#admittedly things could change about the design at any point !

[campingwithmonsters]

WHERE WILL YOU BE DURING RANDOM CHIMP EVENT.

So yeah ToWG has a Sun Wukong character!! Admittedly I don’t have a LOT of his relevance down, but he’s one of the higher ups (called Tellhellers) like Lord, Anansi, and Baba Yaga. He’s planned for Spider’s Tag!

[burningcheese-merchant]

No, Merchant, feel free to complain to your hearts content. I'm certainly much meaner to ugly blue alastoroncelerbillcipherspamton from temu and every last inch of his undeserved popularity. I seethe because as an Ovenbreak player of SEVEN YEARS, none of my faves get remembered in a tweet, let alone merchandise. The dragons, who all took over five years to collectively come out, got a pin set and devsis wiped their asses with them then moved on. I waited over a YEAR for another sugar nova odyssey update to come out because xylitol nova and astronaut are my favorite cookies ever and I'm still fucking waiting 🫠 meanwhile the beasts are getting shat out every 3 months with the most rushed nonsensical recycled plotlines held together with scotch tape because making profit is what really matters here, not competent storytelling. I wouldn't even be this furious if the beasts got equal attention and spotlight but we both know that's not true hahaha 😬 they love to shove their (really badly designed) golden cow in our faces because Smilk was lab engineered to get sexyman tumblr girlies screaming their heads off while not even being 1/4th the interesting character they want you desperately think he is. JUSTICE for burning spice, mystic flour, and everyone else who will get done dirty for this boring walmart Jevil 😒

Oh my gosh 🤣🤣🤣 tell us how you REALLY feel, Anon, let it all out. It's not healthy to bottle up your emotions like that (you might want to stay anonymous though, I don't think either of us want an angry mob at your doorstep lol)

I'm anticipating a ramble (as I am wont to do) so under the cut it goes

Gonna start by saying I DO like Shadow Milk. I really do. It took me a little while for him to grow on me when he first appeared, admittedly (ESPECIALLY his voice...), but I am genuinely fond of the little blue jester man. But he's certainly not my favorite, far from it. That title belongs to Burning Spice and Burning Spice alone lol. The only reason I ever turned the English audio back on (I usually play the game in Japanese, I love hearing my fave anime characters speak lol) was so I could hear that gorgeous baritone of his... Burning Spice is everything to me. I love his design, I love his voice, I love his dialogue, I love his personality, I love him soooooo much. He's my babygirl. If Silent Salt turns out anything like the character I've constructed inside of my head, then he will share the #1 spot with Spice. I'll go ahead and say that right away

I'm upset because, like you said, it feels like he got majorly shafted while Shadow Milk gets all the praise and attention. Mystic Flour as well, poor girl, but I'm focusing on Spice just to drive the point home a bit better. He didn't even get a fucking countdown. What was his little merch thing? That weird ass candle (I thought it was a vase at first lol) and that's it. Furthermore, his story feels the least developed. There was and is SO MUCH that could have been said about him as a person as well as his dynamic/connection with Golden Cheese, that wasn't for whatever reason. Episodes 5 and 6 feel like they're missing something (and you feel what the "something" is in that brief flashback to Spice's past. There's more to what became of him than "I was bored", there HAS to be. Boredom is a symptom, not the cause. I maintain that this theory of mine has merit, and it would've been nice if they dove deeper into it than they did), you know? And I hate it. I hate that Spice is basically the forgotten middle child of the Beasts while Shadow Milk gets all the glory. Seriously, for Shadow Milk:

They changed their YT avatar to him for a while (it has ALWAYS been Gingerbrave, they never changed it once to anyone else all these years). iirc they did this on Twitter too

They dedicate an HOUR LONG commentary video to episode 7 and Shadow Milk (arguably fair, because it WAS the 4th anniversary. But even so. Did they do this for any other Beast? Any other episode? Any other anniversary?)

They give him a costume (a legendary one, at that) plus a set with his Ancient. NO OTHER Beast/Ancient pair has that, and I struggle to imagine they ever will. Do you understand what I would do to have a BS/GC costume set? DO YOU???

They make an exclusive, limited edition plushie (that caused a massive shitstorm iirc, justice for everyone that got fucked over during that and fuck scalpers)

They make a whole ass pop-up store event themed entirely around Shadow Milk and episodes 7 and 8

Why? Because he's the fan favorite lol. He's long since been the golden child of this community, and now we know he's Devsisters' golden child, too. (And they're desperate for money because they're drowning in debt. That's also probably why they released Shadow Milk on the 3rd anniversary: to drum up interest on a milestone anniversary by bringing in a beloved character. Thematically/narratively, Shadow Milk should've been released last. But that's just my opinion.)

Again, I really do like Shadow Milk. I call him "Walmart Bill Cipher" affectionately (and because he genuinely does remind me of Bill. In fact, I think Bill might've inspired SM to some degree). But it's unfortunate that other characters, the other Beasts especially, are pushed aside and ignored just so Shadow Milk can hog all the spotlight. It is with a very intense grimace that I agree that Shadow Milk is a Tumble sexyman. He fits the stereotype to a T. It would serve us all well to accept that truth. He even got added to the Tumblr sexyman wiki before it turned to flour lol. Burning Spice is... NOT a Tumblr sexyman. He is a regular old hunk. Tumblr was never in the business of liking big, beefy hunks, at least not the Tumblr I knew 10 years ago lol.

I'm also, to reference it again, just really disappointed that so little was and is done to explore the other Beast/Ancient pairs - and the fandom is guilty of this, too (not to knock the PV/SM anaylses at all! They're all fantastic and I genuinely do understand and love the deep, complex connection between them!). To go back to BS and GC, because they're my lifeblood (not just for shipping reasons I swear)... it's particularly egregious to me that THEIR dynamic wasn't given the attention and detail it deserves. They are LIFE AND DEATH, the very foundation of the world itself, things I (personally) consider significantly more important than truth and deceit because it is from life and death that all else springs forth. Truth and deceit are things you actively look for; life (abundance) and death (destruction) are just there, everywhere you look, even within yourself. You can close your eyes, ears, heart to the truth and you can learn to shun, decipher, defend against deceit; there is no escape from life nor death. None whatsoever. And so much can be done with that. So much can be done with them. Burning Spice and Golden Cheese need each other in the exact same way that Shadow Milk and Pure Vanilla need each other. They parallel each other quite a bit, too. They're so similar and so different. They could have and SHOULD HAVE had so much to say to and about each other, like what Shadow Milk and Pure Vanilla have. But that didn't happen. Didn't happen with Dark Cacao and Mystic Flour, either. All of that love and care and philosophical exploration goes to the clown and the Jesus Christ allegory. Which is FINE, I'm not saying to leave those two hanging, just... show some of that love to the beefcake and the bird, too. And Korean Batman (Cacao reminds me of Batman, I'm sorry 🤣) and Ms. Angel of Death, too. Please, man. Truth and Deceit aren't the only dichotomy that matters and is worthy of thought and discussion

(and oh my God, dude. The Ovenbreak shit. I've been playing for as long as you, and that shit is diabolical at this point. We get ONE dragon update a year, and they always leave us on the most painful cliffhanger of all time each time. (And this last one... I have many issues, but the most glaring one of all: WHERE THE FUCK IS FIRE SPIRIT??? WHY ISN'T HE IN THE STORY??? HE IS INTRINSICALLY LINKED TO PITAYA DRAGON! THEY HAVE AN UNBREAKABLE BOND BECAUSE OF THEIR DEAL THAT GRANTED HIM SOME OF PITAYA'S POWER AND SAVED HIS LIFE! HE SHOULD BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THIS ARC! HE SHOULD BE AT THE FOREFRONT! IF PITAYA GETS HURT, HE GETS HURT! FIRE SPIRIT'S WELL-BEING IS DIRECTLY TIED TO PITAYA'S AND THE DRAGON'S VALLEY AND BOTH ARE IN SERIOUS JEOPARDY!!! Oh God I can scream about this for so long. I have a similar issue with the Red Dragon arc in CRK, WHY WASN'T FIRE SPIRIT THERE?) I LOVE the dragons, I love their relationship with each other, I love the conflict between them, even the unique bonds/quarrels between specific ones! And their storyline is picked up and dropped over and over again, left to collect dust until they feel like continuing the story. Hell, remember Gingerbrave and co.'s quest to find where that wizard compass is pointing, and to find a place for them to build a peaceful life away from the Witches? Me neither lol. Sea Fairy's great sacrifice with Sugarteara and the cursed pearl? (SF was done SO dirty in Kingdom, she's an actual character in OB and in CRK all she cares about is Moonlight, to the point that she lets an entire civilization fall to ruin because she refuses to do her fucking job) The Xylitol gang... Well, as of writing this, that's the next update... Which will give us another legendary cookie, hardly 3 months after Dreamweaver lol. Fuck Stevia Nova, I already don't give a damn. Give me more Xylitol Nova and Astronaut and that's it

I have a lot more to say (especially about BS and GC, God I could talk about them FOREVER, they're so interesting to me), but I think I've rambled enough lol. All the love for Shadow Milk, truly, but all the love and justice for Burning Spice and the other Beasts and every other character that gets ignored, too

[catras-breakup-song]

i think there are a couple things about catra's designs that people tend to get wrong (in my opinion at least, these could just be interpretations):

catra's s4 outfit is actually just a force captain uniform, not necessarily a second-in-command horde ranking above one (not that it's any less hot on her!). despite having been a force captain for most of the earlier seasons, she was actually still wearing her cadette uniform. you know, 'cause she was always skipping force captain orientation and whatnot! and then she finally started taking that power much more seriously after the portal arc. you'll notice catra's design looks much more similar to scorpia's now bc boob window lmao, who was always a force captain since her first debut, save for personal customizations to support their animal hybrid body types.

also, bonus, the reason why catra's arm sleeves are uneven is to match her appearance while she was corrupted by the world falling apart, although that wouldn't explain why she still has part of her left arm covered in black. this was something i saw someone theorize a while back, but i'd never be able to find the post again.

anyhow, it also parallels glimmer's queen design pretty well (i hate that this image is mirrored):

they both have one arm covered by a sleeve, while the other is bare, yet still wear gloves on each hand. they both wear a headpiece. they both make room in their clothes to show their chests. they both have the V-curved waistband to divide their setup into torso and waist/thighs.

