Tumgik
#-remembers a fanfic that suffered from a very specific plot issue-
bitegore · 3 years
Text
whooo, i'm really unlocking the star wars salt mines tonight apparently. i wasn't even aware i still had strong feelings on most of this stuff
3 notes · View notes
bigskydreaming · 3 years
Note
I agree with everything you said in the last post but especially the Damian part.
Like I don’t know why people treat it like Dick had to choose between two toys and he chose the shinier model. He was in a situation where a 9/10 year old child was going to go back to a murder cult if he didn’t find a quick way to sure he stayed. And no option was good if Damian left. It was either Ra is going to steal his body or would become a powerful supervillain who would resent the whole family and between that is a whole lot of child abuse. It not like Dick had all the time in the world to figure out a different way for Damian to stay he had maybe like a day. 
Also we never actually got to see Dick’s view on the situation only Tim’s because the only time we got to see that conversation was in Red Robin ( which might be wrong but I’m pretty sure I’m right). Tim was having a slight mental breakdown so maybe not the best narrator. 
Like, the ONE thing I'd love for people to keep more centered in the varying discourses about Dick, Tim, Robin and Red Robin, is that like.....
The writer himself had Tim and Dick reconcile and work together in the aftermath of Tim leaving because he was upset.
It really doesn't get mentioned enough IMO that at no point in the actual canon stories was Dick ever oblivious to Tim being hurt, uncaring of this, nor did the canon ever try to claim on Dick's behalf that he DIDN'T hurt Tim, y'know?
I talked earlier tonight about the importance of remembering that these are fictional characters who can not CHOOSE any actions for themselves, but rather are ruled entirely by what the writers choose FOR them.
And the thing is.....for all that Dick is often characterized in fanfics as being oblivious or uncaring to having hurt Tim, or say that he kicked Tim out of the house and the city, or that he called Tim crazy or that he chose Damian OVER Tim or all these other things.....
None of those things say anything about Dick or what kind of character he is, despite the fact that fanon and fics have made a huge deal OUT of running with the idea that THOSE acts in fact say a LOT about Dick's actual character or whatever.....
But like, the point is not just that none of those things say anything about Dick simply because they're not how the canon went....
JUST as important, IMO, is the fact that none of those things are even in the BALLPARK of saying anything about Dick's actual character.....
Because the actual canon was written the way it was for the sake of TIM'S story. It was never about trying to make Dick look good, the events played out the way they did because the writer INTENDED there to be conflict between the brothers about it! Dick didn't find some magical way of ensuring that he delivered the news to Tim in the absolute right way possible because he just didn't care enough about Tim's feelings to do so....Damian delivered the news to Tim in the absolute worst way possible BECAUSE the writer WANTED the chasm between Dick and Tim.
THE CONFLICT WAS THE STORY!
And just as importantly.....the same writer who caused the conflict also RESOLVED the conflict. In his own same stories. Tim and Dick may have never hashed over every single detail of Tim's issues with Dick, but there was CLEARLY a reconciliation. Tim showed his forgiveness, his understanding of why Dick had done what he'd done and the fact that he'd made his peace with it, in a variety of ways from telling Dick he still had his trust, joking with Dick in SPECIFIC ways that called back to personal in-jokes that they'd had since the 90s -
(and that in fact were originally written by the same writer....like, the Brady Bunch jokes are a SPECIFICALLY Fabian Nicieza thing, as in he's the only writer who has EVER had Dick and Tim having that particular in joke between them, and he established it when he first wrote Tim, when he and Dick were great during Tim's time as Robin in the 90s. Tim calling back to those jokes during Red Robin and specifically reinviting memories of some of his favorite moments with his brother HIMSELF, like was as clear a peace gesture as you can get, IMO.)
But point is....the conflict happened the way it did, because it was MEANT to happen. There was supposed to be conflict, so by that very token, Dick wasn't MEANT to find the perfect way to handle the Robin situation that made sure Tim didn't suffer any negative feelings about it.
The reason its lasted so long as discourse in fandom was that regardless of the fact that the writers and characters both showed a resolution to the conflict that was deliberately sown to BE a conflict in the first place....
Fans of Tim decided this resolution wasn't adequate enough.
And so the events of it have been tweaked endlessly, as has the fact that the brothers reconciled itself, in order to keep this conflict extended far beyond the parameters or duration of the ACTUAL canon conflict its based on....with Dick further exaggerated into this uncaring instigator because the conflict FANS wanted was one in which Tim was Dick's victim in a way that he was never intended to be by the initial source conflict, which wanted BOTH characters to be somewhat sympathetic but now turned into a one-sided thing where only ONE character is 'deserving' of sympathy.....
But the problem is....that wasn't the story. And this wouldn't BE a problem, due to it being fanfic and fanfic being innately transformative, if not for the fact that people keep trying to point to canon actions as the proof of conclusions they're drawing about Dick's actions in the FANON conflict.....when the only thing the canon actions are meant to serve as the foundation for, is the conflict which ACTUALLY happened AND was resolved in canon!
And the thing is, a lot of fandom have done a lot to compare this situation to Dick losing Robin in the first place, but without actually leaning into that comparison in order to examine how Dick truly felt about that then, and ACTUALLY make it the comparison they're raising it as.....
(people can't claim that they've done this if they themselves are calling the situations parallel and yet clearly holding Tim and his feelings as innately more sympathetic and deserving of understanding than they're willing to even retroactively apply to Dick in the very situation they themselves have invited comparisons to....like if you're STILL calling for Dick's head for what he did with Robin here in a way that you're not having any characters anywhere, even just in reference or passing say that Bruce deserves being chewed out for to similar degrees.....your comparison is rigged from the start, it just is)....
But ultimately at the end of the day, there IS an answer for why Dick wasn't more careful and studious in his handling of the Robin situation....and that answer, for better or worse, is that he wasn't MEANT to be. The handling exists the way it played out, because it was meant to engender a specific conflict, one that was then resolved to the satisfaction of the story's writer.
If that wasn't to the satisfaction of fans, that's understandable! No story ever satisfies all fans!
But the problem is, the transformative nature of fanfic cuts two ways. And this is what people so often conveniently overlook when they cite that you can do anything with fanfic and that its subject to everyone's personal wants and agenda.
Like this is all perfectly true. But what people CAN'T do, is forbid others from drawing conclusions based on what decisions you do and don't make with fanfic.
And the problem with the Red Robin discourse, is we have a conflict that was engineered from the start, and negatively impacted a particular character aka Tim.
And the resolution the canon offered didn't satisfy the itch a lot of Tim's fans had for that particular conflict.
But the thing is.....there's two entirely different ways to tweak a conflict with fanfic.
You can make it BETTER.
Or you can make it WORSE.
And nine out of ten times - with this being especially obvious when you keep in mind that the canon itself DID CREATE RESOLUTION TO ITS OWN CONFLICT - its very apparent that a lot of fans just were not interested in making the resolution of this conflict even BETTER than what we got in the canon.
See, because the reason it happened in canon at all was NOT in fact because Dick was just as uncaring and neglectful as FANON of this conflict makes him out to be....since the reason it happened that way at all was ONLY because the writer needed it to happen in SOME way that sowed conflict between Tim and Dick and sparked Tim's solo journey of self-discovery.....
The only real way to BETTER resolve the conflict of the Robin mantle transition...
Would be for Dick to specifically approach Tim in such a way as to take his feelings about the matter into account and make his argument for why he felt Damian needed this now.
And that's something that's ABSOLUTELY easy to do, because the only reasons things DIDN'T happen that way in the first place, was circumstantial! Because the story was PLOTTED to have Damian spill the beans before Dick even had an opportunity to talk to Tim one on one. Changing a story's direction born of circumstance is one of the easiest things to do with fanfic since all you have to do is write different circumstances! Nobody's character even needs addressing there, because no character is inherently flawed for that story happening the way it did....that's why the story WORKED, in canon! Dick just circumstantially wasn't given even an OPPORTUNITY to be as conscientious about the matter as we would have liked him to be.
Easy, EASY fix with fanfic.
But that's not what fanfic tends to do with this particular story point, is it?
Instead, we get constant worsenings of Dick's motivations, Dick's choices, Dick's reaction to Tim's response, etc, etc.
The slant is entirely one-sided, aimed at making Tim not just more sympathetic, but Dick LESS sympathetic. Making it a nuance-free example of not even two brothers fighting in the face of their mutual grief, but one being VICTIMIZED by the other's willful ignorance of their feelings and loss, while simultaneously demonstrating none of the same himself.
And that's a choice that tons of fanfic writers have made, and they GET to make that choice, but what doesn't get to happen is making everyone else pretend that this was the only way the story COULD have gone, the TRUE resolution it deserved and the thing that ACTUALLY said something indicative of Dick's character.....
When not only were there these other opportunities to resolve the conflict in ways better for BOTH characters....the resolution of the actual conflict is considered irrelevant even though creating a conflict that could be resolved in story was the ONLY reason for the characters making the specific choices they made in the first place!
The discourse is literally all just born of people using the slight against Tim's character as an excuse to make Dick's character look worse. IMO to distract from the fact that this happened at all, because the real gripe was with Tim not being Robin anymore but there was no way to unilaterally decry that WITHOUT making the case that Damian should never have been Robin, and most fans I think recognize that would have been a nonstarter, discourse wise. There’s no rolling the clock back on a new Robin EXISTING, that’s been proven conclusively in the past. Once a character has been a Robin, you can’t argue away their right to ever be one period. If it couldn’t happen with Steph, despite the shortness of her Robin tenure and the smaller size of the girls’ fanbases relative the various Batboys (and let’s not pretend a disparity doesn’t exist there), then it wasn’t going to happen with Damian. So fans made their displeasure known in another way - venting it on the character that precipitated the changing of this particular guard.
And the thing is, ultimately, for all the comparisons made to the Bruce and Dick Robin debacle, they all fall short of being valid given two fundamental differences:
1) Canon has one hundred percent refused to ever fully address the conflict Bruce created in story when he fired Dick or just gave Robin away to Jason, with the only time its ever really been addressed in the comics being when Dick came to confront Bruce about it and Bruce made no form of actual apology or recourse, but instead ultimately just yelled at Dick about missing him and then told him to go. Which umm. Yeah. Oh, the resolution of it all.
2) The other key difference being that while there are certainly fans who have used these story points simply TO make Bruce look worse, the same as I'd argued happened with Dick in the Red Robin scenario.....it is still undeniable that there are a sizable number of fans such as myself who have always insisted we only raise this particular story element because we WANT to see better or actual resolution of the conflict raised in story - aka Bruce firing Dick or just giving away Robin - AS WELL AS being very clear on a perfectly easy way TO showcase better resolution: just having Bruce fucking OWN HIS ACTIONS AND APOLOGIZE FOR THEM.
So even with the awareness that while ultimately both Robin turnovers only happened because the writers chose that conflict happen, they remain incomparable in my mind purely because only one of them was ACTUALLY resolved or treated as resolved in canon, and like.....the other one is the only one that actually has fans continuously making the point of what story actions can actually be taken in meta, headcanons and fics, TO create the resolution we want.....whereas the other conflict will never be resolved any better than it is in canon, because the people who keep raising the conflict don't even want to acknowledge that it even WAS resolved in canon at all, because that would defeat the entire purpose of continuously worsening the conflict specifically TO create reasons for a continued grudge against Dick's character.
And you flat out just can't ever resolve a conflict that people ultimately WANT to exist.
28 notes · View notes
alicejohnson · 3 years
Text
Tumblr media
I already made a messy post about this amazing book series here, but because I intend to use this blog as dumping ground for all of my thoughts properly now, I wanted to do an "official review".
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (In my heart it's a 5-star rating, but the plot and the writing is not THE best)
The review in itself is pretty much spoiler-free, but thoughts and interactions with this post might not be.
What is it about: A found family trope that revolves around a made-up mixed-sex sport called Exy (imagine if lacrosse and hockey had a child). Oh, and all of the college students playing in the team are "troubled children". Also, it is LGBTQ+ :)
Warnings?: All of them. All of the warnings humanly possible. Graphic descriptions of violence, r*pe, child abuse, drug abuse, overdoses, death, self-harm, suicide. Someone made an entire list here. PLEASE do go over it before reading these books.
Writing: It is dialogue-heavy, and kind of cringy in the best way possible. There are times you know there's no one who speaks like that, but at the moment it sounds pretty good. It did get repetitive and some phrases are used multiple times during the entire series to the point of "yes, I know, thank you". But the banter is just immaculate though, characters' interactions are pure gold.
Plot: The story in itself is not entirely realistic, I've heard people compare it to a very good fanfic and I agree, it has mafia elements, cult-like behaviors, and sometimes it is just quite out there in the realm of reality, but it's really compelling and perfectly paced. Also, even when it's not as realistic, everything fits into place and makes sense so it's not annoying or just outright crazy. Take the plot more as a trigger for character development rather than anything else.
And it is actually a funny book. When I was not in pain, I laughed a lot. 10/10 :)
Characters: I love them so much it pains me. The way the author describes and portrays feelings and trauma is incredible. Also, it's VERY CONSISTENT. I can't remember a time I thought "wait, why is X acting like this?" (except when it came to trauma-induced behavior that I will never understand cause I've never lived through it or when I failed to unravel all the characters motivations cause again, they are very complicated people in a complicated environment).
The MC, Neil, is a cinnamon roll, and actually has one of the best arcs I've seen in a book. He grows, learns, he cares so much, and gave me all of the comfort. I understand why all of them are in love with him.
It has good representation, (females kick-ass and are treated equally by the team, I mean the freaking captain is a woman! Loved it) and characters with very different personalities, and almost no one important is completely one-dimensional.
(Andrew is my fucking comfort character and no one can change my mind)
I do recommend it, actually, I believe everyone should read this book and learn about consent, trauma, boundaries, sense of belonging, identity, and a very specific kind of love that I've never seen before.
Thoughts: This is going to be pretty short because I left all of my feelings in that post (Edit: I lied this is long af. lol) I linked at the beginning that made no sense, had lots of grammar mistakes, and typos, but I was just feeling it at the moment.
These characters came to my life to teach me that I should not just bend over for love. That my boundaries - both respecting others and my own- can be an entirely new love language.
We carry so much emotional baggage created by just existing in this fucking world that we start to believe we are unlovable, hoping for the day some magical creature will come and suddenly lift all of the weight from our shoulders. Love will now hold it for us from that moment on till forever, and that's just not true. It's never going to happen. Yes, love keeps us moving, but it won't ever be the solution to our pain.
But, the good thing is that Andrew taught me that, instead, when this magical creature does appear, we can lean on them, work on our issues by ourselves, and the days we can't it's ok too, cause they will be there.
We don't need someone to save us, we need someone who respects our boundaries, our pain, our experiences and still loves us without us needing to be fixed as a condition, without us putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations, without us feeling unlovable for feeling the way we do.
We live in a world where boundaries don't exist anymore, hell, in the middle of the pandemic we even take classes or work in our safe place, so this book reminded me that it's ok to have them and to communicate them to the people around me.
(Thank you Neil for learning with me how to ask for help)
The opposite to The Song of Achilles, these books strip everything out of romance and leave us with the raw horrifying experience of being alive, alone, and terrified and takes it to the maximum amount of trauma and pain.
