#Poll 298

[polling-sonic-fans]

Do you consider LEGO Dimensions canon to Sonic?

-yes, the whole thing

-yes, but from Sonic and co.’s perspective it wasn’t as blocky

-the level pack’s story happened, but some of the specific crossovers didn’t

-just the Knight Rider/KITT short

-no it never happened even

Thanks for the poll anon!

Polls for the Sonic fandom on just about anything. Share polls you like to get more data. Asks and submissions always open.

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Mon 22 July // Day 298 & Tues 23 July // Day 299 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Killjoys (rw) 2x01 Dutch and the Real Girl

Lucy helps Dutch, John and Pree to get into Eulogy to find tech to break D'avin out. This is an outlaw only barter mysterious high-tech shielded town.

They arrive at Eulogy. Dutch: [leather, on] Clara: [robotic arm, attached] D'avin: [tiddies, out] They are forcibly removed from the premises.

Call the Midwife (with mum) 8x07

A woman's pregnancy is affected by her husband's infidelity, Sister Frances faces her first solo delivery, Shelagh receives news about May, and Valerie's loyalty is tested.

Sister Frances was so brave and she did brilliantly. I'm so proud of her. Yet the complete opposite with Val's gran. She was reckless and is a danger to the women she was trying to help. That it was, and in some places still is, the only option for an abortion is unacceptable.

Abbott Elementary (with mum) 3x10 2 Ava 2 Fest

Ava Fest is back, and with the help of the teachers, Ava's set on outdoing last year by any means necessary; after Janine accepts the offer for a position at the district, she just has to check off one last thing to make it official.

♪ Junior Senior - Move Your Feet ♪

Sweet Tooth 3x08 This Is a Story (Series Finale)

After suffering an unimaginable loss, Gus must make a choice that will determine the fate of humans and hybrids. Who will be left to tell their story?

"All stories end. We may not be ready for it when it comes. In fact, we may never be. We say it's too soon. We ask ourselves if the journey was too difficult. If the cost was too high. All stories end. The only question that remains, who will be left alive to tell this one, humans or hybrids?"

Me: 😭😭😭

[original-character-championship]

Bracket E Round 1

Poll 21

Dr. Wyre (@opal-mew) vs. Lamp (@magolordidsomethingwrong)

297. Dr. Wyre (@opal-mew)

He/They/🐾/🧪

Who doesn't love a catboy who does dubious science? He's also canonically trans and ADHD/Autism! Plus he's got a small fan base already. Waving to all the people that Know

Wyre has pale skin, Brown hair, and one neon blue and one neon green eye, each with a spiral instead of an iris / pupil. He has cat ears of an unspecified cat breed, as well as paws where his hands and feet should be. He's 5'4" tall, and has a mostly human appearance other than his eyes and cat features. Most of the time he's wearing a white lab coat with a lilac shirt underneath, navy pants, and orange shoes. he is also almost always seen wearing his safety goggles up on his forehead.

298. Lamp (@magolordidsomethingwrong)

he/him

hmmmm ok so his whole deal is that he has essentially sacrificed his livelihood and happiness to work shitty cashier and fast food worker jobs in order to scrape together money for rent. he has an immense fear of the future so avoids discussion on it as much as possible. he also desperately wants friends but lacks the social skills or confidence to try to make them. he gets very fearful of change, yet desires some change in his circumstances but is unsure on how to go about it. currently, he is in a competition show (because he is an object show oc) to make friends, but most of his team is not focused on that. sad. anyways he is also a walking desk lamp who’s mouth is on the underside of the lightbulb, which makes certain situations a bit difficult. he can turn on the light but the buzzing from the electricity and shit is so loud he can’t hear a thing when it’s on. he is very sad and pathetic, and i know this site likes that, so vote him!        

[bestanimal]

Round 1 Final Stats:

The top phyla have been ranked thusly, listed here from highest ranking to lowest:

🪲 Arthropoda ~ 2,002

🐠 Chordata ~ 1,780

🐌 Mollusca ~ 1,687

🪸 Cnidaria ~ 1,307

🫓 Platyhelminthes ~ 1,217

🔫 Onychophora ~ 1,180

🔬 Tardigrada ~ 1,101

🌈 Ctenophora ~ 1,013

⭐️ Echinodermata ~ 947

🪱 Annelida ~ 681

🧽 Porifera ~ 535

👥 Bryozoa ~ 331

⚪️ Placozoa ~ 328

⛱ Brachiopoda ~ 303

⚙️ Rotifera ~ 298

🍆 Priapulida ~ 216

🧲 Phoronida ~ 178

🌍 Nematoda ~ 169

🐉 Kinorhyncha ~ 169

🌰 Hemichordata ~ 169

🎉 Loricifera ~ 147

🎗 Nemertea ~ 138

❄️ Micrognathozoa ~ 124

🧪 Xenacoelomorpha ~ 123

🍴 Entoprocta ~ 111

👛 Cycliophora ~ 110

🦷 Gnathostomulida ~ 100

��� Chaetognatha ~ 83

🧶 Gastrotricha ~ 82

🐙🔍 Dicyemida ~ 19

🦪🔍 Orthonectida ~ 12

🐴✂️ Nematomorpha ~ -37

The top 3 phyla are Arthropoda, Chordata, and Mollusca!

