#But like that was an enjoyable coherent arc!

[ghostly-omens]

Anyway Quackity was one of the people on DSMP who was most involved in and invested in lore. Las Nevadas and the Butcher Army and the Red Banquet and everything with L'Manberg. He clearly loved telling the story he wanted to tell and playing on a roleplay server.

But a lot of creators have pointed out that the most fun they had on the server was when they were doing improv, when they were reacting to things that happened and building the story naturally that way. When things got scripted, when creators had to come up with and write and execute their lore basically on their own, when it stopped being playing and started being acting, that's when you got players disengaging and losing interest and motivation. By the end, literally every bit of lore was scripted. Most of it was prerecorded just so it could end up telling a complete story, instead of starting a dozen plot threads that had to be abandoned when the other people involved didn't answer your DMs or the big lore day that was meant to move the whole server's story along didn't happen. The last big, whole-server lore event only happened because Technoblade was dying. Communication was so bad that was the only thing that could get everyone to get organised enough for a single day of lore, a story event that had been set up for months.

And so when Quackity comes up with his own server, he wants it to have a strong roleplay element (if that's what the other creators involved end up wanting). Quackity loved his roleplaying on DSMP. But he wants it to be fun for the creators as well as for the fans, and the way lore was fun on DSMP was for it to be improv, not for it to be creators acting out a script. But things got scripted because once they set up a story, it had to escalate in a specific way in order for it to be narratively satisfying, which made it less fun. A single arc is fine, but things just won't work for more than that without at least a loose script. By the end DSMP wasn't roleplay, it was acting. Some creators managed to tell satisfying stories, but it wasn't the same as when it was a bunch of friends messing around doing Hamilton Breaking Bad improv because it was fun. The DSMP, for a good chunk of its life, was not fun to play on. So people didn't.

But how do you set up satisfying, coherent stories over a long period of time while also maintaining the fun roleplay element? Someone needs to guide them and develop them, but it can't be the creators on a server if you're going to keep the fun roleplay element.

Hence the admins, and their role not just maintaining the server, but in developing and guiding the story. Their role is basically a GM, in tabletop roleplaying terms, and the creators get to be player characters roleplaying in reaction to that. Creators don't know much more than we do; how many times have creators said they don't get told shit, have they been told to log on and been faced with huge big developments they didn't see coming and have to figure out how to roleplay that? QSMP works kind of like Dungeons and Dragons but in Minecraft. Keeps the story consistent and escalating, without the need for creators to sacrifice their own enjoyment of their content.

I don't know how stuff like Karmaland works, maybe Quackity got it from there. But as a former Dream SMP fan, I see Quackity taking the best part of DSMP and finding a way to make it work for something a lot more sustainable and ambitious, keeping it fun and enjoyable for both fans and creators.

#qsmp #he saw something good that didnt quite work and he made it better! #good for him! #i had a lot of feelings about how qsmp is set up so thoughtfully okay #its designed to be fun and enjoyable for everyone that was quackitys approach! #it worked!

[shorthaltsjester]

i do not want to dig a hole but i am too much of a laura bailey pc enjoyer to not make this post so:

selfishness ≠ a lack of kindness 

selfishness is a theme that has come up with all of laura's main campaign pcs. that doesn't mean that her characters are always making selfish choices or that they don't care about the rest of the people they're with or that they're not good. it's just that, for the most part, the first thing they're thinking of when they take action or make choices is themselves. 

in jester and vex both it is more typical and obvious selfishness. vex's developed because she needed it to keep herself and vax alive and as safe as possible and it grew into a behaviour that she had to actively work to avoid. it's evident in her greed, her theft of the broom, her reaction to her own death which relied heavily on i'm okay/i survived to which keyleth reminded her that she wasn't the only one who had to witness and reckon with her death. in jester's case, she grew up in an environment that literally trained her to make every decision based on two things - her mother's opinion and her own. so, when she's out in the world without marion for the first time, her choices are those that will benefit her and her actions are those that consider her own thoughts and not really many others' (aside from the traveler's). 

it isn't a criticism of either vex or jester to say that they are characters who act selfishly. in fact, i'd argue that to claim otherwise does a great disservice to exactly how immense both of their character arcs are. because the nuance of both jester and vex is that they are selfish, and they also hold extreme room for self-sacrifice and empathy. vex is much more brash than jester is, and jester is much more trusting than vex, but both of them are characters who begin with selfish impulses who grow with them. neither ever truly shed those impulses, but they use them in new ways, typically transforming them into impulses towards things that are in the best interest of the party. 

you may have noticed the lack of imogen in this post about laura bailey pcs and that's because of two reasons. one, we are an unknown amount of time into her story, i can't analyse her development the same way i can vex and jester's. two, imogen's selfishness isn't the blatant quasi-self-aware selfishness that we see in things like jester complaining about her lack of money to caleb or vex stealing a broom. instead, imogen's is very internal, like a lot of laura's character work with imogen. it is a bit similar to jester’s in the sense that it comes from a lack of awareness moreso than vex’s practiced behaviour, but imogen’s is a lot more tied to inherent beliefs she has about the world and the people in it.

as a consequence of her powers, imogen sees people's thoughts as their entirety, she holds it above their actions to be the truth of who they are - to act against what they think or to say something that doesn’t cohere with what they’ve thought is akin to lying, so for her to act empathetically is to act in tandem with what someone else’s thoughts are, not how they act, which is typically not all that wanted. the same as vex’s greed and jester’s naivety, this is a trait that makes narrative sense and it’s one i find quite compelling, especially when read in the vein of someone struggling through trauma that has made them assume that the world is against them. imogen’s cynicism is coherent cynicism, i can’t say that in a similar situation i wouldn’t have the same predisposition towards the world.

the part that is particularly self-interested comes in if you look at how imogen has actually been treated in the campaign (quite well) in comparison to the cynicism that she’s developed from her past (something that speaks to a world out to get her). certainly, a bunch of shitty things have happened to imogen in the time we’ve known her, but the same can be said for everyone in bell’s hells and pretty much everyone in exandria at this point in time. but, in a fight to save the aforementioned world, imogen’s focus was getting her mother back on her side. which, while very consistent with her character and a choice that i enjoy, is a very selfish one. the fun thing (to me, obviously) about imogen is that she has, more than most, an insight into the opinions of others and she also tends to seek others’ opinions out and genuinely engages with them and supports their choices. but she still very much acts towards what she thinks is best. it’s one reason i enjoy looking at the dynamic between her and orym as one between foils, as orym tends to be stalwart in his beliefs and doesn’t care too much for other’s opinions if he’s already sure of his own, but his actions tend to favour collaboration and protecting others.

as i mentioned earlier, imogen is a harder case to look at because she is still in the process of her story. however, the circlet is clearly influencing how she interacts with the world and in the wake of the solstice, the hostile reaction towards ruidusborn people has started to become more and more apparent and i’m interested to see what route that ends up leading imogen down and how it will influence her relationship with the rest of bell’s hells. (for better, i think, based on recent conversations, but if it's for worse i will be just as seated and excited).

all of this is just to say, please stop assuming that claiming a character has a trait you think is a bad one is criticism or a hate post. in light of the fact that i know that people who don’t believe this will continue to not believe this, i’ll encourage anyone confused about the ability of a character to be good and kind and selfish all at once to look to what the text itself says, specifically scanlan’s words to pelor when asked what vex means to him:

“Her name is Vex, and she is greedy and mean sometimes, and she can steal a lot. She’s a little bit not the greatest person, but her flaws highlight everything that is right about her, which is she does all these things to protect her friends and her family. She would give her life for any of us and for anyone who was truly in need. And she’s not perfect but she’s the most perfect of all of us.”

would you look at that... an ability to be a multitude of things, some in conflict with one another. i know that's hard for fandoms to believe, especially about female characters with agency, but i promise its true!

