#That's the main thing stopping me from beginning the actual comic lol

[rosie-lav-art]

Various sketches and doodles from today :]

The comic I plan on making this year is kind of an ambitious project for me, so I'm trying to push myself to try new things as often as possible.

I hope yall enjoy seeing the beginning of this stuff, I know it's not perfect but I can only get better!

[ineffable-endearments]

Trying to picture where Crowley goes from the end of S2 and it looks like this to me:

Sticking around Soho: I have read lots of fic and seen lots of art for this premise that I love. However, if I'm going to try to guess where actual canon might go, this option seems both too painful for him as a character and too stagnant for the story. Like, wasn't the point of the beginning of the season that he had stagnated? It feels like the Final Fifteen was the cataclysm that had finally broken that stagnation. Something about the flow of Crowley staying in or near Soho, or his Mayfair apartment, for that matter, doesn't seem right.

Going off to live his own solitary life, like as a hermit or as a snake in a cave or something: Seems way too boring for Crowley. He needs things to do.

Going off to live in a human community: This could happen. I could see him living in a human community that he wants to protect from the Second Coming. But it seems a little too healthy and well-adjusted for the climax of the story's conflict, right? No? Maybe? I think we see many signs that Crowley is moving in this direction in Season 2, but he might not quite be there yet. Or he could be! I started off thinking this probably isn't it because it felt too easy, but there's a bit of poetry to the Serpent establishing his very own Garden that he wants to protect and, after everything is said and done, accepting a lost angel into it. Er, maybe that's a bit too sugary or uneven. Idk. I'm rambling.

Going back to Hell to become a "proper" demon: Lol.

Going back to Hell to fight against Heaven: Mmmmaybe? My main problem with this is the fact that the strings in Hell are ultimately pulled by the same people/person who run things in Heaven (the Metatron?), and while I'm not sure he's explicitly said anything about it in the show yet, I think Crowley is savvy enough to figure that out. So rejoining Hell simply to abide by their rules and start another war does not seem exactly right. One of his primary points in the Final Fifteen was that you can't fight an oppressive system by cooperating with it, and in the end, Hell is cooperating with the system as much as Heaven is. I guess we could assume Crowley hasn't quite figured it out yet, and his discovery of who's really in charge could be a plot point.

Going back to Hell to agitate the demons to revolt: This feels pretty good to me. Whether it's by taking on a position of authority and secretly feeding a resistance or by taking advantage of the chaos to establish an openly-rebellious group, I feel like Crowley could do this. It feels right for a moment of high conflict because it would involve significant character growth - Crowley choosing to embark on a mission to save the world instead of haphazardly getting thrown into it. However, since he'd be actively working to undermine Hell and would have to figure out where he belongs if the system does indeed collapse, encouraging resistance would not, on its own, get him to where he needs or wants to be. There would still be plenty of room for change and growth.

Maybe, if Crowley tempts his fellow demons to enjoy Earth things like Aziraphale does, he could slowly get them working toward stopping any future Armageddons just because they, too, have found things they like on Earth. Encouraging demons to enjoy Earth would potentially give Crowley a chance to work with more humans. It would also give him a chance to work toward one goal (Hell saves Earth?) only to accidentally accomplish another (demons discover free will).

Mandatory acknowledgment that I could be COMICALLY wrong here.

[distort-opia]

My condolences for your disappointment with the main continuity. Fortunately I don't have idea what is happening right now lol the last thing I see in my tl was about Joker ignoring batman and wanting to talk with a random guy about himself, but I'm not sure if this was written by Zdarsky or not. Honestly, DC should plan they comic like every other people from artistic industry plan their stories, plan arcs, character development, etc. Or just go back to episodic issues like in the beginning of batman in the 1940s.

I don't know if you feel the same, but every year that passes DC wants to make everything bigger, greater, and I just feel this doesn't suit Batman universe at all. Tô be honest, I just like that all his villain are just... "normal" people that went mad with the world and want to make it pay, and batman suit this because he's the same. That's what's make him different, for me at least. I feel this way everytime I go back to read early comic or the btas series, of how relatable everyone is, the villains and heroes.

Thank you, hah. You think you've killed any possible expectations you might have of DC, but then some shit comes out and you discover that hey, there is space for disappointment. And the comic you're mentioning is probably Batman/Dylan Dog, that one's not in continuity. To be honest, most of the better stories recently aren't. If you've managed to stay away from the main run, I don't much recommend catching up.

I do agree that DC's choice to keep upping the stakes just doesn't work. The human element that made Batman stories so great gets lost. They've turned both Batman and Joker into hollow characters at this point and just. This one panel made me cringe:

Stop it. Fucking Superman exists, and not only! Everyone already knows they're dangerous, why have it spelled out in such blatantly overpowered and exaggerated terms? Making everything about Batman and Joker and how dangerous they are is taking their mythology out of Gotham, and out of the very human and relatable framework they were created in.

DC does need to go back to smaller stories for Batman, but also I am begging for any of the events that happened to matter. Just have some consequences stick, some sort of lesson learned and not just the same story repeating itself again and again and again. Now that they've reinstated the status quo... let's see how long it takes for Something Bad to happen, causing Batman to distance himself from his Family, and then he's Mean and Angry and has to learn that actually he loves his Family and they're not his soldiers, they're his children. Again.

[munchboxart]

Yapping about TFONE, major spoilers, so do not read if you haven't watched it yet

Also as I write this, keep in mind that the only TF media I've consumed is TFP (my fav), TFA, RID2015, most of the Bayverse movies and some bits of IDW (I..... mainly read Soundwave's and Shockwave's wiki sorry 😔 but I do hear some bits of other story lines too) and G1

First things first, this movie is fucking awesome. it's been SUCH a long time since we got a movie/show that has focused on Cybertron or the bots ALONE. I know the comics/games have been doing that but shows and movies are the most easiest consumable form of content, so to get that is fucking amazing. Secondly, it's amazing that we finally get a story that's mainly focused on MEGOP's background (I'm pretty sure the comics also has it covered but I'll mainly be talking about films/shows, sorry I still haven't read IDW, I know it slams cheeks).

I'm really happy they actually changed things up a bit for the story compared to other iterations. I'm not sure how common it is for OP to be a miner, but I think it helps solidify MEGOP's relationship a bit more compared to the archivist and miner/gladiator role that I think is more common? I'm also surprised many of the Autobots, if not all of the ones we know, are actually miners as well, while all of the Decepticons were part of the High Guard, but I'm pretty sure it's to keep the movie simple so I don't mind (like TFP has 3 books IIRC covering the entire story, good god).

I'm surprised the Quintessons are actually still a major threat, though I'm also surprised that they removed the 4 faces thing... I thought that was the coolest part about them 🙁 Either that or they just haven't shown them. Though, I do like how they incorporated them into the story, it's really interesting. Also I think the dome part over the entirety of Cybertron is new? Sure I guess. And also robotic deer.... Whatever man LMFAO I can excuse the grass and earth matter but I don't know about deer

Also! I'm happy that the 13 primes was actually brought up and shown on screen! Like usually it's just a mention or something but no, they're on screen! We can see their faces! Also, Megatronus having the Decepticon logo as his face (like Tarn) made me lol.

The biggest surprise to me was Arachnid actually being a loyal follower of Sentinel Prime? All my life I've known her as a lone wolf, so this new approach for her is really cool. Not a bad change I say!

As for the main story, I really really love that you get to see D-16's descent into his villain arc. Like the first time he killed a bot, you can tell the shift has changed, even before he went up all over Orion's face. I will say, I kind of wish they pushed Megatron's motivation to "take over Cybertron" because he doesn't trust any more leaders a bit further? Like maybe a speech after Sentinels death, but I suppose he already did one with the High Guard, but I think one with the entirety of Iacon would be good so there could be more merit to his cause. Unless he did one and I forgot then whoops 💀

Also the scene where Sentinel carved the Decepticon insignia into D-16 was raw as fuck. HOLLLYYY SHIT IT WAS SO COOL I couldn't stop giggling and kicking my feet

Anyways, one major thing I kind of have a gripe with is that having the Matrix of Leadership makes Energon flow again throughout the planet...? I think? Because what causes most of the wars over Cybertron (I think) was yes, political ideals, but also the battle over Energon (because they were running out). Though correct me if I'm wrong on that one. I don't know, it just feels like half of the desperation of winning the war is gone, but maybe it's also just because it's the beginning of what's to come. Maybe Primus gets sick or something, who knows.

