#I just think he's pretty cool esp this scene

[forpiratereasons]

okayyy things i loved about ofmd s2 today's edition is!! FRENCHIE. what a guy. first off, joel fry, i'm free on thursdays. second, love that he gets promoted to first mate, tries to decline, & IMMEDIATELY disobeys his mad new boss to try and help izzy. he reaches out to izzy a lot tbh and of course frenchie and jim together are the litmus test for how we're meant to feel about izzy.

but frenchie is affectionate with izzy! holds izzy's hand in e1 while fang hugs him, leans against his leg in e3 while they're in zheng's jail, goes back for him in e8 when ed is carrying him forward. i think he grows up a bit esp in the first few episodes & helps his crew at the end (go frenchie!), setting him up to the captaincy at the end.

now that i look back over the series with an eye on frenchie i think they do lay a groundwork for his captaincy - not only does he become ed's first mate but he also has a functioning coping mechanism (a lot has been made of the compartmentalization as frenchie not handling shit but compartmentalization is a legit mechanism and i think once the crew is all back together frenchie gets his shit together pretty fast so u know just bc we don't see frenchie having appropriate outlets doesn't mean he doesn't have any) that would allow frenchie to take a step back and make decisions without necessarily reacting from fear. this is what enables him to fend for izzy!! he can put aside the fear of ed and ask himself, what is the right thing to do? take care of the crew.

other things that slid past me in the first few watches but which i think were more significant than i realized:

in ep 3, when the revenge and the red flag meet, the crew looks to frenchie to answer stede's questions about ed.

auntie talks frenchie (authority) and fang (soft, cultural connection - this is a deft bit of manipulation that totally works btw) aboard the revenge.

frenchie delivers the verdict against ed exiling him from the ship in ep 4 - it can't come from stede, because stede is compromised where ed is concerned, and so instead frenchie is their spokesperson.

we get one final clue as to frenchie's authority and respect among the crew in the post-ep scene of ep 8, where frenchie slips out of the jail - yeah, it's partially because he's thin enough to fit through the bars, but other folks who could fit refuse. he gets the courage up and does it, and it works! he frees the crew!

so you know, i guess i didn't instantly clock frenchie as captain in the final shots of the revenge, but it also didn't ping me as weird that he was giving orders. he's grown a lot over this series. notably, oluwande doesn't take on this sort of active role this series - his arc is a little different with zheng and jim now, his priorities are changing, and he doesn't want to captain the revenge, he wants to follow zheng. just because olu would have been the obvious choice in s1e10 doesn't mean things can't change! olu didn't want to be captain then, he doesn't want to be captain now. that's okay!! the crew have found another leader amongst themselves!!

i'm really excited to see what kind of funky cool badass jacket-wearing captain he'll make in s3!!!

go frenchie!!

#ofmd #our flag means death

[arthenaa]

Hey bro I like your writing and I was wondering if you could give us some Mizu x Filipino!Reader hcs🥺👉👈 ̶(̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶n̶a̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶j̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶m̶y̶s̶e̶l̶f̶)̶

I have to make this poetic I'm so sorry but also making it modern!au and canon setting teehee (ALSO DOUBLE UPDATE?) slight nsfw ig!! mdni.

canon divergent, just think of this is as that scene from Goyo where Remedios and Gregorio Pilar do a wholeass pining scene idk

Absolutely met you at some fancy ass noble party

You're a child of a wealthy Senor who's in great partnership with the Lords from the Commonwealth

Mizu's camping in and disguising herself in the party to find more intel on her next target and then she bumps into you

at first you're like very inquisitive of where she came from (considering that you view her as a man at this point), how she enjoys the party and what not

then you're suddenly like ik what you're doing. you're not from here.

Mizu's thrown off bc haha this is an international gathering of sorts and like ppl here are mostly foreign

you're like well its bc you're so obvious when it comes to occasions like this that I've already spotted you from a while back

and so youre like dancing and all and Mizu has no choice but to extract info from you

she reveals that shes looking for a white man, and that he may have connections here in the ph

and coincidence cuz you, who's also a part of the resistance, have been tracing the weapons provider of the spanish army.

so you guys work together. you give her intel, she helps you hunt down the provider and their little goons

it kind of starts like an enemies to lovers .... kind of a forced situation where Mizu has to deal with the resistance in order to get to what she wants but rlly theres no other way around

falls in love w your love for your country

despite your privileged upbringing, you're deeply interconnected with your roots, and have been fighting for the filipino people

you guys fight over the simplest of things, like how she doesnt wear things right or holds weapons correctly

you definitely bond over weaponry though and its history. the first time you've seen her katana, you were so amazed. in return, you showed her a kampilan—a sword carved and forged by your grandfather. she had so many questions.

yeahh overall i think what pulled you together was your shared anger and desperation for justice. No matter the situation, whether it be a resistance against oppression or looking for the man that caused a hellscape within your life, y'all resonated with the emotions and trauma that came with that.

BEST BELIEVE THE SEX WAS GOOD and rough and yes hbejawhejehe mhm

anys thats all. you're like PARA SA PILIPINAS and shes on her knees.

modern au hehe

met through int sch program. mizu is a transferee from japan who joined their uni's international program and got linked w ur sch

she was in one of ur classes and like yeah, she was nearest to u so she had no choice but to ask u for sch stuff

YOU THOUGHT SHE WAS PRETTY CUTE but like u wanted a good impression so u tried to help her as much as u could

even gave her a tour of the campus

showed her a few iconic eating places that she could go to jic her budget was on a limit or wanted good filo food

you wanted to expose her to the culture as slowly as u could just so that she could adapt and pace herself

definitely stuck by your side since then

you learned that she's going to study here for 3 years before going back to japan for her masters, and you're like wow thats so cool and shes like thanks

definitely a gamer

you guys hang out at one of the comp shops nearby (IF NAGAARAL KAYO SA TAFT .... guys suki ako don HAHAHA)

loves learning abt history, esp filipino craftsmanship

you definitely treat her to various street foods

mizu : what's this

you : we call it kwek kwek, but u can call it neon balls

mizu: neon balls????

showed and taught her how public transpo works once, and she gets a hang of it a week later

knows her way around manila than you do (author is projecting mb)

knows basic filo words when navigating. you teach her the slang.

basically friends to lovers guys omg, ayon sana all eme

you do that lips thing where you point w ur lips and at first, she was so confused (this is during your relationship)

she thought you were asking for a kiss and she kissed u and you were like ?!@!?@??$?

mizu: ha

you: I WAS ASKING FOR THE,ASd MUGWTF

mizu: ahhh my bad haha

walks u to class teehee

hangs around in empty class rooms esp comp labs and you guys watch movies there

momol sa dorm, momol sa clasroom na madilim, momol sa may agno charot

MOMOL = MAKE OUT MAKE OUT LANG

revels in simple pda like linking ur pinkies together, thigh against thigh when seating, and just yk so landi. landi niyo.

you have her id pic on the back of ur id and she yours on her clear phonecase

EWWWW GAY PPL (affectionate)

unintentionally matching

loves gifting u jewelry esp necklaces (likes to see it when u guys are in the bedroom, splayed on your chest and just yk decorating your collarbones so nicely)

holds your hand and helps you cross the street omf

pays for ur commute fee when riding the jeepney

memorizes ur kwek kwek and fishball sauce combination

loves exchanging one shoe w u for funsies

loves taking pics w u w the cats on campus

OVERALL A CUTIE TEEHEE!

