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rileyclaw · 1 year

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Hii! First off i just want to I'm such a big fan of your art and animatics! Your art is just so expressive and unique its addicting to look at 💞💞

I was wondering if you could go over how your process or tutorial in making an animatic? Whenever I try to start to make one, I get jumbled up and end up ditching it lol

I'm sorry if you get this question a lot 😭

So sorry it took me so long to answer this- I was in a Busy time (diseaseridden with covid and being punched by finals) when I got the ask and wanted to answer it with some stuff Im using for my next TOH animatic!!

I'll say one thing first: I get jumbled up and ditch so many animatics. For every one animatic I release, there are three to five more I have that have NEVER seen the light of day (yet). And that's okay!! It's fun just to make them for me, and I hope it is for you too!! Animatics are scary because if you're working on it alone, it can be really hard to be your own cheerleader to keep up the mojo to keep going. So that makes it really special when there is that project that makes it to the finish line- cuz you can look at it and go "holy crap I made this. holy crap i MADE that look how SICK that is dude!! all that work and look at the turnout!!"

The following stuffh is just my personal process and is by no means representative of a professional animation pipeline, but this works for me as a Lonely Artist! It all begins with the idea - whether it's a song, or just a story you wanna tell. In the case of the one I'm gonna demo here with , I wanted to animate Hunter's first day as Del's apprentice!

The first thing I did was write a script. Not fancy or AO3-quality, but enough that I understand the pacing and the visuals of each shot. I usually just put this in a doc or put it in a script format, if I feel fancy.

Then, I take that script and find music that I think would fit for it- and remix it (if needed) to fit the pacing/mood/etc! This is what this new animatic looked like before I began ANY artwork- this is a me thing because I'm super inspired by audio as opposed to visuals first. But you might be different- this is just how I like working personally!

Then begins the research! I find references for characters, background layouts, and create a style guide for the animatic that tells me how thick lines will be for characters, backgrounds, if there'll be tons of value or no. I make a turnaround for each character so I can refer to them because Im gonna be drawing them over and over a LOT and want to be consistent! Luckily TOH has no shortage of references, so I based my work off them.

THEN, I can begin drawing. I'm a little,,, (a lot) ADHD and may not always do this process, but if you're new to animatics or daunted by the task at hand, make beat boards of the entire project.

This is just a page of rough thumbnails that get your visual idea down - look how rough and quick these are!! I try not to spend over a minute on each beat board if I dont have to, unless it's a particularly complex shot.

When it gets to the stage where you're ready to begin the actual scenes, I personally tend to do backgrounds first because I like to set characters into backgrounds - and for every animatic, I have the Awkward Blue Sketch Stage which is basically my beat boards timed out as an animatic.

I used Storyboard Pro for this (Toonboom, not free ): icky), but the process can be replicated across most art platforms in whichever way you feel most comfy with! This is so I can time the drawings before I devote time cleaning them up-- which can make for some Pretty Funny looking little guys but theyre important!! trust!!

Once a big sequence of shots is cleaned up (I usually do 40-60 second chunks at a time), I export the .mov and send it to my editing program (which in this case is still Premiere Pro) - and then repeat this process again and again until.. it's done??

Here's like a TL;DR list of basically everything I said summed up:

• Make a loose script or bulletin of the idea! Do your research!

• Depending on what kind of animatic you're making, time it to music!

• Make a beat board of very loose gestures for your shots, and time them - then move on to refinement & cleanup!

• Combine all shots, refine music cues and timings, add any last needed VFX, and export!

There's no secret recipe or anything, it's just learning a pipeline that best suits you, whether it is for something professional or something you want to make for fun because you just love to make!!

#riley talks #long post #SORRY ITS LONG but i couldnt just put a bulletin list like “this is the ONLY method that works” bc thats not true!!!#everyone works diferently especially artists #and this is just my specific method of working #im very fortunate to have programs that make animatic-making a little easier #so i hope whoever wishes to make one in the future finds something that works well for them!! i have a blast making storyboards/animatics!!#text post #ask #tutorial #idk how to tag this lol

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kaibutsushidousha · 9 days

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What do you like so much about Zepia?

Good question. A madman who lost himself to the daunting task of saving the world is probably the most common Nasu villain archetype, so I have no shortage of characters to compare him to. So what makes Zepia's tragedy stand among so many like it?

The first and most shallow factor to consider is that Zepia is more aesthetically interesting than most if not all of his peers. The vampire imagery, the theater imagery, and the possibilities brought by his status as rumor land malware are all super cool stuff that meshes well with each other and ties in neatly with the themes of Melty's narrative.

The other key factor is his relationship with Sion, the other natural information vampire of the Eltnams. Due to Sion's unique talents, the creeds of the Atlas Institute, and the beliefs and upbringing that naturally form when the two are combined, Zepia takes a very "you are me" approach to his interactions with Sion. He knows where she's going because he walked that same walk. He knows what becomes of Sion when she loses her hopes. Sion was a TATARI in the making, until Actress Again where she actually became Zepia's TATARI successor like he sorta wanted at first. Because Sion is a new hope Zepia found some 500 years after losing all that he previously had.

Most other members of Nasu's fallen hero archetype don't have this personal and involved connection with the protagonist they confront. Sion and Zepia are thoroughly defined by their relationship with each other and FGO thoroughly and consistently proves that Sion can't be interesting with him removed from the picture.

There is one exception. Archer is the one Nasu madman wrecked by the task of saving the world who has even more of a "you are me" relationship with his hero. If ask me which other Nasu antagonist is the closest to Zepia, my answer is Archer. They even share the powerful heartwarming moment of happily accepting that their enemy has found something better in life than following his doomed footsteps. But Zepia stands out more as the undiluted version of this idea since there is so much more stuff happening in UBW while Melty Blood is only Sion and Zepia (arguably Shiki and Riesbyfe too, but be honest, they're accessories to Sion's character more than anything). It's a prime example of how less can be more.

#type moon #melty blood #melty blood actress again #night of wallachia #zepia eltnam oberon #i hope i was coherent enough here i'm not awake enough to know

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redux-iterum · 6 months

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Do you have any advice to help or prevent writer's block? I have a terrible habit of starting but never completing what I write. Also really excited for the Charred Legacy!

Hello and thank you! My advice splits into two categories of writer's block, which I'll call here Classic Block and Progression Block. Classic Block refers to the block people usually mean, especially when drawing: that you can barely write three sentences before erasing it all because it's awful and you hate it, leading you to sit around stewing in frustration that your skill level is so low. Progression Block, meanwhile, is the block where the actual work of writing something to completion is a Herculean task, even if you don't hate your writing style. The distinction DOES matter, as you’ll see.

To start off, Classic Block sources from your standards of writing not matching what you perceive to be your level of ability. Maybe you used to like how you write, but now all you see is the flaws. Your skills have leveled out or lowered instead of steadily increasing in quality – at least, that’s how it feels. This leads to you not writing at all, or only getting a bit done and then abandoning it because it sucks and what’s even the point and you’ll never make anything good anyway and so on. It’s the same thing as artist’s block, just with typing.

This brand of block has similar advice in every medium of art that it appears in, which is “study and practice”. The only way to get better is to examine where your faults are at and work to fix them. If you find how you write dialog unnatural, for example, you take a look at books or scripts you enjoy the dialog of and pay close attention to how the characters talk, or you find as many advice posts on the web as possible about how to create natural-sounding conversations, or even just listen in to people chatting in the real world. Like an artist studies anatomy and feels more confident about their improving work, a writer studies all the advice they can get and applies it to their story, and continues writing for practice until they get somewhere they’re okay with. It may not be as easy as artist’s block to conquer, depending on who you are, but it is doable.

