#and the girl was just supposed to be a placeholder character but. who am i kidding she was a actual character as soon as i thought of her-

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

back at it again with my new oc bullshit

[carabas]

Dragon Age Veilguard liveblogging -

Mourn Watch!Rook was found by the undead as an infant? For a second there that had me worried Rook was going to turn out to have a mysterious Chosen One backstory instead of being just some dude Varric picked up in a bar, but the other factions don't mention mysterious abandoned infant Rooks. I love this actually. Why did the Mourn Watch not take him to an orphanage. Is this normal in Nevarra, does the Mourn Watch have foundlings around on a regular basis, or is it just Rook, was baby Rook the Mourn Watch's collective mascot, I can't wait to talk to Emmrich. And I'm resisting the temptation to give Rook vallaslin but delighted to discover the option is there even with this faction backstory, maybe your Rook could have lived with a Dalish clan in between life at the necropolis, it's possible. And LAVELLAN. MY GIRL. MY GIRL IS BACK AND PREPARED FOR HEARTACHE, I AM EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS IN THE CHARACTER CREATOR.

...wait, that can't be all the past choices we input, can it? Just the Inquisitor/their LI/whether the Inquisition was disbanded/whether they want to save Solas? There will be an opportunity to fill in more of the worldstate later, right? They probably just don't want us to get too bogged down in the character creator/prologue. I'm not going to worry. I'm a little worried.

PLAYING FOR ALL OF TWO SECONDS AND WOLF STATUE SPOTTED, I HAVE MISSED YOU

The frescos! The photo mode, the ability to get up close to see the frescos from any angle I like, even playing on xbox with no modding tools!! Incredible, I am going to be poring over every scene like a museum exhibit you've got to drag me out of, I am poking through all Solas's artifacts in extreme closeup, and also what is this wolf-headed instrument doing on the bed in his Minrathous hideaway, does he play music, why has Lavellan not heard him play music, has he been holding out on us

The ritual! ...still has that one extra Elgar'nan circle-headpiece statue on the bottom row of statues that doesn't match the top row, huh, I'd kind of thought that was just a slapdash placeholder kind of thing for the preview that would be edited for the final game. Why doesn't triangle-headpiece get a statue on the bottom row, why's Elgar'nan hogging an extra spot. Rude.

Rook: "Helpful advice from the elven god of, and I am quoting you here, 'Lies, treachery, and rebellion.'"

Solas: "Depending on the story."

The way Solas takes time out from his frustrated angry lecturing to let some amusement show through there, and then that You have exchanged verbal jabs with Solas popup, the most important achievement, giving our trickster god some enrichment in his enclosure

HE LIVED! I KNEW VARRIC WAS GOING TO LIVE i mean he looks pretty bad and it was a magic dagger so who knows what'll happen later but he was NOT KILLED OFFSCREEN IN A HASTY CUTAWAY IN THE PREVIEW! Phew.

Aaaand now that we're in casual clothes, my poor mage gets hideous pajamas. Ah, now it really feels like Dragon Age is back.

FELASSAN SIGNING CODEX ENTRIES IN THE LIGHTHOUSE ;_; And the Divine Imperatives codex entry musing on the nature of divinity in general and its effects on Solas and his followers specifically, and a puzzle to solve already and it's such a cute one with these statues, how am I supposed to ever leave the Lighthouse and progress the plot when Solas's base is already giving me everything I want. He kept a music room locked away! He has been holding out on us. "Finally, a beloved memory surfaces. A smiling glance, meeting at a crescendo, a shared moment of understanding" - given the way we opened this room, was that moment shared with Mythal? And he's recreated his specific frescos from Skyhold here in this hidden room! And despite the fresh paint supplies in front of them they're already in not great condition, and all the other frescos in the Lighthouse are so incredibly horribly faded here in the Fade where time is not real, Solas is really not doing okay

and neither am I, HELP, HELP, I NEED A TANK, I NEED A DOG, I NEED CARVER, CASSANDRA, ALISTAIR, SOMEONE COME GET THESE DARKSPAWN OFF OF ME, I don't think any Dragon Age has spent this long without giving you a warrior companion. Between Varric, Harding, Neve, and now Bellara, one ranged support companion after another, I'm really, really feeling pressured to make Rook the melee guy here, and I refuse. Just frantically spamming Fade Step all through Arlathan Forest.

IS THAT MY WIFE?? okay obviously it would be reading far too much into things to suspect the first raven I see of being Morrigan, but to be fair, they've had sneaky raven Morrigans before, she spent Wicked Eyes Wicked Hearts hiding out in raven form on Celene's balcony - aaaaand shortly afterward, here's Morrigan in the Veil Jumpers' camp! I've connected the dots, I've connected them. It was probably just a raven.

"I have borne many appellations." "I have had many names, but you may call me Flemeth." Welcome back, Mythal.

...But if Morrigan's here already, Mythal headgear and all, and we still haven't been asked to input any more worldstate information like, say, whether she drank from the Well of Sorrows, or the existence of her son - that's seriously it then, those extremely few questions in the character creator were seriously all the worldstate customization we're getting? That's shocking. I'm being so well fed with lore about Solas and the gods right now that surprisingly I don't mind this all that much, but it does feel like they're losing a huge part of what makes Dragon Age Dragon Age. And I was really hoping our Dalish Grey Warden companion would have maybe just one line about what the existence of a Dalish Hero of Ferelden meant to him.

Actually in general the gameplay here is reminding me a lot more of Mass Effect than Dragon Age - the new combat style, the single linear story path to follow with almost no side quests so far aside from the puzzle to unlock Solas's hidden room, Bellara's busy making calibrations and Rook's in their room looking at fish, and now we're heading out on our ME2 recruitment mission. And I mean, I like Mass Effect fine, and every Dragon Age game is always drastically different from the last, but this is an adjustment

SOLAS HAD HAIR AND WE GET TO SEE IT we get to wander through memories of solas's past this game is so good to me I can't stay mad at it.

the god of rook's people now speaks to rook in their sleep and in their meditations and rook even walks through his memories, rook is surrounded by all these charming romanceable companions and yet the most intense connection that is being formed right now, by far, is with solas, and it's in such a wildly different way than Lavellan who got to know him as just Solas first, the person not the legend, Solas the vulnerable apostate in the middle of a powerful organization she leads; Rook is having intense personal conversations with his very own god of lies and he knows it, insane about this.

The prison mission is so beautiful with the enormous sea creatures in the distance and bones at the bottom of the sea and, most importantly and most beautifully, Lucanis drawing some melee fire away from me ;_; tears of joy ;_; finally a companion I can rely on ;_; And Neve complimented his demon on having good taste in possessing him! Oh my god Neve, stealing Hawke's pickup lines? You can do so much better than a Hawke pickup line!

[yourmomsgranddad]

9-1-1 8x06 Thoughts

First of all, BUMMY BONES!!! Period! I was waiting for that. I screamed like my team had just won the Super Bowl and I feel kind of bad because I saw Buck's little sad face. :(

But that's not my only thought.

People were saying that Tommy and Buck break up felt out of place. I know this will sound kind of biased as a Buddie fan, but it didn't really seem weird.

Buck revealed to Tommy that he not only knew Abby but she was an important person in his life and she changed him and then they both moved on. He probably heard that and thought 'Oh no, I'm just a placeholder, he's going to dump me, let me get ahead of him before he can.' Which is very fair.

He should not have made that decision for Buck but I think he was just protecting himself. He didn't want to get hurt because he knew he liked Buck but his interests lie elsewhere.

Most people don't stay with their first gay relationship (unless you're Nick & Charlie which they aren't.) and Tommy sensed that. He was just a way to help get Buck out of the closet and he didn't want to go further with him when he figured he was going to drop him at some point.

And I'm not saying this as a Buddie fan, I'm saying this as a person with eyes and ears.

When Tommy gives Buck the basketball tickets, Tommy tells him he doesn't have to take him, he could take Eddie instead. But then he sees joy that sprouts on his face and he takes it back.

When they first get together, Buck told him he was vying for his attention. Tommy looked him dead in his face and asked him clearly "my attention?" It was very obvious throughout the episode that Buck was mad that his best friend was hanging out with someone else. When Buck was looking at Eddie, waiting for him to look at him, Tommy wasn't there.

