#yes theres gonna be plot but happiness is the end goal

[theramblingsofadork]

⭐️ So, uh, major spoilers for my OC lore here, but I was thinking all of last night why I wanted to do my Starpoint Squad AU in the first place. My ways the story could go have been running all over the place, and I needed to pin down what it’s purpose was to recenter my focus.

I thought I’d share my thoughts with all of you so I can get you all on the same page on what you can expect to see here. (I’m realizing that my lack of explaining and vague lore drops might be giving people an unrealistic expectation as to what to expect here. .w.;)

VVV

So, in my OC Rivet’s canon story, she loses everything. Her home, her parents, her brother, and Starline— who does not change his ways— makes things worse by becoming exceedingly twisted until he meets his intended fate.

She gets no real happy ending. Doomed to lose or be betrayed by all she loves.

On the other end of the spectrum, canonically, Starline fails to gain everything he wanted and worked towards, and loses even more by not being able to let go. He’s made a fool of multiple times throughout the comics, and (imo) goes out with a whimper.

The more I think about the AU, the less it makes sense regarding the two’s individual stories. But, together.. at the end of the day, I just want them both to be happy. I want there to be a universe where both can thrive and survive and not be completely awful or miserable people.

Where Starline gets the recognition, support and love he desires, and where Rivet is able to save at least one person she cares about. Where the both of them can have a support network through the Starpoint Squad, and where things aren’t completely horrible.

That, in essence, is what this AU is about.

Friendship, redemption, and warm and happier endings. It still has sadness and angst, but it’s not permanent. It’s not as destructive to either of their characters to where they dive past the point of no return.

So yes, Starline might be kind of OOC in this one. Or at the very least, only have his Metal Virus/Bad Guys personality. It’s gonna be heavy on relationship and reconciliation, and even though canon characters will be involved, it’s more of a OC centered story.

I realize this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and it’s okay if people skip out because of it. I have to accept that I can’t make everyone happy, being 100% canon compliant is only going to cause me more exhausting headache, and at the end of the day, I just need to write the story I want to make and have fun.

Hope that clears things up, and thank you for reading. 💖

[aro-aizawa]

sighs in contentment......

[dufrau]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @lesbianlotties 🍻thanks bud!

1. How many works do you have on ao3? 27

2. What’s your total ao3 word count? 199,090. If only I could have padded that last thing out another 1000 words i would have hit my year end goal of 200k 😭 now i just absolutely have to post at least one thing this month thats all 🤷

3. What fandoms do you write for? just ronance

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Red & White & Blue & Gold - 715

Exile - 670

Entirely On Purpose and According To Plan - 580

Nothing But The Whole Wide World - 578

I Wish I Was The Moon - 469

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! If I have ever not responded to your comment I promise it was an accident I try to respond to all of them always because I love them so much.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I'm gonna go with One Too Many Mornings (and A Thousand Miles Behind) even though theres one thats definitely SADDER but I feel like this one is specifically ANGSTIER.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Honestly contrary to what many would have you believe, most of what i write has a happy ending! I guess Entirely On Purpose, maybe? That one just feels good at the end.

8. Do you get hate on fic? Not to my face!

9. Do you write smut? Yeah. I love it and I hate it. It's the hardest thing to write for me but also for some reason the thing I tend to fall back on when Im having trouble writing other things.

10. Do you write crossovers? Not so far. Ive written an AU but its not actually a crossover, really?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of 🤞

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Also not that I know of

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No. I think conceptually this could be fun if we had a good premise, each writing one POV. But I would only try it with like a very small handful of people who first of all I vibe with but second of all who I would trust to actually write their part.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? I mean. Ronance.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t? I think I'll finish all of my WIPs. I don't have a lot and they're mostly gonna wind up being short so it's just a matter of doing it 🤷

16. What are your writing strengths? Hoo boy. Dialogue, I think? And like atmosphere, setting the scene, establishing a sense of place kind of stuff?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plot. And run-on sentences.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If it makes sense it's fine. But I think a lot of people think it makes sense when it doesn't actually make sense? Basically if a character doesn't switch between languages often in canon it feels weird to have them do it in fic, in my opinion. It's like making up nicknames that dont exist in canon, it just pulls me out of the story.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Glee 🙃 But all evidence of that has been erased.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? My Piece of Land no doubt about it. i am so proud of it i will be bragging about it on my deathbed.

you're tagged if you want to be tagged, i will not gatekeep bragging about your fics! if you want to please do it!

[hongism]

Hey bestie heeeeeey~

I'm officially caught up with MOC so now I can tell you my feelings~

So, first of all, how dare you? There's no reason for the emotional whiplash I experienced reading this monstrosity (positive with all the love and respect in the world i promise) yet here i am... a further damaged woman lmfao

But forreal though, you have a great ability to pull emotions out of your readers and thats just amazing in my eyes, especially as a fellow writer myself :') theres nothing I love more than making the ppl who read my own fics suffer emotionally so congrats to you!

I love how you write everyone in the story, they are so incredibly flawed and fucked up and human that it just makes me shed a tear. Thats why MC frustrates the HELL out of me, even though I adore her. Her flaws make my ass itch but all i want for her is to heal and be happy in the end (same with the others! I be wanting to punch the shit outta them sometimes 😭)

ESPECIALLY Hongjoong cause my guy is just unhinged but i love his character the most honestly because unhinged is hot to me. Im still kicking my feet and twirling my hair lmao

The relationships are so real and just... messy. Messy messy in the best way. But i just have to cheer them all on.

That chapter when mc and yeosang banged I was quite literally going bonkers like HELLO?????????????? I didnt expect that but now i want more of it cause their dynamic (especially when it comes to wooyoung) is so juicy

MC is such a tragic character and I feel for her the most. I love how we started off thinking Jisung was this great person but turns out that hes a fucking lunatic. You, Caly literally manipulated us into thinking so, like how Jisung manipulated MC and idk if that was intentional or not but it was brilliant. And Hyunwoo turning out to be like *that* was a punch in the gut. MC being betrayed by the ppl she cared for so much makes her question everything on the crew, especially Hongjoong and that's why I cant be too frustrated with her lol

I dont want this ask to be so long cause i can go in about every little detail 😭 but youve dont such an amazing job. The world building is beautiful, and i dont rly read a lot of scifi like fictions set in space, but when i first got into ateez the first thing i thought of were pirates / space pirates and i even started my own fic with that premise bc i cant help myself but be self indulgent trash so 🤷🏼‍♀️ but thats beside the point

I cant wait to read more of this masterpiece and see how things go. I want everyone to be happy cause you are putting them through the fucking ringer 😭😭😭 please go easy on them I cant take more of this 😭😭😭😭

hehe emotional whiplash is my specialty!!! i too am very much damaged after writing moc. and the damage will continue. for the good of the plot!!!

i'm so touched you think so, i really love evoking emotion out of the reader in my works and i'm glad that im effective in doing so <3 one of my goals from the start of writing moc was to create an mc who isn't always likable or enjoyable to read bc i find those sorts of stories unrealistic and sometimes boring, because even tho the setting is very much not real, having characters who do feel real has always been huge to me! i love creating characters who have peaks and valleys, who grow and stumble along the way, and to really show a journey of growth!! hongjoong is just. pure insanity at its finest LOL he's gonna take a lot to fix but we'll see!

i honestly had way too much fun writing that chapter too, i love love looooooove a good hatefuck and it was just too tempting to NOT do >.<

it was fully intentional to sort of bring the readers in on the manipulation yes hehe! i like playing my cards very close to my chest and not giving anything away until the absolute last second i can!!! i think you hit on something lots of people who want her to just give into hongjoong forget - she's experienced so much betrayal from the people she trusted most and that does really stick in the brain and cause lasting trauma, and our poor mc is deeply traumatized by many things that have happened to her! it only makes sense for her to be retaliating and distrustful of those around her in these circumstances!!

thank you so much for enjoying everything so far and for all the lovely compliments they really mean so much to me i cherish them a lot 🥹🥹❤️❤️

[erascrhead]

November Ice Breaker Tag Game

loI was tagged by the lovely @bnhastanning! I’m sorry this took so long - I’ve been procrastinating all of my work and i had to take care of it before did this but now? watashi ga kita motherbuckets.

