#also. presumably that's what the hero system is for right? to make it so that the law is enforceable even despite quirks?

[hiddenramen]

like. i think the metahuman liberation army basically just wants quirks deregulated? which. honestly? i literally do not have enough information about the world to even begin to parse that. are people not allowed to use their quirks without licenses, or is the licensure stuff just for heroes specifically? i had assumed the latter, but do you have to get a permit to be able to use your quirk at all?

if so, i immediately have about ten million questions, but the first that pops to mind is: how would that even work for heteromorphs? like. at that point you literally just are your quirk. is tsuyu using her tongue to grab something technically illegal because it's a facet of her quirk? would hawks not be able to fly without his license? also, was bakugou technically illegally using his quirk when he'd fire off little sparks as a kid to show off?

and if that's not what they're talking about, and people can just use their quirks normally so long as they're not doing anything illegal with them (which is what i'd assumed), then what the hell is the MLA even for?

[grandwitchbird]

So let’s talk about Veilguard as an intentional subversion of the heroic power fantasy in RPGs. This is messy because I’m still thinking about it.

Generally we’ve got two approaches to crafting subversive narratives: utilizing the conventions of genre and medium to subvert expectation, and/or writing from the margins and against hegemonic interests.

Note that the audience is presumed to be informed. There’s no sense in trying to subvert uninformed expectations.

Veilguard puts the power of writing from the margins at least partly in the player’s hands. Are you a former galley slave turned pirate? Are you a cursed warden doomed to die in a world that will pay lip service to ideals it doesn’t really believe in? Maybe you’re just trans in a world that only barely even has words for what that means. It’s a collaborative narrative after all. And you can be the hero if you want! The game does not take that from you. It’s just that there are consequences to your choices, and heroes don’t get to escape their stories.*

Relationships & Characters

The subversions are there at the micro level, in archetypes and arcs turned on their heads. The noir detective is a woman. The necromancer fears death. The big damn hero guy is happier and more fulfilled as a cat dad. Most importantly though, the player cannot solve these character’s problems. We can only stay beside them while they struggle. And we’re meant to struggle too. There’s no incentive to people please to game approval. Trying to game a romance system for kisses and content isn’t even possible here. Our only motivation can be genuine interest and investment in these characters as-written, something that has finally allowed BioWare to shake off the spectre of player-sexual gamified romance arcs.**

The Narrator

Varric’s (explicitly illusory) attempts to frame the story as a schlocky hero’s journey are constantly undermined. We already know he’s spinning stories because that’s what he’s done for 3 games now. His advice to go solve your team’s problems is canned and doesn’t really help for reasons that become painfully apparent later in the game. This Varric is just whatever perception-filtered memory Rook/Solas has of the real Varric. Varric’s absence as a character then haunts every corner of the story and calls every narrative frame into question: heroes of the Veilguard as a game mechanic, Neve as folk hero or criminal collaborator to the same ends, Rook only calling themselves a hero when playing storyteller themselves, even Rook’s moniker takes on a new shade after Solas pulls his castling maneuver and the illusion is broken.

Varric being an absent narrator pushing us along the hero’s journey allows that big reveal to free us even as it frees him from the role of narrator. It also challenges us because it gives us undeniable reasons to want personal revenge against Solas. The real Varric was just a guy who did his best and was often wrong. He made his choices and can rest now. But Solas made his choices too, even if the outcome wasn’t what he intended. And now we’re free to choose between their paths. We haven’t actually fixed anything because this world is much bigger than us. We can open doors, offer a shoulder, provide backup. We can trust and be trusted. We can make mistakes. We can punch a god and die a hero. But we don’t have to be the hero.

The Hero

Solas, the dreadwolf, god of lies (depending on the story) is of course the walking narrative key to all of this. It’s a retread of his own story we escape if we refuse to play the hero. But it should be noted that the heroic path is interesting in its own right! The dreadwolf rises also in us. Sacrifice the pawns, damn the consequences. It’s a story that’s tragic and brutal and unapologetic in its classic structure. We get caught by the story and become the very hero we’ve been fighting this whole time.

It’s just at least equally interesting that we don’t have to be the hero. And it’s deeply subversive that the path to freedom is gained at the cost of the power fantasy. We can be part of a team that is more than pawns in a game. Some other guy can kill a god, and that’s actually his win, not just a step on our path. Somebody else can die for the cause, and that’s their choice more than ours. Our romances are represented by flowers because they’re alive and growing and not just beats in a story. Even the tragic hero himself can change. And that’s only possible if we let go of the power fantasy completely. Rook stops being Rook at the end of that path. It’s why we’re not in the mural. We get to escape the story.

* We’re going to get into heroes and stories and why heroes can’t escape their stories next if I don’t run out of steam.

** Or just Shepherd-sexual in Mass Effect. I want to write more about romance separately because this is a whole thing.

[brucewaynehater101]

Was afraid of sending this ask until I recalled the wise words of Junko Kaname

“If you find yourself at a dead end and there’s no other options left, doing something the wrong way might do the most good.”

Plus I'm anonymous. I've got nothing to fear

Platonic Omegaverse AU based on "Back and There Again" by wolfsrainrules and your fic "Words Unspoken" on ao3 —WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!

toss in "Three Robins walk into a tower" by Law_10 plus the fic where Tim gets Surgeoned wings

Also there's some unreliable narration later in this ask which evolved into a fic lol

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Setup; Tim gaslights and lies to himself about Batman's abusive treatment towards him until he's forced by Jack to stop being Robin

When Stephanie comes along, he helps by giving her notes and recordings from his time as Robin, making up for where Batman lacks in training her himself

This leads to Stephanie learning and calling out just how bad his tenure as Robin was, being more distant with the Batfamily + professional-ish w/ Bruce

They try to spend as little time possible with the Bats for their own sakes from them on because the other would worry for them

While Tim doesn't have as much time as Barbara, he does presume an Oracle-like role for Stephanie to help her out

Stephanie also becomes quick friends with the Teen Titans. She's got Tim's seal of approval

Janet Drake dies. Tim is grieving and now he's stuck with Jack so he copes Batman style on the computer—

ooh nooooo. deadpanning??? that's just how I grieve, officer. I can't believe someone would kill my daaaad! who could have done such a thing? Oh you already have him detained and you're even imprisoning him in a whole 'nother state that isn't a revolving door! Thank you officer! You're my hero

Tim set things up so Cluemaster and Jack were unknowingly in the same area and Cluemaster accidentally killed Jack

But nobody is gonna figure that out. It's not like he did the deed!

And who else could advocate for the villain being jailed for life after killing a millionaire away from the New Jersey State itself than the new star of a CEO for Drake Industries, Edward Drake? The fact he works remotely from home and is insanely reclusive is totally irrelevant!

In unrelated news? Tim and Steph have become best friends who flip flip between who they have sleepovers with

Whoop! Suddenly there's two Robins running around often at the same time and they are manaces! Menaces to society I tell you!

Together they train to become the best Robin duo there ever was!

Oh no, I made this a "it gets better before it gets worse before it gets better fic" FUCK ME

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Titans Tower isn't crack like Three Robins. In fact all the Robins are screaming and crying at each other

"You stole my name!"

"You stole it from Richard first, how about you apologize for taking away the very name his own parents gave him!"

"It's not just about Robin but my place in the family dammit!"

"Why would you not come back already! The family misses you! We aren't even daughter and son! We're just unpaid interns at best! We could never take your place. they think you're dead but the spot is open for you if you ever come back! We never replaced you! We're here until you return!"

"Batman's a crazy kid beater Tim!" Steph's right but even with a support system, abuse does a number on ya

Alas, Jason is not seeing reason and while he gets bruised up and does it back, the two Robins at least didn't get beat as much as Jason wanted. Small mercies

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

When Jason finally comes back into the fray, it's smoother than he expected. Weirdly enough, he hardly saw his Replacements in the Manor, but given he wants as little to do with them as possible? Small mercies

When Damian comes into the fray and tries to prove himself in the form of attacking both Robins? Proof that there's lots of cult deprogramming to do; but for Jason?

It's nice having demon brat around again. Dami understands what growing up in the League was like and the Replacements spend even less time around him when in the Manor. Any instances where they would usually be asked to interact face to face are done through voicemails or emails instead

Man, Tim must really be living up to Eddie Drake's image if he only sees him and Stephanie as Robins on the field now

Meh, for all he knows they're prancing around with the other bats

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

It's his 16th Birthday

Stephanie is first and only to know

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Whenever Red Robin laments getting Spoiler's image tarnished in the super scene for good when it just could have just been his alone, she hounds him for it

As she does when he looks back to his time of cloning, thinking about their mutual lack of spleens instead of the dead

it's progress

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

The Core Five of Young Justice sit together in silence. Typing together contingencies for when Batman enacts the third test and beyond

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

"Demon brat," says Todd, ruffling Damian's hair

"Dami," says Grayson, trapping him in arms

"Son," says Father, says Pennyworth

The Replacements Father owes life debts to say "Robin," and nothing else until the public is upon them. Then they say "Wayne"

"Damian" when it is professional and polite West etiquette 

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

It wouldn't be the first time a villain---Dynamics Master---came from another dimension

The second time they were fixated on biology

Or the third time their targets were Bats

Least of all a new permanent divide between Batman and his proteges came

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Jason hasn't let go since they got out

Neither the pups Replacements with each other

"Unhand me Todd!" Damian. His puppy fussed.

