#my charcater growth is incredible.

[sciderman]

Sci why are you so good at drawing cute butts?

it takes one to know one (i am a cute butt)

really it's years of practice! i used to be so insecure about the butts i drew... peter habd lumpy butt.

wade is crying because peter habd lumpy butt.

started from the bottom... and now we're... still at the bottom. but it's a better bottom.

[ova-kakyoin]

honestly sprking is bursts magnum opas in many ways, yea the plot is lacking and the villain fucking sucks, but it has a lot of other things going for it, the battles are the best in the entire series, partly owing to the fact that theyre almost all tag battles making them more interesting and fun by default (imo), and the characters are all incredibly well written and in character (most of them at least) im going to have to make a seperate post about how good beyburst is at season to season character growth because they are really good at that, but thats not what i'm here to talk about. what im here to talk about is much more simple but conveys the characters personalties wonderfully; their outfits

all of the outfits in sparking are the best outfits the series has had (mostly), free has always been an incredibly feminine character (even if you don't hc her as trans like i do), so the character designers putting her in a skirt feels completely and perfectly in character. she had always been about going against norms and doing what she wanted, so wearing a skirt was the perfect way to convey that (also im very happy that they didnt try to edit that somehow in the dub). silas's outfit is exactly how he is; hes loud and obnoxious but much calmer than he was in evo. i could go on and on with each charcater. and i will its my blog and i post outfit analyses when i want

valts outfit is incredibly similar to his szn 1 and evo outfit, showing that he's going to take a central role again, but his pants and sleeves are longer, showing that he's matured (and gotten taller lol). rantaro seitching to a more dress outfit fits for two reasons; his appearence to the public is that he's very loud and showboat-y and would need to look the part of a performer. it fits his character also when you figure out more about him because he's a lot more mature than he lets on and his outfit reflects that he acts older than a lot if the rest of the cast his age (he is like almost a year older than them but i digress). wakiya's fit reflects how hes had to grow to be much more of a businessman as he prepares to take over his familys company and he's had to become more cleancut to take over. lui on the ither hand, is just more of the same, just less obnoxious. since he got vibe checked in evo, his outfits have gotten progressively... less if that makes sense. hes calmed down a ton and of course so has his fits, of course his iconic boa still remains, showing that he still has that distinct lui flare about him

gonna get a few easy ones out of the way: dantes outfit reflects that he didnt grow between seasons. he didn't have too, a lot if the point of gachi was that he was right in where he stood on the conflicts of that season, and ranjiros outfit is mostly the same as turbo, showing that he didnt do much growing in between then and now, most of his developement is done in sparking, but his shirt is changed to represent his relationship with rantaro. hikaru and hyugas outfits are pretty bog standard protagonist outfits, but the blue and red in hyuga and hikaru's designs respectively is really nice, same with lain having a bog standard villain outfit, but him having shus glove is a really nice detail

now lets address the elephant in the room; aiger. aiger's outfit, much like his character after turbo, is bland. his outfit was still a good representation if who he was and who his character could have been in gachi, but that was mostly thrown out for a 100% carbon copied outfit from his past two incarnations, much like his character :/

finally, what i think is the best outfit that represents a character the most perfectly is shu's. the first half of the season, he has on just his pink sweater and vest, showing that he's getting back to a place where he can be how he was in szn 1, but lain destroyed his chance at that and basically thre him back to square 1, which us where he puts back on the black trench coat; my personal favorite but of symbolism in the show. what inthink the black trench coat represents is shu putting others before himself. basically whenever he's wearing it, it's fix someone else's problems for them o'clock, so him putting it on and showing up, telling lain he was going to help him, but at the end of the season, he throws the coat away, showing how he's going to keep trying to move on (he's got the coat on again in db so we'll see how well that goes)

all in all, i really really like the outfits in sparking if you couldnt tell lol

[jeanjauthor]

So I have a charcater who really overshares, and is so proud about her family. But I’ve seen people say about info dumping and how bad it is. Even though it’s part of my charcaters main personality traits alongside with too trusting, sensitive, chatty, charismatic, overthinks but gets carried away when chatting and ends up blurting out her thoughts when comfortable, with a deep fear of failure and shame from childhood. Is it ok? Or would it come across OTT?

Ooh, this is a good question!

A lot of folks who have autism, ADHD, social anxiety (some shut down, while others never shut up) and other similar neurodivergencies, do this sort of thing. (I know, I'm one of 'em, lol.) Some people will definitely get annoyed by it, but other people genuinely enjoy infodumps...up to a point. There is a valid concern that it might get to be too much.

However...keep in mind that Laurell K. Hamilton wrote one of her Meredith Gentry books where it was literally just people in a room talking to each other. The whole time. For, like, 2 hours' worth of reading, they just talked. In a room.

