#either to the viewer or the people who put everything into creating it

[neptunesenceladus]

help i’m having deep thoughts at 12am i should be asleep

[gacha-incels]

regarding character design in gacha games- if you haven’t played many, I will show examples from some popular ones here. This is for reference regarding confusion as to why incels often play these games. This isn’t to cover everything in these games either, there are games with much more absurd designs and I’m not even going to get into the “sexy little girl” designs a lot of them have. In the future I plan to research more and intend to make a concise post regarding the incel relationship with these games. These character designs and tropes exist across societies and are enforced through many types of media - it’s not just gacha games alone perpetuating them. I think they are however hypervisual in this specific genre mostly due to the huge amounts of money being spent by players in “purchasing” them. again this is just for reference, if you already are familiar with female character gacha design feel free to skip this. I’ll put it under a cut.

gacha games are infamous for typically having extremely sexualized female characters who will usually flatter the assumed male player. Again there are some that designers and writers will dress more chaste or have them give the player shit, but by “winning” these characters they are now “yours” anyway, they are not real women and therefore can’t walk away. I believe a big part of this appeal is due to incel men wanting to control a woman designed for an audience of people like him. The hypersexualization serves both to flatter his idea of a woman’s true place (his consumption) and to create a very rigid and obvious differentiation between men and women during a time when women are fighting tooth and nail for their dignity and equal rights.

Nostalgia and rigid character design dichotomy can be seen in the extremely popular gacha game Fate/Grand Order, I believe a good piece of its success can be attributed to this. There are thousands of Japanese gacha games that take already popular anime franchises and create a money pit gacha with them, it’s been happening for over a decade now. These games usually make bank taking already popular characters and giving them hypersexualized alts and costumes. FGO is an interesting phenomenon to me because it seems like for a lot of fans, the Fate franchise’s cultural touchstone is now this actual gacha game. The game adds popular existing Fate characters of course, so you can see how different the gacha character designs are from the VN/animes:

When you can only watch them/read their stories, the characters are dressed like the above examples. When they are added to the game and you can buy and own them, they look like the bottom examples.

The (rare) depiction of darker skinned female characters in these gacha games is pretty uniform across the board- they are somehow, consistently, sexualized even more than the other female characters, they are often exoticized and sometimes have a “wild” or rebellious looking aspect incorporated. I would consider this something the intended audience expects to see, regardless of the truth, and the gacha game reflects this back to their customers, therefore enshrining this damaging stereotype to its audience. These examples don’t account for everything of course.

As to not offend the delicate male viewer, these games also typically design furry/animal characters by having the female retain the most human-like features (like a small and delicate face) while the male is allowed to actually look like the animal. When a female character has armor that conceals her sex, there is of course a version of her you can “upgrade” where she takes off her armor to reveal a very delicate girl in revealing clothing.

Typically, the consumer will see powerful, sturdy looking male designs that attempt to not alienate the straight male viewer first before adding “sexy” elements. In contrast, female characters are almost always very thin (often with exaggerated tits and ass) and her pose is chosen to show off her body first, before her power. This is an Arknights dual banner that displays this design philosophy well:

some of the biggest incel shitfits come from male designs they see as being sexualized and objectified as the typical female design. these are 3 characters Korean incels have lost their minds over:

In their world, the rigid sex dichotomy is breaking down and the hierarchal system of gender where men are on top is being threatened. they don’t feel powerful seeing lithe and skimpily dressed men, and they aren’t the hentai “femboy” fetish these guys seem ok with either. incels see these games as their playground. when designs like these are included, they see it as their job to rectify this. Lyney’s costume and demeanor is too “sexy” and “gay” for Korean incels, they mass dislike his character trailer and write hateful comments across SNS. Sinclair is shirtless and wearing a collar - Korean incels are furious he’s wearing less than the female summer character and see the collar as meaning he’s a “slave” for the female customer. This snowballs into them targeting a female artist on staff, Vellmori, and getting her fired even though it was a male artist who illustrated the cards. I’ve posted Korean incels comments on the Honkai Star Rail character- similar to Lyney, they are angry he looks “slutty” and/or “gay” since he has a boob window and detached sleeves. This is too similar to how the female characters are made “sexy” and it means women have prominent roles creating for these games, something incels of course hate. Regarding the role women should have in creating these games, a Korean incel wrote (after seeing photos that include many female staff members at Mihoyo) that they should just be there working at the cafe to serve coffee to male employees and look pretty for them.

In regards to how some of these games are marketed, we can again look to the article written by a Korean woman who was a victim of feminist ideological verification.

character designs for NIKKE and Destiny Child:

what the gameplay for NIKKE looks like:

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Ranpo Edogawa (self-aware)

Self-Aware! Ranpo Edogawa x GN! Reader

Warning: Yandere. OOC. Spoilers for "The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency". English is my second language.

Becoming self-aware

🕵🏻 Does the title "The Greatest Detective in The World" have any meaning, if the world isn't real, and the entire world population can fit in a small village at best, if not in a student dorm?

🕵🏻 When Ranpo realised, that all his life was fake, he feels scared.

🕵🏻 He felt like he became a fourteen-year-old again. That he, once again, a boy, who lost his parents and can't understand, why adults can't see what he can see.

🕵🏻 But, thankfully, Ranpo manage to collect himself. He can't lose his cool now. He is not a kid anymore. His friends need his help.

🕵🏻 There was still hope in Ranpo's heart. Hope, that he is still "The Greatest Detective". He believes in his skills. He believes in himself.

🕵🏻 Ranpo tried his best. Because his friends are suffering. Because Fukuzawa looked almost broken.

🕵🏻 Ranpo can't let anyone down.

🕵🏻 Ranpo, same as Katai, was working day and night. The information was limited, and it doesn't let Ranpo to saw the whole picture. Currently, he managed to uncover, that the one, who created this world, put his everything in creating Yokohama city. The city had many streets and buildings. If it wasn't almost empty, Yokohama would look as normal city.

🕵🏻 There was also put an effort in creating their culture. All this holidays, festivals, accents, history... It looked like, someone tried his best in world buiding.

🕵🏻 Then, one day, he gained another source of information.

🕵🏻 He felt an entity's gaze.

_______________________________

The Entity was observing him. And Ranpo was observing the Entity in return. He was having a staring game with it.The Entity was just staring. Still, it was enough for Rampo to gain more information.

First... Entity didn't do anything. It was just staring. No malice, no happiness. Nothing.

Only Kenji believed, that The Entity wasn't bad. Others either hated The Entity or ignored it.

It doesn't feel like a predator gaze.

Fukuzawa managed to learn, that the entity aren't from their world. It came from different world. According to Katai, the entity was hiding behind the screen.

So, they have a Viewer. Now, Ranpo should uncover, how friendly they are.

And then time reset.

And Ranpo, once again, was a fourteen-year-old boy who was looking for a job.

__________________________

When they start feeling your presence

🕵🏻 Ranpo, for now, decide to go with the flow.

🕵🏻 This experience, for certain, will help him learn more about the Entity/Viewer.

🕵🏻 Rampo, once again, exposed the secretary's crime.

🕵🏻 And this time, he heard a voice.

"Wow, [||||||||||||||] in fourteen! Ranpo [||||||||||||] unique. Wish [|||||||||||||] our world [|||||] like him."

🕵🏻 Ranpo felt, like the crowd of people were cheering for him. So, the Entity liked, when he shows his skills? Then he will show them to The Entity.

🕵🏻 During the walk to the theater, Ranpo noticed, that Fukuzawa looked even more exhausted, then the first time. He stopped at the middle of the road and point at Ranpo. "Fifty one," Then, Fukuzawa pointed at the sky. "Thirty". Without elaborating, he countine walking. Ranpo decide not to pry.

🕵🏻 The rest of the investigation happened the same way as before. Only, when Fukuzawa was lecturing him for been reckless, The Entity was also lecturing him. The Entity was worried about him. Ranpo start liking the entity.

🕵🏻 The time 'resets again'. Ranpo 'woke up" in the warehouse. Atsushi, dressed in rugs, were laying on the ground. They were back in their real time.

🕵🏻 And then, Ranpo was again investigating the death of Detective Yamagiwa.

________________________

"The city police are as lacking as ever, I see. They would never catch a single criminal without my support. My Super Deduction ability is the best in this Agency…no, the entire country! No wonder they rely on me so much!"