But, at the same time, it teaches us to love in the middle of all that suffering and that there are good people that are willing to be with us. (Yes, Neil, there are people in the world who are horrible, but there are also others who are not)
Side note: I'm in awe at how much the foster system sucks in the USA. These books also tackle a lot of issues around police incompetence, the State's inability to protect children, social class differences, and the abuse of power authorities use on a regular basis. Chef's kiss.
“He'd come to the Foxhole Court every inch a lie, but his friends made him into someone real.”
18 notes · View notes
unforth · 3 years
Note
Hello unforth! Thank you for your wonderful blog, and the the untamed art blog!! I followed you years ago for destiel, and you were one of the people that got me into the untamed. I watched it last summer and have been binging various cdramas ever since!! I had a question for you about reading. After watching the untamed I read the novel, and didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think you’re someone who prefers the show, but if not, sorry if I’m remembering wrong… hoping you understand. I want to try reading other novels but I found the romance in mdzs to be kinda off. I guess I’m wondering if you have a recommendation for the best novel you’ve read so far? It would be great if it’s one with fanfic but if not I’m still curious to try! I hope this didn’t come off as rude about the untamed, it’s just a personal preference. Thanks in advance, and thanks again for all your work in fandom!
Howdy! *waves*
You have not misremembered, I definitely prefer the Untamed to the novel of MDZS (and I'm with you, no shade on people with different preferences, of course!). I also didn't enjoy the novel of MDZS as much as I thought I would, though I think some of that was because I read the Exiled Rebels Scanalations translation which - again, no shade, translating that was a HUGE job and kudos to them - but I do here from native speakers that some questionable translation choices were made, which can detract from some people's enjoyment of the novel (and can enhance other people's, it just depends how those translation choices relate to each person's personal likes and dislikes).
Now, I can tell you what I've read and what I've thought of each one, happily - I don't know what turned you off about MDZS specifically, beyond an aspect of the relationship dynamic, so it'll be hard for me to say which of these might appeal to you more? But, here's a list of which danmei novels I've read, and my opinion. The list is shorter than you'd think - danmei novels are long and I read slow, lol.
Note that all of these end happy, for various definitions of "happy," and the main ship is canon in all of them. Also note that I tried to avoid spoilers, but sometimes it's hard to even talk about the ship dynamic without some mild spoilers.
These are (roughly) in the order I've read them; I just finished the last a few days ago. All art is by the official artists, but I'm not always sure what their names are, sorry - I've tried to figure them out for my art blogs but it's REALLY hard.
1. Mo Dao Zu Shi, by MXTX.
(since I'm writing this post for you, and you're already familiar with it, I'm not putting in TW and plot)
My take: I figure knowing my opinion of MDZS will help you assess all this? There are things I loved about MDZS, including the book, but MDZS is still obviously trying to figure out pacing. Whereas in SVSSS, the storyline doesn't always flow that smoothly and the ending is rushed, in MDZS in my opinion the biggest issue is that she clearly didn't plan some things ahead. For example, Miangmian and Wen Ning are both introduced within a few pages of when they'll be needed to Do Shit. It shows that she hadn't quite worked everything out as she was going, and every once in a while was like, "shit shit I need a character for this thing" and hastily added them. The plot itself is better paced, though, though I could have wished for a less talky denouement. When it was the only one I read, I also often thought, "this author doesn't understand consent," and, "this author has kinks I don't share." Now that I've read all three of her books, I completely retract the first one. MXTX absolutely understands consent, and was intentionally playing with it in MDZS. Not sure if the evidence of that got lost in translation, or what, but...yeah.
Relationship Dynamic: ...the second of those opinions, I still kinda feel. The consensual non-con is just not really my thing, like I'm okay with it in small doses? And I don't love some aspects of Lan Wangji's domineering attitudes and Wei Wuxian's act of bare tolerating it. And don't get me wrong, now that I'm more familiar with her work, I think it was an intentional writing choice and I also think they're both largely roleplaying it a lot of the time...but I still don't personally enjoy it much.
2. Scum Villain Self-Saving System, by MXTX.
Tumblr media
Genre: modern transmigration into a fantasy xianxia world.
Where to find it: English translation by BC Novels | donghua season 1
Trigger warnings for: graphic descriptions of suffering, non-con of the "fuck or die" variety, and body horror...I can't think of anything else rn?)
Plot: SVSSS is MXTX's first novel, and is a satire of classic stag harem novels. Shen Yuan, the protagonist and half the main ship, is reading a serialized web novel by "Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky" about a demon named Luo Binghe who has a harem of over 3,000 women and has done all kinds of ghastly awful things. He hates this novel but has read all, like, 3 million words of it or something, and trolls every chapter...until one gets him so angry that he dies...and then he wakes up in the book right around when the book starts, in the body of one of the early antagonists, a cultivator named Shen Qingqiu who abuses a young, innocent Luo Binghe physically and emotionally and, ultimately, is horribly tortured to death. Shen Yuan, in Shen Qingqiu's body, thus sets out to not be horribly tortured to death by Luo Binghe. Hijinks ensue.
My Take: In terms of my opinion of it...SVSSS secured for me that MXTX is a much more brilliant author than I thought when I'd only read MDZS. She understands tropes and subverts them brilliantly throughout the story, and from a writing standpoint, I was impressed with her. However, from a plot standpoint...she's got all the ideas but hasn't, imo, yet figured out how exactly to bring them all together. The pacing is off at times, and the ending felt abrupt to me. It's also the only danmei I've read where I ship a side ship more than the primary one (which is, of course, Shen Yuan (as Shen Qingqiu)/Luo Binghe. (also, oops...I read SVSSS after TGCF and just put them in the wrong order, oh well, not gonna change it now.)
Relationship Dynamic: In terms of relationship weirdness...it's hard to sort in that regard, because, like, it's supposed to be weird? I think it's a really interest book but I'm not sure I'd recommend it in your situation. Bingqiu's main dynamic is...uh...tolerance and obsession? They're kinda hard to describe. Shen Yuan often seems like he's just kinda putting up with Luo Binghe, whereas Luo Binghe is...god. So hard to describe, lmao. He's a big clumsy ox in a museum full of porcelain dishes and he really, really loves his Shizun. (also note that Shen Qingqiu is Luo Binghe's teacher. They don't get together until after they're not master/student, but if that's not your thing, another reason to avoid.)
3. Tian Guan Ci Fu, by MXTX.
Tumblr media
(art is by Starember)
Genre: historical China (loosely), xianxia (note that I'm still figuring out exactly how stuff gets classified so sorry if I get one wrong, but I think I kinda get it???)
Where to Access It: English Translation by the astonishing yummysuika | manhua (this is an official translation by Bilibili! It's a few chapters behind the actual release, but still...) | donghua season 1 is on Netflix | a live action adaptation is juuuuust getting started on script reading and filing
Trigger warnings for: MCD, temporary MCD, body horror, graphic violence, epic levels of mind fuckery, uh...genocide?...again, racism/colorism, probably other stuff, sorry, I can't take as long as I'd like to for this post so I'm not being as thorough as I oughta be.
Plot: TGCF is about Xie Lian, an 800 year old man, and it commences at the moment when, unexpectedly, he ascends to godhood...for the third time. Unfortunately, when he ascends, he accidentally does some damage in Heaven, and he has to repay that, so he gets sent back to earth to deal with a ghost who's been causing some problems. Hijinks ensue...and then fucktons of angst ensue...then more hijinks...then more angst...and basically it broke my heart like four times and I am grateful for it every day? The main ship is Xie Lian and a ghost named Hua Cheng, but it's hard to even talk about without some spoilers because of some identity shenanigans. (they're VERY mildly identity shenanigans, but still).
My Take: So, you asked what my favorite of the danmei novels I've read is? It's TGCF. TGCF is one of my favorite novels ever, and it has a growing fandom, a donghua that's on Netflix, and a live action that's just starting to film. TGCF is the culmination of the skills MXTX developed through her first two works, imo. She clearly plotted it out all from the start, and while Book 1 especially often seems kind of random - lots of elements are introduced and then kinda...apparently...forgotten? And never explained? But she actually DOES bring it ALL together and it's flat-out masterful. I'm a big fan, obviously.
Relationship Dynamic: it again depends on your preferences and what you didn't like about MDZS, and there's no way to talk about it without spoilers, so consider yourselves warned. Xie Lian ascended to godhood first at the age of 17, and right around then he also saved the life of a 10 year old boy...and that boy is Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng is a follower of Xie Lian's, in that Xie Lian is literally a god, and Hua Cheng is literally one of his followers. However, they're separated for almost 800 years, so the age difference is largely irrelevant, and while some people complain about Hua Cheng's behavior being stalkery and obsessive, I honestly think they're dead wrong. It's more like when you read a celebrity/fan AU, and it starts weird, and then they really genuinely fall in love. Like, the fan may have been in love the whole time, and how they felt about the celebrity before they really met might feel slightly ooky, but it's how they act AFTER they meet their idol that matters more, and...yeah, Hua Cheng is great, they're both great, antis fight me. Xie Lian is easily one of my favorite characters EVER, he is all my favorite tropes in one horribly, wonderfully fucked up martyristic idealistic sweet kind laid back package. I would kill for him, lmao. In terms of their relationship dynamic...they love and respect each other? There's really nothing that weird about it other than the aspects of the "fan" Hua Cheng that get revealed over time - and he's always terrified that when Xie Lian realizes what a fanboy he was, Xie Lian will be upset or disgusted, but of course Xie Lian never is. They adore each other. It's glorious. Highly recommend. :D There's also no explicit content in TGCF (unlike MXTX's other two books).
4. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (aka 2ha) by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat.
Tumblr media
Genre: original world, xianxia, time travel, dimension hopping, it's so many things, 2ha is so hard to describe lmao
Where to Access it: English Translation by the amazing yummysuika (things are complicated, though, and it's not finished) | a manhua is in the works and should be out this year | a live action called "Hao Yixing" or "Immortality" is already filmed and could theoretically air literally any time cause it's completely ready, but when will it actually come? Who knows!
Trigger warnings: all of them. Literally. MCD, temporary MCD, murder, suicide, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, rape/non-con, abuse, manipulation, gas lighting, torture, graphic violence, body horror, literal graphic onscreen horrible blood murder of a small child (I had to skip that chapter), teacher/student relationship sort of but not exactly, probably other stuff, this book is dark as fuck, and a lot of these tags apply to behavior of one half of the main ship toward the other, but...it's complicated, and there are reasons things happen, and those reasons aren't "well they're just a bad person."
Plot: This is another one that's hard to describe because there's sooooo much mind fuckery going on, but I'll try. 2ha is about Mo Ran, who rises to be the Emperor of the World, Taxian Jun, but slaughtering all who oppose him...and who is so miserable that he commits suicide, only to wake up in his 16 year old body. This is pretty much perfect from Mo Ran's point of view, because he's gone back so far that the love of his life, his fellow disciple Shi Mei, is still alive. He has a chance to fix everything that went wrong, starting with preventing his awful evil Shizun, Chu Wanning, from letting Shi Mei die.
Spoilers: the main ship in this book is Mo Ran/Chu Wanning.
Hijinks do NOT ensue. There are no hijinks in 2ha. It is all pain all the time (but I swear it ends happy).
My Take: ...well, from a structural standpoint there are some pacing issues. The book is incredibly long (over 300 chapters, over 1 million words) and there are definitely some chunks that could just be excised and it'd still be fine. However, other than that, it's pretty amazing and absolutely masterful how it's plotted. As a reader you'll spend 100+ chapters thinking you know what's going on, and who the good guys are, and who the bad guys are, and how they relate to each other...and then Meatbun starts in on revealing what's ACTUALLY going on and she then spends 200 chapters repeatedly punching you in the face! Like, I went in knowing a LOT of spoilers, because the tags were so dark that I felt that for my mental health it was important I have a general idea what was going on, and I STILL ended up sobbing my eyes out (and I am NOT an easy crier and don't usually cry at books) over something I knew was coming.
Relationship Dynamic: That's about the only thing that the title accurately conveys about this book. "The Husky and His White Cat Shizun," sounds so soft and fluffy, right? That's how they get you, ha. But, Mo Ran is absolutely a big dumb husky who wants to do the right thing (well, sometimes he does) but just completely fails depressingly often. When he sees someone he likes come in the front door he WILL jump all over them and bark in their face as his way of trying to communicate affection. And Chu Wanning is equally absolutely a cat. He is emotionally constipated, poor at expressing himself, uptight, touch starved, desperate for affection, and so lonely my chest hurts when I think about him. And for how they relate to each other...well, picture that big dog greeting a loved one at the door...except that loved one is the most hide-bound proud white cat you can imagine.
That's their dynamic.
(However, also...there are multiple timelines at play, and Taxian Jun does some truly awful things to "his" Chu Wanning in the original timeline, and many of these things are graphically described, and while it's ultimately all explained, it still all HAPPENS, so if you're going to have trouble reading fucktons of abuse between the main ship, I would not recommend this book)
5. Thousand Autumns (Qianqiu) by Meng Xi Shi.
Tumblr media
Genre: historical China (like, references actual people, as far as I can tell), xianxia
Where to Access it: ...reading Thousand Autumns is HARD, it's split over like four websites/translators. This Carrd can kinda help? I can get you the rest if you want | donghua season 1 | I heard there's a live action in the works? But I don't know more than that.
Trigger warnings: graphic violence, mentions/threats of sexual violence (but it's all stopped before things really go wrong), starvation, description of child death (from starvation), near-death, emotional/mental abuse, major semi-permanent character injury, god, minor character death, they're major characters depending on your pov, I can't actually think of others, after writing about 2ha it feels positively fluffy). Note that there's not really any explicit content, just implications of smut, and not til basically the very end and extras.
Plot: Yan Wushi, sect leader of a demonic sect, has just come out of an extended seclusion to improve his cultivation when he and one of his disciples come across a man who is wounded to the point of near death. This turns out to be Shen Qiao, the sect leader of Mount Xuandu. When Shen Qiao awakens from his wounds, he's lost his memory, AND he's blind, and Yan Wushi decides it would be great fun and an excellent use of his time to fuck with Shen Qiao by trying to turn him evil - because Yan Wushi is certain that ALL people are inherently evil, and shattering Shen Qiao's veneer of righteousness will just help prove that.
Spoilers: it's not a veneer.
Not spoilers: Not many hijinks ensue, but there are a few hijinks, and even when it's not hijinxed, it's still not that painful...usually.
My Take: despite that synopsis, a lot of the plot of Thousand Autumns is actually political, and I like political plots, so I liked that aspect of it. However, it has some serious pacing issues imo, and it's also hard to read in English atm because it's not fully translated; it's close, now, much closer than when I read it a few months ago, so it'll be easier to read soon. Or maybe I shouldn't say it's pacing problems, but rather, it's more of a sequence of multiple major plots, strung together, with the growing relationship between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao playing out in the background. I think if I'd known there was no "one big plot" that would have actually helped me, because it kept feeling like, "Oh, THIS is the main thing," but it never was. Things would feel climactic...except then there'd be more. So it's probably better to actually think of it as more...episodic? And the episodes/stories build, and interrelate, and do have a culmination, but not all of them directly tie in, and not all the threads end up coming together/getting resolved.
