#actually its more about v2

[friedri-ce]

NEURAL PATTERNS OF SELF-HATE || comic

[recursivetransformarray]

from this post, just don't want to tangent on it so I'm making a separate post, but anyway Mirage/V2. the way they contrast with one another is fully unintended by Hakita but I still find it interesting Mirage is what I'd classify as a human-coded machine, her characteristics are nigh indistinguishable from a human's beyond her appearance. V2 is... just a machine. marketed as a sentient swiss army knife as a desperate effort to make money. this shows through their stories, which are strongly themed around the concepts of mind and body respectively: M almost entirely dismissing the physical world around her in favor of obsessing over her mind, and V2 thinking of nothing but the theft of their body. on the more poetic front: despite all odds toward the contrary, Mirage is alive, and V2 is dead. despite this, or perhaps inevitably due to the single-rail nature of their storylines, M begins to intentionally care about her physical world and self, and V2 starts to think about the nature of itself and its role, thus subverting themselves and crossing over one another. neither will make the same mistakes the other happened to make, because they have the other to guide them. conversely both will appreciate watching the other's growth, and see themself in the other. they appreciate each other's company on a general basis of "you won't kill me, and I like to talk to you" but also on the deeper basis of "we're both willing to learn from each other" on the actual relationship note it's kind of a grey area between friends/lovers situation, really no point in defining a relationship when you're the only two beings in existence. general physicality is an inevitability (see latter part of previous statement, plus they're both engineered to connect with others), but I'd imagine anything they do romantically or sexually begins more as a calculated experiment than pure instinct. they also just like each other! they both want to make the other feel good!

TL;DR

[robotskissingrobots]

V2 X MIRAGE STATUS : FANON

PROPAGANDA : "Mirage is what I'd classify as a human-coded machine, her characteristics are nigh indistinguishable from a human's beyond her appearance. V2 is... just a machine. marketed as a sentient swiss army knife as a desperate effort to make money.

this shows through their stories, which are strongly themed around the concepts of mind and body respectively: M almost entirely dismissing the physical world around her in favor of obsessing over her mind, and V2 thinking of nothing but the theft of their body.

on the more poetic front: despite all odds toward the contrary, Mirage is alive, and V2 is dead.

despite this, or perhaps inevitably due to the single-rail nature of their storylines, M begins to intentionally care about her physical world and self, and V2 starts to think about the nature of itself and its role, thus subverting themselves and crossing over one another.

neither will make the same mistakes the other happened to make, because they have the other to guide them.

conversely both will appreciate watching the other's growth, and see themself in the other. they appreciate each other's company on a general basis of "you won't kill me, and I like to talk to you" but also on the deeper basis of "we're both willing to learn from each other"

on the actual relationship note it's kind of a grey area between friends/lovers situation, really no point in defining a relationship when you're the only two beings in existence.

general physicality is an inevitability (see latter part of previous statement, plus they're both engineered to connect with others), but I'd imagine anything they do romantically or sexually begins more as a calculated experiment than pure instinct. they also just like each other! they both want to make the other feel good!" -recursivetransformarray

V1 X GABRIEL STATUS : FANON

PROPAGANDA : N/A

[reds-ultrakill-brainrot]

Hello!, I've been reading your works and i love how you depict each character, anddd I have a request for V1, V2, and Gabriel!

How would they handle a reader who is a bit more rough love (i.e; light punches, gentle shoves, snarky words but an undertone of 'hey i love you'), and tend to be a little more defensive, reason for it being.. anything you want it to be :D Also if its okay, could this be a 'read as platonic or romantic'?

Pumpkin, You're Gonna Kill Me

roughhousing reader headcanons (included; V1, V2, Gabriel)

x reader content (read platonic or romantic)

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V1 - it would take them a while to recognise your actions as affectionate, and would probably result in a bruise or two on your end (you tried punching a war machine, if anything that's your fault) - half of your snarky comments are going to be met by blank stares. while this isn't particularly productive for conversations, they like fucking with you in their own way. you never know if they are offended or if your joke flopped (it's neither, they're a little shit and abuse the fact they don't have facial features) - their genuine reaction to said comments is indifference, they aren't usually the type to be spurred on by words. if you say something with especially poor timing the most they are likely to do is to turn and give you a full body 'did you actually just say that' look - sparring will most likely become a common activity. it gives you a way to express affection in a way you're used to while giving V1 a chance to work on using only as much force as necessary. no weapons are involved on their end, but you would be free to use anything besides a gun (unless you're willing to be a blood donor) - while they were never designed with conflict management in mind (at least not the kind that doesn't involve bulllets) they aren't too bad at it. they will quickly recognise that you get defensive and give you space during conflict. quality time is usually how they comfort you, and if you're feeling particularly defensive and insecure they will offer a sparring session. they would never usually rig a fight in your favour, but giving you a few more chances to hit them usually helps cheer you up - after some time of them getting used to it rough contact will be returned, with less force to account for your squishy exterior. on the odd chance they shove you too hard or use too much force their wings will droop in an apology, that or they will give you a free shot to shove them as hard as you want - while they don't care as much about your defensiveness as some others might, it will still prompt conflict at times. if your ego or insecurity is keeping you from resolving conflict they won't give you a pass. they aren't entirely immune to negative comments, if you end up crossing a line or refusing to admit and accept your mistakes they will distance themself until you apologise V2 - they would probably match your energy, if not take it as a sign you want to spar. such aggresive physical contact is endearing to them, you could hardly hurt them even if you wanted to, so feel free to go all out

