#admittedly very zelda inspired

[mwebber]

ghibli-esque magical realism au where teenage mark is cursed to transform into this loping beast of a dog after killing a forest spirit at the behest of his father and wanders the wilderness resigned to his fate when..

lo and behold, he meets another spirit (seb) who demands that he show them the world beyond the forest to search for their brother in exchange for finding the cure to his predicament

they embark on the journey together as hesitant partners, mark with a lingering distrust of spirits/magical beings, and seb with the humiliation that they need to shackle themselves to this useless lump of fur if they want to go beyond the boundaries of their home and find their lost sibling

they eventually become friends, with mark letting his walls down, and seb getting humbled by the great big world..

but gasp! it turns out seb never knew how to cure mark and they were just using him, even though they feel really bad about it bc now they have Feelings, and it's doubly troubling because seb needs a tether to mark's soul to survive outside the forest, but mark doesn't feel particularly inclined to help seb after getting betrayed............

uh oh! time is running out on the cure for mark's condition, and everything is going to shit for both of them, and mark leaves it to the very last possible second before he decides not to be a killer again, and he very reluctantly comes back to save seb at the cost of time he could have spent searching for a cure

seb is sooo relieved but when mark confesses why he saved them, the dots connect and seb wants to curse mark forever and ever for what he did

but the au is about breaking cycles of pain, so after an angsty and mostly silent journey home, seb and mark choose forgiveness before parting ways.....

mark goes to sleep at the edge of the forest as a beast and wakes up as a boy again. he can't perceive magic anymore in this form, but he can see seb bc they're still tied by their souls, and seb doesn't look like a weird talking tree shrub anymore, but a ghostly blonde kid who looks to be around mark's age, peering at him from just inside the treeline

when seb tries to step outside the border of the forest, they're stopped--not even their link to mark can make them manifest into something corporeal

but mark can enter the forest, and he can hug seb! he vows to love the forest and magical beings and reject his father's teachings

seb is like, love all magical beings equally?? or

and mark is like, no, well. i think i might like one magical being more than the rest

they share an innocent kiss and live happily ever

(mark eventually becomes a hermit of an old man living in a quaint cottage in the forest and taking care of the wildlife... when he passes away, a she-wolf gives birth to a pup in the very same forest near seb's tree. it opens its hazel-green eyes, and seb knows immediately that they and mark are tied forever <3)

[prokopetz]

i'm not sure how relevant to your interests this is, but i've been digging and can't find anything and you're the last place i know of to ask for hyperspecific obscure game recommendations. would you happen to know of any zeldalike games inspired by zelda 1 specifically? i've been struggling to find anything that scratches that itch in the way i'm looking for.

My personal favourite is definitely Ittle Dew 2. It's admittedly not a pure example of the type, as it also incorporates Adventures of Lolo style block-pushing puzzles and frequent bullet-hell elements, particularly in the boss fights; however, it does hew close to its inspiration in its ungated, secret-laden overworld design, nonlinear dungeons, and a progression schema which takes pains to provide multiple developer-intended solutions to nearly every puzzle, minimising dependencies on obtaining upgrades in any particular order.

(Note that I'm specifying the second game in the series for a reason; the first game is a speedrun-centric puzzler that takes its primary inspiration from early 2000s Flash games. It's a neat piece of work if you enjoy lateral thinking, though; while it has only three items to obtain, each of them can be used to solve puzzles in multiple ways, and some of their interactions are very non-obvious.)

Beyond that, it's tough to say. There are other Zelda 1-likes out there, but they're for the most part very bad, and by policy I don't provide recs for games I wouldn't actually, you know, recommend. You only really start to see a range of solid titles to choose from among those that more closely emulate the franchise's early Game Boy instalments. If you're also willing to give that a try, you might have a look at Wirewalk()↳ – it's probably the purest example on my rec list.

[coldgoldlazarus]

Metroid Movie/TV Series Style Options, from most to least likely, because I have brainrot

- Live action with a more 'realistic' sci-fi aesthetic, probably leaning into the Alien influence. Could be really good, especially as a way to honor that inspiration, but could easily fall flat. Most likely to actually happen, but my least favored. If this is the route taken, I just hope it wouldn't go the way of the Halo Paramount show.

- CGI Animated with style and rendering pretty similar to the games, particularly Prime and Dread. The most simple and sensible option and so also very likely, but also a tad boring just because the games are already doing that.

- Live-action tokusatsu show. Not trying for 'realism' so much as coolness, and just really embracing Samus as a Kamen Rider. Maybe not my preferred option, but I would still love to see it just for the uniqueness of the vibes.

- The sort of in-between compromise between 'realism' and tokusatsu approaches to live-action (plus some very obvious CGI) that characterized the Prime and Fusion commercials. Not very likely at all, and would probably not land as well as just leaning fully into one direction or the other, but it would be a fun and unique approach to see, especially if it has the same sort of blend of genuine moody atmosphere and cheesy tryhard edginess as those commercials.

- 2D Animation, Genndy Tartakovsky directing. Would be super cool and stylized, and probably absolutely nail the atmosphere and indirect narrative style best, but I think outside of that one Clone Wars series, the man prefers to work on his own original projects.

- 2D Animation; just a straight-up Metroid Anime. Not impossible, but tbh probably even less likely just because while it's niche over here, my understanding is that Metroid is ironically not really successful at all in Japan itself. Nintendo has called on western developers for basically every game since Fusion for a reason, and so while they could probably call up Studio Trigger or someone to make it happen, I don't think there's too much inclination to take that route. (Especially if Zelda, the way more anime-plausible series, is being given to Hollywood as is.) But it would be pretty cool.

- That specific fucking excellent blended style that characterized the late 90s and early 00s in animated movies. A mix of like, CGI and Rotoscoping and 2D Animation, Mike Mignola influenced character designs, the works. Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Spirit, The Iron Giant, Titan AE, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Sinbad, Road To El Dorado, Tarzan, Emperor's New Groove, Brother Bear, ect. A throwback to the Animation Golden Age IMO, basically. (In particular, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Lilo & Stitch having the most direct visual comparison/inspiration.) This would be an utterly perfect style for Bionicle, but work slightly less well for Metroid, admittedly, just given the vibe favors grandiosity more than eeriness, and I also don't expect it to happen at all in the first place. But I want it SO MUCH.

[zeldaelmo]

Warnings: none, but this chapter contains an explicit scene.

Chapter 5 - Bad Days

109. Link glanced at the number, again and again, reassuring himself it was still there. Hundred And Nine followers on his little art blog. Crazy. And everything because of one piece of art that went viral. Well. Viral for his standards, but compared to his usual posts, it had basically blown up! Some of the new followers had even left a comment on his landscape studies!

The sudden "success" of his blog was easily the best that had happened today. Admittedly, the bar had been set very, very low. Not only had he been skittish about every glance that Princess Zelda had cast in his direction, but Impa had crossed their way a little too often, too. His thoughts hadn't stopped running since the morning. The Princess hadn't taken him aside again, but she would, he was sure of it. And what then?

