Internal Conflict Writing Ideas

Thieves In Time Redux: Why Toad Town?

Check this post out for context.

You may be wondering why there's so much music from Paper Mario: The Origami King associated with this project. This was actually a decision I made quite recently.

For now, I'm only talking about Origami King's Toad Town.

I started work on Thieves In Time Redux long before Origami King ever existed. It was just a massive stroke of luck to see OK's Toad Town of all pieces work so well together with the progression of my little story. Or more specifically, a certain mouse girl's evolution into the true hero I know she can become.

Take Toad Town Ghost Town, for instance. It's assigned to Episode 1, the beginning of our heroes' time traveling adventure. Not only is it perfect for Feudal Japan, it's also perfect for the beginning of Penelope's character arc.

Might as well talk about each step in the music's progression. Toad Town - Red Streamer Removal is assigned to Episode 2. Perfect for a wild west town, is it not? Here, Penelope is beginning to understand the consequences of her actions, mainly through what happened to Sly and Carmelita.

My favorite, though, is Toad Town - Blue Streamer Removal. Assigned to Episode 3, that's when Penelope undergoes her change of heart. It happens after she gets placed on bed rest and needs the boys to take care of her.

Then there's the more heroic shift in tone that comes with Toad Town - Yellow Streamer Removal. In which our heroine successfully strikes down her own creations without being discovered as their creator.

Episode 5 gives us Toad Town - Purple Streamer Removal. Penelope's nearing the end of her character arc, and the boys are proud of her. Too bad Le Paradox outs her as his mole at the end of the episode.

Toad Town - Green Streamer Removal gives us the end of her character arc with Episode 6. After her journey across time, Penelope has changed for the better, she's been found out, and she's willing to take responsibility for what she's done.

How in the heck did freaking Toad Town manage to retell my entire fanfic so perfectly? Even I have no clue... But I'm so glad it turned out that way.

Long story short, I love how the music progresses to its final form.

Penelope!

Tried to do a little redesign for Penelope, it felt weird to me how she didn’t look similar in the cutscenes to the look her 3D model has, so I tried to make her look like a combination of both yee!

BENTLEY AND PENELOPE ARE SO CUTE I LOVE THEMMM

I sure hope nothing bad happens to them…

Something I've been thinking about lately is the shame around writing slowly, and how prevalent it is for people to be upset about not being able to write a lot really quickly. About how so much of writing advice is "how to write more faster," and how many people seeking advice are asking how to write a thousand words a day, and how big of an annual thing NaNoWriMo is because it's difficult but there's this general vibe of condescension for those who don't participate or who don't "win."

And I used to feel ashamed too. I'd get frustrated by my apparent inability to write more than a few hundred words in a sitting on a good day. I'd beat myself up for only managing my bare minimum of fifty words, I'd try again and again at NaNoWriMo and hate myself for not being able to do it.

But I've realized that if I didn't write slowly, my stories wouldn't be what they are. I wouldn't love them so much, because they wouldn't have become what they did - because they had time to bloom.

And I've also realized that while I have had moments in time where I wrote like that - multiple thousands of words a day for days or weeks on end - that's... not something I aspire to.

I write slow! That's okay!

I'm proud of writing slow. I'm proud of having gotten to the point where I put myself and my process before what others expect of me.

You don't need to be fast. You don't need to be ashamed.

And you don't need to want to be fast, either.

I certainly don't.

Me: Writing up Episode 0 is too hard!

Also me: I think I'll try to work on Episode 6 tonight...

That Penelope/Le Paradox boss fight is just too tempting not to start up...

I say that, and yet the only thing I've got is... "She made the first move."

The hardest part of that scene isn't how the fight plays out, but rather the dialogue between our heroine and villain.

PENELOPE IN HER PIRATE OUTFIT

Extremely Intelligent RC expert, Ace Pilot, Buff Fist-Fighter & very flirty mouse, Penelope, hanging out with one of her fans~! . Yet another for the cartoon crushes series! Always adored this girl in Sly 3 & need to write an essay on how they dropped the ball with her in Sly 4

sex is fine but have you ever thought about all the ways you’d rewrite a flawed piece of media that shaped your life and holds a special place in your heart despite its unfulfilled potential

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #7

During Something's Fishy (Episode 1), instead of a hacking segment, we get a "protect Bentley" segment...

What Bentley thinks happened: Murray took out most of the guards. He's sure Penelope got at least a few of the smaller ones.

What actually happened: Murray and Penelope each took out half of the guards. Murray swears she took out a little more than half.

Is Murray trying to make his little sister look good? Maybe. But both of them did pull their weight. Too bad Bentley didn't see any of it...

Moral of the story: Don't underestimate this mouse girl. Sadly, that's a lesson Bentley won't fully learn until Episode 2's Jail Break...

Got a request from @mx-kit for this pinup of penelope from Bentley's Hackpack. As always, I take any requests for future acquisitions

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #19

I did another thing.

That one meme, but with a wholesome twist.

Basically it's Penelope's character arc, but super abridged.