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regallibellbright · 1 year

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Okay so that post about tragedies in video games bounced off some neurons and my thinking yesterday about Dragon Quest Builders 2, and a thought finally cohered there, so let’s talk about Dragon Quest Builders 2 and dramatic irony with our BFF, the God of Destruction!

Okay. So Dragon Quest Builders 2 works off the setup of Dragon Quest 2, where a cult of monsters called the Children of Hargon (named for their high priest) are menacing humanity. It’s mentioned, literally once or twice before the final battle, that Hargon is specifically trying to bring about the coming of his evil god Malroth, who he summons as the final boss of the game. This is about all the characterization and build-up Malroth gets, and his design is an evil six-legged dragon with a big skull necklace. He’s not very memorable. But, since he’s a god of DESTRUCTION specifically, it fits really nicely into the idea of Dragon Quest Builders. Builders in this series are tied to any act of crafting and creation - making a house is building, but so is making medicine or cooking. Farming is an aspect of building, outlawed under monster rule along with the rest, because these acts are tied specifically to humanity. The premise of the game is bringing hope back to the world by reintroducing humans to the art of making things. So Builders 2 establishes that destruction is therefore something heavily associated with monsters and monster culture, and as a builder, you represent their opposite. The game starts with Hargon already defeated and a straggling ship of monsters kidnapping you (an apprentice Builder) and some other villagers to execute you in revenge for the cult, Hargon, and the Master of Destruction’s demise.

And then, this is not a spoiler, it makes that Master of Destruction your best friend.

The tutorial of the game has you trying to fix the ship before it sinks in a storm (because good, devout monsters can’t build, but if the ship sinks, they drown too.) It fails, and you wake up on a desert island with a strange young man named Malroth. He has amnesia and likes breaking things and fighting. He tags along after you for almost the entire game. If you destroy a certain kind of block so you can use it, he’ll break more just like it. If you attack a monster that’s not inherently hostile for their item drops, he’ll go out and fight more slimes. He’s stronger and tougher than you as the PC, and most importantly, he draws aggro for the hostile monsters. Mechanically, a lot of the weaknesses of the first game are addressed just by giving you this buddy NPC to help with combat and resource gathering. Since the actual player character is silent, Malroth also fills the traditional role of “companion character who reacts and repeats your presumed reactions so the developers don’t write dialogue for the Player Insert”. When you achieve something, like leveling up or completing a significant build, the two of you high-five. He’s always there, and the player is happy for it rather than annoyed.

And, at least in the English version (the Japanese version apparently uses an alternate kana reading of his name for NPC Malroth that could, conceivably, be an actual person’s name rather than the one used for the boss, but since the game establishes pretty quickly that Malroth has ominous dreams and sometimes hears a voice no one else can who talks about how he’ll awaken soon - and I think even calls him by his title outright, at least in English - I don’t think it’s left much of a mystery in the original, either, especially as the game makes sure to drop the evil god’s name early for anyone who didn’t play DQ2,) the mystery is not “Who is Malroth.” We all know he’s clearly the Master of Destruction reborn. Maybe the English localization could have nicknamed him “Mal”, but frankly I doubt it would have been convincing. They got saddled with one of the most Transparently A Fantasy Villain names imaginable, but honestly even if there WAS supposed to be a genuine mystery around Malroth, I think they lucked out here because I think it works better this way.

The characters don’t know what we do. The game establishes that only the higher-ups of Hargon’s cult know the True Name of the Master of Destruction. It’s dramatic irony, and it’s great. We know that eventually the truth will come out and the Master of Destruction part will almost certainly be reborn, because this is a video game, but we’ve gotten attached to our Destruction God BFF. Again, he makes the game better mechanically just by existing. When there’s inevitably a section where the two of you get separated, shortly before the internal reveal, you REALLY miss his presence. We don’t want to fight him, and we don’t want him to be subsumed by his evil god alterego. But as we get more skilled at building, he gets more skilled at destroying. We know we’re tied onto this log that’s about to go over a waterfall, and we are powerless to stop it, and knowing that he’s the final boss does nothing to stop us from getting attached. I love this. It’s great.

It also helps that the game has an actual mystery, one that it doesn’t start dropping heavy hints about early on. You know that the Children of Hargon were defeated and their leaders are dead, so how have you ended up in an archipelago where they still have control over the land and have subjugated humans? The answer here is genuinely a cool reveal, and plays into a neat little sequence from DQ2. I like it. THAT mystery is framed as a mystery, given just enough hints it still makes sense on replay while not being telegraphed. But I really do think it’s better in this case that we know who Malroth is, because it lets us feel that dread as the game progresses and we’re still getting attached to him anyway.

In conclusion: Dragon Quest Builders 2. I love it. It was my game of the year in 2019 and it was what finally got me to start writing a little again when there were a few lingering plot threads I wanted addressed, and then the game gave a free update that addressed them! I am happy.

#Dragon Quest Builders 2 #meta #dramatic irony #video games #long post #malroth #dqb2 malroth #malroth dqb2 #dqb2 #Dragon Quest Builders #this is actually relatively low on spoilers #because again it is not a secret that Malroth is the evil god Malroth #to anyone except the characters

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chiricat · 1 year

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another ramble about art again so i’m hiding it all under a ‘keep reading’ thingy so as to not clog ur feeds :]

aka thoughts about imposter syndrome, fanart, and what it means to draw stuff loosely disguised as a ‘ramble’. maybe a bit of akito almost-kinnie-isms (and probably ena) in there too because why not. also sorry this gets a lot less coherent as it goes on (i lost my train of thought near the end. it’ll come back someday)

i want to keep getting better. i want to keep growing and improving, so that i can convey the ideas in my head to others. i’m afraid to stagnate for too long, because what if it means i’ve hit my limit? what if i’ll never get better than i am right now? an irrational thought, really, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. hell, i felt like i hadn’t improved all that much from a year ago, when i tried to redraw a few of my older posts.

part of this stems from the question ‘how do people see my art? what kind of artist am i to them?’ which comes from when i got into fanart and fandom spaces, a long time ago. i would categorize the people i looked up to, my idols, my role models. there was the one that made comics that felt like home with your friends, and there was the one that made pieces that felt like i was sitting in a café in the middle of a busy city, and there was the one that made renders that felt like i was looking at liquid gold. i was fascinated by the effects of all these different artstyles, and decided that i wanted to do the same. i wanted to make art that made people feel at home, like a fic that you keep coming back to, or art that conveyed how i felt well enough that others felt the same way, or could understand it at the very least.

naturally, as i continued to draw and admire these artists from afar, i wondered why exactly their art appealed to me. at first, the answer was simple: i like looking at it. but that wasn’t good enough - what about the things i didn’t really care to look at, then? what made this piece any different?

so i tried to understand, why i liked something, or why others liked something. after studying art for a little (yay classes) i understood more, i understood why those artists made the choices they did. for one, it was their powerful composition, and how they wanted to pull the viewer in with the characters. for another, it was their color palettes, which were always balanced yet strong and guaranteed to catch your eye because of it. other times, it would be the lighting, angled to present the characters in such a way that it made you feel like you were there too, or linework that made you feel just how much the artist cherished the characters. there were other, less technical things too, but i was trying to build a foundation before diving into things that were harder to learn.

in short, there was so, so much more to everything than i had realized as a kid.

so i asked myself the same question. why do people like my art? why is my art appealing and worthy of your time? and where did i fit in, if i were to categorize myself?

these questions got a little worse. incredibly irrational. imposter syndrome was kicking in when i saw that more people were liking my art, especially when i compared it to myself from a year ago. or when my favorite artists were following me back. (it was weird, somewhat. i had always seen them as worlds away from my own space, artists that i had admired from afar and thus never believed that they would turn around and see me.)

