#not me trying to remember how to write fantasy and magic system and stuff

[rawliverandgoronspice]

In Descant, how does Ganondorf command monsters? By turning them loose in a direction of his choosing, by using magic to enthrall them, through negotiation, or varies depending on the intelligence. I remember reading lizalfos warred with the Zora in BOTW and had structure enough to have a general

So... To be honest, I kind of decided to be a little sparse on the magical worldbuilding to avoid causing myself a concussion given this is originally a side-project and not something meant to consume my every waking thought (this is not going great right now but I'll stir it back under control eventually). I do have one, however, and it's loosely related to this.

(I kind of infodump about my magic system instead of really answering the question sorry sorry)

I decided to use the basis of the different "realms" of magical abilities embodied by the Sages in OoT: so Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow and Spirit. Each of these elements encompass both a very literal manipulation of this element (whenever possible, right Spirit :) :) :) ) and a more complicated manipulation of energies associated with this element. For example: Shadow magic involves manipulating darkness directly (making a place spookier or shrouding oneself), but taken to an extreme it also encompasses decay, fear, everything dissimulated --and also, because of the nature of what is most hidden, truth. Fire is about arson, and it's also about drive and consumption; Forest is about the neat little trees, and it's also about growth and patience and ancient knowledge, etc etc. Part of mastering a given element is deepening your understanding and of just everything it really encompasses and the very complex web of how it truly affects reality, and how you can inject your own input of energy to affect it to your liking.

So a lot of basic monsters in Descant are kind of bound to being fueled by a given type of magic --and so sometimes it's just that there's Vibes in a place and so monsters appear there as a coproduct, and sometimes (and Ganondorf loves to do this) through upsetting said Vibes of a place, you can mess up the internal balance and generate an "infection", aka drastically and brutally change the magical ecosystem and invoking a bunch of things by doing so. In this kind of situation, Ganondorf isn't bound to these creatures like an invoker would be (like they don't have to obey him through a magical contract or anything), but given he generally is the person in the room with the most mastery over the type of magic that fuels the monsters he encouraged the proliferation of, the loose alliegeance happens pretty naturally. They serve his purposes, even if half-consciously and not in a way that he can use to make complex strategies like he would with actual soldiers or more complicated creations (like his phantoms).

Then, for more complex cultures where the monsters are not gohmas or redeads or things like this, I think there might be negotiations or something of a higher caliber going on but it's not a part of Descant I focused on a lot and I mostly brushed over it for the sake of uhhh narrative simplification, because it was already spinning out of control!!!

Thank you so much for your curiosity!!

[melrosing]

As your not a big fan of fantasy books in general. What drew you into loving asoiaf? What got you hooked?

now that I'm invested in asoiaf I do genuinely like the fantasy elements of the story, but the stuff that really pulled me in was the human drama and political intrigue etc. I love the character work, almost all of the POVs feel fully realised and subvert typical tropes in really interesting ways (imo). I like the inter-generational drama (the reasons I like succession are v similar to the reasons I like the Lannisters), like if I want to understand Jaime and Cersei and Tyrion I can look to Tywin, and if I want to understand Tywin I can look to Tytos, and if I was to understand Tytos I can look to Gerold, like it's a russian doll of intergenerational trauma what more could a girl want.

and on that note I really like the scope! GRRM obviously feels this need to account for all details minor and major, so that even with everything that's already on the page there's room to extrapolate so much more. i mean here I am writing who knows how many words about a fake 20-episode long robert's rebellion tv series lol like this all happened before the series even starts and yet I hardly need to make anything up bc there is so much to draw on just based on all the random little details we've got here and there from characters reflecting on the same events from different angles, and trying to piece together portraits of the people who died based on the recollections of those on the page who remember them..... it is so fun)

and yeah usually I prefer to read about that kind of thing on a smaller scale but the drama that plays out in AGOT is so engaging that upon initiation I didn't find it so much of a chore to keep track of all the various houses and lands etc in order to understand the full implications of each thing that happened - it felt like it was worth the effort. generally it's the 'keeping track' of it all that I find grating about fantasy bc I really want to just get on with the story rather than keep on top of a hundred magic systems and sub-species of pixie.

and obvs asoiaf is low fantasy rather than high fantasy, i.e. there aren't intricate systems to the magic and or complicated genus for each of the creatures, so that made it feel a lot more accessible for me as someone who just isn't very interested in those kinds of details. Dany's magic is made up as she goes along, it's never explained, and that's the same for pretty much all the fantastical elements - it's very show don't tell. and even though when you count it all up there are quite a lot of fantastical features and subplots, taken together with the rest of the story it's more like.... seasonings I wouldn't usually choose but ended up liking just fine in this overall dish lol

and finally asoiaf just really appealed to me from a fannish perspective! I really hate when you're trying to dig deeper with a work and you quickly start to realise that the writer(s) just weren't thinking that hard. it feels like striking concrete with a spade, like it's a one-sided conversation rather than something both the writer and the reader are participating in. I think some fans are perfectly fine with that and good for them - who cares if the author built the work to sustain your analysis if you're just having fun doing it - but for me it's a complete killjoy, I end up v frustrated and like the work isn't worth my time

so here's GRRM who is so fixated on the finer details that he's churned out a history book like 700 pages long and a bunch of short stories and also another history book just to add a bit more texture to the main story. and I don't have to worry about network input or co-writers or actors' intentions or whatever other external conflict or influence cos for better or worse it's all his story. and that just suits me better lol, it's one guy and his shitty computer, and me reading the shit he wrote with it. pure and simple living in the moment no phones in sight

also jaime and brienne are everything to me xo

[seekerreads]

march wrap-up!

my previous wrap-up template was kinda draining so we're going to try something new this month!! a sort of looser, ramble-style wrap-up where i just yap about my reading month with the help of Storygraph's monthly graphics!

overall, i feel i had a pretty average reading month. had THREE anticipated releases this month which was very cool, but i don't think anything really blew me away. on the flip side, i don't think there was anything i truly disliked overall, as nothing went below a 3 star.

A Burning in the Bones was one of my anticipated releases this year and it did not disappoint! a plague story to backdrop the end of the Waxway's trilogy, which has truly one of the most unique magic systems i've encountered in a fantasy novel. the world itself was also very sharp and ruthless. very much recommend the whole trilogy!

The Cloud Roads was read for the Adventures in Aeldia challenge in the Magical Readathon, and it was overall an average read. i love reading about winged people (that aren't fae) and this book had a really unique take on its own species of winged folk with cultures and differing biology that was cool to see! the story didn't really hook me though, so i decided not to continue it.

Dragonfall was a reread and just as good as i remembered, and i reread it to read its sequel, another anticipated release, Emberclaw. i thought this was a pretty solid ending to the duology and it was interesting to keep the main pairing apart for most of the book and see how it affected them. the ending was a little weird and confusing, but i still enjoyed it, even if not as much as i enjoyed the first book.

The Lamb was a very dark, very intense read that had beautiful prose and absolutely SICKENING descriptions. this book kinda fucked me up a little bit ngl. i enjoyed it but to me it's one of those books i'm never going to read again.

The Favorites was a bit of a let down to me, with all the hype i've been hearing about it. to keep it non-spoilery, it wasn't what i thought it was and it kind of tanked my enjoyment. the drama was there though and it kept me invested so i couldn't rate it below a 4.

Cultish was my favorite read of the month, which is surprising considering how rarely i read nonfic! this book was absolutely fascinating and i love how the author structured it to take us through different types of organizations in the modern day that AREN'T just religious groups and to look at them from a 'cultish' lense. if you're interested in the impact of language or just in cults in general this book is full of interesting stuff.

Consort of Fire was a pretty average romantasy that got extra points from me for having an equal poly triad as the main couple. other than that, nothing much else stood out so i won't be continuing.

Sunrise on the Reaping was another anticipated release for me and it mostly left me...neutral? this book was pretty much just fan service. people wanted Haymitch's games and we got them but the author didn't say anything new with this story. snow is still awful, the games are still horrific, people are still poor and taken advantage of. definitely my least fav of the series. in my opinion, if she writes any more books in this series it will be nothing more than a cash grab because there's really nothing else to say that she hasn't already said.

DNF: Dragon Wing: this book wasn't bad but the two pov's were very tonally different and it made the book feel very disjointed to me, which is always a risk when you have more than one author telling one story. i didn't want to continue.

Crime and Punishment: this was an incredible slog with a few good scenes. classics might just not be for me but if i wasn't approaching this book very casually by only reading a chapter a night then i would've dnfed for sure. the good scenes were absolutely smothered by slow and unnecessarily bulky writing. but hey, at least i can say i've read it?

that's it for me for march!! how were everybody else's march reads??

[aishwrites]

Thought I should make a pinned introductory post! 😊😊😊

Nickname - Aish. Everyone calls me Aish in real life, it's a cute nickname lol. 🥰

I am an adult, and I might reblog the occasional adult post or something. So I would prefer it if minors don't follow me! 👍

I am Indian, and most of my stories feature Indian characters or characters whose names, kingdoms, food etc are inspired from Indian stuff. I love including my culture in my stories! ☺️

I have severe social anxiety, depression and mild OCD, so things are difficult sometimes, but I try to power through it. Hopefully I will be able to overcome it some day! 👍

I mostly write high fantasy stories that require a lot of worldbuilding, magic-system development, and violent battles. But I love sprinkling in romance and friendship arcs for my characters as well. I love family dynamics in stories, and found families as well! 😄

My stories usually feature made-up fantasy worlds since I love getting creative with them. I don't usually write contemporary stories or stories set in the real world. 😃

My current WIP is tentatively named Thunder Princess. It's a standalone romantasy, high on magic, court intrigue and action. I love badass female protagonists who love fighting and that has been a common theme in everything I have written so far. 🤭

(A bit of a summary of my WIP:- Akanksha isn't just a princess, she is also the most powerful being on the entire planet of Grahaa. So her world comes shattering down around her when the mysterious creatures known as Shadows defeat her in a fight and kill her fiance. She is hungry for revenge and wants to win the title of the most powerful person back.

On the other hand, there's Sagar, a humble and sweet farm-boy. He is the only one who knows how to defeat the Shadows. But he has amnesia due to an attack from the villain. He can't remember the cure to destroy the Shadows. Plus, the villain starts sending assassins after Sagar. So it's necessary to keep him safe, at least until his memories return.

