#FixIt lore

[pokepasta-fix-it-au]

Miki Lore

-Steven actually did some volenteer work with Professer Oak some years before becoming a trainer, this is when he and Miki met.

-Miki was quite shy and jumpy at first, but thanks to Steven working with her over time she came out of her shell and became alot more confident. This ended up with Miki choosing Steven as her human rather then the other way around. Not sorry Stevie boy, you are the chosen one and your fate is sealed.

-Thanks to the pair having a pre-established bond Miki grew strong VERY quickly. Wasn't long on their journey she outgrew her favourite hobby of letting Steven carry her around outside her ball in his shirt. (Going off the headcanon that her tail fire works like a ponyta/rapidash mane fire, since she trusts Steven it doesn't burn him)

More under the cut to prevent a wall of text!

-Miki ended up trying to copy alot of Steven's mannerisms as the two grew. Including but not limited to; trying to mimic a more human like posture and body language, teaching herself how to speak some basic human language (she could understand it all just fine), trying on wigs to look more like Steven and even trying to wear clothes!

-Miki has a friendly sibling rivalry with Ace (Mike's blastoise) and is also friendly with Mike himself. They even had a bit where she pretended she was gonna bite his head off when he wasn't looking to freak out strangers. (This was comedy gold to her).

-She was awake and aware during the trading accident (which happened in an actual pokecenter, the trading machine had been tampered with by a spiteful third party). While it was painful and scary she quickly came to her senses as a spirit and basically went "Minor inconvenience." to it. She doesn't hold any resentment to Mike.

-Once she realised communication from beyond the grave was out the question she looked for another way, this led her to an evil organisation who were trying to mix pokemon and humans together to make uncatchable super weapons.

-Curiously, she was able to communicate with an "AI" in charge of keeping the experiments stable during incubation to help sway the odds into her favour. Suggesting that perhaps taking a dna sample from a human already undergoing a transformation into a pokemon and then splicing that with pokemon dna would lead to the embryo surviving past incubation. (The "AI" is technically Glitchy but we get to him when we get to him.)

-Of corse she was referring to Steven, who at this point thanks to various factors was undergoing a slow change. (He'd even grown a functional tail at this point!). Once a blood sample had been retreived she once again suggested to mix it with a specific pokemon, anything from the charmander line.

-Her little scheme worked wonders, the new body was stable and she didn't need to worry about being controled by the evil folk, as the method of aquiring the blood sample had alerted Steven & company to their existance. Soon after settling into her new body the hideout was raided and the mysterious egg containing her was retreived. Along with the "AI" who helped her as they didn't like working for the bad guys but still wanted to live.

-Several years pass as she incubates again, but once she breaks out and finally reunites with her best friend turned father she looks ALOT more like him, just like she always wanted.

-Her apperance is that of a mostly human girl with some abnormal features, bright emerald green eyes, long and flowing amber hair that's a little wavy at the roots, tan-ish skin tone with small and glossy orange scales dotted about her body (a couple on her face to mimic freckles, back of her hands and feet, some lines of them on her neck, front of her thighs and knees, elbows and so on), a charizard like tail with more of that amber hair at the tuft just like her father, pointier nails and canine teeth.

-Her natural typing also shifted. From Fire/Flying from her Charizard days to Ghost/Fire. Her focus is in her lungs.

-Dispite all that she went through she retained her boisterous and rowdy nature. More then happy to try and pick fights to settle a problem where words and logic fail. She also butts heads to defend those weaker then her.

[schrodingers-romy]

I’m loving watching you experience tma every time I see you post smth im like 😈

Omg fellow tma fan mari???

I just finished s2 a few days ago and the ending DID make me sad <- guy upset by the tragedy in his tragedy story once more. Chewing at my enclosure

[productofaritual]

Imagine

After killing c!Dream and running around to tell people about it, c!clingy actually makes it to c!Punz in time.

They see him in the middle of reviving Dream. They realize what he's doing. Tommy tackles Punz, Tubbo grabs the revival book. Punz is knocked out. They don't know what to do.

They talk about it. Figure out what he was doing from the half written "Dre" in the pages. In a fit of rage, Tubbo beats Punz to death with the revival book.

Fucking ironic.

But it's over. It's done, well and truly done. Dream is dead. They have the revival book.

It's time to plan their trip to L'Moonburg

[magebutts]

i just know people think i hate this game or something and its like jokes on you bud i have pathological demand avoidance, i do nothing unless i feel like doing it for myself only and i have 140 hrs logged in this dumpster fire of a videogame

[mewgatori]

There are some stories where I imitate elements of them out of admiration or fondness for the story they came from, and others where it's more like "well, it wasn't that great in the story that introduced me to it, but thinking about it did give me ideas on how this could be way more fun"

[redlemon]

I hate the design of minecraft villagers

they're huge-nosed, money hungry, ugly, primitive, golem-making explicitely-non-human humanoids. unless of course they're the evil dark-magic practicing main villains of the universe (who are also huge-nosed ugly non-human humanoids). And people still deny how antisemetic the designs are, despite the fact that Villagers were designed by Notch, also known as Markus "Q is legit. Don't trust the media" Persson.

So! I decided to fixit.

I could just make them humans, but I'd prefer keeping to canon and having players be the only humans. So, let's make them anthro animals like Piglins!

I think sheep is the best animal, as they can be docile symbols of peace like Villagers, or aggressive headbutting gremlins like Illagers. The lore of villagers and illagers shown in MC Legends is basically that they both blindly worship humans, right? Might as well make them literal sheeple!

(Yeah, turns out it's ridiculously easy to make a resource pack that replaces models.)

Introducing: Lamblets & Ramlets!

The two species differentiated by the Ramlets having horns, while the Lamblets do not. However, that might not always be enough to differentiate them at a glance. Not as easily as you can with the vanilla beige vs gray skin. Therefore, there's four versions of the pack, to suit your preference of what type of balance you want between gameplay and variety.

Simplicity The most similar to vanilla - Lamblets have beige skin and white wool, while Ramlets have gray skin and dark gray wool.

Variety Lamblets have beige skin and Ramlets have gray skin. Both have one of 6 random wool colors - white, gray, dark gray, black, brown, and rarely, pink.

Diversity Lamblets have random wool and one of 4 random skin tones - beige, white, gray, and black. Ramlets have random wool, but always gray skin.

Canonicity Both Lamblets and Ramlets have both random skin and random wool.

You can find Lamblets & Ramlets on Modrinth!

REQUIRES EITHER OPTIFINE OR ENTITY MODEL FEATURES AND ENTITY TEXTURE FEATURES !!!

[whumpedup]

Jayce Whump & Hurtcomfort Fanfic Recs - Part 1

Because sometimes I just want Jayce to have a bad time.

These are not in any particular order and there are more parts to come if people let me know they're interested.

[Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

---

✦ Jayvik - Jayce touch starved and traumatized post whump cave - Length: Short

✦ Jayvik - Jayce has snow PTSD - Length: Short

✦ Meljay - Jayce bleeding out from his chainsaw wounds and suicidal - Length: Short

✦ Jayvik - whump for Viktor and Jayce of all kinds, its heartbreaking and melancholy and has lovely moments too. Def read the tags - Length: Long

✦ Jayvik - mashup of post-canon Arcane and League Lore. Jayce is bitten by a monstrous wolf and Viktor works to cure him but also very divorce era so lots of emotional whump for both - Length: Medium

✦ Jayvik - Set during season 2 act 2 before we knew what happened to Jayce and if instead he showed up and Viktor took care of him - Length: Short

✦ MelJayVik - Jayce has a trauma response to Ambessa's advances and goes to his lovers for comfort - Length: Short

Its Okay by BabyNonbinaryWitch

✦ Jayvik - the council chamber fight goes differently when Jayce's leg gives out and snaps. Fixit fic - Length: Short

✦ Jayvik - Jayce snow PTSD - Length: Short

✦ Jayvik - Jayce overworks himself and gets hurt - Length: Short

----

If you read any of these and like them please let them know in a comment that their work was recced to you 💜

[stormxpadme]

There's a bit of fanfiction negativity in the tags :(. Looking for something to cheer me up, what's your personal scogan fanfic favorites?

Yeah, I saw that, both in the scogan and scogean tag, with posts even including the character name tags. Like. Not cool, people. Way to make authors feel shitty who have been guarding the ship lighthouse for the last 20 years. Claiming in the most popular tags, there's only like 1 good fic among more than 1500? Wow, okay. So I was very happy to receive your ask. Let's counter that negativity with some awesome scogan reads!

Damaged by scottxlogan

Can't do any scogan rec list without including the leading authority on the subject. @scottxlogan is the author who pulled me into this ship years ago, not to mention they're a great friend, unbelievably talented writer and artist, and they deserve all the love. Damaged is surely one of their most ambitious projects and deserves every single view, kudos and review out there. Set in the DOFP finale verse that is no doubt the author's specialty, the story comes with an alluring, intricated plot that leaves you on the edge of your seat along with all the feels.

Submission by scottxlogan

I'm also including a newer work by the same author in case you just want to get a feel for how wonderfully she writes these guys, not to mention the shameless steamy goodness that are the author's smut scenes. scottxlogan is an expert at reversing common fandom tropes believably, and this will leave you longing for more of these power exchanges easily.

he carries the reminders by Wolfsheart

@mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea is another great friend and author I would trust even with my biggest squicks (not that she writes those anyway :D). She's not only technically brillant and very well-versed in the lore which makes every pairing she writes a great read (check out her Tony/Emma, too!), but she'll also never fail to make you laugh or put those hearts in your eyes. And don't miss all those pop culture references that even put Peter Parker to shame! She also gives us scogan fans exactly what we need with stories like this one, combining our fav hurt/comfort tropes with a healthy dose of canon fix it.

I loved you since I knew you by strangenewwords

@strangenewwords is a fairly new and dearly beloved addition to our group at @scoganbingo events, but she's already made a huge impact with her delicious smut and angst stories that hit you right in the feels. Technically also brillant, the linked story is definitely one you don't want to get spoilered for beforehand because the ending will leave you in absolute awe and tears. The author doesn't shy away from including the darkest sides of Scott's past but handles every subject with the necessary care and respect, and as I said ... You don't want to miss out on all that delicious smut!

The Day Before the Soldiers Came by Cerylid

Cery is offering a much-needed fixit for the team dynamics between the X-Men and Logan before X2 with this story. It comes with a lot of humor but also far more feels than you expect. The texting is hilarious but it's the quiet tones that get to you.

*****

Speaking of fix-its, since that negativity in the tags kinda got to me, too, I might just throw in one of my own works here too since I also got lots of Scogan stuff out there.

My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold

is basically my go-to X3 fix-it. You look for something to make that movie right, you got it all right there. Along with a bit of horror (we are talking about resurrection, after all) comes a dramatic rescue mission in a mental limbo, and you get an Avenger and Emma Frost guest-starring. There's a couple of follow up chapters that explore both scogan and Tony/Emma a bit further, and we even get a Laura version in old movieverse along the line, and of course all the nasty nasty smut you guys are here for.

########

So, that's it from the top of my hat. All these accounts have even more great stories to check out, and there's lots of other scogan authors out there with great stories to enjoy. So don't let anyone tell you, there's no quality scogan stuff on AO3.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

oh yippee wahoo 2 trans 2 furious pdf copy available Now via email for $8

more nominal promo for 2 trans 2 furious and the effective tayficionado entry we got in there lol, in that now there's a live event about the anthology for anyone in nyc on monday aug 28th

my insider info is that the whole collection kicks ass & you really don't need to know anything about f&f b/c i don't

[mama-qwerty]

We're coming up on 2 months since the Knuckles series premiered and that whole situation still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Not the series itself, but the way the fandom reacted to it. It was just a silly little filler show, and did not warrant such hatred and extreme reactions.

It wasn't like the entire future of the SCU hinged on whatever lore was revealed in this show. It was filler. Was it weird? Sure. Diverged from game/comic lore? Yeah. Focused a little too heavily on Wade? Yep.

But I personally found it fun. Others did not. Completely fair.

What wasn't fair was how those who didn't like it tore it, and the entire SCU in general, down as though the movies had somehow caused all other versions of the Sonic franchise to become 'less'.

It's a different universe. The characters have different backstories. The story is ongoing, meaning they're not going to be 100% just like their game counterparts from the very beginning. They're developing, growing, learning. Knux isn't like his ME guarding comic version, right now. But we don't know what will happen in the 3rd (or later) movies.

I will admit I'm a little angry at how much this discourse has affected me. I know it shouldn't. I know I should just shrug it off and do what I'd always found fun. But the atmosphere has changed so much, it really makes me pull back, and I don't want to do that.

So this is an open invitation, for anyone out there who loves the SCU or Knuckles series to reach out if you want. If the discourse has affected you too, know you're not alone.

It really sucks that something we were all looking forward to has turned some of us against others, and dredged up such anger that no one talked about the show other than how much they liked or hated it. Where we should have been inundated with theories, analysis, fixit fics, or fanart, or aus or any number of other incredibly creative and inspired pieces, but instead the show has been swept under the rug, and only spoken about in hushed tones with the lead in of "I know it was weird, but".

I enjoyed the show. I watched it with my family, and we all found it fun and entertaining. I'm planning on incorporating the series into my Knuckles MacPherson au, and will weave what I liked or felt inspired by into those stories.

