#and super not the point the story in any incarnation is trying to make

[golvio]

Really not thrilled with the general trend I’ve been seeing of people being like, “Ganondorf’s motive is that he’s Literally Just Demise! He’s a direct continuation of Demise’s existence, who remembers Hylia and all the events of Skyward Sword and is acting on that, and literally nothing else about his backstory matters! ☺️”

Like…no? Even if you’re a total newbie who’s only ever played TotK, he was pretty clearly a Gerudo who was reacting negatively to Rauru’s rule, even if the English translation didn’t really go into detail about why. And he hates Zelda because she’s Rauru’s sole surviving heir in the present and was the one person who actually posed a threat to his plans, considering Rauru’s general hubris and ineffectuality meant he could only serve as a stopgap (and even then, not a super effective one, given that the seal was already leaking 10,000 years ago) while Zelda could actually destroy Ganon after Link softened him up for her. By that point, Hylia’s been dead ingame for like a zillion years and is only remembered as a crunchy granola nature goddess instead of an artificer, and isn’t mentioned by any of the major characters including Ganondorf in flashbacks because Fujibayashi couldn’t stand the thought of accidentally having a woman in an important role that’s not “your mom/your girlfriend who smiles and waits for you on the sidelines” in Skyward Sword and now needs to make a self-sacrificing salaryman father figure who’s emotionally neglectful but trying his best even if His Ungrateful Kids Just Don’t Understand How Much He’s Sacrificed To Support Them (and also just happens to be absolute king of everything) the center of attention in every story he directs.

TotK Ganondorf may not mention much about his motives in the English version beyond “Hrrrgh! I hate the world and wanna destroy it because I came outta the womb all intrinsically mean and bad! I wanna stay up late and ride across the plains on my favorite horsie with all my monster friends all day long!” which is about the caliber of writing SkSw gave to Demise. However, he also never mentions Hylia. He never mentions having mysterious visions of any past life as Demise, or the voice of a dead dark god telling him what to do. Ganon’s motives are firmly grounded in the present, informed by the life he’s lived. Demise himself, at least in the English translation, never said that he himself would return, merely “an incarnation of his hatred,” presumably someone who’d step into the role of causing problems for Zelda and Link’s descendants. He never specified who, or that it would only be one person forever. Ganondorf just happened to be the most “successful” and longest lasting one because he just so happens to be exactly the kind of tenacious bastard who never lets go of a grudge who’s a natural fit for the cosmic “Professional No. 1 Hater” role.

Like, stop acting like who Ganondorf is and his motives don’t matter Because Demise. He’s pretty clearly not Demise or a mere extension of Demise, even if his Demon King form is superficially similar to Demise from a distance. (Not to mention even the superficial details of DK!Ganon’s design point to him being a human who turned into a demon like a kijo or oni as opposed to a “natural born” demon like Demise).

And, like…if you’re going to accept lazy writing while speculating about TotK’s plot or writing your own fic, at least accept what’s actually there instead of making your own even lazier assumptions. At least try to use your imagination and get curious when you’re speculating on what Ganondorf’s friggin’ problem was! Even Original Japanese Script!Demise got a teensy bit of depth with wanting to take over the world so his children could rule over the earth.

#legend of zelda #ganondorf #demise #ganon #totk thoughts #totk spoilers

[themattress]

As we draw ever closer to the 5th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts III, I can't help but reflect more and more upon the realization I've had as of late. For well over a decade, ever since Dream Drop Distance, I have mourned the degradation of the KH series' story and characters, which only intensified after KH3 and all the bullshit it brought to the table in regards to those aspects. But now I understand just as important as those, if not moreso, is the degradation of the KH series' universe. After all, normally in a well-established fictional universe, even if one story with one cast of characters doesn't go over well, you can still potentially look forward to a different story with a different cast of characters unconnected to that other one. And there lies the biggest problem - for all the expansion of this increasingly convoluted lore, the series' universe has shrunk in scope because nothing is unconnected.

The state of the KH universe is that in the beginning it was populated with Keyblade wielders who, due to the machinations of a certain Keyblade master, fought a war over ownership of Kingdom Hearts that plunged the universe into darkness. But then a select few Keyblade wielders restored the universe, which created many more Keyblade wielders who joined up with them, and they essentially ruled over the universe from the shadows in this super special secret world called Scala ad Caelum. Eventually, the machinations of that same Keyblade master from before corrupts a Keyblade wielder who spends his whole life - through several points in time and several different incarnations of himself - trying to take control of Kingdom Hearts so that he could destroy and remake the universe again because he isn't satisfied with how it is now. He is stopped by other Keyblade wielders assembled by a retired Keyblade master, but it caused that damn conflict-creating Keyblade master and his pupils to somehow return, and now the story is venturing into "the realm of unreality" which turns out to have been a big part of that Keyblade master's goal the whole time that he's been working toward since damn near the inception of the universe....OK, do you see what I mean? Everything, and I mean everything, that goes on in this universe that is treated as important by the narrative is directly tied to this one item (Keyblade) and one class of people (Keyblade wielders), and has been scripted by this one omnipotent douchebag (the Master of Masters). Nothing is unconnected, all events and concepts tie back into the Keyblade, the important players who shape the universe are all a part of this one, tightly-knit web of connections, and as a result the universe feels so. fucking. small. It feels so utterly limited in scope and range.

Think of all the Disney worlds in this series, which make up the majority of the universe. Worlds from classic Disney shorts, Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, Tarzan, Aladdin, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Fantasia, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, Tron, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Lilo & Stitch, The Jun The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tron LEGACY, Wreck-It Ralph, Toy Story, Tangled, Monsters Inc., Frozen, and Big Hero 6. And then afterwards, ask yourself this single, all-important question:

How many of these worlds matter to this universe's grand story?

The answer: THREE.

I shit you not. Disney Castle (classic Disney shorts), Yen Sid's Tower (Fantasia), and Enchanted Dominion (Sleeping Beauty) are the only worlds that hold any significance, all because of the characters who hail from there that interact with the universe's grand narrative: Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket, Chip and Dale, Pluto, Pete, Yen Sid and Maleficent. And yes, I know that Jiminy technically hails from the Pinocchio world, but nothing about his life there prior to winding up at Disney Castle and entering Mickey's service as a chronicler for Sora's adventures really matters. Every other world is visited by Keyblade wielders, but its inhabitants never gets to meaningfully contribute to the story those Keyblade wielders are caught up in.....in fact, they are mostly kept ignorant of its very existence.

And the infuriating part is that it didn't used to be this way! Before the Keyblade overtook everything and was just one important part of a larger universe, the Disney worlds and its inhabitants were able to contribute! In KH1, the story was about the Heartless and the worlds' hearts and a group of villains conspiring to capture a group of princesses to obtain ultimate power and Sora broadening his horizons and making his heart stronger through making friends, all of which were serviced through the Disney elements. In KH2, the story was about Organization XIII and the Nobodies seeking to use the Heartless and the Keyblade for their own ends of obtaining ultimate power, with doing so involving threatening worlds and friends that Sora held dear, as well as competing with Pete and a resurrected Maleficent over usage of the Heartless. So again, the Disney worlds and their inhabitants actually participated in what's going on! Even BBS could be forgiven for not having the Disney worlds connect much to the overall plot (beyond a bunch of Unversed running around and barely anyone reacting) because it was a prequel, and naturally the developers didn't want many world inhabitants getting an inkling of a larger universe before the Heartless invasion of KH1 transpired.

But then it all shifted so that everything that happened in those games were all a part of Master Xehanort's convoluted grand plan which hadn't been remotely thwarted yet, meaning that retroactively all of those aforementioned games and events the Disney worlds and characters interacted with meant jack shit...and a point is now even being made about keeping specific Disney characters (the "new Seven Lights") out of the main action and ignorant to their potential role in it! And then it shifted again so that it's all about the Keyblade wielders of the ancient past and the Master of Master's grand designs, which means that those previously important Disney worlds and characters feel even less important than they already did following the big Master Xehanort reveal! From what I can tell, the only Disney world and character that may be gaining prominence in the universe's grander narrative is Olympus and Hades respectively, and even then only because he lucked out since Nomura wants to recreate Final Fantasy Versus XIII which involved a god of the dead. Otherwise, it's still all about the OC worlds and OC characters - nearly all of them Keyblade wielders - plus those select few Disney characters from those three worlds that actually know what's up.

That's the sad state of affairs. A supposedly vast universe where the majority of its settings and population....don't actually matter. To the point where they all may as well not be part of the universe but a separate one altogether. Daybreak Town / Scala ad Caelum, the Keyblade Graveyard, the Land of Departure / Castle Oblivion, Radiant Garden / Hollow Bastion, Twilight Town, The World That Never Was, the Final World and Quadratum...those worlds and the characters who populate them are the ones that truly matter to the universe. Those worlds plus those three (soon to be four) Disney worlds mentioned before, as well as all the goddamn datascape recreations of such worlds. It's a small (and boring) universe after all.

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Opinion #Analysis #Truthbomb #Bad Writing #They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot #Jumping the Shark #This Franchise Got Screwed Up #Anti-Kingdom Hearts #Anti-Square Enix #Anti-Nomura #Anti-Tetsuya Nomura

[clay-cuttlefish]

All of Vic's cartoon appearances.

DC Showcase: Blue Beetle

A 60s-styled short using the Charlton incarnations of Vic and Ted, plus Captain Atom and Nightshade.

I'm on board with Vic being an objectivist for the sake of a janky throwback. There is no Rorschach energy here, this is entirely a parody of Ditko.

The comedy's not super inspired but hey, it's 15 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Look at these losers go.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Mystery in Space!

Vic is so shaped. Just a little guy.

Most of these teasers are meant to show off who the guest hero is and what they do, but not Vic. He's just chilling. Zero explanation of what his deal is other than "guy who is Around."

BatB - The Knights of Tomorrow!

Of all the heroes who have been on BatB, Vic is probably the least qualified to go to Apokolips. Why did he agree to this.

Unsurprisingly he falls in lava. Sad. Well there are other heroes.

BatB - Darkseid Descending!

And then he singlehandedly saves the world from Darkseid while most of the Justice League International blows up. King.

I love BatB's commitment to weird little dudes. It plays fast and loose with characterization (it's a kids show that's mostly about Batman and does it with everyone, I'm not gonna nitpick it) but it's got a lot of interesting randos.

I think this is the only time Jaime and Vic appear together? Actually appear, not just as nonspeaking cameos in a big event.

Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold

I watched this while babysitting and I had a great time. It's a kids movie, but hey, I have Scooby-Doo nostalgia and a soft spot for campy Batman, this does both very well.

Vic shows up, is annoying on purpose, and gets his shit rocked and his identity stolen. Extremely Vic behaviour.

Justice League Unlimited - Fearful Symmetry

I know this is a beloved portrayal. Jeffery Combs' performance is well regarded for a reason. It's the biggest adaptation Vic's ever had. It acknowledges his comic connections to other characters. I get it. I just do not enjoy him as the baseless conspiracy theorist and it drives me up the wall that it's the best he's got.

Like I'm sorry but he would not fucking say any of this. He's annoying and bad at superheroics for many other reasons but he is extremely aware of the real roots of corruption, he's not going to be repeating antisemitic conspiracy shit. Even when he genuinely sucks he sucks in very specific ways.

JLU - Double Date

Points for being partly based on Cry for Blood.

It makes me so sad that I don't like this take on Vic and Helena's relationship. I wish I did.