Sagar is placed under Akanksha's protection. He has to pretend to be her bodyguard while she is the one who is actually doing the job of protecting him. Together, they need to untangle the web of enemies, court-intrigue, dangerous monsters and a mysterious villain with nefarious intentions. All the while, they try to fight the growing romantic attraction between them.

Sacrifices, choosing love over power, betrayals and plenty of magical fights ensue!) ❤️❤️❤️

I have also written short-stories and fanfiction in the past. But currently I am fixated on writing original stories in the fantasy genre. I would love to tackle mystery, sci-fi and superhero genres in the future! 🤗

I would love it if you included me in tag games and such since those look like fun! My askbox is always open for questions! 👍

I would love to share about my writing adventure here and even share the occasional tips that I have learnt! I would love to read your stories if you want me to! 😃

I am a fan of food, Pokemon, cats and emojis! I use a lot of emojis, but not in my stories, don't worry! 😂

Have a great day! And I hope you enjoy following my blog! 💖💖💖

[mochiwrites]

YOU'RE SO GOOD AT LORE AND WORLDBUILDING AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH I LOVE IT SO MUCH

every time you add new lore to any of your aus i go even more insane. like i start trying to formulate in my head every different way this could possibly go! i want to hear alllll the little details and the process of coming up with everything! I love your creativity and how you write the characters and put together plots

sending all the kudos for every single thing you've written <333 :D

uwahhh thank you !! >~<

it's both a really fun and very annoying process. sometimes the thoughts are REALLY easy to come up with, while others are more of a challenge. like, I had an easy time creating the lore of glyph magic in songbird. but??? the watcher and listener stuff?? took me a Hot minute

actually, scratch that, the watchers in general gave me a struggle

a lot of the time !!! I turn to anime for inspiration or other fics to get an idea of how other people have approached stuff. it's def no secret that the owl house influenced songbird glyphs lol

most of the time I do a lot of planning of world building/lore bits and how I want to introduce them into the story. I had the songbird magic system and vampire council worked out before the story really started. and then... sometimes I'm coming up with stuff by the seat of my pants

if you remember the conversation grian and scar had about possession magic and the three different types?? yeah I threw that all together as I was writing the scene WHEEZE. sometimes I'm really good about planning and other times I... am not. but songbird is SO one of my favorite aus to world build for, it's so fun and Most of the time it doesn't want to make me rip my hair out :D

building in a fantasy setting also feels soooo much more natural to me too, which definitely makes the process a lot more enjoyable :3

[neverlearnedtoread]

The Dragon Republic

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; rin making bad decisions like they’re going on sale at the market, arms full of regrets, guilt, mistakes, and self-destructive coping mechanisms: i can fit in one more

Oh?? 👌😉😏

rf kuang gave us an unflinching exploration on the cycles of violence and oppression, dissected the ever-escalating chain of vengeance, and the good good of eastern-inspired mythology?? like ma’am.....the good food im eating at your feast.....ive been so hungry

the lore deserves its own point. it was so effortlessly woven into the story, especially the way it tied into certain characters’ backstories. i can’t say much more because spoilers but if you like integrated worldbuilding and you like chinese-inspired magic systems get over here!!

the friendships. namely rin 🤝 kitay. miss kuang you know what really matters, and its not 10398 handsome men, its one ride-or-die bff holding you back or yeeting you into the midst of battle as needed

grimdark, but not oppressively depressing? im not sure how to describe it..the story gives you enough adrenaline to power through with the sheer speed of reading to find out what happens next, but doesn’t pull its punches. i think its partly that rin herself ploughs through the narrative like she’s trying to outrun the events, giving the reader the momentum to move with her

No.. ❌🤢🤮

i took a screenshot when my friend and i were planning to do a buddy read together. the trigger warnings took up an entire page. do not screw around with this. there’s no shame in tapping out for any book, but especially this one

some characters die, and i specifically blame rin for it. i mean there were a lot of other factors, but in the spirit of the phoenix herself i am choosing to close my eyes to the rationality of working through my feelings of grief in a healthy way and plunge straight into being pissed off about it, forever. *wipes tear* just like rin taught me

did suffer from a bit of middle book syndrome, at least to me. i mean, i finished an 800~ page book in 8 hours of reading time, so maybe don’t believe me, but the first half of the book dragged more than i remember the poppy war did. i will admit a lot of that was because rin was in no position to be a rational, active protagonist. the narrative needed her to flounder, and she did.

Summary: Rin goes unhinged 2: water dragon boogaloo (ive tried and tried to write an actual summary for this book but i don’t think i can top this throwaway line i wrote as a placeholder)

Concept: 💭💭💭💭💭 Where to start? There are historical influences, commentary on social issues and the impact of violence on communities both physical and otherwise, the slow and terrible descent of a beaten-down protagonist. Basically a checklist of stuff I like exploring in high fantasy settings!

This is the second book in a trilogy - spoilers ahead!

Execution: 💥💥💥💥 Rin doesn’t like politics, and I think that made the narrative drag a lot initially as the moving parts tried to be interesting but through Rin’s jaded lens were stripped of their veneer. Kuang was more than ambitious with her sophomore book, and I know that she was open about struggling with the pacing of TDR while she was writing it - still, I think there’s more than something to be said about shooting for the stars! I didn’t think any part of the book dropped the ball, but the nature of all the heavy topics it was trying to handle became a hefty meal to swallow

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤ Like I said, I read this book over 3-ish days in 8 hours. The library copy I had said it was 800 pages. I felt as powerful as Rin when I finished. The first half was a little dead in the water (which is a pun, yes, how many damn times did someone fall into the water and nearly drown in this book?? smh) but nothing I couldn’t handle with a little exasperation at Rin’s...*gestures* mental landscape. But when we reached the lore about Su Daji, and the Trifecta, and their chosen gods....i broke into a flat-out sprint. I was naruto-running through the plot.

Favourite Moment: it’s a battle to the death between the scenes with the trifecta backstories and the rin 🤝 kitay scenes

Favourite Character: chaghan, because i loved his backstory so, so, so much....also I didn’t know that handholding scene in the mountains was like. canon. and not fanon. rin really looked homosexuality in the eye and said ‘huh?’ with her whole chest.

[whumpinthepot]

This or That tag game

Thanks for the tag @verkja <3

Historical or Futuristic

I’de honestly have to say historical but I do like futuristic if it’s science related or post apocalyptic so it may be a tie it just depends on how its done or what genre it is. My own writing usually takes place present times with some futuristic technology added in, just because I would be too nervous of messing up anything historically related.

Opening or Closing Chapter

Closing chapter. I love it when things end its my favourite it just feels like checking something off a to do list, otherwise im left with an empty unaccomplished unfinished feeling and that mental list in my head never gets checked off (im looking at you manga i never finished reading)

Light and Fluffy or Dark and Gritty

Dark and Gritty is always my go to, but certain genres I do like just nice fluff- Like most G/t related things. Hamster story is pretty light compared to most of my other works… TSATS is verging on concerningly harsh.

Animal Companion or Found Family

Found family <3 I love <3 especially when it represents the queer community. Animal companions I never really felt anything for… Like an anime mascot. Clarence reminds me of a mascot character since they’re sadly outnumbered by humans.

Horror or Romance

Horror. Idc about romance pretty much at all, like I have ships, and its cute and a common story element but im pretty ace (probably aro) and it just isn’t in my top interests. I have done romance rp’s which I adored but horror is always my top pick <333

Hard Magic System or Soft Magic System

My world building has a hard magic system with some loose rules if that makes sense… Especially my small elves they have a lot of set rules that I try to follow, especially with how their magic works and what they can do.

Stand-alone or Series

I like both, but series does have more impact a lot of the time. Pretty much all of my own stories are meant to be one book though. Theres already so much detail and world building and stuff for me to remember its easier for me to keep it at a manageable length. TSATS is by far my longest story but I don’t really know how long it really is in a book format…

Edit- I didn’t understand this last night at 2 am LMAO, I definitely like a series better than stand alones.

One Project at a Time or Always Juggling 2+

Im juggling so many things its actually disastrous. Its too much. Hamster story is taking priority right now because I seem to have a steady follower base for it and I want to keep it going at a nice pace ^_^ the other ones I don’t know if I will post so they’re really not in any rush. I would like to finish rats race though just for myself because I want to move onto better things and move away from the boxboy-esque genre.

One Award Winner or One Best Seller

Doesn’t matter either way. I don’t want to get too well known because I am uneasy about people forming negative opinions on me, which tends to be unavoidable for many many famous people, even if they’ve done barely anything wrong.

Fantasy or Sci-Fi

Both :) I do have to admit I lean more towards fantasy most times because it’s usually pretty and whimsical and foresty which is all mesmerizing to me. TSATS has both which I still don’t see too often so I find that really fun to play with. It still definitely leans on the fantasy side since its from my small elves perspective.

Character Description or Setting Description

Character description. I read things for the characters and like to know what they look like and know their quirks and such. Honesty I always have to look at my writing and try to see where I can add more setting descriptions because im always so focused on the characters and forget that people kinda need to know their surroundings… The characters aren’t just standing in a white void 😭😭 I swear. Sometimes I its more vague because I will not remember the colour of Ratty’s car, or what Kats house looks like for example… so I leave the details out…

First Draft or Final Draft

I only ever do first drafts and trying to get more comfortable with doing second drafts and editing but I would really love to have a final draft someday hoo boy… someone teach me how to do it haha 😂 /srs/gen/pls go into my dms

Tagging who ever want to join!!

[chrimsone]

hey i remembered to post a chapter here for once!

lets see what do i want to rant about today? How about first, funny titles. I picked Ember kind of on a whim. Based off this song because i just really love SiHanatsuka and i'll take any chance to referenced their music. So good. But like well after actually WRITING the chapter i was just kinda zoning out at work and noticed an unintended pattern. Static and Ember. The beginning sparks of their respective elements. I didn't even MEAN to make that kinda connotation but now that i have im all here for it!

