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@theartofmadeline
if i look back, i am lost
🪼
macklin celebrini has autism
Peter Solarz
we're not kids anymore.
KIROKAZE
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$LAYYYTER
Xuebing Du
Cosimo Galluzzi
JVL
Sweet Seals For You, Always
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Monterey Bay Aquarium
blake kathryn
Not today Justin
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
seen from Bangladesh
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
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seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
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@just-xylia
Hello everyone!
It's finally time. The next StelleFlyWeek is upon us starting in June!
Here's the official dates and prompts, and guidelines are in the replies!
Feel free to ask any questions.
Posted in behalf of @StelleflyLover on Twitter!
3.7.26
It’s her day! 🥳🎉
Hoyoverse and the writing pace of each game
I’m just sitting here thinking about Hoyoverse and their writers strengths. Mainly where the writers of Genshin and ZZZ excel in their pacing, and why HSR feels like it could be better nowadays.
Genshin for a while had the 5 act system over three updates, and it worked. The first two acts would have a plot that would be resolved at the end of the second act while still giving you enough hints to be aware of the overarching conflict of the nation. For example in Fontaine you help Navia get closure on her past while still having the threat of the nation's prophecy looming over you. Or in Natlan, you save Kachina in the first two acts while having the looming threat of the nation's imminent destruction. In both examples we have an immediate conflict resolution of a B plot while the A plot still needs to be solved all while setting up our role in the nation, and our relation to the archon. This works for Genshin. They are able to have a coherent story without being too reliant on cliff hangers to keep players engaged.
That said, Genshin does have its flaws. Important lore to the world of Teyvat shouldn’t be locked behind limited time events, especially if you’re going to use said knowledge in your main story afterwards. As well as that Natlan did disappoint in its finale after a solid previous 4 arcs. Natlan suffered for several reasons. Character development happened off screen. Mavuika and the Captain’s conflict fell flat because not enough emphasis was focused on it in the final act. Making your players care more about the world of Natlan over the characters of Natlan doesn’t work when your writing strength is your character writing. On top of that, Natlan overuses deathflags. “Oh no, if Xilonen does this she will die. Oh no Mavuika is destined to die.” With no pay off. Don’t threaten death when you don’t intend to have a satisfying pay off. As a final critique on Genshin, it is lacking in its overarching story, and with it making a consistent protagonist. The Traveler’s personality is whatever is needed for each nation, and it always falls flat compared to the rest of the cast, and that is mostly due to letting another character, Paimon, speak for the main character to an over-excessive degree.
Now as for another game that seems to have its writing flow figured out, Zenless Zone Zero had their flow figured out from day one. These writers excel at making a plot stretch over a year while building a world around it, and Season one is a prime example of this. Each chapter is a new faction you get introduced to, and a different conflict that they need Phaethon’s help to uncover. Even the intermission chapters play a main role in the main story, while also showing that the world phaethon interacts with is intertwined and connected, showing how each faction still shows up and interacts with other factions. Over the entire period, Belle and Wise need to keep their identity as Phaethon hidden from law enforcement, including some who they get close to, as well as their identity as Carole Arna’s students. So, when the climax of the season hits, and the very people they have kept this secret from find out, and they are forced to deal with the consequences? As well as ending it with Belle and Wise telling Miyabi who they were students of? That is delicious pay off, and it comes from the writers being able to give the build up the attention it deserves. No need for cliff hangers, a good amount of attention given to the protagonists personal goal. ZZZ excels at making a story line stretch across a whole year because it cares about its protagonist. Even its epilogue continues this trend, marking a major change in Belle and Wise’s life now that their identity is revealed.