November Ice Breaker

1 - What was the last thing you were really excited about? 

Not gonna lie, things are a bit bleak at the moment, but I suppose I was very happy because I did really well on my last lesson test in my Japanese class and I raised my cumulative grade by a whole percentage! I am not very good at it but if I do decently for the rest of term I think I can make my way up to an A-, which would be really cool!

2 - What do you wish someone taught you long ago? 

Don’t be so singularly focused on your goals and responsibilities that everything else is removed from your life. Most of my middle and high school career, I was focused only on achieving what I needed academically and extracurricularly, and pushing myself beyond what I really could handle, that I ended up overworked and lonely. If it puts it into perspective, in my 10th grade year, I not only had multiple people ask me if I had taken a semester away because I had spent so much time hiding in the library, but I literally gave myself an ulcer from stress and taking on other people’s responsibilities because I had painted myself into a position where I was never allowed to refuse. While I did get to achieve beyond what I ever could have dreamed of (and I’m really proud of myself for that), theres a lot of my adolescence that I have a sort of phantom nostalgia for, and that’s something I really regret. 

Your life needs to have balance to it. Make sure you find that early on, and understand how to equally prioritize your own well being with what you want and what other’s want from you.

3 - What are some of your guilty pleasures? 

Not doing the reading for class lmao. As someone who never once skipped the reading until I graduated HS, skipping some of the reading in college, when I end up having around cumulative 500 pages per week is quite nice. I wish I had something less goody-two-shoes but I do nothing and also have zero (0) shame.

4 - What topic could you give a twenty minute presentation on without any preparation? 

There’s a couple of different things I could talk about in differing qualities ranging from classical ballet scores to a linguistic breakdown of a hamilton song, and of course I could go off about bnha for a long time, but I’m gonna go with a fun one.

My most fun answer is that I could talk about racism and race correction in Harry Potter for like three hours. Black Hermione is god tier fanon, and JKR’s attempts to race correct her make me really frustrated, not only with the problems with the action itself, but as well with the nonchalance she attempted to do it with. I have a bit of a ‘cheat’ on this one, because last year I wrote a ~5000 word academic research paper on the subject. I was already really passionate about it before that though (that’s why I wrote it in the first place); the only difference now is I can spit out narrative and numerical facts™ off the cuff, and my argument would be better organized.  

5 - What scene in a movie or tv show gives you goosebumps every time you watch it? 

I don’t really have an answer for this, which is kind of sad but also hilarious considering what my parent’s jobs are. If I had to pick something, I don’t really have a scene in particular, but the movie Amadeus (the extended directors cut edition) is one of my favorites that leaves me breathless in the best of ways. 

6 - What were some of your favorite holiday traditions growing up? 

One of my favorites is that every year since I was little, my mother and I would pick out either 1-3 new ornaments for our tree. I remember being little and walking into the Macy’s Christmas section and just being dazzled by the lights, and typically, we would pick out some white and gold porcelain birds. As I got older, are choices started coming from more small time shops, like a kiosk in hawaii or a small knick-knack shop near the place where we occasionally ski in the winter. For me, it’s really the act of going and picking out something beautiful with her that’s really nice.

A newer tradition is that every year I bake chocolate-chip bread pudding in a dutch oven. I am, unequivocally, the best baker in the family both immediate and extended, though not the best chef, and this became a hit around the time I was 15. It’s just really fun to make -- I like to belt out to Christmas songs while I bake. 

7 - What book had the most significant impact on you? 

HARD QUESTION. There’s a bunch of different ways I could answer this: the impact on the way I think, the first chapter book I read on my own that helped me discover my love of reading, my favorite example of intricate world building? I have a lot I could say. The direction I’m going to go for is the impact on my writing, and the one of the first books that really made me marvel at the beauty of words, just as they are. My two runners up are The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, but my final answer is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Representation aspects aside (but also, yes!), this book was one of the first books that made me feel emotion for the words themselves. It’s more of a character study than it is plot driven, and as a kid who grew up loving action adventure fantasy novels, I think that’s one of the reasons it really stood out to me. I pulled an excerpt, just to give the gist:

I stared at the reproduced mural in the book -- but I was more interested in his finger as he tapped the book with approval. That finger had pulled a trigger in a war. That finger had touched my mother in tender ways I did not fully comprehend. I wanted to talk, to say something, to ask questions. But I couldn’t. All the words were stuck in my throat. So I just nodded.

One of my favorite things now is to play with words, to roll them around on my tongue and isolate their melodies, placing them in them in rhythm to a beat only I can hear, and I think that this was the first book that showed me how to do that.

8 - What weird thing do you have nostalgia for? 

So I went to a small school for all the way up until college; about 45 kids in my sixth grade class, 22ish in my homeroom/main class. There were four kids, including me, that had an aptitude for math, and understood the lessons without being taught them, and so what my teacher would do is give us the homework packet for the week and send us out to the outdoor benches next to our classroom to complete it during the period. We, being 11, would goof around Monday through Thursday and do the entire packet in the Friday period and then turn it in. Not the best teaching decision (i wish i had been taught the next year’s material tbh) but that’s not the point.

It was just a year, but those periods felt so untouchable and surreal and innocent. I remember, the school was so quiet, and it was just us, and we were just kids who were getting away with not learning math for a whole year, and it felt like the greatest victory in the world. 

9 - What's a problem you have, that might be entirely unique to you? 

I don’t know how unique it is, but the intensity with which I currently need to pet a dog is unparalleled.

10 - What are two of your favorite snacks? 

I literally eat an apple with peanut butter on a daily basis I cannot emphasize this enough i am, a slut, for peanut butter. 

There’s also this specific Costco Brand trail mix that I literally have eaten so much of that I got nauseous. We love Kirkland Signature™ up in this house.

That’s all! I’m tagging @kicheetah @teamstevesass @stark-tony @bakugox @rabbitproduce @pixie-witchery @joeytrlbiani @queenangst THOUGH NO PRESSURE and also anyone else who wants to! Have fun!!

[italianeyes]

what are your favorite twilight zone episodes :0

oh hii ok i haven't finished watching it yet but these are my favorite so far (in no particular order (for the most part))! it's gonna be pretty long so i'll continue under the cut 😳

1. and when the sky was opened (s1e11)

truly my favorite twilight zone episode of all time! the plot and characters are very well written (it's based on the short story "disappearing act" by richard matheson) and also the acting is really good too like the emotions are so vibrant and effective and real just wowzers. there's this one part where the look on the guy's face is just so haunting and idk it really sticks with me. also the actors 👀👀👀 i think everyone in the 50s/60s was just really attractive but yeah. also it's #relatable but in a sad way 😔 and it makes me cry so overall 5386464/10 very good highly recommend!

2. mirror image (s1e21)

SUCH a great episode. the directing, the attention to detail, the atmosphere just mkaes it so interesting and thrilling to watch. it made me audibly gasp so much bc it's frightening. also the ending is just. wow. wow. great episode.

3. the after hours (s1e34)

omg hi good cool episode !!!!!! right? wrong!!!!!! the directing in this episode makes it ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TERRIFYING to watch!!!!!!!!!! as if mannequins aren't scary enough on their own. i love the vibe of department stores in the 50s (i really wanna live during that time period!) and the atmosphere that's created is bonechilling and eerie. very very good episode bc it feels like a fever dream and as you will see most of the episodes on this list are ones where it feels like you're losing your mind and i love that. it also does a good job of like putting the audience in the shoes of the main character.