He sighed heavily, rubbing his face with both hands. What a mess.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Would love a director's commentary of any/all your fics 🙏

AH! I wasn't expecting an answer so fast! And they're so massive where do I even start? Like my biggest thoughts right now are all MoaH, which I have some things queued over the next few days, but everything else I'd wanna say...it's all spoilers. I'm not trying to avoid the ask, it's just a very big question with all of them. I guess I'll throw out a bunch of factoids and feel free to ask me more specifics.

To condense the star ask as well since this is gonna be a random chapter grab, and since the first chapter of the final battle is out tomorrow for GoS, I've had this arc planned since basically 2012. There was one major change on which individual would be the target of a particular stage of the fight, but other than that, it's been this fight since 2012. And the whole thing can get played to the 25th anniversary medley. I have a note somewhere where I wrote down the chapter time stamps to it for the AMV in my head (which maybe I'll put out after GoS is all done). It was the same song that is the reason Endeavor plays violin as well.

I have never been huge about idol groups, but the Earth Sages in GoS are my absolute favorite. I knew I wanted the dungeon to be musically themed and so the boy band idea was an early decision with that. I wanted their names to be musically themed too, so all of the Earth Sages actually have names based off Japanese music scales, which fit with the Keaton. Do Re Mi names might have been too obvious. Following that, Dominus is probably my favorite Sage.

Same dungeon had a prime opportunity for a triple inspired boss name. The Earth Temple's boss, Dungeon Master, has three inspirations. One, it follows franchise convention on most powerful versions of enemies, so Wallmaster/Floormaster -> Dungeon Master. Two, it's a nod to the TTRPG role, as this boss occupies the literal fourth wall of a theater, which is fitting to compare to a DM. And three, this fight was the first time Ganondorf made an appearance in the story, and I was trying to invoke a bit of Mr. Mercer's performance for a lack of ability to convey an actual voice via some pop culture osmosis.

Princess has a Muppets reference after the dungeon once she drops the idea of marrying Link, Zeal mentions it. It may help to circle back on Princess being a pig moblin leaning Blin who is also a diva.

Admittedly a lot of GoS before that is a bit fuzzy cause of the whole nap in the Temple of Time I did on it. From starting up edits, I can say that Bruce's horse, The Wind, is a personal reference. Any time I'd convince my dad to play a Zelda game, he's always name himself A.Stud and in the case of TP, he named Epona The Wind. When I started writing, that was a recent in joke for me.

One of the reasons the Dark Portal gets mentioned so early was because Minecraft was just getting big when I started writing GoS and I had the unrealistic idea that I'd build GoS's Hyrule in it. The Dark Portal would have been a Nether portal. I never went anywhere with that idea, but it's the reason the GoS map sketch I have is divided on a grid. That was theoretically gonna be chunks (highly ambitious plan there, no what it would have fit).

I have actually no idea how much time takes place between the start and end of GoS. Loosely, it's from the beginning of summer to the end of autumn. Whatever time skips make that work are canon in my head. And it's one of the reasons I have been so serious about keeping track of time in MoaH. The rapid pace of GoS though does fit. GoS Link really did get woken up in a dream by some stranger and then harassed by a bird until he did it what they said, so. No rest.

My favorite Sage dragon design is the Forest Sage's, all though the Soul Sage's dragon is pretty good too. That's an easy second. I'm a plants person, what can I say? Though the Earth Sage and Fire Sage dragons have good chonky boi personalities that I love too.

And there's absolutely so much to say about MoaH and like. I can say basically none of it because y'all only have the current 23 chapters and I'm writing the 65th? chapter now. MoaH's first book will be written before its updates are out, that's for sure. It'll likely hit about 250k words, compared to GoS's current 410k. So. There's a lot to say about MoaH. I guess the few that I've got for MoaH, uh...

Rephi x Rudoe is my favorite couple, hands down, those two are amazing NPCs and criminally under used. I need to find an excuse to go back to Deku's Shelf to write them again. I picture Rudoe's voice now like the Luma in the Mario movie.

I know all of my Links talk in my fics, largely for the purpose of medium. Writing a mute Link I think is a lot harder in fic over comics, and it's a little outside my wheelhouse with my limited skill in sign. That said, of all my Links, MoaH Link is the one I think most fits being a talking Link. And I even have some in text response to that later on in the story.

I know a lot of people don't like Zelda presently in MoaH (kinda the point), but I absolutely adore her and Link's dynamic. It really starts coming out in the Nayru's Temple act of book 1, but this man has a massive blind spot for this woman and I love writing it even though the secondhand embarrassment causes me like actual physical pain.

In general, I adore writing MoaH Link. The balance between exceptionally competent fighter and likeable male protagonist is a difficult but very fun line to walk. I think because of the mercenary comment, a lot of people expected a Geralt or a John Wick or some other machismo personality for Link when I originally started MoaH and that has never been franchise characterization of Link and it's not true about MoaH Link. He is a lovable idiot. GoS Link has this very humble, almost bashful personality to me (mostly cause of then teen angst) while MoaH Link gets to be this absolute dork and it is a joy to write. And also seeing how different they are as incarnations of the same character is a lot of fun, particularly for spoiler reasons. But man, that contrast between awkward, fumbling, kinda impulsive guy into combat where he gets to be efficient. Mmmmm, that's some good shit.

I cannot wait for y'all to get more time with Floan. I love her and Link's relationship. It is a bit of a polished sibling relationship, I'll admit that, mostly because I don't know how to handle an age gap as big as theirs (MoaH Link being 27 at the start of the fic and Floan being 10, which not impossible for siblings, but a wide gap) as accurately as my two year age gap with my younger sister, but they are the best. I have a chapter coming up that's just them getting loads of interaction time and it's so goddamn cute.

And I'm getting into spoiler territory, not to mention an essay, so I'll cap it there for now. Please let me know if there's anything else, I have a lot of thoughts on all of this.

[smilesrobotlover]

what inspired your Link’s outfits? I love them!

