#its fun. its interesting. in a way its an exploration & dissection of their characters

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Please tell me more about your human welcome home au 👀

!! gladly!!

i don't remember what i said in the first - and like... only lmao - post about it so if i restate some things! fuckign oopsie! (a lot of this is just Barnaby &/or Wally asbdjasj im sorry) also this got! so fucking long!

~ (im gonna talk about their middle/highschool years a lot so keep in mind the time frame is late 90s / early 2000s. they graduate high in either 2006/2007. so. yk. obvious warning for homophobia, transphobia, etc)

fun lil thing no.1)

so Barnaby & Wally briefly meet for the first time in the summer before 7th grade. the town Barnaby grows up & goes to school in isn't tiny, but it's not huge either. - i don't have a very good frame of reference for how many students are typically in a school, bc in both my middle/high there was at least nearly 2k of us. - so we'll just say it's smaller than that - a respectable, normal size, however many students that is. but Barnaby's school rarely, if ever, got any new kids.

so Wally randomly appeared on the edge of the Beagle farm one day, staring directly at Barnaby from across the fields. before Barnaby could go say hi, Wally vanished - but! on the first day of 7th grade, they wound up sharing a class. ofc within the day Wally was known as not only the new kid, but a weird kid at that. for the first week he sat next to a kid who had zeroed in on that and was an ass about it. Barnaby - already having an established rep as class clown & also widely well-liked by his peers - would try to stand up for Wally (from across the room) whenever that kid was being a dick to Walls in front of the class

by the end of that first week, seating arrangements were shifted, and Barnaby was seated next to Wally for the first semester instead. ofc the moment Barnaby sat down, he tried to strike up conversation and cracked a killer joke. and Wally, as we all know, doesn't laugh. he doesn't even blink! it rattles Barnaby to his core - not everyone laughs at his jokes, but there's always some kind of reaction!

class begins before Barnaby can be like "hey that. that was a joke. you're supposed to laugh". the whole hour all he can think about is the strange new kid next to him Who Didn't React To Barnaby's Joke. when the bell rings, Barnaby lingers as Wally (very slowly) packs up to go to his next class and walks him there. on the way he explains the joke, and Wally does the whole "oh. ha ha." thing. this all makes Barnaby very late to his next class (he's usually very punctual and never late - he doesn't want to disappoint his mama!) but for once he does not care.

Barnaby has been struck with this soul-deep need to get a genuine reaction out of Wally. he needs to make that guy actually laugh. it's all he can think about. he seeks Wally out for lunch, tries to find him after school (can't), looks for him in the halls. and to be clear! this is all very platonic! well, ok, these two kinda muddle the line BUT they have no romantic interest in each other. Barnaby just... really wants to be the new kid's friend. he wants to make him laugh. it's a friendship crush! platonic yearning! an inescapable desire to please & be accepted! he wants Wally's approval so so badly!

basically, Barnaby says "you're the weirdest person i've ever met (affectionate, intrigued, entranced)" and Wally replies "thank you (proud)"

fun lil thing no.2)

in my mind, Barnaby was a small kid. he was one of those kids who seemed like they were either gonna stay short, or just barely reach average height. he got his main growth spurt when he was like.... 16. it was very sudden. he lived the classic trope of "teen gets way taller over the summer and startles everyone on the first day of school". im talkin he goes from around 5'7 to 6'3. shoots right up like bamboo! and he's still not full height yet! mf is gonna cap out at 6'6!

on the flip side, Howdy was always just. so tall. he was that kid who towered over his peers from the start! ofc he got teased relentlessly for it (along with the transatlantic accent he started talking w/ at a young age and refuses to stop - among other eccentricities), but yk. he already got constant comments from his huge family about it, so he grew a thick skin pretty early on.

Poppy, on the other hand - the last of the three giants - had it worse than both of them! she wasn't outright taller than Howdy, and didn't have a sudden growth spurt like Barnaby, but steadily grew over the years until she was the tallest teen in town. this hit her hard bc not only did it draw unwanted attention to her & make her a target, but it made her dysphoria way worse (Poppy doesn't realize she's trans until highschool, and then doesnt medically transition until her early 20s)

but! once she started getting super tall, Howdy essentially glued himself to her a la "we tall guys gotta stick together!" a classic 'extrovert adopts introvert' thing. Poppy had no say in the matter.

fun lil thing no.3)

everyone's family sucks - except for Barnaby's, Howdy's, and Eddie's. well, mostly Eddie's. in my head they meant well but just... didn't really see the harm they were doing to him. he never spoke up, and they never saw him deeper than surface level.

but Frank's family? horrible. eugh. he was the school's "out gay kid" - not of his own choice! his peers picked up on it because it was very obvious. then the teachers heard, and let his parents know because of course they did, etc etc. Frank's home life was already shitty, and then getting outed (without any real proof or confirmation) made it a hundred times worse. he was a pretty depressed teen (emo Frank lets go) with mild anger issues & a habit for picking fights. but anyway on his eighteenth birthday he packed up his essentials into a backpack, escaped out the back, and never returned.

and Julie's siblings were alright, but their parents and grandparents were all very ~traditional~. it wasn't as rough as Frank's - it was more of a neglectful, passive-aggressive "you're all disappointments' household. ex: Jonesy was known as the local pothead & dealer, and his parents essentially pretend he's not part of the family despite him living in their basement. Bea had a bad (untrue) reputation, Franny was the goth weirdo who people blamed for their problems, etc. and then Julie was always different from "normal girls", and so her parents chalked her up as a mistake as well. but hey! at least the sibs were in it together! and the parents didn't care if Frank stayed over!

Poppy's family was great up until her parents caught her trying on a skirt Sally had made for her. it was a horrible, terrible downhill slide from there. they forced her to join the basketball team, made her keep her door open at all times, etc. for a while she couldn't even see her friends, though eventually they started sneaking in through her window & passing her notes in class. messaging in a 'secret' chatroom yk how it is. Poppy never directly stood up to her parents (very understandable & valid) but she rebelled in small ways. lying about having an after-school thing so that she could be with her friends, convincing her parents to let her go to a study group when in reality she'd be having a girls' night with Sally & Julie & Julie's sisters @ the Beagle farm.

Sally's family was similar to Julie's in that they were more lukewarm towards her than outright abusive. they thought she was too loud, too flamboyant, too expensive, too obvious, pretty much too everything. they wanted her to be normal - Sally wanted to stand on the roof and wax (loud) poetic about damsels. she wasn't outright bullied for being gay like Frank was, but it was certainly a common rumor that she was a lesbian. as a result, most of the girls at school wanted nothing to do with her, and the guys loved to provide commentary on the subject. her parents tried their best to ignore that truth and acted like she was totally straight. sure. still, Sally always refused to compromise on who she was, and treated it all like a mild annoyance. totally didn't hurt her at all. yep. (sarcasm)

there isn't anything known about Wally's family. not even Barnaby knows about them. the group tossed theories around (amongst themselves) over the years - was he an orphan? foster kid? was his family / home life so horrific that he doesn't want anyone to know? all they know is that he became an emancipated minor as young as legally possible and started living in Home, his (admittedly very spacious & high quality) RV. and they didn't even know about that until their junior year except for Frank

on the other side of the coin!

Ms. Beagle was the friend group's favorite adult growing up. the Beagle Farm was a common refuge & hangout spot for them, and Ms. Beagle let all of Barnaby's strange & delightful little friends know that there's always a guest room open for them, should they ever need it. and as a respected member of the community (and provider for the best chicken eggs in town), anyone who tried to speak up against the kids was Immediately shut the fuck down. Ms. Beagle took no shit. if people were talking ill about that "group of depraved teenage fuckups" and Ms. Beagle turned the corner, all conversation would cease until she was well out of earshot. she likes to say that she has 6 kids, all of whom she loves dearly and is very proud of <3

Howdy's family is too damn big to care. not in a neglectful way, just in a "oh, you're friends with... who was it again? Franz? invite him over to dinner someti- STOP PUNCHING YOUR BROTHER-" there's too much chaos, too many things to keep track of to care if Howdy's friends are gay, or trans, or absolutely fucking bizarre. they'll blend right in! Howdy could bring them over for dinner without telling his family and none of them would blink twice! Howdy mentioned that his friends have bad home lives Once and his parents immediately insisted that he bring them over for next week's thanksgiving so that they don't have to deal with that during what should be a holiday. thus began the All Six Of Us + Ms. Beagle + Franny/Bea/Jonesy Attend The Pillar Family Thanksgiving. its incredibly chaotic every time. there's so many fucking people. they're too busy fighting for survival (bread rolls) to bother with manners or awkwardness. every time they leave feeling like they fought a war. none of the friend group has missed a single year.

fun thing no.idontremember!

Wally & Barnaby have had three fights. each are catastrophic and threatened to tear the friend group apart. because those two are closer than anyone - they are each others person. they would both rather chug rat poison than willingly hurt each other. and while Barnaby - a pretty easygoing guy - can get riled up, Wally... really can't. he's never angry. even things that Should make him angry only make him confused or sad. he's too kind, too earnest, a bit of a pushover. he'll just take it with a smile.

so when Wally stands his ground, they all know shit is going tf down. code red, everyone brace. and if he stands his ground against Barnaby? pack a fucking go-bag and ditch town until the storm blows over.

the first time was when Barnaby found out that Wally lives in a damn RV. Wally got weirdly defensive about it, Barnaby was upset that Wally never even told him but somehow Frank knew (he had a bad night & couldn't go home, Julie was unavailable, and Wally found him and took him to the RV for the night) & that Wally is living alone in an RV at all, etc etc - it was a huge fight. & it just kept getting worse. when Barnaby tried to get Wally to move to the farm - that was the first time he's ever heard Wally snap at anyone, let alone him. and since the friend group is fully established at this point, and they're all hopelessly entangled in each others' lives, it affects all of them. sides have to be chosen - there is no neutral party on this. Wally ended up vanishing for a week without a word, and his RV vanished from where it had been parked thus far. the group was in shambles. when Wally turned back up, he actively avoided them all. it took Barnaby tracking down the rv and not leaving until Wally talked to him to have a conversation and fix things. but hey! the disaster actually helped them get even closer!