4. perchance to dream (s1e9)

another terrifying episode? more likely than you think. this episode is a WILD RIDE (haha pun) and is the definition of a fever dream. the directing is so so so good and perfectly captures what a nightmare can feel like and it's exhilarating to watch bc it is also extremely terrifying. i once watched it to try to scare myself to sleep so i could have a nightmare just to feel something (it didn't work😔). OH YEAH ALSO THE TWIST AT THE END it spins your head i honestly didn't even see it coming WOW

5. twenty two (s2e17)

another fever dream episode!!!!!!!! so cool the directing is wow and the setting is even more wow and theres so much tension in it and the ending i wasnt expecting it at all! very solid episode perfectly crafted

6. walking distance (s1e5)

this episode made me sob so hard! it's about like growing up and revisiting your childhood and it's so tender and sad but there's a good lesson ig idc. it's #powerful and i thoroughly enjoy it but it's also painful to watch bc it is TOO RELATABLE

7. where is everybody? (s1e1)

genuinely the best pilot episode for any series that i've ever seen. it's so memorable and right off the bat makes the audience feel like they're going insane bc they don't know what the fuck is going on. this episode sets a VERY good precedent for what the rest of the show is gonna look/be like. very good one ! oh yes plot the plot was good and so was the directing but a little anticlimactic i think but whatevs.

8. two (s3e1)

this episode is so <3333333333333333 i think it's a good first episode for s3 bc honestly it gets worse ngl. it seems kinda pointless but the ending is nice and honestly it's pretty much everything i wanna see on a screen like a woman with a gun in an army uniform? are you serious?? sign me up pls 🤲🏽🤲🏽🤲🏽

9. nick of time (s2e7)

stereotypical predicting the future type episode but i really like it bc of the vibe. you know it's the 60s where there's diners and jukeboxes and milkshakes! i mean yes we have those things today but it just hits different in this episode just the vibe is chef kiss very very neat and nice and also the couple in it is really attractive. oh yeah i still like the plot tho and like what it means from a human pov like do you let a machine control your life or do you make those decisions by yourself and agree to face the conseqeunces? very neat i think ! it reminds me of the summertime that's the vibe of it i really wanna live during that time period.

10. the purple testament (s1e19)

literally everyone in this episode is SO HOT 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 god. the plot is good too but it's pretty predictable but the concept is really cool and well written and ofc the ending is also predictable but whatever !

11. a hundred yards over the rim (s2e23)

very cool episode i love the whole cowboy / western vibe i know 🤚🏽 those were dangerous and not optimal times ok but seriously the drip and the whole saloons and small town stuff? can we bring that back pls and thank you xoxo but yeah this episode is cool and it has a very empty feel to it and it makes you feel like a stranger i do like it a lot

12. showdown with rance mcgrew (s3e20)

oh i really like this one !! it's one of the only episodes i think that's like comedic on purpose. like the main character (the one in the cowboy hat) is so stupid and the way his character is written is mwah im blowing a kiss to the sky for him as we speak. the plot is alright it's like the redundant time travel so whatevs but i like this one bc it's funny:) i think after s1 the show went downhill bc u can see that they were running out of ideas so yeah. season 1 really had no reason to go that hard but it did!!

13. to serve man (s3e24)

oh yes this episode is short and sweet and gets straight to the point which i really appreciate<3 just the vibe of it is very very good and there's nothing like a great twist to top it all off! solid episode 10/10 also the girl in it is really pretty

14. the night of the meek (s2e11)

this! one!! it is SO sweet and actually has a good ending and it made me cry and it's so pure and happy and nice and christmas and i love christmas and i love this episode

15. judgement night (s1e10)

i love the trope of "one person realizes something is very very wrong in their world and they try to explain it to others but no one believes them making the main character feel like they're going crazy!" i would say this episode is haunting i don't remember like the specifics but i just remember watching it for the first time and just being like speechless and sad. the plot is very nice too and like the thought of eternal terror makes me very uncomfortable which was probs this episodes goal so good job !

essay over xoxo if u made it this far hi here's a hug<3

[notruvik]

finished kh3 a couple of days ago and i have some thots on it.. this took me a while to write, but seeing the general consensus right now im glad im not the only one whos got some Feelings about it. obvious spoiler talk underneath the cut!

before anything i wanna say i did enjoy the game. i had fun with it, it is polished to beyond and isnt per se a rushed product technical wise - which makes my grievances with it the more harrowing

first and foremost i dont have too much gripes with the story and its ending overall. sora ‘dying’ had been hinted at before and seeing how the disney worlds played out i had expected it to happen. the revival of aqua, ven and terra was sufficient and while the seasalt trio only had one scene to call their own, it’s fine, really. it brought the emotion across and worked as climax for their arc. im happy that theyre happy

however, its nothing more than that: it’s fine. the game itself didnt do anything to make all of these returns and happy endings meaningful. it simply presented you one longer-than-average cutscene and a boss fight for each respective trio and had you fill in the blanks. for 20 hours it feels like the game is at a standstill as you go from disney world to disney world, forcing you to do unrelated tasks and seemingly doing everything to prevent sora from going into the realm of darkness until the very last 7 hours of the game where everything happens at once

that feeling of ‘standstill’ is caused by nothing really happening in sora’s physical journey. yes, he does meet marluxia, y!xehanort and vanitas (arguably the best and most efficient encounter in the game), but youre no step closer to the goal youre trying to achieve nor is any other character making any visible progress. when its time to finally take the first step, youre soon thrown at the very end of the plight: you save aqua, you immediately save ven, youre at the keyblade graveyard, you reunite everyone in the span of 2 hours and then its end game already

theres not breather in-between. no moment to let your achievements sink in and let these lost wielders get acquainted with the main cast and have some form of reunion. to make it feel like they matter in the present time. after all is said and done you find the resurrection of the wayfinder and seasalt trio meaningful not because the game helped you connect but because youve spent the past 10 years thinking about them.

this overall covers my main complaint about the game. further on i tried to collect some other issues in smaller points which i think just added to the Experience

to address the elephant in the room, kairi has been such a waste once again. being advertised as keyblade wielder, finally playing a role in all of this, only for her to get kidnapped immediately and killed is an awful move. being the reason sora is ‘dead’ in the end leaves such a bad bad aftertaste on top of all that. since a bunch of other posts have already discussed the issues at hand, i wont go in on this too hard. i do wanna say tho that kairi here feels like the epitome of character mismanagement problems the game is having in general; you dont feel for her. she says a lot of things, but is not acting on it. you dont see her training, you barely see her fighting. shes not talking to sora up to moments before her death, its no wonder youll forget about her until sora brings her up again post-end boss

continuing, instead of introducing mysterious female character(s) which never serve any purpose, i wish they had used the time to develop the characters which actually were at stake here. same goes for the many more sub-plots that never lead anywhere. the time spent talking about The Box, The Girl, The KHuX Survivors could have been used to ease the fallen heroes into the story. DLC content would have been perfect to introduce all these other elements into the present for future installments, instead of leaving all of these mentioned new plot points entirely unresolved. as its stands kh3 is a playable sequel bait instead the end of the xehanort saga

no radiant garden hub world? a huge portion of plot relevant characters are gathered there, why wouldn’t you add this one to the selection? the relief you would feel seeing the outcome of the restoration committee, kairi finally getting back in touch with her homeworld, damn, even just being able to interact with your allies on an npc level would be enough to make this game feel alive. this emptiness spreads out to the other world as well: like many AAA games, kh3 suffers from beautiful but empty world syndrome. sure, the worlds are huge, but theres nothing to do but fight enemy hordes and run for hours. arendelle arguably being the worst offender where all safe point spawning places look the same

minor, but still gonna mention it: sora still hasnt thanked namine and it personally drives me nuts. it wouldnt be that much of a problem honestly if theyd stop bringing it up every other game, throwing out cutscenes solely dedicated to that.. like, come on.

