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frauleinandry · 30 days

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a persona 3 reload review

uuuuuuh so i was meant to post this like... two weeks ago, but then real life hit me in the head like a frying pan. now that i've had the time to edit this though, here are my thoughts on p3re! this is also a minato route review, as i played kotone's in P3P (i know it's not his canon name, but i don't want to use makoto due to P5 confusion).

on the whole, reload is a fantastic game. the gameplay easily rivals P5R, and surpasses it in some aspects. the new content is typically great. i also enjoyed minato as a character (well, as much of a character as persona protagonists are anyway), though that leads me to the main gripe i had with reload...

... and that's the lack of kotone's social links. to be precise, two of her social links, the absence of which greatly hurts the overall story.

don't get me wrong, i'd still rank reload a solid 8/10, but it could have been a 10/10 with the addition of those two links (plus one other spoiler thing), and I think that's a shame.

my in depth analysis is under the cut - note, it's very much not spoiler free.

okay, so, i'm gonna split this into 3.5 segments - the good, the mixed, and the bad (you'll find out what the 0.5 is later).

1. the good:

minato - while i'm still a kotone girlie at heart, he's not a bad protagonist at all! his dialogue options have a very distinct personality to them unlike joker and yu, and his character arc is one of the best of all of the persona main leads. an aloof, apathetic boy who learns to love the world/his friends so much he's willing to die for them... it's good!

koromaru - minor, but worth mentioning. you can pat him, and it's so cute. in fact, everything about him is perfect. from his all-out attack screen, to his animations, to... well, everything. no joke, if I needed to sell this game to a non-persona fan, i'd use him as the main draw.

hangout events - while I think being able to chat to everyone in the dorm already made SEES one of the more developed casts, having additional scenes really helped flesh out the party members who are less prominent in the plot (fuuka, pre-january aigis, ken). more things to do at night is also great, given there was nothing to do in the evening after maxing your social stats in the older versions. the perks they give you are great too, but i'll talk about that more later.

voice acting - not gonna lie, i generally don't like the persona dubs, and normally always play with the JP audio. given reload features some of my favourite voice actors though and was basically fully voiced, i decided to give it a chance this time. and i don't regret it! while some actors are definitely stronger than others, none of them were actively jarring, and quite frankly, they hard carried a lot of the social links. kudos to the cast!

strega - while they could have gone a bit further with it (jin needed a linked episode for sure), takaya finally got the development he sorely needed, and his and jin's final battles were actually interesting, instead of being annoying distractions from nyx. in fact, i'd say takaya's new content is easily the best of the new reload exclusive material. in portable, he made no impression on me whatsoever, but now, he finally gets to be the anti!minato he deserves to be.

1.5. the tartarus (aka good part 2, electric boogaloo):

i have so many things to gush about in terms of the new combat/exploration system, i decided it needed its own section! the glow-up tartarus got was massive. i was pretty disappointed when i heard they were keeping it randomly generated, but somehow, atlus pulled it off! i'll talk about individual things below.

collectables/monad doors - one issue with OG tartarus is that it's monotonous. breakable collectables make it much more entertaining to romp through though, as smashing things is Fun. the monad doors interspersed throughout are another good addition - if you want a break from roaming, you can challenge them, but if not, that's fine!

floor layout - another thing that makes tartatus more fresh to explore is that the HD graphics really make the differences between the blocks pop out. the generally smaller floors with more unique layouts really helps too.

shifting - it's baton pass, though without the ridiculous power/sp bonuses that made baton pass a little bit too gamebreaking in persona 5. in other words, perfect!

theurgy - out of all the battle-specific improvements, theurgy and the personality traits have got to be my favourites. showtimes were fun, but too random/gimmicky to be that useful, and ultimate skills tended to fluctuate between being absolutely gamebreaking or too SP intensive to be worth using. blending them into one feature with a content-specific gauge fixes all the problems with them while keeping everything that made showtimes/ultimate skills good.

ambush mechanics - this was one of the things i was most worried about before playing reload. ambushing in P5 is fun, but ambushing in the other persona games...? not so much. reload manages to fix this though by making the shadows less sensitive, which makes the early game a lot better, and but introducing dash-ambushes once the floors get bigger. if the persona 6 ambush system works like this, i'll be happy.

navigator skills - fuuka being retooled to work more like a playable character was an A+++ decision. making her skills player-activated but with an SP cost is so much more immersive than randomly getting a stat boost/enemy info.

unfortunately, while i think most of the tartarus additions were great, there were a few new mechanics which weren't... dreadful, per say, but could have been implemented better.

great clocks - they're better than nothing, but quite frankly, i would have preferred it if benched units got 50% exp instead. they incentivise you to drop two units for a period of time, which is annoying, given i want to use everyone on my first playthrough. late game, great clocks are also a pain to summon, for reasons i'll talk about below.

twilight fragments - i think they're a neat idea in theory, but they need to be easier/more reliable to farm. once you finish off the bulk of your social links/elizabeth's requests, replenishing them becomes a nightmare, which is annoying because you need them for great clocks.

