#as the story progresses was just great

[blluespirit]

there are so many amazing and powerful benders in atla but what i love about zuko is that whether or not he can use his bending in that moment has zero (0) bearing on how much he’s going to absolutely kick your ass. no bending? that’s fine - he’s got swords. no swords or bending? that’s fine - he’s literally just going to beat you up. if you’re REALLY unlucky then you get all three. as a treat.

#like he’s surrounded by these amazing benders. #azula who’s a prodigy #the literal avatar #katara who mastered water bending in like -3 days #(literally iconic of her tbh) #and zuko IS a great firebender (his abilities as a firebender improve as his story progresses) #but it just absolutely cracks me up when i remember zuko will just. not use his bending sometimes #anyway zuko alone fight was special bc he really said i will use all three bc ur special 🤭 #zuko #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #atla #jack talks #where’s that post that’s like zuko is a prodigy but his special skill is breaking and entering and he can’t tell anyone about that

[foldingfittedsheets]

There’s this one interaction I still think about sometimes and get So Mad at. So my best friend is a very bubbly sweet person. Her partner is really shy and soft spoken, it took a while for me to get to know him.

When we’re out and about it usually takes him a while to come out of his shell and talk. We don’t focus on it, it’s just like he’ll talk when he’s ready.

So one day the two of them and my betrothed and I are having breakfast in a restaurant. Three of the people at the table look AFAB, and then there’s him. We’ve been there a while and he finally opens up to start telling a story.

He grew up in Hawaii and he’s telling us this really funny story and we’re all listening with great interest.

And this fucking middle aged white man comes up to our table, points at him, and says “You’re talking way too much, you need to let the ladies get a word in edgewise, son. This is no way to behave.”

All of us turn to this man with outrage and my friend said in a tight voice, “None of us feel that way.”

The older guy laughed and wandered off and I had the bitter experience of watching this sweet guy shrink back on himself. We all had to coax him to finish the story but the moment was so thoroughly ruined by that interruption.

I hope that rude man steps on Legos every day for a year. I hope he gets horrible painful hangnails, and that his food is always too salty.

#ramblies #story #who does that??? #just goes up to a table and tells someone to be quiet??? #I’m sure he was like ‘haha I am very progressive for telling a man to shut up’ #and we were like wtf why would you go up to a table of strangers and tell someone to shut up??? we were all having a great time! #ffs foibles

[moeblob]

No, I don't think I will recover from the VA's growl after Gallagher says he used to bite people. Thanks for checking. (but seriously, was that just a VA choice or is that a direction he was given? Does he rawr in other languages? I've only heard the English line).

#honkai star rail #gallagher #i maybe have a problem with the fact that hsr has decided to pity me immensely #ever since i used my free 5star after three hundred standard warps #to obtain my beloved astral express dad i have had so much better luck getting dudes #this is fabulous until i cant level them all up #this is great for me personally until i cant use most of them #i wanna use gallagher so badly but i dont have enough resources rn to invest #and in addition to that im TRYING to do story progress when i can so i just use my same team all the time #so maybe i can draw more silly lil guys interacting when i get further along #the weird lil rawr has lived in my brain since i listened to it

[acoraxia]

I think people misunderstood my macaque post

Ah well you win some you lose some

#people saying ‘the sun cant exist without the moon’ #yes it can? #it just wouldnt shine #we wouldnt see it #thats why macaque is flawed from the start - you have him DEPEND on the sun to make any progress #with his character #moon and sun symbolisms are great but when you take it away #sun wukong is still SUN WUKONG but macaque is nobody without wukong and thats saying smthing #and i can give you so many examples of characters who have stories without relying on their childhood best friends #like jinx from arcane or marceline from adventure time #sometimes you can make it work if the story is about both of them #but the story has ALWAYS been about wukong never macaque #even macaque’s dialogue and actions and drives are all connected to wukong #and thats a little sad ngl #comeback kid #think pan

[fatherramiro]

ive got so many thoughts about origin character playthroughs in bg3 as i go into act 3 of my wyll origin run, and while a majority of them are "wyll and lae'zel co protagonists of the game by a large margin" there's also some moments where im like "ooh id have done that differently if i were writing the game"