im trying to be optimistic here, but kh3 was supposed to wrap all these ‘spin-off’ into the main story line, not hint at a dozen more games to come. the game overall feels like another side project, instead of a full blown main title which is a damn shame. i already wrote this on twitter, but to me kh3 feels like the point where the series loses all of its emotional value in favor of ‘unforeseen’ plot twists to create this historic epic that paints nomura as some kind of ingenious story teller. instead of providing a story that focuses on the fight between light and dark, the power of friendship, and of course finally giving us an ending to all these characters weve grown attached to over the years, its simply put sequel bait in order to promote a (pretty much) pay to play mobile game. and it left me disappointed

[tumblunni]

hey uhhh YKNO WHATS GOOD brainstorming potential headcanons for a character you know NOTHING ABOUT

i guess its less headcanons and more like.. wishes? hopes? what i think would be cool to do with this dude and like ALL I KNOW is that he is a cool dude and apparantly he doesnt have a backstory or sympatheticness SO consider what if he did and maybe thatd be cooler. like dude he owns THE SINGLE BEST BOSS BATTLE THEME IN ALL VIDEOGAMES EVER and that is ALL I KNOW ABOUT HIM and i just want him to deserve it, yo. also if he turned good i could be his friend and some of the badassness would rub off on me

ANYWAY

COOL SQUID PRESIDENT

i would vote for this man as squesident

seriously the design is SO GOOD!!! how did they manage to get such a cool colourscheme out of his entire Thing being that he has no colours?? like damn i like white being used as an evil colour for once, thanks. it symbolizing emptyness and emotionlessness is like BIG YES and i really hope thats what they were going for cos apparantly the wiki says that all the yokai who join his “we should never be friends with humans” gang turn colourless to match? but like the dude himself is less plain white and more very light shades of blue, grey and gold. MAYBE REFLECTS THAT HE IS A MANIPULATIVE DOUCHE WHO MAYBE DOESNT REALLY CARE ABOUT YOKAI AND JUST WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD PERHAPS dammit why does everything about him scream “great 100% evil guy who is very scary” when man I WANT TO LIKE HIM, DAMMIT!!

ALSO SERIOUSLY the visual effect of the wild spirally red yellow eyes against an otherwise “peaceful” colour whose entire point as an evil is “peaceful” taken to a bad extreme. it REALLY immediately sells that “tries to pretend to be calm, collected and fancy but is actually an angry mofo at heart” vibe i got from his theme song??? I REALLY HOPE THATS ACTUALLY HOW THIS COOL BOSS BATTLE GOES DOWN cos man the best villains are smug asshles who Always Win and then when you FINALLY win you get that much of a better ending!!! but AGH another part of me is like “i hope im wrong because he looks like a Cool Dad and i want him to be good”. Maybe his true design concept was to betray me personality with using all his cool dad power for evil...?

ALSO im not gonna spoil you guys on it cos it is JUST AS AMAZING AS HIS SONG but i was toooootally right that he has some sort of super intimidating second form and its got THE COOLEST DESIGN EVER HOLY SHIT! and also apprantly there’s a recoloured bonus boss called Minister Squisker who’s like a colour swap in a really creative way?? it swaps him being all “blank” themed with scary bright eyes and instead his entire body is a wild ye olde mythological illustration style paint job in every colour ever. okay COOL HEADCANON NUMBER ONE thats actually the regular colour of the species and mckraken is the white sheep of the family lol

also UHHH i dunno it seems kinda weird to me that theyd have this dude running a goddamn political party about humans being bad yet he doesnt seem to have any motivation whatsoever for it? unless it really is just supposed to be ‘he only pretends he wants to protect yokai from humans so he can manipulate and rule the yokai’. but like HYPOTHETICALLY in some universe where he actually lives up to his Grumpy Dad Who Has A Hidden Soft Spot potential, maybe he has an understandable backstory that raises legitimate concerns about how humans are destroying the natural and mythological and forgetting their roots, or other reasonable reasons why yokai could think humans are dangerous and all. i mean we ARE dangerous, we’re just a wide group of people that contain evil bastards and also good people, yknow. And thatd resonate well as a plot probably, cos well the whole point of the series is “in real life ur scared of yokai but theyre actually all goofy pranksters who will be your best friend forever”. Both sides being afraid of each other could lead to some good plotness! and it could be really effective and sad if after hours of joyous childhood wonder the protagonist bumps into the first yokai they couldnt befriend. the first one thats scared of them. the first member of this weird colourless political party who accuses them of committing crimes against yokaikind, of obviously only enslaving these yokai friends cos you have an ulterior motive, just like all humans! it could be effective if its something that shakes up the whole way you saw the world and establishes that hey its not all fun and happiness, and there’s some people you are powerless to convince. maybe even some people you are powerless to save...?

ANYWAY possible idea for ‘what if the dude originally had a sympathetic motive but it got twisted over time and now he’s just a fuck BUT maybe he could still be redeeminated someday ok thanks” What if he’s the spirit of.. like.. ocean pollution? Like there’s some yokai who are ghosts of a mortal person but theres some that are just nature spirits or personifications of concepts. What if he’s the personification of the dying screams of all the wildlife killed in a particular tragic oil spill? hence squid = thematic, and blank white colourscheme = even more thematic reflecting the stain the oil would leave on a pristine ocean and also the blank emotionlessness he was left as after witnessing that tragedy. Cos like his entire Purpose would have been born out of avenging anger but i mean he was just a kid, the only one left alive on a ruined beach and seeing just how powerful humans were and how pointless it would be to try and fight them with his weak power. like he was born to avenge all these souls and he just keeps failing!! his entire reason to live and he’s just too small!! so he ends up becoming bitter and cynical and learning how to use his silver tongue to manipulate others into becoming his weapons, and he vows that someday he’s gonna come back when he has the power he needs to complete his mission. and he’s just forever had this anger seething inside that he’s been unable to get any catharsis from, so when his cold and collected persona cracks he’s really damn scary with all these years of a man who’s grown old fearing he’ll never be able to avenge his ocean friends and just AAAAAA! itd be really good cos itd be a way he could still be intimidating and high stakes as a boss fight but also sympathetic!! also it could make sense why he’d only be redeemable after defeating him? like this entire time he’s been hidden behind a million layers of politics and minions and stuff and its very easy for him to not see the reality of the fact that he’s terrorizing human children just like how humans scarred him as a child. so like his whole big second form transformation super anger mode time would be sort of a last ditch attempt to deny what he already knows, the doubts that have been eating away at his soul now he’s getting close to the end of his life goal. but also like.. he doesnt even know who he IS, under the lies! its been his entire purpose for existing. like he probably uhh.. didnt have much plans after his victory. he probably wouldnt have much will to live left. so yeah you basically beat up this guy’s emotional walls and make him face the face of the people he’s been hurting, when he’s been trying to avoid it for so long. and he gets to see how much all the other yokai genuinely trust you and how much youre personally sacrificing to protect them so maybe you really arent just lying about being a good person...

