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sadiewayne · 4 months

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@bluejaysgonerogue i wanted to do a proper post so:

more people can see it

people can add to the list

(this is my opinion, please please if you have other comics, add them to the list)

im actually a big fan of the "newer" stuff, we're talking new 52 onwards, purely bc it works nicely in the times

new 52 starts strong with a storyline that's all about dick's past, and given it ocvurred after a hard reset, it's easy to get into

so:

nightwing 2011 (30 issues + 1 annual)

grayson (20 issues + 3 annuals + futures end, a weird special that i would honestly skip)

nightwing 2016 (109 issues and counting + 5 annuals + nightwing rebirth that comes before the run)

there's also the 2? previous nightwing runs:

nightwing 1995 (five issue limited run + alfred's return #1 special that comes first)

nightwing 1996 (153 issues + issue 1/2 + issue 1,000,000 + a whole host of specials)

2? because does nightwing 1995 actually count as a proper run???

you might also hear them referred to by volumes, 1995 is vol 1, 1996 is vol 2, 2011 is vol 3 or new-52, 2016 is vol 4 or rebirth

grayson is a bit weird but my absolute favourite dick ever. it's a spy thriller and doesn't have a lot of batfam/titans/yj characters in it BUT it does have a lot of dick being awesome. there's also an 'event' that takes place during grayson called robin war, very fun and a good show of dick's skills and manipulation.

to top it off, robin year one is always quoted as essential reading so i'd check it out too (before anyone shouts nightwing year one, it's issues 101-106 of vol 2)

there's also a lot of batman that features dick, he has a nice feature in both hush and under the (red) hood but nothing major, both giving us some nice interaction with bruce. both are also just incredible and deserving of being on the list of iconic batman

batman and robin 2009 is a lot of fun bc it features dick as batman, and damian wayne as his robin. this is a dynamic that i just love and is where episode 113 os WFA just hits hard (and why damian leans on dick so much, he is dick's robin)

oooooo and a lonely place of dying (1989) is brilliant. it's the introduction of tim drake and features dick. it's great, you should read it. it comes after a death in the family which is also just amazing. no dick, just jason, but fun (dick was in space at the time with the titans, tamaran i think)

i do just want to give a warning for nightwing 2016, it gets weird from issue 50 onwards. there's a period where the comics shift massively (#50-77 no spoilers) and then the current run by tom taylor is fine but misses a chunk of his character. i still like it but it's not the best thing for his character

OMG i forgot about titans runs lmao. ngl, i haven't read that much titans so i will leave that to one side so any experts can accurately recommend. i will say that i have enjoyed the very recent worlds finest: teen titans (2023) limited run a lot, back in the robin days, deals with dick and bruce's relationship and his relationships with the team. (also wally is there and i love wally)

TL;DR

start with nightwing 2011 and work forwards moving to grayson and then to nightwing 2016. then go back and read the older stuff

i have absolutely missed a lot BUT this is kind of my "short n sweet" run down, iconic dick grayson is like, most of dick grayson, so it's hard. the common advice (and what i did) was new 52, grayson, rebirth

tbh this is like a basics list, the required reading if you will, not that you need to read any of it but if you do want to, this is a good starting point. a lot of the runs have these crossovers, like robin war and death of the family (not the jason one, this is a weird vol 3 thing), so you get to read other comics too for those issues)

also sorry for the just random other non-nightwing comics, i got excited

i definitely forgot some stuff, again i'm sorry, but go vibe with dick and have a good time and also your fic?? if you'd be willing to share??? i'm always looking for new stuff to read (do not feel pressured into sharing it if you don't want to tho)

i hope you enjoy your nightwing experience, it can seem overwhelming but take it slow, comics aren't that long, and just remember that even yj and WFA are better than nothing (or the live action titans /hj)

#dick grayson #nightwing #dc comics #batman #dc #robin #dc robin #comics #sadies dick grayson

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sowthetide · 2 months

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I devoured this story and almost immediately started rereading it, so I thought that I should thank you for my favorite parts.

1) Fleshing out the Iron Islands! It is so, so boring when Theon has to choose between his noble foster home and his horrible natural family. Getting to see the Ironborn not so much for their good points as their reality has been a delight.

2) Quen! I love her. She is very much Theon, just with different opportunities. I find that the fandom tends to underrate Theon's strengths, which is understandable given his crash-and-burn storyline and because the show really makes him the butt of the joke, but I find it easy to understand why Robb is in love with her in your story.

3) On that note, their relationship is really wonderful. They are very convincing best friend; they know each other probably best in the world and they just enjoy each other so much. But the love story isn't too saccharine, as both of them (yes, including Robb) hurt each other sometimes, on purpose and by accident.

I also enjoy how the way they treat each other romantically is so different from their rapport with everyone else. Quen will check out anyone hot and fun, but her love for Robb only turns romantic over the course of the main storyline (for the best, given the age difference; no need to take after Unvle Euron). Robb is saving himself for marriage, but he has probably been marinating in hormones and yearning since he was twelve. And the poor boy has no one to talk to about it, while the love of his life is merrily taking randoms to bed (unless...Jon? We haven't seen much of him in this story, because Quen doesn't care, but did tweenage Jon notice Robb looking at Quen's legs?).

4) The potential in-law dynamics! You develop Quen's relationships with her family so much that it actually startled me to realize that Robb hasn't met any of them. Frankly, it is his turn to suffer. Quen has been living with Catelyn for a long time already. I am extremely eager to see him Asha, but Dagmar even more so. That's basically his wife's dad, but does Robb know that? And once they are all living together, he is short of a father now. Dagmar is so different from Ned, who is really *the* model of a man and a father for Robb, that their interactions have to be interesting. Plus, your story has really made Alannys a real woman, that I really look forward to having her bounce off new people. Like I said, it's Robb's turn to be uncomfortable with his mother-in-law!

In short: fantastic, I love it, thank you for continuing!

You're so incredibly kind ❤️ I'm glad you've enjoyed this story!!

#1: I LOVED getting to flesh out the Iron Islands. I have a similar dislike of "Starks = good, Greyjoys = bad" Theon stories, where Theon would never have been accepted on the Iron Islands or had a good life, which is just ridiculous. I think it's a lot more interesting if Quen had the option for a happy on the isles, either with Alannys at Ten Towers, or as Lady of Hammerhorn with Greydon Goodbrother. That way, it's a hard decision that she has to make, and it ends up being a bizarre combination of "selfish/selfless" ("selfish" for the impact her northern ambitions/loyalties will have on her mother, "selfless" for the personal sacrifice she's making to secure a better future for the ironborn).

I've really tried to be fair to the ironborn, as GRRM's writing of them left a lot to be desired IMO (basically vikings, except with all of their interesting, non-violent cultural aspects stripped away). We get to see some of the northern lords' individual personalities, but the ironborn lords in canon just seem to go along with whatever Balon/Euron decides, which is, quite honestly, lame. So it was a ton of fun to explore a bunch of different ironborn characters and locations.

To me, the ironborn are not uniquely evil/brutal, but chapter 38 will make it clear that they're definitely not nice, either. In the same way, I'm trying to avoid portraying the north as straightforwardly "The Good Guys". I think the Starks as individuals are well-meaning, but war always means devastation and I don't think the smallfolk who have been brutalized give two shits about getting justice for some random northern guy that got beheaded (sorry Ned).

#2: I love her too ❤️ I really tried to keep as many elements of Theon's core personality as possible, whilst also balancing the inherently transformative nature of genderbending. Being born a different sex in a world like Westeros changes so much about that character's experiences that I really had to reflect on who Theon would be within the experience/expectations of manhood.

Fandom also really does underrate Theon's strengths (which is, as you say, veryyy understandable given his complete flop of a storyline in ACOK). But he does have strengths! Like Theon, Quen is (somewhat) clever, ingratiating, funny, bold, inventive, ambitious, etc. I can't remember who described Theon as "hungry to live", but I think that's the perfect description of him/Quen as we see them starting in AGOT.

#3: Anything with Robb & Quen were always some of my favorite scenes to write. It was important to me that they be friends first, and that Robb really had his own arc where he came to understand the power imbalances at play in their relationship. There's such an ease and a comfortability to their relationship that they both desperately need(ed), and that will return in the late-game of this fic.

I also thought it was important to portray Robb as someone who has significant and noticeable flaws. Quen's flaws are pretty apparent (to say the least), but Robb also has a tendency to lash out, to take loyalties/forgiveness for granted, to bottle up his feelings, to disappear into his responsibilities to avoid difficult emotions/circumstances (as we'll see in chapter 39).

For Quen, sexual feelings are easy and of no consequence. Romantic feelings (specifically for Robb) on the other hand... well... Let's just say that Robb has had some ten years to come to terms with his feelings, but it's still very new to Quen. She went down the Romantic -> Sexual -> Oh Fuck I'm In Love With Him pipeline at break-neck speeds.