JLU - Question Authority

I do actually like Vic getting deeply upset by the thought that the bad future is predestined and trying to throw himself under the bus for it. That feels fitting to me even if the details aren't.

There's a version of this story that lives in my brain where Vic is more of his stubborn, no-nuance early reporter self, and he breaks into the secret government facility to try and leak everything to the world only to get his ass kicked instantly by Captain Atom.

JLU - Grudge Match

This is the world's dumbest nitpick but Vic fucks. It's the one part of being in a relationship he doesn't suck at. I have no real problems with this sequence, it's funny and does the conspiracy bit better than his main appearances, but I discovered while rewatching that this is a thing I have opinions about and where else am I going to put these extremely stupid thoughts.

JLU - Destroyer

It's just rude that Vic is in the suitup montage but has his mask on the whole time. Let him transform.

I liked his JLU episodes a hell of a lot less this time through than when I first watched them. It's generally a good show, but knowing that this version of Vic is the most accessible one is incredibly frustrating, and the overall strength means that I'm annoyed about missed potential. BatB was never going to be the serious showcase of his nuance or whatever, but JLU could have been an incredible adaptation, and it just isn't for him. Sorry JLU fans.

#clayposts #clayreads #the question #vic sage

[alkalinefrog]

Just had the chance to read Lights of Avalon while writing my own HiJack fic, and its so apparent how much you GET Jack as a character. It's amazing to see the life you breathe not only into this different incarnation of Jack, but the Guardians and side characters like Jack's family. As someone who is more new to the HiJack fandom (Only been writing it for a year now) how do you get the characters this fleshed out and believable? I always struggle trying to balance out elements like that without it dragging to much. What is your technique for this writing wise?

Well, technically I've only been here for a year too--I think we're coming up on the anniversary of when I read OTNWAS and got trapped here, wow, time sure flies LMAO

This is my first ever ask for writing advice, dude I'm so stoked! I'll do my best to give you a clear answer, but sorry in advance if it's a little jumbled, I'm still fairly new to fic writing and this is only my second one asldfjlasdjf

For Jack specifically, I owe a large part of my understanding of him to talking about him with @jjackfrost! I feel like I had a good grasp on his general vibes from rotg, but talking with Robin and how he approached writing Jack in OTNWAS really helped flesh him out in my mind!

EDIT: I finished typing everything out and this answer is long af, I'm so sorry LMAO. TL;DR:

Focus on who Jack is as a person, and demonstrate who other people are through how exactly they interact--and more importantly, react--to him in his POV

9 times out of 10 people won't info dump their tragic backstories to each other, so give info about them in their actions as you move the plot forward. Come up with situations that can best showcase who they are as people. Show don't tell!

How much you learn about each character will all depend on who your POV character is (Jack) and what his relationship to them is like (the closer they are, the more heart to hearts he'll be inclined to share)

Details under the cut!

EDIT 2: ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH, I'm so glad you like my characterization of everyone!! That's super high praise!!

Things are a bit different because this version of him never lost his memories and stayed human after falling through the ice, so I focused on who he is at his core--his centre, if you will hehehe--and what kind of person he was to begin with that would make the moon choose him. He's a really specific balance of mischievous but never malicious, immature but still responsible, and very very brave and compassionate and protective and HUHHHHHH my son 😭😭😭 His strength is in how he focuses on finding joy even in the darkest times, you know? And he's very self-sacrificing in order to bring that same joy for others.

When fleshing out the other characters in the story, for me it was important to remember that Jack is the POV character, so any info we learn about others has to come from their relationship with him and what he observes in them.

For example, his heart to heart with Bunny is way more guarded than the ones he has with his mother and Emily since they're still strangers to each other at that point. Neither of them are going to info dump about their tragic backstories to the other LMAO, especially since Bunny's not a wears-their-heart-on-their-sleeve character, but that's exactly why I thought that he'd be the best choice out of the three to have the initial real talk with Jack. He'd be the least likely to pry, which would let Jack relax a bit about dropping his guard.

In their conversation, I needed to give enough info to 1) get to understand Bunny's motivations a bit more, since he definitely sticks out next to Tooth and Sandy as a bard, 2) establish trust between him and Jack that can develop into a believable friendship later, and 3) give Jack more of a reason to think that joining the Guardians is actually an emotionally healthy idea too.

So then I thought about what exactly they'd share with each other, since conversations are always about listening instead of talking. Bunny doesn't divulge into the details of his past, but you get a sense that he's been through a lot given what he does share, and that he's already had his own character arc. Jack learns that Bunny is also deeply protective of his family, and that's something he can relate to. Jack's questions in turn show how lost he is, and that prompts Bunny to give only the relevant info that he thinks would help Jack.

But then for all that to happen, they needed to have another moment of bonding before it felt believable that they'd open this conversation in the first place, hence them being forced to team up in the snowball fight lol. Plus it wouldn't be a RotG fic without one good snowball fight LMAO. Pacing-wise, it also just so happened that I needed another more light-hearted scene to brighten the mood before things went to shit again since chapter 2 was so angst-heavy, and I needed to bring the Guardians back in to give Jack the option to leave, and you see how things are falling into place now lol

Writing the Guardians is suuuuuuper fun because they all have such fun and distinct personalities from each other! I get to be a bit less grounded when it comes to them too, since they bring a lot of comedic relief and are more whimsical in nature from the movie.

For Jack's family, it was easier to flesh them out through how much Jack cares about them, and how much he pays attention to what qualities in Emily and his mother that he loves most. In turn, you get to see how much they love him too.

Obviously you spend the most time with him and Emily, so I wanted to make their dynamic as siblings really cute (I drew a lot of inspo from my own relationship with my younger brother, which helped me relate to Jack more too). You see how much she takes after him with the tree climbing and how she follows his lead in all the mischief he pulls. She's self-sacrificing in her own way, with the scene where she pretends not to be interested in the pink dress when Jack catches her looking at it, and more importantly later when she tries to stop him from leaving and finally shows how much the accident and the guilt from it has been affecting her too.

Pacing-wise, they needed to spend the most time together in order to make Jack's sacrifice for her more impactful, and how much it hurts him to leave her, so I came up with a bunch of ideas for things to best showcase the different layers of their relationship--1) clowning the bards and each other for the humour, 2) stargazing for the intimacy, 3) snowball fight for the mischief, 4) their goodbye for the FEELS, plus that whole montage about winter before Jack saves her.

You only get one real scene with his mother, and I wanted to give her more character than just "mom," so I gave her an injured little boy to help take care of so you can see how warm she is as a person when she calms him down, in contrast to how Jack can reassure the kid in his own way by entertaining him and making him laugh. Then she gets some banter with Jack so you see her sense of humour. You get a hint of where Jack and Emily get their playfulness when she mentions that she's better at climbing trees to tease him lol.

Exposition-wise, Jack already knows that she's the town doctor, so instead of having him like, turn to the camera to say it lol, the scene with her stitching up the boy's cut demonstrates that. I gave Jack and Emily tasks that showed other aspects of her role without having to explain it, ie: shopping for supplies at the apothecary for her, and delivering medication orders she made for people in town. Idk if it was too subtle, but another reason I had Jack mention that they're short on cash was meant to show that she's not in the medical field for profit (SIDE-EYES AMERICA), so she's very selfless as well.

Aaaaaaaand that's about it so far without talking about what's going to happen next in the story. I hope that was helpful!

#writing Jamie for the one-shot was so much easier because I just made him very gen z LMFAO #ask #fsbt-fanatic #advice #tloa #the lights of avalon

[deadlittledogs]

That subreddit gives us a horrible rep honestly

The things we do are mostly out of a lack of reassurance

naaaah the subreddit was extremely accurate to my experiences lmao, that’s not some kind of crazy coincidence. It even feels like a classic move to excuse the toxic behaviors that are associated with the disorder as “we’re just not getting enough reassurance” like no, I’m sure you’re getting plenty of reassurance, you’re just somehow both insecure and think you’re Jesus Christ incarnate at the same time and you push people away by acting fucking insane and terrible all the time.

I realized that ex-bestie had a fear of me leaving but her response to that insecurity was to beat down on me for years to try and widdle away my self worth and make me believe that if I ever wanted to succeed in life I needed her and that I’d never be able to hold myself on my own. Then she latched onto some fucking rando and it was like she woke up one morning and decided I was chopped liver. That’s EXTREMELY common with people with BPD lel. I gave her plenty of reassurance, I basically spent 7 years hyping this bitch up to get nothing in return except a void in my soul.

And I’ve basically heard this same story over and over again from other people who got intertwined with BPD sufferers… and what, you’re saying they’re all just assholes who weren’t ‘giving enough’ and giving BPD a bad rap? LIKE YOU GUYS ARE GIVING URSELF A BAD RAP BY NOT GETTING THERAPY AND JUST FUCKING EVERYONE OVER WITH UR TOXIC ASS SYMPTOMS LMAO… i find most BPD people genuinely benefit from treatment and act a whole lot more pleasant when they’re receiving professional help but half of you just ‘can’t get around to it’ and then point fingers and act like a victim when any regular person is like “dude ur being a dick I’m over this”. ITS SUPER ANNOYING LOL…

[thevindicativevordan]

Any thoughts on the new Zod series and the other Superman-related announcements at SDCC ?

Seems like most of the actual exciting announcements came from the DC Connect leaks. Despite this SDCC being hyped up as a "return to comics", DC didn't seem ready to actually reveal much (nor did Marvel to be fair).

Biggest announcement that I care about is Joe Casey making a surprise return to DC for a Zod book! Solicit sounds like a dream come true, my own idea for a Zod book was him making moves to establish New Krypton as a power with influence in the United Planets, and this is doing something different but intriguing nonetheless. Need to reread Casey's Superman, I believe he did some cool stuff with Pokolistan Zod previously, but this is his first time working with the genuine deal. Seems Ursa and Lor are gone/dead. I have a theory that this is spinning out of the 2024 Brainiac event. Williamson had Supes and Zod divide Kandor between themselves, and my hunch is the event will be Brainiac trying to reclaim Kandor. I predict he will reclaim Zod's half and also bottle Ursa and Lor too, which Zod will blame Kal for. Can't wait to see what Casey does, this might finally give us the big Zod story we've been waiting for.

From the leaks we know that Tamaki/Patridge are doing a Supergirl Special that hopefully is a prologue to a new Supergirl book, similar to what just happened with Power Girl. Tamaki's Being Super was good, my only qualm is that it turned Kara into Clark Lite. That's not what I want for the mainline Kara, I don't want Kara wearing glasses, or being a journalist, or even having a secret identity, none of that appeals to me. I don't think it makes sense for her character, nor does it make for an interesting character. If DC wants me to check a Tamaki Supergirl book out, I need to know Tamaki gets that Kara isn't Kal and won't try to make her fit his mold. Especially after King's excellent miniseries, Kara needs someone who is going to tell stories with her that you could only do with Kara.

Neither Williamson nor PKJ want to do a Mxy story per their own words which is a bummer. Maybe PKJ was trolling/lying since I've listened to interviews where he said he liked Mxy and had story ideas for him, or maybe he changed his mind like he did with Toyman. PKJ had a surprise villain appear in the Metallo arc with Cyborg Superman, I'm betting another classic Superman villain will be involved in this upcoming Blue Earth arc. Ultra-Humanite is my guess since PKJ has said he wants to deliver on those two dangling plot threads that Morrison set up. Williamson has a new villain coming in the Chained, and also teases stuff coming for Livewire, Parasite, and Toyman. I continue to be pleased with all the love the Superman Rogues are getting.

