#like. i dont like atla no i will not elaborate i dont need to be yelled at but

[heliianth]

something that frustrates me with katara is it feels like her character wasn’t super focused on when zuko first joined the gaang so all we got was her anger until the southern raiders. like yes her anger here makes absolute sense because of everything she’s been through and she’s getting more and more isolated because everyone else is warming up to zuko, but i feel like all we really get to see is those moments of her making icy comments and all that. i totally get that the show doesn’t have as much time to elaborate on that, but i imagine that’s also part of why a lot of people hate so much on katara. at this point, zuko’s actively working to be better while katara ends up a little stuck and indulges her anger for a bit. and that’s fair! she’s 14! everything sorta sucks! i was an absolute nightmare at 14!

it’s interesting when fanfictions expand on her struggling with this dilemma (because yeah… aang Does need to learn firebending but zuko very much hurt katara and the others) and then working towards a point where she can start healing. that part of the show always felt a little rushed to me which sucks bc it’s my favorite (i just really like seeing them get to a point where they’re all friends y’know)

but overall yes it’s absolutely because people tend to hate 14 year old girls no matter what they do which is just… yikes. sorry for the ramble! my roommate and i just finished rewatching atla yesterday so uwu

no ramble at me ive been literally obsessed w this show for the past few weeks i love this shit nomnomnomnomnom

anyways i can understand this. i think her anger n the way its portrayed is sufficient for Me because i dont really need any further elaboration imo. katara felt used and betrayed by zuko and the direct result of that was aang dying, i dont think she personally needs to struggle with that any more than depicted. she says all this in a lot of scenes and she trusts aang's decision to accept him, but not zuko himself, i think its pretty clear. i actually think the southern raiders addresses it perfectly tho despite the breakneck pace of the last half of s3—i think at that point in the series a lot of katara's anger (post-firebending masters and boiling rock), not just lingering distrust, is focused on the fact that zuko is fire nation. she struggles separating him, the individual, from his colonizing imperialist country, the collective. part of her healing is learning the value of forgiveness... yon ra (is that his name??) is just a pathetic loser and shes better than him and she knows it, so she's ready to forgive zuko as a person after she sees that for herself. she utilizes that kindness and strength on someone who she can see deserves it now. so i dont super see the pace as a reason to Hate-Hate katara to the level some of the fandom do, but i can understand why people would think its rushed considering the amount of time other arcs are given.

people who hate katara n think shes annoying for talking about her mom are losers tho they can fuck off smile

#atla

[koheletgirl]

ooh elaborate on miss americana & the heartbreak prince with mailee

okok im so glad you asked. because like i said a few days ago, i think you need a good reason to put taylor swift in ship playlists (just bc it's so easy yk?).

so my starting point with this was "voted most likely to run away with you".

i remembered that line so i knew i wanted to consider the song for this playlist, and then i read the lyrics and taylor's commentary from spotify.

what she says there is "this song is about disillusionment with our crazy world of politics and inequality, set in a metaphorical highschool. i wanted it to be about finding one person who really sees you and cares about you through all the noise.” 

so the highschool metaphor for politics and inequality is definitely a Choice, but it does work for us in this case dont you think? smarter and more eloquent people than me have discussed this in the past for sure, but there is something about what is essentially a mean-girl-trio being some of the most politically influential people in the atla world. and the disillusionment is also part of it, i think this is a big theme in both the beach and the boiling rock, from mai and ty lee’s perspectives. and of course, finding the one person who sees you and cares about you through all the noise.

“It's been a long time coming, but / It's you and me, that's my whole world“

TL;DR: political disillusionment + fire metaphors + battle metaphors + some allusions to cheerleading + running away with the only person who matters = boiling rock ty lee. and it ties to today’s theme!

the mailee playlist

#that being said #dont ask me what you belong with me is doing in there. the answer is that it's fun #tysm for this i love talking about these things #sincerely hope this made sense #ask #nina tag #oh maybe i should clarify. i forgot ty lee wasnt actually a cheerleader #she is in my mind #playlist tag

[ketavinsky]

silly little post to augment my oc project tag here huehuehuehue

here’s my earth protagonist, minuet! buncha stuff under the cut!

pinterest stuff:

excerpt from a passage i wrote a while ago about minuet reflecting on her childhood! im not super fond of the tone of this so i definitely need to rework it, but here it is for now!

and a couple of little notes on her tattoos

LORE DUMP:

so the nocturne (minuet and scherzo) were created as part of an elaborate courtship ritual - scherzo (a flirtatious, light dance) fashioned in dawns likeness to impress him, and minuet (a stately, more intimate ballroom piece) formed from an ember astray to entertain night. part of the reason why night dotes on scherzo so much is because of the nocturne - he misses dawn, the mouthfeel of him - but dawn, who ends up completely horrified by the others' actions, sees the nocturne as this huge symbol of everything that is wrong with the world and himself. 

im still figuring out the exact timeline but in perihelion + daybreak, minuets birth coincides with when dawns empire is demolished. she of course does not directly do this, but her destructive nature and status as catalyst of the end leads to her being labelled a bad omen, a sour hearth, etc. 

in reality this is because these gods are more or less forbidden to create (energy and matter are supposed to be conserved, not created or destroyed) but their  choosing to do so anyway dooms them all either way, minuet gets most of the flack for it and is repeatedly scorned for it and convinced of her own hazard. 

after dawn leaves the sect, he really struggles to engage with her - because she is a symbol of his past self, the doveheart despot, yes, but because he is aware that he's failed her as a father and he just does not know how to rectify that at all. dawn did not make minuet into what she is - but he discarded her, and watched idly as the world transformed her, as it transformed him. 