Unfortunately, I'll have to keep my silence on Jon (as he will have a Part To Play), just know that we'll see more of him later on ;-)

#4: TeaInABowl has me FERAL about the potential of a Greyjoy-Harlaw-Stark family sit-down. I don't wanna spoil things, but there will be some intersection of Quen's northern and ironborn relationships in chapter 40, just not in a particularly fun context (but it's not as ominous as I'm making it sound). There will probably also be a real ironborn-northman sitdown later on, and I'm sooo excited about it.

Alannys hates Robb's ass for real (and I imagine her and Catelyn get along like oil and water too), but I think Asha and Robb would at least be united in Wanting Quen To Be Happy. Asha's not necessarily happy about it herself, but she'll have to make her peace with it. Again, I don't wanna spoil, but I imagine Dagmer as joining Quen's household at Winterfell in the eventual happy ending. That's her dad!!! And, like Asha, I think he would have a lot of guilt/anger for leaving Quen alone at Winterfell in the first place.

Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a wonderful ask!!! Chapters 38 and 39 are done (pending beta-ing, yippee!), and I'll be cranking out the rough drafts for chapters 40 and 41 over the next two weeks. All goes well, I should be back March 10th with at least 4 weeks of chapters for y'all!

#ask #unfortch i will be pretty busy these next few days catching up on school work. i've got stuff due sunday that i have NAWT even started #then it's back to the chapter 40 trenches 🫡#i love this fic and i love you guys <3 <3 <3

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herearedragons · 7 months

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Self and Future for each!

OC asks: relationship edition

Thanks for the ask! I'll change things around a bit and do these for the Inquisitors.

.... also, I'm answering "Future" first and I'm making it short, because under the cut are increasingly long rants about each of these guys' special flavor of identity crisis, and that's a lot to read already.

Future: Is there anyone your OC is looking forward to meeting or to seeing again? Who? What might that meeting or reunion look like?

Evelyn: she hasn't seen her parents for three years now (that's when she got sent to the Circle), and she's definitely looking forward to seeing them again. I do like to imagine that, as Inquisitor, she's able to arrange a clandestine meeting with them and even brings Sera along; I don't think she would want them to come to Skyhold, since being known in public as the Inquisitor's parents sounds dangerous. I think it would be a happy reunion for all of them, and I think her parents would love Sera; Evelyn's own mother eloped with her secretary(Evelyn's father), so I think they're pretty open-minded when it comes to making a match.

Neilar: the entirety of his clan, oh please for the love of the gods let him go home. In my headcanon, he was there for the Wycome incident; if not for the entirety of it, then at least for the last battle. And, weirdly enough, it was a better reunion for him than later visits to his clan in peaceful times; maybe because then, when there was danger, him being Inquisitor meant something good. He had a place there; he did his part by bringing in troops and joining the fight himself. The clan members are obviously always happy to see him, especially his family, but in later visits it's more bittersweet for him.

Aqun: also his family. They do write to each other constantly, and I think he's been home at least once as Inquisitor; he definitely had people stationed near his family home, since his parents live by themselves in a remote location and if there was any sort of attack, help wouldn't arrive fast enough from the nearby city. His parents are used to him being out on missions for long periods of time, though not as long as years, and I think that when he comes home for the first time as Inquisitor, it's actually pretty casual, and it's nice for him to know that at least things back home haven't changed.

May: her entire storyline is about trying to avoid people from her past, so she's absolutely not looking forward to meet anyone from her time before the Inquisition - except, maybe, for the Andrastian priest who converted her. It would be fun if they ever ended up coming to Skyhold; May would be happy to know they're alright, but also kind of terrified of speaking to them, because imagine converting a struggling criminal and then learning that she's a controversial prophet-kind-of-military-leader.

Self: How is your OC's relationship with themself? Does your OC like who they are? Is there anything about themself that they would change?

Evelyn: her entire thing is lying about herself as an act of self-defense, so her relationship to herself is... complicated! To say the least! It's this funny situation where she should have been fine, like, she's actually pretty good for the role she was raised for (which is the role of a minor noble who represents her family in business deals and the such), but instead she ended up a Circle mage and then a rebel mage and then the leader of a huge religious organization and she's just a stressed out 23-year-old who's really tired of reinventing herself to match whatever's happening around her, so at some point she just starts making stuff up. She tells Cassandra that she's an enchanter (despite not even being Harrowed) and lies about her age. She lies about believing that Andraste spoke to her. Oh, and also her family sent her to the Circle under a different name and legal identity because her magic manifested late (at 20 years old) and it seemed a lot like the Maker-fearing Trevelyans were hiding an apostate, so they made up a story about Rose (her birth name) leaving to study abroad and Evelyn being a whole different Trevelyan who's actually just transferring from another Circle. And initially it's about protecting her family and protecting herself, but inevitably it does start to feel like there's something wrong with who she actually is. If there wasn't, she wouldn't have to hide anything, right? She has no idea what she would actually change, but she would love for that sense of wrongness to go away.

Neilar: honestly didn't think too much about his identity/his opinion of himself until the events of Inquisition. It was... fine? People in the clan liked him, he was good at his job, it was all he needed to know. As Inquisitor, things get more complicated, because he keeps ending up in situations where being a good guy and a good scout isn't enough, and it's kind of like Evelyn's situation, except instead of hiding behind a false identity, he ends up breaking and bending himself until he does fit the mold. I mentioned his assassin training in the past and how that was a conscious attempt to learn how to be more ruthless. And it just keeps going. On every turn, he's trying to change himself into the hero he feels the story needs right now, regardless of what it might mean for him in the long run, and that's how we get to him drinking from the Well of Sorrows and being super possessed and no one being happy about that. So yeah, his main thing is being changed by his time as the Inquisitor to the point where he can't ever go back to just being a scout in his clan, because that would be an irresponsible use of the power and influence he now has, and he knows that, and they know that, and he knows that's never going away. A lot of times he wishes he could be just a nobody again, someone who only really matters to his loved ones.

Aqun: definitely has it together more than the other two, but not entirely free of identity struggles either. As I said before, he's a human-Qunari halfblood, and he spent the first two decades of his life living in relative isolation with his parents before joining the Valo-Kas. Which was great for him, in many ways, but also the other result of that is that he doesn't really fit anywhere. His general bearing and upbringing is more human-coded than Qunari-coded, but most of human society will see "tall, grey, kind of has horns" and won't really care about the rest. The Valo-Kas, on the other hand, accept him as he is (eventually; he did have to prove himself during his first runs with them, and he did have to work harder than most), but he's still not the same as them. I think that one of the reasons he ended up drifting together with Adina is because she's kind of in the same boat, just with the spirit world replacing the human world in her case. They both come from very specific backgrounds that literally no one else they know has experienced, and it usually doesn't matter, until it does. And I don't think he would change anything about himself, it's just a weird thing that's a part of who he is. I do think that his and Adina's bond has helped both of them a lot; they might not fully belong with the groups they are a part of, but they definitely belong with each other.

May: Where do I even begin. Her relationship with herself is kind of like Evelyn's in the sense that there's layers, but instead of layers of lies it's layers of guilt. She was born into a crime family. She was supposed to inherit her mother's position as the matriarch of that family. Then she messed up a very expensive lyrium delivery, because her group got ambushed and she chose saving her people over saving the cargo. The fallout of that was her being effectively disowned, in huge debt to the Carta, and being demoted to a rank-and-file bruiser just to make sure that she spends the rest of her life working off that debt. She was in her early 20s. It was bad. She made a mistake she could never come back from, her family wasn't her family anymore, and it didn't seem like she could do anything else but waste away. Then, at some point, she had an encounter with a dwarven Andrastian priest (of the likes of Brother Burkel from DAO), and it gave her some kind of hope. She secretly converted. She began hoping that, maybe, with the Maker's guidance she can figure things out, get some kind of redemption, leave the Carta. And then her wish got granted in a pretty backwards way as she witnessed the Divine getting murdered and promptly became a prophet with a private army and spies and companions that could wipe out her family if she asked them to. It's kind of a dream scenario, in a way, but she's not ready. She's not good enough - righteous enough, learned enough, confident enough - to take advantage of it yet. But it's here, and she has to do something fast, or it all goes away. So she starts working on it, and, if Neilar's attempts to become the ideal Inquisitor are like something being crushed to fit into a mold, in her case it's like metal being hammered into shape. The years in servitude to her own family made her quiet, patient and resilient, and with some actual hope on the horizon, she's more than willing to put in the blood and sweat it takes to be who the Inquisition needs. And, after seeing Blackwall teach the farmers to defend themselves, she decides the Inquisition needs someone like him. She chooses him as a role model, and, while extremely ironic, it works well for her at the time. During the events of Inquisition, she's mostly focused on distancing herself from her past and working towards this knight-in-a-shining-armor ideal, but, funnily enough, after the events of Trespasser she actually comes around to the crime family thing. In one of the possible endings I wrote for her, she ends up dethroning her mother and taking control of the Cadash family, using their resources to aid in hunting Solas, and I think it's pretty fun. She comes full circle, being a leader of the same organizations that once had the power to judge her (the Carta and the Andrastian Chantry).