'Responsibility' Jason corrected himself. He kept him close to his chest

Didn't matter what Dami had to say. His scent betrayed him; distressed-puppy-scared-omega-help-please

Emoting through smell. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it was just him and Damian

Jason didn't even realize when he started purring and rubbing his wrist against Damian's hair. Probably another "Dynamic" thing the villain raved about

Something about not wanting to be stuck in a world full of people unlike theirs, since this was the norm in their own

Damian yipped—his hearted melted, good god these Dynamics can't pick if their truth serums for thought or straight up liars themselves—as he buried his nose in the kid's hair, inhaling the smell of puppy-pack-omega-here-safe-and—

His nose scrunched with distress refusing to part from Damian

That wasn't right, it wasn't parting from him either

In fact it's been a chore to not gaze at the PUPS! Replacements the other side of the room

Replacements who would have long since left the room without a goodbye since all their checkups and duties were done for the day

Replacements who's gazes flicked between them and each other

And wore bandages over their wrists and necks

'Scent-blockers' he recalls the villain saying

Jason bared his teeth at them for a warning to— to— he had a pact to protect

Red Robin and Spoiler jumped to their feet and ran out the room, forgoing closing the doors, not once letting the other's hand go

. . .

For some reason, he and Damian's scents felt worse than ever before

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Brown and Drake don't say his name anymore

that is if he ever sees them at all outside of Robin

They don't appear in high society either. Father said they made a scene about faking responsibilities, injuries, and sickness to get out of dealing with elites forever

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

"That villain really did a number on you, didn't he Dami?" 

"I remain unshaken!" Damian announced, wrapping fresh scent-blockers around his wrists

When the Manor's doors opened to reveal Jason—wearing blockers himself—Damian was already running towards him, not locking back at Dick until he spoke again

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Another alien invasion—one needing all hands on deck—done with. All that was left

And barking a warning at the Replacements to not get up in his personal space

"Man, not even their teammates want them," he swore he caught a rookie hero say off-handedly, "and they're still allowed in Young Justice?"

But practically everyone was here catching their bearings, so in case he misheard it

"Hey, hey! I heard you talking about Spoiler and Red, right?"

The rookie turned to him, "You mean the nutcases?"

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

'Ever-constant despair' Cassandra had to say about the pups Replacements when Jason's hand started hovering over his phone

Alfred had commented on a trend from before the villain where they barely appreciated their meals without the other with them, otherwise they deigned for quick, efficient meals

afterwards it became impossible to get them to eat anything at all without the other with them

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

For the first time, Jason felt unfulfilled from Dick's octopus hugs. He was slowly and painfully spenting less time cuddling Damian now and he still didn't feel as hollow.

He grumbled in a way that came with being an 'Omega' and Dick didn't vocalize back. He didn't smell anything but chemicals from Richard— everyone actually

Jason felt hollow

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Once when Jason met up with Damian after the kid changed his blockers

He whiffed Misery

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

It was during a drug bust that things really went downhill. That Jason realized he couldn't do this anymore

It was the usual. Drop in. Stop the operation. Pack things up; just with the added downside of his stronger sense of smell making drugs stink like never before—even through his helmet

Spoiler—who came in on a short notice—seemed to have the same problems, coughing like there was no tomorrow.

He could almost swear to hearing keens of all things in between her fit as she shook violently in a way he hardly saw her do

Unmasking wouldn't be an option until the Cave, so she seemed to settle for placing a hand on the bandages on her throat

He placed a hand, on a crate for support. The drugs smelled awful, sure, but to render him dizzy? It was strong, but not that much

It was then that she noticed the blood on her hand which came from blood splattered on the bandages earlier

"Shit— do you mind if I swap out my blockers quick Red Hood?" She wiped down her glove for as much blood she could

"I'm not your boss Replacement."

She scrambled to grasp for her pockets and used her now less-bloodied glove to unwrap the bloodied bandages

'Great' he wanted to spit out 'I can smell you through my helmet and your costumes.'

Instead he got hammered with the puppy-alpha scent of pup-in-danger-not-safe-omega-hates-me-help-save-me

Jason wasn't even sure he could keep himself still, but he did it. It didn't matter if his brain was rewired or scent glands got grafted onto him, he was the master of his own body—!

He can't do this anymore, he can't—

nobody one else for sure

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Jason was going insane

He entered the cave to see Batman on the Batcomputer, but that wasn't what he was focused on, unwilling as it was

Stephanie might as well be clinging to Tim's shoulders for life, looking at the screen of the laptop he typed on

The two had forgone their blockers, forcing their scents to mix and mingle in the air, drowning the place in together-alone-pups-alpha-omega-miserable-together as he picked up bits of a discussion between about about 'dynamics' and a 'syringe' together

Tearing through his skull however was their frequent keens of miserable-pack-hates-us-we're-not-safe-here

Unseen by them was Damian, stiff if not for the movement of breathing and the gazes of oh god that was longing

Jason used all of his willpower to not tear off either of their blockers and he took Damian's hand

Try as he might, he couldn't resist keening in response to his pups. His response making the others stop barely made him feel better

Jason was going insane

He has to put an end to this

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

With even Barbara having to go offworld, Batman entrusted Tim with keeping charge of Gotham

After Batman left, he couldn't be faster in delegating some of the job to Jason, shakey as his limbs were

The back of Jason's brain tingles with deja vu seeing the sorry sight that is Timothy

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

A hospital in Gotham admitted a new patient

Days later, word hit the streets that Joker was good as dead, a vegetable for life, if only for the bare minimum brain activity and heartbeats keeping him going

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

'For once,' Jason thought as he stocked up his chosen safehouse to hunker down in, 'The Bat was right but too late in not entrusting me with unclipped wings'

He would do anything to make Gotham more peaceful than it's ever been for this string of months. Even pull every favor he had to get it done

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

"Pack everything you want to keep more than anything in your suitcase pup. nothing for keeping face, we're going to be alone"

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

"Steph! Red Hood betrayed us, it was a false alarm. Alert the on-world Bats and—!" Scent withdrawal was a nasty, nasty thing if a hug and an older omega's scent was all it took to knock the pup out

Omega-protector-here-you're-safe-now-pup wafted through the air yet unable to purge the misery-alone-unsafe clinging to them both

Jason would rectify that soon

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Stephanie had been on her wits end and her mind frayed alongside Tim's in ways everyone and thing else would envy

Today that thread of sanity snapped. She had no pack—she can't trust anyone—Tim needs her!

The Drake Manor acquired a broken window, which the super-computer stored in it's secret bunker promptly noted for repair. no girl or boy would see it for a time

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Deep in the Batcave, Cassandra gazed at the syringe full of fluid

A syringe which would be innocuous if not for it being locked in a suitcase that needed a mix of Tim and Steph's Dynamic vocals and pheromones to activate

Something achieved only after intense trial and error, prediction of randomly timed password lockouts, and guesswork on what clips of the two making sufficient audio were Dynamic vocals, and which of their items retained enough pheromones to trick the technology it was fresh from their wrists

Included with the syringe were documents of its nature

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Danger!-unsafe-unwanted-pack-where-are-you-please-don't-kill-me flooded the room after Tim caught sight of Damian and Jason

The omega chuffed, pack-omega-here-pup-you're-pack

An omega-puppy's keen, i-don't-get-it-confused-you-hate-me

A puppy's yip, omega-is-safe-protector-pack-scared-unsafe?

"You're safe pup," Jason crooned, combing his fingers through the teen's hair, "You belong to my pack and so will Stephanie, nobody, not even we'll hurt you."

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

All the desperation in the world couldn't get Stephanie to escape a Red Hood who'd spent the last months studying their battle tactics endlessly

And even more months packless meant a new pup in the roster led to him purging the air of anything but his scent of precious-pups-you're-my-pack-i-love-you

Tucking his new pup in the nest, he did a round of checking on the safehouse's security, then his nest, making sure the pack was sleeping comfortably. He scented them again for good measure

Exhaustion wore on his bones. Wrapping his arms around Stephanie as Tim did Damian

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Something was coming, Jason shot up, longlearned in trusting his gut, and as the only grown pack member? It fell onto him to protect them all

He froze at the approaching scent of a beta-pup, another pup, but how?

He heard the mechanisms of the front door unlocking and locking again, and waited for what was coming

The scent drew his gaze to Cassandra's eyes, Cassandra who was waffing lonely-packless-beta-pup-i-want-my-pack-confused

No matter, Jason made room in the nest for a fourth pup, and chuffed for her to come in

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Jason has maybe a year left of three of his pups being pups according to their Dynamics until they're full-fledged adults

All those months before they stewed in misery because he let their pride and societal expectations trump it all

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

"The syringe" is all Cassandra has to say about her sudden dynamic

As Tim confesses, those three Young Justice members had wanted to do something about Stephanie and him withering away

The solution? Reverse engineer their own biology to craft a more autonomous means of gaining a dynamic

Jason huffs that he and Dami weren't their first pick

That being said, he isn't saying no to three more pups

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Word rapidly spreads that the Batman's baby birds were spirited away by Red Hood

Even quicker is their meta status of the same vein

Asking strangers "Would you rather get caught doing child-involved crimes by Red Hood, or laying a scratch on his pups?" becomes a viral sensation much like Man vs. Bear

Rogues throw their hands up once Wonder Girl, Superboy, and Impulse join the fray of Red Hood's adoptees

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

When the Bats return back to Earth, they find those who stayed have not only cut contact with the rest of the world outside of Gotham and Young Justice, but have dragged Young Justice to join in on pushing their new isolationist policities to their absolute limits

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

When Batman discovers photos of the Joker's mauled and unrecognizable body have gone viral on Twitter, he's dissapointed at his own surprise as how easy finding the details were

All he had to worry was verification, which was simple enough

When the hospital's data shows that it was done with claws and teeth, unrecognizable pheromones matching just one boy he knows

Jason grins at him, omega canines on display

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

Is it Batman's business if his pups hand over a syringe and their favorite hoodies to a precious little light down two parents to Joker Gas?