oh also i was thinking about the inherant hypocrisy present in the fact that this guy is a big spoopy REALLY WELL DESIGNED squid monster that spends all his time in a depowered humansona instead, despite his whole Thing being hating humans. and, yknow, ‘i’ll solve this using a carbon copy of human politics instead of any more traditionally magical way of fighting the humans’. Yeah. So THEORY of SADNESS maybe he like never actually met any other yokai for a long time? I dont think it really makes sense that he’d be hypocritical because he secretly likes humans or something, that wouldnt jive with this backstory idea. So im thinking another explanation could be that he genunely doesnt know much about yokai culture? Like cos of his backstory he just poofed into existance on this destroyed beach in the human world and spent the first few centuries of his life completely alone except for the terrifying monsters that haunted every second of his life, and the knowledge that it was his purpose to defeat them but he didnt know how. And he was a nature spirit of the sea but his sea was empty of everything except death, so he couldnt even hug a cute fish sidekick or something- OH GOD WHAT IF HE DID HAVE A CUTE FISH SIDEKICK AND IT DIED COS OF HUMANS!!! very tiny sad squid monster child holding a dead pet, oh god why did my heart did this to meeee!! so yeah he didnt even know he was a yokai or wtf yokai are, he didnt know anywhere outside the tiny rock pool he would hide in on this barren beach. And then someday he gets found by an older yokai and adopted and like he feels like he owes them so much cos they gave him a reason to live, and a connection to the nature that he was supposed to protect, and.. well.. any companionship at all ever. So thats how his directionless “humans are bad” turned into “yokai are good and i need to protect them from humans like i failed to protect the beach” which turned into “i need to get more power to do this” which turned into manipulating other yokai and seeing them as nothing more than tools to take down the humans, his revenge consuming him until he barely remembered the reasons he originally wanted to do it...

and blablabla thats where we bring in the recolour bonus boss also, and say thats the nice grandpa figure who adopted him when he was all lost and trapped in the human world. and cos he was sorta adopted into nobility thats why he’s so over the top with his pompousness, its like a hint of IM LOVV MY GRANDEPA shining through his grumpface. ALSO maybe a sad situation where the gramps saw his kid growing up into this scary extremist and he tried to reason with him that humans dont need to be destroyed and that led to them fighting and him getting sealed off in recolour bonus boss land. and mckraken sees it as the biggest betrayal of his life and it totally threw him off the slippery slope to feel like the one man he trusted the most was a traitor to yokai all along. but even at his most evil he couldnt bear to actually kill his beloved gramps so he just imprisoned him and tries to stop thinking about it but like THE CONSTANT SPECTRE OF THE GUILT HANGS OVER YOUR HEAD THAT YOU DID YOU GRAMPS WRONGGGG So yehmaybe protag could find the gramps guy and hear about the sad backstory via him and then defeat mckraken and make him realise he was wrong and he apologises to his gramps and atones and all the humans and yokai are friends again and BUNNI CRIES FOREVER the end

cos seriously man this guy’s design is too good to be wasted on a hateable!! srsly he’s like that archetypical goofy big beard chubby pirate dude BUT INTIMIDATING AND BADASS AND COOL FASHION AND DAVY JONES SQUID BEARD SQUEARD I LOVE HIM he is too round to be 100% evil

*slams fists on the table* IF YOU DONT LIVE UP TO MY EXPECTATIONS I AM GONNA CRY

aaa i need to stop just sitting here theorizing about this game and actually friggin play it lolllll

[thembo-cyanide]

Tag Game

I was tagged by @some-thrilling-heroics who created this

1. Top 5 things you love about yourself?

-when im actually motivated or have energy i can get a lot done

-i try to be kind to everyone (within reason)

-im trying to be better

-ive been told by my friends that i have a nice butt and tbh i take pride in that

-im dedicated to my friends

2. What is the sweetest, nicest thing someone could ever do for you?

-ive never really thought about that??? Idk just be patient with me, or listen?

3. Do you like hugs?

-yes! But i dont really like being touched so im super picky about people i hug jxskks

4. A library or a carnival?

-a library. Carnivals are loud, crowded, and cost money and i hate loud noises+crowds and im a broke bitch. Librarys are free and quiet and people tend to not crowd. Plus books.

5. Do you have any recurring themes in your dreams?

-i have dreams that tend to pick up where they left off??? Also i always get close to my goal only to loose it. Oh and a recurring monster.

6. Favorite song this year/month/whatever?

-i mean Kesha’s entire album???? Probably Rainbow if i had to pick one.

7. What mythical/fairytale/supernatural creature would you be and why?

-a dragon cause all I do is hoard things and sleep.

8. Your top 3 OT3:

-parker+hardison+eliot

-…. I honestly can’t think of anymore rn djdjj uuhhh potentially ilia+blake+yang

- hfdhhddh uhhhmmmmmm idk rn sorry 🤐

9. Your top 3 fictional friendships:

-Tara+Sophie

-Yang+Weiss

-Parker (alice)+Peggy (i had trouble thinking for this one too)

10. You come home late one day and find a vampire hiding in your bathroom, what do you do?

-first, ask if theyre gonna kill me, if yes then i ask if they can let me get changed into more comfortable clothes and relax a bit first cause of im gonna die im gonna die comfortable damnit. If no ill ask a) how did you get in my house i thought you had to be invited? And b) why are you hiding in my bathroom? Then go from there.

11. Top 5 favorite books:

-A Game of Thrones series

-Harry Potter series

-White Fang (i read it a lot when i was younger)

-the Warrior Cats series (read that a lot as a kid too)

-i don’t remember the title but the plot is basically about this soul who wakes up in a different body every morning (they go by A). My friend bought me it when i turned 16 and it is so good, ill reblog this later with the title and full summary when I find it.

12. What’s your go to solution when you sad?

-video games and music.

13. A castle or cottage in the woods?

-a castle so i can let people who are in bad situations or something stay in some of the extra rooms till they can get back on their feet.

14. A trope you wish was done more often:

-Found family. Its my favorite.

15. A trope you’re tired of:

-its a tie between “killing the lgbt+ characters” or over doing plot twists and making it constant angst. Nothings wrong with a happy ending.

16. What character(s) would you like to have as a roommate(s), and why?

-Eliot from leverage cause hed probably cook really good food and i probably wouldn’t worry about someone breaking in.

17. Any unusual headcanons?

-none that i can think of off the top of my head???

18. Do you have a pet and if not, would you like one?

-yes! I have a bearded dragon named pancake and he is a good boy

19. Do you change your favorite color or do you stick with one?

-i tend to change, theres just a bunch of really pretty colors its hard to choose

20. Alcohol or chocolate?

-chocolate.

Tag 10 people when youre done:

@kingkyle-thelostboy @rubberbangin @downriversandroads @reallyfreakinclever @hala-sige @demigosh @omaaoc @some-thrilling-heroics (cause you didn’t answer them fjdn) @s1n-am0n @oochakoo

[lemongogo]

ok same anon again since u said u wanted to know what my thoughts on s3 were! hope this doesn't spam up yr inbox too much! so. this was definitely the best season so far?? there was a lot more going on that made it interesting (like the plot isn't only Destroy The Big Bad; now there's lotor + kuron + stuff like that) so that was nice bc being really? basic plot-wise idk was an issue i'd had w the other two seasons.. ngl i am Not digging the weird focus on keith. i like him ig but i don't [1/4]

rly get (ok i do from a narrative pov but not a logical one if u know what i mean) why shiro singled him out as a good leader?? + there was that whole arc w mamora too so ig he's probably the Chosen One type of character which im not a big fan of :/ i feel like bc of that focus everyone else has been neglected lmao (in s2+s3)... other stuff ,, hmm,, love lotors generals ,, would let them kick my ass. also would bet $$ that keith + auxia (sp??) are siblings. shiro? rest in pieces. this new [2/4]

guy is fake asf but he clearly doesnt know it so. drama ahead. im ready. ok last thing. imo vld's big flaw is characterization. the protags (except pidge afaik) dont have goals outside of End Evil which is all well + good but not super interesting. + i feel like they're kinda 2D/flat; ik it isnt a v long show yet and theres a lot of characters so to an extent that's excusable but at the same time there were definitely some missed opportunities for growth/development... so uh yeah!!! [3/4]

planning on watching s4. which?? will hopefully be longer than s3?? why was it so short. but yeah. ... sorry this was so long & messy! have a gn and thanks for answering all my asks :^) youre super nice tbh [4/4]

aaH !!! thanks for letting me know how it went, im super interested to see how it went for you !! sorry if my response is like,, super fragmented. id feel bad making you read this super long ass essay so imma try to keep it short but !!! anywho thanks for tellin me what you thought about it

i definitely agree that season three was the best!! i think that has to do with the plot, like you said. i think the thing w zarkon was that he didn’t really seem like that big of a threat to voltron?? if that makes sense? compare him to lotor where, zarkon was only interested for his redemption of the black lion whereas lotor genuinely wants to take down voltron and revolutionize the galran empire in a way thats gonna be such a big threat to everybody and everything. its exciting!!

