#I use silly titles barely related to the story

[maaikeatthefullmoon]

Once upon a time, there was a Good Omens fanfiction reader, who swore they didn't like AUs.

They read all the discussions about the 'classics', the 'must reads' and shrugged.

"But it's not canon", they muttered to themself. "They're not human. How on Earth can anyone write these stories about them when they're not actually bloody human? It’s not right."

And then, dear reader, they were persuaded to read just one AU. They were still an angel and a demon, just in a slightly different universe. And then...then they tried a human AU. And then...then they were hooked. Obsessed, one might say.

That reader, dear reader, was me. Of course. Obviously. Well, duh. And I would like to share the obsession in the form of some recommendations.

I have the wonderful @shadesofecclescakes to thank for MANY of these absolute beauties, she is absolutely the QUEEN of recommendations (and medicinal gifs).

So, now, in no particular order, some Highly Recommended AUs:

Or Be Nice by charlottemadison Rated E - A is a bookseller, C is a drummer, they are BOTH petty bitches. They're newly neighbours. C has a CAT and I'm there for it, he also has migraines and I hard relate. It's bitchy and the pranks were DIVINE. It was also deliciously spicy. The loveliness is that the author really captured the flawed nature of humans but also how it can be overcome. Same author as What We Make of It (what was Shotgun Wedding - an absolute GO AU CLASSIC and one of the best things I've ever read)

Not a Mounted Dildo but a Fuck Machine by NaroMoreau & summerofspock Rated E - So very, very E. This one was just filthy. So wonderfully filthy. The authors would like to tell you there was no plot to their porn, but there really was. A meets a girl online, because A is straight. He really is. Honest. But then, oops, lockdown happens. But, it's a good thing, really. For his best homeboy C is there, to help this poor virgin 'learn the ropes' for when lockdown is over and he goes on his first date...with the girl he's so very much into...coz, no homo, yo...;)

The Whole Damned World Seemed Upside Down by WyvernQuill Rated M - An AU in the way that it's still angel/demon but after Crowley makes a wish for things to be 'different', the universe obliges...and he's dumped into a reality which is very, very different to what he knew. He learns some truths and there's a whole lot of drama. Beautifully written with a wonderful plot and great drama. Excellently described and would make for great TV. (Oh, and Death in the new reality is really squeamish - it's brilliant.)

Telling Tall Tales by Siobhans_World Rated E - A sweet pretend relationship fic, where A pretends to be Maggie's boyfriend to help her pass as straight for her family. But he then meets her cousin, C, who he then inevitably (ineffably?) falls for. Miscommunication, angst, fluff, gay panic, it's got everything.

Flawless by @mrghostrat & @chernozemm Rated E - I've decided only to include one fic by each author and boyyy was it hard for ghostrat! But Flawless was, well, flawless. For such a relatively short story, it kept us guessing until the end. The characters were all beautifully written - the flaws (ha.) were DEEP and CRACKED but so fucking perfectly sculpted and presented. It was incredibly real and believable. Extremely maturely written and satisfying. AND THE ART!!!

How To Pull An Angel: A Bunnings DIY Guide by NascentSurrender Rated M - When I first saw the title, I thought it was going to be a silly, irreverent, comedy romp. But it was actually a funny, well written story that will stick in my mind always. Firstly, C watches Bluey - which is now CANON for me. Secondly, having lived in Aus as a child, I've got a soft spot for the country anyway, and I've barely ever seen it come up, so this was lovely. There were some wonderfully humorous bits, but also tender and beautiful moments that I adored.

Montreal Confidential by Maggie_Honeybite Rated E - I learned about Montreal (and Canada & their baked goods), classical music and mafia stuff in this fic. A is a widower. C plays the cello. His cello's name is Bentley. This is one of the only age-gap, mild D/s fics I've actually gotten into. There's fluff AND drama. CW for non-con (not A/C)

Under the Summer Stars by @pannotbread Rated E - an amazing astrophysics/astroecology/astrobiology fic that has pining, slow burn and Only One Telescope (yes, really, and it's everything you'd imagine). It's got beautifully written (erotic) imagery and So Much Science that's been written accessibly but still with amazing detail. It's poetry. It's hot. It's gorgeous. CW for internalised homophobia and self hatred. *Not completed yet*

Oddity by @tsyvia48 Rated E - A museum fic! About David Bowie! A is in charge of collections, C is an actor hired by (highly incompetent) Gabriel to guest curate a new Bowie exhibit. Miscommunication ensues for delicious tension. There's bitchiness, there's a bit of light angst, there's a lotta love. *Not Completed Yet* Poetry Carved In Flesh by @fellandcrow Rated E - I'm obsessed by tattoos. Hence, I am obsessed by this story. I'm planning a(n enormous) GO tattoo once GO3 is out, and this fic has actually helped me with my ideas. London-based A stalks lovingly follows Edinburgh-based tattoo artist C online. They build up a rapport. Well, C likes A. A is SMITTEN with C. C encourages A to get tattoos. Which he does. C designs a tattoo especially for A, the fic has currently left off at the point where C is in London and going to tattoo A. *Not Completed Yet*

There Is A Light & It Never Goes Out by @phoen1xr0se Rated M - A escapes from a disappointing, chaotic life to a remote island for five months to do research on puffins. There he meets lighthouse keeper C. Who also ran away, 20 odd years ago. There is a chaotic, found family on the island, but it is small, and it is lovely. This fic is written with love and passion and the imagery is so beautiful. The author has actually gone to do Actual. Physical. Research. on puffins. So how is THAT for dedication? Cannot wait until it resumes. *Not Completed Yet*

Ok, because I am Bad At Tumblr, I've not tagged the majority of authors, if you are on here - please let me know if you're here and I'll edit!

I should probably add in the following, I suppose. I'm writing an AU.

Free by, well, me. Imposterssyndrome (yes I know it's Imposter Syndrome, but that one already existed) Rated E - A runs a bookshop, C has an unfortunate past as a runaway ex-addict. They meet in an acute mental health ward after both having had a mental health crisis. Eventually A invites C to move in, and they navigate sharing a space, and their lives together. The story starts heavy, and is an emotional roller coaster, but there are moments of fluff and smut mixed in. There is a happy ending, I promise. It's a passion project, heavily researched and has a LOT of lived experience in it. I've gotten to know some amazing people through it who have messaged me and shared their experiences and I'm so glad I wrote it. *Not Completed Yet*

Last thing to say - once I finish Free, I will be teaming up with @shadesofecclescakes to write another human AU which is VERY much in her wheelhouse and I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT. I just know you're all going to LOVE it. The only thing that will make it even better is ART, so we're still on the hunt for someone.

**Last-last thing to say. I’ve missed off a few Biggies. There are some super popular AUs, mostly written around 2019. Most people will have read them. I’ve tried to focus on the perhaps lesser-known & WIP ones. Although I know many people don’t read WIPs, hopefully you’ll (book)mark them for future!**

[hms-tardimpala]

Ficbinding: Saw collection

Warning: long post

As you may have noticed, I recently got into Saw, and the fanfic quality is phenomenal. The writers in this fandom are exceptional and unafraid to write the kind of freaky shit I love. In a month, I've read enough amazing fics to fill a small book, so I did!

As usual, the fics come first. There are nine, by four different authors (I found writers I love right off the bat in this fandom).

By @theflirtmeister:

Our land is sharp and glorious (3.5k, E) (special mention to this one for being the first Saw fic I ever read <3)

Tell me sweetheart (1.6k, M)

What suits your taste (3.3k, E)

By @degloved (Wolverton on AO3):

See me bare my teeth for you (1.9k, E)

The Issue series (3 fics, 7.5k, E)

Pig on speed dial by @gurokatt (2.9k, E)

Helping hand (1.9k, E) is by an anonymous author I salute, wherever they are.

These are all great fics I wanted to bind to make rereads easier and I recommend them all strongly (just mind the tags). A big thank you to the authors for replying positively when I reached out, I hope this is a good surprise!

Now let's talk shop.

This is my smallest book to date, and I have a good reason for that. As silly as it sounds, I wanted to make a book that could fit in a pocket of Amanda's cargo pants^^ I chose red for the cover and black for the headbands and bookmark to mimic the Jigsaw coat. This cloth is amazing: the pictures above show the book in real lighting (I took them at the window to catch what light was left today). It's a non-uniform blood-like dark red, which is perfect for Saw. It's also slightly reflective, as if it were slick, as you can see in this video under artificial lighting:

I went crazy with the cogs, I know.

I'm very happy with the fonts I chose: "s'AWsome" for the title, "impact label" for the fic titles (reversed for the author names), "underway" for the drop caps and "reem kufi" for the body of the text.

I decorated this book more! Every fic starts with an image of an object related to Saw (I used chains, blades, a puzzle piece, a bear trap, a scar, etc...). I also put the title of the fic and the author's name at the top of the pages. I wish I could have put something between these and the page numbers, but it would have been too small to look good. I used barbed wire for breaks in the stories because of course I did.

I'm especially proud of the "underway" drop caps, look!

They look like fingerprints!!! The oily residue and everything, you know!

What didn't work?

This time, most of what I did worked perfectly. Well, I did have to print, cut, fold, sew and glue this three times because I made mistakes when trimming the textblock. But in the end it's fine because I don't think the uneven edges are jarring when it comes to a Saw collection. There's a small spot of glue on the cover that I'll be the only one to notice. I could have strenghtened the back less for a book this size, it would have made it bendier.

