#when a character is so powerful they completely change the narrative except it was real life with real human beings

[cryptvokeeper]

getting so fucked up listening to Kevin Perjurer talking to Adam Conover about how the Disney channel theme documentary was only supposed to be twenty minutes. How it was supposed to be a joke, the punchline being “it’s just four notes, it’s not that deep”. He was just gonna find the guy who did it and do a silly ironic interview, and then the story behind the theme unfolded and hit something true and meaningful.

#Defunctland #when a character is so powerful they completely change the narrative except it was real life with real human beings #I’m so happy to know the Disney channel theme documentary fucked up Kevin perjurer the same way it affected everyone else god bless

[wispforever]

Some thoughts on Itachi

So, I've seen a lot of comments circulating about my tags on this post, and I'm intrigued at the interest. I didn't expect it, as I see much more pigeonholing of Itachi's character than honest to god analysis. No hate- I'm no stranger to Kishimoto's writing. Some of his characters were unfortunately butchered or never given the chance to be developed properly, and Itachi is most certainly no exception. That said, I like to grant him a bit more nuance than I see on most blogs. I think people get a little wrapped up in the supposed "moral implications" of exploring how Itachi was also a victim of the system, as well as someone who victimized many people. But it's silly to equate character analysis and context consideration with condoning genocide.

I have a good laugh every once and a while at the metaphorical gymnastics people do in order to stay in the good graces of a bunch of internet trolls who are just Waiting for any opportunity to tell you you love murder and think it's delicious just because you made a post exploring a character's background. Media is grey; it's layered and wonderfully complex. There are many wrongs and rights in every story, and many wrongs and rights within those wrongs and rights. That's what I love about Naruto. Often times it's really too much like real life. Instead of people being black and white, right or wrong, bad or good- they're usually in a tough situation, trying their best and falling short, don't have all of the information, acting with good intentions or acting on what they believe will bring about a lesser evil, and then end up hurting others.

But it is much easier to assign blame and move on. A so-called bad person will always be the perfect scapegoat for issues bigger than them. In Itachi's case, the fascist government in the Leaf. It's easier to say Itachi could have just refused and decided not to be involved, than to recognize that like almost every other character in the narrative, he was under extreme duress, living in a military state. He was a child whose existence, along with all the other children and adults in the Leaf, was only valuable as long as he could serve as a tool for the war machine in the shinobi world's fucked up political system. And saying this is not the same as saying he was not capable of better decisions or that everything that he did thereafter or in general should not be read critically or subject to hypothetical consequences. It is the same as a saying his actions cannot be fully understood without complete context, and the themes of Naruto will never come through if every villain is just "evil" with no further nuance. And it would be boring too LOL

That said, I love to think about Itachi's situation back then. The ages in Naruto are a bit muddled, a little inconsistent, subject to change and interpretation, but Itachi was a child when he murdered everyone in the Uchiha compound. Most sources say he was 13. It should go without saying that someone so young isn't capable of the same decision-making or critical thinking as say, a 30-year-old, someone whose brain is finished developing and has much more experience on Earth.

Itachi's experience at this point in his life is informed by his age, and it's obviously informed by his childhood, as he has no other place from which to draw conclusions. Itachi grew up in a warring state. He saw people die and was subject to extreme violence in his formative years. To make matters worse, he was taught that war was inevitable and the only thing he could do to guard against it was kill others before they got the chance to kill him (threaten the village). Thusly, Itachi internalized at a very young age that what was in his power was to minimize damage (to himself, to his village, and to the world). What was not in his power was to stop this violence entirely (by adopting a critical mindset and going against fascist powers).

A part of this I think people often forget is that Itachi has absolutely nowhere to adopt this mindset FROM, as even though his father and the other members of the Uchiha clan seek equity in the Leaf, if they were to overthrow the Hokage and create a new system, it would still presumably center around the same ideals (minus, of course, the oppression of the Uchiha as a group). Fugaku is the head of the Uchiha clan at this time. As someone who imposed near impossible performance-related expectations on both of his sons, and withheld love and affection whenever they came up short (so often that it was at the cost of having any considerable emotional bond with either of them), there is absolutely no good reason to believe that Fugaku would reform the Leaf using a non-fascist ideology. And if he did, there is no good reason to believe that he would be some kind of visionary LMAO

This is important to remember because when it comes down to Itachi's decision to either kill everyone in the Uchiha compound and his family, or be part of the coup that would overthrow the Leaf, some people treat it as though it's a choice between fascism and non-fascism, which it most certainly is not. And if it was, Itachi, as a child who had grown up immersed in this ideology, would not be able to appreciate the difference. This context allows us to understand further what Itachi was really weighing in that moment. Accounting for his young age and limited worldview, the only valuable difference in this moment to Itachi was the amount of bloodshed that he would "allow" to happen. Essentially, he sees the options as follows:

Either give in to Danzo and kill everyone in the Uchiha compound, or facilitate a coup where the current government is (hopefully) overthrown and risk starting another war.

Here, Itachi pauses. He has known war. He knows how it affects children, adults, families, and whole nations. The peace he's living in currently is bought with blood, but it's the only peace he's ever known. The alternative is horrifying. And a war in this context, Itachi likely thinks, would be his fault, as he has now been put in the position to "prevent" it. Danzo and the whole shinobi system have groomed him into thinking so. Itachi, at age 13, cannot understand that there would be no war; it exists only as leverage for Danzo's argument at this point. His sensitivities are being played on.

Fugaku, though he is not the same as Danzo, offers about as much help as he does (that being none). Fugaku has no interest in avoiding war; if a war breaks out, it's justified because it will still mean his clan will no longer be living in oppression. This idea is valid, as fascist systems and discrimination can only cease to exist when we rise up against them; unfortunately, this most often calls for righteous violence, as the oppressive powers will not be moved with peaceful shows (not to mention they are willing to go to extreme lengths to avoid losing their hold on the people they have crushing power over, i.e. the Uchiha massacre). But Fugaku has no words to explain this to Itachi, who fears the worst and further fears being responsible for the worst. All he does is act as if it's a moral failing that his 13-year-old son is unwilling to stage a coup, which he believes could mark the abrupt end of a peace that's only just begun.

That said, let it be known that Itachi does appreciate this situation with SOME nuance, though it isn't of the kind that might have enabled him to see he was being manipulated. He at the very least understands that Danzo is a warmonger and oppresses those he fears (the Uchiha). He understands that the rights of his clan have been sorely disrespected, and that the issue needs correction. He understands the anger of his friends and family. This is why it takes him much deliberation before he can even come close to making a decision. He plays both sides right up until the end, listening to Danzo, as well as Fugaku and Shisui, paying attention to the current atmosphere in the Leaf as he tries to decide.

It is something he doesn't want to do. Here's where I get to the part I put in the tags of my drawing.

In this situation, it's almost worthless to write an analysis about Itachi's feelings at this time, his understanding of what was actually going on, his loyalty to his clan or his loyalty to the Leaf, because really, he could not grasp it. He was never prepared for this. He never knew he would be asked to make a decision he could only understand as "your family or the world?"

Itachi was put in a position that had no happy ending. There was no decision he could make that would not hurt. That could not result in a cataclysm that split him right down the middle. There was no version of this story that a 13-year-old could carry out thinking "I have done the right thing."

And that's the important part. Both sides asked him to make this decision, and so both sides are guilty of placing an immeasurable pressure on a child who should never have been put in such a position. Regardless of ideology, regardless of price, regardless of oppression or loyalty or devotion or any other thing- someone else should have made this decision for Itachi. Someone else should have been responsible. An adult, at the very least. Someone who COULD understand the implications of both options. Someone who COULD go forward and appreciate the evil of fascism and know that a coup was necessary. Itachi was never capable of such a thing. If he made the "wrong" decision, than every child who can't explain to you what a fascist government in a military state looks like and explain what the difference is between a hate crime and resisting a hateful power, is also wrong. Here is the nuance. These are things a 13-year-old in this universe cannot be expected to understand unless they are taught. And Itachi had no teacher. Quite the opposite. There were only forces pressing him from both sides, saying "choose."

Had his father done this for him, had Shisui been in this position, had any other adult Uchiha acting as a spy been put to this task, it would be a much different narrative. But of course, it had to be Itachi, who Danzo knew he could manipulate. It had to be a child, someone skilled enough to do the job, but inexperienced enough, afraid enough, to be willing to sacrifice everything they had to see the mission through. Someone you could whisper "greater good" to and have them hand over their well being on a plate. Someone who didn't understand they had the power and strength to destroy the system threatening them.

On a narrative level, Itachi exists to illustrate this point. How young people are systematically indoctrinated to serve a greater purpose, be it under a specific government, religion, or otherwise. We see it in real life fascism, in real life cults. There's no mistake. It isn't an accident that Itachi's story begins like this.

Which brings me to the rest of his life. The reason I drew the picture in the post referenced at the top. Itachi's character is a bit of a mystery the rest of the anime. Be that because of bad writing or an intentional omission, his motives, thoughts, and opinions are largely left ambiguous. However, there are still a few moments that interest me as far as the implications of his development.

When Itachi first comes back to the Leaf village, he faces Kakashi. On the one hand, this could simply be a narrative tool- the big bad meets the big good. He takes Kakashi out of commission! The first rogue shinobi we see who is able to defeat the pillar of the Leaf, the Copy Ninja, and without even breaking a sweat!

On the other hand, I find the brutality of Itachi's attack very intriguing. Again, it could be the tough guy act, but he's able to keep three jonin busy easily using standard genjutsu (with the help of Kisame). It wouldn't be a stretch to say that using the tsukuyomi is overkill, and at a considerable price, we learn later.