2. the mixed:

while reload did a lot of things right, as per above, there were some things that didn't quite hit the mark.

linked episodes - i'm gonna be blunt. anyone who thinks these are better than social links is smoking something. one thing i like about party member social links is that it gives them a subplot outside of the main story, focusing more on their mundane struggles as opposed to their supernatural ones. half of the linked episodes just develop the main plot more though (and really should have just been included in it), meaning the linked episode exclusive subplots are underbaked.

another problem is that some of the linked episodes are just... kinda badly written. ryoji's completely lacks his existential dread, akihiko's comes off as a poor attempt to make his arena behaviour less OOC, while shinjiro's... it feels like persona 5 writing, in the worst way possible. it's like atlus completely forgot that subtext is a thing that's Good, actually.

while I have been fairly critical of them so far though, there are a couple of linked episodes i liked. koromaru's actually worked with the format, given he's a dog, but the real winner here was takaya. i loved all of his. if linked episodes appear again, i'd rather they be locked to antagonists like him.

art direction- i'll say right now - the UI is fabulous, the model shaders are great, and tartarus looks fantastic. the environmental design on the whole though is a bit iffy - a lot of the environments didn't translate to the super HD very well, and the lighting sucks in general. i needed to turn down the brightness it was so eye-searing. the animation of the 2D cutscenes is also pretty mediocre, and while the 3D cutscenes tend to look better, they're held back by some of the character models looking a bit goofy (mitsuru's is probably the biggest offender). i also think they were too scared of making the sprites 'ugly', and therefore on the whole they're slightly less emotive than the ones in the older versions of the game, which is a pity.

3. the bad:

minato's social links - the vast majority of the minato-exclusive social links are just flat-out not great. serious props to the voice actors here, since they hard carried them. quite frankly, they're just... bland, except for maya's and suemitsu's, which. uh. have problems. on the topic of social links, while i'm happy the romance isn't mandatory anymore, i don't like how half the girls explicitly confess to you. i much prefer the more subtle vibes of the P5/P4 romantic options, as yeah, most of them can lead naturally into romance, but they don't make the MC feel like a harem anime protagonist (derogatory). it kinda brings to mind this twitter post; sometimes, subtlety is simply better.

the absence of shinji and ryoji's social links - i can live without saori, rio, and most of the new and improved SEES member social links, but this is where i draw the line. while shinji dying is better storytelling, just like with chidori, having the option to save him is also important. lock it behind new game plus, yes... but keep it. also, him priming kotone to support akihiko one he's gone is far better than him just flat-out telling minato that he's dying. ryoji's missing social link though is infinitely worse. where is his slowly mounting horror as he starts poking holes in his backstory? his desperation to validate that he's actually real? that he exists?! like yeah, it's nice that the linked episode doubled down on his bisexuality, but i'd rather keep the psychological breakdown aspects of it, y'know?

the difficulty - i started playing reload normal - the level i'd typically use for a blind run of a persona game - aaaaand swapped to hard the second i unlocked theurgy. even then though, the game was a cakewalk until january hit. while i love theurgy, the game is absolutely not scaled around it, especially since you can charge/concentrate them. doing that, you can easily rack up thousands of damage without even going ham with fusion. unfortunately, reload is just... really easy.

the plot's too faithful to the original - while reload added new content, it pretty much left the story untouched outside of the beach scene. that's... not good, as persona 3's narrative had some pretty big problems. the biggest issue is the unchanged pacing - the strega storyline really needed to start a month earlier, and ryoji needed an extra month to integrate with the characters due to his lack of social link. this is one of the things i'm explicitly docking a point for - reload still doesn't kick off until the yakushima arc, which is well over a third into the game.

despite my criticisms, i do want to note that my experience with reload was predominately positive. it's (extremely) sad that you still need to play portable to experience the full persona 3 story, but p3re is still a fantastic game, and has a lot of gameplay features i'd be delighted to see in persona 6.

that's all i've got to say for now - until next time!