Other than that, I think it's a really solid movie, especially for newcomers. I've been hearing there's new TF fans coming from TF ONE which is really good! Like we've been getting flop after flop of TF movies so this is such a nice change, especially now that it's actually focused on the bots!

Sorry, side tangent. Who thought the humans thing was a good idea. Like every time you go into the TF fandom, when have you seen the humans? I don't even remember the last time I saw actual fanart of the human cast of any iteration. The first thing you will fucking see is bot on bot action let's be serious here.

ANYWAYS I LOVE TF ONE, I hope it motivates Hasbro to make more TF media that's focused on the bots instead of fucking EARTHHHH

[drdemonprince]

A bit late to the party and a tad bit longer than planned(sorry), but I dream of programming my own living sex toy.

We would be roommates, my flat (that's the most unrealistic thing about the scenario right here lol) that I rent very cheap near a college so I can pick the hottest person applying, ideally a new student so no family or friends here. Once they move in I slowly start manipulating them. Playing hypno audios when they sleep, putting light aphrodisiacs in their food, gaslighting them on progressively bigger things to get them relying on me more and more.

I want to pretend to be their friend and have long talks where I slowly convince them that their family is abusive and they should cut contact. It would be easy considering I am already blasting them on many other fronts and at that point they would be too stressed trying to keep up with college, while becoming too dumb and horny to offer much resistance. I hope they do though just so I can stop the argument via hypnotically dropping them and leaving them more untethered and confused than before. I actually want them to freak out while we fuck so I can stop, keep my cock in them and see how the ,by then intense, programming slowly pulls them under again and they start rocking into it. Actively see the fight disappear.

Once it is in deep the actual toy part begins. I want to programm certain settings into it so via simple triggers I can have it switch between modes. Sometimes I would want an actual doll, no ability to move themselves, sometimes a puppy desperate to be filled, maybe even allow it some higher function back so I can have it work when I don't need it.

The power of having someone utterly under my control is the obvious kink here but far hotter to me would be the knowledge that it was involuntary and that I programmed it. The ensuing sex isn't the main focus. I would want the toy to respond like it's enjoyable, seeing it in pain sparks no joy, the hotness comes from knowing it only enjoys it because I programmed it like that.

That's why I want to be able to sometimes "reset" it only to pull it down again. That moment in it's eyes when it glides into trance would be the hottest thing ever. I would always want it to feel pleasure, the catch being that the pleasure wouldn't be there without my programming. Also the thought of a hypersensitive toy coming simply from pleasuring me or me telling it to come is hot.

This is also why I won't look for a CNC partner for now. Having an actual human involved that could resist and judge takes away a lot of the appeal. My main source of shame isn't wanting to corrupt, it's wanting to have an actual human following my every command and order instead of having a partner I share equal responsibility with and of whom I take care when they need it (instead of putting a dildo in them and storing them away when useful). That said I actually want that equal living together too, I would just not have sex with that person, because vanilla sex holds no appeal to me and I actually do care about consent IRL.

Sadly I have a hard time finding good hentai or comics where the main focus is the corruption itself not the fucking afterwards but I make do.

Anyways, thanks for letting us share these things. Some of the other asks that were sent in were incredibly hot and it was nice actually writing my fantasies down for the first time and claiming them as mine, not just a fic I wrote as a prompt.

ANON YOU ARE KILLING ME THIS IS THE HOTTEST SHIT EVER. this is one of my top fantasies. and largely what some of my favorite hypno erotica that i've written is about. i wanna live this scenario for real. this is why i'm saving for an early retirement dog. so i can be someone's brainwashed live in hole. hit me up when you are emotionally prepared to be a 24/7 sadistic owner for real

okay. im gonna compose myself. thank you for sharing. but seriously call me

[lonelyroommp3]

share with us ummm. What You'd Like To See More Of and/or What You'd Like To See Less Of from ms. taylor swift

my More Of and Less Of are kind of two sides of the same coin so this is going to be a combined answer, but basically i feel like over the past couple of eras (particularly in ttpd, but you can see the seeds of it in midnights and even in certain vault tracks from the rerecordings naming no names atw10) she's leaned into the perception some fans have of her music as Very Clever Lore Dumps Filled With Easter Eggs And Elaborate Symbolism And Vocab Words and her songs have become an increasingly flanderised version of this perception at the expense of what she is actually best at - i.e. songs that have a clever balance of confessional specificity and general public relatability while also being fucking bangers

it's particularly depressing because i'd really, truly say say up to and including folklore/evermore (with the exception of the lakes, which i honestly do not like one bit & think was the beginning of the end for this sort of thing, lol) she was one of the most consistently fantastic lyricists in the main pop girlie game, that was really her entire USP, and now it's honestly really rare that i listen to a newer song of hers that doesn't have at least one clunker of a line that makes me actually wince. and all of the ones that have that effect for me are the ones where she gets overly verbose for the sake of it (i find "how did it end" unlistenable for this very reason which is a shame because i think the concept behind the song is fantastic and i WISH i could love it) or the ones where she wraps herself up in trying to drop so much personal lore that it stops making sense to anyone who isn't listening to her music with the mindset of a genius.com annotator (e.g. the "spider boy, king of thieves" verse in karma which i lowkey have to brace myself to get through hahaha). it's astonishing and saddening to look back on songs from earlier in her career where she drops extremely specific personal details but in a way that is snappy and effective and cohesive and, most importantly, makes sense to a casual listener who knows nothing about taylor swift's life story - for example, the bridge of "out of the woods", or the "tilted stage" line in lwymmd which is clearly about kanye's tour staging if you're in the know but makes sense as a metaphor for unfair treatment if you have no idea of the context of the song. like where's THAT tswift lyricism now!!!!

(this clear decline in lyrical quality is, by the way, THE reason why i believe atw10, or at least the version of it that made it to red tv, is a post-2020 invention. the difference in lyrical style between the og sections and the new verses is so stark it'd almost be comical if it wasn't such a miserable downgrade of an already perfect song lol)

so basically my extremely simplified TL;DR in a format that actually matches your question: More Of good lyrics, Less Of bad ones 😁

[ryuichirou]

Replies

It’s July! Couldn’t write any shorter replies over the weekends, let’s catch up a little bit.

Most of them are related to things that we posted lately, but not all of them.

Starting with the Lilidia comic from yesterday.

Anonymous asked:

I feel disappointed in myself for thinking ilia and idia pic was going to be nsfw and doing all sort of stuff so I can see it with out anyone else.seeing what I'm looking at (in public)

Don’t be disappointed in yourself, Anon, this is the exact reaction that I wanted to get from this comic… Sometimes their gaming sessions get very heated and intense~

It’s been a while since we posted anything spicy with these two though, that’s true 🤔

Anonymous asked:

Istg, even when Idia’s DRUNK he sounds adorable.

(related to this hc post)

He is just way too much of a babygirl, isn’t he, Anon? Maybe it’s because I just can’t stop woobifying him lol But he really would be absolutely helpless against alcohol… Someone should record his drunk mumbling…

Anonymous asked:

lol is this comic a "what if" of book 4 where Riddle accepts Floyd's offer to stay with Octavinelle during winter break? Have fun goldfishie!

(this is related to this comiс)

YES!!! I’m glad you noticed! I couldn’t stop thinking about this scenario. Poor fishies are bored out of their minds celebrating the new years together, adding Riddle would make the dynamic so fun and fresh! At least for Floyd, I guess…

I drew this sketch in March, and now it’s July… winter break never ends 😎 happy new year!

Anonymous asked:

1. I just have this very strong feeling that Floyd got Riddle drunk for that exact reason.

2. I also have a strong feeling that Riddle's gonna come to in the morning and not know what just happened or what to do next besides blow his top and start screaming or something.

