#it's not going to happen. the magic of storytelling won't actually let it. there is no 'both sides' in love triangles

[itspileofgoodthings]

A Jonathan Byers Meta

I’ve been thinking so much about Jonathan Byers and I have some thoughts (again). (Feel free to reblog if you want but please be nice if you do so!) Jonathan is a person whose core trait, one of them at least, is that he responds so strongly to context and specifically to the kind of context he understands and wants, a trait of many oldest siblings I think. And in that context he can be so many things he is not necessarily in every area of his life. So much of that forward moving momentum he has in the first couple episodes of the show where he’s doing so much so powerfully is caused by it being a context he understands and has chosen to embrace and live out to the fullest- the context of him being the most responsible/capable member of the family. He loves Joyce and Will; he hates Lonny and is going to keep him away from his family at all costs; he considers himself the one in charge. And there is a softness and strength to that that feels absolutely luminous, that feels like nothing can shake it. And so as the show goes on and the lens widens to include more characters and perspectives it feels like Jonathan loses power/feels a little lost/drifts out of the center of the story. And for a long time I considered that a failure of the writers. They paid attention to him at the beginning, I thought, but then dropped him and that wasn’t his fault. But I rewatched Stranger things (seasons 1 and 2) this past spring and actually the thing I saw that surprised me is it makes sense on a character level that he loses that central ground and power so to speak because he is put into a context he no longer really understands or just as importantly doesn’t really want to be in. And yeah I’m talking about his dynamic with Nancy. His dynamic with Nancy in those first few seasons confused me the most and for the longest time because it began so powerfully and then felt like it veered off course. I loved it so much, shipped it so completely, and then lost interest as the show goes. And again I blamed that on the writers (in a way I still kind of do because they’re clumsy but more on that in a minute.) But I think there’s more going on on a character level.

The first beats of Nancy and Jonathan’s story feel so powerful because it’s actually part of that same context of compelling power in which we first meet Jonathan (and if you’re me fall in love with him fast). Will is missing and Nancy steps in to not exactly his place in Jonathan’s family but the position he occupied--and that’s because a) she is trying to solve a problem that is connected with Will’s disappearance, b) she needs help while doing so. Jonathan responds to that context effortlessly and powerfully. He joins forces with her and without any question or hesitation takes care of her physically when she’s in danger. It’s surprising and it’s moving and it feels at first like just an extension of that quiet competence and force of personality we witnessed in the first couple episodes but this time in a romantic context. But actually, it still isn’t romantic with him. It isn’t for him for a long time. Basically until the writers force his hand. And that’s because ---and this SHOCKED me when I rewatched the first two seasons a month ago, almost to the point of anger and quitting the show forever--the show never actually succeeds in establishing that he likes Nancy as a person! It’s clear that the writers intend the audience to pick up on that subtext (or I think it’s clear that that’s what they want) but they bungle it badly if so. The actual basic cues that would tell us Jonathan has a crush on Nancy and have us buy it as a believable emotional experience are missing. There isn’t a scene or even a moment where in any way Jonathan expresses any kind of romantic interest in Nancy at the beginning of the show. It’s not part of the establishing his character. His reasons for taking pictures at the party are muddled from the perspective the show is trying to force and it doesn’t work because all Jonathan has done is be vaguely polite to Nancy at school, caught her eye (quite frankly ACCIDENTALLY that one time), and disappeared down the hallway at the speed of light every time she turns around. She was far more intrigued than he was. The show gives us that moment with tears in his eyes where we’re supposed to believe (I think?????) that he’s so upset she’s with Steve but it’s incongruous and feels so weird and jarring you kind of have to throw it out. Because the show hasn’t done any work of telling us why that would be the case at all. No pining gaze! No mention! No conversation! The conversation they have in the hallway doesn’t communicate longing on his part, only a desire to be away from the cool kids. There isn’t even a time where someone else teases him about his crush on Nancy, the easiest way to introduce the fact of one character liking another. It’s not much of a stretch to believe that he hasn’t really thought about Nancy romantically at all. In fact it’s honestly a stretch to think he does. And there other reasons for his being there that make more sense--though I do think it’s bungled from a writing perspective. He misses Will, he’s out looking for Will, photography is his passion (lol), he doesn’t like the cool kids, he stumbles on their party “eh might as well take a picture and be the cool outside observer that he is.”

And because the writers didn’t give us a clear and unambiguous liking of Nancy from Jonathan as a starting point everything that comes after between them, even romantically or romantically-adjacent in that first season, hits differently once you watch it patiently and closely. It becomes clear that all of Jonathan’s care-taking of her is response not to her as a person he is romantically interested in, but response to context, to being the responsible one, the helper. He gets out her sleeping bag and puts it on the floor because he’s really not thinking with any part of his brain about how he’s in the room of the girl he likes. Because he’s not! He’s there as a larger part of the context the show established for him in the first couple episodes--his family, his role as caretaker. And of course that doesn’t mean that Jonathan couldn’t fall in love with her later just because the story never actually established that he liked her romantically when it thinks it does. Of course that could come later, come OUT of their interactions. but .... it doesn’t. It never really comes through. The most powerful part of their story together is the first part because it’s the only time in their relationship where Jonathan is moving with that characteristic firm decision making and competence. He’s very powerful when he’s saving her life. But everything else feels flat. And part of that is because he’s not a person who changes easily or very much at all. There are things about him that feel powerful and real and RIGHT and then there are things that just feel like him doing what the writers want him to do and those aren’t the same. Everything having to do with Nancy romantically feels like the second thing, like something the writers are making them do. The show even has to use Murray to get their romance actually jump-started because these aren’t really characters electrically drawn together. And so some of the stuff he says, the romantic stuff--it’s easy to handwave. And/or to find other reasons. And no this doesn’t have anything to do with shipping bias, though my shipping has been influenced by paying close attention to his behavior and actions. Because despite the power of Charlie Heaton in a gray sweater backlit by the red light of the darkroom with his hair falling over his face, nothing about it hits the way a Jonathan emotion should hit. And it should hit! The right stuff does! He’s brilliantly and truthfully acted and he’s layered and the right Jonathan moments SING. He’s not really a talker, not fundamentally, he doesn’t show his heart that way but in actions and only some of his actions with Nancy, the ones that really are just part of the context he’s comfortable with, really ring true. The point that I’m trying to get at is that when you look at those first few episodes really closely, emotionally there are only really three things that are actually--in character and in truth-- established about Jonathan’s heart. 

They are. One- he loves Will. Will is his person, his world, the center. The one he’s always going to protect first, think about first. Will tells us he doesn’t have friends and Jonathan protests it but that probably came from somewhere. His favorite person in the WORLD is Will. The context of Will’s disappearance highlights that so clearly of course but I think we’d see it even without that. The second thing is that he loves Joyce but he doesn’t particularly trust her judgment, considering himself more of an authority on what this family needs than she does. This establishes a distinguishing quality in him, a pickiness and choosiness and prickliness that is essential. He won’t love blindly and he certainly won’t let just anyone in. (When he says he doesn’t like people we should maybe perhaps believe him and not pass him off as a secret softie.) Joyce is part of his inner circle (I love their relationship a lot actually) but he is not uncritical even of her. This is someone who likes to keep people out because this is someone who doesn’t have endless patience for people and the way they do things. He wants things HIS WAY. His way is domestic and so is the context- he’s frying an egg and it feels so homey and good you want to say he’s a softie and a cinnamon roll- but it comes out of a character who knows what he wants. And the third thing, hilariously enough, is that he hates Steve! Somehow the Duffer brothers DO establish this in a far more convincing way than they establish him liking Nancy. He tells Nancy “he doesn’t like most people” and this is true but Steve is a little bit of an exception in a worse way, as the leader of the popular kids. He’s the figurehead for all that Jonathan dislikes and despises and wants to keep out of his inner circle. The fight that Jonathan and Nancy have in the woods feels far more about his disdain for the cool kids than it does about him really liking her and wanting to rescue her from that. The nerd lecturing the girl who wants to be cool and telling her she’s better than that is a stupid trope and one far less romantic than it thinks it is but because the show has established, intentionally or not, that Jonathan doesn’t really care about Nancy romantically all that comes through in a truthful way is that he doesn’t like popular kids. That emotion, that dislike and almost disdain that lives at Jonathan’s core, is expressed far more authentically than any warmth towards Nancy and it’s so telling that it’s that dislike that collides with the other strongest feeling of his life, loving Will, and leads him to half-killing Steve in the street. The warmest Jonathan ever acts towards Nancy is the warmth of context and the warmth of Will (in his absence) and when those reasons fall away you’re left with something curiously cold. And Jonathan, when he loves, is not a cold person. He’s not a chill person. And so watching him do things like give Will Nancy’s gift to him (a hilarious moment), make Nancy leave out the window (actually very dark and strange considering that Joyce knows they’re sleeping together), literally forget Nancy exists when Will comes back and it’s him and Joyce and Will again, ---you can try to tell yourself that that’s just how he loves. But it isn’t. Because we know his warmth in his hatred and in his loves. And for Nancy it really is just kind of “ehhh.” It’s indifference. 

tl,dr; the show thinks that it’s telling a convincing love triangle for sure. But because they don’t establish liking Nancy as a person as part of his character early enough and because he isn’t a character whose fundamental traits change or change easily they don’t actually build a convincing enough romance. It’s because Jonathan is a person who responds to context, even the wrong one, and because Nancy has her own journey and insecurities to work through (a different meta) they stay together for a long time. But it isn’t satisfying and it doesn’t work because it doesn’t actually strike deep enough in Jonathan’s heart. It’s not a context he really wants at his core. If he falls in love it’ll have to be with someone he wants to allow right into the very center of his life and heart and right now he’s not interested in anyone being in that place except his family. And so because he’s kind of stuck in this situation (of his own choosing, I’m not absolving him of that) because Jonathan likes routine and to keep doing the same things and is not self-motivated in the most powerful way to be able to get out of this romance—-he drifts to the edges and stops really doing anything interesting at all. He starts doing pot, won’t go visit Nancy on her spring break etc. He’s not really the boyfriend he could be in any way because I think fundamentally he doesn’t want to be. And the show may put other words in his mouth about this, I kNOW that the show doesn’t completely agree with everything I’ve written here. But it seems to me the only true way to read him in light of what he actually does and how different it is when he’s acting with his whole heart and when he’s not. 