#deeply unfair of laura to make three characters with some type of people skills and morality shaped by their loneliness #and what. i’m just supposed act like i’m normal about that? #this is me blog and i have slightly more time than usual to write nothing essays about fictional characters that haunt me #but dear god . lookin at cr characters and denying their flaws is like looking at a house and only seeing it’s doors . #if ppl demand perfection of fictional characters im genuinely curious in what media they’ve ever found that . #a single imogen post of mine broke containment and it skyrocketed my annoying phil student levels so. alas #but . if you agree that imogen had an incredibly isolating life . i will emphasize that isolation causes traits and behaviours #that aren’t just Quirky or fun or hot anger or whatever #imogen contains so much i love her so much i am bursting at the seams about it #but for some ppl. she is ur ‘girlfailure’ until someone suggests a way she might be girl failing by being selfinterested #what is the truth. do u want her to be an actual girlfailure it do u just want her to suit a . frankly tired. trope about lesbians #anyway . both text and tag rant over . goodnight #cr meta #imogen temult #vex’ahlia #vex’ahlia de rolo #jester lavorre #critical role #my posts

[aspoonofsugar]

Could you analyse ‘Insane’ (the Alastor song by his original voice actor) with the added context of the show itself?

Hello anon!

Thank you for recommending the song, I had yet to listen to it!

That said, I don't really know if there is much to analyze, as the song was written before the series. It seems mostly a fun way to characterize Alastor. It gives you some vibes about who he is, rather than exploring his arc or giving hints about the future. In the end, it is pretty coherent with Alastor's superficial demeanor, which is rooted in his enjoyment of violence and power.

In any case, I would say the most interesting part is this:

Wait a minute, do I know you? Weren't you an old pal of mine? Departed from us far too early But now we're meeting a second time We used to have such fun together And maybe you have what I need But first, I have one tiny question Tell me, do you demons bleed?

It might foreshadow some kind of future character since none of Alastor's current aquaintances fit. It is implied he meets Husk and Vox in Hell and the lines do not fit his dynamic with Mimzy. Of course, it might also be generic, but it is still interesting.

In general, I would say the main message of the song is that he likes Hell and refuses redemption, which is more or less what we learn about him from the pilot. It is also highlighted by Alastor's own reprise of Charlie's song:

Inside of every demon is a lost cause, ha But we’ll dress 'em up for now with just a smile (Wicked smile) And we’ll chlorinate this cesspool with some old redemption flair And show these simpletons some proper class and style (Class and style) Oh, here below the ground, I’m sure your plan is sound They’ll spend a little time down at this Hazbin Ho—

What's interesting about the Radio Demon so far is that he doesn't really have his own song. Rather, he likes to "steal" others':

Alastor: Can you butt out of my song? Lucifer: Your song? I started this!

As a matter of fact Alastor:

Takes Charlie's Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow and twists it into Inside of Every Demon is a Lost Cause

Takes over Vox's Stayed Gone song and uses it against the TV Demon himself

Tries to make Lucifer's song his, but Mimzy comes and takes over herself

He also has small parts in other songs, where he sings unheard by the protagonist of the scene:

He sings with Rosie (and to himself) in Ready for This, while Charlie is distracted

He sings alone in the Finale, while the Hotel Crew is all together

Why is there such a stylistic choice when it comes to his character? The reason is quite simple. As I have discussed here, Alastor is everyone's Jungian Shadow. This means that he embodies what other characters repress. He is Charlie's fear to fail, Lucifer's sense of inadequacy as a father, Vox's unsolved feelings. So, he either takes over the characters' songs as they fail to face these hidden emotions or he sings unheard, because they are not even ready to aknowledge some parts of the self.

This also ties with Alastor's radio motif. After all, what is a radio if not a technology that "captures" people's voices and songs?

Mimzy: No one knew what happened to 'em, until these strange radio broadcasts started going out. All you could hear were screams. Every time an overlord went missing, there'd be a new voice screaming in the broadcast! That's when Alastor revealed himself as the radio demon, and anyone that would mess with him… chuckles well, let's just say, his broadcasts never lacked new voices.

Alastor grows in power by defeating Overlords and broadcasting their screams. So, he takes others' voices and makes them louder (in a bad way). In the series, he has a similar double role:

He takes over others' voices by hijacking their songs or twisting their messages

He makes and will make other people's voices stronger (in a good way). For example, he is gonna amplify Charlie's voice and message:

At the same time, Alastor himself uses the radio to hide his own voice, which is constantly filtered:

The moment his staff gets broken, Alastor shows his real voice, his real self for a short moment. His mask cracks.

So, Alastor not having his own song is actually much more meaningful for his character than having one. It shows how he likes manipulating others and their insecurities, so he doesn't have to truly show who he is:

Alastor: Just because you see a smile, don't think you know what is going on underneath. A smile is a valuable tool, my dear. It inspires your friends, keeps your enemies guessing and ensures tha no matter what comes your way, you're the one in control.

He is the radio demon, a jungian shadow who steals and twists others' music, so that he can hide his voice behind others' words.

In conclusion, I don't think the Insane song is very meaningful (I might be wrong or change my mind), but I think there is much to analyze in Alastor's lack of a song. Moreover, his parts in the song he invites himself are actually loaded with meaning. His foiling with Charlie, Lucifer and Vox tells a lot about Alastor, much more than any solo song :)

Thank you for the ask!

#hazbin hotel #alastor #asksfullofsugar #hazbin hotel meta #basically i will be happy to analyze other alastor's songs ;)

[saintsenara]

Absolutely no pressure if it really does make you uncomfortable to talk about but I would LOVE to hear about why dramione pisses you off... first and foremost because I'm a card-carrying dramione hater and there's nothing quite as enjoyable as a fellow hater articulating their haterade. Please. I'm handing you the mic. Go to town. (If you want!)

thank you very much for the ask, anon - and it's very sweet of you to ask whether dramione makes me sincerely uncomfortable [it doesn't, and if there's ever a day when i find harry potter shipping preferences that deep i shall face god and walk backwards into hell]. i subscribe to one belief in fandom above all others - that you can write yourself into, and out of, the most nonsensical premises if you are willing to engage with your characters in their full spectrum and if you have enough nerve. which is to say, there is almost certainly dramione out there that i would regard as interesting and well done, which feels coherent as a premise within which to situate both hermione and draco's canon selves, and which does so by being unsparing in how it deals with the whole "he thinks she's literally subhuman" thing...

but the reason i don't like dramione as a pairing is because i've never actually seen it done in a way that actually is interesting.

i'm on the record as a straightforward hater of fanon!hermione - the preternaturally perfect, incandescently beautiful "brightest witch of her age" [lupin means by this - please, i am begging you all to understand - that she's clever for a fourteen-year-old, not that she's some sort of epoch-defining intellect] who makes you wonder if we've all forgotten the early-00s flame wars over mary-sues. i am also on the record as a hater of the classic draco-in-leather-pants version of the other half of our pairing - draco is an insecure, pointy little dickhead whose jokes always flop, and he is so much more fun in this form than he is as the suavest man alive.

and, obviously, dramione is famous for being beholden to these characterisations [something, if i may, which is really letting harmony and snamione off the hook...]. and that is just so boring! even in a setting in which an author doesn't want to deal with the context of blood-supremacist prejudice - and good for them! why not! - i would much rather see fics think interestingly about how mashing draco and hermione's personalities together would actually go. how would he handle her constant need to debate things? how would she handle his fits of crippling jealousy? how would he handle her stubbornness? how would she handle his self-interestedness?

