#i may do more for this au later if only cause the character designs are SO fun

[nina-scribbles]

Drarry x Atlantis Au; featuring Harry’s gay panic 🧜‍♀️💙

#drarry fanart #drarry #Draco Malfoy #atlantis au #atlantis the lost empire #drarry au #draco malfoy fanart #harry potter fanart #Harry James Potter #nina-scribbles #drarry comic #harry potter au #Harry Potter art #so I tried doing a completely lineless background!!! It was such a struggle but i think it was worth it if just to pay homage to the way the #original Atlantis was done 💙💙 #god i love this movie #kida was 1000% a part of my gay awakening #i may do more for this au later if only cause the character designs are SO fun

[surachibee]

if you’ve been following a lot of my recent stuff, you’ve probably noticed (or maybe you haven’t, idk!) that I’ve been tagging a few art posts as ‘pitverse’. You’ve also probably noticed that I’ve provided no context to these posts what-so-ever! and that sucks! So to explain a bit, I present:

”surachi what the heck is pitverse”

Okay, first. ‘Pitverse’ is a working title. Maybe. It’s cheesy, but I kinda like it because it’s cheesy.

Anyways, if you’ve been following me for a while, you may or may not remember this art where I designed a bunch of pits that were loosely based on the different ending to the original Kid Icarus on the NES. Some took influence from different places (eg. the solider ending heavily drawing inspiration from Kid Icarus: of Myths and Monsters) and some were completely made up (eg. the farm ending’s design). It was fun! And it pretty much started this whole idea to begin with.

I’d draw some stuff here and there for it, but other than that I never really did much with the idea other than ‘oh hey look designs’. That is until it came up again a couple years later when I started to get *really* into oMaM stuff, which led to me coming back to the idea of a weird multiverse thing.

Thanks to a few friends, we talked about it and eventually it became like a four-swords adventure multiverse labyrinth thing. Pandora’s Labyrinth times twelve. So as it is right now, it’s like a hypothetical game where some new *evil big bad* takes a handful of Pits from different universes/timelines and plops them into some pocket dimension of different levels and challenges, and together, they have to find out what the heck going on.

Right now, I think I’m gonna try to keep it to three Pits for simplicity sake. Obviously, Pit from Kid Icarus: Uprising has to be here, that’s our guy. He’s also the protagonist! He’s left relatively unchanged in this AU. This also takes place in a post-game setting, so he’s already fought Hades. This applies to the other guys as well, even if their hypothetical “games” and adventures aren’t actually real (Factor) or heavily rewritten (Myth) here.

Good news is that Uprising Pit can still communicate with Palutena! But he’s the only one out of the bunch that can. (Would’nt that have been nice? Imagine all the work you could get done with THREE Palutenas [haha reference]). In this AU’s logic, Uprising’s world in the pocket-dimension what-ch-ma-have-it space is closer to the one where this takes place, so (Uprising) Palutena is able to establish a decent enough connection to at least communicate, though it’s not the best. The other Pit’s worlds are further away, so communication with their respective realms are off the table. This also causes other problems like occasionally “bugging out” and forgetting stuff since they’re so far from their original worlds. So Uprising Pit got kinda lucky.

Speaking of other Pits, there’s other Pits! Both of them draw inspiration from things previously done/involved in the franchise so they’re not entirely made up, but they do stray pretty far from their source material. Anyway..first, we have Factor! He’s heavily inspired by Factor 5’s rendition of Pit from their “Icarus” project back in 2007-2008 that was turned down. Here, this AU’s interpretation of the idea is a little more in line with the franchise’s overall light-hearted and goofy nature. (In this AU the Pit’s are taken from different points in time, so he would’ve been plucked from the future. I did this so 1. They all could look visually distinct from each other, and 2. the thought of Factor going “oh he doesn’t know about [x] yet” or Uprising Pit insisting Myth to NOT go after the wish seed in the future was funny.)

Next…there’s Myth! He’s based on Kid Icarus: of Myths and Monsters, and besides a few plot points he’s pretty much just a modern take on the character. He was easier to pin down because while the concept of Factor’s story was interesting, being banished from the heavens for some unspecified crime, it’s pretty vague in comparison. With Myth, there’s an entire game with a plot to go off of, even if this AU strays a bit from it.

That’s pretty much the basics of this AU! Just a couple of Pits going on an adventure getting into other-worldly shenanigans. I’m having a ton of fun with it and hopefully I can develop the idea more as I go along. Thanks for reading! There’s some extra footnotes and miscellaneous doodles below.

• This AU follows the idea that oMaM takes place in a different timeline than Kid Icarus: Uprising, hence it not being referenced (at least not on purpose, I’m looking at you aurum track accidentally having the same intro motif) or mentioned. Plus y’know, Sakurai not knowing it existed so there’s that. Might as well rework it into a weird explanation. (coping)

• All of these worlds take place in different timelines, so Factor isn’t an older version of Uprising Pit, nor is Uprising an older version of Myth. They’re all still Pit, and all of them have fought Medusa, but it had different outcomes (somewhat based on the endings) and at that point they diverged from each other. • I’ll probably change the naming of the Pits at some point. While they’re good right now, I’m not sure if I wanna keep Factor named after a company. Might have their names based off the titles of their respective games, so instead of “Factor”, “Myth”, and “Uprising” it’d be “Icarus” (based on the project’s internal name), “Myth”, and “Uprising”.

#surachiarttag #pitverse tag #kid icarus au

[thwardengates]

woah uh. i forgot i had this blog but i did more doodles of the au. which is also bein dubbed the peace in chaos au (picau/pcau for short) just for the sake of my sanity cause otherwise I'll never actually name it

au rambles/shenanigans below cut

uhh if it werent obvious it takes place somewhat during the Forces area? but the story is rewritten a lil bit. I'll b talkin ab chaos energy later on probably. only thing u need to know is I'm takin slight inspo from werehog sonic n fleetway super sonic ^_^ at least for overloaded amounts of chaos energy. there's a whole thing I'll elaborate more on it later in a separate post.

For starters, Shadow is a lil more involved in the story, and rescues Tails a lot earlier on (he spotted Tails nearly getting attacked when out on a patrol/scouting mission, and saved him). He ends up sticking w Tails for the 6 months that Sonic's in captivity because he saved Tails fairly early on after Sonic was captured. He essentially became an unofficial guardian for him, simply because Tails could help repair Omega + shadow could keep him outta danger. more on that later

Rouge still works w both the resistance and team dark, but she gives shadow information she gathers before she gives it to the resistance, due to his request. some work is better suited for different parties so she'll sort thru that on her own too. she's mostly an organizer

characters from SATAM & AOSTH are also gonna be here ^_^ I've only figured out places for Nicole and Sally, and I won't be using archie comic designs for any of the characters in this au simply for my own comfort (I don't rlly have an issue w the comics I just wld prefer to use my own material). a lot of characters may not make it in the full vers or a lot of story is gonna be rewritten, but that'll come on its own time

The characters will get full infosheets later, but it'll take me time because I'm also busy with real life, so atm I only have doodles to offer you. the au is gonna be centric on tails + sonadow but there'll be aspects of other things n ships later i just won't be gettin to it atm

I'm painfully unaware of how to write shit on tumblr so forgive me 🫶 pls feel free to send questions either if it intrigues u bc i do better answering specific things than looking at the general picture

#sonic au #sonic the hedgehog #sonic art #sonic the hedgehog fanart #sth #sth au #sth fanart #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #miles tails prower #peace in chaos au #picau

[supper122]

FROSTTALE: Master Post

Frosttale is an au I made over two years ago now, and quite a few things have changed since i made the original concept on discord. At this point nearly every character has a finalized design and the story is complete, so i think its time i made it more mainstream!!!

Opening Cutscene:

Long ago, two races ruled over earth: humans and monsters

One day tragedy struck, a blizzard worse than any before it struck the human village and the humans believed the monsters to be the cause.

The humans fought the monsters, and sealed them into a cave, using magic to curse them with eternal cold

Many monsters suffered, and more died.

PRESENT DAY:

Legend has it that a furnace powered by seven human souls could stop the winter and break the ice barrier that seals them underground

MT. EVEREST, 202X

They say those who climb this mountain may never return.

(Thingy of chara falling into the underground blah blah blah game starts)

Ok so time for the changes!!!

this au centers around everything being cold, duh.

The most major change is that undyne is dead due to the extreme temperatures, and that drives nearly every other change in the au.

Alphys found her goop stuff after she died, scooped it up and saved it. Since then has been secretly using the royal scientist funds not for technological development but in an attempt to revive undyne.

One day, papyrus is walking around in waterfall, looking for undyne in a hope that somehow, he could find her (he doesn’t know that she’s dead, sans told him she’s just missing). Alphys sees him, and sees an opportunity (he has a similar body shape to undyne), she persuades him to come to the lab, then she knocks him out cold (see what I did there)

Papyrus wakes up a few hours later tied to a table and has a couple of wires and containers hooked up to him, most notably two labeled “remains” and “DT”

Due to the fact that he’s tied down papyrus is stuck there.

A few minutes later Alphys walks into the room and tells him that he will be ok, and tells him that if the procedure works, papyrus can be part of the royal guard, when papyrus asks what the procedure is, Alphys doesn’t answer.

Slowly, papyrus goes back to sleep, and the vials are all injected into him.

Once he wakes up again, he is now in a bed in a room that is similar to undynes, and is wearing a suit of armor also similar to undynes clothing.

Alphys walks in and tells papyrus that she cannot tell him where he is, and that he will stay here for the next few months.

Over the next few months papyrus is nurtured by Alphys, but notices something, Alphys is getting increasingly more stressed, and is now preforming daily checkups on him, and soon papyrus starts to notice something else.

Flesh.

Papyrus is growing flesh on his bones.

Flesh with scales.

And something else, papyrus feels much more determined and stronger in general, along with the sudden ability to be able to summon and throw spears as well as bones now.

However, the flesh doesn’t completely cover him, only parts of his limbs and face. He also loses vision in his left eye and needs an eyepatch, soon the changes stop.

Alphys realizes that her attempt at bringing undyne has failed and slowly realizes what she has put this innocent monster through. she leaves the lab and takes after her mentor, jumping into the core and killing herself.

Alphys has created Papyryne (name is a wip lmao).

Papyryne never found the key to leave the true lab, and has turned to be the caretaker of the other amalgamates, He has a lot of physical traits of undyne, while keeping most of the personality of papyrus, meaning he is now actually able to do the good deeds he once wanted to do. He makes the true lab look nicer, and treats the amalgamates like family

During all those shenanigans Sans has become very very lonely and quite depressed. He looks for papyrus everyday and can’t find him. He spends most of his time in his house or the judgement hall, or at least, he did.

Sans does end up meeting toriel, and in fact is at the door when you fight her, However sans never made his promise to not kill a human to toriel, as he feels that if there is an opportunity to melt the ice, he should take it.