- i imagine surprise roughhousing would soon become commonplace, you full on tackling them out of nowhere with a "think fast". it's all fun and games until they do it to you, expect a couple bruises after that - any half-hearted snarky comments would be met with playful glares or a shove in return. despite their—at times—staggering ego, they aren’t particularly bothered by snide remarks, serious or not - the both of you would have a very similar way of expressing affection for eachother. while others would look on with mild shock as the both of you do your best middleschool bully impersonations, the both of you understand what lines you can and cannot cross - this would, however, backfire slightly in regards to emotional vulnerability and conflict. V2 can come off as cold or insensitive at the best of times, this is only worsened when one or the both of you are upset. they aren't particularly equipped for comfort, it will take a lot of effort on both of your parts to work through this, especiallly on V2's half - on a serious and slightly less healthy note, V2 would take advantage of your defensiveness. they know how to prod at you to provoke you. while they would normally have no reason to do so, i imagine if they are particularly annoyed at you they would fall back onto purposefully provoking you - similarly, apologies of any kind are going to be rare. a lot of your conflict resolution is going to boil down to leaving eachother alone for a while, before coming around again with an "are we cool?" Gabriel - it would take him by surprise at first. he isn't used to super casual interactions with other people yet alone anything boisterous. this will probably lead to a few miscommunications — him taking a few snarky comments as genuine insults. while he would come to understand this is how you express comfortability and closeness, he probably won't mimic or play along - even when he knows you don't really mean it, snarky comments will prompt dramatic reactions. such reactions will often be followed by a pause as he realises you weren't serious. he's embarrased every time he misses the joke, but a flustered Gabriel was most likely your goal anyway - the one time he tried to copy your behaviour he accidentaly punched you with much more force than he intended. you received one big ass bruise and a myriad of apologies afterwards - he will eventually become used to your behaviour - well, most of it. i doubt he'd ever get entirely used to that type of physical contact (light or not); he will always jump slightly if you shove or lightly punch him. he isn't scared or angered by any means, merely confused and slightly annoyed. he might understand your reasoning, but it just isn't how he acts, and as such there is always a level of disconnect - he would inevitably clash with your defensive reactions. he has a strong sense of justice and gets especially angered by lying in any form - white lies included. if you don't own up to your faults or mistakes he will be blunt about his disapproval. he won't let you get away with trying to save your ego, he'll expect you to fully apologise for any disrespectful behaviour, wether you see it as disrespectful or not - unlike the others he will eventually prompt you to explain why you act defensive. he wants to know it isn't prompted by anything he is doing. he wants you to feel comfortable with him, both physically and emotionally. he's happy to help you work on it, but most of the effort will still need to be on your end

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thank you very much for the request. as usual requests are always open - i'm thinking i might open up slots for short stories as well - but in the meantime i will take headcanons and music matches. thanks for reading

[sheegons]

Actually

damian pet collection showcase cause he definitely took his fathers adoption habits

canon and noncanon

first pet we know of is: Goliath the batdragon.

taken from his time in the league and took him in as a baby when he was ordered to kill him by the league

he continues to help him around here and there

Second pet acquired: Titus the dog

adopted with bruce to help damian acclimate to gotham more, named by damian as well.

he's also part of the superpets without damian knowing

also one of the leaders of a team of superhero pets along with ace (Bruce's dog) and krypto (Clarks dog). that also includes another one of damians animals.

(met during batman and robin v2)

Third pet acquired: Batcow the...well Cow

Taken from a slaughter house during Batman incorporated, damian saved it from being killed and took it in to keep it in the batcave.

also the reason damian become a vegetarian which is, currently, a very flexible title cause half the artist and writers constantly forget about it and show him eating meat.

also currently a member of the legion of super pets with Titus!

Fourth pet acquired: Alfred Pennyworth the cat

Met also during the time of batman incorporated comic run, thought to be a lost cause but was adopted by alfred and given to damian because he thought they were similar

he named it alfred, sometimes called pennyworth

Fifth pet acquired: Wiggles the Dragon

acquired during nightwing #42

only having one appearance currently but is also damians biggest pet. goliath is shown to be sitting on its jaw with damian and it doesn't even look bothered.

i don't know how he fits in the batcave, since he's taller than multiple sky scrapers

the name hasn't yet been canonised but it has been mentioned by one of the writers so i guess we'll have to wait for this to actually be canon

First non canon pet: Jerry the turkey from Lil gotham

honestly, should be canon cause look at this fucking guy i love him

Jason tries to cook him but damian tells him that he's NOT to be eaten

Monkichi the monkey from Batman ninja (movie)

i haven't watched this movie cause apparently it's kinda poopoo but i feel we should make the monkey canon cause Damian looks adorable with it

i don't know how to end this post so I'm just gonna add a lil tidbit

the only animals damian has been shown to dislike are currently snakes

[sparklecarehospital]

Idk if you've talked abt this but why did you split doom/mood into two characters?

This is on the preboot section of the FAQ but since the site is down I understand that's not accessible atm, so I'll answer. Just a note for people reading this, most times questions about the preboot make me a bit uncomfortable because I don't like talking about it much, I have trauma from things that happened to me during its existence, and it's why I find defending of the preboot to be extremely disrespectful. Please don't take this as an opportunity to spring a bunch of preboot questions at me. Thank you.

Anyways, the series of events that led to me splitting Doom into two characters and the way things changed over time are kind of a winding road. Doom, in the preboot, was very badly written. I made him appear to be way more sympathetic than I actually intended originally, he was supposed to be "cutesy but misleading" and people ended up liking him more than I wanted originally, even to the point of getting mad about Uni existing because a lot of people shipped preboot Doom with Barry (2016-2017 were A DIFFERENT TIME) and didn't like Uni taking the role of love interest. Some events in my personal life ended up completely souring my view of preboot Doom, and he just started making me upset and I didn't like him anymore.

So when the reboot was first being developed, I decided that I would "split" Doom's personality traits into two characters. Cutesy and murderous. Reboot Doom was originally going to be a horrible person and completely irredeemable, and there's even traces of some of these negative traits in his presence in V1 and V2 (which, amongst many other reasons, is why we have plans on remaking those volumes at some point) that have ultimately been retconned by now. A LOT of stuff has been retconned. The reboot is gonna be six this year and so much has changed. Doom is not meant to be irredeemable and a horrible person anymore. Which is interesting, because that was the entire purpose of splitting him into two characters. It made so much more sense for that role to be taken by Cuddles, seeing as he's the OWNER of the hospital and everything.

Recently I got a weird comment about the Doom dress thing being "inconsistent" with skulls character, but that one specific character trait has not been present for like 4 years out of 6. Skull is even literally trans now. They weren't trans when that was a thing. I know that might not be easy for some people to wrap their head around when a lot of people only discovered the comic last year and haven't kept up with the gradual changes in his characterization inside and outside the comic, though, and I'm sorry about that.

Sorry for the long answer. It's complicated stuff.

[rwbyrg]

Another thing I had noticed was the way Ruby interreacts with everyone vs. how she interacts with Oscar. Like her mannerisms seem to change a bit when she speaks or is near him or she treats him differently from the others. Because personally I've never seen her act very nervous around the others when she met them versus how she met Oscar, and she still does it to this day. What do you think?

