#something kinda sketchy and quick between projects

[linmandoade]

the thunderbolts based on the starship album cover!! (I put a pic of the album below, plus a version in thunderbolt yellow lol)

[jaybutnotthebird]

I did this comic for halloween, inspired in a fanfction and now I've written something inspired in the same fic, here's the link:

[lizavet]

Huh, somehow missed this. Looks fun! Let's get this done real quick.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently, I have 6, though I have a good few others in my notes that probably won't see the light of day for a long time. Got enough current projects already going, ya'know?

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

416,663. Honestly, I thought there'd be more.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I'm a bit all over the place with my hyperfixations. Right now, I've got fics for The Owl House, Undertale, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, and Ratchet & Clank, with more fics in all of those fandoms prepared. I do also have some notes on a couple Percy Jackson fics, but I'm not sure those will ever see the light of day.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1 - Another Child Lost to the Mountain 2 - To Be Wild, To Be Happy, To Be Free 3 - Sketchy Potions & Magic Commotions 4 - Dress Up Party 5 - I Hate You (I Love You)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Oh absolutely! I love engaging with comments, whether it just be a quick little "I love your work!" or a detailed comment about the chapter. Comments are honestly some of my biggest motivators to keep going, and I can't describe how happy they make me. I will admit, I'm a bit selfish because part of the reason I respond to comments is because I hope it'll encourage others to comment, but I do just like talking to people about my works too!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Angsty endings aren't exactly my style, so m angstiest ending isn't really saying much, but it'd probably have to be I Hate You (I Love You). A story about grief is always going to have a bit of bittersweetness, even if it did end on a hopeful note.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my big fics are still either works in progress or part of a series that's still going, so I don't have too many endings to work with. So with that in mind, my happiest ending is probably in Dress Up Party, since its a pure fluff fic. Everything is hopeful, the characters are happy about the future, and things seem good! It's as fluffy and fun as can be.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. The closest I ever got was some very valid criticism on one fic, and the person who gave it asked if it was okay first. People on AO3 have been absolutely lovely to me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Naw, I don't write smut. I don't think people realize how hard writing good smut is. It's a skill that takes a lot of time to hone, and it's not something I'm personally interested in doing. But I've got a lot of respect for folks that can pull it off. ...also, a lot of the fandoms I'm in are focused around minors, and it would be hella weird for me to write smut about those.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

So far, no. The closest I've gotten to doing so is some cute character interactions I've written between characters in me and my friends' fic, and we have considered doing an actual crossover one shot between us. As for fandom crossovers, I haven't done any yet, but have considered doing a couple in the past. The biggest one being an Avatar x Owl House fic, with Eda finding Luz thinking she may be the Avatar because she picked out the correct toys, only to find out she's a non-bender, but sticking with her anyway cuz she gets attached. Maybe that'll come out some day, but if it does it won't be for a long time.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of. I certainly hope not, but with A.I going the way it is, I wouldn't be surprised if my work has been chewed up by the algorithms.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Once again, nope! I'm nowhere near big enough for that kinda thing. Would be pretty neat though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really, though like I said, I have written a few crossover scenarios with other writer friends. If we ever do that crossover fic I mentioned, this answer will change.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

...ok so fun fact about me, I suck at picking a favourite anything. I just can't do it. How can I have a favourite ship when I like different ships for different reasons? It doesn't make sense! Am I supposed to make like a scoring system and say whichever gets the most points is deemed my favourite? So yeah, can't say a 100% definitive favourite, so here are the big ones I love and why I love them Lumity (Luz Noceda/Amity Blight) will forever hold a place in my heart for how wholesome and pure it is. These two have no strife or angst, and even when problems come up like Luz lying about what happened with her mum, the two handle it with surprising maturity! They're just so tooth-rottingly sweet and I adore them. Camilraeda (Camila/Eda/Raine) is one of my favourite poly ships of all time. These three are tired, chaotic in their own special ways, and can and will adopt any stray child they meet, whether they be human, witch, or cosmic god, and stars above do I love them for it! Percabeth (Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase) is the first ship I ever got invested in, and I love it to death to this very day. The OG slow burn of my childhood. These are two of the most loyal, ride-or-die idiots you will ever meet, and their complete devotion to each other is so sweet to read about. And finally, a bit of an ambiguous one, but Hero/Partner from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. With all of the games, the vibes between the Hero and their Partner are so sweet. They always go through so much together, and there's always so much trust and love between them, and once again, they are so insanely ride-or-die for each other. Whether they're running from the law as they get hunted across the land or dragging themselves through a literal hellscape, the two of them always have each other's back. It's very sweet.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I had an idea for a fic in the Percy Jackson universe a while back about a clear-sighted trans girl getting saved and picked up by the Hunters of Artemis, with them training her and trying to bring her into the group. I have a whole series planned around it, with all the big plot points planned out, but I just don't know if I'll ever have the time to write it with all the other stories I have. Plus, motivation. It's hard to hype myself up to write a story centered around an OC when I know they can be a bit disliked by some communities.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is easily my biggest strength. I can write characters bantering for days and days, and a lot of the time I have to cut myself off and make the characters shut up so I can move the plot along. A lot of the time, chapter planning for me involves writing everything in a script format with dialogue as the focus, with me filling in the exposition and fluff text around the character's chatting. While dialogue comes pretty naturally to me, I like to think I'm decent at writing fight scenes too. They are definitely a lot harder to do, cuz a lot goes into making a good fight scene; setting an interesting stage for the characters to move in, making sure the movements are clear and you know where everyone is at all times, while also not bogging things down with too many words to keep things snappy and quick, and emphasizing key words and moments to give combat the satisfying crunch that you get in media you can watch. It's hard, but I like to think I've done a good job of it in the past, and hope that I can continue to do so!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I've been told in the past that my writing can be too straight-forward at times, not taking the time or using enough flowery language to really sell certain emotions. In some situations, that can be a good thing, but there have been moments where I have failed to really sell the emotion of a key scene and make my audience feel what I wanted them to. It's something I'm working on, finding the balance between getting to the point and selling emotions right.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

...one of the main fandoms I write for is The Owl House, with the main character being an Afro-Latino girl. I think that answers the question. But seriously, I do love it. It adds a lot of charm to dialogue, but at the same time can be a bit difficult to sell in written media. In things like T.V shows, you can just add subtitles to show what the character is saying, but in written media like fics that can come off a bit awkwardly. Luckily, I've found a nice workaround, with some HTML script on AO3 allowing me to show the translation to things Luz says when you hover your mouse over the text! I think it's a nice mix, allowing me to show Luz being herself while not leaving the audience confused on what she's saying.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Owl House is what got me into both reading and writing fanfic, with me getting my start on my first series with Sketchy Potions & Magic Commotions. You can definitely tell its my first work too, with my style developing as I go. Heck, I even had to go back and edit a couple of the super early chapters because of how rough they were.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Hah! No. I've already established I can't pick favourite. I will say, I'm the most invested in continuing my two biggest projects, those being The Wild Light Series and Another Child Lost to the Mountain, but calling them my favourites? That's inaccurate at best.

Alright, so I guess it's my turn to tag folks? Floof already got most of my writer friend's in that friend circle, so how about I pick a few of the writers I love here on Tumblr?

@teshamerkel, @ocil91, and @memory-overload, I challenge thee to answer some questions! Enjoy!