And Tommy noticed.

But he knew Buck had some feelings to get out so maybe if helped him out of the closet, he would feel good about himself. But then he started to like him, and so did Buck. And he knew this going in, it wasn't going to last.

So to the people who said the break-up came out of nowhere; I think it was a wake-up call to Tommy. Buck asked him to move in and he was like 'Oh no. This has gone too far.'

I am a person who was taught 'you get what you get and you don't get upset'. So when Tommy and Buck broke up, I didn't immediately get pissed at the writers, I want to see if they do something good with it.

But enough about those gays.

Madney baby no. 2! Hell yeah! I hope they don't make Maddie depressed again, I'd love to see her get to enjoy all the moments of being a mother since she missed some of them with Jee. Maybe some jealousy from Jee.

Eddie mustache gone! Metaphor for not hiding?

Next episode, more Athena. Yes please.

Also next episode, hinting at Buck getting struck by lightning.

This episode hinting at the well Eddie got stuck in?

Is Buck going to get shot? Are they finally going to give us the storyline they were supposed to? Maybe.

I think if they go that route, it definitely could jumpstart the slowburn Oliver was talking about.

Speaking of Oliver, I saw some other posts that were talking about him being biphobic for saying he wanted Buck to start sleeping around with everyone.

I completely understand stereotypes are bad. But there's nothing wrong with wanting to find out what you like as a queer person. And there's also something very human of having gone through something kind of traumatic and falling back into bad habits.

Buck is heartbroken, he's had too many bad relationships and he could be feeling bad for himself. He might go to a bar and end up picking up a girl or guy. Also, it's very obvious this guy is a freak. Ring cutter?

Him sleeping around wouldn't be giving into a bisexual stereotype I don't think. It was a part of his character before he found he was bisexual. Just because he's bi now, he has to drop an old plotline because it's a stereotype? Is it really a stereotype if this was a part of him before he figured out this other part of himself?

Anyway those are my thoughts. Can't wait for next episode!

[toweringclam]

Persona 6 Confidant 0: The Fool (Dream Jester)

Overview, Background and Setting, Protagonist and Pagliacci

"I meant it when I said those words. 'I am thou, and thou art I.'" -- The Dream Jester, Persona 6

In Taro Yamada's dreams, where repressed memories and dire premonitions swirl together, he meets a girl in a masquerade mask and a jester's motley. She asks him if he knows her name, and somehow, he does. This is where you input a name.* After inputting the name, she offers him a contract "to find what has been lost in the darkness and shine a light into the future." He accepts, and signs an X.

Like all Fool Confidants, her ranks automatically increase as the story continues. One of the first things she does is make it so that Pagliacci is a permanent Persona that does not take up a Persona slot. Additional rank-ups provide unique skills that keep Pagliacci relevant even into the late-game. (Originally, I thought it should be outmoded like the others are, but I think it's thematically important for this story that Pagliacci is always there).

After a few ranks, she asks Taro, "What do you think I am to you?"

You're my best friend.

You're like a sister to me.

Some kind of... spirit guide?

A lover, hopefully.

Answer the last one and she immediately shuts that down like, "Oh. Eww. No. Try again." It kicks you back to the choice without the fourth option. Choose any other option, and she answers, "Hmm... close enough, for now. I'm sure you'll figure it out in time."

The truth about the Dream Jester is tied up in Taro's own origins. Once, they were twins attending Ueno High School. One of them was a writer, one of them an actor. In the events leading to the Old Theater Collapse, one of them was chosen as a sacrifice. The other fought to save them, but failed. As a way of saving both their lives, the two became one. The disaster was supposed to be much worse than it was but because of the incomplete sacrifice, only a few dozen died instead of millions.

Two died so one can live; one died in body, the other in spirit. Taro is what survived. The Dream Jester is what was lost. Not just dead, but gone. Erased from the world. That's why no one remembers him. Or her, for that matter. Because as far as the world is concerned, he did not exist before that moment, and she still does not.

* Technically, the Dream Jester has no canonical name. In the manga adaptation, anything that uses her name would be blacked out. In the anime, any time someone says her name out loud, no sound is heard. The only other character who's aware of her (The Hanged Man, coming later) refers to her as Hana, but that's just a play on Taro's own placeholder name, the equivalent of calling her Jane Doe.

[moonlit-orchid]

OUR FAVORITE BLUEY FROM ZEXAL FOR THE ASS BREAK THING(THAT SOUNDS WRONG BUT I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND?

(XD I GET IT)

How I feel about this character

I think anyone who's ever seen my blog knows exactly how I feel about the blue boi! BEST ZEXAL CHARACTER FULL STOP. BEST YUGIOH CHARACTER. He is just my absolute favourite character and I wanna hug him SO DAMN BAD (and do not even get me started on how much my heart dies whenever I play Cross Duel he is such an impossible sweetheart)

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Myself No one. I see him as aroace anyway, and I just can't romantically ship him with anyone, though if I had to... maybe Sparrow XD (even then not very romantically)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I LIVE for non-romantic/brotherly Keyshipping. I mean, yes he and Yuma will have deep moments but then they throw shade in a way that just convinces me that they're brothers. Also this might be just the dub, but I also really enjoy the idea that Astral also acts a bit like a parent to Yuma and basically adopted him (i mean sometimes in the dub he sounds exactly like a tired parent XD)

My unpopular opinion about this character

(I am gonna lose friends for this :( )

I don't see Astral as they/them or nb. I can totally get why some people headcanon that, but I just... can't do it. In fact I actually headcanon that Astral gets super offended when called anything other than a boy, simply because he's sick of people confusing him for a girl due to his feminine appearance and more feminine dress style on Earth (not dresses but still feminine) and he doesn't like how everything is gendered and how your biology dictates what you're supposed to like or how you're meant to look. So yeah, that's my unpopular opinion (though I fully understand anyone who follows the nb!Astral headcanon because it does make sense)

One thing I wish had happened to this character in canon

There are WAY TOO MANY things I wish had happened to him! Main one is that I wished he also became a human and stayed on Earth, but I also wish he'd been given a proper canon family or even friends so that him going back to Astral World made sense. Oh, and that he actually had a proper name because I swear his name is like the writers just put in a placeholder name for the Astral Being and it stuck.

Thanks for the ask!

[princesscallyie]

Some rough concept sketch for the new characters. Nothing is final. Mostly testing out colors, outfits and such.

Okay so first, I had to re-familiarize myself with Emperor Awesome and I forgot how much I liked him, his voice sounds hot to me lol. (So the fish man thing was before Hody… interesting…) He likes to party and get chicks so I thought okay, so he goes to Earth, parties, and knocks up a chick and then it’s the kid and the mom together. Then I was like… I feel like I do that a lot, the whole mom/son relationship so I thought I’ll switch it up by a fun son/dad relationship where the mom kinda just drops the kid off and now Awesome has this random lil guy to take care of. Speaking of which, I’m leaning on the name Guy for him cause I feel like that’s definitely what he’ll would call him. “Who the hell is this guy? How am I supposed to party hard now?” Or something like that. Or some other silly name like Bodacious or Duke Awesome. Design wise, I’m really digging a 90’s vaperwave surfer bro vibe for him. Bright saturated colors to match his dad. For his transformation thing, I’m leaning towards something like this:

Like his arms turn into beefy orca arms so he has super strength and he can give himself gills and whatever. He has a full orca beast form but for whatever reason he can’t go into often.

Next for the girl. Obsessed with y2k vibes on this one and I think green is the color I work with the least with designs so she is kinda refreshing. She walks around with a retro custom laptop and one of those new touchscreen flip phones with charms hanging off. She’s cool. The parents come the idea of combining Abby and Priya from turning red. And the idea of best friends dating their partners best friend cause of AJ and Mee Mee, I thought that would be cute. For her personality, I’m thinking she’s not as chatty as Gigi and she’s like the cool collective popular girl, who’s lowkey a techie. If Gigi is star and voice of the gossip blogs she runs, Meesha (placeholder name for now) is like a moderator in the background, who will find your information in seconds if you even think about talking trash about their favorite boy band member. Again inspired by Turning Red, it’s like weaponized female adolescent. Like what is the typical 00’s omg let’s go to the mall teenage girl could ruin your life.

