Mags

I was actually thinking when I first read it that it would work really well in a studio ghibli style.

I could not disagree more. The second movie was just as good, if not better than the first. But hey, you do you man.

Merinn was there, trying not to die. It was very entertaining.

Allow me to apologize back, as it took me forever to reply . . . . I guess we're even now. I would argue this was the point. imo, era 2 was meant to be a bit more grounded and personal, rather then epic and large scale. Even when things do get on a larger scale in TLM, the story still doesn't have the stakes or massive feel of what was going on in era 1. Era 2 is meant to be more personal, so it started very small scale, and got a little bigger each time. In short, I don't think the scale of Alloy is a flaw, in fact I think it adds to era 2 as a whole. I can understand where your coming from, with the transition feeling to big and too fast . . . like, I get why'd you'd make that critique but I still disagree. I genuinely think the transition is in the other books and works. This is how I see it: 1. Alloy- is a happy little self contained story. There is a brief mention and use of Harmony (or a shard) at the end, giving us the first itty bitty taste of the larger cosmere. We even get out first hint at Trell here. Cosmere references are more Easter eggs, and less plot relevant. Hoid Shows up briefly. 2. SoS- Is more aware of the larger world and the main conflict has directly to do with a Shard (harmony), as well as other things out of the ordinary. It's more cosmere than Alloy, but still fairly self contained. Cosmere references are still Easter eggs. Hoid shows up again briefly. This is still not a cosmere book, but it's building towards the transition. Hoid shows up briefly again, I want to say he has dialogue but I can't remember (but I think it's worth noting his closer to the MC's than before- as Wax's carriage driver). 3. BoM- This is were I think we get to see the real transition. Cosmere references are no longer Easter eggs, they may not quite be plot relevant yet, but they are to many of them, and they are too direct for me to see them as Easter eggs. Specifically I'm thinking of Hoid, and how he gives Wax the Kelsier coin. He directly effects the MC's, and the plot. Not to mention we have many more clues that point to Trell. This book doesn't directly do stuff with the cosmere, but it's setting it up for TLM, and imo it did it really well. We're on the very edge; the characters are aware of larger things going on, but don't know how to deal with that yet. 4-TLM- We move into a full Comsere novel, building on the transition we got in BoM. This is of course my personal opinion, the cameos and other things in the books leading up to the TLM were enough of a transtion for me, and I think if Brandon had added more it would feel forced. I can see were your coming from though, as the level of Cosmere Stuff TM, Jumps considerably from BoM to the TLM. This didn't particularly bother me though, and I didn't see it as a flaw of the series. I kind of agree with this part of your argument actually, though it didn't take away from the book for me. I think I would have preferred more involvement from Kelsier, and less from Moonlight and the other guy. We spent so long getting exciting about Kelsier returning and then he's only in like, 2 scenes. It was cool when I realized I recognized the characters but I agree that it did feel a bit like a stretch. (Though I do think Shai makes a fantastic ghostblood, it felt a little out of pocket). I really like how brando did Kaise though, with her only showing up for one scene, and it not being immediately obvious that we already know her. I'll be honest, if they do make a live action movie I won't complain, but I think the chances of it being terrible are much higher. Animation is the way to go, if you're going to do an adaptation at all. (but that's just my extremely biased opinion). Please Brandon I'm begging you watch spiderverse. *cries in Rings of Power*

"She's been through quite a lot . . ."

Hi! I'd also be willing to throw out ideas if you want, as for things already discussed: There's an anime called Fullmetal Alchemist that manages to do a rune/drawing based system, but keeps the magic and fighting pretty physical. Through special circumstances some of the characters gain the ability to do magic without drawing the runes, it's sort of like an enlightenment thing. They had to pay a pretty terrible price for the ability though, but I think that would play into the darker/ sacrificial side of things that you've been interested in. It's a good example of a direction you might want to go in. (fma also plays into the 'don't mess with people or life with runs' idea that elan brought up too, so It seemed extra relevant). There's a guy on youtube who's channel is called Monster Garden, and it's basically about him world building and developing his specific world. His magic system is a lot like the parasitic/ people use it but hate it ideas, so that could also be a source of inspiration if you want. I've got to go for now, but I'll to try to keep thinking on it.

