#Zombie Mike is so fun to draw

[rum-sugar-pirate]

Michael being self conscious about his new appearance

[skyblueartt]

Mike 🐾

🐾: draw a character with their favorite animal

I'm sleepy so this is a very quick one, but UGH what a cute prompt! I feel like Mike would be a cat person :') (Art prompt game)

[hothammies]

the party leader, mike wheeler - apoc au character details + poll under the cut!

---

mike's role in the party:

a scouter - essentially plans runs, checks areas first to ensure safety, and directs the runners during supply runs

assigns basic survival chores at the beginning of each day (laundry, boiling water, patrol, hunting, etc.)

is the "face" of the party -> always the one to negotiate with people of other groups

even though the party likes to give him shit for being kind of rude and bossy about how he talks to them in "leader" mode - they always hang onto his every word! they love and respect him deeply

kind of like a tired dad whenever he's not fighting with someone else -> basically watches over everyone to make sure they're okay

would never hesitate to do something deplorable to protect the party: family first

skills + hobbies:

considered the designated driver (along with max): nancy taught him when he was younger. he was scared about being useless due to his inability to shoot and aim guns so nancy helped him find something useful. max teaches him how to drive manual so that he can drive her muscle car (its how they get over their distaste for each other)

writes an entry in a journal that he stole every day! he lets will doodle in the margins of the paper :)

loves to read whatever's around - particularly interested in history, sci-fi, and old journals from people before the apocalypse (reads them with dustin and el -> they are nosy as hell and live for the drama)

great at using machetes and hatchets -> do NOT let this boy shoot a gun. he will accidentally hurt you and himself

good at fixing up guns and navigating - lucas (guns) and dustin (navigating) taught him :D

quirks / fun facts:

he likes to switch around the pins on his jacket a lot! the party find pins around to give to him (range from terrible to wearable)

since he's the only boy that likes to tie up his hair, max and el like to doll up and play around with his hair during their downtime

is very annoying and particular when it comes to doing survival chores (out of love) -> makes sure that the chores are divided equally among all of them and that no one gets the same chores twice in a row

--- other notes: mike was the first character i had in mind when thinking about this au (no surprise there) and the drawing of him sitting cross legged with a machete in his hand was the first ever "official" drawing i made for this :D i tried to make apoc mike similar to canon mike in terms of his temperament, his hero complex, his self-sacrificial tendencies, his inability to appropriately process his romantic feelings, his natural leadership and his personality. about mike's inability to use guns -> looking at mike's character dnd sheet, his dexterity is low and s1 mike wheeler cannot aim for shit either (see his rock throw). the reason he's most comfortable with machetes (and hatchets) is because of their versatility as both weapons and tools! just wanted to share because i think mike needed a nerf and him not being able to shoot guns is both in character and funny as hell to me i've had mike and will's char sheets done for a while and i really love the way they look :) i'm excited to post will's next! i'm working on the character sheets in batches of two, so which duo are yall most interested to see next? i'll work on them based on the poll results and post them next week at the earliest :) i'll prob also try out some concept designs for the demogorgon-like zombies sometime soon as well!

[istarlighti]

QSMP Ending + Headcanons

So although they teased a possible reboot or season 2 of some sorts of QSMP, I assume that not every player is returning for it. Which is fine! The fact they came and enjoyed for even a little bit is wonderful. I think a reboot can give the chance of new players joining without the worry of overcrowding or feeling overwhelmed.

But it did get me a little sad about some their characters so I have a few headcanons for the endings of qsmp characters. And I encourage other fans to share their headcanons of their favorite cubitos because it's fun and helps immortalize the qsmp.

.

Q!Mariana with his Aztec Godly powers approached a disheveled Q!Slimecicle and gave him a choice to go up to heaven with him so they can be with juanaflippa. No more mistakes, no more misclicks, no more corruption. Q!Slime grabs his hands and gladly accepts the offer and they fly up to the sky to meet an angelic juanaflippa. And they all backflipped together in heaven forever <3 (might draw something inspired by this, im running on crumbs)

Q!Etoiles after practicing for a while has successfully learned how to manipulate his glitchy powers and uses it to glitch out of Quesadilla Island (or the world) to search for new bigger bosses to fight. Starting his quest to becoming the best pvp player he can be! (might draw q!etoiles art because i just love the design potentials)

Q!Fit and Q!Pac take the days slowly. Really learning about each other and never taking time for granted. Letting their relationship develop as naturally it can be. Oh and they both take care of a zombified Q!Mike who wants to eat their brains but tries not to. May or may not accidentally start a zombie apocolpyse but no matter. They've survived worse, they can survive anything as long as they have each other. (might draw zombified Q!Mike because I just think it would be fun lol)

And that's all I have for now! Feel free to add any of your personal headcanons and remember to enjoy the memories that were made. Disfruta la isla :)

[pinkeoni]

When does 'Will the Wise' come out?

I was thinking about this flashback from s1 and about when exactly Will goes into his Will the Wise persona.

I think that Will the Wise is a way to have fun, a way to play and connect with friends, but more than that, I think it's also a defense mechanism— a safe space for him to slip in to when he's feeling low. His safe space, Castle Byers, has the words HOME OF WILL THE WISE written in big red letters across the top.

In the scene I mentioned above, Will seems a little somber while he's drawing.

Art can be fun, but it can also be a way for Will to express his emotions, both positive and negative. He paints for Mike to show him his feelings, but he also draws Zombie Boy to relieve his frustration. At this point when Will is drawing Will the Wise, it doesn't seem to be purely for fun. Maybe he was feeling down and needed Will the Wise to help him?

So when he starts to lean into it more aggressively, is this because he is more desperate to get to how Will the Wise makes him feel? Protected, safe, having fun with friends?

And so when he tears down the "Home of Will the Wise," does this speak to how severe the betrayal he felt was?

[aqualovesart]

Old from early-mid 2023 New from late 2023-early 2024

Welp, it took a while, but here's finally my drawings of Springtrap. Yes, I made two, and both of them were my first and second times drawing him respectively.

And here he is, William Afton, The Purple Guy, Vincent, Dave Miller Steve Raglan, Spring Bonnie, Scraptrap, Peepaw Willy, the infamous Tumblr Sexyman, Springtrap himself.

I will also admit that drawing him was pretty hard. I mean you can't exactly have character design like the one HE has and expect it NOT to be difficult. Especially when you have so many references to base it from and none of the seem to be the most concrete somehow, and it makes it even more hard to draw him as a result, and when you're never even sure which is and isn't official.

POV me trying to figure this s##t out. Just everything in this screenshot from the FNAF graphic novels REALLY describes how it felt trying to draw Springtrap and finding the right pictures and references of him just to be able to draw him:

Either way, I just wanted to have fun with these being my first ever drawings of Springtrap. With my first drawing, i was referencing Lord Raptor from Darkstalkers with the pose I made him be in, which to me made sense since he is basically a mummified, cyborg zombie, and to me, it just made sense that I'd use a zombie character like Lord Raptor as a reference for it, as well as being very inspired by Mike Mignola when I was making it.

My old Springtrap drawing Lord Raptor art from Darkstalkers

With my next drawing, I decided to go for something I little more original. He's in a taunting pose. He's taunting you. He's ready to make you his next victim. And yes, I had him holding a knife. I know good ole Willy doesn't have a knife in the game but has a knife in the movie, but I just wanted to have fun. I think we can all agree that he wouldn't hesitate picking up a knife even as a undead corpse in an old rusty, gross and mouldy animatronic suit and slash his victims with it.