...moving on now...

2. catra (along with adora, glimmer, and bow)'s future wish designs were only supposed to be temporary for scorpia's ball that they were getting ready for. i see a lot of fanart that depicts them in these outfits as their main future designs overall, but i don't believe that's the case. they would definitely appear much more settled-down without a doubt, but in my headcanon adora isn't always wearing such a long dress and catra may wear shoes more often but usually not all the time. admittedly, this is just my own take and isn't entirely relevant to the point. also, mind you, that ball wasn't even canon to reality; we don't know if it actually ever happened. it was just something adora imagined she would be able to see if she were to live.

in addition to that, nate also said this, implying that adora does not stick with dresses as casual wear and by extension the same most likely applies to catra about covering her feet instead of wearing leggings that make movement more free, although this may change as time goes on after the war and they grow to find comfort in peace:

EDIT: i found this post

[baa-whatever]

Honestly if that ends up true then nexus and sun relationship was doomed to begin with because given the circumstances and a lot of other things yeah there was no way this was going to go any other way than messy

Oh yeah, like...the way I'm thinking it could go if Sun ends up having more feelings for Nexus--or whatever they'll be called if they come back--because Sun admittedly felt a little bit jealous over Solar being closer to Nexus but WHY? He was totally fine with him and Moon getting along and he knew they would. Kinda weird for Sun to be a little jealous when he was worried about them being just like Moon.

I think if Nexus comes back, Sun will try to act like normal like "Alls well that ends well!" and try to continue their day and try and find his Rosemary or whoever, but he can't stop that nagging feeling in his stomach that something's bugging him and he can't keep away from Nexus. He's SO over protective and wanting to make sure they have everything they need. Sun can't stop worrying about Nexus to the point he follows them every where and it's getting in the way of his relationship with who ever he's dating to the point they might break up. Or hell maybe he breaks it off to spend more time with Nexus.

This is how I think Lunar will turn Nexus into but I'm not entirely sure about it, I'm thinking of changing the design a bit.

I think Nexus goes by he/she/they and I was trying to go for a beauty and the beast type of thing for them.

I think Sun's obsession would be because he can't stand being flawed. He's very prideful and he's realized how he really screwed up Nexus's life. It would only get a bit worse to the point maybe he would start thinking he has to be in Nexus's life to do anything they want to make them happy for screwing up everything for them.

Nexus would soon also play their part of trying to make everything up for Sun for hurting him and his family. They just didn't realize in the moment that Sun would later on have romantic feelings for them. That part would catch them by surprise. They would both share the same obsession of trying to do better for the person they hurt the most and always being there for each other when they need it.

[pomplalamoose]

Ooohhh how about different eras of luke (ROTJ is my fav if doing one is easier) and maybe some modern dilf!luke 👀 reacting to you laying your head on his shoulder when you’re tired or have a headache pre-relationship?

Anonnn, you don't understand, I'm obsessed with this ask. I just HAD to do every single Luke era plus the Dilf AU as the cherry on top because it's been so long since I last wrote something wholesome😩

also it reminds me of the posts I used to do when I first started writing and ngl I'm feeling a little nostalgic

• sweet ANH Luke with his open smile and honest eyes is so easy to approach and befriend, resting your head on his shoulder comes almost naturally

• though unbeknownst to you he'd immediately be on the brink to loose his mind

• already he tends to be a little jittery with nerves whenever you randomly appear in the same room he is in

• even more so now that he's finally admitted his major crush on you to himself

• so just imagine his excitement the moment you decide to sit next to him

• as soon as your head touches his shoulder he goes bright red and doesn't dare to move in fear of accidentally shooing you away, his heart beating wildly in his chest

• for a slight moment he forgets how to breathe, though it's not like he minds

• this is the best day of his life

• not only does he finally get to feel the warmth of having you so close by his side, but also your soft hair aginst his cheek if he dares to tilt his head just a little bit

• when eventually he manages to somewhat normalize his breathing, his thoughts will start to wander

• he's SO proud you're clearly comfortable and feeling safe with him

• but should he strike up a conversation? Ask how you're doing? If everything's okay?

• maybe he could make you laugh

• your hands look so soft; what if he were to reach out and just take them in his?

• would you mind?

• he's not sure, his aren't as pretty and smooth as yours

• you smell very nice

• wouldn't your current position make you look like a couple to an outsider passing by?

• what if, and he feels very bold just considering, but, what if you...like him?

• quickly enough he has a very hard time remaining calm

• and how could he? He needs to tell someone about this RIGHT NOW

• good luck trying to catch ESB Luke sitting still for even once

• though should you be as lucky to catch him during a moment of rest and manage to lean on him, he'll feel similarly as ANH Luke; excited, a little nervous even, though not as much as his younger self would have been

• still he has to fight off the blush rising into his cheeks and will absolutely deny ever changing colors should someone (especially Leia, Han or even R2) point it out

• at the same time he wishes for as many as possible to witness this very monumental moment, hoping everyone will see that you're leaning on HIS shoulder

• HIS!

• yeah that's right! In your face, (add in name of random rebellion member that also takes an interest in you)!!!

• if he's feeling extra bold, he may use the chance to put an arm around your shoulder

• but very carefully so; he's afraid to overstep any of your boundaries

• after all he's not sure if you'd even like to be held

• there's only one problem: how is he supposed to do anything now?

• he has places to be, things to do, an Empire to fight!

• he's getting kind of warm too

• more than that actually

• Force, are you hiding a heater under all of your layers of clothing?

• also he just remembered; isn't there a meeting he has to attend?

• shouldn't he be working to improve his x-wing?

• he'll check on you out of the corner of his eye, trying to get a feeling for how long you plan to stay like this

• he needs to come up with a way to notify the others of his delay

• because there's no way he's moving even a single muscle

• he's not leaving you behind

• he simply can't!

• not when he was just chosen as your designated spot to rest your pretty but, admittedly, very heavy head

• but not to worry, of course he can handle it!

• he'll be here as long as you need him to be

• RotJ and post RotJ Luke is hard to keep tabs on and thus hard to find

• all you can hope for is to encounter him by pure chance, as he seems to simply have evaporated whenever you wander around searching for him

• though despite his withdrawn ways he's always welcoming and inviting should you happen upon him

• he, above anyone else, understands the importance of rest during a busy day

• he smiles mildly to himself as soon as you settle down and scoot close enough for your arms to touch

• the emotions you are unconsciously emitting, may it be nervousness, excitement or shyness, amuse him a great deal and he's keen to see whether you'll overcome them this time or not

• I don't think he'd tell you outright that he enjoys your presence, that it tends to calm him down and to ease his mind, until much later

• but despite what he is or isn't saying he can't help but feel a little warm inside whenever you come across him during the day

• despite that he can never not worry at least a little bit about your well-being and immediately feels the need to check in on you either with words or a gentle probe with the Force to make sure you're okay

• if he has the time to stay with you for a while he asks if you'd like to lay down

• see, he can shuffle to the side a little and then you could rest your head on his thigh instead of on his shoulder

• wouldn't that be more comfortable?

• he doesn't have a blanket in case you're cold, but maybe you could use his cloak?

• it's not the best, maybe a little rough and still a little dirty from his last trip as he didn't have the time to wash it yet, but it does a good job of keeping a person warm

• he doesn't show how happy he is should you follow his invite and agree to rest beside him, though maybe Leia would notice

• and possibly so would you by how he'd start to absentmindedly stroke your head and play with your hair whenever others are around to keep him properly distracted

• I think Dilf!Luke's reaction would really depend on the current situation/ on how far your relationship has already developed at that point

• here it's important to note though that he'd never tell you off or send you away for initiating contact, not even after just recently getting to know you

• yes he's standoffish and withdrawn, cold in demeanor, seemingly displeased with your presence in his house

• but when it comes down to it he is kind, always has been, even if he hides it away to protect himself

• his behavior towards you is nothing personal; the emotions you call forth are his to deal with

• he may try to at first but ultimately knows deep down that he can't hold you accountable for how his past still troubles him

• he's a father, deeply caring in nature

• no matter what, he could never bring himself to deny anyone his child's age comfort

• though he might be a little confused about why you chose him, of all people, to rest your head on

• after all it's not like he's been going out of his way to be peculiarly inviting or nice - quite the contrary actually

• he'll remain very still for the duration of your vicinity, involuntarily stiffening not only out of surprise but because it's been so long that anyone outside of his immediate family initiated intimacy

• he's so touch starved, so used to rarely feeling a person's warmth, that your simple act catches him off guard

• suddenly he has no idea what to do, how to continue on after

• for your own good and his child's sake he wants to keep you at an arm's length and yet...