"No Xi, I'm not dead."

". . . I was referring to myself actually, but good to know."

Thanks! You're so sweet

"Some us aren't dead and can die, Xi."

"Xi, no. We've been through this. Fire is bad."

Cool! I'm excited to see you're progress!

unfortunately, fadran isn't active anymore, If he were here I'm sure he'd love to help

Will just waited and watched.

"Yes . . . we've been trying to get help for her but we haven't had any breakthroughs yet."

lol I had to scroll down so far to find this thread . . . HI everybody! I do have some art to show today but none of it's really great lol. Mostly I just do silly doodles because I've been working on some really big paintings for school. Unfortunately I don't have picture's of those yet. I really want to start doing more polished art on my own time, it's one of my resolutions. Anyway here's the silly doodles: (also I apologize for the terrible lighting . . . I tried) watch me crash the shard because there are so many pictures holy moly Anyways, I want to try and share my art here more often so I thought I'd just dump some sketches today.

Yay! Cinnamons my favorite too!

Welcome back to the Shard!! I'd be happy to read your story if you're willing to share it! Do you have a favorite kind of bagel?

"Oh wow okay that works too." She ran a hand over her head. "is it . . . gonna grow back? I mean, I own hats so I don't mind I'm just curious."

hmmm I would disagree with Alloy and TLM being out of place and/or not working super well in the series . . . I feel like the point of era 2 was to transition Mistborn from not being Cosmere involved to being fully Cosmere involved. It works like a scale, slowly becoming more and more Cosmere-y so that era 3 is less jarring from the perspective of someone who's only read era 1 and 2 (but not the other cosmere stuff). I feel like Brandon pulled it off fairly well considering it wasn't the planned course of action. Alloy doesn't have anything to do with the Cosmere, but it does set up characters that eventually will, so I wouldn't say it contributes nothing (also . . . Alloy is one of my favorite Brandon books ever so I might be biased). I really do think it helps give era 2 a base before things get more intense and complicated. As for the TLM I can see where your coming from, but I personally think it did add to the characters pretty well. I agree with you about the sanderlanche being just kinda 'eh' though. I try to think of TLM as less of a finale for era 2, and more as a bridge from era 2 to era 3. It was, imo, a good ending for era 2, but the focus of that book was a big finale or ending for era 2. It needed to prepare the reader for era 3, and so that extra purpose to the book makes the ending feel a little bit odd. As for TLM not being a mistborn book I would agree. But. . . it's my opinion that non of era 2 is a true mistborn story. Because . . . well . . . there's no mistborn in it (no, wax using the bands does not count). Not that that is a bad thing though, I truly love era 2! I just feel like mistborn isn't the best brand name for the (allow me to coin a term) Scadrial Saga. Era 2 and the story going forward won't really focus on mistborn themselves, allomancy maybe, but that's different. I'm not entirely convinced we won't ever see a fully fledged mistborn ever again, but I just don't think it will be a focus the way it was in era 1. TL;DR: I kinda agree with you but kinda not and I rambled about it alot whoops

I agree with this, WoA is definitly pretty slow. That being said, it does have some good points, and it makes the revelations in HoA have a really cool impact. I disagree that it didn't feel as 'real' I would argue the events of WoA takes a more realistic turn, showing the complexity and loss of war, whereas the first book glorifies combat (I'm not saying this is a negative thing, it's just a different tone). Sazed and Elend's character arcs are set up in this book, and I really like the follow through in HoA, so I think it deserves some credit for that. Overall though, it definitely suffers from being in the middle of the 'action packed beginning that sets up all the mysteries' book and the 'epic finale that answers all your questions' book. It's building on the story and characters but it takes a while to get there, and so it ends up being pretty slow.