There's also the fun Light emote-y stuff. so the thing is kinda like. Im giving Rin my aphantasia. Im a sucker for fantasy manga and isekai r always fun. often times in those stories they give their magic system a visual aspect. after all its pretty easy to just be like 'yeah just imagine the thing and youll be okay'. the problem is -- what about the folk who have issues creating images in their mind (me)? So this is really just a big middle finger to that system. im giving Light the same system, but pointing out how it's really not that 'easy' for everyone. i know its hard to come up with a proper system and usually the fantasy theme is more or less a vector for something else, but it just makes me ANGY how authors dont try to explore these overlooked options.

so its kinda like. a lil bit of a character break for Phoenix to reference a meme but like. I had to. it's a worm in my brain that would cause me psychic damage if i didn't indulge in it. Into the Void had a few of those because i just HAD to. I like doing it because idk, keeps things a lil bit on the more lighthearted side! i do wanna try balancing out humor n serious stuff with this story so i let these worms thrive yknow

oh yeah and the funny shooting scene was what held back this update even longer than it should've been lol. i had something else in mind but i just dont know enough about shooting guns to properly convey it in at least a semi-realistic state. i nearly scrapped the whole scene but from what i DID research, i wanted to include that so there's still a lil bit! lol it made me feel like a real author for a bit cause ik so much stuff gets cut in the final piece.

i think that'll be all of my funny musings for this chapter! im working on the next one slower than expected x-x my dumb ass pattern of writing only during work (hate my job wanna get paid to write lol) but it's been suuuuuuper hectic the last few weeks so i havent had time to write. I really gotta dedicate a specific time to writing

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (12/04/23)

Thoughts and reviews under the cut (also, have you ever seen a weirder combination of books lol)

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (10/10)

I absolutely loved this book, but I will be billing Seanan McGuire for my therapy. She does an amazing job of writing these stories that you already know the ending to, and it doesn't make it any more gut-wrenching when the children are rejected or expelled. I see a lot of myself in Lundy, which only made it hit harder, and I loved the world of the Goblin Market. I really enjoyed seeing what would be referred to as a High Logic world with hard and fast rules and seeing how the characters worked within them (or around them). The side characters were, as usual, amazing, and they really helped bring the story together.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (10/10)

I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did! This was a really good, fast-paced adult fantasy; it was a bit refreshing since adult high fantasy tends to be much slower. Despite being more action-oriented, it still had strong characters and the beginnings of a good message. I suspect it'll be elaborated upon more in the later books. The magic system was so detailed and unique, exactly what I want from worldbuilding, and I'm really interested to see if we'll get more of the world outside Tevanne in the rest of the series.

Cinder Ella by S. T. Lynn (5/10)

This is part of a little project I'm doing, and I unfortunately didn't enjoy it very much. I think a fairy tale retelling would do quite well in a shorter format, but this one just falls short. It adds in a bit too much and as a result reads as rushed with not enough time dedicated to any of the scenes or relationships. Also, fairy tales tend to go by the "that's the way it is" rule of worldbuilding, which this book tries to do, but it raises too many questions to get away with not answering any of them. For example, the increased role of the fairy godmother brings up a lot of worldbuilding implications that the book just doesn't have the space to address.

Redfang Royal by Lola Rock (7/10)

Ok, I've never talked about these books before because they are the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures, but I'm trying to get over that. I'm a huge fan of Lola Rock's Pack Darling duology, so I've been looking forward to this book for a while. I finished it in a day, and I definitely enjoyed it. I did find the plot a little convoluted, and I wish it had been split into two parts like Pack Darling. The ending in particular feels a little rushed; I feel like there's a lot of stuff in Sol's backstory that was never explained to her pack. Still, I really liked the romance dynamic, and the love interests were quite different from the other series, which I appreciated.

Forget Me Knot by Marie McKay (CR, 48%)

Another of my guilty pleasures, this one is much darker than Lola Rock's books. All the characters have trauma upon trauma, but I can definitely see how things are going to resolve. Also, McKay's take on the omegaverse (yes, these are omegaverse novels if you haven't figured it out) is pretty unique with some interesting worldbuilding that adds a bit more to the story. I wonder if that worldbuilding has anything to do with why most of the main characters are named after objects (i.e. Arsenal, Riot, Ice). So far, I like Onyx, the main character; she's pretty different from what I've seen in this genre before, and she's a breath of fresh air.

Rising Storm by Erin Hunter (CR, 15%)

The Warriors reread continues, and I've remembered what takes place in this book. Unfortunately, I think that other than Fire and Ice, this is my least favorite of the first series. Still, the nostalgia does a lot of the heavy lifting for these books, especially since cat politics would probably intrigue me on its own today.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson (3%)

My first Brandon Sanderson novel! I was initially going to start with Mistborn, but this is required reading from my book club. (Literally. There's a group of us that choose a separate book each month that we have to read.) So far, I really like the narration style. It reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones and other classic fantasy authors, which happens to be my favorite kind of writing.

[anime-grimmy-art]

Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.

I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.

Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.

Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.

I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.

Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.

Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.

Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.

Gameplay

I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.

I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.

And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.

Music

Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.

But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.

Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too. 

Story

People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.

I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.

Characters

Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.

I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.

While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that���s honestly apparent the first time you meet them. 

Anyways, I love these 4 so much.

We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.

I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.

Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)

And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast. 

I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.

Conclusion

You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.

Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.

Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.

[convenientalias]

Femslash February Book Recs List

It's Femslash February! I had forgotten all about it until today! With that in mind, here is a short list of book recs with femslashy stuff going on--some romance novels and some other.

Romance novels (and novellas):

Crash and Burn by Cynthia Dane and Hildred Billings--I'm always yelling about every book by Cynthia Dane and Hildred Billings (she does rich alpha sapphics like no other) but this book is the one of hers I've read most recently so today I'm yelling about it! A bodyguard romance BUT the romance is between two bodyguards, not bodyguard and protect-ee. Lots of conflicted sexual tension deriving from the fact that one MC (Stella) sleeps around a lot and the other MC assumes there's no way things between them could ever be serious. (And also bc Stella claims she could never be serious with a woman specifically, which is a whole other pot of fish.) Meanwhile there's a whole mystery going on in the background. And, since it's Cynthia Dane and Hildred Billings, a whole ton of kinky smut. The sexual tension may be conflicted but it is still burning hot.

Alone by E.J. Noyes--This is categorized as a romance in most places but you could also call it suspense. It's about a woman isolated in a cabin for an experiment on psychological reactions to isolation, and what happens when another woman stumbles into the arrangement. It's a kind of messed up story and I enjoyed the dysfunction of it all.

Fire Control by Elva Birch--Cute little novella about a dragon shifter (who has trouble shifting) and a firefighter who is her ~destined mate~.

Fantasy/sci-fi:

The Alpennia series by Heather Rose Jones--This is a historical fantasy romance series that leans heavy on the worldbuilding. Do you like religious magic systems? Do you like alchemy? Do you like bodyguard romances? Do you like players? Do you like asexual characters? Do you like people experimenting with their sexuality and sometimes deciding they're queer and sometimes not? Do you like opera? Do you like people with secretly noble parentage? Do you like crossdressing? Do you like major political intrigue as a backdrop to more minor personal intrigues? If you like any of these things, at least one book in the Alpennia series is probably for you. The first book is the most a romance, and then as the series progresses it becomes more focused on a whole web of characters and events. It's one of my favorite series of all time!

The Hadra series by Diana Rivers--a series about an all-female city of women with magical (pacifist, telepathic) abilities. Can get kind of violent and honestly a little misandrist and gender essentialist, although imo the series gets less so as it goes on. (First book was published in 1987, but the most recent entry in the series was published in 2012, so there's sort of a shift.) What I love about it is how many types of romantic (or purely sexual) relationships are explored within the series. I swear in the second book, the MC hooks up with at least four women that I can remember. It's very fun for a multishipper. The general vibe of the series reminds me of the book Taran, Wanderer if anyone's read that--all the MCs are working on self improvement as well as seeking love (and sometimes trying to save the world).

The Traitor Baru Cormorant--I think everyone's heard about this one, but it really is a great read for imperialism, political intriguing, and a complicated sapphic relationship (that ends pretty horribly, so just be warned!). Baru Cormorant is a great character and so is Tain Hu, her love interest. I haven't read the rest of the series but even as a standalone this book is fire.

This Is How You Lose the Time War--Again, you've probably heard of this one. But if you haven't, it's about two time-travelling agents of enemy forces, and them gradually falling for each other through a series of originally antagonistic correspondence. I think the writing style makes or breaks this book for people. For me, it made it.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon--There are four narrators in this book, only one of whom is involved in a f/f romance, but she just happens to be my favorite character in the book. She's a spy serving a queen who claims divine right to rule--the spy has her doubts about this kingdom's religious beliefs but belongs to an order that safeguards against the ~end times~ (evil dragon attacks) and therefore has been ordered to protect her just in case her whole divine inheritance schtick is legit and will turn out to be key to saving the world. She doesn't really believe in it, but she certainly has some feelings for the queen. Also she's a huge badass and I love her.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling--Possibly my favorite horror novel (its rival being The Shining), a book about a cave explorer and the woman monitoring (controlling, ruthlessly driving forward) her expedition. Note: the cave explorer spends the whole novel alone (??) in the caves (cue claustrophobia!) but the relationship between her and the other woman is still very central in the book, and it's quite dark. I love dark femslash and this book is one of few I've read that really does it for me <3

The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford--How to describe this. Uhh a demon from Jewish folklore starts trailing a taxi-driver with the intention of creating chaos. The taxi driver (Jewish but not super religious) falls for an Orthodox Jewish woman, and a number of misadventures ensue. Tone is kind of satirical, definitely humorous. A weird read but a good one.

Classics and literary fiction:

Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley--First published in 1974, a groundbreaking novel about an interracial lesbian relationship. Can get kind of didactic but I love the couple and I think it makes some good points.

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami--Okay ngl the sapphic love here is unrequited and very literary and surreal and depressing. It also centers a lot on an outside perspective, that of a male narrator who is friends with the central lesbian. But it's Haruki Murakami, what do you expect? Estrangement, surrealism and outsider perspectives are all par for the course. I love the atmosphere of this book and I quite liked the main couple even though they don't really work out.

So, those are some femslashy books I would recommend. I'm including only books that I've read in the past couple years, and only books that I would definitely recommend. I actually discovered writing this list that my f/f reading has been down a bit in the past couple years, probably because I've been trying to expand my reading a bit (in years before, I read a ton of queer fantasy and romance, which was great but I'm trying to read more broadly lately, more literary fiction and more older books and books less focused on romance in general). Hm. I should look at my TBR and see what f/f books on it look good sometime soon.

(Because I actually have no self-control, though: Quick shout-out to some all-time favorites I read longer ago: Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Paper is White by Hilary Zaid, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, the Ieflaria series by Effice Calvin, A Treason of Truths by Ada Harper, and anything by Fiona Zedde but especially Nightshade and Hungry for It.)