After you leave the ruins, sans will have run away and back to his house. As you go through Snowdin, all of papyrus’ puzzles are completely frozen over and easily passable, and there are no monster encounters.

When you reach snowdin, no one is there either, they all either left or died, sans and papyrus, being skeletons, are the only ones who were able to survive the cold.

The river is completely frozen solid, and the ice cube machine is backed up with ice. When you reach the area where you would normally fight papyrus, sans will sneak up on you and start a battle.

The battle is different depending on weather you killed toriel or not. If you haven’t, sans is simply fighting you out of obligation, and the fight is very easy. After a few turns of acting and sparing, sans starts to cry a little. He doesn’t want to kill anyone, stating the underground has lost enough, and spares you. If you attack, the screen turns black and then you go back to the overworld. no sans in sight. If you do not attack, sans will not say anything, and go back to his house.

If you did kill toriel, the fight is a bit harder, but after a few turns, sans will run away regardless of what you do to him.

Entering waterfall, everything is frozen over, and again there is no life to be seen. There are two places of intrest, the old tem village (the new one will be mentioned later) where you can grab some nice items, and the village.

Upon entering the main area (the one with the save point and houses) you will encounter all three ghost characters, alphys was too obessed with reviving undyne to build mettaton, and undyne wasnt alive to need a training dummy (mad mew mew still happens post game btw).

Mad dummy forces the other two to attack you, napstablook being shy and mettaton being generally depressed (due to lack of body) dont really care too much, but fight you for their cousin anyways.

At the end of waterfall, they fight you one at a time (mirroring the multiple undyne fight segments). You can spare them by promising MTT and Mad Dummy that youll get them bodies (witch then becomes a pacifist quest), and letting blooky show you dapper blook.

Entering hotland youll notice everything is mostly ashen and gray, most of the lava having been turned to stone. You begin by passing through alphys's lab (nothing happens there... yet) and making your way to where MTT resort would have been, youll notice that as you enter hotland (now called "The Refuge" by most monsters) you can encounter monsters from anywhere in the previous areas.

Approaching the MTT resort location, youll instead find a bustling town called "New Snowdin", featuring Grillbys 2, a closed down nice cream stand, a royal guard sign up center, and... a massive cemetary.

In the cemetary youll find graves for muffet and lesser dog, as well as memorials for alphys, sans, and papyrus (the latter two being presumed dead by the public)

When attempting to enter the core, the door will be locked and have a sign saying "ROYAL GUARD ONLY", promting you to visit the sign up center.

You can sign up to the royal guard and enter the core, eventually getting on the elevator to the castle.

When you reach the top, youll be met by a hill, climbing on top of it youll find sans, he will explain that youre standing on top of the judgment hall, its been covered in snow

He says that for a long time, monsters have hated the king for his "wait out the humans" idea, and activley tried to revolt, promting the closing of the core to the public. He says that you are the final human needed, and sadly, you must die.

He then sends you off to asgore.

When you arrive, asgore brings you in for tea, sitting down with you in front of a large unpowered furnace with seven heart shaped slots, and explaining youre the first person willing to do so in quite some time.

He then escorts you to the barrier, and the fight begins. During the fight, your hp will drain very slowly due to the proximity of the barrier, being that it is what emmits the cold.

At the end, he reaches his final bit of hp, and then does something drastic.

You may have noticed a lack of flowey while reading this and thats because, well, he doesnt exist. flowers dont grow in these temperatures, and even if they could, alphys wouldnt have made him.

Asgore turns his back, and swings his trident, destroying the containers of souls, destroying them.

A second phase begins, he is now much powerful and has much more health, but eventually soul segments similar to those omega flowey has occur, and you can eventually defeat him.

You are then given the option to kill or spare him, if you kill, you recive the six souls and can break the barrier, if you spare, he takes you in as his own, and the game ends with you going to sleep in his castle.

This means that yes, there is no true pacifist run (but there is something similar...)

(Almost) PACIFIST EXCLUSIVE EVENTS:

If you have spared everyone, the elevator to the hill will collapse, bringing you to the true lab, where you can meet papyryne, he will treat you with kindness... at first.

He eagarly shows you around the lab, introducing you the amalgamates who he has lovingly named Puppy, Birdy, Snowy, Goopy, and Whispy.

However, as he shows you around youll begin to notice times where the font he is speaking in changes, and he becomes more agressive.

You can see the following entries on the walls:

Entry 1:

I found what I believe to be undynes remains today, something’s off though, it isn’t dust… it’s goop

Entry 2:

I’ve stored her remains down here, I plan to begin doing tests on it, seeing how she could have possibly gained DETERMINATION

Entry 3:

The DT extractor broke today, it will be a while untill it is fixed

Entry 4:

The memory heads keep looking around my shelf, spouting nonsense like “still there” or “don’t forget”

Entry 5:

The DT extractor is up and running again, I’m preforming some diagnostics, then tests begin tomorrow

Entry 6:

This is impossible

Entry 7:

I’ve made a discovery, in undynes remains, although there is only a fragment… her SOUL… is still there.

Entry 8:

The tests have been stopped, I’m attempting to recover some old files about the amalgamates

Entry 9:

Just as I thought, the records show that monster souls, when in their weakened state, can fuze, the most dominant soul taking the consciousness

Entry 10:

I took a small portion on undynes remains today and gave it to one of the amalgamates in their food, so far, nothing has happened

Entry 11:

It’s no problem, I simply need a bigger sample size, and perhaps a more stable monster with a complete soul, unlike the amalgamates

Entry 12:

I found a shyren today, I’ve lured it here and and captured it, I will be preforming the same experiment I did with the amalgamate

Entry 13:

…

Nothing is happening

Entry 14:

The shyren lost Vision in one eye today, though I am not sure if this is related to the experiment

Entry 15:

The shyren has been knocked out for 3 days now, I’ve hidden her body in the bathroom

Entry 16: I beleive I have found a new candidate for an experiment, this next experiment could be very very interesting.

As you are about to leave with him, freeing him from the lab, undyne takes over and he fights you. the fight is difficult by interchanging blue and green soul mechanics, the final attack using a combination of both.

You are forced to spare, as you cant damage him, and his fit of rage will end, he then will leave the lab with you and youll fast travel back to snowdin, reuniting him with sans.

You can then go back to the elevator and everything else will play out the same, with some additional sans dialouge at the end.

GENO EXCLUSIVE EVENTS:

You have to do like. a shit ton of grinding in hotland. You also have to do the ghost quests so you can kill them.

You reach level 14 and thats the highest you can get, you then take the elevator.

Once you reach the hill, you meet sans. He doesnt say anything, and a fight begins.

"it was a nice day today"

"can you see the snow sparkling in the light?"

"..."

"of course not"

"no one like you would stop to appreciate that"

"it was already bad down here, why did you have to make it worse"

"..."

"not much of a talker..?"

"me neither"

"but..."

"heres the thing"

"you see... king asgore needs one more soul"

"and youve got a nice one ripe for the taking"

"so... heres what im going to do"

"i am going to fight you"

"and i wont stop..."

"...UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER"

then you fight, and at the end a similar cutscene to the one in UT will play, exept he doesnt ask papyrus if he wants anything.

you then go to asgore, and everything will play out as normal, exept you arent allowed to spare him.

EPILOUGE:

Holy fuck, that took so long to write. pleasepleaseplease if you have any questions feel free to ask, and i dont usually ask but if you liked it please reblog, i spent a lot of time on this.

ill be posting designs soon, and fanart would be much appreciated!!

sans design

#oc #undertale #undertale au #Toriel #Sans #Papyrus #Asgore #Alphys #Amalgamates #Undyne #Lore #Au Lore #undertale fandom

[greypetrel]

HI ARJA I’m so curious about your moby dick AU lol you always have the best AUs

HI ROWAN I'm glad you asked! :D It's gonna be a big ass rant, so it's under the cut. I'm very excited about this AU, it tackles some things I love and have first-hand experience of, so yeah, I'll be chatty about it ahahahah.

I've posted a chapter at random on AO3 and you can find some snippets in the whale au tag!

So, it's "Zoologist Aisling who thinks whales are the best thing after sliced bread saves Cullen, who happens to have survived a shipwreck caused by a whale". Shenanigans happen.

It was an idea of @shivunin (thank you again) and I'm currently trying to give it a little outline not to go totally at random. I am thinking about characters background, it's a non-magical AU and so stuff needs to be adapted. The title of the WIP is old, I realised after that... You know, it's a Moby Dick INSPIRED thing. The first idea was having Aisling as Melville and Cullen as Ishmael teaming up to write Moby Dick. Cullen has the sailing parts, Aisling filling in with conspiracy theories about whalers and spite over naturalists. And both of them inserting a gay relationship because I'm still a big part of the Bi!Cullen agenda, and that book is terribly gay.

I did realise later on that there's a limit to the horrors I'm willing to put characters through and write, and cannibalism is really NOT one. I also moved it to another period and to the 1900s because I already did research for another original project and I'm more familiar with it.

The title of the file will change when I'll have a better one for this AU.

For now I do have a background for Aisling, what she's in Nantucket to do, and I'm so happy to say @melisusthewee jumped on the bandwagon aboard with Quinn and Horatio, but I'm letting her introduce you to them in this. I'll just say that Aisling refers to Quinn as "Mr Arch-Nemesis".

She's in Nantucket for a research over sperm whales behaviour, restore her family's name (dad was a scholar too, but alas, he was caught being a member of the Fenian society and giving money to the Irish revolutionaries... She's the Royal Society's favourite person, yes) and hopefully put a brake on whale hunting (the 1900s saw the peak of killed whales, you can bet miss "I'd adopt a dragon if Bull didn't constantly prevent me to try and befriend one" won't be ok with it). Dorian and Josephine -whom I couldn't fathom being there with her, seriously I can't picture Dorian on a ship if not in first class, unless he was beaten unconscious before boarding and dragged on. Josie finances ships, sure... but being on board of one and working? A whole different thing. So, they're Aisling friends, but they stayed in London to get her fundings.

Cullen needs to find reason to get to the sea again, he was a harpooner and worked on ships all his life... After being the sole survivor, he needs to find his centre back and get on with it. The crazy whale fangirl may or may not help him on this.

And there was only one bed, of course. (have I already said that Moby Dick is VERY gay?) (I had a blast reading it, thank you so much @salsedinepicta for making me curious about it! <3 Also if you want to throw your characters in this GO ON.)

I thiiiink I may change names and design and also do something fully original. I'm particularly enthusiastic about it because it allows me to tackle stuff I experienced in my life (I did some sailing! Very little and purely recreational, but still) and to re-use some research I already did for another original project which I love dearly, but it's definitely more than I can chew on my own. If I don't chicken out because the place is linked to some trauma, I maaaaay add a part in the seaside town I spent a lot of time growing up.