• if he wasn't enamored with you before, he is so now

• he thinks back to those moments of doubt and insecurity frequently

• but where they once haunted him, they now serve as a reminder for how far he's come and what he was able to finally leave behind

• he's proud of himself too, yes, but most of all to call you his

• every little touch of yours, and may it be one as innocent as laying your head on his shoulder, fills him with joy

• never, in a thousand years, would he once have believed to be in a position to reciprocate your gentle displays of trust and affection

• but now that he can, now that everything feels a little less like a dream, it's all he wants to do

• (and he does)

• (forehead kisses are his favorite way to, he can't help it)

• (not when you placed yourself so conveniently)

[1moreff-creator]

Now that you've had some time to cool down from the Fuckfest of Friday Night, I'm a little curious on what you think of MonoTV's whole deal, because I haven't seen anyone actually talk about it much and that makes me so upset because wow Dev somehow managed to get me to care about this piece of steel

Spoilers up to the end of CH2

Hey! Yeah, MonoTV, huh? With everything else going on, this thing kinda got pushed aside, but there's been some really interesting developments indeed. I agree though, it's genuinely pretty incredible dev managed to get me to care about what up to this point had been nothing but a device for plot and humor.

You know, I originally wanted to keep this brief to give my full thoughts on the full part 2 analysis I'm working on, but maybe it's better if I just talk about it in full here and just link to this post from that one. Let me start by the theory side, because that's easier for me to write about :v

While MonoTV's creation being connected to XF-Ture Tech was always a very real possibility, the confirmation that at least its personality drivers come from them is nice. And there doesn't seem to be any type of repurposing going on:

MonoTV: Whenever I make a decision, ultimately, I must make the choice that fulfills my purpose [to run the killing game until the death of every participant]. After all, that was why I was created.

While we don't fully understand how this all fits together yet, I'm glad XF is being brought up because that might mean Min content in the future? For me, please? :,D

Anyways. Having a clearly stated goal for the killing game (killing all the participants) is also pretty useful for theory-crafting purposes, so look forward to seeing that line referenced in mastermind discussions moving forward. Not to mention, the secondary purpose of MonoTV playing the villain, with the reasoning:

MonoTV: This so-called TV show is more about appearances than you'd think.

So... ignoring the weird phrasing of "so-called TV show" as opposed to just "TV show," because I will go crazy if I look too deep into that, the confirmation that the appearances of the killing game are important seem to confirm a suspicion Teruko had back in CH2 Ep2.

Teruko: And also, [MonoTV is designed the way it is] as a way to reference that "past killing game," right?

Assuming via context that she's talking about THH, MonoTV being specifically created and programmed to look and act sorta like Monokuma could have some interesting implications moving forward, especially given things like Duke Spurling being alive to see the Tragedy and maybe wanting a recreation of the THH killing game. Thankfully there's no character with a talent for recreating things, such as art, an art forger of some kind, because if there was this could realistically point to them as the mastermind. :)

Final note about theories: I... called it? Sort of?

[Extract from Vivisection of the David MV] What I think is the best idea [regarding the multi-colored "original"] is that all the characters [which includes MonoTV] got the word. [...] I think it makes more sense to relate them to the meaning of "original style" under my interpretation, where "original style" means a change of heart.

Well, MonoTV sure had a change of personality, albeit briefly, now didn't it? (Please ignore the fact that I dismissed the possibility of MonoTV changing in the lines following that one :p) Admittedly "characters in DRDT will have character development" is possibly my least wild theory ever, but a W is a W (?).

Alright but screw theorizing that's for insane people. Let's go for character analysis, because the fact that MonoTV has become a genuinely interesting creature to study is possibly even wilder than the XF-Ture Tech name drop.

Now, a lot of what we hear character wise is similar to stuff we heard in MonoTV's previous character building moment; CH2 EP3.

MonoTV: Does a toaster know why it toasts? Does a calculator know why it adds and subtracts? They are simply machines that do their job without needing to understand why. To that end, I don't know who made this TV show and why. All I do is carry out the directives programmed into me.

MonoTV: I have no conscience, no sense of morality, no will at all. I am merely a robot, subject to the laws of my code. I have no choice but to perform the actions that my creator dictated I must. [...] All the decisions I make were already decided by whatever entity created me, because I am a robot.

It's stated in a much more melancholic tone, given the music in the background, the sprite pose, and the generally less silly "default personality," but it's nothing really new. MonoTV is a machine, it follows programming.

Except.

MonoTV: Even if I feel pain or guilt, I cannot stop. That is the fate that I have, to make others suffer. And there is no diverging from that fate.

Hey MonoTV what the fuck does this mean.

"Even if I feel pain or guilt"? Instead of "I can't feel pain or guilt"? The choice of wording here is very interesting, because it seems to imply that MonoTV does feel pain and guilt over the killing game, regardless of how impossible that should be. The "fate" drop is pretty huge for thematic reasons, as I'm sure you're aware; Teruko explains her own feelings about it in the rest of the scene, there's Xander's speech to Teruko before he attempted to stab her, Ace talking about how he was too much of a coward to fight his fate, Arei actually defying a similar fate in a way, David with the LGI lyrics, Whit and J and Rose and so many other people, all interconnected by this damn concept. I think it'd be fine if this is all we hear about MonoTV in relation to it, but there's definitely fun parallels to explore regardless.

Given how little we have of these particular character details so far, there's not much I can say about it other than I love the concept of an AI being forced to do something it doesn't "want" to because of code, and I'm interested to see if MonoTV will act differently in the future. It's supposed to reset to its previous personality in the full reset, I imagine, but it's not like we can just ignore all the shit it said here. I'm very curious to see where dev takes this.

That said, I also wanted to point out how this vague allusion to feeling pain and guilt and possibly hopelessness against fate aren't the only feelings MonoTV exhibits. Because for some unfathomable reason, it seems to care about Teruko to an extent?

MonoTV: Is something the matter, Teruko? Everyone else has already left.

Like, maybe I'm misreading because the personality change is fucking with me, but this feels like a concern more genuine than I would expect from pre-2-16 MonoTV. And...

MonoTV: You have to decide the answer for yourself.

This, along with the little speech about Teruko's humanity that precedes it, again comes off as MonoTV genuinely trying to help her through her emotions. I don't see how this correlates with its purpose, unless it somehow "believes" that giving Teruko advice on this will somehow lead to Teruko killing someone or something to that effect, which makes no sense.

If it doesn't help kill the participants, isn't necessary for the killing game, and doesn't make MonoTV seem like a villain, then it's not related to any of its purposes. It isn't code making MonoTV say this things. It's MonoTV's... consciousness? I guess? It's very, very interesting.

I am genuinely super interested in where dev is taking MonoTV, and if you told me that was a sentence I would unironically type before this episode, I would have called you insane. The writing in this series is genuinely immaculate, I can't believe we're getting genuine basis for MonoTV angst and it's compelling. Dev does it again!

Thanks for the ask, this was fun to ramble about!

[justanotherflemethstan]

I have finally finished Veilguard. I have already voiced my critiques (critique 1, critique 2, critique 3 & critique 4) and I largely stand by them. so instead, here are 5 things I absolutely loved about Dragon Age The Veilguard.

1. Mourn Watch

Mourn Watch, Mourn Watch, Mourn Watch. Wow. wwowowowow. Everything, from Rook's background, their interactions with Emmrich and unique Mourn Watch dialogue options throughout the game, to the location and the lore and Myrna & Vorgoth, was Perfect. I wouldn't change a single thing and the only difficulty I have with the Mourn Watch faction is not making all of my future Rooks Mourn Watchers too. If bioware makes Mourn Watch themed merch I will buy ALL of it. if any of you are making Mourn Watch themed merch please hmu.

(also, can I just say, I bet that at least one of people responsible for Mourn Watch has read The Locked Tomb. you just can tell, and I say that as a compliment)

2. Grand Necropolis

Is it a cheat to have the first two points be kind of about the same thing? Who cares. The Grand Necropolis was AMAZING. I could spend an entire game within its walls and never leave. In fact, I WANT to spend an entire game within its walls. We need a Grand Necropolis DLC. I want to know EVERYTHING there is to know about its lore and its customs. I am truly obsessed. Special thanks to all the level artists and level designers involved in making Grand Necropolis happen.

3. Davrin and his romance

Davrin's romance was just breathtaking. Him and my Rook felt like soulmates and I loved loved loved every interaction they had. Everything from Davrin's character and his story arc to the voice acting and the way his romance with Rook was written is just fantastic. I probably won't be able to romance him again bc I ship him with my canon Rook so hard. Davrin easily goes into my Top 5 favourite Dragon Age characters of all time.

4. Combat

I've played a sword and board warrior and I had a blast. I was playing on Normal/Adventurer difficulty and admittedly by the end of the game my Rook became a bit OP and was insta killing almost everything that moved and bosses took about 8-10 hits. But I'm really really looking forward to experiencing the other classes and experimenting with different builds/party comps/difficulty settings. The combat was truly a highlight of this game for me and I'd say that it's probably my favourite Dragon Age combat system of all the 4 games now. Which is really not something I expected to say going into the game.