02-03/11/2023

17-18/11/2023 22-23/11/2023 30/12/2023

25-26/01/2024

So yeah, Springtrap. He's great. I like him a lot, honestly one of my favorite characters in this entire series and one of my favorite villains ever. And yeah, he was hard to draw, but I still really enjoyed drawing him none the less and I'm still really with the drawing and how it came out. But what do you guys think? Tell me what you think in the comments, and maybe what you guys think about Springtrap in the comments.

[chalicepumasway]

Happy Birthday Cubfan135

Happy Birthday Cubfan135

Written by ChalicePumaSway

                The soft sound of barking and armadillos squeaking woke Cub on his birthday. Yesterday had been fun, he’d spent hours with his best friend who had run and completed his Labyrinth. The first to finish in fact. He sat up and stretched his arms back behind him and touched the pillow. He could see the sculk from his bedside window and it seemed to be happily pulsing away lit by the blue of the soul fires. He liked his birthday. Some people seemed to feel bad about them as they grew older but to him, he had leveled up. He swung his feet over the end of the bed and stretched as he stood. A ghost of a vex smile darted across his face and he turned to make the bed.

                He walked down the stairs and across to the barrel that provided torches. It was nearly empty so he pulled a stack of logs from the wood chest and chucked it into the machine. The hum of the redstone and the ozone smell it made was better than coffee. He popped open a water bottle and sipped it as he thought about how best to tackle his birthday to do list. He’d been planning all manner of fun for today. He heard his name called faintly and he looked out the windows toward the factory and followed the windows around to see if he could catch sight of someone.

                “CuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUBBBBBB” A familiar voice called and then he heard a thwack on the side of his house. “ow.”

                “Goooooood morning Mr Goodtimes. I hope you are well. Would you care to join me for breakfast?”  Cub put some raw pork and eggs on a hopper that fed it into a smoker. He grabbed some wheat from the barrel and walked over to the crafter. A loaf of bread popped out and he ran it over the smoker until a window popped up in the corner of his vision. He took the toast from the window and set it down in an item frame on his table.

                Scar walked down from the second floor. He had apparently come in on the balcony, his elytra fluttering behind him, some flight rockets in one hand. His smirk, ever present, always delighted Cub first thing in the morning. “That smells good! Of course I would love to have a birthday breakfast with my bestie.”

                The two of them sat down to pork, eggs, and toast. In the distance Skizz’s scream could be heard from Tango’s factory, another zombie piglin had fallen to his doom. The soft sound of chewing was replaced soon by a Disney rant, Cub smiled to himself. Scar really couldn’t help it. He cleaned up Scar’s plate which was only 2/3 eaten, half an egg and some of the toast still left over. He walked out and tossed the half an egg to Big Mike and broke up the bits of toast and fed them to his chickens. The dog was delighted and so were the chickens. He turned back to see Scar standing in the doorway, jittery with excitement. He raised an eyebrow. “What are you so excited about?”

                “Today of course! It’s your birthday and I have the WHOLE thing planned out!” Scar pulled out a book and quill and flipped through a few pages. “Its gonna be the best, just you wait!”

                “Scar….I already have a whole list of things to do to celebrate my birthday.” Cub adjusted his glasses and sighed. He knew he wasn’t going to win this fight. Having a birthday the day after your best friend had both benefits and draw backs and he was always doing stuff Scar wanted to do on his birthday. They always had fun but this year he was hoping to do the things he wanted.

                “How about this, we do one thing from my list of stuff and then something from your list and back and forth until we finish both?” Scar gave his best charming smile and Cub chuckled.

                “That’s mighty big of you Scar, can I at least know what I am agreeing to before I say yes?” Cub started toward the fireworks factory. He had gone two months without checking his mail and had missed out on a few really good opportunities and had delayed a fun one so now he checked it more regularly.

                “Nope. But you can tell me what you have planned so I can tell you how much more fun everything I have planned is.” Scar danced around Cub as they walked together. His jittery energy made him bounce and float with the elytra.

                “Well, I fully upgraded my mace recently so I was gonna try it out on a few different mobs. A wither. A Dragon. A warden. An Elder Guardian. That last one is gonna be hard. I don’t think the mace will work well in water. The Cub Club hungers for more destruction.” Cub smiled to himself, he had gotten a fantastic kill on Etho recently even though he had intended it to be someone else….well at one point he missed Etho so it really did wash out. “I almost chained it on you and Etho and I was gonna see if I could get it to chain, how many mobs I could kill without touching the ground.”

                “Well that does sound fun Cub, you could do that any day. That doesn’t really feel birthday level special to me.’ Scar stopped halfway through the door to the factory and Cub walked passed, the redstone doors closed on Scar and he yelped. “Not again!”

                “I added a button in there just for you buddy, push it and the door will open again.�� Cub had come to the conclusion that Scar proofing his base was just a natural evolution. Wouldn’t mean Scar would die less, would just mean it would be Scar’s fault and not the base’s fault or his. “And what exactly would be Birthday level fun to you? Yesterday you spent 5 hours in my Labyrinth .”

                “Almost 5.” Scar pulled himself out of the redstone after he pushed the button and stood next to Cub as he checked his mail. “Well that’s what inspired me to make plans today. Yesterday’s challenge was amazing. I wanted to go back and experience some of the other things you spent a lot of time on together.”

                “What do you mean by that?” Cub hadn’t gotten any new mail but there were a few pieces he really needed to do something about but hadn’t quite figured out when to fit them into his schedule.

                “Oh I dunno, a certain golf course. Maybe some Trident Enderpearl fun. Maybe some Total Chaos. Or we could even visit both Decked Outs.” Scar straightened his hat and started poking through the shulkers Cub had some of his mail in. “Oh you never used your sand or gravel voucher.”

                “Wait….you wanna hop into other seasons and play games together today?” The idea had merit. No…the idea WAS better than what he had planned. He knew Scar could really come up with some amazing stuff but he hadn’t ever done it on his birthday. Scar’s good ideas were a bit chaotic and rarely fit any particular schedule.

                “Not just me…a bunch of the hermits want to come with and play. Even some of the hermits who weren’t around when the games were made in the first place.” Scar had taken to jumping on the glass separating the upper section of the factory lobby and down into the water and then back onto the stairs. The parkour bug from yesterday hadn’t fully wore off yet.

                Cub blinked at Scar for a moment. Other hermits? Like who? Did it matter? He’d have fun no matter who showed up. “When would we start?”

                Scar turned to Cub and his grin widened a bit too much and his vex smile flashed across his face then flickered out back to his smirk. “That’s what I wanted to hear! Let’s GO!”

                The two left the factory and were joined by a rotating group of hermits. Skizz really wanted to try Decked Out the original as did Gem and Pearl. Joe wanted to play more golf. Tango wanted to play some Pot Shot, the first game in the current gaming district.  Etho was hoping for some Total Chaos. Impluse  wanted to do a few runs of Decked Out 2. Other hermits joined in on the fun as the day progressed. It was hard to keep track of everything. The group wandered off to their respective homes at the end of the day. Scar and Cub sat on the end of the Fireworks Factory roof and watched the moon overhead.

                “Did you have a good birthday buddy?” Scar asked, a more than a little bit of pride in his voice.

                “The best. You did a good job, Scar.” Cub smiled at Scar who beamed back at him. Cub thought that next year it would be hard to beat this birthday.

Happy Birthday Cubfan135. Whatever you get up to, may you have a good day celebrating.

[cosmos-night]

Ok. Recently I have found something strange. There is this official Stranger Things Tarot deck. I love finding some hidden meaning in those cards. And I love how many cards represent Will. That said. Recently while watching the deck on youtube I found out that some decks have one card replaced. The Hanged Man card. The original card looked like this:

But now in some decks it looks like this:

Why would they change it? I have heard complains that original deck did not include Eddie, but nowhere did they announced that they added it to deck. Was it intentional? Or are they hinting at something?