Relationship Dynamic: early on, Yan Wushi is definitely abusive and manipulative, intentionally so, and I would argue that, imo, Shen Qiao falls for it. However, mid-way through, there's some big reveals, and after that when they're reunited Shen Qiao no longer takes any shit and Yan Wushi continues to act like he doesn't care even when he clearly does. They're not a typical ship in ANY WAY, and I'd say their relationship is more founded on mutual respect than on love. Indeed, in the author's notes at one point MXS actually says they doesn't see them as the kind of couple to ever exchange love declarations, and I thought that was really interesting and it really helped me to understand how they worked together because I'll own I struggled with at times. Yan Wushi is self-interested, often cruel, and ethically and morally dubious. Shen Qiao, on the other hand, could probably ascend to Daoist godhood, he's so pure. Yet...they DO work. I'd say "opposites attract" but that's ALSO not their main trope, not exactly. They're a VERY hard ship to explain, and I know some people who've read the whole book and still don't really...get them...and I've had to really think about them to wrap my head around them...but the more I've thought about them, the more I like them.
6. Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo.
Tumblr media
Genre: historical fiction set in either actual China or make-believe China, I'm not sure if this is directly incorporated any real people
Where to Access It: English Translation by Perpetual Daydreams | manhua (untranslated, I'm not sure if there's anyone translating it into English) | I think there's a live action in the works? Not sure beyond that though.
Trigger Warnings: suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, drug addiction, drug abuse, chronic illness (different character than the drugs), manipulation, abusive, awful parents and parental figures (not all, but definitely some), some homophobia (but way less than there could have been), probably other stuff
Plot: After 7 years away, Zhong Wan returns to the capital of the Empire with the three children of his benefactor, the seven-years-dead Prince Ning. Prince Ning was executed for treason against the previous Emperor, and Zhong Wan has done all he can to protect and raise the three kids, but he's got a lot of worries about returning to the capital and what could happen to his charges if they get pulled into the politics surrounded the Emperor. But, even worse, he's got even more worries about being reunited with Yu She, nephew of the Emperor, with whom he has more than a little history...and about whom he has been lying for the past 7 years, claiming that he is Yu She's lover, in a bid to help use Yu She's reputation to protect Prince Ning's children.
Hijinks ensue.
And so does a political nightmare.
My Take: TYQHM was a hard book to get into because there are just so many characters and it's all about politics - this is NOT a xianxia or wuxia novel, and these characters are NOT cultivators. There's basically nothing supernatural in the whole book; instead, it's about Zhong Wan and Yu She figuring out their own histories, and accepting each other, while trying to survive in a political world that increasingly wants both of them dead. However, I adore political plots, and when all was said and done I really enjoyed it, and I'm trying tooth and nail to claw other people into the fandom with me, so far with basically no success. It only has like 15 works in English on AO3. And so not only does it not fit that requirement of yours...
Relationship Dynamic: ...I think you would also probably not like the relationship dynamic? Zhong Wan is a bit like Wei Wuxian-as-Mo Xuanyu, except more...genuinely? Like, it's his actual personality, not an act, in quite the same way. I don't mean the "flamboyantly gay" part...usually...he definitely has his moments...but he's just...like, he's been through so much that he'll basically say anything, and drag himself entirely through the mud, to distract people who might hurt the three kids (they're like 16, 13, 13, now I think? It was never THAT clear to me, tbh...certainly, all are at least 10...) and, later, Yu She. He has zero face, and doesn't mind having negative face when he feels the situation demands it...and Yu She, on the other hand, has MAJOR depression issues, is sure he deserves nothing, and mostly wants to destroy everyone around him and then kill himself, at least until Zhong Wan starts giving him a reason to live again. But, more than that...Zhong Wan is like the fucking epitome of a bratty subby bottom. He wants to get fucked SO bad. And Yu She is an incredibly reluctant dom, hilariously so at times, uncomfortably/manipulative so at others. When all was said and done, I was pretty fond of them both, but there were definitely moments that made me grimace, and given what you say of how you felt about MDZS, I think this one is less likely to be to your taste?
Bonus 7: Guardian by Priest. I never finished the novel version of Guardian because the translation had some issues that caused me not to enjoy it, so I won't get into it too much, but again, Guardian is a very different book than any of the others, because it's modern fantasy(ish, like, it's still deeply embedded in Daoist-related tropes but it's more "magic spells" and less "cultivation." Like, in terms of what it's like, it felt more like Japanese modern Onmyoji style stories, to me, than it felt like the ancient Chinese wuxia/xianxia cultivation stories.). I'm not gonna get into lots of details, because I read part of the book more than a year ago, and have seen the show (which is VERY different) like three times, so I can hardly even remember what they're like in the novel. There was definitely some weirdness, though? If you're potentially interested, I'd suggest starting with the drama instead. The plot for that is...
Plot: Zhao Yunlan heads a Special Investigation Unit in the human world tasked with maintaining a treaty between humans and the dixigren ("undergrounders") who are (in the show) aliens (in the book...it's the world of the dead). While doing this job, he keeps running into this professor, Shen Wei, who definitely knows more than he oughta.
Hijinks ensue.
And then it murders you with feels.
The live action streams from YouTube - here.
(Warning: uh, I don't want to give spoilers, but my "guaranteed happy ending" does NOT apply to the Guardian TV show...but it does apply to the book, as I understand it.)
*
Anyway, this was a terrible use of my time but it was definitely more fun than what I should be doing, and it's probably way more information than you wanted or needed, but since I wasn't sure what exactly you had in mind, I figured...might as well be thorough?
(Today's hyper-focus fail: this post, ha...)
11 notes · View notes
aelaer · 4 years
Note
[1/2] Now this is an actual ask as in asking for help. 👀 I have a problem with Steve and Tony. I spent too much time too early on reading anti/not-friendly post-CW fics about 'Team Cap', and because of that I have been unable to see Tony as a flawed human or Steve as a good person. It's a pattern I've become too familiar with, and even recent stories are often going into that sense. I have been trying for some time now to do something about it, but either the method was bad, or I couldn't
Tumblr media
(I tagged a couple people in this post – if you were tagged, the question directed to you is wayyyy at the bottom! Feel free to ignore of course.)
You really hit me with a doozy with this ask. I might offend someone for not thinking the exact same way as them with… everything this topic entails… Steve, Tony, anti-fics. Followers from last year know what happened last time I talked about poor and OOC characterization in fanfic, lmao. Beware The Easily Offended! This Is A Critical Thinking Of Your Hobby Zone! I Am Being Critical Of Specific Types of MCU Fanfic!
Please don’t click the read more button if you can’t handle an opinion that might not match yours. Really. I’m fine with discussing different opinions in a mature manner but if you have issues with people saying they don’t like a specific type of plot, this post is not for you. (The read more button doesn’t appear on the original post for followers using the mobile app, but it works on desktop and in all reblogs. If you don’t see a cut and don’t want to read, just skip it, please).
Yeah. Okay. Moving on. Can’t say folks weren’t warned.
I’ve had this in my drafts for several weeks because of the abuse I got the last time I wrote something critical about certain plot points used in fanfic. I was definitely a bit reluctant to look at this specific topic from an analytical and critical look as I remembered that, but hey, it’s really easy for a coward to use a sockpuppet account and throw abuse. It’s harder to be a minority voice with stark opinions contrasting the popular trend. I’m okay with having a minority opinion amongst the MCU fandom.
(PS - you’re welcome to disagree with my opinions, so long as you’re respectful about it. Remember there are individuals behind the screens!)
Concerning Character Flaws
So the thing about really well-written characters is that they are flawed in some manner. Anyone who thinks Tony or Steve exist without flaws – and I mean real flaws, like arrogance, believing they’re always right, short tempers, and other *real* character flaws that both of these characters have – well, if they don’t think they exist with these flaws, how well do they know the character?
You don’t have to know a character well to be a fan of said character – there’s no rules about that – but if you’re going to write fanfic, and that fanfic entails the character you love against a character you don’t particularly like, I’d say any writer looking to do anything resembling a good job would do their due diligence in figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of both characters before writing the characters themselves. These mental lists of characteristics should be equal for both characters. No, “good abs” is not a character strength if you have no physical aspects in the other character strength column. You don’t have to like a character to still write them well.
Even professionals don’t follow this rule when, say, shows get new writers or comics get different writers, so you might consider me silly expecting those dabbling in fan fiction. But yeah, if an author wants me to take a story seriously as something with quality, I expect the characters to resemble themselves in some manner.
(This level of resemblance varies when you purposefully choose for the protagonist to be evil, be in a completely different time period, etc, but authors who do this *well* still get core personality traits solid, even if morality is out the window or the profession is entirely different. I have a lot of examples from the Sherlock fandom of total AUs that pull this off well – haven’t read nearly enough AUs in the MCU to have a good collection here).
But a resemblance of character, of capturing the three-dimensionality of a character, is what anti-fics simply fail to achieve. The characters they’re anti against usually suffer cases of Flanderization, if they’re not completely out of character altogether in showing traits that were never displayed in the canon, ever. I don’t know why anyone would be interested in such stories, myself, and remain baffled at their popularity. Is there some sort of enjoyment in seeing such a 2D rendition of a character in what is otherwise meant as a serious work and provides absolutely no sense of proper conflict between two characters? Not for me; it immediately takes me out of the story and when it gets too much, I abandon the story. It’s just not enjoyable for me. Turning a canon protagonist into a strawman is just lazy writing and offers nothing to the writer’s favorite, preferred character.
Concerning Steve’s and Tony’s Flaws
Every real human being has some sort of personality flaw that is decidedly unattractive. Some people are really good at showing it very rarely (and are some of the best human beings), but with these two characters we see them at their greatest heights and lowest of lows. Ironically, they actually share a lot of the same flaws, but display them in different manners in canon:
Both men believe they are the best man for the job and will do it without consulting someone who could actually fight against it - or go completely against them. Tony with Ultron is the easy example here. He’s the smartest man in the world and can tackle the issue of protecting it on its own. Steve, same issue, and his job is “helping Bucky”. *He’s* the one who can handle Bucky, the only one who can handle him - big thing in both WS and CW. If both of them had utilized their friends and allies a lot more, a lot of issues could have been avoided.
Both men are sometimes hypocritical. Steve promotes teamwork in all his speeches but again with the Bucky situation. Just… everything Bucky, man. Tony signs the Accords and immediately goes against them with what he gives to Peter, who most assuredly did not sign them (tangent: if he HAD joined the Avengers at the end of Homecoming, I have no idea how that would have gone since Peter would have had to reveal his identity to the UN and then there’s the whole ‘still a minor’ thing, and yeah, Homecoming’s end scene just makes me go nuts). But anyway, their occasional hypocrisy is one of the most realistic aspects of them because most human beings are hypocritical sometimes.
Both men are sometimes arrogant. Tony’s self-explanatory with his genius-playboy-philanthropist-billionaire. One thing he does not suffer from is low self-esteem in regards to his abilities. His arrogance comes from his genius. Steve’s arrogance lies more in his deep-seeded belief that he is on the moral high ground – and one reason I think a lot of people dislike him so much, because moral superiority is very much a faux pas in this day and age for some millennials and many Gen Z folk. He has a very, very solid sense of what is right and what is wrong, and that rubs some folks the wrong way. Tony is more morally fluid – but he is not by any means immoral.
Both of them have a really solid list of strengths as well. As this ask specifically is looking to find the good in Steve, I specifically Googled pro-Steve articles for you to click at your leisure (and one with both). If you need to go back to canon, I highly recommend rewatching The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier, which introduces Steve brilliantly and then lets Steve grow further in the second film.
(Note: I actually prefer Tony to Steve in terms of personal favoritism, but how a very loud segment of Tony fans have treated other characters has led me to be more vocal about the strengths of others, especially Steve and Wanda. So Tony might be in my top 5, but mean-spirited Tony fans have moved me to be a champion of other characters, if only to show other fans that there are indeed Tony fans that do like the other characters and treat them – and their fans – with respect).
Bringing Balance (to the Universe…) Fanfic-Style
This addresses the second part of your ask in regards to the fanfics. And this is where I started running into trouble, too, mostly because, well, just how many Stephen and Steve fics are there? Yeah, exactly. Stephen’s my main guy. So I did some research, outsourcing, and reading.
Here’s two I knew of before cuz Stephen’s in them in some capacity:
Identity Theft by KitKat992 - it stars Peter and both Tony and Steve play integral parts from what I recall. Good story too, very engaging.
A Dysfunctional Senior Year (series) by ApolloLoki97 - this also stars Peter and has a large Team As Family aspect, so it shows the entire Avengers team as just decent people. My favorite part is naturally part 3 because Stephen comes in that one, haha.
And to find other stories, I went into the Anti-Accords tag. It was nice to find fics that didn’t have such a love of hypocritical authoritarianism. Aannyyyyway.
Making Sense of Chaos by SparkedtoLife - mind the tags. Seriously, it’s heavy duty. Yet another Peter fic because he’s way more popular than my favorite character, qq. Lots of Netflix Marvel characters too! Anyway, deals with not only Tony and Steve really well (and has a different dynamic with Tony that isn’t IronDad, so that was a nice change of pace), it also deals with the Accords situation very realistically. And none of those are even main plot points. If you can handle the very serious, sensitive subject that is the main plot point, I highly recommended it. It’s a very masterfully done work.
Atlas by nanasekei - Stony. Treats all characters with respect and both Tony and Steve as three-dimensional, flawed humans with some serious self doubts. Also highly agree with the author that Thaddeus Ross sucks and is basically one of the biggest people to blame for Everything Going To Shit.
Homecoming by an orphaned account - Some Stucky. This is a lovely one-shot of things I basically wanted to happen when the team got together again but didn’t. Sigggghhh. Everyone is definitely in character in this one, traumas and healing and all. And look, another person realizes that trusting Ross is a really horrible idea.
Locks Not Replaced by Riverdaughter - first this writer has a Tolkien-based username so yay. Anyway, the fic starts off by Tony realizing that he almost killed Steve during the fight with his repulsors, and it was only Bucky that stopped him. Do people seriously think he’d survive a shot to the face with that power? This is one reason the ‘Steve tried to kill Tony’ people piss me the fuck off. What do you think those repulsors shoot, fucking rainbows? Honestly, guys. Anyway, mini rant over. This fic is great. Author comes in with a Cap favoritism but treats Tony well, and honestly Tony turning a blind eye to everything and ignoring Ross is what I like to think happened in canon (he clearly dislikes the guy). And also I love the Robin Hood parallels. Love love love. I think this fic is my favorite of the ones listed in this section.
Meeting Your Heroes by Riverdaughter - naturally after reading that fic I went to explore more and found this gem. She’s not incorrect in saying Tony wasn’t a good mentor at the beginning - I think he had his own growth after Peter’s actions in Homecoming especially (though even through Homecoming he was trying, just… not always successfully lmao). Anyway love these two together. It’s great.
Photograph by slytherclaw420 - A scene we deserved in Endgame and didn’t get. Sigh. Definite IronDad feels here. Hopeful Steve, rebuilding of a friendship.