‘do people actually like my art? is my art actually worth anyone’s time?’ i wonder. ‘do i deserve these nice comments, or even these likes?’

‘am i even getting better at all?’

these are a bit foolish of me to think. it shouldn’t matter, really. as long as i’m enjoying drawing and having a fun time, then why should it matter whether others like it or not? i don’t have to be doing my best, giving it 110% all the time, i’m allowed to make goofy art or self-indulgent art. this is my motto, for the most part. as long as you’re enjoying the craft, then it’s worth it.

but with the goal of improvement, i don’t always want to stay in my comfort zone. i want to keep pushing my limits, even if its just a little at a time, so i can make something impressive, something that really resonates as much as i want it to, as much as certain pieces resonated with me when i was younger. the same way that i kept coming back to certain pieces (and still do), i want to be able to do that too. i don’t want to feel like a kid playing at an adult’s game, like someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing and it shows.

it’s a tricky balance. i’m not sure if i’ll ever truly feel like i’ve ‘finally done it’. i think that most artists are never truly content with their work as a whole, anyways, and that’s okay. that’s something i should be more okay with. i can make art just for fun, and i can also make art with the intent of solely improving or practicing. i can even combine the two, and most of the time, i try to anyways.

(sorry, i lost my train of thought after writing the last few paragraphs... i dunno where i wanted to go with this exactly HHH.

tldr; i’m always stuck between ‘i’m happy making this art even if its bad’ and ‘i need to get better and leave people in awe to feel like i deserve the love and nice comments i receive’.

if you somehow managed to get to the end of this, ty for reading, even if it was a hot dumpster fire LMAO)

#cat does some thinking #I NEED A BETTER TAG FOR MY RAMBLES #even if theyre only like. once or twice a year max #lol after writing this i came back to the piece i was working on (and what solidified this whole thing)#and it doesn't look as bad anymore :)#argh lost my train of thought at the end of this. i got distracted #i know the akitoisms and enaisms arent explicitly said but i think theyre still there #shinonome struggles

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thatsmzbitchtoyou · 3 months

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Breaking the Class Ceiling Chapter 4

This is set in early 1900s U.S.A., during the Edwardian era with some style changes into the upcoming Art Nouveau period. I've changed history a bit for this. Pretending that America didn't have a full Civil War and trying to create a more optimistic outcome for the purposes of the story. I've also tried to research what the rules for society/socializing were back then, and tweaked some of them.

Warnings for upcoming chapters: minor character death, some sexual harassment/assault (but nothing too graphic or traumatic), smut

*smut (ish) in this chapter

Rumor had quickly spread of what happened at the party, and out of embarrassment and public ridicule Rumlowe and Pierce quickly left to go out west to “find new opportunities.”

Everyone’s attention was now fixed on the World Fair. It started in April and was ending in December in St. Louis. You were planning a trip and had invited multiple people in your social circle, including Steve and Bucky.

“You must come, my darling,” you cooed at him as you flitted around your drawing room, making plans and riddling off a list of things to pack to the maid who was furiously writing.

“You know I can’t afford a trip to St. Louis, my love,” Bucky sighed quietly.

“You won’t be paying for it, dearest, I will,” you announced with no room for argument.

“I can’t miss work,” he said. “Mr. Fury has many contracts he needs me to take care of in these next few months. The holidays are coming up, too. I can’t take so much time off before then.”

“Oh pish posh,” you waved him off. “You can quit your job. I’ll pay you to be my personal escort,” you quickly twirled in front of him, “in more ways than one,” you winked at him.

Bucky laughed as the maid in the corner blanched at your innuendo. “You’d pay me to be your date?” he asked incredulously. “No, Y/N, besides I like my job, I need to earn my own way.”

“Ugh,” you groaned, plopping down on your knees in front of him where he sat. He gulped. “You are refusing my gifts again? My darling, I told you to learn to accept my gifts. I have plenty. And if you must earn it,” you shuffled closer to him, setting your chin on his knee, looking up at him innocently, “then why not earn it by being the best beau to me while on vacation?”

Bucky gulped again, watching you carefully as you sat looking up at him. As much as he enjoyed these (mostly) private moments, they were a tease, causing a kind of itch in his lower abdomen that he more than once had to relieve when he arrived home after spending time at your house. As if sensing his hesitation, you glanced at the maid. “Bessy, could you give us a moment’s privacy please?”

Bessy sniffed indignantly as she booked it out of the room, closing the door behind her. When the coast was clear you lifted your head and then placed your hands on his knees, sliding them up his thighs slowly as you gave him a doe-eyed stare. His breath stopped as he watched you, his own hands had a death grip on the arms of the chair he sat on. Your hands slid close to his core, which was pulsing. He tried to shift away so you wouldn’t see but it didn’t deter you. You scratched your fingernails down his legs as you slid your hands back down.

“Will you come with me to St. Louis?” you asked in a voice that was feigning innocence.

Bucky’s hips stuttered as your hands started to slide up again, this time your right hand rubbing his inner thigh right next to his throbbing cock.

“Y/N, you…mmmh,” he moaned lightly, sounding strangled as he tried to stop himself. “We can’t, it’s not…we’re not married,” he mumbled, losing coherence quickly.

“Yet,” you corrected, your fingers sliding until they slightly stroked his cock through his pants. He moaned again, his hand flying to your wrist to stop you. “Will you come with me to St. Louis?” you asked again, this time standing, hiking up your dress and straddling his lap before he could stop you. You ran your hands up his chest and wrapped your arms around his neck, dipping your head down to the crook of his neck and kissing it repeatedly. Without much thought he brought his hands to your hips, keeping you over his cock as he cautiously rutted up into you. Your kisses became more heated and you sucked on different spots, making Bucky’s eyes roll back in his head. You made your way to his ear, your breath tickling his neck, then you nipped his earlobe, making him whimper lightly. “I’m your job now, my darling,” you said in an authoritative and husky tone. Bucky nodded. “You’ll come with me to St. Louis,” you continued. He nodded again, gritting his teeth as he rutted up harder into your clothed center. “I will pay you for your troubles, since my company is apparently less important than writing contracts,” you tugged his shirt down and gave a broad lick from his collar bone to his ear, sucking on his earlobe. He whimpered louder.

“No troubles, doll, my pretty doll, please,” he begged, his hands kneading your thighs now. “I’ll do whatever you want, just please.”

“Please what, darling?” you teased, peppering soft kisses across his cheeks, his nose, his forehead, down his chin, and so close to his lips but without actually touching them.

“Oh God, please, I need to, to…” he trembled beneath you as your hands stroked through his hair, scratching at the nape of his neck.

“Go ahead, darling,” you gave him permission, your lips hovering over his mouth. You ground down on his lap a few times, which was enough for him to finally burst. His hips shook as his head fell back, his eyes screwed shut and his mouth slack as he panted. As he finished in his trousers he pulled you in close, setting his forehead against your forehead, noses nuzzling each other as he came down from his high. “Very good, my love. You’re so handsome like this,” she teased as she gave his nose a small peck.

“I love you, Y/N,” Bucky sighed, his embrace tightening around you.

You let out a sound of surprise, looking at him with wide eyes. “I know we are not engaged, but none of what we’ve done in this courtship is traditional, so to hell with it. I love you. I think of you constantly. I want nothing more than to spend every waking moment with you.”

“I feel the same, Buck,” you said, a wide smile on your face.

“So if you want to employ me to do so, then I accept. Though I’d happily do it for free,” he gave you a mischievous smile. You snorted at him as you rolled your eyes.