One the whole, I love this book and the stories inside it and, as a craftsman, I'm very proud of myself.

Reminder: Feel free to ask me about materials, fonts and tools, it won't bother me at all to tell you what I used, but I'm too lazy rn to write it in this post that's long enough already.

[disasterbijamietartt]

I’ll need a few days to really process the last episode, so don’t expect any meta until the weekend.

But I wanted to write a post about why I believe in the writers and why I think that … this sounds so arrogant and delusional, but that my predictions here* are roughly what will happen and queer folks can stay hopeful.

(*tl;dr: Essentially that Colin will be the inspiration for main characters to address their queerness, Ted Lasso spent two seasons straightbaiting its entire audience and this season will end queer as fuck)

When I started watching Ted Lasso I thought it would be a fun, but silly little sports comedy, but very soon it got obvious how the show featured heavier themes and that they didn’t follow the expected script. Like, when Rebecca tells Ted the truth, you’d normally get some drama and rising conflict – but we got instant forgiveness.

And it got soon obvious we’d get a love triangle with Jamie, Keeley and Roy and – as someone who knows how the script goes – my first assumption was, that Roy x Keeley will be endgame (which was sad, since I adored Jamie x Keeley from the beginning, but I digress).

But some of the things that usually put me off love triangles were missing: there was no prolonged unnecessary drama after Roy learned that Keeley hooked up with Jamie the night before, Jamie and Roy didn’t fight over who would “get” Keeley (even though Roy’s jealousy sure was one reason for the tension between him and Jamie, but it wasn’t the only one), Jamie didn’t try to actively win Keeley back throughout the second season, he didn’t try to sabotage their relationship, even though he still loved her. The rocky parts in Roy’s and Keeley’s relationship weren’t related to Jamie at all, on the contrary, Jamie kind of unintentionally fixed their problems.

So, when they diverge so much from the expected, should I really still assume they’ll end the show with the thing everyone expects to happen? (like, in classic romance structure, Roy and Keeley now had their third act break-up, that always happens before the happily ever after … but as Phil said in an interview, they’re situation is a lot more complex than you’ll usually get.)

So, anyway, Ted Lasso was playing with expectations from the beginning. You’d expect Ted x Rebecca and Roy x Keeley endgame cause that is how the classic narrative works but the show subverted classic structure in the first season. So why should we assume that they just stick to the classic script now?

Also the theme song:

“Yeah, might be all that you get,

Yeah, I guess this might well be it“

I always thought, for an optimistic show like Ted Lasso this was a kinda sober beginning. But if you look at this with a queer eye … Cishet people are so used to seeing their happy endings playing out, so that is what they’ll expect to get. Until the last couple years, queer people barely got any stories with happy endings, so you didn’t exactly grow up with the expectation you’ll get a happy ending.

So you just had to take what you got.

But on the other hand the song has this hopeful bit about trying and not giving up. And … okay, I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but, idk, it just feels like it would fit as the theme song for an ultimately hella queer show?

And there are a lot of allusions to “The Wizard of Oz”, starting with the title of the first episode, Ted being the “Man from Kansas” aka Dorothy – googling I found this post pointing out a lot parallels in the second season, so it is not just me being delusional again.

For context: The movie was released 1939. Between 1934 and 1968 due to the Hays Code people couldn’t be shown as being explicitly queer in movies in the US, so writers started to queercode characters to still indicate queerness. And there is of course queercoding in “The Wizard of Oz” just like Ted Lasso and the movie as a whole resonated a lot with queer audiences, making Judy Garland a Gay Icon (see here). 

Both the movie and L. Frank Baumans novels have a lot of queer subtext (like, there is even kind of a trans character in the novels?). "Friend of Dorothy” was a way gay men referred to each other at a time, where they couldn’t just openly ask about someone’s orientation.

Fun Fact: The movies title song “Over the Rainbow” soon became a queer anthem and people wondered whether it inspired the rainbow flag. But the creator, Gilbert Baker, said he was inspired by,

wait for it,

“She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones (see here).

Rings a bell?

The episode “Rainbow”?

Roy returning as a coach to Richmond?

Also: Jamie comparing the team to the Rolling Stones? Himself to Mick Jagger and Roy to Keith Richards, who both wrote the song?

And, looking at episode titles some more: The color "Lavender" is so queer it has it's own LGTBQ-section on Wikipedia. Also the bisexual pride flag, where the colours overlap to form lavender? There was probably some other reason I forgot that the episode where Jamie returned was called like the queerest color ever, but still …

WHAT A BUNCH OF CURIOUS COINCIDENCES!

Oh God, the more I look, the queerer everything gets! I think I could go on some more, but I need to get breakfast and then some work done.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I truly think mxtx’s intention was to set up a romance where wangxian’s appeal was one being a righteous cultivator and the other being one that fell from grace and how society and perception

both their own perception of each other/themselves and how others view them

was the thing keeping them apart and how they were going to overcome both these things

very pride and prejudice

and that IS what happened

but I think what she ended up with was something more romeo and Juliet - where the story is toted as a romance but underneath that it’s a tragedy, and the ending of mdzs is just too tragic bc the only ones who are arguably happy at the end are wangxian when the cast is so FULL

and full of people who only got unhappy endings or death

that last ramble got me thinking maybe we, the readers, have been looking at mdzs the wrong way. maybe mdzs is meant to be a tragedy and it just got popular as a romance. but I think I read or heard somewhere once that that’s the appeal of Chinese romances - a tragic ending with the implication that the lovers will be happy together in the next life

I hope it's okay that I combined the two Asks since they're so closely related! (Also--and this goes to everyone--if you're messaging me not on anon and prefer an answer privately rather than on the blog, lmk!)

This is interesting to consider, because my own issue is the opposite, I think: it's not that there are too many tragic elements in the happy romance, but that there's too much silly goofy trope stuff in the tragedy! I love tragedy. All my favorite works are tragedies! My all-time favorite TV show is S1 of The Terror, which tells us in the title card that every guy on the expedition is going to die miserably. I don't want everyone to die miserably in every work of fiction, obviously, but it's tragedy and/or hard-fought happiness that sticks with me.

So with the novel... yeah, all this tragedy happens, but it feels to me that it's pushed aside whenever it's in danger of harshing Wangxian's squee. I've already talked a bunch about Novelxian's past not seeming to impact him overmuch, in which case: why do it? Why do any of the plot itself, really, since nothing involving NMJ's murder has anything to do with Wangxian beyond NHS's prodding of MXY? Why have this elaborate tragedy of conflicting loyalties and betrayal and emotional devastation if we're just going to go "huh! well, that wraps that up!" and not engage with the fallout?

R&J's a good comparison, not because R&J isn't a tragedy (it for sure is!), but because R&J also has a lot of stuff going on and people like to argue about whether it's REALLY a romance or not. And like... it is. Of course it is. Romeo and Juliet's relationship is the relationship the text prioritizes. We aren't really meant to question the two of them prioritizing each other above all else. There are other themes going on there--to me personally, the play is a tragedy of adults failing children, because none of this would have happened if literally ANY adult had responsibly supported these kids--but the play is a tragic romance first and foremost.

But unlike MDZS, R&J doesn't skip on past the damage to other characters. Mercutio's death singlehandedly switches the play's genre from comedy to tragedy. Juliet continually struggles with the fact that Romeo killed Tybalt, even though Tybalt started it and he and Juliet don't have a relationship in the text. The play even spares some moments of reflection for Paris, even though literally nobody cares about Paris. Contrast all that with WQ and JYL barely being mentioned after their deaths, or LXC's seclusion being a nonissue. MDZS feels more like one of those weird problem plays, where a ~happy ending~ happens after so much messed-up shit that you're left going ????

MORE EMPHASIS ON THE TRAGEDY SO THE HAPPINESS FEELS BETTER, BASICALLY

[exoticalmonde]

So me and my bestest friend @notanegrill began playing a game about making stories. It's called Storybook, and as the title suggests we're coming together to create the most legendary story of them all.

V: *Opens first page*

Me, normal voice: "At the end of this book lies a crown-"

V: "NO! STORYTELLER VOICE!"

Me, using that one voice from the Theatre scene in 'We Were Here': "It is bestowed only to the finest storytellers of the realm."

V: "Hehe, way better."

Spoilers Ahead:

So we start the world as any world begins, with a tale as old as time - Adam and Eve. Which is... Me! Me and V because I will pick his ribs clean if he doesn't 100% the achievements (he enjoys it, ok)

And we were both excited for 0.7 seconds before V hits me with the important questions of:

V: "Who is Adam, Eve?"

Me: "It's you, silly goose!"

V: "Oh, okay." c:

And like with every story that has Eve in it:

:)

It's adorable to see Bernard getting some love though!

This game just flies by so fast when it's the two of us thinking, taking turns on what gets to be where so we push the other forward where our own ideas fail us. Playing games like this with a buddy truly beats playing it alone.

It's tagged LGBTQ+ because you can put two guys or two girls in love in some of the frames and it's adorable. They interact well.

Me: "Oh look! It's the tiers of regret whenever I decide to open up."

Can't believe this whole story is about how Edgar dies and forgets he's dead while being dead so he ends up shocked that he's dead when he sees himself in the mirror.

It's such a good plot for a fanfic not gonna lie... It's Genshin related and not meant to be here, but /I/ am the one who is writing this 'review' and I am the rat that makes all of the rules.

V: "These... Two pixels, why are they so hot...?"