No announcements/appearances from Taylor at the Superman panel which is giving me the slightest bit of optimism that he's well and truly done with Superman for a while. He'll probably shove Jon onto the Titans team but I don't care about that. Jon wasn't even mentioned at all, he's well and truly flopped at this point. Until he gets a new creative team to try and salvage him, I'm fine with him playing support in Action and/or on the Titans.

JLvGvK sounds and looks fun as hell, keep the JL on Earth 0 disbanded forever and do more crossovers like this instead

Anonymous asked: What do you expect from this rumored Crisis on Infinite Earths animated movie?

This has been rumored for ages, so maybe they were able to get Conroy in the studio before his death? Otherwise just have Terry be the DCAU Batman, because there's no way the DCAU guys aren't going to show up. Rumor was every animated DC incarnation was going to be involved, and I'm morbidly curious to see if they're actually getting the budget to pull that off (my hunch is no).

Adams claimed that the Tomorrowverse will continue after this, so my guess is that this is going to be them incorporating other takes into the Tomorrowverse - I expect Stana Katic Diana to be folded into the Post Crisis Earth, maybe Keaton Hal Jordan too - and this will mark the end of the Multiverse stories for a while. If Adams is lying then this will kill off the Tomorrowverse so they can switch to making DTVs for the DCU. Warworld wasn't good so I'm fine with them ending the Tomorrowverse, they made a lot of weird choices there anyway.

Oh and DC is adapting Watchmen again. I can only assume this is laying the groundwork for a Doomsday Clock adaption down the road, because otherwise what's the point? Animation guys are not going to turn in a better script than Snyder did, nor can they match the budget of the Snyder movie either

Otherwise...

Ram V signing a DC exclusive is welcome news, I expect Tec will remain his main book for the duration of his two year contract, but this means we will keep getting great side books like the Vigil or Swamp Thing.

Gotham War sounds boring, I'm eager to get through it to the other side

New Outsiders book that is basically DC Planetary interests me, good to see Batwoman moving back to being the Bat who does weird shit rather than being "the soldier"

Seems Wells will remain on ASM for another year, bummer. Slott's getting two Spider-books

At least that Spider-Man 2 trailer looks great! Spidey's gift and curse is that he always has something good coming even when his books suck, which lets me scratch that itch without the comics, but also seems to uplift Spidey's sales even when his books suck. No matter how bad his books are they always sell, leaving Marvel no incentive to purge Spidey editorial the way they need to

Hickman's Ultimate Universe reboot announcements did not materialize, did they decide to save those until after Invasion ends, or are there already troubles behind the scenes?

None of the X-Books are appealing to me, I'm sticking with Gillen's Immortal but once that wraps I think I'll be done.

Pretty boring SDCC honestly. Obviously NYCC 2022 was a rare blowout event, but SDCC didn't even try to match that energy.

#dc comics #marvel comics #sdcc #sdcc23 #crisis on infinite earths #watchmen #general zod #justice league vs. godzilla vs. kong

[unboundwanderers]

1 , 17, 29, 36 & 37 (to any of the doctors!)

MUNDAY ASKS.

1 A.) Technically, this is a two part question because I started writing when I was like... ten. I started in SCHOOL, actually, in fourth grade. I wrote these DOG ass DBZ fanfics for show and tell, and a friend group formed a whole expanded universe for me. We made characters, wrote their stories, and drew comics. Not only was it the birth of my creative passion, but those friends would help me meet my brother, and their enthusiasm would lead me on to make my more prolific muses later down the line. I fostered my writing by making dog ass Doctor Who Minecraft videos with my friends. I still keep up with them, and our passion for writing is still at an all-time high.

1 B.) I started roleplaying when I was twelve. I joined tumblr back in early 2010 - 2012? I interacted a LOT with the Superwholock fandom and the Sonic fandom, as those were the most prolific fandoms on the platform at the time. Tumblr was a wasteland back then, and poor little Alex had no idea how to make any blogs or do any fancy artwork. I joined when ASK BLOGS were the biggest thing on the platform. Once Undertale got popular, I got roped into that fandom and by proxy some discord servers (as Discord was starting to become popular around that time).

17) This is a contentious topic. I have no idea who my FIRST muse REALLY WAS. I think it was The Doctor. I remember making them all their own seperate blogs that were interconnected because I had no idea you could do multimuse blogs when I was a wee shitlord. These versions are just... matured/refined versions of the Doctor's I made when I was a kid. I was super into Doctor Who when I started roleplaying, so I just kinda got easily absorbed into the fandom. I remember there was this guy who made a deadpool version of his muse, and he kept trying to send me Magic Anons that turned my Doctor's into canon versions (I DO NOT miss Magic Anons. Some of them lasted for months.) I remember young Alex being upset about being turned into canon Doctors. Made his feel unwanted. However!! Now I am god! I make the rules!!! No magic anons.

29) Complicated. I don't hate Doctor Who's current canon - it's just CONFUSING as all balls. I think I really just wanted to try something new, as I'd been writing just villains nonstop up to this point, and that got really bad for my mental health. I wanted to get back into the swing and do something that gave me a lot of creative freedom. I used to be group roleplays only, and that was hard for my mental health. There was a lot of drama and a lot of hate, and it was pretty cliquey. I decided I wanted to build my pipeline, but with a character I could really get into with it. Did I think I'd fall down the Genshin Rabbit hole??? No, but The Doctor has given me the opportunity to make all sorts of friends (shoutout to @kemikorosu @lunaetis @terestris, @verdantstride and all my muttuals for putting up with all my crazy time travel horseshit---) and I've never been happier with an RPC. It feels like I've crafted a really fun experience for myself by writing my own canon? Is it MESSY? Yeah. Is it fun as HELL?? For SURE. Doctor Who changes so much, and it's canon is fucking balls to the walls. In that chaos, I've crafted something really fun, and the friends I write with are what make me come back to this hellsite :>

36) I sure hope so. They're based on my own personal experiences. Every doctor here has been crafted and molded with inspiration taken from my own life. I feel like every character, whether it be canon or original - always had a tiny part of it's writer imbued within them, and for The Doctor - that's never been more relevant than with these five. How do you write these many Doctor's, who are ageless, emotional, and complicated individuals? Even some of The Time War, The Doctor's relationship with his people, family, and the ways his incarnations change? They're based and rooted in different stages and styles of anger, depression, warmth, recovery, and humor. I try to put a lot of what people tell me they enjoy about what I bring to a room. Of course, they're still heavily being playtested and actively developed-- but I like the friends and relationships they have so far--

37) Yes. The doctor is smart, and I am dumb. He's also like 5000 years old and can travel in time. He fought in a huge war and watched the universe burn. Also his personality changes like... every day. He's hard to keep up with. He's also an Alien. There's more I could list but Vee asked all the complicated questions and my brain juice is depleted.

#faulty circuits (out of character / ooc~) #MUNDAY QUESTIONS

[azurefishnets]

Candy Hearts Ex(change) Letter 2023

Hello friend!

As on AO3, I'm AzureFishnets and thank you for joining me in this exchange, despite the loss of Chocobox for this year. I think it's going to be fun and I am happy with art or writing or any other medium you want to try. All my prompts are listed in no particular order and I would love any of them, or, indeed, anything using these tags that doesn’t match my prompts. I just hope you find something that speaks to you!

I think it's worth noting that I love these weirdo & pairings with all my heart; I have a few shippy prompts in here but mostly I love to see people just...being human with each other, whether in art or fiction. I don't need movie posters or wild poses for it to be something that will make me so happy in art, and don't be afraid to explore weird, unplotty situations in fiction! I can handle that and will enjoy whatever you gift me with great pleasure.

LIKES:

worldbuilding (I love prompts where it’s like, pick a character and toss them in a location and see what happens)

sensory details (textures and smells especially)

unusual interactions (anything from slice of life to full adventure!)

puns and wordplay

cool symbolism & unexpected parallels

relationship level ups, whether that means platonic bonding or friends-to-more, etc

non-mundane AUs (no coffee shop, school, etc

fandom crossovers or fusions (but taken seriously, not cracky unless specifically requested)

missing moments

emotional support/intimacy

OKAY WITH:

any tense

any amount of plot or none

out-of-the-ordinary story structures

any amount of dialogue from none to screenplay

character explorations

characters appearing that aren’t requested as long as it doesn’t go against my DNWs

DNWS:

any kind of consent issues whatsoever

disrespect of the holy & symbol (AKA non-requested romantic relationships)

angst without a happy ending or at least some kind of resolution

infidelity

pandemic stuff

underage relationships, non-canon children

terminal illness

descriptions of bodily fluids and/or gratuitous depictions of bodily damage

things squirming under skin

--PROMPTS--

GHOST TRICK: PHANTOM DETECTIVE

Alma/Cabanela/Jowd (or any /& subset therof) - Always and forever the OT3 of my heart, and I will happily devour anything that develops any facet of their relationship unless it includes an infidelity angle. I love these three together, or doing things with just one of the others, but always with the knowledge that they are a threesome at heart, you know? I'm happy with date nights, case fic, non-mundane AUS...

Cabanela & Lynne - Lynne didn't have the same things driving her to be a detective in this ending so how and when do she and Cabanela connect for the first time?

Cabanela & Pigeon Man - Cabanela has a small requested task for Pigeon Man that isn't directed to the case; Pigeon Man undertakes it because...dammit he's fond of the boy. Grump.

Cabanela & Missile - Missile would like Mister Cabanela to throw the ball very much please. Too bad the ball is a) evidence and b) filthy. Why is his baby's puppy at an open crime scene anyway?

Kamila & Sissel - Sissel chooses how to reveal his powers to an older Kamila

Emma & Jowd - I'm torn between two prompts on this so have both: Emma tries to verify her suspicions of what happened with a call to Prisoner D-99 OR New timeline Emma attempts to schmooze with Jowd at a party, but Jowd is unschmoozable while simultaneously being schmooze incarnate. How does he do that?

Emma & Alma - Did Alma and Emma ever cross paths in the old timeline? What's their fated non-meeting like?

Emma & Cabanela - New timeline Emma has somehow gotten herself into the situation of needing to infiltrate a political party with Sith and Cabanela is her guiding voice via an earpiece (with optional Sissel?)

Cabanela & Jowd & Sissel - I'm just super taken with thoughts of case fic where Cabanela knows the cat's deal but still can't speak to him; bonus points for undercover work where they all have to pretend they don't know each other.

Alma & Pigeon Man - Alma would like to thank the mysterious Pigeon Man for his efforts on Jowd's behalf but she doesn't know what he knows. Or even how much she does.

Lovey-Dove & Pigeon Man - Lovey is a grumpy dove one day and Pigeon Man is somewhat bewildered as to why

Jowd & Kamila - Jowd introduces a small Kamila to roast chicken and is rather bemused by her reaction

Jowd & Yomiel & Sissel - Jowd and Sissel attempt to teach Yomiel how to be an orb. It is difficult for a variety of reasons.

Jowd & Pigeon Man - The first time Jowd has to ask Pigeon Man to consult on a case in the new timeline...

Alma & Sissel - A small adventure for Alma as Sissel loses his body and has to guide her to it...somehow!

LEGEND OF HEROES: TRAILS IN THE SKY

Ries / or & Kevin - I like Ries best when she's being fierce and I like Kevin best when he's taken off guard by that ferocity. Any moment like that please! Free to make as shippy or unshippy as you like.

