#if you would like to plot or talk

[a-mnhia]

“     the big moments are going to come.   you can’t help that.   it’s what you do afterwards that counts.     ”           from jonathan   /   @devorre​ .

he has changed.    as has she.    their respective times in the presence of the count were world - shattering at best.      but their metamorphoses are different.      their opinions,     once aligned,     now diverge in so many areas it can be hard to keep track of them all.      there are days,    days like today,    where mina wonders if it is worth fighting for at all.     and so she sits,      hands wrapped around the corners of one book of many,     and speaks without looking up to where he voice calls from,       “     that is very optimistic of you,    jonathan.   but you know there only so much one can do after   ...   all of it is over with.      ”

#devorre #†. WRIT [ . . . ] she speaks. #†. PAST [ . . . ] saints were human once too. #okay so i set this post - dr.acula #i hope that is fine #mina (within my mind) is very much in an estranged headspace #after everything #especially considering her previous mental connection to the count #and the empathy and sorrow she feels for him #if you would like to plot or talk #more in depth let me know!

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo getting hit with a truth curse but instead of forcing him to admit to super sad or worrying things it’s things like “it was me who broke the remote” “I saw Mikey prank Donnie and helped hide it because it’s way funnier if he didn’t know who it was” “I rip my clothes to look more like Raph’s because he’s really cool” “my stripes aren’t even red they’re pink!”

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt leo #rise leo #plot twist he COULD be admitting angsty stuff but he’s pushing the less oof truths forward instead on purpose #raph: hey leo what do you want for dinner #leo: *about to bare his soul on all his internal torment but pivots* I’m afraid of snakes #(no but fr Leo’s stripes being technically more pink instead of red is cute ngl) #(a very reddish pink to the point that in certain lighting it looks red but at the base they’re p pink) #(i also am very fond of the idea that Leo doesn’t just have questionable taste in fashion he also just loves Raph a lot and looks up to him) #but yeah I think that something like this would be 99% Leo admitting to unimportant things or admitting to how much he values everyone #like they all KNOW Leo loves them and he’s talked them up enough for them to know but it’s different when he’s like #‘I just wanna read my comics with you guys around - it’s my favorite place to be’ #or again just random bs that doesn’t REALLY have a lot of weight like #‘I like using my portals to prank random people around the world’ #‘I’m worried about being a bad influence on hueso jr’ #‘sometimes I kinda wanna see hypno’s plans succeed’ #‘it’s been way too long since I found this out and honestly it’s embarrassing but I actually don’t have a di-‘ #SORRY COULDNT HELP MYSELF #(<-but did u know that that pink rather than red observation actually ties into this headcanon as well if u know about red eared sliders)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

[RHETORIC - Legendary 14]: Convince Kim you are in a timeloop.

(ISAT side of the swap)

#disco elysium #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #ISAT #in stars and time #If you put HDB in a timeloop I truly think he would spend the his time trying to convince Kim he was in one. #The extra funny bit here is how counter it is to the *main plot of ISAT (*I HAVENT FINSHED. JUST STARTED ACT 4) #In which Siffrin is so strongly against letting anyone know they are trapped in a timeloop. #HDB would be doing everything in his power to try and get people to believe him. #and just like with the amnesia talk - Kim would pull the 'Detective we have a case to solve. Can we get back to work?' card. #How long would HDB last in a timeloop? If we make this loop the week that the case is...maybe a dozen loops? #He has the mystical detective angle on his side so I think he would stumble into the solution eventually. #Now. Odile could figure out someone is in a timeloop. I think It would take a *lot* for Kim to believe. #Anyways. [clicks on my powerpoint presentation that reads “Why Madame Odile could solve the deathnote case”]

[nnayomaise]

i think the thing that really gets me about all the "we've got to kill this guy kabru" meme redraws with mithrun is that in the very first conversation mithrun has with laios, he trusts him with, essentially the fate of the world and his life long revenge quest against the demon