[highlandwhackamole]

The Unbearable Greatness of our Lamentations

Crowley makes some great rainy rain. A tempest. Vavooming doesn't happen. This does:

(GIF and interesting associated insight available here.) So. The recipe for the second coming/the big one/all of us against all of them, from the kitchen of Jim/Gabriel/God:

A tempest

Darkness

Great storms

The dead leaving their graves and walking the earth once more

Great lamentations

???

Prophet

I won't talk about most of these.* I bet folks already have. I liked this one. I'm sure there are many more out there to like.

* Okay, just a little bit. The words coming out of Jim's mouth sound biblical, but they're not from the bible. They were written for this show. So, why list a tempest AND great storms? I'm not sure, but I'd guess it has something to do with other meanings of one or both of these things.

The rough etymology of tempest comes from tempus; time > season > weather > bad weather. (Time shenanigans? In this economy?)

Storm is a thing you can do to a bookshop. Or other places you might want to start a fight, I suppose.

GIF from here.

But I digress. Lamentations. I read Good Omens the book many years ago, and I really liked it. I watched season 1 of Good Omens the tv show a few years ago, and I really liked it. I watched season 2 of Good Omens and... my brain changed in a fundamental and likely permanent way. This story has lived in my head, rent-free, Every Day since I finished season 2. If you're reading this blather, it probably did the same to you.

Such was the emotional manipulation of Mr. Gaiman's story of the angel and the demon that I created my first and only Tumblr account so I could come share this exquisite suffering with other humans. What is existence in this fandom, if not Great Lamentations?

Final Fifteen. If I'm in charge, I can make a difference. We're a team, a group--a group of the two of us. I would like to spend... mhmm. Oh Crowley, nothing lasts forever. I need you. There's nothing more to say. No nightingales. You idiot, we could've been us. I forgive you. Don't bother.

That feeling? That's because Neil is very good at what he does, and because he knows that in David and Michael, he has powerful tools who are also very good at what they do. And he uses them with formidable intent.

He knows where he's going. He celebrates "Michael having just become this cuddly, cinnamon roll creature of pure love and joy and knowing that everybody was just going to want to cuddle him for six episodes until I let him break their hearts." He's not even the tiniest bit sorry for this.

His goal was to make us feel this way. The power to create (out of nothing) actual, palpable heartache is the beautiful alchemical magic that is great storytelling.

And the audience is required for this magic to manifest.

I think the Great Lamentations are ours.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Have any soft FD HC’s/ scenarios when he would take care of them?

(Not actual scenes, because I know you you would end up writing something, just scenarios.)

(Bonus points if it includes the Burrito Bros…)

LOL you know me too well, I would probably write something. XD

Sky likes to wear the mask so Fierce can interact with the others (he tells Fierce that it isn't too painful for him personally, which is an absolute lie, but Fierce respects his privacy and doesn't read his mind after the first time so he doesn't know). He always does it when Time isn't around that way the elder doesn't get upset (Time wants to meet Fierce as much as the rest but he doesn't want Sky to get hurt/ill/drained from it). He talks to Fierce a fair amount to help him keep up with what's happening. So when one of the boys is hurt or ill beyond something a simple potion can fix, Fierce is usually fretting about it and Sky lets him come out.

One time Twilight pushes himself too far because he's still recovering from his Dink Disaster, and it happens because the group got separated. Sky, Twi, and Four are together at the moment, and Sky happens to have the mask because he was talking to Fierce when the ambush happened that got them split up. Fierce is worried as all get out, so Sky lets him take over because the deity has more experience in this sort of thing and is far more capable of fighting off the hordes that they know are lingering around. Four is overly stressed and freaking out because it's too soon from the last time Twi almost died, so Fierce soothes him and takes care of Twi and slaughters any monster that breathes within a ten mile radius. Twi tries to pull his weight and Fierce just ends up carrying him as they walk. Four loves doing storytelling with Fierce because he adores listening to his little rainbow fill him in on events in the world. Twi eventually settles into being cared for because he can't really argue about being a burden to a freaking godlike figure, and Fierce learns to his delight that Twi loves cuddling. Four does too.

When the trio finally reunites with another chunk of the Chain, it's Warriors and Wild, and oh boy because Fierce knows about Wars' PTSD and Four told him all about Wild's issues and this Mother Hen is going to town now because he can already see how stressed and worn out they are and he just sets to work calming them down and insisting everything and everyone is fine and gathering ingredients for Wild so he can stress cook and Fierce wants to taste everything because he hasn't eaten in millennia, and he senses when Warriors is going from normal to I have to take care of everything and everyone and I am spiraling mode, and he has Twilight basically tackle him as Wolfie before carrying Warriors over to the group wrapped in his scarf. Fierce showers Wild with praises because he knows he needs to hear it, Four does more story time (interspersed with Warriors and Twilight and Wild piping in) and the like.

After a few days, they reach civilization, and Fierce hesitates, knowing he'd be an intimidating sight in a town of Hylians who know nothing about him. He asks Wars what it was like when he took the mask off, and Wars tells him about the sensation. Fierce feels really awful, and he asks the boys to gather supplies for Sky and get a room at the inn ready for him. Fierce tries to mentally reach out to Sky and can't find him. Nervous, he takes the mask off, and Sky is a hot mess, but the boys take care of him.

The next time Sky tries to talk to the mask, Fierce won't reply until Sky almost puts it on. He asks Sky to not use the mask, and says he's content with just hearing about the boys. Sky can immediately hear the pain in his voice and knows he's lying, but he doesn't know what to do about it, so he decides to go to Legend and Hyrule, magic and artifact experts, to see if they can work something out.

Because by now, everyone wants to meet Grandpa Fierce.

[dollhouse-tales]

[concerning magical malevolence…]

COLLEGE *dies*

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering… what happened to Magical Malevolence! It’s been so long, where is it?! Good question! I have some good news and some bad news and some… slightly better news!

In short, the good news is ya girl isn’t failing her college classes! However, it took up SOO much of my free time that I just could not work on it. However! I’ve finished one of my classes for the semester which means my free time schedule has opened up which allows me to balance my free time with my work time!

However, now comes the bad news… Inbetween my very little free time I worked on the essence. This resulted in designs that were cute but looking back now? It isn’t the kind of final design I want to put out. It didn't represent what the essence was supposed to stand for! So... the bad news is I have to start over or else I'll just never be satisfied!! In the meantime, I've also studied different fantasy-esqe outfits on Pinterest, as well as actual IDV A-tier and S-tier costumes and different styled outfits [like Twisted Wonderland's Halloween Event, or my various different dress-up games lol] and I have a better idea of what I wanted to do!! Which is NOT what I rush finished oops.

And the slightly better news??? I am better now and I'm restarting the essence. yay! I am going to reveal the old designs below the cut but I'm not keeping them as the final designs so! Yeah! I'm also going to edit the line-up list a little! [Don't worry! Any roles that are already filled won't be removed or changed! New/changed roles are still up for grabs!] Just a little bit, some characters will be swapped or removed entirely but don't worry don't worry! I'll post the new list soon enough! But! I am working on them! They will [hopefully] not take forever and a decade!

TLDR; i don't like the old rushed designs i did before i got swamped by college work so the designs are all back at square one. But the essence is still on! look under the cut for rushed designs because what else am i gonna do with them/lh

yeet

"Mister Mushroom" HIS DESIGN IS CUTE I LIKE IT STILL BUT I think I can do better!! It doesn't really represent the type of character he is supposed to be, so!! Let's try it again!!

"Innocence" it was a really rushed design and it's just so. hmm. I don't really like it as much as I did at the time it's not. it's just not the vibe!! i love the colors though.

"The Voices" had a very rough sketch set that never got finished due to not getting the other 3 voices but they... they're kinda plain ngl but I do have more planned for them and their outfits! At least now I do lol

"The Storyteller"... funny story but my app crashed while i was in the middle of drawing her and I lost my good sketch and I was so. so angery. i know angery isn't a word but damnit it is now!!! and i wanted to separate her from her Neonized counterpart but I just. hmm. i can do better >:) might make her more fantasy based than how she is in reality i dunno yet

"The Narrator" was probably my favorite design of old,,, it just captured the childish fantasy vibes the essence was supposed to have and it's a nice mix of the fantasy world and the real world [or his ties to the Narrator] he's just a silly guy. Still, I feel like there's something more than can be refined sooo here we go >:)

those were all I got to do before I got swamped :( but thankfully it's all i did before i got swamped so i don't have too many to redo!! anyways I'm sorry it took so long but!! hopefully! I can give you all updates soon!! real updates!

okay bye off to do Kitty's skin then cry and redo lets goooo

[snowsheba]

i finished... 3-4... thoughts under cut...

characters

mel i already made some posts dragging her but the fact she gets all high and mighty after learning two (2) spells is so funny. to be fair, if i'd also spent my entire life without magic, i would react in the same way, but the phrasing used where she became "addicted to magic" was unintentionally comedic. similar to not helping the merchant and letting him bleed to death, actually!

my main complaint, though, is that genuinely i want her to be held responsible for how much hurt she's caused to the people who she calls her friends, or at least to take responsibility for it, and she never does. she had a hard life and she's sensitive about it, but throughout all of these games she just kept lashing out because she's defensive, and it's like. after a while people won't put up with this shit, mel. you can't keep hurting people and expect them to keep coming back to help you as if nothing's happened. they do because it's just a game, but in real life, she'd be alone and she'd die alone.

in 3-4 she just gives a silly little apology to ONLY edward about the chain of events (to which edward says "i'm already over it, it's cool" pretty much. what!) and that's it. like. i enjoy that she's destructive and angry and bursting with emotion, but i do think it's a tremendous missed opportunity that she experienced barely any growth from game to game.

stella setting the game up for stella marrying edward is poorly done. like. why even give the option if the following games are ALL going to be about edward and mel being weird bitchy exes.

stella's arc was very neatly presented and neatly wrapped up. i really enjoyed seeing her come to terms with what happened to her and her body and resolving to continue living anyway in 3-2 and 3-3 (though a lot happened off-screen obviously. but it's easy to guess what happened, and that's an important distinction).

it was incredibly touching that she got her wings back. out of everyone in this game, i think she deserved that miracle. she was never involved in the prophecy beyond her duty to guard the orb of light and everything was taken from her simply because she was in the way. to be able to return home whole after fighting in a battle that she made hers - because she loves her friends and the world under naylith and everything else she's seen - is just really good storytelling.

