#i would've done it very differently

[mitchsmarners]

i'm so morbidly curious about your thoughts on zoey 102 now i know you actually watched it..

okay, so right off the bat, i stand by my statement that it made sense for the characters that weren't present to be absent but the way they went OUT OF THEIR WAY to pointedly exclude nicole bristow/alexa nikolas' character was fucking petty omg.

also i think that stacy/mark just took the cake as the absolutely worst nickeloden ship to ever exist. i was fully expecting them to straight up break up in the final act lmfao.

quinn and logan were perfect, i don't think i have a single complaint there at all. i think they way they shaped their relationship on screen made so much sense for the characters, i love the deeper dive into quinn and her life. i was little confused because i don't remember logan ever having a sister but yknow. that's fine lol. their wedding was perfect, even if it didn't really make sense that they just left the beach-side school empty for fifteen plus years.

there were so many better ways that chase and zoey could have been endgame/had a re-finding your first love plot than her just... pining over him for almost twenty years while he never spoke to her that entire time. it wasn't really in character for either of them? definitely not for zoey.

i'm really disappointed that michael was so under utilized. he quite literally barely even got to speak, and he was a much more important and relevant character in the show than stacey or mark ever were. he should have had a bigger role, that was just. does not sit right with me.

why was there a murderer subplot.......... hello.

[lord-squiggletits]

NGL I think one of my least favorite "gotchas" that I see/get while critiquing stories is "so how would you fix it? oh so you don't have an idea of how to rewrite the story to make it better? oh so basically you're just complaining that you don't like it and don't have actual critique."

Buddy.

Sometimes the reason I don't have a "solution" to how the author should've rewritten their story to be better, is because I'm not privy to the author's thought process, what their alternate story ideas were, what they talked about with their editor, what they might've been forced to do by deadlines, or even what they might've thought they were writing towards at first but then later changed the trajectory of their story to be about something else.

It's all well and good for me to say something like, idk, "I think Character A should've gotten more narrative focus because their story could have helped fix XYZ Plot Hole," but it could very well be that the author never intended for Character A to be a prominent character (just a secondary or tertiary character). Maybe using Character A to solve one Plot Hole would've gone against the writer's plans because then it would open up a different plot hole for something else they had planned later in the story. If it's an ongoing story, maybe something I see as a "plot hole" is actually a deliberate mystery that the creator left open to write about later-- or maybe the plot hole is because there was a deadline crunch and the author had to drop a certain character/plot point/etc because they couldn't fit it into the story any more. Maybe having Character A be a more prominent part of the story is just based on MY personal tastes and what I would want to write in MY version of the story, but completely clashes with the characters/conflicts the author wanted to focus on.

Because yes, there are some story critiques that are as simple as "part A doesn't make sense, you could just fix it by doing B", but there are also some story critiques where suggesting a viable "solution" would require BEING the author or someone involved in the production of the story to understand what limitations or plans were involved in the selection of that flawed plot point. There are also some story critiques where even if there is a "problem" and my critique offers a "solution," there could be another "solution" or even dozens that do just as good of a job fixing the issue, but involve vastly different characters, plot ideas, so on and so forth.

Being a good critic isn't (just) about going "the story would've been better if X happened" because the story is ultimately in control of the author and their vision, and without knowing what the author's vision was (something that you almost exclusively know if you're 1. the author or 2. their beta reader), it's impossible to definitively say "this plot point should've been cut/[completely different thing] should've happened instead" because THAT is the point at which you're complaining, not critiquing. I would argue that in some cases, trying to "fix" a story yourself actually makes your critique worse, not better, because it ends up being a case of you simply imposing your artistic vision over the author's to say "I think it would've been better this way."

At least if you just say "this part of the story was flawed because XYZ" without saying "it should have been ABC instead", then you're stating your grievances with the story without being presumptuous enough to assume that YOUR version of the story would fit the author's original vision, or the constraints they were working under, or the other versions of the story that they were debating over at the time before ultimately settling on one version (even if flawed).

There's a point at which "this plot is flawed, that should've happened instead" is just fix-it fan fiction and not actual critique that could help the writer write their story in a way that fits their vision.

[autogeneity]

getting increasingly annoyed about instructor saying I shouldn't compete in sparring

[sysig]

I also made a card for him (Patreon)

[krenenbaker]

Dorm-inspired Outfits (from my Closet)

A few months ago, I put together a few things from my closet based on the different twst dorms. I posted them to Reddit, but now, they shall also have a home here on Tumblr :) But I'll also add a bit more info on the inspirations behind my use of the various pieces here, just for fun. Also, pardon the socks; I didn't bother picking shoes to go with the outfits. I'll describe what shoes I would wear with each look, though!