Me: ".... Yeah."

V: "I know you want her dress."

Me: "Oh I want to BE her."

Us two: *GASP*

V: "Are you ready?"

Me: "VAMPIRE TIME."

V: *Accidentally does this because he randomly drops characters on the map after figuring out what to do.*

V: "My brain (is so big)... I'm singing up in Harvard."

V: *Struggles with the simpler map later*

Me: "I think we have to sign you off Harvard now."

AND THE ENDING IS SOOO CUTE IT'S SO SUBTLE I BARELY NOTICED BUT IT MADE US SO HAPPY TO GET TO THE ENDING.

Like giving two kids a paper crown and calling them 'champ'.

Someone in STEAM was asking how to solve the Maid and the Knight story and someone commented under it with 'God bless you'. Seriously, we managed on our own and it's all because it was 50/51 and we HAD to finish it to get to the ending.

During our reviews:

Me: "I think the graphics are beautiful. For a game that has a simple idea of making stories via characters and places being put together, everything is very well animated, interactive and apparently, given the achievements, it also has MULTIPLE options to work with."

V: "I agree. Also, there is an update in September."

Me: "Overall, it's a game I'd get if it's on sale. It's 20$ and in comparison to a visual novel with 40K words, a couple scenes, art etc. If that was 20$... I'd still think twice, but the point is - for what it is and it's original, a game I have never seen before, I think it's pretty good. It also doesn't have any background music, it could probably set the mood for some chapters. But the sound was totally good. No sounds overlap no matter how quickly you click around so it doesn't create a caccophony."

V: "Yeah, the music, or the lack of thereof is still fixable."

Me: "Well, there's the update. Might as well wait and see."

V: "Overall ranting?"

Me: "Hmmm..."

V: "On the count of three?"

Me: "Ok."

V: "Ugh I'm stuck between two... Ok, one... Two... Three!"

Me and him at the same time: "Seven."

V: "Why am I not surprised."

And that's it! It was truly a wonderful experience. Big thank you to developpers and the entire team that came up with the game. Can't wait to see what the updates may be and thank you, V, for sponsoring our gameplay.

Hope we get to play much more in the future.

[lolacouldnotcareless]

Salut! Ça va?

all your wip titles are super intriguing but I would really love to hear more about any of these ones (you decide!):

the dead should stay dead

mystérieuse disparition

i don't like dreaming

OurHandsMeet

If I Never Call You Home Again

hello dsjbfhsje ça va et toi? :3 <3

sorry for the slight delay in reply dhfhdsj but here we go you shall hear about them all sbfhshdbfjsh

i talked about the dead should stay dead in this ask, but here's another heartbreaking tidbit for you: the younger brother was never alone. his eldest brother might have been dead, but he never was alone. he just couldn't see it. and for everyone else, unaware of his deal, they lost not one, but two dear friends.

mystérieuse disparition is about, you guessed it, a mysterious disappearance jdbhfhjdfb more seriously, the disappearance itself isn't mysterious, but it is treated as such. it's a kind of short story in relation to ursula k le guin's "the ones who walk away from omelas," where in order to have a thriving city full of joy, a child must suffer greatly. everyone knows about that child, and they accept that their joy comes at the price of a child's misfortune. those who cannot accept it walk away from the city and never come back. no one knows what lies further away from omelas, no one knows if those who walked away are even alive. and this is the starting point for my short story: a sister whose sister walked away from omelas is trying her hardest to still live there. her sister's disappearance isn't a mystery: she couldn't bare the price of her constant happiness. but, even if they don't think it, other people tend to say "i don't know why she would disappear like that." and so the sister who stays is left dealing with her own hurt. now the pain has become personal for her

i don't like dreaming is. loosely based on some of my own dreams and some of one of my sisters'. but they are more like. nightmares lmao. it's about grief and fear of someone else's death.

I tell my sister, who is scared when she sees us in her dreams, that I do not always dream of death, or them dying. This is only a half-truth. They do die. But they come back.

OurHandsMeet oh my god listen sit down this risks to take some time. so this is the story of a silly lil baker from the first half of the middle ages who got cursed and has to live trapped in time as he has to discover what was the origin of that curse and how to break it. the silly lil baker, guillemme, becomes a long-suffering lil guy who just wants to die at this point. he has seen to much, more than a thousand years of human history and same mistakes being repeated. throughout time, he helps other cursed people, and among them, another guy whose memory got wiped a few times. that guy picks the name of ambroise. for a hundredish years, they each go in their own lil adventures but meet every 10 years or so, and one day, ambroise doesn't come back to their meeting point. another few dozens of years or so later, guillemme, who still comes every 10 years to the meeting point, discovers ambroise who once more doesn't remember anything and only found this place thanks to some hidden notes he must have written before, which told him to not trust his father, to flee immediately, and to find guillemme as soon as possible. as you can imagine there are also a lot of complicated feelings involved <3 there's also another project with guillemme's sister, yseult, who isn't technically cursed, but it's a benediction which turned out badly, as she and her partner have made the vow to find each other in every lifetime, and they fail so many times she doesn't even want to try anymore. i swear it's a happy ending i swear-

If I Never Call You Home Again is a companion piece to another cql fanfic that i had finished writing but haven't published, and i wrote it so many years ago that i both want to rewrite some passage but i feel like it would also be a travesty to do so? so IINCYHA is from the pov of lan sizhui going on a lil trip with wen ning to discover what is left from their heritage. lan sizhui's part deals with guilt, guilt of being a survivor of some kind, guilt of not having any memories, guilt of forgetting (even if he was barely old enough to form memories and it was all very traumatic). he's conflicted in his identity, as a wen and as a lan. is he a wen, as per his birth, or a lan, as per his upbringing? what if he could councile both?

[tygerbug]

Out of pure curiosity, what's the origin of the title "tygerbug"? For some reason it makes me think of "snug-as-a-bug" but I'm sure there's a more interesting story involved.

"Tygerbug" is one of the names I've used online since the late 90s on AOL, when I was a teenager (born 1981). Sometime between 1996 and 1999. You'll pardon the outdated references for that reason.

I first got online properly and was making webpages around 1997. For no special reason, I chose the name "Ambush Bug," a D-list DC comics character who I had a "Secret Origins" issue of in my comic collection.

"Tyger" is from the William Blake poem (1794).

"When the stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"

"Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"

I vaguely recall that some years later I visited a museum and viewed William Blake's illuminated manuscripts from the Songs of Innocence and Experience. I don't know where or when. Possibly The Met in New York around 2010.

I set up two webpages then, in 1997 on AOL. One was a small fanpage for Monty Python, which became PythoNET, and was the #1 Monty Python fansite for awhile. It reflected my interest in obscure media, as it was largely a catalogue of rare Python-related projects I'd managed to track down via bootleg VHS.

I now run a Facebook Group called "Knights of the Lost Media (Obscure TV and Film)," and restore film and video.

The other website I set up was dedicated to "Dr. Fred's Amazing Exploding Cow Show," a no-budget sketch comedy series I was making at the time, inspired by Monty Python. I was 15 or 16, and this was very nearly my first attempt to make a movie.

I'd bought a cheap rubber tiger mask, the sort that only cover the face. I'd paired it with a helmet to cover my hair, and waddled on my knees doing a vague impression of Tony the Tiger, to introduce the next sketch. I would keep doing cameos as this character, who was barely a character and more of a visual gag.

We made seven comedy features on home video at the time, with my friends in Connecticut. They were shot on 8mm or Hi8 video, without digital editing. Three were Dr. Fred movies and the others might as well have been. I was between 15 and 19 years old.

I was trying to learn how to make movies, and being very silly about it. I kept the Tiger around as my logo for awhile when making movies in the early 2000s.

I left Connecticut for film school in Los Angeles in 1999, a decision I immediately regretted.

I've kept the name all these years.

Another name I've used online is "OCPmovie," which stands for "Orange Cow Productions" movies.

When I was about twelve I was given an orange Nickelodeon cow pin, and as a joke I would use it to control my friend David. "The orange cow commands you," that sort of thing.

I continued to control my friend David for awhile, when we made the "Dr. Fred" comedy movies together.

In my early teens, I wrote a little book of philosophical poems from the point of view of a cow. Living in harmony with nature, and being happy with what you have. That sort of thing. It was called "The Tao of Cow" and I revised and republished it when I was in my early twenties.

I used the name "Orange Cow Productions" for my early attempts at movies and other creative endeavors, because it felt more spiritual or philosophical than just saying "Garrett Gilchrist Productions," because it was a reference to a particular philosophy I'd had when I was younger. I kept the "cow in a robe" around as my logo for ages.

My website is still at orangecow. org.

These are not the names I would choose now, if I were starting again, but I've never felt any particular need to change them either. At least it reminds me of how it all started.

[theoldaeroplane]

jouwnaling

had a really, really nice day yesterday, was just in a lovely mood all day. I think it may have been related to the fact I did not get high the night before, so I'm going to try to test that theory and dial my usage down. I really enjoy weed and think it has a lot of benefits, especially for neurodivergent folk, but I'm recognizing that I used it as a way to cope with my situations last year. I'd like to wean myself off it a bit and be more present now that my life is starting to not suck. Still gonna keep it around for fun and really bad ruminating though. Weed makes it so much easier for me to hang out with people in person for a long time, and to go into overstimulating spaces.