But again, let's see how it goes, researching on Italy isn't the easiest thing ever if you're not aiming at Rome or the Renaissance, and we're talking about a pretty regional side of Italy. I have good hopes because the people are very very very much into their own history and claiming it back, so I may find some good infos without spitting too much blood.

it's a work in progress, but there's gonna be more about this!

#whale au #petrel replies #dragon age inquisition #dragon age AU

[heinzpilsner]

Some more (supposedly unpopular) thoughts on Zuko's image in atla

'cause apparently that's what I think about these days, geez

Okay, so, I'm not a great expert in style or character design or anything obviously, but I have some general theoretical ideas about it.

Here they are, basically:

1) In practice, attempts to "soften severe features" with, well, soft decorations more often than not make potentially attractive people to look just meh;

2) When you can't hide some feature, it makes more sense to incorporate it as an organic part of your overall image (yes, Zuko's scar, I'm talking about you);

3) Good man doesn't necessary have to look all soft and fluffy to remain a good man. If softness of decoration collides with character's constitution, it makes the audience more emotionally confused than anything, even if just subconsciously (e.g., thoughts like "So, he's a good guy now, but I am less attracted to him than before. Does it mean that I find good guys less hot in general?". ... Yes, it was surprisingly specific. And no, I'm not gonna elaborate.)

If we go all back to beginning though, originally, 13-year-old Zuko's elegant facial features allowed him to go in many different directions with his style.

... That's until Ozai made this choice for him permanently, oh dear that's the one way to put it.

Actually, Zuko was kinda lucky with his scar's shape (considering all the possible alternatives): it ended up looking more like a warpaint or a Bowie-like face decoration than a disfigurement it is wow, almost as if it was specifically designed by professionals with this exact tought in mind lol. And while I totally understand the human in-character desire to hide it behind hair, from the stylistic point of view, that's exactly what Zuko shouldn't do. With such a face, all attempts to avoid people's attention will only lead to the opposite effect.

Also, to hide the scar behind some fringes means to hide Zuko's overall striking features as well, which is a freaking crime against aestetics, if you ask me. His face bears so much more potential than that.

So, what I'm trying to say is this: paradoxically, Zuko manages to look good (yes, good) with supposedly "awful" season 1 haircut, and just meh with supposedly "sexy" season 3 haircut. Because "awful" haircut, while pretty eccentric, opens his features, turns the scar from a weakness into a strengh, and hence translates more character in a harmonic way, apparently.

While later-season-3 Zuko doesn't exactly look bad either (which is especially true when animators make a deliberate effort to depict him extra pretty for dramatic scenes lol I'm not blind guys), he mostly looks... unimpressive? Actually, more often than not he reminds me of a shaggy puppy that just made a puddle nearby, lol. Alternatively, he looks like some simple guy next door - kinda cute then a light hits right, but nothing special. And although I can understand the general thought behind this choice (symbolic humbling as well as he-needs-his-hair-to-wear-the-crown-in-universe-logical), "cute simple guy" is exactly what Zuko isn't. And no, bryke, he's not an emo boy either. He can be awkward turtleduck sometimes, yes, but never someone ordinary. His whole appearance was initially created with this idea in mind.

So, "Bad prince with awful haircut" vs "Good prince with sexy haircut" lens helps to keep things in simple boxes, of course, but there's so much more nuance to Zuko's appearance than that, for better or for worse.

So... ponytail rights again, yay! Gods, I need more season 1 au zutara

(Btw... Am I the only person who remembers what Katara canonically kinda defended Zuko's ponytail to Sokka? And they were enemies back then! I mean, you may think she has a bad taste if you like, but the fact remains).

... Lee-the-refugee-before-the-Jasmine-Dragon haircut is my fav though. But just like all the good things in Zuko's life, it couldn't last long, could it? (Ouch, negligent shagginess looks nice on Jet, but it doesn't do many favors for Zuko's high-contrast aristocratic beauty. I kinda hated it, honestly.)

/typing all this on my phone from memory also without trusty google translator, so yep, no pictures. just my blunt words in poor english with no evidence for you to call me on my bullshit lol.

Also, I have no idea how people react to my posts, or whether they react at all. Ignoring tumblr notifications kinda helps me to keep my sanity intact, lol. But if you found this amateur-and-totally-subjective analysis of mine interesting for some reason... Thanks for your attention, I guess?

... But why I have this sinking feeling what I potentially managed to offend 2/3 of the fandom for completely different reasons without even trying? Lol, whatever./

#atla #zuko #ponytail rights #mum look i'm designer now

[muzzleroars]

alright, i looked trough your blog and it is quite fascinating both for original parts of your narrative and how it seems specifically based off of ultrakill plot as of 6-2. with later versions will you plan to edit your AU to fit with new narrative elements or you prefer to keep it true to how it is now?

on the note of newer narrative elements, what is your interpretation for mind of hell? it really does seem that if ultrakill has a true main antagonist then it is hell itself. and with current way how it was characterized it seems to have "inherited" the world from god and is in complete control over current situation. angels are lost without gods plan and just try to make the same motions as before. humanity may have actually been ended by hell's design, even with how much the earths machines act as a force of nature hell seems to comfortably channel them like water and using for its own purposes and entertainment. so far hell restrained itself only for its wins to be more cathartic (various "uprisings" on different layers), and so far is the most in control and very distinctly from everyone else is absolutely enjoying its time

so yeah, i am really curios on your take on hell's mind in both official material and your AU since i saw only very passing mentions for it in your posts

p.s. absolutely love your art, your character designs are immaculate❤️

ooooo good questions tbh...i've definitely thought a lot about what will happen with the au as ultrakill reaches its end and what i'll do about elements obviously becoming unfit compared to the story. i think it really depends on how much it's going to be off, but i will be honest in saying i would have a tough time abandoning my ocs if official versions of michael, raphael, uriel, or lucifer are introduced! i think of course they would be well done and i would actually love to see them in canon, but i think it would cause a divergent au in that case. because i would love to explore how this au might fit into whatever becomes canon, but i've just developed the world and characters too much to leave the au behind as it is now. overall though, i just need to see how it ends and what it introduces to know where i might want to go, if i'd want to do a properly canon-divergent au when everything is said and done, or if i might just...stick with a canon-divergent from 6-2 onward. it's funny bc i actually was nervous about this just with layer 7 dropping, so i can't imagine how anxious i'll be for the last 2 layers! esp with lucifer looming in treachery - i think it's very up in the air if any of the other archangels will play a role in the game at this point, but more about lucifer is highly likely to come imo so!!! it's a big waiting game to find out!!

you're right in that i haven't done too much with hell, though i am interested in it as a character - i have considered it more with lucifer becoming much more of an element in the au, as he has spoken with it constantly and hell is sort of...in love with him, in an abstract way. it views him still as one of the most beautiful works it has, the first bright and radiant thing it had ever seen in its misery, but hell has become utterly engrossed with the cruelty of humanity. while lucifer was some celestial god that fell to it, humanity had minds much like it, and so it fell in love with them in a way it could understand. hell is always searching for more, an artist always looking for inspiration while holding lucifer as its muse. it's the capacity they connect with on the most, both great creators with god's spark in them, and admittedly, in his suffering, lucifer sometimes understood hell's work. but lucifer was secure, lucifer it had always to speak to, but increasingly it whispered the brutality of mankind, the wonderful inventions of their minds and the horrible works of their hands it began to copy. it hooked itself into the terminals they installed, and so lucifer gained all the knowledge of machines through their internal circuit. and when mankind was wiped out, hell became master in a world run by automation with all the creators gone from their servants. it has all it wants, and it indulges in testing its creations upon the machines and the husks of mankind in such tangible joy that an abstract like lucifer could not bring to it. lucifer it relates to in hatred, in his deep, abyssal loathing of the god that trapped him here, but even that is something more abstract to hell than the brutality of humanity - lucifer hates perfectly, he hates with the mind of god, and it is not met precisely by hell as hell was born into what it is.

so what then can hell feel when lucifer is released from it, when the dragon is cut down and its flesh severed from treachery's? this is really where i want to explore the relationship between lucifer and hell, what they are to each other - hell is a take on "this place loves you", but it is entirely malignant, noxious and harmful, while lucifer recognizes it as the hideous creation he fell trying to destroy, yet it is now irrevocably his home, the one entity he now knows. they are tangled up in each other, lucifer in an obvious sense but hell now cannot bear to lose its little spark of god's light. something in his beauty sustains it, it pulls at him constantly now that he's partially left it, and lucifer is stranded not knowing what decision to make. he still hears it speaking to him, esoteric fragments made up of the ambient noise of its body, but what can he do with it now? it is alive, sentient, a being put into a wretched position by god which condemns it for how antithetical it is to the fulfillment of all other creations. lucifer wanted it gone. he protested against it all those eons ago. but now he is frozen by choice, seeing it behave as some evil god yet knowing it cannot be any other way. what is fair then? to find some way to kill it? to cut off whatever constitutes its brain? to reason with it? try to change its very essence? lucifer must work through the possibilities while accepting hell, in so many ways, is the place he now wants to be. free at last, but once more full of despair. how can he kill his home and what might be his only friend? how can he reason with it, when he once tried the same with god and was struck down? how can he change it when he is just a pale shadow of what made something so monstrous in the first place? yet he fears hell will grow angry in its stasis, in running out of victims for its cruelty, and act out in retaliation

#not sure where it will end/what lucifer will decide on at this point #but i do like the idea of hell growing increasingly agitated with lucifer gone #and so while gabe and v1 are like 'we better kill it' #lucifer pops out like 'noooo!!!!!!! im working on it!!!!!!!!' #bc he doesn't really believe in condemning it for what it is #that's on GOD not hell!!! #cake answers #hell #lucifer

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group K Round 1: #K2 vs #K7

#K2: A show where any universe/plot is possible

The series is based on a manhua where the main characters are drawn as stick figures, so they can be placed in any situation, essentially making different AUs canon while any genre is possible. Some of these stories have overarching plots (they’re sort of like actors), some are more slice-of-life, and some have more hard-hitting moments of angst or occasionally cute, romantic stories between the leads: the mild-mannered Beryl (Green) and the easily-embarrassed Sapphire (Blue).

In this show where each episode is set in a different world, how would they encounter each other time and again?

#K7: A story of children who want to be acknowledged

Painted in red, the word "VON" is all that is left behind after a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility in Japan. The government is shattered by their inability to act, and the police are left frantically searching for ways to crack down the perpetrators. The public are clueless—until, six months later, a strange video makes its way onto the internet. In it, two teenage boys who identify themselves only as "Sphinx" directly challenge the police, threatening to cause destruction and mayhem across Tokyo. Unable to stop the mass panic quickly spreading through the city and desperate for any leads in their investigation, the police struggle to act effectively against these terrorists, with Detective Kenjirou Shibazaki caught in the middle of it all.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#K2: Beryl and Sapphire (Xiaolü He Xiaolan)

Propaganda:

It’s genuinely just such a cool concept! Getting to see these characters in practically any story/setting while still featuring the (usually same) main characters means you still get attached to the main cast, but you really get a diverse range of plots and ideas.