This means Arthropoda, Chordata, and Mollusca will be moving on to Round 2, and broken up by Class (or some other phylogenetic equivalent).

But that’s not all!

After Round 2, we will have an extra Round 2.5, featuring every other phylum that received over 1,000 points! This will give some of the more highly ranked phyla a second chance to move on, and make Round 3 a little more interesting.

Round 2.5 will include Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, Tardigrada, and Ctenophora.

(Unfortunately, I can’t include Onychophora as it only contains 2 families without class or order ranking, so I will have to preemptively move them forward to Round 4 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

To give myself enough time to queue up polls, Round 2 will begin November 1st.

See you then!

Extra Awards:

Phylum Porifera

~ had the highest percentage of likes at 50.8%

Phylum Placozoa

~ had the highest amount of neutral votes at 295

Phylum Xenacoelomorpha

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Platyhelminthes

~ had the most votes at 620

~ had the highest amount of loves at 245

~ had the highest amount of likes at 204

Phylum Gastrotricha

~ had the lowest amount of favorites at 2

~ had the lowest percentage of favorites at 0.7%

Phylum Mollusca

~ had 0 dislikes

~ had the third most reblogs at 86

Phylum Entoprocta

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Phoronida

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Orthonectida

~ had the lowest amount of likes at 20

~ had the least notes at 17

~ had the least reblogs at 6

Phylum Dicyemida

~ had the least votes at 158

~ had the lowest amount of loves at 4

~ had the lowest percentage of loves at 2.5%

~ had the highest percentage of neutral votes at 67.9%

Phylum Micrognathozoa

~ was our first single species to be ranked

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Rotifera

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Nematomorpha

~ had the highest amount of dislikes at 74

~ had the highest percentage of dislikes at 30.1%

~ had the highest percentage of hates at 11.4%

~ was the only phylum with a negative ranking

Phylum Onychophora

~ had the most notes at 310

~ had the most reblogs at 115 (though a lot of them happened after the poll closed)

Phylum Arthropoda

~ was the only phylum to get over 2,000 points

~ had the second most reblogs at 101

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Echinodermata

~ had the highest percentage of loves at 52.8%

~ was the only phylum to not receive any dislikes or hates

Phylum Chordata

~ had the highest amount of favorites at 334

~ had the highest percentage of favorites at 71.5%

~ had the lowest percentage of likes at 4.9%

~ had the lowest percentage of neutral votes at 0.6%

~ had the highest amount of hates at 37

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Because yay more polls :D

These are the songs I've chosen from each Showdown polls for this round of a hundred songs, that didn't get as much love as their tougher competition.

What song did you personally like the best? Did a song make an impact right away or did it require the full version? Did the artist reveal change your opinion of the song itself for better or for worse? Tell me in a reblog!

(note: this is not a popularity contest or to vote for a favourite artist out of loyalty 💖 it's still about the song.)

209 here 212 here 221 here 234 here 243 here 257 here 263 here 276 here 282 here 298 here

[agentchimendez]

Sorry for the delay! It's because y'all didn't just write down a single character's name for the written sections like I so desperately asked!

Introducing the results of the 2023 Bittersweet Candy Poll! This was polled back in November-December of 2023, and here are the results of people's favorites, least favorites, most controversial/mixed opinions, and the one with the least opinions!

Click here for 2022's results and here for 2021's. Click the read more to see the total results for this year's poll beyond the top 10s.

Now color coded so you know if they've ranked higher (green) lower (blue) or were a new addition (orange)! Characters who stayed in the same place are listed as normal.

