#tagging this as critical cause I’m also frustrated at the worldbuilding so far | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

m3nt4llyr4v3d · 3 months

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Gonna ramble here about something that’s been buzzing in my head since the introduction of Beezlebub

Do the sins have children? Can they? I honestly kind of expected there to be hundreds of sin children running around. Exaggerating of course, but I’m kind of surprised there aren’t any ( that we’ve seen so far). Maybe it’s my basic ass understanding of the sin of Lust, but I’m a little surprised Azzy doesn’t have children (that we know of, I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if later they say he’s had 100s without him even knowing). Makes me wonder who could’ve been his lovers in the past, if he had any. ALSO I do want to know where their hellborns came from or if those hellborns would be considered their “children”

That also kind of leads me into my next point, just how old are they? Like, this is mostly a Bee issue, but it’s slightly an Azzy and Luci thing as well: they don’t seem that old at all? Even though Luci has been there since the beginning of humanity, he looks and sometimes acts as old as Charlie (I know Charlie is like 200 or smth but that kind of translates in show to being in her 20s). And Bee doesn’t even seem like she’s been around before 2000, at the very most the 1970s. I never get the sense that they’ve been around for centuries, eons even. What did they look like at the very beginning? How did they dress? What were their personalities like, because Azzy and Bee especially seemed to adapt to the times very well, so I imagine they were VERY different back then

Which kind of brings me into my next point, what are the sins? Who are they? Where did they come from, since there was no war (to my understanding)? What exactly do they do? What is their relation to each other, to humans? What are their relation to the Ars Goetia? Who even are the Ars Goetia in this universe? How do they affect the world, if they do at all? Also, how do they feel about the whole, humans are stuck in one ring thing? I get that they can’t interact with the Hazbin cast for copyright reasons, but it makes me wonder what they, in universe, were thinking when hell went to WAR with heaven because of shit happening in the pride ring, and if they thought about butting in at any point.

Also, how do they feel about the class system? I mean Bee’s hellhounds are the lowest class and are basically treated like animals. I get that an entire class system probably can’t be dismantled overnight, even if you (theoretically) are one of the most powerful beings in hell, but can they even do anything do anything about it. Are they upholding it?

I get that there’s 3 sins we haven’t even seen yet, so we’ll probably get more lore and worldbuilding when more of Helluva comes out, but it really makes me wonder. Despite me not watching it anymore, I’m weirdly jittery to see Belphegor, specifically to see what’s done for their attitude

#helluva boss critique #helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #helluva critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critical #rambling cause I’m (kinda) interested to see where that goes #tagging this as critical cause I’m also frustrated at the worldbuilding so far

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twixtandshout · 3 years

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Tagged by @pidgeonpostal! And not tagging anyone else because I have SOILED the original template (soiled it!!) in deference to my [brushes off skirt] mostly clean public-facing appearance.

...I’ve been making a lot of Spongebob memes lately for someone who has not seen Spongebob.

How many works do you have on AO3?

71!

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

...306,834. Jesus.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Uh. Many! I do a lot of one-offs (and/or start long things I never finish) in many different places. My top three fandoms by fics written are RWBY (29), Undertale (25), Gravity Falls/Transcendence AU (4).

Bet you can’t tell where my hyperfixations have fallen.

I’ve also got some Pokémon and Sonic the Hedgehog fics back on my ff.net account, or I think I still do, anyway, but let’s never go back there pls

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Sweeter Than Honey (Undertale): Taking a Completely unsurprising first place, with over 600 more kudos than the runner-up, the haphazard Underswap fic featuring a post-college self-insert I wrote just after high school! I shake my head some at how overblown and ridiculous the gap between this and all my other stuff is (c’mon, guys, I’ve written way better fics), but this is also the fic which prompted me (and at least one other person!) to start using they/them pronouns. I’ve gotten a lot of really sweet comments about how seen and appreciated it’s made people feel, so I can’t get down too far about it.

2. To Be A Hero (BNHA): I don’t count myself as part of the BNHA fandom, for a number of reasons, but for something that’s arguably the main motivation for the entire plot, Midoriya’s quirklessness is something I’ve never thought has been handled well. This fic marked the first time I (somewhat tentatively) claimed the disability label (thanks again to Sweeter Than for prompting that realization) to hold that lens over canon. It also really shot up my chart, dang! It’s the only thing here I’d consider “recent.”