Olivier & Kloe - I've got a hankering to see royal scheming. Kloe's so sly with her humor but I feel like these two are a better match as friends than it appears.

Lila/Maybelle - I just think they're cute OK. Anytime they can gently and mutually bully each other into spending time doing something restful is good. Or maaaaybe good ol' sickfic.

Celeste & Kloe - You cannot tell me that academic Kloe does not immediately want to grill her not-ancestor for everything she's worth. Celeste, on the other hand, would like to know more about current day Liberl, especially Kloe's relationship with Alicia...

Kloe & Julia - Kloe and Julia go hawking with Sieg as a training and bonding trip

Estelle & Kloe - I love the FC play so much. Any missing moment there would be great! Or moments in Phantasma: mutual comfort, mutual teasing... OR Kloe allowing Estelle to captain the Arseille for five whole minutes just to see what would happen.

Olivier / or & Mueller: For some unknown reason, Olivier /& Mueller are shanghaied to help with the Perzel farm for a day and find some pleasant parallels to Alster. Free to make as shippy or unshippy as you like.

Olivier & Cassius -They have one final interaction at the banquet before Olivier leaves and heads back to Erebonia forever (?) What advice might Olivier ask of Cassius? Or what might he warn Cassius of, given the Black Record revelations from later in the series?

LEGEND OF HEROES: TRAILS TO ZERO/AZURE

Alex Dudley & KeA - KeA has a question of police procedure that none of the SSS are around to answer; who better to ask than one Detective Dudley?

Elie MacDowell & Tio Plato - Elie & Tio have an SSS case to solve on their own

KeA & Lloyd Bannings - KeA asks Lloyd to braid her hair; Lloyd has no idea how to do that but he'll cross this barrier

KeA & Randy Orlando - KeA asks Randy to read to her, early after she comes to stay with the SSS. Randy's the kind of guy who goes all out

KeA & Sergei Lou - KeA goes to Sergei for help organizing a small surprise for the SSS

KeA & Zeit - Zeit sneakily goes to check on KeA while she is the Zero Child

Lloyd Bannings & Alex Dudley - Lloyd and Dudley share stories about Guy

Lloyd Bannings & Elie MacDowell & Tio Plato & Randy Orlando - Missing moment between Zero and Azure where they visit Armorica and end up picking a bouquet of flowers for KeA together

Randy Orlando & Ken & Nana - Randy gets pulled into a game of hide n' seek with the west end kids

Randy Orlando & Tio Plato - Randy tries to card shark Tio and she sweeps him handily, but he's sharper than she gives him credit for...

DISCWORLD

Death & Death of Rats - There is a small kerfuffle over jurisdiction when both of them show up for an opossom...

Binky & Death - Death has conflicted responses when a horse girl dies and has THOUGHTS on how well Binky is being treated

Death of Rats & Mustrum Ridcully - Ridcully, for whatever reason, decides it is time for the Rite of AshkEente once again, but who has time for the old fashioned ways? 2 ccs of mouse blood later, he sure has summoned a Death all right...

Cheery Littlebottom & Detritus - Detritus brings Cheery some parts of his old thinking helmet in hopes she can repair it

BATEN KAITOS: ETERNAL WINGS & THE LOST OCEAN

Almarde & Lyude - Lyude finds a moment to honor Almarde in the new world with some music

Mizuti & Xelha - Xelha teaches Mizuti to ice skate

White Dragon & Xelha - Xelha takes a ride on the White Dragon to explore her new world and have a bonding moment

LUNAR

Althena & Lucia - The moment they realized one would have to stay on the Blue Star and one would have to go

Leo & Mystere - A moment of contemplation where Leo looks at his alternate life and yearns to be that free

Leo | Mystere & Mauri - I would be most amused by Mauri & Mystere shenanigans. Or even Mauri taking on Mystere's mantle!

Luna Noa & Nall - Luna sings Nall one last song...

Nall & Quark - Nall wants to learn more about Quark, so he decides to live his cave for a time

Alex Noa & Nall - Alex visits Nall in Quark's cave, where he discovers that Nall does not really enjoy cave life

Nall & Ruby - Nall informs Ruby about the secret of Dragon Diamonds...and that they can buy MANY fish

FINAL FANTASY VI

Terra & Mog - Terra and Mog dance together on the airship deck in a moment of silliness

Edgar & Sabin & Chocobos - The tween twins steal some chocobos from the royal guards and take a joyride

Celes Chere & Relm Arrowny - Big city Celes and small town girl Relm have a chat about their respective lives pre-WoR

Celes Chere & Chocobos - Celes's first chocobo ride was in the green forests near Maranda... what a difference in the WoR, now that they're being chased by a dinosaur?!

Cyan Garamonde & Strago Magus -Cyan asks Strago how he dealt with his grief after his daughter died

Cyan Garamonde & Relm Arrowny - Cyan is not reminded of his son by Relm. Not at all. But... she's certainly an interesting young girl, isn't she...perhaps she'd like some flowers to paint?

Celes & Sabin - I'm always always soft for comfort between the two of them on the Serpent Trench

CHAINED ECHOES

Lenne & Victor - Post-game Lenne commissions Victor to write Glenn's last story

Lenne & Magnolia - Two queens commiserate over the loss of their kingdoms, as well their other mutual loss

Glenn & Victor - Any exploration of their shared chained echo, OR Victor finds Glenn's latest incarnation one last time

Ba'Thraz & Victor - How do these two continue to build on their shared fate as continuers of the Heroes of Leondar's legacy?

Thank you for making it all the way to the end! I hope something here spoke to you. Happy crafting! I can't wait!

#'writing af #candy hearts exchange letter 2023

[cloudeling]

d g h k i o <- ask game

okay shoving this beneath a cut bcus it got vry long

darcie:

okay darcie is. shes my little guy <3 xe's decidedly newer and less developed than most of the branches&thorns group as ve was only added in the most recent incarnation of these guys (they used 2 be in space didyou know. not anymore though.) darcie iss soooo. kie rlly wants to like. do whats best for everyone especially her close friends and xe rlly are convinced that kie knowws what best for ppl even if they disagree and ve can be vry stubborn abt that. which leads to things like her and medas fallout. bcus darcies convinced xes doing the right thing and if she can just get meda to kindof. accept this part of itself. then everything eill be better and ves not Wrong necessarily but kie doesnt rlly realize thatlike. meda wasnt ready youknow. meda needed a lot of time and dragging her out to the forest its absolutely terrified of inthe middle of the night.its not going to help. but that worked for darcie so darcie thinks itll work for meda except they both have Very different circumstances and theyre also different ppl .but darcies too stubborn to admit that at the beginning ofthe story and then meda abandons xem in the middle of the woods and they fight and its like. aurgh. also like i said darcie is vry stubborn and this leads 2 ver holding grudges for.a very long time and meda knows this which kinda drives them apart even further youknow. bcus meda knows this abt darcie so it doesnt want 2 try and reach out and fix things bcus.darcie holds grudges for a very long time. and as much as it hurts meda to lose darcie shes vry nonconfrontational and it doesnt want to .get hurt even more. a lot of my thoughts abt darcie do tend to revolve around meda but in my defense theyre very intertwined. also i have lotsof thoughts abt darcies hair and the way it changes throughout the story.. meda helped kier start questioning ver gender and thats why ve starts growing it out.and then kie cuts it all off after the fight with meda.that being said darcies native and i know that hair can b very culturally important especially in certain tribes so i do.want to do some more research on that before i make any concrete decisions onthat.

olliander:

ollliii my boy olliander. she just kinda sits inmy head llike. :]. <- thats the type of smiley face hed use ithink. theyre like. very polite young person youknow. the kinda guy that ur parents want u to bring home more often. hes the first person to make friends with the new student but not necessarily the first to like.emotionally connect. that being said jordan and her r pretty close (they were /r at one point but rn theyre ssitting at more of an in between in my brain.) theyre very friendly but kindof. shallow ig??? like not in a teen movie meam girl sort of way but more that like. its not rlly in touch with hys own emotions enough to rlly concievably be super like.open and vulnerable yk. shes got issues but theyre all kinda pushed to the side and ignored bcus oh well other ppl have it way worse than me. idk. also ollis got an older sister named camille and a younger brother whose name i have 2 figure out and they love them both a llooot.

#asks #juno !! #this got long oml #ocposting #branches&thorns

[hunxi-guilai]

Do you have any thoughts about people saying wwx nearly destroyed the world, ruined countless lives, etc. and then gets to come back and pretend like he did nothing wrong? Esp. in regards to him telling JC to leave things in the past, the improbability of everyone deciding to forgive the yiling patriarch etc. I honestly don't agree with this reading of his character because to me if anyone hates wwx the most it's wwx himself and I feel like he is going to try to fix it beyond the bounds of the book but I don't know, maybe I'm not being v. objective about it? And there's a lot to say about trauma responses but idk.

But does he? Does Wei Wuxian really get to come back and pretend like he did nothing wrong?

There’s a wonderful, chilling exchange in S3E9 of the audiodrama; a cultivator confronts Wei Wuxian about the ramifications of his past actions, the bloodbath at Nightless City, the tragedies he caused directly and indirectly:

Wei Wuxian: 那你究竟想怎么样？你究竟想要什么？他没了一条腿，我碎尸万段，你失去双亲，而我早就家破人亡[...]请问你们还要究竟怎么样？/ Then how do you want this handled? Exactly what do you want? He lost a leg -- my body was torn to thousands of pieces; you lost your parents -- my home and family were lost much earlier... I would like to ask -- exactly how do you want this handled?

Cultivator: 没用的。魏无羡，无论你做什么，都不要指望我会原谅你！永远不会！/ It’s no use. Wei Wuxian, no matter what you do, don’t hope that I’ll forgive you! I’ll never forgive you!

Wei Wuxian: 没谁让你原谅我。我做过的是，不光你记得，我也记得。你不会忘；我更不会忘。/ No one asked you to forgive me. What I’ve done, not only you remember, but I also remember. You won’t forget; neither will I.

Keep in mind that this happens after the second siege of the Burial Mounds -- Wei Wuxian has already drawn a spirit lure flag on his clothes, functionally sacrificed himself to save a mob that was clamoring for his blood not an hour earlier. Even after that stunt, he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, forgiven.

So a lot of the trickiness of this conversation about Wei Wuxian’s culpability, and what some kind of “justice for Wei Wuxian” might look like, is that, well, CQL and MDZS have very different takes on the relative moral grayness of its protagonist, which is a subject that has had a lot of ink spilled on it and one I’m particularly ill-suited to discuss. At least within the narrative of CQL, with the addition of the second flautist and the reveal that Wei Wuxian did not, in fact, lose control but was rather sabotaged by other people, does powerfully suggest that Wei Wuxian isn’t as guilty as the body count would imply. But even with the addition of the second flautist and the sabotage, the question of Wei Wuxian’s guilt isn’t something that can be calculated easily.

That being said, I absolutely do not think CQL!Wei Wuxian comes back to life with zero consequences for his actions--he spends much of the present timeline wearing a mask precisely because he will be hunted down and killed if people find out his true identity. He gets hounded out of Lanling and stabbed; during the second siege of the Burial Mounds, we’re treated to the assembled cultivators howling for his blood. It’s very clear that Wei Wuxian telling Jiang Cheng to leave all of their bad blood in the past is not the conclusion to their relationship, and one needs only to search on AO3 for the subgenre of ‘yunmeng shuangjie reconciliation’ to see many, many different takes on how the consequences of Wei Wuxian’s actions come back to bite him.