Progression Block is a different beast, and I’ve certainly felt it before on my comics and writing. This is when you’re at the beginning or starting the middle of your project and you find yourself unable to continue on to the end. Maybe you’ve lost the adrenaline that the start gave you; maybe the prospect of a long-term story is too daunting; maybe you ran out of ideas or passion; maybe you don’t like the start now and you want to rewrite it before you continue; maybe (and this is the most common one) you’ve found yourself at a part of the story you’re not that excited about and it’s difficult to get through it. Whatever the case is, you’re good at starting ideas, just not finishing them. This is extremely common, so don’t feel bad about it. I can’t count how many webcomics or fics I’ve seen left to rot after about a month of work on them. I’ve done it myself, multiple times! We’re all at risk of it.

The biggest thing to address here is that, sadly, writing is not always going to be exciting. That’s just a fact. You are not going to be riding a high the entire process. You WILL get to something that feels more like homework than fun. This is a guarantee for every single project that goes on longer than a couple pages, and sometimes even the short stuff isn’t safe. This is not a horrible thing, it’s just something you need to develop methods to overcome. Discipline is important if you want to take writing seriously. There are ways to get through this: dinner-before-desert (the promise of “I have to write this dull chapter and I’ll get to write the scene I’m really excited about”), setting small goals to get the unfun part done a bit at a time (writing 200 words a day, or a couple paragraphs, etc), finding things to appreciate (like that joke you threw in or how pretty this scenery is), and having something occupying the senses to keep flow going (listening to music, mainly) are all tools I use myself to get past potentially weeks of writing that I’m not excited about. You do need to be a little stern with yourself, but the reward of getting to the thing you’ve been dreaming of since the start is completely worth it, I can promise that. You just gotta eat your dinner first, and then we’ll get you some ice cream. One carrot at a time. You can do this.

Something that can get to people is the prospect of being “stuck” with something for months or potentially years. The size of a project can be intimidating, I understand that. You’re doing this particular thing for god knows how long, and you have to do it on a regular basis if you ever want to get anywhere with it? That’s a little scary! I get it! But that does not mean you won’t have fun, or won’t ever be finished. It took me six years to complete a comic you can read through in one day, I’ve started one I know will take me at least ten, and Iterum itself is going to be a long fucking ride I don’t dare to guess the length of. I have had the occasional sensation of leaning on a table, bracing myself on my arms, staring down at a drink and thinking “Jesus Chirst” about how long all this shit will take me.

With that issue, I’ve personally found that taking joy in the process is the best solution. “Well, I do love writing these particular characters, I’m excited to see how they’ll grow over time!” “Planning chapters is a very chill way to spend my evenings while still giving me something to think about.” “It’s so exciting to have all these secret plot developments no one but me knows yet!” And so on. Like in life, you should appreciate the Now, not constantly be fretting about Later or Before. Learn to love typing out dialog and prose! It’s doable.

Of course, you should have a few thoughts about the future. That’s where planning comes in. Some people can make up shit on the fly and write a complete, excellent novel. I am not one of those people, and not many are. Some architecture is generally necessary. When I don’t have a set general path ahead of time for me to take as I write, I give up on things because I don’t know where to go next. Create your path, however vague or exact it needs to be! My advice on planning is to start with only the most major of story beats, arrange them in the order you want or need them to happen, and add smaller connecting lines to them, then connecting even smaller lines to those lines, slowly getting more and more specific and detailed as you zoom in on the story beat-by-beat.

Another thing that might help you keep at it is finding an audience – at least, it worked for me. When I started writing for real, I was doing choose-your-own-adventure threads in forums, and then a choose-your-own-adventure webcomic, where people got to send in commands to move the story forward. I could not get anything completed on my own to save my life, but having people participating and actively waiting for me to continue the story helped me develop the discipline and work ethic required to do the projects I’m doing now (and taught me how to improvise extremely well, as a side benefit). Your audience could be one person, or ten, or a hundred. Even if they don’t comment or regularly engage with the story, just knowing that someone is there waiting to see what happens next can be a good motivator.

One final thing: you may fall into the trap many do of looking at the small bit of stuff you’ve completed, not liking it, and wanting to go back and rewrite it, because this time you’ve got the skills to do it right.

DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT.

All that’s going to do is trap you in an endless cycle of “improving” what’s already there at best, and wear you out from going over the same old ground over and over and drain your love for the story at worst. You will not be fixing anything. Put it out and move on. Don’t keep trying to rescrub the same plate until you put a hole through it. You’re going to look back and think it’s shit. That’s normal. Doesn’t mean it’s true, or that you should waste time “fixing” it. Learn to go “well, I don’t like it, but I gotta keep going”. Get it done. It will never be perfect, and the sooner you understand that, the sooner you can get this project done.

That’s about all the advice I can think of for now. I hope this prattling helped you, at least a little bit!

#ask #anonymous #i speak #readmore #advice #writing

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radleysgamereviews · 7 months

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Honest Review of Faefarm 8/10

I was so excited to get my hands on this game and that excitement never faded as I played for hours on end!

Right off the bat you get to customize your adorable character and the options were amazing and very inclusive. Once you finish making your character you're transported into the charming world of Azoria. You get introduced to the mayor and get your first look at your new house and farm. Like most farming sims, your farm is covered in rocks and trees, and you get the wonderful task of clearing out the area. You are given tools fairly quickly and can start right away on this daunting task or you can follow the quests given to you. I chose to follow the quests and I'm glad I did because the beginning quests were actually the tutorial. The devs of Faefarm did a great job with the tutorial because I didn't even realize I was doing one until the end of chapter 1. That's the other cool part! This game has chapters!!! Faefarm is not just a farming sim. This game is so quest oriented that it had me addicted for hours just trying to complete the quests. There are even side quests to complete including romancing characters! I barely touched farming in the beginning stages of this game except for when a quest made me harvest a crop or if I needed food for stamina. As the game progressed and I needed more money to buy furniture for my home or an adorable new outfit, I eventually turned to crops as my main source of steady income. Crops aren't the only source of income however, there is fishing, critter catching, and mining for crystals to turn into polished crystals that sell for a ton of money. Once your pockets are lined with money you can set off to buy better tools from a handful of NPCs and with better tools comes more quests available to you.

At this point in the game, you can either continue these quests or start decorating your house and your farm! The options are limitless when it comes to decorating!!! There are so many styles and colors to choose from and the furniture you get to build are so cute. I will say building was not easy at first and decorating took some getting used to but overall, the mechanics weren't terrible. I enjoyed decorating my cozy home and the ability to expand my house is always a nice feature to have, but the coolest and probably the most appealing part of decorating your house is that certain furniture increases your health, stamina, and mana (your magic power). When you begin the game, you have very little of these three so decorating becomes crucial because dungeon crawling is a big part of completing quests. The monsters in the dungeons are unique and not overly challenging, but they are not to be underestimated. Many can come at you at one time making it overwhelming if not prepared. This is where cooking and potion making play a big role. Eating a cooked meal restores your stamina (and some foods give you extra powers as well) which helps you continue through the dungeons whereas potions help restore health and mana. Do not, I repeat DO NOT go into a dungeon without any food or potions! You will not be able to make it to the end and the end of the dungeon is the coolest part that you won't want to miss!!!

