#The frog is honestly the most relatable character to me

[sunnylolli]

weird question but have you ever watched Over the Garden Wall?

I do not see how this i an odd question, but I have indeed!! I rewatch it for halloween every year, it's like a lil tradition! I take a lot of inspiration for when I think about spooky little au's for The Centuries Old Men

[phoenixkaptain]

I love Stardew Valley and I love the community and I love how we all bond over pixelated chickens like we’re seventy-year-old women bonding over grandchildren- - -

But I get so annoyed with the character hate, like!!! All the characters are great!! All the romance-able characters are great!! I keep getting recommended videos about the bad parts of characters and I just want to scream!!

Penny: lovely. Charming. Kids are a big part of dating her because she teaches kids, of course she’s going to react a bit badly if you hate children. She is trying to teach kids so that they don’t have to have the same life she and her mother do, why do you hate this woman who is just anxious?

Shane: lovely. Charming. Perfect. “He still drinks after we get married, which ruins the whole story” NO. No. Shane is an alcoholic, and a severe one. If he quit cold-turkey, he would fucking die. “Harvey pumped his stomach” HE WOULD DIE. And I don’t care that my husband is messy, he has his own room and I don’t have to go over there!!

Maru: lovely. Charming. She hates working. She loves working on machines. She thinks about machines to build for you to make life easier. She’s adorable. She has a complicated relationship with her brother and I want to help them fix it goddangit because I love fictional siblings.

Elliott: lovely. Charming. An artist. He only leaves his home for like four hours a day. I can really relate to the desire to shave off all of one’s own hair. I feel that in my bones. Also, is friends with Willy and I fucking love Willy so A++

Leah: “she’s a lesbian” She’s fucking bi stop erasing bi rep in Bi Rep the Video Game

Sam: he’s a musician and a skater. This is what the perfect man looks like.

Emily: just the most charming. She has a complicated relationship with her sister because she takes care of her. She works at a saloon, how can someone not love a literal saloon worker? She’s crazy, she’s wild, she’s a flower child, I’m in love with her

Harvey: glasses. Doctor man. Occasionally puts on headphones to not so subtly hint that he doesn’t want to talk to you. This is what the perfect man looks lik-

Abigail: I don’t see a lot of people complain about Abigal, but I’ve seen a few and it just feels like- you guys love Sebastian so much but don’t like Abigail? What type of double standard is this?

Alex: everyone always says not to date him if your playing a female farmer, but honestly, his dialogue only cuts out parts if you play male. Like, he still says he felt different about you from day one even if you’re playing as a girl. The character affected the most by your gender choice in regards to dating Alex is George, and if you’ve already befriended George, he’ll apologize for being mean about your sexuality when he never even said anything mean about your sexuality, which is kind of funny

I never see people complain about Haley or Sebastian, which is fair, because Haley has a cute character arc and Sebastian loves frogs (this is what the perfect man lo-) My only problem is that people praise these two but rag on everyone else when I feel like all the characters are balanced pretty evenly in terms of good-bad traits.

Which trait is which is dependent on the person playing the game anyway, so when someone like me plays, I can’t help but find the characters perfect because I’m very forgiving when it comes to fictional characters’ undesirable traits. I mean, my favourite trait of all is stupidity, pure and unbridled, I’m talking facepalm-inducing, groan-worthy, the type of character people complain about the most; the type of stupid that makes people stop enjoying things. How can I dislike these characters who are cute and a bit awkward and so ready to bed the first hot farmer they come across even when that farmer sifts through their trash and passes out three steps away from their own house and drinks mayonnaise and would eat hay given half the chance. Like come on. They’re all moron-sexual. I can relate to that.

In conclusion: your favourite bachelor and/or bachelorette is as wonderful as you think they are and screw the people who try to tell you otherwise. The characters are great because they appeal to different people. Enjoy the game and enjoy the dating and I swear to God if I see another person say that certain farm layouts are bad because they don’t make enough money- the game doesn’t have a time limit! You can make as much money as you want! You could sell one sap everyday and nothing else and you would still be able to make it to however much money you desire to have. There’s not really a fast way to make ten billion gold, that doesn’t mean that the farm layouts you don’t like are bad and yes I’m ranting just because I love the slopes of the mining farm its layout is chamrjng and picturesque and provides a unique challenge to decorating and placing buildings and it’s actually the BEST farm layout because I just decided so and-!

Stardew Valley is a great game, 10/10 would recommend, and the new update is already great because I found carrot seeds and I like carrots :)

[sukinapan]

honestly would be pretty interested in hearing about all of them, if thats alright

it's no problem o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o i like talking about this

for context, apart from making personal art i'm also an artist and character designer at Smarto Club, so I don't know if these count as OCs but i have posted art of them here: Haco from >Bubblegum Galaxy and Teacup from >Teacup.

you can check the steam pages on those games for more info if u like. i love all my characters but i don't usually make personal art of these two since i already do it as my job.

my newest Smarto Club character is a bit different since she's more in the style of what i'm doing personally so i want to make more art of her soon. her name is Abigail:

she's a kid who likes reading about bugs and catching them but she never hurts them : ) this is a short game in early development but it's about catching creatures called angels. it's got horrorish vibes but i don't think the end result will be full-out horror, since it's also kinda silly...

then there's Peklo, it's a game for which i created the whole concept and story but the plan is to develop it as a studio at Smarto Club. i wrote more context for it on this post, but for the characters, they're my favorites to make art about at the moment. the main ones are Kiku (the cat) and Mi (the bunny):

i recently created these human forms of them for fun but i'm not sure whether i'll establish them as canon or not... they're trapped in limbo/hell so there's space for them to have a past human form. they don't remember their lives but Kiku feels a deep sense of regret about things unkown to her and wants to break out of Peklo. Mi feels trapped in an eternal sadness, she longs to see the ocean, she can always hear it but has never been able to reach it.

the antagonist in Peklo is a frog entity called Guppy but i haven't really shown him outside of his froggy logo

i also have OCs from my smaller games. there's Hlina that i created specifically for >this game that was commissioned to me for a zine. i don't have any plans to use her again for now but i might make more art of her in the future for fun. she's part of a strange dream realm and is hostile to the player:

there's iro from the >game with the same name who's my oldest game OC. i created that bitsy game for her story but she existed previously in my art degree final project, it was a version of the same story but just a section of it. it's a dream of mine to create a full-fledged 3D game for her some day.

she's a bit of a defective space exploration robot, sent to explore planetoid Iridium-3 in search of human contact. it's set in a future where humanity has dispersed among the whole galaxy so lots of groups have lost contact with each other.

my latest game OC is Michtat, a wizard cat that i created just for this silly zine.

lasty, there’s the characters from my comic that I’m working on, called The most distant planet. the main characters are Victor and Mitya, two 9 year olds whose families end up living together.

i'd say these are the dearest characters to me of all. i don't post as much of them because they're mostly in the shape of comic pages and it doesn't spark as much interest as my games. i love drawing them though.

they’re both little weirdos who isolate themselves and don’t fit in much with other children, so the friendship they develop is very special to them. they have almost opposite personalities where Victor (darker hair) is very shy and dorky but also very sweet to everyone, while Mitya mostly gives 0 fucks about what anyone thinks or says, he blurts out whatever he’s thinking and just wants to run around wild.

the story is mostly slice of life-ish but there’s also a science fiction element ^-^ Victor is obsessed with things like ghosts, aliens, etc but Mitya thinks it’s all just dumb tales.

another important character is Alyosha, Mitya’s 17-18yo brother. he doesn’t know how to talk or relate to his little brother and is kinda weirded out by him. they where very close when they were younger, but when Mitya was 2 he had an accident that Alyosha feels guilty about, and has been somehow different ever since.

he still worries about his little brother and how isolated he is, though. at the beginning of the story the two of them live alone with their grandma who does love them but has kind of a cold and distant personality. 

Alyosha was the type of kid to be considered “gifted” but now feels completely burnt out and had to repeat a grade at school. he felt so humiliated by this he eventually stopped going entirely, so he now works part time and just studies at home. he cut contact with his old classmates but he still has 2 best friends from the last few months he spent at school in the grade below, Manon and Min Na. they’re the kind of friends who just show up unannounced at his house and job, and are very involved with his family’s life.

i’ve also included Min Jie in some art, she’s Min Na’s younger cousin and comes into the story later:

i should have like character sheets and stuff for all of these OCs but i’m the kind to just jump head first into drawing/modeling lol, that's why i included all these finished illustrations.

i really wanna publish this comic, i’ve been working on it for a long time and i’m currently waiting for the results of a public funding application here in my country to decide what i'll do next.

hope this could be of interest (^人^) thanks for the ask!

