#starting with their set which has no logical setup

[ladysophiebeckett]

using 'they l\f\m\b it' when im watching a betty adaptation and they do something goofy\cringe.

#or i dont like it #multiple meanings #feel bad bc im nice about spain's changes but completely unforgiving to mexico's. #perhaps bc i can tell spains didnt have a huge budget while mexico had money to spare and still didnt hit the mark #sometimes things that are expensive are....not as good as they should be #starting with their set which has no logical setup

[kujakumai]

Personally, I agree that TKB has every right to feel anger and take action to prevent the tragedy of Kul Elna from happening ever again. But the second he says "I'm going to work with a demon to destroy the entire world" is when I put my foot down, because that makes him no better than what the ruling class did to him; it makes him worse because he's inflicting that to other innocent people. Neither Atem and TKB are completely correct or wrong, but the story siding with only Atem is morally iffy

-TKB isn't a real person independently arriving at moral actions, he is a character in a narrative whose structure and characters are consciously designed by human beings to tell a particular story

-Saying "Well, TKB was still evil because he wanted to destroy the world" is accepting the premise of the narrative and TKB's motivation as if it sprung forth from the ether, ever-extant in its present form and incapable of being written any other way

-The narrative of MW paints a portrait of a world that is visibly and systematically unjust and whose domestic and military power is derived from the literal death and exploitation of the poor; it then has a character, TKB, make very deliberate criticisms of this system, and puts them in direct contrast with Priest Set and Akenhadin's own ongoing corruption.

-Since again, this is a story being crafted with intent, this contrast directly leads audiences to conclude that TKB's criticism is valid, and the author intends us to reach this conclusion and has deliberately set up his commentary. Determining that TKB is right about the monarchy is the logical conclusion of the facts and narrative tools we as the audience are given.

-However, instead of leading us to a satisfying conclusion based on this setup, the story instead tacks on "...but he wants to destroy the world, so we can kill him!" and never meaningfully addresses the questions about good and evil or the nature of the throne, nor does Atem ever have to really face them. It disposes of TKB and quickly sets about putting a heroic coat of paint on a mostly unchanged Set and reducing everything to a quick and tidy good vs. evil shonen fight scene, contradictions be damned.

-The problem with this plot twist isn't fantasy-monarchism. It's that it is actively disorientating. We as readers have been told in loud, bold letters for over two dozen chapters what this story is about and what message it's trying to communicate (a very powerful one, based on how passionate people become about it!) and the story simply...dumps it all, and starts pretending to be a totally different story. Like none of that earlier stuff mattered and we should suddenly be content with power-of-friendshipping the bad guy into dust.

-Tongue-in-cheek declarations that "TKB was right!" aren't moral statements about TKB or Atem's actions, because Thief King and Atem aren't people, they are characters--a narrative tool the author is using to tell a story. And again: the narrative is telling us that TKB is right and the monarchy is troubled and unjust. Vocal declarations that Thief King was right are really an expression of disgust for a clumsy narrative betrayal. "MW told me this excellent story, got me invested, very deliberately set me up to draw these conclusions about the story it was telling and the message it wanted me to get...and then tacked on the ending for a completely different story that had nothing to do with any of that! This is bullshit!"

-If TKB were a mere generic evil, who intended to destroy the world for his own gain and had no compelling criticisms of the hero's world or complex tragedy, he wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting (see: the anime, which did almost exactly this), but I don't think people would be half as worked up about it. It would be neat, at least, because if everything is a fantasy good vs. fantasy evil from the start, then at very least the story would match its ending. No one would feel misled or disorientated.

-But the story did ask moral questions of our characters, and it did so carefully, deliberately, and with fireworks; it is therefore culpable for failing to even attempt to have them answer them.

-At the same time, the trope of the "rebel turned murderous extremist" is well-worn and troublesome. There are ten thousand examples. A villain who challenges the status quo, who takes issue with real problems, revolutionaries and rabble-rousers with righteous fury...but they want to, uh, kill innocent people also! for some reason! which is why our heroes (defenders of the status quo) need to get rid of them and we don't need to listen to what they are saying!

-Why does fiction so frequently depict people angry about real societal problems, and who act to change them, as people whose legitimate complaints are inexorably tainted by tacked-on inexplicable violence?

-Who benefits when fiction frequently conflates righteous criticism of injustice with supervillainy? When fiction conflates heroism with stalwart defense of the current system? How do we carry these narratives with us into the real world?

-You are criticizing Thief King as if he were a person. I'm not, and I'm not interested in doing that. I am criticizing the poor formulation of a story.

-anyway. TKB did nothing wrong

#long post #meta

[aihoshiino]

chapter 149 thoughts

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 6

anybody else here unironically love getting yuribaited or just me

Honestly I kind of don't know what to think about this chapter lol. As it stands I didn't really hate it - in a lot of ways, it feels like a return to the humour and emotional focus of early OnK which is something I've honestly been missing in the manga while revisiting the anime. Mengo's art toys chapter was great and getting some proper Akane focus was nice. On the other hand, transitioning into this style of writing with no cushioning after the last arc is so incredibly jarring and the Akane stuff we get here is… well, we'll put a pin in it for now and address it later.

In general "put a pin in it" feels like the right energy for this chapter. As the second chapter of a new arc it's primarily setup for the stuff we're going to be dealing with for the next however long, I think it's going to be something we can really only chew on when we have a more solid idea of what exactly it's setting up, long or short term.

Anyway…! We start off with an explanation of why Kana seemed to flip so suddenly last chapter which does patch up some of that logic a bit. I think it's a little silly that she didn't actually overhear the conversation and thus clue into the actual goings on with how close she was standing but that's basically romance misunderstandings 101 so…

Her leaping to assumptions and giving up so quick also feels a bit abrupt but tbh Kana has always been deeply insecure and quick to leap to it's so over when it comes to her feelings for Aqua. Not only that but as others have pointed out since last chapter, from Kana's outsider perspective, Aqua was at his happiest and most at peace while dating Akane and has been in a mental health spiral to the point of expressing suicidal ideation since they broke up. Obviously we, the readers, know the extenuating circumstances at place but from Kana's POV it makes perfect sense to conclude that Akane makes him happiest and is uniquely equipped to do so. It just feels clunky in execution.

On the subject of clunky… I won't lie, it really bugs me that the first really significant AKKN interaction we're getting is love triangle shit entirely centered on Aqua. One of my biggest complaints about the series post TB was the way the end of that arc set up a huge status quo change to Akane and Kana's rivalry and then kind of failed to expand on it at all and that continued to be true all the way up to the Movie Arc. I'd hoped that them both working in close proximity as actresses on the same project would give us opportunities to dig into that. We got some lip service in that regard and then swerved hard into suddenly hyperfocusing on Kana's insecurities regarding Ruby while Akane got all of zero meaningful focus during the back half of the Movie Arc even though she was one of the characters with the most potential to bring interesting things to the table.

Honestly, one of my biggest fears with Akane's declaration that she'd stop Aqua's plan was that even though the two of broken up, she would continue to orbit Aqua at the expense of being allowed an arc of her own that focused on her relationships with the wider cast. Like - even if what she says about not being romantically interested in Aqua anymore is true, she is nevertheless entirely revolving around him to a really frustrating degree. It really feels like Akasaka realized Akane would have solved everything going on in the Movie Arc and had to panic and offscreen her as a result lol.

tho akane dismissively talking about the idea of clinging onto a past lover did make me do a very mean chuckle. ouch, better hope ruby didn't overhear that one, girl!

That said, for all my complaints, I didn't hate their little talk. Yes, it contained an absolute mountain of transparent-to-the-point-of-cynical KanaKane shipbait but it was pretty gay so who's to say if it's really good or bad or not. It's also just nice to see Kana and Akane being able to have a talk that isn't entirely hostile even if I really wish it was under different circumstances, or even that we'd just seen the road they took to being able to be so civil with each other. But whatever - we're here now, I'll take what I get.

Circling back around a bit, I am intrigued by the idea of Akane framing herself as having 'moved on' from Aqua when she very clearly hasn't lol. Like I indicated up there, I don't quite think this is the case nor do I think we're supposed to uncritically accept this as being the case - it reads moreso to me that Akane is trying to convince not just Kana but also herself that she's moved on from Aqua so Kana doesn't feel like she's in Akane's way if she tries to shoot her shot. As for why… well, that's something to talk about at the end of the chapter but I do think it's interesting either way. Akane wildly overshooting in her scrabble to convince Kana it's totally just platonic and going for sonzoning Aqua was also about the most insane thing she's said in a while but her utterly panicked and deranged expression as she said it made me bust a gut laughing.

In general, the expression work this chapter was on fire and there was a ton of really funny and really cute moments - Akane's blushy pout after Kana's quasi-confession, the fish-eye lens effect on her when Kana sees her outside her door and especially her and Kana's expressions in the second to last page… jesus i lost it so bad.

I've been gushing about Mengo's panelling and expressions for the last ten or so chapters but she really is amping it up lately. It definitely feels like her art for OnK has been getting really refined during the last few volumes and while this chapter was a little whiplash-y coming off the end of the Movie Arc, I also think it's a really impressive display of Mengo's range, too. Her horror and drama chops were on full display while all that was going on but in a more lowkey chapter like this, she brings a lot of life and charm to even simple things like the little montage of everyone wrapping up their day of the beach - it's three silent, tiny panels at the bottom of the page but she crams a ton of detail and character into each one.

I also am Extremely Shrimpterested in the note this chapter ends on. Something OnK does occasionally is use genre trappings as a smokescreen for what is actually happening on page and Akane's words at the end here seem to indicate this is happening here, too. This entire chapter goes extremely hard on the romcom tropes and dynamics but the way Akane's energy totally changes once she's on her own makes me think this is intentional and a reflection of the way Akane is setting up to use Kana.

Because I do think it's undoubtable that she is setting up to use Kana. Her sudden leap to captain of the SS AquKana is not about wholeheartedly supporting two people she loves (at least not primarily) and more about her continued efforts to save Aqua from himself. Kana just happens to be a convenient pawn in making this happen.

