#— based off the tv show killing eve

[chaoticace2005]

So, I haven't slept all night and now I have a migraine so I took some Excedrin which has caffeine meaning I am W I R E D and have nothing better to do than spend an hour + make this timeline of Hazbin Hotel mostly by memory:

I have it separated based on events of Sinners vs events mainly impacting angels because it was getting too clogged anyways and I reformatted it too many times to go again.

(This is based on information revealed in the show as well as in livestreams, so it’s possible the livestream data may be outdated, for now I’m gonna keep it in because it gives us a better timeline. Also, I’m assuming that the events of the show begin in 2019.)

Below I'll post the text of what's basically listed in the table:

10,000+ years ago:

-Heaven existed

-Lucifer existed

-Heaven made Adam and Lilith

-Lucifer met Lilith

-Tempted Eve with the apple

-Evil was brought into the world, Lilith and Lucifer expelled to Hell

1500-1700s (presumably, based on way of speaking): Zestial lived and died

200 years ago (1800s): Charlie was born

Early-mid 1800s: Sir Pentious was born

1800s-1910s: Rosie died

1888: Sir Pentious died

Post 1888: Egg Boiz made (assuming Pentious didn’t somehow just find them)

1890-1900s: Alastor was born

1900-1910s: Husk was born

1910s: Angel was born

1910-1920s: Vox was born

1920s: Mimzy died

1928-1937: Niffty born

1933: Alastor died (aged 30-40s)

Post- 1933: Alastor killed overlords and claimed power. Sir Pentious battled him numerous times over the years but wasn’t very memorable.

1947: Angel died (aged 30s)

1950s: Niffty died (age 22)

Post- 1950s: Niffty met Alastor and sold her soul (?) to him

1950s: Vox died (aged 30-40s)

Post- 1950s: Vox met Alastor and two worked together for a bit

1960s: Cherri was born

1970s: Husk died (aged 60-70s)

Post- 1970s: Husk gained power as an overlord before later losing it and selling his soul to Alastor

1970s: Valentino died (age unknown)

Post- 1970s: Valentino gained power as an overlord and Angel sold his soul to him

1980s: Cherri died (aged 20s)

Post 1980s: Angel and Cherri met. Cherri and Sir Pentious began rivalry at some point.

2012 (assuming show takes place in 2019): Charlie’s mother left. Vox asks Alastor to join his team. Alastor leaves. Husk gets his seven year break from Alastor.

Post 2012s: Lilith goes to Heaven and makes some kind of deal involving Lute

Before 2016: Vaggie work as an exorcist

2016 or before: Vaggie meets Charlie

2019:

Two weeks before pilot: Angel accepts offer to live at hotel, leaves Valentino

Pre-pilot: Alastor returns. He’s kind of just lurking for whoever long.

Pilot:

-Extermination occurs, Carmilla kills an angel

-Post- extermination: Adam and Lute find out about the dead exorcist

-Charlie goes on TV and it goes badly. Angel and Cherri fight Sir Pentious. Alastor comes out of the shadows to cause drama.

-Niffty is brought from the firey pits and Husk’s seven year break is over

-Sir Pentious blows a hole in the hotel #1

-Alastor fucks Pentious up #???

Five days later, episode 1:

-Lucifer gets contacted by Heaven asking to meet

-Lucifer hands this off to Charlie, bad meeting occurs. Six months taken off schedule.

Pre-episode 2: Valentino finds out Alastor is back.

Some time later, episode 2:

-Sir Pentious blows a hole in the hotel #2

-Alastor fucks Pentious #??? +1

-Valentino throws a fit about Angel leaving

-Valentino tells Vox Alastor is back, Vox proceeds to throw a fit on live television

-They contract Sir Pentious to spy on hotel

-Sir Pentious attempts to, that night he is caught

-Alastor taunts Vox and then we as the audience proceed to not hear from Vox for several months

Pre-episode 3: Overlord meeting scheduled

One week later, episode 3:

-Sir Pentious one week anniversary

-Vox gets Velvette to go to the Overlord meeting

-Overlord meeting

Some time later, episode 4:

-Masquerade occurs, all in one day

-Pre-episode 5: Husk and Angel seem to get closer to a point that they share popcorn and Husk serves Angel drinks without asking.

-Pre-episode 5: The entire hotel gets closer

-Pre episode 5: Hotel efforts not working

-Pre episode 5: Mimzy takes a car and runs over a loan shark’s girlfriend

Some time later, a month before the next extermination (4 months or so since pilot):

-Charlie panics and finally calls dad

-Lucifer comes an hour later, singing ensues, Mimzy arrives

-Loan sharks arrives, Alastor fucks them up (while Vox is probably salivating while watching it all on camera)

-Lucifer agrees to get Charlie her meeting with Heaven, leaves

-A month before extermination 2: Angel has to go to work a 16 hour shift. Texts Cherri during it.

-16 hours later: Angel returns. Cherri arrives. Vaggie and Charlie go to Heaven.

-Hours later: the courtroom shit happens, Angel tells Val off

-The girls are kicked out of Heaven

-A bit later: Charlie goes to her room and Vaggie explains what happened

-Charlie makes deal with Alastor

-Vaggie tells rest of crew they can leave

-Vaggie and Charlie rally forces. Crew decided not to leave.

Later that week (presumably): Angel “pays for it” at work with Val

Over course of a month: Angelic weapons made, Cherri agreed to fight, cannibals prepare, everyone prepares for war, Vox sits back and laughs

Day before extermination 2: Final rallying of troops, celebrate last night.

Pre-Extermination 2: Vox convinces Velvette and Val to watch the footage with him on a TV

Extermination 2:

-Alastor gets pwned and fucks off

-Sir Pentious blips out of existence

-Post- that: Sir Pentious arrives in heaven

-Dazzle is killed, Lute and Vaggie fight

-Charlie and Adam fight

-Some point before this: Lucifer is alerted to what is happening

-Lucifer swoops in

-Niffty stabs Adam

-They decide to rebuild hotel

Post all that: Lute tells Lilith that Adam is dead

Some time later:

-Rebuild hotel, Husk gets another break from Alastor

-Vees sing about how evil they are

-Alastor is angy

-Hotel is rebuilt and Alastor comes back and Husk’s break is again cut short

[roachliquid]

The Symbolism of Fingers: A Brief* Look at Morality in Fallout

*For given values of brief.

Fallout (the TV series) is, without a doubt, an incredibly nuanced study of morality and ethics. Platforming off the karma system from Fallout 3 and New Vegas, it does everything in its power to deconstruct the idea that there's such as a thing as a "purely good" or "purely bad" person, and especially addresses the notion that morality is clear-cut and doing the right thing is always easy.

Nowhere is this more emphasized than in its main trio: Lucy, the shining beacon of Good Karma, Maximus, whose Neutrality expresses as a struggle between his desires to do the right thing and his completely understandable urges to be petty and vindictive, and The Ghoul, who probably has a Karma score of -2000 by the time he's officially introduced.

Obviously, the system this is based on is a horrendously butchered view of karma to begin with, but that's not really what the show is concerned with. Instead, its focus is on how its characters navigate the difference between how they - and others - perceive morality, and the actual difficulty of making sound, compassionate decisions in a world of immense complexity.

One of the ways this conflict is shown, and the focus of this post, is during the time when the Ghoul has Lucy as his hostage. Having such radically different approaches to the world around them, they truly seem like the paragons of good and evil - Lucy has the best of intentions and constantly advocates kindness, while Cooper acts like an utter bastard regardless of the circumstances at hand. And to an extent this is true! Lucy, while has many flaws and doesn't always do the right thing, is genuinely a kind, caring person. And Cooper genuinely does horrific shit when he damn well knows he has other options.

But then these characters meet a nearly-feral ghoul, and suddenly the rules change.

Lucy, of course, is horrified when Cooper puts the man down. As is completely understandable - she did not understand the circumstances behind his actions. Her view of morality up to this point has been that if it looks cruel, it must be cruel - and the same is true for kindness. It's the product of her being raised in a fascist pseudo-utopia where one of the highest virtues is to be sweet and positive of all times.

(There's a post to be made about that, and how the character of Betty in particular embodies this duality, but this is about fingers.)

It's partly because of this event - as well as the constant stress and anger that builds as the Ghoul tries to break her endless optimism - that causes Lucy to finally, momentarily lose control. At first she simply tries to run, but when that effort fails and Cooper corners and catches her, she acts in pure desperation and bites off one of his index fingers.

Cooper, of course, takes this as a victory - a sign that he's begun to break through her insipid worldview and start her down the road to adopting his brand of cynical hyperpragmatism. He also - likely in part because he's a spiteful bastard - cuts off her finger and hangs onto it so he can sew it onto his own hand later.

But shortly before that point, Lucy has a misadventure of her own - in which her original finger is replaced with one that looks like it came straight from a corpse, and she learns for the first time that things aren't always what they appear. This comes in the form of an especially brutal lesson, when what she sees as an act of kindness blows up in her face and instead causes preventable deaths.

She also, crucially, learns that what she thought was a senseless act of cruelty - Cooper killing a ghoul on the verge of going feral - was actually a rare act of true compassion. That he did the only thing he could have done, both to minimize the man's suffering and prevent him from harming anyone else. She realizes, for the first time, that her view of their differences is not entirely accurate: she is not perfectly good, and he is not perfectly evil.

This discovery is marked at both ends by a gunshot - Cooper's mercy-kill, and Lucy's desperate first use of a real gun when she is forced to kill Martha to save herself. This is significant not just because the events parallel one another, but because of what happens surrounding this event - when Lucy and the Ghoul, partly literally and partly symbolically, exchange their trigger fingers.

This serves to bridge the two in multiple ways. First, it symbolizes a kind of yin-and-yang balance - each of them has a small amount of what makes the other tick. And second, it serves as a physical reminder of their recent actions; Cooper the Evil has brought real, tangible good to the world, and Lucy the Good has in turn brought tangible harm.