All of this doesn't even scratch the surface of things you can do in Faefarm! The possibilities are endless and there is no one set direction you have to go in. That's what I think makes this game so great. You play at your own pace and enjoy everything Azoria has to offer. If you are quest oriented, you can dive right in and beat the game and farm later. If you enjoy the simplicity of farming, then you can do just that and dungeon crawl at your own pace. Personally, I did a combination of the two because I wanted to take my time with this game but not go too slow that it took me forever to see some of the coolest parts. The reason I give this game an 8 out of 10 is because of the confusing building/decorating mechanics, the lack of NPC dialogue, and the fixed camera angle. Besides that, I would say this is one of the top contenders for farming sim of the year!

#fae farm #cozy games #cozy gaming community #video games #game review #farming simulator #gaming community

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snowbellewells · 6 days

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Happy Happy Birthday Jennifer!! @whimsicallyenchantedrose

So, while I wasn’t able to write you a brand new birthday story this year, I thought it might be fun to highlight my all-time favorites of your stories. You were the first fandom friend I met and interacted with, we talked the show and plot points and character development together, and you helped me begin to navigate Tumblr back when I first joined. It’s been a gift to know you all that time, and your writing is a gift to us all! You’ve written so many GREAT stories that it was hard to narrow down, but I have settled on my top half dozen at last to highlight for your special day -- with some cover art for a few of them!!! 💖 Hope this gift serves to remind you of all you’ve written and created and how much all of it - and you!! - are loved. 🥰

The Strongest Magic - This short MC is one of your very early works - a Neverland season 3a divergent tale, but where it diverges gives us powerful adventure and emotion, sacrifice, and much earlier admission and acceptance of the love between our Pirate and Princess. I simply adore it - it squeezes your heart for sure, but it also wraps you up in a wonderful happy ending by the time you are finished.

A Wish Your Heart Makes , Getting to I Do & Mysterious Fathoms Below - This series of longer, connected multi-chapters (The "By Land or By Sea" trilogy) is simply EPIC!!! I don't know how to sing the praises of this story half as much as it deserves. There's adventure in the Enchanted Forest, Camelot, and even under the sea! There's so much beautiful love story for CS (and even some lovely, redemptive Outlaw Queen as well), and @whimsicallyenchantedrose even incorporates some unexpected and perfectly cast characters of myth and legend and her own creation alongside our faves. I don't want to give too much away, but these stories MUST BE read! Once you do, you'll want to read them over and over again.

Happily Ever After - This short MC was originally part of your Fluffy Fridays compilation, and I have often revisited the few chapters of this on their own and definitely think of them as their own little stand-alone story. I love the family recipes, the competition, the rivalry that becomes something much sweeter.... it's a truly delicious addition to your collection of writing!

Caribbean Shores - This lovely little MC reads more like a modern day AU, though they are in Storybrooke and many of our favorite characters still appear. I love the cute sweetness of this one, and the adorable addition of a few scheming cuties from MM's class when she takes them for a field trip tour of the Jolly Roger from Killian. ;) All the sizzle and attraction is there for Emma and Killian right from the start, and though she tries to resist (Why is she always so stubborn?!?) She can't do it for long...

Under the Apple Tree - It's hard to even express how much I adore this fic originally written between season six and season seven of canon. The way @whimsicallyenchantedrose wove in what we knew might be coming in season seven and then supposed what still could happen (a lot of which I would have loved to really see!) is simply brilliant. I love the relationships explored and the way the plot unfolds. It's a special and unique version of our beloved characters, and of course the unstoppable power of Captain Swan to always find each other again is fully on display too! ;p

Until the Stars are all Alight - Wow, this story must have been such a daunting task to undertake - one I would have been afraid to tackle, but the skill with which the OuaT world and the LotR world are woven together, how the plotlines come together and reach fruition, and how the characters coincide for best use so seamlessly is truly admirable and just adds to the depth and power of this full multi-chapter adventure. It has heart and hope and True Love conquering all - all the best things we love so much from the world of fairy tales and the brain of J.R. R. Tolkien!

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vonlipvig · 9 months

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If you don't mind my asking, You play a lot of games right??, which are your favs, you'd rec to everybody and everyone, I'm on the hunt for some games to play and you have good taste so I thought I'd ask

You think I have good taste? Why, gorsh...😳

Jokes aside, I do play video games quite regularly! I don't think I'm the biggest gamer (I have a shitty laptop, so it's not like I'm playing newly-released AAA games), but I do have some that I'm very fond of, so here are some of my faves, some well known ones, some hidden gems:

Ace Attorney - The game I played when I was 13 and completely changed the trajectory of my life. Visual novel-like game were you play a defense lawyer and make your way through court to prove your client's innocence. A CLASSIC, the characters are amazing, the stories are fantastic, and god the MUSIC. Game of All Time for me (The Ace Attorney trilogy is where I'd start, but there are many more in the series, The Great Ace Attorney being a prequel duology that can be played individually and is also incredible).

Zero Escape - A trilogy of games about...hm. Well, it's like a bunch of people get kidnapped and put into these locked rooms, and they have to escape. It gets WAY crazier than that, but if you like puzzles, escape rooms, and insane twists, you'll definitely like these.

Not For Broadcast - A hilarious and dark FMV simulation game where you are tasked with editing a news broadcast, censoring swear words, picking the best shots, and basically manipulating what ends up on TV. This game is a MASTERPIECE, I cannot stress that enough. It is wonderfully acted, the characters are so memorable, the plot can get real dark...it's one of my most cherished gaming experiences, and I could not reccommend it enough.

Suzerain - A text-based, decision making, political simulator where you take the role of Anton Rayne, Sordland's newest president. Save the country from recession, rewrite the country's old constitution, or hell, maybe start a war! This game is delightful, and if you're daunted by the extensiveness of most sim games, don't be, because this is super intuitive and easy to get the hang of. The worldbuilding is fascinating, and the characters are lovable and fun!

Her Story - An unconventional one, but so fascinating. It's another FMV game, where you're presented with a police database full of interview videos from an old case. They're not in any particular order, though, it's up to you to make sense from it! A bit of a haunting game (it's not a horror game, don't worry), I totally reccommend experiencing it.

Return of the Obra Dinn - Jesus, another masterpiece. It's a first-person mystery game where you play as an insurance inspector exploring an old ship that has reappeared with nobody alive onboard. It's your task to discover the fate of all its crewmembers. I cannot tell you how incredible this game is, it's a big logic puzzle with an amzing atmosphere and an unforgettable experience.

Papers, Please - I feel like everybody has played PP already, but if you haven't, oh boy go get it! Made by the same guy that made Obra Dinn, you play here as a border checkpoint immigration officer, checking people's passports and documents to see who gets to enter the glorious country of Arstotzka. One of indie games' best, truly. If you can get it on a touch screen, even better.

The Case of the Golden Idol - If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, then you have to play Golden Idol as well. Kind of a detective-y, puzzle-y game where you search for clues on different scenes, which you then use to solve the mystery of what really happened. Hard to explain, but a joy to play through and solve!

The Darkside Detective - A fun as hell point-and-click detective game where you join Detective McQueen and Officer Dooley on some spooky, supernatural mysteries. Hilarious, filled with witty references and jokes, and with a dynamic duo that will make you fall in love with them (and their silly, blank faces). It's got a sequel, too!

We. The Revolution - This game sent me on a rabbit hole about the French Revolution, and it was so fun. You play here as a judge of the Revolutionary Tribunal during--you guessed it--the French Revolution. Make decisions about the cases that are brought before you, immerse yourself in the history of France (and talk to many of the key figures!), and hell, maybe even give it your own spin! Super fun, and has a gorgeously unique arstyle.

I think that's good for now, hopefully you'll find something here that's to your taste! Happy gaming!