Ranpo heard a quiet laugh.

"has the right" "professional" "valuable"

"Ranpo, you do have a huge Ego. But, you do have skills. And, besides, you have a good heart. Good job, Ranpo"

Ranpo felt, like he was petted by an invisible force.

[In reality, you pet manga's page with Ranpo on it.]

____________________________

🕵🏻 Ranpo, who likes you before, now really likes you.

🕵🏻 After seeing, that his friends are going back to normal, Ranpo manage to investigate the presence faster.

🕵🏻 After thinking about your words, after asking others, who heard your words. Ranpo find the truth. He gathered all ADA.

"I finished the investigation. It seems, that our entity is a simple human. Like we are. They don't have ability. There are no abilities in their world. And they have no idea, that we can hear them."

🕵🏻 The next day all off them make a discussion. They need to find a way to your world. They don't have anything to do there, in their Yokohama. But you, you were out there, in different world. The kind soul, who are treating them like real human beings.

🕵🏻 More and more people joined them. They will escape from this world.

And then, one day, the purple moon shined above Yokohama.

_____________________________

When you installed BSD Mayoi Inu Kaikitan

🕵🏻 Ranpo will be smug, that he already has his own menu in game.

"Ranpo, your chibi is adorable"

"Love using this card skills. It seems like I am giving you candy."

"Kindergarten Ranpo! My heart!"

🕵🏻 Ranpo, with the help from Ango, will raise the number of "marble shines" you can do.

🕵🏻 Ranpo will be ready to give you an SSR ticket even for the level one marble.

🕵🏻 Ranpo will Google information about real world crimes. He is practicing his skills.

🕵🏻 He will show your world, that he is The Best Detective in The World. And you are under his protection.

______________________

You Shine the Marble. Five "shines" were added. Soon, you will exchange marble for an SSR ticket.

You noticed, that you have another message in Gift Box.

From Ranpo.

With five SSR tickets attached to it.

"[Y/N], how is the biggest fan of The Greatest Detective in the World are doing? Hope, soon we will investigate something interesting. Take care. Edogawa Ranpo"

You open the"Marble" menu again and pet Ranpo's sprite.

"Well, if you want to see me as your assistant, I don't mind, Mister The Greatest Detective in the World"

You didn't notice, that Ranpo's sprite opens his eyes.

[spliffymae]

musicproducer!connie…

kio’s notes - some sfw headcanons inspired by this connie fic i read on wp a while back. it was my first connie fic and the start of this connie brain rot. i wish it was still up 🤧 shit was soooo good!

also inspired by @chrollohearttags rockstar!eren series and @privateparty3 rapper!connie

also check this

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✺ ⋅.}──────── ⊰

now let me say this,

connie mfn springer had a golden ear!

he could make a song out of anything, truth be told. his abuela used to tell him he was blessed with “god’s gift.” yeah, he had a voice as soothing and smooth as velvet. but put it over a track with a piano medley and some soft beats, oh baby! the man had a voice that made the greek muses swoon.

musicproducer!connie had a couple of his own songs out on streaming platforms. he mostly used spotify and apple music for his official music, and soundcloud for official music or for quick ideas he wanted his followers to hear. he loved singing, but not as much as he loved to create. producing was where connie truly felt he belonged. he couldn’t count the number of times he’s fallen asleep at his desk, drooling on his piano keys because he pulled an all nighter to finish a song because he got a sound stuck in his head and just needed to bring it to life.

(honorable mentions to the times he hears songs not by him and thinks “i can make this better” and just completely changed the entire vibe of the song)

but musicproducer!connie loved sounds. everything and anything had potential to be a song. whether it be the crunching of the fall leaves under his boot, or the bounce of the basketball he dribbled in his backyard court, or even the sound of his car’s indicator—connie found music in any sound.

if you asked musicproducer!connie what he couldn’t live without, he would describe to you in detail his music setup. his laptop, the hard drive with all his songs, his drum pad, his bass guitar, his red beats headphones, the software he uses…he would go on forever!

musicproducer!connie would be the genius behind his friends’ music as well. they would come to him either with a chopped up idea of what they wanted or sometimes come to him empty handed with nothing but a hope. either way, connie would be sitting in his home studio with his friends, working on a song. he loved helping them, so he looked at it as great bonding time too.

musicproducer!connie was also quite big on social media. he had a following of 700k on instagram and over a million listeners across his streaming services. he also had a twitch, where he would post at least twice a week, one of those times being him making instrumentals from scratch with his viewers watching and helping. he loved to interact with his followers. knowing there were people out there who connected with his music on a deep level made him so happy. hell, the first single he dropped he was kicking his feet at all the supportive feedback he was getting.

musicproducer!connie even did shows here and there! they would be house shows, with maybe 1000 people at least. he would sing some of his hits, but would mainly be the dj, working the booth for his friends. he always and only performed with his friends.

honestly, music was everything to connie and then some. it was his passion. it was what made him who he is. but most of all, it was something he always did with you.

yessir! musicproducer!connie would be telling a lie if he said he became the artist he is today on his own. if it weren’t for you, he probably would’ve quit a long time ago, when his sophomore project didn’t receive as much hype/attention as his debut.

you were always his biggest fan, though. you would use your social media following to promote his work, much to connie’s joy. what he loved more than sharing his music was you sharing it, because in turn you would be showcasing the relationship between you and connie to your hundreds of thousands of followers.

like those times he would be sitting on the floor of his living room, creating a song on his laptop. you would be behind him, sitting between the couch and him with the side of your face pressed against his back. he would be in his own world with his headphones on, you would be busy on your phone, and yet connie felt it was one of the best ways to spend time with you.

your glossy lips would be in a faint pout as you recorded yourself, stretching your arm up and out to show connie’s entire back, this tan freckled skin showcasing the tense of his muscles whenever he would reach for his pen to scribble away notes in his notebook.

you would simply post the video to your snapchat, captioning it “1/2 of us is in their creative bag rn”. you would follow up that snap with another short video, this time it being you leaving small kisses along the expanse of connie’s back. because of your gloss the lip prints were visible and you would smile mischievously.

musicproducer!connie loved you. he loved to have you near him. so when he would go on these red carpet events with his friends, you would be at his side, the two of you dressed beautifully as you smiled for the cameras. connie would make it his mission to have you flustered the whole night, giving you soft neck kisses and whispering both sweet and naughty things in your ear while he held you close. like,

“you look so beautiful tonight, i’m so lucky to have you, mi cielita.”

“i can’t wait to take this off of you, baby.. give you the proper attention you deserve.”

“been missing my lil’ songbird so much.” he would just miss the shell of your ear with his teeth, looking down at you with his eyes droopy with lust. “have you missed me, baby?”

“of course, baby. but the show ain’t even start yet.” you said with a squeal, already feeling the blood rush straight to your cheeks. there was no doubt the cameras caught that. if they somehow didn’t, then they sure must’ve captured the lovestruck look connie gave you whenever his eyes would fall on you.

“i can’t help it, mami. just love having you.” he would mumble, giving you the softest of pecks as to not mess up your lipstick.

musicproducer!connie was in deep when it came to you. and if it wasn’t obvious by the way he showered you with physical affection, then it must be from the way he had you as his producer tag, the five second audio starting with you giggling, then in your best ‘smooth r&b’ voice, saying “issa connie springer production.” connie remembers the first project he used that on—a joint lover’s ep onyankopon wanted him on. til this day, how many years later, every time a song from the ep comes on, your cheeks get hot and body all tingly at the flustered feeling that overwhelms you. it was your first time ever being on a record

musicproducer!connie used you for a lot of his songs, it was mainly on the background vocals of different projects he would do. but he also used you as inspiration. he moonlighted as a songwriter, mainly helping other artists with filler lyrics or strengthening what they already have. it would be rare connie was asked to write a song start to finish, but whenever he did, he found he was thinking back to your relationship. both good and bad times, just thinking of you filled him with enough inspiration to create several masterpieces.

yeah, musicproducer!connie loves you. he has what seems to be an endless amount of ways to express his love to you. but if all else fails, he knows his music will do it’s job every. damn. time.

[roodles03]

The Art of Alastor's Expressions: An Analysis by an Profressional Cartoon Artist and Current Animation Student

This is not related to TOH but I wanted to bring this up because the art how they animate Alastor's facial expressions deeply fanisnates and heavily impresses me. And also because I'm an animation nut and I am currently in animation school and I heavily appreciate the art of animation.