the second fight was when Barnaby had to go back to the Beagle Farm for their second year of community (Ms. Beagle had a minor accident and needed his help running the farm). Wally wanted to drop out too & go with him, and it turned into a big deal of Barnaby trying to get him to stay while Wally gets unusually pushy & upset about it. the fight wasn't nearly as bad as the RV one, and was more just sad/distressing, but it was still a fight. they parted on less than stellar terms, which they both felt horrible about. Wally has to go through the last year of community alone - he hasn't been alone in many years at this point, and since they met he's never been without Barnaby.

the third fight comes many years later, and this one is the worst. the friend group has all graduated university(those that attended), they're living in the same town, Barnaby & Wally (technically) share a house, Eddie is part of the group now. once again, its over everyone's favorite RV, Home. Home is very old at this point - Wally has had it for around 15 years, and he didn't get it new, and it's been through a lot. Wally is still half living in it, even though it's starting to fall apart. Barnaby brings up the notion that maybe it's time to send the old thing off to a dump, or find a way to put it in storage. they can't keep up the upkeep. it's time to say goodbye to it. Wally flips his fucking lid - or his version of it, anyway. because, uh. no. absolutely fucking not. it's already a very touchy subject, and emotions rise fast. Wally initially shuts down the conversation immediately. over the next week or so, few weeks maybe, tension between Barnaby & Wally simmers. the entire friend group is holding their breath. Barnaby wants the RV gone, as sad as he is about it. Wally won't allow it. of course they reach a breaking point - Barnaby pulls the "i own the property its parked on" card, Wally threatens to leave. of course that scares Barnaby, but that fear mixes with the anger and he fully yells at Wally for the first time. and then Wally shoves him. or tries to - it does nothing physically, but emotionally? it immediately drains all anger from the situation. Wally has never purposefully raised a hand against anyone ever, for any reason. and yet he tried to shove Barnaby. Wally immediately turns tail and runs - he locks himself in the RV, and Barnaby goes to Howdy's.

at Howdy's, Wally calls Barnaby. at first Barnaby jumps at the chance to apologize and try to work something out, but then he recognizes the background noise - Wally is driving Home somewhere. that RV is absolutely not fucking safe to drive anymore. the conversation immediately derails and goes from 0 to 100 within a second. Howdy is off to the side nervously sipping at his beer as Barnaby argues w/ Wally. the phone call abruptly cuts off, Barnaby says "the little bastard hung up on me" and starts Ranting. he says things he doesn't mean, obviously, and Howdy is trying to get him to chill tf out. he's just too angry/scared/hurt/worried yk?

but don't worry Barnaby! Wally didn't hang up on you! yeah so a while later (a little over an hour i think), Barnaby gets a call! it's from the town hospital! yeah so he's Wally's emergency contact, and apparently Wally "hanging up on him" was actually Wally getting into a horrendous accident. it wasn't his fault! there was a drunk driver! but it's... bad. the drunk driver had died in the crash, and since it was night and no one was around, help was a long time coming for Wally. its a miracle that someone found him & called an ambulance in time! so Barnaby realizes that the whole time he was talking shit & being angry, his best friend was slowly dying in a ditch somewhere, alone and in pain. and that's a whole thing!

time for some fun "facts"!

the first time Eddie went over to Frank's place, he immediately fainted when Frank turned the lights on & Eddie saw that he was surrounded by pet tanks filled with Very Large Bugs. then he fainted again when Frank removed the tarantula from its tank to clean said tank.

Wally & Barnaby's cat is named Welcome! she's usually small & pitch black with a permanently bristled tail! she's actually Barnaby's - he found her in a park as a kitten, and her unnerving stare reminded him of Wally so he took her home. Wally would like a dog! Barnaby would not! the cat is their only pet and will remain their only pet, no compromise. Wally retaliated by gluing googly eyes & dog ears onto a rock he found, then painting it. its name is Barnaby. Barnaby has beef w/ it a la Elmo & Rocco when Wally isn't looking

one time, during a group trip to the annual Pillar Family Thanksgiving, the gang stopped at a cabin-themed diner. Sally gasped at stopped Barnaby at the door "We must leave - you can't eat here". when everyone asked why, she pointed at a decorative sign on the wall: Don't Feed The Bears. it instantly became a smash hit inside joke that sometimes backfires (like that one time they go camping and Barnaby acts like he can't open the bear-proof dumpsters & locks & coolers). Howdy once got a "dont feed the bears" sign to put up in the store's diner section as a joke, but as soon as Barnaby saw it he left and refused to come back until Howdy took it down. he'd stand outside the store window and gaze at Howdy from afar w/ the biggest, saddest puppy eyes. it was incredibly effective

speaking of Howdy's store! they all built it together! Howdy managed to get his hands on an abandoned shell of an old building, and they all refurbished/renovated it! they all had the collective skills to get it done. Wally helped draw up blueprints & directed the color-scheme / painting portion, Sally and Barnaby used their carpentry skills, etc.

when Eddie "reconnects" with everyone, he feels like he's going insane. 'cause he keeps running into people who are familiar enough that it bothers him, but he just can't place where they're from (most if not all of them look very different from the last time he saw them in highschool). it drives him nuts! and then he meets Wally and Wally's like "oh! Eddie! it's you!" and Eddie's all "uh... how did you know myna- OH MY GOD IT'S YOU". he has a small crisis because he's over that time in his life, he's in a much better place, he's grown as a person. then he realizes that it's not just Wally but the entire fucking friend group he agonized over wanting to befriend for years and years. the group that (unintentionally) made him feel completely alone and like he was living a lie. and he keeps. running. into them. so Eddie, who just moved to this town, starts looking at mail carrier opportunities elsewhere bc he is Not doing this again - only for Julie to show up and drag him to a friend group function. because they all got together and went "oh, you caught up w/ Eddie too?? so we're in agreement? great! he's ours now! Julie, go get him". and then they accidentally break Eddie's wrist in a zealous game of soccer-baseball-corntoss & from then on won't leave him alone <3

Wally keeps his hair consistently dyed a rich royal blue - even his eyebrows! he continuously touches it up so his roots are never showing! Barnaby keeps his hair dyed blue in solidarity, but to a lesser extent - his roots show, and he doesn't dye his eyebrows or his sideburns/beard

on that vein, Wally has a very extensive hair-care routine he does every morning. he straightens his natural curls out, manipulates his hair into that absurd swirl, and hairsprays it to death. & gels down everything else. shit's Airtight. then at night he has an equally elaborate routine of washing the hairspray/gel out, treating his hair with high quality shampoos/conditioner/oils, and blowdrying it with impeccable technique to keep it Healthy

continuing on that vein - one time Barnaby was makin' breakfast when he heard a crash from upstairs. he sprinted to go see if Wally was alright, but Wally had locked the bathroom door and refused to open up. after Barnaby convinced him to, the door opened to reveal a very miserable Wally still in his towel. his hair was green. "the bottle said dye-safe', he said. the bottle lied. he wore hats for a while.

ok im gonna stop here! this is an absurd amount! i got carried away!

#this au is.... fun #its uh? speculative in a way? #im holding the neighbors in a tightly clenched fist and asking #'how can i keep you all as accurate as possible in this wildly different setting with completely different life experiences' #'how can i apply human life to you all and still keep you in character w/ lives Believable to your character' #its fun. its interesting. in a way its an exploration & dissection of their characters #rambles from the bog #wh modern human au #i.. enjoy it #its interesting to imagine and think about an consider! #how can i keep them the same and how can i Not while staying faithful! #i hope im succeeding! #sorry for the absurdly long post!!!! #this is over 3k words of wordspill! #actually no im not sorry! i hope you enjoy(ed)!

[llycaons]

sometimes I feel like I've overcorrected on the unhealthy relationships in media thing because there is so much nauseating bullshit out there that people present as aspirational, which is kind of a shame because a lot of the most interesting fictional relationships are absolute nightmares and it's a real gift to see them appreciated by people who understand the nuances and the appeal

#it also depends on your reading of the term shipping I guess #like take lxc and jgy. super compelling and tragic. not healthy or anything and it annoys me when ppl make them all cutesy #but really worth digging into and exploring! same with like...amc iwtv. terrible marriage in like every way #but I really enjoyed watching it play out because the drama mattered to the characters and it was really interesting to dissect #and like phill and myeol are...idk what to call them. but they're enthralling #and obviously if you don't like phill lying to myeol or tracking him or trying to trick him into signing a contract #I'd say it's not the story for you but it was really compelling watching this utter freak meet someone unlike anyone else and like. #become deeply needy over his presence and then need to come to terms with what that means for him #ntm myeol's response to and counterattack on phill which is compelling and fun in its own right #like! this stuff is really neat and I wish like....fandom people didn't make me so wary about relationships #that weren't cut-and-dry sterile saccharine mush #that being said I do vaguely distrust ppl who ship them romantically bc who knows what they're doing with that BUT I also see why they do #of everyone on this list it is by far the least violent and toxic but still. there's some shit going on there #cor.txt

[spread-the-influence]

//FOR MOD BEE

how aware is ragatha generally while the influence has the usual level of control?

the influence while in control of the body displays the host, ragathas, personality and mannerisms, albeit imperfectly, and ofc as a mask.

is that purely the virus entity trying to emulate the personality of the host, or is it more the host still speaking and reacting, but with percpetion/personality heavily influenced by the virus?

(sorry for the long ask and dw about answering it if its in spoiler territory, also everything else bellow is just rambling thoughts on this blog and atrg that i just wanted to share.)

im just really really intersted in how it looks like or feels like inside ragathas head, like, how much of the virus' influence does she consider to be part of herself, such interesting directions we can explore in terms of whats going on in ragathas head

also, just wanna say, I LOVE your interpretation of ragatha in general and this entire influence situation is SUCH a fun way to explore her psyche :D it just makes my brain buzz in the best way, the influence has been stuck in my head for the last few weeks.

really excited to see what else you have in store for breaking open and showing off whatevers going on in that ragdolls head. gotta love a thorough dissection and deconstruction of a characters personhood and ego :D made all the better by how DELICIOUS your angst is for rags

uh yeah, again sorry for the kilometer long post, have a great day/night! //

-robot anon

// i seriously don't know how to explain it well ... a weird mix of both ? unaware enough to be compliant and not fully comprehend what's going on , but aware enough that you know there's something deeply wrong no matter how much these funny voices in your head tell you otherwise .

other than that , the virus is always in control which i hope is clear when that happens here ^^;

also thank you ! character studies underneath layers of angst have always been my favorite thing to write , especially since i couldn't find a lot of that kind of thing for rags . sorry ragatha someone has to create it LMAO //

#[ ooc ] #[ info ]

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Alrighty, your tags in the 'anti-blorbo friends' post intrigued me, so... hook line and sinker. Personally, I am kind of an 'anything goes' fan, I don't mind people disliking stuff about BG3 - or liking it a bit too much, either. I like all the companions, but I do see their flaws and critique can be fun. That's what a piece of media is for, no? For us to dissect and tear apart. So! Tear it freely, mate. Give me your Gale hot takes.

