying, not problematic scene of Granddad Columbo reading to Baby Fred Savage where no one made any racist remarks or ragged on fat kids. the basic gist, if you want to skip it, is that the author, as a kid, had this book read to HIM by his father, who was a Florinese immigrant, and nearly illiterate in English, but still labored over reading the English translation to his American-born son, who adored the book and requested it read to him dozens and dozens of times over the years, refusing to read it himself (though he read plenty of other books). as an adult, he buys his son the book, and is crushed when the son doesn’t like it. he then reads it for the first time, and realizes his father skipped over huge, boring blocks of text. he read his son only The Good Parts. so he decides to edit that shit out himself and release the abridged version he loves so much. add into that some complaining about his wife and some extra blah blah, and that’s pretty much it.

you remember the scene in the movie where The Man In Black/Westley almost slaps Buttercup for what he believes is lying? in the book he actually slaps her. not that his actions seem supported or endorsed by the text, but still, there you are. Buttercup does push him off a cliff soon after, though, so. i wouldn’t call that ‘even’ exactly but, shrug

Vizzini, in the book, has a fucky leg and his back isn’t quite straight, and he’s referred to repeatedly as a “humpback” or “hunchback” which needless to say is Not Kosher

that, as i recall, is it. i hope i’m not forgetting anything. now onto content/trigger warnings:

alcoholism. this shouldn’t be a surprise if you’ve seen the movie: Iñigo has some, shall we say, issues

Fezzik’s parents were... terrible. CPS would be all over them. spoiler: basically they emotionally blackmailed their son into fighting professionally, which they knew he hated, by telling him they’d abandon him if he didn’t

Buttercup has some kinda messed up (read: unsettling but in no way graphic) nightmares after leaving Westley when they’re found by Prince Humperdinck at the Fire Swamp, mostly involving bearing children to the Prince who she once again is set to marry

the slurs and whatnot i mentioned above

violence, obviously. nothing worse than the film as i recall.

that’s it i think. 

okay. all that said. did i enjoy the book? yes i did. a lot.

now, you might be thinking: jesus, Kathleen, after all the shit you just listed? and to this i reply: listen. there is no Unproblematic Media, so you either enjoy some things that are flawed, or you enjoy nothing at all. there is plenty of objectionable shit in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit! fucking plenty! and i love those books! and so do plenty of other people! in my own humble opinion, the good story is worth the shitty bits, because the shitty bits aren’t like, fundamental to the plotline. the story isn’t built on offensive humor or nasty, bigoted attitudes. and they’re also not the most egregious examples of Objectionable Content i’ve come across- not by a longshot. there are levels to offense. there are tiers of bullshit. this is on a far lower tier than a whole host of other things i could mention. but if any of this stuff i’ve listed crosses a line for you, i totally understand and respect that. that’s why i’ve bothered to list it at all. imo, how you respond to objectionable content is important: you don’t ignore it or excuse it, you acknowledge and criticize it. and if you still enjoy whatever the thing is, you allow yourself to enjoy it, without getting hissy or defensive with people for whom the objectionable content ruined the book/movie/whatever. 

there you go, there’s my disclaimer for having enjoyed the book. your mileage may vary.

okay. so. review time.

Buttercup is a far more interesting character in the book than the movie, for which the movie can’t be faulted all that much, because you can’t easily translate a character’s inner monologue/unspoken thoughts to the screen, especially not with the time limit that comes with the medium of film. but watching her struggle with her feelings and life choices (and... lack thereof, since her choice is between marrying the prince and being put to death, which isn’t much of a choice, even if she tries to reason it out later by telling herself she COULD have said no... and initially did) creates far more of a bond between her and the reader in the book than, personally, i felt watching the movie. also she has a great line after Westley calls her beautiful at their reunion- she says something like, ‘everyone’s always calling me beautiful, i have a mind too, why don’t you talk about that’

Both Westley and Buttercup are immature, naive, and foolish in the beginning, and if Westley strikes you as Extra Dickish, a) rewatch the film! he did act like a bit of a dick, there, didn’t he? b) remember that in the story he’s a young man between the ages of eighteen and twenty five, which in my considerable experience is the age at which young men are generally at their peak of Asshole. sorry dudes

and not that Buttercup herself is a complete peach! she deals very poorly with her emotions in general and acts kinda shitty herself once or twice. i won’t say too much lest i spoil everything that’s different between the film and the book.

