#the differences in the story and general style are really interesting even between master and disciple

[cerealandchoccymilk]

out of all the things i could hyperfixate on i didnt expect my next one to be a 200+ year old form of storytelling

[marvelstars]

I am really linking this series of interviews by George Lucas going with his analysis for each character in this case Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Here in Anakin´s chapter, Lucas explains Anakin´s real issue isn´t really the darkside or it´s temptations, in fact when he was a kid he already possesed many virtues related to the Jedi, he was generous, without malice, wanted to help and very compassionate despite being raised on slavery in a very horrible environment , his only issue, if you want to call it that, was that he was raised by a loving mother who he loved as well, having a family for him was something natural and neccesary and his main issue when it came to the order was that they simply didn´t work with family units, they worked in a master -apprentice relationships which were foreing to him, he had bonds with people because he was born in a family and a community. The fact he quickly could lose them given many of them were slaves only made him bond with even more intensity which translated into him having difficulty in letting go of his loved ones.

So in Lucas vision, Anakin needed a master like Qui-Gon to teach him the way of the jedi while making a transition between having a family and having a master - apprentice relationship, Qui-Gon actually WANTED to be that father figure Anakin was looking for even when he lived with his mother.

This obviously didn´t happen with Obi-Wan, who wasn´t really into the idea of being Anakin´s father figure and who wanted Anakin to adapt into the Jedi´s life as if he was raised on the temple. Lucas tells Obi-Wan´s biggest regret in both trilogies was having failed as a master for Anakin, because he didn´t adapt to Anakin´s personal needs like Qui-Gon would have done neither did he stablished many reflective opportunties over the nature or the dark and lightside like Yoda did with Luke, Obi-Wan´s teaching style was more "by the book" so in Lucas view Obi-Wan is indirectly to blame for Anakin´s fall to the darkside and the end of the republic. I think there are many attenuating circunstances about this but I could see Obi-Wan seeing it that way. Obi-Wan then begins to make similar mistakes with Luke who also gets in danger of falling like his father before him but who ultimately doesn´t fall because his training was slighty different and had Yoda´s involvement and of course because Luke himself decides to embrace compassion and value family, his bond with the father he barely knew.

Lucas mentions that he considered keeping Qui-Gon out of the story and writting obi-wan as an ambitious young Jedi who wanted to train Anakin for his intense force powers, like Obi-Wan said in the OT but he later decided to include Qui-Gon so he could be the contrast with Obi-Wan personality, the difference between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan is one in which a man pays attention and helps a beggar(Qui-Gon) who in TPM is represented by both Jar Jar and Anakin and another man(Obi-Wan) who gets annoyed at having to deal with the beggar in the first place, which is reflected in Obi-Wan´s dialogue about "Pathetic life forms". Obi-Wan is still ambitious in TPM but not in relation to Anakin, just in the sense he´s interested in advancing his career, in fact he tells Qui-Gon he could be part of the council if he didn´t discuss so much with the council, which actually means Obi-Wan pretty much wants to be part of the Council and advance in his career as a Jedi.

I belive it was Obi-Wan´s original disconnect with Anakin, his sadness/anger over Qui-Gon wanting to end his padawanship in favor of Anakin that despite trying his best to comply with Qui-Gon´s wishes, Obi-Wan and Anakin only connected later in the story when they were both adults but they had so much conflict in their master - apprentice relationship for the way their relationship began, it wasn´t fair for Obi-Wan to teach a student he was suspiscious of because of the council pov of him but it wasn´t fair to Anakin either to have a teacher who started his training out of obligation and who thought he was dangerous, this is why this relationship ultimately failed to give Anakin the emotional and mental skills needed to use his powers adecuately and have a stronger process in his decision making to make choices for himself, having being a slave Anakin had an almost crippling difficulty to make personal decisions for himself, especially when so many people around him made decisions for him, as it stands Anakin´s one decision not prompted by somebody else in the story was to marry Padme.

Anakin having the wrong training, with many regrets over leaving his mother behind, without a father figure to lean on, then gets broken inside by his mother´s death, which leads to Vader´s persona being born inside him, Vader here represents his hate, resentment, whish for revenge over the injustice, which leads to him to attack the tusken raiders and later when he learns about Padmé dying on childbirth, he listens to the "devil"(Palpatine) who tells him he can save her for a price which was a lie.

So from Lucas pov Anakin´s fall began after his mother´s death, but wasn´t fully realized until his dreams about Padmé dying, with him being unable to do anything about it except see her die, this made him want to keep her alive at any cost but the reason for his fall wasn´t about him being particulary attracted to the darkside, or violent or evil, he simply wanted to keep the people he loved around, turning his genuine love into possessive love. He didn´t get the adecuate training for him to make the transition between having a family and being part of the Order in which attachment was forbbiden, an Order in which it was expected of him to give up his family.

The author of the video goes on to reflect how Anakin could have avoided falling if he was sent to the Temple earlier but I believe, given Luke was a lot more older than Anakin when he began his training, being raised by his mother wasn´t the problem, the problem was the training he got was the standard for a Jedi but he needed a training adapted to his particular needs as someone who came late to the temple, but the Jedi Order of the era and Obi-Wan as a teacher, the people and organization of the time in which he got to live just weren´t shaped this way.

Very interesting points by Lucas himself about Anakin´s character and then the Original trilogy is the story of how Anakin gets back from the darkside by making the opposite journey, he gets back his humanity, he gets the compassion he had by loving Luke as a father but this love didn´t become possesive the way his love for Padmé did, because Anakin/Vader were ready to give up his own life if it meant saving Luke, relearning love, compassion, he used to have as a child and getting his own balance back from the time before his mothers death.

[emelinstriker]

About those 3 Anon messages recently...

Yes, there's 3 now. Third on came up while I was finishing typing about the 2nd one.

tl;dr context: peeps defending a fictional 2D lego character, questioning the morality of esau (despite the lack of lore context), as well as for some reason a personal attack on me... also smol chinese jesus??? :'D

DISCLAIMER:

I respect y'all's opinions and headcanons and whatnot. It's all valid. However. I expect respect on my own opinions and headcanons return. That's literally all I'm asking.

That's common sense and I will from this point on just delete anyone else's anon asks if they try to argue with me about my standings on these matters mentioned in here. Or this post in general.

There's literally no point in arguing over words written in a story, or debating whether or not pixels on a screen are hot or not.

With that disclaimer being said...

Case 1:

I'm fully aware of the entire discussion thing of Nezha being eternally 12 and all that, but I'm also fully aware of how LMK Nezha is more of a parody on the original. LMK Nezha is more of an adult 2D character who took the characteristics of the source, but then was turned into an aged-up parody.

It's not weird with the context of how things even came to be in the AU. It does involve a form of "infection" that changes those that are infected. In ESAU it's just slightly different from my original story's OCs to appeal more to the Reader. There are people out there who seek comfort in their own superiority complex too, especially if they can never explore that part of themselves normally. If that doesn't appeal to you, that's fine. But don't assume it's weird just because you don't like it if a fictional master/servant relationship isn't for you.

Now, this ask wasn't really bad or directly disrespectful. That was just basic questioning on the general relationship of the AU as well as the LMK Nezha being 12 discussion. So I went to bed, cuz I didn't wanna respond with my rather aggressive response to the topic. Like, I ranted about it to my Discord server, but it was already around midnight and I knew I'd come off as aggressive, despite the logic and facts, if I just copy n pasted the way I phrased the rant. So I went to bed. But then I woke up to an essay in another ask...

Case 2:

I'm assuming this is the exact same person, based on the timeframe and the writing style..? Maybe even the same person who asked that question about whether I'd make Nezha's relationship towards the Reader romantic or platonic..??

For the sake of this entire thing being unworthy of an unnecessary discussion, as well as the fact that the person sending this isn't worth directly responding to if they hide behind an anon face, knowing they would get flamed, I will solely respond to these for my actual viewers, who do enjoy ESAU.

As in, I noticed how almost every single point is easily arguable. Like, they literally just made it up as if every single relationship between the Reader and their champions is romantic. Which couldn't be further from the truth. This is a point I wanna get more into due to how it covers the Master System more. A random anon sending me questions, or rather statements, like this doesn't deserve to get a detailed response to this directly either. My viewers do deserve more insight though. Be it to avoid more people thinking this is automatically grooming, or just to give interested people more lore dump.

To keep it short: Everyone who wants to be a Reader, is a Reader. I myself am a Reader of fiction, which is why I use my persona to fill in the Reader's space in any drawing I do for ESAU. Which is also why Macaque referred to their Master currently being female in that one drawing- Because in that moment, in my drawings, I'm technically seen as their Master.

So when you see the champions swap between their Master using non-binary or female pronouns, this is why. If you see me draw them referring to their Master as a "she", they're referring to basically their current Master in that exact moment. However, literally anyone else can also be placed in that spot.

Whenever I refer to a Reader's reincarnation, I usually mean either "the same person, but another life" OR "different people of the same/a different life". As in, the Reader can imagine themselves having had multiple past lives, or their "past life" is actually another Reader. We're all the Reader. That's why I kept saying the Master System is rather philosophical.

The Reader can imagine themselves if they met their champions as a child or as an adult. However, nothing in ESAU is forced to be romantic or sexual. If you were born as a prince/princess/royalty, that doesn't mean your servants are immediately destined to be romantic or sexual with you, right? That entire portion is up to the Reader to decide and imagine. I do not control what another person thinks of and imagines. If they chose to pick a darker path, the fuck do you want me to do about that? Unless it ends up hurting anyone, or they actively push the topic onto others, I see no issue with however a Reader wants to think up what happens in their life with their servants. All I do is create material for others to play with.

Except for the First Master, any other Reader can be considered either the same person or various people. That's up to the person behind the screen, whether they feel more comforted with one idea or another.

On the Nezha being 12 topic... Do people know what a parody is, I-

LMK Nezha looks more like THIS-

Not as young as THIS-

And he was never said to be 12 years old in LMK. Nor does he look 12, act 12, speak 12, sound 12... LMK needs to be seen and accepted as more like a parody AU of the original story, if that wasn't obvious enough. I find it funny how they brought up my own age though-

Cuz yeah, I'm 21, almost 22, and I do understand the difference between reality's religions, fictional 2D pixels, and the difference between the source and a parody. Wow. Shocker. I know.

Or as I said it in tags earlier today-

Also I'd just like to add… If we go by the theory of specifically LMK Nezha still being 12, despite literally thousands of years having passed, his body being depicted as a fully grown adult in basically every single goddamn aspect of his character within the show… Literally all he got is his paperwork saying he's 12. Like- LMK Nezha would literally just be one of those people that were born on February 29th. Just him not getting any birthdays. Do you assume after literal thousands of years, with his body and mind being mature, and only his paperwork saying he's 12, this dude wouldn't be tryna explore more of himself and his interests, wh-

Like- LMK Nezha isn't the original source Nezha. Simple as that. Just accept it's a parody and be done with it. If you don't agree with it, that's your opinion and I respect that. But don't you dare fucking push that opinion on others who do actually accept the show as a parody and wanna live out their fantasies in said parody.

Your opinion does not mean it's the opinion of others.

Like, the entire age thing in LMK is such a headcanon thing to the point where no one seems to have a solid age, besides maybe MK, who I've seen people calculate his age for due to his driving license and all that. LMK Nezha is confirmed to be depicted as an adult within the show, which is the headcanon I'm going with, regardless of whatever bullshittery people are trying to argue with.

In conclusion: Nezha may be eternally 12 in a story. But that story is NOT Lego Monkie Kid.

On a side note, something I found ironic and funny, is if an aged up character isn't allowed to be sexualized, then I guess if someone ages a character down, suddenly that original source of the character is no longer allowed to be sexualized either, just because that character suddenly has a younger version of themselves. It's not even the younger version that's being sexualized. That literally is the entire logic of this debate on not wanting a fictional character to have an aged up version of themselves.

Good job, nobody wins. I guess nothing can be sexualized at that point- But then again, Rule 34 wouldn't exist then.

