#especially if he's still the creator! not because evil creator is my jam specifically like

[she-toadmask]

Fuck it. Long post about the animatic for this mashup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WxAJpP9FKA) that I would love to do but simply don’t have the project focus for.

Not a single coherent story or anything, just the different ideas the snippets give me. All somehow Minecraft related. Some are Team Crafted, a couple are Hermitcraft S7 but more the beginning, some are just Minecraft typical characters (Notch, Herobrine, Alex, Steve)

Oh and a couple of them are Sanders Sides

Also sometimes they vibes and ideas come from the context of the source musical (because I know it), sometimes I don’t know the context and/or much of anything about the source musical so I just go off the lyrics and vibes (so if someone here has an interest in musicals and thinks some of the vibes are wrong...sorry????? lmao)

0:00 to 0:10 (Hellfire instrumental): title card duh

0:11 to 0:23 (Miss Baltimore Crabs): Notch being a whiny bitch like ‘ugh things used to be so good when I was the god of this world creating things and now things are just awful’

0:24 to 0:42 (Charming): Something something just stills of Patton in a skirt going across the screen or something??? (Upon second thought maybe it’s him and Roman stills and Janus is warning Virgil or smth???? Idk it’s pre-redux vibes but whatever I had nothing)

0:43 to 0:55 (Kick it Up a Notch): I just remember vibes of someone being chained up and the captor looming over them but I have no idea who they were I promise I get more ideas later on these are just rough (Ok maybe it was like Janus looming over Virgil but again the vibes aren’t up-to-date and I don’t have as strong thoughts here ANYWAY MOVING ON)

0:56 to 1:12 (Blood in the Water/When the Going Gets Tough blended): I don’t remember my original thought but two characters circling a third vibes are strong here like maybe Enderlox and WitherMU circling Skybrine??? Maybe???

1:13 to 1:36 (Razzle Dazzle): Again pre-redux Sanders Sides vibes but Janus talking to Roman and then just Roman being Roman I guess? Just like (this fits in with some other Chicago animatics featuring Sanders Sides folks that I would love to do but never will) Roman committed murder (obvs) and Janus is Corrupt Lawyer and reassuring him that the press will love him and he’ll get off (also the foreign girl in Cell Block Tango is Patton)

1:37 to 1:46 (Dentist): I think I just was thinking Skybrine posing and doing some stupid little dance? Idk a lot of iffy ones in these first two minutes yikes

1:47 to 2:04 (Killer Instinct): I had a good idea for this one! But it’s gone! Oof!

2:05 to 2:23 (Loud): So Bruno and Augustus are standing on either side of Seto (normal) and are singing the song and going to make him join Klub Ice. At the line ‘the less you have to say the louder you yell it’ they pull off his big cloak/robe/whatever and then during the next line they’re somehow (idk Klub Ice magic roll with it) changing his clothes from whatever he wore under the cloak into appropriate Klub Ice attire and then shove him offscreen (idk just this part and the way she sings it gives me hella Klub Ice vibes just like brain? nah fam be loud and sexy and party)

2:24 to 2:52 (Stars): All I remember was someone standing on a rooftop looking out and that’s...just the song.

2:53 to 3:14 (Wait for it): Again I have no idea what I thought at the time but it was definitely angsty (:

3:15 to 3:24 (A Sentimental Man): I know Notch is singing (because evil man everyone thinks is good) and the vibes I’m getting now are either Sky or Steve and I have no idea which.

3:25 to 3:45 (Hey Little Songbird): Herobrine is singing and smoking a cigar/ette and grinds it under his foot at the end to put it out, I think maybe he was singing to Alex? Could also be like TrueMU or Deadlox or something but idk mate

3:46 to 3:56ish (Macavity): It’s about Herobrine who is appearing vaguely in the background making sexy(?) poses and someone else was in the foreground singing at some point??? Idk could be Sky and Deadlox could be Steve and Alex who tf knows not me not today

3:57 to 4:05 (The Pitiful Children): I think I had Herobrine singing to not-brine Sky? Circling ofc but if there was context it’s long vanished from my brain

4:06 to 4:16 (Easy Street): oh hey look hermitcraft It’s from the Head Games and whoever was giving all the cave spider heads is just dancing and a bunch of cave spider heads fall down and then at the end Cleo shows up as SpiderCleo and is just pissed

4:17 to 4:30 (The American Dream): I. Honestly have even less clue than the others. I think this one was always a weird one and honestly after learning a little bit about the source musical idk if I want to mess with that

4:31 to 4:42 (What’s Up Duloc): Ok I love this one it’s evil Notch and he’s just like looking over the world like ‘I’m going to destroy this’ and on the ‘bum bum bum bum bum’ small pictures of the Team Crafted folks in despair at an event pop up on beat like that’s what he’s planning to do to destroy them because Team Crafted strong like I seriously love that idea

4:43 to 5:03 (World Burn): Pretty simple, just Evil Xisuma, cuts on certain beats, whatever he has is maybe like somethign that brings up an admin panel? Or something like that? Anyway just Evil Xisuma being evil and angry what if it was emblazoned with a shimmering red apple on the back like a red version (for Hels) of a Notch apple because I love me some evil Notch

5:04 to 5:31 (Last Midnight): Another one I really really like! Going with some source vibes, like Herobrine is holding Sky’s amulet (he got deadified) and he’s singing it so angrily because his son (adopted because of magic deals but shhh) is dead due to these assholes and the assholes include Mitch (idk I guess Jerome is the ‘Baker’s wife’ here and got fucked over by prince bitch), Deadlox, TrueMU, and I guess Ssundee? Idk it’s just angry and upset Herobrine because people can suck and now his son is dead

