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dvasva · 6 months

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Tbh? I think the radiant emperor duology deserves more critique than it gets in its tag, so after stewing it over for a couple weeks and also discussing it with my friend, I have decided to do it myself.

So. Spoilers for She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned The World ahead.

First off, so nobody accuses me of hating the series, I liked the series. I'd say I'd give the first book a 4.5/5, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I like both books. I truthfully skipped the fisting scene, it triggered some dysphoria that I wasn't comfortable with personally but I don't have problem with it existing in the book, it's good where it is, no changes.

No, my critiques come mostly from the second book, hwdts. Which sucks because I absolutely loved Baoxiang in it, it's a well known fact that my ideal type is pretty, really mean, characters. ('What about Madam Zhang?!!!???!? Shes mean and pretty!!' I hear you ask. Give it a second cause i will get to my beloved madam zhang) So, my critiques are mostly organized as 'The first part I didn't like in Hwdtw that signals the thing that became my biggest issue, the bits in the middle that i did like along with the bits that I felt didn't really work well, and Act 3 which is where my issues really were exacerbated.'

By the end of book one, I had a general annoyance but acceptance that Ma Xiuying was a bit of a weak character, and not weak as in 'dang shes a woman and cant fight' or any other sexist way you may interpret that, but weak as in structurally, she didn't really have as much depth as other characters. I thought she didn't have as much time put into her character as others. And yeah you could have a million character analysis essays over Ma and her place in the story and etc, but for me, her setup for the next book as potentially having conflict with Zhu or her own morals was the most interesting part of Ma. In general I think a lot of people tend to overlook this flaw partly because Ma is a cis lesbian character and the main 'love interest' in a book that is usually marketed to people as sapphic, which yeah there is certainly a sapphic relationship in the book but I think saying it's a major part of the book is really giving the relationship a load bearing wall ot isn't strong enough to carry. The Radiant Emperor Duology is not a romance, first and foremost. To describe it as a wlw romance is gonna leave people who read ot specifically for that reason kinda dissappointed by the end of book 2.

My big critiques didn't start until book two, and a particular scene, though. Ma, at the start of book two, was generally filling the niche of 'nagging wife' to zhu, which yknow, is a fine place to start from. I was a little disappointed there was no further discussion of Ma's disapproval of the morality of Zhu's actions, and in fact the dead child was pretty much entirely forgotten by Ma in favor of being Zhu's wife. Which, yknow, sure.

The Scene I had issue with happened (Spoilers once again) after Zhu finally captures Ouyang and imprisons him at her base of operations. Ma, dressed in her empressly regalia enters his room with the intention of being the bigger person. She walks in, looks at the stripped down and humiliated general who killed her father and famously is also really a women hater, and tells him she forgives him for killing her father. And then she gets upset and cries when the prideful general who hates women gives her a dressing down and taunts her and is like 'I'm glad I killed your father'? She nearly cries because Ouyang was mean to her (notably only cause he was mean to her and didn't gracefully accept her forgiveness, not because he killed ehr father) and runs off to Zhu. And Zhu responds with 'Wow, he's just a weirdo, everyone likes you and everyone in existance immediately knows you're a good person and you change people.' Which, my friend suggested before she finished the book, was a case of Zhu placating Ma and dismissing her feelings which would be an interesting dynamic.

Really my hangups with this scene come from multiple parts.

1. Ma' few character traits including being observant and reading people really well (a thing she's praised for in book 1) and having good social intuition are completely thrown out by her thinking being alone with ouyang and forgiving him would be a good idea and then her being shocked and upset when he spat on her forgiveness. And

2. Zhu's response is never once treated by the text as her dismissing Ma and placating her, and Zhu's statement despite never being shown to be true before and that moment being the first time it's ever mentioned, ends up becoming Chekov's moral purity by the end of the book, where the plot hinges on Ma being able to magically heal a damaged character's mind enough for Zhu to win in the end. Which I will get back to. There's a lot of other stuff happening between here and the end.