You may find yourself getting super attached to one (as I did for the Robo-Beryl arc, because I liked the character of Robo-Beryl but I also found Sapphire’s shyness/crushing adorable), and many of even the shortest ones are really interesting.

The OP even features them as actors and the title cards are film clapboards, which is such a cool way to tie in the main set-up!

Plus, because the manhua features them as stick figures, Ocarina (the original creator of Beryl and Sapphire) has way more room to explore deep ideas or just silly jokes; the flexibility of stick figures means we get lots of deep, philosophical writing/dialogue, and the donghua adapts that quite well.

Beryl is fun and Sapphire is super cute, and I love seeing how they interact in different universes/stories (and yes, they are very shippable!). Their default design is technically male, but sometimes they’re female too.

Some of the storylines are also super creative and really really do just punch you in the gut with feels. I don’t think I’ll ever forget some of the more tragic arcs…

Yet at the end of the day, Beryl and Sapphire is a really cute donghua, with a lot of feel-good stories to it! It even finally came back after like 4 years with season 2, which focuses on one of the over-arching arcs (the Demon King Beryl one), and we’re still getting discussions of deeper ideas alongside comedy, and Beryl and Sapphire are as cute as ever!

The new art style is quite pretty and hey, if you’re a fan of the playful, teasing (yet still can be rather emotionally reserved) type and the easily blushy type, Beryl and Sapphire may just be for you! 😉

Trigger Warnings: None.

#K7: Terror in Resonance (Zankyou no Terror)

Propaganda:

The big thing to this show is that the directors are Shinichirō Watanabe and Yoko Kanno, aka the team behind Cowboy Bebop. But in all seriousness, the show still haunts me and the music can still bring tears to my eyes. The art is incredible, and the characters are tragic. The story is partially about hope and largely about kids wanting their pain to be acknowledged.

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Suicide

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

#anime #donghua #best underrated anime #polls #poll tournament #tournament #anime tournament #animation #animated show #group stage #group stage round 1 #tournament polls #group k #beryl and sapphire #xiao lu he xiao lan #xiaolu he xiaolan #terror in resonance #zankyou no terror #xiaolü he xiaolan

[god-mouths]

i wanna hear about,,,, literally any of ur guys actually i love hearing abt ur guys :] if thats too vague pick me a guy and tell me about their inspirations/how you came up with their stories/designs/traits!! i think your stuff is so fascinating and i wanna know how that rotates in ur brain

OOOG…. Thank youe…. I’ve realized a few patterns in how I tell my stories lately so I do want to go over those! I’ll be using yvette my buddy my pal to demonstrate this because he’s the best example. ( later edit : Actually I have more stuff to talk about I’ll number it)

1. I’ve noticed a ton of my story material is based on how the people around us or our surroundings effect us. The cycles and whatnot. For yvette he starts out as a yellow blood and, in trying to forcefully change the oppression imposed on him from his surroundings, actually sort of just continues it by killing a close friend of his. That friend ends up haunting him. Teed hee

Idk if the pictures will come across well since I’m on mobile but to break down this specific piece the colors used on REPENT and the tapeworms in the back are actually the colors of his old psionics before he did all that mad scientist crap to change himself. OLD ART!! AUGHH AU AUGGHH

Is it a little stupid that he changes his own blood color? Yes. But homestuck as it’s own is so beyond stupid that I can do whatever I want I’m a scavenger a critter.

But by changing his blood color yvette essentially locks away his psionics (there must be something very specific to yellow blood to make the psionics work to me) siphoning them off into the trident he wields. He can’t get rid of ALL of his original blood, so the yellow just stays dormant. Should he choose to use his psionics in this new state he’s made for himself he risks fucking up his organs even further.

Anyways it takes a human child with the same exact problems as him to realize Heyyy…..maybe what I did and have been doing is a little fucked. Which it was. But it was the only thing he could have done, in his eyes, because the alternative was getting hooked up to a machine for the rest of his life.

At the end of the story (? Fan venture?) he does break out his psionics again which causes the blood to mix. He’s redeemed but he’s not nearly as cool anymore. Big bummer

2. colors always mean things more often than not in my art. I am a “why is the curtain blue” type of asshole, and I love to do it. For instance in MATSC green is for heaven and blue is for hell, but they have more than just that meaning. Green is confinement and being trapped and whatnot, while blue is freedom. Still kind of iffy on what purple means but it may mean the same as green. We’re figuring it out. In LEM I’m also still working on it, but blue is a mainly bad color there while orange is instead the signifier of good things. As for paradigm shift it’s more of a character-to-character basis. They all get their own specific colors. I loveeee colors colors colors :)

3. I LOVE writing villains. It is my personal goal with every villain I write to see how genuinely horrible I can make the villain as a person and still get people to enjoy reading them. It’s so fun, I mean it. Like the type of guy that would absolutely stump tumblr’s famous reading incomprehension. I love it I LOVE IT

4. This isn’t about my stories overall, just one, but I finally finished the first draft for act one of paradigm shift which I am PSYCHED about. I sent it out to a few people for feedback- only a select few people, though. If it were any other story I’d send it to a wider range but it is IMPERATIVE that my buddies that experienced max first hand when we were little 12 year old kids doing stupid roleplays get to see it first. They know him very well, and Vice versa. I’m so excited. (Air horns) (yippee sound!)

#fingers crossed this posts the wifi on this train is poops #oc asks #about ocs #thank mew… #writing #asks

[morguemaw]

hello, hope this isn't like offensive or anything. but what's the difference between lusttale and underlust?

Hihi! It isnt :) I really love talking abt lustale, it also helps make sure those who are new to my profile understand Lustale <3 I really suggest looking through my tag ill have below on this post, since it has much more info. but i will try to sum it up for you! TW for a few triggering things!

I wanna first clarify my issues with Underlust and why i made Lustale. - Underlust has lots of issues such as the curveball of MTT being raped, the owner drawing / or drawing fanart of a AU that had a nazi chara, the sudden depression Sans gathers (no build up nor mention, the fact that the skeleton brothers have canon incest relationships.

The owner clarified their mental health wasnt good to continue the AU, hence why parts are most likely really bad. They also said they have stopped working on the AU, and its a fandom owned AU now like Underswap.

The main changes are;

x Chara has the trait of passion instead of Lust, when Chara fell down the monsters were sealed underground after the battle that caused a great depression, Chara ended up passing away but the monsters wanted the trait, and tried to copy it. This failed and the trait Lust was created, as Lust and Passion can be mistaken for the Monsters not understanding x Lustale will be taking a more Slice of Life story, it will only have the visual vibes of Underlust, and loose Undertale storyline. Other then that, there will not be anything such as breaking the barrier (as the monsters are also content and happy as they are ) until very very later on. Battles are less common in this AU, too. x Flowey is made via Asriel's soul breaking, Asgore and Toriel could not have children (Toriel is infertile) and tried to combine their souls to create Asriel's soul, however it was weak and dusted, therefore being sprinkled into a rose similar to how the Rose Flowey in Underlust was made

x Almost each and every character has a new personality, job, backstory, and more. They arent just empty headed sex freaks. I want them to have actual personality instead of "Omg Sans is a femboyant stripper slay king omg" . I also wanna clarify my Lust HATES being called anything feminine or femboyant, no this isnt a issue to those who have lusts' like this.

The only things i kept the same between them are:

x Designs of the characters being similar. It would be hard to revamp Underlust with fully new designs, because that both pushes it too far from what its supposed to be, but ruins the nostalgia of the original characters. Instead i did a few tweaks, minus some characters such as Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, and in the future more characters will have larger redesigns. This is only because Sans and Papyrus are more iconic with the AU, mainly Sans.

x A few pieces of the lore i may keep; However since the lore for Underlust is very short and has alot of wonky pieces, along with a extremely short comic, its hard to really keep anything about Underlust in my AU Lustale, because, to be fair, there is absolutely jack shit to go on.

And you didnt ask for this, but my main reason for doing it is:

With Underlust, there is JACK SHIT to go off of with characters. There is ZERO development, we get to learn NOTHING about them other than they like sex and making other AU counterparts uncomfortable. All we get for story is Mettaton was raped (which is NEVER brought up again. ) and that Sans is actually depressive and has lots of self hate, which again, is NEVER brought up. We learn nothing of what characters like and dislike, we learn nothing about the AU, we learn nothing about their jobs or positions, the entire AU is built up on sex, sex, and more sex. Lustale is a revamp of Underlust where they will be fleshed out, and, i can hope, will possibly replace Underlust because, holy shit, i really dont support Underlust.

#lustale

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Hi. I see you're really keen on the idea of an Azula redemption arc and I was wondering if you were willing to help me.

You see, I'm writing my own Zutara au and I wanted to give Azulas a simple but well meaning redemption arc but I don't know where to start. She is a complex character so I don't wanna go "and now she is good". Because that's also the point, I don't want to turn her into a goody-goody two-shoes, picture perfect princess. I want to keep that snarky and sarcastic side of her, mixed in with a little bit of tsundere. I want to make her an aunt to my two Zutara babies so she'll keep her caring side but more on the down low.

Anyway... Do you think you can give me some ideas? I also don't know who I want to ship her with so Azulaang ideas are welcome but not a must (nothing against the ship, i just haven't decided between Taang or Azulaang)

Thank you!!

How about this?

Due to Azula and Aang being a descendant of Aang's past life Roku. The two become spiritually connected, linked, and bonded with each other. This bond came to be right after Aang let go of Katara and embrace his last chakra, which instantly caused Aang to lose any romantic feelings he had for Katara. They can use this bond to slowly create another, more emotional and intimate bond. We don't give Aang enough credit of being sassy, sarcastic and mischievous in his own right. I'd kill to see Aang and Azula throw sass and comebacks at each other, it'll be peak entertainment.

I picture Azula's redemption being like Dante's divine comedy trilogy but it's metaphorical and psychological. She'd go through 9 circles of the burning hells, 9 earthly terraces of purgatory and 9 spheres of the high heavens. That's a total of 27 episodes.

You want an example of what a redeemed Azula looks like? Look no further than Diablo 3 reaper of souls, the female wizard: A deadpan snarker? check. Has fire and lightning powers? check. Is a prodigy? check. Her characteristics, design and clothing based on East Asia? check. Insufferable genius but can back it up? check. A one woman army? check. Is voiced by Grey DeLisle herself? check check check.

I've read a few Azulaang AUs where Aang teaches Azula how open and master her chakras. Each has there own interpretation on what's blocking each of her chakras. Here's what I have in mind.