Jason thinks not

. • ° · ☽ 【×】 ☾ · ° • .

I accidentally made a fic

How did this happen? Oh well then

Extra Notes

This was just meant to be a Jason & Damian & Damian thing but then Stephanie and Young Justice and Cass snuck into the nest

And this transforming into a fanfic that was semi-jason-centric wasn't on my bingo but lol

Also rip if you dunno wtf the omegaverse is lmao

Even if Joker is out of the game, Jason couldn't prevent his inventions from getting out there and being reverse engineered and being distributed, hence how Duke's parents still took the L

Now a little Jason think piece

In Canon, he's arguably just as guilty as Bruce for Joker's crimes and victims after he doesn't kill him then and there

Arguably because he cares more about Bruce than the victims and collateral of Joker's deeds

Jason in a position where more than ever, he sees family and community as his world, to the point it's need to live on a psychological level? Threats cannot be allowed to exist

Or at least be able to do anything meaningful for as long as they still live

Joker is at the top of that list. And if Jason can come back from the dead? So could he. What to do?

You only need a beating heart & brain activity to live, and Batman won't let him his long time nemesis die, even as a mercy

I'd present more questions and ideas that didn't get into the final product and do another round of editting but my computers gonna die now lol

Go crazy, go stupid about my ask everybody

Alright! I do in fact know what the omegaverse is. I don't particularly like it for a variety of reasons, but some of the concepts are cool. If I wanted to have similar enough dynamics, I typically read shifter AUs. They have the pack bonding, the scent shit, the different instincts, etc. without the stuff I don't particularly like (depending on how it's written, ofc).

The stuff I loved about this fic/AU:

Fixed Tim and Steph's dynamic in a way I didn't know I needed. Fuck yes to them supporting each other through their Robin years instead of being pitted against each other.

Steph and YJ bonding

Steph and Tim continuing to support each other even through the BruceQuest

Steph and Tim bonding over how fucked up Bruce was to them during their Robin years

The hc/au that Tim becomes an Oracle-like support to Steph's Robin

The hc (kind of canon-ish) that Jason and Damian met in the League

Jason adopting everyone including Cass and YJ and Duke

I am curious about Dick and where he is in all of this. Also, it wasn't quite clear to me who was affected by the omegaverse stuff. Everyone who was adopted by Jason was, but is there anyone else besides that villain?

Two notes you made at the end that were impactful:

Jason is complicit in Joker's murders after he doesn't kill the Joker

I think that is dependent on Jason's characterization. If, how it's often portrayed in canon/media, he cares more about Bruce's actions/reactions than justice, then this is true. On the other hand, Jason may be unable to kill the Joker due to a vicious concoction of trauma, fear, Bruce, and circumstances. It would be understandable (and a great angst/conflict point) if Joker is the only person Jason is unable to kill. He wants to, by everything he is does he want to, but he can't. If anyone wants me to expand, send an ask.

"Batman won't let his long time nemesis die, even as a mercy"

This is the type of Dark Bruce I want to see. My gods, I would kill to see a fic where Bruce views murder as a mercy, too permanent, and too forgiving. This Bruce wants to force villains, rogues, heroes, civilians, etc. to work for their redemption. If they die, how are they going to make amends? What good is atonement if the only one to witness it is God and the dead? What good is forgiveness given by those unaffected?

I'm not saying this is an okay or decent mindset (hence why it's Dark Bruce). I'm just saying it would be cool to explore a Bruce who refuses to kill for entirely different reasons. Instead of it being too far, him being worried about never stopping, or him not agreeing morally, I would fuck with a fic where he doesn't kill so he can make people pay for as long as he wants.

[energy-falcon]

OK, I need to toss this out here.

if the theory was right that the new year Tailstube was set up for the next game and Professor Victoria is going to be involved as an important character I think I got an idea what it might be like.

My feeling is that it’s going to be a sort of Sonic adventure, three with a similar style to sonic adventure one where each character has their own campaign with its own style of gameplay.

We know Prof Victoria is likely going to be a major character, and whether or not she is Maria’s sister or niece or is a robotnik, we can confirm at the very least that she is a historian, if not a full on archeologist based on the title of her book. Combining this with the ancients and the dangling plot threats from Frontiers about them I think the next game is going have something from the past being uncovered, w/ professor Tori being involved.

I also think the game is gonna have an element of travel similar to unleashed, because of the tailstube mentioning a road trip, knuckles and amy both also mentioning wanting to explore the world.

I think bare minimum playable characters are going to be the people who were front and center in this tailstube, as its the first bit of media directly addressing whats coming post-frontiers. As such, the likely playable characters are as follows:

Sonic

Tails

Knuckles

Amy

Rouge

Shadow

Sonic is obviously going to be in this game. Let’s not even joke. I think him and shadow are likely going to play similarly Because they roughed out a pretty decent style w/ frontiers, and refined it with shadow generations. Considering Shadows popularity and the amount of hype surrounding his character, and the fact they have a very good gameplay system for him already they can easily adapt to Sonic, its not that far of a stretch to say they’ll probably gonna make both of them playable. I’m expecting them to do some differences though shadow has chaos control and chaos snap and all his other abilities. Sonic is his usual tool kit maybe with some extra twists to help differentiate the two. (For example, Sonic has Spindash/Dropdash, rolling, & the bounce bracelet, Shadow has Timestop, Chaos Spear, and Stomp). As for their stories, presumably Eggman’s gonna uncover something from history w/ power, and attempt to harness it leading Sonic on his journey to stop him. Meanwhile, shadow is probably gonna be involved because of professor Victoria, either because she’s Maria’s sister, knew Maria’s father, or because She Worked for GUN (she got geralds journal to Commander Towers), which we know was crippled by eggman post forces, and had been slowly building itself back up.

Tails’ whole arc in frontiers was about regaining his confidence and proving himself as a hero, and he ended that game by saying that he wants to go on an adventure of his own. The Tailstube episode specifically ended with him saying he was gonna take it on a road trip, signalling he’s likely gonna have a solo journey. I’m crossing my fingers that we get a mix of on foot gameplay like adventure, one and the cyclone from adventure 2, instead of JUST the cyclone, because as much as I think it’s cool I liked on foot tails better, and it helps make tails more than just the Tech guy. They already had a pretty solid on foot tails. They just need to refine his kit a lot more and fix a couple things.

Amy is kind of tricky but again she had a really solid gameplay set up in frontiers, they just need to make more of her attacks use the hammer instead of the tarot cards, which was my only complaint. She said she was gonna hang out with her friends more in the tailstube so I’m guessing her campaign is about her going on a road trip to visit all her friends. I’m not sure if she’ll be playable because I’m not sure what her campaign would be like but I hope she is.

Knuckles and Rouge are both interesting and are similar to sonic and shadow, as they are both closely associated with the treasure hunt style of gameplay. Knux ends frontiers by planning to branch out from his island, explore the world and treasure hunt and mentions as much in the Tailstube, while Rouge tells tails she wants to expand her gem collection, interestingly with tails asking her about gems of historical value, which could tie into Professor Victoria, who is bare minimum a historian, if not an archeologist. The differences could be neat tho: knuckles is going on more classic treasure hunts to seek information about the ancient mysteries involved in the plot while Rouge’s levels are more like bank heists with some more puzzle elements. Could be some cool variety.

All in All, I don’t know if this is accurate, but I’ve had this in my head for like the past couple days and I just needed to get this out.

[weepylucifer]

people are?? saying good things about my cody characterization on ao3?? aaaaaa 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

and the thing is basically i've decided to just TAKE the popular fanon where cody basically exists to take care of obi-wan and decided to riff on it like, if there was a person who primarily existed to take care of others, how would he feel about it? why would he live this way? what if he snapped one day and decided enough is enough he's going to put himself first for once, only to then discover he barely knows how to do that? what if he immediately dove into a relationship with the next fixer-upper project person (darth fucking maul, he of the 3645637829 mental illnesses) just because that's what feels familiar to him in a world unmoored, but was aware of it the whole way down?

i mean, even folks who decide he has to have more going on than obi-wan usually just add a second character trait where he's always taking care of his brothers. which is already BETTER than just "the brown guy exists to serve his white love interest" but it still makes cody the guy who only is there to support others and has very little inner life except for "the competent and helpful guy/brain cell holder" (he's kinda feminine coded that way lmfao)

it reminds me of that one tweet where this lady went to another woman's funeral and realized with horror that all the eulogies were only about how this woman always did things for others and put her own needs second, and nothing about her character, whether she was funny or smart or what. that's how people like fanon!obi-wan or the fanon command batch would speak at cody's funeral fr

and then i thought about politics and diplomacy bc i love that shit, and how cody exists in such a weird in-between-space as a clone, barely considered a person, but one of the most powerful clones. and i was inspired by the star wars propaganda art book where it's shown how clone wars propaganda by the republic centered the clones so much (bc for several reasons it couldn't be the jedi) and how that sparked not only support for clones but also inadvertently shone an increasing spotlight on how weird and bad the clones' situation was; these men being grown extra fast, knowing nothing but war, more and more being churned out and thrown into the meat grinder to prolong palpatine's war. i was thinking cody would presumably have been a poster boy, would have a public persona as a clone you can recognize (his distinctive armor and scar), as a dutiful war hero, with his straight-edge, sparkling clean personality. he'd presumably have to talk to propagandists and press, attend galas to drum up war bond sales and bolster the GAR's public image. his life would have to be a tightrope walk, always carefully saying the right things to the right people to juggle the needs of his men, obi-wan, clones in general, and keeping the senate happy and paying lip-service to some idea of loyalty to the republic. and like obi-wan is the negotiator bc that's just his specialization as a jedi, cody would have to be a negotiator out of need, and he'd be trapped doing this, bc he can't resign from the army and fuck off, this is the life he's locked into. he's the slightly more powerful slave negotiating with the overseers on behalf of all the other slaves, who look to him to... not even lead them to freedom, just to make their situation more bearable

in practice this would look like making sure the third systems army is well-supplied, gets r&r sometimes, and casualties are kept as low as possible. it would look like constantly bothering a disaffected senate and pleading with a public who's starting to get tired of clones for sufficient budget, sufficient gear, actual healthcare for the wounded instead of just decommissioning, etc. and then order 66 happens, and it's revealed to cody that the clones (or jedi) as people were never the priority. that all along, while he was running himself ragged to run this army efficiently, it was all happening for the benefit of one man who actively gets off on their suffering. who wouldn't snap?