Okay, but now this, THIS is where I got REALLY annoyed, cuz NOW we're getting into more personal territory of nitpicking at ESAU. And those who know me are aware of how I go Asian mom mode when my creations, or younger friends and mutuals, are being wrongfully disrespected.

In general, their entire point is a snowflake-behavior nitpick. Branding is also seen as a way to claim ownership over something. The torture part is basically just the pain of it. I could've also just have the champions have one of those toy stamps for lil children be slapped onto them if you really wanna snowflake it all for tHe PrEcIoUs cHilDrEn...

C'mon. I grew up with FNAF and Creepypastas. Which tend to be usually two of the first fandoms I see children get interested in and hyperfixated on. Mentions of brandmarks that have fully healed ain't nothin' at all.

Like, I literally met a boy who was 8ish years old, who was so happy and hyped about FNAF that he asked me to draw Freddy and Bonnie.

Creepypastas also might make one edgy for a while, but they do grow A LOT from it once they leave that phase. So far, everyone I've ever talked to about Creepypastas in the past became such a good person. Because they look back, and recognize morals so much better. They have seen what bad things can happen and we all know where to draw the line between what's fine, and what's not. Nitpicking on LMK Nezha and ESAU doesn't mean anything since it's just that, nitpicking. I know where to draw the line, but this line these people set is a line no one but themselves can imagine.

Show children bits of reality's darker side and they will know how to deal with the knowledge much better and faster as they grow. That wasn't even just about branding, but I'm tired of people saying how we need to keep children safe. Well yeah, keep them safe physically, but they will never fucking grow and become more independent unless you fucking let them think and process the good AND the bad for themselves.

Also on the topic of adding content warnings- Like, the fuck do you want me to even add? Those asks other people sent of the Reader being basically raised by their servants need no warnings, X Readers in general need no warnings, the brandmarks need no warnings cuz they're just there as aesthetic symbols for anyone not invested in the lore, LMK Nezha needs no content warnings-

Literally the only content warning I'd ever need to add is something like gore, which I do admit I didn't add on the ESAU!Nezha X Reader one.

And I'd just like to add a little something that made me raise an eyebrow: They complained about me going against "Wukong's celibacy vows" when they literally admitted to actively looking through the LMK X Reader tag. While that doesn't necessarily mean they would marry or bang Wukong, that means they're at least curious or interested in what a relationship with any of those characters would be like. Which by all means, would not be possible without it being fiction/fanfiction, and without them having some curiosity or interest in the 2D show of LMK.

Like you're literally telling me I'm practically hurting a fictional character's feelings on the matter, but then turn around and try to get with another character.

Fanfiction and AU's are a thing, man. It's all opinions, headcanons, and literally made up shenanigans. And there's nothing wrong with it when it differs from one person to another.

But dumping empty accusations onto me, someone who thinks more logically than emotionally, literally doesn't help your case. Like, you're debating whether or not this 2D character would actually give a shit if someone would wanna bang them cuz they look hot to the other person.

Case 3:

This one just got dropped into my inbox as I finished typing out the last paragraph and just- This is literally just a unnecessary and only somewhat personal hatred thing at this point- But I'm wheezing at the idea of a smol Chinese Jesus-

Bro, as someone who was forced to be Christian on paper, but never gave a shit about it, because Religion doesn't prove anything or form you, I really don't care. And even if that were the case, I wouldn't complain. It's all fiction dammit. You're again, defending pixels on a screen. Besides that, that wouldn't even be the original source character, again. Also in general, honestly, I see any religious story as fiction anyway. Cuz that literally is what a religion is- You put a belief onto someone over a being/a story-

If you're religious, I respect that. But so do you have to respect that I'm not exactly religious myself.

Case 3 was probably the most directly aggressive one of the 3, but also the most unmeaningful one and so unnecessary one... as if that would be the one to prove a point.

Anyway, rant over, I'm done with this.

If I see any other personal hate on me for not sharing the same fucking opinion on such a niche debate, I'll just ignore and delete it all. This is such a pointless topic.

ESAU is supposed to be a comfort zone for those who actually do feel connected to it. If you don't, that's fine, I fully respect it. If people believe Nezha is 12, I respect that. But don't push that onto those who literally are just here to have a nice time away from shit like this. If you wanna "keep the children safe", fucking keep them away from this sort of nowhere-leading discussion topic.

Literally look at Genshin's Twitter Community, this just feels like the exact same type of unnecessary drama I see there.

And no I will not tag these 3 anons. If they respect me enough, they will either just keep quiet or block me and move on. I don't mind. But I refuse to let this bullshit be a whole ass discussion when I'm just trying to have a good time connecting to my viewers after a long day at work. If they look for a fight for some reason, I won't give them one. They can pick someone else for this bullshit, it's not worth my time as it's all OPINION AND HEADCANON-BASED.

And such debates don't end in peace. So I'd rather be the bigger, more mature person and just say "This is the line. Discussion over. We're done here".

Have a nice day, anyone who actually is nice and respectful towards others and their own takes/opinions on things! Weekend's here now tho so y'all ESAU lovers might see some wholesome lil doodles! :D

[askmerriauthor]

Hyrule's Future - Letting Go of the Past

ToTK lore chatter, mild spoilers below the line break.

I've mentioned it before, but something I really enjoy about both BoTW and ToTK is how they've addressed the timeline as a whole. The games basically scoop up all the events of the past titles, toss them into a blender, and dump out the rendered scraps into a big pile together. So it's become unclear exactly how much of the established lore is actually true and how much of the Legend of Zelda is just actual legend.

This has some interesting implications for how exactly Hyrule will grow going forward from the BoTW/ToTK point, especially considering Nintendo has confirmed that the BoTW-style games is what they want to aim for as a series standard. It also makes for a facet of story telling specific to these games' direction that I really enjoy. That, for all the importance of history and heritage in the Legend of Zelda, the way forward is letting go and accepting change.

There's a bit of a gag going that Link is essentially the Tony Hawk of Hyrule, in that just about nobody recognizes him and he's constantly being "mistaken" for the Legendary Hero Link. NPCs flat-out don't know who he is at all, or brush it off as a funny coincidence he "just happens to have the same name as the Hero", or even gaslight themselves into refusing to believe he could be the genuine article. Very few NPCs in the game actually know who Link is, what he looks like, or properly acknowledge what he's done.

A bit of the same happens for Zelda. While it seems that everyone knows who she is by reputation, if nothing else, everyone is also very easily fooled by the doppelganger Zelda running around causing chaos post-Upheaval. Zelda is essentially a new entity in post-Calamity Hyrule; everyone knew of her as a legendary figure holding back Calamity Ganon, but actually having her around as a flesh-and-blood person working to build a new future for Hyrule is a new thing for the general population. So much so that, for the youngest and newest generations of kids in Hyrule, they don't really hold interest or reverence for the past whatsoever.

Another thing we come across around ToTK is rumors. Things like the fabled "Master Gourd", or characters gossiping about legendary beasts, weapons, and ghost stories. People fear the notion of a vengeful spirit lurking in the wilds, or a man speculates that the ghosts of slain Gerudo haunt the alleys of their town. Others dismiss the very idea of ghosts outright as fanciful nonsense and "unscientific" when there are very clearly actual ghosts in existence within the setting. The establishment of a newspaper and the ability to quickly spread long-form written information across Hyrule is a new thing and welcomed eagerly by the citizenry, but it's up to intrepid reporters and researchers to find the information to report. And, as is shown in several quests, sometimes they get things completely wrong and end up utterly confusing the whole situation.

What this all culminates toward is a very clear indication that the lore of Hyrule and the literal legends of Zelda, in all their forms, is entirely unreliable narrative in-universe. How much of Hyrule's own past has been completely lost to time or disaster? How much of it has mutated through repetition or been exaggerated far beyond what it originally was? The events we've played through in previous titles have been pretty wild in many cases, often cartoonishly silly; were those events actually things that happened, or just outlandish retellings and mixed-up tales? Are the drastic tonal differences between "Twilight Princess" and "Wind Waker" a case of different times or were they simply the personal preference in delivery as told by a given narrator? Are the repeated instances of many characters sharing names and natures truly coincidental reappearances, or are they because a person became a symbol and popular story element that crossed over into different tales? There's a firm sense in ToTK that Hyrule is growing toward a new future of its own making and that the past, while very much an important part of the world's identity, is far from set in stone. That it shouldn't be given so much power and importance over the future that's yet to be seen.

In ToTK, the heroes and the citizenry are looking toward the future. They're building - not rebuilding, but starting new. Side quests like Cece's mayoral race emphasize the importance of making a sustainable balance between the old and new. Mattison's parents respect the old traditions of the Gerudo by letting their daughter go off to learn of her roots in Gerudo Town, even as it pains them to do so, and even as Gerudo Town itself is changing from its old ways. The established language itself is being updated as the new generation of Gerudo kids abbreviate it (much to the chagrin of some elderly Gerudo). Link, a man, is freely admitted to defy the Gerudo's core "no voe allowed" law because of his proven loyalty to their people - a boon that was denied a hero of the Gerudo in the past, as we learn from the side-quest exploring their history.

Throughout all the communities we see a shift from the old to the new without tossing out their roots. The Zora welcome new leadership and combining of communities. The Rito show a proven rise in the next generation to maintain their way of life. The Gorons work with their changing environment and industry, maintaining a firm inter-generational cooperation throughout. The Gerudo gradually open themselves up to greater interactions not just with men, but with the world in general, joining more into the core of Hyrule rather than secluding themselves to their old ways. The Sheikah - by far the most deeply rooted in traditional standards of all - are rapidly changing with the times and set themselves at the bleeding edge of social development. Paya taking the Sheikah in a new direction as their chief, Impa stepping aside for the greater good, Purah and Robbie and Josha recycling all the old Sheikah Tech in order to build new Skyview Towers and develop technology that everyone - not just Link - can use and benefit from. The Zonai culture itself holds core belief in proving one's potential in rites of passage, of growing and rising to challenges, of building and progressing by use of the foundations laid by those who came before. Even the Bargainer Statues, seemingly beyond-ancient spirits or gods who predate even the Zonai, are all about helping the lingering souls of the dead move on without judgment or criticism. In the past, we see Zelda, Mineru, and Rauru all surrender themselves to a necessary change, giving up what they knew and held dear, in order to help move toward a positive future for all even if they wouldn't be there to benefit from it themselves.

It's the villains and antagonists we meet who are stuck in the past or who can't see a sustainable way forward. The Horned Statue - a demon who was petrified by Hylia for its crimes - emphasizes that it proudly refuses to learn its lesson and thus remains a statue for all time. In Hateno Village, Cece and Reede are at extreme ends of valuing vapid, short-sighted progress and hollow, rigid tradition because of pride, even while lying to themselves and others about their true feelings on such things. Kohga and the Yiga Clan are straight-up trying to undermine Hyrule as a society and ultimately end the world itself, abusing the progress of technology and tradition alike to achieve those ends. But these are minor compared to the big man himself.

Ganondorf is very much an anchor on the ship of progress. He's not just stuck in the past; he's literally defined by it. He is the past and an outright denial of the future. His entire M.O. is establishing a state of unchanging chaos, as contradictory as that may sound, where nothing ever advances from the state he's put it into. He saw a flourishing utopian society as an affront - an effort to control him, a waste of "potential". Rather than join it and grow with it, he rebelled and destroyed it. His transformation into the Demon King and birthing of monsters into the world ensured a cyclical status quo of endless strife. Every Blood Moon, the monsters rise anew, undoing any efforts to purge them from the land. After he was sealed, his sole goal was to return to his heights of power. When he was challenged and defeated by Link and the Sages, he was so consumed by his attachment to the past that he literally threw away everything that made him who he was in order to try and retain that power. Ganondorf refuses to let Hyrule grow in any fashion and, in the end, his utter destruction is necessary in order for the world to have any hope of moving forward.

I like that as a theme. There's an emphasis on respect for the old and new alike. That it's important to understand one's history and roots, and that there's wonders to be found in the past. But that the future too holds so much, that change is inevitable. That it should be welcomed rather than scorned or feared, and that embracing that undeniable momentum is the way to thrive. That sometimes what we think we know isn't the truth and we need to be accepting of new ideas or corrections to our previously-established beliefs.

