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THIS. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT!!!

I want Essek to be introduced in some kind of ominous scene (ya know, the kind at the end of the episode at the start or end of a season to show the audience what they’re in for) that gives the audience the impression that he’s an up-and-coming BBEG. Maybe he’s having a heated conversation with Ludinous- or worse, Trent- about the missing beacons. Maybe we witness him harness a bit of his intimating, gravity-warping abilities in his anger. So, first things new audiences will know is 1) he’s working with the people we hate most, 2) the Mighty Nein will be at top of his hit list, and 3) he’s powerful. I want the writers to fully lean into it. Really get audience expectations up, get them to hate this evil guy.

When the Mighty Nein finally meet Essek, let it feel like our heroes are not safe every minute they spend near this guy. Play some eerie music. Drag out the suspense.

Then, when Jester gives him a long, awkward hug that catches him off guard, but he actually accepts, it’ll be like dunking a bucket of cold water on the plot, and the audience will slowly realize that what they’re really in for is watching this too-cool-for-school supervillain get power-of-friendshiped so hard he won’t even know what hit him.

And for critters, we’d potentially get to see behind the curtain of Essek’s cool demeanor as he keeps it up in front of the Nein just to have a mini panick attack the second they’re out of view cause they’re relentlessly inching closer to figuring him out for high treason.

OK, but I love that Essek might be appearing in the Mighty Nein series before he meets the Nein! It's not just me wanting More Essek (though I do) or wanting to see more of what was going on with his dealings with the Assembly (which I also do). I think this could be super fucking interesting from a narrative construction standpoint.

Because I cannot see how you can include Essek from early in the series and not make it clear to the audience that he's the Dynasty traitor loooong before the Nein find out. Essek having stolen the beacons will not be a surprise. It looks to me like the cast are swapping out surprise for a fuckton of suspense. (Suspense vs surprise was explained to me when I was studying narrative structure as 'surprise is when a bomb goes off that the audience didn't know was there. Suspense is when they see the bomb being placed and have to sit there begging the characters to realise it's there.' In this analogy, Essek is the bomb.)

When we watched C2, the question was is Essek the traitor? In the M9 show, the question for new watchers will be when will the Nein realise that Essek is the traitor? When Essek meets the Nein, the countdown starts ticking; people will know that he is a danger. He is manipulating them. He is going to hurt them. Will the Nein realise before it's too late? But then Essek starts really befriending them, showing more of his loneliness and vulnerability, and... I think the mood will shift. Oh, shit, he really cares about them, doesn't he? What will the Nein do if they find out? Do I even want them to find out? What if they reject him and it makes him worse? He can't keep this up much longer, this is unbearable, they're going to find out - OH FUCK THEY'RE FINDING OUT -

It's such a fascinating choice and I think it goes to show that adaptation is an art form in itself! The actual events in the world will be the same, or at least very similar, but a new format means you can show those events in a totally new way and create a completely different tone! Narrative structure is the fucking coolest! I'm so excited for this show!

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M9 drawings

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The Mighty Nein as textposts 36/???

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Been a minute since I drew this guy. I missed him

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there are sad wizard shaped brainworms livin in my head

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caleb widogast y’all

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a quick one. i got lazy with it

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a little something

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everything is fine

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And it's hard to write about being happy 'Cause, the older I get I find that happiness is an extremely uneventful subject And there will be no grand choirs to sing No chorus could come in About two people sitting doing nothing

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First art of the year, gotta be my favourite boy

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shadowgast kiss meme: hand kiss ✨

i know y'all said to make it spicy, but something happened along the way, and i didn't. hope you will still enjoy some desperate hand kisses!

tip jar!

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it is very important that you give your newly adopted wizard many hugs so that he becomes accustomed to them. wizards are like cats that way.

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i almost want to do an expression sheet for him so i force myself to expand past his rbf. but its so easy and fun to draw him with one

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it's been a whiiiiiiiiiile

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For real the WarmxCool color palette is making for some pretty breathtaking artworks.

i think at least 20% of shadowgast success is due to how well their color palettes match with each other

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Caleb and Essek style explorations for an upcoming project, might even do some character turn arounds for reference