[sapphic-agent]

There's one thing I wanna ask Hori about the narrative that I'm surprised isn't talked about more.

Why weren't any of the characters allowed to question their society and heroes function as a whole?

Because when kids start off with hating heroes (Kota and those brats from the second movie), they're treated to be in the wrong and has to see how great heroes can be.

Which given the context that this is a society that turns a blind eye to it's corruption and how the minority suffers, it just comes across as putting rose tinted glasses on them to keep them away from the truly bad stuff.

Like, I get it with Kota, because his hatred of heroes stems from watching his parents die and believing they chose work over him, and that this hatred could grow into a problem later to where he might end up as a villain.

But at the same time, how come this didn't let Izuku to think about the society that shunned and berated him for being born different from everyone? How come no one else stop and think that this society is on the path to collapsing on itself if nothing is done?

In a story like this, characters should be allowed to question things around them and wonder if there's anything they can do make it more bearable for others, to seek out the change they wanna see so others wouldn't have to suffer like they did.

Kota is a great example, but I raise you Stain and the LOV.

Stain made sense. He went about it in entirely the wrong way, but he was right about false heroes and how much of a problem they were. But he's a murderous psychopath so we're supposed to take his words as out of touch rambling because he attacked Ingenium who was one of the good heroes.

(We're also given no proof. He says heroes are corrupt but we aren't shown why he thinks that and we don't see it beyond Endeavor. Even more reason not to take what he's saying seriously)

Hori could have really sold this by making Tensei perhaps not so virtuous. Maybe he had or started with good intentions but ended up contributing to toxic hero society in some way and Iida was blind to it because he was the big brother he admired. That would have made Tenya's character development hit harder in my opinion. Having Tensei confess this to Tenya would have made the Stain arc even better.

Which brings us to the LOV.

I feel like Hori forgot that Dabi and Toga also joined the LOV because of Stain, not just Spinner. They, on some level, absorbed his words and wanted what he did even if they were also fueled by other motives.

That's why a lot of Dabi's later character doesn't make a whole lot of sense. For those who knew he was Touya, it was implied that he was abused similarly to Shoto and was angry at Endeavor's treatment of his children. And then was inspired by Stain to call out his father as a false hero and take down the system that (indirectly) destroyed his family.

But no, he wants to kill Shoto, doesn't give a shit about Rei or Fuyumi, and almost got Natsu (the brother he was close to and presumably cared about) killed. And all to get back at Endeavor and make him suffer. Dabi's motives were a major let down and it reduces him to a one-dimensional villain, one who only wants to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. There's no hint of the influence Stain apparently had on him.

Toga is the same. She, presumably, admired Stain because of the similarities in their quirks. It's implied she joined the LOV to be with people like her (which is why she- as Camie- asks Izuku what kind of hero he wants to be, she's trying to see if he's one of those people). Who were outcasts and wanted to be able to do what they wanted with no persecution from others. She wanted to be free, even if she had a warped perception about what that meant. But over time, Horikoshi made her a creepy, predatory yandere type (seriously, what the fuck was the point of having her grope Uraraka??) with no depth to her actions.

Both Dabi and Toga never mention Stain or his ideals again. They're just psychopaths who need to be stopped. It dehumanizes them and uses mental illness for further antagonize them.

Spinner is the only one who still attempts to embody Stain's ideals. But of course, he never gets any focus. He's a "coward" who never stands up the the LOV (except when he stopped Magne from killing Izuku) even though he feels guilty about what they do. So most of the time, he isn't portrayed in a way that makes us stop and think. It's all too easy for the audience to dismiss or forget about him.

Anyone who (rightfully) questions or criticizes or openly despises the corrupt society in this universe is portrayed in a negative light. Even if what they're saying is technically right, we throw it away because they're doing something bad.

Really, there's only one character who's the exception. I'm, of course, talking about Lady Nagant.

Listen, me and Hori got beef all day everyday. BUT Nagant is one of the most exceptional characters I've ever seen in anime.

What I love about her is that she's someone who genuinely started out with good intentions and wanted to do the right thing but was torn down by society. It destroyed her from the inside out. The actions she took aren't even that extreme, they make sense considering everything she went through. Her problems with society aren't inane or hypocritical ramblings, she's 100% correct in her assessments because she was an unwilling participant in the corruption.

The problem with Nagant, however, is that she's with us for such a short amount of time that we don't get to take a deep dive here. We don't get to dissect why, exactly, society is so corrupt or find a solution to it.

It sucks because Hori was SO CLOSE to hitting the mark with Nagant. I think introducing her- or someone similar to her (missed opportunity with Hawks)- a lot sooner would have really improved the story

[quidfree]

hear me out…. todobaku as villains???

im going to disappoint you anon bc i am not a like... dark & twisted fantasy villain au person. as per quidfree canon what keeps me going is good characterisation and so you will find no undercut tattoo-laden bad boys here.

if you want my two cents on what todobaku villain au would most likely look like though it's under the cut

todoroki:

this one is easy right? touya exists. shouto already has his villain backstory: his dad is a bigshot hero uplifted by society and also an abusive bastard in private. his motivations in hero-oriented society are obvious.

i think shouto probably distinguishes himself from touya in a number of ways, one of which being style of villainy. touya was a lot more unstable emotionally (?tied to his quirk self-harm stuff) and undiscerning in his resentment (see: woman hater) even before he ran away. i think shouto would be a more classic anti-hero type villain, less quick to cause chaos and death to unrelated civilians or high schoolers. they would have an uneasy relationship if and when shouto figured out who dabi was- i think he would retain his empathy for his siblings and mother, but he would disagree with touya’s choices.

i see him as a loner villain, not likely to join the league. early UA shouto appeared to have literally never spoken to another person in ten years, so if he around that age veered off the expected path and went MIA, i think the whole ice prince thing would solidify pretty definitely. and that’s the kind of personality he’d have too- icy, controlled superiority over a core of red-hot rage. no quips here. though some dramatics. he hides it but shouto always has flair.

shouto is a practical guy first and foremost. i think he’d just wear something similar to his plumber fit. maybe something akin to a balaklava to mask his identity, but maybe not, if he wants to make his father aware of his actions. i do think touya-style he might go for a hairdye, but in his case it’d probably be bleach, as a sort of obvious reclaiming of rei’s heritage and rejection of enji’s.

overall as villains go if we are keeping to a world close to canon shouto is probably one of the more morally upright people you will encounter. very scary motherfucker but pretty targeted enemies, so unless you’re involved in maintaining the hero justice system at some pivotal level you’re probably safe. if you are though? rip i guess. prepare to have your home frozen, your limbs stuck to the ground, and an icepick summarily driven through your skull by a teenager.

bakugou

katsuki is tough because for him it very much depends on setting, and at a basic level when you’re looking at. katsuki fundamentally is not a fuck the system guy- he’s a guy the system loves, and he’s interested in winning it, not destroying it, at least until character development kicks his ass. so really if you want to go early canon for both of them, villain bakugou is just hero bakugou. a katsuki from the start of bnha left to continue on his presumed arc uninterrupted, no deku or kidnapping or war to force him to question himself. arrogant and cruel and uncaring of what heroism is meant to be about. saving big numbers, sure, or at least defeating big ones, but when your defeats involve death or as good as, hard to draw the line.

similarly, in a universe where for some reason heroes have lost their relevance and villains reign, teen katsuki would have very easily risen in that direction, with similar traits.

who would his targets be? whoever’s in his way, pretty much. even in a more anti-hero slant, villain’s goons would not be safe. and anyone who tried to recruit / hire / ally him would inevitably face some kind of betrayal bc katsuki simply got sick of orders and believes he can handle the fall-out.

in terms of looks, katsuki is more style conscious than shouto is, but as lord explosion murder doesn’t necessarily look very heroic i think he wouldn’t look that different. maybe more of the black and winter-suit vibes.

for as insufferable as he would be, he would also be horrifying, yes. i mean, the guy is a starter kit terrorist. even if he was in tantrum ego mode he could level a street. collateral would be nasty if katsuki didn’t care to contain himself.

todobaku villain interaction ???

if we’re going with the above sort of setting? would not stand each other. for bakugou it’s obvious stuff (think sports fest and general canon), but todoroki genuinely would not tolerate villain bakugou at all, given the obvious alarm bells of similarity to endeavor. it’s not his focus but if bakugou died he would not be displeased.

as in any universe they could be begrudgingly forced into cooperation and then be privately disgusted by how well they worked together after the initial predictable faux pas. all of their other villain colleagues are like “can’t we just call that guy in for an assist again” and theyre like *breathing exercises* no.

they are both despite appearances and villainy-amplified dramatics fairly pragmatic so theyd probably not actively seek to cross each other unless they seemed to be getting in the way of their respective goals. they can recognise that this would be getting into it w an unnecessarily big distraction/threat. but i can imagine the “keep out of this” warnings would be fairly inventive. todoroki negligently thwarts one of bakugou’s plots and bakugou turns his entire hideout to rubble. a bunch of todoroki’s contacts are collateral during one of bakugou’s attacks and bakugou wakes up to find all of his security died of hypothermia overnight. lest we forget they both have petty streaks.

hero x villain interaction would be. very funny and very bad. hero todoroki would be So Tired of villain bakugou bc of how frustrating it is that hes actually hard to stop and villain bakugou in turn would resent him immensely. hero bakugou dealing w villain todoroki? that would be (psychologically bizarre) fun. i think for some reason that would be the closest we get to a bakugou w ‘doodling hearts against their own volition’ crush energy. but theyd get along a lot better than the reverse, mainly bc hero bakugou is like a decent person and villain todoroki respects moral integrity. in both duos in a lighter setting the villain of the two might start getting a mild kick out of messing w the hero despite their focus on other things just bc 1) it gives villain todoroki the mildest of entertainment to look forward to every blue moon given he doesn’t necessarily wish bakugou any active harm 2) villain bakugou feels he’s owed some todoroki suffering considering how annoying he personally finds him.

that’s my two cents on it anyways. idk what everyone else has in mind!