#persona 3 #persona 3 reload #p3re #p3 reload #review tag

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applesandbannas747 · 6 months

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For the fic writer ask, 10, 34 and 38?

ahh!! thank you for playing more silly ask games with meee <33

10. How do you decide what to write?

whatever makes my brain go brrrr. lmfao I have a million ideas that collect in my brain (and then get jotted down in notes lest I forget them all), and then from them I'll kinda pick what to write based on a couple of things: interest level at the moment of choosing, ship, length, and genre.

Biggest thing that indicates something will be written immediately is when I start composing scenes in my head while falling asleep or zoning out--that usually means it's Time to work on that project, but that's not always how things get picked.

I do try (and I used to be better at it) to stagger my fics in a way that keeps my readers happy/interested. So I try to even out the Nichoji v Eugesse ratio I write, meaning if I just finished a long Eugesse fic, I'd look to choose from a Nichoji idea. And generally when I'm working on longer projects, little ones will pop up to keep the crops diversified in my brain and all that--and those ones always kinda happen on whims/accident and then get stored away for months/years until I have a posting gap they can fill. And genre lmfaooo it was my intention to give people realistic fiction between my fantasy bullshit but that particular criterion has been given up on and I've just accepted it at this point

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

ooo I've said it before but my love for my family and relationship with my siblings really influences the way I write the Labaos--none of the Labao children are based on me or any of my siblings and none of the relationships were copy pasted onto them, but the strong basis of love and bullshittery everything is built on is from my life. and of course the mental illness do be sneaking into all the Fence boys lmfao oops

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

honestly fucking baffled in the best way when my things get popular lmfao i still can't believe people like some of my stories so much! There's probably four that I think completely surprised me

Fairy Bound gained a lot of fans I was not expecting, especially given the size of the fandom (it's not super big and I thought it had died out a lot more than it has because it's older) and the controversy of the ship (human/fairy with large age gap, you know the drill). I think one of the reasons it got so popular is because of it being a T-rated and longer fic for the ship when most of the longer fics for them were M or E and so it filled a niche? Also it was canon compliant (at least until the sequel series came out...but i don't really see those as canon anyway so my thing still fits into the OG canon yknow?)

More was my very first Fence fic that I wrote because I could not find ANY Nichoji kissing fics and wanted those fuckers to kiss. Which, I think, is why other people liked it, but I was so surprised (in a good way) with how many people commented on it and wanted to read more. It remains my most-kudo'd fence fic, which has honestly got to be from its time accumulating those kudos XD but it makes me smile whenever I get a new kudos on it because it's nice to know that people still like it since it was what jumpstarted my time in the fence fandom

Can't Get Over You is one that baffled me for ages because I had a great time writing it, but I don't think it's my strongest fic by far...and then I realized that maybe other people are as terrible as I am and enjoy the trope of Nick fucking up really bad being mean to Seiji and making him cry, then having to spend ages getting him to believe he loves him. Sometimes makes me wonder if I should post more with that trope or if it would be too upsetti spegetti XD

And then Promised Things I seriously didn't expect to get much traction, and yet, it surpassed Truths, my until-then legacy fic...Turns out business romance is a whole genre that people do be enjoying but I just thought I was being boring because how does 'businessman au' sound appealing to anyone at all except the dumb asshole who wrote it??? also i made so many lingerie jokes in that one and am still delighted that y'all just let me get away with it

#jackshit #ask games #thanks for the ask!!💜#i always love babbling about fence in any capacity lmfao

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mrstsung · 2 years

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My self ship with shang in a nutshell

*may be subject to change because im still working on it fully*

💚🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚

In my au. Shang after a certain amount of times he got his ass kicked by liu kang (my hc verse the whole thing in aftetmath did happen but things got "reset" and everyone sorta lived but don't remember shit cept in vague dreams n visions well the gods do at least. Therefore i can keep some things while rearranging the furniture so to speak. The crown is rewritten as an elder god artifact and shang only added to it not created it. And kronika gets killed off waaaaay before any of that shit. And is rewritten to be an elder god of time(of future) and geras(of past) because f that stupid titans bullshit. Cetrion is rewritten to be a main antagonist and more important. And basically I'm making this way better than canons shitshow of a so called "plot" ). He got sent to gay baby jail . And now is fighting for his freedom. Many years go by. Every 10yrs or so he can challenge for his freedom. In a minor tournament of mortal kombat. No fatalities,no powers,only fists. Basically a normal martial tournament however fatalities are not required,only suggested. However you still only get 3 mercys/friendships/sparings. Because rule of 3. Anyways. Basically shang is lonely,desperate and tired.

So....here comes me. Washed up randomly on his beach. (I haven't come up with any true background before yet. So go easy on me.) And shang's like owo whats dis?! Because look this binch aint got none in how long? And also is hella desperate to get free like i said. Theres more to it but I'll leave it at that for now.