Prince Humperdinck is also a more three dimensional character; still a rat bastard tho.

onto Fezzik and Iñigo.

as i have said in other blog posts, these boys are... pretty much the whole reason i sought out the book. and... jesus. 

you get all the way into the tragic backstories that were only hinted at in the film. okay, Iñigo’s backstory was more than hinted- but of course you go so much deeper in the book- and Fezzik’s was less than hinted, reduced mostly to a peek at the insecurity that Vizzini exploits and preys upon to keep him in line. not that you’d have to expend a great effort to him to keep him in line; his personality is docile and non-confrontational. truly not the slightest bit aggressive by nature. he’s also kinda clingy and needy, which is a thousand percent understandable given his childhood, and tbqh doesn’t need to be browbeaten for Vizzini to keep him on his short, cruel leash. which makes it all the more painful! hurrah! 😭

also you actually get to meet Iñigo’s father, Domingo Montoya, in a flashback, aaaand... i kinda love him. probably predictable if you know me.

anyway. tragic backstories. which further illuminate the emotional and psychological issues that make them so dependent on Vizzini, and turn them to lives of crime in his employ. poor boys! oy gevalt. sympathy abounds; i honestly don’t know how you could go through the book and not fall at least a little bit in love with this duo, whose friendship is precious and adorable and a balm to the soul that is aching from their painful life stories and unhealthy coping mechanisms. they’re each, very plainly, the only friend the other has in the world, and are constantly helping and bolstering one another. it’s heartbreakingly sweet. i think those boys will be alright as long as they stick together.

and now, the repeated theme of the book, that is presented with far less intensity in the film: life isn’t fair. which, one supposes, is true. but while the narrator’s framing of that assertion may give you the same misgivings they gave me- bitching about his fat son and his less than ideal relationship with his wife- you can also step back and appreciate it as a wee pearl of wisdom. life is often unfair, but that doesn’t mean it’s altogether bad or that you can’t enjoy it. idk, that’s my attitude, man. 

i could talk about the ending here, but i won’t. at least not too much. not to spoiler-ish-ly. if you don’t want to know anything about the book’s ending at all, feel free to not read the last bit here, except for the very last lines which are bolded.

ready? yes? no?

...

the ending to the book is different than the movie. there is a more philosophical, open ended conclusion than you could really get away with in a movie. at least this movie.

just throwing it out there: i believe in happy endings. ones in real life. but i kind of disagree with the author a little bit, in that i don’t think happy endings necessarily have to be perfect and unblemished to qualify as happy endings. that may be the way “happily ever after” is generally presented, but to me, “happily ever after” means, maybe some shit happened, but none of it was completely devastating, and in the final analysis, life was satisfying. that’s the kind of real life happy ending i’m aiming (and hoping) for. this might sound vague but i hope it’ll make sense if you read the book.

if you wanna do that, btw, i read it for free online at allnovel dot net.

[lokh]

ok this one is a WHOPPER so notes going from top->bottom, left->right

extended cast!! the 5′7 benchmark is for empowered magic boy btw. then theres the only named character filippa, his best friend in the regular ol human world that has no idea whats going on in regards to sexy armor.

