#rvb short story

[rubykgrant]

OK, my thoughts about the final season of RVB! If you haven't seen it yet, warning for SPOILERS!

In general, I thought it was alright. The good parts were GOOD, but it felt kind of rushed, and a few things were disappointing. Certain parts I wish had been different, but I'm glad it exists. Watching it with lots of cool people made it fun, and it had a decent enough ending for what it was... though, after so many years, so many characters, just so MUCH of a story, I wish things had been a little MORE. It was a shame it was so short and rushed. I'm still glad the people who worked on it got it done, and we were all able to see it.

So. Actual thoughts on different bits...

I'm somebody who enjoys seasons 15-16-17, so while it will always be real in my heart, if they HAD to do a ret-con, having a spoof with a Retro Convention was VERY funny. Kai would absolutely milk her relation to Grif for some attention. I thought it was weird that Dylan was there, but she was a convention host? I feel like it would have made more sense for her to be one of the people asking questions about where the Reds and Blues went (y'know, like she ACTUALLY DID in 15). Oh well.

Things were very rushed... if this had been a more full season (or, in my perfect world, a story split into 2, so we get 19 and 20 out of it. I'm sorry, it just bugs my brain when something ends on a 9 instead of a 10. that's a ME problem), there could have been more of a Big Reveal about Tucker being the Meta. HOWEVER, since things were very condensed, I can appreciate how amusing it is to have Epsilon info-dump the plot to every body.

I did get a chuckle out of Epsilon being a "recorded prediction program" and not the true AI, and he decided to just be an obnoxious little youtuber. Like, that was so awful, it was AWESOME. It is also something that would have made Alpha Church super ticked off, which is very fitting. Good job Epsilon, 10 out of 10~

I was so happy to see Sheila and Lopez! Mechanical love lives on. It was a bit meh seeing the Reds act like they don't care about Caboose (we've been there, done that), but some of the funny bits that followed and Simmons getting Sarge interested by bribing him with Blue Defeat saved it (listen, these guys have been insisting they hate each other for 2 decades, but they can literally not live without each other. let them just admit they are ALL FRIENDS). Grif ranting was excellent.

No Donut is some major BS! Look, I get it, we stole the spot-light in 16-17, he was the time-god's most specialest pink princess and a harbinger of death, it can be intimidating to include something so powerful after trying to erase all that from existence... but come on. With all the important call-backs and connections 19 made with previous seasons, AND having the ending be in Blood Gulch? DONUT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE AND HE SHOULD HAVE THROWN THE AI UNIT. No, I mean it, imagine the thing gets knocked really far away, maybe from an explosion, and Donut throws it clear across the canyon, because you KNOW he can! This time instead of it being a grenade that kills Tex, she catches the unit, tra-la-la, it all comes together. I'm sorry, Simmons doing the cool sports-ball throw was fun, but... Donut. DONUT!

Alright, moving on. It felt a little awkward that Wash is yet again hurt, and nobody is there with him? Oh wait, Doc is there, except no he isn't. Listen. Listen. I love plural Wash. I also love the idea of him genuinely having an emotional connection with Doc, because it DOES make sense; when Wash kid-napped him, Doc just kept making all his sarcastic little comments the whole time, and it tricked Wash into having real conversations with him. I honestly think that if Doc hadn't been with them, Wash wouldn't have been so open to the idea of finally settling down after his Villain Moment. They also both have a lot in common with AI incidents, and again, Villain Moments. I'm just annoyed that the Pacifist and the Original Bad Boy evidently died. Off screen. Give me back my purple boys. If we need to have Wash Not Be Around for a while, have him and Carolina go off to track down Hargrove or something. Maybe they went to two different locations, and Wash gets back to the others first, so we still get Carolina to the rescue.

Anyway, the plot! There was a lot of funny bits when it came to looking for Tucker, getting into the ship with the "video call security", and Niner being there! Hooray! I am... a little disappointed about WHY and HOW Tucker is a "villain". Obviously, I can't picture him being legit EVIL, but the idea that he's just the physical puppet being controlled by the AI isn't very... good. I understand how it was explained, sure, but still. I know I keep rambling about my own thoughts for alternate scenarios, but I can't help it! I just don't like when Sigma (or Omega) are just plain EVIL, for no reason. They've always been more complicated than that (the Meta wanted to be HUMAN, remember. and Omega even told Epsilon "I'll be here if you need me". they are definitely different kinds of harsh and intense, but they aren't the Murder AI or the Evil AI). I don't like that Tucker is being tortured into doing what they say... a more subtle manipulation, the Fragments not only convincing Tucker but also themselves that they NEED to do all this to get Alpha back, is very intriguing. After Epsilon Deconstructed, the Fragments lost their Memories. They just know they aren't complete. Tucker just knows he wants to talk to his best friend again.

If it needs another push to make it more insidious, I'd buy that Meta suit being a trap to begin with; Hargrove probably had that thing rigged to make it into a trap for anybody that wore it, so they'd have this subliminal inclination to collect all the AI, and kill anybody in their way. Something-something forgetting what your motives are, and only caring about the GOAL. Tucker and the Fragments ALL need to remember who they are and why they want the Alpha; it isn't about being a weapon. If there was more of a fake-out/reveal of Tucker being the Meta, maybe with a false hint of it being Felix with the orange/black colors, a sign that Tucker is still in there would be him getting close to killing everybody... but he backs off each time.

Speaking of killing... Sarge. Oh, Sarge. I will admit that, just from a thematic point of view, yes- it works to have a Sarge death. I don't care for it being Tucker that did it, or that Donut isn't there to share the moment as well. Matt Hullum acted the HECK out of that scene, though. In fact, the whole bit of Sarge running back to save Caboose, and trapping Tucker with a bubble shield, was AWESOME. I didn't want Sarge to die... but he went out wearing his red armor, and told Grif and Simmons he cared about them. It was sad, but it was well done. In my perfect world, we just THINK he died, but then at the end it is revealed he's still alive! How? Well, Doc gave him CPR! Doc isn't dead either, that is integral you see. I'm not sure of Sarge going "Hurgh Bleh" would have been better or WORSE. Well, heck. I wish he wasn't dead, but as much as I hate it, I... didn't totally hate it?

I kind of wish Simmons had more of a break-down over it. I wanna see him lose his temper. OR, he acts so quiet and cold, it is just UNNERVING. Then Grif helps snap him out of it. Let's be real, those two are so co-dependant, it ain't even funny. I appreciate Simmons telling Grif he is officially free to leave, and the conversation of "Come with me" leading to Simmons saying he wants to see this through, and Grif agreeing to come along was good. Simmons has aspired to be an impressive soldier from the beginning, and Grif has just wanted to be DONE. In the end, they meet in the middle.

I may be a sappy Grimmons person, but I can say, as objectively as possible, they should NOT be separated at the end. Grif and Simmons are literally the introduction to the series. They were the first two characters we see, they have been side by side almost CONSTANTLY, they are always bickering but they are also each other's favorite person. I don't even mean in a shippy way, it is just a fact. To have them say good-bye and just leave each other is honestly out of character (we saw that before, remember, in 15; Grif got so guilty about it, Simmons came to the realization that opposites attract, and they finally had to admit they missed each other. it was a WHOLE THING). I think it would have worked if, after telling Grif he's free to leave at the end, Simmons waits minute, then starts following him-

Grif; What are you doing?