I will write again, damnit. I will push past this stupid block, and get my head back into Green Hills, playing with the characters there like my own personal little puppet show. I have stories that need finished, and more percolating in my noggin that need explored.

[pokepasta-fix-it-au]

basic ass glitchy red timeline

long post btw

-Was a normal pokemon before -got along well with trainer -got separated from trainer during storm while still in pokeball (his ass does NOT realize the ball sank to the bottom of the ocean.) -waits patiently to be let out -waits patiently to be let out -waits patiently to be let out -realizes something is actually wrong when he doesn't remember what pokemon he is -breaks out. realizes he got corrupted from extended pokeball stay no sign of trainer -finds land and realizes he'd been trapped for actual years, no sign or mention of trainer -doesn't actually remember who they were, stubbornly keeps living in isolation to try and preserve some memory -ends up just chillin at cinnabar islands coast for more years, not fearful of mankind but does keep a respectful distance -gets to watch an absolute crackhead child steven swim across the ocean and demand to see him -he appears bc he respects the grind -transes stevens gender -keeps getting messages in bottles from baby steven (returns some as well with his own messages!) -eventually gets found by evil guys and gets captured -turned into an ai and gaslit to forget past life -just kinda survives until Miki shows up and gives him a plan -gets rescued by a now adult Steven -stays with them for a bit and slowly starts to remember things -manifests physically and chooses human form to avoid re-capture

[arysthaeniru]

I finally watched the Like A Dragon TV show, and man. Woof. Real mixed bag.

Now, I wasn't immediately biased against the show like most Yakuza fans were, when I heard they were deviating from canon a fair bit. I'm not somebody who's slavish to canon or timelines or lore or anything. I don't care if they change details or characters if it leads to a tighter, more coherent show. This is why Elementary is the superior modern-day Sherlock Holmes adaptation, despite deviating heavily from details/lore in the original books. This is pretty much always been my fundamental opinion about any adaptation--different things work for different mediums.

Also, judging by my nearly 200,000 word fixit fic I wrote--I'm not exactly fond of the plot of Yakuza 1. I was pretty excited to see something a bit different, taking the basic elements of Yakuza 1 and updating them to make coherent/thematic sense.

So, let's start with the things I liked. I was so excited about the first scene of the first episode, as a woman lover. Yumi and Miho are characters??? Real characters with personality and agency?? I was so goddamn excited, because that's literally all my Yakuza fanfic has been-me trying to bring women to life (and the gay agenda). It also felt like really good foreshadowing--oh look! Here's Yumi planning and executing a heist perfectly (Nishiki and Kiryu are the ones who fucked up!), cut to 10 years in the future, where she'll do the same thing again, with much bigger stakes. It felt resonant and promising. I feel like throughout the show, Yumi and Miho felt like real women, with real personalities and desires, and the very first scene helps build that up.

I also quite liked the change to Kazama! I liked him as the caretaker of the orphanage, I liked him as the retired Dragon of Dojima. I like that the 'Dragon of Dojima' was the title given to Dojima's best prize fighter in the ring. The moniker 'Dragon of Dojima' NEVER made sense for Kiryu , especially after the backstory of Yakuza 0 kind of fucked up the way that Kiryu's backstory worked when the game first released in 2005. After Yakuza 0 and Kiryu's animosity with Dojima, the moniker was weird and felt shoehorned in. This show's interpretation felt like a much more natural title--and I liked the obvious, immediate, dramatic irony that Kiryu and Nishiki look down upon and resent Kazama their guardian, while also idolizing Kazama's dirty past as a yakuza. It felt resonant to the main theme of the Yakuza series: that family keep making the same mistakes as each other, over and over again. You can try all you like to protect your children and family from harm and from the truth--but they will make all the same mistakes that you did, over and over again, because the Yakuza world is this drainpipe down which lives are ruined. I liked that! I liked how desperate to stop them Kazama is throughout this show, and yet how powerless he is. Kazama in the main game was too powerful and omnipotent, so his inaction in the main game felt cruel, because of how powerful and influential he was within the yakuza world. By recasting him as a civilian who has no influence, it's tragic and absolves him of the complicated role he plays in Kiwami 1.

(It's why I hate Episodes 5/6 where they, without fanfare, undo that status quo with no explanation or reason, but it seemed initially promising!)

I liked the relationship between all four of the Sunflower Kids, it felt easy and natural, the characters all had decent chemistry (except Yumi and Nishiki's actors, who never interact EVER until Episode 5....we'll get back to that.) Miho's actor is DELIGHTFUL, and you really do get the sense that she was the emotional glue of the group that held them together. Her death being the catalyst for everything going wrong is not only well-framed by the narrative, but feels plausible because of just how well they set her up as bubbly and personable.

They removed the politician plotline and Jingu entirely. Neither element ever really fitted into the original game's story well, and although I did my best with it in my fanfic, I agree with the TV show's choice to excise it completely.

Also, as convoluted as it was, I liked the events that lead to Dojima's death. Clearly, the showrunners wanted to avoid the whole 'Yumi-gets-raped-loses-her-memory-from-the-trauma-and-Nishiki-kills-Dojima-on-a-whim'. I think that was a good choice! Yumi's rape is never given real weight within the game's story, so removing it entirely is fine to me. I liked the show writers collapsing the two storylines about Nishiki's murders into one.

Dojima is now instrumental to Miho's death, and cons Nishiki out of a great sum of money, instead of that rando subordinate that was introduced in Kiwami 1. I really like that Nishiki didn't shoot Dojima out of recklessness, but out of a desire to see him dead for using Miho as a pawn in his gamble for money. I think it's better characterization for Nishiki, and it's a great springing off point that leads us to Nishiki and Kiryu both despising the yakuza in 2005.

I like Miho and Kiryu's parallels throughout the show, as these people who are committed to overworking and living in the moment. Neither character cares especially much about the future--they're living in the present, and that's something the show both glorifies and makes tragic in a really interesting way. (Also, it really vindicates my own characterization, where I parallel Kiryu/Yuko and Nishiki/Yumi as foil of each other). I also like that Kiryu and Yumi are the ones present at her funeral and in her last moments, while Nishiki is embroiled in the money problems, the yakuza intrigue. Instead of spending his last moments with her, Nishiki goes after revenge. It's good! It's such a compelling flaw to give Nishiki's character.

Nishiki's actor in general is just a delight! Both young goofy Nishiki and cold, adult Nishiki are played so well! Clearly whoever wrote this script was a Nishiki fan, there's so many small little lines and details that aren't from the games, but feel so in-line with the games. I really like that at the beginning of the 2005 segment, while he's not exactly on GOOD terms with Yumi or Kiryu, he's at least paying lipservice to the idea that they're his family. He's Yumi's boss, and he does a sake ceremony with Kiryu to welcome him back to the yakuza. It feels more realistic, rather than the complete betrayal that the games gives him. It's good!