Alright, so final designs and descriptions coming eventually, I might loop back to the Calypso kids so I don’t forget all the ideas I had for them.

[xiaonesis]

(Disclaimer: Pls don’t take this to heart.)

Firstly, Xian is a wonderful name, (i thought at first it was a boy-tho i think it’s because its similar to xiao-but it fits for a girl too) I hope it didn’t take you long to come up with that name since you said it took you 3hrs but who am i to judge-

Secondly, i think that the pitch kinda spoiled half or how the story is supposed to be but I’m pretty sure if i see it before gws i would have been interested on how the it will go so it depends on the readers if they think they were spoiled or not(I still love the pitch you made regardless), I suggest tho to hide the fact her body is in a coma to leave the readers guessing on what happened to her body back in earth(like i said, I love it regardless). Lastly, I give a huge support on everything you’re about to go through about the book and everything(i said it again-), Tho, hope u don’t mind me finding people doing rewrites amusing because i can RELATE, Good-luck on that coaching program too <3.

-this is just my opinion, not telling u to change anything(-do not note any sarcasm in this-).

(Double disclaimer: Pls don’t take this to heart.)

Haha no worries Anon!

I didn't take this to heart! But thank you for the time you took to write in detail your thoughts for me!! I really appreciate it! :)

As for Xian's name, LMAO you're the 2nd person to tell me that it reminded them of Xiao originally haha And I guess it can come off that way considering our fandoms and our addiction to genshin 😂

But it did take a bit of time to think of Xian (abt 2hrs? probs more as it is still ongoing), even though it is a placeholder still. There's definitely a reason why it is Xian, coming from the mandarin characters I chose for her name, plus Xian is also a girl's name in Chinese (the sound, but characters play a big role in deciding it) ; I haven't decided whether I want to go with the current characters chosen though so we shall see!

The final pitch I settled on actually removed the coma bit! Though it was for word count reasons+avoid unnecessary debate before reading on 'how tf her body is surviving' but I do get the whole 'spoiled' for the reader part about her body (I defo had a eeek moment putting the coma in at first). I originally had it in there because I did not want them to think it's 'just an isekai' fic as world hopping is crucial to the protag/story too but I managed to find a different way to get that across! So this was good to know that others also feel that it is best kept a secret! It's definitely hard to decide what to keep and what not to, even in the long summary I temporarily wrote for the rewrite since it had to be taken in consideration that it will no longer be a fanfic and has to be substantial enough to hook in readers that are not attached/invested in the characters prior, unlike HQ fans.

There's definitely a lot to be tried and learned from still moving forward, beyond this pitch and all, as I try to turn the fic into something proper! So your thoughts and feedback really helps me consider how others perceive it and lets me balance against other things that needs to be taken into consideration!! TwT

And I really appreciate your support!! It truly means a lot! UwU 😍

[lord-of-the-ducks]

Ok so in my AP Lit class, we’re doing a project for Pride and Prejudice, and the details aren’t really important, all you need to know is that I’m working with 5 other people and we’re doing a what we do in the shadows inspired mockumentary.

I really like writing, and I also couldn’t sleep last night, so I cranked out about 6 pages of a script about P&P characters being transported to the modern day and this character, Austen, who basically had to babysit them. Basically the equivalent of Guillermo. Anyway, I didn’t have a solid idea of their name at first, and up until earlier today, I had been using “X” as a placeholder and referring to them with they/them pronouns, since I had no idea who was going to play them.

Anyway, I showed my group members what I had written, and since it was, well, a lot, they decided to do cold reading where everyone would just go through and read each part out loud. A couple of my group members immediately volunteered to read for the the more iconic characters like Darcy or Collins, leaving me with Austen, who was still being referred to as “X”. The read through was fine, it actually really helped me get a feel for what was working and what was clunkier, and by the end, everyone was super excited to start putting things together. However, we still had to figure out X’s name and gender. I was still assuming that someone else would be playing them, so I said that they could just match the gender of whoever was playing them, but someone pointed out that we already had women playing men and that we didn’t necessarily need to do that. Somewhere in the shuffle, it was decided that I would be X since I had read for them.

Then, one girl in my group suggested that since we were already supposed to be making a distinction between the strict gender roles of the regency era and the modern day, X should be nonbinary as a way of demonstrating this. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea. It was really good. Everyone agreed hat it was a good idea.

But uh… if you’ve seen some of my previous posts, you may be aware that I myself am nonbinary, and that I’m in the closet for safety reasons. I had a whole ass crisis about it last night, and that was one of the reasons why I couldn’t sleep. So, imagine you’re me, someone who everyone in the room assumes to be cis, being told to play a nonbinary character. Just to be clear, there’s no way that this girl would have known that I’m nonbinary. I’m definitely visibly queer, but I’ve only told a select few people and she was not one of those people.

So yeah, TDLR, I’m a nonbinary person pretending to be a cis person who is going to be pretending to be a nonbinary person. My life is a fucking sitcom

[ghostsofmemories]

hi from other august!! i'm obsessed with the antonyms for homesick title! how do you go about coming up with your titles? also you should tell us more about the antonyms characters :D i am so hyped i hope you say more abt this project if you are comfortable <33 -- august @seatraiin

this is so nice!! thank you so much!!! 

titles:

Insect Poison (last novel wip): I knew the title had to be something toxic because pretty much all of it is about toxic relationships, and insect poison sounds cooler than rodenticide or something

Writing My Obituary (last poetry wip): it went through a ton of titles when I first started compiling it, all named after poems or lines from poems in the book, and I liked this one the best, plus most of the other poems ended up getting cut

Where Edges Meet Soft Things (current poetry wip): it came from a line in this poem. I wrote that it was my favorite thing I’ve ever written (it might be, still), and it also set a theme for my book, which is, you know, edges and soft things and where they meet. have I ever mentioned this project is the love of my life?

Antonyms for Homesick (current novel wip): I originally wanted to title the book as an antonym or opposite for the word homesick, but none of them really fit the way I wanted? this was originally (by originally I mean a couple hours ago) supposed to be a placeholder title, but I had the idea to name each chapter after an antonym of homesick that sums up what the characters are feeling in that chapter, rather than trying to find one that sums up the whole book, which is impossible.

characters: 

I already talked a bit about characters in this post, and that’s still pretty much all I know about them, so instead I’ll just post an excerpt from each of them? and explain a little? idk what I’m doing.

Laurel: 

After the funeral, we walk into our house together for the first time in years. I don’t want to know how many. The door whines the way it always did—long, gentle—and none of us know who should be the one to step inside, who would be the best to confront the emptiness waiting for us. Better put: I don’t know. My siblings, of course, are waiting for me to take the initiative and do the thing no one wants to, because that’s my job. Perhaps we’re all adults now, but on this front porch, we’re children again. And as far as children go, I’m the oldest; appointed leader by chronology.

she’s tired and sad but would rather die than tell you, probably. this isn’t clear in this excerpt but right after this, she goes on to describe each of her siblings and it’s clear she’s very invested in the lives of those around her (and she’s also so a social worker so it works), and finds herself extremely uninteresting.

Clove:

Through the walls, I try to recognize animosity in Maevis’ shuffling, in the opening and closing of dresser drawers and unzipping of suitcases. I can’t draw anything of it. When I ripple through the halls, searching Laurel and Evangeline for something similar, I find nothing. It must be wrong, assuming already that they’ve learned and hate everything about me, but it’s doesn’t feel so unfair to gauge my safety here, to make sure each room has two exits.

listen I would try to reserve tension or whatever but to be honest I don’t care that much! if you read this far into an ask game answer, you deserve to know. basically, he’s very gay and his parents found out. he cut off contact with them years before they died and avoided his sisters that whole time, and he has no idea if they know or not. fun times.

Maevis:

I’ve been here barely three hours and I already feel like a child again, and not in a good way. I make sure my old phone still works (it does) and wonder if you can still hear what’s said on it through other phones in the house (you can). I unpack my bags while I listen, hopeful and hopeful again, that Sebastian will call. That he’ll change his mind and beg me to come home, or come here, or at least ask for his ring back so I have an excuse to see him one more time.

our girl Maevis is straight and has a shitty ex-boyfriend (fiance). can we get an f in the chat. okay but in all seriousness, i have a feeling her arc is mostly going to be learning to be on her own.