#herearedragons meta #oc: evelyn trevelyan #oc: neilar lavellan #oc: aqun adaar #SURE I'LL JUST QUICKLY ANSWER AN ASK SHE SAID #apparently I have a lot to say about these four #a lot of it is repeating points from the their intro posts but I think most of my followers haven't read them so it's fine

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hyperfashionist · 7 months

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A Spoiltastic Journey

through the Entire Space: 1999 Canon

up to “Odysseus Wept”

Story 1: Eternity Unleashed

Return to Series Preface

Forth to Eternity Unleashed, Chapter 1

Skip to Story 2: The Touch of Venus

WHAT?

"Eternity Unleashed" is the first story in the Powysverse canon of Space: 1999, which unifies and continues the timeline of the 1970s TV series, novels, and novelizations.

It is the first part of William Latham's original novel, "Eternity Unbound". It is the backstory to the filmed episode "End of Eternity", which I won't link because I'm keeping call forwards to a minimum as I work through the storyline.

According to the author, it's "a brand new novella at the beginning that tells you all about Balor’s rise and fall on Progron".

"He saw a future without pain, without suffering, without end.

"He unlocked the mysteries of life and death, and united a world, launching a new age.

"Only to find that death was sacred. That life without death led to damnation.

"And salvation would be found in pain and suffering.

"From the depths of madness, he will change a world, forging a new path leading ultimately to exile in the far reaches of space.

"Where he will face eternity...alone."

All this is fully consistent with the cheerful tone of Space: 1999 Y1, so we're starting as we mean to go on.

WHEN?

Chronologically, "Eternity Unleashed" takes place "centuries before 'End of Eternity'."

Sequentially, "Eternity Unleashed" is the first story in the Powysverse and the backstory to "End of Eternity" 23 stories later.

"Eternity Unleashed" is the first part of the book "Eternity Unbound", published in February 2005, the joint-third Space: 1999 book published by Powys Media.

WHO?

The novel is written by William Latham.

Its central character is a guy by the name of Balor, who we'll meet in person when his episode comes up for discussion.

According to Powys: "ETERNITY UNLEASHED chronicles his ascent from outsider to honored scientist, from ruthless despot to imprisoned exile."

According to the author "There’s a little bit of Napoleon in Balor’s story, I suppose. A little bit of Hitler."

WHERE?

Balor hails from the planet Progron. Hi to all my Progron readers out there. Represent!

Powys Media are in the USA. I don't know if there are any copyright libraries in the USA that might have it. I searched the Library of Congress and didn't find it there.

As for public libraries, I swear I did a search that turned up one (1) copy in one library somewhere in Florida. However, I can't find it in my history. It's very unlikely that many public libraries will have copies. I assume it turned up in Florida because of proximity to the Space Coast.

The only way to buy the book is on the second-hand market because it is permanently out of print. It is extremely rare because Powys used a print-on-demand service and did not publish ebooks.

WHY?

According to the author: "He’s a fun character to play with, first of all. […] I convinced Mateo [Latosa, head of Powys Media] that it made sense to at least try looking into Balor’s past a little, and those flashbacks were just way more intense than I think we’d been expecting them to be. There was more of a story there than just the little glimpses we got in 'Resurrection'. Back-story, I mean."

Also according to the author: "[Mateo Latosa] was interested in seeing the novella from me because I’d never really written any science fiction about a whole new culture or anything like that, and he was curious to see what I might do with it."

And: "I think by the end of The Balor Saga, we’ll know why Balor acts the way he acts, or at least we’ll see the evolution of his particular brand of evil."

HOW?

The author says: "The first story has elements of 'Frankenstein' in it, I suppose, but not really as many as you’d think. There’s something of a love story in there, believe it or not."

About the process, the author says: "Stepping back, I had to take Balor in 'End of Eternity', subtract the influence of a thousand years of isolation from him, and then figure out who he was. So he needed flavors of who he is in the later stories, but he obviously couldn’t be the same guy. Then, I needed to map out a beginning, a middle, and an end for the novella, that basically shows Balor coming to power and then losing it so he can be exiled."

The Story So Far

"Eternity Unleashed", book section from original novel "Eternity Unbound", 2005 (Y1)

Spoiler-Filled Analysis

The Bad News

I haven't really got any spoilers, because I don't have the book UPDATE: I got it! Read the chapter-by-chapter commentary, starting here.

The only information I have about the book is what's on the open web. Most of the reviews I could find online give little or nothing away.

Amazon UK has no reviews, but I did find some in other countries, where it is rated 5 out of 5 stars and accompanied by three reviews that praise it highly.

According to this review: "First, a brand new account of Balor of how Balor became who he became - from his childhood on Progron, through adulthood and his progression into a psychopath. And all possibly sparked by being spurned in love…..!"

BUFFY: Every maladjust has a reason.

I generally assume that the Powys books are for an audience of existing Space: 1999 fans who are very familiar with the material. However, this review says "Eternity Unbound" is a standalone novel that can be enjoyed by anyone.

Up Next: The Touch of Venus (story of past events)

I hope to do one post a day, but that isn't always going to be possible.

Hopefully tomorrow, though, we'll move on to the next "story of past events", the portion (pp. 2-42) of John Kenneth Muir's original short story "The Touch of Venus" that takes place before Breakaway was even thought of.

UPDATE: or go to my commentary on Chapter 1 of Eternity Unleashed!

Return to Series Preface

Forth to Eternity Unleashed, Chapter 1

Skip to Story 2: The Touch of Venus

#Space: 1999 #william latham #Eternity Unleashed #Powys Media #Space: 1999 Y1 #meta #Space: 1999 meta #original novel

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luminouslumity · 1 year

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THOUGHTS ON: THE COSMERE SERIES

So I said last year about how I was going to be reading the Cosmere books for the first time, one book/series at a time, and I've finally done just that!

So I started with Elantris and it was... eh. Yeah, I can see why this one isn't really talked about much. I didn't even hate it, tbh, but I still found it to be pretty boring overall. I know it was Branderson's first book, though, so I'm willing to cut him some slack here. Hopefully I'll enjoy the sequel more, whenever it comes out.

Next was the original Mistborn trilogy, which I've actually been wanting to read for awhile now! I can certainly see why it's Branderson's most popular work and I myself really liked it, too! Kelsier is probably my favorite character since I love how many layers there are to him. Elend is a close second, and considering what happens to the latter... Yeah...

Speaking of villains, I still can't tell if we're meant to pity Rashek or not due to things like this:

It's calling him "a good man" is what has me thrown off. I know his actions were at least in part due to Ruin's influence, but still! As for Ruin himself, again, I love Chessmaster characters! I do however think I would've preferred it if the Hero of Ages did turn into a tyrant, just because I've always loved this sort of trope, but I'm not too bothered about the twist, either.

So since I finished Era 1, I decided to read Era 2 while I was still on Scadrial, and as someone who's not too fond of Westerns in general, I thought the Wax and Wayne series was okay. I was feeling so bad for Wax throughout it, though! And I'm also really looking forward to the inevitable big crossover that's been teased at this entire time after getting a taste of it in a main book.

And now we come to my favorite of the Cosmere books, Warbreaker! And it's just fun! Really, really fun! Of the PoV storylines, I think I liked Vivenna's arc the most and how determined she was to rescue her sister, but Siri's was still a close second. Favorite character in general, though, Bluefingers. I repeat, I love a good Chessmaster! But more than that, I really liked how sympathetic he was, just trying to free his people, but he and his supporters ended up taking things way too far! Which brings to what is really my only big complaint with the book, and that's how abruptly it seemed to end, especially where the conflict with the Pahn Kahl is concerned, so for better or worse, I really hope their fate gets explored in Nightblood. Which reminds me, I loved the chaotic sword, too!

White Sand was next and it was another story I found to just be alright, both the graphic novel as well as the prose version.

Now comes The Stormlight Archive, another I've been wanting to read for awhile now, though I know it won't be completed for a few years now. I actually read the audiobook to the Prime version of TWoK first, so it was fun to compare it with the official release and I really hope we get more Sanderson Curiosities in the future! All that said, I'm really enjoying the story so far and how grand everything feels, but oof, did these scenes make me cringe:

On one hand, I totally get scolding Kaladin for just automatically assuming the worst of everyone who's a lighteyes and being fed up with his cynicism. At the same time, though, I also really hate how dismissive Shallan comes across in this chapter. At first, I thought that was the intention, but then we get this:

This isn't even the first time I've felt like anger towards oppression was being dismissed in one way or another, btw (again, Warbreaker, my beloved), these are just the moments that stood out to me the most. It'd be one thing if it were just condemning extremists, but when you have scenes like Shallan's talk with Kaladin and... Yeah... Again, I totally get the intention, I just wish the scenes had played out better, because I actually do like Shallan otherwise.

Anyway, I ended up reading Arcanum Unbounded afterwards, as well as Dawnshard, and I liked them just fine. Secret History is probably my favorite of the short stories, and I really hope Nalthis gets a short story eventually. I also received Aether of Night literally yesterday (thank you, 17th Shard!) and it was interesting seeing the similarities between this and other Branderson works, such as Ruin and Decay.