Excellent, all according to keikaku (translator's note: keikaku means plan). Sorry I love that joke.

Thank you so much for the ask! O(∩_∩)O

Okay, Gale hot takes, with the caveat that, in general, I just personally find his whole everything very off-putting, so I am very neutral-edging-to-negative toward him, but can still appreciate the complexity of his character in an objective sense.

This hot take/critique kind of overlaps with issues I have with a lot of the fandom interpretations of the characters: it feels like a lot of the fandom needs to woobify the characters and/or reduce them down to the most simplified version of themself to appreciate them.

Gale is a character who will approve of good actions in general terms, but the moment there is a chance to do something new, something heretofore untried, some advancement in knowledge or power, no matter what the terms of it, you have his attention. And that's really interesting! It's fucked up as all hell, but it's interesting. And this is something I see pushed under the rug and outright denied or left unexplored in most cases, because it requires confronting that all your faves are complex and "problematic", yes even that one.

This one is tangential to Gale, but also relates to the broader lore and world. I think there's a lot fucked up about Forgotten Realms lore (obviously), but it is also so vast and intricate and Larian put so much work in aligning with it as much as possible with the narrative of BG3, allowing you to extrapolate pretty consistently based on that. I've noticed a tendency by a lot of fans to engage with the world and its lore as though they've been isekai'd into it or something, not considering what would actually affect philosophy and perspective and "human" (as it were) experience in a world that worked like Faerûn does. For example, I recently saw someone arguing that the way Halsin handles Kagha after he is rescued is "unrealistic" and the player should be able to tell him that he needs to pick a stronger option. In my opinion this completely ignores the way that druids and druid groves function very differently from a lot of other communities in Faerûn. The majority of druids tend toward True Neutral in terms of alignment, live and let live unless nature is affected in some way. Halsin is honestly a bit of a rarity for verging so far toward Neutral Good. Additionally, because of their focus on nature and natural patterns, of course they would have different perspectives on punishment and rehabilitation.

Another way this presents itself very commonly is in how people conceptualize the system of gods/theology in Faerûn. Most people do not have any real experience conceptualizing a polytheistic worldview in practice, let alone one where the existence of those gods is an undeniable material fact, rather than a belief, and it shows. They hold the gods simultaneously to the standards of humans (which they are not), and the monotheistic conglomerate Christian God (which they are also not). Once again, the system of deity and interaction with it in FR lore is so fucked up, but for complex and interesting reasons I rarely see anyone exploring.

(The above is also the reason I think a lot of people underestimate the power of the archdevils and the Hells compared to the gods, but that is another discussion.)

This comes back to Gale in my hottest of hot takes: I really wish people would stop throwing around the "Gale was groomed, Mystra is a groomer" thing. I think it hyper-simplifies the actual tragedy of his story and the one Larian was trying to tell to an absurd degree, and I don't believe it even does any favors in terms of raising awareness of important issues. Based on FR lore and timeline, Mystra has only been back in existence as a goddess for at absolute maximum thirteen years prior to the start of BG3, and at minimum five, so unless you headcanon Gale to be 30 or younger (which seems decidedly unlikely based on everything else presented in the narrative), their time together was when he was an actual adult.

Am I saying there was no power dynamic problem there? No, ofc I am not. God/Human relationships are famously tragedies and cautionary tales. There is always an inherent disconnect between the two beings. You'll notice a trend, but yes, I do think that the most interestingly fucked up parts of that story are ignored in favor of the most basic and banal.

Mystra is a greater god, having dominion over magic as an entire concept. That means the scale of her power and existence are unfathomably vast, and so alien from human existence that to bridge it would be the work of thousands of lifetimes. At the same time, there are parts of her that used to be human, grafted onto her godhood. That's incredibly fucked up in such an eldritch way, you know?

Final hot take: Gale is a wizard's wizard™, a crime punishable by death. In this essay I will-

#genuinely thank you for the ask! #really appreciate getting to talk about bg3 #happy to continue the convo at any time #ask #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #hot takes

[woosh-floosh]

JANUARY MEDIA ROUNDUP

Here's everything notable I watched/played/listened to in January yay!! All the yewchub videos and music are linked (and also there's spoilers for the ending to season 5 of Fargo). Let's a go!!

SUPER MARIO RPG

Fun RPG! I see why it’s kept the reputation it has! I love Mario!!!

OLDER, SLOWER B/W EVERYTHING REAL IS FREE - GODDAMN WOLVES

I don’t know what changed with Seven Days a Week/Ah Maria but I’m really digging the latest Goddamn Wolves. I prefer the first song but the second one has a real Fountains of Wayne sound to it.

BARBIE

It’s fine, doesn’t live up to hype at all for me. Extremely hamfisted, shallow, babies first feminist message. Doesn’t seem to be interested in exploring anything deeper. The girl calls Barbie out when she first meets her for all the reductive views of women she represents and this never gets explored! The image of womanhood and femininity it represents is narrow and alienating for someone like me. White feminism at its peak.

IDK I guess it’s fine for preteens who are first being introduced to feminist thought, I probably would have liked it more at 11. But… can’t we do better now?

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY

It’s fine I didn’t pay that much attention.  I liked Helena, I think she’s a good foil to the older Indiana Jones. There’s a lot of noticeable CGI and fake places and that made me sad. Half an hour too long.

Deepfake Harrison Ford is so scary

TASKMASTER CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS THREE

So fun and funny ^_^ I’ve been rewatching TM NZ with my parents and it’s good… but when you go back to UK you think “Why do I even watch the other versions, nothing could ever top this.”

They also announced the Series 17 line up! I only recognize Nick Mohammad from the couple episodes of Ted Lasso I watched.

BUBBLY - GOOD KID

Seems like everytime a new Good Kid comes out I think “this is good and awesome, their songs seem to keep getting better and better.” I think I am just a bigger Good Kid fan than I want to admit!!

FARGO - SEASON 5

Really good!! Lots of themes to dissect. I was mainly focusing on the theme of misogyny throughout but the finale brought in themes of religion and debt that I hadn’t thought about.

Very glad it stuck the landing in the finale. The ending scene was really funny, and thoughtful and sweet.

Going into the finale I knew they were going to give an ending to the character arc for Lorraine. I was worried that the fact that runs a debt collection agency was going to go uncommented on and thought “the only way I would come around fully to her character is if she forgives all the debt she owns.” The finale has her starting a fund to forgive the debt of prisoners specifically to fuck with the one guy she hates is 1. Very funny and 2. Perfect for her character.

PINOCCHIO IS A STORY ABOUT ART AND GOD - JACOB GELLER

The best video essays are the ones that make you want to gaze out of the window after watching, Jacob Geller consistently does it for me

Thinking about how there is an “other” component to Pinocchio. He’s a little wooden boy but not a “true” boy. Most stories end with Pinocchio becoming a “real boy.” Geller brings up how the story can be about being human, but at the same time becoming a real boy takes away the thing that’s special about him. A Pinocchio story about embracing his own difference and how that doesn’t make him any less of a real boy (because he was a real boy all along!) would make an easy trans metaphor.

Pinocchio also having to learn about the world from a lower baseline than other children seem to have (and being much more gullible) also makes an autism reading easy.

The comments are filled with people saying “You forgot about this story!” and “What about this reading?” that I think this video hit a lot of people the same way.

THE TRUTH ABOUT POINSETTIAS - INDIGO’S FINDINGS

that's a hell of a mystery no one thought was a mystery and didn't even really need solving but damn if it didn't just get solved so nice work

In all honesty, a really good deep dive about a tradition most of us take for granted.

MOONSONG / LAST BATTLE [NEW REMIX] - RADIATI0NAL

You can really hear the homestuck influence in this, I love it

Wish they were working with a bit better samples though

LA LA LAND

One of those movies that makes me go “Wow! This is a really well made movie! Must be amazing for someone who actually likes musicals, romance movies, and classic hollywood.”

SHE SENDS KISSES - THE WRENS

IT NEVER ENDS

Reminds me of the Fargo main theme, even though I don’t think they actually sound that similar? Might just be a me thing

TASKMASTER MINNESOTA - SEASON 2

Wah! I’ll miss you Taskmaster Minnesota!! Wah!!

Way better than last season thanks to the better equipment (I also think Carter makes a much better Taskmaster than Luke, though I think Luke was pretty good as a fill-in contestant!)

David Ha (and whoever else) is extremely good at making up tasks. Multiple tasks that made me think “they should do this on Taskmaster UK!” or use the setting so well it’s perfect

DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: THE DARK PRINCE

Monsters…

The performance is BAD, the environment textures are BAD, the story is BAD, but those monsters? But those monsters.. Those monsters are damn good

The end ended up being pretty grind-y, I think dragon quest games are known for that, but still a bit of a bummer way to end what I thought was a pretty fun game!

The gameplay loop of synthesis is addicting, every new area feels like an iceberg where beneath the surface are all the new monsters you can make in synthesis!

The ranking system also pushes you to change your team throughout the game to add those higher ranking monsters to your team. One of my problems with pokemon is how the game starts to grow stale once you have a full team. Dragon quest monsters and Yo-Kai watch both side step this problem and keeps the gameplay fresh to the end!

I’m curious about playing the older entries now!

My favorite monster is every slime and Imp

LEAST FAVORITE THING: When Jacob Geller brought AI: Artificial Intelligence in his Pinocchio video and I had to remember how much I hated that movie. We watched in Philosophy class. We didn't even discuss it, we just watched it.