Azula's fear is abandonment and being seen as monster, as evidence with the beach and the mirror scene.

As for her guilt, it's possible she may have some guilt over how Zuko was treated given how quick she was to overturn his banishment, she just couldn't bring herself to admit it and apologize. I than imagine Azula going through the same stuff Zuko went through in Zuko alone. Azula sees the damage her war has wrought, befriends some earth commoners but later turn against her either by finding out who she is or when she does something maniacal and unhinged which. Azula takes their rejection WAY harder than Zuko and angrily lashes out and wounds an innocent, which increases her guilt further.

Shame. Her failure to fulfil Ozai's promise to be fire lord and her humiliating defeat by Katara's hands is pretty self explanatory.

Greif. Contrary to popular belief, I think Azula loved Lu Ten and the two had close relationship. Why else would she only have her sights on Ba sing se and is dead set on bring it down? What comes in the form of new love, Azula sees Zuko and starts bawling her eyes out.

The lies she was told all came from Ozai. I picture Ozai and Azula having a similar dynamic between Anaken and Palpatine. You oughta explore more of the relationship between Ozai and Azula.

It's obvious by now she fell prey to the illusion of separation, but she also seems to be chasing after the illusion of perfection.

Her earthly attachment? It's Ozai. Hands down.

I hope any of this helps.

Btw, I'm currently trying to write a book 4: air. But the second half of season 2 of legend of korra will be shown in Aang's saga. Particularly book 4: air. Ozai is the dark avatar and he’s the most powerful firebender, earthbender, waterbender, airbender and energybender in existence after slaying the last lion turtle and absorbing its soul during Sozin's comet. But instead of Ozai fusing with Vaatu, Ozai IS Vaatu, and he was directly but secretly behind the starting of the 100-year-war. It's Aang that goes through the destruction of the original avatar cycle and heralds a new spiritual/avatar era, but this time, Raava becomes the spirit of light/peace and darkness/chaos at the same time, aka, the spirit of balance, she also embodies and controls all sources of bending.

#zutara #azulaang #spirit bond #au

[icedmetaltea]

hello hello! this is gonna be ramble-y, telling you that now

i use character.ai a lot but reading your posts about it has made me rethink using it. so ty for writing that! going to check pygmalionAI out - i hadn't known about the character.ai community & devs being so bad. also, how did you learn that the devs were bad if i may ask? i'd like to get more informed now regarding AI since it IS becoming a bigger thing; laws and precedents need to be established sooner rather than later

on another note! i ADORE your titan au! loved the iron giant as a kid and love the way you're designing it with Sun, Moon, and Eclipse! do you have any more crumbs to share about it? (no pressure though! /gen)

have a wonderful day/night OP!

Well I used CAI back in December, joined their subreddit, and it'd be kinda impossible to summarize everything I watched unfold since then since it was such an explosion of a community.

Here's a good quick breakdown vid:

(ok for some reason the link isn't working for me so uhh just paste "Character dot AI and the controversy around it." into youtube)

This is a good written resource that has links and screenshots for all the info therein: https://rentry.org/CAInews

It's important to be informed about these kinda things so good on you!

Also thank you so much! ^-^ I don't really have too much info on the au since I haven't toyed with it that much, but I'd like to draw Sun and Moon since thus far I've only done Eclipse.

I've seen one or two people say that it'd be fun if Sun used to be like primarily a medical bot but got reprogrammed when the war picked back up, so I'm wondering if maybe he has some sort of medical logo somewhere on his chest/arms under a thick coating of paint.

He feels sort of embarrassed about it when y/n finds out (I suppose time has withered the paint and the cracks show through) because after a while, since after centuries of bloodshed humanity is like on the verge of extinction and yet unwilling to let their violence go, war was the only thing he knew.

Eclipse is neither good nor bad, he just exists to cause destruction lol. Specifically to end the Titan war, but since it's long over and the "bad side" as he's programmed to see it no longer exists, it's the only logical solution to re-focus his attention on destroying humanity.

Of course, this all pulls to a halt when Sun and Moon come back into the picture (and no I have no idea how they'd all miraculously re-animate at the same time 😂) Maybe either y/n is able to find some sort of on-twitch of a kind, like a power core that automatically powers on all the titans even in their long-dormant state, or Eclipse actually decides to spare humanity because y/n wants him to (who can resist those big pleading eyes honestly) and maybe because humanity just seems so... frail these days. Not at all the powerful armies that he remembers, therefore no challenge. Then he once again refocuses his attention on fixing Sun and Moon just so he can fight them.

#Answer tag #Metaltea Talks #storysiren #ai #character.ai #drama #Titan au #*gives siren a glowing green orb* #ifirehfuerfie au in which giant murder robots realize they have war trauma #and work to resolve it after nearly destroying each other a few times

[talltale-lore]

Talltale Lore (info taken directly from my lore doc) #2

(Just showcasing 3 in this post)

More info about these characters will also be shared in the future btw, these descriptions don’t contain everything they have to offer in this AU, I will have many more tidbits in my “Lore Stuff” and “Character Info” segments!

Art of Gaster and Crimson are also old, but their designs are still accurate and hold up!

TALLTALE GASTER

He is the only survivor (still working on the reason how) of the entire massacre of the underground and he guides Frisk throughout the journey. He “tries” to be helpful and his plans do typically work, however they end up causing Frisk more harm than good as his plans put Frisk directly in harm’s way most of the time.

By the time Frisk falls, Gaster at that point does feel extreme guilt and remorse for what he did… Unfortunately though, despite him wanting to change his ways and seek redemption (redemption he doesn’t deserve might I add), he never seems to actually take the steps necessary to change himself for the better despite desperately wanting to! Not to mention that although he may not be at the horrific level of experimenting on kids anymore, he is still cold, dismissive, and narcissistic to others. Gaster will frequently dismiss and ignore Frisk and (nearly) every other character’s ideas and feelings. He thinks he and his plans alone are the only things that can keep Frisk alive and save all the spirits’ souls; even if they directly put Frisk in harm’s way. He also victim-blames, lying and deceiving everyone by saying that Corrupted Chara was the one to kill everything; when in reality he was the one to actually be the catalyst of it all.

However, there is another side to him… The war with humans greatly affected him, being what caused him to hate Chara and humans as a whole so much and after everything. One integral part of his character is that after The Incident, Gaster begins to experience horrifying hallucinations of what he did… Resulting in him being incredibly paranoid (he’s really good at hiding it, but it can occasionally slip in front of the others, and the mask slips completely when he discovers what Frisk has been doing in the Genocide Route).

Like Frisk, When each human falls, he sends all of them out putting them to the quest of freeing all the vengeful and restless souls inhabiting the underground, but unfortunately their fates all remain the same, they all (most anyway) die from the claws of Corrupted Chara. Until Frisk finally falls... Only now will things be different… As Gaster finally decides that maybe Frisk would have a higher chance of surviving if he actually went along with them.

The first picture is Gaster before The Incident and the second one is Gaster after The Incident.

The device you see on his chest in the Post-Incident version is something to help keep him alive… Asgore and Gaster had a vicious fight when Asgore finds out whats been happening and confronts him (I'll explain in more detail later with the lore involving Asgore and Alphys). Asgore struck him right in the chest! He would have given the final blow if it weren't for Chara's dying screams interrupting them….

The ripped clothing and contraption was a result from the fight with Asgore (though some tears in the clothing could also be from some of the evolved wildlife), but the cracked skull and missing eye was caused by The Incident. What Gaster didn’t take into account however when having to make his contraption, was that the device worked a little too well and is keeping him from dying of old age. It’s something Gaster is pretty much stuck with having… As he can’t exactly take it off to tamper with it because he’d die pretty quickly…

CRIMSON

Crimson is an ancient demon who had his soul shattered thousands of years ago, with the remaining fragments being sealed deep into the earth… Crimson was rendered powerless along with another character (Will explain later) after this… And thanks to Gaster, Crimson is able to become powerful again and finish what he started a long time ago…

The "substance" Gaster finds, studies, and injects into Chara’s soul (while also destroying the underground) are actually the remaining fragments of his shattered soul! Due to the Substance being linked directly to Crimson, this is why none of the Spirits are able to move on and roam the Underground! Crimson also plays a huge integral role in the AU… As he and Corrupted Chara pretty much share a soul now thanks to Gaster.

Crimson for the time being is ultimately powerless, but his influence and power will continue to grow stronger as the routes go on until he won’t be so weak anymore. As time goes by (and it can be seen happening throughout the routes as well), more and more spikes will grow on and surround Chara’s soul. This will keep happening until eventually their soul will be completely covered in it. Each spike that grows is a step closer for Crimson… When Chara’s soul is fully covered, Crimson will be powerful enough to finally take over Chara’s entire body, mind, and soul; with Chara’s body essentially becoming Crimson’s new one. When this eventually happens, this will sadly result in Chara’s consciousness to be gone forever…

Until that happens however, Crimson acts like a voice in Corrupted Chara’s head… Constantly encouraging them to kill and be as brutal and vicious as possible. He lies to them, manipulates them, belittles them, and will even scream at them over the smallest of things… He’ll also blame them for their family “not loving them”, shame them for missing the Dreemurrs despite everything, and will frequently tell them they were a mistake, even saying things much MUCH MUCH worse to them. Corrupted Chara is sadly not able to get rid of his torment nor stop it all either… This is a major factor on the many reasons why Corrupted Chara is always conflicted and at odds with themselves.

Crimson will also frequently encourage Chara’s feelings of wanting vengeance too! Being the person who actually came up with “Chara’s” plan to destroy every universe as an act of revenge, knowing full well he’ll probably be able to take over their body completely by that point in time. When Chara rejects the idea even slightly (not knowing Crimson will take over them obviously), he manipulates the feeling right out of them every time… He does this because he wants to destroy everything as an act of revenge, FARRR more so than Chara… Essentially turning Chara’s plan into his, just with him manipulating Chara into thinking that it’s something they’d want and need, and not him.

Crimson is also ENORMOUS, Bigger than Corrupted Chara actually! In fact, he's why Corrupted Chara is so huge in the first place. Not to mention him looking the way he does is also why Corrupted Chara looks similar to him as well!

What his origins are (as well as the Origins of the other character) I’m leaving up for interpretation! You’re allowed to get creative with ideas and headcanons!

CORRUPTED CHARA

Chara, corrupted by Gaster's twisted experiments. To make the long story short- Gaster took Chara and experimented on them behind the Dreemurr's back, the family having no idea of what he was doing with them. All they knew was that they went "missing" and searched everywhere for them but to no avail...

