#(it only has two characters minimal sets and no monsters

[darchildre]

In non-fishpeople-related Lovecraft news, I also reread "Cool Air" and "The Music of Erich Zann" today. Here is the moral of both of those stories:

If you are in a group-living situation (like a boarding house or an apartment building) and one of your fellow lodgers is kinda weird but not hurting anybody, maybe that's actually none of your business. Maybe you should simply leave them alone.

[kiame-sama]

what twst yanderes do you think could share? I think there are definitely several that could team up!

Warnings; Yandere Relationships, poly relationships, multi-yandere relationships, I already have way too many OC ideas with different backgrounds that fit with the different yandere groups,

~~~~~~~~

Full House: All Named Heartslabyul characters. Each of the card suits are represented (Ace- Hearts, Deuce- Spades, Trey- Clover/Clubs, Cater- Diamonds) and paired with the Queen card (Riddle- Hearts) you have a full-house in terms of poker.

Poisonous Beauty- Vil and Rook already seem to be in a mutually respectful and beneficial type relationship that pushes both to work on themselves and hold themselves accountable. Throw a darling in the mix and they will share beautifully.

Lion Tamer- Leona and Rook share a darling. The Lion and the Hunter both sharing a sweet little lamb between them. Leona has shown a certain level of respect for Rook and Rook already stalks Leona for the thrill of it.

Dragon's Hoard- All of Diasomnia's named characters. Main yandere is Malleus who insists darling is his mate. He is kind enough to share with his retainers and teacher, but darling is mainly Malleus' prize. Lilia is more of a mentor to the group but does enjoy a quick tryst now and again with darling, the most experienced of the group.

Monster Mash- Leona and Malleus. This only works because of darling, otherwise they will be fighting and wanting the other dead. Truly it is only because darling can tame and diffuse the tempers/prides of the monster men to actually get them to get along. Have a harder time sharing given their dislike for one another.

Sea Monsters- Azul and the Twins sharing a darling between the three of them. The twins already respect and listen to Azul, so Azul is giving them a 'bonus' by allowing this little triangle of sharing when it comes to darling and darling's time. The twins often switch between darling and Azul so both are protected at all times. Floyd likes spending more time with darling than Azul but that is because darling is more fun and squishy. Jade adores his time with darling but understands his skills are better suited for being around Azul. Azul will always set aside time to spend with darling and is happy to include the twins during this time.

Octo-charmer- Azul and Jamil. Both have an underhanded way to manipulate others and have a tendency to be patient enough for the long game. These two working together for a mutual darling would be rather dangerous and impossible to stand against. Both brilliant in their own right, they could share a darling with minimal bickering.

Hyena Charmer- Jamil and Ruggie. The Masquerade special at Nobel Bell College made it clear Jamil and Ruggie have a similar approach to handling situations so I think they could make a good partnership when it comes to sharing a darling.

King of Beasts- Leona and Ruggie. They already have a mutually beneficial relationship in how Ruggie mostly puts up with Leona's behavior and Leona in turn protects Ruggie as his second in command. They could share a darling, but Leona would still get the lion's share of the benefits.

Golden Sands- Jamil and Kalim. I am loathe to put them together given the fact that I feel Jamil deserves his own darling after years of dealing with Kalim, but Jamil and Kalim would make a good yandere pair. Darling would likely prefer Kalim's affections given Kalim is less likely to punish darling, but Jamil could also use Snake Charmer on Darling to make them prefer him instead.

Historic Cruelty- Divus and Mozus. Trein is much more patient and lenient with darling as he is in his 50s and he just wants a settled down beloved that he can spoil. Divus is more of the punishment/reward type for whenever their shared darling acts up or gets rowdy as he is in his late 20's/early 30's and is content to be a brat tamer. Both want to spoil darling and are willing to do their own thing to get the results they desire from their beloved.

Elder Fae- Lilia and Crowley. Both are older fae (I'm just assuming on Crowley's part given his features and age/temperament) and both are more eccentric when it comes to how they interact with the world. They could contentedly share a darling together given their attitudes and tempers. Lilia would actually be the main enforcer of rules despite his more exciteable temper as he still has that paternal experience and put his foot down on certain behavior. Alternatively, Lilia is also the one who spoils darling more due to Crowley being a penny-pincher more stringent on funds. The relationship is more focus on Lilia as far as actual relationships go and the frequent interruption from Crowley wanting attention. It works for the two Fae.

Father Crow's Staff- Platonic yandere team-up of the staff looking after Crowley's offspring. Divus is the father that stepped up when Crowley failed to be a good father. Trein is the adoptive grandfather. Sam is the adoptive older brother. Vargas is the adoptive fun uncle. Even the fire fairies and ghosts try to have a hand in protecting/raising Crowley's young. They will be raised in NRC given Crowley is Headmage and lives there most of the time. Probably more protective of a fem-aligned darling than masc-aligned given NRC is an all male school (minus darling) and that means the child needs to be protected even more from untoward students. Lilia is a constant problem as he frequently tries to adopt this little up-and-coming Fae child given how little Crowley actually parents them.

[nebmia]

Reviewing every rpg book on my shelf: 1, Dungeon Crawl Classics

Everything about this game is absolutely dripping with bonkers maximalist bombast that makes me excited to play. To start with book itself is nearly 2 inches thick. Is that practical? No! does it feel like you've got an ancient tome full of roleplaying possibilities? Absolutely.

In a world tending towards minimalism and 'polished' production its so good to have somthing thats just big and fun and unapologetic about not being what it is.

DCC's dice are a microcosm of everything great about it. Not only do they come in shapes they never taught you about in maths class but they also all come with a fun little bonus. One of my sets comes with a stat block for a monster, while the other has a ridiculous table of reality warping effects on which you roll ALL the dice in the set, and inevitably send your campaign careening off into madness. (and it has a frame story about a stoner wizard in a magic van).

And then there's the actual contents of the book, which is probably about 80% spells and ridiculous tables. And the spells are just so good. Each one takes up a a least a full page on average and gives a range of results according to how well you roll, from 'it missfires and things go horribly wrong' at the bottom, through 'it does about what you would expect' in the middle result ranges, to 'actually, this is almost too much' if you manage to get a roll in the 30s.

Alongside being sick as hell, this also has a satisfying effect of keeping low level spells relevent and interesting as their effects scale with the strength of the caster on a variety of axis.

related to spells is the 'spell duel' procedure. I have no idea how well it runs at the table, but the idea that when two (or more) wizards fight their spells can interact and you can use any appropriate spell to try and counter another spell is so increadibly compelling.

Ok, enough gushing about vibes. what about actually playing? So far what I have run is the 'level-0 funnel', which is probably what you have heard about if you have heard anything about DCC. The premise is simple: randomly generate 2-4 level-0 peasants for each player, send them into a dungeon, and then take whoever survives and level them up to become your characters for a campaign.

Not only does these lead to much hilarity as a mob of townsfolk bungle their way through danger but also really fun problem solving as the players work out how best to navigate problems with a shoehorn, a bundle of wood and a live chicken.

Specifically, what I have run is Sailors on the Starless Sea, which is correctly recognised as THE introductory module to use. Its a nice sequence of somewhat open investigation followed by a excellend sequence of bombastic set pieces, all the while giving the players lots of scope to come at things ininteresting ways. It can get a bit unwiedly trying to manage such large number of characters when they do run into combat but if you plan ahead a bit and use various tricks (it would be useful is more of that advice was in the book rather than coming from forums) it is manageable.

And to return to vibes one last time: the art in these books is just so good. We could not be further from the slightly stiff generic highly rendered fantasy art of wotc era d&d. Its all fantastically old school fantasy, so full of character, and just the right amount of rough around the edges. My only slight complaint is that this does include a little too much of old school fantasy art's treatment of women than I would like...There are still prenty of sensibly dressed women and i'm not about to decree that no sexy fantasy women are allowed but the dial is a little further in a direction of objectification that I would like.

[sepublic]

Finally got around to watching Dune Part 2 and that was a wonderfully haunting ending. Everyone just going along in a way almost oblivious, from Stilgar who pushed for Paul mainly for his people’s sake, only to become a fanatic; Or Gurney, who was so caught up in his own revenge plot against Rabban that in his high of triumph, he doesn't realize what he's doing to the kid he was meant to train and protect.

And Chani, especially! The way the film ends with her, it's almost as if... The entire movie is re-contextualized as being from her perspective. It's a story about someone helplessly watching as she sees the monster she unwittingly created, watches everything she knew and loved become perverted. She's the only sane person essentially, so it makes sense to approach the movie with Chani as the audience surrogate.

She represents the Fremen, who they really are, and the horror at what they've become, the death of who they used to be until the colonizers came in. I'm reminded of that scene from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where Maul is screeching desperately that they'll all burn and die, and nobody knows what they're doing; Despairing cries falling on deaf ears. The final shot reminds us of who was the first forsaken by the Lisan Al-Gaib; Chani, AKA the Fremen.

I wonder what happens to Chani; I'm not familiar with the books, but I wouldn't be surprised if Chani just disappears from the narrative after Paul deposes the Emperor. I've heard through cultural osmosis that Dune Part 2 changes the original book to have more involvement and perspective from its female characters. So I wonder if the book ended with Chani in mind as well, or if that was an addition made by Denis Villeneuve.

Because as it stands, I think there's a lot of beauty if that's the last we see and hear of Chani; The ambiguity. The name and face lost to history; People will remember Paul and Princess Arulan, but they won't know about Chani. Maybe she lives the rest of her life out in self-imposed exile, because at first she could support this for the sake of her people, but now? What has she done??!!?

Maybe she'll be haunted for the rest of her life, thinking about what could've gone differently. How Chani could've prevented things, if only she'd said this. Maybe she considers it was out of her hands entirely given how easily Jessica controlled her, it could've been anyone else; In the end Chani didn't matter. Is this a relief? Or is this just despair, that the Fremen were destined for doom? It's a final note inserted by the adaptation to re-contextualize the source material itself; I've heard people discuss that the films are essentially more feminist than the book, so it's like the underrepresented perspective has been given a voice, be it women and/or Fremen.

And if Part 2 is Chani's story, then conversely, Part 1 is Paul's; Obviously, Chani had a minimal role in the first film. And I think that makes a lot of sense, because we get the background for Paul, the set up, the destruction of House Atreides that motivates him for revenge, and the rest... The rest is the natural conclusion to all that. The first part is us entering Arrakis as outsiders like Paul, while the second part is from the more experienced perspective of the Fremen Chani, who shows us the other angle; Her people being usurped by a white savior. Both films, one about Paul, the other about Chani, and how they helplessly see their clans 'destroyed' in a sense.

I think I recall hearing that Villeneuve intends for there to be a trilogy? So the first two films are about the first Dune novel, and the third and final will cover the next book, which I believe has Leto II; So essentially, a follow up that skips forward into the future to explore what new world order Paul has made. Because if Part 1 is about the outsider's perspective, and Part 2 is the insider's, then Part 3 is how the future generation looks back and sees the past; It's about how the legacy of Paul Atreides lingers on in their historical narrative.

...Everything I just said could all be completely wrong. But in the end, it's quite simple; Chani good.