Also, uhh... body reveal? Before showing my cosplay (whenever it is that I finish it lol)

Heartslabyul

For this outfit, I wanted to feature the clashing patterns and fabrics of the dorm uniforms, while also incorporating an Alice in Wonderland-esque aesthetic. I used a yellow fabric belt, similar to the yellow sash of the dorm uniform, and added a scarf with a rose pattern and the same colour scheme as the rest of the outfit. I also retained my watch (which I really should have switched out for one of my analogue watches, but... oh well) and my "Save The Bees" bracelet, since it seemed to fit with the theme and I wear it on basically a daily basis, so...

I would pair this look with these white socks and my saddle oxfords.

Savanaclaw

With the Savanaclaw outfit, I wanted an active and somewhat more masc look. I tried to stay true to the warm colour scheme, and reference the leather vest of the dorm uniform using the sleeveless flannel I had. I also kept my watch and bracelet for this outfit, but I added two necklaces - one with a celtic knot pendant, and one with a piece of quartz, though if I had a tooth or bone necklace, I would have used that instead.

I would wear my brown leather boots with this outfit.

Octavinelle

This outfit is one of the closest to how I normally dress. The dress is black with lavender flowers, with a gather in the skirt on the left side, giving the heavy material more movement - it just feels "Octavinelle". I added a braided belt with a silvery buckle to give a little more definition, and a pearlescent pink and purple necklace, along with white gloves. I also wore my cream coat over my shoulders as a coat-cape, à la Azul Ashengrotto.

I would not wear socks with this, but instead stockings and my black and white pumps.

Scarabia

I wanted to follow the colour scheme and ~vibe~ of the dorm and its uniform for this Scarabia-inspired outfit. The floral skirt may seem to be an odd choice, but the deep orange of the flowers and the satin material seemed to fit with Scarabia. I also added more jewellery - multiple rings, and two necklaces, all golden in colour - to complete the look.

I would probably wear either my tan scandals, or white ankle socks and my heeled leather oxfords with this outfit.

Pomefiore

I felt like Pomefiore needed a classic, powerful look - what better way to do that than with a black pencil skirt? That, I paired with a sheer blouse with satin cuffs, and a (mostly) purple, high-necked, sleeveless knit. The orange, cream, and golden stripes in the knit also reflect the gold detailing of the Pomefiore dorm uniform.

I definitely wouldn't wear socks with this - it's another job for the black and white pumps, or maybe even my black heeled boots, depending on the vibe.

Ignihyde

Ignihyde just SCREAMED for the use of my CrankGameplays "Soft Boi" shirt. It's light blue, plus it's gamer merch - the perfect combo. Add in some black jeans, headphones, and a blue and white scarf in the pocket, and Ignihyde is complete!

I'd wear either my pink skate shoes, or maybe my brown leather boots with this one, I think.

Diasomnia

Finally, Diasomnia. I simply needed to use my green turtleneck with this one, but I knew I had to use black for the rest of the outfit. So, black trousers and a black cardigan (again, over the shoulders) were the other components I used, as well as a black braided belt - both to add a little texture, as well as a hint of silver, as is featured in the Diasomnia dorm uniform as well.

I'd wear black socks and my black heeled boots with this outfit.

And with that, we're complete! Let me know your thoughts - did I capture the spirits of the dorms in these outfits? :)

(I didn't include Ramshackle, but I could also make an outfit for that at some point, which I may do later)

[wekillitwithfire]

your honor, i am destroying my graphic design classes

[neriyon]

14. Does your OC/WoL have an item that they keep with them? If they do, what is it? Why do they love it? Why do they keep it with them?

Hmmm technically he has two: his whm staff and a braclet.

Staff is pretty self explanatory - it's his main weapon, so it usually comes with him everywhere. I tend to change his ingame staff around a lot to fit glams, but his "canon" one for now is Blade's Mercy (last step of the lvl80 relic). There's no story yet where or how he got it, but he does take very good care of it, having a skilled crafter check it after every bigger fight for possible damage. It also currently has both Zenos' necklace and Azem's stone hanging on it as mementos.

His bracelet on the other hand is basically wedding ring. While I strongly headcanon that keepers don't really care about marriage or see too much need for it, I feel like Hawu'li is pretty sentimental. He'd want something to remind him of his partners during long travels.

It's pretty basic braded bracelet, but with every strand picked by his partners. They can technically choose anything but to make it easier for me (and my memory) most are in the color schemes of their givers (like "Aymeric" one being blue with gold strands mixed in). Hawu'li asking someone to pick a strand is basically same as him proposing, and his partners usually know to take their time deciding since it's really important to him. After picking the new strand Hawu'li usually gives some little gift for the other party (for example, Aymeric got an earring and G'raha got a necklace) as their "ring".

