#this is my first ever info dump so sorry if it’s a little disorganized and all over the place lol

[arethereanyoriginalusernames]

ZOOPHOBIA CHAPTERS RANKED BEST TO WORSE

Hey hey hey! (*jumps off counter* ImGaY)

So, quick update. I'm no longer doing votes as no one appears to care what I post anymore. Which is a shame. Honestly, you people have no idea what evil you have unleashed upon this world. I've also been busy, so while I work on bigger posts, have some totally not filler.

For today's....thing, I will be ranking the 5 zoophobia chapters from best to worst. HOWEVER, I will only be discussing the writing aspects of these chapters. Art isn't my forte. If you want an art critique, I'd recommend bugging @rzphhs

Feel free to disagree with what I say here. I'm not some omniscient god who is perfect at everything. This is simply what think are the best and worse zoophobia characters.

If you'd like to request me to do something else, go ahead.

And of course, let's get the usual disclaimer in there. Zoophobia is by this fandom's Lord and savior, Vivziepop. This post is not a critique of her current writing abilities since zoophobia is kinda old. I believe that when we analyze stories we love and find flaws within them, we can all learn something and improve our own writing abilities. I also don't do this because I hate Vivz. I love her work. This is not an attack on her what so ever, so any wannabe edgelords who think otherwise can get off my front lawn.

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THE BEST

CHAPTER 1.

Yeah, I legitimately think chapter 1 is the best. It's no surprise that this chapter was the one Vivz worked on the most. She had people read rough drafts and give her advice on how to make it better, something she stopped doing for the rest of the story. Cameron has a wonderful introduction.

I know I said I wouldn’t talk about visuals, but I love the contrast of the grey human world to the colourful safe haven. Having Kay cee lurk around, hidden in wide shots where's she's barely seen is great. She defiantly sells the creepy shady character shtick like nobody's business.

 There were a lot of great character introductions in here two. You got a good sense of each character's personality. I also like a lot of the visuals here too. A lot of characters were introduced, yes, but each character got a few lines each so it didn't feel too over the top. You could argue as well that the amount of stuff being thrown at us was fitting since that would be how our audience surrogate is feeling. 

I do think, however, that we should've gotten introductions to all of the main cast. Kayla doesn't say anything, neither does Penelope, and Taylor. .basically says nothing. Yeah, did you guys know Taylor and Penelope are apart of the main cast? That, and I feel that Cam should've just gotten an explanation about what safe haven is by Zech sooner.

Apart from that, I loved this chapter.

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SECOND BEST

CHAPTER 4.

Ok, let's address my main complaint about this chapter that is basically the elephant in the room. Ever hear of the "show don't tell" rule in writing? It's commonly known that it's better to show something as opposed to just having a couple characters talking about it. This chapter....well....it's wierd in this regard. It's not abhorrent, but this chapter is an exposition dump where we're both shown and told info about Jack. I feel as though some of these things, like the Zill and Jack as children section could've been just shown. We don't need Jack explaining everything to the audience. I also feel that this chapter should've been placed earlier since it has info on certain characters that would've been nice to know earlier, like the context of Zill and Kayla's relationship.

Apart from that, I liked this chapter. It had nice pacing, and there's not too much going on. We're not hopping from one thing to another (like another chapter ), we stay on topic, and this feels like a nice, easy read. Admittedly, I don't have much to say on this because. ....it's just a nice, simple chapter. It gives Jack some great character depth, and his character motif of wanting to be happy despite his curse. The ending is also nice and the entire chapter just feels.....peaceful.

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MEH

CHAPTER 5.

Okay, this one I’d put in the middle no matter what since it’s kinda hard to evaluate something that’s unfinished.

Much like the character who stars in this chapter, I'm split on this chapter. I don't hate it....but it's nothing to write home about either.

Let's start positive. Unlike the next chapter I'm talking about, this chapter stays on one central problem for the most part, and we don't randomly jump back and forth between Addi and Mackenzie doing completely separate things. Mackenzie's thing appears, but doesn't take center stage away from the central character. Autumn and Rusty's moment on the stairs feels a little random, but it's not completely distracting. The character interactions are fun too. I loved the interactions between Addi, Dame, and Sahara, and between Autumn and Rusty. Tom and Gustav were a little weird in this chapter, but they weren't the worst thing. Oh no, the worst thing.....

Was Addison.

I'm sorry @zoophobiapika , please have mercy. I will send you cute Addi pictures to make up for this.

But HOLY FUCK, was Addison annoying! I've ranted before on the problems I have with him (go see my least favorite character list to get the full rant), but to shorten it down, Addi makes a stupid decision when he blows off his friends and goes out with a stranger because. ...that makes sense, I think. He also attacks somebody, and no one appears to be worried for Mackenzie or worried about Addi's mental state.

Also, before someone says " oh he has PTSD",

I have PTSD as well. It's a minor case, and it's hardly as severe as some other cases, but it has affected my life and the people around me. I don't feel comfortable going into detail about it, but in times of stress, I'd hurt not only myself, but other people. I almost punched a guy once.

A reason, however, is not an excuse. I still hurt other people, and I had to make up for that. Just because you can explain why a problem is there doesn't make that problem go away.