the most he can bring himself to do is impart upon her the same ideals he himself employs: resurrection via flame, as does the phoenix - as he does himself to cleanse his body and soul before retreating to the human world. this is why minuet is so careless for her life - she knows she is going to burn up and die a fiery death, and then she will be new and clean and fresh. may as well get her hands dirty now, while she can. as a result, minuet is an adrenalin junkie and a thrillseeker whose extreme hedonistic tendencies intermingle w passive suicidal ideation and also the glorification of suicide! think of dawn's seeded cult - cockhead and the dire doctrine of the aphelion vulture, and how passionately they glorify death. they worship the end! - in ofluxes Eden, this translates not as the cosmic cataclysm, but ego death and dissolution of the self. this was dawns work, as is minuet, who has an identity, yeah, but has been so weathered down by prophecy and function that she:

a) unwittingly perpetuates the cycle of abuse in interaction with her sister ("how dare you fucking complain! how dare you stand there and fucking act like you're suffering, like you dont want this life, this face, you were given." and then yunque goes "sorry being a pawn my whole miserable rotting un-life fills me with contempt!! bitch!" and then minuet explodes with the ol' AND YOU THINK I DONT KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE A PAWN OF MY FUCKING FATHER - not ours, but mine, because minuet is dawns only trueborn child and thus raised uniquely) and 

b) transforms herself into an Atlas, bearer of all burdens, saviour of her loved ones, just to feel good - to feel like shes capable of doing good. minuet is so angry and the anger will live in her forever!

and in the end:

dawn did that to her. minuet will forever be the protector, cursed by her fathers love, her fathers creating touch, always fighting to prove that shes worthy. dawn did that to her. minuet will always be reaching for something unattainable - to simultaneously fulfil her function and do something good with herself. 

dawn did that to her. 

minuet is dawns only daughter that he actually sat down and created and he infected her with his relentless yearning and his chronic discontent and his endless bleached ennui. (one of the images associated w dawn being a lush wildflower field - bordering a bone -white, barren beach) and, of course, he let courtesans and nobility and soothsayers carve maledictions and curses into minuet's flesh (her tattoos) to temper her 'purpose' - when he was the one who gave her all of that to carry. as a result, when jeunzi becomes aware of sublimes existence and goes to dawns last temple - she begs for his help. 

and dawn, knowing that sublimes been imprisoned for a reason, knowing that everything will go wrong Again Anyways, gives her a flaming knife with minuets prophecy engraved into it. so when jeunzi cuts sublime free with the knife, sublime will recognise it, and he will thank minuet - something that will benefit her centuries into the future when the sons of night start quarrelling again see, he does this to try help her build alliances because he knows shes more of a lone wolf type - but even that is just another burden for her to shoulder, another thing to fulfil. dawn does love her. hes learnt to, and he didnt love her for a long, long time. 

but he knows what he's done to his child more than any of the others because he alone broke the cycle of divinity. he knows the enormity of the consequences, from a very human perspective but he just . 

he just cant apologize. he just cant reach out to her. shes nothing but his eldest daughter. his greatest failure and most violent triumph.

okay to balance all that out this is literally her:

i am really excited to give her a really fucked up girlfriend and a really fucked up arc where she realises she can never forgive dawn OR night ! she’s my judas and she is awesome.

#dellete #in the old world the stars spoke to each other #minuet #the nocturne #dawn #loreposting lol #original characters

[gendernewtral]

people are more than happy to use toph’s blindness as a joke in fanart or posts with 100k notes but won’t use alt text or image descriptions for that fanart or make the post readable by screen reader.

general accessibility makes a website usable for blind people AND people with general processing disorders/adhd/autism/dissociation so like. why is it so hard for you to write out image text in the notes or use alt text. why is it so hard to describe an image in the notes or in alt text. y’all SEE how hard it is to be someone who is systematically not able to interact with the world in the same way other people can. how has it not occurred to you to change your behavior to make it easier for people to use this site in the way that actually lets them -use the site-.

#sterling speaks #cpunk #like. i dont like atla no i will not elaborate i dont need to be yelled at but #ill be trying to read a post and have to just stop bc fhe image text is completely unreadable

[orettile]

ok my avatar stardust crusaders au. i had to draw at least some basic stuff for it because its been living in my head for like a month now! I imagine a mashup of jojo and atla canon of sorts 

100 years ago dio took over and became the firelord. Then the plot vaguely follows the schemat of phantom blood: jonathan and dio fight, jonathan dies, dio somehow manages to get himself frozen, not unlike aang, and is presumed dead for 100 years . Plot begins the moment dio comes back and takes back his previous position as a firelord and starts the war anew.

rest of character headcanons/descriptions under the cut

jotaro

 avatar, oryginally earthbender.

 his whole life he has been living in a quiet town somewhere in an earth kingdom, before he discovered that somehow he is able to bend other elements and therefore he’s the avatar. It happened around the time dio became the ruler of the fire nation again. Then he gets dragged by joseph to learn all the bending arts and defeat dio

i imagined him as an earthbender both because of his fighting style and personality - he is straightforward, strong, stubborn and knows when to strike

joseph

he’s a firebender, i imagine he’s been living somewhere in an earth kingdom though. During the war he usually travel in earth kingdom clothing or at least something neutral. Wants to kill dio to avenge his grandpa jonathan and end the war once and for all

along the way he teaches jotaro firebending as his first foreign element. jotaro is not very keen on lessons with his grandpa but knows he’s lucky to learn an enemy’s weappon from someone he can at least trust

avdol

yeah i know he’s basically a firebender in canon already and i like firebender!avdol, but i think he fits airbending just as well. He’s a spiritual, fun person and also i think he would look great in the tattoos

in this au i guess that airbenders haven’t been completely wiped out because dio disappeared before he was able to go thorough with the plan

he teaches jotaro airbending and jotaro finds it a bit hard since air and earth are opposite elements, but avdol is a great teacher so its not bad

polnareff

ok so he is a non-bender sent by dio, the rest pretty much the same as canon (i didn’t really think through the fleshbud thing but i think it can still be present here)

i had a problem to translate his frenchness into atla universe and still have no idea what nation he fits best but ultimately i’ve decided that he’s just from some weird island on earth kingdom territory that is known for how its citizens speak weird.

