#comments and reviews

[elphabaoftheopera]

HELLO!!!! how are you? it's been a while haha 😅... but, long story short, after watching wicked last night im back in the fandom! and what better way to celebrate than read a fic by my favourite author 🥳 ? so, i read "In Any Universe", and boy do i have a lot of good things to say about it!!!!!

this fic is awesome, im sad that i didn't read it earlier! it had my favourite tropes that were amazingly executed, along with so many wacky and interesting alternate universes 😁😁! some that stood out to me were fake dating, masquerade, family and musical. to say that i really enjoyed these would be an understatement!!!! first of all, fake dating is my absolute favouriteee trope, so i was so so excited to see it applied to fiyeraba so well! the masquerade was honestly a really interesting plotline, and the musical universe was cool to see referenced! and family au was soo adorable, and parents fiyeraba make me feel so happyyyy ❤️❤️! overall, they were all so so romantic and cute and made me realise how much i miss fiyeraba 🥺!! i also really liked the general storyline, and the pipeline of fiyero coming to terms and accepting his situation was so lovely and satisfying to read!

i was wondering if you had any little facts about this fic? it was super creative and i couldn't help but love every separate storyline!!!!!

sorry for gushing, im just super happy to be back and reading your fics again! ill hopefully in the fandom again for a while, so i can find the time to read some other works of yours and maybe reread 😁😁😁

@melop-sia!!!!! It's so wonderful to hear from you!!!! Welcome back to the Wicked fandom! Your message just made my entire day, I actually screamed when I read that I was a favorite author of yours, words like that TRULY go a long way. thank you for your thoughts on In Any Universe. I had so much fun writing that one!

Welllllll since you asked, I'd love to share a little bit about it!

Light spoilers for In Any Universe below the cut!

The idea came to me when I was just thinking a lot about fanfiction tropes in a loving way, inspired by fanfiction writers and our tendency to put the same characters into countless different situations/lives and have them fall in love all the same. I got the idea when I was driving (most of my ideas come when I'm driving) about my otp essentially going on a "tour" through the different tropes. Initially it was supposed to be 100% comedic and self aware.

I didn't have a strong throughline planned out in the beginning that would set them off on their journey. I thought about (and even drafted) Fiyero mentioning how "random" it was that they got together and if any one thing was different they'd probably not be together, then I'd have Elphaba take offense to that. But it just wasn't working, especially because I was clinging to the idea that I wanted Fiyero to be human in the present timeline. Once I finally released my hold on that idea and let him be a Scarecrow, the story throughline became much clearer to me! It was easier to write when Fiyero had a "lesson" to learn (sort of "It's a Wonderful Life" style, though I've never seen that movie). That of course made the throughline a bit more serious, as well as some of the timelines getting increasingly darker.

I just can't resist angst and hurt/comfort no matter how hard I try!

I just really love the quote I put at the beginning of the story about finding the same person over and over.

As for the stories within the story, I just started by making a list of as many tropes I could think of. Fake dating, fix-it fic, crossover, etc. and eventually trimmed it down to the stories that made the cut. I wrote them all out of order and then stitched them together later with the throughline story. I think I did the coffee one first, then the masquerade, and then I put it down for several months (as is my style) and picked it back up with the Wicked actor one.

I really considered breaking the story up into chapters and sometimes I regret the fact that I didn't, I still consider breaking it up because I know it's very long. Still I think it flows better as a singular piece but at least can be easily read in multiple sittings if you're like me and need mind breaks.

When I decided to make it one single piece I made a real effort to keep the sections snappy and not longer than they needed to be. I was pretty obsessed over word count and keeping it below a certain amount (I think 1000 words). I think the Fake Dating one ended up being the longest and the hardest to keep trimmed. Still, I wanted each story to have a satisfying arc in its own way.

One challenge I gave myself (which was VERY difficult) is that I didn't use the word "love" until the very end when Fiyero told Elphaba he loved her after getting shot. I came to that idea later on and had to edit a lot of the earlier stories. Then he says he loves her many times in the finale scene.