#dungeon meshi #mithrun #laios touden #i just think is neat really. #like in a way. laios is entrusted with what has haunted both kabru and mithrun for a significant portion of their lives #actually i think its. pretty interesting how trusting mithrun tends to be. while he says outright that he knows kabru is plotting something #he lets him go and execute his plan to start with..think its only until kabru says hes going to go get the shadow lord's help that mithrun #is like 'yeah okay thats not going to work im going to go ahead with mine' #is just really interesting to me. how he gives people chances where others wouldn't. bcs im sure any other canary captain wouldn't #not that its not deserved but the demon benefits so much from people seeing the canaries as this unreasonable unforgiving threat #also it was absolutely to the winged lions benefit that marcille become the dungeon lord- even if it liked laios more marcille was more #vulnerable to his manipulation and brainwashing #i think laios could've been reasoned with before becoming the dungeon lord but marcille couldn't #dungeon meshi spoilers #went back to these tags after looking again and you know i think mithrun let kabru talk with the shadow lord so kabru would not interfere #with what he told the rest of the canaries to do #my post

[tiffanyachings]

nona the ninth but as a podcast consisting solely of cam and pal’s tape recordings

#posts a girl who was listening to three different podcasts when she read ntn would make #WHERE are you gonna get a justification for having a full record of the plot like #'research project with your bestie who you share a body with so you have to take turns being conscious and need constant updates #and also you miss them terribly and recordings are your only means of talking' #the locked tomb #camilla hect #palamedes sextus #nona the ninth

[psalmsofpsychosis]

not gonna lie homos and homies, there's something incredibly, incredibly depressing about Batmanverse and the concept of Batjokes in particular, and it's not the murder murder stab stab death plots.

It's the collective unmentioned canon agreement around these characters never being able to escape the confinements of their narrative.

they get pushed to the very edges of their predefined thresholds, they toe the lines of their stories, they poke it and probe it and sometimes even flirt with the possibility of crossing the bounds of their narratives, but they never break throught the structure. they never go over the line, always sorta of wiggling in place; batjokes in particular is the most enticing and intriguing stagnant 85+ years story i have ever seen.

There are unspoken rules around who Batman is, what he will and will not do, and those rules are rarely questioned, if ever. No matter what he does, he cannot be in love with a man, and he cannot ever love Joker in particular. He cannot experience mental and emotional peace. he cannot kill and he cannot show sincere emotional vulnurability, he cannot experience his love in an open and unashamed way. His narrative thresholds confine him to a socially sanctioned image that is meant to be familiar and tangible to the average straight dude, and it's quite frankly exhausting to witness. Whatever happens to Batman's story, he never arrives at physical emotional or mental peace and on a foundational level his tale never changes, not really. You can almost feel it when he constantly bumps into this unspoken narrative rules and stops in his tracks, each and every goddamn time, for 85+ years. It's like a keyed up nutcracker toy soldier bumping into a wall, stumble back two steps, bump into the walls, stumble back two steps, bumpt into the wall,

As someone who loves stories that love to question their own narrative points and break through them and do something different, staring at Batmanverse comics for too long at a time lowkey feels heartbreaking, nothing ever truly changes in this bitch.

#i guess what i'm saying is; there a tree in this garden and every season it sheds its leaves and the leaves change color etc etc etc #and when i talk about getting bored of tales told of this tree peeps are like ''but look at all the colors in the leaves! it even sheds the #what more variety would you want?!'' #and i'm like. you know there's more to a tree than its fucking leaves right. RIGHT. #you know a tree changed in its entire trunk and branches and root reach and the way it communicates with other trees RIGHT #like. a tree naturally undergoes so many subtly substantial changes during the seasons #and i'm tired of being given colorful leaves and being told that i should be satisfied with the supposed artstyle and plot trinket variety #in Batman stories. #this shit is substantially stagnant *YEET* #jokes aside though; this is why i can only consume a little bit of Batman media at a time before i get bored out of my mind. #every other story is the same thing. #Batman #Batman meta #Batjokes #Batjokes meta

[honorthysalad]

Seems like Yoshiki’s eyes are starting to lose shape whenever he’s stressed out, starting with his left pupil getting more jagged when he’s putting back ‘Hikaru’s head in ch22, and then in ch24, his left iris moves to the side.