Either way, the message is clear: Pure good and pure evil don't really exist, in philosophies or in people. Not just because life is complicated, but because people are complicated, and no one's philosophy, however firmly they maintain it, holds up 100% of the time. Not necessarily because the worldview is flawed - though in this case, both definitely are - but also, crucially, because no one is an infallible moral actor. Our actions are driven by feelings and judgment, and no matter what standards we hold ourselves to, there will be times when one or both of those things leads us in a different direction than what we had planned.

[broadwayfangirl222]

Spoilers for Hazbin Hotel Episodes and my thoughts/initial reactions:

Episode 1:

I adore the opening narration, it genuinely feels like a fairytale being told to a kid and I get the vibe Lilith and Lucifer were trying to help Eve by giving her the apple. And for people worried about her being Stella 2.0 It comes off more as Lilith taking over since Lucifer became low key depressed and while there might be issues between them it might be more communication issues than anything else

Husk's voice sounds a bit gruffer than it initially came off as in the trailers and I really like how it sounds

Angel brings up good suggestions of having a celebrity be a selling point for the hotel and why can't Alastor use his connections to bring more people to the hotel

and their answers (of Charlie not wanting to exploit him and people needing to choose to be there, not be forced to be there) were also really great points

I feel low key dumb for thinking Adam was actually there, he wouldn't bother to bring himself down to their level

Charlie's realization this asshole is her mom's ex is hilarious

Tbh I would've wanted to see more of them making the commercial but it was so much fun to see and I love how Alastor only agreed to put genuine effort in the commercial if he never had to do anything related to TV again

Niffty zoning out when the camera is on her just game me hypnotoad vibes (dumb and obvious comparison but that's where my mind went)

Wow...what the hell, they really are cutting the time in half just as a "fuck you" to Charlie and her idea?! Really harsh and just this whole thing works to show they're not so different than the demons

Is it just me or is there weird audio mixing issues with Brandon Rodgers' audio as Katie Killjoy?

Ohhh interesting the 6 months thing is cause an angel managed to be killed and it's a cover up! I'm genuinely curious where this goes

Episode 2:

Good point with this being something that could make people be willing to hear this idea of redemption out

Omg of course Niffty is into Pentious. Also interesting she didn't know who the V's were.

Vox in the trailer sounded like seth rogan to me but he sounds way more gameshow host to me

VELVETTE'S BRITISH?!?! Also kinda cool to see her being a bit more business focused and not just kinda high energy chaos

OMG! Finally we get to hear Valentino! It's kinda cool how his accent is partly there, like it's thicker when he talks in some parts than others. It's done in a way that's less the VA dropping the accent and more it being a deliberate thing for the character

For Vox and Val's relationship we got this idea of Val being the one in charge and mistreating Vox but Vox trying to calm Val down feels like him and Velvette just let Val think he's the one who's in charge of the V's while Vox is actually the one to plan stuff through

Fun little bit of Val poking fun at Vox's obsession with Alastor and I kinda like it's all of them kinda snapping at eachother and messing with one another

I've seen thumbnails for this song on youtube and i've been trying to avoid it and I'm so glad I can finally see it. This song and Adam's songs were low key my faves of these first couple episodes.

One thing that stood out to me in this song is two lines from Alastor is "Is Vox as strong as he purports or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vees" (and cute little bit of Val and Velvette looking kinda smug at that line) Cause it does raise an interesting idea: The Vees essentially all prop each other up, how would they handle being purely on their own

"And here's the sugar on the cream, he asked me to join his team, I said no and now he's pissy" Oh so basically he tried asking Alastor out and didn't take the rejection well?

Is that a robo fizz?!?!

I actually appreciate Angel wasn't the one told to be the spy on the inside but rather Pentious. It's a good way to get him involved with this and just isn't the more obvious plot choice

With Angel feeling jealous and insecure I'm actually really glad there isn't that thing where this new character is suspicious and one character points that out but they keep getting dismissed by everyone else and just accused of being jealous

Poor sir Pentious...And honestly this moment is just really sweet and honestly Charlie's design with her hair and Pj's are so adorable!

[paranormeow7]

this post is late and idk if the hypes died down but i have THOUGHTS on catalyst (SPOILERS AHEAD)

okay alright we'll go scene by scene here sorry if any of these have been debunked or anything THIS IS GONNA BE SUCH INCOMPREHENSIBLE WORD VOMIT SORRY

who was watching that tv and where. i mean im pretty sure it was in mandela or maybe werksha. did they lift the television and mirror destruction act?? and that blank face that showed up. was that six?? also, SAINT GABRIELS CHURCH. OH MY GOD. apparentely no one goes anymore (most likely due to religion being shown to lead to MAD), which makes me wonder why dave even believed "o'brien" when he said he'd had a job there, if the place was pretty much abandoned anyways.

okay next up the hospital scene. oh my godddd. i think maybe the whereabouts of daves eyes will be important later, since they went out of their way to report that they couldnt recover them. and his brain?? can alts like, liquefy your brain now???? what the fuck happened????? maybe we'll get to see. also these nurses. they could be important, maybe, maybe not. also, we also now know that most of mandela's population have migrated to werksha (depsite there also being alt activity there i think), which i believe will be the county we'll be getting to see next.

chat logs with sarah and evelin my favorite girlbosses!!! apparently adam hasn't been talking to anyone for a while (most likely because of the Horrors, maybe since his talk with six) and eve is worried. she already seemed pretty sus about him in vol4, asking him to talk to her, which as far as i know he never did, and especially after she found his TSA results. based on whether or not you think she died in the MCPD station that day, these logs can either take place before or after she paid her visit. Sarah doesn't seem to think anything is wrong, despite it being implied that she hasn't been able to reach him either. either she's lying for whatever reason or she genuinely doesn't really know what's been going on with him. what is her MOTIVE??

TEASER SCENE. this could take place either before or after vol4, but i also believe this could be the "fight" eve was talking about in Jonah's memorial video, where he said some "terrible, awful" things that she "wished he had never told her". she may be afflicted with MAD. it seems that she visited his house at some point and met Preacher ("ADAM WHO IS THAT??"), who may have been using his voice to lure her in. There's been a fuck ton of theories on Preacher and it's connection to Adam, with some people saying it's his overdriven form. Idk how that could work seeing as they seem to be seperate entities, but WHO KNOWS??

WAKE UP THATCHER, I AM YOUR INTUITION. this is the same red text associated with Gabriel, who in vol 4 shared his intentions to kill Thatcher. Was getting him to follow the screams he heard (idk how since he seems to live decently far off from the BPS house) Gabriel's way of attempting to do that?? Also, the return of Gabe telling people to "wake up." Why the hell would Thatcher follow this voice?? just to get away from the alts in his home, or to try and get back a semblance of his old life as a respected lieutenant? Or as some kind of suicide mission, perhaps. (OUGH.)

the next scene. OH DEAR GOD THE NEXT SCENE. ARGHSFHJFS (GOES FERAL). strap in this'll be a long one. This is where Thatcher goes to the house. I noticed how the radio got more and more fucked up the closer he got before it just stopped working, which could be due to alt activity, or i could just be grasping at straws here. He notices the BPS van, which, why would that just be sitting outside the house in plain sight if the BPS are literally wanted by the FBI??? This could be the house they all lived in, or just Adam's house, but when he goes inside it is TRASHED. there is shit just strewn around EVERYWHERE and i may be misremembering but i think thatch steps on broken glass?? anyways he makes his way into the bedroom (which looks to be the same room Eve met Preacher in) and sees Adam sitting beside the bed in a pile of trash (INCLUDING AN EMPTY BOTTLE OF BLEACH that he DRANK, meaning the rest of the trash might be remnants of other attempts), next to a mirror (with a very fucked up reflection, i might add), looking catatonic. This is the guy he's been hunting down for stealing government property and fucking with alternates and BOY has he seen better days.

There is a tape playing called "the fate of the jester", pretty much describing his situation to a T. It describes the loss of humanity to becoming "just a cog in the machine", and no longer being "the hero of the story". Theres a LOT of different interpretations for this, such as him "waking up" and losing himself to his alternate nature, although he's obviously trying to fight it. Throughout the series he was brought up as a very important character, as a tie between the humans and the alternates, even possibly being the "mandela prophet" described at the end of vol4. If he was being set up as such an important character, this may signify the loss of the Mandela's last hope (maybe, idk lol). There's a lot of moments to fall back on in this scene, such as in vol2 when Gabe told him to "wake up" and "don't make me wake the others" (the other kidnapped children turned alternate sleeper agents i believe), the memorial video in vol4 where he screams for something to "please just get the fuck out of my head", the death of his mother in intruder alert, and his talk with Six, which may have been the start of his spiral, and when he began to isolate himself. Anyways, SUSPECT IDENTIFIED there's your FBI wanted tortured blonde man!!

SCREAMING. THE MOST HORRIFIC TORTURED SCREAMING YOUVE EVER HEARD. JUST SO MUCH SCREAMING. Adam still seems pretty much paralyzed though, which could be from a number of things, maybe all the shit he just did to himself, maybe the FUCKING BLEACH?? idk. his eyes also seemed to have turned black (possibly signifying the beginning of overdriven assimilation)?? im still wondering why Gabriel sent Thatcher here, seeing as i dont think he died, like Gabe said he would to Dave. Did he want Adam or possibly Preacher to kill him? Adam can barely even MOVE, let alone kill anyone. Maybe he wanted him to try and kill himself, at the sight of yet another person he couldn’t save (AGAIN, OUGH.) Adam stops screaming for a little bit to BEG FOR SOMEONE TO KILL HIM before going straight back to screaming, which then dies down into tortured sobs (someone save him…). This was confirmed in a patreon discord server I believe. My opinion is that this is a sign that he doesn’t want any of this and that he never had any bad intentions (or at least didn’t have TOO many bad intentions). IDKKKK ive been rambling way too much- AGHHH IM JUST SO INSANE ABT THIS EPISODE IDK HOW TO END THIS LONG ASS POST THANKS FOR READING BYEEE

[limeinaltime]

Project Zulu

 A while ago, an idea popped in my head. I remember that Project Zulu did exist in the older parts of the lore and thought to give it some backstory. I am sorry for any contradictions.

  Project Zulu  

Disappeared, status unknown. 

  Was built at the same time as Project Adam. 