At first he's like

You can check out any time you like,but you can never leave. Hotel California head ass.

Then he's like

I would be happy to train you. Because he needs help. He definitely at first tho before this plays the "cute helpless old man" because of course shang would. -_-

But I'm not gonna make it easy on you.

Then i train hard. A few years go by. Things heat up between me n shang. And well feelings develop. And he's not sure if he wants me in a tournament. Because he's scared of actually losing me.

Cute ol man. Look don't judge me. Old man shang is hella cute too. Like i love all shang tsung ok? Im a shang tsimp.

And then somehow,some way anyway. Entered into a minor tournament. Either snuck in or he gave in. Either way.

Shang isn't happy. But he allows it,under close supervision.

But somehow. By a miracle. I win

This pleases shang. Now he has his freedom. Lucky for them thats all he got. And nobody truly died. But shang is now a free dude. And no longer bound to his island.

But of course shit dont stay so sweet because its mortal fuckin kombat.

This asshole gets resurrected somehow,and kidnaps me because reasons.

Bald ahh binch.

Shang isn't happy

But it's ok because he saves me. And that's when things get super serious for me n shang. And he of course gains his youth and vitality more back(which would be jarring for me ngl but its all good). And of course after that close call he trains me slightly in magic,only enough for defense of course. Nothing major. As he doesn't want me to not only surpass him.(its shang ok you knew this was gonna be a problem) but also because he wants me to not end up like him. The one pure soul he cares for. That and some dope ass magic armor.

And after that pretty much we live on the island for the most part in peace.

Minus the occasional outside problem or two

(Srry for the mk legends shang tsung spam tho. Because bruuuuuh. He is hella cool in that movie. Nothing beats tagawa,he's the og after all. But mk legends BOTR and SR shang tsung is dope af design. The voice is ok. I always imagined shang to have a lower set voice tho. Mellow and snakey and almost hypnotic. Like fr. Smooth like butter. Because how else can someone so notoriously snake tongued be not having a voice that sound delicious? And also knows Exactly how to treat someone? Or exactly what to say or comfort. Like fr. This is basic 101. (I do believe shang tsung can love deeply. And genuinely. Its just been a hot ass minute since that and he dont trust easy due to a lot of factors but a majority of that is when he was in service under shao Khan)

But yeah that's basically it.

#mortal kombat #self shipping #self ship #shang tsung #💚heart and soul🐍#shang tsung mortal kombat #mk f/o #antagonist f/o #villain f/o #villain/antagonist f/o #my self ship summery #may be subject to change tho

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nono-bunny · 2 months

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Thoughts from watching the ATLA live action!

Took a bit of a break because writing these while watching takes a lot of time, actually, but! I'm back on my bullshit again, let's go!

Episode 3:

Jet? Is this Jet? Truly wish I could tell, it would be nice if I could fucking SEE ANYTHING!!!

Oh I do think it's just some rando rebels, but looks who's with them, oh my god! Dang dang diggity dand-dang, it's the best villain of the show! Me recognizing her so fast is 100% a matter of me being really impressed with the way she looked in all the official stills and being really hyped to get more of her because of how much I love Azula rather than it being obvious btw, I kinda tried not to watch any pre-release stuff to not get biased in either direction when it came to the actors, like mostly I just read a couple of interviews whenever they popped up for me, so. Genuinely this is gonna be probably one of the only times I'll recognize a character based on face alone when they first appear without their classic outfit (which? Idk how much of that is gonna happen anyway lol), I just!!! Really liked the casting for Azula purely based on the visuals (as I know literally none of the actors in this show, I just know Ozai voiced General Fong and obviously the OG Cabbage Merchant is reprising his role), like I know a lot of people wanted her to still look like a vicious femme fatale or whatever, and like, I get it, OG Azula is hot, we ALL had a crush on her as kids, but. It's vitally important to remember she's a kid, and more than anyone her casting should reflect that given how often I see people say "we should just let villains be villains" when it comes to her. She's a villain, alright, but she's a tragic one, and the entire reason why there are so many Azula "apologists" (like myself) rather than Ozai ones is precisely because of her age and circumstances. So like? Going into this show knowing that one of their prime directives with Azula is to make sure that aspect of her character is abundantly clear was genuinely a real comfort on a personal level. I'm looking forward to seeing her be cruel, but I'm also looking forward to her not being treated as "irredeemably bad to the bone". Anyway! Azula!!!