5. Companions and their personal quests

The devs promised us a diverse and lovable set of companions and imo they truly delivered. I liked doing companions' personal questlines the most, and I loved how they were all very different and didn't follow the same structure or story beats. Companions also all had different personalities and quirks and their interactions with each other were memorable and kept me engaged with the game even when I was struggling through some of the slower parts. The Veilguard did indeed deliver on The Veilguard.

___

I know all these are pretty subjective and I appreciate that everyone might have a different experience with any or all of the above points. I just felt it'd be only fair to be as vocal about the parts of the game I enjoyed as I was about the things I didn't like.

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 70

First / Previous / Next

Fen awoke to Ma standing over her, smiling with her eyes. "Fenchurch, you really know how to get into a mess, you know that right?"

Fen sat up. Here, she didn't hurt. "What can I say Ma? I'm tired of being told what to do, and am doing things that I want to do."

She nodded once and put her hand out to help her up. "Good. You're learning." Fen stood up and looked around. It was the same old place it always was, but they were alone in the forest. "It'll be hard though."

"hmm?" Fen wasn't listening.

"Doing things that you want to do. It's hard. It's easier to just listen to everyone else and do what they say."

Fen chuckled. "That's hard too Ma. No matter what I pick, it's hard."

"Yes," Ma agreed. "That's life."

Fen came back, pain still there, disorientation still there, but now she was also floating in space. Her suit was helpfully flashing all kinds of warnings about being adrift in space but she was able to dismiss them. The beacons on her head and shoulders flashed to alert any potential rescuers that she was out here, but scans from the - admittedly - low power radar on the suit indicated she was alone.

Except she wasn't.

Where once there was just her expeditionary force and the white hole was now a... nebula.

It was beautiful.

No, more than that, it was stunning. Rainbow colors, swirling, dancing around her, visible in every direction. She was awash in a sea of color. But why? Was it the nanites?

As she floating in space, Fen stared at once location while time passed. She was sure that the nebula was very slowly moving. With a gasp that turned into a coughing fit, she realized what she was seeing.

It was a war.

The Nanites and Han'iel's nanites had consumed the entirety of the expeditionary force as raw material, and were now around her in the tens of trillions, fighting. The concentration of machines was so dense that she could see them.

Fen thought to herself, well okay Fenchurch. You came back here and you're making your own decisions now. So now what? Fen thought about the implant. It would make a dent in the volume of nanites here, and might be the tipping point to end the battle, but was she ready to do that? No. Not yet at least. Besides, if she did that now the virus in her body would never spread. She had to get closer.

Ugh, but how? The suit had maneuvering jets, but they weren't meant to be used for millions of kilometers. She could link again and get closer, but then that would be it. She'd be stuck. She queried the suit. 'Power options?'

INTERNAL BATTERIES 80%. USEFUL LIFE AT CURRENT POWER OUTPUT - 100 SOL STANDARD DAYS.

Well. At least she's starve to death before she froze to death. She tried again. 'Are the batteries sufficient to operate the wormhole link backpack?'

QUERYING... NEGATIVE. SUIT BATTERIES WOULD BE DEPLETED.

'Recharging options?'

CONNECT TO POWER ON SHIP OR STATION.

Ugh, it didn't have like, solar panels or anything? Fen had no idea about suit design, but she felt like something like that as a last resort would have been useful. 'Radio?'

LOCAL AREA ONLY. NO SIGNALS IN RANGE CURRENTLY.

Dammit. It turned out that an emergency rescue spacesuit wasn't just a teeny spaceship after all.

While Fen was working through her options and arguing with her suit, the nebula slowly came closer to her. She noticed as the color outside her face shield changed, and she looked up and gasped. What she had thought was a slow wheeling progression of the nebula was actually the nanites moving at tremendous speed. They had traversed the distance to her in less than two hours. Before she realized what was happening, the swirl of color surrounded her suit. Red warnings flashed in her vision SUIT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. SUIT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. Her suit was being eaten for material.

"Oh fuck." She said aloud, "now you've done it."

Ah, Empress. You are alive after all. The voice was practically liquid in its smugness.

"I could say the same thing about you. How goes the war with Han'iel's creation?"

We persevere, Fen. We were built well.

"Oh goody. You can talk to me as well." Fen sighed. "Well, as it appears that I am being consumed for raw materials in your battle, you had better say your pieces before I'm gone entirely."

Gone? You're not going anywhere. You forget we can manipulate matter on any scale.

Don't worry Fen. Once these nanites are destroyed, we will take good care of you. Han'iel's nanites spoke to her with a K'laxi accent. Almost but not quite sounding like Han'iel himself.

Take care of you? They can't even tak-- Her original nanites started to argue again but stopped sudddenly. What did you do?

"Whatever do you mean?" Fen said innocently, while grinning wickedly. It was going to work.

You have introduced a... pathogen. How?

"Don't worry about how, worry about your own damn survival now. I don't even care that I'm out in space alone because I got you. Neither of you will be able to come up with a counter in time."

We shall see about that.

Both of the nanites pulled out of her mind quickly, without taking care to be gentle. Through the blinding headache they left, Fen was laughing. It worked! It really worked! Her idea worked! "See Ma? I did it! I beat them. Not Gord, not the Empire, ME!" She shouted.

Before her eyes, the nebula changed. Rather than a dancing, swirling rainbow colored cloud, it was slowly - but surely - turning gray. The virus was taking over the nanites, using them to make more, and then disassembling what was left.

Fen floated, between the black and the gray, and watched them die.

****

"They think we have Fen!" Chloe shouted, as Gord took control of the ship's operation to dodge the attacks.

"Well, we kinda did." Gord said, trying to keep his voice reasonable as he concentrated.

"We - you - saved her life!"

"Yes. but they don't know that, Chloe. We never told them. I was going to, but then there was the nanite thing, and we had to put her in hibernation, and then the virus... I dropped the ball." Gord did the virtual equivalent of a shrug. "They don't usually shoot first and ask questions later though."

"They don't? Gord, are we talking about the same humans?"

"Okay okay, sometimes they do. Open a channel, I'll explain it."

"They closed communication." Chloe scanned the logs. "Looks like they opened all frequencies and asked for an explanation... and someone told them to kick rocks."

"Who?"

Chloe shook her head. "Don't know. They were far away, probably out near Jupiter or further. They were on at least a couple minute delay."

"Dammit!" Gord swore and went over to the comm set. He set the power output to full and opened all the channels. As he did so, he moved some relays and rerouted power from the reactor. As environmental powered down, his array powered up. Across Sol, everyone's comm array was overcome with static. Media players, comm arrays, and even some larger metallic structures all obeyed his command. For now, Gord was the Loudest thing in Sol. "Attention Humanity. We do not have Empress Fenchurch. We did, but she left on her own. If you stop shooting and take an Ancestors damned BREATHER, we can discuss this." Gord cut the connection and put the power back where it was. Times like this he was annoyed that he couldn't snap a physical toggle closed. It was much more satisfying.

****

"Empress?!" The weapons officer looked over at Penny.

Penny was trying very hard to hide her expression, but she didn't have Fen's experience. Her eyes were giving it away, Zhe noticed. She was frightened out of her mind. "S-Stand down. Weapons to idle."

As the weapons powered down, and the ship got off of its battle footing, one of the younger officers eye's went wide. "Empress... you should see this," and gestured. She and Zhe looked down at their pads.

And stared at the stardrive of Home.

Before Home was the... well, home of the AIs, it was a colony ship. Nearly a third the size of High Mars Hyacinth, it was designed to streak through interstellar space, bringing thirty thousand humans in hibernation and enough supplies to start up at least three cities. Six were launched, three made it, one blew up just outside of Sol, and two were lost. This was one of them. In order to thrust up to 50% of C, the colony ships had positively titanic star drives. Large enough to swallow a Starjumper, their exhaust would streak behind for hundreds of kilometers when under full thrust.

And one was pointed directly at them.

They hadn't planned on running, they had planned on lighting their stardrive, Zhe realized with a shudder. Her fur puffed out in fear. She knew the value of the human's old drives as a weapon. She looked over at Penny; she hadn't figured it out. Zhe flicked her ears in irritation. Leave it to humans to forget about their own weapons.

"Penn-Empress." Zhe said gently. "They pointed their stardrive at us. They were going to fire it."

"And run away? They have a wormhole generator, why run away with their old stardrive?"

"We-el, yes, they would start moving." Zhe said carefully, "but more importantly the drive exhaust would have reduced us to our constituent atoms."

"Oh" Penny said, and then her eyes widened when she parsed what Zhe said. "Oh."

"Yes," Zhe nodded. "On the Heap we're taught to never go behind a human ship. We were never going to win this engagement."

Penny's shoulders slumped. "They don't have Fen and we were nearly destroyed." She looked at Zhe and mouthed "What do I do?"

"Empress?" Zhe said, in a normal tone of voice. "I recommend we open a channel to Gord's ship and take him up on his offer to talk. We can learn what they know, and maybe work together to find out what happened to Fen. After all-" She flicked her ears as she spoke "-if the AI faction supports you, then your claim to the throne is that much more valid."

Penny's eyes shone. She was holding back tears. "Yes, that is an excellent suggestion. Comms, reach out to Gord's ship and let the know we wish to talk." She looked again at Zhe, blinked her tears away and whispered, "Thank you."