If I had to rank them from favorite to least favorite, it would probably be Warbreaker, The Final Empire, Wax and Wayne, The Stormlight Archive, White Sand, and finally, Elantris.

So yeah, great stories by someone who seems like an overall great guy, I just question some of the writing choices.

#brandon sanderson #branderson #cosmere #the cosmere #fantasy #elantris #mistborn #the final empire #wax and wayne #warbreaker #white sand #white sand prose #the stormlight archive #the way of kings prime #arcanum unbounded #aether of night #thoughts

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millllenniawrites · 2 years

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Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness thoughts!!

okay so now that mom is on disney+, i am sharing my thoughts. i wrote this right after i saw the movie and it's literally just been sitting in my drafts.

obvious spoiler warning for the movie

overall, i didn't love it. i'm really disappointed and i think it could have been so so so cool and opened up so much potential for future storylines and it just..... didn't? but that doesn't mean there weren't good things about it!! anyways, here's my thoughts:

things i liked

wanda. my love. what a fantastic arc (up until the end). everyone complaining about her going evil for no reason clearly missed wandavision. she literally just wants her kids back and girl i get it. also how many times do we have to go over how the darkhold corrupts people for y'all to get it??

the first 30ish minutes. like everything up until america and stephen jump universes for the first time. it was perfect and fun and i love love loved it

the whole mirror/reflection sequence thing

the convo about spiderman without mentioning peter parker

the illuminati!!!!! so cool!!!! i love the fun casting!!!!

FUCKING CAPTAIN CARTER MY WIFE SPIT ON ME

the horror elements used when wanda is fighting the illuminati. the mouth disappearing? john krasinski getting unzipped into a bunch of rubber bands? very disturbing! very cool!

the ultron bots were neat

the costumes were beautiful

also the effects on wanda's hair

wong. literally obsessed w him. his lil whip??? we love our sorcerer supreme

they did a good job explaining the darkhold

"I love you in every universe"

stephen and wanda being contrasted without ever questioning whether or not wanda is the strongest avenger

wanda being the one to stop herself. no one else could

things i didn't like

so much of the dialogue was just........ bad? like stephen's speech to america at the end was really really not good and it should have been because those moments are so important, especially for young girls!!! like i really didn't like the script

also most of americas dialogue was bad which didn't even give her a fighting chance. like im not sure if i like her as an actor cause she just didnt have good material

also so much of americas screentime was her screaming. which like fair cause its scary shit but also maybe give her something more?

ALSO we literally got three seconds of americas moms before they got disappeared. what the actual fuck. marvel we've been over this.

tuning fork man???? what the hell????? why couldn't we get a female bucky barnes or yelena as black widow or like even loki being there randomly would have been fine. that is NOT the way to introduce a new character to the mcu

captain marvel and the scarlet witch should literally never fight. ever. i hated that. they are the two most powerful avengers

zombie stephen. what the fuck

also the cape made out of souls?????

wanda did not need to die to complete her arc. that was entirely unnecessary

also why wasn't wanda also looking for a universe where her brother is alive?? and vision???? i don't understand

why would you do a post credit scene with shang chi and wong only to not have shang chi appear anywhere??? like i kept waiting for him to show up and he just didn't

christine!!!!!! literally why does she always need to be part of stephen's arc??? we had an entire what if? episode about this. they can't be together in any universe. let it go. this is creepy borderline incel behaviour at this point. get over it stephen (though your dialogue was very romantic i will give you that)

the fucking mid credit scene. make these scenes important to the plot instead of random new character drop

so yeah overall i didn't love the movie but i think part of that is how high my expectations were. so i'm going to work really hard to not have expectations of movies i'm excited about going forward cause that really wrecked this experience. also i'm probably going to rewatch it just to see if i like it better the second time.

#dr strange #doctor strange and the multiverse of madness #doctor strange spoilers #movie review

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interact-if · 3 years

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Hi, everyone! We're kicking things off for the A/PI Heritage Month celebration with interviews from the featured authors!

The interviews will consist of the authors' experience with writing their projects as an A/PI, insights to their project, their experience with the IF Community, and general advice for other authors!

So without further ado... Cer!

Cer, author of Snakeroot

A/PI Heritage Month Featured Author

There is something wrong beyond the trees. A curse infects these lands. They call it the Rot, a curse that distorts the lands and creatures around it. For years, its tide has been stemmed by magical barriers, dutifully enforced by hunters. For years, the strategy has worked… until now. Today is not your lucky day.

The barrier has cracked. Something slithers through.

Why now?

Why you?

Demo is currently going through processing from CScript to Twine!

Author's Ko-fi | Discord

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1: First of all, introduce us to your project! What is it about?

Snakeroot is a very self-indulgent story about monsters, haunted forests, and surviving when the odds are stacked against you. In other words, it's basically a D&D storyline I packed into a modern(ish) fantasy IF format so I'd have even more of an excuse to draw and write about some OCs.

If we're talking actual plot, though, you basically play as a monster-hunter with missing memories & mysterious powers, fighting against the effects of a magical curse that distorts land and creatures alike. You start the game with an assignment that takes you to the edge of a Barrier, which keeps most of the curse under control, except oops! There's a part of the barrier that's broken! Lucky you've got a whole team there with you, but guess you'll have to deal with that, huh?

Q2: If it’s not too spoilery, what are you most excited about your project?

Ooh, it's tough to choose! There's a few interesting confrontations maybe towards (?) the centre of the plot that'll be fun to see played out, something along the lines of the protagonist uncovering some things about themselves, their memories, and their companions. I'm also definitely looking forward to seeing the routes that people will take through these, since it — at some points — will probably become somewhat of a balancing act. Haunted forests and magical curses are certainly a fun type of setting to work with!

Q3: What inspired the current project you’re working on?

It's basically a D&D campaign idea that I've had for a while, adapted and morphed into a shorter (ideally) and more compact (hopefully) format for IF. That being said, some part of me starting out was deeply committed to the idea of having it in a modern-esque setting, likely due to playing in a friend's Monster of the Week campaign at the time, so I've ended up at a weird in-between original setting that jumps all over the place sometimes. I think I've mentioned before that I binged a good deal of Final Fantasy playthroughs as I started as well, so I reckon that aesthetics-wise with technology, that's definitely come through with the sort of fun rule-of-cool vibe they have going on. It's all vibes, babey!

Q4: Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

I don't think there's much of an explicit link to my identity in Snakeroot as much as I've seen other games directly address theirs, but that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if someone pointed out some implicit ways in which it bleeds through.

If I think about it in terms of the setting, I think to some point, the land in which Snakeroot takes place is somewhat shaped by where I grew up — Singapore — in which there were often surprisingly dense pockets of forest bordering the school, the back of the house, or places I frequented with friends, considering how built-up the city itself actually is. I have a habit of walking the dog late at night, so every so often I'd be struck with that ominous feeling of being watched as I walk along a particularly dark treeline, and maybe that stuck with me!

Where I live now has far less of that sort of forest / jungle-y vibe, which makes me kind of miss it, so maybe the real friends we made along the way were the definitely-not-normal owls blinking back at you when you past the treeline for too long.

Identity-wise, I'm not sure I've drawn much in terms of like, a direct connection to Singapore in addressing the dynamics of the country itself, but I do like to see representation in the stories I tell, so for instance, the Luo siblings are Chinese (or Chinese-coded, considering the original setting), one of which is canonically trans.

That being said, these aren't portrayed as a huge story element in the sense that their stories are about being Chinese or being trans, in Mallory's case — that's not what Snakeroot is about — but these are parts of their identity that make them part of who they are. It's just nice to see yourself represented in some way in any story, really, even if I think it's personally unfair that I don't have cool horns or a sword or magic glowy eyes.

Q5: What’s been your experience so far? With writing, with the if community...

Honestly, it's been really positive! The IF community has been amazingly welcoming, and I doubt I would've gotten half as far without any of the sense of support and community both fellow authors and readers have created. Writing is always shaky thanks to the good ol' writer insecurity and the occasional curse of imposters syndrome that haunts me every odd weekend or so when I can sit down and work on Snakeroot between schoolwork, but the support definitely helps!

Q6: Do you have any future projects in the works?

I've been playing around with a sci-fi type game about an android-clone protagonist who has to solve the mystery of their original's murder, with a more linear story and just one main companion — something about coded loyalty and the demands made of yourself and being a not-quite-ghost. I definitely do want to revisit it the moment I have more time!

Q7: Finally, what piece of advice would you give to fellow authors?

Find some writer buddies! Or reader buddies, whatever works. Everything's better with friends, and the support and solidarity is honestly invaluable.

#if: events #Asian/Pacific Islander Month 2021 #Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2021 #a/pi month #a/pi month 2021 #aapiheritagemonth #aapi month #interactive fiction #authors of color

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baltears · 2 years

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hi shai ^^ i've watched westworld too years ago,which is your favourite season so far ? Also what do you think of the setting in s3 ? And if you really really only get to pick 1 character as your favourite, which one will that be ? :p i am curious.