[hazelkjt]

The Monster Hunter Wilds Beta was a nice distraction from the shit going on in my life. It was a REALLY fun 3 days, minimal performance issues so I’m happy I don’t need to update my PC. So, here are my thoughts as a decade long fan of the series on what I experienced in Wilds.

The Good-

No clutch claw. Ten out of ten change Capcom, thank you.

Removal of gender restrictions on armor WITHOUT homogenizing the armor designs. Just a win all around here, offers such a greater range of self-expression through what your hunter wears. This will be the second time I’m playing a female hunter just because I won’t have to deal with the armor designs I don’t particularly enjoy. (Only other time was because "why not?" during my revisit to Rise a few months ago)

All the monster designs have knocked it out of the park. Chatacabra is a lovable punching bag, Doshaguma’s a nice step up to have a middle tier Fanged Beast, Balahara is a great challenge with easy to read attacks but tricky timing. And then Rey Dau just taking the cake and instantly in my top 20 favorite monsters.

Weapons all feel relatively balanced, so far? At least of the handful I tried out. I’m a pretty casual MH player, never cared for optimal builds or speedruns so as long as the weapons feel fun to play then I’m all good. Still personally feel LS might be a bit overtuned with all the options and non-committal choices it has but I digress. Switch Axe is making a comeback as my preemptive Wilds main weapon with Bow being my backup.

The map is enormous but doesn’t feel lifeless. There’s always something happening just enough to make it feel like an actual environment and not just a video game level. A massive step up from the areas in Rise that all felt kind of boring with how it was just big, flat areas with connecting alleys that you could run on top of. This feels like actual topography that all flows seamlessly into one another.

Did I mention no clutch claw?

The Bad-

Even though I didn’t have any, the performance issues others are reporting are inexcusable. Other people that I know for a FACT own a high end computer can’t get more than 20FPS on medium settings, it’s ridiculous. This game is not optimized in the slightest for PC right now and for a simultaneous release that’s unacceptable. And while I have joked about wanting to see the low-poly models for myself the fact that people are seeing those for their entire time in the Beta is, again, inexcusable.

Monsters run way too often but this might just be a Beta issue with lower health values so I’ll let it off a bit easy.

I agree with the lack of impact on the really big hits but I am also letting this one off easy because it could have to do with the lack of attack power we have in the Beta. We’re literally in the basic starting gear with the basic beginner’s weapon, there’s room for the hit stop and impact to ramp up dynamically the higher our damage numbers go.

I know this isn’t something they can fix by launch (or if they’d even consider fixing at all) but having only six voices in character creation feels extremely limiting. I understand your hunter is fully voiced throughout the entire game now so getting the usual twenty-ish voices would’ve bloated the budget significantly, but the poorly implemented pitch shifter does nothing to make up for their absence. Even just going one or two notches up or down and you can start to hear the artificial “static” of the pitch filter and it’s distracting.

So many control scheme options and you CAN’T turn off the Radial Menu? Fucking why??? I’ve never enjoyed having control of the camera taken away from me while scrolling through my item bar in previous games and now I can’t even fix that. I’ve begrudgingly been forcing myself to learn how to use it, but removing an option that was in the previous two games for no reason is a baffling decision.

Still looking forward to the game’s launch in a few months and hoping that maybe a few of these issues will be resolved by then.

[river-muse]

That WIP ask game is seriously an underrated concept tbh, authors should be able to air out their works and ideas if they want to, even if those are unfinished.

Since I've been bugging you a little about MH I think I have to ask about the Monster Hunter Derelict WIP. MH Is an interesting setting for sure, but it's also hard to think of something to write in it, except maybe a dnd-like hunter party? Anyway, I'm rambling, definitely interested what you had going on There.

Also, I'm a filthy cheater and a sucker for time-themed fiction, so I definitely have to ask about Whatever Time May Bring. Feel free to ignore my filthy cheater double request tho

I agree! Being able to show off stuff we're working on without perfection being expected is super fun because I can pick out highlights and hold it up without needing to go "is this polished enough to be read?"

Since one is sort of a mini-fic that's an AU me and one of my close friends are messing around with for the funnies I'll answer both of your requests! I'm giggling and rubbing my hands together.

Monster Hunter Dereliction is the working title of a DMC MonHun AU that centers around a small Guild outpost in the Old World that pretty much has its shit figured out due to there not being many settlements in the area that need to be protected. My friend and I went "fuck it minimal family loss trauma in this department" so a lot of the cast is Around(tm) except for Sparda(we haven't decided what happened to him yet if anything).

There's sort of a plot figured out, though most of it's up in the air because we haven't had too much of a chance to talk more thoroughly about it and are just in the brainstorming department. We really just wanted to come up with our own biomes and monster designs for fun. It would involve a clash between two Elders breaking open a crevice in the earth that reveals an underground cavern system- and unknowingly awakening an Elder that has almost cosmic horror-esque traits to it. There's a sketch but it's not mine so I'd have to ask my friend later if he'd be cool with me sharing it.

For a little insight into some character placements, since I'm a bit obsessive about how lore in MonHun goes xD I won't go into what everyone is doing but I will share a handful.

I don't have much in way of writing, since I just got a few key ideas down- but have at it!

I think we decided Dante was the master in that area? He's mostly chilling around the outpost unless something super dangerous comes up that he's needed for.

Vergil is a high-ranking hunter who tends to do tasks for the Scholars that takes him into dangerous areas for the challenge and potential to explore old ruins. He's in and out of the outpost a lot on a whim so unless he's requested specifically good luck finding him.

Nero is an established hunter who tends to get a little babied by the others, which leads to him being more adamant about pushing his limits to prove himself and get them to stop worrying.

Eva regularly travels, recording locales and monsters in general peace.

Kyrie acts as the guild sweetheart for the location, handling quest assignments and making sure the hunters are properly prepared.

Credo is one of the residing guild knights, which is a rank in the guild that handles upholding guild regulation and deciding on punishment for anyone caught illegally poaching monsters.

Nell is the residential smithy! She's been training Nico for a long time now to take over in the future.

For now Nico tends to tag along behind Nero on a lot of hunts to observe them, swipe some new materials for herself, and experiment with equipment that diverts away from standard expectations.

Patty is a guild sweetheart in training, if I remember right? I only wrote her name in all caps in this post-it note and nothing else fdsgfbsdxjkgbj

-

Dante’s late to leave his room today, not expecting too many requests to come in if any. It’s been quiet since they’d sorted out the sudden influx of larger wyverns that had migrated South from their own territories. Which isn’t a good sign. It could mean something bigger is on the way soon. However nothing’s turned up. So to him the problem’s been solved. The peace lasts about as long as expected though, because the door pushes open without so much as a knock from the incoming visitor. It’s Lady. Not even in her armor yet but scowling as if she’d just gotten tossed around by a Diablos. “Where’s your fucking brother?” “Not even a good morning?” Dante yawns. “Passed morning a few hours ago.” Lady crosses her arms and leans against the doorframe “Now about Vergil-“ “Do I look like my brother’s keeper?” When It’s obvious Lady isn’t accepting that as an answer he groans and rests his feet on his desk “Out. On an expedition. That’s why one of the aptonoth aren’t in the stable. He’s North, checking out whatever caused that Wyvern displacement. Should be back in a few days.”

-

Vergil lingers by the ledge of the massive crevice, peering into the darkness to see faint shimmers of light that waver as if moving. It’s odd. With most of the trees decimated there should be plenty of sunlight shining down to show whatever’s down there. The darkness opens its eyes. Swirling colors and glowing light as faint pupils shrink to paper-thin slits when they focus on him. From the positioning of them Vergil isn’t sure if he’s looking face-to-face with a creature or with multiple. He doesn’t recognize any visible traits and stumbles away from the ledge. There’s a snapping noise and Vergil looks back to see the aptonoth has broken her binds in her attempt to flee, taking all of Vergil’s gear with her as she disappears into the treeline. A rattling, warbling noise that resembles a broken horn echoes loud enough that it hurts Vergil’s ears. He covers them with his hands and regrets not bringing earplugs. Something cold enough to leech the temperature through his armor wraps around his ankle, and drags him into the crevice. He grasps at the rock. His gloves dig in and he struggles to grab his blade. It slips from his hands and he falls with it. Darkness engulfs his vision made to feel darker by the eyes that fill his peripheral. One more eye, larger than all the others, opens up in front of him to blot out his last view of the sun.

-

Nero’s the first to volunteer and the first to be ready to depart. He shuffles about, fretting over what equipment to take and how long of a trip it will be. “Don’t you dare authorize that mission.” Credo objects, smacking his hand on the table “There’s no telling how long he’ll be gone, and if there is a wyvern strong enough out there to take Vergil down then I don’t feel comfortable sending him out.” “He’s qualified. Just as capable as the rest of us.” Dante insists “You need to stop babying him or he’ll never get his feet under him.” “How dare you accuse me of coddling one of our hunters?” “You’re not really beating the allegations. Especially since he’s got a crush on your sister.” “Do not-“ Nero objects. Dante stares, raises an eyebrow, and Nero clicks his tongue. Nero looks away while his cheeks flush red.

---

NOW onto-

Whatever Time May Bring. You have sniffed out the ONE NASNAH part that I think you're going to love the most, because it takes place when Nero's 15 and a certain 8 year old girl finds her way into Dante's life. It skims through the anime timeline and a bit beyond, since for reasons not yet revealed in the plot Dante decides to keep Vergil and Nero out of most of the details of his demon hunting work. It's a scene compilation like how "In Leaps and Bounds" was for little Nero. It's also finally the time where Nero starts questioning his family's behavior and secrets more than before.

-

Vergil watches the ensuing exchange with all of his attention he can muster. There’s something comedic about a young child pushing Dante to wits’ end when Nero at that age earned nothing but Dante’s adoration. He then notices Nero’s uncharacteristic silence. It takes just one glance to see Nero’s eyes are wide, watching Patty with an expression that he hasn’t seen before. “Nero?” Nero startles out of his thoughts, straightening up. “Uh, hi.” Nero says. He picks up his coat from the floor and dusts it off. “A little slow on the uptake. Did you overheat trying to wear that over here?” Dante asks. “No just-“ Nero looks away and seems to get his bearings “-wasn’t expecting to see you taking care of a kid. He’s being nice to you, right?” Nero looks at Patty with his question. “He’s horrible! He doesn’t clean, never explains anything until after it happens, and won’t eat anything but pizza and strawberry sundaes. I’m surprised he even knows what tomato juice is let alone drinks it.” Patty pouts and motions at Dante with a pointed finger.

-

Patty is- energetic. She’s outspoken and from how she speaks her mind is sharper than she leads others to believe. Yet she’s very much a child in how she behaves. Much like how Dante had been at her age to an extent. It had been obnoxious to deal with when younger, but Vergil can rationalize it as normal behavior for children in hindsight. Nero’s odd phase of having become quiet and calm as a child must have been a special case. “Would you advise I rescue Nero now, or later?” Vergil questions. “I think they’ll get along just fine without us hovering.” Dante pushes up from his chair and nudges a box of stuffed animals to the side with his foot. He tilts his head to the hallway door “Let’s leave them to it.” “And what will we be doing, instead?” “If you don’t want to know the weird details of the job, then I guess we can stay here and listen to Patty go on all day about that stupid show.” “Hey! I heard that.” Patty speaks up, looking over from the couch. “I wasn’t talking to you.” “But you were talking about me, so that’s pretty much the same thing.” Patty sticks her tongue out.