I kinda wanna try drawing that bracelet some day but before that I have to actually choose who is on it and who's not haha (￣▽￣)" For extra emotional damage I'll mention that Haurcefant never got to pick his... He'd been one of the first ones, but Hawu'li never really realized his feelings before it was too late. Miiiiight give him one (that Hawu'li picked himself) but not sure on that yet. In AUs he has one tho!

[therealslimshady]

theres a lot of things that I wasn't expecting when watching evangeleon for the first time, but the thing that threw me for a loop the most was the shinji tragic gay romance arc????? Hello???? After all that girl stuff?????

[askchaoticgame]

To the code masters.

1. What would happen if a human got infected with a danian parasite?

2. Would they gain there own card if they did?

3. has this every happened before in chaotic's?

"There is the matter of an individual's security, so we cannot address matters about specific players in a public statement.

However, what we can say is that we do know what happens."

"Let's say that we discourage players from trying to get Infected. It's not something to dare about or press your luck with, although I really shouldn't have to say that."

[caffeinatedopossum]

Why are there always new symptoms showing up?? I just want a fucking break ;-;

[lord-squiggletits]

One of the thing I love about IDW Op is that he's technically an atheist war pope. It's interesting that he didn't believe in religious aspect himself but was willing to use it for the power. Made his character more complex to me. Do you have opinion on this topic?

I have a lot of mixed feelings about it tbh. On one hand, I think being an atheist/agnostic fits IDW Optimus' character well (I've tried to imagine him as religious and just...can't), but on the other hand, I kind of have a problem with the way most media depicts religious people, and it's a bit disappointing that the Matrix has canonically been associated with multiple miracles (reviving OP and Hot Rod from death, creating new sparks, even Primus/Rung being able to make them) but Optimus still calls the Matrix 'nothing but a bauble' at some point like. Really bro? So there is a part of me that is disappointed at the Matrix being treated as a Plot Device rather than a proper, respectable religious thing. On the other hand, that's just not what the story is about, and I can't call a story/character bad because it didn't go in the exact direction I wanted.

TLDR: I think Optimus being agnostic/atheist makes sense for him, but I really dislike the way it was handled in the story because it feels more like it was used as a plot inciting device than some sort of journey of Optimus trying to discover his purpose. Also, the way he interacts with other religious characters had a lot of wasted potential, so I just feel like it wasn't written in a very interesting way? Basically, the writing is such a mixed bag of interesting concepts with mediocre/bad execution that I can barely focus on the in-universe implications and mostly just get mad at Barber's writing.

My feelings are also complicated by the fact that I don't like Barber's writing at all (it's like 90% dislike and 10% like) because of how bad he is about prioritizing plot over character emotions and stuff. Earlier on in phase 2 it seemed as if Optimus was genuinely curious about his religious role as a Prime and asked the Camiens for guidance on who he should be as Prime (Windblade, Aileron, the Mistress of Flame). In Death of Optimus Prime, OP literally wished he was dead when he woke up. He made a very big deal about how he's Orion now, not Optimus. In Dark Cybertron he had a whole crisis about whether he's Orion or Optimus. Basically, he was set up to have a huge identity crisis (especially since the war is over and leadership of Cybertron fell to Starscream), but any amount of introspection was quickly derailed into PLOT PLOT PLOT OPTIMUS ANNEXES EARTH AND FIGHTS GALVATRON. The story just devolved into bullshit plot on Earth that was just action, action, plot, things happening, with pretty much no room for the characters to stop and breathe and talk and have relationships with each other. I barely felt any emotional investment for most of exRID.

I think the only scenes we got with Optimus actually getting to reflect on this new role of his was 1. when he first met Aileron and asked her and 2. when he's telling Aileron he doesn't believe and then Pyra Magna comes in and gets mad at him.

Speaking of Pyra Magna, the story writing also annoyed me because from the moment she was introduced, Pyra Magna was SUPER self-righteous about how she should be the Prime instead of Optimus and she said that she would try to make Optimus into a better Prime. But then guess what happens? Her and Optimus barely talk and Pyra Magna is basically just there to form Superion and punch people :/ And then later on when Onyx Prime is introduced, all the sudden Pyra Magna goes from having strong opinions about what a True Prime should be and believing she's destined to be the true Prime........ to talking about how she's never trusted Primes and she left the Mistress of Flame for trusting a Prime too quickly??? I know Pyra Magna isn't Optimus, but the reason I'm bringing her up is because she seemed truly religious and opinionated, she SAID she was going to "teach" Optimus things, she seemed like she was set up to be a rival to Optimus, but instead they barely have interactions and the ones they do have early in the series end up being retconned later by Barber's shitty writing that puts plot over consistent character development so. :/ I really expected Pyra Magna and Optimus to have some meaningful interactions, some mix between a rivalry and a mentor/student situation, but instead all she does is shit on him like half the case of exRID/OP and it just made me mad.