[centralcitylibrary]

A World Without Sonic the Hedgehog

This document talks about the following entries:

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

SegaSonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Knuckles' Chaotix

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Heroes

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic Prime

The beginning of a videogame is important.

You need to make a good impression so as to encourage those just trying the game (or just trying it at an associate’s place) to commit to a purchase.

But you also need to teach those same players how to play the game, a hurdle that’s extra tough when accounting for those who have never picked up a controller before.

Older games usually had to dedicate their entire first levels into being subtle tutorials, teaching everything important without halting the flow of the game (it helps that back then it was normalised to print the game’s control scheme in a small booklet that came with the game).

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 was no different, if you passed the game to someone who had never played videogames before ever, you’re most likely going to see one thing first of all.

The player learns how to move left or right, and then walks straight into the first robot (a Motobug) and die.

That’s fine, obviously, that’s why the Motobug is even there in the first place, with rings just prior, so the player learns how to jump before they can continue with the game and see what it has to offer for them.

But I can’t help but wonder…

What if that was Sonic’s fate?

We may never truly know, but here's what I think would happen, in...

A World Without Sonic the Hedgehog

Era 0: the… Where’s the Timeline?

Wait, what?

Ah, right. With no Sonic, Shadow and Silver would never travel back in time to stop Mephiles and Iblis from escaping, creating the fiery post-apocalypse followed by the complete erasure of time itself as Solaris forms and destroys all.

But then Sonic never would’ve died against the Motobug to begin with, since that future never even comes to be, so how would we be able to say this happens for sure when the cause and effect are only possible due to a stable time loop of unknown origin?

Let’s… for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume this is in a timeline where 06 was already undone, shall we? We want to actually have a timeline, afterall.

Era 1: Classic Games

Our inciting incident, Sonic learns what’s happening on South Island, the animals being trapped and turned into robots by his long-time nemesis, Eggman, and runs off to help… directly into that first Motobug.

Eggman’s bounty system, which he had in place long enough that civilian trains he secretly made before this time period were using them, would mean that motobug would get any one “wish” it desired granted, within Dr. Eggman’s realistic capabilities. Likely nothing would come of this, but it is possible that it requests to, like, become Eggman’s strongest robot or something.

Eggman gets his hands on the 6 Chaos Emeralds hiding out amongst the island (given he achieves this even when Sonic stops him, as evidenced by the bad ending of Sonic 1), and from there gains the power needed to take over the world.

As for the supporting cast:

Mighty and Ray probably still get captured, and may or may not escape from Eggman Island. Presumably they do, given the game can be beaten solo or with a team of two as-is. They’re likely Eggman’s biggest obstacles going forward, just by virtue of Eggman’s rapid expansion.

With Eggman in charge, the fate of the world would likely have a resemblance to the Bad Futures of Sonic CD, the world in Sonic Forces, and New Yoke City in Sonic Prime.

But what about the 7th Chaos Emerald? We see at the end of Sonic Origin’s Sonic 1 that the 7th joined up with the other 6 when flying to South Island, but with them never making the trip where was it in the first place? Would it fly off somewhere? And if not to Westside Island, then to where?

It’s not a stretch to say Eggman will eventually be able to find it, especially since Tails is able to make an emerald radar by the time 3&K come around, and Eggman develops his own emerald radar by Sonic Adventure 2.

Amy Rose, whether due to some unconfirmed burgeoning clairvoyance or just fortune telling being an accurate method of telling the future in this continuity, would not get the same warning of a hero saving her on Little Planet, and as such would have no reason to go. Now, would Eggman grab the Time Stones?

Maybe.

But also maybe not. If he thinks the Chaos Emeralds are that much better he might just decide there’s no point, like when he left the Master Emerald behind because he was so impressed with the Phantom Ruby.

Given the Chaos Emeralds are also capable of time travel, it’s really a moot point in the grand scheme of things.

Tails, without Sonic to save him from bullies, would likely go on to develop vaguely similar to Nine from Sonic Prime (given that his mindset was born as a direct result of never being saved from bullies). Now that's not to say that he'll wind up exactly the same, the whole point of the Shatterverse is that they're different versions of the same cast, afterall.

Knuckles… would remain on his floating island, defending the Master Emerald from Eggman. At least until Newtrogic High Zone appears out of the ocean suddenly, then he’ll investigate that. Knuckles’ Chaotix is most likely the game that’s closest to playing out how it’s presented, with the only difference being that there’s no Metal Sonic and Eggman had plenty of time to prepare an emerald powered army, but conversely caught off-guard by so many people able to fight him all at once.

But beyond that, there's not much involvement Knuckles would have - afterall, Eggman's main benefit is the Chaos Emeralds, but the Master Emerald is capable of neutralising the Chaos Emeralds, and it's unlikely Eggman wants to push his luck unless he finds a good enough opening.

Say...

You remember that big dragon in Sonic Superstars, right? The one that just gets freed from no discernible cause? Yeah that probably still happens, causes problems too. But like, I don’t even know what it’s doing in the main timeline, there’s no way I can predict what it’ll do in this timeline. Just going to ignore it, pretend Eggman captures it somehow (like he planned to).

Era 2: the Adventure Games

Sonic Adventure… just wouldn’t happen. There’s no reason for it when Eggman’s already taking over the world with minimal resistance. As a result, Chaos and Tikal never get freed from the Master Emerald.

Big, given that he lives in a jungle, likely wouldn’t be bothered by Eggman’s takeover until it starts tearing apart his home. Gamma, if he exists, would never find reason to question his existence (and those birds will likely stay trapped).

Sonic Shuffle… might happen? It’s hard to say, but it’s within the realm of possibility. Nothing about Amy or Knuckles are fundamentally different that would lead them to decline, Big would probably still show up (if Gamma’s presence is given an in-universe explanation then it’s likely Big’s presence is within the realm of canon too).

And since the power of dreams can bring people back within Maginaryworld, and Sonic is already a world famous celebrity, it’s entirely plausible that he’d be present to help out, though I doubt he could just go back to Earth (given Gamma never went back either). Uh… Eggman ironically wouldn’t be present, not because he wouldn’t want to get the Precioustone, but because he wouldn’t be able to follow Sonic due to his death (not that I really understand how he managed to achieve that in the first place...). Tails is the only real outlier here, and likely wouldn’t end up in Maginaryworld.

Sonic Adventure 2 doesn’t happen… except for Knuckles and Rouge clashing. Unlike before, their fight over the Master Emerald would likely happen right away, given Eggman would not happen to be in the area.

Cream and Vanilla would get kidnapped for unspecified reasons, and then after that… Heroes wouldn’t happen, as there’s no Metal Sonic.

And already things aren’t looking great, are they? Eggman’s taken over the world, Tails has become a cynical, self-centered hermit, most of the cast are either fighting against Eggman’s emerald-boosted forces or just trying to protect themselves, and the nature and beauty of the planet is slowly getting torn apart.

Yeah, well, now the Black Arms arrive. Strong enough to overpower both GUN and the Eggman Empire, in a timeline where only one of those exist now, and who have the motivation to awaken Shadow – someone who wants revenge on humanity – and is as powerful as SA2 Sonic would’ve been, without a Sonic to necessitate Eggman making bigger and stronger robots, they'll be more than a match for Eggman.

And Eggman has all 7 Chaos Emeralds gathered together. This is the fate of humanity without Sonic, kept aboard the Black Comet as food for the rest of their lives. Even if Shadow tried to stop Black Doom (due to wanting to outright destroy the planet), he’ll just end up getting mind controlled due to his genetic relation with Black Doom.

Some miscellaneous events that would not be effect by this:

Blaze’s universe would be rather peaceful, with no Eggman Nega from the future to cause problems. But also Blaze would forever be in the mindset of being cursed to be alone and needing to do things by herself.

Erazor Djinn would not be able to find the 7 World Rings without someone not native to his world to collect them (assuming his book world doesn't get destroyed upon the physical book's destruction).

Merlina’s spell to summon “a hero from another world” either wouldn’t work or would bring in… someone else. So she’d either die from King Arthur or there would be too many unknown variables to even try and predict what will happen (again assuming the world's existence isn't reliant on the physical book).

The Wisps never get captured en masse? Yay?

Time Eater chilling in the void.

Dodon Pa will have to find his racers elsewhere.

All in all, it’s quite a good thing that the future of Sonic’s world wasn’t dependent on the very first time you played a Sonic the Hedgehog game, because that first run would have almost certainly ended in an apocalypse.