A/N: DEDICATED KAY DELULU RECEIVER!! eto para sayo sorry ginutom keta ng sobra huhu @ianiralvs may isa pa kong utang sayo na req mo hihi gagawen ko pa yon to muna HHAHHAHA

#arthenaa #the blue eyed samurai #mizu x reader #the blue eyed samurai x reader #mizu fluff

[findafight]

i don't get why robin and eddie clocking each other is so popular. firstly i find it kind of cheap esp since it's usually a set-up for robin and/or eddie being all-knowing arbiters of lgbt knowledge while steve is clueless and dumb and not lgbt enough (despite usually being bi) to partake in this exchange as well. then it's otherwise used to establish an immediate connection between robin and eddie since they are both gay which automatically makes them besties. secondly it doesn't make much sense w what we see of either robin or eddie. like we know robin struggles w social cues and we see that that extends to sexual orientation through her interactions w vickie. also i think she is just not paying that much attention to eddie i must be honest. then w eddie he spends his time campaigning for the stancy revival while steve blatantly stares at his mouth so. i don't think he'd be good at that either. like the irony in this being so common is that steve is the person that does clock someone else on top of being consistently socially and emotionally intelligent and perceptive. idk sometimes i feel like ppl take him not clocking robin as proof he's incapable of it despite him then clocking someone later and being right, and that s3 scene fitting into the broader context of steve being lonely, insecure, and off his game for most of s3 as well as between s2 and s3. tbh missed comedy potential w steve being the one person in that trio that actually knows what's happening.

oooohg yeah i feel you anon. Not to say that all the fics that have these tropes in them are bad! it just. sometimes gets annoying? I don't want people to feel too bad about it but yes agree.

I think it really is used as a way to fast track their friendship. Truly unfortunate that it's often used to make them all knowing queer guides instead of the disaster teenage gays they are.

Robin is a small town lesbian who is only out to one singular person, she does not know anything, let alone vague little queer codes that might be happening. She wouldn't know Eddie was queer for a variety of reasons. She says herself she's not good at reading people! She's also busy worrying about if she's doing something that might out her or make people suspicious of her, so she's not analyzing other people's actions. She does not care about men that aren't Steve enough to pay enough attention to figure out if Eddie is queer or not lol. She can't even figure out if the girl she likes who likes her back is queer when her best friend is telling her. Oblivious icon! open your eyes, queen!!

Eddie had a man he deliberately broke a moment of romantic tension between his love interest by throwing a vest at his face staring at his lips and still pushed him towards said love interest. Sir. what are you doing. and once it's clear stncy isn't happening you know eddie would be like okay. why aren't you dating Robin? hmm? she's cool! and causes Steve to Suffer. (Steve was flirting with Eddie .5 seconds before he started on this please get with the program Eddie!!)

Also think it's silly that people would stereotype Eddie as Queer from how he dresses as though that's not just how a lot of people dressed? long hair was In in the 80s. Metal fashion was there. It also likely had some/a lot of ingrained homophobia in the subculture (as many things did). Sorry Eddie, but I'm pretty sure our boy Brucie did more for the gays than metallica. (Kissing Clarence Clemens Right On The Mouth Many Times On Stage thank you mr. springsteen and mr. clemens sirs.)

Steve's the only one of these three that 1) knows how to flirt 2) knows when someone is flirting with him 3) has consistently demonstrated being emotionally and socially intelligent to observe people (more than arguably anyone else in the series) and 4) has any kind of functioning gaydar. Totally agree that Steve not clocking Robin despite his gaydar is that he was way off his game, insecure, in a funk, pathetic sad meow meow era, and in a weird state of squish-or-crush on Robin, that was pushed towards crush by Dustin but slam dunked into squish by Robin coming out (does that make any sense?)

I truly, truly believe Vickie returned Fast Times paused on 53 minutes and five seconds specifically when she knew Robin and/or Steve would be the ones to rewind it. Why else would she not rewind it? when clearly they knew who had rented it and could potentially out her if they read into it? She was getting vibes from robin and knew that Steve would at least report Back to Robin (I refuse to believe the championship game was the only time stobin gossiped like they did. Vickie knows their shenanigans.) so she decided to be indirect but kinda obvious about it!! And while Robin is denying this Steve has seen the truth, he knows exactly what Vickie is doing. (would be very funny if Steve and Vickie clock each other, and then make eye contact like I know what you are. They deserve to become funky little friends while Steve is trying to get her and Robin together.)

#stranger things #robin buckley #steve harrington #steddie #rockie #robickie #stobin #stranger things meta #vickie stranger things #findaanswers #anonasaurus

[spacenintendogs]

scale of 1 to 10 how buff is astrid in your off the coast au???

(for science purposes, of course)

dragonsoffthecoast!astrid infodump pretty please?? relationships with work, he gang, all of that tasty stuff :]

I CAN ABSOLUTELY INFODUMP ABT ASTRID!! (she's at least an 8 on the buffness scale)

i want astrid to have this body type (photo is of monica granda, who is a powerlifter!!!)

BUT to the main stuff abt ms astrid hofferson :)

general info

astrid picks her name to be astrid legally when she's around 12 :) she used that name as her "viking name" back when she & the gang were little kids playing vikings vs dragons. and since it's?? a rlly cool name. when she changed it from her dead name her parents let her pick & it was all she could think of. it means so much to her.

astrid in school, all school from elementary to college/uni, is a try hard. she is going to be valedictorian if it'll be the last thing she does. if she's not at least top 3 her eye is twitching. she is also very active in sports!! track & field is her JAM!!! esp once she's at uni she does lots of field stuff!! (discus, hammer, etc!!) and powerlifting!!

when she initially came out as trans it was a little rough with her parents (they were a bit distant at first) but they got over themselves & were super supportive as she transitioned :) that's their daughter!!!

she always is wearing her headband, it's yellow & blue to match stormfly's crown. tuff & snot made it for her.

relationships

stormfly is her girl, her best (dragon) friend!! <3 stormfly brings out astrid's playful side and is an excellent confidant for her. astrid is super protective of stormfly. stormfly is in the sanctuary due to having some part of her crown (the spines that stick out of her head) being cracked (they are very important for nadders!!!) and as she healed, astrid was her human. they also both tend to be the ones reigning their friends in (altho stormfly can get carried away when she plays sometimes!!)

