#i wouldn’t survive on reddit i NEED my little tag talk

[tripleseptet]

just realized the new redditors don’t do tag talk. THAT’S why they hit that softly uncanny yet endearing social voice. Yall are just out here shouting all your thoughts willy nilly. buck wild keep it up fellas

[acerace]

tumblr user buildmartenjoyer did you hear dream's latest build mart rant made it onto reddit

I did hear! I read the transcript earlier as well to see more than just the random screenshots people like to vague lmao

Obviously I, Tumblr user buildmartenjoyer, quite like Build Mart! I think it gets a somewhat underserved amount of hate that has little to do with the game itself. That does not mean I think it is a perfect game. If multiple people have multiple complaints over multiple events about a specific game, then yeah there's probably an issue somewhere! Doesn't mean the game is bad and irredeemable and awful and needs to be removed or even retired.

Also whoops I rambled! Below the cut for general musings on Dream's recent Build Mart comments. This is not cc!Dream critical or neg, btw, most of my rambling is me considering his points from the pov of someone who really loves Build Mart and enjoys watching it. 

Man I wanna pick the green man's brain on MCC so bad like!! I don't think Build Mart is a bad game- in fact I think it's like A Tier- and I disagree with a lot of what Dream says about mcc in general, but he also makes good points! Like he's right- if you play 100 games of Build Mart of, let's say, orange 17 and cyan 17, orange is going to win 100/100 games, whereas with games like Sky Battle or Parkour Tag, for example, there's going to be more of a split, because the games have "pop off" potential as he says. See Grian being #1 individual in Sky Battle in 17 with one (1) tnt and good survival points. Personally, I think this is a fair point because part of the fun and charm of MCC is that it isn't set in stone and you don't know who the winner's going to be half way through the event like with twitch rivals or mcm.

In that specific post, Dream's main issue he describes is him struggling with memory and knowing what blocks he needs. Fair enough! The game stresses communication and memorization more than any other skill, and struggling with those is going to hurt your performance and how much fun you have. But imo there are in game strategies you could implement to help. And obviously I say all this as someone who has never Played BM/MCC in general so grain of salt lol.

If he's good at placing blocks but not collecting them, then have the team split into pairs- two builders taking a build each and two runners working with a builder each. Dream stays at the build and tells his runner what blocks to bring him, then Dream can build while the runner goes to work on the 3rd build, for example. Then maybe rush gold builds? Like if the issue is physically getting the blocks, then work with your team to get someone else to do it. For the first set of builds when no one has blocks, have one builder get wood and the other stone, while the runners work on the specific blocks for their pair's build, maybe, so no one's sitting around waiting. Like I feel like there's options, you know?

I also think that most of the problems with Build Mart comes from the fact it's the only "building" game. If you like pvp you can vote for Sky Battle or Battle Box or Survival Games, all of which are pvp games that test differing skills and have distinct strategies- you don't need to bridge in SG, for example. But if you want a building game you have BM and only BM, and it's barely a building game at that. Adding another option- I like the battle box inspired idea- would lessen BM's dominance, because non pvp teams almost always want BM and want it late, giving another option will shake up the meta here and expose the underlying issues with BM.

Also I feel like the thing people get most pressed about is when Dream brings up Grian? I think it's usually a fine comparison because they have very different preferred games and play styles while having similar amounts of experience, and Grian is the largest of the non dsmp streamers. Grian is one of the best Build Mart players and hates Parkour Warrior and says he won't play if it comes back; Dream was one of the best Parkour Warrior players and hates Build Mart and says he won't play if he knows it's going to be played. The difference comes up in specific contexts- when Dream said Grian could hate pkw but he can't say anything about bm because people get mad at him, for example, that was meh to me because yeah you have a point about how people attack you over everything but did you have to pick the one person who had an actual panic attack playing the game? In this specific post, Grian has indeed killed Dream in pvp before, but it's never been 1v1 when both are prepared for it and at full health lol. The closest you get to that is the original Dreamslayer moment in MCC9, but even then Dream was healing from a previous fight and Grian got the drop on him. Dream will kill Grian 99/100 times.

Dream was being pretty sarcastic with his comments on not needing to communicate in BM, and yeah Pete was being quiet but that's because he was listening to what Grian was saying lol. With Grian's BM strategy, the CEO is loud and in charge and constantly talking, the builders only speak up when they need something or have a gold build, and the floater is constantly talking to the CEO. Dream saying Pete wasn't talking much is true, because he was one of the silent roles! But he was still communicating- if he hadn't told Grian about the gold build or asked what was behind the duck build or told Grian to get more glass then they wouldn't have done as well. I also think it's interesting he chose Pete's pov to watch, because it seems to me he's looking at BM strategies and trying to find some that'll work for him? He can't be CEO or floater because those both rely on knowing what blocks everyone needs, so him watching one of the builders makes sense to me.

Most of my issues with how people (Dream included) talk about BM is when they're flat out wrong or subjective lol. Build Mart is not a slow game, you're just watching someone who doesn't know what they're doing. It's not a boring game, you're just watching a team that gives up before the game even starts. I feel the same intense excitement and stress about BM as I do about SG and SoT! Watching Grian play is intense and exciting and edge of the seat! People have a lot of misconceptions about BM, which I rambled about in the tags of this post here, which I still stand by. The tl;dr of my thoughts on what makes a good Build Mart player is that Grian is not good at BM because he's a good builder- he makes mistakes constantly in BM- but rather because he can communicate with his team so effectively it doesn't matter if he spends 30 seconds looking for a crafting recipe or collecting the wrong block.

So there are my thoughts anon! I’m not sure what you were expecting, because I like both Grian and Dream and think they both make very good points about MCC and game design in general (considering they both have experience running mc servers lol) and they tend to have very different opinions and experiences, so comparing them is interesting to me! I don’t necessarily agree with Dream’s points about MCC in general (the only people whose views I tend to wholesale support are H and Pete lmao) but Dream is allowed to dislike a game based on his personal opinions and feelings and he is allowed to rant about it in his own merch discord. Doesn’t mean he’s wrong or right, or that you have to agree or disagree. 

[thejudgingtrash]

would you class percy as a morally grey character? i’m really interested to hear your input

Anon 2: Would u class percy as an Morally Gray character?