Simmons; Coming with you. What the hell else would I do?

And that is that, wherever they do, they're together. Also, Kai shows up and HUGS HER BRO, come on, please!

Now, as a sappy Grimmons person, they should have just gone through with it. It has been more than 20 years. Seriously. We all know it. People who don't even care about the ship know it. Just commit to the freaking bit. Stop being cowards. Let them hold hands, or hug, or gently bump the visor of their helmets together, SOMETHING. Show them taking a walk on the beach together, all lovey-dovey. We deserve some emotional satisfaction after a 2 decade queer-bait slow-burn. JUST DO IT.

Sigh... OK, that is out of my system.

My absolute FAVORITE thing in 19 was Tex. She was so freaking PERFECT. I love Caboose telling the unit a story, his way of bringing her back, because that was how he talked to Epsilon. It was so sweet. When they asked Caboose why he brought her back instead of Church, he told them- "Because I wanted to win". Listen, Caboose LOVES Church, but he knows what is up. It was hilarious to see her go through the teleporter to get her black armor back. I absolutely ADORED her saying she's NOT a "failure" anymore, because she's not just based on the Director's memories of losing his wife, she's also got the memories of the guys who REMEMBER HER KICKING THEIR ASSES. 100 percent, Tex return was the best. Her reuniting with Church was also very sweet... the only thing I would have liked more would be the other Fragments showing up in there, so they can all be together (and Church gives Theta a hug; he doesn't even need his memories yet, he just knows he loves Theta).

I didn't care much for deleting the Fragments at the end, but I get the "reasoning". Like, sure. Fine. In my perfect world, Caboose gives the unit to Carolina, so someday, when they're all "ready to wake up again", she can see her family. Wash taking the fall to alert Carolina was both kinda wonky, but also very funny, and hey- it got her there! Again, I don't know why she wasn't there with Wash from the beginning. Also, just. A few characters being dead, and most of the others splitting up at the end... nah. They all need to live together and be friends and be happy and be OK! Like, come on. They've had a lot of "endings" in this series that were bitter-sweet, or kind of sad. I know life doesn't always have a happily ever after... but just once, give them that.

OH, and ANOTHER THING; if things had been just slightly different, if both the Fragments and Tucker sort of "forgot" who they are, the way to remind Tucker should have been JUNIOR. Heck, maybe Carolina was off finding Tucker's kid, and when they come back Junior gets his dad to remember who he really is... but the suit is still controlling him, forcing him to fight. I just want a happy Tucker family reunion. Give that kid his daddy back. Even if Junior isn't there for the big conflict, he should have shown up at the end, with Tucker promising they won't be separated again.

Well, that sure was a lot! The final season was a lot, in a short amount of time! Again, I wish certain things were different, but I'm happy I could see it. Even after everything, all the good and bad parts, I know that it still isn't "the end". I've got a lot of ideas for stories, and so do many other fans out there. I know people are going to keep sharing their thoughts, creating their art, telling their stories... because a universe without stories? That's just empty space.

Bow-chicka-Bye Now!

#red vs blue #rvb #spoilers #rvb spoilers #rvb 19 spoilers

[creatrixanimi]

I dont think i ever posted my feelings on the new rvb season here. This will be kinda ramble-y because its been a few days. So I thought it was ok while watching but i feel like thinking about it for any amount of time kinda makes it seem worse and worse. Short review is: i wish they didnt just rehash the recollection arc but worse. I know why they decided to do it because in theory tucker getting meta-fied is kinda compelling but in practice it really did just turn into the recollection arc but somehow everyone was even less competent than they were then? (simmons and grif did NOT suck this much ass at fighting during the recollection arc. them getting beat up over and over in the same way wasted SO much time where story could have gone). Wash also kinda didnt do anything besides jump off a cliff for comedic effect? lmao? Theres a lot more i could say about how all the characters besides caboose were utilized in extremely inefficient ways but ill just leave it at that. If you go in "no thoughts, head empty" the season was fun to watch, especially the very beginning but it kinda went nowhere and everyone was kinda wasted because of the lack of time both for production and the short runtime. A very "you tried". I respect the effort but am sad that it didnt turn out to be a miraculous hit. Oh well we still have all the past seasons to rewatch so i guess its not the end of the world. PS before i forget: Caboose was very good he carried the season 100% he's always the mvp. love him.

#i have a feeling they didnt have time to rewatch anything before writing and compressing the shit out of this season #i think a different less ambitious premise would have worked better but they probably only got news of the shutdown once production started #rvb #rvb restoration #rvb spoilers #surprised i have very little opinion of hte grimmons jossing #i guess i kinda am just assuming simmons will follow grif soon after so them splitting up feels kinda temporary?

[winntir]

I knew it was coming.

It had been years since I saw their content, but I thought about them from time to time. I hoped they’d be able to stick around longer, but all things considered, it's remarkable they managed to last as long as they did.

Consider,

Expansion into animation after their success with Monty Oum that was sadly cut short by Monty's passing, letting Gray Haddock slither into the role. Gray pulled a few video game industry hacks and laid off animators after projects instead of giving promotions or raises, leading to him getting fired. The animation department suffered altogether.

People kept leaving. You could count on one hand how many integral guys from the days of RvB season 1 were still around, and that doesn’t count how many people whose faces we knew left. Some were for very good reason, but others just seemed sad.

Scandal after scandal. A lot weren’t that big, but enough destroy your reputation. Ryan Haywood being a predator son of a bitch, the kinda stories Mica Burton and Kdin could tell about how welcoming the workplace was for minorities, and the above mentioned animation scandal.

Warner Bros is going through hell. How much hell? They were looking to go through with a merger with Paramount, but one guess as to why that fell through. Closing Rooster Teeth seems on brand for them now, though selling off the profitable bits seems like too much business sense for even them.

I get no joy from this. No one does. A lot of people's jobs are gone, and it’s gonna be hard to get back on their feet again. Maybe some people are relieved because the sword of Damocles has finally dropped, but you know what happens to Damocles after that?

#rooster teeth

[rainydizzy]

RVB restoration predictions

These are just my own predictions from what I see from the trailer and I want to write it down! I think this is going to be a long thread. Be wary of spoilers! Also sorry if there’s any typos

1. Grimmons moment???

This scene might be a grimmons moment. Even though I don’t think they will be canon at the end of the story, but Bernie did say there will be some fan-service in restoration (correct me if I’m wrong). Plus, where are the other reds and blues in this shot? THEY ARE SHARING A MOMENT TOGETHER.

2. Tucker/Meta will kill either Caboose or Carolina

Since we don’t see any Carolina in the trailer, I doubt that she is okay. It’s either they didn’t want to show her yet, or, she’s damaged or dead. Plus, this scene shows that Wash is in the hospital (Doc is also there) saying that “He (the meta) will kill us all.” Remember at the end of s13 it was Wash and Carolina rushing to help to the reds and blues. So something might’ve have happened between that. Judge by Wash’s reaction, something bad MUST happened to Carolina.

The Caboose part is based on this shot of Tucker/Meta grabbing his neck. HE HAS THE STRENGTH TO HURT CABOOSE. Again, Bernie did say he will take some risk in restoration and I think killing one of the fans favorite is pretty risky.

