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shellyb04 · 3 years

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And here we are, all caught up. You'll notice I fell into a bit of a Chinese drama and historical hole for these last ones! I will try to post as I finish shows so I can give a bit more of a review. Enjoy!

A love so romantic (Cdrama)-Girl pretends to be a long lost granddaughter of the Gu family and falls for the Gu family heir. 8/10 Very funny. The last ten episodes get a bit annoying with dumb amnesia and such, but overall really funny main couple.

The Greatest Love (Kdrama)-An A-list movie star with a heart condition meets former girl group member and now most disliked celebrity. Against all odds, he falls for her. 9/10 This is extremely funny and a bit tropey, but it gets major bonus points for the ending. There's no crazy amnesia or unreasonable misunderstandings. Their dilemma at the end makes sense and wasn't dragged out for too long. There was a bit in the middle where she was trying to reject him that dragged for me and I didn't like the other girl group members very much. But overall, really fun.

The Rebel Princess (Cdrama)-A princess is forced to marry a general turned prince instead of her childhood sweetheart prince. They ultimately fall for each other and endure war, kidnapping, betrayal, and every other kind of misfortune that can happen in a historical drama. 9/10 This drama was refreshing because the couple was so amazing together. They were kind as well as cunning. They were the only characters not seeking power and I just loved the way they worked. It does get a little draggy during some of the palace politics. I also think some of the villians didn't think through their plans. But overall, the leads made the show. Although there are some genuinely heartbreaking moments and too many women committing suicide.

Love Script (Cdrama)- A CEO gets into an accident and believes he's a Prince from the Ming Dynasty. A psychologist is hired and she becomes part of the palace staff in order to treat him. But she begins to fall for him. 8/10 I liked all the characters. It's a really light show and there's a couple of plot twists that ultimately made the lead romance work for me. There were a few too many flashbacks and I found myself skipping through them a lot.

A Girl Like Me (Cdrama)- Ban Hua has three failed engagements, partially because of her blunt manner and explosive temper. She begins getting visions of the future and uses them to save her family from trouble, along with Rong Xia who has his own agenda...but will he be distracted by Ban Hua!? 8.5/10 I really liked this one. The story moved along rather quickly. I love that the Ban family are perfectly happy in their little sphere of life. They adore each other and simply want their family to be happy. The only real negatives are that I don't think some of the villain plots made sense especially toward the end and I thought the last two episodes should have wrapped up the story not made more characters power hungry and foolish. Overall, I really liked it, especially Ban Hua and Rong Xia's banter and courtship.

My little happiness (Cdrama)-An intern lawyer and a successful neurosurgeon who were childhood sweethearts meet again as adults only she never knew his name. Watch the duo fall in love. 8/10 This is a pleasant little ditty with no big problems. The relationship between the main girl and her best friend feels super real to me. I love both main couples. It's a simple sweet sappy love story. There's never any doubt how it will end so just enjoy the sweetness.

Oh! My Sweet Liar! (Cdrama)-Historical- A female painter infiltrates the home of a noble family to paint a copy of a precious item. When her escape goes wrong, she fakes a pregnancy by the family heir to save her life. They make a contract marriage so he can escape an arranged marriage he doesn't want. But there are secrets and plotting people throughout the family home. 8.5/10 I really liked the majority of the show. It was a bit slow the second arc of the show and really the last three eps could have been a bit more streamlined, but I loved the Li family. It was so nice to see the love between the family.

Shopaholic Louis (Kdrama)- A wealthy heir gets amnesia and is found by a poor country girl newly arrived in Seoul to look for her brother. The two fall for each other while searching together. 8.5/10 Super cute. I loved the main couple the whole way through. The side characters grew on me as well. It was a nice sweet story overall.

Love in Time-Cdrama- Writer and a CEO were friends in Jr high but had a falling out. Present day they enter a contract marriage. 8/10 A point bump for 30 minute episodes. The story was sweet and simple with a few pleasant turns. The last episode is a bit dumb. I would've rather just had more epilogue than a faked amnesia plot. I liked the side friendships, but wish the "villain" had a better motivation. Just " I loved him and worked hard for him so he should be mine" obsession got old. The tropes were in full display so avoid if you hate those.