[xjulixred45x]

Can i request the hexsquad with a reader like stolas from helluva boss?without all his creepy attitudes obviosly,a young noble that goes to hexside with an terrible parent and a very young fiance that is scared of,just some comfort to the reader with real friends(i cant imagine what would happen if stolas reader comes out as teenage parent💀but sure a loving one if u ask me)

Howdy! My límit is 4 characters, so i'm gonna pick up the ones i find more acurrante for this situation. Thanks for the Request ❤️(You didn't specify so i go for a Platonic one)

Hunter/Willow/ Amity x Stolas! Reader

Genre: headcanons

Reader: male

Warnings: Bad parents, Bad parenting, High espectetions, low self esteem, arranged marriege, i didn't use the case of the baby bc the guys have like 14 so no☠️, Reader has a Bad relationship with his "fiancee", Fluff.

Hunter Noceda

Hunter probably knew Stolas! reader when he joined the Hexquad or through Willow, because I don't see it as very likely that he had friends in the emperor's coven (I'll do a drabble about that one day).

to try new things (and be away from his fiancée) Stolas! reader decided to join the Flyer Derby team, which was a surprise in itself because he seemed like someone...very...weak, at least in Hunter's eyes.

but the demon quickly became almost the opposite, summoning monstrous specters with his haunted items and his book (grimoire?) and honestly left him in disrepair.

although Stolas!lector was definitely "weak" in other ways, mostly because he was so SOFT.

He had great destructive potential, yes, but when I got to talk to him, he was so damn nice that it was suspicious (to him).

At first Hunter pretended to be angry at the constant reader talk, but little by little he lets down his walls and joins in a little in their talks, especially if they have to do with magic.

Hunter has a LOT of questions about how Oracle magic works ESPECIALLY from Stolas' family! Reader, how do you see the future with such precision? How do you control so many monsters at the same time? they might even compare research notes :D

When Hunter comes into trust with the reader, it is quite easy for him to see through him and how things affect him. like the thing with his fiancée for example.

Now, Hunter, unlike the following cases, firmly believes that THE FIANCE is the problem of everything and is willing to go for blood (he's like, how dare you make my friend cry?)

Hunter PERSONALLY doesn't think it's appropriate for Stolas! Reader and his fiancée try to be friends, make things happen? Sure, but being friends after all the bad times they've been through? titan no...

As for the terrible father thing...he can relate...A LOT.

Similar to what he did with Gus, he would share his experience with the reader and try to make him feel better.

but MOST OF ALL he goes into big brother mode when the reader is around his father (Hunter would have an inhuman amount of BEEF on the man)

Hunter knows what it's like to be manipulated by the person who's SUPPOSED to take care of you and someone you ADMIRE on top of it, so if necessary he gives the reader a reality shock when they need it.

Does being like Stolas include being fluffy and like an Owl? If so, there is no WAY Hunter doesn't end up sleeping (whether on purpose or accidentally) on the reader's soft fur (he gets very embarrassed later)

I imagine Stolas! reader tends to be very VERY dense and Hunter would definitely make some harmless jokes about it (like when someone is BLATANTLY flirting with him and he's just like "do you know what the differences are between frogs and toads? :D")

Reader's gardening hobby definitely helps him serve as a matchmaker between Hunter and Willow, whether leaving them alone on purpose or leaving a nice atmosphere ;)

Despite this, Hunter definitely thinks that reader plants are a bit too nippy for his good 😅

Hunter doesn't understand much about Astronomy or how it relates to the Oracle, but he will happily listen to the reader talking about it and tries to listen and understand as best he can. instead the reader hears about his fixation on Lobos :D

When Hunter and Willow are together, Stolas! The reader becomes his third wheel, or rather, his "practice son" is quite funny.

In general you could say that Hunter is slightly more protective of Stolas! reader for his naivety and gullibility, but he does not believe that he is any less capable for that.

He is still a great friend to him :3

Willow Park

Willow knew a little about Stolas reader, precisely because of how relevant his family was and that apparently the boy would be in her same year.

low key, Willow was nervous about this news at first, she was afraid of running into Stolas! reader for fear that he would become a Bully on her similar to Amity and her group in the first season.

but one day she ended up drinking with Stolas! reader as he ran to class, both dropping several things.

To Willow's surprise, Reader was really friendly and apologized A LOT for bumping into her, helping her pick up the books while talking about how he was new and got lost easily and how his locker tried to eat his hand.

In addition, he was completely amazed when he saw the copies of Erbology books that Willow had for her plant class, and he began to ask her MANY questions.

What were the types of plants like? Do they have carnivorous plants? Can you see them? Can you feed them? Do they have species from all the islands? and the list goes on..

Willow was so stunned by all the questions and the fact that who she thought would be her worst nightmare turned out to be a super innocent kid that she almost forgot she had class.

After that, Stolas reader would spend his time looking for Willow to talk about plants, to his joy and Willow's dismay, who on the one hand couldn't say that he disliked reader, on the contrary, he was very sweet and friendly, but he feared this. It would end in him being swallowed.

But when he met his "fiancee" with certain frustration problems...

At first Willow tries to help Stolas reader hide, but eventually tries to get them on good terms at least.

If it works, great!

If it doesn't work and you still hate each other, well, you can try that plant that reader has been studying so much--

reader is very supportive of Willow with her grubgy Flyer career! He is going to encourage her with his carnivorous plants with signs to encourage her🤣

Willow helps with Stolas Reader Gardening Hobbies!, whether it's reminding him when to water the plants, helping him get rid of the weed that bites him, or even growing plants he wants when he's feeling especially down.

Stolas reader has even tried to use his Oracle magic to make Willow get better grades, sometimes it works and other times they spoil half their lives, at least they know they will be friends in 20 years!

Willow is very emotionally supportive of EVERYONE, this does not exclude Stolas! reader, not only with his complicated fiancée, but also with the fact that his father is a TERRIBLE role model and treats him TERRIBLE.

Willow has tried to suggest that the reader take two classes, both Oracle and Plants, but the reader is TOO afraid of her father to tell her that she doesn't want to study what he says, which leaves Willow quite sad.

One thing's for sure, there are sleepovers at the Park house! and definitely try to include the reader in plans with friends as much as possible.

just like Willow is a safe place for Reader, Reader is a safe place for Willow, they are each other's shoulders to cry on, in a way.

Reader is definitely the ultimate shipper Hunlow (although he threatened Hunter that if he did anything to Willow he would put a curse on her, tear her to pieces and feed it to his plants. Hunter understood).

Both can be terrifying when angry or using all their power, although they are usually rays of sunshine.

In short, two rays of sunshine that help each other to relate to the group (don't mess with them, they are much more dangerous than they look)💚

Amity Blight

ohhhhh boy, she understands ☠️

She probably know Stolas! reader thanks to his parents being friends and/or business colleagues, similar to Boscha's parents.

Odalia insisted that Amity try to be her friend so that she could improve her relationship with her family (a very important one among the covens, especially the Oracle's).

So Amity took note and prepared herself for a capricious and pedantic prince, similar to Boscha.

Imagine his surprise when Stolas! reader ended up being the complete opposite, someone very reserved, shy and wanting to make REAL friends.

If we talk about Amity from the first season, at first she had difficulty accepting Lector, precisely because of his reputation, but they found that they had several things in common.

books for example.

Amity ended up running into Reader several times in the library while working, mainly in the reptile and botany areas, which seemed strange since he was in Oracle classes.

They would end up having conversations about frogs and what they were like outside of the boiling islands, it turns out that the reader's family could use Oracle magic even in the human world, but he loves to see the "rare" specimens they had, like the opossums or giraffes.

Being the least mean to him, Reader spent his time stuck next to Amity, and she eventually warmed up to him and she would keep him company, even open up to him.

He definitely knows about her arranged marriage, and he didn't like how it scared him, he can bet that on a couple of occasions Amity threw her away with her abobinable.

