#In many ways this could be seen as a continuation thematically

[farsight-the-char]

Some comic shops got the new Transformers issue "early" so issue got spread online already.

Pun Intended, it is METAL AS FUCK!

DWJ is incredible.

#Transformers #Wednesday spoilers #daniel warren johnson #energon universe #We have the preview for issue 4 already #Something got delayed #... #In many ways this could be seen as a continuation thematically #Of DWJ'S Beta Ray Bill book

[feralplantwife]

Erzsebet Bathory- Thematic Character Analysis

I've seen a lot of posts about Erzsebet Bathory, and the general sense is that while her design is cool, she's not very well-developed or impressive from a character standpoint. I agree... Somewhat.

I'm going to get into it below, but the TL;DR version is that from a characterization standpoint, she is weak, but from a thematic standpoint, she is Everything.

Disclaimer: I have not been fortunate enough to play any of the games, so this analysis will focus solely on the show. <3

First, what do vampires mean in storytelling?

A vampire can symbolize many things, but here are the big three: they're a representation of the Other, the unknown (kind of like Frankenstein's Monster), but they can also be a manifestation of carnal, sinful, or deviant desires (think Dorian Grey). The one I'm going to focus on here, as it's the most relevant, is the third main type: the Parasite. Vampires are bloodsucking, gluttonous, selfish starving monsters that consume and consume until there is nothing left (think Robert Baratheon).

This was a theme that was explored in the first series with the Church's opulence and their desire to sacrifice innumerable human lives for the sake of their image and power. Carmilla is the same, but in contention with the Church.

This theme is expanded upon beautifully in Nocturne, with the French Revolution bourgeoise and American colonization and slave trade building upon the themes of the first series. Olrex talks about his home being destroyed, his lover's people being exterminated but holding onto his identity even in undeath. Annette holds onto her Yoruban faith and her Creole heritage taught to her by her mother and fellows even after generations of cultural genocide at the hands of her masters- a combination of more than one old indigenous faith and newer conglomerations of the same. (In this way, one could say that Erzsebet Bathory and Annette are foils!)

How does Erzsebet Bathory fit into this thematically?

Let me explain it like this: Erzsebet Bathory is a white woman dripping in stylized opulence who swallowed an Egyptian god. The truest enemy in this series is colonialism: the consumption of everything and everyone that isn't white and Christian to expand white and Christian ideals and desires using God as a face for their misdeeds- the consumption of people, land, culture, religion, knowledge, kindness. What could not be consumed was destroyed.

In this way, Erzsebet Bathory is the manifestation of all the greatest evils people of color and minorities have ever faced, and continue to face today: that of homogenization, exploitation, and destruction.

The fact that this is expanded by her vampiric elitism builds upon this idea by including all human beings. It's open knowledge among many anthropological circles that colonization destroyed a lot of technology, culture, and knowledge, has held society back, and continues to lead to unnecessary and painful struggle among society (largely due to that fact that many developed nations' governments are still being run by vampires today- how are all my fellow Americans doing as we barrel toward a government shutdown for this very reason?).

Erzsebet Bathory signifies the consumption of the human spirit and the death of mankind, wrapped up in a beautifully terrifying amalgam of every single sin the colonizers ever committed. She's not the ultimate character of Nocturne by a long shot, but she is the ultimate monster.

#castlevania nocturne #castlevania #netflix #erzsebet bathory #alucard #richter belmont #annette #i cannot stress enough how wonderful this show is #ignore the questionable voice acting #and strap in for a critique of both past and present #and also amazing application of classical music

[nyaagolor]

Playing DGS has been an absolutely magical experience but also it's killing me because I can see all the ways that it feels like a thematic continuation of AA4

Jury System? AA4 set that up. Pursuing witnesses based on their reactions to testimony? That feels like the natural extension of perceive. Your clients and witnesses almost all being guilty of something or other even if it's not murder? Presenting "scientific evidence" that isn't taken seriously because of the lack of credentials of the girl who gave them to you? Running theme of corruption and the boundaries of the law? Revenge taken beyond the boundaries of the law and doggedly pursuing the truth despite the moral and legal repercussions of doing so? Seen that before

Even the character arcs for Ryu and Susato feel like they could have been repurposed from Apollo and Trucy. Not having faith in the law or others because they're betrayed you so many times, so you need to learn to trust in yourself? I stg that just feels like a continuation of the ideas presented for Apollo in AA4. Susato tampering with the crime scene because she lost faith seeing firsthand how the law failed, struggling with hidden feelings of inadequacy?? That could be a really nice way to expand on the themes presented in the whole forged ace debacle

I feel like I'm losing my mind but the tinfoil hat is on and I can see the ghost of AA4 in the floorboards of DGS

#ace attorney #tgaa #dgs #dgs1 spoilers #mod vex #textpost

[yearningaces]

I bet you thought this blog was gonna be about asexuality only... Heh

But the only barriers are the ones I've placed for myself and thematic gore falls into the category of 'allowed' and I've been thinking about Eldritch monsters falling in love with a fragile little human and expressing it in a very different way also this is unedited and I haven't read through it so have fun

Do you know how twisted the concept of love is per species? For humans it can be soft and warm and comforting, like a hearth in the home, warming your bones.

For a creature like Acherus, it's different.

Because Acherus doesn't even have a name produced by the human tongue. The creature simply heard themselves referred to as such one day and decided it was good enough.

But when they saw you creeping through their domain? They watched you from every shadow of every tree. Every animals eyes followed you with a glossy haze in their eye as if something was wrong. And it was one of the first signs of many that went unnoticed.

You fascinated the creature, now you must deal with the consequences.

For starters you were allowed to traverse their domain safely. Predators would either never reach you or drop dead the moment you were at risk. Trees and bushes would move out of your way as you went deeper into the heart of this domain. But they would try to block your way on the way out, as if not wanting you to leave.

When you would leave and return home, you brought with you famine. Wherever you went the entire area would die but only what was around you would prosper. The life draining from the land only to regrow wherever you were and only there as if to ensure only you had a steady supply of food.

The food from these events tasted like nothing. You'd take a bite and there wasn't even a texture, it would simply dissolve away in moments and leave you feeling full.

Animals began to avoid you. As if sensing something just a breath behind you at all times, they'd run. Even the trickiest fox and the smartest raven knew it was safer this way.

Except...

Deer.

Deer adored you, they would flock to you as if called for. When they followed you, they could be killed for a meal but the others would continue to stand there, walk past their deceased herd member, and follow you like happy children. Whitetail, fallow, originally just deer. But then you noticed a pattern. If you traveled to where the deer cannot go, or if they perished on the way, a group of elk would arrive when the weather was frozen. Otherwise moose, otherwise caribou. Then deer once more. They followed you without care of what would happen to them as if drawn in by some power and lure.

It only progressed. You could be in the middle of a harsh storm that should sweep you and your endless herd away. But the rain and the wind always avoided you, as if there was a shield that couldn't be seen or felt always right there around you. Not even a stray drop landed on your skin.

You could go to the water, dive into it and you could feel your very body morphing to accommodate. The feeling of your neck being split open multiple times and connecting those slots to your lungs where salt water could pour in was horrific. But you could breathe underwater with a new pair of gills.

The moment you were dry they were gone.