he fights with a sword he made himself

kakyoin

waterbender who was taken from his village during one of the fire nation raids. He learned bloodbending while he has been kept captive by fire nation and tried to escape using it, but got caught. After some time the news of his ability got passed to dio, who thought he could certainly use a bloodbending assasin

got brainwashed and sent to kill the avatar, but his zuko-esque behaviour ends the moment his fleshbud is out. 

jotaro learns waterbending from him and this element is something that he quickly warms up to. he finds the calming (ocean man....)

they also have mud fights :)

the group needs to get healed after pretty much every enemy encounter and he as a waterbender is at first the only one with the ability to heal. hes  not very good at it, and he finds polnareff’s ability to get injured all the time annoying, but he tries his best. he tries to pass some of his knowledge of healing to jotaro

i drew him with the brown hair like in ova 

iggy

iggy is still a dog. thats thats on that

this sure got a bit longer than i expected

i am not usually eager enough to come up with elaborate au descriptions but there were some things i just wanted to draw and then it went overboard

#stardust crusaders #jotaro kujo #mohammed avdol #jean pierre polnareff #kakyoin noriaki #joseph joestar #avatar au #mine

[lesbianlotties]

Not really an album since i couldn't choose one and leave others. So ignore if it doesn't fit your ask.

Florence and the Machine songs specifically: cosmic love, delilah, never let me go, what the water gave me, shake it out, howl, no light no light, over the love. Please and thank you.

Oh first of all so sorry this took so long but i’m so excited about this one!! basically, florence and the machine songs are perfect for Andy and Quynh! so let’s do it

Florence and The Machine x Andromaquynh

I’d like to personally thank Florence Welch for writing What the water gave me for Andy and Quynh and Andy and Quynh only. (also howl for the sexy angsty reunion that we WILL get in the sequel!!)

Cosmic Love

“I was in the darkness, So darkness I became” how is it that a song that sounds so pretty is giving me so many Angsty Andromaquynh feelings. if this isn’t andy grieving her loss of loss...

“The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out, You left me in the dark, No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight, In the shadow of your heart” that’s like... both of them. i mean, for Quynh is sort of literal, sorry Quynh.

Delilah

“Too fast for freedom, Sometimes it all falls down, These chains never leave me, I keep dragging them around” I don’t know but this one also gave me “Andy missing Quynh, dealing with the loss, wishing and waiting for her, coping (badly) however she can” feels

Never Let Me Go

“Looking up from underneath, Fractured moonlight on the sea, Reflections still look the same to me, As before I went under, And it's peaceful in the deep, Cathedral where you cannot breathe, No need to pray, no need to speak, Now I am under all” hm... see... i think miss Welch and Quynh probably have different opinion of how it feel to be drowning at the bottom of the ocean.. But!!! If we can pretend that at some point during or probably after freeing herself Quynh found some peace...

“And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me, But the arms of the ocean delivered me” I’m reading this as delivered her back home to Andromache <3

but also, I dont love the comics for the ending and the evil Quynh/Noriko, but the “crashes are heaven for a sinner like me” is a big mood for her

What the water gave me

the entire song. that’s it.

“And time goes quicker, Between the two of us” crying in Andy and Quynh have loved each other for three thousand of years

“Lay me down, Let the only sound, Be the overflow” now crying in of course Andy had tried to kill herself or drown herself or singlehandely swim to the bottom of the ocean to find her wife

“And oh, poor Atlas, The world’s a beast of a burden, You’ve been holding on a long time, And all this longing” that’s Andy. no i will not elaborate. That’s Andromache the Scythian

“Because they took your loved ones But returned them in exchange for you But would you have it any other way?” lastly but not least, crying in Andy blaming herself and believing it should have been her bc she lost her wife but also “a soldier” she was older and the leader and she lost Quynh and she wishes she could take her place

Shake it out

“Regrets collect like old friends, Here to relive your darkest moments” Andy :(((( there’s a lot of Andy in this song but! let me suggest:

“And I am done with my graceless heart, So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart” and “And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope“ that’s more about Quynh coming back, dealing with her trauma, finding hope again and looking for happiness and yes dancing with her wife

Howl

Listen... I’m the first one to argue that Andy and Quynh are no “chaotic” couple and I don’t want Quynh to come back a villain and angry at Andy but.... miss Welch made some points here in this song....

“Now there's no holding back, I'm ready to attack, My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out, The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound, I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground, Like some child, possessed, the beast howls in my veins, I want to find you, tear out all your tenderness and howl”, did someone say dramatic reunion with homoerotic sword fight while this song plays in the background????

No light no light

“You can't choose what stays and what fades away“ you mean it’s not what time steals it’s what it leaves behind?