and yeah i totally get you on keith. he’s my second favorite character in the whole series but sometimes i feel like its too heavily focused on his arc rather than hunk’s, for instance. like as much as i value him as a character and i would do to watch a show thats even just based on keith, i think the issue resides in the fact that this isn’t a keith based show, rather one for 6 or so different characters to grow. so i completely get you there. and yes !! the generals were so good!! im so happy that they decided to change that nasty harem from DOTU into a really cool and dynamic team that poses a big ol THREAT to the paladins. ++ lotor is so ... good. he’s a good villain and i love him as a villain and i can’t wait to see what he has in store. and YEAH i’d like to think that acxa is keith’s sister- fits more than a mother figure since she looks so young && is especially half galra

kuron?? can eat my SHORTS i can’t wait for them to figure out this aint the real shiro nd they get the real dude Back. its so spooky bc i didn’t notice it myself until i read all the theories about it lmao im a Fake Shiro Fan(tm) props to you for noticing >:-0

!!!!!! completely agree with you there though. having mentioned pidge, i’m actually extremely excited for season 4 bc that’s going to have an ep (maybe more) actually pursuing matt and getting to the bottom of this issue, so i cant wait to see how that turns out. especially in terms w her dad?? where he AT. but YEAH the biggest problem i have is with hunk, still. labine (VA) said that he is guaranteed growth in later seasons but that doesnt excuse them for just ,, abandoning him for what seems like 3 seasons now. he has so much potential and its upsetting to see him cast aside so often :(

but same here!! i hope that its everything season 3 was and more tbh. i mean,, technically its supposed to be season 3? like part b if that makes any sense? unfortunately its going to be shorter (only 6 episodes this time around) but i think they said they’re going to start splitting the seasons in half so that they can air them more frequently and be able to have more “”seasons”” in a sense :3c 

nd thank you so much as well!! for not only sending this stuff in but also responding to what i had to say too haha. i appreciate it and i hope you have a super great night !!!!!!!!!

[comicteaparty]

April 29th-May 5th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from April 29th, 2019 to May 5th, 2019.  The chat focused on Catcha by Anko.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Catcha by Anko~! (http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until May 5th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Do you feel that Myouki and Yumi will be able to get along in the long run? What sort of obstacles in their relationship do you expect? What sorts of things might bring them together?

keii4ii

1. I have two picks for this one! Myouki transforming, even though I was expecting it from the synopsis, was a big 'ooh yesss' moment. Magical cat transformation is inherently exciting! Plus, it felt like a gear shifting moment for the story. Second one isn't really a scene, but the one panel where you see the framed picture of Yumi and her mom(?). While it's a fairly normal thing to have, it still shows that her parents are real, that her relationship with them isn't just a plot device. It also made me wonder if there's something special about that relationship that we will be learning in the comic later on.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Why do you think that Yumi is so determined to save the cafe? Ultimately, do you feel that she will succeed? How might her goals change as she continues to pursue her dream?

ankoart

@keii4ii Myouki transforming was something I was looking forward to drawing for so long after I started Catcha! It's still one of my favorite scenes. I'm really glad you're picking up some of the smaller details as well! Family is important to Yumi for sure!

RebelVampire

1) my favorite scene, or i guess more the panel, is where they shake hands. i really adore that hesitation cause i think it helps visually kind of express how theres going to be struggles but theres also hope to be had that theyll manage to work together. so emotionally i think it just really works for the moment and the entire panel flow. 2) In the long run, yes I think the two will find common ground. But emphasis on long cause I think it's gonna be a while. I think the biggest obstacle for their relationship is just how out of touch Myouki might be with humanity. Cause I feel hes not going to understand why humans do the way humans do. Like why theyre staring at their phones all the time or why they dont worship at shrines like they used to or something. and i feel this is gonna cause him to butt heads and make yumi have to cover with customers, leading to many long structures and them having to teach each other about themselves and about how they can make the world work for them. as for bringing them together, cats. definitely cats cause at least thats the one common ground they can really share. 3) Myouki for the shallow reason hes a cat and has two colored hair. Two things I like. Hes also grump boy which I also like. 4) From the impression I got, I assume Yumi has fond memories of someone who probably died or something tied to that cafe. And it's kind of like her last place to remember them by. Or said person also believed in her or something like that. I think there's also just a little bit of stubbornness in there too cause she already made the bet. So it's kind of too late to back out now without taking an ego punch. I think she will succeed, but I think her goals will shift slightly in perspective. Right now I feel shes mostly about saving the business, but when it becomes not about saving the business I think shell really dedicate herself to making a true place for cats. Like giving them a home without it just being a gimmick.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. Who exactly is the person who introduced Myouki and Yumi? What is her end game in helping Myouki to not be forgotten? What do you see her role in the story being later on?

RebelVampire

5) actually my favorite illustration is the most recent page: http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2782734/page-18/ theres a great level of precision and detail in the cat related objects that i really appreciate, and you know 1000% what they are at first glance. I also enjoy the overal page composition cause it really has this nice montage feel that really helps showcase the changes that are going on with the cafe and how they really do create a nice atmosphere like is the characters' goals. 6) I assume she is some higher up in the food chain deity that is responsible for Myouki in some way. Possibly also a cat cause her eyes were kind of cat like. But going on this wavelength of course she doesnt want myouki to be forgotten cause thats how you get demoted. i do think shell appear later on to check up on them and give some sort of assessment. which will cause conflict between myouki and yumi as they try to impress but havent worked out all their relationship kinks yet.

keii4ii

5) There's a lot to like throughout the comic. I appreciate the creator doesn't shy away from drawing the environments, showing unusual angles (even for non-dramatic moments -- e.g. bottom left panel here http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2737479/page-25/ ). If I had to pick one..... I'd go with this one. http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2776781/page-17/ The environment is very simple and understated, yet it gives a sense of a fully 3-dimensional space. I also like the contrast between the busy hatching vs the simplicity of the rest of the image!

Delphina

Just caught up with this one, such a cute story so far!

Desnik

5. I liked this. I enjoy small, organic moments and the kittens are a fun bonus. http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2727534/page-06/

Delphina

My favorite scene in the comic so far is Yumi going out and feeding the cats. She just looks so happy and it's so sweet! http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2727534/page-06/

keii4ii

Jinx!

Delphina

Hahahaha

It was KITTTEN O'CLOCK apparently!

Myouki definitely seems to have a big chip on his shoulder and I think a lot of their obstacles are going to be him learning to be tolerant and understanding (especially in a customer service context), and Yumi being veeeerrryyy patient with him. Beyond the typical café trials of running a business and literal cat-herding, I would love to see more gods or supernatural/dangerous things happen because of Myouki's involvement and how Yumi rises to the challenge of handling that (or brings her human perspective in, a la Natsume Yuujinchou).

