#I also wanted to work on comics buuut with the way my life is going rn that might be a challenge

[aego-philautia]

I never rly share Lore™️ abt my ships bc I don’t know where to start with it(and also I’m kinda scared to for some reason😅) but I DID want to go into TenKazu’s childhood lore since that’s mostly figured out.

I actually doodled my lil childhood hc versions of them:

Im likely gonna redo them cause im not satisfied but regardless! They actually didn’t know each other until they were around 7-10 years. Before that Kazuha spent a lot of his time at home with his dad, learning about nature(I hc that Kazu partially got his love of nature from his dad bc of the whole 'don't be tied down, travel the world' thing) and Tengaku had “friends” who were essentially bullies who pretended to be her friend so they could boss her around since she was younger than them. And while she had a feeling this was the case, her parents were happy she seemingly had friends at all because if she wasn’t with them or Kasumi(a housekeeper they had) she preferred being by herself. She was happy that they were happy, so she stayed with her “friends”.

At a certain point, Tengaku's "friends" started picking on another kid and actually tried to get her in on it, but when she refused, one of them started being extra mean to her for 'being so boring'. Ten, who was very much over her "friends" anyway, ended up punching them in the stomach pretty hard, making them fall onto the ground and causing some scrapes and cuts, which they blamed on her when telling their parents. On the bright side, the kids avoided Tengaku afterward.

After that, the same kid they were picking on the other day found Tengaku and thanked her, asking to be friends with her. But Tengaku's perception of 'friendship' was influenced by the previous group, which caused her to reject the offer since she didn't want anymore "friends". This kid was persistent though, seeking her out to spend time with her I.E. him rambling about various things he learned while she listened. She never really talked to him because she didn't like talking in general, but overtime she did listen more and more to whatever he talked about and even repeated some things to her parents or Kasumi, telling them that beni-chan told her.

Eventually, there was a time where Kazuha didn't show up for a while. Tengaku wasn't bothered for the first day, or the second, but after day 3 she asked her father, Yuuma, to come with her to his estate to check on him. Cue Tengaku's giant bear of a father towering over and (accidentally cause thats literally just his face) glaring at this much shorter, weaker man with a small girl looking from behind him to ask for 'beni-chan'(who until now her parents thought was an imaginary friend).

It turns out Kazuha was sick, but while he was going through the sickness he started thinking about Tengaku and his sickness-addled brain started convincing him that she actually hated him for how much he talked and 'bothered' her especially since she never really said anything back. So when Tengaku came into his room and literally said "Beni-chan, are you ok?" He kinda just...broke down and started apologizing for being so annoying to her. Which is finally when Tengaku fully realized that he wanted to actually, genuinely be her friend and that she was lowkey being mean to him this whole time. After that, she comforts Kazuha and promises to be a better friend to him, making an effort to talk more and even making/bringing him little gifts from the forests of Inazuma.

[druidshollow]

HI HELLO WHO ARE ALL YOUR ITERATORS AND WHATS GOING ON HSHFKSKD . i want to be interested but my brain requires at least a simple explanation to understand things /silly /genq

also do you have any Slugs . any strange cats perhaps

OH LORDY LMAO.... right now im actually working on a doc with a simple timeline of events and all the comics in order buuut as for slugs yeah theres a few! this is a slugcat post >:)))

this is the vanisher (they/he), lovingly named shifting shades by phrases! their colony originally lived on top of adamant dune's can, but after the iterator begins becoming increasingly violent towards the slugcats their colony flees. but they are not furred or terribly well adapted to the cold, so they need to live atop or near iterator cans to escape the cold. in an attempt to save their family, the vanisher journeys over the mountains of the great divide to find a safer home for their colony. instead they find themself very much entangled in the corners' group's issues with rivers. oops! when they reach phrases the consuming (rivers' rot lizards purposed specifically for killing iterators) is already destroying glass incident, and phrases agrees to let the slugcats move into their city Bastion, while campaigning the slugcat to kill the consuming and save their little sister's life.

they manage to defeat the beast using the power of being very slimy and slippery, and on the way back to phrases' can they run into our next slugcat, the juggernaut (she/they), later named mighty compassion by phrases!

compassion is one of two slugcats purposed by eleven rivers for the purpose of delivering the consuming to his targets, the twins, and stealing their mass rarefaction cells to render them too weak to defend themselves. she was sent to glass incident and was Very much successful in her mission. on her way back to eleven rivers she runs into shifting shades, and at first the two quarrel over what to do with the cells. compassion wants to complete her mission and bring them to rivers but shades is very much "NO YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD GO GIVE THEM BACK. IM HEADING THAT WAY ANYWAYS. JUST COME WITH ME" compassion is convinced and they return to glass incident with shades, but glass asks them to instead bring the cells to phrases, whose cells had also been stolen. she reasoned that the damage had already been done and she was dying no matter what anyone did, but since phrases was unharmed they could still be saved if their power was returned. phrases is incredibly grateful and very touched by glass' sacrifice, and gifts compassion with her name as well as the mark of communication

after everything goes down and is done going down mighty compassion is welcomed into Bastion of Warmth by phrases and shades' colony

this is red/brave triumph (he/him), rivers' other slugcat and mighty compassion's brother. (he doesnt get a title name because he wouldnt be playable lol) he steals four falling phrases' rarefaction cells, originally i was going to have this be a mistake (went to the wrong iterator fucking ioops) but i think i'm going to have rivers do it intentionally so that phrases cant use their senior privilege to stop him and also because they were already meddling by sending shades to kill the consuming. not sure yet. havent decided yet. anyways he steals phrases' cells but when he is sent back out to release the consuming in rivers' other target no long nights, he abandons his mission, feeling dejected by rivers' increasing unfeeling nature and aggression towards him. he runs into his sister atop phrases (this is when phrases gives him the name brave triumph even tho he doesnt have mark and cant understand. they just love naming slugcats. i think he probably finds some way to gesture an apology and phrases feels quite moved by it) but he doesn't stay, feeling ashamed because when they were pups he was violent towards glass incident.

this is the eulogist (they/she), lovingly named fuzzling by glass incident, lmao. its a character trait of glass' that shes bad at naming things sdghsgd fuzzling finds their way into glass' chamber a short time before the consuming is released into her structure, when they are still just a pup. glass, a BIG lover of slugcats, takes the pup in and raises her. they grow very close. right before glass' collapse, she urges the pup to flee as to not get hurt, but still young and afraid fuzzling refuses to go. glass does her best to shield the slugpup through the fall and luckily she is mostly unscathed. glass however, wasnt so lucky. although she actually remained conscious after her collapse for some time, after some time the cold was too much for her systems to cope with and she passed away. she could feel this coming and wrote one last message for her brother no long nights in a pearl, urging fuzzling to bring it to him. fuzzling however is afraid and doesn't leave until they are fully grown. i have a lil comic of fuzzling returning from finding food to find glass dead. i cant remember if ive posted it but i dont think i have so im attaching it lmao

the message fuzzling brings no long nights includes a goodbye from glass, and a slideshow of her favourite memories of nights and fuzzling. she began saving these memories on the pearl as soon as she started losing them (massive :(((( ) so she could eventually give them to nights. fuzzling stays with him after delivering the pearl, and nights suspects that glass really sent the message so that him and the slugcat could be together, that glass wouldnt want either of them to be alone.

god thats fucking heavy. uhhhh the rest are all root's slugs i think!!!

these guys arent relevant until far after glass and rivers have collapsed, after the world as a whole is plunging into an ice age. feeling lonely, isolated, and afraid for the future, ten silver roots purposes the frequencer (they/them) to travel around and send out a sos message that basically said "DEAR VOID SOMEONE PLEASE MESSAGE ME BACK I AM SO LONELY AND SAD I DONT KNOW WHAT IM GONNA DO" and eventually it reached phrases, who was also desperately lonely and afraid, having lost half their siblings including their best friend. the two quickly become very close, and create the lovers, who are basically vr slugcats that they can tap into so they can play together and also hug they both just really wanted to hug eachother

[jackobbit]

Working for e.v.i.l au....

i didn't know I needed it but i want it on my doorstep

NOW

YES BOSS- I’LL HAVE IT ON YOUR DOORSTEP RIGHT AWAY BOSS 🫡🫡 /silly

Let’s see, let’s see…

Probably not what you were looking for, buuut, I happen to have a summary of the AU’s basic plot outline/info on hand, roughly 400 words total. I also have individual character profiles written for each fella in the AU! But, I’ll post those later seeing as they are MUCH longer than this summary.

So for now, for anyone who’s fancy it might strike, here’s the basic starting info on the Working for E.V.I.L. Au! :]

[What is Working for E.V.I.L.?]

Working for E.V.I.L. is a Sun and Moon Show AU that will be shown using primarily visual based storytelling. Things such as short comics, an ask blog, still images and (hopefully) short animations will be the way in which the story is told.

[What’s the story?]

The story revolves around the members of the E.V.I.L.Corporation and their Saturday morning cartoon villain-esk adventures where the group go out on missions in an attempt to collect powerful items called Stars.

There are hundreds of Stars across the globe. Some are hidden away where they’ll never be found, some hide in plain sight because people didn’t know just how powerful they are. Stars are essentially an ultra powerful battery. They carry within them strength and life in its rawest, purest form. They can extend someone’s lifespan, cure illnesses, give extra strength and immunity’s, and even grant sentience and life to that which is not living.

Those who know of their power fight tooth and nail to obtain even just one, but unfortunately for the world, the leader of E.V.I.L. wants them all for himself.

The leader of the E.V.I.L. Corporation slowly assembled a small team of trusted individuals to carry out the task of locating and stealing Stars to add to his collection. Eclipse is E.V.I.L.’s head inventor and scientist, and has been under the leaders command for the longest. Bloodmoon was hired one year prior to the story as a field operative, someone who actually goes out into the field to collect Stars.

The story kicks off after Solar Flare, the newest member of the group, is created following a zero-turn-out hiring event. (Turns out no one wants to work for a corporation that’s literally named E.V.I.L.) They are made to fulfill many tasks, but, following a streak of empty handed returns, their first task is to assist Bloodmoon in field work.

Bloodmoon and Solar Flare must work together to obtain Stars, all while learning how to communicate and cooperate in the meantime. Together BM, Solar Flare, Eclipse and even the leader slowly learn what it means to be a team, and perhaps, even what it means to be human.

But first, there’s plenty of monsters, opposing parties and even the forces of G.O.O.D. to worry about before any heart to hearts can happen!

[artistfingers]

There’s one ~silver lining~ of my iPad being broken: I’ve had loads of time to think about my many half-formed undercover phantom au ideas! Since I have no idea when or what will make it to comic form, here’s the lowdown…. AKA, everything that’s been rattling around my brain recently :P

For context: Danny, Sam and Tucker have never met, and nobody knows Danny is Phantom. When Vlad’s newest bit of tech gets Danny stuck in ghost mode (with the rest of his powers on the fritz to boot), he meets Tucker and Sam—who instantly see through his disguise and lend a helping hand. (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4!!)

So. After that, Danny—no, Phantom—becomes friends with them. It’s exciting! He was invisible at school even before the ghost powers; he was pretty isolated and lonely and being Phantom for the last year hasn’t exactly been a social boon. Kid’s lonely, ok?

But now… two human friends? Who’re his age & share his interests? It’s like a dream come true! If only they weren’t exclusively friends with his ghost self… and if only they didn’t wanna be so involved in his dangerous ghost hunting things…Uhhh. Hm. Could be a problem.

Danny angsts about the danger he’s putting his new friends in, and about not being able to befriend them as a human. He plays with the idea of telling them Everything but that’s… risky to say the least. He’s only known them a few weeks! ugh….!! it’s too much. maybe he should just throw the towel in.

Buuut Sam & Tucker don’t take no for an answer. Especially after they rescue him a third time.

Thus… Phantom friendship shenanigans!!

Sam filched some parts from the Fentonworks Lab when Phantom took them there, and later convinced Tucker to help her build a custom mini ectogun in case of emergency. They didn’t tell Phantom.

Danny is really sentimental about that DP hat he wore when he first met Sam & Tucker. He wore it as Phantom for a while but it got singed in a fight. He still wears it when he hangs out with Tucker & Sam but otherwise keeps it squirreled away for Sentimental Reasons.

“So Phantom, how old are you?” “I’m 15.” “15 now? Or 15 when you died?” “Yes.”

Tucker has a bunch of awful 90s button up shirts, and gives one to Phantom

They aren’t able to convince Sam to wear one too, but they sure do try.

Phantom won’t tell them when he died, so once he starts wearing 90s shirts they start using terrible 90s slang with him

“I am NOT from the 90s!!! They didn’t even SAY that then!!!” “methinks the lady doth protest too much…..home slice” “NOOO!!!”

“Phantom I have an extremely important question. Like, life or death. SHIT is on the LINE here. Are you listening?? I really need to know…. Do ghosts play video games”

The answer may surprise you (no it won’t)

Sam is completely convinced they can ACTUALLY get a good working guess of when Phantom lived and died based on the fact he liked Nasty Burger when he was alive, since NB’s a regional chain with a not-so-distant past. Tucker meanwhile thinks Phantom probably has a good reason for keeping them at arm’s length—but regardless of method, they can agree: they want to break down Phantom’s walls.

The next arc is less “Undercover Phantom” and more “Undercover Fenton” because the juxtaposition of him having to do hidden identities squared (squared again) is too good for me to pass up. It boils down to this: during a ghost attack at school, Danny finds himself stuck being “protected” by Sam and Tucker.

Sam and Tucker take their new jobs as Phantom’s ghost hunting companions too seriously to let this skinny stranger they just met run TOWARDS the danger. WHY does he keep trying to run TOWARDS the danger

NO YOU CANNOT GO TO THE BATHROOM THE SCHOOL IS ON G H O S T L O C K D O W N

Sam pulls out her ectogun.

Danny: WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!

Sam does not tell him.