I thought it strengthened his lesson about being grateful for what they did have. I found it really important to mirror the "can't imagine thinking about how things might be different" (paraphrasing) in the worst timeline with her dying in the cornfield with what he'd said in the beginning.

As for the ending I did leave it slightly ambiguous, but I believe as the writer that the journey he went on was real and not a dream (kind of like I believe that in Wizard of Oz Dorothy's experience really happened, even though it seemed like Dorothy was waking up from a dream). However, I wanted to the reader to decide for themself!

I think my favorite ones to write were the Fiyeraba family (I love them as parents!), Coffee shop AU, and the Masquerade. I also found it clever and trippy to do the Wicked actors, but that one was by far the hardest challenge!

I so appreciate your readership and engagement with my work!!!! Please reach out in the future if you ever have thoughts or questions.

I don't want to jinx it because it's still early days but I'm excited to say I've been writing again (Fiyeraba, obviously) now that my life has more time. We'll see where it takes me, so be on the lookout!

#melop-sia #wicked fanfiction #in any universe #writing tag #comments and reviews #story: in any universe

[dearly-befuddled]

Goodreads 1 star reviews complaining about how the book was trying to be "edgy". Babes you picked up a book about sci-fi necromancers with a cover of an aviator-wearing skull-painted lesbian and you weren't expecting to run into any edge lords or emos? That's not the book's fault, that's a skill issue

#with love #what the hell are you talking about #goodreads #gideon the ninth #gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #book review #the comment section is always so funny #and so infuriating too #the locked tomb

[coralloid]

fascinating

#the review itself was locked bc i don't have an account so i could only read the comments about the review

[novelconcepts]

The defintion of hell is knowing a show is incredibly well-received in its first season, but if people don’t become machines churning out tweets, content, and rewatching 24/7, there’s no likelihood it’ll get a chance to tell its whole story. This shit is madness. Shows in different genres shouldn’t have to pit-battle for dominance. First seasons are MEANT to be baselines establishing worlds and characters, not complete storylines. The idea that this golden age of television has turned into “get it done in one or get out” is revolting.

#the sandman #paper girls #some of the hot takes on Twitter are breaking me #‘why don’t we know the whole story? it’s bad writing if you don’t have a complete story in the first season’ girl WHAT since WHEN #how many excellent shows were weak as fuck in S1?? and here we’re getting shows with incredible first seasons fighting for their lives #like fuckin Christ dude the idea of long form storytelling is allowing your story time and space to spread out #otherwise we would only make movies #i am so sick of this edge of my seat fear that any new show I fall in love with will get axed because the higher powers don’t care about art #this has to be a bubble right? this has to pop at some point and go back to shows valued on what they are #and don’t even get me started on creators having to beg for good reviews to balance out review-bombing from shitheads #if every one star review is clearly bigoted from the comments? why is anyone taking them into account?? #why is there no way to manage this shit aside from creators being like ‘please help us”’

[sorbeau]

is this anything

#dimension 20 #d20 #fantasy high #kristen applebees #bobby dawn #fhjy spoilers #fhjy #in regerence to her insane comment on the teacher review

[fernsnailz]

been reading through various usps reviews this morning and i've started to notice some trends

#i feel like i'm losing my mind. every review section on every usps location is the exact same #the last one is a real comment i saw btw. yeah i wonder why usps‚ an agency under the federal government‚ doesn't just “sell the company" #sorry that one comment sent me over the edge and led me to making this. anyway support the postal service <3

[vianwrites]

It's so weird writing fanfiction now.

Comments are like unicorns. So rare.

It's a bit disheartening since you can't even get feedback and I don't know if I did okay or not. And I know I got clicks, too since I do get kudos at the very least. But comments hit different, because they can uplift an author the same way a fic lets a reader's imagination soar.

#ao3 community #fanfiction #fanficwriting #fanfic writing #ao3 #ao3 author #ao3 writer #ao3 comments #ao3 reader #ao3 reviews #reviews matter #reviews and comments feed the author #fanfic

[fiora-miriel]

People who leave comments on fanfics that are weeks, months, or even years old?