Hey there! Let me write that essay for you about morally gray Percy ^^

It’s not about whether Percy is a morally gray character or not, it’s about he has to be otherwise the story doesn’t make any sense. At least for me it wouldn’t.

Ashley (@gr33kg0ds) said in the tags of my dark!Percy post something along the line of people diminishing Percy’s character because they need him to be pure and fluffy and I wholeheartedly agree with that!

Just because Percy’s twelve doesn’t mean he’s pure and didn’t do unproblematic things. I’ll mostly refer to The Lightning Thief because that book is the Magnus Opus for Riordan and perfectly stands for Percy as a morally gray character from the very beginning of the saga. (Also the only book I’ve recently re-read)

As much as I love fanon with all the amazing artworks, debates, memes and jokes, analysis, cool edits and wonderful fanfics, projecting your version of Percy doesn’t make the image in your head real. Percy in canon is not the fun and fluffy boy you imagine him to be or which social media sites (Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and yes, also Tumblr) tend to make him to be. He’s a scrawny little sarcastic twerp that was the unpopular kid. He isn’t that cringy dude Tony Lopez doing that fucking weird TikTok dance (side note: I don’t even know who this person is and I don't care, I saw the video and immediately wanted to delete every social media app on my phone, so thanks Tony?), kissing his Yeezys goodnight, vibing to our lord and gay icon Taylord “T. Swizzle” Swift song and flexing them iPhone 11 Max Pros. Percy literally said that going to Burger King with his mother once in a while would be considered a luxury. He’s a poor bastard in literal sense.

Part of the problem with the distinction of Percy’s character and his motives stem from the fact that Percy is a sneaky unreliable narrator and we as the audience (especially if you’re younger) don’t question most of his behavior if you even question some (pretty sure that most of us only picked up weird stuff as adults). Everything seems plausible to you. But does it mean that his behavior is necessarily good? Something that would paint his character as good?

Like I’ve said, let’s take a look at TLT. The very beginning of everything and the wonderful line that gets quoted everywhere: “Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood”. 

The very first line that quoted everywhere or used as in moodboard and edits but its meaning and significance get brushed off for the most part. It immediately sets the tone and the atmosphere for the book and for Percy as a character. A(n in my opinion) morally gray character. The very first thing we hear from Percy is that he doesn’t want to be in this world. He’s an involuntary participant who has been (upon further reading) blackmailed and forced into this world and is only cooperating to get his mother back and said in regards to his father (who also stands for the Greek pantheon) ”well yeah, would be nice to know about my dad but I’ve survived without him the past twelve years so I don’t know, he wouldn’t be missed necessarily I guess?“ That pretty much tells you, it foreshadows, that we will be dealing with someone with grit, someone that fights back, someone that went through shit, someone that isn’t a goody two-shoed character. Does it mean he’s a terrible (in the sense of evil or bad) character from the get go? Not really, but it tells you in nuances that he won’t be the white shining knight you might expect from a fairy tale.

There is so much that little Perseus Jackson has to offer you directly in the first book. So much that paints him as a morally gray character. From the illegal candy stash all the way to tricking Procrustes into his own trap. He knows right from wrong and isn’t innocent by any means. He wants you to think he’s innocent. Yes, he hunts monsters and the book also tells you that some adults (Gabe) can also be monsters, but Percy’s personality is so interesting and full of facets which I love! He’s misleading you on purpose. Deflects, plays events down. He lies in front of you to others but you don’t really doubt it. Instead of questioning it, you understand it.

What distinguishes Percy from other male protagonists in that notion that the author doesn’t try to paint him as particularly good (the reader connects the dots, in reality) is pretty much that. Percy is neither inherently good or bad. He’s in the middle. He does lots of questionable things and his personality adds to it. Something that immediately comes to my mind is his lack of fear of consequences. He thinks in the short term and not in the long term. Of course, he’s caring about those that are close and important to him (Grover, Annabeth and his mother of course. And well. The world not getting destroyed by his weird father and fucking crazy uncle would be a plus). But Percy isn’t really a strategist (yet). Look at the Medusa head thingy. Annabeth and Grover warn him, that he’s gonna get his ass beat and he doesn’t care. That these gods could squish him in the end didn’t matter to him.

The Olympian gods are painted as these unpenetrable huge mighty force and some fuzzy annoyed twelve year old dipshit sends them the severed head of a monster - but not any monster, the monster his father had a role in creating (well, Athena for the most part, but you know what I mean). (Also, I know this kinda reckless behavior gets sorta rewarded but at first, everyone was like ‘NO, NO, NO!’ before Percy was glorious with his attempt). Percy essentially tells these ancient forces that drive the way of his new cosmos how shit‘s gonna work from now on.

Percy isn’t fear riddled and doesn’t think about the possible outcome. He manipulates, he lies, he persuades and all of this as soon as he hits twelve. But probably earlier. Pretty sure he had to become a believable lier in order to trick (survive being around) Gabe. Perseus is angry, he’s agitated. Had Riordan written Percy as a soft spoken, frightened, goody two-shoed kid, almost nothing in TLT and the follow-ups would have made sense. He’s the outcast, but slowly blossoms into the strength and muscles of the group. Of the entire camp. Someone that outsmarts opponents and wins battles. But he didn’t do that by playing nice and being a bootlicker.

TLT would’ve been a perfect standalone book that would have emphasized that Percy is an involuntary person sive) if you skip Kronos, leave a little bit foreshadowing with the prophecy out, tweak the talks with the gods and Annabeth’s first meeting and skip Luke and the scorpion at the end. The ending would’ve been “and so Percy had a first awesome summer vacation and found a group of friends for life” or so (aka PJO movie 1 in less shitty and more cohesive).

The morally gray character shrinks a little bit in the SOM because there lie straighter dangers ahead which dive more into the bigger picture and Percy grows more into the character who takes care of friends and but he does come back with TTC, and definitely BOTL and the St. Helens explosion.

Consequences of Percy’s interactions had people partially dying. There is doubt, there is guilt. But the show must go on. There are battles that have to be won. There is no big giving up, no big overturn for the bad guys.

Also... isn’t it interesting that we start with Percy saying ”look, I don’t want to be in this world“ in TLT and it ends with TLO where he says ”for once I didn’t look back“? The full circle? The way that accepting his fate took five books? To change Percy from being an involuntary participant to becoming voluntary? He didn’t want to be a half-blood, he didn’t want to be the kid in the prophecy, but he actively chose to be in the end. He went from a darker shade of gray to a mayhaps lighter, if you want to say so.