#I did think the right could’ve been an eye shine or whatever #But applying parsimony to this #I can only find one example of Yoshiki having an eye shine (ch13 when he’s talking to Mikasa about kaourus yukata) #So it would be very atypical for him to be draw with one #However him becoming more and more inhuman is an important plot point #So it would be less to presumptuous to think these are connected scenes of Yoshiki becoming more like ‘hikaru’ in regard #Of having his left eye shift when he grows upset #Than moku was feeling a little silly today and gave him an eye shine #the summer hikaru died #hgsn #hikaru ga shinda natsu #hgsn spoilers #my hgsn shit #HGSN eyes #Once again having a ‘who’s glasses are these in ch10’ moment #Wherein I’m scouring pages looking for times Yoshiki has an eye shine #In order to dispel the strawman I put up myself #If you have any more examples of eye shine Yoshiki or Yoshiki w/ messed up eyes #Feel free to add to this post w/ them

[goldensunset]

like do you know how much the ‘oooh snap it’s marluxia he’s evil!’ ‘wait no that’s his sister!’ ‘who’s the traitor??? who’s the impostor??? murder mystery!!!’ ‘ven is vanitas!’ ‘wait no!’ ‘the player is xehanort!’ works do for khux? even years after the fact, knowing the truth, looking back through fandom history to see what people used to think at each point in time is SO fun. i kept those kinds of things in my mind the whole time while watching even despite knowing better

#also uh. fun fact about something i did NOT know going in #i had heard ‘the player is xehanort’ devoid of context #i had seen somewhere before the quote ‘i didn’t think tricking you guys would be so easy. are all of you this gullible?’ attributed to them #i took that to mean. them talking to the other dandelions. i actually honest to goodness went through khux thinking the plot twist was that #player was honest to goodness EVIL evil #so imagine how i felt when they pretended to be possessed. like they fooled the whole audience ya #but like me more than anyone. like i was thinking they’d been evil all along or at least for a really long time #finding out it was all an act OBLITERATED me. i was so sorry for doubting player #i had no idea ‘the player is xehanort’ was referring to reincarnation #and then the following year even that misconception was shattered LOL they aren’t even xehanort at all #kingdom hearts #khux #mine: kh

[spacedace]

Fuck whatever DC is doing with the al Ghul's characterizations and story lines, I've decided that from now on the al Ghul's are gonna be DC's version of the Addams Family instead.

Now I don't mean just give the various al Ghul's the exact personalities of the various Addams and call it a day. That's boring, that erases all the interesting parts of the al Ghuls, that's just using "find & replace" and not actually adding anything. I mean give them the vibes of the Addams Family.

Keep the al Ghul's as the al Ghul's with all their scheming and machinations and world domination attempts but give them all the unhinged energy, the casually insane view of the world, the deranged levels of love and devotion for family. Make them that group where objectively they are batshit insane but also you cannot argue with the fact that they are indisputably the most stable and functional family in the entire universe.

They're creepy, they're kooky, they're mysterious and spooky. Ra's many opulent homes and impenetrable fortresses are a museum and the al Ghul's really are a screa-um whenever people come to see-um (or when they lay waste upon their enemies in a surprise attack that has been planned for months and is just the first domino in a series that will ultimately lead to achieving a far greater goal).

They all love each other and want each other to be happy, they express this primarily with stabbing and murder attempts (its fine, death is a thing that happens to other people).

And forget the League of Assassins being a cult. Just make the whole vast globe spanning organization a collection of cousins/aunts/uncles/dear old friends ect. No one (not even the al Ghuls, if they cared to keep track of such things) is sure who is actually related to them and who just got absorbed into the ever expanding family tree based on their vibes being right.

(Is Sensei Ra's father you ask? Well he's certainly someone's father - probably.

Anyway have you heard about Cousin Cheshire? Despicable poisoner of a young woman, capable of the most horrific things imaginable - yes she is the sweetest dear. Like I was saying though, she just had a baby!