So, before I get back to Ma and her role in the story, I'll address some other bits from after this scene. Both problems and things I enjoyed generally.

Madam Zhang and her parallels to Baoxiang and her being the absolute queen of dissociating really was interesting (before act 3). She was a very compelling character who I completely understood and felt positively about. She had a way more interesting relationship with gender imo than Ma did, especially in book 2. I didn't really like that she was overwhelmingly shown having sexual villence done to her, that felt weirdly like a punishment. But, I did like her a whole bunch, and I liked the look we got into her head. She was probably my second, maybe third, favorite character in the whole book until Act 3.

I really, really liked Ouyangs dynamic and relationship with Zhu. The weird sexual tension between them, their weird kinda nonsexual but also kinda very sexual S&M relationship. It was somehow the most sensual, sexual part of a book that featured Madam Zhang having sex with multiple people, and Zhu going down on Ma, and a lot of other mentions of sex or scenes involving sex. Tbh I feel like, in a way, Ma was left to the sidelines for most of the book because Ouyang became the primary 'love' interest for a hot second there and the only reason Ma could get her spot back was Ouyang and Zbu's separation. Also, from what I've seen when people talk about this book, they always kinda try to express Zhu and Ouyang's dynamic as very nonsexual and nonromantic, as platonic mostly. And there is no inherent superiority of romantic over platonic, but I think to insist that it is only platonic, and not a strange swirl of romantic, platonic, sexual, frustration and relief, and a swirl of familiarity and vulnerability all wrapped into one, is doing the dynamic a bit of a disservice. And ther is, imo, very clearly a subtle hint of romantic intent and interest on Ouyang's part before he realizes Zhu has a body he hates.

Which is also another point I didn't like. Ouyang and Zhu's relationship end felt off. The entire bit with the pirates felt off, but especially how Ouyang found out about Zbu's body, and how Zhu reacted. I think Ouyang finding out second hand, from a combination of being suspicious and from Jiang saying it, was a poor way for that to be revealed. I think there was a better way for that to happen that woyld have felt more like a betrayl to zhu than this did. The fact that Zhu and Ouyang were so in tune and could see each other perfectly, but this one thing was a blind spot for both of them because of how unaffected by gender Zhu was compared to how overaffected by gender Ouyang was is a really interesting thing to explore, an interesting disconnect between two character's whose entire basis for their relationship is 'like recognizes like'. I think Zhu seeing it as a betrayl would have been more impactful if she had presented this informatuon to Ouyang herself and been rejected than how it went down. And, I think her not realizing Ouyang would be disgusted that he felt connected and felt a sameness to someone with a body he found grotesque and that he feared would have been more interesting for zhu, who views herself outside of womanhood and didnt really think that other people would not see her outside of womanhood, if she was the one who told ouyang herself.

Also, less importantly, think going into Ouyangs annoyance that zhu kept moving his target further away was a good move but it wasn't expanded on as much for my taste. I also really liked it when (spoiler) Xu Da dies, and that entire part despite some minir bits, was extremely good in that Zhu finally has tasted loss. She had, up until that point, been riding a wave of positivity, she was the underdog who won over and over again despite all the odds and despite her own reckless choices. So I did appreciate that everything went wrong for her at least once. that would have been, imo if other things were changed, a good place to end a book two in a three book series. Which will make sense as to why I mention it im a bit.

I also didn't like how Ma was nonexistant unless the plot was like 'ok we need to remind people that Ma exists.'

And there's of course other stuff but those are the main points of acts 1 and 2 that i wasn't fond of or that i liked.

Act 3 is a wholely different behemoth which can be encapsulated with 'I wish it was longer but also different' (courtesy of the convo my friend and I had).

My friend and I both agreed that we liked this kind of courtly drama game it was playing. My friend doesn't tend to like the structure or writing style of a lot of the chinese wuxia, danmei, or courtly drama translated books i read, so it was nice to know that the genre content isn't the issue for her there.