Zhe's face was impassive, but her tail swished behind her.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not comforting a child after her science project didn't work?

( 💞💥 to find)

Okay this was a while ago but I still think about it sometimes and I'm genuinely unsure of if I did the right thinh.

So I (15F at the time) was a part of a science league thing facilitated by my school. Basically, you would meet after school once a week to study/work on projects, and then go to a competition in the spring against other schools. There were a bunch of different categories and activities but they were primarily separated into ones you had to study for (and would then take a test on) or build for (like a wheeled vehicle or a model plane, which would be graded). It was really fun and low-key compared to the sports programs at my school, so I liked it a lot.

A friend of mine, who we'll call S (15F) was also in the science league. We did a lot of study based competitions together, and usually placed in the competitions. During our third year, her youngest sister, M (12ish), joined the league. She was a really sweet and smart kid, and she was interested in trying a building based event. You needed two people to enter an event, so I volunteered to build a marble rollercoaster with her. M also grouped up with a girl in her grade for another building project (I think it was a plane).

Because M was doing two building events (which were predictably a lot more time consuming than the study events) and the school musical, we agreed I would create the plans for the rollercoaster and get the materials together. Now, each building events came with a printed copy of parameters and optional features that could get us bonus points. I decided on attempting for three bonus features (two jumps and a loop). Between designing on paper, adapting for the parameters, measuring out the track lengths, and gathering materials (that of which I had to switch out half way through), the whole process took me about four months to complete, and that was just the planning. We were getting pretty close to the competition date when we started to actually assemble the damn thing (at this point she had finished up her other stuff and was able to help me more consistently), and we were having a lot of issues with getting the track pieces to fit together. As I remember it, the problem came from having to fold the track over a bunch of times so it would stay in the 30cm-somethingish width parameter. The Thursday before the competition (which was in Saturday), M volunteered to take the coaster home and finish it there. I was honestly so relieved when she said this, because I knew through S that her dad was really handy, and like mini trebuchets and stuff for fun.

Flash forward to the event, when we're boarding the bus going to the school hosting the competition. She gets on with a cardboard box, and excitedly shows me a marble rollercoaster that is absolutely not what she left with at all. For reference, the original plan for the coaster was made of pvc pipe, which I spent around three weeks measuring out and cutting with a band saw in the shop room. This rollercoaster was two pieces of plywood with tinfoil tracks that you leaned against the cardboard box she was carrying it in. She hadn't included any of the extra features I had implemented to get us extra points. While I was shocked and admittedly pretty pissed I didn't say anything because she was a) a kid and b) I assumed that there was probably some issue that had arisen in testing that necessitated the changes. When we went to impound she struggled a lot with setting it up and the three pieces weren't attached with anything and were literally just leaning against each other. At this point it was also visually obvious that the width want way beyond 30 cms, and when the judges came around to measure, it turned out that it was above the allotted height too. M was looking really nervous about now, so I assured her that most of the time, the marbles don't even make it down the coaster tracks, and as long as our marble makes it to the end we should be able to place. Except, when it came time to release our marble, it moved for about three seconds before getting stuck in the tinfoil. We were allowed to try two more times, and it got stuck in the same place each time.

M was very visibly upset, and looking back I think she was on the verge of tears. It can't really remember what I said; I know I didn't say anything malicious or accusatory, though. Honestly, I think I might have just stood there in silence, because I was honestly really fucking angry that she ditched my design for no apparent reason and didn't bother to check any of the available rules or even test her design. But I don't think that anger justified leaving a little kid without support when she was upset.

tldr: When I was a teenager I didn't comfort my friends little sister after our marble rollercoaster didn't work because she had ditched the design I had made for one that broke parameters.

[henrysglock]

Do you have any idea what exactly was up with El’s mystery outfit change in season one? When she opened the gate to the upside down she was in her white sensory deprivation tank suit and it was all very dramatic with the mother gate forming and the Demogorgon entering the ‘right side up’ dimension. But then she apparently escaped shortly after that in a hospital gown?

It’s admittedly been a while since I’ve rewatched Stranger Things but that was always one of the weirdest things that stuck out to me. Like, if that’s exactly what happened then she would have had to get out of the sensory deprivation tank, dry herself off, get changed and then escape through the tunnel all the while the Demogorgon is loose in the lab. I could see how she could have gotten herself out of the tank to escape but it seems strange that in such a high stress situation she would stop to put on a different outfit. Plus, the different outfits are way too big of a detail to just be an oversight like I’ve seen some people suggest. Do you have any idea as to what was up with that?

(Sorry if you’ve talked about this before and I just didn’t see it though! I don’t mean to waste your time with any dumb asks! Also, tysm for answering my Johnlock asks btw! I do see where you’re coming from in terms of the differences between Byler and Johnlock narratively and I’m rotating what you mentioned with the colour coding between characters and the upside down, right side up and dimension x in my mind like it’s in a microwave. Go ahead and throw me right back into the Stranger Things brain rot why don’t you, lol.)

Yessssss! Oh man, I've been waiting for a reason to talk about all this bullshit again, because this is one of the most interesting mysteries to me. It's genuinely so odd that she somehow just...escaped? From the way the show presents it, El escaped during the chaos with the 1983 gate. However, that's just not possible. Why?

It's simple: because that tank only opens from the outside.

I mean, obviously you could handwave it as "El blasted the top of it off with her powers", which you alluded to, but she still had to climb out of there somehow (which would be difficult, considering she's got a whole contraption on her head and had to be lowered in on a swing). On top of that, we know opening gates is so exhaustive that it causes her to pass out (see: ST4), and we never see any footage of her after the gate opens, only during it, so we can't even say whether she was conscious. Opening gates is massively exhaustive for Henry in TFS, too, so I'm not just pulling that out of my ass.

In my opinion, someone had to retrieve El from that tank, and I think it's more than plausible that someone did (I'll say more about that in a second).

Second, like you mentioned, the clothing change. Like honestly, In what world does a girl escaping from a laboratory stop to change clothes? How would she navigate to a place with spare hospital gowns without a keycard, especially after just having opened a gate? Are we meant to assume she stole a keycard off a corpse and then immediately ran to change clothes? It just feels...out of place. For a costume team that points out the minutiae in their designs and outlines what those minutiae mean, this swap wasn't an oversight, I agree.

For the moment, my theory is that someone helped El get out of the sensory deprivation tank, and that she was still in HNL's possession after the gate opened, which is why she was changed from the wetsuit to the usual hospital gown.

As evidence of that, I want to talk about a weird time differential that no one ever seems to mention. Commonly, people think the gate opened at 8:15pm on November 6th, and that El escaped at that time.

However, we see the cold open elevator guy being chomped around 8:15pm. At that point in time, there was no evidence of the Upside Down in the basement of HNL...and he seems to be the only guy down there:

So clearly, the initial rush out of the lab from the gate opening is over, since there's no one else around. He was present when the gate opened, too, but his outfit has changed by the time the cold-open actually happens:

His keycard is in a totally different place, which tells me he didn't just bust a move out of there when the gate opened. No, he hung around after everyone else had skedaddled.

See also: the guy next to him has a different outfit the next morning (almost the same outfit elevator guy died in, ironically enough), indicating that some of them didn't pull an overnight on this whole gate thing:

In fact, it seems to me like elevator guy may have been the skeleton crew monitoring the gate after it had opened, indicating that the gate was opened well before 8:15pm, and that nothing of interest came through until later, which is corroborated by the basement being full of Upside Down flora by the next morning:

And then, when we see El outside HNL, it's at least mid-morning. In fact, Benny's Burgers is already in full-swing, and they seem to be serving lunch at the earliest, given the fries:

It seems to me like El didn't escape until well after the gate had opened, possibly around the same time that elevator guy got chomped. That's corroborated by this exchange on the 7th:

They tie El's escape directly to the demogorgon coming through, but they also make a point to distance both occurrences from the gate opening.

That says to me "El escaped around the same time the demogorgon came through, but all that happened well after the gate opened."

What also stands out to me is that El is dirty when she shows up at Benny's, which lines up with the scrap of her gown being found at the tunnel leading past the HNL fence to the woods:

Like...this tunnel?

The only person we've ever seen in a setting like that is "Henry" in NINA, who leads El—in her gown—to what's arguably the same tunnel from ST1, and he does so specifically with the intent of helping her escape.

If you know me, then you know my thoughts on NINA (and if you don't know, then please feel free to check out this series of posts! They'll get you started, lol), and you know that I'm suspicious of Henry ever having left HNL at all—as in, I don't think necessarily believe it was Henry who was sent through that gate in ST4/NINA. Either way, we already know that whatever happened in NINA wasn't the truth:

So the events of 1979 really do remain a mystery. What doesn't change, though, is that they're soft-launching the idea that Henry helped El escape—specifically through a tunnel, one that would match up with the tunnel where Scott found the piece of her lab gown, and specifically right before/in the midst of a very creature-coded massacre.

For further reading on my stance, I'll just link this post:

It covers more of the whys and hows regarding 1983 vs 1979, especially in terms of massacres and creature attacks, and it links to a bunch of other posts I made on the topic.

tl;dr...My stance on El's inexplicable ST1 costume change is this:

Someone retrieved her from that tank at some point between the gate opening and elevator guy being killed, which is why she's dried off and her outfit is different.

The demogorgon cold open happened a decent amount of time after the gate opened.