“What’s your going rate, Barnes?”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes x reader #marvel #smut

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bojangos · 2 years

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hello i would like to hear about your “jaster never adopted jango” analysis

(LOVE your jaster art. im also inhaling crumbs)

(thank you for the compliment!!! I want to draw more of him sometime. perhaps from one of the many ‘jaster lives’ aus i’ve seen lmao)

Alright here we go gamers. strap in i'll try to organize my thoughts coherently.

It all comes back to "The Mandalorian: Season 2, Chapter 14", where Boba gets his armor back and shows Din his chain code to prove it belongs to him. Din's immediate reaction is "your father was a foundling", which seems to raise Din's opinion of Boba (but that's. another thing altogether lmao).

So this establishes that, not only was Jango a Mandalorian, but that he was specifically a foundling. Okay, what does this mean?

Foundlings, as portrayed in The Mandalorian, were kids from outside of the clans who were rescued and brought into the fold. They were raised by the clan until they could be 'reunited with their own kind' or came of age, where they could choose to swear the creed, or leave. Jango could not be returned to his family, since they were all killed, so Jaster raised him as a foundling, and we can guess based on the fact Jango's still running around in beskar'gam twenty years later, he swore in. HOWEVER.

Being raised as a foundling is different than being adopted! Foundlings raised in Din's covert were not part of the Clans, but if they swore the creed, they could go on to form their own (re: din and grogu forming Clan Mudhorn).

Okay, what does this have to do with Jango and Jaster? Once again, we wheel back to the scene where Boba shows Din his chain code. Remember, Din takes one look at this, and knows automatically that Jango was a foundling:

(source, a translation of Boba's chain code).

The most notable part here is that it lists Jango as Boba's father, but Jaster as Jango's mentor. The "Mentor/Father" distinction is key to my theory here lmao.

We know that Mandalorian's have a proclivity for adoption, but it seems to be limited to children of other Mandalorians, and that 'new blood' like foundlings are less likely to be adopted and typically form their own clans instead. Another source for this theory actually comes straight from the OG "Open Seasons" comic that goes over Jango's backstory and formally introduces Jaster.

(pictured; Frames from Jango Fett: Open Seasons, Volume 2. Montross is essentially harrassing Jango for “not really being Jaster’s son”. Also of note: normally I hesitate to source Open Seasons because so much of it is outdated lore, or downright racist or misogynistic, but. We’re going back to the beginning here)

This comic was published before a lot of the existing lore on Mandalorians was established (re: the “Republic Commando” Novels by Karen Traviss), but if we take it in that context, Montross saying Jango isn’t “really” Jaster’s son implies that Jango hasn’t been adopted, that the gai bal manda (mandalorian adoption vow) hasn’t been said. Adopted children ordinarily have no difference in standing, and typically no distinction is made between adopted and biological children, so Montross saying Jango isn’t Jaster’s son - I’m inclined to believe Montross.

(though Montross does later get Jaster killed in this issue so lmao. He’s trying to needle Jango here - and I’m sure Jango himself might’ve questioned why Jaster hadn’t adopted him).

If Jaster never adopted Jango, this could be why in The Clone Wars, Season 2, Episode 12: The Mandalore Plot, Prime Minister Almec states: “Jango Fett was a common Bounty Hunter -- How he got that armor is beyond me”. (This was apparently very controversial when this episode came out - saying Jango wasn’t a Mandalorian after all? In Meta, the reasoning was that the Mandalorians should be more than a mercenary company).

If Jaster never adopted Jango, this could be reason why Jango was not part of Mandalore’s records. Then again, Din’s name was apparently listed in a registry on Mandalore proper, so another question is: why isn’t Jango listed there? I have a few options:

1: Jango’s presumed death upon starting the Kamino Contract meant he was removed from any registries.

2: Jango’s earlier presumed death after Galidraan (and his subsequent time in slavery) meant he was removed from the registries.

3: Jaster’s Death on Korda IV meant Jango was removed from the records, since his Mentor died (kind of a stretch, since Jango seems to have already sworn the Resol’nare at this point).

4: Concord Dawn kept it’s own registries (possible, but unlikely, given Din was registered on Mandalore after being in the ass end of the galaxy (sorry, Aq Ventina)).

Anyway, Jango’s mandalorian status nonwithstanding, this doesn’t entirely explain why Jaster wouldn’t have just adopted Jango, since Jaster is well aware there is no one for Jango to go back to. So why didn’t he? I have another couple thoughts!

1: The funnier, albeit less likely (in my opinion) is that Jaster couldn’t legally adopt Jango because he is technically a convicted murderer (re: the republic commando novels, Jaster was exiled from Concord Dawn after murdering a fellow Journeyman Protector for corruption - likely Jaster caught him in the act of some Nasty Things and he was compelled by his own moral code to kill him). Even mandalorian’s i’m sure have legal statues against letting ‘violent criminals’ formally adopt children (though the Foundling loophole clearly still stands lmao. Also, as Mand’alor, i’m sure Jaster could just. Adopt anyway aklsdjflkasdj)

2: More likely in my opinion, is that Jaster didn’t adopt Jango out of respect for Jango’s old family. If an old friend died suddenly and you took in their kid, you wouldn’t want to replace them as the kid’s parent, right?

Jango was about ten years old when his parent’s were killed by Death Watch - plenty old to remember them fondly, recognize them as his ‘only parents’, and certainly old enough to get hostile with anyone who tries to replace them. I’m sure this isn’t uncommon among mandalorians or foundlings, so Jaster may have recognized the potential hostility and was extremely clear on not replacing his parents.

(pictured: clip from Jango Fett: Open Seasons, Volume 1 showing Jango’s father leaving food out for a ‘beggar’. Someone somewhere once used the name Cassius for Jango’s father, and it’s what I use - gotta inject a KOTOR reference somwhere, right?).

Jango’s father was covering for Jaster when Death Watch came knocking - He trusted Jaster enough to leave out food and put his family at risk for Jaster’s sake. It’s entirely possible they grew up together on Concord Dawn, or, barring that, were close friends as they were both Journeymen Protectors. He’s still covering for Jaster even as he’s beaten within an inch of his life in front of his family.

(Pictured: Poor Dad Fett getting beat up while Death Watch threatens to kill him in front of Jango. Dad says he Hasn’t seen Jaster since he was exiled.)

This is all to say, beyond the ordinary treatment of foundling’s it’s entirely possible Jaster didn’t want to adopt Jango, as doing so would remove one of Jango’s only remaining connections to family - Jango is a Fett first and foremost, and adopting him into Clan Mereel would remove him from that. (the Fett clan is old as hell, predating the Vizsla’s, but that’s another sidebar lmao).

Also super minor, but. What kind of kid calls their parent by their first name? lmao.

In summary: Din’s reaction to Boba’s Chain code implies that Jango wasn’t adopted, and ye olde Open Season’s Comics support this in various ways - from Montross’ dialogue to Jaster’s relationship with Jango’s family. Even if he wasn’t fomally adopted, Jaster and Jango recognized each other as family and the respect that came with it.

I’ll leave you with my favorite frame from Open Seasons, lmao. baby jango you are so cute

#jaster mereel #jango fett #star wars theory #jango fett open seasons #the mandalorian #jaster didn't adopt jango #but that doesn't mean he wasn't jango's dad #yknow? lmao #long post #bo speaks #jaster </3 #bojangos #look i sat down and thought about it and realized hey how did din know jango was a foundling

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gremlins-hotel · 9 months

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✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　ANON LOVE　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Just wanted to stop by and share what I love about you and it's your art! I could probably ramble on and on and on about your art for pages and pages but only a smidgen of it would even be coherent, especially when writing about the way you draw Russia! And I can't remember the name of the AU, but that render of America standing under I think a sign in the desert? The lighting, the drama, and I'm not sure if you have fics too, but just from that image alone, I just know I would read the HECK out of that!! I also love your archaeology Jones blog and all the stuff I get to learn, something that has to be one of my favorite things about this fandom, thank you for being such a wonderful part of it!

