#timeline event not a post

[the-most-humble-blog]

<div style="white-space:pre-wrap">

🧠 THE MANNEQUIN WITH POWERS — Why Character Comes Before Plot or Die in the Void A Blacksite Literature™ Transmission (If your protagonist couldn’t grip a reader’s soul in a blank room, you already failed.)

I. THE VOID YOU'RE WRITING INTO

Let’s get this out of the way first:

If your character can’t speak — not literally, but viscerally — to the reader’s insides without the crutch of explosions, lore dumps, or a “cool” outfit…

You are not writing a character. You’re dressing a mannequin. And no one gives a fuck what a mannequin does.

II. IF THEY FEEL NOTHING, YOU BUILT NOTHING

Who cares what city’s under attack? Who cares if they’re the Chosen One? Who cares about your twist, your map, your seven-act structure?

If the protagonist you’ve built:

Has no secret

Carries no weight

Evokes no response from a quiet, tired reader on a Tuesday night—

Then you wrote into the void.

Your reader wasn’t “dumb” or “impatient.” They felt nothing. And they left.

III. THE LIE OF “PLOT FIRST”

You’ve been sold a lie:

“Just make the story exciting and the characters will follow.”

No. Never. Backwards.

Character always precedes plot. Character is the plot.

Because if I don’t care who it’s happening to — Then nothing happening will ever matter.

A reader can forgive:

A slow start

A clunky scene

A cliché trope

But they will never forgive the crime of hollow company.

You gave them someone to follow —

And that someone had no soul.

IV. THE MANNEQUIN WITH POWERS

Let’s define the threat.

The Mannequin:

Has abilities

Has trauma

Has a goal

Has quips

Has a backstory

But no voice.

No contradiction. No shame. No private thing they would die to protect, not because it’s powerful — but because it’s theirs.

This mannequin does things. Big things. High stakes.

And no one cares. Because nothing human is bleeding through the plastic.

V. ESCAPISM ISN’T A LICENSE TO LIE

Yes, readers want to escape. But not from humanity.

They want to escape into:

A place where flawed people matter.

A place where pain has context, not just screen time.

A place where characters don’t just “get better” — they get known.

Escape into fantasy all you want. But if you’re escaping the imperfections of the human condition, then you’re not writing fantasy. You’re writing propaganda for emotional disconnection.

And your reader knows it. Even if they don’t say it. Even if they reblog it. Even if they finish it.

They know.

VI. THE SECRET THEY DON’T BRAG ABOUT

Let me give you the fix.

Give your character one thing:

A secret they don’t brag about.

Something they hide not because it’s cool — but because it’s raw, vulnerable, humiliating, or sacred.

Examples:

She used to believe in God, and now she can’t even say “grace” over her food.

He kept a voicemail from his brother the day before he overdosed.

She has two daughters, and hasn’t seen them since the custody ruling.

He talks shit to villains but goes home and reads old love letters he never responded to.

Do not announce it. Do not reward it. Do not let them monologue it.

Let it live. Quietly. And watch your readers form emotional attachments like animals recognizing kin.

VII. PLOT WILL NEVER SAVE YOU

You can worldbuild forever. You can twist the timelines, deepen the lore, expand the pantheon.

But if your central figure could be replaced by anyone and the story still works?

You didn’t build a character. You built scenery in a cape.

Plot is what happens.

Character is who we blame, who we mourn, who we root for in spite of ourselves.

And if you skip that? You skip the anchor. You leave your reader floating — no matter how pretty the setting is.

VIII. THE READER DOESN’T OWE YOU A DAMN THING

Let’s be brutally honest:

Your reader doesn’t care how much time you spent.

They don’t care how much of your soul you “poured in.” They don’t care how important your themes are.

If they can’t connect to a being — not a puppet — then they leave.

Because they’re not in your head. They’re alone. Reading. Tired. Wanting to feel something.

And if your protagonist doesn’t show up with emotional currency in hand?

They’re gone.

IX. THE ONLY TEST THAT MATTERS

Write this down:

If your main character was in a blank white room for five pages — with no plot, no action, no powers — would I want to hear what they think?