Love and Destiny-Cdrama- A young immortal wanders into the wrong place and awakens the God of War. He discovers a secret about her even she doesn't know. The two fall in love, but bad things happen. Can they overcome destiny with love? 7/10- This one seemed to be a bit long at 60 episodes and it took WAY too long to get started. But by episode 14 or 15 I was completely into the love story and most of the side characters. The two "villains" were annoying but ultimately I understood their choices even if I felt they were immature. Overall, it's good, but a little too slow in some places and the last ten episodes could have given me some more couple moments.

Divorce lawyer in love (Kdrama)- She's a tough as nails divorce lawyer and he's her office manager until she goes to far in a case and her license is suspended. Three years later she's the office manager and he's the lawyer and he sees his chance for some payback.. Enemies to friends to lovers. 8/10 It has its funny moments. I enjoy most of the "case of the week" stories. I thought the resolution to the main antagonist was a bit hand wavy, but overall, solid and enjoyable with mostly fun side characters.

The Sword and the Brocade (Cdrama)- A concubine's daughter marries a Marquis in an arranged marriage. She has to deal with conniving concubines, controlling mother and mother-in-law, as well as a family that doesn't want her around, and a rival family all while trying to continue her embroidery career. 7.5/10 Started out fairly strong but toward the end it felt really drawn out. I feel like the last two plots should have been more combined cause it really dragged the pace of the show down. The characters were good. I liked most of the characters a lot, but a few began to make weird decisions toward the end.

The Eternal Love (Cdrama)- Modern woman sucked to alternate past where she has to share her doppelganger's body. The two with the help of their maid try to figure out what's going on. But things are complicated as each soul is in love with a different prince.,-6/10 The story is okay, although the last four episodes are weird. Chemistry with the leads is fabulous. Really not great production quality. I couldn't get through Season 2.

Eternal Love/Ten Miles of Peach Blossom (Cdrama)- Bai Qian and Ye Hua are star crossed immortals who fall in love in three different but intertwined lives. 9.5/10 Started off slow, then got wonderful about ep 10, then pain and misery for a few eps before back to joy and falling in love and back to pain. But one of the best revenge scenes by Bai Qian! I sort of hated that basically every other couple seems doomed. I tried to watch the pillow book before this and just got bored. I may go back to it someday as I love that couple.

General's Lady (Cdrama)- independent noble sent to marry the "demon" general at the border only to fall in love with him. However there are factions trying to harm them. 9/10 Super light and sweet with lots of kisses. I got a bit bored a little past the middle of the drama when they went back to the capital. But the last several episodes brought me back around and I laughed out loud multiple times. Love all the couples throughout and how it showed there were multiple ways to be a strong woman.

#kdrama #cdrama #A love so romantic #The greatest love #the rebel princess #Love script #A girl like me #My little happiness #Oh! My sweet Liar!#shopaholic louis #love in time #love and destiny #divorce lawyer in love #the sword and the brocade #the eternal love #tmopb #eternal love #General's Lady

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mcytbdamofficial · 3 years

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A strange question. If the official DSMP lore of (a) character/s ever heavily changes from what you wrote it as (in example, if c!Velvet turns out to be long dead or the velvetisegg theory is true, or any of the major characters- that their canon lore starts being majorily different), how do you come up with things that would make them "fit in" again? I am just genuiely curious about that

usually a good way to go around things like that is to fall back on what i've already established and try to spin it in the right way. a good thing to use is the nether lore as well as everything with the memories - things like that are unpredictable and pretty much anything can come to light at any point.