-

“What happened to my mom? Who was she?” Vergil’s gaze flicks away. Guilt passes over his face and he keeps cleaning without giving an answer. “Hey, you can’t just ignore me. I asked you a question-” Nero objects. “I can, and I will.” Vergil holds out the sauce pan “That is a topic for another time, Nero.” “Another time? Seriously?” Nero scowls as he uses a bit more force than needed to dry the pan “You’re gonna dare say that to me after years of this? I don’t even know what her name was.” Vergil pauses washing the dishes, resting his hands on the edges of the sink.

-

Thank you for letting me go insane and giving me a chance to share with you some Patty Propaganda! I had to seriously dig around and be careful with what I show since there's quite a few parts between the fic I'm currently uploading and this one, but I would be damned if I didn't give you something to look forward to. <3

[darkmist111]

Percy Jackson, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, Ethan Nakamura, and the Child Super Soldier

So something I wants to talk about is the parallel of Percy and Reyna, and their concept of loyalty.

I think we as a fandom have examined Percy and Jason’s swap, compared their characters, and talked about their influence.

I think we’ve also compared Jason and Annabeth, and how their parallels were understated.

However I do think Reyna’s part in this dynamic is understated and under examined, despite her being intrinsically tied to this dynamic.

I also think this matches another unexplored parallel. While Reyna is often sidelined for Jason, Ethan Nakamura is sidelined for Luke Castellan.

And all compare to Percy Jackson to various degrees, and share a interesting concept of loyalty with him.

To preface this I believe their lives follow a similar line, with the key difference being that Percy had support from his Family and Community, Reyna only had support from her Community, and Ethan received only superficial transactional support from family and community.

But I think the dynamic between the three becomes more interesting when you view it from the lens of them as child soldiers and leaders.

But first let’s talk about Percy journey as a hero through the perspective of a soldier.

Camp half-blood isn’t a army, it trains Heroes not Soldiers, but the crossover between the two isn’t minimal. Percy is drafted into the life of a half-blood, but very often baring maybe the first book Percy voluntarily enters his missions. And while some people say this is a type of control issue, in both cases where he goes out on his own circumstances give him reason to do so. In sea of monsters Hermes outright tells him he is necessary for this mission, and we later find out Clarrise is down 2 required questmates. In the second quest, the hunters are down one questmate that was poisoned and Percy only joins after learning this.

While Percy often goes against authority, he also shows deep respect to those who earned his loyalty.

He also fights for his family and home a trait commonly associated with soldiers.

Narratively his arc is one of the reluctant soldier forced into combat because of circumstances that rises in rank due his actions rather than a desire for glory or belief in the cause.

This culminates in him taking the mantle of leadership in battle, resembling a mythic figure of the hero general or king. The type that lead their armies on the battle field from the front, whose singular presence could turn the tide of battle.

And once victorious he changes things for the better, though not a permanent leader, one that leaves a lasting legacy.

At the end though Percy is a mostly reactionary hero though dynamic in his responses.

His dreams are not of creating or conquering, but of family and homestead, and his victory at the end of the series is him using his glory for his allies.

Percy achieves victory by balancing personal family duty with greater duty to his people, gaining loyalty to and from both.

And he’s able to do this because of the support of his family, and his fellows in arms.

Reyna has only one of these.

It’s telling that Reyna is one of the only Demigods whose godly parent we never meet.

Reyna and Hylla are daughters of the Roman War Goddess Bellona, and the girls have collectively spent their lives bouncing between armies and cults.

Reyna was said to have it easy earlier from their father, but due to PTSD he ended up turning their home into a army, preparing for a battle that would never come.

After leaving the sisters ended up as part of Circe cult, that transformed and killed men to varying degrees of justified. After Percy and Annabeth set pirates free, causing their new home to be destroyed, the sisters separated. Both once again joining organizations of War. New Rome’s Legion, and the Amazons.

When she realizes she need to defy her community to save them. Similar to Percy defying her order to follow a higher duty.

After the War Reyna joins the hunters, and we see a pattern don’t we.

She continually giver her loyalty to groups and communities, but rarely receives it on a personal level. Ultimately she cannot separate her family from war or society.

And that ultimately results in her leadership being prone to be undermined, and unable to leave lasting change upon her community other than handing the reins over to new leadership.

She’s a soldier with no home to return to, and thus she cannot put down her weapon.

She’s similar to Percy if he had only systems to be loyal to. She’s constantly seeking a place that will value her.

Ethan Nakamura had it even worse, we don’t get a lot of him and often people view him as a traitor, but was it right of others to expect loyalty of him, even though he gives to see freely even when not earned? Or are we seeing someone seeking something worth being loyal too.

A child of Nemesis, he was always gonna have a uphill battle of being respected by his community.

We see him search for validation for his family but even in Kronos’s army it’s unfound. Nemesis isn’t a particularly power goddess at first glance.

When Percy spares him he resigns himself to death, making one think of the times Percy fell into despair.

In the end he too defies his orders, though unlike Percy and Reyna, Ethan’s defiance costs him his life.

He never rises to a position of leadership, and the only person he seems truly loyal to is his mother who uses him as a cosmic chess piece.

A soldier with no real choice expected to pick a side when neither truly value him. Searching for something to be loyal to in a world that sees no value in loyalty without usefulness.

I feel like Percy being able to see his loyalty in others and how it can harm them is a very interesting concept.

[wanderingandfound]

Well I woke up at fucking five eighteen am so I might as well make this post while I have time.

I enjoy the feminist, queer-normative settings that fandom (at least by surface level appearances) tries to make, but with Dungeon Meshi I'm seeing people take that shallow fun fandom interpretation and then.... ignore the actual setting?

Like hetero marriage with the intention to produce offspring is a big deal here. My understanding is that Falin and Laios were both engaged as children. Chilchuck and his wife had two of their daughters before they were considered adults. In Laios's party pre-canon there was a female character there only looking for a husband, at least to Chilchuck's understanding and he's pretty decent at figuring out human motivations.

Falin is 23, tall-man maturity is 16 and life expectancy in 60. If she wasn't an adventurer (from what I can tell, it's a more disreputable field than other careers) who cares more about dungeons and her brother than societal norms, she would probably be expected to have a husband already.

People give Toshiro so much grief for proposing to her out of nowhere, and I've only finished volume nine of the manga so I don't know if this gets more detailed later, but like, they had been in the same party for a few years at this point? Like yeah, Toshiro doesn't know her as well as Marcille and Laios do, but it's clear he was trying to get to know her better. One of his frustrations with Laios is that Laios kept crashing his attempted dates with Falin!

Here's the thing, all these characters are beautifully flawed as fuck. But the disproportionate hate I've seen towards Toshiro is bad and probably racist. Toshiro is not just fantasy-Japanese, he's also nobility and racially marked as Other on the island. As such, he has so many rules for etiquette/manners/propriety he's operating under. And we have seen that he is rather quiet and withdrawn (he didn't correct anyone about what his name is, when he told his party thank you they started crying, he regrets that he didn't tell Falin how he felt even though he did propose to her suggesting that his proposal was more formal (as befitting someone of his class!!!) than emotional). You know who else is quiet? Falin. She doesn't give Toshiro an answer to his proposal, doesn't seem to talk about it with others, was ostracized in her hometown and at magic school and when Marcille took an interest in her work she decided to just show Marcille the dungeon with minimal explanation as she went, after her first resurrection Laios makes her promise not to sacrifice herself again but he doesn't say "sacrifice" he says "don't do that again" and doesn't catch her quiet protestations that she doesn't know what she did, and she promises anyways! Heck, one of the ways we know she is just as into all of this as her brother is how animated she gets when she finds out they've been eating monsters.

I'm not familiar with Japanese current and historical cultural norms and fantasy tropes. I am sure there's nuance to Toshiro's characters that I'm unaware of. But I don't think we should take Chilchuck's and Mickbell's commentary of his proposal being out of nowhere as if that's the objective truth, and not also informed by their halfling (and presumably commoner) cultural background. Like, fuck, iconic romantic lead of English literature Mr. Darcy has a lot in common with Toshiro, and at least when the latter first proposed there was no open animosity between him and the object of his affections!

Do I ship Toshiro/Falin? No, not particularly. But for a fandom that is very defensive of the autistic characters (and rightly so) I see not a lot of grace being extended to someone whose communication issues are wrapped up in Following The Rules, Not Improvising, and Staying Quiet About Your Feelings.

Anyways, my second issue with people ignoring the heteronormative aspect of the setting is people outright saying that Marcille is motivated mainly by her romantic interest in Falin. Which. I love subtext and shipping but not at the cost of the actual text! Not that sapphic love is simple, but some of the takes I've seen (and I'm talking about longer, intentional analysis, not memes) ignore the nuances we see play out on the page and how Marcille's feelings are a somewhat complicated tangle that she seems to ignore with a philosophy of "it's fine and if it isn't then I will make it fine!" Like, I ship Marcille/Falin more than any other pairing in this show, but I feel that romantic interpretations should enrich and interweave and support the other feelings that are there (fear of others dying before her, first friend, the way after Falin's first resurrection Marcille was like "oh I don't care how you've grown you're still the same little kid to me" because change is scary and time brings death and also by elven standards Marcille isn't an adult yet either). Not bulldoze and flatten the text to use generic romantic interpretations instead.

Dungeon Meshi has such beautiful and thoughtful worldbuilding. There's both fantasy racism informed by biological distinctions, and real-world racism informed by differences in appearances and culture. There's complex ecosystems both in the plants and animals and in the human (and demihuman) societies. The backgrounds of every character inform their choices. Different cultural groups have different beauty standards, and their ages (and gender presentation? not sure how much of that has been intentional and how much has been a mistranslation) are misinterpreted by people not in their group (Namari (who has presumably been around tall-men her whole life unlike Senshi who didn't know halflings were their own thing) referring to Falin, someone she has known for quite a while now, as being a teenager to forties).

Again I'm only on volume 9, but I've been told that there is a canon lesbian in the manga. And without knowing who she is, I feel like she's the exception that proves the rule? Dungeon Meshi was released 2014–2023. I'm arguing that the heteronormativity in this world is intentional, not incidental. Dungeon Meshi has a lot to say about family, including adoptive family (Kaka and Kiki, Kabru, Senshi, Thistle) and so far all the adoptive parents have either been in hetero relationships or single. I think the absence of queer relationships is intentional, and while I'm all for queering the text I am more interested in what that queerness looks like in a heteronormative setting that values marriage and children, rather than just ignoring the setting so that queerness itself is not a source of conflict.

[the-sea-anemone]

The thing about writing backstory is that it doubles as worldbuilding, particularly in genres like fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction. Say your protagonist lives in a world where after a person dies, they transform into a rampaging monster. Every society has a set of rituals or protocols around death to minimize monster-related deaths and property damage, but no system is infallible: your protagonist’s brother dies suddenly during the night and kills their parents — who in turn transform into monsters — before all three are shot by hunters. In this world, your protagonist might perceive this experience similarly to someone who lost their family in a car crash: it’s tragic and deeply traumatic, but also a fundamentally recognizable part of their world; they could tell this story to basically anyone with full confidence that they’re familiar with the concept of car crashes and people dying in them.