If I'm making this sound very cynical and cold of Akane: it is! But that's why I think it's so interesting. Akane is very like Aqua in a lot of ways and seeing this tendency of his to perform cruelty and manipulation to the greater end of doing the most good (or at least in their eyes) mirrored in her is very juicy and potentially very deadly in the hands of someone as smart and perceptive as Akane.

It's also kind of telling and kind of really sad to see Akane asserting that Aqua wouldn't be able to take revenge if he had a girlfriend at his side when that certainly didn't stop him back when he and Akane were dating. It's subtle but it's consistent with just how little faith Akane seems to have ever had in Aqua's feelings for her. Kana's not the only one struggling with long term insecurities in that regard.

I also can't not address the elephant in the room that is the story setting this up while the resolution to whatever the hell is going on with Ruby is still dangling over everyone's heads. I mentioned this last chapter but it really is getting to be bizarre just how much of a nothingburger that has been turned into, not just in terms of the characters' lack of reaction to it but the way the narrative has just entirely failed to give it any weight or significance whatsoever. I can only assume that one of the other girls making a move to pursue Aqua (if it does end up happening) will kick Ruby into action and we'll get god knows what sort of resolution there but a dark and evil part of me that loves to start shit thinks that the funniest possible resolution would be for it to never come up or be referenced ever again just for the sheer frenzy of confusion and bafflement it would cause. everybody loses!!!

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #chapter reviews

[popculturebuffet]

Batmarch: The Secret Origin of Batman's Trophys (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to Batmarch, or celebrations of all things that go bump in the dark knight

Today we've got a special treat... and i'm not just talking the nice art Kev had comissioned! Looks really good and I really appcirated it. Thank you KEv and thank you Alan Patreon. It was a nice suprise gift.

As for what this is about, this was a fantastic idea Kev cooked up: the batcave is one of the coolest hero bases in all of fiction. The layout is never 100% consitant across media but your usually guaranteed a batmobile, a big ass computer at the center, water falls, and over time a display for various costumes from past sidekicks, alternate outfits etc.

What really spruces the place up are three distinct decorations that we almost always see in the comics and ocasionally in other media, if not live action since these bitches would be expensive to make: A giant dinosaur, a big ole penny, and a giant playing card of a joker. These three are staples of the bat cave, to the point when the original was caved in during the earthquakes that ravaged gotham in the build up to no man's land, Bruce made a point of fishing them out for the new cave he built after that traumatic year.

Yet most of us.... have no idea where he got these wonderful toys. Even I didn't. The Joker Card comes from an obvious grinning source, but what CASE did it come from? Where did he get that dinosaur? What was someone using that giant Penny for? It's a question i've asked once or twice but never looked into. Kevin did though, and while the through and lovely DC wiki helped him find each one, he went the extra mile, asking for a review. And I was entirely on board with this comission as I just.. never had those answers and I doubt i'm the only one whose wondered what the context for these things were. So today we're looking at three disntinct golden age batman stories, at a time when goofy nonsense reigned supreme, logic was optional, and weird shit like this was just another day in the batcave. IN other words, this is going to be a LOT of fun so join me under the cut as we look at gambling themed death traps, penny obessed gangsters and batman being hunted by the most dangerous game: mechanical dinosaurs.

The Giant Joker Playing Card:

(from Batman #44)

I love these old titles, such flair and cheese. It's incredible.

Anyways this one starts because Joker decides to hit an off the books casnio after his win. Luckily for them, he just wants to play which feels entirely like a joker move: instead of robbing an easy target that can't call the cops and that the mafia presumibly running it would be stupid to retaliate on, he decides "fuck it let's try this whole gambling thing men, sounds like a hoot and a half".

And sure enough.. it goes really well. He spends what's implied to be the whole night just winning and winning until he cleans house. This being the joker this gambling bug can only end one way

I just.. love everything about this. Joker just had fun at a casnio and turned it into a death trap. It's such a brilliant setup.. and one that while nicely goofy, is also well done: it fits the joker's unpredictablity to just go a gamblin and it fits him just as much to turn a new hobby into a death trap. I also love Lewis' reaction calling it SUPERGAMBLING., like he's some gambling expert and most dangerous game shit is a type of gambling.. which given we're in the dc universe, you probably DO need a name for this kind of thing in the crime world.

So he set shte perfect trap: he has a random balding middle aged man tell the two he has info on a recent raidum theft, raidum a hospital badly needs. To save the presumed orphans about to die without eating their radium, Batman and Robin go to a sketchy island with one house perched on a hill

The World's Greatest Detective.. sees NOTHING wrong with this and goes ahead and gets caught in the most devious trap imaginable.

Several head injuries later, our heroes wake and joker reveals the radium theives, who he captured for this scheme but have kept the radium's location to themselves. This is by deisgn: the joker wants the two and their "radium screts" as the ante here, along with Robin to make sure Batman does this. Batman repedately states "I don't gamble' as if logic suddenly works on the clown man who set up a gambling death trap, so Joker reveals if Batman won't play his three supergambling games, he'll just kill the hostages. Batman reluctantly agrees,

Game 1 is super pinball.

But when Batman proves to be an expert at the snes Joker goes with plan b.. his giant pinball table of death. Sorry his giant SUPER pinball table of death.

As you can see the same joker face from the card is here and you see it all over his lable. it seemed to be Joker's logo back the. I love this whole setup and mostly show it not only because it' sdope but because those pins must've been what bumpers were. I also had no idea PInball used to be a gambling thing. Makes sense, it's just fun to find out.

The game goes well mostly though one of the guys nearly slams into a pin. Thankfully Robin is an expert gymnist and batman smartly saved laucnhing robin till the last minute and Dick's able to save the goon.

Game two is super rolling some dice, which apparently used to land on numbers. This yugioh style death game involves our bait being tied to polls on three of the numbers. If Batman guesses wrong, someone dies. Or maybe not since the board is pretty damn big. Not every death trap can be super murder pinball. Batman spots some mud on the dice though and correctly guesses they'll pivot. This is the weakest of the death traps here, a bit convolunted, not really guranteed to be as deadly. I know the chance of nothing happening is part of it.. but with pinball there's really almost no chance you won't hit the bumpers. Here it feels like pure luck or simple cheating that both dice flew at the joker.

Next game and the one that introduces our prop, though the dice apparently are also in the cave sometimes which I love. The game is a game of cards.. batman has to correctly guess which face matches the door Robin and the hostage goons are in or they'll choke to death on the deadly gas released inside.. and naturally he figures out it's the Joker card. It's too joker not to work.

Turns out though, naturally the joker isn't playing fair both having a final one on one game ofr him and Batman and having his goon go to get robin behind the joker card door... and Robin dispatches him hilaroiusly and awesomely

With that the hostages are free and the final death game begins. A giant super roulette wheel with both batman and joker getting in a slot. looser gets crushed alive. It's an awesome finale, and it fits joker to put himself at risk: after all he risks his life all the time why wouldn't he for such a fun gag?

Batman's able to get the wheel to turn fairly and then escape it, leading to a chase. THe Radium Theives agree to give themselves and the radium up but there's still the matter of the joker and we get a short but neat final chase as Joker uses the dice against the heroes then jumps off a cliff, gambling his life one last time.. and rightfully batman isn't betting on the joker having died.

Gamble With Doom is an excellent story. While the trophy we get out of it is only in it briefly the story itself is pure fun. It has some fun dated elements like Bruce's opinon gambling is EVILLLL and the old fashioned designs on the traps, but it's pure fun. The traps are clever, the tension palpable and the climax great. The gambling motif's really fit the joker and it adds up to an all time great joker story with a suprise impact. The Trophy Itslef. is barely in it but Robin DID break a guy's face with it so i'll say it was still cave worthy.

(From World's Finest #30)

The Penny Plunderer is a name I had heard but had no real context for. I assumed he was some goofy silver age villian with pennies for eyes who drove around chucking pennies at everyone.

I am an artiste.

Instead it's just a guy in a suit. He has the backstory of any good golden or silver age villian to justify his gimmick

I love.. everything about this backstory. It reads like if a writer was given the thought exercise "Make the pettiest batman villian origin you can find.". I mean other villians gimmicks make sense: Poison Ivy was a botonist, Mr Freeze had a horrible accident, the penguin was born looking like a penguin with a lot of money, the Joker fell into a vat of chemicals and came out a clwon, the riddler liked puzzles.

Here Joe just... got screwed over by pennies a lot. Even funnier is that the last one has nothing to do with pennies. Like.. even if it'd had nickels he'd still be arrested.

So Joe vows since pennies runied his life, he'l lbecome the penny! Sadly this does not mean him dressing up like a giant penny with a cane and top hat.. nad now I can't show you it that last drawing put me too far behind and... oh fuck it.

Instead he just wears a suit but makes his gimmick pennies. Commit to the bit man. I do get it as some golden age villians were just guy in a suit, even Joker and Penguin technically counts but one is a clown and the other is a rich penguin man. They have mor ethan just "suit and a vendetta against pennies that somehowturns into stockholm syndrome.

So the penny plunderer begins his reign of terror, setting up a penny arcade as a front, and cashing in a roll of pennies in the most diabolical scheme ever devised by man.

A true criminal mastermind.

Batman picks up on this pattern because it's what he does and finds his next case, a coin and stamp exibiton with a rare one cent stamp. It's here we meet the reason we're here: the giant penny!

Yeah to my shock the penny had NOTHING to do with the penny plunderer other than being at the site of one of his robberies. He prefered just.. chucking pennies at people.. which is awesome and a truly great tactic only topped by Batman's use of said giant penny

I adore the fact that this iconic artifact is there not because it was seized from the villians or a police options.. but because, presumibly, Bruce thought this penny he found was kick ass and bought it off it's actual owner.

Most of the theives escape but they find one willing to squeal. Unfortunatley he dies for his hubris

Yup bet you weren't expecting the penny guy to kill someone and to see his corpse weren't you but here you are. Also batman is apparently a cop now. George Lopez tried to warn us...

