#not just so that'll still be relevant when it posts

[probablygayattorneys]

the scandal was contained

the bullet just grazed

at all costs, keep your good name

you don't get to tell me you feel bad

(Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?, Taylor Swift)

[citrusrick]

s7e5 Unmortricken (HUGE SPOILERS)

HOLY. SHIT. i did not expect this at all and was so fucking excited!! we've all been waiting for this for a looong time, both the rick prime and the evil morty returns! and they gave it to us in one episode!

there is soooo much to unpack in this episode, but i'm dumping all my initial thoughts into this post. i feel like every scene during this episode my mind was turning so fast. this episode broke me and healed me, idek. i just need to take a minute and stare at the wall in silence for a while. my brain is just a mantra of god i fucking love this show so fucking much.

evil morty not only being smarter than c137, but prime is so fucking cool. definitely hoping we see more of him in the future, especially with how he downloaded the schematics of prime's brain. his plotline is definitely not completely finished. (especially 'the rick project'? very interested in that tbh)

needless to say, c137 and prime's (and evil morty's) fight was fucking awesome and well-done. especially the very last when rick gets to just beat him to death, thanks to evil morty. also, we see a rick’s ego get him once again with the mindset of ‘a morty could never outsmart/get me’, and boom.

i loved how it ended simply like that, no gadgets, just punching the shit out of him until he dies while prime keeps saying things he thinks will cut deep. prime telling c137 that nothing he has now actually belongs to him, AGH! no words. just thinking about how hard that must've been for rick to assimilate into the family, so fucking painful.

learning that prime not only killed rick c137's diane, but ALL dianes across all the infinite realities makes a lot of things come together and make sense. basically, prime threw a massive fit over some rick's not wanting to drop everything to join him in his universe-hopping. also prime giving rick shit for his car sounding like diane when he literally modeled his kill bots after her is so fucking ironic lmao

rick prime saying he missed when he was just him and rick, the only two to actually invent portal travel, really interested me. so this means that both prime and c137 are the 'rickest rick'. also c137's diane was not killed with the omega machine, as we saw her and little beth killed with a bomb.

when i first saw that poster with rick and morty covered in 'spaghetti sauce' while morty hugs rick, i knew it was gonna end up being in an episode with blood all over them and i was half-right, since rick's the only one covered in blood when morty hugs him in this episode lol

another little thing i noticed, they very prominently showed us prime and c137's cybernetic wiring tangling together in a shot during the fight. is this something that'll be relevant later or just like a random shot?

i think it's possible rick prime isn't dead, maybe left alive by c137 for some reason we don't know yet. we don't necessarily see prime die only c137 come out covered in blood and imply that prime's gone. (i noticed tear tracks on in the blood on rick's face and thought i was tripping at first but he was crying, shattering my heart over here).

if it was truly that simple and rick prime is truly gone forever, rick now has to move on with the rest of his life and figure out who he is without this need for revenge driving him. i'm so nervous to see what happens after this. it'll either free him or destroy him.

p.s. that post credit scene, which was (in my opinion) showing us what would've happened with rick and birdperson if things were different between them. just a little thing i thought of, and i'm not even a huge birdperson/rick shipper.

p.s.s. and even if it's not about rick/birdperson specifically, it still means rick could've chosen a different path if he'd been able to let go of his need to kill rick prime and get revenge.

[sytokun]

The year is 2025. RWBY may or may not still be in hiatus, or cancelled, or still ongoing.

At least 50 more useless side characters have been added to the cast.

Maria and Pietro are still missing. Ruby comments by saying "Huh, I wonder where Maria and Pietro are". Yang replies "Maybe they're off on a date", Blake replies "Oddly wholesome" and they all laugh together.

The current villain is a dark-skinned male Faunus who happens to be a working-class family man who is fighting for a social issue that is oddly relevant to some real-life events in 2025. But it's okay guys, bad people corrupting noble causes is still totally a valid way to write villains.

Bumbleby is still not canon. Yes, they are still calling it a slow burn.

Cinder is still fucking alive, oh god why

Rooster Teeth has officially exhausted their entire supply of bright-eyed creators who aspired to work on RWBY. They finally hit their goal of either firing or expiring the contract of every last one. That'll teach them for having dreams.

The merch now consists of $500 shirts with RQBY sewn in microscopic fibre on the inside of the fabric. The show name was misspelled in the first print run, but enough people complained about it that RT just went "alright, fuck you guys" and didn't bother to change it since.

About half of RT's legacy staff have confirmed to be in some sort of really fucked up scandal. The other half made callout docs and tweets, which caused the fandom to be angry for a week before they went back to sharing fanart as usual.

RT is now currently using a new production pipeline, where every single animator's contract only lasts for a single episode, before they leave and they find new people to animate the next one. They're hoping to further optimise this process next year by making it per scene instead.

There is a new RWBY side anime coming out, animated by prestigious animation studio Cocomelon.

An entire team of four unambiguously queer Hunters were killed onscreen. CRWBY has blamed the first death on a team of rogue, disobedient animators accidentally drawing her kissing a girl and confessing her undying sapphic love for her - she wasn't meant to be seen as a lesbian. The second death was blamed on the fans, the crew saying "this was supposed to be a side character, but you all started liking her and demanding more screentime for her, so fuck you" in the Volume commentary. The third was a monkey Faunus with comically yellow skin, squinted eyes and a long moustache named Mu Fanchu whose Semblance involves him making monkey noises and his weapon is a giant banana - surprisingly, he turned out to be secretly evil. The fourth just died offscreen because she was a fan character who won an OC fan design contest, but they had no time to include her in the show - in fact, the time her death was mentioned was the very first and only time the character was introduced.

Jaune says onscreen "Somehow, Ironwood has returned."

Green Dust is now Fire Dust, which Eddy confirms in a Reddit post - not in r/RWBY, but in an obscure reply in r/fantasygeology. No one found that post until 2 months later and when asked, the reply was "Green fire exists, I can see how you can get them confused".

Ozpin has now reincarnated into Oswald Pint, one of eight new boys currently with RWBY's group and for some reason have more screentime and agency than the girls. Oscar died in Volume 11 Episode 3 in a sickeningly distressing torture scene - that's the episode, the whole episode was the torture scene.

The fandom is abuzz over the newest queer rep in the show: a talking glass of water named Clear, who is genderfluid.

RT releases a RWBY mobile game only available in two postcodes, is not written in English and discontinues it after 3 months due to "stupid fucking fans not engaging with our products". Fans continue to insist that somehow, this must still be either WayForward or SHAFT's fault.

Jaune Vs. Aquaboy is slated to release next year. In fact, Volume 11 stopped in the middle of Episode 4 and will be on hiatus for the next 3 years until the crossover is out.