If you like Westworld I want to recommend you to watch another show, it is actually Jonathan Nolan's earlier work, I don't know if you know that/have heard of that already but it is called "Person of Interest". It is one of my favourite show : ) i hope you have a great day/night and i enjoy seeing all your westworld edit/reblogs :3 x

hi chuck!!! 🥰 thank you so much for asking!! im obsessed with the show rn so im delighted to talk about it with you lol.

favorite season so far is probably season 2! particularly the way it expanded the character of dolores. it's probably one of the most interesting and compelling arcs I've seen for an AI character in that she ends up coming to a conclusion a human would never come to and moving in a direction a human would have difficulty going -- ie that her positive emotions and the genuine love and hope she possesses are intentionally programmed in and carefully designed to keep her where she is, so what for a human would be natural feelings and part of our humanity, she begins to see as elements of her enslavement and tries to keep them locked away but at the same time she's unable to help holding them dear. just really beautiful character and thematic work and i also love the expansion of william's backstory and persona, the truly crazy amount of willores parallels, bernard's storyline about identity and memory and agency and his continued complex relationship with ford, akecheta (!!!!!), lee's redemption arc, maeve's reunion with her daughter. It's a tough choice because i really really loved season 1 as well, and season 2 occasionally had issues with wasting some time, but overall i think i like season 2 the most. :)

As for season 3... it's tough because i really love the environment of the parks for a lot of reasons, partly because that idea of an artificial, tightly controlled world is just a very interesting setting with a ton of potential. I do hope we'll get to see more of the parks again at some point. But that being said, thematically the story was at the point where it just couldn't stay in the parks anymore and dolores needed to have this arc of kind of seeing beyond her own experience and working through how westworld was in many ways just a reflection of the real world, and ultimately humanity broadly speaking was not her enemy, but just a bunch of other people who are trapped under systemic oppression and not given a real chance to meaningfully choose, just like her. I did think season 3 was the weakest season thus far by a pretty wide margin, it felt largely like setup for a future part of the narrative to me (especially maeve's and bernard's arcs which felt like total afterthoughts, they barely even fit into this part of the story at all except on paper and were basically just tagging along after dolores the entire time) and the setting was definitely more grim, felt a bit flat due to the quick pace and was generally less fun. But I do think it was a necessary change at least for now and it basically worked for what it was. I'm curious to see how they characterize the outside world going forward as obviously they intended for it to look very different after s3, but it's not clear how yet or what that will mean for the characters.

my favorite character is william! 😔 i dearly love all the characters (esp the main 4) and i think they're all interesting and compelling in their own ways but he is my #1 blorbo for sure. It's hard to explain why i connect with him so deeply but i think it has to do with (I've said this before so you might have seen that) my own issues with struggling to see myself as a good person, because he has this thing where he'll behave ethically or do something good, but everybody around him keeps insisting that it doesn't matter because deep down he's bad and nothing good he does really "counts" or weighs in his favor. It sounds a lot like the voice in my own head that tells me i'm just faking it every time i do something nice, and that i don't deserve it when people are kind to me in return -- and of course william has actually done terrible things to an extent that i haven't, but I really like that the viewer is kind of repeatedly encouraged to consider how real his supposed "badness" actually is and exactly how deep that goes, and what that idea even means. because after all we as the audience were made to care about and really fall in love with william initially, as dolores did, before finding out everything about who he really is at the same time that she did, and there's a part of us (and of her) that wants to see the good in him and wants to believe he isn't fundamentally bad deep down, or at least be able to authentically honor the goodness he's had in the past and the concrete benefits of help and care that he's given to others. So there's definitely a very sharp intentionality to the dualism of his persona that i really love on a craft level as well as relating to it personally, and i love how the show has explored the question of his character so far (especially as of the ending of s3). Also this is maybe a bit on the nose but i like that he's a total insane weirdo freak because... i relate to that too for obvious reasons lol. <3

I am familiar with person of interest!! I've seen some of it although I don't think i got past season 1, (it's just kind of a long show and i think i got distracted) but it's a really cool premise with some great writing so I'll be sure to watch more :) thanks for the recommendation!

thanks again for asking chuck, you really made my evening ☺️💖💕 hope i answered all your questions but feel free to ask again if not! I'm really happy that you're enjoying my westworld blogging because i keep worrying that I'm being annoying about it lol, so it's nice to hear that it's actually appreciated and entertaining. you have a great day too!! <333

#thank you!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖🤧🙏#have a great day 🌼#ask #westworld

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karatam · 2 years

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Read this month (October):

City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. I read this trilogy in a week because I simply had to know what happened next. Rich variety of characters, political intrigue, and fascinating magical systems, all set in a magical hidden world based in the middle east. It follows a con artist from Cairo, who is suddenly thrust into a whirl of ancient blood feuds, prejudice, and loyalty as she's dragged to the city at the centre of the magical world. I sometimes got a little frustrated at some characters, but it was very satisfying in the end.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow. Follows three sisters having an uncomfortable reunion in a world where witches have been hunted and purged and burned. An accidental spell sparks the beginning of an uprising of women who have had enough. Great siblings dynamics, some queer romance, neat magic, and an intriguing plot. Really enjoyed this one.

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis. The daughter of a whistleblower accidentally becomes the sole interpreter for an alien race that has landed on Earth. This book was a lot of fun. Interesting stuff about language, about how we see things through the prisms of our own experiences. Main character was a little more passive than I generally enjoy reading about but the relationship between her and the main alien is fascinating and I'm looking forward to the sequel to see where it goes.

The Wicked + The Divine (vols 1 & 2) by Kieron Gillen and James McKelvie. Every 90 years, a pantheon of gods are reborn as young adults, giving them fame and power and a much shortened lifespan. I love this so far. The art is lush and vibrant, and the storyline is full of twists and turns. I read the first two volumes and immediately put the rest of the series on hold at my library.

Sweet Tooth (vol 1) by Jeff Lemire. In a post-apocalyptic world, there's a young boy who is also part deer (just go with it) who might be the key to everything. I found the story interesting but the art itself was just too off-putting for me to continue after the first volume. tw for a lot of violence and body horror (and also just like 9 year olds who also look 67 years old but I don't think it's on purpose)

Paper Girls (vols 1 & 2) by Brian K Vaughn. In 1988, four young paper delivery girls accidentally stumble onto something big. Time travel, rebellions, cloning, neighbourhood bullies, giant parasites, it's got everything. The main four girls are absolutely wonderful and I cannot wait to see how the plot develops.

#jess reads stuff #jessreads

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formulaorange · 3 years

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Tuesday May 18th

2021 Spring Anime Season So Far

My Hero Academia Episode 8 We've unlocked yandere Todoroki 🔓 This episode was by far my favourite from season 5 so far. They did not have to go that hard with the soundtrack, and the animation style is starting to feel a lot better with the way they're using the show. I like the new addition of the comic onomatopoeia's throughout the action scenes and the new eye style looks really neat. Overall - the most solid episode yet. Tokyo Revengers Episode 6 Draken's backstory I honestly thought this was so cute how they met - I mean, look at these two beans!!

I Very cute - overall kind of a filler episode but I'm ok with it! To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata E) Episode 7 As always - an excellent show and excellent episode. I think part of the reason I like this show much, along with many other people, it really depicts the basics of life and purpose. This episode in particular with Fushi's interest in education and learning more about the world he lives in is so pure and I can't help but feel excited for his future. I've Been Killing Slime for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level Episode 7 I will never not hate typing this name out. The usual chaos - This is fun to watch but I likely won't be updating on here from now on as it's not really plot based or anything. But I'll still watch and finish it, post a rating when I'm done - for now it's a solid 4 or 5/10 Pretty Boy Detective Club (Bishounen Tanteidan) Episode 6 The humanless portraits I think I'll also hold off on updates for this one until it's done, since similarly it doesn't follow a plot line and is kind of all over the place. Definitely fun to watch though, very pretty and I always like being reminded of how nice this art style is. Mars Red Episode 7 Ok ok ok, this was super cool to see how we led up to episode 1. It definitely adds some punch to the storyline so far and where it'll go from here. I think it's a perfect midway point to move the show forwards. Odd Taxi Episode 7 I think we're getting close to the peak of this show? I don't get why there's always random people rapping in confrontations. Anywho - this episode was meh, clearly starting to lead somewhere though. So I'm a Spider So What Episode 18 Yet another back and forth of not a whole lot happening on either end. Seems like all the helping happening in this episode is gonna turn into some kind of religion in future episodes worshipping the spider - similar to what happened to Mob in MP100. But we're almost done the series... I hope they don't keep dragging it on just so they can make another season. Slime Diaries Episode 7 This series is so much fun, I know it isn't adding much to the show but it gives the characters extra depth and makes the world more full. I feel like this past episode with Milim was kind of weird and had more flashbacks than others but it was still fun. I'll try to cut down the number of shows i post about since this is a bit much and maybe just say a few things on the episodes I really enjoyed. Always a work in progress!