“Wait, your last name’s Fenton? Like Fentonworks Fenton?” “No, the other Fenton.” “Oh… well, that’s too bad…” “YES LIKE FENTONWORKS FENTON”

Sam is initially wary of Danny because of his parents’ super strong anti-ecto views. Danny is clueless as to why she isn’t very friendly to him-as-a-human when she’s great with him-as-a-ghost. but she warms up after he helps resolve the ghost issue in a way that shows he doesn’t subscribe to his parents’ views.

afterwards you get this excellent situation where Danny is now friends with Sam and Tucker as Phantom and as Fenton, and they’re not connecting the dots as quickly as they did when it was just “that’s Phantom wearing a hoodie and a cap with his own logo on it”.

the potential here? *chefs kiss* here’s a few things but honestly? the possibilities are limitless

Danny pretending to not have a cell phone because he already gave them his number as Phantom

Tucker: *dials Phantom*

Danny, standing directly next to him: *frantically attempting to silence his phone*

Sam & Tucker try to introduce Danny and Phantom. Danny has to make excuses to avoid this happening in both forms.

Danny takes Sam & Tucker down to the Fentonworks Lab to get them some real equipment. Sam & Tucker pretend (very badly) that they’ve never been there before

Rooftop chill sessions as Phantom, late night teenage hijinks as Fenton, plus school AND fighting ghosts does not do any favors for Danny’s sleep deprivation. Tucker introduces him to caffeine pills with… mixed results.

Tucker and Sam teach Phantom some sign language. Later Danny slips up and uses it casually with them as Fenton

…. And many other silly mixups that I’ve yet to think of because I live for that shit

Sam & Tucker have theories about the Fenton-Phantom connection and they’re all wrong but somehow also plausible and that freaks Danny out just a little bit if he ever overhears them

Ultimately, I see this AU having a final arc where a New Situation occurs in which Danny-as-Phantom has to—once again—pretend to be human. This time, he’s with Sam & Tucker as Phantom from the get go, and can’t disappear or transform, even if being Phantom is extremely dangerous at that moment. Somehow this scenario would lead to the Fenton-is-Phantom (or, in this case, Phantom-is-Fenton) reveal…. But the details still escape me :P

so in short………… I really like hidden identities

[decepti-thots]

Thought on Spotlight: Prowl?

Do you know, anon, it has been *so long* since I have read that comic I straight up just. Went and downloaded it and re-read it just now, because I didn't trust myself to remember it accurately.

(Which is one answer, I suppose: it is so thoroughly disregardable, in my opinion, that I just pretended it didn't exist for all that time!)

Anyway. It sure has a lot of things going against it, such as "being written by Mike Costa" and "being part of what is widely considered the worst TF run ever" and "wow people REALLY didn't buy that retcon huh", but in the interests of being fair I am going to give my most generous possible reading of it here after all this time.

So given all that... yeah, I find Spotlight: Prowl pretty bad overall. Partly just because Costa was simply never very good at writing TF comics, so in that sense, it's bad in very mundane ways; awkwardly written, bland, all the usual problems. (It's not a good standalone issue at ALL. Buuut of course, it wasn't WRITTEN to be; it was supposed to be part of the main series. It shows!) But of course the actual reason everyone argues about it is the fact it's a really blunt attempt to justify dramatically retconning Prowl's characterization in the new ongoing, which is a bit more complicated to parse.

(cut bc it's long. this is also really more about the run it's a part of as a whole than just this issue in itself, tbh.)

Like... Prowl is one of the most retconned characters in IDW, right? It's not just Costa who did it. Roche retconned Furman-era Prowl. I'd argue Barber writes a different Prowl to Roche in (ex-)RiD, too, albeit maybe not to such an extreme. So the whole 'well Spotlight: Prowl is bad bc it retcons characterisation' isn't really a fair approach because if that's the case, I'm a massive hypocrite for liking Roche and Barber's takes on the character.

But the thing is that a) Costa tried to retcon Prowl in a way that's really jarring because it goes against recent, very strong characterization (which fulfilled a specific and useful narrative function to boot), whereas the initial retcon was replacing Furman's barely-there generic version of the character who wasn't particularly important or interesting to begin with, and b) the actual characterization he comes up with is so... odd, and feels so unearned in the comic itself. Both here and the ongoing as a whole. The simple fact the Spotlight is needed to 'explain' Costa's take on the character (while no such explanation was needed for Roche or Barber's later reinterpretations of the phase one characterisation) is really telling because it suggests a defensiveness, almost? It's a pre-emptive "we have an excuse for this version of him, honest! Don't get mad!" that speaks to very little confidence, haha.

Even if the character in Spotlight: Prowl WASN'T a retcon- if it was just the first appearance of the character, our introduction to him- I'd find it very... odd? The comic gestures at some Big, Important Themes TM with Prowl's shift in perspective and internal musings and so on. But that's just what it does. It gestures. It points and goes "ooer, what if that theme was a thing??", which is not actually the same as like. Developing a theme and expressing it. It wants so bad to say something meaningful, but it can't actually come up with anything to SAY, so it leans on cheap emotional imagery and assumes the reader will respond as intended without actually doing any of the work needed to earn that emotional connection.

At its core, it's basically trying to say "quantifying the value of life and experience is impossible and that should be embraced", but its actual execution of that idea is so inane and bland and even kind of insulting in how much it refuses to engage in any kind of difficult ideas around the theme in question it just. I dunno man. It's not good. It feels a lot like it has an endpoint in mind and just reverse engineered the quickest way to get to it, really, which is a very unsatisfying way to approach telling a story.

So yeah. Costa.......... was not very good at writing this comic. Haha. Shocker. It's kind of interesting though because here feels like one of the only places he CARED, like he put effort into this justification and reinterpretation, and it still sorta just... sucks. Versus a lot of the ongoing he wrote, where it mostly feels like it sucks because he doesn't actually give a shit or want to be writing this comic.

This is a lot of words for a very "nothing" issue of a comic, tbh. But it's not really just this one issue, this is really emblematic of the worst parts of that ongoing as a whole I think. It's interesting in that regard, at least. It's a microcosm of how that whole era of the comic sort of fell on its arse, IMO.

[thenightling]

The Dreaming: waking Hours issue 11 review

Okay, there’s a  lot to unpack here.   First the good.

Daniel was actually portrayed as competent and compassionate. Hurray! 

Too bad those sparks of intelligence from Daniel don’t seem to last very long when he’s not being written by Neil.  

 Also I was right that Heather is trans and that was not treated as a major plot point.   More on that later.

Though I have to wonder, with all her power, why she transitioned medically instead of magically.  I imagine if she used magick to transition she wouldn't need permanent hormone medication.  I know it helps to represent the real trans condition but sometimes you want a little convenient magical escapism of making it easier. 

Now for the picking apart / bad stuff.   

Though G. Willow Wilson is well-versed in faery lore enough to know the rules about true names and concepts like The Unseelie I am afraid she mishandles them a bit.   For example she treats the Unseelie like this one specific faceless type of fae instead of an entire fae court of dark fae that usually entails goblins, trolls, drow, imps, etc.  

She also doesn’t seem to know that in most depictions of Oberon and Titania they were nonchalant and very familiar with each other’s infidelities.   Oberon should not have been surprised (especially this far into things) that Titania slept with Morpheus.  

Titania all but bluntly spelt it out at The Wake.  I am fairly certain Oberon was there.  Where was he when she spoke?  Drinking in the back?

In some faery lore Nuala was Oberon’s lover.  I had figured that was the reason Titania saw to it she was given as a gift to Morpheus.  It was both a means to possibly get rid of her or if Morpheus didn’t accept the gift (she must have known his anti-slavery stance) it would have given a justifiable excuse for the Fae to go to war with The Dreaming and potentially lay claim to the key to Hell in Season of Mists.   

Even Disney’s Gargoyles acknowledged this aspect of their character dynamic. When Oberon learned that Titania had a half-human child in the episode The Gathering Part 1 of Disney’s Gargoyles his response was (while grinning and chuckling) “Mother?!  Titania, what HAVE you been up to?”  

In the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it was pretty clear that Oberon wanted Titania to sleep with Bottom while he had an ass’s head (blatant metaphor) as a means to humiliate her. 

Moving on.

Yes, I was right that Heather is trans.  I am very glad it was not a major plot point before now.  However, the way her “True name” was handled wasn’t as good as I had hoped.  I had hoped that the fact that she chose the name Heather After that this has become her true name.  But the implication here is her deadname could have been used as her true name.  That bothers me.

I always figured true names (the name that can be used to summon and bind a magick user or supernatural creature) didn’t necessarily have to be the name you had at birth.  For example Vlad III of Wallachia is more well known as Drakulya (Dracula), the name he chose for himself as a patronymic homage to his father and so got used as his own house name.

In the 1985 Fright Night the character of Peter Vincent at first said “That isn’t even my real name.” But after he undergoes considerable character growth and puts protecting others before his own fear he starts saying “I AM Peter Vincent, the great vampire killer!”  The persona became his true name. 

True names are NOT necessarily the name you had at birth.  This is part of why I feel the previous aspect of Dream may have Morpheus as as close to a true name as he’s got.  That’s why he’s credited as Lord Morpheus instead of Dream in The Sandman audio drama and calling out to him by the name Morpheus is how he came to rescue Rose from Funland in The Sandman: The Doll’s House.

 So anyway, I’m conflicted about this scene in The Dreaming: Waking Hours.  I’m glad the deadname didn’t work as the true name but I would have felt better of Heather had become her true name.  That would have, in my opinion, been more satisfying than “There’s no such thing as a true name.”

Something else that bugged me... All the ham-handed anti-monarchy commentary.  In real life monarchies are not great buuut we’re talking about the faerie court here. They’re not human.  Can you even imagine what the goblins would vote for if they had a democracy?   “Okay, that’s 97% in favor of abducting every infant in Manhattan.  And 3% wrote in ‘Chilli dogs.’  I didn’t know they could spell...”

It’s become a little embarrassing to me how every fantasy written by Americans has become anti-monarchy. Disney’s Descendants, Once Upon a time’s finale (they voted...), Game of Thrones’ ending, because having any sort of vote in a world that never had any before would totally work out well at that point in their culture....  Even on Tumblr I came across someone who thought they could “fix” the “Dumpster fire” that is Nightmare before Christmas by having the mayor strip Jack Skellington of his Pumpkin King title as punishment for what he did to Christmas since “You can’t learn your lesson if you do wrong without punishment.”    Frankly, I’m tired of the anti-monarchy stuff where it doesn’t actually work.  

And the deliberately weak argument written for Titania of “But I’m Beautiful and Ancient!”   Also what’s with the weird almost-fetishism that she’s still wearing those manacle cuffs? Why didn’t Oberon or even Nuala take those off of her yet since they’re working together?  

This is interesting because right here in the final page Heather quotes the very spell that invoked Morpheus.  I have been mentally conditioned that every time I see black talk bubbles with white text in a Sandman universe comic my first thought is “Morpheus?” even though we have already seen it used for other characters in things like the Dan Watters run of Lucifer.

But the combination of quoting the invocation spell that trapped Morpheus, the talk bubble, and the golden thread (that resembles Morpheus’ life thread) has me intrigued and I don’t want to get my hopes up at the possibilities. 

And still, for all my nitpicking, this IS the best version of The Dreaming to date. 

I love Heather.  I think she’s very well written.  She’s the best original character of any Sandman spin-off.  I just think the anti-monarchy ranting is very misplaced in the realm of Faerie.   Think of what their parliament would consist of.   It’s like the minion of Jadis, The White Witch from Chronicles of Narnia, combined with the goblin muppets from Labyrinth, and the fae from Lost Girl combined.  

[brokentoys]

Maybe I won’t spoil everything in my comic, but I will say more about the baddies Eddie goes against! Some of which are reoccurring!

Puzzler, False Face, Sphinx, Edison Alarie (the Cult Leader) and (technically) Query/Diedre are all y’all already know about. So, I won’t really include them in this post unless asked.

Hillbilly Millie: Real name, Millie Showerman. She’s a wanted criminal in Kentucky for armed robberies and murders. Millie never really intended murder, mostly it was just a result out of her armed robberies. She was raised without parents or siblings, and by her grandfather, who ALWAYS expressed disapproval toward her because of her wild behavior. Millie took to robberies because of her desire for a wild lifestyle, and having grown up somewhat poor in a farm with her grandfather. Because of her grandfather’s constant disapproval of her, Millie deals with severe confidence issues. To the point she doesn’t even want to be to Millie. That’s when she found out about the reformed Eddie Nigma. She was inspired that a criminal like her was able to reform and become a better person. Something her grandfather would’ve been proud of. But Millie knew Millie wasn’t capable of becoming a better person, but Eddie clearly was. Therefore, she moved to Gotham in order to kidnap and skin Eddie, and proceed to wear his skin. So she is no longer Millie, but instead Eddie. Because of her origins from Kentucky, and her very, VERY thick accent, she is nicknamed Hillbilly Millie by the media.

The Mime: Not to be mistaken by the other mimes from DC. This Mime has nothing to do with them. I haven’t thought of a name for him yet, except his first name will be Joseph. Joseph comes from a line of MIMES. He was also an only child, and raised by his father alone (because the mother couldn’t bear his father’s obsessive mime lifestyle.) Joseph’s father was so obsessed with being an authentic mime, that he raised his son AWAY from other people, and only taught Joseph the way of the mimes. As a result of this, and his father not talking, Joseph literally never learned how to talk (or read.) Joseph’s family has a secret formula which can turn any object (or anyone) invisible. To be more impressive with their mime skills. (Such as the ability to climb up invisible ladders. Even though, this is technically cheating.) Joseph, however, was born in the wrong generation. All of Gotham felt less inclined to see his performances due to his clown like appearance. Reminded them too much of Joker, and the other bad clowns of Gotham. But he wasn’t a clown, dammit! He was a mime! Because of this, the Mime turned to a life of crime in order to get attention. His main weapon is an invisible bazooka, which he uses to blow up a portion of Eddie’s apartment.