BELOVED

Lucy - 560

Paulo - 559

Augustus - 486

Rachel - 452

Amaya - 442

Daisy - 435

David - 382

Sue - 355

Mike & James - 345

Matt - 342

Molly - 336

Janet - 330

Paulo's Dad - 306

Abbey - 298

Tess - 282

Lucy's Mom - 269

Jessica - 251

Jasmine - 239

Daisy's Dad - 237

Kevin - 224

Zachary - 218

Charlotte - 214

Chris & Catherine - 206

Jordan - 190

Haley - 189

Lily - 185

Daisy's Mom - 181

McCain - 180

Madison - 168

Stacy & Mr. Noodles - 160

Justin - 156

Mike's Mom - 154

Lucy's Dad - 153

Principal - 152

Felix - 150

Amaya's Dad - 147

Chirpy & Lucas - 141

Sam & Finn - 139

Flower Girl - 132

Yashy & Lani - 121

Mina - 119

Darwin - 114

Sandy - 113

Gym Teacher - 102

Blur - 97

Max - 93

Courtney & Melanie - 92

Katie - 88

Sex-Ed Teacher (SET) & Aaron (Rachel's brother) - 85

Cassidy - 60

Tiff - 47

Dylan - 30

Alejandro - 26

Toby & Sandy's Mom - 12

Craig & Abraham - 11

BELOATHED

Alejandro - 721

Abraham - 599

Sandy's Mom - 307

Sandy - 301

Toby - 256

Craig - 216

Yashy - 181

Mike - 175

Katie - 149

Tiff - 145

Paulo - 101

David - 99

Lily - 97

Melanie - 92

Lucy - 91

Dylan - 74

Sex-Ed Teacher (SET) - 66

Abbey - 64

Madison - 57

Sam - 47

Chirpy - 46

Stacy - 44

Gym Teacher - 43

McCain - 42

Daisy - 40

Blur - 38

James - 34

Zachary - 30

Jasmine - 24

Augustus - 22

Tess & Jessica - 21

Darwin & Justin - 19

Mina - 16

Mr. Noodles & Finn - 14

Jordan - 13

Matt, Chris, Principal & Lucy's Dad - 12

Haley, Cassidy & Daisy's Dad - 11

Lucy's Mom, Courtney & Charlotte - 9

Flower Girl - 8

Lani - 7

Rachel & Paulo's Dad - 6

Sue, Mike's Mom & Lucas - 5

Molly, Aaron (Rachel's brother), Max & Catherine - 4

Amaya, Janet, Felix & Daisy's Mom - 2

Amaya's Dad - 2

Kevin - 1

CONTROVERSIAL

Melanie - 18400 (the numbers canceled each other out at first so this is why her number is significantly larger)

Sex-Ed Teacher (SET) - 695

Yashy - 403

Katie - 289

Lily - 220

Mike - 206

Gym Teacher - 146

Dylan - 136

Blur - 129

Sandy - 120

Madison - 103

Sam - 102

Chirpy - 97

Tiff - 96

Stacy - 76

David - 70

McCain - 61

Abbey - 55

Cassidy - 45

Paulo - 44

Darwin - 40 (most of these numbers are rounded, but this was a true 40.00)

Lucy - 39

Zachary - 32

Mina - 31

Justin - 28

Finn - 22.4

Jasmine - 22.3

James - 21.8

Courtney - 21.6

Daisy - 20

Mr. Noodles - 19

Jessica - 18

Principal - 17.1

Lucy's Dad - 17.02

Tess - 16

Jordan - 15

Flower Girl - 13

Chris - 12.37

Haley - 12.35 (everyone after this point is ranked lower than before im lazy)

Lani - 12.28

Aaron (Rachel's brother) - 9.87

Toby - 9.83

Daisy's Dad - 9.73

Augustus - 9.48

Max - 8.9

Charlotte - 8.7

Sandy's Mom - 8.1

Alejandro - 7.4

Lucas - 7.3

Matt - 7.2

Lucy's Mom - 6.9

Mike's Mom - 6.7

Felix - 4.08

Paulo's Dad - Pure 4

Catherine - 3.9

Abraham - 3.7

Daisy's Mom - 3.3

Sue - 2.8

Amaya's Dad - 2.7

Rachel - 2.6

Molly - 2.4

Janet - 1.8

Amaya - 1.3

Kevin - 0.8

THE PEOPLE DON'T CARE.... (i dont feel like marking these either sorry)

Cassidy - 142

Aaron (Rachel's brother) - 135

Courtney Dylan & Max - 132 (i realize now the ranking i listed was wrong. sowwy)

Darwin - 118

Blur & Lani - 114

Flower Girl - 112

Mina - 109

Gym Teacher - 107

Amaya's Dad - 106

Finn - 103

Sex-Ed Teacher (SET) - 102

Felix - 99

Lucas - 98

Lucy's Dad - 94

Principal - 90

Mike's Mom - 89

Chirpy - 87

Mr. Noodles - 86

McCain - 85

Melanie - 82

Sam & Daisy's Mom - 80

Toby, Craig & Tiff - 79

Justin - 78

Chris - 75

Charlotte - 74

Catherine - 71

Kevin - 68

Stacy - 64

Daisy's Dad - 59

Katie - 58

Yashy & Zachary - 57

Lucy's Mom - 56

Haley - 55

Madison & Jordan - 50

Sandy's Mom - 44

Sandy, Tess, Jessica & Paulo's Dad - 39

Jasmine & Janet - 35

Sue - 34

David - 30

Amaya - 27

Mike - 23

James - 21

Matt, Alejandro & Abraham - 20

Abbey & Molly - 19

Rachel - 18

Augustus - 15

Daisy - 11

Lucy & Paulo - 9

[wanderingnork]

Gith Deep Dive: The Illithiad, The Mind Flayer Trilogy, and the Forerunners

Ask and ye shall receive: this option won the poll on what I should deep dive first. Two thousand words later, please enjoy.

We all know the basic story of the gith: a massive, terrifying illithid empire was brought down by a slave revolt led by a warrior named Gith. The unified rebellion tore apart the empire, but then fell to internal fighting, leaving the githyanki and githzerai forever separated. It's virtually identical in every source, with only tiny changes. Whatever happens after that, this is the one thing everyone can agree on.

But where did the gith come from before the illithids?

ORIGINS

Over the course of D&D history, we get a few glimpses into the earliest days of the gith, before they were even called that. No real attempts were made in 4th or 5th Edition to get into the deep history of the githyanki, but 2nd Edition (2E) and Edition 3.5 (just 3.5) both give us a look. First, back in 2E, the book Planescape: A Player’s Guide to the Planes (p.12). Here, the gith are simply originally from the Prime Material Plane, in a place called Gith—notably, the legendary figure herself is absent from this telling, although she's not missing from "A Guide to the Astral Plane" and other 2E sources. Probably a case of discontinuity. Unsurprising, considering just how many 2nd Edition Planescape books were published!