I like the actor for Date! He was truly giving it his all. I also liked the Florist's den looking more realistic-he's still got all his creepy surveillance, but he doesn't have the world's most absurd underground hideout anymore, with the tackiest aquarium I've ever seen. It's a more more plausible little internet cafe set-up. I LOVE his squad of surveillance grannies, its tone fits in with the goofier shit in the video games, and it's one of the only moments of levity in this VERY serious show. I also like them painting the Florist as an exploitative scumbag-it's weird that Yakuza 1 tries to make you Date's best friend, but also is like 'so that guy who fucked over Date and other civilians, the Florist of Sai? he's a good guy, don't worry about it.' Preferred it this way!

And I really liked that they didn't fuck around with 'Yumi-is-pretending-to-be-her-nonexistent-older-sister', and this meant that Kiryu and Yumi got to interact a bit as they tried to solve the plot! It was nice! I liked seeing them try to figure out what it's like to be adults in each others' presence again. The one scene where they're eating in a izakaya together and Kiryu compliments her on being a good eater--there's such a tenderness and fondness to the scene that is so rarely present in any of the 2005 segments, that it genuinely took me by surprise.

I think....that's all I liked about the show. The rest of it was. Hoo boy. My ranting and fury under the cut.

Many people have also pointed this out, but I have to agree: this show's Kiryu is #NotMyKiryu. I got used to the fact his actor looked a bit lankier and more conventionally attractive than I wanted him to be--but this Kiryu is abrasive, aggressive and vainglorious--both in 1995 and at the beginning of 2005. I could maybe justify a story where he starts young, proud and foolish in 1995, and then matured to become the Kiryu we know in the games by 2005. But to start the 2005 segments with Kiryu not even being curious about his old friends, Kamurocho, or the prospect of a yakuza war felt wrong! Kiryu is a man who is kind and who cares so deeply and openly about things! And although this Kiryu is strong and silent, and loves his family, he's lacking that basic decency and kindness towards strangers that makes Kiryu Kazuma a compelling character in the first place!

Which is a shame, because the actor really grew on me, especially after seeing that little karaoke segment he's recorded as a spoof. He's got the sauce, he CAN convince me that he's Kiryu--the script is just so poorly suited for him.

On a solely visual level, I felt like the action scenes were kinda boring? The closest we get to interesting fight choreography is the one time that Kiryu is boxing against this capoeira artist in 1995? But every other fight has no visual panache--which is a shame, for something that's adapting a game with some very cool fight scenes. I wanted to see some visual representations of cool heat actions on screen!!! While I certainly like how no-nonsense all of Kiryu's fights in 2005 are--how he's fully unfazed by any opponent, I do think that just because Kiryu is bored of the fight, doesn't mean we should be. I would have liked to see some more interesting fight choreography, especially for the repetitive underground fighting scenes we constantly see, which are all kind of boring.

Because the plot is so breakneck and frenetic, as it transitions back-and-forth and back-and-forth from the past to the present, there were precious few quiet moments in the show. I LOVED what little we got between the Sunflower kids, but there was a real missed opportunity to characterize Kiryu better, because of their insistence on excising the sidequests entirely. The show could have really used some quiet scenes of seeing Kiryu do karaoke, or talk to the okamas in the Champion District, or help kids collect their trading cards, or play racing games--the scenes that establish that Kiryu is an earnest, open, honest man who loves the world, even when the world has been cruel to him. In a world filled with grumpy antiheroes who eventually learn to do this right thing--Kiryu was refreshing! He's a man who already knows what the right thing is--the conflict is his dismay at how much of the new world DOESN'T know what the right thing is. It's frustrating to see the TV show cut out all light-heartedness in order to make it a serious TV drama. Yakuza as a series is distinctive and at its best when tonally dissonant. The games move from great tragedy to great absurdity at breakneck speed--it's a commentary on the absurd nature of Kamurocho and the floating world--something that has been part of literary depictions of Japanese red-light districts for quite some time. It's a fundamental part of the Yakuza series' unique aesthetic, and taking that away leaves us with this generic yakuza soap opera.

And like. I KNOW that by this point, older gruff man has to learn how to parent a small, young girl is a tired trope. It's a tired trope in video games and it's DEFINITELY a tired trope in TV/film. But goddamn it, Yakuza 1 did it back in 2005, it wasn't boring back then, and you didn't need to change it! It is THE central emotional thread of Yakuza 1, and it's one of the only themes in Yakuza 1 that actually meaningfully hits. Kiryu and Haruka's parent-child relationship is the core of this whole series. All of the substories in Kiwami 1 CONSTANTLY underpin that this game is questioning: what does it mean to be a father? Kiryu's relationship to Nishiki and Kazama is premised around the question, 'what does it mean to be a good parent?' AND THEY CUT IT OUT ENTIRELY!? Kiryu rescues her once, and then Haruka literally NEVER talks to him! Ever!

It's not like this is replaced by Haruka interacting with Yumi or Aiko, her actual mother. Haruka is simply written out of the show altogether. Haruka exists to be rescued and then be kidnapped. It's tragic. It's boring. It's sad. They cast a charming little child actress to be Haruka too, it felt like a deeply wasted potential.

Speaking of Aiko. I praised them for getting rid of the Yumi-pretends-to-be-her-nonexistent-sister plotline, because it was bad and stupid. They instead replaced it with Yumi-now-has-a-real-sister-who-keeps-ghosting-her-and-also-is-a-dick. Aiko's bad. Aiko's just sort of shitty and selfish and fucks around the show with no motive for doing anything, and with a seeming omnipotence re: plot points. How does Aiko even know that Yumi is looking for her in order to come up with her initial scam? How does she know enough about Reina to be able to get Reina sent to jail? How does she always know where Yumi is, despite Yumi being seemingly unable to ever find her competently? They never really commit to Aiko being a real villain, giving her just enough sympathetic moments (like her dying to save Yumi, and her attempted suicide) for you to not entirely hate her--but then they refuse to give Aiko enough characterization for that humanization to matter. Aiko's main character trait is that she will do anything for a quick buck, no matter how many relationships in her life she ruins as a result. But she never once has a thesis for why money is so important to her. She never has that speech Nishiki does in canon about how being poor makes him feel powerless and resentful. Aiko is just a disappointing combination of tropes about selfish women. A pointless waste of space and a bad backstory for Yumi. I agree with the show-writers' urge to get rid of the fake-sister plotline, but just make Yumi steal the money! Make Haruka her kid! Don't introduce characters who take up precious screentime and suck the life out of the screen every time they show up.