[earthflaxmachina]

1 dere(k)volution

P: heres to the first of the second try at ramble posting on tumblr. instead of random rants, these posts will be centered around some kind of oc meta. also this time i have a co-host of sorts to keep it interesting because i am a dull turd.

D: It’s Derek.

P: cool. the topic for discussion today is the evolution of derek. but like the concept of derek. not this derek’s canon character development or whatever. to start by looking at the first ever image of derek that i scrolled through my camera for 10 minutes to find.

(from 2/2019)

if you didnt know already, his name was Dolan at first. the name Derek is fairly recent.

D: Dolan. What an ugly nerd name.

P: right. also. his design was based off a bottle of water i found at the grocery store. back then i had a weird tendency to draw very thin necks for some reason. along with very short torsos and long legs. so thats why the proportions look really weird.

D: That explains why you draw really thick necks now to compensate. Hahaha.

P: basically the beta concept for his story was that he lived in Hell and had an incredibly powerful wand that he inherited by accident after getting lost in the snowy woods or something. (Dolan) didnt really know what kind of responsibilities came with the wand and consistently wanted to become a magician (not fantasy kinda magic... like card tricks kind of magic) and misused the wand for trivial things such as taking a shortcut to the grocery store.

D: So I’ve been a amateur magician since birth!

P: yes. its incredible how youve stayed an amateur for this long. fun fact: harlow was also created at a similar time and was exes with one of luciano’s brothers. wow. the prosciuttoverse was a cesspool back then. a furry world PLUS heaven/hell setting? get outta here.

D: Harlow was also my love interest for quite some time!

(from 4/2019)

P: yeah. maybe we’ll do a commentary on harlow’s evolution at some point.

D: God I had such a weirdly-shaped head.

P: lets look at some other pics of dolan.

(renewed ref, from 5/2019)

(from 1/2020)

P: nothing more to note other than the fact that i remember writing a lot about you having a nice butt on your charahub/toyhouse profiles. despite the fact that your butt is pretty mundane in the evidence provided. god what the hell is that shading.

D: Ah I look so young and happy.

P: right i think dolan was meant to be in his early 20s. like literally every other oc i had at the time. next, the start of 2021 was when i revamped/redesigned dolan.

(from 2/2021 and 3/2021 respectively)

P: theres the first ever image of human derek and harlow. not much has changed tbh

D: We look like a lesbian couple.

P: the story concept was also pretty different from the original. basically i made a whole hierarchy for both heaven and hell and the world was completely extinct so everyone was either in heaven or hell. the world itself was the wence boys’ world. so the story wouldve taken place way way in the future. blah blah blah something about heaven being evil or corrupt or something corny like that, and dolan (being half devil/angel what a cliche) wanted to change The System (tm). also he was running a campaign 2 be ruler of hell or something as part of his plan. maybe he was evil maybe he wasnt idk. its old corny stuff.

D: Sounds like boring philosophical politics. Bluh bluh.

P: yeah. anyways timeskip to later in the year when i completely revamped your story AGAIN! ill try to limit the pictures from now on because im almost at the max 10.

(from 7/2021)

D: Look at me and my pronounce!

P: so at this point. there was a heaven/hell but it wasnt the main setting it just existed. there was an office kinda deal going on for the admin stuff. a dead persons soul could either be reincarnated in heaven/hell or destroyed iirc. there were 4 different departments because people die all the time so they categorized them. dolan had the biggest department because it was Death by natural causes/accidents. the 3 other were Pestilence (disease), War (conflict or generally murder), Famine. at this time i changed dolan’s name to Death because he was literally the grim reaper. he also wasnt God at this time. there was still some kind of higher power i think it was Stig. harlow was human and also lesbian now. nothing else interesting.

D: So when did I become Derek?

P: I dunno. some time after my birthday? when i started the storyline where you became human for a bit and needed a human name for Death. then i just got tired of calling you Death and stuck with Derek because it is better in every way.

D: Excellent judgement.

(from 28/10/2021)

P: this was probably the start of the all New and Improved derek storyline. the rest is pretty streamline from here and doesnt really need a recap.

D: Woof look how sweet and well-adjusted I looked back then! And that tiny nose.

P: yeah you still had some humanity (pupils) in your eyes. and still had the square glasses thing going on. eugh. waitwaitwait lets look at the first time i drew you and rumi lol

(from 11/2021)

D: We were so in love.

P: wow you guys have changed a LOT since then. for one: you were probably never that sweet to her. and she hates your guts now. 

D: If I had any!

P: alright. that concludes this ramble on THE EVOLUTION OF DEREK

D: DERE(K)VOLUTION

P: that sounds stupid. welp. i will probably make a poll on whose meta we should recap next - because i am always looking for an excuse to make a google form. or just send smth to the askbox. i dont care. bye

D: Goodbye friends!

[utilitycaster]

Actual Play: How it works

This is a collection of how I think of actual play as a medium, because TTRPG actual play is a unique one - a combination of improvisation, a rule set, and randomizing elements. This isn’t fully comprehensive, and I may add to it in the future as I come up with more ideas. I’m also thinking of providing some examples/more in-depth stuff for the items in separate posts, so please let me know if that’s something you would want.

Most of the observations here heavily skew towards D&D and Pathfinder actual play, as they are what I know best. Other systems I’ve listened to (PbtA, Cortex, Savage Worlds) fit in here as well, but this may not apply to all actual play, particularly GM-less games or games that are primarily played as one-shots.

Finally, and I say this only because it is a recurring problem on the social media that I happen to find incredibly irritating: you are also welcome and encouraged to have other opinions, disagree with me, dislike all of this, etc. If you have things to say, my inbox is the best place; this is too long for multiple reblogs and this is a sideblog so replies are tricky. However, if you are the kind of person who is inclined to say things like “Actually, there was an exception to this rule! It’s in the backmasked audio at 06:59:32 in the outtakes of episode 192c of Dungeons and Discotheques! :)” I would like to provide you with this actual play line quote from Adaine Abernant in Fantasy High: I think that you feel like you have a lot to offer, and please take this the right way... you don't.

Onto the thoughts, below the jump!

On narrative devices and rules and the random element:

Foreshadowing is possible, but limited to specific circumstances. A GM can (and should) foreshadow! The point of foreshadowing is to set expectations, and GMs should have hints that indicate things about the world that the party may encounter later, provide potential plot hooks, or otherwise provide the party with information. Similarly, players can do things that nod towards as of yet unrevealed elements of their backstories. However, it is impossible to deliberately foreshadow plot resolutions, because it is unknown what they will be. That doesn’t mean that in retrospect things may happen that echo back to earlier events, but the intent to foreshadow was not there - it’s a happy accident.

I don’t want to say normal narrative rules don’t apply because what are the normal narrative rules, really? However, I think an important thing to emphasize is that narrative satisfaction is not guaranteed. This is especially true if the cast has agreed character death is an option, but even beyond that, an unlucky or lucky roll can seemingly cut an arc short or take things in a weird and unforeseen direction. Because there is an element of randomness, randomness will occur. This, along with the character agency I discuss later, is one of my favorite things about actual play. It strips out the need for a moral or message or specific beats - not that those can’t arise, but they can’t be forced - and as such it can make for unusual, creative, and very true-to-life stories even in a fantasy setting.

On character role, viewpoint and agency:

Actual play stories have an ensemble of viewpoint characters (the PCs). This is perhaps the clearest restriction that exists, at least in all of the game systems I’ve mentioned. There is no good way to depict NPCs acting on their own unless the PCs have a way to observe them, unseen (magical or mundane). It is extremely difficult to have one player play multiple PCs, and if a player leaves there is not a good way to recast their PC. This doesn’t mean NPCs can’t do things with each other offscreen that have implications for the story, nor that PCs can’t come and go or become NPCs, but it does mean a good GM is very careful about NPC interactions because it gets very boring and non-collaborative very quickly to watch someone talk with themselves.

The PCs hold a level of agency that characters in other media do not. Statements about how the characters have a mind of their own in original fiction aside (sidebar: I am team ‘they don’t, you just didn’t realize that the way you wrote their personality and the way you wrote your plot conflicted until you actually started writing it out, which is very understandable’) PCs do in fact have a mind of their own separate from the GM and from each other.

Something I like about this is that unless you are coming up with conspiracy theories regarding the interpersonal dynamics of the players themselves (in which case I think you’re both a creep and a weirdo (derogatory)) or if the GM is not respecting player agency (which I feel is usually very easy to see; see below for more on that) you do not get cases of “these characters are together simply because the author felt like pairing them off” as can happen in scripted media. Any romantic relationship is, inherently, a mutually agreed choice between the originators of these characters, and more generally any plot or relationship necessarily needs to have something that appeals to all characters involved. It may be as simple as “these are my friends and I want to keep hanging out”, but, despite this being improv, it’s a medium where saying “no” is always an option.

With that said there is still room for players to be uncooperative or selfish. It’s rare, but it does exist, and I’m personally of the opinion that it’s in part the GM’s responsibility to have a conversation with that player and to not play into their attention grabbing. That said, with one notable exception, all the accusations I’ve seen about this have seemed to me to be more “I don’t like this player/character/ship/arc and I am going to claim they are stealing focus, despite it being justified,” and not genuinely about a player being obnoxious.

Agency separate from the person who creates the world is perhaps the most unique element of actual play and at this point I’m going to talk a little about how a good GM fosters that.

I’ve said before that when a GM has things happen that are not at least mostly a direct response to character actions, they are typically either world-building or a hook, and can be both. I think of this sort of as a variant on Chekhov’s gun, actually; the gun doesn’t have to go off, ultimately, in actual play, but it is saying the following:

This is a world where there are guns hung on the wall sometimes.

Someone else might do something with this gun.

You can attempt to do something with this gun before they do.

And then the players decide how they want to interpret it and what they want to do, and the dice indicate the level of success in doing so.

A good GM should encourage the players to explore and be creative, and more than anything, reward agency. This doesn’t mean rewarding it with success; rather, it means if someone explicitly indicates they want to interact with an element of the world, you should give them the tools such that eventually, they can try to do so. You can also give them reasons in-game why they should change their mind, or make it so that it’s almost certain to fail if that is reasonable, but if you are trying to flat-out shut it down without providing an in-world reason why, the cracks will almost certainly show.