#ah you let me rant about my fave games thank you for that lmao #but yeah here's a good selection! i vouch for all of these!#games #video games #video game recommendations #juli answers

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carriagelamp · 1 year

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Man I got lucky this month, I got to read a bunch of excellent books, including some really neat queer novels. Nothing like a break to really get to kick back and enjoy reading for the sheer pleasure of reading rather than a desperate escape

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua v1

Unsurprising to absolutely anyone who’s been reading these, I picked up the first book of the manhua adaptation of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It covers the first part of the first book, which basically amounts of Wei Wuxian’s revival and his flight from Mo Manor to the mountain and the Night Hunt. Besides for WWX, we get to meet Lan Wanji, the juniors, and Jiang Cheng, all of which have great designs. Like the rest of this series, it was a pleasure to read, the adaptation was done really well, and I’m excited for the next volume.

The Ice Monster

This book was very… meh. I was pretty disappointed, because I’ve really enjoyed the other two books I’ve read by David Walliams so far, and this was probably the one I was most excited about, but it was… incredibly middling compared to the others.

The Ice Monster is about a Victorian orphan, Elsie, who escapes from the brutal orphanage she had been raised in and was making her way on the streets. During this time, a great mammoth that had been found in the Arctic was being transported to the museum for display. Elsie feels a kinship for this “monster” and begins a series of events that lead to it being freed from the ice and set loose in London.

There were good moments in this book and I’m sure a kid would enjoy it, but ultimately it felt like way too many fart jokes and not enough substance compared to Walliams’ other books.

I Think Our Son Is Gay v2

A very sweet manga series I’ve been reading from the library. It follows the POV of a mother who suspects that her son is gay but who isn’t quite ready to come out yet. It’s a nice balance of humour — the art is cute and the characters have fun reactions to various silly things that happen in their lives — and love while still asking what it must be like to be gay in a homophobic society. A good read.

Legends & Lattes

SUCH a fun novel, it was exactly what I needed this month.

The story is about an orc mercenary called Viv who, after 20 years of fighting and killing, has had enough and is ready to settle down. Using the mysterious reward from her last adventure, Viv leaves her old company to find what she hopes will be the perfect city to open a coffee shop. Which is a daunting task in a part of the world that has never ever heard of coffee before and is suitably leery of this “bean water”.

If you want an action-packed, edge of your seat adventure book… don’t read this. This is the epitome of “cosy” fiction — its tag line is “high fantasy and low stakes”. If you want a dnd coffee au in novel form that’s about friendship and food… then this is THE perfect novel. It made me feel so warm and happy (and hungry).

Lucky Luke: The Oklahoma Land Rush // The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke is a BD series I’ve heard a lot about, and after seeing a couple episodes of it on Prime I decided I needed to actually pick up a volume or two. I’m delighted I did and I think I’ll need to read more now!

The general premise is that of a western. The titular character, Lucky Luke, is a clever and nearly unflappable gun-slinger who can “shoot faster than his shadow”. Luke gets into a range of silly, comedic Wild West adventures and inevitably comes out on top for the sake of justice. Naturally, the genre being what it is, the whole First Nations thing is… rough, but the books were enjoyable if you can look past that.

The first book I read was The Oklahoma Land Rush which is fairly indicative of the series I believe and is about Luke being hired to help police the desperate rush of settlers to claim land in Oklahoma. The second was The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke which was written by Matthieu Bonhomme instead of Morris and is a slightly grittier, more serious take on Luke. I enjoyed this one just as much — it still managed to be funny, but the stakes felt much higher. And the art was just stunning.

The Night Gardener

A fun, creepy middle grade horror. A story about two young Irish immigrants trying their best to survive in the absence of their parents. In a last desperate attempt to get work they find themselves way out at a desolate, crumbling English manor that has been almost completely consumed by a strange tree. The family there is as desolate and strange as the grounds, pale and sickly and carrying a mysterious secret. The siblings realise just how strange and dangerous this estate might be as they’re drawn deeper into the secrets and begin to suspect that there’s something else living and working on the grounds…

I really like Jonathan Auxier's writing and I’ve been meaning to try this novel for years. I was glad to have finally done it.

Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis

Just a cute little picture book. Pop Classics does some fun work and the art style really worked for Doctor Who. It’s about a little girl who has moved and is struggling with needing to make whole new friends in a place she doesn’t know. The themes of loneliness and goodbyes and needing to move on and make new friends was actually perfect to pair with Doctor Who; despite being quite simple and silly looking, it actually made me feel things for both the Doctor and the little girl.

Sandman v1/2

Everyone has been so hyped about The Sandman! I’ve been wanting to get in on it but I’m not very good at sitting down and watching shows so I thought I might try the original comics. Honestly I should have known better. I don’t really like this harsh style of American comics and if we’re being totally honest I don’t generally like Gaiman’s longer prose. This, unsurprisingly, combined two things I don’t like and ended up with a comic I didn’t like. Things only went down hill when fucking Batman appeared. It didn’t even really feel like it had the humour I would at least expect from Gaiman besides for a few brief glimmers. I appreciate that other people really like this series but oof. Not for me.

The Secret Garden

I love The Secret Garden, it’s one of those comfort books that I need to reread every few years. I was listening to it as an audiobook this time and it was so lovely to see the first signs of spring appearing while listening to this story. If you want something feel good I highly recommend starting it because we are in the season for it.

If you’ve never read The Secret Garden, the premise is of a young, spoiled, but horrifically neglected child who was raised in British-occupied India. She is a bad-tempered, sour, and demanding child known to others as “Mistress Mary quite contrary”. When her parents die of a cholera outbreak she is sent back to England to live at her uncle’s manor on the Yorkshire moors. This relative is also distant and bitter, apparently hunchbacked and widowed. Once more alone, Mary is suddenly expected to do things for herself and isn’t given her every demand — instead she begins to befriend the cheerful, plain-spoken maid and starts spending time outside, exploring and playing for what feels like the first time in her life…

Wallace & Gromit: Crackers in Space

I stumbled across this as an audiobook. After the fact I realised it’s also a comic. Oddly enough, the comic seemed profoundly bad — I’ve never really liked any of the Wallace and Gromit comics — but the audiobook version was a delight. It has the actual voice actor for Wallace, so it sounded completely like I had just put an episode on in the background that I had never watched before. They were also very clever about giving Gromit a “voice” despite him being a non-verbal character! It was actually a lot of fun!

Wallace decides to attempt making his own cheese out in the garden shed… only things go badly, as they’re wont to. Instead of making a lovely cheese, the whole thing ends up getting launched into the atmosphere because of a helium mishap… which might not be so bad if the zero gravity wasn’t making the Home Brew Cheese Kit kick into overdrive. They’re going to have to figure out how to deal with the massive, mutated cheese comet that’s now threatening all of West Wallaby Street.

Wave Me Goodbye

An absolutely charming book, I didn’t want to put it down. This book takes place at the beginning of the Second World War, when children were being evacuated from London (which was at risk of bombing) and being sent out to live with volunteers in the country. Shirley is one of the children being sent out, but right from the beginning she finds herself struggling with feeling like the odd one out. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with her rough-and-tumble classmates, and when she does make a new friend on the train it’s clear that she doesn’t properly fit in with the posh covenant girls either. Things only get worse when she is one of the only children not picked to go with a family, and suddenly she and two other unwanted boys find themselves foisted on the unwilling inhabitants of the Red House. But in wartime, one has to make due, so she, Kevin, and Archie begin to explore this strange, half-empty house and get used to a very different way of life way out in the country.

