#for personal documentation of my… character arc

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

okay okay okay

<_<

>_>

With the book 7 Savanaclaw update coming out late November…

IS IT LEOVER FOR ME OTL

THIS MONTH'S BEEN NOTHING BUT PURE TORTURE 😭 tELL ME WHY EVEROYN'E SBEEN ON MY ASS ABOUT HE WHO sHALL NOT BE NAEMD EVER SINCE THE START oF OCTBER????? IT'S BEEN RELTENTLESS, I'M LIVING' OUT HERE I N tHE TRENCHES TELL ME WBHHYYYYYYY YY Y Y Y YyYY Y Y Y YYyYyVYVVYV y????? ???? ??? ?? ? WGHAT HAV E IT ODN ETO DESERVE THIS... . . . ....... .. .. . .... . . ... .

OTHER IMAGES THAT HAVE AGED POORLY IN HINDsiGHt… DON'T ASK WHY I HAVE THESE ON HAND

COLLAPSES ONTO MY HANDS AND KNEES IN SLOW MO

GUYS, BE HONEST WITH ME… AM I COOKED???? ??????? ???? ??? ?? ? ?????????? ???

[threewaysdivided]

I have once again stayed up too late writing Young Justice nonsense.

[felassan]

EuroGamer: 'BioWare knew the deepest secrets of Dragon Age lore 20 years ago, and locked it away in an uber-plot doc'

Original creator David Gaider on how "some of the big mysteries are being solved".

Rest of post under a cut due to length and possible spoilers.

"As I write about the secrets hidden in Dragon Age's mysterious Fade, and as I uncover some of them playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, one question keeps rising up in my mind. How much did BioWare know about future events when first developing the series more than 20 years ago? That's a long time, and back then BioWare didn't know there would be a second game, which is why Dragon Age: Origins has an elaborate and far-reaching epilogue. Why lay so much lore-track ahead of yourself if you don't think you'll ever get there? But look more closely at Origins and there are big clues suggesting BioWare did know about future Dragon Age events. There are obvious signs in the original game, such as establishing recurring themes like Old Gods and the Blight and Archdemons. But there's also Flemeth, Morrigan's witchy mother, who's intimately linked to events in the series now - more specifically: intimately linked to Solas. Does her existence mean Solas was known about back then too? There's only one person I can think of to answer this and it's David Gaider, the original creator of Dragon Age's world and lore. We've talked before, once in a podcast and once for a piece on the magic of fantasy maps, where we discussed the creation of Dragon Age's world. And much to my surprise, when I ask him what he and the BioWare team knew back then, he says they knew it all. "By the time we released Dragon Age: Origins, we were basically sure that it was one and done, but there was, back when we made the world, an overarching plan," he says. "The way I created the world was to seed plots in various parts of the world that could be part of a game, a single game, and then there was the overall uber-plot, which I didn't know for certain that we would ever get to but I had an understanding of how it all worked together. "A lot of that was in my head until we were starting Inquisition and the writers got a little bit impatient with my memory or lack thereof, so they pinned me down and dragged the uber-plot out of me. I'd talked about it, I'd hinted at it, but never really spelled out how it all connected, so they dragged it out of me, we put it into a master lore doc, the secret lore, which we had to hide from most of the team.""

"This uber-plot document was only viewable on a need-to-know basis, he says, and only around 20 people on the team had access to it - other senior writers mostly. And even though Gaider left the Dragon Age team after Inquisition, and then eight years ago BioWare altogether, meaning he didn't work on The Veilguard at all, he believes - by looking at the events in the new game - his uber-plot lore "has more or less held up". That's impressive. What's even more impressive, or exciting, is that back then he also envisaged a potential end state for the entire Dragon Age series - a point at which it would make no sense for the series to carry on. "I always had this dream of where it would all end, the very last plot," he says, "which I won't say because who knows, we could still end up there. But the idea that this uber-plot was this sort of biggest, finite... That the final thing you could do in this world that would break it was there as a 'maybe we would get to do that one day'... There was just the idea of certain big, world-shaking things that were seeded in that arc, some of which have already come to pass, like the return of Fen'Harel." You've read that correctly: the idea to have Fen'Harel, also known as the Dread Wolf, reappear, was seeded all the way back then, way before Inquisition - the game in which he does actually reappear. But the concept for Solas, as a character who was Fen'Harel in disguise, was a newer idea. "That spawned from a conversation I had with Patrick [Weekes] and a number of other writers," Gaider says, "as an idea of 'what if you had a villain that spent an entire game where he's actually in the party and you get to know him?' Now, the god version and his larger role in the plot, yes that was known, but not that he would be presented as a character named Solas." Fen'Harel being known about means the other elven gods were known about, which means all of that stuff Solas reveals about his godly siblings - that they're not gods at all but evil elven mages he locked away behind the Veil - was known about back then too. "Oh yeah," Gaider says. "Everything that Solas tells you [at the end of Inquisition DLC, Trespasser]: it's all part of that original uber-lore - that was all in our mind." But why have so much lore if you're not certain you'll get to ever realise it? Well, to create a believable illusion. By creating an "excess" of lore, as Gaider describes it, Origins made Thedas feel like an old and believable place. A place with history, rather than a Western set that was all facade and no substance."

"BioWare also did something canny with the lore it did relay then, too: it shared it through the voices of characters living in the world, making it inherently fallible. In doing this, Dragon Age veiled its truths behind biases. The church-like organisation of the Chantry proclaims one truth, while the elves and dwarves proclaim another. Sidenote: you can experience this yourself through different racial origin stories in Dragon Age: Origins. This way, there's no one, objective, irrefutable, truth. "To get the truth, you kind of have to pick between the lines," Gaider says. So even though elven legends are coming true through the existence of Solas and The Veilguard's antagonist gods, it doesn't mean that's the one and only truth. There's truth in what the Chantry teaches and what the dwarves say, he tells me, which ignites my curiosity intensely. BioWare has also been tricksy in how it's rubbed out the lore the further back in time you go. "In general, the further the history goes back, we always would purposefully obfuscate it more and more," Gaider says - "make it more biased and more untrue no matter who was talking, just so that the absolute truth was rarely knowable. I like that idea from a world standpoint, that the player always has to wonder and bring their own beliefs to it." It leads into a founding principle of Dragon Age, which is doubt - because without it, you can't have faith, a particularly important concept in the series. It's where the whole idea of the Chantry's Maker comes from and with it, the legend about the fabled Golden City - now the Black City - at the heart of the Fade. This is the very centre of the lore web, and, I imagine, it's close to the series endpoint Gaider imagined long ago. All secrets end there. Did Gaider know what was in the Black City when he laid down Origins' lore? That's the question - and it startles me how casually he answers this. "Oh, yeah," he says. "What was in the Black City: that's the uber-plot. I knew exactly. "Was it as detailed in the first draft of the world?" he goes on. "No. I had an idea of the early history because that's where I started making the world. So the things that were true early-early: I knew exactly what the Black City was and the idea of what the elves believed, and what humans believed vis-a-vis the Chantry - that was all settled on really early. Then I expanded the world and the uber-plot bubbled out of that.""

"Gaider shows me the original cosmology design document for Dragon Age: Origins as if to prove this - or rather for the game that would become DAO. The world was known as Peldea back then. I can't share this with you because I see it via a shared screen on a video call, and because Gaider doesn't want me to, mostly because the ideas are so old they're almost unrecognisable from what's in the series now. But I can tell you it's a document that's just over a page in length, and that there's a circular diagram at the top showing the world in the middle and the spirit realm ringed around it. And on that document is reference to the Chantry's beliefs about a God located in a citadel that can be found there. Gaider says BioWare knew about Fen'Harel (the Dread Wolf) 20 years ago when it was developing Dragon Age: Origins, and that he'd one day reappear. The Fade wasn't known as the Fade back then, either, but as the Dreaming, because it's the place people go when they dream - an idea that lives on still. And if that sounds familiar to any fans of The Sandman among you, it should. "I'd say The Sandman series was probably fairly prominently in my head," says Gaider. "I liked that amorphous geography that was born from the psyche of collective humanity. I'd say yes, if I was to point at something specifically, that's probably where the very first inspiration of it took root." It's a lot to take in, but it reinforces the admiration I have for Dragon Age. Just as I have when hearing about the creation of my other favourite fantasy worlds, such as A Song of Ice and Fire, I begin to understand the magnitude - and the deliberateness - of the plotting that went on. I wonder if one day the Dragon Age series will end in the way Gaider first imagined, albeit slightly altered by the many other pairs of hands shepherding it along now. What a curious feeling it must be to know, so many years in advance, where things might go. Where that end is, I don't know, but I do know we'll take a significant step towards it in The Veilguard. After all, we're coming into contact with gods who were there at the recorded beginning of it all. "Yeah - we have access to people who can tell us the truth from first-hand experience," Gaider says, "although again, it depends on what the writers did with it. But if they continued the tradition of Dragon Age, you never know for sure if Solas is telling you everything, or what you're learning is the entire truth. "But yes, some of the big mysteries are being solved. I mean, will they one day definitively tell you about the Maker? Will we crack the big mysteries of the world and just make them answered finally? And does that ruin one of the central precepts that Dragon Age is founded upon? Maybe," he says. "Ultimately, that lore, when you make it big and you hint at it and hint at it and hint at it, it becomes a Chekhov's Gun of sorts. Eventually you got to pony up.""