Gaster injects a substance into their soul (aka Crimson's soul fragments). The substance bursts out of their chest, killing them painfully. After they die, the substance injected into them starts growing rapidly… killing everything and everyone. Gaster is the only survivor in this now dust-filled wasteland (not taking the evolving wildlife into account ofc)… This event, labeled as “The Incident" or the "The Great Massacre" by Gaster, leaves Chara EXTREMELY corrupted almost beyond recognition… Filled with burning vengeance and anger for what Gaster did to them, killing the six humans that fell (most of them anyway, once again, like many things, it’ll be explained later) and constantly stalking and attacking Gaster and Frisk throughout the entire journey, hellbent on destroying them in any way possible.

They are sharing their soul with Crimson (who is slowly starting to use them as a host). He acts like a little voice in their head, constantly encouraging them to kill and destroy everything they see, yet also belittling, mocking, screaming, and lying to them at the same time- Completely destroying their self-esteem in the process…

As time goes on, another spike will form on their soul, with each one being one step closer for Crimson to start controlling them. (Besides the whole corrupted thing) pain, anger, vengeance, and sadness is what basically drove them over the edge into insanity. They are far more than "that monster who's hunting you down". Unlike Flowey from Undertale, they still have their soul! They can feel emotions any other person would. Despite all the vengeance and anger they show, deep down, they have a very deep sadness that runs through them, maybe even a little bit of fear and loneliness as well. They have a lot of conflicting emotions… They miss the Dreemurrs a lot, despite wanting to hate them for (what they see as) abandoning them to Gaster’s torture. Yet they can’t seem to bring themselves too…

Corrupted Chara is also quite animalistic, they can roar, screech, and even go on all fours if they wanted too! But despite that, they are very human-like. They can talk and can feel any emotion any other person can due to still having their soul (like mentioned above).

They are also both half dead and half alive. Like the spirits, the state Chara is in is the direct result of them dying. But unlike the spirits, Chara didn’t come back as a ghost like everyone else. Due to the substance being injected into their soul and because of Crimson, they come back, but as alive again (sorta); with their body contorting with their corruption and with them actually being physically there and not as an apparition unlike the spirits.

With them being half alive, they HAVE to eat, breathe, drink, sleep, etc. to STAY alive like any living thing! However, there are key differences... Due to also being half dead, Corrupted Chara has no pulse (though if terrified, they may get the feeling of having one due to brain-trickery but they don’t actually have it). They also produce no body heat, and most depressingly (just like the spirits), if Chara dies in this corrupted state… They are pretty much gone forever and their consciousness will just… Cease to exist due to already being dead technically speaking.

(There’s a LOT more info I have in store for CC! CC so far is my most developed character, so stay tuned!)

CC’s color scheme is quite dark… So I also made a picture lowering the opacity so people can see their details better

#undertale #undertale aus #talltale #undertale au #chara #talltale chara #corrupted chara #crimson #Talltale crimson #Gaster #w.d. gaster #Talltale Gaster #Talltale W.D. Gaster #Talltale lore

[comedyloser]

NO. NO. I’M NOT HOLDING IT BACK ANYMORE.

THEY AREN’T DESIGNED BUT I HAVE IN MY HEAD PLANNED OUT NINE 035 x 049 FANKIDS

AND I’M ABOUT TO EXPLAIN ALL OF THEM

BEFORE WE GET STARTED

1. I have no clue how they could have had kids it’s magic

2. Do not proceed reading if uncomfortable with the following concepts: DEATH, NEEDLES, DRUGS/overdose?/BODY HORROR/FEAR OF SURGERY OR THE DENTIST

3. Later Note: This is some au so I wouldn’t have to keep on character with 035 and 049 (this took me a couple of days to figure and type out which is why some things may not line up)

GENERAL NOTES

All kids are musically talented in some way

All kids are medically talented in some way

“AGE” is more of physical/mental appearance and in no way affects actual age (for now)

#1 - VIVO

Female, She/Her

Age: 21-22 (Young Adult)

Musical Talent: Dancing + Singing

Medical Talent: Immediate “Euthanasia” (Through Needle) (More of just Drug Overdose)

Apperance: VIVO appears as a humanoid figure (6’5/1’9) with a performing drama mask for a face. Instead of limited to two expressions such as comedy and tragedy, VIVO can move her face such as a normal person could move one’s own, minus pupils or the inside of a mouth. Eye and mouth holes secrete a black acid such as SCP-035 does except in certain light the acid appears to be swirls of different colors (ranging from red to purple across the rainbow with some mixing). VIVO’s face is composed just like a drama mask made of the same porcelain material and can crack, melt, or even break under circumstances.

Despite the face the rest of VIVO’s body appears human, minus the ability to create extra limbs (preferably arms) out of the same secreting acid (read above). When possessing said limbs, the hands if put in motions such as drumming and playing keys on a piano seem to mimic the sounds of what they are playing, despite no instrument being present. Creation of how said sounds are forming is unknown. As well as mimic instruments, if VIVO holds one hand on another entity and uses another hand in a puppet-mouth moving motion, VIVO can recreate said entity’s voice perfectly. Whether or not effect lasts once hand is removed is unknown.

VIVO can also euthanize people using an unknown liquid in a needle. Whether euthanization is affective on non-humans in unknown. Whether others can use the needle is unknown. Upon death, victims of said attack are unknown said victim has died. Victim believes they were “transported” to a black void, as well as being able to interact with others killed by VIVO’s attack. VIVO’s has been shown to bash in the heads of two security personal who were not shown to be present in the “void”. Whether VIVO is required to use the needle or it is by choice who goes in unknown. Whether personal are actually dying or being spiritually relocated is unknown.

Spirits of the deceased can be viewed with special lighting. No sound can be heard between the “void” and the world. Only form of communication is words written with a white chalk can be viewed in the corresponding location in the “void”. VIVO can leave it’s body and enter this “void” with full awareness of the current world and surroundings, but being able to interact with the deceased spirits. Usually using this chance and interaction to dance or perform. VIVO can then renter said body with no hesitation.

Sidenote: VIVO can sing in any range including pitches of which humans can not hear. This has caused multiple casualties such as when [REDACTED] as well as the death of — personal as well as — faculty members when [REDACTED].

VIVO was discovered —/—/2023 last out of the nine siblings performing in ————— on an abandoned stage. It claims it was “practicing” for a performance after having [REDACTED] in it’s last show. No record of said show has yet to be found. VIVO has shown no interest to escape containment. “Yet.”

#2 - FORTE

Male

Age: 15-16 (Teen)

Musical Talent: Rapping (Or deemed by VIVO, “useless”)

Medical Talent: Physician

Appearance: FORTE wears a traditional plague doctor’s uniform minus the traditional mask. Pupils are dark and black and teeth are pointed and yellow, eyes faded red. Leather gloves with a reinforced glass layer on the inside due to the fact most of his forearm as well as his hands are made up of a goopy corrosive black acid. Similar pattern due to boots on his feet. Most of FORTE’s front chest has been dissolved from the black corrosive acid leaving the rib cage exposed, despite majority of the inside chest cavity being empty, minus a few hanging blood vessels. No organs are visible from the outside. Upon sticking a hand into the area they can be felt, resulting with the removed hand completely dissolved just moments after being removed from the cavity. Feeling can not be detected any other way. Whether organs are actually there or feeling is being recreated some other way leaving an imprint on our brains through touch is up to determination.

When gloves are removed, FORTE has the ability to dissolve everything it touches, but prefers not to out fear. Minus his personality and insecurity with the gloves off FORTE is sassy and doesn’t listen. Constantly getting into arguments, sometimes purposely starting them, and will even cause fights.

However FORTE does understand every pill and drug known to man, able to recognize them without a label, including ones from other languages, and is able to know what they do. Often gives his “patients” a prescription with a note completed indecipherable minus the words “Dr.Deadman”. No record of such a person is yet to be found.

#3 - MEZZO

Male

Age: 13-14 (Young Teen)

Musical Talent: Piano

Medical Talent: “Professional” Surgeon (can successfully remove and replace organs with robotic made ones to “cure” patients)

Appearance: MEZZO has the appearance of a plague doctor as well as a hood and sometimes a small black top hat. Plague mask secrets a black acid with no noticeable corrosive properties. Mask is removable and reveals a humanoid figure under minus greasy curly black “hair” made from presumably the same material as the secretions. Eyes are a dark brown near black. Rest of figure is humanoid. Whether outfit is part of body or there is a body underneath is unknown.

MEZZO has the ability to swoon anybody into sleep, or a state of unconsciousness, and usually when the victim wakes up they are strapped down in an unknown room, similar to that of an ER. After waking, MEZZO will soon put them back to sleep before performing surgery to “cure” them. Often resulting in either complete death of the victim or reanimation due to replacements of organs with robotic parts MEZZO crafted. MEZZO only works with mask on and often does not remove it, may remove in some circumstances but never during operation.

#4 - CODA

Male

Age: 10-12 (Preteen)

Musical Talent: Drums

Medical Talent: Stitching

Appearance: CODA wears a completely removable plague mask, robe, and many tied ropes as well as many pieces composed from leather or fabrics fixed with sown-in parts from other fabrics. CODA’s body is completely composed of a black goop which is why it completely cover’s its body always to retain a form. CODA also always carries on hand (visibly) various sewing needles and always seems to have on hand what they need for stitches, fabric or body. Stitching pattern is unique and is not seen anywhere else. Sometimes when bored CODA will stick in Roman or Greek symbols into the skin of his “patients”. Victims of these words do not seem them despite being clearly visible and claim their “doctor did an amazing job”. Including times when they are forcefully woken up mid-procedure when blood is still leaking, they claim nothing is wrong. In cases where tissue is visible they have a small chance of visibly noticing it and freaking out, often leading to a dramatized overreaction and often resulting in death in some way.

Personality of CODA is unknown. Face of CODA is unknown. Voice of CODA is unknown, minus “patients” who claim to have talked to their “doctor,” yet are unable to explain what he sounded like.

#5 and #6 - OCTAVE and OCTET

Males, He/They Respectfully

Age: 7-9 (twins)

Musical Talent: Guitar and Violin (In that Order)

Medical Talent: Nurse’s Role

Appearance: OCTAVE and OCTET are two twins that despite their constant bickering are almost never seen separated. Both wear a robe like outfit with long excess sleeves and a hood tied together around the waist with a rope. Ends of robe and sleeves are tattered and either partially torn, each twin’s tears being the mirror opposite of the other’s. Both wear leather boots and gloves, as well as both wear a leather plague doctor’s mask (with goggles) and are almost never seen with it off. Both have identical faces and under circumstances can cause black liquid to drip from the eyes and mouth, sometimes nose.

Both when “treating” a victim, or “taking a patient into their care”, work together and act sweet and kind to the “patient”. Despite acting like everything is normal they use tools and perform actions that are traumatizing, injury resulting, and could be deadly. But their little act always ends with the victim passing out due to a blow to the head.

Minus the trauma, they would be great nurses. If put into a situation they have studied and know every way to care for a patient, including emergencies. But, that’s not fun. But making your own cure is.