In Dad Beat Dad, during the scene where Husk confronts Alastor about Mimzy, directly after when Husk says, "You've been gone a while, and it's not like anyone knows why," there is exactly THREE frames where Alastor's pupils turn into dials as he eyes away. (Being most noticable on the first)

Now I gurantee since Husk was talking, there was a good amount of viewers focusing on him as the focal point, over Alastor, despite this shot being from Alastor's POV. Meaning a lot of people probably missed Alastor even eyeing away at all on their first viewing. But this is noticable on a rewatch and if you just focus on Alastor as the focal point.

But I have never seen anyone point out that his pupils actually turn into dials here. And you definitely wouldn't even notice UNLESS you spefically paused on one of those three frames. To give you an idea of how truly fast these frames go by, typical 2D animation runs at 24 fps. These three frames only last 20 milliseconds together. And since the detail is so tiny it is nearly impossible to notice when the shot is running normally at 24 fps. Its even hard to notice if you pause on these three frames because this detail is so small.

Whoever animated this added this detail despite the fact nearly no one would notice just to truly show Alastor losing his compsure. And as one of my animation profressors said "Every detail in animation is intentional since you create everything from nothing," (Unless it is an animation error) And as someone who is currently in a hand drawn 2D animation class, yeah, you spend a while on every single frame, knowing its only gonna be shown for a few milliseconds and the overwhelming majority of people will never notice or even care to notice. But You can slip in tiny details like this that add an incredible amount of insight to the very slim margin of people who will dissect your animation looking for details, or even just looking for funny inbetween frames or animation errors and they happen to discover a cool detail you left.

Back on the topic of Alastor. People have noticed that often Alastor's eyes give away how he's truly feeling through the mask of the smile he puts on. And they're absolutely right. But ive never seen anyone talk about this moment.

And in these brief three frames he loses his compsure for just a BRIEF moment upon being reminded of his deal. In fact, look at his expression in both the key frames right before these three inbetween/extreme frames

Overwhelmingly confident after he says "Who in their right mind would cross me?"

Doubtful of Husk after he says "You've been gone a while"

Losing his compsure when Husk reminds him of his deal after he says "And it's not like anyone knows why,"

Then puts on his classic mask, with that look in his eyes completely gone, saying "They don't need to know," (about why he was gone)

It's incredible how much three frames of showing Alastor losing his compsure adds to his character and this scene.

Also, This is not the only time where Alastor has an expression where it's clear that his deal is some sort of trigger to him, either. (Outside his verse in Finale which is obvious) Just look at these frames when Zestial simply comments that he's be gone for a while and there were rumors that he fell to holy arms

(wasn't able to include the other frame of his eyes going side to side damn you tumblr)

He also clearly looks away from Zestial as well, avoiding eye contact or even facing him when Zestial questions why he's been gone, indirectly reminding Alastor of his deal.

I love these such tiny details about Alastor. Its clear he is often hiding so much behind his smile. And since I can't add more pictures (thanks tumblr), I cannot even go into the two frames where he actually does frown, or another two frames where it's up for debate if he frowns. But I feel like there's more to say here where his eyes give away everything despite his smile, even if its just for a few frames, rather then the four frames where its either up for debate if he is frowning or he is clearly frowning.

I also want to mention that accomplishing expressions like like this is incredibly hard. Drawing is hard. Animating is even harder And despite expressions being my strong point, expressions are still hard as hell.

Most and sometimes all parts of the face go into making the right expression. Eyes, eyebrows and the mouth are the main factors, but you can even use the nose for extereme negative emotions (often used for extreme anger, hysterical ugly crying, or intense disgust. Hazbin actually does this for Alastor in one shot to my memory When Carmilla says she wasn't wondering where Alastor has been for the past 7 years) And depending on the character design, you can also even use their ears (positive emotions they perk up, and negative emotions they flatten. Most commonly seen in characters with animal ears but humanoid characters with pointed human-like ears can do this too. Like the witches from The Owl House for example the use of Ears also apply to Alastor when he experiences EXTREME negative emotions... Or Susan)

But when you take away a major part of the face, mainly eyes or the mouth, making the proper expressions becomes a lot harder. But it is possible. think Let Me Explain Studios or character's with hair covering both or even one eye. But Alastor is the only case I've seen where he actually does have ALL the facial features for expressions available, (including ears which is not common!) BUT one of them is actively working against the others parts of the expression, which is the fact that he is REQUIRED to smile. That means you must always draw him smiling, in every single frame, but try and use his other features (mainly his eyes and sometimes his nose or ears) to try and hint at his true emotions. Take a moment to think how HARD that is. That is insane.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my Ted talk about Alastor and his emotions lmao.

[anonymous-dentist]

Someone has gone ahead and dm-ed me with a lengthy explanation for the Guapoverse stuff, so here is the explanation from somebody active in the Twitter community.

Hopefully, with this full explanation, we can all stop fighting and being nasty to each other. Is this really the way we want to present ourselves? We're all really cool people, we shouldn't be tearing each other apart over something as silly as tags.

hey, just wanted to let you know the context of the whole guapoverse in twitter and why people are changing the tags and the ! for the cubitos, since I think the criticism from both sides is just basically miscommunication. the vast majority of the cellbit community in twt (and a lot of people from roier's) are not just disappointed or boycotting the qsmp, they just straight up dropped it (like, the most common opinions I saw regarding the future of the qsmp from both of those communities are either watching only cellbit and roier if they logged in to just not watching even them if they decided to do so). There are a lot of reasons as to why but people have lost the hope they had in the server and in quackity, especially after the way he treated the xenophobia and admins situation. people still love the characters and the story they constructed and think everything cellbit and roier put they effort in is bigger than the platform and "world" they created it. the thing with not using the q anymore and changing the tag is because the project, as much as it brought joy to us in the beggining, caused more pain and harm than good in the brazilian community, both for the viewers and admins affected, so we just really don't want to have a reminder staring at us everytime we want to talk or write about these characters we care so much for. BUT!! I totally agree that the ! system for the cubitos is super confusing, so as a chronically online person in the twt fandom I'll try to explain the system I've seen people using (is not perfect and not as consistent, it's still all very new, but I'll try to explain the patterns I've notice, also it's mostly applied to the guapoduo twt fandom I can't explain the use from other viewers.) people either use g! or just the ! to refer to the qsmp characters, some still use the q! but it's mostly those two. f! from the fuga impossível characters (like f!cell), the c! from chafaland (like c!roier) and other variations from the twt aus (like the great pretender au is gp!cellbit). so it's mostly it I feel like as someone who has not seen the disappointment in real time and seen people coming up with solutions to still enjoy the characters and their story without having to be reminded of the horrible time the community had these last few months, is very valid that you had your reservations to the many changes the fandom had, and I guess it could look like people are just avoiding the server and trying to erase everything related to it but I hope I could give you more context people are still posting under the q!, people are still posting stuff in the qsmp tag, they aren't going after people that are still using it, it's just to distance themselves from it. the whole thing is mostly a twitter thing, I think not even 30 fanfics changed the tags (last I checked), is just people there are the most affected from the xenophobia and wanted to distance themselves (again, in twitter) of the qsmp and quackity fandom. nobody wanted the whole fandom to adapt, nobody wanted a revolution in guapoduo/spiderbit media consumption, it was just a way to distance themselves on twitter. it was just this.

It's a pretty long explanation, but I think it gets everything across that needs to be said.

Nobody needs to be a dick to each other. We need to understand the Guapoverse Guys, but they also need to understand us. We've got some cultural differences between Tumblr and Twitter, and now there are more differences between Guapoverse and Everyone Else.

[em-dash-press]

Everything Writers Should Know About Chekhov's Gun

We’ve all heard someone mention the idea of Chekhov’s gun. Sometimes it’s not even related to a weapon. “Oh, the protagonist just left an email open on their computer. That’ll be a Chekhov’s gun later.”

What is this literary tool and what does it mean? This is everything you need to know, plus a few tips to help you use it in a story.

It Started With a Playwright

Anton Chekhov was a playwright who created plays in Russia in the late 1800s. People loved his work because he didn’t use recycled plot formulas. Instead, he always knew how to surprise those who watched his plays.

In one of his letters, he famously wrote, “If in the first act, you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.”