Thank you! I’m not sure what inspired them but I’ll just talk about them (without pictures cuz I can’t 😔)

Sky: I really loved the green color he had from LU, how everyone had a deeper green shade while he had a lighter, more minty green shade (maybe not minty green but sh), so I went with that color cuz it suited him so well! I also like him having his sash so I keep them. His design sorta changed, I originally had him wearing more baggy clothes, but I added bracers and tightened up his clothes a tad. I also kept his green pants from the beginning of the game cuz I thought that’d look quirky. The biggest things were the sailcloth and loftwing feather. I always vibed with feather earrings, and I wanted the feather to be king, but when I actually drew it, it was a HUGE pain. So I removed it and just put it on his belt. And I put the sailcloth on his belt as well cuz I HATE drawing capes lol. Luckily drawing Sky for a bit made me realize what I liked and disliked about his design so I was able to change some things. I do love the diamond thing on his chest. Admittedly LU inspired the design a lot lol, but in the end I kept some stuff for myself :)

Minish: the Minish clothes inspired his shirt! I found his og shirt very bland so I spiced things up with a leafy shirt and called it a day UwU. I also liked him having a headband with an Ezlo pendant at the end, thought it looked cute! And I think I added some metal toes cuz what if you dropped a hammer on your feet? Anyways, it’s safe to say LU inspired a lot of these designs and I’m not ashamed to admit that (LU did NOT inspire this au tho)

Time: I was actually inspired by bonus Links with their oot Link having a vest. I thought it was a cute and gave my Time a more farm outfit. I made his shirt a more forest green and gave him a weird eyepatch to cover half his face, and then gave him cowboy boots cuz I thought they looked cool. I lvoe his pants cuz he looks like a sexy mom so there’s that lol. Also, about his hair, this is an unpopular opinion but I prefer his short and spiky hair 😔 I’m sorry to the folks who loved the long ponytail. I also added some gloves that I think are strength gloves that aren’t ungraded? Made his outfit more battle ready (in the beginning the Links were in more comfy clothes but I didn’t like that)

Legend: oh boy, he probably has my fav design lol. I sorta added this red sash thing to go against his green shirt and I think it turned out cool! And the red accents look dope as well! I’m particularly proud of his boots, which sorta resemble the Pegasus boots (I think that’s what they’re called 😭). Also I love the idea of legend link hating pants so he wears shorts. He hates pants. He’s just like me fr

Hyrule: I’m not sure how much of Lu inspired my Hyrule, but I always ADORED Lu Hyrule’s floofy hair so I kept that. I kinda like his clothes being baggy and casual, and I made his boots a little scuffed since he travels a lot. Idk what is going on with his design tho. I cant think of anything specific that I did with his design minus the boots and turtle neck (I noticed one of the designs for Zelda 2 had link in a turtle neck and I thought that was perfect for Hyrule). Yeah not many thoughts. Just like the amount of thoughts going through his head

Twi: oh boy, I just gave him a shirt that matched Rusl’s cuz it has a boob window, gave him that dumb arm thing, his ordon sash and obi, and just sorta lightly tweaked his farmer’s outfit. His boots are meant to have goat fur popping out cuz I thought that’d be cool. Plus an ordon goat on his design cuz he likes goats. Not much to say

Four: I looked at all the knights from the FS manga and tried to make him look like that. I always thought his braid and color thing was unique and showed the four colors well. I also made his clothes more white and cream colored cuz I’ve seen four Links as white and then go colorful when they split and I LOVED that. He also gets a cool cape. He sued to have more Arno but I removed it cuz he’s still a kid and I hate drawing Armor.

Windy: oh boy, I had to change his design since I aged him down, but I gave him a sleeveless overcoat since there are a lot of overcoats with pirates. I also gave him a pirate-esque shirt and made his colors more deadpan green which I ADORE. I always liked his gray pants and simple shoes so I kept those!

Spirit: it’s just his engineer outfit, nothing special lol. A boy…

Age: idk how I feel about his design, but I mixed the knight’s outfit with the champion’s tunic with a hint of the zora armor and Mipha’s scale!

Wild: I sorta mixed the Hylian tunic with the champion’s tunic. Again, idk how I feel about it but Wild has his entire wardrobe on him so I can just change his design whenever I want UwU

Warriors: made his scarf look more triangle and covering his neck, and added some pizzaz to it, idk.

[benilos]

What is TCU?

Three Circuits Unending is a horror genre multiversal series mainly comprising of Creepypasta and Legend of Zelda content, containing both custom-made original content as well as canon content. Most canon content will be seen from the LOZ aspects, but otherwise the majority of the content is reimagined into an admittedly convoluted and over-filled mash up of ideas and new representations of well-known characters in both fandoms.

I grew up on Creepypasta, having found a love for the Legend of Zelda through it, due to BEN Drowned being the first Creepypasta I ever read. I started this series around 2014, while the Moon Children Arc of the BEN Drowned ARG was occurring. It has seen many versions of itself, originally known as MSATC (shorthand for The Misadventures of Scary Ari & Twitch Circuit), which was a high school mini project done by me and @awesomegoatwolfchild, however Goat is no longer involved in the series. There are a couple small cameos of their old OC Scary Ari, but she has largely been written out per Goat's request. Here and there you guys may see old school art of Scary Ari from her old designs, or even some fanart of the newest version of them according to what is on Goat's blog, but it'll be a bit sparse. Ari is still canon to TCU, but she will not appear as a full fledged character anymore unless Goat decides otherwise. We love Ari in this house though, so you guys may see some old old designs of her if Goat's okay with it XD

The Creepypasta section of the series follows the protagonist Daija, who tries to call herself "Twitch Circuit", as she traverses the previously thought fictional world of the internet phenomenon known as Creepypasta. Having been a teenager who found a dangerous comfort in the fandom of Creepypasta, she spent most of her teen years in a delusional state of chasing down "real" Creepypastas. When she was 13, her and two friends came across an abandoned house in Tennessee while she was visiting family friends, and unknowingly come across an entity that will stalk and harrass her for the years to come, eventually leading her to a place known simply as Home, where it would then take her life. 4 years later after her death, on April 23rd, 2024, the pond she was drowned in spits her back out, and her adventure begins. This part of the series is extremely heavily influenced and guided by the BEN Drowned ARG and various depictions of BEN Drowned as a character and story mechanic by itself, as most of the events are caused by that entity's guiding hands.

The Legend of Zelda section of the series follows many many protagonists, during a phenomenon known as a Barrier Event. Similar to the storyline of Hyrule Warriors, many heroes and friends from across the Eras of Hyrule, Lorule, and other worlds are pulled into a millenias long plot to break down the barriers between existence and force all worlds to crash into each other, and eventually be destroyed. Links, Zeldas, Ganondorfs, and many other iterations of various beloved Legend of Zelda characters are brought into these Events, some fighting to save their homes, others assisting in the carnage.

The series crosses over with another Creepypasta-based semi-original content series known as Soulless Computer Boy, by @scrollypoly, having multiple crossovers within the series, as the two will eventually end up as one series after the finales of both TCU and SCB, known for now as Project ZMB (whether this name will stay is up for debate).

This series does not only follow Creepypasta/Legend of Zelda content, as a vast majority of the lore and mythos used is not from either fandom, and is instead custom made to make sure everything fits a bit more cohesively (I do not manage that cohesiveness well, fair warning.)

TCU is heavily inspired by Homestuck in the way it uses timeline shenanigans and over complicated references at every turn. I personally admit this series can be very hard to handle and will stay as such in its early stages. This entire series is also 16-18+ (HB is 16+, TATA is 18+, the rating may eventually be bumped up fully to 18+ for both), as it is heavily full of sensitive themes and gore, including non-explicit depictions of rape, childhood abuse/sexual assault, other forms of assault, racism, bigotry, torture, general carnage/violence, and various creative forms of fantasy gore. It is a horror series, and I do not hold back from depicting hard-to-swallow topics, but I do my best to depict them in an appropriate ways that do not glorify or glamorize them. These topics are not meant to be taken lightly, nor should any of my writing be taken as support of the terrible things that will occur.