(this answer went on for a while longer than i expected so i’ll put it under the cut in case there’s someone scrollin who doesn’t want this whole thing clogging up their dash)

a good example would be the sbi family canon - when phil first shouted the words "you're my son!" a lot of people instantly thought that techno, wilbur and tommy being his sons had been basically canonized (obviously this got debunked later with only wilbur being his son, but at the time that was the canon i went with and had to somehow push in). until a part of the story i wasn't planning to make the sbi family canon, so i had to think of something fast. so i considered how phil, for whatever reason, supported techno's reign during the antarctic empire days. why did he just outright follow him when his acts were universally regarded as evil? initial ideas were he, himself, was rather bloodthirsty, but this new issue came around and i used this blank in the story as a way to explain it - of COURSE phil would support techno unconditionally, he's his son, after all. later on, i managed to strike a balance in the story between phil supporting techno because of them being family, as well as him, himself, having his own agenda in the empire itself (bringing along the bloodthirsty nature of techno, which in turn i later explained with the voices, once those were canonized. that solution to a new canon was practically handed to me, with how i wrote the bloodlust as a voice beforehand. i just had to change it to “voices”).

for your example, i have one idea that could work! if velvet turns out long dead, i could quickly explain it in a simple way. ant WAS getting letters from velvet, but at one point they stopped and he received news velvet had died. ant has been lying about getting letters after some point because he didn't want other people who knew him to get hurt, and maybe he's even in a certain level of denial.

if velvet IS the egg, that could be more complicated, but still doable. tie it all into the source/nether lore, make him some sort of god or symbol of chaos, just play around with the rules of my own world until things fall into place. usually, somehow, i will find a way out just by stepping back and analysing what i already have prepared and thinking of how it can help me insert a new idea into the story without disturbing what's already there.

this is basically how wilbur being a source came into fruition! initial ideas were him and schlatt decided themselves to not enter the bunker and escape the flood on their own, but how would that make sense? oh yeah, what if one of them IS the flood? then i rewatch the video, and who other than wilbur is putting the commands in to make the water rise! it was too perfect not to somehow include it, yknow? and then boom, i have this cool lore about sources. why not use it? and yes, initially sources were JUST gonna be a passing mention in the captain’s journal. they weren’t ever planned to go this far. and before you know it we have wilbur, kristin, foolish, hannah...

so yeah. what i’m saying is. when in doubt, use nether lore. and that’s how i’ll go around whatever comes of the egg, in the end.

a lot of it also comes down to very careful storytelling and knowing what to change and what to leave alone. when the story started there was a set amount of people that i knew were involved in the roleplay and others i knew would NEVER get involved (keep in mind the story started being written before even the festival happened live, HELL, even villbur wasn't a thing back then), and separated them into small groups based on what i could and what i couldn't play around with. for example;

i could easily change callahan, alyssa, etc around... they're people who barely appear who aren't involved in the storyline. i gave them small appearances to show they're there and mostly kept them to the back.

people who i KNOW will never join the smp can be mentioned, referenced or even included! minx is probably the prime example of this. and if she ever DOES join the smp, by some magical chance? there can always be some magical book in the library that can reverse her from a dreamon to a human. so nothing to worry about there.

future major characters like dream, quackity, niki, etc didn't have much at the start but needed something to push them into their future arcs. in these characters i changed their start but made sure it left space to be moulded into anything they become later - i made niki kind but i also showed her early critisism of wilbur, already sensing she may have a villian arc coming in the future. when season 2 came around, i was proved right so i went in on those small hints more and more.

for characters who have an established arc, start to finish, who it's hard to change in any way, i change nothing - but i look at their past. the obvious people for this are schlatt and wilbur. on the smp they were characters start to finish, their arcs started and ended in the story and had nothing else. so i focused on the past, instead. and boom, suddenly we have 35 smplive chapters of completely original content.