  If I am not mistaken, both were a result of the company’s attempt at making drones as strong as Serial Designation X, and the company did achieve some success, right? 

  Just like Adam, Zulu was trained by Serial Designation X. 

  Was “arranged married” with Project Eve (or someone else). Although Project Sev was made as a result of this marriage, both Zulu and his wife were never really on good terms and eventually separated from each other. Zulu would raise and train his son all by himself while simultaneously pursuing his ideals of the “perfect killing machine”. 

  Is a determinator (according to tv tropes, someone who never gives up). Every failure he faced is seen as nothing but a mere setback to victory. An example of this is at the very beginning. He started out as a slightly weaker drone compared with Adam and has lost several sparring matches against him, Serial Designation X. In fact, Zulu barely won against Eve (or someone else), reinforcing Adam’s view that his brother is just an inferior version of him. Unfortunately for Adam, Zulu became more durable against his powerful strikes, adopted fighting techniques, causing Zulu to not just outmatched his brother in terms of skills, but to also put up a more decent fight against X. 

  Uses a fighting style that is basically a mixture of Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. That way, he could force some of his opponents to submit without any lasting injuries, or knock out others and quickly end fights with deadly striking. It really depends on who he is fighting. In addition, Zulu’s electricity also gave him the ability to pack more punch for his strikes as well as to make his blades more devastating. What would concern his opponents about his strikes is the result and impact it produces, which is the impulsive force produced with the sheer electrical shock that temporarily, or permanently if he puts enough effort, disrupts the function of their nanites. Zulu actually tried to teach Hotel some of his techniques, only for Adam to tell him to bug off and forbade Hotel from ever using any of these techniques he learned. His melee weapons are sabres, long swords and claws, and his ranged weapon is a rocket launcher that he studied the blueprint of and managed to implement it in his weapon system. 

  Developed a rather pragmatic and at the same time, idealistic view. Understood that although worker drones are weak and can be very stupid cowards, they can be cunning, brave, smart and competent. As a result, he implemented different strategies and tactics based on the type of rogue drones he is facing. In his notebook, Zulu, he mentions the strengths and the weaknesses of some of his comrades, showing that he is a good observer. He admires Adam for his strength, loyalty to the company and coldness, however noted that he is arrogant, has an overdependence on his strength and acts too cruel against many drones around him, especially to his children, negatively affecting their performance. He wrote about the excellent leadership skills X possessed, as well as the lack of loyalty she may have for the company. As a result, Zulu proposed the concept “the perfect killing machine” which is that a disassembly, project or internecion drone must not just be skilled and strong, but also must be disciplined, reasonable, ruthless, intelligent and swear absolute loyalty to the company. Zulu hoped to achieve his goals to become what he views as perfection. 

  Due to the massive firepower that some rogue drone civilizations (worker drones were not the only separatists) may possess, Zulu, with the blueprint he obtained and the scraps he have, created and modified body armour for himself and his squad to decrease the risk of getting some really nasty wounds. 

  It is unknown what rank he is in, but it can be known that Zulu is powerful enough to demote executives and promote project drones to said rank based on what he sees fit. His presence is enough to keep the cockiest drones from messing around. Zulu understood that honesty is the best policy and forgives drones if they commit some mistakes and at most., give them a slap on the wrist depending on how bad it is, as well as severely punish those who try to cover them up. This was shown when he disciplined his son through beatings and severe training after catching him for covering a major fuckup. As a result, Project Sev made sure everything in detail and records about his missions were correct and accurate out of fear of being accused of covering or making anything up. Zulu also believes that he could get drones to achieve their absolute potential as well as to give up their weaknesses. The more drones working efficiently for a common goal, the better. 

  Acting under the orders of administrator X, Zulu and his squad defeated and exiled Eve and Adam, with Zulu himself personally bruising his brother’s body and ego. When R came to power and X was presumably killed (in reality, she was exiled), Zulu instantly came into conflict with the new ruler. This was not because he had loyalty for X, but rather because he considered the new government to be unfit for their roles. He understood that X was losing loyalty time by time, but still would rather have her as the leader simply because the alternatives were much worse. Thanks to R, and her allies Eve and Adam, those Zulu deemed to be unfit for such ranks were given executive status and other high ranks. Zulu couldn’t do anything about this. This angers and frustrates him, which could be shown through how increasingly brutal his tactics and attacks become against many unfortunate rogue drones. He even wondered whether he should leave the flock and create his own faction. 

  His downfall came when a disassembly drone squad had notified him that his son, Sev, and another squadmate, Project Tarik, defected to a powerful rogue drone holdout. Furious, Project Zulu hastily prepared himself and the remainder of his squad (Project Loken and Project Aximand) to destroy the rogue drones and force his subordinates to give up their resistance. At first, he attempted to convince them to join back, telling them that he will give them a second chance if they give up their rebellion. They, however, have yelled at him that once the drones have completed their mission, the company will leave them for dead, besides, they are probably expendable resources to the eyes of the fat billionaires that ruled JCJenson. Why spend more money to get their drones back? Zulu felt angered by such acts of treason but had managed to hold himself together. He shouted back, in the calmest voice he can muster, that he understood where they were coming from, admitted that the company probably left them for dead, but argued there is no point in rebelling since JCJenson will not be affected. The company will repeatedly send deadly, maybe even deadlier and emotionless then the internecion drones. Besides, they were here to complete one mission, to put an end to runaway AI on this godforsaken planet, and they will be the ones to do it so that others don’t have to suffer the burden of being a mass murderer. As time went by, the patience of both sides waned, and the argument grew into a fruitless quarrel. In the end, Sev proclaimed “If fighting for freedom is wrong, I don’t want to be right”. This leaves Zulu no choice except extreme violence against his son and his friend. A fierce and ferocious battle followed as the rogue worker drones and the rogue projects used their skills and abundant firepower cleverly to kill the loyalists. Zulu gave the disassembly squad the order to sneak through the ventilation system as him and the squad attacked the defenders head-on. It worked as the disassembly drones had successfully come behind enemy lines before the rebels knew it and their lines were beginning to break. Zulu ordered his squad to smash the enemy before they could counterattack. The short yet bloody battle ended with Zulu personally killing his son. Most of the defenders, including Sev and Tarik, were killed, with the remaining fleeing in many directions. The entire disassembly squad, though they had fought valiantly, were all dead. Though Zulu and his squad had survived, they suffered several wounds, both on their bodies and in their minds. 

  After that event, he and his squad were never the same as before. They could shoulder the guilt, the sorrow and the pressure of ruining countless lives, but the killing of their comrades, the ones who they’ve trained with, have learned lessons with each other, and the ones whom they had several  memories together were what broke them. Each and one of them became mentally scarred as a result. Zulu, once a cool headed person, had become more vulnerable to outbursts of rage. He had become more quiet and depressed. Moments before his sudden disappearance, Zulu wrote in his notebook that he had truly failed his goal of being the perfect drone and that after everything he had done, his emotions had finally taken over his mind. 

  Despite everything, Adam may still view his brother as a weakling who likes overthinking and overanalyzing, but damn he can’t deny the fact that Zulu is quite good at making badass armour.

----

Zulu’s lore has been mostly finalized, but I really like this idea. Could make for a good OC of your own :D

[vespertin-y]

afternoon liveblog! GUESS WHO’S GOT TWO THUMBS AND MORE STUFF FOR THEIR SACRIFICE KOKICHI PINBOARD BABEYYYY

-not tsumugi’s idea of god just being izuru 😭 how did i not catch this easter egg before,,,

-”...cults like these can be reaaally annoying if you get on their bad side.” how do you know that, kokichi?

-i HIGHLY doubt angie was meant to smash that flashback light...in a more interesting version of ch3, tsumugi kills her for this and gets away with it until ch6....i just really wanted them to use the first-come-first-serve culprit rule ok.

-”ummm...what if we get another time limit motive, like the one that got rantaro killed? ...shouldn’t we have a sacrifice prepared, just in case?” “you mean...if someone has to die, we should volunteer someone we resurrected?” COLD, angie, cold. anyway this scene is made WAY funnier if you imagine an extremely offended kaede, rantaro, ryoma, and kirumi watching it on TV.

-kaito is Going Thru It...it’s impossible to tell how much of his suffering is because of his illness worsening and how much of it is his genuine terror at the supernatural, but either way he is straight up not havin a good time rn.

-ok so shuichi and kokichi proceed to have a very long (and completely optional!) side conversation and literally all of it makes me insane so here it is, line-by-line:

-”oh, but angie wants to make rantaro the transfer student, huh? i don’t want him to come back to life.” “why?” “it’s cuz...i love you most, shuichi. i’m always thinking about you...and you’d rather see kaede brought back to life, huh?” “th-that’s...” “you’re so admirable! that’s why i wanna support you! oh wait, that’s a lie!” “...” the og explanation i made for this got a little too personal and a little too sad, so i’ll just say a) again, it’s much easier to make people *think* you’re lying than it is to actually lie, and b) adding ‘but that’s a lie!’ is like saying it’s not gay because you wore socks, OUMA.

-“come to think of it, i once saw this anime that was also about a death game...the mastermind sacrificed a family member as the first victim to get the killing started.” PIN! BOARD! PIN! BOARD! PIN! BOARD!

-“sacrificed a family member? as in...killed them?” “yeah, as a show of force. maybe that’s what happened to rantaro...what if rantaro was working for the mastermind? bringing him back might be a bad idea.” “n-no, that’s idiotic! rantaro couldn’t have been working for the mastermind...” [but...is it really impossible? we only knew rantaro for a short time. he did seem as though he was kind of used to the killing game.] “nee-heehee...looks like you’re starting to understand what i’m getting at, shuichi.” FROTHS AT THE FUCKING MOUTH,,,they both clocked how sus rantaro is but because of the way kaede’s death spent them tailspinning in opposite directions (natural extrovert kokichi becoming isolated and paranoid bc he thinks he’ll end up like her + natural introvert shuichi fighting his own caution to integrate into the group bc he has to fulfill her wish) they can’t have a real conversation about it. I Am So Normal About This.