Will Byers Castle Byers Classics playlist include many songs that allude to the Rockstar lifestyle, teenage rebellion, addictions, nonconformity, rejection of school education, or even mention Lucifer = Satanism. The story of Will Byers in season 1 is somehow similar to that of Christopher Byers, Eddie Munson was based on Damien Echols. Both inspired by West Memphis Three.

Will Byers is called "Zombie Boy". In one comic he is asked by Owens if the character he draws craves for human brains. Will replies no - just their flesh. Not only is that metal as fuck but it somehow resembles vampiric cravings for blood. Eddie was compared to Vampire Kas.

Both during the death of Will and Eddie plays the same song by Moby. We have this tearful goodbye with Dustin. And just some scenes later we have this touching reunion with Will where they hug. It's like the timelines are fucked up or something...

Will being this anti drug advocate just to some time later in life becoming drug dealer himself would be so hilarious.

Lets not forget about Mike crush on Eddie... Are we to believe that Mike is not fully interested in Will now but would be in few years or on different timeline?

The new hairstyle for Will in season 5 suddenly becomes more curled? Another resemblance to Eddie...

And finally this post by Noah Schnapp hinting at certain death:

Was he hinting at Eddies death?

I know this theory is crazy but at the same time it's crazy fun. Does anyone here has the Tarot deck I've mentioned? What card do you have? The one with Will Byers or the one with Eddie?

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons Review

WARNING: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from this comic and Season 4 of Stranger Things!

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things "The Game Master" and "Erica's Quest"

Synopsis: Taking place before and during seasons 1-3, this comic chronicles the origins of The Party, their discovery of D&D, how the game impacted their lives, and how their shared love for fantasy and adventure allowed them to bond.

Observations:

Fantasy has always been appealing to me since I was a kid: The idea of creating worlds with your own characters, creatures, mythology, and story. The idea of universes out there more extraordinary and unique compared to the one we live in. The idea your imagination can bring some semblance of peace and security to your life. I know this and have lived through it. Even 27 years later, despite becoming more cynical and jaded through trauma and bitter experiences, I will always understand those who use fantasy to confront the harshness of the real world. It's why Mike's words hit home for me when he's telling the bookstore owner about why he's interested in D&D and wants to spend money on it:

"It really is like a war. We just want to fight on our own terms." Isn't that how we all feel at times? Some days, you're trying to survive the chaos of life, while other days involve you making choices between what is right and what is easy. Some days, everything is a shit-show, and you're trying to find something to keep you motivated. Some days, you have to deal with truly vile people and accept that they exist whether you like it or not. We all fight battles of some kind. We all have different ways of coping with how cold and indifferent reality can be. We all crave some sense of control in our lives.

For Mike and his friends, D&D provided that. Not only did it allow them to process their world easier, but it also gave them a sense of liberation from how oppressive the (as Eddie would put it) "forced conformity" of their society is. It's their world, and it's where they are the masters of their own destinies.

Now I'll admit I never really got into D&D. Both my brother and my college roommates tried to rope me into the game, and at the time I didn't have the patience for it. However, I do understand its appeal, and respect how it's a game for both kids and adults that forms friendships and can be a fun, shared experience for everyone. Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons is not only a story of how D&D influenced each member of the Party, but also a love letter to both the show and the game itself.

The artwork for this comic is incredible and some of the best I've seen so far. I love the drawings of the various D&D campaigns and the creative designs for the creatures the group encounters during their travels.

I also love how each campaign either draws upon the Party's experiences from school and their daily lives, or from the trauma they've endured since their encounters with the horrors of the Upside Down:

That last part is significant because at one point in the comic, Mike seriously questions whether or not D&D has any real meaning for him or his friends following his first meeting with the Demogorgon and the revelation that monsters exist:

Just like in the short story "The Game Master," Nancy is the one who comforts Mike during his crisis. She helps him realize that even though things can't go back to the way they were after everything that's happened, he still has his friends, and what made D&D valuable to them in the first place (aside from it being a means of dealing with the world around them) is that it brought and kept them together as companions.

Nancy recognizes the value D&D has to Mike. It's why she dressed up as an Elf for his Elder Tree Campaign all those years ago, and it's why she still encourages him despite his doubts.

(Side Note: I've always enjoyed the sibling dynamic Nancy and Mike have, and I'm praying season 5 includes more interactions between the two of them).

Speaking of which, this comic does a great job cementing the importance of D&D to Mike and Will's relationship. Mike is the one who introduced Will to D&D and even coined the nickname "Will the Wise" for him:

On top of that, in a deeply heartwarming moment, Mike goes out of his way to craft a specific campaign for Will following Will's rescue from the Upside Down. He knows Will is struggling and scared due to what happened to him, and works to help Will feel better and regain his confidence by giving him the opportunity to be a hero again. As Mike explains to Nancy:

This even extends to Mike handing over the role of Dungeon Master to Will by the time Max and El join The Party:

I know it's pretty common these days in the fandom to bash Mike for being insensitive and oblivious, but moments like these demonstrate he is capable of putting thought and effort into helping and encouraging his friends and loved ones. A big reason Will is passionate about D&D is because Mike inspired Will to embrace his talent and imagination. Will isn't likely to ever forget that.

Another aspect I enjoyed was getting to see how Mike, Will, and Lucas met Dustin. Back in season 1, Dustin remarks that he didn't become friends with them until around 4th grade, and the comic elaborates more on the circumstances of their meeting:

Turns out D&D appealed to Dustin's love for math and probabilities. There's also how he expressed interest in the game and didn't belittle it like Mike's other classmates did. Dustin is a curious person after all, and is more interested in figuring out how something works instead of dismissing it like other people do when they can't understand it.

Finally, there's Lucas's interest in D&D. At the beginning of the comic, when he and Mike are hiding from Troy and James, they go into a bookstore where they see the owner has created a display of The Battle of Waterloo, which is something that impresses Lucas:

There is the possibility I'm reading too much into this, but Lucas's comment about his dad's service in Vietnam and his refusal to talk about it makes me wonder if Lucas's interest in D&D isn't just because of the fantasy-adventure elements, but because it's his way of trying to understand what his dad went through during the war. The game has those battles between good and evil, as well as teaching people about making tough choices and relying on your companions when the going gets tough. Lucas is smart enough to piece things together, and even if his dad was reluctant to talk about Vietnam, he may have figured out aspects of that war based on what he was taught in school and whatever small details he could have picked up from his family.

Mike talks about how D&D for him is about fighting a war on his own terms, and the same goes for Lucas.

But it goes beyond that: D&D gave the boys memories to cherish, and the means to not feel alone while growing up:

Something else I want to discuss are the dates presented in the comic:

I don't know what information (if any) that Jody Houser or Dark Horse Comics were given about season 4 when this comic was written (which came out in late 2020/early 2021), but I find it to be a pretty big coincidence that the date Mike and Lucas discover D&D for the first time is on September 8th, 1980, which is exactly one year after the Massacre at Hawkins Lab took place and El banished Henry/One/Vecna to the Upside Down.

We also find out Mike's birthday is on April 7th, 1971. Granted, this is what the comic presents as his birthday, so I don't know if it's his actual birthday on the show. Regardless, it's still a cool detail.