Been having tons of fun rotating my version of Link in my brain for Antebellum (the WIP name of my LoZ fic). He has so many problems. He is a dumb motherfucker. I'm also consciously putting a lot of things I've been struggling with into this story, both to process them for myself and to give the fic, you know, that extra layer of authenticity, relatability? It's nice, I'm excited to be excited again. I'm gonna fuck up that elf boy so bad.

Had my second yoga class last night, it was nice. I'm not sure if I can afford to keep going but I'm going to try to. In a way it feels silly to pay for something I could technically do for free at home with a YouTube video, but I think the atmosphere makes a significant enough difference to be worth paying for.

Finally made a vet appointment for the dog. She needs her shots and I can't put off the fact she needs dental surgery any longer.

I really, really need to reopen commissions, but I still feel burned out on art. I'm trying to make some adoptables and YCHs as a middle ground. Haven't had a lot of success there yet. That said, I've been putting a lot of my energy into cleaning up my house and taking care of myself. The house is coming along really well, and hopefully soon I'll have it leveled out enough to make it a nicer space for my creative endeavors.

I applied for another job this week, one totally out of my field and experience: house cleaning. It's not something I'd ever considered, but I found the listing by chance and it occurred to me that a job where I just clean and listen to podcasts sounds like heaven. Especially for my autistic ass. No constant stream of customers. No dress shirts. No repeatedly explaining terms and price sheets. Just show up and clean. I'm sure such a job has its own frustrations (hard on the body, exceptionally gross houses, telling people when something is not in my job description, driving a lot), but, like. My current job---while I genuinely like a lot of the work, and I really love my boss and coworkers---the customer service aspect is killing me, the dress code brings back bad memories, and even though I'm working full time (over full time, even, I'm there 8:30-5 because I take a thirty minute lunch break) I'm not making enough to fully support myself. I keep getting sent home early because there's nothing for me to do, and my boss is only a regional manager and has been very forthcoming with the fact I am already at the absolute highest end of the payscale for my position without taking on more responsibilities.

The fact that I can be working full time and still have to rely on a side hustle, and even THEN can't put anything aside for savings, is awful. I can't do more hours, I can't take on more responsibilities, and I can't get a second job. Any of those things would seriously compromise my mental health and I have to take care of myself. I've always dreaded it when I'm asked to take on more responsibilities at my jobs. I don't want advancement, I don't want to manage anyone (I can barely manage myself!), I don't give a shit what my title is. I want to do my work really well, get paid, and go home.

And the cleaning job, at the absolute lowest end, still pays about 5k more per year than my current position.

So, currently, yeah, housecleaning sounds like a dream job. Show up. Clean. Leave. Repeat. The company in question also has glowing employee reviews on Glassdoor, with the worst things being "could pay better" and "sometimes there's favoritism." I don't have any qualms about """being a maid""" on like a social level or whatever. I like the idea that I would be making a tangible difference for individuals, instead of printing out hundreds of advertising mailers that are going to go directly into the trash. I finding cleaning very satisfying. I like the idea of not sitting around bored because there's no customers and nothing to do and I'm not allowed to have my phone out, and then getting sent home early so I miss out on half my pay for that day. And so much less masking! My god! It sounds like paradise!

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but sometimes that's because it really is better grass.

So. Hoping to hear back about that soon. I filled out a questionnaire thing for them yesterday that seemed like it was basically checking to see if I was a narcissistic sociopath or not. I have a weekend without any Special Events happening for the first time in like a month, just my tabletop games and my volunteer work. My clothes and bedding are all washed, I got most of the dog piss smell out of the carpet from when I was too exhausted to take her out often enough, and I cut my hair. I have a writing project again. I've been making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. I adore going out to the barn every saturday. My therapist says I'm doing really, really well. Everything's coming up Corgi, for now. Fingers crossed :)

[teabiscs]

Yubo Fic Idea

So I should have planned this out for my other story because it would have been way more interesting. But I’m going for softness and fluff. So probably good this didn’t get thought of back in September last year. Because Yuriy in my fic didn't need this on top of everything

But here it is. It’s a slow burn, if that's not obvious by how RIDICULOUSLY long this whole thought is. Because I do not know how to be casual. Also if something like this exists EVEN in the slightest, help me OUT.

Boris and Yuriy are both in love with one another. Everyone with eyes can see Boris is in love with Yuriy. Head over heels. Heart eyes. Would kill for the redhead. 

Those who know Yuriy well enough (Borg and Kai) know that he loves Boris. Maybe he can’t articulate it. Maybe it makes him feel funny admitting it. Maybe he thinks it’s embarrassing broadcasting his feelings. 

It’s 100% mutual. Right? Perfect. 

Butt not in this plot. Yuriy is fine with what they have. Doesn’t want to throw off the status quo they have of being Friends+ (the plus being: kissing, cuddling, sleeping together. Not orgasms tho bc they never got that far). Yuriy is comfortable. He has Boris. He has his family and everyone is happy!

Except for Boris. Who craves more. He wants that silly little title of /boyfriend/. Wants to hold the redhead’s hand in public. To hold him. To express more of his love out of behind the closed doors of Yuriy’s bedroom. Boris is so patient and understanding that Yuriy needs time. But at this point it’s been five years of this cat and mouse game and they’re in their mid twenties. And Boris is human. He is greedy. He wants things. 

And things unravel from here. It always starts a fight when Boris brings up anything related to wanting more. Consolidating space, PDA, boyfriends. And Boris is tired at this point. It’s been five fucking years of waiting. This gets heated. Yelling and screaming. Snarling. And if they both didn’t have extensive therapy, hands would have been thrown. 

And it ends with Boris giving Yuriy an ultimatum, they either progress to a new level in their relationship or what they have is done. They’ll still be friends. But for Boris’ sake he’s stepping back. 

And Yuiry chooses the latter. What he doesn’t realize is how serious Boris was. 

He moves out the next week, half out of spite, half because he thinks it will make him feel better. Sergei and Ivan know, but Boris doesn’t tell Yuriy. So yuriy comes home one day to a silent house with shifty eyes when they all sit down for dinner. No one says anything about Boris’ seat being empty or the lack of a place setting. So yuriy just thinks he’s out for the night, and since they’re on bad terms just wasn’t told. But that night he gets a better look around the house and notices some of Boris’ things missing but he tries to ignore it. Then the next morning Boris still isn’t there. Yuriy looks around at the other guys at the table eating breakfast. A plate is still missing from Boris’ spot. 

“Boris didn’t come home last night?” He asks

The two share a look. And Sergei goes “oh fuck, did he not tell him.” He looks to Ivan. 

“Trust that asshole to let us break the news.”

The news? Yuriy’s eyebrows almost reach his hairline. 

“Boris moved out yesterday.”

And Yuriy is too calm as he goes Oh, and finishes eating his food. 

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

And yuriy has a breakdown. He calls off of work and tears apart his room. He barely realizes why. Boris warned him. Boris gave him a choice. This is what he wanted. This is what he picked. 

-

And then it gets worse. 

Just a lot of sad boys. And then Boris enjoying life. And sad Yuriy who just reached a breaking point and doesn't care anymore. He lets himself cry. Lets himself feel things, because if he doesnt its going to explode out of him. He feels better after a cry. Yuriy doesnt understand how his heart can hurt like this. He wishes he could just claw it out of his chest. It hurts so fucking bad.

-

Boris finds an apartment astonishingly quick. He gets himself situated and tells Sergei and Ivan he’s leaving. it hurts saying goodbye. But he needs this. Needs the space. Needs to get far away from Yuriy and figure out his wants and his needs and find someone who will give them to him. Not someone who’s willing to stay stagnant forever. 

And that whole post moving out Boris, is him just using alcohol and sex to cope. He’s a virgin prior to this, but lordy, does alcohol calm his nerves. Havnet figured out how Boris and Kai end up being friendly enough prior to this, or if they become friends because of this. Boris moves out because he knows its going to hurt Yuriy, he wants it to. He isnt sure if its comparable to how he’s been feeling, but he hopes it is, and hopes its worse (yuriy would tell you its worse)

It pains him to have to hit up Hiwatari, but it means getting into clubs easier and knowing someone there. It’s fun to let loose and dance with pretty girls and Fit Guys. His hands on slim hips, and strong arms on his hips grinding against him. He feels wanted. It's refreshing. 

Hiwatari isn’t that bad either, Boris realizes. He pays for their table and the drinks, and always helps him home when he’s had too much to drink. Tell him who to avoid and who’s clean, whos a good fuck and who is awful in bed. Who will try and trap him with a kid. All good friend things. 

Boris ends up dancing with him one night, and between the lights, music and alcohol haze forgets who’s grinding their ass on his cock and considers taking him home that night. (He quickly remembers it’s Kai fucking Hiwatari, his has his hands on and discards that idea. 

Boris enjoys this month of bliss, forgetting Yuriy and living a life that’s normal for a 25 year old. He barely thinks of the redhead, except when he’s sober, and for that month he’s rarely sober except when he’s busy at work. 

He sees Sergei and Ivan when he knows Yuriy is busy, (who scold him for not even saying goodbye to Yuriy or telling him he was moving out and how fucked up it was having them tell him.). He tried to ignore how they tell him that Yuriy is struggling since he’s been gone. He’s not sleeping or eating. And not taking care of himself. 

And Boris pushes down the feelings that rise up his stomach to the back of his throat. And make him feel sick. Tried to ignore that what he’s doing is hurting Yuriy, the one he claimed he loved and wanted more with. 