If the answer is no?

Start over.

Not from page one. From soul one. You didn’t give them a person. You gave them a vessel to carry your story — and no one wants to be ferried by a stranger.

X. THE REALITY YOU’RE TOO SCARED TO ADMIT

You’re not scared of writing bad plots.

You’re scared of putting real, flawed, mirrored, shameful, holy you into your character — because if it fails, it’ll feel like you failed.

So you keep them clean. You keep them plastic. You keep them “relatable” in all the ways that mean nothing.

But the only thing that ever makes a reader stay?

Is the feeling that this character was carved from a place they weren’t supposed to see.

That’s what creates emotional loyalty. That’s what earns tears. That’s what builds cult followings, not just fandoms.

XI. SO FIX IT.

Kill the mannequin.

Bury the empty badass. Silence the sarcastic automaton. Throw the trauma plot in the fire.

Build a person. A person with shame. A person with weight. A person who reminds the reader of a truth they’ve never told anyone.

Then throw that person into your plot.

And watch the story ignite.

XII. CONCLUSION: YOU'RE NOT WRITING STORIES. YOU'RE WRITING PEOPLE.

You think you’re writing entertainment. You think you’re building scenes. You think you’re plotting arcs.

But you’re not.

You’re introducing human souls to strangers. And the ones who do it well? They become immortal.

Every good story is just a person you didn’t want to say goodbye to.

If you don’t have that?

Then what the fuck are we doing here. </div>

📌 If this made your spine straighten mid-sentence — reblog it. 🧠 If it exposed a hollow character you once thought was “done” — save it. ✍️ If it reminded you why we write at all — read it again.

And if it hurt? That means it’s time to start over.

Bonus:

🧠 FREE WRITING LESSON — THE MOST POWERFUL CHARACTER DEPTH TRICK YOU’LL EVER READ.

[aalghul]

once again thinking about jason as duke’s robin. he’s ~4 years younger than jason, and that puts him at 8-12 during Jason’s time as robin. that’s prime time to get attached to your local kid vigilante before your own life goes downhill.

and if we try to keep duke’s meeting with bruce in zero year + duke’s age (so he can remember the meeting and hold that conversation with bruce), he has to be around 8. if he starts following batman through the news at that time because of the mess that just happened, the robin he sees is probably jason. I’ve literally connected the dots

[aimasup]

Suffering from Epic the Musical gave some very odd and sudden inspiration for this. crack scenario. The only thing stopping Bill from killing him on the spot is our suspension of disbelief

better roll a 20, stan. There's lives at stake

[sualne]

more about the AU!

(timeline)

[orbitsuns]

[zeropro]

How long have they been away from Cybertron, and is the planet alright or a hustle world?

I think at some point I'm gonna make a post with all my AU content in chronological order, but for now you can just have my notes on the timeline.

(check tags for the tldr on the ask)

Here’s the current timeline so far…

Long ass time ago BCE

The first Cybertronian Golden Age

Luna 1 disappears

Paradise era, Knights of Cybertron leave

Cybertronian Dark Age (The Age of Barbarism)

Rise of the thirteen

Cyberutopia is created somewhere

Onyx Prime (who is NOT Shockwave in this AU) attempts a colonialism

The Dead Universe and Unicron are created

Caminus, Velocitron, and other planets are colonized by Titans

Megatrous kills Solus Prime with the Star Saber

First civil war

During experimentation into gestalt technology, five beastformers are made into the first successful Combiner team: the Predacons

After the war, Nova Prime ushers in the Second Golden Age and resets the calendar

5.7 million BCE

“Functionist sentiment becomes an institution of society overseen by the Functionist Council, with robots expected to stick to a single job determined by their alt modes.” -tfwiki

Nova Prime enacts “The Expansion,” for which the first wave of cold constructed Cybertronians are brought online

Megatron (1st cycle 012) and Orion Pax are born under Functionalism. Megatron is one of the first cold constructed mechs.