The Wasp Queen: She’s still a HUGE work in progress. But I really like the concept of making a character who’s like part wasps. Just ‘cos wasps are cool, but they freak me the fuck out. Wasp Queen is highly modeled after emerald wasps. Because of this, Wasp Queen has the ability to “brainwash” people with her own venom. But instead of having a stinger on her behind like wasps do, I imagine her sharp fingernails act as them instead. She can stab people and inject this venom into their bloodstream, causing them to practically become her “zombies.” (However, the venom CAN wear off... given Wasp Queen doesn’t kill them once she gets bored of them.) The Wasp Queen also has multiple brains throughout her body. Microbrains. So. uh. Yeah, if she gets decapitated... she can still live. As long as she medically reattaches her head, so that she can eat again. I haven’t figured out how Wasp Queen came to be. I was thinking she’s a doctor and was experimenting on herself. Buuut, I thought that was too similar to Ivy and ManBat. Wasp Queen can also control other bugs in general (like how Ratcatcher can control rats, or how Ivy can control plants.) Which Wasp Queen uses to terrorize Gotham, and literally kill victims by having hundreds of wasps at one time sting her victims.

Empty Man: His name’s still a WIP, and I don’t have a real name for him yet. Even “Empty Man” is a placeholder name. But unlike Wasp Queen, I do have a story for him and how he came to be. Empty Man is a man who’s been invisible for as long as he remembered. He doesn’t know WHY he is, he doesn’t know HOW. Nobody would pay attention to him no matter how much he tried to interact with them. Empty Man grew to believe he must be a ghost. Until one day, one woman somehow could see and talk with him. The couple eventually fell in love with each other. However, his girlfriend still couldn’t touch him. In an attempt to touch him, Empty Man and her came to the theory that he is indeed dead, and that if she was dead, she would be a ghost with him. And so, she kills herself. Except... this resulted in nothing. His girlfriend never popped up as a ghost, she was just... dead. Feeling guilty about this, Empty man soon also grew angry and envious of other men who did have girlfriends. So, he soon began going around killing taken women and making it appear as suicides. Because of these sudden frequent suicides of taken women, Eddie and the media began to suspect there must be something more to it.

Stephanie Bustee: A rich, blonde woman with HUGE KNOCKERS who operates many bread factories. She threatens to destroy what little woods Gotham has left so that she can build MORE bread factories. Ivy, who obviously doesn’t fucking approve of this, goes to Eddie for help in taking down Ms. Bustee.

I have some more, but these are the most interesting ones I thought of so far. Though, Eddie will also sometimes run into other, official rogues (such as King Tut, and Hush.) And well as... I’ll probably repurpose more from the ‘66 series! If I think of more, I’ll make a new post for it!

[popculturebuffet]

Loud House Reviews: The Loudest Thanksgiving

It’s almost Thanksgiving! And a vastly diffrent one than in recent memory: Most of us are slimming down family gatherings to just whose in our house, you know because theirs a pandemic going on and it’s not worth risking your life for it. To those either guilting their families into it or doing so because MAGa or some such I only have this to say. 

Speaking of Black Friday i’ts spread over a week and it’s cyber deals mean I got a ton of graphic novels for a dollar a piece and my christmas shopping almost done. So in other words, boo Maga, yay safe and responsible captalisim.  But while the holiday may be diffrent, as well as the pseudo holiday attached that spawned a wonderful musical and many many injuries, one thing stays the same; Holiday Episodes. And despite being the less popular of the three holidays, Thanksgiving still produced tons of great holiday episodes and specials. And with everything being so busy I simply didn’t put too much thought into what to do for Turkey Day.. well okay the day proper i’m going to eat, spend time with family and watch a bunch of mystery science theater 3000, stay the course even in these troubling times, just with only the 4 other people who live in my house. But in terms of episodes I thought i had nothing.. then I started actually thinking on it and what do you know I have three things I want to do for the holiday, though one might wait till next year, and possibly a fourth. But given my workload currently, i’m not one to back away from a challenge, so welcome to a three or four course meal of reviews. First course: The Loud House thanksgiving special, the loudest thanksgiving.  I originally wasn’t going to do this one, mostly because due to my large workload and constant battle with procastination, I keep having to push back the latest episode review, and I have to do that one soon, as there’s a new episode in december and a christmas episode i’ve put off watching for far too long , as I INTENDED to watch eleven louds a leapin for every chirstmas up till now and never got to it before the season was over.  But just like elven louds.. Nick forced my hand.. and by that I mean the SPINOFF got a thanksgiving episode that’s also a sequel in some fashion to this episode. If I wanted to cover that episode this thanksgiving or the next I had to at least watch the original. And frankly, this close to the holiday there was no reason not to review it. So with that out of the way. 

Let’s Get At Er. This is The Loudest Thanksgiving... after the break

The Loudest Thanksgiving takes place during season 3, and still pre-casagrandes spinoff launch despite the christmas special taking place earlier. This is actually easy to explain: The Loud House runs on Comic Strip time... i.e. the characters don’t age unless the writers decide they do. But while the spinoff was in motion at this point, it was still a season off airing wise, and ill advised raitings stunt mini series wise, so in order to keep the Casagrandes fresh in people’s minds presumably, they did a crossover that at this point wasn’t a crossover but now technically is because the show exists but this existed before the show. 

It’s just a show, and I should really just relax. Point is this is a pre-crossover crossover, the two families meet for the first time, the man already said pitter patter, let’s get back at er.  So we open with Flip serving as our magical snowman narrator and regaling us with the tale of steven. Every compastionate can you imagine it... and i’m fucking with you, it’s of course abotu that time the louds and the casagrandes tried having thanksgiving together. 

We then cut to Lori and Bobby being all cute, as usual, and both talking over the phone as each show off their thanksgivings to each other and the enusing family shenanigans. On Lori’s side Lynn is wearing baggy pants so she dosen’t miss the game or the meal by going to the bathroom.. because that’s how pissing yourself works. Look if your going to do something that gross, stupid and broish just woman up and wear an adult diaper. The twins are guarding Lynn sr and the food, poorly, and Lisa has invented a Gravy Squriting robot. I can only see this ending one way. 

Yeah those single function robots really get useless once the exestnetial crisis kicks in. 

On the casagrandes side, Rosa is likewise guarding her kitchen, Frida is painting and Hector plans to sernade eveyrone because Hector is the best and you all should know that. Even with the recent Bobby Abuse he’s still awesome. As for the Mercado, CJ and Ronnie Anne are running the annual canned food drive because CJ is better than the best and should really be used more often.  Both wish they could be there.. and both honestly talk about possibly spending thanksgiving with each other and just one of their family. It’s not a wild proposition: Both are going to college soon, both are in a longterm relationship.. they plan to get married down the line for now. If things hold they will eventually have to figure this out. Of course rather than fate let them figure this out themselves, Hector overhears on Bobby’s end and Lincoln, whose busy A Clock Work Oranging himself so he can stay awake during dinner, overhears on Loris, leading to an emergency family meeting for both sides.  Both families are worried their prospective teenager going to another house of their longterm significant other for one year will mean they get all the holidays. Having never had a relationship last long enough to worry about this, I don’t quite get it as in my experince watching couples juggle this.. they usually just alternate years, spoilers the solution the episode goes with, or trade off christmas and thanksgiving, both fair solutions. Buuut as much as this bothered me at first the more I thought about it the more it actually made sense: People.. aren’t always rational and won’t always do the smart or correct thing, especially when it comes to their children. And with Lori leaving college and the casagrandes being togehter for thanksgiving for the first time in about 5 years, with both ronnie anne and her mom not having had a proper one in some time due to her mom needing to work thanksgiving, presumibly because of the eternal curse of gravy chugging contests, they have valid emotional reasons to go a bit nuts and do some irrational and assholish things. They just don’t want to loose their big sister and big brother, and that’s fair. It may not be at all accurate but it’s fair. 

So thus began the great Guilt Off of 2018. ON the Loud side they START with a fairly soft pitch, the twins simply offer her food early, and she takes it because honestly I would too. Then again, i’d also take free food in just about any situation, so i’m not really a good gage for this. As long as it’s not poision i’ll probably eat it if it’s free. The next two are a little.. less subtle, with the kids talking about Lori’s roll in the annual thanksgiving skit.. which I’m assuming is soley for Lynn Sr. as no one else seems to be going to their thanksgiving. Which granted theirs valid explinations for why their neighbors didn’t go, the mcbrides and mr grouse have their own families and while Mr Grouse rarely gets to see his, he now has neighborly friends after the last holiday special happy to help. But Pop Pop.. makes no sense as his girlfriend, the only plausable reason he wouldn’t be there, was said to not have much family in her debut. So he’s just.. absent from thanksgiving for no reason. Thena gain we later find out this play is movie length, so maybe he was just trying to escape that which in that case, who can blame him. Rita almost reigns things back in with the mother’s trump card: parental guilt. Almost. She then almost crushes lori’s hand but it’s funny enough.  At the Casagrandes, their opening move is largely the same only Rosa wins in terms of execution, cooking up some of bobby’s faviorites to specificially target him. Frida paints him into a painting, again the Casagrandes win his one in terms of effort. They do tie in the last bit, as Maria and Ronnie Anne try the same sort of guilt slining with the same bone crushing.  Eventually both teens get fed up with the next bit; For Lori, Lucy gives her a long overdramatic poem about an empty chair which is easily tied with one bit later for best bit of hte episode.. which granted when I can only think of two or three gags that really made me laugh...

Bobby likewise gets Hector telling the story about a realitvie not going to thanksgiving. Both get angry.. which for Lori, isn’t all that suprising, if entirely warranted. For Bobby though? It’s like pissing off a dolphin. IT’s hard to do and very much not something you want to actually pull of. Both families are forced to admit they eavesdropped, and are incredibly worried about this whole situation, with Lynn Sr selling lincoln up the river for telling them... this man’s capacity for selling out his children is as awe insprising as it is truly pathetic. 

So the two teens go back to their rooms to figure something out and come upon a reasonable solution: just have one of the families host and both come to it. That’s more than fair. But given we still have a full special to pad out, both families are still treating this like a competion: while the louds win the coin toss, both sides are determined to win thanksgiving. IT’s far from the most insane contest i’ve seen this month, x of swords was happening and i’ve seen a russian yank a goblin out of the demonic alligator skin he was using as a puppet. And we don’t know for sure Arrakoa and Krakoa didn’t have a trial over a baby turkey being adorable as one of the challenges. Other challenges included getting drunk, an eating contest, telling someone to murder a kitten and a wedding, all of this is actual stuff that happened in this recent crossover, I have made up nothing. 

So after the break and Flip realizing oh shit the audience is back, the war begins. The Louds are preparing for war, with Lola putting out a picture of herself instead of bobby and laurie because of course.. still not a half bad gag. The Casagrandes arrive and in in a passive agressive move that was already done a year before this special by Brooklyn Nine Nine and better, brought their own food.. though the roast pig is a nice and unique touch. Points for that.  And this.. is where the special gets tedious. Yeah while the IDEA of this episode was really good and I was excited to cover it in practice it’s just similar gags on both sides done for both halves: The first being “let’s guilt them into staying” and the second being “Let’s one up each other” with only two bits really working: Frieda having a painting and the louds annual skit.  And the skit is because it raises a LOT of questions: Why is it 90 minutes, who played the adorable turkey in the years between babies? Was it just whoever was youngest? Who wrote this? Who is this for besides Lynn Sr and Pop Pop? Who all has sat through this thing at some point? Is that why the mcbrides don’t come over for thanksgiving? It’s just.. fantastic is what i’m saying.  

But otherwise this part is just the family trying to one up each other with food, or toasts, or song, before devolving into a big fight. What makes it not work is.. there isn’t a lot of personality there. You have these two big, plentiful, intresting casts, even at this stage with the Casagrandes far less established and fleshed out. And instead of finding interesting ways for them to play off one another meeting for the first time, and to use that to also flesh the characters out more for the inevitable spinoff, it’s just 

For most of the second half. Thankfully it DOES manage to bring things around as after things degenerate into a food fight, the families decide to just ASK the two of them where they want to go.. and find them entirely missing.  It then turns out, in a nice twist, this is where Flip came in. Since his place is the only place open 24/7 and 365, barring fishing season, Bobby and Lori fled here to flee their insane families.. who then follow them there because Carlos and Lisa have them chipped. I was suprised at first Carlos had a tracker on bobby but honestly, i’ts just common sense. The man is like a golden retriver in a man’s body. Here’s an artists interpretation

Both families breifly bicker before Lori and Bobby announce their starting their own family thankgiving with blackjack, and hookers. They really shouldn’t of let Flip in on the brainstorming session. Both families don’t want that, and apologize, admitting they just didn’t want to loose them and both genuinely offering to let the other have them next year. Flip, who despite having a “pay for my colonoscopy jar” with a picture of his ass on it, is somehow the voice of reason and just suggests trading thanksgivings every year, everyone accepts, and we do get a genuinely heartwarming ending of both sides gathering everything for a gas station thanksgiving. Honestly reminds me of king of the hill’s airport episode, but in a very good way and still unique enough circumstances to work.Also Flip, of all people, donates the cans needed to finish the can drive.. granted i’m not sure if they WANT any of that meat, but hey, he meant well and it made me really like the character.  We get a heartwearming duet between hector and luna and sono the whole family and we’re out. 

Final Thoughts: This was disapointing. I’ve listed most of my complaints already, but overall it wasted a good premise of two families coming together, and even the feud parts could’ve been funnier. As it is it’s just.. ehhhhhhhhhh. It has some good parts, and bobby is an angel here on earth as always. But the whole just feels padded. Like this was SUPPOSED to just be 11 minutes, got bumped up, and thus here we are. It’s not the worst Loud House has done, i’ve seen and heard of muccch worse, but for a holiday special it just feels stale and i’ve seen way better thanksgiving specials. And i’ll be getting to that.  If there’s an episode of a cartoon you’d like me to cover, just pop in my ask box or dms and you can comission a review for 5 bucks a piece. Discounts on bulk, 15 for movies. Until then , happy thanksgiving.

[tammyhybrid21]

Hybrid Screaming about Rats for an HOUR

(Ft. Bonus dog symbolism as well)

I mean, this is going to be about Mummy and Tad(and Jeff). Buuut I am honestly taking it as an excuse to scream about rats. And their symbolism.

I'll also probably have an aside about Jeff as well, but honestly... Since @shields-and-depthgauges-oh-my​ done her wonderful art-- And I am not over how happy Mummy is to see rats, among other little details. Let's get to analysing!

Sooooo--

First off, I'm going to talk about rats. Because here's the thing. I have fancies. And this is my TOPIC to scream about. No but seriously, back when I was writing WHMS/Winds Howl, Mountains Stand, I gathered an honestly ridiculous amount of symbolism and research for ratties. Which has ultimately kind of being left to the wayside, aside a small mention/use for my old Danny Phantom OC's revival.

