#'that's weird as hell honestly. that's super fucking weird what the fuck the writers just let that happen'

[lazyneonrabbitt]

Beef

Daryl Dixon x Reader

Requested : "Could you do a Daryl x reader where at first he doesn’t like her, and she tries to get to know why hes so mean to her? Maybe he yells at her and then some comfort after?" EDIT: I saw this same request being written by another writer and I want to say, don't send multiple writers the same exact request. I find this super disrespectful.

This one took some turns of its own while writing, I hope it's to your liking!!

When his group first came to the community you were excited. Finally you'd have a real huntsman around to share experiences with, you had missed it so bad.

Before the fall your family owned a shop, your father a butcher and your mother a taxidermist. You and your siblings learned every skill from hunting to skinning, prepping and using each part of the animal so none would go to waste. You hadn't hunted in so long, you weren't sure if you still could hunt succesfully. Even now you'd donate large, strong antlers and bones to the blacksmith in Hilltop to use in weaponmaking. You donated the furs you didn't fashion into items yourself to the seamstresses and prepped each type of meat for meals.

But somehow the new hunter didn't take the shared interests as something positive.

He brought you animals, yes. But never without throwing a judgy look around your workplace. Even when he came in with someone else who'd compliment your clean work he'd only scoff, dump his kills and head back out.

"Sheesh, what crawled up his ass?" The large moustached man laughed. You only shrugged as you lugged the deer behind your counter. "Hell if I know. Ain't digging it out tho. He seems to be doing okay with everyone except for me.." You returned the laugh while the man who's name slipped your mind helped you put the deer on your workbench, only to quickly drop the fake smile and leaning against your workbench.

You thanked him with a sigh and he gave you that look that told you to spill your thoughts.

"Fine. It sucks he's so weird. It'd be awesome to have a partner to do all of this with and to go hunt with." You busied yourself sharpening yuour knives, clearly still annoyed by the whole ordeal. "And..?" The long winded drawl made you roll your eyes at the man's persistance.

"And he's drop dead gorgeous, okay? There. I said it. I have a crush on the man. Happy no-- Ah fuck!" Your knife hit the floor with a clatter as you grabbed at your bleeding hand.

"Alright, up and out withya. To the doc we go." You were led to the infirmary and passed the source of your annoyance on the way.

Not that you were listening, but you still caught his voice in passing. "Damn folk 'ere don't know how ta do shit." You caught his glance in your direction and if you weren't busy keeping yourself from bleeding out you'd confront him.

It was a clear message that you weren't allowed to use the injured hand for your work and risk pulling the stitches, and honestly it just hurt too much to do anything with it. It sucked even more than having to leave your old home behind. There were people counting on your work so they'd have food.

It didn't stop you from going to work and doing as much as you could one-handed. You got there extra early to make up for the extra rime everything would take now, and by the time you'd normally open you found Deanna on your steps, greeting you with her usual smile. "I knew you'd be here stil working, but I brought someone to help until your hand is better. You shouldn't be overworking yourself."

As quick as she had entered she had left again as well, leaving you with your new work companion.

The hunter.

"Good morning." You gave him the kindest smile you could, but were only given a grunt in return as he tossed a bundle of tied up small game on your desk, rounded the corner and fished for a knife to start taking them apart.

Besides you explaining where to put all the different parts of the animal you two barely spoke, until the snap of bone pulled you away from your focused work of skinning yesterday's deer. "The hell?" You turned around to go see what he was up to.

"What are you breaking bones for?" His station was a mess, he pointed at the difficult point he was cuting along. "Easier ta reach without the bone in the way." Without even looking he continued. "Ya should know tha'. Damn city girl doin' mah work."

Again with his snarky comments. You shrugged it off and went back to your own station. Yiur bkood bloiled but you weren't gonna let him get to you, you had work to get done. "Try not to do that, we can still use the bones if you keep them whole."

You tried so hard to focus on your work, skinning the deer with only one functional hand was so difficult and even though you were having extremely conflicted feelings about it you still had to ask him for help.

"Can I borrow your hands for a minute? Can't do this on my own."

You held the large deer up and moved it as Daryl cut away the skin in the most choppy manner, creating a clear line where you stopped and he started. "Can you please work a bit mote delicate? That's gonna take me ages to clean up." You huffed from keeping the deer in place, but also annoyance. Why didn't he work like a hunter? He must know the code, right?

"Why're ya so on mah ass 'bout how I work? Gon' toss it out anyways. Just need the meat, tha's it." He got snappy at the end and you just stared at him, anger clear in your eyes. "Seriously?"

You let go of the deer and stepped away from the counter. "You're sent to MY shop. To help me because I happen to fuck up my hand for the first time ever since I got here years ago and all you can do is talk shit about me?" The knife that laid on the desk before now in your good hand and pointed at his chest. "God I can't believe I even fell for your hunting woodsman charms. You're just an asshole who doesn't give a shit about these animals or the hunter's code." With a clatter the knife hit the floor as you tossed it to the side with shaking hands.

"Get the fuck out of my shop and go find me someone who cares." With angry steps you turned around and headed out of the room, needing a break to gather yourself first if you wanted to get anything else done.

Now alone in the workstation, Daryl snatched up his catch from this morning and headed out.

~~

"You did what? Pookie you gotta listen to the girl." Carol sat down next to him and snatched the cigarette from his fingers. "You know you disrespected her life's work by now following her rules in her own shop, right?"

"I'on get why tha's even important anymore. We gotta eat, tha's all." Daryl's annoyed grumbles did nothing good it seemed as Carol continued to scold him like he was a child. "Did you for one second maybe think this work is all she has left to hold onto her old world self?"

"Cept this ain't the old world no more. She's waistin' time doin' all tha extra shit."

Carol was up and at the front door by now, putting out the cigarette in one of many ashtrays there. "Alright, up with you. You're apologizing with me right now."

The two took off to your shop but found no one there. Daryl's half finished rabbit still out in the open on the table while the deer was gone. "Ain't here. I'll head back tomorro--"

"No we're not. I know where she lives, come on." Carol practically pulled him along on the way to your place despite Daryl's protests.

You were working in your basement area when you heard a knock on the front door. "Come in!" Everyone who came to your place knew the door was unlocked and was free to come and find you, seeing you were either cooking, working on lounging when you kept the front door open.

"Hey, it's Carol! Heard about your hand, need some help around the house?" She needed an excuse to get an answer and find out where you were, so when you called back she knew to head downstairs.

Meanwhile Daryl just stared around to keep his mind busy. He found rabbit skins from prey he brought in wrapped around a pair of boots. He recognized the fur seeing it was a rare color. Further into your livingroom there was a deer pelt draped over the back of your couch. Also caught by him. The white spots over the back had one small flaw from where his bolt had struck right on a white dot. He remembered being proud of his aim for a minute that day.

"Daryl, come on." Carol's whisper-yell had him roll his eyes and as he passed your coatrack he noticed the hooks were all antler parts and the knives laying in the basket on the hallway table had bone handles.

So that's why you were so angry when he snapped the rabbit's leg and skinned the deer so carelessly. You did really use everything.

The two walked down the stairs to your workshop, Carol up front with Daryl following.

"Oh wow," Carol's exclaimation had you laugh. "Yeah, I get that a lot." You stood with your back turned, struggling to hang a piece of skin.

"Here, lemme help ya." Daryl's gruff voice was suddenly right behind you and you spooked, letting go of the pelt but Daryl caught it just in time, draping it over the wire. "Like tha?" His hands stayed up there and adjusted it to your liking, having stepped back to watch him and give Carol a questioning look. She just shrugged and gestured at the man who was again staring around the room. "What brings you here?"

Daryl looked at everything except you, he knew he'd lose all ability to speak if he did. Hell, he already had a difficulty getting his words out now seeing how wrong he was for not listening to you. "Came ta say sorry." He stared at the basket of furs labeled 'Donate'. "Shoulda known better than ta get angry. 'N I get why ya work thr way ya do now." Next to the basket sat a crate filled with thick, sturdy bones labeled 'blacksmith'.

You nodded and gave him an option. "Come back to the shop tomorrow. I'll have tou clean up that deer skin you almost ruined and you're following my teachings. I'll forgive you for wasting the rabbit."

Daryl chewed at his thumb, the other hand stuffed in his pocket and fidgeting with the fabric inside. "Yeah, alright." He nodded and looked over at Carol who had the brightest smile on her face. One that screamed victory.

"We'll get out of your hair, I'll bring by some lunch tomorrow at your shop." Carol waved on her way up, and just as Daryl was about to follow her you quickly spun around to grab something. "Oh, here." You held out a thin knife wrapped in leather, a small engraving of Hilltop's blacksmith on the handle. "I saw you took the rabbits, so if you haven't prepped them yet you can try this one. They're great for smaller animals."

He stumbled over his thanks as he accepted the knife and quickly headed out after Carol.

~~

You were back at work early the next morning, painkillers and a small breakfast in your system already and hoping to finish that damn deer. It still proved a challenge to get it from the cooler onto the workbench but you managed eventually, just before Daryl came in.

"Mornin'." Hid gruff voice sounded through the workplace as he rounded the corner and placed the knife from yesterday on the table. "Thanks fer lettin' me borrow it. Worked like a charm."

You picked up the knife and held it out to him again, only to recieve a questioning grunt in return. "It was a gift. To keep."

Daryl never got gifts. Everything he had was scavenged and well taken care of for longer use these days. It felt weird to keep it but he thanked you again and pocketed it.

Meanwhile you had grabbed the deer skin and laid it out where he'd be working. "Look here, I'll show you how to clean this up and you'll go fix the rest, okay? It'll take a while but it'll be worth it." Daryl stepped up to you and observed the way you took the knife to the uneven spots of skin and carefully smoothed it all out. The precision in your work was impressive to say the least. "How long've ya been doin' this?"

You dropped a cut off piece of meat into a plastic container and thought back to the old world. "I guess ever since my parents thought I was old enough to handle knives." You held the tool out to the hunter and watched him take it from you. "Your turn. I'll be hopefully finishing that deer so just ask whatever, whenever."

You were lucky a lot of the cutting could be done onehanded, and holding back pieces was okay enough to do with your wrist or hold something down with your elbow. But now that you had all the easy access meats off and seperated you ran into a problem.

"Fuck.." You needed help. The same kind of help that had you kick him out yesterday.

"Sup? Need hands?" He was at your side in a second, waiting for your instructions.

"I need to take off the ribs but I can't." You leaned aside to point around the carcass. "If you can press down here, and there." Daryl followed your instructions and put pressure on the spots you pointed out. "Then I can take this here apart." Your movements were followed and suddenly it was way too hot in your always cold workplace. Yesterday you'd be happy if he decided thr Kingdom was a better home for him but now that he apologized and proved to better himself after your misunderstanding you were back to being the lovesick puppy Abraham had made you out to be when he brought you home after the infirmary visit.