Why then would Itachi, who has been shown to have excellent battle intelligence, who is strategic to a fault, be willing to jeopardize his health among other things just to... scare the Leaf? Make sure Kakashi wouldn't be a nuisance in the future? Sure, the last one would make collecting Naruto less complicated, but they dispatched Kakashi easily enough, and surely Jiraiya, who Naruto was with at the time, would pose a bigger problem than Kakashi.

It doesn't make strategic sense, which makes me wonder if Itachi has a special animosity toward Kakashi. Being his superior in the ANBU before the Uchiha massacre, someone who was willing to conduct surveillance of the Uchiha compound without question, Kakashi could have become a symbol of the indifference of the Leaf for Itachi. He could very well have been a reminder of the inoperable position Itachi was put in when he was still a child, and Kakashi, of course, was an adult. Another adult who did nothing. Noticed nothing. Did not help Itachi.

And while I'm certain that Kakashi would have taken severe issue with the goings on in the Leaf at that time, judging by his reaction when he finds out the truth in Shippuden, Itachi knows him only by what he did then. Facilitated surveillance of the Uchiha compound, was a supportive superior, but nothing greater. A bystander whose compassion, while well meaning, was entirely unhelpful.

I don't think it's far fetched that Itachi fucking crucified Kakashi because he was so angry at what being in the Leaf did to him. At some point, as he got older, he realized how terrible it was. He realized there were people like him. Children who were "born killers". Pawns in the game of the shinobi powers.

After leaving the village, Itachi joins the Akatsuki, who are also seeking peace through war (another story). He is supposed to spy for them, but doesn't follow through in any enthusiastic way (that we're shown). He works alone for quite some time, or else with a group (briefly he was shown with Conan and Kakuzu). He is partners with Orochimaru before he's expelled from the Akatsuki. He is partners with one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He grows up and meets many people, sees lots of stories unfold. He learns that he isn't in a minority. Many shinobi are just like him.

And then, as an adult, he is partnered with Kisame, who he finds excellent camaraderie with because of their similar backgrounds. We see in this relationship that he understands what happened to him and what he did enough to acknowledge that, while neither of them are monsters, as many people say, they are human. And humans make mistakes. Humans are complicated. Wrong and right and wrong and right. They understand each other, and Itachi understands more clearly what the world puts these children up to. What it forces shinobi to become. That it isn't all his fault, but he still did it. And so he is responsible. He appears to be able to live with that.

But when he returns to the Leaf, those feelings bubble up. He hates the Leaf. He hates that system. He hates what he did. Maybe he even hates being a shinobi, how his excellence was weaponized, how being an Uchiha doomed him and his clan. And for what?

Itachi is played as a character who is only sensible, only logical, only interested in practical things, has nothing to express. But the way he behaves toward Kakashi in that moment bares all his grief and anger. I just like to think about it. We have so few moments where we get to see Itachi genuinely. The fight with Kakashi, the Sasuke/Deidara fight, his thoughtful moments with Kisame. Just makes me wonder what could've been if Itachi's story had gone a little differently.

Anyway, if anyone would like me to expand on any points or has additional thoughts, feel free to hop in my ask box or leave a comment. Thanks for the interest, I love to talk.

#this is wisp #itachi uchiha #analysis

[dangermousie]

Finished.

God, what a glorious, glorious, glorious ride, a truly solid epic drama in a way I haven't seen in a very long time - there were two other flawless cdramas for me this year - Lost You Forever 1 and The Ingenuous One - but TIO was a smaller scale story and LYF ended in medias res. AJTL was the only complete, epic cdrama this year for me, but oh boy, was it beyond.

First, my two tiny niggles - this is a drama where the 40 episode limit fit badly, like tightly pinching shoes. You can tell how they had to speed and cram to get in the resolutions of dynastic struggles in An and Wu and the war with Beipan. This drama really needed to have been 50 eps. (The cramming also resulted in the sole plot arc that made me go huh - LTG random decision to try to marry Ruyi before he rides off to what he thinks is his last battle and his just as random decision to go "oh well" and agree to release NYZ and then when NYZ shows up before he can be released because he broke out and wreaks havoc, let them walk out. Maybe if they had more time, it would have made more sense, otherwise it felt like an aberration in a character arc that before and after was consistent and made sense.) Second niggle is not really one because it's clearly due to censorship - the last minute redemption of the Wu emperor etc - the writer made is as believable as she could but you could feel the censorship sticky hands all over it.

But those are minor complaints. Overall this was solid from beginning to end, very adult and with secondary characters who all felt real and complex and interesting. A few thoughts:

Our main OTP was incredible. So adult, so competent, so badass but still feeling human. I bought that those two were larger than life legends AND flesh and blood people. And that chemistry!

I loved that this drama allowed relationships to be messy. Yes, we have our epic main couple but I especially loved what happened with Chu Yue and Shisan and LTG and Ying. I loved that neither was an epic romance. With CY and Shisan, I loved that they didn't make him realize he loves her forever blah blah - he was an incredibly consistent character - charming, loyal and utterly clear he's incapable of permanent commitment to a single woman and she never could change that. And yet he died in large part to protect her, and it's in keeping with his character and it makes sense that this solidified her remembering him forever - he's not just the one who got away, but he DIED for her. It's very clear if they both lived, this would have gone nowhere and ended with him wandering off or her moving on wanting commitment from someone who is capable of it, but as it is, it froze the possibility of love in ember.

And I loved the narrative of LTG and Ying. They both come into marriage in love with someone they can never have (Ruyi and YL), they both have similar backgrounds (royals but neglected and looked down upon), they both share the same goals (power but to take care of people) and they really are friends. I love that when we last see them, they have what is a great period marriage - no love but respect and common goals. And she still mourns YL and he probably still thinks of Ruyi but the thing is, I love that the narrative leaves the possibility of them eventually falling in love with each other (or other people) because as she tells him - you think you will always love a particular person but life is long. (And it's so true - she will remember YL until she's old, once again in part because of the unfulfilled possibility of it - but it doesn't mean she won't be able to open her heart to someone again.) It's a surprisingly hopeful ending for them and I love it. I'd totally watch a show where they discover love with each other tbh.

I did love that no character (except possibly Prince Danyang) got everything they wanted even if they emerged alive. They got some and had to give up some.

I loved what it had to say about having to be worthy of your power and position - you are not owed fealty by birth but you have to earn it. It was a surprisingly anti-imperial show for a recent cdrama.

All the deaths of our faves gutted me, none as much as Yuan Lu's. Oooof.

As to the ending, I can tell people are gonna have fits but I like it. I love many an ending legendarily reviled in cdrama fandom (Princess Agents and Novoland Eagle Flag have perfect endings in my opinion; I realize that opinion, especially about PA is enough to get me throttled in certain quarters but it is what it is) and I came to cdramas back when pretty much every costume cdrama ended horrifically tragically - think of the endings of the Chinese Paladins, The Myth (for a long time my n1 drama even though it made me cry so hard I threw up, ending-wise), The Young Warriors, Little Fairy, even Lan Ling Wang, Glory of the Tang Dynasty and Bu Bu Jing Xin if we are going somewhat later. I mean, one of my favorite dramas ever is Royal Nirvana and that ending is like drinking a thermos full of depression. This is nothing.

Honestly, I would have been fine if the ending for our OTP really was them dying pretty much together, in their different battles. That hint that they are alive and living with their kids is lovely and welcome, but I'd have been fine without it and it raises a lot of questions (though if anyone could fake their deaths and survive that sort of thing, it would have been them so fair enough.)

Anyway, this is basically my love letter to this drama. It was amazing and I am so glad I watched it.

#cdrama #a journey to love #liu shi shi #liu yuning #alen fang #fang yilun

[floof-ghostie]

casually leans on wall and hands you a microphone. how was the spiderverse experience i want all the deets (ive already watched it dw about spoilers👍🏾)

Ohhhh Strap in we're gonna be here for a while (Imma do this in point form for this, because so many thoughts, no energy for real paragraphs

Okay the animation. THE ANIMATION MEDIUMS. So many cool methods. I loved the colour changes in Gwen's universe. HOBIE'S ENTIRE THING, THE WAY HE'S ANIMATED OMG

Mumbattan is such a cool city, I love mashing irl cities to make one cool megacity so much it's such a lil fave worldbuilding thing of mine

Pavitr is so great, I love him, idek how to talk about him I just like him a lot. Him and his gf make such a cute pair too!

Also him saying "I don't use product, just coconut oil, prayer, and good genetics". I love him

The chai tea scene. God he's so great

THe character design is amazing and sososososo cool!! I love that we see the characters change (Gwen's hair growing longer and pinker, Miles' growth spurt, Peter B.'s bathrobe, MAYDAY's LIL SPIDER HAT THAT MJ PROLLY MADE FOR HER).

I love Pravitr's costume glowup. Thank you to whoever arranged for that.

Also, Hobie??? His lace coded boots?? His locs??? HIS FUCKING PIERCINGSSS??? HOW HE COMPARED A FUCKING VOID TO CAPITALISM??? Him taking a liking to Mayday, and straight up SHOWING MILES HOW TO GET OUT OF THE FORCE FIELD WITH A LIL SMIRK?!!! I need him. Need his gender. I love his anarchist ass.

His design really calls back to the punk scene in England, and I love the way he reminds me of old newspapers

Speaking of Hobie, holy shit that guy was flirting with Miles. I know what you are (pls Hobie do u like enbies?)

"I hate the AM, I hate the PM (prime minister probably, idk for sure) AND I HATE LABELS" I love you

Daniel Kaluuya, thank you for your service.

Also Hobie and Gwen make such a funny friendship. But I don't ship them.

The themes of growing up, and Miles' parents being worried about Miles and the people he's with...I nearly cried in the theatre, and I don't normally cry during stuff.