5:32 to 5:44ish (Poor Unfortunate Souls): Felt more like an evil Herobrine song to me. He’s doing the deal thing and stuff is emphasized with fire because duh, probably Sky on the other side of the deal because Skybrine yeet, but yeah the fun

5:45 to 6:09 (Meant to be Yours): Deadlox (suitably fucked up because Heathers) banging on Sky’s closet door (Sky is inside because Heathers context) and there’s an image of them standing before a burning building idk it’s just the Heathers song but the bits she takes for the mashup and with Team Crafted boys

6:10 to 6:16 (Johanna): Uhhhhh the singer isn’t shown but I think it was just feminine Alex dancing and then sitting and looking out a window

6:17 to 6:40 (Hellfire for real this time): Notch is standing in a religious looking building and thinking horny thoughts and the object of his lust is also feminine Alex because reasons

6:41 to 6:55 (bits of some of the other songs): Just mini frames of the scenes; at the end the whole screen is Evil X doing his thing

I do not remember as much as I wish I did but hey it’s there

Anyway some of these could work as full animatics for the source song (Loud is a maybe, Poor Unfortunate Souls is obviously doable, Last Midnight is also a maybe, Razzle Dazzle definitely has the appropriateness for a full animatic) but some of them do not because of context and other stuff (Like...most of the ones I wasn’t sure about and then also Easy Street because the rest of it is significantly less fun, What’s Up Duloc has a lot of musical context in there, stuff like that). Idk it was just something I was thinking about again and this was the best way to talk about it all.

Also I thought evil Notch was underutilized and then I found more fics and I am vibing with them like I don’t have a problem with good Notch in fics but evil is so much more fun (then again I love Herobrine as a character because you can write him however the fuck you want sooooo)

#mcyt #might delete #seriously evil notch is my jam #especially if he's still the creator! not because evil creator is my jam specifically like #he is a god or powerful and just doesn't like the world or the people in it #and is going to be evil and shit

[magewardensurana]

Dear Creator Letter

Under the Cut!

First of all thank you so much for taking on my prompts, I’m looking forward to seeing whatever it is you create for me!

Okay, general DNWs:

Racism, homophobia, misogynistic language, incest or pseudo incest, sexual content outside of what would be canon appropriate, pretty much every kink going, imbalanced power dynamics, soulmates, rape, animal or child abuse, animal death, AUs (coffee shop, no powers, highschool/uni etc), Avengers Endgame-Complaint fics.

Now onto my Do Wants

Found family, angst with a happy ending, casefics, bisexual ladies coming to their bisexuality later in life, bisexual ladies who knew all along, bisexual ladies who chose men over women (a given for this event), AUs that take canon and make it a little different.

My writing on AO3 is a good indication of what I like, and feel free to check out my tumblr for a good idea of my kind of jam.

Fandom Specific (honestly though these are just prompt ideas. If you have something else in mind go for it)

MCU

I’m not a big fan of Endgame, or most of Infinity War, so if you want to go ‘to hell with this, everyone lives’ then I am more than okay with that. If you want Thanos to have been killed shortly after GOTG2 because Nebula tracked him down and stabbed him in the dick until he died from it then I’m also okay with that.

Carol/Maria - I’d love something pre-canon with these two. Their backstory is so interesting, especially when you factor in they were co-parenting and dating under DADT. I’d also love lots of interactions with Monica&Carol and Mar Vell and Carol. if you want to go for a casefic then, since I do love Natasha, Carol vs a Red Room Loyal Black Widow?

Carol/Valkyrie - Anything post-Ragnarok with the Asgardians (all of them, even the dead ones. Canon is dead and we killed it) on Earth, Would love: a lot of Carol interacting with the Revengers and Valkyrie interacting with literally any female characters because the MCU is bad at that.

Sarah/May - So much potential with these two. Blended families! Second loves! Dating while older and with kids!  I know Sambucky is a logical sistership to this pairing but I’m not a fan of that ship.

Dragon Age

Cassandra/Literally Any Of The Female Protagonists - Big fan of ‘Cass should’ve been bi’ so I’d like something exploring this. I’d like something set during DAI (so after the death of her boyfriend) with Cass coming to realisations about her sexuality. However you want to write the Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor is fine but my preference is for Surana, Sarcastic/Aggressive mage!Hawke and mage Adaar. I don’t like Anders so if you ever want to throw in some Anders hate then I’m fine with that.

Josie/Bela - I’d love something post-DAI with Josie taking Bela home to meet her family, or Josie as a member of Bela’s pirate crew (and putting her diplomatic skills to good use)

Marquis of Serault/Well Read Pig Farmer - I just want anything involving my favourite former Tevinter magister.

Fire Emblem

Three Houses - my preference is for the Crimson Flower route, but if you want to go the angst route of Byleth and El are fighting against each other then Golden Deer is my favourite path. I also love AUs where the three Lords (or four, counting Yuri) team up with each other to fight against TWSITD. Other than that I have no preferences for what you want to do with any of the ships.

Blazing Blade - I’d love to see post FE7, pre-FE6 stuff, with Lyn and Florina being involved in their friends’ lives. Lyn teaching Roy swordfighting, Florina teaching Lilina how to ride a Pegasus. Plus, lots of interacting with Farina and Ninian (especially if you want to build on the Ninian and Florina friendship). Or if you want to do what they were up to during FE6 I’d love that too.

Awakening - No preferences here.

Resident Evil

Rebecca/Claire - AU where Rebecca is still in Racoon City and teams up with Claire and Sherry? Vendetta AU where Claire is there too? Chris and Jill are getting married and neither Claire or Becca have dates and go together? I don’t really mind. For RE2 canon I prefer the 1998 storyline (Claire A/Leon B) but if you only know the remake then that’s fine, or if you want to mix canons that’s also fine. For past relationships I love the angst Burnfield gives Claire but Billy and Rebecca I see as completely platonic.

