plaidflannelcake

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Horizon Zero Dawn and why it’s so important to me.

Horizon was a game that was always made with a female character in mind. Now, I could wax poetic on why that’s important to me as a post-feminist but I think it is more than that.

Aloy is a character I would like to see continue being in games and other media. She’s not a sex-symbol like Lara Croft. She’s not looking for a saviour (definitely doesn’t need one) but she’s not the type of character that has all the answers yet. She’s imperfect, curious and head strong.

Aloy is a person.

She comes from a matriarchal tribe but she was raised out of that sphere. Aloy encounters tribes and people who think less of her because of her gender but she effortlessly puts that into question though her actions. By just being herself. I’m bored of “Eff the Patriarchy” and girl-power tropes we see in games.

Women are people too and Guerrilla Games have done a fantastic job at portraying her. Sony, in all of their wisdom, was concerned having a female-led game was risky.

"She's a female lead character," he said. "That has always been the vision by the team, but we had a discussion. Is it risky to do a female character?" - Shuhei Yoshida, head of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Their concerns were unfounded however, after market-testing and on release, Horizon Zero Dawn was overwhelmingly positive.

I hope for this trend to continue. Sex does sell but so does interesting characters and premises for games. The market is a lot smarter than what game studios perceived us to be. We want to see characters like US. Who represent US!

Aloy is someone we hope to be ourselves. She’s someone we want our children to grow up to be. Aloy is tenacious, sarcastic, courageous, headstrong, curious and kind.

This is not just represented by Aloy however, the many NPCs you see in the world all have their own faults and aspirations. There’s more to every character you see in the world of Horizon and the more I explore this game, the more that becomes apparent.

I want to see a trend to continue with more gender equality and not just male vs female but LGBTQI+ characters from a wide range of ethnicities. I don’t want them to be represented as a trope but as characters who represent their audiences. Who think and feel and react how we believe they should but in a way that you can identify with them.

The audience is ready. Game studios need to continue to take action.

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erend in titties out armor tho 👀👀👀 💦

cuz when in doubt get them titties out ya know?

I always wondered where Oseram man tits went in hfw. Almost no npc had tats or tits? Anyway-

'Caught me at my best' as usual

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So basically all I've done in the last week is consume an unhealthy amount of Horizon fanfic. I don't have an ao3 account (yet) so I thought I would put my list of faves here. I've ordered them from shortest to longest. This is the first of two posts.

Ereloy fics I love:

Glarebreak by @dark-t1des-hzd - 850 words / Teen & Up - short and sweet scene of Erend being hopelessly in love and Aloy being injured

The Greatest Moment by @pikapeppa - 1200 words / Teen & Up - short scene at a festival with an absolutely dazzling kiss

Sparkstruck by @yogrossdude - 1200 words / Teen & Up - short scene of Erend tripping over his words when he sees Aloy in Oseram armor

A Forthright Woman by @dawnfromzero - 1500 words / General - bewildered Erend not realizing she's into him too

The Serendipity of Thunderjaws by blue_dragon1836 - 1700 words / Teen & Up - injured Erend and probably my favourite Aloy-kisses-him-first moment

Chainscrape by @dark-t1des-hzd - 2100 words / Teen & Up - I won't ever get tired of Aloy getting mad enough that Erend just confesses his love, plus the last line of this one is *chef's kiss*

another lesson learned in blood by sunspot - 2600 words / Teen & Up - Erend would die for her (don't worry, he doesn't) and I would die for them

you are unbreaking, though quaking by @plaidflannelcake - 3000 words / Mature - I have such a weak spot for like mind control fics (spoiler alert for my upcoming niloy list) and this one about corruption arrows scratches the itch

a sky full of light and none of them stars by @rhovanels - 3400 words / Teen & Up - condensed slow burn, plus drunk Erend falls out a window

your hands on every part of me by justalittlebluetiefling - 3600 words / Mature / HFW spoilers - just a raunchy scene at the base but also Erend is in love because duh

your hands on every part of me by @soupandchaos - 3600 words / Teen & Up - come for the sexy sparring, stay for Erend flexing