And uh, an honorable mention of sorts:
Balancing the Scales by MoonFire1 - I’m not recommending this fic for good characterization or plot. It really doesn’t have either. The fic was written in retaliation for the nasty Tony fans completely trashing Steve’s character. You should only read this if you want to see the argument from “the other side” and if you want to see an anti-Tony fic like you’ve seen anti-Steve fics. Don’t harass the author though. This is presented as a counterargument to anti-Steve fiction, for those interested to read the other sides arguments. I don’t like the nature of the fic, but I loathe that “not Steve friendly” has 30 fucking pages of works with tens of thousands of kudos, so one anti-Tony fic (with a comparatively small three pages under that tag) really doesn’t compare. Ugh. I hate the anti culture in this fandom so much. Loathe it. It’s such a nasty energy! Why would you indulge in such negativity? But as I’ve mentioned before, I appreciate authors aware enough to tag it so I can avoid it. I wish that part of fandom culture didn’t exist, but well, can’t change it. Just can criticize the fuck out of it on my blog. Maybe encourage people to think less one-sided in the process if I’m lucky.
But there’s probably more good characterization Steve fics to be found, so I am forcefully recruiting two people via tag:
If you’re looking to dabble into Stony fics with good-guy-Steve, if anyone would know of any, I’d imagine it’d be @babywarg.
You don’t know this person, but @cairistiona7 has actually known me the longest of anyone here on tumblr (half my life! HALF! She even knows my real name :P She betaed a LOTR work of mine a decade ago I ended up never fully publishing… thanks again for all your help there…). Anyway, she’s a big Bucky fan, and Bucky friendships is the best thing. So if anyone would know any wholesome Bucky and Steve stories, it’d be her. (Or really I’d take any of your recs, Cair, as I’ll probably enjoy them as well).
I hope this was helpful to you md, and that I didn’t piss off too many of my followers in the process of answering this lol.
63 notes · View notes
ballym · 4 years
Note
“Ah fuck off mate” Wow, aren’t you a ray of sunshine. I agree with that anon though. I’m unsure of why you created a schedule if you don’t stick to it. I mean you barely post as it is and I’m sure that’s why a vast majority of people follow you, specifically for the SMAU. You have talent, but yet you’re letting it sit dormant whilst you continue to reblog from other accounts. Put your talent to use, update the SMAU.
So I’ve decided to talk about a few things. Anon, this is in no way a call out on you, but I feel like you’ve brought up some things that I need to address, and so will do so here. If you want, please message me off anon and I’d be happy to talk to you more. I’ve broken it down into sections as follows;
Time
To create a seven to ten screenshot post it takes me roughly two hours of full-on concentration. Not only this but I plot ahead of time, have to source photos ahead of time, and most importantly, have to be connected to the internet. Obviously with the world in the state it is, my travelling is slowing down, but when I started I was on cross-country trains pretty much twice a week, which really takes it out of you. I started this project in November and was originally posting once a week (on a Wednesday) and then moved to three times a week when I got more comfortable. To this date, there are forty-four parts live, which is only three parts behind the schedule. Not that big of a deal in my eyes.
Study
I am a second-year Creative Writing student. I work specifically with Prose, Poetry and Scriptwriting, so writing a full narrative arc in the format of texts is new to me. I saw an opening in the fandom when we were just getting started, and I took it. You can find a few of my bits of prose on AO3, but I am not a fanfiction writer - I have never written a full story for fandom, and as people who knew me from my hp blog know, I was updating maybe once a year on my original fic. I gave myself this project to stretch myself, but the truth is, when you are so invested in a series, or in this case soap, that you hope to work closely within some capacity in the future, it is scary to put your work out there. If a Chem student writes fanfic and it’s meh’, that’s fine because writing is just a hobby for them. I am paying to learn how to become a better writer (and actor), which means that if my writing is bad, or if it’s derivative or whatever, then that’s probably a warning that I’m never going to get a job, be able to support myself etc. I have to be completely happy with something that I’m putting out into the world - I’m not going to give you subpar content just to get it out on time.
Mental Health
I was going to wait until mental health awareness week but I think I’ll just talk about it here. I suffer from extreme anxiety and clinical depression, which means that sometimes I can’t do anything, at all. I’ve had a pretty bad time of it growing up, and have thought/attempted on more than one occasion - something I have dealt with since I was thirteen. Those of you will remember that I was very bad during Bex’s storyline last year will know that she is the anchor character for me, so seeing myself in her (more than normal) was extremely hard to watch. I receive at least two hate anons a day. In January it was more like four or five. This is really hard to take, even knowing it’s probably the same person, and I’ve dealt with worse anon online abuse before, but you get tired of seeing it, and it just makes you not want to create any more, even though you have so many supporters.
Physical Ailments
To make matters worse, I am extremely short-sighted, and cannot see a computer screen (or anything farther) without my glasses. Two weeks ago my glasses were crushed in an incident, and I had to wait a fortnight (until yesterday) for repairs. Being so blind is EXTREMELY tiring. I’ve literally not been able to see, take notes for class, had trouble in all areas…It’s been awful. I haven’t talked about it online because why would I, but I’ve not wanted to wake up in the mornings because of it, and yet I have to get on with my life as despite not wearing glasses, I don’t look any different to normal, so people don’t realise anything is wrong.
COVID-19
Yes, I do need to talk about it. As I said, I travel a fair amount, which is obviously becoming an issue. My university is shut down, and all my exams (including performances) have changed in format. This is the first year that counts for me, so it has been understandably heartbreaking. It’s also affected my dissertation, and that job…yeah, working at a bar doesn’t sound so good right about now, does it? I can’t go home because work is still technically open, but I can’t afford for it to shut. I’m travelling through London to see my family this weekend before returning here (to my flat in my Uni town) and I don’t even know when I’m going to see people again. I might be twenty, but I’m scared. Fearmongering shouldn’t be happening, but the media is throwing about all kinds of things, and it’s having a truly negative effect on the population. This is a stressful time, and I’d like to think people understand that stepping away for a minute to breath is a fair thing to do.
My Response
My response to anon #1 was not the most polite ‘Fuck off mate’ can be interpreted in multiple ways, of course. When I wrote it, I was tired-laughing. It wasn’t vindictive, I’d just had enough. I have stuck to this schedule for months, even when a post wasn’t uploaded on the right day, there would still be three in that week-long period. I could have said a lot worse, but I guess I don’t show my colours on here that much so when I do say something like this people get annoyed. ‘Barely post’ is a ridiculous understatement on your behalf however, and I really don’t agree with that. I reblog A LOT of stuff on the days when Eastenders is on, with a queue, liveblogging, and comments/chats to other fans. I’m also active on the discord which can be found here. Just because BLHDSSB isn’t as frequent as you like, does not mean I am slacking on content. If you’re here for the SMAU then ask to be added to the tag list, but if you follow me, you’ll see all the other content on my blog too. To add to this, I (with my friends) am organising the Ballum Big Bang, so am creating content over there too. 
Finally
This is a blog. It is Tumblr. A pass time. How many times have I said that I’m not great with schedules. It is for fun. Yes, I know you all enjoy the content, and I love being able to chat about it with you, but I need to put myself first. Thank you to all of you who have been so kind, so supportive and so understanding during this time. I cannot wait to finish BLHDSSB for you - as you guessed, it may not be posted when I said it would - but message me, and I’ll send you notifications for when the parts are up. I love you all.
21 notes · View notes
nadziejastar · 4 years
Note
If BbS V2 really was what you theorized they might have been better off planning it as a series of shorts. A game about filling in the gaps of other games was probably a very hard sell for executives, regardless of how much the overall saga would benefit from it. With shorts it would be perfectly normal to jump around, there wouldn't have to be a flimsy excuse to shoehorn in Disney worlds if they weren't necessary for the story, and it might even be cheaper if 2D animation was acceptable.
Tumblr media
— So what will it be?
I can’t say that quite yet, but it will be more “official” than a side story. I actually told the producer this recently, and he said “…what?” It’s the mystery KH. (laugh) Of course, I am also thinking about KH3.
— In an interview in the KH Days Ultimania, you said ‘I’m thinking of a mystery KH that made the producer go “what??”‘. Was that KH3D?
No, it wasn’t. I originally planned to make that after KHBBS, but we ended up making KH3D and the project was stopped. It’s a shame, but we won’t be starting that project again.
I think you are correct. The premise of the game seemed very weird and that’s probably a big reason why it got cancelled. But the story still really needed all the loose ends tied up in some way. FFXV got a short animated series called Brotherhood. I totally think KH3 could have benefited from something like that to fill in all the blanks. And fans would love seeing a 2D animated version of KH. I know I would.
The biggest issue the series had was that it was spread out across so many different handhelds. But the HD collections solved that problem. If the shorts were included in the HD collection, or made freely available, it could have worked really well. It’s no worse than making so much of KH3′s plot tie into Union X, which is less accessible than Brotherhood, for example.
A game about “blank points” was probably just too weird from a gameplay perspective, which I understand. I also agree about the Disney worlds. That also seemed like it might have been an issue. KH games suffer when the Disney worlds aren’t incorporated well. This isn’t an issue in games that feature new worlds like KH1, KH2, KHBBS, or KH3D. Even Days was mostly fine IMO. The worst offenders were CoM and Re:Coded which felt like the Disney worlds were just obligations and their plots were tired rehashes. KHUX Disney worlds were also very strange, too. Even 3D was weird since it used sleeping worlds. Stuff like that is why the series gets lambasted as being too confusing/convoluted.
Tumblr media
— What about the missing 0.3?
We thought to tell the story of 0.5 with all three characters, but instead we decided on 0.2 with a focus on Aqua.
Honestly, I can’t even think of how Disney worlds would be incorporated into a lot of the “blank points” story. Nomura said KH0.5 was supposed to feature all of the wayfinder trio. Does that mean they would be playable? I dunno. Aqua was in the Dark Realm. That was a very unconventional world. It had Disney-themed locations, but it’s still not technically a Disney world. Story-wise, it was also unconventional, since she just spent all that time talking to herself until she briefly teamed up with Mickey.
I have no idea what Nomura planned to do with Ventus. Dream world? Or flashbacks to how he met Xehanort? Or he just wasn’t gonna be playable? Then there’s Terra, who was living as apprentice Xehanort and possessed. I don’t see how that functions gameplay-wise, unless it was something weird like you playing as the Lingering Will or something. There was the whole subplot of Namine communicating to the Lingering Will, which was poorly handled.
Tumblr media
— Which worlds did Pluto travel when he had that letter?
I can say that he appeared in worlds that do not appear in the game [KH1]…. well, other than the current worlds, there are other worlds that the Heartless erased. The End of the World did not exist at first and is a world that is made up of erased worlds put together. Also, there is that place the door to Kingdom Hearts appears. At first that was another world, so that means that Sora and the others are now residing in that world which returned to what it once was.
— After debugging Traverse Town, the King says to Sora, “That day, your travels began here. Also on that day, I was here too.” Does that mean that the King was in the same place at the same time as Sora adventured into Traverse Town in Kingdom Hearts I?Seems so. What he was actually doing becomes the previously mentioned “blank time period”, but in this title, it’s implying that the two crossed paths in the same place.
Mickey probably would have been playable. In Blank Points, we saw him in the Dark Realm, and his blank period in Traverse Town was something Nomura specifically said he wanted to show. I guess he might have visited Disney worlds with Pluto and we could have played in those? I don’t know if that world that was shown in the end of KH1, the grassy place with the crossroads, was supposed to be important. It sounded like Nomura wanted to explain why Pluto was there with Mickey’s letter, though.
Tumblr media
— About the World of Darkness and such, you haven’t gone into detail. Could you possibly talk about some of these things? Does the beach at the beginning and end of KH II have some connection to the World of Darkness?
Presently there are 4 main untold stories to consider: “the period of the King’s absence”, “the period of Riku’s absence”, “Roxas’s time in Organization XIII” and “Xehanort’s past”. In this case, the story of “the period of the King’s absence” is set in the realm of darkness. I am examining a way to tell these 4 stories so I might be able to find a way to tell them soon.
Young Xehanort’s past was another blank period. Him visiting Disney worlds is…possible, I guess. The best candidate for visiting Disney worlds is Riku, though. Nomura said he wanted to cover Riku’s period of absence, which probably includes KH1-2. In KH1, he was a bad guy and in Blank Points, he was shown in Neverland. Monstro is another possibility and that might have been intended to connect to the Monstro subplot in KH3D with Dark Riku. We also saw Riku in Twilight Town watching Roxas and Xion, so his Days period is open. Then there’s his period of absence in KH2, which opens up those worlds. In the novels, we know Riku spent most of his time in KH2 with Namine and Axel, and he also kept an eye on Sora, like during The Land of Dragons and the Beast’s Castle.
Tumblr media
I didn’t notify you but you might’ve already heard from Yen Sid-sama. I’ve come to train to become a Keyblade wielder. Until now, I’ve only been waiting for you guys to come back from your journey. Maybe with this I can at least help out a little.
The magician Merlin-sama can use magic that surpasses time. Here, we can forget about the flow of time. Isn’t it great? Lea’s training with me. He apologized to me over and over again. It’s alright, I’d say, but he’d keep on apologizing…
At first I was a bit scared but as we trained together we started talking to each other. I found out Lea also has a best friend he wants to save. I felt like, he’s not a person that I can bring myself to hate…
Sometimes….. He’d stare at my face, so I’d ask him, what’s wrong? “I don’t know, but I feel like it’s something I must recall”, he’d say…
Your journey is a journey that will help many people and the people you’ll meet from now on. I have a feeling these people you meet will also need your help. The journey might be hard but please stay as the cheerful and bright Sora I know. Because your smile, will save many hearts…..
Then there’s Lea and Kairi. I guess we could have played through their training and the world could be based on The Sword in the Stone? I figured that was what the forest area in KH3 was supposed to be, but I dunno. Then they could have flashbacks during their training. I think we were definitely supposed to get more scenes of Lea and Kairi talking to each other, where she learns that he has a best friend he wants to save. It was obviously referring to Isa. KH3D was all about Lea looking for him, and he summoned his Keyblade immediately after learning that Isa was a vessel.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see where that subplot was going. Lea was training to rescue Isa. Roxas being Axel’s “best friend” in KH2 was supposed to be a red herring—a pretty well-written one at that. People just didn’t pick up on it due to Roxas’s popularity bias. I doubt Lea would have told Kairi all the details of him and Isa being human test subjects. Like, she still didn’t understand why he didn’t wanna take off his black coat in KH3. But he’d tell her enough to know that he has a best friend who is a vessel and we’d learn what happened. It would have made their closeness in KH3 a lot more understandable if Kairi knew about his past. In his heart, he could tell that Kairi was Xion, too. And that’s how I’m gonna do it in my fanfic. :)
Tumblr media
After KHBBSV2 was cancelled, Lea had no backstory anymore, so I guess we were just supposed to conclude that Lea was referring to Roxas in Kairi’s letter when he said he wanted to save his best friend. Which is just…dumb and insulting to the audience’s intelligence. Lea knew even in 358/2 Days that Roxas looked like Ventus. He said he kept it a secret from Roxas, so he obviously knew for a long time. It sounded like he realized it as soon as he met him, which is why he got so nostalgic for his childhood right after meeting Roxas.