You could go to the coldest mountaintop, watch your fingers and toes rot off one by one in the freezing temperatures, feel the flesh decay and fall off of your bones, and it would simply regrow.

You could throw yourself into fire and feel the flames eating you alive but as quickly as you burned away your parts grew back as if replaced and the continuous cycle of flesh and viscera turning to ash and new growth taking its place endlessly would continue.

By this point the worst began to occur. The fact that sealed the fates of all. Your own kind began to reject you. After seeing these horrifying feats one village after another would cast you out, some trying to kill you in the process but every time their own weapons would horrifically turn against them. The hunter who's arrow was hit by a burst of wind and was turned around to land through his soft eye and into his brain. The group of soldiers moments away from striking you dead who went mad, screaming in fear and tearing each other apart. It never ended well.

And one day, you sat down in an empty field. Sitting with your herd of listless deer and one elk from the last group, and you cried.

It was a justifiable response, of course. You had been through so much unexplained heartache that even if it aided you, horrified your fellow man and led to you being shunned.

But you should have paid attention to what happened as you cried. The deer grew anxious. Pacing back and fourth in a way they've never reacted before.

There is a low hum in the air and mother nature holds her breath as you cry softly and quietly. Quiet enough you can hear a voice call out and look up.

One of the Deer is staring at you. It steps closer. It's mouth moving in an unnatural way, leaving the creatures jaw trembling. "Why do you cry?" It ask in a voice that sounds like what falling mountains sounds like. The deers eyes are milky white.

You stare at the deer for a good time before realizing it's unblinking stare remains and you have to respond. "I feel alone and abandoned by my own kind. I am afraid of these things that have been happening around me, I don't know what to do."

The deer stagnates. Its heart races faster and faster as if taking a great strain and effort while the voice returns from the deers trembling mouth. "You are unhappy with your gifts? You are alone?" The deer stops talking, its head dropping lower as if exhausted but it's eyes remain lifeless and you wonder if it was ever alive at all. It speaks again. "Your kind slander you. They hurt you. I will ensure they never do so again." *With that final word the deer drops to the ground, cold and stiff. You look to the rest of the listless herd wondering if they're the same way. Moments from death if not living corpses at this point.

You try to ignore the horrific sight and find camp for the night. Sleep is fitful and difficult but it does find you eventually.

And your dreams are the dreams of a madman. Trees of pulsating flesh surround you in a forest as the ground beneath you beats like a heart, featherless birds fly with listless and lifeless eyes, humans that pass by pass by on all fours and just look... Exaggerated in limbs. Then the scene speeds up. The creatures around you run away quicker and quicker darkness has arrived it fills your vision as a wall of shadow taller than mountains approaches you should run you should run before it's too late-

But it's been too late for a long time now.

The darkness consumes you and it is silent.

And you wake.

And the sky is red. You look to where the sun is to see it flickering like a candle flame about to be blown out.

You see something next to it in the sky, reveal itself. It looks like the moon. Then it moves. It looks down at you. And blinks.

And the sun goes out.

Darkness consumes everything instantly. Your world is doomed but you can see distant lights of villages making fires to panic and try to do something.

You approach wondering why they're so scared of the dark when we must all grow accustomed to it now. But then you see it.

One person's torch extinguished and they didn't have time to let out a cry for help before the darkness enveloped them, consuming them and leaving nothing but a burnt torch behind.

But then why could you traverse the dark?

You didn't think it safe to try again and you remained with the light of the villages.

This only made things escalate. For your sake, it was every other village first, consumed by madness and darkness until it was your small group left. And someone slipped up. They dropped their lantern onto a dried pile of hay, the fire caught quickly and spread, forcing everyone from the barn into the dark of the outside again. Your deer nowhere to be found but you still felt watched the moment you were outside.

And a bright red like appeared in the sky.

And an impossible amount of hands reached through it to force it open. What came out would be remembered as the devourer of worlds. It's eye the size of the moon, it's taloned hands the size of countries. But it still saw you.

It moved closer, the fang filled muzzle lowering through the clouds of the dark endless night sky and directly over you. It's maw was large enough to bite your entire village as if it were a crumb. But it found you still.

One by one those around you began screaming, foaming at the mouth, running in circles until their hearts gave out, bashing their heads against the ground until their brains splattered against the dirt.

But you were safe?

The bodies absorbed into the ground as if water. And a massive paw reached out, grasping the earth you were standing on. Lifting the entire forest in it's hand with you in the center of a ruined village but it had you now.

You couldn't take in this beings appearance entirely but the antlers were definitive. Everything else seemed to morph endlessly. The being lifted you up through your planets atmosphere and you felt like your lungs were shriveling. The being let out a low sound that made your head hurt but it seemed saddened. You gripped your throat, watching it raise it's other hand and dig it's claws into its form without blinking. You watched the blood of this creature spill as it tore open it's chest, flinging viscera out of the way before gingerly lifting you from its palm and placing you inside. As soon as you were in the creatures form you didn't need to breathe and as such relief was palpable. You could only watch as the creatures body sewed itself back together... Much like how your body did recently.

For now exaustion gripped you and dragged you to lay in the soft sinewy flesh of the creature and to rest. It was warm, it was as safe as you could be as your planet was now dead and you had no where to go.

One of these days you'd find your words and scold this being for all it's worth. But until then you listen to a strange thumping rhythm deciding it must be the beings heart and unwillingly you fall asleep.

For who knows how long.

#letters of yearning #x reader #monster boyfriend #monster romance #gender neutral reader #monster x reader #tw animal death #tw blood #tw death #tw non graphic death #eldritch horror #eldritch x reader

[melonteee]

I think the thing that’s both odd and interesting about Zoro (especially when compared to the other Straw Hats) is that I think he’s the SH other than Luffy that I find the most difficult to articulate and map out the trajectory of. Like every other Straw Hat I feel like I can point to specific panels and go “That. That’s their damage.” But with Zoro… it’s not that he *doesn’t* have those moments, but it feels like a lot of his thematic character beats are buried in a lot subtext; and like there’s a lot of gaps.

Like I find it curious that Zoro’s the only Straw Hat whose arc didn’t take place in his home (or in the case of some later crew members a symbol of it), but he’s also the only one who has flashbacks throughout the story. Yet, even then, we still don’t know as much about him as we do others. With everyone else, you can easily answer where they slept or ate and what the relationship with the community at large was like growing up, but Zoro? The snippets we get don’t extend beyond the dojo - and the recent revelations about that only raised more questions. I can’t be the only one who thought it was weird of Oda to drop that nugget that the blacksmith in his childhood village was a pirate (or at least wanted by the marines) and then died not long after that. Or that Zoro doesn’t seem to know that he’s related to Kuina’s family at all (Zoro didn’t even know the blacksmith was her grandfather until after he died) despite only being 2 generations removed from the founding of the village. What could have possibly happened in the time between Zoro’s grandparents and parents that means Zoro - who had to have been an orphan in the flashbacks we have seen - is so far removed from his own family and the village history?