The biggest problems I had with the ending though was 1. I think Baoxiang and Ma had an interesting dynamic despite it being really rushed and how distasteful I found the entire concept of Ma being such a good wholesome goody good good person that she could change Baoxiang, quiet his demons and fix him in some way. That was annoying in an otherwise interesting dynamic. And 2. I think Madam Zhang's character traits and cleverness and all that were wiped away to make her inexplicably jealous of Ma in a way that I don't think fit her character and just served to fit a trope of jealous empress who hates the favored concubine.

So, here's my major proposed changes.

1. Ma gets sent to Khanbaliq extremely early on. Like, act one maybe after ouyang is captured early. This serves three purposes. A. Ma has something to do and is more present in the story. this could be a good xhance to let her actually feel frustrated or upset at Zhu in some tangible way that needs to be resolved or talked thru eventually. B. she gets more time to build a relationship with Baoxiang, whose entire defeat hinges on him having a strong connection with her. and C. Her absence in the other parts of the book feel less like she's being ignored or forgotten. It makes Zhu's lack of haste more than just a way to annoy Ouyang, and turns it into an interesting moral choice. Should she rush to Khanbaliq to save Ma or trust that Ma will be ok in favor of gaining power? Her lack of haste means Ouyang leaves, depressed, and she loses Xu Da, all while she doesn't even have the assurance that Ma is ok, she is truly at her lowest point with nobody with her. If Ma is in Khanbaliq and that's explored, then Zhu and Ouyang can also explore their dynamic without Ma feeling a bit like she is battling for Zhu's attention.

2. Madam Zhang is suspicious of Ma, or feels actually tangibly threatened by Ma. In act 3, Madam Zhang's anger towards Ma feels really out of place. She got exactly what she wants, she is empress, her emperor isn't interested in removing her from her position and her position isn't threatened by anyone. Baoxiang won't get rid of her, he won't demote her, he has shown zero sign of ever even considering it. So, why is Madam Zhang jealous of Ma? Imo, especially since she very clearly has dissociated into oblivion and has no love or affection for anyone anymore, and no real desire or motivation to secure her position further aside from maybe producing an heir to make sure shes taken care of after Baoxiang dies, there's no reason for her to be inextricably jealous of Ma. It kinda just erases all of Madam Zhang's political savvy and cunning into jealous, petty woman, and that sucks. If she was suspicious of Ma's intention, or Baoxiang genuinely expressed spmething that actively threatened her position, her hatred of Ma would make sense, but instead she hates Ma cause Ma is ugly and spends every night with Baoxiang. She hated rice buckets concubine cause that concubine used a lot of funds and competition genuinely made her position less stable. She needs better motivation for hating Ma.

3. As I mentioned earlier, Zhu needs to be the one to tell Ouyang that she does not have a dick. That's just all around better, it feels more like a betrayl to bare your secrets and be rejected, etc etc.

4. The duology should have been a trilogy, with book 3 starting when Zhu is at her lowest, ouyang is dead, ma is in khanbaliq, Xu Da is dead, a new guy is the emperor. This is where a book three should have started. in a series that has so many important characters, i feel like it needs more space. she's in a 10 gallon tank when really she needs a 30 gallon tank. Lots of it, especially towards the end of book 2, felt rushed and the extra book will absolutely push that back a bit and make it less rushed.

Anyways that's my critique of The Radiant emperor duology. Once Again, I liked the series, its one of my favorites i've read all year. I don't dislike it, and having a critique or opinion about something doesnt mean I didn't like the book or understand the book (because obviously if i understood it i would understand why its flawless). I liked it, there are things I wish were different, that's it.