hiccup (hirschel) is her best (human) friend. they grew apart when they were in middle school (as did the rest of the gang from hiccup) but in high school she was the first person he revealed toothless to & she (after being convinced to NOT tell any of their parents) did not take hiccup's trust in her lightly. it means a LOT to her. their dynamic is very much like how their friendship is in the shows esp. astrid can get in over her head with how strict she can be abt how to do literally anything & her frustration of others not doing what she would do & hiccup will just dryly vibe check her. she also bluntly (but gently) vibe checks him back (think "so why didn't you?" scene from httyd 1). she's his second in command at work and is in charge when he's not there. hiccstrid is a thing for this au and they do have feelings for each other when they're kids :)

fishlegs (justin) and astrid are super close!! when they're together they're basically the level-headed ones of the group. they bring out the responsible sides of each other lol!! they're each other's confidant and astrid can always rely on fishlegs to be honest (but kind) when she needs advice. they of course have their fun but they're who they go to when they need a moment of calm. astrid is also fishlegs' go to for tasting anything he creates because while she's not the best cook or anything herself, she can give her honest opinion. also they do yoga together!!! fishlegs helps astrid relax (which he understands the struggle of given the fact his resting heart rate is always registered as a panic attack /j). they just rlly appreciate each other.

snotlout (gary) and astrid's relationship should be obvious since that's the one i've posted abt the most but they've been at each other's throats since birth. as kids they were always arguing and it's no different when they're older lol. and obviously they eventually date for a brief period due to astrid developing feelings for him. they are genuine, from both parties, but it's not sustainable for them to stya together. outside of that part, they're still super close and while they will give each other shit the whole way through, they know each other better than anyone else, much to astrid's chagrin.

astrid's relationship with ruffnut (eugene) compared to others in the gang is more strained. astrid falls into a bad habit of treating ruff & tuff like a singular entity a lot of the time (which, in her mind is because one is not without the other and are always causing mayhem together) and this frustrates ruffnut, but ruffnut isn't as vocal as her brother until she feels like she needs to be. however, she does give astrid where credit is due. if only astrid could give her the same credit in return (don't worry, astrid will learn and they do grow closer when they're older, esp once they're in uni)

astrid's relationship with tuffnut (laverne) is similar to how she is with ruff in terms of her tending to act like tuff & ruff are a single entity and not two separate ppl with lots of overlapping interests and behaviors due to being twin siblings (ha. felt). tuff, out of the twin duo, is way more talkative than ruff and he is honestly, despite his snark, very sweet. he's more himself than anyone else in the gang and is the most comfortable in his own skin and astrid is sometimes jealous of him for it. he also is the one in the gang who makes her laugh the most with his silliness, but with how quickly he relays jokes, ofc she laughs more often :)

at work

at the hidden world, astrid is very no-nonsense and is particular abt her sections of the sanctuary, which are the sharp and tracker classes! she ends up with two classes due to the switch of nadders from sharp class to tracker class and she does the primary research for the new tracker class set of dragons!! she also does a lot fo the field work! she loves going out into the woods and helping keep track of dragons and then later help with new species :) she helps tag and track!!! her least favorite thing is sitting at the front desk and having to talk with visitors. she thinks she does alright at the job but hiccup says she "can be scary." but also when she's up front it's snotlout & the twin's favorite time to bother her to get her reactions lol. she's also in charge of making the schedules for everyone by her own decision bc she hates the way everyone else does the schedules.

always has stormfly on her shoulders <3

however once she's at uni her time at the sanctuary lessens, altho she does go back full time during summers! she does work a uni job while there, tho (just either at a coffee shop or smth). after she graduates she goes back to the sanctuary but tosses around the ideas of doing other things (despite what hiccup wants but. that's for them to discuss bc she shouldn't have to do what he wants) she even considers enlisting in the coast guard at some point but decides against it. the gang eventually travel across the country to help with more dragons as well as talk in interviews about dragon conservation & stuff & she becomes one of the main spokepeople :)

#httyd #dragons off the coast au #astrid hofferson #httyd modern au #lil-dragon-draws #loz tag #rose answers #🌹 art #httyd fanart #i hope this is ok!!! #long post #httyd headcanons

[brookiidookiii]

JO OMGOD JO (for the ask game thing ^^)

My first impression

she didnt really stand out that much to me but i think once i got to ep5 that was when i really started to care about her. i think i was probably 8/9 when i first watched ROTI

My impression now

yeah shes my favorite of all time. if it isnt obvious. i love her with all my heart

Favorite thing about that character

theres too much. probably her nicknames and her interactions with the characters around her. her voice actor is so good at the role too.

Least favorite thing

there is nothing wrong with her. all my pet peeves are with the writers. like how they createst the hottest beautifulest strongest smartest character ever and all they could do is joke about her looking like a man. sad day in bidens america

Favorite line/scene

'no, welcome to MY team.' she was so badass in that scene and brick is scared for his LIFE

and this ones from her skatoony episode but "i wish the boys were back. theyre easier to boss around" lol i love her

Favorite interaction that character has with another

yeah im biased but brick and jo lol. they instantly clicked and i adore their rivalry, its for sure one of my favorites... jo and lightning as well. her and anne maria are funny, loved watching her tricking anne maria into doing stuff

team dude rocks. wish we couldve had more of those 3

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

heather. if the writers werent cowards they wouldve let them fought more. esp since jo respects her and sees her as "my kind of competitor", just doesnt like her sense of style. just more of her interacting with the other girls. and also scott, they couldve had some blackmail alliance frenemy thing, idk

oh i also like duncan and jo. he thinks her nicknames are cool so i respect him a little bit more. a jo and zoey friendship wouldve been sick. jo hates girly girls, zoey hates jocks. they become besties aw yeah. i could go on and on forever about potential friendships and dynamics i have for her...

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

rainbowdash. both are crazy competitive tomboys and both childhood favs of mine

A headcanon about that character

i think she has a super healthy diet. shed have one of those balance diet charts on her fridge, gotta stay in shape. but her guilty pleasure food would be nachos

A song that reminds of that character

im probably not gonna answer this question but im not good with assigning songs

An unpopular opinion about that character

THERES SO MUCH THIS FANDOM GETS WRONGG her internalized misogyny and body issues that were never touched on.... it makes me so angry. and i dont see anyone ever exploring that. maybe one day ill write something. she has so many issues that no one ever talks about and how she wants to feel pretty. people who call her a pick me are so wrong and dont even know what a pick me is.

her masculinity is my favorite thing about her but being a tomboy shouldnt come with hating on other girls for the crime of liking feminine stuff. idk i think theres something deeper. also she should never be given long hair. it feels illegal

Favorite picture

i like the way she sits. shes so cool

#ask #td jo #i have sooo many thoughts about jo and stuff for her its crazy #people just dont get her like i do

[vampirealpaca]

My thoughts on the pjo show (now that the season is over) (this is going to run long) Overall Rating: 8/10 :

Ok first of all, I actually LOVED the show and the cast is literally awesome; I do have some thoughts and feelings tho.