I am soooooo late to answering these asks and this got sooooo long aha. Thank you for your patience. 🙇‍♀️

I have noticed that Ruby acts markedly different around Oscar than the others! And in my opinion, it is done with a great deal of intention. The thing with RG is that a lot of what makes the ship so strong is how subtle its writing is. So much of it is paralleled themes and a lot of it relies on an absence of something that is usually present. Often treating the absence itself as a presence of something to be paid attention to.

When we first meet Ruby in V1, she says she gets along better with weapons than she does with people. (Lol isn't it funny that Oscar's name means "God's Spear" haha. surely that has no correlation whatsoever... anyway).

When Ruby meets Weiss, she gets screamed at and makes a dust bomb explode in the courtyard, but by V2 so many of their conflicts are resolved and they've become rivals/besties/team partners.

When Ruby meets Blake, she's got her foot in her mouth and is super awkward... until there's an opportunity to connect with her about stories and fairytales. Then we see Ruby's earnest side come out and the anxiety in her pretty much disappears.

When Ruby meets Jaune, it's remarkably not awkward. Their shared social awkwardness and feelings of not belonging at Beacon cancel each other out and they're able to have a fairly normal conversation.

Very quickly through the early volumes, Ruby gets comfortable. As a leader, as part of her team, as a welcome part of their social circle. She's young, still optimistic and full of hope. She hasn't been given too much trauma or cause to question herself by that point. She has her moments, sure, but like a lot of kids that don't fit in much and aren't super social, she's actually really good at it once she's given the chance.

But when Ruby meets Oscar - while she has experienced some of the Horrors™ that have chipped away at her self confidence - she's not too different than usual. Not at first, anyway.

He comments on her eyes and she responds naturally by asking him who he is, she's able to be candid with her response when she's told he's carrying Oz around, and yeah she giggles a bit when they're all playing the 'getting to know you game', but she also smiles at him. Earnest, trying to make him feel at ease cause this situation is kind of weird for all of them. When they spar later, she's being a goofy kid. Sticking her tongue out at him, laughing while they throw and dodge punches, running to help him when he collapses, grabbing his wrist with very little hesitation to tug him towards the rest of the group. It's all fairly normal...

...and then the Dojo Scene happens.

With the Dojo Scene, the narrative tone of their relationship is both established and changed. Ruby comes down the stairs and she's open, at first. But as they talk a bit more, her body language becomes more and more closed off the closer she gets to him. Clasping her hands in front of her when she asks a question about his past, then hugging herself as she dares to step a little closer to him, as if putting up some kind of protective barrier.

She tries complimenting his efforts, laughing a bit to hide her nervousness, is fairly candid, and makes a bit of a joke. But the joke reveals a wound of hers that hasn't healed yet and opens the conversation up to vulnerability. A vulnerability that Oscar points out immediately. One she has not spoken to anyone else about up until that point.

"How do you handle all of this?"

Ruby pauses. She's not used to talking to people about her problems. At first, I don't think she's even thinking about herself when he asks. She nudges him to clarify what he means and he opens up about his own fears, which prompts her routine song and dance that she gives to everyone. Uplifting words, holding onto hope, keep moving forward, just don't let the things that haunt you catch up and you'll be fine.

And Oscar doesn't accept it. He isn't moved by it. He's not comforted. He rejects it, questions it, and completely lashes out. Is actually angry that she's telling him to "just press on" in spite of those fears. Is angry on her behalf that she's not being honest about her own feelings.

And Ruby cracks. She actually opens up and talks to Oscar about all the grief she keeps buried down and doesn't burden anyone with. She might have argued to herself that it was the only way to make Oscar feel better, but it's uncharacteristic for her. She doesn't usually have to go that deep to cheer other people up. When she tells him about her losses and motivations, Oscar joins her in that open doorway, in shared vulnerability... and the moment she sees an opportunity to retreat, she takes it. Not used to this closeness in the slightest.

From then on out they're still friends, clearly. Their bond strengthened, if anything... but Ruby does not know how to handle him when he has such a skill for seeing through her in ways no one else ever seems to catch onto. She's able to push it away a bit when he's pre-occupied with something else. When he's worried about the merge or his mistakes in Atlas, or they're in a group conversation, she's able to act with some sense of normalcy... but when they're alone that awkwardness comes creeping back.

When WBY confront Ruby about her decision to keep the truth from Ironwood, Yang specifically asks how Oscar feels about it, and we see Ruby falter. This is a direct parallel to Bumbleby circa V8 when Yang is the one worrying about Blake thinking less of her for her own decision. We've seen Ruby disagree with people before and remain confident in her choice... but she questions herself here because of how much she values Oscar's opinion. And their disagreement colours more of her interactions with him throughout V7.

When they're all practicing in the academy training rooms, Oscar comments on her semblance. Asking if she's always been able to do that, which is something he wouldn't ask if he didn't pay close enough attention to be able to notice such differences. She's laughing awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

And the fumble, when they finally come back together with renewed trust - that I already dove into a bit over in this post - she's still doing it!!

She is so excited to talk to him again, to not be at odds, that she almost runs directly into his back and is all flailing arms, and awkward giggles as she tries to tell him she agrees with him. When they finally establish that they're on the same page, she's hugging herself tight, rubbing her arm, looking away from him in her nervousness. Even when she walks away she's hugging herself again. Meanwhile, Oscar is all open body language, hand on hip, hand extended to her, active listening and receptive to what she has to say.

Interesting that this conversation's themes around choosing truth over fear calls back to the Dojo Scene so well, innit? 🤔

The last example I want to give isn't about Ruby. It's about Oscar. Throughout the show, he's always been a bit skittish, jumpy, and expressive with things like loud noises and - quite noticeably - touch. Oscar's been tackled to the ground by Nora in multiple hugs, tackled by the whole team in V6 after he went missing, scooped up by Jaune after he was kidnapped, and in all of those instances there has been a noticeable physical discomfort from him. Often a flinch or a wince beforehand, only relaxing into it after the surprise of the impact is over with.

But Ruby has put her hand on Oscar's shoulder multiple times (outside the Dojo Scene) without eliciting that response from him. One of those touches made him blush, if anything. And when Oscar returns from Salem's prison, beaten and covered in bruises. Ruby is running to hug him and not only does he not flinch, he smiles with open arms, completely ready for and accepting of it. And then the narrative robbed him of the chance 😭

Ruby, despite her usual confidence, resolve, and unwillingness to talk about her issues, becomes nervous, awkward, and self conscious around Oscar. The absence of her usual demeanor becomes the presence of how much she values what Oscar thinks of her and how vulnerable he's able to make her feel. (Which, for a character as emotionally guarded as Ruby, is a good thing).