Speaking of things that sucked the life out of the screen--let's talk about the dumb serial killer Demon plot. I don't know what it is with Amazon shows where they are desperate to have some sort of big twist about who their mystery villain is? First there was Rings of Power, where the screenwriters dart around going 'is THIS Sauron?' every five seconds. Now here, where the question of who the Demon was kept being brought up constantly, and without any real stakes or tension. They kept using all the Noh imagery with the masks and the Demons all using knives--clearly to make fans think it was Majima, but like. Of course it fucking wasn't. Of course it was Nishiki. Nishiki is the villain of the game.

But because they want you to think that the Demon is Majima, MAJIMA ISN'T ACTUALLY IN THIS FUCKING TV SHOW. He shows up for like ten minutes in the flashbacks, and he literally NEVER matters to the story. He's in the show purely because the writers didn't want to leave him out. Majima and Kiryu don't even MEET in the 2005 timeline, and in the 1995 timeline KIRYU IS THE ONE WHO ANTAGONIZES MAJIMA. What a weird read of their dynamic! I have no idea who made this decision, but it is reprehensible. Great actor, but what a fucking waste of space and time. Leave him out altogether, rather than have this pisspoor showing where he is entirely irrelevant and also doesn't even make an impression. At least Takeshi Miike's Majima, for all the sins of that movie, was both relevant to the plot and was a fucking riot on screen. you couldn't take your eyes away from the performance. But this interpretation of Majima commits the worst crime--he was boring. And if there's one thing Majima shouldn't be, it's boring.

The Demon is stupid and does stupid things. I loved that part in Episode 5 where the yakuza are meeting up in a Chinese kitchen, clearly speaking to the actor they intend to be Lau Ka Long. He accepts money to go and assassinate Nishikiyama--then instantly everybody involved is killed by the Demon and his people. It's such a pointless scene, done solely to reference Lau Ka Long for people who've played the games, and then the plot does absolutely fuck all with him, killing him immediately. Lau Ka Long has none of the menace and fear he inspires in the regular game (which...maybe for the best, since the game leans into some REAL racist stereotypes about Chinese people), but it doesn't replace it with anything. The scene is empty and hollow.

In general, the Demon is a silent antagonist--so every time the Demon is on-screen, you have the same fight scene plays out. Yakuza characters try to target Nishikiyama or Kiryu, the demons show up and do some violence, the yakuza character for that scene asks the Demon to take off the mask, the Demon refuses, brutally murders them, carves the weird pentagon into their chests, and leaves.

What the fuck is up with that? Why did Nishiki pretend to be an occult killer at all? Why didn't he just....you know...kill people? With a gun? I'm not saying I couldn't have been sold on this idea. But they didn't try selling it to me at all.

They could have had Nishiki complain about how he needed to create a boogeyman against whom he could prove his own wit (so he could reach a position where he can destroy the Tojo Clan). You could have had Nishiki slyly boast about how, in order to avoid suspicion in his blatant targeting of all his political enemies, he made up a fake serial killer with an occult symbol, so people would think a crazy cult killed them, instead of putting-two-and-two together about why these yakuza died. We instead get a big fat....nothing.

All of the Yakuza characters figure out Nishiki is the Demon in Episode 5, WITHOUT ANY OF THEM ACTUALLY HAVING TO DISCUSS THE PATTERN OF DEATHS OR THINK ABOUT IT AT ALL. EVERYBODY JUST SUDDENLY HAS THIS REALIZATION, ALL AT ONCE, INCLUDING KIRYU AND YUMI WHO ARE NOT TUNED INTO THE DEMON SHIT AT ALL, AND EVERYBODY JUST INSTANTLY TURNS ON NISHIKI AT ONCE. FOR VIBES ALONE. I'm not kidding. It's insane. It feels like they cut out a huge chunk of show here, because this feels like it might have been a out-of-place but competently written murder story in a previous draft, for when they had eight episodes. I bet their budget got cut though, and they had to cut all of that out. The result is unfinished, choppy, and dumb.

Also...the Omi Clan play a MUCH bigger role here than they do in Yakuza 1, and I think it's a bad and stupid role. For one, the Omi Clan are now saddled with being the ones stupid enough to have 10 BILLION FUCKING YEN STASHED IN CASH. But wait--it gets worse! They don't even have the excuse of Yumi and Kazama working together to defraud the Tojo from their influential positions within the organization. No! The Omi Clan is stupid enough to send 10 billion yen onto the road with only FOUR MEN AS GUARDS. Four men who are stupid enough to be defeated by Aiko and her stupid boyfriend. I know that TECHNICALLY, Nishiki's behind this, but that's glossed over so quickly that it turns to farce. It's ludicrous. What the fuck???

The Omi Clan don't even really seem to want their money back, instead deciding for...no reason at all, that regardless of if they get their money back or not, they're going to start a clan war with the Tojo and kill them all. In broad daylight. ???? Why? They just decided to attack Tojo in their home territory, without any money or resources? Are they STUPID?

This show is clearly angling to get a sequel, judging by the final shot of the show and the suspense they're trying to build up there, but now they've gotten rid of the main antagonist of Yakuza 2, The Omi Clan! They all get arrested/beaten up by Majima at the conclusion of the stupid clan war in Episode 6. What the fuck do you do in your shitty sequel now?

They included the Omi Clan, just to have a familiar name. It bears no resemblance to the actual yakuza organization we see in the games. They're just antagonists, for the sake of having a big epic fight at the end of the show. And this proclivity to include something by name, because it references the games, but then to fully squander or waste them in these two-bit shitty roles, happens CONSTANTLY throughout the show.

It happens with Shibusawa, it happens with Shimano, it happens with Shindo, it happens with Sagawa, it happens even with fucking REINA! Just these namedrops because they're important names--but just doing nothing with them at all! Shibusawa is a smarmy little two-bit yakuza mentor who exists to die in front of Kiryu and Nishiki. Shimano is this smarmy, douchey low-level yakuza who seems to be fighting against Nishikiyama entirely AND SIDES WITH KAZAMA IN ORDER TO DISMANTLE THE TOJO CLAN IN THE LAST EPISODE. Which is something that Shimano would rather commit suicide than do. Shindo is a random thug who exists to get punched and then killed. Sagawa is just a random namedrop of an Omi patriarch who briefly kidnaps Kiryu/Yumi, and doesn't really matter at all to the story at all. Reina is Yumi's boss--but that's it! She doesn't matter, she doesn't do anything interesting or say anything to the girls about what a woman's role in the yakuza world ought to be.

I don't hate it when adaptations change the story and characters. I'm usually pretty positive about it! But this isn't a thoughtful reinvention of characters. It's a lazy reference for reference's sake, because the scriptwriters thought it would be too difficult to incorporate these large personalities/storylines into the script, so they decided to just namedrop them. That'll make the fans excited, right? Just hearing the name of a Yakuza character means they'll have a Pavlovian response and that'll make them forget that this is a bad show with horrible pacing, right?