The GOOD :D

The visuals were eating ngl

THE CAST!!!! they literally were amazing cannot stress this enough

I think a lot of the changes were handled super well, especially Medusa (although I don't love all of the changes...see below in the next section lol)

I LOVED the set design for pretty much all of the scenes!!! Like the set & costuming was literally so good; sometimes it looked a little Volume-y but I think it's ok since they also clearly did a bunch of on-location stuff

Driving scene was literally so funny like no notes on that + the acting was On Point pretty much All of the Time.

I actually think they slayed with the special effects

Pretty accurate! (overall a waaaaaay better adaptation than the movies)

BLUE FOOD!!!!

More Sally content was awesome!! And I cannot stress this enough the ACTORS WERE SO GOOD in their roles!! Like I think they were the perfect choices ngl and I hope to see more of them in season 2 (if we get one, idk if its greenlit yet)

I also liked how they focused on Grover's character more (lowkey my fav now)

Genuinely had a great time watching the scenes from the books I've loved since Forever come to life onscreen!

The character dynamics were GIVING

Loved getting more info about Percy's backstory

The way they showed the Mist was honestly so cool!! This might be filed under Visuals but still...it was so cool

Fight choreo fluctuated, but I liked the Percy vs Luke fight (altho the scorpion erasure ;-;)

Again the chemistry with the actors like adkjhfdkjdfkjhdfjkhk I think the acting may have been my fav part honestly lol

All of the easter eggs for the fans!!

Rick's subtle rewriting of the story was sometimes very cool! (Like with the water grabbing Percy etc) --- you can definitely tell that he's thinking about how he'd change the story if he were to write it today

...HOWEVER i have gripes :(

THE LIGHTING WAS TOO DARK IN NIGHT SCENES!!!! HATE THAT TROPE WHY CANT I SEEEEEEEE (looking at u medusa scene)

I feel like they should've fallen into like…at least one trap without Knowing Everything about it. Like, I get the Medusa change and am pretty on board with it, but I feel like a few of the other changes weren't really necessary & messed with the stakes. A lot of the time it felt like I was watching them explain "Oh you're THIS person so you will do THIS so I will do THIS" instead of like...showing me.

Not enough blood (this is prob a Disney problem, not the show creators fault but like...cmon Disney...they have swords, let the children get More Injured...they are Fighting for their Lives)

Felt kinda...dryer than the books? idk how to explain it...like it felt like there wasn't the same Vibes in some parts if that makes sense, like they switched out a lot of funny moments (esp with how they changed Charon and the Crusty scenes lowkey im bitter)

the tone was definitely sometimes waaay different from the books (like it was way more serious I think, which is good sometimes and less good other times)

Idk if this is 100% true bc my last reread was a few months ago, but I think they separated the main trio more than in the book (?), it felt like they were duo-ed with diff members for a lot rather than building off of their main dynamic -- they had some trio moments but ig i just wanted more (again, I could be wrong on this one tho)

Lotus Casino not really being as Fun (the pumping lotus flowers in the air was a cool detail tho!)

It generally felt like they took a lot of the funny parts in favor of talking more about how messed up the gods are (which I liked sometimes!! but the kids are 12 let them have more funny moments too yaknow) (Rip the Died in the Bathtub line...gone but not forgotten)

I really didn't love the changes that made the story feel more Cliche and Basic (the ones that annoyed me were changing the entire DOA to just Some Standard Death Eater Looking Fellow & Annabeth's interactions with Cerebus being completely changed)

Mixed feelings on Gabe...I wanted him to be more evil at the beginning but I get why they changed it ig. Plus he was literally so funny when he (spoilers?) got murdered by opening someone else's mail. That's what happens when you commit a federal crime ig.

General Character Thoughts:

PERCY: Walker Scobell was such a good casting call... like you can tell he really cares about the books & getting the character right. Acting was on point, sass was on point (but I do wish he got to be sassy a bit More); Really gives off the energy of Percy Jackson and definitely was AMAZING in this role!

ANNABETH: She was spectacular in this role!! Leah got literally all of Annabeth down to a T --- her kindness, her pride, her wisdom, etc etc without resorting to any kind of "stock smart girl" vibe. She was literally SO GOOD! I loved seeing her talk about her dad, and the detail about her not having seen a movie is such a mood and so in-character lowkey. Leah really nailed Annabeth's dry humor and general vibe like dfajkhfdjhkfdhjk

GROVER: He was my favorite! Like, his acting was AMAZING fr!!! They brought a lot of newer things into his character that I think worked really well & it definitely strengthened his characterization --- he was also really funny & so sincere I just loved his portrayal of Grover!

HOWEVER I think some of the arcs are shakier since the characters didn't struggle as much, since they were figuring out a Lot of things

Overall, I took 2 points from the rating because the Spirit and Humor weren't fully there and I felt some of the changes made it feel less like the OG and more cliche (looking at u Charon). However, the great acting, pretty slay writing (except for the tone stuff), Vibes, and all the other stuff I think they did right pulled through to get it ranked a little higher lol. Plus, I liked it, even if I didn't like all of it.

No hate if u loved the show adaptation tho!! Feel free to disagree, these are just my thoughts lol. I really genuinely hope there's going to be a season 2, although I would like if they fix a few of these problems in that potential season (please...let me see what's happening in the dark scenes...please...)

#pjo tv show #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #review #percy jackson and the olympians tv show #pjo series

[audhd-nightwing]

just watched the final doctor who special.... spoilers ahead

THEY FINALLY. GAVE THEM A HAPPY ENDING. WITH DONNA TOO!!! SHE WAS THE BEST CHOICE TO COME BACK TO. TO 'COME BACK HOME' ADFASF;UOHSDFOS

they're a familu ims sobbing they afinalyl let 10 be happy wven if technialy theyre 14

10 has always been the most traumatized honestly. it's esp evident in the one special with 10 11 and the War Doctor where 10 remembers exactly how many children were on Gallifrey when they "destroyed" it. he's also the angriest and most unhinged (Waters of Mars, his 'death' scene, def more i can't remember). he lost the most of all the new who doctors (rose, martha, donna, river song)

just remembered donna was 10's last companion. crying again. he was always meant to come back to her.

ALSO!!! IVE ALWAYS SAID THEY ACT LIKE SIBLINGS AND NOW ITS PRETTY MUCH CANON. "MY BEST FRIEND, MY NIECE, MY BROTHER-IN-LAW" LIKE CMON. THEY ARE SIBLINGS!!!!!!!!!

and he still gets to have a Rose in his life :,)

i am now going to make a bunch of crack hcs about the Doctor and Donna being a PTA-mom duo lol. everyone is like "why is this man with you? where is your husband" and donna is like "excuse you, this is my long lost brother who cares deeply for his niece. shaun is making dinner for us. never speak to me again."

ncuti seems like SO much fun omg im really looking forward to his adventures. and him being so caring towards 14 :,) their interactions were so sweet esp bc its also david passing on the mantle yk?