I think the other thing that’s odd about his relationship with Kuina/her death (and I think a big reason the theories that Kuina was murdered, secretly Tashigi, etc. continue to persist no matter how many times they’re debunked) is that the circumstances of her death kinda rub against other parts of the series. For instance, if you consider that “the weak don’t decide how they die” to be a through line in One Piece (not saying I do) then Kuina’s death feels like a direct counterpoint in the same way Katakuri telling Luffy “people don’t die because they didn’t want to live badly enough” does. But then, even though Zoro’s flashback on her death (which I love in the manga for how that’s Zoro’s life flashing before his eyes) ends on “humans are fragile” but then this very idea is immediately countered by Luffy the rubber man deflecting bullets; then later Zoro kinda rejects that concept of fragility in Arlong Park altogether when he declares he can’t allow himself to be killed by anything that would kill a normal human. Not to mention how in-universe there’s only theories as to what his Asura form is, which is about as far from Kuina’s mundane human fragility as you can get.

Honestly how Zoro’s character arc is laid out made a lot more sense to be when I heard Oda’s original outline for One Piece was a five year storyline. It might just be me, but it feels like there’s a few missing puzzle pieces, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Oda is saving some of those gaps in information for a specific moment.

I really appreciate this long ask and you've clearly thought a lot about it, but I don't think anything is missing with Zoro at all. Because, first off, his story does take place in his home - his home is in the East. That's like saying Nami's story doesn't take place in her home because Bellemere found her as a baby on a different island. The east is still Zoro's home, nothing says otherwise, and it's explained with Zoro just being an orphaned boy who was running from village to village looking for a challenge.

Usually you'd ask where the orphaned boy was from, but we know One Piece is just a world like that. He has a full name, his face is on wanted posters, and no one has looked for him or said they know him apart from as a Pirate Hunter. His Roronoa name wasn't known in Wano at all, and apart from his very minimal connections to the Wano family, there's nothing there that matters.

Also, all of the Strawhats stories are kinda only presented in flashbacks dfghjkdf

Oda put Zoro's story in an SBS because, to me, he's stating first and foremost Zoro's past BEFORE Kuina does not matter to Zoro. It feels Oda just made that SBS as an Easter egg people could have fun with. If Zoro were told of his parents, or his origins, why would he care? He didn't know them, it's not like he ever thinks about his mother nor seems to even remember her - unlike Usopp, Robin and Sanji. If you told Zoro he had a mum and dad, he'd probably be like Luffy and say "?? okay? so what?"

Zoro's story, first and foremost, is about the future. Because the monster trio all parallel each other in this regard. Sanji is about the past, Luffy is about the present, and Zoro is about the future. The only time Zoro's past ever matters is with Kuina, and that's because Zoro's story IS Kuina. We see it clearly with Wano, the only reason the blacksmith matters is because it connects him to Wado, which connects him to Kuina, which lets Zoro know where KUINA was from and why WADO is such an important sword to her family - and now to him.

"The weak don’t decide how they die" is a quote said by Law, that is taught to him by Doflamingo - an insanely cruel person. Law THOUGHT this was the case, but this does not MEAN it's the case. Same with what Katakuri said, we are encountering different people with different lives and different experiences. Kuina's own death, in my opinion - WHILE possibly being a murder or suicide - was meant to show Zoro that no matter what you do, or how strong you are, the world will be cruel enough to take those you love away. There's a tragedy in that simplicity, and that's all we need to know about Zoro. To me, there is no other mystery in the way he acts or the way he fights - it's all right there within Kuina's promise and death.

When Zoro learns things about the past it's about his swords, it's about Kuina, and it's never his OWN past - because, again, he is a character about the future. I cannot see him caring about parents he never knew, nor seems to even remember, nor caring about his social life around the dojo when he had one set goal in mind - which was to become a master swordsman.

Luffy was the one who introduced him to the power of bonds and love, along with the rest of the crew as they grew around him, and he grew to love them back. I don't really see any other setup for Zoro, because again, why would he care? How has it affected him BEFORE Kuina? We simply have no reason to see that, and Zoro has no reason to care about it either. The only piece missing, in my opinion, is WHY Zoro cared so much about PROVING his strength as an orphan. But that could easily boil down to...because he was an orphan, and had nothing better to do as a rowdy kid lmao.

Zoro's life is filled with coincidences, that's true, but I'd be shocked if they mattered at all? Oda also connected Otama to the Kurozumi family, but he said it didn't mean anything, it was just a coincidence.

I'm not totally opposed to Zoro having MORE backstory, I am just unsure why it'd matter when...there's nothing to answer. We HAVE the answer for why he's an orphan, and it's because pirates raided his village when he was a kid. It's pretty standard stuff, and that's all it has to be. Because Zoro only looks forward, and that's the only place he'll ever look. He's not being chained down by his past, he's being pushed by a promise, so he will run towards the future if it means fulfilling that promise.

#ask #melonask

[heyitschartic]

I don't think there will ever be a Worm fanfic better than Loaf. My god, it is just the perfect story, perfect continuation of what Worm set up, and perfect peek into a woman named Contessa. Incredibly well written and witty; it's the funniest story about depression you could ask for.

I've seen a lot of people over the years think they've reinvented a character because they tack some fanon on to them, but Maroon_Sweater invented Cauldron. The mannerisms, the byplay, their discussions, and thoughts on each other are all so perfectly in character. It really fleshs out everything we see about Cauldron and how they view themselves and their mission.

I really do think it is the perfect continuation (right up there with Forward written by my beautiful girlfriend). It brings in so many characters from Worm in ways that feel natural, fills in gaps or shows things that wouldn't fit into the original story, and lets us see where all those characters carry on from when we last saw them. I think that's what makes it work for me. Thematically, the story of Contessa mixes so well with the world. After everything has finished, after it's all over, what's next?

#worm fanfic #parahumans #Contessa #yeah i just finished rereading for the seventh time

[platypotoo]

I started watching the show assuming (from pictures and such) that Sydney and C*rmy are the main couple. I didn't even know Richie existed.

But having finished the second season just now, I can't feel anything romantic between Syd and C*rmy. I expected to like them together, even to ship them at least a little. But I just don't.

Syd and Richie on the other hand? Wow.

In season 1, where they absolutely hate each other most of the time, their interactions are already so meaningful:

- The first time that we as viewers see Richie be vulnerable, Syd sees it too.

- His worry whether she is okay after the gunshots. Should be normal between colleagues, but... they used to dislike each other so much...

- When Syd resolves the fight between the gangsters, Richie looks at her in irritation, but also almost... awe? It also makes him actively change at this point already, actively change himself and how he sees certain things.

It's really a testament to the writing of this show, to the complexity of its characters that Richie is such a scumbag in season 1, in some ways saying exactly what you'd expect a guy like him to say, yet he could have been so much worse. He never crosses a certain line. And then in season 2, he becomes so much better.

Their interactions kind of hit me like a freight train - completely unexpected, raw, realistic, extremely emotional, almost forceful.

Thematically, too. The very new one and one of the oldest. At the beginning: always at each other's throats. Fighting, pulling, pushing. Is it possible that they might find peace with each other? Find even more?

The structure of season 2 had the main cast interact less, and since Syd and C*rmy were the ones working most closely together, I was sure that the strange vibes I got between her and Richie would disappear in favour of Syd/C*rmy. But except for the table scene (which I just didn’t read as romantic, more a continuation of Syd's personal arc), there were very few meaningful scenes between Syd and C*rmy.