[ivettel]

how did u learn graphic design? i’ve just started out w basic gifs on photoshop and so far even adding subtitles feels so overwhelming ajskdnskns (unless u are studying graphic design in like. uni 😭)

ahh well truth be told, i kind of bulldozed my way into it, probably back in 2015/16 when i was first getting started out in the youtube anime editing community? people were asking for graphic designers for their studio channels, and i looked at my own channel--my banner a blurry pokedex, and my icon a purple link (from a loz four swords animated short) going fabulous--and figured i probably needed to do get on their level if i wanted to be serious.

i used sony vegas pro and did super simple things! you just gotta be unafraid to do things that feel childishly easy and look like garbage! i started out with basics, like the rule of thirds was a godsend--some solid colour + a render of a character to the far left + some decent typography for a banner? boom, done. and then it was doing shit thumbnails for my shit vids (and i mean SHIT, look at this 💀)

trust the process! for me it was getting better at video editing, esp on after effects, and having those experiences translate to static designs like headers and icons for social media. i didn't learn photoshop until i was like 18? so don't be worried if you're not making the progress you're thinking you should make--people learn at their own pace and in their own way. my sense of design principles and composition came purely from being balls deep in motion graphics for like 80 hours a week for years, and i didn't learn any "proper" design theory until uni. but the fun thing about art is that you don't need proper theory to make things! you just need to be motivated and expose/open yourself to the possibilities, and at its simplest, that just means putting in the work to find cool creations, learning some art history in your free time, exploring rabbit holes that pop up, etc.

it's awesome that you're starting out! and that you're already making "basic" gifs!! basic in quotes, because gifs are hard. i can tell you a good majority of my second yr media arts students struggled with getting started, like learning how the interface flows, how to work with the frame animation timeline, how to draw, even just toggling onion skins--so if you're making things already, you're doing amazing so far!

my general advice would be to try and find styles that are interesting and recreate them. not to post, just to learn the process and train your creative eye. where a lot of beginners stumble is they want to go from 0 to 100, then get frustrated with themselves when they don't get to 100 immediately. the journey is a slog! but just like one of the best ways to learn how to write is to read, one of the best ways to learn how to design is to pay attention. when you see something cool, ask--how did they go about doing this? where is my eye being led? what colours and shapes are influencing how i perceive this? what am i drawn to in particular? how do i use this in my work?

if you want like actual resources, here's some links we give 2nd yrs! would especially recommend the first couple chapters of graphic design: the new basics starting with "point, line, plane" if u wanna like get better at clinically dissecting what you see lol

Typography basics https://www.northernhighlands.org/cms/lib5/NJ01000179/Centricity/Domain/40/digitalartsdocs/intro-to-typography.pdf

History of Typography https://vimeo.com/65353988

20 "Rules" of Design https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mcmu/detail.action?docID=3399949

Thinking with Type : A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mcmu/detail.action?docID=3387329

Graphic Design: the New Basics https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mcmu/detail.action?docID=4518455

#anon #genius bar #long post #also to add to this: critical thinking is very much encouraged in the learning process! #questions like 'WHY use these design choices?' #and once you build your toolbox of knowledge it's way easier to think of new concepts #or reimagine old ones and apply yourself in a more intelligent and measured way #bottom line though it's just about exposure and pushing yourself to do more and be better

[setsugekka]

one of these days I do plan on rereading paradise lost without any bias bc despite the many times I have read it I was always on the mc's side for some reason and its always up until chapter 8. when she had the audacity to ask hongjoong if she could still stay at his place after she just had a whole other dude's dick in her mouth less than an hour prior (crazy) that was when I realized I didn't fully like her, but I was still rooting for her for some odd reason which now I think its bc whenever I see a story is reader insert, I tend to always want the best outcome for the mc, which makes sense if you're inserting yourself into a story right? (or im just not fully used to reading angst still even now, which is a different story but anyway) its something I never realized I was doing. when I reread it this time I guess I want to pay more attention to how they actually are when they're together, definitely zero bias, and how they react to certain questions they ask one another. like for example I didn't notice that hongjoong basically DID tell her his feelings about their situationship (though not entirely) when they were in japan and this whole time I was thinking "well he never TOLD her how he felt" but he did and I just never noticed

anyways im rambling, but I hope you're always proud of this story bc I never get tired of reading it

ooooh this is actually an interesting thing i don't think i've ever really considered? perhaps it's because i don't read reader insert stories as if i'm putting myself in the mc's shoes, rather i read (and write) them like they're kind of stand alone oc's i guess?

that does make sense though...the desire for the best outcome and even wanting to find some "good" in the mc because in some way, you might (even subconsciously) be projecting yourself onto them.

but YEAH! i think it's really interesting how much the conversation that takes place in chapter 04 seems to fly under the radar for a lot of people, how he was the one to initially attempt to have the conversation about their feelings and intentions with one another, albeit not extremely straight forward (he was definitely testing the waters with how it's phrased but it's clear enough what he's doing).

it's kind of funny because my bestie hated the mc from chapter 03! when she ignores hongjoong's attempts to get into contact with her because she's busy with yunho. it's an ongoing trend with her that if another man is in the picture at all, she seems to have a willingness to put him on the backburner for whoever it is that she's with in the present 🤔 a strange trend from someone who has feelings, wants to explore something with someone, gets jealous about the fact that he has had a life before they even started doing all of this.

i think the fun of a story like this is dissecting the interpersonal dynamics between the characters and how someones own ways of going through the world may impact how situations that take place are perceived.

thank you though! 🥰 i am proud of it, it's a fun one to relive and i've been enjoying reading the takes from people new to the story all over again, as well as those rereading it with perhaps a new set of eyes.

boo mc, boo.

#☕️ ask #fic: paradise lost

[spammreviews]

THE LAST JEDI IS GOOD.

The Last Jedi is a very character focused film.

It takes 6 characters (Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Luke, and Kylo) and goes “Okay, how do we put these characters in situations that will further their arcs.” And as a result, each of these characters have interesting and well developed arcs that make sense and actually influence the story. 

These arcs all feed into the film’s exploration of the concept of heroism. Rey wanted to be a hero, but Luke’s all like. “No, heroes are stupid.” Luke being this guy who was once a hero but is now a jerk challenges the idea of heroism not just in the eyes of the audience, but in the mind of Rey. It shows that not even heroes are perfect. It’s not a fun thing to see, but it wasn’t something that was just done to be subversive. It very clearly has a purpose within the film’s dissection of heroism. Rey has to confront her expectations of what heroism looks like, similar to how Luke had to confront his expectations in The Empire Strikes Back, and both of those films end with the characters learning that the world is a lot more complex than they thought while still not losing their idealism. 

We’ll get back to Rey and Luke, but continuing with this heroism thing, both Finn and Rose are all like “Ah! We suck, we can’t be heroes.” Then, they learn to be heroes. I admit, the thing with Rose crashing is extraordinarily stupid, but I do feel the broad strokes of her arc work well, as she learns that she can become a hero as well as Finn. Rose’s final realization in the film is that heroism is something that comes from a community, something which she learned from her experience on that casino planet.

Finn, also, is still guilty about his actions as a stormtrooper, and this guilt is personified by Plasma, his former boss. So, him killing Plasma is symbolic of him killing that guilt (it’s not the only time the film does that).

Of course, Finn doesn’t realize this until after going to the casino planet and seeing the consequences of apathy. The reason why Finn changed sides is because he sympathized with the people he was hurting. So, Finn is shown how changing sides was a monumental decision that he should be proud of.

Moving on, there’s Poe, who really wants to be a hero, but his drive ends up doing more harm than good, with him realizing at the end that heroism is more than just being the best fighter, it’s about learning to get along with people.

Kylo’s arc isn’t really about heroism, I will admit that, but we’ll get to that later. It is about idealization, which is important to this story.

Every one of these characters is given an internal and external struggle which influences every scene they’re in. With these internal and external struggles resolving at the same point. That’s good writing!

However, by focusing on character, the film sacrifices plot. The pacing is a bit weird- with the third act being way too long. Not only that, but there are a bunch of plot holes, like BB8 suddenly being extraordinarily powerful. This did take me out of the movie quite a few times. It’s also definitely rather contrived, with the story having to bend backwards in order to get the character’s in their rightful places. 

However, the fact that the movie managed to have all of these arcs in 2 hours is impressive. Should it have tried to put less on its plate? Probably. But, the fact that this film has three different plot lines, all of which combine at the end, all of which are given roughly equal time, and it still manages to make sense, is impressive. Sometimes, they tonally clash with each other, but it never feels like the plot lines are competing for your attention. It’s messy, but it could have been far more messy. 

I suppose one could say that there are four plot lines when you consider Kylo. However, his whole thing is basically tied to Rey’s plotline.

Anyways, let’s talk about subversion. The movie basically only has like three subversions: Rey's parents, Luke being a jerk, and Kylo killing Snoke. There’s some other stuff, but they’re small and not very important.

I feel like all of these subversions are not just warranted, but necessary. Let’s start with Rey’s parents. I don’t think anyone has any problems with that. It deals with the idea that anyone can be a hero. It’s also a pretty refreshing take considering how a lot of people in adventure stories always have to be the child of someone important.

Also, this reveal matches what happened in Empire Strikes Back. In that movie, the twist about Vader was the worst news that Luke could, and the news in this movie is the worst news that Rey can hear. This movie sets up the idea that, like Luke, Rey will have to learn how to embrace this. It sets up a very interesting arc for Rey in the next movie as well as a very wholesome and inspiring conclusion that anyone can make a difference. Of course…the next movie…whatever. If Rey was Luke or Hans' child then…so what? That’s good news. Also, everyone’s criticism of Rey is that she’s too much of a special cookie, and her being the child of someone important would make her even more of a special cookie. Also also, isn’t it nice to tell kids that they don’t need to be descended from greatness and all that jazz to be special? This is, after all, a lesson kids should learn.

However, I see why Luke being a jerk is controversial. However ever, I feel like the plot needed that to happen. If Luke was a great guy, then it wouldn’t have pushed Rey's character forward. Also, like, where’s the conflict in that? Where’s the drama? The reason why Yoda worked was that he pushed Luke’s character forward because he challenged Luke's perception of the world. It’s the same thing with Rey. All people need to be challenged to grow. All people need to have their view of the world broken to grow.

Luke forces Rey to confront her ideas of heroism, just as Yoda forced Luke to confront his ideas of purpose and violence. 