Everyone in the family is just so excited to throw a baby shower to celebrate! Ubu has really gone all out with the spike traps, he does so love getting to welcome a new addition to the family.

Talia of course has cultivated a brand new strain of the most toxic plants imaginable to make a brand new kind of necrotizing poison. You know, as a nice little romantic gift for Cousin Cheshire and that young man of hers. It really is so important to make sure you take time for you and your partner to go on dates and have a few pitched battles to the death on dark rooftops in the pounding rain when you have children.

Now there is some to-do about it all of course, you know how family get together can be. Everyone is arguing over who should get to give little Lian her first weapon and what it should be. Nyssa is pushing for grenades but Ra's is insisting on a sword - he's traditional like that you know - but Dusan has the vote so far on throwing knives. You know the kind that have the little divots along the edges of the blades them to make it easier to get the poison you dip them in to stick.)

I'm just saying that the al Ghuls should be a delightful cross between the Bond Villains they were originally conceived as and the lovingly unhinged Addams Family. It just feels correct in my heart.

(Again keep the interesting aspects of the characters and the nuances of who each of them are like their drive to save the world through destroying humanity and their strong environmentalist leanings and their constantly playing 5D chess and everything, but like, take away the racism and the cartoonishly evil for no reason bullshit and give them some fun feral energy to go along with it).

#batman #ra's al ghul #al ghul family #talia al ghul #nyssa raatko #cheshire dc #sensei dc #no more racism and fucked up dark family dynamics #the al ghuls aggressively adore each other #violence and schemes is their love language #in the full au version of all of this i'd like to imagine how canon plot points change with the al ghuls having these vibes #Just imagine Damian still trying to kill Tim when he first ends up in Bruce's care #but instead of it being a ploy to get rid of a threat its because he's just so excited to meet one of his big brothers #and attempted murder is just how you tell someone in your family that you love them #Tim just SO CONFUSED because Damian is talking so animatedly about how happy he is to get to have some brotherly bonding with Tim #while ACTIVELY trying to run him through with a sword #idk how things change with Cass exactly but i feel like they would in this #like either David Cain isn't an absolute monster or the al ghuls catch wind of what he's doing & are like #This is NOT how al ghuls treat family! what is this shameful behavior! She can't even insult you while you fight! #fighting and violence is a perfectly healthy way to express your love but only if there's actually LOVE involved! #The Heretic & other Damian clones still get made but only because Talia just misses her son so much that she makes more of him #Nyssa has just been bopping around the world for a few centuries & pops up every now and then to have a death match with her baby sister #i just have a lot of strong feelings about the al ghuls deserving better and combined that with the vibes of my favorite unhinged family #Dick still hates Talia but Talia takes all his insults as her darling step son telling her how much he loves her #which only drives Dick even crazier #Tim rocks up to the League of Assassins during his whole trying to prove Bruce is alive thing already seen as an al ghul #Oh yeah that's Cousin Timothy he's one of Talia's kids - never met a truer al ghul in your life #You see how he blew up all those bases? Ra's cried he was so proud #Ra's spoils his grandkids absolutely rotten which is giving Bruce SO MANY gray hairs

[wannabemasterofwindintraining]

U_U

#the writers r missing so much potential w the fact that Lloyd is part dragon #like imagine how many targets would be on his head when ppl find out #they're totally fine showing nya dealing w sexism n zane dealing with dehumanisation but nooo Lloyd can't deal w speciesim or whatever #like the plot is literally about ppl who hunt dragons (in s1 at least) why would you not use the fact that one of the characters is one #anyways thanks for listening to my incoherent ramblings tune in next episode where i probably talk about euphrasia again #ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago lloyd #ninjago riyu #blue's doodles

[naturecalls111]

I think I love Sanji so extra much because he’d acknowledge my ‘girl-ness’ in a way that I feel like has not ever been acknowledged in a way I wanted it to be wails

The chivalry intended not with hopeful reciprocation but with admiration. WAILS.