He puts up a tough front in front of the others, he’s not sure how convincing it is. Sergei seems to buy it. Ivan not so much, when he says “well this is what Ivanov wanted. He didn’t want me so I left”

“You didn’t have to leave though. You could have stayed” Sergei says

“Do you have any idea how much it hurt me being in the house with him? I’m finally doing better. It’s not my problem that he’s suffering the consequences of his actions. You can’t ask me to hurt myself so he stops.” And he excuses himself. 

He dials up Hiwatari and tells him he needs to go out tonight and doesn’t want to be stopped unless they’re taking him away in an ambulance for alcohol poisoning. 

“It can be arranged. That bad huh? You see him again?”

“Bad yes. Saw Sergei and Ivan.”

“Be ready in an hour. I’ll pick you up.”

That night they both take someone home to Kai’s house, if you wanna call it that. Boris wakes up the next morning as the girl is pulling on her fishnets and boots. He finally gets a good look at her. Shes a tiny alt/emo girl with brightly dyed hair and more piercings than him. She flashes him a smile and thanks him for the good time, and that she hopes to see him at the club again. 

-

And they meet up several more times and start dating. Boris warning her that this is his first relationship and he’s trying and if he does something wrong it’s not on purpose it’s just all new. And she reassured him that he’s doing a great job and kisses him. She holds his hand. She cuddles with him. She’s soft with him and affectionate in ways he never knew he wanted. 

And it’s nice. It feels like something more than friends. Feels like what he’s always wanted. It’s so easy to fall into a groove of seeing her after he gets off from work. To spending nights at each other’s apartments. She insists it’s too soon to move in together. And he’s okay with that since they still sleep together almost every night. They go out clubbing together, dancing exclusively with one another. It’s lewd and he loves how he can openly express his feelings for her.

-

Until one day, there’s a soft knock on his apartment door. The girlfriend answers, and Boris can barely hear the exchange, until she comes skipping back into the living room that there’s somewhere at the door for him. And that itsa guy with redhair looking for him.

Yuriy looks meek and shy, shuffling in his doorway. He can barely make eye contact with Boris. He looks awful, too skinny, and tired, dark bags under his eyes. 

“Hey. You look good.” Yuriy comments, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“You look awful.” Boris replies. “Are you eating right? Sleeping?”

“I’m fine.” Yuriy insists, through a tight forced smile. 

And they talk and its so awkward and forced. The girlfriend comes bouncing back over kisses Boris on the cheek, saying she’ll be back after work, offering Yuriy a smile and saying its nice to meet him.

Yuriy’s face falls and he answers back, “I- ugh didn’t realize that you- I shouldn't have come. I'm sorry. I'm going to go.”

“You came here to talk though-”

“It was a mistake. I should have called first.”

Boris is left confused. Yuriy didn't want this, so he found a relationship elsewhere. How could he be upset? Yuriy goes home and rips apart his room again, punching a hole in his wall in the process. If he had known he wouldn't have gone. He didn't think Boris would have moved on.

-

Yuriy ends up phoning Kai. He’s not sure why. “You offered to hook up before, that offer still available?”

“Sure. I said I'd wine and dine you too, so get dressed up and we’ll get dinner first.” He hangs up before Yuriy can protest. 

Yuriy does not end up getting laid that night. Kai confronts him after dinner, “Sleeping with me would just be a fucked up form of self harm to you at this point. I'm assuming you heard that Boris is seeing someone and that’s why you wanted to meet up.”

“Why agree to take me out to dinner if you werent going to fuck me.” Kai shrugs, “Sergei said you haven’t been eating. Figured I’d at least trick you into getting some food into you. You look like shit.”

Yuriy glares at him, “So i’ve been told already today.”

“I was only half serious when I offered to hook up with you back then. I said it more to piss off Kuznetsov. IF you weren’t doing this as some kind of fucked up punishment, I would take you home.”

Yuriy/’s eyes narrow and he sips at his cocktail, “At least let me get drunk and forget my problems.”

“Gladly.”

Yuriy isn't sure when Kai turned into this caring individual who took care of people, but he finds himself that next morning tucked into his bed, not remembering much of what happened after or even getting home.

-

Months go by, with Yuriy barely taking care of himself. He misses Boris.Misses everything he took for granted.

Yuriy going to Boris and being like I know things are different now, but is there a chance for us to hang out again. So they do a Borg movie night. And Yuriy tries to ignore how Boris sits in a different spot. Swallows down burning feeling in his throat. Boris would always be embarrassingly close when they would watch movies together. Thigh pressed up against Yuriy’s and his arm wrapped around Yuriy’s neck, fingers brushing against his bicep.

Now Boris is five feet away on a different piece of furniture. At least at dinner he sits at his old seat next to Yuriy, and he can relax just a little, feeling comfortable enough to eat. 

Then Sergei is offering coffee and dessert and Boris passes up on the dessert, saying he’s trying to watch his weight and that his girlfriend is such a good cook and a stress baker, and that he’s put on ten pounds since they got together. Offhandedly saying its hard to want to go to the gym in the morning when shes next to him.

And Yuriy excuses himself from the table. He's going to be sick. He locks himself in the bathroom. He can't breathe and he honestly feels like the food he just ate is going to find its way outside of him.

He shoots Sergei a text that he cant do this. He cant he cant he cant. 

Yuriy composes himself the best he can and goes back into the kitchen. Excusing himself that he feels sick. That he ate too much.  He feels his face flush when Ivan even mentions it's nice to see him eat like a normal person for once, but not if he’s getting sick from it.

Yuriy hides himself in his room, and cries. Everything inside of him hurts and it radiates outside of him. He cant hold this inside of him anymore. Crying into his pillow.

His head telling him, he only has himself to blame. He didnt want Boris as a partner, so Boris found one. He did this to himself. If only he stepped up and faced his fears.

-

More time goes by. And more movie nights and game nights, and Boris starts bringing the girlfriend over, and Yuriy wants to hate her, but she is so nice to him, and he feels awful being cold towards her. (Hates seeing her make Boris laugh and happy, but he fights that feeling back). Seeing Boris still hurts, but it gets easier. 

A scene somewhere, where Yuriy is telling Boris, he didn't want things to change, because he didn't want to lose Boris, but it still happened. This wasnt how things were supposed to be. This was supposed to save them. They would always be close, always have each other. He was scared to lose him, and it happened anyway. And he starts crying, he doesn't even feel embarrassed anymore crying, even crying in front of someone.

-

And this is like the turning point, where things start to change and aren’t so sad.

-

Boris and his girlfriend will be cuddling after sex, and of all times to say something, she’s like, “Boris, be honest with me. You love him.”

??

Yuriy, you love him.

Boris is still confused, Yes, I love him and Sergei and Ivan.

Borya. You love him.

I love you, *insert whatever her name will be*

Yes, but not in the way you love him. You love me because of how I am. What I give to you. He couldn't do what I do. 

“He didn’t want this. Want me.” Boris replies.

“I love you Boris, and I know you love me, just not in the way I want you to. You’re the best boyfriend I’ve had, and honestly some of the best sex I’ve had. I care about you so much that I think, though, that we should end this. Go be with Yuriy-

No. He doesn't want me.

I Think that’s changed.

They go back and forth, until she’s like, We don't have to break up. I don't plan on leaving if we do. I just want you to be happy. Boris promises that he will at least talk to Yuriy, and she kisses him on the head, and gets in the shower. 

-

Boris arranges a meeting with Yuriy, who is starting to look human again. THe bags under his eyes are less dark, and his cheekbones aren't threatening to cut through his skin. He seems nervous, his eyes shifting around, like he’s expecting something, and then it dawns on him.

“She’s not here Yura, it’s just us.” Yuriy seems to calm down if only for a minute before the nickname has him looking funny again. Boris hesitates before reaching across the table and grabs for Yuriy’s hand. He’s half expecting Yuriy to retract his hand or pull back

“Can we talk? We haven’t talked in a long time.”

Yuriy nods slowly, looking down at Boris’ hand. 

Boris says that his girlfriend broke up with him, which is the simplest way of putting it, because of Yuriy. That Boris is still in love with Yuriy. He loved the girlfriend, but loved that she did everything he wished Yuriy would have done. That he still wants to be with Yuriy.

Yuriy is too stunned to speak initially and then he’s like, but you two were so happy. 

She called it off, because she knew i was in love with you, and that you were in love with me. She said she couldnt sit back and let that happen. 

-

And then the lord said let there be fluff. They date! Yuriy feels awkward and embarrassed doing PDA. And he’s anxious and nervous that he’ll do something wrong, but Boris is always beaming when Yuriy holds his hand in public, and how proud he is that Yuriy is trying so hard to give him what he wants.

(also the ex-gf does corner him, and is like im happy you two are figuring things out, but if you fuck this up, I’m not going to give him up a second time. And yuriy’s like i don’t plan it.)

—--

[scribe-miri]

Fatal Frame 5 Review

Great for beginners: This entry in the series is a weird one for me. I don't know how to feel about it. I could begin by saying it might be a good entry for someone that is new to Fatal frame series. Yes I think that's a good start actually. The game is very generous with items even between the chapters you're able to buy a lot of healing items and film. Heck it does change the formula I'm used to though. I think many people who already played the other titles will feel that. Just recently I played a bit of the fourth entry - Mask of Lunar Eclipse. And I already have to be cautious with the film I own and the heal items I have on me. Its also pretty expensive to just buy one herbal medicine. In this title however you can easily buy in bulk. So yeah the game is good for those who are just starting our in the series.