With how Daryl held the spot clear and open you had to get close to chop through the bone and separate it all in workable bits.

"Can I take one a'those later? Michonne asked ta cook fer her kids cuz she's out 'n Carol's off ta Kingdom--" "Throw the kids an old world barbeque! I'll come help. I'm sure you're skilled in roasting over an open fire with how much you traveled." The excitement was clear in your voice, and the sudden compliments and offers of gifts and assistance had him nervously fidgeting. But thinking about having a fun experience with the kids instead of just cooking and having dinner sounded way better than his original plan, so he agreed.

"Ya got supplies ta fix tha' in half a day?"

~~

The two of you cleaned up after finishing thr needed work and while you carried the prepped meats, Daryl had the bowl firepit on a kart together with the metal rack to hang over it. Yeah, he lived in a community now but he never guessed he'd be carrying around a whole barbeque setup like he was getting ready to throw a party in the old world. "Gotta drop by tha' house fer a sec, get Jude 'n RJ."

After he got the kids and you had everything set up Daryl got the fire started while you made a quick pantry run and dug through Daryl's kitchen for anything to add to the meals.

You brought whatever you found and set it on the side of the porch steps, keeping a path to the house cleared and sat yourself down in the front lawn as you watched uncle Daryl in action, letting the kids toss wood onto the fire and poke at it with a stick but making sure they kept their distance and wouldn't touch the hot metal.

It was heartwarming to see him laugh and have fun with them and watched him speak quetly to the kids with a finger pointed your way before the two came running towards you.

"Daryl says the fire's good for food! Can we put some on the thing?" Two pairs of big, begging eyes stared at you and saying no would be the worst so of course you allowed them, under surveillance and with an assisting hand. "Alright, pick something you wanna eat first and put it on a plate, Daryl will take it to the fire and I'l helf you put it on the rack, okay?"

A chime of "Okay!" baely left them before they were at the collection of prepared meats where you and Daryl joined them in picking.

While Daryl roasted the food over the fire you were tasked go keep the kids busy, but wirh hoe much they loved chatting about everything and anything it was an easy task.

The whole evening was fun and food and family and it reminded you of everything you missed in this new world.

Everything was good in this moment, especially when you heard a little exchange between uncle and niece.

"Uncle Daryl? Can we have more dinners with her? But also mom and aunt Carol next time." You watched Daryl look towards you for a moment before turning back to Judith. "'Course, she's teachin' me ta prepare food so we can do this with e'ryone if ya want. But!" He raised his hand and pointed at RJ, who came over to him too now. "Yer gonna be the ones askin' folk ta bring food too, so e'ryone has somethin' ta eat, 'kay?"

The two happily nodding kids proved that your time in the community just got a lot more fun.

Now, after the kids were long brought to bed you and Daryl stayed around the fire. Having taken the meat rack off and set asidr you were just relaxing and picking away at the leftovers.

"So," you started, watching the flames in front of you. "That community barbeque plan of yours, it sounded amazing especially how you brought it over to the kids. But, aren't you afraid it'll drain recources too quick?"

Daryl shrugged it off. "Maybe. But those kids'll make folks keep stuff aside fer it." The idea of those two running around the place collecting people brought a smile to his face. "'Sides, I ain't wastin' meat no more with yer lessons tha' I hope ya will keep givin' me."

Oh. He wanted to stay? At the shop? With you? You were pleasantly shocked with that news. "What? Ofcourse I'll teach you. But only of you promise to take me out hunting when my hand's okay again."

He let out a breathy laugh and nodded. "Yeah, I'd love ta have ya around."

You stretched and laid down in the grass, looking up at the night sky.

"S'gonna be fun."

[ticklinglady]

The Guild's actions during the story are so insane, when you think about them properly, you know? When I first read the arc with them, this moment hasn't really occurred to me, as I was too busy going nuts over finally seeing the names of the familiar writers, but now when I think of that... I am not sure, I comprehend how they managed to achieve such a ferocious reputation. I have already made a little post about how extremely dysfunctional the DOA members are, but at least those guys have a plan, which actually makes sense more or less, even despite the gang using cheatcodes/the Book. The same cannot be said of the Guild however archghhjkn. Like, what the hell were these guys even doing??? XD

So here are just some moments, which weirded me out the most

At first I'd like to address the entire story with everyone's favorite tsundere, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Her introduction leaves quuuuite an impression in the best way and nothing makes me happier than the fact, that she gets a chance to find happiness in the following chapters and actually becomes a reoccurring character! HOWEVER, her entire involvement with the Guild is super odd... I still can't wrap my head around her getting fired. She is a girl with a hella powerful ability, who got taken to the Guild from a terrible, terrible orphanage in order to fight for them in the war for the Book, so not only is she very strong, but she's also immensely dependant on the organisation and wouldn't do anything outside of its interests. Yet Lucy is also put under extreme pressure. As she herself puts it, the Guild doesn't tolerate failures and will kick her out the moment she screws something up.

Later we see that this is exactly what happens, when she messes up her first mission. Fitzgerald himself confirms that, since she failed and revealed her ability to the enemies, she's no longer useful, so now a powerful esper, like Lucy works for free as a... laundress?

EXCUSE ME??? WHEN HAVE THE GUILD MEMBERS EVER DONE ANYTHING, BUT FAIL AND REVEAL THEIR ABILITIES?

Let's be real, these dudes were successful like only once or twice...

This fact not only makes Fitzgerald look like an idiot for wasting such a talented and useful worker, because of one mistake, but also as one hell of a hypocrite, cause he is more than fine with everyone else fucking up. And in case of Lovecraft and Steinbeck: fucking up twice. To add to the oddity, we later learn, that Louisa genuinely cares for Lucy and despite her social anxiety actually stood up for her during the entire story, but even that wasn't enough to change Fitzgerald's mind on the issue, though Louisa is one of the few people, whose opinion he respects. Honestly, this is such a waste of a truly useful subordinate. And speaking of which....

The Guild has never even tried to implement Edgar Allan Poe during the war...

This man is actually rather op when you think of it. He can capture and neutralise literally any ability user in Yokohama (besides Dazai, Mori and Ranpo ofc) just by throwing a book at them. Seriously, as we see with Chuuya, they don't even have to read it, they just need to see the pages. Plus the book can be actually sent via email!!! So why has there been an absolute zero amount of strategies with the use of this ability??? They could actually try to catch Atsushi by sending him such email containing any of Poe's mystery stories and then safely carry him back to their base. And it doesn't have to be just Atsushi, it could be literally any of their enemies. Non-combatant, like Ranpo could use this pretty damn well to his advantage and it doesn't take a genius to understand the potential of the "Black Cat in Rue Morgue". But nooooo, it seems like everyone has just forgotten of Poe!!! (Tho to be honest, I can actually see this situation in a funny extra awfgbfggfjj. Not the main story however) The agency would never even learn of his existence, if he didn't personally decide to try to fuck Ranpo's life up. Like, what does Poe even do in the Guild? He's the master architect and, according to him, the third ranking man in the organization, but we never see him be of any use, so Idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Lucy at least got to do something, unlike this poor man.

Then there's the entire drama with the Guild's decision to destroy Yokohama. Where do I even begin...

First of all, Fitzgerald has no way of knowing that Atsushi is going to come to Moby-Dick to fight him. Poor guy is the Guild's primary goal and has already gotten himself captured once, so it would have been safe to assume that the ADA decided to hide him somewhere and not send him on any dangerous missions for the time being. That basically means Fitzgerald could have burned down not just Yokohama, but also the only person, who could actually help him find his precious Book.

But if we're to ignore this, let's also go with Wikipedia then~

"Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. Yokohama is also the major economic, cultural, and commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area along the Keihin Industrial Zone."

..........................

Good luck making up for the destruction of THIS, Fitzgerald 🖕

And if this in itself wasn't bad enough, most people, including me, tend to forget that all Guild members are actually big shots in the American government, which I think is very sad. Because first of all, can you imagine any of the Guild members actually working as politicians?!! The sheer idea makes me hysterical avshbgj. Like, just consider Lovecraft working as a senator or something. This eldritch horror of a man leaves the ocean once in three years at best LMAO. Second of all, I have a feeling, that the destruction of Yokohama at the hands of influential politicians from a foreign country would have resulted in an international conflict or two~ Like as if random deranged rich Americans arriving in Japan, wreaking havoc over there and destroying the second largest city in the country wasn't bad enough, these Americans just HAD to be super influential businessmen and politicians. Louisa, my dear, I understand that it wasn't your intention, but it's as close to a declaration of war as it can get, you know? Fitzgerald may be ready to do anything to resurrect his dead daughter, but I'm not sure, that the execution of himself and the rest of the Guild at the hands of the Hunting Dogs is something he'd like.

(And here's another funny thing that stems from them being politicians 🤭 As @originalartblog wittily pointed out, Fitzgerald wasting all his money fighting sskk has probably resulted in a market crash and recession over in the USA)

I also have some other questions in regards to this entire plan, such as why did they have to waste Moby-Dick just to destroy Yokohama? Yes, it works in the short term, but in the long term they loose a super powerful fortress with the stealth mode and as the practice shows, you better have a safe base, unless you want another lemon freak to blow it all up. I mean, you could just ask Lovecraft to destroy everything for free. Or, if the device is the only way to stop the giant whale from crashing, why didn't Fitzgerald just take it to a far away bunker or something and waited things out there without the need to spend millions of dollars just to survive the explosion? (And it would have been extremely funny, if during the fight with sskk he just threw the device overboard) But I think I have already rambled for long enough already atxhghbgv XD

The Guild is an even bigger mess than the DOA and I think that's glorious 🙌

[butterrats]

ATTENTION 2012 TMNT FANBASE I HAVE A PSA

I love 2012 Donnie

I severely dislike 2012 April, one could say I hate her.

I am allowed to have my own opinions on these not-real-people characters because it. Is. A. Cartoon.

No, I am not a misogynist because I hate 2012 April. I actually love literally all five female characters they put in the show except her (Wow writers...) I'm a fucking feminist lesbian. Disliking a female character does not make you a misogynist. I honestly think a lot of her slander is undeserved, but I'd be a goddamn liar if I didn't say I kinda (ok I love it) enjoy participating in it. HOWEVER, I do not think she is a bad person. Is she snippy, rude, entitled, and kinda a brat in my eyes? Yeah, no dip. Do I think she's evil and intentionally trying to seduce every guy she sees into being her man slave? Uh no. I think she's annoying and I dislike her, but I don't want her to burn in hell. I want what I want for every character I see on a show: *clears throat* OWNING UP TO THEIR SHIT AND CHANGING FOR THE BETTER AND NOT BEING A MARY SUE AND MANY OTHER THINGS I DON'T FEEL LIKE GETTING INTO AT 11:30 PM. This goes for literally all the characters on the show. I wanna see Donnie and Casey apologize to April for being weird with her, AND I want April to apologize to them for being weird with them. THEY ALL DESERVED BETTER. They all could have developed amazingly if the writers didn't stick their heads up their asses and spew whatever shit they inhaled onto the script. I have so many other examples of this: I want Splinter to realize the generational trauma he's inflicting on his sons, Karai developing her relationships with all her brothers, Casey going into his backstory, insert other example.