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fillingthescrapbook · 3 years

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Rewriting The CW's Kung Fu, Part 9: Reflections and Moving Forward

And we have reached the end of our Kung Fu journey. If you haven't seen where we began, here's a handy guide to the previous posts:

Part 1: The Characters

Part 2: The Pilot

Part 3: The Mythology

Part 4: The Story Map

Part 5: Act I

Part 6: Act II

Part 7: Act III

Part 8: The Finale

Before I start with the lessons I learned and my other reflections, I want to thank @flailingbloo for all of her help and support in this endeavor. Without her to talk to and commiserate with, I would probably have gotten stuck in Act II forever and everything I've written would've been riddled with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. So my eternal gratitude to flailingbloo. And now, we begin:

Lessons.

Going into this writing exercise, I already knew it was going to be hard. Writing stories is time-consuming, it's nerve-wracking, and it takes a lot of research...and patience. Writing, especially for television, is also not a solitary task. I mean, sure, the writing itself needs to be done alone--but everything that comes before, during, and after the writing needs input from so many people.

Although I have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of complaints about how The CW's Kung Fu was handled and written, I do have a lot of respect for the work that the writers put into their scripts. And I do appreciate all that they have done to have a show like this produced.

Doing this rewrite, I learned that it's really important to make the main character likeable. Like, every episode I broke down, I had to ask myself: is Nicky likeable here? Is she someone who viewers would want to root for? Like, for me she is, but only people who read what I wrote can say for sure. My perspective is now a bit skewered because I have bias.

Second, story maps are very helpful. There were times, especially during Part 6 (where I wrote breakdowns for Episodes 6 to 9) where I kept getting road-blocked by where I want the story to go. So I went back to the story map over and over again, to remind myself--where does the story itself need to go? How do I help the characters get to the point where they're ready for what needs to happen? (This is also where flailingbloo helped the most for me. Like, she really reminded me why I was doing this rewrite in the first place. Because I care about Nicky and the show. I wouldn't have funneled so much of my time and effort into this if I didn't.)

Another thing I learned, or rather re-learned, is the art of letting go. I created the character of Stanley to recur throughout the series as a reminder of who Nicky was and who she is becoming. And then I finished writing the first act without even mentioning him. By the second act, I was ready to use him finally--but, after multiple false starts, I realized Stanley was one of the reasons why I was having a hard time pushing Nicky's story forward. Because I kept trying to go back to the past. So I decided in the writing of the second act to shelve Stanley completely, only to find him popping up in the second to last episode in a, at least I hope, more organic way.

The last thing I learned in this exercise was that, whenever a new character needs to come in, I have to look at my existing characters first to see if any one of them can fulfill the role I needed for the story. Like, creating new villains for Nicky was fun, sure--but, at the same time, I realized that there were already existing villains that could recur. Like the Triad, who played villains in two more episodes after the pilot; and Henry's martial arts class at the community center became the source of two existing storylines from the actual show.

Reflections.

Do I think what my rewrite is better than the show? To me, yes. But, again, I am very biased. That said, I am proud of how I utilized the characters that the show created and didn't really give much importance to. Dennis, when he was introduced, felt like a rich character that could provide a very different point-of-view from the Shen siblings--but he was mostly relegated to being eye-candy. And I thought I gave him more meat by making him more involved in Althea's sexual harassment storyline, while also involving him in Nicky's stories.

That said, I also realize that I wasn't able to play up Nicky and Evan's past relationship as I was writing the episodic breakdowns. I was able to give them a lot of opportunities to explore their chemistry together, as I did with Nicky and Henry, but I kind of dropped the ball as a writer on guiding those planted moments into something more significant. Granted, I only wrote breakdowns and not actual scripts. Maybe I could've explored the romance angle more with a little sprinkle of direction and dialogue.

As I went deeper into the rewrite, I do see how easy it is to fall in love with characters as you write them. It's very easy to trap yourself into wanting villains to be more well-rounded. I keep having to remind myself that I don't have to redeem everyone. Just Nicky. Which became harder and harder as I went further and further into the story.

Another thing that became difficult as I went on? Keeping the mythology from just bursting open. That's how Henry, as I wrote him, evolved into becoming the son of a guardian--just so there's a reason for him to be so invested in Nicky's quest, while also having someone who can explain things to our main character. I'm actually really proud of that evolution.

All that said, I also have to recognize that I rewrote the show with the benefit of hindsight and the lack of budget constraints. In the real show, there's a group of writers who each have their own ideas of what the show should be. (This is where a head writer--not a show runner--would come in handy, so they could reel in the story to what needs to be told.) With more writers comes more chances for inconsistencies to happen. (And this is where a script supervisor, or a writing assistant, could come in handy.) And then there's production notes and budget. Not to mention, you know, the whole pandemic that's still happening. I didn't have to think about those things while doing this rewrite.

So, again, I want to give the writers kudos to actually producing scripts. I hope they haven't lost their minds--or their will to write--just because there are people like me who nitpick at everything. That's what people who love things do. We nitpick because we care.

Moving forward.

I do plan to stick with the real show for Season 2. I hope it's planned better. I hope they get researchers (plural!) and a writing assistant to help in the writing room. I hope the writers would sit down with the cast to discuss and develop the characters more. And I really hope they hire a better fight choreographer and fight director for the second season. (Like, rehire the people who choreographed and filmed the flashback scene in... Episode 11? The one with Nicky's maternal grandmother and Pei-Ling's own mother?)

I hope that the Nicky-Henry relationship gets explored realistically, and if a potential new love interest is ordered, they get introduced in a way that isn't antagonistic. Make them more well-rounded characters too, please. Make us want to root for their success. And while I think Nicky doesn't have an iota of chemistry with Evan, I do like Evan himself as a character. So I hope they get him more involved in future storylines--as an outsider looking in, sure, but also as an honorary member of the Shen family.

With regards to the Shen family, I do hope that we get to explore their relationships and dreams more before the show drops the reveal about Mei-Xue's daughter. I want Althea to have a cohesive storyline that doesn't pause for no reason. I want Ryan to explore being Asian AND gay as a first-generation Asian-American. And give the Shen siblings some recurring friends. They don't have to be semi-regulars (unless there's a story that can be explored) but let's not keep the Shens in a bubble. It was weird in the first season. Especially for Althea whose friends only showed up for her bachelorette party and never again. Not even when she was panicking about wedding preparations, which, considering how rich Dennis's parents were? They wouldn't let Althea be in charge of anything. They would hire a Chinese wedding coordinator. And an expensive and hard-to-book one at that. They donated an entire hospital wing, for crying out loud.

I want Jin to have an actual character, and not just be the supportive dad who loves his kids very much (admittedly my own rewrite also made this same mistake). And I want Mei-Li to be consistent as a character. Like, no more surprise twists about being the descendant of a legendary warrior without proper foreshadowing and plot-planting please.

Dennis shouldn't just be eye-candy. The same applies to Kerwin. Sure, I get that shirtless men are a must in a CW series, but please give their characters some meat too. Dennis's nerd-side was never showcased in the show, and Kerwin had that poor little rich boy background that didn't get explored either. Because the show was too busy keeping him and Zhi-Lan tearing each others' clothes off--when they're not tearing other people down.

Also, don't drop the ball on the tease that Bian-Ge is now everywhere. If I understood correctly, Bian-Ge is Kung Fu's version of Qi. If yes, then I hope they treat it respectfully as a force of nature--and not just the source of magic. The flowers from Bian-Ge itself can be magical, sure, I have no problem with a fictional flower being a McGuffin.

Finally, I hope the show also explores other Asian communities and cultures. Like, Kung Fu is great--but imagine if Nicky had to face someone who is versed in Silat Melayu? Or someone who uses Arnis? Someone who practices Kalaripayattu or Lathi Khela? Or Kuntao? Imagine Nicky having to use Wing Chun against someone who uses Karate or Krav-Maga? Asia is a big continent and there are so many different types of martial arts found from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Kung-Fu is an umbrella term, so it'll be great to see the different styles found under it.

... This went long again. Sorry about that. Funny thing is, when I started this whole rewriting plan? I thought it would take three posts, tops. And look at us now. Nine posts deep, and it seems I still haven't run out of things to say. So I'm cutting myself off before I completely wear out my welcome.

But if you've read all my Kung Fu posts, please do reach out. Let's discuss the show and what it can do to produce a better second season.

#Kung Fu CW #tv talk #my words

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carewyncromwell · 3 years

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Happy FFWF Tory! 💛

I’d like to ask you which of your many fics is your favourite and why? Also, what projects have you got in the works, and which are you most excited to write/share with the world?