Evangeline:

My room barely has a coat of dust on it and my closet is filled with clothes that still fit me. Nothing has aged and nothing has changed besides the fact that my parents are gone. I don’t know if I should be grieving or how to do it—if I stare at the ceiling long enough, it’s last year, again, and I’ve only just left this place. It’s my room but not my house. Today is the last day anyone can lock me in it. If I don’t want to, I never have to come back here again.

Still, I know I will the second they ask me to.

someone please help her, she hasn’t had nearly as much time as her siblings to process the trauma they went through. she’s going through it folks. 

if you (or anyone) are interested in hearing more, I also actually have name origins for some of the characters in this book! am I only 3000 words into it? yes. am I thouroughly obsessed and have no way of going back? also yes.

[hogwarts-is-my-wonderland]

i don’t know if you know this (i’m guessing you don’t) but iron heart is already the superhero in the marvel comics who is kinda tony’s protege and who is also a black girl so it’s kinda weird that you took her superhero name and gave it to a white woman — but i’m guessing it was unintentional and you didn’t mean to

Hello, thank you so much for your interest. To anyone who read the above and wonders (I'm not popular, but it is very important for me to acknowledge it as a writer and for personal reasons), I'd like to address this in a serious manner. Warning, I'm a rambler so I'm going to build my answer with a lot of text. Before I officially throw myself in, I apologize to anyone whom I gave the wrong idea and ended up hurting or offending them in some way or another because of this.

So. Let's start with the facts (or my excuse, whichever one you prefer):

Robin Drake (my MCU OC) was conceived when Avengers: Age of Ultron came out, so that was like, 2015? I thought of calling her story Iron Heart (two words, not just the one) but with so many movies coming out one after the other, her storyline just kept building and it hasn't stepped out from Plot Bunny World. The "Iron Heart" title has stayed as a placeholder since.

In the meantime, Ironheart/Riri Williams (a black canonical character in the Marvel comics) was officially introduced in 2016 and she is Iron Man's successor. She's even got the A.I. version of Tony Stark as her number one supporter.

Having said this, I'd like to clear out that the OC, in no way, was ever intended to become Ironheart. NOT AT ALL. As a Mexican-American (raised in Mexico), I am very aware of white characters' appropriation of POC's storylines. Like OG Miles Morales' backstory key plots being taken by MCU Peter Parker. Or the original Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, having her debut and title stolen by Carol Danvers.

No, the "Iron Heart" part at the time was meant to represent Tony and Robin's relationship as siblings. Comic!Howard Stark had this credo: "Stark men are made of iron." It's a toxic sentence, one that sent Comic!Tony Stark spiraling down a path toward alcoholism; it was also intended to be incredibly misogynist from the get-go because of the nature of Comic!Howard's character (if you know your Marvel lore, you know what I mean).

The way I am developing (important keyword, by the way) Robin's story, this little sentence shapes her entire relationship with Tony, thus the Iron Heart part. The story is supposed to be about them. Not the Avengers, not SHIELD, not Thanos—them, the siblings who, because of the hand of fate, must deal with what life has thrown at them together; must deal with the legacy of not only being a Stark but also that of Iron Man and live with it as gracefully as they can. And believe it or not, Riri Williams, from the moment I read about her, became the endgame of this crazy story.

I want to ramble so, so much. This is a plot bunny that hasn't seen the light of day in any fanfiction site, a story that's still taking place and reshaping itself in my head every time I remember to because I want it to go down a different path from the MCU (yeah, an AU). The OC takes a lot from personal experience (mine, friends', family members'), so I haven't had the courage to even write the beginning (again, because it's personal and it feels like I'm revealing some harsh truths to myself) let alone think of a name for that first story (Iron Heart is meant to be the series name). It wasn't meant to be a serious or professional project (no fanfic is), but you Anon reminded me why it is.

First, let me tell you what I have planned so far for Robin Drake: she is a bastard child (conceived through an illicit affair) and a woman who could not finish her studies because of her limited resources. Not only that, she is just as smart as the Starks but her intellect is derided by people who think themselves superior to her (both men and women, including Tony Stark and some of the Avengers). And society has beaten down her wishes to succeed, so she is also disillusioned and frustrated but like all must, keeps going because she had the proper emotional support. She had a mom who loved her, a stepfather who taught her to stand up for herself, and friends who empathized with her.

Then she gets the one chance to become who she wants to be thanks to Tony Stark. Not because he is rich or because he becomes her "sponsor/daddy sugar/all-loving-brother" but because he sees her potential and challenges her to see beyond her closed mind and do something about it.

See the difference? Two completely different characters who happen to only have in common the words ‘iron heart’. So, to me, this a story of growth. Or it will be, once I get it into words, if ever. Though Robin gets an Iron Man armor (not the way you'd expect), she doesn't and never will become Ironheart. But like you, Anon, I wondered the same thing: by leaving that title, was I taking someone else's story? After years of thinking until I finally started to (tentatively) post about her here (and I was encouraged by many plot bunnies whom I would love to read about but must resort to wishful thinking), I think I reached a "no." It's an idea—still not set in stone. I am very open to taking off the Iron Heart part at any time, but until I start writing this down or think of a different name when imagining it, it will take me a while to change it.

If you read my whole ramble, thank you for taking your time. Thank you, Anon, for making me acknowledge this publicly (one never knows) and think about it more carefully. And again, I'm very sorry if I ended hurting or offending anyone because of this misconception. If you believe my explanation wasn't enough and I'm entirely in the wrong, I understand. I'm also open to receiving feedback of any sort (and I'm aware I could get some backlash) as long as it's constructive (i.e. I won't answer to unreasonable comments).

P.S. I want to keep posting about Robin Drake (the aforementioned OC). So I am going to take off the Iron Heart name and leave it as MCU Plot Bunny. I can't erase previous reblogs, so those will keep the name.

P.S. 2. If the text is an eyesore in your dash, please tell me so I add a Keep Reading line, I don't mind.

[sleepynegress]

WATCHMEN thoughts from a black woman fan...

Thought I’d do a quick rundown on all the eps so far, because this show has so much to chew on... 

And TBH, I am starved for a perspective that isn’t a smug white dude yelling “I CALLED IT!!” (yeah, fool that’s what good storytelling does *purposely* lay out crumbs on the path!) or “ugh, too lib.” The fact that we have this wonderful internet or a mass forum, means we lose the organic first watch experience that I remember from back in the day. So, too many try to outsmart shows by cheating and then smugly pat themselves on the back for “getting it”.   I’m saying, the point isn’t the twist or the gotcha. The point is good storytelling, which this show does ably.  So relax. You don’t get a cookie for “calling it” and you won’t get lambasted as stupid for not seeing it.   Just. Enjoy. The show.   ANYWAY...  You know I gotta put it beneath a cut and bullet it because my scatter-brain lays out things easier that way....

First LINDELOF?!  I mean LOST was okay and now I feel like I need to make a beeline to The Leftovers, because acting, writing, visuals, plot, food for the brain... All. here. in a genre (which you know is my favorite) package.

I picked up a copy of WATCHMEN on a whim waaay back in 2006 (?) in a dusty used book store I used to frequent to just chill in my corner and read a stack.  And I remember having the exact same feeling reading it then *galaxy brain food entertainment goodness* as I’m having with this show...but sadly didn’t have with the movie.  The fact that people came away stanning the “heroes”?  Was a symptom of how wrong Snyder got it.

So, setting up this series sequel as a different type of hero deconstruction, using blackness, especially given how fandom swerves to ignore all the story cues to stan a white villain...is a BRILLIANT way to make certain the show keeps the essence of what WATCHMEN is about. Basically, Lindelof used blackness and race as his own Trieu empathy bomb for what WATCHMEN is actually about. It’s harder to stan Rorschach as a symbol for white supremacy

....I’m saying... white men ain’t supposed to be good at this... Hey, IDK maybe being Jewish helps...wow. he actually is handling the all the layers of black experience allegory and ancestral memory/trauma *soooo* damn well.