You are absolutely right, Anon, especially when it comes to the second thing lol Riddle is going to have an amazing beginning of the year. He experienced so many new things the night before…! And he remembers none of them. He does feel hangover + some other interesting sensations in his other regions though…

Anonymous asked:

Crewel would be my fave teacher, doesn't matter how mean he is. He just seems like someone interesting to be around.

Do y'all like Crewel in a way like that? Or any other teacher?

(this is related to this pic)

I agree, Anon! Crewel does seem like a scary but very cool teacher, who is young enough to feel somewhat relatable but also old enough to have this feel of “I’ve seen things, you all are just pups” lol

The comic was actually inspired by the thing my English teacher at the uni said to us instead of his introduction. He was about Crewel’s age, liked to dress up and bullied the boys a little bit lol I don’t know, he was professional but also a bit unprofessional at the same time because teaching us wasn’t his main source of income, so he basically just wanted us to know English and was an asshole about it all the time. But in a motivational way, I guess. He was also that one teacher that told me that I should draw for a living instead of being a sociologist.

Personal stories aside, I think my favourite teacher would be Trein LOL I used to fall asleep during classes all the time, so it would be difficult for me to stay awake during his lectures, and he is also hella strict, but I love winning over this type of teachers. It’s fun when they are mad at everyone except for you.

And Katsu finds teachers like Crewel to be scary and is a bit intimidated (literally said “terrified”) by him… Katsu would also be very distracted by his whole BDSM thing lol

Anonymous asked:

He just needs to sleep with Deuce that'll wake him up

Sleeping with Deuce is better than drinking coffee…! It could also distract Crewel from the lesson and give the rest of the class 40 minutes of free time lol I think Deuce should take this “bullet” for the boys.

Anonymous asked:

(¿spolier chapter 7?)  I saw Kalim's new clothing and thought about your Sultan looking for heir-Jamil please rethink your lifechoices-AU (I need to see how Jamil's plan ends up biting him in the butt in that AU.. Jami mama). By the way, what do you think Kalim's dream will be like? I think he already inherited his family's wealth (what!?), that dream Jamil remains a mystery tho.... whatsoever, It's going to be distressing, juicy and long-suffering Kalijami! (the best Kalijami imo!)

The attire really is similar! Well, no surprises here, since I based Kalim’s and Jamil’s clothing on the Sultan’s and Jafar’s, but still, it’s cool to see Kalim dressed like that. I am also happy to hear that you like this AU! Jamil’s plan is inevitably going to bite him in the butt, this is how things always are with Jamil lol

Since we haven’t read any of ch7 yet, I really can’t answer your question. While it’s inevitable to see snippets here and there, we don’t know anything about how the dreams work yet (no spoilers please). But you’ll find it out soon enough anyway!

Anonymous asked:

It's no secret you guys enjoy horror and gore! Somehow you draw it so beautiful *chef kiss*

I was wondering, have you guys ever seen/played Boyfriend to Death(+2) and The Price of Flesh?

It has a bunch of horror and gore in it dark all over and ofc it being an 18+ game there is 👀 you know 👀. But the characters are what's so great about it !

I really like Ren of out of all of them <3

If you do check it out, I highly recommend you check out their warning charts for the characters routes just in case because it does get VERY dark ( maybe I am over dramatic here but I don't know how else to put it without spoiling certain parts of the characters)

But also reading the about info on the carrd I don't think the warnings would be an issue ✨ but I thought I'd mention it just in case you two wanted to look it over!

I recently got into it and your account was the first thing that popped into mind when I finished playing the first two games ✨

Anon!! <3 I’m happy you like our horror stuff! And I am also very happy that you think of our account when you get into some creepy and messed-up stuff, this is super flattering to be honest lol

So thank you for the recommendations! We haven’t played/seen anything that you’ve mentioned, but it does sound promising with how you’re describing it. We’ll look into it, even though I can’t promise anything… still, it’s very appreciated!

Thank you again for your ask and for thinking about us.

[murksou]

Give us your Tales of Aether gripes Tumblr needs this

Ohhhh god I’m going to bullet point this so that this doesn’t turn into a second rendition of my 40 page essay about this nonsense.

1. World building is lackluster compared to what they could have done considering that this is a comic series that COULD have given more life to the characters and the environment rather than have it be action 24/7 like all of its other media (Rivals of Aether, Creatures of Aether, Dungeons of Aether…) I’m convinced all these people do is FIGHT

2. Expectations were completely disappointed upon considering that a large portion of the comic does NOT take place in the futuristic city that was previously associated with Clairen and Clairen ISN’T the city-dwelling rebel that some of us were expecting.

3. Clairen’s character is COMPLETELY turned on her head from the compassionate, kind, thoughtful and determined person we were told she was into this strange vengeful, bloodlust driven monster that thought a single blow to the face would kill a robot.

4. Despite being some of the more important things about Clairen her lineage (being RIGHTFUL EMPRESS) and her fire abilities are HARDLY ever a point of contention outside of the first issue of the comic series. It’s seen only again in issue 3 and then in issue 4 it’s only mentioned in passing.

5. Because of Clairen being turned into a vengeful person she kinda became exactly the opposite of who she really should be, using the excuse of her mother’s death as a motive for her actions when she doesn’t even THINK about her for a large portion of the comic other than to mention the reason for her mission.

6. Most of the characters other than Clairen are forgettable considering that the comic doesn’t give us a reason to really care about them other than if you have empathy and you feel bad for what they are going through. If you didn’t care about them before you won’t care about them here.

7. Loxodont is an extremely sorry excuse for a villain considering that the only things that are to make us “hate” him is that Clairen ACCUSES him of killing her mother and twisting the truth of history when we have no other outside source proving this as fact (within the comic itself). He’s just an end goal to defeat, not really a villain that is terrible and needs to be stopped.

8. The comic doesn’t actually end, which is expected for people who knew the franchise but for those who are having it as a first impression this could have been a disappointing shock.

TLDR. Clairen, Mollo, and plenty others got done DIRTY and you’re expected to fill in the gaps for what you think makes the villain a villain to begin with aside from the main character’s assumptions.

IF Loxodont was to be a good villain to make us think about stuff then they would give EVIDENCE of his actions and his REASONING so that we could decide if he’s bad or not. Not this nonsense where we’re asked to think up of ways he’s a bad guy.

This comic makes me angry for a variety of things, mostly bias, but I already made a 40 page essay about that. You don’t need another one lol.

[fefairys]

17.) describe the “required reading” to understand your vision. be as pretentious as possible.

wow this asker seems really cool and sexy everyone should go follow him omg... haha but fr i just wanted to talk abt this one and theres nothing u can do to stop me. this got long >:)

homestuck of course. homestuck is required reading for literally anything i make, just to better understand where i'm coming from as a person even if it never comes up in the thing itself. but for psy specifically, it comes up A LOT especially when it comes to quadrants. these guys relationships are so fucking quadrant-pilled its insane.

even though its based off of saiki k, i honestly dont consider saiki k "required reading" as much as the rest of the stuff im listing here. like, at worst, knowing saiki k will just mean you know which bits we stole and how unoriginal the whole thing is lmao. but i still recommend it. its fun.

death note is a huge one. surprisingly so. we did not plan that from the beginning lmao but we rewatched death note like right before(/during? idk) writing to get closer to jett's character, and we ended up putting a LOT of death note parallels into it. watching death note will not only help u understand jett as a person better, but will support your analysis of the comic itself better. it all about death note, bro. only knowing the basic premise of death note does NOTHING u have to know the intricacies to know what the hell im talking about. we've already seen this a little bit. "what would L say?" that line is the start of Everything.

the truman show! not as huge as death note, but there are a lot of themes carried over and a lot of inspiration. and it's psy's favorite movie! i wont talk about this one too much bc psy will do that later. but something psy fails to consider is how the comic itself is sort of truman show-ing them lol. they dont even think about it, or really see it that way because they [think they] are the one controlling it. but yeah.

specifically for understanding melody: legally blonde (the movie) because it cracked her egg. other than that i dont think it's THAT thematically relevant but u could definitely make some cases for that as well. (make some cases. get it. lawyer joke.)

specifically for understanding tate: his playlist. because psy is in control of the narrative, tate isn't allowed to be shown as sympathetically as We actually see him. his main Traumas that inform who he is as a person are almost never touched on, only ever vaguely hinted at. but you can learn a LOT more about him if you listen to his playlist and pay attention to the lyrics.

honestly, give a listen to everyone's playlists and pay attention to the lyrics. there's a LOT of analysis to be done there. (though keep in mind some of the songs r just on there cuz they're songs the characters like and have nothing to do with them thematically lol. fun game figuring out which is which!) (actually i made a chart for that lol)

[atravelersnotes]

my two cents on the 4.1 event Waterborne Poetry

so, I have finally finished the main story for this event. And I am willing to admit I postponed it quite a bit because everyone trashtalking it made me less than enthusiastic to check it out, even though I had been spoiled on the fact that it revolved around one of my favorite stories in the entire game - the spring fairy - I assumed not so many people could be this horribly mistaken, right?