I'm just going to leave it at that and move on.

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SECOND WORST

CHAPTER 3

......what? Did you think thst just because Dame is my favorite character I'd put his chapter higher in the ranking? Yeah, nope.

Now, fangirls, put down your pitchforks, this chapter doesn't suck.......but This chapter is weird.

You know how the other 3 three chapters I talked about stayed on topic? Whenever people tell me Zoophobia, plot wise, jumps around a lot, I think of this chapter. There's just too much going on. Instead of having this chapter solely be an introduction to Damian, one of the main cast who'll play an important role in the story, we get an exposition dump about how safe haven works and demon politics. Characters like Bozzwick are introduced only for them to do nothing, and this chapter feels like it's rushing, like Vivz just wants to get this chapter over with.

 Damian's freak out feels rushed and out no where. Also, when he does his best Cuthulu impression, does he cast a spell that just makes everyone stand around and do nothing? No one's screaming, no one is trying to calm Dame down, nothing. And this place is apparently full of people. Yet no one does anything but just stand around and look surprised. This chapter just feels like it doesn't know what to do.

 The first book was supposed to introduce us to the characters, and a following book was supposed to go more into the lore. Why not just have this chapter be like Jack's where all we get is a simple introduction to a character? The two or three plots also keep switching back and forth randomly and it feels disorganized. Cameron (as well as everyone else during Simon’s interrogation) had nothing to do with Dame’s situation. Seriously, just shove that scene to a later point in the story and nothing would change. Actually, here’s a fun game. Count how many characters you can take out with little to nothing changing. 

 This may be me putting on a tin foil hat here, but it’ like Vivz couldn’t figure out how to introduce Dame in a way that would ensure that the chapter would focus on him, so she just shoved a bunch of other shit in.

All in all, this chapter has way too much going on, and is all over the place. BUT, at least all the shit that happened in here was interesting and kind of contributed to the story, unlike....

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THE WORST

CHAPTER 2

*inhale*

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Fuck. This. Chapter.

Ok, first of all, this chapter didn’t need to exist. Skip over this chapter, and nothing would change....except maybe Simon being in chapter 3, but hey, that fucker didn’t need to be in chapter 3 either. 

Second....let’s go through each character....in alphabetical order.

Cameron: Doesn’t develop, doesn’t do anything, she just goes around and does....things. She feels like a character that could be taken out with little to no consequences, which isn’t a great look for someone who we’re being introduced to the world of safe haven through.

Carrie: Feels like she could’ve not been introduced. I love Carrie, but when people say we were getting too many characters at once in this story, this chapter is a prime example of why. Jesus Vivz, introduce us to the main cast, THEN all the lovable and huggable side characters. Seriously, the entire Vengenza thing could’ve been moved to a later chapter. 

Damian: Long story short, this little shit had to turn into a sociopath for the sake of plot. I like Damian, and he defiantly made this chapter entertaining for me, but I hate the fact that the story had to have him give Kayla and Zill a problem as opposed to the problem coming about from their own flaws. Also, I don’ t think I should’ve been rooting for him to win. 

Fabian: See Carrie

Gustav: See Carrie. 

Horris: See Carrie

Jack: I liked him, but was he seriously the only one who knew about the anniversary? We see that Sahara knows about it, so clearly Jack isn’t the only one who knows about it. And yet no one brings it up to Zill. Either Zill is the most oblivious fucker on the planet, or Dame somehow locked nearly everyone who knew about the anniversary in a locker. Those are the only explanations I can think of.

Jackie: Not terrible, but she kinda annoyed me. I’m not sure why though, so I won’t say too much on her.

Kayla: For some reason we follow this character even though she got no introduction, and we have no context to her relationship with Zill, and we learn almost nothing about he. Great. I don’t agree that Kayla is a mary sue, but this chapter makes me know why people see her that way.

Malcolm: See Carrie

Percy: See Carrie

Sahara: See Carrie

Simon: See Carrie

Spam: Despite being apart of the main cast, he does nothing. He doesn’t contribute anything, he’s just there for no reason.

Vanex: See Spam

Vagenza: See Carrie

Zech: He’s barely in this chapter, and he feels like a complete none presence. Why was he here?

Zill: Ohhh boy....Now we get to the meat of my issues with this chapter. Okay, despite this chapter revolving around him and Kayla, we learn almost nothing about Zill. What is his character motivation? Dunno. What is his personality outside just “he’s a good guy”? Dunno. The chapter revolves around a relationship we have no context of, and this chapter feels like a fucking soap opera. The problem doesn’ t come from a fault in Zill’s character. He needs Dame to give him a problem, which for me cements how boring of a character he is. And him getting back with Kayla isn’t something he causes to happen. A vampire shows up and Kayla just happens to have a change of heart. That’s it. He doesn’t. do. anything. 

Finally, like with ch. 3, the topic of the chapter jumps around between Cameron and Zill’s “plots” with no cohesion and no connection. Overall this chapter sucks. 

Thanks for reading, and tell me what your favorite or least favorite chapters are!

I apologize for wasting your time.

- ATOUN

#zoophobia