with every character i live small hints of SOMETHING coming in the future. i leave small holes to be eventually filled by canon, and if canon gives me nothing, i fill them myself with something minor. another good thing is to trust fanon - with a fandom like this, where the creators listen to their fans and canonize a lot of popular fanon, it's good to go in on small fanon knowing it will eventually be canon, or even knowing it will make readers happy and will never impact the story, no matter how much it changes (think tubbo having horns, puffy being a pirate/sea captain of some sort, stuff like that)

there are, of course, times when i can’t avoid changing things from canon. phil not knowing who schlatt is, wilbur not knowing schlatt, etc... but i think in those places, those changes serve to improve the story in some way, and i think it’s a welcome change in the end. this story is definitely leaning more into AU than RETELLING, but i don’t think it’s such a bad thing. while faithfully retelling every major plot point, it adds its own elements and creates a somewhat new and exciting story people can enjoy anew. i think that’s what i strive to do the most in this fic - not retell the story word for word. you’ve already seen the videos. you don’t need that. what i DO want to do is create an engaging read for both avid fans who have seen every stream and casual fans who want the lore to make a little bit more sense to them. and that’s that.

god that went on a while didn’t it haha...

okay so to summarise - whenever something major changes in the canon lore, i have various ways of going about it. usually for some characters i would have left behind hints of SOMETHING and will just try to fit them into whatever change has showed up, or try to at the very least explain them with the new development so it doesn’t seem out of nowhere.

if that is not possible, i look back on all i established and think how i can use it to my advantage. could someone have been forgotten in an old world? is there some sort of nether anomaly that could have caused this? is this character a reliable narrator and have we gotten the full truth? there are a lot of ways to change things around with it being completely out of the blue but seeming fitting for the audience - you just have to really think it through, plan it, and make sure you know exactly what you want to do before going into it.

and finally, if there truly is no way to change a thing, shift canon completely and make sure it doesn’t change the base story. allow me to use the sbi as an example again, since i think they’re a good tool for this;

techno will take tommy in and help him recover from exile, same as canon, because he is his brother, as bdam canon states. at first he’ll just do it because phil wanted him to, but soon it will become a matter of family. when tommy betrays techno, it will hurt him more deeply BECAUSE they’re brothers. when he comes back to phil and tells him what happened, even phil himself will become enraged. the two themselves have been shown to have a history of resorting to violence and aggression in the story (look back at the antarctic empire), so doomsday wouldn’t seem out of character, or, at the very least, out of the question, when two men like them are pushed to their very limits by a betrayal like this. still, it would be unfair on tommy, but on both sides there would be something justified and something they did wrong - and that’s how you balance a good conflict in any story.

so yeah. i hope this long ass essay made sense. a lot of work goes into making sure this story flows naturally, so i’m glad someone finally asked something like this where i could reveal just how much work goes into it!!!

#sam speaks #ask #whoo boy a long one

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confideinmylions · 4 years

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task no. 1-A :ｔｈｅｆｏｕｒｔｈｗａｌｌ

an interview with tara “terra” markov

part one: no memories

[RIGHT BEFORE THEY WATCHED] take a look at the cover art and title. what do you think you’re about to watch? do you think you’re going to like it?

teen titans? oh! oh oh oh! this is based on a comic, right? i’ve only started to see some of their stuff recently. their, uh... dc? i don’t know, i’m a marvel girl myself. but i’m sure i’ll like it! i like superheroes and every thing. plus, this team looks like it has some sick ladies. though i hope, since like... they’re teens there isn’t some teen drama bullshit going. balancing superhero and civilian life is all fine and dandy, but i want some action!!

did you enjoy watching it? would you watch it, if more content came out?

i did! i really liked it! they really balanced like... comedy and drama? kinda? i don’t know. i weirdly liked how they have no civilian identities. they’re just... always the teen titans. even when they go out for pizza. ( she laughs. ) i don’t know if they could make more? it had like... a definitve ending? like, i don’t really get why they brought terra back for the finale, but like... i do kinda get it? like with the show ending, its sad but you gotta move on? kinda? i don’t know. i feel kinda bad that the terra chick got like... a season arc... but starfire didn’t. like we see these glimpses of her past life! and like! we could’ve had more of that!! so much more!! but whatever. it’s a good show. i’d rewatch it.

who is your favorite character? how about least favorite? who do you think is overrated and under-appreciated? who deserved better?

beast boy is the obvious fave. he’s funny. you get glimpses of, like, his duality. but he’s funny. and his friendship with cyborg, is just like... the best. i also loved starfire. her innocence and just like... genuine kindness made me really happy. but beast boy is still top.