#ive tried to do an astarion origin playthrough but honestly i found it hard to progress the plot as him? #because we're supposed to be playing AS the origin character and i just don't think astarion would make the specific decisions needed #to progress the plot in the beginning of the game #like my read on him is more that he'd be trying to figure out the tadpole but also how to get as far away from cazador as possible #and that would require not getting involved in tiefling and druid conflicts #or offering to chase down a grand duke #which is great for his growth as a character through the narrative as he regains more agency and finds that spark of empathy that #cazador tried to beat out of him #but overall it makes him... idk #it makes him work better in the narrative of the game as it stands now as a supporting role/love interest #and this isn't me saying astarion couldn't be a protagonist in a specific version of this story but it isn't necessarily this version #whereas characters like wyll and lae'zel have such strong motivations to drive the plot forward because of their connections #to the larger story of the game itself #anyways i love astarion so much but his story is both the most well written and the least protagonist-y of them

[nightingaletrash]

I am once again thinking about a Dragon Cult faction in Skyrim and the dragons being intelligent conquerors rather than random monsters that pop up from time to time, all thanks to Vox Machina so yeah I’m gonna ramble :p

Alduin uses Helgen as his chance to declare his intentions, that his dominion over Tamriel has begun and Skyrim will be the first to kneel. The survivors of Helgen flee and begin to spread the word of what they saw and what was promised. Skyrim is torn by the story as it spreads; there’s hysteria, there’s denial, there’s a frenzy to prepare, and a steadfast refusal to engage with the story at all. People are either terrified or they’re convinced it’s complete hogwash until they see it with their own eyes.

Ulfric knows the legends well enough to recognise the threat and the Stormcloaks are also familiar with Alduin’s story, so they take the threat significantly more seriously than Tullius and the Legion, who aren’t quite so readily familiar with the tales and need convincing by the likes of Rikke and other Nords in the ranks to treat the situation with the full gravitas it deserves. It’s a serious threat, yes, but they don’t realise just how significant Alduin’s return is and what it means for Tamriel on the whole.

During the lull after Alduin’s arrival, Mirmulnir was planning to take Whiterun for himself and was systematically weakening the city's defences before launching his assault, only to end up encountering the one person who could truly kill him. Word of a Dragonborn spreads rapidly and before long, so do the dragons. They rise from their graves and abandon their long-forgotten hiding places, and they take to the sky, intent on taking back what’s their’s.

Falkreath is the first to bend its knee because Siddgeir isn't so stupid that he thinks he can best a dragon, and surely there'll be some benefit to capitulating, just like there was when he sided with the Imperials. He'll take whatever he can get and becomes the first modern Dragon Priest, all to ensure that he retains his power as well as his life. The Dragonborn isn’t safe in Falkreath, not until it seems that there’s an earnest chance that they can best the ancient dragon that resides there. Siddgeir will always throw his lot in with the winning side after all... Whether his doublecrossing actually serves him depends on how the Dragonborn chooses to handle the situation.

Meanwhile Winterhold and Dawnstar are mostly ignored by the first wave of dragons. There are bigger prizes elsewhere. Only once the best territories have been claimed does anyone take an interest in the north, and still Dawnstar doesn’t tract much attention. Winterhold, however, finds itself in a tricky situation - the dragon that arrives is one with a thirst for knowledge. It’s shrewd, cunning, and apparently indifferent to Alduin’s desire to conquer Skyrim. It barters with the Archmage over the Jarl. It offers the College protection from the local Nords and others that might do them wrong, its own knowledge of history and magic, and secrets known only to a dragon. In exchange, they share their secrets with it and let it learn from their troves of knowledge. It’ll leave the village alone provided the people there don’t cause trouble; it doesn’t care to rule. It just wants to learn and be left in peace. It’s a deal that seems almost too good to be true, and the mages can’t tell if this dragon is just like them or if it’s plotting something terrible.