Similarly, Oscar's established pattern of resisting physical touch - even when he's injured and probably sporting a few broken ribs - is absent with Ruby. It becomes a presence instead of his comfort, trust, and (desire for) closeness to her.

While these examples aren't exhaustive, generally speaking, the absences of their usual behaviours around one another become the presence of something unique to their relationship and often serve to highlight their attachments to each other. Be it how they interact with each other directly... or how they act when they're apart. But that, my friends, is an entirely different post and I have rambled long enough for today.

[qsycomplainsalot]

Re: Pervertin or how German Supersoldiers High on Crack travelled through Space and Time Buy my Book

I came across a post on the bird site yesterday calling into attention the use of pervitin, more or less adderall, among German troops during WW2. For context pervitin tablets were indeed issued to a lot of military personnel back in those days, specifically to aircraft pilot and sometimes tank crews on long missions. The drug as some of you may have heard keeps you awake and alert, along with a slew of side effects and a non negligible chance of addiction. In a discussion that brought to view just how willing people are to buy into Nazi propaganda in the year of our f*cking lord 2023, I pointed out a few things, uphill and having to indulge a lot of sidetracking. The use of pervitin has always been a little overstated ever since it came to the internet's attention, and I certainly would never call it a key component of the Blitzkrieg when, in the theaters of war where actual Blitzkrieg was employed, its success was more due to a combination of innovative doctrines, intact fuel supplies and a big fat helping of dumb luck. It was a bold move highly relying on capturing enemy fuel depots with fast, surprise deep strikes supported by a lot of armored and air forces, and it was only sustainable in neighboring, industrialized countries. One can argue if the USSR was industrialized at the time, but it stopped mattering when the Russians removed their entire industry from the West to beyond the Ural mountains. The Blitz stalled there.

"But if it didn't work, then why did the Nazis do it so often ?" Well the answer to that is twofold. The first, longer answer is that Nazis were a bunch of f*cking morons. Maybe not one by one, but as a government in charge of military procurement, they were one bunch of goofy motherf*ckers. Gaggle of functional shit-for-brains really. The Nazis gave every one of their tanks in the middle of the war two coats of anti-magnetic paint, which took almost a full day to cure, despite being the only major nation to use magnetic antitank mines. The Nazis kept using slave labor drawn from their prisoners of war, including in the manufacturing of their overengineered armored vehicles, resulting in poor quality products or, you know, a few rivets in your magnificent Tiger tank being replaced by a cigarette butt. The Nazis spent more than half the cost of a strategic bomber on every V2 rocket, not including design costs, for less than half the payload. It ended up killing more Germans and slave workers than British people in London, for literally no strategic or tactical result with 0.4 person killed per every rocket. The second, shorter answer is that pervitin was not used that much. A lot of the arguments trying to boost its importance come from a single book, "Blitzed" by Norman Ohler, now available in twenty languages apparently, where grand claims are made by a historian who was probably more than a little tired of seeing Buzzfeed rack in the big bucks instead of him.

End note; I was called out by a bird siter after the conversation that inspired this post for even beginning to fact-check this, which they considered, and I quote, "fangirling over nazi stats". I cannot stress this enough, learning the 'bad' parts of history does not make you bad person, it is how you interact with the resulting knowledge. Unlike what they implied, I had to look for those supporting evidence. I had a hunch that such a grabbing headline about super-drugs would be fake, I knew offhand that V2 rockets killed more blues than reds, but when I had to research all that jazz about Nazis and their superweapons it was to dunk on them, not make another History Channel documentary about a time-travelling bell. Stay critical, fascists can eat shit.

[scope-dogg]

Some generic thoughts I’ve recently had about AC6 lore lately after seeing other people’s commentary:

I think it’s notable that 621 is a 4th gen enhanced human on a meta level - while human augmentation is a constant across AC and very common in mecha fiction as a whole, arguably the most famous and one of the most memorable examples is that of Four Murasume, the cyber newtype from Zeta Gundam. In fact “cyber newtype” is a bit of a translation liberty, in Japanese it’s “kyouka ningen” ie. Enhanced human, the exact same term AC6 uses. I think this is notable because Four lost her memories and identity as part of the process, and thus her number and the facility where it was performed became her identity. In my head canon 621 is the same, and as such when Walter refers to them by number it’s not meant to be a slight - he probably has nothing better to call you.

On a related note, emotional instability is noted as one of the side affects of gen 4 augmentation, which may be another call-out to Four’s character, as drastic changes in personality and emotional outbursts were the result of her piloting the Psyco Gundam. It’s also notable that Iguazu is also gen 4 and I think this accounts for why Iguazu is the way he is and probably also why Michigan puts up with his shit to the extent that he does. If I’m thinking along the right lines it probably recontextualises his obsession with you as less pathetic and more tragic - it might be less that he’s just a salty little bitch and more that he has a serious mental illness due to the augmentation. It would also put him in line with the characters of Ypsilon and Rada Niva from Votoms, two other enhanced characters that were similarly insecure and/or obsessed.

If you manage to lose to Invincible Rummy in the grid 86 mission, he immediately starts begging for Carla to reward him with coral. This makes it seem like she’s exploiting Rummy’s and probably the rest of the Dosers working for her through their addiction, highly predatory and immoral behaviour if I’m reading it right.

Open Faith, V2 Snail’s AC, uses predominantly needle-like weapons, some of which use electrical discharge which is kind of like AC6’s version of poison. The cone snail is a marine snail that poisons prey by shooting a poison barb into its prey before devouring it. The laser lance he uses is even shaped a bit like a cone snail shell.

V1 Freud is the most notable user of the laser drone back weapon, that’s an obvious fallout to funnels and other remote controlled “bit” weaponry, which is one of the signatures of the Gundam series. This is usually used to denote characters or technology that goes above and beyond the norm, such as powerful newtypes, or technology that emulates their capabilities. AC6 subverts this in that Freud, as far as I know, is one of the only AC pilots in the game, and certainly the only one amongst the Vespers to have no augments at all, which means that he’s operating his bits on nothing but raw talent - the game even draws attention to this through Carla’s dialogue. With this combined with the fact that he’s rated as the number 1 AC pilot on Rubicon really draws attention to what a monster the guy must be (even if his actual fight doesn’t quite live up to his reputation.)

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #4 v2

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 1, The Arrival, The Perfect Entrance Trick

The entrance is part of the coffee shop scene, but it is so special, I am giving it its own post.