And this was the gift Mike's friends gave him on his 10th birthday:

Finally, there's the last D&D campaign the Party plays in 1985 before El and Will leave Hawkins for Lenora. On the surface, there are callbacks to season 2, with Will's character in the game getting taken over by an evil entity (similar to how he was possessed by the Mind Flayer) and the Party having to work together to save him:

The big difference is while Will was able to be rescued in season 2, his character dies tragically in the game:

Again, I'm not saying the comic creators have any foreknowledge of what's going to occur in the final season, but I've been firm in believing that one or more main characters will end up dead before season 5 is over. I did a post a while back speculating that Mike was marked for death (and giving my reasoning for why), but I also wonder if it could also be Will, especially because of Vecna's creepy interest in him. There's a connection between the two of them the show hasn't fully explained yet, and (as I talked about in my review of Stranger Things The Other Side), I've seen fans on social media note the parallels between Vecna and Will and speculate on the idea of Will possibly turning evil in the last season. I'm skeptical of that happening (mostly because of the backlash the Duffer Brothers would face for it), but I do question what Will's fate will be in the final season. For what it's worth, Ross Duffer mentioned in an interview that Will's arc in season 5 will tie the whole series together, so make of that what you're able to.

There's also the final battle:

I remember the vision Vecna shows Nancy in season 4: A dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. A creature with a giant gaping mouth. An army of monsters invading. The death of her family (including Mike). Most of this is likely foreshadowing for what's to come. Just like the Party faces down an army of demons in their final game, they will also be facing down Vecna's army of monsters in the final season.

But in spite of how bad circumstances get, the one thing I trust is the Party will still have each other to rely on. I will be sad to see them all of them go once the show is over.

Overall, a solid comic and one of my personal favorites. I highly recommend it.

Coming Soon: Stranger Things Kamchatka Review

[3dchoujinbag]

CX ch 45 thoughts! - you three did good work

I feel like this is a very specific phrase --that you don't have to change -- to start this new part of the investigation.

Once again enjoyed Azuma being involved in scenes where he is not acting repressed or vaguely sinister. I think they all have more interesting aspects to their post-timeskip characters that chill set-up chapters are great at showing.

Why does Sato look so extra and evil in every panel he's in? It feels like a running gag at this point. He's been doing this the whole story and it honestly has made me really enjoy his character. The way Sato is framed is just so blatant and unsubtle that it goes back around to being mysterious again

Enjoyed the additional Arthur characterization.

Palma swimming for two months is such a perfect encapsulation of what rocks about this series. It's the fun mix of intrigue, whimsy, and unsettling horror. She somehow feels like she's been in the story the whole time.

Also the Bill Morse, zombie island is very, very cool world building, and I am excited to see what theories and links people smarter than me will find! I appreciate how we were eased into Palma's character, and now that we like her, Ishida can drop wackier and wackier ideas.

Nude is fine. His new "living" predicament is the most interesting thing about him right now, but I feel like the author enjoys drawing him. But most importantly...

Ely's back in the spotlight!

Ely continues to be great, and appreciate the lack of love triangle (so far). It's been fun seeing the romance subplot develop.

I hear people saying Ely hasn't had an arc yet, but a) I'm sure it'll come in due time, b) Ely has always been a emotionally mature character, and c) Ely is very important for fleshing out Azuma's and Tokio's personalities, whose arcs and emotional states have been given most of the focus post-timeskip.

She hasn't really been given an impetus to change. Her current function in the story is to push the other two to grow through their stubbornness (or "relentless"ness). The not-talking subplot didn't overstay its welcome because she could read both of them enough to call them out on it. She knows how they think and how their personalities interact. I'm excited for her to be front and center again!

To wrap up, I'm looking forward to see this new four-man squad interact with each other. The Tokio-Mic-Mike dynamic will be missed, but it will be interesting to see how Tokio's leadership abilities work under three characters who might not follow orders as militantly.

Thanks for reading!

[bylertruther]

the party + social media headcanons

mike would be a twitch streamer. certified #gaymer that'll play pretty much anything. malds real fucking bad (but not in a serious, toxic way just in a funny he's a sore loser that gets dunked on way) and gets baited by his chat all the time. definitely had a moment like this and when disaster struck he just immediately ended the fucking stream lmao. he let his chat bully him into the heart rate monitor challenge exactly one time and never again because they wouldn't stop teasing him over how it went up whenever will teased him during a multi-player game. he plays with the party a lot, but people are always asking will and max to come on because they loooove will and love how max roasts the shit out of him. will drew/made his subscriber emotes ofc. on his just chatting days they'll rank things, discuss the latest star wars hot topic, or talk about movies and the art of storytelling.

dustin mostly posts on youtube. he makes videos showcasing his peculiar inventions, some of which are actually really cool engineering feats and others are more like that of the "unnecessary inventions" guy's work. he's always super happy and excited about whatever he's doing and it's really contagious. he always explains everything thoroughly and titles his videos like so: SUPER COOL TITLE HERE (REAL) (NOT CLICKBAIT!). he includes a blooper reel at the end with the jokes that (rightfully) didn't make the cut.

will is an art (+gaming ofc) streamer! he streams himself drawing on twitch and it's really laid back. he'll be working away while the chat-created playlist plays in the background, looking up intermittently to see what people are saying. people like to donate or use their points to say silly things / use any of the sound effects to get his attention. he uses the Good, Professional footage to make a timelapsed video for his youtube, because twitch is just for chilling. stream titles are something like "draw with me!", "boys night", "it's a paint kind of day", or "parallel play? on MY stream? it's more likely than you think". mike hangs around a lot and el lurks. he always says hi to people and tries to answer as many of his chatters as he can. when he games he LOVES to play horror games in the dark, especially the shitty ones. he gets lots of views on those. but he plays mostly anything, too! like nintendo speedruns or he'll play smash with his viewers. he also vlogs sometimes for his youtube. just amasses little clips throughout the week or month or whatever and tosses them together for fun and to work on his more creative editing skills. he goes through his banned list on twitch and lets the community decide if they get unbanned or not like it's a court trial or something lmao.

lucas is an instagram baddie. he doesn't even try to be one, he just is. gets hella fucking likes and comments including these emojis: 😳🫠😍🔥. writes really sweet captions. makes stupid fucking bank on ads and promos. likes to post really embarrassing zoomed-in pictures of mike and dustin on his story when they hang out, then one of himself to even it out. you already Know he's got hella selfies with max and candid shots of her<3. he and will do cute poses whenever they snap a pic together, and there's a really cute snap of lucas and the twins where their cheeks are all squished together n they're cheesin' real hard (it was them out and about downtown). has a video where he makes a shot with his back turned and the entire party's going crazy cheering, shaking him, screaming, etc etc.

max would explode my head with her mind if she heard me say this, but she's also an instagram user. she posts lots of videos of her skating. she'll post her landing a new trick and then the 3984039 times she wiped out beforehand. also takes pics of her favorite tagger's (zombie boy) work. posts selfies where she's all scraped up after wiping out or where she's got a hello kitty band-aid on her face (courtesy of el, of course). a lot of her pictures are more artsy, like instead of taking a selfie, she'll take a picture of your shoes side by side, blurry candids of whoever she's hanging out with, or pictures of places she's been. doesn't always caption them, because she likes to be mysterious. replies to the party's comments and not very many other people's.

el is mostly the girl behind the camera. she takes a lot of max's videos and pictures, helps will set up his camera when he's doing a rare tutorial, and helps mike decide which picture to use whenever he posts something. still, she does her own thing, too! she loves to post her crafts on instagram and twitter. she makes jewelry and trinkets to sell on etsy. always takes pictures of her food, her good outfits, and herself. :) her instagram has a theme and she posts updates on twitter. she always likes the party's posts and comments on them. if she's lurking on someone's stream, she'll take a picture of her screen and text it to them with a random emoji. she also posts a lot of pictures of her friends with captions so sweet they'll make your teeth rot. she likes to take the party's phones and sneak a silly selfie of herself and never tell them about it lmao. takes a super zoomed in picture of you when you're not looking and texts it to you with "hi :)" attached.