#7 - VIVACE

Male

Age: 5-6 (Kid)

Musical Talent: Cymbols

Medical Talent: (Nightmare) Dentist

Appearance: VIVACE is around 4’ feet tall and takes parts of appearances from 1800’s-2000’s doctors. VIVACE wears a tattered robe with long arm-length gloves that the sleeve tucks into around the middle of the forearm as well as boots with pants underneath following a similar pattern, boots provide 2 inches to height. VIVACE’s robe has a hood that he always wears as well as a bird’s skull he wears over his face, with various small needles poked into it and a dark face mask. Face is not visible through holes and cracks in the bird skull as they appear to be solid black, despite light hitting it directly on. No object present is detected to be causing this complete blackout as a finger could be stuck through the skull’s eye sockets, which was discovered during testing and aggravated VIVACE which lead to [REDACTED].

VIVACE constantly carries with him various scalpels and dentistry tools as well as many shapes and sizes of needles, including small semi-transparent bottles filled with various liquids, none of which to be determined as known elements but react as if completely clean with no impurities.

VIVACE when bored will often practice on those around him, knowing what he does can hurt others whether intentional or not and will take this to his advantage. Such as demonstrated during a test where ————————— aggravated VIVACE every day for a week leading to [REDACTED] and all future tests postponed.

Sidenote: VIVACE has been seen using cymbals to bash people’s heads in. Whether this be for fun, out of pure spite, revenge, or some other motive is unknown.

VIVACE appears to be very mature for it’s age. Despite appearing only 5 VIVACE seems to have the smarts and knowledge of someone much older, such as a 12 year old, and possibly a mentality of someone even older.

Whether VIVACE is mature for age or is simply not as young as they look is unknown. No tests have come back positive for either as knowledge varies between topics yet personality does not seem to switch from straightforward and “in control” no matter what.

#8 - RUBATO

Male

Age: 4-5 (Kid)

Musical Talent: Flute

Medical Talent: Medicine Mixing

Appearance: Compared to the others, RUBATO wears a much more, oversized, scientist-like get-up. Including an oversized lab coat, plague mask, oversized strapped lab goggles, and much more. Yet retained a dark color theme like the rest of them.

RUBATO is chaotic and can hold its energetic nature and energy for days at a time without sleep, food, or water. It can sleep if it wants to, but refuses to eat. Upon forcing RUBATO to consume food test conducted [REDACTED] ending all future consumption of food or liquids.

Not much is yet to be discovered about RUBATO except for his chaotic nature and love for mixing things together. Including two or more types of liquid soaps to make “potions”.

Sidenote: When watching RUBATO mix —————, ——————, and —————— brand dish soaps together and forcefully having a D-Class with a sore throat drink it, she was magically cured. Upon recreating the same mixture with all the same parts results concluded unsuccessful.

#9 - JJ

Masculine

Age: 2-3 (Toddler)

Musical Talent: Tambourine

Medical Talent: UNKNOWN

Appearance: JJ is around 3’ feet tall, about 1 meter, and takes on an appearance similar to SCP-049. As a plague doctor. No noticeable different from a common plague doctor appearance except for the height, a small black top hat, a black liquid lightly seeping from the eye holes. The “mask” is a flexible skull part of JJ’s bone structure, similar to 049’s. The acid from the eyes does not seem to be corrosive, as much as 035’s at least.

JJ can barely walk and is often carried by others, as well as being very light for his size. (At least 2/3s lighter than he should be). Speech is limited and agility is limited to that similar of a small child’s.

Sidenote: Having been noted of JJ’s tambourine skills, personal asked JJ to hit out “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. As to then VIVO responded, (having been present in the room to watch JJ), “Seriously? You need to give him something easier! Like the opening to [REDACTED].” To which JJ played flawlessly despite seeming more “complicated” to personal. Again JJ was asked to play “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to which showed no understanding of the pattern. But when asked to play [REDACTED] JJ showed no flaws in all three despite being deemed more complicated.

JJ was discovered —/—/2023 first out of the nine siblings. Such as when discovery began that said children even existed, to which when questioned SCP-035 and SCP-049 admitted to there being more. JJ has made numerous escapes outside of the facility, to which how is still unknown, and JJ does not seem to show it is fully aware of the scenario it is in. Both SCP-035 and SCP-049 seem to be in distress and even sometimes anger when learning JJ is not still under care in the facility. Resulting in 9 casualties as well as [REDACTED].

Other Notes/Bonus Notes

VIVACE and RUBATO often get into fights, into which VIVO takes command and gets them to get along (when present in room). If no authority (family) is present/“threatful” enough (035, VIVO, 049) to stop the bickering the two will continue to fight until [REDACTED]

VIVO will act cheery around her siblings but doesn’t show that same kind of emotion around others, being annoyed or even getting angry. The siblings all know about this too, so in events where she is angry infront of them they don’t get in her way.

VIVO sometimes pronounces words with an “ee” sound as “tee” // funny -> fun-te

JJ when upset or convinced something bad happened to one of his parents will have a tantrum with a blood curdling scream (but siblings are a matter to laugh at)

CODA often gets nosebleeds (somehow)

MEZZO can get pretty sassy at times and is one of the few kids to stand up to their parents

VIVO and FORTE often get into fights, usually resulting in the younger kids to learn a few new words, not necessarily for the better

#fankids #fankid

[rallamajoop]

Deus Ex 2000 vs Human Revolution

I tried out the original Deus Ex for two… well, let's say three reasons. I'd seen it hyped so much that, alas, it could only really be a disappointment. I was curious about the extended universe that created Deus Ex: Human Revolution. And it was part of the bundle I'd already picked up on sale on Steam, giving me the whole series from 2000 to 2016 for a measley AU$14.

Gameplay-wise, it was far more like HR than I'd been led to expect. No chest-high-walls or 3rd-person-cover-shooting, but you've got your grid-based inventory full of upgradable lethal and non-lethal weapons, your stealth-vs-guns-blazing gameplay options, your patrolling guards who may run to hit an alarm button if they spot you, and so on. There are multiple routes into most locations (often including vents), and hackable, password-protected doors, terminals and computers full of significant email conversations everywhere (often only feet away from conveniently UNsecured devices containing the password you need). You can sneak up on guards having a conversation, throw a box to distract them, then stash their bodies in a vent. There are unlockable skills that let you lift heavier boxes or move silently, grenades that can also become proximity mines, alcoholic beverages that make your vision fuzzy ‒ it's basically all here.

More questionable are the number of plot beats that reappear in the sequel. Though it's of an exaggeration to suggest that DX:HR follows the original beat-for-beat, some of the recycling does feel a bit lazy.

Some examples are pretty benign: the chatty tech guy in your earpiece in both games is really just a genre staple, and the fact someone will give you grief for going in the womens' loos seems like a pretty intentional callback. There's nothing wrong with the fact both games send you to a Chinese city to meet a triad leader called 'Tong', either ‒ one's the other's father, that's just basic narrative continuity. But when both games fly you home afterwards to discover your (American) home city is now under lockdown due to civil unrest, you do start to wonder if we really had to hit that same note again.

Because it amused me, I've made a list of most of the more suspiciously familiar stuff I caught in both titles. Spoilers below for both games, obviously.

After your first big mission, everyone back at the office will have comments to make about how you did (including the aforementioned ladies-toilets-comment). By later in the game, no-one will care about little details like how many civilian casualties you caused anymore.

A recurring pilot character (Jock/Malik) provides transport between major locations. Depending on your actions, they may die later in the game.

A major early mission involves finding and disabling an antenna, which is important for vague reasons you won't see firsthand. Another involves rescuing hostages who may die if you aren't careful.

An arms dealer in your home city will give you a discount if you save a friend of his.

An ally (Paul/Malik) will advise you to leave them and run when the two of you come under attack. If you obey, that character will die.

You first meet some of the major villains in your boss' office, though they may just be holograms.

A major mission involves infiltrating a Chinese, Illuminati-owned biomedical company (Versalife/Tai Yong). Another major location is a Triad-run bar.

One antagonist is a wealthy Chinese woman with a lavish home. You know she works with the villains going in, but she'll still play innocent and will vanish and leave you to deal with armed guards when/if you give her the chance. You'll fight her again later.

After being captured and imprisoned, you're contacted by an unknown 'hacker' with an electronically distorted voice, who helps stage your jailbreak. Your PC initially assumes it's his usual hacker contact (Alex/Prichard), before learning he's wrong. He won't learn the voice's real identity until much later.

One character (Daedalus/Eliza) is revealed to be an AI designed by the Illuminati to monitor international communications, but who is no longer fully loyal to them.

One major reveal is that your player character (JC/Jensen) has rare genetics which mean he can be augmented without negative side-effects, thanks (unknown to him) to his creation by Illuminati experimentation scientists. Neither PC has much reaction to this.

You go looking for one important contact in a bar. When you find them, they'll talk about themselves in 3rd person and agree to 'arrange' a meeting with the 'real' Nicolette/Tong elsewhere. Your PC will be be earnestly surprised by this reveal (you, the player, probably won't be).

The myth of Daedalus and Icarus is prominently referenced.

A major endgame location is a base which is partially underwater.

An optional side-quest gives you the choice of whether to mercy-kill a character who wants to die.

The ending you get depends only on your actions in the very last setting ‒ specifically which of three possible 'advisor' characters you decide to listen to.

The final boss is a human being plugged into a computer/machine and protected by a shield that makes them initially invulnerable. Every other boss you fight (two men and a woman) is heavily augmented, and two have heavy accents.

A lot of these could still arguably be treated as generic genre tropes (and the complete list of stuff Deus Ex stole from The X-Files or Ghost in the Shell might be just as long). But given that 11 long years and a couple of significant console generations had gone by since the original DX, the team behind DX:HR could safely assume most of their audience had never played the original, so why not recycle? Hell, maybe there was even some desire to remake favourite parts of the original game for a new audience.

Despite all those recycled plot beats though, I can't say the two stories feel all that similar. The original Deus Ex is about JC Denton, a new recruit at an international anti-terrorist organisation (UNATCO). JC defects after his brother convinces him UNATCO is secretly run by the Illuminati, who also control the only cure to a bio-engineered plague called the 'Gray Death'. You spend the story tracking down various anti-Illuminati groups, before eventually seeking help from former Illuminati members in producing your own cure.

By contrast, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is about Adam Jensen, the head-of-security at a private biotech firm, whose leading scientists (including his ex) are kidnapped by Illuminati thugs in a terrorist raid, so that they can exploit his firm's latest big breakthrough. You spend most of the game following various leads until you gradually put all this together. The Illuminati's master plan this time involves secretly installing a control chip in the bodies of almost all augmented people worldwide. The augmented, shades-wearing protagonist and shared 'it was all the Illuminati!'-reveal is where the major commonalities end.