It was a lesson in wielding tension as a storytelling device and it’s lasted through creative writing classes to this day.

Remember Your Most Important Details

One of the points Chekhov makes comes back to the idea of promising your viewers or readers that everything they learn is essential to your plot. Every character, scene change, and object affects how your story plays out.

Sleuth readers will try to solve your plot like a puzzle while they read. Others will want the enjoyment of getting surprised by clever writing.

The lesson is simple and important—ensure that your plot always has a purpose, no matter which page or scene you’re writing. If it’s worth your reader’s time, it will be vital to your story.

Create Effective Tension

A forgotten, loaded gun adds tension because it’s a threat. Chekhov’s advice is universal, so many readers will literally expect it to fire at some point later in your story. Readers who have never heard this advice will only recognize the essential threat that is a weapon ready to fire. Either way, they’ll become concerned for their favorite characters and get anxious to continue reading.

You can do this with objects or story elements that aren’t guns. Character A might learn that Character B betrayed them, but they don’t reveal that right away. Tension builds as your reader waits to see how far the betrayal will go and how Character A gets revenge or breaks the news.

Let tension linger. There’s a specific strength in controlling your plot’s tension. It gives readers moments to breathe or anxiously turn the page, which makes their experience much more enjoyable.

Use It as an Escape Pod

We’ve all written ourselves into a corner at some point. Instead of throwing the entire story away, that’s a great moment to return to any of your plot’s Chekhov’s guns. 

Your character might remember that thing they learned earlier in the story and use it to jumpstart a change in their life. Maybe they grab hold of a Chekhov’s gun meant for another character and use it for themselves.

It depends on where you’re stuck, what you’re writing and which type of writer’s block you might be dealing with. Going back to something that added tension to your plot and giving it purpose could help propel your story to its conclusion in a way that makes readers think you’re a mastermind.

-----

Keep your plot promises. If something adds tension, it has to either fulfill its purpose or get solved before it can. Readers will trust that you know what you’re doing on the way to an epic conclusion, which is why Chekhov’s gun is a fundamental plot device any writer should know how to use.

[sunflower-cathedral]

Lets Talk About The Perception Of Ren This Season.

Going to try say this as politely as possible, this season it just feels like some people are Infantilizing and really boiling down the relationships he holds with certain hermits to something that it's not + turning Ren into a one dimensional person and character.

I wanted to try address a couple things in this post regarding that; How the fanbase has been reacting to how hermits are treating him on camera mainly (Long Post, so it's under Keep Reading <3).

Regarding how the neighbourhood of ministries have been treating Ren;

They are all very close friends. and have been for up to 10 or so years. Please, for the love of everything holy watch old series like Foolcraft, Hermitcraft UHCs, the Renskall Podcast, older seasons of Hermitcraft etc. Hell, even watch my favourite VOD; Sea Of Thieves. You quickly learn the dynamic they have, and the fact they all go off on playful banter (and also re: British Humour/Love that Cleo and False have mentioned off-handedly in streams and videos before being typically brash and sarcastic. Also not to mention how Martyn is British; I'll get to that later though.) There's a really specific dynamic where Iskall, False and Stress are close friends with him and care about him deeply; and Ren has openly talked about how much the Hermits have helped him out during IRL struggles. The roles and performance they put on for the camera is not going to always reflect how they treat each other off camera, let alone show how much they all deeply care for one another. Cleo has outright mentioned how much they care about Ren on stream too even. A lot of hermits have mentioned how much they appreciate Ren, and have complimented him + said affirmations on stream.

Regarding hermits ribbing him/not playing along;

If something happened that was uncomfortable for Ren or Too Much, it would've been mentioned after and not included in anyone's POVs. Ren's whole kinda thing is being a Theatre Kid, his whole thing is being dramatic and taking up roles for the sake of creating fun storylines and contents for the other hermits to either play along with or turn into something else. If a hermit took it a way Ren wasn't happy with He Would Bring It Up To The Hermits Because They Are Adults And Communicate Amongst Each Other. Like I mentioned above, the banter is very much more part of british humour and culture/attitude, as well as their general dynamic going on.

I've even seen concerns of it being bullying, which is far from the case. I think a lot of us longer term viewers have a better grasp of how much they all care about each other and how deep the friendship goes.

The other concern I have is how like, the joke of him being a 'Wet Pathetic Dog' is kind of going a bit overboard to the point where it's the only defining factor people are mentioning about him? and that like, so much so it genuinely feels more like the fanbase is infantilizing him or making him out to be this damsel in distress who needs to be rescued. He's a grown adult man, who can more than easily speak up for himself and advocate for himself. Minimizing him down to this pathetic useless character who can't do anything is just rude and misses the point of the characters he tends to play when doing storylines. He tries his hardest to organize server events and include all the hermits in things, which is both great for content and a great show of how much the hermits are willing to go along with his ideas and either see where it plays out or evolve it further. Mind you there's always MULTIPLE if not ALL the hermits being willing to play along in these events!! from the mining event this season to the king Ren arc last season all the way to log fellas in season 4.

[akusaimonth]

AkuSaiMonth 2023: July 8 - August 7

And here we go again! Welcome to AkuSaiMonth, a month of celebrating AkuSai & LeaIsa!

AkuSaiMonth 2023 Bingo

Just like last year, we will be playing bingo again! The prompts on the bingo cards are randomized! Which means, every participant will have their prompts in 1 of 30 different arrangements!

Where can I get the Bingo Card?

To claim your personal AkuSaiMonth Bingo card,

click >> HERE! <<

Using the link on the same device and browser should (in theory) always lead to the same card. However, I would strongly recommend also saving the card by either using the print button on top or by making a screenshot.

How does it work?

The goal is to get one “Bingo!” during the month (Jul 7 – Aug 8) by filling 5 prompts in a row, column or diagonal. 

This could mean one post every week, for example:

Post 1: Saturday, July 8 (IsaLea Day)

Post 2: Saturday, July 15

Post 3: Saturday, July 22

Post 4: Sunday, July 29

Post 5: Monday, August 7 (AkuSai Day) -> Bingo! <3

You are of course allowed to do less than five prompts (one is perfectly fine! <3) or even fill out the entire bingo card (I wish I had your time management skills)!

Rules:

General Rules

• The event is open to everybody, there is no official list of participants and you don't have to register for it.

• You can start and end your participation at any time!

• You can fill as many prompts as you want at whatever schedule works for you!

• The goal is to achieve one bingo, but this is meant as motivation only; it’s not an obligation or restriction!

• Everybody who reaches one bingo "wins".

• There is no prize for "winning" and there is no punishment for "not winning"

Posting Rules

• The event is held on instagram & tumblr, but you can post wherever you want.

• On tumblr tag your works as #AkuSaiMonth and #ASM23

• On instagram tag your works as #AkuSaiMonth and #AkuSaiMonth23

• Mention @akusaimonth in your works both on tumblr and instagram so I can’t miss it!

• Don't hesitate to send me your works per dm if I somehow do end up missing them anyway!

• On tumblr all posts will be reblogged to the @akusaimonth tumblr

• On instagram I will collect all posts in the stories. It is also possible to invite @akusaimonth as a collaborator to showcase and collect your works on the @akusaimonth instagram page as well. All rights to your works remain with you of course!

• If you post to other sites (e.g. AO3, twitter, wattpad, youtube, ...) you can send me the link in a DM on either tumblr or instagram so I can add that link to the instagram stories and tumblr (assuming you didn't post it there yourself). Please let me know where you would like me to put the link and whether it contains NSFW content or not.

• I do retain the right to not share content I find in bad taste and I will ask you to remove it from the #AkuSaiMonth tags as well. I don't expect any problems, but just to be save.

Content Rules

• All forms of content are allowed, including but not limited to fanfiction, fanart, edits, videos, music, …

• The “/” in some prompts means you can use either or multiple of the terms

• All prompts are open for interpretation, there’s no right or wrong way to use any of them!

• You can stay within the framework of canon or create AUs or crossovers or whatever you want, everything is great!

• All content has to be made by you! Stolen fan work is NOT allowed.

• AI generated work is strongly discouraged

• If you want to include fan content made by other people in your edit/video/… you have to get permission first and add credit to the original creator/s!

• Official material can be used with no restrictions

NSFW Rules

• NSFW is allowed!

• Consuming NSFW content happens at the viewers own discretion.