byler-specific headcanons

will and mike are always on the same team if they can be.

they fucking DOMINATE at codenames, but e|max did sweep the floor with them in two rounds once which they claim was bc of cheating.

they also play lots of minecraft (yes they put their beds next to each other n share loot thank u) (and by "share loot" i mean mike drops cool shit for will and will drops bread n meat whenever mike is getting his ass handed to him). sometimes will walks up to him and mike pauses what he's doing to turn around and will just whacks him before running away or digging a hole beneath himself. will never drops anything valuable for him because every single time he's done it, mike goes and dies in the most stupid way possible right after lmao.

mike is one of will's mods and he'll ban anyone for anything.

will is one of mike's mods, too. sometimes he comes to mike's defense when ppl are clowning him, but other times he'll just make it worse by sharing an embarrassing anecdote<3 LMAO

if will is streaming, mike always chooses to raid him and it makes will smile and blush every time.

mike hates backseat gamers and it's a bannable offense for everyone except will ofc, who is coincidentally one of the worst backseat gamers of all time lmao.

will roasts mike's taste whenever he's ranking movies on stream. they get into it but come to an eventual compromise over star wars. will tells him he's hopeless n mike is trying to respond but the chat is going crazy with sound effects and spamming L in the chat which makes mike pretend to end the stream by putting his "thank you for watching" title card up on screen lmaoooo

[szmaciarz-pospolity]

Quick story of my Michael Afton design

His first ver (wich was a base for all the other ones) was PURLEY based on the fnaf 4 sprite beacuae,,, It's the only Mike design I like besides that pizza sim bear- LIKE SORRY ALIVE MIKE IN SISTER LOCATION IS UGLY AS FUCK and overall I had idea to make him based of Foxy in many regards (such as with thos darn ahoges to represent Foxy's hair spikes). Also here comes the worst part of Mike design that I can never get rid of beacuse I'm wayyyy to attached to it- fleshtooth. I know it's awful you know it's awful I love it

Then I started to doodle him again and then his iconic emo bangs apeared and let's just say,,, these were here for a stay

Then I drew first real art of him and that solidifed the basic purple mike design I would draw the most. It would change slightly later but these changes were mostly based on giving him cooler clothes

Important thing to note on these designs: rather reddish toned hair, those boots (also purple lace if you know lace code you get it) also those fish net stockings. There's no real drawings of teen Michael Afton in this era but I have this gacha model (I'm not doing gacha videos I just liked making characters for fun. I like dress up games ok-) wich tells us a lot we need to know

There's not much imporant things to note here beside black shirt and grey hoodie onstead of gray shirt. This decision was made beacuse I think black shirt suits his edgy teen vibe more and I added the optional grey hoodie to recompensate that. There was also sims 4 model but It was horroble and I don't feel like looking for it. Onky thing notable there were ever redder hair and fishnets making a comeback

Then my fnaf hiperfix ended for around half a year and I came back with this design (also here's still unshaded fullbody in new style)

Notable things with Zombie Mike: No more ahoge, I finally deleted it since drawing it was a pain and it did nothing do enhance the design. he looses a piece of cheek, overall I want to make Zombie Mike look more destroyed. Still tho I want to keeo the general "funky purple monster high oc" vibe since that suits style I draw in more and I enjoy drawing stuff like this more. I litearlly make animatronics into funky furries with bows leave me alone.

Things to note on teen Mike design: Ahoge is also gone, but fishnets make a comeback, same with purple lace comebat boots. He also gets long hair like REALLY long hair. At first I wanted to play around with somehow keeping these bangs but also giving him mullet. However I have no idea how but he ended up long haired but I liked it he looked cute so I kept it.

Final thoughts and bonus funfacts

I totally went with count the ways millie aproach didn't I- But um yeah my Mike doesn't look like this punkish 80's bully boy but like 2000's emo fem but that's okay since that's the aesthetic I prefer anyway 💖 My Mike wasn't meant to be realistic he was meant to be cute and fun to draw ok-

Now funfacts

-Those weird side bangs he has were meant to be a reference to side burns I saw people draw him. But his eyes were too big to make side burns visible so side bangs it is

-He had snake bite pirercing in the first design but I deleted it. Bonnie Bully got it instead to recompansate

-Also Freddy bully gets more of an 80's edgy bully archetype look to recompensate for Mike going the emo way

-His red hair apeared beacuse on his fnaf 4 model I always saw his hair as reddish so I decided to make it evenr redder. It's obviously dyed

-Where it comes to his face he actually looks mostly like his mom, and only has William's eyes. I know this is totally not canon but I just like the irony that feom all things he could have inherited from William, it was his fuckin eyes you know THE WINDOWS OF A SOUL.

-He also gets William's body feutures tho. The only major differecence is shoulders aren't as wide

-His mom was Filipina so he's mixed

-I want him to get a buzz cut and dyed blonde hair during his Mike Schmidt era. I'm yet to design that

-his Foxy mask has a tounge stuck out beacuse of that fnaf 4 foxy teaser

-That light blue tongue while he's purple thing is beacuse I was stupid and while making the first doodle of his design, I acidentaly covered his tounge color with his eye white color

-He propably would wear those fuckin combat boots at the beach. Before you claim me insane to sugest anyone would do that- I litearlly went to beach with someone who wore combat boots there.

-He ripped holes in his jeans himself

-He's so skinny you propabky could count his ribs </3 He's eating alright he's just build this way

-He's tall as fuck

[leam1983]

Halloween for Adults

So, you're like me. You don't want Spooky Month to end just yet. Here's a few suggestions.

Full text below.

First, try digging out all those movies you keep telling yourself you'll watch, but never get around to doing so. Sprinkle them throughout November. My personal favourites are still Ryuhei Kitamura's adaptation of Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train, along with Stuart Gordon's recent return to horror, in the form of 2021's The Color Out of Space. I'm a sucker for the golden oldies - put James Whale in the director's seat and I've watched it. Same goes with anything Ed Wood-related. I love my self-conscious schlock. An added mention goes to Tarantino and Rodriguez' Grindhouse collab, which has some fantastic gore.

You can also find yourself schlocky and pulpy books. I'd strongly recommend Andrew Pyper's Oracle, to put you in the mood. If you're into your classics, William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist is a hard one to beat. All respects to Bill Friedkin's work, but the novel is eons above it in terms of atmosphere. Note to the wise and to atheists out there, however - themes of guilt and of spiritual affects associated with said guilt are rampant in Blatty's post-Exorcist work in the same universe. If you're impatient in the face of someone waxing fire-and-brimstone as an excuse for their own moral failings, you might want to tune this one out. Barker features here, again, with his Books of Blood anthology being a favourite of mine. If you're looking for something that's hilariously campy and has the subtlety of a battering ram, just pick up one of Del Rey's H.P. Lovecraft compilations; they're far cheaper than academic editions, Miskatonic Press reprints or the Library of America omnibus.

For a more serious take on Cosmic Horror, I'll point you to Jeff Van Der Meer, whose Southern Reach series actually does wax existential, in opposition to Lovecraft's sometimes smarmy self-reflections. Van Der Meer does a great job at distilling Cosmic Horror down to its fundaments, and then builds his own Mythos, of a sort, on top of it. If the Master of Providence were still alive, I'd tell him to take notes - seriously.