theres a tentative draft for a spellcaster type in the main trio, also picked up from the human world later on (think like.. prophecy shit). ykno the type. quiet, shy, huge boobs,

the next two are self explanatory: the friendly older brother type that helps the main character adjust to weird magic reality norms, the cool guy type that comes off as sort of an ass and aloof but really means well and is good at what they do

and here i apologise for the absolutely terrible photo quality and equally terrible editing lmao.. direct transcription is

disillusioned big titty mentor u need to hunt down

(with the additional note being ‘lives in the middle of nowhere, doesnt wear shirts’)

he probably has some long tragic backstory about how he was really powerful and also he had a kid then somehow the kid like.. disappears/dies probably because of magic shit and he GASP ... cant have kids anymore hes a monster and he feels like his purpose has been ripped away all that bullshit.. but then he sees his kid in the main chara and suddenly feels hope again

smaller bratty person trained for same position who thinks theyre superior to you and is somehow older than u

sword user type, constantly calling into question the competence of the main chara. probably gets saved by him later on in an incident involving a lot of gratuitous ripped clothing and ass shots, thereafter taking on frustrating tsundere qualities and secretly admiring him

edit oh shit also i hope it sort of comes thru but like.. another joke that was supposed to be in here is that all the lady characters have like.. really diverse builds and facial features etc while all the guys. are basically the same body type ‘but his dick/boobs are bigger!!!!!’

you can find other stuff under #shit trope disaster anime!

[yoolee]

Lucky be a Lady (or Laddie)

OKAY. I HAD A REALLY LONG DRIVE and there was actually like NO traffic for once so I could put my cruise control, and, since my speakers died and I could neither listen to radio nor books on tape like usual, I decided to come up with an otome game plot in all of its TRITE, CAMPY, UNABASHEDLY CLICHED GLORY.

(This is not edited, this is not thought through – this was voice-to-texted on a LONG DRIVE and I went through to at least make sure there were more or less coherent sentences)

OK.

SO.

MEET THE CHOSEN ONES. They are a very sweet old couple (Ferreole and Eula) now in their mid seventies, and they have a passel of grandchildren and their great grandchild being born is the impetus for their decision to FULLY RETIRE from the whole ‘Chosen One’ business.

Being a REASONABLE, LEVEL-HEADED, TOTALLY RATIONAL COUPLE that has stayed together through decades of knitting with magic wands and losing Excalibur with their golf clubs, they decide to leave it up to fate.

(Fate works BEST in subway stations, if you didn’t know, so they go to one)

WHERE YOU ARE.

YOU are an adjunct professor/post-doc in…something, idk, anthropology probably, and a series of totally random events in your morning (outlined in the prologue) mean that you get to the train station JUST in time to miss it.

So you sit down. And the sweet couple sitting there BEAM at you, and you can’t help but smile back, even as you commiserate – “Gosh, I just haven’t been having any luck lately.”

AND THEIR SMILES GET BIGGER

AND TA-DA.

YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE.  

Your new superpower is luck.

Unfortunately for you – luck can be either good or bad.

(And there we have the driving point for most of the subplots in the story.)

OKAY SO IT’S AN OTOME GAME LET’S GET TO THE LOVE INTERESTS

THE SUPER VILLAIN: Kind of a moody little shit. Only a super villain because of the family business so he kind of half asses it most days – just not really all that interested in it. BUT. He gets really pissed off when YOU half ass things like he calls up your sidekick to come pick you up, “Like why would I even bother with the vat of sharks if you're going to get tripped up by the first henchmen you come across you have a month to get better at this” and in the meantime he’ll stick to moderate evil stuff like moving people’s parking tickets so they get EVEN MORE.  His day job is probably has like a veterinarian or something because just because he hates people doesn't mean that animals aren’t cool. Probably listens to 90’s grunge music while he’s causing destruction. Holds great affection for your Magical Talking Animal Sidekick and can be distracted mid-battle by trying to offer it treats. 

YOUR SIDEKICK: So your sidekick is just generally super earnest and excited and like gungho golden boy/ golden retriever. He’s a lot smarter than he gets credit for, and knows everything there is to know because he's been in this business for a while since he's probably one of Eula and Ferreole’s grandbabies, but you know, queue tragic backstory or something, like he's probably super lonely because he knows all the stuff about the world that no one else knows so he can’t really connect with people. GOOD GRANDCHILD, visits them a lot and goes grocery shopping for them. Kind of a nerd, but also not AS bright as all you professor-types, and would rather stick to PUNCH THE BAD THING, but, has a knack for solving off-the-wall riddles and puzzles too.