El escaped HNL around the same time the demogorgon came through the gate, specifically via the tunnel we see her shown in NINA.

NINA is one big lie based on altered truths/memories, and El's experiences during and just before the massacre were peppered with memories of 1983.

Henry had something to do with El's escape in 1983.

Now, I'm obviously holding a spot for whatever ST5 tells us. Obviously, I can't say I'm 100% certain about any of it. It's just speculation based on the information I currently have. If you have more questions, feel free to bug me with them, I always love talking theory :3

Finally:

(Sorry if you’ve talked about this before and I just didn’t see it though! I don’t mean to waste your time with any dumb asks! Also, tysm for answering my Johnlock asks btw! I do see where you’re coming from in terms of the differences between Byler and Johnlock narratively and I’m rotating what you mentioned with the colour coding between characters and the upside down, right side up and dimension x in my mind like it’s in a microwave. Go ahead and throw me right back into the Stranger Things brain rot why don’t you, lol.)

I absolutely love talking about this kind of stuff, so never apologize for asking questions!! Never a dumb ask, never wasted time.

Also, I watched that video on TJLC, and...holy shit, dude. I absolutely see what you're you're saying regarding the way byIers behave about byIer endgame. It's very TJLC, especially things like the DID/Nested Universe/Manifestation theories.

I do also have to admit that I see a little bit of myself in there too. I see a lot of myself in EMP theory, which is basically what I proposed regarding the discrepancies between TFS and filmed canon...whoops, lol. But hey, at least this time there's a canonical monster that is specifically noted to do exactly that kind of thing, and that's the monster Henry's caught up with, so...I get a pass 😭 If you feel like reading 50,000 words on the subject, I'll drop the link for it. It's specifically about TFS on the West End circa Dec 2023, since I have yet to update it re: Broadway TFS, but the bones of it all are generally the same. If you choose to peek at it and have any questions, feel free to drop an ask, a comment, or a dm!

And I'm glad to drag you back into the ST brainrot. [Vecna voice] It's time...for you...to join me...

[bluegekk0]

based on the recent meme- grimm and crying? does he believe that crying is a show of weakness- even if only for himself? how might the sexy vampire god deal with emotions

He's definitely the type to claim that crying is good for you and encourage it, and then see it as a weakness in himself. I like to think he could make himself able to cry if he wanted to, but he chooses not to. This leads into your second question - for most of his life, he masked his emotions from the world. He specifically crafted a persona for himself that would be difficult to read and intimidating at a glance but also alluring. Though even if he let anyone get close, he was very selective in what emotions they'd see - usually pleasure and anything similar to that. But nothing aside from that, once he was done there, he'd return to being hard to read, almost emotionless.

In reality, his head was a battleground for so many emotions you'd be shocked that he hasn't broken down at that point. His regrets and anger, the feeling of loneliness, yearning, and just a general sadness. It was all in there, hidden under layers he created to mask them from the outside world. It's no wonder he never made himself able to cry - it'd be impossible to hide all his sadness and pain as he'd be tearing up damn near constantly. On top of that, being left in such a vulnerable state after his banishment made him very careful about showing any kind of weakness, in large part it was a defensive mechanism, one that unfortunately became very damaging for his mental health. And in his eyes, crying was the most obvious sign of weakness, so he designed his body in a way that prevented it.

However, things have changed, yes, he still hides his feelings from strangers, so many years of doing that won't just go away, and admittedly it is an useful skill. But now he has Vyrm, someone he can be fully honest with, and after being separated for so long, he was done hiding his feelings towards him. And following that, he became a lot more open about his other emotions, which he brings up during their heart-to-hearts. It's the only time he allows himself to be truly vulnerable, and as he quickly found out, it really helps to talk so openly about his feelings with someone. Yes, he would mention them occasionally to Divine (they are close friends, and unlike Brumm, her dynamic with Grimm is a lot more personal), but never to this extent; he'd always hide some details, especially those most painful to him.

He was a little apprehensive about it first, with all of Vyrm's struggles, Grimm was afraid of burdening him with his own problems (very ironic as that's a very Vyrm thing to do). But in the end it ended up being very healthy for them as individuals, and their relationship, so he doesn't regret it, even if at times it was very difficult. Despite all of that, however, his body is still unable to cry. Perhaps that's a mental barrier that he simply won't be able to cross anytime soon. The only sign that he would be about to cry if he could, is his voice trembling. But because he isn't very talkative around strangers (especially if he feels emotionally vulnerable), it's something only Vyrm and those closest to him would ever pick up on.

[hollowtones]

opinions on yoshis story? imo that game doesnt deserve to have music that good

I haven't played very much of it and I've been meaning to do something about that forever. I've played some of it and I've watched others go through most of it.

I know I've seen a little bit of modern grumbling (I don't know if this was a point of contention when the game came out because I was three at the time. OK I looked up some reviews from the era and it looks like it was also a thing people were mad about back then. LOL) over the fact that the game isn't more like "Yoshi's Island" & that it feels like it's aimed more at younger audiences. I dunno. I've never been bothered much by games with some tie to one another doing something different. (Some of the response reminds me of Transformers fans being upset over Hasbro making toys and shows for very young children sometimes; admittedly maybe I'm off the mark here.)

It's a very easy game if you want it to be. You can just eat any fruits you want forever and it's over in a blink. And it's fine. It's fine if the video game lets you beat it very fast if you want to. You can also try to collect only one single kind of fruit in a level and that makes things take longer and makes them feel like more of a scavenger hunt (especially if you're trying to get all the melons). I think that's neat. There's sort of an interesting design trajectory from "Super Mario World" to "Yoshi's Island" where the levels become a little longer, a little more meandering, a little more exploratory, sometimes (not always, and not massively, but it's still there) a little less linear. No time limit. Going for collectibles instead; making every level about getting a score of 100 (if you want to). You can see that iterated on in "Yoshi's Story"! No singular end point of the level. Bigger rooms to explore (while still keeping levels relatively short). More of a focus on puzzle solving and exploration. Collectibles simplified to one meter that you fill up, but there are multiple things that can fill it & you get rewarded for only collecting one kind. (And also the hearts that let you pick what level you go to next. There's a lot of "opening up more of the game for yourself if you want to go out and look for it" here. Are there other collectibles, actually? I don't really remember...) Secret fruits that give even more points. It makes the levels feel more like puzzle box toys that you roam around in. It's neat that they designed that for younger kids and it's neat that you can make it more difficult if that sounds fun to you. (I would have to play more of it myself to decide if going for all melons is fun for me specifically. But I like it on paper, y'know?)

The pop-up storybook theming is cute and the visual aesthetic of the game overall works really well. It feels like arts & crafts dioramas made by kids (or with kids) so they could play pretend with their toys while reading a storybook. It's got very strong toy feel overall. The music is really fun!!! It does the dynamic soundtrack thing where some parts of the track change depending on your health!!! I'm always clapping my hands like a seal with a game's music changes depending what I'm doing!!! Maybe it's a little silly of me to say this, given that it's a sentiment I've had in the past, but nowadays I scratch my head a bit at "the music in this has no right to go this hard" type comments. It goes hard because the musicians got hired to make it like that. (I'm imagining a guy who thinks the "Yoshi's Story" music is the hardest music ever created and I'm smiling serenely about it. I hope he's real & I hope he's out there somewhere.) I'm glad they let Totaka do something that feels at least a little experimental for the goofy Yoshi babies storybook super happy yay & jumping throwing game soundtrack. It's a fun contrast, isn't it? It feels very of-the-era in a way I'm having trouble externalizing outside of "well it's a little weird and multi-genre". It's neat that they all have a shared melody that they draw on.

Thanks for reading my short essay on a childrens' video game I haven't played a lot of yet. I need to go take a shower now.

[livewireprojects]

Month of Sonadow 2025 Day 20

Took a little too long getting around to posting this & any other catch up sketches I had. I still have some digital sketches to work on before I'm done with Month of Sonadow.

Day 20 was chaos, I realized a little too late that I could have done super forms or chao

I drew Ena Sonic being chaotic in the training room & then forgot what the word training was so I used the word practice.(It was late at night) I also slightly tried to update Shadow's design for this AU(I need to make a post explaining this one day) which might need more work. In the top pic I tried giving Shadow two horns(based off Black Doom) but it was awkward drawing him in the side view below so they got removed, also added more eyes thanks to Shadow's squid form from SxS Gen but it's hard to see.

I don't talk about this enough but in this Sonic was tested on by Eggman & became Ena Sonic, she can go into computers & certain electronics which allows him to manipulate/control/mess with stuff sometimes. Sonic was assumed dead due to Eggman, Shadow stepped up to fill Sonic's shoes & later became a veteran member of a group of freedom fighters/rescue group. He ended up over time getting Black Arms/Black Doom features, he's not getting more features past what I gave him but might get his SxS Gen powers.(I gave him these cause I didn't want Sonic to be the only one with strange features/changes & it tells him apart from some of my other Shadows)

At some point Shadow found the base Sonic was left in when Eggman "disappeared"(no one knows what happened to him but he is confirmed dead) & rescued them. The two have grown close & Shadow is helping Sonic recover from trauma/isolation, Sonic does their best to help Shadow's group on his better days.