But we didn't listen! We didn't listen!

A fight breaks out at the gambling parlour and we get two of the best moments in batman history that much like the blue beetle film, ar ehighly underated.

I just.. I get the sense that is how batman ALWAYS plays pinball. Just judo kicks it every time even as bruce wayne. Both bruce wayne and batman have been banned from so many arcades.. often the same ones. Perks of having a secret identity. We then get coyne once again THROWING pennies at someone and it working. I don't know why he hasn't been brought back with the telkeentic ability to contorl pennies. Give him a copper helmet and a proper costume and oh dammit..

Then Joe knocks batman out iwth his one weakness: a roll of pennies. He's trapped them in the parlor for your standard batman death trap, having removed their belts and ripped out the phone lines as usual. He then throws them a few pennies when then prove to be a mistake as it's time for SCIENCE WITH DR. BATMAN, who uses one old penny, copper, and one new penny, zinc to make a battery. Good thing jimmy didn't wish it away THIS week.

The cops arrive to free one of hteir own and batman finds a clue once the parlor is cleared of gas. Turns out Coyne was catering a penny slot party for a rich billinoare's houseboat, and naturally their filled with gas. I swear it's always gas with these golden age villians. Get another knockout device fellas.

With that our final chase enses as Batman and robin chase Coyne and while he nearly bests them with a good game of 1940's donkey kong

He's foiled by his own gimmick: he has only pennies but the pay telephone.. dosen't.. take 5 seperate pennies for some reason? the hell? I get payphones not taking pennies once they went up to a quarter but come the fuck on 1940's payed telephones. he's foiled.. and sentenced to death.

Yes folks that's the cannoical till some lucky fellow brings him back fate of the penny plunderer: PUT TO DEATH.

This story is as you can tell nonsense that's only gotten more hilarious with the passage of time and I loved every page on it and on getting the panels for this review, I only found MORE hilaroius nonsense to laugh at. We have a story where a guy with a penny gimmick smacks batman with a roll of pennies, trips robin with more, kills a man without pennies, is foiled by pennies yet somehow dosen't actually use the giant penny that's the only reason people know he exists. It's beautiful bollocks and worth your time.

(From Batman #35)

As I hope you are, this issue had me hooked from the first panel: Batman vs dinosaurs being forced to fashion a bow and arrow for some reason. Yes... fuck. Yes. Also nice of bruce to eat Ollie's lunch.

Okay so this story starts, as many real life stories do, with a billionare having a zany idea; Mr. Hart is a man who puts on shows: ice follies, aqua carnival, 40's razzle dazzle type stuff. For his latest idea though he's going above and beyond: a DINOSAUR ISLAND. With mechancail dinosaurs and cavemen who throw giant sponges at you. Thankfully spongebob wasn't born yet but his great great grandpappys quarepants did the honors. Honorable old fool.

To ramp up the insanity, Mr Hart is inviting a club of big game hunters to eat mammoth steak with batman.

If that weren't enough, and in any other golden age story it might be... our heroes get CHALLENGED at dinner by one of the rich assholes. Yeah turns out rich assholes who hunt innocent animals for sport and eat reheated mammoth aren't the most stable indviduals and Mr. Breech scoofs at the fact Mr. Hart says Man is the most dangerous game. He's hunted man, they went down like cowards. COWARDS. He feels Batman couldn't hut a dinosaur without his gadgets, and certainly not his bare hands... even though as this issue with prove and has already shown early man had tools.

To prove his point he challenges batman to a fucking challenge: survive on Dinosaur Island: no utility belt, no vehicles. If the dinosaurs touch him he looses. Mr Breech will man the controls. Honestly i'm convinced Breech knew hart well enough to know he'd both agree to this for the publiclity and why he'd invite batman and robin and just wants to play iwth giant mechanical dinosaurs and also batman. Which granted if I were invited to this sort of thing i'd also want to chase batman with mechanical dinosaurs for fun, who wouldn't, so I totally get it and respect the game.

Hart is on board, offering 5000 to the winner's charity and Batman is like "Why the bat-fuck not. Let's go".

Now you might suspect Breech's real motive is trying to kill batman. I mean you have a setup where batman will be without his weapons, the plausable deniablity of a machine malfunction and a secluded island with 24 hours to kill the batman. And you'd shockingly be wrong. Breech really just wants to prove dinosaurs are the most dangerous game so when that Jurassic Park he's working on opens no one will object to him hunting them for sport.

But his plans are foiled by Chase, anothe rich knob who wants to kill batman and robin to, as he says later form a "crime combine". So he wants a bunch of middle aged guys drinking beers to yell at him for not training the joker on tackling well enough. I see.. well played.

So the game is afoot and our heroes take a bit to catch up, first brushing off a real rock among the sponge rocks as a mistake. Theis ends when a Triceratops to trismash them into a tree. Batman calls for a war council on a nearbye island but naturally THAT'S NO ISLAND

Batman fought a mechanical fucking seamonster. That.. that's cannon. To almost every batman timeline. God bless you Golden Age, god, bless, youuuu. Also i'd be stupid if I didn't say that Tally Ho, Batman! is one of the greatest phrases in batman history up there with "I Am the night" , "I'm batman" and "Something something joker's boner".

So now the games for their lives, Batman and Robin don't have to play fair and start fashioning bows, arrows and knives out of mechanical dinosaur bones. You know.. sometimes this job can be draining: 2-3 reviews a week, many a plan having to be delayed due to a review taking longer than expected.. but then you get a review where Batman and robin have to outrun a manical billinoare who hyjacked dinosaurs from a diffrnet billionare who was having a charity dinosaur hunt with batman and robin using a third billionare's dinosaur, while fashoining weapons from mechanical dinosaur corpses and fashion a kite from a mechanical ptreadon and remember why you love reviewing stuff so mucH: sharinng a good story with the world and finding a good one or two yourself while your at it. And thanks to Kev i've found three truly wonderful, truly bonkers batman stories, with this one being the easy winner. It's both a decent enough concept for the time and hilariously insane.

And I ddin't make up the kite thing: when, after a night of survivial, Robin brings up the batplane, Batman has an idea: since the flying dinosaurs are on a programmed pattren rather than directly controled, they can use them to make themselves a kite yor style.

So to win the day Batman has a plan: he uses himself as bait since Robin's the more agile of the two, and has robin CATAPULT HIMSELF into the air after chase, who is riding on t-rex back with an army of dinosaurs.. and how does he defeat chase' smighty dino army?

It's both genuinely clever and wonderfully bonkers: Robin defeats an evil billionare RIDING a mechanical t-rex.. with water balloons.

Also props to this story: in the previous two the trophy was impressive.. but it was taken from what felt like a minor point in the story: the card flip game was fun as was batman slammin ga door on a guy, but it's sandwitched between far more elaborate death traps, while the penny, again awesome, wasn't even something the penny plunderer used. Batman just bought it off some offscreen character to relive fond memoreies of crushign some crimianls alive with it. Here the main villian ROAD IN on the thing. Granted he still had to likely buy it off his actual owner, but this time at least a criminal actually used it as a murder weapon. I can see Batman wanting this thing for his cave.

Batman chases chase over the now still dinosaurs and punches the guy out. With this Batman's saved the day AND won the bet. 5000 for batmobiles for kids, donate your batmobile today!

As for chase...

With that our story and this trilogy comes to an end.. and as I said, it's great. check out all three of these issues their a lot of fun. Next time dc puts some up for sale I may have to get some 40's batman, this stuff is golden.

Thanks for reading

To conclude batman month: Wait'll you get a load of this

#batman #robin #bruce wayne #dick grayson #the joker #golden age #1940s #penny plunderer #dinosaur #dinosaurs #comics #dc comics

[cgogs]

TNTduo at Niki's birthday party closing conversations, small breakdown Link to my transcript: x

The scene starts with Wilbur telling Quackity he's going to blow up Manburg, and walking off to do just that while he has an audience (Niki+Karl+Chat) to witness it. Quackity is left to try and talk him down.

Q's tactic switches from "You're not going to do this." to "You don't want to do this. " to "You don't have to do this."

Because between each effort to de-escalate and talk Wilbur back from the edge, Quackity is being proved wrong between each tactic. "You're not going to do this"-- which is less Q calling Wilbur's bluff, and more Q trying to appeal to his better nature-- is met with an immediate somewhat heated rebuttal as Wilbur's takeaway is that Q is trying to act like he's better than him:

Quackity is so confused by this spiel about chaos that he actually isn't sure Wilbur is even talking to him. And because the situation is delicate, and Wilbur's response to absolutes ("You're not going to do this") is to get defensive, Q has to form a response that disproves his assertion without actually saying 'you're wrong.'

He can't outright challenge Wilbur's projection but asserts that he doesn't want this, while also trying again to appeal to Wilbur's senses. Both logical AND emotional: Manburg is special to people, and don't blow up something important on impulse or you may regret it.

Wilbur sheds this off immediately, asking instead to sing Q a song like they had been at the party before. Quackity agrees to buy himself some time while he searches for him.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Wilbur is pointedly and purposefully showing warning signs, playing up his instability and impulsivity. While he sings the anthem, he changes some of the lyrics to be about blowing up L'manburg and shows exaggerated frustration to messing up. This is theater. This is essentially him, again, flashing bright colors and calling attention to himself. (I say this is a farce because of how Wilbur responds later, bear with me) Wilbur slams his guitar and frustratedly declares he's going for the button. Because Quackity's previous attempts to appeal to his better nature have failed and (in his perception) made things worse, he finally comes down to Wilbur's level and tries to bargain with him. That's what this has been to Wilbur-- a negotiations table under the guise of intervention.