THE MAD SCIENTIST/BEST FRIEND:  Inadvertently, but, you know every superhero story needs a mad scientist SO. She is a girl genius extraordinaire, youngest head of her department blah blah blah something like a physicist (astrophysicist? quantum mechanics?) Probably collects degrees cause it's fun but her experiments get a little bit questionably ethical? When they involve people? In other people’s routes you are kind of her guinea pig and she probably builds your armor and gadgets and stuff? And then starts go down a slippery slope in her own route. ANYWAY, she's hella smart (you're smart too, but she's like mad scientist genius smart so.)

VILLAINOUS SIDEKICK: The super villain is kind of pretty chill but THE SIDEKICK WOAH super mega angst issues hey, so, hates everything in the world and is just like biding his time and learning stuff that he can become his own super villain. He's going to probably actually be really fucking scary if he goes that route. ALSO because this is how luck and otome games work, he’s your teaching assistant for the semester LUCKY YOU and, you are not an idiot so you figure out that he's your teaching assistant pretty quickly but considering the most evil thing that he could possibly do would be to leave you to create your own midterms, you keep him around. AND EVERYONE DESERVES AN EDUCATION and he’d lose his stipend if you fired him he’s the bad guy not you OKAY? You probably both get in a shit ton of trouble all the time because you fight (like, have this big epic battles and then lab, and oh god, no, I’m not cleaning this up, well you’re the TA, yeah well you’re the responsible adult YOU do it) anyway total jerk, yes.

GRUMPY CIVILIAN BARTENDER: Every good superhero needs a bartender because they deal with a lot of shit and alcohol (sometimes, for some people, including heroine) helps, so grumpy civilian dude or lady or NB, basically their function is to serve you alcohol and listen to you lament while offering sarcastic advice. They are probably the earnest sidekick’s best friend and to balance out all of that happy cheerful excitement they are super grumpy as established by the name grumpy civilian bartender. They take care of you but they also are probably more antihero than anything, so, the advice they give is skewed towards BAD THINGS. Absolutely nothing magical or (un)lucky ever happens in their bar. You’re pretty sure it’s cursed. Or blessed. It’s hard to tell?

JOURNALIST:  Possibly a journalist because no superhero story seem to know of a journalist or better yet like social media fan like a person who makes your page to be a fan of your childhood friend I don't know

SUPPORTING CAST

FERREOLE & EULA: They were the chosen ones until they dumped that on you (lucky you—literally) they are in their mid-70s and retired and they kind of show up on and off to give you advice but they're busy enjoying their retirement. Their room of collected Stuff has all kinds of things – reality checks (they bounce), crystal balls, poker chips, a pegasus, fishing gear, orbs of time, etc. etc…

SOME MAGICAL ANIMAL, PROBABLY A DUCK OR POSSUM: So of course you have a magical talking animal to guide you because what is a good story about magic and superheroes without a robot and/or animal and animals are cuter in terms of sprites so it's probably like a POSSUM or something random because you're that kind of special I guess. Probably a talking duck. You are stuck at something super ridiculous as a result of your bad luck—like a cat would be nice and normal to carry around and no one will question you talking to your cat but everyone has all kinds of questions when you try and carry a possum or duck into your house.

THE APP USERS: Halfway through the story Ferreole and Eula call you to say ask if hey you've downloaded the chosen one app yet and you're like what the fuck there's an app and they're like of course there is this is the 21st-century you didn't think you'd have to do this all by yourself? Right. That's bullshit we have Wikipedia now. So, the APP USERS. People who have done fairies favors and people who have brushed up against the other side who have dreams that come true sometimes or see spirits and shadows move where others don't they show up sometimes because your LUCK means you will just cross paths as needed.

[mysticdragon3md3]

md3 watches Given ep1

...

Maybe it's because I’m having a bad day, or maybe my distaste for most abrasive Romance genre tropes is showing.  But I did not have good reactions.  If I didn’t get spoiled on how good this series will eventually get, I probably wouldn’t continue.  Gawd I’m impatient for this to get good.