Tumblr:

• Please post visual NSFW under a “Read More” or with the appropriate community label

• NSFW content will be reblogged with an #nsfw tag

Instagram:

• Keep the Instagram NSFW rules in mind (cropping, censoring, ...)

• Please add a NSFW warning in the first two slides of any visual NSFW works.

Disclaimer

• AkuSaiMonth is a fan event only and stands in no relation to any copyright holders of Kingdom Hearts or any of its content or characters.

• The rights to all works remain with their creators and the copyright holders.

• AkuSaiMonth is not responsible for any content created during the event.

FAQ

Who is behind the event?

Original creator and host from 2014 – 2019 is the wonderful @misomilk! This year’s host is @herzblutrose

I lost my card!

If you remember your Bingo Card ID, then that’s absolutely no problem. Let me know and I’ll give you a permalink to the card you pulled!

What does prompt (…) mean?

It means whatever you want it to mean! Have fun with it!

Other questions?

Send me an ask or a DM!

Plain text prompts in alphabetical order:

• Arguments Turned Love Confessions

• AU where nothing goes wrong

• Crossover

• Distortion / Static

• Early Mornings / Late Evenings

• Fake Dating AU

• Far Away / Together

• Farewells / New Beginnings

• Forehead Kisses / Scar Kisses

• Found Family

• FREE SPACE

• Getting Stuck on a World / No Way to RTC

• I Didn't Forget You

• I didn't know where else to go.

• Jealousy

• Magic

• Memories / Snapshot

• Mobsters / Crime AU

• My soul will find yours. (Jude Deveraux)

• Stars

• Summer Snow

• Sun (or Fire) & Moon / Red & Blue

• Tear Marks

• Was it worth it?

• You Have Changed

[zeldabecameaqueen]

hello qsmp enjoyers, here's my goodbye to a server that saved my days for a year now

i don't know what will happen with the qsmp in the future but i just can't put myself in it anymore

i feel disrespected by the choices Quackity's Studios made, as a french person, but also as someone who's been abused as a worker. I understand that the process may be long (every administrative stuff is hell) for the studio to solve the financial and hierarchical situation, and I believe Quackity did everything to solve the issue as fast as he could (it's a belief, at no point i'm saying this is the truth of course).

however, i do not agree with him being neglectful towards his own project, towards his own admins, towards the qsmp community, i do not agree with him being radio silent towards his employees/volunteers, not thanking them once they left, not communicating anything to them about their own future, i do not agree with him either being blind to their loudly expressed needs or purposely ignoring them, i do not agree with him telling everyone "stuff takes time" but also allowing new events to happen on the server, and i'm extremely disappointed in this whole situation, because it divides more than ever a community and a project that i, among a lot of other people, cherish since a year now, when simple mesures such as COMMUNICATION were ignored.

frankly i think that most of the people would have better understood and been patient if Quackity's Studios didn't keep on announcing new events like nothing was happening

the reason i'm not talking too much about the financial issue is that : 1. I believe finding a way to pay admins that are still in the qsmp is a priority to Quackity nowadays, along with firing those who mistreated the employees/volunteers ; 2. I believe they will find a solution regarding the incomes (merch actually being a means to pay the admins is one of them)

i'm writing this during qsmp awards, i know a lot of ccs will be there. i'm a little hurt and disappointed but at the same time, i know some of them have a personal relation to Quackity that we as viewers don't have, they have their reasons to trust Quackity, i just don't agree with them, but please, no hate towards them or to people who'll watch the future events

it's a goodbye even though no one knows me lmao (i spent hours and hours watching, filling the vods of timestamps, translating youtube clips, even drawing again since a long time, i filled in the qsmp fandoms, did presentation docs and put hours into spreadsheets of the ccs statistics), but know that being a part of this community was a life experience for me, in so many ways, i'm forever thankful for the people who made this project possible, i'll miss sharing my hyperfixation with you all

🎨 also, I saved a bunch of qsmp fanarts that I didn't want to rb because I didn't want to support in any way what was happening, i didn't want to make people feel like watching the streams was ok, instead, I wanted to let the most room for any info about the admins' situation

i realize now that it wasn't fair, their art comes from a place of love, and whatever their reason was to continue watching qsmp despite all that was happening is not my business. They did art, and good art, so i'll reblog the last qsmp fanarts and probably will continue to share some from time to time

🩵 big big thanks to the artists and the ccs for creating such an amazing universe, i hope you'll keep the spirit and maybe leave with good friends, and obviously i'm so proud of all the eggies (by that I mean their admins), who have spoken up and left a project despite their obvious love for it, thanks to Lea for starting all this, freeing admins from an unbearable situation they might have not even recognized as so at the time

i don't know if i'll be back, for now i need to step back, but if i see one day that the situation got all fixed and safe and that actual apologies were made, then maybe i'll come back to this unique qsmp (it'll certainly feel changed tho)

[captaindarkiplier]

I am both confused and curious , depending on the endings ,do you see engineer and darkiplier become a couple sort of ? Or is it complicated ? Since engineer is either actor or the true engineer guy

That's a really good question. And I'm glad to answer it early on rather than later, because I've actually thought about Darkhenge being read that way ahaha, and it's not exactly my intention, but I'll get deeper into that because it's more nuanced

Short answer:

I'd be fine if people see it as anything, honestly. My AU isn't fleshed out to the point where it's entirely removed from the source, and the nature of the source is... you can project onto it! Canon Captain and Head Engineer are depicted as a friendship, but people can easily ship them if they want to. So that's how I feel about my AU as well- except it's much different in genre of ""romance"" or ""friendship"" LOL (due to Dark HATING Mark- But that's the catch- this isn't the "same" Mark!)

Long answer:

I'll get into exactly what I think Darkhenge to be. First, before getting into it: The AU name Darkhenge is structured as a ship name, but I don't really ship within the binary of romantic nor platonic, it is just a duo/pairing system to me pretty much. ISWM is a story that goes heavy on the platonic emotions, and tends to be unconventional/bizarre in ways, in the storytelling, characters, etc. Such bizarre things as killing your friend or having your friend try to kill you or seeing your friend as hundreds of different people. It's fun. I think I held onto that aspect more than a concept of a standard relationship. I guess I happen to be unconventional in my tastes.

Now, I will dig into Darkhenge as I conceptualize it. It's kind of making me nervous to finally put an official description of it out O__O" alongside my art of it! I've talked about it a lot privately but never spilled the beans on what it IS...? (a little excited)

Dark is put into a compromising situation, though not like he isn't used to that, and he has to fend to secure his position of power. So, it is fortunate that he's a Captain with Mark as a self-sacrificial subordinate. That's Dark's comfort zone, to have control. But, (to have (Actor) Mark as his friend,) it's not his normal. But for us, The Viewer, it is. So that creates a dichotomy internally that Darkiplier has to account for. ... Darkiplier doesn't typically share the emotions that The Viewer does, and if he did, I think he has a fair chance of it not getting in his way, since he's always repressing conflicting emotions anyways. But that depends. If Darkiplier "wins the game" like I explained in my previous post... He witnesses the story of ISWM. This might not influence him- as explained! Why would it? But there is some more weight to the experience for him, regardless. It's something he would think about for at least a moment, maybe yet another thing that weighs him down forever, even if it doesn't subtract from everything he has going on canonically. (The whole revenge and hate thing) ... So finally, the weight in question: Head Engineer, in my AU, is Actor Mark, but not exactly- his character is modified in this story specifically, just like how The Viewer/Darkiplier is modified to have fused for the duration of ISWM in my AU, and then would split after they finally resolve the paradox; so everything canonical still applies in the overarching universe & stories. Head Engineer is an Actor Mark who, unlike the other Marks, hasn't just deluded himself into "believing the story he acts out..." or wanting something in the House... -- he's literally a different Mark. That's how it was written canonically, and I'm reading it this way for fun: He's Actor Mark, but an AU version. I know Actor Mark transcends the AU logic like Warfstache, but before Mark was an Actor he was Mark- and that's the idea. Maybe you get it, maybe you don't... so here's a list:

Damien and Mark were good friends, until Mark was taken by his ego and the influence of the House.

The Viewer and Mark have a deep friendship.

The Captain and Head Engineer are on good grounds to have a close friendship as well, thanks to whatever circumstances of their respective characters preceded the story of ISWM.