So while ZZZ and Genshin have found their flow, I feel that HSR has shown where their strength is and has yet to return to it. HSR writers excel at writing an entire story in one patch and Belobag is proof of that. Belobog is almost perfect, with character arcs that feel complete from beginning to end, to a story that flows evenly from beginning to end, Belobog was the peak of HSR storylines that other planets should have followed. HSR tried both Genshin and ZZZ’s story flow and it ultimately didn’t work. HSR writers are far too reliant on using cliff hangers to manage an arc that goes over multiple patches, and Amphoreus is a prime suspect of this. Overall it feels like for the writers of HSR when they have to separate the story into separate patches it interrupts their writing flow. The Penacony we got in 2.0 is not the same Penacony we left in 2.3. Amphoreus had so much to tell that it felt clunky and broken up because it was separated in patches. I truly wouldn’t mind if HSR dropped an entire 20+ hour storyline on the first dat of an update that takes players the whole patch period to complete if it means we get the same consistency we got from Belobog. HSR would work if it feels uninterrupted and has the freedom to tell its new areas story uninterrupted while also exploring the overall factors in the universe that will impact the Trailblaze. HSR tragically feels like it has the potential to be an amazing story that's limited by trying to be a gacha game, and that could be fixed by dropping the whole story day one. Characters can still be promoted and sold through character story quests, or companion quests while the main story remains unimpacted.
In any case these are just my thoughts on the writing of Hoyo games in general as someone who genuinely wants to enjoy them. I feel that ZZZ is doing the best of the three in this regard, and while I know my words will not change anything I still think it was fun to write them out and share.
FINALLY FINISHED ONE MARCHFLY😭😭😭😭
reblog this to remind the person you reblogged it from that theyre loved
Deep dive into the Bench scene with Tomoko in P5X
So Motoha makes sure Tomoko has some time to speak to us alone after finding out Tomoko was curious about us. Yet the first thing She talks about, and the only thing she talks about is Motoha.
Tomoko, A girl who has been by Motoha’s friend for most of her life is saying that Motoha has been Selfless to the point of self negligence. The first thing Tomoko talks to us, a complete stranger, about is how worried she is about her friend. THis must have been a struggle for so long if Tomoko seems eager enough to just freely give this info to someone she barely knows.
So, Motoha and Tomoko have a history, yes, but we see a bit more here. We see how Tomoko views herself. Her self esteem isn’t exactly the highest, especially when she compares herself to Motoha. Yes she is absolutely singing her friends praises, but to start with “Unlike me”? She lacks confidence in her own skill, which she clearly has especially when just a scene prior we learn that she is scouted for her talents. Yet even then she compares herself to Motoha.
This line, especially this line is one I wanted to talk about. “I used to love listening to her talk about.” Goodness, that is just a whole lever of adoration and love to have to love hearing someone talk about something. Like, This is something that Motoha loves. Baseball and her dream in said sport are so so important to Motoha and Tomoko is clearly so important to her as well. Honestly all I can think about with this line is Tomoko staring at Motoha with a dreamy look as she yaps on and on about baseball.
And there is the source of Motoha and Tomoko’s grief. This incident that caused Motoha to quit. Of course we find out about that incident later in the story but it isn’t important to this deep dive, what is important is that Motoha blamed herself for something that was in no way her fault, and she quit her dream over it. Her choice was so self-deprecating and all Tomoko can do is watch as her friend spirals downward.
Then we have Tomoko’s new dream. Her new dream does not feel like her own at all. Tomoko had to watch one of her favorite people go from actively and excitedly chasing her dream to quitting and that must have been painful for Tomoko to watch. It seems like Tomoko cares more about Motoha than she does herself, so she’ll achieve Motoha’s dream as her own, because doing something else would feel like abandoning someone she treasures.
Ok let's talk about this keychain. It’s very clearly mirroring the relationship between the two and how they view Motoha’s dream. Motoha gave her keychain to Tomoko as a way of saying, “I’ve given up on this dream but I know it's still so important to you. Please don’t give up for my sake.” Meanwhile Tomoko sees it as Motoha placing her dream onto Tomoko’s shoulders. Like, if she lets go of either of their dreams it will be like she is letting them both down. It seems to Tomoko that achieving Motoha’s dream became so important that she may not even know what her own wants and desires are anymore. All it has been for so long was to live for someone else's dream.