Now say your protagonist lives in a world where, to their knowledge, magic and monsters don’t exist, yet when their brother dies suddenly, they see him transform into a giant, rampaging monster and kills their parents, who subsequently also turn into monsters. In this instance, your protagonist has not only lost their entire family but had their entire worldview upended; they’re likely doubting their own memory, and most people wouldn’t take their story at face value. In essence, while these two characters have the same backstory in a literal sense, the way they and others would likely perceive these experiences is significantly shaped by the broader context of their world. 

[rappaccini]

arachnophobia ch6 notes

title

from 'face it, tiger' by married with sea monsters

married with sea monsters made an ep of songs for gwen's band when she first debuted. this is the canon sound of gwen-65a's mary janes. it's the first thing you read her first issue.

of course i'm gonna use it for the 65a visit.

and this is the chapter where gwen... hits the jackpot and finds someone who helps herself commit to doing better, owning who she is, and carrying on when it's tough.

opening quote

from the 2013 sci-fi tv series orphan black, about a group of women who discover they're clones from a defunct illegal experiment, and struggle to maintain their autonomy while dealing with religious extremists, cops, corporations and government entities that want to control them. an absolutely incredible show featuring one of the best performances by an actress you'll ever see (she plays ALL the clones).

in context, this quote is from one clone, cosima, to another, sarah. sarah's a rogue clone, and a punk (GREAT representation of british punks by the way, probably the last great one i've seen in mainstream media before hobie came along in atsv), who's often demonized for being reckless, difficult to control and unwilling to play by the rules the biotech corporation the clones are technically owned by have set up for her. sarah also worries that she's a selfish, cruel person because of these qualities, and in this moment, cosima's telling her that being that kind of woman made it possible for her to keep existing.

related to the content of this chapter in that gwen stacy is a character who is famously cloned, and has those clones' autonomy mocked and dismissed because they're not 'the real person'. and that this is two multiples of the same person, who are still their own distinct individuals, meeting while one's having an existential crisis, and discussing how being too unwilling to play by the guys' rules helped gwen a survive and keep her power. because she separated from peter and resented being his designated girlfriend, and because she embraced those messy, selfish emotions, she not only got to live and be the protagonist, but get to keep her powers. being that messy unlikable undesirable bitch was what saved her.

arrival in 65a

times square: ref to gwen's debut appearance.there's one panel of her in costume zooming over times square with a little girl wearing a spider-gwen costume looking on.

jjj is the mayor in 65a's continuity. in 65b's he seems like he's still a tv personality.

on 65a, there's no such thing as artificial sugar. i figure she'd be able to taste the difference, and it'd probably make her emotional after being away for so long.

my internal logic re number vs letter designation with universes is different numbers are entirely different realities with different physics, but different letters designate different timelines that operate by the same laws of nature. ergo, gwen can lose the portal watch in 65a and won't glitch out, but it still isn't HER world. she cannot do that on 138b, because she isn't made of the same matter.

the fire-hero is johnny storm, from the comics.

in the comics, the beautiful jewel-toned smearing of the light really only exists on the covers of the comics. the tones remain, but the smearing is much more minimal in the actual book. in the movie, they make the world so informed by gwen's emotions that it's a little to tell where the hell anything is. i'm trying to excuse that as her being stuck in her head due to her emotional conflict. once she's settled down and focused, things open up again.

and 'get out of your head and let the world in' is very much one of the big themes for this chapter. gwen's spent months ruminating on things, time to apply them.

the spider-gwen kiosk is a comics ref. after gwen gets out of prison, she's become a celebrity with merch stands. and the costume is again, a ref to that little girl in gwen's debut. there's just something very important about her being loved by little girls in her dimension.

and meta as well: at this point, spider-gwen is the female spider-hero (and the version of gwen stacy) most young girls know. she's enormously popular with them thanks to her presence in various cartoons and yes, the films. her future in 10-15 years when those girls start picking up her comics is hopefully promising. it's just a matter of what state her character will be in when those girls are old enough to discover her, and whether they'll have to find out she used to be her own person (... before becoming Miles's Girlfriend, in all likelihood), or if they'll already know that going in. i hope it's the latter. i'm afraid it'll be the former.

in the fic-version of 65a, comics-gwen has no involvement with the multiverse. in the comics, she first encounters it in her debut issue, right after her father learns her identity (like in atsv), but also only 2 years into her time as spider-woman (unlike in atsv, which stalls film-gwen's development for an entire year to keep her stuck in her debut issue). and she's constantly in and out of the multiverse ever since. in the fic, she has none of those experiences, so she doesn't know what it means to be gwen stacy.

also she doesn't call herself ghost-spider yet, since she's the only spider-woman she knows of.

gwen b's experience with gayatri taught her to tell her, and give her the autonomy.

plus, a's in prison as far as she knows, and b is really against being trapped at this point after her time in the ss.

gwen b learning how gwen dies probably really took a bite out of her confidence. can't imagine she wouldn't be anxious while webslinging, or doubting herself in a fight after that.

i figure gwen b's fine with pickpocketing in a pinch. girl's been homeless for eight months and spent many of them with hobie.

post-prison, gwen-65a's public reputation improved; people sell merch of her, are more friendly to her... but by the end of her solo, her status quo is that she's disliked by the media and law enforcement. i like that. it's important that she be on the outs. it's a unique element to her story, and maintains the meta of her being a specifically female superhero, and a gwen-who-gets-to-be-a-hero: the universe won't be kind to her. but she keeps going anyway.

girls like gwen: that meta of it being the case irl, and of the importance of her character as a specifically feminist one. the most important thing is that she is here to tell stories for and about girls and women that center them and their struggles.

the storm siblings, in ghost-spider, are influencers who vanished, then returned 5 years later with superpowers and became celebrity 'heroes'. comics gwen used to be a fan of theirs. i figure gwen b as a zoomer would have followed them. they don't seem to exist in 65b.

specifically, they're heroes who are wrapped up in the idea of public palatability, who arrive when gwen's trying to get people's opinions of her to improve, and who consider her too ugly and flawed to be worthy of her status as new york's iconic hero. gwen 65a is too unphotogenic for them, and her world (... and probably the movies too, given what they chose to remove from her adaptation).

gwen's ridden the trains in the comics.

in-fic timeline: atsv is vaguely set in may, the earth-8 blowup happens in late june, and gwen's birthday is roughly 6 weeks from that, so fic-gwen was born in aug, which is when this scene takes place.

the inky shadows are one of the best things about takeshi miyazawa and ig guara's vision of 65 in the mcguire ghost-spider run.

skyscraper bones: the gentrification of comic-gwen's nyc is still under way.

the spider-gwen mural was made by 65a's hobie brown. a d-story in the latour run is him gaining respect for spider-woman enough to memorialize her after he believes she died. he comes a long way from spraying her in the face with paint and calling her a cop/dadfucker. that's their first meeting in the comics. it's hilarious.

moon + howl: references to man-wolf, whose criminal activities are tuned to the lunar cycle.

gwen's preparing to go home. seeing 65a makes her want to go back and find these people she hasn't encountered yet. even the bad ones.

her father isn't dead in the comics. changed here to ref the gwen-617 meeting at the end of the latour run, where gwen encounters a version of og gwen, after her father dies but before she's killed, who tells her to get back in the fight because at least she still has a dad.

gwen's future where the ss picks her up is not bright. she literally loses her powers, is manhunted, forced to join the hand, and her father is nearly beaten to death on kingpin's orders to punish her. she goes to prison, where she's surrounded by her villains and has no way to protect herself. she gets venomized. she can't be a consistent member of the mary janes anymore. she emerges in a world where her future isn't very bright. movie-gwen seeing that future would be terrified of it.

... and yet all those things work out. she gets her powers back, via venom. she's the one who chooses to give up her secret identity. her father quits the force and supports her. and she gets through prison and comes out the other side.

a fall from grace is another kind of fall.

and all gwen needs to know is that it's possible to survive it. now she does.

privilege: at the end of the latour run she acknowledges that her sentence is lenient bc she's a white girl, a cop's daughter, and she's given the opportunity to skip her sentence and get a life of relative comfort... as long as she starts working for the government on a black ops team (probably the thunderbolts of 65).

it should be noted that comics gwen refuses that offer and chooses to remain in prison, where she's constantly beaten and abused, bc she distrusts the government and values her independence that much.

meeting herself

post-release, gwen is a minor celebrity and not well liked. people take pics of her in public, she's kicked out of restaurants who don't want her associated with them, she can't tour with the janes.

but to a girl who thinks she doesn't have a future at all, that must sound wonderful.

first references to swimming/drowning/paddling in the river. motif for this chapter.

the latour run deals heavily in themes of government/justice/police corruption, while the mcguire run drops those. part of me thinks it's just discontinuity. in-universe the explanation seems to be that because gwen's actions caused the collapse of the hand, who control nyc at that point, the corruption cleared up by a lot. the world is better because she's spider-woman.

gwen works odd shitty retail jobs in the comics. bodega clerk, smoothie shop cashier. it's one of the most appealing things about her-- she isn't a science whiz about to join a fancy startup or a government super-spy. she's just getting by.

gwen's using the hobie's-boat-smell as a source of comfort. it's where she was consistently living for the past eight months, and it reminds her of someone she loves. (also, more river motif.)

gentrification is a theme in gwen's early comics.

first ref to a gummy spider.

and to gwen eating kale chips.

gwen a's watching a stream of the mary janes' latest gig. and she also uses corded earbuds, not airpods, because she's a young millennial.

gwen briefly tried being a hero through an app/website in the comics after her identity was exposed. the storms put an end to that.

comic-gwen is canonically average looking, compared to movie-gwen, who is canonically pretty. comic-gwen is also thinner (due to symbiote-siphoning of her fat reserves), with a skinnier face, longer hair that's a bit lighter in shade, no facial piercings, and straighter teeth.

and comics-gwen's an ex-con who was canonically beaten within an inch of her life constantly by other inmates, and people know who she is. she's gonna be nervous about strange people.

gwen b's wearing hobie's shoes (and likely a sweater that they passed back and forth), gayatri's shirt-that-pav-probably-also-wore, and the haircut miles technically caused. all pieces of people she loves, and left, and let down.

important to have some continuity with perfect gwen and gayatri: when first encountering a version of themself, each of them instantly responds with empathy.

comics-gwen also loves meeting alt versions of herself, and positions herself as a big sister figure to a lot of them. she's taking this in stride.

you're me, and i'm you: callback to gayatri.

gwen b at this point thought gwen a was incarcerated, and was planning to break her out of jail. again, like with gayatri, she's trying to save her self. though in this case, b's the one in need of saving.

another great, okay, fine callback.

literally earth-8 gwen isn't what gwen needs (@ the dudes who wrote sitting in a tree, and everyone who thinks that really is a good outcome for her). she doesn't need to be famous, or rich, or a career hero, or a gorgeous beloved superwife-and-mom. she just needs to know that she can live, and that she can have her own life where people let her stand on her own.

growing up: big theme here.

and to gwen b, a version of her who made it past 19 is extraordinary.

you can't tell me you wouldn't have weird fucking thoughts about what's causing the little differences between you and your alt self. skull thoughts!