One important thing to remember about GM-ing: GMs will probably come into the game with some ideas of what’s going on in the world, and some level of understanding of what the world looks like. That will be influenced by the players, both in terms of the consequences of their actions and choices, and also by what the players are interested in. Which is to say: even if there is a session zero, and the GM states a specific premise, that can change! Characters develop, player interests change, dice rolls do weird things, and so a good GM absolutely must if not kill their darlings at least remove, recycle, and adapt them based on the direction of the game and motivations of the characters. Even in a plot-driven campaign, the players and GM and what makes them happy needs to drive the story, because fundamentally, this is a game that should be fun. Which brings us to...

On the Watsonian and the Doylist in actual play:

Stepping back for a second: the context in which people are creating fiction influences them. End of sentence. It’s ridiculous to think it doesn’t. This means everything from political events and worldwide trends, to the media the creator is consuming or has consumed, to personal life events. There are always going to be in- and out-of-universe explanations for choices in fiction.

In actual play, the players and GM know the underlying rules of the world, and it’s difficult to truly split the party and have everyone not involved leave in a way that feels fun, so everyone always has information that they can’t really use in-game. Also it’s a fully improvised medium that is primarily theater of the mind, so unconscious choices, misunderstandings, and accidents are frequently not edited out, and people are human. Which is to say I think it’s important to take this into consideration in one’s analysis; it’s not that you can’t incorporate a Watsonian reason for something that happened, but Doylist reasons are given a weight that they may not have in an edited work.

Three of the Doylist reasons beyond the misunderstandings and accidents I wanted to cover are metagaming, awareness that this is for an audience, and character knowledge.

Metagaming exists in many TTRPGs, and it’s not actually inherently bad. When a DM in D&D says “that just hits” you get an idea of the AC of the creature, and you know your own attack rolls, and you can make decisions based on that, when, in a ‘real’ fantasy battle scenario, you probably wouldn’t gain all that insight from a single hit. The rules of the TTRPG are considered part of normal acceptable metagaming. There’s also the more general one; if you start the first session in a tavern, there is an unspoken expectation that the PCs will interact and form an impromptu group and not just quietly drink their ale and leave - basically, the rules of improv still apply. This is a good thing. And finally, there’s the acknowledgement that you are people with feelings and this is a game and so if someone is upset you stop, or you have discussions about consent between sessions that inform actions in-game. Metagaming just gets obnoxious when someone rolls a nat 1 and then argues that this is obvious information and they should know, or looks up every monster in the manual when you encounter it instead of playing true to the character’s knowledge.

In actual play, the ‘hey fellow tavern-goers, would you like to be a group’ form of metagaming, the “oh right this is a story and we should move the story forward,” is even more important than in home D&D games. This is where I recommend listening or reading some Q&As or watching some after shows, because you’ll hear players talk about this. A 5-hour shopping episode or extensive foraging can get boring to watch or listen to (and unlike accidentally boring or frustrating things, are pretty easy to predict and avoid). On the flip side, a risky choice might seem more appealing when you know there’s an audience who would love the payoff.

I am personally, perhaps unsurprisingly given what I said about player dynamic conspiracy theories and randomness (or, outside of this post, my strong dislike of certain popular fan theories), not a big fan of creators catering to audiences’ every whim...but it’s unavoidable that they will take the audience experience in mind.

Finally, character knowledge, which is the opposite of metagaming - when a character knows something the player doesn’t. This is sometimes covered with, for example, GM statements like “you would know, as a person with history proficiency, that this country is actually in a regency period.” If the character had, in improv, before the GM had a chance to say that, mentioned the king, that’s just because the player did not know that and had made an assumption.

Personally I find going deep down the rabbit hole with things like this - “why doesn’t this character, who CLAIMS to be from this country, not know this?”, or clearly OOC statements - tends not to actually spark any interesting theories, but that is, ultimately, an opinion.

A few final thoughts on different formats of actual play

True livestream/live-to-tape (Critical Role, Into the Motherlands, and the second season of Fantasy High): the main thing to keep in mind is Doylist explanations are even more important because there is quite literally no editing. Also, there will possibly be some of those more boring stretches or even a little OOC metagaming discussions within the structure of the game, because there’s no way around it.

Editing, but primarily just to remove long explanations/math and doing soundscaping (NADDPod, Rusty Quill Gaming): Pretty similar; a lot of them even make the choice to leave in OOC metagaming discussions, so it’s mostly that there are fewer cases of people slowly adding numbers.

More extensive editing and possibly some predefined other elements (TAZ, most Dimension 20 shows): this may fall into a more traditional story structure. It’s not to say that there won’t be surprises, because the players do still have agency, but the ‘rails’ might be a little more apparent; there might be some DM monologuing done after the fact (beyond just cleaning up the audio) or choices that were not scripted per se, but not exactly improvised either (think how D20 tends to have pre-set battle maps and earlier seasons had a pretty strict RP/Battle structure.

Somewhat relatedly there are broad story structures, which is more of a spectrum, ranging from sandbox (Critical Role) to very clearly GM-driven missions (TAZ Balance and, to an extent, Amnesty); nearly all of the other shows here fall into a structure of “here is your overall goal, how precisely you get there is up to you although, like any GM, I will provide in-story information on where it may make sense to go that will often funnel you towards specific places.”

I do have a theory that since TAZ Balance in particular was an entry point for so many people, it takes them time to adjust to the more sprawling, unpredictable, and difficult-to-organize stories other actual play can have, but ultimately it is a matter of personal preference and all of these still fall into the category of actual play.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Day of the Animals

While perhaps not my favorite episode this season, Day of the Animals is easily the best written story of season three. Even so, it still has problems due to the third season’s poor approach to characterization. 

Summary: Rapunzel, Varian, Angry and Red are returning stolen loot that the two girls had stolen years ago. They are accompanied by Max, Pascal, Ruddiger and Hamuel who all cannot stop quarreling with each other (or in Hamuel's case, just being useless). While messing with a sea shell pendant, it magically transports the humans into it, leaving the animals to fight over it. A minor thug named Dwayne, steals the pendant forcing the animals to work together to retrieve it. 

So Why is a Polynesian Inspired Kingdom Within Riding Distance of a Northern European Country? 

If you’ll remember my review of Beginnings, Neserdina’s princesses were wearing Polynesian garb and dancing the Hula when prepping for the competition. Now I’ve already went into length as to why that’s not good representation, but in addition to that it’s also just plain dumb. You can’t just transport one ethic group and dump them into another part of the world because it’s convenient for you. You don’t earn any brownie points for doing that. Especially when your fantasy world is still based off of our own historical earth. 

To make things even more confusing, we actually saw Neserdina way back in season one in Way of the Willow. It’s where Willow bought the gremlin knock-off. 

That is an island. How the heck do you get to a volcanic island riding in a horse and cart? And don't tell me they’re riding to a port, because Corona is a port city already. They could have gotten there by boat. It’s also can’t be too far away from Corona’s borders if Angry and Red were able to get there on foot during their year long travels. 

The only explanation is that the entirety of the Tangled crew doesn’t understand geography, and this won’t be the last example in the show to back up that statement. 

So Why Is Rapunzel Here?

We get explanations for why everyone is on this road trip, except for the main character herself. Red and Angry are trying to return some stolen loot. Varian is wanting to pick up rare alchemy supplies at the market and was invited along because Raps hopes it’ll be a chance for Ruddiger and Max to get know one another better. 

But why on earth does Rapunzel feel the need to come on this trip herself? Doesn’t she have a kingdom to run? While I’m sure Eugene is more than capable of handling things, this doesn’t reflect well upon the writers supposed plan of making Rapunzel appear more responsible. 

Literally any other adult could have come along on this trip. This wasn’t something Rapunzel needed to waste time on. Lance especially would have been more appropriate here as he’s the one who’s suppose to eventually adopt Angry and Red.  And the sad thing is, all they had to do was give Rapunzel a line about needing to attend some sort of diplomatic business in Neserdina. That’s it. 

In a show that’s supposed to be all about Rapunzel; Rapunzel sure doesn’t have a whole lot of reasons to exist in the majority of the episodes. 

Lack of Worldbuilding Strikes Again

At this point I’m kind of numb to the whole “magical thing just exists for no adequately explained reason” and so I’m not as upset as some people are about the shell necklace. But it’s still not good writing. 

Why does this thing exist? How did come to be cursed? How did it get mixed in with their stuff? What activated the magic and why did it only effect the human’s even though the animals were closer to it? 

Just something show. Anything. You bothered to give use rules for how this thing works and even stuck to them this time, but you can’t just make the last leg of the trip and give us some exposition? 

Yeah, okay. 

So Where Exactly Are We in Relation to Corona?

We can see Pittsford and Ivangarr on the road sign and we have to be in riding distance to Neserdina from Corona, but like are we in Corona still? Are we in Koto, which is Corona’s nearest neighbor to the east according to season three. Are we in some no-man’s-land where none of the kingdoms have control, or are we already in Neserdina itself? 

The series gives us no sense of direction nor any firm placement for Corona within it’s world. I only know it is a Northern European country because Corona itself is a peninsula with a north sea, uses French, English, and German fashion/customs, and Rapunzel is a Germanic fairy tale. But like those clues are thrown into a blender and contradicted several times over, on top of never being told where it’s closest kingdoms actually lie. 

All of this matters when traveling and exploring the wider world are big themes of your show. You need more solid and consistent world building than this. It also impacts how much authority and control your main character has within the episode itself if she range of political power is limited to one area. So like we need to know where the heroes stand here. 

(FYI I personally headcannon Corona as former Prussia which was once part of Germany and it’s alliance of smaller kingdoms. It’s also a peninsula next to the Curonian Spit) 

This Is Not Progress

Okay so the idea here, is that the show is implying that Rapunzel is trying to improve Corona’s justice system over Frederic’s previously inhumane crack down on crime. However, this is terribly executed. 

For starters the show has never called Frederic nor Rapunzel out for their previous misbehavior. You can not change any system for the better without acknowledging the flaws within said system first. Therefore this comes right out of nowhere and doesn’t stick around long enough to stay within the viewers minds for later. 

Secondly, Rapunzel is incredibly fickle about who she does and doesn’t set free. The Saporians were still in the dungeons last time we saw them, Caine was shipped off to the prison island and left to die there as far as we know, and the Stabbingtons are shown shackled together in the wedding short even though they supposedly changed their ways and befriended Eugene again. 

Meanwhile Dwayne and Stalyan are free to go their marry way and continue their life of crime, Varian is only released from his overly harsh punishment because he kissed Rapunzel’s ass not because it was wrong to imprison him in the first place, and later Cassandra gets away scot free because she’s Rapunzel’s bestie even though she committed the worst crimes out of everyone in the show and for very little reason. 