Speaking of Jaune, he just killed Nora. In fact, he did it just as I was posting this. Oh, he's killed Ruby too. And Clear our genderfluid queen, and Aquaboy as well. Oh god, he's looking this way, help me

The year is 2025, and if one thing hasn't changed, it's that hardcore RWBY stans are still around. When asked about the state of RWBY, they had this to say:

"RWBY is still amazing, and CRWBY is still amazing. Shame about those queer and PoC employees... oh well! I'm supporting manufactured fictional minorities so same thing, really."

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

First, I love reading your analyses of the Sandman comics.

Destruction never gave me younger sibling vibes, so it was really interesting to see the post where Dream is big brother to Destruction. Do you remember any other instances?

i think that's pretty much it, for moments of dream being a comforting older brother, which is why that scene is such an interesting twist for me!

and also in that scene, like. he's not even really being comforting, because the panel specifically draws attention to his hesitation. he and destruction don't do this, they're two brothers close in age, comfort has never really been their thing (and then corinthian shows up to cause problems before he gets to change that)

but dream is trying. and i include the panel above bc there's an interesting through line of dialogues between the endless about their purpose

because like. i've said it before, i'll say it again, the endless are, in general, not okay. the kind of responsibilities they have, the things they're made of and were created for, i don't think you can put what still is a fairly human mind in the middle of that and not have it break in some way

so the entire endless family dynamic is just seven people doing their best to cope with their overwhelming existence in the only ways they can, which rarely work for any of the others, and they're all helping and hurting each other at once every time they talk about it but all of them, even desire, care so much about each other, and it's this huge mess that i find really interesting

death's coping mechanism is to be more human, and to rely on humanity. to remind herself she's not alone and there's always something new to discover. she finds her purpose in being the one who can help, she shares the responsibility, and she lets herself take the occasional day off

so when dream's struggling she tries to get him to see things her way, to engage more with humanity on their terms, to see the world beyond just what he knows of it, and to try and live, not just exist

which has minimal effect because dream's coping mechanism is to detach himself from the concept of life entirely. he tried, when he was young, to both have a life and be dream if the endless, and things kept blowing up in his face. whether or not he actually had to choose is up for debate, but as far as dream's concerned, a choice had to be made there, and he chose his duty over what he wanted, because that's what he was created to do. and he doesn't think about the things he could have had if he wasn't who he was, because that'll just cause pain, this is his purpose and what he was made for and he will serve it with everything he has

(though his never ending series of romantic disasters are the last vestige of that war inside him, the part of him that wants a life reaching out and the rest of him pulling away, and no one wins)

so then we get destruction. and dream can see destruction's struggling with the idea that endless don't change, they're the only things in the universe that don't. and that's grating on him in a huge way. for dream, this is an easy thing to accept, because if he doesn't change he doesn't have to worry about things going wrong or failing in his duty, he always is and always will be, for as long as he is needed. and dream reminds destruction that he's felt like this before, it will pass. everything will return to as it was. but destruction needs that change, needs to believe the endless can change, so dream's advice can't help

and then the end of brief lives where destruction gets to be the one giving advice back, because now 300 years later it's dream struggling again, and destruction thinks he has the answer (though again, it doesn't help, because destruction chose himself over his duty. and dream can't do that)

(there's also the end of doll's house, which i wouldn't call dream trying to help, exactly, but is still relevant here - desire's coping mechanism is to lie to themselves, push everything that bothers them to the back of their mind where they never have to think about it. they've constructed a neat little world in their head where they're always in control of everything and nothing bad will ever happen, and deep down they know that's a lie, but every time they remember it they immediately do their best to forget. which dream just crashes through by telling desire the endless exist to serve humanity, not the other way round, and that doesn't compute with the fake "i am in charge of everything and everyone bows to me" world in desire's head. and they have a moment of almost coming to terms with this, before they just snap back to "i really got under his skin this time", and it's already forgotten)

(destiny is another interesting older sibling, because he also gives a lot of advice in this vein, but unlike the others he always knows it won't be followed)

which is a really long winded way of saying between brief lives and destruction comforting daniel in the wake (the only times we see them talk), dream's been on the receiving end of the older sibling-ing two out of three times

but to get back to your question, there's one more in terms of dream having more maturity than destruction

which is when they're talking about orpheus

because it was destruction who found him after eurydice's funeral, who encouraged him to make the underworld journey, after dream had specifically told orpheus not to

and dream is still less than happy at destruction going behind his back on that, because dream was right, orpheus making that journey led to nothing but tragedy

destruction tries to defend himself with "it was what he wanted" and dream snaps back with "he was a child, he didn't know what he wanted."

(and god that quote kills me, like. you knew when your son was born his life would be far shorter than yours, but this is nothing, he got so little time to live and despite your best efforts you couldn't stop him walking to his death. he was a child.)

and i think that's the other moment you can tell dream is older. dream's not seeking vengeance on this one, which he would have done were it anyone else. but destruction caused this tragedy because he didn't know better, he never did do well with seeing the long term consequences, it's not in his nature. he's your little brother and he was trying to help. but what do you do with that?

[vergess]

Hey, um, that last reply you did to someone complaining about Harry Potter fans you reblogged seems a bit off for the context of what's in the actual post.

I believe what they were meaning was just that giving traction and attention to something that a terf is still alive and actively making money off is upsetting, no matter your orientation, and that's it.

I don't see anything that would give the context of that person actively meaning harm on queer people, unless I somehow missed something on their main blog

Just seemed out of nowhere and concerning.

Link to the post in question.

That'll be where the "I'm so exhausted by this shit" is relevant.

Not one time, ever, have I seen someone outright target trans fans of Harry Potter directly, and then been actually chill or decent about trans people in general.

Instead, it's always a tightrope, where as soon as you don't conform adequately to their beliefs, then your transness becomes secondary to their belief that you are a TERF.

As that post literally does.

There is nothing "supporting TERFs" about a trans person writing trans fanfic on ao3. It doesn't benefit the goddamn bitch in any way. As evidenced by the fact that JKR literally wants us to stop doing it TOO.

Like.

I just.

How the fuck are you and a TERF gonna be shouting the same "stop making art" at trans people, and then say actually you're not on the TERF's side, it was the nasty trans artists all along.

The first half of the post was fine, BTW, it was a whatever. A nonissue.

The ISSUE is when the fucking OP turns around to SPECIFICALLY TARGET TRANS PEOPLE and then pretend that's a normal fucking thing to do in the supposed "defense" of the selfsame trans people attacked

Just. I know you want to assume I'm being an over reactive little cunt who needs to take a deep breath and put on its big boy pants. I know that temptation is real, even if you're probably phrasing it more kindly in your head right now.