uh... there’s like a lot of characters that come and go... recurring is slade. obviously. he’s like a typical villian. not really all that interesting. i liked the hive and even mad mod a lot more as villians. slade’s too damn serious. fuck him. if i have to choose a least favorite main titan, i don’t know. probably robin. he’s also too serious, but at least he has his moments.

overrated? uh... maybe robin... a part of me wants to say raven, but she probably had one of the best season arcs, so she get’s like major props for that. like she would’ve been my least favorite character. so! moody! smile for once! but like her season makes me... get her a lot more. like i get it. and robin is just a typical leader. he’s nothing special. also he does some shitty stuff and people seem not to care.

underrated would either be starfire or... maybe cyborg. starfire is kinda shown off as like this ditzy alien sometimes who robin kinda has a crush on, but like fuck that. her innocence and kindness isn’t a weakness and she can clearly kick anyone’s ass. and she didn’t even get her own season... cyborg is just never recognized for his sheer genius. whatever, he’s the literal cyborg thus he’s the tech genuis but like... if i were made part robot, i wouldn’t know any of that shit. give that boy some credit.

uh... starfire definitely deserves better, in terms of her use in the show. in terms of like... what happens to them... terra? maybe? she’s gets like a seaon arc but the titans go from like really pissed at her betrayal, which like, rightfully so. really rightfully so, but then try to pull the “we’re still your friends! you don’t have to be this way!” like fuck ooooofffffffffffff. everyone’s in the wrong here. if slade didn’t take control of her body slash powers, i would be surprised if she would still have sacrificed herself. also, how the hell did that turn her into a statue? like what’s up with that?

as a viewer, did the ending satisfy you? why or why not?

like i said, i don’t get the whole episode being like... beast boy stalking the terra-lookalike. that was weird. i get the message of like moving on and things changing, but... i don’t know how else you would have ended it. they didn’t like... have to use the girl beast boy had a crush on to portray the message. i’m sure there’s other ways to get the same thing across, but it kinda works, i guess. i’m a little sad it had to end in the first place.

do you have any unpopular opinions about any characters, story arcs, etc?

um... i really liked starfire. like, yeah, they could’ve given her more depth but i think that just comes from her lack of a season-long arc. like we only see glimpse of her tamaranian life, and they’re kinda far and few between.

who are your favorite couple(s) to watch? how about least favorite?

i don’t really... like actively ship characters. i like the depth of relationships and i love love love friendships, especially complex ones but... romantic stuff can just get in the way. that being said, i’m happy like there’s not too many romantic subplot.

my favorite is... i really liked watching the innocent relationship between beast boy and terra. do i think beast boy should have stayed, like, obsessed with her? no. of course not. but i liked their dynamic. it’s like a first real crush kind of thing. terra isn’t used to like... people actually sticking by her. like being her friend at all. and beast boy is funny! people rather thing he’s so funny! so it’s no wonder he had a little crush on her back! it’s cute, i guess.

robin and starfire! ugh! like, whatever, i get it. there has to be like one couple on the team i guess, but snoozefest. she kisses him for like knowledge. get over yourself, birdboy. and in that... movie thing... uh, whatever, i don’t care about your romance! give me action and friendship. that’s what i’m here for. thanks.

what do you think of TERRA? be honest.

i can... see myself in her a bit. she’s cool, but so so so so so so so dumb. she jumps to conclusions, doesn’t really listen to anyone. she’s super distrustful. i don’t think she like... knows... how to have any sort of relationship. it’s not super explained. it’s just like... hinted she doesn’t have a home and is like a wanderer. i don’t know. she’s cool, albeit i don’t know if they needed to keep using her for beast boy development.

if you could give TERRA any piece of advice, what would it be?

girl needs to be more patient. like it’s so damn obvious that you don’t have control of your powers. it’s not that fucking hard for the team to see that shit. beast boy didn’t rat you out. nobody ratted you out. don’t just fucking run away, god.

part two: memories and realization

how does it feel knowing you’re a piece of entertainment for millions of people?