-FTE time - this time kokichi’s second one! (this is just his episode, apparently). the fact that we know his love of yu-gi-oh is genuine because he really obviously based his outfit off of seto kaiba is fantastic, but my favorite bit is that he “plays” by drawing random cards and seeing who’s number is bigger - the hallmark of kids who collected the pretty cards but had no idea what the actual rules were (like me and all seven of my siblings hpshjdhbsgdh).

-one of maki’s next! shuichi telling her her backstory sounds fake is funny for like, eight different reasons. the holy salvation society’s strategy of being so suspicious for cult reasons no one realizes they’re suspicious for assassin reasons is also great. (shuichi is...bizarrely slow on the uptake here, though. maki saying ‘god really doesn’t exist in this world’ and shuichi responding with ‘so, you’re a devotee in the cult?’ made me ?????. it’s so out of character i can’t even be mad at maki calling him a fucking dumbass. she’s right!)

-kaitoooo :[ don’t call yourself pathetic for being sick, please,,,,

-”i think...himiko has gotten so lazy, she’s given up on thinking for herself...that’s why she’s depending on angie.” bold move to describe joining a cult because you’re suicidally depressed as “lazy”, but i suppose i can’t fault tenko for something that’s more a flaw with DR itself. her heart is in the right place, at least.

-”she thinks she’s [kami-sama]’s vessel, so she doesn’t feel guilty about anything she does.” “and that’s why you want me to kill her?” “huh!?” “asking someone like me for a “favor” can only mean one thing.” “...i...won’t deny that. i’ve wanted her gone even before all this happened. and i think everyone has wanted someone to die at least once in their life...but going through with it is a different thing! it’s wrong for a person to commit murder! it doesn’t matter what the reason is!” i disagree but i think it’s Neat seeing where all the V3 characters fall on this moral spectrum!!

-not maki and kaito having the exact same ‘just bang on the door 1 billion times’ strategy 😭 that’s rlly funny actually.

-”no, angie. that’s not possible. the bodies were not fakes. i’m positive. especially after seeing the wax effigies. the effigies were nearly perfect, but the real bodies still had traces of a soul. a soul desperate to live, struggling, fighting for life...that’s something that can never be replicated. no matter what technology you have, you can’t fake a soul.” how does he apply this to kiibo, i wonder...?

-”[kami-sama] says that if we do the ritual, everyone who has died up till now will come back. so...if those four really are dead, then the resurrection ritual will surely work.” she’s switched from bringing back rantaro to bringing back everyone...!? that’s not what monokuma promised.

-”if you’re gonna slow me down, i’ll turn you into a wax effigy! nyahahaha!” JESUS H CHRIST

-tenhimi breakup scene :((( the babygirls r so toxic,,,

-”you should let shuichi tell you how to apologize. he’s really good at it.” i...can’t tell if this is meant to be an insult or not......

-that’s the end of day twelve! see you next time :]

[ceo-of-masturbation]

.50 Steel Crow

"This is the prince of mayhem, hand cannon, sword of judgement. Take this fucker back to holy land to start your own crusade. Steel Crow's .50 DS caliber insures ego, soul and body shattered with each shot. After shooting your arm might hurt and ears would ring, but it's sheer power makes it up for these issues" - Vendor talking about .50 Steel Crow

Steel Crow is a pistol chambered in .50 DS (Death Sentence). It is one of more powerful, but very inaccurate and expensive weapon. It's magazine size and price of ammo make this gun feel like a gun for someone liking precision or more close combat approach.

Background

Steel Crow was made around the start of the 80's by Hebrew Weaponry Manufacturing and later by Nitro Technologies. It uses various calibers usually used for revolvers or other hi-cal pistols. It was used in a lot of games, movies, games and even in some comics or cartoons. This gun is usually portrayed as good guy or bady guy's main weapon due to it's size and look. However, this gun is actually not that good, besides it's intergrated rails or it's big caliber tending to kill anything in front of it's barrel and behind. Nowadays there are Steel Crow pistols in a lot of configurations. Only CSF, IDF, GOE and GROM are known to use those pistols to any extent.

2. Overview

Steel Crow's main strenght is damage and fairly alright spread. It's intergrated rail on barrel allows to attach various types of sights. One can also purchase a underbarrel picatinny rail to add things like laser sights, flashlights or rangefinder. Steel Crow is very fit for close distance shooting or more slower and precise from medium ranges. One can modify it with compesator, muzzle brake or stocks. There is few models of Steel Crow as well: PF5, S-I, S-VII ,S-XIX and even Police Contractor Package. Gun fires .50 DS, which is shared with Nitro Technologies MFH, HNT Coyote Magnum (another .50 cal by them is GORE-LOT .50 sniper rifle) and AIM Hand Cannon V.

Notable customized versions:

"Major Mindblower" - owned by Karl "Marx" Magnovich. Customized with diffrent finish, stars and scythe emblems and firing .357 instead of .50 DS.

"Bodyguard Duty" - owned by Vortex. Main diffrences is diffrent, three-toned finish, Horde Sink compesator, wooden grips and uses .44 ammunition.

"Big Platty" - owned by Terry Guido. It has platinum finish with golden parts and ivory grips

"Bel Air Brawler" - owned by Jeremiah and put into his customized weapon collection. It has grey finish, Connor Compesator barrel with 'Bel Air Brawler' engraved on it and sometimes can be seen with a Onlooker compact scope. Uses .357 ammo.

"The Holy Equalizer" - owned by original Eve. Modifications include indigo colored iron sights, Long Joe barrel and stainless pink finish.

3. Behind The Scenes

-Steel Crow is based on Desert Eagle, along with HWM parodying IMI, original creator of Desert Eagle. Another manufacturer of Steel Crow is a parody of Magnum Research. HWM's name is a analogy for IMI, while Nitro Technologies is a play on Magnum Research (Nitro comes from Nitro Express, bullets used to hunt animals).

-Some Custom Steel Crows are based off various Desert Eagles made for movies or tv shows, "Major Mindblower" is based on Deagle seen in The Boondock Saints, "Big Platty" was created around custom Desert Eagle seen in Sopranos and "Bel Air Brawler" is based on Desert Eagles seen in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, but with some visual diffrences and occasionally can be seen with a scope.

-The name of main cartridge and weapon description are reference to movie Death Sentence.

-Some unique parts are named after movies, games or other things:

Connor Compesator comes from name of Connor McManus from The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, same for Murphy Custom Silencer for Barista 92

Golden Eye Laser System is based on laser sight mounted on a Desert Eagle seen in 007: Nightfire

PF5's name is a nod to game Phantom Forces, where L5, PF5's inspiration appears

Police Contractor Package's first letters for PCP, which is type of illegal narcotics

Hawk Lighter custom muzzle is a nod to Lightning Hawk from Resident Evil and it's design is based off real life airsoft replicas when drawn in more detail

Leon Biohazard barrel is same barrel as seen on Desert Eagle Leon Custom airsoft replica

Long Joe barrel is a play on term "Long Johnson" which is a usually jokingly used term for a penis

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Dream Town by Lee Goldberg

Eve Ronin #5

Dream town for some but a nightmare for others is my conclusion at the end of the book. I wonder if Eve is finding it dreamy, difficult, deadly or some other adjective that begins with “D” as Eve and Duncan tackle their next cases that may overlap before the end of the book.

What I liked:

* Eve: dedicated, competent, focused, intelligent, sees connections, growing in her profession, outspoken but can be tactful, conflicted about the new TV series based on her life, is searching for balance between her professional and personal life, beginning a relationship with Dr. Daniel Brooks * Duncan: a good man, father figure to Eve, a good mentor, seasoned detective, supportive, smart, decades on the job, great detective, loving husband and father, perfect job partner for Eve, interesting, and has a sense of humor * The way Eve and Duncan worked together as a team

* Daniel: forensic anthropologist, intelligent, driven, excellent in his field, attracted to Eve and potentially a perfect love interest for her – want to see how things work out * Seeing Eve’s family again and catching up on how they are doing * The police procedural aspects and watching how Eve and Duncan found then followed leads * That the persons responsible for the crimes in this story were found and dealt with and there were no loose ends.

* The plot, pacing, writing, and setting where I spent many of my formative years * Knowing that there will be another book to look forward to.

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* The mindset, behavior, entitlement, and disconnect with reality some characters exuded

* Knowing that though this is fiction, there are people as evil as those in this book

Did I enjoy this book? Yes Would I read more in this series? Definitely.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

A gated dream town for the megarich becomes a murderous nightmare in a riveting Eve Ronin thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined.

Eve discovers that Kitty’s surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang—all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father.

Eve’s grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death…and it’s coming for her.

[alltimefanfiction]

hey so there's this fic that i've been looking for forever that i just cannot find. i've read it in maybe 2015/2016 ?? must have been older though. i'm pretty sure it was called something like "kill me in a record shop" based off of boys like girls' song with the same name. i don't remember much of it but it was alex gaskarth/martin johnson and either one of then worked in a record shop and the ending was unbelievably sad

It pains me that you were looking for this for ages because I searched the title on our blog and it popped up. :') It was also tagged under the song's name (and other relevant tags); if there's ever a fic you know to be based off something, whether it be a song or a TV show or anything, we try to tag the title of the thing it's based off so people can quickly access that.

It's on Mibba but I can't access the actual page to see it. I'm assuming it's still there and not deleted? Please let us know if it is though.

Kill Me In A Record Shop

-Eve

[ask-paradox-and-friends]

If not that we'd go full RPG

Also I'm looking over TV tropes and a lot of tropes can fit to most of the crew.

I mean there's already Ragtag bunch of misfits(obviously)

Anime hair:Mai(rainbow isn't a normal hair color) bun(green) joan(im basing her off her majo tenshin design so bright blue hair.) Paradox (his hair is so unkept it looks like it.)

Beware the nice one and Beware the silly one:Tsugu and Ruby.

Boreing but practical:Pico's skills are just 'I cast Gun prepare to meet god' Dearil is overwhelming strong so his attacks that aren't the shadows are just him swinging harder or throwing his sheild.

Defeat means friendship:due to the big bad trapping everyone outside their reality and wiping their minds you have to choose someone to play as and go around beating them in fights to get them to join the party but there are ways to have them join peacefully.