Because of Sonic's computer possessing abilities they setup an advanced training room with a giant TV screen robot thing for him to mess with. Due to past experience & knowing things aren't predictable in the field sometimes so Sonic's new odd nature can be useful when he controls the training room. However given how chaotic/dangerous it can be to deal with Sonic possessing electronics for the purpose of training it's for the best that members with more training use the room when Sonic is available.(Which is why it's called the advanced training room)

The top pic is Shadow doing some training with Sonic, Sonic while careful knows he doesn't have to hold back as much when Shadow is training/practicing in the advanced training room. Shadow decided to use his rocket shoes at one point, Sonic admittedly used too many robot hands.

Bottom pic is after the training session was over, Shadow is praising Sonic while they get some lunch. Shadow is glad Sonic was having a good time & was doing well staying mostly in control. Sonic is just happy they did well & was able to play with Shadow.

Master list on Twitter

[blueikeproductions]

So I’m now aware of EarthSpark rumors of a major character dying in the final episodes, and for whatever reason TFW2005 insists in their speculation it’s gonna be Optimus so Twitch gets the Matrix.

-rubs temples in confusion and annoyance-

Ok so a few things.

How the slag does that make any sense? Optimus is barely a character in EarthSpark, the show treats Megatron more as the hero. The way the show treats Optimus so poorly, I think if they could get away with it, Dot would be partying like Squidward at the mere idea of Optimus dying.

My point being they offer no emotional reason or investment for this Optimus dying. TFA gave a more emotional punch for its Optimus dying and he only stayed dead for a few seconds.

Two, and this is a more silly one, but how would the Matrix even fit inside Twitch’s chest? I’m pretty sure Twitch is about the same size AS the Matrix itself, unless the MacGuffin can size change? I don’t remember if that’s ever been a thing actually. For that matter does it even make sense for Twitch to get the Matrix? Having the Matrix typically means you’re the leader of ALL Transformers (but specifically Autobots in war time). I don’t think Twitch wants that or ever had a desire for that. Nor does it really make sense to give her the Matrix simply to make her leader of the Terrans, when she and Robbie seem to take turns. … Admittedly Robbie is more the leader than she is during S2, so shouldn’t Robbie get the Matrix by that logic?

Basically this but with Robbie instead of Hawk.

It would arguably make more sense if the Terrans were to have their own Matrix, they would’ve gotten a Terran Matrix of Bonds or some such. Presumably created from the Emberstone itself similar to the TFA Allspark getting a G1 Matrix container.

There’s also the Mini-Con Matrix from Dreamwave Armada.

Although that wasn’t a symbol of leadership but a MacGuffin designed to kill Unicron by the dead Mini-Cons of another universe. Plus the more I think of it, the Cyber Sleeves are a sort of Matrix in their own right, so I guess Robbie did get the Matrix after all….!

On a related note, they tried a similar idea in Cyberverse, with Robo-Robotnik and normal Megatron both being able to use the Autobot Matrix.

Admittedly they shouldn’t be able to because even Autobot Megatron couldn’t use the Matrix without Rodimus Prime helping him in IDW. And the last time otherwise in G1 saw Galvatron being unable to use it in his cannon, and Scourge became this.

So this leads into who is more thematically appropriate: Megatron.

He is basically all but the Autobot leader in the eyes of the writers, and the best character ever in that same regard. There’s far more emotional attachment by comparison to Optimus too; Megatron’s role, similar to his IDW self, is about redemption, second chances, trying to keep the next generation from making his same mistakes, & if necessary dying for his found family. That would be a more thematic end for Megatron, dying for his sins, but fully redeemed in protecting the Terrans and Maltos against… I would assume the Quintessons.

Plus, let’s be honest, if someone were to get the Matrix after Optimus, it’d more than likely be Megatron due to the staff’s bias towards him and their clear distain of Optimus. Wouldn’t that be something, Megatron basically “wins” by being good and inheriting the Matrix to lead Cybertron with the Terrans as his cheer leaders and angels to keep him on the straight and narrow.

Still regarding the Matrix, Hasbro continues to be weird about someone becoming Prime after Optimus, and a new Megatronus Prime, Twitchimus Prime or Maltous Prime probably wouldn’t fly with Hasbro if we still can’t get a proper Rodimus Prime in cartoons that isn’t a butt monkey. -side eyes Prime Wars in particular-

[kattythingz]

YJ x FMA Pt. 5

Aka the au where Ed absolutely must remind every child soldier hero he runs into that they are, in fact, still children. Without picking any favorites whatsoever, of course.

(Jk, it's obviously M'gann. Fight me.)

Ed's design 🧡 Pt. 1 💛 Pt. 2 🤍 Pt. 3 🩵 Pt. 4 💙 read revamp here!!

M’gann didn’t think she was fully awake when she opened her bedroom door the next morning to the smell of food.

She’d made a pretty good habit of getting up around nine every morning so she could surprise Superboy with a breakfast. It was admittedly corny of her, and it didn’t always work out, but she made a regular effort nonetheless. If she couldn’t drag him into a breakfast, then she was always on time to make cookies instead. Last week, Superboy had even been waiting for her, asking awkwardly if “she had cookies to make or something”. He hadn’t tried joining her outright in the kitchen yet or anything, but they were getting there! She just knew it.

But she digressed. All that was to say, she was a little surprised when she heard muttering from the kitchen.

She floated instead of walking to avoid startling the person if it was Superboy, and she was almost sure it was him when she got near enough.

That cursing was pretty distinctive, though.

“Ed?” she called tentatively at the threshold, just in time to catch Ed jolting hard enough to slip his fingers on the pan handle and burn himself.

He recoiled instantly, dropping the pan with a loud clang. “FUCK!” 

“Oh my god!” M’gann yelped and rushed over. “I am so sorry, I should’ve made some noise first—are you alright?! Here, the sink is right over here if you—!”

She stopped when a smile, of all things, crossed Ed’s lips and he chuckled.

“I barely felt it, don’t worry,” he said, still laughing. “Don’t you dare apologize for something like that, that’s amazing. I didn’t even hear you.”

“That is another thing you will have to ‘get used to’, I’m afraid.”

It was M’gann’s turn to be startled at the amused voice behind her. She spun toward Kaldur sitting at the island, nursing what looked like a slightly burned omelet and a glass of orange juice. Which meant M’gann had definitely overslept, if he was already here at the cave and not his own place in Atlantis.

“Kaldur,” she stuttered, cheeks warm at the dual praise now. “That’s funny, I didn’t see you there either.”

“I have my own methods as well,” he said with a slight smirk.

“Tell me about it,” Ed said, pulling both their attention back to him. “You lot are gonna be the cause of my premature heart attack. Scaring the shit out of me one by one.”

He was already returning to his task of cracking eggs into a bowl, so M’gann asked Kaldur instead, “What did you do?”

“I only thought to help with preventing a mess,” Kaldur said, meaning—

“You literally made water float out of nowhere, you little shit!” Ed whirled around with a pointed spatula, and Kaldur’s smile held valiantly at the other end of it. “I thought I was going crazy. A little warning for that would’ve been nice, considering you’re supposed to be the polite one.”

“I believe I did warn you,” Kaldur hummed, “when I made my presence known first.”

“I changed my mind, don’t fucking talk back to me. You’ve been spending too much time with Ling.” Ed huffed, but he was obviously smiling when he turned back to the stove. “M’gann, have you eaten anything yet?”

It took her a second to realize Ed had used her Martian name. Probably because that was how he’d heard it from Ling, and Ling insisted on using her proper name—if she preferred it. M’gann didn’t mind being Megan to begin with, but she had to admit, it was nice hearing her name in its Martian pronunciation too. 

Though, she was surprised Ed had said it so easily. Her name wasn’t hard to pronounce, but it was “heavy” by Earth standards; when Robin and Wally had tried saying it, they’d needed to pause before connecting it in a sentence.

“M’gann?” Ed’s question pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Sorry.” She smacked her forehead and floated over to his side. She didn’t get it yet, but it was apparently considered rude on Earth to talk at someone from a distance. “You can use my Earth name, you know, if you want. M’gann and Megan mean the same thing to me.”

“At this point, I’ve heard the first one more thanks to Ling,” Ed said. “If you’d prefer it, though—”

“Oh, no! I was just saying. I don’t mind.” It made her really happy, actually.

“Good. I would’ve had to kick Ling’s ass too if you had a problem with it.” He shook his head, reaching for something beside the stovetop. He furrowed his brow when he only touched counter, opening his mouth to ask something—

M’gann, perhaps overeager, beat him to it.

“Here!”

Ed turned to accept the plate normally, a “thank you” spilling blindly from his lips, before his eyes widened at the plate being hovered at his eye-level. Catching the muscle memory too late, M’gann lowered it sheepishly to his height instead.

It was a long second before he accepted it.

“Thanks…” he repeated. “Let me guess, another thing I’ll have to get used to?”

M’gann giggled at the resignation in his tone. “Sorry about that.”

Ed finally smiled. He turned back to the pan, freeing the omelet from the surface and passing the plate easily to her.

She started at the offer, accepting without thinking, and he grinned.

“Don’t be,” he said. “That’s still amazing.”

She wasn’t used to hearing such direct praise from an adult—Ling said Ed was older than him, hadn’t he?—so she needed a second to remember to say over her skipping heartbeat, “Thank you. Like you said yesterday, though, that’s nothing special by my standards. Everyone on Mars can do it. We learn it as kids, even.”

“Really?”