Jill/Ada - Normally I’m a strictly Valenfield and Aeon kind of woman but I have a weakness for this ship. Jill is heavily associated with the colour blue, has blonde or brown hair depending on the game and is completely on the side of justice. What I’m saying is: she’s Ada’s type. I love the idea of Ada being at the police station early and running into Jill while she’s there in RE3. I’m also a fan of Ada trying to save Jill in RE5 when she realises it’s her actions in Spain that led to Jill’s brainwashing.

Ace Attorney

I don’t have any preference just as long as there’s no Franmaya, which is my NOTP or the Bad Cykesquill (Simon/Athena. Not only is the age difference too high, but they have a sibling relationship and Simon is clearly gay). I tend to headcanon Klaiver and Ema used to date but Mia and Godot never did. Background Wrightworth is always a plus.

FMA Manga//Brotherhood

Oliver/Maria - Honestly it’s not hard to see what I like when it comes to this ship because the AO3 tag is 99% written by me. Put Olivier in suspenders and holding a sword and I’m a happy woman.

Rose/Paninya - a woman whose town was destroyed in riots and a woman who has found a love of doing repair work? And they’re both friends with Winry who is more than happy to play matchmaker? The pairing writes itself. I know that the 03 anime gave Rose a dead boyfriend, but the manga never specifies. They’re lesbians, Harold.

Dishonored

Emily/Alexi - Wyman? I don’t know her! I love AUs where Alexi lives and is on the Dreadful Wale during the events of the game. Also a big fan of Jess Lives AUs if you want to have Emily attempting to court her childhood best friend/bodyguard while her amazingly embarrassing parents cheer her on. And I love the AUs where both Corvo and Emily are the co-protagonists (especially marked!Corvo, flesh and steel!Emily). I ignore the canonical age difference between Corvo and Jess and put them both as being in their late teens when they met. Basically anything where Alexi is still alive and not going to die is a good fic. If you want to include Wyman at all my preference is for female Wyman since I see Emily as a lesbian. Either she and Emily are exes on good terms or have always been just friends.

Anyway, I think that’s everything. Thank you again!

#dear creator letter

[lildevyl]

FebuWhump Day 19: Sleep Deprivation

Summary:  Trinity is paranoid that someone is out to get her! All the “Pranks” and “Accidents” seem way too much coincidence of it just happening to her and that her understudy, Rachel is always ready to go when these incidents keep happening.

Guest Starring: @10th-no-name-person  as Trinity Jade

(Backstage of the Cosmos Theater)

Jackie walks around the balcony of the theater trying to gauge everything right.  Tonight's the Grand Opening of the Phantom of the Opera and Jackie is there to make sure everything goes right! His friend Trinity called him a few nights ago frantic! Another “accident” happened but it came close to Trinity getting hurt from it.  Luckily she had gotten out of the way in time, but that was when Trinity came to Jackie.  Trinity was close to quitting, but when she relayed everything that has been going on.

It was no accident, Jackie knew for sure.  Like Trinity, Jackie has his suspicions that it might be Rachel trying to sabotage the show or have Trinity so paranoid and sleep deprived that she can’t do the show.  Jackie’s about ninety percent sure that Trinity’s onto something.

Trinity came to one of the dress rehearsals to find that only her custom was severely damaged and Trinity had to do the whole show in her street clothes while everyone did their roles.  Yet, Rachel was in custom and was ready to take center stage.  Someone left Trinity a bouquet of her favorite flowers, it was signed “Secret Admirer.”  Only for Trinity to find out the hard way that the bouquet of flowers was loaded with poison ivy.  It took Trinity nearly four weeks to be well enough to perform again.  The same “Secret Admirer” left Trinity a box of her favorite chocolates.  Trinity had a few pieces before she went on stage to do the dress rehearsal and ate some more during break.  Then she quickly had to run to the Ladies Room because her stomach was in such knots.  It turned out that someone spiked the chocolates with a slow activating laxative.

Then a few nights ago when Trinity was performing one of her solos, one of the stage lights fell.  Luckily, Trinity was standing where it fell but good Creators that were close one!  Worst of all, no one believed Trinity when she kept insisting that someone was out to get her.  They all thought that she was being paranoid and that unfortunately accidents do happen.  Others began to suspect that the theater itself might be haunted!  Jackie wasn’t too sure on that part, he investigated a lot of Supernatural Cases but this one felt more like a human haunting then a ghost haunting.

After making sure nothing was out of the ordinary, Jackie made one more round to make sure that nothing will go wrong tonight.  That is until he saw Rachel backstage in custom all ready to go on stage tonging to perform.  Now this wouldn’t be a big deal if Rachel was one of the Cast Members.  But she wasn’t.  She was an understudy, more specifically, she was Trinity’s understudy!  What was Rachel doing in custom like she was ready to go on stage instead of Trinity?

“Hey, Rachel,” Jackie greeted.

“Oh hey, Jackie!  Ready for tonight?  It’s gonna be great!  My best performance ever!”  Rachel said.

“Your greatest performance?  I didn’t know that you were in the show?”  Jackie asked.

“Oh, yeah, I am.”  Rachel smiled.  “Especially since you know Trinity won’t make it tonight.”  Rachel waved her brushing what Jackie just said off.  Oh, come on how can she not be in the show!  She’s the star of the show!

“And how would you know that Trinity won’t make it tonight?”  Jackie asked.  Just then his phone went off.  “Hello?  Trinity?  What’s wrong?  Where are you?  You’re where?  Hold on I’m coming!”  Jackie ran off in the opposite direction, never catching the evil smile Rachel had on her face.