Gameplay: I think the best thing I liked about it was the glance mechanic. Something just really fun about exercising ghosts so that I have the chance to run up to them before they disappear so that I can see into their past and see how they died. It's got a really nice noise film grain to it which makes it a lot more charming to me and its shot all in black and white.

One of my grips with the gameplay though is the entry's arcade-like element in which the ghosts just show up everywhere in numerous succession. It honestly feels like I'm playing a weird FPS shooter at times with the amount of ghosts I have to exercise and the generous amount of film I'm given. There's no real stakes here. In the first game I remember the scarcity of good film. And in case you're not sure what I'm talking about there's like a bunch of film types. There's the one you have infinite ammo with but its dreadful to use. Doesn't really do enough damage to ghosts and that would be a problem in like Mask of Lunar Eclipse where your health matters because you barely have any medicine on hand to heal. So the scarcity of having good film like the gold film that does a bunch of damage and reloads quickly is good to have on you. But the implication is that it was really hard to get and I would have to save it for the right moment. This does away with it. This is also helped by having the ability to prepare your supply of film, healing and other useful items before each chapter/episode. I also want to say the arcade-like choice made the story beats feel less important here. Well at least it did for me. I just wasn't as invested.

The story is just not as good as the other entries in the series either. I felt really silly when I was rescuing the same person from the mountain for like the third time. And when it's not that character that needs rescuing its you playing another character rescuing said character. It's kind of really funny to me. They don't really talk or argue with each other. None of them are actively discussing the problem of the Mountain together either. The only real investigation is done by this guy called Ren but you don't really play him much and when they reveal anything about why this place is like this its already too late. Its not really a mystery to me that's worth unravelling because I couldn't really relate to the characters when they don't have compelling conversations or talk about their motivations. Honestly the really weird part is how alienated everyone feels in this. Like they are doing their own thing by themselves and the other characters have no knowledge. It's not even brought up when at one point all of you have left the shop to go do something important. (Disclaimer its more rescuing but no one talks about it. And the shop is the place I'm calling where all the characters reside in. They basically all temporarily live there but they never have a conversation with each other. Weird right?) So this made for a weak story. I had more joy from theorising that this is a lesbian game with the way you find some letters about certain characters and how they feel about them. Just felt like tiny lesbian tragedies happening in the background.

Misc: Some fun miscellaneous stuff I liked in this game.

The ambient noise was really cool. . Its just the kind of music I like heh.

I think the ghost designs are fun. I really like monster girls so maybe I have bias here because ghosts can be basically a variant of monster girl right?

Maybe play it? Really if you're a fan of this series its an obvious buy just cause the game is fun - just not good as the other entries... But if you're new and interested. Maybe its worth it. After this you got all the other ones to play and they are way better.

[avaeeart]

some more thoughts not story related but just general fun things

yes i had nothing better to do, but gaming with friends, it is so much fun. the collections and events were versatile enough, some bugged others full of lore (tho uh, i am not the best on reading those paper bits >_>)

RENOWED HEARTS i LOVE LOVE LOVE they brought this back. it gives me a reason to return to the maps and do my silly little daily tasks for a fun title or currency!

I did not use a lot of warclaw pre JW, but now, it feels like the perfect companion and mount for the tundra and thick forest. i barely teleported as i enjoyed riding through the scenery with friends so much more (plus catching collections without pulling up the wiki!)

salmon run

also hey! recurring astral ward members hiii

i really feel the love put into the maps and events and it makes me happy in return to enjoy what anet created

Back from JW gaming marathon

unsorted thoughts under the cut

after the epic letdown and disappointment in Soto's 2nd half, I did not give into the story hype prelease (though I did look forward the homestead expansion) - Janthir wilds, suprised me so much, by how well they handled the pacing and introduction of new NPCs and the expansive lore of the kodans! of course it is just the first patch to JW but gw2 team managed to write loveable new characters (ILY POKY, AND STOIC ALDER) and bring back villains in a new horrifying light and give those of the Astral Ward more development (i love that morally grey mr isgarren).

plus the maps, god the maps are gorgeous. I love the contrast between the cozy home region of bearland vs the hostile rotted enviroment of the 2nd map - keeping it engaging with adventures, a lot of events which too actually give insight about the kodan's way of living that makes sense (lookin at u, reskinned but out of place kryptis events). there are unique collections and sidequest without feeling too repetitive and even the smallest of things, like collecting wisps or finding a bee cave just returns back the want to explore a lovingly crafted vast map that has more than 2 colors (looking at you Nayos)

each dialogue is actually impactful without the slow, overthe top dramatic kryptis slow speech, the battles in the instances engaging and leaving enough fodder for speculations. recurring NPCs like Malice and Caithe were a delight to see in action

i genuinely enjoy janthir and i hope anet keeps on this positive track (and please don't kill any npcs off for the shock value, i love my bears)

10/10 warclaw kittens

[trulyhumblenarcissist]

Abourt Rei Himura and BNHA Chapter 301

Now that I've read the official release of chapter 301 I can finally try to gather my thoughts. I think this time the particular rendition of dialogues and inflections provided by Caleb Cook is more crisp and clear than usual, especially in throwing "shade" upon Endeavor as a father figure. But let's do things in order...

Title: THE WRONG WAY TO PUT OUT A FIRE - a simple, but stark message that doesn't leave space for ambiguity. There was a fire, an imminent tragedy that could and should have been avoided, but whoever tried to fix it, did it all wrong and now we have to deal with a huge arson.

CARLESS HANDLING OF FIRE, on the other hand, doesn't quite cut it for me, because it seems like everything was caused by a foolish mistake. "I was carless and now I'm in a pinch"- type of situation, while it's perfectly clear that Endeavor and Rei decided purposefully which "strategy" to use with Touya. A BAD one to say it lightly. Rei's contribution and complicity is debatable, of course, and I'll touch on this later.

Let me get this clear though: I'm not trying in any way to critique the hard work of unofficial translators. I can't say anything relevant because I'm not a translator in the first place (I can barely understand English and my native language on a good day) and also because I am so grateful for everything they do in order to give us really good material FREE OF CHARGE basically a second after the release in Japan. I'm just interested about the different shades of subtext we can catch if we read the story through multiple filters. Every translation is unique because it carries the personal spin of the author even if the bias should be inexistent or ideally undetectable...

However, back to the chapter

REI'S CAGE

The first scene opens on a luxurious classic Japanese villa, with Enji, Rei and her parents discussing the motivation behind Enji's proposal. Or at least we initially think that's what's going on... Because in reality Rei's family couldn't care less about the motivation. Everything these people see is a wealthy, famous guy the next number one hero ready to take their daughter in marriage. I guess the Himuras are pretty broke, thight on cash, their old prestige is definitely gone and all they can do to save themselves from shame and poverty is "to sell" their only remaining asset.

During the whole ordeal, Rei is standing still, silent, cold as ice. She knows she doesn't really have a choice. How mortifying and sad is this? An adult, capable woman has no agency whatsoever, she is used again and again and she stoically accepts this treatment from every single dominant figure in her life until she can't be stoic anymore. I really hope Horikoshi's going to give her a much more proactive role in saving her family and it seems the narrative wants us to expect this type of character development.

I'd like to point out 2 panels in particular:

First one

In this scene the Todorokis are back from their trip to the doc, who clearly said they shouldn't try to conceive a child with a perfect quirk mix because it is dangerous (and morally questionable too). Rei understands this fact and tries to dissuade Enji, but he doesn't listen, because he's projecting all his pent-up resentment and frustration onto Touya. He knows how it feels to crush against an unbreakable wall, since he can't surpass All might and his son can't too. He had to learn this truth the hard way, so Touya needs to do the same. Enji is purposefully throwing upon his son years of failures, self consciousness and despair, just because the boy has to get it into his thick skull that he is a dud, just like his father. This is not a hopeless dad making a mistake bona fide, this is a broken man trying to destroy his self reflection by proxy, annihilating everything Touya is, swiping the kid's identity under the rug. He describes his son's dreams and sadness as something birthed from stubbornness. He is auto-convincing himself however (because Endeavor is not stupid). A little bit later he's basically saying: "Touya let's play make believe! We can go on like everything I had engulfed in your psyche never existed, you're a failed attempt so you don't exist. Your needs and wants are silly and useless, nothing worth dealing with now that I can't make you my prodigy. Why don't you go play with the other failures so that I don't have to look at myself while taking actually care of you. I don't want to see you, because it's too painful, because you're a remainder of my own inadequacy."

Note: If you want to read an incredibly well done analysis about Endeavor's motives and psyche, you can get it on @thyandrawrites , she's dwelt on everything extensively and way better than me.

I really want to talk about Rei though. In the panel I showed above, her expression is a bit tricky to analyse. At first she is very vocal about her position. She doesn't want to put Touya through useless suffering, especially since they have a scientific reason not to. They have no guarantee of success with other children, besides, they could possibly have to deal with other health related issues. However, all it takes to convince her in the end is Enji's half assed attempt at the "It's for Touya's sake" shtick. Is it really? Why doesn't she question her husband anymore?

Well... I think before Natsuo, she was probably hoping Touya would let go "naturally", with time and growth, maybe by taking interest in his other siblings. Rei said she wanted to have more children because in her mind they would have supported and loved each other. Maybe she was naive enough to think that a big family full of kids few years apart from each other was all Touya needed to distract himself from his purposes... BUT and here is the point I want to get across: She was deluding herself too, much like Enji. The ugly truth, in my opinion, is that Rei is a person prone to protect herself by going with everything other people want, especially if said people are capable of hurting her. Yes, she was hurt time and time again, but what would have happened if she really tried to stop Enji?