Kid hero:Bun is 14 ruby is 16 joan is 19 and tsugu JUST turned 17. (Good thing the other half of the party are adults.)

Unskilled but Strong:Ruby and Bun both SUCK at hand to hand but that won't stop them from shoving a metal boot or dagger heel into your face.

Cool old guy:Derail is in his 60s Sunblood is in his 50s and Paradox thank to how time works on his home is technically 132

Everyone calls him "barkeep":Sunblood is almost always called Doc or doctor. Meanwhile Dearil us refered to as sire sir or your magasty (he is a king after all.) Paradox isn't even Paradox's Real name. (Spoilers the credits would show its Cornelius.)

Mugging the monster:you meet ruby in her chapter by watching her effortlessly beating 4 robbers and in buns chapter he manhandles several death row villains when they think they can kill him.

One man army:outside of Tsugu almost everyone can take on numerous foes without help.

Speed blitz:Sunblood Mai and Paradox have a skill so quick the description that fits. (Paradox 'teleports' mai 'goes so fast time stops' Sunblood 'cloned' himself)

Action Girl:Half the crew are girls (Mai Tsugu Naruko Saito ruby Joan and if you consider chapter only party members Overseer Dolly Lucy and the rest of Rwby)

Good is not nice:Pico Paradox and Bun can be asses. (Though all three are nice to kids and Bun is an animal lover. You also meet Paradox by having him kill a bandit in one punch cause they kicked his sister's dog.)

Good scar evil scar:Bun might be horrifically burnt but his burns are from accidents or sacrifice joan also has scars from an arrow in the shin and shoulder though both cover themselves up.

Would harm a senior:Bun fighting Afo counts as he's at least 150 and Paradox dosent care he'll punch whoever he has too.

Dynamic entry:in Bun's chapter when you have to play as just Maki Bun crashes through a metal door to reach her. Dearil enters his chapter's boss room by punching a 2 foot thick stone door down with little effort.

Been there shaped history:Two party members are alternate versions of Ryoma Sakamoto and Joan of Arc

Screw the rules I'm doing what's right:Bun Ruby and Pico (Pico actually points out he was raised to ignore all the rules if they are corrupt.)

Badass normal:Saito and Pico just have weapons (Yes Saito has Chi attacks and Pico has a metal hand but that dosent detract from that.)

Bilingual Dialog:Joan can't wrote but can understand English and French Paradox can speak 4 languages (Elf dragon English and Void) Mai thanks to being on of the first humans means like Cain Able adam and eve is omnilingual (meaning she can speak and understand anything. Dosent mean she can read it.)

Bottomless magazine:everyone with a firearm never runs out of bullets. Complete with Kaito never running out of arrows for his bow.

More dakka:Ruby can have her scythe become a rifle or a shotgun and Pico's bag on his back contains several guns.

The quiet one:Kaito is completely mute so he can't talk and Saito only speaks when spoken too.

Your mom:Almost everyone makes a comment like that. (Mai:*looking at Ra* hate to be his mom. Ruby:Hey, what can I say? Mothers love me! Bun:*points to bakugou* BITCH YOUR MAMA LOVES ME YOU TAKE THAT SHIT BACK!)

All your powers combined:Mai Kaito and Garou can use their foes powers (Mai is magic garou is physical attacks Kaito is weapons)

Cuteness Proximity:Dearil will join the party in the final chapter if you're playing as Tsugu cause he thinks she's a young child meanwhile the rest of the party act this way with Bun's rabbit Ruby's dog and Dearil's cat.

Hidden depths:Saito and ruby made their weapons Kaito and Pico know a lot about animal care Paradox is skilled in alchemy

Know when to fold them:Pico knows better then to try fighting Kaito or saito after he sees him cut a sniper round in two ("Yeah...no fuck that I ain't going to do that again.") Meanwhile Paradox can tell Sunblood and Mai are stronger then him. ("I'm crazy not stupid")

Power copying:Mai Paradox garou and kaito

Accidental pervert:Bun met his partner by falling on her and she thought he was like mineta and kicked him. Meanwhile Paradox has Accidentally walked into awkward spots (*Walks into a room. You hear a slap off camera he walks back in* "Yeah...Dolly was showering. And she threw a towel at me....ow.")

Bad powers good people:Dearil controls darkness bun can steal powers ruby is half gluttonous monster Kaito is a demon and naruko is a devastating yokai.

Breaking the fourth wall:Sunblood being a god Mai being a seraphim goll in a dlc story being a Valkyrie and Paradox being a demigod are all away of the fourth wall. (Goll is even the narration for Kaito to describe what he's doing and what he's feeling she also is the one who gives you the tutorials on how the charathers work complete with button presses)

Dark and troubled past:Paradox and Sunblood if you think about it.

First person smartass:Everyone has diffrent item descriptions and both Paradox and Pico sometimes snark.

Guardian angel:Mai and Goll though Kaito thinks Joan could be one.

Lazy bum:Paradox is asleep if not in your party in the final area Naruko meanwhile is playing cards with some summoned Clones.

Master of illusion:Paradox naruko and Mai can use illusions.

Precision F-Bomb:Kaito and saito don't cuss but when they do it scares their parties as they're known for being level headed.

Real men wear Pink:Saito despite being a woman is masculine enough to look like a man wearing makeup. Bun also is wearing a pink cape in his art (He actually nearly murders a bully for mocking it as it was from eri and maki) Paradox reveals he's wearing concealer under his scarf to hide a burn and he's unashamed of the fact his boxers are neon Slamon.

Welp. If there was a god of war style game based off our Einherjars.

Two things.

One the games are built like the Norse saga. So more rpg elements more open world. With stories and funny moments.

The hero would be Göll who thanks to time hijinks (aka stealing Cronous's sickle hoping to help save mortalkind from hell and heaven) finds herself unable to get to heaven but she can get stronger and stronger with more godly ascension as she gains new titles and roles as she helps the champions and because the gods are dicks she has to find various weapons and powers the contain the powers of the heros.

There will be two sagas.

The monster saga:(Hell opened up and is causing mayhem and goll works with the heros powers and weapons to defeat the monsters and demons.)

The heaven saga:(goll became a god and made the champions the new gods of mortal kind meanwhile various gods are trying to kill her cause goll kinda uprooted heaven's dynamic.)

But here we go. Hardest boss fights. And why. And again, just random ideas. For a game idea. If you want, I can make the easiest fights? And these are what it's with what I know about these fandoms and mythologies, so plz be nice.

10:æta (the monster Saga) this is a massive troll that's resistant to the weapons Goll should have for this story being bun's claymore Ruby's Scythe and Paradox's battleaxe while wearing Garou's gauntlets it's also immune to the only fire and ice spell Goll knows. Dosent help it's huge club hits hard.

9:nukalaweve (monster saga) this large demonic centaur is a oceanic deamon so it's resistant to fire and dark magic it's also really quick. Thankfully it is a big target and using Pico's rifle you can hit the monster from long range.

8:Set (the god saga) the EGYPTIAN GOD OF CHAOS is good at magic and spear fighting WHO KNEW? Dosent help that he is also a storm and desert god so he can whip up sand and lighting to blind and blast you back. Be prepared to get poked. A lot.

7:The helldrake (The monster Saga) It's a gaint f u metal dragon powered the soul of a deamon and is a deamon engine, so it's powered by chaos To make this one worse, it's just the random broken bits of various broken deamon engines held together by sheer spite. It's also chaos undivided, so you have poison tendrils boiling blood and a shit ton of magic. Dosent help it's fast. Thankfully, you have Sunblood's anti mater Singularity canon, which, if you aim right, just melts it's health (looked them up. Gonna say this now. These things better be rare.)

6:Tezlapoka (the god saga) the Aztec jaguar god whos in charge of darkness. So it's immune to your only fire attack and Dearil's shadows so and being a night god he'll randomly make the whole area go dark making it harder to see him and at half health he makes a large dark black sun that starts coating the floor in fire.

5:Be'lakor (god saga) a deamon prince with the powers of the runinous four. And you did just fight Abadon the Neverchosen and his fire horse. To make the problem worse half way through the fight he just steals the sword of Kaine which makes his stronger and gives him new powers also he starts useing his blade of Shadows be glad he has that glowing chest scar. (If you played total warhammer this would be a major 'OH COME ON!' Also you should know this is a problem when the chaos god literally stop fighting just long enough to trick you into killing his ass.)

4:The Tarasque (monster saga) problem one unlike every other time you have to fight a gaint monster you don't have a gaint of your own. (The helldrake you have a mech to help hold it off the chaos dreadnought ambush ruby sends her 'eldest baby' who is a large trynaind that both Penny and Weiss coated in armour and guns to help you. Before you ask she named it Numnum) this thing is bigger then a building. And between the scorpion tail and the fact it's a 'dragon' it barfs fire on you. Thankfully between Jaunne's sheild and Mai's spears it's weak light based attacks. (It got beat in the myths by saint Martha who splashed Holy water on it then whacked it with a crucifix.)

3:amaterasu (The god saga) the sun goddess of Japan is simply testing you so she is holding back but you are forced to use Naruko's rope dart Kaito's sword and Saito's gun blade to hold her off due to her wanting to see what they can do. Thanks to you having Tsugu's cloak you should have a teleport dodge and a fire resistance. But be warned. She will absolutely whack you around with her prayer beads and chakrams.

2:The Crystal Hydra (the monster saga) this post game boss fight has a lot of loopholes to go through. You need all the weapons find a secret dungeon kill the other hydra bosses and the whole time goll will fell a odd feeling that being Paradox (the man who flipped off a sun god roasting him and laughed at death and destruction gods trying to kill him) being terrified of this thing. It's immune to everything by Holy and dark magic and has high hp and defense. It also has 3 heads that won't let up. Half health it and it's skulls start flying like made and loose the darkness weakness and somehow they still are durable and the heads can revive each other and they HEAL (bonus they're immune to most magic.)

1:Uranus (god saga. Look I don't want to jib God of war and record of ragnarok by having the bbeg being ra Odin or zues. And themeing here is fun Uranus is the embodiment of the sky and heavens. So the final fight against heaven's corruption leads to you fighting well. HEAVEN) let's see. He's strong enough to scare The titans who nearly killed the Olympic gods and was created to be Gaia's equal. Gaia like Nyx and tartarus scares the shit out of the gods. You need everyone and everything you can get. H A V E F U N

@hazawatsugu @splatoonfan88 (tagging friends.)