#nc111 talks #like growing up the whole concept of ‘being one of the boys’ was so stupid to me #mostly because I had so many guy friends and I was not appreciative of their treatment of me at all #there were definitely times where I wanted to tell them like. hm. I wish you would respect my girlhood a bit more #I love being a woman. I really do #my girlhood is something I keep very close to me. I was very jealous of other girls in my school who exuded that type of femininity #speaking purely from personal experience - just to make that clear #but I like being and being associated with traits that are quite literally stereotypically aligned with Girl-ness #so hard to explain!! but at its core I just love chivalry though lol #one of my friends was like ugh no I’d never want a guy to hold a door open for me just because I’m a girl #‘I’d want them to hold it open because it’s just a kind thing to do’ #and like. yes. core sentiment I totally agree with #but also I Do want to be acknowledged as a girl I spent all of my childhood and teen years having my Girl-ness barely recognised and #it sucked seing the disparity in the treatment #but it also sucked seeing the intent with which these guys treated women chivalrously #which is why Sanji appeals to me. his chivalry is not ill intended or manipulative. ever. and it acknowledges womanhood all the same #OK RAMBLINGGGG #lost the plot. point is I love Sanji because I see him do his little dance while giving Robin a dessert she never had to ask for and I sigh #WISH THAT WERE ME. #edit: none of this matters mostly because I don’t care to date men #but I suppose it’s like. even in my friendships with other girls I feel like there was an inherent establishment that ok so I act as the Guy #And She acts as the girl #when we go out their arms would wrap around mine #and mine never wrapped around theirs. does that make sense #hold their hand as they walked down the stairs in heels. helped them out of cars. you get the image #SANJI WOULD HOLD MY HAND OUT OF A CAR EVERY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him #I’d never have to ask! ah. love chivalry.

[ganondoodle]

you know the video of a black cat doing stuff it shouldnt and someone going "-gasp- dont do thaaaat!" ?

thats how i felt watching zelda bare-handed, zero hesitation, pick up the magick gummy that just fell from a disembodied, ominously glowing hand attached to a shriveled corpse in the castle basement visibly spewing poison in totks canon intro

like girl, no!! dont do that!

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #totk #like at least poke it first!! #girl what!! #i dont remmeber did she?? fksbfsd #this is half joking but i did feel like shes smarter than that #but plots gotta plot #(even tho it would have worked the same if she used idk a paper towel or her sleeve to pick it up) #not trying to nitpick more but you know #sometimes its the little things that pile up and make a bigger problem #anyway i was working on the intro in my rewrite and then thoguht of that scene and imemdiately had the cat in mind #noooo zelda dont do thaaat

[moeblob]

I'm sorry for the OC brain rot on main....

(the lines are from a post about "tag yourself: awkward/unflirty Sims edition" and honestly? all my OCs are awkward/unflirty so ... yeah...)

#my characters #they (my OCs in general) are not mine if they don't pine and fail at romance #and the fact one of the options WAS actually ask an inappropriate question??? deacon coded if there was ever something deacon coded #i have so many stupid ideas for ymber having the worst comments that he THINKS would be flattering in his head and then he hears it out lou #and is like oh no that was awful im going to be abandoned for that and i deserve it oh wow dang that was so bad #both of them are trying so hard to be supportive and learn about the other and somehow its working? #no one else knows HOW it works but ok buddy #like i saw a mug in a coffee shop that i DESPERATELY want to draw in the modern au i have #with Oh handing it to Ymber saying AH HA found a mug I can gift Deacon the next time you fuck up with talking to him #and then doesn't buy it but is thinking about it and then later that day Ymber says something v blunt and non flattering #and Oh just ARE YOU KIDDING ME I DONT HAVE DEACONS GIFT BC YOU SAID YOUD TRY HARDER AT THIS #the mug in question said #congrats on your breakup we hated him #and there were sparkles around breakup #and it was so funny to me i just .... thinking about how much Oh would love to give it to deacon as a sorry my friend is so bad at this #i really wanna draw more of the sims fail options with the others in the plot but hey i can post it on my side blog and spare you all here #i was thinking about a fanart idea earlier this morning and completely forgot it by the time i sat down to draw #gomen gomen i was gonna try to not do ocs on main but.... alas....