(although I think it is not impossible for him to accept her as a friend of himself and the reader if he shows he really wants to change or at least try not to take out his frustration on the reader)

defends him when someone tries to take away from his abilities as a member of the Oracle, he's like "do you think you know more than HIM??" and it definitely gets into hands sometimes😅

Amity HATES the reader's father, she considers him to be even worse than ODALIA. What kind of father commits his 14-year-old son?? (she hopes he finds out that they have been engaged since they were 11😬) and can't stand the way he talks about his son . If I could, I would send you the Alador abobinables.

✨bonding through shitty parents ✨

She highly encourages reading hobbies, especially plants and reading, you can even read to the kids together!

she defends Stolas a lot! reader from her family when she has to see them, especially from her father, if she and the reader's fiancée get along at this point, they will most likely make an alliance to protect Reader.

Amity even tells him about Azura's books that she reads! and compare notes and drawings they make of the characters

Listen to any babbling or rant that the reader has to give, whether it be frogs, plants or prophecies he saw on his own in the stars, astronomy, etc. Even if she doesn't understand shit, she just nods and won't let anyone take away that beautiful moment from the reader.

Imagine Amity introducing Luz to the reader! she would be SO happy to see that they would both get along because they are "nerdy" in different ways, but that they complement each other well.

I think Amity is definitely rooting for Stolas! reader to confess directly if he has a crush, after all, he is cute, comes from a good family and has a big heart, who wouldn't want to be with him? It even helps you make a note!

She wants the reader to find REAL love and not be forced to have a partner for something like status.

She supports the reader all the way when she decides to reveal herself to her family, she knows how scary it is, so she even offers him not only a shoulder to cry on, but also to stay with her for a while.

She tells him how brave he was and how happy she is for him.

Overall, rich, misunderstood best friends who stick together 💜

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

Thanks for the Request ❤️

[majestick-posts-op]

Recentely there has been a wide speculation on weather or not one of the Strawhats will die at the end of the final saga. Persona I'm a team Shanks-will-die-and-Oda-won't-emotionqlly-damaga-us-further but many people believe that either Usopp or a member of the monster trio will die.

So here I bring my own spin to the theory: no one dies, but Zoro, Sanji, Luffy and Usopp lose/sacrifice their limbs in some way.

Firstly: Zoro loses his other eye, and becomes fully blind.

This could have been foreshadowed by his having already lost one eye, and also his awful sense at direction because he can't see his way. But story wise, if he lost it before duellying Mihawk he will be the strongest swordsman in the world as a disabled person. This ties in with the themes of "strengh isn't defied by your body but your skill" in his backstory about Kuina. Plus the only other blind character in One Piece is a swordsman.

Next, Sanji loses his leg by carbonising it.

Sanji has many paralles with his father Zeff, from similar epithets, morals, same dreams and skills. So since Zeff livedup to his name as "redleg" by cutting off his leg in a gruesome and bloody manner, "blackleg" Sanji will burn his. He already sets his leg on fire in cannon with his powers, so maybe this will also get rid of his G€rm@ modifications and allow him to live as a human.

Most likely, Luffy loses one or both of his arms.

This is something I have seen a few people discuss. Of course, it would parallel Shanks. But you also have Luffy in Impel Down saying he doesn't care about losing both of his arms if it means saving who he loves and trying to rip them off in Whole Cake Island to save Sanji. Luffy does have a pretty long history of selfharm related sacrifice, this would line up with his character.

And finally, Usopp loses all fpur limbs and gets robotic enanchments.

This is definetly the most brutal one, but hear me out: Usopp honestly has so, so many parallels with Franky. From both being inventors, to being addandoned by a biological parent, having been outcasts as kids, having a pet frog, and similar themes of selfloathing/selfblaming. Post timeskip Franky is also a quadruple amputee. So Usopp may eventualy prove himself as a brave warrior of the sea by committing an action that will leave his body severely damaged, forcing him to amputate his limbs. Of course, Franky will make sure to give him the new body he deserves which will allow him to go on with his life.

[thewertsearch]

Asks Comp 4/8

The thing is, Davesprite's situation is more complicated than an unfulfilled time loop. His timeline isn't an irrelevant offshoot - in fact, it's integral to the existence of the Alpha Timeline, and presumably always was. Davesprite forms part of a weird, fully intact time loop which spans multiple timelines.

And since this is a future Dave, you have to assume he knows about Bro. The two clearly had a complicated relationship, but he's surely shaken by his death - if nothing else, it's a sign of how serious things have become.

That'll be a fun thing to check out when I've finished the comic! It reminds me of those Hunger Games simulators that were doing the rounds a couple of years ago.

That's true. Dave knows how strong the Underlings have become - and yet, he's still confident that Jade can stand up to them. Presumably she finds some sort of workaround for their First Guardian powers?

Sunslammer is so good! A standout song, even in a comic with as many bangers as this one.

Honestly, part of why I'm dragging my feet on the album reviews is because I want to hear these songs for the first time in context. If I'd heard Descend before watching Descend, I feel like it would have robbed the song of some of its dramatic weight.

I assumed it was just because witches are associated with frogs.

That would have explained why they're part of her Land, but I'm pretty sure that Kanaya's glitched planet was also a frog Land, and she's not a Witch, so...?

*The rest of Sal's response has been redacted, lest we fall once more into the Frog Theory Black Hole.*

I'm pretty sure that's a statue of Echidna, the mother of monsters and Jade's Denizen. Dave's probably close to LOFAF's Palace!

The Seer sees all - and sometimes, she understands the implications before we do.

It'd certainly be interesting. I just reread that conversation, and the biggest takeaway would have been that the kids were going to befriend the trolls, and get involved in their personal drama. This would certainly be consistent with the tone established by an Act 1 Hivebent!

Yup. Vriska was only able to 'create' Perfect Jack because Becquerel didn't object.

Really, he could have prototyped anything he liked, no matter what Vriska did. Even if she tried to shut the Entry down by incapacitating Jade, he could simply have activated the piñata himself.

I mean, that's basically what happened!

If any Aspect is geared around survival, then it's Feferi's. There's no breath left in her body, but our girl is still in the game!

Getting back to the trolls will be interesting, especially since - I assume - we'll be zipping back to when Feferi was still alive. The Veil is a much less friendly place, now - but does Feferi know this? What, exactly, is about to happen to the trolls?

I suppose. I guess there's no reason for every Carapacian to be created with knowledge of the Rings.

Actually, Sburb might not want them to know - Jack's probably not the only one who wouldn't respect the Ring's rules. There could be potential ringwielders out there who are far more dangerous.

Thank you! I feel like I've been doing a lot more character analysis in Act 5 versus previous Acts, where most of my speculation was about the lore. It's a fun change of pace.

Damn, I didn't think we'd actually be explaining these!

It's moments like these which really enhance the comic for me - justifications for things that I genuinely thought were just nitpicks on my part. It's really gratifying, honestly.

@thelegendofgreg asked: Here's some commentary from the jade enter flash, theres uh. alot to read but its all neat stuff "I talked about this way back, maybe even in an earlier book? Well, here I go again, so hold on to your ass. There are four entry items: Apple of knowledge, Bottle of wine, Crow's egg, Dog piñata. A, B, C, D. All of them are related to new life or new beginnings. You bite the apple, you fall from grace, enter a new world, begin this wild journey. You smash a bottle to christen a ship. An egg hatches, creating new life. You break a piöata to celebrate a birthday. Each involves breaking or puncturing something. Each involves a form of sustenance, or something to consume (piñatas have candy inside). Two are vessels for the substance (bottle, Piñata), two are the food items themselves (apple, egg), and one arguably counts as both (egg). Two of them drop from the same basic tree template (apple, piñata). They ramp up in complexity. John's is a simple test: bite the forbidden fruit. Not much to it. A single unit of departure, almost conceptually elemental, like an apple, as Rose goes on about later. The challenges get trickier. Rose has to break a bottle. Easy enough idea, but things go wrong, and she has to take a blind leap to get it done. A sacrificial gesture, and one of faith in a friend (Jaspers). Dave's is even more obscure. A simple test of patience, but one that's not clear. He isn't told what to do and just has to wait. Non-action is the key, and in a way it's another gesture of faith under dire circumstances. Finally, Jade's challenge incorporates a lot of these elements. It's another "blind faith" situation. She has to take a shot in the dark. There's a sacrificial gesture, but instead of risking herself (like Rose), Jade must symbolically sacrifice her friend via effigy and cannot complete the sacrifice without help from that friend. (Bec must redirect the bullet. There's no way this works if he doesn't.) It is also a signifier that the pet she knew as a friend her whole life is about to, in a way, become her enemy. Like a good dog gone bad, who now must be put down."