As for the “improbability of everyone deciding to forgive the yiling patriarch,” well, I think that’s less of a reflection on Wei Wuxian’s culpability and more part of the narrative’s focus on mob mentality and the fickleness of reputation. I don’t think Wei Wuxian is forgiven, per se; it’s more like public opinion has found a more convenient target to displace its mindless hatred on, especially with the new discoveries of the day (Wei Wuxian essentially sacrificing himself  during the second siege of the Burial Mounds, Sisi and Bicao’s... everything). Wei Wuxian hardly pretends he did nothing wrong, but he has the remarkable ability to let bygones be bygones, to acknowledge that he cannot undo the hurts of the past, and to turn, relentlessly, towards the future. Wei Wuxian, of all people, knows how rare and precious a second chance can be, and he seizes it with both hands.

I think folks who think Wei Wuxian got off easy are kind of missing the point of the narrative’s take on vengeance and justice -- Wei Wuxian is an impossibly perfect case study for the question of “what happens after you’ve taken an eye for an eye?” Wei Wuxian has already died once -- what else would you have him do? Die again? How long would you have him crawl through the mud, repenting, until you are satisfied with your execution of justice?

Wei Wuxian is not innocent in any incarnation, in any adaptation, but I don’t think the story’s focus lies in how to absolve him of blame. No, a far more interesting narrative theme to investigate is how one moves on. How do you live with the consequences? How do you navigate them, resolve them, communicate with the bereaved? What is the living cost of the wrongs you have committed? Where does justice end, and vengeance begin? When does vengeance end, and forgiveness begin?

#aiya this one got long too #idk I think a preoccupation with 'taking Wei Wuxian to task for past wrongs' is a very Skybreaker / Javert execution of justice #and super not the point the story in any incarnation is trying to make #we as a society are a little obsessed with punishments and just desserts #which is a mere fraction of what it means to be a Good Person #I'm with you anon I just went off a bit my b #there's just a difference between public execution of justice and private emotional resolution of trauma and guilt #and the former is much easier to discuss I think haha #anyway #ask and ye shall receive #Wei Wuxian

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

I feel like this is a problem with a lot of morally questionable characters in fiction (referring back to the ask about abusive Maddie and Jack). You get this character who is deep down a good person, or at least is trying to do good but does bad things. On the one hand, yeah they need to be called out for their actions and I don't want excuse them, but it's just so exhausting seeing this complex (or at least potentially) character reduced to a mustache twirling villain with no redeeming qualities. I want to see the real Jack and Maddie get called out and have to struggle on the road for redemption. I wanna see them comprehend all the wrong they did and break down (that sounds a but sadistic but you get what I mean).

there is absolutely somewhat of a problem in fandom cultures of whittling complex characters down to simplistic tropes, and definitely with morally questionable characters either being labelled as 'precious snowflakes who must be protected' or 'evil incarnate' when canonically they are actually neither

morally grey characters are some of my favourites because nobody in this world is perfectly good or perfectly bad, everyone lives in the grey somewhere, everyone has at least some good AND bad qualities, morality is a spectrum after all, and characters that toe the line right down the middle are absolutely fascinating to me

because depending on circumstances sometimes you want them to redeem themselves and sometimes you want them to go apeshit

one of my absolute favourite tropes is the 'redeemed villain becomes weird antisocial friend' trope, I love that, give it to me, I will eat it up

another favourite is 'villain turned anti-hero that you aren't 100% certain aren't still up to something, but they seem to be on your side at the moment and you actually really need their help' that one is SUPER fun

another favourite of mine is 'hero who has been treated like shit their whole life fucking snaps and goes absolutely feral' that is some GOOD fucking soup

I think a lot of the time when people get really intense about liking or hating a character it's because they've gotten personally invested, sometimes they project their own issues onto these characters

maybe they really identify with a morally grey character and that's why they decided to defend that character to their last breath because they feel like they are defending themselves

alternatively a lot of people will project their own trauma onto certain characters that remind them of their abusers (which can often be the case with morally grey parent characters) and so will be completely intolerant to anyone who tries to defend these characters in any way

but if you can avoid pushing your own issues onto other people's interpretations, then there really isn't an issue with how you choose to perceive these characters

if you want to whittle a character down to a simplistic base personality because it brings you joy or some kind of catharsis then hey go ahead and have fun 👍✨ that is your right and you should enjoy yourself

but I won't pretend there isn't an issue in many fandoms (especially big ones) where these sort of characterisations reign supreme to the point of people being harassed as 'apologists' for looking at a commonly perceived 'evil' character and trying to find some nuance

personally, I'm not a fan of Danny being a perfect precious bean, I want this boy to have faults and flaws, I also like seeing Vlad showing some redeeming qualities, it makes things interesting

and my personal preference for stories is that they are interesting

but some people just want tooth rotting fluff or just want to talk absolute smack about a character they don't like, and that's also fine if that's what you like

there are definitely exceptions to the rule, and there are certain tropes I cannot tolerate and will block people who use them, but I'm also aware that I have my own trauma that impacts my decisions, I have no intention of personally harassing anyone who writes things I find detestable, but I also have no intention of interacting with them and that's also okay

it just always comes back to live and let live, and not always making assumptions about a person's personal morality because of how they choose to write a character, and if you can't help but make those assumptions, block them and move on

#asks

[lemonlurkrr]

@aureateart​ ok. My favourite parts of twilight princess  (and some other random thoughts about TP sprinkled in there) taken from my monster TP word vomit google doc :

Link lmao

Ok but for real, I like this incarnation of Link :)

I love Ordon (it just seems like such a chill and cozy village)

ALSO love how easy it is to interpret Link as being a sort of older brother figure to the Ordon kiddos. It’s just,, super cute? AND GHHH nice nice good thanks nintendo for giving me characters to care about/characters that I can imagine Link caring about

He didn’t sign up for any of this (tbh, none of the Links really signed up for this jshdjsd). But I mean like, dude was just going to take a trip to castle town, drop a gift off for the royal family, and come back. But haHA oopsies he did get to castle town eventually but definitely not the way he expected hsjdhsd

He’s just a little dude?

AND FUCK. HE REALLY HAD NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF ORDON UNTIL ALL OF THAT

everything is new for the player AND Link

Midna

She’s cool :)

she really just

*teleports into your jail cell* hello whore.

I am no master at writing but AYYYY she do got a character arc!!!

She was actually pretty helpful sometimes, I ALWAYS checked in with her before turning to a game guide

Other NPCs

NICE

Love all of the TP character designs (ASHEI’S ARMOUR??? AOWOAOAOOAO)

Saving Zelda and all of Hyrule was important yea but thinking back maybe it was more like, the Ordonians and the kids were what was pushing Link to keep on going

I like the Resistance members :) Very video gamey of them to have one NPC assigned to each dungeon but hey!!! Kinda cool getting to see a little glimpse of each of em

Idk, it’s just fun to imagine Link popping into Telma’s bar after each dungeon and taking a little rest :) (or to celebrate? maybe just chat, idk, give this man some downtime!!)

Honestly it was just kind of nice that Link wasn’t entirely alone. I mean, I know Midna was there the whole time, but I am always for giving Link a big group of friends (see my love for hyrule warriors, age of calamity, and LU LMAO)

Hero’s shade, very very cool, kinda sad he died with regrets but HEY. He got to pass on his knowledge eventually

AND the connection to OoT?? AND assumed to be related by blood too????? GOOD SHIT

Ilia, I REALLY really wanted to like her (er, it’s not like I dislike her, she’s just,,, kinda there for me).

It definitely seems like Nintendo was pushing to make her the romantic interest, but GHHHHH they really threw that out of the window for me by having her lose her memories

I saw a text post a while ago that said it would have been interesting if Ilia was Link’s sister instead and YES!! That would have been cool too :0

Wish we got to know Zelda a little more

I feel like we barely know anything about her

Idk man, like I said earlier, I never really had any sort of drive to save Zelda during my playthroughs

She obviously knows Midna, so maybe if they gave us just a little bit more of that relationship I’d be more interested in her?

TP WORLD BUILDINGGGG

Botw has good world building too, but each race felt kinda,,, isolated? I absolutely love the different architecture and vibe each town has (and all the the weapons too) but ghhh yea everyone felt so separated. As far as I can remember, we don’t see tooo much of the races interacting with each other? Now that I’m typing that out maybe that’s to be expected because of the calamity but KLSJDKJFD ANYWAYS THIS IS ABOUT TP

The world feels nice and alive, love how populated everything is

Castle town I like castle town a lot, it feels dense and busy and I really like how you can’t talk to every NPC you see

Very cool very fun that we got to see the Gorons hanging out in multiple spots

kinda wish we got to see the Zoras a little more (I guess they are a bit limited since they need water but GHHHH the tp zoras are so prebby,,)

BUT HEY, I do remember seeing a zora or two hanging out in the hot springs around death mountain after beating the lakebed temple (I think, might have been a different dungeon) 

but aaaa would have been nice to see them in at least a couple of other places. I think it would have really added to the “congrats Link!! You’re restoring peace to Hyrule” feeling you get from seeing the Gorons hanging out in Kakariko and Castle Town

ORDON

Love how chill it is and how it’s kind of separate from Hyrule proper

They really do seem to be doing their own thing apart from the rest of Hyrule

Just kinda adds onto the “he’s just a regular dude minding his own business” kind of vibes I get from TP Link

Also I like Ordona :)

THE LIGHT SPIRITS,,

Love their design

And love how they’re not exactly like a pure white?

Different spirit representing each aspect of the triforce my beloved

But yes hi I think Ordona is very cool

Who are you, how did you get here, which goddess do you represent? Do you even represent one of the three golden goddesses? Do the Ordonians know about you? Have any of them ever SEEN you??? Do they worship you? Does anybody even know about the existence of the light spirits?? FUCK so many questions but ghhh I like how they broke the status quo a bit by throwing in a fourth spirit :)

I feel like this one is kinda weird but I like that voice sample they used in the light spirit music. It’s spooky and pretty at the same time :)  

cutscenes mmmmm

Ok ok, the spooky lanayru cutscene is very good

BUT THE “Link, Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!” CUTSCENE MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT SO MUCH

IT just

Idk man

It just hit different

I like the music

And seeing the light spirits swimming around in the light juice water whatever it is

Summoning the light arrows?

AND HHHHH “Lend us the last of your power!” THIS IS IT. This is the final battle.

Seeing Zelda bow down, and then Link putting his hand out 👌👌👌

Link: ok bud, let’s do this together :)

Connection to OoT (did I already mention this? Maybe., Whatever)

Very cool nintendo :)

I love seeing connections between all the diff zelda games.

Because like, on one hand, they’re all separate from each other because of yknow, individual hero stuff. BUT ALSO, they’re all connected because of the reincarnation stuff

Grrrr walking through the sacred grove and going “The Hero of Time walked around here a long time ago” FUCK THATS SO COOL

Is the Hero’s Shade watching me? What does he think of me? DIsappointed? Proud? The Hero of Time went through HELL so this timeline didn’t have to deal with any of the shit Ganon was gonna pull with the triforce, better not fuck this UP Link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Midlink is cute

Kinda hurts that she smashed the mirror but that was probably so Nintendo didn’t have to worry about people going “but what about the twili??????” for any of the other games LMAO

BUT ALSO LIKE SKJDKLJFJ There are some pretty massive plot holes in TP anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever it’s fine we’ll just use this for angst because GOD do y’all like angst

So is Shadlink

Honestly don’t know where this ship came from but it’s cute so whatever

THE MUSIC??