There weren't many big scenes between Syd and Richie either, but... nobody really expected them to. However, we did get two scenes of weird awkwardness, like they didn’t know how to behave around each other without fighting. (her jumping away when nearly bumping into him! Their weird interaction when she's seeing him in a suit for the first time! "You smell good"?! Wtf? Ultimately it probably means nothing but I can't stop thinking about it!!) And of course the one scene in the last episode, when they are more than amicable colleagues - they are the perfect team without ever training together, same focus, same drive to make things exactly as they should be, helping each other, supporting each other and being impressed by each other.

It's just so weird how Sydrichie completely surprised me. I wouldn't even call it only "chemistry" or something. It's their entire dynamic, the way they made each other madly, almost exaggeratedly emotional in season 1, then went on parallel paths apart from each other - did some soul searching, improved themselves - and ended up as this weirdly perfect force together. I never expected it. I've never seen anything like it.

Right now, I think there's a 50:50 chance that in canon nobody of The Be*r's staff gets romantically involved, or that Syd gets together with M*rcus. No other option is realistic. But I'll be thinking about her with Richie for a good long while.

#Sydrichie #Sydney x Richie #Syd x Richie #Tagging this very carefully because I don't know what I feel about it #I'm not at all able to defend it against criticism #It's an extremely weird ship that will never be canon and probably wouldn't even work #But damn do I find it compelling #It also made me realize the difference between rivals-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers and that I vastly prefer the latter #This might be the first real enemies-to-lovers ship I've ever seen in contemporary non-fantasy #Shipping #Long post #Text #Rambling #The crackiest ship I've had in quite some time #I can't wait to see how their dynamic evolves next season! #I'm just so so very much looking forward to them interacting again in any way. Whatever tiny scene they might share - I'll eat it up.

[exhausted-archivist]

Concept Art Moments and Ideas: What I Wish Was Kept

Pretty sure we've all been there. Seen some of the concept art and thought how cool it was and how much you wish it had made it in the final game. These are some of mine, I won't go too much into why they're not in the game, the answer is usually either one of the following or a combination of: they needed to narrow the scope of the project, frostbite was a new engine they were struggling to make do what they needed, time, they didn't feel it had enough narrative weight or purpose, or it would make the world states branch out far too much.

I'm not really wanting to discuss whether or not I agree with cutting them either. I just really think these are neat concept, ones I've thought out how they would fold in, possible ways they could have played out, and some that personally I have worked into my fic just to fully explore the ideas.

Most of the images that don't have a source link came from either the art book or the BioWare Stories and Secrets From 25 Years of Game Development (B25) book.

Now lets start with the most common one:

[Source]

I'm know others have said this, but I really wish that it had been feasible for you to become Divine. Though, honestly this only would have really worked as decision at the end of the series. While personally in my canon world state I don't have anyone I would want to put in that role. I do have an OC who I did design for that and would have been nice to see it play out. Especially come Trespasser.

These are story boards from the art book of the prologue walk through Haven. The voice lines for this are still in the game files even though they're cut. Something I always wanted in the prologue was something to actually motivate me. There is no real sense of danger, and the walk through Haven hold no real weight. It's mostly telling and no showing, it feels hollow after your first play-through where you aren't curious and uncertain. It honestly would have been interesting to me if this was in there and if there were non-standard ending option outside of combat. Provoking the scared survivors to where they mob you, a timer on the mark instead of just the one check point. If it started draining your health the longer you took to get to the Breach. Things that could easily be removed if you decreased the difficulty level and wouldn't impact the game overly much.

[Left Dragon Age Art Book, Right World of Thedas vol. 2 p. 245]

To continue on with my desire for the steaks in Inquisition to be more intense, for you to actually feel some type of risk or hostility from the world. These two are more of an expansion on the attack on Haven. I wish Corypheus was given a more dramatic entrance than being seen on the hill with his Commander. That when he arrived to scoop you up, that it was more ominous and threatening. Something to illustrate as him having this overwhelming presence and force.

In Hushed Whispers had the concept art of King Alistair going with you and honestly, I feel like it is a missed opportunity. Not only would it make sense but there is a sort of thematic element with Alistair once again having to save Redcliffe from a mage. I think this also could have worked if he was king or warden. If he was a warden, it would have been a very nice way to tie in the Warden plot for Alistair and even Loghain. Would have really given the Inquisitor a reason to care about choosing between them or Hawke in the Fade.

[Source]

Matt Rhodes labeled this as Anders in the tags, and I am really intrigued by this prospect. We know by the end of DA2 if he's alive he doesn't have many friends with the displaced mages of Kirkwall after awhile. It would have been nice for him to come back in that Warden role they were considering for the cancelled Exalted March DLC. But what really makes me curious, is why he's out in what we might think is the Western Approach/Hissing Wastes and what happened to his missing right arm.

Alternatively, another scenario I would have liked to see with Anders comes from the B25 book. We see they explored the idea of Anders, as a Grey Warden in the cancelled Exalted March DLC. Honestly, I feel as if he would return regardless of if you killed him or not because we know that Justice can and has prevented fatal injuries from killing Anders before. This could have been an interesting thread to not only pull his story to an end in dai, but also introduce the Warden contact instead of the ones we had. Because he was on the run and the Wardens would offer a degree of protection so he would be unwillingly forced to return, couple that with him knowing of Corypheus - which would likely be the thing that forced the Wardens to keep him alive once they found his prison empty.

[Source]

This is Western Approach concept art, specifically this was suppose to be Adamant. Matt Rhodes describes that it was suppose to be a monastery, self-sustaining, and a place where they could cultivate their own food, weave their own fabrics. It would have been interesting to be able to see it like this, to see the game use this to not only explore how the Wardens survived out here but also how they recovered the fortress after it was wrecked in Asunder. It would have tied in nicely with exploring the fact that the reversal of Tranquility was found here, a fact known to everyone in game at this point (they just didn't know the Seekers hid it from the Chantry and mages). It would have been an excellent way to fold in Rhys, Evangeline, flesh out Cole's backstory and personal quest, and even show another side of the mages - the ones who didn't want to be involved in the war and fled to the Wardens.

Two Words: Giant. Scorpion.

Look how massive that is. I love mega fauna so much. I want something massive to be living in the Hissing Wastes and I want this to be fighting dragons. It would have been amazing. Look at the boards they put out.

[Source]

I want to believe this is for the Western Approach given the ground type and the smoke in the background. If this thing was guarding the sulfur fields by Griffon Keep? It would have been epic. Or even if we saw it fighting the Abyssal dragon. Honestly, I think more areas should have had a competing predator for the dragons to be fighting. It would have been cooler if they kept great bears (previously known as Dragon Bears) at their massive size to fight a dragon in the Emerald Graves too.

[Source]

That said, this scorpion concept gets even better when you see the concept art for smaller versions being Venatori mounts.

How do you not get stabbed bud? How do you domesticate/train this? What is the intelligence of this little critter? I can just picture a play on the scorpion and the frog happening here. This would have been really cool as mini-bosses or something of that nature. Particularly around the ruins, Venatori operations, or raids against the keeps.

Another piece from B25, we see new concept art of the Inquisitor leaving Skyhold with the Inquisition as Skyhold is destroyed in the background. We learned from David Gaider that at one point Skyhold was actually suppose to be attacked by Corypheus, but it ended up being cut due to time/scope. This is something I wish they kept, having your second base attack, you home at the point where you felt the strongest and potentially after a recent victory.