So they are all intended to be foodstuffs! And, apparently, alphabetical - although I think 'Crow's egg' is a bit of a stretch.

There are also themes of sacrifice and faith that I didn't really think about before. Choosing to enter Sburb at all, knowing the stakes, is absolutely a leap of faith - and it's a game which sacrifices your whole planet. Skaia's been telling us the score this whole time.

Homestuck absolutely deals with dark themes - but they start out buried under the surface, and even now, are still in the process of revealing themselves. This makes sense for Homestuck, a coming-of-age-story whose protagonists are slowly coming to terms with some dark truths about their lives.

Awful Hospital, however, immediately says: here's our protagonist. Her baby is dying. She just woke in a strange room. She doesn't know how she got here. Her baby has been stolen. There are monsters inside her brain. By the way, here's a quip, because this is actually a funny comic. It just felt... dissonant, and not in a fun way. I don't really know what it's going for, tonally.

Don't take this as a negative review, though! I only read a couple dozen pages, so I'm really not qualified to rate the comic - I just wasn't feeling it at the time, so I shelved it. I enjoy a lot of Bogleech's writing, and Awful Hospital's lore sounds pretty interesting, so I'll probably give it another shot at some point.

Not for the most part! I'm super into time travel stories, though, so I'm well-Primed to understand their intricacies.

So there might be intermittent stages between the four we've seen in the kids' session? That'd be interesting - I'd love to see the intermediary stage between John's 2D chessboard and Rose's 3D cube.

There are, at this point, too many awesome songs for me to pick favorites. Umbral Ultimatum and Sunslammer are excellent, but what songs aren't, at this point?

I can't imagine what we're in for when we reach the Act 5.2 finale...

Ooh, interesting. Considering how many accidental references Hussie seems to make, it's honestly up in the air whether that was intentional.

That said....

Jack is looking awfully divine these days.

I suppose Tavros has probably logged the most rocket-hours, yeah.

I'm sure all Breath Players probably learn to fly, unless there are some oddball classes which don't let you interact with your Aspect.

Anonymous asked: forwarding this message to you from someone who doesn't have a tumblr account. ~DJ "Important fact. Dave and Aradia both use musical instruments for time travel, but different ones. Aradia’s is a music box, it has a single prerecorded music, the only way to “play” it is to turn it so it plays the music that was always in it. Dave’s is turntables. They contain a preexisting music, but what you do with them is to jump, cut and shuffle this music, creating something new, having full control of it. - RM"

I like it! As Time Players, they both follow the set path of the Alpha Timeline - but Dave gets a little funky with it, multiplying himself with a complex series of time loops.

Aradia, ever the fatalist, instead turns to doomed clones for reinforcements. I don't think we've ever seen her make a stable loop.

[jessequinones]

Writing Trope: Magically changing your POC characters.

You might not realise this, but if there’s a POC character on screen then there’s a good chance the character won’t stay themselves for the entirety of the story. Don’t believe me? Here are a few examples.

Princess and the Frog: The main character turns into a frog

Soul: The main character turns into a soul

Coco: The main character nearly turns into a skeleton

Brother Bear: The main character turns into a bear

The Emperor's New Groove: The main character turns into a lama instead of being dead.

You get my point, yes these are all Disney/Pixar-related stories but the point still stands, it’s a very common trope.

You might be asking yourself, why is this a thing and honestly...I don’t have a good answer for you. It’s almost the same question as “why does every black superhero have lighting powers?” It’s a common trope that again, not many people understand where it came from or why it’s a thing.

I think I might have an idea but it’s only a theory though. I think this is one of those situations where white people try not to be racist but instead create a racist character anyway and for this example, I’m going to be looking at Pixar’s movie, Soul.

If you’re a person of colour and a writer you might’ve gotten the good old. “How do I write a black character?”

“I don’t write black characters because I don’t want to accidentally become racist.”

“I just find it easier to write stories about fictional animals instead of humans because I don’t want to be racist.”

I discovered that young writers are afraid to create people of colour because they think they're going to get “cancelled” or get called out for being racist and in order to avoid the uneasiness about writing a person of colour, they make the character transform into literally anything else. This way the writer gets the benefit of no longer writing a black character but instead a [blank] one, all the while still having a black person on the diversity checklist because said character started off as black.

In the movie Soul, the main character doesn’t even stay in their own body for ten minutes before getting swapped by a white woman and in a way...that was kind of blackface the more I think about it.

While yes, there was one black writer (Kemp Powers) to help write Soul, there were two other writers who were white. One of them had been with Pixar since Toy Story. So, it’s safe to assume in the pecking order for who was in charge of creating the story, it was most likely a white person with Kemp being there to help do touch-ups. (Pure speculation).

I’ve seen countless white people try to “avoid” being racist by creating characters which are extremely black-coded but for some reason aren’t considered black because said character doesn’t have a black skin tone and the thing is, if you’re trying to avoid writing a POC because you don’t feel comfortable writing them, then you need to ask yourself, why? Why are you uncomfortable adding a person of colour to your story and why do you think people of colour are these weird foreign concepts you’ll never understand?

We’re not asking you to write a POC story, no. We just want you to add us to your story because we exist.

If you’re going to add a person of colour in your story, maybe don’t change them midway through, because I think it might come across as you’re trying to avoid writing us, by changing us into something you’re more comfortable with and we don’t want to be changed, we like ourselves for who we are.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

I have spent too much time on tumblr to not be unsettled by implications of Mausritter, specifically that there are different sentient species that coexist but ultimately absolutely separate zoologically and sometimes can't communicate.

It's not a criticism of the game because sentient animals are just fairytale trope and I am going to bypass it by mixing fairytale and fantasy logic so that mice and all rodents can crossbreed same way humans and elves can crossbreed and such, and there are either mouse-rat hybrids or each child is fully one species but siblings can be different species like pups of Lady and the Tramp, but yeah.

TBH it's probably partially on me for adding too much realism into fairytale game, but that's surely a situation.

Just wanted to tell someone and you basically "sold" it to me so.

(On a separate note, I am puzzled how to handle humans. How do you do it?)

Yeah like. It's sort of unavoidable for this type of talking animal fairytale setting but it still has some uncomfy implications to have mice and rats treated as two separate, incomaptible species, for example. Especially in terms of communication I tend to not really follow the book's language rules because imo they don't add much to the game, and there are some modules that would be EXTREMELY HARD to run if you strictly adhere to the RAW idea that players can't directly communicate with non-mammals. They feel kinda tacked-on, honestly, considering that the base book has stuff like frog knights and what have you.

Also if you like the game but don't wanna play around with those unsavory implications, you could also give Cairn a try. Just like Mausritter, it's a game hacked from the Into The Odd system, so it's very simialr under the hood, but it has more of a general fantasy setting. It has some mechanical differences (mostly related to how magic works, character advancement, and lacks the arts and crafts inventory system) but it has a lot of the same bones as Mausritter and a lot of the stuff that's mechanically unique about Mausritter can be ported over almost effortlessly.

When it comes to humans, in most Mausritter games I've run I kinda tend to go with the idea that humans aren't around anymore. I like playing with the implication that they went extinct (or mostly extinct) due to some vaguely defined magical apocalypse. However, this is just one of the spins I like to put on the game, and the implication from most of the "official" materials is that humans are around living normal lives and they're just oblivious to the magic talking animal shenanigans going on under their noses. There was even some cut material in VERY early versions of the game before the 1.0 release that directly mentioned humans and suggested treating them more like environmental hazards than actual creatures with stats and stuff.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

"Let things that happen onstage be just as complex and yet as simple as they are in life. For instance, people are having a meal, just having a meal, but at the same time, their happiness is being created, or their lives are being smashed up."

- Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

With that in mind, let's talk about the Shrek 2 dinner sequence.