No, I am not encouraging "nice guy" behavior by loving on Donnie. Oh wow, a kid with zero social interaction outside of his three brothers an strict dad gets weirdly obsessed with the first person he develops romantic feelings for? Who could've seen that coming? He should have left her alone when she wanted to be left alone and given her space, yes, but goddamn people, these characters are children. They're always making dumb choices. It's TEENAGE mutant ninja turtles. My boy never once tried to force himself on this girl. Never tried turning her no into a yes. Never wanted her to do anything she wasn't okay with. He's not a "nice guy" or an "incel" or a "stalker" he's a smart boy who made some very dumb choices. So did literally every other character in the goddamn show. You wanna talk creepy? Leo knowingly had the hots for his motherfudging sister but that's a whole 'nother can of worms I ain't touching tonight baby. I just personally think Donnie has so many more redeeming qualities to his character. Honestly, in my opinion, his apology to April was good enough for me. Not perfect by any means, but good enough. Donnie is literally one of the only characters who quickly owns up when he messes up, I think that' worth something considering the characters. Honestly, Donnie is a sweetheart, super smart, sassy, and fun to watch, and I think his qualities outweigh his flaws, unlike how I feel about April. (How I feel about her.)

My morality should not be called into question when I have an opinion on a fictional character for fuck's sake. This franchise is beloved, BELOVE IT. Have your opinions, love April, hate April, love Donnie, hate Donnie, just enjoy yourselves (except you, Tcesters, stay the fuck away from me and my son.) These characters aren't perfect, they're flawed, they're young, they're children. It's not their fault they were written like shit. They're ALL good people at the end of the day.

I hate 2012 April's guts and I love 2012 Donnie to death. But that doesn't mean you have to as well. LOVE YOUR CHARACTERS.

Holy jumping Jesus on a hoagie sandwich why did I waste an hour of my life writing this? I need to get to bed, I have work tomorrow. Anyways, hope this gets to someone who needs it, love yourself, love characters, don't fucking ship siblings, eat your homework, and enjoy your life. Love you <3

[dc-polls]

"That Really Happened?!" DC Comics Tournament Entry #14

Domestic Abuse Ghost Possession

[ID: Two page comic spread of a giant Sinestro head smiling with tongue wrapped around Green Lantern John Stewart's leg. Figures below pose in anguish and dark buildings appear in the background. John yells, "You're dead, Sinestro!" To which Sinestro replies, "Not any more!" /END ID]

What Happened?

Jesus. Okay. SO green lantern: mosaic is already a really weird comic. The creator (who we don't talk abt and also was in prison until a couple of years ago) literally said (paraphrase) "Mosaic is the book I write when I get confused writing my other books". Like bro. Anyways it follows John Stewart (Green Lantern) as he tries to establish a peaceful society between a bunch of species (humans included) taken from their homeworlds and forced to coexist on this plant. Standard comic plot. NORMAL, even. Or so you'd think.

It's revealed that John is being possessed a times (blacking out) by the ghost of Old Timer, an evil Guardian (so like a smurf looking alien) who brought all the people to the mosaic in the first place. Plot-wise this still makes sense, GL: Mosaic is a spin off and this whole plot was kind of established in the main comic. It makes sense.

AND THEN YOU GET ISSUE NO. 3. John is inexplicably in a relationship with this woman Rose. This happens completely off panel and without explanation (although they did have some chemistry in the main GL title, it was a very complicated dynamic and there was even a joke about them NOT being in a relationship) [the joke was that rose's town was super scandalized bc they thought she was dating John (because aaaaghhhhh interracial relationship or whatever [this is like 1992] and shes from rural West Virgina and was all like no guys its not LIKE that (but like it actually wasnt)) so idk that was a thing that happened

But ANYWAYS in Mosaic #3 John and Rose are dating for some reason???? And then he picks her up and flies up and then drops her and laughs as she screams and falls. He also kicks her around and like beats her up in front of her son while she pleads with him to stop. So VERY much domestic abuse 👍love some absolutely insane fucking mischaracterization what the actual hell. Also he keeps using weird nicknames like calling her Rosie and himself Johhny or Daddy while possessed(?) SO I don't fucking know what that was the fuck

Anyways it's then revealed that this behavior was because of the GHOST! who could have thunk? However instead of the ghost CANONICALLY inside his head that was literally possessing him THE ISSUE BEFORE, turns out it was SINESTRO'S GHOST! how the fuck did he get in johns head you may ask? I could not tell you! He's just there! At this point I'm wondering what the actual fuck is going on and also how many ghosts are possessing John Stewart. Like HONESTLY. I've either entirely lost the plot by now or am just in shock over what is happening. Likely both.

Anyways John goes in his brain to fight the Sinestro ghost (who like ties him up with his tongue and calls him boy (and Sinestro daddy this time) and all sorts of insanely weird awful stuff) And then his girlfriend (who he ISNT DATING) forgives him because "it was the ghost". Absolutely incomprehensible arc. This happened in ONE ISSUE of this comic. The first ghost is not mentioned at all during this story

Also the worst thing abt this whole ordeal is that this is a spin off of an arc in the main GL title which was actually REALLY FUCKING GOOD. like it was great, I loved it. And yet somehow the author (may he die gruesomely) managed to forget what HE HIMSELF WROTE and all knowledge of characterization and turn his hero into a horribly mischaracterized domestic abuser in a plot thay makes no sense.also there was def some racist wack ass shit going on with this fr. The whole comic is honestly an ego trip for the writer it makes no fucking sense and every letter page is just two pages of him talking directly to the readers and telling them how smart he is. This is issue 3 and is as far as i got. Listen to me and do not read this comic

--

Tournament polls will be posted after all entries are up. As always you can find all posts related to the tournament using #dc-polls-trh

[o-uncle-newt]

On the Job minisode and Good Omens as a work on religion

(Note: This was originally a reblog of someone who then expressed that they were unhappy that I reblogged their post. As a courtesy I have reposted it as its own thing- for context, the person was upset that Neil Gaiman's take on religion was stale and said that of course if you have only a surface view of the Torah and the book of Job you'd come away with these kinds of negative impressions.)

I went to Orthodox Jewish day school for thirteen years. I thought the Job minisode was fine, as an adaptation of the story. Not breaking any ground theologically or whatever, but fine. (Though they did definitely get the number of Job's kids wrong, presumably for narrative simplicity, and the shoemaker joke doesn't work because he's really Bildad the ShuCHite.)

And, I mean, I don't think it should be MEANT to be anything but fine...? Good Omens is a fantasy novel in which heaven and hell are both the bad guys- Good Omens the show has basically kept in that model. The whole thing is about a simplistic look at the Christian Bible and a kind of cynical but light hearted agnosticism that doesn't really lend itself particularly to sophisticated religious analysis or whatever. It's not meant for that.*

The Job minisode was written by John Finnemore rather than Gaiman, a writer of whom I am a massive fan and, however, to whom I don't really look for sophisticated religious takes. He's done a Bible/religion sketch or two on his sketch show- I don't particularly love them, they're pretty surfacey- and he's self aware enough to make it very clear that he approaches everything from an "I don't believe in God but I grew up in a Christian country" perspective. (He's a lot more honest about that than a lot of other atheist/agnostic writers I've seen who do takes on religion, incidentally... so many people think they're being "objective" or whatever.)

The thing is, I actually really love the Job minisode as a Good Omens story, working within this complete fantasy world. I was disappointed in a lot of S2 but this felt like the characters, this felt like an interesting meditation on their roles and their choices... I don't know, it just really worked for me.

And I feel like part of the point is to pick one of those "well obviously on the surface this looks a bit fucked up" stories (rather than for there to be an implication that they're the only ones who noticed)- because they're working in a fictional universe in which it's been established since the nineties that heaven/God is at least a bit fucked up (no matter what I as a Jew may personally believe) and so they can just take it and run with it without having to explain! Gaiman did the same thing in S1 with the Garden of Eden and the Ark. It's just a canvas to put an Aziraphale/Crowley plot on. The original book is a Book of Revelations satire!

Honestly, I'm happier to have a pretty basic retelling of a story that's obviously fucked up on the surface, rather than them picking some midrash or something that's more subtle and nuanced and super Jewish-y and then turning it into something about how God or the angels or the demons are bad- partly because Jewish angel/demon stuff doesn't map well onto Good Omens's approach, and also because the whole point of the book from the start has been critical of organized Judeo-Christian (yes I know) religion writ large, and that's not going to change. That was weird for me to get used to as an Orthodox Jewish teen in a Bais Yaakov school when I first read it, but getting past it made me realize that all that meant was that they'd created a Biblical fantasy universe with certain tropes in it.

I think the Job minisode works perfectly well within that particular Biblical fantasy universe, and while I think that you can potentially criticize S1 (and in a slightly different way, the book) for that Biblical satire/fantasy not being particularly sophisticated about religion if that's something important to you, I don't think that it being sophisticated about religion would have improved it as a story.

*I did kinda sorta write a fic that tries to cast Aziraphale and Crowley in a more traditionally Jewish lens and... it was actually really hard. As I said above, the way the Good Omens world is set up doesn't really work for the Jewish thing. I had to make it really clear that angels don't have free will and that Heaven and Hell aren't two different sides.

[the-stray-liger]

wait hold on how far are you into g-rev.. i think you're almost at what i consider to be both a fantastic arc and a fucking terrible one at the same time.

also, i can't speak much in-depth on racism in the show bc i'm white as hell but while i'm pretty sure g-rev is.. definitely not as bad as s1 in that regard for sure. the season does have other issues that i can confidently bring up, such as the fact that the writers decided this show needed a pervert old man character (like, there's a moment in i believe ep 15 where they straight up comment on tao being a pervert so it was absolutely intentional) and also in general the season feels like.. really weird about women. the way hiromi's consistently portrayed as the butt of the joke is a major example of this but overall it's kind of hard to explain but it's very Off. the season just feels very mean in general tbh but it's a whole can of worms.

I'm on episode 25! halfway through G-Rev iirc

I had a HUGE issue with how uuuh people from literally any country in central america were portrayed in s1 and V-Force. Like my dude I don't know how to explain to you that not all mexicans are mariachis. It was genuinely like the creators never opened a single atlas in their entire lives. Honestly that almost put me off from watching but I am also a fucking idiot so I kept going

My main issue with V-Force was that it introduced great characters and attempted to have stakes and then failed to deliver almost every time. The writing felt heartless.