Mafuyu is sweet though.  ^___^

8:26 PM 9/27/2019

I'm going to watch Given.  After today, I'm too tired and defeated to do anything more ambitious than react to anime. ;_;

And this morning I watched some clips that suggested Mafuyu's tragic past?  I"m really hoping his childhood friend/boyfriend didn't dump him.  They both seemed so nice and in love.  Then again, if his boyfriend died that would also be very sad.  But at least it's not indirectly saying that Mafuyu was worth dumping.  He seems like such a sweet, fragile kid.  

given Episode 1 – Boys in the Band

"I'm not lonely."  I know it's a cliche now for an anime character to try to convince themselves of this with internal monologue, but it's still effectively sad and still pulls the heart-strings.  ;~;

Uenoyama is too sleepy to eat lunch and his friend asks him to play basketball instead of get bread?  omg

Everyone is sure staring at Uenoyama as he walks by though.  I wonder why.

Jeeze!  I don't know why Uenoyama has to be so upset!  What was Mafuyu doing that was even creepy anyway?  Not talking?  Sure, its more common for an anime character to leave when they've discovered they're in someone else's usual nap/hideout spot, but Mafuyu was nice about making room for Uenoyama.  And now he's throwing a tantrum about getting Mafuyu's hopes up and his naptime interrupted?  Careful or you're going to start hitting my real pet peeves and I'll drop this series.  

He just asked a stranger to teach him now to play guitar...Okay?  Well, that escalated quickly.  ^^;  

Thank you, opening theme.  I feel like I need some music to really set the tone---no, just get into this story/world.  I'm the kind of person who hates that Netflix skips opening/ending themes.

jfc  I know I've had a moderately bad day, but this series is just starting and it hit ANOTHER one of my pet peeves?!  Siblings who are nasty to each other?!  Ug.  If it weren't for all the fandom hype over this show and the nice clips I've seen of it beforehand, I would give up on it right now.  Or maybe I need to stop pausing every few seconds to write and dwell on the bad stuff, and just watch the show.  Ok, I'll try that.  I want to record all my initial thoughts for this series if I end up getting deep into the fandom, but rumination isn't good, after all.  Maybe all the annoying parts will go faster if I don't pause to react to all of them.  

"Now that I think about it, I guess I almost cired when I first broke a string, too, becuase I thought I'd broken my guitar"  Aw, Uenoyama is showing empathy.  (Finally.)  

See?  Mafuyu is reasonable.  He paid Uenoyama back for the strings and everything.

I think watching clips and hearing the fandom chatter before actually watching this series was a mistake.  I've been immune to spoilers for most of my life, but they've been starting to actually hurt my viewing in these past few years.  But it's not like when the shock of character deaths were dulled by knowing beforehand, with Madoka Magica.  This time, it's more like I'm _impatient_ to get to the good parts I saw before.  

So Mafuyu is stalking him now?  Now that I think about it, all those BL manga I used to read were quirky like this, huh?  ...Really???

I should have mentioned this before, but this background music is a little odd. It's like it doesn't quite match the tone of this very solid, real-feeling animation.  

But if he's a total newbie, he won't be able to tell the difference between a "godly performance" and a mediocre one!

"Something cool".  LOL  ^-^

OMG are they totally just riffing?  That's pretty cool.  ^___^

"Uecchi"?  Is this in Kansai?  LOL  

This guilt Uenoyama keeps dwelling on is really helping make him a sympathizable character.  

"Uesama"?  LOL

I'm glad Mafuyu tired the school's music club and that his reason for returning to Uenoyama's band was that he was much cooler.  I'll buy that reasoning.  

What is this exploision effect?  I know the animation in this series so far looks great, like they threw lots of money at it, but wow...  Was it supposed to look cheesey on purpose?  

Well, this ending theme is soothing and nice.  