“Would you leave me, If I told you what I've done?, And would you leave me If I told you what I've become?” more angsty reunion vibes. takes me back to the comics and Andy having some regrets, and Quynh/Noriko doing some awful stuff, and of course after living so long they’d have things they regret, but maybe only they understand each other

Over the love

“And now to unsee what I've seen, To undo what has been done, Turn off all the lights, Let the morning come” Andy :(((((

“Cause you're a hard soul to save, With an ocean in the way, But I'll get around it” oh so this song was specifically written for andy and quynh. got it

bonus: Which Witch for obvious reasons, also Haunted House (yes they’re the titles of two of my andromaquynh fics + two of what the water gave me)

#thank you for this!!! fatm is the official andromaquynh soundtrack #the old guard #andy x quynh #andromaquynh #immortal wives #andromaquynh albums #andromaquynh songs #andromache the scythian #quynh #tog

[kaedeichinose]

ironwood’s sobbing about how he cant just make fixing the tower public because what if salem foils it is so funny for multiple reasons

salems forces consists of like 2 dudes (both of whom have been beaten by the main characters once already), cinder (they dont know shes dead i dont think?), two teenagers and hackerman

literally all he would need to do to get like. as much security on the tower as he wants is go “well surely the DASTARDLY VILLAINS who sunk vale’s tower would surely try to stop this!” and i think most people would find that genuinely good reasoning as to why he needs a large force on the tower at all times. hell people would fucking volunteer, global communications benefits fucking everyone

if she COULD send in enough grimm all at once to circumvent this she wouldnt need the elaborate plans to sink vale or mistral she couldve just done it whatever. the fact she hasnt should make it obvious she cant. “but what if humanity unites against her!” isnt a real excuse considering she has a group of humans working for her, theres no way some jackasses wouldnt willingly side with her no matter what (also ironwood doesnt know about humanity allegedly having to unite so that shouldnt factor into his own reasoning) 

his entire system got hacked and he still relies on electronics completely and cant be fucked to overhaul it. pick up a pen, james. hold the L.

why would you rest all the lives of everyone in atlas on a single object that you know someone wants. why dont you have a contingency plan. if you did then you could fucking stick the staff in the arena and be done with it. 

#rwde

[shnbu]

okay so here’s my to-do list atm

write out my verses

main verse - summarize the events leading up to the manga

alt main verse - survival au, talk about how shinobu survives and how her recovery process goes

past verse - using shinobu turning into a pillar as a checkpoint, everything prior to this goes into this verse. explain how her personality differs (especially before kanae’s death) and whats going on in her life that led up to her becoming a hashira

modern au - write about the au and how things change, etc.

demon verse - au with peach’s douma & scoob’s kanae where, instead of killing her, he turns her into a demon and she quickly works her way up to becoming a moon. 

alt demon verse - general demon au - might add this in at another time but its gonna be more vague than the one above bc that ones hard to interact with for anyone besides scoob and peach HEKFHKEJ

soul eater au - im still working this out but atm i have her as a highly skilled meister :^)

atla au - still working this out but shinobus either a non-bender or a water bender. probably nonbender, dont know yet.

bnha au - still working this out shinobus a new pro hero with an insect based mutation quirk .... probably

write an about ):

write out.... too many hcs

shinobu’s interest in herbology - where it came from & what she uses it for

the butterfly estate’s garden - how it used to be before she took over, how its changed, and some of the plants she grows for her medicines, teas, and poisons

the significance of kanae’s favorite flower to shinobu- elaborate on how shinobu used its properties to develop the poison that ultimately killed douma. 

write out a post on shinobus opinions, relationship, and possible plots for each pillar

write out a post like ^ but with any other chara 

write out thoughts on single winged butterfly 

write about how shinobus been discouraged her whole life and everythings been out to get her but she still ended up becoming a pillar. <- mention her black blade in there :^)

talk about how shinobu coped with kanae’s death by adopting her mannerisms. talk about how, despite that, they differ greatly in how they deal with things - give examples.

write about how shinobu sees kanae as simultaneously a motherly & sisterly figure because she hardly remembers their real parents - link to drabble 

sorta a hc? write about how when shinobu was a kid she had long hair but as a sorta destructive impulse after her parents death she chopped it off to about below her ears. kanae came in, they talk, she fixes it for her, and shinobus kept her hair fairly short until after kanae’s death. parallel in how her hair grows and she chops it off again because thsi time it reminds her of kanae, but its more controlled.

write about how shinobus always wanted to raise a family and have children but she knows that she probably wont get to live that out

OH ALSO WRITE ABOUT HOW SHE ALWAYS KNEW SHE WAS GONNA DIE YOUNG

write about how she is with relationships and why shes so distant from everybody

more probably but this is enough for now

I NEED TO WRITE SOME STARTERS I OWE BUT IM WORKING UNTIL LIKE 10 EVERY DAY WAAAAAAH

#saved. #out of character.

[sol1056]

Do u think the bad writing in VLD has been rife since the 1st episode? Or is this a new devt in S3? I've always thought the writing has always been oversimple since the start. I fucking hated that finger counting bit just about as things were getting serious and that was the pilot. And things always got resolved in like 1 episode. Like hello? They were able to bond and form Voltron in 1 episode? (1/2)

I dont get ppls expectations abt the show which for me has always been unsophisticated and juvenile albeit still entertaining. Maybe its just a case of BNFs headcanons being mistaken for canon by fandom bc of the long periods bw seasons. (2/2)

I feel like this is actually two questions, so I’m going to answer the shorter one (ahaha yes this is a short answer!) here, and get into the measure of writing quality in a separate post. 

When it comes to BNFs, I’ve gotten reasonably good at identifying their personal agendas masquerading as analysis. That said, yes, the long gap definitely gives time for head canons to percolate, and I’m not entirely convinced that this works for this kind of story. (Or alternately, that this crew of EPs/writers realize the extent to which one-season drops radically alter the viewing experience, and how storytelling methods need to adjust.) 

Truth is, I had zero expectations for VLD. I remember the original and let’s just say, I’ve moved on. On the other hand, my exposure to AtLA’s tonal shifts (from serious to ham-fisted comedic in nothing flat) meant I was used to gritting my teeth through tin-eared comedy-attempts like meat thermometers or finger-counting. 

And then there’s issue of unsophisticated or juvenile storytelling.  

I am probably not the only person here who’s been spoiled by Japanese storytelling, since most anime from a decent-enough production house will integrate levity and gravity pretty seamlessly. I think American productions’ humor isn’t an issue of skill, but symptomatic of deeper problems. 

The first, and biggest, is that American animation struggles to be seen (and by extension, seeing itself) as a valid form of storytelling. Animation is treated as a soap bubble (no lasting impact on the popular culture landscape) and cotton candy (inconsequential, mindless consumption). I can almost guarantee you that any writer or VA involved with VLD is probably asked semi-regularly, “when are you going to write/act/work on a real story?’ 

With that dismissal in mind, those radical tonal shifts (from serious to juvenile) can sometimes be a sign that creators are too-aware of this mindset, and too-afraid of being mocked for treating this like it’s a ‘real’ story. So humor is used as a wink at the audience: don’t worry, we’re not getting carried away and thinking we’re doing shakespeare, we totally get this isn’t worth taking seriously. 

[I hate that, by the way. Respect your goddamn story or find another job.] 

When humor is used organically, it works. Lance trying to create a cheer and Keith not getting the point is both awkward and kind of adorable, as a way to characterize how out-of-sync they are. But humor like meat thermometers signal not-taking-this-seriously, and you can tell, and that’s what makes it so jarring. 

And the reason you can tell is because the writers’ contortion is right there in the script. Hell, you can even see it in the way the VAs handle it, too. 

Allura: And it’s a good thing it wasn’t because it took you… Coran? Coran: Seventy-five degrees. Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer.Allura: However long it was, it was too long.

You could simply remove Coran’s entire line without changing the scene. It’s an aside, with no integration. And if you listen to the VA delivery, there’s a half-beat and the next line carries on as if Coran never said anything. There’s no reaction. It’s literally wasted breath, wasted animation.

To me, that’s a sign the writers were trying to juggle that tension between ‘this is for kids, it means nothing’ and ‘this is a crucial scene to establish stakes’. So they throw in silliness to satisfy the first, but integrating that humor would elevate it out of that wink-to-audience mode. Done right, comedy is as much serious business as drama, and both require seeing the story as more than insubstantial, forgettable cotton candy. 

The most important thing to remember is probably this: even if these writers believe in their story and want to do right by it, they’re still up against a powerful corporate structure that sees cartoons as nothing more than an elaborate way to sell merchandise. To that corporate overlord, a writer’s measure of success – people showing up at writer panels at cons, a vibrant community of fanfic and fanart and fanlore, fan questions on podcasts, basically so many people embracing the story, the characters, the world – means absolutely nothing to the corporate overlords if no one buys the merchandise. 

Let me reiterate that, in bold, so the bottom line is clear:

A stupid story with flat characters and cheap animation that sells a bajillion lunchboxes or gunpla or whatever will always be judged ‘more successful’ by the corporate overlords than any story that doesn’t move merchandise, no matter how well-told or beloved by the fans. 

To a good writer, the story is an end in itself. To the corporate overlords, the story is wrapping paper around the check they get every month: watched once, torn away to get the good stuff, and quickly forgotten. When you combine American popular perception of cartoons with corporate overlord agendas, it’s damn near a miracle we’ve gotten even scraps of any good from VLD, and that’s an entirely separate issue from whether the EPs/writers can create a good story in the first place.

(Meanwhile fandom collects every bit of the wrapping paper, saves it, cuts it up, tapes it back together in a completely new shape, and then gets into flamewars over whose reconstruction was the best.) 

One last note: I am, at the very least, pleased that the VLD casting director chose seasoned VAs with substantial chops. AtLA gave itself extra trouble by choosing VAs for their age rather than skill (oh god that was painful until they leveled up). VLD hasn’t made that mistake; even when the script stays serious, a bad VA can still ruin it with a wink at the audience and undermine a scene’s emotional heft. The VLD VAs have done a fairly good job of not dropping to that level, and in a few places I do think that’s what’s kept me watching even when other elements are substantially under-par. 

#voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #analysis #animation #storytelling

[thehalfworld]

Fanfic MST: ITS MY LIFE!, a Portal fanfic [part 13]

For something that makes absolutely no sense and conveys nothing of substance, this fic does go on for quite a while. I honestly don’t even remember how many chapters are left, but we’re at least a few more from the end.

There’s a bit of gore in this one.

Recap: Marissa tried to take down the Chell/GLaDOS fusion, accompanied by Wheatley, who was predictably useless, and Rattman, who was also pretty useless (and also died, but whether or not that’s permanent remains to be seen). It was revealed that Chell is actually Rattman’s daughter due to some sort of DNA mix-up. The co-op bots showed up to ostensibly help Marissa, but, after she defeated the Chell/GLaDOS fusion (killing Chell in the process), the bots turned on her and shot her in the head. 

Chapter 1

Previous chapter

AN OMG I GOT 102 REVIEWS EVEN IF THERE MOSTLY DUM FLAMERZ THATS STILL PRETTY GOOOD FOR A FIRS STORY!

Man, I love her optimism. Raging at your “flamers” is common for badfic writers, so seeing an author be positive about all the reviews she’s getting, even though they’re almost entirely negative, is kind of refreshing.

Unfortunately, MarissaTheWriter dropped this attitude later on, but let’s cherish it while it lasts.

ALSO THANK RAI AN APE SOME THING BECOS THEY GAVED ME SOME REALY COOL IDEAS FOR THE NEW CHAPTERS!

I don’t know who these two are. I’m guessing people who reviewed her story.

PS MARRISSA DIED THAT PROOVES SHES NOT A MARRY SUE OK!

Well, no, actually, dying is really common for Mary Sue characters. In fact, the original Mary Sue, the character from whom we got the term Mary Sue, died at the end of the fanfiction she starred in. It’s a good way to make your OC look tragic.

PPS THIS HCAPTER IS FROM WHEATLY POV

Oh geez. Oh no. I don’t know how much more weird British slang I can take.

ITS MY LIFE!

CHAPTER THIRTEN: MARRISSAS RESSUREKSHUN

Yeah, that’s the other thing. Having a character return from the dead has the effect of making them look super special and important, and overdoing that is how we get Mary Sues, so…

This was the most bloody terribel thing ever.

I agree.

Oh, you mean Marissa’s death, not the fanfic itself. I take it back.

Marrisser was died with a gun shoot to her soddin head an blood an branes were all over ever were.

Gross! Thanks for the mental image!

I gared at Atlas an P-Body hoo killed the one thing I loafed an shouted "YOU BLOODY BUGGERS IM GONNA WANK YOU!"

That’s going to be difficult. He has no arms and they have no genitals. It’s Aperture Science, though, so I’m sure he can find a way.

But I didnt have arms so i cold not hurt them but I sooooooo mad they ranned off any way.

Yeah, nothing scarier than Wheatley threatening to “wank” you.

Bloody sods. "Marrissa why didnt I was able to safe you! IM SOOOOO SORRY!" An I cried bloody bukets of robottears.

Not sure how that would work, but I don’t need it elaborated on.

It was the end an I thot a bout commitin sewiside like GLaDOS did when a turrent came up to me.

"GO HEAD AN BLOW ME SODDING BLOODY BRANES OUT SO I CAN BE AT PIECE!" I yelled loud at the turrent. "No im diffrent! I am Oracle Turrent an I no how to make Marrissa alife!"

Wow, okay, that’s a character I wasn’t expecting to make an appearance. The turrets can’t walk, though (except the frankenturrets Wheatley created, but the oracle turret wasn’t one of those), so I’m not sure how this one managed to approach him.

No bloody way I o-mouthed in all the shock. "How can she life wen her hed sodding exploded?" I britished at him for tryin a get my hopes up.

“Stop making up pointless new words!” I Irish-Americaned at the author.

"Rember that she has the speshal powers, one of them is that wen she eats the zombee taters instead of become a zombee wen she dies she just becomes alife a gain!" It all made sense, the turrent was a bloody geinus!

Well, they can’t very well feed her potatoes when she’s a headless corpse, so swing and a miss.

"Common lets wankin go!"

Does anyone know what MarissaTheWriter thinks “wanking” means?

The Oracle Turrent ranned fast an I rolled on my rale right to the zombee taters quikly we grabbed up all of them an got back to Marrissa body.

How are they grabbing things when neither of them have arms?

I coldnt help but cry at the site of my troo love with head all open an messy.

Yeah, sounds pretty gross.

"Its ok Wheatly soon she will life!" The turrent made me more happy an we started stuffin the buggerin taters in Marrissas mouth.

So she’ll come back to life, promptly choke on potatoes, and die again. Excellent plan.

Then she started coffin an all the blood was got healed.

I hope “coffin” was a pun. On second thought, no I don’t.

"W Wheetly?" She asked in the most butiful voice in the hole portal worled.

Marissa, give GLaDOS her vocal processor back right now and no one gets hurt.

"Oh Marrissa I thot you were bloody gone for wankin ever!" We hugged an kissed an things was gettin hot an heavy so the Oracle Turrent left becos he didant want to see that kinna stuff.

I don’t either. I’m going with the turret.

MEANWHILE IN THE PAST

…thinking about whether or not that phrase makes sense is hurting my head. Moving on.

Teen Fortress 2 was MAD an PEEVED at Gabe Jonson an his dotter Marrissa Roberts for killin there leader Cave Jonson.

Hey, hang on a second. Whose point of view are we from now?

They wanted ervange speshally on Marrissa sinse with out her Gabe wold not have been a hard fight.

I’m going to assume for now that we’re just in third person.

"We shold right a mean things on her facebook page!" The evil Heavy dummed. "No you idot this is the past facebook isnt invented yet!" The evil Medik extricated.

Interesting how they know about Facebook although it’s not been invented yet.

All of em was angry but coldnt thing of a way to revenge Marrissa when the evil Ingineer got a idea. "I no! We will create an evil clone of Marrissa an send it to the futur an kill her!" It was a good plan.

Evil clones are always a good plan!

After school the teen fortress all gotted together at evil Ingineers hose an builded the clone mashine.

Ah, yes, the clone machine.

How are they going to clone her? She left. She’s in the future. Doing something I’d rather not think about with Wheatley.

"But we dont have dna evidance?" Evil Sniper said in sexay british aksent.

I doubt that, seeing as he’s Australian.

But the evil spy lolled an pulled out some thing. "I stolled some of her hare just in case we needed it for some thing."

Outside of making evil clones, is there really much use for hair samples?