It would have reminded the player that Corypheus and his commander, Calpernia or Samson, were a real and active threat. Something missing from Inquisition honestly. It would have been interesting to see if we had to find a new base of operations or if we had to rebuild. When first settling in Skyhold everyone mentions being able to see the enemy coming, about not retreating from Skyhold. They really built up an expectation that at the very least a scare of an attack would happen.

There would have been a sort of poetic sense to Skyhold being leveled. Considering it is of Fereldan make, built on top of a leveled elven site. To have the site once again leveled, the history brought back to its foundations. It would have been a thematic foreshadowing to what Solas plans to do as well.

These are clearly just things I found interesting, things I feel would have really added to the game, and some others might not agree with. There are other things I wish they hadn't cut, but I didn't want to include anything that has been post-humorously mentioned by the devs because I wanted to focus more on the concept art aspect. A lot of decisions were shaped by circumstances we'll never really know the full scope of, and sometimes I wonder if they had gotten more than the 3-4 years they had for Inquisition and maybe on an engine that wasn't so fickle and worked better for the style of game how different it would have been.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dai #dragon age concept art #cw insect #cw scorpion #cw blood #wishlist of my heart #what could have been #long post #archi is yelling into the void

[goldensunset]

i'm curious, do you have any thoughts on whether its more narratively fitting for n to have zekrom in black or reshiram in white? its been a debate for ages, i'm personally on the zekrom side and dont really understand the reshiram argument

OOOOH ok i think i did overhear a snippet of that debate on your blog a while back but of course i didn't understand any of it yet. i have been thinking about that... my first instinct would be to agree and say zekrom the dragon of ideals is more fitting. buuuut i really do think you can argue both ways so i will do so here

so! truth and ideals. what he wants and what he thinks is true. what he wants, deep down, is undeniable- he wants pokémon to be happy. that's his ideal world no matter what. what he seems to want specifically is the separation of pokémon and humans. that's the ideal that he works toward, and it's because he holds a misguided view of reality. what he believes to be true is that keeping pokémon is abusive. because of this factoid, because he firmly believes the world is a certain way, he feels spurred to action to remedy that. he values that which he perceives as truth and wants to bring it to light. both truth and ideals are therefore thematically relevant to him because they line up- hold firm to the truth you know, not letting anyone else tell you otherwise, and let it drive you to make changes for the better in the world and seek your ideal.

BUT. does he really believe that idea about abuse to be true? at first, yes of course. but as he says- from the moment he begins traveling the world, and more specifically upon meeting the player- he begins to notice that pokémon seem happy with people. he doesn't understand. this goes against everything he had been told about the world. so, do these experiences make him change his mind about what the truth is? maybe bit by bit. does he admit the error of his ways and step down and step off? NOPE.

and that's the crucial bit. the real, actual truth is right there in front of him but he can't bring himself to acknowledge it. he has committed himself to a certain ideal and he's going to see it through or fall gloriously while trying. he's set his heart on conquering unova and making it perfect, bringing about the noble ideal of happiness for humans and pokémon alike- except by now he knows that's founded on a lie. would reshiram, the dragon of truth, really accept him as a hero with that sort of dissonance in his heart? or would it rather accept the hero who truly does understand and accept the way the world is, as a mixed bag of good and bad?

but on the other hand you could argue he's well aware of and in acknowledgement of the truth. he truly has witnessed the abuse of pokémon before. that isn't a lie- it's just a statistical minority that he's only just now finding out is a minority. but even if it is- for a guy who loves pokémon that much, that's completely intolerable. it doesn't matter how many trainers are good people- even one hurt pokémon is one too many. it's not worth the gamble of continuing to let it happen. so even if he has witnessed the truth of the majority of the world now, his truth isn't all wrong either. it's still very much significant to him. he has a fuller understanding of the world than most do, as someone who's seen both the good and bad of it. and he does admit something like this to the player at mistralton- he knows they're a good and kind trainer, but still says the separation needs to happen, even though that would bring about injustice to good trainers.

in this situation, he can probably recognize that there's both something to be gained and lost either way, whether trainerdom continues or not- and also that those two aren't necessarily equal. there will be pain for certain pokémon if it continues, and there will be pain for MANY people and MANY pokémon if it stops. maybe in that situation after having travelled the world he can understand by now which option is truly better. which is the real ideal world, the lesser of two evils. but that sad fact of pokémon abuse is so significant to him that he'd rather still forgo the world as it is now. he clings so stubbornly to a certain truth that he forgets to look at the big picture of things and consider what really is ideal.

in the end though the question is, i guess- which is more thematically fitting for him to fly off on and keep as his best friend? he's learned his lesson in the end that he was doing the wrong thing, and determined that the two dragons representing truth and ideals don't need to fight. but even so it's not like the two dragons reunite. he still stays with one. and he still lost the fight to the player with the other one. so the real question is, in the greater scheme of things, which one won the fight narratively? truth or ideals? what lesson did he learn? what lesson did we learn?

SIKE i think that's taking things too far lol. like i said it could go either way and also they don't need to fight. and the dragon isn't purely symbolic it's also like his bestie at that point of course he's gonna keep it even if he's a changed person lol. anyway hope you enjoyed my academic essay i only completed my degree in this particular field of study about 18 hours ago so i hope i'm qualified enough to talk about this

#mwah! i love getting way into stuff like this i'll write meta for days #i still think i lean towards him having zekrom but like i meant everything i said here #you can frame it both ways #pokémon #asks #claitea #bw

[swallowprettybird]

Who mod creators inspires me?

This is a continuation of the previous post, but mods edition.

I've mentally thanked many creators for their work more than once, and I think this is a good opportunity to express it.

Because these people are a powerful contribution to the community and I want them to know that I appreciate it :з

Of course, there are many, many great creators, you can join my initiative if you want)

Maybe later I'll make another similar post, but about cc creators, because there are so many of them.

Well but now I will mention those whose modmakers I use the most.

Thank you all guys! You are wonderful! 💅👇

This is a huge contribution to the game and the gameplay of thousands of simmers. Thank you! The first thing I do after an update game is go check out this mod. It makes my life with ts4 much easier omg

Of course, I can't help but mention @deaderpoolmc 🤩 Who doesn't know about MCCC? I can't imagine the game without it.

Then there are those creators whose creations literally make me cry with happiness.

@twistedmexi and so many useful mods! I can't even remember all of them now, you are so talented modmaker! but TOOL and BetterBuildBuy it's one of the best things that could have happened to the Sims.

@simverses your cc is just magical! I don't know where else I would have seen such good thematic historical content and such a variety! And your mod.. A year ago, I swear, sometimes I was ready to throw my laptop out the window out of frustration 😁

Why? Why can't I do anything about these horrible high-rise buildings in the background, billboards and modern cars on the road when I need vintage?😖🤌Now I feel really free.... *-*

@awingedllama thank you for your Clickable world mod!! Thank you really very, huge very much ❤️ The limited worlds frames is another thing that REALLY upset me.

And I never realized before how many more opportunities it opens up for my stories!

Also your cc is really very nice, love it so much 😍

@zerbu is another creator I can't do without! ❤️ His mods literally expand the boundaries of the game and allow not to be tied to one world/town. It is simply an indispensable thing in my stories.