Sideburns Check

This show has treated us to something. Crowley does a full spin so that we can get a really good look at the hair from multiple angles. It's not that close up but still good. Thank you show and Crowley!

The sideburns are short. They are the intended shortness after driving. In turn, they are the shortest they have been up to this point in the present day storyline.

Short sideburns happen around human spaces most of the time, at this point in the story.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

It's easy to think the brighter red streak is not there because of its position. The above image is brightened and more saturated with white rectangles to indicate where I see the streak.

I often find the streak above the center of his left eye and going up from his forehead. Here, the streak actually starts from his part on the top.

...

Hairstyle Changes

In both the Bentley and here, the top hair flared upward. Just outside the coffee shop, the flare has shifted further to his right instead of straight upward and lining up with his nose as it did in the Bentley. There is no extra saturation streak on the right side of his forehead.

Earthly Objects: The Perfect Entrance Trick

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

We have arrived at our first Threshold Trick!

This part is going to be very detailed because of pockets and thresholds.

Here are some GIFs to start us off:

This sequence is The Perfect Entrance Trick. Way, way back before I thought there might be an Earthly Objects game and was just exploring the sideburns, trying to figure them out, I remarked on my appreciation for the camera work and music for this segment. I always compliment those parts because they are so good. They contribute beautifully to the idea here.

While setting aside the Sideburns Scheme and trying to figure out Earthly Objects, I made a "Bonus Round" part of my main post because this sequence had me so amazed. It looked like threshold-only touches and avoiding earthly object touches, but I couldn't be sure due to some specific questionable things I will explore further down eventually. Nonetheless, it sure seemed to me like Crowley knows how to play the game as an expert, so if he is aiming for threshold-only touches, there must be something to his methods that gets the job done. These Threshold Tricks might even be special supernatural bonus points he's earning in the game.

My understanding of the game at this point in time is like so: In this sequence, they are threshold-only touches, but how are they threshold-only touches with this game's mechanics? That's what an audience player is supposed to figure out in the puzzle.

The Perfect Entrance Trick is actually the third Threshold Trick I found without realizing it because I did not have the words, "Threshold Tricks" for myself then. It felt like the first one I found when I was trying to understand Earthly Objects. I had already found The Bigger Thresholds Trick and The Door Trick without realizing they were Threshold Tricks too. I didn't have names for them then. I just knew there was something special about sideburns and thresholds so caught onto those parts. It took something more than weeks to put these ideas together because I spent a lot of time just thinking and making pictures while readying myself for making posts about sideburns.

Before we go over this particular sequence in more detail, here's something I think the game is putting forth as a challenge. The Pocket Trick is a hidden giant with a giant impact on many things. While I am at a point that I do not think I will ever solve The Pocket Trick to my satisfaction, I believe a significant one of its hidden messages is, "Pay attention to the pockets."

As stated in my main post for The Sideburns Scheme, pockets are a big, little thing in GO2. They are easy to miss and to dismiss. One should also pay attention to doors and windows, but because the pockets are so easy to overlook—even more than windows, it's a good idea to mind that message on pockets specifically all the same. Between doors, windows, and pockets, pockets are the hardest to see and to understand.

In Earthly Objects, a pocket can be a hole created by a character's body between their own self, part of the screen, part of an earthly object, or even part of a threshold. A pocket can be two or more characters surrounding something or someone on the screen in the framing. A pocket can be a character surrounded by things in the framing. A pocket can be the actual literal pockets characters can have on their clothing. That includes the ones we understand are actual pockets and even little holes the clothing can make on itself. Pockets are everywhere, but making sense of them for how they count, when they count, and what they count for, is another story. It is overwhelming—as if "think outside the pocket" wasn't hard enough in The Pocket Trick to begin with!

I think chances are good that pockets are somehow related to every Threshold Trick, and a big part of this challenge I do not expect to pass is to figure out how. That means I won't ever fully solve every Threshold Trick. So, I will pay attention to the pockets, tell you about the pockets, and admit freely, once again, my understanding of them is limited.

Okay, so here's the sequence in more detailed text form with paying attention to the pockets. It is very quick and heavily based on movement. Parts are also blurry. I won't swear everything below is correct because to play, I mainly have to guess based on clues.

With the car on screen before it is parked, I can find multiple different humans using pockets. However, one in particular catches my interest because he put his left hand in a pocket near where Crowley will park, and I recognize this human:

That guy shows up three different times in episode 6 during The Door Trick and The Door Catch. He is responsible or the Purple in the Rainbow Connection on Aziraphale's part.

Nonetheless, Crowley parks the car. The camera work is doing amazing things by going under the car, then around a wheel, focusing in on the shoes of the nearby humans before Crowley himself starts.

The door to the car opens, and Crowley touches the edge of the sidewalk with only one shoe. The heel is touching nothing behind it. The front tip is avoiding the rest of the sidewalk. That is the Single. The edge of the sidewalk is one threshold, and it was touched by only one shoe.

The camera pans up.

Crowley touches two different thresholds with his right hand. They are the window frame and the door panel for the door to his car. The fingertips avoid the window pane. That is the Double.

One of the tie strands becomes visible, including a clasp and a tassel. That's a thumb and thumb joint of one of the Tied Hands. Crowley's left hand moves forward such that the tie strand is visually in front of that hand. The left hand is important because it's the one that's going to do the Triple part of this Threshold Trick. I don't know the watch's role in pocket mechanics. It generally likes to be seen and seems to also watch things, like it's some kind of "lookout," but something more too.

Getting back to the left hand's movement with the tie strand, at the exact frame that thing happened, I can find a human visually behind Crowley's right elbow using a pants pocket with their left hand. They are wearing a white shirt over a darker one.

This part is a clue that this tie strand is going to be tied to the left hand and that it is the longer tie strand when both are seen together shortly.

Instead of moving ahead to get to what is going to be the Triple, Crowley has his back to the camera. He takes some steps and moves his arms around. I don't have it in me to log every pocket they make and close and what they might frame, but they do such things.

A light briefly pops out in one of the trees trying to communicate something, and I'm going with saying it's a little overhead light for Crowley since it's above his ear and to the left of his head.

There is a nearby car with red rear lights. These types of lights are often used to alert about a color switch in the Rainbow Connection when they light up a bit more. So, the main thing I see it to be an alert for is that pocket user already mentioned and knowing what we'll see soon for switching without an active Rainbow Connection. The pocket user is even pocketed briefly between these red lights. In fact, that overhead light mentioned above lights up at the start of when this human starts to pass the first of the two red rear lights. If those red lights mean anything else, I don't know what it would be.