3. Three-Sentence Shipping (Undertale): Self-explanatory.

4. Brothers Beyond Bonedaries (Undertale): Ah, the way-overcomplicated AU³ I got nowhere close to finishing. One of the things I really like about Undertale is the interface screw, how Toby Fox uses the medium of the video game to pull off crazy things and enhance his game, but most of the fic written for the fandom seems dedicated to explaining it away, grounding it, rather than taking it to the next step and messing with the medium of fanfiction when you keep the story going. I tried to do something cool like that here, playing with questions like narrator and authorship and breaking the fourth wall, even taking the “final boss” fight to a “totally separate” fic reached through the first by link – but, well, then I never finished it, which probably didn’t make anything less confusing for the poor folks who missed the intent.

5. Spirit and Such (Gravity Falls: Transcendence AU): A whole fic written to line out a particular image I had, which, naturally, never made it to the page. I consider it a bit of a cautionary tale for myself when it comes to writing (near-)original content; there’s a lot I look back on and cringe. I still love the characters, though – well, the important ones – and I think just stepping away from the tried-and-true Mizar formula nets it a star sticker here.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

>w>; I try, but a lot of the time I just don’t have anything to say? Like, oh, you liked it? Neat. There’s not much to respond to in comments like that, and then I’m weighing falling down on an ~obligation~ to respond to every message in my inbox vs annoying people with copy-paste fluff responses all down the page. Plus I know I make more of an effort to comment on things that didn’t get the attention I feel they deserve, so if I’m driving up my own comment count with nonsense, am I preventing myself from being in a position to receive more comments later? And then if I do comment, am I being too effusive or running people’s ears off explaining things they don’t actually need to know? Sometimes people just want to express interest or admiration and don’t necessarily want a whole peek and guided tour behind the curtain.

Can you tell I have anxiety? x3;

Anyway, I do respond when I can. And I keep most of the comments I’ve gotten to go back and reread.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hm, hmm. Lots of stuff in the TQ Nonsense series would probably qualify! I’m thinking of Unfixable, Wolfsong, and Ethanol. And there’s Bursting Through A Blood-Red Sky (I Can Live, I Can Breathe), of course, but that was always intended to have a fix-it epilogue. It’s just that I wrote it in a couple of hours day-of, stared at it, and decided I didn’t wanna just then. But now that’s As Long As You’re Still Burning Bright (I’m Still Awake), and that’s probably the best romance I’ve written, so that one worked out.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Now and then! When the urge strikes. Uhhh, I’ve got a series of Doctor Who x Undertale crossovers I actually made a whole dang verse for that never made it to print. Get a couple great comments on that every few months or so. I think the World Trigger x Undertale crossover is probably weirder, though, by virtue of WT being a very small fandom. My enthusiasm kinda sputtered out on that one.

Mostly I just daydream crossovers with whatever happens to catch my eye at any given moment. I have a lot!!!! Though odds are out on whether I manage to remember any of them once the initial thought’s passed, lol.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Gotten a couple eyebrow-raising comments, but I think mostly I’m just too small a writer to draw that kind of attention.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t? think so? Think my tastes are a little niche for most people to bother ^^;

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had someone apologize once for any language mistakes in their comment cause they had to run it through a translator! That’s not what you asked (the answer is no), but it’s very flattering to think that someone liked my fic enough to read and comment despite the language barrier.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! :D @pidgeonpostal was gracious enough to agree to co-write Five Nights at Denny’s with me off an idea about shoes. This has fulfilled a long-held dream of mine (collabing with someone, not the shoes) and also introduced me to some lovely people.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Who has time for just one? ;3c Honestly, I care more about the characters and how the relationship – any relationship – between them changes them than I do about ~A Ship~ as a solid, bounded noun-object. I’ve got characters I like more and less and feelings about who does and doesn’t have chemistry in which directions with whom, but finding anything that agrees with those preferences is hard, harder when you take alloromanticism into account. I’ll play in any sandbox with cool toys, especially if other folks have already built sick sandcastles there.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

[kicks every single unfinished fic further under the bed] What nooo no WIPs here, everything on my account is either finished or does not exist

I’ve got a couple extra chapters of Sweeter Than floating around unposted, but 1. that fic’s a mess 2. high school Twixt and post-college Twixt are different people and trying to contort myself into three other me-shapes just cause people Like this fic is not something I’m super interested in 3. it’s headed for an emotional dip and I’d rather leave it where it is than post two chapters, stall out again, and leave folks with a bad end.

