#archi is musing

[exhausted-archivist]

This is something I've been mulling around for a few days now, and the more I rotate it around in my brain the more I really like the idea.

Anyway, Varric would be a better sobriety coach/sponsor for Cullen than Cassandra. It would have been a great way to not only explore Cullen's relationship with his addiction and the Chantry in a more neutral not duty oriented space like he does with Cassandra, but there is also the added layer of Varric knows what he did in Kirkwall. He was there.

I don't always think that the devs should cater to meta knowledge of the player, because let's be honest, the Inquisitor has no reason to hold any sort of negative perception of Cullen outside generalized dislike for Templars. There is no reason for Cullen to divest his guilt, trauma, or even work on his deradicalization with the Inquisitor who he has only known for less than a year or at most a year by base game canon. Varric though, he was there, he was there while Cullen was going through initial withdrawal, through the cleanup effort, he saw Cullen at his worst and saw him working to be better.

Cullen's story in dai doesn't need to be about his deradicalization. It should and is primarily about his sobriety as well as learning that he is more than his time and role as a templar. Something I think Varric would be really, really good at.

Debating on how much I want to delve into explaining this thought.

[b4kuch1n]

simulated earth (it does not matter)

transcript

[melomacaron]

They were so gay for this

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

"You may sit upon my lap." - Jay to Archie

"W..w..what!?" Archie blushed red hearing the words from Jay's mouth. Though, he didn't know how to react towards it feeling all nervous now.

[tophthedaydreamer]

y'all i'm really tempted to preorder sonic x shadow generations now

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Hi! Phantom Fleetway here! I've been wanting to ask for a bit, but Tumblr is being weird, so I'm on Anon for now.

But, I wanted to ask you, any opinions on Surge/Elias, Silver/Mephiles, or Infinite/Fleetway Super Sonic?

Sure thing!

ㅤ

Surgelias

Honestly, I didn't really get this one at first, but it grew on me.

A friend of mine shared with me a fanart piece they found on tumblr of Elias covering a sleeping Surge and Kit with blankets and kind of just looking at a sleeping Surge with the purest love in his eyes about it, and then we scenario talked.

And I think my sweet spot for an au of them meeting would be something like just after he exhiles himself. This is a point where Elias is still feeling pretty bad about himself in terms of how he ran the kingdom of knothole, but before he's been living his small village life long enough to be stronger and more jaded than before. Then for Surge and Kit the sweet spot would be just after the overpowered arc. Kit is retreating with Surge in arms to try to get her to a safer place. Ideally (as my friend and I worked out) the three would meet in the middle here, Elias wouldn't know enough about them to judge them harshly, and the three would sort of lean on each other (after the event where they agree to help each other out) for the time being.

I can see Elias coming to care for Surge and become interested in her in a way that's a bit similar to how I see him becoming interested in and caring for Sonic. And if he gets to know her well enough (and they go through enough together) I can see him coming to love all her edges as well.

As for Surge, I'll be frank. I see her on the aroace spectrum to begin with, and to me she doesn't really express or feel feelings like love in the same way most people do. When it comes to Elias, more than likely her brand of attachment will show itself not through fluttery feelings and soft love and care. Rather, on the surface he kind of just seems like a guy who is her companion whom she only relies upon when strictly necessary, but in reality I can see her being just...a bit possessive. Her brand of attachment here would be shown by her being unwilling to just let him leave her life now that he's become a part of it.

In the end though, ideally for me there would be some onesided kitlias on Elias's end as well. If the scenario was right enough for him to fall for Surge, I think he would naturally start to grow a bit attached to Kit as well.

Of course, there are plenty of ways an au like this could be taken, especially if Elias learns about things they've done or they try to kill Sonic in front of them.

My secondary ideal dynamic between them would probably take Elias's characterization about the time he starts the secret freedom fighters. I think it would be neat for (kind of Geof/flias style) Elias to have more tension with Surge (potentially after witnessing something like her actions during the overpowered arc?). On one hand, I think they could have a lot of neat tension as enemies to each other (with Surge being the trickster type who isn't a good person but also will help save the world at the end of the day and Elias being highly suspicious of her), and, on the other hand, I think they could have something closer to the surg/isper style of tension in a scenario where they used to be enemies (and possessed the previously mentioned tension about it) before Surge decided to join the restoration/freedom fighters/etc and Elias has. Thoughts and feelings about that.