Before he started his training with Kairi, he also knew that Ventus was one of the lost Keyblade wielders they were all looking for. Up until Yen Sid’s tower, Lea thought that Ventus was going to remember him as Axel. That’s how he was going to reunite with “Roxas”. He had no reason to think he needed to rescue “Roxas”, since that was Sora’s job and he was handling that. Of course he was referring to Isa in that letter.
Eh, I dunno. It’s possible we’d get to play as young Lea during his flashbacks in Radiant Garden. During the experiments, maybe he was tasked with Heartless clean-up duty inside the castle. He doesn’t have a Keyblade, though. Just his frisbees. It’d be unusual to have him be playable, but not impossible. If so, that opens up the castle, like the Hollow Bastion areas from KH1. All in all, the gameplay part of BBSV2 seemed pretty strange and the Disney worlds didn’t seem completely necessary, either. I think a series of animated shorts could have worked phenomenally well.
5 notes · View notes
makeste · 5 years
Note
I was glad to see you enjoyed my Top 10 ask. You did mention you had a ranking for the arcs - would you do a ranking for them? Like, worst to best? (My guess (of the arcs you've finished): Internship arc, Hero Killer Arc, License Exam, USJ, Intro Arc, Culture Fest, Battle Trial, Pro-Hero arc, Final Exams, Sports Fest, Camino Ward, DvKp2; since you haven't liveblogged Joint Training Arc yet, no clue.) Just curious.
good morning evening everyone, and welcome to another Wednesday episode of “makeste tries to answer asks from two months ago while on the bus.” this one is a bit of an interesting challenge since it involves ranking and that always takes me a long time, but as you said, I did have an ongoing ranking of the arcs in my head, so we’ll see. at the very least the ones at the beginning and end shouldn’t be too hard, and you can probably guess them already. (in fact, you actually did.)
(ETA: yeah this took me two sittings to do, so I ended up posting it on the ride home lol. I just like BnHA you guys. almost as much as I like talking about how much I like it!)
okay so here goes.
14. Basement arc - yeah so let’s just go ahead and get this over with. this is the one and only BnHA arc that I actually dislike. fortunately it’s an outlier and suffered from a bunch of one-time issues, most of which stem from the fact that Horikoshi was apparently trying to write a longer and darker arc than usual. well he succeeded! and thankfully learned his lesson. and at least this arc gave us Eri and Mirio and some good Kirishima flashbacks and Chekov’s Quirk-Be-Gone bullets and the Highway to Hell. hopefully the anime can improve on the rest.
13. Provisional License arc - okay, so it might surprise a few people that this arc is all the way down here. let me explain. this is a perfectly fine arc, and I like it well enough, but it’s a bit longer than it needs to be, and not that much happens in it aside from our introduction to best boy Yoarashi Inasa, and the Great Toga Conspiracy (which is admittedly excellent). there are some great moments (Aoyama doing his best impression of “THE BEACONS ARE LIT” from RotK comes to mind), but overall it’s fairly forgettable, and it suffers from being placed directly in between my two absolute favorite arcs, which means I have a tendency to overlook it, which isn’t really the arc’s fault.
12. Hero Killer arc - this one is interesting because I really lost patience with it during my first read-through, but strangely enough when I watched it in the anime I actually really enjoyed it. it was also much shorter than I remembered. I’ve belatedly realized that reading it while doing commentary really slowed me down, because for the parts that I wasn’t feeling, doing the commentary took a long time and also left me dwelling on a lot of the things I didn’t like. but in actuality, Stain’s Annoying Rants aside, this is a pretty enjoyable arc full of Big Hero 6 flashbacks, hot revenge-driven Iida, Gran Torino’s introduction, Deku learning full cowl, Bakugou’s Best Jeanist internship, and Todoroki saving Deku and Iida’s lives by being glued to his phone when he really should have been paying attention to his own internship. get off that social media already Shouto.
11. USJ arc - this is a great arc, but it just feels small compared to everything that happens afterward. but it’s fun to look back on because there are lots of little hints for future developments to come. the traitor theory, for instance. and this is also our introduction to the League and to Tomura and the Noumu. and that final fight between All Might and the Noumu is still one of my favorite scenes in the whole series, especially in the anime. it’s so fucking good you guys. shit.
10. Intro arc - just FYI, I lump everything from the first chapter up until USJ into one arc since it’s easier. anyways, so this is roughly on the same level as USJ, but gets a slight edge because there are some iconic moments here. namely, the first chapter (which is still one of the best shounen intro chapters I’ve ever read, if not the best); Kacchan VS Deku 1; the entrance exam; and our introduction to the rest of class 1-A, particularly Ochako and Iida. oh, and Aizawa! gotta love how he starts out all ready to expel some bitches only to wind up falling in love with the whole class. fatherhood agrees with him.
9. Band AU arc - I actually love this arc. I just love all of the ones above it on the list a bit more, and I can’t really justify it being any higher than this. but it has The Band and the Babysitting Squad and Mirio being the best big brother in the world and Eri being just ridiculously, astonishingly cute. Gentle and La Brava are also great villains, if not quite my favorites. there are a few questionable plot holes in the arc, and it lacks any sort of big impact on the rest of the series, but it’s basically a canon filler arc and it’s so much fun and I can’t wait to see it animated.
8. Fanfic Lodge arc - you guys this arc started out so fucking cute and ended up so fucking tense. and this was our intro to the League of Villains proper, including Spinner, Twice, Tuxedo Mask, the prodigal Todoroki son, and my best girl Toga. Deku VS Muscular is still hard for me to read (his liiiiiiiimbs) but it’s one of Deku’s best moments regardless. and the angst at the end of the arc is almost unparalleled. god I love it.
7. Final Exam arc - a.k.a. the one where all the kids team up with each other to shoot their teachers in the fucking face. this arc has it all: Momo character development, Bakugou character development, TodoMomo, BakuDeku, and Aizawa being a total badass. (and All Might too, but he’s kind of overkill tbh. which is its own kind of awesome though.) there’s so much good stuff in this arc that this description is a bit vague because if I got any more specific we’d be here all day. it’s just a lot of good stuff that I like.
6. Joint Training arc - dudes I love this arc so much. class B and their array of ridiculously awesome quirks! class A and their impeccable teamwork! Bakugou joining the OFA Scooby Squad and showing off his new WIN AND RESCUE COMBO! Monoma! Shinsou!! SIXQUIRKS!!! god there’s so much great content.
5. Endeavorhawks arc - this arc would be even higher except that it’s a bit short (though it’s perfectly paced, so that might actually be a plus) and it doesn’t feature as many of my faves. but Hawks’s intro + our intro to The Great Noumu Conspiracy + Todoroki Family Drama + some of the best character development I’ve seen in a shounen manga (god I still can’t get over what a ballsy move it is to try and redeem Endeavor) = solid gold. and it’s so well done. and caps off with one of the best plot twists in the series to date, which sets up what promises to be one hell of an interesting arc later down the line. just. it’s so good. possibly the best-written arc to date, even if it doesn’t quite top my list.
4. My Villain Academia arc - and this isn’t even done yet!! and it’s still already this high!! Tomura flashbacks! Toga flashbacks! TOUYA FLASHBACKS???! (we’ll see??) creepy cults! my new favorite character One-Handed Giran, the biggest badass in the whole fucking series! worldbuilding for days! Dr. Robotnik! more Noumu shit! etc. etc. this arc has been non-stop goodness and I almost feel spoiled at this point.
3. Sports Festival arc - the most fun of all the arcs. I have rewatched the cavalry battle in the anime like a bazillion times. there used to be this show on Nickelodeon called Wild & Crazy Kids where kids teamed up for all these zany competitions (water balloons were usually involved), and I fucking loved that show, and parts of this arc kinda have that same kind of spirit. it’s just fun. and then to top it all off we have our Shouto character development, as well as Bakugou’s little character arc that he also has which is excellent. not to mention what is probably Ochako’s most badass moment to date. love it.
2. Kamino arc - guyyyys where do I even start? this arc is perfection. good VS evil. All Might taking a stand even when he’s got nothing left in the tank, because the world needs him and he won’t let them down. the sheer visceral terror of AFO’s introduction. my favorite character getting fucking kidnapped and being brave AF and his friends rallying to save him yesssss. and the reveal of All Might’s secret, which is arguably the most powerful scene in the series. I get chills every time. “my heart is still the heart of the symbol of peace.” if All Might had announced at that moment that he was starting a new religion I would have been like “yeah okay.” I would follow him to the ends of the earth. how can one man be that selfless and brave. anyways this arc is absolutely incredible and objectively one of the best in all of shounen.
1. Deku VS Kacchan Part 2 - nothing to see here, just two boys who’ve known each other since they were in diapers, who’ve done everything together and have always been together but have never actually understood each other until now. just the two of them finally opening up to each other, because the one who always tried to act so tough actually isn’t that tough, in truth, and in spite of everything, he trusts the other enough to let his guard down around him this one time. just two rivals, sorting out their shit and figuring out what it all really means. and their dad, helping to facilitate the whole thing because he knows that one day, somewhere down the road, this bond between them will mean absolutely everything. is this really even an arc?? it’s only like six chapters, and only one event actually takes place. but do I care?? yeah, no. Deku and Kacchan’s relationship is the series to me, so yeah. to me it counts as an arc. and not just any arc, but the best arc.
so there you have it! I hope I haven’t accidentally left something out lol. but this should hopefully be a pretty definitive list, at least for now. looking back at all of this really makes it sink in just how good of a story this is, though. damn.
46 notes · View notes
spinedog · 5 years
Text
Why I write Adam the way I do
Okay, this started out as a reply to some awesome feedback on FR&H, and it... sort of got away from me. So, I decided to turn it into a textpost here, because I feel it’s really important and I haven’t really had a chance to put it into words until now.
Putting in a page break so to not clutter up your dashboards: fair warning, the below contains a lot of talk about abusive relationships, and a discussion about portraying abusers.
So, it was mentioned that a lot of fan fictions portray Adam as a one-sided monster. It’s a trend I keep noticing, even in stories that are otherwise really, really well written (though, keep in mind, I don’t read all that much anymore, so there could be some and I just haven’t seen it). Not many writers seem to want to give him any depth other than 'shitty dude'. And I understand why. His character shouldn't be sympathized with, and it's tough to walk a line between 'multi-sided' and 'redeeming someone who should not be redeemed'. Especially with all the Adam stans that started rioting after his death, I think most people either hate him so viscerally that they don't want to spend any time on him, or don't want to look like they're trying to excuse him. Both viewpoints are totally valid, by the way - I don't think anyone should write any character that they don't want to write. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t adore all the goat man memes that make fun of him.
But I think there's a bit of a danger there that no one really acknowledges. People with abusive tendencies aren't usually one-sided monsters in real life. Sure, genuine sadistic sociopaths types exist, who just hurt for the sake of hurting and really don't care about reasoning, but these people are rare in comparison. Your typical abusive relationship is generally not like this.
An abuser is the person who is mentally ill and starts to lean on you, then continues to lean, with more and more weight, because it's working, it feels good, and don't they deserve to have some support in their life for once? An abuser is the person who genuinely thinks you're the only person who will ever love them, who will ever tolerate them, and they tell you this and tell you that if you were to leave they would end up committing suicide. An abuser is the person who knows they get a rush of power from the feeling of hitting flesh and leaving a bruise, of knowing it's wrong but knowing they can never admit it, so they lie and backpedal to try and explain why it's okay that they have to hit you, because it was your fault anyways. An abuser is a parent who just wants their child to be perfect, can't you just listen to what they've told you, can't you just be a good child for once? 
An abuser is a person who never emotionally matured, attaches to another person in an unhealthy way to stabilize themselves, and continues to do so even when they realize what they’re doing, using any kind of tactic or rationalization they can come up with to keep that person they so desperately need close. And I want people to see that. I want people to read a perspective that they understand, that they sympathize with, and know that it does not excuse what he's done. I want them to see it happening at the table across the room. I want them to see it in a stranger's eyes. And, most of all, I want them to see how easy it is to fall into that situation. Abusive relationships are far too common, but toxic relationships are even more common - and that’s often where it starts.
It’s almost happened to me. Twice, actually. Once with a very, very close friend who I truly believed could pull her way through her own mental illnesses, who I thought was making progress, who I thought cared very deeply about me - right up until I realized I was crying myself to sleep every night because no matter how hard I tried, and no matter how closely I followed what she wanted me to do, I had always done something wrong to hurt her (once, I asked her how her day was going, and she responded with five paragraphs about how I was incredibly hurtful for forcing her to remember the shitty day she’d had. I believed her.). Then with a romantic partner who I’d known for years, who I knew had toxic masculinity issues that I thought he knew about, who I thought I could trust - right up until he dragged me across the cab of his car into a kiss that I’d already said ‘no’ to. I left both of those people within days of that realization. I still define them both as more toxic than abusive, and I was certainly no angel in my own right - I did and said a lot of things in what I thought was my own defense that I’ve come to regret. But I’d seen abusive relationships before, through a story about a friend my mother had in school, movies, books - and most importantly, a small and very well-written script about a girl defending her boyfriend’s actions that I read in high school and never, ever forgot. I could read the signs well enough to know what road they were starting to turn onto. I knew that the thought of hurting them would stop me and force me to re-think my actions, but the thought of hurting me wouldn’t be enough to stop either of them. So I left - and was able to leave, due to one deciding that it was her idea to kick me out of her life in the first place, and the other deciding I was too high-strung and sensitive for him. The only reason I’m not still involved with either one is that neither attempted to guilt trip me into staying with them any further - and I’m deeply grateful to both of them for that.
That’s why I put so much effort into writing Adam, and why I’ve now written specifically from his POV twice. I knew I had a grasp on who he was, but it was just an understanding for me, and not a trauma like so many others have. I want people to read a perspective that they understand, that they sympathize with, but know that it does not excuse what he's done. And, most importantly, I wanted readers to come to this conclusion on their own, because I believe that the only way to make someone truly accept something is to make them think that it was their own idea in the first place. It's a daunting task, and I think that's why we don't see it as often as we maybe should. No one wants to stray too far to one side and be accused of sympathizing with an abuser, so they back off and stick to the safer side of the spectrum. Or, the people who truly understand it want nothing more than to just leave it behind them. 
But, if you just portray every bad guy as a cartoon monster, you start to forget what real monsters look like. And so does your audience.
I expected to get set on fire by my readers when I posted the first chapter with Adam's perspective, honestly. I'd demonized the hell out of him in the first few chapters, and I didn't like it - I wanted him to be just as real as any of the other characters, and I wanted to show him for what I thought he really was, but I was afraid of the backlash that I thought I would get. But, after a few chapters I decided that I had no real reputation to sacrifice, and I knew that it was either going to sink the fanfic that I had no real stake in, or make it into one that people might actually learn something from. 
So, I went for it. I put together motivations and psychology for him, I made him think he had a reason for what he did, and I made a reason for why he needed Blake. I pulled things from my own experience, even some thoughts from my own head during some of my worst moments, stressed over whether or not it was respectful to abuse victims, made tweaks, deleted most of those tweaks anyways, then pressed ‘post’ and hoped. And instead of the hell I was expecting, I got a lot of positive feedback and no accusation at all. People told me that, rather than coming across as redeeming him, I was making him even more frightening by making him more realistic. In fact, every single piece of feedback praised the fact that he actually had motivation and was a character in his own right, but was still despicable. I think I did lose a couple readers - there were a couple that had been leaving a lot of feedback and suddenly disappeared around the same time as that chapter was posted, and I still wonder if it was because of that. But I got a rush of confidence, because I’d actually accomplished what I’d set out to do. I was walking that line, and more importantly, people could actually see what I was doing.