You can just tell that black people were making the big decisions for this movie. Aaron and Rio asking Miles why he took the braids out. Jeff and Rio being like "On time means 5 minutes early", I felt so at home watching this movie. I'm not even from Brooklyn but I just felt so at home at all the interactions Miles had with his neighbors. Even the random storeowner.

Like ppl were speaking aave, using patois, Hobie's accent. And none of that was played for laughs (except for Hobie's lingo but that's a little different bc he's British)

I love how Miles' Ganke is so different from Peter Parker's Ganke. It's such a fun detail how Miles' Ganke was like "I'm not gonna be your guy in the chair".

I love that despite the general "Canon" for Spider Man, there are some differences! I love those intricate details!

And the way the lady in the office was so hasty to force the narrative of them "struggling" when that really wasn't the case? Hit real close to home. I just love the Davis-Morales family

I love the way that the Spot isn't like a general "mildly bad" villain like I originally assumed. I really thought he'd be kind of a "setup" villain, or something that they'd have to clean up and THEN Miles would take care of Miguel and them.

I especially love the way that The Spot is someone from the first movie, who we don't even know until his backstory is brought up.

His voice is also perfect too. He sounds like a complete loser.

Miguel O'Hara. Meet me outside, I just wanna talk

No For real though, he talks a lot of shit about Miles being "The Original anomaly" when his ass needs to inject himself with some kinda spider-fluid to maintain his powers??? Mind you, he tried to force himself into a reality that wasn't his.

This guy is just an A-class hater. What do you have against Miles, honestly???

On the subject of the Spider Verse I think it's so cool how there were so many callbacks to the original canon of Spiderman! I loved seeing the og live action Spider Men in the film too!

And the easter eggs! I couldn't keep up with them all!

Also, wtf was Childish Gambino there. I mean I'm not mad, I actually found Miles' staring at him really funny

I love Issa Rae's voice! But Jessica, queen, please don't fight, you is PREGNANT

Also idk why but for some reason I thought Jessica and Miguel were married in the beginning. Not completely sure.

Gwen being like "Can you adopt me?" when first meeting Jessica...She's so real

Also Gwen is so sososososo so so trans. It's so great

THE ENDING FUCKING DESTROYED ME ARE YOU KIDDING???? 42-Miles being the Prowler?? I'M NOT OKAY BUT I'M SO EXCITED to see what happens!!

But in all seriousness, all the feelings in the movie talked about and the the things left unresolved for the next movie is just. You can tell this was such a labour of love and all the animators were so happy and excited to work on it. I cannot wait for Beyond the Spider Verse!! I'm still buzzing!!

#ask #atsv spoilers #across the spiderverse

[hikari-ni-naritai]

@imsopopfly hello! thank you for your interest! ill preface this with a few things. one! the feeling of modern isekai is a lot different from older stuff. its possible that none of these will scratch the same itch just because of how different the genre has become. so i apologise in advance if thats the case! two! i know nothing about you beyond your icon and your bio, so some of these may not be good recs for you personally. i apologise for this as well, and i hope you can enjoy at least one of these. anyway!

Eminence in Shadow - since ive been granted leave to be cringy, we'll start with the most cringy protagonist i can think of. eminence in shadow's protagonist is an extreme chuuni version of an isekai protag. his goals are twofold: one, being the most generic background npc possible, and two, being the leader of a secret organisation who uses magic on par with a nuclear bomb, and he puts equal (and extreme) effort into both goals. the show itself is a comedy, but most of the comedy comes from the fact that all the other characters and the narrative itself take the world completely seriously. it's a fun show. content warning for attempted (and foiled) sexual assault in episode 1. also, there's more fanservice in this show than most modern isekais (which are kind of unfairly slammed for this, theyre usually very tame), so be aware of that.

MagiRevo - aka The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady. this one's about lesbians! a girl reincarnates as a princess, but she's unable to use magic so she starts researching ways to make magic available to commoners who can't use it naturally. she enlists the help of a girl who was just very publicly dumped by the crown prince, and the the show follows their relationship as they try to change the kingdom for the better. a very lovely show.

Fabiniku - aka Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout. its hard to say the protagonist isnt boring, bc he's a pragmatic salaryman, but really the draw of this show is the fact that the second protagonist is his childhood friend who gets turned into a beautiful girl when they get sent to the other world, and the fact that they now have to deal with their mutual attraction to each other. its fun!

HameFura - aka My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!. rather than a powerful protagonist, hamefura's protagonist is a moronic disaster of a woman with possibly the least powerful abilities in the whole show. she was reincarnated as the villain of an otome game who dies in every route, so her primary goal is to become very good friends with all the characters in the game so they wont kill her when one of them dates the game's protagonist, but all of them fall in love with her (girls included) instead.

Knight's & Magic [sic] - some of the stuff on this list you mightve heard of or even seen, but ive never heard anyone talk about this one except me. the main character is interesting to me because hes got exactly one special interest and doesnt care about anything else. and that thing is giant robots. luckily for him he gets reincarnated in an old timey fantasy world that has giant robots for some reason, so he dedicates his life to designing mechs. YES its cringe but its on of my favorite shows to rewatch because its just really fun if you arent sitting there thinking how stupid it is.

Shoukei Shoujo no Virgin Road - aka the Executioner's Way of Life. this show purports to begin with a generic boring protagonist brought to a fantasy world from japan, but he is killed in episode one by the Real protagonist, a girl who works for the church to kill isekai protagonists before they can cause irreparable damage to the world. but she soon meets a second isekai protagonist, a girl who doesnt die when she's killed, so the two of them embark on a quest together to find a way to 'return her to her world'. (but actually to kill her).

The Faraway Paladin - this one's got. some weird political takes, but bear with me. the main character was raised by 3 ancient heroes who became undead. the world has an interesting take on gods, and its nice to see a serious isekai with a protagonist whos principled and dedicated to a cause. i think season 2 is where the show really shines, but season 1 is also very good.

mmmm i think thats a solid list? im tempted to throw in 'reincarnated as a sword' bc even though the protagonist is boring (and a sword), the real draw is the cute and violent catgirl who wields him. but that doesnt strictly meet the criteria so. shrug. anyway hopefully at least one of these strikes your fancy!

[always-a-joyful-note]

gonna hit u with a wild ask for the character opinion game what're ur thoughts on

-jang hayoung (my favorite orv character if the main trio didnt exist)

-kim namwoon

-shin yoosung

-kujo tenn

-kujo takamasa (my favorite i7 character if i give myself over to insanity but i haven't yet so it's nagi or mina)

-natsume minami

BE WILD! AMAZING CHARACTER CHOICES BY THE WAY, Chitra! And thank you so much for the ask!

Spoilers for ORV and i7 under the cut

So Jang Hayoung.

To be fair, the fandom did have to deal with Jan Hayong being misgendered in a sense. I have my own thoughts about that but that's honestly a somewhat negligible point for me? Because THAT whole discourse is more kdj centred (own problems, hence the slight mark on ignore canon) but for Jang Hayoung herself??? Mildly obsessed. Wall of communication and her own character being a product of communication between author and reader. The way she embodies both miscommunication and breaking boundaries and walls with it. Her funny and hilarious crush on the Demon King of Salvation but clear disdain towards KDJ. She is neat and such a character but also such a self insert and I don't know. Like... she's a link between author and reader, she is her own person, she is waroed by the narrative, she's freer from the narrative than most. I love everything about her.

Kim Namwoon

I don't have many strong feelings about Kim Namwoon except that he deserved better but KDJ wouldn't let him deserve better because KDJ is a self-hating idiot. He is like the definition of a plot device character but if the plot was some guy's intense sense of self-hatred. He is well written in the sense that there was definitely more to the guy but that KDJ didn't let it be fully realised. But I do love their obsession with mecha. Very valid

Shin Yoosung

CHARACTER OF ALL TIME I LOVE HER I WOULD DIE FOR HER I WOULD -

Listen. Shin Yoosung is like a daughter to me, okay? Which I guess does note beat the KDJ reader self insert allegations but seriously. Her characters arcs (yes, plural on both)??? Her power? The fact that KDJ wanted to give her (and Gilyoung) the kind of childhood he couldn't ever have but that her hands were already sort of tainted with blood? Canon isn't real doesn't mean I hate what canon did to her, by the way. It's that KDJ hated what canon did to her and...changed it. Shin Yoosung is like what if you put a little girl with so much guilt and made her face the realisation of that guilt - that she IS or can be as bad as she currently fears. Also, she is so mean sometimes to Gilyoung and that is so real for her. (Kiss them is platonic, by the way)

Also. Older Shin Yoosung's aesthetic and gender. Yes.

Kujo Tenn

Insane, self-sacrificial, selfish, and Profession. As the Discord group put it: ableist icon, too. Tenn is like what if you mixed the yandere trope with the stoic soldier trope or something (don't listen to that I am literally just spitting nonsense here.) But for real....he's SUCH a well-written character that that itself drives me BONKERS. He's got such Eldest Child energy BUT - BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT - there is a youngest child inside him screaming for attention too!! (Which I think TRIGGER gave). You never can completely hate him even if you do think he should be slapped. As a treat. The writers just went OFF on his character and I could think about it all day and one day will try to articulate it all. He's just......neat

Kujo Takamasa

In my defense of the design thing....he really gives off SUCH Phantom of the Opera vibes, it's SO funny to me. I say beast unleashed when he's just a poor meow meow who should have used his money for therapy rather than the stuff he pulled in canon. Is he for me? Nah, not really. But do I find him hilarious from an observer's point of view? Absolutely

Natsume Minami

Minami and Sogo both made me realize I might have a vibe with characters who look frail and have white hair but are deeply unwell inside and express that through toxic violence of some sort. To be honest, my favourite thing about Mina is that he might be a subversion of the composer trope? Like a foil to Sogo. Usually, I think composers are written as tortured souls who want to express a deep but beautiful feeling in music. Mina is a tortured soul but his feelings are raw and ugly and frankly terrifying and he was encouraged to express those through art. Which is honestly great and makes me want to bite his character arc like a watermelon. Also, at this point, he's probably the only one holding ZOOL's bad boy image together because the others can act it out well enough but they're all so pathetic and sweethearts at heart (took some time getting there for Torao, though.) Minami is not a sweetheart in any sense or form, even if he is pathetic, and that's very cool of him

#note's notes #idolish7 #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #fandom spamdom #i have #so many feelings about shin yoosung #that will take an entire essay and book to articulate #and idolish7 my beloved #anyway thank you for the ask! this was so fun!