To conclude, I repeat myself again: it’s not about whether Percy is a morally gray character or not, it’s that he has to be.

Thanks for asking me about some meta stuff I really do like diving into these things here and there. Tumblr’s sorta glitchy, I do get notifications but I really don’t see asks, so I’m sorry if my response is mad late ^^

[ranvwoop]

Mcc thoughts please :)

(I love to hear for u about this stuff!!!)

!! cryptid!!! friend!!! hello!!! thank you for asking!! Often I am no thoughts head empty about like, actual skill things, but I do have some thoughts for you :DD! (Also nice new pfp by the way !!). I also got very distracted while writing this. It's late. Oopsie.

Under the cut as usual Cause I Talk A Lot.

The first thing to say about it is ?? it was just a Very Nice Time. Everyone pretty much unanimously agrees that the vibes of mcc14 were Very Off, and I also came away with. eek. awkward. people are sad and unhappy and that is bad. mccp was also super good (and for a good cause!!) but I felt this one even surpassed it in Good Atmosphere. I watched Pink from Ranboo's pov live, and then watched Green from Phil's pov in the evening (/morning cause I fell asleep watching it lol), and I'm even debating watching Red from Quackity's pov despite it being an almost four hour VOD and I do not have the time for that, it was just. Such a nice time!! I can't actually speak for other than Pink and Green but. I understand completely why it is adored.

To preface, I don't know anything about being good at video games. Much less Minecraft. I spiritually relate to mister Pants in this position. I am tossing stones in this glass tumblr blog. I don't look at the Reddit, either.

For Pink, I have to say I Am So Proud of Ranboo. I am so proud of him. That's my parasocial relationship! He's come so far and he says he's not good at the game but h e i s. I'm very glad that they got parkour tag first, specifically because Ranboo did really well and he deserved to have a good start. Something something morale and surprising people, but also I just think he personally deserved it. I hope he comes back for more tournaments, it's no secret that i adore he but like... great attitude..... generally very versatile... he's not the best best pvper in the world but pvp but shut.... I'm so excited to see him come back and do even better. I hope he'll be a regular, and tbh since he's so happy and excited about it and also happy to be paired with anyone I think he will be. My streamer is so cool.

Wilbur and Tubbo also did extremely well!! Top ten?? My streamers?? My streamers constantly underestimated because the reddit is mean to them for some reason??? Admittedly I don't know much abt Tubbo in MCC because this is my first time watching his team, but, give him more credit he knows what he's doing D:. And Wilbur, I have been watching him in the past two MCCs and I know he's been trying so hard and constantly being just cut short. He just wants to do well and be a good support for his teammates,,, mister Soot... holding gently.

I am not too familiar with TapL, other than he's usually at the front of races, but second individual is Super Super Good. I am proud of him too. I've also not watched him because I'm not very into speedrunning (see above where I. I don't know a thing about Minecraft lol) but he's so cool I may have to. The universe is telling me watch Tapl. But he's very cool. Not a lot for me to say abt him since I knew him as a really good player and he ended up being a really good player!

Pink's overall communication and chemistry was So Good. It was so good that I didn't even think about it being a factor until I watched another point of view, and Green sort of fell apart a bit and I was like, huh, wow, okay. No offence to them, but they had a sort of rough start with Battlebox. It was a tiny bit secondhand embarassing because it's just nooO listen to eachother,, listen,,,,

They also had a rough entirety with Connor. Poor Connor. I say this with absolute affection, I think Connor's really cool and I like watching his streams and also it was funny, but CoNNOR,

He had to be taught how to play the game During the game. I don't think he'd used an Elytra before the tsf map?? Or at least it had been so long he forgot?? Nobody told him about 1.9 combat changes until chat told him during the game. Phil had said on stream that he was trying and failing to round people up to practice, but, they should've at least ran through the game mechanics with the man. Tell him the event started an hour before it should've or something and play on a realm and refresh stuff he Will Need. And then Sands of Time, where his game was bugged, everyone assumed he was just incompetent, and then he sounded very calm so nobody realized the gravity of How Much Sand.

I'm not saying he's not just bad at the game, (well. he's probably average at the game, honestly, but in comparison to people who have spent their career in The Craft), but I think with a little more support in some areas he wouldn't have done as poorly. This is also totally not salty or anything, it was Very Fun to watch the poor man trying to navigate Minecraft, and everyone had fun so!! Good. Rights.

(It was also very funny when Phil and Fundy both tried to compliment him and Discord cut it off. MAN CAN'T CATCH A BREAK!)

To speak more positively, they really managed well in sky battle and survival games. Tommy is always an excellent leader for those sorts of things and managed to even keep Connor alive until the end of SG, and I think they did very well in sky battle too?? I can't completely remember. Phil trying to coach Connor through TSF was also nice to see, even if the time ran out before he could actually manage to do it.

I don't know why I've based my metric of teamwork on Connor. It's important to uplift the weak link, I guess! Like I said, I am not upset about it or salty or think that they're secretly Bad Team Players or Bad People, it's just an observation. They're all individually great members of a team, and I've seen them all work well in the past!

Fundy was also there. Fundy did good. I didn't talk about Fundy here at all. I can't remember much about what he did.

I would also like to take a moment to talk about Purple Pandas, because they were at the root of Pink Parrot's failures and I think that is hilarious. Wool'd em in Battlebox. Killed them early in Sky Battle. And then, finally, killed Ranboo in SG. I just thought it was really funny.

[murobrown]

I was tagged by @dangerous-lithium-animals , thank you a lot Jessi :) ♥ 

What was the last thing you read?  It was this swedish book called “Rit”. It was for my reading class and it was pretty nice, more like a collection of novels. Some of them were so weird and hard to understand but most of them were interesting 

Favorite movie? Submarine, Boyhood, Magnolia...first three that I thought about, there are many many more. And Once Upon A Time In Hollywood immediately become my favorite 

Favorite book? Burnt Child by Stig Dagerman

Dream Date? No idea, I never been on one. I imagine something chilled and not too fancy. Maybe just taking a walk and grabbing some food or drink. Cinema can be nice too

Do you have a crush? Yes, on every single boy I have ever seen ♥ 

What are your hobbies? Music, movies, cooking, cleaning

What is your favorite time of day? I am not sure if I have one. It depends on my mood and on actual day. Sometimes I like mornings sometimes evenings and sometimes late night. 