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag @sneakyfox55! I don't normally do tag games, but this one looks really fun. (What author doesn't want the chance to ramble about their writing?) (This one is also copy/paste, so I'm less worried about clogging up people's dashes)

I'm going to put it under a cut since this is pretty long!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of now? 9! (But I have more than 35 fics in progress in my drafts that aren't posted.)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

129,647! But like, triple that (or more) if you want to count unposted stuff.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Undertale!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Heart on the Table

2. How to Defeat a Human in 6 Easy Steps

3. faux pas

4. How to Comfort a Panicking Child

5. How to Help a Human in 2 Easy Steps

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes!!! I love responding!!! I'm behind horribly right now because of my work's busy season, but I plan to catch back up! It's so fun to get to talk to people about the things I've poured my heart and soul into, you know? And I'm always glad to get to thank the people that took the time to leave a comment! It's a bit hard to keep up sometimes, though.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

"Is it Home Without You?" definitely. I'm still really proud of that fic, and it's part of a series with a happy ending, but the actual oneshot is the immediate aftermath of Gaster's lab accident from Sans's PoV. So, uh. Dead dad that no one but you remembers (not even your little brother) is pretty angsty. It's a step away from the norm for me, since normally I only write things with happy endings. But since this is part of a series that has a happy ending, I suppose my brain allowed me to end it off on a bittersweet (sad and angsty) note.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is really hard to say! I like big, happy endings, so most of my stuff gets them! Probably.... Hmmm. Either faux paus or How to Defeat a Human in 6 Easy Steps

8. Do you get hate on fics?

For the most part? No. (And I will always be grateful for the kind people that have picked me back up after I've been shot down in the past.)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

None you'll ever find under this username! I try to keep it family friendly here. ...Welllll, depending on if you count fics that tackle trauma and child murder in them family friendly.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't written any cross fandom crossovers! ...I have, however, been guilty of writing cross fic crossovers (none posted). I like to make my characters from different fics interact with each other. I've also done some crossovers for fun with my friends, making our characters interact. All still Undertale fandom, though! The craziest one is probably "How to Adopt an Interdimensional Traveler" which may be posted at some point. It's a crossover between Heart on the Table, and my How To: series. What, you're telling me Papyrus has TWO children to deal with now? (Here, have the first little bit of that because I love it. And I love Papyrus.)

Step One: Find out their name “FRISK!” Papyrus’s voice was not a shriek. No. He was perfectly composed as he stared down at the… little Frisk in front of him.  The very little Frisk. There was a familiar thumping behind him as… his Frisk crashed down the stairs in their familiar clumsy way. For all the elegance they displayed in battle, that did not tend to follow them home. He partially whirled around to face them, keeping… mini Frisk in his sight at the same time.  “What’s up, Dad?” Mini Frisk made a small noise that may have been confusion as they rapidly looked between him and their larger counterpart. “…Dad?” Oh.  Hm.  Yes.  That was. A thing. Apparently Papyrus had two children now. 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know! And I sure hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! That would be cool as heck, though!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

None that are posted! But I like to write with my friends, sometimes.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Surprisingly! Not Undertale! (Though I do like Alphyne!) Zukka! (Zuko x Sokka, Avatar the Last Airbender) I've loved that ship for years, and even though I'm not really in the AtLA fandom anymore, it still has a very close place in my heart.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hmmmm. Again, nothing posted. I don't post fics unless they have a first draft completely written to prevent that kind of thing. (Though, I do rewrite stuff, and that can cause pretty big posting delays. But if for some reason I can't find the motivation to finish my rewrites, I could always just slap my first draft up so that it's not completely unfinished before I'd abandon it completely.) Of my fics not posted, though? I've got a fic called "Ghost of You" which is a fated soulmate dusttale!papyrusXreader fic. I hope I can finish it one day, but... well. I'm not sure if I will or not.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization, and internal dialogue, I think! I like to think I'm pretty good at writing a character in such a way that even if you pick just a sentence at random, you know who's head you're in. Or, perhaps my strength is hurt/comfort in general...

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

It used to be dialogue, though I'm working to get better at that! I also struggle sometimes when it comes to making sure that the pace is engaging and that we aren't just stuck in someone's internal thoughts for 5 paragraphs. Gotta break that up with some stuff actually happening!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Very cool, and a great way to show characters that speak other languages than the one you are in the PoV of!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Well... the fic itself is long gone, but! I wrote for Ouran Highschool Host Club when I was like 12.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE! HOW COULD YOU ASK ME TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MY CHILDREN? MY BABIES! ...Heart on the Table has a special place in my heart though.

No pressure tags (only if you want! this is just for fun!): @lizavet @timeofjuly @humankk and anyone that wants to!

Also... Shall I dare? invoke the potential wrath of a god(ess)?

I dare. I'm curious about the answers (if the goddess does deign to answer this mortal/jk) @llamagoddessofficial (please feel free to just ignore if you want!)

[theyapper0]

Amphibia season 1 rewatch + notes :)

So I just finished rewatching the ENTIRE season 1 of Amphibia and I have some notes on the episodes that stood out to me! There are some quick notes, a couple lengthy analyses and even some headcanons sprinkled in! It's like a written stew of season 1! I'll be doing a written Amphiba stew for season 2 too!!

It's kinda long so you could just skip this or hit the keep reading button and give it a read! 

S1: E2 Cane Crazy

Anne shows general disregard over other people's things

(Mimicking Hop Pop and breaking his cane, throwing all the wood carving things that Loggle made, even a coo coo clock that she even said was nice (And for him to say it took 20 years to make right after she broke it))

S1: E2 Flood, Sweat and Tears 

Anne would be the WORST during sleepovers and I LOVE IT!!! My girl is just being a tween, staying up late, playing would you rather and keeping everyone else up. I think that's ADORABLE and now I'm thinking about how sleepovers might've been back home with her, Sasha and Marcy… 

She also just stays up late in general?? She reads dumb magazines and eats CRUNCHY snacks. She is really just 13,,,

And it looks like Sprig does it too, not as much as Anne (probably because he is younger than her) but it seems like it has to be in his terms. Before, he looked to be annoyed with it when he was trying to sleep. But, if he was awake, like in the beginning or at the end of the episode, he had no problem staying up playing would you rather!!! 

S1: E3 Hop Luck 

Anne: Old things are dumb! 

And 

Anne:* violently GRABS Sprig and shoves him against the wall* don't you DARE talk about pineapple in my pizza… Ever…

Anne: 

Sprig: 

Anne: Okay! Let's go get these ingredients! 

HHHH ANNE!!! I love this funky little child SO MUCH!!! 

Hop Pop loves these kids so much that he was willing to put aside his old, traditional family recipes in exchange for making pizza with them. My heart is gonna explode I'm-

Anne please don't make your surrogate frog brother get married just to get some pizza dough I'M BEGGING YOU-

S1: E3 Stakeout 

Hop Pop: I'm a crisp 68!

Is Hop Pop actually 68 or does he mean more of 68 going on 80 68? Either way he looks great! 

Anne has Blam Berry Blitz ("the drink that punches you in the face and doesn't stop") in her bag along with all the OTHER stuff we already saw (air pump, toe nail clipper, pencils, cat toys, bath bombs, etc)

Anne is officially those friends that have EVERYTHING in their bag no matter what. 

I really like the relationship between Anne and Hop Pop, how they both in some way yearn for what was but in different ways (Anne wanting to go home and Hop Pop's olden ways when he was a little pollywog) but are still similar in how they try to remember. They try and try and try to keep what little family/friends they have safe and protected. They love the relationships they've formed with other people (And with each other) and would go great lengths to help and protect them!

Also I MAY be looking way too into it buuuut was Boulder-Tron (that rock dude that Polly hallucinated at the end) supposed to foreshadow Frobo??

S1: E4 Taking Charge 

Okay quick one, Anne nearly having a whole ass panic attack when her phone dies because she couldn't look at her photos or videos of home actually made me sad. This girl is only a CHILD and her entire home and everything is gone and she for real thought she couldn't ever get it back,,, 

Hop Pop: I mean, the part where the island itself is revealed to actually be…!

Sprig: No! 

Polly: Don't!