What I am trying to say is that Rei is the kind of person who endures to survive. She holds a "captive" mentality in which, by indulging her captor's desires, she can continue living with less possibile damage. If I stay still and silent, if I don't make a scene, I can go on, I can hold onto the few things I have that actually make me happy.

Let's think about it... Enji was so obsessed with his psychotic, power-hungry quest that he would have probably disown Rei. She would have been thrown away for a more compliant woman with an ice quirk, or something similar, this resulting in her probably losing everything, the respect and love of her family (the Himuras) and also her own children. Because we know Endeavor can definitely hold a grudge and is vendicative.

So, clarifying, Rei doesn't put up a fight because she is scared for herself in a way... She is scared to be hurt in the worst possible way (by losing her little bit of serenity), so her strategy is to endure and to keep up a facade of control and purpose.

Rei, ironically just like Touya and other characters in mha, doesn't really get what unconditional love is. Her family loves her until she can be useful to the Himura name and status, her husband loves her for her quirk. Her children, however, love her for who she is and she wants to stay with them... Only to be forced to leave them later anyway.

The few times Rei actually smiles are when she is with her babies. She is a deeply loving mother in her core, but her declining mental health makes her a very lacking caregiver.

This panel, in my opinion, shows the point of no return for Rei. She can't keep the glacial facade forever...

After Natsuo's turn to be deemed a failure, Endeavor is crazier than ever, because All Might is as popular and loved as ever and he hasn't make any progress into his eugenetic games. The last two images of Rei are very telling. She is exhausted, but she knows what her husband wants from her this time too. She looks like a lifeless doll and honestly I can easily see Shouto's conception as... Non consensual and I will stop here.

Then Shouto is born, the last, perfect specimen... And Rei isn't doing much for Touya, we can see she's apparently blind towards her eldest son's distress already after Natsuo's birth... But why?

Because she is actively avoiding to face the Touya's problems too.

If Touya is still suffering, is still feeling stressed and worthless, then everything Rei has endured, everything she pretended not to feel for the sake of her family has been completely useless. What Rei cannot look at is her own parental failure, is the concrete proof that while protecting herself and her peace she did not protect her children too, because the two interests were never really aligned, even if she really believed so. She never had a functional family to preserve in the first place and everything she accepted to do was all for the sake of a false sense of belonging.

However is too easy to say she should've rebelled against Enji and dumped his sorry ass. Abuse traps you and your abuser too in a cage tricky to escape.

What I imagine will happen next chapter is one of two things:

Enji stops Touya by using brute force, probably also saying something really scarring to reinforce the notion that Shouto is the only child he cares about.

Rei stops Touya by using her quirk. This act could be considered by Touya another confirmation that even his mother actually does something by her own accord only when Shouto's safety is at risk

Necessary conclusions

I don't blame Rei for her actions too much. She is a victim turned abuser by circumstances, but more importantly she's actually taken mesures to prevent herself from hurting her children again. She's trying to heal for her family's sake, really this time. Ten years spent dealing with guilt and having actual therapy seem a good plan to me. And now she's the one ready to snap Enji back to reality.

Enji, on the other hand, is trying too. It's too little too late, but if he stops avoiding reality and hardly works on understanding his family's point of view I don't think he is completely unredeemable. I don't see him surviving his last confrontation with Touya, thought... But I could be totally wrong.

Obviously everything I've said it's my personal analysis on Rei's character, as I interpret her actions and words, so feel free to contradict me and/or to add anything you might see fit.

[kuekyuuq]

Gloria, Jet-lags and Imps [6x11]

Let’s jump right in:

Kinda love how Kara lamp-shaded addressed the fact she didn't tell the gang about her adventures in the PZ. She’s not wrong, tho.

...what do I want to say about Mxy using what's basically a well-known gay-anthem to tell his tale? I mean, it didn’t lead anywhere. The original song is about freeing oneself, liberation, stepping out of a (gone bad) relationship and moving on, stronger for it - empowerment. The only connection I could make, is that originally it was Nyxly’s aim to just do that (freeing herself and her kind from an oppressor), but in the way Mxy performed it, that part of the parallel was long over before he even reached the chorus. It’s also a popular Karaoke song, tho, so... he chose it because it’s catchy? I’ll try not to overthink it for now. At least, the Superfriend’s reactions were fun.

Nia exiting the elevator, "And what's this Old Stone?" I love it when ppl enter a room / situation and pick up on words that they couldn't have possibly heard. I think cinema sins ding such... Are we to assume, she dreamed Mxy's rendition of ‘I will survive’? Or is the elevator not sound-proof at all? (If it’s the latter, Nia later apparently telling Brainy “in private” between scenes / during the elevator ride about her Nyxly adventures, was a silly thing to do.)

So, "Jared" created the ring Old Stone to rule them all, it got shattered into the Paragons totems? Nyxly needs the totems and to get them she needs a crystal which also belonged to "Jared" - who happens to be Mxy's ancestor, which is why she needs Mxy / his blood, too.

I have one important and incredibly relevant question here, tho... 

With the introduced imps and their names... Why’s dude named Jared of all things?!

Really, did I mishear that? If so, I’ll leave it as is and never edit, bc that would be hilarious in its own right 😋

...

Not sure what to make about Supergirl paraphrasing a Dirty Dancing quote.  "Nobody puts Mxy into a power crystal on my watch."  ...is he Baby now? (Seriously, though: Which of the writers thought that was a fitting quote to use in that particular context?)

...now, is the exposition section of the episode over yet?

Sensitive Brainy sensed something was up with Nia. He can relate... Nia doubting Kara would understand, too, is ridiculous. But I get it... insecurities and all. But, I mean, just 5 minutes later Kara announces she wants to save Nyxly despite her wrongdoings. And yet Nia still remains convinced, Kara wouldn’t forgive her own personal mini-me... After having witnessed Kara forgiving Lena for a whole season of the writers being stupid messing up to the nth degree. But I digress, Lena’s Lena.

...how old is Nia meant to be again? Just asking out of completely unrelated curiosity.

F*ck. They really went with NewFoundland...

Imma assume it was an executive choice after realizing they couldn’t find enough actors and actresses with a convincing Irish accent... maybe. Again, no offense to Newfoundland! Just... we got the insinuations of Ireland, not Newfoundland... And truthfully, when I think of magic, Ireland is an easy association. Whereas I only due to this whole debacle learned Newfoundland has Irish ancestry. So, okay, the show forced me to learn something new... I give ‘em that.

An easy journey, she said.

Lena's been off-screen for two whole episodes, Kara announcing at the beginning of ‘Dreamweaver’ [6x09] Lena being “back east” (at least insinuating Lena’s left the west-coast already), which span over at least one full day (feat. a scene at night), and ‘I still rise’ [6x10] at least another a whole day (the whole Nia’s mom back for a day deal). And, now, after at least 48 hours she barely just arrived.

Lemme check how long a regular plane would need to fly from California to NFL......... ... .. .. So... approx. 10 hours with at least one layover. 

Yeah, using a private jet made it easier, but apparently also much, much slower...

Or, Lena randomly went some other places / did some sight-seeing in NFL before she decided to finally visit her mother’s hometown...  [Either that or the timelines don’t match up and Lena’s scenes are flashbacks of sorts.]

Optimistic and relaxed Lena is a sight to behold. I rewound 3 times, just to enjoy it for as long as possible. We all knew it was going to be short-lived... 

Let’s check off a few more items...

OMG, Kara hiding behind Alex at the mere sight of the PZ-projector broke my heart!  😢

"Elisabeth Walsh" is the new 'the one you shall not name'. ...poor Lena. 😭

Oh, so Mxy wants to be Patrick Swayze instead of Baby... gotcha.

...is this going anywhere?

KITTY!!! Okay, this must be the best opponent in the history of CWSG. 

Despite the horrible CGI, SG using her heat-vision to project a laser-beam to distract the cat had me in (happy-) tears! 🤣

Gotta love the civilians of National City quickly returning to business as usual once the giant cat is gone. Even the police officers looked rather chill...

Nyxly did look fabulous this episode ^^ 

Andrea being Lena's rock is both great and annoying. I can't fault Andrea. It's just, that we still have to see an on-screen interaction between Lena and Kara and that bugs the heck out of me. I can’t help it. I’m sorry, Andrea.

Nia: "...is my fault." Kara: "Nu, is MY fault!" J'onn: "Stop fighting, kids!" Space-dad has spoken.

Mxy used an LuthorCorp copy machine... and of cos it's faulty. It's not an L-Corp product.

Kara forgiving Nia came as a surprise to her... Oooookay. I mean, the show has been writing Kara a bit inconsistently the past two seasons... so, yeah, maybe being unsure which of her traits apply this week was not such a far stretch...

Maybe it's the hair, but I wished, Florence was played by Alex Kingston.

So, not-Alex-Kingston shows Lena herself with a funny wig and tells her how her mother was still watching her...

If it wasn't for Katie's acting skills (I love her.) I would have already hit my head against the wall repeatedly. Something about these scenes had me constantly cringe and I made it through 5.5 seasons of this show already... Can’t quite put my finger on it, but it was highly distracting from the story that explained Lena’s mom was special even to another witch, where there was domestic abuse, and an accidental murder. Y’know, important stuff, deep-cutting stuff! 