That digging in your heels and latching desperately to the past - to the lore, to the legends, to the canon - ultimately does more harm than good.

[grimwood-notice-board]

AI AS A WRITER'S TOOL

Check out the site here

The following is my take on AI writing, and the content of this video on Sudowrite.

Sudowrite class

By Eldon Macwood, grimdark/cyberpunk author.

For those who don't understand AI writing, using a platform like Sudowrite isn't all point and click. There's still a lot of work, just different work. For some, this will really help them, as the AI becomes a jr writer, not THE writer. Note the difference.

I still prefer to write my own stories, but I do dig cool tools that can help me out. I have used name generators to help me out. I have picked brains to help me out (not literally, unless AI can help with that, kidding, maybe).

I have played around with different styles to see how a story might work. I have gotten ideas from movies/series, from shit that happens to ppl, etc. I also use story prompt cards that doubles as a game to flesh out story ideas, which right now you can check out the Lore Master's Deck backerkit! Not AI, but the company is called, The Story Engine, it's fucking fantastic!

Point is, I still use the world around me to help write stories. AI is just another tool. There will be idiots who abuse it, fuck those idiots. And fuck anyone who overloads story submissions with AI stories when the rules clearly state not to.

I support Human authors, and funny thing, many who use Sudowrite are actual writers. Hence why this tool helps them so much, because they know enough actual skills to get the most out of the tool. I know it's the trend to hate AI, and hate anyone who uses it, but as a person who hates trends, and hates people looking for fights, I do hope to shed thought on this topic that challenges that tend. I am a natural author. I have been writing off and on for over ten years, had some published. I have shared pages with some great names.

I will continue to write my stories. I will also use the tools available to help me best tell the story. I won't use it to this extreme, as seen in the video above, but I do dig how Elizabeth West really puts a lot of work and thought into her writing.

And like with any book, it all depends on the writer. If it sucks, review it, rate it, and explain the problems. Like with every book. Let potential readers know if the book wasn't well written/edited. This is the thing with self-published books, and everyone of us don't gatekeep self-published authors (I'm assuming reasonable Humans are reading this, ergo, they're not gatekeeping tash heaps). But we still know there are a lot of idiots out there who abuse the ability to self-publish. Be we writers aren't those idiots, are we? We're better than that. No different than with a pro writer who uses AI as a tool.

I will again stress this, it's very different to let the AI do all of the work, which yes, there are writers out there who will do that. Sure, they can if they wish, and I hope if they do, they will make sure the story is still edited well, and give a warning that it is.

I'm not against that if they are upfront. My issue would be, if I see a really interesting book. I decide to buy it. I read it, and I hate it bc it looks like something a toddler would write. THEN, I find out it was all AI written. I'd feel like they didn't even try. I'd feel like they just plugged in some words, let a machine crank out 80k words, and called it book, and then released it. A story is a Hell of a lot more than that.

Sure, in a year, three years, ten years, at some point we will see an AI app that can write any story, make it perfect, and people will indeed use it. They will be able to crank stories just as good as our favorite authors, and release those books as soon as a day apart. Imagine AI stories just as good as a GRRM novel, only without the 10+ year wait in between books. Ten days later, BOOM, sequel!

That is scary. Especially since I adore writing. And those of us who adore it, we will choke on the dust of AI because we won't be able to keep up with the AI writers. BUT, while this is a coming thing to expect, there will be readers who will want to read our books. And this doesn't mean we can't use AI as a tool.

Because if we use it as a tool, and not to do all the writing for us, while we might be a little slower than the complete AI generated stories, we won't be near as slow as those who don't use the tools.

It's up to us all. It's fine to hate the abusers. I fucking hate every kind of abuser. Well, I abuse caffeine, and I don't hate myself, so I do have a few loopholes, but still. Just don't go hating on everyone who uses AI. Because for one, using AI as a tool, doesn't make the author less of a writer. Just like they're not thieves. The topic of AI in the creative world is a lot more complex than what the AI haters think. Hence why I stand by the artists and writers who use AI as a tool. Their voice counts just as much as the haters, and they're way more likable.

If you're still a hater, and you look down on me, I will assume you're no different than a self-publish hater. You might as well be. I will also assume you don't bother to look outside of your opinion, which is sad. For those of you more open minded, and at the very least, curious how this all works, here's the site! I like the Story Engine (not the prompt cards I mentioned earlier) plugin they use. It's a sweet tool, and there are various ways you can use it.

Love me, hate me, whatever, just remember, I never, ever, support abusing AI. I don't support tools replacing Humans, I support tools being used to help Humans. Note the difference.

I wish you farewell, and may your wordsauce be plentiful! Except for the haters. I wish a GRRM level of writer's block on them, because I'm a cruel fucker. lol.

[untitled-starwars-blog]

Just finished reading Padawan, by Kiersten White!

Overall, an enjoyable read! I definitely think Master & Apprentice was more my speed, but I suppose that's to be expected, since I'm not quite the target demographic for YA novels anymore.

Full thoughts below, for anyone who might be interested (and spoilers, of course, for anyone who hasn't read the book yet)!

First of all, the book in general definitely did have the writing style of a YA novel (which is exactly what one should expect from it, given that's what it is)! It's not necessarily a good or bad thing, just the way it's written. That difference in style was just very apparent to me, having started this book immediately after finishing Master & Apprentice!

I really liked the idea of Lenahra in general -- the concept of a living planet, with its own sort of manifestation of the Force, existing in a perfect symbiotic harmony. I liked how the animals as well as the planet itself could be friendly, indifferent, or hostile, depending on how somebody interacts with it.

I liked the Lenahrans as well, and while I wish the book had been able to flesh each of them out a bit more, it's understandable that it wasn't able to spend a lot of time on each of them individually. It did seem like their feelings towards Obi-Wan and their motivations shifted a bit quickly at times, but that's actually pretty understandable, given that they're a group of conflicted kids.

I always enjoy when Star Wars properties explore the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and this book did touch a little bit on that -- although, moreso referencing and setting the stage for Master & Apprentice, which takes place somewhere about a year after Padawan, than actually making it a focus or treading any new ground. The focus of this story was definitely Obi-Wan, his insecurities, and his relationship with the Force.

I will say, there were two things that sort of stuck out to me as being a bit underwhelming, and could have used a bit more build-up: Obi-Wan's willingness to abandon being a Jedi so easily, and Loegrib being a bit of a one-dimensional villain.

Regarding Obi-Wan, it definitely feels like he gave up on the idea of being a Jedi pretty quickly. After only being away from the Temple for two days, he's already seriously considering just never going back, and feeling as though "still thinking of himself as a Padawan" is somehow not how he should be viewing himself. I understand that this is largely because of the struggles that he's going through, and I do really like when Star Wars properties address Obi-Wan's insecurities during his time as a Padawan! But after spending his entire life with the goal of being a Jedi, it seems to me like it might have been a bit more realistic for him to sort of develop this mindset over time with the Lenahrans, maybe with it sort of slowly integrating into how he thinks about his life going forward. Obi-Wan being uncertain about his role as a Jedi does make perfect sense for the personal journey he goes through in this book, but I just wish the build up to that point was a bit more gradual, is all.

As far as Loegrib, he was just a bit one-note. From the moment he shows up, it's pretty obvious what his deal is -- and even if you weren't able to guess yourself, the book cuts to his POV just a couple chapters after his introduction, outlining very clearly that he's a selfish person who only wants power, and doesn't care at all for his niece and nephew, to the point of being perfectly willing to murder them. Obi-Wan explains that his desire for the Power is what's driving him, which does make sense as a motive... but he just has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, to the point where he's almost cartoonishly evil as a villain. He serves his purpose in the story, but doesn't end up leaving much of an impression.

The brief inclusion of Dooku was intriguing, as is the information that he's welcome to come and go from the Temple as he pleases, despite having left the Order. Master & Apprentice did seem to imply that Qui-Gon has not really been in contact with Dooku since his departure (or at the very least, he "refrained from contacting him"), although it's possible that could be more of a recent development. Also, I'm not sure if this was intended... but, am I supposed to be suspicious that Dooku may have been Loegrib's unnamed financer? I was almost expecting some sort of hint towards that at the end, but that could very well just be me trying to connect dots that don't actually exist.

Dex's inclusion in the story was definitely a surprise! I mean, a Besalisk named Dex has got to be Dexter Jettster from Episode II, right? I guess he was a miner before he was a cook -- who knew?

So, my overall thoughts on the novel -- it was an enjoyable read, despite a few areas where I wish it had been able to take its time to develop things a bit further. The location and characters were engaging, and Obi-Wan's journey through dealing with his insecurities and wanting to know his role in the world is one that I'm sure many readers can find relatable. While I would personally say Master & Apprentice was a bit more my speed, I still did enjoy reading Padawan, and am looking forward to hopefully seeing more of Obi-Wan's time as an apprentice in the future!

[genderqueer-karma]

having thoughts about mana. my brain’s working overtime today, so feel free to ignore.

so i was trying to show my classmate about mana sama and went to the wikipedia page about him.

after i showed her the information i’d been looking for, i decided to scroll and look to the sources and do some reading, mostly for fun. naturally, most of the sources had very vague, surface-level information about him due to how private he actually manages to keep his personal life, which i’ve come to expect and also admire. (nowadays i prefer to know less about people i look up to. keeps me stable, so to speak.)

anyway, multiple of these sources highlight his current and very famous androgynous fashion and general appearance along with how he (seemingly ironically) disliked femininity and feminine styles in his youth.

most importantly, a few of these claim that he himself claimed to have discovered his “inner woman”.

to my little genderqueer heart, that’s a very interesting notion, particularly the part about being very “macho” and “hating” femininity. that specific narrative reminds me of one i’ve heard tossed around in regards to many trans/genderqueer people and discovering their identities, which is that they tried to over-perform their assigned gender at birth before accepting how tiring that really was.

given the time period he would have most likely experienced his adolescence in, the above sentiment goes double. not speculating, but it is quite an interesting thing to think about.

naturally, with being very private about his personal life (even his age is technically a mystery, though people have made guesses based on context clues, plus for a very long time he just straight up lied about that type of shit in interviews and stuff) aspects of his identity, including and especially his gender identity and sexuality, are unknown. of course, i’m not here to make assumptions, but i find the seeming fluidity/ambiguity of his gender in particular to be intriguing and inspirational.

as a young person who never actually gets to see genderqueer people represented outside of fictional characters and headcanons, seeing someone who embodies a very specific presentation and feeling of gender (regardless of actual identity) and who isn’t white*** is quite … it makes me feel … warm? having a role model who has supposedly claimed somewhat queer feelings without being tied to any labels that give him a concrete queer identity is genuinely something i greatly appreciate.

as someone who actually fluctuates between multiple labels in regards to their own identity and thinks of gender more as a fun piece of flavoring rather than a concrete thing, hearing about “dual nature” and whatnot from a person i admire for things unrelated to gender is something i hold dear.

long story short, mana and his 4d chess gender captivate me, regardless of his actual specific label, because i think fucking around with gender is fun and cool 👍

*** yeah yeah whiteness is a western concept and there are prominent genderqueer people i could look up to, but idk. he has a certain air about him that i’m just very drawn to. plus he’s a very talented person in many different ways. more often than not, people aren’t exactly known for being a jack of all trades (and arguably a master of the same ones). plus i feel like most of the prominent genderqueers out there are white. i don’t vibe with mainly seeing one type of person be the gq rep i get anywhere, ya dig?

[jade-parcels]

👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕

The bunnies’ other jobs!

From my bunny cafe au

((I am so peeved :((( I had this all written out!! And I deleted it by accident!! Darnnnnn!!!))