Of course G-Rev has its issues but at least it's interesting. The interactions and clashes between the characters personalities make it feel alive. In V-Force the boys were like, super friends which is great but that meant there was rarely a challenge and their personalities got watered down. I think only Kai got to actually have a compelling emotional arc in V-Force, even Rei and Salima felt like they were missing something. In G-Rev you see each one of the kids developing individually and their personalities shine much better, plus we get them see interact with their respective teamse. IDK fam writing-wise I like G-Rev waaaaaaaay better than V-Force

I'm not even gonna get mad about how they treat female characters I honestly could write books on how much female characters get the short end of the stick in this type of anime, and beyblade is one GLARING example

[mcbitchtits]

My non-spoilery review of Dial of Destiny is that I think it succeeded; it’s a good movie. People seem to like it, despite whatever critiques Cannes had going on (and I need to go back and reread all the reviews now that I’m no longer avoiding spoilers). I think everyone should go see it, because a day with an Indiana Jones movie is always a good one. I wish Mads Mikkelsen had been given a little more room to chew the scenery as the villain; I can’t for the life of me figure out why he had last billing on stuff??? Shockingly most of all to me, the CGI de-aging pretty much worked.

ANYWAY, and then once everyone has seen it, you should come back and dig into the spoilers with me because there’s really so little I can say without immediately ruining... any part of it.

And so with that, here be spoilers:

When I say it succeeded I mean they put together a lot of parts that makes a fun movie, and it has Indiana Jones, so right there you’re golden. Ultimately, it’s literally just Tomb Raider (2001) But With Indiana Jones. Which I don’t think they did on purpose; if anything, I suspect they were trying to give a nod to the original Raiders plotline of the two headpiece pieces, and uh, oops, time travel macguffin. (I haven’t seen any official comments to substantiate that it’s supposed to be an allusion to the original script, I am wholly pulling that out of my own ass.)

Surprisingly, I think the movie succeeded where I expected it to fail (Disney’s hand in it, the CGI de-aging, the extremely dubious interpretation of the antikythera mechanism), and failed where I expected it to succeed: most notably, the score felt tacked on after the fact (what the hell) and while they fully delivered a cathartic and mature character arc, well, uh... it’s kind of miserable. I kind of hate it!

There are a lot of pieces I enjoy, and absolutely none of them— once you’re past the first 30 minutes or whatever— can manage to overtake the fact that you’re watching Indiana Jones drown in depression and complete personal despair for two hours. The final two hours of this character’s “grand finale”, I might add!

I’m totally fascinated by the fact that Mangold and Ford were able to look at the development and say, “we don’t want to make cheap Old Indy jokes” and then go and do that. It really feels lost to me in the line where Indy talks about “I’ve seen things I don’t understand... [...] it’s not a matter of what you believe, it’s how hard you believe them,” and I know it’s supposed to be sort of a commentary on hope (and Helena being the Indy-character and being stubborn and bringing him back to himself and his life), but also, WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!!!!!!!!! MY DUDE YOU WATCHED SO MANY PEOPLE GET PHYSICALLY DESTROYED BY THE HANDS OF MULTIPLE GODS AND SUPER BEINGS. WHAT. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. A real “?” from the writers on that one, chiefs, fuck’s sake.

Anyway, in terms of it being an Indy movie, also weird that they clearly are reacting to the reception of Crystal Skull the way that Last Crusade reacted to the reception of Temple of Doom; and yet the thing they managed to extract from that was “oh, people hated Indy feeling out of his element of this being a 50′s movie instead of a 30′s movie, so let’s dial that up even more and make him depressed about it.” (pun circumstantial)

That is. certainly a choice.

But it also misses to me what Indiana Jones is on a fundamental level in that they are movies about other movies. They are movies about movie-making. And there is a whole lotta None Of That in dial of destiny. There’s like, a couple of lines that are maybe supposed to be throwaway references to the earlier films? But I honestly can’t tell if they did it on purpose or if it was just, like, everybody binged the movies for research and the words got stuck in their head and fell into the script because they happened to sound right.

There are some things structurally that worked for me. The diving and the eels felt like a good nod to the Bond structure while being fresh and not out of place, unlike the bugs which felt unnecessary. The Atlas boulder that was in the trailer didn’t make it into the film, which is fine by me. I was surpised to find that Sallah’s role did not feel gratuitous and out of place, but very welcome. (And also when did Indy bring him to America and WHY WASN’T HE AT YOUR WEDDING, INDIANA)

I will take a Midwest/Wright brothers joke literally all the time. Dayton pride, babey, SUCK IT NORTH CAROLINA

There were no location/date title cards, and then the weird choice to end with an iris on the hat which— always yay, the hat—what on earth are you trying to say, here? You just spent the whole movie telling us he’s retired, this is the end of his saga (but not his life), he wasn’t back in the saddle, the world doesn’t really have a place for him —and to be clear You, Mangold, and You, Ford, and You, Marketing are promoting these statements—and now... he’s “back“? I mean, do be trying to pitch more Indy films. I will watch them. Especially after this mess. But like... what is your point. Again, I realize the other characters are telling him how wrong he is and how he shouldn’t give up and things are just different now, but the whole denoument just feels like an afterthought to me. And then we do not soar into the Raiders march with a final finesse a la Raiders, no, but go from something for Helena, drop into the Raiders March for a loop, then detour into... a ballad???????

Again, the score on this felt like a hot mess. It never seemed to hit its stride.

I am glad they didn’t give me the Disney castle to start; sad though we didn’t get a mountain. Lucasfilm felt like a good compromise, but also just kind of... there.

I do like that they had the spear of Longinus and it was a fake. A+, I am so tired of Christian artifact bluster.

I think they could have tightened up the script and cast a bit; Klaber as a character felt very poignant (it took me 70% of the way through the movie to realize he was not supposed to be a secretly-trained-up-German-Nazi but rather a good ol’ fashioned deep south American white supremacist), but also I think he took screentime that I would have rather seen given to Voller. Hauke (?), the Pat Roach stand-in, was kind of just... there. I don’t want to say Teddy was excessive, because he was there literally to be Helena’s Short Round, and to give their relationship some heart, but it also felt like a lot on top of also meeting Renaldo and then he and all his men immediately get killed, and also the Moroccan mobster is Helena’s ex and we have to have a ten minute chase about that. Mobster and his chase scene could have been folded more into the casino kerfuffle and his part of the tuktuk chase cut pretty much completely, were it me editing.

Despite being maybe-a-Raiders-concept-homage, I don’t think the antikythera needed to be in two pieces AND there was the graphikos AND then there was the necklace in the tomb. It starts to feel like just a video game series of missions at that point and to be quite frank, as much as I love them choosing a Greek artifact, a lot of the puzzles didn’t feel grounded to me. Just... pulled out of mysterious nowhere (or ahistoric nowhere), which on top of the conspiracy theory angle equals my distaste. Too much like the Akator puzzles in Crystal Skull, just being fantasy for fantasy’s sake and not for any other reason other than padding out the artifact story. It’s not doing anything for the plot. I understand why they chose to lean on Archimedes, as a scientist and a point of resonance for Indy’s and Basil’s and Voller’s characters (and archaeology), but again, me hating the conspiracy side of things, I wish they had 1) given it a more mythological grounding in the Greek pantheon, and 2) used that mythology more explicitly to give Voller his comeuppance. (Maybe he deserved a shitty and forgotten death, since he clearly had visions of grandeur and assuredly an ego to match Hitler’s. But nonetheless I WANT MYTHOLOGY.)

Also for no other reason than personal taste, I hate the hexagonal design of it.

At the very least when it comes to the macguffin and the time travel, they managed to hold back until the end— unlike Crystal Skull where they pulled the trigger showing the audience too early in the movie— and so that pretty much worked despite its ridiculousness. It’s maybe a little too Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for my tastes, but also it felt sort of respectfully reminiscent of the Grail Knight, just going in the opposite direction, so. It works enough.

I’m glad Helena punched Indy and brought him back to the present because I *ALSO* have been thinking about Indy’s death for a long time and boy howdy this movie could have been a lot worse. Jesus christ. A near fucking thing, though I’m hoping they never considered it as a real ending. (Indy certainly spent a lot of time being conscious for a man who got shot in the chest and was bleeding out like ten minutes previous.)

On a strictly personal taste note, and realizing it’s something most people felt no loss for since it figured centrally in their distaste for Crystal Skull, I hate that they killed off Mutt. I did actually like Mutt. I thought he was cast perfectly, sorry to the haters. And again, I think it was a fucking cruel thing to foist onto Indy and Marion’s relationship and THE FUCKING FINALE INDIANA JONES MOVIE. FOR TWO FULL HOURS!

Unrelated, just wanted to also point out that I was right about the “I’ve been looking for this all my life” line in the trailers being a dubbed fakeout. What’s up. This has no bearing on anything other than stroking my ego.

I did expect there to be a joke about Medusa or the Aegis what with Athena being Right The Fuck There in Archimedes’ tomb, but alas.

...

Anyway. I’m mad about it and I’m going to see it probably five or six times in theaters anyway and then, like, just always watch Raiders instead for the foreseeable future. For the past 24 hours now I have just been oscillating wildly between, like, this is fine, and also this is the worst thing ever, and also I love that everyone else likes it but I am sort of thrilled in my distaste? Like, Crystal Skull was a disappointment, for sure. I remember feeling that. I remember exactly what I thought coming out of the theater. But I also actively enjoyed a lot of parts of it (c.f. Mutt) and I developed a sort of wider appreciation of campy/corny/actively terrible things due in part to that.

This is not that. My distaste here is very specific, and very nearly overwhelming. And, I don’t know, I have some weirdly gleeful response in everyone asking me if it’s good, if they should see it, what did I think of it, and I can’t say anything that isn’t spoilery because even “it’s a good movie” is a clue enough that I didn’t enjoy it, and idk, maybe it’s, like, a weird science experiment? Where you’re getting RESULTS and that’s just purely fucking enjoyable no matter what they actually are? You just get to have something and examine it? I don’t know. I honestly don’t.

It’s far and away for me, technically and personally, the worst of the five.

On the whole it feels like... exactly matched to Disney’s/Lucasfilm’s efforts lately in general. The mediocre graphics and poster. The trailers that just kind of existed. A score that somehow turned out to be barely anything. The fact that they put out tons of shirts and collectibles with outright errors. The fact that they had to steal their Facebook page ages ago from a fan, then never post to it, and never bother to take over/rebuild their site from Paramount (they sold in 2013!!!!) until two months ago, wherein now it just forwards to Lucasfilm. A macguffin that, for the first time ever, seems to have no actual resonance to the plot. (Should have been, for Helena; instead we spent that time being chased through the streets of Morocco by her ex.)