Anne: Spoilers 

I dunno why and again, I MIGHT BE LOOKING TOO DEEPLY INTO THIS, but maybe this is foreshadowing something with the land of Amphibia? That maybe there is more to this crazy land than we know? Maybe even a reason it, along with all the other universes even exists??? 

S1: E5 Breakout Star 

AHSBWJOA ONLY EPISODE 5 AND ANNE ALREADY HAS HER PHONE'S LOCK SCREEN OF THE PLANTER FAMILY I'M-

S1: E7 Dating Season 

Anne said that ⅔ of ALL soul mates start out as "just friends" 

…

I'm looking at you, team Sashannarcy 

S1: E7 Anne vs. Wild 

Hop Pop's behavior at the end of the episode when Anne finally shows them the calamity box is awfully sus…

He doesn't say anything but "may I?" To inspect the box and then is like "Nope, never seen it" I just feel like he knows something and then adding onto it with the whole burying it to protect his family just sounds like… he definitely knows something, maybe not a lot but there is something he's not telling the others 

Also, why would a book that HE has have information on the Calamity box?? 

(I fully support the Dr. P was a Planter and also possibly the pink frog who was friends with King Andrias theory)

S1: E10 Toad Tax 

At this point, Anne said that she has already been in Amphibia for over a month now. 

(And damn, Sasha's been in prison for like a month,,, yikes)

Also Hop Pop teaching Anne how to pay taxes is so adorable, she really is part of this family now guys,,,

And I love how Anne was able to win over the Wartwood people by being her natural, charming and not to mention caring self. Anne, like Marcy and Sasha, can be selfish because honestly what kid, especially a 13 year old, isn't. 

But what matters is that she always tries to make up for it. 

Yes she did join the arguably sketchy toads into getting the taxes from everyone in order to feel somewhat included in ANYTHING, but while she was doing it, she knew it was wrong. Anne knew it was wrong and tried to give back some of the stolen stuff. Hell, even at the end she risked her safety to protect people she felt didn't even LIKE her, like, Anne literally broke her arm from them because that's just how Anne is. 

S1: E10 Prison Break 

I always forget how like,,, SUPER cunning Sasha is. I mean, she was able to talk FIVE toads into quitting within a WEEK as a PRISONER. Like?? 

Grime: That's not a bird. It's a heron, a murderous predator that happens to love the taste of flesh 

Sasha: Cute 

The lines in this show I'M-

So Anne was a varsity tennis player and Sasha was a cheerleader and did Tai Chi. I still can't believe they were both jocks,,, 

(Well, Sasha I get but Anne? Sweet ol' lil baby with the lanky limbs Anne???) 

Hey um, why the FUCK does Grime have acid spit?

Sasha: *looking at photo of her, Anne, and Marcy* Hold on for a little longer, girls. I'm coming for you. And when I find you, we're gonna get home. But first, I think we're gonna have some fun with this place 

Okay so this line right here. Now I may not be even remotely correct but this line, this last piece of dialogue spoken by Sasha right before the episode ends leads me to believe that she… doesn't take this world seriously. 

At least not yet. 

I think the 3 girls all see Amphibia differently: Anne as more of an obstacle, a wall preventing her from being home, Marcy sees it as an escape from her life with constant stimuli, and Sasha, she sees it as just really another thing to control. Everyone and their mothers know that Sasha can be a little more than controlling and we all know that she liked being lieutenant just a little too much. 

This world is interesting to Sasha, not in the interesting that Anne sees it (who is interesting in the new people and the relationships she's formed) or Marcy (who is also interested in the relationships she's formed along with the thirst for knowledge and again, the constant stimuli in an environment where she isn't stifled and allowed to flourish). 

No, Sasha sees Amphibia as interesting because it gives her something to control. In a world that is not your own, a world that you will leave eventually, who would actually FOLLOW the rules put in place there? Especially a 13 year old who is basically like a war commander who, even if she does do something wrong or breaks a rule or two, the only person who might even dare to stop her is Grime, and even then, he might just encourage it because it is season 1 and they aren't that close and he doesn't really care for Sasha at this point. 

She also is actually very logical. Everything she does in Amphibia, all the morally questionable things she does, it is always for the same reason (or at least at first), to get her and her girls home. Wanting to sacrifice and kill Hop Pop at the end of season 1? Well The toads had promised if she helped, they'll help her find Marcy and bring the 3 of them home. She cares for Anne and Marcy SO MUCH that she is willing to go great lengths to help keep them safe. 

But even though Sasha didn't really care about anyone in Amphibia besides Anne and Marcy at first, it doesn't mean she won't ever. We see countless times throughout season 2 of Sasha caring. She feels regret with her impending betrayal on Anne and Marcy, she cares enough to try and warn Anne about King Andrias' evil plans. Hell, even in the season 3 intro we see her and Grime at Wartwood and it looks like they're gonna be starting another rebellion against the king to help all the amphibians in Amphibia. 

I just really like watching Sasha's appearance and knowing what will happen in the future with her character. 

S1: E13 Trip to the Archives 

Anne: I get this place. It's like a library from my world. Zoo books and manga, here I come! 

So whenever Anne goes to the library, presumably with Sasha and Marcy, she'd go straight to books on animals and manga probably while Marcy did whatever work they needed (if Anne's dialogue in season 2 with Marcy always doing the work for their group projects was anything to go off on)

I dunno, I think that's kinda cute that Anne liked reading books on animals and probably reading all the manga that Marcy recommended. 

Maybe Anne and Sasha would sit right next to each other while Marcy worked and read fun manga together and cackle with each other while Marcy tried SO HARD to concentrate and NOT infodump to them because she's read that specific manga 20 times and HAVE YOU GOTTEN TO THAT ONE PART WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER GOES- 

S1: E15 Wally and Anne

MOSS MAN!! 

When Anne wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to grab Wally at town square, her hood is up and it's dark. The only thing we can make out of her face are…

Glowing blue eyes.

Glowing eyes that share an uncanny resemblance to the moss men.

And Anne loves doing elaborate, silly handshakes? That's so CUTE! Too bad none of her friends liked them as much as she did :( 

When they finally reached the foggy mountain place, Anne noticed glowing blue butterflies and started to follow them, which led her right to the moss man.

WAIT ANNE ALSO DID ROCK CLIMBING BACK HOME?? FUCKING JOCK!!!

S1 E20 Reunion 

Okay I WAS about to say that there wasn't anything to say about this last episode that hasn't already been said before BUT

The last couple moments, when Anne is holding Sasha off the cliff and trying to pull her up with the Planters, there's a couple interesting shots that I would like to talk about. 

While the Planters were holding onto Anne, they say things like "Hang on, Anne! We got you no matter what!" 

And even when the stone cliff starts to chip and break, none of the frogs back off, they don't loosen their grips, they just keep holding onto Anne. 

And they will never let go. 

Because they love her. Because in only 3 months, Anne was able to get a surrogate frog family and dozens of other frog friends in Wortwood. Because Anne has this amazing support system both literally and metaphorically. Because Anne is Anne. And Sasha...

Isn't like Anne. 

Matt Bradly himself even said that both Sasha and Anne are different from Anne, Anne is the heart, the emotional connection in their logical worlds. Anne can make so many friends so easily and Sasha… Sasha became a war genral, she lost a fight against the one person who she thought would never fight back. 

Sasha doesn't have what Anne has. She doesn't have the kind of skills to make such strong relationships, the kind where you risk your life for the other, in such a short amount of time. 

Hell, they even play a song called "Lean on Me", Anne has people to lean on and they would lean on her just the same. She found these people, made these friends, formed amazing relationships, in only THREE months. 

"Maybe you're better off without me"

And Sasha was only dragging her down. 

Sasha loves Anne, she cares for her and would do anything to protect her. That's why she let go. She didn't want to drag Anne down, to hurt her more than she already has. 