The tones of the two games are wildly different too. HR in no way feels like it was written by card-carrying X-Philes, all fixated on shadowy government departments and conspiracies, and there's a faintly tongue-in-cheek vibe to a lot of DX isn't as present in HR, which takes itself a lot more seriously. But the flipside is that HR can be that much more emotionally engaging: characters just have more character, the stakes are more personal, and the story actually got me invested. For all they share on paper, you could make a solid case that the two games don't even really feel like part of the same series.

One thing I was surprised to find entirely missing from the original DX were HR's conversational-boss-fights. They're hardly the later game's best-developed feature, but the original DX has been so hyped up for giving you choices and options that I (wrongly) assumed that talking your way out of situations must be one of them: it's not. Once or twice, you can learn the killphrase that will cause a boss character to self-destruct on the spot, but frankly, that's not "talking your way out": it's applying a cheat code. There's plenty of talking in DX, but rarely does what you say to someone make any real difference, and the plot all very linear.

Stranger still, there are no shops in DX. For all the places you can pick up money in DX ‒ mission rewards, hacking ATMs, just lying around, even ‒ there's precious little to actually spend it on. Your main opportunities involve randomly meeting some NPC who will offer to sell up to three things they're carrying ‒ say, a weapon upgrade or exactly ONE clip of ammo for one of your guns. You can buy drinks from bartenders or vending machines, but these restore all of 2 HP, so you'd have to be pretty desperate. This is one I'm far more bemused by because one of the big critiques I've seen leveled at HR is how absurd the economy is, when ammo availability has been limited to where many dealers have only two or three clips to actually sell to you. You'd think they might have mentioned the original game is still so much worse.

The original DX also has me seeing a lot of what baffled me about its sequel in new light. Augmentations felt like a weirdly superficial add-on to gameplay that was really about weapons-inventory-management and creative stacking of boxes in HR because… well, that's exactly what they were in the original DX too. Characters keep talking to Jensen and JC like their augmentations are a big deal, but you can readily complete both games without installing anything much beyond the obligatory infolink (an augmentation that saves you from the staggering inconvenience of… having to wear an earpiece. Big whoop). I do like the aug-powers in both games, but objectively, none matter nearly as much as the mystery-augmentation allowing you to hide a nano-sword, a tranquiliser rifle and rocket launcher in your trenchcoat without anyone noticing. Augmenting your guns is often more rewarding than augmenting your body.

But the same "oh, THAT's why it's in the game!"-logic applies to a lot of more mundane features too. DX:HR gives you "exploration" experience points just for getting into certain areas because DX did too. It lets you wander into women's bathrooms, turn on the taps and flush all the toilets, because GODDAMNIT, IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR DX! (The later was presumably a lot more exciting back in 2000, where a game world full of things you can interact with was still going to be pretty novel, pointless as that interaction might be).

Many of my biggest frustrations with DX:HR have now been mentally reclassified as "inherited problems it failed to fix". Finding weapon upgrades with a full inventory remains an aggravating process of: find upgrade, realise inventory full, open inventory, drop something to make space, close inventory, pick up upgrade, open inventory again, use upgrade, then finally pick up whatever you dropped to make space (assuming it's not the sort of junk that always ends up cluttering up your pockets). Consumables like health items can be a similar hassle. Would it have been so hard to give us the option to use the consumable or upgrade without going through the inventory screen? Plenty of other games have figured this out!

Activating and deactivating augmentations is a similar exercise in frustration ‒ especially those you often use together (like invisibility and silent movement, or that one DX aug that reduces power drain from your other augs), and can leave you desperately trying to remember which function key does what in the midst of combat. Glancing up later to realise you've accidentally left something running YET AGAIN and emptied your energy meter is not unlike coming back to your car to realise you've left the lights on. It's not fun, is the point ‒ but at least HR had the sense to turn most of your augs (things like "run fast" or "take less damage") into passive, always-on abilities, and save you the tedium of having to micro-manage nearly so much nonsense. This was a hell of a good call.

On which note, playing the original DX has given me a whole new appreciation for HR's frankly GENIUS addition of takedowns to your arsenal, giving you a reliable, non-ammo-consuming method of dealing with enemies (if you can just get close enough, and haven't just burned up all your energy on stealth augs). I was never short of ammo in HR thanks to my love of takedowns, and I missed them badly playing the original DX, which ‒ let's remember ‒ has no shops where you can stock up, and no consistency about what ammo types may be found lying around in different stages. The closest DX equivalent is a complicated trick where you can usually knock out some enemies with a baton-blow to the back if they're standing perfectly still (and if someone online has told you about it, because the game sure won't). I'm sure some would argue that HR's takedowns make things too easy, to which I can only say: piss off, Jensen's a cyborg, his body SHOULD be a goddamn weapon! It isn't my fault JC never learned to throw a punch.

So with all that nitpicking out off the way, why is DX still talked about like the Second Coming of gaming in some quarters, this many years later? Well, I could list of a bunch of mechanics that didn't make it into HR ‒ destructible doors, melee weapons, lockpicks, swimming, exploding enemies, bio-engineered monsters, rocket-proof shielding (!!!), "environmental resistance suits", a flashlight-aug you're forced to use because half the game is pitch-black, some very unusual boss-mechanics ‒ and this whole other complicated skills system that mostly work to make combat even more frustrating in the early game, while everything's still at level 1. But again: no conversation mechanics, no shops, no reliable takedowns, no hacking minigame, no carrying hacked turrets around and watching them clear out a room for you, no bonus experience for reaching an objective without being seen or sticking to non-lethal methods ‒ and I honestly don't think anyone missed the swimming.

It may be true that the original DX gives you way more options than its modern sequels, but that's achieved in part by padding out the list with a lot of pointless or just badly-balanced filler (seriously, does anyone bother to master swimming or computing?) and limiting your resources so you can't try everything in one playthrough. That's not inherently bad, but it builds an experience more about novelty and tactical-skill-point-distribution than just making the straightforward combat experience fun.

No, the darker side of including so many different mechanics is that it's painfully easy to bug things out in really immersion-killing ways. Even if you haven't broken a major story beat, things can become ludicrously unbalanced if you find the right tricks ‒ and I'm honestly not sure modern audiences would be as forgiving of that kind of experience. HR isn't devoid of those kinds of mechanics: you can take down HR's final boss just as quickly using just the laser rifle as you could any of DX's by planting a few mines and backing away (something its fans love), but doing it in HR mostly just felt anti-climactic. There can be a fine line between 'clever use of mechanics' and 'this exploit breaks the game' ‒ and I think people underestimate how important DX's tongue-in-cheek tone was in letting them get away with so much.

What I come back to is that, for all the common DNA they share, Deus Ex and Human Revolution are tonally very different games ‒ mechanically and narratively speaking. Different enough that just comparing them on a mechanic-to-mechanic level feels almost disingenuous. And without the benefit of nostalgia for the original 2000 game, it was honestly much less my kind of thing ‒ but that's really got much less to do with mechanics and much more to do with narrative, and oh boy is that the sort of critique that would need its whole own post...

#Deus Ex #Deus Ex: Human Revolution #meta #yet another very long Deus Ex meta post

[crysdrawsthings]

OK, im tottally curious about Measse. Tell you tell me more about her????

(´･ω･`)?

With great pleasure! So, I am not sure how exactly much you know about Silmarillion and related stuff, so i will try to be non-specific in this post and then expand on exact things later, if you would like it!

In any case, be welcome under the cut for more deets and a short bio! Short disclaimer, is that it is a very heavily AU outlook on Middle-Earth that is set in the Crys Semi-Original Daydreaming Universe.

Also a tag for @lukans to learn about my first Cringe Child.

So, Measse... Is not a Tolkien character of the same name, to clear up this possible confusion, but she does adopts to fill in for this lady, kind of and takes up the name as a sort of job designation. And because every second person was mixing up her actual human name.

Art is an oldie, but a goodie.

So, in the simplest and shortest possible way Measse is a questionably lucky human, who, by jumping through a series of hoops ascends to be a quasi-deity in an attempt to save her family from an upcoming catastrophe. Also hoops were on fire.

Going into more details: not-yet-Measse was having a very normal day with her friends on a roughly modern Earth.

Following a series of odd accidents they find themselves in a different slice of reality, specifically on the shore of Aman, land of gods (well, not really gods, but like, close enough) in Middle-Earth.

Whoops.

This obviously causes a fair share of confusion from all parties involved. But in the end they are offered lodging and wait for a good moment for locals to yeet them back where they came.

Because locals have the literal End Days to be dealing with, which is not something that happens every other Thursday.

In the end, she is a given an offer. That, as mentioned, involved jumping through far more hoops that anyone would deem reasonable, but not-yet-Measse was a woman of focus, commitment and sheer fucking will (c). She shrugged and accepted to do or die trying.

During their stay in Aman not-yet-Measse and her friends find out that there is a catastrophe that would happen in their world, on Earth and have different reactions to it.

Not-yet-Measse decided to go to the local gods, Valar, and see what it would take for them to take her family to Aman to be forever immortal and happy.

This is objectively such a wild request from a person who ended up in your backyard after accidentally sneaking in after one of your colleagues went to grab a beer, yes.

The gist of an offer was to, pretty much, make it her permanent job to help fix all the stuff that got wrong with Middle-Earth because OG Dark Lord - Melkor (he is also the guy who went to grab the beer from a few paragraphs above) had a temper tantrum and decided to be evil.

Basically, Middle-Earth is going to be reborn alongside the End Days, but someone still needs to clean the stuff up and Valar could have used a hand with both this and keeping Melkor in check.

You may be wondering, how it would be expected from a human whose only distinctive features are having the resting bitch face of the century and loving her family very much.

Well, of course by getting essentially cursed, but as a sole positive thing about it being able to (maybe) utilize a fraction of the power Melkor got in the divine lottery.

List of possible and expected side-effects? Enormous. Includes transforming into eldritch horrors, losing yourself and becoming a mindless puppet, delusions, etc.

And so while her friends were having a relaxing beach filler arc, more or less, not-yet-Measse was trying to discreetly from them figure out how this whole thing works and having her "objective: survive" filler arc, because Melkor was very genuinely trying to off her.

Why would he need a leech sapping on his power AND being there to kick his butt later, after all?

Her main hobby, outside of her "job" is to take care of dragons, obviously. Who doesn't like dragons, after all. Also being a doting older sister for Lily, a second child in the family.

The end result is that not-yet-Measse survives for long enough to get comfortable in utilizing these loaned powers and is reborn into a quasi-deity in a bath of very actual fire.

She takes the name Measse as the world falls apart in the End Days and following it's rebirth is reunited with her family and goes on to have her new life.

#silmarillion #tolkien #tolkien oc #book of lost tales #middle earth #lily and friends #the whole story is definitely more complicated that this #but it is a good starting point #I hope? #crysandthings