Oh shit this is a fire nation civilian coup??? Genuinely was sure this was how they skip ahead a bit and reveal that as soon as Ozai heard about Aang he sent out Azula to Omashu for some reason, but her being a domestic spy for him is actually so cool. Tbh I always kinda wondered what she was up to before being sent out, like? Was she still in school? Obviously Mai and Ty Lee weren't, was she there alone? So this is a cool way to show her finding ways to be active even before being given her first big task abroad! Btw, as much as a part of me loves Spymaster Mai, if I'm being honest that job was absolutely made for Azula ngl, she's killing it!! Can't wait for fics showing her reprise that role in Zuko's council after the war lmao (I already read some with a similar vibe and they're always enjoyable, but now Spy Azula is back and I want more!!)

Fire Palace secret entrances canon?!

I don't actually have too many comments on the whole failed infiltration scene, I mostly just think that aside from being very enjoyable, it was also a masterful way to introduce and estabilsh characterization for everyone involved! I do really like showing that there's a rebel presence in the Fire Nation, and how quickly its plans gets snuffed out. It has probably existed ever since the war started, and Aang has only reignited their efforts. There's something I find really interesting here about how Iroh and the rest of the Order of the White Lotus, who seemingly do nothing for so long, are ultimately the ones to succeed- like, is it about patience? Unity among the nations? Strategic placement of the rebellion leaders and their importance? Ultimately, a bunch of old noble men organizing a worldwide network working with The Chosen One were the ones to succeed in their rebellion attempt rather than the many disillusioned (probably) poor citizens that came before them, and like? I get WHY, but. It's genuinely very depressing how realistic that whole thing is. Idek how coincidental it is, me immediately thinking of The Order here when this is an episode that introduces one of the most prominent people in its ranks, because like? That one interview that's about the LA showrunner "being relieved he didn't have to adress Katara's romance" or whatever was actually about a whole lot more, and one of the things they talk about there is explicitly how the way they built up the episodes was by looking at the original and grouping up stories with similar themes- specifically how both Jet and The Mechanic ultimately do terrible stuff because of the war (he put it much more aptly in a way that really made sense but I can't remember the exact phrasing atm) and like? Another theme there is also rebellion vs compliance- so it makes perfect sense to me that this episode also shows the domestic side of that, y'know?

Yo fr Azula's actress is fantastic here??? I just KNOW people are gonna hate how she's more nuanced here, but personally, I loved how it seems she's a bit conflicted when Ozai kills people she knew, yet ultimately lets the sadistic glee and the "I defended my family and my country today" side win out, ending with a smile. It's good! It's compelling! It's... Very different from the way the original show was very subtle about showing how Azula was also suffering right up until the very end- it was still there, of course! She isn't having a good time in the flashbacks to their childhood! It's shown through Zuko's pov though, which inherently makes her seem better off than she actually appears to be, and like. On the whole Bryke really threw Azula under the bus A LOT, even when it doesn't match what we're shown of her, and because her suffering and struggles were less visibly obvious ig it was easy for them to forget/ignore how she was hurt by her situation too. A lot of Zuko's arc comes at the expense of stopping to think of Azula as a human, forgetting that she's also still just a child, and? I like that the LA refuses to ignore that. Her play here was how easily she convinced others the war tore up her family, and you're forced to remember- it did. She's off the mark with who she believes was at fault here and who was wronged, but ultimately... She genuinely has lost so much here, including her childhood and innocence- she was left alone with only bad influences, and when THIS is the kind of thing her father has her do and witness on the daily? Of course she turns out the way she does!!! And given how much people tend to miss that Azula was both a villain and a victim, yeah, I'm fucking glad they're highlighting the victim part!

Okay I officially don't like how Aang teaches Katara bending philosophy. It's weird, it feels off, and while I do like that he seems to be in tune with the whole "the four elements aren't really separate" thing with the way he approaches explaining air bending philosophy to a struggling waterbender... I do kinda feel like it would've hit harder if he had done it while nailing this form like in the show- him just getting it because he's the Avatar and has past life experience feels hollow, but him getting it because he gets the philosophy would actually feel earned, and I wish that happened. I know he doesn't really touch waterbending this season, and like, I know they gave him a reason (an emotionally charge one that makes sense), but. This is a scene that really called for him to try, and he... Doesn't. I wish he did. It makes them seem so much more distant from each other, and next season he's obviously gonna have to get over this and start learning with Toph, so what gives? Is the plan to have him start learning both at the same time and remove Katara's experience as his teacher from the equation in Bitter Work, only show what works best when both attempt to start teaching him at the same time using different styles of teaching? I don't get it. This just really feels too Katara focused in a way that feels a bit jarring because they still inserted Aang into the scene when really... He just takes out a lot of the emotional weight this scene could've had without him interfering- it just feels like a weird time for an expositional trauma flashback. I don't get what this scene was about! I'm guessing Katara is gonna nail the waterwhip later in combat like in the original, but it was just kind of a weird mish-mash of three plotpoints (Aang's refusal to learn without Gyatso, Katara's trauma, and Katara struggling with her waterbending) in a way that didn't really work for any of them? Aang was cute, but. He really felt out of place in this scene- it's literally one taken from the original, but when they take out the reason he was there and instead turn it into a "oooo isn't Katara so tortured by her past" it just kinda... Feels obtrusive to an otherwise cool scene of Katara practicing