Now spread the love! (But no pressure!) You can tag someone to say what you love about them, or if you're shy like me, drop some love as anon in their inbox! There's never too much love for us to share with each other 💖

so i've had this sitting in my inbox for nearly two weeks, trying to think of how to respond. nothing eloquent came. so i am thanking you from the bottom of my cringe-loving heart and here to spread some of that love in the most obnoxious way possible.

@ironicorange i can't not start with my goof squad, my beloved, my sunbeam. i love you lots, more than i can say. thank you for always letting me be in your dms with insane words and ideas, we both grow closer to delirium each day. watch your back you whore i'm going to steal your hands so i can one day draw like you.

@abbittheturtle my beloved irl bestie, this creature would be wayward without you. you are a fucking jewel and i will eat your art at every opportunity. also seeing you be happy in working with metal and jewelry has been amazing. i hope you continue to enjoy it! i'm wishing you love and luck with your move and good luck in our upcoming semester! i will be coming up there. this is a threat.

@temtamoo our romerica echo chamber and transatlantic 5g connection is so strong dude. your ideas are deep and your art is stunning, i love to hear from you always, regardless of the topic.

@artistically-hershie from late-night crazy au ideas to invading your workplace establishment to give you a soul-crushing hug, seeing messages from you so we can both be giggly and nuts is the best. also ugh, bro, teach me to draw.

@sunnysssol clown duo, clown twins, the dumbass squad. i will slobber for your oc and your art right here, right now. can i just say i specifically love how you color eyes. like bro!! the sol eye stare. trademark it.

@dusklikescats to you, who was one of my first more steadfast buddies after rejoining hetalia, i know you aren't into it much now, but i still light up seeing your messages. you have an energy unmatched and a contagious laugh.

@snackbar-chez-paro i drooled over your art for a long time dude and similar to miq, you became a fast friend. i always adore seeing your headcanons on discord even if you say wonderful things my tiny anglo brain doesn't always understand. you're awesome!

@irlusa you, good sir, are a fucking angel. and i will smooch you on the lips. stop living so far away!! i'm gonna fight the state. you are far kinder than you let yourself think and your art style is so fucking soft i'm gonna sleep on it.

@picturespurple-68 i'm sending you to the camps for revealing my classified secrets (code for i'm definitely going to watch more shows and movies with you someday). you are so very quick on your feet with ideas and always have fun ones to share. i could slurp up your writing like a fuckign smoothie it's so wonderful. i love our conversations and our hangouts.

there are so many more people i would love to ping but then this post would be far too long. return rebloggers and likers and people in my askbox, those whose posts i see on my dash and interact with, names i have come to recognize and associate with the crazy tunglrites, i salute you. and ily guys.

#callsign gremlin checking in #i'm feeling so fucking soft rn it's ridiculous goddamn ily guys #hhrrnngg

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fioras-resolve · 3 months

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31 Days

Exactly a month ago, I started playing this game that my extended family had made. It's a daily math game, or like, a daily classical cryptography game. I have been solving the new puzzles each day, for 31 days.

I'm still taking it in, you know? I've never had such a clear idea of how long a month is, but now I have to know: It's the time between getting an email showing me this game and right now. Perhaps this should horrify me, as confronting the passage of time should come with the spectre of mortality. But as someone who has never believed herself to have a future, it has the opposite effect. It gives me a sense of just how time passes, how long things take, and how much I can do in a month.

But it's hard to believe there can be anything in my life so consistent. I flounder between projects and take opportunities when they come, my activities or mood on any given day is largely dependent on fate and happenstance. But I have somehow managed to do this one tiny thing each day for a month. It makes me think about the importance of rituals, to have something in your life that can anchor you in time.

These days, games come packed with rituals in some form or another. Plenty of games, online and offline, come with daily bonuses, daily activities, and rewards for sticking with it, every day. It's hard to know where to draw a line. These techniques are a few of many that companies can use to extract every bit of time, money, and attention out of you. But in individual cases I am okay with them. I like the daily nature of Wordle or Animal Crossing. I like it when Fire Emblem Fates or Bravely Default give me small rewards as real-world time passes. In the days of the DS or 3DS these mechanics felt more experimental and benign. I can't help but wonder if that was ever really true.

Summary is an ephemeral game. It changes every day, and a missed day cannot be taken back. Missing a day in my streak was actually what made me give up Wordle, unsurprisingly, and that'll probably be what gets me to drop this game. Back when Wordle was popular, there was a controversy over it being ephemeral like this. Some didn't like its daily slow-paced nature, which is fair enough if you don't care for game as ritual. Others made an argument that the daily format is inherently anti-preservation, as one day's experience will never be the same as the next. I balk at this framing, as someone in theatre. Yes, some art cannot be truly (or at least losslessly) preserved. It is of the moment, and that is part of the beauty of it. For art to be an event, for it to require you to be there, in that moment, is not as terrible a thing as some would tell you.

Thinking on it after a month, I'm not sure if I'd say I "like" Summary as a math-y puzzle game. It's missing the kind of tension and strategy that Wordle has, and while its puzzles are certainly coherent, I don't really feel like I'm getting "better" at the game, or that it particularly wants me to. I'm curious to ask the developers how they designed these puzzles, because as a designer, this game is a fascinating piece of work. But the Wordle formula is... It's one of those things, you know? It's like Minesweeper, it has a set of mechanics that just works, and it's hard to replicate without losing the charm somewhere. Summary is a good attempt, one I've stuck with for a month and plan to continue. But the ritual matters more than the game.

#game design #wordle #classical cryptography #mathblr #math games

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jail-buddies-au · 3 months

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I like how you randomly appeared on my fy, checked out your art,read some of your AU and was like "yes,a person of quality.Mhm." *cutely follows*.

You are now obliged to share more of this (/nm) because this Au will now be on my mind for at least a month

“A PERSON OF QUALITY” M CRYIIINGGG SJDJKSSJ THANKS

Im actually just a silly person that didn’t like the ending of their hyperfixation so i said “mm no pass me the pencil”

Haven’t been able to draw much but i do have some loose ideas and info

I find interesting that without the last time travel in canon absolutely EVERYTHING would’ve have gone downhill, like normally in the past time travels takemichi did there was always a good change, something good that happened, like kazutora’s survival in Valhalla vs Toman, that even if the future ended up worse, that change was still something valuable.

In Kanto vs Toman this gets completely erased, there’s literally no way out of a bad ending, three people died with absolutely no recompense, because the future staying exactly the same as bonten TL, Mikey being far away from everyone, but with three more dead people.

Takemichi dies and all turn into this in the matter of a week

That’s kind of what dragged me to think about this, am i being redundant??? Also i felt the necessity of exploring more Mikey’s mental health through the manga, which was heavenly implied and tried to give it a little of closure, which was something that i really wanted.

Now, there IS in fact a last time travel in this AU, but unlike canon, they don’t go back to the beginning beginning. Mikey travels back to this exact moment

I think that the time capsule moment was a very nice point to travel to, idk how to write a coherent paragraph so lemme just do it like this:

- Characters who’s death ate important to other characters development remain dead (shinichiro, baji, emma, izana) THAT ALTHOUGH IT HURTS ME SO MUCH, i didn’t like that everyone suddenly revived

- here is when Mikey starts to get actual fucking help LMAO, like while they were burying the time capsule, Mikey already knew what he was end of being, he literally planned a twelve-year-long su!cide at that moment. So i think that for the final TL to get a happy (as much as it can) ending is taking that plan back and actually start a healing journey with everything that has happened am i overthinking too much?