[soartfullydone]

When did you go from loving Feysand and ACOMAF to hating everything after ACOTAR? I'm genuinely curious

Thanks for your question!

It was sometime after I had finished ACOMAF, maybe about midway through ACOWAR when I fully realized my feelings and acknowledged them.

I read ACOMAF in two days, which is wicked fast for any reading experience. So I was riding the highs the book was giving me without fully thinking them through. I remember being so excited that the characters I was shipping in book 1, Feyre and Rhysand, were actually becoming a real thing that I was ignoring all the things wrong with it. (Note: I shipped and enjoyed Feyre and Tamlin in the first book, too, along with Nesta and Lucien. It's not hard for me to ship things if I think it could be fun.) When I finished the book, I sat there, thinking over everything and kept asking myself, "They're together. So why am I so... unsatisfied?"

I didn't have these answers until ACOWAR, when Feyre was being so vengeful against a whole court because of her hatred for one person and treated Lucien like a toy after what he did for her UtM. When Feysand attended the war meeting with the other High Lords, a scene I had been waiting for for a loooong time in excitement, and it was like watching a middle school production of Mean Girls. Everything was so much... cheaper and poorly written than I wanted it to be. And SJM ripped off the Troy line: "The sun was shining when your wife left you." I came completely out of it at that moment because it felt like I was reading someone's OOC fanfiction, but nope. This was penned by the author in utter seriousness.

But subconsciously, the moment I began to hate ACOMAF, Feysand, the Night Court, the whole thing wasn't because of the sacrifice to Tamlin and Lucien's characters or even Feysand's characters. It wasn't the retconning and over-reliance on sexism and empty girl power as "themes." It was when SJM used Rhysand to say with her whole chest that the Night Court isn't actually a court that lives in perpetual night because he can't control the arc of the sun. That their nights are just somehow better than everyone else's, and I remember being so... disappointed by that. How weak sauce. How unimaginative. Because she has him say this, while fully ignoring that the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter courts each maintain their respective seasons despite the tilt of the earth. If they can maintain their court state because of ~magical reasons, why couldn't the Night, Dawn, and Day courts do the same?

I know it sounds like a small thing, but it is a perfect example of SJM's laziness as a writer but also a failure of characterization and world-building, which are all problems that plague the series from the second book on. And the fans wouldn't be dealing with so many of these problems were it not for that second book. ACOTAR sparked my imagination in incredible ways because of how full of possibility it was, not just for Feysand but for all characters and the world. ACOMAF killed that imagination because everything was flattened down and compressed into Feysand and Velaris, which were... boring.

It snowballed from there.

I hated how the Suriel's prophecy was changed from Feyre needing to stay with Tamlin to avoid UtM from happening to Feyre staying with Rhysand to... ??? Because the narrative impact just isn't there like it is for the first book. I hated how the Children of the Blessed became nothing. I hated how Calanmai, one of the few things in the book that made these characters fae-like, became irrelevant. I hated how Rhysand went from being a frightening and formidable villain whose motives you couldn’t quite read to being an uwu soft boi who’d been secretly in love with Feyre the whole time. I hated how the story went from Rhysand doing truly heinous shit (twisting the bone in Feyre’s arm, the body paint, the forced kiss) to suddenly Doing No Wrong (except sssh, he is, we’re just never going to address it as wrong ever. Quick, brush it under the rug, it never happened). 

I hated that it felt like I was reading about 15-year-old elves, and not at least the badly-behaving Silmarillion kind. I hated that Amarantha and Hybern had agents secretly infiltrate every court, and then that information totally vanished. I hated how humans didn't matter. I hated how "be glad of your human heart, Feyre" became utterly meaningless because Feyre became indistinguishable from Rhys and his Inner Circle. And to date, I hate the 500+ pages of trauma dumping for a measly 100 pages of action, if you’re lucky. I hate how none of the characters do what would actually be in character for them, but instead do what SJM wants them to do.

That's simply not engaging writing to me and why I walked away.

#anti sjm #anti acomaf #anti acowar #and etc. #like i wish i could tell you it was for all the problematic reasons that others have so artfully pointed out and stated #but i genuinely don't care about problematic content as long as it's presented in an engaging way #and engaging for me can be very fucked up for others and i own that #it's because tldr the writing and story became bad and boring

[scattered-winter]

Tell me abt ur correct mcu timeline

this is completely divorced from marvel comics since the mcu is a totally different continuity. it's my house now <3

Captain America: the First Avenger

1941 - Steve gets his powers (age 23) 1942 - the Howling Commandos are organized August 1945 - Bucky "dies" (age 28) approx. a week later - Steve crash-lands in the ocean (age 27) September 1945 - WWII ends

Captain Marvel

Nick Fury doesn't lose his eye to a fucking CAT. instead, he loses it to someone close to him who he once trusted before losing his eye in a climatic battle that forever changed how he deals with people. because in THIS house I don't fucking make my badass characters into a fucking JOKE (forever pissed at how they built Nick Fury up as this badass amazing character who is implied to have Been Through Shit to make him as slow to trust as he is today and then when the time came to shed some light on his story they....turned all that into a joke with the fucking cat. biting tearing maiming.)

Iron Man 1+2

Tony Stark does his thing and is really really obnoxious about it. idk it's been a while since I've seen these but that's pretty much all he does so w/e

Thor

chef's kiss. you stay exactly the way you are, thor 1

The Avengers

Phil Coulson being revealed to not be dead near the end, and thus leading into Agents of SHIELD would be kinda cool narratively, but it's not a must because Coulson's reveal in AoS is pretty badass as it is.

Thor: the Dark World

another chef's kiss

Iron Man 3

Tony Stark moves on from Iron Man and destroys all his suits, and actually sticks to the decision. he only appears in future movies as tech/support, if that. sincerely, someone who can barely stand Tony as he is and fucking hates it when he completely takes over someone else's movie :/

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ultron is still the main antagonist because it's a fascinating concept, and the rest of the movie largely happens as written except Quicksilver doesn't get killed off because let's be real that was CHEAP. if you're gonna kill off your characters at LEAST do it in a believable way smh.

Captain America: Civil War

this is . a fun one. Tony isn't in the movie at all (<3), and there is very little conflict/screentime with the Avengers because that's a stupid ass thing to do in a Captain America movie. the plot centers around Steve and Co. evading global authorities while trying to prove Bucky's innocence in the UN bombing. no stupid Tony-centric plots and petty arguments in my good Christian Captain America movie

Black Widow

idk I wanted to see her early days in SHIELD. I wanna see how she met Clint and how two very very mistrustful people got to be so close. to be clear I don't ship them and I love their friendship so ideally this is for the aros and the aces <3333

Black Panther

chef's kiss. couldn't make it better if I tried <333

Spiderman: Homecoming

TONY!!! ISN'T!!!! IN IT!!!! <3!!!!!!! instead, the story focuses on Peter Parker (already operating as Spiderman since we've seen Uncle Ben die approx. 3700000 times) trying to become a true hero blah blah you get the idea

Thor: Ragnarok

CHEF'S!!!! KISS!!!!! from this point on, he never fights with a hammer (or hammer equivalent) because the entire POINT of the movie was to establish that HE DOESN'T NEED ONE !

Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame

hooooo boy. I can't even think of a way to fix this one. it's just not there anymore <3333333 and I also can't fix anything that comes after these movies just because it's all so convoluted and fucked up at this point it's beyond repair. but there's definitely no Dr. Hulk, and Steve doesn't go back to live with Peggy because fuck that bullshit

tldr: I don't fucking get rid of character development every time it happens <3333 I let the characters change and grow naturally because I know how to tell a fucking story

#hi sorry this ended up turning into me being angry <333 #but i can't fucking stand tony stark as a character ANYWAY and when he started taking over everyone ELSE'S movies too??? #gnawing biting tearing #and also the fact that each character's development was reset with each new movie?? yeah no fuck that bullshit #it's hard to have correct opinions about the mcu but i bear it well #anti mcu #mads 🧠 #every time i try to add to anything post-endgame i just. get too tired #there's Too Much To Fix. i choose my mental health over trying to bang out the dents of a sinking ship

[lhs3020b]

In The News

More slightly-inchoate BG3 commentary, this time on an Act III side-quest.

Oh, SPOILERS, by the way.

Last night, I accidentally stumbled across the "Stop the Presses" side-quest...

I don't quite know what I make of it.

For those who don't know (and don't mind spoilers!) it's the side-quest where Baldur's Gate's main newspaper runs a Daily Mail-style character-assasination piece on you. You start it by talking to either one of the newspaper-sellers or (I guess) walking into the press building. Thing is, the first problem is that if you do what the game tells you to (talk to the Editor), that basically guarantees you the bad ending. You meet him, he harrangues you, presents your actions in the worst light possible (and unlike Khalisah from Mass Effect, actively and directly lies about your behaviour) ... and then has you thrown out of the building. One long sleep later and the hit-piece is published and, as the game puts it, "your reputation is in tatters".