Shirley is a huge reader in the book, and it actually made me pause reading to go and read some of the books she references! It was a lot of fun! Some of the books I read last month that Shirley reads are Ballet Shoes and The Squirrel, The Hare, and the Little Grey Rabbit. It’s also what made me decide to reread The Secret Garden, since they feel like similar genres.

When the Angels Left the Old Country

I read some great books this month and it would be hard to say for certain which was my favourite since they were in quite different genres, but this would be a strong contender. Holy shit was it good. The tl;dr is that it’s a bit like a Jewish Good Omens but also nothing like that at all.

The Angel (as angels don’t have permanent names, but rather names that describe what they are currently doing) and the demon Little Ash have been study partners for centuries, happily existing in their little Shtetl without feeling much need to change things. But things are changing and with the press of poverty and rise of violent anti-Semitic feelings many residents of the Shtetl are now leaving for America in the search of work and safety. Little Ash is determined that they should join these immigrants, and when a member of their Shtetl goes missing on her own voyage it seems inevitable that they go and track her down to ensure she is safe and well.

At its heart this is an immigrant story about people and prejudice and love, and it’s really written beautifully, the way you see all the hardship that goes into such a voyage even for supernatural beings.

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best-underrated-anime · 4 months

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Best Underrated Anime Group G Round 2: #G5 vs #G8

#G5: Sheltered city boy meets outlaw and learns dark truth about the city

#G8: A tutor tries to teach eccentric princes for the throne

Details and poll under the cut!

#G5: No.6

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Summary:

Many years ago, after the end of a bloody world war, mankind took shelter in six city-states that were peaceful and perfect… at least on the surface. However, Shion—an elite resident of the city-state No. 6—gained a new perspective on the world he lives in, thanks to a chance encounter with a mysterious boy, Nezumi. Nezumi turned out to be just one of many who lived in the desolate wasteland beyond the walls of the supposed utopia. But despite knowing that the other boy was a fugitive, Shion decided to take him in for the night and protect him, which resulted in drastic consequences: because of his actions, Shion and his mother lost their status as elites and were relocated elsewhere, and the darker side of the city began to make itself known.

Now, a long time after their life-altering first meeting, Shion and Nezumi are finally brought together once again—the former elite and the boy on the run are about to embark on an adventure that will, in time, reveal the shattering secrets of No. 6.

Propaganda 1:

Ever watched a show that was obviously adapted from something, and you feel like there must be more to it? Such shows are often obvious to spot—My Happy Marriage, Pandora Hearts, Mekakucity Actors, etc. They present to us a unique plot with great worldbuilding, yet while watching, it always feels like it falls short somewhere. The characters aren’t that developed, plot points don’t seem to connect, side characters aren’t given much attention, etc. So much missed potential, and you can’t help but lament it.

No.6 is another one of such shows. I haven’t read the original novel, but as an avid web novel reader, I could just feel that there is so much more to it than the anime lets on. The mystery is intriguing, the world is complex, and the budding relationship between the two main characters felt natural and relevant (No.6 has a shounen ai subplot, by the way).

Overall, the anime managed a coherent plot, and I still like it. But after watching, you’ll be left unsatisfied. It keeps you wanting for more. Keeps you searching for answers. But despite this, I believe it’s worth a shot. Whether you vote for it or not, try watching it anyway.

Propaganda 2:

It's a suspenseful science fiction that has a unique take on class issues using the setting of a world post apocalypse. It crafts a unique world with incredible characters you want to succeed. The relationship that develops between the two mains is a heartwarming respite in the cold world they inhabit. The mystery of the show keeps the audience entertained and on the edge of their seat.

Trigger Warnings: Body Horror, Genocide, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Implied Child Abuse, Guns, Humans being treated like objects, Sexual assault on a supporting character, Mentions of prostitution

#G8: The Royal Tutor (Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine)

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Summary:

Equally charming and stern, Heine Wittgenstein is a brilliant man who commands respect, despite his short, childlike stature. Thus, the king of Grannzreich has called upon Heine to undertake a daunting task that has driven away many before him—become the new royal tutor to four princes who are in line for the throne.

The four heirs each have very distinct and troublesome personalities: Licht, the flirtatious youngest prince; his immature older brother Leonhard; Bruno the studious third prince; and Kai, the oldest of the four and the most reserved. Hilarity ensues as Heine attempts to connect with each of the princes in order to groom them for the throne. However, Heine's mysterious past and dark undercurrents in the present may threaten the harmony within the kingdom.

Propaganda:

This is just such a feel good anime, and it teaches important life lessons through the daily struggles each of them princes go through. The princes each go through some kind of development, be it overcoming a weakness or feeling more sympathy for the common people. And despite it being much lighter in tone, it doesn’t shy away from sometimes delving into more serious topics, since of course one of them is supposed to run the country one day. They all have exaggerated personalities, and despite being seen as too posh or selfish at first, it develops so well.

And let’s not forget the glossy art style that’s just eye-candy or the comedy, which is a primary genre of the series. Just the way Heine structures his lesson, starting with more traditional methods and then delving more into each of their passions, makes me want to have him as a teacher. Despite being strict sometimes, tho.

Overall, it doesn’t present many new ideas, but it just makes you feel nice and warm inside, and maybe you can learn a lesson or two, even if you are not royalty.

Trigger Warnings: None.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how they’re presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

#anime #best underrated anime #polls #poll tournament #tournament #anime tournament #tournament polls #group g #group stage #group stage round 2 #animation #no.6 #no. 6 anime #no.6 anime #no. 6 #no 6 #no 6 anime #the royal tutor #oushitsu kyoushi haine

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hollowmend · 6 months

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Fetch Re;Quest Dev Log #1 - 11/15/2023

Welcome to the first official dev log for Fetch Re;Quest! This one is probably loooong overdue, haha...

It's a Sequel

I've been trying to make a sequel to my NaNoRenO game, Fetch Quest, literally since it came out. In fact, if you get the creator's commentary from itch, you'll see I was very confident that I'd be able to get something for it ready to go in just a few short months...

That was four and half years ago 😅 But after many false starts, I finally managed to get something going.

What's It About?

(Side note, I've been using Feniks' Easy Ren'Py GUI template a lot lately, and its a lifesaver. Check it out if you're a fellow dev!)

Hey! I think this might be the first real screenshot I've posted of the game! Isn't Flora's bedroom cute?

Anyway! Fetch Re;Quest picks up directly after the upcoming Fetch Quest Remaster's new "True Ending".

After their one-shot TTRPG session ends, Flora finds herself wrestling with a problem. She has a crush on her coworker and would like to ask him out, but she's a little nervous.

So what does she do? Procrastinate, of course!

Flora sets a one week challenge for herself to grind up her stats in preparation for the final battle- Asking the object of her affection out on a date.

Luckily, she and her coworkers Connor, Todd, and Dan all have the week off. Flora decides to use the various board, card, and video games she and her friends play as a way to mentally level up.

The Stats

That's right, the game is a (light!) stat raiser. Each day, the gang decide between four games to play, each of which are tied to one of Flora's imaginary stats. Each game has its own scenes and helps Flora build up her confidence.

Techno-opolis is a 4X civilization building boardgame that increases Flora's "Acumen".

Of Fiends and Fangs is a social deduction card game about werewolves, vampires, villagers and betrayal that increases Flora's "Charm".

Clockwork Mercenaries is a steampunk monster hunting game that forces Flora to get "Gud".

and Deathpocolypse 2 is a janky ghost hunting game that increases Flora's "Moxie".

But be careful... Flora is easily distracted, and getting too into a game could lead to her completely forgetting about her original mission.