Well, they are, and I am here to explain why I liked this event so much. Even before the story was over it got me teary eyed with the beauty of Genshin Impact.

First things first, it is my belief that Genshin Impact is a love story. Not in the traditional sense of romantic love - not necessarily, perhaps - but a story of platonic or ideal love more likely, because a forbidden love is what caused the first recorded wave of destruction ("cataclysm") in Teyvat - when the Seelie and the (possibly human, possibly traveler-from-afar) would marry in the moon palace as witnessed by the three moon sisters, the earth was ripped asunder and the lovers tried to flee but disaster caught up, and they were forbidden to ever see eachother again.

If we believe in the idea that Teyvat is cyclic, perhaps this very story is happening again. And again. And again ... for they mustn't be together.

The story of Genshin Impact often speaks in metaphors, and at times the unsaid is just as important as the said - does mi muhe ye actually mean "I love you" ? How is Kaeya the captain of the cavalry if there are no horses in Teyvat that we know? Why are symbols like wolves, the moon, flowers in particular shapes and so many others evoked over and over? What does it all mean? Well, I don't know. This is why I am a lore theorist not a Hoyo spy, lol. I can only guess.

A lot of very important lore points were said in this event. A lot were left unsaid, but can be inferred through parallels and metaphors. A lot were lost in translation, but that's something else. Every language that's not Chinese seems to have struggled with the hidden meanings in poems. Sadly, because I feel like they're big.

But let me talk about the things I did witness - Callirhoe being obviously the biggest one and anyone who's been paying attention knew her identity as an Oceanid right away, because that's what we got in the 3.8 event and Fontaine in general too. Less obvious were her ties to the Spring Fairy story. The people complaining about them made absolutely no sense though, considering the 1.4 event Wishful Drops had the same theme lol. "I don't like events about NPCs" man how about you stop playing Genshin then, why did you even start? Since the 1.4 event the identities of the oceanids and eidolons involved in the Spring Fairy story were unclear - indeed, it seemed to be heavily implied that Rhodeia was the one Old Finch pinned for - but now it's all very clear. The possibility that things have been retconned exist for reasons I will talk about later, but anyways.

Then, the point about shapeshifting being cleared up - indeed, the human form takes away her energy and depleting it makes Callirhoe revert into a eidolon shape ; she did say to Old Finch she doesn't know when she will be able to assume a human form again, meaning, a long time. She wanted to convey her message before that. Old Finch seems to just accept that of course fairies can change forms.

Someone else had a huge character development in all of this - to Chongyun, changing forms makes her an adepti - ie, as per Liyue folklore. And then he starts wondering if his pure yang energy has something to do with it, and for the first time in his life shocking even Xingqiu he begins to wonder if it's such a bad thing to be like this. The scene in which 100% icy blue dragon eyed Chongyun goes wide-eyed at the 100% hydro blue eidolon changing forms like "whoooooa are u illuminated ms" is absolutely comical pot calling the kettle black

The event also reinforced my belief in two characteristics of elements: one, that "ice" may not be an element per se, but rather a form of water ; two, that there is a connection between it and "geo" judging by Noelle and Zhongli's appearances or roles. The explanation for the first one is Enkanomiya and the alchemy table - the sources that don't acknowledge ice isolately. The second one has a bit more convoluted of an explanation so maybe next time, but there is an island in which we find a combination of dendro, hydro and geo slimes that's hard to not pass by. We know the slimes' appearances in a territory means something about it as per Zhongli's story and we also know land needs water to produce flowers, and, well, perhaps just like irminsul (Did Morax Create It?) assumes a flower shape on land (ley lines disorders) and has hydro blue veins and all that. So that's the gist of my theory - maybe some time ...

The last point I want to address, and that perhaps was the most relevant to the deep lore of Genshin as I see it, is that this event showed us the perspective of love of different characters. And so we can compare and contrast to that which we already knew.

Endora's Educational Notes from the Wishful Drops event states -

Love. For Oceanids, this is to meld together as one. There will be no division then. That is why Oceanids need no learning or thoughts of their own. All that is needed is love. It seems that Oceanids cannot love others, for others will only drown in the embrace of pure waters. So they disguise themselves as the dreams of young children, and withdraw from the lives of all other people. [...] Love, that is our destiny. But I still have a whole world left to see.

Their definition of love is... almost LCL-like interesting. To meld together as one - perhaps this is why she says "when the stars in the night sky have all gone out, and all streams and dreams have mingled in the same ocean… then, we will meet again" to Old Finch in Wishful Drops. We keep hearing in Fontaine lore that all the waters will merge together. (that sounds a bit like a flood. Guizhong anyone? Fontaine submerging? whatevers) but in her saying it seems like she is suggesting that she will also meet Old Finch when that happens. Unless Old Finch is somehow from Fontaine, perhaps there is more to it all (hint: it's the abyss - it's absolutely the abyss she spoke of !! source: trust me ~ )

To Paimon she should talk to Old Finch because if they're eachother's "love of their lives" they would certainly still want to see eachother. This shows that Paimon whatever she is views love as something everlasting and unbreakable, unmistakenly so. A romantic perhaps like the moon that witnessed the seelie marriage, or... the "sinner" seelie herself? Or, even, the "villain" that opposed the seelie marriage and needs to make an effort to separate those lovers for eternity Or Else - who knows?

On the other hand, while characters like Mika and Paimon were supporting Callirhoe, two characters were nowhere to be seen: Xingqiu, who is obsessed with poetry and was off to write some (fuck the rules) and Noelle who was off to work. Everyone else in the event (Diona, Chongyun, Mika) had a cryo vision. In other words: Xingqiu was swept away by the feelings of it all, while Noelle was basically unfazed by it And Then There Is Cryo. Interesting! We don't know at this point much about the deep lore and can only guess who is going to be friend or foe in the future so this is merely food for thought ...

Lastly, not to jump too hard in the "Genshin Impact is a queer game" bandwagon because I truly feel this is a lot more convoluted of a topic than people like to pretend it is, for many reasons, but I did write a Tartali manifesto once that touched on the topic of love in the Genshin lore as well as the dynamics between elements and some flower symbolism and I truly love how the event not only legitimated the flower symbolism and parallels between flowers of different nations but expanded on them and brought new interpretations to the table. The parallel between the sweet flowers and the "sweetness" of Barbara (a hydro user? indeed, indeed) is made as explicit as the similarities between the Qingxin and the Cecilia which are both white flowers that grow in... peculiar places - namely, wherever the elemental energy of the land is stronger ie strong winds and tall mountains, respectively.

With all that this event has expanded on symbolism of key items, characters and elements, it does surprise me that so many people can't see past the concrete "it's an event about NPCs" into the "these NPCs are a metaphor to the greater lore of THE FUCKING GAME" . At a certain point I was wandering above the water with Wanderer and suddenly had thoughts of Raiden Ei creating him to be free (and her obsession... with anemo kind of shows in her statue of the omnipresent god really. Why are Barbatos and the omnipresent god - who still looks an awful lot like Paimon to me - the only winged statues and what did she want exactly .. ) and how we actually use him to do stuff like float above water - in the event Paimon is like "don't ask me to do it! yes I fly but I can't do that" and in Fontaine this happens too. I've been using Scara a lot for exploring so I keep thinking about it - he is the only character that "flies" or at least does something close to it and he is Raiden Ei's will, her puppet creation. What were her aspirations then? The event also got me thinking about the Goddess of Flowers who was known for talking about sussy things under the moon and water flowed from her body ... As it kept evoking night and moon and stars imagery when talking about Old Finch and Callirhoe - almost stating their similarities to the seelie marriage that wasn't. Another forbidden love story that couldn't be for reasons unknown.