I hope everyone reading enjoys this series. It is a long-standing project of mine, and I haven't given up on it yet, and I don't plan to, even if it gets remade over and over. Please enjoy this adventure with me!

[meii-jasmine]

Hello!

I’ll honestly be shocked if you remember me or this picture but I’ve been having a huge Zelda nostalgia trip for the past few months and just had to reach out to you when I discovered you have a Tumblr.  This is the very first picture I posted to deviantart 10 years ago, and the comment you left on it welcoming me into the fandom has stuck with me ever since as one of my happiest online memories.  My account (IndependantArtist) has long since been deactivated but I have so many fond memories of your art and fanfics about Vaati and Gufuu and everyone else.  You and so many other artists like Ferisae and LileahWest were a huge inspiration to me and I just wanted to say thank you for the happy (and admittedly quite edgy XD) times <3

( submitted by @1caru )

********

Howdy there!!

First off, I’d like to thank you for reaching out! Oh my GOSH the nostalgia really hit REAL STRONG with this one!!! I think I do have vague memories of this, sadly very vague and fuzzy, but I am so touched to hear that!! Words can’t describe just how happy I was seeing and reading this in my inbox. Seeing your art now, it’s just such a lovely feeling seeing how much you’ve improved through the years too!! So glad you stuck around.

You’re very welcome! And thank you very much as well for making my day with this!!! Hahaha. Man those were some edgy times, but hey I guess it makes for the memories and really does make facing the present and the future all the more meaningful! <33

[purplekoop]

(@daylightcommand3 once again responding in a separate post to keep things tidy with the original)

First off, thanks! I wrote the bulk of that story log a while back, only touching up a few minor details that I wanted to add, change, or clarify, and I'm still pretty proud of it. It felt important to properly establish the world and how it works before I could really figure out how these characters work as more than just gameplay functions. There were a lot of things I didn't feel right just shrugging off as "don't worry about it", like how they made more robots and what makes a new sentient bot different from a person-shaped pile of metal and circuitry. There's still a few gaps in the logic, like "how did they repopulate and rebuild if humans depleted all the natural resources", but like. I'll get there. probably.

I haven't talked much about the plants (or to use the official and also very temporary term "Plantoids"), and while they deserve their own posts soon, I'll say for now that their intelligence and capacity for strategy is comparable to ants or other eusocial insects more than anything else. This is actually based (very loosely) on behaviors some real plants can do! While not to an extremely apparent effects to us, plants can communicate through roots or chemical signals, warning each other about environmental dangers so their systems can prepare accordingly. This is an extension of that, where most individual Plantoids have evolved a capacity to communicate and cooperate similar to eusocial insects. The main unique advancement is that separate species can cooperate seamlessly, both to increase their odds of taking out opposition that could take on one species but not another, and also to increase enemy variety within missions. That said, it's rare to see an ant colony without a queen, so expect some even more advanced plantoids to be responsible for coordinating their attacks...

The comparisons to Overwatch are very much fair and intended, which should make sense considering... *vaguely gestures around everything here.* While the whole "rag-tag team of heroes stepping up against a sudden threat" angle is very much Overwatch inspired, the rest of the backstory is actually much more directly based on Splatoon, particularly the logs from Splatoon 3, in both structure and content. I wanted this log to feel like something that could semi-convincingly be a historical text in-universe, hence why the knowledge is limited to what could be common knowledge to the bots themselves.

That's also a big reason why I included dates, to add to that historical record feeling. Admittedly I was pretty scared to add them at first, since I wanted to avoid a time scale so absolutely incomprehensible to us (zelda timeline ever since the BotW trilogy my detested), but still long enough to explain the state of the world. I actually just recently added a whole extra millennium to the timeline, with the awakening originally taking place in 4000 CE/AD instead of 5000. 2,000 years is probably still a little short to explain how the plantoids came to be, but again, I'll get to that. This cast in particular also has some interesting things to consider when it comes to character ages (every Overwatch fan's favorite subject), since there can very realistically be characters who've been around since the dawn of their civilization, so it's gonna be interesting trying to decide who'd make sense to be a new blood bot and who'd make more sense being around since the awakening. Ages are weird for these guys since they don't really need to age like we do from childs to adults, and with proper maintenance are theoretically immortal, so the main difference between a 1 year old and a 500 year old in this world is experience and knowledge past basic innate functions. Again, dates and years are the part of the story I have the most caution tape around right now, it's a hazardous construction zone.

Another thing I wanted to note with that last paragraph though is that I wanted there to be a solid start point where every character could theoretically be there from the start of the main action. While I think a story where characters are more scattered in factions we follow and when they join those sides, I want something plain and simple for the sake of the mission mode feeling like "the canon" while also letting players pick the characters they want from the start. It's like a DnD party: the campaign starts with everybody in the same place, though their backstories differ on how they get there. And while the whole cast is fighting the same fight, their thoughts on the mission and each other can differ greatly as well. Velenna for instance isn't exactly the friendliest member of the crew, and she especially isn't happy working with Arber, but she'll tough it out so she can get what she wants out of the mission. Every job has people you do and don't get along with, including fighting off hordes of mutant plants.

Lastly in this overly long session of tooting my own horn, I'm also pretty content with the state of the mysteries I've laid out already. While I don't think literally everything needs an explanation, some things are better left unanswered, I don't wanna have the big questions be JJ Abrams unopened boxes. Some things I still need to figure out, but there's one big mystery in particular I already have a very fun answer for. At least I think it's fun, opinions exist, but like. I hope it's cool anyways.

So yeah, thanks again! I'm at least assuming you don't mind me taking this chance to mention a few more meta things that wouldn't've fit with the story log and would be more convenient to say now rather than later.

I think next up I'll introduce just a taste of what the plantoids are like, with some rough concepts I have lying around and some info on how the hordes operate on a gameplay level. Stay tuned!

[crestfallercanyon]

A Tag Game! Thank you so much @mybrainismelted for tagging me! <3

📺favorite tv show? This answer is likely to change, and while I do love Shameless (and feel like that's the anticipated response lol) it is not actually my favorite tv show. It's up there (especially seasons 1-4), but I think the dedication of fav tv show as of now has to go to The Queen's Gambit. Nothing inspired me the way that show did, I obsessed over it for over a year, I have approximately 4 billion pins on Pinterest of it, and the track for the Mexico City Invitational 1966 got me through one of the hardest exams of my life. I am going to answer the rest of the questions with Shameless though because TQG doesn't really have a lot of what these questions are asking.