No, seriously. While perhaps not as intricate and dramatic as Chekhov's Ivanov, which tells the story of a man's decline into depression through heartbreaking subtext in the dialogue between himself and his peers as he gradually alienates himself from them, the dinner sequence in Shrek 2, I believe, is a three-minute masterclass in a similar sort of storytelling to the one that characterizes many of Chekhov's dramatic works. Chekhov was a big advocate of the "show, not tell" principle, and the Shrek 2 sequence demonstrates a fabulous exercise in this sort of writing, assisted by genius camera angles. I unironically love this sequence and how much it can tell us about writing- it demonstrates a complex show of dramatic tension and subtext, pacing, character dynamics, and cinematography, while also progressing the wider story and balancing the drama with the Shrek franchise's style of humor- which is not an easy feat to pull off. I really want to talk about this sequence and dissect it, because it's honestly taught me a lot as a writer.

So for context, in case you haven't seen Shrek 2, Shrek, an ogre, and his wife Fiona are having dinner with Fiona's parents, the king and queen. Due to a magic spell, Fiona has been permanently transformed into an ogre after falling in love with Shrek- which she gladly accepts, but her parents do not. With them is Donkey, a comic relief character. Due to the curse, Fiona's parents locked her in a tower until her "true love" could rescue her- which, of course, turned out to be Shrek in the previous movie. We see in this sequence that Fiona's parents have different attitudes towards the couple; later on in the movie, it's revealed that her father was the Frog Prince, contributing to her parents' opinions on magic spells impacted by "true love's kiss."

So, onto the scene.

First, we get an establishing shot of Shrek at the table, which is zoomed out to show Fiona and her mother sitting on either side, and Fiona's father on the opposite end. Obviously, two characters on either side of a long table is an easy way to show they are opposed to each other. Although the characters haven't spoken yet, an uncomfortable mood is quickly established- Shrek's facial expression looks uneasy. Behind him is a stuffed hawk and a fireplace- perhaps a nod to the fact that ogres are seen as predators to be hunted with torches and pitchforks. On either side of Shrek are two candelabras; he is surrounded on three sides by fire and the lighting is primarily cast upon him. The hawk's talons are also pointed down directly at him, and the scene is lit in an ominous red light.

The next few shots establish all the conflicting moods that will be at odds during the scene. Queen Lilian is, if you will, attempting to be an "ogre ally." She attempts to be accepting towards Shrek and Fiona's decision, but is still clearly uncomfortable. King Harold, however, makes no attempt to hide his contempt. It's him and Shrek- again, seated at the opposite ends of the table- who will have the most direct conflict. (Perhaps this is a small detail, but Lilian and Harold are dressed in pink and blue, respectively- feminine- and masculine-coded colors that contrast with each other. This may reflect their adherence to conservative societal norms, specifically relating to gender roles and relationships.)

No dialogue has been spoken yet, and the conflict is still being established. We get a POV shot of Shrek's plate, consisting of escargot and multiple different kinds of utensils, after Shrek nervously picks at it. The composition of the plate and utensils is complex, elegant, and orderly, again highlighting that Shrek is out of place.

The silence is first interrupted as Shrek picks up a snail with his fingers and bites into it with a loud crunch. The first domino has fallen; Shrek foregoes the utensils to eat in a manner familiar to him, creating a marked contrast with the way we assume Fiona's family will eat. Afterwards, we have a shot of Harold looking even angrier; Shrek has broken a social norm. Shrek smiles with his mouth full; we get Lilian looking even more nervous as she eats her escargot with a fork, and Fiona drinks from a glass of water.

Fiona, who is unwillingly assigned the role of mediator between the two parties, belches after drinking the water- a behavior expected from Shrek. She excuses herself politely, which is understood as an attempt at keeping the peace. However, Shrek cracks a crude joke ("better out than in, I always say!"), and they both laugh as the second domino falls. Lilian and Harold look uncomfortable; Fiona laughing at Shrek's joke and displaying chemistry with him communicates that she is on Shrek's side, not theirs. Noticing their discomfort, Shrek and Fiona stop laughing and appear dejected.

The tension is built further as Donkey enters. Donkey plays up the comic relief the entire time, but also adds to the tension more than he diffuses it. While friendly, he's loud and messy, and while Lilian looks at him curiously, Harold treats him rudely, shouting "bad donkey; down!" Fiona again attempts to ease the tension, explaining that Donkey helped rescue her. Donkey proudly agrees, but then demands a bowl for himself from the waiter. Shrek facepalms and says "oh boy;" there is now another conflicting dynamic in the room. Donkey, who has no interest in conforming to social norms, heightens the tension as Shrek and Fiona attempt to appease Fiona's parents.

Another domino falls. Shrek drinks from the bowl of water given to him, which is supposed to be used to wash his hands. Fiona gets his attention, and dips her hands in the bowl to signify its purpose without making it obvious to her parents that Shrek doesn't know what the bowl is for. Shrek doesn't pick up on the hint, and attempting to be polite, compliments the Queen on the "soup," even using the spoon- once again, trying to conform to the cultural norms of Fiona's parents. However, this time, he's supposed to use his hands and not utensils, as opposed to the escargot, where he was supposed to use utensils and not his hands. The only lines exchanged in these few seconds are:

Fiona: "um, Shrek?" Shrek: "Ohh, sorry. Great soup, Mrs. Q." Fiona: "No no no, darling."

However, through the action and the subtext given from the background of the film, the audience knows the tension is heating up. While only a few lines of dialogue are exchanged, we know from the few seconds of the "soup" sequence that Shrek is having more difficulty conforming, Fiona is having more difficulty keeping the peace, and her parents are having more difficulty masking their discomfort. Donkey seems completely oblivious to the conflict, paradoxically heightening it through contrast.

Queen Lilian starts the first actual conversation of the scene, a minute and 22 seconds in. She asks Shrek and Fiona where they live. As the audience, we know that they live in a swamp, but Shrek and Fiona don't want to say that because they want to appease Fiona's parents. Fiona answers, "Shrek owns his own land." This carefully-calculated answer isn't a lie, but it's not the whole truth, either. "Land" could mean anything, and the idea that Shrek owns land is an attempt to present the idea that Shrek is assimilated into the dominant culture. As ogres are presented as second-class (or should we say Shrekond-class) citizens in the Shrek universe, the idea that Shrek owns land may communicate that he is wealthy and conventionally successful, and is able to climb the social ladder and provide Fiona with the life her parents wanted for her.

Shrek, still nervous but playing along with what Fiona has laid out for him, confirms that they live in an "enchanted forest, abundant with squirrels and cute little duckies." Again, this is an attempt to console FIona's parents. But Donkey, unaware of what's going on, interrupts with, "what? I know you ain't talking about the swamp!"

Another domino falls as Shrek attempts to silence Donkey, but Harold latches onto this line, instead of keeping up the crumbling façade that everyone else (sans Donkey) is trying to uphold. Sarcastically, he responds with "an ogre from a swamp? How original," as Donkey laps from his water bowl. Now that Fiona's parents have acknowledged Shrek and Fiona as "living in a swamp," it becomes even harder to diffuse tension, as this is something they find undesirable. Because Donkey has confirmed it, Shrek and Fiona also can't fall back on the "enchanted forest" excuse they used earlier; it also affirms the stereotype for Harold that ogres live in swamps. Through his “how original” line, Harold is commenting that Shrek is not assimilated and fits the mold of a stereotypical ogre- perhaps suggesting he believes him to fit other ogre stereotypes, such as being monstrous, crude, or aggressive.

Despite the fact that Harold is now fully committed to heightening the tension, Lilian still attempts to resolve it- deepening their own rift of conflict. She comments that it will be a "fine place to raise the children," trying to reconstruct the idea that Shrek and Fiona can still live the nuclear family life that she wants for her daughter. However, this is immediately shattered, as Shrek and Harold- shown again from opposite ends of the table- choke on their food in shock- Shrek because he and Fiona are not interested in having children at the moment, and Harold because he doesn't want his daughter having children with Shrek.

To recap, before the dinner, Shrek and Fiona shattered two of the King and Queen's expectations: 1. Fiona has married Shrek, an ogre. 2. Fiona is now an ogre herself. However, at the dinner- a minute and 53 seconds in- they have shattered three more of their desires for Fiona's married life:

Shrek, Fiona's husband, cannot perform conformity through manners and etiquette.

Shrek and Fiona live in a swamp, and not somewhere expected for a prince and princess.

Shrek and Fiona are not currently interested in having children and raising a traditional nuclear family- and if they did have children, they would be ogres.