But well, guess some people can't see past the grind and it shows. And oh boy, isn't that a metaphor for our real world at large lol.

[theelibugs]

Oh shit I got tagged in stuff time to go do my friendly duties \o/

Get to know me better! Tagged by @/bruxbea!

Last song: Hello, World! by Bump of Chicken! They're one of my favorite Japanese bands (got addicted after they did the opening for Tales of the Abyss). I listen to a lot of Japanese music when in story hyperfocus mode, because they seem to set my daydream moods a lot better than other music, so my JPN playlist is on repeat right now. BoC is a lot of it, lol (my favs of theirs are Karma, Aurora, Supernova, and Souvenir).

Currently Watching: okay so.... I don't... Actually watch TV or series much at ALL (much to the chagrin of my movie loving husband). Like. I am very very bad at focusing on TV shows or movies so tend to not watch em much.

That being said, the last show I watched was Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War arc and THE NEXT SEASON IS ABOUT TO DROP AND I'M GOING FERAL. A bit upset they aren't using Tatsuya Kitani for the opening though. I never finished the Quincy arc in the manga, stopped after Full bring, so it's been a lot of fun seeing the anime and wondering which parts were changed for the anime and what parts they kept from the manga (apparently Kubo is doing some slight rewriting!)

Currently Reading: I actually read way more manga than I do novels or series. I just got caught up to Call of the Night/Yofukashi no Uta and holy FUCK it is so good. Basically a kid loves wandering the streets at night, because he's alone and it's silent. And he befriends a vampire and ends up wanting to become one. It's kind of laid back in the beginning, but starts to dive into lore and plot, and I absolutely love the direction it's currently going. It's a very good 'Coming to terms with life' manga imo.

Current Obsession: Absolutely Stardew Valley. It's my go-to calming game when I just need to shut off my brain, but my brain has gone into story writing mode. And now that I'm finally into drawing comics, I've been coming up with so many HCs and story tidbits for my farmer that just makes things more interesting. Esp with all the fucking mods I have altering dialogue and events, it makes it more fun and gives me more freedom to write. So I guess look forward to more comics soon? Lmao

Adding just for funsies

Current Game: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM. IF YOU HAVE FINISHED THE GLYPHS MAIN QUEST PLEASE TELL ME I NEED TO DISCUSS WITH SOMEONE OR I'M GOING TO GO BONKERS, HUSBAND HASNT GOTTEN THEIR YET AND I NEED TO SCREAM. Not beaten the game yet, though, I'm fucking around with getting all the outfits, exploring the Chasms, and getting all my health (my stamina is maxed lololol)

Uhh gunna tag @marsipanic @hawkeshep @maebird-melody (and anyone who wants to!)

[karkkidoeswriting]

Hello! Happy STS!

Of your WIPs, which is your current obsession? What's your favorite part about it, and what gave you the idea for it in the first place?

Happy STS! Thank you for the question!

I've been lately obsessing with my oldest WIP, Bear Castle Chronicles, which I had on hiatus for almost two years. I don't even really remember how old it really is, but it is at least 10 years old.

It started very very differently though. At the time I was obsessed with Pride and Prejudice and Assassin's Creed, and so I had an idea for a story about like a secret assassin in Regency setting. That very first WIP was historical fiction set in St. Petersburg during Napoleonic wars. And there was a noble, who was secretly an assassin and part of a conspiracy, and then there was like P&P vibes romance lol. I don't think I wrote many chapters of that version. The next version was a comic and this time it was set in a fantasy world. The world had Regency vibes and there was still war and conspiracy and the main couple had translated mostly as they were to the new version and I developed new characters. I think this was the time I had started watching Game of Thrones and it's influence first entered the story. I actually sketched quite a lot of pages for it. I still have them. I'm pretty impressed of my commitment. At the time I didn't do digital art at all and I also didn't do any planning or outlining, so at some point I realised I would need to basically redraw everything once I'd figure out the plot and make changes to the beginning, so I decided to drop the comic and go back to writing it as a novel. I don't think I wrote that version very far either.

From the creation dates of the files it seems the last big shift happened around 2016, when I started watching writing advice on YouTube and realised I can actually write down my plans and plan them further before writing. What a novel concept. At that point I revised the world, the characters and the plot. There's still Regency vibes. The two original characters live in different forms in this version, but they are not a couple anymore. Most of the additional characters from the previous version still survive. There's still war (or now wars) and a conspiracy, and there's still even an assassin, additionally one of the main characters is sort of an assassin (she's a spy who sometimes murders people).

I really enjoy getting back to this WIP, because as it is so old, I feel like I know the characters really well and the world feels to me like a real place. There is of course a lot of baggage too from all the different iterations and things I've change and kept during the years, and it's why I had to stop thinking it for a while, I kinda had lost the direction with it. What really keeps me getting back are the characters and especially their relationships with each other. If I had to now choose one relationship that I like most in it now, it would be Faerathos' and Marcus' relationship. Faerathos' noble family lost the civil war 13 years ago and they were killed (though some of his siblings' survive and are the other main characters, which he doesn't know), he was taken as a hostage to the court with Marcus, who was the commander of their house guard. They have a sort of strained and a bit toxic father-son relationship, and they only really have each other left. Faerathos is pretty self-destructive and does a lot of things that sabotage his own happiness (because he thinks he doesn't deserve it). Marcus is very much emotionally stunned and afraid to care about anyone (or at least show or admit to it), so he acts like he's protecting Faerathos out of duty and not because Fearathos is his whole world and he would do literally anything for him. This emotional distance really cuts at Faerathos, but he also feels like he deserves it. On the other hand Marcus' whole life purpose is protecting Faerathos, so he's basically in agony as he can't protect him from his own self-destruction.

[antianakin]

I mean, in all seriousness, Anakin's the main character of an entire trilogy and arguably an entire TV show in this franchise, a main villain of another trilogy, and a major side character in a recent miniseries, not to mention the protagonist of multiple novels and comic books at this point. He's made to be enjoyed, in whatever way you choose to enjoy him. I don't really care that people like him, if he compels you, that's the point.

I personally don't find him compelling because there are aspects of him that I don't find well-written and because he's the kind of person that really really repulses me in real life and I love the Jedi that he genocided and disrespected. But that doesn't mean that I don't generally understand why fans are drawn to him. We've spent a LOT of time on Anakin, on his backstory and motivations, his journey is the impetus behind the entire six film story, it literally moves everything.

I think I love the Jedi SO MUCH MORE than I am fascinated by Anakin, though, so his fall doesn't hurt because it's a tragedy for Anakin, his falls hurts me because it's a tragedy for the Jedi. And Anakin "coming back to the Light" in the end isn't as impactful for me then because wow does it not do anything for the Jedi really. They're all still genocided and persecuted and in hiding.

But it's not like I DON'T love some of the villains in Star Wars. I am personally very amused by Palpatine, I love how much that man just loves causing chaos and misery, I love how melodramatic he is every time he swoops in to ruin everyone else's day, he's just plain FUN.

And I was compelled by Ventress to some degrees, I absolutely ADORED Reva (who was arguably not a true villain but she was definitely an antagonist), so it's not like I'm entirely immune to characters who are or go dark for sympathetic reasons and struggle to find their way back. Anakin just doesn't do it for me lol.

The reason this post came about was just because a lot of fans (generally rightfully so) feel so so bad for Anakin and his tragic life and get caught up in it and yet everyone else who goes bad (Palpatine excepted) in actuality has immensely more sympathetic reasons for having done so. The narrative presents Anakin as an incredibly sympathetic and tragic character, but when put up against the others, he's just... not quite as sympathetic and tragic.