I also saw some theories of Sarge being killed because we can see others at the blood gulch in the trailer but not Sarge.

4. Return of a character

Who is this? While I think this might be a joke (maybe this is Donut lol) but if you look closer, it looks like this person is holding something (meta’s weapon??). So maybe this is a shot before the scenes of Meta beating the reds and blues.

Seriously, where is Donut? Don’t tell me he’s dead again.

5. Wyoming？？？

Either this is the new character or Wyoming somehow travel to the future with the time distortion unit. I would love to see him.

6. Other theories

- Tucker still have conscious and is struggling to get meta off

- Church will sacrifice himself AGAIN at the end of restoration

- It will end with “why are we here?” Or the answer of it

- maybe an open-ended ending like s13?

Final thoughts

I really hope restoration will be good but I’m kinda worry that since it’s short (like 80 minutes?) I think that it might be a little rush but I’m not sure. Even though RT is dead, I’m still really happy to see that they are giving Rvb a final send off. I hope there will be some Easter eggs of s15 - s17.

Btw I think Wash yelling “listen to me >:(“ is so cute like why is he yelling like that ur a grown ass man bro

#red vs blue #rvb #rvb restoration #rvb spoilers #this is my yapping section #i luv them sm imma kms #for legal reasons that’s a joke

[hidingoutbackstage]

Okay I’m STILL procrastinating watching s15 bc I’m SCARED so here’s my extremely biased ratings/opinions on the episodes of s14 to help me procrastinate (episodes which are multiple parts of a single story will be condensed into one slot)

Room Zero: SO cute and good, I LOVED the animation style, it was simple and short but really well done with great colors, fun alien designs, and fluid animation, and I just like seeing the guys go on missions like that. It's a shame that the animated show never got picked up bc I would've adored seeing more of it. 10/10

From Stumbled Beginnings: Very cute and funny origin story for Simmons and Grif, and I love that they were p much always together since they enlisted lmao makes their dynamic rlly good and the humor actually got a couple laughs out of me. 8/10

Fifty Shades of Red: Sarge's humor never quite landed with me like is has for some people (my boyfriend lmao I literally have to pause episodes sometimes so he can stop laughing. Anyway) but it was a very humorous and in character origin for him as well. 5/10

Why They’re Here: Less interesting than the previous two, obviously just meant to fill in plot "holes" and to also show us the origins of the other characters. Also I am completely ignoring that one line from Tucker in the interview, just gonna chalk it up to the "edgy" humor it does not exist to me. 4/10

The Brick Gulch Chronicles: WONDERFUL stop motion, very fun and cute and entertaining, very wholesome and still in the vibe with what the show itself is. I appreciate the willingness to do stop motion for most of it. 10/10

Red Army Unit FH57’s Adventure: It was kinda interesting and kinda funny but I found myself kinda tuning it out cuz it just felt kinda whatever. The combo of the different animation styles was cool though and I thought the ship misunderstanding them was funny. 5/10

Locus and Felix: Okay I'm gonna be a black sheep for a second and say that I rlly don't care that much about Locus and Felix. I don't think Felix is a secretly deep sadboi whom I'm gonna spend an unnecessary amount of time thinking about, I don't think Locus as secretly good all along, and I don't care that much about their partnership and what they were like before Chorus. That being said, the animation here is absolutely gorgeous, this is probably my favorite animated story in the whole season, it looks awesome. The plot is nothing special but who cares like I said it's beautiful, 6/10

Fight the Good Fight!: VERY funny and well-executed propaganda video, short and sweet and nothing more to it. It does its job. 5/10

Meta vs. Carolina: Dawn of Awesome: Another one I really don't care for because literally everything leading UP to the fight between Meta and Carolina is a waste of time. Maybe some people really care about their weapons and stats, but I don't. And even then, you kinda know Carolina is gonna win the fight, the question is just how. 4/10

Grey vs. Gray: I don't know or care about the Game Grumps and the entire thing felt like a short gag that went on for way too long with a predictable ending. 2/10

Caboose's Guide to Making Friends: Again, ADORABLE art style and very cute having a story be told from Caboose's perspective. 7/10

Head Cannon: Kinda funny I guess. I wish we'd gotten it spread out more equally among the heads Omega jumped into. Ik he didn't spend equal time in there but who cares. Whatever, still funny. 5/10

Get Bent: I LAUGHED PROBABLY THE HARDEST AT THIS ONE AND THAT'S MOSTLY BC OF LESBIAN DONUT IT CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD AND IT WAS HILARIOUS (also hello, bisexual church?) 9/10

Red vs. Blue: The Musical: it was fine. it was creative. The dancing was well animated. Enjoyable. 5/10

Mr. Red vs. Mr. Blue: I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs but Kaikaina was in this which automatically boosts it to a 8/10 (I also like that they have movie nights it's cute)

RvB Throwdown: Fine but mostly forgettable. 3/10

The Triplets Story: REALLY interesting concept (y'all know I love the freelancers) that felt like it dragged on too long and only gave Ohio something to do. 4/10

Immersion: The Warthog Flip: I loved the costumes and the actual Warthog and it got a couple laughs out of me. 5/10

Red vs. Blue vs. Rooster Teeth: This was made for the fans/themselves. As someone who is neither, none of it was funny and I just kinda waited for it to be over. At least the animation of the armor irl looked rlly good

#sid rants #sid watches #rvb

[robotnuts]

i dont know much and i havent really Read a lot of theory so id probably be laughed out of the room by anyone that has but even as someone who knows nothing i do think its clear that like. even if the broader political implications werent fully intended by burnie (which, considering the problems with disability rep in rvb, i sure Hope they weren’t), there’s still meat to sink your teeth into there. 

reading the AI as assistive tech in the story creates some really interesting thoughts about biopolitics and the military. there’s interesting stuff about how maine’s disability is treated and how care is forced on him that he doesn’t ask for and how york is treated of course, i just reblogged a post on it, but i think pushing the framework further to extrapolate what it means for characters who Aren't understood as disabled being provided assistive tech highlights some interesting points about disability politics. what does it mean if you consider even the able bodied freelancers being (classified as) ‘disabled’ by not living up to a superhuman standard that no one can access without modifications. 

having an ‘abled’ or ‘disabled’ body isn’t a natural inherent objective state of being but a classification produced by and given to you by sociopolitical circumstances, what is considered 'disability’ is subject to change with shifting cultural norms, etc. so in an incredibly high-control hierarchical environment like the military, with absolute control over your environment and body and goals, the standard of behavior you need to achieve to be considered 'abled’ can be pushed so far to the extreme that it falls out of the range of behaviors that can even exist without assistive tech so fantastical that can't exist in the real world. this view challenges the 'common sense' conceptualization that being abled is just the ‘natural, healthy’ condition of one’s body as an inherent physical state with no societal influences or contexts. instead, disability and ability is produced by the interaction between one's physical body and those contexts, and in extreme contexts, we get extreme conclusions. no one at club errera would consider agent carolina disabled, but under project freelancer, in order to further the aims of the people she works for, her not being able to run 50mph is a ‘disability’ that needs assistive tech in order to fix. 