[fisheito]

Bottom yakumo fics i rotate thru bc the tag is playing games with me

EIDEN:

(Sequel) https://archiveofourown.org/works/49270402

(locked) https://archiveofourown.org/works/37453975

(locked) https://archiveofourown.org/works/48090496

KUYA (some dubcon+yaku whump):

ASTER:

QUINCY:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54831790

EDMOND: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52916077

NOT EXPLICITLY BOTTOM, BUT FITS THE SUBBY ~FEELING~

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37413112

(locked) https://archiveofourown.org/works/49106176

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50601046/chapters/128881948#workskin

#is it ok to link locked fic like this? do they not wanna be perceived? if it's not ok i'll just uhh... disappear them from the list #eehehehehe sometimes i just get into moods where bottom yakumo is where it's at #like. specifically bottom yakumo. EXCEPTIONALLY subby yakumo. #no twisting the game to overpowering his partner at the end. that's the bott-to-top yakumo pipeline that fits a DIFFERENT specific mood! :} #eventually i'll exit the bottom mood and dive into topyaku fic and we continue the cycle anew #because... ultimately..... switch yaku is my everything (my agenda and preferences are visible from outer space) #anyway yeah this stuff is all on the hornier side. there are bottom yaku fics that i like that are more plot and char-heavy #but this is the list for when i wanna see him whimpering and begging and crying etc etc you know the post i'm talking about #i started compiling this list because i tried filtering for bottom yakumo and got like. 8 fics #i whispered... i've been living off 8 fics ? Only? i mean that's a lot given how small the fandom is but i feel like i'm missing some #anyway there ended up being more than 8 (that i would reread) so i was quite content with my findings #maybe i'll update it if i see more. hmm. i hope i'll see more #bottom yakumo reading list #i am reading words and acting in ways #nu carnival yakumo

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So, controversial topic. taking in count that in a month, the webcomic "scarlet lady" is gonna end ¿what are your feelings about it?

I know that there's people out there that don't like it for the chloe salt, but i have to admit that the damnation that chloe went through, at least for me, gave her more agency than canon, for the fact that it wasn't manipulated by outside forces like canon did, it gave her the right to choose to be better or worse.

Another great element is that it does what canon refused to do: five back Adrian his agency by letting him vent his frustrations AND let him realize that his father is a bastard.

If you don't agree, that's more than excellent, i want to know your take in this topic, that being positive or negative 😄👍

My friend, you are talking to a big Scarlet Lady fan, so I'm happy to give my thoughts! Get ready for some gushing and in-depth discussion of the adaptation process. That's really what all fanfiction is, but Scarlet Lady is more of an adaptation than most since it's a true canon rewrite that often requires you to know canon to fully appreciate its jokes and meta commentary.

Before we get into it, I want to give a link to the comic for those who haven't read it. The artist/writer is @zoe-oneesama and this is page one of the comic. I'd follow the comic link if you haven't read it as the comic is nearing its end, so going straight to Zoe's page will spoil you on elements of ending.

General Thoughts on Adaptation

Adaptation is an art, not a science. There are things that are objective elements of a story. Things you really cannot change if you want people to feel like you're telling an adaptation of a given tale. But there are also plenty of elements that are more subjective. Things some people might consider vital, but that aren't truly necessary to stay true to the story's core. (Yes, the character core thing applies to stories too!)

For example, to be a Cinderella adaptation, you need to have some sort of big reveal moment where "the prince" finds Cinderella, but that moment doesn't need to involve a slipper and the prince doesn't need to be an actual prince. My favorite modern Cinderella adaptation is A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song and it twists both of those elements while keeping the major story beats in place, making it fully deserving of the Cinderella label while also being its own unique story that isn't a straight retelling, it's an adaptation.