and i think something quite striking could actually come of this... as i've noted elsewhere, draco's narrative mirror is ron, who is obviously a ride-or-die hermione stan, and there is - therefore - a way set out within the arc of canon for thinking about how hermione and draco might interact. it could be a genuinely fantastic piece of enemies-to-lovers fun, but this would involve both hermione and draco's canonical characteristics being thought about [and harry and ron's: the former always seems to come around to dramione really quickly, while the latter is written as a death-eater-adjacent boor who doesn't want the woman who "belongs to him" to be happy], and i'm afraid that the vast, vast majority of dramione writing seems to have no interest in doing this when "just make him suave and her perfect" exists...

but, of course, there is a second major objection which i know many people have to dramione: that he is a member of a terrorist organisation which believes in eradicating people like her, and that he believes wholeheartedly in that organisation's beliefs.

and my feelings about this are more complicated.

because, to be frank, as someone who has - only this week - written harry having a sensual little snog with his parents' murderer, i can't really get up on my high-horse about people shipping the heroes with the villains. and, indeed, i won't - another fandom [and life!] principle i have is that the potential of redemption for everybody is one of the most important things about humanity; that even the most evil people can repent and repent sincerely; and that love is strange and unpredictable.

i do think something interesting could be done with draco having to unlearn literally everything about his life, and with both him and hermione grappling with their personal limits when it came to remorse and forgiveness as they realise that, against all the odds and no matter the heavy weight of the past, they want to make something together. but, once again, the standard move in dramione seems to be a sort of "nooo, he didn't really mean it!" or a "hermione gets over it immediately because he didn't rat them out when the snatchers caught them!" [no - he didn't rat harry out. he doesn't seem to have a problem with hermione getting tortured by bellatrix...] or a "well harry using sectumsempra means i'm over the fact he called me a mudblood" or "uwu he was sixteen". and, once again, i think it's dull!

and this, of course, brings us to the other category of dramione - the one in which she's a dirty little fucktoy for a sadistic pureblood lord. while this is at its worst in other hermione/death eater ships, we've all seen the fics: hermione is given to draco as a forced bride; hermione is given to draco as a sex slave; hermione is given to draco to be degraded etc.

i have no moral objection to people wanting to read and write this stuff, because i'm neither a cop nor a priest. my objection, once again, is that this is dull.

i think there is something really, really interesting which could be done with draco finding himself attracted to hermione despite what he's been raised to believe about her, above all for the way this could be used to play with the gendered dynamic we might expect to find when this trope is used.

discrimination is justified by societies - again and again throughout the course of history - with the claim that it protects women [and men's claim to them]. we can imagine easily that this is the same in the wizarding world because voldemort literally tells us so - in the opening chapter of deathly hallows he explicitly equates tonks' marriage to lupin as the cause of the "rot" in the black family tree, before he goes on to murder charity burbage while accusing her of supporting miscegenation.

what we see less frequently is the idea that men need to be protected from the other - societies are much more amenable to seeing men's behaviour as hypocrisy [and tolerating this] rather than moral corruption, and we can assume in the wizarding world that it would be perfectly acceptable for a pureblood man to have a muggleborn mistress or a half-blood love-child in a way it never would be for a pureblood woman.

so how does draco justify his attraction to hermione to himself? how does he keep her a secret? how does he think of women more generally, if he has a pureblood wife at home and a muggleborn woman he cheats on her with? does he see nothing contradictory about sneaking off into broom cupboards and then strutting into the slytherin common room and telling pansy parkinson that hermione is a digusting mudblood dog?

or, does he get the other side of the coin? do lucius and narcissa think he's being corrupted? is his temptation all-consuming? will he lie about hermione attacking him to save face? will he turn on the tears and place her in unimaginable danger and then feel only the slightest hint of regret?

and i just think that has so much more potential than your standard "draco's sadistic but, more importantly, he's hot" stuff.

because i will read things that are objectively baffling if they are, at least, interesting. dramione nation, i'm begging you... just be interesting.

#asks answered #asenora's opinions on ships #hermione granger #draco malfoy #i'm not tagging the ship tag for obvious reasons #but also i'm not tagging the anti tag because this ended up being nicer than i was expecting... #i contain multitudes

[birdmitosis]

Keep seeing your analysis-ish posts in the tags and man. I wish I could make coherent posts about this game like that but whenever I try it just comes out like this

misery

also I see you are a voices enjoyer so I am obligated to ask what you think about voice of the contrarian bc he is my fav (he just like me fr we are best friends we are going to go get waffles together)

Aaahhhh, ironically my brain has been MUSH and so I didn't respond to this right away, but it's been giving me fuzzy feelings for days ;-; It is so kind of you to say... My analysis stuff is mostly me rambling and trying to sort out my own thoughts, LOL, so I'm glad it's at all coherent! I constantly feel like I'm in a state of

over this game, at least, so I get it. As for Voice of the Contrarian, I absolutely adore that voice! He's not my top fave but he's easily in my Top 3. I love him so much in The Stranger chapter and especially if you get her first and get any variation of the "Strange Beginnings" endings; I love his development and the quietly positive relationship he develops with Voice of the Hero, with the Stranger, and even in some ways with the Narrator. I love the way he tries to defend the Long Quiet in the "A new and unending dawn, and everyone hates you" endings! I love him in The Razor and The Moment of Clarity paths, I adore him in The Fury chapter... The only chapter he even mildly annoys me in is The Wild, and I think that's just because my first experience with that was the one with Opportunist and Paranoid and there was something so... emotional in that experience, and Contrarian really doesn't want to let you just sit with that emotion. That's not really a bad thing, though, not inherently, and it also says a lot about his character at that point in the game! (Honestly, my one quibble with the game is that since he says in the "Strange Beginnings" version of the endings that he's been at the cabin since you left him there, I honestly wish it became impossible to get any route he appears in if you get the Stranger first. That might be annoying and even a little unfair; I'm sure that in practice I wouldn't like being entirely locked out of The Razor and The Moment of Clarity if I went with The Stranger for my first vessel. But it'd make that part make a bit more sense, right? Then again, if you say to Hero "I thought you died whenever I looked in the mirror," he says:

"I don't think that's wrong, but I'm not sure it's right either. ... There's still a piece of me nestled close to where it all began. I can take you there... I can take you to her heart." Which I... think might imply that while the voices are all broken-off shards of you, they're also in pieces across each chapter you do? Which has some fascinating implications and does make Contrarian's thing work better. He is also still "where it all began," where Hero takes you.) ANYWAY that was some rambling about non-Contrarian things, or at least not strictly Contrarian things. Suffice to say that I really, really love that character; I think that in a situation where the other voices are learning to be individual people especially he could be really supportive and helpful there, because he has possibly the biggest personal arc of any character in the entire game. And I love that for him. (I also ship him hard with Voice of the Hero, and have a bunch of other more minor ships with him, including Contrarian/Hero/Narrator a little? SO YEAH THAT TOO.)

#slay the princess #slay the princess spoilers #voice of the contrarian #voice of the hero

[kimabutch]

Big thought from s2 of TLoVM so far: this season is way harder to adapt than the first. 

Even split into two seasons, the Chroma Conclave arc is way longer than the Whitestone arc, and also way more convoluted — so many more NPCs, character arcs/beats, subplots, and settings. 