He gives up all his ground. He's making a deal. He'll go along with Wilbur's plan if his own doesn't work. This is quite the risky gamble. Quackity is relying on his ability to pull off this meeting without a hitch, and to Wilbur's liking, to prevent the entire city from being exploded. But this is the corner he's been pushed into by Wilbur's threats. Wilbur has finally put a crack in Quackity's collected persona, and he knows it immediately. He patiently waits to hear all of Q's suggestion (when previously he was quite the interrupter andy) and responds only to make sure Q means it. Because this is what he wanted! He wanted Q to set up this meeting. This was Wilbur pushing Q into doing something he'd been apprehensive of beforehand. An actual negotiations table. Real talks. He relaxes immediatley, a hard contrast to the persona he was putting earlier.

Something interesting to note is how Wilbur leaves the game but not the VC-- meaning it's no longer possible to press the button. This is the equivalent of him putting the gun down. Quackity is instantly relieved, believing he has successfully talked him down from the ledge.

Now THIS is where it's obvious Quackity has lost. This is where the fact that this was a setup is most obvious. His concession means Wilbur holds the sway of the bargain completely, compared to the high ground Q held at the beginning of the interaction, not giving up any ground. Wilbur is calm, he has precise demands, he gives Q a deadline that Q doesn't even try to fight even though it makes his life quite a bit harder.

The speed at which Wilbur switches up, because Quackity has handed over all the power! And before he was so all over the place, speaking erratically, convincing Q that he was far more gone than he actually was. And now that Q is bending to him, he knows exactly what he wants and leaves amicably once he has it.

But note: This deal relies on Wilbur's satisfaction. He tells Q he'll be watching. He says, if plan A goes wrong, I'm pressing the button... And Q tells him,

Yes. This means the conditions of the bargain are up to Wilbur's judgment. He calls the shot. They came into this with, "I'm going to blow up Manburg and you are going to watch." and ended with Quackity essentially... agreeing. And he realizes it a little here:

The relief of Wilbur standing down is soon soured by the realization of what exactly must come next, and what happens if it doesn't. From Wilbur's perspective, he's convinced the VP to set up a cabinet meeting to negotiate terms. From where Quackity's standing, this feels like he's diffused a bomb.

Which is actually a sentiment quite a few people have expressed, namely and most obviously: Ranboo. There are only two times the word 'bomb' is written in The Wilbur Van despite TNT being a main plot point.

Ranboo saw something in Wilbur. He saw a man trying his best to carve out a legacy and a man at his lowest trying to gain redemption. But unfortunately he also saw a man with an insatiable pride, a man who was a living bomb about to explode and, scariest of all, he saw a bit of himself. [...] “I have an idea,” Ranbo began, his words echoing around the cave, “I know what to do. I know how to defuse the bomb and make you realise how frivolous this whole thing is.” he smiled.

If Wilbur had opened with "Set up a cabinet meeting before the week is done or I blow up the country." Quackity would NEVER have thrown Wilbur a bone. Wilbur is weaponizing his own instibility here, leveraging the button over Q's head to get him to scramble to negotiate with him. This is a pattern Wilbur is privy to (the vassal conversation, Inconsolable Differences). That is why this is all specticalized, obvious, and public.

He calls out to Quackity, specifically, that he wants him to watch Manburg blow up. He tells Quackity to follow him. He says he's glad for the audience, though Quackity is the only one he's showing off to, because Quackity is the only one who has something Wilbur wants. Niki tearfully and desperately pleads with him as well and is entirely ignored, while Quackity has his full attention. Because Quackity has something he wants.

This is a power play.

And he does!

#dsmp #tntduo #dream smp #my meta #c!quackity #c!wilbur

[hamofjustice]

Hey it's the guy from that other rant about how Nemona, Arven, and Penny are getting ignored for no reason by DLC advertising in a game that's supposed to be about forming treasured unbreakable bonds with well-written sad kids who desperately needed friends and are presented as sort of Strength, Courage and Wisdom Trio by the ending, back with a new post now that one of the DLCs is out and haha I bet you know what I have to say don't you

What was the point of excluding Nemona, Arven, and Penny from The Teal Mask if there are three unnamed and generic-modeled but consistently written student NPCs present anyway, and the content is level 60-75, so you're clearly not intended to do it without finishing the game*? Not only do they not see you off or gain any new dialogue when you get home, they aren't mentioned or alluded to in any way shape or form. They're still statues standing in their rooms with one line of dialogue, the one thing I wanted DLC and updates to change the most. They never notice you left the country for a week.

* UPDATE: Apparently the DLC has level scaling even though the base game didn't, and it is accessible with 0 badges, and that is why there are no references to the preexisting story - it might not have happened yet. Fascinating. I guess that part holds less weight then and this whole post is a little less necessary. I'll leave the rest of the post unedited but it really did seem like this was designed as postgame content only regardless of when it becomes available. Guess not! So I guess, instead, the story got shot in the foot a little bit by the decision to make it available to new players instead of for no reason. I think they should have let it be postgame content, but, I'm a little less worried now. This makes sense within those rules. I guess.

Fanart like this is now coming out and getting tons of likes asking why this happened after six months of countless pieces of cute fanart like this all turned out to be for nothing.

As people are already realizing, it would have been really fun and logical for two of the three who don't really get along with each other yet (which is any combination of them, really, that's part of the fun, and part of why their stories should continue) to be forced to team up into an odd couple, while the third gets to know Carmine and perhaps build a rivalry with her. Wouldn't it be fun to see them talking about their own adventures they were going on, and how they were starting to get along, even if it was happening offscreen? (Because this DLC is focused on introducing new characters to set up for later and that's fine) Wouldn't it be smart to set up the group dynamic for Indigo Disc in advance as preparation for a return to Area Zero and that whole professor-haunted main plotline with a larger cast?

It's just giving me even more apparently-not-unfounded paranoia that yeah, we've never been shown the friend trio in new footage in a DLC trailer because not just Penny but somehow even Arven and Nemona are going to be completely irrelevant to a DLC about finding closure on Area Zero's story and going to a school all about top-level battling. Why else would they go this far out of their way to avoid including them as characters? This is like... active sabotage of their own story at this point.

... Could they really just not be bothered to model three characters in jinbei, and repeatedly shot in the foot their best story yet and all the setup they did for continuing it... over that? That'd be stupid, right? Unfortunately, I don't have the confidence in the company to put anything past them right now.

I just don't know how The Indigo Disc is going to carry the weight of everything they've set up expectations for it to do, unless it's like three times bigger than this little teaser of a DLC in terms of actual story and postgame battles, and most importantly to me, the postgame hanging-out that they very suspiciously also won't show the original friend trio for that we were promised by the story almost a year ago as a happy ending, that we haven't actually gotten to participate in on-screen at all, outside of the Ace Academy Tournament (whose music is perfect for that happy victory lap feeling by the way).

I'm afraid now more than ever that all of my happy thoughts about how this generation and these precious characters should be wrapped up and what should be in The Indigo Disc aren't going to happen, and... it'll just go unceremoniously into the trash can with the other generations after a few more months of trailers probably making it clear that despite all the sappy memories with your original group and the girl who calls the player character her treasure and her rival for life, the game is about Carmine and Kieran now instead of them joining the group, and it will be remembered as the half assed cash grab game and not the one with a big heart and deep character writing hidden in it, if they care THIS aggressively, out-of-their-way little about the reason the game has heart. Not that I don't like these new newcomers too, but. There was a different way to go about this.

Pokemon Masters and Pokemon Special and stuff will try their best to compensate and do the characters justice, but they're just fanfic writers like us except with a budget. The anime writers are forced to make the story about other characters, as if Nemona, Arven, and Penny's stories were something shameful or inappropriate they need to paint over, and not the saving grace for what was otherwise an embarrassing corporate product with good people stuck working on it.

It would have been so easy to integrate the three of them into this DLC, and it would've made the next DLC better to have done so. Literally just replace some character models and rewrite some dialogue. The Paldea students don't have festival outfits anyway afaik. We're talking romhack-level difficulty of implementation here. Come the hell on.

Between the contents of this first part of the DLC and how they've been advertising it so far, I cannot make myself believe Nemona, Arven, and Penny will be in the rest of generation 9. I don't want to get hurt by my expectations. I feel like they've been purposefully excluded, like TPC thinks there's something wrong with them.

... Anyone else feeling this?

#pokemon sv #pokemon scarlet and violet #the teal mask #the indigo disk #pokemon scarvio #no billy and o'nare don't count as a nemona mention they say repeatedly they run paldea realty and not the rotom phone company for a reason #that being said i stayed up way too late making absolutely sure they weren't her parents like everyone assumed #despite being white #nemonaposting #pennyposting #arvenposting

[litres-of-cocaine]

i cannot believe that people genuinely dislike skyler white it is so strange!!! like even my dad called her manipulative and yes, sure but like that’s what makes her so fun??

like i think the direction they took her in s5 was the right and logical one for her character but s4 was PEAK come on.

in the early seasons she is essentially the embodiment of the stay-at-home mum existence and she’s an interesting and assertive character in conversation with that but ultimately used a plot device. like the family life she represents conflicts with the meth trade that walt is getting involved in. obviously she has an inner life going on, i.e. her pregnancy and the arguments with marie about the shoplifting, but she more seems like an individualised portrait used for walt’s deception. she’s propping up the narrative where walt lies to himself about the reasons he does it and parallels his family life to his business life.

like this is not to diminish that side of her character at all (although it is irritating that we don’t get a female character that isn’t a family member or love interest be a larger part of the narrative until s5) but i feel it’s more of a setup not just for walt but her later arc.

s4 where she is actively involved in the money laundering, buying of the car wash etc. is so so dear to me as it’s such an interesting view into her naivety but her skills in doing this.

where krazy 8 said walter wasn’t suited to that life and then he turned out to be works in a similar to manner to how skyler adjusts to this sudden criminal enterprise that she is a major part of. she also turns out to be good and criminal-minded when she gets involved even if she is unsceptical that what walt (and her by extension) are doing is hurting people.

she doesn’t want to be involved because she’s afraid for walt but it’s undeniable that she is good at it. i would argue that this characterisation of her as so overly cautious and nearly paranoid is paralleled to gus’s cautiousness and care and is probably the most successful businessman that we see throughout breaking bad. certainly more successful if we are thinking in terms of caution and longevity. skyler. beyond this parallel she is already shown to be good with tax evasion in that whole ted plotline and then manages to get him off of prison after the irs discovered him. the irs. the people who are literally ruthless when it comes to that kind of stuff.

it creates such an interesting contrast with walt who likes that world not only because he is good at it but also because he likes the power it gives him over others. it makes him ‘feel alive’ blah blah blah etc etc. but skyler doesn’t enjoy this power. when ted is afraid of her she is devastated and feels the guilt of her actions come up on her all at once and this is the start of her unhappiness and fear of walt. like in s4 she’s not *happy* but she’s not necessarily unhappy either. there’s a whole ass scene of her bouncing holly on her knee while she’s looking up money laundering on wikipedia.

this all comes crashing down in s5 and becomes particularly obvious after the midpoint of the series. she’s practically a shell of herself. those looks between her and jesse at the car wash?? could not be more obvious kind of submission to walt’s gross authority from either of them.