As for 3.5, we get several tastes of the possible origin story. First, there's the empire of Zarum, on the world of Oerth (home of the Greyhawk campaign setting). It appears in three linked sources for the Chainmail Miniatures game (Chainmail Miniatures, Set 2: Blood & Darkness; Dragon #294 – Chainmail: Underground Scenarios; Dragon #298 – Wizards' Workshop: Chainmail). Zarum is no more than subterranean ruins now, with its crumbled former capital serving as a drow outpost, and only hints of its mysterious inhabitants remaining.

In the "Invasion of Pharagos" campaign concept, published in Polyhedron magazine #159, a small planet is presented as the ancestral home of the githyanki. The long-dead body of their patron goddess, a deity of patience and perseverance who was killed at the height of Gith's rebellion, still lies buried and forgotten under the crumbling ruins of their greatest city. There aren't many further details given, since the focus of the article is on githyanki PCs and how they would participate in the invasion as Vlaakith's servants.

Finally, the strangest origin theory of all comes from the Lords of Madness sourcebook. Here, it's revealed that the illithids are actually a species from the future. Under attack by an unknown and terrible enemy, they traveled backwards from the end of time itself to reestablish their empire in the past. They might have enslaved the gith progenitors upon arrival. Or the alternative: "The base race from which [the githyanki and githzerai] derived is unknown; gith progenitors might have been brought to the distant past from the illithid empire at time’s end…" (p.73)

That's a whole lot to unpack right there.

-

Regardless of which of these, if any, is the true story, there's a source that allows us to meet these earliest gith—quite simply called the Forerunners.

Continued below the cut, because this is so incredibly long.

THE ILLITHIAD

The Illithiad is a huge volume for 2nd Edition D&D which sets up a lot of the illithid lore we take for granted these days. The various illithid Creeds, the society, Ilsensine, the biology, all of it had its full genesis here. Of course, it discusses the gith. The details of the githyanki are typical and unexceptional, although it includes one of the most spectacularly spooky pieces of githyanki art ever.

(Credit to artist James Crabtree.)

The Illithiad supports a trilogy of adventures, the "Mind Flayer Trilogy," in which player characters undertake a quest to stop illithids from destroying every sun and star in the multiverse.

Yeah.

While the first adventure just sets up the whole production, introducing the illithid plot and giving the adventurers reason to take action, it's in the second adventure of the trilogy (Masters of Eternal Night) where the Forerunners make their appearance. The player characters, after an extended journey while an unnatural winter rages around them, discover an ancient, crashed illithid ship in the center of a crater. In the first area they enter, they discover the skeletons of humanoids and an illithid who died in combat. A player can identify a skeleton as something like githyanki and githzerai, but the text reveals the truth: the skeletons are far more ancient than that. They're the remnants of the forerunner species. The ship crashed during an escape from the gith rebellion.

Dozens of skeletons litter the ship. Some still in prison, many with holes punched in their skulls by long-ago tentacles, some with weapons in hand. One eerie discovery in a chamber full of supplies for taking care of thralls is a sealed elixir of youth. In 2E, the elixir of youth could make a humanoid drinker younger by two to five years. Although an illithid could certainly use this, since it's qualified as a humanoid in that edition, the presence of the elixir among other supplies intended for thralls would suggest it was also designed for their use. I don't really want to go too deep into why this is awful, so I'll leave it to your imagination.

-

Finally, though, we meet some living beings. In the garden of the ship, there's a single surviving forerunner, kept alive by the strange temporal magic of the ship. Anyone who speaks the modern gith language can manage to communicate simply with him: his name is Bomwe and he has no concept of a world beyond illithid control. The players can get little information out of the terrified man, and if they convince him to accompany them he'll obey any mind flayer without question.

Deeper inside the ship, a group of forerunners, armed and wearing "headmeshes" that protect against illithid psionics, is on the verge of overcoming a group of illithids. The DM narration is clear that if the players don't get involved, the forerunners have an 80% chance of victory. It's a guarantee if the players do jump in to help. This group, prior to the crash millennia ago, was part of the rebellion, and they were ready to win.

The leader of the group is fascinating. Going by name of Nilton, he wears illithid-skin-leather armor, a headmesh, and carries a spiked club—armed to the teeth by ancient standards. He can read a little of the illithid script, which usually requires four tentacles as well as psionic ability. He has the morale level "Fearless," meaning that barring truly exceptional circumstances he will never flee from a foe. In his statistics, he has a psionic power called "molecular rearrangement," which in its most potent form allows transmuting lead to gold or metal to glass merely by thinking. Most commonly, though, it's used to temper and strengthen weapons. A psionicist with weaponsmithing abilities can create a magic weapon simply by thinking. (Complete Psionics Handbook, AD&D 2nd Edition, p.35)

-

This gives some sense of what the rebellion under Gith might have looked like. Slaves armed with whatever they could carry, wearing the skin of their former masters for armor, with leaders capable of reshaping matter with their thoughts and withstanding any fear the illithids could throw at them. If Nilton is representative of an average leader, one can only imagine what Gith herself would have been like.