But honestly? They’re doing super well, I think. They’re still getting the emotional heart of the story, the characters, and their relationships, while also providing a coherent plot and juicy Easter eggs for campaign 1 enjoyers. 

If anything, I’m enjoying s2 even more than s1. It feels like they’ve got their footing for the adaptation and are moving forward confidently and with a lot of love for the original show. 

#tlovm spoilers #critical role

[r1-jw-lover]

Caine as John Wick's Mirror: A Somewhat Coherent Analysis

What is even a 'mirror' exactly, narratively-speaking?

A mirror character is someone who reflects the hero, usually by highlighting similarities, and is therefore used to help enhance the themes being explored in the story. They can share personality traits, values, skillsets, even goals and narrative arcs, but how the pair of characters differ in their approach to these commonalities is what makes this literary device so interesting.

Caine as a character in the John Wick universe is so fascinating to me (not many people are able to go toe-to-toe against the Baba Yaga himself) and while a lot of my fascination and enjoyment can be attributed to Donnie Yen's performance and his chemistry with Keanu Reeves, what I want to talk about is the writing of his character, and how well Caine served as a mirror to John Wick, the protagonist.

I think to analyse Caine as a character, we need to first look back at another character who most closely served a similar function as Caine towards John Wick: Cassian.

Cassian and Caine are the only two people in the John Wick movies who fought John Wick squarely in a one-to-one match as equals, and got a gracious send off by John in return. Neither of them wanted to or asked to be made an enemy of John Wick (in fact, it was John's actions that caused both men to pit against the Baba Yaga), but each of them took up their role within the story with much dignity and fairness, and in the end were rewarded with John sparing their lives.

Cassian provides lovely contrast to John in Chapter 2. He is the first to show us a character on the same playing field as John Wick who could sit next to the legendary Baba Yaga and share a drink and enjoy a conversation before Caine or anyone else did.

Cassian and John respected each other, knew each other's preferred drink and promised to make the other's death quick, but it seems that's all there is to their relationship, and the moment they stepped out of the Rome Continental all bets are off.

Their motivations are widely different at this point in the story, and Cassian as a character feels more like an obstacle in John's way that John had to face eventually.

Speaking within the confines of the individual movies that they first appeared in, I will argue Cassian from Chapter 2 aligns more closely with the Tracker/Mr. Nobody from Chapter 4 when it comes to his place in the overall narrative, and it is Santino who's on the same level as Caine, because Santino had history with John, asked John about his wife, knew John personally and was the reason John broke Continental rules and would eventually go up against the High Table.

To add onto this, Cassian more importantly serves as a greater parallel to Ares being bodyguards of the D'Antonio siblings with the way John left his opponent's knife in Cassian's chest and kept him alive because John respected Cassian vs John pulling Ares' knife out of her chest and letting her die because John couldn't respect Ares.

At the end of the day, John and Cassian are both men who were ultimately bound by their loyalties to Santino and Gianna respectively, whether that be out of a Blood Marker or out of a sense of duty.

On the other hand, the relationship between John and Caine is the literal heart of Chapter 4.

Yes, Caine has parallels with other characters too. He and Koji were fathers trying to protect their daughter if it meant throwing away their shared brotherhood, he and Mr. Nobody were pawns under the Marquis' thumb tasked with hunting John Wick, but these parallels take a backstage to the parallels between John and Caine.

They are retired hitmen who were forced back into their old life and pitted against each other in a duel to the death through circumstances out of their control. Neither of them had any love for the High Table, and neither of them wanted to hurt or kill the other either. They have the physical evidence to show of their past/present servitude to the High Table (John's ring finger and Caine's eyes), and in contrary to the Marquis' own evaluation of their character, both men had someone to live for, die for, and kill for.

Where they differ is that, one is driven by a sense of loss to remember his dead wife, and the other is driven by a sense of protection to keep his daughter alive. (It's interesting to note that Helen's death had nothing to do with the High Table at all whereas Mia was only alive thanks to the High Table's grace.)

This dilemma of choosing between their loved one and their past friendship is key to Chapter 4's theme of what it truly costs to obtain freedom. It reminds us that John isn't a perfect martyr for rebelling against the High Table with how much trouble and pain he caused to those around him, including Caine. But it also doesn't absolve Caine from the bloodshed he's responsible for despite his hands being tied by the Marquis, or the fact that killing his friend is wrong.

Caine: We are damned, you and I. John: On that, we agree.

I think that Chapter 4 introducing Caine early on in the movie, definitely much earlier than Cassian in Chapter 2, tells us how important Caine's role is to John's goal of achieving freedom and peace. (The most notable example is Caine helping John up the stairs of Sacre-Coeur after he got kicked down these very same steps by Chidi.) In the same vein, Caine wouldn't have gotten his happy ending if John hadn't made the ultimate sacrifice of saving his last bullet to shoot the Marquis.

Not only that, Chapter 4 also shows us several instances of genuine camaraderie and companionship between John and Caine underneath their antagonism, not just how well they worked together and understood each other when they had a common enemy in sight (first in the Berlin nightclub with Killa, and eventually during the sunrise duel with Marquis de Gramont) but also how much they cared for each other deep down.

John and Cassian are colleagues, but John and Caine are close friends. And I think that's why Caine makes for such a good mirror to John Wick, and is the one most deserving to send off John Wick for good in the final chapter of the franchise, that is until John Wick 5 comes along. :(

Tagging @evren-sadwrn, @chaoticgardenbread and @jotunvali02 <3 <3

#jw #john wick #jw4 #john wick 4 #john wick chapter 4 #john wick 4 spoilers #john wick chapter 4 spoilers #caine #caine jw #caine john wick #cassian jw #cassian john wick #keanu reeves #donnie yen #john wick analysis #character analysis #long post

[yellowocaballero]

Styles of Storytelling Structure

OK love of God I'm so embarrassed that every post I make gets insane long. I tried to match this explanation up with the previous ask but it got so long, so this elaboration gets its own post. For reference, these tags are referencing this post. Read that one first if you want.

I hope I can find a way to explain this succinctly and non-judgmentally. I do mean it extremely nonjudgmentally. I write both kinds and they both have their own merits.

For me, there's two kinds of fanfic writing. I call 'em Fic Style and Novel Style. This isn't about tropes or content, but about how the author composes the story.

Novel style is the 'traditional' way of writing a story. It has a three act structure, rising action/climax/falling action, tight pacing, every scene does five plot/character/theme related things. It reads like a published short story or a book.

Fic style is often reliant on the source material to make complete sense, and its plot or characterization is usually scaffolded onto the main material. For many of these stories you use the pre-existing canon structure. The story isn't as structured or tightly written, scenes are more likely to be there for vibes, and there tends to be more worldbuilding and a slower pace in general. It's worth noting that fic style can often really resemble soap opera, comic books, long-running manga, Dr Who, etc. Anything serialized, meant to continue on for a long time with no definite end point.

(If you're a frequent flier, to give you some idea: New Wave and Good Luck Jake were novel style, Hope Etc and Listen 2 Ur Heart were fic style. Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge was novel/short story style, reel to reel was fic style.)

Neither is better or worse than the other. They can be both equally enjoyable. One of my favorite fics is 'a simple thing' by iridan and it's fic style. Case fics are more likely to be novel style [I suck at case fics]. Shortly, fic style is easier to write, more likely to be enjoyable, and harder to make very good. Novel style is really hard to write. Super hard.