[yusuke-of-valla]

OK one of those characters on the book 9 poster HAS to be Frigg and I'm betting it's probably the woman standing next to (presumably) Odin/Alfaðor. I do wonder who those people standing next to Baldr are though? There's two of them I think.

This is earlier than I thought Asgarður would be, I'm wondering if book 10 (wow. That's. A year away. Wow.) will be Ragnarok, then? Cause I kinda doubt what Loki's been doing in the background with actually matter much this book even if she is showing up- and I'm even starting to question if she'll end up actually being an antagonist in the end, but there's no way she and Thor won't be involved in that somehow. At the same time, though... they kinda killed off Surtr? The cause of Ragnarok? I guess Muspell's probably their replacement for him mythology-wise... then again I could be overthinking this because this game has never been 100% accurate to Norse Mythology

Yeah I think they can figure out a way to do Ragnarok but I also feel that the EOS type deal.

Fire Emblem Heroes is like how tv shows needed to be in the early 2000s. You needed to know your start and your end but you had an ever-expanding middle to fill in if you got renewed (rip Lost idk how you expected that to work my dudes)

So like I fully believe they've had the finale prepped they're just saving it

I didn't notice there were two people behind Baldr but it does appear to be one person and then a shorter person with the same kind of halo as Baldr, make of that what you will

My guess is they're related to Rune somehow, at least I'm betting the short one is Also a child and this related to Rune.

(Also FUCKING TRAGIC Baldr has a wife but she's Nanna)

I wonder if they're Rindr and Vali? Rindr had Vali with Odin and then Vali killed Hodr for killing Baldr

Alternatively the feather combined with the other lady at Odin's side makes me think these could ALSO be Huginn and Munnin but that's a stretch.

I think Loki tricks Hodr into killing Baldr though, that seems a... very Loki thing to do, plus with all the Justice system ass stuff a frame job is about right. But even then I'd be shocked if we got more complicated than that.

Well ok. Rune being a part of Odin somehow seems right because that also seems to fit Odin's vibes and how FEH would structure a twist, but other than that

Given Freyja's lack of connection to Folkvangr and Njordr's lack of connection to Noatun, I'd be SHOCKED if Baldr had anything to do with Breidblik beyond like generally Breidablik being related to Asgard

Though yeah I expect Frigg to make an appearance and be royally pissed with Baldr bites it, and I think that secretary looking lady is as good a bet as any

[thetalentedmrwulf]

Abstracting Money in PF2E

Percolating something in my brain about Pathfinder 2e to abstract money / treasure. I like big damn hero / big damn villain stories, and if we're going to spend a session shopping, I'd prefer if it was because we had to find merchants that had what we needed and gossip about rumors than balance a ledger.

Prototype in my head is as follows -

Pathfinder 2e attaches Levels to most things - settlements, items, et al. Item levels give DMs a decent idea where in the power scale something is, settlement level indicates power level acquirable in that place, generally speaking. Items tagged Uncommon or Rare are harder yet to find even than that and may even be questing foci.

Further, because the game has proficiency equal your level + a bonus equal to how proficient you are (Trained +2, Expert +4, Master +6, Legendary +8), it also has pretty standardized difficulty rolls. The correct difficulty for a Level 10 problem is easy to chart or calculate, whichever you prefer, with stock modifiers for tweaking up or down if its relatively easy or hard in that instance.

So.... just use Level and a money stat to get what you need. First, we abstract money. Make the stat "Coin" (just because stealing from Blades in the Dark is fun.) Quantity of Coin for a task should map right to the Encounter builder - Trivial gives a Meager Reward, Low gives a Modest Reward, Moderate gives a Major Reward, Severe gives an Excellent Reward, Extreme gives an Epic Reward. This isn't an exact science like the encounter builder is; this should be based on the priority a person requesting a problem be solved views it as. Use the already existing "Make a Request" action to haggle over money or request tangible assistance since it already uses the built-in disposition system. Keep in mind, each party member gets one of these when completed. Then, for social, exploration, or combat encounters as relevant, hand out smaller Rewards from 1-3 as the quest progresses.

Now, when you need to buy an item, use the default level difficulty chart / math for any item you need. If the item is more than 4 levels lower than your level, presume you can purchase as many as are reasonably available. Then, as long as you have any "Reward" in hand, you can roll to buy something, adding the bonus of the Reward your risking. Each level of Reward gives you a +1, +2, +4, +6, or +8 depending on the level. Get a Critical Success, you get the Item for a great deal, you can buy a second Item of equal value and the Reward goes down a level. Get a regular success, and it's the same as a Critical, buy you only successfully purchase one item. Get a failure, and you purchase the item, but your Reward goes down by two. If you can't decrease this Reward by two, you owe the merchant a favor in return. If you Critically Fail, the item is harder to come by than you imagined and you're going to have to pull some strings to get it at all, potentially taking a job or quest. On getting the result, I think the player can always choose to walk away from getting the item if the price is too steep.

If you really want to lean into the idea of Uncommon, Rare, and say, Legendary items of certain levels being tough to acquire, make it so services or items rendered REQUIRE a certain level of Reward to make the roll. The important part of this system is you NEVER fail to acquire the item. It's just more expensive than you intended or more roundabout.

Feats that already modify getting a better price can be retrofit or new ones can be created that let you also add Cha, Int or Wis, or use a Skill in place of the Reward to haggle a better deal. I also think this could tie into Crafting nicely with the system that already exists.

That's all for now!

[dgtor-writes]

(I ADORE tumblr because only on here have i had a user dm me to rave about a comment i left on their junker queen post and then after a long exchange on here exchange discords with me so we can rave about her writing)

(I like Twitter because we can have a similar-ish experience, but it stays in the replies and stops after 7+ tweets)

Anyways, STOP SAYING JQ AND MAD MAGGIE ARE THE SAME. They may have similar aesthetics and designs but wildly different arcs.

As previously explained, Mad Maggie is Māori New Zealander, which is super specific to her story and informs her character greatly. Junker Queen is a tan Australian with her skin color having very little influence on her story outside of showing she’s been in the sun a lot. (Personally I head-canon her as a mixed First Nations woman but that’s neither here nor there).

Both characters have their own writing flaws and virtues but that’s more a reflection of the writing team and there’s gold if you know where to look.

Mad Maggie is amazing. I’ve seen fans write her off as “crazy for the sake of crazy”. Which is just… so wrong?

Margarita Kohere’s madness is a duly faceted. She holds real, burning rage at the occupation of her homeland, and the one person who claimed to stand by her who left to seek his own dreams of glory. And her mental state is reflective of the trauma she’s endured from said occupation. She’s had to be tough as nails and even bloodthirsty to secure the autonomy and freedom of her people and do things that are morally dubious. She isn’t deranged for shits and giggles, she’s traumatized and aggressive to achieve what she views as liberation in a system determined to paint her as a villain as they takeover her home and brutalize her people. It’s there for a reason and integral to who she is.

On Junker Queen’s end she’s so cool. But there’s fans who write her off as a “dumb jock muscle mommy” which is also so wrong?! Like where are you people getting these?

(It’s the voice lines, I blame the voice lines)

Odessa Stone is aggressive yes, and her voice lines in game seem somewhat childish, but not even those reflect an unintelligent she-brute. The tough-as-nails attitude, similar to Maggie, is a product of her environment. In the Wastelands, might makes right and keeping your place in that hierarchy relies on having a level of physical superiority that can be enforced. She learned this lesson young being kicked out her home at a very young age and (presumably) losing her entire family to the radiated desert sands. Someone like that grows to understand how valuable power and the numbers to back it up is. Especially in her WL short, she is shown to be intelligent, empathetic, and a team player. The people of Junkertown lover her for a reason. She spared the lives of the former king’s lackeys and even took a hit to the face for one of them. In the art at the end, she’s shown to bring not only order, but stability and prosperity to Junkertown. She doesn’t hold herself apart from the other junkers but exercises her authority when/where its needed. She’s shown to have a great knack and intelligence for battle (as seen in her LoJQ short and the WL short) where she’s taken on a ridiculous amount of rogue omnics and slaughtered them, while utilizing non-lethal force against her human opponents in the reckoning. She’s not even remotely stupid or particularly bloodthirsty and the throwaway line about making widows and not eating her veggies got y’all fucked up.

(Honestly a bigger part of the problem is overwatch not letting their “heroes” kill in their shorts, and she’d been allowed to, she’d have been consistent at the very least from short to game but i digress.)

Overall, they not the same, neither of them suck, and they’d probably be besties if they knew each other irl. PERIOD.

[kyogre-blue]

Wuwa act 1-V ongoing.

The game warned me that the next section is gonna be long, so I was decided to leave it for tomorrow (probably).

Anyway, this section introduces the Black Shores group and some Rover answers (small answers). We also get to see mystery opening cutscene girl again for a moment. Still pretty! So pretty!

Black Shores: To make sure you don't think this shady organization is like the other shady organization you just dealt with (Fractsidus, the actual apocalyptic cult), they make it really clear that, Camellya aside, these are the Silly People. Unfortunately, I think Encore's voice acting is probably the worst of the EN dub so far? The EN dub in general suffers from fairly poor voice direction (flat delivery on some characters, one sentence and the next having completely different emotions and intonations, etc), but Encore is just... she's meant to be a cutesy little girl, but man. They did not manage it at all. I'm sure she sounds adorable in JP tho. Regardless, she and Aalto are just max silliness. Oh, Aalto had this to say about his boss:

Rover stuff: One of the reasons everyone Knows about Rover and how cool we are is apparently because we have appeared previously (to presumably help fight disasters). The previous time Rover "descended," they were a member of Black Shores. So it's possible the ancient hero who helped found Huanglong was also Rover, though it's not entirely confirmed.