Apparently it is possible to avoid this outcome, but you apparently can't do it through dialogue. Instead, you have to sneak in and manually change whatever is mounted on the printing press itself. (Apparently the newspaper's staff are too stupid or apathetic to notice that what's coming out of the printing press is not what they put in there. Or maybe they're just not paid enough to care.)

I have feelings about all of this.

First of all, this is a bit of a weird sidequest. As far as I know, it's not integrated into the main story. It's not clear why the Editor wants to run a hit-piece on you - why does he even care? Possibly he could be acting on orders from Gortash, but again this doesn't quite hang together - you get this quest, most likely, after you've been to Gortash's accession-ceremony. By that point you're either already an active enemy of Gortash, in which case who cares about shitty op-eds, or Gortash is trying to get you on-side with him, in which case this op-ed actually runs directly against his personal interests. (Why offend the person who might bring him Orin's netherstone? It just doesn't work. Gortash is evil, yes, but he's not an idiot.)

Perhaps the Editor is working for the Absolute? I considered this, but as far as I know there's no evidence in the text to support it. He doesn't seem to have a tadpole - there's no illithid dialogue-options when you talk to him - and anyway, ultimately this would make him a patsy for Gortash. Maybe Orin could be involved - maybe she could be trying to drive a wedge between you and Gortash? - but, really, this is too subtle and not-sufficiently-violent for Orin. Also, inside the newsroom, there are Steel Guard sentinels stood there, which imply that the newspaper has official protection. That would point back to Gortash.

Except we've already established that Gortash makes no sense as a puppetmaster here.

Another possibility, I suppose, is that the newspaper's Editor is simply completely out-of-control and drunk on power. I mean, I live in the UK, which is sadly known for its appallingly-rotten journalists (witness the revolving door between senior newspaper positions and Conservative Party Special Advisors - nothing corrupt here, oh no!), so this is at least a believable possibility. But, narratively, this feels like a wasted opportunity - this quest could very easily be linked into the main storyline. It would be depressing, but a subplot about how a corrupt newspaper helped Gortash lie his way into supreme power would fit with the main story. Except, to my knowledge, this never happens.

The Editor's only attempt to justify his actions is a ritual inflection toward "freedom of the press", which apparently in his interpretation includes complete freedom to lie, slander and deceive the public if he feels like it. You know, for shits and giggles. While a lot of real-world newspapers behave like this (especially in the UK - those of you who remember my "Diary of a Disaster" series from 2016-20 will be familiar with the reflexive, enthusiastic lying that they practise), at the same time, it feels deeply-depressing.

But, the "happier" ending also has its own issues. That's the one where you change the printing press to print the stories you want it to - while better for you personally, propaganda is still propaganda, surely? Is it necessarily better if you're the one who manipulates public opinion rather than the Editor?

Either option, honestly, feels iffy. This was a side-quest that I came away from with a faintly-queasy feeling. I actually ended up rolling my saved file back to before I interacted with the newspaper-sellers, and I'm actually seriously-considering just leaving this one to one side. It does feel a bit like the only genuinely-winning strategy here is not to play at all?

#Baldur's Gate 3 #LHS analysis #idle speculation #LHS plays new games

[douglasanondr]

Of the Standard ARS + Boss storylines, there is 1 character in each group that doesn’t have to be included.

As the name of this post states, among the various ARS + Boss storylines (Satan wanting Arle, the Crimson Demon, Ecolo, SpaceTime) there is “probably” 1 character among those groups that for all intents and purposes, doesn’t have to be there for the plot to move on. Is that a bad thing? No, and sure all those character’s can have their own stories, 20th and Quest are great examples but in talking about those stories in particular, if you got rid of those characters listed below very little would actually change narrative wise. 

Here are the characters I’m talking about:

Schezo Wegey (Satan/Arle storyline)

The Satan/Arle storyline is a plot point all of us should know at this point, it’s a reason half of these games even exist, but there is one thing in this story that I don’t see people talk about and that’s how important Schezo’s role in it is. Now his role is obvious, it’s to be a secondary opposition Satan in pursuing Arle, the reason being for his own means, he wants Arle’s power that one’s obvious, but people often overlook/not talk about one thing, it doesn’t have to be Arle. It’s been well established that he goes for other people other than Arle, in PPT Ch.9, 15th, TotM he goes after more than just Arle in those stories, and with the exception of Madou 2 how many times has he actively shown tailing Arle for her power instead of doing it cause the opportunity had risen. And while yes, Rulue also has a case for not needing to be part of the story, I ask you this. How many times has Rulue been against being a part of Satan’s shenanigans, and how many times has Schezo wanted to be involved in those same shenanigans, to be made fun of by everyone involved. If it was up to him, he’d probably choose not to be there.

Raffina (Crimson Demon Storyline)

This one’s the most obvious. Even if you don’t believe me, look at most fanart, fanfic and official media on this storyline, and tell me how much Raffina shows up in a prominent role in any of those. Even in Sig’s Secret, the most well known Crimson Demon story, she’s only there in the beginning and it’s because of school work. It’s kinda F*cked up when you think about it, she’s shown to be insecure when it comes to her own image and abilities, and she now dosen’t even fit in most sought after story about her own friends. What the f*ck SEGA.

Risukuma (Ecolo/Ringo Storyline)

This one was a toss up between him and Maguro, though I can make up a case for Maguro staying as oppose to Ris. Let’s be real here this entire storyline is a love story between an Ecolo who’s just happy to have someone remember him, and a Ringo who’s just wants to be friends. With this in mind, you could probably see where I’m going with this, Maguro is meant to be the rival character, the one meant to be the other interest in this weird love story. And from a symbolism stand point, Maguro is Ringo’s realism to Ecolo’s Curiosity. Ecolo’s there to intrigue her, entice her curiosity while Maguro's there to keep her grounded and going overboard. With that in mind, What’s Risukumas role in all this? Sure with his fascination with love, you could say he could play the role of an observer or mediator reocording oall his findings on this, but that’s not all that important to the story now is it.

Seo (Detectives Storyline)

This one might be the one that will change the most with the more games they appear in, along with the Risukuma take. With what I’ve seen so far (Because I don’t know Japanese, and the translation isn’t completed as far as I’m aware) Of the group involved in this storyline, Seo’s the one that plays the most passive role, with Zero and Eight being the bosses and Atari and Roquier playing the more active role. Makes sense, she’s the Boss of Atari and Roquier, she tells them where to go and what to do when needed, that’s great but not all that necessary to stick around for. Heck, in the beginning of the story she talked thru Puubot, and came to Pwurp cause the connection was finnicky, How more not needed can you get from that. Not hating though I love her interactions with Accord and Ecolo.

Now with all this being said, am I saying this is a bad thing. No, far from it. I just wanted to point out a pattern I saw among these groups that is probably just a coincidence. Sure, every character in each group can and has done a story on their own, 15th, 20th and Quest wouldn’t exist if they couldn’t. I just like that their are characters that are part of the main group but aren’t tied to the main plots and can do their own thing. Hell these 4 are some of my favorite characters because of it. 

All I’m saying is Schezo, Raffina, Risukuma and Seo should interact more, they can clearly do other things, it would be funny, they should be Friends.

#puyo puyo #Schezo Wegey #schezo puyo puyo #raffina puyo puyo #risukuma puyo puyo #seo puyo puyo #another long rant #if i'm wrong about any of these let me know

[fanficclub]

Very long post about romance in Shadow and Bone

The romantic relationships with the main character in Shadow and Bone are all somewhat strange. They are always not just relationships, there is some deeper meaning embedded in them. I suppose it’s not that strange for a fantasy story with some talk about density, but I disapprove(:

Disclaimer: I only watched the show and haven’t read the books.

In the story, Alina has three main hinted (or not so hinted) love interests: Mal, Aleksander, and Nikolai.

Judging by fanfiction prevalence, most people find the Darkling the most exciting among the three - and I can’t blame them. However, I trust we all know why their relationship is unhealthy and extremely disadvantageous to Alina: he is much older, much more informed, much stronger than her - there is literally noone in the world who could save her from him, if something happens (and it does, many times). This would all be already enough, but in addition, he also believes her to be his divine soulmate, his destiny, regardless of her personhood. She belongs to him, and it just a natural conclusion, it is not a question. To him, she is not a person, she is an idea.

So, of course, a hard no to this one. Regardless of how dreamy he is))

Now, Mal... Mal is a harder question. I don’t like this relationship either, but it’s much harder to find and formulate why. In the show, he is a piece of dry bread - completely plain and watery character, with zero personality traits that would distinguish him from the rest, except his long association with Alina. And that’s really all what they have going for them: their shared childhood. I don’t know if in the book it is shown differently - but in the show, they only seem to cherish their past together. All their considerations of their relationships come back to their past, to how nice was it to be children and to be carefree. One fanfic I read pointed it out very well: they long for each other, because they long for the time before change, before the weight of responsibilities they are forced to carry, and they believe that they can get this feeling, this innocence, back if they stay together. And this is just not. It’s not it.

The whole mess of their relationship has another layer for Alina. It is her powers that start the wheel of change, if not for her, Mal wouldn’t be drawn into the whirlpool. And in the story, I feel like, the narrative works to punish her for straying. She needs power to win, but she can’t want it too much, she has to step up to face the challenges on her way, but she can’t change too much, otherwise, she’ll “stop being herself”. Her relationship with Mal works like this as well: if she leaves him, it will feel like she’s betraying their past. Her virtue hedges on it, her honor. It’s now a moral question, instead of being a personal one. She must choose him, or else accept being corrupted. She must not let herself be distracted by all these new, bright, and interesting people she meets. No, she must persevere, she must not fall to temptation.