Given what we hear in the game Neverwinter Nights 2, that Zerthimon crafted the first silver sword for Gith, perhaps he did it with the use of psionics—transmuting a piece of wood or bone into a weapon fit for a queen.

TO PENUMBRA

Although Nilton will assist the characters during the remainder of the exploration of the ship, he's not mentioned again directly in the adventure. Nor is he mentioned in the opening of the final adventure of the trilogy, "Dawn of the Overmind." Hard to believe he wouldn't try to come along, though, considering that the adventurers are on their way to stopping the rise of a new illithid empire.

This adventure carries players, aboard a nautiloid ship, to the distant planet of Penumbra. It's an artificial construction, a planet-sized disc hovering in space that was once the seat of illithid power at the height of the empire. It's here that we meet the modern forerunners of the gith: the branch of the species that never left the world once ruled by the mind flayers. From here on out, I'll just refer to them as the Penumbrans.

Unlike their downright skeletal cousins among the modern gith, the Penumbrans just look like gaunt, long-limbed humans. They have black eyes, bone-colored skin, and slightly pointed ears. Only one in a hundred Penumbrans possesses any real psionic ability, unlike their universally-psionically-gifted ancestors or modern cousins. Due to the sheer size of Penumbra, millions of Penumbrans live on the disc. Some live in kingdoms, some in clans, and some—like the villagers in this adventure—live subsistence lives surrounded by monsters in the dark.

See, Penumbra's sun has been almost fully blocked out by the illithid construction. The entire planet exists in perpetual twilight, meaning that the Penumbrans all have night vision. Their eyes glow like cats' eyes in firelight (and yes, that's in a sidebar).

No one on the disc has any memory of the rebellion thousands of years ago, or any idea that they have strange cousins living on other planes. Their language is close enough to the modern gith langauge that a character who speaks it can communicate basic ideas. But, all things considered, the Penumbrans are almost a completely different species. Their role in the adventure is to set the players on the right path and give them a refuge from the dangers of Penumbra.

Although the village's chieftain has a psionic longsword, these aren't the silver-sword-wielding pirates and matter-shaping monks that players know and love. These are shepherds and weavers, who raise alien sheep and wield bronze swords at best. For players who don't plan to stay on Penumbra after the adventure is over and the illithids are stopped, the Penumbrans are just a poignant vision of what the gith elsewhere in the multiverse could have become.

MUTATION

This is where that vision takes a turn for the tragic. In the lair of one of the adventure's major villains, a pair of bizarre "tumerogenesis tanks" can be found. Any character who makes the fucking boneheaded decision to drink from the tanks (or worse, dive in) suffers a massive seizure. Then, if they're unlucky enough to fail a "system shock" roll, they start violently mutating. Their organs might climb out of their body, bits of their bodies might explode, and—my personal favorite—an arm might simply drop off and crawl away of its own accord. On the other hand, they might gain a wildly beneficial mutation: weapon invulnerability, psionic powers, and more.

Of course, this is a fun hazard and temptation for impulsive players. But it's a starkly disturbing piece of lore. While the githyanki and githzerai all hold strongly that it was their own will that gave them the strength to overcome the illithids, there's a chance that some of the ancient forerunners were put through genetic experimentation to change them into a better fighting force. Psionic, spiritual, and physical gifts, as well as changes to the body, could all have resulted from experimentation.

The Penumbrans, looking so human and lacking in gith psionics, might well be the forerunners who were never put through this mutation process.

Historical records from the period have all been destroyed. And, according to sources in all later editions of D&D, the consensus is that the forerunners acquired their power simply by ambient exposure and selective reproduction by illithids. Still, this idea lingers—that maybe the illithids truly created their own worst enemy.

If that's true, the gith may never escape the touch of their most hated enemies, even if they were to wipe out every mind flayer in the multiverse.

[book--brackets]

Welcome to the now various book competitions I run!

Current Competition (Best Childhood Book #5) Masterpost

Hello! This initially started as Best Childhood Book, but I now also run Best Childhood World and Best Fantasy Book. Competitions run on a schedule of BCB > BCW > BFB with submissions opening occasionally to fill spots.

Since we need some clarification, the definition of childhood book in this competition is as follows: a book people read in childhood that must be for a YA age group or younger and has chapters. There is a difference between “children’s” book and “childhood” book. ANY book that met those requirements could be submitted, as I am striving to keep my personal opinion out of this competition for the most part. This definition will not change for the foreseeable future.

This masterpost will be updated with links to all the polls regularly, and each poll will last 7 days. If you vote, reblog if you can so more people can vote, and feel free to campaign for your personal favorite if you want!

SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED FOR CHILDHOOD BOOKS (320/320)

SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED FOR CHILDHOOD WORLDS (192/192)

SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN FOR FANTASY BOOKS (298/320)

Please submit with the name of the book and the author. Check the lists to see if anything has been submitted before trying yourself. If a book is part of a series, it will be listed under the series name (i.e. The Lightning Thief > Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Golden Compass > His Dark Materials). You can find the current list of childhood books here. A world will be listed with its series, and you can find the current list of worlds here. You can find the current list of fantasy books here.