But I'm not caught by this series.  So far, the primary couple has proven so be one half too angry, kinda mean, and plain grumpy to me.  And the other half is so sweet and fragile seeming, that I just feel sorry when he gets yelled at.  I feel like Mafuyu is just Uenoyama's punching bag, even if his actions are driving Uenoyama crazy.  Why does he have to over-react?  

After a month or so of being tempted to watch this series, I finally gave in today because I couldn't wait to get to answering the questions of those tragic backstories I saw some clips and spoilers of.  And maybe I'll stick around to get my answers.  But I can't say I like this series in and of itself so far. Mafuyu is sweet and intriguing, but I don't feel attached to Uenoyama so far.  I kind of want to watch something else, or just browse through the AkiRyu fandom instead.  ...In fact, I will do that.  No need to jump into ep2.  

But when I come back to this series, I should react to it like a movie.  Just watch it without stopping, then write whatever still stuck out to me enough to have inherently gotten a reaction out of me, at the end.  I shouldn't just stop every few minutes to write.  

Maybe the thing that bugs me with Given ep1 is that I prefer couples who actually like each other enough to instantly click.  At least get along together.  I abandoned my favorite shoujo manga circle because they kept insisting on this "falling in love with the person who annoys the heroine (the most)" cliche.  I generally tell people that I don't like Romance genre movies because so many of them revolve around couples who confuse friction and adrenaline for "passion" and attachment.  But that never sat well with me. I never liked the "argue/hate someone so much, you don't realize you're in love with them", as my aunt once put it.  Even the couples I like which might be mistaken for that trope actually arne't as abrasive as many filler episodes would caricature them to be: Ranma/Akane, Ichigo/Rukia. Maybe that's why I'd prefer to browse the AkiRyu fandom right now.  They actually enjoy spending time with each other!  From the first time they met!  ...I dunno...  Maybe Given will get very good, very fast, after this first ep.  Lots of BL manga had rough starts but turned into great series of scenes that were emotionally moving to experience, once the initial situation that contrived the couple to get together, is settled.  Why wouldn't Given be the same?  

I probably shouldn't post this reaction to my blog.  Or maybe have no tags, so the fandom won't come after me.  I don't need flames for my flippant venting that will likely change drastically once I get further into the series and find what I liked about those spoiler clips.  

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

The more time passed after watching Given ep1, the more I tried to use everything else to TRY to figure out why I wasn’t in love with Given (yet). 

6:43 PM 9/28/2019

TOBE!!! CAROLE & TUESDAY EPISODE 14 LIVE REACTION 

by MemoryNK

https://youtu.be/58OI_yufctQ

OMG THIS SHOW!  Just a few clips, edited, talked over by commentary, and I'm already freaking half-crying!  GODDAMNIT!  ;o;  Carole's dad found her, he and his wife wanted to keep her but the wife died and he was unjustly sent to prison, and now he's still on parole and has to return to prison or his parole restrictions on Earth or something---!  ;O;!!!!!!!!!!!  THIS SHOW---! And Carole takes it as hope and something to look forward to, vs typical cliche drama contrived anger!  This show goes for the heart-felt warmth, instead of the contrived anger drama! ;U;  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!  

Carole and Tuesday season 1 part 2 doesn't release on Netflix for probably a few more MONTHS.  Maybe it was a mistake to see spoilers.  But I've been seeing songs from season 1 part 2 all this time.  But actual scenes, spoiling the story...I went too far.  Maybe I shouldn't have.  

But only because I want to note my emotional reactions.  Especially when I'm having such trouble getting into Given.  I need to now if Carole & Tuesday were able to grab me from ep1, first intros of the main characters,...Because Given is failing hard on that!  And I want to know if I'm justified in not being as attached to Given, or if I was just having a bad day (I wasted all yesterday on that horrible cooking that even made me physically ill ~___~;!)  

6:49 PM 9/28/2019

I came in from my daily walk and had to immediately watch Carole & Tuesday becasue while I was walking, Mafuyu's song from Given was stuck in my head, even though I didn't even know it well.  I started daydreaming about Tuesday and Mafuyu hanging out, jamming, etc., and I couldn't listen to my podcasts while walking anymore.  I had to switch to Carole & Tuesday.  