#radiant emperor #he who drowned the world #she who became the sun #radiant emperor spoilers #spoiler #i wrote this in like 2 hours at 4 am and i got lazy halfway thru editing it so if theres typos rip #i just needed to get it out of my brain #organized in text somewhere other than jamies discord dms #thank you jamie also #i have a lot of opinions on this duology #some i didnt even mention cause its 6:30 and i forgot #i think shelley parker chan wants to write nblm or mlm books tbh #i dont think they really wanna write sapphic books #and tbh im ok with that i think there should be more books about transmascs #the tiktok/tumblr habit of describing a book with tags really also doesnt help this book also #i think to say 'sapphic enemies to lovers' for this kind of book gives people the wrong impression #especially since once again i wouldnt really describe it as sapphic in the genre way #anyhow again so nobody kills me #i did like the books #i enjoyed them i loved them i did not hate them at all

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nekomim1 · 2 months

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Making a Nona themed playlist does anyone have any suggestions

#i just think she'd really enjoy some dad rock #thats the kinda vibe im going for in general but i will also accept songs outside of that genre so long as they are nona-core #thank you #nona the ninth #ntn #tlt #the locked tomb

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sleepy-edits · 4 months

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#tenkuu shinpan #high rise invasion #yuri honjo #allanimanga #fyanimegifs #anisource #dailyanime #fyeahanimegifs #i really enjoyed the manga i didnt kno there was an anime #i just really like the “people in masks killing others” genre lmao #its so grim and also maybe bc im such a scream fangirl #just love texas chainsaw massacre and scream #they were so bizzarre #manga fighting scenes were cool and also the story behind what's this wworld and who controls the masks..just entertaining

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asexualbookbird · 3 months

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i feel like people see "three stars" and think thats a Bad Rating but for me it's more like. I had fun! Won't be revisting this, but enjoyed it while it was there! I know my ratings are more vibes than anything else but generally three stars are just that. Its the two stars that make it more There Were Problems Here That I Will Grumble About, four stars are like I May Think About Rereading This One Day. One star is shit. Yall know that Thats easy. Five stars altered my brain chemistry. It's mot about technical skills. Its about my enjoyment and three stars i enjoyed SOMETHING!

all this to say i dont think Scalzi is a Bad Author, hes just a very specific kind of author. He's like. A Midlist romance author that doesnt write romance and none of that is an insult. His books are easily digestible, theyre funny, theyre silly, they fall apart if you sit and pick them apart, bht they're not meant to be picked apart! They're just there to be enjoyed as is and thats okay!!!!!

His books are also the perfect thing to read when you have post covid brain, which is funny about Start Villain because he wrote it with post covid brain. So. High five mr scalzi.

#bookbird babbles #this. sure is a babble #i dont know if im coherent #but like. okay. continuing in tags i guess #people say their romance books and newish romantaay genre is like popcorn to them #or candy #its just there to have fun not to be of any nutritional value #and i feel like romance is the only genre we really get that?#there are plenty of mediocre thrillers out there but they all take themselves too seriously #scalzi is having fun! like romance authors! and its outside of the romance genre!#and i think thats neat!#(to be 100% clear i am NOT taking digs at romance genre i just do not generally enjoy that genre)#(so its refreshing to still get these tasty snacks that are tailored to me :) )

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writingmoth · 5 months

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liking romantasy as an ace person who is more sex-indifferent than sex-favorable is so exhausting. there are all these books that look cool but the authors mostly market them based on spicy levels and spicy scenes and it does nothing for me so i just sit here like :| thats nice i guess haha

#nothing wrong with spicy levels btw #but spicy is like a plus for me #i only really enjoy it if i like the romance first so all the marketing is lost on me #which is why i think fantasy romance wip has no target audience at all LOL WHO IS THIS FOR EXCEPT ME SPECIFICALLY #its such a specific niche like #if you like romantasy but queer #and queer as in transmac & nonbinary ppl mostly with ace/aro characters #might have spicy stuff but not much and not for a long time #huge platonic element but the romance is There (I SWEAR)#who wants to read this even #again: this is not a condemnation of romantasy its more a 'i want to read this and there isnt much of it and that makes me sad' thing #ren.txt #i feel like im stuck between regular adult fantasy which is usually very dry and emotionless with no well written relationship to speak of #(romantic or otherwise)#and romantasy which has the emotion i want bUT GOES ABOUT IT IN A WAY I CANT RELATE #*shakes fantasy genres* IF YOU COULD JUST MEET IN THE MIDDLE