15 really said "you're going to therapy for both of us thanks" as if that's how it works. babe pls.

i was kinda disappointed that their TARDIS interiors are the same but alas, its probably way easier than making a whole new one so i get it. for a sec there i thought we were gonna get 9 & 10's TARDIS back but no :(

ALSO- the toymaker being afraid of 'the one who waits'... listen i know its unrealistic BUT i really want it to be Me/Ashildr because she is said to be 'waiting to play chess at the end of the universe' and i think it would be so cool. i want to see her again. which reminds me i really wanna write/read a fic of her and capt jack meeting bc they were both turned immortal by the doctor and then left behind. but anyway

i also think it could be river song or capt jack, maybe even clara. aside from them tho idk who else it would be (unless its someone from classic who or a new character)

#doctor who special #doctor who #doctor who spoilers #dr who #dr who special #dr who spoilers #dw 60th #donna noble #14th doctor #10th doctor #15th doctor #david tennant #ncuti gatwa

[metacrisisdoctor]

wanna know something crazy? you know that horrible short story that jenny colgan wrote with rose and tentoo, where she's super mean to him and he takes the name corin because rose doesn't think he's actually the doctor blah blah?

well, i was doing a lot of research the other day about tentoorose things and how involved or not involved rtd has been, what his opinions are on these things etc.

the first thing i did was go onto the big finish insta and find if he had liked the tentoo and jackie audio posts, which he had.

these audios are fantastic, nuanced and in character. they perfectly align with everything rtd has said abt tentoorose.

and he commented this onto the posts about it. keep in mind they asked for his permission to make those.

now, back to "the turning of the tide" and here is the conversation about that story:

so, while this is is all jokey since rtd is a sweetheart, it actually blows my mind that jenny colgan wrote that story KNOWING it would not only upset fans, but also upset russell himself. i just cannot believe it. she also said that she loved what big finish did but wanted to "go another way" 😑 i don't consider this story canon since it goes against big finish and the comics, and esp now that i know rtd has no part in it and jenny knows he wouldn't approve- but i wish i understood why she wrote it like that since she has said v kind things about tentoorose before. ah, well. that story can be put in the bin with all bad ooc fics imo :)

last but certainly not least, rtd did not like any of the posts about empire of the wolf on the titan comics page, probably because he doesn't follow them. however, he has liked multiple insta comments about mia and her being the doctor and rose's daughter so is aware of it - and approves of the idea.

we all know rtd has said rose and tentoo are happy, and in all my searching for crumbs i have found nothing that goes against that or that he has changed his mind or approves of the idea of tentoo not being the doctor.

he also liked tentoorose art from last valentine's day, and in 2020 he said this abt journey's end:

see how he never calls tentoo anything but the doctor? see how he says that he used the original idea of tentoo being dangerous and used it for ten? because they're the same guy, which was the entire point on multiple levels.

i made this sort of rtd tentoo guide because i am pretty sure he will bring tentoo and rose back somehow now that he's showrunner again and i thought sharing would be cool for anyone else who wants to speculate how things may shake out 🙉👀💗

rtd has always said that he considered the deleted tardis coral scene canon and hoped to bring them back and put it back in, so let's see if he does it now that he has the chance!

#tentoorose #tentoo x rose #doctor who #dw #dw speculation

[ghoooooooooooooooost]

my review of death mark 2 after playing it again in english this time: kinda weird that michiho never says anything n that the last fight is just an hour long sex scene between yashiki, mashita n daimon huh. pretty solid horror game tho 👍

(real thoughts under readmore; spoilers mentioned)

jokes aside i still stand by calling the game 'the roughest' bc it really is imo

i've seen a few ppl go to bat for the plot but me n a lot of my friends agree that it just wasn't as strong. everything abt michiho n hime's writing + the writing surrounding them in general pissed me tf off which didn't help. teacher-student situations are back but unlike in the first game, it's students aggressively pursuing teachers... uncomfortable! the scissors chapter did handle it a bit better than i expected (esp since the teacher turned her down) so i did get emotional at the end of it but circling back to michiho's behavior after that is so UUUUUUUGH. n the writers never let yashiki firmly tell them to stop it sucks so much. don't get me started abt the fanservice cgs i'll blow everything up. why'd they make it woooorse

the girls should've just been silly rude teenagers. i don't think they should've been the departed at all *points at my au*

however! the writing for returning characters is super good. they're what makes the game worth it in all honesty, it's so nice to see all these comrades yashiki made in the first game trying to help n protect him. plus the fun stuff where they're cutting each other's hair n front of a ghost n meowing at rocks n shit. it kinda makes me wish death mark 2 was just.... death mark..... the sequel.... as in a direct continuation of dm1's plot w mary?

art wise i like the ghosts but they're not as unnerving as the prev games. also yashiki doesn't look as old n tired booo - he's beautiful to me either way but still

i notice some people have a hard time figuring out if they're doing the right thing or not n it makes them frustrated. the fact that there's so many unavoidable casualties this time definitely adds to that

side note: it's cool that the first thing you see when you start a new game is a flash of the bad end cg. scary

final verdict: personally i think it's mid. this will not stop me from drawing a bunch of fanart where i completely make things up xoxo

#text post

[anamelessfool]

I woke up today screeching

"THE TIMELINE! RAHHH THE TIMELINE!!!!"

I appreciate everybody enjoying my worldbuilding so here's a lil process moment.

Sometime last year I put together a timeline for my AU. There's a few canon dates I wanted to keep, some I needed to tweak for dramatic purposes and because I do what I want. For instance, I decided Primo's reign starts in 1993. Whatever, they're a vintage-sounding band in Opus so it doesn't really matter. I figured out character ages, join dates, summoning dates, etc.

Then I started to notice some weird connections. Connections for plots!!! For drama!!!

My insane ranting below the cut, kudos to you for still being here. (TLDR: make a timeline for your characters and plots will appear!)

For instance: Marian joined in 2002. Was in a relationship with Secondo and his partner soon after. Secondo's son happened to be born in 2004. That could be a deal breaker. That could probably make Marian wanna break up with them. Secondo thinks the world revolves around him and Marian is a commitment phobe. PLOT DRAMAAA!

Ok, so when was Omega summoned? 2005. Terzo wanted to buy a gift for Omega. No idea yet why. Oh! 2006 is one year later, maybe Secondo got married then. Sure, ok he did, done! So commitment phobe Terzo is hit in the head repeatedly by a commitment ceremony. A story about commitment in the shadow of a big formal thing everyone is forced to participate in. That's how I came up with my domestic Terzomega "Ribbons and Ties". DRAMAAAA!

So my latest one came about after I posted my Papa Camino story with his death date on it: 1983

I decided for dramatic purposes Terzo runs away from home 1984-1986. Took me weeks to figure out why, but I did. And no I'm not telling why yet.

But how? How would he run away? And what would be the last straw?

Oh hey what if I had Camino die in 1984 instead and then the whole gang had to attend his funeral in New York City? Giant city to get lost in. To slip out when nobody notices. Sure, whatever, what's another year on this dude's life. Esp for drama. You're welcome.

Yes, a funeral would be the perfect place to contemplate your existence. And to see some fakers and shitheads be all weepy and performative. I've been there. I've seen it. Yeah this is a great environment for a "I can't take this anymore" major life decision.