Love Midna’s theme and how they referenced the dark world theme from ALttP (I remember trying to learn the dark world theme on the piano and doing the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme at the little jingle I recognized from Midna’s theme)

Hyrule field theme SLAPS.

Apparently references a couple of the other over-world themes from the previous zelda games (I got this from 8-bit Music theory’s video on the over-world zelda themes, he talks about TP at around 11:40 but def recommend watching the whole video if you’re into music analysis stuff)

So there’s this bit of the Hyrule Field theme, I don’t know the official name for it but I remember seeing somewhere it being called the “at an advantage theme” since yeah, you hear it during the boss music whenever you expose their weak points. FUCKINGGG LOVE THAT. Didn’t notice it during my first playthrough, but hearing it during my second was like a little easter egg for my ears every time :)

Midna’s lament is very pretty (and fun to play on the piano)

COURAGE THEME.

I didn’t care for it too much when I started playing the game but hearing it in ZREO’s arrangement of the Hyrule Field theme literally makes me turn into a puddle of emotions. Also hearing it around and of the Ordon kids (I think it plays after Link saves Colin) AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Orchestra piece #1 and #2 HOLY SHIT???????????????? 

Literally, the first time I listened to those I just,,,, plugged in my headphones, volume 100, layed on the floor/against my desk and silently vibed. I don’t know what the hell it is, but those two just fit so well with TP?? I still avoid listening to them nowadays cause if I DO I definitely will get overwhelmed with the “god I love this game so FUCKING MUCH” kind of feels.

Wolf link sucks at singing

the first time I heard him howling Zelda’s Lullaby I lost my shit because LKSJLDKSGLKJFSKG god that was.,, Bad. Anyways, hearing him howl some of the songs from OoT was cute :)

TP STAFF ROLL??? 

VERY GOOD. IT’s like 10 minutes long and GOD do I love every single second of it. It doesn’t have the same energy as the skyward sword staff roll or the orchestra pieces but GOD does it hit good??

Nice and calm after that big exciting adventure. Maybe it would have been more fun or emotional to have a higher energy piece but it was really nice getting to sit back and watch the camera fly around Hyrule. Seeing like, the Gorons and the Zoras having a good time, the kids returning to Ordon? GOOD SHIT.

and AAAAA that end, when you hear the main Zelda theme and see Link riding off out of Faron woods on Epona… good shit. It gets you thinking, where the hell is he going? What is he doing? Off ot do more adventuring? Going to help out the resistance or something? Going to help Zelda? Or maybe he’s trying to figure out a way to restore the mirror of twilight? Whoooo knows.

hhHHHHhhh it’s just that final reminder that YES!!! YOU JUST PLAYED A ZELDA GAME. JUST ANOTHER STORY APART OF THE WHOLE EPIC OF THE ZELDA SERIES AS A WHOLE

I also want to acknowledge the instrument/samples they used for all the twili stuff.

They’re all just so unique and contrast SO well with the rest of the TP OST. LIKE FUCK!! Anytime I hear the screech from the Twilit Kargarok? Sends a shiver down my spine. I associate those sounds SO strongly with the twili realm. (Like, the same way you associate the BSHEWW VVWWMMM sounds with light sabers)

I love it so god damn much

literally any time there’s a certain sound or motif associated with something I lose my shit

Sacred grove sacred grove sacred gro-

lovely lovely lovely so much fun playing that on the piano. AND again, I did the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme when I heard the theme from the lost woods come in GHHHHHHHH

shoutout to TP Faron Woods for helping me study and get through all of my schoolwork

BLEGUUHHH can you tell that I really love music?

and also yea I guess TP is kinda cool too :\

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT THANKS I GUESS

#lemonspeakrr #LEMON SPEAKS 2K WORDS ABOUT TWILIGHT PRINCESS BECAUSE THEY ARE INSANE.

[sleepingprinceoflucis]

My dbd killer tier list and Why. (WRAITH WAS MOVED TO IN BETWEEN ARTIST AND BLIGH that was an error on my part)

Based on the following criterias: how effectuvely scary they are, their character. NOT their gameplay.

IF BRAHMS WAS HERE YOU BET UR ASS HE'D BE HIGH S TIER.

Legion

Wow i'm probably very based. But i oove absolutely everything about them. They get bonus points for being an original killer, and not a licence. The concept that anyone and everyone can be driven to kill, can slip up- if the conditions are right is just so.... SOO... gosh i love it. Because it's chillingly REAL. It's not a monster out of some dark fantasy, because humans make the best monsters in the end. I love the fact Frank is manipulative, and the fact his friends got forced into the lifestyle. The terrifying idea to be roped into something you originally would have never fathomed doing- how something can go so wrong so easily. Honestly though i'm not really a fan of how painfully americanized their story is. the varsity jacket.... never saw any of those here. Personally. But aside from that it's pretty okay. But. Yeah. They feel super REAL. And i would definitely be terrified if i ever met Frank irl. He's manipulative and friendly in just the right way, and the chilling idea that betrayal can come from anyone just.. wow. The survivor that came with them is pretty eh. Idk. Not bad but certainly not super interesting. Tldr, as once said "teenagers scare the living shit outta me". But. Yeah. Betrayal hurts both physically and mentally. There's nothing more terrifying than learning your close friend really just has been trying to murder you for years.

Michael

Michael's just. GOOD. He's a GOOD killer man. His backstory just MAKES SENSE. Of COURSE he still wears masks, of COURSE he hates slutty teens. Of COURSE he goes home and kills on halloween. No comments on the stupid movie that decided to introduce cults into this shit. His dbd incarnation's just a-okay in my book. Laurie's also a super good survivor to come along with. Michael's just. So iconic. And so cool. I love how just unsettling he is. His mask kinda looks like shit two out of three incarnations but whenever they do change stuff up he's always recognizeable. I do love how they never actually showed his face. You see him as a kid so you get a good idea of what he grew into, but you never actually KNOW. And i think that makes it even better. Okay, he was blonde with blue eyes as a kid. Hair typically gets darker- doubt he cut it... okay, so medium-long possibly dirty blonde hair. Like. You just make connections. You can guess what he looks like, what his 'design' should be based on the info you're given. And it's GREAT! I also love the unstoppable threat thing. It makes him truly terrifying.

Plague

Oh my god IT'S SO GOOD. AND SO CREATIVE. AND OHHHH FUCK HOLY SHIT SO WELL EXECUTED!! She's terrifyingly tall in the way that suceeds in everything the artist fails at. She makes SENSE. Her story just WORKS! And it does so well in displaying exactly what they intended; that the entity can take anyone from anytime and anywhere. A mesopotamian priestress is just SO creative and interesting!! And her design still works so well!! It blends together her prettiness and holyness along with the ugly deformation of the plague so well! Gosh. And the sound she makes when she swallows back down the bile is absolutely positively disgusting! 😀 10/10. I would run for my life if i saw her head peeking over. She's also very humane still- it was beyond her control. So you still feel for her. The real horror is how she was infected and helpless and still trying to push trough.

Ghostface

Ghostface's just great in a very different way from everyone's. Scream is a joke. The entire persona of ghostface isn't MEANT to be taken seriously. Well. Now it kinda is. But the character itself never acted very serious. And i think that makes him equally terrifying. It's one thing to be killed by silent unstoppable buff men, it's another entirely to be tricked and manipulated before being assaulted in your own gosh darn home! Ghostface is very human, much like Legion, it's why he feels terrifying REAL to me. Though he's a bit too comedic tbh. His dbd incarnation is great, he makes sense. And god knows i love when characters MAKE. SENSE. But. Yeah. I wouldn't take him that seriously. Laughing while murdering is pretty high psycho tier but it's also just like. Makes me wanna laugh w you and sit down w some popcorn. So yeah, the problem is that he's a bit TOO humane. Like. Shit bruh, i love horror movies too! U wanna talk about it??

Pyramid head

Silent hill is a gospel. It is. Just. Sacred. And god, for this alone Pyramid head gets on here. (I kinda just love how they had to buff his ass too lmao) i, PERSONALLY do not enjoy Silent hill too much. But i recognize that it is iconic. And pyramid head, though being a re hash of the silent unstoppable buff man enemy.. is still interesting enough. I like his purpose. His origin. I especially love his weapon. The ominous dragging of a heavy cleaver is just too good.

Huntress

She's great, one of my favorite originals for sure. Because she MAKES. SENSE. Of course she's motherly, of course she's a HUNTRESS. She's also very humane. In the way that she isn't necessarily malicious. She's innocent in that way. It makes you feel a little for her. Sort of like Nurse or Susie. But she's still terrifying in a way that makes you not want to contradict her. And i think that's great. She's an amazing passively threatening character. Plus she was free. Not gonna complain about that. Her design translates her character flawlessly too. Well. The veil doesn't make much sense. But aside from that..

Clown

Holy shit he genuinely terrifies me and would have made it to S tier for character and story alone if i did not fear him so legitimately. A:Clowns are fcking terrifying and anyone who thinks otherwise is a liar or is one. B: just. WOW. His map is terrifying (i do love the horsie tho), his design is terrifying, HIS SOUND DESIGN is SO terrifying. His story is painfully realistic. It's just. Not over the top. It's an origin that's been observed in serial killers before. He just makes sense. He feels real, his design hits. God. Actually he could have been in SS tier because he is an absolute success as a terrifying and realistic killer. AND he's original. But. Yeah. He ACTUALLY scares me so i keep him away from me.

Pig

I did always love her character progression. It makes sense. It's good. It's human. How she's broken and turned into a whole different person.. just. Wow. Again playing on how anyone could be a killer in the right conditions. So yeah, just. Generally pretty good. Someone's gonna have to explain to me how she can see out of that mask though. Also her actual outfit is just kinda really bland. I guess it has cultist vibes which makes sense but.. idk. Not even like a jigsaw puzzle piece somewhere??

Nurse

Creative! And humane! And interesting! And gosh i love it!! The way she turned out MAKES. SENSE. And i love her sound design and her ties-in with last breaths and AHHH ITS SUCH A COOL THEME. I love her. Nurse is so inspired. Gosh. Super good original killer. But she had a bonesaw as a weapon which makes zero sense with her working at a mental hospital. Maybe a gross syringe or better yet one of those things they used for lobotomies back then??

Hag

Very creative. Her story just makes sense. Her story makes sense- her theme is interesting and unique and she feels like an active threat. (But she annoys the shit out of me in game) honestly she feels just the right amount of real mixed with reality. Cannibals are always kinda spooky from the get go. Also. Hey! An actually scary witch!

Oni

Based because i love japan and it's history but wow Oni is just so COOL. He's SO COOL HOLY SHIT! his design, his story, his abilities- goshhhh he's just so freaking badass!! He feels ominously threatening. I'm not really a fan of just. Hit. Blood. Oo spooky. But his rage fuelled intensity makee him feel scarier. Silent killers like michael, leatherface, jason are kinda just there. Oni is bluntly aggressive, he's on the offensive always. There is no emotional or physical break and it's terrifying because you know you can't keep up. And that eventually he WILL catch up. The oni card is kinda cliche but they put an amazing spin on it. He would have been bunked higher if only he wasn't a bit bland with the whole "charge in and swing" thing.

Spirit

My only beef is that her schoolgirl skin should be her default. She died in her school uniform so why not just. Give her that? She looks like an old corpse. Why would she be naked? To show the damage to her body? It's shown fine trough clothes. Just tear some bits where it's needed. Her being in a school uniform would just make sense. It would tie together her character as a normal girl from a broken home just perfectly. But. Alas. No. So she got bunked down. I still love her tho.