I think my favorite character so far is the Mystery White-Haired Lady. She seems kind but also mischievous, and I want to know what kind of relationship she has with a god to tease him like that. Like Rebel said, I think she's higher up in the deity foodchain and could either be looking out for Myouki OR wanting him to fail spectacularly. But she seems to appreciate Yumi so I'm leaning toward a more kindly sort.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What do you think Myouki’s backstory is? Why is Myouki so out of touch with the human world to the point he’s no longer believed in? Do you think he will come to accept humans by the end of the story?

ankoart

Author swooping in to let you all know I'm SUPER excited to read your thoughts, and my heart is so full right now! @RebelVampire I'm never quite confident in if I'm getting feelings across when I try and slow down scenes with moments of hesitation and such, so I'm really happy to hear that the handshake read clearly and you enjoyed it! Haha, Myouki would certainly be baffled by a lot of modern human quirks, like people staring at cellphones. Cats are definitely always the answer though! (>w<) I'm really happy you like Myouki. I love him for shallow reasons too, haha! Hummmm, I gotta say, you seem to understand Yumi really well! <3 The page you choose as a favorite illustration is one I put so much care into, so I'm really happy! I know there's not much that actually happens in that page, but I'm trying really hard to create a sense of space and atmosphere in Catcha! It means so much to know that's appreciated! And oh ho ho, your guesses over the mysterious woman who visits the cafe got me grinning. She's gonna keep everyone guessing for awhile soon as to who she is!

@keii4ii Oh man, I had so much fun with that picture of Myouki. It's such a simple little illustration, so I wanted to add lots of delicate details when inking it to add more depth!

@Desnik and @Delphina That page was such a fun excuse to feature some kittens at last! I felt kind of guilty before then about what a lack of cats there were, lol.

@Delphina Myouki being a deity will certainly add another flavor of challenges to their partnership! (Yumi already had bitten off more than she could chew with trying to start up her own business, but now she's got a cranky deity to please on top of everything else!) I'm so happy someone likes ~ Mystery Lady ~ ! She's really fun to write, and I feel like she hasn't had much opportunity to shine yet. I hope you look forward to more scenes with her~!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. How do you think Yumi will get along with the cats that Myouki winds up bringing? Will she be able to care for them all? Additionally, what sorts of personalities do you think the cats might have?

RebelVampire

7) Yumi and the mystery lady atm. Mystery lady is just so weird so it's kind of hard to anticipate where she's gonna go in a convo. So it makes their interactions kind of compelling. I also feel like mystery lady offers a great way to see into other side of Yumi that arent immediately present just cause of how she is. 8) I feel like Myouki probably got hurt by some humans and then it snowballed. So basically he cut off contact, and because he wasnt contacting humans as much they just went "cat god? maybe on the internet." not to mention myouki doesnt seem to be the type to like change, so aas the times progressed i feel like he just naturally remained stubborn and complained that the humans were changing and no longer respectful. basically old guy stuff. but eventually i do think he will accept humans again when he learns to open his heart. also when he learns how popular cats are on the internet. 9) the detail i want to appreciate is the cat coat patterns. They look very realistic to actual cats, and i love how theyre all varied. You'd be surprised how many ppl just make plain colored cats (which is fine cause i love all cats but i digress). Thus, I can appreciate the thought put in to making sure the cats weve seen are varied in appearance. 10) I think Yumi will do fine but i also would kind of like to see her interact with a cat that is legit the biggest asshole. And see her challenge herself with patience with trying to let the cat warm up to her rather than forcing herself on the cat. I think at some point the care might wind up jeapordized too cause they can only take in so many cats and...yeah, i dont think theyll put a hard limit on everything at first until they realize how much work is involved. as for cat personalities, besides the one i mentioned i also hope theres the cat who just sits everywhere theyre not supposed to be musing how if it fits, it sits.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. What sorts of obstacles do you think Yumi will face business wise when it comes to running a cat cafe? Will the gimmick and renovation be enough, or will Yumi still have other challenges ahead of her?

keii4ii

12) I was actually mildly surprised that she had the funds to buy all those things for the cats? (Though I guess second hand market and thrift shopping may have been involved!) Funding can be a problem, possibly vet bills in the future. I wonder if Myouki has any helpful powers in the cat health department.

Kabocha

“1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?” http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2734702/page-20/ At first, I really thought that this was going to go... differently (because I didn't read the synopsis), and that this was gonna end up being a tale where the main character gets turned into a cat. I am admittedly quite pleasantly surprised by the fact that... It's not that. I'm 100% into the whole cat cafe idea~ “2. Do you feel that Myouki and Yumi will be able to get along in the long run? What sort of obstacles in their relationship do you expect? What sorts of things might bring them together?” Ahahahaha. Grudgingly, yes, I think. Myouki's a very rare type of cat, isn't he... I think, if anything, we're going to see him being aloof... continually. There's going to be a lot of stress, and maybe eventually Myouki'll have to understand that he can't just be a jerk if he wants to have his shrine...

“3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?” Myouki. He's a cat. I like cats. It's pretty simple. “4. Why do you think that Yumi is so determined to save the cafe? Ultimately, do you feel that she will succeed? How might her goals change as she continues to pursue her dream?” Admittedly, I'm not sure I have enough information to go off of to answer this question! This comic is very cute, but it's challenging to come up with theories that I can back up with evidence quite yet... But I would assume that Yumi's interested in keeping the cafe because it was in her family for a while. Probably a grandparent owned it, and it was the place of many nostalgic memories? Hmmm.

Kabocha

“5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?” Hmmm, that's hard to say! I think I actually like the latest page a bit -- the middle shot with the cat supplies has a good sense of depth and business. You get a good feel for how much work has been going into prepping the space. http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2782734/page-18/ “6. Who exactly is the person who introduced Myouki and Yumi? What is her end game in helping Myouki to not be forgotten? What do you see her role in the story being later on?” If she's not Myouki's mother, she's another kami with her own interests in seeing Myouki succeed... Maybe she's from Tashirojima. “7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?” I'm actually the most curious about Yumi and our strange disappearing magical lady. I'm just curious to see how that appears... “8. What do you think Myouki’s backstory is? Why is Myouki so out of touch with the human world to the point he’s no longer believed in? Do you think he will come to accept humans by the end of the story?” Myouki... Hm. I feel like he might just be a rural kami or something -- from an area that used to have people, but not so much anymore? And maybe his shrine was out of the way. I think he's just lonely, honestly. Maybe he sees the kami in town who have these huge shrines and is just like T_T about it.

“9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?” I actually really appreciate the attention to Myouki's hakama. Thank you for paying attention to that! “10. How do you think Yumi will get along with the cats that Myouki winds up bringing? Will she be able to care for them all? Additionally, what sorts of personalities do you think the cats might have?” Myouki's gonna bring a bunch of different cats, probably more than a few need some sort of treatment from the vet... They are the cats he needs to get homes, I'm sure. I, too, want to see her handle the biggest asshole of a cat, like Rebel does. :'D “11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.” The screentones are well done, I think. It gives me a nostalgic sort of feeling... Kinda like some of the webcomics I used to read back in the day. It's a very nice feeling, honestly. “12. What sorts of obstacles do you think Yumi will face business wise when it comes to running a cat cafe? Will the gimmick and renovation be enough, or will Yumi still have other challenges ahead of her?” ...Health inspections and food regulations. There's sure to be a licensing issue or something... bureaucracy!!!

Kabocha

I enjoy the overall premise of this comic though... It really makes me wanna go to a cat cafe for real

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. What role might Yumi’s friend Mayu have to play in the course of the story? What other sorts of characters do you think we might meet given the premise?