(don’t get me talking about the parallels between skyler and jesse it will set me on a roll)

and again this makes sense for the changing dynamic between her involvement and the increased understanding of how violent the business the both of them are a part of is. her character is not less interesting but definitely less fun to watch. it’s not presented as cathartic suffering for the audience either which i think brba did a good job with. she’s not assertive anymore and i think that’s a great example of the effects it’s had on her. she’s lost a key component of her character. like i guess you could call her high-maintenance or difficult in s1 if you found her annoying and that’s an opinion but realistically i’d say she was just assertive in way that’s alienating for some of the misogynistic sides of the fanbase.

she regains some of this right at the very end where she confronts walter thinking he’s going to say he did it for the family again. it’s only a small thing in refusing to let walt walk all over her but at least it has some reclamation of her initial character!

this has been a ramble and i think i had other things to say but in conclusion:

skyler white is overhated

#revolutionary take i know /s #brba #breaking bad #skyler white #jesse pinkman #walter white #genuinely as much as jesse is my fav #skyler’s run in s4 rivalled his for me #i mean i don’t think they are comparable in terms of what’s ‘better’ (they are both fantastic) #but still skyler was so compelling in that period #and overall

[isabeljkim]

Hi! First I just want to thank you for putting your work out there. You have one of my favorite writing voices I've read in ages. I was wondering how you go about the process of plotting. I think you do a really good job creating emotionally satisfying setup/payoff and question/answer cycles (the pod-switching in Benthic especially was really satisfying!)- do you usually plan them out before you get to the story proper, or is it more a matter of pantsing it and then going back to plant hints?

hi! thank you so much, this is deeply flattering to hear, and i'm glad you like my stuff! :D

well you see doing a plot is essentially just: :3 ????? ?????? [redacted] [airplane woosh noise] [cartoon cussing] ?? !! [muffled bangs] > story is done.

ok jokes aside, the way i think about plots is that... one way to think about a story is that x amount of the story is about setting up a problem, and setting up the pieces that are part of solving that problem, and y amount of the story is about actually resolving a different problem related to the first problem (which is actually the real problem!), and using the pieces in a novel but satisfying way.

so i usually have about half figured out when i start a story, and the other half is a puzzle box i've given to myself, and through writing i figure out the other half and then go back and weave it in more conclusively. i have the question to begin with, but i usually have to build myself the tools to find the answer.

[under the cut if you want disjointed rambling]

sorry. that's vague. lets do an example.

when i start a story, i usually have the idea of "what the story is about" (the problem and premise) but not necessarily the "resolution to the story" (whether the first problem is actually the issue, and what the solution is).

so for example, bc you brought up Benthic - the orignal idea was that i wanted to do something about spaceship scavengers carving up a generation ship as a whalefall metaphor, and space as an equivalent to the deep ocean. so then the logical next step is that "ok, whats inside?" > and then whalefalls, spaceship wrecks, shipwrecks..... "its got to be a survivor."

so then the story becomes "ok, the generation ship scavengers find a survivor in the generation ship, but this needs to be a problem for them, because otherwise...there's no plot. there needs to be a problem. so ok, culturally, what if you need to kill survivors on the generation ships for [some reason]."

and that creates the problem, which is the ethical dilemma: will the protagonists kill the kid, or will they choose not to kill the kid, or will they find some other way? I don't know what they're going to do! and from there i write the story and build the boat as it is being floated. i add in cryotubes, and i add in the idea of it being a legal issue, and i write seam and mica and figure out their personalities a bit, and i extrapolate out what leads a person to being a scavenger in debt... and then i figure out that the logical past for them is haunted.

and that nails it all together. the story is is ethics, emotion, and scraping the barest bit of humanity you can get on the edge of the world.

so the solution to the problem has to be kind, but grim. because all of the above has created a world where the logical, practical outcome is cruelty. but because this is a story the ending cannot be the logical, practical outcome! the characters must change, or rail against their situation. (this is one of my tenets while writing - i used to be awful at endings, and i ve gotten much better. i think a good ending shifts your understanding of the prior work/uses the pieces given early on in a surprising way)

so then because i've nailed enough elements in place that have extrapolated from my original scenario, the only solution is then: the cryotube swap.

i dont know if any of that makes sense to anyone but me. i honestly just come up with fuckup premise problems and then write half of a story and then think about it in the shower for a few days and then write the rest. (i'm lying that's only like, a third of my stuff that gets written that way)

[muninnhuginn]

For the character ask meme, Anya from spy x family? :0

hi! thanks for the ask ^^. weirdly, I think anya's probably the spy x family main I've thought about the least? there's plenty to her so idk why I've not thought through her entire deal more, maybe just because the child experimentation angle will be grim and we're lacking so many pieces of her backstory rn. but even with that, there's plenty there. so anyway, good choice is what I'm saying. this gives me an excuse to not get distracted by loid and yo--

anyway anyway, answers below cut because this got long:

My first impression

This is gonna sound bad considering I only got into the series when the anime started coming out which is fairly recent all considered, but I genuinely don't remember? I'd probably seen memes involving her before I actually started the anime or manga, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what they involved.

My impression now

She's young and that colours pretty much all of her actions. But it also means she has a huge capacity for growth and allows her to create that change in others too (the obvious one being Loid but you see it with others too). And Spy x Family may be a slow-burn but we're starting to get some of that pay off in terms of character development.

Hmm, what else, I guess she's pretty determined. Thinking of that post about how "Anya would be unstoppable if not for the small fact that she's five". So yeah, her logic is questionable at times (most of the time) and she's got abandonment issues and she's hindered by her age. But she's found a family now and it's clear she wants to keep them and wants them to keep her too.

Favorite thing about that character

I think the aspects that cause Anya the most trouble are those which she hasn't shared with anyone. Her powers, her background in general, her age. They're all tied together and her fear of abandonment (likely exacerbated by her foster families) prevents her from seeking help when they cause her issues. Loid knows pieces, but he's missing some really key bits of information and he has no idea. So it's neat that this character who arguably holds the most knowledge about other people's secrets cannot share her own.

Least favorite thing

I really don't like to think about some of the stuff that if you follow logic Anya must have been exposed to through her powers. There's some aspect of her not being able to comprehend all thoughts, but I imagine there's a lot that gets through which is just, quite frankly horrific.

There's that scene fairly early on where Loid and Anya come across a rally and there's some pretty yikes stuff being thought by those attending. In that scene, the focus is more on how crowds tend to overwhelm her given her powers, but between that and whatever's going on with Melinda, well, it's pretty clear she can and will hear things that would be uncomfortable for *anyone* to hear, never mind someone not even six years old.

Favorite line/scene

Maybe Ania mini-chapter. What does it all mean?

Favorite interaction that character has with another

Loid-Anya cruise subplot. She's not lost the abandonment issues, but she sure has Loid wrapped around her finger and takes full advantage of it. She's just trying to help Yor, but she's making Loid completely suffer for it and it is hilarious.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

Handler. They've had a couple of interactions in canon and Anya reminds her of her own daughter which is already such a dynamic to start with. Anya seems to like Handler too. It's a mutually healing relationship, but also funny to consider them both driving Loid up the wall with stress.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

Maybe Steven Universe? Something about kids with atypical family setups who are too young to be involved in this stuff getting involved regardless and setting themselves up for trauma down the line. Wanting to save the world, but not yet understanding what that entails. Their powers being tied to something beyond their control; something that will absolutely come back to bite them.

In terms of personality though? I'm kind of blanking.

A song that reminds of that character

(Might have to follow it through to Youtube to get the subtitles to work)

This is one of those where it's more the vibes than the exact story, but I think the whole 'family to family until you find a home' and 'seems cheery but actually quite sad' and some of the stuff around 'helping' all fit in a way.

An unpopular opinion about that character/A headcanon about that character

(Merged this with 'headcanon' because I realised my read of the situation here could fit that and I blanked on *actual* headcanons but they'd probably mostly revolve around sensory overload from her powers so)

Not sure how unpopular this opinion actually is, because I don't tend to lurk in those places, but I genuinely don't think Anya at this stage is "into" Damian in any way. And though I doubt it'll pan out that way, I would very much prefer if she stays uninterested in him in that way? I do think it'd be neat to explore the fallout when Damian realises she was trying to befriend him for his connections given that's already been brought up as something that'd upset him. But I'd rather their dynamic lead to genuine friendship rather than romance. For now, Damian's crush and Anya's awkward overtures as she tries to progress the mission do entertain me, as do the small moments where they interact genuinely. But I just find the idea of a crush when they're that young actually working out to be... well, pretty unbelievable?

Favourite picture

Ahh don't make me pick. She has too many good faces I'm not sure how I could narrow it down. I'll just go for.... her "heh" face, but genuinely way too much choice. (Also, there are some more serious options like when she realises Loid's reason for coming to rescue her in ep/ch1 or her reaction about the whole "Ania" spelling. But again, can't pick)

#asks #ask meme #roseofcards90 #sxf manga spoilers #(minor and mostly kept to references rather than fully explaining them but tagging just in case) #spy x family

[thiinka]

Ok, I have seen TONS of posts about Josh Hutcherson complaining or observing that, “he didn’t do barely anything after Hunger Games! I wanted to see him in more stuff!” And with the new trailer for it, some want more Hutcherson content before the FNAF movie.