[twlvrp]

right ! i’m going to be lurking around for the rest of the night. who’s going to be the first to get this rp up and going ?!

ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀ sᴇᴍɪ-ᴀᴘᴘʟᴇss ᴄʀɪᴍᴇ ʀᴘ, ᴛʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ’ʟʟ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴏᴜʀ ᴛʀᴀɪʟᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ’s ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛᴏᴋʏᴏ, ɴᴇᴡ ʏᴏʀᴋ & ᴍᴀᴅʀɪᴅ !!

[yeetlegay]

Hey! Any wlw recs? Fics movies shows anything

ANON WHERE TO BEGIN

Some personal favorites off the top of my head:

Movies:

Carol (2015) - Cate Blanchett, period (1950s), absolutely stunning and iconic lesbian cinema

The Handmaiden (2016) - reimagining of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, set in Japanese-occupied Korea during the 1930s, brilliant and imaginative and lush

Imagine Me and You (2005) - Lena Headey (Cersei from GoT) being a hot florist, love at first sight, cheesy romcom deliciousness, big warning for cheating tho it’s handled very well imo

Rafiki (2018) - coming of age love story, beautiful and ends on a good note but there’s a LOT of homophobia and some violence so be careful, was the first Kenyan film screened at Cannes which is amazing

Vita and Virginia (2018) - based on the real life romance between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, the 1920s fashion + delicious sexual tension 🤌🏻🤌🏻 cw for depiction of depression and suicidal ideation

Tv shows:

First Kill (2022) - SUPPORT THIS SHOW, vampire and vampire hunter fall in love, set in one of my fave cities (Savannah), very camp Romeo & Juliet high school romance just with more blood and fangs

Fingersmith (2005) - British miniseries based on the same novel as The Handmaiden but much closer to the source material, Victorian lesbians ft the most magnificently crafted plot and sexual tension galore, holy shit watch it

Killing Eve - okay this one is a little controversial bc of the ending (which I pretend doesn’t exist) but holy fuck if you like VegasPete, Villanelle and Eve are their even more murderous and batshit crazy cousins. Cat and mouse games between a psychopath assassin and a British intelligence officer (altho she’s actually American but whatever) that I was sure would be queerbaiting, but nope they’re in love. Consider looking up how it ends tho if you need HEAs in your stories

Gap the Series - not out yet but when it is, WATCH IT. Currently in production I think, probably out later this year. It’s Thai and will be available on YouTube with subtitles. Office romance, so many lesbians I’ve lost count and like one (1) man total in the cast.

Gentleman Jack - just dropped season 2 unffff. Period British show based on the life of lesbian Anne Lister, who is one half of the first known gay marriage in England. She’s so fucking hot and butch if you’re not in love with her the second she jumps off that carriage in episode 1…and her love story with shy, repressed wallflower Ann Walker is tender and sexy and complex. Cw for depiction of anxiety and suicide attempt in season 1 (lmk if you’d like the exact ep and time stamp)

Portrait of a Marriage (1990) - a little hard to find but worth the hunt. Based on the romance between novelist Vita Sackville-West (yes, who also had an affair with Virginia Woolf) and her socialite lover Violet. I cannot believe more people don’t talk about this miniseries bc holy shit. Vita and Violet are so fucking in love and their chemistry and love scenes had me gripping the edge of my seat despite the abysmal quality of the version I watched on Dailymotion. Cw for a shitload of cheating, some toxic vibes, and an ending that while mostly historically accurate was still a bummer.

Fics:

Obv I will shamelessly plug my Kinnporsche f/f smut bc I love her and also am desperate for more f/f fic in the ao3 tag so I’m not over here by myself anymore lol

I don’t know what fandoms you’re in but if you’ve watched Word of Honor or read 2ha, holy shit is there some good f/f fic in those tags. Sort by kudos and godspeed friend

Books:

You didn’t ask about books lol but here are some faves of mine anyway

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake - hot tatted bi protagonist, very gender, falls in love with cute single mom in her hometown when she comes back for her stepsister’s wedding

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - Kate and Leopold but gay and good, butch lesbian from the 1970s gets stuck in time on the subway, grumpy bisexual falls in love with her, makes me reconsider my stance on subway sex bc holy shit.

Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson - okay this one is sapphic but in a polyamorous context so if you want, like, zero men then skip this rec. Inspired by the lore around Dracula’s brides, very gothic and queer, Constanta (narrator) is the first bride who’s in love with Dracula but also her fellow brides Magdalena and Alexei. Cw for depictions of emotional abuse and gaslighting, Dracula is a manipulative piece of shit (who would’ve guessed lol)

Hope this helps anon!

[sugaredoleander]

looking for very specific friends

a list of media ranging from being incredibly niche to not incredibly niche but that i'm deeply obsessed with and would like to talk to someone about

the search for signs of intelligent life

subnormality (webcomic)

people watching (webseries)

legends of tomorrow

smoke gets in your eyes, from here to eternity, will my cat eat my eyeballs, the death positive movement in general, even just caitlin doughty's youtube channel

alice isn't dead

the magnus archives

i'm thinking of ending things (book & movie)

tuca and bertie

the mad ones (the musical)

compatibility is based off specifity, so i will now list some of my favourite things that haven't already been listed

movies

everything everywhere all at once

mamma mia!

promising young woman

the handmaiden

pride

fear street

the half of it

saving face

but i'm a cheerleader

kajillionaire

tv shows

killing eve

the haunting of hill house

the haunting of bly manor

midnight mass

russian doll

sense8

crazy ex-girlfriend

wynonna earp

a series of unfortunate events (also grew up with the books, which is Very evident in my writing)

derry girls

one day at a time

books

less

the secret history

this is how you lose the time war

war of the foxes

crush

music

the mountain goats

mitski

indigo girls

zolita

ABBA

some of my all-time most played songs on spotify

i guess - mitski

ghost - indigo girls

working for the knife - mitski

JUDAS - the reverent marigold

this is a life - son lux

putting the dog to sleep - the antlers

amy aka spent gladiator 1 - the mountain goats

a better son/daughter - rilo kiley

misc.

interior design & architecture

country & folk music but especially specifically lesbian country & folk music

hannah gadsby

mary oliver

lefttube

museums

dark academia

stabat mater by vivaldi but specifically the version on the talented mr. ripley soundtrack

tove jansson

dykes to watch out for

queer horror & narrative podcasts

oh. the very concept of hobbies. the artistic, the culinary, the physical, if you bounce from interest to interest & have an incessant curiosity for the world

add ten points if you are a

medstudent

lesbian

leftist

writer

ADHD-er

live in italy bc i'm (hopefully, assuming i do well enough on the IMAT*) moving there this fall & don't have any local friends *if you're also studying for the IMAT, add 20 points, i need a study buddy

do NOT reach out if you

are under 18

don't support lgbtq rights, terfs do not interact

don't support BLM

are anti-choice

in any way do not support the liberation of marginalised people

if you went through this whole list, add ten points because i talk a lot & type very fast so expect a lot of reading. and if, going through the list, you found yourself thinking, hey, i do that! repeatedly, the inbox is open, come chat!

[youleavethetardisbrakeson]

What do you think about Corlys cheating on Rhaenys? It's something that I've never understood fully because they are so in love in both book and tv show

I've gotten a few asks along these lines and I've been thinking about it... spoilers ahead

First off, some disclaimers of biases: I love Rhaenys and Corlys, but if show!Corlys ever does anything along those lines, of course I'll be upset. (I also know that HotD is predominately trying to show how women suffer at the hands of men/patriarchy; I realize that Corlys isn't exempt from that.) I also like to analyze things from more of a narrative and film perspective, so I hope I am able to separate out my personal opinions on the matter. For instance, I made a post of a similar nature on why their argument in episode 7 and estrangement would be a good thing in the long run for Rhaenys' character development (even though it fucking HURTS).

Now to the question. The biggest factor here is that Fire & Blood is meant to be an INCREDIBLY biased history book. It's a lot of speculation, second-hand accounts, things lost to time, the winners of wars rewriting history, and gossip. House of the Dragon, while it has shifted some things around for TV, is taking the perspective of what actually happened. For instance, Aemond and Vhagar killing Luke and Arrax - the TV show makes it WAY more nuanced and interesting than just a killing.

When it comes to Addam and Alyn, the book explicitly says their "origins remain a matter of dispute amongst historians."

Other interesting quotes include:

"these bastards of Hull were both silver of hair and purple of eye" and other descriptions that they clearly looked like blood of the Dragon/Valyrians. It mentions that they had 'sea salt in their blood' (but they did grow up in a shipyard so... take that for what you will). And then when the call is put out for dragonseeds, only then does their mother "at last break her silence, claiming both boys were the natural sons of the late Ser Laenor Velaryon."

And then all the hot gossip of 'but wasn't Laenor gay???' etc etc

"...Lord Corlys himself, who brought the boys to Prince Jacaerys for the Sowing. Having outlived all of his children and suffered the betrayal of his nephews and cousins, the Sea Snake seemed more than eager to accept these newfound grandsons. And when Addam of Hull mounted Ser Laenor's dragon, Seasmoke, it seemed to prove the truth of his mother's claims."

And then Mushroom chimes in, ever the shit stirrer. He basically argues that Corlys has to be their father because he wasn't gay and also frequented the shipyards. He also thinks Corlys was afraid of Rhaenys finding out and that's why he told Marilda to keep the boys away and didn’t acknowledge them. And then the text says, "in this instance, it must be said, the tale told by the fool seems more likely than the versions offered by septon and maester." The boys become legitimized and Corlys' heirs. And that's about it.

As you can see we are working with a TON of speculation. Mushroom is an unreliable narrator, and none of this is based in fact. It could be any of these suggested events, or none of them.

Now as for the TV show, Corlys is a much more fleshed out character. He ADORES Rhaenys. Eve and Steve are always championing their dynamic and relationship. They are partners, in love, and 'have a good sex life.' Corlys' major flaws, and subsequent issues created in the marriage, are that he doesn't fucking listen to his wife and that he runs away a lot.