So yeah I can see the potential for them if their relationship is crafted just so

ㅤ

Mephilver

Although Mepha/dow is my favorite Mephiles ship, I think at this point I can confidently say that Mephilver is a close second

Ironically, I'd thought at first that it would be my #1 favorite based on what I'd seen of the ship from an outside perspective (from fans and antis alike). What had drawn it to me was this description I kept seeing of Mephilver as this toxic ship where Mephiles would be grooming/manipulating Silver to a great degree, making Silver dependent on him. I had thought that their relationship was that of a hedgehog and his trusted mentor who'd been manipulating him to do his deeds all along, and who was ultimately not very good to Silver (see: people talking about how the ship would be inherently abusive or saying that it straight up is).

Or, in short, I thought that when I finally played Sonic 06, I would see that Mephiles was a major figure in Silver's story who had been emotionally manipulating him, taking advantage of his naivety/trust to drive him to do ultimately dark deeds (while making Silver believe he was only enacting justice), and even perhaps been at least lowkey abusive to Silver.

And by god was that an incorrect assumption. Kids, never assume you know what a Sonic game's story, canon character relationships, or characterizations are like based upon fans or anti fans talking about the thing publicly. Take the sonic fandom wikis with a hint of salt too.

At the end of the day, I was actually disappointed by the lack of Silver and Mephiles having any kind of relationship in Sonic 06. Mephiles just kind of shows up to convince Silver and Blaze to kill Sonic (asserting that Sonic is the reason Iblis was released), and then maybe shows up again in Silver's story once or twice after that to be like "Hey, did you kill Sonic yet". Like. There's nothing there. Not even a miniscule part of me could understand how people who had played the game or watched cutscenes could so confidently assert that Mephilver was a "bad problematic abusive ship" based upon their canon relationship which is why I just assume most loud Sonic fans haven't seen 06 outside of clip compilations to laugh at, the sonic fandubs, or jokes about it in general

And so it was actually Mepha/dow who entered my heart as #1 due to their canon relationship dynamic (the fact that Mephiles puts significantly more work into trying to convince Shadow to join him).

But...that doesn't mean it was over for Mephilver for me. While they sadly just don't have the canon interactions to back up any kind of interesting relationship for me, I do believe there's a lot of potential for them. So I like to imagine scenarios in which Mephiles HAD turned himself into a trusted figure in Silver's life (manipulated him, and had less than a pure relationship with him). I like to imagine post canon au scenarios in which Silver (who is very vague on the events that occured in 06) takes in Mephiles, and the two become closer while Mephiles grows in power once more in the background. I like to imagine aus in which they're both a bit unhealthily attached to one another. There's also the potential of an au where Silver sees their relationship as God x his most devoted believer and number 1 guy, and Mephiles playing into this (examples being Mikami/Light, Ixis Naugus/Geoffrey, etc). And I also like to imagine scenarios in which Mephiles explicitly wants to keep Shadow by his side as his partner, and Silver as his...pet more or less (his agents of chaos who would ideally (in Meph's pov) assist him in the destruction of space and time).

There's just so many possibilities with them. And where Mepha/dow is interesting in the way they'd ideally be closer to equals/a power couple, Mephilver is interesting to me for its lack of balance and potential unbalanced power dynamics.

ㅤ

Fleetfinite

Okay yeah this one compels me

While it's neither my favorite Infinite nor my favorite Fleetway SS ship, I read one really good fic about them and saw some fanart that won me over pretty fast.

Two people who want to kill each other and do try to rip each other apart but also kissing about it is...kind of my jam. And that works with them, since Infinite loves having a good fight with someone who can stand up to him and Fleetway SS (I should mention now that I haven't yet finished StC so take my Fleetway SS thoughts with a grain of salt) seems to enjoy killing and maiming (especially while hyped up on a great deal of chaos energy).

I think I've also seen depictions of these two on tumblr where Fleetway SS often annoys Infinite (essentially being the kind of hedgehog who is willing to fight and claw into Infinite as well as just around to annoy him and ruin his day).

For me, no matter whether Infinite wishes Fleetway SS would leave him alone, wishes to kill Fleetway SS so badly it makes him look stupid, or is genuinely that afraid of him and wants to get rid of him, their potential dynamic is interesting to me. Likewise, whether Fleetway SS just gets enjoyment out of tearing into Infinite within an inch of his life (or potentially actually trying to kill him) for funsies or becomes specifically attached/attracted to him (and. Does everything short of killing him about it), it's interesting to me.

ㅤ

Thank you for the ask! It was really fun to get to think about these pairings and talk about them for a minute🥰

[domrom]

TOP 15 FAVORITE ARCHIE SONIC COMIC COVERS

Something fun for a change.

These are my favorites- not a single one on here do I not think about constantly. Be it for it's composition, artmaking, or iconic status.

I used this site to find the HD covers.