But Anakin having the immensely selfish and stupid reasons for going dark that he does is, in many ways, the point of Anakin, as well. Yeah, he's selfish and greedy and absolutely never really needed to save Padme from anything to begin with and his actions proceed to cause her death anyway. It's stupid, it's an immense failure on Anakin's end because he's a selfish greedy bastard, and that's kind-of the big core of the entire choice he makes. Anakin cares exclusively for himself and gets away with that for a while right up until he doesn't and it blows up in his face. Anakin causing his own misery is completely the point of his story. He's a selfish asshole and gets what selfish assholes deserve: a lifetime of loneliness and misery and pain.

A few of the examples I utilized above are explicitly foils to Anakin's story. Quinlan in particular, Barriss to some degree, Dooku certainly, Ventress. They're ALL put up against Anakin to show what it looks like for others to go dark, what would motivate THEM to do dark deeds, and while for a lot of them it ends up being selfish desires for power same as it is for Anakin, a lot of them don't also START selfish which is where Anakin loses me. Quinlan wants to risk his life to stop a war, Dooku wants to bring justice to the Republic and his people, Barriss also wants to stop a war and is having an identity crisis. Anakin... wants to save his wife from a thing he can't prove is even going to happen because he refuses to live without her.

The others ARE better than Anakin. They're almost ALL better than Anakin, they began as better people, and even when they made the choice to go dark they were doing it for better reasons.

I don't know that I agree that this means none of them could commit the atrocities Anakin does, Maul and Dooku absolutely could and very much do. Dooku is literally helping start and run a GALACTIC CIVIL WAR for years. Dooku builds an entire slave army that they plan to mind control into being living weapons to take out the Jedi. Dooku's dead by the time that plan gets executed, but he was very instrumental in making it happen at all, so I feel like Dooku gets an equal 33% of the blame for the genocide of the Jedi along with Palpatine and Anakin. Maul is literally out there to commit chaos with violence and regularly commits massacres because he physically cannot care about anything or anyone that isn't himself. If handed the opportunity to commit the atrocities that Anakin was asked to commit, he would 1000% have done it.

So yes, Anakin's a compelling character because he is inarguably the character we as an audience have spent the most time with and whose choices define the story's biggest beats. It's not unsurprising how many people relate to him and sympathize with him after the story worked so hard to make sure you did. I'm not ignorant of it, I just... can't relate I guess.

It's hilarious that a lot of the main darksiders and Sith all have WAY more sympathetic reasons than Anakin does for why they're Sith, or why they Fell.

Maul apparently was literally stolen (or given away) as a child and raised by a Sith, he had zero choice in becoming one.

Dooku became disillusioned with the corruption in the Republic and how it was taking advantage of and hurting its own people that he had sworn his life to protecting and then got lost in searching for the power to try to protect those same people.

Savage is literally magicked into being Dark against his will because he sacrifices himself to spare his younger brother the same fate.

Quinlan Vos's falls (one in the comic, and one in the novel) are both about trying to end the war by infiltrating Dooku's inner circle as his apprentice and not realizing how far he's fallen in the process.

Barriss Offee becomes disillusioned with the way the Senate has taken advantage/control of the Jedi Order and gets lost in her own grief over what she's been asked to do in the war.

The closest to Anakin's bullshit reasoning is actually Asajj Ventress who becomes a slave as a baby, spends some years learning to be a Jedi, and then goes dark after she loses one person because misery loves company.

But Anakin literally commits whole genocides because he's scared of losing someone who's NOT EVEN DEAD YET. He's not even reacting to a loss that's HAPPENED TO HIM, he's just searching for power to stop someone from ever dying who is perfectly alive and in good health with no signs of kicking the bucket any time soon.

Like. Talk about an unsympathetic backstory. And it didn't help that every other Darksider (aside from Palpatine) managed to have a WAY more sympathetic reason for them having turned Dark than Anakin does.

What a weak-willed pissbaby.

[hardestgrove]

I've been really into your Harrington siblings AU with @officialjoekeery could you tell me a litt bit about Shannon Harrington like her personality, age, and relationship w/ Steve? Also may I please use her for my own headcanons for Steve's family I'll tag you if you'd like?

first off, yes ofc you can use Shannon in your headcanons and things! I'm honored you even want to to begin with! this blog is currently still glitched out of being like, findable or viewable outside of the dash so i'd recommend tagging my main @namorian for now if you want to be sure i'll actually see anything lol 💀

SO ON TO THE HOT SHANNON DEETS!!!!

I've finally done some math on her age since Ria's already sorted out the brothers 💀 her birthday is June 15 1968, she's a Gemini and she's about 2 years younger than Steve and in Nancy's year. She's also 5ft with a gymnastics kind of athletic build since she's the one they hurl around in cheer. Overall she's very petite, except her hair ofc. Big hair is a Harrington family trait lol.

Her personality is like, stereotypical insane teenage girl to comical levels. Characters that she's similar to are people like Cordelia Chase from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alison DiLaurentis from Pretty Little Liars (early seasons when everyone thinks she's dead and all the flashbacks of her are Fucked Up lol), Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries, Mona-Lisa Saperstein from Parks & Rec and Megan from Drake & Josh to give like a vibe palate lol.

At her best self she's Cordelia— she's intelligent, caring, determined and brutally honest. Some of Cordelia's best and most character defining lines are "Tact is just saying not true stuff", "You think I'm never lonely because I'm so cute and popular? I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone. It's not like any of them really know me." and "I'm not a sniveling, whiny, little cry-Buffy. I'm the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. I take crap from no one." All of those really do also apply to Shannon, they're 100% things she could and would say. When she's at her best and healthiest she's a Massive Bitch™ but she's your Massive Bitch™ and she loves and protects the people she considers hers aggressively and she doesn't lie to anyone just to make them feel better. She can and will fight anyone and she'll win.

At her worst she's like Alison or Damon, just this selfish bordering in sociopathic, needlessly mean, manipulative and just...The Worst™. Just a petty spiteful bitch who alleviates her own boredom and issues by torturing people for fun. She rarely feels bad about it and never apologizes. She's a Bitch (derogatory) and kind of a monster. Like she's not a very insecure person, she's actually very comfortable in how great she is, but she's also intimately aware that she lacks direction in life and that most people around her don't actually like her. Even at home there's an air of "ugh it's my turn to look after Shannon? GREAT :/" which naturally does not make one feel awesome.

Where Steve has internalized his issues with loneliness as "there's something wrong with me and that's why people don't want to be around me" Shannon's internalized it as "people will never understand me because I'm too much for them, I'm too different and better than them. That's why they don't stay." and it shows in how they interact with the world. She feels very comfortable being the Worst™ because well, she kinda is a small fish in a big pond and she knows she can be a monster and still have people begging to be near her. She's learned that her outbursts and bad behavior get her more rewards than her good behavior so she's just gonna keep rolling with that until it stops being true.

She craves attention and will do a lot of things to get it. She's very funny as part of gaining and maintaining attention.

When she was first conceived of and it was just her and Steve as the siblings there was a kind of unspoken knowledge that a big part of why she was even born was the "they can entertain each other" aspect, like going to the pound and getting another cat/dog to keep your existing pet company while you're at work. Steve was the golden boy and even then he wasn't given much attention and she was just kind of There. She's never held this against Steve since he's you know... not really getting a much better shake than she is but it's absolutely present in her behaviors like the attention seeking and manipulation.

With the addition of more brothers she's less of the "extra" and more "The Girl™" and much of the attention and special treatment she gets is because she's The Girl, not because she's a preferred child. It's just because it's assumed girls need different things than boys. There's a lot of assumptions made by their parents about her, her interests, her personality etc because she's The Girl™. And while she is very feminine and does like many traditionally feminine things it's just very reductive and ignores her actual strengths and her genuine struggles. Her social life is not really respected, her hurt is not really seen as valid etc etc because she's a Teen Girl. That last bit applies whether or not she's got 1 or 4 brothers but it's more blatant and intense when they've had 4 boys before her.

Shannon's relationship with Steve is probably the healthiest and most genuine in her entire life. She loves all her brothers a lot and genuinely loves to be around them and bother them but Steve's basically always been the one saddled with her so he's the one she's the closest with. It also helps they're the closest in age and go to school together. When it's just them and no other siblings they 100% did entertain and keep each other company just like it was kind of intended they would. They are unironically each other's best friend.