Well. I have a Hulu original (looks safe from the evil mouse merge)/yarr harr high seas (looks like at least 1337x has all 3 seasons) show recommendation for you. It’s taken up welcome space in my brain, for many good and funny reasons. I’m not a Hulu or executive producer Seth Rogan shill, this show is just surprisingly damn good.

Future Man, starring and produced by Josh Hutcherson.

Josh Hutcherson is Josh… Futturman, a janitor at a local biotech research lab which is doing work on curing all illnesses. He finishes a particular video game in his spare time, which turns out to be a scenario sent from the future to the past as a way to find someone to save humanity’s future. Future freedom fighters Tiger and Wolf, the other two main characters, time travel into his bedroom, and the story kicks off. Turns out the biotech research lab isn’t doing the good work it says it is.

Yes, there is time travel. Multiple forms of time travel are used in intelligent ways to the service of the story and the characters, not just to “be smarter than you.” Alternate timelines, doomed timeline individuals, altered main timelines, facilitated by multiple kinds of time travel devices with different capabilities. You’ve seen time cops done before, well here they are again but better and funnier. You’ve seen a time loop done before, well here it is again but with more horrifying implications.

Yes, the characters do start off fairly one-dimensional. You have a weak gamer, a strong woman, and a tough man. Then both the main characters and recurring side characters have arcs and development that make sense with their foundations and personalities, both individually and as a group. It’s consistent, they use skills they picked up in a time travel stint, plot lines that affected them come back. Same thing with the world setting. I really don't want to spoil it, it's so damn fun to see these guys pick up skills and traits.

Yes, the humor is ALSO very crude and sometimes fluid-based. A couple of the writers also worked on Sausage Party. I don’t have a lot of points here: if you’re ok with sex and nudity humor erring on the (well done!) practical effects gross-wise, go for it. If you’re not, I hope you can forgive me but this show might not be for you. However, some of these physical jokes come back for the sake of the story and character development, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, something that happens early season 1 comes back in mid season 2 to connect characters, and it's an incredibly touching payoff for how crude the setup was.

For having such crude humor, with such a tropey beginning to the story, with such basic characters, I was shocked by myself a couple episodes in: I was really invested in what these guys would do next and what would happen next. Wacky stuff happens every episode that still manages to logically follow what happened before. I know, it's the minimum for a fun show, but it was also emotionally engaging. I wanted to see these jackasses win and understand and work with each other! With the least amount of damage to themselves and the world! Their motivations change and shift and become more personal and come into conflict with the goals of others and their group! Holy shit, these are well written dynamic people who remember (or don't ;) ) things that happened to them!

Did I mention there are three complete seasons, each with its own different but logically connected arc, that it’s a finished story, and it was not cancelled midway through? Give it a shot!

#future man #josh hutcherson #hulu #there's only like... two pieces of wolf fanart on tumblr #so like. I think this show needs more attention #especially for y'all who like hutcherson :) he's a suuuuper sweaty pathetic guy in this and it's funny as hell #actually everyone has turns being sweaty and pathetic and also sexy #first big original post in a while lmao #josie muses #hope at least one person gives this show a try from this post

[gender-trash]

wait your posts about beeminder are so cool should i get into it or will i regret it

well, not knowing anything about you, it's wicked hard to say! sorry anon :(

more seriously, the basic logic of beeminder is that you 1) set a bunch of goals for yourself (mine are all of the form "do the thing at a specific frequency") 2) if you fail to do the thing, they charge you money, and 3) you get a brief grace period and then you have to keep doing the thing or the next time you fail to do the thing you get charged *more* money. this works way way better for me than systems where there is no tangible consequence (and like, all of my goals are at $5 or $10 rn, and i would think NOTHING of randomly spending $10 on boba but somehow this Faint Whiff Of A Consequence is effective at motivating me to do all manner of things) and also systems where there is a "streak" that you are exhorted to not break (which mostly wind up with me failing-with-abandon). and 4) you can change or cancel these goals or do anything you want (and you have a LOT of flexibility with how you set them up) but you can only do it a week in advance (so there is NO canceling your commitment just before it charges you money).

also the only reason why this works for me is because i really really value the Purity of my Data and so i do not as a matter of principle lie to beeminder; they encourage you to set up automatic data intake integrations where possible (e.g. with your fitbit to get a stepcount, or with your gmail account to get a count of unread emails, or whatever) so you don't have an opportunity to lie in the first place, but i don't do this because 1) most of my goals are for stuff it's hard to automate data intake for and 2) i value needing to open the beeminder app a lot to enter data so i can also check what goals are at an Imminent Beemergency level before they surprise me (it also sends you notifications but like....... eventually all notifications become background noise, if you feel me)

so one of the crucial things about setting up beeminder for yourself is to carefully tune size of monetary consequence vs. your personal propensity to lie to The Bee. like it's partly *because* i would think nothing of spending $10 on boba that i also am reasonably okay with being charged $10 by The Bee for not texting my friends enough or whatever; it's not THAT much of a sting that i would lie to beeminder to get it to go away

(one reason why i value Data Purity is because i base some of the stuff i track in my bullet journal off of beeminder entries -- for example, if i fell behind on planner trackers and need to fill in a "felt sense of daily productivity" box for two weeks ago, i check my work notebook, bash history, and beeminder chores goals -- and THAT feels really important on a gut level because it helps me make decisions about tweaking my medications. but also i feel very strongly on a gut level that data falsification is Wrong And Bad in much the same squicky way as destroying a musical instrument makes me cringe.)

anyway i have a lot of thoughts about beeminder setup, but most of them boil down to "you need to do it very carefully and with close attention to your own personal brain quirks". i think the beeminder blog has a lot of really useful tips (especially the post about truck-sized loopholes!!) so i would recommend going on a beeminder blog archive binge before you make a decision one way or another, and then if you DO decide to take the plunge, for the love of fuck, start with just one tiny manageable commitment and sloooooowly crank the dial higher once you're in the habit of it. don't just make ten goals and jump into all of them on day 1. i am so so serious about this.

(relatedly: in my planner i schedule some time once a month for me to sit down and reevaluate my beeminder setup, dial things up or down, add and remove goals, etc. highly recommend doing this -- actually, with *any* productivity system you should do a periodic tune-up, but i find the feedback loop is especially important with beeminder because writing goal criteria for myself is actually kind of hard and this lets me e.g. detect when goals are being Goodharted and adjust.)

uh if you give me a better idea of what exactly you want beeminder to help you with i can provide more concrete advice?

#the trashcan speaks #live by the bee. die by the bee. #adhdblogging #when i was in school i would do a 'weekly post mortem' of all my Life Systems #sort of like rubber ducking but i wrote it down in my planner #the monthly beeminder eval serves much the same purpose i just dont need it as frequently because my life is less of a disaster zone

[unfortunatesal]

In/Spectre Season 2 is making me lose my goddamn mind

So, I am now 8 episodes and 3 arcs into Season 2 of In/Spectre and oh my god, oh my god, it's so good, it easily surpasses the second season for me, although... it's not reall comparable to the first season, and I'll talk about why

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS I WILL SPOIL THIS ANIME FOR YOU

So, the first season starts with an episode where Kotoko meets her future boyfriend, and they fight a demon together.

This is not at all representative of this season.

This is not an anime about fighting demons, it's an anime about gaslighting. Or, more accurately, an anime about how fiction and lies are more appealing than the truth. About how you can't convince people with the truth, you have to offer an alluring, yet completely fictitious story, in order to appease them. How fiction is often more logical, and thus, easier to believe than fact. And, ultimately, how rumors and stories can bend and shape reality itself, à la Persona 2. So it makes sense that the gaslight gatekeep girlboss extraordinare, Kotoko Iwanaga, plays an extremely central role and is present in most scenes. This is an anime about her, about who she is, what she believes, and the role she plays.

After the introductory episode, the first season kicks off with a short arc that wonderfully sets up what the anime is like and how it functions really well, before diving into the meat of the season, an arc that spans three quarters of the first season, and deservedly so. It's exciting, the stakes are high, it presents a fantastic main antagonist, the conflict between her and the protagonists works great, and the climax just keeps building up more and more in extremely satisfying ways. The Japanese name for the anime translates to "fictional reasoning", and that's exactly what Kotoko uses to resolve this arc. It's just awesome.

But the second season takes things in a very different direction.

Season 2 of In/Spectre starts with an episode where Kotoko does her usual fuckery, convincing a ghost who is haunting a flat that there isn't a creepy doll also haunting the flat, which there is. And that is an objectively hilarious setup that perfectly fits with the first season. Kotoko stacks lies on top of lies and then reveals she was bullshiting the entire time. That's just what she does, that's what we've come to expect from her.

But... that's not at all representative of this season.

The second season of In/Spectre takes focus away from Kotoko and her ways. Instead of having one small arc and one big arc, the second season has 3 short arcs, and presumably ends off with a longer arc that involves the main antagonist of the first season. The basic structure of each arc is that we're presented with a certain environment with spooky happenings, and we follow the people most relevant to those happenings, before Kotoko and Kuro join in and resolve the situation. This means that the two main protagonists are much less present in this season.

To me, this is a good thing. We already know what Kotoko does, we don't need to explore that too much more. What's more interesting is looking at other people, the way they feel, they way they act, the way they think, and why they do what they do. This season is primarily focused around the idea that people who might seem to be acting in irrational ways that are beyond explanation actually make sense if you put in the effort to understand them. After all, Kotoko's skills as a liar aren't all that impotant in this season. So far, outside of the first episode, she lies one in the first arc but, and then mostly tell the truth. What really comes into play is Kotoko's other main skill: her incredible ability to understand people and their motives.