Luke being some sort of surrogate dad to Rey would be cute, but like…it would be boring. The other two plots are about shooting and explosions and battles and stuff. If we just cut back to Rey and Luke chilling and sharing good vibes then we’d just be waiting for it to be over. And sure, they could have had Luke be grumpy but still nicer to Rey. However, that’s literally what happens with Han in the Force Awakens. Slapping the audience in the face with Luke’s douchiness and patheticness stings, and that is the point. Both the audience and Rey are forced to reckon with the fact that people are complicated, and they also change, even our heroes. 

Also, the whole point of Luke’s character in this movie is that he redeems himself and gets his old groove back. That last scene where he fights Kylo would not be as satisfying if he had been a cool dude this entire movie. And that scene is great! Him sacrificing himself would always have emotional impact, but this turns a tragedy into a triumph. Plus, Luke having to fight his own internal demons and heal himself before he can fight makes him even more cool and admirable. What made Luke a great character from the beginning is how human he feels, and this is Luke at his most human. 

Now, one of the biggest complaints about Luke being grumpy is that it’s out of character. However, multiple things: 1. People change and 2. Luke was not just a bucket of sunshine in the originals. He was pretty angsty in the third movie. In fact, that entire movie was about him confronting his darkness. And yeah, he won, but like, that experience was probably kinda scaring. Also, like, he was literally in danger of turning to the dark side. He has darkness inside of him, because he is a well written character with flaws.

The explanation for how Luke got to be this way is not fantastic, but it is there. Also, by the way, Luke did not try to kill Kylo because he had a scary dream. People on the internet keep saying that, and I think they’re just misremembering the movie because it came like, six years ago. I mean, hey, that kind of stuff happens.

In fact, I think a lot of people on the internet seem to be victimized by time. Luke is a jerk, yes, but there are still moments of compassion between him and Rey. The meanest he gets is when Rey disobeys specific rules he gave her. Basically,  what I’m saying is that just because someone was bright and happy as a child doesn’t mean that they will continue to be bright and happy for the rest of their life. Could they have done more with the explanation? Yeah. But, I mean, Luke has always been a dude who is all over the place. He’s constantly having responsibility he neither wants nor asks for placed on him, is constantly being forced into moral dilemmas, constantly screwing up. There is definitely a nuance to his character in this movie that everyone has kind of forgotten with time. It’s much easier to remember “Luke bad” then all the moments when he’s nice.

I think that Luke and Rey both teaching each other something is much more meaningful than Luke just being this nice guy. Both of them are people grappling with their own darkness who have to confront their ideas about the world. However, they come at their own darkness from different angles. That’s interesting. Their conflicts are interesting. Both of them are tested in many different ways. That’s interesting. The biggest difference between this and the Yoda thing from Empire is that we didn’t know Yoda yet. 

But, I hear you asking, why does it need to be interesting? Why can’t this movie just have good vibes? I don’t know. I guess it could be. But this is more interesting. Three final things:

One. If Luke wasn’t at least a bit grumpy, then it wouldn’t make sense why he left everything behind. 

Two, All of the pathos surrounding Lukes character in this movie: the scene with Artoo, his death, everything, all of it hinges on his being sad and lonely. None of it would work if he was exactly like he was in his original glory. Him facing his demons is interesting. Maybe it could have been better, but it's better than nothing!

Also, that scene where Artoo awakens in the Millenium Falcon is a pretty heartbreaking scene. It shows Luke being vulnerable, and human. It also allows Luke to mourn for Han. Remember, Luke ran away, and then his friend died because of Kylo, Luke’s biggest failure. Luke probably blames himself for Han’s death. While it’s never stated, this blame is resolved through Luke’s encounter with Kylo, as it’s basically Luke fighting a symbolic representation of his guilt.

Three, as I said this film is about heroism, and Luke finally embracing his heroic side and doing something cool and badass represents a victory for the idealism which once defined him. In order for this to work, Luke needed to have given up on his idealism at the beginning of the movie. If he hadn’t, then it wouldn’t be a victory, as there would be no struggle.

Luke’s sacrifice is a perfect ending for his character. His story in the first three movies is about him constantly being an underdog who had to overcome monstrous adversity all on his own. It makes sense that his final victory is overcoming the demons inside of him. 

Plus, The Return of the Jedi saw Luke confronting his fear of turning evil through his confrontation with Vader. This movie has him confront his fear of being a failure through his confrontation with Kylo. 

Luke’s story in this film is basically just Peter B. Parker’s story from Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.

Both films work as celebrations of these heroic ideals by showing a character who has fallen out of love with these heroic ideals. However, a young and idealistic hero shows them the power of hope, and they eventually embrace heroism. 

Anyways, let’s move onto the third big subversion of the film: Kylo killing Snoke. You see, Kylo does have his own arc. Kylo’s arc is about the fact that he doesn’t like being told what to do. That’s why he rebelled against Luke in the first place. Rey tries to convince him to become a good guy, and when he kills Snoke, she thinks she succeeded, but he just killed Snoke because Rey made him realize how much Snoke was controlling him. 

This puts Rey’s idealism to the test. However, she then sees Luke sacrificing himself to defeat Kylo, and this shows Rey that she was able to save someone.

The final conclusion to Rey’s story is nice. Despite everything, Rey is still hopeful. Sure, she’s learned that sometimes things are shittier than she thought, but she still has the hope to go on. Also, despite everything, despite the fact that Kylo is still evil, she’s still fighting! That’s cool! That’s heartwarming! It’s triumphant! However, this all works because the characters went through hell.

I will admit, this is a rather miserable movie. However, it’s miserable for a reason. It’s so that it feels nice when the characters are still hopeful at the end. Like with Poe! He screwed everything the fuck up, but he’s still willing to try to be better. That’s nice! That’s a good message to tell kids. 

Now, let’s return to Kylo killing Snoke. The problem that many people have with Snoke dying is that they never explained who he was. But how would they have done that? Also, what purpose would that serve?

Snoke being Darth Plagueis would be pointless. The characters don’t know who he is. I guess I would have liked it if he did something important before his death, but I’m not arguing this 

movie is perfect.

Speaking of problems, all of the characters outside our main 6 are just chess pieces. The actions of Admiral Holdo and Leah and Hux don’t make much sense, and it’s a bit distracting. I think the writers did realize that, and I think that might be part of the reason why they didn’t kill Leah off. Her not dying didn’t make any sense in the context of the story, but if she didn’t get any interesting character stuff while Luke and Han did, then it would be unsatisfying. So, they decided to save the interesting stuff for the final movie.  Of course, in the end, she didn’t get any interesting stuff. Whoopsies!

Another issue people have is the plotline with Rose and Finn. Yeah. It does drag on a bit. The fault does not lie in Rose, who I think is a cute character with lots of personality.

She hadn't really seen anyone like her in this universe, and there was a lot of potential there that this movie set up.

However, the problem with this arc is that it messes with Poe’s storyline. You see, with Poe, there’s a feeling that they are running out of time, but having Rose and Poe go somewhere else and spend all this time there kind of ruins that.

The film also has a unique pacing to it, not bad, just unique for this series. Each of the three plotlines have their own climax: Holdo flying the ship into the star destroyer, Kylo killing Snoke, and Finn and Rey getting off of the casino planet.

However, after that, the salt planet then serves as a way for these three plot lines to collide in one giant climax. It is quite satisfying to watch.

But, like, this is just the script. What about everything else?

Well, every actor is giving two hundred percent. Adam Driver kills every scene he’s in by bringing an animal passion and a human empathy to his character. Oscar Isaac embodies everything about Poe perfectly. Mark Hamill manages to sail through a frick ton of complexities and internal struggle with ease. 

The other actors are also giving it their all.

This film also looks great. That scene with the ship running into the star destroyer was awesome. Did it make one hundred percent sense? I guess not. But who cares? What’s important is that it looked awesome. Also, not having any sound was extremely clever. I suppose there is a problem with this being the awesomest moment in the movie since there are like, 45 minutes of screentime after this. 

However, the set piece after this is also pretty awesome. The salt planet that bleeds is the coolest idea ever. It looks awesome and is a great place for a final battle. Plus, it’s always a relief to see an alien planet which actually looks alien, and having it “bleed” allows them to add a sense of carnage despite the PG-13 rating. 

Honestly, I think that planet might be the coolest looking planet in all of Star Wars? Other than that, we have desert planet, forest planet, ice planet, and swamp planet. 

However, the thing with Rose crashing her ship was infuriating, however, because it’s such a stupid thing for a character to do. I understand she was in love with Finn, but it’s still stupid. Whatever.

What I’m saying is this movie is great at spectacle, which is half of these movies. Plus, it has more style in its visual language then any of the other prequel films. It’s colorful, with some fantastic looking locations, and it also uses shadows and light really well.

The fights are also very fun, as many of them have a lot of different moving parts but never manage to be confusing. They can feel overwhelming and chaotic, but we still understand where the characters are and what they are doing. There’s also a great sense of scale in a lot of scenes, particularly the opening action sequence. The camera in this film is moving a lot, and it gives the action scenes a really great energy. Rian Johnson is also great at establishing a sense of stress. There are multiple scenes, including the opening action sequence, where characters are in situation that are straight up *stressful* in how everything is going wrong at once , and we feel their anxiety.

However, the score is rather lackluster, as it’s basically just the scores of all the previous movies blended into a smoothie. But whatever.

Anyways, in conclusion, The Last Jedi has many flaws, but it makes up for them with some fantastic character work, interesting themes, and a great visual style. It good.

#star wars

[funmoviewebsites]

TOP 5 FUN MOVIE SHARING WEBSITE

Introduction

In today's digital age, movie enthusiasts around the world have found new ways to connect and share their love for films. Movie sharing websites have become a haven for cinephiles to discuss, recommend, and discover movies. Whether you're looking for classic films, hidden gems, or the latest blockbusters, these platforms offer a space to connect with like-minded individuals. In this article, we'll explore the top 5 movie sharing websites that bring film aficionados together, with a special focus on Cinebuds.in, which claims the 4th position on our list.

1. Letterboxd

Letterboxd is a popular social network for film lovers. It allows users to log and rate the movies they've watched, create and share lists, write reviews, and follow other cinephiles. The platform's sleek interface and user-friendly features make it a go-to destination for those who want to keep track of their movie journey and engage in discussions.