At the end of season 1, Corlys has two very important character traits:

1 - "History doesn't remember blood, it remembers names." That man is going around claiming white children left and right, not giving a FUCK if they're actually related to him. It's the name that counts to him.

2 - He is distraught and repentant over the loss of his ENTIRE FAMILY. See the quote above from the book.

With those two established things, plus all the other shit going on already in their marriage, do we REALLY think the show is gonna throw a 'oh and he cheated' plotline into the mix??? Or go with what has already been established, which is that he clearly doesn't care if these kids are related to him, AND he's clinging to some semblance of possible remaining family.

There's also the fact that Laenor is still alive in the show. AND there has to be some Targaryen in Addam and Alyn there because the boys fly dragons. Velaryons are not dragonriders.

So I don't know exactly how the show will frame things, but that's what I have to say on the matter.

[hatchetation]

Not sure if you are a Killing Eve fan, but since the series finale I find it hard to not lose hope for #kacy. I know they are completely different shows, but I can’t help but want to be guarded. With the recent leaks of Whistler turning down a promotion and the “needing tissues” for the last few episodes, it makes me worry.

I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Whistler gets shot and Killed and Lucy starts dating a dude. I don’t want to think like this, but we’ve kinda been conditioned to.

I keep telling myself they know what they have with #kacy and Whistler is a popular character, but the above ending seems to be the norm, no matter the popularity.😩

Awww I really feel you on this! I'm not a Killing Eve fan (years ago I tried to watch cuz I love Sandra Oh, but I had nightmares) but I have certainly seen that they pulled a shitty "Bury Your Gays" trope in the final ep of the whole series?? And honestly, I always feel it deeply when a lesbian/wlw character is killed off for no good reason, even if I'm not in the fandom.

So, I totally get why you're feeling guarded about NCIS: Hawai'i and why you're waiting for the other shoe to drop. I do think one of them is gonna get injured and we're going to be left on some kind of cliffhanger at the season finale. But I do /not/ think one of them is going to die. And actually, I don't even think the cliffhanger is going to be about if one of them is dead or alive. I think it'll be more along the lines of, are they back together. There are a few reasons I think no gays will be killed in this season finale:

It's the show's freshman season--I imagine the finale will have the whole cast together at the end toasting each other or making some joke about being back in action soon. Like, the vibe to me is overall light and I don't see that COMPLETELY changing in the last few eps. Now if we were in season 2 or 3, I might think differently, but we're not.

This show knows its fanbase. Truly, they know that #kacy stans are a huge chunk of their viewer base and are driving views and engagement. Most shows are very aware of their financial bottom line and I don't think they'll ignore that the gays are raking in $$$.

They're not done with Whistler. They've definitely noted that fans love Whistler and imo have even within this season expanded her role. I think they're going to continue expanding her role next season and hence--they're not killing her off.

This is my last point and imo it’s the big one: there are queer women involved in the production of this show. Idk if that was true for KE (maybe it was) but when I watch this show, I can tell that queer women are involved in the writing and wardrobe (lol) and I'm feel sure other areas of production. I know for a fact that EP Jan Nash is a lesbian. This does not mean that I trust them not to fuck up somehow or to portray #kacy exactly the way I think they should be portrayed but it does mean that I think they probably know about the Bury Your Gays trope and are going to avoid it.

That's my reasoning about this! I know we have all been burned before and very recently (where's that meme that's like..."Number of days since a lesbian was killed on tv [0]"). But I don't think this season of NCIS: Hawai'i is going to end in gay tragedy. And if I am wrong my little gay heart will be very broken.

[celepeace]

A monster-taming game recommendation list for fans of Pokemon

Whether you're a pokemon fanatic obsessed with all things pokemon past and present, or a veteran fan disillusioned with GameFreak's recent adoption of monetary philosophies and strategies reminiscent of other major game publishers, or looking for a monster-taming fix as you await new Pokemon content...

I'm compiling here a post of little-known games in the genre that Pokemon fans are likely to enjoy!

Under readmore cause long, but some of these games really don’t get the attention they deserve, so if you have the time, please read!

(I am also likely to keep updating and editing this post)

First up is Temtem!

Temtem is a game made by and for Pokemon fans, from the spanish indie developer Crema. Temtem is currently in early access on Steam and PS5, and is likely to remain in early access until sometime late next year. Full launch will include a Nintendo Switch release, too. Despite this, it has plenty of content to explore before full release. The developers are active, release new content on a semi-regular basis, and are responsive to the community as a whole and individuals if you happen to come across a bug you want to report.

Temtem boasts a wide variety of monsters to collect and train. It takes place in the Airborne Archipelago, a system of floating islands that orbit their star, the Pansun. The monsters inhabiting the archipelago are called Temtem, or tem(s), for short.

As far as game mechanics go, it has many similarities to Pokemon, but also many important distinctions. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that the element of chance has been removed from battle entirely. Moves cannot miss, have the same power constantly, and status afflictions have an obviously displayed countdown to when they will wear off (for instance, sleep lasts as long as it says it will last. Not 2-4 turns). PP does not exist, either. Your tems can battle for as long as their HP holds out. In place of PP, a new system called Stamina exists. Stamina is an individual stat, like HP and Attack. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina. If you go over the amount of stamina your tem has, the deficit is detracted from your health instead, and that tem cannot move next turn. Stamina passively regenerates a certain amount each turn, and items and moves exist that can heal stamina. All battles are also double-battles, you and your opponent will typically have two tems on the field at a time. This is just a few of the differences Temtem has from Pokemon, but they're some of the biggest ones.

Temtem is also a massively multiplayer game. You complete the storyline independently (or with a friend through co-op!), but in the overworld you can see other, real players moving around and interacting with the world. There is also public and area-specific chat you can talk to other players through. Despite this, all multiplayer functions are (currently) completely optional. You do not need to interact with others to complete the game.

Overall, Temtem is suitable for the Pokemon fan who is looking for a more challenging experience. Temtem is not a walk in the park you can blaze through with a single super-strong monster. For one, individual tem strength is more well-balanced than it is in Pokemon. There are very few (if any!) completely useless tems. Even some unevolved tems have their niche in the competitive scene! Aside from that, enemy tamers are scaled quite high, and you typically cannot beat them just from the exp you get from other enemy tamers. You have to do some wild-encounter grinding if you want to progress.

Temtem is a very fun game and I've already gotten over 100 hours out of it, despite only 3/5-ish of the planned content being released!

However, I do feel obligated to warn any prospective players of one thing: the current endgame is quite inaccessible. After you complete what is currently implemented of the main storyline, there is still quite a lot left to explore and do, but much of it is locked behind putting a lot of hours into the game. You kind of have to get perfect temtem to do the current PVE (and this is also somewhat true for the PVP too). By perfect I mean you have to breed a good tem and then train it to get the preferable EVs (called TVs in temtem). This takes... well, for a whole team... tens of hours. Of boring grinding. Some people enjoy it! But I don't. Regardless, the game was still worth buying because the non-endgame content is expansive and fun.

So overall, pros & cons:

Pros

Battle system is more friendly towards a competitive scene

Cute monsters

Lots of gay characters, also you can choose pronouns (including they/them) independently from body type and voice

Less difference between the objectively bad tems and good tems than there is in Pokemon

Lots of stuff to do even in early access

Most conversations with dialog choices have the option to be a complete ass for no reason other than it’s fun

Having less type variety in your team is less punishing than in Pokemon due to the synergy system and types overall having less weaknesses and resistances

At least one major character is nonbinary

Cons

Falls prey to the issue of MMOs having in-game economies that are only accessible to diehard no-life players

Related to the above point, cosmetics are prohibitively expensive

Endgame CURRENTLY is inaccessible to most players unless you buy good monsters from other players or spend tens of hours making your own. However I must add that the grind is great if you like that kind of thing and is quite easy and painless to do while watching a show or something.

Here is their Steam page and here is their official website.

Next is Monster Hunter: Stories!

This is a spinoff game of the Monster Hunter franchise released for the 3DS in 2018. If you're anything like me, and you've played the core Monster Hunter games, you've often thought "Man, I wish I could befriend and ride these cool dragon creatures instead of killing or maiming them!"

Well now you can! In Stories, as I will be calling it, you play as a rider rather than a hunter. Riders steal monster eggs from wild nests to raise them among humans as companions and guardians. And yes, egg stealing is a whole mechanic in of itself in this game.

This game works pretty differently from most monster-collecting games. You do battle (usually) against one or two wild monsters using your own, except you fight alongside your monsters too. With swords and stuff. There's armor and weapons you can smelt to make yourself stronger. Type match-ups also kind of don't exist in this game? Except they do? But not in a way you'd expect?

The vast majority of attacking moves you and your monster use fall into categories reminiscent of rock-paper-scissors. Moves can be categorized as power, speed, or technical. Speed beats power, technical beats speed, and power beats technical. The matchup of your move vs your opponent's determines how a turn will go down. If one move beats the other in matchup, then the winner's move will get to go and the loser doesn't get to do anything. If you tie, you both get hit, but for reduced damage. There's also abilities and basic attacks, with abilities basically being the same as pokemon moves, and basic attacks just being "I hit you for normal damage within this category". Also, you don't control what your monster does all the time in battle. You can tell it to use abilities, but what kind basic attacks it carries out is determined by its species' preference. Velicidrome, for instance, prefers speed attacks, but Yian Garuga prefers technical. Stamina also exists in this game in a very similar manner to Temtem.

Overall this game carries over a lot of mechanics Monster Hunter fans will find familiar (how items and statuses work for instance). You don't have to have played a core Monster Hunter game to enjoy Stories though! It's fine and is easy to understand as a stand-alone.

The story has some likable characters and is rather long (it was actually adapted into an anime!), for those of you who enjoy a good story.

I'd really recommend this one especially. If it sounds fun to you and you can drop $30, just do it. I bought it on a whim and I got a few weeks' worth of playing almost nonstop out of it, and I didn't even get to do everything! (I got distracted by Hades, oops)

Stories is also getting a sequel later next year on the nintendo switch! How exciting!