Sasha would do anything for Anne, even die. 

Over all notes: 

Season 1 is SUPER FUNNY!! The lines hit and they don't rely on toilet humor to get the audience to laugh. They use great one liners and physical humor that isn't fart or butt jokes. They do an excellent job on showing how crazy the world of Amphibia is through humor like how the animals are always eating each other. 

I really like how the characters were crafted so carefully! And the storyline!!! You could notice things that get explored in season 2 and I can't WAIT to see how many bread crumbs were left to lead up to season 3!

HOW DOES ANNE KEEP SO MANY THINGS IN HER BOOK BAG??? 

That stuff is in her SCHOOL BAG, why would she bring it to school??? So far I've got an air pump, toe nail clippers, pencils, cat toys, bath bombs and an energy drink. WHY??? I wonder if she held on to any of Sasha or Marcy's things too or ever forgot to give them back

Also again, I'M STILL IN SHOCK OF ANNE BEING A JOCK. I don't even know why I am, I knew she played sports and stuff it's just,,, she's so lanky,,, 

Her and Sasha are jock buddies and WILL shove other jocks in lockers if they ever pick on their nerd Marcy.

I also am in LOVE with Hop Pop's screams lmao

Be ready for an analysis of season 2! 

[prettyboongi]

Just Spill It

Reader x Kim Taehyung 

2k+ words

Genre: Crack, Fluff

[Note: I’ve been written fic lately because of school and everything. I actually had to work on a huge paper all week and was waiting until I got everything out of the way to write this. And boy, this request was such a doozy lol. The game that everyone plays in the story is that “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts” game on James Corden late night show. And I have to be honest: I’m not a huge fan of talk shows or even Corden’s show for that matter. So I had to watch a bunch of videos the shows clips on YouTube just to understand the game. So yeah, this request was super challenging and I hope I got everything right ^-^}

You were putting the finishing touches on the chocolate cupcakes you’ve spent the past couple of hours baking when you heard the doorbell rang. “Must be them,” you thought to yourself. Checking the time, you saw that it was a little bit past seven in the evening. “A little late but, with them, what’s new? ”. You gave your sticky hands a quick rinse and headed towards the door. 

Tonight was a very sacred night for you and the boys: the coveted Game Night. Always organized by you and thrown at your place, Game Night for you guys were legendary. Starting off with a harmless game, again of your choosing, the night would always end with someone throwing a temper tantrum, crying dramatically, yelling match between two or more of the boys or someone having to act out a degrading yet hilarious penalty for losing. Sure it was complete chaos but it was also tons of fun. There was never a dull moment with these nerds and you really cherished the time you had with them. With recording sessions, promoting albums and projects in between, it was very hard to find time to hang out. While you understand their obligations to BTS, it still makes you feel lonely most of the time. That’s why Game Night was super important to you and, knowing how important it was for you, the boys always left the planning to you. 

You opened the door to an assortment of greetings, one more zany than the last. “Hey guys,” you welcomed, “come on in”. As the boys spilled in, you had to remind them about being a little less rowdy, the last Game Night being interrupted by your neighbors filing a noise complaint. “I’d rather not have the cops being called to my place again.”

“Well we wouldn’t have had the police called on us if Jin hyung didn't have that huge freak out,” Jungkook says teasingly. 

“Well,” Jin responds with a fake smile, trying to hide his annoyance, “I wouldn’t have freaked out if Yoongi here wasn’t cheating!” He gestures to a totally unbothered Yoongi already relaxing on the sofa. 

Stifling your laughter, you walked over to the kitchen to check on sweets you were finishing up. There you found Taehyung chowing down on the cupcakes. Seeing that he already had eaten three of the dozen you’ve made, you derided him, “Tae! Stop being a pig and save the rest for the others.” 

He swallowed a mouth full of cupcake and smiled cheekily. “Come on, Y/N, you know that these are my favorite. You obviously made them for me.” He pointed to the thin strawberry slices you placed on top. 

You opened your mouth in protest but stopped immediately. Yes, you knew chocolate cupcakes were his favorite. Especially with strawberries. And yes you made them with him in mind. But no way were you going to give him the satisfaction. 

He eyes you impishly, as if he won this conversation. You took the cupcake tray from his reach and said to him sternly, “just wait until everyone had at least one, then you can eat the leftovers. Deal?”

“Deal” 

Walking over to the living room area with Taehyung trailing behind you, you placed the tray of cupcakes next to the fried chicken Namjoon had brought over. You saw that everyone was helping themselves to heaping amounts of the crispy, savory chicken. “Please try not to fill up too much food tonight,” you warned them, “you guys will need to leave some room for what we’re playing tonight.” 

“Oh, what do you have planned for us tonight?”, asked Namjoon before taking a huge bite of his food.

Before you could answer, Hoseok interjects, “Oooh! Let me guess. Striped poker?” 

“No Hoseok,” you flatly answered, shutting him down. 

“Strip Monopoly?” Jimin adds. 

“No guys, no one is taking their clothes off. Especially not after that one Game Night,” you said rather dimly. The boys shuddered as they remembered that ill-fated night, a story left for another time. “But yeah, I got this idea from a night talk show that I found myself watching one night. The host was playing this game with their guest where they had both get to ask each other some pretty invasive questions. But if either of them chooses not to answer the question they were given, they had to eat or drink something gross that the other person picked out for them. I thought it was pretty funny and we could all try it.”  Despite being excited yourself, you couldn’t help but notice an array of mixed emotions. 

“I dunno, Y/N, it sounds kinda...sketchy”, Namjoon says. 

“I mean yeah, but that’s kinda the point. Come on, you have to admit it's pretty interesting.”

“To be perfect honest, this game sounds fucking awful,” Yoongi opens, “but hey, what the hell. Let's how it goes.” 

You ushered the guys to the balcony, where it was decorated with glowing string lights and a new set of furniture bought for this occasion. You presented the boys to a medium size table, topped with what was assumed plates covered with linen napkins. 

“Here’s what we’re dealing with tonight, gentlemen,” you announced rather theatrically. One by one, you lifted up each napkin, revealing a collection of foods you knew that would churn some stomachs: fried octopus, super spicy cinnamon candies, 100% cacao chocolate, mint creme Oreos, a spinach milkshake, ambrosia salad and a fluffernutter sandwich. The boys examined each dish, some already nauseated by the sight of certain dishes. “I didn’t want to go too far like the show did,” you explained, “just took some ideas from friends back home and food I know some of you already hate.” 

“Are there any winners in this game?,” Jimin asks cautiously

“No, there aren’t. Okay everyone have a seat!” After everyone had taken a seat, you went over how the game works again. “Oh, I forgot to add that you guys don’t have to necessarily finish the food. Under the table, there’s a few little trash bins you can spit into. But come on, I’m going easy on you guys, you shouldn’t need to spit anything out.” 

“You call a spinach milkshake ‘going easy’ on us?” Jungkook asks. 

“Don’t be a baby,” you gave Jungkook a mocking look while sitting yourself between Jin and Yoongi. “So here’s how we’re gonna take turns. We’ll start with me, then we’ll go clockwise ending with Yoongi. Is that good?” Murmurs of agreement answered your question. “Okay, for my turn I pick… Namjoon!” The sound of hearing his name startles him, causing his body to go rigid. “If you don’t answer my question, you’d have to eat the fried octopus. 

“Ha, bring it then” Namjoon says, trying to feign as much confidence that he can. 

“Alright,” you paused for a moment, “If you choose a Disney character to make out with, who would it be?” 

“Oh that’s easy. Undoubtedly, Miss Potts,” he says matter of factly. The table goes silent, weirded out by such a choice. 

“From Beauty and the Beast?”, you asked.

“Yeah.” 