Which yeah...

We're not here to talk about Snitch though. As much as I do want to talk about them, the only thing they're relevant for right now is "why rats?" Which-- is only turgently connected to this. Because let me talk about the symbolism and how that impacts how I feel about rats, along with why I think that they're telling in terms of how each character reacted to them when first seeing them in the movie. Beyond the obvious of that one comic's view on things-- how you treat the lowest but--

Which, I actually have some things to say about how Tad's less grossed out than one might think and his reaction is more to Tiffany's... but now is NOT the place.

Meanwhile Mummy's reaction-- yeah. "What's wrong with them anyway?". This is something that maybe would be better expanded on later, but-- that's the common associations at play. I'm sure if I just put down the word-- Rat a million negative things would race through your head.

Dirty, diseased, traitor, thief, liar, coward, spineless, bringer of death, disarray, destructive, vermin, pest, opportunistic-- etc.

BUT

Again, I own fancies. And I'm not alone in owning fancy rats. And if there is one truth I know that's probably universal. A rat's home is only as dirty as you let it be. And for a few of those prior descriptors-- they actually couldn't be further from the truth. Sure some are still certainly true-- but those are also not their problem as much as it's the issue of the world around and what it's given.

Rats are--

Some of the greatest little pets I've owned.

They are loving, curious, inquisitive, creative, almost too creative when you're trying to keep them out of something and they keep getting around your obstacles. Loyal-- rats do not abandon those who're family. They come back--

Rats are fertile, and considering their hoarding behaviour-- well, they stock up, they prepare, they can be symbols of wealth, ambition, expansion, intelligence and resourcefulness. The underground world(which how relevant is that one to Mummy)  And yeah-- but then they have some-- rather surprising symbolism that I just... wish I could find the old sites I got this all from. But most of them seem to have vanished into the nether...

But you know one of the big ones I have on my list that I just-- wish I could source back.

Divine Retribution

Which, probably has something to do with the Black Death/Plague-- but I don't know really. Still!

Rats-- NOW--

How does this all relate to Mummy and why did I want to mention that reaction? Circling back a little bit late but-- Misunderstandings.

And how that relates a bit to Autism, being on the spectrum, what we are-- how Mummy presents himself verses what his truth really is... Weeeell-- Rats actually have a lot of symbolism that I personally think is telling when we match Mummy up with them. Like-- he shows a lot of the same things that rats are associated with in terms of creativity, intelligence(although not in the same way that most people recognize, but the dead tongues, languages) And just generally-- there's a lot.

Like, I would also again, like to think about the loyalty Mummy shows and how he is. And there's something in the Sacrifice scene I'd love to grumble about here regarding that, and ever Tiffany there-- with how it looks like they've come closer in the interim-- not just Tad staying and I just--

But that's neither here nor there, because there's another main thing.

Secrets, Underground World, Stealth

Mummy. Also something about hiding in plain sight. I mean-- how often do you even get a glimpse-- of rats even when you know they're there. Or have an idea of it.

I mean, barring a few places... which as an aside, I want to talk back again to another rat role and place that I think we here in the West-English Countries don't appreciate or understand the MAGIC of quite enough-- India's Karni Mata Rat Temple.

Rats are reincarnations. They're part of that, life, death, rebirth. Rats have their own sacredness. And considering in movie 2 we see them as I guess-- guardians in a way of a temple-- well yeah. But all of this stuff is more of an aside really to the main point and reason I am just-- delighted that rats are Mummy's implied favourites. Because yeah-- they're very misunderstood creatures that live such a short time BUT--

Yeah-- impact and there is a lot of symbolism he shares with them when you bother to look at ALL of it and not just full stop at the dirty side of things. Rats are secret keepers and just-- good beans. Also survival.

NOW--

Let's talk another side of things. In terms of all the animal companions for a moment, but more specifically I want to talk a little bit about how Tad and Mummy look to relate to animals verses humans.

Which-- I know personally-- with my Autism-- yeah, animals are much, much easier to deal with than humans in MANY ways. You don't have to try and work out what someone means when they say something, or any of the other puzzles. It's all really straight forwards. And no need to mask yourself at all. Something I'm sure both Tad and Mummy can appreciate--

Even if it does appear that Mummy is an extrovert, I mean, look how eager he is to get out, interact with people. Which that verses masking-- wouldn't blame him for befriending rats in that case since they always come in a group. Large clans/families-- which yeah-- Ratatouille got that RIGHT.

Meanwhile we have... Tad who's... rather more complicated, but at the same time not and really gets me screaming at him-- because he needs to TRAIN THAT DOG!

LIKE HOW EXPENSIVE?!

I have-- a whole other rant on Jeff's poor to none training level. But-- it can actually be summed up in how Tad is with him in general. Which is... in terms of the psychology in his relationship with Jeff. Because listen here. I had dogs. I've had dogs, chickens, my rats. Befriended cats but never gotten the full honor of owning one.

But--

I actually have some things to say about this-- and it's almost a guilty admission really but... When it comes to dogs and training, I can almost kind of get it. Jeff's lack of training is probably twofold.

1) It's damn hard to train dogs when you can barely train yourself. And 2) it's got to do with how Tad seems to be with Jeff, seeing him as part of the family and as someone who gets him. Which as an oxymoron is a bit about respect--

Although, that's... well, also something to do with Autism and projecting and I should probably make a whole proper rant about that in its own time, along with the FULL "Train yer dog" rant. Which yeah... Sooo instead I'll tie this off with our favourite doggy symbolism and talk about that-- re Tadeo himself.

Let's be obvious here-- Dogs are-- very often associated with dumb loyalty. Loyal but stupid. I mean, at least in American media-- which... not entirely wrong sometimes. Dogs are incredibly loyal. But stupid-- NAH--

Dogs are not as stupid as people see to like to portray them as. It's usually the people around them who're stupid and not paying attention or really working with the dog. Which-- I want to talk a little about Tad in regards to that, but it's kind of hard, since I am... not quite as enthused about it as with the rat rant and Mummy.

BUT--

Protection is the key theme here. His promise-- which leads to his assistance, loyalty resourcefulness... but for all the traits that Tad does have-- I feel like arguably his dog relations are in those lessons he has yet to learn from our favourite "man's best friend"

Communication, obedience, community. Stuff that Tad could arguably improve in. Also I do feel like, there's also some of his big heartedness and the empathy that could be improved, but that's less a lack of as much as he's kind of pushing that down-- and well-- a whole other issue.

Which--

Almost circles back to the mess of Jeff's lack of training.

Which-- dogs are boundless and seek things to keep them occupied. And they also seek leadership, which-- interestingly there's how I watch and view Tad-- and his relationships and he's very much a lost puppy when you look at how he follows around Sara-- which I have deeper analysis on that but--

Tad's... not really a leader as much as he tries to fashion himself as one and play the Hero.

AS A QUICK ASIDE--

While I'm on dogs, I just want to quickly give a shout out to Freddy for making me think he really hits their high points in the small meaningful moments and hints to more beyond just "comic relief" ALSO, Shout out in general to these movies for allowing the "comic" to have their moments where you can glimpse more beyond just that.

Loyalty, protection, communication, sensory perception, assistance, resourcefulness--

In any case yeah!

BACK TO MY POINT--

...Animals are... much easier to relate to a lot of times in comparison to people... and we've repeatedly seen that Tadeo has issues with people. Which feels weird really when he's the protagonist. And while Mummy definitely speaks as an Extrovert.

Like-- He's so eager to get out and be himself--

Tad is... a lot more complicated. Like, I am really, really this close to going back into my usual MBTI analysis rant for him, but-- Tad very much doesn't seem to actively ever really go out and talk to people outside their circle unless necessary. Which heeeey--

Again... Dogs are there to help you with communication, talking to people. Which makes me wonder about the pets and movie 3--

Which-- aside possibly nods to some of the deeper lore with Anubis. Which, let's not forget that he(they?!), also tended to the scales where Ammut is but--

DOGS are all about communication. Which is Tad's BIG issue. And it's not just in regards to how I point out the potential of him just taking the promise seriously and not communicating that. But-- Tad's... not good at communicating clearly with anyone. And we're not just talking in terms of people communication, bad listening and not trusting what people say--

And let's be real, still has a bit of lying issues-- but well... who in the modern world doesn't--

BUT

More, I want to return to Jeff and think about how generally one of the rules in Dogs, canine behaviour issues is... Dogs naturally want to have a pecking order/leadership to follow. And if there isn't a clear one they dictate that they are thus the leader.

Which indicates that Tadeo-- isn't really communicating clearly with Jeff and proving himself a leader... Which heeeey-- kind of hope this becomes more of an issue in movie 3, I really, really want something that forces him to come to terms with at least some of his issues.

COMMUNICATE DAMNIT, TRUST YOUR COMPANIONS.

Mummy, Sara, reign in Jeff and see that he needs you to be steady just as much as you seem to need him. And Tad does need Jeff.

FUNNILY ENOUGH

There are three characters who've proven they can gain some of Jeff's "oh leader" vibes.

Belzoni-- who seems to be able to rally, or at least lead him around a bit, and is looked to by Jeff here-- like Jeff sticks by them...

WHERE JEFF IS ON THE TRAIN FEELS TELLING AS WELL.

Like really?! Why is he not by Tad? But instead, he's following Freddy around on the train. And, minutely following scenes, still following and looking to him a bit. Which interesting.

And most interestingly, from the Facebook shorts, teasers... I'd say for this, it's a walk that's starting "strong". Which indicates that Mummy is also slowly gaining ground with Jeff and communicating in terms of leadership(and no wonder, with his experience).

NOT THAT IT SURVIVED THE WHOLE WALK BUT--

Yeah.

Please let movie 3 have Tad coming to confront this. Please. USE THE SYMBOLS YOU HAVE!

[lynxgriffin]

I love you work and know that it takes a lot of time and effort for you to make your comics and drawings for people who you basically may never meet in your everyday life. I just wanted to ask do you do this as a job or side hobby and do you get paid for it? Please explain why (I’m going full on math word problem. Everything needs explaining)

Thank you very much, anon! 

Paper Trail is just for fun as a hobby. I have a full-time job I do for money (it’s a job I enjoy doing a lot, but it is still work), plus regular adult responsibilities, so I can only work on the comic during the times I’m free to do so, also considering my wrist health. 

As with most fanworks, it’s not for pay. If people want to toss some bucks my way via Ko-Fi or Patreon, that is awesome! Buuut I think Toby would have to have a couple words if I was making regular money off of his property without an actual licensing agreement. |D 

[disembowel-me]

SAD SACK Review

SAD SACK is a series of ultraviolent snuff porn comics by meanboss and barbatus following 5 somewhat likable but very maladjusted guys as they commit a series of murders against deserving(?) people. I didn’t know anything beyond that going in, though I was familiar with some of their previous works and loved them so I knew I was gonna love this. This review is split up by my thoughts on each comic, and then my overall thoughts.

Spoilers shouldn’t ruin your enjoyment of these comics, but if you’re the kind of person who cares about that but want to know if I recommend it - hell yeah I recommend it. if you think you’ll like it, you’ll probably like it. This review is also nsfw, which goes for everything on this blog. 

disclaimer: I am not an artist, I do write but not very well or often and have no formal training beyond what you get from k-12 and a basic college degree. I’m just a gore, sex, and death enthusiast here to let you know my thoughts on this awesome comic ‘cause god knows more people need to hear the word

1. SO MUCH FOR THE TOLERANT LEFT

 This is definitely the most fun. It’s a raw, unadulterated revenge fantasy. It’s passionate, it’s angry, but stays pretty light and fun, or as light and fun as a torture porn comic can be. It’s indulgent. It’s violent pleasure to the max. And it's so! fucking! HOT!

Malik’s dirty talk is so raunchy. Raping a nazi? Making him cry and beg for cock? Jesus christ it’s SO hot. I love Stone’s mock-kindness, and how the nazi bends to their whims so fast. And Garv’s skull-fucking is probably one of if not my favorite scenes in all of the comics. Those exposed brains reeaallly hit the spot.

The art is a little rougher than the others, which is to be expected since it’s the first but honestly? I love it and it fits the tone, and it’s really cool to see how the quality is improved with every comic. The visuals are amazing. The facial expressions are incredible and are exaggerated in such a way that conveys the extreme emotion really well. I love the panels where the nazi’s face is reflected in Jake’s glasses and you see how tiny and pathetic he is and feels.

This one is the easiest to digest. There’s not a lot of story here, it gets to the point fast, it feels like it’s not ‘real’, as in it doesn’t feel like it exists in a world like our own where consequences exist..... until the end where Jake has to go back to retrieve Malik’s sister’s knife and the nebulous “torture world” and the real world the boys live in meet. Most torture porn I’ve consumed thus far has only or mostly only been torture porn, so I like that they have lives outside of this, which is explored a lot more as the story goes on. 

2. A SMALL PLOT OF LAND

This murder is purely emotional, and the only one that isn’t sexual at all. I don’t have as many specific things that I liked to point out here but it’s so satisfying to see a cowardly predator get what he deserves. The only explicitly sexual content is at the beginning where Sal and Stone are violently fucking, but the story and gnarly as fuck gore more than makes up for it (and if you’re into that sort of thing, it won’t hold you back from finding parts sexy anyway). I love the quick tonal shift from violent fuck to a tender and vulnerable moment between them. Sal and Stone’s relationship here is sweet and loving and actually pretty cute. For how intense this one is, it ends fairly light-hearted and I got a real kick out of Garv starting to lick the cock and then get pissy when Malik tells him off, and clearly, Sal did too! 

What really shines in these comics, aside from all the gore and porn and dicks and yummy goodness we’re here for, are the panels featuring faces. The expressions are intense and scary, and they're not afraid to make the characters look ugly. You can feel Sal’s pain and rage through the pages, and his asthma acting up as things spiral in intensity helps convey that even more. And in the end, when he lets out that heavy breath, you can feel the weight that's been lifted from him. 

The brunch date in the epilogue is awfully cute, and I'm glad to see Sal so happy.