🕴️ favorite character? (I am so excited that @mybrainismelted mentioned Sheila, because I LOVE her in Shameless, she was one of my favorite characters, too). My other favorite is Ian. He is a sweet boy who is always trying so hard, and my heart kind of breaks for him all the time (In TQG, my fav character is Beth Harmon, gotta love her).

💋favorite relationship in the show? Ian and Mickey.

👯‍♂️fav sibling relationship in the show? I adore Ian and Fiona. I feel like Ian was the last one who was her "baby brother," and not as much "her kids" (though they all were) and I think the way they saw each other was so sweet. I just -- when Fiona asks how her "sweetface" is doing I wanted to CRY. Fiona with any of her siblings (except maybe Debbie in later seasons) though is always fun to watch.

🎨favorite art form? Probably music.

⚡️a talent you wish you had? Digital art. I've tried, I want to be good at it, but I'm terrible and it feels weird, so I stick to pen and paper for drawing.

☀️what is one thing that can always make your day better? music. particularly hearing someone play the piano.

🎬favorite fictional character of all time? Of all time??? That's so hard. Probably Link from Legend of Zelda. I've followed many iterations of him over the years and he never fails to make me happy and entertain me for several hours.

🌅dream place to travel to? Also Iceland, haha -- I always wanted to see Reykjavík.

🎈you’re planning a huge party, what’s the theme? Unlikely to host a huge party, but if it was like a gala I'd try for a Night Circus Theme? that'd be cool. With my actual money threshold, though, something that makes me laugh. My friend hosted a Golden Girls party and it was a blast. Or honestly, Twilight never ceases to entertain.

🍕favorite pizza topping of all time? pepperoni

🥂you can pick ONE celebrity to have dinner with…who? Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She seems absolutely brilliant.

🎥favorite movie that you kinda know is bad but you still love? There are parts to Secondhand Lions that are not great (the flashbacks in particular, and the ending is corny as hell), but it is one of my favorite movies of all time.

👖how would you describe your style? I dress very farmery midwest, and admittedly a little camp counselorish. Lots of jeans, graphic tees, henley style longsleeves and tanks, flannels/oversized button downs, crew neck sweatshirts and three-quarter-zips; lots of layers.

🖤finally, something making you smile this week? my friends and I are doing practical magic midnight margaritas for new years and I am SO excited.

tagging @mmmichyyy, @michellemisfit, @callivich, @go-catch-a-chickn, and anyone who would like to participate!

[hellsite-hungergames]

i'm the anon who recced Moonlight and!! knowing that you are/were looking for botw fics has Inspired me. have 4 more. (i have a lot more bookmarked, but these are the ones i feel cool with reccing even if i don't know personal taste):

Altarstone by faufaren (https://archiveofourown.org/works/29507346/chapters/72493893): an INCREDIBLY angsty fic about what would happen if link didn't make it. (well, kind of.) i don't want to spoil it but it is VERY good.

corruption au by godmarked (https://archiveofourown.org/series/728499): essentially, instead of dying in their divine beasts, the champions BECOME the blights. first of all, the CONCEPT. love it immediately. but also, the EXECUTION. the second work focuses on what happens to the new champions (teba/riju/yunobo/sidon, although not in that order i'm pretty sure) after the Champions die, which is an amazing thing to choose to focus on. link is great too! and so is zelda! personal fave

the wind guides us by novalotypo (https://archiveofourown.org/works/14741645): this one is hard to summarize, and admittedly half the reason i like it is because it happens to feature a lot of interpretations that i personally really like, but also it's very good. also while it takes place IN botw it has a lot (like a LOT) of references to past zelda games, especially wind waker. it focuses on the whole reincarnation part of zelda lore, which is always a favorite of mine. and also wolf link is there. and so is epona. and the master sword counts as a character. like i said it's hard to summarize but i love it and it's a oneshot, not a multi-chapter fic. (even if it's a pretty long oneshot) (this one also counts as a personal fave)

we keep that old wheel turning by frillshark (https://archiveofourown.org/works/29814789): another one that focuses more on reincarnation but this time through the lens of a daemon au! it's been a little while since i read this one so i've forgotten most of the details but i do remember that it's very good. very long for a oneshot though, 22k words.

THESE LOOK SO GOOD

THE SECOND ONE'S CONCEPT SOUNDS SO AWESOME AND THE REST SOUND FANTASTIC

I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THESE

[novantinuum]

So- I think it's fun to do a little retrospective at the end of the year. I admittedly do not have any "art recaps" to do this time, because I did not MAKE that much art. Not finished pieces, anyways.

But, I WAS very busy!

This year, I lost my first out-of-college job and got a new one. I moved to a new city. I met tons of new people, both online and off.

I became active in a new fandom!

I cosplayed three different characters- my interpretation of Taako, Link (my first handmade cosplay!), and the 13th Doctor. I took all three of these cosplays to live shows or conventions.

I participated in Art Fight for the first time ever, and got to draw some folks' OCs! The art pieces on the left and middle are the two I'm happiest with from that challenge.

I made tons of content for my own OC, my version of BotW Aryll. I ploted out a bunch of story about her child self, and have started to muse about the potential adventures of her adult self as well.

I wrote over 80K words of a first draft for a Legend of Zelda longfic, and have further fleshed out over 40K. About 10 chapters are ready for posting, which I shall start doing tomorrow.

I wrote a few Zelda themed prompts for Whumptober, two more than I completed when I tried this back in 2019!

After a ridiculous amount of gameplay I finally achieved a 100% play-through file for BotW, finished Skyward Sword + Cadence of Hyrule, and started Wind Waker + Ocarina of Time. Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess are also owned and in the queue :D

Ultimately it's tempting to look back on this year and be disappointed with how little I've posted, with how little I've shared with a wider audience, but when one looks back on one's own private inspiration and passion it becomes clear that no time was wasted at all. Thanks for the memories, 2022- and here's to a creative 2023!

[keefwho]

May 30 - 2024 Thursday

10:36pm

5/10

Last night I recorded a good morning voice message for DS because I felt like it. Doing small little things like that is important for me because usually I'd refrain in case its too silly or something. My prompt yesterday was "let your voice be heard" and I did, literally. Its a very small thing but the intent behind it is large.

This morning I took the dogs out and showered. I made a frozen breakfast sandwich for lunch but I cut up my own onions for it and applied some hot sauce. Usually I'd eat something with it to help it agree with my tummy but I figured I could without because I wanted to eat small meals today since I've been up a couple pounds. My body handled it okay it seems. I had watched a sorta beginner art course video that explained using large areas and then using ovals to define planes easily which is exactly what i've been doing on my own.

To warm up today, I filled in all the little space left on my sketch sheet with rough gestures. Then I finished a YCH edit, did a YCH for 57, and readied a couple commissions for next month.

After work I spent time before lunch contacting people, doing some chores, and tending to my patreon. It was a very productive hour. For lunch I made soup and a grilled cheese. I gave myself ample time to chill and take a break since I actually felt like I earned it. Unfortunately I didn't know what I wanted to chill with so I watched an unsatisfying stream. The guy I like watching lately has starting playing CS:GO and similar games which actually melt my brain to watch. It's soooooo boring.