Riften is initially prepared for a dragon to arrive on account of the Stormcloaks preparing the city ahead of time. Then it storms for days on end, a relentless torrent of rain and lightning. People swear they hear a voice in the thunder as their streets flood and the Nords in town put two and two together. Some advise that they should make offerings to try and persuade the dragon to put a stop to the storm. Gold, jewels, whatever meat they can get - they offer it all if it means the storm will stop. And for a time it does... until Jarl Laila puts her foot down and puts a stop to the offerings. Appeasing a dragon won’t save them, after all. And so the storm resumes as it did before, and people are afraid and angry. But still, anyone caught making offerings is punished, and the storms grow worse with every person jailed, so people leave to seek out the beast to offer themselves in service. They become its eyes and ears in the city and report to it when the Dragonborn arrives. When they do, they’re sent to extend an invitation to Laila just as she’s requesting them to hunt down the dragon and slay it; it requests a parley in neutral territory with Laila. It’s up to the Dragonborn to decide whether Riften remains free or if it falls under the control of the dragon.

Markarth is a tempting target, but the city's architecture makes it a tough nut to crack. They have all the steel they need for weapons manufacturing, and are prepared for a siege thanks to the Civil War. To complicate matters, the Reachfolk are as much a problem for the dragons as they are for the Nords; freedom runs in their veins and they wouldn't give it up for anyone. Not for the Nords, and not for a bunch of big ol' lizards either. Any dragon trying to take territory in the Reach has their work cut out for them, both inside the walls and out.

Morthal ends up under dragon control pretty quickly, much like Falkreath. Igrod knows that her tiny community stands no chance at all, so she makes an offering just before the dragon shows up and assumes her role as Dragon Priest. But she's not simply rolling over like Siddgeir. She's biding her time and protecting her people the only way she can, waiting for the one person that can save them.

Solitude and Windhelm remain free on account of the power they've each marshalled. They're both powerful enough to ward off the threat for now, but it won't last forever. Especially if the dragons seize more and more territories.

Other small settlements fall as easily as Morthal and Falkreath, with the communities swiftly capitulating to the dragons that arrive in the hopes of being spared; Kynesgrove only narrowly avoids that fate. People were preparing to bring offerings to the Dragonmound and instead see their would-be-ruler slain once he’s barely fresh from the grave. The villagers are some of the only people in Skyrim that the Dragonborn and the Blades can trust for safe shelter if they’re passing through the area.

With Whiterun and Kynesgrove standing free, along with any other cities that the Dragonborn has chosen to liberate or has a dragon ruling in their name over Alduin’s, the dragons are more than aware that they have an adversary out there, but those that have established themselves and their territory are unwilling to depart in search of them. Instead they use intermediaries; some want the Dragonborn dead to be presented to Alduin at Skuldafn, others think they could be a useful tool or ally, while others are just interested in securing their borders against any potential threats.

#nightingale rambles #skyrim #dragon cult faction #alduin #too many thoughts. too big. #the ideas i have for riften could be a post on its own #and markarth would present some great ideas for its own storyline #and just the idea that each city you tackle - whether you kill the dragon or turn it to your side - in turn progresses the story #and causes change in the world? #ahhhh i love it #like you could kill the dragons. persuade them to leave the cities and leave mortals alone. #or let them continue to rule but in your name instead of alduin's #and all the while the imperials and stormcloaks are still trying to beat the shit out of each other #because yes the world might be ending and we're trying to protect ourselves against the dragons #but fuck you you're still going down

[kayzero]

in the spaces between not working on zwg and not finishing brother’s burden, i’ve been, uh…

thinking about something new.

#kay original #game development #kay rambles in the tags #Peccatum #Peccatum: Small Town Heroes #name is a work in progress. as most things are. #you can ask me about this project and the ocs i’ve half-imagined if you want to know more about them #but i’m not at the ‘‘ask me about my setting so i can figure stuff out’’ stage yet. #i do know that it’s an rpg. a LONG one too. and it’ll be mission-based kiiinda like FE3H? but not really? #9 party members. each of them have different elemental alignments and each represent a different Game Stat. #everyone has 1 Best stat—2 Great Stats—3 Good Stats—and 2 Poor Stats—and then the ninth stat is a fixed value #i know that two party members are trans. another two members—including the Box Art Protagonist—are disabled #along with the machine party member there is a Dragon who spends most of their time in bipedal form #there is a Fae who spends a large majority of the story hiding the fact that they are in truth a Fae #one of the party members was experimented on as a child and is now part Monster but they repressed the memory so they have no idea #i came up with a shared MP system that has actual story reasons for existing—and it’s gonna be a pain in the ass to code… #i want a relationship system a la Persona except EVERY party member gets a relationship and not just The Protagonist #every party member will have a relationship gauge with every other party member (i guess this is Fire Emblem?) #and then everyone will have a relationship with an NPC that’s unique and exclusive to them #and then they get four relationships with members of the town that you see frequently as you wander around #but it’s a Small Town remember. so the party has to share. there are four categories with three townspeople each so three party members will #have a relationship with each townsperson. but the relationships will be different because the characters aren’t carbon copies of each other #not. not romantic relationships. like friendships and rivalries and sex buddies and apprenticeships and. possibly also romance? mm. #i have to. learn how to code. idk if RPGMaker has a relationship system so i’ll have to figure something else out. maybe RP as a currency...