and also under the control of the military, the abilities of agent carolina’s body are owned by her superiors. her assistive tech isn’t given to her in order to allow her to run fast because she wants to and thinks it would enrich her life, and being granted More Ability is not an unquestioned net good with no drawbacks**, but a material tradeoff that comes with different advantages and disadvantages for one's dayt o day life. it's not for her, it's solely because it would allow her employers to continue exerting power and maneuvering towards their political aims. in short, her own well being is completely disregarded, because, well. duh. it’s the military.

assistive tech’s designs and aims are also not apolitical and always a positive thing. using the AI has extreme physical and mental risks and harms for all the freelancers, as well as just being a MASSIVE interpersonal burden/change in how they’re expected to interact with the world on a fundamental level, which makes sense as a trade-off! in order to be able to perform the superhuman feats required by PFL the tech is fundamentally invasive on the deepest possible level. but it helps PFL look better and satisfies the director’s enigmatic whims,* so get on the operating table. 

this point reminds me of posts i’ve read about prosthetic arms and how they’re extremely difficult to learn to use and how most people give up on them because they aren’t comfortable and aren’t helpful in the long run, but people are still encouraged to be fitted with prosthetic arms, because thats the Natural state of an Abled body and wouldnt it be best if everyone could Return to that, instead of considering assistive tech that might actually treat the needs of an amputee, such as tools modified to be able to be used with only one hand (also, militaries even use soldiers who are given these devices after losing their arms as promotional fluff pieces, calling them bionic arms and showing off how high tech and cool they are, even though from what i understand, they suck! fuck the military!!!)

*(and i don’t think the director’s enigmatic whims are necessarily me being snarky about weird character writing and don’t reflect any real life phenomena either- this being the director’s Pet project and theory and people with power being able to use that power to extreme ends to get incredibly stupid ideas manifested in reality reminds me of the elizabeth holmes, the silicon valley blood girl, and how she got investors excited because they were sold on the story of the idea and not because of any real merits it had. NFTs work as another example. the director decided he’s going to do this dumb fucking AI dissociative identity disorder scheme because it seemed so clever, and there’s no checks on his power as the nepo baby in charge of the big shiny war machine, so he can totally just fucking implode his entire organization and ruin countless lives on this pipe dream fueled by his fucking dead wife angst 

**this is why this essentially just being the case and all we're given wrt wash's disability in zero drives me so crazy lol. i mean most of the stuff i find interesting here is in 6-10, its not really doing the same kind of interesting stuff in 17 either, but i do think a story about a disabled character coming to terms with what his and future will look like is an important story to tell, even if i don't have as many interesting thoughts how the plot intersects with the explicitly political environment of the military in the same way i do with 9/10

#rvb #sorry all the easy jokes and posts have been taken already ive been here too long now all my posts are fucking Weird

[anneapocalypse]

🎇20 Questions for Fic Writers🎇

Tagged by @dreadfutures 💙 Thank you!

Tagging @chocochipbiscuit @farfromdaylight @rakshadow @skyeventide

Blank questions for your convenience! My answers are below the cut.

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

3. what fandoms do you write for?

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

5. do you respond to comments?

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. do you get hate on fics?

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? T

16. what are your writing strengths?

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

19. first fandom you wrote for?

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Answers!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

If I count everything, 181. If we're not counting meta pieces, 163.

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

802,674

3. what fandoms do you write for?

I've written for quite a few, but my big ones have been Fallout, Red vs. Blue, and Dragon Age. I've also written for The Penumbra Podcast, RWBY, Mass Effect, Person of Interest, and The 13 Clocks. (And now I'm also writing for Final Fantasy XIV, though I haven't posted anything yet and probably won't until after I'm caught up with MSQ.)

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Homecoming (Red vs. Blue, Tucker & Junior, rated T)

Juno Steel & the Fox's Teeth (Penumbra Podcast, Juno/Peter, rated E)

Sensibility (Penumbra Podcast, Juno/Peter, rated E)

Respite (Red vs. Blue, North/Wash/York, rated T)

Home Front (Fallout 3, Amata/F!LW, rated T)

I was genuinely surprised and charmed at how well-received "Homecoming" was (and continues to be), as I considered it fairly niche at the time of writing, but then, Tucker is a popular character. The response to my Penumbra fics certainly caught me by surprise, in the manor of, "OH, this is what it's like to write the popular pairing!" "Respite" was one of my very early RvB fics and it's not one I'm particularly happy with now, as I think I would have done certain things differently had I written it later, but nonetheless it was well-received; not a lot of people were actually writing North/Wash/York at the time. "Home Front" is one of my favorite Fallout fics I've written; I'm still proud of it.

5. do you respond to comments?

Yes, I try to! Sometimes I take a bit longer these days, but I do try to reply to every comment, barring the odd rude one which I'll just delete or ignore.

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It's maybe cheating to say The Fall, given that it's the second in a trilogy so the story isn't actually over at the end of that fic. But that fic is a downer the whole way and ends with the main character's probable death, so. It's pretty angsty. After that, I'd say "Please (Don't Leave Me)", an RvB South/CT fic where CT doesn't live and South is dealing with the aftermath, poorly.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'd say I've written quite a few--I'm a big fan of the hard-won happy ending. I'm going to distinguish happy from fluffy here--I could pick any number of my one-shorts for fluffiest ending--and say The Landing, because relative to what comes before, and also canon, it's an incredibly happy and optimistic ending for Maine.

8. do you get hate on fics?

Rarely. The vast majority of my readers are perfectly sweet and kind. For some reason, my Mainelina fic has drawn the most bad commenters out of any. I wouldn't call those comments hate, but I have gotten a few that were pretty rude and/or backhanded. My guess is that I hit a particular unfulfilled niche with a long Maine-POV fic that happened to appeal to a particular kind of RvB fan, a kind who like Maine and like the fic but also felt the need to like, flex on me about it. Most of them have seemed not overly familiar with fandom etiquette and transformative fandom culture in general. Embarrassing for them tbh. I just ignore or delete them.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Whatever kind I feel like! Less in recent years perhaps, but that's less a lack of interest and more that I get bored easily if I feel like I'm writing something repetitive, and writing non-repetitive smut can be genuinely challenging! We only have so many words, descriptors, euphemisms, and slang terms that actually sound appealing when you're trying to write erotica, so I think writing good smut requires no small amount of creativity and resourcefulness, and I always admire those who do it well.

Bondage is a theme I've explored repeatedly. I would say that I enjoy writing established relationship smut the most because it can be assumed that the characters already know each other's likes and dislikes. But first-times can be fun too. I think I most enjoy writing smut between characters who trust each other and have a high level of emotional intimacy, whatever the specific activities involved might be.

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

To be honest I'm just not really a crossover person. I can find the idea of a crossover interesting, but at the end of the day I just don't enjoy transplanting characters out of their home setting as much as I enjoy exploring who they are within that setting and how it's shaped them.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes. I had a kink meme fill straight up plagiarized once, very obviously, such that when I took it to the mods it was an open and shut takedown.

I've also had less cut and dry incidents, and those are much harder to know how to deal with. I have had people basically rewrite a scene that I wrote, using pieces of the same dialogue, almost as if they thought we were both interpreting a scene from canon when we were not, it was something that I had made up. And yet it's not really plagiarism strictly speaking, and it wasn't worth the social fallout of calling them out on it, so I never did more than grumble vaguely about what happened. I've also had things where like... I ran across something pretty distinctly inspired by a fic of mine that I know the author had read, without bothering to give me a shoutout. That's not theft, but it is a bummer.