edward ok. edward was tough in this game, but i liked him best in this one, too.

i mentioned this in another post about how it seems like av3's writing relies on having a prideful idiot butthead as a primary protagonist, which is a weird tool to rely on but there it is. this time edward slotted into place. and it was WEIRD, man. having him actively yell at people (to the point stella consistently told him off for it) felt really out of place at first, but gradually i got into it because yeah. i mean, yeah. everything was taken from him, and now they're ripping his friend away from him, too. he's lost everything and he isn't going to lose any more, not if he can help it.

that paradigm shift changed my view of him entirely. like yes he's always sarcastic in previous games, but in this one he's pissed off and, for once, not under any obligation to hide it. (he's not a prince anymore. he can't even go home.) so he doesn't! so he yells at people and complains about lack of rewards and never once wavers in his mission to help mel, because he's allowed to do what he wants for once in his goddamn life.

and then he gets home and he concedes to his duty, because if there's anything this journey has taught him, it's that avoiding your fate never works. and that might not be the best lesson to take away from watching your dear friend almost destroy the world, but he takes the crown and goes back to being the dutiful, polite son.

it's sad. i feel like... it was only really in this game that i developed an idea of what his character is like, and it's just sad to see that because of his resentment and the growth he experienced because of where that resentment took him, he will make an excellent king.

galahad my first reaction to him having a) a terribly misogynistic marriage contract and b) using it was like "dude, not cool." and then, of course, i remembered that te'ijal has been pretty much torturing him with nonsense for the past three centuries or so, so at that point, i went "ok. i guess i can give you a pass for this one."

overall i was fascinated by his dynamic with te'ijal here. i NEVER thought that galahad would actually want to stay married to te'ijal if he became human again - but instead he calls her "love" and seemingly dotes on her. it's such an interesting angle to explore (full of dysfunction and codependence, i would imagine). like at this point he obviously believes magic is real, so he's accepted some things about his reality, but it's almost as if becoming human shifted his perception entirely.

so many questions! so many questions. it's a shame he and te'ijal became vampires again - i would have loved to see a bit more of them interacting as humans, just to sate my own curiosity.

te'ijal i feel like anything i say here will just be a repeat of what i've said before about te'ijal, but regardless: what a tragic figure. i cannot BELIEVE she let galahad order her around even with the marriage contract. i can't tell if they wrote it that way for shits and giggles or because they wanted to demonstrate how much her mental health had deteriorated since becoming human. (probably the former?)

i think there's something very telling in that she no longer cared about helping mel, right up until her husband returns from the demon realm. before that, she was following along because of the marriage contract and then galahad's ability to turn her into a vampire again. even then, she only stuck it out because galahad had changed and she was unsettled by it. it seems like a weird reversal from the other games, and i wonder if it has to do with whether you responded to her letters or not in the previous.

that said, another interesting thing with te'ijal becoming perturbed with galahad's corruption. she and galahad have spent so long complaining about each other that the minute the status quo changes, they both get spooked. it's a really fascinating dynamic that i wished the game had explored more.

yemite i don't have much to say about yemite except that she was very funny and very sweet. i like that she eats curses.

i think it's very fun that she continues to follow mel around after all is said and done. mel having a companion like her for support can't hurt, i don't think.

gyendal rip this guy. kiiiind of think the twist that he was serving a higher power (mordred) was kind of a cop out.

it is honestly baffling to me that they just send him into the demon realm to die. like they know that it could just not work if mel could come back, but this is treated as being done and done. like if he REALLY wanted to i'm of the thought that he could get a portal going, no problem.

yvette do you think they ever go back and tell her mel is ok after she literally vanished from the country after being sent out to get flies? because i think about that pretty often.

uma and nox booooooooring. mel has twins. yaaaaay. why are they working for the oracle though.

the oracle she has a personality now which she only shows with uma and nox. the shadow version was very interesting, though.

mordred darkthrop his villain monologue wasn't even good! and mel didn't get to confront him! wasted opportunities all around.

hercules lmao. that's all i have to say about that.

story

like i said in gyendal's section, the whole thing felt like a bit of a cop out!

honestly i felt so little impact from the story itself. i was FAR more invested in the characters and their interactions with each other, the events, and the world around them.

however, i will say that playing most of the game without mel as an central cornerstone was incredibly freeing. literally felt like a breath of fresh air to get a sense of how these characters interact when mel is gone. i loved it SO much. it was also really nice to see mel navigate through things on her own (especially since she's... kind of bad at it).

gameplay

the battle system felt very much like 3-3 (and 4) in terms of appearance but more like 1, 2, 3-1, and 3-2 in terms of actual play. thank GOD for the boots of haste, though. ashera's sandals in 3-3 were a game changer and the boots of haste were the same. why they didn't give you a speed crystal like in av1 is beyond me.

something i do miss from av1 and av2 are sidequests that don't actually matter. aveyond 3 has this skill of construing quests as "side quests" but ultimately they are actually main quests because you have to do them to complete the story. i would have loved some more useless quests to run around and complete for the hell of it, but that's just the completionist in me.

music

I CRIED WHEN THE PROFESSORS CAME AND THE RECRUITMENT MUSIC CAME ON. AAAAAAAAAAAA

the remixes of the classic songs are so good. i have very strong auditory memory so i was just like bopping along to every one. i'm SO HAPPY. i miss av1 so much. i like the original versions better because nostalgia's a bitch but still ;w; sedona...

conclusion

literally want to replay the games and write a novelization at the same time. i love the aveyond series and i'm beyond delighted with what aveyond 3 delivered.

[overseer2020]

Going around the Block

Last week, I promised a few words on block structure. First, let me remind you that this entire project was conceived as a replacement year of Magic. A sort of alternate reality version of sets released in a given 12-month period.

Originally, it was the year beginning with Guilds of Ravnica (2018-2019). Imagine my surprise when they went all-in on Planeswalkers for War of the Spark. Given that Avengers: Endgame had just been released, the similarities between Magic's big culmination event and Marvel's big culmination event both featuring an overloaded cast of characters with wildly different and amazing powers taking on a single-minded, reality warping BBEG in a showdown for the ages was hard to dismiss.

But by then, I was retooling the whole shebang. No longer was I content to toss together a simple one set design in record time. (I did manage to put together a full set I was temporarily happy with in less than two months.) Now, the project had expanded and I really wanted to make it all things to all people (a fool's errand, I know). So I took my time and let Wizards do their thing while I imagined a world where the block I was designing existed instead of returning to Ravnica again, then I thought "What if now?"

The following year was Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, and Ikoria, Lair of the Behemoths. And I started seeing even more of my 'could-have-been-originals' concepts played out in actual Magic. Eldraine had a storytelling focus like my comic-inspired world, introduced Warlocks as the black-aligned spellcaster class in the same I way I was going to, reprinted the Lord Gonti/Thief of Sanity ability again in the form of Robber of the Rich among other parallel designs I won't go into here. My point is that seeing so many of the exciting, supposed-to-be new ideas that could have defined my "set" was becoming ever more demoralizing.

I feel like maybe I shook that off just before they announced that they were going to do a set all about a group of crime families called Streets of New Capenna. (As I write this, prerelease events for New Capenna are happening, for context.) Well, now I feel numb. I've been evaluating how Wizards has approached their own crime world and I figure it's sufficiently different from my take that I don't feel... threatened? Is that the right word/sentiment? Also, I'm far enough along that I don't feel at risk of conflating what I'm doing with what they've done. For a time, I was concerned that I would be influenced by new Magic product and/or distracted from my project. I tried to set actual Magic aside, effectively skipping most of Zendikar Rising and all of Khaldheim, but I couldn't miss Strixhaven and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, so I just accepted that I would have to maintain a split focus.

All of this is to say that this project could probably substitute for any era of Magic. Mark Rosewater has pointed out that Magic moves like a pendulum, going from one extreme to another constantly. Now, we're doing fairy tales, now we're doing "school world", now we're doing organized crime. I wouldn't want to hit these same criminal notes so soon after New Capenna, so take all this Crimeworld stuff not as a challenge, but rather as the original, unexplored idea it was four years ago.

I got a little sidetracked, but I promise I'll get to the point in the next one.

Next Time: What comes after "CrimeWorld" (Working Title)?

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 4 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Glamour

You can call it however you want: kid's show logic, superhero disguise logic, magical girl show logic, cartoon laws, suspension of disbelief, etc. But the fact that nobody recognises Marinette, Adrien and others when they are suited up IS NOT BAD WRITING. It's one of the main laws of this genre. That's not because characters are stupid, okay? So, being frustrated that everyone in the show acts stupid about this "wearing a mask that covers only eyes" trope is strange. This criticism is not valid or fair.

But, this trope has to make sense in-universe as a worldbuilding and narrative element.

Miraculous doesn't give us much direct information on how glamour works. And in this case, I think we need both SHOW and TELL. Because if you don't establish the glamour rules clearly, you are going to run into problems and create unfortunate implications with your storytelling choices.

Appearance

Miraculous obviously gives our heroes magical glamour. In "Lady WiFi" we find out that masks can't be taken off. It's magic. No other explanation is needed.

Miraculous can slightly change the appearance of users (eyes, face shape, height and hairstyles). People can identify and notice the hairstyles of heroes (numerous Ladybug wigs, statue in Copycat). Jagged Stone points out the change of hair when he mistakes Chloe for Ladybug ("Antibug"). But it's just a costume. There is no magic that prevents Jagged from understanding that Chloe isn't Ladybug. So, how does it work? But it's forgivable because it's cartoon logic. Suspension of disbelief works here, I suppose. I won't judge this too harshly.

Glamour also obviously prevents people from making a connection that Marinette and Ladybug have identical hairstyles. So people know that Ladybug wears her hair in pigtails, but magic does not allow them to notice similarities.

Another important question. Does glamour work on Kwamis? Can they see who is behind the mask?

New York Special makes it clear that magic does not affect robots and they can see through glamour. Does that mean that Markov, AI built by Max, knows the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir? And it's never addressed.