I then thought of a scene where he just says "I can't take this anymore" and leaves. But we can't have him just say that to the wall. Somebody needs to hear. To once again ignore him. For drama. Who should he say that to? Who would be resistant enough to him wandering away AND pretty much powerless/too apathetic to stop it? (Aka bring the most drama possible?) Primo would convince him back, he's kind. Nihil would be like "hey sounds cool man happy trails" because he was a wanderer himself. Copia is too young to get it, and also they don't have a strong enough relationship. Who else? Who?

Secondo. Always goes back to that guy. I think because deep down he's the dumbest one of all. (At least when he's young and naive! He gets his redemption!)

And to be a little cagey, Secondo knows things in 1984 that Terzo doesn't. But can't say em if he ever wants to be Papa Emeritus. So...yeah he'd half listen to Terzo and then just let him leave. Let's throw that scene into this other fic I'm writing. Maybe it will motivate plot in the future. Will be subtext for a future conversation. Yes yes delicious drama!

So yeah this is how you go insane.

#worldbuilding #ghost scenes from the void #fanfiction writer

[clambuoyance]

Favorite Superboy villain (if you have one, if not then favorite sb comic) and a plotline you think had a lot of potential but should have been written better

idk about villain (maybe black zero or he's not technically a superboy villain but his fight with cyborg superman was cool.) buttttt in terms of potential i think a lot of sb comics are filled with half-baked ideas that never get to see full fruition :P

i think my favorite is hypertime probably because 1) i liked seeing all the diff kons (into the konverse....) esp robin!kon <3 and 2) seeing him confront Paul and Black Zero and grapple with the darker aspects of himself was neat. I liked seeing the powers Kon could possibly gain in the future and he's just so <333 in that arc. It's been a long while since ive read it tho so i could probably go into more depth if i reread 3) also around this time he's been feeling very down and so seeing yj ask about his whereabouts and mickey cannon being like "i didnt realize so many people cared about him" made me go aaaaaah and later kon asking clark if he came back to the right reality was so interesting to me. i think this arc presents a really neat struggle with belonging and knowing ur place in the universe and it was like yeah <3 he belongs in this reality he is so loved <3

i think my other favorite is him in the whole apokolips arc between his solo and yj. i liked seeing him and his conflict with tim finally reach its climax and him having to deal with the fallout and consequences it has on his friendships w all of yj really, however i was pretty disappointed to not actually see an apology scene between tim and kon even if i think the yj team reuniting chaotically was very in fashion for them

and the whole sins of youth arc in general was cool :0 it gave me the "All I got is who I am!" line so <3

Some other things i liked was the whole peter pan thing ofc --there was a couple issues where he gets trapped in a place and they try to do a lost boys thing but didnt commit (but i have a fic idea thats got one page written about this).

i kinda liked most of his arcs in general, from the beginning with him learning to be a hero in ROTS to him trying to make a name for himself and messing up a lot along the way but continuing to try anyways. but like i said, i think if these emotional arcs could go One step further or allowed to delve into some of the darkness of these arcs or didnt fall back onto tropes his solo would have been stronger.

for example, during the cadmus era of his life, i would have liked to see more exploration of the fact he's back in the place that made him and now have him working for them. or in the hawaii era, they could have gone into how he could have had friends his age at school but got thrown into a wack ass love triangle. in general, the hawaiian issues could have been treated with more respect as well. they also introduced silver sword, but it didn't go anywhere i feel like T-T

also for the kon in smallville plotline i think it would have been cooler to see kon struggle more to be a regular person but his rebel streak keeps taking over

sorry this was all over the place i literally could talk about it for hours which i dont have time for so i just kinda spouted random things <3

#i just like his personality a lot gnsdawdag #clam answers #dc

[moralesmilesanhour]

I was intrigued when you said that ATSV made characters pretty and not too exaggerated (like Tmnt Mutant Mayham or Kingpin from the first movie.) And it reminded me of some cencept art where Miles had some facial hair on his upper lip and the movie scene where he mentions it. If he kept it, maybe he wouldn't be seen as "attractive", but I think it may have added to his character. I just like dorky Miles and think that maybe he wanted to grow it out to look a bit more like his dad or uncle >♡< it's just a funny and endearing thought that he's still trying to grow into himself :D

No wait that would've been so cute!! Like I really do wish they allowed Miles to not only be awkward and dorky but to also *look* it. I think we're slowly breaking away from Black (esp male) characters whose personality and style are just "cool black teen" but I would've loved if they had pushed it further with Miles like let him be a Blerd!!

#asks #i'll take specificity and character over conventional attractiveness any day

[saw-x]

Scream 6 thoughts

I saw the movie last night and I have a lot of thoughts and I just wanted to get them out. There will be spoilers below the cut - read at your own risk

I really liked the opening and enjoyed the twist of unmasking the ghostface, only for that ghostface to be killed by the main ghostfaces of the film

Sam’s arc in the movie is a highlight and I liked her a lot more in this compared to Scream 5

Sam’s therapy session is hilarious - when she said “i stabbed him 22 times and slit his throat” the therapist’s reaction was hilarious

I found it unintentionally hilarious when Sam was looking at Billy’s robe in the glass case with her hand to the glass like she was ready to be possessed by his spirit of something 🙃

Gale dodging Sam’s punch only to be hit by Tara is a highlight

Some people might think that Gale still writing about the Woodsboro murders that happened is a regression in character but honestly it feels true to Gale imo

Like that they mentioned Sidney - honestly don’t mind her not being in these films because it means she got her happy ending which she deserves

Meta commentary was weak and they didn’t have much to say (“we’re in a franchise now” - mindy pls this is the sixth installment 😭)

Very glad to say Gale and Kirby survived - I thought for sure Gale was a goner and mentally prepared myself for it to happen

Liked that the kills are a bit more intense/violent compared to other films in the franchise

Certain scenes feel like they serve no purpose other than to mislead the audience and make little logical sense to me (e.g. Ethan helping Mindy off the subway - why not just let her die or finish her off? nobody on the subway even noticed her. It is just in there to throw suspicion off of him. Det. Bailey calling the FBI to ask about Kirby only exists to make his assertion that she snapped more believable to the viewer)

Seeing two ghostfaces kill together and do a simultaneous knife wipe was so cool

I had gotten the feeling from language used in interviews that there were three killers pretty early on before the film so wasn’t too shocked by that reveal

Detective Bailey and Quinn are the most obvious killers in the franchise in my opinion - faked death is always a big red flag in this franchise

I didn’t guess Ethan because honestly I forgot about him dsjflkajdlk

The super secret cameo that had been hyped up being Richie is super disappointing for me

The scene where Kirby and Mindy are geeking out over horror movies is cute (but do people REALLY like both Candyman movies equally... I for one don’t)

Gale scrolling the Stab reddit sent me for some reason

Gale’s first ghostface call... it’s been a long time coming and ghostface taunting her about dewey nearly killed me

Also is it just me or is it dumb how Gale shoots like 5 shots at the door?