In every such case if the author had just asked me, "Hey, can I borrow your idea here? Can I post a remix of your fic?" I probably would have said yes without hesitation. Hell, even if they had not asked and simply given me a shoutout in their author's notes, I would have been pleased to have inspired them. But they didn't do that, and there's nothing I can do about it but I am going to be cranky about it.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

I did have someone ask about translating a fic of mine once, and I gave permission, but I never heard back after that, so I don't know if they ever did. (This is something I have blanket permission for, by the way, so long as you let me know about it!)

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of? A friend and I did post a polished-up RP as a fic once, though we ended up not keeping it up. In general I think I'm a pretty solitary writer, though I wouldn't rule it out entirely, but I'd have to really feel that both my style and my writing process meshed well with my collaborator.

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

I'm too much of a multi-shipper to have a real answer to this.

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

If I want on any level to finish it, then I consider it still on the table. It might take me years to get back to it, but I still mean to. I still want to finish Small Blessings. I still want to finish Radio Silence. I trust that their time will come, even if it's not now.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Character voice, I think. Both dialogue, and getting inside a character's head and writing a plausible inner monologue.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Combat, always combat and action scenes, though I do think I'm getting better with practice.

Selfishness. As soon as I need to write something as an obligation to someone else, I don't want to do it, which is why I'd make a terrible professional writer, at least one who has to write to order.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Just write it. You don't have to italicize it or put some kind of indicator marks around it. Language is language. I think it's fine to post translations as a footnote but I don't think it's 100% necessary all the time, when it's something the reader can easily look up for themselves. I know I'm willing to do that kind of legwork for a fic I'm enjoying. I suppose it depends on the reader, and what kind of reader you want.

There are also times when it's perfectly fine to just write it in English (or the default language of the piece) while indicating in the narrative that the character is actually speaking in another language, such as ASL. Again I don't think you need to italicize or use some kind of weird formatting. Just write "He signed," and what he said in quotes like you would any other dialogue. If you've firmly established already that a character primarily speaks in ASL, you might not even need that. The reader can keep up.

Things do shift a bit when you're writing in a fictional language, especially one that's very incomplete and not a true conlang. I'll go with the obvious example of Dragon Age's Elvish (and yes, canonically the language is called Elvish or Elven, it's not called Elvhen, that's the people, not the language). Even if I string the appropriate words together, the meaning might not always be strictly clear to the reader out of context because Elvish is a pretty simple cipher. It doesn't have conjugation, for example. Nonetheless, I think often context clues can be enough for an engaged reader, especially if it's a word we encounter a lot in canon. Where it might not be clear, and if it's very important to the story, I will usually simply work some kind of translation into the narrative itself. This can work particularly well when your POV character also has it as a second language. Example from my Briala/f!Tabris draft:

Gheyna and Cammen, having finished tending to the halla, stood aside, hand in hand, and Gheyna waved. "Dareth shiral, Keeper. Talith, Briala, dareth shiral. Sylaise ma ghilana vhenas." Cammen added solemnly, "Dareth shiral, Talith. Elgar'nan ma ghilana, lasa mala enasalin." At that, Talith's expression grew solemn as well. "Ma serannas, lethallen. Dareth shiral." Briala recognized a few words. Dareth shiral, "Safe journey." Vhenas, enasalin. And the names of the elven gods. Gheyna had bid the Hearthkeeper guide them safely home.

I personally prefer to stick to what we have in canon for Elvish (I'm not going to set myself up to be jossed if I don't have to), or if I ever really need an unknown word I'll make something up for myself. While there are some fanmade Elvish dictionaries out there, I'm not comfortable hanging too much of my own work on someone else's fanon, and also I inevitably disagree with some of their decisions on ambiguous canon words. (Ma does not mean "my," it means "you." This is consistent with every canon use of "ma" except one, and that one is in DA2 and is thus really, really likely to have been an oversight due to rushed development; every other instance of "ma" supports it meaning "you." Sorry, that has been eating at me for ages and I needed to get it off my chest. 😅) That said there are multiple fanmade Elvish dictionaries out there at this point, so if you're going to use someone else's, in this case I would strongly recommend supplying the reader with a link, both to credit the author and so the reader knows where to go to look up the words if they choose to. Don't assume that everyone knows you're using so-and-so's Elvish dictionary; I had never even heard of the big popular one until a couple years ago.

That was a lot, but at the end of the day, it's all about making a judgment call on how much you need to hold the reader's hand, as with anything; I personally tend to err on the side of trusting my reader, and if I assumed too much, well, maybe that's my mistake and maybe that reader wasn't my target audience anyway. 🤷🏻‍♀️ You'll figure out what's right for your work.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

The first fandom I wrote for was actually Dragon Age, but that early writing never saw the light of day. First fandom I posted fic for was Fallout.

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

OH MAN. That's hard! I referenced The Drop, my Mainelina trilogy for RvB, multiple times in this post so obviously I'm still pretty fond of it. I'll add to that Inroads, my Kimbalina series. For Fallout, I'm real happy with Home Front (Amata/F!LW) and Cast Your Bread Upon the Water (Dr. Li/Star Paladin Cross, past Dr. Li/Catherine/James). And for Dragon Age, my current faves are No Woman Rules Alone (Anora/F!Tabris) and A Pot to Piss In (Sera backstory fic).

#tag meme #writing #fanfiction #this was a fun one

[mixterglacia]

So here's my general opinion on Hazbin Hotel.

First and foremost, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO LIKE THE SHOW. MY VIEWPOINT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T ENJOY IT.

Alright? Let's not string Logan up because he doesn't like a show.

Spoilers under the cut obviously.

To start, I absolutely think Viv is talented. I'm not going to pretend that she has no skill whatsoever because that would be disingenuous. I think that she's got an amazing gift for music videos and one-off episodes.

However that doesn't translate to an eight episode series.

When it comes to both of her shows, I find that her characterization, plots, and tone are very inconsistent. It becomes extremely clear when she really likes a character because she starts rewriting them to be this tragic thing that the whole plot needs to revolve around.

I'm not saying that a comedy series can't have depth. I'm an RvB guy, there's absolutely a way to strike a balance between snark and serious. But so often the dramatic parts of Hotel feel like they're fighting -against- the humor, not using it as a foil.

You can't expect me to take you seriously when you have half an episode dedicated to an absolutely stellar performance by Angel's VA, then make a rape joke in the next episode.

Beyond that, for a show about rehabilitating sinners, you spent all that time on Angel and his arc, only to have Pen' be the one who dies and goes to heaven? Are you honestly telling me that doing one grand gesture, one -singular- act of sacrifice is all it takes to get in?

Don't get me wrong, Pen was literally the only thing I consistently liked about the show. But his temporary death felt like nothing more than a tool to shove the plot along.

I believe a lot of this show's faults stem from having WAY too many characters. You have eight episodes that run for roughly half an hour each. You have to make some sacrifices to make things work. I'm not even sure having full hour eps would make it better, but it definitely wouldn't hurt things.

But Viv should be able to make those tough calls if she wants to be considered a good writer.