Poll links and rules under the cut

Help decide parameters for submissions with some fringe cases: recently published YA, adult books lots of children/teens read, retelling worlds

First Competition (here)

Second Competition (here)

Third Competition (here)

Fourth Competition (here)

BCW First Competition (here)

BFB First Competition (here)

Rules/Guidelines

3 books per submission!

Submissions for Childhood Books

Must be a middle grade or young adult book

Must have chapters

Must be able to be found on Goodreads

Submissions for Childhood Worlds

Must be the setting of a middle grade or young adult book.

Must be either a whole other world (i.e. Narnia, Panem), a setting largely separate from our own world (i.e. Hogwarts, Camp Half-Blood), or a specific setting within our own world that is invented for the purpose of that book (i.e. 221B Baker Street, Ferryport Landing)

Main characters have to have visited this place

Cannot be somewhere that already exists in our world outside that book

Submissions for Fantasy Books

Must be listed as 'fantasy' or some fantasy subgenre within the first three genres on Goodreads or Storygraph

Must be able to be found on Goodreads

Must have chapters but can otherwise be for any age range

Polls

Be respectful (no hate, no harassment, I will block you)

I'm totally okay with spam reblogs; if you want to subject your followers to seventeen copies of a poll, you do you

If you're trying to get my attention about something, @ me or submit an ask, there's no guarantee I'll see all the reblogs

In preliminary polls, if a title gets less than 2% of the vote it will be removed from the list

Propaganda

Submit it to me as an ask; I won't be reblogging personal posts or reblogs of the polls

Promote the book you're supporting; it's okay to poke fun at the other books, but please don't attack them or the authors

Only ONE (1) propaganda post per user per book. I really don't want to clog people's dashes with sixty posts about voting for a single book

Asks

Be respectful, not just to me but to all the people who will end up seeing that ask when I post it

If you're asking about a poll or a rule or anything else, please check and see if it's in this post or elsewhere

Try to keep things focused on the competition/books

Competition Hall of Fame

Childhood Books First Competition: Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Childhood Books Second Competition: Animorphs by K. A. Applegate

Childhood Books Third Competition: Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud

Childhood Books Fourth Competition: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Childhood Worlds First Competition: 35 Portland Row from Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud

Fantasy Books First Competition: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

[sabo-has-my-heart]

Hi everyone! So I thought I'd give you an update! I'm 298 followers away from 1500 followers! You know what that means? Potential followers event! There's a... sort of catch though. In 98 followers (1400) I will be putting up a poll on a couple of event options. The catch is this, I require 150 total votes to hold an event. That's only 10% of my event's total followers. The people who vote don't even necessarily have to follow me, the only requirement for the event is a total of 150 votes!

[mysterycharacterbracket]

Poll #100

Character 298: She's a snarky, morally questionable AI lady who hates her job and has little to no regard for human life in general. She often threatens to kill her employees, she killed her programmers, she adores the movie Cats(2019) to an upsetting degree, she likes to make up nicknames for people, she just wants a holiday and frequently takes simulated spa breaks. She's even bisexual!

Character 299: he’s first introduced as the man with a scar. he’s canonically gay but the worst at relationships. he accidentally slept with the prime suspect for the case he’s supposed to be working on. he’s a cop but it’s the cold case unit so it’s probably fine. he’s looking into his dad’s suicide because he thinks he was murdered. his brother used to take child him to drug dens because he wanted to get high and didn’t particularly care about his kid brother. he keeps adopting kids and they keep betraying him. he’s been helping one of the constables to rise through the police force and she calls him sarge and helps bring him back to the world of not being stupid. his godmother is high up in the police force and he aggressively refuses to be part of nepotism and then later on she gets kidnapped. his life is terrible and he gets attached to crime scenes. he received the scar on his face from another member of the police force. he’s insane. i love him

he keeps getting info from the guy in charge of the mob. his friends keep turning out to be serial killers. he & one other police guy keep attacking police corruption but nobody likes them so it’s pretty slow. he has the worst taste in men. he straight up asked one guy “did you kill my dad?” and he once managed to break through a wall in a house on fire by scraping the slightly wet cement out from between the bricks and then running at the wall really hard. he’s literally a lunatic. i love this guy so much

Character 300: A short boy who starts out as a typical nerd stereotype but one rock concert later he starts to unleash his sass, he can be kind of a jerk sometimes actually but most of the time he is a cinnamon roll. Literally sang a rock song about following the rules, yeah. Despite the rock concert he still is and probably always will be obsessed with grades (boy almost got a panic attack because he got an A instead of A+) Has a comfort show that he references to often and trusts more then his own logic when in stressful situation. He is super smart but can't read social cues sometimes. Is often carried like a luggage and ends up okay with that. He litterally cloned himself because he couldn't make any decisions and when he had enough of his clones he went 'oh. wait. I can get revange on my friend-bully now" and he almost did, got pied in the face in the aftermatch though. He's a sweetie pie, the boy ever, one of the best characters in the whole show. You can't hate him, it's impossible.

[hot-take-tournament]

HOT TAKE TOURNAMENT

PRE-PRELIMINARY: #21

Submission 298

"Room temperature water is the best drink"

Ice water is too cold and messes with your sense of taste. Soda pop and coffee and tea should be used sparingly (and coffee is the worst tasting drink submitter has ever had). Juices are on thin, thin ice.