That’s not justice. That’s not compassion. That’s not progressive reform. It’s just nepotism, and it’s every bit as corrupt as Frederic’s classism and totalitarianism. 

Just because Rapunzel is “nice” it doesn’t mean that she is kind. Real reform has to treat everyone with equality and have a set of base standards that are beyond one person’s personal judgment. She is still a dictator and an abuser even if she lets the occasional person go free on a whim. 

Finally, Rapunzel’s methods are just downright ineffective. Dwyane may not be a threat to our heroes, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a threat to other people. He’s not actually sorry about trying to rob people at knife point and he fully plans on continuing being a thief after feeding Rapunzel the lines she wants to hear. 

Furthermore, we don’t know if this course of action is born out of malice or desperate need. He half heartily comments about finding ‘an honest job” but can he even do that? Is it even a realistic option for him? The series has been weaving this class inequality theme through out it’s past three seasons and directly connecting that to Corona’s crime rate. 

Eugene had a hard time finding a job during season one directly due to his past record, remember? A life of crime he was forced to lead in order to survive, and he’s the Prince Consort! What chance does Dwayne have? Did Rapunzel even try to help him find work or did she just wag her finger at him and told him “Now, now, stealing’s not nice.” 

The show wants to act like Rapunzel is this progressive reformer but then they turn her into a Republican instead. That’s not me being sarcastic either, this approach to criminal justice is the foundation of conservative belief and has been for centuries. The right are not interested in why people commit crime. They don’t care about addressing the fundamental problems in society that lead people to break the law. Let alone bother to analyze why those laws exist in the first place. Instead they resort to doublethink and survivor bias to either write off those that fall through the cracks or make excuses for why their policies repeatedly fail, often ignoring the fact that things aren’t actually working for whole swathes of people who aren’t themselves.  

Tangled the Series is far too simplistic and childish in it’s approach to deeper subjects like this to enforce the messages it supposedly wants to enforce. Rapunzel herself relies on magical thinking, double standards, and personal bias to see her through every and any problem and the show just rewards her for it rather than challenging her to grow and in doing so winds up supporting people like her in their authoritarian ideas, whether that was the writers’ intentions or not. 

In short, Rapunzel shows no interest in putting in the real work it would take to implement genuine restorative justice. She doesn't honestly care about Dwyane or his victims. She’s just posturing here for the sake of her self image.  

You’re Not In Any Position to Talk Rapunzel 

Speaking of Rapunzel being a hypocrite.... The entirety of season three’s main conflict is her having a petty bitch fight with her supposed best friend and needlessly dragging everyone else into it.

In fact that’s the whole show. Rapunzel repeatedly failing to get along with other people because she’s deep down a shitty person despite the veneer of ‘friendliness’ she slaps on to hide it. Having her just say she knows better does nothing to convince me that she’s actually learned anything. You have to show that she’s learned it first, and that requires acknowledging her own wrong doings.  

Varian’s face here just tells it all. Rapunzel is full of shit and no one in the show knows it better than him. Why are they even friends again? Why should we trust her with the three kids she neglected more than once? Why should any of these people take what she says seriously? 

Well This is Contradictory

Also, since we brought up double standards, here’s Varian undermining that whole “jail is bad” thing Rapunzel is trying to push with Dwayne and later with Cass. Not only is the show under cutting it’s themes for a joke, but it just reinforces the abuse Varian received. He’s now bought into Frederic’s stupid beliefs and winds up reinforcing to the audience that that his ‘reform’ was due to his past imprisonment.   

As an adult watching this series, Varian’s supposed redemption continues to increasingly look like a victim complying with their past abuser out of fear of further harm rather than anyone genuinely learning to be better.

Can We Please Stop Infantilizing the 16 Year Old

As if to deflect from Varian’s past mistreatment and continuing parentification, the show then goes on to showcase the opposite extreme whenever possible. I know it’s hard to tell just from these few screen shots alone, but over the course of season three Varian is spoken down too and treated condescendingly by the rest of the cast, and by Rapunzel in particular, even as he enters his later teens/early adulthood.  

Some of this is just to due to Rapunzel being her usual holier than thou self, but there’s also times, like here, where Varian is lumped together with the actual children of the show, even though he’s 6 to 8 years their senior. 

In fact out of everyone Rapunzel interacts with, Varian’s actually the closest to her in both age and development. Queen for a Day forced the two of them into a power imbalance due to a mixture of classism and society’s ongoing unhealthy (and often artificial) divide between younger and older teens, but as we get further and further away from that point in time and as Varian nears the same age Rapunzel started out as, that imbalance becomes less and less relevant. 

Look at how this scene is framed, He’s standing between Angry and Red and is placed lower than them to make it look like he’s one of them. He’s not. 

Varian may still look 12 with his big old eyes and short stature, but seeing as how we’re past Hearts Day, he’s actually close to being 17, if he isn’t already. The timeline gets even wonkier after The King and Queen of Hearts, but trust me, we’re close to being two years past Queen for a Day, if not more so. 

Varian, for all counts, should be Rapunzel’s equal by now in terms of story. Not only is he closest in age to her, but he’s also the only other person going through a coming of age arc. And of the two, Varian’s the one who has actually learned and grown as a person. He has more real world experience than Rapunzel ever will and knows how to implement that experience. (He’s also the more mature, but that’s more of a failure to write Rapunzel competently than a reflection of his capabilities.) 

No matter how you slice it, Varian shouldn’t be taking orders or advice from Rapunzel; no one should be, really; and he most certainly shouldn’t put up with her condescension. Rapunzel is not his nor anybody else’s mother. She’s not even a big sister like figure, and at no point should be treated as the leader of anything or anyone. 

Rapunzel is a Poor Man’s Rose Quartz 

I typically try not to draw too many comparisons between Tangled and other shows outside of the occasional parallel, as a show should be able to stand on it’s own for good or for bad, but it’s hard not to discuss the series without also discussing Steven Universe in some way. 

Steven Universe is this generation’s Batman the Animated Series or Scooby Doo. It’s the game changer that everybody else is trying to copy in some manner. Chris desperately wants Tangled the Series to be the next Steven Universe, right down to how the show is structured, paced, and what themes are presented. But unfortunately Chris has no idea why Steven Universe works the way it does. 

For starters SU adjusted it’s pacing as it went along, smoothing out its rougher edges while Tangled doubled down on its filler. SU had a planned arc from the get go and stuck to it, so that by the time the twists came they made sense. SU kept it’s focus on Steven purposefully so that the story unfolded from his view point while making to sure to acknowledge the importance of other characters around him and their conflicts. It didn’t make him infallible nor shove aside everyone else’s arcs.  

But most importantly, Steven Universe was written by a bisexual nonbinary person who set out to make a show for people in the queer community like themselves. Meanwhile, as a middle aged white man, Chis hasn’t a damn clue about his primary audience and has shown no interest in connecting with them. 

This isn’t to say that Steven Universe is a perfect show. No show is beyond criticism. Nor is this to say that straight white cis men can’t write; many of them do and can portray characters unlike themselves competently enough. But if you’re completely disinterested in other points of view than you can’t be a good writer of fictional stories, that’s just a fact. Because in order to understand proper characterization you need to acknowledge that not every character ever will be like you and that even you’re main heroes will hold beliefs and experiences different from yourself. Otherwise there is no genuine conflict to build off of. Either no one will disagree with each other or the conflict will come across as flat and forced, complete with lopsided bias. 

Therefore, in the end, Rapunzel winds up being less of a Steven and more of a Rose Quartz/Pink Dimond. Both are spoiled princesses/co-rulers of a kingdom that mistreats it’s people and anyone outside of it, who rebelled against their guardians, supposedly out of a sense of justice, but really for themselves and their own freedom, only to make things even worse for everyone. On top of that they both accidently harmed their friends, freindzone their best friend while also bossing them around, are condescending to their love interests, is controlling of people who trust them, and throws temper tantrums when they don’t get what they want, oh and neglected someone for an inhumane amount of time. 

Even then, Rapunzel winds up being the worst of the two. 

The whole point behind Rose was that she is someone whom the main characters place upon a pedestal and as the series went along slowly had the scales fall from their eyes and learned to view her for who she really was flaws and all. By the end, in Future, she is even metaphorically removed from her pedestal when Steven removes her picture from the wall.  

Rose also grows as a character, unlike Rapunzel. Her story is deliberately being told to us backwards. The awful person she was in the past was no longer who she was by the time of her death. True she was still flawed, and the consequences of her actions continued on even after her demise, but she actually tried to be a better person. She got called out for her behavior, she wasn’t excused for actions even when the show explained why she did what she did, and she stopped doing harmful actions whenever she realized that they hurt someone. 

Greg was allowed to stand up to her and show how she was wrong, and she respected him for it and later fell in love with him because of it. She tried to better control her temper when she wound up hurting her friend. Her failed revolution and her mistreatment of Spinel was actually born from a misguided desire to help, rather than outright selfishness. 

Rose Quratz/Pink Dimond is a brilliant fucking character. You may not like her, but you can’t deny that she is one of the most complex figures in children’s media to ever be created. She is real, nuanced, and multifaceted. He role within the story is complicated, messy, and intricate. She is the most well rounded female character I’ve ever seen and she is what I had hoped Rapunzel would be when I first watched season one, only even more so as the actual focus. 

I want women in cartoons to be people! 

But Rapunzel fails at every turn to follow through with this promise. She is not a deep complex character. She’s not a flawed and complicated heroine. She’s a blank canvas in which the creator can shove his creepy ass views upon. She is never taken off her pedestal, she’s never allowed to be wrong, and she is forced to spout the the creator’s personal bias against other characters. 

Rapunzel isn’t a person. She had the chance to be one, but then was reduced to .. to this. As a woman, the treatment of Rapunzel and Cassandra in this show is just flat out insulting. 

So What Is the Difference Between Angry and Red Now?

I’m all for character growth, but at this point Angry and Red are just interchangeable. Anything that made them uniquely them has been lost, and they’re now just fulfilling the generic rambunctious little kid trope. Red becoming more assertive shouldn’t mean she stops being an introvert altogether; that’s not how that works. While Angry shouldn’t lose her temper completely just because she’s wiling to open up more. 

So Why Dwayne?

I like Dwayne as a character and in truth I don’t mind his existence here, and unlike that werewolf hunter last time he at least was established in a pervious season. But this is still time that could have went to a more important antagonist. 