From here, the tension still keeps rising, and the scene is only a little over halfway through. We get another POV shot from Shrek's perspective, as he coughs up the spoon- the symbol of performing that etiquette- and it bounces across the table towards Harold. Fiona, Lilian, and Donkey all look at Shrek in surprise; Harold looks at him in disgust.

Shrek continues to express his discomfort while being polite, saying it's a bit early to be thinking about children. Harold makes no attempt to hide his prejudice, saying "indeed; I just started eating," blatantly implying that the idea of Shrek and Fiona having children revolts him. Lilian responds with an irritated "Harold!" and Fiona says "Dad, it's okay," but Shrek has refused to let go of the argument, feeling insulted. He responds with "what's that supposed to mean?", trying to force Harold to voice his prejudices expressly.

The argument is now in full swing. Harold responds to Fiona (while gesturing at Shrek with the spoon) with "for his type, yes;" Shrek answers angrily with "my type?" Harold hasn't yet explicitly voiced that he doesn't like Shrek because he's an ogre, but at this point, it's completely obvious. Donkey finally picks up on the tension and excuses himself to go to the bathroom, but returns quickly to the table as the main course is brought in. Harold and Shrek glare at each other from across the table as the background music picks up into a waltz and the camera shows the waiters walking around the table with an elaborate meal- the setting of an upscale royal dinner is more forcibly established, but Harold and Shrek are no longer interested in playing up appearances.

Lilian and Donkey see an opportunity to make one final attempt to diffuse tension with the arrival of the meal- Donkey jokes, "Mexican food, my favorite!" (despite the meal resembling a Medieval European-style feast) and Lilian encourages everyone to eat, which Donkey enthusiastically agrees to. However, Harold and Shrek refuse to let the argument go.

Harold violently grabs a lobster from the table, saying, "I expect any grandchildren from you would be..." and Shrek grabs his own plate, angrily responding, "ogres, yes." Shrek is the one to drop the word "ogre,” which everyone has mostly been avoiding this whole time (aside from Harold’s “ogre from a swamp” line). In this, he displays he's unashamed of the fact he and Fiona are ogres, a pointed insult towards Harold, who is clearly prejudiced against them but refuses to say so explicitly.

Lilian cuts in with a "not that there's anything wrong with that," and then a pointed, "right, Harold?" She's still trying to downplay the conversation and keep the peace, while wanting to communicate to Shrek and Fiona (especially Fiona) that she's not prejudiced against them, (even if she is, albeit to a lesser extent than Harold). Harold then makes an explicitly prejudiced statement relying on stereotypes of ogres- "No, no- that is, if you don't eat your own young!" while slicing through the lobster with his knife.

Fiona responds with a shocked, "Dad!" before Shrek fires his own retort- "we usually prefer the ones who have been locked away in a tower!" and tears apart the roast turkey on his side of the table, biting into it forcefully- a show of rejection against the etiquette he has been expected to display. As we know from previous context, this line is a thinly-veiled insult at Harold and Lilian, who had locked Fiona in a tower throughout her childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, Shrek is here communicating that Harold is a hypocrite- he criticizes Shrek's ability to be a parent, but also neglected his own daughter.

Fiona gives an angry "Shrek, please!", but Harold immediately picks up on the barb, responding with "I only did that because I loved her!" From there, the argument fully escalates, turning physical as a food fight breaks out. As both Shrek and Harold fully disregard manners and social etiquette, poor Lilian sadly remarks, "it's so nice to have the family together for dinner" with a distraught look on her face as food flies past her. The argument culminates in Shrek and Harold fighting over a roast pig and the characters all shouting each other's names in a last-ditch attempt to stop the fighting (and Donkey shouting his own for comic relief). As we get a final shot of the destroyed dinner scene, Fiona- who has attempted to mediate the argument this whole time- runs out without a word, as both Harold and Shrek give each other angry glances.

From here, the rest of the film unpacks and resolves the arguments built up in this short three-minute scene. What started as a quiet dinner quickly, but gradually, evolved into a full-blown argument about bigotry, societal norms, and family expectations- all themes that carry the character arcs of Shrek, Fiona, Lilian, and Harold. The genius about this scene is that the tensions were always there from the beginning; the majority of the conflict started before the actual physical fight- happening, as Chekhov said, as "complex and simple as in real life."

[interestinglittlerelationship]

Tumblr,

I have only slept for about four hours. Bear with me.

So the movie. I have now watched it twice and feel coherent enough to share my thoughts.

First and foremost, I loved it. It was beautiful and funny and silly and heartbreaking and uplifting. I have been insanely and obsessively excited for this movie. To see these two characters brought to life on screen. Well I’m a firm believer in the fact that the book is always better. This is a great adaptation. There were a lot of moments they nailed. There were a lot of changes I liked.

AN INCOMPLETE LIST: THINGS THAT WERE PERFECT IN THE MOVIE

1. Cakegate

2. The closet apology

3. New Years Eve (seriously everything about it)

4. The “casual” talk

5. Paris!!!

6. Alex coming out to Ellen

8. Nora telling Alex to go to London

9. The V&A

10. The key/ring exchange

11. Zahra helping Alex call Henry (+ “Hello” “Baby”)

12. The hug on the stairs

AN INCOMPLETE LIST: THINGS I MISSED DESPERATELY

1. Henry’s grief, depression, and anxiety. Alex’s bi crisis, ADHD and avoidance. Bea’s addiction.

2. Rafael Luna’s whole plot

3. And in relation to that last one, Henry coming to the DNC because he’s worried about Alex (+ “Most things are awful most of the time, but you are good”

4. Richards campaign being responsible for the leak (seriously the reporter guy was a sucky villain)

5. “Corn bread knows my sins, Henry” (how could they have included the turkey scene without that???? Also pretty much every other line from that conversation we didn’t get. Honestly, that whole scene just felt weird to me, the fact that they weren’t actually talking on the phone really pulled me out of the moment)

5. Henry and Alex’s friendship development before the kiss (i.e., Alex calling Henry on Christmas when his parents are fighting)

6. The Emails (I knew only a little would make it in but I don’t understand why the little we had wasn’t even really from the book. And I feel like not having any email content after they confess their love really took away from the impact of the outing/leak because it wasn’t nearly as personal)

7. Alex’s speech on election night and Henry telling him about the brownstone

8. Alex “frog marching” the heir to the throne to the red room (Henry just shows up instead?)

9. “Jesus tits” and all the creative swearing

10. Alex standing in the rain and “Your royal fucking highness!”

11. The political/royal commentary (I know it was hinted at but I missed it anyway)

+1

My only other major gripe is that Alex gives his speech after the leak before he ever talks to Henry. He would have never confirmed anything without Henry’s permission in the book. The speech was perfect otherwise but that ruined it for me.

I knew there wouldn’t be time for everything. I knew it wouldn’t be perfect. I will still watch it a hundred more times.

Yours,

A

[writernopal]

Happy STS! 💜💌 What role does symbolism play in your WIPs, if any? What symbols relate to certain characters, events, or emotions? How do you decide what symbols to use, or what these symbols mean? Are they intentional, or do you notice them after they've appeared in the story? :) - @liv-is

Happy STS, Liv! putting a cut on this one bc you got me storytelling fr lol

What role does symbolism play in your WIPs, if any?

Symbolism is HUGE in AASOAF. You know that meme of sometimes the curtains are just blue bc they are blue? Yeah, that doesn't apply here. Nearly EVERYTHING has a double or multiple meaning and represents something, whether it be an idea, a place, a person, a theme, etc. I just love symbol-heavy stories and little nuances like that. Anytime I spot stuff like that in stories myself it feels like the author is giving me a gold star or a pat on the head so when I started writing I went nuts with that lol. I dream of the day that someone reads it to FILTH and comes knocking at my figurative door about all of those little things.

What symbols relate to certain characters, events, or emotions?

Alright, I'm going to limit myself to one here because of the sheer volume of symbols in the series lol. The "gem" in Mariel's shieldstone is actually a piece of sea glass, cut and polished to look like a diamond. Axtapor was fooled by a civilian on his first pillage into thinking that it was a real diamond so naturally, he guarded it and bragged about it quite a bit. Shortly after, another deckhand pointed out that it wasn't a diamond at all, just sea glass, something plain and mostly worthless. He resolved to keep it to fool some other unsuspecting person in the future and then mostly forgot about it. \

However, when it comes time to make use of it, he gifts it to Mariel, though not to fool her into believing it has any value, but because she doesn't like expensive things and he still wants to give her something pretty. The story of the stone itself symbolizes how Mariel to most, is rather ordinary, nothing special, but to Axtapor is a highly coveted treasure. He's also rather protective of her and often mentions how he is lucky to be with her and is not shy about singing her praises to others. 🥺

How do you decide what symbols to use, or what these symbols mean? Are they intentional, or do you notice them after they've appeared in the story?