[source]

[paesagex]

Shimura Koutaro and wasted occasions for depth within My Hero Academia

Thinking about Koutaro Shimura one day a realization suddenly hit me. If Gran Torino and All Might fully believed for five whole years that All for One was dead, but neither knew of Koutaro’s and his family's tragic passing in a “mysterious Villain Attack”, that means that they never tried to get in touch with him.

That’s not a big revelation, we already knew that, but the more I thought about the implications of this choice, the more fundamentally wrong it felt.

There was one sole reason Koutaro was sent away from his mother, and that was to protect him from Afo. but once Afo was “dead”, there were plenty of good reasons to try to look for him.

Out of minimum decency, Koutaro deserved at the very least an apology and an explanation for his abandonment. He also deserved to know that the death of both his parents had been avenged, as the man that is behind all his family’s trouble was believed to be dead. Besides, was Koutaro even ever informed of Nana’s death? If she tinkered with the documentation, it would mean that there was no legal proof that Koutaro was her son. Therefore, no government official would know to notify him.

One may counteract that they tried but failed, but that’s a weak argument.

Koutaro was a successful businessman who likely had a lot of social connections, and his name wasn’t even changed. All Might, with all his resources, should have been able to find out anything that Afo, the guy who Koutaro was supposed to be hidden from, could.

The motto of this story is “Plus Ultra”.

If it is the right thing to do, you should put the whole of yourself in achieving your goal, no matter how difficult.

Therefore, All Might and Gran Torino, thematically speaking, have no excuses to not have tried to make things right with Koutaro. Even if, let’s say, Afo had managed to make the whole ordeal of the Shimura’s mysterious deaths go mediatically unnoticed, the heroes aren’t excused from their inaction.

Or rather, the narrative that established this theme isn’t excused from not calling this out.

THE WEAKENING OF THE NARRATIVE'S OWN MORALS

In fact, this last consideration is really my main point. This essay is titled “wasted opportunities,” not “heroes suck,” after all.

The problem with this oversight from the two heroes isn’t really that it’s a clear show of neglect towards a man that lost his childhood innocence because of the choices heroes made for him.

It’s that they’re never called out about it.

Making characters mess up, make bad choices and ending up hurting others is not bad writing at all, actually it is very good. This shows that they’re complex and have multiple facets, and that their actions have consequences within the story, which is what makes them well written!

However, when the narrative fails to acknowledge bad, hurtful choices, especially if it is trying to frame a character as a “good guy”, then it creates inconsistency.

All Might’s arc is one of deconstruction, where he’s supposed to go from A, an untouchable idol, to B, a man with flaws and sins. However, this example I’m bringing up and many other ones people pointed out over the years shows that his arc really goes from A, to B, and then back to A again. The story never fully dives into all the things All Might could have been criticized for, it is afraid to touch upon Deku’s idolization of him.

Despite my opinion in the matter being that Koutaro and his right to know should be mainly Gran’s responsibility, as he was involved personally in the decision to abandon him, All Might is a much more important character, and should be challenged harder.

Of course though they’re both left off the hook, All Might to protect Deku’s moral integrity and refusal to question his idol, Gran because he’s specifically thought out as a stagnant old fashioned hero who represents the suppressive justice system which Deku was supposed (and failed) to surpass.

Letting the matter of these two heroes just leaving a presumably still alive man unaware of the reasons behind a huge injustice imposed on him when he was just a child makes them look bad, but not in a good sense. They seem indifferent. The fact that Koutaro was already dead by the point of Afo’s “head massage” is irrelevant. It’s the fact that they never even think about making things right with him that counts.

Heroes neglected Koutaro when they decided that his right to have a parent was less important than fighting Afo, and they just kept neglecting him even after they believed the fight was over.

WHY THIS CHOICE (in my opinion)

I thought about it, I tried to find a reasonable explanation as to why Horikoshi would just pretend this whole deal wasn’t there. And the only one I could come up with is the same one I reached in trying to explain myself why nobody ever seemed to look into Shigaraki’s past once his identity as a Shimura was revealed:

Horikoshi had already planned the whole Afo/Ofa psychic connection and wanted that to be the way Deku grew any interest in understanding Shigaraki.

All Might and Gran Torino looking for Koutaro would have uncovered part of the mystery behind Shigaraki too early, while the author wanted the protagonist to be able to look directly into Shigaraki’s heart through the power of One for All, the Quirk Created to Save.

However, as many pointed out before me, the last arc and Deku’s newfound interest in helping villains feels incredibly rushed, his empathy forced, which is frustrating since there was, through the whole time of the story, a huge pile of information just lying there gathering dust that the characters had tons of good reasons to look into and be interested in.

MISTAKES AND USING THEM TO BUILD A STRONGER STORY

I fully believe that the story building would have worked better if Deku’s interest in Shigaraki had been gradually built from the start, and Koutaro was the key to achieve this.

Heroes are “forbidden” from focusing too much on the Shimura tragedy because that would ruin the story’s strong plot twists and tragic flashbacks, which are one of MHA’s main strong qualities, one might say. However, this isn’t a true problem.

In fact, if you think about it, making so that All Might was aware of Koutaro’s and his family gruesome death would have created 1) foreshadowing to Shigaraki’s identity reveal, 2) added weight to his shoulders, challenging not any hero, but the Symbol of Peace himself to face the consequences of his neglect directly, and 3) at first, it would have made the assumption that Shigaraki was the one to kill his family even more horrifying.

If we as readers had been aware of the level of violence that the death of the Shimuras involved before Shigaraki’s flashbacks, we would have been lead to believe, just as any character who would have bothered to do any research about them, that they were a perfectly normal, loving family that couldn’t possibly have deserved this tragic fate. Making Shigaraki, who is said by Afo to have killed them, look like an innate psychopath.

For these reasons, the emotional investment of Shigaraki’s flashbacks in the My Villain Academia arc would not have been undermined at all, actually it would have strengthened it, as in this case, they would work both as an explanation of how Shigaraki was manipulated from childhood by Afo and it would unmask an impression of superficial happiness and perfection, one of Mha’s big themes.

Moreso, a gradual investigation through the whole story on the main Villain’s past would, as we already said, have created a more earned interest from the protagonist, but it would have also… made a lot of sense logistically.

His Quirk was known, so was his real surname, by this point the fact that the police never connected the dots and didn’t manage to find his old neighbours, kindergarten teachers, anyone who could have testified that Tenko used to be perfectly normal and even exceptionally gentle before he was taken in by Afo is just a huge, unjustifiable plot hole.

CONCLUSION

Keeping All Might and Gran Torino so disinterested of Koutaro’s and his family’s fate is both a bad choice in moral consideration and, because of the way it is (not) handled, in writing, just as the gaping black hole that is the nonexistent investigation on Shigaraki when there was plenty of information.

The Shimuras are not only amongst the biggest tragedies of this story, they’re a missed opportunity for a fully deep exploration of the story’s themes. One of many, unfortunately.

One that fully reflects all the things that make MHA a hypocritical, double standard narrative that parrots its desire to uncover cycles of pain and violence and hold society accountable but then never fully commits to its message.

Koutaro and Shigaraki, father and son, led sad lives, neglected by the people who should have protected them and therefore becoming easy prey for Afo, and then died horribly without this sadness ever being really acknowledged, the people responsible never expressing their guilt appropriately.

There was no improvement between their two generations, Deku’s teachers didn’t manage to be a good example to the new Symbol of Peace by facing their mistakes honestly.

My Hero Academia presents the tragedies of the Shimuras as ways to uncover cycles of violence and societal neglect, when it is actually using them to create empty emotional engagement that isn’t used to add depth to the story and doesn’t even reach a real resolution.

To put it simply, they’re wasted.

[physalian]

What No One Tells you about Writing #3

Opening this up to writing as a whole, because it turns out I have a lot more to say!

Part 1

Part 2

1. You don’t fall in love with your characters immediately

But when you do, it’s a hit of serotonin like no other. I’d been writing a tight cast of characters for my sci-fi series since 2016 and switched over in a bout of writer’s block this year to my new fantasy book. I made it about ⅓ through writing the book going through the motions, unable to visualize what these new characters look like, sound like, or would behave like without a ‘camera’ on them.

Then, all of a sudden, I opened my document to keep on chugging with the first draft, and it clicked. They were no longer faceless elements of my plot, they were my characters and I was excited to see what they could accomplish, rooting for them to succeed. Sometimes, it takes a while, but it does come.

2. Sometimes a smaller edit is better than a massive rewrite

Unless you’re changing the trajectory of your entire plot, or a character’s arc really is unrecoverable, sometimes even a single line of dialogue, a single paragraph of introspection, or a quick exchange between two characters can change everything. If something isn’t working, or your beta readers consistently aren’t jiving with a character you yourself love, try taking a step back, looking at who they are as a person, and boil down what your feedback is telling you and it might demand a simpler fix than you expect.

Tiny details inserted at the right moment can move mountains. Fan theories stand on the backs of these minutiae. One sentence can turn a platonic relationship romantic. One sentence can unravel a fair and just argument. One sentence can fill or open a massive plot hole.