I bring all this up because, as readers of this blog may have already guessed, Scarlet Lady does a lot of things that I personally would not do when adapting Miraculous. A big one being that I prefer a more complex take on Gabriel, but that's simply a matter of preference. A complex Gabriel is not a requirement for adapting Miraculous. Complex Gabriel vs comedic villain Gabriel is just a choice you have to make when it comes to adapting canon because canon is such a mess that both options have straight up backing in the source text. Even if they didn't, Gabriel's core role - villain - is one that leaves you a lot of room for interpretation based on other factors that we'll talk about in a second.

I'll close off this section with this: having read all of Scarlet Lady, I'll be so bold as to say that Zoe and I almost perfectly align when it comes to identifying the flaws in Miraculous because I've agreed with pretty much every change she's made. She did a fantastic job staying true to the core of canon while also telling the story she wanted to tell. It's not the way I'd redo canon, but it doesn't need to be for me to call it a fantastic story. Plus a lot of the different choices I'd make come down to narrative style and tone.

Narrative Style and Tone

I'm a novelist at heart, which means that I favor serialized storytelling. For those who don't know that word, it means stories that are one coherent whole just broken into chunks. Stories where the order matters. You can't start watching at a random episode, you have to start at the beginning. And skipping an episode usually means that you'll have no idea what's going on.

Miraculous is not a serialized show. It's primarily an episodic show, a word that means that episode order doesn't matter. Every installment stands alone.

Obviously Miraculous isn't completely episodic, but that's fine. Purely episodic narratives are rare these days. Most stories have at least minor serialized elements even if those elements are often ignored for multiple episodes at a time. This is where both Miraculous and Scarlet Lady fall. They're mostly episodic stories with serialized elements popping up every now and then.

Miraculous does this element poorly because it acts like it's purely episodic show and it takes that flaw to an absurd exteme. Rules, characters, and lore can never be counted on to stay the same from episode to episode even though that's not actually how espisodic stories work. Scarlet Lady doesn't make this mistake. It understands that episodic narratives should have STORIES that stand alone, but that the WORLD the stories take place in must stay consistent.

Now that we've gone over the basic format stuff, let's talk about tone.

Generally speaking, tone is the vibe of your story. It can be serious, silly, dramatic, and so on. One of Miraculous' biggest flaws is that its tone is all over the place. It's a silly romcom that brings in serious topics in serious ways and then handles them with all the grace of a hippo performing ballet in a china shop because of course it does! Those topics are horribly suited to the show's overall tone so it has no way to properly address them.

This is one of the many things I love about Scarlet Lady. It takes the show's absurdist tone and honors it. That's why Zoe's version of Gabriel works so well! He's a silly cartoony villain in a silly cartoony comic as he should be. It's also why my versions of Gabriel tend to be more complex. More serious serialized narratives are where more serious complex villains thrive. Neither option is better than the other, it all comes down to how you're adapting the original work. Zoe's choices are perfect for her version's style and tone. If mine are even close to that good for my preferred style and tone, then I'll be a happy author.

Narrative Weight & The Chloe Thing

This is getting long, so I'll end with a note on Chloe since you brought her up as it's another great example of the fact that there are very few choices that are inherently right or wrong when it comes to adaptation.

I don't know if it's say that I'm a Chloe fan, but I certainly don't hate her. I also love what Zoe did with the character! It's a prime example of a thing that I've talked about before: the issue with Chloe is not a lack of redemption. The issue is that Chloe was given too much narrative weight to be what canon made her.

Quick definition: narrative weight is the importance a narrative places on a person, event, thing, etc. The more time you dedicate to an element of your narrative, the more weight that element has in the eyes of your audience. The more they expect the element to matter. The way that you develop the element will also shape audience expectations.

In the context of canon, Chloe has more development than almost any other side character. We know more about her family, her childhood, her personality, and so on. This was an absurd choice for canon to make because Chloe is not actually important to the story they told. You could pull her out of canon and almost nothing would change. Gabriel can make akumas do whatever he wants so, lore wise, he didn't need Miracle Queen. In fact, he arguably shouldn't have made Miracle Queen. He could have just taken the miracle box and jumped right into the plot of season five. Similarly, Chloe being mayor was an absurd one-note moment that's easily replaced with something more logical.