Motoha’s kindness is a parasite to her own mental health. She cares so much to the point she’ll take on other people’s pain. She will keep as much of her own struggles hidden behind a mask because a kind person isn’t selfish in her eyes, and her trying to seek any help would be selfish. Tomoko’s love (Platonic or otherwise) has always been more for those important to her than it has been for herself. Motoha and Tomoko are the closest people the other has, yet between masks hiding true pain, and chasing empty dreams that aren’t one’s own, they have become so distant from one another in a way that they are they cannot clearly see.
This one scene has lived rent free in my head so apologies for the wordy post. In any case I hope you enjoyed my rambling.
Reblog to give prev the power to write their fanfiction
headpats after 3.3...
https://archiveofourown.org/works/65998177/chapters/170049706
While travelling together, Hyacine and Dan Heng get a chance to talk. Dan Heng struggles to use this opportunity to say the words left unsaid between them.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/62404219/chapters/169483522
As the Flame-chase journey reaches its end, Stelle commits her anxieties to the page.
New chapter of Memories up for 3.3!
Reblog to give the person you reblogged from the ability to finish their WIPs
New Stellefly fic up now! Something short and sweet :)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/65736535
I love when he just kind of Showed up in the newest quest <3
give prev an item
comically large hammer
a single grape
ice pick
pokeball
rubber chicken
mysterious orb
ocarina
spear
pirated dvd
Some Thoughts on Persona 5 and it's characters
So, Person 5 is such a great game and it’s one that has stuck with me for a long time. That being said, it is far from the best Persona game, and it could be so much better.
The best part of Persona Three was how everyone's Story arcs and growth happened in the main plot. You didn’t need Social links to understand a character, their motivations, or how they overcame the trial to get from point A to Point B. On top of that, the members of Sees did not solely rely on the main character to grow as a character. So Figured I’d sit through each of the Phantom Thieves and see how we could improve on their arcs through the main story alone.
Let's Start with Ryuji. A fact about him that is almost forgotten is that his leg is chronically damaged. It seems like the writers forgot about that fact and only brought it out when it’s plot relevant. Now to be fair, this is far from the only piece of Media to do this. (Ex: Iida from MHA, and to some extent Collei (Genshin Impact) and Firefly (HSR) fall under this as well) In Ryuji’s case it could have been so much more effective. Like so many events could have been Ryuji saying that he can’t participate because of his leg. For example the beach scene. Hot take, we don’t need a Babe hunt scene in every Persona game. You could have easily replaced that with Ryuji talking to someone about how much his disability has to hold him back from having fun with friends, and the anguish and guilt that comes with that. If you made Ryuji’s leg condition not a fact about him but a thing he has to live with, can you imagine how much more impactful that would have made his big running moment at the end of Shido’s temple? Goodness, that would have been even more of a moment, (Oh and get rid of the scene afterwards where he gets beat up for literally no reason. He needs hugs, not fists.) On top of that, can we please talk more about his trauma of going through the whole abuse that Kamoshida put him through? He and Mishima should bond over that. Mishima deserves to have a friend and healing companion in Ryuji, not have everyone annoyed at him. ALSO, He could bond with Ann about that whole ordeal as well. They both were hurt, and watched people they cared about get hurt by the same man. They both seem the type to put other people's needs over their own.
Speaking of Ann, I feel like we could have gone into an arc with her trauma over the whole Kamoshida situation. I would have loved to see her struggle to continue modelling (an arc similar to how Rise quit her Idol career), or honestly even just with her image of self after that ordeal. Now do I trust Atlus to properly handle an arc about a girl having self esteem issues and not turn it into some creepy scene? (Looks at the overuse of Hot tub scenes and most of the events in P4) Yeah no I don’t. But we aren’t Atlus and can totally make this into a productive arc, because I WANT Ann to overcome this, and I want it to be a realistic struggle. I want her to use anger to cover up her pain, and to be humbled by that, whether it's from Ryuji, or Makoto, or hell, even Shiho. Her arc doesn’t even have to end with her magically getting better, and it shouldn’t. She’ll need to admit to herself that she needs professional help, and While Maruki would help a bit, she needs someone who isn’t trying to, you know, brainwash the whole world to think happy thoughts.