The thing about a tumblr post is, you're totally allowed to give in to that temptation and just block me! You don't have to listen to me. But if you're willing:

The OP literally specifies trans people and other marginalized groups attacked by JKR, such as fat people and POC. The OP brought us up all on their own.

And then specifically cast us as being secretly in line with 'the enemy' and fighting for our own destruction

Setting aside the obvious bigotry inherent in calling trans people sneaky little traitors?

It's just outright fucking insulting to be told that your art is bad actually because you made it trans but not in a way the OP likes enough

[taoofshigeru]

2023 Game of the Year Post

Looking back, I was surprised to see how few "new" games I had played this year. But two of them were absolutely excellent so I'm going to talk about them a little.

In February, a game I was expecting to be good showed true greatness, and, in mid-November, a black-and-white indie touched my heart.

[Spoilers for In Stars and Time/Octopath Traveler II to follow.]

Let me start by talking about In Stars and Time/ISAT.

ISAT is a gay game about timeloops. The aloof but amiable rogue Siffrin sees their sanity stretched like a stick of used chewing gum as the fighter repeatedly chickens out on confessing his love for them and sincere heartfelt moments of human connection become rote scenes he must perform.

Throughout the process, Siffrin uses humor to deflect from serious emotional questions and eventually starts drifting away from the group during conversations. The specific character traits of 1) serial people-pleaser, 2) depressed person, and 3) funnyjokespun person who at times used humor to deflect from those issues was a little too specific in a way that hit in an emotionally relevant way.

Even more than that was the way it toyed with my patience as a player. I'm what I would describe as very good at games with repetitive tasks. Like, my tactics-loving friend and I have been doing a co-op playthrough of Tactics Ogre, and I was the enby who ultimately chose to be responsible for grinding Galgastani CF to recruit ultimate goth girl Cressida. It took hours of repeating the same battle and just babysitting the game for hours at a time. Sure I'd be willing to read through heart-to-heart events repeatedly to make the Siffrin's friends happy. I'd do it once, twice, even a fifth time. But my persistence is not bottomless.

In Stars and Time read me perfectly.

I did end up skipping or avoiding those events once the game stopped being a combat RPG and started being a visual novel/monkey island-style adventure in Act 4. I did start zoning through particular events once they happened more than 10 times. My patience did give way, though not to the extent of the protagonist Siffrin when they suffered a meltdown. And this happened right around the time when Siffrin started putting real distance between them and their friends. It took me to a dark place with the character in a way that made the catharsis at the end so worth it.