‘Oh yeah,’ Rachel thought to herself.  ‘It’s going to be my greatest performance and that half talented twat! Time to warm up my vocals. My fans are waiting.’

(Trinity’s Dressing Room)

Trinity was nervous as hell!  Her stomach was in knots, palms were sweating, and her cheeks were flush.  She wasn’t sure if that was because of nerves for tonight's performance or if it’s because she’s afraid of what Rachel might be plotting next.  Trinity knew that Rachel was out to get her!  She just couldn’t prove it!  Ever since Trinity had gotten the lead role of Rachel.  Rachel has been nothing but salty and downright nasty to Trinity. When they’re with others or other people are around, then Rachel is all professional, nice and sweet.  But when it’s just the two of them, Rachel will show her true colors and be tearing Trinity down!  Verbally abuse her, taking shots at her and be very passive aggressive.

All because Rachel has it in her head that no one else deserves nor gets the lead role.  That role is basically  “Reserve” for her only.  It wasn’t but the old Theater Director favored Rachel (she was their friend’s daughter) and she was the Teacher’s Pet for Choir and anything else.  Most people stopped auditioning for the solos because it got the point where everyone was going, “Why bother trying out for a solo if all the Teacher is going to do is give it to Rachel?”  It was the same attitude when it came to auditions for the Theater.  That is until a new Director was put in charge, then suddenly it was fair game for everyone.

But not for Rachel.  Not when Trinity was picked over her and Rachel became the understudy.  An Understudy is basically the substitute for the Lead Role.  If the person in the Lead Role for any circumstance can’t perform or make it to the show, then the understudy will perform in their abstinence instead.  The Understudy studies the lines and music and rehearses (usually after the Lead) of the role just encase they will have to perform one night.  And that is when all these “Accidents” kept happening and yet Rachel was always ready to go.  It got to the point where if Trinity didn’t come to tonight’s performance, then she will be fired and Rachel will go on as the Lead Star.

Trinity took some satisfaction in seeing the look on Rachel’s face when Trinity walked in the Theater and said she will perform tonight!  Only because Jackie drove her to the Theater and reassured her that nothing will happen to her so long as he’s there.  Having Jackie there really did help calm Trinity’s nerves though.  She also made sure to not be alone with Rachel and politely decline anything that Rachel kept offering her.  She wasn’t going to make that mistake again!

It was time to go out and that was when disaster struck.  Trinity tried the door handle, only to find that the door was stuck.  The lock was on the inside so there was no way it could be locked.  Trinity tried getting the door open but to no use.  Something was blocking the door from opening!

“Hey!  Hello!  Can someone open the door please?!  Hello!  I’m stuck in here!”  Trinity shouted.  Then the music for the show began.  No, no, no!  That bitch!  Rachel somehow locked her in here!  Trinity quickly grabbed her phone and called Jackie.

“Trinity?  Where are you?”

“I’m locked in my Dressing Room, Jackie!  I can’t get out!”

“Hold on, I’m on my way!”

******

Jackie quickly arrived and found not only was the chair jammed up against the door but some kind of door handle lock was in place.  The door handle lock slipped on the door handle and onto something else making sure the door won’t open.  It took Jackie a few tries to figure out how to get it off, but one he did.  He quickly removed the chair and the door burst open with a furious Trinity.

“I’m going to kill that Bitch!”  Trinity yelled and ran as fast as she could down the hall.

(On Stage)

Rachel was basking in the glory of being on Center Stage and in the Spotlight.  Smiling ear to ear, knowing that Trinity would never work in this Theater ever again, if she had any say in it.  That is until she saw Trinity on the stage.

“What the hell are you doing here?”  Rachel screeched.

“Surprised to see me bitch?”  Trinity asked.  “You tried to sabotage my performance just so you can have the spot because you can’t handle being an Understudy!”

“I beg your pardon?!”

“You're the one who left me the note and the rigged gifts!  The loaded flower bouquet of poison ivy!  Knowing fully well how allergic I am!  Then you left a box of chocolate that was laced with laxative!  Then you try to scare me off by rigging one the lights to fall but only when no one is underneath it!”

“These are strong accusations, hon!”  Rachel then gave a smug smile.  “Do you have any proof?”

“Yeah, she does,” Jackie said coming right behind Trinity with a folder.  “Your handwriting matches that of the Secret Admirer that left the so called gifts.”

“W-what? I, uh, I, wrote those notes for a friend of mine.  She - she’s very shy!”  Rachel said.

“Then are your fingerprints all of the light that fell and all of the balcony?  Knowing very well that unless you're a Stage Technician or Stage Manager, no one from the Cast is allowed up there?  Not to mention that you're the one who knew fully well that Trinity wasn’t going to make it to the performance.”

“That’s preposterous!  I would know if Trinity couldn’t make it because I’m her Understudy!”

“You mean you knew she wouldn’t be able to perform when she and I walked into the theater together and you told me right before the show even began?   I’m sure if we see the CCTV footage of the hallway that we will be seeing you locking Trinity in the Dressing Room.  Not mention all of your prints over the contraption.”

“Well you shouldn’t have taken my spot!”  Rachel screeched.  “The Lead Role and the Spotlight is mine and mine only!  How dare you even think that you're even good enough!  I’m the Star here and nobody else!”

“I think that will do, Rachel,” the Director said.  “Everyone, I'm afraid that we will have to postpone the show.  So, if you will like, a refund will give you a full refund.  If you would like to still see the show then please come back within a couple of hours.”