7:21 PM 9/28/2019

https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/187499907672/md3-watches-carole-tuesday-season-1-part-1

Re-reading my reactions to watching Carole & Tuesday for the first time, I'm surprised how little I say about their characters (until much later episodes).  I wonder if it means they were so agreeable that I didnt' have to rant anything about them.  Because in contrast to my reactions to watching Given ep1 for the first time, I just kept going on and on about their characters---how mean Uenoyama was.  ...omg...I think I don't like Uenoyama.  I mean, I LOVE Carole, and Tuesday is really sweet and cute, but I never mentioned anything about that in my reactions from earlier this month until like halfway through season1 part1.  In fact, a few minutes ago was the first time I reblogged some Carole & Tuesday art with tags like "#my girls" and "i love them!".  I'd hate to say it, but maybe I only realized how good of characters Carole & Tuesday are, because of how abrasive Uenoyama's introduction has been for me.  I mean, I always thought Carole's brash confidence was cool and Tuesday was sweet, but I guess I was taking it as a given, instead of something extraordinarily rare.  ...I'm trying really hard to get into Given, you guys.  All the clips and spoilers I've seen and the music have been good.  But it's becoming clear to me now that Uenoyama is a barrier.  I used to read a lot of BL and those protagonists do tend to be really quirky or always upset to end up in the plot situation for comedic sakes...But when will the series get to Uenoyama being stupidly in love with Mafuyu so I can laugh at him for being an idiot around him?  I'm impatient over here, especially when I usually drop a series as soon as it centers too much on an abrasive character.  There are 20+ anime series every season and 4 seasons every year, and I've got a big backlog of anime to watch, so I can afford to be picky---I _HAVE TO_ be picky.  

6:18 PM 9/29/2019

I've been really bugged by how I have not enjoyed the first episode of Given.  Maybe I got my expectations too high, after watching it because of so much hype over it, and watching spoiler clips that were really intriguing.  But what really gets me, after having finally seen ep1, is that Uenoyama is not very likable!  Why does Mafuyu even like him?!  Well, Mafuyu is a sweethear and will forgive anything, ti seems...I think the problem is that _I_ as an audience member see no reason to like Uenoyama yet.  Why would I want this jerk to continue getting angry as adorable, frail Mafuyu?  Mafuyu doesn't deserve that!  ;o;  

The really bad thing are the comparisons.  I've been re-watching "Carole and Tuesday" repeatedly this month, and though it's not (blatantly) a romance story, there's just so much reason to want to see these 2 characters always be together.  I love watching them, they enjoy each other's company, they are nice to each other equally,---!  And I just realized that Given's Uenoyama and Mafuyu are similar to Kageyama and Hinata from Haikyuu.  Granted, I didn't really get into the KageHina ship (it just had some cute doujins that I personally thought were too dissimilar to the canon characters for me to think of the ship while I watched Haikyuu), but I LIKED the dynamic between Kageyama and Hinata.  WHY?  All Kageyama did was yell and treat Hinata badly whenever he could!...No...That's not true.  The story made certain from the very beginning to establish Kageyama as a more noble person inside, even though he was just so oblivious to how humans should interact, he only knew how to give commands and yell as a frustrated setter/commander.  Kageyama's first personality-establishing scene was him saving Hinata from bullies and proving that he doesn't approve of low, bully-like behaviors.  And I think pegging Kageyama, from the beginning, as seeking penance and his angsting over his regrets, the the whole first season culminating with him learning how to properly share bonds with people vs bossing them around, and thus finally remedying his past regretted behaviors---It all really turned and angry, easily annoyed character that could have become abrasive, into a character of sympathy.  (Plus, he was cool at what he does.  Which is generally another trait a main character nees to garner audience respect.)  So why couldn't Uenoyama do that from the beginning too?!?!  >O<!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  It's driving me crazy!  I was supposed to like Given!!!!!!!!!  I _WANT_ to like Given!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ;O;!!!