I finished this Celestia AI redraw I was working on this afternoon and worked on this Zelda drawing I had on the backburner. I asked TK if she wanted to call but she wasn't up for it today so I joined BR's server vc even though it was empty. I really needed to socialize because so few people have been around lately in general. BT joined but he's kinda weird and info dumps about stuff. Also nearly pulled me into the drama he's in surrounding other server members that I know nothing about. I also worked on my pony avatar for an hour.

After work I left the VC to play Cities Skylines. I got a couple new mods that might be crashing the game so I think I'll remove them. Admittedly I barely planned on using them. I asked DS if she wanted to chill and we did. I played Cities for a bit until it crashed, trying to relax and just have fun instead of making it feel like a chore or exercise. I realize I should be opening google earth and looking up locations for inspiration. It usually makes it very fun but feels like "cheating" as stupid as that sounds. Its the kind of mindset I want to let go of for any game I play. Its just a GAME I am PLAYing. Anyways she put on the 4 current episodes of season 2 of Smiling Friends which was a blast. Then we watched highlights of Oneyplays roasting the Nostalgia Critic and I suggested we watch a video of his so I have better context of who he actually is. I've always heard about him but never watched him. Then we did our puzzles before she headed off to bed since she has to wake up extra early tomorrow. I looked back on our evening feeling bad that I was so mellow and uninteresting. Its because I don't have anything on my mind to talk about lately with anyone really. Like I haven't taken in any new information to use. Its also possible I'm not treating myself with enough respect to speak my mind. Maybe I'm just thinking about things I don't think are worth sharing. Or maybe it's okay to have nothing on my mind really so I can just enjoy whatever is happening.

I tried playing some Roblox but my internet was cutting out like 1 out of every 3 minutes. I joined BR's server where they were watching the old ninja turtles movie which they still are as I write this.

My parents got home today so I don't have to tend to the dogs anymore. I did very good work today which I'm proud of, I have no regrets about my work ethic today. I just hope I can get out of this social rut, I don't feel like Im building relationships at all.

[onesunofagun]

I shall now yell about Ingo, please stand by:

Ingo’s transformation from the underappreciated backbone of the ranch to an absolute ruff-wearing cantaloupe of a man is also pretty interesting (if you’re the kind of person who absorbs the Zelda series through your skin like a frog to live).

I’ve bolded the key points for skimmers.

Granted, the manga has it that Ingo just gets brainwashed by Twinrova into being a staunch follower of Ganondorf. That’s not canon, but it’s not informing any of this thinking, either way. 

In the beginning of OoT we meet Talon by waking him up from a nap, and we learn pretty quickly that he’s lazy and often yelled at by his daughter for slacking off like this. Ingo at the ranch confirms again that Talon doesn’t pull his weight around there, and since Malon’s still a child, it’s pretty obvious that Ingo’s settled with the bulk of the work.

Ingo is grumpy, he’s resentful, and he complains a lot. But he does do the work, and you can find him (presumably) in the process of mucking out the stables. 

Let’s examine what he does at the ranch:

Epona really liked that song... Only I could tame that horse... Even Mr. Ingo had a hard time...

Now, Epona is established in game to be a real winner of a horse. She’s fast, she’s smart, she’s got a lovely sorrel coat and white mane that seems to be quite rare or highly prized coloring. The catch is, she is notoriously wild. The only people she tolerates are Malon and Link, due in large part to being soothed by the song Malon’s mother taught her.

Ingo had to really try to crack this horse, which Malon’s observation suggests is unusual. 

Epona is very young when we first see her, so it’s never really revealed if she was caught wild, or bred at the ranch with a very headstrong temperament.

Ingo’s clearly the guy that’s breaking them in, though. The most Talon is doing is... sleeping in with the cuccos. We never see any organisation of the cuccos, in terms of egg collection or poultry farming, but nevertheless, Talon has the much less physical jobs even if he was doing them. His focus seems to be cuccos, deliveries to the castle and book keeping between naps (and to be fair it’s probably a little depression related, given the dead wife).

Malon gives us a cow later on, and she’s got the egg for the crowing cucco that wakes up Talon, so I’d like to assume for simplicity’s sake that even as a kid, Malon was up at dawn most days helping Ingo with the cows and milking them. It’s never really implied that she has amazing skill in dealing with horses, just that Epona has a special connection with her specifically. Other than that, Malon is simply kind and respectful of her animals (though I’ve got no idea how she got that cow to Link’s treehouse and that’s worth investigating). 

Later on, Ingo is also shown to be a competent rider. Enough that he has absolutely no qualms in challenging Link to races for wagers, and was quite confident of his ability to win.

The takeaway is, Ingo is usually VERY GOOD with both caring for and training horses, if not breeding them for the ranch.

That kind of lends to his grumbling, when he is referring to himself as ‘the Great Ingo’ and comparing himself to Talon, who is a ‘bum’. His claim to greatness may not be undeserved, at least in horse circles, and especially if he’s not getting particular credit for it, his bitterness and frustration (alongside envy, exhaustion, and dreams of recognition) would be quite deeply run.

So it seems that his friend and employer is clearly taking some advantage of him, especially after the death of Malon’s mother.

So now, let’s examine his feelings, and how he changes.

The feelings Ingo has about that are pretty textbook for the sort of thing ‘evil takes hold of and twists’, in the Zeldaverse.

Focussing on the game itself, Malon says this as an adult:

Since Ganondorf came, people in the Castle Town have gone, places have been ruined, and monsters are wandering everywhere. Mr. Ingo is just using the ranch to gain Ganondorf's favor... Everyone seems to be turning evil...

We do see other characters in Hyrule become influenced by the ‘darkness in their hearts’ as byproduct of Ganondorf’s reign. 

A prominent example of a character who was visibly dissatisfied with their lot, and then notably changes (while praising Ganondorf for what he’d done), is the Castle Guard who is heavily implied to have become the Poe Dealer. Even if by some slim means it’s not the same person, the Poe Dealer does still express that they could not do the work they do without Ganon as King, and that they now benefit from him being in that position and are grateful to him.

The Kakariko Carpenters seem to have given into their fantasies about living among the Gerudo women, and gone out to the Valley and gotten themselves taken prisoner. Following work near the fortress, the team chooses to act on their selfish desires and go for broke, chasing their dreams. They weren’t previously prepared to act upon these fantasies when Link was young, admittedly much milder in their still very prominent obsession, but seven years later, they’re quite happy to risk it all and piss away the stability of their careers (and nearly their lives) at the first opportunity.

Anyway, the trend is, those across Hyrule who are unhappy with their lot before Ganondorf’s coup tend to be ‘corrupted’ by seven years later, and appear to have given in to a twisted version of whatever they most wanted. 