The Constructicons are created

Nova Prime disappears into the dead universe and Nominus Prime takes leadership under a new corrupt senate. Expansion is put on hold

Megatron works as a miner in Tarn (demolition=menial labor class) Megs wanted to be a medic but quickly gives up on that dream

Orion Pax works as a dock worker in Iacon (truck=transport class) OP wanted to be an archivist and is able to work his way up to it due to having access to greater social mobility

Cybertron experiences no shortage of violence: civil wars, riots, off-world campaigns, and alien invasions continue to happen sporadically throughout its history. Wanting to bolster Cybertron’s airforce, a new style of war-frame is designed and mass produced. These cold constructed jets received the classification: Seekers (after their intended function: seek and destroy)

Skywarp is born (6th cycle 023) as a first generation Seeker and was immediately sent to the military. He is then at some point reassigned to spec ops due to his powerful outlier ability.

Seekers offline too easily so the next few waves of Seekers are sent to the Cybertronian War Academy for training before joining the military

Skywarp is sent to Praxus and subjected to intensive study. Space bridge and quantum based hyper-drive technology will later see great advancements thanks to his contributions to science

Thundercracker is brought online as one of the last batch of Seekers (24th cycle 124). By then the Cybertronian War Academy roster was too full so he was given the (limited) option to pick his vocation. He chose to work as a courier in Vos.

“Those who were constructed cold face institutionalized apartheid; although this eventually ends due to mounting public pressure, including mass protests and marches. However, intrinsic prejudice against constructed cold Transformers persists in among a sizable percentage of the population.” -tfwiki

Megatron and pax become friends while advocating against cold construct apartheid and functionalism. Pax considered Megatron like a brother to him but Megatron always felt distanced by their class divide

Scientists have been pulling sparks out of the Matrix faster than frames can be constructed for them. Sparks without ready frames will be “frozen” for future use

The Matrix "runs dry" (is replaced by a fake) and cold construction as a common method of creation stops entirely

The Senate’s evil science division, the Institute, establishes Shadowplay and Empurata as common practices

The energy crisis forces a planet-wide rationing of resources

Cryak commissions a Seeker frame to be constructed and has a thawed spark placed in it. Starscream is born (22nd cycle 415).

5 million BCE

Starscream escapes

Thundercracker finds Starscream

4.5 million BCE

Due to the energy crisis, tension is high between city-states. The Senate establish the sport of Gladiatorial games to try and mitigate the animosity. These games are held in Kaon and become very popular

Starscream defies Functionalism by pursuing many different jobs. Whenever he would get in trouble or fall on hard times he’d turn to Thundercracker for help

Orion Pax encourages Megatron to publish his political writings

Orion Pax joins the police force

The first appearance of the pacifist grassroots movement calling themselves Decepticons. Their ideology is based on Megatron’s first published treatise

Megatron is caught in a bar fight and is wrongfully arrested. Whirl beats him up in jail, changing Megatron’s perspective on violence

Megatron loses his job due to automation and signs up to be a gladiator

Starscream goes to college (not really, I just like to call the period of time where he went to work as a Scientist in Iacon "college" cuz it's funny XD) and meets Skyfire. The two become close

Senator Protius promises to make the Decepticons a real political party by way of census. In truth he just wanted a list of names so they can shadowplay all the Decepticons. Skyfire almost signs on but Starscream convinces him not to

Megatron continues to publish his writings while gaining fame as a gladiator. The Decepticon movement takes a shift from pacifism towards terrorism

Skywarp likes watching the gladiator fights whenever they are assigned to patrol the events  

The gladiator Ravage finds a discarded Soundwave struggling to deal with his telepathic powers and takes him under his wing

Skywarp plays a prank on the government

Starscream and Skyfire go off-world on an expedition, intending to travel to the Sol system and back (they're gone for about 40 turns on the Cybertronian calendar, or approximately 50,000 Earth years)

The Senate discover Nominus’ matrix is a fake and have him secretly killed

The Senate enacts the Clampdown

Thundercracker loses his job and is forced to join the military

4.3 million BCE

Senator Shockwave gets shadowplayed

Sentinel Prime takes leadership

The Decepticons begin secretly forming an army under Megatron

Orion Pax and Megatron break up

Starscream returns to Cybertron without Skyfire and is subsequently tried for Skyfire’s murder, for which he was found innocent. He is still expelled from the Academy