Steve is one of the very few people who can clap back on Shannon for her shitty behavior and have her actually then feel bad and apologize and try and do better (the others are her brother and heather). She really loves and looks up to Steve. She knows she's a very tough to swallow personality even when she's toning it down and plenty of people have decided she's not worth the struggle. Steve gets annoyed and exasperated and even angry sometimes but he still sticks around and hangs out with her. She teases him and annoys him and is just an utter menace to him but it's out of love and he understands that and bitches and moans and retaliates and gives her a big hug at the end of the day because she's an annoying little shit but she's his annoying little shit.

It's why she has SUCH a grudge against Nancy— like to the point she WOULD fight Nancy in the halls. Shannon is very aware of Steve's soft gooey center— having spent her whole life taking advantage of it— and she really can't stand how that relationship ended and what it did to Steve's self-esteem/image/worth. She really hates anyone/thing that makes Steve think he's shit. Like even SHE doesn't do that, not really. Like she'll call him stupid and then ask him to help her solve a problem. Of the two of them, Shannon is the more academically successful but she's always turning to Steve for help and advice and returns that favor when/where she can. Like we're not gonna get into the bloodbaths of Steve's senior year in the Harrington house, Shannon was ready to come over the table for their dad lol.

[ebirdwatching]

an overview of the strange journey fan project in progress

hi! recently i promised i’d make a post about my fan project because i usually only post concepts and design work for it out of context, so i’m going to explain the project a little bit. i’ve included some old (but previously unposted!) concept sketches and paintings in this post so there’s something to look at too.

my fan project, in brief, is a comic based on the video game shin megami tensei: strange journey. it incorporates some elements from the remake game, strange journey redux, and the manga. the story of this comic, which i started writing in 2017, shares plot beats, visuals, and concepts with the game, but it’s also very different. in the past i described the fan comic as a kind of retelling of the game, but that’s not quite right... it’s more of a loose interpretation based on my own thematic/narrative/visual interests. i was really interested in strange journey’s melding of hard sci-fi and mythology as both aesthetics and schools of thought, and i ended up writing a story directed by my personal fascination with these things. it’s not necessarily made for fans of the game or anyone in particular really. it’s something i’m making to explore the things i like and my thoughts on reality, responsibility, and how we approach what we don’t understand.

so this fan comic is strange journey-inspired, in a way. it uses the characters and general ideas in ways that both match and diverge from the game -- the game is kind of the core basis of the story. to try to reskin the fan project as a fully original story would lose a lot of what’s special about it imo.

even if you aren’t familiar with strange journey, you should still be able to understand the fan project’s story; if you are familiar with the game, the points of convergence and divergence between my story and the game’s may be interesting. the comic starts similarly to the game: it introduces the cast in antarctica, where they are en route to the “schwarzwelt” -- the anomaly that grants access to a world where demons, angels, etc. manifest physically. here are the broad strokes of the fan project’s story: -late in the 21st century, a hole in spacetime appears in antarctica. it connects the earth to another world called the schwarzwelt. a flood of exotic matter from the schwarzwelt is spilling into antarctica and spreading, threatening life on earth -an international team is assembled to travel to the schwarzwelt to research it and search for a solution to the flood. upon arriving, they discover the schwarzwelt is populated by beings whose existence is dubious on earth: angels, demons, deities, creatures of myth, and so on. -through collaboration and conflict with the schwarzwelt’s inhabitants, the team from earth searches for answers about the connection between the two worlds in hopes of stopping the flood before earth’s time runs out.

that’s the gist.

artistically, the project will focus a lot on environments and atmosphere. that’s why it will be in color. coloring is actually the easiest part of my process, so it’ll be rewarding to get through the lines to get to that point lol. the choice will add to production time, but the atmosphere provided by color is very important to portraying the world the characters are exploring.

the first part of the comic, the beginning of the story, is 50+ pages long. if possible, i’d like to finish and share it by the summer of 2022. it’s coming along now: i’m working on page layouts, sketches, and lines as of this writing.

although it’s not visible on my social media accounts, i’m working on this project actively. i’ve mentioned elsewhere that progress has been slow for a variety of reasons (school, health, and my limited experience with comics being the main ones) but whenever i can, i’m working on the comic. i’m looking forward to sharing it! believe me when i say i’d love to get it out sooner rather than later, but quality and the execution of my vision are important, so i will work at the pace that’s best for me and the project.

one more thing i want to note: shin megami tensei as a series involves interactions between mankind and beings who are sacred and otherwise important to cultures outside my personal experience. part of the work i do on the fan project is research to avoid overstepping boundaries, i.e., trying to tell stories about things i have no authority in. specifically, i want to avoid making a spectacle out of that which is unfamiliar to me, especially on the basis of its unfamiliarity. the inclusion of beings and concepts from religion, myth, and so on will be researched to the best of my ability -- to the point of exclusion, if it comes to that.

that said, their inclusion, where appropriate, is relevant to the themes of the story; though they populate an unfamiliar world, these beings are innately connected to humans and reflect this in familiar ways. i am and will be open to advice or criticism on this part of the project (and others, tbh)!

i’ll post further updates on the project as i’m able. as i’ve said, i’m very grateful for the interest (and patience) people have shown for the project! i hope it will be fun, interesting, or just visually compelling to whoever’s interested in reading it. thank you as always for your support!!

[kaypeace21]

Analyzing the 5 plays in this drama club poster .From the bts pics of stranger things 4.

So... some of ya’ll know I'm going through the st s4 films given to us by the official st twitter + the films reffed in the show itself or mentioned by the Duffers in interviews .

So I decided to look at the plays mentioned here. Because even if we don't see the monologues in the show directly - the Duffers wouldn't name drop anything unless it inspired them in some way. Similar to films name dropped in the show. Tw : for some dark themes .

This is just a quick little analysis I decided to do since we probably won't get any new st content today (3/22). Nothing too deep. Just mentioning things that caught my interest especially cause these plays have a lot of narrative connections to the st s4 movies I've been watching.

Invitation to a march (Authur laurents)

Reminds me of the stancy/jancy love triangle. "A young woman is having second thoughts about doing the right thing and marrying a respectable , rich, kind, young man with good prospects.By way of a prewedding diversion, this woman becomes interested in the passionate but poor and entirely unsuitable son of a local landlord.Basically, the plot concerns the efforts of Norma Brown to choose between a conventional fiance who "puts her to sleep" but is wealthy (like what her own mother did) or go for this new-poor guy. The play is principally interested in how this youthful love triangle affects the three mothers involved (whether the kids like it or not)

12th night (Shakespeare)

 - viola (el) wrongly assumes a family member (hopper) is dead. She dresses up as a man named 'cesario'. A girl named Olivia falls for 'cesario' (violet dressed as a man). "Finally, when 'Cesario' and Sebastian (violet's twin brother: assumed to have drowned - Will) appear in the presence of Olivia there is more wonder and confusion at their physical similarity. Taking Sebastian for 'Cesario', Olivia asks him to marry her, and they are secretly married in a church. Cough if Olivia is 'straight' cause she fell for Viola (as a doppleganger dressed like her twin brother).Mike being into el who multiple characters in s1 said looked like a boy and specifically like Will is...suspish and a hint he's not straight lol. just like Olivia they're both into guys . plus, this play just has a butt load of love triangles (ugh i hated that aspect). There was also romantically coded letters (which was in the s4 films) . One character is also thrown into an insane asylum and framed as 'insane'.'Pretending that Malvolio is insane, they lock him up in a dark chamber. Feste visits him to mock his insanity'. We all know the psych hospital will be narratively important- talked about it more here.