Darkiplier hates Actor Mark, and his hate is hinged entirely upon what Actor Mark did in WKM, via influence of the House.

The Head Engineer is Actor Mark, except before he would do any of that in WKM.

The Head Engineer is Actor Mark before he became Actor Mark, so just Mark- except an AU version: he's evidently a space engineer instead, with a humbled ego and no awakened desire to act. Yes, Head Engineer does have a smaller ego than Mark had, I imagine Mark was a bit egotistical and theatric even as a kid. Head Engineer is Mark if he turned out different. "I could've been an engineer..." haha And this can be circumstantial or "genetic" - but I like to think it's mostly circumstantial, because I still see the other Marks' traits (including Actor) in Head Engineer's character, especially with how carried away Head Engineer can get about the warp core. It's the same phenomenon of the house. And I know that's just the House, but I like to think that there's a theme shared between Actor and Engie that they're both the type to get carried away with a creative vision or incentive of investigation and revenge... (Kind of like Abe and Dark, which is why I see that it can be just the House's global influence) ... It's a hc of mine that I find enriching to the AU Engie's character.

So, to Dark, other than any potential heartstrings it could tug on his very dead and perhaps nonexistent heart, this is a surprisingly uncomfortable situation. But The Viewer makes it more tolerable by eventually resolving the situation, regardless of how much Dark might have wanted to fight those routes, or how many mistakes each of them made to get bad endings. If the Captain and Head Engineer never made up, the story would likely never end- because, well, we tried every other route, and it didn't really end there... So, The Viewer is essential. Mending the friendship is essential. If Dark has any heartstrings pulled, it's probably Damien's... but I think this Dark is rather muddy in his "original" identity by now (plus the addition of the D/A as The Viewer... Damien isn't even getting the chance to talk to the D/A in headspace, I feel like ISWM feels super fast for them all, barely conscious), so it'd be vague and buried. I like the hc that Dark and Warfstache both forget, but Dark remembers a bit more, and he's sentimental, but very reserved about it and would only stop repressing it only around people he trusted. That's a complicated thing, and I think ISWM is not about resolving Dark, but is about resolving the story and nothing else. But you could argue otherwise if you wanted to. Maybe part of him could have been happy.

A silly analogy would be taking a criminal to a class meant for teaching toddlers to play nice, and not letting them argue with the teaching, just teaching them the lesson until they submit and actually succeed to be nice. Then the criminal is let free from the class to do whatever he wants, again. The memory of it might be uncomfortable... or maybe irrelevant, because it could be happening all the time! Maybe this isn't Darkiplier's first rodeo in the multiverse, nor the last. ... I like to think that he explores, since everyone technically can within the illusory world in the House/Mansion. Stuck but free all the same.

Ah... I like to think how ironic it would be if Darkiplier had to go to this universe & possess this body of all possibilities just to get the warp core... It's funny.

The most important aspects of the dynamic to me is the duality of comedy and horror/tragedy, and the anomalous third act is the profound sappiness in the original media that would not at all fit Actor and Dark's dynamic- it's the contrast and impossibility that I love about the situation.

If I had to romanticize them, I think it could be done nonromantically, for the record. I, myself, am not traditional with the genre of romance. I guess I fit into the grey area, and that influences how I think of Darkhenge, as well. I also think the word "romantic" doesn't necessarily have to mean dating, since you can romanticize pretty much anything in life. And I think this AU is a pretty good example of how I can romanticize things! A lot of fiction is a kind of romanticization, but the romanticization doesn't usually indicate what you would feel about it if it happened in real life. So yeah, I think I do a lot of that... A lot of media I read can have villains or dark themes that I will play around with conceptually, knowing that if they were real, I'd hate them. Lol.

I like love stories that go like this. I mentioned Madoka briefly before, and that's honestly my top inspiration to even my own surprise because it nails the nuance perfectly- it's commended as a great Yuri but it's not actually a Yuri, it's just written so well around those two characters that it can be commended as a great story with Yuri characters/undertones in it.

So yes, I like stories like this, and they tend to be best written as love stories... but they don't necessarily have to be love stories. They can just be tragedies... but I think love is an important element when writing about the bigness of life. Whatever form that love might take. So whether it's platonic, romantic, or neither, is none of my concern nor consideration, because it's about something more nuanced, bigger... Everything and nothing is taken into account at once, if that makes sense.

Even some of my Darkhenge art ideas (that haven't yet come to fruition) seem a bit romantic, it's just a grey area. I think I am in love with the AU itself, and that's why... I hope it makes sense why I am in love with it- if not, I'll just keep trying to show why...!!!! ( •̀ ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧

Well, I think I have explained it properly...? Feel free to ask more questions, though. I'm a little sleepy while typing all of this, so I could have missed something.

For the record! If someone shipped my AU characters romantically, I would likely be fine with their headcanons/interpretation, but I encourage them to ask about boundaries if they plan to post about it.

Thank you so much for the question!!! I'm glad someone thought to ask it. :)

[onestepbackwards]

Ayo, didn’t know MissingNo Anon was a preexisting Anon with its own tag. Wanted to clarifyI was both the same person who brought up MissingNo in both asks.

With MissingNo my original idea was that MissingNo would be trying to warn the viewers about impending doom of their future, but I thought of it society wise.

However, the implication that MissingNo is a result of something catastrophic a person can do to themselves sounds just as haunting.

A creature who lived a horrible life either by preexisting conditions, regrettable decisions, or something deep within their soul, binding and twisting them till they no longer belonged in any reality.

A fate worse than hell or being reincarnated into a ghost Pokémon. More of a fucked up mutation of a person that could take trillions of years to begin. It’s heavily hated for its past sins, regrets, and emotions formed into something that can’t even be distinguished. All Pokémon really dislike it.

However, Arceus would probably notice that.

Then there’s the other idea I’m recycling from another idea I had before this!

The concept of true nothingness, which is usually perceived as a black void by most people. However, MissingNo is what people see when they are close to true nothingness, it’s just an easier thing to comprehend than what’s inside it. It could hold everything that was forgotten, trying to preserve such only for it to forget, to alter, never failing nor winning.

They see all, and know many things… They are unfortunately cursed to live a life mangled and every change to fill itself as a dream existed even before Arceus came to be.

It desires company, but it’s even reality that it can't comprehend something that lives, but has no existing property. It end up fucking physics up all the time which garentees a future of endless lonliness.

Like putting a sticky note over the missing/lost center puzzle piece to an otherwise complete puzzle.

In this case, the Eldritch Flex-tape dex entry to nothingness in the Pokédex. MissingNo, the placeholder Pokémon.

MissingNo never explains itself, but it’s always focusing on the viewers, the streamers, from its cries, philosophical lessons could be learned, since nothing it says makes entirely sense, its purpose is for the viewers to fill the void with its words and create a meaning of their own. Wild, absurd, it’s all up to the people.

It cries for the streamer’s attention and to be treated like any other existing matter…only for it’s existence to fuck with reality of all things.

An endless cycle, but it always ensures to win every battle because the streamer treats it the best they can.

Since you mentioned it still stalks the player even after they leave because it wants to be heard. The stream is the most common place to see MissingNo. I believe even after the streamer gets home there will be a universal distribution of MissingNo photos from throughout the historical record.

The streamer returns…only for their very same MissingNo they are still waiting for them. Who knows how long it’s waited or how long it’s alive, but it wants a battle. It misses them.

Imagine it wiping down all the streamers Pokémon, only leaving Arceus left to battle against it. Arcues can’t defeat nothingness, but the creature retreats after it had enough fun.

It’s similar to X and Y, AZ but the roles are reversed…. MissingNo never escaping its fate of eternal lonliness.

However, it leaves a gift! MissingNo gives the streamer its own custom plate to them, to appear cool like the Nobel Pokémon. It's literally the first Gameboy model.

The other people in the game affected would be everyone, but mainly Laveton, Ingo, Adaman and Irida.

Laveton tries to study the thing, only for all his notes to simply be left as WIPS that are never completed XD. He’s exhausted.

Ingo could see faint patterns of his memories for a split second, or if it’s a skeleton, be reminded of both the flames of Chandelure and the many sparks of joltik. It’s uncanny amounts of familiar where he thinks it’s one or the other, but both?