*whew!* So Yahya, is this gorgeous, amazingly smart black actor who is picking some interesting projects!!  He’s like MBJ, w/o the anime hotep taint, in terms of projects he’s picking. LOVED this reveal. 

Someone posted that they wanted that whole centuries of longing love cliche with a black woman centered... *whelp*  How about one better, where time don’t even exist??

It must be re-iterated that the work and thought put into all the easter eggs of connections is just so much hand-rubbingly, awesome, world-building and minutiae food for fans... and most especially and uniquely... “empathy” in the black experience... such as...

the existence of an actual 70′s blaxploitation movie called, and I shit you not: Abar, the First Black Superman

Her husband being Cal (as in Kal -El)

Laurie always thinking Cal is fine, because her subconscious knew!

Her blue dildo being from a company called Excalibur, --Ex. Cal Abar

Cal’s very straight conversation about atheism with the kids

Cal’s eternal calm

the much more resonant imbued meaning in Hooded Justice’s costume now that he’s actually black

the fact that this show went there, when it comes to specifically, white gays and a twist on that Paul Mooney quote “Everybody wanna be [in with] a nigga but don’t nobody wanna be a nigga.”

the latest with... intra-racial dynamics with non-white people, whiteness and assimilation being touched on with that flash of nostalgia-hazed memory of Angela seeing Will being bagged at the same moment as the bomber who killed her parents... which I think foreshadows both the common cause and complicated morality of Trieu’s ultimate cooperative plan with Will Reeves.

REALLY all of the nostalgia flashes have meaning...they are all narrative underlines for character motives and hints of what is to come.

UM!!! That elephant is such spot-on symbolism because the real Lady Trieu  was said to have ridden a white one, and because all the things they say about elephants and memory are true... 10 pound brains, people (but I did not like seeing an elephant in that state)

Okay... so back to the show: Looking Glass remains the most trustworthy of the whites on the show IMO.  Remember, he joined AFTER the White Night. And he has infiltrated the Kalvary, because one of the masks was missing... And purely because “I would like to see it” (.gif) I really hope they provide a full recount of how he dispatched the Kalvary in his bunker.

Laurie is my girl, with all her elder cynicism and remaining longing for her cosmic fuckboy...(and she should NOT be underestimated I KNOW she has a plan) but I think her feelings for the Dr. may cause a stumble or two (maybe that’s why she was slow getting up off the couch)

Angela remains a Regina King whose character has subverted the whole SBW thing by actually have a fully realized character beyond it (love, children, a damn life!) . HELL, we didn’t even *see it* fully until this last ep but yeah...man... she is the dream and nightmare of her grandfather.

I still really want to know what the adopted kids backgrounds are... I feel like of all the theories online...Everyone has forgotten them and given the heavy theme around fertility, cloning, reproduction, memory as empathy AND her son saying to Angela in the first damn ep. (I hit him because you wanted to hit him) etc... I think there may be more *there*-there. Okay... I’ve written enough for now... So, I’m just gonna call his a placeholder for any thoughts I may have forgotten, because I could do this all day.  I’ll add/edit later as I need to. That said, it bugs me so much that this fandom isn’t thriving as much as other lesser shows featuring black women.  Pleease get onboard with this show!!

I both liked and had complicated feelings about the dynamic between child Angela and Officer Jen (can’t wait to learn more about her) because what she saw in the girl, was the pain redirected into resilience and indifference to the violent end of the perpetrator, w/o a trial(!) mind you... which adds up to potential to be a good cop...*mmhmm*

Adrian Veidt is the least interesting aspect of the show for me, albeit weird and funny (I missed our boy Scar, in Jeremy Irons) his prison is surreal and imaginative and Tom and Sarah are both doing great jobs playing the dim imprints of empty-until-filled clones

Most think HE is Trieu’s father and I have to say what her mother-daughter said to Angela gives credence to that. I could see her having the same kind of conversation with Veidt and coming to a conversational space with Veidt’s plan for humanity. Also “D” is the first letter in “daughter”

[olderthannetfic]

Lord of the Rings hit slash fandom like the fist of an angry god.

Tolkien fandom had been going strong for years at that point, but it was very much a fandom into studying canon and maybe writing some canon-ish gen. Not only was slash not very popular, but the sorts of tropes one finds on AO3 in abundance weren’t popular in general, even for blatantly canon ships. Legolas/Gimli was the one big(ish) slash ship I recall seeing.

And then the movies came out.

The cries of outrage from the Gimli fans were quickly drowned out by a tidal wave of Aragorn/Legolas porn. And Frodo/Sam. And Gollumn badtouching people. And orcs.

LOTR also seduced everybody that Popslash hadn’t already gotten to the dark side of RPS. And yes, it was 100% called LOTRiPS even though it included m/f some of the time.

I was more of a casual reader, but my impression is that traditional Tolkien fandom--including the fanficcy parts--kept going on various topic-specific archives, while a lot of the new people from the movie fandom were active on Livejournal, their personal websites, and a bunch of new mailing lists.

(Look, I was only actually subscribed to that Yahoo Group for orc porn, okay.)

The movies came out in December of 2001, 2002, and 2003. This was an era of personal sites for one’s fanfic, webrings, and multiple single-topic archives per big fandom. Livejournal was founded in 1999, but fandom didn’t start invading it until 2002 and then heavily in 2003 when it switched from paid/invite-only to free account creation.

As the years have passed, LOTR movie fandom has gone from an unstoppable juggernaut to a few barely-visible fossilized bones sticking out of the rock. For every archive that AO3 gobbles up, there are 3 more that disappear.

Yet Tolkien fandom overall is still huge, and not just because of the Hobbit movies. I recently went to an annual event in L.A. that’s a birthday picnic for Frodo. It’s all themed food and people in costume in the park. I am super into food as fanwork, and Tolkien fandom is fantastic for that!

Like Sherlock Holmes and a few others, Tolkien fandom has a rich and elaborate ecosystem of different fan groups, many of them making creative things, but only a few of them interested in fanfic qua fanfic. As mentioned in some previous meta exchanges on here, it’s one of those fandoms that puts paid to the idea of a single, dominant “Transformative Fandom” tradition or a clearly defined separation between that and Affirmational/Curatorial/etc. Fandom.

At Escapade, LOTR had a brief but intense heyday just after the films were released. (Recall, they came out in December, and Escapade is in February.)

2002 - The Fandom That Need Not Be Slashed (It's always been difficult to write good Tolkien slash, since in his universe there's no physical love and no language or it. But now that the movie has given the characters faces (and some very nice ones too), what has changed? Is it even clearer that slash is irrelevant to Tolkien's story? Or can slash deepen our understanding of the characters?)

2003 - Legolas! Slut Cypher or Everyelf? (Of the Fellowship, Tolkien provided the least canonical background on Legolas. He is a placeholder for "Elf" and essentially a cypher. Does this leave us free to place any face we wish onto his character and onto elven sexuality? And if the only way to slash him is to turn him into Slut!Legolas, where does that leave canon?)

2004 - Still the Slashiest (Does the eventual marriage of two major male characters diminish the rampant slashworthiness of the LotR movies? Could anything?)

2005 - Those Troublesome Elves (Beautiful, immortal, androgynous, mysterious-Elves are perfect slash fodder. So how do beloved characters like Legolas wind up whiny, petulant girls? What about Tolkien's Elves make for better fanfic? What does "immortal" really mean for Elves? And what's the deal with marriage, sex and monogamy?)

The fanfic I remember best from back in the day is the infamous Who Knackered Aragorn’s Catamite?, formerly on the Henneth Annûn Story Archive, but now available on AO3.

And then there was the fic with the line “We likes hobbitses, preciousss... especially when they touchesss each other!” But I have no idea what the title was or where to find this literary gem today.

II suppose the most truly iconic fanwork from the movie fandom is... well... this:

LOTR on Fanlore

LOTR on AO3

LOTR on FFN

[straycatwandering]

I don’t get how people can love Suki as a character.

I mean, I want to love her, but TPTB never bothered to develop her beyond ‘I’m a warrior but I’m also a girl’. 

Like, they didn’t give us a character, they gave us a placeholder. How do you identify with a character who isn’t given any internal life or weirdnesses or insecurities?  She pretty much just exists to be desired and admired, and occasionally to be convenient plotwise.  What the hell am I supposed to do with that?