So Who's the Crush?

It's Dan.

Much to my surprise, the tired, snarky GM of the first game was very popular. I got a lot of comments lamenting the fact that he wasn't one of the love interests.

So here he is, the sole LI of Fetch Re;Quest! Sorry to any Connor or Todd lovers. It's Danny's time to shine.

New Characters

Connor and Todd will be prominently featured, but Fetch Re;Quest will also introduce a handful of new characters as well! Here's a sneak peek of about half the new cast:

Nona, Teddie, and David (pronounced Dah-veed) are members of the band Cats Eat Bats! There is one more member named TJ not pictured, but you've already met him, so...

Flora sets herself the daunting task of asking Dan out during their concert at the end of the week, but they show up here and there throughout the entire game. They're especially involved if you play a lot of Deathpocolypse 2!

What's Next?

A large portion of the game is already written and I've started commissioning the assets I'm not making myself. Things are really starting to roll now!

Right now I'm working on finishing the script and making the sprites. Hopefully that means there will be more visual things to show off soon.

Until Next Time

Hopefully these dev logs are at the very least interesting! If there's anything in particular you want to know about the game, feel free to send me an ask.

#fetch re;quest #visual novel #interactive fiction #fetch quest #hollowmend #otome #devlog

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crepuscularqueens · 6 months

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tysm for the tag @sambambucky <3 <3 <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

193,604

3. What fandoms do you write for?

marvel (mostly sambucky but i've played around with other pairings), the magicians (penntin, queliot, wickoff), ofmd, and one black sails fic (despite that being my main fandom i guess lmao, it's so hard to write for because i can't make it better. i just have to make it worse. and boy do i have plans to make it Worse.) (also i do have an rnm fic, almost forgot about that! i would love to write more i just need the inspiration and motivation to hit at the same time lmao)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

he kisses me softly to wake me up (by a wild amount, which i think was just luck of timing with that fandom blowing up overnight) flowers for the gentleman (first published sambucky fic. looking back on it it's like... cute but could be better. natasha is in it though) held by you (felled by you) (my fav of the ofmd fics i put up, personally) what you wanted (first of my tfatws series that accompanied the show. literally wrote each fic as the episodes came out, it was so fun and idk how tf i kept up with it) hear my name in your mouth and i'm done for (hahaha. yeah.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i love responding to comments hehehe! bc i love getting responses when i comment on other author's fics idk it just feels so fun! and when you notice the same people commenting on your fics idk it's just. holding hands with all of you love you sm <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

omg uhhhh jinx i think mine also be a samsteve one lol. stuck in the bed where we lie bc i love writing angst but i usually resolve it? but they're my favorite tragedy forever.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

hmmm i guess after it all calms down? resolution of my tfatws series

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not on anything that's still up teehee <3

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

it's mainly what i write haha oops

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

crossover is when there are characters from two separate medias in one fic right? not like taking characters from one universe and putting them in the other? if it's the first then... no not anymore. no further questions.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of (i'm not like... overly concerned by the idea)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

someone once translated a teen wolf fic i wrote into russain

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, but i am open to the idea of collaborating like that (i've done events where i drew art to accompany a fic which was really fun and i miss that event a lot)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

i am so so bad at picking favorites, but if you want to go by what i have the most fics and wips for it would be sambucky

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i want to finish shores begging for big moons so badly im so sorry to everyone because. it was so so fun to write! and i had this big grand plan and knew how it would all work out and then.... i hit a wall and now it's been years and i cry for her every day. i could save her! i could do it! but i also need to reread it bc i can't remember the details anymore lmao. it's a daunting task.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i think like... rhythm if that makes sense? like i get into a groove of this is what is happening, here are the beats, this is the action and this is the dialogue and it flows so nicely and has a good rhythm to it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

focusing. i get distracted soooo easily, what is that all about haha. ha.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i love seeing it in fic! i'm always scared to include it bc i don't want to mess anything up, so i usually have it from another character's POV and that they don't know what's being said. which is a cop out, i know. i should probably be better about looking into translations!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

harry potter (i know. there is no need to talk about it)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

how do i choose! tbh it's a tie between i bit the fruit and holy water. don't read into that.

absolute no pressure tags for @dr-lizortecho @unwholesome-gay @verdanthoney @nymhciv !

#mine #thank you again for the tag jo :)

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zorosdimples · 8 months

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the freak in the sheets,,,,kakashi or choso, elaborate?? please m'lord spare some crumbs of your thoughtsss

ask and ye shall receive! the new zorosdimples motto, mayhaps?

kakashi is a not-so-closeted freak. he’s not shy per se, but he can come across as shy since it’s his nature to keep to himself. he’s introverted and—to an untrained eye—seems like your normal quiet guy. strange only because he’s so covered up! but this is the man that keeps a smutty book with him at all times, who reads smut on the job, who can recite lines and specific scenarios of said smut. he has also experienced an insane amount of trauma, which can manifest in sexual kinks and desires. i don’t think kakashi has had a ton of sexual experience, but i do believe he has messed around—he needed a release for all his pent up anger and frustration and sadness. i believe he’s not only willing to try nearly anything, but that he also has many perverted fantasies (inspired by icha icha) that he would love to explore with you. kakashi is such a complex character and i truly believe he’s a versatile king in bed! don’t get me started on the ninken…i think he has kinky dog boy habits too ;-)

the ever-stoic choso is quite different. again, i’m not sure that “shy” is the word i would use, but he’s incredibly reserved and isn’t one to make a scene. i could cop out and say that since he’s half cursed spirit, of course he’s freaky, but i’ll delve deeper. i think choso has had pretty much zero sexual experience. i’m sure he has a concept of desire, and has certainly masturbated, but he never had much of an interest in romance until he met you. intimacy with choso is something that you have to ease into. familial love and romantic love are incredibly different, and he has to navigate these new emotions, as well as physical urges he has never contended with before. as his first (and probably only) sexual partner, you have the pleasure of guiding choso through sex. you’re his first everything, which can seem like a daunting task, but he’s so eager to please you. of course, since you take the leading role in the beginning, you get to show him what you like. you will talk about your fantasies and kinks, etc. over time, choso will discover and open up about his own fantasies and kinks. without getting too into the weeds, i think choso has an interest in the idiosyncrasies of the human body. for example: blood doesn’t bother him, given his cursed technique. period sex—and period head—is something i think he quite enjoys. he also has strong family values, and this could certainly manifest in a breeding kink. choso seems like a blank slate, but i think he just needs a helping hand to discover what he really likes in bed.

#i hope this makes sense!#these are just my thoughts and opinions!#there’s no right or wrong y’know?#also nonny i’m laughing at m’lord #tw periods #choso kamo #kakashi hatake #choso <3 #kakashi <3 #jjk #naruto #mdni #༄ kae’s mailbox

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daysincetheindefinatehiatus · 5 months

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Gender Nonconformity in The Prince and The Dressmaker

Because American society is so dependent on predictable relationships between people of different sexes, otherwise known as a person’s biology, American society does not know how to interact with gender non-conforming (GNC) individuals. This underlying mystery has allowed some far-right activist groups to argue that GNC people at large are perverts, pedophiles and rapists, rather than people attempting to feel comfortable in their own bodies. The author and illustrator of The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang seeks to demystify the experiences of transgender, and gender nonconforming people in a way that goes beyond the gender binary. Wang uses a vibrant, cartoon-like and expressive art style, to convey a story analogous to the all too familiar Cinderella story American audiences seem to adore. This allows Want to create a book that is appealing to wide age ranges, and creates a familiar basis to explore otherwise daunting subjects. Wang is then able to use other character’s confusion as a stand-in for the readers, thus explaining concepts that are difficult in a way that does not come off as preachy to readers. Once a baseline of knowledge is established, Wang creates empathy for Prince Sebastian, and by extension other GNC people by centering the rest of the narrative on some common problems, and their effects on people without falling into the trap of focusing only on the misery of being GNC.