If you could look like anything, what would you look like? I would like to be little bit taller and very much skinnier. Change a lot of things about my face, give myself normal hair....I just want to look nothing like I look rn

Are you romantic? I don’t know, I never had an opportunity to discover those things about myself. I don’t even know what should I imagine under “romantic”....

What’s your favorite type of weather? Chilly weather but I also like sunny spring days. And I love snow too! 

What do you like talking about? Depends on the person and situation but most of the time it’s music, movies, shared memories, emotions...I love deep conversations with right person 

What are your turn ons? Confidence, kind heart, good taste in music (musicians overall, doesn’t matter if you play guitar or trombone...I’m in love), being nice to animals

Turn offs? Aggressivity, arrogance, spitting on the ground, beards 

If you got a tattoo what would it be and where would you get it? I’ve been wanting a tattoo for so long!!! I told myself that I get one once I get my bachelor’s degree. I’d like to get something small related to my cat. Somewhere on my hand, like wrist

Do you have any pets?  Yes :) A cat named Muro

Dream job?  My current job = working at cat café :)))

Dream place to live? I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind living in my hometown my whole life. Anything else sounds too unrealistic. But dream place would be somewhere in England for sure!

Dream vacation? Manchester or Liverpool, anywhere in Scandinavia, I’d love to go to Vienna once again

Do you have any piercings? Do earrings count? Otherwise none and I don’t feel the need to get anything else 

If you had kids what would you name them? I don’t ever want to have kids. But I like Oliver or Silvester for boy and Stella for girl 

What are your best traits? My taste in music 

Worsts traits? I am very ugly and fat, very quiet and shy, I think too much, I am very very LAZY, I am awkward, I can be very annoying, I am too emotional and I am scared of everything 24/7

What’s your worst fear? Being called mean or unkind, any confrontation with other people but also sharks, snakes, sea, heights, fire, darkness and DOCTORS

What do you want to eat right now? Hmmm just finished my breakfast so I am not that hungry but I’d always go for pizza

What’s your best vacation you’ve ever been on? I was on vacation only once really. It was like 8 years ago in Croatia, it was pretty nice, but one week was too much for me 

Favorite city?  My hometown Martin :) 

Favorite social media platform? I don’t really have any other social medias besides Tumblr (I don’t count Facebook)...but Reddit is fun too!

Favorite article of clothing? My blue and white Adidas Spezials 

Do you play sports? No not really, only sometimes badminton or football in the summer with friends or family. Nothing professional

Favorite meal of the day? Lunch? Sometimes dinner...sometimes breakfast. It depends what I’m cooking hah

What are you excited for? I don’t know...nothing really

Not excited for? Waking up and living this life every single day

When was the last time you cried? Last night hahaha 

Dream House? I don’t want house. I want apartment. It would have kitchen joined togehter with living room. I want a brick wall black leather sofa and big vinyl collection with stereo in my living room. Then I want black and white bathroom with huge shower. And I want balcony

What’s something you hate about the world? Myslef ♥ And other bad people

What’s something you love about the world? Animals, most of people I know, all the good music, all the nice nature, all the art that is out there

What scents do you like? Green tea, lavender, sandalwood

What kind of sleeper are you? I don’t know. Normal I guess? It depends...sometimes it takes me three hours to fall asleep sometimes three minutes. But I am not that much of a heavy sleeper 

Are you a cat or dog person? If this means introverted or extroverted then I’m introverted. But I love cats and dogs equally ♥ 

How long would you survive in the zombie apocalypse? Not a single day on my own. If I’d had someone to protect me I’d survive little bit longer but they would kill me because I’d be useless and annoying haha 

Are you trusting? Yes most of the time, but it depends on the preson. I need to know you before I can really trust you

What fictional character do you identify with? I really don’t know...

What labels do you usually get? Small/short, kind, positive and my classmate called me weird yesterday

What song would be your life anthem? Girl In A Dirty Shirt - Oasis

What issues are you dealing with right now? Trying not to kill myslef and dealing with this person who had feelings for me but I am not able to have those feelings for him back so I feel like the biggest asshole in the world

How can someone win you over? It’s not too hard, just be nice. I am not complicated at all

What’s something about you people don’t know? I don’t know if there’s anything I want to share like this haha. If people don’t know it I probably like it that way...But I was born one month earlier when I was a kid. I was really tiny and nearly died and they had to put me in the incubator for some time to keep me alive. My mum loves to remind me this hah 

I am sorry that this is SO long haha!  I am not tagging anyone, but anyone can feel free to do this :) 

[rewrite-the-night-court]

What I’d change about TOG

So, I saw another blog dedicated to fixing the problematic/uninteresting things about the ACOTAR series. Personally, I have been mentally doing the whole “if I had to remake this, I’d probably do it more like that” thing for years, and I’ve now decided to start a blog dedicated to it, but mostly to the series (and by extension, author) that initially made me start thinking about what I’d change: Throne of Glass.

Now, this is a LONG post dedicated to what I’d change about the first book in the TOG series. I mean no harm to SJM (which is why this is in the main tag, though I can remove it if it’s inappropriate to put this post there), this is just my take on how I think the books could have turned out differently.

If you disagree, feel free to do so; if you’re even so interested as to have a (civil) discussion with me, I’d love to talk to you! My inbox is always open!

It might be an incoherent mess, it might have more than a few plot holes, but I hope you enjoy the read anyways.

I’ll start with my feelings on the book in general. I actually took me a while to finish reading the entire thing. I bought the book because I really like the concept of a badass assassin struggling for her freedom by competing in deadly challenges, especially with some political/court intrigue and magic thrown into the mix. It seemed right up my alley. I did, however, put it down about 3/4ths in, because I did not feel like the book delivered what it promised, but rather that it trivialized the Tests and focused completely on the (very standard) love triangle.

My second “problem” with the book was Celaena herself. There were things I liked about her: For example, it was amazing to see a YA-protagonist not even admit, but even liking that she was good-looking and being confident in herself and her skills (YA sorely lacks female protagonists like that). Other things bothered me, in a way that eventually overshadowed the aspects of her character that I liked. I just kept thinking: “The world’s most feared assassin at 17?” It seems a little unlikely, not matter if she trained since she was 8 or not.