Starscream goes back to Vos, and crashes on Thundercracker's couch for a while

Thundercracker takes Starscream to watch a gladiator fight, which is where Starscream takes note of Megatron

Despite his reservations, Starscream joins the military in order to learn how to fight as well as gain rapport with the military Seekers

While stealing a military airship, Megatron finds Skywarp locked up in the ship's engine room and rescues him. Skywarp joins the Decepticons

Tension between Vos and Tarn is at an all time high, leading to outright civil war between the two city-states

4 million BCE

The Bombing of Vos ends the civil war

Megatron shows up to recruit Decepticons in the aftermath of the Vos-Tarn civil war. Starscream stands up and gives a speech that convinces the majority of Vos' Seeker population to join the Decepticons

Starscream joins the Decepticons

Starscream uses Skywarp to get close to Megatron

The Decepticons threaten war by launching an attack on Iacon. Starscream leads the group that levels the Academy to the ground. He doesn't feel better.

Thundercracker is deployed to help quell the Decepticon activity in Iacon. Thundercracker confronts Starscream and Starscream begs him for help. Thundercracker joins the Decepticons

Megatron is captured and almost gets shadowplayed, but escapes thanks to Starscream, Skywarp, and Soundwave

Megatron no longer thinks the current system can be changed, even with violence. Now his aim is to burn it all down and rebuild from scratch.

Starscream and Soundwave massacre the entire Senate 

Shockwave joins the Decepticons

Megatron officially declares war

Megatron defeats Sentinel Prime and Zeta Prime takes leadership

The Fall of the First Five Cities

Zeta Prime attempts a war crime, Orion Pax and Megatron team up to stop him, and then Megatron betrays Orion and leaves him to die

Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime

The Battle of Sherma Bridge, where Optimus Prime and Megatron first clash (allegedly)

Praxus falls

Starscream becomes Air Commander. He appoints Thundercracker and Skywarp as his Wing Second and Third. The Trine is complete

Decepticons pull ahead and as a last ditch effort the Autobots thaw previously frozen sparks to construct a new army of MTOs

War happens

The Trine grow close

Megatron gets worse

3 million BCE

War continues to happen

Megatron at this point has tunnel visioned into wanting only one thing: defeating Optimus Prime

Megatron and Prime get into giant hamster balls and play WOW for several vorn. Starscream is mad about it

Starscream starts trying to take over the Decepticons and Megatron physically punishes him for it.

While on a mission, Thundercracker meets Bumblebee briefly

Skywarp accidentally sacrifices himself to protect Starscream, almost dying. Starscream is devastated to find he actually cares about this idiot

1 million BCE

The Autobots (aboard the Ark) and the Decepticons (aboard the Nemesis) leave Cybertron in search of resources

They crash on prehistoric Earth and remain in stasis for one million years

The war continues on Cybertron, lead by Shockwave and Elita1

0.9 million BCE

The Decepticons overthrow Shockwave and he flees to Luna 2

Hot Rod gathers a rag tag crew and leaves Cybertron on the Lost Light in search of Optimus Prime

The Lost Light discovers the Dead Universe and Nova Prime

Cyclonus joins the Lost Light crew

0.7 million BCE

Shockwave clones Sunstorm

The Great Shutdown: Cybertron completely runs out of energy and everyone falls into stasis

The Lost Light return to Cybertron. Upon finding everyone in stasis, they venture back into space to find a solution

1984

Reawakened on Earth, the Autobots continue to wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons

The Decepticons rebuild the Nemisis into the Victory and try to head back to Cybertron, but they crash into the ocean after Autobot interference

Megatron orders Shockwave to build him a space bridge while he collects energy on Earth to revive Cybertron

Megatron begins abusing Starscream

Typical G1 Cartoon shenanigans occur

Wheeljack builds the Dinobots

The Decepticons find Skyfire in the ice. Starscream tries to get Skyfire to join the Decepticons, but Skyfire refuses when Starscream proves willing to harm humans

Starscream starts to have nightmares. He stops sleeping well

1991

Shockwave completes his space bridge and visits Earth, only to find Megatron has completely lost the plot. After serving on Earth for a few years he goes back to Luna 2 with the intent on finishing his doomsday device, only to find Sunstorm has escaped. He begins migrating his lab to the Decepticon's ocean base on Earth in order to finish his work there.