Throughout the book, Wang employs the use of bright colors, and a simplistic art style to make the book seem more approachable to all audiences. Many of the most impactful scenes in

the book are those where there isn't any dialogue. Near the beginning of the book, Frances, the dressmaker, is tasked with making a new dress for a guest attending Prince Sebastian’s royal ball. Despite the fact that the guest herself does not talk at all in this scene, it is clear that she is only at the tailor's shop because her mother is making her go. Otherwise, she has absolutely no interest in going to the ball. Her arms are crossed, she refuses to look at the readers, and when she does, she has a deep scowl on her face. Likewise, before Frances even speaks, it is clear that she is unhappy at her job. Her hair is unkempt, her eyes have bags, and she is hunched over uncomfortably, focusing on her work. Later, when the girl uninterestedly opens the box with the dress in it, Wang conveys in only one panel that Frances had managed to make a dress the girl liked. Suddenly the girl is no longer scowling, her eyes are wider, and her eyebrows are raised curiously. In only a few pages, with very few words, Wang has already outlined some key facts about the main protagonist: Frances is overworked, but also good at what she does. This makes the dialogue that is had all the more impactful. It also increases the likelihood that a potential reader flips through the book and is able to understand large swaths of the story before they actually sit down to read it.

When Prince Sebastian hires Frances to make dresses for him, he is afraid to reveal to her that he is biologically a male. When Frances does inevitably find out, she does not care all that much. Ultimately, her dream job is making clothes for the wealthy. Who that person is, and what they want her to make doesn’t really factor into the equation for her. This does not, however, mean that she understands the prince. Much like the reader, this is new territory for her, so Sebastain later goes on to explain, “Some days I look at myself in the mirror and think ‘that’s me Prince Sebastian! I wear boy clothes, and look like my father!’ Other days, it doesn't feel right at all. Those days I feel like I’m actually… a princess.” (Wang 44.) While she doesn’t outright

state it in the book, in interviews Wang has said that she wrote Sebastian to be genderfluid. He isn’t a transgender woman, which is at least somewhat familiar to the audience, but rather, he switches between being masculine, and feminine on a day to day basis. Although this description is an overly simplistic definition of what it means to be genderfluid, it does serve as a good starting point for those who are just being introduced to genders that exist outside of, or in between the well understood male and female binary. This point then gets reinforced as Sebastain goes out of his way to present in more masculine ways sometimes, and in more feminine ways others. It’s not that Prince Sebastain is unhappy as a boy, he just does not want to continue to suppress the side of himself that is actually a girl. He is capable of being perfectly happy, and confident as a boy, the same way he is capable of being anxious as a girl.

Unlike many other stories trying to promote the acceptance of GNC individuals, Wang does not fall into the trap of making Sebastain’s life miserable to make readers feel bad for him. Sebastian has anxiety related to his gender identity, as do his real world counterparts, but his relationship to gender is more complicated than that. In chapter 2 of the book, Sebastian’s feminine alter ego Lady Crystallia is born when she enters, and wins a beauty contest. This is the first scene in which readers get to see Sebastain exude confidence. Before this moment, Sebastian is always worried about being found out for who she is, even in the moments just before she walks on stage. By giving these comparisons Wang asserts that while Sebastian’s gender identity is a component of his anxiety, it is also one of his main sources of confidence. It’s not a part of him that he can suppress happily. Wang effectively asserts that there is happiness to be found in being a GNC. it is not that they are sad that GNC people deserve kindness, it’s that they are human, that makes them deserving of kindness. Because this nuance is made explicit within the story Sebastain accurately reflects his real world counterparts.

As Prince Sebastian, and Frances’ relationship morphs from a simple working relationship into a friendship, the problems Sebastain faces because of his gender nonconformity become more apparent. Sebastian faces pressure from his parents to find a wife, and take the throne. He can't seem to do this because he feels a deep shame associated with his gender identity. As Sebastian runs into more walls related to his gender, he acts in ways that are increasingly self-destructive. Research by the University of Manchester found that an increase in shame, often as the result of transphobia, has correlated to higher rates of alcoholism, drug abuse and even suicide, as well as other destructive behaviors. Likewise, as Sebastian becomes more desperate to hide Lady Crystalia, he ruins relationships that he cares deeply about. After a heated fight based on tension from Sebastian’s need to hide, Frances quits working as his dressmaker. At the same time. Sebastian’s parents become insistent that he marry, so much so that his father actually has a heart attack because of it. Once again Wang is able to highlight the loneliness that comes along with hiding a GNC identity

Consumed by loneliness, Sebastian agrees to marry Princess Juliana. Shortly thereafter, he sneaks out as Lady Crystaliam for what he believes is the final time. There, she drinks until she passes out and is assaulted by Princess Juliana’s brother. Although this scene is kept vague to stay within a family friendly rating, this is a scarily common occurrence for transgender individuals. According to the US Trasngender Survey, 1 in 5 transgender people will be sexually assaulted within their lifetime. After her assault, Crystallia is then outed to her parents, and the entire kingdom by Juliana’s brother. At first, the parents are shocked, and unaccepting of their son. They are afraid of the pain that he will have to go through because of his identity. It is not until his father meets Frances, who has returned to make sure Sebastian is OK, that he realizes that Sabastian has support in his life. Frances loves Sebastian, both as a prince, and as a Princess.

Sebastian’s father needed to see this unconditional love to accept his kid. While Sebastian had been on a drastically downward spiral before coming out to his parents, he begins to flourish once he experiences acceptance. He is more comfortable as a man, and as a woman overall, and is pursuing goals along with Francis that are exciting for the both of them. Once again Wang is closely mirroring research showing that transgender individuals are more likely to succeed in life when they are met with acceptance rather than being shunned by those who they love.

Although I would have liked for Sebastain to have been given more agency in who he reveals Lady Crystalia too, I find this story to be an overall good introduction to the world of gender nonconformity for those who are unfamiliar with it. Before I realized fully that I was GNC, I spent a long time feeling disgusted by gender non conforming individuals despite the fact that I was otherwise entrenched in the queer community. My Grandma experienced the same phenomena. Here was a woman who protected queer people from the police pre stonewall, stood up for those suffering from AIDS in the 80s, and who was able to accept her granddaughter as a lesbian without question, completely disgusted by that same granddaughter when she dressed as a man or used he/him pronouns. In both of our cases, this book was able to serve as a gentle guiding hand into the world of gender nonconformity, and I am confident in this graphic novel’s ability to do the same for others as well.

#the prince and the dressmaker #LGBT #trans #transgender #graphic novels #comic

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saintsenara · 8 months

Note

An update…where the murderer will be REVEALED?! And a possible Room of Requirement scene? 😉 I am SO pumped.

For One Year in Every Ten I’ll go for: ⚡️ 🕸️ 🌋 🥸

And 😈—I’d love to hear about any WIP you’re feeling at the moment :) Your list last spring was incredible!

(PS Thanks to the Death Eater Hagrid dossier, I am now deep in WIP in which Ron and Luna (not a pairing, just true crime pals) accidentally figure it while bored during the lockdown, while reviewing cold cases from the war years. Truly a life-changing read).