The first arc is about a man who has been betrayed by everyone close to him and has isolated himself as a result, and how, in spite of his trauma, he's able find peace and companionship wth someone he knows he can genuinely trust and will stay by his side. The second arc is about how easy it can be to paint someone as a villain and a perpetrator from an outside perspective, and completely ignore the pain and turmoil they might be going through. The third arc is about mourning, the pitfalls of resenting someone for not mourning like you'd like them to, and that just because you don't revel and bury yourself in your pain doesn't mean you aren't also suffering.

The true value of this season, to me, is that it seems intent on exploring and portraying how easily people with traumatic experiences are cast aisde by society. How they tend to be judged, suspected and mistrusted, specifically because of their painful experiences, and how that treatement only isolates them further. It uses the supernatural as a symbol of what exists outside of the reach of society, but within the reach of these lonely, stigmatized outcasts who aren't understood or seen by other humans. And... I find that to be a really powerful and important thing to center an anime around. Pretty much every arc has felt genuinely beautiful to me becuase of it. And I really hope the final arc of the season lives up to what it's built up so far.

#in/spectre #kyokou suiri

[cutestkilla]

Tuesday Fic Recs!

Thanks for tagging me @messofthejess (and last week too)! Since you asked... I actually thought about this silly format for doing recs a while ago, so here goes.

Four recs: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. I am committed to reading fic, after all, so I think stealing this old wedding superstition makes sense in a way. That, and I need structure!

Something Old (aka an older fic)

The Start of Everything by Canadian Snow (Rated M, 15K)

Watford-era secret relationship as told through all the times Simon and Baz gave in to their feelings and allowed themselves to be together. The magic sharing in this is one of the things I love most about it. The descriptions of Simon's electric magic are some of the best I've ever read, and the way Simon and Baz use magic together is so cool, though a bit different from canon. But also, it's a story about intimacy and taking comfort in one another, all while secretly working together against the agenda that has cast them as mortal enemies.

Something New (aka the opposite of old)

in the Dust of Dragons by @martsonmars, with art by @nick-eyre (Rated M, WIP)

I’m reading SO MANY GREAT WIPS right now (many of which I’ve already rec’ed under my ‘fic rec’ tag) so to narrow it down I decided to recommend one here that I feel is both relatively new and a bit of an unsung hero if you go by kudos alone.

This is a brilliant fantasy AU that casts Simon and Baz as childhood friends to enemies and, eventually, to lovers. The writing is gorgeous and atmospheric, with rich descriptions and meticulous world building. So far, we’ve seen adorable flashes back to Simon and Baz’s childhood as a carefree actual dragon (with the ability to transform at will between dragon and human form) and fire mage, and in the present, Simon and Baz are very much apart and appear to be working at cross purposes as a treasure hunter and a jaded mercenary, respectively, on opposite sides of the fracture that tore them apart as children. The set up is just amazing and I encourage everyone to check it out and behold the author's genius. The art is gorgeous too!

Something Borrowed (aka an AU based on an existing story/piece of media)

A New Day (Carry On) by @technetiumai (Rated T, 38K)

This is a snowbazzed retelling of Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy and it is SO SO GOOD. (And also highly underappreciated in the fandom, IMO.) Set post-AWTWB, Simon, Baz, Penny and Shep have decided to start a PI firm. Actual Scooby Gang vibes (Angel Investigations for my buffyverse peeps), and honestly, the vibes are perfect – blackboard walls abound – and the backstory of how they decided to go into this line of work is stellar. The characterization is so on point and incredibly insightful at every turn for all four POVs, the dialogue is brilliant (if you’ve read the the author's other work, you know to expect this from her every time), and it’s chock-full of well-thought out and totally believable worldbuilding that makes stepping into an Agatha Christie story seem like a totally logical and natural progression for the gang. (BONUS: Mordelia is their tech whiz!!) Oh yeah, and on top of all that goodness, we get a really fun murder mystery story and to meet some of Simon’s extended Salisbury family.

Something Blue (where by blue I mean risque, as in blue comedy, as in smut recs!)

When I Feel Alive by @facewithoutheart (Rated E, 3K)

This fic is one of my go-to reads when I want a quick pick-me up. The setup is: The final battle. Or is it? The tags include ‘Things aren’t always what they seem’ and ‘Honestly Dev needs a raise’, but I don’t want to give too many more hints as to what happens because the experience of reading this without reading the tags first is truly worth it. I consider this fic to be the perfect blend of dark Watford era angst and sexual tension, straight up good sex, and pure crack. Delightful in every way! Just go read it if you never have. You can thank me later. (Also definitely read the author's current rock band AU WIP This Will All Go Down In Flames (Rated E, WIP) which also promises to meet the "blue" requirement for this category, and will equally make you laugh and feel things. The smut is imminent, so now is the perfect time to start it if you haven't. And also comes with a killer playlist.)

I could go on (like I REALLY could, but this list would be so very long) so maybe I'll do this again. If anyone likes this format, feel free to join in and share yours for these categories too.

#fic rec #carry on #snowbaz

[myriadof-fandoms]

harringrove week - day 5 - am i walking towards something i should be running away from?

prompt:  A Seance at Hawkins Cemetery During a Red Moon

or: billy haunts steve and steve would very much like him to stop

ao3

Steve has really fucking had it with Billy Hargrove. Even in death the fucker won't leave him alone.

If it's not lights turning on and off, it's the dishes clashing in the kitchen or the stereo suddenly blasting metal.

When he comes home his things aren't where he left them. At work tapes move. The channel in the car changes whenever they play Madonna. His hair products keep running out even when he has just bought them.

Steve is so over it he could scream.

Or, well, he has. Multiple times. He's told Billy to go to hell a couple of times now - the only response he's gotten is Mötley Crüe's Shout At The Devil suddenly starting to play.

It appears that despite Billy's clear ability to fuck with things the one thing he cannot do is speak. And must that not drive him fucking nuts. Steve is only a little gleeful about the loudmouth not being able to annoy him like that at least.

If it weren't for the fact that he is still very much annoyed by everything else Billy does, and if he didn't care for Max a whole lot, he wouldn't fucking be here. Because it's fucking creepy and he's had his more than his fair share of that for the rest of this life and the next.

But no, sadly he is still annoyed and he does care for Max, so now he's stuck on the fucking cemetery while the moon glows fucking red and Eddie The Freak Munson is sitting in front of him with a goddamn Ouija board.

All because Billy had decided to haunt Steve and Max together in the car one day by playing goddamn Def Leppard, which at least confirmed Steve wasn't just going mental, and then Max had made him tell her all about his experience with Billy The Ghost. She was going through it as well, except apparently in death Billy has decided to be nicer to her and keeps helping her pass tests in school or tormenting his father whenever he raises his voice against Max.

After that conversation suddenly all of the kids knew. And of course Dustin and the other knobheads had to befriend The Freak. The Freak who for some reason knows a lot about Seances and talking to ghosts. Which was of course the only logical thing to be done.

Max had just had to look a little sad at the idea of not trying it. And Billy had started blasting I Want To Break Free and Steve actually felt bad for the guy for a minute there. So he agreed. (He regretted it when Billy wouldn’t stop turning the water cold while Steve was having a shower later.)

Obviously Robin had thought it was a great idea to try and talk to Steve's poltergeist when he complained to her about it. So at least he's not alone amongst the nutjobs. He's brought his very own best friend so at least he understands how one of the nutjobs around him works.

She sits beside him, basically vibrating with excitement. Max is on Steve’s other side, more subdued but he can feel her tension. She wants this to work. As does Billy, Steve’s sure. The fucker had once again played Billy’s Got A Gun over and over again while Steve drove around picking the kids up.

They met Munson at the cemetery. He had set the day, because a blood moon is apparently the best possible setup for a seance. He made them set up candles around Billy’s grave, a morbid task that Steve didn’t enjoy one bit. Will looked a bit spooked by it too.

Honestly, Steve doesn’t know why any of the kids are even here except for Max. Mike has been making stupid comments the entire time and has only further made this evening unbearable. As have Dustin and Lucas because they keep fighting about how the pentagram of candles is supposed to be set up. The only one who has been perfectly well behaved is Eleven and she seems to just be fascinated by Eddie’s tattoos so.

Robin and Steve are told to form a circle of salt around the set up of candles and after that annoying piece of work Munson tells them all to sit in a circle with the ouija board in the middle of them. There's a picture of Billy next to it, the one that they used at the pool, with his stupid crop top on. Something about the whole thing irritates Steve to no end.

"Right, so first we're going to have to call Billy here."

“Oh, no need, he’s here,” Steve informs him with only lightly disguised annoyance.

Munson arches one eyebrow, “And how do you know that?”

“Because he keeps breathing cold air down my neck.”

The kids have the audacity to snicker at that. Steve considers just going home. The little ungrateful shits can all walk.

"You sure that's not just the wind?" Munson dares to look at him like that's a valid question.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure, you ever feel a fucking breeze only touch your neck and literally move nothing else, Munson?" Steve doesn't hide his annoyance at all anymore. "He's here just get on with it."

"Right," Steve doesn't quite understand it but Munson looks amused now. "So technically we all have to place two fingers on the planchette-"

"The what?"

Again Munson throws him a look. This time like he's stupid.

"The planchette. The thing that Billy will move to communicate with us, Harrington."

Right. He could've figured that one out maybe.

"Anyway, we're too many so I suggest Red, King Steve and I actually touch the thing and everybody else forms a circle around us."

He rearranges their seating arrangement so that the tiny nerds and Robin sit between them and all hold onto each other's hands. Except the three of them that move their hands to the little triangle and are thus on one side only in the circle through a hand on their shoulder.

Munson looks almost giddy with excitement when he finally gets on with it, "Billy? Are you here?"

Steve should've gotten high to deal with this.

"Didn't you listen to me? I told you-"

The planchette moves.

YES

And right that was really creepy.

It also proved Steve's point which he would really like to point out but Max speaks before he can.

"Oh my god," Her voice is a little shaky but Steve can't blame her. Not when the small thing under their hands is still vibrating with energy. "Billy, are you okay?"