Mystery Girl: The mad scientist referred to her like this:

A "future being hailing from our past" who must reach the real Gate that can change the world... Well, it'll be explained later.

I stopped after beating the mechanical monstrosity, when Aalto reactivates the Lament detection system and runs out in a panic. You can tell I'm getting kind of invested here because I spun around in a circle for a while going "oh no, this is gonna be bad, what's happening up there" (before chickening out for the night). I'm not actually scared, of course, but there's some real sense of anticipation about what might happen next.

I think it's because they have done way more about answering questions than I had genshin-expected. Yeah, we obviously still don't know the majority of things, but I have a fairly clear understanding of the world state just from what the actual story tells you and we're even slowly being told about Rover's deal(tm). So whatever happens next might actually be A Thing With Relevance.

That aside, we've been seeing some playable characters in small roles, which is nice. We saw Jianxin before she peaced out, Verina for a bit, and now Encore. Since Lingyang introduces himself in his character quest, he probably isn't in the main story (government subsidy conspiracy intensifies). So that just leaves Sephiroth clone Calcharo of the standard 5 star characters. Curious to see what his deal is! He's pretty edgy, it'll be fun. (There's obviously also a ton of 4 stars, but there's so many that I don't see how they could fit them in anyway, so it's not a big deal.)

I think Act VI is the last part of the currently available story (Chapter 1: Huanglong 1?)... It'll probably be about Jiyan, since Jue had a vision of us meeting him. I actually thought that would be our next destination, but I guess we decided to do the Black Shores stuff first, since the front line is supposed to be so dangerous. Twitter and a storyteller insert narration have promised me that Jiyan might have something something with another guy steeped in tragedy (Geshu Lin).

Oh, one more thing. While the "side quest"s" parts of the main story aren't exactly all gripping, they do seem to generally have their purpose. Even the stupid mangosteen token was setting up the Jiyan stuff, since we otherwise don't see him for so long and the front line ties into the Threnobian and Lament danger. But what was the point of the sugar candy vaccine?? That has to tie into something, right? But what??

Goddammit, I can't believe I'm developing expectations here...

[lazyscience]

Full disclosure, I haven't read the Nimona comic so this could be an artifact of the Netflix adaptation/having to cut a lot of content to fit into a standard animated movie runtime. But while I'm super happy to see not only MLM representation in a kids' movie but treated as normal in its world, so that it can be a story about a relationship and not an Afterschool Special about Homophobia, I don't love Ballister and Goldenloin as a couple.

I don't like that Ballister is back with Goldenloin at the end of the movie like nothing happened. It's not that I want a bury-your-gays ending or that Ballister doesn't deserve a happy ending - but where is Goldenloin's character development? What has Goldenloin done to earn Ballister's trust back and demonstrate he's sorry - he maimed him and got his child killed (as far as either of them knew)?

The Director isn't the only one responsible for the sickness of their society; it's well-meaning but unquestioning privileged like Goldenloin who shore up the rot of the structure. Goldenloin, who saw the shock and horror on Ballister's face at the death of the queen but still maimed him, worked to arrest him and didn't push to see him and get his side of the story in custody, unthinkingly trusting in the fairness of a system they both already knew didn't treat commoners like Ballister the same way. Goldenloin who although he saw Ballister's swapped sword in the Director's office still wanted so badly to believe in the rightness of his system that he fought for the Director's point of view even as he saw with his own eyes how willing she was to lie and manipulate. Goldenloin, who in the epilogue smiles and points out particularly poignant drawings as if it wasn't him working as hard as he could to poison Ballister against Nimona that set off the final confrontation. that wasn't the Director, buddy. That was all you.

We get to see ONE internal freakout of his, one that he clearly hadn't resolved because he still did what the Director wanted him to do, not questioning at all the need to split people up into monsters and protectors against monsters (and JEALOUS, of a child? Of his lover universally reviled and hunted, having ONE person who was still supporting him?) He had to see the Director getting ready for a whole-ass mass murder out of SPITE to finally say "oh, yeah, you're NOT actually well-meaning but misguided, are you" - soooo much more benefit of the doubt than he gave the man he said he loved?

And after events HE helped to set in motion, when Ballister is in shock and mourning for his presumed-dead child he just ...gets to be there? I mean, even asshole Thodd got a more lasting injury and appears to be more aware of the role he played and how much thinking and work he has to do at the end (at least he looks ashamed of himself). but Goldenloin we're just supposed to be fine with, because when he's not being asked to put his career and life actually on the line he talks a good game about commoners being able to be heroes and "maybe we were wrong!" We only see him actually stand up for that once, with significantly fewer permanent consequences!

When we see Ballister backsliding on his ability to see the corruption in the system and lash out at Nimona, we ALSO see him realizing he was wrong and fighting to make amends. Ready to put Nimona before anyone else to make things right. Nimona fights, to put right the fact that her lashing out in her own rage and pain caught the people in the city between her and the Director, even though they're not innocents, considered her a monster worthy of death long before she did anything to threaten them. Do we ever see Goldenloin do anything to help Ballister that doesn't also help himself keep his own status and self-image intact?

No. No, we do not.

Goldenloin must be accurate, that must be some pretty fine D to get that much amnesia. I would have been much happier with them being together if I had seen any evidence at all that Goldenloin realized any of his culpability in events. As it stands, I feel like he's the epitome of Nice Liberal who thinks the problems are the people who are frothing bigots and doesn't realize the part he plays in allowing bigotry to continue.

I'm with Nimona. Arm-chopping is not a love language. team #GetBallisterABetterBoyfriend2K23

[strongfuck]

five songs that remind you of your muse.

tagged: @dahlborn ; thank you!! tagging: @protodroid, @general-kalani (knoxx), @munro-of-europa, @love-seared, @phaseshiftings, @lowerqualityrp (jack), @manaborn, @cnlyluck, @irrfahrer, @auroradicit (theia), anyone else who sees this and wants to! i'm not sure who's been tagged before or not, lmao

COOL KIDS // echosmith.

He sees them talking with a big smile But they haven't got a clue Yeah, they're living the good life Can't see what he is going through They're driving fast cars But they don't know where they're going In the fast lane, living life without knowing And he says I wish that I could be like the cool kids 'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in I wish that I could be like the cool kids Like the cool kids

i think a recurring theme for rhys from beginning to current state of his character arc is that he always feels he has to be Something More. handsome jack was a goal to strive for in his years with hyperion (and adapting to hyperion work culture was necessary for him to survive), and then after that he tries so damn hard to match the borderlands' idea of megacorporate culture. of course he's incapable of completely drowning himself out-- he still made friends while with hyperion, and he still does a lot for sustainability tech/general philanthropic work with atlas instead of just focusing on weapons-- but rhys will always end up compromising himself some way or other. just because that's the nature of the world he wants to live in. in his head he has to do even the things he doesn't like to maintain the power and position that allows him to do the things he wants. by nature of having "things he doesn't like" it also makes him feel he doesn't fit in with the rest of the megacorp CEOs out there who presumably have no issues doing what has to be done.

KILL YOUR HEROES // awolnation.

Well I met an old man dying on a train No more destination, no more pain Well he said one thing: "Before I graduate Never let your fear decide your fate" I say you kill your heroes and fly, fly, baby don't cry No need to worry 'cause, everybody will die Every day we just go, go, baby don't go Don't you worry we love you more than you know

quintessential rhys song, and the title of my blog's desktop theme for almost 2 years lmao. even after killing thousands on helios and killing even more after, even after all the pain and trauma the guy he latched himself onto parasocially for years put him through, man's just gonna keep going. i think it's meaningful he was there for some version of his hero's last moments and then got to conquer him himself; he never needed to model himself after anyone to succeed, anyway.

EARTH // xiv hours.

You're gonna lose it all And find yourself on your knees So, get a grip and you might Flow, reverse the great, slow bleed I've tried patience, but You always want a war This house won't tolerate any more Stop this right away

corporate baby turned corporate dilf rhys! i think his arrogance will always be part of him, even though the events of tftbl humbled him. and despite the lessons he learned he doesn't have enough grit to completely turn the tide of the megacorp culture in the borderlands, either. he is a prisoner of a system that existed before he even knew about it, but he's trying his best within it anyway.

BABE RUTH // coin.

Now that I'm busy I broke it all down I miss you coming over, yeah Every now and then Swinging for the fences, swinging for the fences You got me swinging for the fences, swinging for the fences, yeah

embarrassingly my favourite track to listen to when i'm doing shippy/smutty stuff with rhys (and my #1 played song according to spotify for the year 2022, wtf). he sacrifices a lot of normalcy/living a relatively ordinary life for his Big, Big dreams, but it doesn't stop him from falling in love headfirst and wanting simplicity, anyway. he tells himself he knows his priorities and work always comes before everything else-- especially considering the work that he's doing and how many lives he's improving-- but the selfish romantic in him will Always Exist, much to his annoyance. he's mature enough to let love go if he can't have it, but "he misses it, every now and then".

THE HIGH ROAD // broken bells.

'Cause they know and so do I The high road is hard to find A detour in your new life Tell all of your friends goodbye It's too late to change your mind You let loss be your guide

rhys is so fucking lonely by the time of BL3 and by extension new tales from the borderlands, but it won't take him off the path he's chosen. yes, he has friends. yes, he always has people to talk to. but everyone who knows him as Just Rhys are all scattered across the galaxy, and he can't even contact a good number of them, and this knowledge of the friends he can no longer see will always quietly hollow him. it's got to be worth it, of course-- he's making his dreams come true, he's making up for shitty things he's done, he's making it big... but sometimes he'll wonder what if he just stayed with fiona, sasha, and vaughn? what if he really escaped the corporate world and just became a regular guy? he didn't owe promethea anything when he chose to save it after atlas 1.0 destroyed it to high hell, he didn't have to do it. rhys doesn't necessarily regret his chosen path, that said, but it doesn't stop him from wondering what could have been when the loneliness really hits him.