Now How do you fix a problem named Morgana? Easy actually. Just make Morgana a normal ass cat. Morgana does not need to speak in order to get a personality right. Look at Koromaru in P3. Koromaru was great, and never uttered a word (Unless it's Aegis, cause she can understand Dawg Tawlk). Morgana can still be spunky and have an attitude and not speak a word. In fact, it’d probably be more endearing if He was just a normal ass cat. Have the cat start off standoffish and then slowly but surely get more comfortable around the Phantom thieves. It’d work so much better.
Now I feel like Makoto already has a decent story arc within the main P5 story. The dynamic between her and Sae is already so good. You know what would have made it better? Exploring that dynamic at the same time as exploring the Dynamic between Haru’s father and her forced marriage at the same time. I feel like we should have introduced Haru into the Phantom Thieves at around, if not at the same time as Makoto. We’d get more Haru screen time, and It’d give us a chance to see Haru and Makoto bond over their struggles. Sure, the protag CAN be there to help, but I feel like Haru and Makoto have the potential to have a similar kind of bond that Yukari and Mitsuru had.
Now with Yusuke, Goodness, the whole ordeal with Madarame. How do you have confidence in your artistic skill again after learning what your art was used for? How do you trust another adult figure with your craft again after that? That is what He’d have to figure out. Now imagine what happens if one day he gets contacted by a mysterious contact that goes by Alibaba. There’s no request for money, or for art. Just needed someone to talk to about feeling alone in the world. Now when that same Alibaba ends up being Futaba? Goodness you already see how famously they get along, but now they have a previous connection so that they can easily have more of a bond. They easily work as sibling vibes, and they would be each other's closest confidant. They could give each other the confidence needed to show their true sleeves to the world, and fight against those who wronged them.
For Kasumi, I feel like we need to get rid of the Kasumi actually being Sumire twist. It can be a good plot line if done right, but Maruki remains a fantastic Antagonist with or without adding that twist. Instead what would be interesting to see is Kasumi continuing her anti- Phantom Thieves thoughts even after receiving her Persona. Would she rat out Joker? No. She would instead enter different palaces and mementos trying to help the world in her own way. She would be an interesting obstacle to the phantom Thieves. Not a friend or a foe. Someone who would help at some points, but hinder at others. This would also make daily life so freaking intriguing when talking to Kasumi as well. Having to keep up this pretense that all is fine when there is that underlying tension. She is a hindrance of Joker’s own making. A character who would not be afraid to call the Phantom Thieves Hypocrites and make them see that she is right. She would be the cause of any disagreement or fight between the Phantom Thieves. Not that she intends to tear them apart. She just sees Justice in a different light. Of course, she also disagrees with Akechi’s view of Justice, both when he is hiding his true nature, and especially after he shows his true colors.
Now as for Lavenza, just make her the main Velvet Room assistant, and maybe Justine and Caroline are just little messengers or something for her. She’d be forced to keep you in the cell, but you’d see the remorse she feels over the whole situation. You’d see her lack of trust in the “Igor” that we talk to. And Justine and Caroline? They’d be the ones trying to discreetly contact us in the real world, hoping to get help for Lavenza, but of course their personalities don’t help them in getting anything but little hints across the storyline.
As for Akechi, I feel like they used him the right amount, but maybe he could have been used less in game play. Make him only available for the two boss battles he is a part of the team for, and for the one part where you first run into Maruki in his Palace. He isn’t meant to be a Phantom Thief. He is just there for the moments he needs to be there for.
Anyway, those are my takes. Make sure all the Phantom Thieves are together once you have Futaba, and let the phantom thieves be there for each other. And goodness it would be so nice if they don't always agree, hell it would be interesting if they didn’t agree on who’s heart they want to change next at some points. In any case, these are just my thoughts on how P5 could have been made better just by giving the characters more time to shine.
The Regina of Many Waters 🌊