... shitty. i don’t need people seeing my dirty laundry.

do you still feel like your canon actions, thoughts, and feelings are your own?

i mean, yeah. i remember why i did what i did. i... didn’t think i could trust anyone. i wouldn’t even say i trusted slade. i mean, okay, yeah. i did. i’m the idiot that trusted the main villian. i’m dumb, i never denied that, but... i did what i did. i probably would’ve done that even if i wasn’t uh... a cartoon character.

if you could say anything to your fans and / or creator, what would it be?

i know i’m dumb! i get it! let it go! i didn’t want to be used to torture beast boy either! he deserved better! he didn’t deserve my bullshit! i agree! but c’mon!!! be a little nicer...

how do you feel about being a main or minor character? in your opinion, is your portrayal accurate, or were you painted to be a certain way?

i was like a main character for a season. i’d argue. i was with em for a while. a long while, but they obviously existed a long time before and after me, so that’s accurate. i’m just glad i got like... a sympathetic edit. like it showed my redemption, and i definitely didn’t deserve it. i deserved the game show backstabbing bitch edit, for sure.

what was the hardest memory of yours to watch unfold on screen?

the whole... ( she’s struggling to find the words. ) the like... date with beast boy. that whole... thing. the deed was kinda already done when bb gave me the ( she lightly chuckles ) the mirror box thing he made and asked me out. i, obviously, said yes. eventually. i just wanted to get him out of titan tower. i didn’t want him to get hurt. in hindsight, i really didn’t want anyone to get hurt. but i really didn’t want bb to get hurt. and it was a really fun night too. i was about to own up to everything i did! really! i was! but then slade just had to show up and... i wasn’t proud of what i did! but then beast boy said... “slade was right... you don’t have any friends...” and... and i didn’t really have a choice anymore? did i?

what are some things you didn’t know about yourself / your loved ones before watching this? ( like something that happened that you didn’t know about )

i, uh... i didn’t know uh... the whole little memorial the titans had for me. or like bb’s little speech. ( she can’t help but smile. ) maybe if i knew that i wouldn’t have like... straight up disappeared.

what moments do you wish were never shown to the world?

they didn’t show a lot. i probably would’ve preferred if my, uh, “date” with beast boy. like they needed to show my, like... whatever. it helped with the plot but i really wish that whole night was more private.

looking back, do you have any regrets? or decisions you really wish you hadn’t made?

uh, yeah, no shit i have regrets. beast boy didn’t tell the titans anything. i just jump to conclusions. all of my bullshit could’ve been avoided if i didn’t leave in the first place!! i’m an idiot! i own up to that. i only went down hill from there. i realized my mistake too late. i shouldn’t have listened to slade and i should have trusted the titans lot more.

what do you think of how the other characters, your peers, saw you as a person?

they were always kind to me. i mean, until i betrayed them, but then they like kinda showed me some mercy and then after i died they were really nice about remembering me, but yeah. they definitely didn’t have to like... honor my sacrifice. i deserved to have perished after what i did to them. they needed need the whole... “a teen titan. a true friend.” thing.

you have one chance to defend or justify any of your actions. go ahead.

i’m not defending anything i did. what i did was wrong. i eventually knew that. that’s why when i, er, woke up, i refused to face the titans again.

[IF YOUR MUSE DIED IN CANON] what was it like to watch your death unfold?

i mean... i sacrificed myself... it was literally my own doing... i knew what was going to happen. okay, maybe i didn’t i didn’t expect to turn into a statue. i also didn’t expect to like... get turned back to normal... so did i really die?

remember the advice you gave yourself in part one. are you going to follow it?

anxiety and self-doubt are two very powerful drugs. i think i’m a little more patient now... but yeah. also i still find it hard to trust people. so who knows if i’ve actually grown. whoops?

#❝ i want to be a teen titan! ❞ ↪ TARA #truman:task #task no. 1-A #// i forgot to make a task tag for people whoops #// i'm lazy rn #death tw #anxiety tw

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