- ANYWAY, imma be fully transparent, i don’t know when exactly Mikey travels back, I know that he’s the time traveler because of michi giving him the power before dying, and Kazutora is the trigger. But idk if make him travel back the day Kazutora gets released from jail or before (still gonna keep him some good years behind bars tho)

NOW I CAN START WITH SILLY STUFF

- Theres a stray cat that lives in the prison called Arepa, all the prisoners know her

- Kazutora is REALLY well behaved in prison, and he has some privileges bc if that of course, Mikey thinks that’s a lie and that he actually sucked off some guard to have said benefits

-on the other side, Mikey is completely unstable, one day he can be rotting inside his sell not giving a fuck about anyone, and the other he can be fighting to death with another inmate

-he has been in solitary confinement more than once

- Kazutora receives letters from chifuyu every now and then, Mikey received a lot from Sanzu and even one from koko but he never answered, he wants to be forgotten just like in Bonten TL

-Chifuyu testified in Mikey’s trial, he also visited him once, that conversation is very well daydreamed in my head kakdjsksjjs

- There’s a good amount of mental health talk in this AU bc of course that Mikey and Kazutora in the same room was a great idea of me, so if you’re sensitive to that be careful 💙

-right now I’m drawing a little comic about Sanzu and Senju but i just have the sketch for now forgive my sins, and there’s actually a lot of panels and convos i have already like completely finished in my head, like when Mikey travels back? That’s COMPLETELY planned already jajdjsjsj im just slow

That’s all I think???? (It’s totally not but if I remember something ill post it or edit this)

Lemme know your thoughts before i consider myself cringe and delete all this text ISJDJDJSJJSJS

#ask

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blazehedgehog · 10 months

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Hello, I have a strange question to ask

I've been having some existential crisis about my understanding of art, but mostly when it comes to Sonic

I'd like to belive that there's no valid answer or approach to enjoying something that speaks to you and partaking in it no matter what, if folks have a better time relating to the musical side of the series and not many other aspects of it, that's fine, like a different era and aesthetic, no problem and I'll encourage it in practice. And I find telling someone "you have low/high standards" offensive honestly, it's way too assumptious.

But I'd be lying if the sea of criticism and hot tales online doesn't get to me, making me question maybe I'm wrong, maybe some opinions are more valuable than others. Like I know my preferences, but what if it all comes from ignorance, or me being lenient on others experiences is some sort of creative failure. Maybe the people who want their specific vision of what they love are onto something and are owed that, even tho it would put folks at even more odds.

I find it very disturbing, the idea of an absolute truth and aiming to find it is very comforting but I just hate the idea as well. It would mean disregarding voices that never had the chance to be heard, perspectives and experiences that don't fit within a coherent vision.

Like I'm from a country that was sanctioned to hell and my first language isn't English nor japanese so Sonic was never accessible for me, so I'm inherently biased against someone telling me something I enjoy is not for me.

A bit of followup to that ask: What I'm trying to say is that while I want to support artistic integrity and respect authorial intent, I just the idea of art being treated like a religion and words of artists (and in sonic's case forgotten manuals sometimes lol) to be treated like holy scripture with a specific "vision" or "direction" everyone should follow Also sorry for lengthy ask

This is definitely a hefty subject to be sure.

I spent 12 years as a paid critic. I wasn't paid very much, and the site wasn't very big, but I still took the job seriously enough that I developed a sense that at some point, you just have to plant your feet and establish your own opinion. You can't walk on eggshells around everyone forever. Battle lines have to be drawn for you to be who you are.

Avoiding conflict with strangers is one thing. But you have to express yourself, your intents, and your feelings at some point. By its very nature, that means you are going to be dismissing someone, somewhere. I don't think that can be avoided. Somebody out there will love the thing you hate, and that WILL generate a conflict.

What really and truly matters is how you are prepared for and handle that conflict. Not every disagreement has to be thermonuclear warfare. And sometimes you might want to defuse, and the other person doesn't. To me, that's just part of life. Have opinion, will argue.

I realize this is easier said than done, but if this kind of stuff bothers you, then... don't let it. It's the internet. If something is bothering you, it's easy to get away from it. Nobody is making you remain in the same argument for days or even weeks on end. Maybe this is just something that comes as you get older, but at some point I realized I valued my time more than just yelling at other people online all the time.

So I... stopped doing that. I put my thoughts out in to the world through places like this blog or my Youtube channel, and if people have a problem with the way I express my opinions, I try to express them better. I don't attack back, I just try to identify what they aren't understanding. Rarely does it start arguments anymore. Does it mean my opinions are right? Probably not. Not entirely, anyway. What even is right and wrong in this context? It's all just perspective.

And once you realize that, the idea of drawing a line in the sand, planting your feet and expressing your opinion, all the arguments and disagreements it may generate just become different perspectives. It doesn't mean you're wrong, it doesn't mean they're wrong, because nobody is wrong. It's all just from where you're looking at the thing from.

Given that we're just talking about Sonic the Hedgehog, and there are no guns, or knives, or real violence happening, ultimately you have to realize: who cares? Find your own happiness. This isn't the fate of the world. It's a cartoon hedgehog. And though you may have started an argument today, the sun will still rise tomorrow. Free yourself and enjoy it.

#questions #bluerthanthoumaybe #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #ramble #stream of consciousness #does this mean anything? I don't know

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aragarna · 1 year

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🌿💞

🌿how does creating make you feel?

Powerful! LOL no but seriously, when I first writing fanfictions, it really felt like I discovered a magic power. The power to visit my favorite universe at will. Writing means I can stay with the characters after the cameras stopped rolling. I can stay with them a little longer. Hold their hands, a little longer. And of course, I can fix things, I can imagine the future, I can imagine all the happy reunions, the happy-ever-after, the kids growing up. The AUs, the craziest crossovers.

And writing, the act itself of thinking a sentence and typing it down, it feels like a shot of endorphine. It makes me all fuzzy inside as I'm spending time with my beloved characters, just as if I was watching the show.

For some reason, it's a bit different with art. When I'm making art/manips, of course, working on a subject or with a model that I appreciate staring at is always a bonus, but generally, making art, for me, feels more like craft, manual work. Probably because (for me, who can't actually draw) it's more about mastering Photoshop tools than anything and finding the best starting material, so it feels more technical. There's a whole process, that is actually longer than the creative part of coming up with the ideas and the design. But it is also a relaxing activity in its own right, and there's a real satisfaction in looking at the finish product on my screen.

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

The FEELS. Angsty or fluffy (ideally angsty then fluffy!). So I guess it's the characters, and giving them challenges to overcome. Plots (or more accurately, settings), are just a way to set that up. Even if I come up with a plot idea first - like say, what if I was writing a WC/Forever crossover - then I'd try to figure out what would make it "fun". Someone has to become immortal. There's potential for angst there. Peter's been shot, dying. Neal's desperate. Neither of them know it's gonna be fine. Oh all the usual angst. You're my best friend, take care of El, etc... And he *really dies*. But disappears. MORE ANGST and confusion and dispair! But, then, twist! Peter walks back naked and wet, embarrassed and furious. Confused and cold. Comfort, happiness, fluff, and of course, LOLz. Gotta have Diana and Jones making fun of Peter. Or, depending on my mood, I can go a more fluffy way right away. In a world where Forever and WC coexist, Mozzie and Abe *got* to know each other. They'd totally be friends. Henry would have a lot less patience for Mozzie's excentricities. BUT Mozzie would totally figure out Henry's secret. So from there I just set up a meeting. Mozzie forge fake papers, Henry would need new papers every 10 years or so.

See, it all writes itself! (it just needs a lot of rework cause I'm stuck with plot, cause clearly plots aren't my favorite parts!)

Character interactions and feelings, I think that's the main thing for me.

Though I also have to note that all those different aspects are important in the final product. I do care about grammar. I do care about finding the correct phrase, or a coherent plot/setting. And I also very very much care about keeping characters in-character.