RebelVampire

11) i think the comic's strengths are the attention to detail on the cat related objects. like not just the cats themselves, but the water fountain, the scratching post, etc. it really helps sell the cat aspect of owning a cat cafe and ya, as a cat lover just immediately attracts me as i scream yaay cats. 12) I agree with Kabo that food regulations is gonna be a huge one. And there's probably also other things to consider. Like some cat cafes let ppl adopt the cats from there to give them homes, but that comes with its own legal requirements and such. i also agree with keii that vet bills are gonna factor in too as a business expense. especially if myouki is bringing in strays cause at the very least those strays should probably be neutered and spayed. but the third option im going to add is marketing. cause you can have the best gimmick in all the world, but if you dont work out you marketing plan youre just going to wind up with 0 customers since theres no brand awareness. 13) im just most looking forward to the cafes opening day right now just to see which of these theorized issues is a thing and which arent. and also just to see whether its a big success or a huge failure. cause like i said, marketing is a necessary thing. 14) I think Mayu is going to be a force of support for Yumi, but I also think shes going to be sort of a representation of what can happen to relationships when you focus too much on business and dont find a good life work balance. down the line of course as yumi buries herself more and more into work. as for other characters, i do kind of hope we might meet a grumpy health inspector who hates cats and is just flat out awful to myouki cause that sounds like a challenge of character growth

Kabocha

YEAH. And then Myouki has to learn how to be nice to people in order to get what he wants/needs out of the system... That would honestly be kinda funny.

As far as question 13 -- I think I look forward to seeing all of the cats that show up. :D 14. Mayu... well. I don't know. Maybe eventually she will do something like... help in the cafe? Maybe she ends up being allergic to cats and can't help out. You know, one thing they do around here is they have the cafe part of the cat cafes separate from the... cat area. So you get your food and drinks made, and then you go join the cats afterward, knowing that not all cats are super clean.

Delphina

I could see Myouki being EXCEPTIONALLY OFFENDED that humans don't think cats are clean

Kabocha

Oh, of course he would be! XD "What do you mean, you don't want my friend here dipping his paw in your tea? He cleaned up after the litter box!"

If these cats are anything like mine, it'd be like "NOPE YOUR DRINK NOW, CAT"

Delphina

As far as strengths, I really love the gentle shoujo manga style with the screentoning, it definitely puts me in the frame of mind as to what genre of story to expect and I can tell that's a big inspiration here. I'm not sure what the artist is using to make this or if she's working with a pressure sensitive stylus, but I can see hints of spot blacks and line weight variation on different panels creeping in http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2749987/page-13/ and I'd really love to see more done in that direction, because I think line thickness and variation is pretty important when you're working in greyscale.

ankoart

Ahhh, I've been intending to add some responses to all the wonderful discussions going on here, but was having some computer issues over the weekend! Finally got that figured out so here I go~!

ankoart

@RebelVampire -I'm never sure which characters people are going to respond to, so I'm really happy to hear people are intrigued by the mystery customer. I can't wait to hit a chapter where she gets to return and shine! -You understand Myouki really well too! -I've had lots of fun looking up different cat breeds to add variation to the cats that will be joining the cafe. I agree that all cats are great, but it's also nice to stray away from the ones you usually see. -Poor Yumi already has Myouki to deal with, but who knows, there may be a cat out there that causes her even more grief! -Designing all the cat themed things has been so fun! It's basically just an excuse for me to design things I wish I owned, lol -There's def a LOT more that goes into running a cafe than just showing up to work, and I'm glad people recognize that! Yumi does her research and prepares best she can, but this is new territory and she's on a time limit. Bounds to be a few hiccups as things progress! At least one of the things you mentioned will be popping up within the next couple of chapters! -Yumi's nervous and anxious about opening day too! -Mayu and Yumi's relationship has definitely shifted since they graduated high school. The current story doesn't highlight much of that yet, but we may get more notes about some of Yumi's friends as things continue... <3 -A grumpy health inspector would be hilarious!

keii4ii

“It's basically just an excuse for me to design things I wish I owned, lol” Are you secretly a cat

ankoart

@keii4ii -Funding is huge issue, and the cafe was losing profits when the story started! Yumi would never have been able to do something like this without help. The mysterious customer is helping her pay for this, but that's only mentioned briefly here: http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/comics/2735609/page-21/

lol, I'm a lover of cats (>w<)

Also I enjoy spoiling my own kitty

ankoart

@Kabocha -Oh man Yumi getting turned into a cat would be fun though. She'd probably be adorable! -Yumi and Myouki need a get-along sweater, haha. At least Yumi is trying her best. -Y'all are boosting Myouki's ego way too much, lol. He's going to feel honored to be so many people's favorite. -The cafe is def a source of fond memories for Yumi. Sometimes it's hard to let go of the past. Like moving out of your home, and seeing it turn into somewhere you don't even recognize anymore. It's kind of a sick feeling. Yumi's not ready for that. -Gosh I'm so happy people like the latest page. There's a lot of panels coming up where I poured in hours of work just to try and level up the art in the comic! -TASHIROJIMA! It' a dream of mine to visit there someday, haha. -Clearly I need to bring back our mystery lady sooner rather than later~ her interactions with Yumi are really fun. -I think he's just lonely, honestly Aww, this pulled on my heartstrings. Myouki's definitely struggling with the grief of being forgotten by humanity right now. -Thank you for noticing Myouki's hakama! Not many people know about them I think, haha. I've always wanted to own or wear one. (Maybe I should make purchasing one a goal for this year!) -lol looks like "asshole cat" is gonna need to be a thing! -I feel like I'm failing to use screen tones well lately, but knowing people appreciate them is so encouraging! I'm gonna try and study more techniques and up my game! -Oh the bureaucracy of it all~! -More cats more cats! -Mayu coming to help out in a cafe would certainly be adorable~! We'll see how things go! Also please go to a cat cafe if you can, they are so much fun! And haha, Myouki would get VERY offended if people suggested his cats were too dirty to be in the same area as humans who are eating. Human's are way less clean than cats are.

Kabocha

Hey, as a fellow screentone user, I definitely appreciate when they're used effectively by other folks!

Also, regarding Asshole Cat being a thing -- YES Even if they're a friendly sort of jerk of a cat... You know, the sort of cat who has to lay on your favorite coat as you're getting ready to leave... and put hair all over it... Or, they eat a treat, only to get sick all over the rug you just cleaned OR, the perennial favorite: Knocking stuff off shelves.

ankoart

@Delphina -Myouki will challenge anyone who calls his cats dirty. How dare they! -I'm so happy the shoujo feel carries through! I ink everything by hand using a maru pen. (That's also why there's sometimes spots or grit stuck on the page, haha. So hard to keep it clean!) Right now I've been focusing on getting really thin, delicate lines, so there hasn't been a ton of variation, but I hope once I master that gentle look I can ease back into more variation on line widths!

@Kabocha I used to tone by hand, so getting to play with it digitally is so much fun! But I also sometimes get stumped as to how to approach things, lol. Knocking stuff off shelves is the best asshole cat move, I love it so much.

Kabocha

Oh gosh, I can't imagine toning by hand in this day and age. T_T It's so expensive... plus it's like AAAAAA ALL THAT TIME But it can be a challenge to figure out the right approach. ...Gradients. Gradients are very helpful for this. XD

When in doubt, slap a gradient on it! (don't actually do that, it's bad advice) Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing where Catcha goes -- it's very cute!!

ankoart

lol it's bad advice but I def am guilty of it!!!

Kabocha

Me toooooo

ankoart

And thank you! Going for that cute factor >w<

Kabocha

As kind of a final word... I wanna tell you, Anko, to keep having fun with this! I think your enthusiasm really shines through, and it's heartwarming. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future with this comic, and any others you choose to work on!

ankoart

Oh my goodness, thank you so much!! This whole chat has been really encouraging, and those words mean so much to me! I want to create something that is just fun and calming to read, and heart-warming for anyone who enjoys it. I'll keeping working hard to achieve that!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Catcha this week! Please also give a special thank you to Anko for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Catcha, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://catcha.smackjeeves.com/

Anko’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ankoart

Anko’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnkosArt