#look i used to think the book was basically the script and that it's supposed to be super faithful or it goes in the trash

[chicanedaze]

Good adaptations aren't scene by scene, line by line reenactments of a book. It's a completely different medium, that the creators can use to tell the story a different way. Besides budget issues (just writing a scene where a bunch of crazy stuff happens costs about $0, while portraying it on screen is a different matter), the pacing/flow is different in live action stuff than books.

The SPIRIT of the adaptation is what matters. The original PJO movies weren't bad because Annabeth's hair was brown or they didn't say the dialogue straight from the book or dare I argue, because they mixed in elements from further in the series. Rather, it was bad because the vibe was simply far too edgy. Percy was sassy, it did have humor, monsters were fine, but it fell flat on its face because it didn't understand its characters, its world, or its TONE. THE TONE. It was genuinely awful.

Good adaptations expand on the source material without losing the charm of the original. They understand what makes characters tick and what's at the core of the journey, its not about aesthetics or being faithful to the point of being dull and having nothing new to say.

The PJO series is doing that. Having Rick involved probably helped a lot. It has a rocky start, in my opinion. But from the second half of ep. 2 and into ep. 3, I see it gaining its footing.

#percy jackson #pjo #percy jackson tv show #look i used to think the book was basically the script and that it's supposed to be super faithful or it goes in the trash #i understand people being upset about certain things not showing up #(WHERE THE HELL IS ARGUS IM SJDHYSHSB) #but that's not what matters (and the series isn't even over yet) #there's some good stuff here #the trio is good #the characterization is hitting #the worldbuilding is chef's kiss so far #most changes make sense or at least don't derail the story #my opinion may change but so far this is such a good adaptation. i truly feel as though im in this demigod world #okay also to add on to the tone part... #small things in the PJO movies sent me off a ledge #when Percy has his headphones in instead of paying attention to Chiron at the beginning #asking for Annabeth's name from the moment he sees her #the whole Lotus Hotel scene #the Hades/Persephone scene #the weird thing between Grover and Persephone or something?? i kinda forget #that and other stuff obvs builds up #they treated PJO as just a story that hits all the beats and tropes of a teenage slightly edgy adventure movie when it's not that #like it's so very painfully 2000s movie shit #(which is fine on its own but not as an adaptation) #anyway #I can't be here all day

[copperbadge]

Cleaning out my Google Drive archive, I happened to stumble across the original spec Hallmark Movie script that Fete For A King was based on -- not that I had lost it, I'd just kind of forgotten about it. And it occurred to me you guys might enjoy seeing a scene or two from it.

I wrote Fete basically from the script -- I made a copy of the script and rewrote it into prose as I went, then did a second pass to make it less Scripty, so most of it would be very familiar. The plot came through basically intact. The one thing I significantly altered was Jerry and Alanna's subplot -- in the script, as often happens with Hallmark films, the supporting characters also have a love storyline. I took that out of the book because it didn't need the padding, and it allowed me to give them a book of their own later, but the script scenes were pretty fun. :D

(In this version Jerry still attends the Agricultural Cabinet meeting for Gregory, but mentions this fact to Michaelis, which gets Gregory in trouble for blowing it off.)

ALANNA, spying on the lunch meeting through the door to the Prince's office, leans back behind a column or wall. DUKE GERALD (JERRY), looking apologetic, winces.

ALANNA: How could you, Jerry?

JERRY: I told you, I didn't mean to! I thought if I told the king I stepped in for Gregory, it would show I'm taking an interest. Turning over a new leaf.

ALANNA: Nobody asked you to take an interest.

JERRY: Least of all me. But I was interested, really, Alanna. We could be doing so much more with olives. I didn't know crop planning was such a precise science.

ALANNA: And that's great, but you could have just said you went WITH Greg to the meeting.

JERRY: Why would I go with Greg to an agricultural meeting? Anyway, I would have but I didn't think of it. Don't be mad at me.

ALANNA: It's not me you have to worry about.

JERRY: But Greg knows I wouldn't sabotage him. Besides, uncle Mike would have heard about it eventually anyway. Everyone in town was talking about the Prince coming to try that cheese shop with the social media chef guy.

ALANNA: He's under a lot of pressure.

JERRY: I know.

ALANNA: And now unless that cheese REALLY impresses the king, he's going to start following Greg around everywhere and trying to offer his opinion.

JERRY: He's been king for forty years. His opinion's probably useful.

ALANNA: Not if the prince wants to make his own way.

JERRY: Well, what do you want me to do? I can't make uncle Mike like cheese.

ALANNA: I want you to keep an eye on them and keep the king distracted. Can't you do something mildly embarrassing?

JERRY: More or less embarrassing than visiting a cheese shop in a "Truly Tasty" hat?

ALANNA: Fix it, Jerry!

JERRY: Fine, I'll do my best. But I want you to make Greg make me his vizier when he's king.

ALANNA: We haven't had a vizier in a hundred years. What does a vizier even do?

JERRY: Nothing, but with drama.

ALANNA: Fine. I have meetings. Stay here, keep spying, report back when they leave.

JERRY gives her a thumbs up and watches her leave, then turns to spying on the meeting.

***

And then Alanna has a realization....

ALANNA is still leading JERRY away from the picnic.

JERRY: I thought you wanted me to keep Uncle Mike off Greg's case.

ALANNA: Not tonight. Eddie's pitching his new high-concept for the coronation feast, so they've got to be there together.

JERRY: Well, I wish someone would make up their mind around here.

ALANNA: You could set a trend.

JERRY: What's that supposed to mean?

ALANNA: You're not interested in olives, Jerry.

JERRY: Of course I am.

ALANNA: You're interested in the fact that my dad heads the cabinet board that supervises the olive harvest.

JERRY: Olives are very interesting to me. (deflating) And I wanted to impress your dad.

ALANNA: He's known you since we were kids running around the palace together.

JERRY: Is that good?

ALANNA: My father has literally watched you fall out of multiple trees you were trying to climb.

JERRY: Failing to climb, mostly.

ALANNA: So why are you trying to impress him now?

JERRY: Well, isn't it obvious?

They stare at each other.

ALANNA: I cannot go on a date with you.

JERRY looks crestfallen. ALANNA pulls out her phone.

ALANNA: There's too much to do, Jerry. Between now and the coronation every hour I'm awake is booked. The best I can give you is three weeks from Tuesday.

JERRY: What?

ALANNA: Three weeks from Tuesday. Does that work for you? Never mind, your calendar's on my phone. I'm booking us in. Dinner okay?

JERRY: Uh. Yes.

ALANNA: Good. I'll send you a calendar invite, you pick the place.

She walks off, still typing in her phone.

JERRY: What just happened?

#shivadhverse #you can really see Jerry's roots in Bertie Wooster showing through here

[kassycreations]

Sally Starlet and the Moon (A Welcome Home Theory)

Welcome Home has invaded my every waking thought and as a result, I've been thinking about a lot of things. One of these things being Home's thespian; Sally Starlet.

Sally is apparently one of the characters the fandom has headcannoned and theorized to be self aware along with Wally and now Eddie. I didn't know this but now it's one of the many, many things I think about. I understand it completely, the character whose character revolves around being an actress and needing to follow a script and things like that. Personally, I like to imagine all the Neighbors are self-aware and it works like a scale or something. But, that's not what I'm talking about right now. Let's talk about Sally and her big head!

In Ms. Starlet's character bio, it mentions how she needs two or more puppeteers to operate her head. This is because her head was much larger than the other puppets. This is not elaborated on why this was necessary, so that could only mean one thing; the reason is plot relevant!

I've never really seen anyone question why Sally needed multiple people to puppet her and, I can see why. There's really not that much incentive to question why that'd be the case. Aside from the Halloween story book record, Sally doesn't do much to stand out storywise which makes sense, we are still in the prologue after all. That is until you pay close attention to her and realize... she's always facing the audience.

Take a look at these screenshots of Sally from the commercial compliation

Notice anything?

Anything at all?

She's always facing us. This is a theater thing I learned in my theater arts class; when on stage, you must always be facing your audience. They can't view you from the side, they always have to see your face. For Sally, this makes sense. She's into theater, she's an actress so why wouldn't she do this? Why wouldn't she face her audience? I'll tell you why! She shouldn't know she has an audience.

Not only does this add onto the self aware Sally theory, but, this is also where my theory came from.

We all know what Sally's house looks like, right?

It was a Sun and Moon on it which looks slightly similar to Sally's face; red nose, rosy cheeks and blue eyeshadow. It's just that the blue eye shadow is on the moon side. Obviously, this is supposed to be Sally's face. However we don't get to see the moon side of it. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, though.

My theory with Sally as to why her head is so big, why she needed multiple people to puppeteer, and why she always faces the audience is because she has a moon on the back of her head. Her head was so big because it needed to fit essentially another prop. She always faces the audience not only because of that one theater rule I mentioned but because we as the audience aren't allowed to see the moon side yet. Spoilers, basically. It's like how she's gatekeeping the guestbook submissions because we're not supposed to use them yet.

Side Note; I like how all the characters that are aware currently are all on the guestbook page. Barnaby is somewhere in the middle of not being aware and being aware though so I don't know if he counts.

Another thing I like to think that sort of adds to the theory is color theory. Orange is Sally's favorite color and the one she as well as the sun sometimes is associated with. Blue is the opposite of orange as well is often associated with the moon.

The idea of Sally having another face on the back of her head is really interesting to think about. Mostly because of the ideas of how would the other Neighbors react to it. Like, were they all scared slightly when they first saw it? How long would it have taken them to adapt?

But, anyway, tell me what you think about this theory and if you have any theories about Ms. Sally Starlet.

#welcome home #welcome home puppet show #welcome home theory #welcome home sally #sally starlet

[rontra]

I have never played persona so I wasn't sure if I would understand your failteacher comics but I just looked up the characters for a little bit of context and I'm 👀👀👀👀 at it now xD

Without being too spoiler-y, why would you say they'd have a messy relationship? (Besides the fact of Becky taking advantage of her client's loneliness)

HAHAHA yea i think the like dramatic irony enjoyment of knowing (even just roughly) what's going on with becky is very strong so good on you there (obviously toriumi has no idea what's going on with her and becky is doing her best to Handle It, but it contextualizes her behavior for Us...<3)

it's yummy isnt it... its yummy

anyway, the rest of this very long post is just me analyzing a fictional situation i myself engineered, so if that sounds boring please dont click the Read More LMFAO <- cursed to put a lot of thought into Character Stuff

basically they have great potential for mess, which they're Currently keeping a lid on, but would exponentially increase with time. teehee.

as for what WILL happen, im not spoiling anything concrete of course… (winks at the Knowers who already know my Vision….

well, this AU isn't ever going to devolve into a "super destructive toxic nightmare" mess or anything, just to get our working definitions of 'mess' sorted out at the top of the post. not this time. atm (as of comic #3) it's shaping up more like a "this seems . inadvisable and absolutely Don't Try This At Home, but i guess it won't…kill you" mess (LMAO)

to assess their situation at present… there is one half who wants money (and can't ever make enough of it to satisfy her extortionists), and one half who wants intimacy (and is scared and unable to get it on her own). on its exterior face, it's simply a lonely person hiring a professional to keep them company, which is a fairly common thing n not rly super noteworthy; the parentheticals are what make things a bit uh thorny for these characters

the "problem" here is not the transaction itself; they're both willing to supply their half of the trade just fine, and neither party is doing anything wrong by engaging in it. but for these two specifically, there is also a mutual willingness to bend the rules of their transaction—because they're both cornered in some way, and desperate for what the other one is offering to trade

to elaborate on "rules", i mean, first and foremost, that their relationship is not "real"—these people Don't know each other personally and intimately, and they're Not Supposed To. their relationship should never be "real"; they're not friends! (or lovers, for that matter!) they're in a conditional exchange of money for services. right now, these characters are participating in and maintaining a kayfabe; they should operate under a tacit understanding that A) this is not real, B) they both fully know it's not real, and C) following the script is the comfortable way to get what they both want without causing undue risk to either party. creating and then maintaining a fake "reality" together is regulated by a contract between them, and it ends when their booked time ends (and not a minute over time!)

but to return to the earlier point, they're also both cornered and desperate, which drives them both to go beyond what might be considered appropriate. i think this is compelling; it's probably unnecessary of me to add this paragraph but i want to underline (just in case) that i don't think either of them is like "at fault" or w/e (there is no "villain" between them). they're showing Signs Of Mess that could snowball into something much more messy, but it's not something they're doing to hurt each other; they're making decisions based on skewed risk/reward estimations that might not be healthy, and could realistically have harmful consequences for both parties, but they're not, like, Evil (lol). two women getting wrapped up in each other's personal graveyard spirals…it's yuri, isn't it?

with that squared away, and putting it plainly;

toriumi should not be asking her to "break character" when the character itself is what she's paying for; this nudging of their little kayfabe, if indulged, could easily snowball and erode the professional boundaries between them (what she calls "distance" in #3). she is paying 'becky' to 'be here' (paying kawakami to conjure 'becky' into existence by pretending to be her), but she isn't really being mindful of the type of role that this necessarily demands of her in turn. the built-in emotional walls between them are there to protect both of them, but she doesn't fully respect them (despite instinctively sensing their protection in how "safe" becky feels to her). in the end, toriumi is bad at "staying in character" herself, and she can't help but try to root out the actual person behind the mask—despite the fact that no one wants this erosion to happen! possible dire consequences for her wallet aside, losing sight of the line between "transaction" and "investment" (pardon the pun) is a one-way ticket to a very messy place where one or both of them is likely to get hurt...

on the other end, and not helping the situation at all, kawakami identified toriumi as a soft target pretty much immediately, and is actively trying to elicit sympathy and endear herself to her (she is being quite choosy about what vulnerabilities she "lets slip" in #2) in order to make her keep booking and paying. of course some amount of "salesmanship" is part of the job—#grindset always be plugging smash that like button comment n subscribe—but the major difference here is that she's overtly attempting to foster in her client the exact kind of dependency/personal attachment she should be discouraging (for, frankly, both of their safety). like not only is she out fishing to get toriumi hook line and sinker on purpose, but it's also alarmingly reckless behavior on kawakami's part; there's a lack of regard for her own wellbeing involved here on top of it all. again, a messy place where someone, maybe everyone, gets hurt in the end

crucially though, as comic #3 finishes setting up, they're both willing to endure these shenanigans from the other half. at this stage, toriumi does realize that kawakami has her unilaterally wrapped around her finger, and nonetheless agrees that she'll call her again; while kawakami knows very well how this kayfabe is supposed to work, but is indulgent (even rewarding) towards toriumi for her clumsiness. that mutual willingness to keep playing this game would—if the AU continued on these tracks uninterrupted—probably compound until the situation they've made becomes super confusing and unclear for them emotionally...

of course "taking advantage" is sort of a loaded phrase colloquially… but i would say in many ways they are "taking advantage" of each other, yea. the "we both benefit, so it's okay" logic was already vaguely raised as justification in #3; if elaborated a bit with the above in mind, their situation is one where "even if they're both overstepping what is considered appropriate for their arrangement, they've also both decided the benefits outweigh the costs by a wide enough margin to make it worthwhile"

it's got the marks of a sort of symbiotic relationship... their individual motivations for being involved w each other are totally unrelated (cue the "hold on, does. kawakami even like women???" question), but they both feel they benefit enough towards their priority goals to be OK with the other one taking something "less valuable" from them (toriumi even calls out the “sales pitch” becky is doing in #2, but ultimately decides that’s fine because she’s willing to buy). i think each and every moving part here has great capacity to go "too far" and ruin things (perhaps even causing Severe damage in the collapse), but if the situation were to continue in this same rhythm, without that kind of dramatic change, i would say "they're both evaluating the scenario with their own personal goals in mind, and are extracting what they want from one another relatively(?) peacefully(??)". like it might ultimately be a selfish game but they're adults they'll figure it out probably idk its none of my business what they choose to get up to. wouldn't get into that type of shit myself though LOL

women are playing kind of dangerous games with each other but i forgive them because it's interesting to rotate in my mind...<3

another thorn to consider for their future bonding endeavors from here on ofc is that without being "cornered" the way they are, they would not be running this type of "risk math" in the first place. it's hard for either of them to fully back away at this point because they're already cornered in their personal lives; toriumi is incredibly isolated and lonely with a pretty insecure lifestyle even when she's NOT actively sawing through the branch she's sitting on, and kawakami famously MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, NEEDS A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW because she's being extorted by an unrelated third party. looking ahead it does kind of start to look like an ouroboros of "taking advantage of each other" bc it's hard for both of them to leave their individual situations; it's kind of like, if they weren't here with each other they'd be ... well, they'd be here—just with someone else...

they didn't put each other in this jam—it was unrelated personal circumstances and sheer coincidence that pushed them together—but now that they've committed to each other, it's hard to reverse back out, if that makes sense. i think that kind of thing is interesting too, because it makes me want to see them recognize this, connect, and help each other pull out of their Greater individual personal messes. you know? we can make it if we try... just the two of us... 😔

(unfortunately step 1 of that is ofc to make a genuine personal bond that isn't wrapped up in all this for-pay roleplay stuff. drat!)

tl;dr they're both simmering under high pressure and don't try this at home, but they do already have a sort of tacit agreement forming that this level of messy play is OK between them—as long as the rewards continue to outweigh the risks. at the end of the day, it's a delicate balance ultimately hinging on a money-for-services transaction, so if either of them stopped feeling like paying their half was worth it, it would rapidly come apart. i guess it's kinda like the ways you can tell if animals are genuinely beefing or just playing rough—are they willingly coming back? 💀 ...

no lmao where's that post thats like "this would be terrible if it was anyone else, but considering the people involved this is actually the best option" HRBHJDJG that's kind of how it feels. like if they're gonna be stuck with Somebody (and they would be), its probably good luck that they got Each Other. at least the narrative can sustain the balance of this one and maybe even solve it down the line. heart

to round this post off i would say if i had to nominate one of them, kawakami is probably the most "in control" atm—since she figured out very quickly that she was dealing with an easy mark and moved in to make her a regular customer (quite successfully i might add per the end of #3 lmaoo). i think that's been kinda fun, since in her SLink she's immediately on the back foot due to being unmasked by the inciting incident. we know she will lie and attempt to play to the listener's sympathy, so unleashing her with her Mask Still On has been fun 😭 for her part, toriumi is not only taken with the funny maid (& emotionally invested in her IRL situation to boot), but also very clumsily trying to obtain something she's scared to have, which makes her very impulsive/erratic in her rulebreaking compared to kawakami's much more intentional plays...

play of the game 🧹 (<- there's no maid emoji idk its housekeeping)

of course, my future plans will immediately jostle this entire dynamic into something else and make this whole post obsolete, but i don't wanna lay that out ahead of time. smiles.

anyway, otome dissection on the playlist or whatever

#file under: posts that are only interesting to a NICHE AUDIENCE. but here r my thoughts on the thing that i made up. #if you're curious about the Failteacher Meta. #tl;dr never involve anyone else in whatever it is you two have going on but i hope you ... enjoy all that

[olderthannetfic]

Hi! So it says in your bio that you're both a filmmaker and novelist, so I'd like to ask you something. First, are you involved with the script part of filmmaking specifically, or fo you work mostly with other elements of filmmaking? Second, if you are, what are the major differences you've noticed between script writing and prose writing?

For context, I want to make comics, and I'd like to have a script to work from, but I've only occasionally dabbled in script writing. I know I could just use thumbnails and that's definitely something I want to be part of the process, but one of the reasons I want a script is so that I can have something to hopefully make my comic accessible to blind readers. I don't have the money to pay for an audiobook version to be made, so my thought process was if I make a text version of the comic, like a script, I can then make sure that at least a version of that copy is screenreader friendly.

So, do you have any advice for me?

--

I'm a film editor, or was, which definitely involves a lot of understanding of narrative, but that's different from being a screenwriter, and being a screenwriter and/or novelist is different again from writing scripts for comics.

That said, I have written scripts. The biggest difference is that if your script is intended for someone else to direct, you are asked to leave out a lot of commentary and stage direction that director-written scripts tend to have and that novels would have.

--

Dialogue is a fairly minor aspect of both novels and films—at least most good ones.

In a novel, much of the actual characterization is done in the actions characters take or in the way things are described in the narration.

In a director-written script, the writer will often include a lot of stuff that isn't put into actors' mouths to remind themselves of what the point of a given scene is. What would be narration in a novel becomes cinematography and editing choices.

As a rando writing scripts, you're not supposed to shove in that stuff because you're telling the director and other creatives how to do their job. You're just the writer: you don't get to decide those things. The script is less a finished blueprint and more a main melody line that someone else will improvise on top of.

Unfortunately, most of the ~great scripts~ people are told to look at for inspiration are by someone with more creative control (director, showrunner, creative producer) and do have a lot of interpretation already baked in. That makes them more fun for a layperson to read, but it doesn't always make them great examples of how to write commercially.

--

My impression is that a comics script is a specific thing in the pro industry, and it's not a thing that would necessarily be ready for blind readers. If you want to make an accessibility aid, I think you're looking at descriptive commentary along with any dialogue. Depending on the nature of the comic, it might be useful, or it might be pointless.

I would indeed storyboard your comic, not for future readers but to help you plan layout. The visual storytelling is a key part of any visual medium, and a good comic does more than just put the key actions on page. Where are people standing relative to each other and relative to the edge of the frame and how does this create a balanced composition or an awkward tension? Do you need the equivalent of a film insert shot and why? How is the eye being directed around the page, and does this make it easy to follow or chaotic?

What kind of comics format you're doing will matter a lot, obviously, but even in a basic 3-panel webcomic, you can control things like how close to the edge of the frame characters stand.

If you want some 101 on visual storytelling from a film perspective, one of the best regarded books is The Visual Story by Bruce Block. I personally also greatly enjoyed The Eye Is Quicker by Richard D. Pepperman. I remember the latter having more on film editing but nice storyboards and the former having a lot more visual arts-adjacent commentary on cinematography: line, color theory, negative space, etc.

--

People focus way too much on words as a crutch because they don't understand the far more important grammar of visual storytelling.

If your visual story—comic, film—cannot do 90% of its work without the words, it probably sucks.

That's my biggest piece of advice.

[neerisntsure]

People that hate annabeth chase's casting istg I get that you're racist with your "bad casting" and "she's supposed to be californian and have blonde hair" but are you seriously out here BULLYING a child??? She's been casted, it's been done, she's annabeth chase and there's nothing you can do about it

also another thing i keep seeing that pisses me off is people saying "annabeth is supposed to be a typical california girl"

do you think black girls cant be Californian??? are you so used to your white lense of what "stereotypical Californian girl" is that you cant imagine them as anything but white??? annabeth will still be Californian in the pjo show that literally hasnt changed

"grey eyes!" do you seriously care about eye colour??

percy's actors eyes arent green and people aren't that loud about that as they are annabeth's eyes

"the movies were bad because of the cast not looking like the characters either-" the movies were bad because it changed the whole storyline, aged up the characters and the scripts were changed so the actors weren't acting like the book characters

they wanted to sell some romantic tension between annabeth and percy from the beginning and aged them up so it wasnt weird and changed the whole plot and took away characters that were important to the story for a basic movie plot

the show is keeping to the original plot as much as it can. you're just racist.

rick riordan has been shitty when it comes to poc characters and writing harmful stereotypes and incorrectly writing about certain religions in his books (cough samirah al-abbas cough) so his books have given fans a single mindset that how he writes his characters is final in any adaptions. its not. he himself has been supportive and welcoming as leah being annabeth and if you even heard her saying lines in the trailer you'd know her personality is literally annabeth chase.

#i will add more to this when my rage returns #i hate people hating on annabeth chase's actress #leah is great you're literally bullying a child for getting cast in a lead role #percy jackson #rick riordan #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo fandom #annabeth chase #leah is our annabeth #pjo tv #neeru thoughts

[beesmygod]

I hope you don't mind a general question about comic making. Do you write your pages out well in advance via script, or what's the general process there? (If you don't mind my asking)

sorry i take so long to reply, but i dont mind answering these at all. i never know if my answer to questions about web comic creation are useful or not. but there's also not a lot of resources out there describing how it DOES get done. someone give me a million dollars to fund a series like urasawa's manben but for web comic artists.

i write AGS basically in the most haphazard way possible (lol) in the hope that it doesn't show too badly.

in general, i have the long arc of the comic planned out in my brain. i didn't know where i was going at first; AGS was intended to be a "monster of the week arc" type series where i just put jack and maxine into situations, but it sort of evolved past that because i needed to work on something more substantial. now i know where the characters are going, where they've been, and what i want to say. just maybe not in the specific words i want to yet. i cant decide if its arrogant and stupid to write down how the comic is supposed to end in case i die but like. im not miura.

for every "book" (the overarching storylines) of AGS, i usually write down a rough outline of what i need to happen to move the plot forward, WHY it moves the plot forward, and then shuffle that around and/or add things until im satisfied with it. the last chapter's outline would have looked like this (sorry for the image but tumblr fucking sucks at making bulleted lists):

and so on and so forth.

but most of the time i think of shit that's funnier/a better idea last minute and rather than stick with the old plan, most of the time i end up switching things up last minute. USUALLY not major plot beats, those are pretty nailed down. but the path i end up taking to that beat might be shorter or funnier or just more entertaining

#a ghost story #web comics #webcomics #webcomic

[nonbinarykai]

Why I don’t think the ninja are going anytime soon.

Spoilers for dragons rising obviously

Listen I’ve seen a lot of concerns and rumors going around that ninjago is going to get rid of its main cast. And while I’d understand out of context why people would believe this. I want to list out all my possible reasons for why this WONT happen

This is a bit of a long post so, buckle up

It doesn’t line up with the ending of crystallized

Think about it. Don’t you think it would be a little weird if lego basically forced the writers to make the ending of crystallized return everything to the status quo, only to immediately throw that all away?

Yes I’m aware that the current view of lego as a company is not that great atm. Mostly in due to those fake leaks that basically portrayed lego as the big bad villain behind crystallized poor writing.

But I promise you, lego is not that bad. Sure there has definitely been some conflict between the writers and lego in the past. But if you look through what Tommy said in his post leaving q&a’s, it seems like most of the poor writing decisions were made by the writers themselves.

And example of this: changing oni Lloyd from having a big significance to only having 20 seconds of screentime. We kinda assumed that this was due to lego. However, Tommy claims that the reason oni Lloyd was on a thrown in his set, was because the set was based off of that early draft of the script. Which mean that lego must have been okay with it enough to make a set out of it. Which means it’s more likely oni Lloyd was a result of the writers choices.

However, there was one change that we know lego Forced the writers to include. And that’s reintroducing Nya and bringing her back. This was CONFIRMED by Tommy to be the case.

So then, isn’t it extremely weird that after lego forced the writers to bring Nya back, Their suddenly asking/okay with her leaving again?

And sure you can argue “oh but it looks like Lloyd is training Arin and Sora!” And sure that might explain why they can’t get rid of Lloyd.

But Nya and Kai have only had brief appearances. And as some people would suggest, means they don’t have that much of a role to play.

So couldn’t have nya stayed gone? What’s the point of putting so much effort into killing nya then brining her back when it would have been easier to just, leave her dead.

That is unless, lego does want to keep the original ninja around for the new series!

Same goes for things like garm and harumis redemption arc (atleast I hope that’s what it is). Lloyd still not having control of his oni powers, the ninja losing their own powers, the new ninja, etc. There’s to many loose ends that haven’t been properly tied up, in fact their just beginning.

In fact, if dragons rising really is supposed to retire the ninja. Then why not just make crystallized an actual finale?

A lot of the criticisms for crystallized was that it just returned the status quo. Why would they do that if crystallized was meant to be the last time we see atleast some of the ninja? Wouldn’t it be more impactful to show how the ninja move on from being ninja?

It contradicts the quest for lost powers entirely.

Seriously, why would the book even need to exist? The whole point of the book is to show the ninja getting their powers back (and in the case of kai) becoming ninja again. Why would that be necessary to show at all if the ninja are going to be out the door anyway? In fact, leaving it at just the ninja losing their powers in crystallized would be a great reason for why they would retire. The book kinda contradicts that.

Obviously, if there powers weren’t important in the next series then their wouldn’t need to be a book. The next series takes place after a time skip and deals with the realms merging together. That is ALOT of new information crammed into like 10 22 minute episodes. It would make sense to make a book explaining how the ninja got their powers back so that the show doesn’t need to explain for us and just get right into the mix.

If they think it significant enough to have to explain why the ninja have their powers back, then I think it’s safe to say that the ninja themselves are significant to this new series.

The book also took steps to try to canonize things like Kailor, implying that those things also needed to be explained before the series came out so that the series doesn’t have to waste time on it. So we might be seeing plot threads relating to the ninja as well.

What about the side characters?

Not only would it be insulting to just, get rid of the main characters that people have loved for over 10 years. But it would be borderline cruel to have the side characters not to have ANY send off.

The side characters are directly tied to the ninja. They don’t have any relation to Sora and Arin. So if the ninja go, there’s a likely chance the side characters go as well.

But the side characters haven’t gotten any send off, not from crystallized, not from the books, nothing.

Would the writers really be bold enough to get rid of all the side characters without giving them a proper send off? I don’t think they would.

Doc has shown alot of love for the fandom and the show. And we know some of the new writers actually like exploring the side characters.

Plus it would really piss of the fans, I’d imagine that lego is smart enough to not do that.

The marketing implies otherwise

Yes I am fully aware that marketing is often misleading and doesn’t always fully represent the series. But I think it’s important to dissect what we do know and how lego chooses to market the new season.

First and For-most: Arin and Sora aren’t really that involved in the sets. Or Atleast not compared to the ninja. The ninja have multiple sets with their names on it. While Arin and Sora seem to just have two, one for each. Also in the leaked Lloyd mech, Arin has a noticeably smaller mech. Implying that he’s not as important as Lloyd.

If the show is trying to have a fully fresh start, it’s a bit weird to have the sets convey the opposite of that is it not?

For those that don’t already know, dragons rising is the name of the whole series. Unfortunately, we’re no longer getting season titles anymore.

So it’s important to note: on all the dragon rising merch we see right now, the ninja are the front and center and the new characters are in the back.

So why in the world would lego promote the ninja as the front of the whole SERIES, only to have them show up in one season and then leave. That doesn’t make much sense.

And while most people brushed off the dreamzzz teasers; I want to mention something that I think is extremely important.

Lego is using the ninja for advertising.

That might not sound weird at first, but really think about it.

Lego is not only ACKNOWLEDGING that yes, the ninja are extremely recognizable and important, but also directly using them confidently to promote other series.

So lego is not only recognizing that the ninja are marketable, their doing so with the confidence that it can be used to boost their new series.

It would be an extremely big risk then, to get rid of that marketability in favor of new characters. Especially right after the friends reboot and before their introducing a new series. Ninjago has kinda always been the “safe show” for lego when their other projects were just picking up. Currently lego is taking a big change in its new themes, they’d obviously want something to relay on.

Next gen does not mean we’re losing the old gen.

I’ve seen a lot of people get concerned that since the Netflix series said that Sora and Arin are next gen. That the ninja are going to leave.

But, next gen does not necessarily mean that the ninja are leaving.

For example, lord and Garmadon are multiple generations before the ninja. Yet they’ve been with the ninja for almost the entire series.

Lloyd is significantly younger then the other ninja. Yet he didn’t replace any of them when he joined. He just became apart of the team.

I think that’s going to happen to Sora and Arin. I think that we’re going to start seeing the ninja have to take up a mentor position and how that changes the team dynamic.

And this isn’t really new, it happened with Lloyd, Nelson, Jake, and plenty of other kid characters. We’ve also gotten plots about wu dying and Lloyd becoming a master since s4.

I THINK what is most likely to happen is that wu and maybe Misako dies. And Lloyd has to step up and run the monastery. This way, the amount of people on the main cast stays the same, so it won’t get to crowded. But the dynamic changes enough to be new.

It doesn’t seem to match Doc’s direction for the series

There’s a reason why I call doc the “anti Tommy”, and that’s because he shows so much respect towards the show and the community.

The ninja aren’t just characters we love and enjoy. Their also characters that he loves and enjoys!

Doc has been on the series for awhile now. He’s probably grown attached to these characters even more then us. I find it hard to imagine he would let that go. Especially now that he has a chance to find a way to make the ninja new and interesting!

Look at these posts, does this really seem like something a person who’s not planning on expanding on the ninja would reblog.

The show is changing but that doesn’t mean it’s losing what made it great.

Yes, I won’t lie. The show is indeed going through a massive change right now. We’re going to get a new ninjago, both in terms of the show itself and the setting.

Doc does want to take the series in a new direction, that’s why he’s introducing these new characters.

But that doesn’t mean we’re getting a fresh new slate.

After all what’s the point if we could get a new direction with the ninja themselves?

The ninja have been the same for 10 years, some characters get lucky and are able to have arcs that impact their character, others (like Kai) are not.

The sad truth is that, the show can’t stay one way forever. Crystallized kinda proved that. Crystallized gave us what we wanted. It gave us the characters, it gave us the villains, it gave us the call backs and the Easter eggs. But when it came out, we still hated it. Why? Because the show was to scared to change. It was scared to keep Nya dead, it was scared to keep Lloyd and oni, it was scared to stray away from llorumi and say it was bad, it was scared to address the ice emperor. It was scared to address Kai’s feelings about his sister dying.

Crystallized stood there and told us that “no matter what happens to the ninja, things will stay the same” and we HATED it for it.

WE, AS A FANDOM, have been basically begging the writers to do something new with the characters, to take the series in a new direction. I feel as though it’s a bit cowardly to back out of that now that things are being changed. If we want the show to be better, we have to first acknowledge it has to change.

And you know what? If the new series sucks. Then it sucks! It’s not like simply changing the setting of the show will change the writing flaws in it.

But we’ve already spent years following this show even though most of us agree its poorly written. Why don't we just stick it out another month or two and give dragon rising a chance, even if there's a very small possibility the ninja might not be in it

who knows, maybe we'll find something we like.

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #dragon risings #spoilers #ninjago spoilers #I have a lot more to say but this post is long enough

[heliosoll]

hello! how's your day? so how was your experience at your harry potter dr? like, day to day in the castle, and outside of it? if you lived the events of the books, how was it??? especially the triwizard tournament and the battle of hogwarts i'm DYING to know what it's like to be in the middle of all this mess.

Dementors, have you come close to any? a chamber of secrets! what it was like to be at school during that? how is the castle?! many people talk about the feeling of home, is it like that there or is it just a castle? have you seen the magical world outside the british bubble? if so, anything interesting?

I see that you have experienced all four houses, do you have any preferences and comments on the differences? if you were close to the golden trio, what are they like? flew on a broom? how it was? TIME TURNER!! if used... comments? what is it like to write with a quill? I don't see how I wouldn't have horrendous writing on this dr honestly

seriously, any detail would be amazing and I'm so sorry for so many questions (english is not my first language btw) hehe 😗

Hi :) My day has been great!

Oh goodness... I don't know if I've said this before but a big reason why I had four separate DRs for HP was so I could experience different versions of the reality! For instance, in the Gryffindor and Slytherin DRs, the main plot of the books and movies here was happening but in the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw DRs nothing was really happening (ie Voldemort didn't exist so we just chilled). Because of this, my experience in each DR was drastically different.

Day to day life is basically exactly what you see in the movies (at least for me it was)! You go to classes, you have some free time, you're able to chill around the school or in your dorm, etc. Every now and then something exciting or scary happens but it really was mostly normal school life (when you aren't getting into life endangering bullshit of course).

I was only in the Triwizard tournament in my Slytherin DR and for me it was more like the movies than the books. It's very intense though! Stupidly dangerous too. The most frustrating thing was not knowing what the tasks would be (I scripted to forget that little tidbit - big mistake on my part). The entire school gets swept up in the festivities, gossip, and betting on who's going to win though and that's actually fun. Not to mention the literal parties when the winner was from Hogwarts. It was really cute to see all four houses come together to cheer on the champion from Hogwarts, regardless of house rivalry.

The battle fucking sucked man 😭 Visually, it looked exactly like the movie! I remember being surprised at how hot it felt? But it was terrifying... I actually did remember the outcome of the battle while I was there but even then the adrenaline rush, fear, and anxiety I felt was so bad. I was genuinely scared that I was going to die or that people who "weren't supposed to die" were going to die even though I knew for a fact it wouldn't happen! I also scripted out certain deaths (like Fred and Sirius) but when it came time for Fred's death, I was really scared he was still going to die (he didn't). Idk... I've been to quite a few "scary" and dangerous DRs but I don't think I've ever felt that scared or anxious about a DR when I knew what was going to happen. I definitely recommend intending/scripting some fucking chill pills cause goddamn 💀 I had absolutely ZERO reason to be panicking that fucking hard

I have come close to Dementors! First, they smell like dead bodies. I don't know if that's in the books, but that's what it was like my all of my DRs. Gross. And by dead bodies, I mean the rotting variety. Stinky. They're also very cold! I think that's canon? When you get near them, it's... freezing. I remember reading a book about them and there were multiple documented cases of people getting frostbite from being near them.

During the chamber of secrets, well, I knew what was happening so I wasn't that concerned tbh. It was definitely scary but I also knew that everything would be okay and that no one was actually going to die. I was mostly worried about trying to tell them what was going on without making anyone suspicious of me.

I did get that feeling of the castle being home! While there was definitely a feeling of nostalgia, it also just happens naturally since you spend so much time there. It's literally a boarding school where you spend the majority of the year living, of course it's going to feel like home. It's really nice :)

I actually didn't see much of the magical world outside of Britain! I did travel to some places of course, but I didn't get a good grasp on other magical cultures. I actually plan to go back one day to travel more!

When it comes to the houses, I enjoyed my time in all of them! They all have their pros and cons hahah. I was surprised to find that Slytherin actually felt a lot more friendlier than I thought. They seriously value family and loyalty - once you're in Slytherin, you've got friends for life (whether you like it or not tbh). Ravenclaw was also a lot chiller than I thought it would be! Hm... I'm not really sure what else to say so let me know if you have specific questions about the houses :)

I got close to the golden trio in all of my DRs :) Personally, I was usually closest with either Harry or Hermione (sorry Ron), though there were a few times in my Slytherin DR where they didn't trust me. That hurt a little but I understood why so I wasn't that sad. As for their personalities, they were more like their book selves than their movie selves but every now and then something from the movie would slip out. (Like Ron being a little more naive in the movies happened a lot during the fourth year.)

Flying on a broom is amazing!! Definitely recommend shifting there just for that honestly. I mean I love flying anyway so maybe I'm biased but it's an incredible feeling, especially once you get the hang of it. I didn't expect to like quidditch since I'm not much of a sports person here, but I ended up really loving it just because I love flying so much.

The time turner was fun! A little disorienting though... I felt nauseous the first time I experienced it. But you get used to it really fast and it feels normal after the first couple of times.

Writing with a quill is just like it is here hahah It's definitely different than writing with a pen or pencil, but you get the hang of it. Just be careful with ink pooling and you'll be okay :)

I hope this answers all of your questions! This got a lot longer than I expected hahah

#letters 🎀 #dr storytime

[lalalian]

LITERALLY every single DR I have

I have not completed the scripts for most of them 😭😭

KEYS: 💭 = Non-Media / Not from a book, movie, or show DR

Sorry if the grammar is bad, I’m too lazy to look over this post 😭😭

Magical Girl DR 💭

heavily inspired by Precure bcccc it’s cute. Who doesn’t want to fight enemies with frilly dresses?

Regular School DR 💭

School but like filled with drama, I have some things written out 😭😭 it’s super 2015 Wattpad-y so idk if I’m gonna talk abt it

Fantasy Minecraft YouTuber DR 💭

I KNOW WHAT YOURE THINKING… I DO NOTTTT LIKE ANY MINECRAFT YOUTUBER OTHER THAN LDSHADOWLADY AND SNIFFERFISH. I MEAN THAT LITERALLY. don’t misunderstand, please and thank you 🫶

Dreamscape Station DR 💭

I had a vision, but I’ve yet to work on this script enough for me to post a lot about it 😞 I did post about it tho on my TikTok account! Essentially it’s like the backrooms but cute, ethereal, not dangerous (kinda), and full of shifters from other realities. You take a train to different parts of ‘Dreamscape’ and explore! I made tickets for this DR too 😭😭

K-Pop Stan Life DR 💭

Self explanatory. I’m gonna be a fansite, buy as many albums as I could possibly buy, and trade cards with ppl online + provide lots of freebies!

J-Pop Idol DR (💭 kinda)

This was a requested script from someone on my request form (I’ve just realized I didn’t link my request form here on tumblr… it should be up before anyone’s read this). I ended actually using this script for my love live DR cuz my old love live scripts were the ugliest thing on the planet

Obsidian Bride DR

Obsidian Bride is a manhwa that’s literally Singles Inferno but in an isekai otome manhwa world + everyone’s based off a gem, your gem is chosen based on your life and personality!

MHA DR

I was influenced to shift here bc of Priicklleshifts on TikTok 😭😭😭. I don’t really like the actual anime that much, but it seems like a really fun place to shift to! The script for this DR is 100% complete (I haven’t added anything to it for months now)

Wind Breaker DR

Wind Breaker’s a bike racing manhwa that you can read for free on Webtoon. Idk who I’m gonna date, but I literally CANNOT date Jay bc he reminds me of my brother 😭😭

Made of Stardust DR

I’m so mad that nobody’s shifting here 😭 if you like fantasy romance books, stars, enemies to lovers, magical forests, angst, etherealism, I bet your ass would want to shift here. I plan to be Kalisa, and so far I don’t want to change the plot

Futuristic K-Pop DR 💭

Also self explanatory. I do have a filled version of this DR up if anyone wants to use it (It’s not in my current format tho cuz the script is old asf😭). I scripted in a contestant show where the contestants would come from different planets (Mars, Earth, and Kepler smth… I don’t remember the numbers)

Better CR DR 💭

The place I’ll probably be permashifting to

Hallows Ball DR 💭

Okay so I started this script like 2 years ago or smth and I was supposed to finish it before Halloween (it’s a masquerade ball DR but with a twist) and I just haven’t finished it yet 😭 let’s hope I finish it this year

How to Get my Husband on my Side DR

Another manhwa DR!

TGCF DR

I bought the first book to read bc I absolutely loved the anime 😭😭 I haven’t read more than like 30 pgs… I just really don’t like it when books are in third person 😭😭

Fantasy Kpop DR 💭

I completely forgot about this DR until I went through my TikTok account to see how ugly my themes were 😭😭 Basically this DR is set in a fantasy world, each of the kpop groups I scripted in are of different species (fae, vampires, elves, etc…) and I’ve gotta gather certain groups to help me find artifacts in every single kingdom so that magic doesn’t disappear (so corny omfggg…)

Hogwarts DR

I only wanted to shift here bc everyone else wanted to 😭😭

Old Kpop DR 💭

Not gonna shift here anymore, but the script is complete 😭😭 I remade it for my Kpop contestant DR

Kpop Contestant DR 💭

Self explanatory, there’s filled and non filled versions on my linktree

My Own Kpop Group DR 💭

This script happens in the same reality as my Kpop contestant one, this is this group I’ll be in once my contestant group disbands. My own Kpop group is time and mythology themed!

Laurier Academy DR 💭

An actual idol school DR, you learn how to be a Kpop idol + a bunch of other stuff. I made a whole school website for this DR and there’s a four versions of this script:

Filled Co-Ed

Empty Co-Ed

Filled Girls Only

Empty Girls Only

(Co-ed is all genders in one school)

Elite School DR 💭

Idk why anyone uses this script bc not only is it ugly but the formatting is 😨😨 this was my first script that I posted to TikTok, and it has all the characters from my other DRs as students. Idk why, but I made everyone has an animal form. Mines a cat (kinda boring but I wanna be able to sneak around 😭)

Dragon Rider Academy (Aethergarde Academy DR) 💭

There’s also a filled version of this script in my linktree, don’t recommend it tho cuz it’s also poorly formatted and ugly. I think this was the second script I posted on my TikTok account

Shifting Library DR (Realmwalker Library) 💭

It’s a shifting library but better! All the books here are written by shifters. There’s different sections for world building, storytimes, quizzes, fanfics (of other ppls DRs), tips & methods, nsfw storytimes (adults only plz), philosophy related to shifting, and discussions about shifting (idk why I didn’t just merge discussions with philosophy..). Don’t be surprised if some or most of the shifters here aren’t human! I scripted that all non malevont beings that shift can come here; this does also mean that the books are automatically translated into the language you understand best. Oh and the authors aren’t always going to be human.

Love and Deepspace DR

My script for this one is pretty much complete, but I really want to know more about MC’s evol before shifting here 😭

Mental Health DR

I won’t talk about this DR at all on TikTok or on here (sorry) bc it’s super personal and I don’t want to seem like a damn baby 😭😭. I’m actually kind of scared of men irl, plus I didn’t have the best high school experience in my DR. My goal with this DR is to practice talking to people and get over my fear of men. This DR is my first ever DR; my original intent with shifting is to help get over my fear of men + people in general, especially taller people

Waiting Room

My waiting room is essentially an isekai manhwa mansion 😭😭 I scripted that there’s a serving cart with one of those 3 tiered afternoon snack things + milk tea, the milk tea has special properties that calm me down immediately when I drink it. My goal is to use the smell of the tea to know that I’ve shifted, and to drink the tea so I don’t fuck myself over and shift back to my OR 😭😭

[yeastinfectionvale]

Milo’s Guide to telling your co-workers (best friends/almost siblings/pack) that you have two lovers

Milo’s palms were sweaty as David stared him down, confusion painting his face. "So you're telling me you're dating not only a Stealth but an Unempowered guy as well?" David asked, pinching his nose.

Asher stifled a laugh trying to ignore Tank who was looking up at the ceiling. Christian leaned forwards and slapped Milo on the back in support, pearly whites on show.  Asher cleared his throat, drawing 5 sets of eyes in his direction. “Milo man, congratulations. I really would love to meet Guy and Sweetheart.'' He said facing Milo before turning to face the others, ��I don’t really understand why it's such a shock that Milo ‘The Man-whore’ Greer is dating two people. A Stealth and an Unempowered? Yes, that did shock me. I would have expected two vamps with how much you like getting your dick sucked.”

Milo chuckled, a weight coming off his shoulders. Tank wrapped their arms around Asher’s neck, leaning their head down on the top of his. “You gonna tell us how you met?” they mumbled into Asher’s hair. Milo paused, scratching the back of neck. How was he supposed to talk about illegal shade-hunting and his insubordination in front of his Alpha? Everybody looked at him expectantly and he huffed, deciding to take advantage of David’s good mood to drop the bombshell. “Sweetheart’s an investigator in the department-”  Christian’s eyes widened,  “- and Guy’s a pizza delivery guy, but is pitching his script to a bunch of producers. There was a rogue shade and Sweetheart broke into my apartment to ask if I saw anything strange on a job we worked. I can’t lie, I was thinking with my dick but when a hot person is working a dangerous case, I offer to help.” 

David glared at Milo, a thousand words flashing through his head. Milo shrunk slightly before continuing his story; “We found the shade and hunted it down, but it was pretty strong. I got hit in the stomach, five inch gash and the shade had sweetheart by the neck, ready to take their life-force. Out of nowhere Guy appears, ramming his car into the shade like a knight in grimy red uniform. He bought us enough time for me to shift and Sweetheart to cloak. Guy then threw a boiling hot four cheese pizza on the shade and let’s say it died from its injuries. We ran before the department could book us for being vigilanties. Sweetheart dealt with the initial report and all three of us ended up in Sweetheart’s apartment and ended up making out for the next three days. Once again I was thinking with my dick but when you have two really hot people shirtless in front of you, it’s basically inevitable. We’ve been dating ever since.” 

The room fell silent.

Milo gulped.

Asher blinked.

David laughed.

Hand on chest, he laughed with his belly. The whole room vibrated with his laugh, and for a moment it was as if Gabe had never died. Stress washed off his face and laugh lines reappeared around his mouth. David slung an arm around Milo, “I can’t lie, I always thought Christian would be the first of us in a relationship. But I’m really happy for you. I also am really happy about the $100 I just won.” Milo threw his arms up in the air, watching as money was placed in David’s outstretched hand. David split the pile, handing half of it to Milo before ushering him out.

Milo drove in comfortable silence, rain drumming down on his car. He got out of his car quickly, reading messages in the groupchat as he walked inside the apartment complex.

The Smexies

My Guy 🍕: Working a long shift today, I’ll bring dinner.

My Guy 🍕: and treats for Aggie, can’t forget the little guy.

My Sweetheart💌: Don’t worry about drinks we still have a shitton of mountain dew.

Milo: I SAID I WAS SORRY.

My Sweetheart💌: SORRY IS FOR THREE BOTTLES 

My Sweetheart💌: NOT 12

My Guy 🍕: LOL

Milo: You can’t laugh Guy

Milo: I still remember the coffee incident. 

My Guy 🍕: YOU SHUT UP

Milo turned the key inside the lock and was greeted by Aggro circling his ankles. He took his shoes off and petted his cat with both hands. Sweetheart lay on the sofa, one arm grazing the floor. They turned to look at Milo, who walked over to them and leaned down, kissing them gently on the lips, a hand behind their neck. “Hi.” They whispered against Milo’s lips. He kissed them again before lying down on them, face hidden in the soft skin of their collarbone. Aggro jumped up onto Sweetheart’s stomach as the front door opened again, Guy stumbling in with takeout bags in his hands. He flicked his work hat off his head before collapsing onto Milo and Sweetheart, nose resting against Sweetheart’s cheek. Milo leaned forwards and kissed Guy, brushing the sweaty hair off his forehead as Sweetheart kissed Guy. 

“Long day at work?” Milo asked his lovers, receiving groans in return. He chuckled, closing his eyes as Guy recounted how he had been roped into becoming a mascot for a children’s party.

#redacted asmr guy #redacted asmr #redacted audio #redacted asmr milo #redacted asmr sweetheart #milo x guy x sweetheart

[visualtaehyun]

ทำไมถึงเต็มคิดอะไรลึกซึ้งไม่เป็น = Why are you utterly unable to think profoundly?

me @ myself, trying to order my thoughts about this episode

Disclaimer: I'm still learning Thai so feel free to correct me on anything 🙏

I'll probably make a separate post about the poem since that's pretty far outside of my current Thai abilities lol but I found it was so central to the episode that I wanna take a closer look at it anyway! The book is called ขอบฟ้าขลิบทอง (khawp faa klip tawng) 'gold-trimmed horizon' and this specific poem seems to be named after its first line มิ่งมิตร (ming mit) 'cherished friend(s)'. The author's name is อุชเชนี ประคิณ ชุมสาย ณ อยุธยา (romanizations as shown in the end credits of the episode even though it's not helpful in finding info on her anyway lol). To me, this poem carries the same tone as the entire show, as I think the script/writing emphasizes kindness, empathy, and hope for the future. And มิ่งมิตร (ming mit) also speaks about equality/liberty:

...which brings me all the way to the end of the episode, actually:

This was what stuck with me the most. It's not just that Kawi has no living relatives left, it's that his longterm partner is not legally considered family and thus has no rights concerning Kawi. The implications of not having marriage equality already hit me hard when it came up in Moonlight Chicken but it's truly sad now after the disappointment of the 2023 general elections in Thailand (very briefly: progressive democratic Move Forward party winning the most seats but continuously being blocked from forming a government, their leader Pita Limjaroenrat losing the bid for Prime Minister and even being suspended from being a member of parliament).

I'm not sure what Pisaeng is supposed to have learned or needs to do differently, from what we've been shown. That Pisaeng and Kawi need to join Max in fighting for their rights? That Kawi, like his dad, should see a doctor sooner rather than later? That Kawi can't be giving up everything to be with Pisaeng, considering we never saw him leave the condo for work, friends, hobbies, anything?

We've also got Schrödinger's ace!Kawi, considering Kawi's feelings in that regard didn't get resolved this week plus there being no indication either which way if their relationship in this future had a sexual component or not. Actually, that reminds me- @rocketturtle4 basically predicted this episode in broad strokes last week! I basically spent the entirety of parts 2-4 in a state of slight confusion, waiting for the other shoe to drop or for the clearly-left-out conversation about intimacy we all expected last episode to be shown. Something felt, intentionally, off.

A few last notes:

What were Phong and Daow (aka Pear's dad and Pisaeng's mom) referring to with "messy issue"? The word used was วุ่นวาย (woon waai) which could mean anything from chaotic, to troublesome, to confusing, ... you see my confusion? I'm not sure if we're supposed to take this as the parents knowing about the whole love triangle weirdness or if I simply forgot about an earlier tidbit from Pear and Pisaeng's past as childhood friends. This was a lovely scene btw, the meaning of parenthood and child-parent relationships are portrayed so nicely in this show.

If you've read my post from last week about Pisaeng and Kawi switching to different pronouns and are curious about any changes this week- From the moment we hear the boys talk with each other on Pisaeng's bed after moving in together, they continuously use ผม (pom) / คุณ (khun). Meanwhile the after credit scene (that I'm not sure when to place in this time travel chaos) contained no pronouns at all! In the preview, I heard both of them use them again.

Maybe it's my love for Thai but I felt like "I'm glad you're happy." was a bit of a curt translation for what Pear said to her mom so here's me trying to preserve the sentiment: "แต่ถึงยังไง หนูก็ดีใจนะค่ะ ที่แม่มีความสุข" = But still, I'm happy. Because you're happy./...that you've found happiness. She's my baby angel and I won't hear a single word of criticism about her!!

#be my favorite the series #be my favorite #thai bl #i'm super sleepy so i have a feeling my aimless ramble doesn't say much of anything but at least it's out of my system #gotta wait to read meta until i've had some sleep #local woman harps on about linguistics #ql musings

[tobiasdrake]

Guess this is gonna be a one-way trip. THANKS GARL.

YOU. I have a bone to pick with you.

Nuh nuh nuh do not give me any more cryptic shit. You and I? Our trust is broken. Probably gonna be three wizards.

And a warlock.

I. Would have hoped that we did. Given we wanted to travel it by raft and all.

Holy shit, we dodged a bullet with that one. Maybe ten years of going to your room to think about what you did wasn't such a bad punishment after all.

CAN I HELP YOU SCARY PORTAL LADY

I've been here five minutes and I'm about to get ganked by time/space assassins. This isn't fair.

Honestly, this has been a fairly relaxing trip so far. Ran into some monster ants and goblins chucking bombs but it's nice here.

I think this island's got it pretty good.

THAT IS A DRAGON

This island has a dragon.

...oh! Is that the "Sleeper" that Garl was talking about? Huh, I didn't figure he'd get to meet them this soon.

..."Sleeper Island". Right. I guess that was obvious.

NEW FRIEND. Probably. Hello, new friend! I hope this is not too forward but WILL YOU JOIN MY PARTY IMMEDIATELY because your hair is a-ma-zing. The pink and green go together nicely to make this calm and comforting aesthertic.

We should ask for a guide.

I think she's some kind of archaeologist, judging by how intently she's studying those runes.

Probably a bad archaeologist, given how much of her attention is being paid to a straight line with none of the interesting markings found elsewhere on the obelisk.

OUTVOTED 2 to 1, we're pestering the intensely focused science lady.

Can't imagine why anyone would hire time/space assassins to gank me. I'm so likable.

Garl is pouring on the charm. If there's one thing that's always been true about smart people, it's that they are eager to have someone to infodump on. Nothing gets a scientist talking like basic questions about their field of study.

We're practically besties already.

Hold up. Can Garl read these runes? He did a double take at us.

You got something to share with the class, bruh?

So the answer is yes, she is an archaeologist. We should probably leave her alone to study these old rocks with the world's oldest script engraved on them.

We will not.

TEAKS. It's a little goofy but, shit, my name was supposed to be Valerie but I accidentally misplaced my I. Garl felt bad for me so he discarded one of his own.

Trust me, we've got plenty of food even if you don't count Garl's infinitely-replenishing bag of apples.

So. To clarify. When you said "This is the oldest writing known to us, the Traveling Historians", what you meant was "This is the oldest writing I've personally ever seen in my career."

That's an important piece of qualifying context, thank you.

So. It's. Like psychometry but it's another object that utilizes psychometric powers and then writes it all down for ease of reference. Honestly, that's better than psychometry. You don't have to deal with fuzzy interpretations of events you barely got a glimpse of.

So really it's the book that's the historian, and you're more like its transport mechanism? I take it back, that's way shittier than psychometry. Imagine having to play second-fiddle to a pen. My utmost sympathies.

That's okay, a lot of great heroes have "skills" that become less and less impressive the more attention you pay to how those abilities actually work.

DEAL. If we find any interesting-looking things I'll have Vale hold them until we can pass them off to you. I'm already excited to hear what kinds of stories you'll have for us. :D

Oh, so you just started doing this, then?

...

So. To clarify. When you said "This is the oldest writing known to us, the Traveling Historians", what you meant was "This is the oldest writing I've personally ever seen in the five days or so I've been studying things."

That's an important piece of qualifying context, thank you.

#sea of stars #drake plays sea of stars

[memecucker]

My very first PDX game Victoria 1 which I got as a retail box copy in Big Lots as a kid bc my mom wouldn’t argue about buying games with educational content and to this day I don’t mind the “PDX syndrome” of games being buggy on release bc it used to be soo much worse bc retail box means I was playing unpatched Victoria 1.0 and hooo boy I had lots of fun but only because I aggressively used resource cheats which I think was the only way that game was playable

Like it came with a really cool and thick book about the game that I read a bunch but like half the shit was buggy or not really implemented. Notably the types of citizenship mechanic didn’t work which meant all pops counted as full citizens which meant UK got 100% of benefits from India bc the pops were considered full citizens notably all the soldier in India counted for regular soldiers (in Victoria 1 colonial pops are supposed to contribute only to “irregular” divisions which have worse stats) which meant the UK started off with the most advanced army and the largest army which meant the UK could literally fight every other country at the same time and win because without scripts the AI would only surrender based on amount of territory you took and the UK had a lot of territory.

Anyway I eventually discovered the concept of “patches” except this was the early 00s and patches were only ever a zip file you had to look up and manually download from a game dev’s website and were very sporadically released and basically modders were the sole reason the game was really played (bc the patches basically just fixed bugs rather than add anything new since that’s for expansion packs) and people kinda just accepted that weirdly enough like the mentality was almost more that the base game is released as a framework for modders to use.

[wolame-o-ccx]

would genuinely love to see your process for sketching out your comics!! ive wanted to make my own but i have never really figured out the process and end up overwhelmed- and you're one of the folks who makes stuff in a style that I kinda draw close to, and u do ur comics with pencil and paper- so if you wouldn't mind in the future, it'd be really cool to see how you actually get everything planned :)

This ask is so cute :( probably genuinely the biggest compliment I've ever received! Well, no waiting in the future! I'll tell you now what happens behind the scenes! :)

SO FIRSTLY, I'd like to clarify I am in no way a professional or even close to one, I never even looked up how to do comics, I just kinda do them and use what I've read from DC comics and Pinterest tips.

But! Personally, I find that making comics is fun and that's what I strive on. I won't lie when I say my comics are pretty bland, the surroundings are empty and lame but I think the character's expressions and body language make up for it, and especially the script. So altogether in this post, I'll be breaking down how my comics are made!

↓↓↓ if you're interested, open up the full post!

1 - Scripting

In both dialogue and character detail/placing!

I use a notes app for when I get ideas!

* I usually don't do specific dialogue, only stating the idea and then coming up with dialogue in my head, but there are some exceptions where I do write down pre-thought-out dialogues you can see in the examples I put below!

With the idea / dialogue in tow, we can go to character detail / placing. I don't know the actual word for it but basically how the character acts in a specific scene / dialogue!

Character expression is especially important when it comes to any type of art, be it comics or animation as it can tell a story with little to no dialogue!

* panels taken from 1 and 2 for context

From here you can clearly tell their expressions well! Be sure to exaggerate!

2 - Limit planning

With Tumblr's 10 images limit, as well as Instagram if you post there, it's important to note that limit and know when to end the comic with a good panel where it doesn't feel like it's supposed to continue UNLESS you're making two parts!

I can't tell you how many times I've ruined my sketchbook papers trying to get a perfect script but I've been doing it long enough that my brain has adapted to the limit and every comic I've done since adapting had been a perfect ≤10.

But even if you decide to go with two (or maybe even more) parts, you should make sure it ends well still! Like a book! Those spaces between paragraphs and chapters and such!

Take these for examples too!

* panels taken from 1 and 2 for context

So treat it like a book! I guess ?

3 - Panel placement

This isn't a necessity, but my personal way of drawing each panel is having it scattered around randomly around my sketchbook. I don't use strips or anything like that as it restricts me because using strips on paper is a whole lot harder than on digital. Because I have such a wide area to draw, I'm less restricted from drawing any excess things I want to add in case my dialogue doesn't fit the panel or so!

4 - Draw

Now to put it all together and make the comic! I usually already have my vision in mind so I can just go draw it without a light sketch layer, but I do recommend it!

What that is is essentially a sketch but drawn like.. your pencil is hovered above the page? Like you don't press down on it or something like that. Basically a guideline! So do that if you need it, and when you're satisfied with how it looks, you can draw it! And make sure it's clear!

After that, it's just picture and post! (Make sure you crop it right tho!)

4.5 - BONUS / TIPS

When I started posting Belos drawings, I never expected it to get any attention or even end up as a whole AU 😭 I just drew him in a babygirl hoodie and people ate that shit up so now it's an AU 💀 and because of that you need to prepare personalized tags!

Tags like pitmdau or sharing caleb au ! Very very useful for navigation

More important than tags, make sure you have a Masterpost!

I'm aware mine are unfinished and very messy and I'm trying to work on that right now but it's very difficult but people really need it so when making Masterposts, YOU HAVE KEEP UP WITH IT. I slacked of for ONE POST and now it's a mess.

Also another important note you can only put 100 links in one post so you have to make more Masterposts to navigate through the comics 😭

5 - Have fun!

When getting into comic making, I think really the most important thing to keep in mind is your enjoyment in making said comics. Sometimes some things can burn you out very quickly so when you're getting into things like this, especially when you're not getting paid, you gotta make sure you have fun doing it. It doesn't matter if it doesn't get a lot of traction or not, it only matters that you are enjoying making and posting them!

I've experienced MULTIPLE burn outs from making too many comics for my TOH AUs that at some point I just completely died and lacked motivation. But what drives me into making them are other people's enjoyment! Their enjoyment gives me enjoyment which gives me motivation to make more. Someday I'll know the AUs I've created will inevitably be over, at some point, but right now I'm just having fun with the small community I've built!

So make comics, and have fun!

I hope this was helpful in any way. I just want to clarify that, again, this is my way of making comics, and you don't have to follow anything I put into the post. I'm mostly hoping this was easy to understand as well. I'm more of a visual learner so making up the words to make this was kinda hard so I'm sorry if some parts didn't make sense. If anything, feel free to hit me with another ask or a PM! I know me not posting seems like I'm inactive but I promise I check Tumblr frequently 😭

Happy posting!!! :3

#asks #pitmdau #sharing caleb au #masterpost

[lake-archive]

Look At Me!

AO3 Link

Fandom: Ensemble Stars

Characters: Ritsu Sakuma, Anja-Sophia 'Ann' Wolff (OC) 

Pairing: Ritsann (Ritsu/Ann) (Romantic, Established)

Tags: One Shot, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, POV Sakuma Ritsu, Original Character(s), Major Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Fluff without Plot, No Plot/Plotless, !! Era (Ensemble Stars!), POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited

Words: 1,344

The sight could make anyone look a little in annoyance. One of the first days the two could have all to themself and yet Ritsu was made to sit and wait. “Sorry! It’s… Important! Since… Well, the exams are… Coming up! I should study a tiny little bit.” had been Ann’s excuse. And she wanted to prepare properly for them so the university would for sure take her, because a recommendation could only take you so far and she still had to be tested in her abilities for the subject she is supposed to be studying while starting to work for the movie company ES had established not too long ago. Sure, they would probably take any fresh blood they could get, yet there was still an exam to pass.

It’s a long story but things had led to one thing after another since the movie was shot with Knights as the main actors, a movie Ann managed to be heavily involved in. Apparently one of the directors had found one of her stories by accident and wanted a script version. Ann insisted on working on it herself so her’s and Nyeli’s vision would be kept alive and after several drafts and tries she managed to put out something which was satisfying for the director from overseas but also would be possible within the limits they had, especially considering the runtime of the movie. She had to be there of course to overlook and apparently picked up some things from the director himself and she had fun too. 

Not to mention that the script was lots of fun to read out, and Ritsu is not just saying that because of him liking Ann. No, he actually meant that when he had told her and the others seemed to agree. Even Secchan admitted that she had some talent, even if a little reluctantly. “You’re a bit of a pain but… You have talent.” He even said, right into Ann’s face. Not to mention that the script had kept TsukiP’s attention until the very end, he even claimed to have come up with ‘five new melodies while reading through it’. Nacchan and Su–Chan had lots of fun.

And the director seemed to agree because shortly after he suggested Ann to become one of their writers and directors. “Of course she still has things to learn but she is a fast learner. Plus, having a writer with potential on your team couldn’t hurt, could it?” Of course hearing that they are considering her and are willing to take her if she passes the entrance exam at a university they have close ties to they would take her. 

Basically this was a one in a lifetime chance and Ann did not want to mess this up. He understood that. Ever since she decided to study not just Japanese at a quicker pace but also everything else which might be useful and she has not taken a rest ever since. Though it was all difficult to balance with her current classes and her job as a translator, she had barely any time now. 

“Why don’t you drop out now?” Ritsu had asked her before.

“In case… I will not pass.” Was her response. “I don’t want to think like that but… You never know. I need to keep this option.”

And he was able to accept this for a while. After all, he was not going to stand between her and what she worked so hard towards. Besides, he had been busy with idol work as well, especially around the holidays. There were just so many special events going on and interviews… There was hardly time to nap. This should be illegal. There was not a single free day until new years rolled around! 

And yet once it had hit she just wanted to stick her head into the books and do nothing but studying! That was of course not going to sit right with Ritsu. The next few days were going to be their alone time! And Ann would not get a say in this! She is going to need a proper break anyway! So, before she had even a chance to hit the books he came up with the following… Cling onto her as tightly as possible.

In fact, Ritsu had pushed himself against them the next moment she sat down after having used the bathroom and made sure that his arms were wrapped around her ever so tightly, so she couldn’t even think about moving away. “Wha— H… Hey! Ritsu, I should—” She tried to protest yet it was only met with an annoyed groan before he even shoved her onto the ground by shifting his own weight right on it, making both lay next to another. Though he was still clinging onto her like a little child.

“Are you dating those books now?” He asked, somewhat joking yet one could hear from his voice that he wasn’t happy with this at all. Was he jealous of a bunch of books? Maybe, but he had every right to today! He was on a break and wanted to spend it with her after all, no matter how! 

“N… No. I’m not, but—”

“Then I win.” He interrupted, not wanting to hear the but by any means. “I’m not letting you escape for a while.”

“S… Studies—” She was about to say yet he really didn’t feel like hearing it. Instead he turned her to him so they were facing each other, their faces awfully close. That alone could silence her it seems, judging from Ann’s red face. She was stuttering before going all silent. Once he held her tighter, both bodies pressed tightly against one another. It was enough so he could rest his head on one of her shoulders. In truth he just wanted to hide his slight glare. He didn’t like this, at all. 

“Please… Ann–Chan… Don’t talk about this now… Can you just pay attention to me instead?” He asked, his voice unusually soft. He wasn’t messing around, he didn’t want to. He was dead serious. One might call him selfish, inconsiderate even, yet he didn’t care. He just wanted to be close to her. Was that really too much to ask for? 

Maybe it got her to think, or so he hoped. Because he didn’t hear a word from her mouth for a minute maybe… It could have been less time as well however. Though soon he had felt her arms around him all of a sudden, first catching him a little off guard. He had grown a little warmer but that was not a bad thing. It was what he had asked for and thus he couldn’t help but smile soon after.

“Sorry…” He heard it coming from her lips, a word she said ever so meekly and softly. Yet she meant it. She is not the type of person to say it if she didn’t mean it. 

“Then… Can we stay like this? A little longer?”

“Ah— Yeah, sure!”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He responded. Yeah, he was glad about that. Even if it was just for a short while, this was their time… Just the two of them. No worries, no work, no studies. Just them. “Besides, you owe me lots of cuddles Ann–Chan. At least three months worth.”

“Eh!? How can I—”

“And you were pretty bad earlier too. Hmm… That’s it, I’m punishing you~” Ritsu moved his head backwards to face Ann yet again, witnessing how red her face was now. Oh it was beyond red and it was never a sight he got tired of. Maybe just for a little longer he can keep pushing her buttons. Whether she liked it or not. And with that he got his face awfully close, maybe a little too close for comfort. “Alright… Ready or not, here comes your punishment~”

“Wait a– Ritsu, this is– Hmph!?” And yet he managed to cut her off. And he will do so many more times if he has to.

#Nimue's Lake #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #selfship fanfiction #self ship fanfic #selfship fic #self ship fanfiction #ensemble stars fanfiction #ensemble stars fic #ensemble stars fanfic #enstars fanfiction #enstars fanfic #enstars fic #ensemble stars #enstars #ritsu sakuma #enstars ritsu #yumejoshi #yumefics #enstars self ship #enstars self insert #enstars oc #Sleepy Vampire #Ritsann