And the new characters they add are just...weird? What's with the random white people? What the purpose of that white businessman that Kazama knows but Dojima doesn't? Why does his white sister have so much fucking weight in 1995? They take up so much fucking room in the flashback sequence--only to not matter at all to the main storyline? I briefly thought that the white lady was the Demon, because they keep zooming in on her face. After all, hannya in noh plays are representative of scorned/wronged women--and she's brutally assaulted and her brother is murdered horribly, so I wondered if that was maybe where they were going? But nope. It never matters. All that matters is that they owned the land for the Millennium Tower, and then they're dead and never matter again. It's edited SO weirdly.

Speaking of women--as much as I was happy about the way the show tries desperately to flesh out Yumi and Miho as real people, it's not quite successful at it. In the 1995 timeline, there's a brief scene where we see that everything about hostess life makes Yumi uncomfortable--the drinking, the flattering men's egos, the pretense of being sexually available. Unlike Miho, in the show, Yumi is not a natural hostess. This is in direct contrast to the games, where Yumi is depicted over and over again as the PERFECT hostess. I was intrigued by this change at first, especially since Miho is shown to be the natural instead, despite only being 15-16. I thought it might say something about performance, about women's roles within the misogynistic structure of the yakuza? Or if they didn't want to have too much of a take, that this characterization might lead to some sort of tension between Yumi and Miho, that Yumi might be jealous of Miho's natural ability, or angry that circumstances have put them in a situation that exploits Miho's youth. But nothing comes of it! Yumi and Miho's differing opinions about hostessing never boil up into something significant. And in 2005, Yumi's a successful hostess, who works/owns a prestigious bar at the top of the Millennium Tower, and she works for Nishiki's sector of the yakuza, and everything's fine. She never talks about hostessing in the 2005 timeline, despite that being her main job. It never once matters to her character. It's BIZARRE. I just keep thinking--why include that scene of her discomfort then? This show's editing is so ODD.

As for the relationship problems between Nishiki and Yumi--well. It's pretty weird. In the 1995 timeline, we get touching moments between Nishiki and Kiryu, Nishiki and Miho, Miho and Yumi, Yumi and Kiryu, and Miho and Kiryu. Nishiki barely has a relationship with Yumi. It doesn't really matter that much in the first 4 episodes, they all like each other as a group, and you buy it. Which is why it's so weird that after Miho's death, he gets mad at Yumi for not doing enough to stop her illness and THEN gets mad at her for liking Kiryu and then tries to forcefully kiss her. Unlike other Nishiki stans, I'm not the sort of person that denies Nishiki's incel behaviour--I do think it's a fundamental aspect of his character and inferiority complex. He loves Yumi and Kiryu equally, and it is more socially appropriate for him to go after Yumi, and it infuriates him that when it comes down to it, Kiryu and Yumi like each other a bit better, shutting him out of the equation altogether. But there is like NO setup for this dynamic in the show.

Even though I HATE that tutorial sequence in Yakuza 1 with a burning passion for how fucking boring it is--it does set up the emotional stakes of why Nishiki's so MAD about Kiryu and Yumi. It's Yumi's birthday, something that Nishiki has been planning for for months. He's staked out an expensive jewellery present, he's saved up his salary for it, and he's certain it's going to be a slam-dunk gift! However, Nishiki being a cis man obsessed with wealth, hasn't actually paid attention to Yumi's taste--it's flashy and bright, because that's what Nishiki himself values, and thinks all women will value. Yumi isn't a person with tastes to him, he;s bought into her hostess persona. Kiryu, on the other hand, doesn't even know it's Yumi's birthday until Nishiki starts bragging about the present. He has to go get a last minute present, and the only reason Kiryu even gets her anything even vaguely close to her taste is because Reina (who actually pays attention to Yumi as a person) tells him what to buy. Nishiki, not knowing what Reina did for Kiryu, KNOWS that Kiryu's present is a last-minute purchase, one without any thought behind it, and yet, despite it all, Yumi likes it more--something that baffles him. Boring as it is, this scene is crucial characterization that shows us that Nishiki does put in effort to woo Yumi, but doesn't really understand her, and it breeds resentment and jealousy that Kiryu effortlessly obtains both women and yakuza status without trying, two things that Nishiki has to sweat and bleed to get anywhere close to. It's the crux of who he is.

The show doesn't do ANYTHING close to that. Nishiki barely pays attention to her in 1995, and then kisses her while crazy with grief about Miho, and gets mad when she doesn't reciprocate his sup-until-that-point non-existent feelings. It is not this burning underlying resentment that stokes his entire character anymore, and as such, it feels pointless. It exists solely to make the relationship between Nishiki and Yumi tense in 2005--but not in a way that's actually compelling. It just means Yumi has a reason for telling Kiryu to not trust Nishiki (even though he's not actually done a SINGLE thing to betray them yet.) It's weird. Why not cut the more useless scenes I highlighted before to build this up instead, if it was going to matter? But it also DOESN'T matter in 2005! In 2005, Nishiki's NOT actually angry about Kiryu and Yumi's relationship, he's mad about Miho! He wants to destroy the Tojo Clan for their role in her death and he wants Kiryu to die because he blames him still, for not losing that fight. Yumi doesn't thematically matter in 2005, despite her increased screentime, and it feels so pointless.

(Also, I hate the whole long extended sequence of Yumi and Kiryu talking about nothing for like a whole FIVE MINUTES after Nishiki runs off to go and kill Dojima in Episode 5. It's pointless, it's boring and the actress for Yumi is not quite good enough to pull off any of these complicated emotions. I dislike how impotent they make her, she just sits around and cries and blames them both for not doing enough. It drags so much and contributes nothing).

Speaking of Kiryu's role in Miho's death--small nitpick here, but I do wish they'd made Nishiki's unwillingness to drug Kiryu his own choice, instead of making Yumi/Kazama call him out after he fails to drug Kiryu subtly enough? I wish Nishiki had been torn between drugging Kiryu or saving his sister's life--and had organically chosen to trust Kiryu to throw the match on his own. I hate that it highlights Nishiki's incompetence as the only reason why he resorts to asking Kiryu anything. I think it's MUCH more devastating if Nishiki begs Kiryu to lose of his own volition, and Kiryu still can't convincingly throw the match, even though he wants to. I think it would be more tragic, it would have more sauce. As is, the scene paints Nishiki as more pathetic than morally compromised/ruthless, which is what I think they were going for instead.