And yes, you do ride the monsters.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Large variety of cool monsters to befriend and raise

Pretty lengthy story

Every tamable monster is also rideable

Deceptively simple combat mechanics, easy to be okay at, hard to master

Incorporates some mechanics from early turn-based party rpgs like Final Fantasy for a nice twist on the monster collecting genre

Cons

Many monsters are objectively outclassed by other ones, making what can be in an actually good team more limited than you’d expect

3DS graphics inherently means the game looks like it was made 7 years before its time

Here is the Monster Hunter Stories official 3DS product page.

And here is Monster Sanctuary!

Monster sanctuary is a game that just had its 1.0 launch- meaning it was in early access and no longer is! Although the devs say they still plan to implement a few more things into the game in future updates. It is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

Monster sanctuary is a metroidvania twist on the typical monster collecting game, meaning it is also a sidescrolling platformer in which you use abilities you gain throughout the game to explore the world around you. The abilities in this case are the monsters you get! Every monster has an ability that helps you traverse the sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, the game is set in one. The monster sanctuary is a magically shielded area, cut off from the rest of the world, created by an order of monster keepers, people who befriend and protect the mystical monsters inhabiting the world. Humankind encroached too far on the natural habitat of monsters and were hostile to the native wildlife, so the keepers created an area of varied environments to safely protect and preserve the remaining monsters of the world.

Unlike many other monster collecting games, this game only has 5 types: fire, water, earth, air, and neutral. However, the types themselves do not possess resistances and weaknesses. Instead, each monster has its own assigned weaknesses and resistances. And yes, this can include things like debuffs, physical vs special attacks, and the typical elemental types.

All battles are also 3 vs 3! And unlike in pokemon, where you can only hit the enemies nearest, all monsters have the ability to hit any opponent they want. Turns also work a little differently in that speed doesn't exist, you just use 1 move per monster in your turn and then it goes to your opponent's turn. Your monsters hit in whatever order you want them to.

There is also a quite important combo system in this game, where every hit builds a damage multiplier for the next. Moves often hit multiple times per turn. Healing and buffing actions also build this combo counter. So what monsters you have move in what order really counts!

But the main mechanical difference between this and other games in the genre is how it handles levels and skills. Instead of learning a set move at a certain level, this game incorporates a skill tree, and you get to allocate points into different skills as you grow stronger. And jeez, these skill trees are really extensive. Monster sanctuary is a theorycrafter's dream. Each monster has a unique, specially tailored skill tree, making every monster truly able to have its own niche. You can make use of whatever monster you want if you just put thought into it!

And like Temtem, this game is not made to be beatable by children. I'm sure a child could beat it, but it's not made to be inherently child-friendly like pokemon. It's honestly quite difficult.

On top of that, you are actively encouraged to not just be scraping by each battle. Your performance in battle is rated by an automated system that scores your usage of various mechanics like buffs and debuffs applied, type matchups, and effective usage of combos. The rating system directly influences the rewards you get from each battle, including your likelihood of obtaining an egg from one of the wild monsters you battled (no, you don't catch wild monsters in this game, you get eggs and hatch them). If you're not paying attention to how the game works and making good, effective use of your monsters, you'll have a hard time expanding your team!

The music is also really good, it's made by nature to be able to play over and over and not get old as you explore each area, and the composer(s) really did a good job with this. Some area songs, namely the beach one, I especially enjoy, so much so I've actually played it in the background while I do work.

This is a game I would really recommend. If I made it sound intimidating, it is by no means unbeatable, you're just gonna have to put some thought into how you play. At no point did I actually feel frustrated or like something was impossible. When I hit a wall, I was able to recognize what I did wrong and how I could improve, or I could at least realize something wasn't working and experiment until I found a solution. It's challenging in a genuinely fun, rewarding way.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Extremely in-depth combat system

I genuinely don’t know if there’s an objectively bad monster in this game

Evolution exists but is completely optional, as even un-evolved monsters can be great

Entire soundtrack is full of bangers

Large and diverse variety of monsters to tame

Cons

Story is a little lackluster, but passable

That’s the only con I can think of

Here’s a link to their Steam page and the game’s website.

A kind of unorthodox recommendation is the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series!

Likelihood is that everyone reading this has heard of this series already, but just in case anyone hasn't, I thought I'd include it! I would categorize this as a hybrid between the mystery dungeon genre and the monster collecting genre, because you recruit pokemon as you play and can use those pokemon on your team!

If you're unaware, the mystery dungeon genre is a small subset of dungeon crawler games where you progress through randomly generated levels called mystery dungeons. Throughout the dungeons, there will be enemies to fight and items to collect. The challenge of these games is mostly due to the stamina aspect of them, in that you have to manage your resources as you progress through the level. If you go all out in each fight, you will inevitably lose quite quickly. You have to learn to win against enemies while balancing your use of items and PP, so you have enough for the next fight, and the fight after that.

Pokemon mystery dungeon in particular is famous for its stories, the likes of which isn't seen often in Pokemon games. They are hugely story-driven games and are notable for the emotional depth they possess. It's pretty normal for the average player to cry at least once in the span of the game. There's lots of memes about that specifically.

This entry in my list is also unique for being a series. So, which one should you play first? It actually doesn't matter! Each storyline is entirely self-contained and requires no knowledge of prior entries. The quality of each entry varies and is a point of contention among fans. I say you should play all of them, because they all have their merits (though some more than others.... coughgatestoinfinitycough). They're mostly distinct for the generation of Pokemon they take place in. Rescue team is gen 3, Explorers is gen 4, Gates to Infinity is gen 5, Super Mystery Dungeon is gen 6, and Rescue Team DX is a remake of a gen 3 game but has the mechanics and moves of a gen 8 game.

My only real caution is that you play Explorers of Sky, not Darkness or Time. Sky is basically a combination of the two games with added items and content. It's an objective upgrade over its predecessors, and I honestly wouldn't waste money on the other two. 

I’m not going to include a pros and cons list for the PMD series because I’m incredibly biased and it wouldn’t be an honest review.

Next is Monster Crown!

Monster Crown is a monster collecting game that seems to take heavy inspiration from early-gen Pokemon games in particular. It is currently in early access on Steam and is not expensive. I learned about it through the developers of Monster Sanctuary, when they recommended it on their official Discord.

The game has lots of charm and interesting creature designs, and an entirely new take on monster typings as well. Instead of monster types being based off of natural elements like fire, water, electricity, etc. Monster Crown uses typings that seem to be influenced by the personalities of the monsters. For instance, Brutal, Relentless, and Will are all monster types!

It also captures a lot of the charm many of us look fondly upon in early GameBoy-era games. The music is mostly chiptune, with some more modern backing instruments at times, and the visuals are very reminiscent of games like Pokemon Crystal in particular. Monster Crown is definitely the monster collecting game for fans of the 8-bit era!

The thing that stands out the most to me about this game is the breeding system. Instead of one parent monster passing down its species to its offspring, you can create true hybrids in this game.

However, it is very early access. I would consider the current build as an alpha, not even a beta yet! So temper your expectations here. I have not encountered any major bugs, but visual glitches here and there are quite common. The game also could definitely use some polish and streamlining, and is quite limited in content currently. But the dev(s) seem quite active, so I fully expect these kinks to be worked out in time!

The reviews are rather positive, especially for being in early access. I'm all for expanding the monster collecting genre, so if you're looking to expand your horizons in that sense, I would recommend you at least give this one a look! I personally had quite a bit of fun playing Monster Crown and am going to keep an eye out for updates.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Charming artstyle, appealing monster designs

Faithful callback to a bygone era of gaming

Controls are fairly simple and easy to get the hang of (and are completely customizable!)

Cool breeding and hybridization mechanics

There's a starter for each monster type!

You can choose your pronouns, including they/them!

Cons

Inherent nature of being very early access means can be clunky and unpolished at times

Also not much content as of right now, see above

User interface could use some redesign in places

Here’s their Steam page and the official website!

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, Azure Dreams!

This is one I actually haven’t played, mostly because it’s really old and therefore only practically accessible if you play it on an emulator, unless you're one of those old game collectors. Azure Dreams was developed by Konami and released for the PS1 in 1997. My impression of it was that it either didn’t sell well or only took off in Japan, because it’s actually really hard to find any comprehensive information about it on the internet.

Azure Dreams is a monster collecting - dating sim hybrid. You can build relationships with various characters and can pursue some of them romantically, although that isn’t the main draw of the game. There is also a stripped-down version that exists for the GameBoy Color, which forgoes the dating portion of the game entirely.

Azure Dreams is kind of like a mystery dungeon game in that you progress through a randomly generated, ever-changing tower using the help of the familiars you have accrued throughout your adventure. Similarly to Monster Hunter: Stories, you yourself also take part in the fighting alongside your monsters. Each time you enter the tower, your character’s level is lowered to 1, but your familiars keep their experience. Thus, progression is made through strengthening your monsters. To obtain monsters, you collect their eggs, just like in Monster Sanctuary (which, turns out, was at least partially inspired by this game!)

Due to this game being very old and on the PS1, the visuals leave a lot to be desired... but if you can get past that, Azure Dreams has lots of replayability and customization to how you play the game. To this day, it appears it has a somewhat active speedrunning community!

If you don’t mind the effort of using an emulator, and like old games, Azure Dreams just might be that timesink you were looking for in quarantine.

Honorable mentions:

Pokemon Insurgence (or any Pokemon fangame/ROMhack, really!) is a Pokemon fangame that introduces Delta Pokemon, which are really cool type-swapped versions of existing Pokemon. It’s sufficiently challenging and has a lot of variety in what you can catch in the wild, so you can pretty much add whatever you want to your team! The story is quite good, and the main campaign is multiple times longer than a typical Pokemon game’s campaign. Download it here!

ARK: Survival Evolved is NOT a monster collecting game BUT you do get to tame and fight alongside a lot of really cool extinct species, including but not limited to the dinosaurs we all know and love. This game is genuinely fun as hell, especially with friends, but I must warn you: never play on official servers. I highly recommend singleplayer, playing on a casual private server, or making your own server. Here’s the Steam page.