As for other fics... it’s looking more and more likely that v7 of my Yellow Brick Road AU will never actually make it out. >w>; I’ve got some really great ideas, but not enough to make me feel like I know what I’m doing, and that’s a big roadblock. Plus trying to engage with RT’s Atlas-Mantle worldbuilding in any serious capacity is... a headache. I can’t recommend the Happy Huntress Cinematic Universe enough, but it leaves some pretty big shoes to follow! And I’ve got small feet. <w<;

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue’s fun, probably as an extension of characterization. I love tearing into what makes people tick, especially against the backdrop of their environment, the story they’re in, and the people they’re up against. Voice is a double-edged sword; I’ve been told my writing is really recognizable and individual, but on the other hand, I’ve been growing frustrated with with the limits of my narrative ability. There’s a strong rhythm I keep when I write (you might notice it here, even) but that leaves me feeling predictable and stale. I’m not sure I’m great at setting as a matter of course, but I’m pretty good at describing setpieces where the need comes up; that comes from my background in poetry, as does the fun I have with sublimating and abstracting complex imagery. And I think I bring some needed nuance to the universal. For good or ill, I don’t do what “everyone else” is doing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, writing, for one thing. If I don’t know how something’s going to go and don’t have the urge to write it, it isn’t getting done, which means there’s a billion things that will never see the page and a few hundred more that are never getting finished. I lose momentum easily and have a hard time getting started, and I put way too much standing on finding a foothold with other people; as critical as I am of my work, I have high expectations for the stuff that passes muster, and it never seems to measure up. I’m also really uncreative. Yeah, I can mix up elements and extrapolate events, but coming up with things wholesale is really hard, which is why I avoid it wherever possible and steal/reskin stuff from other places instead.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Something along the lines of “Hoo boy, I am Not qualified for this but hopefully it’s decent anyway.” Maria’s Spanish lines haven’t been a big deal – I’ve used it sparingly and, as a Latin language, it should be easy for English-speaking audiences to pick up on the gist – but I’ve had a harder time with Tai’s Chinese, both because I have Even Less background there and because it is, of course, an entirely different language system. If I write it out in English or Romanized italics, am I colonizing it or changing the meaning? If I write it out in the presumed-original characters (presumed because it’s Google Translate and who knows if I’m even barking in the right forest), am I confusing or alienating my presumed-majority-English-speaking audience? Where should I put the translations? Should I put the translations? And for Frisk’s sign language, thinking back, are the brackets I used instead of quotes alienating/infantilizing? I like that different characters give the text between a different feel, but I’m not an ASL speaker – and I’m pretty sure the word is “speaker,” which would only reinforce that that demographic would rather I didn’t do that. It’s important for all these characters, I think, that they use non-English language where it makes sense; it’s part of who they are. But as a white monolingual English-speaker, I don’t think I can really weigh in.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Thaaaat’d be Pokémon, followed closely with Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether those fics are still on my ff.net account or not (pretty sure I’ve purged them, but you never know) I’ve still got a couple saved to a folder on my current laptop, ostensibly so I can look back and see how far I’ve come and more practically to allow for the possibility of furthering group cohesion through public shaming.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I still like the idea behind The Man Who Is Atlas, and Burning Bright (Still Awake) gets props for being my current fic, though it’s currently in that spot where I’m excited to get new chapters posted but also quietly marking everything up in red pen. I think Harbinger gets the crown here, at least for now.

#answerin' stuff

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i-am-the-entertainer · 5 years

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RevieWBY Volume 6, Chapter 8: “Dead End”

You know, in retrospect, it was kind of our own fault for hyping it up to be Winter. But good on them for not making this new character like a big reveal.

There’s really not that much to say about this episode overall. I think it’s along the lines of Chapter 2 and Chapter 4: it’s dealing with the aftermath of something and setting up for something much more major down the line, thus it can’t really stand on its own. But like with those two, there’s some interesting stuff going on in this episode that’s worth touching upon, especially when it comes to worldbuilding.

Oh, and fyi: some major fandom crtq at the end.

Such Wit! Such Tenacity! Much wow!