Leatherface

Eh he's really just not all that scary to me. The concept of a weirdo isolated family was certainly started by him i'll give him that. Hillbilly is basically just a wish version of him. And hey, resident evil did something cool with the idea. But his family and overall story's kinda just too absurb for me to actively react to. It's just a bit ridiculous. Hard to imagine. Overall, i'd be fcking terrified but i'd also never fcking meet him ever so. Idk. He's terrifying in design but his story and surrounding characters are fcking jokes.

Nemesis

Idk he just never did much for me. I don't find myself taking the resident evils very seriously. He's just kinda goofy to me. The tentacles make he wheeze. But if i saw him irl i'd actively just kill myself before he can reach me. The fact he is genuinely unstoppable.. ooooo boy. Even michael can get staggered. Yep. He's pretty scary. I guess. In the games? Pff. The way he runs is also just.

Demogorgon

Got forced to watch stranger things. Demogorgon's okay, but honestly i wanna boop the snoot more than i wanna run for my life. Good eldritch monster dog. So. Yeah. Can't take the demonic plant dog too seriously. Oops.

Sadako

Ring just didn't do a lot for me. Oh no! A girl with hair that's lightly darker than average! Her story just didn't scare me much, her appearance is kinda generic. I didn't know she was actually a full grown woman for a long time cuz istg she looks like a student. She generally isn't very scary in her movie, in dbd more so i guess. Who even owns tape players anymore? How can she continue being scary if you don't keep her updated on technological advancements! Also she kills way too peacefully. Stab me, gut me- DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN STAND THERE STARING I AIN'T GONNA GET KILLED BY MYSELF NOW AM I

Trapper

Real neutral. He sure exists. His story and character's just a-okay in my book. He's an original and like the first and kinda the icon of dbd so. Can't discredit him too much.

Pinhead

Actually, i do love horror. A lot. But i never watched this movie. His design does it. Pretty spooky. Ik he's iconic but idk much honestly. He's pretty scary and kinda cool i guess. Good talk. I'll develop if i ever watch hellraiser. Cool design- the plot, from what i've read, doesn't do much for me.

Freddy

He scares me, mostly because just. Pe*ophiles 😀 honestly i don't like nightmare on elm street. I don't like freddy. I don't like how over the top ridiculously weird he is. How his character id practically a joke now. He isn't even scary in his carefree attitude, it doesn't feel like psycho behaviour, just asshole behaviour. But i can't forget he brought forth Quentin. And i love my sleep deprived baby boy. Also he's iconic. Idk. Unfortunately. I can't take him very seriously but i WOULD be afraid of sleeping. And i love sleeping. O no 😔

Doctor

Terrifying probably from gameplay alone (but that doesn't factor here so). His story and character is also just terrifying, his design actively chills me to my core. His design lines up with his character pretty well. The fact some people out there are attracted to this monstrosity scares me. How dry are your eyes sir? I cannot imagine that his look is realistically sustainable though. Honestly he's a good neutral mid. Kinda just a-okay. Mad doctor isn't a groundbreaking idea or anything but it does it's job well enough.

Hillbilly

Cheap Leatherface. Kinda reminds me of the hills have eyes too. Extremely bland but i WOULD shit myself if i saw em so. Pretty effectively scary i guess.

Trickster

1/10. Cannot take this bastard seriously. Wayy too many clashing elements. Also. Just. He's Joker, Kpop edition. His design is a joke. He has those neon LED gamer throwing knives- his outfit is just Leto joker. And his eyes have a weird predator theme going on. Pick a fcking lane dude. The idea of a music producer using victims as sound is actually not bad and kinda scary, but his unnecessary flair makes it all just SO over the top ridiculous. He's also not even that attractive thanks to his ridiculous getup. Loose the ugly mismatched outfit and pick some decent knives and then let's talk. For now? Feels like a joke. Or. Yknow. Bts fan bait.

Twins

I actually think their story is super creative, i'm a sucker for old timey horror. But it's also... like what? They stretch the possibility and realism to thin that it's just. It feels like a grimms tale. And nothing else.

Blight

Actually, the story is super interesting. But. He's also SUPER forgettable. I just find myself forgetting the fact he EXISTS. I think because he's just too generic in design. Spooky cloak w droopy liquid. It just. Is the blight. And the blight skins are already just. There. So he blends in and is easily forgotten. So yeah. Not much for me. He works as a dbd killer and nothing else. He definitely wouldn't work as a standalone killer.

Wraith

I feel nothing towards him. He exists. Easily forgettable (also his ability doesn't even work. Bitch i can see ur wibbly wobbly ass texture), he isn't scary. His story is boring as hell. Heck, he wasn't even a killer. He got angy he'd been tricked into murdering some stuff. Oh no. Idk. He has zero threatening energy. His design is spooky but has like zero ties in with his story. If his design had literally any other backstory i'd actually tolerate him maybe.

Artist

No... just.. no. The story goes way off track. Her design is sort of scary but as soon as you call her a giraffe it gets turned ridicule. Her powers are ridiculous, her map is ridiculous, her story is ridiculous. I thought i'd relate to her as a fellow artist with birbs. But. No. She's a failure both in character and design. I guess she kinda spooky cuz ooo stretchy limbs.

Gunslinger

No.. just no. Never got interested. Didn't hold my interest. Design is bland and boring, the concept as a KILLER is boring. Just. A cowboy. Okay. He's easily forgettable and just not a huge threat to me. He has a gun. Great. Not much scarier than any other texan if you ask me.

#dead by daylight #dbd #dbd killer #dead by daylight legion #dead by daylight huntress #dead by daylight trickster #dead by daylight blight #dead by daylight artist #dead by daylight gunslinger #dead by daylight nurse #dead by daylight hag #slashers #michael myers #ghostface #pyramid head #demogorgon

[thedeadhandofseldon]

The Anti-Mercer Effect

On the Accessibility of D&D, Why Unprepared Casters is so Fun, and Why Haley Whipjack is possibly the greatest DM of our generation.

(Apologies to my mutuals who aren’t in this fandom for the length of this, but as you all know I have never in my life shut up about anything so… we’ll call it even for the number of posts about Destiel I see every day.

To fellow UC fans - I haven’t listened to arc 4 yet, I started drafting this in early August, and I promise I will write a nice post about how great Gus the Bard is once I get the chance to listen to more of his DMing).

Structure - Or, “This is not the finale, there will be more podding cast”

So, first of all, let’s just talk about how Unprepared Casters works. Because it’s kind of unusual! Most of the other big-name D&D podcasts favor this long, grand arcs; UC has about 10 hours of podcast per each arc. And that’s a major strength in a lot of ways: it makes it really accessible to new listeners, because you can just start with the current arc and understand what’s going on!

And by starting new arcs every six or seven episodes, they can explore lots of ways to play D&D! Classic dungeon delve arc! Heist arc! Epic heroes save the world arc! Sportsball arc! They can touch on all sorts of things!

And while I’m talking about that: Dragons in Dungeons, the first arc, makes it incredibly accessible as a show - because it lets the unfamiliar listener get a sense of what D&D actually is. (It’s about telling stories and making your friends feel heroic and laugh and cry, for the record). If I had to pick a way to introduce someone to the game without actually playing it with them, that arc would definitely be it.

And I’d be remise not to note one very important thing: Haley Whipjack and Gus the Bard are just very funny, very charismatic people. Look. Episode 0s tend to be about 50%(?) those two just talking to each other about their own podcast. It shouldn’t work. And yet it DOES, its one of my favorite parts, because Haley and Gus are just cool.

And a side note that doesn’t fit anywhere else: I throw my soul at him! I throw a scone at him - that’s it, that’s the vibe. The whole podcast alternates between laughing with your friends and brooding alone in a dark tavern corner - but the laughs never forced and the dark corner is never too dark for too long.

Whipjack the Great - Or, the DM is Also a Player!

I think Haley Whipjack is one of the greatest Dungeon Masters alive. The plots and characters! The mechanical shenanigans! The descriptions!

Actually, let’s start there: with the descriptions. (Both Haley and Gus do this really fucking well). As we know, Episode 0 of each arc sees the DM reading a description - of a small town, or the Up North, or the recent history of a great party. And Haley always strikes this tricky balance - one I think a lot of us who DM struggle with - between giving too much description and  worldbuilding, and not telling us anything at all. She describes people and events in just enough detail to imagine them, but never so much they seem static and unreal - just clear enough to envision, but with enough vagueness left to let your imagination begin to run wild.

While I’m thinking about arc 3’s party, let’s talk about a really bold move she made in that arc: letting the players have ongoing control of their history. Loser Lars! She didn’t try to spell out every detail of this high-level party’s history, or restrict their past to only what she decided to allow - she gave them the broad outlines, and let them embellish it. And that made for a much more alive story than any attempt to create it by herself would have - but I think it takes a lot of courage to let your players have that agency. Most Dungeon Masters (myself included) tend to struggle with being control freaks.

And the plots! Yeah, arc one is built of classic tropes - but she actually uses them, she doesn’t get caught up in subverting everything or laughing at the cliches. And it’s fun! In arc 3, there really isn’t a straight line for the players to follow, either - which makes the game much more interesting and much trickier to run. And her NPCs are fantastic and I will talk about them in the next section.

Above all, though, I think what is really impressive is how Haley balances mechanics, and rules as written, with the narrative and rule of cool - and puts both rules and story in the service of playing a fun game. And the secret to that? She’s the DM, but the DM is a player, and the DM is clearly having fun. Hope Lovejoy mechanically shouldn’t get that spellslot back, but she does, and it’s fun. The changeling merchant in Thymore doesn’t really make some Grand Artistic Narrative better, but wow is it fun. And she never tries to force it one way or the other - the story might be more dramatic if Annie didn’t manage to banish the demon from the vault, but it’s a lot cooler and a lot more fun for the players if Annie gets to be a badass instead - and the rules and the dice say that Annie managed it.

Settings feel like places, NPCs feel like people, and the narrative plot feels like a real villainous plot.

Anyway. I could go on about the various ways in which Whipjack is awesome for quite a while - she’s right, first place in D&D is when your friends laugh and super first place is when they cry - but I’m going to stop here and just. Make another post about it some other time. For now, for the record I hold her opinions about the game in higher esteem than I do several official sourcebooks; that is all.

Characters - Or, Bombyx Mori Is Not an Asshole, And That Matters

Okay, I said I would talk about characters! And I will!

Just a general place to start: the party! All of the first three parties are interesting to me, because they all care about each other. Not even necessarily in a Found Family Trope sort of way, though often that too. But they generally aren’t assholes to each other. The players create characters that actually work together, that are interesting; even when there’s internal divisions like SK-73 v. Sir Mr. Person, they aren’t just unpleasant and antagonistic all the time. Listening to the podcast, we’re “with” these people for a couple hours - and it isn’t unpleasant. That matters a lot. (To take a counter-example: I love Critical Role, but the episode when Vox Machina pranked Scanlan after he died and was resurrected wasn’t fun to listen to, it was just uncomfortable and angering and vaguely cruel).