As you'd expect, comics can also feature. Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead deserve no introduction, but his tone is so focused on the interpersonal that any fun gets quickly sapped out of the experience. If you want some drama to extend your Halloween, you can't go wrong with Rick Grimes' adventures. If, however, you're here for the Pulpy goodness of it all, I'd suggest Mike Mignola and Pat McEown's Champion of the Worms. It serves as the opening salvo for an abortive project titled ZombieWorld - basically The Walking Dead with more squick and less pathos - but what is there is absolutely striking.

Simply put, Champion of the Worms is what you get when an American illustrator overdoses on the works of European pencillers like Morris or Hergé, and pens a gruesomely clean Clear Line-esque aesthetic that flatters the withered features of a Hyperborean death priest-turned-mummy called Azzul Gotha, who seems hell-bent on bringing about the Terrestrial reign of his worm gods and the spreading of a plague of undeath. There's something amusing to the sight of a stylistic cousin to Tintin's Rascar Capac (see The 7 Crystal Balls) pacing about in a museum he's overrun with zombies, reanimated mummies and other shambling corpses, muttering as he obsesses over a means to bring his chosen bride back to him. Man's got the face of the Cryptkeeper and probably a close proxy for John Kassir's cackles, and McEown still draws little pink hearts around his dessicated head when he finally manages to land what's probably the grossest French kiss imaginable.

It's horror in the way haunted house attractions typically present it - it's actually quite colorful and vibrant, and it's hard to find zombies that both manage to fit the bill while also seemingly disturbingly, even cartoonishly alive. It's funny and hammy and tragic in equal parts - and a real shame that Mignola and Dark Horse found the Sales figures disappointing.

Speaking of the Cryptkeeper, both the main Tales from the Crypt series and Nelvana's Tales from the Cryptkeeper are both worthy tools to extend Spooky Month by a week or two. If you're familiar with William Gaines and his weird forays from Christian comics to twisted morality plays featuring lurid gore, the adaptations hardly need any introduction. Of note is the fact that HBO more or less used TftC as a free and open workshop for many actors who felt like trying their hand in the director's chair, and also featured many top-bill talents from the eighties and nineties. One episode in particular features an unreal Michael J. Fox cameo, and one storyline in the penultimate season was directed by Arnold Schwarzennegger. They even got him to reference Pumping Iron while lambasting the show's cadaverous host for having, well, the biceps of a half-dried mummy! Like Champion of the Worms, this is Halloween at its most campy, fun, unrestrained, and cheerfully graven.

A quick round-up of the honorable mentions that were skipped over precisely because of their ubiquity would have to include Henry Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, Disney's Hocus Pocus and its recently-released sequel, along with Michael Dougherty's Trick R' Treat. Audiophiles see Midnight Syndicate's discography added to the pile.

For video games, I'll preface this by mentioning that a few of these picks suppose you're familiar with the handling of emulators, and that you can either work a Torrent tracker or source the needed files on your own.

If we're focusing on the fun side of things, Midway's CarnEvil is a favourite of mine, which runs easily on MAME with a few tweaks enabling you to use your mouse as a light gun analog. If you don't have the patience to get this fixed and money burning a hole in your pocket, you can snag a refurbed PSVR kit and give Until Dawn: Rush of Blood a whirl for the same basic effect. I'd also recommend an emulated cabinet of anything related to House of the Dead's arcade run. The Wii had its own off-kilter entry in the form of House of the Dead: Overkill, which ran hot off the tails of the then-recently-released Grindhouse duology. Creative Assembly's Alien Isolation deserves a special mention, along with EA Redwood Shores' Dead Space - particularly the first game in the series. Side note - the original 2009 release is a perfectly valid and cheaper alternative to the upcoming reboot.

Honestly, video games are the one area where I'm tempted to simply gesture broadly in the vague direction of your own, personal games collection and to just say Play the heck 'outta those you know. There's far too many to name, from anything that has Resident Evil's name or pedigree attached to it to super-niche titles like New Blood's Faith: The Unholy Trinity or Gloomwood. Indie horror games are extremely fertile, and not a week goes by where some other quirky goodie doesn't find its way to itch.io. Of them all, I'd particularly recommend Kitty Horrorshow's Anatomy, which is a moving - and gruesome - portrait of the Haunted House as a trope.

For other tone-setters, setting a good table always helps. These are the dying days of Summer, effectively, and nothing soothes more during the cold, damp days of November than a good bowl of soup. Onion soup layered with an au gratin biscotti is a House Gremlin staple from late September to shortly before Christmas, along with bog-standard non-perishables like pea soup. I also always keep a measure of crepe batter on hand, or at least have the essentials to whip one together on short notice. Once hailstorms become frequent, warm crepes with sausages, melted cheese or an abundance of maple syrup turn out to be useful and easy fixings to prepare.

Finally, keep a few spooky tidbits around. It's your house, your flat, your condo, whatever, so nobody gives a shit. Keep a few tiny pumpkin plushies, orange fairy lights or other reminders of the season that could more easily blend in with other décor elements. Seeing as you're prolonging Halloween, don't forget to sensibly stock up on either stock-clearance Halloween candy boxes, or on a handful of full-size options.

The fun honestly doesn't have to end just because everything media-based around you moved on to Christmas on the button, and for people like me who particularly resonate with certain holidays, it's prudent enough to give ourselves a week or two to safely come down from our favourite weeks in all the year...

[variousqueerthings]

Favourite Horror Tv Shows (Unranked)

The Haunting Of Hill House 

You want trauma in your ghosts? You want plottwists and time shenanigans? You want excruciatingly beautifully shot episodes? You want m o n o l o g u e s ! Family drama! Shirley Jackson with a twist?

I’m someone who generally loves Mike Flanagan’s work, because he’s not particularly pretentious about it. He clearly just loves horror as a metaphor for grief and trauma in particular, and also his wife Kate Siegel, and I think that’s sexy of him. 

This is definitely my favourite out of everything he’s made though, movies included. 

The Exorcist

Underrated! Wonderful! Queer! It’s unfortunate that this show was so misjudged that it didn’t reach the audience that it would have thrived under. I imagine a bunch of angry edgy fanboys wouldn’t be too happy with queer priests (amongst others) and feminist horror. 

Geena Davies in season 1. John Cho and Brianna Hildebrand in season 2. And the leads (Marcus and Tomas) are the version of partners-in-crime (sometimes literally crime) who pine for each other that for once isn’t grounded in no homo. 

The tenderness of affixing someone’s priest collar 🥺

(they get this close the first time they meet. this is their first meeting).

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

The Classic! Created so many tropes! And, despite J*ss Wh*d*n being a dick, full of women who are played by wonderful, talented actresses, and who get (for the most part) interesting, harrowing, fulfilling, varied narratives. 

I really didn’t see a genre show with this many female leads again until... I wanna throw out a year like 2015-2016. And even then, this one breaks the mold in terms of sheer accessibility and fun and inventiveness!

Sarah Michelle Gellar is an icon. This is her show!

Santa Clarita Diet

You know that post that’s like: My favourite “het” couples in film are actually bisexual. You know when a woman is unhinged and her husband is simply there to assist her in that goal? You love domestic serial killers? Zombies with-a-twist? Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant being married? 

Literally what’s not to love? Sometimes your spouse becomes a zombie and because you love her, you’re going to help find the right victims (usually nazis) and hide the bodies. I don’t even like the idea of marriage, but if this is what it’s about, I finally get it!

Twin Peaks

I feel like I’m due a rewatch of this. The tragedy of it wasn’t lost on me when I was younger, but I was definitely very caught up in the eerie dreaminess and idiosyncrasies of the characters. 

Also, I still haven’t seen Fire Walk With Me, which I feel would help to recenter the whole narrative where it rightfully belongs: With Laura Palmer.