Wow that got longer than expected! I guess those were good questions! Or maybe I'm just procrastinating LOL Thanks for the ask <3

#a meme!#about me #and writing #thanks for playing!

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shameboree · 2 years

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I feel like you must get asked this often and I'm sorry, but how is everyone you draw always so well-dressed? Do you have a source/sources of fashion inspiration or is it more of an innately incredible sense of style that I can only envy from afar? (I love your art!!)

i do NOT get asked this actually!!! HOLD ONTO UR BUTTS.. IM GONNA FUCKIN RAMBLE!!!! u have unleashed the fucking BEAST im sorry.

FIRST i will confess to u smth.. all of my Fashion and Design Aesthetics were formed in my TENDER YOUTH watching eureka 7 and reading like, really fashionable shoujo manga + IMMORTAL RAIN in PARTICULAR. one of my most substantial influences is 70s mod fashion (the combo result of e7 and I Watched Austin Powers Probably Too Much As A Child) which isnt always apparent in the actual outfits but is usually p apparent in like.. HOW i draw them (clean/concise silhouettes, a lot of straight lines and curve combos accentuating each other). more than fashion fit design itself i rely LARGELY on breaking the body up into shapes and sections and then mold clothes to fit however i want to section those shapes. I HAVE NO IDEA IF THAT MAKES SENSE but THIS oc thing i did the other day kind of showcases what i focus on in terms of visual appeal when i do outfits.

i also like to think about personality when it comes to designing fits- like, what does the character enjoy, what is their GOAL w their clothing?? the ones i drew there are all a Specific Look that oc cultivates, which is WEAPONIZED SEXUALITY so her sexy fits are revealing but not TOO revealing bc its a tease not an invitation. her ultimate goal is to throw ppl off their guard and have them underestimate her, which is why her OTHER aesthetic is like, CHASTE INNOCENT SUNDAY SCHOOL ATTIRE. everything i draw her in is designed w her Goals in mind, if that is making any sense at all. ig what i am trying to say is that i always think in terms of like WHY would the character wear this, WHAT purpose do they utilize their clothes for? if i can narrow that down then i usually can visualize smth OR narrow down to a Clothes Genre and work from there

HERE are some brief annotations for my thought process on designing these outfits. i based them all off cape coats and pea coats so those were my references once i got it down to a GENRE. SIMILARLY i thought abt some of ninos canon aesthetics in THIS draw for the color palette (THE BUBBLER, SPECIFICALLY, OBVIOUSLY), BUT this is one of those cases where i just went w MY preferences for what i want to see chars in, same w marinettes fit. you can really see my 70s influence w ninos little booty shorts tbh

OTHERWISE YEAH. i just pull stuff outta my cavernous little noggin and call it good!! every set of pjs ive drawn marinette in are just things i think are cute and want to draw her in, not necessarily smth i think shed wear in the show. i dont look up fashion insp stuff v often but i used to spend soooo much time on lookbook back in the day (is lookbook still a thing??????). overall i just mix n match shit i KNOW i like, which usually means a lot of croptops if i am being honest here

IDK IF ANY OF THIS WAS ANY LEVEL OF COHERENT. THANK U FOR ENDURING. THANK U FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY TO RAMBLE!!!!!

PS i love ur art and i was literally just thinking abt confessions right before u sent this (STILL NOT OVER MARINETTES FUCKING AIRQUOTES “”FALLING IN LOVE”” comedy GOLD)

#i love to play dress up i am constantly struggling w feeling Obligated to draw canon fits vs fucking HATING CANON FITS #i just like to draw marinette as cute little fashion girl!!! also imo adult adrien lives in joggers and hoodies hes here for COMFORT #literally only dresses up for or because of marinette #anyway if u ever need fit ideas................... hit me the fuck UP i love dressing up the blorbos they are my sweet little barbie dolls #kels talks

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godkilller · 5 months

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CAS HAPPY BIRTHDAY i hope you had a great day and that a birthday wish comes true for you this year!!! also thank you for taking gin and making him better. i love reading the inner workings, juxtaposed with how he acts or the things he says. he’s such. a fascinating creature, i want to study him under a microscope. kubo didn’t give us much but you took him and made him so much more multifaceted. i love how he’s not just a tragic double agent either; he’s got a nastiness to him that is genuine—a splinter wedged under his skin from brushing up against a cruel, thorned world, festered over the years. that’s such a great attention to detail that i appreciate. makes him more complex, more engaging to read. i’m really honored that you chose me as a regular writing partner. and! as a friend. you’re so mature and compassionate and fucking hilarious, and i cherish our range of conversations be they deep or silly. <3

out of character. Oh jeez, I've been staring at this ask for a while now not really certain how to tackle it -- but first and foremost, thank you so much for taking the time to send me this, it really does mean a lot to me! The extent of your feedback's a real treat, I think I'll be seeking this ask out on the regular for any needed pick-me-up. I love your writing so much, be it on Izuru, Shinji, or even Tokinada. Coming from you, to hear that I've managed to find balance in the multi-faceted character Gin is a massive compliment considering your own mastery of the art. Your array of characters are made up of numerous flaws and virtues (though perhaps Tokinada's more flaws than virtues, if any) and any time I read your writing it's never just one thing with them, you expand them in such refreshing yet cohesive with canon ways. I know it may seem like I'm just throwing a 'no u' curveball at you here, but I do mean it! You just happened to coherently express what is, in my eyes, a mutual feeling about our writing before I could, pfft.

That all said, I love that you've noticed that I never shy away from Gin's nasty side. It'll always be a part of him, and even Gin is self-aware enough to determine that he always had this side within him -- even back when he was but a boy with a handful of persimmons, offering one up to a collapsed girl. He could murder then, and in my headcanon he had (albeit accidentally/in a survival scenario) before meeting her. I think what draws me most to exploring these aspects of Gin is that it never justifies his actions in my eyes, it simply explains them. I hope I can continue shedding light on the darker parts of Gin while also giving his better side some love since, after all, canon events didn't really let us see what he could've been in a more anti-hero / foil position. Plus, let's be real, everybody secretly likes a redemption arc even if the redemption never actually happens -- the character is just simply striving to be better, give or take successes and failures. He can still be nasty in that verse, though he has consequences and can be set back on his path to being 'better' if he does in fact fall back into bad habits. That you've noticed this constant detail and work I've put into my Gin is a massive compliment and further excites me to continue!

So ultimately the honor is all mine! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write your lieutenant's dumb traitor captain -- I love your Izuru dearly and our talks about the various scenarios and little funny peeks into their day-to-day lives make me excited to write with you on the dash so much so that I typically zoom to reply ASAP lmfao. You're a good friend of mine with excellent humor and a good heart, I'll be stickin' to ya for some time now. Thank you, again <3

#[ out of character ] masquerade; hide your face #birthday 2023.#;w; i really do love this ask so much. thank you.#i had to return the favor and kinda rambled i'm sorry shednrj

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x-authorship-x · 10 months

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ID BE TOTALLY UP TO HEAR MORE DESCRIPTIONS BUT ALSO I AM LESS SKILLED AT DRAWING CLOTHES AND HUMAN BODIES IN GENERAL. I DONT THINK I WOULD DRAW ANYTHING BIG, MAYBE SOME SKETCHES, BUT I WOULD STILL BE DOWN TO HEAR AS MANY DESCRIPTIVE WORDS AS YOU CAN SAY. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!!

-RAINBOW TEXT ANON

Hahahaha no pressure, absolutely no pressure! You don't have to show me or anyone your art if you don't want to! I just wanted to offer because I talk about it more in the later chapters and I can't update right now...

I'll try not to waffle too much?