They then turned towards Trinity.  “Miss Trinity I do owe an apology.  I should have taken what you said more seriously.  For that I do apologize and will do my best to listen to my cast members more closely.”  They then turn towards Rachel.  “Miss Rachel I am so disgusted with you!  You will never be working in any Theater so long as I have a say in it!  At least no Theater here in Septic City!  You will have a lot of explaining to do when the police are called.”

****

Tagging:  @weirdmixofweirdness, @dezzydynamite, @juju-on-that-yeet, @septic-dr-schneep, @m4delin, @10th-no-name-person @10ths-writing-corner @febuwhump

#febuwhump #febuwhumpday19 #febuwhup day 19 #sleep deprivation #10th-no-name-person #jacksepticeye #jackieboy man #whump #angst #tw laced food #tw laced flowers #tw mention of poison ivy #allerigies #writersofjack

[arecomicsevengood]

TOP TEN OLDER MAINSTREAM COMICS I READ THIS YEAR

I kept track of all the comics I read this year, and not all of them were new. I have no idea who this will help or benefit but at least the circumstances of me only listing the completely arbitrary older work I read for the first time this year will deter anyone from arguing with me. However, for the sake of possibly being contentious, let me mention two comics that fall outside the top ten, because they’re bad:

Trencher by Keith Giffen. David King did a comic strip about Keith Giffen’s art style on this book in issue 2 of But Is It... Comic Aht that everybody loved, and made me be like, ok, I’ll check it out. But it’s basically just a retread of Lobo in terms of its tone and approach, but without Simon Bisley. I don’t really know why anyone wouldn’t think Bisley is the better cartoonist. Also, those comics are terrible. Thumbs down.

The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, and Steve Oliff. I bought the first year of these comics for a dollar each off a dude doing a sidewalk sale. Found them sort of incoherent? I haven’t liked a new Grant Morrison comic in ages, with All-Star Superman being really the only outlier since like We3. This is clearly modeled off of European comics like Druillet or something, and would maybe benefit from being printed larger, I really dislike the modeled color too. But also it’s just aggressively fast-paced, with issues ending in ways that feel like cliffhangers but aren’t, and no real characters of interest.

As for the top ten list itself, for those who’ve looked at my Letterboxd page, slots 10-8 are approximately “3 stars,” 7-4 are 3 1/2 stars, slots 3 and 2 are 4 stars, with number one being a 4 1/2 star comic. The comics I’m listing on my “Best Of The Year” list that’ll run at the Comics Journal alongside a bunch of people are all 4 1/2 or 5 star comics. This is INSANELY NERDY and pedantic to note, and I eschew star ratings half the time anyway, because assignations of numeric value to art are absurd except within the specific framework of how strong a recommendation is, and on Letterboxd I feel like I’m speaking to a very small and self-selecting group of people whose tastes I generally know. (And I generally would not recommend joining Letterboxd to people!) But what I mean by all of this is just that there is a whole world of work I value more than this stuff, and I’ll recommend the truly outstanding shit to interested readers in good time.

10. Justice Society Of America by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck. Did some quarantine regressing and bought these comics, a few of which were some of the first comics I ever read, but I didn’t read the whole thing regularly as a kid. Parobeck’s a fun cartoonist, this stuff is readable. It’s faintly generic/baseline competent but there’s a cheap and readable quality to this stuff that modern comics lack. Interestingly, the letters column is made up of old people who remember the characters and feel like it’s marketed towards them, and since that wasn’t profitable, when the book was canceled, Parobeck went over to drawing The Batman Adventures, which was actively marketed towards kids. It’s funny that him and Ty Templeton were basically viewed as “normal” mainline DC Comics for a few years there and then became relegated to this specific subset of cartooning language, which everyone likes and thought was good but didn’t fit inside the corporate self-image, which has basically no aesthetic values.

9. The Shadow 18 & 19 by Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker. I’d been grabbing issues of this run of comics for years and am only now finishing it. Kyle Baker’s art is swell but Helfer writes a demanding script, these are slow reads that cause the eye to glaze over a bit.

8. The Jam 3-8 by Bernie Mireault. I made a post where I suggested Mireault’s The Jam might be one of the better Slave Labor comics. Probably not true but what I ended up getting are some colored reprints Tundra did, and some black and white issues published by Dark Horse after that. Mireault’s art style is kinda like Roger Langridge. After these, he did a crossover with Mike Allred’s Madman and then did a series of backups in those comics, it makes sense to group them together, along with Jay Stephens’ Atomic City Tales and Paul Grist’s Jack Staff, or Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, as this stream that runs parallel to Image Comics but is basically better, a little more readable, but still feeling closer to something commercial in intention as opposed to self-expression. Although it also IS self-expression, just the expression of a self that has internalized a lot of tropes and interests in superhero comics. If you have also read a lot of superhero comics, but also a lot of alternative comics, stuff like this basically reads like nothing. It’s comfort food on the same level of mashed potatoes: I love it when it’s well-done but there’s also a passable version that can be made when depressed and uninspired. But drawing like Roger Langridge is definitely not bad!

7. WildC.A.T.S by Alan Moore, Travis Charest, et al. I wrote a post about these comics a few months ago, but let me reiterate the salient points: There’s two collections, the first one is much better than the second, and the first is incredibly dumbed-down in its nineties Image Comics style but also feels like the best version of that possible, when Charest is doing art. Also, these collections are out of print now, a friend of mine pointed out maybe they can’t be reprinted because they involve characters owned by Todd McFarlane but Wildstorm is owned wholly by DC now.