The three Vee's were almost completely wasted, -especially- Velvette [sp?]. You've got too many random antagonists in such a short season. Them (mostly Vox) interjecting during the big fight was jarring and more distracting filler/haha dick nonsense.

The only one I find was used in pretty effective way was Valentino. He's honestly a really nasty piece of work and I mean that in a positive way. He's charming until he isn't, he's predatory, and makes my skin crawl every time he's on screen. Good, kudos on that front.

But for the show that's supposedly the girl-show to Helluva's boy-show? THE GIRLS ARE BARELY FLESHED OUT. It feels like Viv can't decide who her main character is. (Likely a side effect of the bloated cast) Angel could be considered just as much of the lead as Charlie.

Speaking of Charlie, she comes off like an extremely flat and frankly obnoxious character for more than two thirds of her screen time. Why does her relationship feel like an after thought when it's canon? If it was meant to be a will they won't they, it could have made more sense. But it felt like we were constantly being reminded that they were together rather than showing us outside of the (i think) second to last ep.

The pacing is also totally out of control. The first episode was one big plot dump, then nothing moved the main story along for four and a half episodes, then suddenly everything is happening all at once? It feels like being in bumper to bumper traffic, then taking an off ramp.

Again, they really needed to streamline the cast.

As a final note, I really, REALLY hope Lilith is going to be more than just the evil bitch exwife. I already find Stella to be a total waste of a character. Please don't do the same with Lilith because I'm already sick of the "uwu misunderstood dad with his cunt ex" in Helluva.

I guess I'm extra annoyed because I really truly want to like this show. When the writing hits, it's absolutely amazing. But the overwhelming majority of the time, it's just -boring-. I know she can do better which makes it all the more frustrating.

You're allowed to like it. I'm allowed to dislike it. I'm glad so many people find joy in it.

I just wish I could.

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss #negative #spoilers #hazbin spoilers #hh spoilers

[niqhtlord01]

Hi hi, what inspired you to make the humans are weird series?

I'd like to first say that though many of my stories are from that genre, it was around long before I came along. It would be a disservice to those writers before me to claim that I invented it; I just loved it so much I found a home writing within the genre. As for what inspired me to carve out that nice little corner of the internet for my stories that's a different tale. I was going through a tough time a few years ago since I'd been let go from my previous job and the job search wasn't working in my favor. Weeks turned into months with no luck and I started getting depressed and soo I started wandering through the internet to pass the time. I came upon several scifi stories about aliens interacting with humans before and reading them helped perk me up some. I never started a blog before so I thought I could give it a shot to keep me busy while I kept on my job search so I started writing here. I first did short skits with writing mortal kombat style dialogue for Rooster Teeth characters from the franchises like RWBY, RVB, and Gen:Lock. Once I saw that people were finding my little snippets fun to read I thought I'd expand into creating my own stories, so I took a step into the humans are weird genre. I still remember my first story about a human diplomat who beat a psychic controlling alien by trapping them in their mind and then torturing them with their love for graphic horror movies as payback for brainwashing their friend. After that I set out and started making more and more of my own stories. Sometimes they were honorable homages to existing characters with a different spin, such as the Assassin series with the main character being inspired by Garak from Deep Space 9, and others I created from scratch like the gangster Jimmy and his quest to build a criminal empire on a distant alien world, or the diplomatic weavings of Earl Von Morgan and his growing love for an alien representative Tilith. My favorite personal project though is the story of the mercenary leader Mr. B, a massive walking shark man, and the little girl who helped save him from slavery Lizzy. I commissioned several artists to bring their characters to life in image and it was worth every penny to see them. To better motivate myself I started a patreon were people get first hand exclusives to stories ahead of time before they get released here and can also make suggestions for stories or ask for further expansions of existing stories.

In the end what started out as a side project came to play a large part of my day to day life now and I could not be happier for it. Reading the comments, likes, and shares from everyone here brings a smile to my face. I look forward to continuing with my stories for you to read long into the future, and I hope you enjoy the ride :3

#humans are space oddities #humans are space orcs #humans are insane #humans are weird #niqhtlord01

[theemarsrover]

I’ve been wanting to make this post for awhile but have been back and forth on it in fear that I’ll come across as a bitchy youtube comment or one of those people who are just “waiting for the death of RT/AH”.

I am neither of those.

I’ve been a part of this community, consistently, for the last 11 years. I’ve watched series, cast members, entire production teams, and offices come and go. I was here during the kickoff of the Project Freelancer arc in RvB. I started watching the same year Michael Jones was hired full time.

I know there’s a lot of opinions going around about the new editing style of YDYD and the whole ‘catering to the algorithm’ debacle. I’m not here to tell anybody what I think the right answer to this is because

1) I am not behind the scenes and I don’t have an extensive knowledge on how the algorithm works

And 2) I don’t think there is a right answer because of how often the algorithm changes

However, if Achievement Hunter is interested in feedback then I have some.

Way back in the day we had journals and forums on the Rooster Teeth website. I know a few of you remember them but for those who don’t: these journals were a way for RT to update the community about big things that were happening. Gavin and Barbara got their start in RT from being active on these forums in the company’s early days. And I stay active in this community, on this platform specifically, because it’s the closest thing to the camaraderie I felt in the old forums.

Once journals were becoming more obsolete, I transitioned into watching AHWU (and the RT Recap) weekly and got updates about what was happening in Achievement Hunter since that was the content I watched the most. AHWU gave us live action shenanigans, a tease of what videos we could expect, and other special announcements like Extra Life, live shows, new merch, livestreams, etc. etc. Then we had P.O. box openings and it really felt like those videos were a place the entire community could come together and everyone got something out of it. And, with a handful of exceptions, they were short form videos!

When life got busy for me, I knew that AHWU was the best starting off point because they told me about anything I missed, any videos that were already out, and I felt like I was still part of what was happening in the community as things were happening rather than weeks later, especially with time-sensitive announcements. AHWU was a tool I could use instead of relying on youtube’s algorithm to show me a video or having a twitter account to see announcements for a livestream.

Now with that being said, AHWU had a lot of valid reasons for ending. None of which I’m going to get into here because I don’t think bringing back AHWU as it was is the answer. What I’m highlighting here is that since the end of the series there has been a disconnect between the content/announcements that are coming out and the community not knowing they’re there or where to find them in the first place.

I listen to the Off Topic podcast where a lot of these things are announced. Sometimes it’s at the beginning of an episode, sometimes it’s not until we’re 45 minutes in. Something can be said about the fact that people aren’t watching this specifically to get AH news, people who don’t watch it probably don’t know things even get announced there, and also I don’t watch every single episode so I miss things. But I digress. This is not the only place announcements are being made. There’s announcements that happen in random twitter threads, reddit threads, instagram stories, and while that’s all well and good it’s too much to keep track of. I’ll make a post on here about a new series or a returning one and half the comments and tags are people saying they didn’t even know that series existed much less there being multiple episodes out already. Gifmakers will make a post from a video and their comments are a lot of the same.

I consider myself a fairly active member of the community, but it feels like now, if I get busy for even a week, there is so much I miss and I don’t know where to look for it because it could be anywhere or nowhere.

Like… We literally made a website to combat this issue.

I don’t know if I’m feeling this way because I’ve been a fan for so long. Am I standing on my digital lawn shaking my fist in the air at change? Maybe. But I don’t feel like I am.