gwen a probably deals with weird selfie requests and cosplayers all the time.

jackal: one of gwen-65a's major new villains. a creepy professor from 616/peter parker's world, who's into cloning and was always obsessed with gwen stacy sexually, who stalks spider-gwen into her world and intends to set up shop there (... until cancellation/editorial hierarchy dragged him back). the dog days arc he's involved in was literally nominated for a hugo award bc it's that good.

in the fic though, i'm just gonna imagine that 65's jackal, who 616 jackal kills off, is still that creeper.

also a reference to shadow clones, the latest ghost-spider miniseries, where she gets cloned. in the fic continuity that hasn't happened yet, and might not at all bc i'm pretty sure lyla (yup, a lyla) bennett is another crossover villain, who can't exactly cross over if there's no way gwen a is able to freely access the multiverse.

comics gwen had a potty mouth when she first debuted. let her keep it!

earth-66 is the dinosaur dimension where t-rex-spider-man is from. chosen bc it's literally the next one up numerically from earth-65 and it'd be funny as hell.

what the fuck happens now: another gayatri callback.

betty's apartment

comics gwen loves corn dogs.

pastrami sandwiches were eaten by gwen65 and gwen617 in the comics during their existential crisis summit.

the nickname convo was just me taking my 'what the fuck do i call all these gwens' convo and loading it into the fic. also stacy stacy was her nickname during that two-gwens issue.

maxine. yeah i'm headcanoning that film-gwen, who i'm interpreting as trans, was probably named max originally. easy way to reinterpret the middle name that also expands on her trans identity and her relationship with her dad: yes, he's okay with her being trans, but guys he's a catholic cop, he's not gonna be THAT okay with it. he wants her to be girly, and straight, and he's gonna have an opinion about her changing her name. and since gwen assuming her full identity is gradual, at the time that she changed names, she was willing to compromise with the middle name in that way in order to get it.

gwen a and gwen b was just me caving to the peter b method. it's simple!

gwen a's status quo post rescue in the comics that she isn't wanted anymore and the cops get along with her bc her dad... sigh. rejoins the police force. hate that! skipping it for the fic! here he's dead, so the cops still are mixed on her: she's his daughter, but she's also why he ended up dead and disgraced.

regardless, gwen a is still viewed as someone's daughter, instead of someone. a theme.

betty's place is largely as described in the comics. gwen's been known to sleep over there often.

first ref to 'the girls' -- and another gummy sighting.

i swear if the spiderverse movies' big subversion with gwen is 'good news! you don't have to die, and you can have superpowers! but you still have to be someone's girlfriend!' ......... not enough.

going from the dead helpless gf to the living superhero gf isn't enough. because she's still the girlfriend. and her having powers won't even be about her; it'll be about the boy scoring a powerful girl, and getting to have her help him on his adventures. not as bad as being left at home during the fight, not as good as her getting to fight her own battles.

salt: gwen can have powers, but only as long as she's using them to support miles's story. she can have a plotline, as long as it never develops her into someone he doesn't find attractive or who wouldn't want a relationship with him. she can be a hero, just not as good a hero as he is. she can be special, but she can never be as good as or better than him.

salt: if you've ever gotten the vibe that spiderverse gwen is lacking something special in her powerset compared to the others, you're right. they literally didn't adapt her special skill (being a symbiote host). it feels like they started and stopped at 'she's the only girl, so looking pretty when she fights is her unique ability.' (it is not.)

jess's spider-silk comes from her fingertips in the movie. hobie's lightning palms are a headcanon, as is pav's greater strength, but they come from little details about their fighting abilities.

fun fact: according to marvel editorial, gwen-65 isn't allowed to drink alcohol bc of her target audience being middle-school to hs aged kids. i'm gonna roll with an in-universe explanation of: it'll fuck with her symbiote.

betty and gwen are the same size in the comics, but not at all in the film.

betty's cat murderface is wonderful. he even has his own theme song.

another gummy sighting.

lavender perfume: ref to action comics gwen, who sets her apartment on fire due to the number of scented candles she has going at once.

letting the transdimensional grime go: another small way she's getting ready to go home.

gwen a might not be on tour, but she's still part of the band.

glory does the drum subbing in the comics.

comics refs: betty brant has taylor swift on vinyl. nightmare! at the nightclub is a panic at the disco ref, and one of em jay's favorite bands. and betty got detention for playing swedish death metal over the school intercom. (also, gwen likes veronica mars. i figure that's her poster, not betty's)

movie and comics betty have totally different looks and vibes.

and comics betty is probably gwen's closest friend. movie betty doesn't hesitate to snatch her spot in the band when she quits.

mateo. gwen's bland love interest in shadow clones, her latest miniseries. get that dick gwen, but don't call him back.

clowntown is earth 65's mcdonalds.

gwen's recent comics amped up the sexual tension between her and em. em literally wrote a pick-me song that gwen thinks is about her. and she's jealous about gwen getting attention for being a hero/not focusing her energy on her.

otherwise, em and glory are a couple. i love their relationship, and i don't think gwen and em actually match personality-wise to be a couple, but man do i want them to have a disastrous hookup.

gwen and em were friends since sixth grade, and came up with the idea for the band together then. glory and em started it in detention when they were seniors.

comics-gwen's band are her best friends, who rally around her after learning she's spider-woman. movie gwen's band... don't seem to be that.

the bombing/harry's coma comes from the recent comics. man-wolf did it. and the bodega bandit's health struggles and gwen's compassion for him were a big part of that run too.

the og plan for carnage 65 was that gwen's suit was reproducing and would've eventually latched onto em as a new host. i'm taking that element and applying it here to the fic: it's still shedding, it just hasn't chosen a host yet, and gwen a's aware of this and trying to find a solution.

comics gwen loves exploring new worlds. she'd have loved touring. and setting up b offering to let a tag along on multiverse jumps.

harry osborn. comics gwen went to the prom with him, not peter. he was the third party to their hs friendship-- it was a trio, not a duo. they have a sweet on again off again romance that's probably the best of any of comics gwen's love interests.

gwen's spotting peter in the back of that photo. it would've been taken literally minutes before he lizarded out and attacked harry.

the gum wrapper's hobie's.

the gummy liking gwen is foreshadowing.

fire escape

movie gwen's ock seems to be right out of the raimi films. comic gwen's ock is a villain of the week working under moon, whose octopus is a literal animal instead of robo-arms.

movie gwen seems to have gone through a kraven's last hunt canon event. in the comics, he's a villain of the week who has a swarm of animal minions, instead of a hunter.

fwiw i like movie gwen having a more menacing ock. if they're gonna empty out her canon rogues gallery, they'd better put in a few new ones to make up for it.

comics gwen got bitten at a political protest. cindy moon was the creator of her spider, who made it for herself, and took gwens' powers away out of anger that she got them instead.

gwen's biggest male villains are men who want to control her or punish her for defying their control. and women who want to take her place on the pedestal. jess and miguel fit perfectly into that theming.

the storm siblings are villains in the comics. they're only 'heroes' for clout and try to kill/drive gwen out to keep the city to themselves. in the comics they succeed, bc the comic was cancelled and editorial wanted to force gwen to be a supporting character in peter's world. in the fic, they haven't, bc they don't know about the multiverse, and bc this gwen's father is dead and known associates are out of town, so they can't threaten her out of the city yet.

one of the original plans for johnny was that he'd eventually turn on his sister, bc he's much less evil than she is.

i figure movie-gwen's no responsibility phase was probably her being an influencer. that shot of her grabbing the camera before leaping off the roof in her itsv backstory intro gives me that vibe, plus she's a zoomer. she'd try it.

a's trying to make b feel less embarrassed with the green-hair-and-piercing story (which is canon)

also a way to segue into talking about other changes: comics gwen is from queens, movie gwen is from chelsea. comics gwen isn't a dancer, and was bitten at 17. movie gwen is, and was bitten at 13.

in the comics, em is white.

in the comics, og gwen debuted in december. adapting that for fic-gwen a's birth month.

in the comics, gwen's bitten at a political protest. in the movie, it's implied she got bit... in class. hm. there go her politics. thaaanks.

gwen a thinks gwen b is new at being spider-woman, bc she's now the exact age a was when she got started.

i figure b's age is due to the writers aging her down (... sigh. to be miles's gf). she still has the two-years-experience when she enters the films that she did in the comics. i figure they just didn't think through the implications of aging her down.

it's batshit that a 13yo girl was being hunted by the cops and throwing herself into dangerous situations. girl literally has more experience than hobie does, and she was doing it younger than even him. it also means that the manhunt lasted for two years instead of one, and she had to live with it while she was 14 or so. poor kid.

spider-girl was the original name proposed for spider-gwen. you can still kinda see it in the script for the debut issue. spider-woman was better.

becoming spider-woman is tied in with gwen's implied transness in the films. like anything, it's a process. it's canon in the movies that gwen only joined the janes after being bitten, so presumably the bite gave her the courage. building on that: getting a piercing that isn't to her ears, shortening her hair, starting to skip dance. all aspects of her gender identity that being spider-woman gives her the strength to start negotiating... but only in secret.

gwens' outgrowing her suit and name, to set up her adopting new ones.

growing up: gwen was too young to be spider-woman, yet she was. it works because it was her choice to become that.

earth-8 salt: aside from gwen's character being wildly out of step with 65-gwen, her supposed past self, earth-8's shady as hell. if gwen and miles are perfect parents, why are they letting their preteens be members of an otherwise all-adult hero team and letting them go into battle.

ghosting miles: what gwen did after sitting in a tree. she hung all over him, cooing about how 'if only they could be together someday' and then dropped his ass and never spoke to him again. good for her, may she continue to duck that boy.

blue coloring: the underwater/river theming continues.

about peter

not happy, but content-- this comes up a few times in the fic.

'half in love' -- callback to pav.

peter-65b is so different from peter-65a. for one, movie gwen reciprocates his crush on her and they're going to the dance together (not prom, dance; gwen can't have been older than 14 or 15 during that scene, and prom's for upperclassmen).

i don't vibe with that change. movie gwen having genuine romantic interest in miles and peter, when her comics self doesn't, is a huge misread of her character that robs her of a lot of her meaning. she's not their girlfriend, and can never be their girlfriend if she's going to remain the protagonist of her own story.

i recontextualize it in the fic as gwen being... fine, with those feelings towards both boys (since her feelings for them are linked as similar in the film). but not quite being madly in love with them.

esp given that gwen b is trans. not a lot of options for a high school romance in that situation. going along with peter's feelings would be her only chance at one, and i think that's something gwen b wants/wishes she could have had because part of the stereotypical girlhood experience is being a subject of attraction for boys; if a boy likes her, it's working.

look: high school romances almost never work out. they're not meant to. they're for teenagers to explore their feelings, playact romance for the first time and start to learn what they want from future partners. not for them to make serious world-changing commitments of love when they're not even adults yet.

from the bottom of my heart: even if miles and gwen do get together, it's a training wheels relationship. she's gonna break up with him when she graduates, or if she doesn't, that's a yikes, because she's stuck waiting on him when she should be moving into adulthood.