Yep. You sure did put Harrison Ford in a fedora again. And as I’ve said forever, I will be there every time, and I will watch it.

But. like. The End, I guess? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Hell of a note to go out on. And you didn’t even go out on the Raiders March.

[violetren]

Just watched Superheroes and Huntsmen Part One and as a RWBY fan and someone who likes DC heroes in general, I had a great time.

I really loved how they used the fact that everyone knew it was a crossover to their advantage to create a kinda slow boil effect around RWBY details not being quite right. Like a lot of it isn't even subtle (Yang having her prosthetic but being in Volume 1 gear, Grimm glitching immediately, the absence of Blake and Weiss in a pre-fall setting and so on) and yet you're so caught up in the action and in Clark's frantic confusion and the fact that it's a weird ass multiversal cross over that you just sorta rationalise it.

"Of course things are unnatural and weird Clark literally just said that he wasn't supposed to be here and his presence probably fucked up reality somehow. I wonder what time and space shenanigans the JL were involved in to digitise Grimm."

But the weird keeps piling on and by the time you're watching Jaques Schnee be little more than aggrieved and dismissive of Weiss yelling at him at a party, or "volume 1" Weiss having the confidence to do so without fear of retribution you're like "Oh shit is fucked up fucked up, we aren't in Atlas as sure as Clark ain't in Kansas."

From there it's what I can only really call lowstakes Remnant/classic superhero fair. Lots of cool combat, fun, quippy super dialogue, just a touch of personal pain and struggle but hardly enough to register for someone who just finished RWBY volume 9. It was fun.

There were some tiny characterisation things with the RWBY cast that all fell easily within the scope of the fact that they were actively force-fed a false reality and so didn't really strain at suspension of disbelief.

And then there was the DC cast.

I went in expecting to leave wondering why they didn't just use one of their several canon groups of teen heroes, which seems to be a common complaint. After watching it I'm not wondering and I don't think they made some egregious error in judgement using the Justice League.

I might revise my opinion by a great deal if in the next movie the Justice League are still teenagers but honestly I'm curious as hell to see the Huntsmen interact with grown versions of the heroes who haven't had all their insecurities pulled to the forefront, and seeing the Justice League react to the fact that the Huntsmen, while clearly more experienced and steady in their proper ages, are still barely more than children.

I know Doyalist logic for choosing the Justice League probably heavily relates to cold hard cash and someone upstairs incorrectly assuming that it wouldn't be as much of a draw without the Trinity and their current league headliners, and while it's sorta disappointing it's not surprising in the least. I'm choosing to be glad the writers landed on such a cool way to work with the restrictions on rights uses that they were given.

From a Watsonian perspective the idea of forcing them all back to a time where they weren't as good as emotional regulation but keeping them stacked with their big adult emotions to be dealt with in that compromised state while in a facsimile of a world where too much negative emotion makes you bait for murderous monsters is about as solid as most super-villain plans get. It's a plan that would have been even more fucked up and fatal in enacted against teens and turning them to kidlets which circles back into a Doyalist POV in that Of Fucking Course they couldn't have team RWBY fighting alongside prepubescent superheroes. Kids looking after tots is a story for in universe, in fandom, or at least for much more strongly connected multiverses. Sure they could have picked a different plot, but at that point they knew they weren't gonna be able to use teen titans and why not use a cool idea if you have it?

In comparison to my love of RWBY I'm a much more casual comics fan and so while I recognised all the characters in play for half of them I only had broad strokes type knowledge of them learned from fandom and advertising of some of their more popular runs.

To that end the characters I got felt like they hit the broad strokes a casual fan might know and then put them through the same funhouse mirror that teams RWBY and JNR went through being forced into a fake world where nothing was familiar and yet seemed unavoidably real AND needing to readjust to being teens and all the fucked up brain chemistry that comes with that All Over Again. For RWBY and JNR the effect was a little less pronounced due to teenagedom really not being that long ago (and still a reality for Ruby), but of course it showed more obviously in the Justice League members making choices and saying shit their adult counterparts straight up just wouldn't say or do. That was flat out stated in text as the whole point of making them teens again!

I do sorta get why die hard fans of specific characters might feel that those characters weren't done justice but like, that's comics babes. Why would you expect them to do better in an outside of continuity crossover with an anime? Like it's hard enough in any medium to get good properly explored characterisation after a cast has more than like 2 people in their own world nevermind in a massive ensemble multiversal crossover.

As I said before I reserve judgement on hating teeny bopper justice league until I see what state they're in for Part 2. As a stand alone though I think they did fine but that is heavily influenced by the fact that at the end of the day I care more about RWBY than any of the dc characters they included and I was probably quite lucky in that respect.

If I were to register a complaint it would probably be the Weiss and Bruce of it all but it was actually really really easy to just step back and ignore any weak romantic subplot vibes when ultimately it was obvious they were never going to build to anything and when you paused to look at it through the lens of Two Smart Lonely Uber-Rich Kids Who Forged Themselves Into Weapons To Fight For Justice Having Empathy For One Another.

Also it gave us "scientifically minded and highly computer literate Weiss" in what was at least an official story even if it wasn't mainline canon continuity and I love that for her.

[chaosjedimasterk]

Spoilers for The Bad Batch season 2 finale today

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Holy fuck was that an emotional set of episodes.

- starting off I was assuming Plan 99 involved self sacrifice - that’s what we saw 99 do in TCW im not surprised they named it after him

- I’m maybe in denial but I don’t believe tech is dead - but I also don’t think he’s just chillen somewhere I would bet that if he is still alive Hemlock found him and took him. Now if they turn Tech into a death trooper personally I will be sending Lucas films my therapy bill. Star Wars is hell bent on no body no crime and we didn’t see his on screen death so 🤷🏼‍♀️

- I’m honestly pretty pissed about Cid turning them over. Like I get they’ve been setting this up, but it further shows a lack of awareness from what fans have been saying. Cid is an antisemetic trope and the idea of her turning them over while being a money hungry individual and a lizard is absolutely gross in my opinion. And shows again that the writers room needs to listen when fans point out this shit. So overall I’m pissed about this choice. There were many other ways to do this.

- moving on though god omega just learning from her brothers to always try to save them breaks my heart. And the weariness this child has of she just lost one of the most important people to her again.

- finally I don’t quite understand what they’re setting up by having omega having an older sister? It felt like a weird choice but I know that everything is setting up to explain Palpy bois return in the sequels but it super threw me off

- if this is the beginning of the death trooper thing I’m going to cry forever

- honestly my heart hurts it was so emotional and I don’t think I was prepared for what we got. I did like it and I look forward to seeing more and I really hope we get a season 3. That being said I am still vehemently wanting the animators to darken their skin and to re-examine some of the tropes in their writing.

[seancamerons]

1, 10, 15, 16

Thanks for leaving me some fanfiction asks too!!

How long ago did you start reading or writing fanfiction? Damn, I had to been when I was around about twelve or maybe thirteen. I don't know if anyone remembers the-ndotcom message boards, various Degrassi message boards (mainly Degrassi boards aka DB, anyone around, I honestly doubt it?), and of course, fanfictiondotnet my online life in the mid-2000s.💗

When I was third grade, I remember writing things that resembled fanfiction. Typically based off of some shows I saw (such as Sabrina the teenage Witch, TGIF line up was awesome) or books I read like The Boxcar Children or Junie B, for these writing journal prompts for school the teacher would assign us. When I say it's all cringe and embarrassing as hell, Let's just say I'm glad no evidence of that writing existed. That wasn't even the tip of the iceberg there, I also wanted to *be* a friggin' author. I'd even include these cheesy bios for each 'book' I would make for myself bc I'd always see them in books I read in childhood.

Fast forward to 2003, my first fanfiction (when I knew I was writing fanfiction) was a doozy for Degrassi written about Sean, Craig, and Emma in some weird season 2 timeline with a love triangle, an ill-fated camping trip, Sean's newly sober mother made an appearance in the form of a camp organizer desperate to reconnect with her son and bring him home much to his chagrin, and other things I forgot about and wouldn't wanna think much on. I was basically winging it. I'm afraid it's gone. I had notebooks and notebooks filled with stories around this time.

10. Worst writing habits? Abandoning and giving up without a doubt. A horrid habit that becomes tempting when I get writer's block, and then I just start the hell over and make something totally new and forget about it drop it like a bad habit, and the cycle comes back around like a shitty boomerang. I then will read the old one months or even years later and be filled with regret or have five million new ideas for said abandoned story. Maybe then I rework it in the future someday or in a whole dif story which has been done before. I am already my own worst critic, but I hate super flaming, negative criticism that shit doesn't help anyone except be tempted to give up.

Some fic I abandoned needed to be, such as the Zoemund vehicle in a weird alternate season thirteen titled The Starlet and Dealer. Not that I need to explain myself, but I didn't feel right writing something portraying a couple with literally no chance on any planet, not even interested in men on the whole didn't make much sense. Also who would read that considering all that? It's available on fanfictiondotnet who cares? I moved on it's never gonna have an ending.

Backtrack has more of a chance of getting an ending, and yes, it's an *almost* ten-year-old fic, just saying.😄😄😄

Another habit is simply beating myself up, comparing myself and just simply hating on myself which I gotta stop doing. Honorable mention, stuff like not being in the mood to write, or getting too much on my plate and then not writing.

15. One-shots or multi-chapters? Multichapters Angst? Yes. Fluff? Yes. Smut? I'm not that brave ha, not for a lack of trying. I usually do the ol' Disney-style cut away. I'm so lame. Hurt/comfort? Yes. Fantasy? Nah. Romance? My bread and butter🥰. Which one is your favorite? Hmm I'd say romance with multiple chapters all the way! Which one is your least favorite? My least favorite is when the protag gets pregnant and the whole story is just fucked after that because it just doesn't interest me. It's just so unoriginal and a little predictable. Unpopular or popular opinion who cares, not every love story or romance ends with a baby or a pregnancy 🤷‍♀️. I'm down for a wedding that would be something fun to tackle in writing. No, really though, out of the listed, I'd say I don't care for fantasy.

16. What’s your favorite headcanon or trope? For semma related fic's stories, I like incorporating things such as emphasis on photographs, flashbacks to past events, and some other memories from their past relationships with one another or things we didn't get to see. For example, Emma had this little box with moments like movie ticket stubs, Sean's old denim jacket (before he started wearing hoodies), Emma's retired dolphin pants, obviously photographs, a few burned mix CDs, letters, and or notes passed from class, and more miscellaneous items.