3. Outline? What outline?

Not every book demands weeks upon weeks of prep and worldbuilding. I would argue that jumping right in with only a vague direction in mind gives you a massive advantage: You can’t infodump research you haven’t done. Exposition is forced to come as the plot demands it, because you haven’t designed it yet.

Not every story is simple and straightforward, but even penning the first draft with your vague plan, *then* going back and adding in deeper worldbuilding elements, more thematic details, richer character development, can get you over the writer’s block hurdle and make it far less intimidating to just shut up and write the book.

4. It’s okay to let your characters take the wheel

I’ve seen writing advice that chastises authors who let their characters run wild, off the plan the story has for them. Yeah, doing this can harm your pacing and muddy a strong and consistent arc, but refusing to leave the box of your outline greatly limits your creativity. I do this particularly when writing romantic relationships (and end up like Captain Crunch going Oops! All Gays!).

Did I plan for these two to get together? No, it just happened organically as I wrote them talking, getting closer, getting to know each other better in the circumstances they find themselves in. Was this character meant to be gay? Well, he wasn’t meant to be straight, but you know what, he’d work really well with this other boy over here. None of that would have happened if I was bound and determined to follow my original plan, because my original plan didn’t account for how the story that I want to tell evolves. You aren’t clairvoyant—it’s okay if it didn’t end up where you thought it would.

5. Fight. Scenes. Suck.

Which is crazy because I love fantasy and sci-fi, the actiony-est genres. Some authors love battle scenes and fistfights. It comes naturally to them and I will forever be jealous. I hate fight scenes. I hate blocking and choreographing them. I hate how it doesn’t read like I’m watching a movie. I hate how it could take me hours to write a scene I can read in 5 minutes. I hate that there’s no way around it except to just not write them, or put in the elbow grease and practice.

Whatever your writing kryptonite is, don’t be too hard on yourself. It won’t ever replicate the movie in your head, but our audience isn’t privy to that movie and will be none the wiser of how this didn’t fit your expectations, because it’s probably awesome on its own. It could be a fight scene, sex scene, epic battle, cavalry charge, courtroom argument, car chase—whatever. Be patient, and kind to yourself and it will all come together.

6. Write the scenes you want to write first

And then be prepared to never use them. It can be mighty difficult working backwards from a climax and figuring out how to write the story around it, but if you’re sitting at your laptop staring at your cursor and watching it blink, stuck on a tedious moment that’s necessary but frustrating, go write something exciting. Even if that amazing scene ends up no longer working in the book your story becomes, you still get practice by writing it. Particularly if you hate beginnings or the pressure of a perfect first page is too high, you’re allowed to write any other moment in the book first.

And with that, be prepared to kill your darlings. Not your characters, I mean that one badass line of dialogue living rent free in your head. That epic monologue. That whump scenario for your favorite character. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out anymore, but even if it ends up in the trash, you can always salvage something from it, even if that’s only the knowledge of what not to do in the future.

7. “This is clearly an author insert.” … Yes. It is. Point?

No one likes Mary Sues, because a character who doesn’t struggle or learn to get everything they want in life is uncompelling. The most flagrant author inserts I see aren’t Mary Sues, they’re nerdy, awkward, boring white guys whose world changes to fit their perspective, instead of the other way around—they don’t have anything to say. I’m not the intended audience to relate to these characters and I accept that, but I don’t empathize with the so-called “strong female character” who also doesn’t have flaws or an arc either.

A good author insert? When the author gives their characters pieces of themselves. When the “author insert” struggles and learns and grows and it’s a therapeutic experience just writing these characters thrown into such horrible situations. They feel human when they’re given pieces of a human’s soul. They have real human flaws and idiosyncrasies. I don’t care if the author wrote themselves as the protagonist. I care that this protagonist is entertaining. So if you want to make yourself the hero of your book, go for it! But make sure you look in the mirror and write in your flaws, as much as your strengths.

[idkplzhalp]

What do you know about Caroline in full? /genq

Some background for those who don't know, Caroline from Portal 2 is my favorite character as of 6 years and at some point I started keeping a big list in which I document everything such as info during development, things from devs/voice actors, debunking theories, literally any of her appearances anywhere and other silly stuff too. I also made an image folder with any potential reference or appearance to her in the series/behind the scenes, which i started to upload to a google drive folder and i need to finish it. When I finally make the entire Caroline post & drive folder, I'd wanna post it to my Valve fact blog @thatvalvefanatic. I'm super into getting canon/official facts about things and Caroline is the funnest for me to do as she's so obscure.

So here's some facts (know I have way more but this is already long enough..) since it'll be awhile since I do the big complete analysis post (or the Caroline lore bible, as I call it) that I've been promising for like 3 years lol!!!

Her heels are red! (This is her face model, Laura Dubuk, when she was at SDCC 2012 with Bill Fletcher, Cave's face, for the Neca booth)

Caroline's name was taken from Jay Pinkerton's (the writer's) mother. Erik Wolpaw says the name also means coincidentally "free man/woman". It's also a variant of the name Charles/Charlie (which is a coincidence to Aperture Desk Job's character Charlie (who is likely more of a reference to Chell)).

She's Argentinan and Ukrainian as that is her face model Laura Dubuk's ethnicity (she's stated she's Argentinian, her family speaks Ukrainian/their last name is Ukrainian (ty to the person who gave me that info!)).

The brand of her dress is "Daniel & Rebecca", an Italian brand made in the 80s/90s. Laura got the dress specifically for Caroline from a thrift store.

Caroline is referenced by Jerry the Nanobot. If you slow his audio down and reverse it, you hear "his injury is not expected to end but she's in charge instead". Hearing is subjective here but that's what I've seen as widely accepted. Though Portal 2 has done similar before with the Ghost of Rattmann track, which was just cut up audio of Marc Laidlaw reading an entirely unrelated paragraph. Or like the Dinosaur_fizzle audios from the radios in Portal 1 that people theorized was Caroline screaming from the radio, when it wasn't that at all as that update came before Caroline was created.

Unlike popular belief, Ellen Mclain did not refuse any of Caroline's lines. People spread rumors that the deleted GLaDOS related lines made her cry and that JK Simmons refused to say his lines due to how they sounded like SA, but that's not true at all.

Also, Caroline is NOT Chell's mother. She's too old and too white to be her mom! GLaDOS' arc towards Chell has been confirmed & implied to be queer/romance-esque. You can see some of that in my LGBTQ Valve post, though I need to update it, and I will be making a singular post just for queercoded GLaDOS since there is SO much. One of Valve' employees, Makani, confirmed Chell was not her daughter.

Cave and Caroline aren't married, confirmed by the Portal 2 guidebook. Though they were still likely good friends, based on some of Cave's cut lines, in which he trusts her to do a lot more.

Cave wanted Caroline to be taken care of and respected as CEO/GLaDOS! That part of his GLaDOS speech had been cut though. Those lines are, "Treat her just like you’d treat me." and "Just make sure she’s taken care of."

Portal RTX has a bunch of hidden codes you can find. There are some you use to change the design of the companion cube. Inputting Caroline's name changes it to the pillow cube!

According to Josh Weier, Caroline wasn't added to the game until one month before its release. Originally she wasn't a part of the story and Cave's assistant was a man named Greg. They didn't want to hire an actor for just a couple lines, so they decided to reuse Ellen Mclain, thus creating GLaDOS' human backstory. Though Greg was reused for Perpetual Testing Initiative and the Cave Johnson DotA announcer pack.

Caroline appears in the spinoff/tech-demo Aperture Desk Job, though only as her portrait. This confirms that she can be in other universes just like Greg, though we don't know what happened to her in this one. She's potentially dead, as Aperture Desk Job had Cave live long enough to be put into the machine. The machine was started and he killed some of the scientists. Also Caroline's portrait there is partially covered, covering her side.

I personally believe Caroline to be biromantic asexual! This one isn't a confirmed fact but more speculation. I think the "she's married- to science!" bit could indicate not being apart of traditional straight relationships, also knowing she was never married to Cave either. We already know GLaDOS is biromantic due to her liking Chell (and in spin-offs liking Claptrap and Batman for a time), and she could be considered ace to her cut line in co-op mode saying she found human reproduction ridiculous. Presumably the same would apply to Caroline.

The "Say goodbye, Caroline!" / "goodbye, Caroline!" Bit is a potential reference to The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) or Rowan and Martin's Laugh In (1968) as both had bits similar to that, and would make sense for Caroline and Cave to reference due to when the shows aired. Some people interpret that line as Caroline being dumb, though that's not true at all! We know she was intelligent from Cave's high praise of her, and if she was actually making a reference to a TV program then it would be even smarter and show that Caroline probably had inside jokes or references with Cave.

Want You Gone says Caroline and Chell are similar (“She was a lot like you”). If true then Chell, as officially described from the Collaborative Disposition Test, “Resolute and tenacious, you won't quit until a puzzle's solved. Your inability to give up against impossible odds makes you a bad match for cooperative test partners who give up against any odds at all, racing to the internet for answers” Could give insight into Caroline’s personality. The Collaborative Disposition Test could give even more insight into her from Cave’s description “You don't see crises - only challengitunities. you choose to scale like mountains. You're a can-do, shoot-from-the-hip, silver-tongued self-starter. You're a good match for any cooperative test partner, providing they shut up and listen.” Caroline didn’t have much dialogue and we know she did the majority of what Cave asked of her/they worked together for at least 30 years. Caroline may very well be Cave’s testing partner who will “shut up and listen”.