3. SNUFF MACHINERY

Malik is so sexy and charming. I love his sweet talk and dirty talk.  I like that it starts as a consensual encounter… and Vaska slowly realizes something’s wrong as he chokes on Malik’s cock. I love how lost, scared, and pathetic yet so pliant and willing to please he is. I love that he just opens his mouth up for everybody to pass him around and fuck his face, and I love how grody and sopping wet his beard gets with all sorts of body fluids. 

There’s not even any gore until halfway through… but once it comes, boy, things escalate quickly. Ironic revenge is one of my favorites, so it makes his drugged, fluid-soaked face all the more satisfying to watch get crunched. And when Garv fingers his brain… ooh, fuck.

The revelation that Malik’s motive was revenge for something that happened to his sister and not actually to him completely changed the context I viewed it in. You could tell killing him hadn’t relieved Malik of the guilt and anger like he’d expected it to, maybe even made the guilt worse. This seems to sort of mark a turning point in tone for the overall story. Jake and Sal both seemed to be helped by their experiences, but Malik and later Stone were not. If anything, their problems seem to have been made worse by their choice to take somebody’s life, and it doesn’t give me good feelings for the fate these boys are headed for.

3.5.  15°20' FRACTURE ZONE

Simple, sexy, great atmosphere, free. Check it out first if you’re on the fence about buying the others. There’s no gore, but it’s still great.

4. A.M.F.

I think Garv’s date is the most painful thing I’ve seen so far, HAH! 

By this point, I’d been endeared enough to all the characters that I was invested in their dinner and karaoke and probably would’ve still been if they hadn’t been planning their next fetish murder. Stone is an unlikable asshole for the majority and it makes me feel bad for Sal, but I still like getting to see more and more of their real lives and I want to root for him to do better. This was by far the most story-heavy, and by far the one I felt the most conflicted about. I was pretty fucked up my first couple reads of this, so I didn’t realize that Evan, their waiter, was Stone’s victim until my third or so read. Realizing this I had an oh, shit moment, and realizing they were talking about his death right in front of him!!! gave me another oh, shit! moment. That’s so fucked. That fucked me up. Up until this point, most people would agree the victims deserved what came to them, or at least don’t feel bad for them, but this man’s only crime was.... being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Looking too much like Stone’s dad? And all the other guys were ok with this too? That speaks louder to me than anything these characters could say. Also, that’s sloppy. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to kill people you know?

It’s the first time I’ve truly been disturbed by SAD SACK, knowing the feast is just a guy who didn’t do anything wrong. After stewing on my feelings and reading again, it… actually makes it hotter? In the sense that it’s that much more provocative. That context made me more sensitive to the gore, too. The tooth-pulling scene was the first one to actually make me cringe, and I still have a hard time looking at it, so good job guys! Jake talking to Stone while he’s getting fucked out of his mind is so fun, and everyone looks so sexy. Every view we get of Sal’s ass is a fucking gift. I’m so glad Stone sat on Garv’s face against his will, and I’d say he deserved getting blood and shit sprayed all over him… or maybe that just because he’s real cute when he’s upset.

Stone's murder was not a good idea and clearly didn't help him. He wasn't prepared for Evan's death quite yet when it happened, just like he wasn't prepared for his dad's. You can't control death, dude. If anything, just like Malik, it might've made it worse. I could speculate about how maybe both were using their murders as a way to avoid actually dealing with their real issues… buuut I'm not here to speculate. 

5. Pre BOG

I… like Garv a lot. I think he’s a new favorite character. He stirs the same lustful feelings in me that Lawrence did. I want to hurt and humiliate and control him. Unlike Lawrence, he’s an awful person who I don’t care about at all or want any happiness for but man is he a cute little piece of shit! The fact that he fucks (or tries..to fuck...) the dead bodies at the end of each comic definitely doesn’t help my endearment towards him. I’m a little nervous for his comic because he is such a misogynistic piece of shit... but I’m also excited because I love how nasty he is and excited he gets, especially for the dead.

CONCLUSION

I like that they’re just ‘normal’ guys (minus Garv. Garv is a piece of shit). I like it when people who do bad things are relatable. I like it when you can sympathize with them, and I like it when you can empathize with them, and I like thinking about if I were under similar circumstances, would I be capable of such things? What would it take for me to? Would I ever be able to? How close is the average person to being able to violently murder someone? Is there something wrong with me for even thinking about it? Hopefully, these contemplations will never be anything more than hypothetical but I think it’s still good to analyze my enjoyment of darker things. It’s not just indulgent porn (although it definitely, certainly is that too). It’s an exploration of personal failings, trauma, choosing to deal with your issues through violence and how it does or doesn’t help… but those are topics that would need an analysis, and while one could definitely do a full analysis on this series, I’m not going to otherwise we’d be here for a lot longer.

The art is gross, it’s repulsive at times, and it’s done so well. I love the scant use of color in the mostly monochrome torture scenes, the way their eyes either glow or look hollow, the wonky angles, and exaggerated proportions to maximize the impact.  I don’t know if these count as horror but the art has an awesome horror aesthetic, and a lot of the time the way the guys are drawn is downright terrifying. There’s no way I can talk about every small detail I loved. That’s 769 pages to talk about and at that point, I might as well just annotate every page. If you like gore you’re gonna love these comics. If you like torture, or helpless screaming men, or really dark themes, or nasty stuff in general, you’re gonna love it. Even if you’re not into gore sexually, it’s fucking gnarly, and it has a comedic edge. These guys do gross so fuckin well and I absolutely love it. My creative goals in life are to make erotic art - to make porn, but not exclusively porn, things that are able to be used as wank material but also able to be enjoyed outside of that. SAD SACK accomplishes that, and it’s kind of inspirational. 

I appreciate everything that goes into this project. I wish there was more violent fetish content of this high of quality, so I think it’s important to support creators when it comes to projects like this. Most horror porn I’ve seen also puts the reader in the victim’s position, and as someone who leans generally on the more sadistic side of things, I appreciate the main characters as the perpetrators. If you do too, go check it out. Thank you, RJ and Nick, for all the incredible amounts of work and time you've put into this project. I've enjoyed it a lot and will continue to do so for quite a while, I’m sure. 

Also... I didn’t know where else to put this, but those weeks-old corpses were exquisite <3

[butididnottried]

So, after a few weeks i'm finally at the finale.

The Phoenix King

Excuse me, mister phoenix fire bitch king Ozai, sir, your enormous ego makes me cackling like a kindergardener that just heard a swear word. This man is just insufferable. But yeah, he is a human being (and once he was an innocent (cute?) baby) and Aang is right with not wanting to kill him. Like, they really never talked about this, and they all act like it's one of the easiest thing to do. I know that fandom likes to jokes about how Toph and Zuko we're killing people and the rest of gaang was more than oblivious to that, but seriosusly, none of them - and i mean all gaang - never killed not even a one person. Probably. As far as i know/remember. I realize that fate of the whole world is lying on their backs, but i also know that they know better than to shaming Aang not wanting to be a murderer and they fuckin know that they're not helipng with such agression.

They didn't tell Zuko about their plans to attack after the comet, so Zuko didn't tell them what his father want to do with the comet. And now The Avatar is missing and you have no time to loose. That's what happens when people do not talk to each other! Buuut Ozai plans towards comet sound kinda... important? Big? Dangerous? Looks like Zuko should tell the rest about that anyway.

But hell, they really wanted to wait out this whole comet thing and attacket later? Like, why?! They really expected that the fire lord wouldn't use it's power to do something crazy? Because he already conquered Ba Sing Se? And that's all? He won the war? What? Cooome on, Katara, Sokka, you're smarter than this. ):

Toph was way too happy about throwing flaming rocks at her freinds. And she moulded a whole Ba Sing Se in sand. With the earth king and his bear looking just like they look. Girl, that is some crazy memory superpower.

👏 Give 👏 Toph 👏 her 👏 life 👏 changing 👏 trip 👏 with 👏 Zuko 👏

I have a really hard time with believing that Azula is just 14. Aang and Toph are just 12? Ok. Katara is 14 and Sokka 15? Sure thing. Zukos 16? Yes. And uh, Azula is also 14. And i'm like... you lost me.

Gay disaster mister avatar tracking master be like "i know what to do" and he takes all his friends to meet a powerhouse lesbian.

The Old Masters

Welcome to the family grampgramp!

Seriously, Paku does not deserve such precious grandchildren.

And also seriosuly, master Pianado is not that old. He's fine and middle aged. How dare you.

Bumi can bend with just his face. He can bend a whole house. And then throw a whole house. What a man. No wonder he can just like that proclaim himself as a king. Who would forbid that to him? Aaaand, do firebenders didn't knew that eclipse would take bending powers away from them? Is this some forbidden knowledge?

Uncle Iroh, i'm really start to doubting your wisdom and common sense. You really want to leave Zuko all alone when he become fire lord? I guess that since Zuko himself recognizes his mistakes and choose the right path Iroh thinks that he's ready to be responsible enough and take lead of a whole nation. Yes. Of course. ...Nooo, no no, i would never leave my baby boy like that. But i'm a dumbass and except moral support i wouldn't be much help with ruling. But an old man having his pai sho plays every day is more important. I'm let down. ):

I read how lionturtle and his gift to Aang is just an easy and lazy deus ex machina and... no? No really? Well, yes, it was easy for Aang to just being gifted with energybending and not needed anymore to kill Ozai, but it makes sense in this world and do not came out of nowhere. Aang was so conflicted about possibility that he must kill someone, that he unconsciously seeked help from spirits. The lionturtle do not came to Aang, he didn't even know that there's a human on hic back. Aang asked him for guidance and help, and lionturltle did excatly that - he helped the avatar with his dillema. Easy. Well, i'm guessing that Aang don't know yet what excatly happened and didn’t feel different. Also, Aangs moral dillema about killing another human is just *double chef kiss*. ATLA aired more than 10 years ago and even now it's rather rare to see something like that on show for kids.

But also, all these past avatars we're rather useless. You need to be more active avatar Aang. You need to bring justice. You need to do something. Blah blah blah. These are not really substantive tips. Maybe expect that aribender avatar lady. She also didn't really helped Aang with his problem, but at least she said something new and meaningful.

Into the Inferno

All these firebenders flying around like they have jetpacks is just hysterical. And yes Toph, yes, that's A LOT of fire. I also like how they used a sound of flamethrower in firebending scenes.

Banishment for you. Banishment for you! Banishment for everybody! ...aaand idk, for me Azula slipping away was a little to fast? Maybe if we saw some some scenes with her between “The Boilin Rock” and this it would hit harder/better? Idk. I don’t really feel her. And when she's drawed LIKE THAT i have even harder time believing that she's just 14.

Oh, i like so much music choice during Azulas and Zukos agni kai. When Aang and Ozai are fighting there's proper battle music, but during agni kai scenes music was sad, emotional and dramatic, not only accentuating tragedy of this situation, but also how Zukos and Azulas personal fight is different from Aangs and Ozai. NICE.

Avatar Aang

And that's why you do not mess with the avatar! Fuck him up Aang!

But lol, how funny it is that Aangs cosmic chakra was unlocked absolutely by stupid accident? Ozai that one particular thing bring wholly oh himself. And oh, Aang knew how this whole energybending works buts still was hesistant to use it because it could be too dangerous to him and he left it at the very end, if he had no other choice. Understandable.

Aang is the best avatar, there's no discussion. When all past avatars went down to absolutely obliterate Ozai and Aang standed up to all of them? NICE.

Hmmm, there's one good thing about loser lord Ozai. His hair game. This thick mane is truly impressive. It's almost on disneys Pocahontas level when it's flowing on wind. And then he got roasted by a bunch of goofy kids. Beautiful.

Yes Sokka, it's amazing that Toph invented metalbending. You have no idea how much.

Katara taken down Azula in a very smart way. Can i get a wahoo for Katara? WAHOO!

That open plot with Ursa feels... unnecessary? Do they planned comics at this point? Like, if you're not going to resolve this in the show then why even keeping her alive? I guess that this is in presupposition, that Zuko is going to find her and bring home and they're going to be all happy and nice but idk. Maybe it would felt differently for me if i didn't know how this was resolved in the comics. :/

Ty Lee was like GIRLS, and girls we're like YES. You go, you funky little lesbian.

Aaaah, it felt so rewarding and satisfying when Aang immobilized Ozai, put a whole laser show and then calmly put down this whole fire around them. Closing scenes after that we're good, but emotionally? Aangs being at peace immediately after fight bringed me peace. My skin is clean, my crops are thriving and all that smooth jazz. So good. Such good finale. I can't believe that. Honestly, i don’t remember the last time when i felt so good after finishing something.

...and they needed to ruin it at the very last seconds. Well, not like, ruin it whole, but scratched it enough. Aang walks on porch, Katara joins him, they look at each other and blush, they see how calm the world is right now and how good and beautiful it is, they hug each other, it nice and cute and just good. And it should end right here. Because this kiss really feel like reward and it's... icky a little.

[alternativemiraculous]

(My) fixing ML’s characters

Hey! Just quick thoughts about ML’s characters and how to actually make them function. I mean, this could be salty buuut... Let it be. Quite long post.

Marinette.

Stop making her a jealous, stalker girl. I’m getting sick of it. She’s just creepy at this point, and narrative makes it feel like it’s okay. No, it isn’t. She can have many other flaws, like judging people or being insecure sometimes, and she can overcome them slowly, growing. Isn’t she gonna grow, by the way?

Ladybug.

Fix her justice’s concept. She’s the holder of the greatest Miraculous, couldn’t she be more mature? Sometimes she’s portrayed like best, mature girl (she’s on charge of giving Miraculous and she’s admired), but sometimes she’s just selfish and gets influenced by her Marinette life. If she wants to be a good hero, shouldn’t she separate her lifes? And please, make her truly equal to Noir.

Adrien.

Please. Develope. Him. Adrien has greeeeat potential, he’s your classic rich type boy but he isn’t a brat. He has lots of sad things going on, he’s sad like half of the time, but I don’t think the writters portray it well. He should be, like, feeling down, and people could notice. Marinette, who is soooo in love with him, only know his “perfect” self, she literally doesn’t catch anything aside. Adrien is just there to be the villain’s son, basically.

Chat Noir.