gwen b's hangup is that she was denied the chance for that kind of romance-- with peter, because he died. with miles, because they were separated too long and by the time they reunited her crush on him had cooled, she had a thing with hobie and she was in a different headspace. girl was homeless for five months, an interdimensional secret agent, living with an anarchist who she was probably sleeping with. there's no way you can go back to cute high school romance after that. and that's okay.

there is no miles morales in 65. in the comics, his parents don't meet. i assume it's the same in the film. so gwen a assumes that b is talking about miles warren. there's a hot-for-teacher joke that used to be here.

still. very interesting that comics gwen has to contend with advances from a guy named miles who sees her as an object to possess. and so does movie gwen, except comic gwen's miles is an evil villain, and movie gwen's is a hero her age. different situations... but same result: gwen being denied her agency by a miles who wants something from her that will hurt her if she gives it to him.

miles isn't gwen's best friend. in canon, she knew him for one bus ride and then never again. she knows pav and hobie far better by the time miles comes back into the picture. they are closer to her than miles ever was. and in the fic, that's even more so, bc she and miles only hang out for one afternoon, then a month; but she's known hobie for about 7 and pav for about 5.

gwen being out of the loop with miles will come back in chapter 7. he's changing too. she doesn't realize that.

miles is important to gwen, but he's not her boyfriend or her best friend.

growing up: you're gonna regret the shit you never did as much as you regret the shit you did. gwen b needs closure on the gwiles-aversion. yes, it could've been nice in some other scenario, but it didn't happen. and it's okay that it didn't happen and she can be both sad and relieved about it.

the forest hills house

in the comics, gwen and her father have a home in forest hills, where they're next-door neighbors to the parkers. usually that's mj's role, so it was a fun switchup.

i'm trying to infuse movie gwen with her comics self's history where it feels compliant. so, same grandfather. same house. her mom dies later than in the comics, which is ~when gwen came out to her dad, and the strain of those medical bills causes them to lose the house and move to the city (... which was also motivated by gwen's transness. she'd have an easier time there than in a suburb).

the house being helen's is a headcanon on my part. george stacy was in the yancy street gang as a kid, so he probably wouldn't have enough money to buy a house in the 'burbs, or family who'd leave it for him. helen would.

jennifer walters was comics gwen's lawyer.

comics gwen's dad is still alive and the house is still theirs. in this fic though, he isn't, and gwen sells the house to pay for the lawyer.

growing up: the girls are having a moment of immaturity for shits and giggles. gwen a's feeling nostalgic and seeking a little closure that b inspires her to do something about.

standard high is where 616 gwen went to school. 65 gwen went to midtown with peter. standard's also where action gwen goes to high school-- it's got uniforms, so it's presumably a prep or religous school. i went with catholic so we could have the reference to saints, to joan specifically (a woman who's hated and killed for defying gender norms to go into battle, who's deified only after her death). and to the spider-society being basically a religion.

also, comics gwen's family isn't religious, but her mother had a christian burial. presumably there was something of a disillusionment afterwards. i'm assuming the same for movie gwen, given that we see her saying grace with her dad and the parkers.

helen stacy's death is unknown. in the comics, she dies when gwen's a baby. in the film, no answer. i'm assuming it was an illness and she died in gwen's childhood. more angst that way, and i figure gwen coming out to her dad after her mom's death would make him more willing to accept it.

the parkers are supporting chars in the latour run but totally vanish in mcguire's. out of universe, the author probably forgot. in universe, maybe they moved now that peter's death has closure, and they're probably not too thrilled about living next to the girl who killed him.

ned's peter's bully in the movie; he attacks ned specifically, so they're going with him being triggered by his bullies and 'wanting to be a hero' like gwen (who was presumably starting to fight crime at that point).

in the comics, peter is also bullied, not necessarily by ned. but he doesn't attack the prom in an attempt at being a hero, or standing up to his bullies. he becomes the lizard bc he's embarrassed that gwen, a girl, is fighting his battles for him. he tries to kill his own friend because he's angry that she went out with him instead. comics peter is an incel.

i really fucking hate that they made gwen return his feelings and smoothed up his motivations in the movie.

a gwen who isn't interested in peter parker romantically, and literally kills him to get him off of her and does not fucking like being forced to be someone's girlfriend would be too subversive, i guess. especially in a story where she's only in it to be the male hero's girlfriend.

(especially a hero who has trauma related to watching peter parker be killed by having his ribs bashed in by someone's bare fists)

the comics don't really go into that, to be fair. it's all mentioned, but never dwelled on. plus peter's very deified by the for peter campaigns, and the library.

peter calling her doll, and her hating that, is from the mcguire run. she knew he was into her and didn't like it.

shades of gray: gwen a knows her peter isn't a good person in the end, but still regrets killing him and wishes things had worked out. she doesn't want to absolve herself, but she wants to forgive herself (... which she can only get from another version of herself).

there are worse things you can do: hobie callback. total forgiveness and understanding from gwen b.

gwen b's still a little too black and white. she goes from demonizing the peter killing to wishing she could've done it now that she knows the context. missing the point, which a calls her on.

in the comics, gwen a gets her powers back because she stays bonded to venom. her costume is dope. her powerset is dope. the themes of a girl finding literal power in embracing her demons instead of exorcising them are dope.

... no wonder the movies didn't adapt the symbiote. again, too transgressive. draws attention away from miles, gives her powers he doesn't have, a girl having messy emotions is a turn-off... and no boy would want to touch someone wearing that suit.

the symbiote's made of tiny goopy shapeshifting spiders.

it gives gwen all the basic spider-powers, except now she has organic webbing. she can breathe underwater, in a burning building, and with her nose and mouth covered (which she learns thanks to sue strangling her). it can resemble any outfit/camouflage her as well as miles's invisibility. it can heal her.

allegorically, gwen's power-up pill era was her being dependent on drugs and forced to see an abuser to get them.

the suit is gross and terrifying. it makes gwen physically repulsive to look at yet it's what sets her free and allows her to keep her agency. that's why b is drawn to it.

its diet is from the comics. kale chips!

yes, gwen in the comics calls her gummies 'the girls.' and they are called 'gummy spiders' too.

poltergeists: lots of ghost imagery in this chapter.

on the roof

gwen a discusses her anger the same way she'd talk about the symbiote. that's what it's symbolic of: all her unattractive 'dangerous' instincts and feelings. you know, the ones that girls are encouraged to repress or deny.

b wants a symbiote bad at this point.

gwen b's so stuck on not killing peter bc she's afraid of how it affects her arc. the one thing true about canon events is that people don't change unless something triggers it. and in the case of comics gwen, her compassion, her aversion to killing, her awareness of her anger's consequences, her tendency to pull her punches and her understanding of the moral grays of being a villain stem from killing peter, and the trauma and regret of that situation.

sure, movie gwen never got her hands dirty. but she also never learned those lessons.

movie gwen stagnates for a full year in her debut issue. she hasn't made any progress since itsv, while miles grows so much. she's still stuck at the start of her arc, unable to move on. probably to make sure she isn't too mature for miles.

movie gwen's world is missing a lot of key characters. aside from the janes not being her friends, harry's gone. that removes the incel subtext of peter's character, and means her symbiote either won't exist or has to happen in a different way.

so literally: the atsv writers hollowing out gwen's world to make her lonely and remove any rivals for miles, and any hangups she'd have about being the hero's girlfriend, is directly leading to her not being able to grow as a person or get the thing that empowers her. i hate gwiles, i'm sorry, i hate this ship so much, because of what it does to gwen. no matter how nice he is, no matter how cute they are, she can only be with him if she's stagnating.

important to point out that's the issue with gwen's film world being different. things don't have to happen the same way, but if you make a change, make it to enhance a character, not detract from them.

comics-gwen's dad quit the force for her too.

divergence: he doesn't die due to that coma. i already told you the change was to homage gwen-617. so's a chewing out b for not going home: "i would do anything to have more time with my dad" is all 617.

coming home

gwen coming home on her birthday was a happy accident.

since this gwen's a few months older than her movie canon counterpart, is voluntarily going home with the knowledge that things CAN work out, and has a portal watch to take her away and at least two places she can go in the event that it doesn't, i imagine their conversation goes down differently. instead of an emotionally devastated kid with nowhere to go begging her dad to please not arrest her, she's coming to him to let him know that she wants to come home but will be okay if she can't.

and bc she's coming home with agency, she's going to want to keep it. they have to talk, seriously, about terms for her return. gwen's growing up, and she can't lose that ground.

this is the testing part of the seven stages of grief. time to evaluate whether the new solutions of meeting her self, going home and adopting a symbiote are possible. they are!

her dad has a visions sweatshirt. presumably he went there or gwen did.

gwen invites her older self over for dinner and to spend the night as a thank you for getting the family back together. and probably to help explain where the fuck she's been.

i assume a and her dad are having a very emotional daddaughter convo while gwen's dismantling her bedroom.

the 'other reason' gwen can't sleep is the symbiote. gwen knows a's here to offer it to her, and she wants it.

coming home to your childhood room after spending months elsewhere is difficult. you realize that the person you were when you left isn't the person you are when you return. another part of growing up is getting that feeling for the first time.

functionally speaking: gwen was homeless for eight months. being homeless teaches you pragmatism. she's not going to look at the clutter the same way again.

gwen spent seven-ish months sleeping most consistently in hobie's bed, with hobie next to her. she's used to that, and would miss it.

more river smell nod. both because she misses hobie, and because taking that fall from grace, hitting the metaphorical hudson, and absorbing the stench is what gwen needs most, and being her father's daughter won't let her do that.

one of the conditions her father and she agreed on was: gwen will still be spider-woman, but she has to be honest about where she's going and what she's up to.

yes it's shitty of her to be leaving so soon. but she has to make it clear to her dad that she's serious about it, or he'll revert to dad mode and start smothering her again.

gwen's doing the jump at twilight to lessen the chance of someone seeing them.

in the comics, em is the host of venom's offspring. here, it's gonna be gwen b. the timing worked out, and since fic-a has no multiverse experience, there'd be no way for that plot to be resolved otherwise. also it's confusing as hell to write two gwenoms. b had to get a different symbiote for my own sanity.

"carnage beforehand" -- yup, it's carnage. gwen won't call it that, but that's who it is.

also, carnage was killing em jay. the symbiote's tuned to gwen's genetics, and would've killed her with radiation poisoning if she kept it for too long. so gwen b is literally the perfect host.

miguel, peter b and george would all refuse to let gwen get the symbiote. peter b and george bc of their dad instincts, miguel bc he's a control freak using dad instincts to justify his control freakiness.

jess would be repulsed: she has a strong sense of What's Allowed and What's Not, and consensually joining with a symbiote for good is definitely Not.

miles and pav are kind boys, but they're boys and they're spider-men. they'd see this as gwen being corrupted and confused and needing to be saved from herself.

and hobie wouldn't stop her from doing something to reinforce her autonomy, but in his world venom's the uniform of the riot police so even he'd be averse to the symbiote.

b bonding with carnage would actually be a good solution for 65a. it saves the otherwise-host em from the pain and trauma of being a host, and 65 from destruction. and it removes a potential villain from a's dimension.

it also solves the problem of 65b not having a clear path to gwen getting her symbiote. fuck it, we'll outsource.