Ed sounded genuinely interested, so she moved to the island with her plate and continued, “Oh, yeah. There’s a bunch of local games tailored to nurture exactly that skill. It’s as important as learning our first word—through telepathy, that is. We learn that too before out-loud speaking.” 

“We have a similar standard in Atlantis,” Kaldur said. He’d finished his food, and was leaning into the conversation with a noticeable spark in his eyes that M’gann was always happy to see; he was their friend before their leader, though he seemed to forget that often. “All Atlantean children like myself are trained in the ways of hydrokinesis since infancy. Speaking comes shortly after we have usually achieved our first trick.”

Ed’s infamous curiosity must’ve been sparked, because he put his back completely to the stove and leaned against it in favor of the conversation now. “That is so fucking cool, what the hell. But, wait, you said something about knowing ‘sorcery’ too—”

“Atlantean sorcery.” Kaldur nodded.

“Right. That. So, is that a different thing? Or can everyone do that too, and you just chose to get a mentor for it?”

“Actually—”

Kaldur paused suddenly, along with Ed and M’gann, at a distant noise from down the hall. It sounded like the slam of a mechanical door for a split second, accompanied furiously by a mad sprint, and—

“ED!”

M’gann jumped with Kaldur at the yell directly at the threshold, spinning together to blink at the source.

Ed deigned his attention to it much more slowly, and with a great roll of his eyes.

“A little louder, idiot prince. I don’t think Superboy heard you yet.”

Ling’s eyes further widened where he stood panting, swallowing his breath for a palpable moment frozen on Ed. He’d obviously overslept and woken in a panic. His hair was wild and loose around his shoulders, his mouth agape—and he was completely shirtless.

M’gann’s face burned, and she turned away quickly. She didn’t need visuals to imagine the look on Ling’s face, anyway, when he breathed a second time, “Ed. You’re still here.”

Ed smiled in the corner of her vision, lifting off the counter. “Where else would I be, dumbass?”

“You… You weren’t there when I woke up. I thought—”

Ling’s already short breathing cut off at the same time Kaldur looked away with a polite grimace. M’gann could guess the cause of that interruption, then.

She counted one, two, three beats before Ed said, “You thought what?”

M’gann risked a peek at the couple now, and she couldn’t help her instinctive smile at the starry-eyed look on Ling’s face. It felt like, already, she’d seen more faces from Ling caused by Ed’s presence than his absence. And Ling had talked a lot about Ed before his undue arrival in their world. 

“I thought…” Ling sucked in a breath. “My hoodie was missing.”

“Is that what this is called?” Ed pulled back from Ling to observe the oversized sleeves of his red hoodie that did belong to Ling, now that M’gann noticed it. She’d known those pants looked familiar too; she helped Ling pick out those black short pants with the golden design up the legs herself, when they’d gone shopping for clothes for him.

Ling’s expression positively melted on Ed as he hummed a noncommittal answer.

“This doesn’t seem like your usual style,” Ed remarked with a questioning eyebrow at Ling. “Isn’t this a little sweltering for your sensitive skin? Not to mention the color. Although, it is an upgrade.”

He cracked a grin there at the end, and Ling chuckled.

“Well, I wasn’t entirely thinking of myself when I chose it,” he said warmly. “I’m glad to see my judgment hasn’t slipped, after all. Those really are your colors.”

Ed blushed bright and spontaneous. “A-Are you still half-asleep? What’s with the directness? And go put on a shirt already! What the hell are you doing running around this freezing place like that? Don’t tell me you’ve been prancing around like you did when you were sixteen—!”

Ed wasn’t the only one caught off-guard by Ling’s loud, bubbling laughter out of the blue. Kaldur’s eyebrows shot up at the rare sound triggered by practically nothing.

“I haven’t, I haven’t!” Ling said, beaming wider than the sun, and Ed’s face somehow colored redder.

“Y-Yeah, well, good! Now, seriously, go change.” Ed twisted out of Ling’s loose hold, grabbing two eggs from the carton as he passed it. “Or I’m eating your portion too!”

That made Ling yelp, and he actually stumbled. “Don’t even joke like that, Edward!”

“Good thing I’m not joking, then! One minute, Ling. One! Two—!”

Ling was gone down the hall in three. M’gann slapped a hand over her mouth to—badly—cover up a laugh, and Kaldur outright chuckled next to her.

Ed grinned by the stove too, and it felt like something in the cave had shifted.

<- prev ◆ next ->

[kafus]

ok i've decided i want to infodump about vee and nova a little after all! because uhh not only am i impatient because autism but i also. want to dip my toes into talking about this. just days ago i was still terrified but now i am Tentatively Brave... if i can talk about it here casually like this then i should be able to write a more formal summary later some other time

i've tagged this post appropriately (at least i think i have, feel free to suggest if i should add more) but also a heads up here too before i keep talking that while i'm not going into graphic detail on anything there are STRONG themes of organized sexual abuse of a child, sexual abuse of animals, and grooming! (there are no disturbing visuals in this post, just text)

IF YOU CAN'T READ THIS POST THAT'S OKAY I STILL LOVE U

takes a deep breath alright so the deal with these two. back all the way in 2021, i decided i wanted to make "vent ocs" as in i just wanted some concrete/consistent designs i could use in vent art drawings that weren't a direct reflection of what i envision myself to look like or whatever. i was going through a lot in 2021, in december 2020 i had just gotten my first big repressed memory back and my life was in a whirlwind of change and heavily increased PTSD and DID symptoms, so i was using art a lot as an outlet. in the end i settled on this drawing, based on the design taste i would have had as a young person (god the quality is so old now LOL i've improved a lot but anyway)

i was intending for these two to be just visual designs and nothing more than that but i got attached and actually ended up giving them a whole storyline and everything, which is something i admittedly hadn't done in a long time up to that point so that's cool.

the reason i preface explaining the premise of the storyline with this is because i think it's important to acknowledge that these two are intrinsically tied with my real life and the feelings i experience as a CSA/OA survivor. not because i think someone has to go through awful things to write or draw about them necessarily, but because i am passionate about expressing myself. it's important for me to be seen in some way, to be heard after years of silence. it is not safe for me mentally to share the exact details of my abuse online rn (and please don't ask for them!) but i also don't want these two to be removed from the message that i survived something and this is me making art about that in an abstracted and magical way with a fictional universe that brings me a lot of comfort. i hope this makes sense lol

oh and also with that in mind if you think for even a second any of this is a weird sex thing for me or some shit please stop reading this post and go do something else with your time. this is my trauma expression and i don't need to be compared to the people i was abused by when i was a literal toddler thank you!

AANYWAY so! premise! gonna be point blank with it! vee (not her original name but shh) is born as a normal 100% human girl, aka without the eevee ears and tail. she is groomed from a very young age (like, toddler age) and eventually abducted by her groomers which happen to be members of... well right now it's team rocket because i haven't spent the time to worldbuild a new villainous pokemon organization yet. roll with me here. she is taken to a remote facility out in the middle of fucking nowhere and is never returned to her previous life or family.

Why? well i'm glad you asked! the org is running a bunch of different experiments in this facility and one of them happens to be trying to enable humans reproducing with pokemon. this doubles as both a money thing and a power thing. they seek out a child as the victim of these horrible experiments because children are easily malleable. way easier to control a child than an adult who already has a firm identity/self.

vee is the child they chose. surgery is forcibly done on her to give her working eevee ears and tail, and also like, fuck with her body chemistry and stuff. she's biologically part eevee now. yes this is bullshit pokemon magic science LMAO but she is kept in this facility and chronically sexually abused for a few years by pairing her with various mons and trying to get eggs to happen.

the experiment isn't working though so they hypothesize that giving her a dedicated partner, especially of the same evolutionary line, would help, and they raise nova from birth as an eevee to take on that role. eventually the two of them are paired together. despite the acts they are forced to commit on each other and the abuse they endure, they actually become inseparable very quickly cause like. they don't have anyone else. and also they just genuinely care about each other. additionally at this point nova has evolved into an espeon and has telepathic powers, so him and vee can communicate linguistically with each other, so you know that helps

generally my current focus of this story is in the early years, when vee is 12 and younger, before they start realizing that shit is fucked up and they need to escape (up until that hypothetical point they have been successfully groomed into believing everything happening to them was not abuse/was normal). i have left out a metric fuckton of detail here just to get across the basic premise. i am constantly exploring vee's psyche, nova's psyche, it's like an in depth exploration of the mind of an abused child in horrific circumstances and god it's cathartic. i love these two so fucking much

btw i guess this art has more context now huh haha after i infodumped off the plot to my sister they looked at this art again and was like. OHHH THIS IS EVEN MORE OMINOUS AND HARD TO LOOK AT WITH CONTEXT. AND I WAS LIKE YEAH!!!! YOU SEE THE VISION!!! THE SYMBOLISM!! ETC!!!!

uh yeah if you read this far thank you and i just wanna say i've been building up the courage to talk about these two for GENUINELY two years, it has been over 2 full years since that initial drawing, and i am nervous and jittery posting this but i do not want to die without having shared my work with the world and i'm willing to take the risks to get my voice out there. so you reading it is very much appreciated ur like my first step into being more confident as a survivor lol

oh and fwiw despite these guys being so correlated with my trauma it's not offensive to make headcanons or ask me questions about them or compliment darker art of them however you want, in fact i love that shit!! please i've been holding these guys back for two years i have so much to say that hasn't been said. as much as i am nervous i am EXCITED