This chapter offers up a new perspective on the Atlas military: Caroline Cordovin and her nationalist, racist attitude. We’ve been told in the past that Atlas is the kind of modern military nation, acting without reason, being very self-centered, blah blah blah. The problem is, we haven’t really been shown that: the only real Atlas military characters have been Ironwood and Winter, and (being generous) they’re the good guys. Volume 4 kind of showed just how shitty Jacques Schnee and his circle of buddies can be, but it wasn’t really a perspective on the military: in fact, in the post-gala scene Ironwood, as the military’s representation, seemed the direct counterpoint to the rich assholes of Atlas. With this in mind, this volume has sort of run with the assumption that Atlas’s support will be a piece of cake, but Cordovin present a reasonable obstacle while also giving us more insight into the kind of people who actually make up the Atlas military.

Qrow v. Ruby

Based on his bit from this volume’s intro sequence, how he’s been reacting to the revelations regarding Ozpin, and some comments from Miles on this week’s RWBY Rewind about how he feels awful because Qrow is making all the wrong decisions, this is definitely the volume where Qrow is going to officially hit rock bottom (if he hasn’t hit it already). Whereas Team RWBY is willing to stick to their guns about getting to Atlas even after Jinn’s story and Brunswick Farms, Qrow has given up. Remember, he had possibly the strongest reaction to finding out Ozpin doesn’t have a plan, because he devoted his entire life to Ozpin’s supposed cause and lost so many friends and family along the way: another obstacle has kicked him down even further. After three seasons of Qrow being the drunk uncle who’s still a hero, we’re closing in on dark territory for him.

Ruby has always kind of just accepted Qrow’s alcoholism as one of his quirks, but with this volume’s events she realizes it’s an actual problem, offering a new angle on their relationship after it’s remained at a constant level since Volume 3. This arc is developing quite well: from cautious awareness in Chapter 5 to an attempt to reach out in Chapter 6 to complete frustration in this chapter. I’m curious as to where this will go: it’s the most development/insight into Ruby we’ve gotten that wasn’t straight up told to us.

Well, You’d Be Mad Too

With the previous episode, it vaguely seemed like JNR finding out the truth about Ozpin was about to get glossed over, but NOPE. Their reactions were exactly as they should be, if not strong enough. It’s important to remember that they lost one of their closest friends in the fight between good and evil, and they have essentially been told that her death was for nothing. It’s almost on par with Qrow’s reaction, especially when you take into account how much Qrow has lost from siding with Ozpin all this time. I’m not defending their actions, especially Jaune’s, but rationalizing them in the context of this show. They were not going to take this news lightly, and anything lighter would have been unrealistic.

Can I just add: sidelining JNR for half the volume was a good writing decision. Not only does it decrease the number of characters we need to pay attention to for a storyline that needs razor-sharp focus in order for it to be delivered well, it prevents the utter mess that would’ve occurred if they AND Qrow had been present for Jinn’s story. It also provides a counterpoint to Team RWBY’s perspective: besides having witnessed everything in person, they have had a few days and a traumatic experience to rationalize their next moves. JNR has had no such thing, and they’re going to have to deal with this differently.

Learning Is Fun

In an example of planting-payoff, we finally get some insight into the silver-eyed warriors, three years after we were even aware it was a concept, and three years since we knew anything new about it other than you could use it against Grimm. I like the wink at just how little Ruby (and by extension, the audience) knows about such an important power.

This is a moment where a lot of information we get comes from talking, which is why I think this episode may feel a little slow, comparable to some of Volume 4 and 5′s lower moments. That said, I think the show deserves some leeway on this because this volume so far has really stuck to show-don’t-tell, plus since this is much-desired information having it in the first place is useful no matter how it’s delivered. It can also be said it makes sense to have this story delivered through dialogue, as presumably that’s how Maria learned: it’s like sharing a legend orally, and emphasizing just how rare the silver-eyed warriors are and how dangerous being one can be.

There’s something interesting going on in this scene that a few people have touched upon: Ruby commenting that her silver eyes were activated when she saw Jaune and Cinder sparring, prompting Maria to suggest that perhaps there was something she wasn’t seeing. On first thought, it refers to the fact that Cinder has a Grimm arm. Except the thing is, there’s no point in framing it the way they do: it’s framed as though there’s something mysterious for the viewer to think about, but we all know Cinder’s arm is Grimm. What does this imply about Cinder? Well, we know the whole reason she got the Fall Maiden powers was because she cheated: she used what could be best described as a parasite Grimm. We also know from her “training” with Salem that the new arm is almost a separate entity from her, but she needs the ability to control it herself rather than the other way around. There appears to be a broader implication that Cinder’s connection to the Grimm may be stronger than just a supplement to her powers or a prosthetic to her lost arm: is she becoming a Grimm/Human hybrid along the lines of Salem?