Those aspects of her character ties up to my problem with her as a character: She’s too powerful. I understand the appeal of a female power fantasy, especially for young girls. It’s badly needed in a sea of media in which women are portrayed as weak, or assets to male protagonists, without being given much, if any character development themselves. However, putting the world’s most feared assassin in a competition for her freedom... against other assassins? The stakes are close to zero. Not once was I worried about her victory, or safety, for that matter.

I saw someone rant about this on reddit, once, and they suggested one simple change. I’ll run along with their idea, as I feel it would change the books in a way that could be very engaging.

What if Lillian Gordaina the jewel thief was the 17 year old protagonist, and not just Celaena’s alias?

I imagine the book would start with Lillian having been caught stealing some jewelry, probably from a very rich merchant who have strong ties to perhaps the most powerful merchant’s guild in the land. Her father begs for the merchant not to do anything, reasoning that Lillian is still a child and meant no harm, but for some reason, the merchant is furious. In fact, he is so furious that he doesn’t want to settle for regular punishment, he’ll make sure she faces something even worse than just a fine.

When word arrive that Lillian is to partake in a contest and compete not only for her freedom, but for a position as the king’s champion, her family is shocked. What in the world would Lillian have to do there? She stole some jewelry, for Gods’ sake! As rumors start to circulate about the land’s most feared thieves, most skilled assassins, and most brutal warriors are to take part, Lillian’s parents attempt to spirit her away. She is caught, however, and is taken to the castle anyways.

Also in this version there isn’t an actual castle of glass. While it’s very Aesthetic™, it wouldn’t suit the story as of right now. From an actual architectural standpoint, it also makes very little sense.

When she gets there, it quickly becomes clear that she’s mostly there as a filler contestant. There’s about ten or so people there who seem actual candidates, from what Lillian can gather without there having been an official introduction round, but the ten are in turn actually terrible criminals with no qualms about murder. The king, partly because of his cruel streak, partly because he’s not actually that dumb, knows it’ll be more intimidating to say you chose your champion after having the most brutal criminals in the land slaughter each other for the honor of serving their king. Lillian bands together with a couple of other candidates who’re more on the weak side. The three of them know that they’ll probably die, but decide to try and help each other survive either way.

Still, Lillian is a noble woman, who, up until now, has been leading a pretty sheltered life. The fact that she might die terrifies her, and she has a breakdown about it in her room. Her servants and the guard posted outside of her room (she only has one, as she isn’t a very big threat to anyone) feel bad for her. Enter Chaol, who in this story starts out as just a regular guard. He offers to tutor her, if he is given permission to do so. Lillian accepts, knowing she has no chance against her opponents but hoping the lessons will soothe her a little bit.

Chaol, who isn’t even given permission to see the king, ends up meeting Dorian face to face by coincidence. Dorian gives him permission to train Lillian during the evenings (for whatever reason, I haven’t figured out all of the character motivations yet).

The following morning, there is a court gathering. Some of the competitors (mostly women) are invited. At the gathering, Lillian ends up standing out; she is rather pretty and she knows how to enhance her beauty by dressing well, gaining a lot of attention for it. She speaks to Kaltain and Nehemia, surprising them both by knowing the Eyllwe tongue. The three of them chat a little in Eyllwe, before Lillian knows who Nehemia really is. Kaltain, who is used to the ways of court, warns Lillian about standing out once she reveals that she is a competitor. Lillian, now suddenly aware of all the eyes glued to her, makes a hasty (but discreet) exit.

She does not know her way around the castle, and ends up stumbling into a secret passage. Terrified of where they might take her, she tries her best to find a way out again, but she is lost and doesn’t know where she is going. Instead, she stumbles into a room she has never seen before, where she finds a woman whose feet are shackled to the floor. 

Lillian learns that this woman is Celaena Sardothien, after some conversation. Celaena seems to be less interested in Lillian and the competition that she is in her garden; in her room, she has a small collection of pots from which various plants are growing. The two come to a sort of understanding, and before Lillian leaves (she’s afraid of being caught in there), Celaena says that she’ll offer Lillian advice and help in exchange for favors and asks Lillian to consider.

The next day is mostly dedicated to training. Insert some Witty Banter™ and flirting here. Lillian and Chaol do get along very well. It’s clear (at least to the reader) that they’re both interested in each other. Lillian, without mentioning Celaena, asks Chaol if he thinks it’s right of her to do things that might be bad in order to survive this ordeal. When he says that yes, he thinks she deserves to survive, she decides to go along with Celaena’s request.

She goes back again that night, as quietly and carefully as she can. Celaena reveals that the King intends for her to compete to be his champion. She also reveals that she, too, is only there as canon fodder. The story is much more interesting if the king’s champion defeated the strongest assassin in the land, after all. She goes on to tell Lillian that physically, there is no way either of them are strongest. Celaena worries that the final test will be a fight to the death between her and whoever the king will pick, a match she’ll have no chance of winning after a year in Endovier. She isn’t worried about Lillian’s fate: Doing dirty work like this is about competence, first and foremost, with “dirty” being the keyword. They’re criminals, the bad guys, the scum of society; the king doesn't need or want them to play by the rules. Celaena believes this can help Lillian survive.

The next day, the first test takes place. It’s a race to capture the flag, strapped to the top of a large tower. Lillian freaks out, as there’s no way she can climb that tower. With her squad of underdogs, she recalls Celaena’s words about not playing fair, and realizes that the winner of the contest is the one that delivers the flag to the judge first. Through some quick scheming, the three manage to get the flag after Celaena brought it down, and one of them (not Lillian, though, she chooses not to pick up the flag when she has her shot) ends up being the one to win.

Chaol trains with her again that evening. One of his superiors find them, and while Chaol isn’t not allowed to train her, he gets in hot water as he is dragged away by the other guard. Lillian heads up to her room, only to be woken in the middle of the night by screaming and angry yelling, before there’s desperate pounding on her door. She knows she’s safer if she stays in her room, Celaena’s voice echoing in her head, so she doesn’t open it, feeling like a coward. Eventually, she falls asleep, still shaking beneath the covers.

The next day, it is revealed that one of the actual good competitors killed the friend of Lillian who won the first test, as well as a few guards before Chaol managed to grapple him from the back. The chaos that erupted was partially because the guards realized they had no idea where the king was. It truly dawns on Lillian that her life is in danger. Finding a quiet corner to break down, Kaltain and Nehemia finds and comforts her. Lillian confesses that she blames herself for the murder of her friend, since she helped her win. Nehemia tells her that it’s nothing she could have done about it, and that she herself has had similar feelings. As the youngest royal child of her country, she wielded little political power, and was unable to do anything when Adarlan invaded. She feels guilt for being useless.

She heads up to Celaena that evening, partially to seek validation for not trying to help (Lillian doesn’t outright admit it to herself, but she knows). It’s never discussed as she sees Celaena’s bruised face. The king visited her last night, angry at her for losing the flag to Lillian’s friend. She seems more upset that he ruined all of her flowers, especially taking care to rip the rarest of them apart with his own hands. A strange and very rare plant, rarely found outside what Celaena calls “her homeland.” Lillian can’t decide whether Celaena genuinely cares more about that flower than herself, or if she is redirecting her attention to something else so as to not think about the king, but either way Lillian decides not to pressure Celaena into talking. Celaena eventually asks Lillian if she could secure her a meeting with Nehemia, having heard that they were spotted together at court.

The next test comes a few days later. Lillian tries fading into the background along with her remaining ally. It’s a simple archery test. Lillian can’t figure out how she would play dirty in such a scenario, and ends up coming in dead last. Chaos finds her afterwards, asks her if she is alright, and informs her that he can’t train her anymore; because of him catching the murderer, his superior was impressed and gave him the reins for the investigations. This might be his chance to climb the ladder.

Nehemia has, with the help of Kaltain, gotten much better at speaking the language of Adarlan. Kaltain and Lillian, for some reason, manage to get Celaena an audience with her. Nehemia seems shaken when she comes out, and when asked by Kaltain what has her so shaken, Nehemia tells them that Celaena is planning on becoming “the next king’s champion,” to which Kaltain corrects her gently (“The king’s next champion, my dear”). Nehemia doesn't react to it at all, in contrast to her usual fondness for learning, but simply leaves, still pale and stiff. Lillian sneaks in, demanding to know what Celaena said that upset Nehemia so. Celaena doesn't answer, instead suggesting that since Chaol now is rising in rank, Lillian would do well to get “friendlier” with him. Lillian storms off.

The third test takes place, and Lillian somehow wins. Fearing for her life, she seeks out Chaol, again thinking of Celaena’s words. It disgusts her that while yes, she likes Chaol, she did seek him out for the sole purpose of gaining both his affection and protection. He managed to find out how the competitor escaped from his chambers (or something), and got promoted.

I’m getting a bit lazy now, but things happen and Celaena requests an audience with Dorian this time. Lillian goes through Chaos to get to Dorian. Dorian, unlike Nehemia, doesn’t seem as shaken after his audience with Celaena. After a little digging, Lillian finds out that Dorian was the one who proposed the idea of Celaena being a competitor in the first place, as well as the one who agreed to get her a little garden (it was the only thing she requested). He hasn’t gone back to see her since, apparently being a little intimidated by her.

The king has grown mad/angry with more and more of the contestants. Lillian, who actually won a test, barely mangled to escape from his ire. After a fourth test, in which Lillian purposefully fails and Celaena wins a second time, Chaol realizes that Lillian has been using him and ends their friendship. It is afterwards discovered that a second competitor escaped during the fourth test, resulting in something close to a “lockdown” in the castle.

When the king is found dead in his chamber, panic erupts. Chaol, once again, finds and captures the escaped competitor–alive, this time. Lillian asks for permission to see them, and it turns out to be her friend (whom she drifted apart from during the competition, as she became more focused on herself and not dying). They swear that they didn’t kill the king, and Lillian knows they didn’t. Celaena’s lessons about playing dirty rings through her head and it’s no doubt about who killed the king. Lillian deduces that it might have been some kind of poison that led the king to his death, thinking of Celaena’s garden and how the king destroyed it himself in order to make her suffer. Fearing her wrath, however, Lillian doesn’t say anything, instead wishing to confront Celaena afterwards.

Upon confronting Celaena the next day, she is unwilling to say anything about anything. Lillian figures some things out on her own, e.g. that Celaena always planned to escape, killing the guards with the poison she could get from the plants and whatever else she could get her hands on. For some reason, Celaena changed course, seeing an opportunity to get some actual power and using Lillian as a pawn in a much larger scheme (Lillian probs already had her suspicions about this, though she did as Celaena asked, considering it in the long run seemed to be a mutually beneficial relationship). As Lillian is there, Dorian shows up with Chaol and another guard. Chaol is furious as he sees Celaena and Lillian together, but Dorian tells him to stand back and that he while seeing her there right now was a surprise, it was as good as time as any to reveal that he knew that Celaena was going to have his father murdered, and that 1. he looked the other way, therefore indirectly helping, or 2. the poison never worked and Dorian did it himself (depending on whichever would make Dorian not completely unlikable, it’s meant to have been a moral dilemma for him).

More things happen, Dorian is crowned and gets engaged, Nehemia stays as a representative for her country and an ally of Celaena, yada yada yada. There’s drama here towards the end, especially between Dorian soon-to-be-king and Celaena I-got-you-to-where-you-are-now-you-owe-me. Again, this would be a bit more nuanced than if I wasn't just roughly outlining the concept.

Finally, Dorian declares that the competitors are pardoned. Lillian prepares to go back to her family as Celaena calls on her again. They don’t meet in Celaena’s chambers, but somewhere else, where a certain white-haired merchant is waiting alongside Celaena. He reveals his true name to be Rowan and that he was working with Celaena all along (he didn’t actually give a shit about that ring). Through some Quality Banter™ and intriguing and mysterious wording, Celaena reveals that Lillian is, in fact, the lost princess Aelin Galathynius and that if she wants to live, she has to go with Rowan right away. Lillian, for some reason, answers yes almost immediately, wondering to herself whether she said yes for survival’s sake or something else. (Dun dun dun do I sense a sequel in the distance?)

And that’s it. I hope you enjoyed my word-vomit of an outline folks.

[agentdagonet]

Echoes, Ch. 13

Find it here on AO3

Find it here on tumblr:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Fic Summary: Feet dangling off the edge of the bed, hands still resting on the earpieces of his glasses, Eggsy opened his eyes.