Plagg in "Frightningale" says that holders can subconsciously choose their superhero appearance. This is actually pretty interesting and I like this idea a lot. Except the show is not consistent with this. The transformation of Master Fu looks identical to Nathalie's. And we have seen how different from each other Ladybug and Black Cat holders looked in the past. At the same time, Master Fu and Nino have different takes on Turtle superhero suit.

Age Glamour

Does age glamour exist? Do people see Ladybug, Chat Noir and other heroes as adults even when they look like teenagers to the audience (their height and build are smaller even when they are transformed)? Is that why no one ever questions the fact that children nearly die on a daily basis?

I mentioned unfortunate implications earlier. Well, this is where they come into play. Let's talk about "Copycat". A lot of people discussed it before me, so I won't bore you with details.

When I watched "Copycat" for the first time Theo's crush on Ladybug didn't bother me, because I thought that he sees Ladybug as his peer, a girl who is about 20-23 years old. Theo is an artist, his character design is that of an adult. He has his own studio, its appearance indicates that he did serious commissions in the past. The guy has no idea that Ladybug is like 13.

But then we get "Heroes' Day" and "Ladybug". And Hawkmoth calls them "kids", which means that there is no age glamour. Others see Ladybug and Chat Noir as teenagers. Perhaps, other Miraculous users aren't affected by age glamour. Therefore regular people see all heroes as adults but other heroes are able to guess their age more or less correctly. But you must spell this thing out because the audience can interpret "Copycat" differently. If there is no age glamour, then Theo is crushing on a teenage girl and he is fully aware of this fact. And this doesn't look good for your show.

The "No Age Glamour" theory is further confirmed in "Sapotis" where Alya just straight up analyses voice recordings and says that Ladybug is a girl their age. If glamour exists then it should also cover technology. Kwami can't be photographed. Face and voice recognition software shouldn't be able to analyse transformed superheroes and detect their identities in any way.

Besides, after "Sapotis" Alya should definitely be sure that Ladybug is not 5000 years old (also not an adult), especially after she wore Miraculous herself and was one door away from detransformed Ladybug.

SEASON 4 UPDATE! There's no age glamour after all.

In "Furious Fu" Su Han calls Chat Noir a child without knowing his identity. It means that everyone knows their superheroes are teenagers. "Copycat" can't be saved from that, uh, subtext anymore. No one questions the danger of their job or the balance of their lives outside of the mask. No one doubts their competence after "Origins" ever again. No one becomes annoyed after being bossed around by two teenagers in spandex. You had many opportunities to drop these details into the narrative. Someone could have been akumatized over this (I will not be ordered around by some magical kids!).

I don't know why writers decided not to use at least this idea and slightly adjust "Copycat" if they got rid of the age glamour completely. It can be explained as kid's show logic, but unfortunately, I'm reluctant to do it. If many characters sympathise with akuma victims on-screen, why not with the teenage superheroes who must fight them?

New York Special had this weird focus on collateral damage out of nowhere (the damage done by sentimonster Robostus) and yet it has 0 effect on the main story. No one in Paris is pissed that their 2 teenage protectors weren't there.

Ironically, "Furious Fu" and that one remark made by Su Han also created unfortunate implications for other moments in the show. Just hear me out. Apparently, Jagged Stone wrote a "thank you" song for Ladybug knowing that she is 13-15 year old child back in "Pixelator". Fandom is more than happy to roast Lila for lying about saving Jagged Stone's cat and him writing her a "thank you" song. Fandom claims that Lila's tale could harm Jagged's reputation, when he wrote a song for teenage Ladybug several weeks prior. Meanwhile, in-universe this lie is 100% believable.

If we put on "realism glasses", then both this whole song situation and Theo's crush in "Copycat" have uncomfortable implications. However, the show's canon can't be viewed and criticised through "realism glasses". I admit that bits and pieces of my criticisms are affected by these "glasses", but, ultimately, I'm trying to be fair and concentrate only on things that can't be justified by "cartoon logic and worldbuilding".

Could the existence of age glamour solve this problem of unfortunate implications and other concerns mentioned above? YES. Is it better for the narrative? YES. Is essential for the story? NOT QUITE. Could the absence of age glamour be called an irredeemable storytelling flaw? NO.

Disclaimer: On a side note, only older audience can notice these implications. Children, the target audience, most likely won't understand this subtext simply because they don't have enough experience. So, perhaps, this criticism is unfair, because these moments only look weird to me as an adult. It's like an adult joke in a cartoon that you don't get until you reach a certain age.

There's nothing technically wrong with adult writing a "thank you" song for a teenager. It's just an expression of gratitude. However, unfortunately, we live in a world, where adults normally wouldn't write songs for teens to express gratitude only. In real life similar actions would imply pedophilia and would be actively scorned by the public. No one would risk their reputation like that even if their intentions were genuinely pure and sincere. But this show can't be viewed through "realism glasses", because it's a cartoon and in certain cases we as the audience must use suspension of disbelief and pretend that certain things are possible for plot to happen.

Su Han also wants to give Ladybug and Black Cat to adults. Why didn't Master Fu do this then? Writers don't give us any explanation. Throughout the show we never question this up until the moment it's revealed that adults don't have time-limited powers. Then comes "Furious Fu". Story suddenly becomes self-aware here. Because apparently nothing prevented Fu from giving the most powerful Miraculous to adults who won't have time limit and will be more effective against Hawkmoth (see part 3 for more details).

I have a very good example of Age Glamour done right. It works in the story. There is no confusion or unfortunate implications. There is like one plothole connected to the glamour (it's been years and I still can't forgive them for Cornelia and Caleb) but otherwise, it's a pretty solid example of both show and tell. Clearly, writers wanted to avoid uncomfortable implications which are present in "Copycat". I am talking about W.I.T.C.H. comic books and animated series.

If you are not familiar with it, I'll give you a brief explanation. The story follows 5 girls, the Guardians of Kandrakar who are chosen to protect their world and parallel ones from evil. They receive magical powers from the amulet known as the Heart of Kandrakar. Their powers are based on elements: fire, water, earth, air and energy. Our main characters are about 13-15 years old. In the animated series they are younger and they attend middle school, making them 12-14 years old. But the transformation makes them look 18-20. They look like young women to each other and to other people. At the same time, people can recognise them, their looks and voice don't change. Most people don't know that they are really teenagers when they are not transformed and these people don't know that magic can make them look older. That's why everyone treats Guardians like adults when they are transformed. Comics establish this fact in the very beginning. In first issues characters state that they look older, we are also shown this multiple times.

In fact, one of the first side plots revolves around the fact that Irma uses her powers to sneak into the disco club to meet up with her crush. Irma is 13 at the beginning of the series, she is a high school freshman. Her crush, Andrew Hornby is a senior guy 17-18 years old. Irma has liked him for a long time and wants to impress him, so she decides to be clever about this. She transforms into her Guardian form of the 18-year-old girl, hides her wings, sneaks out to the club after her parents are asleep without any problem, and meets Andrew, who obviously doesn't recognise Irma in this girl who looks about his age. Smitten Andrew offers her a ride and 13-year-old Irma doesn't understand the implication of that offer, so she accepts. And, obviously, he decides that she is interested in more than just a ride home, since she agreed, and the comic implies that he fully intended for them to have sex in the backseat of his car. But Irma understands the implication only when Andrew tries to kiss her. She panics and turns him into a frog. And she actually pulls this "I need to look mature" trick more than once over the course of the series.

It's not the only situation where this age difference is handled well and makes sense. People who know the main characters in everyday life remark on their older appearance during transformation. Sometimes people flirt with Guardians when they are transformed. In one of the side-novels centred around Cornelia, she is worried that the prince of the realm they helped to save from famine would try to marry her. That never happens, but Cornelia actually brainstorms with her friends about how to tell the prince that she is really 15.

There are many other plot points where this happens, but I think that you got the idea. I really like how "Age Glamour" was handled in W.I.T.C.H.

How do we fix this? Create the situations where people offhandedly mention "Age Glamour" in the presence of Marinette or Adrien, use Kwami for this.

"Don't worry, dear. Chat Noir and Ladybug are adults, who know what they are doing. I am sure that they will handle this. "

Theo could say: "Oh, I wonder which university Ladybug goes to?"

"So, does that mean that other people see us as grown-ups, Tikki?"

A few words and boom, problem solved. Then allow the "show don't tell" rule do the rest.

[shurelyasreverie]

Okay so I'm gonna rant. It genuenly annoys me when people say that Sylas is a villain, even tho demacia commits magic genocide. Some say he manipulated lux so he can escape and honestly, it was understandable. He was imprisioned for 15 years , he knows what demacia does to mages, he was imprisioned a boy and came out a murderer. Demacia litterally takes mages from their families and locks them up, poisens them with petrecite which gives them a slow and painfull death, exiles them or straight up kills them on the Spot. I can only imagine how many children lost their families or how many children were killed themselves. Imagine having a child and one day it is stolen from just because it has magic. Demacia honestly had it coming, there needed to be a change and Sylas brought that. Jarvan 3 only was about to take the mageseekers power away and leave those with magic alone only because Sylas and mages were coming for them( and honestly I don't feel bad he died, he had it coming) and when jarvan 4 sees the Note that xin was supposed to give the leader of the mageseekers to stop them, the brat takes the letter and rips it apart. He allows things to get worse just because he lost his father, how many families has your father ruined? Too many and he paid the price, you are litterally best friends with a dragon, a MAGICAL creature. And let's not forget about Lux and Garen. Garen knew what was happening and he himself caged mages, when he and Lux were sent on a mission to help a town with a magic problem Lux finds out that Nocturne is behind the chaos, possensing a little mage boy who was afraid for his life because he found out he was mage, his fear for LIFE awoke nocturne and garen killed his naighbor who he thought was a mage and behind it all. Lux then tried to bring him back but nocturne speaks through the boy, calling Lux out on her bs, she knows the boy is rightfully scared but she still Brings him back even though she should understand him the most. After everything was dealt with Lux tells garen about nocturne and that he was all behind it, asking if they should tell the towns people about it, garen says no "They don't understand, they don't need to understand " leaving the town and Lux doesn't even bother to say that they should tell them. And since we are at Lux, she knows exactly what is happening to mages and is terrefied that happening to her. She has Galio on her side a litteral giant warrior, powerfull magic and status. She could go right into the prison because her aunt and uncle are the Leaders ot the mageseekers, calling galio and using her magic to free people. When Sylas kills people in self defense because he was about to be executed, she was all like " oh no! Sylas how could you do this" even tho she knows he had no choice. She knew everything that was going on and did nothing! Why didn't she? Easy because she has status, she doesn't need to worry about it. People are litterally calling Sylas a villain because he isn't with the uwu rainbow princess and this comes from a lux main. And let's not forget Sona in her interactions she says that she won't help sylas and doesn't like him, as if he is the villain , what a hypocrite! She litterally harmed if not killed several mageseekers because she used her ult, breaking their bones and forcing them to dance, to the point were blood began to pour out. You didn't have it bad at all sona because you like lux have status, you got to live with a rich demacian family and didn't need to worry about it, this is also coming from a sona main. So yeah in conclusion Sylas is not the villains, is he perfect? No but think about his Situation, he is litterally fighting genocide. Riot really needs to stop making it seem like Jarvan, Garen and Lux are all perfect and the good guys, garen litterally caged mages but did nothing to his sister, did he ever think about the lifes he ruined? Lux at least is starting to help but still. Riot don't make Sylas the villain when he infact is the Hero ( or anti hero).