As for Emma and Jay another Degrassi pairing I write often, for example, I like including a treehouse motif. It's a long story, but in my invented backstory for Jay, Connie (Fancy) is his mother, She left his father for Mr. Edwards (Darcy and Clare's father) she met at the strip club. They had an affair resulting in pregnancy so there's a drama with that. Obviously, Jay and Darcy clash (naturally) and act like they're not related at school is an arrangement beneficial to both for Darcy's popularity and Jay had a reputation to uphold and also there's Jay's young maybe five year old half-sister from Randall and Connie named Christina affectionately nicknamed Chrissy. Jay resents his mother for leaving their father and making this new family with these stuck-up people he seems to detest and what it did to his father who had fallen in a reclusive depression since their divorce.

Chrissy idolizes Jay and serves as an honorary shipper for Emma and Jay, and sometimes provides comic relief. At Jay's dad's house is where the treehouse comes in, and Jay's super attached to it and his father too who he is still close with. The treehouse is a special spot for Jay. He eventually brings Emma into his world and treehouse, and the setting symbolizes a lot in their relationship. All this lore was created long before Jay or Darcy had a canon backstory or last names purely based on speculation. There's also related Jay/Alex lore about their past relationship, invented things from their dysfunctional childhoods. I also have a host of headcanons for Emma, Manny, and JT's childhood memories growing up together.

For tropes, I dig the first love/true love, mutual pining, enemies to lovers, slow burns, and secret relationships/forbidden love is always fun to write. I recently attempted a fake dating story Faking It/(a03)

This all is a lot of fun to write. Thanks Emma! I hope you also like writing responses to these type of questions! I’m always available and down for more questions about fanfiction! 💌

[cwarscars-a]

*taps mic* hi hello good night! I'm here to talk about Magnar Valerio Heidegger because of course that is his canon name and I don't care what SE has to say about it. :) No, but really - I know I've said this in the past but Heid is an emotional muse for me and I'll do this again.

I don't think I was prepared for how much you made me care for him - it's fair that the remake made him more than a lil pixel in a green coat and thick beard, but I had no feelings or thoughts for Heid until I met you. I remember being a weird choice of a muse - Reeve and Scarlet (even Hojo with the yucky factor) were such popular directors, why would someone pick Heidegger?

All I can say is that I'm glad you did it because HOLY FUCK. I remember reading through this incredibly long and detailed bio and just... Fully seeing Heidegger as a fully-fleshed character. The abuse at the hands of the father he failed to recognize as such; the intense pressure to succeed and to please him nonetheless; the marriage that ended in heartbreak with two daughters he didn't spend nearly enough time with; the worship of Shinra Sr.; his views on world politics and how he so clearly sees himself as a man with the guts to do what needs to be done to achieve results.

With your writing, I just went from someone who largely ignored him to someone who frankly adores the character. There is just so MUCH room for growth, complicated themes to work with and you just turned him into this layered, complex asshole I love? That Melissa would definitely marry no matter the verse? I just cannot get enough of how much history you've given him, how plausible it all sounds and the fact that you write a villain we can relate/understand his reasoning without ever woobifying him.

You are THE Heidegger writer to me and I'm forever amazed and wowed by your headcanons and super well detailed posts. It all tracks to the OG or the remake in some way and it's just so good I forget it's not canon. Or fuck that - you're better than canon. PLUS Heidegger gave me you and 3 years later (3 years??? omg) we're here and having fun and I will never not love the husbando for it.

You're amazing and your Heidegger is a work of art. *mic drop*

hey…how’s my portrayal? ♡

(( MARI. WHAT THE FUCK ----

i legit saw the start of this and thought 'ooohhhh, a nice tasty lil ask for heidegger & mel to have sexy times in' AND THEN I KEPT READING AND I WAS LIKE 'WAIT A SECOND'. you know something, i'm not much of an emotional bear - i think we both know this because i have n e r v e s of s t e e l but...this got my eyes damp? like, what the hell???

i feel emotional reading this, it's like how i mentioned to light; it feels good to have been given the platform and supported by you guys in writing heid. like, i feel as though these headcanons and storylines and stuff come out because of you guys. i sometimes feel so embarrassed by my love of this guy because he isn't cloud or sephiroth or even one of the lesser but still popular characters (ala rufus or tseng). like, who the hell would like heidegger? haha. well, me apparently :P

but it feels great because i get this support and this validation by people like yourself. you just DIVEBOMB into my inbox with this absolute love letter of goodness and it honestly has me feeling so warm and fuzzy. ive been so down these last few weeks just due to various bits and pieces and you know, when you reach a stage where you can't even cry* because you feel so shit? well, now i'm sat here with lil happy tears beading in the corners of my eyes - like, bruh- you did that, i love you for it.

of course - i can't just fawn on how much i love you and how sweet you are, mari. because our friendship is special and i'm so forever grateful to have started to write with you that one day and i'm so glad that everything from there has happened and we've always stayed in touch but like -

melissa. you KNOW i wouldn't have half the characterisation of heid if it wasn't for her. that initial meeting - the INITIAL plots we had with the blackmail and stuff before these two coconuts fell in love. their son and retirement to costa del sol. remember the bitchy neighbour that mel HATED? edlyn and dwayna befriending mel and mel restoring their relationship with their father? all of the smut and all of the wonderful things we've written together? mari, you're such a special writing partner to have. you're one in a million. your girl is the best and i (and my lil collection of men) will forever love her. i don't even need to tell you how much i adore your writing because you know i could read a novel of your works. please write mel into a book, i NEED

my final thing i wanna say is just -

suns out, guns out - i love them and i love you ♡♡♡♡

[dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3]

Director's Commentary! ☆☆☆: Chapter 14 from "The Problem With Mondo" although I can be specific if you wish it

"Oh, shit, if it ain’t lil’ Mondo Fuckin’ Owada, goddamn. How the fuck is it goin’, kid? S’only been, what... a year, two, since ya last called?"

"Oh, yeah? Yer just ‘in Tokyo’ now? Like I don’t fuckin’ know that yer attendin’ that pretentious as fuck institute. Ya don’t call me since yer brother died, an’ all I fuckin’ get is ‘I’ve been busy,’ ‘fore ya go on with yer request. Well, if ya want me ta do whatever the fuck ya need done, yer gonna hafta give more detail than that, squirt. How the fuck did that even happen? Didn’t think Hope’s fuckin’ Peak would be the kind ta take in a biker. Ain’t like ya don’t deserve it, but damn, kid. Goin’ places, ain’t ya?"

"So, fucking... leave me the hell alone. I’m gonna fucking leave now and I- I don’t ever wanna see yer goddamn face again. Forget my number and never contact me again. You understand me?"

"I... shit. Fuckin’... shit. Still so fuckin’ stubborn, ain’t ya...? God... god fuckin’ dammit. Fine. Fine. Ya wanna live the rest a’ yer life with yer head in the goddamn sand, be my fuckin’ guest. Cut me out, don’t talk ta me ever again. Do whatever the fuck ya like. "

I care deeply for Daisuke and Mondo's relationship

Oooh, thank you!! Honestly I had forgotten I had reblogged this, so when I saw this ask when I was at my internship this morning I was like "..... HUH????"

😅😅😅

But! I do have a lot of commentary for that chapter, so this is a great one to do! And I'm glad you like their relationship!! I love it too, so I'm happy that other people do as well.

First, I'll do a general commentary, then do the specific ones you asked about. I'll do a read more here to prevent this from ruining someone's dash, ha.

What this ask is referring to:

Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

So, chapter 14. Originally, it had been a lot different when I came up with it than what I ended up writing. I actually remember that I had been at work when I came up with the idea for the chapter. I had been walking with the kids (I'm an elementary after school teacher) during their walking/running club during our weird COVID return year, and I had been thinking of what I wanted to write later when I got home. Originally, I had wanted Mondo to call in a favor from an old friend to get the helmet and wine all in one. The friend was going to be about his age, maybe Daiya's age, and I think I was going to have them be more like a lackey or something. Someone who wasn't super important to Mondo. They still were going to be all "dude that sounds like a date, wow." Mondo wasn't going to get angry or anything, though, more like "pssh, NO IT ISN'T, ugh."

However, when I got to writing it, I got the idea for the "old friend" to be an older biker. And then I thought it would be cool if it were like... an old mentor. And then I was like... but wait. What if it was an old mentor of DAIYA'S???? And then... Daisuke was born, ha. Also, random, but I hadn't meant for both Daiya and Daisuke to have Dai in their names, I just was looking at male Japanese names, and liked that one. It also means "great help," apparently, which may also have been part of why I named him that, but I don't quite remember.

The more I wrote Daisuke and Mondo together, the more I liked them, honestly. I began to really like the idea of Daiya having a mentor that Mondo was distant with, mostly due to guilt and wanting to prove himself. I kind of regretted not being able to have Daisuke in the story more, since it wouldn't have made much sense with the constraints I had with following TPWP. But I think it makes sense why Mondo wouldn't want to talk to Daisuke again after everything that happened. With how repressed Mondo was, he couldn't even think of seeing Daisuke again after everything he said. Even with where Mondo is now in the story, which him being more accepting of his feelings, the thought of talking to Daisuke would be unbearable to him.

Now! As much as I'd love to go on and on forever, I do need to stop or else this ask will be the length of TPWP and TPWM combined. So, here's the commentary on your sections.

"Oh, shit, if it ain’t lil’ Mondo Fuckin’ Owada, goddamn. How the fuck is it goin’, kid? S’only been, what... a year, two, since ya last called?"

"Oh, yeah? Yer just ‘in Tokyo’ now? Like I don’t fuckin’ know that yer attendin’ that pretentious as fuck institute. Ya don’t call me since yer brother died, an’ all I fuckin’ get is ‘I’ve been busy,’ ‘fore ya go on with yer request. Well, if ya want me ta do whatever the fuck ya need done, yer gonna hafta give more detail than that, squirt. How the fuck did that even happen? Didn’t think Hope’s fuckin’ Peak would be the kind ta take in a biker. Ain’t like ya don’t deserve it, but damn, kid. Goin’ places, ain’t ya?"

(I'm going to talk about the entire scene with Mondo and Daisuke here, since it will be easier than just the paragraphs you put, if that's okay.)

For this scene, I mostly wanted to get some exposition about Mondo and Daisuke's relationship out of the way, letting y'all know how Mondo knew this person he's calling, as well as explaining why the man was never mentioned before this scene. An estranged mentor figure seemed the best way to go. Also, fun fact: I kind of based Daisuke off of Bobby Singer, from Supernatural. I had written my SPN fic before writing TPWP, so I was familiar with writing Bobby.

When looking at the rest of that scene, I mostly wanted to show that Daisuke knew Mondo really well, and that he could tell pretty much immediately that Mondo at least really liked Taka, if not was in love with him. Daisuke always suspected Mondo was bi, and even suspected that of Daiya (since in this universe, I kind of figure that Daiya was also bi, but because of his hatred of his father, denied it as strongly as Mondo always did. Maybe even more so, since Daiya had to be the "big brother" and take care of his little bro), which I wanted to show in this scene without being too explicit.