Honestly, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes symbols are just objects (Mariel's shieldstone), other times they are foods (like in the case of the Pale Kings imperialism being represented by figs), and sometimes they are stories/anecdotes (Axtapor's Kingdom of Frogs story being akin to the Realm of Dreams IYKYK).

As far as being intentional, most of them are, but there are some that crop up later on that I'm sort of like oh yeah. I totally meant to put that in there LOL.

[turnupswritessometimes]

Hi, just saw your post about your fav characters....Can I ask your your top 5 or 10 fav Disney characters and why you love them...?

EDIT: I am so sorry this took me so long to answer. I was doing a show and then Christmas happened and then I just let it stew!!

Lmao, sure! I'm not going to put the ones from the first post on here, because I've talked about them before. (But Stitch is still the top!! I'll also leave off Peter Pan and Cinderella) I'm not counting Marvel, Star Wars or Pixar; just Disney Animated Classics

Again, in no particular order, because that's too much stress.

1.) Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet

The angst! The arc! But most importantly, the gender!!! I watched it again recently and Jim's story is just!! So full of emotions!! His relationship with Silver - coming to terms with his absent dad - just very good stuff! (And for a 00s kid, he was the epitome of cool, lmaoo)

2.) Tiana from Princess and the Frog

Again, similar to Cinderella, I relate to 'Dreams come true, but you have to put in the hard work for them.' Especially this last year (me and Tiana both worked two jobs!), and working on coursework. Now that I've finished my course, I'm still holing up most nights to polish off a manuscript I want to seriously get published. Tiana working so hard for her dreams is a big inspiration. I probably take the wrong message from the film, lol

3.) Anna from Frozen

This is mostly because I cosplayed Anna, multiple times! I have her coronation dress and her blue dress! It was honestly more because my friend had the dress ready to go, than any real choice, which spawned getting brought a lot of Anna merch. But I do like her as a character; her determination and optimism and that she's honestly an awkward dork.

4.) Oliver from Oliver and Company

I love Oliver Twist and I've loved ginger cats ever since I first watched Alien. So I have to love Oliver. He is just...a little boy...there's not much substance to him but there doesn't need to be: he's an orphan kitten and his job is to be lovable.

5.) Aladdin

The best Disney man? He's charming and handsome and dedicated! I thought I would have more to justify it, but not really, lol - he's a very nice man! The magic carpet ride, the puppy eyes, the underlying queerness of 'Genie, make me a prince!'

(I was also cast as Aladdin in the school play; a big gender moment for me!)

6.) Koda from Brother Bear

Brother Bear was one of my favourites as a kid, and I loved Koda. Like Oliver, he's - cute - and cuddly. And that's enough for him to earn a spot on the list, because my standards a low!

7.) Jiminy Cricket

I do think Kingdom Hearts influences this one: I think his role in the games is cute! And the idea of him being a sidekick/guide is definitely story material I'm toying with. Idk, I just find him charming. Maybe it's because the film is vintage now..maybe it's because I have a lot of cute cross stitch patterns with him on...

8.) Taran from The Black Cauldron

But, uh, not to be pretentious: he's better in the Chronicles of Prydain books. That's not hugely fair, because there's five books and The Black Cauldron is more a mash-up of the first two, so Taran's arc is longer and more spread out in the novels. The sword is dealt with a lot more poingantly, and the reveal of his parents? Very good!

With the Disney version I guess its just that he's Arthur if Arthur was a little more fun and a little more flawed. Taran's kind of a jerk, but he learns to be a hero. And that's catnip for me.

9.) Judy Hopps from Zootopia

(Unfortunately.) I don't have great feelings about Judy's job, or her policework, but I watched Zootopia a lot before moving out to go to uni, and really related to moving into some shoddy places persuing a goal that might not happen. I do love how upbeat Judy is; her optimism is a good rule to live by.

(The above gif was definitely me having a great time at the uni organised disco playing Busted, next to a housemate who was babysitting me until he had to walk me to the bus stop so I could home. (I had work early the next morning.))

10.) Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland

I really love Alice in Wonderland, but my favourite has always been the Cheshire Cat. I do love a cat, and the fact that he was pink and purple was the best to me as a child. I just think he's neat!

(Disney stop putting him on villains merchandise he is just a funky little guy!)

[stars-tonight]

Hiii! i love this idea :D 🩵

Can my anon emoji be 🫧?

I would like a long character match up!

I would like it to be a romantic relationship

I use she/her pronouns and would like to be paired with a guy

I would like my ideal partner to have a sense of humor, be loyal, caring, and adventurous but can also be serious and have a chill personality

My personality traits are that I am very laid back and keep to myself, i am not that outgoing like my partner would be, o can have a sense of humor but my jokes are always bad, i am a sweet person who looks for the best in everyone but if you do something to make me really upset or upset a person i care about i can be cold, and i also tend to overthink a lot and can get jealous easily

My hobbies honestly include sleeping a lot, playing video games, reading, and watching random reality tv shows/competitions

My love languages are both quality time and words of affirmation

My ideal date would be staying in with my partner doing fun activities or just chilling watching tv

My mbti is INFJ and i am a scorpio sun, pisces moon, capricorn rising, scorpio venus, scorpio mercury, libra mars. I love animals (except frogs and squirrels), i enjoy school but dont enjoy doing the homework, i love listening to music, specifically pop punk/alternative music that is like that but also like listening to pop and classical music, I love horror related things

headcanons

🥛 daichi's pretty chill but can be serious, and he most definitely is loyal and caring

🥛 i think he's an introvert but like. he doesn't have a problem with talking to people, yknow? like he would willingly do it

🥛 so if you're shy and want someone to like order food for you at a restaurant he'd have no problem doing that

🥛 i'm not going to lie i was stuck between daichi and kuroo for a long time

🥛 i think i mostly picked daichi because i feel like he'd be just a tiny bit more sensitive to your emotions and would pick up on them faster

🥛 also kuroo isn't as serious as daichi can be, he's chill too but has more of an adventurous or spontaneous side

🥛 also since daichi is an introvert while kuroo is an ambivert, daichi would be much more up for just staying in on off days and sleeping or watching a good tv show

🥛 you guys would have fun little bets when watching reality tv and competitions

🥛 daichi's a complete gentleman so he wouldn't bet anything ridiculous like money or chores; it'll be stupid little stuff like the loser has to talk like yoda for a day

🥛 i feel like you have more quiet hobbies if that makes sense, and daichi would have similar hobbies as well

🥛 his job makes him tired enough on the daily lol

🥛 speaking of his job, a career as a police officer would definitely lead him to be super appreciative of his loved ones

🥛 so his love language is definitely quality time and he's always spending time with you when he's home from work

🥛 highkey i feel like he feels the same as you about school too

🥛 like he understands its importance but he just doesn't care for the work

🥛 the first time you watch a horror movie together, he is absolutely shocked

🥛 he doesn't scare easy and was kind of hoping expecting that you'd be scared and end up in his arms so he could protect and comfort you

🥛 but actually you seemed to really like it and daichi was just kinda there like 😶

runner up for you was kuroo tetsurō (happy late birthday to him)!

A/N: hey 🫧anon! i'm sorry about the long wait but i hope you liked your matchup 🫶

[ilaiyayaya]

I LOVE LIME!!! I LOVE THE FRUIT KNOWN AS LIME!!!!!!!

MY KICKSTARTER PINS I BACKED LIKE OVER A YEAR AGO FINALLY ARRIVEDand also a book (and a rock) and patches but like the pins are the real boon I love pins I love corn!