I find it kinda amusing that this movie marketed this ghostface as ‘something different’ yet so many of his victims miraculously survive

In a way I’m happy that all the returning characters survived as I like them all, but it does make the stakes feel a lot lower (esp Chad, he was stabbed so many times smh)

This movie feels like the requel version of scream 2 but scream 2 is so much better

The killer family angle is kinda weak in my opinion and this was probably one of my least favourite killer reveals

You can really tell they’re Richie’s family cos they’re so lame

Chad and Tara are kinda cute

Danny had literally no role besides just standing around lmao

Love the nods to previous films with the shrines and the way that the killer’s masks were being left at the crimescenes

Sam killing in Billy’s ghostface robe was great

#scream #scream vi #scream 6 #scream vi spoilers #scream 6 spoilers #this is word vomit 😭 #and in no comprehensible order

[ettawritesnstudies]

Do you know any good fantasy (with maybe a hint of romance?) That are clean and not necessarily Christian but at least aren't full of anti Christian values? I am trying to find books to get my 12 year old sister to read, but I just don't read a lot of fantasy that isn't super complicated. I got her to read Caraval and she's loving that.

And you seem to know about a lot of books!

Absolutely!

The Rangers Apprentice series is a lot of fun as a character study. The worldbuiling falls apart after book 2 in the fantasy department but it's still a good story. It follows an orphan named Will as he learns how to be a ranger and protect the kingdom so there's a lot of themes about duty and devotion and friendship that make it really wholesome. There are depictions of battles and fight scenes where enemies die and characters get hurt but it's mostly PG. Book 3 does deal with some addiction and drug use but it's painted in a negative context. Extremely slow burn romance friends to lovers stretching over several books. There are references to Norse adjacent gods in the fictional swears but the religion aspect is pretty much irrelevant to the story. My 9 year old sister and 13 year old brother have read these and love them and they were my favorite when I was that age.

The Chronicles of Prydain is very similar to LOTR in theme and setting but it's geared towards kids so it's VERY fast paced by comparison. Absolutely one of my favorite series of all time, it follows Taran Assistant Pig Keeper as becomes a warrior and a man and learns that being a warrior is less important than being a good man. The one female character Eilonwy is great, she gets kind of sidelined by the author but the fandom (esp. @highqueenofprydain ) have fics to fix that. Also slow burn romance that doesn't get resolved until literally the last page of the series.

The Wingfeather Saga is my newest all time favorite. It's by a Christian author and has a lot of biblical references in it and the storytelling is incredible. It has the most realistic depiction of siblings in fiction I think I've ever read and the worldbuiling is genius. Implied romance in the form of childhood crush but it's very cute and feels like it'll build to more after the book is closed.

Some of my old favorites are also A Wrinkle in Time and The Little Prince. I recently read Coraline which is kind of scary but also really great. Amazing short stand alones with messages of courage and love triumphing over all.

Daughter of the Sun (the mothmar trilogy) by Amanda Auler is a new Christian fantasy that's a little more heavy/dark in theme so I would maybe hold off on recommending it to your sister until she's more in YA territory but it's EXCELLENT. I reviewed the first book here and I should have a ARC going up for the second book in the next week or so. Slow burn romance, brilliant worldbuiling, deep themes.

Heart of the Sea is another book I just read recently which is clean but also YA and more towards the romance side. It's a pirate adventure and it's just a lot of fun so for a standalone I think she'd enjoy it.

I remember when I was in high school I really liked the Lunar Chronicles series which is sci-fi fairy tale adaptations. Because it's classic princess stories there is romance and it's YA clean, and the sci-fi adventure part is exciting and very fun.

A lot of classic children's books are very good too, I would have to find a list but I grew up on the likes of Treasure Island and Anne of Green Gables. Not fantasy but it's always cool to read stuff that was written in a different time period.

I hope this helps! I'll add to it if I can come up with more.

#book recommendations

[dolceaspidenera]

Hii! when I read your post about bg3 and what could be better, it’s like you I’ve read everything on my mind. I love this game, it’s an absolute masterpiece, that’s an undeniable truth. I desperately wanted sth like this after I fell in love with DA games. the minute I knew I can romance Astarion I jumped at the chance - because LOOK AT HIM!! and they’ve given him the BEST voice actor, the BEST character backstory- better and richer than any of the DA characters had. he feels alive, everything in his behaviour and motivations makes sense, the whole breaking the cycle of abuse is incredibly deep. And really makes me crave for more..more party banter, more things to talk about overall. there are certain shining moments between him and Shadowheart, moments where she teases him or is curious about certain things. YES GIVE ME MORE OF THIS overall with all the companions!

100% agree about how it is frustrating that companion reactions get overridden. I romanced Asta and wanted to hear his reaction to the owlbear and he got blocked by Shadowheart. why??? if anyone has sth to say let them say it.

Now I’m gonna rant a bit about Asta’s content in act 3. there’s quite a big difference between act 1 and 3 in terms of camp cutscenes. while in act 1 you have to long rest pretty much constantly to see everything that’s queued up, in act 3 it isn’t necessary. act 3 feels much emptier esp when it comes to Astarion or Karlach. Cazador isn’t involved in the main plotline so there’s no incentive to deal with him unless you really want to help Asty. Karlach and her soul coins - i didn’t understand their purpose, guess it was scrapped. same as the possibility for Asty to explore different ways to release himself from Cazador’s clutches, to be able to stay in the sun. as it is now there’s nothing for him, just a throwaway dialogue option added last minute that you’re going to look for the solution together. that solution should have been available in act 3–another scrapped content—necromancy of thay. as it stands now - I think mainly because of this missing content, there’s only one option to help Asty see reason to refuse the ritual and even that requires high persuasion check. all that we’re given is one good choice (which you can’t probably pass with a non-charismatic character) and two bad choices with one of them being No I won’t help you which does not give you any additional chances to reason with him. which there should’ve been especially if he’s romanced and on the highest approval. lastly, we should’ve been given a waaaay more satisfying conclusion - once again as it stands now, it deeply hurt me to watch him run away from the sun with nobody expressing any sort of concern for him whatsoever. he deserves better. and i’m too old and tired to write a fix-it fic about this 🙈

the end of rant 😅

Hi! Thank you for sharing your opinions with me 😊 I agree with you, I would've preferred, for example, fewer shiny objects and more party banters/cutscenes with our companions. Especially when it comes to friendship interactions, you really feel a lack of content. They are all amazing characters and I wish we could spend more time with them, it would have been cool to have something similar to the Citadel DLC in Mass Effect.

Regarding the companions' reactions that override each other, if Larian is hell-bent on leaving it like that, I hope there will be some saint modder out there who will be able to get rid of this mechanic. I'd do it myself but unfortunately I know nothing of how mods work 😭

And Yes, after completing the quest for the characters there's 0 content after that unfortunately when it comes to interactions in camp. Don't get me started on our best girl Karlach, they really did dirty to her. Her confrontation with Gortash is the most anti-climatic thing I've ever seen. She gets angry, understandably so, for like 5 minutes, and then that's it, everything is back to normal. AT least give us a cut scene with her stabbing the hell out of Gortash, them staring in each other eyes while he dies, give me some pathos, something! It's supposed to be the climax of her narrative arch, c'mon!