Now, here we are. I don't think I'm doing anything unique, or special. Honestly, I don’t even really think I’m all that good of an author, overall. I'm just doing what I wish more writers would - depict a mentality that they don’t have. Maybe they're scared to, maybe they don't understand, or maybe they just don't have an interest in how these people think. And every single one of those viewpoints are valid. If someone isn’t comfortable with a character, or concept, or relationship, they should not write it. That’s why I’m doing it - I figured that if I understood it, I was interested in it, and I felt brave enough to try, then there was no reason not to give it a shot. Actually, I sort of felt like I had a responsibility to - like I said before, I have experience. But I’m not traumatized, nor are those memories terribly painful for me anymore. 
So, I use them. Because I know there are people who can’t share their experiences because it’ll bring up too much pain and suffering. Because I know there are people who think they know a monster when they see one, but think that the person that won’t stop texting them, that convinces them to do things they’re not comfortable with, that makes them feel small, ‘isn’t like that’. Because I know there are people who see the Adam in RWBY canon and genuinely do not understand why everyone hates him so much, or why he was portrayed the way he was.
I write Adam as a dynamic character because I want everyone who reads this FR&H to understand the fact that abusers are real people, not plot devices, or horror stories. People that maybe could have been helped, could have turned their lives around, if someone had seen what they were becoming sooner.
But once habits are set, once they’ve sunk into what they want the world to be, once they’ve built a fragile world around themselves, you cannot help them anymore. All you can do is not be a part of that world.
Thanks for reading, guys. <3
19 notes · View notes
myrskytuuli · 6 years
Text
Holy hell, okay, this is not a drill. Goldie O’Gilt is making an appearance in a comic, and it’s not a cameo.
So, my drug dealer got me hooked with some 2017 Topolino, and I need to scream about it, because Goldie!
Tumblr media
That’s right, she is back, and looks absolutely stunning.
So, this is an Italian comic, and therefore it can be expected that the tragic romance™, that is more popular in the post-Rosa duck comic tradition, has been toned down a lot. Now full disclosure, I’m shipper trash and am fully committed to the tragic romance™. I wrote a 50 000+ words fanfic about it. I am also known sufferer of Brigitta MacBridge nonsense, so while this rant might be biased, I try to be biased in a gentle way. It’s not your fault Brigitta, that you have been written that way. Or that Scrooge and Goldie are soulmates. Ahem.
But to the comic itself. There are lots of things I love about it, and then there are some things that make me side-eye it in vaguely disapproving manner. I swear, not all of those reasons are shipping reasons. Okay yeah they pretty much are.
Tumblr media
(Quick, follow me to the kitchen, you can throw a coffeepot on my face, and we can roleplay our night together in White Agony Creek anew!)
The premise of the story is pretty much, what if Goldie and Brigitta properly met? It’s…not a lot. There is no plot beyond: what if Goldie and Brigitta had a girls’ day out. Which I guess is fine, because that is all it is supposed to be. It is a slice of life character study. Usually I’m all about those, but…well Goldie doesn’t really shine when you don’t give her anything to do. In Rosa/Barks stories (which are the only stories where we see Goldie as a character) the focus has never been solely on anyone’s feelings. They have been very action-packed stories with any hinted romance taking a firm backseat.  
What I’m trying to say is, that I’m disappointed that Goldie didn’t get to join in any of those silly Italian adventures. Not even little bit of shenanigans. Aww, and it could have been so fun too.  
Tumblr media
(You mean you didn’t come all this way just to ravish me against this discount-yard-sale table?)
Goldie is in Duckburg to collect a debt that Scrooge owes him. Solid beginning. Unfortunately, we never see her collecting this debt! The money issue is dropped from the story way too quickly for my tastes. Because while I 100% believe that Scrooge would avoid having to pay up any dubious debts, I do not believe that Goldie would give up that quickly.
And even more importantly, it would have been hilarious to see some actual petty shenanigans going on between these two. Note that it is mentioned that the original debt was 20$, which Goldie is trying to claim back with stupidly high compound interest. There is a story right there, nothing else needed. Just show me the ridiculous lengths these two are willing to go for 20$, while the rest of Duckburg watches in horror and bafflement. Also, hint that the real reason why these two keep the conflict going is that this way they can spend time together without actually talking about their feelings. Boom, story done. God, they should hire me to make scripts for these comics.
No?
Okay fine, let’s see what the actual story is all about.  
Oh yes. Brigitta. This story was all about Brigitta.
Tumblr media
For no good reason whatsoever, Brigitta loses all of her cools over the situation.
1.Don’t call him your Scrooge. You don’t own him.
2.Don’t call Goldie a dusty memory, that’s rude.
3.Goldie had the receipts, she has a genuine claim for that 20$, she’s not doing anything wrong for you to start insulting her!
Yes, yes, she is jealous and all that jazz, but honestly. It’s pretty hypocritical of her to “protect” Scrooge and his 20$ when Brigitta herself so frequently is an antagonist against Scrooge.
The following temper tantrum from Goldie delights me to no end, not because it is aimed towards Brigitta, but because it lines up so perfectly with all of my headcanons for Goldie. Sure, she might act cool and dignified these days, but deep down she is still the hair-trigger tempered diva, that would stay inside a burning building just for the aesthetic.
This has nothing to do with Scrooge, and everything to do with the fact that you called her old. This primadonna will now destroy you mentally, because that’s how she rolls. You will not disrespect the original material girl without consequences.  
Tumblr media
(I am the only person who has ever conquered Scrooge. Wow okay there Goldie, maybe tone it down a bit. I mean, yeah girl you are…but maybe don’t overshare too much.)
Was that kind of a bitchy move? Yes. She is kind of a bitchy person.
My next grumble about this story, is the weird way it deals with Scrooge. I cannot say anything specific…but there is just a really weird vibe to how he is written in here. The weird inner monologue on how he might be able to use the two women against each other to get rid of both of them…was…um.  
While my first impression on Goldie’s, I am Scrooge’s number one love interest, speech seemed to be a bit beneath her, I then realised that she isn’t actually saying anything about her own regard for Scrooge. She is bragging about how Scrooge used to be bewitched by her, because that is the kind of thing that a dancehall girl would brag about. Pffft, yes it was Scrooge who was losing his mind over me back in Klondike, I was cool as a cucumber the whole time. Scrooge was nothing more than another notch on my bedpost. I have a heart made of ice, haven’t you heard.
Anyways, Scrooge decides to get rid of Brigitta by confirming everything Goldie just said. And I know that the story wants us to take Scrooge’s words with a grain of salt, because they are just a plan to get Brigitta to leave him alone….which does nothing to make me sympathise with Brigitta.
Putting my shipper heart on the side, pretending to be in love with someone else, to get rid of an admirer, does not create tension for ambiguous love triangle. It is what girls do in crowded bars when some drunk guy doesn’t leave them alone.
Tumblr media
(Sorry Brigitta, but can you please leave. I was hoping to get conquered tonight, if you know what I mean.) 
Tumblr media
(They look like mom and dad getting yelled at by their daughter.)
Once again! What exactly are you mad about!? Which part of, I’m in love with someone else, gives you reason to get angry at them???? Remember that Brigitta at least is supposed to believe Scrooge to be fully sincere in his statement.  
Back to Scrooge being a little shit. In a way, I want to be mad about this, but I’m not going to. Because lets not mystify Goldie too much, and pretty much all the rest of Scrooge’s family and loved ones have at least once been sent through that trap door.
Tumblr media
No, let me grumble a little bit after all. I would heartily endorse this, if this was actually about the 20$. But it’s not. The whole thing is framed so that Goldie can have the great epiphany, this is how Brigitta must always feel!
Oh please.
Also, I think that we are supposed to be angry at Scrooge for being so callous towards both of the ladies, so that we can root for them becoming friends later. Which, yeah fine, but do we really have to. One of the things I most despise in Brigitta centred stories is that they by default make Scrooge into a dick. They have to. The whole story has to be built on the idea that Scrooge is just afraid of girl cooties, and therefore has to be pushed a little, so that he will eventually play nice, even with a girl. It is the only way to make Brigitta’s advances feel somehow justified. And in this case the characterisation bleeds to include Goldie under the umbrella of women that I don’t want anywhere near me, because women cost money or whatever.
So, it mostly feels like Goldie has to be booted out of the office, so she doesn’t trick Scrooge into marriage or some other sneaky thing that women are always doing. Sighs eternally. 
Tumblr media
(Oh my god, she is a serial killer. No one else has this many pictures of one person on their walls.)
But this story isn’t even about Scrooge. It is about female friendship. Which is a beautiful thing, and really this story does manage to do lot of things right.
Tumblr media
(Hey, can I crash on your couch? Turns out that Scrooge didn’t like it how I called him my conquest in front of you and the staff. He’s always been a bit of a prude like that.)
I’m not really fan of the whole, we have lots in common thing, because they…don’t. And the whole, I now understand your perspective, because now I have been rejected too… doesn’t really work, because Goldie wasn’t proposing anything in the first place. Remember how she was here for that 20$! I do! Can we get back to that! Goldie wasn’t asking Scrooge out, wasn’t asking him to marry her, she was asking for money, and getting the cold shoulder for that should not come as some kind of an epiphany!
Nevermind. That’s cute as heck, I don’t even care how we got there.
Tumblr media
Goldie would make a good mentor for Brigitta. As would Scrooge. The world would be a better place if Brigitta was treated like an over-enthusiastic businesswoman who wants to learn all of Scrooge’s tricks, and Scrooge was treated like grumpy, slightly unwilling teacher.
Tumblr media
(So, what was Scrooge like when he was young? Oh, you know, very conquerable.)
Tumblr media
Why is her hair silver, what is this travesty, colouring person you had one job!
Goldie tells Brigitta the story of sleeping pills, thievery, forced labour, kidnappings, and other general criminal activities that make up their tragic romance™.
Tumblr media
(Oh, so when you slip him a pill on a first date, it makes you morally complex, but if I did that it would be just creepy and weird!)
(Context Brigitta, it’s all about the context!)
Tumblr media
If I was Brigitta, I would feel a bit wary drinking anything with her, after the story she just told.
Tumblr media
And then I almost got my hopes up, that something amazing was going to happen! Brigitta started to self-reflect upon herself, and doubting the way her life is now constructed. She admitted that she doesn’t have a positive relationship with Scrooge, and that maybe she is wasting her life. For a moment there, I thought that Brigitta was going to develop as a character.
Tumblr media
There was a moment. A glorious moment, when I really thought that this was where the official policy concerning Brigitta was going to be changed, and she would stop trying to marry Scrooge. I did get my hopes up.
Aaaaaand, then this happened. 
Tumblr media
I guess it was inevitable, that Brigitta would get a cheerleading speech from Goldie, to bring back the status quo, but damn does it still feel weird. While I completely, 100% support Goldie’s you are a good and smart woman, if Scrooge doesn’t want that it’s his loss, that is where it should have ended.
Because the part about: because your feelings are painful it means that your love is real, and you shouldn’t give up on them, is complete nonsense. If a relationship is hurting you, it is not worth pursuing!!! Goldie implying that Brigitta’s hurt feelings are the reason she shouldn’t give up on Scrooge, I asdfghjkl, what the fuck!!!!
Secondly, that’s all well and dandy that Goldie now thinks that Brigitta’s love is real, but how exactly does that change anything?! You don’t think that maybe it should be Scrooge who gets to decide who is allowed to make romantic advances towards him!
Scrooge is not an object whose ownership you get to negotiate amongst yourselves!!
Tumblr media
more, or less direct translation: you have continued to beat on to conquer who you love.
That is not a good thing!!
Tumblr media
Yeah whatever. Goldie is his past, maybe Brigitta can be his future. Great. And I guess these two making a friendship with each other and admitting that both have the equal right to present themselves as options of romance for Scrooge is kind of mature and respectful towards everyone, if Brigitta wasn’t…you know Brigitta. She has not been known to respect Scrooge’s boundaries.
Tumblr media
Goldie makes some great faces in here, and I will fully enjoy them. Even if I at the same time roll my eyes at the mandatory, lets punish Scrooge part of any Brigitta comic. You do know that while maybe him booting you, Goldie, out of the office could be seen as mean, he did absolutely nothing disrespectful towards Brigitta. Scrooge owes her zero apologies, because he never even said a mean word towards her! Brigitta had her whole sulk, because she thought that you two were hooking up. That’s not a crime.
Tumblr media
In this continuity, I can understand that Scrooge would prefer to be married to his money. Because these women are written kind of unreasonable.
Tumblr media
The inevitable self-reflection. Scrooge admits that both women are important parts of his life, and that he does care for both of their well-being. Cute, believable, satisfying. Well done everyone. I still firmly believe that Scrooge sees Brigitta more as a younger sibling than potential lover. But that’s just a headcanon, so feel free to come to your own conclusions. 
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(That is a duck who feels uncomfortable.)
The ladies return to the money bin just in time to eavesdrop on Scrooge’s monologue, and find out that he cared for them both after all. And honestly, I think these pictures tell everything that needs to be said about how much Scrooge cares about Brigitta’s advances.  
God, she looks cute, I forgive this story for everything, Goldie is too adorable.
Tumblr media
Well, I guess that this was the first time that Goldie has made a proper appearance in the Italian duck universe, and all in all, not bad. Maybe I will get an entirely new look on the story, if it gets properly translated, and I don’t have to play the I’m pretty sure I know what this means, game.
Congrats if you made it all the way here, these ramblings were long.
Ankkaneito returns back to the hole, where she came from.
123 notes · View notes
tell--your--world · 7 years
Text
Building (a) Character
I created my first character when I was eleven. He was a neurotic, red-shelled turtle monster (a Koopa Troopa to those familiar with the Mario games), and his name was Rookooth. Being “cannon fodder”, he had a fatalistic outlook on life, responding to perceived threats by either asking to be killed quickly or fainting.
That's literally all there was to the character. He had no depth and served no real purpose. Every fiction writer has to start somewhere, though, and I'm glad to say that as I grew older and started thinking about my favorite characters more deeply, my creations grew deeper as well.
In general, characters can be divided into two groups; major and background. Major characters are your core group, whose exploits are the story's focus, and a supporting cast of friends, rivals and others who interact often with the core group. Background characters exist to make the world richer, and range from the nameless bartender who is only seen once to familiar faces who put in small, frequent appearances. It's normal for writers to put more effort into their main cast, but don't make the mistake of ignoring the rest of the world. You might not think they matter as much, but trust me, your readers will know if you don't put the effort in.
So how do you build a character? Sometimes you don't have to. You might need a teacher and be able to picture her immediately, right down to her mannerisms and style of dress. But other times you'll struggle just to decide on the gender of your lead’s best friend, and that can be frustrating. Ultimately the only way to develop a character is to write them, but here’s a simple method to get started.