I think I'm done 😑

Wait WHO thinks Sylas is a villain?? I just wanna talk, I swear 👀

If it’s purely from a lore aspect though, I get it’s frustrating when characters are clearly ignorant to the circumstances of another, but that’s how good conflict and plot is born. The tension between Demacia and literally everyone else keeps you at the edge of your seat, it’s good storytelling. What’s also good storytelling is Riot’s ability to make you root for both Sylas and/or Demacians, they have cinematics and stories backing up both their perspectives and you can take whatever side if you really want to

I’ve never actually heard a League fan call Sylas evil??? From an outsider perspective (and if they know the lore) it’s quite obvious Sylas is an unconventional hero fighting for equality. Demacia is rife with discrimination against magic users and can honestly be used to reflect our real world, a place with all the shine and glamour but really holds an ugly heart. Perhaps it’s the psychology/literature fan in me popping out but stories are used to better understand our real world, to me the ignorance of Demacians is a chance for us to reflect on ourselves and how we view others different to us

[zacs-of-rwby]

I realized after making my Renora post that I don't need a reason to rant about our AU... So I'm going to do it anyway 😆 here are all of my random thoughts and some backstory for my favorite family in this AU 🙃

The Branwen Family

- Not a headcanon, just a disclaimer, I think about these four twenty four-seven

- I'm adding this disclaimer because I have so much useless information about them that this will probably be the first post of many

- As soon as I learn to draw complicated poses and backgrounds these idiots will take up 99% of my time

- Ok, rant time

- Ali and Oz both get terrible separation anxiety when Qrow goes out on missions

- because of this, and the fact that Ali is prone to nightmares, whenever Qrow is gone, Oz let's Ali and Oscar sleep in his room

- Should he be doing that? Probably not. It may even make Ali's anxiety just a bit worse. Does he do it anyway because he's a sap who loves his kids? Absolutely.

- Speaking of Ali's anxiety-enduced nightmares, they often wake her up and terrify her enough that she can't go back to sleep (especially when she's 7-11 yrs old)

- When this happens, she usually ends up walking around the house to check that her family is still there and everything is normal

- 95% of the time, her movements wake Oz up

- That man does. Not. Sleep.

- But it's not all bad, because then he and Ali will stay up til weird hours of the night, talking about her nightmare and whatever else they feel like that day

- Even after Ali's nightmares stop, every now and then, she'll just ask that Oz stay up with her so they can talk (usually when something specific is bothering her)

- Oz takes great pride in the fact that his teenaged daughter will talk to him about important stuff voluntarily

- Oz's obsession with storytelling rubs off on his kids so much, oh my god

- They both start writing and reading frantically at very young ages

- However, they refuse to show their work to their father (even tho they'll share it with each other) and it drives him up a fucking wall

- He's so proud of them, he wants to read their stories so badly!!!!!!!!!!! But they won't let him and he (begrudgingly) accepts that

- Oscar has a little shit phase from about the ages of 10-16 and it only gets worse when he unlocks his semblance

- Anyone wanna guess what I made his semblance?

- Anyone?

- I call it "No Trace"

- He can magically disappear and reappear in a new location at will

- I think I'm funny

- Anyway, I mention it because he unlocks it at a very young age and he absolutely uses it to fuck with people (especially Qrow)

- He'll prank his Signal teachers by appearing, disappearing, and reappearing in class

- If Qrow tries to find him in the house, he'll teleport from room to room, just avoiding his dad everytime until Qrow gives up and just yells loud enough that he can hear him from anywhere

- Hi, yes, this is one of my favorite developments: Glynda loves these two kids but it sorta happened by accident

- When Ali and Oscar were first adopted she didn't really care all that much

- Her first thought was honestly "Great, two more kids for Ozpin to favorite as soon as they step foot in Beacon"

- Her only consolation was that she could spoil them completely out of spite

- Recompense for all the petty and weird shit Oz has put her through lol

- Payback is a bitch, Professor

- Until one day, she realized- she wasn't doing it out of spite anymore- she actually wanted to spend time with her niece and nephew

- This realization SHOOK HER

- and, ironically, makes it very difficult for her not to favor them when they come to Beacon 😂

[script-a-world]

do you think it'd be worthwhile to build a world just for the sake of building a world? i'm more interested in the worldbuilding part than the story-writing part these days, but i'm worried it won't be satisfying if i don't use the world i create as a setting for a story.

Ebonwing: It can definitely be worthwhile to build a world just for its own sake! That’s a fun creative project in its own right, and you wouldn’t be the first to do it. But you also don’t have to commit to only building a world. If you do find it unsatisfying after a while, or you end up having a great story idea through worldbuilding, you can still use your world as a story setting even if you didn’t plan to originally. In fact, that’s exactly what happened to me before. I started a worldbuilding exercise and then a story emerged from it that I wanted to write—so I did.

Feral: If worldbuilding is a satisfying creative endeavor for you, then it can absolutely be an end unto itself. We tend to talk about worldbuilding in regards to storytelling on this blog, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only reason to worldbuild. Perhaps you will be inspired to write or sometime later come up with a story idea that you can set in your world, but you don’t need to for the world to be worthwhile. Just a couple months ago, I needed a break from back-to-back scifi stories I was writing and decided to spend a day developing as many different magic systems as I could. Will I ever use them? Maybe, but that’s not why I created them. If you’re inspired to create, create! And if you (or anyone else reading this) need some troubleshooting help from us, please let us know that storytelling isn’t your goal - the assumed end goal can in many cases shape how we answer the questions we receive.

Constablewrites: If you’re feeling like you want to do something with all these ideas but don’t want to mess with plot and prose and character development, you can also look at worldbuilding for RPGs. There you would essentially be creating a sandbox for other people to play in. RPG worldbuilding tends to go in-depth in a lot of ways that storytelling worldbuilding doesn’t, since you can’t necessarily control the focus. So if you want to have really, really thorough worldbuilding, doing it for an RPG (or at least structuring your material so it could be used for that purpose) allows you to get into all the nitty-gritty details that would bring a movie or a novel to a screaming halt.

delta: Personally, worldbuilding is my favorite part of writing, and worldbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding is still a creative act. Whether or not you publish or add it to a story or do something else with it is, in my opinion, secondary to the actual creation, and entirely dependent on your larger writing goals. In my experience, my characters, and eventually plot, grew out of my worldbuilding, so don’t shut yourself off to opportunities and keep an open mind. You never know what a project will grow into. The most important thing is always to start with something you enjoy because otherwise why do it.

[cloudberry-sims]

Simmer-”Get to know”

By @cupcakegnome​

Thank you @silverspringsimmer​  for tagging me :3 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Your name: I think most people would assume my name would be Claudia because of my username and me using Cloud as my name. But my real name Elin , which is the Swedish/Scandinavian version of the Greek name Helen , and most people think my name is actually Ellen , depending on spelling and pronunciation. I don’t particular care about my real name , so I simple don’t use it on Tumblr while addressing myself.

Languages you speak: Swedish (native) , English (secondary). If my preschool teacher didn’t forbade me and my brother , I would have probable learnt speaking and reading in Finnish. 

Are you a mermaid: No. I’m a gnome princess ruling my court of forest pranksters! 

Your play style: I think it’s story driven mixed with game play. I usually have a story in my mind while playing but I let the game dictate how it will go. 

Your selfsim picture: 

 I don’t really look like that , but it was my first time creating me as a sim. I never saw the appeal of making myself as a sim until I got a bunch of simself tags. 

Stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc:  Legacy driven stories , world build/house builds and CAS :)

Your favorite age state: Hm I think I enjoy the child state and young adult stage the most. Of course toddlers are adorable too ❤

Your favorite season: I like spring and autumn in the game ❤

Your favorite holiday: Spooky day 🎃

How was your day: Good and tiring. I really need a cup of tea. 

Your favorite career: Alchemist, Ghost hunter , Doctor and Criminal. 

Your favorite aspiration:  I like any of the supernatural life time wishes in the sims 3 , especially the alchemy one :) 

wYour favorite EP, SP or GP:  World Adventure , Supernatural and Generation are my favorite expansionpacks for ts3. For the sims 4 I like Vampires , Realm of magic ,Parenthood and for Ts2 I like Open for busness , Apartment life and FreeTime.

How old is your simblr: It will be turning 2 years on 27 of July :)

Have you woohooed: No , and I don't want to either.

Your favorite skill:  Alchemy , Writing , Painting and Inventing.

The size of your mods folder:  I have no idea and I'm scared to find out.

Your 3 favorite mods:  Master Controller , Story Progression and No Statch ( A sims 3 mod that makes children can preform adult skills without stretching)

Your interests (other than sims):  I like drawing , pottery , reading/writing and sleeping.

Your favorite sim (picture if possible):  

Y'all know that I adore Ava and Cassie , so they have to be here. 

I’m also very found of their son Prewitt. His an adorable firecracker who is a total sweetheart. I love his sisters too , but Prew  has been my favorite since the day he was born. 

And I can’t forget about my berry sims either!  

I loved the dynamic of Scarlet and Mirage in my random legacy challenge , generation 3. If only the rules didn’t say that they could not be a romantic couple , they would have gotten married. Also red with green and teal makes very good contrast 😍

Kitty Cat has to be my newest favorite thought. I am very very tempted to do a berry pastel rainbowcy with her being the spouse , but I sadly realized that it won't be happening for a long time. 

Which Sims games you have played (including mobile games): The sims 2 , The sims 2: Castaways , The Sims 3 , The Sims Medieval and The Sims 4. I have never played the sims 1 or any of the mobile games.

Propose a crazy scheme: Crazy huh..?  I want to paint  a1000 llamas green ( no harmful/toxic paint though) and release them in a  city and see if anybody knows the sims reference!

Best part of simblr: The uniqueness of each simblr and their sims, their way of storytelling and the since of community.  

Worst part of simblr: The "it's way better" argument. We have all our own experiences of the sims games and view the games differently. I adore the sims 2 and 3 , but I don't hate the sims 4 anymore because  I realized it might not be the game for me , but it's the game for other simmers. We should all accept that what makes a game good is the opinion of the player itself and we all have different opinions.

What other games you play: I enjoy simulation games , especially strategy and survival games. But I have only played the sims for most of my life I only have a few games that’s not sims related ,  like Undertale , The Long Dark and Niche: A genetics survival game and  The Reign games.

Other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..): Nah , I don't have a twitter and I like to keep my origin for myself. Sorry!

Are you single: Yes and off limits. No boyfriend/girlfriend/food stealer for me please. I'm content being single and having all my food to myself.

I will tag @melien​ @trinitymarconeptune​ @starburstshores​ @starplumbob​ @aestheicpixels​ @starplumbob​ @simmeronnie​ @dragonplumbobs​ @mikminicule​ @deathflowertea​ @vintageplumbobs​

[cryptvokeeper]

What's your full opinion on midnight gospel?

man thats just asking for a whole ass rant isnt it. Props to you though bea, you always know just what to ask that is literally the most validating.

The animation is gorgeous, of course. The style is so so beautiful and I really cannot think of anything to compare it to. Sorta vaporware, early internet blog type style. but even that is relative because each world is so unique in its visual design, it's amazing. You get a really clear idea of these worlds in the twenty minutes you spend in each, almost entirely through the visuals. It all feels very thought genuine.

anyway when I first started it I thought it was pretentious as shit. the topics Clancy and his guests discuss are all really heavy topics on meditation, philosophy, life-death-and-the-universe type stuff. It gives a very stoner white guy talking about buddhism vibe. At the same time though these people he talks to aren't idiots. All the guests he interviews aren't just written characters, theyre actual interviews with people that have been set to animation. He very clearly speaks to experts on the things he talks about, as much was anyone can be an expert on things like magic and meditation and life and death. But then thats a whole new hurdle because its not just pretentious bullshit, its smart pretentious bullshit and you listen to it and you feel like an idiot! they were referencing books and thinkers I had no clue who they were. its all just very dense.

My friend called it a stream of consciousness show, and im inclined to agree. I dont like that style of storytelling though, so I was really just holding out for the bits of actual connective story tissue at the start and end of each episode, because there are some good story threads there! you want to know whats going on that got Clancy here in the first place, you want to know why so many worlds are dying out, theres sort of a feeling it'll build to something greater.

spoiler; it doesnt. and thats okay

The first time I really connected with the show wasn't until episode six but when I did it was really good. in every way, this is the episode that pulls back the curtain. Like, all media is preachy, ok? Thats the unspoken agreement you make with a creator of a show or book or whatever when you sit down to consume it; you open yourself up to being talked at, and the story’s job is to be entertaining enough that you dont notice youre being talked at. mileage may vary depending on the audience or. the media on how preached to you feel and how much you can tolerate. my point is though, that for me, episode six is the first time during the series I felt like the people preaching at me hopped off the stage and met me on my level. It was like they sat in the audience with me and went ‘hey bud, how do you think the shows going so far?’

This is also the point where all that connective tissue I was talking about comes together. And, it turns out, its not all that big a payoff, but you dont even mind that because A) it gives these characters a goddamn break which is what Clancy deserves and B) you dont need a big plot payoff because you get a big emotional payoff. Stream of consciousness payoff, as much as a stream of consciousness can have a payoff. catharsis.

And then those last three eps, god. It was the perfect combo of coming off the high horse and finally talking about topics I understood. Things that applied to me, not that the rest of the show couldn't apply to me, the whole show is pretty universally applicable stuff. but this kept up the trend of things being talked about on my level. and the last episode? I won't spoil it here but that last episode was everything. it made me cry, but like the good kind of cry that lets everything out and leaves you feeling relieved. For me it was because I could relate to what happened to Clancy (not directly, thank god, but I had a fresh hurt that that conversation really helped with) but I think that even if you cant relate. at all, just being someone who watched the show and got invested in the characters, that episode will pull at the heartstrings. And really this is the big strength of the stream of conciseness format, and of the ‘live’ guests is that you get such genuine conversations and emotions. As I writer this is the sort of thing I dream of being able to convert through planned written works.

tldr I liked it and will very likely be watching it again to actually try and untangle everything the characters are saying, and also whenever I need to get outside my own head for a bit. its a very cathartic show once you get past the pure density of it. I really do recommend it

[windwardstar]

Happy Storyteller Saturday 😄 If your characters biggest fear appeared before/happened to them. What would their reaction be??? -MayvinWrites

Since I'm on a roon kick, this ask is for him.

So fun story. His biggest fear actually happened to him. Then the biggest fear from the death oath happened too! Like this is basically what lial's motivation is in binding the stars.

Roon was born into the puppet system in the empire. During the disastrous military campaigns of 1072 he ended up alive without a handler and managed to get free and make his way to the western lands.

While living there his biggest fear was the imperial raid ships. Of them breaking through the illusions and enslaving everyone.

So for five years he lived in fear of that. Then the raid ships came.

He was separated from his sister

He ran. He took little Ri and attempted to hide in the forest.

Then he was found. Captured. Separated from his little sibling.

He was pulled back into the puppet system.

Ri was claimed by Calif.

The death oath made him acutely aware of every time he failed to prevent any harm coming to Ri. And he worked to free them.

His sister meanwhile had remained free and made no attempts to do anything to actually help him or ri or the painted within the empire.

His fear and pain twisted into anger and he lashed out, wanting to hurt those who he thought had abandoned him to his fate. But what mattered was Ri. Was the curse of the death oath finally falling silent in his mind.

Then. The pain returned, a giant flare of warning. Ri was in danger and the deep magic was going to force him to do its bidding again.

He tries for another two years to keep Ri safe and out of Calif's hands, out of danger all the while the pain increasing tenfold every time he fails.

And then. Ri is about to bind their soul to another to ensure the other dies.

And that is his greatest fear. The ultimate failure of the death oath. Ri dying. He doesn't know what that will cause the magic to do on his end. The fear of that pain forces his hand.

He makes Ri kill him. It keeps Ri alive because he hopes the magic of the death oath won't let the link take Ri too. And if it does, the pain of actively going against the oath would burn his soul to nothing.

So Lial dies. The death curse breaks. Roon is born.

And now he has to live with what he did and try and figure out how to live with that.

[bigskydreaming]

Garrett is definitely obnoxious enough to where he would have his shadow do pantomime annoyingly. Garrett definitely plays up how dangerous his shadow is, lets rumors spread about how it totally assassinated some rich fuck when really it was Violet. Theo is rubbing his temples because he won't shut up

LOLOLOL. And everyone who really knows Garrett and how his magic works knows that he’s full of shit and Violet’s the real dangerous one of their duo. And Theo’s constantly mumbling to himself, like, arguing the pros and cons of just fucking killing Garrett despite how useful he is. He’s like ugh, if only I could just figure out where the seat of his magic is so I could steal his shadow for myself, and he’s always contemplating like….okay, there has to be someone down in Answers Alley who could tell me how to kill that little asshole in such a way as to let me absorb his magic….I just can’t decide if its worth admitting that I don’t actually know how to do it or how to figure it out for myself, or potentially risk letting someone in on how my own magic works if they don’t already know that.

Plus he’s aware of the possibility that like, even if he did find someone who could give him the right answer there, they might just lie or not tell him because y’know….they don’t like him either.

And some days he’s just like fuck it, I can’t listen to one more word from that little shit, I’m just gonna kill him and be done with it, nothing’s worth this and there are plenty of changelings with like, scrying magic. Only stopped by Tracy pulling him back and pointing out; “Yeah, but you’d have to convince them to work for you first, and that’s easier said than done. I mean, I’m your right hand lieutenant and I’m mostly just meh on you myself.”

Theo, acidly: Thanks ever so much for that.

Tracy: Any time, boss!

Anyway, speaking of Answers Alley, the street sandwiched between Mercy Row and the edge of the Seventh Circle district, with one end of the Alley running all the way up to the Rose’s Garden right at the very heart of Bordertown, and the other end letting out in Shadowsmeet (the roofless warehouse turned ampitheatre that houses Jake the Drake, and where changelings gather for a kind of 24/7 street fair that showcases all kinds of art from the tangible expressions like painting and sculpture to music playing, dancing and storytelling and theater) -

Some of the Changelings found in Answers Alley - Aaron, Melody, Eloise, Rashid, Hiromi aka Compass Rose, and Jackie:

Aaron - an eighteen year old black boy whose body is covered in scrolling gold script from all kinds of different languages, the texts of books, scrolls, and tomes that have been lost to history. The text on his body is always relevant to whatever question he was just asked, information that’s applicable or relevant if not the direct answer itself, but it will vanish and be replaced by new words the second another question is posed to him, and even re-asking the first question isn’t guaranteed to bring back the original text instead of more linked text pulled from other sources. 

Aaron always knows how to read or understand the words on him, even if they’re written in a language that he doesn’t otherwise know, which means that he’s still usually the only one who can give a person the answers they’re seeking (and assuming he even wants to). But just sneaking a peek at his arm isn’t going to help anyone when the words on it are from a dead language that hasn’t been read or understood in millennia. Aaron’s both the answer and the key to understanding it.

Melody - a twenty-two year old, mostly mainstream appearing Latina changeling with brown skin and eyes and dark, curly hair offset by two sharp silvery horns that make a V shape like a kind of stylized tuning fork. Her only other visible change is that her ears have a pointed elfin shape and natural holes in them up and down the cartilage like she has multiple piercings in them and just wears no earrings. But with her, the true change and magic isn’t seen, but heard - its almost never completely silent when she’s around, because the very air around her seems to constantly hum when anyone is speaking in her vicinity at all. How harmonious or not the ambient music her magic produces around her is though, is entirely dependent on whether its truth or lies that are being spoken within her exceptional hearing range. 