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parkeryangs · 3 months

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i think it's so funny that i can casually give podcast recs to my friends only to see them turn into an unskippable cutscene within the week. nobody is safe

#i think i listen to too many shows to get SUPER invested in a lot of them but im so glad other people can be obsessed lmao #the 'does anyone have podcast recs' to 'THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT' pipeline is a wonderful thing /lh #me: yeah i really enjoyed this :) friend (vibrating at a frequency that could shatter glass) define 'enjoy'#finch chirps #rambling #i think i need to actually organize a rec list tho #so i can actually suggest by genre/length etc vs just whatevers been on my mind lol

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piplupod · 2 months

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hiiii i'm looking for new albums to have playing/listen to while i work on art and other stuff, does anyone have any music album recommendations....

i listen to basically everything but lately i've been getting into a lot of alternative pop sort of stuff idk im bad with genres. also a lot of shakey graves but thats neither here nor there, i just think ppl should listen to his stuff LMFAO. i will take whatever u got though :]

#the only genres i do not rly listen to are screamo and heavy metal fdsjkl sorry #i have listened to them fsdjkl my brother loved all that when he was in highschool so he would share his music w me a lot #and i enjoyed some of it !!! its just not what i often enjoy #also theres a weird long covid symptom i have where certain pitches of sounds will cause a stabbing pain in my brain #like i wasn't able to watch markiplier's fn.af videos for a while bc just his regular voice was . triggering this pain for some reason #not even mentioning the yells and the animatronic jumpscare screech sound effects fhsdgjkl #it comes and goes now but rn its really bad. i wonder maybe if it gets worse if i havent been sleeping well 🤔#anyways. anything in the heavy metal genres generally triggers that pain so i have to avoid it altogether now RIP #pippen needs 2nd breakfast #okay im posting this finally oh my god why am i so scared all the time. god. i have been drafting a post like this for like.... a week.#keep deleting or saving to drafts bc i get inexplicably scared of asking. what is WRONG WITH MEEEE

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lokh · 3 months

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trying out game making sounds fun but im realising that some of the simpler type of games are just. ones that i dont play

#specifically visual novels. i do NOT play them theyre not rly what i enjoy #now i dont mean to suggest rpgmaker type games are simple. theres a lot going on #but. those are also games i dont play LMAO #hmm wellllll off is an rpgmaker game. yume nikki #but those arent the style of games i usually play so its hard for me to be like #well what are the conventions of the genre or how are good maps arranged in rpgmaker #those kinds of things. so then ur like well what DO you play #and unfortunately the answer is. mainly platformers LMAO #yeah im checking my steam library rn its really just platformers.#growing up it was shit like. ratchet and clank akenjdfjndbcjx????#these feel like an entirely different level of difficulty. and different way of thinking #i think perhaps my brain is just not wired for game making LMAO but it would still be fun to try....

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stinkrascal · 1 year

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the worst take i have ever seen is when someone on here said that basically anything horror related is just goreporn and theres no reason for things like that to be in art and, worst of all, people are bad if they enjoy things like that. like idk how else to tell you this, but disregarding an entire genre of storytelling just bc you think its icky is the antithesis of art imo. im sorry not every story follows a disney formula so its easier for you to grasp the main point:( must be rough