So you've got the mask down pat but the 'hood' that covers his hair and connects to his suit is connected directly to the edges of the upper half of the mask, so that his curls are completely covered and no one can grab it off. When the upper mask is pushed back, it pushes into his hair and therefore pushes the hood as well, yeah? The lower mask is connected to the neckline of his suit, which comes up over his chin a bit (like Tenzo's top in Canon) so, when he takes that mask off, it drops to sit on his collarbone.

The suit is inspired by several things

ANBU uniform:

The Yiga-Sheikah from The Legend of Zelda: (Yiga on evil vibe tbh lol)

And also thinking about Spider-man and MCU combat gear, etc etc

So I didn't want any loose fabric, because Shisui would absolutely think of getting yoinked by it (your hood is cool AF tho), and the whole thing has to be bullet resistant and stab proof because hello Yakuza AU

The whole thing is a very dark blue (darker than Jounin uniform blue, for sure) with red bracers on his forearms and shins, elbow and knee supports, and small bits of white (like the spider in the middle of the fuinjutsu-like circle, and white built-in knuckledusters that low-key look like bone lol). He has nunchucks strapped to his right thigh and his feet-covers (idk if you can say supersuits have shoes) are tabi.

This is deffo a bit hairbrained, I keep altering my design because things keep creeping into the WIP, but hopefully somewhat coherent?

God I hope Tumblr lets me post this without eating it

#torship #torship talks #ask #anon #rainbow anon #Shisui #atsv #itsv #shisui atsv #shisui itsv #spiderverse #spiderverse au #spiderman shisui

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rotessaboggs · 2 years

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How realistic should a work of fiction be? ~aka this is me rambling~

Warning: This is going to be more like me getting all of my messy thoughts out of my head than a coherent in-depth analysis. So read it at your own expense lol. Still, I would really love to read you guys’ thoughts and opinions on this topic. This is something I have been pondering upon for quite some time but I didn’t have the urge to write it down until I saw people on Twitter “arguing” over what a therapist said about Mike.

Also, English is not my native language so sorry in advance for any spelling/ grammatical mistakes or ambiguous/ confusing word choices. I won’t mind if you guys point it out for me.

First of all, let me start off with some chit-chats (you guys can skip it if you like). I have no intention of “forcing” my opinions on others so I want to make it clear how I am like which can affect my viewpoint intrinsically.

A few years ago, I generally didn’t care much about films or TV shows, to be honest. I did watch movie analysis for fun but I have always been a book lover and I tend to gravitate towards classic literature because they usually make heavier impacts on me (I may use some examples of classic lit later on). I usually opt for classic lit because I feel more certain that it has the thing I love - a character-driven narrative in which we get to dive deep into a character’s inner self, explore all their turmoils in exquisite detail, and observe a natural progression in their thoughts and feelings.

It was in late 2017 or early 2018 that I watched a video explaining the first two seasons of Stranger Things that I got interested in the show. It was specifically Noah’s acting and Will’s possession arc in season 2 that made me become a fan, not gonna lie. I was super excited to watch season 3 right when it came out. And … It made me so disappointed that I felt weirdly left out when other people all seemed to enjoy it. I thought maybe it was just me and I didn’t think of the show at all during the three-year period between season 3 and 4. I clearly didn’t know that Will is gay or pay any attention to the underlying problem in mlvn’s relationship. That kinda qualifies me as one of the general audience, right? Volume 1 blew me away and made me hooked on this show again. And then I came across posts and analyses about Will and Mike (in season 4 and other seasons) and I was even more blown away by all the subtexts and parallels (you guys are AMAZING!). In one way or another, I support byler because if it is really the direction the show is heading towards, it proves that the piece of entertainment I am consuming at the moment has so much depth, breadth, and width. And that has always been the thing that gives me an amazing sensation of blissfulness and satisfaction when I enjoy art. It makes me feel like a diver making her way down the mysterious depth of the ocean, being fascinated by all the questions and wonders.

Thank you for getting through that. Let me get to the main question now.

How realistic should a work of fiction be?

I have seen a lot of people say things like “Stranger Things is a show about a girl who throws off a car with her mind and alternate dimensions with monsters but gay characters in the 80s is where you draw the line, really?” Although I agree with the overall sentiment here, there is always something irking in the back of my mind about this argument, about when things should be realistic and when the writers can just do anything they want.

In this case, I won’t bring all the supernatural things into this discussion because I think the matter is not whether things are realistic or not, it’s more about whether all the supernatural elements really align with each other in the grand scheme of things, whether later discoveries explain or disrupt the set of established rules and norms (which can be absurdly unrealistic) we have from earlier seasons. Although there have been quite a few inconsistencies, especially in regard to the Upside Down as people pointed out, there is still the last season 5 in which more will be explained so yeah … let’s wait and see how it will pan out.

What I do care though is the characters, their personal developments, and the dynamics they have with each other.

Back to the therapist I mentioned earlier, I don’t know exactly what she said but as far as I hear from other people, she explained Mike’s behaviors in a way that is favorable to mvln so undoubtedly, mlvn shippers use it as their proof. Meanwhile, they are pretty much against an analysis of a person with film degrees and experience in media literacy. On the side of byler, there is an opposite response: more in favor of the latter, of course.

In my opinion, this is pretty much a gray area. On the one hand, I can see why people cling to the analysis of the therapist because characters are humans and their behaviors and thought process can be explained through the lens of psychology just as normal human beings. On the other hand, they are also fictional entities who play a part in a story, directly engage the audience into a narrative, and are the means through which the emotional impacts are created. Rather than seeing this in a black-and-white manner like “it’s not realistic to do this or that” or “oh come on it’s fiction,” I would say the boundary between the realistic and creative aspects is pretty blurry, especially when people are just talking generally about the show without specifically focusing on a character, relationship, or plotline.

A basic opinion that I first had about this is that: the journey that a character goes through should make sense and make the audience feel like it’s relatable to a certain extent (or at least understandable). But to adhere strictly to reality for the sake of being realistic isn’t it. That personal journey, with its progression, climax, resolution, and aftermath, has to serve a purpose, or in another word, it has to be purposeful and consequential.

People argue that Will being gay, in love with Mike and potentially having his feeling reciprocated + having a happy ending isn’t realistic because it’s the 1980s - a really homophobic period. They believe that it would be more realistic and accurate for Will to be rejected or something along the line. But if it is the path his arc is heading towards, then I wonder for what purpose then?

(This thought came after I finished this whole writing so I don’t know where to put it except here. Consider it an irrelevant note if you like) So … When I think of the word “realistic” when talking about fiction, I recall a quote that one of my professors mentioned in our class: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” I question if it can be applied in this case. Although the 1980s was not a great period of time for gay people, was there anyone who actually got to have a happy ending? If those people exist, is it “unrealistic” for us to tell their stories instead of the conventional one - the one with no joy and happy ending at all? OK maybe that’s not what realistic actually means and maybe I’m way off base.

To be as close as the reality of the time is an obvious answer that some people may cling to but is it enough to be the drive of the arc of a main character?

I am currently reading “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' by Anne Bronte and I am pleasantly surprised by how progressive the book’s ideology is considering that at the time it was published, women were devoid of any independence of their own and viewed as the properties of their husbands. To see a woman of that time (not only the heroine of the book but also the very author) deliberately going against that mindset is empowering indeed. The things happening in the book aren't necessarily “realistic” but sometimes we have to defy reality to get a message across and to create an emotional impact. Particularly when it comes to a progressive ideology like feminism or LGBT+ rights, by defying the reality, the writers are able to create a work that continues to be impactful decades or centuries later on. Or on a much more personal scale, we may say it’s a way of self-fulfillment for the authors who didn’t get a chance to live a better life (like Jane Austen with all of her books). Either way, there is a purpose.