He’s- a- hero-. Again with being selfish. I get Adrien feeling free and all, that’d be an amazing arc, but Chat actually isn’t well executed. He’s sometimes flirting around with everyone and he’s sometimes so “Ladybug Ladybug Ladybug”. He was rejected. I mean, I understand that he’s hurt, he truly wants to be loved again, but I think he should understand Ladybug. His heroic life should be different from his love life. And please, make him not a sidekick.

Alya.

Let her be S1!Alya. Do you remember that fresh, powerful girl who was there to recue Marinette and make her stand out? That girl who was constantly seeking the truth because she wanted to be a reporter? Well, now we have a girl who doesn’t trust her best friend and prefers to believe a girl that has clearly lied before. Doesn’t ever want to check if it’s true. W h a t ?

Nino.

Please give this boy more screentime. Everything about him is “my gal Alya, my bro Adrien”, he doesn’t have anything for him! And I mean, he’s amazing. Between Alya, Chloé and him, he’s the most heroic. He just wanted to make Adrien happy and he even got akumatized for that. He should be his own chill, cool character, but he depends on Alya and Adrien mostly.

Chloé.

Give her consistency. Please. Wasn’t she getting redeemed? It doesn’t seem so. She should start to change. It’d be better if she slowly started to think about people’s feelings. She could still be a diva but hey, she loves being a hero, so she should be careful not to akumatize people. Why does she love LB so much? Sabrina and Adrien were here for her, why can’t them move her arc instead of LB?

Lila.

Remember fanon!Lila? Everyone was gonna get really upset with her, everything would change for her. I mean, she was always alone, her parents had to work and didn’t really check on her. They moved from time to time. And then we have canon!Lila, she does what she wants, her lies are bad, everyone believes her because... yes? She could be a truly good bitchy character, but no, we have a bad plot device. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still my fave.

Gabriel.

Why the heck is he, a smart villain, manipulating a 14 yo girl? Don’t you have something better to do? Why is the plot trying to justify his acts by “I love my wife”? He’s like... sick. He’s hurting his son in many ways and doesn’t even see it. And he isn’t even that smart. Everything said.

Hawk Moth.

I want a good villain. A villain who is actually threatening, who isn’t scared of getting his hands dirty. A grey villain, he has a seemingly good purpose but would do anything for that purpose, even if it included bad methods. He isn’t bad, situation makes him bad, and he takes it. Hawk Moth is a bad written villain, he literally makes me laugh. He uses babies! Not, more like babies use him!

Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen B.

Yeh, I’m salty cuz they are not permanent and that, but that’s not all. Lady and Chat clearly have new sides of their personalities unlocked: security for her, freedom for him. Having a mask and a responsability changes them. But Rena, Pace and B? Nothing. They’re just the same. Rena is the cute and sassy foxy gal, Queen is literally Chloé and even Paris knows, and Carapace is the cool bro. Why can’t we have a focused Rena, who takes really seriously her job, and would want to operate on her own? Like, she wants to take down Hawk, to track him. She’s like a comic’s tough hero. And a Carapace that starts to see danger from being a hero? He starts seeing why protection is important and he’s really protective and careful while being a hero. But he also keeps his coolness in every sense. And Chloé... I’d actually want her to try cooperative work. She a bee after all. She doesn’t have to keep her tough, queen like persona, why can’t she let herself go a little? Start trusting her hero friends and actually being confidant and all.

But meh. They don’t even have to get along with their Kwamis. Disappointing.

~alternativemiraculous.

[writteninsunshine]

Worker Bee - Andrea Rhodea/Reno - SFW-Ish

Title: Worker Bee Author: Donnie Fandom: Final Fantasy VII Remake Setting: The Honeybee Inn Pairing: Andrea Rhodea/Reno Characters: Andrea Rhodea, Reno, Honeygirl OC: Chastity, Honeygirl OC: Lacey, Honeyboy OC: Darnell, Honeyboy OC: Haddick Genre: Romance/Humor Rating: T Chapters: 1/1 Word Count: 1423 Type of Work: One-Shot, Part of the Honey Bucket series Status: Complete Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, AU - Canon Divergent, AU - Honeybee!Reno, Burlesque Dancing, Canon Mentions of Noncon, Reno Wears The Honeygirl Outfit Because Andrea’s Cool, Crossdressing, Crossdresser, Some Suggestive Touching Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. Summary: All Work Reno and no Fun Reno made Reno less money. AN: Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have Twitter and Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD I can PM it to people who want it on FFN, for everyone else, it’s here: discord.gg/FyaWw25 So, here we are again, with the start of the Honeybee!Reno fics! There will be quite a few of these, and I’m already in love with this AU. Reno works more as a Honeygirl, because he’s allowed to wear the outfit and Andrea is cool with breaking gender roles. Also, who wouldn’t want to put his tits in that outfit? Oof. I can’t help it. Buuut, I hope you guys like this! It’s mildly NSFW but not really more than suggestive.

Final Fantasy VII Fic Masterlist

Worker Bee ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Hands up by his shoulders, fingers curled in, Reno bobbed along with the gaggle of other girls, giggling alongside them to keep up. The quartet buzzed about, getting ready for the show and pausing to give gracious smiles and feather-light touches to return patrons. Reno diverted for just a second to run his surprisingly soft fingers under a man’s chin, drawing his eyes from the floor to see the sparkle in Reno’s own blue eyes.

Rejoining the swarm, he let the bumblebee butt on the back of his outfit bounce, no doubt keeping the man’s attention until he disappeared around a corner. Heading backstage to prepare for the show, a strong hand tugged him to the side and he looked up just in time to catch his boss’ smiling face. It was careful, sweet and gentle, something that fluttered Reno’s heart in his chest. A gentle kiss was pressed to his plump lips and it melted him in his heels, both arms wrapping around Andrea’s neck to keep him from losing his balance. “You’re going to do fantastic tonight, Reno.” Andrea purred into his ear, kissing it softly, “I’m looking forward to the show.” An ear to ear grin blossomed over Reno’s lips and he nodded, leaning in for another kiss to keep himself tided over until he was off work. “You bet your ass the show’s gonna be good,” Reno replied finally, having spent too long pushing back into kisses, lingering and needing more attention, “It always is.” His hungry mouth parted to invite the other’s tongue to explore, and Andrea gave him a fleeting taste of what was to come later. “You make a difference,” Andrea responded softly, breath washing over Reno’s lips as he spoke. He pulled away, finally, gently patting the back of Reno’s thigh, “Off with you, the show is about to begin.” He winked, provocative smile in place as he nodded in the direction that the other needed to go. Reno had to force himself to double-time click-clack backstage, getting into position with the other girls. “Andrea give you a personal pick-me-up, Honey?” Chastity questioned, shaking her head to toss her brunette to blonde ombre hair over her shoulders. Reno took up his spot beside her, copying the motion if only to show off how much longer his hair was than hers. At the very least, she giggled it off, playfully smacking his arm. “Show-off.” “You know he did.” Reno replied with a grin, “And you already know that about me, Honey Pop.” He winked, shifting into position as the lights dimmed on the floor, and the spotlights shone on the curtains. “Good luck!” “You, too, Honey!” Chastity chirped happily, just in time for the music to start. As the show began, Reno executed his moves in time with everyone else, keeping up with a kind of dedicated caution he never showed in his other job. Being a Turk sometimes meant he had to get creative, and he was valuable enough that his occasional upsets didn’t cost him too much. A lecture or two, a few disparaging comments from Rufus, and he was back on his feet with his job still as secure as ever. Here, however, the wild Turk he was in his day job took a backseat to the charm he turned up to eleven every night. The Honeybee Inn wasn’t a place where you wanted to stick out, at least not so much, so violently, and he wanted nothing more than to keep impressing Andrea Rhodea. The better he did at his job, the more the man seemed to grow attached to him. Even off-hours, they spent as much time together as was feasible. It had started as simply offering Reno somewhere to crash one night when he was practically sleeping on his feet, but things could never stay so simple in either of their lives. One night of cuddling in Andrea’s incredibly soft bed had turned Reno onto the finer things in life, and an odd kinship had been born. Around a lot of people, Reno had to tamp down on himself, even if he could get overexcited and his filters eroded under his opinions. Around Andrea, though, he could be himself, he could wear what he wanted to, do what he wanted to. When repairs on his home had become too costly, Reno had even badgered the other man into giving him a night job. As far as he knew, the other Turks didn’t know about his double life, and he wasn’t interested in divulging such things. No, this counted as Fun Reno time, and Work Reno had a restraining order on anything Fun Reno thought was a good idea. Okay, except for the occasional prank to light up the office. But beneath the bright lights, with the music pumping around him and the stage bringing attention to the veritable herd of them, everything fell away. He could cut loose and have the time of his life showing off for total strangers, faces obscured by the fluorescent glare blinding him to the dim room full of half-lidded eyes. Everything felt as comfortable on this stage as it did when he was in bed with the man he would call his sometimes-lover. It was no wonder that Andrea was on his mind more when he was working for ShinRa. Crawling out of his bed and slinking back plateside was the kind of walk of shame he actually didn’t appreciate. Even still, his mind was focused on the end goal, even as the finale of the show began, and he twirled into the arms of his designated partner like he was made for it. Reno was good at physical things, keeping his hands and feet busy kept his mind busier than paperwork every could. With one leg in the air, one arm above his head and his partner dipping him, he finished out the song while panting hard through his nose to avoid looking like he’d expelled too much effort. Following the others off stage, once the curtains cut to a close, Reno grinned at Chastity, who made a beeline for him as they were ushered to the back hallway where the dressing rooms were. Her comically tiny steps only fuelled Reno’s good mood, and she excitedly gestured with her hands as she spoke. “That was so good! I swear, we’re getting better all the time! I sure wish we could do another big show tonight.” “Well, everything else falls into place, don’t it? You get to dance again tonight, don’t you?” Reno drawled, smirking slightly as they rounded the corner towards the private rooms. “Yeah! I’m excited, it’s me, Lacey, Darnell, and Haddick.” She replied, clapping her hands several times in rapid succession as she shimmied along beside him to his usual private room. “You’re on Appointment Duty tonight, right?” “Oh, yeah, and I got some pretty big customers.” Reno almost cackled, shaking his head as he put his hands on his hips, “The kind that might get my shoe shoved up their ass if they try anything funny.” “Isn’t that like, everyone, though, Honey?” Chastity laughed, bending forward a bit to put her hands on her knees as she giggled happily. Parting her lips to speak again, she paused when a hand slid around Reno’s waist and he was tugged back into someone. Looking up, brows drawn in, she grinned the second she noticed it was Andrea. She waved with a little squeak of surprise, before giving a playful wink and turned on her heels to disappear into the crowd. “You did so well.” Andrea purred against Reno’s exposed back, kissing along the freckled skin there as he tugged the smaller in close. With his costume keeping them separated due to the large bubble of fabric and plastic, Reno was half-tempted to turn around, but Andrea managed to slot himself against the Honeyboy’s rump and kissed his ear anyway. “I always love watching you dance. You’re exquisite.” “I always love knowing you’re watching.” Reno nearly purred, finally managing to turn in the other’s arms before squeezing all the air out from between them. Andrea brushed the other’s hair out of his face, leaning in and tilting Reno’s head with two fingers on his chin to swipe his tongue against the redhead’s lips. With a little shudder, Reno melted against him, enjoying the strong hands dropping to his waist as they tugged him in tighter. “You have some work to do still, don’t you?” Andrea whispered against his mouth, and Reno licked at the other’s bottom lip. “I do, but as soon as I’m done, I’m gonna buzz on over to see you.” Reno winked, having to separate from his boss as someone cleared their throat behind him. “See you soon, Boss Man.” The redhead smirked as he gave a mock salute, taking a couple swinging steps backward before turning and fluttering to his first client of the evening. “This way, Honey~ Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ AN: I’ve been really loose with my ships and stuff lately, and honestly, I’m really loving playing with all of these. It’s too much fun, and I hope you guys are enjoying my ADHD brain on shipping the Remake. Reno’s gonna get a lot of attention! There will be at least 16 fics in this series, if every person on the list gets a single fic. We’ll see, though, I’m loving this Honeybeeno AU!

[nobodies-png]

ORG XIII Bullet point lists win. Instant follow. Have you already done a thing about when you [reader] play with their hair. BC BIH I wana get my fingers on Xaldin's sideburns!

hIS SIDEBURNS ? ?  wHAT AN ICON - okay but a lotta dudes in the org have long hair and oH BOY IM JUST HERE LIKE O O F, loVE ME SOME MEN WITH LONG HAIR

also big soz for the inactivity, i’ve been trying to get a lotta drafts done to fill up the queue and empty the askbox wheeze

Xemnas :

You must have balls of steel if you can ask the s u p e r i o r if you can play with his hair without stuttering - but nonetheless, you manage to do it! And you don’t seem to be in any trouble, considering Xemnas’ intrigued grin. “Go on, then” he’d tell you and you’d just stay there unsure like “Uhhh for real ? right n o w?” He probably gets a kick outta this, seeing how far you’ll go before chickening out (like a c o W A R D).

But you’re way too curious to figure out how the fuck his hair works to back out now. While you occupy yourself unraveling the m y s t e r i e s, he’ll merely watch - maybe chat with you . You know how pretty much everyone has a personal scent ? This guy lives up to his title, cause he’s got none. His hair is also super thin so you feel like you’re just trying to grasp n o t h i n g.

Xigbar :

The first thing he does is nudge your side, jokingly asking you shit like “aren’t we a bit too old for that cutesy shit?” while untying his ponytail and making himself comfortable on your lap. W h a t ? It’s not fair that you’re the only one having fun, right ? You can’t help but just roll your eyes at his smug sneer - maybe you should’ve chosen s o m e o n e else for this.

We know how Xigbar is. He’s not gonna shut the fuck up no matter what you do or how many times you ask him - so you just end up having some s a s s y friendly banter, with you pointing out his grey hairs or giving him ridiculous styles while he pretends to be offended. It’s an overall fun time ! Until he refuses to move from his spot on your lap because he’s “too comfortable there”, that is.

Xaldin :

The chances of him willingly letting you get your way are lower than Demyx’s motivation to work. Unless it’s a life or death situation, he’s not going to let you play with his hair - the trick is to ask him when he’s too busy to actually realize what he just agreed to, catching him by surprise. A promise’s a promise, dude, can’t go back on one !