[floralovebot]

literally No One cares cause like no one else remembers this movie but Good God i wish titan a.e. had been more about character development and arcs rather than just. looking pretty. like don't get me wrong, it Is a pretty movie and i Do like it. but also.

there was so much they could've done even in the limited movie time frame and they just. didn't! literally no thought to korso selling out the human race specifically because he's depressed and genuinely feels like there's no hope. barely redeeming him at the end but not even exploring How he got to that point - how cale gave him hope again, how he saw a genuine future he believed in because he believed in cale! it's just a little bit hinted at but not at all given the attention it deserves.

and then of course, cale himself!!! the two of them literally go through the same journey of feeling like there's no more hope for humans but learning through their connections with others that there is. and we get to see that with cale!!! it makes sense, he's the main character and all, but if we can see that with him, why not with korso?

i just,,, ough,,,, this movie had such great potential but they focused so much on the art and graphics and effects and like Yes it's all very pretty but the characters,,, the characters!!!!

#don't even get me started on akima oh my lord #what if i just rewrote the entire story. for me. #titan a.e. #like this isnt me shitting on the movie trust me i Love it #but i just wish we had gotten more in the realm of character development :( #there were so many interesting characters that they just! didn't do anything with!! #or they did the absolute bare minimum with #korso is a great example because my dude. that's an insane twist! and then a redemption! #but like! they barely did anything with the actual arc and character progression of it all!!! #god... #korso my beloved its okay the epic story of loss and hope is playing in My head at least <3

[dreadwulf]

I wonder if part of it is landscape of media at the times, because I don't recall this being the issue when 2011 rolled around and a whole new audience was introduced via the show. It very much was a fun time of analyzing the story as something more meaningful then gritty fantasy.

But then the show got worse over time and around season 5 and 6 there was a shift in perspective. Because it did become more about the killing and unexpected deaths as the focus, and people then took that lens and put it on the books. So they're looking at the books with a lens of a story telling method that isnt there.

But because it's also so popular it means these people all look at their own stories to tell and use that mistaken lens of dark and gritty as their focal point when it is not about the death. Neds death wasnt there to be shocking and author kill happy because SO many moving parts had to come together and lead up to it.

But people were shocked by it, and that mistaken their shock as authorial intent and it has started a chain reaction of souring story telling as gritty sells. When it doesnt. GoT only did well when it had thr heart of the story in mind, as soon as it became about the death around season 5 did notably was not the cultural phenomenon it once was and nothing thing to mimic that grit has succeeded like early GoT.

If you read agot and then adwd youd be like "are these even the same story?" Because so much of that world was meaningfully filled out in between. Robbs death wasnt memorable because it was shock value, it was memorable because if EVERYTHING that led up to the character he had grown to be and the tragedy of having it taken away.

I think part of it is just really, general audiences only took away the violence and shock value and mistakenly decided that has always been the intent. When asoiaf and even early seasons GoT were using death and violence as a tool to tell a greater story, not to be the story itself. But that became the popular take away of the series and people both use it to wrongly judge asoiaf and also use it as a template for their own stories when that takeaway is entierly incorrect.