6. Haywire by Michael Fleischer and Vince Giarrano. I made a post about this comic when I first read a few issues right around the time Michael Fleischer died a few years ago, but didn’t read all of it then. This feels way more deliberately structured than most action comics, with its limited cast and lack of ties to any broader universe, but it’s also dumb and sleazy and fast moving, and feels related to what were the popular movies of the day, splitting its influences evenly between erotic thrillers about yuppies and Stallone-starring action movies. The erotic thriller element is mostly just “a villain in bondage gear” which is sort of standard superhero comics bullshit but it’s also a little bit deeper than that. The first three issues, inked by Kyle Baker, look the best.

5. Dick Tracy by John Moore and Kyle Baker. These look even better! A little unclear which John Moore this is? There’s John Francis Moore, who worked with Howard Chaykin and was scripting TV around this time, but there’s another dude who was a cartoonist who did a miniseries for Piranha Press and then moved on to doing work for Disney on Darkwing Duck comics. Anyway, Kyle Baker colors these, they’re energetically cartooned, each issue is like 64 pages, with every page being close to a strip or scene in a movie. I’m impressed by them, and there’s a nice bulk that makes them a nice thing to keep a kid busy. (For the record, my favorite Kyle Baker solo comic is probably You Are Here.)

4. Chronos by John Francis Moore and Paul Guinan. I was moving on from DC comics by the late nineties, but Grant Morrison’s JLA was surely a positive influence on everyone, especially compared to the vibe there in the subsequent two decades. These are well-crafted. There’s a little stretch where it uses the whole “time-traveling protagonist” thing to do a run of issues which stand alone but fall in sequence too and it’s pretty smooth and smart. The art is strong enough to carry it, the sort of cartoony faces with detailed backgrounds it’s widely agreed works perfectly, but that you rarely see in mainstream comics. The coloring is done digitally, but not over-modeled enough to ruin it.

3. Martha Washington by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. A few miniseries, all of which sort of get weaker as they go, but all in one book it doesn’t feel like it’s becoming trash as it goes or anything. When Miller dumbed down his storytelling in the nineties it really was because he thought it made for better comics, the tension between his interest in manga and Gibbons’ British-comics classicism feels productive. I do kind of feel like the early computer coloring ruins this a little bit.

2. Xombi by John Rozum and JJ Birch. Got a handful of these on paper, read scans of the rest. This is pretty solid stuff, not really transcendent ever, but feels well-crafted on a month-in, month-out level. I read a handful of other Milestone comics, and a lot of them suffered from being so beholden to deadlines that there are fill-in issues constantly. This is the rare one that had the same creators for the entirety of its run. There was a revival with Frazer Irving art a decade ago but I prefer JJ Birch’s black line art with Noelle Giddings’ watercolors seen here. They’re doing an early Vertigo style “weirdness” but with a fun and goofy sense of humor about itself. I haven’t read Clive Barker but this feels pretty influenced by that as well. (The Deathwish miniseries is of roughly comparable quality. I read scans of the rest of that after I made my little post and, yeah, it does actually feel very personal for a genre work, and the JH Williams art with painted color is great.)

1. Tom Strong by Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse, etc. I got bored reading these as a teen but getting them all for cheap and reading them in a go was a pretty satisfying experience. It’s partly a speed-run through Moore’s coverage of the concept of a comic book multiverse seen in his Supreme run, minus the riffing on Mort Weisinger Superman comics, instead adding in a running theme of rehabilitating antagonists whose goals are different but aren’t necessarily evil. It’s more than just Moore in an optimistic or nostalgic mode, it also feels like he’s explaining his leftist morality to an audience that has internalized conflicts being resolved by violence as the genre standard.

[rawliverandcigarettes]