There's definitely a lot of cut content, I don't know if it's because they ran out of time or they were having budget issues, maybe a bit of both. I hope they will add them back later but I honestly doubt that. Unfortunately, the ending is really lacking as well, you can really see that they ran out of time there. Larian promised they would fix it, so I hope they manage to put together a satisfactory epilogue for all the characters. I reeeeeeally hate Astarion's ending in particular, there's no way my character wouldn't run after him to make sure he's okay and to comfort him. It would have been cool to have at least a party like the one with the tieflings in Act 1 to properly say goodbye to all characters (Dragon Age Origins really nailed it in that sense, even if it's brief you have the chance to speak with all characters and ask them for their future plans after the final battle).

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur’s gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #astarion #astarion ancunin #karlach #karlach cliffgate

[bloodboundsiege]

out of curiosity, what made you decide to make this into a full fledged visual novel instead of just writing a fic? esp since afaik there hasn't been a demand/outcry for more bloodbound

(this ended up being rlly long, so I'm putting it under a cut. if you don't want to read all of that, the tl;dr is I've been working on an spec adaptation of Bloodbound since 2021, I've been making edits with Choices assets for a little over a year now, and I started messing around with ren'py during my stint in the now no longer active @nightboundthesecond project, and this spinoff is the culmination of all of those things bc I wanted to do something w them).

Anyways, here's the long version:

So...I kind of already did. Sort of.

In summer of 2021, I was going through a pretty bad depressive episode and ended up rereading Bloodbound (which got me back into the fandom as a whole, more on that in a sec). When the dust cleared, I began really heavily reconsidering what exactly I was doing with my life.

I'd been toying with the possibility of doing a film MFA of some kind, but I was worried I didn't have the skillset to get into any grad programs. So, I began teaching myself how to write screenplays by adapting Bloodbound into a spec TV series. From August 2021 to April 2022, I wrote twenty-eight episodes, with three rounds of revisions, which really strengthened my abilities as a writer. I'm currently at a T10 film school getting an MFA. I wouldn't be where I am without doing that. Part of my love for Bloodbound stems from the fact that it quite literally changed my life.

The very nature of turning a book into a screenplay/teleplay is that you have to restructure a lot of plot points so they fit in better with the new medium. With a TV adaptation, you also usually have to build onto the source material. For Bloodbound, that meant fleshing things out and creating new characters to move the plot forward. It also meant exploring things that either happened offscreen or were only brief scenes.

And so when it came time to write episodes for the book 2 adaptation, the huge aspect of that was going into New York City and seeing what Gaius was doing during his hostile takeover. And since I had very little to work with from the source material, I had to come up with a lot of stuff off the cuff. And as I put those storylines together, I was like there's actually some pretty interesting stuff here. This visual novel is based off of that stuff.

@clansayeed and his fantastic reimaginings of Bloodbound and Nightbound had been on my radar for a while at this point, but I wasn't aware of the fake caps he made until I actually checked out his tumblr account. I thought they were really fucking cool. As a little private celebration for finishing the third round of edits for season 1 (and to let myself take a break), I decided to teach myself how to make fakecaps and recreate a few scenes from my adaptation in the Choices format:

I found out that I really enjoyed reworking assets into new outfits and character designs--lowkey, putting on a podcast or a video essay, opening up pixlr, and just making stuff became one of my go-to ways to unwind in the midst of mfa apps and life in general--, so I started making more fandom service stuff for fun and posting them on Reddit. I made a variety of stuff: role reversal AU edits, general dress up stuff, and of course... "on the set of [choices book]: the tv show" fake caps.

I feel like you're not really supposed to say this, but it was kind of validating to me that a lot of those posts did like. Decent numbers. And that kind of motivated me to get better at doing it, especially in the beginning.

And then...It Lives Within dropped. And I think that shifted a lot of how people--myself included--considered what they could do within a fandom space like Choices. Like, if we could make our own shit, why not? I was really intrigued by the idea, and so when there were calls for writers and sprite artists for a Nightbound project, I jumped at the opportunity.

(As a side note, I think the fact that now there are people within the fandom making their own sequels/spinoffs/whatever is gonna be rlly interesting for the general ecosystem of the Choices fandom and its future, but that's a convo for another time lol)

While the team I was on is no longer working on a sequel, being part of that group did a lot for me, and I look back on being part of that really fondly. I think we all were kind of picking up whatever we needed to do, regardless of if it was what we signed on for. For me, that meant teaching myself how to use Ren'py. The thing was, this was still in the really early stages of development, which meant I didn't have a lot of story to play with. So...

I was kind of like. Fuck it. Let me try my own thing out.

The original idea was actually a prequel set in the 1910s, as I'd done an MC set and an LI set based on that very premise, but the problem was that there are so few assets from that time period, and asset creation has never been my strong suit. But then, I thought back to the adaptation I'd been working on.

Some of the strongest writing I think I've ever done was in the episodes where the primary storylines were following Gaius's takeover of New York. I think a lot of the themes of the second book came out in those moments. And as cool as it would be, as much as I've fantasized about it, I don't think Bloodbound: The TV Show is ever happening. So it made sense for me to rework that into a visual novel spinoff.

In terms of the actual framing of this story, I spent a lot of time in the Bloodbound tags in the early days of working on my adaptation. I was deep in those tags. And it's really interesting to see what people expected it to be before its release. Part of it was the assumption of a Clan sorting system. Obviously, that wasn't actually the case.

Additionally, I think a lot of people were frustrated by the fact that Bloodbound's MC isn't really given the option to just. Be bad. Which then makes moments like this super jarring:

So, I decided to put everything I'd learned together. I was working on the GUI/character creation features for Nightbound (side note, the GUI in this game isn't an absolutely perfect replication of the Choices GUI yet and won't be for the demo, but we're getting there), I had a ton of edits I'd made that I wasn't using for anything, and I had a story that I knew could be reworked into an arc about a new vampire in New York City during Gaius's coup.

But with this project in general, it's less about a demand for a sequel/midquel/spinoff within the fandom and more like. I noticed that there were some things people wanted out of Bloodbound and didn't get, and trying to give it to them, because I wanted those things too, and I felt like I had the means to create that. When I've talked to IRL friends about this project (non of whom play Choices), I've just been like "yeah it's a visual novel fanfic" because...it's a visual novel fanfic.

So. That's why.

(This was super long (and felt a little self centered, sorry!), but if you read all of that, I hope it all made sense. All of this is to say that this has been a labor of love for a book series I've been living with for a year and a half, and I want to get part of what I've done with it out of my head. I hope you all like it.)

#bloodbound #bloodbound the siege #anon #ask #sorry this was so fucking long but i rarely get to talk about this stuff lol