It’s aesthetically so right though. It draws you in, it unsettles you, it embodies the idea of a place being alive. 

Not to mention we love Dale Cooper in this household! 

The Addams Family

Okay before there were any other married couples, there was Morticia and Gomez Addams. 

This show is so funny - so many of the gags you see in the later movies that are also still hilarious are directly from the original show. 

I’ve got no ability to say how this was appreciated in the 60s, but considering it only had two seasons I feel like Not Enough. 

Somethingsomething ahead of its time, very subversive, Gomez Addams is Sean Astin’s stepfather, which feels important to me.

The Twilight Zone 

Speaking of ahead-of-its-time right? 

This show is everything! It has everything! It’s fantastic writing! It’s gorgeous set-up-and-pay-off! It’s political! It’s spooky! It’s anthology! It’s classic! It’s wild to me that its first season was in 1959, but it was a time of change and this fits perfectly into that push against all kinds of sensibilities and norms, both within Hollywood and America beyond.

Rod Sterling was a masterclass writer and anyone interested in the strange and unusual, but also just in good stories put to screen ought to watch this. 

Seriously: The Classic!

Hannibal

The joke I was going to make was “haha look I chose a gif for this show that’s less about Cannibalism and more about how gay these two are,” but honestly a large proportion of the gifs are about how gay these two are, and isn’t the show really a gay dramedy when you get down to it? 

The inverse Pushing Daisies, the continuation of Bryan Fuller’s perfect career of making beloved - and then cancelled - shows (Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies, Hannibal... what next?) and my personal favourite of the bunch, because I love gothic gay idiots.

Chucky

I’ve seen the first 4 episodes. I love the film franchise (me, having watched the Child’s Play Verse films in the last two months, clutching them to my chest and hissing like a cat). 

It is more enjoyable if you watch the movies first, since it situates itself in an already-established verse and narrative, but it’s a fascinatingly built world that - because of its continued story through the last 30 years - feels very congruent to its own internal wacky laws. 

It also has queerness baked into its bones and I’m fascinated by how it’ll delve further into that legacy now that it’s become more possible to be direct about it. 

[arce-elliot]

Magnus Archives - First Impressions (76-100)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH WE’RE HALF-WAY THERE

EP 76 (The Smell of Blood): - MELANIEEEEE I'm being spoiled, so many Basira eps and now Melanie - hmm. what the fuck. - "yes i know what a meme is" YESSSS THE LINE - Jon and Melanie are getting along we love to see it - wait how does Melanie know why can she remember real Sasha EP 77 (The Kind Mother): - Ah yes more Not Them - THANK YOU JON YOU'VE FINALLY GOT IT EP 78 (Distant Cousin): - oh dear Jon what's your deal - More Not Them Wheeeeee - WEB TABLE WEB TABLE - Breekon and Hoooooope, the boooooys - AYYYY MICHAEL EP 79 (Hide and Seek): - these poor boys are in WAY over there heads lmao - whoops you got that Michael Distortion GPS chip dumbass - oh mr. leitner? EP 80 (The Librarian): - jurgen is so exasperated lmao - "that'll be our gerard" oh so he's OUR gerard now - jurgen really said "can you speed up this panic attack lmao" - damn Jon how you gonna talk your way out of this mess EP 81 (A Guest for Mr. Spider): - jon stop being mean to little jon :C - GEOOOOORGIE!!!! EP 82 (The Eyewitnesses): - AYYY DAISY - oh this is a fun episode, "Martin K. Blackwood Learns About Police Corruption" - Daisy is fed up w/ these archivist men lmao - Lord I HATE Elias but listening to him play Daisy like a fiddle is entertaining - g o d this is fun - "i'm gonna kill you someday" get in line Daisy - Martin get his ass EP 83 (Drawing a Blank): - Of COURSE Georgie's right Jon - reiterating: circus bad EP 84 (Possessive): - AWWW MARTIN BEIN A LIL ARCHIVIST - Melanie said "ew who's this nerd give me MY nerd" - w o o f damn Melanie how's your will looking EP 85 (Upon the Stair): - OoOoOh spooky - Statement of Spiral, regarding the Spiral of the Spiral. Audio recording by Spiral, Head Spiral of the Spiral Institute, Spiral. - AYYYYY DELANO!!!!! - Jon complimenting Georgie is p r e c i o u s EP 86 (Tucked In): - Tim is not suited for this mess lmao - ARCHIVAL PRISONER LMAO - g o d the hatred between Tim and Melanie holy shit - I hate angry Tim but now I have sad Tim and now it's WORSE - YESSSS MELANIE AND JON REUNITED AT LAST, MY DARLINGS EP 87 (The Uncanny Valley): - Explain this shit to Georgie gdi - GERTRUDEEEEEE i missed ya you old hag - Circus music? oh hell no EP 88 (Dig): - wow wonder what entity this one's about - BASIRA BASIRA BASIRA - phewwww Martin is mad it's okay little man - dig lil man EP 89 (Twice as Bright): - where the fuck are they Starbucks - Jude Perry is...how you say...hot - JON LMAO YOU MORON EP 90 (Body Builder): - uh oh Dad's fighting with big brother tim - "lmao i left, what're gonna do? FIRE me? i'd love to see it" EP 91 (The Coming Storm): - Mike Crew is just trying to mind his own business - D a i s y please he's just a tiny scared little man EP 92 (Nothing Beside Remains): - E l i a s you cheeky bastard - g a h NOT THE FUCKIN ELIAS COMPULSION SIGH GET THAT SHIT OUT OF HERE - Tim over here like "what have I been TELLING y'all" EP 93 (Contaminant): - A D M I R A L - wtf is this mold - GDI BREEKON AND HOPE  A G A I N? - Georgie is BIG critical of Elias' hiring decisions lmao - Jon and Georgie's interactions are precious I love them - "Jonathan Sims, are you trying to save the world?" I LOVE GEORGIE SO MUCH EP 94 (Dead Woman Walking): - GEORGIE STATEMENT GEORGIE STATEMENT - O H she's deaD? - zoMBIE??? - georgie is immortal in this fear infested world EP 95 (Absent Without Leave): - yaAaAay war statement - lmao Basira is incredible she is simply vibing EP 96 (Return to Sender): - BREEKON AND HOPE BREEKON AND HOPE - Daisy and Sarah: lmao Jon ur dumb EP 97 (We All Ignore the Pit): - who is this sad child w/ Gertrude - YO WTF NIKOLA????? EP 98 (Lights Out): - Tim u are also protective u little hypocrit - mr. sandman, man me a sand - "positively ghoulish book" well golly gee wonder what that is - thank you elias for the murder tips EP 99 (Dust to Dust): - GERTRUDE AYYYYYYYY - Jon's finally puttin some damn pieces together - accept Georgie's help u dumbass - BREEKOOOOOON AND HOOOOOOOPE - Jon is left unattended for five whole seconds and is immediately kidnapped lmao EP 100 (I Guess You Had To Be There): - AWWW MARTIN TAKING LIVE STATEMENTS - Tim ain't cut out for this either lmao - Mr. Smith was strangled to death by Tim after giving that statement that's canon now - i have adhd jonny i can't handle this disjointed episode - PETER LUKAS PETER LUKAS

[neriad13]

Favorite Media of 2020!

There was a large swathe of this year during which I was unable to concentrate on reading (as there probably was for a lot of other typically-frequent readers), so, as a result, I ended up listening to way more podcasts and watching way more TV shows. Not a bad thing, but boy did I read way less books than usual. 

However, for the first time in a while, the amount of fiction I read was about equal with the amount of nonfiction I read. Last year’s reading resolution was to read more fiction, so...success??