Pre-preliminaries will be used to determine what qualifies as a hot take. Propaganda is encouraged!

Also, remember to reblog your favourite polls for exposure! (exposure like when your exposed to critical levels of radiation)

[benoits-neckerchieves]

Hey guys! Thank you to the 298 people who voted in my Daniel Craig poll, and an extra thank you to those who left comments / tags, it’s been really interesting for me! If you wanna know how it went, I’ve made a little graph :)

Note: commented / tagged answers that weren’t originally options have been added as their own category and deducted from the ‘other’ %. The remaining votes for ‘other’ were unspecified. You can see the poll here.

[original-character-championship]

Bracket E Second Half!!

These will have their polls posted on Friday the 7th at 5pm GMT!!

289. Kat & Penguino (@cat-penguin-anon)

290. Blik (@ghaststation)

291. Carter Howard (@honeyxmonkey)

292. Playlist ghost - Sparky (@pinkpegacorn)

293. Tuesday Anthony Psychonauts2 (@lizardspells)

294. Beans (@la-banda-de-estrellas)

295. Marc & Pernelle (@ardate)

296. Mark White (@sussy-sammy)

297. Dr. Wyre (@opal-mew)

298. Lamp (@magolordidsomethingwrong)

299. Tiff (@queenofgooberville)

300. Master Healer Nahcurii  (@silverolivia-upsidedown)

301. Esma Sayın [sigh-in, not saying] (@frutigermetro)

302. Vera F. (@creativeidealist)

303. Hatchet Henderson  (@lemmegettamcpictwo)

304. Iridia Thickett (@starryneitz)

305. Theodosia "Hope" Rosegold (@scissorsvspaper)

306. Charm (@unstable-0xz)

307. Sprocket (@blueemberthefox)

308. Sae (@aroaceundynestuff) - Deactivated?? What do I do with that???

309. Abigail (@minecraft-stee)

310. Luca Carver (@threeslashfive)

311. Thalia (@theoneandonlyastrea)

312. Willow Ight (@drowninnoodles)

313. Kiru - technical name Replica Vessel 0.1 (@hallowed-nebulae)

314. Cadmus (@marv3l-drag0ns)

315. Bashira "Bella" Izumi (@bellaizumi13)

316. Dizzy (@certifieditsbo)

317. Aisling Akechi (@texeoghea)

318. Zarr (@nokaru)

319. Juette Raynes (@juette)

320. Spencer & Flynn (@onebigskillissue)

[windsroad]

Tumblr plays Ravenloft - update 15

result of the last poll: we take 5 damage.

So, here’s my shorthand explanation of how this works: we got level drained by two levels. Now, instead of being fifteenth level paladin, we are now a thirteenth level paladin. What this means is we lost access to our fourth level Cure Serious Wounds spell, one first level spell of our choice, and 6 hit points from our max HP.

So, we are now level 13 and our max HP is reduced by 6, from 79 to 73.

And we move on to 149:

You stand there bewildered—and alarmed! What kind of enemy have you taken on, anyway?

Seeing the expression on your face, Ireena says, “The count is a powerful magic-user, Jeren. He’s been practicing his evil arts longer than anyone knows. Those powers, along with the powers of a vampire—” She stops abruptly as a look of fear crosses her face. She clutches your arm.

“Oh please, Jeren! You must stop Strahd!”

If you are in the chapel, turn to 331; the throne room, 163; the dining room, 186; the belfry, 298; the crypt, 121.

[eccebitch]

hotd & the anarchy

I did a poll recently about how much people knew about the Anarchy, a period of civil war in early English history, and most people said they were not familiar with it, or not very familiar. I was originally going to do a really long post explaining all the historical context, but let's be real, you have access to wikipedia and nothing I'm going to say is going to be more researched than a wiki entry. what I can do for you is put it down quickly and easily, so! the anarchy, and what it has to do with asoiaf / hotd / the conflict known as the Dance of Dragons* in Fire & Blood.

*From here on, when I'm referring to the Dance of Dragons, I'm specifically referring to the events that take place in F&B, not the book with the similar name in the main ASOIAF series.

THESIS:

the Dance of Dragons is based on the Anarchy.

making Rhaenyra based on, or at least inspired by, Empress Matilda.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN:

The way the Anarchy ends historically is extremely similar to how the Dance of Dragons conflict ends in Fire & Blood, and will probably have some bearing on the ending of HOTD. So stop reading if you want to avoid spoilers.

WHAT ARE THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THESE CONFLICTS? The granddaughter of William the Conqueror (the obvious basis for Aegon the Conqueror), Empress Matilda was a really interesting historical figure who isn't well-remembered today, which is a shame because her life was batshit interesting.

Below is a very (very!) brief overview of her actions, and how they compare to the events in the Dance of Dragons:

While Matilda's father King Henry I had many children, he only had two in his legal marriage. One was the prince and heir, and one was Matilda.

The prince, and about 298 other people, fucking died in the White Ship Disaster. (The White Ship Disaster is really interesting in and of itself and I could go into more detail, but you ain't here for that, so I'll spare you. But at least give the Wikipedia page a look if you're interested in bizarre episodes in royal history. Anyway, moving on!)