At least, poor widddle Lena got some closure there. Elisabeth was a good cookie. And filled with magic. And Lena’s gotta have that ‘spark’, too... 

....so... Lena’s gonna stay in NFL for how much longer, to train becoming a witch?  Please, just hand her a how-to manual and send her back home, to figure it out on her own, please... (Yes, that would be horrible decision-making, but I need her back with the team!)

On to the finish line: 

So... Mxy IS Nyxly's brother? Wait, that doesn’t sound right... then Nyxly would have the same blood... Did I miss something? Can someone explain, please? Or is he her ex, and that’s where his rendition of “I will survive” makes sense?

Hnn... I can't help, but think Kara's speech for Nyxly was 85% based on her experiences with Lena in s05.

Awww... he said "stronger together"... Mxy... I hope, you'll be okay!

Lena believes in magic now. And I absolutely love how Lena wants to science magic XD

...but apparently magic isn’t science that hasn’t been explained yet, but parallel... powers? concepts? ether strings?

Nyxly has a loyal henchman now. Which was a bit heavy-handed. Took way too much of screen-time, so it better leads to something interesting.

And Kara is on a warpath now. Wooooot! Girl’s got enough.

...what else? 

Did I miss a third Patrick Swayze hint / quote / mention?  I learned, these things come in threes... Y’know, basic writing rules... 

I guess, for once the episode title was meant to be taken literally, Mxy popping up between characters, to try and help. (I need in-show footage, of Mxy sneaking up on ppl, without his powers, on all fours / crouched, just to get the desired effect.) I mean, I’ve never really watched Malcom, but wasn’t he like what Mxy usually is? A bit of a trouble-maker, prankster, chaos-ensuing wherever he goes? ...well, in that case, the episode title didn’t hold up, as Mxy’s scenes were not fun or really goofy. Yes, there was some superficial humor, but just to serve Mxy dealing with not being able to use his powers, which in turn was only barely scratched at (although it turned out to be his final character development crisis, appreciating not having powers and - in turn - facing consequences for once). Again, a whole lot going on in the episode, so a lot of that may have ended up on the cutting-room floor.

...where’s Kelly? Secretly adopting a kid, maybe?

...Kara’s still a reporter, right? I mean, whenever it serves the immediate plot, yes? ...Not even a throw-away line, that she has to pop up at CatCo for appearances sake? Since Andrea is already upset with her AND looking into her friends’ identities? At least, Kara should take a peek to make sure Andrea hasn’t uncovered anything yet... No?

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Kue out.

[histoireettralala]

The Sacking of Joseph Fouché: The Dismissal (2/4)

" It is only after, on June 2, three hours after he gave this order, that he summons his ministers in Saint-Cloud, and that he abruptly and explicitly asks the Duke of Otrante if he is aware of some travels of the banker Ouvrard, and if it is him who sent him to Amsterdam. Fouché, surprised, but still far from understanding the trap he has fallen into, reacts the usual way, like every time he is surprised in flagrante delicto: just as before, under the Revolution with Chaumette, and the Directoire with Babeuf, he tries to get himself out of trouble by coldly dropping his accomplice. Ah! yes, Ouvrard! he is a pest who interferes into all sorts of things. Besides, the whole thing is completely meaningless, silly, childish! But Napoleon holds on firmly and he doesn't let him so easily elude him. "Those aren't meaningless maneuvers," he answers. "It is an extraordinary violation of duty to allow oneself to deal with the enemy behind one's sovereign back, on conditions he is ignorant of and probably won't even agree to. Ouvrard must be arrested at once." Then Fouché feels uncomfortable. That's all he needed: Ouvrard arrested! That one would let the cat out of the bag. So he tries, by all kinds of means, to dissuade the emperor from taking this action. But the emperor, who knows that now his personal policeman already "locked" the baker, only listens ironically to the one he unmasked. He now knows the true instigator of this reckless plot, and the papers seized at Ouvrard's soon unveil all of Fouché's game.

Then thunder bursts among the clouds of mistrust, for a long time gathering. The next day, a Sunday, Napoleon, after mass (although some years ago he had had the Pope arrested, he became pious again, as His Apostolic Majesty's son-in-law), summons all ministers and dignitaries of the Court for the morning reception. Only one person is missing: the Duke of Otrante. Although he is a minister, he wasn't summoned. The emperor invites his Council to take place around the table, and he asks pointblank the question: "What would you think of a minister who, abusing his position, would have, unbeknownst to his sovereign, opened communications with the enemy, started diplomatic negotiations on bases fathomed by him alone, and thus compromised the politics of the State ? What sentence is there in our Codes for such abuse of authority? " After this harsh question, the emperor looks around him, no doubt thinking that his advisers and his creatures will hurry to offer banishment or any other ignominious measure. But the ministers, although guessing at once against whom the blow is directed, shroud themselves into a painful silence. Deep down, they all approve Fouché for his forceful action in favour of peace, and, as true servants, they enjoy the bold trick he played on the autocrat. Talleyrand (who isn't Minister anymore, but who was called in this matter as an great dignitary) smiles inwardly; he remembers his own humiliation two years ago, and he revels in the embarrassment in which Napoleon and Fouché, neither of whom he likes, find themselves. Finally the Arch-Chancellor Cambacérès breaks the silence and says in a conciliating way: "It is unquestionably a fault, which deserves a severe punishment, unless the culprit was brought to make this mistake out of overzealousness." "Overzealousness!" says an angry Napoleon. He dislikes the answer, because he wants no excuse, but a harsh example, a punishment which would repress any independance. Animatedly, he tells the whole story, and asks the audience to suggest someone to replace Fouché.

Again, none of the ministers hurries to give his advice in such a thorny matter; the fear of Fouché comes, for all of them, right after the fear of Napoleon. Finally, Talleyrand, as ever in a difficult situation, finds a clever word to solve the problem. He adresses his neighbor, under his breath: "Without doubt, M. Fouché was very wrong, and I would give him a replacement, but only one: M. Fouché himself." Unhappy with his ministers whom he made, by his behaviour toward them, automatons and spineless mameluks, Napoleon adjourns the meeting and calls the Chancellor in his office: "Really, it is no use to consult these gentlemen. You see what useful proposals one can expect from them. But you can't believe I would seriously think to consult them without knowing myself what to expect. My choice is made: the Duke of Rovigo will be the Police minister." And, without the person involved being able to say whether he is ready or not to accept this unpleasant succession, the emperor greets him the very evening by this abrupt order: "You are Police minister. Make the oath, and start to work."

Fouché's dismissal instantly becomes the question of the day and public opinion immediatly sides with him. Nothing brought this double minister so many sympathies as, precisely, his resistance to boundless despotism- unsufferable by itself to the French people accustomed to freedom- from a man who rose to power thanks to the Revolution [...] All the parties, royalists, republicans, jacobins, as well as the foreign ambassadors unanimously regret, in the downfall of the last of Napoleon's ministers to have kept his independance, the obvious defeat of the idea of peace, and, even in his own palace, in his own bedroom, Napoleon finds in Marie-Louise, as once in his first wife Joséphine, a defensor of Fouché [..] Nothing voices more plainly the true state of mind of France at this time than the increase of prestige this man enjoys with the public, in the wake of his disgrace; and the new Police minister Savary sums up the impression produced by Fouché's dismissal in these words: "I believe the news of a plague wouldn't have scared more than my appointment to the Ministry." Really, what power did acquire, along the Emperor, during those last ten years, Joseph Fouché!

The echo of this impression no doubt reached Napoleon; in which way, we don't know. But, he barely chased Fouché from his position than he rushes to handle him carefully. Subsequently, the dismissal, just like the one of 1802, is presented under disguise, as to allow Fouché to be employed to other functions. To compensate the loss of the ministry, the honorific title of State Councillor is bestowed upon the Duke of Otrante, and he is made Ambassador of the French monarchy in Rome. Nothing characterizes the Emperor's state of mind, swinging between fear and anger, rebuke and gratitude, annoyance and conciliation, better than the dismissal letter, which is intended to Fouché's personal use only:

"Monsieur le Duc d'Otrante, I know all the services you provided me, and I believe in your dedication for my person and in your zeal for my service; however it is impossible for me, without failing myself, to leave you the portfolio. The position of Police Minister demands an entire and absolute trust, and this trust cannot exist since already, in important circumstances, you compromised my tranquillity and that of the State, which can't be excused, in my eyes, even by legitimate reasons. The singular way you have to envision the duties of a Police minister do not conform with the good of the State. Although I do no mistrust your attachment and your loyalty, I am yet forced to a continual overwatch which tires me and to which I cannot be held. This overwatch is required by many things you do on your own, without knowing if they conform with my will and my designs... I cannot hope that you change you way of doing, since, for several years, glaring examples and repeated evidence of my dissatisfaction didn't change you and since, satisfied with the purity of your intentions, you did not want to understand that one can do great wrong while intending to do great good. Besides, my trust in your talents and your loyalty is entire, and I wish to find opportunities to prove it to you and to use them to my service."

This letter discloses, like a secret code, the nature of the relations between Napoléon and Fouché; just carefully go over this little masterpiece to realize how, in every sentence, are opposed will and counter-will, appreciation and dislike, fear and a secret admiration. The autocrat wants a slave and is irritated to find an independant man. He wants to get rid of him, and yet he fears to make an enemy out of him. He regrets losing him while being happy to be free of this dangerous man."

Stefan Zweig- Fouché

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”