You are the salt of the earth and deserve everything good in life.

#ao3 #commenting #comment culture #review culture #fanfic #fanfiction

[stromblessed]

Mizu was wrong to let Akemi be taken because they both deserve better

First, a confession. When I saw this for the first time:

I was relieved. I knew that was what Mizu was going to say and I felt like it's what I would have said in that situation too.

When Akemi does this:

I cringed, because if we know anything about Mizu, it's that she (1) isn't quick to make friends (though to be fair, even though Akemi did try to kill Mizu, so did Taigen - multiple times! - and look how that turned out lol), and (2) doesn't take orders.

So when Akemi and Ringo and later Taigen get angry at Mizu, are they being unfair?

Sure, Mizu isn't obligated to treat Akemi - or Taigen or Ringo or anybody else - nicely, or to serve them, or to be honorable, or be a hero to them, or whatever. No human being is obligated to any other human being. We all have the choice to do whatever we want to anybody else. But the point of flawed characters in storytelling is the tension between those characters and their potential. Their growth into someone who can choose the higher, harder path, who chooses to be obligated to others, who chooses kindness and compassion.

Because Mizu's problem isn't revenge. Nobody is preaching at Mizu that revenge isn't the answer. Her circumstances do suck, her life has been incredibly unfair, she is marginalized, and as far as we and Mizu know for most of the season, she is a child born of violence and no one is saying that that violence doesn't deserve to be repaid in kind.

Mizu's problem is isolation. And the fact that she thinks she has no responsibility toward her fellow human beings, because her hatred of her own circumstances and her having no life outside of her quest devours everything else. This is a problem because it turns Mizu into the worst version of herself. A version that hurts the people who like Mizu, the people who care about her.

Practically, Mizu has just taken on an entire army almost by herself. She's hurt. She's exhausted. If she were to defend Akemi now, it'd be yet ANOTHER fight, this time against horsed and armored samurai.

But that's not the reason Mizu gives Ringo. Mizu's ability or willingness to fight isn't even on her mind. All she says is, "She's better off."

"She's better off" is Mizu deciding what's best for Akemi. Akemi's entire story is about her being a caged bird longing to fly free.

One after the other, every man and woman in Akemi's life makes her decisions for her. She has to grovel and smile prettily and lie through her teeth just for the chance to be heard. Mizu judges Akemi for being a rich princess who isn't being more grateful for what she has, all without understanding Akemi's situation, and without any curiosity for why Akemi feels the way she does. From Akemi's perspective, Mizu is just one more person (one more man!) in a long lineup who ignores Akemi's wishes and (casually!) makes a decision for her that impacts Akemi's life greatly.

In the end, even Seki concludes that Akemi should get to decide what's best for Akemi. What others think that Akemi SHOULD want does not matter compared to what Akemi wants for her own life. As Madame Kaji said - Madame Kaji, who despite calling out the weirdness of Akemi's situation as well as the childishness of her decision to run away - is the only person Akemi meets who doesn't try to make decisions for Akemi, but instead only challenges Akemi to work for and be worthy of what she wants - she needs to decide what she wants for her own fucking self, and then take it.

Mizu being born female does not make her automatically wiser for letting Akemi be taken, and it does not preclude her from having a hand in giving Akemi back to her jailers. A patriarchy that Mizu knows full well would stop Mizu from achieving her own goals if she didn't present as male.

Mizu is still understandable here. She just had to kill Kinuyo, a disabled girl sold by her father into prostitution, a girl in a situation so far beyond Akemi's worst imaginings that I can practically feel Mizu's world being rocked just by comparing them in her mind the way she most likely is. That still doesn't make it right for Mizu to let Akemi be carried off to be sold into marriage by her father against her wishes. Those "good options" Mizu thinks Akemi has don't exist, no more than they ever existed for Mizu. Akemi and Mizu both have to get creative, make the best of their circumstances, take dangerous risks, and break rules in order to have any control over their own lives.

Even on my first watch, when at first I thought that Mizu had made the right decision and that Akemi was being unreasonable, Akemi screaming Mizu's name while being dragged, LITERALLY DRAGGED, back to her father was haunting as hell.