I can place a school in Komorebi instead of Copperdale, I can turn public lots into residential, I can live in vacation towns. This greatly improves the game experience. Thank you! ❤️

@twelfthdocttor I owe some very useful mods like Travel to venue (i'm really very grateful to you, that's SO useful) and also thanks to you, I love Batuu to a large extent because my characters can look the way I want them to look there ❤️

@luumia greatly improved the look of my game with No Blu Mod 😍❤️ and i think this plays a significant role in the quality of the images and gshade overlays 🫶

Also, this creator has a lot of great sliders and cc! You are great my dear :з

@buckleysims create totally awesome Camera Mod to which I have become so accustomed and saved many nerve cells!

Also I thank NANDO for beautiful Paris from Romance in France Mod that I used :з

Thank you so much all of you ❤️🫶

#the bird says #ask game

[transmutationisms]

do you have any thoughts on people saying the writing isn't subtle enough / feels off for succession this season?

oh man... there are a lot of different critiques being rolled in together here so forgive me being a little broad. also, i'm focussing on what i'm hearing from, like, podcasters and episode recaps and reviews, because those things are coming from people who are actually trying to be public figures and i'm not interested in bitching about random tumblr users who are just on their personal blogs lol.

anyway, so, in terms of things that i've seen being criticised repeatedly. one is the dialogue; people feel it's too blunt or direct and sometimes hacky. i have some sympathy here; i didn't love, for example, the tomshiv dialogue in episodes 1 and 4. however, succession has always had some percentage of dialogue that's direct like this, or frankly just lacklustre. if every line was a snappy one-liner that would suck, actually. also, i don't think it's true that this style of more blunt dialogue is universally bad; episode 3 had a high percentage of it, because of the subject matter, and it received basically universal critical acclaim. i feel like i need to get to the end of the season before i can see how it all fits together.

another thing that i think people are right to perceive as a change is that logan's death, plus shiv and roman getting more development and screentime, means it feels more like an ensemble show now. i don't inherently dislike this, though i do think it has contributed to some pacing wobbles (like i thought the first halves of episodes 1 and 2 were weak points thus far). it's not an entirely new trend, though, and on balance i think it works okay because this season really demands that sort of equal focus on all three sibs after logan's death. (rip connor)

then there's the fact that like .... frankly .... most, uh, mainstream anglo journalists are some flavour of corny liberal and i just don't think they understand what's being done politically in this season or how it's continuous with prior seasons lol. like, in many ways the cruises storyline (which i love, dgmw) was easier for them to parse because they could just read it as "the corporate world does misogyny and that's bad." which is like, true, but it doesn't really engage with the commentary on masculinity on any deeper level, or fascist homoerotics, or how media conglomerates create and profit from the spectacularisation of politics and everyday life and why that's fascistic. like if i were to put this bluntly, it surprised me how many people were surprised by 3x06 and i think journalists who didn't see that coming or thought it was thematically discordant are just not people who have anything interesting to say about this show lol. so like, yeah of course they're not tracking the body politics and arguments about degeneracy theory and capitalist eugenics that animate the entire show and especially season 4.

i certainly don't think the show is beyond reproach, and i have some nitpicks and complaints and criticisms, including of this season. i also can't yet pass judgment on the ending obviously, and reserve the right to hate it if necessary. but in general i like season 4, i think it's good television, and i don't think it's discontinuous with what this show has always been. and honestly, in a year, when the dust has settled and people are able to consider the entire season as one coherent piece, i would not be surprised if the critical response is markedly different and probably marked by a certain degree of nostalgia that we're simply not seeing right now because these episodes are hours old.

#s4 critiques

[irregularcollapse]

You haven't posted anything about A storm that took everything in a while, and I miss it, soo: can you tell us something we don't already know? How's the writing treating you? Is there something that you already wrote that you're particularly excited about (spoiler free)? And what about something you look forward to writing?

Hellooooo! This message made my morning jsyk and I immediately asked my beloved beta reader what she thought I should talk about hahahaha

The first thing I want to get out of the way is that truthfully, writing is a little slow lately 😔 I've been a bit stressed of late, and along with real life things have seen some fandom stuff which I've found really upsetting, and it has sort of made it difficult to motivate myself to write. I wish people would be kinder and more compassionate, and I wish people would exercise more caution when writing about CSA survivors, whether it be in comments or posts or tags or fics or whatever. I've seen some incredibly insensitive things being said which I think were simply not thought through, or the implications weren't considered.

I don't like making these sorts of posts or "policing" how people engage in fandom, and I don't like responding to or involving myself in "fandom drama" at all, but some of the commentary has been incredibly hurtful and upsetting to witness, and I can only imagine what it would feel like for others who personally find resonance and relatability in the story of a fictional CSA survivor. I do not think that people intend to be hurtful, but I feel compelled to say something as gently and generally as I can.

But! I'm feeling a bit more cheered over the past day or so, thanks to my wonderful beta reader, and my second reliable, sooooo thoughtful reader (you know you you are! <3) and other mutuals who I've talked to about ASTTE/shared snippets with, so! Progress may get back on track. I'm immeasurably comforted by the willingness to listen and understand, which I see in so many people who love these books <3

In regards to your other question, I have a more interesting answer hopefully!

I sort of want to talk about the Regent a bit, and the process of writing him. My beta reader has said "I think you've managed to make the Regent worse which is. Impressive," to which I responded, "it's gothic horror." I've mentioned that the inspo for this AU spawned from the realisation that the characters sort of neatly fit into gothic archetypes as is (Damen fitting the archetype of the gothic heroine, Laurent fitting the Byronic hero, the Regent fitting the sinister aristocrat, etc. etc.), but the genre connection is also thematic. The gothic is a really nebulous and difficult to pin genre, but one centralising thing about it is the past. To phrase it in a really general way, characters are haunted by their pasts and their traumas, and most often this is explored through the paranormal or supernatural.

In CaPri, both Damen and Laurent are haunted by their pasts: Laurent being haunted by Auguste is perhaps obvious to most readers, but Damen too is fixated on memories of his father, his boyhood with Kastor, the opportunities he had to make different choices, his treatment of slaves, the legacy of Kings and Queens who came before him - it all sits on his shoulders, this weight which follows him around and mires him in guilt and feelings of inadequacy. Unfortunately, these insecurities are read easily by the Regent, and form some of the foundation for how he chooses to manipulate, gaslight and abuse Damen while he is in Arles (and afterwards by proxy), and also how he uses Damen as a tool in his continued abuse of Laurent.

This snippet from book 1 is a textbook example of that manipulation, in how the Regent blends insult ("I suppose it excites a slave to plunder the treasure of a prince") with flattery ("A man with sound judgement, who could help guide him without being swayed") to disorient Damen, and to make himself seem reasonable and level-headed. Everything negative is always turned back on Laurent, who "uses [charm] to get his own way" and "could have a man eating from the hand that struck him." He is holding up a mirror to deflect attention from himself: I am not manipulating you; my nephew is manipulating you. This and the other conversations which Damen has with the Regent set the precedent for the displacement of everything which the Regent is at fault for, onto Laurent. It is a bit ironic that he is trying to exploit the very honour code which is driving Damen's loyalty to Laurent in this moment; both he and Laurent are very much adherents to tit-for-tat, of both deservedly earning fealty and metering out appropriate justice. But I digress hahaha that's a whole other thing to explore! (I do sort of talk about it in this post, but it's also something really relevant to the way I read the flogging and the way Damen's thinking about that changes across the books, as well as concepts of alliance and punishment more generally)

The way this all relates is in the thematic messaging which arises in a lot of gothic literature: the past is not to be feared, as it is there for us to learn from. True horror is wrought by living people, when we are blind to the present because we are so fixated on what once was. In other words, the ghosts are not the real evil in this house.