Okay so. This scene bothered me so much that I thought I had to take another look at it through a different lens than "this is a weird change from the original" because that's not a charitable thing to do and kind of the opposite of what I'm attempting to do when watching this show, so I rewatched it through the lens that usually DOES make me like this show- what were they trying to say here, what did this change mean? Initially what really bothered me and caught my focus here was Aang's presence and effect being so different than the original, so I tried ignoring how weird it was that he was still in the scene, and just... Focused on what he added to it- which is when I was finally able to get it, I think. So! I think this is actually the show's depiction of Katara's anger, believe it or not! When she attempted to focus on her emotions, she instead kinda defaulted to her memories- of her fear, and helplessness... And anger- which is when she "explodes" her water. Rather than channeling her emotions, she let them control her, and was thus immediately thrown out of balance. This actually kinda checks out with the original show? A more technically skilled or disciplined Katara is actually usually INSANELY powerful, as she channels her emotions to get the water to do what she wants... But the show literally starts with an emotional Katara who has no real skill or control over her powers accidentally doing some really powerful uncontrolled bending. Like? Going by that logic, I can kind of imagine that what makes a master bender is control- that sort of explosion isn't really something that happens to Katara after the NWT, same with season 1 vs season 3 Zuko for the most part actually! And given how Aang, a master, mentioned that his training mostly covered control... I think that's maybe what they're getting at here? Idk, but this also being the Jet episode, aka an emotional one for Katara, really makes me think that this scene was meant to be its own thing with its own message, but just... Had the unfortunate luck of looking A LOT like the scene for The Waterbending Scroll. Anyway I spent genuinely way too long thinking about it so! Moving on!

Cute Sokka and Momo moment!! Followed by primo Water Tribe sibling moment!!

Zuko and Zhao actively working side by side is an incredibly intersection dynamic, I really like it!! Also poor Zuko desperately trying to hold on to the way he thinks he should act...

Why does Jet get to have his instincts while poor Sokka is reportedly removed from this arc?? Yeah so I'm going into this episode very skeptical given how much I like Jet as a Sokka episode but. I'll try to not be too biased, after all it makes sense that he'd be busy with the Mechanic! Still a shame, hope it's been exaggerated a bit.

Oh my god this is still a really fun group dynamic with Jet ngl

Cabbage Merchant!!!

Omg Teo is so cute! And The Mechanist blowing shit up inside a city rather than just in his own place is actually so funny, imagine all the bureaucratic nonsense he must constantly elicit! He must be such a pain to deal with lmao

What?! The Mechanist gets a name?! I'm shook!! Not really lmao, fr he needed one, it's genuinely such a relief. Sai The Mechanist!!

Oh wait this wasn't Sai's fault? I legit thought he just exploded an experiment or something so I wasn't worried, this gives the scene a much more sinister vibe because it's either Jet or legit somehow firebenders!

Yesss go off Teo, fantasize about dropping bombs on your enemies! Lmao that was both a horrifying and hilarious scene somehow

Katara being just... Completely indifferent to the aftereffects of the bombing felt incredibly off. Aang's attitude, while admirable, is strange given that like? Truly, how does he think he can help here? This is... A lot for an Aang that only knows airbending, a Katara that doesn't yet know how to heal, and a Sokka that has yet to show any aptitude for invention. This episode feels like it should've happened just a tad later, or alternatively, have been just a bit lighter and/or right outside of Omashu. It'll probably still work, but. Again, this is... A lot, really fast, and the characters don't feel like they're quite ready for it yet- I hope to be proven wrong, of course, I inevitably will be! But... Idk, again, this is just. A LOT.