The seagull (Anton Chekhov-russian)

similar to how I believed s4 will show m*#even already broken up since the months between s3-4 : act 3 (s3) ends with Nina begging for one last chance to be with Trigorin before he leaves/moves away. They kiss and make plans to meet again in Moscow.And in act 4 there's a timeskip where it shows they've been broken up for a long time between acts- and its established they never actually loved eachother. Do i even have to spell out why this parallels the m*#even ending in s3? There is also a play within the play (this is common in a lot of the st films- they have plays- or a story within a story- which illustrate certain themes or emotions of the characters within said film : blackswan, children of paradise, highschool musical, Rushmore, book of Henry, welcome to marwen, never ending story, romancing the stone, wet hot American summer, etc).The play is Konstantin's latest attempt at creating a dense symbolist work. There is also alot of love triangles in the seagull. TW!: for se#ual ab*se/su*cidal thoughts/ inc*st (here and in other play segments). The seagull motif reminds me a lot of Jonathan's rabbit story.Konstantin romantically into Nina shows up to give her a gull that he has shot. Nina is confused and horrified . Trigorin sees the gull that Konstantin has shot and muses to Nina on how he could use it as a subject for a short story: "The plot for the short story: a young girl lives all her life on the shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a gull, and she's happy and free, like a gull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this gull."  This immediately reminded me of jon's rabbit story and some of the movies on the s4 list . Like in forrest gump- Jenny (who is poor) was se*ually ab*sed as a very young girl by her father. As a child she runs away into a field-away from her alcoholic father yelling at her -there she prays that she can "be a bird so I can fly far far away" .

Jenny as an adult struggles with this unresolved trauma- being with ab*sive partners, doing dr*gs, and having su*cidal thoughts . She as an adult when contemplating su*icide, jokes 'you think i can fly like a bird ?' while looking down at a bridge.God-i'm worried about jonathan (Jenny was also a musician sort of like jon). In another s4 movie example ' mystic river ' :(in the 80s) a preteen baseball playing boy is r*ped by men in the woods. He later says he wishes he could become an undead monster to not feel the pain of that experience - cause quote " if I'm not human anymore maybe the pain will stop" (Will) . slightly off topic but he also has another personality, imagines a alternate word that dissappears when he turns his head. And as a less direct animal parallel to the play - the boy from the film also imagined his perpetrators as monsters and wolves to cope.In 'getout' the photographer character sees a dead deer in the woods and it represents a parent/his own childhood tra*ma relating to his past. similarly in 'prince of tides' the 2 siblings as kids were ra*ed by men. The older brother remembered it and the younger sibling developed DID (so didn't remember but she would draw wolves- as the perpetrators/villains in her picture stories she created . In the film they also had an ab*sive dad and were very poor. She also tried k*ling herself multiple times-but started to get better after remembering the source of her pain and trauma.  There is also the theme of multiple attempted su*cides in the play- and the play ends with yet another attempt- and the audience is left unaware of the artist's fate at the end of the play.

The tempest (Shakespeare)

Prospereo - (the perceived antagonist) is a wizard with monstrous looks, storm powers , and ability to create monster-dogs

He wants revenge on a man who tried ra*ing his family member & revenge on his other family member who wronged him years ago. I mean... pretty much my did theory.But in the end.Prospero decides to show his enemies the mercy that they did not show him twelve years earlier. He tells Ariel to bring the men to him, he will restore their sanity and then renounce magic forever.Prospero breaks the spell that the men are under .

Diary of a scoundrel (Alexander Ostrovsky-Russian)

-  I suppose this could loosely relate to Jonathan? Glumov, is a young man from an impoverished family lacking status seeking entrance into society's pampered class. A 19th-century Russian scoundrel must scheme his way out of his meager life in a small apartment -whatever it takes.He has a quick mind and some talent for seeing through the hypocrisies of people around him ( Jonathan does make a lot of social critiques about society). That gives him some advantages. A tale of one man's mission to finagle his way into upper-class society and find a cushy job. Set in 1874, this social comedy follows Glumov, a Russian youth who begins his ambitious ascent to social esteem. He progresses by wit, guile and rhetoric. Pitting one stupid person against another, he soon gains his ends. To reach these goals, Glumov will lie, flatter, and cater to the vanities of the wealthy. Unable to contain his disgust with his victims, Glumov decides to relieve his unvoiced satirical comments by recording his schemes in a diary. But he is tripped up by his uncle's wife, to whom he has made passionate love on his way to success. At the end of the play, his diary is stolen and his duplicity exposed, but he can nevertheless suceeds. The author is much more critical about the high society itself than about the main character, so the play keeps attracting generations of directors by opening possibilities for political criticism while also avoiding naming names of the current rulers.The play's aim was to overthrow bourgeois tradition and establish a class-conscious art called eccentricism giving a deliberately comic portrayal of reality.

I suppose I notice some possible commonalities-  besides s3 critiquing the wealthy/capitalism in comedic ways . jonathan since s1 has worried about his family's finances / had some resentment toward the rich . In some of the s4 movies ‘orphan’ & ‘ girl interrupted’ someone reads their diary out loud to get at them (in girl interrupted the winona character’s diary even had critiques of her new friends).  Alot of movies also have someone (usually a teen/young adult) making a documentary about their life -which could narratively replace said diary? A few movies have a poor guy adjusting to snobby rich social circles (or being poor and then getting money)- titanic, kingsmen, karate kid, the craft , godfather,  wardogs,into the spiderverse,flashdance, and many others . And movies like wardogs has a poor-young-character do shady things to finacially support his family . There’s also that whole uncle’s wife thing- which makes me uncomfortable for obvious reasons (but I’m just thinking of Lonnie’s creepy gf who was into him). A few movies had the guy’s step mom innappropriately hit on him- orange county & you got mail. And him trying to avoid her advances. Or...not to mention ... it may be a problematic coincidence /trope. But in enter the void -the guy who needs to finacially support his sibling/ does dr*gs -hooks up with his dr*g dealing friend’s married mom (who would give him money).  Or in gilbert grape- the poor teen-who has to finacially support his siblings/single mom-has his endgame relationship be a girl his own age. But before that he h*oked up with a married woman -who would give him money. Don’s plum -young film guy-propositioned by older female film director (for dream job). Not even mentioning the other films that have the guy hooking up with toxic older women (like ‘the graduate’). Or analyze this-where the therapist accuses him of having an Oedipus complex (not touching that one... but the guy in ‘enter the void’ a 100% had one). It’s possible those movies were just- inspo for s3?  A coincidence? Or s3 was foreshadowing for this in s4- but unlike s3 it will accurately be played as wrong  and a sign of Jonathan recreating past tra*ma caused by Lonnie (cough like the photos) /being desperate for money. And not played ‘comedically’ like how it mostly was in s3. But shown as self destructive  (for Jon) and immoral on the Woman’s end. Like... Billy and Jon are character foils. Both are older siblings into rock music, with ab*sive dads who shoved them into walls. Both lose it (and beat steve to a pulp when Steve accidentally triggers their daddy issues). In s3 it’s established womanizer Billy has mommy issues, than he tries ho*king up with someone his mom’s age, and the characters ref ‘back to the future ‘ and Steve incorrectly says it’s about “alex p keaton trying to bang his mom.” This could illustrate his subconscious issues with parental figures/adults cause of Lonnie’s  possible past se*ual ab*se . One film the friend even says to the guy “you don’t have friends!” guy b: i have friends! him:  no you have acquaintances! ADMIT IT! YOU’RE AFRAID OF MEN!I mean-Jonathan liked Nancy- but he initially hooked up with her cause he wanted to prove he didn’t have ‘trust issues’ from his dad. Also it’s prob a bit of a reach (and maybe a coincidence)- but the fact Murray in the same breath compares Steve (Nancy’s then bf) and Lonnie  ... uh... if you think too long about it ... it’s very sinister .  Especially because in s3: muray tells Joyce  that despite her wanting to be with a nice guy, she’s curious about “the brute” Hopper despite him reminding her of a past “bad relationship”(aka Lonnie). Like- yeah connect some dots.  Quite a few films (other than forrest gump) also have the character who (as a kid) was  r*ped by their dad/parent-  begin to do dr*gs/be pr*miscuous as adults since they never learned to properly cope with their trauma (’girl with the dragon tattoo’,  ‘black swan’, and ‘magnolia’). Unfortunately the whole relative doing such things to kid-relatives is in at least 30+ movies. 

Personally, i would be MUCH happier if Jon had a age appropriate romance- and had not a single creepy adult near him. A few movies actually imply Lonnie gets yet another ‘new model’  replacing his gf in her 20s with a new gf- who is ‘barely l*gal” and just turned 18. so there’s that possibility as well- that she’s jonathan’s age.I just want Jonathan-happy &safe. GOD. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?