Also notice that Dwyane gets a villain song, but not Lady Caine or Zhan Tiri. Just saying. 

Rapunzel Has Not Earned the Role of the Wise Sage and Mentor 

Rapunzel has never learned to listen to others. Ever.

On it’s own this might have been a good speech, but when taken in context of the wider story it just makes Rapunzel look like an ass. 

A year traveling does not make Rapunzel suddenly all knowing. She is not wiser nor more experienced than anyone else in this scene. She’s also a crappy leader and big fat hypocrite.  

Even when she’s technically right, as seen here, she’s still in the wrong because she never follows through and acts upon her own advice; making this whole story pointless in the grand scheme of things. 

And that’s the core problem with season three. Rapunzel is shoved into a role she is not designed for and the whole premise of the series runs right off the rails. You’re main heroine in a coming of age story can not inhabit the mentor role. She can not simultaneously learn and grow and be always right while instructing everyone else. 

All through out season three Rapunzel is either rendered completely useless in her own damn series, or she utterly fails to fulfill any sort of narrative promise laid out for her while she infuriatingly hijacks the story from more interesting and dynamic characters. 

Behold The Only Reason Why Varian was Included in the Episode 

Speaking of hijacking things, Rapunzel of course has to get the idea to save everybody, even though what she thinks of isn’t anything special. It’s not derived from her character as an individual nor from all that experience she supposedly has. It’s literally an idea anyone could have come up  with and the show just hands it to her in order to justify her exitance. 

Meanwhile the character who actually is useful to the plot is sidelined and reduced to just a plot device. And not just here, Varian is rendered practically pointless in all but two episodes in season three, even in episodes that he actually should have more impact in, like the season opener and series finale. 

Good writing treats characters as equally contributing to the plot in ways that complements who these characters are.  

Ok I’ll Admit That This Line Is Funny

Look, I know this whole review series is about pointing out the negative, and I stand by my opinion that Tangled the Series is one of the worst written shows I’ve ever seen, but I want to make one thing clear.... I do not hate the show. If I hated the show I would not waste my time reviewing it. 

Yes the over all writing is shit, but there are a lot of good things to be found in the series beyond just the crap story arc. The humor is usually solid, the animation is gorgeous, the music is a delight, and the majority of the characters are likable even though they don’t develop in the ways that they should. There’s a lot of talent that went into this show and there’s a lot of potential to be had in it’s set up and lore. 

Being critical or negative about the aspects of something doesn’t mean you dislike it, or that you’re not a real fan, or that you’re just a ‘hater’, and I actually find TTS to be fascinating because it’s such a mess. I write reviews because they’re fun and because I genuinely think there is something to be learned from Tangled’s mistakes. 

So Why Do We Cut Back to Rapunzel Here and Not Varian? 

This is such an odd framing choice. Varian is the one who is talking and reacting to what’s happening. It’s his pet that’s in trouble and therefore he carries the emotional weight of the scene, and yet it’s Rapunzel’s shocked face we focus on? Why? What’s the point of that? She has no business being the center focus here. The action does not involve her. 

If you wanted to include her for a later set up then why not have both her and Varian present in this shot? Usually I can at least count on the story boarders to frame things better than this, but they really missed the mark here. Unless Chris is just that stupid and petty that he over ruled them and forced Varian out of the scene, but that seems like a pointless fight to pick, even for him. 

See This is How you Fulfill a Narrative Promise 

The conflict between Ruddiger and Max was set up in season one with What the Hair, then it was reiterated a few episodes ago during The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne, and then it was reintroduced in this episode along with a stated lesson about working together that they needed to learn. By they end of the episode, guess what, they’ve learned to work together. That is how you properly set up and resolve a conflict. 

It’s clear from this that the writers of Tangled the Series know the basic tenants of writing and how to fulfill narrative promises. So the fact that they don’t follow through with this in the majority of the show’s episodes and ongoing story arcs just baffles me. 

Is it negligence? Is it hubris? Is it incompetent management and editorial mandates? Is it just one asshole ruining everything or is this a failure in the writers room as a whole? 

I just don’t understand what the fuck went wrong here. There’s no reason for why the show got as bad as it did. How does the most acclaimed animation company in the world put out such amateurish tripe? 

Just... wow. 

Now you know why I’m mesmerized by this show. It is a mystery to be solved, like trying to figure out how the crew on the Titanic fucked up so badly or why Hindenburg blew up. You just can’t look away. 

Conclusion 

Like I said at the start, structurally speaking this is the strongest episode of the season. I personally enjoy Lost Treasure a little more, just because Rapunzel annoys me less in that, but it’s not a bad story. However when you’re best episode in your final season is filler, then you know you’re in trouble. 

If you like my reviews and want to support my writing endeavors you can drop a tip in my kofi https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

[fictionadventurer]

Fairy Tale Retellings

I know that @magpie-trove has been recommended enough books to fill several years, but since fairy tale retellings are my niche, I’m going to throw some more titles out there. (I’m limiting myself to 1) books/short stories 2) that I enjoyed 3) that I haven’t seen mentioned in connection to the original post. I’m also trying not to branch out into too many tales, so I’m going to be leaving out some slightly more obscure ones).

Before I go into the specifics, I’m just going to say, that if you only read three books out of this list, read Entwined by Heather Dixon (12 Dancing Princesses),  Brine and Bone by Kate Stradling (Little Mermaid) and Valiant by Sarah Macguire. (And if you only read one series, make it Regina Doman’s Fairy Tale Novels.)

Cinderella

Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey: Short, sweet, autumny retelling that I like for the atmosphere and the loving relationship between Cinderella and her stepfamily.

Silver Woven In My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Extremely short, traditional retelling, starring a mistreated girl who collects Cinderella stories while being in one of her own. Has a sweet charm to it.

Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling: A short retelling set in a traditional fairy tale kingdom, but with an excellent plot twist. I like it very much until the ending entangles it in a far-too-complicated magic system.

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo: A sassy retelling starring a grumpy fairy baker who tries to get out of his godfather duties by getting his two charges to fall in love with each other. Gets points for a unique, almost Wodehousish parody element that is an extreme breath of fresh air in a genre dominated by YA romances.

The Spinner and the Slipper by Camryn Lockhart: Mashes up the story with Rumpelstiltskin. Clearly the work of a very young author, but I’m putting it on here for the fun use of the fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Beauty and the Beast

Unseen Beauty by Amity Thomsen: Traditional fantasy retelling from the POV of one of the invisible servants. Writing that’s a cut above most self-pubbed books, with extra points for featuring a female friendship that’s just as important as the main romance.

Snow White

Fairest Son by H.S.J. Williams: Gender-flipped version involving the fae. Is the only Snow White retelling that had me uncertain for a while of where the plot was going to go.

Sleeping Beauty

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan: A sci-fi retelling involving a girl who was regularly kept in stasis for the convenience of her corporate mogul parents, then was left in stasis for more than 70 years while the apocalypse happened. She wakes up to a world that’s recovered to become a very different place and has to deal with the emotional fallout of everything that’s happened to her. And it’s intense. This book has the distinction of being one of only two books with scenes that made me put the book down so I could sob uncontrollably. (The other is Rapunzel Let Down). There’s a little bit of content (a couple of kissing scenes that veer toward steamy, and use of futuristic swear words that have clear connections to modern swear words) but easily skippable.

The Little Mermaid

Brine and Bone by Kate Stradling: On first read, I appreciated it as a faithful-to-Andersen retelling, but found it otherwise forgettable. I reread it earlier this year and cannot understand how I possibly came to that conclusion. This has beautiful character work in a unique world that, I cannot stress this enough, is loyal to the Andersen version while appreciating the true joy of that ending.

Silent Mermaid by Brittany Fichter: First half had some excellent world-building and interesting conflicts that fell apart in a more cliche second half, but I remember it being enjoyable overall.

The Princess and the Pea

The Bruised Princess by A.G. Marshall: Part of her Once Upon a Short Story collection. They’re all decent-to-great, but this one is my favorite, a sweet little romance that makes the story make a surprising amount of sense.

I need to give a shout-out to my favorite retelling of this tale. I can’t remember the title. It was on Fanfiction.net back in the day. (I tried looking it up, but it wasn’t part of the collection I assumed it was in). It was from the POV of the servant who had to stuff all twenty mattresses. She has allergies and is miserable by the time she’s done, and gets her revenge by stuffing the top mattress with gravel.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Entwined by Heather Dixon: One of my very top favorite retellings, a creative and whimsical and touching story focusing on the twelve close-knit sisters and their relationship with their buttoned-up father in the aftermath of their mother’s death.

The Brave Little Tailor

Valiant by Sarah McGuire: The only retelling I’ve ever seen of this tale, starring a girl who has to masquerade as a boy to get work as a tailor, and winds up entangled in a kingdom’s battle against giants. The first act is very boring, but it turns into a very well-done retelling with excellent characters and worldbuilding.

Bonus: Series

These are series that retell several fairy tales in the same universe, and I thought it’d be easier to present them all together than separating them out by fairy tale.

The Fairy Tale Novels by Regina Doman: Catholic retellings set in the modern day. They have their weak points, but they’re my gold standard for how to write a modern retelling and how to write a religious romance.

The Shadow of the Bear: Snow White and Rose Red. Fun and adventurous. Gets points for introducing me to Chesterton.

Black as Night: Snow White, focusing on the Snow White character from the first book. Darker and more intense, but with some deep themes.

Waking Rose: Sleeping Beauty, focusing on the Rose Red character’s adventures in college. By far the most popular book in the series, it’s overlong, but extremely good.

The Midnight Dancers: The Twelve Dancing Princesses, focusing on mostly new characters with a side character from Waking Rose in the soldier role. A slighter story with a pricklier main character, but it’s a strong contender for my favorite in the series, exploring the connections between beauty and truth and goodness.

Alex O’Donnell and the 40 Cyberthieves: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, starring Waking Rose side characters. This is a lighter adventure tale. All the stuff surrounding the hacking subplot is slightly ridiculous, but it’s one of the only YA novels I’ve ever seen that explores the realistic nuances of considering marriage with someone very different from you.

Rapunzel Let Down: Rapunzel. By far the darkest themes (it’s classified as an adult book). All new characters with some cameos. I thought it was decent on first read, but on reread, it blew me away with some of its themes (Except for a very melodramatic fifth act).