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

it’s an... instinct.

so... i watched the rise of skywalker a little while earlier, and, uh. i have to be honest, you guys: it was very underwhelming. i understand it had to deal with impossible expectations and unexpected challenges, but even accounting for those issues, the movie was inescapably... flat. i feel none of the joy or buzz that i felt in abundance after tfa and tlj; just an empty sense of oh. that’s that, then. it didn’t have to be this way, i think? but after a year of watching disney blockbuster after dull disney blockbuster, i don’t know why i expected anything with even a smidgeon of creative ambition.

(actually i do know why: because the last jedi exists.)

i don’t really want to hang around shitting on this movie because i don’t at all enjoy complaining about something that i don’t also find fascinating/interesting in other ways, so i’m just going to say my piece and go.

SPOILERS AHEAD. like for almost every aspect of the film. i’m going to put spoiler tags on this and the rest of the post under a Read More but if by any chance you’re reading this in spite of all of that and don’t want to be spoiled, scroll past this post as fast as you can.

1. what the hell was even going on? this movie zipped from plot point to plot point without really letting either the characters or the audience absorb the impact of what was going on. i still haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that palpatine is back. or maybe it’s his pal, friendpatine? we may never know. it all went by so fast.

2. like. i see the dramatic and narrative potential in having rey be a descendant of palpatine--the very embodiment of evil--and be the saviour of the Light, while the dark side is served (to a point) by a descendant of the skywalkers, who are supposed to embody everything that is good in the galaxy. but the last jedi brought up concepts and ideas far more interesting than the dark-light binary and ideological struggles recycled from 40 years ago. the revelation of rey’s heritage undermines what was easily the strongest and most poignant scene of tlj: that rey’s parents were nobodies, and that the person who was going to save the jedi was just this girl abandoned on a desert planet, a survivor who thrived thanks to her ingenuity and hard-earned skills. it was of a piece with finn the former stormtrooper--a faceless target destined for an unceremonious death--turning out to be the one to inspire the resistance and the key to destroying the first order’s most terrifying weapon yet. 

but no... turns out anything that’s force-related on a monumental scale has to tie back to the skywalkers in some way, because, uh... blood legacy and destiny is the most important thing after all, oops?

2.5. the hard earned lessons from the previous movie were thrown away in an instant and replaced by anodyne aphorisms: she saw your spirit, be your true self, we can do anything together. this movie’s answers to its ideological and philosophical divides is akin to slapping a fortune cookie note over a black hole.

2.75. how thrilling it had been to think that the force doesn’t belong to just one family but to the galaxy entire! that heroes can arise from unexpected places! that even the most starwarsy hotshot hero can learn to be humble and that it’s that humility that finally shapes him into a leader! that for a hot minute this franchise was doing something new and exciting and setting the stage for future generations to explore this universe in different and interesting ways!

2.8. “my parents saved me by selling me into slavery” is an actual (paraphrased) line from the movie! are you listening to yourself, rey! what the actual fuck! are you sure there was no other way? are you sure??????

3. i will admit that tlj underserved finn’s arc, but at least his sidequest with rose in tlj had something interesting to say. tros always seems on the edge of realising finn’s arc, only to get distracted by the next laser gun battle or “banter” with poe. the indiscriminate murder of stormtroopers in this trilogy never sat well with me given the very first scene of tfa, but the lingering shots of the corpses of stormtroopers in a lot of a scenes in this movie gave me hope. when jenna and her group were revealed to have been defectors themselves, my heart soared. but finn’s never given a moment to let that sink in, or to really reflect on what that means and so his arc remains frustratingly unresolved.

3.5. oh, and rose tico was completely sidelined. she might as well have not been in the movie at all. it would’ve been less insulting.

4. the one big thing i was banking on was seeing rose finn and poe together at last--but alas. most of their banter was just them sniping at each other, and rey seemed utterly removed from the other two even when they were together--just wandering off vacantly when they took eyes off her for a second. their three way hug at the end was wonderful but couldn’t make up for all the disappointment that came before that.

5. some of the visuals were great, but the final fight was so bereft of imagination that they had to resort to a literal column of light extending into the sky--a placeholder climax for any movie that wants to end things in an Epic way but has run out of original ideas. even the “i am all of the sith”/”i am all of the jedi” felt horrifyingly like an avengers: endgame reference. kylo ren’s redemption was odd and inorganic. i just--

i. i’m sorry. actually i have a number of other things i found disappointing about the movie but i’m going to stop here. it had a lot to do on its plate without trying to retcon almost everything that the last jedi set up as well, and the result is... a bit of a mess.

still, movies like tfa, r1 and especially tlj hold a special place in my heart, and now that it’s time to say goodbye to these characters and this universe, i gotta say: it’s been fun. thanks for everything. i wish it had ended better.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Museum of Mayhem Art Analysis

ahhh it’s finally here and it’s AWESOME. Lots of credit to @ifalnasminiatures for bringing this to my attention! Also credit to Hayder Hype for providing (nat zero six on gearbox forums) sources (Ashley Landry on twitter) in the description of his video because oh man it’s a lot

you can view most of these art pieces on the borderlands instagram as well

lots to talk about especially regarding the calypso twins so let us dive right in

tl;dr: tyreen has a weird red marking on her face in some old designs. i think troy used to be blind and missing his metal plates. more proof for my elpis/chemical sludge/lost legion theory that the twins are using said chemical sludge to give their followers psuedo-siren powers bc a dahl pumping station (hyperion pumping stations on pandora) but dahl had a presence on the moon

one of my favorites, it reminds me a lot of the Mask of Mayhem, but for villains.

Punk Girl is shown again twice, probably further proving she’s tied in with the CoV somehow

we also got some crazy looking villains such as

baby face. which is all kinds of extremely fucked up

this dude who looks like he could be a miniboss with the glasgow smile and the cool goggles

this guy who i legitimately thought was dr zed for a hot second there

could it be

the evilest brother?? pfft nahhh

this girl who seems like she could be a unique character with a baseball cap. wondering if maybe she’s related to Punk Girl in any way. What’s the verdict on the other band members? 🤔

uhh let’s give it a solid maybe and move on

this piece! very interesting to me

so, the very first thing i noticed is zane’s eye patch being on the other eye lol

amara’s tattoos are also gone, however that might’ve been for reasons similar to the japanese cover art of the game. 

most interestingly is a point @ifalnasminiatures made and it’s that the calypso twins are actually palette swapped! you can see Troy is the one with the white hair and Ty is the one with the darker hair. which I think mayyy play into a few things we see later about the twins

we also see a tiny ship in the background. i can’t tell if that’s sanctuary-iii or the blue/yellow ship, it all blends together a lot due to the quality of the pic. but it is next to the calypso twins, which makes me want to believe it’s the blue/yellow ship we see with red markings all over it. you know this one from the mural of mayhem wallpapers

you can see the reddish markings on the back right next to the engines

then we have ummm

this cover art

😬

thanks for not using this one gearbox cuz 

oh my god

she just reminds me of suicide squad, that’s not a good image you wanna dredge up from the deep recesses of your fans’ brains

she might be a unique character given the clothes/hair? cuz you don’t normally see psychos with stilettos on. or yknow, shoes in general. the hair also seems way to clean and neat to be a psycho/cultist

i just feel uncomfortable looking at this, so moving on

a different logo. also not my favorite cover art, but at least im not physically uncomfortable looking at this. that poor girl’s pelvis... anyway

lots of silhouettes

interestingly, i feel like the roses might have been a thing they just put in for the new cover art. haven’t seen hide nor hair of them across any of the pictures i’ve seen.

we got a lot of figures. out of them i most definitely recognized amara, salvador, maya, another salvador?, zer0, moze (maybe?), and axton. i thiiink one of them is maya as well, but im not 100% on that. 

i can guess why they didn’t pick this one: it’s hard to tell who’s who. a lot of these poses make the silhouettes kinda hard to see and the merging together at the bottom makes things even worse. i do think it’s interesting there are some bl2 characters on here as well, but hayder hype mentioned they very well could be placeholders, and given that i can’t make out fl4k or zane, im inclined to believe him.

this art which was used during the promo for this event

rip elpis i guess LMAO

a better look at the psycho himself from the promo released by the borderlands twitter.