Finally, I think I'm just a bit confused by the ending? It feels...odd? The ending of Yakuza 1 is DEVASTATING, that's kind of the point. This pointless, stupid yakuza war takes away every member of Kiryu's family: Kazama, Yumi and Nishiki, leaving him to pick up the pieces with Haruka. It's a condemnation of greed--the Millennium Tower exploding and the money spreading across all of Kamurocho is the literal culmination of how pointless this entire battle was. The narrative is attempting to show Kiryu that he cannot return the yakuza to a golden age of glory--all he can do is find his own peace and protect those he loves. It's a lesson that Kiryu refuses to learn, of course, but then, that's the tragedy of the Yakuza series. But everybody's alive at the end of this show. Kazama, Yumi AND Nishiki all still live. It's....weird.

Especially with the sequel baiting--with Kiryu relaizing in the last shot of the show that Kazama was the former Dragon of Dojima--what does the show expect to do with that? Have some dumb thing where Kiryu, Nishiki and Yumi team up against their dad? I just don't understand how the showrunners thought the rest of the story would progress in a reality where Kiryu doesn't have any sort of relationship with Haruka, in a world where all of his family is still alive and well, and in a world without an Omi Clan? Like...what do they plan on doing? Something stupid, no doubt.

Also Kazama's actions in 2005 are dumb. I hate how he's like 'we must pacify the Omi by selling out Nishiki,' but it's NOT EVEN A CLEVER OR USEFUL PLAN. The one thing the games try to establish about Kazama is that he's a mastermind, he's clever and he's manipulating things. Kazama double-dealing with the Omi Clan in the original game is not out-of-character, even if it is a surprise. But here, where he's retired and has no influence anymore, the fact that he can suggest something like this AND GET HIS WAY, is absurd???? I thought his animosity towards Nishiki, while certainly cold in the games, made sense, considering Nishiki's open resentment of both Kiryu and Kazama. But Kazama and Nishiki barely interact AT ALL in this show. So his whole 'Nishiki is the Demon and I have to rally everybody else to oppose him' feels weird. He clearly feels paternal things for Yumi and Kiryu still--why did he not even TRY to talk to Nishiki in this version? It's just....cold? Empty? Which is such a shame, because by making Kazama the orphanage director, there's a lot to say about power and happiness being diametric opposites, and how Kazama chose happiness, and how he's trying to convince his kids to do the same. But he doesn't really ever try to convince Nishiki of anything, he jumps straight to wielding power that Episode 1 shows us he DOESN'T have. It's bizarre.

It really contributes to my theory that there were supposed to be two more episodes to this show, because the pacing and the plot points are just so all over the place. Whoever tried to edit around the patches made a valiant effort, but you really can't edit around lengthy plotlines without things being thrown off.

Ultimately, the yakuza tv series is just not very good--and is honestly the worst possible thing an adaptation can be--Boring.

[mynameisnowwyrm]

Weve established that mako mermaids and h2o have... conflicting lore to put it lightly but what are some ways to fixit fic the two together? Bc youd definitely have to rewrite parts of both shows to make it work. I at least think the majority of mako mermaids lore can stay youd just have to work it into h2o.

Some ideas:

Lengthen the amount of time that the mako pod was away from mako so theres no overlap between them and the h2o girls and the 50s mermaids

Let the mako pod have overlap with the 50s mermaids but let mrs chatham still be really cryptic about everything so that the girls dont find out

Let the girls find out about mermaid society during s3 ish bc bella is a born mermaid/ has come in to contact with mermaid society bc she got moon pooled in Ireland when she was nine she had to have met others c'mon

When rikki meets the mako girls, have her already know about other mermaids

That spell book they found in s1 was literally only there for an episode, one of them had to be curious who wrote it after the spell they tried worked

Let one human character in the entire run of mako mermaids google mermaids + wherever it is they live bc they eventually will find one article or something, archived message boards, of zane bennett ranting about mermaids

[blueikeproductions]

So with TFONE attempting to simplify the Primes and some recent cartoons trying to theme some shows around them, it has led to a thought how this could work.

The biggest problem the Primes have is that nobody really knows or cares that much about them. The only one most actually care about is The Fallen because of the Bay film. Vector Prime via Galaxy Force is fondly remembered by TF fans, but that version also predates the modern Prime mythology.

Transformers Prime was intended to look more into what it means to be a Prime, but never truly does so. It also introduced the modern 13 Prime lore, but also does very little with it. It’s mostly limited to Solus’ Forge being a reoccurring weapon, Megatron grafting a Prime arm on to him, with creatives unable to decide who it’s supposed to be, and Alpha Trion making a cameo (more so to reference G1 than do much with the Primes).

RiD15 also uses the Primes, with Micronus (the main rep and Optimus’ life coach) and The Fallen (the first season’s main villain) as the stand out ones. Despite Micronus being the first Mini-Con, he has no influence on the cartoon’s Mini-Con gimmick it adapted later in its run. Liege Maximo appeared in chapter books and is the only (not Fallen) one who got to properly do something. I still greatly insist Onyx Prime should’ve been the rep due to the Beast theme instead. Also Thundertron, but that’s a different problem.

Cyberverse used Alchemist Prime specifically, but while being one of the better characters, he’s not very memorable. Onyx and Alpha Trion have minor roles, with Alpha Trion getting a toy… that nobody bought. He was also there for G1 ‘memberberries, in a role similar to the old cartoon. The Cyberverse staff were not shy admitting to only writing the show for themselves and like minded fans and not actual children.

And now EarthSpark uses Quintus in a major role… but it feels like there’s some conflicting ideas about who he is. Storyboards suggest he’s more benevolent having everyone’s best interests in mind, while the show keeps insisting he might be shady and a dead beat dad.

And like the aforementioned Onyx, the series isn’t great about using Primes better themed to a show. Combiner Wars opts to NOT use Nexus Prime, when instead perhaps they could’ve made him into the evil leader of the Combiners, forcing them to wipe out non Combiners so Cybertron is theirs to rule. Vs the show just having them fight… because reasons. He also never got a toy in the Combiner themed line. This could’ve also been tinkered with once more in RiD15 for its Combiner Force, casting him as a neutral who gifts power of combination to the Bee Team and the Pack, seeing who’s more worthy to use the Enigma for an upcoming problem involving an ancient Combiner unique to the show. (Also having Chop Shop as a minor villain again.)

I think the problem is largely NOT letting the other Primes being proper characters. Vector Prime and The Fallen are allowed to be characters, with Vector allowed to be part of the Autobots, make bonds with them and the kids, and have a little arc of his own, remembering the value of life throughout time.

I think if we went back to that, having a surviving Prime join the Autobots and find their footing in the modern era on Earth during the battle against the Decepticons would help.

It’s actually kind of shocking in the current “DEI” era that they don’t have Solus Prime in such a role, working alongside Optimus. The downside to this is current writers would probably make her into a more arrogant Captain Marvel type, but ideally Solus should be cast in a role similar to Vector in Galaxy Force. I feel like it’d be funny if she especially bonded with the kids, a loving but firm grandma, who drives them around, with the gag being the kids are ferried around in a big purple construction vehicle. Solus is also happy to fix things with a gentle tap of her Fixit Felix hammer, usually the kids’ phones, but an episode sees some repercussions, where the phones and other gadgets start Transforming into semi sentient-semi automatic weapons.