On the other hand, there are also authors who don’t defy the rules and norms of the time and try to make their stories realistic. I always think about “Tess of the d’Urbervilles'' by Thomas Hardy in regard to this because that book hurts me like hell with its pessimistic progression and devastating ending. Spoiler alert, the main protagonist of the book doesn’t get a chance to escape the bleak reality of her life and the love story in the book doesn’t have a happy ending at all. Upsetting as it is, it makes sense when we learn more about Thomas Hardy. He is a person who is known for “his stoical pessimism and his sense of the inevitable tragedy of life.” Although one of his most popular books “Far from the madding crowd” has a happy ending, there are still a whole lot of pessimistic things and tragedies that plague nearly all the portions of the book. Also, sticking to a realistic portrayal of the society and having the characters suffer immensely can be a way of social critique, having the general audience confronted with unfairness and cruelty of this world, to encourage them to actually think about justice and equality instead of being indifferent towards those matters.

Now, based on what we know of the Duffer brothers (there are other writers as well, but overall, they created the whole thing in the first place so let’s just narrow it down to them), which side would you think they gravitate towards?

Depressing as the show can get sometimes, it still offers us a message of hope and optimism, as well as emphasizing the power of self-esteem, friendship, and love. As someone who has always felt like an outcast, a second thought, and someone who tried to seek validation from other people to feel worthy in high school, I find the show relatable and inspiring, and I believe that it’s the effect the show creators want to bring about.

If Will’s feeling for Mike is not reciprocated and he somehow ends up sacrificing not only his heart but also himself in season 5, what message and effect do you think that would bring? Not just in the LGBT+ community but also people who find themselves resonate with Will in any certain ways.

Counter arguments

One may argue that well, if you want Mike and El to break up, it would still suck because she has suffered a lot and deserves love and happiness. Now I would support this if it were not for the things happening in episode 9 and her overall character arc. To be honest, I didn’t really care about El in earlier seasons because I tend to just hyper-fixate on one character at a time. But there are aspects of her arc this season that I find particularly relatable and touching. It’s her need to feel accepted, validated, and loved.

At the beginning of the season, the foundation upon which she depends her self-esteem comes from the outside, which as we have all seen, causes even a lot more trouble to her mental health. All the bullies and harassment and then the lack of love received from Mike - all contribute to pushing her closer to the edge. At first, her coping mechanism is shrugging it off, putting it aside and pretending that all is good. It really doesn’t help that she can’t be honest with Mike about her struggles although hypothetically, they should be able to be so if their relationship is healthy and advantageous to both sides. I think all the lies are pretty much rooted in insecurity as she is an original person now without any superpower. She has been trying to find herself for several seasons but this is the first time there is no “superpower” - the main thing that many people see when they see El: a thing that they may depend upon in dire circumstances, or at worst weaponize for their own benefit. Her being left without it makes the issue of finding herself even more pressing because it seems now to her that she is no longer as helpful as before.

Despite the facade of happiness, all the distress is still there, waiting to surge up, breaking the dam when the time comes. That time being at the Rink-O-Mania. After that, we finally get the chance to see her true thoughts and feelings. We see that under the facade of happiness, those demeaning labels and names have really caught up to her and affected the way she defines her self-worth. It doesn’t just stop at “I’m different. I don’t fit in.” She literally sees herself in the worst light possible - a monster - something that brings destruction and death.

So the main character arc of El for the rest of the season (and I believe it will continue in season 5) revolves a lot around her defining her very self-worth (she alone knows herself best, not anyone around her; not Hopper, not Mike, her), making her own decisions despite the biggest authority figure in her life - Papa - saying “NO,” and most importantly, accepting herself (and her abilities) for what things are. If need be, she is going to use them in a violent way, like fighting against Vecna or the military, or use it to save Max - her dearest friend. When I first watched episode 9, I was a bit annoyed by the fact that they have El revive Max in such a way because it feels like they want to avoid a main character’s death. But when I ponder upon it a bit more, I see it as a beautiful contradiction with how her power has been used continuously in every season - something that causes damage and death vs. something that can revive life. There is no clear-cut definition like the monster or the superhero because these words imply certain qualities that completely contradict each other and cannot co-exist in one entity, that entity being El. She is Eleven and she is more complex than what those labels can ever describe.

Now this is exactly where I have issues with Mike’s monologue. Because he keeps going on and on about her power (a lot of which isn’t even accurate) and calls her a superhero. Many people have talked about this but let me put it down here just to make things clear: Mike is holding El back from her personal development. She cannot open up to Mike about her life in California, suppressing her negative feelings and thoughts all the way, because he has always looked up to her for her abilities and she can’t bear his pity if he knows the truth. She feels unloved because Mike cannot write the word “love” to her but once again she tries to put that aside. Mike’s words after she hits Angela triggers her traumatic experience at the lab - the one which makes her feel like a monster. And then when she finally gets to see that there is no such thing as a monster or hero, she being way more complicated than what others dictate her to be, Mike once again brings back the word “superhero.”

OK I didn’t intend to write that much about El, which is a bit funny considering that my favorite character is Will. I am feeling like I am driving at night without any headlight so let me end this part with a question: If she continues her relationship with Mike in season 5 without both resolving all the underlying problems in their relationship, it being the fact that they cannot really be themselves around each other and therefore, hindering their own personal development due to each being the main source of validation for the other, what purpose would it serve? What emotional impact and message can that bring about at the end of the day? What is potentially the climax of resolution of all these underlying issues that have lain around for seasons?

The psychological (realistic) and narrative (fictional) aspect of a character’s personal arc is so intricately interwoven to each other that to me, to erase one side from the argument (to completely cling to the analysis of a therapist) portrays a black-and-white way of looking at the show. I still love listening to character analysis of people who have knowledge of psychology though, because I love psychology a lot but I’m not going to forget that I’m watching a show in which everything has a sense of purpose and has to fit into a narrative. At the moment, we still have a whole season left and none of the characters have completed their arc yet, not to mention we are kept in the dark about some of the character’s actual thoughts and feelings and the only thing we can do now is deducing from what we see or hear from the show and other related sources of hint.

As you may realize, I have not mentioned anything like subtexts, parallels, foreshadows, etc. - things that are a part of the craft of storytelling, which further distances a work of fiction from real-life events. But as many people have already written amazing analyses in this respect, there is no need for me to mention it here.

So after all this rambling of mine, how realistic should a work of fiction be?

In my humble opinion, it should be realistic enough to make all the emotional and cognitive processes of the characters make sense, but reality should not shackle creative freedom. It should depend on the writers to decide whether to strictly stick to reality for social critique or to divert from it to present a message of hope. There should still be room for creativity and liberty to create a narrative (with all its parts like exposition, rising/falling actions, external/internal conflicts, climax and resolution) that serves to deliver the message of the writers as well as creating emotional impacts. These two aspects intertwin with and complement each other, and therefore, not to be considered separately without mentioning the other.

In the case of Stranger Things, we have yet to get the whole picture of the narrative. Therefore, there is no conclusive answer as to why Mike behaves the way he does when his personal arc is still ongoing. Psychological knowledge may provide some theories but who knows if it actually aligns with what the writers have in mind. Until season 5 drops, it remains to be something like Schrödinger's cat.

If you get through this mess of a writing, thank you a lot. This is the first time I have ever written something this long without it being class assignments. As I said, this is me dumping all my thoughts out of my head so it’s really all over the place. Thank you a lot for reading! I would love to hear you guys’s opinions.

“Good morning! And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!”

#byler #will byers #editting this makes me feel like my eyes are gonna pop out #i try to be as objective as i could but i don't deny that there is a bit of bias here and there #hope you guys enjoy it #let me know what you think #byler is endgame #byler is requited #byler is real

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