2. IMDb

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has been a staple for movie enthusiasts for decades. It offers a comprehensive database of movies, TV shows, and entertainment industry information. Users can rate and review films, access cast and crew details, and participate in forums. With its extensive collection of data and user-generated content, IMDb remains a fundamental resource for film lovers.

3. Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes has become a household name for moviegoers seeking a consensus on a film's quality. The website aggregates reviews from critics and audiences to provide a "Tomatometer" score. It's a platform that sparks debates and discussions about movies' merits and flaws, making it an engaging hub for passionate cinephiles.

Cinebuds.in serves as a digital haven for individuals whose hearts beat to the rhythm of the silver screen. Just as Reddit provides forums for various topics and Letterboxd allows users to log and rate films, Cinebuds.in amalgamates these features into a cohesive platform. The result is an engaging ecosystem where movie lovers can interact, exchange ideas, and deepen their appreciation for cinema.

4. Cinebuds.in

Similar to Letterboxd, Cinebuds.in allows users to create personalized profiles showcasing their movie preferences, favorite genres, and much-loved films. This feature facilitates connections between like-minded individuals, sparking conversations and friendships that revolve around shared cinematic interests. Users can curate lists of their favorite movies, creating an interactive showcase that lets others explore their filmography choices.

Much like Reddit, Cinebuds.in encourages active participation through its community-driven approach. Users can engage in discussions, share reviews, and comment on posts related to movies. The platform's threaded discussions enable in-depth conversations, where members can dissect plot twists, analyze characters, and debate the significance of memorable scenes. The upvoting and downvoting system ensures that the most insightful and entertaining discussions rise to the top, enriching the overall experience.

What sets Cinebuds.in apart from other platforms is its innovative "CineMatch" feature. Similar to a dating app algorithm, CineMatch intelligently suggests potential movie buddies based on individual movie preferences and viewing habits. This mechanism facilitates the creation of genuine connections between users who might otherwise never cross paths. Whether you're seeking someone to share your love for indie films or craving discussions about classic cinema, CineMatch aids in finding your cinematic soulmate.

5. Reddit (r/movies)

Reddit has a dedicated subreddit for almost every topic, and movies are no exception. The r/movies subreddit is a bustling hub of discussions, reviews, recommendations, and news related to films. With a vast and diverse community of users, it's an excellent place to discover new movies, share opinions, and engage in debates about all things cinematic.

Conclusion

Movie sharing websites have revolutionized the way film enthusiasts connect, share, and discuss their favorite pastime. Whether you're logging films on Letterboxd, checking reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, or finding movie buddies on Cinebuds.in, these platforms offer a plethora of opportunities to engage with fellow cinephiles. As technology continues to advance, the world of online movie sharing is sure to evolve, providing even more exciting ways for movie lovers to connect. So, if you're passionate about films, don't hesitate to explore these websites and find your cinematic community.

[cobaltaris]

Aris Media 2023 #27: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

to be honest despite putting 100 hours into this I? don't know how to dissect this in my usual short-form reviews on this site? (this aged poorly i wrote like 10 paragraphs on it) guess we'll try because oh my god this was. an experience i wasn't ready for

so THAT was the imprisoning war...

also uh! Spoiler Warning! deep in the Read More for gameplay and story terms! i'm not gonna tell you how everything plays out but there is unrevealed stuff i need to go into, but being we're nearly a month out from release, that's mostly fine, i think

okay so breath of the wild aged kinda weirdly for me? it's a GREAT game but in retrospect it felt lacking compared tro some of my favorite Zelda games, especially in dungeons and storytelling, and i really was worried TotK wouldn't vibe with me cuz BotW looked to be a paradigm shift for the whole Zelda series

and? surprisingly, it all worked out?? i was so enthralled from beginning to end! having the same hyrule didn't end up mattering to me cuz i didnt replay BotW, and there was simply so much MORE to the world despite that. AND SO MANY KOROKS TO TORTURE AND CRUCIFY

not to mention when you can put a slab of iron together and put wheels and a stick on it and have it work as a great way to get around, the fun of traversal kinda overrode the thoughts i had about all that; the Zonai stuff is SO GOOD (that goes for both the devices and the people-okay mainly Mineru but can you blame me she is PERFECT)

SPEAKING OF CHARACTERS TO GET OFF HOT GOAT PEOPLE FOR A SEC; THIS F U C K

the memory stuff is kind of just okay in retrospect, didn't love the plot but the big key moments stuck with me, but GOD ganondorf is so good. they hit all the beats i was hoping for with him and probably made his most outright evil portrayal yet, while STILL making him so calm and in control that it's scary. the way they send him off is so good and please moots finish the game when you can cuz that ending OH MY GOD-

anyway! i just really liked vibing in this game doing shrines and whatnot, which with the new abilities are way more fun and memorable than in BotW. the jenga shrine is? amazing? Ultrahand makes every puzzle a joy to Ignore the Main Solution To, and Ascend and Recall are just outright broken and very fun to use. while I had more issues with durability this time i also love how natural and useful Fuse is; Rocket Shields are so fun and i wish I got more Rockets simply to use them more than I did

the characters are also a lot more fun this time around, and the returning ones got to shine way more! the Tarrey Town quest was SO good in this one, the Champions are a delight, the musical troupe you help out really stuck with me...and Addison. he's. he's a treasure. I'LL SUPPORT YOU

I didn't get too much out of the Sky Islands admittedly; they're still really cool but! generally repetitive after a bit and not super interesting, great atmosphere though. but it's the Depths that really caught me off guard, places in games with a lot of bounty to them but also HIGH levels of danger are some of my favorite things! but the thing i really loved about it is when i realized that it is Tears of the Kingdom's Dark World - its an exact mirror of the original world, Lightroots connecting to Shrines, water aboveground being walls in the Depths, and generally being a way harsher environment. once i realized that, it elevated it SO much, and along with a few things really made it feel like TotK was this hella cool mix of traditional and open-world Zelda

caves! finally back in this one! can i just say that between Vinny's pronunciation of them and their allure here i've gotten obsessed with finding them, every time i see one i just yell "BOOBEL GEM!!" and start firing arrows and hfgjfgjkfg

but no really the caves were such a sour missing part of BotW and their inclusion gives the world so much more needed complexity. i love exploring them, and to repeat this point again, it felt so Classic Zelda to go in one, solve an environmental puzzle, and get a Shrine out of it - and a free one almost always, which feels like the developers also bringing back how caves used to be! i need to say it again THIS GAME WAS SUCH A TREAT

that goes also somewhat for the dungeons, besides like, the Water Temple, which compared to other Water Temples felt extremely lacking, and even in this game it has...no scale? just feels like a regular place? BUT THE OTHERS. DAMN. even if i wish they were even bigger and had more to do, the fact they are real places with lore behind them to explore, different atmospheres - the Fire and Lightning ones EXCEED at this, especially in delivering great boss fights with the Sages' aid. too bad about that same cutscene repeating four times huh

there's even more i could go into it, like how the Gleeok fights are the most HYPE thing and i love them, or how i kinda still wish there was more enemy variety, and ALSO this game got me into the wonder that is house renovation, it's so good actually, but being i'm putting this all in a Tumblr post on a dashboard expected to be scrolled through at high velocity, i'll just cut it here because i loved this one too much. legit too much! it's a Top 3 Zelda, but there's almost too much to do and it can get overwhelming, and still areas left to improve on, but I am more than satisfied with what Tears turned out to be after my skepticism <3

Grade: S

#aris media 2023 #zelda #zelda totk #tears of the kingdom

[littleapocalypsekitten]

Fragments of Horror Impressions

Okay, so went to the bookstore last week and among the books I got, a relation who wanted to gift-buy me some Junji Ito bought me a book I’d selected.  He’d given me Uzumaki as a gift and got me hooked.  I was looking for Gyo but Barnes and Noble didn’t have it.  I was tempted by the Junji Ito Coloring Book, but I hadn’t read the stories featured in it yet and I knew that I would just scan and print pages out of it for actual coloring as I wouldn’t have wanted to mess up the book by using it for its intended purpose.  (Besides, the guy I watch on Youtube who corrupts children’s coloring books into horror-art who is the reason why I got interested in checking out Ito’s work in the first place shows us that it’s a lot more fun to corrupt something innocent than to just start with a horror coloring book).   Anyway, I got Fragments of Horror, a short-manga collection.  I just finished reading it.   My initial, first-reading impressions (and I will try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible).   1. Futon  - Meh. The art is super-cool, as always, that detailed style, but I found the story lackluster. Kind of a Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane thing going on.  According to the Afterword in the back, Ito seems a bit iffy on that one, too.   2. Wooden Spirit - I was delighted to find this in the collection, as I’d heard about this story, or at least one aspect of it.  You know how there are some science fiction stories where someone gets it on with a robot (that’s not humanoid?) or a spaceship or something?  Well, the Mr. Zwinky / Edna ship that I make into a canon ship whenever I play Fallout 4 and “Did Entrapta really do things to Darla the spaceship in She-Ra?” sort of make sense now after I saw a woman have sex with a house. I don’t think there’s any person / object ship that’s not going to make some kind of sense to me now after... that.  And we saw how she did it.  Yeah.  The house seemed to be into it, too.  That was some fucked up shit.  I loved it.  3.  Tomio / Red Turtleneck - Same guy as in Futon? Dude, you have got to stop cheating on your girlfriend. It just goes so badly for you.  Cockroaches... are my phobia-animal, but I appreciate how well-drawn that one was.   4. Gentle Goodbye - I loved this one.  The twist was fairly predictable for a ghost story / ghost-adjacent story (since they’re technically “afterimages”), but I liked the melancholy of it.  It wasn’t a scary story so much as a sad one. I really enjoyed the soft sadness of this piece.   5. Dissection-chan - With a title like this, you know it’s going to be good. Technically, it’s vivisection when you’re doing it to creatures that are alive...but... Very creepy, fairly gory, but not excessively so.  Really gets under the skin (no pun intended) for exploring a kind of psychosis, a medical-kink gone way wrong and perhaps a bit of guilt inherent in certain kinds of science.  And plenty of WTF weird. Yes, this one was very good.   6. Blackbird - Somehow, as the story unfolded, I saw what was coming, but it’s still... just creepy and bizarre.  Gives one a fear of nature with the idea that maybe some mysterious spirits still haunt the mountains.  Once targeted, you will not escape a grisly cycle.  Just terrifying.  Unnerving.   7. Magami Nanakuse - I really liked this one as a bookworm and a writer because I just had the thought “Yeah...writers just be like that sometimes.”  Bizarre, evil.  You know, writers!  Comes with a warning for tumblr, though - this story isn’t entirely woke on transgender issues... there’s a couple of misgenderings, even though the character is correctly gendered in narration at the end, but I just feel like a little warning is in order.  I didn’t take the trans part as being part of the evil or the curse, though, since so many other things were going on - like I said “Yeah, writers be like that.”   8. Whispering Woman - I saw the conclusion a mile away, but it was still satisfying.  Unnerved me a bit - not for the supernatual element so much for that poor girl’s psychiatric condition.  I have no idea what would cause someone with a loving and non-controlling parent to need to be guided in every little thing.  I have heard of people who are like this - but they were raised in religious fundamentalist households and convinced that every bit of independence was sin, and that’s just not a factor in this story.  It seems to be a random brain-thing for this girl. The caretaker’s situation made sense - she was in an abusive situation and kind of had this whole transfer of her agency to the girl.  It’s one of those stories that is disturbing because it does have some real life subtext, yet confusing because of some of the specifics of the story in-universe (as in, it would have made more sense to me if the girl was adopted and being rehabbed from an abusive household rather than having a loving parent the whole time).  Anyway, overall, I loved the collection.  A couple of the stories were a little meh for me, but most of them were perfect.  Copious amounts of WTF with amazingly detailed drawings.  I might just become a Karou Koketsu to your Magami Nanakuse, Mr. Ito (but please don’t lock me in a dungeon until I start developing tics).    