10 Questions

Tag time ! Thanks a lot to @illusivesoul for this :D It’s nice to feel included even though I’m still very new around. (this is going to be super long because I can’t seem to shut the hell up. :3) 1. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you like to live ? I guess I enjoy living where I live, which is France. The country is small but there are many landscapes to choose from, and you don’t even have to travel that much to find mountains, blue sea, cities or forests. I also enjoy poking fun at my own country and culture way too much for what would be decent. Foreign jokes about us are just too funny xD And even though we too are crippled with political and social issues, I look at some other countries (HMHM America), and yeah. It could be so much worse. 2. How did you discover Mass Effect ? I was a great KOTOR fan already, but I tend to stick to what I know, and I rarely venture to new stuff on my own. It was a combinaison of friends, good reviews and a very cheap copy on a shelf of my local store that finally made me play Mass Effect 2 for the first time (I started with the 2, then the third, and ended with the first one, which is definitively not how you play a trilogy). 3. Do you have any tattoos ? If you don’t, do you want any ? I don’t have any tattoos, and I’ve considered getting one many times. But given how expensive they are, I don’t think they’ll ever be enough of a priority for me to commit to this vague idea. I have many other expensive things I’d rather do first :3 4. Do you have any pets ? Kind of ! My parents own 4 cats, that I can’t help but consider my own too even though I moved out. They’re cute and insufferable, one of them is completely insane, looks like Dracula on steroids and is called “Le Mérovingien” like this french Matrix character that curses all the time, One of them lost a leg in a car accident, but hopefully he worked through the trauma and is perfectly healthy and energetic again. The two left hate each other’s guts and their war force us to separate them at all time. So my parents home is a very calm place as you have guessed. 5. If you could recommend 3 games from any genre, what would they be ? 1. The Beginner’s Guide This game has to be my all time favorite. It’s not a proper game so to speak, more like a narrative experience based on interactivity by the creator of The Stanley Parable. It’s not for everyone and generally you will either don’t get why it exists or you will be slapped so hard you won’t be able to express yourself for hours. It talks about creation, game creation specifically, toxic creative relationship, depression, the relationship between the creator, the creation and the public consuming it, and meaning. A masterful example on how narrative design can push further the boundaries of classic storytelling for consumerism and turn it to painful expression of artistic obsessions. I love this game so much. 2. Silent Hill 2 I am a huge survival horror fan, because in their essence they try to answer a crucial question in game development in the rawest way: how do you make the player react ? The survival horror genre is all about direct reaction, and reaching the player beyond the screen in their very comfort zone. You can go the easy, cheap way of throwing buckets of blood around and slap a few jumpscares here and there, or you can try to play with your medium and crawl right underneath the skin, which has always been Silent Hill’s way of throwing it down. But I think Silent Hill 2 is where the payoff is the greatest. It’s not an easy game, because it’s old and counter-intuitive in level design, camera and puzzles, and it gets easily frustrating. But some of the greatest, most creative ideas I’ve came across in term of narrative level design have been explored there. Plus the themes are actually very mature for the gaming public of 2000, as they deal with illness, sexual frustration, surviving abuse and alienation from society and your loved ones. It’s raw, it’s twisted, it’s haunting like a fever dream. And it’s actually very, very smart. 3. V4-11 HALL-A A very neat visual novel that didn’t do much noise besides specialized audience, and definitively deserve a shot ! In this game you are a barista in a cyberpunk society, and you encounter a various cast of characters that you befriend and serve. It’s super chill, the soundtrack is lovely, it’s bound to make you crave for a cocktail as you play. Maybe I am somewhat criticial on how it ends, but otherwise it’s a very heartwarming experience with slight sadder undertones. It goes on with the trend of “you witness big events from a NPC/civilian viewpoint”, which I adore. The game went out while my team and I were producing a game that share some of the concept, and it was a lovely surprise ! (it’s very cheap as well, and the creators need financial help !) 6. Song that you’ve listened a lot lately ? Careful What You Wish For, by Coil (it’s weird and somewhat depressing, you are warned) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHIlBk5vbVI 7. Guilty pleasure movie ? Mhhh. I’d say Sweeney Todd by Tim Burton. It’s over the top and very melodramatic with undiscussed sexist undertones when it comes to how female characters are depicted in this world, BUT what can I say. Gothic cheesiness mixed up with musical numbers never seem to stop being my jam. 8. Unpopular opinion about Mass Effect (optional) Ouh boy. I have so many it’s extremely hard to pick a single one. xD I’m going to settle for Andromeda and try to summarize my opinion, but I might do a very very long separate post to explain what I mean in lenghts later. I haven’t played Andromeda much because my computer is sad and dying, but from what I saw and what I undertsood from ulterior research, I think Andromeda’s worldbuilding is broken on many levels, and some narrative choices made very early by the team affect the stakes so much they’re basically nonexistent, and, at least for me, the lack of stakes drove the entire quest to be rather pointless. I’m a very nitpicking person, especially when it comes to themes, cohesion, society and space stuff, and a lot of what happens in the first hours prevented me to believe in the story and the characters inhabiting it before they even had a chance to do anything significant. :/ I understand why people can bypass that and enjoy the story and characters still, and I am sickened by the amount of abuse some of us spat towards Bioware, but my suspension of disbelief got shattered in the first hours of the game multiple times, and despite how much I wanted to like this new epic journey, I’m... not your target audience this time, Bioware. 9. Favorite books ? Argh. Mh. Good question. I can’t really say if any of them are my favorite, but I like them enough for them to be featured here -and I have stopped reading for years so I have trouble remembering any. So in no particular order, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell, the Ellana trilogy by Pierre Bottero, Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche... I can’t really tell to be fair. I need to read more. 10. Dream job ? Game developer, specifically in narrative design (how surprising I know). And I am very fortunate to be living the dream right now. <3 I am starting my very own indie company, and our very first game, Xenophever, is on the rails right now. I won’t lie ; it’s a hard life. Only time will tell if the sacrifices were worth it, but I bet they will be :D It’s over ! Thanks again for the tag ! I won’t tag everyone because I don’t know enough people yet, but feel free to hit me up if you want to do this so I can cook you up some neat questions :D

#ask #Mass Effect #silent hill 2 #the beginner's guide #sweeney todd #V4-11 HALL-A #mass effect andromeda #long post #oh my god #this post is super huge

[bearholdingashark]

Worldbuilding Exchange Creator Letter

Thank you for accepting my request. :)

I’ve never done this exchange before, but I’m really excited for it.

Some general things: I’m pretty ship focused, although I’m good with gen fic too, just know that ships are totally okay. :) I’ll put the main ships I like in the prompts so you know, but don’t at all feel like you have to go that route. I also love outsider POV.

Same goes for the prompts, of course. If anything helps with what you’re creating, great! But feel free to go your own route too. :)

As far as worldbuilding goes, I really like backstory, costume details and how they inform the worldbuilding, impact of certain decisions, news articles, historical documents, and just general exploring of the world. If you enjoy writing it, I’m sure I’ll love reading it. :)

My DNWs include main character death, gore or NSFW. I’m okay with some violence as long as it’s not super graphic, and romance/kissing is fine, just nothing beyond that.

And now onto the specific:

Request 1

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Characters: Any/None, Marinette Dupain-Cheng|Ladybug, Adrien Agreste|Chat Noir 

(Ships: Any side of the love square although post reveal power couple is my jam, DJWifi)

Worldbuilding:

The wider world’s take on the crisis in Paris

We don’t get to see this, I would love articles/newscasts/internet posts, etc from outside of France about how they view what’s going on in Paris

Are there other superheroes in the world? Are miraculous users only in Paris? And if Paris has the only superpowered beings, how does the world react to that? Admiration? Jealousy? Fear? Are there any major responses to Ladybug and Chat Noir’s existence?