Megatron obtains frozen sparks from Cybertron and builds the Stunticons. The Autobots rescue half the sparks he had brought over and create the Aerialbots

Starscream's plots to overthrow Megatron are becoming more and more unhinged. At some point he goes to Cybertron and steals some incarcerated memory components and builds the Combaticons, effectively freeing these criminals (including Swindle) from jail

Hot Rod and the Lost Light crew arrive on Earth

2008

Megatron goes too far

Thundercracker defects

2009

After the Decepticons destroyed several human cities, the Autobots finally defeat Megatron with the help of their human allies at the Battle of New York

Seeing that Megatron has fallen, Starscream declares himself the new leader, but Soundwave rescues Megatron's mostly dead body and convinces Shockwave to try and fix him

Optimus Prime dies of his injuries and Bumblebee becomes leader

Hot Rod, now going by Rodimus, leaves Earth on the Lost Light

2010

The humans are justifiably angry with the Cybertronians for destroying their world. Unable to leave the planet, the remaining Decepticons either get captured or go into hiding. 

Thundercracker watches a lot of TV and is now friends with Bumblebee

The Autobots are helping capture Decepticons on Earth

Starscream struggles to lead the Decepticons

2011

Sunstorm arrives on Earth

Starscream frees the Decepticons from human containment, but they still wont follow him

2012

The humans have rebuilt the cities that were destroyed by the Decepticons three years ago

Everyone basically living as tho the war is over

Megatron is brought back by Shockwave and immediately goes to punish Starscream for doing a poor job leading the Decepticons, even tho Starscream did his best.

Skywarp's loyalty to Megatron finally breaks apart, and he gets them out of there before Megatron turns violent, effectively defecting from the Decepticons

Starscream tries to apologize to Thundercracker in order to get his help with fighting Megatron, but Thundercracker turns him down. Starscream shoots Thundercracker in the back, much to Skywarp’s dismay

Starscream and Skywarp hide out on Earth for a bit

Megatron is trying to gather his scattered forces, specifically the combiners

Starscream and Skywarp have an argument and part ways for a bit

Starscream comes across some Decepticon activity and attacks them

Megatron shows up and begins beating Starscream to a pulp

Skywarp jumps in to save Starscream but is shot mid-warp and his warp drive destabilizes

With no other option, Starscream turns to the Autobots for help, with Skywarp in tow

Thundercracker gets a dog

And that's where we are now! Thanks so much for reading!

The current plan going forward is as follows:

1 year later (2013): Combiner Wars, which leads directly into Dark Cybertron [feat. Sunstorm] followed by the Presidential Arc, which lasts about 3-5 years ending in the Apology Comic

[gaylactic-fire]

I feel like the only difference between the FNAF timeline and the LoZ timeline is that FNAF fans have gaslit themselves into thinking Scott Cawthon is some genius cryptic storyteller. Zelda fans I think at least have the self-awareness to understand the timeline / cohesiveness is an afterthought to Nintendo

[thedragonagebigbang]

The 2025 Dragon Age Big Bang Timeline

Quick Links: ▸ What is This Event? ▸ Rules ▸ Code of Conduct ▸ Content Guidelines ▸ Writer Requirements ▸ Artist Requirements ▸ Answered Questions

Event Info: Full Guidebook & Rules | Artist Guide | Writer Guide Contact The Mods: ask | discord | email: thedragonagebig@gmail.com