Because of this, there are a lot of things you can do when adapting Chloe. Everything from turning her back into a one-dimensional mean girl to redeeming her to what Zoe did: take Chloe's narrative weight and petty brat behavior and lean into both to make Chloe a main antagonist while also acknowledging the fact that Chloe is a messed up teenage girl who needs some serious help. I'm super excited to see the end of Chloe's arc in Scarlet Lady as I think it's going to be one of my favorites in the fandom. That is admittedly not a high bar as I'm very picky when it comes to Chloe content. I think most of it falls flat because most of it fails to let Chloe hit some sort of rock bottom when she absolutely needs to if you want to do anything interesting with her. She's not the kind of person who will easily change or see the error of her ways.

Conclusion

Scarlet Lady is a fantastic adaption of Miraculous and Zoe is a fantastic and funny adapter. The comic might not be to your tastes - and that's fine, nothing has universal appeal - but it's still a great example of how to honor source material while doing your own thing with it, which is a true skill. One of the problems with many modern retellings and reboots is that the people running the show don't understand how to adapt a narrative. They take far too much creative freedom and end up with something that doesn't feel anything like the source.

If I found out that Zoe somehow got hired to adapt something I love, then I wouldn't have any concerns. I'd have no idea what she'd do with it, but I'd be confident that it wouldn't spit in the face of the thing I love. I'd personally read a hundred Miraculous re-imaginings with her at the helm.

#scarlet lady comic #Scarlet lady praise #I have really specific changes in mind for how I would redo miraculous #which probably leads me to make statements that have people thinking I want certain elements in ANY redo #This is very much not the case #I'm almost always talking about personal preference #Especially when it comes to the villain characters like Chloe Gabriel and Nathalie #You can pretty much always assume I'm stating a mere preference when I say stuff about how to fix a certain character or plot point #When it comes to reading redos I'm super open to alternate takes #I'm only super picky when it comes to what I will personally write

[hannibalismos-jaaneman]

the sole and devastating problem with monkey man is that it will literally never be able to push past the people who think the concept of the film disrespects hanuman ji to be exposed in an environment where people see it for more than its name.

#raj shitposting #my mother ACTUALLY asked me why the film took hanuman ji as the monkey god to drive the plot when there are monkey gods everywhere. #i was so shocked because wtf all those monkey gods are literally based on hanuman ji besides this is a film about an indian man. #she still thought that it was just disrespecting hinduism so i didn't let her watch past the scene with lucky in the tavern. #like i don't think indians have the tolerance or the right etiquettes to watch this film at all. #which is why i am starting to feel glad it was never released here. indians saale hain hi adipurush ke layak mcbc. #inn logo ko bhakti do to uski batti banakar filmmaker ki hi gaand mein ghusedna chayenge. #inhe violence do to kahenge humare bhagwaan aese nahi the tum log humare bhagwan ka mazak uda rahe ho. #saala chahate kya ho? #tum log behenchod adipurush dekho aur har acchi cheez ko ban hone do. #people view religion as blind devotion rather than something that allows you to connect yourself to your gods. #they don't believe their gods could make mistakes. and they sure don't believe for a goddamn second that their god could be wrong. #i am not saying monkey man is about proving god wrong because it FUCKING ISN'T. #it's about a boy who clung to a story his mother told him as a child in hopes of finding her in the ugly face of the world. #something that would allow him to keep going because that's what hanuman ji would've done. that what his mother would've wanted. #like stop this absolute crap nonsense guys this film does not call the kid hanuman it literally invokes his image to inspire the kid. #HANUMAN JI IS WHAT IS HELPING THE KID FIGHT THIS WAR WITH HIMSELF AND THE WORLD. #he's literally like the krishna to the kid's arjun. he's a guide who talks through the kid's past through his mother's voice. #tum log bajrangi bhaijaan hi dekhlo bhai tumhare andar yeh picture hazam karna ka guda nahi hai. #monkey man #dev patel