Caroline was in the Steam 25th anniversary artwork! Art by Claire Hummel. It is her and Cave drawn over this meme:

okay that's it for now but I did find an iceberg chart I made a few months ago about her so I'm including it even tho some things gotta be adjusted because it's not 100% correct. It's the same as this but I wanna share it anyways. Happy Caroline Portal 2 lore learning. I'll make a part 2 with more stuff later.

[trothplighted]

why do you think Snape and James had such radical personality shifts around book 5?

I think that the biggest and most defining factor around how Snape’s character arc shaped up is the casting of Alan Rickman to play Severus Snape in the films.

Now I want to be clear, because I wasn’t clear in my other post about this - I don’t doubt that Snape had some heel-face turn elements to his character planned from the beginning. I would argue he was being set up for a classic “looks foul and feels fair” reveal - someone who isn’t always a nice person, who isn’t even always a moral person, but who reliably identifies real evil and who makes the right choices when the chips are down despite being unpleasant and vindictive and cruel. It’s part of what makes him such an effective red herring in PS - he’s set up to look significantly worse than he actually is, but he’s still pretty awful if you’re a student who isn’t his favorite. I wouldn’t even be surprised if we were always supposed to get some variation of the unrequited love for Lily reveal.

But Rickman’s casting changed things, significantly. Book!Snape was pretty unattractive - poor hygiene, some pretty loaded descriptors associated with ethnic stereotypes that are clearly intended to make him seem physically ugly, badly fitting and badly washed clothes. Film!Snape is cool and collected in all black with clean hair, played by an actor who’s been a romantic leading man with very little work done to de-glam. Book!Snape is cruel and vindictive. Film!Snape often comes across as the only one in the room who’s aware of how ridiculous they’re all being (the adults I knew who primarily engaged with HP by taking their kids to see the films generally loved him for this reason) and has most of his really grating or sadistic moments removed or sanded down. Book!Snape is socially awkward. Film!Snape commands a room.

And we know Joanne absolutely loved this. She adored Rickman’s casting, she talked about writing scenes or lines because she knew he’d have to say them, and she worked personally with him to give him unpublished context for his performance. This was easily among the things she was proudest of and most excited for with the films, judging solely by her public comments and documented level of involvement.

The films started to hit theaters during the Three Year Summer, when she was writing OotP; it was in OotP that she made these drastic changes. I really do think that their place in her own view of her stories can’t be overemphasized. (This is also why the cast of the films largely turning on her was so painful - she was fully and intensely involved in the adaptation process, and all these people who knew her personally have rejected her.)

To a lesser extent, but also not really, I think we have to consider Joanne’s deep discomfort around any kind of romance subplots and especially around men being attracted to or desiring women. Snape being someone who admired Lily from a distance, who would never be a danger toward her because of his wistful worshipful attitude and his lack of conventional beauty, who was put-upon by handsome popular jocks and therefore (in her mind) wouldn’t have any ego or entitlement - that makes him an ideal sympathetic figure. It also makes him someone that Joanne can be safely attracted to (because I think she was attracted to Rickman!Snape, and I think she was trying to process those feelings).

And between those two issues, I’m not surprised we ended up where we ended up.

[andorerso]

fair warning: this is gonna be saltier than usual. I wasn't a fan of a lot of choices made in this arc, and I debated even posting this but I wanna document my thoughts for posterity and ultimately, these are for me. so without further ado, Andor arc two thoughts:

episode 4

I personally don't want a Syril redemption arc but I fear they may be setting it up

I appreciate them talking a different language!!

okay no sorry but I have to say this. we only get four small glimpses into Cassian's life during these four years. the first time, he was a hostage barely doing anything for 80% of the arc. now he's shopping for dinner with Bix?? this is critical character development time, what are we even doing?? where is rebel spy Cassian?!

well at least I get to see him cooking!

oh so Syrl's actually playing them, thank god

the fact that they're staying on Coruscant is lowkey ridiculous to me but go off I guess

Cassian still resisting the cause is so painful to me, he should be over this by now!! what do you mean you have to think about it?! what happened to kill me or take me in?? I'm gonna have an aneurysm

well at least Saw is here!! I'm excited for his scenes with Wilmon

that's the guy from Yavin isn't he? so they made it out?

is that medication or is Bix having a drug problem.....

episode 5

for now it looks like Syril is definitely faking but I wonder if he'll have a real moment of uncertainty.... again, I personally hope not

the cunty sunglasses let's go!!

seeing Cassian undercover, playing a role, getting intel, meeting contacts… this is what the whole show should have been about imo 😥

"not much of a revolutionary, are you?" "maybe not" oh shut the fuck up. I actually literally hate this with a fiery passion. shut up shut up shut up!!!

Wilmon!! I have a bad feeling about this

episode 6

I'm sorry but Cassian's over-protectiveness is so eyeroll worthy and it doesn't fit with his characterization imo. he doesn't respect Bix as an equal at all

Cassian going to Luthen's shop just to yell at him on CORUSCANT has to be one of the most egregiously dumb and OOC choices they made him do, I don't even have the words I'm so pissed

KILL ME OR TAKE ME IN EXACTLY. what was the point of that then?? I can't believe I'm siding with Luthen but Cassian needs a reality check. I absolutely hate the way his arc is being handled holy shit

VELCINTA!! and they actually kissed!! let's fucking go

NOT MY BAIL!! I'm sorry, but they couldn't find anyone who looked more like him? Mon's outfit slays though

Krennic/Mon interaction 👀

you gotta be fucking kidding me….. from a stray bullet?! I just. wow... okay then

I mean I never thought she'd make it out of the season alive but for it to happen like this feels like a huge slap in the face. and for what? this guy who interrupted them is literally on their side too?! just fucking pointless

also where the fuck is Cassian AGAIN?!

if only they did kill Krennic 😭

I'm guessing the implication is that Luthen gave them Gorst, right? anyway. they sure made some choices in this arc 💀

AND WHERE IS KAY

[bwat5-blog]

The Commander: Part One

**Spoilers For All of Arcane**

Thankfully, despite being perhaps the least understood and appreciated character arc in modern media, the amount of incredible material being sent into the ether defending/explaining Caitlyn Kiramman's arc for season two has become truly inspiring. In fact, it was two statements I saw being echoed across the fandom that drove me to the point I was willing to emerge from lurkerdom, and start engaging with all of you wonderful people.

"Vi was the Jinx"

"Ku Klux Kiramman"

Now any of you who have kept up with my writing know that the first one is just about aneurysm inducing to me. And as such, I have written quite a bit about it. But the second one is no less idiotic, and while I have written multiple shorter pieces addressing various aspects of her character. It is on this subject I return to you tonight, hoping to put together a more complete picture of my thoughts on her story, and continue to support the recognition of the humanity, and heroism of Caitlyn Kiramman.

Before we begin, there will perhaps be someone who reads this, who has filed the story of Caitlyn Kiramman away under the heading of "ACAB", or "Facist" in their own mind, and chosen to turn away from what lies below the surface this tale. If that is you, welcome. I would encourage you to read ahead with an open mind and heart, and to see the humanity that lies in all of us reflected in this story both good and bad. For as Desmond Tutu once said "My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together"

______________________________________________________________

The Lead Up:

At twenty-three years old, Caitlyn Kiramman's life has been altered in ways too vast to reckon with in only a matter of days. I have extensively detailed a series of events in another document specifically with the goal of showing who she is as the story develops. I will not do so again here, but below will list both the destabilizing events, and a basic rundown of who we have come to know, following this characters story.

Who She is-

Bright and curious/ we meet her as a happy and helpful young girl walking with Jayce in episode 1

Unwilling to turn on those she cares for/sitting out in the rain to speak to Jayce when her parents turned on him

Wants to protect her people/when Grayson asks what Kiramman is shooting for, we see her look out over the city

Dedicated Enforcer (believes in the system)/ When caught investigating the airship without permission, we learn she has done this before. And later that she has an ongoing investigation into the corruption of the undercity.

Open minded toward undercity/ Many examples. Kindness to large man who Vi keeps ruining when she finds him shot, she hugs Huck without reservation for saving Vi, verbally equates undercity and topsiders while caring for Vi, stands by testimony that Jinx alone was the reason for the attack even after her mother's death.

Brave and loyal/Engages Sevika immediately to save Vi's life, trades her rifle to save Vi, tries to trade her freedom for Vi's before she learns the Firelights are allies.

Destabilizing/Traumatizing events-

Survives Jinx's theft of gemstone in which six enforcers were killed.

Helps Vi escape Silco and his goons, they literally bring a building down.

First meeting with Jinx in person, attack of the firelights.

Taken by firelights, doesn't know if they are going to hurt them or not at first.

Almost killed by the sheriff after watching him shoot Ekko.

Survives Jinx's attack.

Abducted by Jinx from her childhood home, naked, while in the shower.

Bound and gagged with smiling mask at Jinx's tea party. Listens as Jinx tries to get Vi to kill her.

Has opportunity to stop Jinx, shows mercy at Vi's pleading.