When that human pocket user that was visually behind Crowley is finally completely off-screen, Crowley's left hand and the watch also go off-screen.

Crowley spins.

As he spins, both tie strands become visible. The longer tie strand is on Crowley's right. That means it is mirrored for now. The left hand becomes visible again too. During the spin, the tie strands switch. The longer tie strand becomes aligned with Crowley's left side. Generally, these things have a special mirror that flips through a Rainbow Connection Reflection, or whatever that Connection allows, in the Pocket Chain of The Pocket Trick. However, The Pocket Trick hasn't started yet, and this Trick is not linked to the Pocket Chain.

Well, without the initiating power of The Pocket Trick or a Rainbow Connection, it looks like a little spin switch is allowed this time.

The belt—which is Crowley's Belt Head—also became visible, and Crowley has his mouth open during this spin. The vest tips are surrounding the Belt Head to have it pocketed between them. Additionally, the longer tassel tip just so happens to brush along the belt during the switch. There is even another self-made pocket of hair like there was for the newspaper door. With the movement, the vest tips and their pocket over the belt shift further towards Crowley's left as well.

The left hand and the watch hide behind Crowley's jacket. This action is part of closing pockets between Crowley's torso and both arms.

Crowley finally starts moving toward the door.

The right arm opens a pocket between his torso again, this time by itself instead of with the left arm.

The left arm forms a pocket between Crowley and the main part of the jacket.

The pocket between the right arm and jacket closes.

Soon after, the pocket between the left and jacket closes.

Then the left arm hides behind Crowley. In the blurred movement, that longer tie strand connected to the left hand pushes off the vest temporarily and becomes visible in the air. This action creates yet another temporary pocket.

In motion, all of these pockets amount to looking like pocket-to-pocket passes in the animated GIF shown further below.

Once the tie strand has presumably returned to where it belongs, the left arm is finally ready to make its move on the incoming threshold.

Crowley's left arm reaches out for the door panel. There is a lock that is extremely hard to see in the blurred movement, but it is there above the push plate. Crowley's palm of his left hand covers it completely. He pushes the door on the lock instead of the push plate.

Some video frames reach a nice, stronger clarity. Here is the one that strikes my own interest most:

There are three digits touching the door panel. That's what makes this part the Triple. The index finger and middle finger are touching the front. Most of the thumb is touching the side. However, the ever so vital and important thumb tip is on the edge of where the door panel meets the window pane. Edges are thresholds, and pocket trickery loves edges.

The reflection of Crowley's left hand has pocketed the lock on the other side within the palm that is covering the covered lock. In other words, the palm has the locks covered.

The Tied Hands are making this acceptable because of their link to reflections. Plus, all those words I just had to write out because word play is a key mechanic for pocket trickery.

And there's more!

With the palm being busy with the locks, the thumb tip touches its own reflection while doing its edge touching. All of the digits, the real ones and the reflected ones are pocketing the door panel and its reflection because of their framing. Any issues with that window pane have been neutralized. There is a small bit of Crowley's right sunglasses lens past the door frame but not much.

The watch takes over in the next video frame to keep everything in order because that real covered lock becomes slightly visible. The watch's reflective surface lights up to say that everything's still as it should be. Parts of Crowley's face—and more of the sunglasses themselves—visually passed through the door frame at the same time that real lock became slightly visible, so this threshold has been effectively tricked. We must recall the Belt Head had a role to play in the matter.

The Perfect Entrance Trick is the easy one! But the pockets have increased its difficulty immensely.

Something that is missing in this first Threshold Trick is a rainbow. Four of the others have one. The Sunglasses Trick does not, but it does have a notable white light reflected on the watch in its last touch. Rainbows can take shape through refraction in white light. The lighting on the watch here is not as white as what appears in The Sunglasses Trick. It has a tinge of yellow.

Well, Earthly Objects is a game with puzzles—and some silly puzzles at that, so I'm going to say that this Threshold Trick is excused because the Rainbow Connection within The Pocket Trick has not started yet. The Rainbow Connection starts in episode 2. In fact, the way it goes is that The Pocket Trick gets its official rainbow first. It and the other Threshold Tricks finish in episode 6. In episode 6 is where all of the other rainbows appear for the other Threshold Tricks.

The Perfect Entrance Trick is the only one that both starts and finishes in the first episode. It is the first of three Simple tricks. The Simple tricks are the ones that start and finish in the same episode.

Another way I like to play this game is that these Threshold Tricks are based on simple ideas even though they get so complicated—especially once pockets are known to be so important. I call these simple ideas "core concepts" because these things are indeed conceptual. While I don't like word play as much as The Pocket Trick does, I do like it some. So, let's toss some alliteration in here too.

My best guess for this one's core concept is, "Make a Perfect Entrance while making an entrance." The idea is also to introduce the Threshold Tricks. Each one is required to have a primary Single, a primary Double, and a primary Triple. A single is 1. A double is 2. A triple is 3. Add up 1, 2, and 3, and you get the number 6. That equation of 1 + 2 + 3 is what makes the number 6 a perfect number.

A standard set in Earthly Objects is 3 points. A Threshold Trick has a minimum of 6 points for its theoretical bonus rewards and must be done in this special format.

I had to look that up that part on "perfect" because that was the word I wanted to use to describe The Sunglasses Trick when I put those pieces together. I am familiar with the Tekken franchise due to a past stronger obsession with Devil Jin. In Tekken, a PERFECT is when a player wins a round without taking any damage.

So, once I grasped that 6 is a perfect number, for me, it was like "Oh! That's what the first one is! It has a name! It's a Perfect Entrance!" I had described it as a "beautiful entrance" in my Bonus Round section. Again, that took something more than weeks to figure out.

Also, David Tennant is perfect for the role of Crowley. I love this actor-character combination so much.

...

When Crowley enters and sits down, Aziraphale is sitting down, but there is no actual visible back of a chair for Aziraphale. I am reminded of Crowley's remark in episode 5 of "Looking where the furniture isn't." In one of my posts on Earthly Objects, I note this type of thing as a mysterious vendetta Aziraphale has with chairs. A lot of times, the back of one cannot be seen for Aziraphale. When he's in the bookshop and a back of a chair can be seen, his back will still not touch the back of the chair.

...

Story Commentary

Setting aside the threshold trickery at play in Earthly Objects, Crowley's open mouth could also be interpreted as him using his snake demon senses to find Aziraphale's precise location.