It is unfair to expect people to be unchangeable in their feelings, and yet we have to, in this narrative. Otherwise she loses. None of her other friends really have a chance.

How very sick.

It’s not even only romantic - the point is to not allow the changing world to change her. She has to be able to go back to her quiet life after this, she must not get used to the palace, or the pirate ship, she must not get closer and better friends than Mal - she must not change. How unfair.

Of course, noone else fits into this picture - Nikolai included. I root for him, just because I like his character the most, but also because, in the show, he and Alina have the most real and fun interactions. They seem nice together.

And honestly, at this point, it doesn’t even have to be him - I would be already happy if Alina doesn’t end up with anyone by the end, or finds someone new. It would be natural, it would be a change.

So I was very happy, when Mal said "I want us to be together by choice, not by destiny". Very unexpected, and very mature of him! I'm almost proud?) I didn't know that could happen, it's such a divergence from how the books ended. It is not often that a show changes the plot of the source material so much, and I approve of it)) Let them have a normal relationship for once.

#shadow and bone #grishaverse #the grisha trilogy #malyen #darkling #nikolai lantsov #malyen oretsev #wrote the thing before finishing the show rip #i thought i knew the ending and got pleasantly surprised

[everlastingspiral]

Actually, I’m going to keep a running list of Redacted’s sins and failed allegories just to relieve some frustration I have with the most important parts of his stories. I am not liable for any hurt feelings. I’m just some angry dude on the internet.

Vincent:

Why is he still suffering 20 year old (or however long) trauma if he has a support system to rely on.

If I remember correctly, the king turned Vincent without Vincent’s “consent.” There is nothing brought to attention about this, except that Vincent eventually adjusted to his life and eventually became alright with what the king did. If Redacted is portraying non-consensual vampire turning as sexual assault, then this is saying “it’s okay because Vincent liked it” which is just...awful.

Lovely being turned into a vampire does nothing for the story, and instead kills a much more interesting dynamic of Lovely choosing to remain human and grow older. There was already a difference in power between the two, so I don’t understand why Redacted thinks Vincent being Lovely’s maker suddenly changes that.

Lovely’s turning was also very obviously a substitute for Frederick and Bright Eyes, which was a far more compelling story to introduce vampire lore.

Had the king magically remove Vincent’s ability to lie to Lovely in order to make them “equal”, throwing away a much stronger display of trust by having Vincent exercise his control to refrain from lying. Besides, when did Vincent lie to Lovely after they got together? If anything, Lovely should be extremely suspicious of why Vincent had to make that request.

Sam:

Comparing saving someone’s life to sexual assault.

Completely trashing the only compelling part of his narrative because he didn’t have the balls to stand up to his fandom and write something that wasn’t so black and white for once.

Wrote every video of Darlin’s story prior to making up with the pack with every character essentially telling Darlin’ they were stupid, powerless, and helpless.

David gave Darlin’ a power of friendship speech, and all the tension between Darlin’ and the pack disappeared completely.

Comparing saving someone’s life to sexual assault.

Made a “slow-burn” that was 7 videos long, which is shorter than even Vincent and Gavin’s.

Villainizing Alexis just for the actual backstory behind his turning not being nearly as severe as all the characters make it out to be.

Punishing Alexis unjustly for trying to save someone she clearly cared about a lot.

Makes the king once again magically take away a compelling aspect of the plot, in this case Alexis’s ability to invoke. This lazy “cure all” should really not be applicable to abstract concepts.

Why didn’t the king or someone else in the clan ever talk to Sam about what happened? Why did they all let him stew in his trauma for 15 years? I thought the vampire clan was supposed to be like a family, and yet none of them are ever present for any other member of the clan.

Sex healing his trauma.

Comparing saving someone’s life to sexual assault.

Frederick:

The only story with gray characters and would have really let Sam’s personality shine was thrown away because Redacted forgot his audience consists of people who are mentally 14.

This is only speculation, but given Redacted’s apparent fondness of terrible allegories, I suspect the real reason Frederick and Bright Eyes’s storyline was axed is because people weren’t talking about his precious sexual assault allegories. He could have easily wrapped up the story quickly in order to change public opinion since most view his word as final. Funny how in the one story where no one knew who the true villain is, it’s the only one to get removed.

Once again, also speculative but, comparing saving someone’s life to sexual assault.

That being said, the lack of conversation about how Sam giving Frederick a bare minimum explanation of vampirism as he lay dying is dubious at best.

Avior:

"Time isn’t linear”...the timeline in this story is 100% linear you cunt.

Trying to compare...not informing memory loss to some kind of abuse? What reason did Avior have to hide Starlight’s memory loss in the first place? He didn’t have to tell them about their relationship, but could have avoided Starlight making the same mistakes twice, and everything happening over again.

I would chalk up the current place of Avior’s story to him being a dumbass, but this feels like Redacted trying to make another of his dumbass “statements.” How is hiding information of Starlight’s memory loss and being distant manipulative exactly? If Redacted is trying to do a “re-falls in love with partner” trope, he failed spectacularly. If he’s comparing Avior’s actions to abuse/manipulation, then what exactly is his asking for “blind faith” from Starlight? If these two end up together after this, I will go feral.

Avior has done absolutely nothing to intentionally make Starlight fall back in love with him, and they do so naturally on their own, but Redacted still somehow portrayed this as Avior being manipulative.

(Adding preemptively) Makes it so that Avior doesn’t reveal the detail about Starlight’s memories until it’s relevant to their relationship, and not about potentially dying to the Meridian or generally escaping, and still having the two hook up in the end despite how horrifyingly creepy his reveal actually is.

D.A.M.N. boys:

Damien being borderline-abusive portrayed as romantic.

Portraying Bridging without consent being equivalent to sexual assault. I cannot stress enough how insulting this one in particular is to victims of sexual assault. It does not “go away” in a couple hours, the fact that Redacted made Freelancer see their “rapist” multiple times and try to rekindle their friendship, and the lack of proper care for Freelancer or proper justice of Kody in the name “realism.” Given how much he already bends and breaks literally every storyline, why didn’t he break this one to give Freelancer the resolution they deserve? If he wants to avoid “sad” or “dark” storylines, why wasn’t Kody dealt with a long time ago?

The fandom didn’t hate Kody enough, so instead of just getting rid of him after obviously failing at the sexual assault allegory, he brings Kody back and tries to make him the absolute worst character purely so people will hate him.

Given how many allegories Redacted makes, there’s a suspicious lack of discussion of the things Gavin does/has done. He influences a man into blowing him in a public space, but it’s okay because the man wants it? Redacted, do you ever stop to think about your own writing? Or just to think about the things you’re preaching?

David:

Borderline-abuse again portrayed as romantic. But it’s okay because Angel is healing him with their love.

Why does David feel like he has to be a dick to be Alpha? Was Gabe a dick as Alpha?

Asher:

Redacted hasn’t ruined this one yet that I’m aware of.

Milo:

Just...made the dumbest possible plan during the Inversion so the government looks evil, but the people look good. And the dumb plan worked because the heroes must win in the end, despite how many lives and breaches of covert they risked. What was that about “realism”, Redacted?

Marcus:

Took a perfectly alright story about grey characters and decided Marcus wasn’t hated enough, so proceeded to retcon half the story in order to make Marcus seem like an absolutely terrible person.

Hasn’t bothered to point out how hypocritical James is and probably won’t given Redacted’s track record. James got rid of Love’s obsession code, so I guess he’s the good guy now.

If Love isn’t the “yandere robot” anymore, then what was the point of this storyline? The sheer lack of punishment and consequences everyone faces except Macus (kind of) is bollocks.

Elliot:

Redacted hasn’t ruined this one yet that I’m aware of.

Blake:

Outside of making him obnoxious, Redacted hasn’t ruined him yet either. Are we ever going to get back to his listener?

Is he “yandere” or is he just an incel like Kody?

I had forgotten that Blake is just putting up an act to get his listener’s power on his side, so now I wonder why he’s “yandere” from the listener’s perspective and I dread the inevitable reveal of him as another black-and-white villain.

Regulus:

Compares Empathy Daemons to children and then deems this character one of them.

Oh sorry, he’s a “Fallen Empathy Daemon.” Does this mean he’s an adult for no reason? Is he fallen because he partakes in “dirty” things like sex? Once again I ask, Redacted, if you are aware of the things you preach?

Vega

Since it’s been brought to my attention: decided to fit in a shallow racism allegory with the demons while making them all the exact stereotypes they complain about and half of the few of them being actively predatory. Also, the promiscuous possibly-POC-coded queer demon (Gavin), who is considered a good protagonist, is implied to have sexually harassed children. Yikes.

Geordi:

Makes the intro to this character a way too long rant about how he thinks Cutie needs to ask for consent before reading his mind, despite establishing in the same video (I believe) that Telepaths can’t always control their abilities.

I don’t even tune in to Geordi’s plotline, but I still catch a lot of the reactions to the videos. This better be a breakup arc.

What plot twist?

(Adding preemptively) Makes it so that Geordi and Cutie are just going through “tough times” “as all couples do” and “overcome their difficulties” to become a suddenly-healthy couple despite the fact that every single time someone mentions one of their videos, it’s Cutie violating Geordi’s long-established boundaries.

(Adding preemptively, in hopes Redacted will finally make me eat my words and force me to remove this and the above statement from his growing sin list) Romanticizing abuse.

Morgan

Nothing major has happened with this character yet to warrant sinning, but he was disappointingly less sarcastic than I anticipated.

Imperium:

Doesn’t actually live up to the idea of a “mirror-verse”, which is what the Imperium is stated to be.

Rather than making bad characters good and good characters bad, the bad characters are even worse somehow and the good characters are bad, but only because they have specific circumstances that make them bad, and aren’t actually bad.