Overall, I just... wanted to have Mondo and Daisuke to have a realistic relationship to one another. I wanted to show that Mondo has someone out there who knows him and who cares about him, even if Mondo is too damaged and guilt ridden to see it. I also wanted to set up for the next scene, which I'll talk about next.

"So, fucking... leave me the hell alone. I’m gonna fucking leave now and I- I don’t ever wanna see yer goddamn face again. Forget my number and never contact me again. You understand me?"

"I... shit. Fuckin’... shit. Still so fuckin’ stubborn, ain’t ya...? God... god fuckin’ dammit. Fine. Fine. Ya wanna live the rest a’ yer life with yer head in the goddamn sand, be my fuckin’ guest. Cut me out, don’t talk ta me ever again. Do whatever the fuck ya like. "

Now, THIS scene... so, the whole second scene with Mondo and Daisuke was where I wanted Mondo to hear from someone who knows him intimately that he is straight up in love with Taka. Rather than just hearing it from a newly acquired friend, like Leon, he's hearing it from someone who has known him since he was "a snot nosed little kid," which makes it more meaningful to Mondo.

This scene here, this is Mondo rejecting it. He doesn't want to hear what Daisuke has to say. He doesn't want to acknowledge his love for Taka, or hear from someone who knows him that what he's feeling isn't platonic, brotherly feelings. So, he reacts the only way he knows how, which is to push people away through any means possible. However, instead of getting blindingly angry, he grows cold and closed off. This is my way of showing that Mondo is truly upset by what Daisuke said. He's not responding with his usual anger, but a different, more potent and frigid anger. Anger mixed with fear, I suppose. I just... wanted to show how terrified Mondo was to love Taka. He wasn't just angry with Daisuke. He was terrified.

And Daisuke saw that. He realized in this moment just how repressed Mondo was, and in that paragraph, Daisuke was seeing just how dead set Mondo was on being miserable for the rest of his life. And it made him feel both angry on Mondo's behalf, but also resigned. You can't make anyone do anything or see things the way you see them, even people you love, and Daisuke was feeling that there. It's why I had him go on to say that Mondo shouldn't let Taka go easily, to hold on and never let go. He knew Mondo was stubborn as a bull and would likely never contact him again, so he didn't want him to leave without having someone-- anyone-- tell him how important Taka was for him.

Mostly, I wanted Mondo to hear from a source that knew him how important Taka was, and I wanted to show how violently Mondo reacted to hearing it. But not just violently; differently, too. It's not his usual anger. It's more. But then, later on, he still goes on that not-a-date date with Taka, he still holds him close and looks up at the stars. He still loves him, even with how terrified he is, since it's not something he can just ignore anymore. Even if he wants to reject Taka and his love, he physically can't. That's why he got the wine and not the whiskey. That's why he took Taka on the ride even despite his earlier terror. He loves him so much that he can't be away from him even when he's scared.

Overall, Daisuke's role was to open Mondo's eyes to his feelings, and for Mondo to force his eyes shut. I wanted y'all to know that MONDO KNOWS how he feels. He knows, he knows, he knows. But he doesn't want to know, and so he doesn't. If any of that makes any sense and isn't just pretentious babble 😅

So! I'm done, ha. Sorry for the avalanche of text, but I guess that's what you signed up for with that ask. Basically, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Daisuke and Mondo's relationship, and if I weren't so burnt out with everything going on, I would write a sequel with Daisuke in it. I had been starting a fic with Taka accidentally meeting Daisuke, based on an ask I got, but it's sadly on the indefinite backburner too. I really like the idea of Mondo having an older, mentor figure who was close to Daiya, though, and it makes me very happy to know other people liked that dynamic too. Thanks a lot for the ask, I really appreciated it!! :-D

[sl33pyperson]

and thus, ends the time with the wackos

bobbi really took the kids in the divorce

he just looks good here honestly

you KNOW she doesnt shower. musky husky

we love representation o7

just screaming every time khonshu doesnt know how to interact with people (also khonshu FUCKING HATING BABIES i guess u can see it as like. marcs instinct is kicking in and wants to protect the baby or something i dont fucking know, its funnier to not look into it and khonshu just wants to dropkick it)

ok ok ok ok so theres like. a fic where some avengers + mk (jake) get trapped in a room with deadly gas. they dont understand how mk works so they just assume hes being lazy and laying on the ground and not helping him bc he can heal super quickly, when actually jake is dying over and over and over again while khonshu brings him back (until valkyrie fucking screams at everyone) and idk this reminded me of that. love your god being able to fuck around with your body in horrifying ways!!!!

i love for the life of a hero KHONSHU YOU LITERALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT UR DOING… COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR but also they 100% fucked in that maze

he just looks good here. the line is so bad tho. khonshu shut the fuck up

love watching this immortal being struggle in his cage <3 gods i want some fucked up mk tho like. make mk actual suprnatural or have fucked up ethereal qualities WAIT THERE WAS A GOOD POST ABOUT THAT ILL NEED TO FIND IT

does. does tigra know? does she fucking know? maam???

i love a rag tag group of villains who have preplanned attacks AND evacuations <3 shroud is hilarious to me

GET ZAPPED FUCKO

there is nothing smart i can say about this. the system is truely a plaything to khonshu, something to be used in khonshus image and nothing else

and when given back control (yes a bunch of snakemen just attacked the moment it happened but still) marc straight away goes into 1. i might fight to live and 2. the only thing certain about myself is tbhat i am moon knight, khonshus fist, WHICH IS ALOT SIR PLEASE GET A REST AFTER THIS

so im not jewish, idk how well the “ive met my maker” line uhhhhh. Works., but marc truly needs time to just. sit down with himself (and the others) and the fact khonshu STILL is manipulating him into being moon knight, doing his bidding, like. marc doesnt do this as a way of redeeming himself, he just thinks its the right thing to do and what HE IS at this point, “for now and forever, strike in my name” FUCK OFF KHONSHUUUUUUUUU SHUT UPPPP LEAVE MY POOR MAN ALONE

i understand marc Very Much Not Wanting A Relationship Or Anything after these months of possession and hell but also lol rip tigra (i feel bad shes literally lost her whole team in wackos and people she cared about tho, give my girl a break too)

fairwell wackos, fairwell weird talks about marriage (which writer at marvel as getting a divorce at this time), marc now gets a. oh shit nevermind marc spector series is literally the same year apparently? no breaks for my man

i have no faith for the next Oh God Theres So Much Of The Marc Spector Series Please Fucking Help Me. the fact its CALLED marc spector just gives off all the bad signs for me, love bad faith interpretations and completely ignoring the fact jake and steven are REAL AND THERE!! the wackos almost hit it with marc realising “lol its funny my thoughts appear just like jake and stevens, huh” but now hes falling back into “i made them up and just went crazy hehe” thoughts which i truly hope the writers dont take as the actual truth…… 60 issues of hell baby lets fucking go!!

[sharkaiju]

The Simpsons for the ask thing?

Favorite character: Oh definitely Sideshow Bob! I also think Bart and Millhouse are hilarious together. Also Moe because honestly I am a Moe lmao.

Least Favorite character: Honestly Lisa annoys the fuck out of me lol

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): I don't have that many ships in this fandom, mostly Krusty/Sideshow Bob because I love fucked up relationships haha. I like Krusty/Sideshow Mel for the same reason. And I want Sideshow Bob to be out of jail and be jealous as fuck of Mel but end up in a weird hate-sex situation with him (or him and Krusty together). I'm not super into Francesca but I did love her and Bob being evil together lol.

Character I find most attractive: Sideshow Bob again lol. I'm kind of obsessed with his hair. His brother Cecil is hot as well.

Character I would marry: Not really a marrying kind of person but I'd fuck the hell out of Bob and Mel

Character I would be best friends with: Def. Moe. I relate to that bastard on a spiritual level.

a random thought: I haven't watched this show in way too long and I'm getting nostalgic

An unpopular opinion: I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not but when people tell me they "don't watch the Simpsons" I usually think "Oh... so you're not funny" (and I'm usually right lol) (at least in the case of my co-workers)

My Canon OTP: I don't really ship Lisa and Nelson but I did feel it in my soul when she said "He sure is ugly! ...So why can't I stop staring at him?" because hell if that aint me

My Non-canon OTP: Krusty/Sideshow Bob foreverrrr

Most Badass Character: Gotta say Sideshow Bob again

Most Epic Villain: Yeah you know I'm gonna say Sideshow Bob lol

Pairing I am not a fan of: I couldn't really get into it after they killed off Maude because I can't see Flanders with anyone but her honestly

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Just their decision to kill off Maude, that was lame

Favourite Friendship: Bart and Millhouse!

Character I most identify with: Oh definitely Moe. "You try to resist the overwhelming urge to punch people in the face, and for what?!"

Character I wish I could be: Not sure I'd want to be him but I wish I could sing like Bob lol

[sanpatron]

Anonymous asked:

so uh.... thoughts on Saints Row 2022? heard its uh.

its bad. really bad. "You butchered everything" kind of bad

I don’t wanna turn this into a full-fledged review sorta deal, but I feel like as your resident Sai/nts Row man, I should at least talk about my thoughts a little bit. Though before I get into anything, I wanna say two things.

First; despite my feelings towards the reboot, I really don’t hate it. I was super disappointed by it in a lot of areas, but I’m not like “oh my god this is the worst thing in the world, I can’t believe the developers broke into my home, kicked my dog, and then set my place on fire”. A lot of reviews have been crazy harsh and I just think that kind of attitude is tiring. But again, that’s just me.

Second; I feel like I might have to reevaluate everything given the recent announcement on how they’ll be fixing up a lot of things. For anyone curious you can learn more about it here. Not entirely sure how substantial any of the fixes are gonna be (I mean it ain’t like they can redo the story), but I guess we’ll just wait and see.

Anyway, my thoughts will be under the read more!

So to basically summarize everything, I think at the very least the gameplay is like mid to decent at best. There’s a lot of weird shit involving the combat where it doesn’t feel as good as it might have in previous entries (I’m sure we all know about gameplay feel and etc). But I don’t think it’s bad enough to make me not want to go around the map and fuck around, And once co-op has been fixed, I’m sure that’ll help substantially too.

The activities can be fun, but they don’t feel as integral to the story as they should be. They’re more like blatant padding cause the story is so weirdly short for whatever reason. Like in the first two games you didn’t even have to complete them all in their entirety to continue the main missions, just do enough to earn the Respect you need to unlock more. Not only that, but they’d let you earn Respect through other methods as well; stunts, diversions, buying stuff, etc.