Anon asked “You mentioned that some of the bunnies have day jobs so do they all have jobs outside the cafe or just a few?” (Something along these lines…again…I deleted it by accident 😔)

👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕

Diluc/‘Angel’

After his father got bored with the wine industry, he passed the whole company off to Diluc on his 18th birthday in order to shift his focus to mining. Diluc found himself swamped with all kinds of business decisions while just barely being an adult. He expanded the company and hired some very trustworthy people to handle things for him so he could finish college

When the business was given to him, Diluc and Kaeya had an explosive fight over it. Kaeya felt like he deserved to have some say in what happens to the business, he’s still a part of the family! But Diluc refused to let him in on any decisions so Kaeya packed his bags and left (not before cussing him out in front of their father, staff and business partners). He was just in a silly, goofy mood. They’re fine now, not on the best terms but they do chat and meet up for lunch on occasion.

He is filthy rich, he couldn’t spend all of his all of his money if he tried, so he doesn’t really need the job at the cafe! Kaeya got him the job because he knew his brother was stuck in a weird, antisocial funk and needed some fun in his life

Diluc loves this job, he has a great time, but it isn’t his main job. His priority will always be the family business!! If he has to quit his job at the cafe, he would in a heartbeat

👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕

Kaeya

Kaeya was going to go into the police academy but was scouted out by a modeling agency. They had seen him at Ragnvindr company events and thought ‘well damn’ so they gave him a pretty generous deal

Kaeya makes a good living off of modeling, the tips and paycheck from the cafe. He rakes in cash pretty quickly just cause he knows how to get it. That, and his dad sends him checks every other month as well. Kaeya thinks of it as ‘I’m sorry’ money. He isn’t wrong

He doesn’t travel much for modeling, which he doesn’t mind, so he kinda just hangs around the city with a lot of free time on his hands between photo shoots. That’s why he got this job at the cafe! It gives him something to do and it’s fun as hell ;)

Albedo

Bedo is one busy bunny. He finished college early and is getting his masters degree online. He works most days at the cafe and on the weekends, he tutors other college students in bio/chem/science related subjects

(He was actually Xiao’s tutor back when he was failing chemistry!! Xiao is very thankful for Albedo’s help!!)

His dream is to become a biochemist, he’s always been interested in cells and what makes up living beings. So having a career in that field would make him the happiest man alive

His mother and sister live outside the city in a more rural area so he spends a lot of time FaceTiming the two of them! Klee is always so excited to hear about Albedo’s experiments or the people he’s met while working in such a bustling, fun city :)

Zhongli

Zhongli is a simple man! He’s a bunny waiter and an artist

He creates intricate pieces based on folklore from different cultures, focusing mostly on dragons. His favorite medium is paint, he loves painting on glass and layering the panes in order to create a 3D piece

He sells his works to galleries, shops and anyone who wants them! As long as they appreciate the story behind the artwork. Sadly…He undersells his work. He could def be making more money but he just does not desire money or material goods the way others may

So he got his job at the cafe in order to help out his dear friend Ningguang, not for money, he only planned on working there for a month or two until she got more bunnies but…he ended up really loving the people he works with :’) he looks forward to working with them now and texts/calls them outside of work to meet up for lunch or bowling (such an old man thing to do omfg)

Dainsleif/‘Sweetie’

Dain was a bouncer at another bar before leaving to come to Celestia’s! He’s good friends with Beidou, they belong to the same motorcycle club so when she was talking to him about the lack of security at the cafe/bar, he stepped in to help out

Little did he know…he’d actually become a bunny…And like it

This is his full time job now, he doesn’t have another for the time being. While he is a bunny at the cafe, he still keeps an eye out for any threats to his coworkers and has access to the offices upstairs (Ningguang’s office and the security office)

When he isn’t waiting tables, he’s upstairs in a tank top and sweatpants keeping an eye on the security cameras and talking to the other security guards through their ear pieces

Ajax

Ajax is a student who doesn’t really have much time on his hands

He mows lawns in the summer and he’s quit his job as a cashier to come work at the cafe! He mostly works night shifts his cause he’s still going to school aaaaaand he’s on his college’s swim team! He’s about to graduate so he works close with his coach to help train the others on the team

He doesn’t really want his family knowing that he skips around in a skimpy bunny outfit and fucking customers most nights but I mean…They’re bound to find out if they see him in pictures people post

Xiao/‘Tofu’

Xiao is an art student!! He wants to be a tattoo artist :)

He’s already got one sleeve of tattoos, it’s unfinished but you can’t really tell just by looking. When he isn’t at the cafe, he’s either in class or shadowing Ganyu, his best friend and tattoo artist. Their art styles greatly differ, she focuses her craft on cutesy, colored tattoos, but she is skilled. And Xiao looks up to her

Xiao admires Zhongli too, they met at the cafe and when Zhongli found out Xiao wants to be a tattoo artist he told him that once he’s licensed, he wants to get a tattoo from him :’)

Baizhu/‘Honey’

Baizhu is a (mostly) full time pharmacist, hence why he isn’t usually at the cafe

He also has a niece, Qiqi, who he babysits often. He loves her very much so he has no problem watching her! Baizhu will even bring her to the pharmacy with him when he’s swamped with work. In the break room, he has a play kitchen, coloring books and a bunch of puzzles to keep Qiqi occupied while he works :)

When he’s not at work, he’s at home resting. He has chronic pain flare ups in his back and shoulders that can make life miserable :( he has plenty of good days that outweigh the bad! And as a pharmacist, he has access to any medicine he needs to make his life easier!

Dottore(Alain)/‘Doc’

Alain’s an oral surgeon who’s a little bit….too into his job

He isn’t phased by blood or gore so he’s easily able to conduct procedures that would make other squeamish. He’ll pull teeth, put in dental implants, remove rotten tissue, any of that without even flinching

Outside of that, he works at the cafe. He wears a mask in order to avoid being recognized even though at his job as a surgeon, he’s usually wearing a medical mask anyways. It’s just a precaution

This has nothing to do with his career but he used to be a tap dancer and actor so he’d join in on local theatre shows! He helped build sets when he wasn’t rehearsing. He doesn’t have time for that anymore (which kinda makes him sadddd) but he has all kinds of theatre playlists on his phone and in his car that he’ll sing along to

Scaramouche/‘Boss’

Scara’s job at the cafe is his main job! His side job is something you may not expect from such a grump

He works at an animal shelter! In fact, he brings cats home to train so they have an increased chance of being adopted. Someone is more likely to adopt a potty trained, socialized cat than a feral cat who doesn’t know what a litter box is. So Scara brings them to his apartment for some one-on-one socializing, training and cuddling

One time he offhandedly mentioned working at an animal shelter while he was working at the cafe and sure enough, three separate customers from the cafe came by to adopt!!! Only one actually took an animal home but he was still surprised that those people had listened to him and cared enough to come by

Scara is a jerk most of the time but when he’s at home…by himself…With a lil kitten sleeping in his lap while he plays games on his PC…Yeah, he softens up a bit

So as you can see, we have a very diverse group working at the cafe! They’ve all learned a lot from each other, come to appreciate each other’s friendship and come to help each other out when one of their coworkers is in need or upset.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

Sept 2021 Wk 5

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Don’t Say No Ep 9 (Line) - It’s my corny af hurt/comfort soap opera that I watch at 1.5x and skip all the sex scenes and Fiat crying, but I like it that way, so there. Yes I am one of those people who only eats the outside of the peanut M&Ms, why do you ask? Episode recaps here. 

Bite Me Ep 5 (Viu & Viki) - sometimes I feel like this show is skipping all the important bits, or having them occur off screen intentionally, like some ancient Greek play. Still, the depth of the feeling understood between the two leads is clearly transferred to us despite that. Are they dating? Sure seems that way. Without anything being actually said about it. It’s oddly magical. I talked a bit about the north/south divide and food as a love language with regards to kao soi in this post. 

7 Project Ep 5 The Breakup Zone (iQiYi & YouTube) - another het installment, so I skipped it. Nash. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Peach of Time Ep 10 fin - A Korean BL (maybe not BL tho) featuring Thai talent that really went beyond a lot of tropes into interesting territory and allegory in a way only Korea does. I hope we get more collabs like this, perhaps happier than this one next time? RECOMMENDED only if you are prepared for The Sad. Because it is quite sad.  

x Friend or Lover (YouTube) Ep 6 - still waiting on the final of this Taiwanese indie series.  

Love is Science? (BL sub plot on Viki) Ep 14 (aired ep 15) - Taiwanese drama finally got subbed yesterday, so those of us who are waiting seem to be on a week’s delay. The BL couple actually has the most interesting story arc and the most unusual character growth. I’m enjoying how unpredictable these two are. Honestly, they could have gotten their own series with this much story - and now I really want that for after the baby comes. I’m a little sad we didn’t get the coming out in the skate park sequence (LOOK I love coming out drama, especially with sporty friends, it’s a THING), but I also get why the writers are doing what they are with these boys. And the actors sure can handle it. Taiwan at it’s finest.  

Love Is the series (YouTube) Ep 5 - continues to be fine for a V-BL but not all that actually good. 

See You After Quarantine? (Viki) Ep 6, 7 - Taiwanese gameboys with Japanese talent stuck in, what more could we ask? AND THEN they gave us some *thirsty boi* action, great kisses, and charmed the pants off... well... everyone. Taiwan, we don’t deserve you. Honestly, you spoil us. Turns out Aaron Lai is the best wingman any gay Japanese man in quarantine could ask for. Everyone should be watching this. It’s utterly charming. 

The Tasty Florida (Viki) Ep 3 & 4 - this Korean BL so fucking cute. Look it’s formless and too short but simultaneously aching and kinda special-sweet. But Korea has got to settle into something a bit longer for their BL for everyone’s sake. It’s time. Light On Me proved it was possible. I’m not asking for much, just 15 min+ of fresh content with at least a 10 ep arc. 

In Case You Missed It

Someone dropped K-BL movie cut of 2015′s The Lover series onto YouTube. The series was about 4 different couples all living in the same apartment complex, one of the 4 was a BL plot about a sunshine sweetie Japanese tourist who ends up roommates with a hot shy tsundere Korean boy. It’s 1.5 hours, proving Korea and stretch its BL when it wants to. 

Read more about it here. 

GOSSIP!

Rumors of OhmFluke to star in new Thai BL Oh! My Sunshine Night. It’s from Newsinfinity Entertainment who announced the casting and showed the couple in workshops. This is this (small) production house’s first BL and they aim to “appeal to to general audiences* with a “broader view of BL that everyone will watch.” Which is code for LOW heat, light gay, soft boys. If this happens I think we can expect this to be Thailand doing Korean-style BL. 

* GENERAL AUDIENCE? Let’s be clear no piece of media will EVER appeal to everyone. Here is the USA “general audience” is code for “families with socially conservative values and children who are still minors” AKA what used to be prime time TV watchers AKA suburbia. 

 The concept is analytically old fashioned and so fractured at this juncture (socially economically spatially politically) that “general audience” is actually impossible to target and it doesn’t really exist. But try telling that to the publicity department. 

We also call this the “Disney live action demo.” (Think Pirates of the Caribbean.) I occasionally refer to them as “the Simpsons.” And they’re about as realistic. All that to say I am VERY suspicious of Oh! My Sunshine Night‘s production house. 

To My Star does seem to be getting a second season, same director, same mains. Korea is much better about executing on its promises than Thailand, but until I see proof of filming or an honest trailer, my favorite boys are staying in the gossip section. I don’t wanna get my hopes up. (Honestly now, how many of you also want an alt reality with these two as a couple but Kim Kang Min playing his long suffering cardiologist intern character from Hospital Playlist? Just me?) 

I reported on Unforgotten Night a while ago. It seems to have been fully cast now, I still think the publicity stills make it look like a joke. But with this line-up I guess it’s even more of an alt answer to KinnPorsche. 

You know that thing that happens in media when suddenly we get multiples of the same style of movie or show at once? It’s now happening with BL. Love triangles. Restaurants. And now mafia. 

Cutie Pie (our arranged marriage Thai BL staring Zee) dropped some wardrobe fitting photo ops. Also... fancy pants sexy suits that fit, so that’s exciting. 

Starting Soon

My Mate Match from Starhunter should be starting on Line TV next Saturday. Usually, Line has subs relatively quickly and is available internationally. However the fact that the trailer is not subbed and the show is not listed on Line’s site has me nervous. No idea on length of run either. 