Took a usually incredibly interesting idea and made it utterly, unbearably boring.

I forgot to mention before, but some of the bad characters, specifically Vega and Adam, don’t actually appear to be that much worse than their canon counterparts, and in fact are arguably less evil. Either way, if his intention was to make any sort of “mirror-verse”, he still failed to do so.

Inversion:

Introduced Xavier as an interesting side-character just to kill him off for shock value. This had no impact on the overall story.

The only other act of real consequence was Lovely being turned, which doesn’t really change the story either. Lovely already lived under covert and already was familiar with the vampires, they’ll just be around them more often now.

Milo not being able to shift was undone in about 2 videos.

Asher getting a scar he could easily cover up is somehow worse than people dying.

Failed so miserably at making this story impactful on the plot that all the characters could do after the Inversion ended was be sad.

“The consequences won’t go away in the next video.” You’re right, Redacted. It took 2 videos.

Mr. RedactedASMR, in summary:

Cherry-picks the things he wants to be “woke” about.

Cares more about making “statements” than writing a story. Just write political posts for a blog and save us all the time, sir.

Claims to write mature content, yet writes at a middle-grade level at best.

Claims to want to write about “real” things, but doesn’t have the spine to handle them with the seriousness and care they need and deserve.

Tries so hard to water down his villains and their actions to be more “palatable” that he ends up making his shallow allegories insulting.

When the fandom doesn’t hate his villains enough, he makes them uncharacteristically as horrible as possible for no reason.

Apparently won’t be happy until he has a cult following that agrees with everything he says/writes.

Desperately needs to hire an editor or co-writer that’s not one of his awful friends/mods.

Very obviously bends to the will of the loud part of the fandom in order to get money, which does not make him a good writer. I’m also suspicious of when the fandom points out “wrongdoings” of his characters, he panics and quickly tries to cover it up by preaching about “abuse” or whatever. It would make sense as to how characters like Marcus and Avior are suddenly being portrayed as horrible when there was no prior evidence and seemingly blatant retcons in order to do so.

What will he virtue-signal about next? Stay tuned!

#I will accept no fault if this shows up in the tags #blame the website

[mjgauthor]

How I Got a Book Deal

How I Got a Book Deal

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” ― Winston S. Churchill.

Twenty years. That’s how long I’ve been writing. I started writing my first real book when I was in high school, and for nine years, I refused to give up on it. I spent hours devising the world, creating maps, and drawing characters. All good practice, but I didn’t spend nearly enough time writing it. And though I didn’t want to admit it, I knew something was wrong with my writing. Like, imagine recording yourself playing a musical instrument. Even if you’ve practiced for a few years, you’d know it didn’t compare to a professional. I remember being in awe of how easily Rowling, or Card, or Rothfuss navigated telling a compelling story while simultaneously building powerful characters and creating vivid descriptions. My writing was a stick-figure drawing compared to their Sistine Chapel.

Still, I’m a stubborn Gregson. We’re all stubborn. And I wanted a go at landing a literary agent. So, I agonizingly prepared querying materials for this book. But the week before I planned on sending it to anyone, I got a feeling after lots of pondering and prayer. And the feeling told me to let it go.

So, I did. 

The book went into the figurative drawer, and I doubt I’ll ever go back to it. Honestly, letting it go was the best thing to happen to my writing. That book was like taking care of someone very ill for so long that you forgot to care for yourself.

After I let it go, my writing skill exploded. I got quicker, too. I wrote multiple books over the next several years until finally, after my sixth book, I landed my agent, Heather Cashman. And that day, telling people that I was an agented author was my proudest writing accomplishment.

Until now.

My agent and I went through revisions. Our plan was to take the book from good to great and so she gave me detailed editorial notes. After a few months of digesting these, I realized the book required an even larger revision. So, I rewrote the first hundred pages, then the last hundred. And I heavily revised the middle. I shifted the tense. Adjusted character motivation. Killed an important character who survived the original version. The climax completely changed—the ending, too. In the next five months, the book that used to be DOWNFALL became SKY’S END.

Something about this book felt right. So, when I sent it to my agent, I felt confident. Well, a little nervous, too.

Not long after I sent it to her, Heather came to Salt Lake City for a wedding. We met over lunch to discuss my career while eating chicken souvlaki and pita bread at a local restaurant. And she was absolutely dripping with enthusiasm for SKY’S END. She loved all the changes. We just had a few more minor revisions to do, and then in August 2021, we went on submission to find a publisher.

My agent warned me that it would be difficult—but she would do all she could to sell it.

The first editor responses came back within days. One of them came from a great editor and it was filled with compliments, calling my writing “remarkably vivid” and that my world was “lush” and that I crafted “a wonderfully immersive narrative.” The editor passed, as it wasn’t a perfect fit for her list, but her enthusiasm got me excited enough to think maybe SKY’S END was the one. 

Then, I sat back, and waited, hoping we’d hear some great news in the coming months. Except, that’s not what happened. I heard nothing for the rest of 2021.

I pushed the book from my mind and occupied myself with other projects in the meantime, including completing my eighth book and revising my seventh. Then, on January 18th, Heather announced a book deal on Twitter for another client. I sent a congratulatory email to Heather, but I got an email back that made me sit down. It wasn’t just a thank you note. Heather also mentioned that an editor just reached back to her and asked if SKY’S END was still available.

This was, she noted, a very good sign, and that my book might make it to acquisitions at the publisher.

I remember staring at the email, perplexed. Like, I only expected her to respond with “Thanks!” Instead, I got the biggest news I’d had since my agent offered me. So, I went a little wild because this had been a dream of mine since I was sixteen. Even twenty years later, I still vividly remember working on my first book on the dining room table, labeling maps of fantasy lands and drawing illustrations of the characters I wanted to bring to life.

After this email, my wife and I speculated about all the possible scenarios with this publisher and editor.

What could happen? 

1. Editor fell out of love – REJECTED.

2. Editor fell in love but couldn’t get editorial team to fall in love too – REJECTED

3. Editor and editorial team loved it, but publisher didn’t – REJECTED

My wife and I were careful when discussing the possibility that this could be anything other than a rejection. Either way, we hunkered down and expected it to be a long wait. A month or two, maybe. But that’s not what happened. Apparently, twenty years had been long enough. A week after my agent told me of the editor’s interest, I got another email from Heather on January 25th.

I was teaching my 7th period ELA class. One thing about me as a teacher is I’ve always been very transparent with my students about the number of rejections I’ve received during my journey. I don’t share rejection specifics with my students, but I do tell them about how hard I’ve worked and the value of perseverance. It’s a good lesson. My classes have chanted “I can do hard things!” Sometimes, I chant that louder than anyone in the room because I need to convince myself that I really can do hard things. When you’ve received hundreds of rejections while querying several books, some doubt creeps in.

Anyway, I got an email while I was in the middle of 7th period. I’m not in the habit of checking my phone while I’m teaching, but I couldn’t help myself because I was hoping to hear back from Heather. Sure enough, the email was from her.

Subject: The shortest wait you’ve ever seen…

Message: Hi Marc,

We’ve received an offer today for SKY’S END.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I stared at the message for a few seconds—almost like I couldn’t comprehend it. Was my agent writing in some ancient, dead language? Was it English? It didn’t make sense. Then, suddenly, I let out a little groan. One of my students glanced back at me and gave me a funny look.

And then I shouted, “OH MY GOSH!”

The whole class stopped working with their partners and stared at me. I was in a daze. Nothing felt real. Was my heart still beating? Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what happened next as this moment is a little hazy. I think I moved to the front of the classroom—panting, and my students were worrying that I was having a heart attack or something. I lowered into a chair, I think, and leaned on my knees. One of my students later told me my face had turned bright purple, and a vein was bulging on my forehead.  

They probably thought I was dying. Oh no, Mr. Gregson’s gonna fall over dead in front of his whole class. Who knows CPR? Get the admin in here! Does this mean we don’t have to do the book report?

Finally, I took a breath, and told my students.

And I remember this because the class erupted with cheers and claps. It was the great roar on the third floor. The loudest my room has ever been. My students were all so incredibly happy for me.

Suffice to say, we didn’t get much work done for the remainder of the class period.

This moment was, without a doubt, one of the best feelings of my life. And I’m so happy I got to share it with my students because they’ll never forget it. I know I won’t. Honestly, it felt like I just drained a three pointer to win the NBA championship.

Getting cheered for a book deal…man, kids are the absolute best.

I’m so thrilled to say I’ll be working with Jonah Heller at Peachtree Teen. He just gets my work and has a great vision for it in the marketplace. And I’m so grateful for my agent, Heather, who pushed me to make my book better and who found the absolute perfect landing place for SKY’S END. 

I can’t wait for you to read my book, and to meet Conrad. This book is the culmination of twenty years of frustration. It has energy, power, and lots and lots of adrenaline. I’m hoping you read it, and I hope you fall in love with it as much as I have. I just can’t wait to hear your reactions.

SKY’S END is but a piece of me. A piece that will be published, and no one can ever take that away.

Spring 2024 cannot come soon enough.

-Marc

#debut author #traditional publishing #debut novel #book announcement #ya fantasy #fantasy #ya author #ya scifi #ya science fiction

[multi-lefaiye]

to be alone, foreigner's god, it will come back

thank you for the ask!!

To Be Alone — What do you think is the thing that most makes your writing stand out?

Honestly I'm not sure what makes my writing particularly stand out, but in terms of content I think maybe my fixation with mental health and trauma as big overarching themes. Either that or the fact that I just love and adore immortal characters so much. They're not in every WIP, but I like playing around with them.

Foreigner’s God — Does religion play a role in your narrative? If so, how?