Violently knocked out.

Helplessly watches Jinx fire the rocket that will kill her mother and 2 other councilors.

Summary: So, at twenty-three years of age, Caitlyn has lost her mother, been almost killed by the leader of the system of law and order she has believed in her entire life, been terrorized, abducted and nearly murdered multiple times by the same woman who killed her mother, who she possibly could have stopped. All in a matter of days. To help keep things in perspective, let's look at a few points using USA real life application.

She has only been legally allowed to drink for two years.

Based on the average, she has not even been able to drive for ten years.

Based on the average, she would graduated high school five years ago at most.

Based on the average for American college students she would be close to finishing her bachelors degree if she was in college.

Now, moving forward we are going to discuss both the grief and trauma she is experiencing. Those who have read my material have seen my stance regarding her grief. It is not different here so by all means skip ahead. It is only thanks to an insightful user who wrote an excellent post regarding her trauma recently that I realized I had been neglecting that point, so I will try to do it justice here. But we cannot move into her "down-fall" without a proper look at these two factors.

Grief-

" Zaunites live with fear of death constantly, Caitlyn loses one family member and gets to lose her mind"

" Not gonna feel bad for the oppressor when the oppressed finally hit back. #sorrynotsorry"

" So losing your mom justified becoming a war criminal?"

Folks, I've said it many times at this point and will continue to say it. Grief is not a contest. The way in which we perceive the world has to come through the filter of our beliefs and experiences. Now it can change, as we grow, and learn, and come to understand more about the wider world around us. But it's just how it works. Of course, if you grow up with death all around you, you are not going to react as strongly to the single death of a loved one. Not to say of course that you don't grieve or feel that loss, but it will be less jarring.

But for a moment, imagine you have never felt that pain. Never known the darkness of someone who used to occupy a place in your world being gone and there being nothing you can do. Oh, and for an added bonus, add the guilt of feeling like you could have saved them...

It does not erase the pain of the people of Zaun to validate that of Caitlyn. It does not deny the history of oppression and suffering of the Undercity to recognize and validate that after days of incredibly traumatizing violence, this young woman now has to reckon with her mother's violent death that she will always wonder if she could have stopped.

Trauma-

"I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever"...

"I understand now, how easy it is to hate them. One vicious act.."

*As I have stated in various posts mostly pertaining to Jinx, I am in no way a mental health professional of any kind. So anything I share is my effort at understanding through research and observation*

To begin, we need to remember how Caitlyn grew up. Wealthy, safe, and privileged. People are determined to use her upbringing to rob her suffering of any validity, but... why? Does the fact that she was raised in wealth rob her of the ability to suffer? to bleed? No, at the end of the day it means she has known a life without danger, hunger, pain and loss. And in only a matter of days, has had each of those things violently crash into her life with no way to stop it.

As I am operating from a complete layman's perspective, I am going to try and keep this simple:

Near Death Experiences- In a matter of days Caitlyn has for the first time in her life, been through a series of events that could easily have killed her. Speaking as someone who used to do a job that occasionally placed me in violent situations, and never as severe as what Caitlyn has been through, I can tell you the effects of each and everyone are quite real. According to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2009, "Among all victims of violent crime, the two most widely experienced emotional symptoms were feeling worried or anxious (72%) and feeling angry (70%) for a month or more". A month of heightened anger and anxiety from a single violent incident. She has been through quite a bit more than that.

2. Abduction- Caitlyn was taken from the bathroom of her childhood home. She was naked when Jinx showed up, and at some point made to put on her Enforcer uniform and bound and gagged. By this time, Jinx has almost killed her several times, and killed many of her peers. And now she is here in Caitlyn's home, in a place where Caitlyn is vulnerable and all alone. Violating her sense of safety and security to the highest degree. An article from Sage Journals by David Alexander and Susan Klein lists "intrusive thoughts..hypervigilance..anger.. and depression" all as possible long term effects in victims of hostage taking and abductions, among many others. We can see all of these manifesting in Caitlyn, but to draw attention to Intrusive thoughts:

"I keep seeing three faces... but then there's Jinx... laughing.. I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever"

SEASON 2:

Okay.... that was a lot! I know, and I appreciate you if you are still here (yes even you hashtagger). But now that we have established a proper baseline and understanding of what occured in season one we can really dig into season 2 and everything this young woman goes through.

Before the attack on the memorial, it seems as though there is a chance of Caitlyn keeping her ahead above that dark water she feels rising. Even with all that has happened, she does not blame the Undercity at this time. She maintains her testimony that Jinx alone is responsible. She protests that innocents will be caught in the cross-fire when Salo wishes for war. What she could not know, is that Ambessa Medarda was already making moves to get the war she has been hoping for, and has her eyes on Caitlyn to do it.

The Memorial Attack-

The Memorial attack is the push. it is the thing needed to tip Caitlyn over the edge she had only barely been clinging to. She and Vi share a moment afterward in which Vi recognizes that this had been done for the sake of the spectacle, but Caitlyn is angry... on top of everything else she has been through, even a day to mourn her mother's passing has been tainted with violence. Her fellow enforcers lay dead all around them, as well as the bodies of their attackers mere feet from the watch statues of the deceased councilors.

And although she was not, it is entire reasonable to assume Caitlyn and Vi would assume Jinx's involvement in some way given all that happened. Caitlyn admits she is afraid... afraid that if she goes after Jinx without Vi, one of them will die. And the dominoes begin to fall as our characters are driven to betray their principles in the name of "justice"... As Caitlyn strides into the Council meeting, announcing she has claimed the role as the leader of her house, and will be leading a strike team into Zaun with 3 objectives.

Dismantle Shimmer

Apprehend Jinx

Neutralize any agents still loyal to Sico

All according to plan...

*** Sorry folks didn't intend to have to split this in two but time ran out on me. Hope to get part 2 up over the next day or so. Thanks for reading!****

[tinycurlyfry]

Why are the most theories about suo involving him : betraying Sakura, defeating Sakura, hurting Sakura..... lmao. Why do some fans hate Sakura so much to the point they want him to be humiliated by suo ?;(

I don't know that I would say most theories about him are about him hurting or humiliating Sakura, at the very least that hasn't been my experience. However! The "Suo will be a traitor" theory was something that I've only come across recently, so I can speak a little towards why it exists (at least as it's explained from one person with such a theory)!

I saw the mention of the theory from this really cool document from Snowy-kitten on Reddit where they break down the names of each of the characters in Wind Breaker (I'm still in the process of reading through this document myself)(also also thank you @cafe-pothos for sharing word about the document here!) Now, this was written prior to the conclusion of the Noroshi war arc, so the information/theories made were made without some information we now know (mostly about how the fights/war resolves).

Basically- Suo name comes from the kanji for the Chinese Redbud (which continues giving evidence that Suo has some sort of Chinese connection. From his dress, to his fighting style, to even his name here). However, while the Chinese Redbud symbolizes family harmony and can be used as treatment for fever the Redbud tree itself has a biblical connection that deals with betrayal. In short- when Judas betrayed Jesus he committed suicide by hanging himself from a Redbud tree.

There's also the growing theory that the next personal arc we get concerning the classmates of 1-1 will involve Suo and Tsugeura, since we've gotten information on Kiryu and Sugishita's family rather back-to-back and there's some evidence that Tsuge and Suo may have known each other in some capacity prior to coming to Furin.

Given their hinted at connection in the narrative, it is also interesting that the second half of Tsugeura's name- ura could also be written with the kanji 裏 which is often used in the phrase for betrayer/ turning traitor/ rat- 裏切り者. This could potentially further give proof that Tsuge and Suo are connected and Suo may be tied to a plot that has to do with betrayal.

So, I don't know about going so far as saying Suo may defeat or hurt Sakura badly, but I could see it being the case that Suo does something rash when something from his past rears its head and it may appear as though Suo acted against his fellow classmates at Furin, or at least he may do something to temporarily stall or incapacitate Sakura.

As far a personal theories go- Do I think Suo is going to end up becoming an "evil traitor"? No. I think he's been to well established to be a guiding force for Sakura alongside Nirei. I don't think he'll lose that role in the end-game. However, what I do see potentially happening is that Suo's backstory is going to become relevant in a way that is sudden and jarring that will keep Suo from simply brushing it off or dismissing it. I can't really base my theories towards Suo's backstory on anything, but I could see the arc relating to Suo's backstory going two ways-

Suo is hiding from something/someone from his past. Perhaps he truly does wear his eye patch to cover up an injury from an 'accident'. It is possible that there is a direct cause of that 'accident' and Suo may be using Furin's unified force as a shield to put between him and that cause. Say you have a really powerful person or group coming after you, and you happened to hear that recently a school of strong fighters is now a hero/vigilante group that will throw itself into any fight to protect its members/family. I think it's rather specific of a detail too that Suo's dream is for the emancipation of slaves. I think this detail might be something that becomes relevant to his backstory- whether it's someone who wants to force him into slavery or if someone he knows/knew in the past was enslaved. The fear of these people coming after him might be enough for Suo to throw Furin between him and these people, or at least use Furin to hold them back while he escapes.