But then again, I could be overthinking it, it could just be an acknowledgment/reminder that Ruby herself doesn’t know about Cinder’s arm. But I guess it’s something to keep an eye on for the rest of the volume.

Conclusions

This is another set-up episode, and it’s not a particularly exciting one at that. It’s hard to judge these on their own considering they’re designed to service a larger storyline, but overall I just thought “Okay, things are gonna be harder than they thought, they reacted as we thought they’d react, we finally got some insight into stuff, and we’ve got our next major arc.” So I’ll just accept this as it is: straightforward set-up, some insight into the show’s mythology. I didn’t hate it or love it, I didn’t dislike it or like it, it was just eh. And considering pretty much all the chapters last volume made me feel “eh” and most of the ones this volume haven’t, I’m still happy to call Volume 6 an improvement.

By the way...if you’ve been on the RWBY tag these past couple of days, you’ve probably noticed my posts about the highly entitled part of this fandom complaining about the sneak peek for the next chapter on RWBY Rewind having animation errors, and the more rwde part of this fandom once again shitting on Miles for calling out someone for being an asshole about it. I admit, I’m getting a little too worked up about this, but honestly this whole business has really made my blood boil over the past week, a week I’ve been trying to use to relax after school let out for break, so, rant time.

IT WAS SO CLEARLY UNFINISHED, DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THEY WERE GONNA BROADCAST THE EPISODE WITH SUCH A BLATANT ERROR? It happened because they weren’t done with the episode before they sent the clip in for RWBY Rewind’s live broadcast. And don’t give me that bullshit about how you’re paying with a FIRST account for a 60 second sneak peek to be perfect, you’re paying 3 bucks a month so you can watch the episodes a week early, you know, like the rest of us with FIRST accounts are doing, never mind the hundreds of hours of exclusive content we get in that subscription! And shit, if you’re really on about those 60 seconds of a thirty minute RWBY aftershow needing to be perfect, you could’ve just watched the version that they put up online afterwards, which is so clearly the finished version not just because they fixed the compositing error but they added ambient effects and additional pedestrians in certain shots! I mean, I don’t even watch RWBY Rewind live half the time, most people don’t, I’ve just been paying to watch it starting the day after it’s recorded!

And god forbid Miles tell an asshole he’s being an asshole! I mean, how do you hold up A FUCKING 60 SECOND SNEAK PEEK as evidence of a drop in the show’s animation quality?! Have you been watching this fucking season? The animation is the best it’s been in ages. Like it’s actually absurd how much detail and attention they’ve put into shots, even non-fighting scenes! And don’t even get me started on how good the fights have been! Better sparingly used quality fights than overused often subpar fights (god, Volume 5 was a shitshow)!

You idiots go on and on about “Oh, I’m harsh on this show because I love it! They should listen to legitimate criticism no matter how I deliver it!” Newsflash: you don’t love this show. At this point you’re only criticizing it because you hate it. Because if you were actually criticizing it out of love for the show, you’d be pointing out actual issues this volume. You’d be saying something like “Oh, this kid of information should have been dropped earlier” or “This volume should not have set up Adam as a major player only to more or less not use him for the past 7 chapters.” Or, you know, point out actual problems with the show, even nitpicks like the weird fireplace effects at Brunswick Farms or some animation errors that popped up in Chapter 6. But the funny thing is, you’re not pointing that out. You’re pointing out a 60 second sneak peek that was clearly presented with no pretense of it being the final product and acting like you’ve found the ace in the hole, the proof that CRWBY is lazy and disrespecting of Monty’s legacy.

You don’t love this show. You love to pretend that you’re protecting the show from the very people that make it. But the fact is, it’s them who are in the writers’ rooms, it’s them who are sitting at the computers, it’s them who make the show you pretend to love. And if you’ve resigned yourself to just hating whatever it is they put out, then I’m sorry, but you’re not a fan of what the show is now. So you can either keep moaning about “Oh, Monty wouldn’t have done this,” or maybe accept the fact that there’s no way the show could do whatever it is Monty did because no one can do what Monty would do. They can only do what they do. It’s no longer just Monty’s show, it’s CRWBY’s show too. And if you’re just never gonna be satisfied with that, if every little thing they do and say is gonna make your blood boil, if every choice they make is completely against the show you’ve built up inside your head, then just don’t watch it. It would make all of us, including you, feel better.

#rwby #rwby6 #reviewby #crtq #rwby6 spoilers

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