I did read a lot of phenomenal fiction when I had the energy to do so this year.

Books - Fiction

The Martian - Andy Weir

This book is the hardest of the hard sci fi I think I’ve ever read. Every single aspect of it is minutely researched and calculated. The author literally wrote equations to write this book. The science is insanely impressive and yet...it never loses its sense of humor or humanity in the mix. In fact, they’re the thing that drives the entire story.

Warlock Holmes - G. S. Denning

Way early in the year I was strolling down the fantasy aisle at the library, when this cover caught my eye. I took one look at it, went “oh, this looks silly” and...proceeded to devour the entire series in a matter of weeks. 

It is very silly. Especially when it’s pointing out something that was silly in the original. There’s something so satisfying about Watson immediately answering Holmes with the correct number of steps in their flat when he’s trying to make his point about how most people don’t pay attention to things like that.

World War Z - Max Brooks

Every single scenario in here could easily support an entire book. A park ranger whose job it is to contain the yearly zombie spring thaw? HECK YES. I’d read tens of thousands of words about that. A Chinese admiral who defaults, steals the government’s premier submarine, loads it up with the families of his underlings and takes to the sea for years to live in the maritime economy that has sprung up in a world where everyone is trying to escape the shore? That could be an entire movie on its own. 

Every chapter was more creative than the last and as a huge worldbuilding fan, this book was so, so fun.

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

In which a queer, neurodivergent protagonist solves a mystery on a spaceship which is a microcosm of antebellum era politics! This had a beautiful, mysterious, wonder-inducing writing style and it was a joy to peer into the wildly differing minds of every single character.

Books - Nonfiction

Underland - Robert MacFarlane

In every chapter, the author visits a different hole. Basically.

It’s an exploration of caves, catacombs, mines, nuclear waste facilities and the hidden underbelly of every forest. It was fascinating. And fundamentally changed how I look at time.

Rejected Princesses - Jason Porath

After years of having enjoyed the web entries, I finally got my hands on the first book and was not disappointed. 

There are the more entertaining entries, of course and the art is as charming as always, but what struck me the most were the more difficult stories. The deeper you go into this book, the more horrific it gets. The author does not hold back on the indignities suffered by the historical figures he writes about. It’s terrible...but also very, very illuminating.

The Gift of Fear - Gavin De Becker

This book - while maintaining all the essential information in it - could be pared down to one sentence in a sea of blank pages and that sentence would be: trust your instincts. End of story.

But in a world where instincts are either customarily suppressed or going haywire, it’s not quite that easy, which is why I’m glad there is more to the book.

I picked it up thinking “ha ha, betcha can’t help a person with anxiety who fears all the time already” and...what it actually ended up doing was giving me the tools to differentiate between real fear and unfounded fear. And did help with the anxiety quite a bit.

Fanfiction

Watch Over Me - cakeisatruth

A Bioshock fic from the point of view of a little sister who is learning how to trust and be an ordinary child again. Dark and sweet. An excellent combo.

All That is Visible - Ultima_Thule

An exploration of a minor character in a well researched historical context? That’s my jam! How did they know?? A Tron fic about what it’s like to be a female programmer in the 70s.

Graphic Novels

The Adventure Zone - McElroys + Carey Pietsch

Yesssssssss! It was a running-to-the-library type event whenever my library got a new volume in. The jokes are so good, the art is so lively and the ways in which they added the details that the podcast couldn’t necessarily get across is *mwah*

Trail of Blood - Shuuzou Oshimi

Hoooooooly shit, the art style of this one!! It’s beautifully detailed and expressive, sure, but the real draw for me was how it changes with the emotional state of the main character. There’s this sequence in which he’s consumed with anxiety at school and all of his classmates become blurry and unfocused, until they can’t be recognized as humans at all, that particularly sticks with me.

It’s a horror story about a kid who witnesses his loving mother push his cousin off a cliff for seemingly no reason and is then obligated by her to keep the secret, which is eating him from the inside out. It’s so good, guys, please read it.

Level Up - Gene Lien Yang/Thien Pham

A story about a kid who is haunted by his late father’s desire for him to become a gastroenterologist. It’s funny and touching and the ending gave me what I can only describe as a feeling of exhilaration. Y’know that feeling when something unexpected but not out of left field, perfectly in tune with the narrative arc and gut bustingly funny happens, all in the same panel? That one.

Film

Searching

This is a fairly standard thriller about a dad trying to find out what happened to his missing daughter. It’s also found footage...but not in the usual way, which was what made it so compelling to me. It’s told through the dad’s phone calls, google searches, social media interactions, news footage, security cameras and webcams. It was such a cool way to tell a story.

Train to Busan

There’s a lot that’s already been said about this movie and I don’t think there’s much more I can meaningfully add to that. Suffice to say that ya gotta take care of each other if you’re going to survive a zombie apocalypse!!

TV Series

My Brother’s Husband

As close to a perfect adaptation as a person can get (barring the entire conversation in English which was...oof). I was so happy when they took it a step further and showed Kana and Yaichi actually getting to meet Mike’s family.

Zumbo’s Just Desserts

I watched a lot of baking shows this year. Like...a lot. They were my much-needed comfort viewing for the year and this one was my favorite, even over The Great British Baking Show (which I LOVE). Why? Because the pastry chef for whom it’s named makes such bizarre and wonderful desserts and fosters an environment in which the competitors do the same. I’ve never seen anything like a lot of the desserts that make an appearance on this show. Every single episode was an awesome surprise and so help me, this show had better get a third season.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power

There’s also a lot that’s been said about this one, so I won’t say much more. Suffice to say: DAMN. That’s how you do an 80s toy tie-in cartoon remake.

Infinity Train

This show’s premise is probably the most unique I’ve seen in recent years. Its balance of comedy, horror and existential dread is also *mwah* I also love how much it trusts the viewer to figure things out on their own.

Primal

A late entry sliding in before the year ends! I finally got to watch the second half of the first season last weekend and it was EXCELLENT. The pacing, the brutal fight scenes, the adorable dinosaur antics, the animation, the quiet moments - *mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah*

The most emotional moment for me was the part in which the protagonists watch, with sorrow, as the rabid dinosaur who’s been trying to kill them all night dies an excruciating death.

Also it sets up a fascinating new plotline right before ending in a cliffhanger!! Another one for the ‘had better get a next season’ list.

Games

Night in the Woods

This is one that’s been on my to play list for a few years and I was so glad I finally got my hands on it. It’s like...The Millennial Experience (TM), the game. I felt so seen, playing it. The character writing was fantastic.

Prey

I don’t know why I put off finishing this for so long. I guess I wasn’t in the right alien killing headspace for a while?? Anyway, the setting is gorgeous, the alien biology is weird and cool, the ethics are delightfully murky and the interconnectedness of the station was really cool, especially in the OH SHIT moments at the end. 

Podcasts

The Adventure Zone

I tried to narrow this down to one favorite arc, but found that I couldn’t do it. I love Balance for its comedy and creative energy. I love Amnesty for its drama and acting. I am loving Graduation for the depth of its world and the way in which the real story behind everything that’s happened is slowly unfurling. It’s a good podcast all around.  

The Magnus Archives

Who obsessively listened to every single season while playing Minecraft in about a month? Surely not me, nooooo. Of course not.

There’s also been a lot said on this one, so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve seen things in here that I haven’t really seen elsewhere in horror. My particular favorites were the creepy psychiatric hospital in which the horror comes not from the patients, but from the denial of the doctor to believe them about their mental illnesses and every single thing related to the Anthropocene. The one with the Amazonian village made out of trash - CHILLS.