#this is coming from someone who also does not like gorey stuff. im extremely squeamish so its hard to sit thru that stuff #i watched a review of martyrs (2008) and just the audio from that review made me faint lol #but that doesnt mean there isnt value in the horror genre just bc sometimes its gross and exploitative #there are some really meaningful ways you can abstract a character’s feelings thru grotesque images. some of the best horror does this #also there are definitely examples of horror movies which exist just to be gross and devoid of thought #but horror isnt the only genre that has bad creations behind it lol like have you seen a romcom ever?#those are rife with meaningless formulaic apathetic creations lol #i just think it is very weird to disregard a whole genre of art #and to further insinuate there’s something wrong w ppl who enjoy that art #seems like maybe you just don’t have a very good grasp on the art itself #idk how someone has this take and doesn’t realize they’re a few steps removed #from being the type of person who thinks playing first person shooter video games turns people into mass murderers lmao #like girl you are literally your grandmother

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tovarischgrazhdanin · 6 months

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went ahead and watched the whole of jenjortsu kaisen

then, not believing my eyes, went ahead and read bits of the manga

but it was true... the writing really was hokey...

i mean, JJK has its good & great moments... but i did get tired from being spoonfed all the lore and magic system shenanigans (and backstories!!!!) during the fight scenes

i do get the point of it. on the one hand, without explanation, some scenes would feel confusing. on the other hand, if every other scene depends on a nebulous storyteller explaining to us every single move, then why not write a book... why choose a visual media, if you're not willing to come up with anything, which could be explained visually

a lot of shounen media can get to similar levels of over-explanation, but JJK is nothing BUT explanation of current events. it's hard to tell, where the line between action and explanation truly stands. the whole story feels like a recap of another story as a consequence

too bad, bc some of the scenes and fights have the potential to be emotionally charged and exciting, but they are greatly diluted with characters becoming sentient wiki-pages the moment anything out of the ordinary happens

#i liked the fight between yuji and choso #but the moment where a storyteller began explaining the mechanisms of blood diluting ... i completely shut down #it wouldnt have been so bad in a vacuum #but in a show where every single fight is also filled with similar minutes-long explanations of how them powers work #naw man. boring as hell #the only really truly good fight was between sukuna and the mahoraga was good. cus they both were mostly fucking silent during the scene #and the animation was stellar #im mostly disappointed with this show because it is the kind of a show i would usually enjoy #but its also mixed with the aspects of the fighting genre which i simply cannot stand at all. eh well

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isa-ah · 1 year

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this is a complaint that seeks no resolution

#but.#the constant and i mean constant flow of jokes about xyz mundane thing making you a t girl or jokingly calling the reader girl #give me so much dysphoria every day of my life lmfao #xyz really interesting post w 7 comments under it talking about how its for girls so i just simply dont reblog it bc any interest i feel is #inherently punished by self misgendering #and it was funny for a little while but it just keeps going and going and going as a genre of humor and it sucks #for like me personally everyone else is deeply encouraged to have fun and enjoy it #im just whining on my blog u3u

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cptnbeefheart · 12 days

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i think i gotta pl;ay fallout 4 ..

#YAPPING this morninh #i tried watching the show i DIDNT LIKE IT. i would rather play the games #in middle school i tried fallout3 but i never felt incentivized to explore the world after getting out of the vault .#i think beth esda games are just like that though idk. ive been playing wolfing stein 2 (2017) and it feels like. beth esda uncharted #i think its just bc its an action adventure and you have like a little team and so far it hasnt been open world the way it was advertised #but ive been getting into the lore of the world in falloiut and im really enjoying it so maybe my game tastes have changed idk its worth a #shot :D i watched this video abt ghoul being an embodiment of the mythologized wild west genre in american pop culture history and how #pervasive a fantasy like that is. the continuation of manifest destiny and rooted in white supremacy yk. but also through the fallout lens #of 'Look at this idealized nuclear family/ american dream and look who it excludes look how it fails' and its really making me wanna try #playing again. i think one of my biggest flaws that i hate is that i cannot tolerate playing old games that are ugly in retrospect .... i #just cant.... i cant play the first red dead its too ugly im sorry... but i WILL research the lore and stuff #anyway thats why i think ill try 4. im just worried i wont like it bc you know.. i like platform action adventures.. not corny shit like #uncharted but idk maybe its an antiquated way of designing games but i like levels i like being given a campaign. i think my favorite way a #game works is like the way red dead does it. the story progresses but you can also explore on your own time. and the world changes as the #story progresses. idk i think i just maybe am not the target audience for any bethesda game LMFAO. anyway if anyone wants to give some #wise words regarding this Advice opinions etc feel free to send asks leave replies dm me :D