there’s a new red planet which hasn’t been shown off before, looks like a gassy planet kinda like jupiter, but interestingly it has this green crack in the side?

very reminiscent of pandora’s eridium scar. i am wondering if this is because this planet had a vault opened, or if it is tied to the Eridians at all. be interesting if it was their homeworld.

also i have no idea what the symbolism is in the homeworld destroying another planet but maybe we shouldn’t think about it too hard e_e

the other planet that’s being destroyed... idk fellas

it doesn’t match up to me but like, this is only one shot

i don’t know 🤔 if you really squint, maybe you can see that hint of purple at the bottom there?

here

tbh, i thought this was elpis the first time i saw it due to the cracks, but i figured elpis doesn’t have like continents across its surface, just craters. and wayyy more cracks.

so it’s probably not pandora and it’s probably not elpis.

huh...

i do think the actual shot is suspended above promethea, you can see the familiar asteroid belt surrounding it

there’s also a planet in the background,

which i imagine isn’t pandora bc no eridian scar

could be elpis or eden-6, or the 5th planet we don’t know about. i kinda get the feeling the 5th planet may be that gaseous red planet tho. which is probably going to be super weird to traverse now that i think about it. they said oz kits weren’t coming back, right? i wonder how that would work. hmmmm

there’s also this redder planet here which i actually DO think is Pandora. if you squint real hard u can see the purple from the eridian scar. plus the color matches up pretty well with the pictures provided above.

there’s also these two bodies over in the corner where the light is coming from. i can’t tell what they’re supposed to be

there are also these little dudes in the top right

i assume they’re maliwan? they remind me a lot of the maliwan drop ship things that fly overhead when you enter promethea

YESSS okay this is the start of some PRETTY WILD twin stuff

troy: missing his tattoos, blind in one eye, has a weird mark above his eyebrow. also, no metal bits!

Tyreen!!! with a red stripe across her left cheek going up to her eye??? no tattoos on her left arm as far as we can see, but that might be for marketing reasons (she’s also covering up part of her bicep). she’s also missing her coat and chains and wearing a different glove.

we also have a bunch of bl2 VHs taking up space. again i think hayder hype is right in that they’re simply placeholders. not much else to say, but 

this trend of Tyreen having red markings on her face and Troy being blind in an eye (or both) actually continues through a fair amount of these posters!!!

more cover art. one of my least favorites again... i just think it looks like the psycho is puking out the VHs. also, seems to be an older version of the psycho mask.

fl4k seems to be less rendered than the rest of the cast? like they have less detail, especially on their coat

also you can see an older looking space shuttle up at the top, which reminds me a lot of the one we use in TFTBL to get to helios. except less caravanny and more rockety

the splatter also reminds me of siren powers, with the purple and the glitter. it’s cool that it’s showing a different shot than what’s behind it. maybe a hint to siren powers because it’s sort of like a portal.

more puke! 

this time troy is blind in both eyes it seems,

tyreen seems to still have a mark on the left side of her face, im wondering if this ties into her scars at all? it doesn’t seem as prominent as the previous red mark.

Zane seems to have an actual eye patch instead of his more high-tech eye patch, which reminds me a lot of the leaked character concepts from like january i wanna say

amara seems to be dual wielding lol i wonder if originally that was going to be one of her 3 skills but then they were like “wait salvador. wait. nisha. FUC-”

also fl4k is being obscured by this weird saturn-like planet. let them be free!

moze is missing, the saturn like planet shows up 2 times total, and that blue/yellow ship is seen again behind troy

as for the purple stuff? you already know my theory that the twins are going to be using the chemical sludge on elpis to empower their followers. it could also just be straight eridium/slag. you know, like the testing from the WEP with bloodwing and even krieg. we’ll have to see. it would be interesting if they tied krieg into the story through there.

i do lowkey think it’s chemical sludge though, because some of it is actually glowing blue in places, you can see it clearly below amara’s feet. maybe some tie in to siren powers cuz they glow the same blueish color. who knoooows not i

big shot of this psycho here, looks like he’s crumbling. 

i really like the 4 VHs standing at the base with the elongated shadows. very dark vibes from this tho, probably not suitable for the series as a whole. i can see why maybe they decided not to do it. 

i wonder if we’ll see this giant psycho statue somewhere on pandora. it would certainly be a sight to behold. 

also i kinda wish we had cloaks like the concept art shows. cloaks are cool

more sketchy art. this one is also kinda strange, i definitely get why they decided not to go thru with it.

possibly tie-in with the ‘mother’ imagery we get on the propaganda signs across pandora.

lmfao the foot

very bl2 like, im glad they didn’t stick with this. i like that they decided to change things up

troy seems to be blind and also missing his metal implants on his face. his jacket also looks a lot different, it looks more like tyreen’s with the spikes and stuff across it. we also can’t see his metal arm at all, tho we do see his sword! which looks a lot different, im glad they decided to revamp it to be more visually interesting lol

tyreen is more interesting to me. it looks like her right arm has like a silver coating over it? unless that is a metal arm as well. she also is wearing a different kind of glove. her tattoos are missing as well, but again, it’s probably because of the cover art. her scars also definitely seem to have reached her left cheek at some point.

zane also looks a lot different, tho amara, moze, and fl4k look about the same.

another shot of the ship, this one is definitely the blue/yellow one. there’s gotta be some significance with that, right? either we’re getting skins for sanc-iii, we’re going to be painting it a new color, or it’s a different ship.

what the HECK

maybe the twins stole sanc-ii and we’re using sanc-iii. idek. this ship is driving me up a wall lol

gun head.

not a lot to say here. i actually like this one lol it’s very mellow and straight to the point. it’s nice that the logo is right in the middle, not at the top like most of them.

game. buy it. okay? cool.

similar to the other background we did, a bit different. again, like @ifalnasminiatures pointed out, the twins are actually palette swapped here. 

Zane also has the old eyepatch on his right eye instead of his left eye, and his jacket is black instead of blue. fuckin’ edgelord.

one of my favorite ones out of all of them. it’s beautiful, i really wish they had kept it. Fl4k is missing but i assume they were meant to go next to Amara? i also think it’s interesting Moze is in the front, as I took Amara to be the leader this time around. Zane is also an older design, with the eyepatch back on his left eye again (starting to think this is an aesthetic thing lol) and a black jacket instead of blue.

We see the twins on the top. Tyreen has that mark on her face again, and Troy is the same as the last few covers.

We also see Maya, Zer0, and for some reason Brick? Which is weird to me considering we have a few other characters who initially feel much for important to the story (cough Lilith cough), but I’m not complaining. 

the purple splatters again make me think this is a tie in to eridium/slag/elpis’s chemical sludge. i also like the logo being worked into the design instead of just thrown on top, i think that’s a nice detail

i couldn’t find a great shot of this poster which is a shame because it’s one of my favorites

a lot of baddies to go around on here. i love the dude up top, he reminds me of the Anchormen from the captain scarlett dlc in bl2!

these dudes

we can see Punk Girl on the left again

and this guy who appears to be in some medieval armor

i have no idea what’s going on there but i am EXCITED

i’ve been thinking and tbh i think the multiple planets thing was just an excuse for gearbox to go absolutely ham on the character designs/settings. 

i mean why should they have to hold back all their medieval armor designs for another dlc like tiny tina’s? all their pirate/sea-fairing designs for a pirate dlc? fuck it! go WILD. i think they did, anywho

there’s also this post which... tbh i can’t make out much at all. again, seems like an older psycho mask design. it looks like there are characters in the splatter on the bottom left, but it’s very hard to tell who’s who, especially at this angle and image quality lol

if we get a better shot later on i may return to this piece and try to figure things out!

we also have this piece which is giving me huge ‘Happy Together’ vibes. very trippy

moze looks like she’s using an untextured atlas gun? dunno what’s going on with that tbh lol

i really like this one too. it’s cool. i get why maybe they wanted to go a little crazier tho, feels too simplistic for the MAYHEM vibe they’re going for.

oof! can we get an F in chat for whatever planet/moon this is

lots of pink floyd vibes going on here as well

we see a different looking blue/yellow ship flying away from the explosion. it seems to missing a lot of the parts that make sanc-iii so recognizable including the engines/wings

i like the destruction vibe they’re going for here, really sells the “universe destroying power” the twins are supposedly going to get. 