After the Threshold Trick itself is done, Crowley's body is briefly fully obscured, and suddenly the door's moving for him without his hands doing anything. The left hand that was on it is gone. He may as well be using telekinesis on the thing.

Crowley continues onward until he passes Aziraphale on Aziraphale's right. Aziraphale himself glances to his own left first, as that's generally where Crowley is expected for him. This movement also allows Crowley's body to be obscured briefly. He could even mouth something to Aziraphale without us seeing it.

The red on the back of the collar on Crowley's jacket is briefly visible before Crowley himself finally sits down and says, "Right, what's the problem?"

The car transformed a little. There's an extra part of a window frame on the window pane that wasn't there before.

...

Muriel

(For reference: Bookend Buddies - Crowley and Muriel (Part 2))

Muriel's first scene preceded this one. That makes their first scene the front bookend to the first Threshold Trick. Their last scene will act as the back bookend to the last Threshold Trick (The Window Trick).

In turn, Crowley's first Threshold Trick is the back bookend to Muriel's first scene.

...

That's it for this post. Way back when I started to track these things, I did have a tendency to update even these posts, so that could happen again, just FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

...

Past version of this post:

Post #4 (entering the coffee shop)

[mr-gabriel-ultrakill]

I wanna take a long moment, and talk about the machines real quick:

I'm pretty sure its established that the machines have some sort of sentience/consciousness (with the mind flayers, and v1/v2)

And that's FASCINATING, with how it changes the way I see the game, because v1 thinks alongside us, with the second v2 fight it being "you arent getting away this time"

I LOVE the mindflayers (as do we all, for the wrong reasons) because they show that they CARE about how they are perceived, or at least how they perceive themselves, with their plastic body being mostly non-functional and purely aesthetic, which is great; and the fact there are male and female versions proving individuality

swordmachine modifying itself to near an unrecognisable state, and then garnering fans and copycats

V2 waiting for us at the end of greed and becoming enraged if we attack them with their OWN arm.

It goes to show that the machines aren't acting on just *programming* which makes their violence all the more intriguing, because they *know* what they're doing.

I hope we see gabriel and v1 actually interact in a non violent setting (I know we won't, but I can dream)

[tumblingxelian]

I saw a post earlier today that really kinda got my goat so to speak so I wanted to re-post my take without starting shit on tumblr dot com.

I categorically disagree with the idea that Adam was ever planned to be the main leader of the White Fang pre coup.

We meet Adam leading what was suppose to be a resource acquisition mission that he turned into an attempted mass murder for shits and giggles because he is a blood thirsty idiot.

Not only is that incredibly wastefully and politically stupid of him, it is also not reflective of what Blake described the White Fang's methodology as during Volumes 1. IE the methods that actually were working and were introduce by said new leader which Adam was blatantly ignoring.

It also makes clear his relationship with Blake is awful given the manipulation, the lies, the dismissal and using her as a shield, and maniacal cackling ETC.

The second time we see Adam its in volume 2 right after its revealed that a ton of Faunus died because of Cinder's plan and Mercury wonders if they will still obey. Adam arrives and promising to continue throwing his people's lives away for Cinder. Making it quite clear where Adam stands on the subject while showing the White Fang itself lacks any loyalty to Cinder.

Before V3 we have two possible mentions, one being the silhouettes in V1, one of which could be argued to represent Adam, but also contained two other people. & the masks reference which, if Adam was the leader, you'd think Blake would just say it was an idea their leader came up with. The fact she didn't should make it clear to any viewer that Adam was just popular, but not in charge.

Going into V3, we already know he's fine throwing Faunus lives away for Cinder, so anything he says when rejecting Cinder needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Yeah Adam wasn't just gonna work with some random human cos he doesn't like humans and his people are watching so his behavior is performative. Cinder leaves, then returns and makes it clear she can kill him if he doesn't obey and he instantly bows because, shock and horror the manipulative abuser is not actually all that brave when its 'his' ass on the line, setting the stage for what we already know happens by V2.

Adam was never meant to be the leader, Adam was never a genuine revolutionary, Adam was always an abusive cowardly liar and manipulator seeking power and appeasement for himself.

Losing Sienna was a tragedy and genuinely a huge mistake on the writers part and Ghira taking over again is in no way ideal, but Adam is not some tragic loss. He's one of a dime a dozen would be revolutionaries who only care about the 'revolution' for their own ends. Any passing glance at historical revolutions and rebel movements will show people like him.

One can criticize the White Fang plotline without needing to big up someone like Adam; just like one can endorse revolutionaries without advocating for war crimes. Discuss Sienna and how she could have been introduced earlier or avoid her demise. Bring up how Ilia's arc could have potentially led her to being the one leading a revitalized White Fang. Or how Blake herself could potentially have taken the reigns more overtly, as challenging as that might be to portray given the overall plot line.

There's plenty of ways to emphasize the new generation, and tackling bigotry head on without raising Adam as a viable candidate and especially without engaging in historical revisionism as to his slated role in the series proper.

[gunsandspaceships]

Summary of the first 5 months of this blog or Navigation v2

Today is a significant date for several reasons: it is Tony's birthday, the blog now has 200 followers and the number of posts has reached 160.

Because of the last reason, the time has come to summarize the results of our research over these months.

So far we found out:

Which Tony is the real one: Alter Ego, Kid, Teenager, Big man in a suit of armor, Gryffindor

Details about his childhood: Facts, Own will, Inner child, Bravery, When he met Rhodey

That he is an introvert: MCU, 616, Socially awkward, Absent-minded

His natural habitat: a Lab

What makes him happy: Science, Kids, Relationship

What he accomplished: Achievements, Marksman, PhDs

That he is not a narcissist and his self-esteem is not high: Easy test, 616 Low Self-esteem, Lack of ambition, Not High Self-esteem

He is actually a very strange billionaire: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Comfort, Food, Chores

That he cared for others: Compound owner, Barton's farm scenes, Useful person, What if, Peter's clothes

Who was a true friend: Steve, Bruce, Stane, Coulson, Nat and Clint, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey: Part 1 and Part 2, BFF

That Tony sometimes says things about himself that are the opposite of reality: "I'm fine", "Playboy"

That he doesn't have a drinking problem in the MCU: Conclusion with its own navigation

About relationships with Steve Rogers: Did he hate him? Role Model Part 1, Part 2, War and Peace, Saving Captain Rogers

That Tony is bisexual: Proof, FrostIron

And submissive: Proof

He is a dog at heart: Why, Saint Bernard

But likes cats: Cat person

Who is the nicest guy of the OG6: Data on: Tony ("My faults", "Thank yous", "Sorrys: Part 1, Part 2"), Steve, Thor, Bruce, Natasha, Clint Who thanks the most Who apologizes the most Who admits his/her fault the most Results

What happened during Civil War: The Accords, Recruiting Peter: War crimes, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3; Fight Part 1, Part 2, Tony saved Bucky

And what could have happened instead: B.A.R.F.