Thread Together by @yogrossdude - 3600 words / Teen & Up - single scene where Aloy gets injured and Erend stitches her up while being awkward

Long Road Ahead by ashmandalc - 4300 words / Teen & Up - I love drunk Erend and I love drunk and confused Erend even more

Steady by theyloy - 4500 words / Mature / mild HFW spoilers - Erend is surprisingly delicate when applying body paint, Aloy is unsurprisingly flustered

old wounds by @yogrossdude - 4500 words / Teen & Up - Erend is injured and Aloy is mad at him, quelle surprise

A Chance by @brandyllyn - 5000 words / Explicit / mild HFW spoilers - Aloy thinks she's missed her chance and Erend is bewildered as usual

outside looking in by I_heart_thunderjaws - 6600 words / Teen & Up / HFW spoilers - Big ol' mutual pining, the ending is so sweet I almost cried, and fun cameos from the rest of the gang

Playing Games series by @soupandchaos - 7900 words / 2 works / Explicit / HFW spoilers - stripstrike. that's it, that's the fic

Hearth by @yogrossdude - 8400 words / 3 chapters / Teen & Up - hypothermia and unresolved tension

those wings in your spine by @theherocomplex - 8800 words / Teen & Up - Erend is charming and lovestruck and dense, so basically he's Erend, kind of a slow burn I guess

simmer down and pucker up by @skellagirl - 9000 words / Explicit - injured, tattooed Erend and Aloy being shocked that she's into him

Fire and Spit by @godliath - 15k words / 10 chapters / Teen & Up - a good slow burn with lots of lovestruck gentleman Erend

Honourable mention: The Moth by @sacrificethemtothesquid - 250k words / 92 chapters / Explicit - look I don't think anyone needs to be told about this fic considering it's the #1 ereloy fic on ao3 and honestly I've only read like a third of it and it's almost too angsty for me because I'm a delicate flower so I probably won't finish it but the Vanguard in this are amazing and Tandin might be my favourite OC in all the Horizon fic I've read so we're including this for him and the rest of the Oseram weirdos

I can't draw and I haven't written anything in years and years, so consider this a small contribution to the fandom. I'd love to hear anybody else's fanfic recs as well!

Oh and I used the tumblr @'s for people whose names I could find. Happy to edit to include the @'s for anyone I'm missing, just tell me who I should be crediting!

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“How about those two minutes I owe you, hm?”

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So i have been following you for a few months because you have beautiful art and gifs. When i searched your blog for cullen posts, i was horrified to see that you have so called cullen critical posts from 2017 to 18 on your blog. Please delete these or i will be forced to unfollow there are 6 of them.

Nice to see that the Dragon Age fandom is still unhinged after all these years.

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Them 🤍

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I finished the main story of Horizon Zero Dawn yesterday. And I love it so much!!

Here's a portrait of Erend that I did today :)

(Actually, he is out of my drawing comfort zone but I love him so much, I had to ;u;)

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Whoops *posts this himbo*

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Dood dump

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OLD WOUNDS | 1

Reiterating just in case: there are a few depictions of blood and violence in this comic. These pages will be tagged with “cw blood” if that’s something you wish not to see. 

Thanks for enjoying my comics and I hope this will help pass the time until Forbidden West!!! New updates Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

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its so shiddy when u have to convince yourself to do your hobbies. like, its fun, you like it, why cant you just do it. do it. do it. but what if.... mindless media consumption instead....

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OLD WOUNDS | Cover

Written by @yogrossdude

Updates start January 3!!! New pages Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

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After seeing the new machines in the trailer like

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This week I used the Aloy’s Adjustments mod to turn every NPC into Erend and I was not disappointed