This is noteworthy especially because the language in the game revolves around the Sacred Realm being opened and corrupted, too, by Ganondorf’s unbalanced heart and selfish goals. It is unable to be ‘sealed’ again while Link has the Master Sword. In aLttP, we know there is a mirror like effect to do with the sacred turned dark realm, in which it reflects the hearts of men. 

So it is very reasonable to say, that for OoT in particular, much of this evil influence plaguing the land and preying on the darkness an people’s hearts is a result of the corruption of the Sacred Realm. It is an indirect byproduct of Ganondorf’s acquiring of the Triforce, but not necessarily something he himself does to people on purpose, unlike the brainwashing of Nabooru.

Mr. Ingo is just using the ranch to gain Ganondorf's favor... But Dad... He was kicked out of the ranch by Mr. Ingo... If I disobey Mr. Ingo, he will treat the horses so badly...

This explains a lot of the more callous and greedy behaviour that Ingo shows later on, and why it seems to disappear when he is truly humbled by Link. 

Link’s win serves as a reminder of Ingo’s stagnating skill with horses, the very thing that made him feel so deserving of praise and recognition in the first place, in that for everything he now has control of at the ranch, he still cannot control that horse. He has become as much of a bum as Talon ever was, relegating Malon to do all the hard work while Ingo struts around uselessly. He’s even lost his touch with the Horses so much, in his arrogance, that now he has taken up mistreating them and using harsh and abusive methods (according to Malon’s concerns).

The humiliation and shame takes hold, his pride shattering with the loss of Epona-- not only as a valuable asset, but also as the horse he could never truly tame.

The dark feelings he was holding onto are let go of, as he regains a sense of humility, and the corruptive influence upon him dissipates. He even seeks out Talon to bury the hatchet and invite him back to the ranch.

Oh, I have to tell you about Mr. Ingo... He was afraid that the Evil King might find out that Epona had been taken away... It really upset him! But one day, all of a sudden, he went back to being a normal, nice person! Now my dad is coming back...I can't believe it, but peace is returning to this ranch!

But what about his obsession with Ganondorf in particular?

When the coup happened, Ingo watched the King of the Gerudo unwittingly play out a sort of grand parallel to what Ingo felt should happen on the ranch. To Ingo’s perception, I think Ganondorf was representing an ideal version of Ingo himself. 

A man of the desert, where hard work and grit are as second nature to survive the harsh conditions. A man frustrated with the King of Hyrule’s shit, and forced to swear fealty to him despite being a King himself. A man resplendent with wealth, with fine and flashy clothes and plentiful jewelry.

And perhaps the most important note of all, the Gerudo in OoT? 

They’re horse people. 

They love horses. Ganondorf’s horse is reputed to be a purebred Black Gerudo Stallion, which is obviously a specialty breed, that is fully armoured and as flashy as he is. When the Gerudo cut the bridge leading to the valley, the only way in and out is to have a skilled horse jump the gap. 

They also have a huge horseback archery range, and prowess in the sport is an incredible source of respect amongst the Gerudo, and many of the guards possess bladed polearms suitable for mounted use. From this, it can be assumed that during the recent civil war, Gerudo weapons, war tack and military tactics were probably built around mounted cavalry archers foremost, with a lesser focus on light and heavy cavalry aside (iron knuckle armour springs to mind).

Anyway, Horses are very important to the Gerudo in the era of Ocarina of Time.

So Ganondorf is also unique in the sense that he is the King of a people who value what it is that Ingo does very highly. He, of all people, stands to immediately recognise the knowledge and skill that Ingo possesses in rearing horses.

So this is a man who successfully stages a coup of Hyrule, who clearly inspires Ingo to do much the same of the ranch, and who Ingo also feels is very likely to take his side should he appeal the matter.

And Ganondorf does.

And if that’s not a great compliment to Ingo’s actual skill, I don’t know what is, because Ganondorf is not a man that suffers fools. He’s got a limited patience when it comes to shit that is beneath his notice. Clearly, he recognises that Ingo is indeed the backbone of that ranch-- and the main reason for the quality of its Horses-- and rewards this accordingly.

And for Ingo, being on decent terms with the big scary goth King is a very, very good place to be. But it’s more than that!

What a guy! Not only did he deliver on Ingo’s long due validation, he gave Ingo everything he’d ever dreamed of having to his name, and the authority to kick Talon to the curb. He gets it! Ganondorf, this great eight foot beacon of freshly sought divine power and topaz-encrusted glory, this absolute unit of a man, this great underdog horse-lover after Ingo’s own heart; he really understands how great Ingo is. Ganondorf is paving the way for people like them! Oh, to rub shoulders wiht such greatness when the rest of Hyrule is scorned. 

Ingo feels seen. The Great Ganondorf made all that thankless time spent shovelling horse shit while Talon slept mean something. The Gerudo appreciate Ingo’s talents.

And all Ingo has to do is keep turning out really good horses, and promise to present the King with his finest.

So Ingo knows he’s in deep shit when he gets cocky and loses Epona to a wager, who at this point, he’s prepared pretty well and sunk a lot of money into on the idea that she’s going to Ganondorf. 

Who he’s probably bragged to about how fast she is.

He lost her to some jerk in tights who’d barely ridden before, too. And then when Ingo tried to cheat him out of the win, the kid jumped the damned fence an in ass-bustingly cool move that really just drove home how excellent and rare Epona was.

One does not promise the King of the Gerudo a fast horse and then fail to deliver, let alone for such a stupid reason.

Honestly, by the end, the man’s just happy to be alive.

Also I’d like to think he and Talon had a much fairer delegation of work and forgave each other, each really learning to appreciate what they have and what’s really important.

how the fuck did the Kokiri leave the forest for this scene anyway, they don’t even have their faries???

[incompletionism]

Hands On with... Tyrion Cuthbert : Attorney of the Arcane

After the previously Japan-only The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles finally released worldwide this past summer, more people than ever have been able to sample the series' unique brand of judicial mayhem and what better time to share your own AA-inspired game with the world?

Unfortunately, the derivative defending of Tyrion Cuthbert : Attorney of the Arcane withers in the shadow of its inspiration. From the basic structure of cases (court case - investigation - more court case) down to lifting the very same character poses and breakdowns when battling in court, there was a strong sense of deja vu throughout my time with TC:AA's demo.

Now, although it can be creatively bankrupt to simply file the serial numbers off of someone else's creation, there have been some great games in recent years to take strong inspiration from classic games (take upcoming Zelda and Souls-like Tunic, for example). Judging from the admittedly WIP demo, TC:AA is not set to be one of them.