Starhunter studio doesn’t have a great track record in general for narrative arcs and this one is not based on a y-novel so could get waffly. This is a roommates love triangle BL about a boy who is looking for one roommate and ends up with two vying for his home and his heart. Stars Jet as the uke lead which I’m pretty happy about as he’s got great comedic timing and is accustomed to BL. He’s opposite two friends/co-actors from Gen Y and other projects, so we know they’re comfortable with each other. They could do great things... if they get a decent script. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International subs accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

This week’s best moment?

[incarnateirony]

Hi! I’m still not really over the last episode (and that happy montage in the end i-) and I’m feel confused about what’s part of the episode was fake. I mean the end totally is. But all Chuck scene was superweird too. And sometimes i think that it should be Cas instead of Lucifer and Jack felt him. I mean... confused! How do you feel about that?

Okay so here’s the thing -- this is a multifaceted episode--

BuckLeming, while often herded efficiently by Dabb, can muddy up the textual waters, leave gaps, and things unexplained.

However, that doesn’t account for Showalter’s choices in direction. Dutch shots out the ASS which are typically used to evoke that something is "wrong." Lots of panoramas, tracking shots, zooms and blurs in ways that simply are-not-standard for SPN. Extreme aerial shots.

One might even think “maybe it’s Chuck looking in on them!” but then you realize the same overhead view zoomed out on *Chuck* even and panned out to the horizon again.

One of the early mega-zooms literally zoomed out to The World, even. I’m just gonna gesture people to my tag on that and let them think on that, much less the empty world orbiting on the news or whatever the hell else.

There were *several* Cas-baits, yes. Yes, that was intentional from our actual authors. 

But when it comes down to “fake episode”, here’s where we were at.

15.17-19 run immediately concurrently. At the end of 17, Chuck says this was his ending.

Now, the Winchesters largely derailed that ending, so Chuck was writing new material.

But Chuck is also seeking death. 

He wrote a suicide note in 11. He wrote the story that would end in him and Amara being eradicated. And whatever influence he was exerting forcefully with Michael and Lucifer to bop the story around was all in the interest of seeing his book. One might think “to keep the Winchesters from killing him”, but he was desperate to see what his ending WAS, to know it and experience it and scream after them.

The dour taking of “no one cares” right after “I care(d)” about humanity is its own highlight going on.  But wait, there’s MORE.

When Dabb dropped his pre-episode thing, we started talking before the episode.

So I mean, I think what we were *mostly* witnessing is the pen being ripped away.

But this is that emptiness that lingers even with Chuck generally resolved. They’re still kinda on the pages. The book is presented as shut, and the next steps are not taken. Development stops, if not drops.

This entire thing is so meta my damn head hurts.

Summarily: Is it just like, some weird AU that’s gonna go away? Not so much. Is it an incomplete portion of the story told from a skew? Absolutely. And is there still someone watching over them? T’would seem so. The whole World, even. Beyond Chuck. 

Now the point at which we start blocking off issues of “eugenie writes like she’s 3″ is where we ask about things like “god power” or whatever else being thrown in the mix along with eugenie’s ki ball special effects that are literally always unique to her episodes, even if other people have to add the SFX.

So while it was a good bit of masterful work to do it via buckleming for this style of bump, it still inevitably has its flaws because... buckleming. But... Showalter was there. And one thing to note is almost every single scene entrance had some sort of major pan or zoom effect. That’s not typical for him.

The entire thing is designed to evoke, directorially: 

One style: crooked shots, unlevel, unbalanced, uneasy feeling.

Second style: Over-under; some force is watching them on high, while others have a sort of brechtian absurdity, which seats it like a play on an elevated stage.

We are the audience, looking up at figures half the episode; but a second audience is looking in from “on high” and out over the world. As if perhaps even from the heavens. 

Third style: CSI Miami, basically? Parts of this episode were sectioned off to be like a procedural crime drama in its cinematography and flashbacks. Which is ironic, because Dean loathes procedural dramas, but at the same time some of this fandom demands a procedural monster show instead of a family drama show. 

Sam and Dean barely have any lines in the episode *until* we hit Crime Drama Time. Then suddenly, they reveal all of their case work. Despite Dean’s hatred of crime dramas, this is honestly when I feel like the brothers kicked in their own pen. 

Let’s play a game-- the winchesters are aware they can write their own story. So they start telling the story they think people want to hear, or maybe just fill in the gaps from when Chuck gets dropped on his ass. Maybe Dean’s the one writing about how many times god punched them in the face whereas Sam is breaking down the crime scene investigation front. Another, where it feels like we’re loosely circling the war table as others lightly wander too.

But everything before that is the first and second style, and even after that, the overview-angle remains. The uneasiness is gone but there is an emptiness otherwise. But we are no longer spectators from beneath the stage, but staring into them.

I still very much expect everyone to “die” one more time and several specifics to choose to walk back into life at the end of it.

Is it a *complete* false narrative? No. We’re not just gonna turn around and be like “oh that whole ep didn’t happen.” But the writer lost his pen and got jacked at one point, while we also observed the stage from a series of angles as different audiences.

Riddle me this: Why show the World? “Because it’s empty and just them!” okay but there’s a lot of ways to show that which actually gets that point a whole lot better across than “here, here’s a planet that still looks lit up”--yes I know electricity is still running until stuff runs out but essentially speaking, the end of the episode shows us the kind of dramatic shots that could be used for that.

CASey just poofed in the World in the TV, seems legit.

Let’s see these overhead angles again, knowing it isn’t just Chuck.

This sort of overview is known for causing a “dollhouse effect” that derealizes the episode and makes them seem, well, like toys. Which is interesting. Because Chuck isn’t the only one watching them on high.

Cool, this is fine.

Either way, the entire episode is DESIGNED to cause some major uncanny valley. There’s a lot of parts that simply *haven’t been told or filled in.*  It’s almost like evasive maneuvering, half the content just never made it to print, and what did wasn’t in its best draft. There may be battling authors, or a transition of authorship. But the thing is: this is not the complete story.

There is an entire missing section about Sam and Dean even finding out that Jack is a power siphon which they hadn’t witnessed yet much less arranged an entire plan.

Even Chuck’s episodes are generally told from the general POVs of the Winchesters, but this was absolutely not. 

Matthew 28: 18: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Put a pin in that one.

Unless CHUCK IS WRITING HIS OWN FAKE DRAMATIC END, the overhead view, however, IS NOT CHUCK PERSPECTIVE.

-- Regardless, the metaness of “fish in a toilet bowl BRL plot” stacked into this makes it very difficult to accurately decipher the lines, especially with only one watch so far--just skimming back through right now to grab a few things I remember.

Some parts are plot salad buckleming.

Some parts are us as forced spectators of a stage play.

some parts are shifting authorship

Some parts are the heavens looking out over the earth it loves.

------

It almost feels as if, within enclosed spaces, unsteadiness and stageplay, we have Chuck’s POV.

But by the end it ceases to have any relevance, as he is no longer the author, and instead, we have the Presence of Being overseeing them, letting the Winchesters argue for their own proverbial pen in their own storytellings between here and there.

ALTERNATE PROPOSAL:

 it is all one point of view. All of it. Pretend you’re someone’s eyes on a situation, you just happen to be in the sky half the time, and the uncanny valley is pulling forward the concept of being a presence that simply isn’t *there.*  For example we're looking extremely closely at passed out dean but the camera turns and raises to level with Sam before Dean gets up. Our viewership lens is rising to meet Sam.

The camera stays in motion to fill a role or slot of a viewer. At first it’s haunting and ominous, but at other times, it’s simply part of the room, when it isn’t hovering from on high. Rather than speaking of empty space, we are viewing The World through that empty space, as if it were a Being.

Just a few more eye catching shots.

But whoever or whatever frames the end, even without Chuck--like the story is still turning on the pages, roughly. 

The montage at the end feels like the Swan Song one, more or less, but there’s no narrator, no chuck.

The writer, the writer we know at least, is Absent.

Men are writing their own Stories.

But they aren’t alone.

I know how you see yourself. Angry and dark like your father. You think that’s what you are. But you are the most loving man in the whole world. That is who you are.

Someone does care. Even if right now, Sam and Dean don’t feel like anyone does.

...Because of you. I cared. For you, for Sam, for Jack, for the Whole World.

I cared.

“That’s not who I am.”

I am.

I speak therefore I am.

[anime-re-views]

Black★Rock Shooter - An Underrated Masterpiece

Spoiler Free - Please go watch it

General Info (from MAL):  

Genres: Action, Drama, Mahou Shoujo, Super Power

Episodes: 8

Runtime per episode: ~23 minutes

Season: Winter 2012

Studio: Ordet, SANZIGEN

Rating: PG-13

Summary I guess: Mato Kuroi is a junior high schooler who just wants to have fun and make friends. She meets Yomi Takanashi, a shy girl who wants nothing to do with her. Until she notices Mato’s phone charm, a blue bird from the book “The Little Bird and Many Many Colors”. (Some subs have different translations). The two bond of the interest, and become good friends. In a parallel universe, the girls are different beings, Mato being Black★Rock Shooter, and Yomi being Dead Master. Whatever happens in that world has an equivalent happen in our world. The girls are unaware of this and become entwined with the threads of fate. 

Story: 10/10 - The amount of times I cried at this show amazes me. I cried a lot, and I really like shows where I cry. I cried more than I did for A Silent Voice, which is saying a lot. I feel like the parallel universe thing made a very big impact on the story, in a good way. I really don’t want to spoil much because I wish more people would watch this. Just know, to me at least, the story really impacted my view on the topics of emotions, abuse, and my own trauma. The parallel universe thing also helped me gain a new perspective on the world, which I really needed at the time.

Characters: 10/10 - Mato is literally me. She was literally me when I was going through the darkest years of my life. Like I said, the parallel universe girls are such good representations of experiences and life. I liked most of the characters, even Saya, and I think she sucks. I didn’t like Kagari though, as she’s WAY too similar to someone who abused me.

Art: 10/10 - Y’all know how much I LOVE 3D that looks like 2D. I’m pretty sure the parallel universe sequences are 3D, but I might be wrong. The art style is so cute, and I like how it kind of changes between the universes. 

Sound: 10/10 - the voice acting is very good. I can FEEL the characters emotions through their voice and it’s awesome. The music, though. Don’t get me started on the music. The BGM is so good, but the opening. I love the opening song. I love ryo/supercell anyways, but it’s so good!!

Overall: 10/10 - If you wanna be an emotional wreck after watching an anime just watch this. It’s genuinely so good. I know this review was pretty vague but I want as many people as possible to just experience this for themselves

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#8: “You want Adrien to get more focus? You sexist pig!”

As Miraculous Ladybug entered its third season, there was a lot of criticism regarding the writing of Adrien and his role as one of the two main characters. Generally, Adrien, and by extension Cat Noir had lost a lot of relevance to the main story, with people questioning what his purpose was.

See, while Cat Noir was Ladybug's intellectual equal in the first season, their relationship started to become unbalanced in the next season. In an attempt to raise the stakes, he would usually be taken out of commission during a fight, either because he sacrifices himself to save Ladybug, or gets incapacitated or brainwashed thanks to the Akuma's powers. In Season 1, this happened about four times (Timebreaker, Dark Cupid, The Puppeteer, Princess Fragrance), in Season 2, this happened about five times (Despair Bear, Zombizou, Anansi, Style Queen, Malediktator), and in Season 3, it also happened about five times (Chameleon, Gamer 2.0, Party Crasher, Ikari Gozen, Cat Blanc). By Season 3, you can see why this got repetitive.

But there's more of a difference between the way Ladybug and Cat Noir were written. Because Ladybug was the only one to temporarily recruit more heroes to help them starting from the second season (even though running over to Master Fu's place to grab a Miraculous, find someone willing to become a superhero, and hightailing it back to the site of the battle while praying nobody got killed by the Akuma is an extremely counteractive plan which only serves to highlight how incompetent Master Fu is), Cat Noir was generally left out of the loop, which led to some trust issues that could have made for an interesting story. Instead, in the episode “Syren”, Adrien has a temper tantrum about how Ladybug doesn't trust him and threatens to quie being Cat Noir... while the city of Paris is flooded, and God knows how many lives are in danger. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen!