Like most changelings, her magic is only fully accessible to her….to everyone else, the song surrounding her might be pleasing or not, but only she has the magical sensitivity needed to detect the slight changes in her song, enough to pinpoint when a lie is spoken or a truth is told. But the real gift of her magic is that its attuned to universal truths rather than just perceived truths….meaning she can detect whether something said to or around her is true or not regardless of whether or not the person who says it believes it to be true…..thus making her a sought-out changeling not just for settling disputes, but for anyone who seeks to know whether something they’ve been told or believe is actually true or not. 

The more specific the question though, the more definitive her answer for them is. She’s not good with settling matters of philosophy or religion, because as she puts it, most everything stemming from those have at least an element of truth to them, and so those kinds of questions usually prompt a veritable symphony around her, with so much harmony and discordance both, that its all but impossible for her to declare anything definitive. But personal truths, especially ones with a finite yes or no answer, she excels at - such as if someone relates a memory to her and asks if they’ve remembered it correctly or if there’s something about what actually happened that eludes them, that sort of thing.

Eloise - a dreamy, absent-minded seventeen year old white changeling of French descent, whose ‘shop’ is set back from the rest of the street a little ways, intersecting with one of the many canals that criss-cross Bordertown and allow the aquatic or amphibious residents to come and go between the mainland of it and the undersea neighborhoods that make up Sub Francisco. Her skin tone is a pale pink coral hue, and instead of hair she has a voluminous head of white sea-foam that appears and acts as if its a long, thick tangle of hair. Her shop is a fairly large one story room that’s mostly filled by the waters from the canal with the exception of just enough floor by the front entrance for most visitors to stand on while visiting her, assuming they’re not aquatic Changelings themselves.

Her magic, and the reason for her almost constant daydreaming, is that her magic makes any water she touches a scrying pool that plays out visions of whatever location she pictures. She doesn’t have to have visited herself, she only needs a point of reference for her magic to hone in on…..which can even just be someone’s description of a place they wish to view. Then all it takes is for her to sweep one languid hand through the water around her and the whole surface will shimmer and then show that place and whatever’s happening there, not as a static image but as though watching it on video.

There are a couple of caveats to her magic, same as anyone else’s…..people have to be careful when asking her to show them what’s happening currently in a place, that they describe something about it that’s true of now for her to hone in on…because her magic can just as easily show those places in the past, and if they’re describing from memory, what Eloise shows them might actually be something out of date or no longer relevant. But then again, this also allows her to show specific events that have already happened, as long as someone provides something specific to that point in time for her to hone in on as well as the place. Also, there’s no sound to her moving images, which is why she usually just says something like “people are boring” when asked to hone in on what a particular person is doing right now instead of asking about showing a specific place. Only a few Changelings have figured out that Eloise is a lot sharper than she pretends to be and is perfectly capable of spying on any individual from the safety and privacy of her scrying pool….and does, for the right price or her own personal agendas.

Rashid - a twenty-year old blind Lebanese-American whose change takes the form of glowing beads of orange light that wrap around his arms and all the way up to his neck in double-banded spirals that usually take people a minute or two to place as just vaguely familiar, before the realize that the sight reminds them of a DNA helix.

Just as all Changelings’ magic takes something about who and what they are and just….amplifies that, externalizes it, makes them more of it in some kind of unique magical expression of that, Rashid’s natural scientific curiosity resulted in his magical ability to touch a thing and feel the building blocks that make it what it is, and if he wants to, break things down into those individual components.

There’s a wide array of ways he’s able to use this, beyond just exploring his own personal studies of things…..bring him a bloody weapon, and just by touching an unbloodied part of it he can name where the ore that weapon was made from was mined, as well as name whose blood is on it, and even whose fingerprint, if someone left one and it was handled by gloves afterward. The answers just come to him as names and place names, etc, and they don’t usually have context, so he can’t help beyond that if the names he mentions are unfamiliar to him or the person asking, he can’t tell where they are now….just that these are the basic truths he’s reading off the weapon he was handed, the things that combine to make it what it is now…the blade made of metal from this location, the fingerprint of this person, the blood of this person, etc.

And then on the more physical side of his magic, the breaking things down into their individual building blocks, one example of this is he can kinda distill something down into just what he or someone else wants it to be….like if he touches water that’s been poisoned or drugged, he can split it into just the pure unaltered water and then with the poison or toxin bubbling up to the surface like separating oil and water, easily then filtered out. Or he can touch a complicated piece of machinery or construction of some sort, and make it just tumble down into pieces of its individual components.

As with many other residents of Bordertown though, he’s got his secrets and his true limits are known only to a few. He’s one of the town’s earliest arrivals, back when they were all still fairly few in number and shaping their new society and what roles and degree of influence they would all occupy within it….so only a few remember that he early on established himself as being in the way of certain agendas of Theo’s, and in response, Theo sent one of his most dangerous assassins after him, a Changeling no one ever knew by any name other than the Doppelganger. Unfortunately for the Doppelganger, his own magic required putting his hands on his intended target to activate it…..and that was all Rashid needed to feel the essential building blocks of the Doppelganger and use his own talent first…..to strip the Doppelganger of his magic and leave him separated from it and as he was before his own Change.

Those who were aware of this feat have been careful not to speak of it since, or the reason Theo and his people so carefully avoid Rashid now. Leaving him as he likes it, sought out for his help in reading truths and other aspects of his skills, rather than known as one of the more dangerous Changelings and capable of something no other Changeling has ever managed. But that doesn’t mean nobody knows or remembers - after all, the Doppelganger hasn’t forgotten. And as far as he can tell, that magic that was stripped from him had to go somewhere….and he wants it back. 

A quest that has him give Answers Alley a wide berth, as instead he seeks out Madame Midnight and promises any favor she wants from one of Bordertown’s most dangerous residents, if she can just help him regain his Change and his magic first…..   

Hiromi, aka Compass Rose - a sixteen year old from Chicago originally, and a third generation Japanese-American, she shares a loft in the Aerie with five or so friends with their own flight-capable Changes, and just pops down to the small stall along Answers Alley that’s all she needs. She’s got a sign hanging on the front of it that declares “Don’t bother me unless you’ve already got your own ride back. Round trip service not provided.”

Hiromi’s Change makes her a mish-mash of flora and fauna….she’s got hawk-like eyes and her eyebrows are feathered, and she has short, dark hair that’s crowned by short, branching antlers between which sits her signature rose. From her back sprout two large, bat-like wings whose skeletal frame are actually made of branches rather than bone, and with the material of her wings being more akin to green leaves than feathers. Her wings are the largest thing about her, as she’s fairly tiny except for them, only about five feet tall, and nobody has any idea how they fly aerodynamically, other than well…magic.

But other than the innate magic powering her flight, Hiromi’s actual gift is a form of teleportation with very specific parameters….hence why she sends away anyone who hasn’t first procured the help of some other teleporter or transportation inclined Changeling before seeking her out. Once they do come back with another Changeling willing to help them return later, someone asks for her help finding something….could be a person, an item, or even something ephemeral, like the solution to a problem…..and Hiromi’s magic, a combination of teleportation and dowsing rod, activates upon her command and whips up a tiny miniature whirlwind around the asker and whomever they designate as their company for the trip, like another teleporting Changeling. And when her whirlwind dies down, they’re gone, having been teleported to the location of whatever it was they asked her help in finding. Even if it is something ephemeral like the solution they need to something….her magic can’t spell out for them how its the answer to their problem….just send them to where it is that they’ll find it, as long as they can figure out from there what it is about their surroundings that will help them.

Jackie - a twenty-one year old agender Native American of the Choctaw tribe, originally from Mississippi before coming to Bordertown, Jackie’s magic and Change make them the sum of not just their parts, but all their possible parts. Basically, Jackie’s appearance is like a flipbook, constantly flickering through all possible appearances they might take, making them a somewhat dizzying blur of constant albeit low-intensity motion. Even when they’re sitting totally still, their appearance isn’t, shifting hairstyles, colors, accessories, all without them doing anything at all.

The constant motion of their appearance does slow however, depending on how many aspects of themselves they split off to go accomplish various tasks…usually in pursuit of some knowledge, information or answer. Whenever they want to, they can kinda….shrug off one of the many dizzying possible appearances they have….which splits off to become another Jackie, standing right next to them, but with a steady, static appearance….as they’re only one of the seemingly infinite possible selves contained within Jackie. 

This version of them has the same experiences, knowledge and even priorities of the original Jackie, as they’re all them, the same single person…..the second Jackie is just a specific iteration of the many possible ways they could be….them. And then these other Jackies, however many of them there are, can act independent of the original and go anywhere and do anything the original can. There’s no limit to how far they can range, or limit to how long they can remain separate, and they can fairly easily go about in mainstream public without attracting much attention, as they don’t have a Change of their own….they ARE the Change. 

But then at any point they can and do all eventually return to the main Jackie and add their accumulated knowledge and experiences to the whole, and reshelving their appearance within the flicker-book of possible appearances and selves contained within Jackie.

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 3 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Transformations, Potions and Power-Up's

Welcome to my analysis of basic concepts in Miraculous. Let's talk about transformations, potions and power-up's. This one is going to be interesting.

Apparently, only child superheroes have a time limit and can use their power only once. And adults can use their powers many times and maintain their transformation.

I don't take Thomas Astruc's Twitter statements seriously, but he said that adults don't have to detransform because they can feed the kwami with their energy. What happens when energy runs out? Does it mean that holder of the miraculous dies and transformation drops? Or does transformation drops when the kwami grows tired enough? However, according to "Silencer", transformation can't be released until the holder says detransformation words or uses their power (applies to children only). Is that why Master Fu doesn't transform these days? Because he is old and doesn't have enough energy for Wayzz.

At the same time, Bunnix/Bunnyx held her transformation for several thousand years in "Timetagger" and she was still alive. Moreover, not only she was still alive, she hasn't aged a day. Alix still looked around 25 even after spending so much time in stone. Her sanity was also still intact. Does that mean that as long as people are transformed they are immortal and can't die of natural causes, can't get sick or be killed? Does the Miraculous pause all inner processes? Do people stop ageing when they are transformed? Does that mean that prolonged transformations essentially slowed down puberty for Marinette and Adrien because every Akuma attack (their transformation during this attack to be precise) acts as a pause for their growth process? Does that mean that transformed heroes don't need food, sleep or oxygen? And Alix doesn't experience any negative side-effects after prolonged transformation. A lot of questions must be answered here.