   And promptly shut them again, screwing them shut like a child who had the distinct misfortune of biting into a raw lemon. Breathing harshly in his nose and out his mouth, trying to stave off whatever delusional panic had befallen him, Eggsy reopened his eyes.

‘Harry?’

Or: The Hologram Story Nobody Asked For

         Harry Hart didn't know the date. He couldn't tell you who the current President was (not so much couldn't as wouldn't, but still, silence was its own answer) or his own name as far as the Hospital staff were concerned. He'd been confused and horrified by the tale they'd spun when he'd woken up, but had only asked for his belongings in a seemingly-desperate bid to recall who he was.

         Agent Galahad was confused beyond measure and more than a little worried about his Agency in the wake of the things he'd woken up to. Not the least of which was an ungodly amount of gossip about who was and was-not being discovered without a head every few days. Missing persons from around the globe reappear overnight, refusing to give any details as to their freedom, but all anyone could talk about were the gruesome collections of headless world leaders and celebrities being discovered even a year later. The priorities of the general populace were, as ever, unsurprising.          It had been surprisingly easy to convince certain members of staff that he could contact (or, try to, as it were) his family if given internet access. There'd been a delay, certainly, but one of the overnight nurses had left him a laptop with strict instructions not to ignore his body's needs in favour of traipsing the net. He wasn't Merlin (he ignored the pang in his chest that reminded him that there may no longer be a Merlin) but he had picked up enough throughout the years to use the unsecured laptop without giving himself away.          He'd looked up the news reports for V-Day, as it had so lovingly been named by the masses, statistics showed that nearly 1% of the population had been affected by the incident. Only 10% of those affected had died, the rest were still in various states of injury and recovery; those who had been found headless were barely acknowledged outside of a small blog that kept a running list. There had been a day of mourning for them, notably interrupted by rioters demanding answers they would never receive, before the bodies were simply tagged and cremated, the ashes sent in plain boxes to their next of kin. Any new finds were reported before following the same process; by now it was simply routine.          There was a reddit thread dedicated to discovering who, exactly, they should be thanking for ending the Valentine Massacre and releasing their missing persons. There were maybe 100 posts; one claimed to be the Princess of Sweden, who mentioned how finely dressed and fit their rescuer was. That didn't have to mean anything, on its own, but Harry's traitorous heart began to hope anyway. One poster identified themselves as M.Baker, and spoke about a young woman having called them and gave instructions to lock their daughter in a bathroom and throw way the key mere moments before the chaos began. They wrote that they most would definitely have killed their daughter without the warning, having come to their senses with a large knife in hand standing over the buggy they'd left their child strapped into.          Baker... Baker... Dean Anthony Baker, Eggsy's unfortunate stepfather; married to Michelle with one daughter, Daisy.

         M. Baker, warned by a young woman about the chaos to potentially save the life of their young daughter. It was a stretch, but at this point Harry was willing to follow any spider's silk that would tell him Kingsman was not only responsible for ending the threat, but had suffered minimal losses as well. The call could have come from their newly knighted Lancelot, who had formed something a bit tighter than alliance with Eggsy during their trials. Eggsy.          Eggsy who he had left in his house, unattended but for a laptop hooked into his glasses feed. Eggsy who had gone to beat his father after the crushing failure of his final test. Eggsy who had been correct in his assessment of Harry having something of his father stuffed in the loo (figuratively, not that Eggsy knew that). Eggsy whose apology he had callously ignored before going off to Kentucky-          Eggsy, who had to have seen Harry's time in Kenucky come to a gruesome end.

         He could only hope Eggsy'd been spared from Valentine's scheme- but there were only a handful of ways to be sure. He logged in to his in-home feed remotely, bypassing the vocal and fingerprint features with a series of intricate passcodes, and let out a shaky breath at the sight of Eggsy in his home. Mildly bruised, looking incredibly lost with his head bowed to the floor of the downstairs loo, and apparently mid-conversation.          'Guilt ain't gonna bring those people back, bruv.' Harry'd only tapped into the audio/visual feed, and was unable to see whoever Eggsy was speaking to, when he realised that Eggsy was wearing a set of Kingsman glasses. There was no one else there, no phone on the counter top or the telltale blinking from the inner rim of the glasses when engaged with communication at HQ, so the only explanation was-          The Will. The holograms, hooked into his house without so much as a by-your-leave from Merlin (not that that had ever stopped him). It'd been a year (how easy it was to forget that, in the unchanging sterile hospital) of course they'd turned on. And if Eggsy were living in his home, for whatever reason, it was only a matter of time before they'd been discovered. Apparently that time had come and gone, and Harry wasn't sure of when it happened, but his fingers were typing into the command box. He didn't remember what all he'd originally had this one say but skimmed through the text and added on autopilot, hoping to a vague entity that it came out fluidly to Eggsy. He had to know that he had done the best he could and would only improve if he kept moving forward. It was all that had held himself together, some days.          Eggsy who was not Lancelot, though the hologram addressed him as such. Had Eggsy been Knighted? And, if so, how had he bypassed the Dog Test? What circumstances had led them to this moment, split apart by an ocean and near-assured death? Did all of Kingsman survive Valentine's scheme? If not, who had been lost? Harry only half-listened to himself monologuing, questions running through his head at an alarming rate, but found himself frozen as Eggsy spoke about his father.          'It was worth it.' Harry mouthed the words to himself, hardly able to believe them. Eggsy, the child whose father he'd taken (with the best of intentions) and whose life he'd most assuredly caused (however tangentially) to fall into the mess it had, thought it was worth it? Harry watched, mouth agape, as Eggsy pulled Lee's butterfly from the wall, and ran a finger across the writing Harry barely recalled, a soft smile accompanying tears he didn't bother wiping away. Had Harry been paying himself any mind, he'd have felt a set of matching tracks across his own face.          As it was, he watched the feed for a moment more before turning his attention to the rest of the command boxes at his disposal. He could easily set off an alarm that would call whomever was at Merlin's desk to his home, but he didn't want to disrupt Eggsy's evening. He could send a message to Merlin directly, but that would be fruitless if Merlin were... gone. Same went for Arthur.          It was fortunate that the hospital staff had kept his (albeit ruined) glasses, Harry thought to himself, as he activated the homing beacon and set them back onto his bedside table. He sent a message through the home system to both Arthur and Merlin's inboxes, he could only hope that whoever was in those positions now wouldn't write them off, before sending one to his own inbox in a vague hope of Eggsy having access. 'Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated, and I would greatly appreciate an escape route from this hospital. The tea is atrocious.'