Daddy needs an heir! He grabs his daughter - who had been married to the Holy Roman Emperor (thus the title Empress) - and made all the lords in England and Normandy swear to accept her as heir.

(exactly like Viserys does with Rhaenyra)

Matilda is extremely hesitant to marry - after an emperor (he's dead now), everyone's a kind of a letdown. Eventually, she marries a foppish French duke, Geoffrey V of Anjou. (This is where the Angevin dynasty started, for those keeping track.)

(could Geoffrey V be an inspiration for Laenor? Entirely possible! I do think one of Rhaenyra's kids being named Joffrey is a homage; Matilda's second son was named Geoffrey after his father.)

When King Henry I dies, Matilda is away in Normandy with her family.

(similar to how Rhaenyra is away at Dragonstone when Viserys dies)

Matilda's cousin Stephen of Blois takes this opportunity to crown himself king as the eldest male heir.

(could Stephen of Blois be an inspiration for Daemon? I think it's possible - at the very least, the Dance of Dragons feels partially like a what-if scenario: what if Matilda had been able to shore up her support by marrying another male heir? What if Henry I had more legal children? etc)

When Matilda finally comes back to England, she does so with full military force, and the conflict between her and Stephen's forces plunge England into a period of war so bad it's commonly known as 'the Anarchy', because no one was in charge.

(Similarly, the period of civil war between the Greens and the Blacks gets its own soubriquet, though, in the Fire & Blood book, it's noted that the 'Dance of Dragons' name is too poetic and hides the real bloodshed)

During this conflict, Stephen's wife - also named Matilda, but we'll call her Maud to differentiate - briefly commands some troops in London; Maud is held up by contemporary sources as an ideal woman for her daring and bravery... things that Matilda is castigated for in the same sources.

(This is, to me at least, similar to how Alicent is treated vs Rhaenyra, because Alicent tries to work more within the extant political systems - only claiming power for male heirs, not herself etc - while Rhaenyra does similar but is seen negatively for it. I do think that Maud is a partial inspiration for Alicent.)

Neither Matilda nor Stephen are ever able to completely claim victory over each other, and eventually, the war ends in a stalemate.

By this time, Matilda's son Henry II is grown. (This is the Henry II who married Eleanor of Aquitaine and is played by Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter, for those keeping track.)

Matilda stops trying to claim power for herself and begins putting her son forward as heir. Henry II is an excellent commander who becomes known to the people of England. When peace talks with Stephen finally begin, they're between Stephen and Henry; Matilda stays in France.

Eventually, Stephen agrees to declare Henry II as his heir, and it goes smoothly enough; Henry II is king of England.

(This is similar to how Rhaenyra never definitively 'wins' the dance of dragons, but her son is king.)

tl;dr the clear similarities between these two events, one historical and one fictional, point to GRRM's interest in medieval history and his continued use of it as a source of inspiration in building out Westeros. I think his tragic ending for Rhaenyra is extremely intentional because it reflects Matilda's real life.

[writesaboutdragons]

365 Promises of God

Day 298 – Vengeance is Mine. I Will Repay

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but [rather] give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance [is] Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. (Rom 12:19 NKJV)

Read: Romans 12

In the movie, The Godfather II, Antonio Andolini refuses to pay tribute to Don Ciccio, and is murdered. His sons vow revenge, but one is murdered, and the other, Vito, barely gets away, because his mother holds Ciccio at knife point. They murder Vito’s mother and search the town for him, but the townspeople help Vito hide and escape. He changes his name to Cito Corleone to evade the mob. After 20 years, he returns to Sicily, where Don Ciccio is now an 80-year-old man. He has returned under the pretext of getting Don Ciccio’s ‘blessing’ for Vito to start up an olive oil company, but his real reason for being there is revenge.

The two bodyguards who murdered his family, Mosca and Strollo are first to go. When Vito comes to Ciccio and kisses his mafia ring, Don Ciccio asks him who his father is. Vito delivers the most memorable line in the movie. “My father's name is Antonio Andolini. And this is for you”, immediately slicing him open.

He and his partner barely escape with their lives, but the scene is extremely satisfying to the general public. The old mafia boss had it coming to him, slaughtering that family without mercy. In fact, many people asked why he waited twenty years to exact revenge?

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” It’s a maxim quoted by Khan in Star Trek III, The Wrath of Khan. It’s origins are fuzzy, but the idiom is at least 200 years old. It means that it’s best to wait, bide your time, until your victim does not expect it. Till they believe they’ve gotten away with what they did.

Public opinion polls are mixed on this subject, but the vast majority believe that nobody wants to wait for cold revenge. They want it hot and ready, as soon as an offense is known. Even if there’s no time to plan and plot. Less right now is better than perfect revenge 20 years from now.

But the Bible has a different idiom to share, dear Christian. It’s our verse for today. While we might want to exact revenge, it’s not God’s way to let us do this. It allows sin in the camp. Instead, God suggests we pray for them. Serve them. Give them food and drink. Because God isn’t blind, and he’ll take revenge, in due time, and his justice will be perfect.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to wait on you, for I know that you love me and will repay. Help me trust you more, today. Amen