I mean, srsly, if that's not an infodump, what is?? But she managed to pull it off, make it interesting enough that I kept reading, despite the lack of location change, the lack of action scenes, etc.

Anyway...

The trick is to intersperse other things. This can be actions, location changes, etc, but often includes commentary from other people--dialogue, not just diatribe, ideally--so on and so forth.

Additionally, is this the main character? A secondary character (close to the main character, interacts with them a lot), or a tertiary character (on the periphery of the story)? That can help you to tailor how much they "take over the story-telling" as it were.

How do the people around this character react to them? You mention that when she gets carried away and blurts out her thoughts when comfortable...do the other characters around her realize she is comfortable in their presence? Do they realize it's a sort of honor that she is this comfortable in their presence, even if the chattiness and thought-blurting may be A Bit Much?

(Keeping in mind that their reaction depends on their own interest in the subjects being discussed, their own reactions to what is being said, their own thoughts / feelings / reactions to her as a person overall, and of course their current mood, etc, naturally.)

What kind of story is it? Is this mostly an action-driven story? Or a character-driven story? In the latter, we writers can get away with a lot more dialogue & infodumping when that infodumping helps us not only to learn about a character, but to watch them grow and learn as the story progresses.

Chatty characters who are going through a period of learning, growth, attitude changes, etc, can be quite interesting and even compelling in those types of stories, because of this factor: The reader is being taken through these changes, too.

Now, if the character's growth and change isn't the focus of the story, that's perfectly fine, too! If they're a secondary character and their main role is to be the Infodumper™, that's completely legit. What you can do with these types of characters plot-wise is to have them occasionally bring up information that will be useful either right in that moment, or in just a little bit later, or have them re-bring-up that information much later, reminding the main characters of such-and-such plot point which will be something that "saves the day" in some way.

This can literally be done as a reminder of "but don't forget about this tidbit" OR it can be done like, "huh...I wonder if anyone ever realized that Count Rathbach is from Lithuania just like Sara Gilovich is... I know Lithuania is a pretty big country, but I wonder if they ever knew each other back home--it sure would explain a few things!" And BOOM! Your characters, who were chatting with Sara thinking she was friendly, suddenly realize who fed the Evil Count all the information needed to infiltrate the whatever-it-was and spoil their original plans.

We have a bad habit of assuming those that don't talk must therefore think deeply, and those that talk too much must therefore never think at all, or at least never think deeply. Feel free to break these stereotypes with your chatty thoughtful character. The movie Legally Blonde showcased a chatty vivacious character who was still incredibly smart.

This could be a feature of your chatty character, one that people don't realize right at the start is very smart. (This happens because we dismiss overly chatty people due to misogyny, toxic masculinity, patriarchy, & other toxic beliefs over who "gets" to be chatty versus who "should" be closed-mouthed / laconic.)

One last thing, if this character is the main character, or one of the main characters...definitely do what you can to show her thoughts versus her words. If she's going to feel comfortable among Certain People Only...perhaps she could think, I know some things you don't know, Mr. Count!! But I'm not gonna say a word otherwise to you! I don't trust you!

Also, what she says as a chatty person around Certain People can be a good clue as to who she considers trustworthy. People have been masking in terms of what information they share with which people for countless generations--to Count Rathbach, she might come across as A Chatty Shallow Ditz who only ever speaks about puppies and food and the county faire...but among the trusted central protagonists, she could actually be showcasing her brilliance at putting things together, like Sara maybe knowing the Count, 'cause it would just explain so very much...

There is nothing wrong with a chatty character, whether they're the main character, the infodumper, an important-connections-maker, the Reminder-er, et cetera. Just try to tailor how much they chatter to the situation and their role in the story--more for a main or major character, less for a side character, etc.

Above all, try not to have everyone disparaging her chattiness. Why? Because it is associated with many types of neurodivergencies and/or illnesses, such as anxiety, ADHD, etc. It's not always a case of those things, but it is associated with them.

What we read, we absorb, internalize, and reflect back out to the world. It's important not to villify neurodivergencies as well as physical divergencies--whether or not chattiness is stemming from these divergencies, it is often seen as some sort of "deficiency" and often shamed socially, like "--Can't you ever shut up?? What are you, (R word)??"

Remember the lesson of Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore. Eeyore is very obviously clinically depressed, yet his friends always offer to include him in various activities, even when he turns them down repeatedly. In the case of a perennially chatty character, show her friends and story companions accepting (or coming to accept) her chatty ways, and to appreciate her for her thoughts, insights, and willingness to share them with those she trusts--hell, have ‘em going to her deliberately to learn all the good gossip and/or get her thoughts on a specific subject matter!

By showing the other characters accepting and even appreciating her chattiness, this helps your readers absorb, internalise, and reflect back out into the world an appreciation and acceptance for that chattiness in others.