Why are you asking me to pick favorites amongst my children? XDD Hahaha...really, though, I'm my own worst critic, so I always end up disliking something about my works when they're done, especially after some time has gone by. I still have lingering fondness for most of them, mind you...but I always inevitably see their flaws more and more and have trouble loving them the way I did before. But I guess one nice thing on that account is that it prompts me to try to improve on those things I didn't like in the last project, if possible. I guess of my fics, I'm really partial to my unfinished Good!Rakepick AU. I actually am looking forward to FINALLY finishing its finale, because it just integrates everything I wish Hogwarts Mystery had had -- special focus on and development for each of the cast's members; better characterization for Rakepick, MC, Jacob, Ben and Merula's arcs having had a real impact on their characters at the end of year 6; the Circle of Khanna coming together as a real army to face off against R; a cooler design and storyline inside the Sunken Vault; more Hogwarts lore that better develops the Wizarding World; Dumbledore actually DOING SOMETHING to help MC with the Vaults for once; and so on. I'm also looking forward to finishing the Tangled AU -- GOD, do I wish the world would chill the hell out so I could finish the next part already, there is so much fun stuff I want to get to. >>

Some stuff I do look forward to writing in the future is some more canon material for Carewyn, such as a ficlet centering around her and Felix's relationship; a rewriting of the scene in year 6 where Charlie learns MC's been hiding information about the Wizard in White and Ben and Charlie get into a big fight; a post-Redacted fic centering on the immediate aftermath and formation of the Circle of Khanna; and a rewriting of the scene post-Redacted where Jacob and MC meet again, which would be when Carewyn and Jacob finally have a heated emotional exchange about everything they've gone through. AU-wise, the AU ideas that have tickled my fancy most even if they're likely not going to be worked on for a while are the Peter Pan and Little Mermaid AUs. 💚

Fanfic Writer Friday!

#fanfic writer friday #personal

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wallofweird · 3 years

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Ok that new promo made me sigh. Are they going to have Madison get upset at Kevin in every episode?!?! Like this is twice in a row now, I'm seriously tired. Give Kevison some happy moments and please don't turn Madison into a nag.

Look, press release and headlines work in a similar way. They rarely tell you something detailed and/or positive, they will tease the conflict and drama because that’s what sells, that’s what get people to tune in and watch, they want to see how the characters will deal with the situation and find a solution to it.

Most of the things they show are hardly as serious as they tease and sometimes they don’t even take as much time as you supposed they would. You’ll never find a synopsis like “Kevin decides to take the next step on his relationship with Madison”, “Kevin and Madison find a solution to balance their personal and professional lives together”, “Ellie reassures Kate that she is certain about giving her baby to adoption” etc. EVER. The best you’ll get in something that doesn’t sound either good or bad, but it’s extremely vague like “Kevin and Madison navigate their engagement”. And even the promos and sneak peeks of that episode teased problems and they didn’t release the pictures of them laughing because it would give the end away. So, I’ve learned that it’s a good thing not to take everything too seriously.

Now, I get not wanting them to be upset and in a weird situation all the time and I believe we all want the same things. We want to see them being happy and carefree. And I believe we will, I believe the first half of the season will be destined to giving them a few obstacles, but also obstacles that they will face as a functional couple, as two people that communicate, help and balance each other out and solve their problems together. So, even though they will have problems, they will face them in a way that only proves the audience how committed they are to one another and why this relationship works so well. Then, on the second half, once that’s cleared up, it will focus on them navigating parenthood, how they adjust their lives and relationships to it, probably Madison’s past, a few flashbacks of them alone and together... Justin said that Kevin is happy and he is having everything he’s ever wanted and that the storyline will be fun. And so far I’ve never seen him teasing something that didn’t end up happening, so I believe for the season 5B things will be lighter for them and that they will focus on exploring the end of Kate and Toby’s marriage, since they are the couple that’s actually splitting up. They’ll probably play with it too, like, have the general audience invested in their relationship to the point they won’t even remember Toby isn’t wearing a wedding ring in the future. So it will sort of a ‘gotcha’ moment, where they will reaffirm Kevin and Madison’s relationship, while finally entering the journey they teased on the past seasons.

That said, I still think it’s important to address their problems, specially because the Pearson family can be A LOT. They can be pretty consuming, they can be stubborn, impulsive, closed-off, insanely idealistic, self-centered, way too caught up on their own problems to realize what their significant other might be feeling despite their best intentions and love for them. Jack was like that, Kate is like that, Randall is like that, even Rebecca is like that and so is Kevin. We’ve seen (a lot of) times where Rebecca, Toby, Randall and Miguel gave more to their relationships than the other. Jack lied to Rebecca about Nicky his entire life, Rebecca lied to Jack about William her entire life, Jack would shut Rebecca out when she suggested recurring to professional help for their kids, Jack couldn’t discipline the kids, specially Kate. Kate has a tendency of drowning in her own problems and emotions and not letting Toby in and sharing things with him (that changed a little bit on season 4). Randall usually acts impulsively and drags Beth into things without talking to her first and further consideration and it’s a common pattern in their relationship, she’s usually ultimately happy with his actions, but she’s barely ever ready at first and it takes time for her to adjust and she just swallows things inside until they have a bigger problem they can’t run from before they can finally find a solution. Even Rebecca and Miguel’s marriage, so far it’s been more about Rebecca’s and her family’s needs, I’m not sure if it’s been a problem of their relationship or the writers intentionally saving the last seasons to focus on Miguel’s side of the relationship, but I think Rebecca does it a little bit too because we’ve seen a lot of Rebecca talking about her memories with Jack, but hardly anything about her current life with Miguel without Jack being mentioned, so I believe this can apply to her as well.

Jack’s and Randall’s nature have led them to have some serious fights with their wives and even threaten their marriage at some point. Because those were results of things they kept inside that grew into an issue they couldn’t overlook anymore. And Kevin has done the same things with Sophie. That was the entire pattern of their relationship on season 1-2: not addressing their problems, swiping things under the rug, sometimes not even noticing those problems, the few times they did Kevin got angry and even tried to manipulate her at some point... I don’t remember much of Kevin’s relationship with Zoe, from what I remember they were quite better and when he relapsed/lied to her it didn’t last long and they tried therapy and I believe he didn’t lie anymore, but they broke up over their divergence about having kids? Anyway, the moment their relationship was getting serious and they started to deal with more complicated stuff, it ended because they wanted different things.

So, Kevin and Madison will have problems like any couple does. It won’t be always, but it happens. It has to happen, because if you’re just in a love bubble and happy, then the relationship is not evolving. Sure, if it happens all the time, then the problem is the relationship itself, but couples need to face problems together to move forward and actually head somewhere in the long run.

Then, considering ALL OF THAT, specially how the Pearsons and Kevin can be too focused on themselves and forget to acknowledge the feelings of the person they’re with, I think IT IS A G I G A N T I C T H I N G they are attacking their problems immediately, disagreeing in a peacefully way, opening up, making ammends and fixing their problems or making the first step the very same day. That’s fascinating. It’s something that Randall and Beth and Toby and Kate are still working on and yet to achieve. It’s something that Jack and Rebecca never fully accomplished.

So, the fact Kevin and Madison seem to have it so far, it actually makes their relationship REVOLUTIONARY for the show and television as a whole because that’s SO HARD TO SEE ON TV.

Therefore, I’d rather Kevin and Madison facing their obstacles that way. Sitting down, talking, sharing, working together, doing it all of that with calm, composure, love and as soon as a problem hits them. Not hiding, swiping it under the rug, swallowing things inside until it becomes this catasthropic thing they can ignore anymore and it leads to an ugly fight where they say terrible things to each other and it even threatens their marriage.

And it gives me hope that I will never see that happening with them anyway.

#this is us #kevin pearson #madison simons #kevison #kadison #anon #answers #fae talks

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yeet-me-into-oblivion-please · 5 years

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Well, Supernatural is actually ending and I don't know what I'll do

[ Brevity is not a strong suit of mine since I've included personal details but there's stuff I feel everyone in the SPN family needs to read]

You might be expecting another post about how Supernatural saved someone's life and how devastated they will be when it ends because they've watched it for so long as well as how the actors have impacted their lives. This is probably one of those but please hear me out.

Supernatural premiered in 2005 and I was in preparatory class (aged 5 years and was before I began 1st grade). I heard of it because my aunt would watch it time to time so I'd also tried to get some peeks myself but I wasn't allowed to because it was "too scary".

Then our local cable began to show seasons 1-5 and that was when everyone in class started watching and quoting it. This was in 6th grade and I was frustrated because I knew about it before most of them yet they acted like it was a new show. I had a fair idea about the story but once I began watching it, I fell in love with it and loved it like a part of my soul.

Yes, Jensen Ackles was my first crush but I still thought (and do think) that both he and Jared are super hot. So I was sucked into this vortex, this Neverland which I never thought I would end.

I joined Tumblr for this show in 2013 because I saw the jokes about there being a Supernatural gif everywhere and wanted to be a part of the fandom/community. This was also the year I actually became interested what other fans felt though I never used this site properly until 2016 I would read the IMDb discussion boards because I hated scurrying through Destiel-infested posts.

(Fun fact:I wasn't using any social media of my own but on my mother's Facebook I liked a Supernatural fan page asking people's opinions on Destiel. This is was around the time season 8 was just finishing or had already finished so I read the comments--- people talked about Dean and Castiel being gay and didn't approve of it as there was this one girl who was conservative and didn't believe in homosexuality while others went on how Dean was always a ladies man which I agreed with. Not that I commented but I thought there was something I missed and I thought Castiel used Dean as a vessel, thus Destiel.)