This is because novel-style writing just requires more skills. You need to lock down story structure, plotting, tension, connecting physical/emotional/plot/theme, pairing story beats with character beats, and dealing with a lot of different plot threads at once. I think of it as braiding, kind of: weaving three character arcs, a plot arc, growth of character relationships, and development of the themes and messaging. A scene should ideally do all of these things at once. Everything needs to be perfectly matched together so it all moves as one. The longer the story is, the more content of all of this you have to deal with, and the more difficult it is to do well. You're just juggling more balls. I had to write one bad 100k story and another mediocre 100k story before I got to a kinda-good 100k story. Forget about how long it took me to get to a decent freaking 60k story. I wrote really enjoyable 60k fic style stories before an actually good 60k novel style story.

This is why skills have to scaffold. I think a lot of beginner writers are constantly trying to fight those level 60 boss fights at level 20 and they get frustrated when they lose. You have to figure out how to write decent dialogue and decent prose before putting together a good scene. Then you have to figure out how to string a series of scenes together in a way that makes sense. Then you have to figure out how to put those scenes in the right order to make some kind of coherent and interesting story with conflict and character arcs. Then you start tossing one ball in the air and figure out how to write those 20k short stories. Then you add more and more balls as your stories get longer and more complex. You have to develop a lot of different skills individually to put together a well-structured final product that's fun to read.

Stop getting so frustrated when you can't beat out a 60k story that's Barnes & Nobles worthy when you're a beginning writer! Stop dreaming big! I know how frustrating it is not being able to put what's in your head down on paper. It's not going to be perfect. Of course you're having issues writing longer things, you're still figuring out how to put longer things together.

Pick something to work on. Figure out what skills you still need to develop. Figure out how stories work and what makes a good story, and then try and build it yourself. You do not need to write a traditional novel style story to develop your skills in dialogue, prose, characterization, tone, tension, POV, etc. You can get that stuff down first. If you're interested in working on story structure and pacing you'll have to practice doing things traditionally. No, you're not going to be happy with it. Be proud of yourself that you improved and developed a skill. Be proud of yourself that you're writing. Writing is hard. It's fun, but hard. If you aren't having fun then you're just left with the hard.

Writing isn't about the finished product. It's not about if you wrote something that people enjoyed or said was good. It's about enjoying writing. Everything else happens naturally from there.

#i am kind of speaking assuming that you're really invested in skill development and not just vibing and fucking around #the ppl fucking around are more valid than i am tbh #they're the geniuses here. #writing #writing advice #I guess. #i think it's hard to understand that skills need to scaffold if you haven't sat down and parsed out how stories work #so maybe that's step 0?

[beevean]

Give each NFCV and Nocturne character ratings, as in scores :P

Why must you hurt me in this way.

Trevor: 7/10. A cliché personality, but enjoyable enough, and with a nice mini arc in S1. Too bad he was turned from protagonist to silly comic relief by S2.

Sypha: 5/10. She's supposed to be the plucky innocent girl, but she's just too rude and insensitive, and not even by design.

Alucard: 1/10. A cunt with a bad boob job.

Dracula: 9/10 in S1, 5/10 in S2. He started out so well in the first episode, being actually the grief-stricken monster he was supposed to be... and then he became a Stupid Old Depressed Man for the sake of propping up Carmilla. bruh.

Lisa: 4/10. Way less likeable than she appears. She's condescending towards the peasants she supposedly wants to help and she doesn't give a single shit about her only son, even preferring to let him grieve the death of his parents.

Hector: 8/10 in S2, 5/10 in S3, 2/10 in S4. Started out as a promising character with an unique worldview and genuinely morally grey. Became nothing more than a punching bag for Ellis, losing his personality and dignity in one fell swoop. Will always be remembered as the dude who fell for vampire pussy. The way he was written in S4, which was supposed to "fix" him, makes me want to destroy a house by punching it.

Isaac: 2/10. He gains some points by being the only character with a coherent character arc, even if rushed like hell. But he's still a pretentious prick who got unfairly sucked off by the story and nowhere near as "deep" as his fans tout - he was just lucky to be the only character written with respect in the shitstorm that was S3.

Carmilla: 3/10. She's like Mephiles and Starline all rolled into one unlikable OC villain who only exists to paint Dracula in a bad light. She seems like a mastermind manipulator only because everyone around her lost IQ points exponentially. She became utterly irrelevant after S2 and had a grandiose death for nothing. She could have been much more, but this is what happens when a sexist pig writes a radfem villain.

Lenore: 1/10. That one point is because she had the potential to be an interesting, fleshed out antagonist with again an intriguing grey morality. But she had the misfortune of being written by a hack who can't give his characters a consistent personality and a sex pest with a clear dommy mommy fetish, so she became rape apologism bait and now she pisses me off at sight :D

The Lesbians: who?/10. Waste of good character designs. At least Striga was used for Berserk bait.

The Japanese not-twins: 0/10. Completely pointess torture porn fodder.

St. Germain: 8/10 in S3, 5/10 in S4. Pretty enjoyable in his first appearance, and surprisingly faithful to the game counterpart in spirit. I didn't even mind his descent into villainy, in theory. But let's just say that his motivation is... lacking. and hilarious.

Death: fuck/10. He's the ShTH of NFCV.

Richter: 6/10. Not too bad? I don't understand the hatred for him. He's perfectly inoffensive, if not bland. The only line that made me go "bruh" was him correcting the girls about the meaning of "fraternity" lol

Maria: 4/10. This is not a character. This is a parody of a communist teen on Twitter.

Annette: 1/10. As I said multiple times, she doesn't feel like a character, but as carefully engineered rage bait.

Tera: don't care/10.

Abbot: 4/10. I would care about his conflict more if he wasn't the stupidest man alive. Also his Devil Forging machine sucks ass.

Cecile: 3/10. Maybe don't teach your student that she is perfectly in the right in looking down her white French friends...?

Edouard: WHEN I'M LAID/10.

Olrox: 7/10. As for now, he's fairly interesting, mainly because of his intrigue. A bit too try hard, though.

Bara Agent Stone: bro really was shocked at the abbot having a child when he was happily sticking his dick in a male vampire/10

Sun Thundercat: 0/10. By far the worst villain I've ever seen in any kind of story.

Tiddied Isaac: 4/10. I would like her more for her unapologetic style (calling it "personality" is a stretch) if she didn't expose the sheer hypocrisy in the fandom :^)

#anti netflixvania

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Feeling very violent rn so here's a very controversial opinion:

Everything after season one of Young Justice sucked.

Look, I know I'm obsessed with the show but that doesn't mean it's good, it means that I'm too deep into it at this point to get out. There are good moments within the other seasons but in general? They were not good.

I'm sorry. I understand that they wanted to be creative and have a neat narrative and deep lore and all that. And they do! The narrative and lore is extremely deep.

But the plot? The characters??

Season one was an actual functional show that balanced character development, plot and dialogue with world building, lore and messaging.

The other seasons do not do that.

Season two bounced back and forth between like 16 characters. We got some development for some characters but even that was minimal compared to the character development in S1. And this isn't me complaining that the og group wasn't in S2 enough. That's not my issue. I would've loved to focus on a new group and I think that Jaime, Bart, Ed and Gar would've been super cool to focus on. I loved what character development they did have and I craved more.

But the problem? The problem is when you have 16 fucking characters that you are trying to develop and shove into a coherent plot and have actual meaningful scenes. There just wasn't enough focus on S2. Imo, S2 was meh because the characters got left by the wayside. The plot, dialogue, world building, lore and messaging was fine, there just seemed to be a lack of heart/warmth in the show because of the characters. It's hard to get invested.