The planchette moves quickly over the board. Both Dustin and Lucas read the letters out loud over Max' shoulder

R U K I D D I N G

Typical. Steve voices his opinion of Billy's sass, "Well, then, at least we know it's actually the douchebag."

Despite the fact that Billy is being a primary example of a dickhead Max sniffles.

"I'm sorry, Billy. I didn't want you to-"

The planchette interrupts her. It drags their fingers to the stark NO before moving over the letters again.

N O T D E A D

"What-" Max's face is drawn together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

The planchette rips out from under their fingers and they all quickly pull them away from the board. It almost flies over the letters now.

W H A T I S A I D S H I T B I R D I A M N O T D E A D

The planchette stops. Steve wonders if all ghosts are this rude and stupid or if Billy is a special case.

"Eh, Hargrove, dude, I think all these people kind of saw you die? We're also literally sitting at your grave."

N O T G H O S T

"What do you mean? We don't understand," Max sounds so desperate it makes Steve want to have words with Hargrove again.

H A V E B O D Y C A N F E E L W R O N G P L A C E

"Wrong- wrong place?" Will speaks up surprisingly. "Describe it."

D A R K C O L D W R O N G

For a moment they stay silent. Munson in confusion and all of the others with the same thought.

Mike says it first, “The upside down?”

"Sure sounds like it," Lucas answers.

"If he's in the Upside Down we can get him out," Max says. "Right?"

The planchette moves again.

W H A T

Max almost absentmindedly answers, while looking between Eleven and Dustin waiting for a response to her own question, "We might be able to get you out of there."

"If we can open a gate, it should work," Dustin says hesitantly.

Now almost everyone is looking at El. Her powers have been wonky at best since Starcourt.

"I can try." Her voice doesn't waver but Steve picks up a slight hitch that used to not be there. It tears at him a little. El is too cute to go through shit that makes her question herself like this.

The tiny noise of the planchette attracts all of their attention again.

P L E A S E

For a heartbeat no one moves a muscle.

"That's gotta be a first, right?" Steve asks into the group, sarcasm heavy on his tongue.

S H U T I T

Steve bristles, "No! You shut it! You've been haunting me for weeks!"

M O S T E X C I T I N G T H I N G I N U R L I F E

"It's not! I'd fucking love to just be alone for five minutes without your annoying music working a hole in my head."

N O T H I N G T H E R E A N Y W A Y

"Oh, fuck off, Hargrove. If I'm that stupid why do you keep coming around?"

The planchette doesn't move.

Everyone is looking at him or at the little triangle.

"Hello? Hargrove? Cat got your tongue?"

Nothing happens.

"What the fuck?" Steve murmurs.

"I guess Hargrove left the seance," Munson laughs. And right, Munson is there. Steve had almost forgotten.

Steve can feel Robin's eyes on him and when he turns to her he's greeted by her smile that usually means I Know More Than You.

"He really likes to pull on your pigtails, huh?"

"I don't have- What?" Steve is convinced this is the weirdest night of his life.

No one answers him and yet Steve feels like everyone around him has somehow gotten an information he missed. Even Mike looks at him somewhat questioningly.

Steve is ready to call it a night and start collecting about 200 candles melting around them, since no one around him seems to deem it necessary to talk to him anyway, when Billy Hargrove decides to get in the last word.

G E T M E O U T P R E T T Y B O Y

#stranger things #billy hargrove #steve harrington #harringrove #harringrove fic #harringroveweek #harringrove harvest #mimi's writing #mimi makes things #thank u noah for confirming that this is post-able #i was too drunk to tell <3

[radley-writes]

hiii there. i was wondering (all good if not!!) if you have some advice on setups and payoffs. something i get feedback on a lot is that my payoffs don't feel like payoffs because the setups are lacking. i'm wondering if i'm missing something big. thank you in advance!

What a good question!

To simplify, I’m going to assume that setup = fuck around, and payoff = find out, and that you are writing genre rather than literary fiction.

First off: you are not alone.

The setup/payoff balance is notoriously hard to master. Sometimes, there’s so much of the former that the latter falls flat (I’m looking at you, Game of Thrones Season 8). Other times, the climax is so big and showy it feels disjointed from everything that preceded it, as if the writers had a specific vision in mind but didn’t quite connect the dots that led up to it (I’ve heard Batman v Superman falls into this category).

So, what’s the gold standard?

We’re aiming for a long-term progression over the course of our novel, which culminates in one scene (or several) that feels like a natural escalation of those rising conflicts.

Getting this right falls under two categories of writing skill - pacing, and the causal chain (what spurs one character to act in one way, which has a knock-on effect that will in turn stimulate the character to act in a different way).

You don’t have to master either of these on the first draft. Like everything, these can be ‘cleaned up in post’ - i.e., edited into submission. Pacing has been discussed to death - but here are two basic tricks for improving your causal chain, whether you’re a plotter who wants to get everything perfect before you start writing, or a pantser who is trying to wrangle with a messy first draft!

Work forwards towards the climax. Write a short, one-sentence summary of each chapter or scene, cutting out all the dross. Read the resultant plot synopsis. Does this feel coherent? Does one action naturally incite the next? Put yourself in your characters’ shoes - can you truly understand why they’re making those decisions? Have you conveyed that in the text? (Necessary caveat: you can be as implicit and subtle as you like with character motivations, but they still need to be in there.) Does the story feel character-driven (i.e., your character is making choices that affect the plot, rather than constantly being acted on by outside forces)? Do the consequences of these actions feel realistic? Do they all drive in the direction of your final payoff?

Work backwards from the climax. You have a super-cool climactic scene in your head. Now you have to earn it. Look at every element in this scene - setting, Macguffins, characters, emotions... Try and trace the route of each of these back through your novel. Why did you choose this setting for your climax, and can it be improved to be more thematically relevant? Think of the Chekov’s Gun trope: if a gun goes off in the climax, have you hung it on the wall at an earlier point in the novel? Similarly, if you have any plot twists/dramatic betrayals, have you laid the framework for them before the big reveal? What are your characters feeling at this point in the novel, and why? Have their goals changed from the start of the story, and why? How do they feel about that?

It’s important not to forget Rule of Cool. Not everything has to be 100% logical. This is fiction. You can toss in a few extra explosions that your characters miraculously survive.

But you have to keep at least your big toe dipped in reality - if only to the point where every choice your character makes should have a believable consequence attached, according to the rules of your fictional world. If those choices and consequences all point in the direction of your climax, I’d say that your set-up and payoff are more likely to feel balanced.

Obligatory disclaimer: All writing advice is subjective. What works for me may not work for you.

#writeblr #writing advice #plotting #pacing

[raphaelcrossofoliver]

Recently, I sent a ask to @soul-dwelling about Inca and the discussion around it has led me to create a alternative plot for her

(For the sake of this discussion, some narrative liberties will be taken)

The way it would work is that it would start at the beginning of the Stone Pillar arc with Inca escaping the church and the White Clads trying to get her back

The reason she would be escaping is because she starting to feel safe in the church and is going after the man who promised they would chase her as a enemy and give her one of her biggest thrills yet: Shinra Kusakabe

This could also be used to setup Sho eventual betrayal of the church

Then, after the First Stone Pillar fight where Shinra goes unconscious. he would encounter himself face-to-face with Inca in a fake downtown city (for the memories) in Adolla

In here, Inca would start a fight with Shinra where she would show better fighting skills than before (reminiscent of Medusa), better precognitive awareness by fully using smell rather than smell and vision to read the pathways around her and can set multiple pathways on fire by using all of her fingers

For the majority of the fight, Inca would be on the winning side where she would start monologuing about how everyone who prefers safety and normalcy are boring and they are all trying to drag her down until the climax where Shinra uses Hysterical Strength (giving to Inca disturbingly excited eyes the image of a smiling demon with the kanji for death on its chest) and swiftly knocks her out with a punch to the chest

After that, Inca would start her own version of a love confession where she would ask Shinra to throw all away and just keep chasing her until the end of their days which would be cut off by Shinra refusing it and trying to bring her in

(This is the part where I try making her last wish in the manga make more sense)

Inca would then start complaining by asking why do the people she meets rather live meaningless and boring lives and keep trying to drag her down to it which Shinra would respond by saying that while he doens't remember much of his mother, he remembers that she always felt happier when caring for them even if those moments were boring because her sons were safe

"Boredom gives sense to knightly morals, gives power to hereditary positions and and gives strength to team loyalty. You say that life has to have deathly thrills to have meaning but is that very boredom that gives sense to these thrills"

(And now the fun part begins)

Suddenly , the fake city would start to collapse as a booming feminine voice appears saying it plans to bring them both with her

The Evangelist is here

A chase would begin where Shinra would start to tap into the Adolla link to run away

Inca notices though that no pathway is appearing

The Evangelist is not gonna catch them

But before she can say anything about it, Shinra would go faster than light and travel back in time. To the world before the flames

During this travel, The Evangelist would speak

"This is the world before the flames. Ignorance, hatred, war, apathy, egoism, selfishness and sin ruled this world and the minds of those who inhabited.

"Do you know what Adolla is? It's not just hell, nor where the flames came from. It's the collective unconscious of humanity whereupon the concepts that rule reality can be molded through one's view of the world"

"I, The Evangelist, am the immortal embodiment of humanity collective desire for the end which I will bring through the manifestation of Adolla flames into the world"

"Liberation through flames"

Shinra would logically refute and refuse such a idea so The Evangelist would say while appearing as (wink wink) three specific eyes:

"Then suffer through your friends and allies hatred as your persona of a demon becomes reality"

The next time we would see Inca, we would see her going back to the church with a more monotone happiness with her only explanation being that "she saw the truth"

As she says that, we would have a focus on Charon and some panels of Haumea in a room screming 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up"

~End~

So...are my narrative skills enough?

#fire force #inca kasugatani #kasugatani inca #kusakabe shinra #shinra kusakabe #enen no shouboutai #en en no shōbōtai #fire brigade of flames