But apparently, the "adults can use their power many times without detransforming" rule does not apply to Gabriel. In "Heroes' Day" he turns Nathalie into Catalyst who gives Hawkmoth the power to "release as many akumas as he desires". Does that mean that he can't normally do it? On the other hand, in "Queen Banana" he creates another Akuma right after the fight with akumatized Chloe ended.

Do you remember this? In "Origins" we find out that akumatized butterflies can multiply. That's why Ladybug needs to purify them. So, does that mean that Scarlet Moth and Catalyst weren't necessary?

Hawkmoth's plan in "Heroes' Day" was actually very smart. However, it can fall apart when you remember that butterflies can multiply. How does that work? Why do they multiply? Could Gabriel akumatize Nathalie into Catalyst (akumatized object is something not very valuable, like a piece of paper), then break the akumatized object and release the Akuma into the world? Would that turn people only into copies of Catalyst? I wouldn't call this thing a plothole, exactly. I'm just curious because it's an unclear moment. Perhaps you could explain it as the element of a soft magic system with unclear rules. Because the magic system in Miraculous is a mix between the hard and soft system.

Adults without time-limited power have a serious advantage over children. Why does Master Fu give Ladybug and Black Cat to teenagers then? In the beginning, Fu doesn't know that Butterfly holder is an adult. Isn't it safer to give 2 most powerful Miraculouses to adults just in case? If Butterfly Holder is a child then 2 adults with more powerful Miraculous would win much faster. If Butterfly Holder is an adult as well, then the fight is more even.

We know the out-of-universe reason for doing this. There would be no story then. Miraculous holders have to be kids since it's a kids show. But in-universe it doesn't make sense. In "Furious Fu" Su Han even says that children are not allowed to handle the Miraculous at all according to the rules of the Order. Fu knows that children have a time limit. It looks like he deliberately sets them up for failure. Why?

Is that because children are easier to manipulate as they are most likely to trust Fu's judgement no questions asked? This reasoning doesn't look good for Fu, who is supposed to be a wise and kind mentor. Is that because children won't abuse their powers? Find a trustworthy adult then. Give us some kind of in-universe explanation!

If you can't explain it then do something with the time-limit rule. It's an important plot device, which contributes to tension and raises the stakes during fights. So, removing it is unwise. Consider giving adults a time limit as well then.

Or you can create different rules. Maybe Black Cat and Ladybug can't be wielded by adults, unlike other lower-tier Miraculous? Maybe Miraculous and Kwami can choose the wielder in some capacity, and this magical bond can't be changed? Do Kwamis feel a pull towards several people and Guardian then chooses the final holder? If there's no pull whatsoever, then Kwami won't be able to grant powers to this person? How much weight does the decision of a Guardian have?

I actually like this last idea the most. It makes sense and avoids plotholes at the same time preserving the time-limit rule. I spent less than 20 minutes figuring this out.

This way Fu gave Ladybug and Black Cat to children because he didn't have a choice. Plagg and Tikki gave him suggestions but these people didn't pass his tests. Marinette and Adrien are the last ones and they do pass. It adds some tension and showcases desperation on Master Fu's part. Magical pull doesn't always mean that potential holders are good people. That's why Miraculous sometimes end up in the wrong hands.

Insert a conversation between Marinette and Tikki or Plagg and Adrien about this choosing process, have them wonder about the bond Nooroo and Hawkmoth share.

Then add more information about bonding. The magical connection can be formed just like people form relationships if human and Kwami spend some time together. It nicely adds up with the reason why Master Fu gave Ladybug and Black Cat to teenagers. He could have given both jewels to adults without a bond and waited for the connection to form but alas, there was no time. He needed active holders right now, and waiting for some adult to come around wasn't an option. But here's the catch. Only decent, kind people with good intentions can earn and create a magical bond. And this has the potential for a truly delicious scenario (more on that later).

It's a very tricky situation. But these rules must be stated and figured out in the very beginning. Because it can create plotholes down the line.

Unification

Combining several different Miraculous is an interesting concept and fusion of powers has been used for a long time as a storytelling element. It's important for the plot in several episodes of seasons 3 and 4.

However, there's "Kwamibuster", where the worldbuilding is broken one more time. It is awfully inconsistent within itself just like "Chat Blanc", "Timetagger" and "Furious Fu". (How do writers keep doing this? I have no idea. But then again even "Avengers: Endgame" contradicts itself numerous times. It's truly miraculous how they managed to do this with their budget, I'm impressed).

For a moment let's ignore all absolutely awful priorities that Marinette has in this episode as well as the rule "you can't know the identity of your partner or else you will have to give up your miraculous". This rule is literally never mentioned again before or after this episode. It's just there and it doesn't make sense. I know it's hard to ignore, but one must try. Instead, let's focus on this dialogue below.

Master Fu clearly states that you can't merge the Miraculous. It could make you lose your mind. The only more or less acceptable unification is that of Ladybug and Black Cat.

What happens next? Marinette puts on every Miraculous without any problem just "to free Kwamis" and transforms into Multimouse. The only sign of her discomfort is a moment of dizziness that's gone in a few seconds. Moreover, it never happens again, it's never mentioned. Then she does the exact thing that Fu told her not to do and starts merging Miraculous left and right. She continues to do so in season 4 every other day. What? Of course, how could I forget Shadowmoth? Gabriel merges 2 Miraculous every time in season 4. He doesn't lose his mind.

You can't tell us that merging can make you lose your mind and then in the next scene show us the complete opposite. That's bad writing. If you need the concept of unification to work then cancel the "lose your mind" rule and instead say that the merging process tires you out. There's no lasting harm, just that you will be very tired. If you want to raise the stakes, then say that wielding more than one Miraculous requires a strong will and practice. It's possible, but you can't perform unification just like that.

In this case, you lay the groundwork for the plotline of Marinette and Adrien for season 4 and 5. This plotline is about mastering unification. Show us how our heroes practice with different combinations of Miraculouses outside of Akuma battles. Show how they are improving. Maybe, Ladybug and Chat Noir nearly lose in the season 3 finale because the unification still drains them. However, in season 4 they put more effort into their training and by the time season 5 rolls around they are good at this. They became a stronger team and partners because of that. Their training sessions are also a good set-up for the development of the love square. Nothing like this will happen, but a girl can dream.

Look, I get it. You want Marinette to be special. Unfortunately, you have made her too special. She starts to break the laws of your magic system. We don't see the process. One moment she has 0 knowledge about something and then she is already an accomplished master of the thing in question and often it happens in the same episode. Marinette somehow just knows about the properties of every Miraculous on-screen, but her training happened off-screen. We as the audience are left confused and wondering. Wait, how does she know this? Was there a missing episode? Was this mentioned in some comic? The audience keenly feels the lack of plot-relevant content and explanations.

Potions and Power-Ups

They are a marketing ploy to sell more toys and merch with character transformations. That's it. Are they useful for the story? Yes, they are sometimes. Do power-up's make sense as a worldbuilding element? I'm sorry to tell you this, but no.

Miraculous Grimoire contains lots of potion recipes for Kwamis. I liked that Kwamis can't read the grimoire to avoid giving information to malevolent holders, which implies that they can't lie to their holder about their powers. I talked about this in my previous posts.

Let's start with Ice Transformation. Apparently, in-universe its only useful characteristic and the thing that sets it apart from normal transformation is skates. Maybe, this transformation also has additional protection from the cold. Maybe. Miraculous makes heroes nearly invulnerable and enhances their physical abilities. I find it hard to believe that protection from elements is not included in the package. And that's it. If we remember that Miraculous holders have subconscious control over transformation's appearance, we can also assume that a person can have conscious control as well. The laws of the magic system in Miraculous allow Marinette to ask Tikki to create skates for this particular transformation. Potions aren't necessary for this. This way you can still sell new toy, but in-universe this works better.

Our next stop is Aqua Transformation. It gives heroes the ability to breathe underwater and fins. That's all. In "Syren" it appears that this transformation also makes them more agile and fast in the water. However, Ladybug's yo-yo worked just fine before Aqua form when she tried to drag Kim to the surface. Her movements underwater weren't restricted either with normal transformation. So their fighting ability is not affected by the potion.

Kwami can live without oxygen. I mentioned earlier that Bunnix with normal transformation in "Timetagger" spent several thousand years in stone without oxygen and probably in some kind of stasis. Do transformed heroes need oxygen? No. Then their inability to breathe underwater doesn't make sense. Therefore, a potion isn't necessary for this.

Next, let's talk about fins. They could appear through the conscious desire of the holder just like skates.

Honestly, "Timetagger" and "Chat Blanc" completely destroyed worldbuilding in Miraculous. These episodes just shouldn't exist. They aren't even consistent within themselves, nevermind the rest of the show, which is why I still don't understand why fandom has such a weird hard-on for them and for Bunnix. Oh, wait. On second thought, I get it. They were just fanservice after all.

Cosmo Bug an Astro Chat. Space power-up give heroes the ability to fly and exist without oxygen. Ancient grimoire had the recipe of space potion, apparently. And humans got into space in the second half of the 20-th century. Ok. That totally makes sense.

If ancient people invented a space potion, that could also mean that back in Ancient Egypt Ladybug and Black Cat holders could use advanced technology. But Su Han in "Furious Fu" is surprised to discover that Ladybug can just call Chat Noir. He assumed she would send a bird with a message. That means that unconscious control over transformation extends to the weapons of heroes. For Marinette and Adrien communication means smartphone with navigation, messages, trackers and Bluetooth earbuds. That's why magic gives them smart weapons. Su Han's words prove that the invention of the space potion is not possible. Unless space potion was also subjected to unconscious control over transformation. People couldn't imagine the possibility of space travel in Ancient Egypt, but they could imagine flight. So, perhaps, for heroes back then space potion simply meant wings.

We've established that heroes don't need oxygen. So, a potion isn't necessary for this. The ability to fly also could be achieved through conscious transformation.

That's all for this part of analysis. Let me know what you think. Stay tuned for the next meta. See you!