and it is also gwen wanting its power. wanting to become something that would terrify the society and scare off anyone who'd want to put her in the girlfriend box again. wanting to be angry and self-preservationist and never having to worry about being alone for it again. and wanting a way to preserve that anger and keep control over it.

plus, the gwens have a reason to hang out now.

'give it to me'' -- callback to chapter 3's infirmary scene. a final step in gwen's transition, now along with the final evolution of her as a hero: surrendering the need to fit into any prescribed boxes about what she's allowed to be, embracing what it'll take to make her happy and let her live, and being affirmed in it regardless of what people think of it.

gwen 65's world is at its best when it's horror adjacent. her major rogues are mad scientists and their creations, a devil, a werewolf, an invisible woman... and venom, who is technically a demon that she's possessed by.

they're on the george washington bridge. a leap of faith is a classic affirmation of a spider-hero's identity. and this particular bridge has such a heavy history with gwen in particular that it's gonna trigger the emotional reaction needed to activate and bond with the symbiote.

comics gwen did bond with her symbiote over music!

she also fed her symbiote to her dad, so it could heal him from his coma, and be in a safe place while she was in prison. (albeit in this fic, he's essentially brain-dead and can't be resusciated)

abyss= a motif throughout the fic, finally paying off. abysses are moral low points, and they're also deep underwater spaces full of scary shit. it made sense that gwen's would be in the hudson.

carnage is more bloodthirsty than venom, but a symbiote reflects its host more often than not. og carnage bonded to a serial killer. fic-carnage is bonding to a girl who wants to do whatever it takes to ensure her own agency and survival. it's going to be the avatar of her anger, and the voice of that gut feeling she's been wrestling with.

technically gwen should've been killed by that fall. but she's super-strong and has a symbiote absorbing the blast so, shrug.

gwen a wasn't laughing when she joined with the symbiote because she lost her mind. it was because it felt really fucking good to finally have that power, and that partnership.

payoff for the breathing underwater motif! symbolically, and literally!

end quote

from seanan mcguire's ghost-spider run. yet another issue 4 quote. issue 4 is bomb, check it out.

[adacatlovelace]

Random unhinged undertale rambling

The design for Sans and Papyrus is very deliberate with the fact they are always smiling, and their expressiveness comes from the movement of their eye(socket)s. This is not only because they are skeletons, but its also important to note that, even at their lowest points, they both still have big goofy smiles on their face, conveying both Papyrus nature of never giving up hope in people and Sans’ continuing to “put on a happy face” even when faced with the monumental existential dread of knowing that anything that happens, good or bad, matters because of the way time works in the world of Undertale. This isn’t to say that they shouldn’t show emotion but ATTENTION NEEDS TO BE PAID TO HOW THEY SHOW THIS EMOTION IF YOU ARE TRYING TO BE TRUE TO THE CHARACTERS.

Secondly, what makes Sans such an interesting character is the fact that he has gone almost fully numb. He knows how helpless he is to actually change anything and has, for the most part, accepted it and instead of ruminating on it, he’s decided to have a bit of fun with it, and because if he acts friendly it might at least minimize the damage the human will do. He doesn’t even really seem to care all that much when Papyrus dies, unless you specifically PROVOKE him by killing ONLY papyrus at which point he will either call you out for being a Hypocrite or “Ah, you’re just an asshole then. At least you’re honest about it.” because once again, anything that happens GOOD OR BAD will be reset and doesn’t really matter.

Yes, he did make a promise with Toriel, and he outright tells you that if he didn’t do so, he would’ve killed you almost immediately. However, he WILL break this promise if the human threatens him directly. This implies one of two things: Either he is so bound to this promise to this person he barely knows that he will stand by as the human murders everyone he cares about, but no so much that he is willing to die because of it OR that the promise is more of a justification to himself to allow the human the freedom to make their own choices.

Now admittedly this is where I go a bit into my headcanon, but bear with me, I do have quite a bit of media analysis to back this up.

MY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION OF THE STORY is that the narrative is... Well the best way I can put this (hopefully) without sounding unhinged is that if you took the story, changed the names and setting while keeping the core themes, characters and events of the story, you could have a passable sort of sequel to Paradise Lost, namely the War in Heaven and christian mythos. STAY WITH ME PLEASE I KNOW THIS SOUNDS INSANE BUT HEAR ME OUT I BEG YOU I MUST SHARE THIS INSANITY WITH OTHERS PLEASE THIS IS JUST ME INTERPRETING THE SYMBOLISM AND DRAWING LITERARY PARALLELS NOT ME CLAIMING THAT UNDERTALE IS ACTUALLY A STORY ABOUT GOD AND THE DEVIL JUST THAT TOBY FOX MAY HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY THE STORIES

I’m just saying that, in some twisted way, it could be a story of Lucifer returning to Heaven

1. What kicks it off the events of Undertale is a large scale war between the Humans and Monsters, and while the monsters are the ones banished, the end result is practically the same: Separation between monsters(Angel stand in) and humans (Demon stand in) Humans/Demons did BAD THING and now the two worlds have been separated

2. Im just gonna get this over with and say Asriel (Who’s name is based on Azrael, an angel) COULD be looked at as a stand in for Jesus, an envoy of the monsters who left the undergound with a message of peace and was killed because of it. This is admittedly the weakest point I have considering Azrael is the angel of death, and the whole thing with Chara muddying it up, but my brain gave me the idea of comparing the funny goat boy to jesus christ and I had to at least mention it

3. A common interpretation I tend to see is that the underground is “Hell” and in my opinion, this does not line up with the themes and imagery within Undertale. In Undertale, the humans are the aggressors, and while the monsters are willing to fight to defend themselves, they are almost always willing to make peace if given the right opportunity.

4. The Human is referred as to as being “Fallen” and the Prophecy of The Deltarune symbol describes him as an angel. Put these two facts together, the human is a Fallen Angel.

5. Toriel’s name is Toriel because shes acts as Tu-Toriel. This has nothing to do with anything except that when searching for the origin of her name, I found out that this STUPID pun has gone over my head for the last almost 8 years and now here it is for anyone else who’s missed it.

6. Taking what I said about Sans giving the human a chance to make their own decisions and running with it, Sans acts as the sort of “God” character. This sounded insane to me at first but then I realized you literally meet him in LIGHT BATHED CHURCH WHERE HE PASSES JUDGEMENT ON THE HUMAN and the whole game he acts as an almost omnipresent observer.

7. Now for the endings

Neutral: Reuniting Humans/Hell and Monsters/Heaven is deemed untenable at the current moment due to the actions (or lack of action) the human has taken, but both sides might walk away either a little bit wiser or with a renewed sense of division. Either way, the Underground is changed forever

Pacifist: The human has turned away from violence, even in the most difficult of scenarios. Asriel is reminded of the love they once shared with humans and the two sides become one again. The Lucifer-standin has clearly changed and is brought back into the fold

Genocide: ���Lucifer” returns and enacts violence against everything, reigniting the War in Heaven but is now unstoppable. After killing both “God” and “Jesus” they are left with nothing except Chara. I disagree that Chara is the devil or satan, but instead is the personification of violence itself, fueled by ambition, to “gain power and defeat the enemy” which is what caused Lucifer to be cast out to begin with. They ask you/Lucifer if you’d like to finish what the two of you have started and if you have the gall to say no, they “gently” remind you that THEY have always been been in control: Lucifer’s ambition to wipe out Heaven and YOU, THE PLAYER’S ambition to “beat” the game to its fullest extent, even if it means going against the themes of the game, leaving Undertale to be cast aside and uninstalled to for the next game you to beat: “Erase this world and move onto the next”

[adamwatchesmovies]

Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995)

You have to wait a little to understand why people call 1992’s Nemesis a Terminator ripoff. The visual resemblances aren’t there in the first scene. The theme of mechanical infiltrators is buried beneath a jumble of needlessly labyrinthine would-be spy work. That’s not the case with Nemesis 2: Nebula. This is unmistakenly a clone of the 1995 sci-fi classic (despite coming XX years after), which makes it much more fun.

73 after the previous film (and featuring none of the characters we saw during that cliffhanger of an ending), humans have lost the Cyborg Wars. Rebel scientists have developed a new strain of DNA and bred a saviour who can free us from our mechanical oppressors. To escape them, Alex (played as an adult by Sue Price) is sent back in time to 1980. 20 years later, a cyborg bounty hunter named Nebula (Chad Stahelski) arrives to kill her before she can win the battle for the future…

Details have been tweaked. Nebula isn’t after Sarah Connor, she’s after John, who is a woman… so basically Sarah Connor. There’s no Kyle Reese because, as a super soldier with enhanced DNA, Alex looks more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than Lynda Hamilton. The film isn’t set in the United States, it’s in East Africa because… it’s much cheaper to shoot there! Like the T-800, Nebula can infiltrate our society without arousing suspicion. Either with its cloaking forcefield, which makes it kinda invisible in a way that’s ripping off Predator or by hiding off-screen and killing everyone it encounters before they can sound the alarm. It’s vague. I suspect they wanted to mask how crappy their monster looked by throwing a bunch of effects on top. It's a little more likely a reason than filmmaker Albert Pyun choosing to rip off not one, but two Schwarzenegger action movies at once.

This is a perfect film to pair up with Terminator. Obviously, the plots are similar but Nemesis 2 perfectly highlights just what makes the 1984 James Cameron movie so good. Sure Price has the physique to be an action star but she’s got exactly zero charisma and just as much screen presence. Her character is so poorly developed and defined, her dialogue is so limited, she might as well be a robot herself. You basically watch her run around, dispatching one fool after another with the insectoid-looking killer in tow, reducing everything in sight to cinders. You get a sense she might’ve had more material on paper but that many of her lines got cut because of her atrocious performance.

The whole thing’s constructed like a robot made of cardboard and bubblegum. The tribe who discovers Alex somehow knows her name. The beginning of the movie is entirely subtitled because obviously no one there would speak English… until Alex is on her own and it’s revealed she’s known the language since birth. That's a headscratcher. Nemesis 2 repeatedly and severely underestimates how much we’ll like or dislike the people we encounter on this adventure. You’re desperate for something to latch onto. You’re having fun at the movie’s expense, cracking jokes at the lousy production and quoting your favorite lines from the Terminator series when we meet Emily (Tina Cote), a woman taken prisoner by some bad guys. Alex rescues Emily (and her dialogue-free friend who serves basically no purpose). Now, you expect the pair to bond. Compared to Sue Price, Tina is a deity of theater. Obviously, she’ll stick around. Maybe she'll even be the “Sarah Connor” to Alex’s “Kyle Reese”. I know I’m not the only one getting strong lesbian vibes from the movie so you REALLY think something will come of their meeting… but no! From the way the film ends, we’re supposed to dislike Emily and think her a villain! It’s one of the many bewildering turns the story takes.

Nemesis 2: Nebula can be fun to watch when paired with the right movie and crowd. It’s an ineptly directed and shoddily assembled film with a thin plot and minimal dialogue. You can easily follow it while basically hurling things at the screen. It’s no classic but if you’re making your way through the series and want to make an event out of it, then I say throw this one in the mix. (On Blu-ray, July 26, 2019)

[kathleenkatmary]

Western Wednesdays: Grim Prairie Tales (1990)

Not at all what I expected, but I found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Since this is a horror/western anthology, I was kind of expecting horror more along the lines of something like Tales from the Crypt, just with a western setting, but Grim Prairie Tales is doing something very different. I read that the cast and crew felt that they were making a strong feminist piece, and I can absolutely see that in the final product. This really is a very thoughtful piece of genre filmmaking, and the horror really does feel more like the kind of spooky stories you might hear around a campfire, at least more so than the kind of horror I think a lot of people expect going into this, judging from many of the reviews (and my own experience).