#15-10:

#9-5:

#5-2:

#1:

[kaitlinamberxo]

“I'm a weirdo. I don't fit in, and I don't want to fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on? That's weird.”

kaitlin's 100 favorite fictional muses — 77/100: Jughead Jones

[roetrolls]

hey archie what are your thoughts on mr dominion

"Alright, honest answer? Guy is awful. I literally can't imagine how fucked in the head you gotta be to act the way he does.

I ain't usually one to speak this openly on a topic, but after facin' that Lefera bastard down... I'unno. Puts some shit in perspective. S'much's I joke about the man, I'd be lyin' if I said he didn't scare me.

Well... Nah, that ain't exactly right. I ain't much afraid of anythin', tell ya' the truth. But it's the same feelin' I get thinkin' about the Reverend and all my pops 's been through."

"There are some trolls out there're downright evil. My grandcestor was one of 'em. Ol' man Mahkir's another. It's somethin' about knowin' I'm made'a the same stuff as those types.

It's somethin' I think about a lot. What we're made of. Marrie's 's much a troll as I am, and I ain't willin'a debate it. But Marrie's good to 'er core. I ain't.

N' folks like the Dominion... Like the Reverend, like Favion Lefera... They remind me what that means. What kinda evil I'd be capable of if I didn't have a world of people to care about 'fore myself."

"And I am. Capable. Don't trust anybody thinks they ain't."

"And... That's my quota on earnest answers for the sweep. No follow-ups."

[playingwithstarsabove]

To this day, I still can't help but wonder what the Archie Sonic adaption of Sonic Frontiers would've been like. Would it be like the official comic or would the other Freedom fighters join in and get stuck in cyber space with only Nicole out? Would Nicole and Sage have interactions? Who know what might have been. But that's all in the past now, and the only way is to move forward with what we have now.

[sage-nebula]

Thinking about how when baby Tails met little Sonic, and Sonic was so nice to and supportive and encouraging of him, and that was the first time in so long that anyone was nice to or actually liked Tails, and so an achievement was unlocked for Sonic: Miles Prower will now die for you.

And then a little while after that, when Tails tells Sonic that he's already got the best family, and that Sonic is his best family, and he loves and cares about Sonic more than anyone else, and so an achievement was unlocked for Tails: Sonic the Hedgehog will now die for you.

These brothers just love each other so much, I cry.

[exhausted-archivist]

In regards to my last reblog on the scale of Thedas, latitude and stuff. I’ve been thinking about how much thought I give all this. Especially because this topic is one I’ve been talking with a lot of people about lately. It crops up a lot with people who, like me enjoy natural world building or are fanfic writers. Or really anyone who sits down and reads the lore at length. More times then not the question of Thedas’s scale comes up.

So, I want to establish I am very well aware that I’m likely giving it more thought than the devs. I have that luxury as a fan and consumer of the series. It is extremely relevant for me because I like making maps for the series, plotting out travel paths, and scaling things for da ttrpg campaigns I write.

So because I think about it a lot, I notice all the many different scales of Thedas in terms of travel time. How the scale they gave the ttrpg doesn’t match up with any scale they established in the main games or books. I think if the devs sat down and thought about establishing a standard scale and also considering just basic stuff we also wouldn’t have the Deep Roads be 2-4 miles / 3.21-6.43 km below sea level and display a lack of geothermal qualities. I think they’d consider how they built a world with at least 9.1 million people and tons of mega fauna such as giants and dragons and 14’/4.26 m tall bears that hunt dragons, all squished into roughly 1/4 of Europe and how much that isn’t really sustainable. How there would be much more impact if nature encroachment in civilization and how common things like that would be in places. Which they do consider it to a degree, I’m not saying they don’t. But I think if they thought about it just to make the world something that holds up a little better to idle musings, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. That the world would feel more real and alive and also narratively give them more to work with.

The contradictions and lack of consideration for the natural world has always been one of my critiques of Dragon Age, among other things. The reason why that is, is mostly because of a noticeable trend the lack of natural world building in fantasy. It’s a topic that has been discussed elsewhere and at length by other people, but to summarize nature is slowly having less and less impact in fantasy even in an ambient quality. Obviously this isn’t a universal statement, nor a universally required thing for a story to explore and have. That there are things that do focus on and explore it, but speaking in general terms, it is a trend in the majority of media.

Which for me is a bummer as it is an aspect of writing and world building I enjoy. I really like themes of man vs nature and to have that you need to have a basic level of natural world building. Which BioWare doesn’t really explore in Dragon Age despite having elements of it - such as how regular raw lyrium is explosive, mages get sick around all lyrium unless it is diluted to a safe amount for mages, and raw lyrium straight up kills them if they’re in the same room.