In writing the "real evil," a.k.a the Regent, a.k.a the Comte Régis, I took heavy genre inspiration from Dracula, particularly his interactions with Jonathan Harker (Jonathan fits the gothic heroine archetype in a lot of ways too). I also have done quite a bit of reading about the tactics used by cult leaders to recruit and control, which experts have noted are aligned with behaviours exhibited by abusers generally. It is very important to me that even though this is a piece of genre writing, that the realism is grounded in, well, realism.

Because of my intent to be accurate (within the scope of genre fiction), and not to turn the Comte into a caricature, I was a bit wary of writing him. I deliberately didn't include the Regent/Laurent's Uncle on page in EIAT, because the story wasn't about breaking free - it was about Laurent's healing, and him coming to see his own goodness once more. ASTTE, on the other hand, is about Damen's healing, and coming to see all parts of himself as worthy. Both of these journeys are reflective of what, for me, is the entire point of the trilogy: that you can be seen for everything that you are - your trauma, and your flaws, and your worst deeds - and still be loved. That none of what was done to you makes you unlovable. Perhaps in that you can see, as well, elements of gothic romance! The figure of "the monster," often linked to queerness!

I'm losing my train of thought and my brain is getting a bit foggy, but hopefully this has been a little bit interesting for you, anon! I want you to know that it really cheered me up to get this ask <3 I appreciate you!

For your troubles, a snippet from Chapter II:

Oh a midnight visitor? Someone come to read Damen a bedtime story, perhaps? Kiss on the forehead and tuck him in? So sweet ☺️

#asks #my writing #a storm that took everything fic #thanks so much for checking in anon <3 #i'm really grateful to be reminded of people like you right now!!

[merrygejelh]

what's up with "human nature"?

Houghohoughih

I mean the first thing you need to understand is that interpretation is generative, right

So by watching doctor who you are inherently Creating doctor who because you are creating an idea of it in your head and stringing together continuity in a way that is slightly different to everyone else who has done it. Your dr who is not my dr who, okay.

The doctor who that Paul Cornell was a fan of as a teenager and young adult was a doctor who in which the doctor Cannot fall in love due to the fact that he’s not human. Human Nature (the 1994 novel) was his answer to the question “what would need to happen in order for the doctor to fall in love?” In Paul Cornell’s mid-90’s reading of the show thus far, the only circumstance under which the doctor could be a sexual or romantic being was if he were to become human.

The thing is that this reading conflicts with the reading that Russell T. Davies canonized in the first two seasons of nuwho. RTD’s doctor IS a romantic entity; he can and does fall in love as a time lord. So the 2007 episodes “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood” are responding to a version of the doctor who no longer exists. To a viewer of the modern show, the question these episodes is asking is “what would it mean for the doctor to be human?” Which has a very different answer, but the plot isn’t portrayed all that differently from how it is in the book, which creates an implication that being human means being racist. The episode’s commentary becomes about MARTHA, not the doctor, because it seems to imply that this deeply romantic man can fall in love with many people as long as they aren’t Martha (as long as they aren’t a black woman). It’s weird as fuck.

Also, I’m just generally more fond of the book - I think a romance between two middle aged people who haven’t been in love in a long time is far more interesting than a love triangle between the 10th doctor, another ambiguously young blonde woman, and Martha. We’ve been here before!!! We’ve seen 10 be a dashing young man falling in love!!! There’s a version of these episodes that focuses much more on themes of War as a central aspect of human nature and I think with what nuwho had been doing to that point leaning more into the fact that this takes place on the eve of WWI would have been much stronger thematically. There’s a whole section in the book where John Smith lectures his students on the horrors of war and it’s so BAFFLING to me that it isn’t in the episode. Sir you are The Time War Man.

#I have many more thoughts (this is what the thesis chapter I’m currently writing is about) but this is a passable tumblr post version lol #the show of theseus #doctor who

[9w1ft]

9-

I once again come to you as the Kaylor jewelry expert with a detailed question.

When did Karlie start wearing the Cartier onyx necklace? I know she wore it to the rep tour show in Nashville in August 2018, but was she seen wearing it before that?

hi anon! thank you for the question 😌

back in june 2018 karlie went on a back to back trip to japan and then shanghai. she can be seen wearing the amulette de cartier in japan (josh was there) from june 11th, if you look closely through her instagram stories. she’s more clearly documented wearing it in shanghai starting on june 15th (she was alone for this leg).

her engagement was announced a little more than a month later. iirc, there was word on the street (online rumors) a few weeks before it was announced on july 24, that they were getting engaged. i guess that if you were to believe this official narrative, you might think the amulette was an engagement gift from josh that she could wear without the news getting out by wearing her ring. but my goodness, a symbol of protection during difficult times seems to be an odd choice as an engagement present (who pops the question with a necklace that’s a lucky charm made for times that require strength of heart against all odds?!)

so I’m sure you can see how this lends itself perfectly to the kaylor narrative.

*to provide some meta context, their trip to japan was at the time very painful for kaylors. the two were acting lovey dovey at a time when many were convinced they were about to break up, and they appeared very intimate (hand holding/cheek kissing) with each other in ways they really hadn’t in years prior. i think at the time, some saw this bump in pda as writing on the wall that an engagement rather than a breakup was coming. at the time i was a holdout but in hindsight, given the symbolic value of the amulette, it feels that way. btw all this was happening right after taylor got very very loud in spring 2018, when rep tour started and she debuted the rainbow dress and delicate pride speech and we had the caticorn rainbow ad, and so it was distressing at the time how it was like one step forward, two steps back for kaylor. but in hindsight, sheesh, simpler times!

so karlie wore the amulette a whole lot between the end of june and end of sep 2018. most memorably, i would say, to NYC pride and of course when she went to rep tour nashville.

iirc the last time she was seen wearing it in 2018 was on sept 28 2018? and she changed her IG profile picture to a picture with her wearing it, and it stayed like that for what feels like it was about a year. then of course we have taylor’s october 2018 AMA performance where there was this big set piece that looked so much like the amulette.. and a nod to it in 2019 as the little peephole on the door to the lover house

while it remained karlie’s profile picture for a long time, karlie didn’t post new photos of her wearing it again until march 2020, another time of difficulty for her with her fans (controversies about her kushner/white house connections in the early days of the pandemic and in an election year) she continued wearing it off and on, notably during her pregnancy, including in the pregnancy announcement video. id add pics of it but i’m over the pic limit!! but you can check the #cartier tag on my blog for more.

so yeah, you can see how these two periods of time have some thematic similarities for her—pivotal life moments both taking things to a new level—and how the amulette and everything it stands for just adds to the symbolism of it all… 🫠

#i’m emoshunul #kaylor #cartier #jewelry

[esther-dot]

White savior anon again lol. So I go back and forth on the J/D romance. On one hand, the show going thru with it and Martin's fixation on incest makes me think there will be some type of romance. That being said, it's not going to end well because all their foreshadowing is negative lol and speaks of betrayal. Also, Martin intends to complete the story in two books, which is not realistic since he gardended himself into hundreds of interconnected main characters and plotlines - he needs to set the chess pieces in place for the climax in the last book in Winds but he literally cannot do all that in one book. So, how exactly he intends to write some sweeping, dynamic romance when Dani won't even step foot in Westeros until the last leg of the book is well, lol....good luck with that one. That's why the show romance was ass, it's hard for audiences to buy a romance between two people who met and conversed for approximately 20 minutes across 8 episodes - no development or investment. I just don't see how Martin has the page space or time to do all he needs to do with the other 9768 characters and plotlines while developing this supposed grand love story between J and D. He's a talented writer, but deeply inefficient and made some key mistakes - the ages of the characters, wasting so much time having characters walk around the riverlands, braavos, etc. while internally contemplating their shitty lives for chapter after chapter, like ok you're miserable we get it but this could have taken half the chapters - so now he's screwed himself as a result lol.