“Why?” asks Hoseok. 

“Well, she’s a cool character. She has a warm personality and she seems like a great mom to Chip. Who wouldn’t pick her?” 

Somehow that leaves even more questions than answers any. “Okay…,” you respond, still a bit perturbed, “Jin’s turn.” 

Jin looks around the table to find his perfect target and finds it in none other than Jimin. “Jimin, I pick the mint Oreos for you if you don’t answer my question.” Jimin puts on a brave face but it’s obvious the anticipation is killing him inside. “There was one time during that afterparty a while ago when I saw you and Seulgi running off somewhere. You told me you two were just chatting but what were you two really up to?,” He asked with a mischievous smirk on his face. Ooooohs” echoed around the table as we waited for Jimin’s answer. With a stony smile plastered on his face, Jimin stares at Jin for a moment before reaching out for an Oreo. He takes a huge bite of the minty cookie while keeping his stare at Jin, ultimately gagging on it and having to spit out the whole thing. The whole table erupts in laughter as you said, “We’re off to a good start.” 

As the night went by, the game carried on without any issues. Among the highlights was Hoseok revealing his biggest (and not surprising) kink and watching Jungkook down an entire spinach milkshake. Seeing how much fun the gang were having, you couldn’t help but feel proud of yourself for pulling off yet another successful Game Night. The game was nearing its end when the last turn went to Yoongi. And since you were the only one that hasn’t been asked a question, it was obvious this one was going to be directed towards me. 

Yoongi turns to you, “The ambrosia salad for this simple question.” You nodded in agreement, not knowing what he meant by “simple”. “Are you in love with Taehyung?” 

All around, everyone pauses at Yoongi’s question. Especially you, whose mind goes blank for a moment before speaking up. “What? What’re you talking about? What kind of question is that?” You tried laughing it off. 

“A simple one,” he answers. “Are you in love Taehyung?” 

“Of course, I love him. He’s like my best friend-” 

“I mean, we all know that but are you IN love with him?” Namjoon interjects. 

You look around the entire table, leaning in to hear your answer. Your eyes eventually land on Taehyung sitting across from you. He’s clearly embarrassed yet interested in hearing your answer as well. You felt your face burning up as well as your heartbeat quickening from all of this unwanted attention.. You could’ve taken the easy way out and lied, you were sure of the guys were lying when answering their questions. But you couldn’t. One, for the integrity of Game Night and second, you would have to answer yes. For the longest time, you never wanted to admit to yourself but you were in love with Taehyung. Madly in love with him. You loved the banter the two of you developed over the years. You loved how he would annoy you and then make it up by being extremely adorable. You love how he was the only man that ever made you feel special. Without any doubt, you were in love with him. However, you weren’t about to reveal it in front of the boys while playing this dumb game. 

After much anticipation, you deeply sighed and ate a huge spoonful of the slightly warm ambrosia salad. You tried your best to swallow it but the conflicting  textures of creamy base and the coconut flakes was too much for you. Feeling that you were about to barf, you quickly got up and ran back into the apartment. You reached the bathroom (and thankfully the toilet) and regurgitated everything you tried to keep down. You felt some tears forming at the corner of your eyes, not sure if it was from throwing up or the sheer humiliation you’ve just experienced. “Don’t let this get to you, it’s just part of the game,” you told yourself. You wiped the tears from your eyes, rinsed your mouth with mouthwash and headed out of the bathroom. 

As you were walking back to the balcony, you bumped into Taehyung in the hallway. “Oh…,” was all you could muster to say. There was a brief awkward silence between you two, a rarity in your close relationship. Taehyung looks away as he scratches the back of his head while you kept your head down. “I should’ve known I was going to be hit with a question like that,” you finally opened, “ Yoongi never plays around, doesn't he?.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung responds, “except for when he’s cheating.” 

You both look at each other for a moment before breaking into a light laughter, easing the tension. Once you were done giggling, you caught Taehyung staring at you with his gorgeous, sharp eyes. The look in his eyes were filled with sincere and the kind of intimacy only two best friends shared. Or maybe there was something more to that look. 

"Tae-," you started but stopped when Taehyung put his hand up to your cheek, gently caressing it with his thumb. 

"You don't have to say anything, Y/N" he says to you. 

Earlier when Jimin asked if there were any winners in the game, it turned out there were two that night. 

[angelicorn]

FFVII Remake Analysis Chapter 1 (1/2)

My sister was introduced to FFVII via my gameplay and reacted to it with fresh eyes which I’ve written down and posted to tumblr up to chapter 5–which I will continue posting some time in the future (I finished the game, but have looked towards another project in place of the reactions) The past couple weeks, she’s been playing the game while we stop every so often to dissect and analyze the mediums used in this game for story telling purpose. We analyze the music, blank/negative spaces, lighting, camera angles and shots, the introduction of characters, using characters to reveal information/reveal to us the lack of info the players know, etc.

Everyone is free to their own opinions. We just wanted to share our thoughts and understanding of the story and its characters through the use of rhetorical appeals found in the game that push towards a common narrative that all players of this game can agree on—what FFVII’s story is about. We are free to our own interpretations and preferences. The plot devices and rhetoric strategies used in this game are there for specific reasons and this is our (me and my sister’s) take on that. We hope you enjoy this lengthy analysis.

Spoilers, for those who have not yet played the game.

When you begin the new game, you’re introduced to dry and barren land. The first sign of life we see is a bird flying across the sky and towards a bleak looking city. The scenery is washed out with hues of gray, black, etc.—the city is filled with people in contrast to the rocky terrain we saw prior, but it still seems dry and barren in a different sense. The flowers aren’t even growing. A reflection of a washed out greenish light reflects in the eyes of a child playing at a park and it’s coming out of something steel and man-made. It doesn’t look welcoming—it looks ominous. The brooding music and the way this pale light doesn’t illuminate everything around it, but rather makes everything else in comparison, darker, tells us so.

The scenes fades to black and we are next shown a mysterious nameless girl who is perched in front of a pipe(?) with the same glow that we saw coming from the reactor in the last scene. She opens her eyes and the camera cuts to a side view of her. We don’t see her expression, but we see the green glow of the pipes flicker almost as if it’s conversing with her. We see a yellow flower and it’s a a call back to the dead flower growing by the curb in the earlier scenes. It makes us question whether the green glow is something that’s alive and not meant to be harvested to an extent that the flowers are dying. She stands up and looks away from the screen into something unknown to the viewers. We’re further intrigued. Maybe she isn’t meant to be near the green glow? We don’t yet know.

She walks out into the street and bumps into someone who doesn’t even apologize or excuse himself. She drops a few of her flowers. A woman glances at her but no one helps this girl. A man even tramples on one of her flowers. We don’t see her face, but she picks it up with two hands—she’s carrying it like it’s something precious to her. Yes—this steel city is empty of greenery similarly to the way most people depicted are empty of compassion towards life (the environment)

She looks towards the sky and we are left with a lot of questions as to what she is to this story we are embarking on. The camera pans out to a large city enclosed within walls and divided into sections like a pizza—a telltale sign of a society being controlled by a higher power/hierarchy. The sound of drums, wind instruments and the brass instruments gradually become louder and louder until a streak of pale green light shoots across from the upper right corner and strikes the middle of the screen like a meteor. The logo appears to the sound of brass instruments and drums overpowering the score and this crescendo marks the beginning of an epic journey: Final Fantasy VII Remake.

The music gradually quiets down and we pan closer and closer into another section of the city with cuts of a moving train and a mysterious man with a large sword on his back perched on top of this train. We can’t help but wonder why he isn’t inside the train like a normal person and we‘re left to wonder if he’s trying to sneak in undetected. The train slows down to a stop in front of 2 grunts whose faces we can’t see. A closer look at the train—it doesn’t look like it’s meant for people to ride in. It looks like a heavy duty train that’s meant to transport things.