The middle segments are the ones that really have that feel of a somewhat bold feminist take. The second segment is about a man who meets a troubled woman while traveling through the western plains, and digs into ideas about the ways vulnerability in women is often framed in sexual ways by horror stories and really, a lot of men in general. The third story is about a family making their home on the frontier, with the "Little House on the Prairie" sheen slowly being chipped away to show what a monster the father really is. There are no supernatural elements in this story. The horror comes from just how monstrous, and sadly real, especially for that time, the father's actions are, and the sadly honest reality of the excuses the women in his life will make for him, even as he's abusing them. It's so interesting to see a movie from the early 1990s, especially one that's both a horror film and a western, be so frank in addressing these kinds of issues in terms of gender dynamics, and particularly in the way men and women are framed.

The first and second stories aren't about gender dynamics or women's issues, but they're still thoughtful pieces about respecting different cultures and the horror of violence. I don't think they have the same narrative heft that the middle two stories have, but they still work pretty well. The final story in particular has a wild animated segment, and one of the most frightening images of the whole movie. So they're still incredibly effective.

And the framing device here is also interesting and effective. It's Brad Douriff and James Earl Jones, two strangers who end up camping together and swapping stories, and in so doing end up ruminating a lot on the nature of stories. It's the rare case of the framing segments being just as interesting, if not more so, as the stories being told. Both actors are electric and have a really fun chemistry. They both do a really incredibly job of making their characters feel distinct and identifiable, and that makes their interactions really crackle, because you can really understand where each one is coming from.

Of course, it's not by any means perfect. I think it did take a little too long to get going, and that sort of issue with pacing extends for the whole movie. The stories all feel like they have wildly different pacing, making some feel like they're moving way too fast and some feel like they're moving kind of slow. The scares are also minimal, which I don't generally mind, but I do feel like the movie would have benefitted from slightly better building of atmosphere. The beginning has some atmosphere, largely I think thanks to the fact that the darkness of the western setting at night kind of inherently comes with atmosphere.

This movie was actually shot by the great Janusz Kaminski. It was one of his first jobs as a cinematographer. There are some shots where you can see the skill he'd become so well known for, some beautifully framed shots of the western countryside. Unfortunately, Grim Prairie Tales doesn't seem to have ever received a DVD or Blu-Ray release, not do it appear to be available anywhere streaming. So the only way to watch it is on youtube, where it's been ripped from the VHS release. Which means that it's presented in 4:3, cropped and pretty rough quality that makes everything look very dark but also washed out at the same time. So none of the shots are presented in the way they were originally lit and framed. It's hard to really comment on or criticize any of this stuff as a result.

I really do hope this gets a Blu-Ray release at some point. It's not a masterpiece, but it deserves to be seen by more people, and in its originally intended state.

[junow-honours]

The Aggressor

I am very stoked with these images. Like the last two posts, I decided that I wanted to change the existing designs of my characters, because I’m looking for more interesting and macabre designs for my WIP game. I used AI to generate the ‘turntable’ of each character, so you can see what the whole design looks like as a 3D model.

The first image is by far my favourite, and will be used as the primary ‘Aggressor’ image, alongside the other images in my previous post (these were great too).

Made some notes on some associations I had with these images (most likely pulled in by the generator):

Pharaoh mask- Egyptian- Hieroglyphics. Looks like an ancient depiction of a god (or demon)

Demonic or Satanic- the AI generator seemed to lean towards very macabre and disturbing imagery

Reptilian, or insect-like. The teeth has been translated into an almost scaly, armoury shell- like that of a slater insect. And the tooth headdress resembles one of those lizards with the thrilled neck (love these associations, because when I designed the original character, I was looking at the anatomy of predators in the animal kingdom. Also like this idea of armour- war plays a big role in tabletop games, so the knight would be a good archetype to look into- or executioner who wears an intimidating set of armour)

The Xenomorph in Alien. Probably the most well known science-fiction monster. The Aggressor’s large helmet resembles the long head of the Xenomorph

Mad Max- Dystopian steam-punk. The use of masks is so interesting, the Aggressor needs to be the one character with his face completely covered (balaclava), whereas the other characters still have some skin showing (although only minimal)

Cyborg

Punk?

BDSM masks- latex

Roman coins- the side profiles look like the profiles of gods printed onto ancient Roman coins. Good idea for creating tokens or currency within the game

Michelangelo’s drawings of men wearing helmets- very complex (almost art nouveau-like) helmets. Also reminds me of Howl’s Moving Castle? Stretching it, but small associations like this are what I want the viewers of my work to experience. I want them to point out at random things and make conversations from the memories associated with those things

^ Maybe then.. The Aggressor’s territory can look similar to Howl’s Moving Castle, extremely cluttered and overwhelming- This is also usually how ‘hell’ is depicted, it’s cluttered and deserted- like an abandoned town or a dump. Also thinking about the film ‘Labyrinth’ and that lady with that massive backpack in the dump- love her

[prokopetz]

Hello, person of many recommendations, I come seeking your web of knowledge. I know this isn't TTRPG, but do you and or any of your followers have recommendations for games where you play as a Creature. Just, an absolute thing. Claws. Teeth. No shade to the recent beloved cat game, but I'm talking a monster. If not, no sweat, just discussing trends among friends.

Since you say it "isn't TTRPG", I'm assuming you mean video games, though I'll note that nowhere in your request do you actually specify the medium you have in mind – if I've guessed wrong, that's on you!

That said, a few favourite video games where you play as a Creature:

Realistically, you’ve probably already heard of CARRION, but on the off chance that you haven't, it's a stand-out in the genre. A stealth puzzler with medium-weight metroidvania elements where you basically play as The Thing. This one really leans into playing as a creature with no fixed body plan, so you’ll have to be prepared for occasional physics engine jank as well as omnipresent body horror.

They Bleed Pixels is sort of an edge case, since you’re really just a purple-skinned schoolgirl with claws, but as it’s widely accepted by the Tumblr community that creepy little girls are a kind of Creature, I’m counting it. It’s an ultraviolent precision puzzle-platformer, and if the character design is a bit low on monstrosity, what you do to your enemies more than makes up for it.

Zapling Bygone only came out a couple of days ago, so I haven’t yet had a chance to see everything it has to offer, but I like what I’ve seen to far. Though it might seem redundant to include both this and CARRION on the same list, they’re two very different takes on the idea of a metroidvania starring a tentacled whatsit that goes around killing and assimilating its enemies.

Nohra is another creature-escaping-a-lab game, this one in the form of a Celeste-style precision puzzle-platformer. (I recognise that I’ve thus far plugged nothing but metroidvanias and puzzle-platformers, but well, you knew who you were asking, right?) Quite short, but also free on account of being a student project. The monster’s design suggests that someone on the dev team was definitely a furry.

Maneater probably isn’t quite what you have in mind, being a self-described “open world SharkPG” in which you play as an actual fucking shark, but you can’t deny that a shark is in fact a Creature. Not quite as Grand Theft Auto as the trailers make it look – there’s legit RPG gameplay here, though it leans a bit too hard on the novelty of its premise to really make the most of itself. Still: fucking shark.

Sea Salt has you playing as not one Creature, but many – specifically, a devouring horde of Lovecraftian beasties which you direct as a single unit. The Steam tags notwithstanding, it’s not really an RTS; the logistical play is minimal, and you just have the one mob of critters to direct – it’s more like a bullet hell game where you direct your characters using a laser pointer.

As for forthcoming titles, Necrofugitive is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up where you play as a shape-shifting zombie thing escaping from prison in a shitdark medieval setting. Like They Bleed Pixels, above, whether this one meets your criteria depends on how you feel about essentially humanoid Creatures, though in this case the shapeshifting element pushes the humanoid envelope a little.

[josnhoes]

Halloween.... Spooky scary skeleton 🎶

Okay since halloween is near what if humans do not exsisted in two world but as a myth, like we humans make mythos out of thin air or drugs

And child yuu just appear one day?

I'm assuming you mean twst so I'm going to write it that way. But if you meant a different Fandom feel free to message me again. Also since you didn't pick 3 characters I'm going to do a more general version then focused on characters.

Edit: I ran out of steam and only did the first 3 dorms.

Content warning: Monsters, child reader

In the world of Twisted Wonderland there are a few truths none question; the great seven where revered, the races of monsters where to do their best to keep the peace the great seven created, and humans where nothing more then myths. Though the stories of humans where common, told as tales of fun and whimsy most of the time. There where a few cases of stories where humans where dangerous, abducting monsters to have friends. A set truth about humans aside they didn't exist was if you befriended one, and treasured them in return of their loyalty they would help your magic grow. Young monsters often sought out humans for fun and with hopes of becoming a mage worthy of being seen along side the great seven.

The world of humans was real, a reality mirroring the monster's own. Where humans where viewed by monsters like fairies are to humans; to humans a majority of monsters where to be fear. But just like the monster world their counterpart was viewed as fake.

On rare once a millennium event the realities overlapped allowing for travel between realms. Though usually it was with out incident, but on occasion someone fall through. A monster and a human switched places. But none truly knew of this.

Mc was little even for their age. Though their age was small as well, not even in double digits yet. So waking up in a strange place alone was not ideal. In fact it was the opposite of what any child would want. Alone, lost, and hungry you could do nothing but cry. A cry that caught the attention of a certain Tengu headmaster.

Crowley was in shock to find such a little monster alone in the mirror chamber and approached. Only for the little one to scream. At the fearful wailing he took a closer look and was in shock to find the child was *human*. Oh how fortunate for his school chosen to host such a rare guest! It was a sign and he couldn't wait to see who you chose to bestow power upon, would it be one or many?

Once you're calmed down and reassured no one would hurt you, he asked how you arrived. The answer of you didn't know wasn't ideal but no matter. Soon you found yourself bounced between dorms to find someone for you to bond with.

Heartslabyul was first. The dorm leader refused at first finding no possible way a human could exist, as such he was very hard on you for the first week. The werewolf was strict on everyone but especially himself lest he become a mindless beast. Trey the gentle living doll however was kind and managed to help Riddle realize you where human and not some monsterling shape shifted. Once that gets out the school is vying for your attention. The various monsters in Heartslabyul did their best to keep the havoc to a minimal for your sake.

Savanclaw has a mixed reaction. The sphinx dormleader Leona was the worst at having mixed feelings. He wanted the promised power a human could offer, but you where a child and children where such a pain to deal with..or so he claimed. Most of your care while with them is from Ruggie the resident Knoll and Jack the werewolf wind spirit hybrid.

Octavinelle was the first to have actively tried to bribe your affections. Even with out the bond you brought profits galore. Everyone wanted a deal with Azul the water element Slime, as such his power was growing and growing. The twins a pair of sea serpents where extra busy keeping the lounge in order as many monsters fought to get contracts for a chance to meet the small human.