I think you're right and the dividing line you have noticed is right where D&D lost interest in adapting the books after they finished A Storm of Swords. There was still a great deal of misreading of the series before that, but they went completely off-book after that point and the series became exactly what I'm complaining about: feeding characters into a meatgrinder for shock twists!!! and not to serve the narrative, and not progressing character development past the point it reached in ASOS. Just repeating the same beats after that. Lack of follow-through on consequences of anything, like Cersei can just blow up the Vatican with the president and vice president inside it and there's no fallout. Everyone reverts to roughly where they were at in Book 2 having learned nothing. Big setpieces that wrap up in ways that are visually dramatic but make no thematic sense (I'm still mad about Arya killing the Night King, wtf was that). Etc.

I think it's entirely possible to misread the books this way all on one's own -- just visit reddit -- so I wouldn't blame it all on show-onlies. But the TV adaptation did not help, absolutely.

edit to add: I very much remember the "evil santa" and "GRRM loves death" memes in the early years of the show, though. I don't think that was new, it just got worse.

#I'd be really interested to see which creators were book fans and took this approach. otherwise it's hard to tease apart #but take for example The Walking Dead which very much uses this Anyone Can Die template until you've just pulverized the audience #but it didn't start out that way! it turned into that on a timeline that directly mirrors GOT I'd argue and that's when it got popular #even Saga (a great comics series) relies on this too much #death is not the only way to progress your story!!!!!! come on

[aqua-dan]

This may be a bad take but I think Garth can always have more good friends. I think he could have a nice relationship with everyone including Wally and not just Roy, if the writer tried. Is that… wrong of me?

Garth just gets written out a lot and for that to happen less he probably needs more established friendships. 😥

I don't think that's a bad take at all! As much as I just complained about Wally and Garth's friendship in WF:TT, I don't actually think that allowing Garth to become closer with his pre-existing friends (or others!) is a bad idea at all! I guess my gripe was more just that I don't want it to come from thin air or thoughtless retcons. Having Garth be closer with his friends in his younger years would have ripple effects that makes a lot of the stories they have together as adults not very plausible anymore. But as adults, I'd love if a writer took the time to really TRY to build up Garth's friendships more!!! As a matter of fact, that would be fully ideal to me!

#I just want the progression to be based off of the years of character development and progression that we already had #And since things have been universe merged I think it would be a great time for Garth Character Rehab anyways! #So it does make me a little ehh to see such heavy retcons to Garth's early years because those experiences are necessarily for later #But fresh stories that build up his friendships as adults? GIMME GIMME GIMME #Garth #Dan Says Shit #Oh i guess i should also make it clear that im not against any sort of au/ua tho! #that stuff is fun and i do that all the time in my head #because then later “mainline” consequences dont matter!

[leyleycraves]

I'm so fucking enamored at everything in that video and the new cgs are great but I'm so fucking livid at it. I want to hump any surface I can find for him looking that good but disembowel her.

#i swear i loved the update i just have a lot of complicated fictive feelings #ashley facts #lace bun #guess that means its doing a great job of progressing the story

[rindemption]

I know already I'm going to have a minimum 4 bg3 playthroughs. One to romance Gale (current, and finally progressing), one to romance Astarion (current playthrough has had a couple flings with him but he won't be the main romantic partner), one to romance Karlach (god I love her), and one to play the Dark Urge

... and I'm going on 30 hours and just got to act 2, so there's a lot of playtime ahead of me

#bg3 #honestly some of the other one's i might do on easy just to progress a little faster #fighting takes up half my time because I'm not a great tactician #the more i hear about the dark urge story the more intrigued i am though

[bejeweledmp3]

computer how do i stop feeling insecure on my writting so that can i write. computer please

#talking tag; #ok so. story time sure why not #today is my first day of uni and i had classes from 8.30 am to 11:45 which was. fine i was exhasuted but it was fine #and then i had to wait to meet some friends for lunch and i started writting and it just hit me that totp is actually over 50k words #and it's like brooooo i literally wrote a novel length fic (that's still not done btw! not close!) and for whattt who even has the time #to read something like that like why bother. it's not even (directly) about the main characters and i just #i'm afraid that i'm repeating myself i'm afraid that chracters are not being developed like i hoped they would i'm afraid that no one will #care and i'm also afraid that the people that do care won't like it #and then i met with my friends who study cinema and they bumped into people from their classes and i was just. #there listening to their conversations without interacting like what the FUCKKK am i doing here pretending that i fit in with the cool #cretive people and that my prose is any good at all #just. 50 thousand words of fanfiction and i'm worried that none of them are any good #but lately my motto is that i will figure it out so. i will figure it out #i did cry about it (lmao) which i'm counting as progress from the empty nothingness i felt around this time of year a year ago #but yeah man it sucks. totp is my baby but (just like kim lmao) my default is being hard on myself. i just can't not be #i think i'll write on my diary about this and then!!! we move on. oh well #i will finish totp that's a promise but yeah. today just hasn't been great i guess #and i have no one in my life to talk to about this so!!!!!! shouting into the void i guess