And in Season 3, where both main heroes were shown using different Miraculous, while Marinette was able to easily get the hang of using the Cat and Mouse Miraculous respectively, while Adrien was an idiot when it came to using the Ladybug and Snake Miraculous, further showing how Marinette was more talented than he was.

Marinette was also training to become the Guardian of the Miraculous and was involved in his struggle against Hawkmoth, while Adrien was getting no such training done (for obvious reasons), and despite being the son of the main villain, Adrien's connection to Hawkmoth is never touched upon in the two seasons we've known his identity as Adrien's father (and no, I'm not counting the retconned timeline in “Cat Blanc”).

Even by Season 3, the show seems to acknowledge that Cat Noir brings virtually nothing to the table by saying that all he really does is make jokes instead of actually contribute to fighting the Akuma.

Cat Noir: Do you know why Master Fu gave you the Ladybug Miraculous instead of me?

Ladybug: Because it requires someone with a sense of responsibility?

Cat Noir: No, because you don't have a sense of humor. 

Ladybug: Pfft, whatever.

Cat Noir: Look, it's no big deal! You have so many other great qualities! I'm just in charge of the humor department.

And in the same episode “Reflekdoll”, after Adrien and Marinette switch Miraculous sort of like a body swap episode where both parties learn how hard each other's life is, Adrien... immediately shirks off any other responsibility by saying he's glad he's not Ladybug, and learning nothing from the episode. Isn't a great role model for children?

So after all of this, people naturally took to Twitter and asked Astruc about why ladybug was getting so much focus while Cat Noir was being treated like trash. As usual, Astruc misinterpreted what people were complaining about.

Nobody was mad that Ladybug is calling the shots, it's natural that her powers require a sharp mind to figure out how to defeat the Akuma of the week. The problem is the way Astruc claims that Ladybug and Cat Noir are portrayed as equals, when it's obvious they're not. At the very beginning of the show, we see that the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are viewed as the most powerful, representing Yin and Yang in the Miracle Box.

The very concept of Yin and Yang is that despite how radically different they are, they balance each other out, with one side never outweighing the other. Despite claiming to know a lot about Chinese culture, it's amazing how Astruc can't grasp this concept that Xiaolin Showdown managed to do a better job at explaining.

And there's also the fact that Astruc plays a card that has been extremely common these past four years: the sexism card.

Ever since the Ghostbusters reboot came out, whenever anyone has a problem with a reboot or new installment in a franchise that just happens to predominantly feature women, the creators can just say that the critics are sexist and hate women. So whoever tries to reason with Astruc that Ladybug and Cat Noir should be on equal footing can just be dismissed as sexist.

Google “feminism” and then we'll talk, Astruc.

Again, notice how he's dodging all questions people throw his way when they have legitimate concerns about the dynamic between Ladybug and Cat Noir. If he simply ignored the criticisms, it wouldn't be a problem, but of course, Astruc can't help but act like everyone who doesn't like his show is an idiot.

Nobody is making a big deal about the fact that Ladybug is the leader, Astruc. Doesn't the fact that you immediately assume that people who want Cat Noir to get more focus are sexist say more about you than your “Haterz”?

[mk-wizard]

Big Hero 6 The Series: It could have been better

Hello, friends. Today, I will be analyzing a TV series based on a movie that I fell in love with for its colourful themes, deep plot, compelling characters, great CGI and memorable messages. Before I get into it, I want to take a moment to say that I have quit doing videos. They are too big of a pain in the petunia to make and I write better than I speak, so I will stick to writing essays, reviews and more. Anyway, onto the analysis.

All I can say about Big Hero 6 the series is that it had a great concept, it presented some great ideas and tried hard to be a cartoon of the times, but it could have and should have been a lot better. The show’s downfall all centers around trying too hard to be kid friendly which makes the shame sting all the more because Big Hero 6 was already kid friendly even with its dark themes, sharp edges and intelligent writing. If anything, even the brightest kid friendly cartoons (Steven Universe, She-Ra, etc.) had those things and actually benefitted from them. By needlessly trying too hard, character development got scrapped, the edges were all smoothed out, storytelling was subpar, the humour was too silly and the executive meddling in the end produced a dismal final season. However, I don’t want this analysis to be one lengthy negative rant about how awful the series was because in its defense, awful is an unfair word. It did have potential and ideas which are worth carrying over to a reboot that I hope will be done someday in the future. Also, we should root for a reboot because Big Hero 6 would not be the first story that needs it before striking gold. Just look at how many times Spider-Man was rebooted in film before MCU found the version that worked. Anyway, I will list all the things in Big Hero 6 that could have been better in my opinion;

1- Go easy on the laughs and be more generous with the action. - I love adding comedy to my own writing because I think a good sense of humour makes everything better, but Big Hero 6 is not a stand up comedy routine. It is a superhero story where we expect action, suspense and life or death situations that are to be taken seriously first. The comedy should be for relief and with the right timing. Also, the chibi cutscenes and having characters act like fools aren’t funny. Ren and Stimpy are the exception not the standard and their way of making you laugh doesn’t fit an action series. In a show as big as Big Hero 6, real life physics and danger matters.

2- Make the villains menacing and gritty. - I admit that after having a movie villain like Yokai who was the stuff of nightmares, it is going to be a challenging act to follow, but it was obvious that the writers were trying especially with some villains who could have easily gone into some dark relatable territory. For example, Mr. Sparkles (the gentleman in the photo above) embodies social media and Internet personalities. Right off the bat, you have a long list of things which embody the dark side of that like scams, fraud, using social media to dox or harass, driving people to suicide, online predators, the Internet personalities being very depressed people in real life, and much more horrifying things. When you stop and look at it, Mr. Sparkles even looks like the Joker which hints how dark and scary he could have been if the stops were removed. The same goes for enemies like Hardlight who embodies online gaming, Liv with cloning, Obake an amoral and insane scientist, and Trina and Noodle Burger Boy (more on him later) being evil robots. Globby especially should have been painted and written in much darker colours rather being played off for laughs because he has many parallels with Clay Face. The only two villains who I can say were supposed to be campy, charming and comical were Baron Von Steamer and Supersonic Sue because they were a satire of the Adam West style villains.

The rest of them needed to be dark and threatening including Mr. Sparkles. In fact, I would love a rebooted version of Mr. Sparkles who gives me the heebie-jeebies. Going back to Noodle Burger Boy, I must confess that I was actually excited when I heard that he was going to be the main villain of the final season because I thought he was going to fulfill his master’s final wish and as a reminder, Noodle Burger Boy was based on a super robot for military purposes.

It would have been fantastic if Noodle Burger Boy was upgraded into a full military war machine with a new threatening look. For that, I think all of the villains deserve to be rebooted and have their full potential unlocked for better or for worse.

3- A show about geniuses merits genius level art quality. - I am usually forgiving towards art styles, but in the case of Big Hero 6, the oversimplified style with minimal details and lack of textures did not suit the show. The characters blend in with the background which makes them look flat and the special effects were extremely dulled down. I also know for a fact that Disney can do a lot better than this because I saw how superbly Tangled the Series was drawn.

You can see and almost feel the difference in quality, the number of layers and level of detail between the two styles. I think there was no excuse Big Hero 6 was not done in the same style and at the same level if not better as Tangled.

3- Don’t dumb down or flanderize amazing characters. - I absolutely detest it when characters are flanderized because it makes them one dimensional and grating. For example, Go Go is tough as nails and extremely calm, but she is not cold or hesitant towards helping her friends. She doesn’t require very special episodes for us to know that. If anything, the movie version of Go Go reminded me a lot of Garnet in how she deconstructed the broody character. She isn’t cold or emotionless. Just calm and mature. Another good example was how Honey Lemon was rewritten to be overly positive to the point of toxicity, naïve and oblivious with a juvenile obsession with stickers. Then you have poor Fred who was rewritten to be an incompetent fool. The spark that makes Big Hero 6 shine is that they are a team of geniuses meaning they are all intelligent. Even Fred is genius in his own way just not a scientific one. He has a vivid imagination, he is resourceful and can get himself out of tight spots. Please, don’t turn characters into dummies especially if their intelligence is a part of them. It doesn’t make them better or funnier. It ruins them.

4- Tadashi needs closure and honour. - I am all for Hiro making peace with the loss of his brother, but Tadashi is to the Big Hero 6 team what Uncle Ben was to Spider-Man. His loss was the catalyst if not the reason. He should never be forgotten. Moreover, there was never any true closure to him especially with the possibility that he may still be alive up in the air. After all, like Callaghan, his body was never found and it turned out that Callaghan was still alive.

With that said, who is to say that Tadashi was not secretly still alive and just hiding or being hidden? This is something that Disney really needed to clear up if not for the fans, then at least as a service to such an important character. Never just forget about them.

5- The format can only be episodic with a deep plots, continuity and character development. - Random episodes with a mere monster of the day is an outdated format which doesn’t fit Big Hero 6′s modern and bright setting. In seasons 1 and 2, when the episodes were plot heavy with character development, the series shined brightest. It also helped move the story along, but with the final season, plot was removed, closure was abandoned or poorly written if any was given, and characters were disallowed from growing. A good example at how plot and character development could have made this series and its characters better was the relationship between Hiro and Megan. Would it have truly survived or would they have broken up?

Would Richardson Mole have eventually lost interest in his obsession with besting and bullying Fred or would his obsession consume him compelling him to become a super villain? I do see quite a few similarities between Mole and Reverse Flash.

Then you have Karmi who is in my opinion, the biggest wild card of the bunch. She was intentionally introduced as an arrogant, prickly and unlikable yet complex character who rivaled Hiro bitterly.

Yet had a huge crush on his alter ego and as time went on, started to grow up and even form a friendship with Hiro. What would have happened further down the road with her? Would she have become a super hero herself? Or maybe even another love interest for Hiro kind of like how Black Cat is for Spider-Man?

Is Obake really gone?

What does the future hold Diana (Liv’s clone), Liv herself or the Sycorax the genetics company?

Is Alistair Krei going to become an ally to Big Hero 6 or an antagonist? There is also the issue at how little we know about the other Big Hero 6 characters other than Fred, Hiro and Baymax. What are Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Go Go’s backstories? These questions matter and while not every mystery can be solved, leaving none of them solved is lazy writing.

6- Executives, kindly stay out of the writing and any other part of the creative process. - I’m sorry, execs, but there is no nice way to say it. History itself proves that every time executives got involved in the creative process of any media, it got worse not better. Leave the writing to the creative team and the execs should only handle the legal stuff. Please. We understand that TV is a business, but writing itself is not. It is an art which you just don’t have a talent for. Let the creative people do their thing with the freedom necessary and you do your thing, deal? Deal.

7- Focus on Hiro and Baymax. - The are the main characters so keep them at the heart of the series no matter what happens around them. That is all I can say.

And that sums up all the things that could have made Big Hero 6 the series better, but this is all just my opinion. What is yours?

PS: I am well aware that the Big Hero 6 series is being retconned because a new series called Baymax is in the works as well as the long awaited sequel to the first movie. I am looking forward to both with an open mind. PPS: I also am aware that some people liked this show the way it was including the art style and I am cool with that. An analysis for art that includes cartoons is never right or wrong. It is solely based on opinion. I may have thought this series could have been better, but there are people who make arguments that it could have been worse.

[aspoonofsugar]

The “One” Divided Into “Two”

Hello anons, hello friend,

these asks can be answered together!

First of all:

Hello! I just want to say that I love your RWBY metas! So I'm wondering, have you ever done metas about Emerald and Mercury?

Thank you! And yes, I have written a little bit about Mercury and Emerald here. I would also recommend this wonderful meta by @hamliet because it has an interesting Mercury theory in it.

Now. this answer is gonna mix some analysis with speculation because Emerald and Mercury’s story must still enter its climax. Once it does and we are given a specific interpretative key I will be happy to write more metas on them!

I’ll start with this:

Those two are so out of place in Salem's faction and the last look they share made me doubt that Mercury is rotten to the core and more of a kid who didnt know what he's in for. Since Em has switched sides, is it possible that Merc might follow? I really like him, so I'm hoping that he won't go down like Watts.