All of it went towards really effectively communicated the game's point of how it's worth it to talk to your friends about your problems.

~~~

The other game that moved me this year was also built around repeating and growing. It was about throwing yourself at the wall over and over again, with a little more force, a little more refined strategy, a little more panache and willingness to take risks. And about getting it just right, finally. This was my experience with Octopath Traveler 2

So, first of all, strategizing in OT2 kicks ass. Like the Bravely games of yore, this game nerfs the most broken tools (i.e. the Hunter's patience) from the first game, but gives the player new broken tools that synergize in new, exciting ways. And critically, it then throws enemies at you that can take it all and still be a challenge. (Sea of Stars did not do this last part.)

Got used to using someone's primary job for a lethal combo setup? Well guess what, primary jobs are now banned! Got a 6-attack strike with a killer legendary weapon that'll break any monster? Guess what, that weapon you used to get the break is now no longer the zombie dragon's weakness! Spent all your time building up your favorite 4 in an 8-character party? Guess who's gonna handle the superboss' second HP bar?

For a single-player game, it legitimately felt like I was experiencing a design that had been built to anticipate the player's combat choices on a meta level and would only let the door open for solutions that were suitably intricate and clever. Aside from superbosses, the game wasn't extraordinarily difficult, but it still left me constantly scrambling through my toolkit of HP, MP, turns, latent power, items, collectable monsters, and money mid-battle to find a solution to pick any given boss' lock. As a turn-based combat RPG, OT2 killed it.

And that wasn't even the strongest point.

The character stories in Octopath Traveler one were, on a basic level, enjoyable, and were engaging enough that the game's art, soundtrack, and deep turn-based combat could combine to make a great game. Octopath II ups the storytelling game significantly, offering nonlinear chapter order, story-focused chapters that end without a boss fight, and a cast that's generally very well written and played brilliantly by the English vocal cast. The positive impression I had of the game after the first ten hours gave way to a wowed one as characters started to interact, showcasing entertaining personal dynamics and tugging at the strings of a looming, bigger mystery. The climactic arc, Journey for the Dawn, ties all eight chapters together and presents an incredibly satisfying and at times emotionally wrenching finale.

I don't know if any side character in a game has ever hit me half as hard as Ori the Scrivener has

But also, mystery arc main plot removed, the world of OT2 has so much character. There's a whole questline where you sit through a court hearing and then have to investigate the mystery around town to show up and avoid a wrongful verdict with a key testimony or piece of evidence. Secret princess/gardener lesbian subplots and eldritch stuffed toys are just some of the things that exist in the background.

The story about getting it just right wasn't just a player experience. It was also the meta narrative - writing in the first game wasn't weak by any means, but the writing in the second game is just an inarguable improvement. Combat in the first game pitched juicy fastballs that were well-scaled to my play experience, but this baby kept tossing out monster curves and tricky sliders.

I think creative perfection is a myth, because it's always possible to improve. Octopath Traveler II shows how, and that's why it's my game of the year.

~Thanks for reading my selfish little blurb!~

[spissed-off]

Birthday is coming up.... what does this mean?

Well. Let me update you on things, if I may, with Tumblr mobile's fancy new features (that I've known about already for like a couple months)!

So I was able to get a new computer that works really well, and I have a microphone. I want to learn how to better balance audio and all that, this blog just... Makes me feel weird now I guess. It's bittersweet. Someone I had a really terrible experience with pulled me away from this blog and as a result I fell out of wanting to post on it. So I'm a little bit at a loss as to how to use it going forward. There's been some small interaction, but I just don't feel good using this blog anymore, or even the other more general voice acting blog I set up. I still would like to do that as an amateur because it's fun, but probably not for a bit. I might see about revamping my other VA blog but I may very well archive this one and move operations to the other one when I feel ready. I'm mainly trying to learn how to be a person again, mainly my own person and it's been a bit of a struggle. I hope those of you who are around understand.

I'll update this post with anything that seems relevant, but in the meantime I don't think I'll be making any more posts. I might clean up some things when I get the time but that'll be it.

Spinsy

[lost-in-the-pink-mist]

Got asked about the relationships between the individual siblings and it became a massive wall of text so we're putting it here in its own post with a read more to save everyone's dashes! Enjoy!

Lee + Angie: Angie is kinda a major know-it-all, because thanks to zeir powers they actually do know pretty much everything, so even though the siblings all very much respect Lee and follow her instructions closely, Angie has a habit of making decisions while mentally ten steps ahead of the team and not informing them of those decisions, the unpredictability is a pain and it gets on Lee's nerves big time, she tries to trust her little sibling, she really does, she knows zey often are actually right, but without being let in on where zey're at she can't make any proper plans so she tends to have Angie on a bit of a tight leash on the field (which Angie obviously has a problem with). At home though, Lee is incredibly tolerant of Angie's bullshit, maybe a little too tolerant, but she doesn't want to be a parent to her siblings and she knows Angie needs to have time to let loose and be annoying, there will be NO coming to her to complain about Angie bugging them or blowing something up unless its actually something really important. Because of this, she tends to get dragged into zeir nonsense the most (Donnie is always down to cause chaos but they're also often reluctant to leave xeir lab), sometimes she has fun with it, sometimes it gets so bad she needs to actually put her foot down, depends on the day and the shenanigans.

Lee + Donnie: Donnie has a pretty easy time following Lee's instructions on the field, xey rarely see a reason to rebel or go off course, and Lee trusts them to stick to the plan just as much if not more than she trusts Raph to, with one caveat; Donnie can get impatient. Really impatient. Jump in impulsively impatient. She can't expect them to sit and wait for the right moment, which is a little ironic considering Donnie is the one most interested in information gathering, which y’know, often involves waiting patiently for the right moment. At home, their relationship is kinda considered the most distant, but not for a lack of trying. Lee tries her best to be super supportive of xeir hobby, even if it creeps her out and she gets a little queasy seeing the stuff in Donnie's lab, she tries to help out by making sure the lab is always properly stocked with sanitary materials, but can't handle much of the place beyond that. Donnie also tries to spend time relaxing with Lee, but they can't sit still for long enough to make it work, and eventually xey have to give in and go write down whatever idea has popped into their mind and blast music to stay sane. In the end, they just can't click properly, and aside from occasionally checking in with each other to make sure there's not an accidental one-sided fight going on (sometimes when one of them is mad enough to give the silent treatment, the other wont notice because they rarely hang out, so its good to double check), they're content to leave it at that.

Lee + Raph: These two actually have a surprisingly equal relationship on the field, Lee is always a bit of a lazy butt before missions, reluctant to go while Raph is itching to go, so Raph is always the one that ends up dragging her along until she properly gets into leader mode. On the other hand, while Raph is close behind her as the second most determined member of the team and always follows instructions, that'll only last if the mission stays relevant to their goal of finding Splinter. If he decides the mission is a waste of time, she'll either get more aggressive in the fight (if their opponent is fighting all of them and being somewhat of a threat) or ditch entirely (if their opponent/job isn't a threat worth wasting time on). They work together well, and they have a silent agreement to keep reigning each other in and not let the other get away with being dumb about something, because regardless of how serious they are when its go time they still have plenty of stupid and stubborn moments. At home these two are very quiet, Raph took Splinter's disappearance the hardest, withdrawing the most from the group, but even during the rough patch where the four of them felt like strangers to each other Lee would always find time to sit down with him. They didn't talk back then, they just sat together, Lee reading comics and Raph playing video games, both of them trying to simultaneously escape from the world and miss their father. When the four of them started working on fixing things again, Lee and Raph would awkwardly try to share their new hobbies, Raph didn't take to the comics and Lee didn't take to the games, but Raph did end up liking the stargazing, and Lee enjoyed gardening (though her plants of choice tended to be easier to take care of than Raph's ambitious little garden), they end up being really close in their later teenage years.