All of the PCs are amazing, and the players in each arc did a great job. If you disagree with me about that, well, you have the right to be incorrect and I am sorry for your loss. Annie Wintersummer, for one example: tragic and sad and I want to give her a hug, but also Fuck Yeah Wintersummer, and also her familiar Charles the Owl is the cutest and funniest and I love him. And we understand what’s going on with Annie, she isn’t some infinite pool of hidden depths because this arc is 7 episodes and we don’t have time for that, but she also has enough complexity to be interesting. Same with Fey Moss: yeah, a lot of her is a silly pun about fame that carries into how she behaves, but a lot of how she behaves is also down to some good classic half-elven angst about parenthood and wanting to be known and seen and important. (Side note: if your half-elf character doesn’t have angst, well, that’s impressive and also I don’t think I believe you).

There are multiple lesbian cat-people in a 4-person party and they both have requited romantic interests who aren’t each other. This is the future liberals want and I am glad for it.

Sir Mister Person, the human fighter! Thavius, the edge lord! Even when a character is “simple,” they’re interesting, because of how they’re played as people and not action-figures. And that matters a lot.

In the same way: the NPCs. There really aren’t a lot of them! And some of them come from Patreon submissions, so uh good work gang, you’re part of the awesomeness and I’m proud of you! The point being, the NPCs work because enough of them are interesting to matter. It’s not just a servant who opens Count Michael’s door, it’s a character with a name (Oleandra!) and a personality and history. They’re interesting. Penny Lovejoy didn’t need to be interesting, the merchant outside the Laughing Mausoleum didn’t need to be interesting, but they ARE! And Haley and Gus EXCEL at making the NPCs matter, not just to the story but to us as viewers. I agree with Sir Mister Person, actually, I would die for the princesses of the kingdom. I actually care about Gem Lovejoy of all people - that wouldn’t happen in an ordinary campaign! That’s the thing that makes Unprepared Casters spectacular - and, frankly, it’s especially impressive because D&D does not tend to be good at making a lot of interesting compared to a lot of other sorts of stories.

And, just as an exemplar of all this: Bombyx Mori. Immortal, reincarnating(?), and described as the incarnation of the player’s ADHD. I expected to hate Bombyx, because as the mom friend both in and out of my friend-group’s campaigns, the chaos-causer is always exhausting to me. And yeah, Bombyx causes problems on purpose! But! She is not an asshole.

And that’s important. Bombyx goes and sits with the queen and comforts her. Bombyx gives Annie emotional support. Bombyx isn’t just a vehicle to jerk around the DM and other players; Bombyx really is a character we can care about. To compare with another case - in the first couple episodes of The Adventure Zone, the PCs are just dicks. Funny, but dicks. Bombyx holds out an arm “covered in larva” to shake with a count, and robs him of magical items, but she also cares about her friends and other people! She uses a powerful magical gem to save her fertilizer guy from death! Yeah, Bombyx is ridiculous, but she’s not just an asshole the party has to keep around for plot reasons; you can see why her party would keep her around. And one layer of meta up, she’s the perfect example of how to make a chaotic character like that while still being fun for everyone you’re playing with, which is often not the case. And I love her.

The Anti-Mercer Effect - Or, “I think we proved it can be fun, you can have a good time with your friends. And it doesn’t have to be scary, you can just work with what you know”

The Mercer Effect basically constitutes this: Matthew Mercer, Dungeon Master of Critical Role, is incredible (as are all of his players). They’re all professional story-tellers in a way, remember, and so Critical Role treats D&D like a narrative art-form, and it’s inspiring. Seeing that on Critical Role sets impossible standards - and people go into their own home games imagining that their campaigns will be like Critical Role, and the burden of that expectation tends to fall disproportionately on the DM. And the end result, I think, of the Mercer Effect is that we get discouraged or intimidated, because our game isn’t “as good as” theirs. (And I should note - Matt certainly doesn’t want that to be our reaction).

So the Anti-Mercer Effect is two things: it’s D&D treated like a game, and it’s inspiring but not intimidating. And Unprepared Casters manages both of those really freaking well. Because they play it like a game! A UC arc looks just like a good campaign in anyone’s home game. They have the vibes of 20-somethings and college students playing D&D for fun because that’s who they are (as a 20-something college student who plays a lot of D&D, watching it felt like watching my friends play an especially good campaign). They’re trying to tell a good story, sure, and they always do. But first and foremost, they’re trying to have fun, and it shows, and I love the UC cast for it.

And that’s the other half of it: it’s inspiring! It’s approachable; you can see that Haley and Gus put plenty of work into preparing the game but it also doesn’t make you feel like you need hundreds of pages of worldbuilding to run a game. Sometimes a cleric makes Haley cry and she gives them back a spell-slot from their deity! That’s fantastic! It’s just inspiring - listening to this over the summer, when my last campaign had fallen apart under the strain of graduation, is why I decided to plan and run my new one!

That quote from Haley Whipjack that I used as the title for this section? That’s the whole core of this idea, and really, I think, the core of the podcast.

The Mercer Effect is when you go “that’s really cool, I could never do that.” But Unprepared Casters makes you look at D&D and go “wow, that looks really fun. I bet I can do that!” And I love the show for it.

And I bet a lot of you do too.

#unprepared casters #bombyx mori #haley whipjack #long post #this is really rough but I don't have time to keep working on it and it's already a month later than intended

[googledocsdyke]

Do you have any thoughts/recommended texts for Cas analysis? I genuinely love the dean gender studies and I just wanna know what people might apply to Cas.

yes absolutely!! while dean studies is my first love i also deeply love cas analysis (casnalysis?) and wanna strive to do more of it. here’s some stuff off the top of my head:

1. gender, sexuality, heavenly embodiment

this is much more theological and less psychological than dean’s whole Deal because there’s so much fascinating stuff around how the angels in general experience express and conceptualise gender (@autisticandroids has a good post about angel gender & lily sunder has some regrets) but for cas in particular there’s this fascinating kind of collective fandom agreement (which i DO also agree with) that cas’ own gender kind of is gay man, that he actively chose gay manhood, but also that he’s kind of..... lacking the Insane Genderishness that dean exhibits at all times, even though he actively chose to engage in male gendering and became so comfortable housed Within Jimmy that he, as some post i saw the other day that i can’t find anymore said, “became his own body” when jimmy died. 

like on the one hand there’s an almost-canonical transness to the whole process but it also never feels fully written-into because 1) the supernatural writers for all their insanity are sometimes very boring and *most* of the time only feel interested in narratively expressing angels As Their Vessels anyways and just like leaving convenient spaces around these questions (boldest thing they ever did was hot girl cas which i WISH i had the range to unpack) 2) there’s a vague inevitabilist shrug to the whole thing since they obviously weren’t gonna recast misha collins (though they HAVE tried to get rid of him) and 3) something amorphous about cas’ entire..... personhood? makes him Empty Of Gender as a contrast to dean’s Full Of Gender (i believe it was @deanwinchestergender who said this) and like is it just the juxtaposition to dean/jensen’s whole insane Deal? or something else? 

like he actively chooses the terms of his own embodiment and yet narratively it feels like a shrug. and we’re all like “well obviously even though he’s a celestial being he was always a gay man” and like WHY. i love it idk idk much to think about! and yeah just in general the theological questions of possession and cas genuinely Becoming a man as he iterates himself consciously towards humanity it almost feels like. by doing the most boring things possible with his gender they made it interesting? idk if that makes sense.

2. discipline, free will, metanarratives

cas is like a tool (“i am not a hammer, as you say”) held in constant discipline and surveillance by the system that enmeshes him and it’s really, really fascinating to watch the way the angels hold each other to conformity. especially pre-god they kind of produce each other as foucauldian disciplinary subjects (which i posted about here) in perpetual visibility through angel radio, generating their own and each other’s conformity rather than being directly ruled through like a single centralised source of power. only the spectre of a god. and obviously cas’ whole thing is that he has ALWAYS disobeyed and the narrative affords him this psychological interiority never given to the foucauldian subject, an internal will and desire for freedom in a way that fits more with the liberal subject (super roughly and not with the same pro-capitalist implications but he has this internal drive for self-liberation. 

and that’s also where the metanarrative comes in ofc! i think it was @dykecas who said that cas is a real person written by people who hate him, and there’s this crack in the narrative (mirroring the crack in his chassis) where cas gets in, over and over, despite all the order imposed by the show’s authorfathergod. like we’ve all seen the analysis about how it was Never supposed to be this way they DID try to fire misha collins in 2012 and yet this gay man literally cannot be stopped! i think actually his appearance in scoobynatural is a neat little distillation of this — he drops into this animated world originally with a singular purpose (Save Sam And Dean) the same way he dropped into lazarus rising with a single 3-episode arc (Save Dean). huge hammer behaviour. his “utility” diminishes within the narrative (he finds that he can’t fly in the scooby doo universe) and so he is no longer a tool/means to an end that salvation moves Through. and in the process (and huge creds to @lesbianyuugi for this) he does something ENTIRELY unrelated to his original cas-as-tool aim, and learns, like, the meaning of laughter from shaggy and scooby. WHICH brings me onto the third point

3. love, queer kinship, family-making

HE’S GAY AND HE’S A DAD! i feel like a lot of tumblr throws around the term “found family” in a very flat and tropey way (which is fine it’s cute and fun no matter what!) but like . GOD there’s so much specific stuff going on here. like the way that cas (unintentionally) obliterates the midwestern white christian nuclear family (made incarnate in the novaks) which like could be uniformly portrayed as an act of deep malice and villainy but instead grows to serve as a surrogate (if imperfect/complex, but DEEPLY loving) father figure for the gay daughter who has now escaped that nuclear family/seen it destroyed depending on how you read it? like he remasters the entire concept of fatherhood and it’s a very interesting (if DEEPLY) unintentional subversion of the homewrecking non-nuclear gay trope. cas is so good because his character arc doesn’t say “look, gay people can be normal and have perfect settled families just like you” it says “gay people DON’T have normal settled families actually and they are full of love anyways! or Because of the abnormalcy itself!) 

to cite ziz lesbianyuugi again he DOES queer fatherhood in his parenting of jack particularly because it really is one of the ONLY parent-child relationships in the show that breaks the incessant cycle of abuse and control and cold indifference perpetuated by the authorfathergod (a cycle reified in 15x20 lol). like god’s treatment of cas and his siblings mirrors john’s treatment of sam and dean (particularly dean) mirrors victor’s treatment of krissy and her crew mirrors dean’s later treatment of jack. there is a CONSTANT reiteration of the story of authorfathergod (often a father tightly entwined in biological kinship) treating a child as a mechanism or a tool or a means to an end. and cas looks at ALL that he has suffered and all that he is ever known and chooses constantly to reject it with every piece of love he expresses for his child. and not to sound like the kind of academic people make fun of on twitter but there is an INHERENT queerness to that. gay love will pierce through [the veil of death/the thick silence of abuse/the mechanism of godly control/hegemonic american masculinity] and save the day

anyways here are some very haphazard recs on everything above for further reading:

angels in america (tony kushner)

histrionics of the pulpit: trans tonalities of religious enthusiasm

the public universal friend: religious enthusiasm in revolutionary america

discipline and punish (michel foucault)

friendship as a way of life (michel foucault)

the genesis of blame (recommended by @pietacastiel who has GREAT theology content in general

all about love (bell hooks)

the chapter “when hated characters talk back” in anti-fandom: dislike and hate in the digital age (is actually explicitly about cas)

also cannot recommend enough following the ppl i tagged above!! most of the unlinked stuff is available through http://libgen.li/ and bookshop is a good alternative to amazon if ur american and want physical copies

#thank you so much for this ask it was a delight to answer #spn #casnalysis #making a tag officially #gendernatural #long post

[thevindicativevordan]

On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.

#kenan kong #new super man #gene yang #justice league of china #superman #dc comics