Unlike many others, he won’t let his hair loose just so you can have the pleasure of playing with it. Xaldin will probably give you like 10 minutes cause he has better things to do than to watch you use his hair as a moustache. If you’re brave enough to go for the sideburns, he’d p a n i c and get slightly flustered cause that shit tickles - but he’d try to endure it until you’re done.

Vexen :

I’m torn between Vexen never noticing whenever someone touches his hair cause it’s suuuper long and he just doesn’t give two fucks about it. Or him being hella aware of it cause LONG LOOSE HAIR IN A LAB IS A DANGER HAZARD AND A CATASTROPHE WAITING TO HAPPEN. So I g u e s s I’ll go with the l a t t e r.

Vexen is used to having his hair toyed with because of Zexion (the boy could be a little r a s c a l when he wanted) so he’s not even surprised when you ask him. Well, okay maybe a little. He’d tell you to do as you please, as long as you don’t distract him from work - in the end, he’d enjoy the feeling of your fingers running through his hair ! Maybe he’ll let you do that more often. Y’know, for s c i e n c e.

Lexaeus :

Lexaeus has no problem letting you play with his hair. His only concern is finding a decent position for you to reach his head, without him having to b r e a k his back bending or you having to do some sick parkour. Once that’s settled, you can do whatever you want while he just silently observes or solves one of his puzzle thingies.

Even though neither of you are talking, the atmosphere it’s pretty pleasant and lighthearted. Sometimes you just call out his name from time to time, to make sure he hasn’t fallen asleep lol. Like Luxord, Lexaeus also thinks this situation is kinda comical - like come on he’s the biggest dude in the Organization and here he is, having his hair played with.

Zexion :

At first he’d be startled and cower away in surprise like “e x c u s e me?? WHAT are you doing ?”. Like he’d gladly let you play with his hair, but he’s not used to people touching him so suddenly - just try to give him a heads up the next time. At first it’ll be awkward, cause he just c a n ‘ t stop fidgeting around, extremely aware of the sudden intimacy and closeness of the situation. No he’s definitely not blushing, get some g l a s s e s.

It might take some time for Zexion to get used to it. Mostly cause he feels so n a k e d with the other half of his face exposed - He’ll have his nose buried in his lexicon to avoid eye contact. I can see him totally warming up to the idea and just letting you mess with his hair while he reads a book outloud for the two of you.

Saix :

If you try to ask for permission, Saix will probably say no, so just go for it and pray that he rolls with it. Surprisingly, he does ! Well, more like he hasn’t bitten your hand off - yet. If he’s in a bad mood, prepare for some q u e s t i o n i n g. A half-assed smart sounding explanation will do the trick. If he’s in a good mood, he’ll let you do your thing as long as you don’t distract him too much.

Most likely to purr or just make barely audible b u t hella cute little noises when you play with his hair (i’m getting Saix Puppy flashbacks now, great) You could probably get away with making little cute braids and he won’t notice at all. Try not to be in his field of vision once he does cause he’ll go b e r s e r k on your ass and take away your hair fiddling privileges.

Axel :

Kinda reluctant. He’d poke fun at your eagerness to play with his hair to cover the fact that he’s KINDA embarrassed about this. Probably will let you have your way but only if you two are alone at the Clock Tower - he doesn’t want Xion or Roxas to try and imitate you if they see you. Like come on, there’s a r e p u t a t i o n here to mantain !

Thanks to the latest KH3 trailers we’ve confirmed that his hair is not just a bunch of deadly spikes stuck with hot glue to his head, but instead it’s S O F  T. So yes, playing with Axel’s hair is f u n - even with that permanent scent of fire and burning wood he emits. He likes to see what kind of new style you can come up with. Manbun ? Pigtails ? Braids ? Valid. He’s partial to the low ponytail and will often wear it around the castle.

Demyx

Will strongly refuse at first - mostly cause he puts a L O T of time and gel ever day to perfectionate …whatever the fuck his hair even is. And he doesn’t want you ruining it ! With enough nagging and puppy eyes, Demyx will eventually give in and let you do whatever you want. Okay but his hair has a w e i r d texture with all the products he uses ?

Your hand will probably get stuck there too, so you better wait until like, he takes a shower to wash it all off. THEN you can just play with that fluffy mane. Demyx looks like a completely different person with his hair down, so he’ll be a bit hesitant, afraid you’ll laugh at him - but then he’d discover that he l o v e s when you play with his hair ! He’d pester you to do that whenever you two hang out cause it’s so relaxing.

Luxord :

His first reaction is to just laugh. Well, y’know not a full blown laugh but like a Polite Amused British Chuckle™. W h a t could you possibly want to play with ? He doesn’t have crazy long hair like most of the members in the Organization so he finds this kinda silly - buuut if you’re up for a quick game, he might just indulge you. Only if you win of course.

…Obviously, he lets you win. But you c a n ‘ t really complain about it cause now you get to play with his hair ! Huzzah ! Luxord is a talker, so he’ll just ramble on and on about how endearing and funny this situation is, joking about how lucky you are to have this privilege and b l a h b l a h. You don’t have to worry cause you’ll soon start to hear his light snores.

Marluxia :

Marluxia takes pride in his hair and overall appearance, so he k n o w s how badly you wanna play with that p i n k fluffy mane. If you’re gentle, he’ll gladly grant you the honour of touching it, enjoying your little surprised gasps and hearing you mutter things like “so fluffy and soft !” under your breath. It doesn’t matter if you’re his S/O, he’ll never tell you his secrets !

But he will give you some unsolicited tips and advice on how to take care of yours cause that’s just how he is. His smug and condescending attitude slowly dissipate as he starts to relax, though. Like the others, he m i g h t start to doze off while you do your thing, but Marluxia will try to keep up his cool façade - brushing you off with the excuse of being busy, with the sleepiest expression on his face.

Larxene :

Y e a h - No. Larxene refuses to be seen without her iconic hairstyle, she’ll let you play with those w e i r d antennae she’s got going on but that’s it. Take it or leave it. You don’t know if this is just normal or if she does it on purpose, but sometimes you feel a little s h o c k whenever you reach out for those two strands of hair. But hey, you’re the only one allowed to get that close to Larxene so, kudos to you.

You c a n, however, play with her hair while she sleeps ! Don’t worry about waking her up, she’s a heavy sleeper. Unless you come in banging pots and shit, she’s not waking up any time soon. Larxene will unconsciously lean into your touch, her face visibly softening while you mess with her thin locks. Just never tell her that you do this or she’ll forbid you from entering her room ever again.

Roxas :

Roxas is c o n f u s e d, he’ll move away on instinct and ask if you were trying to pull a prank on him or if you stuck something to his hair. When you tell him that you just like playing with it because the spikes are fun to touch, he’ll pout and get slightly flustered - but will let you continue anyway. It doesn’t matter how hard you try to mess up his hairstyle, it always returns to it’s original s t a t e. It’s like m a g i c.

Since you started doing that, he’s noticed he has been paying more attention to his hair. Roxas never cared about appearances, but the fact that you like something so specific as his hair pretty much inflates his ego a bit. He’d put a little bit more care into it, spending more time in front of the mirror every morning - lowkey hoping you’d notice.

Xion :

Also confused, but instead of stopping you, Xion would imitate your actions - twirling one of your locks around her finger with an amused smile on her face. After a while she’d innocently ask “what exactly are we doing?” and you’ll have to explain the entire concept to her between laughs.

When you tell her that you like playing with her hair, she’d totally blush and feel a bit self-conscious. What if your hands get tangled in a knot or something ? Did she brush it properly ? Wait - She doesn’t even have to with how short it is ! Maybe she should try letting it grow - But yeah, Xion would l o v e this. She’d sit on your lap or between your legs letting you make little braids and whatever while you two chill and talk during breaks.

[mlpdestinyverse]

Destinyverse Q&A

I asked my watchers on Deviantart to send me questions, related to me or Destinyverse, for me to compile and answer for a Q&A! Below the cut is the full Q&A and I hope it’ll be informative about me, my characters, or the Destinyverse universe! c:

Mysticalite:

1. Do any of your characters have any disabilities (I haven’t read all the bios so I might have missed something) if so, who and what do they have?

When it comes to physical, no! Though Destinyverse!Daring Do does have a permanent wing injury that gets in the way of taking off and flying normally (her wing can lock up and impair movement in the air). When it comes to mental (which I think mental illnesses count?); There's Eventide Twister with her general and social anxiety, and Skychaser has his bouts of depression. Then there's one other character who has dealt with clinical depression, and may still have its effects, but well...this isn't the right time to out them. ______________________________________________

2. Does the pony world in your universe have more relation with the human world? Like do more humans come over to the pony world and vice versa? With all video game stuff that involve Nova Spark, it made me wonder, do the humans share their technology with the ponies?

(Note that my answer is based off of Destinyverse headcanons!) There have been fun, silly stories passed around Canterlot City about magic and monsters and highschool students transforming into magical girl human-pony hybrids. But nowadays, people have waved off such stories as one huge school-wide prank or just exaggerated rumors to give Canterlot High and the city an interesting reputation. After graduating Canterlot High, and after magic disappeared (for the most part) from the human world, both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle agreed it'd be best to keep the existence of the magic portal on the down low. Not that normal humans who have never come in contact with equestrian magic or have never been pulled in at least once can cross it, but...better safe than sorry. A lot of back and forth communication and monitoring of the area around the portal is needed for Sunset or Astral to pass through unseen. Only those with Princess Twilight's permission are permitted to use the portal to cross back and forth.

As for technology! With all Sunset Shimmer has seen and gathered from the human world, the mare has used that knowledge over the years as inspiration to help advance Equestrian technology! Twilight puts her at the head of planning such projects, though they naturally need blueprints and research notes to be approved by Princess Celestia herself before they can start a project and have it produced for Equestria! ___________________________________________________

Craneswoop

3. What kind of technology is available to the ponies from the human world?

Similar to question 2, all advancements to technology in Equestria are human-inspired, but Equestrian-made! And I think it's safe to say magic has been added to the equation to create a unique magi-technology only Equestria would possess (think of how the helicopter blades on Tank's flight gear are run via an enchantment!)

One of the first things Sunset helped introduce were computers and monitors. Naturally an evolution in the gaming industry followed with the creation of consoles and computer games. We also have the creation of CDs and the development of portable music players, which improved the music industry.

There are some ideas still in the works for the topic of technology. For one, what about a development in animation and even TV shows? For some reason I feel like live TV wouldn't be a thing in present-day Equestria (whether because it's still being worked on or...Sunset wants to settle on live radio news broadcasts). Secondly, it'd be nice for there to be a communication device similar to a telephone, but not the complex cellphones/smartphones that humans have. That's an idea being smoothed out!

But one thing's for certain. The human's expansive "world wide web" does not exist in Equestria. Sure, computers - including desktop computers - exist. They're helpful with creating and storing documents and files, digital art, reading discs for computer games, etc. Buuut...Sunset has a new mantra, thanks to her past regrets. ”Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”

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4. I'm sorry if this came up before, but if Dream's parents were both Earth ponies, where did her unicorn traits come from?

It hasn't! I believe one of Dreamaria's grandparents on her father's side is a unicorn! I have a feeling her father grew apart from his own parents for one reason or another, hence why the thought of going to them for unicorn-advice wasn't an option he considered. Dream has no connections to them.

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Jackii-in-the-Box

5. Your characters are beautifully made, but I wonder: Are your characters’ personality and background based on your life, people around you, or both? Or is it just to discover topics through fictional characters?

Thank you so much! And ah geez, this is going to be a long one, I apologize ahead of time. <xD There are a good chunk of characters in Destinyverse that I've handed aspects of my own experiences to. These characters would be Eventide Twister, Monochrome, Dreamaria Flow, Skychaser, and Summer Rush.

Dream, Sky, and Summer have the most subtle connections, don't worry! It ties into the aggressive behavior they've faced in their lives, but to keep it from getting too personal, I'll end that thought there. <:3

Monochrome only has one aspect in particular that I gave them because it's something I struggle with and needed to give form. The chapter "Gallery of Infamy" alone embodies it: a desire to share the things that are important to you with others, especially those that matter most. But when you can't, you're often left with a sense of loneliness. Being able to explore that feeling through Monochrome was pretty freeing. ;w;/

Then there's Eventide Twister, who in all honesty embodies the most aspects in her own way. Specifically, her struggle with anxiety and her plotline with Heather. That's something I don't mind sharing: My ex-friend wasn't Heather. In fact, I've shaped Heather in a way that's made her completely different from the friend I knew. But she was my best friend for many years, whose toxic behavior shaped my anxiety into what it still is today. The chapter "Honesty", while the event that forever damaged me and my friendship didn't play out quite like that, holds heavy references to that event and embodies the emotions I was left with that day. Emotions I had to struggle with for years. But I've gotten better with my anxiety and can function better than I could years ago. I continue to handle my anxiety the best that I can! And everything I've ever learned from my experience, I'm handing over to Eventide. Because even when you're left damaged, without a single bit of closure in sight, you can still heal. You can still overcome your hurdles and build yourself up again. That's what Eventide's character arc is about. And I look forward to sharing what I have planned for her. <X3

There's something almost therapeutic about expressing these internalized experiences and feelings through a medium like this. It gives those things form and provides a way of reaching out and communicating them to others! It's incredible how much reception Eventide's arc received, and seeing others be able to connect and relate to her and share their own personal stories is something I find so, so meaningful. I can only ever hope that being able to see these characters have similar experiences or struggles helps people feel heard or a little less alone...! _______________________________________________________

KannaYui

6. What ships in your NG are endgame?  Like, which ones are gonna be official?  Like Skychaser and Evergreen

While I can't give a direct answer to that, this question allows me to provide a bit of insight, since I'm sure others have wondered this too!