He frenched an gave evil Ingine the hare an they started to clone Marrissa.

You cannot use “he frenched” like that. You just can’t.

A few mins later the clonin was done an a gurl stepped out hoo looked kinna like Marrissa but more evil an mean with angry face.

So she looks like Chell, but meaner and hotter. Alright. I’m into it.

"I am Assiram Strebor an I will kill Marrissa Roberts!"

Nice backwards name. Oh, sorry. Ecin sdrawkcab eman.

TO BE CONTINUED!

OH NO! CAN MARRISSA STOPS HER EVIL CLOWN?

I recommend getting a group of kids to fight it in a sewer somewhere in Maine.

FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON ITS MY LIFE|!

She’s right! Tune in next time for some evil clone and/or evil clown fighting action!

Next chapter

#itsmylife.mst #fandom:portal #halfworld.mst

[developmenthole]

The Price of Aetherium: Outline

The Price of Aetherium was a retconed story arc for Pythia, until I overhauled her. I’m too proud of it to delete it, so i’m posting it here. This is the outline of the story, which gets wordy at points. 

Part 1 Nightmares

Done

Part 2 Reunions

Done

Part 3 Ozymandias

team leaves early in the morning 5am ish all on horseback. pyth, saulian and andoryan have cyrodiilic horses, do’kikhtar and motabe ended up buying  draft horses once reaching skyrim bc she knew it would be easier going back that way. brief description of traveling, mostly uneventful and nonstop.

once outside the ruins, the horses start getting nervous bc of the tremors. they dismount and tie the horses to a tree nearby or to some of the dwemer hitches. theyre all achy and hella sore, and andoryan bitches the most obvi, pyth and saul deal with it and do kinda agrees that shes stiff as fuck. a tremor shakes the ground and they all get a bit nervous, wondering if its safe or not. they got all the way here theres no way they're turning back now after coming all this way,

they head inside explore a bit and find katrias body but her ghost dosent show up bc saul radiates holy but they dont know that. they make their way along blah blah its fuckin boring pyth explains kinetic resonators, notes how they're not usually found in skyrims dwarven clans. basically she kinda takes the role of katria in explaining shit. do gets cut by a falmer in the area between shoulder and neck but saul heals her some so they keep going, pyth gets hurt by chaurus hunter.

they reach the summit (where the resonators are n you gotta shoot them) and pyth studies katrias journal before getting it in one go however comma andoryan knocks on one of the centurions and wakes it up. the team gets fucked up by it bad, but everyone is alive so far. they go and get the crest and its tired celebration and they start to leave. and because god hates pyth especially, a swarm of falmer shows. team is weak from the centurion fight so they get murdered. saul gets pulled over the edge by one jumping on him, Motabe runs out of magic and gets fucked and do flies into a rage, kills 5-7 and then gets overwhelmed and succumbs to poison. at the last second andoryan fucking tanks the shit and wipes the rest out right as pyth is about to get offed. she is hurt super bad and he pins her down reveals he is a Cunt. takes the aetherium for himself, decides to take all of it, including the aetherium in her eye. takes one of the falmer axes and uses it to cut out her eye. he then drags her to the edge and throws her over.

Part 4 Myth

pyth wakes up. saul is there looking fucked. she tries to move but saul stills her. she's missing an eye and her arm is broken. saul got a concussion and pyth asks if he healed her, he did not. she is confused. saulian nods towards a towering figure with its back to them. theyre cooking something on a fire within the ruin. pyth looks at saul and he shrugs. the figure finally stands and kneels by them, its ncz. checks on pyth, checks on saul, reminds saul not to sleep bc concussion. pyth falls back asleep

At this point add ncz (Nczek was Nchand’s early name) to the expedition roster.

Part 5 Pyre

ncz and continues to take care of pyth and saul until theyre well enough to leave. ncz helps bury what remains of her friends and katriah. pyth is very quiet and ncz and saul do most of the talking. ncz leads them to the entrance and sees them off. they make for falkreath

Launch ncz’s (Nchand) blog

it kinda switches to sauls pov because pyth is like. shell. he notes that hes moved her to his horse because she keeps falling asleep and hes worried she'll fall off the horse literally. he states that aside from the 4 days spent with ncz, they stayed in falkreath for 3. he notes that they really should have stayed with ncz longer because concussion and broken arm and missing eye but he wanted to get her to a town just incase they needed something food/potion ect. he states that he keeps an eye on her at night because of his own insomnia and that every night since first waking up at nczs shes had night terrors and he knows shes not taking this well. think oitnb piper post branding! eventually pyth picks up enough to ride on her own horse and talk some but shes still very distant. they go to her house only to find it in shambles like someone trashed the place. pyth steps into the back room/workshop and saul yanks her back just as a fire rune explodes. as a result the house catches fire bc wood.

saul tries to put it out but between trying to keep pyth from rushing in and trying to save stuff, he cant do much. he drags her out and holds her still as they watch her fuckin house burn down. as the moons rise they start on the road to whiterun.

Part 6 Untitled

Arrive in whiterun to somekind of bruhaha but saulian avoids it and goes straight to the temple of kynareth so pyth can get properly looked at. Scene ends with saulian leaving the priestess to do her work while he goes to figure out what was going on.

Scene picks up when pyth wakes up and she asks saulian what happened. She passed out on the horse on the way there and saulian brought her to the temple and a pristess set her arm in a splint and it wasn’t actually that bad and that regarding the situation, she should be okay but she cant use it. “Oh. thank you.” saulian asks if her brother works in whiterun she says yes, in the drunken huntsman. He asks if he also left valenwood under the same circumstances as she did she says yes. Saulian sighs and takes her hands. He’s dead. Pythia stares at him, clearly not believing him. He elaborates. Apparently he was seen walking with a hooded stranger last night and they found him along the wall. Murdered right in the city. Pythia breaks down sobbing and the scene ends.