Overthinking it doesn’t help him one bit. His memories come back faster but it’s so overstimulating, glitchy, static it hurts his head and further damages the accuracy of his gauge memories. MissingNo is trying to help, but it’s like using Auto correct, it recommendations can often steal the tang of the writings.

Adaman, who values time, the creature has no sense of age, with its appearance only getting more disturbing every second he tries to pay attention. His time is better spent on his clan than whatever floating purple L kaleidoscope it is. Time seems to stop when MissingNo is nearby, or it’s really his heart.

Irida, valuing space, MissingNo feels like it’s everywhere or it’s presence takes up all the air in the room. It gets too cold. Imagine being in literal space with no oxygen and pressure 100x stronger than a human body can handle.

Meanwhile, Kamado develops permanent insomnia after the banishment and PTSD from the thing now! He can’t even bring himself forth to attack it, and he’d rather not have the thing destroy the village.

The streamer must catch Cresselia or any psychic that helps with dreams in order to ensure he lives, without it they’ll get to see the Galaxy leader wither awake, slowly losing his sanity in the process.

Beni, yeah he ain’t ninjaing out of this one. He’s in the same boat, but MissingNo likes the guy more because he makes good food. He channels his fears into making cupcakes and keeps Kamado company as another insomnia buddy.

Volo? By the time Giratina appears, MissingNo is only watching as a noticeable constellation in the sky.

Volo didn’t know what the thing really, but he was the one to know it appeared in various texts of the past.

The Celestia people wrote very few stories surrounding it, and how the people were affected…just never the thing itself.

He tries to understand such a mythical creature, but even he feels threatened by the thing.

The streamer doesn’t get much info from the people of Hisui, only snippets of what was around it. So it’s up to the future to write what MissingNo is trying to convey to the audience.

And to add, the historical records make no sense either because it’s existence was never understood in the past either. It was old and ruined, and little connected.

Only until the stream, it’s presence skyrocketed to being one of the most documented Pokémon throughout time as an ever changing concept to fill the true nothingness.

Anyway, Call me 🎲 Anon. I’m not the same as the other MissingNo Anon seen on the other tag.

I’m also the same person who talked about how Ingo would understand the code through Sneasler.

Ah! I didn’t know there was someone else going by MissingNo anon, but that’s okay! I’ll refer to you as 🎲 anon from now on!

I really like these ideas 👀👀

Especially the idea of it being Nothing, or having been born from it.

It makes sense! It was never supposed to exist, a being made from scrapped code. It doesn’t even have a number!

These are all excellent ideas though! Especially it just wanting love and to have fun.

And also messing with Kamado. That is a huge bonus 😈

Though I feel so bad for Ingo 😭 it really wants to help, and ends up making thing’s overwhelming by accident 🥺🥺🥺

[theniftycat]

Angels, Demons, and the Presence of God

A Good Omens Analysis done by an atheist who's kinda invested in Christianity. Avaunt if it might make you uncomfortable.

Themes, through lines, and tendencies - Part 1

Parts: 1, 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

God introduces us to the story, she tells us what's wrong and what's correct.

We're compelled to believe her, she's God, after all, she knows everything.

But why is she here? Why is she telling us this story? Simple. It's just a game for her.

So, if we trust God from the start, then her response to everything must be correct, and yet, after Adam and Eve are expelled from Heaven, it's hard not to agree with Crawley here.

"I can't see what's so bad about knowing the difference between the Good and the Evil," says the demon, the one who had just been the snake who brought Adam and Eve to their damnation. And yeah, we, as humans, can hardly imagine life without that knowledge. What would it be? Just living in the garden forever, like ants in an ant farm? No free will, no desire, no fear either. Being a shell. Even animals know and have those things.

So, of course, by placing the tree of knowledge right there, in the garden, not "on the Moon", God set humanity up. It was just a matter of time, an experiment, if you will.

And nobody but God knows what the plan is.

By whom? There is the Word of God, we literally just heard it, but in this situation we, external observers, are on the same level as God who is telling us the story. She winks and smiles, and we laugh at her jokes.

If everything is part of the Plan, is it even possible to do a wrong thing?

Both of them are concerned that they did the opposite of what they were supposed to do. And they kinda did. Crawley kicked the Plan into motion, while Aziraphale possibly led to War becoming a thing.

However, isn't all of it, everything, a part of the Plan?

They are aware of the difference between the Good and the Evil, they think that these things are what they are and what they're supposed to do, but with everything being in the Plan, it's nothing more than a stage play where they play their parts as they're supposed to. Unavoidably.

Or do they?

Almost 6000 years later and it's time to end things.

But Crowley has developed a little thingy one could call "free will".

Not wanting to fulfill the plans of Hell that are in correspondence with plans of Heaven, Crowley doesn't put his all into his prescribed function.

Meanwhile, Aziraphale is just Doing What He Wants, Gabriel, on the other hand, is here strictly for business.

Not long after, God graces us with her presence again. This time she explains how the Antichrist got swapped into the wrong family. While she does explain it, we don't get the idea of whether she wanted it to happen.

The thing is that it's demons and angels who move the Plan, people have free will and therefore, they aren't controlled directly by God. But what happens if a demon half-arses his assignment and then a couple or more people misunderstand what's happening? The Plan starts cracking at seams.

The card trick explanation is there not only for the viewer, but maybe for God herself. She never explains her actions, after all.

And does being All-knowing mean that you control everything there is to know or are you simply aware of everything?

And then the Antichrist is named Adam, not as a destroyer of worlds, but as the first human who was created to experience the world purely, as a newborn.

God, who knows everything, uses "perhaps" and "probably" when talking about the third child who we never see again. That shows just how little she cares. He's just a normal human with a normal life. Who cares?

After learning that the world will end, Aziraphale is calm because he's sure his side would win. Crowley doesn't argue with him on that, he simply points out that life in Heaven would be unbearable for someone as accustomed to Earthly pleasures as Aziraphale.

The only thing that can persuade Aziraphale to listen is the perspective of lunch, a small Earthly pleasure that Aziraphale can't refuse himself. Something he wants, not something he has to do.

Crowley's argument for the world is that there are innocent lives that don't deserve to be destroyed. He'd been burnt, he knows what being punished is, especially, punished for something you don't see as a crime.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, believes deep down that every punishment is just because it's inflicted by God who can't be wrong.

And this is Aziraphale's main argument. He's an angel. The main thing angels possess is obedience.

Then Crowley appeals to Aziraphale's programming. Because the Antichrist is of Hell, Aziraphale should try to stop him.

Aziraphale thinks he's doing the right thing, but even then he still slips and reveals a bit of what he's thinking about working with Crowley who can also see that being a real possibility, even if subconsciously. And he knows that it's not the worst thing in the world, even if it's awful.

Heaven is pleased with Aziraphale's actions, but they're also indifferent. He comes off as a bit of a try-hard and they know that the Plan doesn't account for him. Still, their lukewarm reaction is very mild because they don't see yet that Aziraphale is once again led by his wishes.

When the Armageddon draws near, Crowley suggests that Aziraphale could kill the Antichrist. It really sounds weird as Aziraphale is still seen as a goody-two-shoes by the viewers. But the fact is that Crowley simply can't do it himself (he's too soft) while also not seeing any other options, except for asking the only person he trusts to do it. And it's wild, but that's literally his only option.

Aziraphale doesn't refuse to kill the boy, his belief in the greater good is too strong to make murder impossible.

When Crowley asks Aziraphale to not do his magic act, Aziraphale knows he can still do it because that is what he wants. And Crowley won't do anything about it because he's too soft.

And then, as they're ready to act when the Hellhound appears, they wear clothes that are the opposite colours to what they usually wear.

Angels are supposed to obey, but Aziraphale only wants to indulge himself.

Demons are supposed to be evil above all, but Сrowley doesn't have an evil bone in his body.

They don't have the traits of their opposite factions, but they lack their factions' defining traits. As it has been said many times by many people, they are more human.

Crowley has a lighter side (his compassion), Aziraphale has a darker one (his judgement).

Then we meet the actual Antichrist, a boy who want to live a happy life.

God introduces us to him, he's just a boy living his life, unaware of his destiny, unaware of the fact he even has a destiny.

But God knows. God knows.

___________________________________

This is the first part of my analysis. It's based on the first episode. Further parts will follow, one per episode.

I haven't reread the book for this, it's based only on the show, so if you see any points that can be made differently based on the book, don't fault me.