Angie + Donnie: The twins! The dynamic duo! The chaos makers! They don't often work on their own together, Lee likes to keep the team together and avoids letting anyone go off on a mission on their own, but on the rare occasion that Donnie and Angie do find themselves on their own duo mission, communication is almost silent in every sense, they know each other inside and out and don't even need to look at each other to be in sync, extending their powers in their respective unique ways and connecting the dots of information together, and then from there its CHAOS, a lot of BOOM from Angie while Donnie slinks around and does what needs to be done from the shadows, they're a mess, and they do a lot of damage (not a good thing for four ninjas in hiding), but they are very much able to get the job done well. At home, they drag each other into their respective projects, Donnie isn't great with mechanics and Angie isn't interested in biology, but mad scientists gotta stick together, y’know? They also tend to do pranks together, but the family's rough patch kinda dulled that playfulness a little bit, so pranks from the pair became a less common thing. During the rough patch, they were still considered close, but they also started to isolate themselves more. In a way it was a little good for them, they needed some space to grow and become their own people, but they lost a lot to that time, and lost even more a year later when Angie ran off and didn't come back for almost six months.

Angie + Raph: Angie and Raph......do not get along fantastically. Lee doesn't often make them work closely together in the field, its better for everyone if Raph is given a space away from them. If they're forced to be on a mission alone together, they'll get the job done, but Raph isn't exactly working with Angie, its more like she goes her own way without a word and expects Angie to follow. It's hard to say what's worse, when Angie does the mission perfectly, or when Angie messes up. Angie can be a lot, even when zey were little, and its in their nature to try and get on people's nerves, and Raph's temper doesn't take it very well. As kids it was just classic sibling annoyance, but when their powers came in Angie got even worse, and Donnie and Lee got stuck with keeping Raph and Angie's relationship as steady as possible. The relationship between Raph and Angie is a major conflict, and their biggest clash happens not long before the timeskip drops us off, so feel free to snoop around that one because its a whole thing. They will work through their issues, don't worry, they're not doomed to hate each other forever, their relationship just had to get worse before it could get better.

Raph + Donnie: Unlike with Angie, Raph actually gets along with Donnie pretty well. Raph's determination to get through a proper mission and Donnie's low tolerance for patience results in quick, efficient missions. They might not do as many non-Splinter related missions as Lee would like when left to their own devices, but oftentimes they know if a mission will be fruitful long before they have to make direct contact with the enemy, and Donnie is often fine with ditching with Raph for their paired missions. As long as nothing catches Donnie's attention, they're a great stealth team. At home, they actually end up being forced to socialise by being in the same friend group, with Tim, Kay, and April, they're the ones most likely to sneak out together and get into trouble, but for once its the normal teenager kind. Kinda. Kay likes street racing and a lot of shenanigans can come with that. They're the ones most likely to get pent up from being inside for too long, and yet they cope by staying home and avoiding people, so its good for them to force each other to get out of the house every now and then.

[miniar]

The only thing that happens when Tumblr suggests to me any content, be it fanfiction or fan-animation or fan-comic, of the famous wizard intellectual property of a holocaust denying hatemonger is that I'll block the person who posted it.

I know some of you will think that's overreacting, but here's the thing.

She's personally funding transphobic lobbies.

She's gone so far as to openly oppose anti hate-crime laws in general because they extend any protection to transgender people.

She's close friends with people who openly describe themselves as fascists.

She's openly friendly to literal neo-nazis.

She's engaged in holocaust denial. Sure it's soft denial as in she didn't argue that the whole thing didn't happen, but she's still, to this day, trying to claim that it didn't happen to people that there's literal photographic evidence and abundance of documentation of it happening to people.

I know, I fully know, that it hurts to put down the things from your youth that shaped you, that were important to you, that meant the world to you, but the thing is...

... Everything that promotes that woman's creations, Everything, gives her value. Some of it is direct financial value, and I just mentioned what she does with that money. If you buy ANYTHING of hers, you're participating in giving money to these things.

Some of it is social value. It keeps her "relevant" via her intellectual property. It allows her to paint herself in a more positive light, via her intellectual property.

You can not support her intellectual property in any way without also giving her at least the tiniest smidge of support, and even the tiniest smidge of support for someone like that is more than I'm okay with.

If she had her way, I wouldn't be allowed to exist in society at all. No ifs ands or buts.

Her actions, what she is doing with her money and the power she's granted as a "beloved children's author" is Literally causing a fuckton of suffering and even, yes, death.

She's got blood on her hands.

I'm not suggesting the people I'm blocking do too, not necessarily, not all of them, but when my reaction to seeing any of it is consistently "ew, no, gross, blocked" it affects the algorithms that keep suggesting the intellectual property of the person who supports the eradication of a vulnerable part of society to said part of society that that is "unwanted content" and hopefully that'll limit the reach of those posts.... maybe not a lot, but at least a little.

Her behavior and actions are so egregious that to some, the mere mention of her name or the name of her most famous intellectual property is enough to be considered a trigger. It's a sharp reminder that there are people out there, with a lot of social power and money, that want you to stop existing.

I wouldn't call it a trigger for me, personally, as it's not causing a severe enough reaction for me to think of it as such, but it still sucks.

So, please, people... there are other worlds out there to play in. Please consider finding one of them, any of them, and stop keeping her worlds alive. Stop supporting her continued relevance.

Please.

[twd-obsessed-bitch]

Been thinking about how they're gonna make Bella look like a 20 year old vs a 14 year old for season two and I saw a post (and the subsequent reblogs, mostly the reblogs) saying despite how amazing Bella is, they should be recast because of their baby face.

No hate to those people of course but I don't think they need to be recast, especially since Bella is doing phenomenally as Ellie.

A couple things that'll probably be done to make Ellie older looking for season two that I can think of are as follows

They'll film from a lower angle, right now, Bella is almost always positioned below the camera, this makes them look smaller, which can also translate to younger, especially next to Pedro because they film him above the camera. It's not drastic but it's enough to make Joel seem older/ more powerful and Ellie seem younger/weaker

Contour, it wouldn't be drastic or anything as to not disrupt the bare-faceness of the show, I mean it's been over 20 years into the apocalypse nobody is walking around with a full face of makeup, but some light contouring to square out Bellas face will make them appear older

Looking at photos of Bella vs photos of them as Ellie, moving their hair around will also work to make them appear older. Ellie's hair is always pulled back into a ponytail, this shows off Bella's rounded face which helps them appear younger. In the second game (and maybe season 2 we'll see) Ellie has shorter hair and it's styled half up half down. If they do this with Bella and pull out some natural looking face framers(make it look like they fell out rather than were deliberately left out) I think it'll age up their face a bit

In the last of us part 2 Ellie has a fern tattoo over top of her bite, I'm assuming they'll add it into the show as well. This alone will help age Bella up, I don't know about you but when I see a person with a tattoo I automatically go "oh they're over 18" even though it's the apocalypse that's ingrained in my brain.

Bella is intentionally acting as a 14 year old. They are amazing with micro expressions and capturing that innocence. In season 2 they'll be acting as a person in their early 20's. That alone will give a good shift in appearance (less doe eyed looks, more hardened stares etc)

They might leave it out of the show, but they might add it in, Ellie is topless like 4 times in the game and we see her bare back covered in bruises and scars. They wouldn't do that if they still viewed Ellie as a 14 year old.(this also depends on how comfortable Bella is with these types of scenes on top of if the showrunners think they're relevant enough to keep)

