Remember When We All Thought Season Four Would Be Nothing But Ladynoir Fluff? Yeah

I had like twenty scenes from the first three Stormlight books I wanted to illustrate before the fourth book came out, but . . . *Glances at countdown to RoW I definitely don't have on my bedside table* Yeah, that's not gonna happen. So here are some doodles of Syl.

Hopes for Optygami

Miraculous Ladybug set up a good stakes system in the first three seasons with this simple rule: identities must not be revealed. If they are, there will be dire consequences. Hence, while we don't really believe that our main characters are ever at risk of dying, we can accept that they might someday lose their masks, and that that would be bad. It's a risk that adds real weight to the action and plot. It also justifies the endless identity dance between Marinette and Adrien. But then Miracle Queen happened, and all the heroes except for our main two were outed. We saw no consequences in that episode. We saw no consequences in the NY special, and we've seen no consequences in season four yet, either. This makes the entire narrative feel far less convincing and lowers the tension immensely. Not to mention that it almost completely invalidates how Adrien and Marinette continue to hide their identities from each other. (It doesn't invalidate their secrets completely because we're not going to forget Chat Blanc any time soon, but it still lowers the stakes considerably.) Not only are almost all the superheroes out, but Alya still sometimes runs around as Rena Rouge, despite her identity being publicized. And she knows Ladybug's identity, which we've been told is dangerous, but we haven't seen anything that convinces us it's dangerous. The thing is, we have seen negative consequences of identity reveals. Chloe being akumatized is one instance, and another is Chat Blanc. But the show has done nothing with the biggest large-scale identity reveal so far (the one at the end of season three), which makes the "we must keep our identites a secret" spiel very hard to swallow, and makes the entire plot feel almost risk-free. I hope that Optygami shows us the negative consequences of this large-scale identity reveal, and returns strength to the narrative by doing so. TL;DR: With a few rare exceptions, we haven't seen much to back up the story's constant claim that identity reveals are dangerous. I hope that Optygami will finally show us some of the disastrous consequences of identity reveals, thus adding more weight and stakes to the narrative and justifying Marinette and Adrien's continued secrecy.

they ship in warmies who think they know war but no one knows war before

no one from terra knows what it is to feel your lungs fill with ice as the red eye watches you forever

no one from terra knows how to fight in tunnels or trenches; that planet is too crowded, everywhere has people, no one knows what it's like to fight inside the ground itself

no one from terra knows how the fighting goes when the line between soldier and miner is as blurry as your vision gets as the ice sets in

no one from terra knows how fighting used to be, without plasma guns or electro-bombs, no one knows how to fight when it gets so cold that all the modern tech dies and you're left with your frozen purple hands and the rifles of your ancestors

no one from terra knows what war is. no one knows what war is before—

before they come here.

Marinette Duapin-Cheng, future clothing designer and current helper of rich kids with family issues!

me tagging when i first started posting to A03: ok i’ll tag the main characters, relationship, and content warnings.... maybe a little explanation of the plot? oh jeeze i hope that’s not too much...

me tagging now: welcome, readers, to the director’s cut (with commentary)

Unpopular opinion: Vin/Elend is actually really well written.

Not because of the pining/buildup in the first book, but because of the way the established relationship was written in books two and three. It's rare to see characters together, on screen, in stories. Rarer still to see them having problems that they work through, arguments, doubts, differences, and issues that they overcome because they love each other, even if they're different people. Rarest of all to see love that lets a character sacrifice their loved one for the world as the loved one would want, instead of sacrificing the world for the loved one.

Aaaand I'm back to writing short fluffy pieces. Oh well. I have an eight-chapter fic full of pining planned, so um, give me some credit?

Here ya go.

Everyone always compares Infinity Train to Adventure Time or Gravity Falls or Steven Universe, but to me, watching Infinity Train always feels more like watching a studio Ghibli movie: captivating, immersive, and surreal.

Also finished this postcard. The hyperfixation is real.