The reason EverSky is so openly canon is because 1. Skychaser, before he was fully developed, was originally created specifically to be Evergreen's boyfriend. xDD Not that he wasn't going to have more to him, but! That's what motivated me to make him! Now he's developed a solid story role! And 2. I drew tons of EverSky before I even started working on Destinyverse, sO, it's out there in the open. xD

For the other endgame ships? I want to avoid outright confirming certain ships for reasons, and then there are others who I'm just not 100% certain with yet (like the idea of Summer Rush and Jonagold!). Just know that while certain things may be perceived as either romantic or platonic (platonic physical affection after all!!), I'm also...not the most subtle when it comes to hinting or enjoying my own ships. <xDD That's your clue! But I have at least established that ChromeTwister isn't endgame, and I confirmed that because hellevenIenjoyit but I don't want people getting upset thinking that's being set up when it's actually not and Monochrome's crush is a thing of the past. ;w; Feel free to ship what you want though!! As long as it's harmless and everyone's respectful of one another's ships (as well as the canon ships), it's all good. <xD _______________________________________________________

Anthony158

7. When we will see Evergreen past arc?

AH, surprised someone's asking for Evergreen! He indeed has his own past arc, and well...I want to say he'll most likely be the last character to get his revealed, BUT it also completely depends on which arcs I feel like working on as time passes. <xD I already feel like I'm jumping around and unable to settle on one character. But admittedly some things still need to be sorted out for Ever's, so! We'll see! _______________________________________________________

Lack-Rat

8. I've got a question/story idea for you. Are enchanted comics that pull you into the story an established form of entertainment in your world or was that one spike got one of a kind?

I had to look back at the episode in question, but it turns out Spike got that comic from a shop called "The House of Enchanted Comics", so apparently there are multiple! I'm sure that it's somepony's unique talent, since I imagine that kind of spell would be a rather complex one for just any unicorn to perform (and it's a rather specific creative approach)! And because it's unique, I don't think it's a form of entertainment everywhere! Since Spike's comic disappeared at the very end of the episode, I almost think these enchanted comics only have a single copy that can be borrowed before they teleport back to its creator! So there's just one very specific shop in Canterlot that provides such magical comics. c: Hope that creator has their form of comic-enchantment trademarked. u m u

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9. On a related note, do you think Nova would ever invent a game console that magically sucks it's players in, either intentionally or accidentally? Given that he's Twilight's son I wouldn't be surprised if he could.

HAH, the thought never occurred to me, but hey! He probably could. uwu As a whole new generation of gaming~ Though it'd have to be intentional and consensual. xD And it'd be way down the line! His present goal is to just create immersive story-driven games. _______________________________________________________

MadnessOfTheMind

10. This may be considered a spoiler but I still gotta ask- Are Pinkie and Sugarsocks gonna have any kids in ur storyline or are they just a little side idea?

For some reason my mind tells me that those two don't feel a need to have any kiddos! >:0 They're just livin the best life with their business and parties~ Caramello from the Cake family is kind of the closest thing they have to a kiddo they can love and spoil. uwu

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11. Also are we gonna get more Everchaser/Skygreen (Evergreen and Skychaser) panic gay horse content in the future or no? Cuz lemme tell ya I do love my chaotic gay flirt horses lol

YOU HECKIN BET YOU WILL, THERE'S S O MUCH I STILL GOTTA DRAW xD I haven't even introduced their future daughter yet. I'll end up drawing stuff about her eventually. ;w; And I personally call their ship EverSky! Makes me think of a beautiful endless expanse of sky.

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12. Also, what was the first nextgen you came up with an idea for, or what triggered you to start developing a nextgen story on Deviantart? I'm curious owo

I was inspired by Lopoddity's next gen artwork!! I was particularly enamored by her royal next gens and basically went "I...want to design...a kiddo for Luna", AND BOOM, WE GOT PRINCE AMADEUS, my first next gen! Princess Lumina followed after. c: From there I already had Dream Flow and Eventide Twister as characters (Eve was an undeveloped OC at the time), my friend had her character Star Chime, and the existence of my royal next gens started forming a story! A cover (now taken down unfortunately) of the song "Ballad of the Crystal Empire" kick-started ideas for an arc of the present-day story. And as more characters joined the cast, my brain exploded with ideas from there. <xD The realization that I could present this story via illustrated stories and art dumps was the final push I needed to start working on it!

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13. I know abt PTX, but are any other characters inspired by celebs or media figures you like?

Nope! In reality I don't actually keep up with a lot of celebs and media figures. <xD Aside from youtubers maybe, but still.

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14. What do you, Mia, personally like music-wise? What are a few of your favorite bands?

I always have a hard time naming genres because I kind of just like whatever songs sound good to me. <xDD But I think a common pattern is that I really enjoy emotionally-charged songs. Probably why I tend to enjoy songs from musicals (Dear Evan Hansen is perfection, fight me)! I also like things with a good beat, piano, strings, and a combination of all those things is mMMMMgoodshit.

For some bands! And singers! I enjoy Halsey, Panic! At The Disco, PVRIS, Rachel Platten, Paramore, and Marianas Trench!

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UsaHunnyBunny

15. Were you nervous about sharing you Pony next gen stuff?

Nah! I was already posting art and stories for other fandoms in the past, so posting for a new fandom wasn't bad! But most of all, I had a powerful desire to get out of my own way and get my stories out there. I have a hard time communicating my thoughts and ideas with people - or finding a place where I can do that - and it was wearing me down, internalizing my own ideas and passions. SO, sharing my stories became my way of communicating these thoughts and feelings and connecting with others!

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16. Out of all your ships, which is your favorite? Parents of next gen/next gen or otherwise!

For canon characters; TwiTempest is my absolute jam. They're so freaking cute; perfectionistic and panicky princess and her cool-headed and secretly soft guard captain. HM. Runner up would be DaringDash. I never actually shipped them until after I paired them together to create Monochrome. Only then did I realize how cute of a couple they could make. Stubborn, blushy fools.

For my next gens: EverSky was my everything for the longest time, but then came another ship. I won't name the ship, partially because of my whole "no confirming" thing, but also because it's a ship that I don't think anyone will be able to fully appreciate or understand until you see it unfold for yourselves. ;w; It'll become obvious with time~

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17. What advice you'd give someone who wants to share their own fun pony stories/ideas themselves?

WELL! SCREW CRINGE CULTURE FOR ONE. As long as you're not copying or using harmful ideas, HAVE FUN AND BE INSPIRED!! Your ideas deserve to be out there! Not receiving much attention at first can admittedly be disheartening, but please don't give up! Keep believing in your passion, keep expressing it and having fun, and people in time will be able to see and appreciate those things! Also remember that it's okay to retcon if you end up finding ideas that work better. c: And one of the best things is that there's no pressure in posting stories 100% in order. You could jump around from character to character, from present day to the past to an event in the future, etc. In the end, just make sure you're having fun. ;w;/

Also, always have something with you to record new ideas! Your phone, a google doc, a notepad, whatever you need to jot ideas down new ideas as they come! From experience, you might think "oh this is an interesting idea, I can remember it for later". NO. DON'T TRUST THAT MY DUDE. YOU WILL LIKELY FORGET AND THEN HAVE REGRETS AS YOU TRY TO CALL FORTH THAT ONE SCENE CONCEPT OR THAT PERFECT LINE OF DIALOGUE but can't. So just be safe and jot down every idea you like, even if you end up tossing it out in the end. ;w;

ANYWAY! It all starts with you, so please, make that move and share your work~ Who knows who you'll end up reaching with your stories!

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18. Are you aware of how wonderfully talented and adorable you are?

*SQUINTS* I'm only including this cause you legit submitted it, but how dare Myansweristhanksbuthush _______________________________________________________

PurplePenumbra

19. Regarding Dream, has she ever met any other unicorn with the same kind of magic as her? Would she like to? And if so, would she be happy to meet them? 

She hasn't! Then again, other than the few times Uncle Serein would take her out of town for an outing or for visits to her grandparents, Dream didn't get out of her town much. Not until she moved to Ponyville! Whether she'd like to meet a similar unicorn is a little MMM complicated. I think meeting another pony with her abilities would at least be a good opportunity to see if she understands the full extent and workings of her magic. >:0 _______________________________________________________

ANONS! 20. Since the last ask reminded me of your mystery dungeon kids: if Eventide, Skychaser, and Dream were a mystery dungeon team, which Pokemon would each of them be and what kind of roles would they take? (tank, ranged, etc)

Dream Flow would be a shiny Ralts (emotion-abilities and psychic-type after all!) She'd be a ranged battler and healer!

Skychaser would be a Dartrix (no reason other than flying type + the hairstyle, and the hood for Decidueye. Besides, grass type boi would work well with grass type - possibly Roserade - Evergreen Glade~) And Sky would be a mixed fighter! Also have...have you guys looked up birds in hoodies. Please do.

Evie would be an Eevee~ Not only cause name play, but! Eventide's a char of possibilities. Darling's gotta find herself. ;w; While a reluctant fighter, if it means aiding her friends, Eve will do her best to fulfil her role as a close-ranged fighter (with Skychaser staying close to help out when needed). She'd also carry a wing-shaped backpack for the team's items! Evolution-wise? Even with no flying type Eeveelution, I think the most perfect evolution for her would have to be Sylveon~ You can piece together why. <X3 _______________________________________________________

21. Which characters were fun to develop and had the toughest backstory to plan?

Fun to develop? Oh Nova Spark all the way. A character who was originally created for fun and to serve the role of Prince Amadeus's best friend has developed into such a major character and I love him. It's probably why he has the longest past arc out of anyone, and also why I'm really excited to work on it BUT WELL I'm worried about leaving everyone else on the backburner. <xD

Hardest backstory to plan? Dream Flow. I've been developing her for over four years now and I'm still trying to sort her out. Heck I was figuring certain things out for her AS I was writing "Impasse". BUT HEY, I think I've settled on a good amount of Dream's story now! I'm sure I'll be editing some things as I go, but I've got a basic idea for what I want! _______________________________________________________

22. You've shown off kids for a lot of the MLP main cast, and they're all great! But one I've never seen mentioned and it has me curious. Does Starlight Glimmer have any kids? Will they be showing up even as a cameo/background pony?

Thanks! So this answer applies to all next gens, but for me to make a next gen, I need either 1. A ship I'm genuinely interested in! or 2. A character concept I want to design, thus I'll figure out parents that could fit the concept best. Examples would be Nova Spark (TwiTempest) and Beat Mania (VinylOctavia) for #1, and Monochrome and Skychaser for #2.

While a Starlight kid sounds nice, I just don't have a Starlight ship that's won me over. <xD Nor do I have any interesting char concepts I could use for a Starlight kid idea; BUT, the thing about that is that I'm not actively trying to create new character concepts. You see, I seem to have a hard time creating background next gen ponies because my mind likes to go off with ideas for almost every character I create. And with the amount of characters I already have, I really don't think I can balance any more characters in the cast without feeling a need to have them play a role in a main plot or another character's plot. And things are complicated as they are. <xDD SO you won't be seeing any new next gen designs unless I find a new MLP ship I REALLY like, or I think up an idea I really want to pursue! ;w;/ _______________________________________________________

23. Do any of the Destinyverse characters have friends that aren't ponies? Some of them did go to the school of friendship after all. Will we ever see them or have them mentioned?

Yep~! But see, those who have attended Friendship Elementary/the School of Friendship (Nova Spark, Eventide Twister, Astral Dusk and Monochrome) ironically are also the characters who have problems with friendship. <xD So none of them have non-pony friends presently.

As for those who do! Evergreen Glade actually has a Kirin friend who is very important to him. You'll meet him in Evergreen's past arc!

Summer Rush is very personable and probably has made friends with both ponies and non-ponies. ;w; None of them have been planned past being minor background characters, though. Maybe they'll have brief mentions! We'll see!

Princess Lumina has made friends with tons of royals/chiefs from other species! Comes with visiting or receiving visits from representatives/leaders/heirs of the other kingdoms within or outside of Equestria!

And finally Terra Rosa....may or may not have a friend who's not 100% human. Without realizing it. _______________________________________________________

24. They all seem to be around the same age, but who's the oldest/youngest of the Destinyverse crew?/How old is everyone supposed to be in Destinyverse?

Keep in mind these are approximate ages, from oldest to youngest! Princess Lumina is the oldest at 27. Then comes (big bro) Skychaser at 26. Summer Rush, Astral Dusk, and Prince Amadeus are around 23. Monochrome (and maybe Evergreen Glade) is 22. Eventide Twister, Nova Spark, and Dream Flow are around 20. And finally, Venture Gale is the youngest at about 14! _______________________________________________________

25. Will we ever be seeing more of Lumina or Amadeus? Will they have a part in this story?

Certainly! The only reason we haven't seen much of them is because we haven't explored the right characters that are connected to them! c: Which would be Prince Nova Spark and Star Chime (again, a friend's character!)! _______________________________________________________

26. Does Venture Gale read his mom's books? How does he react to them if so? Excited, embarrassed, or something else?

Absolutely~! He's a HUGE fan of his own mom's books! He gets so engrossed reading them, getting to re-experience his adventures in such an awesome light. It's exciting seeing himself as a character! Though he does get embarrassed when his mom adds extra narrative commentary, such as writing that Valor Wind is a fast-thinker, intelligent mind, a brave and honest soul, etc. His embarrassment is also fed by people who are die-hard fans of his character (Not that anyone knows he's Valor Wind or that the stories are real. But anyway, he's also incredibly flattered~)). Surprisingly, unlike Rainbow Dash who gets a HUGE ego boost out of their fans, Ven is a rather humble kiddo. But that's to be expected from the boy who becomes a red-faced bean over the slightest compliment. _______________________________________________________

27. Without spoilers, which Destinyverse character would you say has the biggest regrets about their past? Either in a single event or a long time thing?

Astral Dusk. It never occured to me until I read this question, but regret is a leading theme in present-day Astral's character conflict. _______________________________________________________

28. Who is your least to most fav character to draw in Destinyverse? Why?

Favorite character to draw? Nova Spark I think! I love coloring his gradient hair. Much simpler than hair streaks, and it's very pretty <xDD From there, everyone else so far has been on pretty neutral ground.

Now when I say "least favorite", in this case I mean the char that gives me the hardest time. And that'd be Skychaser, only because of his dang hair. <xD Getting the right curls and shape is WEIRDLY hard, but hey that's the price to pay for luscious hair. _______________________________________________________

29. What's Nova and Monochrome's relationship like?

Hehe~ It's a healthy one, built on trust and a sense of understanding they don't really share with anyone else in their lives. They often find themselves on the same wavelength and constantly have one another's back. If I can choose one word that embodies their relationship, I would choose...loyalty.