It does, yeah!! I don't touch on a lot of real-world religions most of the time, partly because of my own bad experiences with the branch of Christianity I was raised in. However, I do want to incorporate it more in the future, because I do find religion as a theme very interesting to explore, especially in relation to characters' personal narratives.

I do love fantasy religions, though, so so fucking much. Magic Apocalyptica is a big example of this--I made a bunch of dang fantasy religions for that setting, and they're each very important to varying degrees to the stories I want to tell in that universe.

One example is, like... I've been trying to make a conscious effort with the MA religions not to portray any of them as inherently bad or evil, because I don't like that kind of thing in fiction. The people who follow those religions may do some fucked up shit sometimes, or the religions as organizations may be fucked up, but the beliefs themselves aren't inherently bad. Every religion in MA is based on an earnest desire to understand a world that has been completely upended, as well as to protect the new society that has formed in its wake. None of them are wrong or evil, because they're all just people trying their best.

(Except maybe Lunism and Vastationism, but even then I do firmly believe that Lunism has its pros and Vastationists are mostly just desperate people who were duped by a conman.)

It Will Come Back — Is there a theme, trope, or something else that reoccurs in your work?

Oh so many- as I mentioned previously, I am very preoccupied with mental health and trauma in my work and it's my favorite thing to explore. However, there are definitely a few themes and tropes besides that that I think show up in a lot of my work! I'll just go ahead and list them.

identity and what it means to be human (usually refuting the idea that "love is what makes us human")

non-human characters that are more human than the humans around them

immortality, both the good and the bad

romances where the characters involved do love each other and would never hurt each other willingly, but circumstances make things sour and drive them to hurt each other anyway

complicated situations where no one's really at fault, per se

no one is inherently evil and everyone is a product of choices and circumstances

forgiveness and when and how it is earned or deserved, and whether or not people can or should be forgiven for horrible things

the ways people affect each other, both directly and indirectly

i don't think i've talked about this as much in terms of current wips i'm working on, but i also enjoy exploring potential dynamics between a hero character with low/no empathy vs a villain character with high empathy. not to demonize either, but because i do firmly believe empathy does not determine whether a person is good or bad. and because every person who says "[character] has no empathy and that's why they're evil" brings me one step closer to my villain arc.

magic as a corrupting force (something something a representation of power changing a person for the worse)

the idea of the previous generation creating problems and then leaving them for the new generation to face the consequences and find away to solve them

characters that are just little freaks (affectionate)

characters being brought down by their own pride and self-fulfilling prophecies

#talk to the bunnykitty #bat time all the time #ask game #i like. talking about tropes. if that isn't clear ASDFJKL; #fun fact i have a very specific old wip i've been trying to figure out how to revamp #that's been on the backburner for years #that the empathy point applies to! as well as religious imagery and the self-fulfilling prophecy point

[thatsparrow]

thor love and thunder thoughts (spoilers)

it was fine

highlight: truly every moment tessa thompson was on screen. in love with her valkyrie styling, her earth streetwear and every blend of the two. did I need canon confirmation that she’s bi? no, but it was nice anyway. I also fully choose to interpret her saying to thor “you and I play for the same team” in omnipotent city as a moment of bi camaraderie

critique: this is sort of a big one, but the movie as a whole felt tonally lost. look at ragnarok, which had a clear narrative message, a clear and satisfying arc for thor’s character, and all the plot points and humor in between served both those elements. the arc of love and thunder can mostly be boiled down to “thor needs to learn to love again” (which, gets sort of confused in whether that’s romantic love or platonic love or both) but the process of that journey doesn’t at all seemed served by the plot itself. like, hela works as the villain in ragnarok because she represents the history of imperialism and warfare that asgard was founded on, and as ragnarok is about thor coming into his own as king after odin’s death, defeating her is as much a symbolic rejection of asgard’s legacy (in addition to the very real destruction of the city itself) as it as about beating the bad guy. in love and thunder, gorr’s mission to destroy the gods for not protecting their believers feels like an absolute mismatch with thor’s journey to open his heart (and the two only get weakly tied together at the very end)

highlight: i like hela as a villain, but there’s more to her as a symbol than there is depth or motivation to her character. love and thunder seemed aware of that and took the time to establish gorr’s rationale as a villain, which was certainly not unreasonable given his history (although, for what ultimate purpose? love ig)

critique: so. jane. bonus highlight, jane as mighty thor makes some fucking points, and her exuberance in costume, her personal fighting style w mjolnir and her dynamic w valkyrie were all great. the critique—what was the point of any of it except to further thor’s storyline? truly she only felt brought back for. idk girlboss points and to teach him it’s better to love and get hurt than not to love at all, because that’s her ultimate impact on the story—how her death affects him. come on

highlight: the shadow monsters were very fun visually, and added a darker, creepier element to the story that, honestly, I wish taika had leaned into further. like you introduce the idea of fighting with and disappearing into shadows, give christian bale that makeup and those teeth, plus the kidnapping of a bunch of children and you’ve got the makings for something dark and unsettling that would then have made those moments of humor much more narratively interesting and powerful

critique: the absence of loki has been mentioned enough that I won’t spend too much time on it, but the lack of that dynamic really is a bummer

idk other miscellaneous thoughts

since when does heimdall have a son? and with no exploration of what it meant to him to have heimdall as a father, that inclusion really just felt like it was serving the plot to keep thor in contact w the kids

omnipotent city was very whatever. it was truly just a weaker version of sakaar, and zeus just a weaker version of the grandmaster. okay, so zeus doesn’t care about protecting other gods or stopping gorr. do truly all the other gods feel that way? they certainly seemed to, in which case, doesn’t that prove gorr’s point? doesn’t that demonstrate a need to uproot or change the system that serves the gods but doesn’t serve the people?

i. guess I’m glad sif’s alive? for the whole two minutes she was on screen. and that the movie acknowledged how ragnarok killed off the warriors three (which is one of my main beefs with the movie, how completely it disregards the importance of their friendship w thor and the impact on him of their deaths) but it also couldn’t be bothered to remember hogunn’s name so. not my favorite

okay the ending. the ending. so the whole resolution of this is now thor has a daughter? who he’s ready to take care of because jane taught him to love again? okay?? but very little time spent on how he’s been impacted by familial loss (say, the recent loss of loki) other than the back tattoo?? truly it just felt like a clumsy way to tie the thor/gorr narrative arcs together. the kid is cute, don’t get me wrong, and they’re cute together, but it’s hard to feel invested in the dynamic when it felt so last minute and slapdash

honestly overall the movie felt like it would have benefited from a stronger editing hand. ragnarok worked so well for me because so much of it felt new and surprising in the context of a marvel/superhero movie, in terms of its humor and its self-awareness. love and thunder doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do most of the time, and so doesn’t accomplish much of anything at all

#thor love and thunder #thor love and thunder spoilers #thor spoilers #the tldr is that it feels very lost from the roots and voice of what I associate w a good taika movie #which like—it's a marvel movie i don't expect too much from them anyways these days #but it didn't even feel like he was /trying #kayla's thoughts on media

[stargazerdali]

A non-exhaustive reference document for several of my internal storylines. There is currently nowhere you can read/consume these stories. This is just a context doc.

Lovebunny

Genre: Furry Romance/Smut/Slice Of Life

Rating: M (content warnings: discussions and depictions of abuse and addiction)

This is world basically analogous to our own, with the main difference being that its inhabitants are anthropomorphized, humanoid animals. Its main focal character is Valentine Lepore (25m), a transgender grad student, sex worker, and fashion influencer. The story follows him and those close to him as they navigate love, trauma, sexuality, and each other. 

Four Of Them

Genre: Smut/Romance

Rating: M+ (content warnings: discussions and depictions of sexual and physical violence, addiction, poverty)

Once more, a setting indistinguishable from the real world. The story jumps between points of view between 4 different women, all roommates. Their names are Mona Baker (24f), Claire Fields (22f), Reyna Jiménez (26f), and Aleesha Young (28f). The story follows them individually and together, through their romantic and sexual escapades, in an episodic format. 

Supernova

Genre: Science Fiction/Superheroes/Slice of Life

Rating: T+ (content warnings: discussions and depictions of emotional abuse, violence, terrorism)

Physically, the world is identical to our own, with the exception that nearly half of the population has some sort of “super” ability. The narrative doesn’t stick closely to any one character, but there are 3 main protagonists. Maya Delgado (24f), is the first main character we meet, and her power is electromagnetic manipulation. Magenta Lake, or Peggy (???), is a genderless, shapeshifting, alien refugee from outside the solar system, with an array of powers afforded to them by their unique DNA. Nova (22f) is an anomaly in the society: the first human being to be able to survive with multiple powers presenting in the same body. She is the axis around which the story turns as it follows her and her friends through their training and discovery of themselves.

The Ballad of The Starling

Genre: Fantasy/Smut

Rating: M (content warnings: discussions and depictions of colonization, abuse, and trauma)

This is the only story with a world that’s completely unlike our own. The setting, Evaria, is based loosely on the concept of Dungeons and Dragons, and has analogous species. The story follows Juniper Starling (25f), a half-elven druid artist from the small village of Silverbrook, Tomak Kuivalainen (32m), a Goliath fighter from the Dragon’s Collar, and Dahlia Arnault (28f), a transgender, werewolf, Sorceror/Fighter with Celestial heritage. It follows the trio and their adventures across Evaria, both salacious and otherwise.

I made this list mostly for myself, as a reference for when someone asks me about these. It can also, however, be used as a basis of knowledge for basically everything I might ever post, so. Some of these titles are liable to change, but you can count on the characters and concepts to remain the same.

Please note the content warnings for each story, and consume the media responsibly.

#lovebunny #four of them #supernova #the ballad of the starling #smut #oc #original content #worldbuilding #reference #original stories #fantasy #scifi #superheroes #furry #romance #slice of life