The map is a step up from Steelport TREMENDOUSLY. There’s a lot more character and variety to the city, but it’s still missing a certain sort of something that made me really fall in love with Stilwater. Probably the grime? I think it might be a bit too clean in some aspects. Also if you’re gonna have a big corpo faction in the game, then you definitely need to make them feel a lot more oppressive than they’re depicted. Like ULTOR had their hands in everything compared to Marshall.

Now my biggest issues are regarding the plot and the new cast. The plot is way too short. Like ridiculously so. It feels like some basically had an outline or a draft of what they wanted the story to be, and wound up just using that while totally forgetting to beef it up. The stakes aren’t really there, we don’t have much to see when it comes to the rival gangs, the tone is frankly all over the place, and for a game that was marketed as an origin story, it really doesn’t feel like much of one. Especially for the main four because they’re already so close with each other when you start the game.

Also I don’t hate the new group entirely. Like in theory they could work out well. But the biggest problem is that I think they play it too safe with them. For a bunch of career criminals who decide to form a gang cause of really uninteresting reasons, the writers REALLY wanted to portray them as good people. And I know that’s a bit rich given what I’ve been doing with Boss here, but I always make it a point to say that he’s more than capable of starting shit whenever he feels like it. He just sees no reason to.

If you’re going to write about a gang then don’t hesitate in making them assholes! Like I’m sorry, but there is no way in hell this weird sanitized version of them is going to work out or even be remotely interesting. It feels like the misconception of what “morally grey” characters are. Honestly “sanitized” is they key word here; from the gang, to the tone, to even the violence that’s played out. All of it feels way too clean for my liking.

Anyway, I could go into further details about stuff like them trying to go for spaghetti western themes at literally the end of the game, or some gameplay choices that I don’t agree with, but like I said, I don’t want this to be a full-on review of SRR. Just wanted to get some thoughts out there.

Hope this answers your question well enough!

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

So when it comes to FE: Awakening I said once I hoped that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon time travel mechanics were in play - averting the bad future means that everyone from that future world disappears from existence - so that the game could emotionally ruin me as much as Explorers of Time did. That did not happen - I should have expected that from my experience with Three Houses, Fire Emblem games end quick and there’s not much time for wrapping things up, so they couldn’t/wouldn’t take the time to explain that and unpack that. Because that would kind of be a huge thing to deal with.

But I had these tags on that post

#you know that if this isn't how the game works itself out then an AU of that will be the first thing i do #bc man. pmd explorers. few games have ruined me more than i was playing Explorers of Time 

and now that I know that the game doesn’t work itself out that way, I just said to myself "listen how fucked up would this concept be. And also how thematically interesting and complicated!” and then I wrote 2000 words thinking about it.

-

Naga told them that Robin was going to disappear with Grima’s death. Okay, fine - I mean, not fine, but they know that. Robin and Chrom are fighting over who makes the final strike against Grima because of that. Everyone is anticipating that.

What they’re not anticipating is when Lucina, Morgan, and the other kids to start fading away the same as Robin did, like the way the Risen crumble into dust, dissipating in bright light

“What’s happening?!” Chrom demands of Naga, because again, obviously, not expecting this. 

“They are children born of a future that no longer happened,” Naga explains. “How can they continue to exist when the world that they came from, the times that bore them and shaped them, no longer happen?”

The cost of victory is this: Robin’s life (it is unlikely she will return, Naga says, but Chrom has faith, he always does in Robin), and these particular lives of the children of Shepherds, children who wrote themselves out of existence so that another self would have a better future.

The cost of victory is this: Chrom has seen almost all of his family fall away from him. His wife, and his son and daughter, his nephew, and other comrades-in-arms and friends, are gone.

He still has a daughter, Lucina, back at the palace in Ylisstol, Lucina who is a child who has grown without her parents around - how old is she now? How long has this war in Valm and with the Grimleal lasted? Has Lucina learned how to walk and speak her first word while her father and mother were away at war? She was two months old when they left her; does she recognize Chrom when he returns?

This is Lucina and it is not Lucina and it will be Lucina and it will never be that Lucina. Chrom had a grown daughter who was strong and clever and beautiful and determined, who saved his life and saved the world, who inherited a Brand and a sword and the deepest grief of loss from him. Chrom has a baby daughter who will grow up with a Brand and someday a sword and never that grief from his death at her mother’s hand. She will have the life and the world that her other self fought for. Is this the same Lucina, or is it not? Did Lucina who went by Marth die just as she achieved everything she fought for? Or is there only one Lucina, one who will be happy now for never needing to fight a war and lose her parents, one who assured herself a better future and now gets to grow up in it?

Chrom is a firm believer in the future never being written in stone, in destiny being thwartable.

But what does it mean to write a new future when there are parts of the old that you miss so dearly and want back?

The Shepherds’ children from the future were their children and also, because of the unnatural time-travel-wrought closeness in age, their friends and comrades. And the Shepherds will someday have children again, but they will not be friends or allies in a war that was already fought.

What does it mean to miss a version of someone who will not truly exist like that again?

Miriel works on her experiments, refining techniques that she developed with help from Laurent, and she misses her son even though he is toddling around at her heels, chubby little hands turning pages of her notebooks. She can teach Laurent all that she knows and all that she learned from a him that no longer exists, but it will be decades before she can consult with him in the same way.

Sully knows why her future self, the self that she is becoming, stopped training Kjelle in mounted combat. Sully’s recent past self continued training Kjelle as the closeness in age meant Sully could always be right there in battle to protect her daughter - that she wouldn’t grow old enough to be sidelined while Kjelle was still fighting. “We can fight side-by-side for the rest of our lives,” Sully told a Kjelle that no longer exists, because she didn’t know or expect then, none of them did, that these children of the future would write themselves out of history. And the Kjelle who now exists is too small to put on horseback, and Sully wonders if someday there will come a war that Kjelle fights without Sully at her side, and she wonders if or when she would stop training Kjelle to fight on horseback.

Cherche has to explain to a confused wyvern what has happened to her “twin” and her other new, dear friend - dear family, in fact. But there’s a spark of familiarity in Minerva’s eyes when she sniffs newborn Gerome for the first time, like she knows before Cherche says it who this is, like they both know that one day this will come full-circle. Wyverns live for a long time. Perhaps one day Gerome will inherit Minerva as his mount, without Cherche’s death as the catalyst.

These children of a terrible future were precious and cherished comrades-in-arms, friends, and of course beloved children. It feels wrong to act as if they never existed. It feels wrong to try to keep them a secret talked about only among the adults behind closed doors. But does telling the children of the Shepherds when they are young about the people they in a different timeline became cast a long shadow?

What is it like to grow up in a shadow, trying to live up to someone else, when the shadow is that of your own self, and the someone else is you, but from a darker future that will never be?

How do their parents balance dwelling on a future that will never be, when they knew its inhabitants in the past that was.

Chrom carries his baby girl around the grounds of the palace at Ylisstol, showing her the hole he years ago broke in the wall where a Lady Marth once made her entrance. He shows her where she saved him from assassins, where he saw her face for the first time, not knowing then, of course, who she was to him. Not knowing then who she was to Robin, who was with him. (Not knowing then who Robin would be to him.) And then he wonders if he shouldn’t. If it will hurt Lucina down the road to be compared to a different version of herself. If it’s better that she’s so young that she won’t remember what he’s telling her now.

In averting the future that Lucina knew was written, Chrom and Robin were still following a sort of script. They knew what they needed to do, or not do. The future is open now, an empty expanse. Chrom does not believe in the strength of destiny; Chrom believes in the strength of people and the love that ties them together. Love, not destiny. Morgan is not destined to exist. Chrom wants Morgan to exist, because he loves him, because Lucina loved him and will love him again when he exists again for her to.

But there’s a certain fear that dwells within the blank slate of the future. Chrom believes in Robin, always and forever, and he will search the world over for her if she does not return to him first, because they are two halves of a whole and they will not let each other go. Robin will come back to him. He believes in that with his whole heart and everything he is, but it creeps up on him in the dark of some sleepless nights, with his young daughter cradled close, of what it would be like for Lucina to grow up without a little brother. For Chrom to never see his wife and son again.

Robin does return. Of course she does.

But how long was she gone? A week, a month, a year? 

She destroyed herself and Grima for the sake of everyone’s future. But the children of that future in some way destroyed themselves, too, for the sake of their own futures already past. To change their pasts in the future.

What it means is that Robin returns to a smaller family than she left. To no son at all, and a young daughter who looks at her and sees not her mother but a total stranger. And Robin barely knows her own daughter, either. The Lucina she knows was an adult, and is gone, and a memory.

The Shepherds’ children might grow up beneath the shadow of memories. And not just their parents’ memories of the person they were in a future that will never come to pass.

Robin dreamed memories of her other self, because they shared the same heart. 

And maybe that was because it was Grima’s heart, the heart of a nigh-godly creature, but hearts are strange things. Robin’s heart is made up of pieces of everyone she loves, now; it isn’t Grima’s. 

Maybe human hearts share memories - dreams - of a life that is past and future and will never be.

Robin doesn’t dream of new memories, anymore, because Grima is dead and her other self no longer exists. But the memories she saw before still haunt her in her nightmares. She saw them enough to remember them, burned into her mind like they are her own memories. Of a life that could’ve been and almost was and already was and is no longer where she killed Chrom. She herself knows the feeling of what it was like to strike at him; she pulled the (metaphorical) punch, but it would’ve been all to easy not to. Whether she made a mistake, or whether Validar made her.

All the Shepherds have nightmares about the war. That happens, because of a war. But Robin alone knows what it was like to have someone else’s memories as dreams. 

Robin alone can realize why it might be that Lucina wakes up crying so often in the night. Lucina doesn’t yet have all the words necessary to explain, not yet, still too young to comprehend the horrors that she lived in another time, but it becomes clear to Robin after she observes on several occasions that if Chrom wakes Lucina and sits with her, she’ll immediately calm down and drift back to sleep. But if Robin is the parent that she first sees upon waking, she’ll only continue to scream and cry.

“One of her last memories from her future self was of someone who looks like me possessed by Grima and trying to kill us all,” Robin says quietly, when Chrom has finally gotten their little girl back to sleep, held safely in his arms and her head against his chest so that she never saw that Robin was here, behind him. “And who knows if Grima in my body ever attacked her in her future. Of course she’s scared; she has those memories, and she’s too young again now to truly understand any of that.”

“To understand that it isn’t you she’s seeing,” Chrom says.

“But it was me,” Robin says. “I was her. She was me. I killed you. I was Grima. I killed Grima. It’s always me.”

“Not this you,” Chrom says. “Not this life. Not this time.”

Robin, too, knows what it’s like to be haunted by the shadow and memory of someone you could have been and once were and never will be.