One for the gorgeous Scylla and Charybdis to follow!

anon, i need desperately for you to reveal yourself and send me this ron & luna crime-fighting duo uncovering dark lord hagrid fic. it sounds like a masterpiece, canon rewritten, atyd in the mud, and i need it.

in fact, answering questions on one year in every ten from this work in progress ask game seems almost futile in the light of this life-changing information. i'll power through, though...

🌋 percentage which is done and ready to post?

it’s all done. i’m just lazy.

⚡️ which character is gonna get a rude awakening?

harry james potter is shortly to discover that sleeping with a wanted criminal doesn’t endear you to the government. which i feel hermione has already mentioned, but harry wasn’t listening then.

🕸 feeling you were stuck with how to write?

it’s not so much a feeling as a character, but i normally hate writing hermione - she and i would not be friends in real life! what of it! - and so deciding to make the trio (which dear old tom has forced his way into) a central part of the story was quite daunting. choosing to make hermione a lawyer was also not my brightest move, since the risk of her becoming insufferable as a result was high, but i think she and i have managed to form an uneasy alliance, helped - without a doubt - by the fact that ron is a chad.

🥸 tag yourself, which wip character are you?

tom. i’m also a hot slut who likes to overshare and who reacts poorly to the slightest provocation.

😈 next wip after this one?

i'm shocked to discover that i've actually made good progress on much of that list, which isn't like me... many pieces have already launched, many will shortly. it's giving hustle culture.

i think it’s important to always have at least one tomarrymort on the go, just so that the girlies (gender neutral) who don’t like the ship are always having to live in fear. because i can’t focus on single tasks, i have three tomarrymort wips in the pipeline. first up, we’re getting a little pornographic treat for the @tomarrybigbang, then we’re getting philosophical with two musings - one a one-shot, one a big multi-chapter stunner - on the nature of the soul and of love.

i also have a scarcrux-turns-the-child-harry-into-a-murderer one-shot knocking around somewhere, because of course i do.

#asenora on writing #work in progress ask game #one year in every ten #asks answered

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mlplovelight · 1 year

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a group of hearthkin ponies has appeared!

i’ll explain what that is in a sec but first, bcuz this is the first in a long line of posts regarding the supporting cast of lovelight, let me explain the deal with lovelight’s supporting cast in general. this is gonna be a bit of a ramble.

so one of the big problems i’ve always had with writing fim fiction is that fim’s supporting cast is as INCREDIBLE as it is VAST. there are SO MANY characters that are SO GOOD and there are also so many different directions to take many of those characters in. it’s overwhelming!

deciding how to remix fim’s cast to fit my new au was a daunting task, so i eventually decided to just.... not. this is a CLEAN SWEEP BAYBEEEE we are starting completely from scratch, with ZERO characters from the fim show aside from the mane six.

so instead, to fill out our supporting cast, i looked elsewhere.... i looked to.... the TOYLINE. and it turns out there were literally the exact number of toyline specific characters as roles in the plot that i needed to fill. clearly destiny at work.

so i’ve remixed characters exclusive to the g4 toyline and redesigned them using pony town to boot! so let’s talk about ‘em a little bit.

these characters will get their own individual profiles slowly as they’re introduced in the story proper, but for now these group pics are just to show off my fun redesigns and as a springboard to talk about the different pony types.

specifically, in lovelight modern equestria is separated into the realms of the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns. they don’t mix. and each of those pony types are further broken down into sub-types, or “kins”, that are defined by how they manifest their magic. different kins have their own cultures, and relationships between different kin cultures in general vary depending on the cultures at hoof.

theoretically, any pony can be any kin, it’s not intrinsically tied to any specific pony type. a pony could even potentially change kins during their lifetime, tho that would be comparable in difficulty to learning like a brand new language from scratch, and a pony can only have one active kin at a time.....

or can they??

there are art and writing, legends, from old equestria that depict enormous magical beings with the wings of pegasi and the horns of unicorns. these alicorns were said to have been masters of ALL kin magicks..... but such things are probably just the realm of fantasy.

earth pony magic is derived from EMOTION, and hearthkin ponies' magic is powered by their OWN emotions; they often use personal treasures that evoke strong nostalgia or pride as mediums that allow them to focus and harness their magic.

hearthkin culture is big on family and legacy, and they are often the vanguards of archaeological movements surrounding old equestria.

applejack is a hearthkin pony! and this cultural focus on family is a big part of why she's obsessed with learning the history of the mysterious apple clan.

applejack’s emotional disorder makes her struggle to use her magic, so she prefers using custom magitech she's built out of scrap.

also honeybelle has the same color scheme of old school taco bell branding, which means she is my favorite pony of all time.

#lovelight #ramble posting #lore posting #mlp #fim #g4 #sweetcream scoops #berryshine #cherry spices #daisy dreams #firecracker burst #honeybelle

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 1 year

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Hello Dear <3 I'm going to try to answer as many of the asker asks :D

My favorite fic of yours - Definitely has to be 'Life is short so make it sweet'! The way you build up Curtis and Honey, their relationship, their dynamic, the worldbuilding. I love all of it, even though I'm painfully behind on chapters. I also really loved Wilfords Demands when I read it on ao3. The story blew my mind and I still remember the moment I found out you wrote it

My favorite chapter in my favorite fic of yours - All of them?? I can't choose! All the chapters I read from Life is short so make it sweet were so so good. Maybe the one where Honey and Curtis have their first date? I remember this especially well

The best character you've written for - Curtis! No questions asked. You are the (from me personally) proclaimed queen of Curtis writing

A fic I haven't read yet from you, but I want to - The Pack series. Alpha Steve and Little One have crossed my dash so many times before and some of the glimpses I saw sounded so good. It just might be a tad too tense and angsty for me I fear

Something I remember vividly from reading one of your fics - it's not a memory per se but a feeling. I remember how giddy and happy and bubbling with excitement every chapter of Curtis and Honey's adventures made me feel

What I like the most about your writing - You have an incredible way with words to describe the surroundings and inner thoughts of your characters. I really enjoy your descriptions

A fic I didn't expect to like so much - Wilford Demands. I'm not the biggest fan of dark stuff and usually don't enjoy it but something compelled me to read Wilford Demands. Whatever that was, I'm grateful for it because the story sucked me in

<3 <3 <3

ALLY! the fact you left me so much is making me really tear up. You don't even know how much this made my day.

Life Is Short So Make It Sweet is so incredibly important to me, more then I think I even realized what it was going to turn into, so to see you mention it and give it such a shoutout makes my heart so happy. The first date (which are you team Curtis that it was Paulies bar or team Honey and it was under the stars?) was scary for me to do! Im used to just having characters kind of together, the whole build up for them was almost a daunting task but damn glad I did it.

I love Curtis, I just want to give that character so much of my effort and time. I know he isn't considered 'the popular ones' but when I first watched him, he claimed a permenant place in my mind. It became a goal of mine to give him something good in some way.

I get the hesitation in reading The Pack. It has a heavier storyline and isn't for everyone. Those two go through so much and fight for everything they have, it doesnt always have a happy story. (BUT WE ARE NOT DONE YET, WHO KNOWS!)

Wilfords Demands. Man that series just... took a life of its own. It wasn't supposed to turn into the series it did, but it was meant to be. I still remember going over it and thinking "When did it turn into this?" cause it was really just supposed to be a few stories of dark smuttiness. I wish I could have seen your reaction when you realized it was mine. Lmao.

Thank you, for all of this and what you do for this fandom. I am so lucky to get to know you through your stories, our messages and crossing one anothers dash. Keep shining babes!

#amber answers #creators supporting creators #supporting our creators is how you continue getting free content

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