So... Ty Lee never runs off to the circus here, or will that happen between seasons 1 and 2? What about Mai? Will she leave with her family to Omashu/New Ozai in season 2? Genuinely interested how they'll handle the change of circumstances here. I like how these two keep their personalities, and I like the fear mixed with loyalty we can see from them already, but... This is a pretty big change that strips them from a lot of the characterization inherent in the circumstances of their first appearance in the original show, so I hope they manage to make up for it and maybe expend on these two a bit more, as they truly deserve it. They too look really young, which is a good thing and works well with Azula!

Speaking of Azula, once again, I adore her characterization here! Bitter, self assured, effortlessly cruel... A villain, but one that I'm sad to see in that position. She's "softer", or maybe I should say she doesn't have quite the same amount of edge, and... I like that about her, because I feel like she's going to earn it throughout.

Damn, Teo is like. REAL angry here as opposed to the mostly naive and peaceful version we see in the original. I don't... know that I like this episode and what it's doing with everything going on too much so far tbh, actually, a lot of it feels barely recognizable, which isn't a crime, it's just... This episode introduces so many things that I don't know that it manages to do ant singular one justice?

Why is Katara the one first finding out about Sai, and why is she not referring to him by name? This all feels so disjointed istg!! This should be a Sokka and Aang focused episode, so why is Katara so prevalent here? The way they shuffle the roles here makes no sense!!

This is... Not the point of Jet? What are they doing here with him? Why is he sparing a traitor? Since when did Jet discriminate between enemies? Or are they going for a "only firenation people are his enemies" kinda thing? Also, where are the freedom fighters? So much about this bothers me, and I get it, I get that they had to merge plots, but. This creates completely different vibes for everything and everyone in a way that wasn't really an issue with the first two episodes. This merger is really doing a disservice to everything, it's just... Depressing and disjointed, and everyone feels ooc for both the original and what was established so far. This is an episode so filled with characters I cannot imagine any new viewes being able to keep up or care, and frankly, I can't either.

Okay the rest of the freedom fighters are here and I am healed. Still kinda pissed about how strangely righteous Jet is rn and how the whole Air Nomad conservation conversation is just. Not gonna happen but. It's cool to see the little guys!

Cool fight scene overall but. God I really wish Aang and Sokka were there, this feels so disjointed for a third episode!! Why are they all separated right now, it hurts the show so much!!! Even if they're all off getting the parts of these episodes that were most relevant to them, the others had a place there too, and. Genuinely hurts that Sokka is just. Cut out of the Jet arc

In other news I hope to god Sokka is being an unreliable narrator, because Hakoda does actually have an interest in engineering (bombs, at the very least lol), but I guess maybe Sokka hasn't really seen that, huh? Hoping this is a set up for Sokka coming into his own and developing real confidence, rather than just rewriting Hakoda and Sokka's relationship. Like, that Sokka doesn't think Hakoda cares about this stuff because he never tried to talk about it with him, and that they'll later bond over it or something.

Sure would've been nice to get detective Sokka in this episode!!!! God I genuinely do think that after the setup for the episode, all of the scenes work nice, but I just. This episode really, really suffers from the separation of the trio, and even though they do a good job at making the different plots work together... This could've been a great episode but it's just. Too much stuff going on, there are like five fucking plots and characters we're following and while they both mesh well and work individually, it's also just that... Theoretically it works, practically it's really difficult to follow, especially as a fan of the original that's already a bit confused by where they're going with all these changes.

Genuinely so weird for them to make Katara's memories of her mother about the sun, aka, the firebender's source of power. Like?? How am I NOT meant to think about Zuko rn??? This scene was so needlessly Zutara coded istg, it's bizarre!! It was a good scene and in line with what I thought they were going for which gives me a lot of hope in terms of Katara's characterization!! Still wish Sokka and Aang were there though.

The Zuko and Azula parallels in this episode!!!!

I don't like that they made Jee actively go against Zuko, ngl.

Good fight between Sokka and Katara!! Once again Sokka is the one who brings out the usually hidden facets of Katara, I genuinely love the way this show portrays their bond!! As much as I like and miss the Sokka we see in Jet that never appears here given how he... Never meets Jet, I do really like the way this became a three way perspective battle with no one really being wrong. Everyone has reason to believe what they do, and this doesn't make Katara look like just a lovesick fool or Sokka like a jealous asshole (which I don't really seem them as but. I've seen people who do)- the original lessons they learn in Jet are kinda... Removed unfortunately but this does make everyone generally look better as a result lmao. I'm not happy about what this episode did, generally speaking, but. This is a good way to reunite everyone imo, it's fun!

I. Didn't realize The Scarf Scene was in the Jet episode?! Holy shit the implications... Zuko trying to hold on to Katara as she's seeking Jet,,, What the fuck were they on about here unless it was some Zutara high??? What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck?????? I am. Not okay. Genuinely why was this here, why does this exist at all, this is so weird!!! I get it now, y'all, I get it.