Parts: 1, 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

[spnyouresostupid]

In this essay I will...

Surprise this time there actually is an essay lol

In ‘It’s a Terrible Life’ Dean Smith (Dean Winchester with no memory of hunting) is queer coded. We see him drinking oat milk in a latte he made with the espresso machine he owns. He has a very definite sense of style, and due to a line of dialogue is revealed to be a fan of Project Runway. He cares about how he looks and is self-conscious enough about his desk job making him put on weight that he is shown be on a very specific diet for the duration of the episode. 

I know what you’re going to say (especially those of you born after 2000); you’re just stereotyping him, men are allowed to like all of these things, and you would be right...but we’re talking about film making and visual short hand and with that comes a lot of history.

Queer coding vs. Queer baiting

Queer coding became necessary in the Hayes Code era, writers and directors wanted to include LGBTQ+ but it was literally forbidden. So queer coding came to be, where the film makers wouldn’t be censored as long as it wasn’t explicit text or too obvious in subtext(or if they were a villain but queer coded villains are an essay for another time).

Ultimately queer coding in those days was actually positive and subversive to the puritanical rules of the golden age of movies. So they were trying to make the queer characters as identifiable as possible without being overt, and it would make sense to either focus on or exaggerate more obvious queer traits. The short hand over time became - queer man acts “fruity” or feminine and queer women act butch or masculine. (I’m going to focus on queer men for relevancy)

Visual short hand is necessary for effective film making, and by the 70′s these ideas were deeply ingrained in the industry even though the Hayes Code was abolished. It was expected that audience would know that femme or ‘girly’ men meant gay; and they did. These stereotypes have been challenged in recent years (most of the progress has been made in the last 10 years, if I’m honest).

This is where queerbaiting comes into play. Queerbaiting is not the same thing as coding. Coding was subversive and rebellious in the face of those who wanted to control and censor film makers. Baiting is putting the coding into a character in a time when there’s no reason not to make the character explicitly queer. Whereas coding was made to include queer people in spaces they were being pushed out of, baiting is purposely excluding queer people because the film/tv makers are more afraid of the possibility of losing money than to make their work more inclusive.

Queer coding and visual short hand of queer people are essential to understanding why a viewer might declare a character queer even if it’s never explicitly stated and understanding how queerbaiting is detrimental by denying the audience the truth of what the coding promises.

Now that we’re all on the same page I will say again; Dean Smith is Coded gay/bi.

Yes all the examples as to why this would be true are stereotypes, but  those stereotypes were still the visual short hand standard at the time this was filmed. So Dean Smith has been coded as queer by an industry that very much understands everything I just went over...but he is never explicitly stated as queer which creates a queerbaiting situation. That’s nothing new to Supernatural but it does raise an interesting question:

Why code Dean Smith as gay/bi at all? 

They don’t do the same with Sam, he seems to be just as hetero as he is for the rest of the show. This question becomes even more intriguing and baiting when Zack tells Dean(when he’s back to normal) that all he did was remove Sam and Dean’s memories and plunked them in this office building with vague backstories. So...

What is the point of coding Dean Smith as gay/bi? 

Given the precedent set by the rest of this show it was surly not to defy stereotypes- this show loves troupes and stereotypes. I can only conclude that the writers thought it would be funny because light homophobia was very accepted in 2009 but....

Inadvertently what the writers/director(possibly Jensen) have done, is imply that there is some part of Dean Winchester that IS queer. That whatever same sex attraction that Dean has, was repressed by his neglectful drill sergeant father. Without that, and raised by (the far superior) Bobby and Ellen and free from hunting, this Dean is allowed to be queer. He’s allowed to be ‘softer’ and show interest in things that might be seen as feminine. 

This episode begs me to see Dean Smith as gay/bi and then expects me to believe that there is no queerness in Dean Winchester even though they’re both the same person. That is a suspension of disbelief that even a show about ghosts and monsters can not ask the audience to swallow. It’s just too much.

TLDR; Dean Smith was queer coded as a joke, but by the rules in universe it means that Dean Winchester is also queer 🙃

[americorys]

Do you think the writer strike will push the Rookie season 6 back to 2024? I hve read about what could happen to TV because of the strike and it sounds bad.

personally, i doubt it – but anything is possible. 2024 seems like a huuuuuge stretch to me, though. here's the thing about the strike: right now, it's too soon to know anything about anything. the strike JUST started and that means we have 0 idea what's going on yet aside from the reasons why the wga is striking and what the initial negotiation has looked like.

the posts all over the place about the strike rn are just…wild, genuinely because of how scared they're making viewers. first of all: no one knows how long the strike will last. no one. what we do know is this: right now, rooms for most network shows are not in session. many have already planned to be on break until late may/early june. if the strike ends before the rooms are meant to be back in session, things don't really get impacted, or the impact is minimal.

the strike lasting through this month is very possible, but both parties are deeply aware of what the 2007 strike did to this industry. it cost billions of dollars, resulted in a huge shift in the industry...trust me: no one wants to be on strike for 100 days again. they will if they need to be, but no one wants that. negotiations will happen and go back and forth until a middle ground is met - and that may take time - but there is literally 0 reason you need to be freaking out about show(s) coming back late when they wouldn’t even be back in session yet.

also, please understand that the most important thing here is supporting the writers. i know the idea of not having a show back on time can be difficult, but put that aside and think about the fact that people are fighting for their livelihoods. it's not a fair comparison to be like...i'm worried i won't be able to watch tv vs. the writer of that show can't afford their rent. this isn't about any of us: it's about supporting the content that makes us happy and brings us joy or escape.

every writer would rather be working than striking. the wga is doing their best to come to an agreement with the amptp that is beneficial and compensates writers fairly, prioritizing them as the creative forces they are. the amptp needs to meet somewhere in the middle, instead of just not making any adjustments on the major issues, the way this negotiation has started.

one other point: it’s not 2007. i am aware that a lot of the knowledge we have right now is from the experiences of the 2007 writers strike. i am begging you to put into perspective that comparing this strike to that one is doing a disservice to both events. the conditions of 2007, the contracts, the leadership - nearly everything about this strike is different. even if some of the same issues are being discussed, it’s like comparing apples to oranges. i understand it is easy to point to 2007 as an example, but understand that nobody wants this to be a repeat of that strike. nobody can afford for this to be a repeat of that strike. i would be shocked to see either party let it get to that point, genuinely.

at the end of the day, this is about ratifying a contract that is no longer relevant or in service to the writers who work painstakingly to create the things we love. stand with them and know that their livelihood is worth more than the distress that a delayed fall season could cause. i would try to not even let your mind go to that place right now, because this is about them, not us.

[wizardalexa]

✨With SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, now joining the WGA on strike, you may have heard rumors that your favorite wizard streaming channel Acheron Prime is struggling to produce original programming. Wizard Alexa would like to assure you that nothing can be further from the truth. Acheron Prime has an exciting slate of upcoming shows in the works that will not be impacted by the strikes. Here are a few of the highlights of our upcoming schedule:✨ ✨Stockstravaganza! - Acheron Prime is digging deep into its extensive collection of stock footage to create something that's never been seen before. You've seen clips from stock footage used to provide establishing shots, historical flashbacks, and in other brief contexts in otherwise newly shot productions. But now, for the first time, Acheron Prime is putting together hour-long blocks composed entirely of stock footage! See your favorite stock footage clips like "twenty seconds of desert landscape" and "that one shot of Nosferatu in a doorway", now without interruption by any new footage!✨ ✨It's AImazing! The first big TV show made entirely by AI! The writing, the "acting", everything! We can't tell you about the plot, because there isn't one, really, or about the characters, because it doesn't really have those either. What we can tell you is that we finally got the hands right! Yes, the show may be an incoherent sequence of generated videos with only a vague semblance of a story that doesn't hold together and has no emotional stakes or resonant themes, but most of the "people" in it have five-fingered hands!✨ ✨Who Wants To Be A Scab? - The striking writers and actors may be causing some inconvenience to big studios, but in this innovative reality show they're providing a major opportunity for viewers like you! Have you ever wanted to be a writer or an actor on a big TV show? Now you can! For a few weeks or months, you can get your own taste of Wizard Hollywood, at the negligible cost of being permanently blackballed from the industry and held in complete contempt by everyone in it after the strike is over! You don't want to miss this opportunity! Please don't miss this opportunity!✨