[tweakerwolf]

Doki Doki Literature Club

Played the game and my thoughts about it are below the cut because I go on a bit of a rant...

TL;DR version: I love the true aspect of the game but it isn’t really my style and over all I was disappointed by the ‘psychological horror’ and ‘gore’ parts of it. (relatively spoiler free, I don’t mention any of the major twists or story plotlines, just the general ‘extra-ness’ of what makes the game intriguing)

So... I got the game on Steam and played it because a lot of people were talking about it and how awesome of a game it was...

I hate to say it but, I was disappointed in it...

I get why people are raving about it, I do think the reveals and secrets in the games are amazing! I can honestly say that I’m blown away by what the creators were able to do with the game. Without going into spoiler territory, all the hidden/surprise aspects of the game, are really awesome! I have read all about the intricate details and hints that people were able to find- SO MUCH information... I wouldn’t have had any idea of where to start with that kind of game. I don’t know anything about game files and translating text... I love complicated storylines but I’m very simple when it comes to *gameplay*... if it isn’t blatantly obvious then odds are, I won’t know what to do... If I was left to my own devices, I wouldn’t know about a majority of DDLC’s secrets... because they have to do with things that are outside of normal gameplay... I guarantee that I would’ve missed about 90% of the point, all the underlying DDLC elements, swoosh, right over my head. But when I looked up the game and I learned about all the ‘extra’ elements, again, I am SOOOOO impressed with what they were able to achieve! But lmao, if you were expecting me to understand it and delve into that on my own???? You’ll be waiting a long time for that... I suck at that kind of meta stuff, truly. I wouldn’t’ve even /thought/ to look into the things people were finding secrets in!

That being said... I saw the tags for DDLC and I saw all the warnings that appeared in the game... and that’s where I was disappointed. Psychological horror? After playing games like BTD and TDDUP... that game wasn’t that ‘edgy’ at all imo. Now, that’s not to say that the trigger warnings aren’t needed! Indeed, pay attention to the trigger warnings and play the game with caution, I’m not saying that they lied... just that /I/ had higher expectations for what was going to happen when I got to the ‘shocking’ part of the game. I was so bored... For the average gamer and especially for someone that generally plays ‘regular’ dating sims, I’m sure the triggering scenes were very /shocking/, I can understand that... but for all the hype I was seeing, I was expecting more. There was nothing to the characters that made me invested in them (Okay, I’ll admit, I was invested in Sayori and I do think they did her storyline right), there was no history... Things go from cutesy to chaotic in just a moment but that doesn’t make it psychological horror... I wasn’t twisted around psychologically by the reveals we were given... they were just /shock value/ (hence my earlier wording...). OMG look at this surprise scene that you’d never expect to see in a ‘dating sim’ game!!! Gasp! What surprise! Even the ‘extra’ part of the game, the fun secret stuff... that isn’t what I’d categorize as psychological horror... I’d categorize it as a mind fuck but ‘mind fuck’ and ‘psychological horror’ don’t mean the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand but pft, that doesn’t make them synonymous with each other, that’s all I’m saying. Like I’ve said, the scenes themselves should be approached with caution, they aren’t ‘silly’ by any means but... when I think of games that are psychological horror, I think of the part in the Resident Evil 7 DLC, 21. How your POV is a character that’s strapped to a chair, forced to play a game of 21 with another innocent victim and each time you lose, a finger gets chopped off. At the end of the game, you’re praying that you don’t lose another finger but in order to keep your fingers, you have to pray that the other INNOCENT player has a worse hand than you... you get to hear that player scream in terror and then in pain, you hear them beg and there isn’t anything to do because it’s you or them. You want to win because you don’t want to die but winning means you’re forced to watch/listen to someone else get fucked up. That’s deeply psychological. Even with BTD and TDDUP... those games weren’t overly graphic (in terms of *video graphics/frames*, they were mostly static scenes that depended on the /dialogue/ to get the point across, not a visual ‘movie’ with sound effects)... we didn’t *see* a lot of horrible violence unlike in RE7 but it was still psychological because there were visceral reactions that we read the character going through, the descriptions did the scenes justice and there were scenarios that just... they were designed to make you go “if I was in this situation... could I really survive this??? Would this break me???” That’s the point of psychological horror to me. This game completely missed the mark and it just felt like shock value with a lack of depth. Period.

I’ll even say that the ‘dating sim’ aspect of the game was bland... (I know that wasn’t even the point but, hear me out)... I was SPOILED by BTD and even TDDUP... I was expecting choices! I was expecting things to be at least a little broader... I was expecting more than 2 (3 depending on what you count as an ending) endings... I was expecting my choices to matter in the end game. And they don’t... The story is horribly bland and I was in agony as I tried to play through and get to the interesting parts!!! And even after I did get to the interesting parts... I was still SO BORED! It wasn’t because I knew what was coming either, I can know how a game ends and still be excited and enthralled when I’m playing it if it has a great story or good gameplay. I don’t play a lot of dating sims, but I realize that the dialogue isn’t always the greatest... some of them are just blah blah blah and let me see animated boobies (not all of them, I know but the ones with ‘boring’ dialogue can be described like that I think).... but it should at least be a little engaging... Daddy Dating Simulator at least had the ‘horrible dad puns’ kind of humor to make players laugh and groan as they went out and about. I dunno... I was let down... if I had come across this game cold turkey with no background knowledge... I never would’ve made it to the ‘interesting’ part because I would’ve stopped playing... and like I said, even *knowing* that the game was going to get ‘interesting’... it was still so hard to play and it still fell flat... When we replay the first day, even with the quirks, it’s too bland to hold my attention, I just didn’t care.

I can write a guide of the general gameplay aspects if people really want me to but... there are only 3 endings so.... is that really what you want? A lot of the game is pretty random so there’s only so much I can help you with.... If you’re looking for help with the ‘extra’ aspects of the game, I cannot help you with that, I’m sorry... Check the wiki and the reddit pages because I have no clue where to even start with that stuff.