The Andari Chronicles by Kenley Davidson: Retellings set in a very mildly magical fantasy world, mostly focused on political intrigue.

Traitor’s Masque: Cinderella. 60% longer than it needs to be because of the extremely wordy writing style, and it makes me tear my hair out every time I try rereading, but the core conflict between the two brothers is compelling.

The Countess and the Frog: The Frog Prince. A short prequel novella focusing on a side character from the first book. I think it’s only available as a freebie on the author’s site but may be one of my favorite romances because the leads are so cute and sensible together.

Goldheart: Rumpelstiltskin. My favorite in the series, focused on a shy painter given an impossible task and the friends who help her get through it. The writing style’s much more concise here.

Pirouette: The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Political-intrigue focused. Also much wordier than it needs to be, though not as much as the first book. Twists the fairy tale in extremely interesting ways and has some great characters. (Prologue and epilogue are some of my favorite bits of writing in the series).

Shadow and Thorn: Beauty and the Beast. The most magical book in the series, and the most confusing because of that. There was one really cool moment with Beauty’s father, but otherwise I didn’t care for it all that much.

Daughter of Lies: Snow White with spies. Short, but fun. Reminds me of a Georgette Heyer farce.

Path of Secrets: Red Riding Hood with spies. I remember nothing about this story, which may tell you all you need to know.

Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairy Tales: What I think of as a kind of spin-off to the Rooglewood collections, this novella collection by six different authors retells six different fairy tales. My favorites are a dark but beautiful “Little Match Girl” retelling set in WWII, a steampunkish Rumpelstiltskin, and With Blossoms Gold, a Rapunzel retelling set in the Renaissance. (The only one I didn’t like at all was the Sleeping Beauty story).

Destined series by Kaylin Lee: Includes retellings of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty in one interconnected storyline. I’ve only read the first four; they’re okay-to-decent books whose main strength is the unique world they’re set in (think magical steampunky 1930s, which seems like a work of genius after you’ve been reading through a million retellings set in generically fairy tale kingdoms). My favorite is the fourth, Betrayed, which retells Little Red Riding Hood and mostly stands alone (until the last act veers it into a really complicated overarching plot).

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 2

OK, last we left off, we were in a different Youtube video. This one I grabbed off of 2 different videos (you’ll see their watermark in the corner change) and it makes me appreciate the quality that our other episodes have been, honestly. A little bit of compression going on in these, just to give you even more of that nostalgic feel of watching a bootleg anime from the 90′s your brother got from his weird high school friend’s Napster account.

Because this is done with subtitles on, it takes more caps to cover it. Part of why I rewrite the dialogue in these recaps is to help abridge stuff, and so consider yourself warned...there’s a lot of caps in this one. For most of you, that’s probably not much of a problem. But I’m just letting you know because...I sure wasn’t expecting it to be over 40 caps for half an episode, and I’ll probably just type less to make up for that. (Tumblr keeps Erasing All My Words anyway, so this is for the best, but that’s a tech issue I already went into in another post.)

(read more under the cut)

So, to start off, Yugioh and co. walk up to a bar like a really weird version of a bar joke and are like “do you know where we can find the yo-yo gang?” And, much like a video game npc, the bartender was like “I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about, and I heard every part of their intimate conversation. Let me give you all the details, children.”

Hey, PS, there’s an entire Wikipedia entry about the bar joke. And that is wild. Apparently the first bar joke was from Ancient Sumeria, and Wikipedia was like “Here is the Sumerian joke, but we Do Not Get it. Please don’t try to get it.”

The joke being: "A dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one'."

Damn. I can’t believe the Sumerians were onto meme humor before we ever invented memes. They were in the Galaxy brain over there in the land before time, holy crap. Depositing their memes knowing that 7,000 years later mankind would look at the world’s first joke and be like “I don’t get it!” while all the millennials and zoomers with our MB of nonsense memes on our phones are like “No. I get it.” Good on you Sumerians, that is freakin the best joke ever made. 7000 years to get to the punch line of confusing the hell out of all us. Bless.

They promptly tell Miho that everything was resolved and that she should go to bed and she was like “Cool!” and exited stage left. Bye, I guess. Anzu also went home, but she didn’t have to be tricked into doing it, she just went the hell to bed.

(PS, I just realized that if I want to write less...I should probably not look up Wikipedia articles about the world’s first ever bar joke. But y’all, habits die so freakin hard, and I just feel like it’s very pertinent to this Yugioh recap, although I know it’s really not.)

Yuugi and Honda decide to visit the warehouse and harass Jounouchi. In the context of the show, they’re going out of their way to pull their best friend out of society’s systemic downward pull of a life of crime and most likely turning into exactly like his Father. But, the way that it’s storyboarded makes it look a lot like these kids just show up out of the corner and this gang was like “Damn it, again? OMG small children, please leave us alone!”

Honda hands over the symbolism sash, to which Jounouchi symbolically says “Nyeh.”

And Honda didn’t take it very well.

After tending to his kidneys for a little while, Honda decided to go back at it again at the Krispy Cream and do some sort of insane parkour over this completely ordinary fence.

Ah, the very first instance of real duel law where you duel over a relationship. In later seasons duel law is invoked for things like Mai’s marriage and the right to date Tea (and then just kind of forgetting you ever won the right to date Tea twice). But to think the very first time was Honda dueling for the right of Jounouchi to be part of nerd gang because Jounouchi had fallen to the dark side yo-yo gang across the street run by some 40 year old man with blue hair.

How many times is Honda gonna fight with a broom? Like are they just magnetized to his location? where are they even coming from?

Freakin janitor powers over here, put him in a Final Fantasy style RPG. I want to see what his limit break would be.

Not like it matters, because Hirotani very quickly explains why these yo-yo’s are at all a threat.

Which honestly shouldn’t be...so lethal? Seems like the weight is all you need, not really the spikes. But it’s at least stronger than Honda’s janitor stuff.

Unfortunate for Honda that he just destroyed an antique.

So with lightning reflexes, Yuugi does what he does most:

The death yo-yo ricochets back and does this little itty bitty scrape to this guy’s face and he’s real bothered by it. Although it’s like...well dude, you’re a 50 year old high schooler, I don’t think people will notice the scrape compared to everything else falling apart in your life.

And so then the Yugioh Season Zero team was like “oh shoot is it time to torture Yuugi???” and they got hella excited.

Like I thought it was just Yuugi’s class that were a bunch of disturbing criminal disasters, but I guess it’s the whole city. Like...was Yuugi’s class the good school?

I mean, it can’t be, there’s no way...

but like...is there a good school in this universe? How does anyone survive till graduation? If you so much as disgrace a yo-yo, you will get the torture treatment that I sure did expect in Yakuza games, but not so much in Yugioh, tbh.

Just a reminder: This is the third time we’ve beat up Yuugi this episode. Within the first meeting of Yuugi and Hirotani, he beat the tar out of Yuugi within eye shot of Jounouchi. So like...Jounouchi was reallllllllllllllllly lax on that deal, right? Like...he took his toot sweet time to realize “yeah this just ain’t ever gonna happen.”

And then the yo-yo wars begin.

Just like Solid Snake crawling through the radiation chamber.

Hirotani throws his Fyper-yoyo, Jounouchi intercepts with his Eireboy, and Hirotani’s completely terrible yo-yo just flies off the string again because Hirotani should have just sticked to using his fists. No wonder they wanted to recruit Jounouchi so badly, their yo-yo game is so off.

We never get a door to darkness in this episode, dipping our enemies into mind horrors. Instead, we get home-alone style traps. But, this makes sense. Not only do the show makers have to make Yuugi avoid solving problems with magic in front of Jounouchi, they also have to make it Jounouchi’s choice to leave Hirotani behind. If Yuugi did it for him in like...some sort of duel law situation...then that sort of leaves out Jounouchi’s choice in the equation.

Not like this ever really comes up in later seasons, since who even follows through with duel law and marries Mai? But like, it does feel like Season Zero calls out the later Seasons a bit in this regard. Honda got beat up because he tried to win Jounouchi back by force (or game, I guess.) That was just another form of coercion on the heels of Hirotani’s. What Jounouchi actually needed was to make his own decision to leave.

...most other anime I’d be like “I’m sure that’s just a translation error” but not this one.

So Yuugi runs to the roof where Jounouchi will never see this.

My audible sigh reading this line about fight club roof.

These stupid gang members went into Yuugi’s native territory, not just a fight club roof, but on a warehouse? They were dead before they arrived.

This was like maybe 3 frames of animation in just rapid succession, it was pretty silly and good.

Reminder that like 4 minutes ago, Yuugi was about to get like executed on a meat hook.

Speaking of getting executed on a meathook:

Hope you like the idea of glass in your eyes, because this anime’s got it.

They chase Yuugi around, in a sequence that was done mostly to conserve frames, so you rarely saw the ground until this shot:

Lots of falling down this episode, but unlike Tea, who fell from a warehouse ceiling once and just kind of rubbed her ass after and was like “ah damn it.” these guys won’t come out of it virtually unscathed.

Also, Honda is here now:

Jumping off of his symbolic sash trapeze, he decides to do in Hirotani for good.

Hey so like...walk the dog is a fairly gentle walk that a yo-yo does slowly on the ground right?

Just pointing out how sensitive Hirotani’s fingies are.

And he...didn’t appear to be dead, so I don’t have to add to the bodycount...but it’s gonna be a real long road for recovery.

And now, with the gang back together Jounouchi is back at school knee deep in make up assignments he’ll probably completely ignore since we know that in a years time, these fools are going to be trapped on Pegasus’ island, and at that point school will be just that place you talk about when you try to remember why you’re friends with Bakura.

---hey aren’t those chairs attached to the desks?

Because...holy crap, Anzu.

Honestly this is what you see before you die, but I guess Jounouchi died off screen after the episode ended, so I don’t have to add him to the deathcount (again). RIP.

Alright! That took like...8 tries to get Tumblr to save this one, but it managed! (well...I guess “managed” isn’t the word you’d use for a typing program that takes 8 tries to save)

Next time, we’ll be back to S5, for an arc I’ve heard is kind of boring. We’ll see. If it truly is, I can condense episodes into fewer posts. Or maybe it’s a secret gem? I guess we shall see.

And if you just got here this is a link to read all the Season Zero recaps from the start:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi-muto/chrono

(there’s also a link to read all the Yugioh posts we wrote from the start in chrono order but straight up, this file won’t freakin save, and I just can’t even will myself to look up that link again. It’s on the home page of this blog on the right.)