(There was also Slide who went from worshipping Optimus to saying that his leadership style is "literally fascism" and monologuing about how Optimus is a conqueror while fighting Unicron and Trypticon is being killed in the background. She's so fucking annoying and comically stupid that I genuinely thought she was going to betray them or do something evil just because she was so unhinged.)

But if you want my actual in-universe opinion on atheist pope Optimus, I do think it's an interesting concept. It shows off Optimus' sense of duty where even though HE doesn't believe, he thinks that what other people think of him his more important. He sees that being a religious figure can help him do what he thinks is right, so he willingly plays that role as a means to a greater end. He's already a "patriot and hero" to the Autobots thanks to his military feats; he's used to being venerated (sometimes to unhealthy degrees) and knows how powerful his influence can be whenever he makes political decisions. I think that he basically saw the Camiens' worship of him as just a new form of the admiration he was already used to receiving. He's spent his whole life commanding armies so simply adopted the colonists into his ranks as well.

(Also, side note, it's so fucking hypocritical for Pyra Magna to call Optimus a piece of shit for "using belief, but not believing" only for her herself to admit a few volumes later that she's never trusted Primes. Why do you wanna be one so badly then if you think Primes are so awful? If it's because you think you could do a better job than past Primes, that literally makes you the same as Optimus, who is also trying to redeem the title of Prime, so you have no right to be punching Optimus in the face lmao. But I also genuinely can't tell if that hypocrisy is supposed to be deliberate or if Barber just did what he usually did and ignored character emotion/motivation/self-reflection in favor of shoving some backstory in for Pyra Magna that tied her to Onyx Prime.)

At least Optimus tried to discourage the blind worship and used the Camiens to do things he had already spent his whole life doing (fighting genocidal colonizers aka Decepticons and protecting organic lives) so I don't really see it as out of line for Optimus. It shows how IDW OP can be a politician as well as a military leader. I think it shows how Optimus can be clever and take advantage of his reputation to achieve his political goals (protecting Earth) and it makes him a more realistic character. Sometimes things that are good aren't done through noble means. Sometimes people do good things by being not very nice.

Also, for what it's worth, I think IDW OP is less manipulative than someone like Starscream, who constantly flaunted his "Chosen One" status while admitting he didn't believe in it (or wavering in his belief) and doing things like creating secret police and trying to kidnap sparklings. Like damn at least Optimus risked his life in the same battles he asked his followers to fight in, he ruined his reputation for the sake of protecting Earth from the Decepticons. Even if the guy is an atheist pope at least he puts his own ass on the line for things he believes in for the sake of protecting people who pretty much hate him lmao. That's why I'm more inclined to view Optimus sympathetically; he's living a lie for political means, but his politics are literally "protect humans and Earth from the bullshit war and destruction Cybertronians forced onto their planet", and the burden of leadership is making him depressed and passively suicidal, and eventually he literally sacrificed himself by jumping into a black hole to save millions/billions of people so like. Let the guy fucking rest lmao.

[andthebubbles]

i can’t decide which would be hotter: halbrand being just some middle earth dude (like we thought he might be pre-ep 8), or halbrand being sauron (which he is)

[hiddensquid13]

So, one of the things I like A Lot in fiction is when I get to see a world map. Mostly for getting a better sense of the borders of fictional nations, I'm a bit of a nerd about that sort of thing.

Well, I got to the first episode of Steven Universe that gives us a map, excited to see where on earth the gems of Homeworld had marked as prime real estate for their terraforming efforts, and... uh...

... I was not expecting VASTLY CHANGED CONTINENTS!!! THAT'S AWESOME!!!!

[pink-spaceturtle5]

Hey, absolutely no pressure for anyone to respond, but if you were heavily parentified as a child, what's something that a non-parent, non-professional adult (like a nanny/ babysitter) could have done that you would have found helpful?

[keepingprovisions]

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[leatherbookmark]

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honestly all this shit just looks like those people want to, idk, ascertain in front of everyone that they're both Normal and Smarter, and it feels really weird to see on a website full of self-proclaimed freaks obsessed with yearning, fucked up dynamics, hand in unlovable hand etc. what do they need the fucked up dynamics for? to point out that they're fucked up and weird, and that normal people don't do that? stop embarrassing yourself and let stories move you like a normal fucking person