Someone important or has influence over Suo is introduced to the story and Suo does something in the moment that could be read as a betrayal (perhaps stunning/incapacitating Sakura or even just stating he's leaving Furin). My One Piece-loving ass kind of sees the potential of a Whole Cake Island type plot where someone from Suo's family/past shows up and Suo suddenly announces to Furin that he can't be a part of Bofurin anymore and is leaving the family. Now, the person he is seemingly siding with or who convinces Suo to leave Furin may be evil/an antagonist, but again, I would find it VERY shocking if Suo is made to be a villain. Of course, if Suo leaves Class 1-1 would chase after his ass, and then I think whatever lie or story Suo might weave or tell them will unravel as they discover the truth.

It is entirely possible that neither of these will end up being true though! Like I said, this is just how I personally could see Suo being a "traitor" coming into play (purposefully "using" Furin for personal reasons in order to escape something from his past and thus not actually seeing himself as a part of them, or he betrays Furin by leaving or feeling as though he has to fight/act against them in a spur of the moment because of someone from his past). Whatever the case it may end up being, I think at the very least Suo is a character that is known to lie (which in of itself could be seen as him 'betraying the truth'). How does Tsuge tie into his backstory/how does he and Tsuge know each other prior to joining Furin? I have no clue jgskdlfg, but I'm excited to find out!

I don't think it's that people want to see Sakura humiliated by Suo- I think Suo is just a mysterious guy who keep telling lies and makes an active effort to hide things about himself. There is also definitely something that has him distancing himself from the rest of the Furin Family, both in how he doesn't actually participate in their sharing of fears/weaknesses as a bonding activity between class 1-1 and his refusal to eat meals with his classmates (which in my food wbk analysis I talk about how food is used as a symbol for community/ acceptance and is how characters show companionship). There is something keeping Suo from seeing himself as a part of Furin and it's likely to do with why he's so secretive about himself as well.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

In what ways would you change Yuu (or would you get rid of them entirely)? The writing feels inconsistent on their place/importance. If they were just a conduit for the player to watch the events unfold that's one thing but in another story they are an active player.

I'd personally play into the beastamer aspect more. They are supposedly the reason why Ace, Deuce, and Grim were able to work together thus I'd want them to have more agency in making plans, giving orders, etc. Rook calls them Trickster but in what way (lol). The vagueness of being a self insert pains me. I'd also want to give them some magically infused weapon (or has a magestone embedded) just so they aren't fodder or sideline material.

Mmm… As much as I dislike the blank slate self-insertiness of Yuu (I’d prefer to read about an actually realized character), I wouldn’t want to get rid of them altogether. I think they’re important for the role they serve in the narrative even if in execution is inconsistent and not done well.

The problem with “changing” Yuu is that there has to be a certain level of ambiguity due to the design of the game. You cannot give them too much personality or you risk alienating the audience that likes to project or self-insert. There’s also a limit to how much uniqueness a mobile game can lend its players characters; the format isn’t exactly known for having super in-depth player arcs, it’s known for their colorful casts of rollable characters. The devs have to toe that line carefully, not to mention juggle Yuu’s participation with letting the other characters shine. It is for this reason that I won’t be doing a total overhaul of Yuu or just deciding “give them a personality!” as what I’d change about them. Rather, I’ll be proposing alterations while thinking like a dev (ie preserving the current story and as much of the self-insertiness as I can while also trying to give Yuu more to do/say).

Now Yuu, being the outsider to this world, is perfectly poised to have others dump exposition on them. This serves the dual purpose of being able to diegetically explain things to the player. (We wouldn’t get this advantage if the player character was changed to be like… a Twisted Wonderland resident; you could explain some magic things to a layman, but a resident wouldn’t need more common knowledge like country names exposited to them. Were this the case, we’d need an additional excuse for Crowley to take in a native.) It’s also convenient to have them be the “eyes” for the player to experience the world through, since Yuu is able to conveniently be present for most major main story events. It essentially makes them a human-shaped video camera.

I’ve often heard people suggest that if we need a POV character, why not go with Grim since he basically serves the same purpose now anyway. My answer to that is: Grim is also an arrogant asshole who picks fights, just the same as any other NRC student. If Grim were the player character, he wouldn’t be contributing much or helping to guide the other students learn to get along. We need Yuu here to be that driving force for change because Grim simply isn’t capable of it when he’s instigating himself half of the time.

A smaller thing about Yuu that I love is the idea of them being the school photographer! (This is something that is shown in the second anniversary animated video too!) It gives us context for the cards we roll and it implies that Yuu is the one documenting these precious memories. I want Yuu to stay if only for this reason.

Personally, I wouldn’t make Yuu a combatant. This is antithetical to their role and I feel would instead work against them (or at least create a scenario where Yuu has to have some level of battle prowess; this impedes on the self-insert nature of them). Sticking a magic item in their hand makes little difference since they most likely wouldn’t know how to handle it in the moment. (Nor would a magicless human even be able to use some of them; for example, a magestone is completely useless to them.) A magicless human with no combat experience is just another liability to account for, not to mention it actively puts them in harm’s way. It might be cool in theory, but I think in practice it goes against the very concept of Yuu. They’re meant to be here to show that there is “another way” to the NRC students—that violence doesn’t solve all your problems, proof that you don’t need to be a powerful being to “change” others or the world around them. They’re supposed to be underestimated and not seen as much of a “real” fighter, and they’re supposed to prove those notions wrong by demonstrating their worth via other avenues. In this “the weak obey the strong” school, Yuu has to be the one to show them that strength comes in forms that are NOT magic power or battle prowess.

I feel that Yuu works best on the sidelines as a supporter and strategist. Strategy is, after all, half of the battle, and it’s a part that people tend to overlook in favor of the flashier fighters. But strategy is crucial and it can turn the tide against a formidable foe (as we see in the prologue)!! I think this is something the NRC students need to be made more aware of too, so Yuu should stay as the strategist; they just have to be given more opportunities to show off those skills!

With all of that being said, here is what I would change about Yuu:

Drop the beast tamer thing. It gets mentioned prominently like once in the prologue and then never becomes truly relevant. Maybe it’ll become important when it comes to taking down OB Grim, but that will be SO late in the main story that the payoff doesn’t seem worth it. There are no examples of Yuu’s beast taming skills ever being used in the main story, so the whole “oh you have the makings of a beast tamer” thing is so useless. If you really want to keep it, then let Yuu’s innate talent/skills for beast taming help them out at least once per main story book. This means I’d want to see instances of Yuu getting other creatures (ie not just Grim) to help them out.

Allow Yuu the agency to act on their own when it comes to finding a way back to their own world. Going home is so often relegated to a single line or a few sentences and then not addressed again until next book. Have Yuu take initiative instead of waiting around for updates from Crowley. They should go out and ask questions, investigate on their own, etc. Maybe have them get involved in each book’s conflict because they happen to get mixed up in it while conducting research instead of being TOLD to go and fix a problem. Book 6 marks the only real time I can think of Yuu making a drastic decision against Crowley’s advice. It puts them at great risk, and that’s something they’re willing to take for the sake of saving their friends. We need more moments like this throughout the rest of the story. However, Yuu won’t be allowed to do whatever they want unrestricted because 1) it falls out of the scope of a mobile game title and 2) we want to largely retain the capacity to self-insert. So when I say give Yuu more agency to act, I mean it ONLY in the sense of being more proactive in their efforts to get home.

Add a short comment or two from other characters depending on which dialogue options are picked for Yuu. It would be too ambitious to incorporate a full-on branching storyline or strong “choose your own adventure” elements, but at least have the other characters consistently comment on whatever brief dialogue option Yuu has rather than ignoring them 90% of the time. This wouldn’t alter the story in any way but it sure would be nice to have a little more flavor text and more of Yuu actually being acknowledged as present.

Yuu should fully commit to being a planner and strategist. We get to see this aspect of Yuu like once or twice in the prologue (when they tell Grim where to spit fire at the ghosts/planning how to beat the Phantom in the mines) and then are left to extrapolate this to the rest of the game. Maybe you can argue they figured out Azul’s scheme in book 3 too, but this isn’t good enough. If you’re going to set up the idea, then have consistent segments in each book that reinforces that idea. Have Yuu brainstorm ways to jailbreak in book 4, have Yuu be perceptive enough to notice that Malleus isn’t feeling great in book 7 (only for Malleus to brush them off/insist he has a solution), etc.

Have a short story segment that explains how or why Yuu earns their nickname “Trickster” from Rook. We got this with Floyd, so the other known nicknamer should reveal this, especially since the name “Trickster” implies intelligence and cunning. Yuu should have an opportunity to demonstrate this (in book 5 maybe?), which earns them Rook’s respect and the new title. This should also be informed by other parts where Yuu shows how smart they can be.

More time bonding with Grim. I say Grim specifically because I commonly see him as a hated character in part because of how he “steals lines/time” away from Yuu. (Adeuce and Malleus are fine as they are because the former already stick up for/help Yuu out and the latter is meant to stay mysterious until late in the main story.) This means that if you don’t already like Grim, the whole “Yuu chases them to Styx HQ to save Grim” plot point in book 6 rings hollow. To truly build a bond with Grim, please give us moments prior to book 6 that show how much they care for one another and are linked to each other as partners. Times when Grim causes inconveniences for Yuu don’t count. Give me instances of them cuddling at night or talking to each other about their hopes and dreams or whatever. This would establish the value that Grim sees in Yuu, as well as the value that Yuu sees in Grim. It makes it more believable that Grim would cry when he’s alone or realizes he hurt his partner, and that Yuu would defy the headmaster’s advice and put themselves at risk to save Grim.