How Tony is different from Thor: Sakaar

How Tony made his decision about the Time Heist: Part 1, Part 2

That MCU is not 616 and how Multiverse works: MCU is not 616, FAQ, Multiverse

We also played a game "Tony or Steve" and found out some interesting facts.

Some additional topics that were discussed:

War, military and weapon manufacturing: Iron Man 1 villain, Hypocrisy, We are all profiteers, Pros and cons of Tony being weapon manufacturer

Some criticism: Tony's inappropriate jokes, Womanizer?

Thanos: His not-so-good plan to save the universe

Steve: Blaming others, Why Bucky is not the new Cap

Pepper: And her sexual life with Tony

Clint: Has superpowers

Howard: His obsession with shields

P.S. Tumblr does not allow to add more than 100 links, so some less important posts are skipped and added to this post.

[robotskissingrobots]

V2 X MIRAGE STATUS : FANON

PROPAGANDA : "Mirage is what I'd classify as a human-coded machine, her characteristics are nigh indistinguishable from a human's beyond her appearance. V2 is... just a machine. marketed as a sentient swiss army knife as a desperate effort to make money.

this shows through their stories, which are strongly themed around the concepts of mind and body respectively; M almost entirely dismissing the physical world around her in favor of obsessing over her mind, and V2 thinking of nothing but the theft of their body.

on the more poetic front; despite all odds toward the contrary, Mirage is alive, and V2 is dead.

despite this, or perhaps inevitably due to the single-rail nature of their storylines, M begins to intentionally care about her physical world and self, and V2 starts to think about the nature of itself and its role, thus subverting themselves and crossing over one another.

neither will make the same mistakes the other happened to make, because they have the other to guide them.

conversely both will appreciate watching the other's growth, and see themself in the other. they appreciate each other's company on a general basis of "you won't kill me, and I like to talk to you" but also on the deeper basis of "we're both willing to learn from each other"

on the actual relationship note it's kind of a grey area between friends/lovers situation, really no point in defining a relationship when you're the only two beings in existence.

general physicality is an inevitability (see latter part of previous statement, plus they're both engineered to connect with others), but I'd imagine anything they do romantically or sexually begins more as a calculated experiment than pure instinct. they also just like each other! they both want to make the other feel good!" -recursivetransformarray

V1 X GABRIEL STATUS : DUBIOUSLY CANON?

PROPAGANDA : N/A

WALL E X EVE STATUS : CANON

PROPAGANDA : "I love Wall-E and Eve so much. That movie was my childhood, and they are THE robot couple. Their romance is so good they don't even need to speak! Define dancing is one of the best scenes from anything ever, and Wall-E x Eve is one of the best romances from anything ever" - guy who submitted them

if theres another tie wall-e and eve will be added to the group because i think thatd be funny

[that-starry-freak]

We've got five of these this time chat

Okay wooo I actually am struggling with this one. Like the pairing sounds interesting immediately, but I'm at a loss. Uhh-

I mean obviously it'd be toxic. Its giving enemies with benefits tbh. Hate. Lots of pain and trauma. Eccpecially after old moon was the reason SSun died.

If they don't try to kill each other though they'd growl a lot and be assholes and that just sounds like a lot of fun (if they got along they'd be a fucking asshole power couple)

ECLIPSE AGAIN?? holy shit okay uhm

I mean I rant about this all the time I dont think im gonna here the point of this is for crackships

Okay I'm about to take all the eclipses off this wheel I've got an eclipse every single time so far-

Anyway, uh- I actually have an au thats servant sun x v4 eclipse so I'm trying to figure out how their dynamic would be if it was v2

servant sun would be really anxious around him. V2 ecliose would just make snarky comments to him about his kittishness and how he wasn't the same eclipse. SSun would slowly warm up to him. I remember v2 ecliose was a lot more sparky and manipulative than v4's more cynical nature so thatd be fun. I think they'd be interesting together. Skittish x sassy, both very traumatized

Yeah I like that- omg if this was in the same au as the bm x lord eclipse one there's an added thing of v2's trauma with bm and how they tortured him- nauanshs

(My first spin was lord eclipse and I said no fuck you and respinned)

Ohhhh- okay, so technically its another ecliose, augh, but idc cause its not a very eclipsy eclipse its solar, so its okay

And oh my god?? Their friendship already bro. The sass. They joking fighting. The figuring out relationships together. The awkwardness???? The nerdiness??? Bro, its like solarnexus but moon is a bit of an asshole and more awkward so its less soft and just fun

Fuck yeah i love this ship

... im not going to say anything, im just gonna

@alexandraisyes

the wheel ships it (it was the first one without any sort of Eclipse too-)

Okay I think that's enough that's a lot god I'm addicted this is a lot of fun

[copperbadge]

The pitfalls of getting too into one's own imaginary worlds...

So, the Shivadh Romances V1, which contains the first three books, is 600 pages, give or take. It's at the upper limit of comfortable "holdability" as a print book, at least for me.

Twelve Points and Royals/Ramblers are the next two books, slated for V2, but the problem is that they are the two longest books, and Royals/Ramblers is a beast. Combined, they're about 750 pages, which is already larger than V1. But they're also only two books, which is not really what I think of when I think "omnibus".

So I could just combine Twelve Points and Royals/Ramblers, call it an omnibus, and not worry so damn much. Or I could also add in the short stories (Dinner At The Palace) which would add only 50 pages but make it seem like a lot more content. I hadn't intended to include the short stories in the compilation volumes, but there's no actual reason I shouldn't, except that people may have bought the short stories thinking I wouldn't put them in the omnibus.

It's just, then the damn thing is 800 pages (ETA: not sure how I did the math wrong but I just threw all three into a word doc and it's 890 pages) compared to the first volume's 600 pages. I don't think it'll bop the price up too much, especially now that Amazon's no longer got its gross fingers in there hiking the price artificially, but I think that moves it from "book" to "murder weapon".

IDK, wondering what you guys think. Would you rather have an "omnibus" with only two books in it but manageable size, or an omnibus with three books in it that you could use as a booster seat for a small child?