Achievement Hunter is so important to me and has been for over a decade. I’m genuinely so proud of all of the things that they do, even the things they try that don’t work out. I want more people to engage in their content and be excited about what’s coming next! Unfortunately, that’s hard to do when we don’t know where to get the information in the first place.

I do not have all the answers. I only have what I can do, what I can say, and a community here that’s willing to keep the spirit alive as the seasons change.

#achievement hunter #i'm so hesitant to put this in the main tag but i just cannot be quiet about this anymore lol #anyways if you want to catch up on AH news and exciting things that are happening in the community check out our website that i linked #it's also the pinned post on my blog #long post

[officialgleamstar]

are there any specific fanfics you're planning to bind?

GOOD QUESTION. i used to have a lot of plans with my favorite fics but im not really into dsmp/dteam anymore for. various reasons that i will not get into :|. and so most of my plans with fan binding fell to the wayside jhgbfhdjbhjd thats okay though!! because it means i can make new plans!!

obviously, like i said - i would love to do a collection of shorter one shots! still mostly dsmp lol but i got quite a few gift fics from my friends from that fandom and i would LOVE to compile those into a collection for myself!! really just. my friends' fics in general, i think would be fun to have like a short story collection that i can just read whenever. i would wanna break them up into individual fandoms, i could almost do like, a series for myself... that would be AWESOME oh my god. matching covers but with different inner art? SO COOL

if i had to make a plan off the top of my head for just ONE fic though... id love to bind elephants by saltsanford, a rvb tuckington fic (not linking since it IS an explicit fic haha), its been one of my favorite fics ever for YEARS now. i think that would be pretty minimalist since it has an aesthetic of like, snow? and id want to fit that lol but its SO GOOD and i love to read it and id love to have a pristine physical copy of it on my book shelf!!

FOR DNDADS FICS. chrysalis by @kaseyskat, probably!!! literally has been one of my favorite dndads fic ever since i read it, i come back to it so often. it was my introduction to the world of transfem sparrow (and transmasc norm, though i had already decided that for myself LMAO) and well. we all know that i love her <3 very fond memories of rereading this fic several times to get through my thesis LMAO i would love love love to make myself a physical copy of it :D i could use really pretty paper and i think it would fit a nice green book cloth cover SOOOO nicely. itd be amazing (especially now that nyx and i are friends. makes it even more special, ehehe).

alternatively, father-son grocery shopping which I JUST REALIZED WAS WRITTEN BY @trustycustard??? MY FRIEND AND GRAMPA TRUSTY??? HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THAT. HUH. WHAT. I WAS GONNA LIST THAT FOR AN EXAMPLE BY A DNDADS WRITER IM NOT BUDDIES WITH BUT NEVERMIND I GUESS 😭😭 whatever im playing favorites I WOULD BIND MY FRIENDS' FICS!!! sorry for being surrounded by such amazing and talented people.

and once its finished (/if!!! i dont like the idea of pressuring fic writers to finish their works, god knows i never do), absolutely silver linings by chalcedony. even if it doesnt get finished, honestly. i dont make it a secret that it is my all time favorite dndads fic ahah THERE. EXAMPLE FROM SOMEONE IM NOT FRIENDS WITH i dont ALWAYS play favorites. just most of the time.

#ask #cookies over yonder #i have many thoughts on fan binding LOL

[rubykgrant]

I finished up all the outfit designs for my RVB OC, Junonia! I put her here in a line-up with Poppy (another RVB OC, but she's been finished a little longer). I wanted to get a good idea for what her vibe was, but also have some variation as well. Some casual looks, a few a little fancy. Poppy's style leans a little more boho-folksy, with a splash of sporty here and there (here armor is mostly white with tan accents, so she has lots of different rosy-brown tones in her outfits). Junonia has a more casual-elegant style, not formal exactly, but lots of feminine/chic clothing, and few different comfy street looks (her armor is dark purple with pink accents, so those colors show up in her clothes).

More info for them below~

Junonia is tall and chubby, but not very curvy. She has sharp and elegant features for her jawline and cheekbones (very pretty and striking). She uses a mobility aid, a cane and some knee braces that help ease stress. She has a cane with her armor as well, but it's more high-tech, and doubles as a weapon, while the suit itself helps compensate stress on her knees (the idea of having a character who needs mobility aids, specifically canes, actually came from seeing a different character from another series; the character used them in a civilian form, but when fighting bad guys, they just magically could walk fine... I thought, hey, if sci-fi magic is involved, shy not just give them a SUPER COOL cane, that can adapt to their needs in battle and what-not! so, I transferred this thought process to Junonia. the high-tech one can automatically fold-up into a gauntlet when she's sitting, and has several other adjustments, making it like multi-tool). Her armor would be dark-purple with pink accents.

She has two prominent tattoos; around her neck/collarbone is a design of a gold chain, pearls, and a seashell. On her arm is a design of a seahorse, with the tail wrapped around her wrist (the way they sometimes hold on to rocks with their tails~). She has most of her hair pulled back, in box braids (they are short on one side, getting longer as it goes to the other side, in sort of an asymmetrical line).

Part of her story involved getting tricked into working for an organization that claimed to help people without being "restricted" by government rules... which is a cool idea in theory, but unfortunately, the people in charge of this group were insidious a-holes. Junonia was in charge of gathering intel, a medic for her team, and occasionally helping with defensive fighting (not that she isn't perfectly capable in any forms of battle, but she's a bit like Doc, not entirely a pacifist, but reserves violence as a last resort, or to defend herself/others). When the organization began to fall apart, including the people running the show trying to take out the underlings to erase evidence, Junonia got out of there quick and hid under the radar for a while... more recently, she's been involved with helping people find resources for recovery, and she's also gotten back into her habit of collecting information (like what happened to other people in her group, and where the ones responsible for the problems are hiding).

Junonia is generally a calm and graceful person, but she's also VERY clever, and can have an icy form of anger when dealing with somebody unpleasant. She's very compassionate, but doesn't compromise in specific situations. She grew up being fascinated by sea creatures, but never got to visit the ocean until she was an adult. When she was hiding, she finally was able to find a place to stay by the water, and worked on putting all her knowledge of marine life into practice. Within the group, she's something like a "reverse" of Carolina, without being an adversary/antagonist. She has the same level of tenacity as well, but more tempered (if Carolina is a bit hot-headed, Junonia is more cool). It's a bit ironic, because she knows about all the others, and at first some of them wonder if this will somehow be "uneven", but Junonia is open to sharing facts about herself, and it's very easy to enjoy/accept her companionship. She really likes horror and action/adventure movies. She's in her late 30s, and is a trans lesbian.

Poppy is short, with a fairly thick and solid build, and soft features. Poppy didn't actually "join" the army. She was "selected" to be part of a "special training program", which turned out to be tricking poor and homeless people into working at dangerous outposts. When one area was getting attacked, a lot of the people running the show took escape ships for themselves. Poppy was able to find a set of armor, and now looking "official", she helped guide all the people who would have been abandoned to safety. When she got them all to a rescue ship, a soldier asked if she had been in charge of that outpost. She basically pretended that- she TOTALLY was the boss. Yep. Hired herself, and gave herself a promotion. Before she could back out or escape, she was thrown into a new "assignment". Whoops!