Better incorporate the ghost camera and its usage in the main story. The ghost camera provides an in-universe explanation for gaming meta (ie the card illustrations); in the main story, it’s hardly ever mentioned save for its introduction in the prologue and when Yuu takes a picture of Mickey with it. What should happen instead is Yuu will take a picture of the characters involved in that chapter. This way, it’s a physical reminder of the time everyone spent together and the bonds they’ve developed. It further strengthens the idea of the students learning to get along and Yuu being there to facilitate that while also keeping the ghost camera relevant.

More time where Yuu actually bonds with/“changes” the other characters. One huge gripe I have with the main story is that we’re TOLD that Yuu’s presence changes and improves the boys for the better, that they teach them how to get along. Very little of the actual main story supports this (outside of the prologue). At best, Yuu has a very short chat with some of the OB boys at the end of their respective book. Yuu should have a little more time in this regard. I don’t know, maybe Idia is still struggling to socialize when he comes over to play video games at Ramshackle so Yuu has to gently encourage him to give it a try or says something to help include him in the conversation. Little things like that! Keep the strong interactions the other characters have in changing the OB boys (like Trey being the one to rush to Riddle’s side, the twins teasing Azul, etc.), but have Yuu help facilitate them opening up emotionally and being vulnerable with one another.

This last point is debatable (I keep changing my mind about it), but possibly make a point of showing how Yuu is adjusting to this new world. This honestly might mess with the self-insert aspect (which is why I debated to leave this out), but I also feel like it might be interesting to reinforce Yuu’s desire to go home h demonstrating homesickness or issues with settling into Twisted Wonderland.

To summarize, the changes I’d make largely involve making TWST commit to briefly mentioned details (that they largely don’t follow through on) and making Yuu actually do a little more to warrant crediting them with resolving issues + fostering friendships. A lot of the problems that exist now are due to promising a lot but then poorly executing on what was promised.

[sicklyworm]

Hi yes I would like to hear your thoughts on Shang Qinghua and his characterization (both in canon and in fanfic). I've always really enjoyed the fics with the like,, BAMF!Shang Qinghua tag, but i also can't decide if his cowardice is an act or not, if that makes sense? Or if it's a bit of both.

Oh my gosh thank you for this ask. Please forgive me anon for the absolute rant that's about to happen because of it!!!

I'm going to break down this ask into chunks so properly and thoroughly answer every part of it!

Starting with,

SQH's cannon characterization:

I spent several hours trying to type out a good yet manageable description of his characterization but I found that no matter how hard I try it's a bit too long for a reasonable Tumblr post.

So instead of just ditching this like a normal person I instead started on a essay going over Shang Qinghua's characterization with quotes and analysis!

At the moment of posting it is not currently completed but I'll make sure to reblog this post with the link to the document once it's done!

Now moving on to,

SQH's characterization in fanfiction:

I'm an avid fanfiction reader myself so I see a plethora of different authors writing different arcs for SQH so obviously he's going to act differently in each one.

The thing I think makes or breaks alot of fanfiction with him is whether the author can properly distinguish between their voice and his. As a highly relatable character a lot of us writers can have a pretty hard time distinguishing him as a character from ourselves! When this happens writers can accidentally take bits and pieces of themselves that don't quite match up with him and kind of force them into the characterization of him!

There's also like the cases of hyperfeminization or character bashing but I feel like those are more of a generalized problem then something SQH specific.

Next is,

Is SQH actually a coward or was it just an act?

This question was one I wrestled with quite a bit when I was first starting to dissect his character.

He plays dead and grovels easily when he feels threatened yet displays tremendous courage when it has to do with MBJ. Whether it be saving MBJ from falling to his death or from MBJ'S own uncle, he is necessarily putting himself in danger just for the safety of someone else.

These behaviors by definition conflict with SQH being a coward but It still feels incomplete to just say "he's not a coward case closed." Because he does act incredibly pathetically at times and has betrayed quite a few people!

So after a bit more deliberation I came to the conclusion that "his coward status is determined by his personal connection towards the subject"

If the subject is not close to him or his heart then it is completely subjected to all of SQHs shady and cowardly tendencies. Even if the subject is kinda close to him I believe these cowardly behaviors will definitely cut back some but under enough threat he will ultimately choose his own personal safety.

But in the case he has a deep emotional connection to the subject he seems willing to show tremendous courage and bravery in order to protect said subject.

Example of this playing out in cannon is:

The Sect - low emotional attachment = full rat bastard mode.

Shen Yuan - mid emotional attachment = normal level of courage but will cave under pressure.

Mobei-jun - high motional attachment = huge levels of courage that won't cave under pressure.

✧✧✧

Extra:

My ADHD was going off the rails with this post so I have no idea how coherent it is.

Anyways i am also a big fan of the BAMF!SQH tag and would love if you dropped off some recommendations in my ask box!

[kalpeavaris]

what would you say is the best way to start a fanfic? And where is the place I should post it to get the best reception?

I started quotev a while back making fan fictions and posting them, but they never really stuck with me even when one did get super popular (..unfortunately, I WAS one of those Wally darling fanfic writers…..) . I deleted literally all of those pages, and, while that’s kinda sad and I do wish I could read them now, they were super cringe and had, like, no plot to them. I was totally winging it.

I know you do some writing of your own, and I wanted to see how exactly you plan yours/your stories out. I consider myself an intermediate writer with room for improvement, but the burn out is awful and I haven’t written anything for myself in years.

thank you!! ❤️

So, the best place to post fanfiction for me personally has always been AO3 due to their regulations making it easier to post fanworks even with heavy topics - and I find their layout options very easy to use, even as a total beginner at posting your written works online. They also include original works under their term of "fan works", which makes it easier to just post any story you got on there instead of like, for example, split them between websites dedicated for Fanfiction & original works.

I see way more interaction on AO3 than I did on any other writing-focused website I used to post at (e.g Wattpad), way more people commenting and giving their thoughts, theories and feedback on stories, which is why I post my stuff exclusively on there. :]

As for planning your story out, I got a few tools I like to use. Now, I am not in no ways a professional writer or anything beyond a hobbyist simply doing what brings their crippling autism joy, but I have found some things that helped me improve my writing by a ton in just a few months (my, I sound like one of those dating coaches LOL)

Here's some of my tips:

Get a comfortable writing program that you feel good in. I know it sounds obvious, but trust me, having a writing program you enjoy layouting, drafting and writing in makes it so much more fun to explore your stories/worlds even if you're stuck in a more tiresome part (such as layouting your world or planning chapters/plot points). I, for example, use Scrivener. It is a paid program (though I put on my pirating hat for this one) and made for professional writing such as script writing for TV and movies, novel writing and essays, but it functions well enough for any hobbyist in my humble opinion. Google docs is a free alternative most folks know & love, but I came to struggle with it's performance and tools a lot and never quite got into add-ons/mods for it. Since a lot of my stories already exceed 200-300 pages each I found the website lags a ton and I have to split up my documents instead of keeping it all organized in the same file. Scrivener also allows for you to sort your documents and chapters in individual files, which makes it even easier to work with when your chapters get long or you're writing plot points as their own individual little page & merge them in the end. Here's how my Scrivener usually looks like for writing fanfiction. I make use of the ability to organize my chapters, title them, give them little notes and have them all on one page to not lose the red thread of everything, LOL.

Plan your story ahead through worldbuilding & acts. If your story isn't a "just go with the flow" or "villain of the week" kind of structure, making acts and drafting out the detail first is the key. Otherwise you can easily get lost in your own writing, which happened to my first MD fanfictions such as "Synemy" and "Bluejay's Feathers" where I either overshot arcs/chapters way too quickly - ending up with shallow characters - or didn't know when to end a story, ending up with 40+ chapters but little story or arcs being told and no ending in sight for the characters. Sure, this can absolutely work! And I'm not saying it is a bad thing, but I personally do not enjoy writing these stories anymore which is why I started to re-write them currently. What helped me immensely was the use of "Acts" for my rough draft. This is what the Acts look like for my Poppy Playtime fanfiction, for example:

And here's the rest of the acts template I use:

Use prompts! Don't be afraid to look up scene prompts, ideas for characters, the world or situations that could happen. Sometimes you get struck by inspiration by reading other people's ideas and it can help especially during a writer's block and/or burn out. Don't be afraid to simply just write something and trash it later, or break up written scenes into smaller sections, repurpose them, whatever - some of my best scenes were originally coming either from prompts (e.g "what would your character do in this situation?" or "Character A and B experience this, what could happen?" prompts) or after watching a movie/show and analyzing plot points. Some of my work even started out from a simple question I asked myself - what would happen if? What could happen when?