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turianmailman · 2 years

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Hey I just wanted to tell you that I’m really uncomfortable with the fact you draw nsfw of duck and fakir, I really wish you wouldn’t cause even though their aged up in the drawings it’s still very icky to think to draw nsfw of those characters when they are minors in the show :( I don’t want to unfollow because your honestly such a huge inspiration to me as an artist so I just hope you’ll take this into consideration

Some things to consider:

It is perfectly understandable, and 100% okay, to be uncomfortable, with ANYTHING I create. How you feel about my art is valid and you should only ever follow me if you are comfortable interacting with what you see on this blog.

To follow up on number 1, I have no problems with you unfollowing my account for ANY reason. This is the internet. You set your boundaries. I would never want you to compromise your personal safety over my blog.

NSFW art will ONLY ever be shared on this account as a link to a locked twitter account that is NOT safe for minors. If the age of an account is not shared, I will assume you are a minor and block you. Any images shared are cropped and safe to share on this blog. I will also always tag these pieces with NSFT (Not Safe For Tumblr) so you can block the tags on these posts and avoid them.

It is also perfectly understandable, and 100% okay, for me to post whatever content I like about whatever I am interested in, regardless of how that makes YOU feel. Number 1 and number 4 CAN and DO coexist and both have validity.

Yes, they are minors in the show. No, the pieces I make are NOT of them during the canon timeline of the show.

"Aging up" a character happens in real life - its called "aging", alternatively, "time passing" which happens, to all of us, regardless of our current age. This is also a show about talking animals. We don't HAVE to obey reality and law, but I choose to in this context.

That out of the way, some personal thoughts:

The way I engage with these two characters, in particular, is very, very personal. I often inject what I did not get (a loving relationship with someone I can trust, the freedom to explore the relationship both romantically and sexually and be safe, fundamental milestones and experiences for first-time relationships) into their dynamics because that's how art works. We put ourselves into everything, stories do not happen in a vacuum. As a queer writer with a difficult-to-admit, traumatic experience with sexuality and romance, I think it would be incredibly cruel to ban both myself, and artists like me, from exploring what was denied us through characters that make us feel safe. Not to mention, for me at least, the media we consume grows WITH us. I was a minor when the show aired, and when I consumed it. They were minors with me. Now, they are consenting adults with me.

I do not share this with you, or anyone else, for pity reasons, but for context. I take character exploration very seriously, and try to help characters grow while honoring where they came from in canon. But even if I didn't, that would not stop me, nor anyone else, from having access to a basic right as an artist.

Tl;Dr -- I want you to feel safe, and I will install measures to make things that make you feel unsafe as optional as possible, above hiding what makes me feel safe. If that results in an unfollow, please honor both our boundaries.

EDIT: I will not answer any more asks expanding on this topic, as I think it’s redundant and I’m not interested in discussing the topic further - I appreciate your thoughts and concerns regardless 🙏🏻

#i hope you have a calm and peaceful day wherever you are #this will also be the ONLY ask I answer that is in this genre of question #as i think this wraps up my feelings on the matter pretty nicely #ive been on the other end of discourse like this but I've come to change my views on how we express ourselves in fandom #if something upsets you; you only have to leave #its that simple #so PLEASE please take care of yourself #people talkin #anon #not art #this is further incentive to get my ass on setting up that patreon LOLL #also umm.....i hate to break it to you..but if you enjoyed my pregnancy comic reveal with them....well.....#perhaps.....read a ..... sex ed book idk LOL #EDIT: I MEANT SAFE NOT UNSAFE GOOD LORD #also an added measure i have for this while not iron clad #is posting late at night in my timezone and avoiding timezone reblogs #so theres that i guess lOL #on the other hand im ..... also really proud that they come across as adults w/o me having to state it cause IM ASSUMING of how theyre draw #its also a little awkward to answer this on the heels of working on a comic about the intersection between this show #my personal experience and the trauma mentioned WOOPS #life is. weird.