The first question is, what role does the character play? Are they the star of the show, or the antagonist? Are they a relative of one of your main cast or are they a reporter who only appears once to harass the police about a crime? Once you know why they're in the story, imagine them with a stereotypical portrayal. That's the template you're going to build from. Background characters don't need much else to start, so we'll come back to them later. For now, think about your main cast and try to sum them up with one phrase: the smart friend, the rival, the love interest, the outcast. You won't have a comprehensive list of every main character when you first start writing, so only label the ones you know you need or can already picture. When you're done, you can start developing them.
The most important thing to know about each major character is what they want and why. Let's bring back our ghostly protagonist from the last post as an example: he wants to be left alone because he was bullied in life. This motivates him to drive off anyone who enters his home. Later, when he learns that the kid he scared is also being bullied, he decides to effectively haunt them because…? Does he want to protect the kid, or are the bullies just a stand-in for his own tormentors so he can finally have some revenge?
Don't limit yourself with moral concerns when you're figuring out what motivates your characters. It's perfectly all right to have a mean-spirited hero or a villain who isn't pure evil. But your protagonist, in particular, needs to be likable, so don't go overboard. No character should ever exist simply so you can do whatever you want without consequences.
Once you know what your cast wants, develop their backstories. If the smart one in an academic setting wants an A on every test because his parents expect it, you already have the outline of a childhood spent striving for perfection. Take a moment to build on that - does he always do what his parents want, or does he have a rebellious streak? Can you think of anything specific that happened to him growing up? - then look at his goal again and ask, does he really want that? Or does he have his own dream? Compare the goal and backstory, and make whatever changes come to mind until it feel right. Then ask yourself what the pros and cons of his upbringing are. Maybe he's a musician or artist on top of being academically smart, but at the cost of low self-esteem and no free time to spend with his friends. Maybe the stress of trying to be perfect has given him health issues.
This is a good time to warn you against the cringe-inducing perfection known in fanfic circles as a Mary-Sue (or Gary-Stu if male). On the most basic level this is a character who's literally too good to be true. If our previous example was a musician, artist, and genius who was also physically fit and the confident leader of his group of friends, we would have a perfect example of a Gary-Stu. Want to make him even worse? He's also handsome and can have any girl he wants, but is too gentlemanly to ever mistreat one. Would you want to read about this character?
Let's look at another example. Your main character is perfectly ordinary, and she makes sure to remind the readers of this fact often. Despite her painful normality she has the attention of some of the most desirable boys in school, but is also too nice to just pick one for fear of hurting the other(s). She's not perfect in the sense of her accomplishments, but the way she always gets exactly what she wants in the end makes her intolerable.
It's a common misperception that Mary-Sues can be avoided by giving the character a few flaws. But this rarely solves the true problem, which is the lack of realism. The key isn't to give them flaws, but consequences. If they spend all their time honing their mental skills, their social lives and physical abilities will suffer. If they're nothing special, they aren't likely to get together with the most popular guy in town unless they’ve already been friends for years. And no matter their social status or ability, please don't put a young character in a position of power unless they have a mentor or adviser making the real decisions. Your older cast isn't going to go for it, and in all likelihood, neither will your readers.
Another problem to avoid is the villain who's evil for the sake of being evil. Every enemy your protagonists face should have a reason for doing what they do, even if that reason is simply a need to eat. In fact, if you want a truly interesting villain, don't create him to be evil at all. It's true that some people will know that their actions are wrong and simply not care, but unless your antagonist is mentally ill, they should see themselves as the hero. They should be able to justify their actions as necessary to achieve their goals, or else have a belief system which makes their actions okay - if they grew up in a culture where slavery is normal and death is the sentence for certain crimes, their perception of moral behavior will be very different from that of someone who has never kept a slave and hates the idea of a death sentence.
You can also make villains more sympathetic this way. Perhaps the leader of a movement has a taboo against killing children because he can't justify it to himself, or a terrorist treats women with respect because he was raised to be a gentleman. Ask yourself how he behaves with those close to him - unless they have a reason to keep others at arm's length, most villains will have friends, family, or even subordinates whom they care about to some extent. Once you know who your villain is, all you need to do to make him the bad guy is show how other characters talk about or react to him. The stalker who equates possessive behavior with love will look much different from the outside.
Regardless of role, it's not necessary to show a given character’s history unless it has plot relevance. The backstories are primarily for your use, and can be as vague or detailed as you need them to be. In general, the protagonist should have the most developed past, followed by any character whose history impacts the present day. Background characters only need enough history to make the world interesting: if the shopkeeper who only makes one appearance hates the king, take a moment to figure out why. Others might feel the same way for similar reasons.
Once you know who the characters are and what they want, there's nothing left to do but to start writing them. Take a scene you know you'll need and see how those involved interact. Use their motivations and what you know of their upbringing to influence their behavior. It might feel awkward at first, but as you get the feel for their personalities, it'll be easier to decide how they should act in various situations. And again, don't neglect the background characters. The stereotype you assigned them earlier gives you something to work with while drafting a scene, but at some point you need to give them a bit of history or a visible quirk to make them feel real. Your readers will notice flat characters, so it's worth taking a few minutes to give them life. They - and the world you're creating - will thank you.
If you're curious about my fanworks or want a better idea of my abilities as a writer, you can find my fics on the following sites: just remember that older stories and chapters don't reflect my current writing style, and are slated for editing.
My AO3 account:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkDecepticon
My fanfiction.net account:
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4428055/
If you wish to support this blog on Patreon, you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/darkstarofchaos
2 notes · View notes
kalinara · 7 years
Text
I was rewatching Leviathan and River of Time recently (1x13 and 1x14 of Legends of Tomorrow), and it got me realizing that I have a lot of incoherent feelings about the relationship between Rip Hunter and Kendra Saunders.
I mean, ultimately, they don’t have a LOT of interaction in season one, which really annoys me because it’s these two characters who were most directly victimized by Vandal Savage.  Kendra even starts off the season in a very similar position to Rip, having lost a child (Aldis) and a spouse (Carter).
The interaction that they do have is pretty interesting though: we see the extent to which Rip will go specifically to bring Carter’s body back for an injured Kendra in Blood Ties.  We see Rip’s concern over Kendra’s control over her inner nature leading him to pair Kendra and Sara up so they can help each other in White Knights.  We see him put her “in charge of Ray” who has been made temporary Captain in Marooned.  And we see her gently tease him in Last Refuge.  But there’s a lot that remained unexplored.  And that’s a shame, given the investment that they share in the main quest.
Well, the investment that they SHOULD have shared.  If the writers didn’t keep sidelining Kendra into romantic plots that, while cute, tended to downplay her role as Savage’s primary target.  I’m still annoyed that when Kendra was arguing with Ray about staying aboard the Waverider in Left Behind, the writers gave her a line about adventure, as opposed to “I want to kill the guy who keeps hunting me down and MURDERING ME.”
Narrative issues aside though, I’ve always liked the respect that Rip consistently showed to Kendra regarding her role on the team and in the quest.  I remember reading a recent fan complaint about Rip “thinking that he had more right to kill Savage than Kendra did” and that boggled me because that’s not remotely what happened.
At no point has Kendra OR Rip ever tried to dismiss or belittle each other’s suffering at Savage’s hands.  And at no point has either character ever tried to claim any “more right” to kill Savage over the other.  In fact, I think it’s safe to say that either character would have been overjoyed if the other had managed to permanently destroy their enemy.
From the beginning, the plan had been for Kendra (or Carter) to kill Savage.  They were the only ones that could.  That was the point of the dagger.  That was also the point of the bracelet/mace in Leviathan.  In order to kill Savage permanently, they needed an item which had been present when Savage killed the Hawks the first time.  Heck, Leviathan ENDED with Rip basically begging Kendra to finish the job, but she couldn’t, because she had to save Carter.
That’s why River of Time ends up being really interesting as a Rip-and-Kendra episode though, because while they do not interact much at all during the episode, that relationship was the catalyst for nearly all of Rip’s decisions within the episode.
From the opening scene, we saw Snart, Mick, and even Sara, being very unhappy that Savage was in the brig and not dead.  It was RIP who supported Kendra’s decision.  He understood why she wanted to save Carter and he wasn’t willing to try to force her to do anything else.  That’s why he was so happy to finally have proof of Savage’s time manipulation.  That’s why they went to Vanishing Point: to find a way to deal with Savage that wouldn’t destroy Carter (Scythian) all over again.
That’s why he pushed them so hard.  That’s why he endangered Jax.  If Kendra had been able to kill Savage, then none of this would have been necessary.  
This is NOT to say that ANY of this was Kendra’s fault.  She may have been Rip’s motivation, but Rip made his OWN bad decisions.
I liked Legendary a lot.  The resolution worked about as well as any would, and it was suitably climactic.  I do tend to wish that it had been structured a little differently though.  As satisfying as it was to see Savage die three times over, I felt a lot less investment in Mick or Sara’s fight against Savage.  Neither of them had any real connection to the man or suffered at his hands, after all.  I might have liked it better if Carter, Kendra, and Rip had gotten those kills.
But on the other hand, maybe it was better this way.  The third kill was the one that actually mattered after all.  And this way, Rip and Kendra were able to kill him together.  She got the final blow.  He got to twist the knife afterward.  That’s probably as fair as it was going to get.
I do wish we’d gotten a little follow up moment with the two of them though, once everything was finished.  But I suppose that’s what fanfic is for.
26 notes · View notes
its-love-u-asshole · 7 years
Note
asks for fanfic writers: #10-30
 Oh wow *_* First off thank you for the ask??? and your curiosity too lmaoo I know a lot of my answers will probably be boring but oh well, here goes! 
how do you do your researches? 
Well, I feel like I don’t write super complex AUs, so I rarely go into super in depth research, but when I do I usually just start with a google search or visit writing help blogs. I have several bookmarks on character analyses, strengths, virtues, and ways of showing emotion that really help me write sometimes when I’m struggling. Reading fics that are similar to what I’m going for also helps A TON omg. So yeah, nothing specific, but I do have my go-tos ^^
do you listen to music when writing?
Yes lol all the time. Half of my fics are based on specific songs as is? Like seriously name one and I could give you the song behind it honestly lmfao. So usually when a fic is inspired by a song or genre I tend to listen to it while I write!
favorite place to write
I’d say I write most productively when I’m sitting at a desk or table to be honest, when I’m on break from school I write at my parents’ dining room table because it’s really peaceful and in a closed off section of the house. Otherwise though, I write in bed because I’m lazy af orz
hardest character to write
For K, I’d say Yata (besides all the minor characters, who can be tough too, but I feel like I have a bit of wiggle room for them at least). While I don’t dislike how I write Yata, it’s always a lot harder for me than writing Saruhiko for some reason. Plus there’s lots of authors who I admire that write him SO AMAZINGLY and I’m just…I am but a pleb. 
easiest character to write
Saruhiko because I am difficult and emo just like he is -shot- In all honestly though, it’s mostly because exploring his character and thinking about how he’d act in certain situations is a lot easier and more fun for me for some reason, I don’t know ha. But yeah, I’d say writing Saruhiko is a lot more fluid for me! 
hardest verse to write
Oh man, definitely Shaking in My Skull for K project pft. It’s my favorite verse really, but sometimes it gives me a lot of issues plot wise. I worry about making it too boring or slow, and sometimes I wonder if I explain things enough, and it’s always a fight between dialogue and actions klsdnfkdsj *cough* But yeah, it’s troublesome but it’s one of my favorite ideas so I must go on lol
easiest verse to write
Nothing is easy for me to write because I suffer lmfao. But errr, maybe There You Are? Mm don’t get me wrong I know I must’ve struggled with it when I was writing it but compared to the stuff I write now, I think I finished it rather quickly, and even wrote a sequel pretty painlessly so ^^
favorite AU to write 
I love weird AUs lmaooo, like as much as coffee shops and model aus and fake dating are the best (I could read them all day ffff) I love stuff involving supernatural elements and special abilities or really weird first meetings? Like even if it’s not supernatural force just…really strange, unique scenarios always get me very excited
favorite pairing to write 
HOW DARE LOL I have no idea orz Tbh I’ve written saru-mi for so long that it’ll always hold a special place in my heart, and while I’m expanding my fandoms, it’ll definitely hold one of my top spots for a long time ^^ I love my boys ; ;
favorite fandom to write
I really haven’t written for many fandoms so I can’t say either way honestly fffff, I love K, but I also love HQ (especially right now ahh) but it really depends on the mood I’m in. Lately I’ve had pretty bad writer’s block too so I haven’t been writing much for either orz
favorite character to write
Again I’d say Saruhiko for this, because exploring his personality and thought process is so interesting and fun to me, he’s really complex but also a pain in the butt and I love him *_*
least favorite character to write
Probably Mikoto xD I really don’t get why, he’s just so reserved with words and I am a dialogue whore so that’s probably why haha
favorite story you’ve ever written
I don’t think I can pick honestly, I’m very attached to my ideas ha (whether or not I execute them well) but fffff out of my finished stuff I’d say At Your Service or Keep It in the Chat, mostly because they were super fun and silly and those are my favorite types of fics ^^
least favorite story you’ve ever written
Pencils and Paper probably, I just personally don’t think it was my best writing looking back. I wish I could’ve done it more justice, because the request was super cute and amazing, but weh I think it was wasted on me because I was still a newcomer in the fandom :P
favorite scene you’ve ever written
Oooo that’s so hard *sweats* FFF I feel like its from a fic I haven’t posted yet honestly lmao but out of what I have posted, maybe the scene in Shaking in My Skill chapter 5 where the S4 squad mourns Saruhiko, I just really love writing S4 family ughhh I adore them so much, and I got to write my brotp SaruSeri too so it was great!
favorite line you’ve ever written
Damn lmao that’s so many to choose from…hmm this one from my kuro-tsuki fic? It’s the most recent one I remember ha
Kuroo closed the gap between them as if he were the tide pulled by the moon, giving into the gravitational forces of his emotions, of Tsukishima standing so closed off but there, willing despite it all.
story you’re most proud of
Either Shaking in My Skull or one I have not yet finished or posted, it’s a saru-mi fic lmao so hopefully one day it sees the light of day. 
best review you ever got
I got a really sweet review on Chasing the Rush a little over a month ago from ckttt_sabi and it honestly made my day. Especially to get a comment so nice on my first fic for the pairing…it honestly made me so happy. They told me they loved my characterizations and how the characters interacted and how they wanted to see more from me, so I was really flattered. It meant a lot
worst review you ever got 
I’ve gotten quite a few where people would complain about how my smut fics shouldn’t be misaru they should be saru-mi, and it was just really annoying. Not necessarily negative but meh, its a big letdown to get a comment and that’s all it says -shrugs- 
favorite story/poem of another author
If we are talking fanfic, from K one of my favorite fics (tho there are a ton) would have to be Peak (Call Time) by melonsflesh on ao3 @yatatsukki
and for HQ I would have to say…Hidden Gem by realmSpinner omg it’s ongoing but it’s an amazing fic *_*
hardest part of writing
Everything lmao (just kidding), ummm for me, it’s definitely trying to keep the story from being too stiff. As in like…I feel like I tend to just rattle off actions in fics like “oh this happened and then he did this and then he said this” and I always have to try to flesh stuff out and put in details to make it more real and entertaining I think. 
Once again, thanks so much for the ask!