In my opinion, yes and here is why.

CHILDREN LOST IN A NARRATIVE

1) Emerald and Mercury have been child-coded since their first appearance:

Roman: Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce!

2) Both have received a save the cat moment early on:

Emerald: It's almost sad.

Mercury: Emerald, get up, we need to go. (...) Emerald!

Both child-coding and save the cat moments are often used to make characters more sympathetic and this applies to both Emerald and Mercury, even more so than Cinder.

This is why, for example, the major death they are directly involved in:

turns out to be a temporary one.

As a side note, I like thinking of Emerald and Mercury as the Cat and the Fox in Penny’s story since they act as false friends to the main cast, betray them and cause Penny’s first death. Moreover, in the novel, both characters end up suffering consequences for their life-styles. The two murder kids are the same:

At the same time, details about Emerald and Mercury’s backgrounds and motivations are given to the viewers pretty early on:

We are shown Cinder recruiting both and these scenes clearly paint them as two vulnerable kids that get manipulated and groomed:

Raven: Two children you’ve tricked into following you.

Emerald is presented as a scaredy cat and Cinder wins her over by promising the bare minumum aka some security and basic care.

Mercury is given even less aka a narrative to keep himself together:

Cinder: And you're his son. We saw your fight from the treeline. He's taught you well.

Mercury: Guess so.

Cinder: What's your name?

Mercury: Mercury.

Cinder: Mercury... Tell me, are you anything like your father?

Mercury: All my life, my father trained me to be a killer, an assassin like him. And then moments after I killed him, you two showed up looking for someone with my exact skills. Just felt like it was meant to be.

Cinder praises his abilities and frames his trauma as something that makes him strong, not broken. And Mercury has completely embraced this narrative since then.

In short, Emerald and Mercury are framed as two kids lost in an illusory narrative Cinder has crafted. That said, they are also characters in a proper narrative and they are given sympathetic backgrounds and positive qualities that hint they can be better than they currently are.

In particular, Emerald should overcome her emotional dependence on others to make the right thing:

In both volume 3 and volume 8 she is shown the destruction of a city. However, the first time she puts distance between herself and others’ pain, as symbolically conveyed by her looking from above. In volume 8, though, she is shown the same pain up close and she can’t ignore it anymore. This is why the others drag Emerald towards the people crying and light invades the screen when she finally meets the sheltered crew. She is forced to face an uncomfortable truth she wants to ignore.

Mercury should instead let himself depend on others more. He should open up to others and fight for his one positive bond:

Mercury: Back off, freak.

Which leads us to:

What do you like most about Emerald and Mercury's relationship and bond as it is explored in RWBY?

EMERCURY: COMPLEMENTARITY

Emerald and Mercury’s bond being a key one is conveyed both symbolically and in terms of their respective abilities.

When it comes to their abilities, I have written about it in the meta linked above:

In short, Emerald mostly relies on her semblance, while Mercury mostly relies on his legs and fighting prowess.

This detail adds to the idea that Emerald and Mercury have been acting as a unit and have been complementing each other. Emerald acts as the “soul” and Mercury as the “body”.

The soul is one’s personal essence (like the semblance). It is where (once again) wishes reside. The body is what protects the soul and is animated by instincts and self-survival.

They complement each other. This complementarity is shown in Emerald and Mercury’s fights.

In the Vytal festival, Mercury takes on both Coco and Yatsuhashi for a short while, so that Emerald can size her chance to fight Coco at her own terms (and she wins by using her semblance).

In the Battle of Heaven, Emerald uses her semblance to help Mercury fight and, in a sense, she compensates for his lack of one:

The human soul is about wishes, but also duties:

Penny: I feel like I wish I could do both the things I need to do and the things I want to do. Is that normal?

One must accept their feelings, but also struggle with them:

Winter: But yes Penny, we must still acknowledge our personal feelings, wrestle with them. It ensures us that we’re on the right path. It’s what makes us human.

And must do the right thing out of their own free will:

Winter: Penny. The general is making hard choices so we don’t have to.

This is Emerald’s personal struggle. She must let go of her feelings for Cinder and fight her own fear in order to do the right thing.

The human body lets people feel both others’ warmth:

And others’ cruelty:

However, Mercury refuses to feel both. He refuses to truly process his own trauma and pushes his feelings of care for Emerald away:

As far as their symbolism goes, they are linked in at least three different ways.

1) One of the attributes of the Roman god Mercury is that he is the protector of thieves and Emerald’s surname capitalized means thief. What is more:

Mercury: Ooh, Emerald! Master thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!

2) Mercury/Hermes is also the god of alchemy and the one who wrote the Emerald Tablet aka a tablet with the truth of alchemy on it. You, @hamliet​, have written a meta on it, so I won’t add more.

3) According to at least some traditions, emerald is the gemstone associated with the planet Mercury.

So, it is clear the two characters are meant to be important in each other’s arcs.

Let’s now look at Emerald and Mercury’s bond, as it is explored through their interactions.

Mercury clearly cares about Emerald and gets along well with her. She is the only person he shows vulnerability to.

This is what their scene in Lost is about:

Emerald: Why did you come with us, the night Cinder and I found you?

Mercury: Why are you asking--

Emerald: Just answer the question.

Emerald is trying to open herself up and wants Mercury to open up too. This is why she gets annoyed when Mercury gives her a superficial answer. Still, in that conversation, Mercury is genuinelly trying to answer Emerald’s feelings:

Mercury: I'm sorry you didn't have a mommy that loved you, but I had a father who hated me! He never went easy on me! Every day of training was a beating. And when I unlocked my Semblance, he stole it with his! "This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!" He told me I could have it back when I was strong. So I got strong, but I never got it back! I've had to work harder than anyone to get where I am. You may not like it here without Cinder, but I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be!

Here, Mercury is telling Emerald details of his past he would not be sharing if he did not trust her. He can’t let himself be completely vulnerable, though, so he discloses them by lashing out at Emerald. He mixes violence with authentic vulnerability and also with care:

Mercury: Cinder doesn't care about you! She doesn't care about either of us!

He has seen how self-destructive Emerald can get when it comes to Cinder:

And he is trying to have Emerald move on from her obsession.

However, Mercury’s small steps towards opening up and caring for another person are constantly challenged:

Tyrian: Oh yes, the world is mean, and I'm a big, bad man now just like the others.

Mercury: How long have you been standing there?!

The moment he opens up to Emerald, Tyrian appears to threathen and mock him.

Mercury’s positive development lies in accepting his own feelings of pain and in sharing them with others, so that he can be helped. However, the environment he is in goes in the way of it:

Emerald: Mercury, I wanted to...

Here, Emerald is trying to either apologize to Mercury for their fight or to at least check out on him. Still, Mercury is not listening to her because he is too frightened by what Salem is doing.

Mercury’s current struggle is conveyed in a nutshell by the glance he gives to his left in Midnight:

Is he looking at Emerald out of concern?

Or at Salem out of caution?

It is not clear. Still, what is sure is that Mercury should focus on Emerald, but Salem goes in the way. He deep down wants to care about others, but he is too scared to do so:

Tyrian: All you ever learned was pain and violence, and now you're too afraid to leave it. Such a tragedy.

At the same time, Mercury is for Emerald what she has been looking for in Cinder:

Emerald: We don't need him! Everything was going fine!

She initially refuses him, but it is clear that with time Mercury becomes the thing most similar to a family Emerald has:

She has been so fixated on Cinder and on how she can be worthy of Cinder’s love that she has missed how much Mercury has tried to protect her all along.

This is why Hazel is important for Emerald’s development:

Hazel: No more Gretchens, boy.

His sacrifice is about breaking his personal cycle of pain. His story starts with Gretchen dying when she was only a girl and it ends with him preventing another girl’s death. At the same time, he also helps breaking the cyle of abuse between Emerald and Cinder.

Emerald is told the truth about her relationship with Cinder by Mercury. Moreover, it seems something finally clicks for her here:

She observes Salem’s manipulation of Cinder and understands Cinder has been manipulating her in the same way.

However, it is thanks to Hazel’s sacrifice that Emerald sees what a genuine parental bond should be like. It should be about the parent protecting the child:

Hazel: What Gretchen would have done. And that starts with getting you away from here. Both of you.

And not the child protecting the parent:

Emerald: I know I can’t beat you. But I can fill that thing full of holes before you take me down.

It should be about the parent caring for the child unconditionally:

Hazel: Go.

And not about the child working hard to gain a parent’s love:

Cinder: You… You brought me back here. We failed.

Emerald: Cinder, you were hurt. I was just trying to help.

At the same time, Hazel’s death has taught Emerald the pain of losing a loved one:

And has forced Emerald to stand on her own two legs:

Oscar: I've seen what you can do, Emerald. However this fight ends, we could really use someone like you.

She can’t be protected forever, but she should start protecting others. She is powerful enough to do so and she must accept this responsibility.

So

I think Emerald could be key to Mercury's redemption

I think so too. Emerald saving Mercury is the perfect objective for her personal arc. It forces her to act as the savior instead of the one being saved.

Moreover, Mercury told her the truth about herself:

Mercury: You're in denial.

So Emerald might do the same for Mercury. This would also fit with her being the Emerald Tablet. The Tablet is written by Mercury to convey the truth to the world. Here, it might very well be the inverse: the Emerald Tablet might convey the truth to Mercury.

In general, Mercury and Tyrian’s foiling has to pay off, just like Emerald and Hazel’s:

The set-up is there for Tyrian and Mercury’s subplot to be about breaking cycles as well. Mercury’s story is about a child left alone with his abuser. Nobody comes to save him, so Mercury is forced to save himself by killing Marcus. Still, this only leads to him being stuck in the idea he is nothing, but an extension of his father. Right now, the cycle is repeating, but it is possible this time things will go differently because there is at least one person who cares about him.

Not only that, but (and this is nothing, but a baseless theory) even Qrow (aka a character who has unfinished business with Tyrian) might be a thematic fit to help Mercury:

Mercury: Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him.

After all, Mercury himself draws a comparison between Qrow and his father since they are both alcoholic. However, Qrow has started a journey of rehabilitation for the sake of his nieces and their friends.

Qrow sees himself as bad for others and fundamentally unlucky because of his background and his semblance. So, his third fight with Tyrian being about saving a kid, who, in a sense, is even less lucky than him and has no semblance might be thematically fitting.

Despite it all, Qrow found a family and a place to belong and he might help Mercury find his (Emerald) as well.

SEMBLANCE OF THE SELF

Got no gun But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron

Delusion I'll steal til your blind and defeat you from inside your mind

Emerald’s best weapon is her semblance, while Mercury’s semblance was stolen, so he could become a weapon.

This difference symbolizes their respective reactions to abuse.

Emerald uses her illusions as a coping mechanism.

This mechanism is well conveyed in CEM’s fight against Amber:

On one hand, Emerald creates a child version of herself who is well dressed and owns a bike. It is a rich version of Emerald because she must think that is the kind of child others would stop by to help. She does not believe she is likable or lovable. This is why she makes an illusory alter-ego, which is both true (she deep down is a crying child) and false (she is a street rat with nothing).

In general, this is Emerald’s way to approach others:

Emerald: Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!

Ren: Because she's scared. Just like us..

Emerald: Or maybe because I know how to get out of here. Anybody coming?

She either fakes an overly friendly demeanor or acts tougher than she is. In any case, she hides her true self.

On the other hand, Emerald is symbolically trapping herself in an illusion together with Amber. Amber can’t see the dangerous thief in front of her, but Emerald too can’t see the generous woman who is offering food to a crying child:

Cinder: Follow me, and you’ll never be hungry again.

Cinder promises Emerald food and love and this lie makes the girl unable  to see the genuine article when it is right there.

So Emerald tricks both others and herself. This is how she survives abuse.

This is why she keeps believing in Cinder while she is gone:

Emerald: You’re here! I knew you’d co--

And this is why symbolically her semblance grows stronger in an abusive environment:

Emerald: I’ve been working on my Semblance. I can help. I won’t tell anybody.

Salem: You really have been honing that Semblance of yours.