The grunts get their asses handed to them by three characters that are introduced. They’re wearing attire that’s a bit similar to each other so we get the feel that they’re acting as a 3-man unit/team. The camera pans to a big guy with shades and a metal cylinder arm. The guy looks intimidating and to be quite honest, sketchy. Is he supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy? We’ll have to play on to find out.

The three headbands wait for this big guy to give the signal and when he gives them the ok with a head nod, they nod in understanding and turn around to get to their destination.

“Get down here, merc.” The first line is spoken by this big guy whose name flashes on the screen as Barret.

We see the same man with the big sword riding atop the train from before as he back flips onto the scene and coolly looks up at the viewers in true protagonist/hero fashion and this is where we know without a doubt, we are definitely going to be playing as this mysterious, fellow. The striking eyes and spiky-hair tells us so (lol).

The story begins in the middle of all this action. We don’t know this guy’s name, why we’re working for Barret or what their objective even is yet, which leaves a unique way of storytelling by piecing information together. We rely on characters around us and our interactions with them to figure out just wtf is going on.

I wanted to note that the music is quick paced while the brass carries a low melody which, together, evokes a sense of urgency and covertness. We get an idea that perhaps we will be infiltrating this place. Also, the chapter of the title clues us in on what we’re doing. We’re destroying a reactor—a source of energy—which we can safely assume is that green stuff shooting out of that structure from the intro and that it is supplying this walled city with power/electricity.

The player has control of this character and, as Barret puts it, “you’re up” and made to engage in a battle with the same type of grunts as before, all in tutorial fashion. We learn that this man’s name is Cloud. We learn from the first few battles that Cloud is a cocky little shit swordsman based on his scripted dialogue between himself and the grunts. (The grunts warn him that they’ll shoot if he moves and he challenges them with the line, Go ahead.) Our first level up isn’t level 1, it’s level 7, and he already has a few abilities and a spell, plus different fighting modes, so we know he’s has some kind of fighting experience already. 

Additionally, the fighting modes are called Operator mode and Punisher mode. These are words that evoke a lack of autonomy. Operator suggests that a person must do something to make a tool or system function properly. Cloud is a tool to make another tool work. Punisher suggests that a person is inflicting damage, pain, death, etc.towards people who have committed grave crimes/sins —someone who takes away someone else’s autonomy.

We learn more about our main man through the other characters. Jessie and Biggs’ conversation reveals his full name, Cloud Strife, and that he was a SOLDIER which is stylized in all caps in the subtitles showing us that it may be more than just a title or occupation in this game. Biggs describes him as a professional in comparison to the rest of them. Professional in what specifically? He was trained to fight, what with all the abilities and fighting styles he has at this point. That leaves us with the question: what is a SOLDIER exactly, and why isn’t he a SOLDIER anymore?

His interaction with Wedge tells a lot about his character and gives us insight as to what the situation is and what his relationship to them is. Wedge gives a thumbs up—no words from Wedge—yet Cloud is moved to say this is a one time “gig” emphasizing his role as a mercenary and he reiterates it by saying when the job is done, their connection between himself and their group will also end. From a storytelling standpoint, this interaction leads us to separate ourselves emotionally from the rest of the group. To Cloud—the player—this is just another day at work.

Jessie and Biggs continue to talk about the player character, but you cannot interact with them at this point. As you approach Barret, he pushes you aside to watch over Jessie and Biggs. We get a stronger impression that Barret is a team leader of some sort—one that doesn’t seem to approve of your presence. Does that have anything to do with being a former SOLDIER?

Cloud isn’t interested in what Wedge thinks. Cloud is aloof and kinda fuckin’ rude. We wonder what made him this way?

Barret warns Cloud that he’d better be worth the money. He doesn’t even call him by his name. He calls Cloud merc, which further puts emotional distance between the two.

The fact that the player is left behind to fight the baddies alone while the rest make their way forward creates a distance between them as well. Cloud is working for them—not with them. A job’s a job.

Cloud takes the elevator alone and enters an area where we see Wedge is left behind while the rest of the group tells you to hurry and to pick up the pace.

As the player, I personally was annoyed that they aren’t more appreciative. I can’t keep up with you guys bc I’m left behind doing all the fighting keeping all of you from harm. However—fighting is what’s expected of the player—that’s what we were hired to do, right? I’m just being salty bc my efforts aren’t being noticed the way I want. Here, I feel inferior.

If you choose to interact with Wedge before going further, he tells you he will secure an escape route, asks you to keep his friends safe, and not to worry about him. Cloud may not give two shits yet, but as the player, I’ve begun to form an emotional attachment to Wedge. This guy is so caring! Cloud’s cold personality does not sway him! HOW can I not like Wedge?

We join up with the others and Barret asks him for directions to get to some bridge above mako storage. He then goes on in an increasingly aggravated manner and asks Cloud if he’s still a “loyal little doggy”. We can draw several conclusions from from this dialogue.

1. Cloud was once affiliated with some kind of power/company/force in opposition to Barret & co.

2. We are made to believe that Cloud left this company some time before for reasons we do not yet know.

2. Cloud was hired to help them infiltrate a building belonging to this opposing entity.

3. Barret’s lack of trust in Cloud correlates to his former affiliation with the opposing entity.

4. Mako is a source that this opposing entity has in possession. This building is huge. They must have quite a lot of it.

We are left with several questions about this character we are playing.

1. What is his objective?

2. What are his morals?

3. Where does his loyalty lie?

We lack this information, but we do know that Barret does not fully trust him because he’s a former enemy. So, can we trust Cloud too? Is he credible? Is he speaking the truth? Should we believe what he says? What if he’s a double agent? We have to play on as this character to find out.

Cloud experiences some kind of headache at the mention of “loyal little doggy” and it feeds us the idea that maybe he’s negatively triggered by it because it reminds him of something traumatic. This may be a clue that explains the reason for his departure from SOLDIER.

Barret calls him a mutt and exclaims “we can do this with you or we can do this without you.”

Cloud recovers from his headache and responds calmly. “Different reactor, different layout, depends when it was built. Never seen one like this, but I’ll manage.”

Barret’s use of “we” and “you” followed by Cloud’s “I” creates more of a separation between them.

Biggs gets the door open, but not for long. Cloud enters first—alone—Barret reaches his hand forward and shouts “wait!” and Cloud is left to fight alone while the others are locked outside of the room. When the fighting is over, Jessie chirps happily as she enters the room and makes a flirtatious comment which Barret tries to quickly shut down (lol).

Jessie gets this new door to open with her knowledge of passcodes through a friend. No one else at command will talk to them, but they must make due.

Now we know that this small team is a part of a bigger force, however, there isn’t a sense of unity as the command won’t socialize with this team specifically. Why though?

Biggs tells Jessie to be careful to which she responds with a smile. Cute moment showing Biggs’ concern and Jessie’s optimism/confidence—traits that may help us to understand their motivations and nature’s little more in the upcoming chapters.

If you talk to Barret, the first thing he tells Cloud is to be ready for the increasing security. “We can’t afford any more mistakes.” And he includes Cloud in this “we” this time around. It’s a subtle way for Barret to say they are a team and they should be working together. It also subtly reveals Barret’s soft and caring side. Classic soft teddy bear in a grizzly bear’s skin. You care, Barret—and the players care about you too, regardless what Cloud says.

Before getting into the elevator, Jessie asks about someone named Tifa and though it isn’t any of her business, she wonders if she and Cloud are close which is italicized to give an important emphasis on their relationship. Here, Jessie separates herself from the relationship between Cloud and Tifa, yet her interest in their relationship plus the flirting and comments on Cloud’s appearance hints that she may be interested in him ins romantic sense.