[essektheylyss]

I sometimes think that there is too much value put on greyace or demi characters learning how to recognize feelings of attraction in general, and it does feel a bit like a veil for the idea that those characters need to learn to experience attraction "normally" as part of their character growth.

Recognizing that a feeling they'd like to act upon is attraction is all well and good—and makes both for fun plot and also is interesting to see, as a demi person!—but it does often feel like an emphasis is placed upon recognizing any attraction for what it is as the next progression. In my experience, that's a genuinely futile exercise—attraction is nebulous and also often different person to person, so it doesn't feel like a useful tool for a reader to figure out if they experience attraction, and is it necessary to identify that?

But on top of that, it feels even more insidious because consistently propping it up as the next step suggests that it is necessary to quantify all attraction in order to be able to properly experience any of it.

#this doesn't mean this is NEVER a good story element to be clear! just that I do think the frequency of it becomes an issue #and I think it can seem too easily like this is the natural progression and it's really not. and other options are great. #I AM in fact the mythical ace person who gets so much done because I'm unconcerned with attraction and I also deserve rep dammit #I am a disaster bi but a hypercompetent ace. fuck you give me my rep. #(to be clear that's a joke. but also. is it.) #hilariously did remember while typing this that there's a coda to chapter 22 of the tiefling fic that's sort of the antithesis of this lmfa #allo person: but HOW do you know that's attraction; ace spectrum person: I just do. don't question me there's no good answer to it.

[areyoutheregoditsmejessica]

i’m quite literally begging

canonbuddie stans to leave the fandom. please make good on your promises before season 7 gets here. i’d love to go in the bathena tag and not have to sift through junk. bathena’s sole purpose isn’t to be some parallel to buddie nor is their sole purpose to be pseudo parents to buck (and by extension eddie).

the only people who did the queerbaiting were those splicing together buddie and eddie scenes and attributing their own interpretations in an infinite number of posts to the point where people who didn’t watch 911 assumed the two were a romantic couple on the show. both characters have explicitly dated and shown interest in dating women on the show. the dialogue often had emotions and feelings that shows usually don’t show two men having (which i loved so much bc need to not use women as emotional support and find that in their own friendship) but it never skewed to either showing romantic interest in one another. the writers never teased anything in interviews, as far as i know. the actors never teased anything in interviews either, as far as i know. was a romance possible and believable? yes, of course. but that doesn’t mean it’s the only option. and it’s been clear that that wasn’t a story the writers were interested in writing no matter how loud or demanding a small group on the internet got.

#i'm also really looking forward to buck and natalia #i liked buck and taylor and lowkey miss megan west and her fiery red hair #but i can totally get behind bucktalia #i havent cared much about eddie since season 4 #they introduced a great character in season 2 then he just got progressively worst/uninteresting #i can tolerate him with marisol though especially if chris takes to her #don't bother trying to convince me the show was going THERE with buddie as a romance because it'd be a waste of time #i've been watching since the pilot episode and thought they had chemistry when he was first introduced but was joking about it i wasn't #aware there were cult believers who truly thought it was the story being told in canon until i decided to open the hellsite again after #years and found that to be the case #perception is not reality

[thormanick]

Ngl Furina's story quest might be my absolute favourite quest in the game

#it was perfection. i just- it was sooooo good #lots of points furina brought up herself specifically were extremely great #i think her dialogue writing was amazing #also her experience. of self-isolating herself due to her trying to sort out herself #and then being able to progress and work on the aspects of herself she wanted to work on #through cooperation with a wonderful group of people #lets just say it was a very important story for me. Furina's feeling better and so i am happy #genshin impact #genshin impact thoughts #afinna explores teyvat #genshin impact furina