Then holy shit. S3 introduced more characters. And the plot got more contrived and 'big picture' to the point that it started to abstract. It felt like nothing mattered. There were no stakes, you were just watching things happen. There was 50 fucking things happening an episode and 80% of it was lore/world building. It felt like I was studying for a fictional history exam.

I'm pretty sure the main character in S3 was earth 16. Just the entire universe. Because goddamn. We checked in on almost every living being and EVERYTHING was a plot point. Most of it wasn't even relevant to anything happening in the season. Man it was.... it was bad.

And at that point it just wasn't enjoyable at all to watch. I probably should've stopped watching but at that point the sunk cost fallacy had already kicked in. I knew it could be good. Maybe it could be good again. And people were constantly praising it as cinematic genius so I was like 'okay well maybe I'm missing the point? Maybe you aren't supposed to enjoy shows? Maybe this is fine?'

But season four broke me.

The creators heard that people were frustrated by the lack of character focus and the episodes following 72 characters and the episodes switching between 50 different subplots every episode and their solution? Their solution was to take allllllll the different unconnected plots and, instead of evenly spreading them throughout the season, jam them all into 'arcs'. So you had a bunch of mini seasons consisting of 3-5 episodes dedicated to a cast of ~5-8 characters (some of them new). And each of these episodes had unconnected a plots, b plots and c plots.

THAT IS NOT A SOLUTION

Holy shit that is not a solution.

Not to mention the overarching plot of the season, in which we had no fucking clue what was happening until the final episodes where everything became a speedrun to wrap everything up. We literally had no idea what the main plot was until it was ending.

Good god it was bad. It's bad writing!

I know people liked it and good for them. You should like what you like and you don't have to justify it. But for me it was insanity. I'm sorry I actually don't want a season long subplot where Beast Boy is depressed and sleeps all day. I would be cool with it if it had anything to do with the larger story but, surprisingly, spending five minutes watching Beast Boy sleep every episode didn't make for compelling storytelling.

I'm still not over how we didn't even know who the main villain was until the end of the season. And then all of a sudden he does a villain monologue to tell everyone his evil plan and his motives. Super cool actually. I love it when I have no idea what the stakes are for the majority of a show. It's incredibly good storytelling when you leave the audience in the dark about a major player in the plot for all of the plot. And then doing an info dump evil monologue in the final episodes to rush through the explanation??? Fucking fantastic and not a sign of terrible pacing at all.

I'm just so frustrated. The show isn't about being a show anymore. The show is an entire cinematic universe shoved into 20 something episodes. It's desperate to tell every single story at once, audience, pacing and good writing be damned.

I'm so tired of the constant praising of Greg. His whole 'i don't write endings because life doesn't have endings' and 'i don't write cliffhangers, I just leave things open ended' thing is pretentious bullshit. I'm tired of pretending it's not. A good story has an ending. Stories are not life! Some of the best shows I've ever watched had planned endings. And oh my god. The cliffhanger thing... that's just semantics my guy. Greg you write cliffhangers. You can insist they aren't but I'm going to call a spade a spade.

It's also.... I'm fine with explaining things, in fact I love it because it's an excuse to talk about the stuff I love, and I have a fairly decent knowledge of comic book lore. So, I could not only understand what was happening in the show but I was also super enthusiastic about explaining it to people. But hey Greg? Hey buddy? If 90% of your audience doesn't know what the fuck is going on and needs to be familiar with super specific obscure comic characters from the 70's then you might have a problem.

I think I realized halfway through s4 that the most enjoyment I got from an episode was when an obscure comic character would cameo in it. But then I realized that a) they generally weren't explained at all and b) 50% of the time they weren't just hanging out in the background and they were vital to the plot. So to understand who the fuck they were and what the fuck was happening you had to be familiar with... well all of DC comics actually.

Anyway this rant is getting long and unhinged and I don't think there's a point so I'm going to cut myself off even though I have so much more to say on the topic. I think my general point is just that I didn't enjoy watching the later seasons and it's chill if you did and we should all respect each other's opinions ✌️

#rant #oh also the messaging sucked #the messages itself were fine. like 'you should go to therapy if you are depressed' and 'respect people's religions' and #'figuring out your gender/sexual identity is chill af' #those are great messages. the content is great and i don't disagree #BUT HOLY FUCK #yo Zatara ranting about his religion to Fate for 15 minutes is not how you get a message across #messages are supposed to be like themes and subtle points of the narrative #it's not supposed to be a fucking psa where the characters just talk for half the episode and say the message verbatim to the audience #itd be like if in season one M'gann stood up and spent ten minutes talking about the damaging psychological effects of body image issues #and everyone else just sat there and nothing happened and M'gann just kinda spoke about it #or if Artemis was just like 'im going to do a presentation on why child abuse is bad' #its just. thats not. thats not how messages in a plot work #but they didn't develop the characters enough. so instead of s1 where the messages were blatantly obvious #we just had side character zatara who we know nothing about talk about religion like he was doing a PSA for kindergartners #because we don't know his character and he had zero focus so that was literally the only way to get the message across #and im sorry but that's bad writing. if you are sacrificing character plot and narrative for a message then maybe scrap the message #or you know actually have a developed character do the message. like write the message through a developed character so it doesn't #need to be spoonfed to the audience like we're five year olds learning different shapes from a teacher

[aihoshiino]

what are your thoughts on kana and if aka will actually let her find out about the revenge plot eventually

kana my love

Imo, it's pretty inevitable that Kana is going to find out about Aqua's revenge plan - it feels very intentional that the movie arc is pretty much the first time he's been willing to actively involve and manipulate Kana specifically for his own ends and I don't think it's a coincidence that this is only happening now Aqua is at his lowest point. Involving Kana to such a degree really feels like Aqua choosing to cross a line he had previously drawn for himself in terms of involving Kana directly with his revenge.

After all, I don't think it's accidental or due to a lack of focus that Kana has largely remained ignorant to this side of Aqua - rather, I think it's representative of the fact that Kana and his friendship with her is, in a lot of ways, a sort of refuge for Aqua, a window into a life as a normal teenager. As he himself put it all the way back in chapter 30, Kana is one of the few people in his life Aqua feels he can talk to without any manipulation or ulterior motives and it's clear he deeply values this aspect of their relationship. Through Kana, a lot of Aqua's worst traits are sort of filtered through a brighter, kinder lens and she brings a lot of his better traits out of him - his playful sense of humour, his sense of care and duty to the people around him, that sort of thing. Even the parts of himself he hates are softened a bit. For the like, five of you who occupy the middle of the "Oshi no Ko enjoyer" and "Umineko Enjoyer" Venn diagram, through Aqua and Kana's friendship, we (and arguably Aqua) are able to see him with love.

It's why I think it's not just inevitable but outright necessary that Kana find out about everything going on with Aqua. Aqua's arc during this stretch of the manga has been about him desecrating all his most important relationships and finally crossing the line in actively manipulating and involving Kana is part of that desecration. It's such a big shift in the status quo of their relationship that it necessitates Kana being given the information necessary to join everyone else in shaking him and going STOP RUINING YOUR LIFE, DIPSHIT!!!!

Anyway uh as you can probably tell by all that, I really like Kana! She's probably my favourite member of the cast who is not Ai and I think it's partially because her arc hits on a lot of similar beats to the ones that made Ai so compelling for me. She is definitely not on the same level of Brain Melting Blorbo as Ai obviously is for me lol but she touches on those same issues of lingering damage caused by childhood abuse, exploitation and abandonment and the kinds of things that pain does to you as you grow up. She engages with these themes in a way that is distinct enough from Ai to feel refreshing and honest while also, imo, being in conversation with it enough that it all coheres quite nicely.