#junji ito #manga #horror #personal opinions on stuff I read

[kae-karo]

I don’t even know is the premise of genshin impact and why everyone loves it, but I’m almost too afraid to ask

SDFLKJKLJSDFKJL hello dear!!! well, i'm taking this as you asking and i'm gonna run with it lmaooooo feel free to read at ur leisure

if we're being technical, the overall premise of genshin is that u have been dropped down in an open world rpg similar to botw, and u play as a traveler from another world seeking your lost sibling who (during the intro cutscene) was separated from u by an unknown god. so u run around teyvat (this world) meeting friends and enemies in an attempt to track down the unknown god and find/rescue ur sibling

beneath the premise, it's definitely a vast, wide-open game that, imo, has 3 core appeals: the characters, the lore/theorizing, and the gameplay/main plot. i'll work my way backwards:

gameplay/main plot

the gameplay is pretty easy to discuss cause it's very combat-focused, great for ppl who enjoy building characters/teams for different types of combat, who like the grind of building and min-maxing characters, getting the meta of the most effective team compositions, etc. the devs lean into this with rotating combat challenges both as a part of the events that occur throughout each patch and as a part of the ongoing game

another piece of this - the game updates every 6 weeks, with a number of events that occur during each patch (along with new characters) in order to keep things fresh and interesting! ie right now, we're in the middle of the lantern rite festival, which pays homage to the chinese new year!

on its own, the main game/plot is somewhat interesting, updates with every patch or so, and follows (predominantly) the progress of the traveler searching for their sibling. the in-between phase of these main questline updates is comprised of a daily aspect (you have 4 small tasks to complete each day, which earn u currency toward gaining new characters), a weekly aspect (complete certain tasks per week to gain points toward additional rewards), as well as general open world quests that provide similar character-currency rewards, upgrade materials, etc

each country in teyvat also has exploration progress, open world rewards like chests, and open world puzzles to solve. there are also in-world 'domains', basically a separate dungeon-type area that allows either one-time completion for rewards similar to a world quest or can be completed many times for a variety of character/weapon enhancement rewards. all in all, this is the kind of gameplay you end up doing a lot of either for building characters, building up wish currency, or to pass the time between updates/patches/events

lore/theories

the lore is another aspect tied to the story and plot. it's pretty intense and extremely deeply hidden in things as innocuous as common materials you gain when defeating open world mob enemies, as logically placed as in the books you can collect, and as complex as...well, let's just say there's a whole entire network (khaenriah.com) dedicated to dissecting and piecing together the lore & theories. a lot of fun for theorycrafters and ppl who enjoy deep-diving into lore and worldbuilding

beyond that, too, the appeal is that we don't know everything yet. the game itself isn't complete, with several regions still in development, questlines that only have the first part of several, etc. it's a bit like jumping into a story and reading through a few chapters, where you're just getting the first notes of what the grand scheme of the whole book will be about. once you start, you kind of want to stick around for more

characters

the biggest appeal, imo, is the characters - for a few reasons. first and foremost, it's a gacha game at its heart (meaning that a currency exists in-game to 'wish' for characters, and it's a product of random luck and certain back-end mechanics to determine which characters you might get). on its own, this is a pretty big motivator for ppl who enjoy the collection aspect and random/gambling piece of it, but beyond that, the devs have done a really intense job actually building out these characters - each has 7 stories (in the vein of backstories) that gradually unlock the longer you have them in your teams as well as an abundance of voice lines that give insight into their personality, and most of them also have either questlines that reveal more about the character in the present (or shed light on their past) or 'hangouts' similar to a dating sim.

overall, the characters are aesthetically fun and interesting, there's sort of something for everyone in terms of playstyle, design, backstory, etc, which makes it easy to find a favorite (or several). plus as a writer, the depth already given to each character makes crafting stories around them and writing in line with their voices or speech patterns less research-intensive

in the same vein as the story, we don't know everything about the characters yet either - again, the idea of being introduced to a character and wondering at the possibilities, how their choices will affect the story, the world, and other characters (to those who know genshin: yes i'm thinking abt kaeya. i'm always thinking abt kaeya lmao)

anyway, hope that helps lmao!!! thanks for sticking around while i dive into genshin hell, it's always nice to see ur name pop up dear 💜

#genshin #genshin impact #ask #plagueofskeletons

[rivalsforlife]

Heyo since I finally read The Catch-Up Game (and really really loved it by the way) how about 1 and 5 for that?

Yesssss thanks so much JJ!! Glad you liked it, that's still one of my favorite things I've written!

1. What inspired you to write the fic this way?

"This way" is a little vague so I'll interpret it as I like. Mostly I wanted to write the fic the way I did because I was feeling pretty dissatisfied with my Phoenix characterization in other fics. He's a surprisingly difficult character to get a handle on, he's like just weird enough I had quite a bit of trouble writing him for a long time. I've always had this Problem of mine back when I did original writing where my protagonists would always end up sooooo bland in comparison to all the other characters, which is obviously a major problem because your protagonist should be the most interesting. And I found that carried over to a lot of my Phoenix characterizations in my earlier fics. Especially, like, writing a character from their POV and from someone else's POV ends up completely different, I find. I'd written mostly Edgeworth-POV narumitsu up to that point, and the way Edgeworth sees Phoenix is quite different from how Phoenix sees Phoenix. And while I'd had a couple of fics digging into Edgeworth a bit more as a sort of character study I didn't have anything going into depth with Phoenix at all.

Also I wrote the fic for narumitsu week 2020, which had the list of prompts I ended up basing the chapter titles off of. I have to confess here I wasn't... *super* satisfied with my narumitsu week 2019 fics, though I don't like to admit that because I know lots of people do like them (Childswap is still my 3rd highest kudos'd fic despite me constantly thinking I could've done it better.) I thought I might do better if I could write one giant fic instead of eight smaller fics, since that way I could spend more time getting invested in an overall story without feeling quite as rushed, if that makes sense?

I'm actually digging out my planning doc now, it's been a while since I looked at this, but I generally do a stream-of-consciousness brainstorming session so there's some interesting stuff in here. The existence of "pining" in the prompts meant this would probably be a "getting together" fic, but I had already written a few of those, and so has like... half the fandom. So I wanted to tackle my dissatisfaction with my previous Phoenix characterizations and try to dig deep into his character to try and make it unique. I wrote down the basic things that I thought were neat about Phoenix and unaddressed by canon that I wanted to explore (relationship trauma in general with regards to the Dahlia-Iris debacle but also general relationship abandonment issues stemming from as far back as the class trial that also are very associated with Edgeworth), picked a few plot beats that matched the prompts, and just kinda went from there.

5. What part was hardest to write?

Few things:

The rejected confession in chapter 5 was something I was so stressed about because I really, really didn't want it to come across as "drama for the sake of drama", you know. So it had to rely mostly on the previous chapter to support the weight, but the confession and Phoenix's rejection still had to stand on its own and be in character and not too melodramatic but also not too casual... etc. That was the part I was the most stressed about at first.

Then I got a huge number of comments reacting to that, dissecting Phoenix's motives, predicting what was going to happen next -- the big narumitsu discord was having live reactions and discussion sessions about it -- and don't get me wrong this was very fun I really enjoy when I write something people can engage with, especially to that level, but it was also very stressful for the rest of that week, because I had to hope the rest of the fic met people's expectations. I was posting this live during narumitsu week so there was no time to do a complete overhaul or really much editing if I wanted to change anything, since chapter 8 (the conclusion to most of this) was going to be posted in... two days, so I just had to ride it out and hope people didn't drop it because they were dissatisfied with how the rest of the story played out. And if anyone did, they didn't tell me, so I can pretend everyone liked it!

So yeah, the last part of chapter 8 where Phoenix explains himself to Edgeworth got a little tricky because I was looking at feedback from comments and trying to figure out what things I wanted to change and how. But that mostly amounted to a difference of a few lines. I also had trouble with chapter 7 -- again I worry it went too close to "drama for the sake of drama", the whole mafia subplot is kinda just forced in there and you can tell, but that's what I get for trying to write a well-edited fic in uhh three months. I go back and forth on the burning building thing still. I might do it differently if I were rewriting today, but a ton of people really liked that part, so I guess it can't be too bad?

Anyways I am rambling on for way too long. I did have a lot of fun with this fic. I think it's probably the one that got the most engagement and positive reception out of all the fics I wrote so that must mean other people had fun with it too, which is always an extremely satisfying feeling to have.

#asks #this got very rambly sorry I just really like talking about this stuff

[oh-hush-its-perfect]

I'm forever going to be mad at Nine from the Nine Worlds (Nft9W) because the thing about short stories based on series is that they can do a really good job of exploring character in depths the original source material didn't get the chance to do.