And finally, Bella's voice when they're talking in interviews, sounds a lot older than when they are acting as Ellie. They pitch it higher, which gives it a younger, more curious sound. Which is perfect for 14 year old Ellie. This could also just be because Bella is doing an American accent but I don't think so. If they do the accent but in their own natural tone, it'll make Ellie sound older

From different film angles, to body language, to hair and makeup, etc. There are multitudes of ways that Bella can appear older, so I really don't think they'll need to be recast. They're an amazingly talented human being and I think that any of these changes are going to be possible to do.

Also

Does this look like a 14 year old to you?? Bella in everyday life looks their age (19-22) they'll be fine to continue being Ellie in season 2.

[lunaticli8rarian]

i'm making this a whole 8ss post cuz i h8 replies. ok so pages are marked 8y extreme levels of potential, and their unwillingness to live up to that potential. tavros has gr8 potential shown 8y his ancestor the summoner, 8ut is a huge weenie. jake is literally the most important character in all of homestuck, and yet he really is a massive coward loser. there's so much chance for gr8ness in them, that they just don't live up to until long after the story is over. fusions through sprites com8ine the classpects of 8oth characters. davepeta is a rogue of heart AND a knight of time at the same time. 8oth classpects apply to them. and they interact with each other as well. the nepeta parts canceling out the self h8ing parts in dave. vriska admits to stealing the entire life experience of tavros when they fused. she literally still has a lot of tavros clanking around in her skull.

up until that point, vriska is just happy 8eing a lone wolf marching to the 8eat of her own drum. she does her own thing independent from everyone else and is cool with that. 8eing the sneaky girl in the 8ackground causing pro8lems. the thief. then after tavris, she goes on a pir8 adventure with a 8unch of people who don't like her, who do most of the heavy lifting for her. hell she is literally SERVED 8y lord english himself TOWARDS HER OWN RELEVANCE in the juju. she is served relevance on a f8cking platter, like a page of light.

then l8er on when she's given up completely, she sits on the juju. she has massive narr8tive relevance just in the palm of her hands. the most important item in all of homestuck that'll stop the 8ig f8ck off man in charge of it all. and she just........ keeps it there. she does nothing with it. she refuses to do anything with it. she refuses to take responsi8l8ty for everything. she shirks it all for momentary comforts. like a page.

and that's not even considering how tavros is now a thief of 8reath (making the only choice in his f8cking life to just f8ck off and fly away when he's annoyed with vriska. and then steals the individual8ty of all the ghosts to make an army, much like the summoner did on alternia with the lost wea8oos. only instead of a selfless rogue thing to free their people, tavros does it to one up vriska. totally selfish, like a thief.)

@arachnixe did i miss anything?

[thesomewhatliterateaxolotl]

Hi!! Question, since you do a lot of IDs (image descriptions) do you have any resources or tips for someone who wants to start writing them as well? What to pay special attention to, what is irrelevant, checklists etc?

Hi Anon!! This made me so happy to see. I'm glad you're interested in writing ID's!!

It's definitely not as overwhelming as it may seem. I will say I'm still learning myself, but here's my process. I boiled down my steps into a basic checklist to get you started:

Describe the category of image (digital/traditional art, photo, social media screenshot, etc.), unless it's already stated in the post.

Next, the summary. Pretend you're explaining the image to a friend (since that's pretty much the goal). You'll find yourself naturally starting out with the broadest/most obvious things. If it's a drawing or a photo, for example, that'll be the main subject[s] and whatever they're doing: "[Character] holds a bouquet of roses." "A fluffy cat blinks at the camera." OneLook Reverse Dictionary is your friend if you can't find the word for an action or pose.

Then, once you have your super basic one-to-two sentences, you can start on the details. When I'm low on energy or time, I stick to describing the most punchy details of the image: "A heart-shaped frame surrounds the characters. The piece uses pinks and reds." I also found this site for identifying drawing styles. For art, pay attention to color (or lack thereof), presence/absence of line art, and shading. For photos, describe style, mood, and color if you think it's relevant. It might be for artistic photography, not so much for a news article or a meme.*

There are different ways to demarcate your ID. You've probably seen that I use brackets around the description ( [ ] ) and sometimes a slash ( / ) right before writing "end ID." I've heard these aren't required, but lots of people prefer the visual distinction.

Use plain text (normal-sized font, no fancy formatting). You'd think it'd go without saying, but I've seen far too many people write their ID's in tiny font. Bold text at the beginning and end is fine, but that's about it.

Some subjective language is fine for describing mood (melancholy, cheerful, etc.), but don't overdo it. Don't add jokes that aren't in the image itself.

*For fictional characters, I usually only describe their outfits and features if they deviate from canon. For real people, I use my judgement on whether describing these details is relevant: Without those details, would they miss out on something important?

As for what's irrelevant, people have different preferences. I've heard from some blind and low vision people that they prefer really straightforward descriptions, while others prefer the detailed ones because they give them an equal or equivalent experience to what a sighted person would have.

I try to strike a balance, writing shorter descriptions for memes/informational images and longer ones for art. Active voice can help simplify your ID, though this isn't a strict rule.

What I have almost universally heard, though, is this: Even the most basic ID is better than none. If all you can do is a quick one-sentence description, that's ok! You've still opened up a previously inaccessible image to a new audience.

Now for resources:

Image Desc. Guidelines - This helped me out a lot when I started out!

Writing Image Descriptions

Giant Google Doc for Describing Memes

Resource for Video Desc. (I'm still learning how to improve my VD's myself)

Lastly, I know not everyone likes joining discord servers to ask questions, but The People's Accessibility Server is a great resource. (I removed the link because I couldn't find a way to hide my discord # from the invite, and I don't want to just put it out there, but here's this invite via keplercryptid's blog.) You can ask for advice, for someone to review your ID's, or even for someone to write them for you. You can DM me as well if you're comfortable with that.

I hope this is a good starting point for you, anon!! Best of luck <3

[i-want-my-iwtv]

Regarding that last ask about people still engaging with the show despite not liking it... I think it's also partially frustration. Can't say I'm that active in VC fandom, but I see it now in the LotR fandom with Rings of Power. Pretty early on I decided to just ignore it, but now it's in every LotR space/group I ever go to, and filtering/blocking does not work because people don't tag or post mix of ROP and not ROP content. So it feels like I'm forced to engage no matter how hard I try.

[Re: This ask.]

Yes, Anon, you're so right! I definitely see this as part of the reason. It's unavoidable, we're in a shared space, using shared tags, LotR fandom with Rings of Power is a great example.

I'm sorry in advance that this response got TOO LONG again. Oops. And you didn't mention racism, but that has been present in LOTR:ROP, and some of the people in VC who criticize the AMC show are/were being called racists, and it feels relevant to bring up here, in the context of this shared space issue.

TL;DR: This is a shared space. People who enjoy the show and people who want to criticize it are both in this shared space.

People are going to criticize even shows that try to be progressive. It's up to those adaptations to be strong enough to withstand it.

AMC has already greenlit a Season 2 for IWTV, so it's not going anywhere.

There are racists and homophobes in the world. I'm not spending my limited time seeking them out to try to educate them, and my stance is to block them, or drown them out with positivity.

I've been following the reactions to ROP pretty closely because I saw what was happening and had the same feeling that you do. And truly, some of the wave of fans of ROP/IWTV AMC are just happily posting their fanworks but some of them appear to be targeting resistance they find, aiming for fanspaces to dominate, this is a legit kind of conquest. More on that in a bit.

Example below. This is actually a really light hearted one, but if Brian Morgan in this tweet could genuinely just enjoy LOTR:ROP, then why post this at all? Because Brian wanted to also say, "Take that trolls!" Brian wanted to stand up for what they love. Which takes courage! I'm actually kind of charmed by this meme (maybe bc the context of Shia LaBoeuf watching his own movies was so bizarre that it flew past cringey and landed in heartwarming territory imo 💖) despite the fact that it's clearly being provocative.

[X]