Ask for feedback - it's worth it's weight in gold. Beta- and alpha readers are your best friends, and it never hurts to ask people if they'd be interested to read your works, even if you don't intend to post them after all. I mainly do alpha-reading, meaning I generally don't beta-read something and offer worldchanging feedback, I moreso write feedback on what stands out to me, what plotpoints and scenes I really love and how I interpret the written work. I might be an avid reader & writer, but I do not consider myself settled in this hobby enough to offer constructive critique for other people's writing for the time being. There's still a ton I need to personally improve on before I can say I'm ready for beta-reading. But both Beta and Alpha readers are very valueable tools to see what a person reading your story found interesting, outstanding or exciting to see. Tropes, scenes, scenarios, characters, portrayal, dialogue - there's so much to review in a story. This can also help to outline if your story confuses or intruiges the reader, helping with the draft and outline especially if it's beta reading feedback you recieve before the story is posted.

Don't be afraid to shift and don't be scared of big edits. They will inevitably happen. I used to fear having to re-write chapters, toss around events in the timeline or even having to cut content in a written story, but sometimes this can help slim down a story and narrow it down onto the important aspects. Mistakes happen, and sometimes edits are necessary to keep the story's flow, but they're nothing to be feared. In the end, it's a fan work you're creating with your own personal motivation and it's not a huge novel waiting to be published. Don't fear messing up or not getting the draft right the first, second or third time. I needed 4 different drafts before I had a cohesive storyline for my biggest project at the time, and I took weeks between each draft. If there's passion, there will be a product of it sooner or later.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

WebMD Page for Aziraphale

As promised to you all, inspired by that video of Aziraphale as an antidepressant. The WebMD drug format, from your clearly deranged mascot, Asmi. This took way too much effort. For legal purposes, even though this blog is a lawless hellscape, this is a spoof. If you did like it, reblog it, maggoty loves of mine, because likes don't help visibility on tumblr, and I want everyone to be traumatised with my own specific brand of unhinged. No pressure though, be rebels muaha. That being said:

MENU > DRUGS & MEDICATIONS > AZIRAPHALE

COMMON BRAND(S): Guardian of the East Gate, Angel GENERIC NAME(S): Aziraphale

USES This medication is used to treat mood-related disorders ranging from depression to chronic loneliness and anxiety. It has also been proven effective in treatment of Compulsive Demonic Behavioural Disorder (CDBD) and Post Fall Stress Disorder (PFSD). The medication results in an overall improvement in mood (see Side Effects), morals, and lifestyle choices. This medication is sometimes described as a 'miracle-worker'. It is advisable to ensure that the correct dosage is taken at regular intervals. The doctor/God/Forces That Be may prescribe a lower dose at the start, gradually increasing frequency and amount over the course of millennia.

SIDE EFFECTS Documented side-effects include pining behaviour, severe withdrawal symptoms in case of suddenly stopping the medication, heart palpitations, stuttering or stammering, mood swings including irrational lashing out or defensive behaviour when faced with highly emotional situations, break-ups, misunderstands, obliviousness, amongst others. Despite the studies being limited to a single subject (see Crowley et. al. updated 2023) these effects are typically harmless in the long term. Life-altering effects may also be noted, including irretrievably falling in love, marriage, a positive character arc, tendencies to put oneself at risk to ensure continuation of medication, lifelong friendship, fate-defying romance and severe allergy to the idea of discontinuation of medication.

WARNINGS Casual or reckless consumption can be too fast for the medication, which will lessen its effects, leading to withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms range from repeated indulging in CDBD and PFSD induced behaviours to alcoholism, depressive episodes, recklessness, listlessness, and prolonged car rides with no purpose. While the medication should not be consumed too fast, regularity is also advised. This is a long-term medication and not a short-term fix. Rare, short-term exposures will only worsen the side effects, withdrawal symptoms and may even reverse the drug effects.

PRECAUTIONS Ensure immortality so that the medication may be able to work its effect through the full course. Pre-existing trauma and heart conditions may require regular consultations with a therapist.

INTERACTIONS Drug interactions may change how the medication works or increase severity of side effects. This document does not include a comprehensive list of all drug interactions, please do adequate research and check instructions on the medication before proceeding with additional drugs. Aziraphale is known to have highly negative interactions with the toxin hellfire as well as the drugs Gabriel (only when sold as Supreme Archangel), Satan and Metatron (known toxin). Negative interference may occur due to most drugs from the class Heaven and Hell. Vague interference may occur with the drug class Homo sapiens.

OVERDOSE While less dangerous than withdrawal symptoms, overdose may lead to lack of personal space, miscommunication, and decrease in mood stability. Increased irritability is also common. Use with caution.

IMAGE

REVIEWS (1) Effectiveness: 5 stars Ease of use: 4 stars Satisfaction: 100000000000000000000e stars

It must be noted that in the country where I live (India), advertisements for pharmaceutical drugs are legally prohibited on television and other media. Which is why I was very bewildered at the initial video. But WebMD is a universal phenomenon so this shall by my contribution to the fandom. Thank you @neil-gaiman, Good Omens has given me a lot of opportunities to exercise my brain in all the weirdest ways.

[alexisinnocent]

Batman Tierlist (&Changes I think will happen)

[Image Above: A tierlist of 11 Batfamily characters. S: Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Duke Thomas. A: Cassandra Cain, Alfred Pennyworth. B: Jason Todd, Damien Wayne, Barbara Gordon. C: Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake, and Mia (Maps) Mizoguchi. D: Empty]

Okay, I've officially read enough comics where I think I can start having favorites. However, I haven't read enough where I think there won't be major changes. I'm documenting my predictions to see how they might change in the future.

Cassandra Cain: I think the first big change might be Cassandra Cain. Already after reading Battle for the Cowl (which she's barely in) and a few features in other comics I'm a bit obsessed with her. Raised to be an assassin but have to much empathy to murder? Probably one of the best at fufilling the ideas Bruce laid out of the Batman? I think once I've read Batgirl (2000) and Batgirl (2024?) it will in fact be over for me and she will become S tier.

Bruce Wayne: In the spirit of actually having a ranking, I'm trying to keep each tier at three at the most. If Cass bumps up, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be Bruce that goes down. Which feels wild because Bruce is my angel and my perfect prince. I just think I'm going to end up loving his kids a bit more then I can ever love him.

Damien Wayne: I fully believe that Damien is going to go up. In fact, I'm going to make the bold assumption that the only reason he isn't battling it out for S tier is that I haven't read any of his solo runs yet, especially those set post Rebirth. I think the second that happens the list is going to get messy.

Barbara Gordon: I have no idea about Barbara, I just feel like she will change. Everything I've read where she's been Oracle has left me obsessed. I think a disabled tech based superhero is such a cool concept and watching it pulled off is always amazing. Also, I think she might actually be the hilarious, but only because she can be mean in the way I adore. However, I do think Batgirl Barbara won't do it for me and that seems like the current direction that comics are going in.

Tim Drake: I've been unreasonably sure that Tim was going to be my least favorite Robin because the fandom around him has irritated the hell out of me. However, I'm currently reading Batman: Reborn era stuff, and I will say I'm having great time in Red Robin (2009). (I love a crash out). Also, I've been looking into his runs and I'm intrigued by the Young Justice dynamics. I think Tim will see some movement.

Mia (Maps) Mizoguchi: I've only read a little bit of her in passing during other arc, and I have no prior expectations of who she is. Therefore, I have no idea if I'm going to like her. I think it can go both ways. She seems eager, stubborn, and goodnatured. This could mean that she's my sunshine and I'm obsessed or it might get on my nerves. I need to dive into Gotham Academy.

Stephanie Brown: I have no knowledge and no ideas. I don't know a ton about her other then she was Tim's on again off again love interest, was Robin (died??), and is/was Batgirl. Which is sparse for like 30 years of comic history. However, it is all intriguing to me, I just need to see the personality in action first. If it's as I suspect I defintely see her going higher.

[thistlearts]

In fact Emperor broke me. I have. Confession to make - I’ve always considered myself somewhat xenophobic. Not in a real world way, but in a way that I’m not into monsters of any kind at all. I’m horribly, painfully squeamish. Even mermaids don’t feel entirely right for me because I immediately think of their tails and that they smell of fish, and… well, my neurospicy brain creates unpleasant sensory triggers in stories of rockets I don’t expect it too. I’m not into werewolves / they scare me. Not into shapeshifters. Even Garrus in ME was too alien for me to consider more than a friend. (And he can’t be romanced in a m/m way anyway)

But. Buuuut. The Emperor l’s story and romance was a hell of a ride for me. I was literally going through some deep emotional transformation. Sometimes I would just go pacing around the room with a heart beat racing sing and muttering - omg I can’t I just can’t. I can’t even look at him, but his voice, and what he says and his personality gets me so hooked that I can’t even romance other companions.

And mind you, I’m demisexual and very monotropic. If someone got me emotionally hooked - others just don’t work for me. Like at all.

I stopped the game and had to breathe. I didn’t want to become even a half mind flayer at first because I really cherished my characters looks and all. But eventually I accepted.

Step by step, dialogue by dialogue my perception of him changed. From “oh, God I can’t look at him without needing to surprise disgust” to “well, I can look at him especially when I hear him speak” to “how didn’t I notice that there’s beauty and elegance and power to him? Something truly regal in fact?”

It’s so funny to document it now looking at in in a progression.

I literally went through an emotional transformation because of a game character. And I couldn’t romance anyone else in all my play throughs just because no one says things like he does. No romance arc just feels appealing.

Heh. I’m weird I guess.