IDK about Jonsa, I believe Sansa is the girl in grey, and I do think per the show (I think a lot more big plot points were taken from Martin than readers want to believe tbh) Jon and Sansa will have a significant relationship in Winds, platonic or not, or at least he intended that to be the case, but idk if he is willing to Go There with that pairing. He let way too much time pass between books and social mores have changed quit a bit. The faux sibling almost incest trope was pretty big back in the 90s and early 2000s, but now? Not so much.

Jon and the Targ line ending with him. Sure there are people will targ blood still around like Brienne and the Baratheons. But none of them are the direct descendent/son of Targ prince who plunged the realm into a civil war over said Targ's birth lol. Sure it's not fair, but thematically it makes sense and I do think this is what was intended back in the 90s. Now? IDK lol.

(continuation of this convo)

Oh yes, I've seen a lot of fans criticize how he allows himself to write so much of his favs (*cough* Tyrion *cough*) rather than streamlining. I can't figure out how he can bring all these characters and carry out the plots in two books either. I know he said they're big books, but there are so many things that have to happen and they characters are all still so scattered...I really don't know how he'll manage. Like, Sansa has to go North, reunite with Jon, reclaim Winterfell, be reunited with other Starks/handle succession, they have to deal with the Others and then there is Dany. It's a lot.

I don't think there could be a genuine romance with J/D at all. Jon's experienced the whole Ygritte situation, then he was assassinated, it doesn't make sense to me that he'd fall for an enemy so soon or trust one either, not with the guilt/betrayal he'll be feeling. I do think Dany is vulnerable with her belief that she needs another dragon rider/that will be a person she can trust and her romantic nature, so I think she could convince herself she can trust Jon and then he betrays her. That could be a fairly short-lived interlude though, since she's primed for it. There is also Euron and Aegon too though, and I had assumed that would be before she met up with Jon and if that's the case, Jon is not gonna have kind thoughts (if she kills Aegon), and Dany will be even less trusting (if she's dealt with Euron), so Idk. I don’t want anything to happen between J/D, but imo, there has to be some kind of relationship or trust to make it an awful scene when Jon stabbity stabs. Dany will have burned KL, if anyone else assassinates her, it’s badass, but I think Martin's way too anti war/anti violence to do that. I really think he's gonna want it to be painful.

Also, I’ve recently been wondering if instead of some past events being foreshadowing, they’re meant to work as explanation, justification for the end of the story. As in, I thought the mess of the war in canon and Robert’s Rebellion were meant to convince us that the moral thing would be to avoid war to spare life and that Jon would be KitN and kneel a la the king who knelt. The show’s bizarrely written inclusion of him kneeling seemed to support such an idea. Except, look at what the Targs became as rulers, where that ended for Westeros, and Dany has dragons and will have do her little KL bbq, so the moral thing in this instance isn’t submission, but neither is it all out war. I think that's the grounding for why it has to be faux submission then assassination.

I really don't think Martin would change his endgame now because of fan outrage or social norms, but imo, the foreshadowing isn't conclusive, or, I guess I should say, I see problems with every potential endgame, but particularly with Jon ending up at the Wall because of how it seems to answer problems Martin seemed interested in addressing. So, I think there's room for a nicer ending for him, if Martin wants it.

#anti jonerys #dot chat

[prolix-yuy]

Help write Midnight Alley!

To celebrate a few milestones, including hitting 1,000 followers, a year of posting fic on Tumblr, and several fic anniversaries, I wanted to do something fun! And since Simulated got so many requests for part 2, I thought, “give the people what they want.” But…what do you want?

So for the next couple weeks, let’s outline Midnight Alley together!

I whipped up the premise of Midnight Alley on a whim for backstory, but if we’re going to explore more of Dieter and our F!Reader’s relationship on and off camera, I could use some help figuring out exactly what this show is about. That’s where all of you come in!

Send me any and all ideas, suggestions, requests and I’ll create the backstory, and some episode lineups, to continue this story. Examples could be:

Thematic:

Why is it called Midnight Alley?

What’s the theme song?

What kind of police procedural is it? (FBI, specialized department, hometown detectives)

Any big story arcs in past seasons?

Character:

Headcanons about Dieter’s character, past and present

Supporting characters - who does he work with? (faceclaims welcome!) How do they get along?

Ideas about how they’ll write our F!Reader character into the plot

Episodes:

Tropes you’d love to see (some examples here, but in a nutshell these are often-done episodes that you see across the genre)

Narrative arcs (or lack thereof)

Scene suggestions

Behind the Camera:

Ideas about their relationship off screen

How does their work come home (and vice versa)

Here is the canon so far:

Midnight Alley is a police procedural tv show that’s been going on for three seasons. Dieter has been a co-star for all three. He’s described as having “questionable character,” and being a “brooding morally gray detective.” The general aesthetic is more serious, but with the sort of quick-witted and sharp writing you see in long-running tv dramas. Think Criminal Minds or CSI (or for newer examples, The Sinner or Mindhunter).

Our F!Reader was brought on for a one night stand in a single episode ending with Dieter leaving the next morning, but he requested for her to become a semi-recurring love interest for his character. The writers for Midnight Alley had been trying to give him a love interest for a while, but he’d nixed all of their suggestions and guest stars until her. 

Her scene with Dieter is her first sex scene, but she’s acted on screen before. It’s not Dieter’s first time, so we can assume he’s had sex scenes in the show before. 

Dieter has offered to take her to dinner, but they have not actually seen each other outside of the show.

After March 15th, I’ll compile the suggestions and start to build the Midnight Alley canon, as well as flesh out some “episodes” for future stories. I’ll also share a special surprise in early April as a thank you to everyone who participated, so stay tuned! 

There may be requests and suggestions that jive with me more than others. If you send in something that isn’t used, or is tweaked to fit the narrative as a whole, please know that I appreciate and love all the creativity you send my way, and I’m aiming to use as much of it as possible to make this fun fandom-sourced show.

Thank you all for inspiring me, for being here for all the crazy little stories I share, and for encouraging me with your comments, reblogs, and follows. You all have given me so much joy, and I am endlessly grateful to you for bringing some extra sunshine into my life.

To many more stories! (and especially to the creation of this new one!)

#midnight alley #dieter bravo x f!reader #dieter bravo x female reader #dieter bravo fanfiction #dieter bravo x you #let's write a tv show together!