~~~~~

So it is a legit kind of conquest. Re: People still engaging with the show despite not liking it (let's call them Skeptics, bc "haters" is too strong for some), that's because the shared spaces have become a kind of battleground, as you say, the content from people who enjoy the shows (let's call them Stans) are unavoidable because of the shared tags. When I've seen Stans trying to engage/provoke Skeptics, I know for a fact that at least some of them are concerned that the criticism (whether it's gentle/strong/good faith/bad faith doesn't matter) could end their show, and then they won't have it anymore. That's why criticism of the show is a personal attack on Stans, so they feel justified in seeking out all the spaces to fight any criticism in order to protect what they enjoy.

Not to worry, fans of IWTV AMC, because just in today: ‘Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire’ Renewed For Season 2 By AMC Ahead of Premiere. AMC is clearly pulling out all the stops, far beyond what Bezos is attempting with ROP, to create a multifaceted fanbase that'll be the foundation for their "Immortal Universe."

They've posted articles and cast interviews, they keep up their social media

There's been an avalanche of positive reviews

They've sent the first several episodes out to fans who have requested them in advance to start generating GIFs and other fan content

They're having a podcast review post-episodes in what seems like the spirit of the post-TWD episodes "Talking Dead".

They're having a free screening in NYC, and I would bet there will be more

They're promoting a fandom location for fanworks, Dorian

Negative criticism can end a show. But it looks like IWTV AMC is plenty robust enough to handle and outlast their share.💪

Whether the Stans like it or not, criticism is going to happen. Different fans of VC have different needs. Queer people are not a hive mind. Different groups of queer people see different things as good and progressive. This show can be meaningful to some fans and progressive to them, and not meaningful or progressive to others. The changes the showrunners made to IWTV appear to me to be a widening out to try to appeal to new groups of people, and that's fine. Just because a show attempts to be progressive does not mean that it gets a free pass and can be free of criticism.

Are there homophobes and racists complaining about race and gender/sexual orientation changes? Yes, of course. I have not seen these towards IWTV AMC myself, but there's been a huge reaction against Halle Bailey, the Black actress cast as Ariel in Ariel the Little Mermaid. There has been good faith criticism, and horrible racism. There was apparently a #NotMyAriel racist Twitter campaign.

There's also been good stuff that restores faith in humanity: "A new TikTok trend also shows young girls of color exclaiming at seeing Bailey as Ariel for the first time: “She’s Black like me!”" [X] This is such a wonderful way to respond to racism, IMO, by drowning it out with this positive impact!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a POC, so I'm not telling anyone, POC or otherwise, how to react to racism. But this is how I'm doing it at this time.

[I couldn't figure out how to embed the video but here's the link: X]

I have not seen racism against IWTV AMC, and even if I do in the future, it's not my job to act as the fandom police to seek out this content and go to battle over it. If I see someone make a racist comment, if it was a friend, I'd try to have a private dialogue about it. But if it's a stranger, I block. I am not spending my limited free time trying to educate strangers on the internet.

At least in VC tumblr fandom, I don't even know what they want from me/us. I assume they're trying to delegate fandom policing to others, but they are welcome to do it themselves. Or, they want to have public conversations about racist comments they have seen. They can write about whatever they choose on their own blog, and people can choose to engage with them or not.

We're in a shared space together. No one can ask the people who enjoy Rings of Power to tag their content without Lord of the Rings, because it technically is part of that IP. For the same reason, asking people posting about AMC to not use Vampire Chronicles or Interview with the Vampire would be completely absurd, because the AMC adaptation is within those tags.

It would be great to have some separation between Stans and Skeptics, if at all possible.

[amelikos]

Some character notes and episode notes for HZ023, writing them down for future reference.

Friede being excited about knowing there is always someone stronger than him out there really reminded me of Dande in JN, when he was talking about being scared of having reached his limit and not being able to grow further until being defeated reignited his spark. I liked the similarities there. Friede used to call himself a genius but he really dropped that whole thing after meeting Cap, and he is much more open to changes and challenges.

The fact that the strategy to face Galar Fire is based on trying to calm it down rather than beating it is just really good. I liked how Friede, Liko and Roy all exchanged ideas and brought back Kabu's words to draw a conclusion. Liko also noticed that Mibrim was crying when they faced Fire before, so she thought that there was more to it than anger.

Friede reassuring Liko and Roy before they went inside the mine again was really cute. He encourages them, but he is still there to protect them. I also like that he mentioned that if Fire tries to do the dangerous attack that drains energy, they should immediately run away instead of being reckless.

The whole confrontation with Fire was good. They had trouble reaching it, Liko tried to talk to it and know how it feels. It was nice seeing her more determined and confident and taking a step forward. When Roy felt a bit unsure when they were facing Fire, she told him it was going to be okay.

"Fighting isn't all there is to being a trainer. Learning how Pokemon feel and showing compassion for them. That's my path as a Pokemon Trainer." I love that this is Liko's path and I can't wait to see her interact with more Pokemon and get to know them better. I love how she asserted her wish.

Oliva playing a part in helping Fire was cool, since they were probably friends before as they were both Lucius' Pokemon. Friede and Roy acting as supports to enhance Nyahoja's Leafage and not let it go to waste was good team play too.

Fire looking like it was crying because of the rain was a beautiful scene. Liko feeling like Fire has a gentle side to it and a strong desire makes me curious too. I wonder if it just wants to be reunited with Lucius again, and if it'll come to Liko's help in the future.

I wonder what Rakua is. Does it refer to the paradise Lucius and his Pokemon made for themselves?

Lucius' VA is the same as the narrator in the first minutes of the first episode of HZ. I wonder if that'll become relevant later on.

I wonder why Terapagos won't go back to being a pendant anymore. Perhaps the Six Heroes being awoken one after the other gives it strength to remain in that form somehow?

I'm glad Liko and Roy got to see Kabu again and showed him their progress. Roy saying that Fire specifically trusted Liko and went into the Pokeball was good too, I like how these two acknowledge each other's strengths. Friede meeting Kabu and thanking him for helping them was cute too. I like seeing Friede interact with other characters like that, we get to hear him being polite and formal compared to usual.

Liko being excited about adventure at the end! And Terapagos being hidden in Friede's jacket was cute too.

I wrote about it in a separate post, but Amethio's appearance at the end felt a bit ominous to me. He does prioritize things, though. Fire was not his objective so he didn't try to interfere. Conia pointed out that they have nothing to show despite coming all the way to Galar, but he is optimistic. They do have something to show for it, because they saw Terapagos (which implies that they were watching Liko and the others from afar when they were facing Fire). So while he wasn't necessarily trying to follow Liko and the others after being removed from the mission, now he takes it upon himself to chase them again and steal Terapagos. I wonder if we'll get to know a bit more about his character during the climax of this current arc? He seems stubborn about showing results and achieving something for the Explorers.

Both Amethio and Liko took decisions in this episode, in very different ways. It's interesting how he seems to keep falling more and more, while Liko is growing more and more determined and is finding herself in contrast.

Also, Amethio is often present whenever they come across the Six Heroes. He was there when Liko and Roy met Rayquaza, he was there for Galar Fire too. Terapagos also showed itself when he was around (and Amethio was the one who unintentionally triggered his first appearance in the first episodes when the pendant protected Liko). I wonder if he'll still be there somehow when Liko and Roy will meet the others Six Heroes.