2 notes · View notes
Text
Homestuck High - Chapter 2
Homestuck high Chapter 2: Karkats incident and Jades secret, a homestuck fanfic | FanFiction
hi guys this is chapter 2. i finished chapter 1 a while back b4 my other beta reder got busy wit school since she didnt start then so now my otherfriend said shed beta it insted. ITS A LOT BETTER NOW THNK U SO MUUUUUCH CAROLYN UR A BETTER EDITER THAN JANE.
~Why do I have a feeling it's gonna be worse
Everyone went to teh hospitl
~Knew it
to see Karkat. He was in a comma. Everyone was crying, even Dave was crying a little bit because he and Karkat were best frends. They did lots of things togther (AN: no gay stuff tho! thats gross!)
~RIP Davekat
and so he was upset Karkat would try and do this to himself.
~Is the author going to explain why Karkat decided "OH SHIT LET'S COMMIT SUICIDE FOR SEEMINGLY NO REASON THAT'S A GOOD IDEA YEP 10/10"
"Is he gonna be allright" John inquisisted the doctor
~Inquisisted
"If it wasnt for you kids he wouldnt be" the doctor said
~A: What did they do to help him?
~B: The author just admitted that the kids are in fact still children despite the fact that none of them seem to be virgins
"So he is going to be okay?" Dave weeped
"He will suffer amnesiea and may never walk again" the doctor solemnly said.
~Hold on, amnesia is caused by brain damage, but paralysis is caused by damage to the spine. What did Karkat do to damage both his brain AND spine?
"NO!" Dave escalated loudly
~Escalated loudly
John and Rose were waiting outside. Rose was very upset. She dated Karkat when she was younger and she lost her virginity to him.
~A: Rose is a lesbian
~B: How the fuck did Karkat date her when she was younger? They were in different universes!
He was her first love and she never really gog
~Gog
over him.
"I cant believe he would do this hes so emo" Rose moaned
~Why is everyone either goth or emo
"I am sorry!" John proclaimed
~What does John have to do with this?
"John" Rose said seductivley "Can u take my mind off it"
~Rose no stop it
John gulped. He knew what Rose wanted but he wasnt sure if he was ready for it yet. Rose was a sex goddess
~And a minor
and he was a geek who never got less than 100 perfect in any lessons. But he had no scores in the sex department.
~So he got 0% in Sex-Ed? But he never got less than 100% in any lessons? YOU CAN'T FOOL ME, I SEE THROUGH YOUR LIES
"Rose" John pronounced "I do not think now is the right time!"
"U want to wait?" Rose raised her eyebbrow
"I want are first time to be specil" John announced
~Specil
"Ok" Rose said moodily.
Five days later Karkat woke up from his coma and everyone came to pick him up. Dave was very happy his friend was awake and brought along cheetos and pepsi to celebrate.
~i specifically requested apple juice rose wheres my fucking aj
The girls had been to thhe beach and so they were in their bikinis.
~Stop
Rose was wearing a lethar tight string thang bikini which showed of her private areas
~I said stop it now
while Jade wore a black lacey one with a 'D' over her left boob becase she loved Dave.
~S T O P
"He is suffering with severe head tramaur" the doctor said shakily "he does not remember his name!"
~I want an enter name screen. How about "cancerous fuckwad" *badum tshhh*
Everyone gasped.
"No! Karkat!" Dave discharged
"Who is Karkat my name is Tarvos" Karkat said questioninly
~Orange is the new Grey
"He can no longer walk either he must go in a wheelchair" said doctor We do not know if he will recover
~Dear lord he's really becoming Tavros
"How could this happen" Gamzee shot "All he want was to be normal"
They all left the hospital and Karkat was rolling himself happily while everyone was crying they had lost one of their best freinds and school would no longer be the same how were they supposed to hang around with him now he was in awheelchar.
~Forget his amnesia and probable brain damage, him being in a wheelchair is the most important issue!
To lighten the mood they decided to go to mcdonnalds and so they all went there and ordered burgers and chips and chicken nuggest for everyone to eat except for vriska who ate the napkins instead.
~But why though
"Golly I REALLY like these chicken nuggets" Karkat happily said
~Priorities
"Karkat..." Dave began "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM."
"My name is Tarvos! Not Karkat!" Karkat exclamated. He smashed the chicken nugget down on the table and squished it like a bug as he looked at the floor. He was ANGRY.
~Calm down
Gamzee sighed "I guess we shall call him Tarvos"
"YAY" Karkat, now Tarvos sang explendidly.
~Why is he so persistent in his belief that he's Tavros? Or sorry, "Tarvos". If I got serious brain damage, was told I had amnesia, and people kept telling me my name was Joe or something, I would probably believe them
"These napkins taste like piss" Vriska snooted as she gobbled one up.
~Why are you eating the napkins then?
"I used that one to wipe myself after I peed..." Jade whimpered.
~A. What the fuck
~B. And you put it back!?
"Ok" Vriska said, munching away.
~What the hell Vriska why are you ok with this
"When did you go to pee" Rose asked curiously
~Wait, if Rose doesn't remember Jade going to the bathroom, that means she did it at the table. What the fuck is wrong with you people?
Jade looked down at the floor while fiddling with his black lace panties "When you all weren't looking...I..I needed to take a pregnancy test."
"WHAT!" everyone but Feferi exclaimed because she was too cool
~feferi give me my fucking shades back
"Dave..." Jade began "I AM PREGNANT!
~
Tumblr media
~I already used this image in the last story but I don't care
gasp! Jade is PG!
~That's not what PG stands for
what will happn now! will karkat get better? REVIEW
~This story's pacing is so weird. I'm 99% sure they were just coming up with plot points as they wrote, which would explain Karkat's shit suddenly doing an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle into the embrace of a failed suicide attempt causing shit to get into an unstable relationship with the fan leading to several years of relationship counselling and dear god what am I even writing
~Anyways, from this point onwards, I have no idea what's going to happen in the story, so wish me luck as I burrow fuck deep into the hellhole that is this fanfiction
2 notes · View notes
Text
Terra Application
Canon Character Application Form
Roleplayer’s name: Fe[licia]
Age: 20
Gender: Gal
Predicted average weekly activity level: I should be able to meet the requirements for all 3 characters. Occasionally, due to my demanding and fluctuating schedule I may be forced to prioritize replies based on what character is most essential to current plots. In those cases, I will ensure that at least one reply is done for each character in a week’s time to not hold up the group. OOC I’ll be fairly active as I almost always have an internet device with Skype on me, even during most of my classes.
Time zone: Eastern
Anything else you want us to know?: Hi I’m the admin and this will be my…. 6th year roleplaying Teen Titans. I was also the admin of 2 other RPGs. This group has been built from the ashes of those, and is designed to take my previous visions and make it a reality.
This app contains information about Terra herself, as well as a clone that comes to believe she is Terra.
Character’s superhero/villain name: Terra (she may change this eventually to have an actual alias).
Character’s civilian name: Tara Markov, but she tends to go by Terra more often. Clone!Terra initially believes her name is Ashley.
Superhero, villain, undecided, antihero, or other: Undecided, but most likely will return to being a superhero. Terra is trying to live a normal life with the occasional do-gooding, but will soon be dragged back into the superhero lifestyle. Clone-Terra initially wants nothing to do with the Titans (as evident in the episode Things Change), but as more memories appear she finds herself involved with them once again.
Affiliated with: None atm, but possibly Titans East or another Titans Branch in the future. After such a traumatic experience with the main Titans she may be a bit hesitant to rejoin their ranks.  
Age: 16 (almost 17)
Physical characteristics: Terra is rather plain looking. She is a blonde with blue eyes, but is scrawny and lacks feminine charm. She often simply wears her long hair down, and has plain clothing. She tends to part her hair down the middle these days. She is modest, and is fairly insecure about her appearance. When she chooses to associate herself with the Titans, she wears a black long-sleeved shirt with a yellow T printed on it. She may develop a different costume in the future.
Personality traits: Terra can come off as self-assured and confident, especially when she wishes to impress new people. Lies slip off her tongue with ease, and she has become rather good at manipulating others for her own needs. She knows how to make other take pity on her, due to the tragedies she has experienced. She also possesses a good sense of humor and can fall into witty banter with friends. She has no qualms about hanging ‘with the guys’, and can display some boyish habits. She can sometimes be loud, selfish, disruptive, disagreeable, or opinionated. Despite her dark past, Terra generally wants to do what is right, but sometimes needs some guidance.  
However, underneath her confident façade, Terra is an insecure teenager with mental instability (and most likely a mental illness). She finds it difficult to trust, and jumps to conclusions when she feels betrayed. However, she is sometimes too quick to trust. She still sometimes feels like she cannot fully control her powers, and likewise, the occurrences in her life. Due to the effects of her unstable powers, Terra had learned to be a loner, but she still craves acceptance. Terra regrets many of her previous actions.
Special abilities: Terra is able to shape and move earth, rocks, and mud. She has previously manipulated a volcano, but it resulted in her being turned into stone so she dares not try it. She is still not in complete control of her abilities and may require additional training to reach a desirable level. She can use rocks as vehicles to travel with, as well. 
Clone!Terra does not have evidence of powers right away.
Character history: Terra grew up in the kingdom of Markovia as a princess. She was actually the result of an affair the Queen had with a commoner, but to cover up the scandal, Terra was passed off as the King’s child (Terra does not know that bit of her past). During her childhood, government scientists began experimenting on her and her siblings to give them powers. Terra could not stand the constant tests and experiments, and was also battling issues with her identity. Because of her unruly powers, Terra additionally feared for the safety of those around her. Terra ultimately decided to run away around the age of 10. She was able to smuggle herself to the United States on a cargo ship. From there she began a nomadic lifestyle; she was often homeless, and at times was bounced around various foster homes. Her powers unfortunately caused destruction and harm to people she cared about, which is why she was not apt to stay in one place. 
Prior to Season 2 of the original show, Terra had heard about a group of teenagers that used powers to fight crime, and attempted to devote her powers to similar endeavors. She ended up traveling to the West Coast to seek them out, and that is how she met the Teen Titans.
Terra has never been officially diagnosed with any psychological disorder, but it is evident that she suffers from something. It is likely that she has at least PTSD, due to the experiments she was subjected to as a child, from early instances of her powers getting out of hand and injuring others/scaring others away, and from her time as Slade’s apprentice. During her time with Slade, Terra’s mental health rapidly fell apart and she most likely had some sort of break with reality. Slade’s emotional and physical abuse, combined with her incorrect assumptions about the Titans betraying her had severely damaged her perception of reality. While her actions are not excusable, when Terra’s desperation and mental status is taken into account, it is easy to understand her motives. Terra still has vivid flashbacks and nightmares about her past, and deeply regrets the choices she had made.
Place of residence: Terra bounces from place to place; a combination of hitchhiking and a method of travel with her powers. Eventually I would like for her to settle at a Titans base.
Clone!Terra lives with rich foster parents that wish to adopt her.
Other: At the start of the first major TTRPG plot, Terra had just been revived from her stone-like state (by an unknown reason). Unfortunately, she is almost immediately kidnapped by Professor Chang and cloned. The ‘Terra’ that is seen at the end of the series is one such clone, a failed experiment that does not show evidence of powers and has an unreliable account of her past (a combination of error and some memories purposely altered by the cloning process). Clone!Terra slowly begins interacting more with the Titans, and at first there is no suspicion. Additionally, she has gained the interest of various villains. As Terra begins to ‘remember’ more, she begins to believe that the Titans were responsible for her ‘death’, and becomes angry and bitter.
Clone!Terra has memories that clash and don’t make sense- she remembers a childhood of being shipped from foster home to foster home, but she eventually begins to remember bits of the truth, along with some very incorrect memories. This causes great distress to her.
In-character writing sample (at least 100 words):
This sample describes how Terra is kidnapped by a man working for Dr. Chang.
Running, always running. God, why did Terra always find herself fleeing from something. Ever since she had left her home many years ago, she was on the run. On the run from palace officials, and then hightailing it away from cities after accidentally causing destruction and harm..
At this moment, a strange man was tailing the teenager. Terra knew not of his intentions, but anybody who targeted a young girl in a deserted playground was not a great person.
“What do you want, creep?” she had pointedly asked him when he initially approached her. He did not respond and had instead pulled out a strange weapon. Terra’s flight instincts automatically took over- she raised a barrier made of earth, and then she was off.
He began firing a strange beam of light at her from the gun. It hit her a few times, and caused a weird sensation of pins and needles. Terra simply continued to dodge, block, and run. She also threw up rock attacks behind her in defense. She had hoped to lose him, to hide, but there was no opportunity. He hit her again, and Terra had finally had enough: She was going to fight if needed.
“You think you’re scary, but being petrified has just been part of my routine,” Terra announced to him, with a smirk as she turned to face him. The pun probably meant nothing to him as he wouldn’t have known she had essentially been a statue for about a year, but it was funny to her.
Terra had a boulder floating, aimed at the man. She was ready to attack. “Why are you following me?” She wasn’t really expecting an answer, but he opened his mouth, as if her were about to. Then, he started laughing. His laugh echoed in her head as, abruptly, Terra began to feel light-headed. Her vision blurred, and then everything went black.
Other questions:
Any character:
Why are you interested in joining TTRPG? More specifically, why do you want to roleplay this character?
Terra has always been near and dear to my heart, and I always write about her in fanfics. I’ve been considering roleplaying her for a while but never got the chance.
If your character is part of a Titans team:
What role do you think your character will play in his/her team? I think once Terra is part of a team, it will take her a little while to warm up and adjust. She is used to being on her own, and obviously her last experience with a team did not go smoothly. She is still hesitant to trust, but will eventually befriend most of her team. Specifically, her strengths as a Titan is combat due to the sheer power of her abilities. She will most likely need to be mentored by teammates about her powers.
I would like to see Terra join either the main Titans team or Titans East.
If your character is not part of a Titans team:
In what ways do you foresee your character interacting with the Titans and other characters? Do you have any plots in mind? With Clone!Terra, I would like Beast Boy to seek her out again (it will have been a full year since they last talked) or even have her seek him out. She will have a bit more ‘memory’ of what had occurred and be a bit more apt to interact with the Titans again. However, due to her unstable memories and clone programming, she will be triggered to once again lose her trust in them. This leaves her open for being taken advantage of by villains…. Including a repeat offender.
I sort of would like the original Terra to somehow escape while the clone plot is still occurring (or after the conclusion of the main clone plot if Clone!Terra is still around) to allow her to have interactions with… herself. As stated before, I would love for Terra to eventually become a part of one of the Titans teams.
Do you have any ideas regarding how your character will be introduced to any of the other characters or what characters they will frequently be interacting with? See above for how the introduction would occur. I can see Clone!Terra interacting with the main Titans for a bit and kinda befriending them again, but slowly having corrupted memories that persuade her to either seek out or be persuaded by villains (most likely Slade again)
I really would like to see Terra interact with the main Titans and Titans East. I’ve seen that route done before and it worked really nicely. Also, Sperra is still an OTP, even if I’m playing Speedy also.
If we get a Ravager, I would be interested in shipping Terra with her.
- If Terra and Clone!Terra end up existing at the same time (ie, actual Terra escapes from Dr. Chang while Clone!Terra is still around), I am totally willing to let another person roleplay Clone!Terra on a new, separate account. Because by at that point, I believe that both versions of Terra will be very different characters.
0 notes