I also just think she's fun and cute! The anime in general and its handling of the material is what finally made me really click with Oshi no Ko and Kana is, imo, second only to Ai in being the best served by the adaptation. She's plenty fun in the manga obviously but the anime puts a really tangible amount of love and care into its portrayal of her and does so many fun and cute things with her character acting it's really hard not to be endeared to her. I liked her fine during my first pass of the manga but it was definitely the anime that turned me into a card carrying Arima Kana Enjoyer. A big part of what has me so excited about season 2 is knowing that some of her best moments after going to get that same loving treatment and I can't wait to see it!

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #kana arima #arima kana #onk spoilers

[concerningwolves]

today's disconnected but related Thoughts are about how stories should exist within "containers", and how problems in long-running TV series are typically introduced when the writers don't use those containers properly. I'm struggling to articulate it in a coherent order, but:

● an audience needs to be able to see some kind of boundary enclosing the story, otherwise it doesn't feel satisfying. This is why we have set plot structures like Freytag's Pyramid and Fichtean Curve which so many stories follow. Most storytelling formats lend themselves to this – novels, certain comic books and graphic novels, plays, and films all have a beginning and an end. You open the book or enter a theatre or switch on the telly, and you experience the story, and then it ends. The story might live with you afterwards, if it affected or resonated with you or made you want to analyse it, but if the creator did their job well you'll at least feel closure with it on a mechanical level (i.e., plot and character arcs have conclusions that you can see fit within the framework of the story, even if personally you didn't like or agree with something). The Good Place is an example of a TV series that did this very well, because the writers had a set vision for the series and they executed it.

● A lot of TV dramas and serials operate on the premise of being ongoing – a story that stretches on without any defined end in sight. This can be done well, but sometimes the story gets bloated and stale, or it ends up like separate swatches of cloth instead of an interwoven tapestry. I'm not saying this means every TV series automatically fails to tell a story in a satisfying way, or even that the series that don't are inherently bad. It works differently from books or films, and therein lie its strengths as a storytelling medium! For one thing, TV is excellent for character-focused stories, and these can go on and on for ages and still be enjoyable and entertaining (even if not "good" by critical artistic standards). There's also more flexibility in TV than in a film; the ongoing format lets writers string out rising and falling tension, and focus in and out on different plots/subplots across a far larger scope.

● The way these shows work is the overarching medium of the series contains smaller stories in the form of plots. The boundaries between one plot and the next usually need to be permeable, too – a plot arc should conclude satisfactorily, yes, but the things that happen in it ought to resonate with the larger narrative afterwards, otherwise it'll feel pointless to the audience. Ghost Whisperer is an example where the creators failed to do this, repeatedly: each of the five seasons introduces a new concept which seems to be building towards some kind of climax, and then... doesn't. Characters vanish from the story never to be mentioned again. Huge events that ought to have life-altering consequences for the characters only have consequences for a few episodes, and then it's swept under the rug. The series had its appeal in a fun concept and lovable characters, but was let down by the execution. By contrast, medical drama Grey's Anatomy has been going successfully since 2005. It has some continuity issues (like interns vanishing without explanation) and some plots are better than others, but on the whole it takes its status as a long-running story seriously and does it quite well.

● The streaming model and the way TV writers are treated is a factor, too. Even where the boundaries of a story have been pre-defined and could be executed well, the creators often don't have the chance. (and I'm sure the same is true of long-running manga/comic books/graphic novels, although I'm focusing mostly on TV here). Ratings, network politics and actors' personal lives/ambitions have a huge impact on what happens to a TV series, and the popularity or apparent success of a series doesn't always guarantee its continuation. Just look at Netflix's habit of axing series after 2 seasons! Or at Good Omens, which despite being written by Neil Gaiman, having a huge fanbase, and a pre-set story which would be concluded in three seasons, hasn't yet been officially greenlit for season 3 (afaik). The industry has created an environment where stories are commodified, and that's not an environment in which stories can flourish.

#fragments of essays

[tozettastone]

Having finally crawled out of my end-of-coursework slump to go read something for fun, I read Naomi Novik's Scholomance Trilogy this weekend (A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves).

I do recommend them. They're fun. A little review below:

Thematically the trilogy is a fantastical rebuttal of the concept of the scapegoat (in its religious sense): that the good of the many can be bought by divesting their sins and laying them upon a lesser being, who suffers for all. Enjoyers of the philosophical message in Ursula K Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," will certainly enjoy the thematic arc of this trilogy, which is good, because all three books are driven by this theme. This is clear, coherent, and consistent.

Very broadly and briefly: The first book is all character, setting, personal growth, struggles and triumphs as the first person narrative voice develops its identity and ideology. The second book expands that to the community in which the narrator then lives and we see the effects of ideology in action. The third book addresses the world outside that community in the same ideological way, and resolves elements of the narrator character's backstory.

The theme is the driving force of the texts, which can create challenges for the other narrative elements. A Deadly Education is by far the strongest of the trio to me because the character development, interpersonal relationships and setting are all clearly aligned—the voice of the main character/narrator is undergoing personal developments as it discovers its own feelings about the ideological message that forms the theme of the novels, and the reader comes to understand at the same time. The Golden Enclaves, book 3, subordinates elements like character and setting to theme repeatedly, which can be a little frustrating, but it is certainly an end to the story and a strong conclusion to the ideological point of the theme.

I really enjoyed the trilogy for its setting and worldbuilding, and felt the main character was amusing and relatively sympathetic—although more in the first novel than in the second and third. I would recommend reading the first and second books, A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate. I would recommend picking up the third book, The Golden Enclaves, if you find the thematic arc compelling enough to stand on its own.

#tozette.txt #books #recommended

[kursed-arcana]

Digimon adventure 02 The Beginning Review: All Filler, No Killer

I wanted to love this movie. I was well aware of people’s complaints going into this, but I still expected the best. I was wrong. I went in expecting a coherent and compelling narrative, instead it was all filler, no killer.

This movie is sadly a waste of the 02 cast. While marketed as their revival film, their presence was little more then window dressing to another chosen child’s story. Not a single 02 cast member made a contribution to the plot that could only be made by them. Not a single 02 cast member received a character arc in the film. The most focus and effort put into showing their lives as adults was the opening montages of the film. While a beautiful opening it was, it was not enough to make this film worth watching for any digimon adventure fans.

Not only did this film not focus on any of the 02 digidestined, it did not address or mention the plot of last adventure kizuna and its major reveal (unless a certain single line of dialogue in the closing narration was meant to imply kizuna’s reveal is now meaningless, despite never even being mentioned in the film prior). Instead we were treated to another story about a new oc crammed into the franchise, cough male Meiko cough. For every complaint people had about Meiko’s focus in tri, this movie did it worse. She had 6 movies, so at least the focus on her was spread out and the 8 characters the audience is invested in had character arcs, that is not the case here. Instead , we were treated to a story about another digidestined. Another claiming to be the first, which we were previously lead to believe we saw in tri, which was a weird retcon to begin with, then we met the first child to lose her partner in kizuna, and now we meet a new special snowflake, with his new special digimon that apparently is responsible for the partnership between all digidestined and digimon, and maybe even the death of his parents (lol). Not only is this insulting to adventure cast, but fans as well. When will they realize, we don’t need shocking reveals that contradict previously established lore, but meaningful character arcs for our chosen children and to see their partner digimon reach new digivolution heights.

The director of this film possibly thought he could recapture the magic of the first 02 film, but what makes that film more enjoyable is the fact that it came out during 02’s original release and not decades later. And while Willis was a primary character, the main cast still had plenty of chances to shine. Like gatomon and palmon suddenly reaching mega with no build up whatsoever lol.