Think the Appliance Bots from ROTF.

Amalgamous is really the only one that’s too abstract to use as he is. I feel like the trick is to create an in-story reason why he can’t infinitely Transform, limiting him to being a Six Changer like Sixshot. This way the writers and artists can be more creative, and have a character arc where Amalgamous learns to be one of the Autobots with a running gag he forgets he can’t change into whatever he wants anymore and turns into a car or dinosaur that isn’t appropriate to the situation.

Liege is easy enough. He’s the Sideways trying to nudge the Autobots, Decepticons and humans into doing what he wants for nefarious reasons.

I feel like Prima would be a hybrid of TFA Ratchet & TFA Ultra Magnus, a cranky foxy grandpa that means well and tries to guide Optimus and the kids, but he’s quite literally an overbearing helicopter parent trying to dictate what Optimus should be doing. While still powerful in his own right, Prima does get overwhelmed by Megatron’s sheer rage.

The 13th Prime is up in the air. It could be Zeta, Rodimus, Adaptus, Mortilus or a brand new Prime for the scenario. I got nothing.

I am a bit concerned about Vector. He was already used effectively, but his schtick is time travel and manipulation, and to move the story of TFONE along that didn’t help him against Quints or Sentinel. Can you even use time travel effectively anymore? Maybe if Vector was more in line with Time Patrol Bon, not that anyone watched the Netflix reboot of it.

[sphnyspinspin]

Okay so… I’m definitely a couple years late to the “party”, but what exactly is the deal with the Decepticons who crashed on Earth being animal related?

They never mentioned being Predacons (cause I assume those are still a future thing) and Maximals are the Autobot adjacent animal-Cybertronian fused bots. I just assumed they were some kind of version of Beastformers, but I never recalled them mentioning anything. Because I feel like that could be at least mentioned in the TFWiki. So am I just left to assume that some Cybertronians are forged with animal attributes and some aren’t, and that the Alchemor was made specifically for the Decepticons who fit into that category?

I know that I might be reading too much into this but come on. Am I just not remembering when Fixit would say “Beastformer” —out loud specifically? Or do they just not say it so we’re left to assume that they’re directly coming from Cybertron? Because there is a planet in Transformers Lore (maybe not specifically Aligned lore but I wouldn’t know) called Jungle Planet, which had many different aliases, that had Transformers that took on animal attributes over time.

Maybe the writers wanted to keep on pushing the Decepticons=bad and Autobots=good agenda a bit further by just making the Cons’ Beastformers to label them as “animals instead of people”. And it’s already bad enough if you look at RiD15 as just Transformer copaganda in general.

I dunno. Five minutes into making this post I literally just went to TfWiki and read about IDW’s Jungle Planet, aka Eukaris, and lightly skimmed its lore and it made some sense. Not complete sense—some sense.

But that still doesn’t excuse why the Alchemor ONLY carried Beatsformers. Or was at least 90% Beastformers, I did see a few Vehicons—BUT MY POINT STILL STANDS! >:[

I honestly have a really good theory imo, but that’s for a separate post, and this one’s getting too long.

[misscammiedawn]

okay i need to ask cause im curious, what are your top 5 bruce banner/hulk stories? i have such a hole in my marvel knowledge about them aside from like. cartoons or w/e of him

Oh, this is a pleasant surprise. Thank you for asking.

We'll be quite happy to hear your favorite DC comics in return sometime, so do hit us up.

So, to answer the question. It's on a sliding scale. Hulk is an interesting character because he's the ultimate incarnation of a typical miscommunication fight-to-friends superhero scuffle. His one against Wolverine was the introduction of that character and both Avengers AND Defenders had elements of that in their origins.

Hulk makes for a glue to the Marvel universe because he is always a hero and yet he can always be fighting against other heroes. More often than not he is.

Assume you've checked out our Essay Posts but for us we want to see a story about Hulk explore different aspects of the character. Our favorite authors for him are Peter David, Greg Pak and Al Ewing. We also prefer stories that deal with Bruce's DID.

#1 is and always will be Immortal Hulk. This 50 issue run is so good it briefly outsold Batman. It's horror themed, references the entire lore of the character and is an anti-capitalism anthem. I once saw a shitpost that said that Immortal Hulk is what Mr. Robot would be if the Alderson System decided to just punch capitalism until it stopped. But sincerely it's introspective, it's respectful of DID in a way I've not really seen many other comics get right and Joe says "Trans Rights" (there's also a prominent trans character who resists propaganda/nostalgia based mind control because she's fucking sick of the world telling her what she is supposed to be and she does not look at her childhood as a safe place to retreat to).

#2 Ground Zero by Peter David. This was about the time that PAD was gearing Hulk from the Mantlo era into his soap opera era and in this era he's writing a Gray Hulk who speaks more than the green guy and isn't the hero that everyone would associate with the character. The best part of this arc by far is the depiction of Sam Sterns, The Leader, and why he is a fun and perfect foil for Hulk/Banner. Just a damn good comic. As its its spiritual follow-up a few years later, Countdown.

#3 Joe Fixit/Vegas Arc by Peter David. Right after Ground Zero. Pretty much anything between Joe's introduction in Vegas as an enforcer up until Samson forces the system to merge into a new alter called The Professor. It's soap opera action but it's fun seeing the Hulk/Banner divide from the perspective of Hulk. Usually Banner is the one trying to prevent the transformations and feeling Hulk is ruining his stability and life but here you have Joe living a happy life and Banner being the thing ruining it for him. Made for some interesting stories for a few years. The scene with Betty and Joe laughing together is one of my favorite moments in comic history.

#4 Planet Hulk. Honestly anything in Pak's run is good (I especially liked the Amadeus Cho stuff with Hercules) but Planet Hulk is rightfully held up as the best of the era and gets consistent adaptations (Thor Ragnarok is pretty much Planet Hulk). Hulk being imprisoned by a barbarian race is actually a fairly common story. I can think of 3 times it has happened off the top of my head. He even gets a love interest in 2 of them. But this one is the perfection of that oddly specific formula.

#5 Crossroads. The Bill Mantlo series which pretty much all modern Hulk takes inspiration from knowingly or otherwise. 80s Hulk was a weird time because of the TV show bringing a lot of interest to the character which couldn't translate into the Marvel universe as it stood at the time and that series was able to isolate him out into his little adventures which were fairly isolated and got to be experimental. Also includes the Banner family backstory as well as a symbiotic alien parasite a short while before Spidey had his black suit stuff happen. It's a classic.

Thank you for asking and sincerely ignore everything and just read Immortal Hulk because it's the correct answer.