[cattyanon]

So this AU idea came to me 1 night ago and I spent a full day on this drawing I did cause I just had to get it out of my system if I'm to focus on writing The Horrors some more. So I present to you...

True Gaia Sonic!

Design notes not mentioned above:

-I took inspiration from those designs where one half is an angel and the other half is a demon.

-I'll get to the colors eventually but the only important thing to note rn is that the Light Gaia half is a very light blue while the Dark Gaia half is a dark blue. The arms are specifically the werehog blue while the rest is slightly lighter. Plus the orb on his chest is half green and half purple.

-The Dark Gaia half is purposefully more complex (to my own annoyance) and messier looking compared to the Light Gaia half.

-While the small chart I made depicts the middle quills, I think I should also mention it the difference between the bottom ones too. That being that Light Gaia half is more downward and relaxed looking while the Dark Gaia half is higher and more defensive looking.

-He can bulk up the werehog looking arm and stretch it.

-I was actually struggling with the shoe design until I made a happy accident with the right shoe with a small line.

-The tail is a combination of Chip's tail and a serpentine tail. You can't honestly tell me that Dark Gaia's body type doesnt scream serpent...

-Speaking of the tail, the stinger's effect is similar to paralyzation but not quite. It does that effect in game where the humans get all super hopeless during night. Like the icecream guy for example.

-Using a height comparison website, with the average human adult height being around 175cm according to Google, I'd say he's around 240cm. Not huge but substantially taller than a human.

Summary for the beginning of the story under the cut!

So there's this cult that collects a combination of Light and Dark Gaia energy so they can create the perfect god. A balance of both light and dark.

The True Gaia.

But they can't just make a god out of energy alone. They need a vessel, someone capable of wielding both Gaia energies.

Someone like Sonic the Hedgehog.

They know a good portion of Sonic's exploits as the Werehog, a being capable of utilizing the darkness of a god. And then there's all the times Sonic has saved the world. A true emissary of Light.

The perfect vessel for their god.

Lots of planning and preparation go into their scheme of kidnapping Sonic to use him as a vessel. Swifly and efficiently, they store Sonic in a previously setup test tube designed to infuse him with the energies of both Light and Dark Gaia. The process takes awhile as one does not simply infuse such powerful energies all at once. As strong as Sonic is, there is no room for such risks.

But before they can fully realize their goal, they're raided by the Police (since GUN had no reason to suspect this was anything but your average sacrifical cult) with the assistance of Team Chaotix in tracking them down.

Then they find Sonic what they can only presume is True Gaia in a test tube. And like. Knowing the kind of crazy stuff that happens in their world they decide that watever this might be, they did not sign up for this shit. So they talk with the Chaotix again in hope of contacting some heroes, aka at least someone more suitable, aka not GUN cuz they'll probably just make it worse and the world doesn't need another damn crisis on it's hands, to deal with this.

That's how Tails and Knuckles (for backup in case something goes wrong) wind up finding Sonic encountering True Gaia . Yet theres multiple things about this entity that signal a bunch of alarm bells for Tails that this might be his missing brother. The way they're blue, the much slimmer yet undeniably werehog looking arm, and most tellingly the shoe design.

Tails eventually manages to drain the tube and release him from the stuff he's hooked up to. It let's him fall to the floor gently and opens the tube. Now on his knees, Sonic slowly opens his eyes and then looks up at Tails. Hesitantly, Tails calls out Sonic's name.

There's a pretty noticeable echo in Sonic's voice as he responds to Tails with something like "Sonic...? Although that is familiar, we are the True Gaia. That being said, we must thank you for freeing us." And he studies Tails for a few seconds before going "Hmm... You seem very familiar as well. You called us Sonic earlier. Admittedly, the name feels more... natural than True Gaia, though I do not why. Maybe... Do we know you?"

And Tails, just wanting his missing big brother back, takes this as confirmation it's him and is like "Yes, it's me! Tails!" while Sonic True Gaia is there feeling strangely protective of this child he just met.

[katatonicimpression]

Hmm OK I'm about to just direct bitch about something I read in a tag and I'm aware that that's unkind but it's such a weird take to me, I feel like I need to express my thoughts

So, this is what they said:

This feels so strange to me. Broadly:

This isn't boring neutral coworker stuff, it's direct antagonism and also they kind of aren't friends?

They're relationship is antagonistic right now specifically because of whats happened in other series - so, not a lack of continuity but the opposite

The fandom point is bizarre in a number of ways

So Number 1, what we've been seeing between Sam and T'Challa in this series so far (since issue 1 let's be clear) is T'Challa being a dick to Sam unprompted. He's condescending to him and generally being prickly, and Sam clearly bothered by it. This is actually kind of fun to read, in particular T'Challa's insistence on calling him "Sam" only - it's interesting, T'Challa is intensely bothered by this one guy in a way that is kind of more intimate than their early encounters.

And, yeah, I don't think they've ever been friends necessarily. They've worked together a lot of times. They seem to like each other. Sam seems to really look up to and respect T'Challa, and T'Challa seems charmed by and impressed by Sam. But they weren't close by any means - they don't hang out outside of work etc. What we're seeing here is that same dynamic turned a little dark, purely because T'Challa is being a dick.

Also, unless something goes horribly wrong here on the writing side of things, it's clear that this antagonism is a plot thread that's been set up, currently expanded upon and will be resolved in the series. It's there on purpose and hopefully will end with them closer than before... and if not that, it will at least end with them putting this shit behind them (again, so long as the writing doesn't completely collapse behind the scenes which does happen in comics a lot lol)

Number 2, I agree that they seem to have forgotten that T'Challa made Sam's original wings, and actually also made his current get up, or at least the shield. I'd love for them to talk about that.

That said, I think you could bring it up in a way that compliments the current drama. Sam is indebted to tchalla, it's part of why he respects him so much, but also might make him pull his punches when the guy is being a dick... or does he? Maybe t'challa thinks he ought to, but maybe Sam doesn't care.

So, currently in canon, Wakanda is experimenting with a more democratic system, and T'Challa is having a personal crisis. He's still being the Black Panther, but in a more secretive, quasi-exiled way, and he's having difficulties reconciling his identity as his nations hero with not being their leader - he feels untethered. His current series (by eve ewing) is about this and it's good, I recommend. But, in short, he's more grumpy than usual because he's having the least relatable personal crisis of all time.

In symbol of truth, tchalla picks a fight with Sam (instead of just talking about how Sam mostly accidentally broke some wakandan laws). Sam is there in jeans and a t-shirt ((no suit, no wings, no shield) and wins.

This is, presumably, humiliating for t'challa, and he is canonically very pissy about it. You could imagine that the fact that he made Sam's gear could add to this dynamic. Sam wasn't reverent to him, didn't perform gratitude and then had the audacity to prove that he didn't really need his help anyway.

But yes, this is why T'Challa feels this way, its why he's acting like this. This is absolutely continuous with current canon. It's not an inconsistency. It just makes sense in universe.

Now, if you'd rather they just didn't write this drama because you'd rather they dropped this thread and just portrayed them as friends, then say that. Like, that's a completely valid opinion idk why you wouldn't just say it instead of acting like it's inconsistent writing when it isn't.

Number 3 is where I am confused. So, no one cares what anyone says on tumblr, that's a freebie. For twitter, yes sometimes writers do listen to fans in ways that end up not working out but is this person seriously suggesting that some writer would deliberately make a series worse to appease fans of other series? Think about that for a second. No one is sitting at a desk going "aha! I'll make the series bad, that'll show em!".

Not that I actually think the series is bad but you get my point.

So, the Fantastic Four are literally family. X-teams tend to be a mixture of family, found family and coworkers. This is true for avengers teams to, although they often have a greater percentage of coworkers who don't really know each other. This is because the x-men more often live together, and are often formed out of necessity because the humans are trying to kill them. The avengers are more often literally co-workers; a bunch of individual heroes, with separate lives, often living planets away from each other, individually recruited to a constructed team. Like, that's fine. That's not anti-avenger propaganda from fantastic four fans, it's just the literal canon situation a lot of the time.

This particular team has two people who used to be married to each other, then a bunch of people with varying degrees of familiarity and friendship. Two of them are currently having drama, and it's arguably the most emotional they've ever been about each other. This sounds like a good thing to me! This kind of storyline is what takes two characters from coworkers to something more meaningful, you know?

It's a particularly weird complaint to bring up with Sam. In the MCU, Sam is very much an avenger, was in the team for years and a pivotal part of it. In the comics, he comes and goes, joined to replace hawkeye then quit, led them for a bit in the 2010s (but that was mostly a different team) then quit again.. etc.. He seems to have a difficult relationship with the concept, and is only occasionally actually friends with these people (Steve, Jane). Honestly, it feels ooc when he's portrayed as friendly with some of them. But I mention it because he's a weird character to focus on to make this point.

Anyway, the series has gone out of its way to portray closeness between tony and carol, who do actually have a deeper friendship than many of the others here. But for most of these dynamics, the groundwork is there, but if you want them to be portrayed as close friends or a found family or whatever, then that actually needs to be developed in, you know, storylines. You can't just dump them on a team and say "they're besties now".

You might, in fact, want to write something where the current situations that the characters are in, and their recent interactions, affect the way they treat each other. Idk. Maybe even with some cattiness and antagonistic banter? And then maybe let that play out? Idk it's just a thought