But I digress. I was in deep by the time season 9 premiered and majority of the people I knew stopped watching the show except for this girl who bullied me throughout preschool who put up this update that Dean had become a demon. I doubt she watches the show now but it was hard seeing her put pictures of "I heart Dean Winchester" and pictures of Jensen when my mom asked me why I don't do the same.

Supernatural, I feel, has become that embarrassing thing you are into in middle school but suddenly drop when you're older, looking back and thinking, "Yeesh, I can't believe I used to watch this show."

I'll be a grown woman at 30 or 40 and probably eventually in my 70s and 80s but I will still look back fondly, the good, the bad and the ugly because I have like many teenagers have undergone many changes (friends, family, emotions, hobbies etc) but Supernatural has always been this constant in my life.

Because let me tell you, I'm seeing these posts saying stuff like how people are glad that it's finally over with its "bullshit" and that's it's dying. That is extremely disrespectful and insensitive to those people who literally live for it, who have invested time and money into it: gif makers, artists, meta writers (I may not agree with you guys but even you count). They don't know what to do once the show ends because it has helped them in ways others will never ever be able to fathom.

I saw the video put up by the guys. I saw and I could tell that Jared, Jensen and Misha had probably cried their guts out before the announcement because their eyes were red and puffy. Jared was controlling himself by talking less as Jensen was clearly on the verge as well but yes they said that they should save the angst for next year.

I love the guys; I love Jared being a goofball and Jensen being equally goofy as well and I'll say this too, I used to enjoy some of Misha's crass jokes (not the highlight ) as well which was why I looked forward to the gag reel every summer (because of J2) because it was cathartic after a traumatic season finale. I love the witty banter and the pranks the cast would do and I will miss it tremendously.

I have some issues with my aunt but everything would be okay when we would fawn over the guys and bingewatch the entire season the summer after it finished airing. We'd quote quotes back and forth and even spiritually killed ourselves watching short clips of "Sammy, close your eyes", "I'm proud of us" etc. Hell, she even promised me that when we go visit my uncle in the States we'd attend a con together.

If, and whenever we do go, it'll be different because the show won't be on air anymore and I know for a fact that I won't feel the anticipation of an episode.

So don't say disrespectful and callous things like "fucking finally". You can dislike the cast/plotline/show but don't ridicule and mock those who invested in the show,some of you are most probably speculating and have barely seen it.

I'm not some dumb, blind fan. I can see some stupid mistakes and don't always eat up what the writers show. For example, everyone must have figured that I dislike Destiel because it's based on groundless assumptions. I thought the Bloodlines was a crap idea that had nothing to do with the main plot and knew it was destined to fail.

As for Wayward Daughters/Sisters or whatever the fuck it was supposed to be called, I was not looking forward to it at all because it was one of those "forced diversity" shows, y'know gender bent stuff.

I felt that they were bastardising everything that Supernatural has and will (always) stand for because some people had a hair up their backsides. Yeah, I loathed Claire and that Kaia mourning thing was bullshit. Thank goodness I was sick that day and couldn't keep my eyes open for that episode.

If we were told that there would be a Men of Letters(with Henry Winchester) or even a Bobby-Rufus spinoff I would be okay with that but for now since the show will finish next year let's the wounds heal first, shall we?

I hope that Jared and Jensen get some offers once the show is done and I will pay good money to see movies, TV shows of them etc but for now I will keep quiet since I hope we get an ending we (and the boys) deserve.

Yes, the writer situation scares me and I think they should call Eric Kripke for a last hurrah. I mean, it is his baby and he should get to have a say in the series finale as well as J2.

Will one of the brothers die and the other will live (I'm worried we'll get a reverse Swan Song)? Will they both die leaving Cas behind and Jack as some sort legacy who trains future hunters? That would be a possibility since the sheriff in 14.16 asked the Winchesters why they don't tell people about monsters. What happens to Baby?

I seriously doubt the ending will be happy(maybe not 100%) but the best thing would be if they go driving with Baby into the sunset...

Dean at the steering wheel with Sam riding shotgun, where they should be ---- where they will always be, home. Dean plays his "mullet rock" as Sam would playfully mock his brother's musical choices. No chick flick moments. Just the Winchesters.

The boys need to lay their weary heads to rest, so they can cry no more. Because they are the legendary Winchesters, the hunters who saved the world countless times unbeknownst to many. I don't think their work will ever be done but there will be peace when they are done and how they will reach that point we'll never know till 2020.

Everyone will hear "Carry on wayward son" for the last time ever in Supernatural over a painful montage of "Dad's gone on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days" and "Saving people, hunting things, the family business". Now who in this fandom wouldn't be wracked with pain?

This is the show we all joked about that made a deal with the devil to never go off air but I did expect this a long time ago. Only thing was that I didn't know how I'd treat the news. I was that person who would go, "pfft, of course Supernatural would get renewed". Then again, this was the show that an ending was imminent and the whole season 4 debacle about Misha and the angel storyline saving the show blah blah blah.

So next year, everyone will flock to see the finale and epic conclusion to the Winchester saga whether they stopped at season 5,6,7 or 10,12. Diss it all you want for the shit show it may have become but wherever you left off, you may still want to know what happens to Sam and Dean Winchester in the end.

Once Supernatural ends, I'll turn 20 next summer and I would like to think of it being poetic that I end my adolescence with a show I have loved when I brave the cold, ruthless world of adulthood. I'm a picky person and can't say what's my favorite xyz is but you know what I'll say about my favorite TV show.

We will have completed 327 episodes which is the highest for a scifi TV show so I do hope the boys get some sort of recognition. It was us crazy bitches and jerks that gave the show the mileage and it was us that gave Jared and Jensen faith that they could carry on so for the remainder of season 14 and for 15,support these guys. Support these annoyingly sexy and ridiculously hilarious dudes for this show. I'm sure Jared and Jensen love the show like it's their kid practically but I wish everyone would just shut up, tinhatters, bronlies, stans, destihellers because we are all fans of the one show so let's ease the time we have left.

But seriously imagine Sam and Dean on a desert highway, the orange and yellow rays of the setting sun make Baby shine in all her splendor which makes Dean swell with pride. He starts the engine with a low rumble and they're off. They might to California to feel the sand beneath their feet or to Disneyland. They're living the "apple pie life" and this is their personal heaven : with each other.

I wouldn't mind this playing in the background if the ending is the inevitable and unspeakable you know what :

It's wishful thinking, since I wish they'd actually play some Zeppelin instead of song titles being used as episode titles but I wish they could use some Queen or Guns n Roses and stuff before 1979 because everything sucked ass afterwards according to Dean.

I want the classic rock resurgence in the show as well but I know they'll end up using the cash elsewhere. I wouldn't mind a body swap episode but if wishes were horses, right?

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doggernaut · 5 years

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i'm gonna send a ⭐ for your pick but i'd also like for you to talk about the time travel stories

This is gonna get long, so I’m just going to talk about the time travel stories here and get to the author’s choice bit later.

The time travel stories started because I always find it amusing, when rereading Check, Please from the beginning, to see Bitty and Jack glaring at each other in those early comics. I want to yell, “You’re going to be so in love!”

Which led me to wonder: How would Year 1 Bitty react if he woke up one day in the future, married to Jack? It would blow his mind. It kind of spiraled from there. It ended up becoming a way of showing Year 1 Bitty how good his life is going to be if he just hangs in there.

I was never going to write a companion/sequel from Jack’s perspective. It never even crossed my mind. But one day I started thinking about how different his reaction would be. With Bitty, he’s in shock because he can’t believe he gets to have all of this. At the time the fic begins, he hasn’t even come out to himself! And now here he is, apparently married to his straight hockey captain who hates him? It’s A Lot.

(”Bitty is pretty sure most people don’t find out their college hockey captain is gay by waking up with them at some undetermined point in the future.Yet, here he is, in bed with Jack Zimmermann, who is very attentively nibbling at his neck. Jack Zimmermann, apparently, is super gay” is one of my favorite lines from this series.)

With Jack, his immediate reaction is that he’s done something hugely wrong. And then, once he realizes it’s some sort of time travel, his reaction is the opposite of Bitty’s – he isn’t amazed and reassured that things turned out okay, he’s upset that the one thing he’s been focused on for so long has been taken from him again.

Of course, his life is pretty great, he just needs to get to a place where he believes that. And he needs to learn there are things to look forward to, even if hockey isn’t part of the equation.

(It was really tempting to go a lot darker with Jack. But I have a hard time writing dark. Part of me is very tempted to just go crazy with this one and write a second, Choose Your Own Adventure version that branches off into a darker storyline.)

Jack’s story is still in progress so I don’t want to give away too much. But I will say that it has been fun to explore their family life a few years after Bitty time travels, and I love writing adult!Jack’s relationship with his parents.

If you have any specific questions about this series, I’m happy to answer them!

#notenoughgatorade #ask box games #writing #my fic

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