We hear and see a new name and for new players to the FFVII franchise, it’s common for people to consciously try to connect that name to a character. Tifa...Tifa... who is she? Why is Jessie asking Cloud about her? Wait, was Tifa the one who hired Cloud? Oh, is she the pink girl we saw in the intro?

The flashback sequence is important because it affirms to us that the pink girl from the intro is not Tifa, but an entirely different character. It is also worth noting that before the flashback, Cloud looks away from Jessie and willingly tries to remember Tifa. This flashback juxtaposes the quick flash of memories and migrain he receives when Barret calls him a loyal doggy. Those memories cause him pain when he remembers even bits and parts of it. The memories with Tifa are...well, we don’t quite know what they are to him yet, but there’s a stark contrast between how Cloud reacts towards the two memories.

The flashback reveals a town that doesn’t look like the city streets of the intro. We are experiencing this flashback through Cloud’s eyes. He looks at this tower hears Tifa call his name, and there we see she is surrounded by other boys. His focus jumps back and forth between her back to her surroundings. He turns away and Tifa asks if he is ignoring her. He focuses on her displeased face again and that is the last thing we see before the flashback ends—everything else in the background gets washed out with a pale green hue except for Tifa’s face. A hue of red is the only vibrant color left, and it’s centered on her face—we cut back to Cloud, and I don’t know if this the lighting effect was intended, but the red color on Cloud’s face is emphasized against a washed out background for a brief moment as well before the pale green hues face back into the regular color scheme. We also here what sounds like a heartbeat within the sharp static sounds? And so what are we left to think about this scene?

The music, mostly string instruments are played in a minor key that evoke mystery, nostalgia, and a sense of meekness. Tifa is the only one waving to him while the other boys rarely move an inch.

In the English version, he lifts his right hand with his palm open, a gentle gesture, and says “Tifa and I...” before he’s interrupted with the elevator buzzer.

We’re left with a sense that Tifa is someone from his childhood—a cute girl who is evidently popular among the other kids. The flashback initially leads us to think he wasn’t interested in being her friend as a child or that he was too shy/felt too inferior to all the boys hanging around her to accept her invitation...? The focus on Tifa’s face in his flashback, the redness in his face, followed by the subtle heart beat hints at a crush and that perhaps he may have been jealous/inferior to the other boys around her—thus, his hesitation when trying to explain his relationship with Tifa to Jessie.

An interesting fact that I noticed outside of my sister’s play through and discussions, the Japanese version has Cloud saying “oretachi” to refer to himself and Tifa. I looked into it, and basically—he’s trying to make himself seem more masculine and confident while also revealing that the relationship between he and Tifa is informal—implying that they are close.

It also shows subtle feelings of inferiority. He had to refer to himself like that to establish his masculinity right after a flashback with Tifa being surrounded by other boys. Way to be subtle about his feelings!

The English version, while less obvious, hints at his crush on Tifa in a different sense. The way he says “Tifa and I...” is a little less deep than how he usually speaks. Vocalization, hand gestures, facial expressions, music, and lighting and colorization in this short scene reveal a lot about Cloud’s feelings. His shyness in remembering this flashback reveal something tender in relation to this friend of his.

Just a fun fact that I personally wanted to share. For the sake of this analysis however, I won’t be talking about the Japanese dialogue and will only be referring to the English localization from this point on. Just wanted to share this info as it blatantly points towards Cloud’s characterization so early on in the story.in comparison to the English version.

Also note: the distance between Jessie and Cloud before the flashback and after. Jessie inches closer to Cloud and is the active participant in trying to close the distance between them, while Cloud stands still—a reflection of Cloud’s characterization and his relationship to others at this point. He’s seems to be socially stunted. While everyone else is trying to get closer to him, he’s emotionally and mentally not ready to make that connection.

There is so much to dissect in every chapter, but I’ve reached the image attachment limit and will continue this another time with screenshots attached as I believe it’s important to examine visual mediums while also providing images that are being examined in an analysis. 

So... to be continued in another post... stay tuned.

[markjsaterfiel66]

Hackbot in the Morning

I love coming in to work early; normally I get in around 6:45 a.m. Very few people are here at that time, and the ones that are? They get it. It’s about as close to freedom a working adult can expect.

On a particularly quiet morning very recently, I found myself thinking, “I’ve never made a bot with a Pi… isn’t that one of the things that everybody’s gotta do sooner or later? I wonder what it takes to actually get something up and running.”

So I decided that, with minimal effort and materials expended, I would give it a shot while there was nobody here to tell me otherwise – nothing fancy, just a platform that’ll drive around, to which I can ultimately attach more junk (it started with some junk reclaimed from other projects). Check the end of this post for a consolidated list of items used.

I started off with a Raspberry Pi 3 I mounted to an acrylic plate to try to give it some weight to hold it down when there’s a slew of cables stuck in it. I hit my pile of junk in my basement for more parts… and I came across this old project:

That there (above) is the remains of my “Little Dude” project I did a video for a while back, using servo wheels glued together as pulleys… good times, good times… Anyway, that’s a pair of gear motors (ratio unknown, whatever - let’s rock!) wired up to a TB6612 dual-channel motor driver good to 1.2A per channel. Sweet! This bot was just about building itself!

I figured could mount the motors and driver directly onto the acrylic with hot glue, although if anything got too hot, it would fall off. I decided to just really gum up the motors so any heat couldn’t melt all of the hot glue and stick to the edges of the driver board. This bot wouldn’t be drawing that much current. If I remember right the stall current on the motors is around 330mA, and we’ll be nowhere near that driving this little beastie around the office.

When it came to power, for initial testing I’d have to have all the cables and junk plugged in anyway, but Hackbot needed localized life support if he’s eventually going to romp free… not to mention headless operation. I could have started it with all the junk plugged in, then yank the keyboard, mouse and monitor out and set it on the floor, but that was definitely a short-term solution. I let that part go while I got the rudidments in place. In the meantime, I had to make a little regulator circuit with a 7805 – that should be good to an amp and a half, so it should cover me for the Pi and the motors. But a two-cell lipo is about 8.4V fully charged, and at a guess I’ll maybe draw 500mA average (totally ballparking here), giving me (8.4V - 5V)*0.5A = 1.7W to dissipate on that TO220. It would probably get hot unless I heatsink it.

Programming this in Python was easy enough, as it’s just GPIO manipulation. I wasn’t going to try and PWM the motor driver, as I had the gear motors and I knew they were slow. If they were faster, I might have had to worry about feeding them PWM to control the speed.

I then created a wiring diagram of sorts:

The hookup was simple enough. Each channel on the TB6621 is driven by three pins: [A/B]IN1 and [A/B]IN2, which determine the direction, and PWM[A/B], which allows you to adjust the speed of the channel through a PWM signal applied here. There’s also a standby signal (STBY) that will enable/disable both channels. That’s seven lines total, and they all get a GPIO line.

Running motor power through the RasPi wasn’t really the smartest thing I could do, but 1) the motors were originally rated for 6V and the lipo’s going to be more, and 2) I bet it wouldn’t be a problem at this stage, (though I wondered if I’d get motor noise back to the RasPi). Checking the TB6621 datasheet showed lots of noise-suppressing diodes on the motor outputs. Clearly, destiny wanted me to do this.

There were still a couple of things I needed to make this viable: wheels and a caster. Oh sure, I could have used those hot-glued servo wheels that were originally on the motors (check the first pic above) for some extra jank-factor. But I felt like I was already up against enough sketchy design, so I just bought them. Pro tip: that caster is a little tight at first. You can loosen it up by clamping that ball between the plastic with a pliers and giving it a little squeeze (not too much, as you can’t un-squeeze it).