June 1-30: Writer Sign Ups Form Open July 1: Writing Kickoff July 1-14: Nonzero Soft Check-In Form Open July 15-August 8: Writer 7500 Word Cut Off Form Open July 15-August 10: Artist Sign Up Form Open July 15-31: Writer Pitch Submission Form Open August 1: Interview Scheduling/Questionnaire Submission Begins August 3-10: Artist Pitch Claims Form Open August 14: All Teams Formed & Connected September 1: Artist Check-In September 15: Artist & Writer Check-In October 15: Artist Check-In October 19-31: Work Submission Form Open November 1: Tumblr Promos Begin, 1 team/day

Total Writing Time: July 1 - October 31 Total Art Time: August 14 - October 31

All deadlines are by "EOD," meaning, e.g., EOD October 31 means that it is no longer October 31st in any time zone.

Add this calendar to your Google Calendar here!

Event Info: Full Guidebook & Rules | Artist Guide | Writer Guide Contact The Mods: ask | discord | email: thedragonagebig@gmail.com All 2024 Work Posts | 2024 Wrap Up | 2024 AO3 Collection

[pap1llonbleu]

sometimes i wonder if the mario universe is just kinda stuck in time or something with how most characters (for the most part) have stayed the same age for a while now

like i get keeping the main cast (mario, luigi, peach, etc.) looking the same for the purpose of just being recognizable and such, but i'm referring to the consequences of it story/canon wise

because mario and luigi have both been like 24-25 (as stated by miyamoto in an interview) for basically ever since they've first debuted as adults, but at the same time they've gone through so much during their adult lives to the point where sometimes i wonder when exactly this all takes place? because i feel like some of these adventures take weeks to months to accomplish, but if that's the case there's absolutely no way all these adventures would take place under the span of a year

so like....did time just pause for them or something once the bros hit 24-25 or does time work differently in their world and years are way longer/slower

would love to get other moots' thoughts on this 👀

[nights-at-crystarium]

The fun thing about ViviEmet: they aren't there fully for each other. Emet's 100% selfish in pursuit of Azem, tolerating this thing meanwhile, Vivi's 50% actually selfless and empathic for Emet, 50% selfish in pursuit of his coveted freedom. In this essay I will-

[illtrytobegood]

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( off topic posts)

[skuaclan]

Aftermath.

[abigailspinach]

[fortress-substitution-team]

merry smissmas!! y'all like them bananas?

the team is too busy with their celebration to look at the TV

[swiiivet-screamathon]

"Hey-hey-hey-hey Pure Vanillaaaaa??? Why is Shadow Milk here???"

"Hm? Oh, I wanted to give him a chance through a method he might be comfortable with."

"Excuse me??? You let him follow us???"

"We needed to return home, we've spent far too long away, but I know that leaving him to simmer in the pot for however long we'll be away from Beast-Yeast was just going to get him to sour even more. I meant every word I told him at the end, I want to be his friend, but that can only happen if he does as well."

"So you put the entire kingdom in jeopardy for that insane clown!?"

"We beat him once when he was on his home turf and with his compatriots, as long as I keep an eye on him I don't assume much can go wrong for long."

"Do you not think that might still be a bit risky?"

"I'm not sure if you've considered this Wizard, but I think its worthwhile to remember that he chose to follow us. He could've left Beast-Yeast the moment he was set free, and yet he didn't. He could've left to meet up with his other beast friends at any point, and yet he didn't. And according to his companions his experience with me specifically is one of a kind for him. We never invited him to come along, we never even told him where we were going, and now he chooses to leave his former tower? I might be gullible to him, but knowing him as well as I do, I think that's enough evidence for me to think that he's not followed us purely to enact revenge."

"At least its comforting to know you've thought this through at all; but it still seems like the idea of a madman! Is there no safer way at all to-- ourgh, befriend--- him?"

"Perhaps, who's to say sharing his mindscape for so long didn't make me a madman either. I simply cannot help but not be the one to ostracize him, whenever he's ready he can come talk, but I won't treat him unequally."

"Well-- not that I think you would, but if anything goes haywire-- thats on your shoulders! AND his!"

"Of course, I never considered that I wouldn't be responsible for him. :)"

[gabelew]

( />/</) ehehe