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crescentfool · 2 months

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"completed" side order (got the credits roll and currently have four developer logs), some thoughts about the gameplay + lore under the cut 👍

i really enjoyed playing side order! i felt that a lot of my experiences in salmon run carried over with having to assess situations and maneuver around large mobs of enemy. so it's not much of a surprise to me that the gameplay structure really scratches an itch in my brain...!

i've played side order for around 10 hours so far (5 hour sessions each)... it wasn't intentional, but i really felt that each run taught me something about the chips/specials and i couldn't help but want to give another try again... (and i do appreciate that the game does allow for breaks between runs, even if i didn't utilize it this time around!)

the only thing i didn't like gameplay-wise (so far) was the weighted rates for certain chips depending on palette, i didn't particularly enjoy my run with charger (even though it's my favorite weapon class), but it could've just been bad rng giving me chips that weren't that fun/interesting...? there's some modifications that i want to explore, but it can be hard to do that with the weighted rates.

that said, i personally think the developers did an excellent job of blending together splatoon's mechanics/objectives with the rougelike style of games! i definitely want to play more sometime, there's still a lot of lore, chips, and palettes i've yet to see. i think it's a breath of fresh air from the other singleplayer parts, but i also recognize that it might not be for everyone (the structure of side order inherently requires a lot of patience and endurance).

as for the story and lore bits, i really liked the framework of the memverse! i do think that some of my affection for it stems from the fact that it has some parallels to persona games (i legit messaged a friend saying "omg it's like apathy syndrome but for splatoon"). but i think side order's a pretty fun follow up to octo expansion, i like that there's potential closure for sanitized octolings and whatever happens to the deepsea metro afterwards. i think it's a pretty cool basis for ocs which is nice!

the bits of character interaction were nice too, pearl and marina are endearing and lovely as always (they are so in love)! deep cut reporting on the side order things before/after the campaign was really funny too, i really liked it (especially after watching the nintendo live 2024 concert).

i think i found the story more satisfying than rotm- the stakes made... more sense to me, but also the setup was just, really interesting to me (persona fan moment). i'll need to check more of the dev logs when i unlock them and reread some things, but, overall, really enjoyable!

anyway, the short of it: side order was fun for me because the gameplay scratches the grinding itch in my brain (salmon run player moment), and also i just like the premise of the memverse because i'm a persona fan and it reminds me of that. LOL.

#lizzy speaks #not tagging this with things because i don't want to be perceived by a wider amount of people outside of my followers lol #i had a pretty positive impression of side order though ^^ and wanted to document my thoughts somewhere #now that i got side order credits roll. time to go back to playing reload... im in september about to fight arcana hermit #it makes me happy to enjoy the games i play. side order was a worthwhile purchase for me!!!#i wonder if anyone would get into splatoon through side order specifically in the same way that OE brought in a lot of people #i'm not sure how new people would adjust to side order's gameplay tbh some of the floors felt difficult for me-#even though i play the game a lot. but i think there's plenty of features/mechanics to help make future runs easier #and rougelike as a genre really emphasizes the importance of patience and learning new patterns and assessing what situations you can handl #i hope everyone has been enjoying their february :) this month has been awesome to me #i wonder when the persona nuis are going to ship out... i need ryoj in my home NOW!!! ok bye. enjoy weekend everyone!#EDIT: changed complete to be in quotations bc im aware im technically not finished with it LOL #thank you anon for bringing that to my attention i forgot to specify haha. much appreciated!

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