This film contributed nothing new for our 02 cast. No new mega forms, or even their ultimates, new new levels for DNA digivolved Silphymon and Shakkoumon, not even the chance to see the digiegg of kindness in the anime for the first time. Hell, armor digivolution never even got mentioned, but at least we revisited the computer lab.

Not to mention that after all these years, there are still plotlines left unresolved. The dark ocean still hasn’t been explained, despite being brought up in tri and claiming Maki Himekawa, nor has its ruler Dragomon, or what happened to Daemon once he was stranded there and the fact his presence alluded to a plotline with the 7 demon lords. These dangling plotlines would have been perfect to address in a 02 movie or series, instead we got something less meaningful then a shounen filler movie (like the original 02 movie). At least those typically allow for their cast to shine despite focusing on original characters.

The 02 cast deserve their tri movie series, or even their version of kizuna. They needed to regain the future they achieved at the end of 02 that got retconned away, despite the epilogue still apparently being canon. They deserved character arcs, and some damn confirmation on takari after all these years. I wanted to see them overcome obstacles, to achieve their dreams. Instead I endured a meandering story for a new more chosen then all the rest of the “chosen children”. Can the people behind the digimon movies please stop trying to one up each other now?

I encourage all digimon fans to still watch the movie. If we want to see the adventure and 02 cast again, we need to support the series, but we also have to let our complaints be known, in order to encourage a better outcome in the future. While this film is a waste of the 02 cast, it is still nice to see them again, even if their presence felt more significant in their brief subplot in kizuna. At least we have confirmation that they’re still making progress towards their dreams, still hanging out and still hoping for a brighter future with their digimon. What little we got of them interacting was still nice, funny and even heartwarming at times. And if you’re a dub fan, at least we got Brian Donovan back as Davis one more time. Weird they let him reclaim the role but not Lara Jill miller for Kari, even though Tara Sands is still great.

Until next time digimon fam, stay Prodigious

(If you like my review and have my anime list, please follow the link and like it there. Id like to gain alittle traction as a reviewer and its always nics to be able to see if my writing is appreciated)

P.S. And To Lui, the saddest chosen child in all the land

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning #takeru takaishi #tk takaishi #kari kamiya #hikari yagami #davis motomiya #cody hida #ken ichijouji #yolei inoue #hawkmon #gatomon #veemon #patamon #wormmon #armadillomon #review #anime #digital monsters

[13eyond13]

What are your L headcanons?

L + Realistic Headcanon: he found the Yotsuba arc way more difficult to handle than he imagined, because he was totally used to working alone, and really wasn't accustomed to having a bunch of people around scrutinizing his personal lifestyle and relying on him to set and maintain a sensible schedule and routine that everybody else could follow and replicate with ease

L + Not Necessarily Realistic, but Hilarious Headcanon: Light often would wake up in the middle of the night to L doing half-naked yoga stretches on the floor while eating muffins and reading newspapers and random things like that. He quickly learned to just sleep through it and to take it all in stride

L + Heartcrushing Headcanon: L suspects on some level that Watari never would have adopted him when he was little if he hadn't made himself useful as a lucrative meal ticket or a "greatest invention" of some sort

L + Disregarding Canon Headcanon: the only canon I really follow closely for L is the manga, and I think that is by far the best and most coherent and complex and enjoyable version of him

[headcanon ask meme]

#l lawliet #ask #anon #headcanon #p #thx!

[northernreads]

book review

★★★★★

I'm having a hard time putting all of my thoughts into a coherent review so it is likely going to be a bit of a ramble.

While reading this book I couldn't help but be slowed down by all of the explanations for different bookish and publishing terminology, and I kept getting frustrated by it. Even though I know people outside of the bookish/publishing world don't necessarily know what all of this insider jargon means (like what ARC stands for), it felt clunky to have it spelled out. I would be reading and thinking to myself "yeah, yeah, I knoooow, you don't need to tell me" but of course not everyone does know all that stuff. And I think this sticks out so much because the audience for this book is incredibly niche. This a book written for and about the publishing industry as well as the bookish community that halos it (in particular the 'bookternet' community) all of whom don't need all of that jargon explained.

I am genuinely curious to know what people outside this community do think of this book. Does all the satire still make sense? Does it feel so cutting? Does it sting for an outsider too? I just don't think I would have gotten as much out of this book if I wasn't already so aware of everything it is satirizing and it is absolutely part of what made this reading experience so incredible and enjoyable for me.

This book is calling out the publishing industry and it's supposed goals of getting diverse stories. The token representation that is all too often still packaged for white audiences is an obvious and necessary target that Kuang takes aim at. And boy are shots fired. Also tackling the pigeon-holing of "diversity" writers as well as the issue of trauma stories so often being chosen over stories of joy or just plain existing. I hope at least some people in the industry take a good long look in the mirror, but let's be real. So few ever will.

This book is also talking to the online bookish community and it's chronic online-ness. Kuang doesn't stop at those working in publishing either. Another part of a writer's job today seems to be about promoting themselves online and maintaining a social media presence. So of course she fired shots at the 'bookternet' community too.

I was honestly impressed by how succinctly she captured the ridiculousness of being in bookish spaces on the internet. It really just captures Chronic Online-ness, which is so prevalent and loud in bookish internet spaces. Especially on twitter. I have never really gotten involved with book twitter because I never really liked twitter's format, but I have seen the drama spill out into other bookish internet spaces (like booklr) from time to time. And Kuang just got every angle of it so accurately it had me cackling. I have watched the cycle of outrage and posturing and virtue signaling followed by the inevitable turn around against the very person that was previously being defended so. many. times. I remember getting caught up with it the first couple of times over ten years ago and then realizing how shallow everyone's outrage was (including my own) and have become a morbidly curious observer over the years instead.

As I was reading these scenes I was wondering how people that still participate in these drama cycles felt about being so very called out about. And judging by some of the reviews here, it's safe to say that it's not just publishing workers who refuse to look for very long into the mirror after reading this book.

Kuang has been criticized for being too heavy handed in her writing not only for Yellowface but also her previous book, Babel. In Babel I could see why some people felt the themes about colonialism were 'too in-their-face', but that heavy-handedness, to me, was done with purpose. Kuang was not going to let people look away from the violence of Imperialism. She was going to make you confront it again and again and again. It was not a story with a goal of giving readers comfort. Since so many books are published with a white audience in mind, Kuang made sure that white people were forced to take a long look in the mirror, acknowledged their privilege, and learn about the damage of colonialism. That obviously made some white people very uncomfortable.

Yellowface seems to be a very clear response to that criticism. I did not find this book nearly as heavy-handed, instead of hitting readers of the head with The Point as was done with Babel, Kuang just keeps dropping bombs and leaving it with the reader to decide if they will take the time to mull it over. She seems to being saying 'Okay here is The Point. I am not going to spoon feed it to you. But do you even get it though?'. She's not force-feeding us this time, but she's not hiding it in a vague metaphor either. If you don't take the time to contemplate over everything, that's not on Kuang. She's meeting us readers halfway on this one.

I loved getting this book from June's perspective too, it was so well done. She was so diabolical and awful and yet, Kuang is so good and making you wonder if maybe June does have a point. She doesn't though as June is completely unlikable and that's what made this book all the sharper and more compelling.

And that ENDING. Wow. Like a cockroach.

Overall this book was brilliant and ballsy.

This is now my favourite book by Kuang and my absolutely my favourite book of the year.

#booklr #book review #book reviews #mine #rf kuang #yellowface