On the deep side of things, we could have Samirah and Blitzen discussing the deaths of their mortal parents and the effect it had on them, and possibly bonding with Magnus in the process. We could have had a dissection of Mallory's guilt from setting a bomb on a school bus, or a vignette of Hearthstone's childhood.

On the fun side of things, we could have had Alex and Magnus starting a book club, or TJ going clubbing, or Samirah and Amir going on a very awkward date with Alex chaperoning. Hotel Valhalla and the Nine Worlds open a host of fun opportunites.

But we DIDN'T and I'm so upset about that. Not only did it not enrich any of the characters in any meaningful way, it also didn't explore the worlds. If it wasn't going to be character development, it could have at least fufilled the promise of its title and worldbuild a little. But it barely does! Of the places where the characters go, about 7/9 of them are already familiar.

Rick Riordan has shown he knows how to write interesting, developing short stories of his pre-established characters. The one where Clarisse and Percy find Ares's chariot in The Demigod Files gave some really cool insight on Clarisse, her father, and how their family dynamic influences her psychology— and the story was fun, too! So why, praytell, was Nft9W so badly written?

TL;DR: Nft9W had a lot of potential and it was sorely disappointing.

#Might mess around and make an entire YouTube video essay on this #Just kidding! Maybe #There's a lot more that I could say about this book #It's a little transphobic in a subtle way #It's also homophobic #Why? Alex and Magnus still aren't officially dating and that is a hate crime against me in particular #Also it implies Inge's crush on Hearth is reciprocated? #Which is also homophobic #/j #It was the only one I paid for and I sure am mad that I did #It's got a pretty cover tho #mcga #rr crit #kinda? #magnus chase #magnus chase and the gods of asgard #I've posted like 3x today with is far more than usual

[kanohivolitakk]

 Thinking about this image and how much I feel this when it comes to Bionicle and my creation and consumption of transformative content in this fandom, especially when it comes as someone who prefers the more secondary heroic characters, the villains and the few neutral characters the series has over the main heroes (who I do like, just don’t have as big brainrot for).

OK let me explain.

So, lately I been thinking a lot about Greg’s writing style as well as how he engaged with the fandom. And one thing I have in particular paid attention to is the following: Bionicle is the type of story where plot is it’s driving force (alongside its worldbuilding) and Greg is the type of writer who writes characters in the service of the plot, rather than plot in service of the characters.

Now, I don’t think this writing style is inherently bad, and it works for Bionicle since as said, Bionicle is a plot-driven series where the big appealis uncovering the world and numerous webs of conflict and drama and discord. I’m not also saying that Bionicle doesn’t have compelling characters or that some of those characters don’t have emotionally compelling arcs. Bionicle is an action-figure focused toyline so of course the characters have to be fun/interesting/likeable and there are many characters whose arcs people have either enjoyed, liked their writing or resonated with such as Takua or Vakama for instance. I’m also not saying Greg is incapable of writing emotional moments either (I mean, everyone in this fandom cried when Matoro died soo.)

What I am trying to say is the following: 1) Bionicle is an action-fantasy-science fiction-war drama aimed at kids which main focus is telling a complex story in a complex universe. Despite that the characters are (relatively) simple in the grand scheme of things. 2) Greg has said at least on a few occasions he uses characters as tools in story, and uses characters whenever they need to appear in the story. For Greg a lot of the time it feels he uses characters for what they can do in the story rather than who they are. 3)Greg often said that he thinks about details only if “they’re important to the story”. This is true to characters and their emotional struggles as well. 4) The fans love to overthink and speculate stuff that Greg probably never thought of because it wasn’t important for him. 5) A lot of the time Bionicle characters (especially the non main hero ones) only have their emotional struggles implied or skirted from.

Because of Gregs writing style and the way he is more interested in exploring the world/plot rather than the characters emotional struggles, it feels that the characters sometimes feel..undercooked. That they aren’t allowed to go through their emotional struggles in a way that feels natural. Heck, at times the emotional struggles feel accidental rather than intentional on Greg’s front (see one of the reasons Nidhiki is my favorite character is because his characterization just has that “deep rooted self-haterd/haterd towards everything else issues” yet when asked about this Greg just went very “idk I guess he’s dead so doesn’t matter”).

And just, this is a thing I like about the Bionicle fandom because like, we can add emotional struggles and stuff there where it was implied. Fandoms in general (transformative fandom in particular) tends to often focus on characters above any other aspect of storytelling, and as such, we can analyze, headcanon and breathe life into characters in a canon that was more focused on plot and world like Bionicle. It does help that unlike a lot of plot/world-focused series (which tend to have rather shallow and generic casts), the characters in Bionicle actually do have a lot of potential to be explored and dissected, no matter how clearly you can see them not being the focus of the story. So just interesting characters who don’t get as much of emotional caharsis/focus as they deserve equals desire of wanting to write meta/headcanons/fic where those characters issues are addressed and touched on. Because unlike Greg, I (and other ppl in the fandom as well9 do care about stuff like this.

Of course there are exceptions (see Vakama for instance). In addition, not every character needs to have emotional struggles: one thing I really like about Lhikan for instance is that he was able to keep hisidealism despite everything that happened to him.

But yeah. This is just my few cnets as a very vocal villain liker who also likes emotional catharsis. Idk how ppl who like main toa teams feel about this so I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject and whether or not me liking villains/secondary characters colors my view on this subject. Again keep in mind that the writer of this meta had their favorite character basically been characterized as “just a selfish bastard” according to Greg despite the text arguably suggesting otherwise so I am biased a f.

#Kirika Talks #Bionicle #Kirikas Bionicle Meta

[skypied]

I am LATE but is there I chance that we could get a directors commentary for the new fic while it’s still fresh in your mind or has the directors commentary thing already run its course??

Ah not late at all! It's barely been out for... 18 hours lol! My brain is always empty... I'll try! But really, there isn't much direct process to be found.

If you want to know about the idea for the setting/"plot" or "why the fuck are they knocking each other's teeth out" you've come to the wrong place LOL. Okay so. It started with imagining Luca explaining the human birthing process to Alberto, but him getting bored and blowing a raspberry on Luca's stomach. Then I thought, hm, Luca would probably be super startled because he doesn't know what that is, and knee him.

Then I remembered the scene in The Handmaiden/Fingersmith where Sook-hee/Sue files down a sharp tooth for Hideko/Maud. And it's just. I am so fucking weak for acts of vulnerability and surrender and particularly when they've got an undercut of yearning.

Especially with these two boys and sea monster things and at least my HC of there being a predator/prey imbalance coded into their brains. So I just. The image of Luca holding Alberto's mouth open and poking up against a wound that must hurt, and gently soothing him? I couldn't resist.

Then the rest just kinda happened. I have no justification for Luca pulling out his own teeth, other than it being the perfect kind of crazy way of impressing Alberto.

But going deeper, I think it culminated from a couple of thoughts/insecurities about my writing I've had lately:

The fact that these are two rowdy teenage boys with half a braincell and no common sense between them who would get up to the stupidest shit. Also, just how stupid and senseless teenager dialogue + flirting is. Like, when I write them as adults who've been together for several years, they've become a lot more settled into themselves and each other and are super sweet and loving. But as teenagers I think they'd have a long period where all the physical things they get up to were experimental and flirty but without any devotion behind it. And start out very "haha what if we kissed... aha ha.. just kidding... unless? just for practice, of course..." That's esp with the little detail of Alberto bringing up kissing a lot, because he's trying to chart the waters for Luca's interest, but without asking outright or laying the moves on him, you know? Literally: I think they'd be very "just guys being dudes" if they experiment/get "together" as teenagers.

The area of a friendship/crush where you have random thoughts of things you like about the other person, but haven't put the pieces together yet. Like staying up half the night because "oh Alberto's eyes are really pretty" but still not figuring out.

Playing with how infinitely deep the well of things they as human teenagers should know, but don't know, bc they're sea monsters + their particular upbringings (Alberto with little guidance, Luca smothered)

Figuring out Luca's character. I say this once a week but he remains a mystery to me. I don't know what it is I don't understand, but I'm trying to figure it out. I'm having a lot of fun trying to be inside his head though. Esp in this one, where I'm trying out some kind of... morbid, almost cold curiosity? Like imagining Alberto dead from jumping off the tower and going "just like dissecting frogs... interesting". Also something I like exploring is how Luca relates to Alberto. Because he definitely does pick up on how much fake bravado Alberto is, but he doesn't challenge him on it, just mentally rolls his eyes. And how he finds ways to get honesty from Alberto. Like this boy pulled out one tooth and got so hooked on the gentle look in his eyes he pulled another.

Trying to figure out pacing and weaving between being in the moment in scenes, and weaving onto the next ones. And playing with descriptions in general. I love descriptions that are kind of unconventional? Like you go "oh. Never thought about it like that!" but it makes sense and you understand what the writer meant. Not sure I'm there yet, but trying to think a little bit more before jotting things down and trying out new descriptions. I think my favorite one in this one is:

He tells you tales that grow taller and taller until they cast no shadows and you realize he's boasting. You stare directly into the zenith of the sun until your vision swims and your skin burns and you run downstairs for shelter

because it combines describing Alberto boasting and the sun reaching zenith. Not sure it's read like that, but it's neat in my head at least.

And trying to stick to one or two things as themes to run through it. This one was, obviously, compromises, though I feel like it should maybe have been driven home harder.

I think a lot of these culminate into trying to figure out how to write without revealing my whole hand constantly. I'm very, I just want everyone to know everything at all times. But forcing myself into not only the space before they get together and are constantly pulled between hiding and trying to show little signs of affection without revealing their crush, but also the space before that, where they aren't really aware of what their feelings mean, is a very good challenge for figuring out how to describe things without the language I usually do. And trying to write character's actions instead of words or thoughts or feelings, and see if that translates. You know?

I'm also selfishly experimenting with 2nd POV because I think the long fic I'm trying to wrangle into something will be 2nd POV because it lends itself so well to visceral feelings, and I think it's a better fit for how I tend to over-describe thoughts and feelings.

So... Yeah! I think most of this fic started with one dumb idea and I used it as a platform to get a steadier footing on the little raft I’m on in these rocky waters. Or something. I think I’m currently in a place where I’m writing what can serve my needs to grow as a writer, in favor of writing for writing’s sake, or just writing things that are fun or cute, or something. I dunno.

#skypiechats #skypiefics