She was then sent to a different group of Red and Blue Flag Zealots, meant to identify needed supplies and order more ammunition. She was designated "neutral", and had white armor with tan accents. When the teams ran out of bullets, they kept fighting in non-lethal ways, which Poppy thought was preferable to a clearly pointless war, so she just never put in the order for more. Both teams considered her a friend, playfully fighting over who's side she was on. After a dangerous incident left her knocked-out and recovering, Temple's group arrived to recruit more Sim Troopers. Poppy's group refused to join. When she woke up, they were all gone, and she had to work on making cybernetics for herself. Because she's still considered part of the Flag Zealots, the UNSC decided to throw her back into a new training program (which was actually pretty shady in terms of motives), and that's where she meets Sarge.

Poppy is meant to sort of mirror Simmons. The fact that Sarge likes her, and she's a nerd, SHOULD make Simmons hate her guts... but after one conversation, he internally just clicked with her- "Oh, sibling? Sibling!". Also, she and Simmons are trans in opposite directions (Poppy never cared much about having surgery, but she always wanted really long hair). Poppy’s got a bit of a “cheerfully dismissive” attitude when she’s not in a mood to deal with somebody. She also likes making people laugh, and when she’s really close to them, she tries to be a source of comfort. She’s got a temper brewing under there, though (she can shout and rant with the best of them, but you really need to worry if she’s coming after you quietly). For the most part, Poppy is easy-going (because she’s been through a LOT, and knows what she’s capable of), and pretty quick with sarcastic little comments. She also feels her painful emotions VERY deeply, and freely cries when upset. One of her skills is messing with audio communication, and her favorite trick is to play annoying songs as a distraction. With white armor, the prophecy of Red Team being the lesbian flag has been fulfilled!

#red vs blue #rvb

[bearbait-adventures]

So probably not a popular opinion right now on account of what been going on and all. But I just wanted to put it out there...if you still like RvB it's okay. I'm not leaving I have been around since the beginning of RvB and I refuse to stop liking the story and characters sure what happened sucks and I get it. But I have WAY to many feelings for this to quit so ya if you still like it feel free to talk to me about it cause I'm not going anywhere.

If it's any consolation we made up most of the face cannons anyway, it's not like making you own art and fanfiction gives them royalties or anything.

In short it's okay to be mad and quit but it's okay to be mad but stay anyway. You can quit and come back too don't feel pressured. It's okay to like what you like.

My message box is totally open for RvB :)

#rvb #red vs blue #bear's beliefs

[texas-hates-taxes-too]

Imagine a retelling of rvb told in a way that you dont initially realise the stories are connected. You have the story of a double agent in a military project (CT), then the story of a former soldier turned merc (Tex), the story of a man trying to bring back his dead wife, a kid from Hawaii trying to escape his life and find himself (Grif), an AI trying to rebuild itself so it can be human (sigma), a soldier in a civil war who goes on to be a General (Kimball), and a parallel story of the brigadier of the opposing army's secretary (doyle), The story of a Medic who desperately wants to help people but is always sent too late (Doc), a guy who joins the army with his best friend but then falls in love with a girl back home (biff), the story of a wife whose husband is a bounty hunter (Megan), The story of a jaded ex soldier traveling the galaxy, doing good deeds, but seemingly always on the run (locus).

And maybe some more. Just imagine these as a series of short stories and then as it goes one you realise how connected it all is, everything ties together eventually

Some things in retrospect and some things just over time. Idk i just think it would be cool

#i love stories like that #where you have a bunch of individual stories that turn into one big connected story

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Tagged by the delightful and beautiful @saltsanford

How many works do you have on AO3?

294

What’s your total AO3 word count?

2,101,905

What fandoms do you write for?

Usually DC these days, but RVB is still my most fics.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

A Minor Situation - Young Justice (4,887)

Have I Told You About Minnie? - Batman (4,559)

Neverland - Batman (4,400)

too young to be taken seriously, too old to believe all this hypocrisy - Batman (2,288)

Matt Punches a Robot, and Other Stories - Daredevil TV (2,276)

ONE DAY I'll write something that tops AMS. One day. I am forever haunted by something I do not care about that I wrote when I was fifteen where I spelled Barbara "Barbra" for the first few weeks.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! Not always on older fics, but I do like to do it on WIPs, or if a comment really moves me or makes me want to respond.

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A Mouth Full of Blood no question. Bruce loses track of Steph, the Black Mask lives, and there's no hope of resolution yet.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

HMM. Probably she does pretty well with fiends from hell? I left that one on a pretty positive note where the cycle is broken, everyone's happy, and I didn't kill anyone.

Do you get hate on fics?

Ha. Not often, but I have had to lock a few fics to turn off anon comments, and I once had someone go on an entire rant about how the concept of sidekicks are child abuse in my comments.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do on occasion! I used to publish it in RVB; it was a mix of various things, both PWP and some plot stuff.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

LMAO oh yes. I write a lot of them. Probably my weirdest one was the Firefly and Red vs Blue one that I wrote with @sroloc--elbisivni back in the day. Although we also had an Artemis Fowl & TAZ AU that one day we will finish.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, but stuff from my fics have been recycled by other people XD

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Good News (No One Mourns the Wicked), "Really Close Friends" AKA Cass and Steph's Adventures with the Tabloids, Before Gotham, Girl Meets Girl, and Always have all been translated into Chinese!

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes! I co-write all of DC Uninterrupted with my beautiful wonderful talented girlfriend @renaroo, and then I've co-written the Firefly AU with Nina as mentioned above, and then Bitter Pill was a collaboration with Rena, @goodluckdetective, and a third friend who no longer has a tumblr.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

StephCass my beloved

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I will finish Time's Running Out damn it I will

What are your writing strengths?

characterization and dialogue!

What are your writing weaknesses?

my sections are too short and I occasionally get lost in my own descriptions and forget where I am lol

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

it's something I'm working on. It's hard! In RVB I did the classic "feed lines into google translate and write down whatever I'm given even though it's inaccurate" but obviously that's not a good way to do it for anything else.

First fandom you wrote for?

Teen Titans or ATLA... I don't actually remember which one was first but it was probably ATLA? hmm.

Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Gotta give it up for Meet Me Where You're Going my beloved <3.

Tagging @sroloc--elbisivni @renaroo @goodluckdetective and @fantastic-nonsense

#Steph Speaks #tag meme #about me #writing stuff

[mincedpeaches]

Thinking about red vs blue still. The last update real update besides QvsA/PSAs was the statement from Sean Hinz after rvbzero was canceled. That guy has since left Rooster Teeth. I don't think any of the things mentioned in that statement have come to pass. Was the "Halo-infinite style" content the PSAs/QvsA? That doesn't seem likely. There was no short story expanding on legacy plot threads. There was no nostalgic content "leading up" to the 20th anniversary, unless you count last year's PSAs there (which I don't).

Some of the last vestiges of people I followed that still posted about rvb (bitterly or otherwise) had their last straw with the Kdin thing last year and stopped posting.

Man. Its just so fucking dire out here.

#sean's post had a timeline of 18months. that was 16months ago. #update areyoumakingmorervb.com to say no you cowards. let my heart rest. #rvb blogging #mincedthoughts