anyway, in addition to the cover art pieces, we also got a few concept art pieces as well!

this bit which looks like a gun

you see the aiming mechanism up there? you see how it’s aimed at that planet/moon? yeah i 100% timed this so you’d see the above concept art with this immediately after :P (im kidding i didn’t but hey now you don’t have to scroll)

fuck yeah babey

we also have seen something similar to this in the gameplay trailer!

i didn’t actually think it was a giant fucking GUN tho. can we get an F in chat for Promethea and/or whatever else this thing gets aimed at

yooo

i thought this was opportunity at first cuz of the bridge but it’s more likely promethea

when u go meet zer0 you can see some water surrounding the city so i would guess this is somewhere else on promethea

im mostly interested in the giant fuckin triangle in the middle of that courtyard looking area

oh also the giant trench of destruction on the right there. that’s probably important, too.

more concept art!

i think the bottom of the 4 VHs is actually what was leaked in january.

some art of the twins on the left there, tyreen is so much shorter than troy omfg

and this does indeed looks to be a younger version of angel so credit to @prettypinkdork for mentioning that on my angel post. it is nice to see those tech-y wings in action, definitely does prove it’s her.

we can also see this art of what i think is Punk Girl, which is interesting to me because she looks to be doing something with her right hand. possible siren powers? maybe! 

we also get a much cooler, bigger version of that maliwan ship people were talking about, with what look to be maliwan... eye bots? surrounding it. this is soooo fuckin awesome to me because it reminds me of a sailboat. and airships are fucking COOL

but something interesting is that i don’t think this ship was actually always maliwan

we got an A in the back here... for Atlas? i mean... you know it’s coming... the colors would match up. Yeahhhhhhh...

more interesting is that it actually looks like maliwan covered it up with their flags/tarps. i would not be surprised if this was claimed by maliwan possibly during the takeover.

a cyclone, with a whole fuckin lot of detail. just... holy shit.

not much else to say here though. i like the stuffed animal on the side, though

a better shot of jakobs manor which holy shit looks badass as fuck

big turret/observation thing on the right there? im not sure

pretty sure this is eden-6. also more tropical trees? possibly a water planet? but maybe just ocean on eden-6. also there seems to be like webbing on whatever is on the road, so maybe some spider-like wildlife?

most important to me is this

yeah i would bet that’s eridium/slag/the chemical sludge from elpis

im pretty convinced this is something on elpis mostly because the DAHL logo on the side. which again, they were on pandora yes but they were mining for iridium not eridium. if this was pandoran pumping stations, that would be hyperion.

i do think this is elpis. and i do think the twins are using the chemical sludge that mutated the lost legion into those fake siren things to give their followers superpowers.”holy holy holy” indeed.

this, plus the rakk wings on the psycho in the mask of mayhem are just convincing me more and more

that’s all for now folks. i gotta run

[jxffhxrdy]

Smackdown 5/8/2020

Hey guys! Back again with my opinions (that you didn’t ask for) on Friday Night Smackdown last night- May 8th, 2020. Let’s do it!

Of course, this is the last show to send us into Money in the Bank 2020 and I have convinced myself that whoever won during this show will lose on Sunday. Take that with a grain of salt...

♡ Mandy vs. Sonya  (+) (MVP)

So first up, we had the Sonya vs. Mandy fight, which, if I’m being honest, I thought was going to be the sleeper match of the evening. Damn was I wrong. These girls killed it. They both gave super convincing performances and they have amazing chemistry together- you can tell they’re great friends outside of the ring. The Otis storyline is kind of meh for me, but after this match last night, I’m hoping to see more of these two together. This is definitely getting my MVP of the night.

♡ Male 2 Team Tag Match (-)

Okay, yes. I’m giving it a negative. It’s not that it was a bad match; all four of these teams are great! It’s just.... the same match we’re going to see on Sunday. So I’m kinda burnt out at this point. They set up this fatal four way a little early. The only way we can make this different is if Xavier Woods comes back. I don’t know his physical condition, but he has been out for 8 months. I’d love to see him in action. However, despite this, shout out to Lucha House Party and John Morrison for being TANKS in this match. They did great.

♡ Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus (+)

Man, I am so stoked to see Jeff back in action. He’s just as good as he’s always been. Obviously I’m biased (if you can’t tell by the name of the blog), but he’s still such a joy to watch perform. Sheamus’ story arc here kind of came out of nowhere, but I still see what they’re doing. Plus, two “B-list” veterans going head to head is amazing. I’m very looking forward to continuing with this and I wish the match had gone on longer!

♡ Female 2 Team Tag Match (-)

Stop trying to make Lacey Evans a thing, WWE. Please. I’m begging you. I’m so over her random ass character decisions. She just shows up at random times and is randomly angry? I don’t know. Also, I get Bayley is now this cocky stuck-up as her character, but what was that “Give us a break for a second” thing? That was.... weird. Tamina destroyed everyone and I’m really hoping this was a precursor to her getting the title (although I don’t think it is.) This match was boring and I’m kinda over the womens Smackdown division at the moment.

♡ Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt Face-to-Face (?)

I’m putting this has a ? because I really don’t know how I feel. For starters, I think this storyline is past its’ prime. We should’ve gotten it soon after the Wyatt family disbanded. Obviously, they can’t mention Harper or Rowan, so it just feels weird and incomplete in a way. Braun is a cuddly teddy bear to me (I really do love him), but I also know he’s technically not supposed to have the belt right now, so they’re doing things on the fly. That being said, these promos seem... off. Braun is obviously scripted out of his ass and while he plays it off well, he’s teaming with a genius on the mic- Bray Wyatt. Wyatt can sell any promo he’s given and can make it seem like his own words. The Firefly Funhouse is the best thing on Smackdown right now and I think it’s a decent placeholder until Reigns gets back, but I’m still wishing it was just.. a little different. But we got the puppets and that makes me happy.

♡ Male 2 Team Tag Match (-)

Alright. Here’s my issue. The idea of having a Baron Corbin/Cesaro/Shinsuke 3-way tag team makes me the happiest person in the world. Or, an even BETTER idea- Take Sami Zayn off the Intercontinental Title (which they should do anyway...), give it to Corbin, and officially make the Cesaro/Shinsuke tag team. Because they would destroy in that division and Cesaro deserves it. Corbin is great, I love his character, and all 3 of them are amazing fighters. On the other side- Gulak (boring), Bryan (boring), and Otis (again?). The whole trainer/trainee thing with Gulak and Bryan is so boring, I can’t even bring myself to care. Bryan without a crowd is... rather disappointing? I think he depends on that pop from the crowd and obviously, without anyone in the building, it just flatlines to me. I also don’t really care about Gulak. He’s good, don’t get me wrong, but is he the next big thing? No. It’s no secret to anyone that Vince lives in Otis’ asshole, but putting him in this match was a big ol’ mistake. Not only does it 100% scream the end of Heavy Machinery (which should’ve never fallen flat), it takes away many opportunities for other wrestlers to have made their redebut. We haven’t seen Chad Gable since the Rumble and as far as I know, he’s not injured? Or Elias- he has that budding feud with Corbin! So many wasted opportunities. On the plus, the ladder breaking thing with Otis is definite foreshadowing and I’d die on the hill for Cesaro.

♡ Who is the Hacker?

We got another glimpse at the Hacker tonight, which I love. That is such an interesting story and I cannot wait to get that reveal- assuming they do it correctly. I’m seeing rumors flying everywhere that it could be CM Punk. Which, alright, I’ll humor that for a second. If they were to bring Punk back, they would do it for a crowd pop. Never in a bajillion years would they bring Punk back into an empty show. It would be a waste of shock value. Now, if the world lets up and we have a sold out Summerslam... maybe. Maybe I can see that. But also that would be assuming that Vince or Punk would want to work with each other again! My guess is Ali and this is SUCH a great way to bring him back into the picture. I think Ali is a super underutilized performer and this is such a great way to build hype. I don’t think it could honestly be anyone else- unless this is a weird ploy to bring Graves back into the ring (I know he’s training at the moment). 

thanks for reading guys and tune in for my thoughts on Sunday’s MITB!