Comprising the first case, the plot is farily by the numbers : it's up to fresh-faced lawyer Tyrion Cuthbert to defend a poor girl accused of killing her father with magic for his very first case. In TC:AA's world, only the nobility can perform magic and typically only a few spells at that. The rules of magic will be familiar to players of D&D, with a detailed description of how the spell is performed and its school of magic, and are implemented as evidence in cases much like in Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright. Why rookie lawyers always get assigned life-or-death cases, I don't know, but the prosecutor for this case is also green. Aria Steelwind is your musically-named rival for at least the first case and despite being roughly the same age, she looks down on Tyrion as an "amateur". It's these kinds of odd character beats and dialogue choices that plague TC:AA's demo. At one point, your mentor (who's saddled with Edgeworth-esque allegations of falsifying evidence) refuses to let you look at the accused's spellbook to use as evidence for some kind of teaching moment - in the middle of a murder trial! Flashbacks are used between scenes to flesh out backstory to the case, but end up being recounted to Tyrion through exposition just 10 minutes later, grinding the pace to a halt. These little issues, along with the inconsistent artstyle that makes every character look like they're from a different game and just not at home with the backgrounds, add up over the course of the demo and made my time with TC:AA more frustrating than anything. Outside of court, you get the chance to harass talk with witnesses at the crime scene, as well as presenting evidence with the hope of loosening their lips, though without the hilarious "bad reactions" if you show them something completely irrelevant like in AA. Similar to the Psyche-Locks of AA: Justice for All, the persuasion system is perhaps TC:AA's most interesting wrinkle in the formula. About halfway through the investigation, Tyrion has to persuade the detective working on the case who hates his mentor to help out. The tutorial promises branching pathways in the full game based on how well you do with this, but funneled me to a "good" outcome despite how bad a job I did.

Beyond this, it's a fairly beat-for-beat retread of Ace Attorney's mechanics, but less inspiring in execution.

Stats

Playtime - 2 hours (DEMO)

Genre - Visual novel; Adventure game; Fantasy

Developer - Diamondhenge Entertainment

Publisher - Diamondhenge Entertainment

Platforms - Steam; Android

Release - 30/12/2022 (Tentative)

In 5 words - It's a... kind of magic. Set to feature music from YouTube stars Insaneintherain and Shady Cicada, TC:AA's IndiGoGo campaign fell 33% short of its £21,833 goal and has an uncertain future. I believe with a good editor, the game could be a good Ace Attorney clone, but hope that this setback leads to developer Stephen Charles to give Tyrion a bit of his own identity.

If you liked this preview, consider supporting my migration to Blogspot. It took surprisingly long to format the images and text across the two mediums, but I hope it came out okay on both ends.

[ganymedesclock]

K, N, and P for the fanfic asks please?

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

See this is a bit tricky because I have a somewhat contentious relationship with the idea of 'angst'- not as it's typically used, but that I feel like sadness is a thing you have to balance and blend just right, or you end up with something that feels exaggerated and hollow and melodramatic.

My personal pedantry aside, though, I think that the majority of stories I write have some element of darkness and certainly some elements of hurt/comfort to them, even when it's about sparing a character who dies in canon. I have this "no free lunch" corollary where if a character avoids death, I feel like it should be a near miss and have consequences. So I have a take of Maria Robotnik somewhere where the gunshot wound didn't kill her but it did permanently damage her spine and she's a paraplegic wheelchair user; PK in Refuge For Resolve not only has the facial crack his unresponsive body in canon gained but he's also got a void-related affliction he's trying to manage, and Tiso in Nos Morituri survives taking a mawlek to the entire body, but has to face the possibility of permanent disability muscling in on the strength he was so arrogantly proud of to get himself into this situation in the first place, and changing his entire fighting style as a result.

It probably isn't astonishing to say that I also am a co-author on a long-runner Zelda fic I've mentioned a few times before and scars are a huge theme in that. But I don't generally think of this stuff as 'angst'- I think it's a lot of just, what interests me personally so it's stuff I like to play with. It makes it hard for me to really tell what qualifies as Really Heavy Stuff to other people.

Of my current projects, admittedly I'd say the Zelda fanfic is probably the darkest compared to its source material- like my HK fanfiction is set in a full-stop gothic horror universe so if I have PK surviving and actually reaching the emotional health to regret a lot of his actions and make sincere effort towards a better future that's pretty darn chummy compared to HK.

But that same tone- which is again, to me, neutral, because I just really like gothic horror and it's a flavor I put in anything- really stands out in Legend of Zelda which absolutely has fucked up stuff but largely consigns it to being sorta isolated and/or forced to share a game with robots that flirt with your sword and cynical clown men whose raison d'etre is shooting people out of comically oversized cannons.

So, uh, fucked up-ness is relative? it's relative. And it feels like, presumptuous as a horror writer to crown the most fucked up of my own ideas. That's for the audience to do. Squeeze the tears back into your body and tell me how they tasted.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

See this is another tricky question because I think all writers have some manner of love hate relationship with the idea of magic button that make story go brr without your input but also the pride in our creations hinges overwhelmingly on the fact that it's ours, and damn the gales or the ravages that made it hard to create.

Incidentally this is also why I rarely feel too miffed about people taking inspiration from my works or borrowing ideas to use for their own writing; technically anybody else could write another idea for me, or pick up one of the countless ideas or half-finished fics I'd discarded with time, and that would certainly be something interesting; it just wouldn't be mine, it'd be theirs instead. Which I think is a good thing about art. We can get very up in arms about faithful or unfaithful adaptations (sometimes, for very noble reasons!) but I think that in many ways the thing about ideas and stories is that even people with mutually perfect grasps of the text will have completely different notions about what it means.

And I think this is the biggest reason I like having an audience. I love hearing about what my stuff means to other people.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I quite frankly could afford to do a lot more planning. I don't just mean this as idle self-deprecation!

Generally, ideas come very easily and naturally to me. Putting any amount of media or content into my brain causes it to ping all over the place like kernels in a popcorn machine. Even leaving ideas to fester just boils them down into stock that feeds new ideas. It's one way that my adhd definitely works with my writing process on a formative level, and I think that it is a big connection to the way I engage and interrelate with media. At the same time, though, if it has a drawback, it's that it's always easier to run off on a new idea than stick by a current project.

In that sense, to run with the 'gardener' metaphor, I have tremendous success getting things to take seed and grow, but not so much with an actual nice or orderly garden- but I've met some people with some absolutely beautiful topiaries and ivy-encrusted fountains, and getting older and more experienced myself, I've been getting more precise with the pruning shears and thinking harder about what things are going to mean. A great comparison for this is if you compare my 'early draft', Refuse and Regret, to my current ongoing one of the same story, Refuge For Resolve, I planned absolutely nothing in Refuse and Regret. I had the VAGUEST notion of where I wanted some things to go but I was really just running with it and deciding chapter-to-chapter what I wanted to happen next and while this meant it was tremendous fun to write, in hindsight it's pretty labyrinthine and potentially directionless. RFR, meanwhile, I thought a lot more on it- if nothing else, lining it up with my friend Meta's parallel fic meant I've had to think about certain achievements or thresholds PK runs into.

Admittedly, this does mean that a lot of ideas for Refuse and Regret went to the wayside. There was a concept I entertained briefly of PK leaving the Ancient Basin by way of the Deepnest Tram Station and getting shoved off a ledge to his (temporary) death by Galien.