Mizu had the power to help Akemi, and simply chose not to.

Mizu lets Akemi be taken, Akemi who has just begun to trust Mizu. Mizu calls Ringo weak and quickly - seemingly easily - turns her back on him. Mizu values her quest over Taigen's life, after Taigen has endured days of torture to protect her, and she not only risks his life in the process, but doesn't tell him that Akemi is engaged to someone else, or that she came looking for Taigen, or that she is in danger.

Mizu's sword breaks because it is too brittle. Too pure. Too singleminded. Mizu only melts down the meteorite metal when she mixes the metal with objects from parts of her life that have nothing to do with her quest. Objects from the people she cares about, and who care about her.

All I'm saying is - Mizu doesn't have to be a hero. But she is the better version of herself when she reaches out to help and connect with others. When she's just a decent, kinder human being. And I think that's what this story is telling us that we should want for Mizu.

#blue eye samurai #mizu #akemi #bes #I have so many more thoughts about Mizus tangential relationship to honor and heroism but that is for another post #also reviewing these scenes made me realize that when Mizu calls Ringo weak she LOOKS POINTEDLY AT HIS (LACK OF) HANDS #she legit calls him weak for his disability after EVERYTHING THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH #like Ringo was def disappointed that his master chose not to behave like the (nonexistent) samurai ideal #but what made him ANGRY was the weakness comment and I did not clock that before #also to be explored more in another post #a third thing to explore in another post is how both mizu and taigen have wronged akemi on the basis of Edo period society being A Society #though Mizu starts to correct her own mistake by going back for Akemi - its Taigen whos on thin ice lolol

[shopwitchvamp]

🔥witchvamp.com🔥

#maybe i should make some good comment/review picture overlays too haha #witch vamp #demon summoning #demon #demonic #demon girl #magical #magick #magic #magical girl #black magic #Goth #Gothic #gothic fashion #alt girl #gothic horror #goth aesthetic #skirts #skirt #skirt with pockets #red and black #blasphemy #lol #funny #haters #alternative fashion #alt style #fashion #indie fashion #small artist

[bellshazes]

in my heart there's another probably worse universe where instead of the watchers taking off after evo, etho's writers from 404 became the highly misunderstood "i am fictionalizing and poking fun at my relationship with my audience & their perceptions of me and how i am motivated by them but not in a 1:1 cause and effect relationship and they are kind of obnoxious but i also care abt my literal audience liking what i do bc i do make stuff for youtube" fandom staple.

there's something substantial in here abt grian being SUPER particular abt things in a different but parallel way to etho (grian not watching other smp member's POVs and being open abt that bc it allows for genuine surprise, etho's like everything ever? but top of mind his old insistence against modded stuff, comment of the day, etc.) but honestly. can anyone who actually cares abt the watchers or whatever write me a 404 crossover. thats what i want

#haunted by bdubs' contemporary TOO COOL comment abt oh etho's ep 404 was cool go check it out #vs. grian i think (?) only becoming etho obsessed later but like. i wish i could have heard his at-the-time review of 404 #too bad the reviews of 404 were so mixed & the setup so dependent on modded s1 to ever be replicated #bc AGAIN complex stupid consistent goofy mocking loving relationship w audience.whatever. #peter posts #somehow evo was the first ever mc smp i ever watched btw. circa 2019. but.. #404

[ytcomments-archive]

#nicktoons unite #youtube comments #quinton reviews #spongebob squarepants #the adult of the group #danny phantom #the LAYERS #eldrich horror #lovecraft #you go missbeebonnet #jimmy neutron #timmy turner

[pedro-pascal]

NOPE + letterboxd/reddit comments (credit)

#nope #jordan peele #daniel kaluuya #keke palmer #steven yeun #nopeedit #letterboxd reviews #filmedit #horroredit #scifiedit #* #i was finally able to watch i'd like to thank god but also jesus #SHOOKETH TO THE CORE!! #i understood nothing but by watching a bunch of videos and reading comments everywhere i finally grasped it and it was so good!!! #the first review is peak comedy thank you 24framesofnick