Superhero fan culture

Somewhat related to the above prompt, does the fan culture stay mostly in Paris/France or is it more widespread? What kind of fan works and/or merchandise has popped up? How does the Ladyblog interact with fandom?

Mental health effects on people of Paris

How does having to constantly watch your negative emotions effect everyone? Are the therapists/counselors of Paris completely swamped? Do people resort to other ways to cope? Are support groups of akumatized victims a thing? 

Legal implications of akumatization

Ladybug’s miraculous cure takes care of the property damage, but what about other effects? Do people take legal action for the emotional damage of being akumatized? How is that addressed when the perpetrator is still at large? What do police reports look like around akumatizations?

Magicaron|Magicamembert Power-up Potions

What are the other power ups for? We’ve seen a few, but there were so many in the box, any exploration of how those work would be great. How did these power ups come to be? 

Historical Miraculous Wielders

We’ve seen some historical wielders, but it would be great to see original miraculous users too. Especially if it’s not just the Ladybug and Cat miraculous being used. 

Request 2

Fandom: Princess Tutu

Characters: Any/None, Fakir, Ahiru

(Ships: Fakiru, Rue/Mytho)

Worldbuilding:

Raven and Prince conflict

How did that conflict begin? What were the major opinions in the land surrouding about this conflict? How was the Prince advised prior to entering the conflict?

Previous stories of Drosselmeyer’s

What else has Drosselmeyer written? Have any of his other stories come to life? Has he always had that power, like Fakir? Did he try to fight it in the beginning too? Maybe something bad happened to him initially, but he got past that as he gained more power?

Drosselmeyer’s power

We know some about Drosselmeyer’s power, and about Fakir’s power, which comes from Drosselmeyer, but where did it come from? Was he the only one who had this power or were there more? Did he inherit his power?

Request 3

Fandom: The Scarlet Pimpernel

Characters: Any/None, Percy Blakeney, Marguerite Blakeney

(Ships: Percy/Marguerite)

Worldbuilding:

Knowledge in England of the Pimpernel’s identity

Who else knows who the Pimpernel is? Or thinks they know? Who are some of the guesses people have about who he is? I know this request is for the book fandom, but something along the lines of the Scarlet Pimpernel song from the musical would be great too. 

English people learning to pass as French

I would love to see something comedice about Percy (or Marguerite if it’s set post book) teaching English members of the league to pass as French. But something more serious too would be good. Maybe someone’s not picking it up as quickly, and they end up having to try and pass in Paris when the plan falls apart. What happens then?

Arranging routes out of Paris/through France

Percy is such a logistics/planning master, but who else helps him with this? (Does Marguerite ever?) It would be great to see something about how the routes/plans get set up and how they actually end up, as sometimes the plans fall apart. 

In-universe RPF fanfiction and fandom

Somewhat connected to my prompts for the first worldbuilding aspect, but who do people think the Pimpernel is? Are there any fics going around about Percy? What does the fandom look like? The Pimpernel is such a popular and mysterious figure that everyone is interested, but what does the deeper fandom look like? (casual fans vs fandom)

Request 4

Fandom: Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Characters: Any/None, Belle, Adam

(Ships: Belle/Adam)

Worldbuilding:

The Enchantress’s powers

We know she’s got shapeshifting/illusion and curses down, but what else can she do? Tangentially, has she done this in the past, or was the Prince special?

Side effects of being cursed

How does living as an animate object/animal for a decade do to a person? How does the staff and Adam cope with being human again? Are there traits/abilities they maintain from their time under the curse? Could be humorous or serious. (Or both.:D)

Political and social climate of kingdom before curse

How were the Prince and his parents thought of before the curse? The Prince is a dick to the Enchantress, but going off the movie math, he was 11. Were his parents worse or was he just a dick? (Or is there context we’re missing? Why was the Prince answering the door himself? Stranger danger?) How powerful was the kingdom before the curse?

Other Enchantresses/Magic users

If the Enchantress isn’t the only magic user, what are the others like? Are there others with similar powers/power levels? Is there a higher magic user/group that they answer to? If so, what was their reaction to the curse? Or was she there on orders?

Request 5

Fandom: Descendants

Characters: Any/None, Ben, Mal

(Ships: Ben/Mal)

Worldbuilding:

United States of Auradon creation

Beast (although I’m happy with Adam if that’s what you prefer to use) “united all the kingdoms got himself elected King of the United States of Auradon”. What did that look like? Why was it an election to start with that then became a monarchy? What were the other ideas for how the country should be run? Who might have been running against Beast if it was an actual election? How was the story of the creation told around Auradon and the Isle vs how it actually happened?

Modern technology in conjunction with magic

Auradon has mostly given up magic, and the Isle doesn’t have magic. How does magic work with the modern technology? Are there any generational differences around the use of magic vs technology?

Giving up of magic in Auradon

Going along with the above prompts, was magic mostly given up because of technology? Was it seen as superior? Or was it seen as too much of a temptation to use it for evil? How was that decision come to? How did the general populace react to that decision?

Economics on the Isle

The Isle is clearly poorer than Auradon, but how does their economic system work? Do they use the same currency as Auradon, or is it more bartering or some sort of combination or a totally different system? How does this translate for the VKs when they come to Auradon? (Not saying have Ben take them to a grocery store, but I certainly wouldn’t mind something like that.)

Creation of the Isle

Mal’s narration has the Isle as mostly Beast’s decision, but who else was involved? Was Belle really in favor of it, or did she come to agree with it later? I get a prison, but this involved families and put the bigger villains in with the smaller time criminals. Who was in favor and who was against? What were the other ideas for what to do with the villains?

#Worldbuilding exchange #creator letter #I'm new to this one #but I'm excited