Overall, cool episode! I love how Liko connects with different Pokemon and reaches out to them. I wonder how Friede and Amethio escaped from Fire though (will that be brought up in the future or not, etc).

I can't wait for Liko, Roy and Friede to meet Diana and to learn more about Lucius. Hamber (the butler from the Explorers) knowing Diana by name (as shown in the trailer for the climax of this arc) makes me curious too. I had a feeling that Diana knew the Explorers. Perhaps she was Gibeon's friend before?

[hungry-skeleton]

Thanks, appreciate your doc and help a lot!!! I'm pretty dumb so etiquette guides are always helpful.

I realized the questions I have were...quite a load but I'm sending these to you if you wanna continue your doc. Feel free to answer only a few of them or not answer them now!

Dividing content by blogs: I got a few main interests, and some minor interests. When is it a good idea to start a sideblog?

Adding a lot in a reblog: I ended up writing a long essay in my reblog. My contribution adds to the discussion but IDK if it's inconsiderate to post a whole essay to someone's post. Is that OK, or should I instead put it in a new post, put some context and tag the person?

Avoiding the flames: I'm often afraid of posting something for the fear of backlash - whether or not deserved. The options I know so far: a) Don't post it, b) Post it and accept whatever happens, c) Scroll down for 30 minutes in a dashboard or through tags to find out whether my take would be considered problematic or inflammatory. What's your take?

Attention: I heard it was OK to scroll down someone's blog but in one blog I seemed to have interacted with at least 30% of their posts, putting lots of comments along the way. Is that creepy or acceptable?

Anons: There's a few cool people I send a lot of anon asks to. Is it considered considerate or dumb if I eventually let them know that I've sent them a bunch of anons?

Followers, mutuals and the dashboard: I'm considering either visiting blogs individually or curating my dashboard. If I curate my dashboard and unfollow 200 people, that'll go against the "follow back" and "unfollow only if you dislike the person" viewpoints. Do people still have those mindset?

Edit: tumblr is such a functioning website sometimes the numbers on this post get broken lmao 😭😭😭😭

That's all up to you! Some people like to keep their blogs pristine and curated for certain things, others like to put all their stuff in one big pile of you (like me!) it all depends on how you want your blog to operate!

As long as it's relevant to the post it's absolutely okay to add a long addition, especially if you're teaching something! Most people love having some actual substance in their interactions so don't worry about that. But if you'd like to, you can add a "read more" divider so others don't have to scroll through your paragraphs if they don't want to :)

This is true for every place on the internet, it's honestly your call! Do whatever makes you comfortable, not much else I can say

Absolutely fine! We love interaction no matter the age of the post! Make sure you check their bio or pinned posts first though, most people are alright with "like spamming" but some aren't. Unless they say otherwise somewhere interact to your hearts content!

That's the beauty of anon, it's up to you how much you want to be known. Try not to pester people though, let bloggers get to your asks on their own time! If you'd like for them to know all your asks are from one person but without revealing they're from you, you can add an anon signature! It's a simple nickname to give yourself in the ask box to show that you're the same person. This could be as simple as saying "hey! It's me, (blank)anon again!" or a popular way of doing it is assigning your self an emoji to sign off your asks with! Example: "hope you're day is good! -💥anon"

Once again this is a "your call" situation. Curate your experience to your comfort. I will say though I'm following over 800 people and my dash is just fine lol. Tumblr users don't usually believe in the "follow for follow" system so don't feel bad for unfollowing someone for whatever reason

I hope that was helpful :)))

[secondsonaym]

How do you develop the story? Do you like come up with it on the go or have everything pre-planned

Oh, I've talked about this before but it was forever ago, so I don't mind explaining again!

Buckle in, cause this is a bit of a long one.

So, when doing my planning, I literally just have a word document where I put everything out on bullet points, and when I've drawn/written/posted the relevant part, I highlight it so I can keep my place in the story.

However, the detail to which I bullet things out can vary severely. Sometimes I just do the broad strokes, and sometimes I do have dialogue I want to include, so I make sure to plot that out as well.

For example, here's the segment where Star was talking to the bishops in the Lingering:

As you can see, none of their actual discussions were detailed, I just had a vague idea that the bishops were to talk with, her, taunt her, and get her thinking on stuff.

Meanwhile, for an earlier point, specifically Fox's little monologue, I had the dialogue bulleted down to each line, because the idea I had for it was so strong, I wanted to be sure I had the dialogue and pacing right

Many of the more Vague points, are where I let what people ask sort of shape what happens. I see what the mood is, what people are talking about, and see how I can spin that to my end goal.

And sometimes, even I do stuff on the blog so fast/for so long that I OUTPACE my outline, such as the entire stretch with Narinder and the twins, Aym and Baal:

Those parts are NOWHERE in my outline, and I did not actually plan ahead for them. It just felt right, to shift things a little bit for the moment.

You see, I have Almost Everything In My Head disease. In that I have the big picture in my brain, and can break it down into steps if given enough time to crack at it, but it's hard for me to elaborate if asked on cue. Outlining stuff like this tends to help, but my own process is very very messy still.

As for HOW I come up with plot points and the like, well

I try desperately not to just Forget ideas and characters. If I've shown them to have some relevance, I want them to have SOME level of involvement. So every now and then, when I open up my outline, I think "okay, who's on the board right now. who can do stuff. who would WANT to do stuff, and would it make sense for them to do this stuff now. what can happen based on the stuff they do. what would they do if other stuff happened" and so on.

I do actually go back and look through the usurper au tag to reread posts so I can make sure I'm not forgetting a detail or contradicting myself later down the line, and let me tell you, it's rough.

ALSO, a lot of my motivation for story writing is in music. I listen to stuff almost constantly, because I hate silence, and using the music, I come up with aspects of characters I didn't consider earlier, such as Narinder's growing empathy and something I've got tucked in my pocket for Stolas that'll come up when the next arc starts--and this only developed when I started making his playlist. I just noticed common themes in the songs I was choosing for him and was like, "oh shit, I can actually do something with this"

So like, I guess the clearest answer I can give to this question is that... Sometimes I have a vague idea, sometimes I have stuff planned ahead of time? Like, the end of this arc, I had everything I wanted to happen outlined as early as the group heading to Anura to find out it's a rotting mess. At that point, I knew what was going to happen, when, and I knew the bishops were going to make their return.

And then sometimes I'm just like "okay we'll sit around here and fuck about answering asks for a bit until something interesting is brought up"

So uuuuuhhhhhhhh (shrugs)??????? i hope that answers things well enough????????