[casualjster]

just finished the new quinton reviews video about nicktoons unite and. like.

there was a version of this post i was going to make talking about my own personal nostalgia pings that were triggered by the video, but the ending of the video kinda put that aside for me bc… idk. i really just hope he’s doing okay….?

like. i love the long videos! i do! but i don’t love them just because they’re long. i find the summaries of the content he is analyzing both informative and hilarious. i think he does some really interesting and thoughtful analysis of the media he is examining. i think the themes/commentary he has which serve as the impetus for the videos to be insightful and worth thinking about, especially in the wake of his last few videos. and i truly appreciate his willingness to fully drop any bits or goofs or speculative veneer in order to address serious topics related to what he is discussing.

generally speaking… my heart really goes out to him, i guess, because yeah. he’s right. he very much Is just a guy, who happens to publish content reflective of the kinds of conversations you stay up until 3am talking to your friends about because you rewatched an old show you used to like, or had a kick of nostalgia for an old game, or found an old collection of comics on your bookshelf. and like! he’s just had a really shitty hand dealt to him recently! because he worked with his dad on this ENORMOUS video that then got nuked to hell by a greedy corporation, in the middle of hyping himself up to post a video in time to promote a plush (which i’m sure was really stressful to do bc of the previous plush)

like. dude’s just a guy. and personally i’d rather see him make stuff that he makes because he has passion for it, not stuff he makes out of obligation. but mostly i hope he can get some rest, rly, bc my god. last few years must have been a fuckin marathon.

#on a related note i was watching his requiem for a mcdonalds video and saw he had at one point made a stretch goal #to read all of homestuck. and do a video. and frantically left a comment like Don’t #bc i love the comic but. i would NOT wish that upon him after what he just said in that video #quinton reviews #nicktoons unite #my words #o7s to you my good sir. please get sleep. #long post

[megamindfandombookclub]

#not mine #but I found it on the twitterverse #writing #writers #artists #fanart #AO3 #Archive of Our Own #archiveofourown.org #kudos #comments #commenting #feedback #constructive criticism #con crit #concrit #reviews #meme #funny

[tenebrare]

Death Stranding - Higgs /sketch

Death Stranding: "Mail delivery - the game". While interesting narrative, I bailed out before reaching "Wind Farm" (location inside so called intro area) as I slipped down the cliff and not being able to fight "monsters" yet, I found I have no time to constant sneak and V spam while the monsters can just make my cargo drop and I have to run around tree and then wait and micro manage my cargo with spray and whatnot. I factually decided to bail out of the game, when I was told to that i also have to deal with a baby stress levels besides all the other micro management. This is interesting game, but not quite for me. I still think people should give this walking simulator a try - as it is unique game in many ways and online mode has come unique mechanics how other players actions can save your life (it IS single player game, but ... it is related to games lore ... about being connected and I really loved how other players even had left signs which route is safer to take or placed ways to cross rivers. there are NO other players in your game, but their actions can have impact to your world in positive ways). Would have been curious to find out the story, but .... I am one of those people, who just do not work well with all the constant "stop all your doings and press this button because X happened in game world" - Press 3+click to drink, press F to rock your baby, press left-right to balance your cargo, drop cargo to spray it, press Q to scan, press C to sneak and press ALT to hold breath, tab to read mail, press 5 to like, press F to eat a worm, press Q to scan again, press F to pick your metals, do not forget to press arrows to balance cargo and oh... try to find shelter because rain bad. That happened in span of 10 minutes, just right after i built a bridge... yeah, got to build stuff too. Fun game to those, who like micromanaging each their step, but I am more of a Dishonored kill-simulator-kind-of-player. Still I recommend to at least try it. It's... very different from the mainstream empty-shell games you get promoted by AAA nowadays. PS! See I can STILL doodle something else than Hellraiser ..... at times!

#death stranding #death stranding higgs #higgs monaghan #dailysketch #fanart #video games #game review #quick comment #tenebrare other fanart