A few days pass (2-3) and pythia has lost everything, essentially. Her eye, the use of her right arm, her friends, her brother, her home and now her life’s work. All she has left is the gold she had on her (roughly 200 septims) and saulian. At this point in time the vigilants are still around and saulian hasn’t found or refurbished the temple. Saulian says that he needs to go back to the hall of the vigilants, he’s been gone way longer than he should have and hes sorry. He says that if she needs him or needs help to go there. Pythia nods and says okay. Saulian leaves and now shes alone.

Jump cut to pythia burying aralas under the ashes of her home. Cue more crying.

Jump cut again to pyth making camp in the hills of the reach outside of rorikstead. 

Part 7 Atlas

This is the chapter about regret! I.e. pythia bearing the weight of the situation. Its mostly inner monologue

Actually it’s more of a sped up version of the stages of grief. She gets angry at herself for bringing them, at saulian for leaving her alone, and finally at fuckin andoryan. That cunt. She sits in silence by the fire brooding before realizing that the Dark Brotherhood is a thing that exists. Sure, she’s got a little less than 200 septims to her name and andoryan could be literally anywhere by this point but she’s going to have to try. That is, after her arm heals and she sees about getting a faux eye. Can’t wear gauze forever. She gets up to set some traps and heads to bed.

Here would be where the plotline would be opened up to interactions within the current timeframe. Would be open to muses that travel/hunt, or live in rorikstead/the reach.

Part 8 Two Graves

After 2-4 in timeline interaction have a call for someone in the brotherhood and plot with them

Points to remember, pythia is poor like. less than 200 gold. Pythia’s arm has healed and she no longer has a splint (recovery time is lower bc healing potions and magic) this dude could be ANYWHERE and is affiliated with the thalmor.

Fuck this im tired

#pythia #stories

[groundramon]

I think one thing LOK did better than ATLA was develop its main adult-aged characters.

To be fair, ATLA didn’t have a whole lot of major adult characters anyways. The only other two I can think of are Admiral Zhao and the Fire Lords.  Azulon and Sozin really didnt need any form of development since their roles were so small, but my issue lies with Ozai and Zhao.  Quite frankly, they’re just dull, stereotypical villains; there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with them, they do have some backstory (Ozai’s in particular is actually quite interesting, although I find his interesting because of how it ties into Zuko and his mother, not because I give a shit about Ozai himself) but for a show that excels in almost every other front, they’re...kind of disappointing.  Especially Ozai; Zhao was only around in the first season and only for like half of said season, so maybe he could get away with being uninteresting.  But Ozai is the big bad boss of the series.  His dramatic reveal was extremely well-done, but once he was revealed and we had seen him a couple times, its just like...oh okay, he’s a dick.  That’s it.  No reason for him being a dick besides a stereotypical “oh my country is greater than yours so im going to take yours over!!!” mindset.  Like, his mindset and actions do make sense if you consider how he was likely raised.  But they dont elaborate much on that, and quite frankly, he just becomes boring.  Azula was both more interesting and more intimidating because of that, and she was fucking 15.  Which brings me to my next point; You’ve got six reoccuring villains in this series, right?  Zuko, Zhao, Azula, Ty Lee, Mai, and Ozai.  4/6 of those villains are kids (or teens, whatever theyre kids).  And 4/6 of those characters feel like well-rounded and interesting individuals.  Guess which 4 of those characters are the well-rounded and interesting individuals?  It’s the kids, of course.  I do understand that ATLA was intended to be for kids, believe me that shows in almost every corner of this show tbh (and I dont mean that in a bad way, but its still obvious).  And like, of course Zuko is going to be well-rounded and interesting considering he was the first villain, was around for the entire series, and straight-up became a main character/protagonist in the second season (and eventually joined the other protagonists in the third season).  But Azula didn’t need to be any more fleshed out than Zhao or Ozai.  Ty Lee and Mai ESPECIALLY didnt, although they had an advantage since they werent just villain tropes to start out with.

And then in TLOK, one of the main characters is a grown adult.  Like, arguably just as main as the new Team Avatar.  And he’s a well-rounded, interesting individual with a surprisingly deep and heavy story, as well as some lighter-hearted facts that we also learn about along the way.  The villains are, at least in my opinion, pretty interesting; unlike Ozai, where I want to learn more about him because I hate disliking something about this show, I want to learn about these villains because theyre interesting and what we are shown of them is legitimately interesting to me.  (I especially love Amon and Tarrlok *insert multiple thumbs up and/or ok sign emojis here*) And you’ve got other really interesting adult main characters, like Lin, Suyin, and Aang’s other kids.  They still take a back seat to Korra, and even to her friends (as little development as they get), sure.  But they’re well-developed when they need to be, and when they dont need to be, they...honestly feel more interesting to me than the ones in ATLA.

I’m not saying ATLA had all bad adult characters.  Monk Gyatso seemed like an interesting character, Bumi was way more fleshed-out than a psychopathic earthbending king needed to be (not saying he’s an amazing character but they couldve gotten away with doing less and the narrative wouldve been largely the same), and I’m sure there are others that I’m missing.  But generally speaking, I think LOK did it better.  Because while in ATLA I’m struggling to come up with any adult characters that I particularly liked, I can immediately think of several off the top of my head if you ask me about LOK’s adult characters.

#stormy speaks #atla #lok