After all, this is when Emerald gets a “power-up”:

She has just lost Cinder and finds herself stuck with Salem. Her reaction is to have a breakdown and to project an illusion in the minds of nine people, when she had previously stated she could only do one/two minds at most.

Mercury weaponizes his trauma.

This is why his legs are Mercury’s true weapon, while Talaria is there just to cover and embellish the pain and ugliness under it.

Mercury fights Amber with only its bare legs because symbolically his trauma is still fresh and he has yet to work out a structured coping mechanism to it. His meeting with Cinder is the first step in this construction that evolves in the following months and is still evolving:

In CEM’s fight against Amber, Mercury uses his unfeeling legs to whitstand the violence of the elements:

Fire

Earth and Water

Air

He goes through the whole cycle without feeling any pain simply because his trauma has made him unfeeling:

I'm the one That was ripped from the earth and exposed to the sun

Marcus has literally turned Mercury into Iron:

But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron

Still, the point is that mercury as a metal is not as hard as iron, but (in the alchemical scale of metals) is way more refined and closer to gold. Mercury can be better than his father, but his way to survive abuse is to repress himself.

This is why his semblance was stolen by his abuser. It is because abuse has taken away Mercury’s personhood.

So, both Emerald and Mercury face abuse by masking or repressing themselves. The difference is a matter of degree. Mercury can suppress his emotions and needs more, while Emerald can’t.

Theirs is a foiling about feeling too much to the point of self-harm and of feeling too little to the point of negation.

So, Emerald must struggle with her feelings not to be controlled by them, while Mercury must aknowledge them.

Emerald’s Hallucinations is a Semblance of The Self because it hides both Emerald herself and the truth.

This is interesting because, as stated above, the Emerald Tablet should convey the truth about alchemy. However, Emerald’s environment has turned her into an inversion of herself:

I'm the one Who rose out of filth and was loved by no-one

She is a gemstone, but is currently covered in dirt. She needs to polish herself, so she can shine and fit better in her allusion.

Mercury’s stolen semblance is a Semblance of The Self because it is linked to Mercury’s self-expression, which he must claim back.

Until then, he is bound to be stuck in an abusive cycle as nothing, but a weapon.

In general, there is some symbolism around Mercury which needs unpacking:

Mercury quoting Marcus:"This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!"

Firstly, he has clearly interiorized what his father told him here. He refuses the idea of weakness and crutches to the point that his prosthetics, which are literal crutches get turned into weapons and even covered by other weapons. However, this refusal of crutches means Mercury can’t heal. After all, crutches, bandages and treatment are necessary to become healthy once again.

Secondly, there is this: 

I'll run circles round ya, I can touch the sky

The God Mercury’s main attribute is that he can overcome any boundary. He can go wherever he wants in no time. However, Mercury is the opposite because no matter what, he can’t leave his abusive environment. This has to do once again with his father’s abuse which culminated with Marcus taking Mercury’s legs. This is symbolically why Mercury is trapped.

Like for Emerald, Mercury’s arc should be about growing into his allusion, so that he can finally be free.

Still, how to turn Emerald and Mercury in the positive versions of their allusions? The answer has to do with this question:

(I think Emerald could be key to) maybe Cinder's (redemption) too

I’M THE ONE

Emerald and Mercury are two parts of the individual (body and soul) and two parts of a Huntsman (semblance and weapon):

Ren: A common philosophy is that a warrior's Semblance is a part of who they are.

Ruby: Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool.

Together they make a unit. Together they make Cinder. They are two sides of her trauma, her two sins:

Emerald: Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of "The Thief and The Butcher"?

And the wounds behind those sins.

This is why Cinder takes them in, but also why she abuses them.

She uses them as weapons:

In CEM’s fight against Amber she lets them go in first and has them take the majority of Amber’s hits.

Not only that, but she uses them as “red herrings” she hides behind.

She acts as if Amber’s blow takes her out of the fight, while Amber focuses on Mercury who resists her attack:

She has Emerald display her semblance at full force, so that the girl becomes Amber’s first target:

She makes her own illusion where Emerald and Mercury are her smokescreen.

However, her two disciples are not just things she can use as she pleases. They are two people who depend on her:

Mercury: You mean--

Emerald: She's alive?

They are literally two kids she takes in framing their relationship as parental/hierarchical hence she is responsible for them.

However, she fails them and leaves them in a dangerous environment. This is why they both leave her out of self-survival.

Narratively, Emerald and Mercury are two kids that must grow up. Right now, they are in some kind of adolescent phase. They have started their emancipation from their “parent”, but they have still to grow until they’ll be able to truly face Cinder.

It will probably be in this confrontation that they will affirm their growth. Right now, Cinder does not need to be coddled, but to be called out. Both Neo and Watts try to, but Cinder ignores them and retaliates against them. She needs a call out she can’t ignore and Emerald and Mercury are too rooted in who she deep down is for her to be unaffected by them.

At the same time, it would mark Mercury and Emerald’s first step into adulthood. Only then they can stop being a “half” and can truly become “one”, so a whole person.

[wuxiaphoenix]

TV Series Review: The Scholar Who Walks the Night

I’d give this 2015 Korean vampire drama a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. There are some plot choices I’d have made differently;

in particular there are a few too many coincidental near-misses of certain characters encountering each other. But the overall arc of the story holds up well, and the final scenes deliver an incredibly hopeful message.

We fight not because we hate those in front of us, but because we love those behind us. Fight to destroy evil - but always fight to live.

You read that right. A message of hope and never-say-die determination, in a vampire series. You don’t see that much.

Then again, there are a lot of things you don’t see much packed into this series. In particular, the bits of Awkward Cuteness between the reclusive (vampire) scholar Kim Sung-yeol and Jo Yang-sun, the get-up-and-go seller of racy books he hires... no, not for the racy books, but to find a lost prince’s memorandum that hopefully has the secret to destroying the evil master vampire Gwi.

Although the racy books end up being important. Really. Along with such diverse things as a locket, a robe, a sword, a book-bag, a pen case, a pen name from a hundred-twenty years ago.... this show opens up Chekhov’s Armory and runs with it. Just about anything or anyone you meet in the story will show up more than once, and make a plot-critical difference in what happens. As a writer that makes me particularly gleeful; I’ve always been fond of “one small thing can lead to huge changes down the line”.

I am also very fond of the Cute. It’s a warm, human touch to the main characters that shows how even in the middle of monsters, uprisings, and life-and-death situations, people still get to know each other and have to figure out their feelings... and what they plan to do about those feelings, if anything. The show’s very good at showing the spectrum of human emotional reactions in general. Some people crack under stress; Yang-sun’s foster mother lashes out when people die. Some bear up and get more determined; there’s one very white-knuckled palace maid who makes it out of a bloodbath by being nimble, hiding, and not letting shock stop her, and the information she brings helps at a critical point. Characters we know are brave and decent can have moments of frailty, of knuckling under because they think it’s their only option to save lives. And then they have to live with what they did, and didn’t do, and how they plan to do better.

One of the interesting bits of the worldbuilding is, these are pretty much European-style vampires. Bloodsucking, affected by moonlight and hawthorn, terribly vulnerable to sunlight... not that most people have any idea of that last. They are not part of the local Korean folklore; meaning people have no idea what it will take to finally kill Gwi. He seems unstoppable. How do you face something so much stronger and faster, that even if you hit him heals from a sword or arrow in seconds? Kim Sung-yeol is a vampire, and he’s frightened facing Gwi. As of episode 2 we know he’s tried to kill Gwi at least once before, failed - and had to run for his life, because Gwi is at least two centuries older and so much more powerful. The fact that no less than three completely human Crown Princes have mustered the courage to try taking Gwi down is a testament to their determination to protect their people from a malicious predator.

A small detail that adds to the visual appeal and drama? The characters change outfits. Sometimes at surprising times. There’s a moment when Gwi walks into a place dressed very differently, and the viewer is shocked along with the characters at the sudden heart-in-throat realization of, wait, I know that guy... that’s the Bad Guy....

When all’s said and done, though, I am a sucker for the Cute. No “dark, brooding, sexy vampire romance” here. Nope; this is blundering into true love one Fake-out Make-out and dance in the rain at a time. And there’s hand-holding. And platonic kisses to foreheads. And from-behind hugs.

It’s cuddly.

Which is just about the last thing you’d expect in a story that also has vampires, executions, torture of prisoners, and many other awful things happening to good people. I’d rate it about PG-13 overall, for violence; there is pretty much no sex, and very little suggestiveness.

You wouldn’t think cuddly belonged... except one of the themes running through the story is, you can’t let violence and horrible things stop you from living. You have to keep breathing. You have to keep trying to do better than yesterday, and the day before that. Sometimes you’ll fail. Sometimes the best plans will go wrong. You still have to keep going, and never say die.

Kim Sung-yeol and Jo Yang-sun earn their happy ending. This one’s a keeper.

[epicspheal]

ok this may be a weird question but like,, what's the difference between using the canon game protag and using an oc protag, besides the name? the canon protag rarely has any backstory besides maybe "just moved here" or "friends with rival" so you have to make up any further backstory/personality for them anyways. as a creator I feel like it's easier to just use the canon protag than to replace them with their own oc protag, so it's always puzzled me why it's so common to see people replacing the canon protags with ocs.

Hi there @mala-sadas! It's not a weird question at all! I think there's a couple of ways to look at why people use OCs instead of canon protagonists.

Probably one of the biggest reasons involves the appearance of the canon protagonist. Many, but not all, OCs used in Pokemon stories are indeed self inserts/trainersonas and most people playing the games do not resemble the canon protagonist at all. Even with customization offered in later generations there is still a base look for the protagonists

Like take my trainersona, Terra (my Hoenn protag, sugimori style artwork of her made by @roseltheteacup). Vastly different appearance to May and it'd just be a lot easier on my sanity and the readers to just make up a whole OC named Terra, with the physical descriptors I wanted rather than saying "Okay this girl's name is May but [insert descriptors because I know when the audience reads "May" they're going to automatically assume the girl on the right and not the woman on the left]" Also, age may be a factor as well. Most of the canon protags are children and a lot of people have expressed desire to have grown up protagonists doing these journeys as they lend themselves for more interesting stories. For example my first Alolan champion protag isn't an adult when she starts her journey (as that breaks the established canon of the island challenge being for kids), but she is in her late teens. This allows her to have more mature insight on the Aether family plot, and allow for me to write more realistically punching the crap out of Lusamine like we all wanted to. Like sure, could Marsha (my OC) punched Lusamine out as an 11 year old (the canon ages of Elio/Selene)? Sure...but it's much more believable that a 17 year old with no f*cks to give would throw hands and actually knock Lusamine's teeth out.

(I do not yet have art of Marsha wrecking Lusamine, but take this Lilo and Stitch gif and you get the gist of what went down)

Backstory and Personality is another factor. I know the canon protagonists like you stated technically don't have a set personality (outside of Pokespe and Masters), however that hasn't stopped fanon from coming up with personalities that just seem to stick like Tomboy!Hilda and Scottish!Gloria. Remember how some people got really upset that White in Pokespe wasn't as rough and tumble (at first) as how fanon portrayed her in game counterpart? Well, if someone has an idea for the protag that doesn't fit the fanon personality, rather than potentially endure comments complaining about the personality switch. Same thing if you didn't want to make the Hoenn protag Norman's child, or the Sinnoh protag having a mom who was a master coordinator. Sure you can change it, but that still takes away from the protags (limited) backstory and some people would just prefer to make an OC at that point.

I've seen people get hit with comments like that when they try to tell a game story using the canon protagonists but they differ slightly in appearance, age, background and personality. The comments usually end up saying something around "you should've just made an OC with how much you changed". And those comments aren't fun, so some people would rather avoid that by making an OC (of course OCs also come with their own backlash).

At the end of the day, it all comes down to the comfort of the writer. I know some who only use the canon protags, others who only use OCs and some who do a mix of both. I'm a writer who likes to use a mix of both. Hoenn, Kalos, Alola, and Galar all have OCs for protags whereas I keep the canon protags for Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh and Unova. There's pros and cons in each approach!