I finally have a physical memento of the most impactful community I've been of in my life! Now when Discord FUCKING DIES and everyone I still know from there FUCKING DIES I'll still have an undeniable form of proof that I once killed a real human being for gambling too much (they were bri'ish so like, it doesn't really count they're not real, they're like phantoms. They were also pink so it was a government sanctioned killing (that's a lie they were purple but I love propaganda)). Unfortunately that also means that there's physical proof that I have an extremely minor connection to fucking chris-chan which means I will never achieve my life goal of being elected prime minister 😔

THERE I AM GARY THERE I AM!!!!! on the left not on the right i would never wear a "feel the bern" t-shirt. I don't go by Gurren anymore and haven't in like, at least a year, but like idk I think I prefer it not referring to me by what I currently go by, like it keeps this segment of my life in the past. I don't really regret or hate RFCK now like probably at least 50% of people who were there do now, despite that I also don't think I would go back if I could lol.

THERE I AM IN THE ACTUAL COMIC GARY THERE I AM IN THE ACTUAL COMIC!!!!! can you find me! can you find waldo galdo? I can't find her she's invisible all I can find is The Big Gay, and Kevin. Hi Kevin...

That's a lie I also see [[REDACTED]], and [[REDACTED]], and [[REDACTED]], and also [[REDACTED]] and also a frog but I genuinely don't know which frog because there were several notable frogs, but I don't see a car under it so I'm gonna assume it's the Frog.

Did you (the reader) find me? I found me! would you like a hint? no? well fuck you too in that case I'll just spoil exactly where I am IDIOT!!!

^there I am, that's where I am, I'm on the left :)

Godammit I forgot how much involvement chris-chan and her characters actual have in this comic I thought she just appeared at like, the end, no it's like every other page fuck ;-;. I'm so glad that one documentary barely covered RFCK and thus didn't result in wave 2 of half the people in the server almost getting doxxed by actual convicted predators god I love obsessive sonichu fans they're so cool and not actual fucking living stains :)

Aside from the parts with The Greedy Grinner (christine) I'd say it still holds up relatively well kinda almost not at all but like I wanna believe it does. I mean it's completely incomprehensible half the time unless you know exactly what it's referencing most of the time and were involved in the in-game/in-community events it's talking about but like, if you were there when those things happened and actually can understand wtf is going on, I think it kinda holds up it's not too terrible. I'm saying this after re-reading like 20 pages btw I'm not re-reading the entire thing I'd fall asleep and go honk shoo honk shoo hooooonk mimimimi after like 30 pages but like I'll give the rest of it the benefit of the doubt that it's good! I wish they referenced the dt bombing more tho I think that was a funny event honestly probably peak rfck.

Does Ben still make comics? Like not even joking I literally don't know I haven't kept up with him in years I follow him on x.net but like the only tweets I ever see from him are like, Toe Biden related, like I don't even mean that in a mean I just legit don't know if he still makes stuff other than Joe Biden Wake Up twitter posts. Actually no nevermind that's not true I completely forgot he's making a lecture on Bionicle, I know literally nothing about Bionicle but like I'm sure it'll be pretty alright, the Mega Man lecture he did like, idk probably like 2 years ago at this point, was pretty good. I believe in you Ben Saint, I believe you can win the spelling bee championship and convince the mayor not to demolish the community center!!

I did literally buy all of that stuff just for one pin btw like that's not a joke that's 100% :srs: I spent way too much money for the Cop Kriller pin it was Shrimply the easiest method to getting it. I'll also probably someday get it as a tattoo as well I, think it's a really nice design, whoever designed it did a really good job, I don't remember who it was, maybe Ben, maybe Smearg, uhhhh maybe Munchy but I don't think so, uhhhh maybe someone else I'm forgetting but whichever one of them did the Killer logo did a great job and I give them 3 slightly larger than average thumbs up!

Like it just looks good, it's just a genuinely nice looking design. I mean the Rowdy design is also alright BUT I FUCKING HATE PINK PEOPLE I FUCKING HATE CLOWNS I HOPE THEY ALL DIE AND DON'T COME BACK TO LIFE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[ambersrose]

Which character do you relate to the most?

You know, I could definitely see where someone might totally see some similarities between me and Lottie from Princess and the Frog and honestly? I'm all for it and I love her, so it's a yes for me!

[sneakyscarab]

alrighty, ive now caught up from my backlog of touhous that ive beaten, so the pace from now on is gonna slow down since i need to beat the games first before i write about them. who knows though, if they take as long as this one did maybe i can keep up this pace :P

nina's thoughts on Touhou 12 - Undefined Fantastic Object

so funny story, after Subterranean Animism took me like two weeks to finish, i went into UFO expecting a similar result, but i ended up clearing within a single day. twelve (12) attempts of UFO and i had already got my 1cc! im a bit impressed with myself tbh, but i think i was helped by the gameplay changes in UFO that make it a bit easier.

for starters, real bombs are back baby! no more trading attack power for survivability, full power bombs are here again as a seperate resource. life pieces stick around, but now boss fights only give one out when you defeat their last phase. you would think this makes life pieces incredibly scarce, but theres another entirely new source for them: the titular Undefined Fantastic Objects. some enemies now drop little ufos that fly around the screen that come in one of three colours. when you pick up a ufo it goes into a small tracker in the corner, and when you collect 3 in a row all of one colour, or 1 of each, then a Big UFO spawns on screen. the UFO sticks around for about 10 seconds, slurping up every collectible that shows up onscreen. for each item it grabs, a meter around the ufo fills up and at max it drops an item depending on the colour, and when destroyed it drops another item plus everything it picked up. rainbow ufos drop more small ufos, green gives you a bomb on full meter and a bomb-piece on kill, red gives you a life piece on both, and blue does… something? i don't know. i never saw any items pop out of a blue ufo, and i prioritized blue ufos the least. i can only assume they do something relating to points since those are blue, but i honestly have no idea cause i beat the game before i had to go look anything up about it. once i figured out red guys gave you life i basically hard-focused proc'ing red ufos as much as possible, going for rainbow or green when red wasnt possible. as weird as the ufos are, i have to say their mechanics are conveyed surprisingly well without any real tutorials or even words, just really solid ui design.

the last new addition to the gameplay comes in the playable characters, Sanae is here now! wooo Sanae lets go! obviously Reimu and Marisa are here too, each of them get 2 weapon options so theres still only 6 total. i gave each one a shot, although some of them i literally only played once lol. Reimu has the standard homing shots and needles, Marisa has her illusion lasers but a new secondary weapon that shoots in sort of branching V-shapes, with a couple shots going behind her as well as in front, which i didnt find many uses for in my brief experience with it. illusion laser is the only one of these that i played more than once, as i put most of my focus into Sanae. both of Sanae's movesets are pretty neat, her first one was my weapon of choice for my 1cc attempt. based on Kanako, she shoots out snake beams that fly vertically, and then if they see an enemy to their left or right they take a 90 degree turn, making for an interesting type of homing. her other set, based on Suwako, shoots out frog beams in a wide fan angle, or straight ahead when focused, that explode into lingering AoE damage when they hit a target, which is great at clearing out huge swarms of enemies. i really like how her movesets sorta play off of Reimu's homing shots and Marisa's piercing lasers, but in very different ways compared to the two of them.

for the new characters, my favourite is probably Kogasa. this poor umbrella girl just wants to be scary, but shes inherently too silly-goofy and struggles to do what she as a youkai is Supposed to do. she's trying her best though, and looks adorable while doing it. i believe in you Kogasa!

i wasn't expecting to be a Ichirin & Unzan fan, but they surprised me. Ichirin is basically a stand user, a buddhist monk who controls her partner Unzan, a old man wind spirit with a powerful beard and even more powerful fists. the spell cards involving Unzan are great, seeing his huge angry face show up and throw hands is just hilarious. the best one by far though is their final attack, what i would call the absolute funniest spell card of the entire series so far: Thunderous Yell 「A Scolding from a Traditional Old Man」. if the name alone didn't convince you, the visuals are also hilarious, with two massive Unzan faces appearing on each side of the screen and shooting angry eye lasers at you. just look at it. perfection.

it's become a pattern in these posts that i talk about three new characters, but none of the others in UFO really stood out to me. if i had to pick one id go with Captain Murasa, just cause pirates are cool, but i don't have much more to say about her lol. sorry UFO crew!

anyways i think its about time to wrap this one up. thankfully i kept this one short so we dont have another SA essay situation lol. UFO is pretty fun, if a little bit Too easy with how much free stuff you can get from good ufo management. the story and characters really didn't stand out to me, and with how quickly i finished this one i don't expect it to really stick out much in my brain once i finish the series. if anything from UFO sticks it probably will just be Unzan's laser eyes. can we play that back one more time? thanks.