Holy shit this whole action sequence is fantastic!!! This episode REALLY struggled to set things up in a believable and natural feeling way but I'm glad it stuck the landing in terms of the resolutions!

In other news, yeah, so that dramatic "My Cabbages!!" scene is not gonna make sense AT ALL to anyone who hasn't seen the animated show, huh?

Holy shit Iroh sacrificing himself for Zuko like that is!!! Incredible. He's gonna get out scot free even if caught because of Bumi, so like... There's that, but! Still Incredible. My poor boy was SO confused by it too, Iroh is likely just gonna go have some tea with Bumi for a bit lmao

This was a good way for Aang to get captured though!! I'm guessing Sokka and Katara are also implicated with a plot against Bumi? Honestly it'd be... Incredibly strange if we don't see the characters from this episode in the next one but I'm kinda getting the feeling we won't given that it's the Bumi one? But neither plot has really reached any sense of closure, so... Hoping they do next episode? Idk, all around just. Really strange to have all of this happen in Omashu but. Whatever lol, this episode mostly redeemed itself at the end haha

#avatar the last airbender #atla #atla live action #avatar the last airbender live action #natla

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miraculous-floconfettis · 6 months

Text

20 questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for tagging me @lady-de-mon-coeur, i'll give it a try!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

5 (for now 😏 so many wips)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

175,379. (This question had me realise I had never used the Statistics part of ao3 before XD)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Miraculous Ladybug.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A knock on the skylight (highest number of kudos)

The White Room

Le battement d'ailes du Papillon

L'hôpital

Les chats errants n'aiment pas la pluie (very first Miraculous fic i posted on ao3)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always respond to comments. I don't receive a lot of comments and i love the idea that someone took some time to read my stories and write a comment about it, it means so much to me, you have no idea. And i also love chatting and discussing stuff with people so i always answer with something. It can be a simple "Thank you so much" but it can also be a full psychology essay, depending on the initial comment XD.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm a sucker for angsty fics with happy endings so none of my fics have angsty endings per se, but all my fics have an angsty/hurt/comfort kind of vibe.

But if I had to pick one, I guess it would be "The White Room". The story takes place during season 5 (if you've watched the whole show so far, you can guess what it's about 👀). The fic is canon divergent and the story ends with a cliffhanger that foreshadows a lot of angst.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I haven't posted the whole fic yet because... i have yet to write it, but i would say "L'hôpital" has the happiest ending of all my fics. It's on hiatus at the moment because i'm trying to focus on finishing "Le Battement d'Ailes du Papillon" first, but it's planned and drafted till the end (the last chapters are actually already fully written) and i can't wait to work on it again! People seemed to really like the first 3 chapters so it gives me some motivation to get it done asap!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, not really. I did get several mean comments on a fic that didn't even have to do with the fic itself, and one anonymous comment from a burner account that was dedicated to leave hate comments on fics for fun which said something like "this is so lame you should stop right now" XD

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No. I'm not into smut in fanfictions so i don't write smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

The first fanfiction i've ever written was actually a kind of crossover between Harry Potter and my OG characters, so it doesn't actually count as a crossover but still.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of, and I hope that'll never happen but i don't have a lot of readers so i guess i'm safe anyway XD

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I do translate my own fanfictions but that's it.

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

No, writing is a solo activity for me.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

That's a hard question, I can't choose!

I love the whole Miraculous love square which has been my current obsession for years now, but i also have a soft spot for Sakura and Shaolan from Cardcaptor Sakura ❤️

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

My very first fanfiction (Harry Potter universe). I started it in 2002 I think. The 5th book wasn't out yet and I have the equivalent of 2 whole books planned in my head but not enough material to actually write full chapters and a whole story so i guess i'll never finish it, even though i still like it a lot.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think it would be writing emotions. That's what comes up the most in the comments in a very positive way and i'm really proud of it because that's actually what i love to focus on, and that's also what fuels and structures all my writing process. My rule is if an action isn't motivated by an emotion, then it doesn't make any sense and will seem fake or coming out of nowhere. Everything revolves around emotions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Banter. I really suck at writing banter and jokes. Whenever I'm trying to write a light and playful chapter, it always ends up being way heavier and more emotional that i planned it to be.

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

🤔

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

I love all of them in a different way, i really can't choose!

I'm tagging whoever wants to do it!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #adrien agreste #chat noir #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #fanfictions #fanfics #fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #fanfic #writing is hard #creative writing #writers #writing #writers on tumblr

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