After some hot glue magic plus a minimum of wiring, the bottom of Hackbot looked like this:

The top looks like this:

Now I had the physical platform close, but I still had to make a little regulator board. I figured it really didn’t need to be anything special, just an L7805 regulator, plus an electrolytic cap of 100uF or so on the output oughta do it. I gave it a two-pin male header to plug into the two-cell lipo, and snatched a micro USB plug from some unsuspecting cable to connect to the 5V out.

Then I mounted it on one of the stand-offs holding the RasPi down.

Another view:

The PCB that the regulator is mounted on is from an old product line of shaped PCB’s that we used to have, that one being a pentagon. It was lying around, so I used it. The idea here was that the battery will sit on top of the RasPi in some fashion (I can work out the specifics later) while plugged into that two-pin male header you see there.

From there, I turned to code. There’s definitely more junk to add, but that’s for another day. The car’s got wheels, right? Let’s go driving!

#Hackbot.py #Just a little test code to run around the floor a bit import RPi.GPIO as GPIO import time #a couple of delay constants leg = 2 turn = 0.5 #set up control pins for motor driver STBY = 31 AIN1 = 33 AIN2 = 35 PWMA = 37 BIN1 = 32 BIN2 = 36 PWMB = 38 GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD) #use board pin numbers #set the GPIO's to outputs GPIO.setup(STBY, GPIO.OUT) GPIO.setup(BIN1, GPIO.OUT) GPIO.setup(AIN1, GPIO.OUT) GPIO.setup(AIN2, GPIO.OUT) GPIO.setup(BIN2, GPIO.OUT) GPIO.setup(PWMA, GPIO.OUT) GPIO.setup(PWMB, GPIO.OUT) #set initial condiions, STBY #is low, so no motors running GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(AIN1, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(AIN2, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(PWMA, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(BIN1, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(BIN2, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(PWMB, GPIO.HIGH) #movement is governed by the 4 #following functions. These will #go into their own library, ultimately. def go_forward(run_time): GPIO.output(AIN1, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(AIN2, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(BIN1, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(BIN2, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.HIGH) #start time.sleep(run_time) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.LOW) #stop def turn_left(run_time): GPIO.output(AIN1, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(AIN2, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(BIN1, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(BIN2, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.HIGH) #start time.sleep(run_time) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.LOW) #stop def turn_right(run_time): GPIO.output(AIN1, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(AIN2, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(BIN1, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(BIN2, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.HIGH) #start time.sleep(run_time) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.LOW) #stop def reverse(run_time): GPIO.output(AIN1, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(AIN2, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(BIN1, GPIO.HIGH) GPIO.output(BIN2, GPIO.LOW) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.HIGH) #start time.sleep(run_time) GPIO.output(STBY, GPIO.LOW) #stop #Then we make a simple driving patern and loop try: while True: #go forward go_forward(leg) #turn right? turn_right(turn) #go forward go_forward(leg) #turn right? turn_right(turn) #go forward go_forward(leg) #turn left turn_left(turn) #go forward go_forward(leg) #turn left turn_left(turn) #reverse reverse(leg) except KeyboardInterrupt: GPIO.cleanup()

To run this, I powered the Pi from my two-cell lipo with all the cables plugged in, just long enough to open a terminal window and run that code. Then, I quick-like yanked all the cords out, put it on the floor and let-r-rip!

Look at that thing lay it down! Am I right?? Those motors are really slow, and we don’t sell that particular one anymore. I want to say they’re geared 300:1…? Or maybe 300RPM? The concept is hereby proven, and I can change those motors out if I really want to.

Things I could have done better

1) Like I knew it would, the regulator gets hot. Not so hot that I can’t touch it, but I don’t want to for very long. The current draw is around 315mA sitting idle, and around 500mA-ish when we’re driving around, so it’s dissipating over 1.5W when driving. That’s a bit much for a TO-220 package by itself, so I should put a hunk of metal on it.

2) Running motor current through the Pi, while convenient for today, is kinda dumb for the long term. I can get away with it for now because the motor current is relatively low, but the current path between the USB plug and 5V on the header is in no way designed to do this. I should really run the motor voltage directly from the regulator.

3) Headless operation: plugging cables in and out to do this is no good. Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy; so does Hackbot.

4) Hot glue. You know what? The hot glue is working for me. Saved me a ton of time.

Those are the things that gotta happen before anything else gets added. What to add?

What comes next

There’s a bunch of GPIO left available on the Pi header, including SPI, I2C and UART interfaces, so there’s a lot of room for adding junk. I can’t add anything particularly analog, but I don’t think I need to. But anything with a digital interface is fair game – distance/proximity sensors, GPS, environmental sensors… it just depends on what your ultimate goal is, or what sensors you want play with. This would make an interesting mobile test platform for new gear.

For myself, I’m less about getting tiny bots to do my will, and more about, “That thing is sweet! I wish I was two inches tall so I could get in and drive!” So it’ll probably get a camera at some point, probably an OSD to keep me updated with various info. Then LEDs, Troll hair, googly eyes…

Recap: Materials Used

To extricate the list from my story-telling style:

added to your cart!

Break Away Headers - Straight

In stock PRT-00116

A row of headers - break to fit. 40 pins that can be cut to any size. Used with custom PCBs or general custom headers.

$1.50

20

Favorited Favorite 81

Wish List

added to your cart!

Raspberry Pi 3

27 available DEV-13825

Everyone knows and loves Raspberry Pi, but what if you didn't need additional peripherals to make it wireless. The Raspberry …

$39.95

92

Favorited Favorite 91

Wish List

added to your cart!

SparkFun Motor Driver - Dual TB6612FNG (1A)

Out of stock ROB-14451

The TB6612FNG Motor Driver can control up to two DC motors at a constant current of 1.2A (3.2A peak). Two input signals (IN1 …

$4.95

1

Favorited Favorite 7

Wish List

added to your cart!

Voltage Regulator - 5V

In stock COM-00107

This is the basic L7805 voltage regulator, a three-terminal positive regulator with a 5V fixed output voltage. This fixed reg…

$0.95

3

Favorited Favorite 30

Wish List

added to your cart!

Lithium Ion Battery - 1000mAh 7.4v

In stock PRT-11855

This high discharge LiPo is a great way to power any R/C, robotic, or portable project. This is an excellent choice for anyth…

$9.95

2

Favorited Favorite 2

Wish List

added to your cart!

Ball Caster Metal - 3/8"

In stock ROB-08909

This ball caster kit from Pololu includes a black ABS housing, a 3/8" diameter metal ball, two spacers (1/16" and 1/8" thick)…

$2.95

1

Favorited Favorite 4

Wish List

added to your cart!

Electrolytic Decoupling Capacitors - 100uF/25V

In stock COM-00096

Electrolytic decoupling capacitors 100uF/25V. These capacitors are great transient/surge suppressors. Attach one between the …

$0.35

Favorited Favorite 6

Wish List

added to your cart!

Micro Gearmotor - 130 RPM (6-12V)

Only 10 left! ROB-12281

These micro gearmotors are incredibly tough and feature full metal gears. They have a gear ratio of 210:1 and operate up to 1…

$12.95

Favorited Favorite 0

Wish List

added to your cart!

Wheel 32x7mm

In stock ROB-08901

This custom-designed plastic wheel from Pololu has a silicone tire measuring 1.26" (32 mm) in diameter and is designed to fit…

$6.95

Favorited Favorite 3

Wish List

Some reading you may appreciate

How to Solder: Through-Hole Soldering

This tutorial covers everything you need to know about through-hole soldering.

Favorited Favorite 37

TB6612FNG Hookup Guide

Basic hookup guide for the TB6612FNG H-bridge motor driver to get your robot to start moving!

Favorited Favorite 5

Python Programming Tutorial: Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi

This guide will show you how to write programs on your Raspberry Pi using Python to control hardware.

Favorited Favorite 8

comments | comment feed