So then you have questions of how do mages go/handle being underground with such a risk? Dwarves have stone sense but would mages be able to tell when they’re getting close to large lyrium deposits because they’re getting sick? Does this impact grey warden mages? Darkspawn mages?

Things that don’t get fully acknowledged or explored despite being mentioned casually in codices most people don’t read. And they don’t for a couple of reasons such as potential coding issues but also all the questions you’d have to ask:

How would you implement that as a mechanic? Would you lock mage players out of entire areas featuring raw lyrium? Would they take environmental damage if you wanted the players to explore it regardless? Would it be a mechanic only applied by in harder difficulty modes? Do you acknowledge it in banter but not in any other way? Create a way to explain why the pc mage and their mage companions aren’t dropping dead?

BioWare’s answer seems to seemingly just ignore it because it would make gameplay too challenging/punishing and likely might not be fun for a player to deal with. But they compromise by keeping the lore active in the canon through codices and low impact additions. Which is a completely okay solutions, not my preferred but I get why they do it.

When I approach this lore, I do so without expecting them to fully flesh out each nation or know which city has the most resources and the geologically rich lands in said country. Dragon Age, and BioWare in general, relies on semi-soft world building. The world was after all designed for a game. They only need to build out what they need and what hopefully won’t paint them into a corner with future installments.

Additionally, the writing style for Dragon Age doesn’t suit the hard world building that I prefer, I’m quite aware of that but also know that when it comes to talk about world building in any media, there is always the issue of people (like me) who world build for fun and consider all these small aspects but ultimately they aren’t always needed and necessary for the story a game like Dragon Age is telling.

Dragon Age is told with the intention of things being given from an unreliable narrator. Built on the concept of: there’s three sides to the truth, what x thinks happens, what y thinks happens, and then what actually happened. Which works and I love the premise.

That said, I think that it also impacts lore that shouldn’t be subjected to the unreliable narrator. Foundation or anchor lore points to be specific. Which, as we know, BioWare has always struggled with consistency in their lore, particularly with Dragon Age.

Distance is one of those foundational points that shouldn’t change, and it’s also one of those points that you don’t have to give exact travel times. You can leave it vague and stick to the official statements like the ones we have of Ferelden being the size of England (or Ireland depending on the source you use). If you’re going to be giving specifics, then I think being consistent with how long it travels to get to point a to b and not changing it multiple times in one game should be a basic expectation that is met.

Other ones the series has and is pretty consistent with is how we know Thedas has 24 hours a day, they have seasons like we expect, and are in the southern hemisphere.

Do they sometimes slip up because editing doesn’t catch they’ve made a reference that applies only to the northern hemisphere? Yeah, and that’s not bad. There are a lot of people working on the project and things slip through.

I know I have the luxury to think about Thedas in a capacity that allows for the hard world building that I like. I also know I focus on and enjoy aspects of lore that are not exactly popular for their main audience and are pretty niche.

I don’t expect BioWare to world build how I do because I’m not world building for a massive and varied audience. Not even when I do world building for my tabletop games, because I’m catering to a smaller and more specific audience.

Still I think it’s valid and worth pondering these little elements of the world building. For fun, appreciation, and to nurture one’s own creativity and understanding of media, the world, and what they think makes a believable world.

Devs might not have time to consider it but we sure do and that’s half the fun of enjoying media I think.

[paulagnewart]

Sonic the Oz-Hog Act 4/12: Knux Readux!

Knuckles the Echidna Volume 2 issue 1 AU Publication Date: 14th April 1997 Price: $2.70

Spinoffs. No self-respecting media can live with them. No self-aggrandising media can live without them. And for those of us who lived through the space year that was 1997, corporations were chomping at the bit for a slice of those sweet spinoff dollarydoos.

Best place to start and witness such influence would be, arguably, the cinema. After Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster remake Romeo + Juliet spent weeks atop the box office, the majority of March was a bitter struggle between Wes Craven's thriller Scream and Cameron Crowe's football drama Jerry Maguire. A fascinating if ultimately pointless grudge match between two distinct genres. For all their efforts, neither claimed victory when by month's end, a film 20 years their senior blasted both off the map. The Star Wars Special Editions had arrived.

The promotion (and merchandise deals) was huge. A New Hope proved an instant hit, swiftly followed on 10th April by The Empire Strikes Back. Everything old was new again, and the re-hits just kept coming. Audiences pounded the pavements, eager to revisit Jurassic Park when its sequel The Lost World saw release on 29th May (only a week after its US premiere, a then-impressive feat). Superhero buffs ignored the winter freeze to watch Batman and Robin on 26th June, a film often lauded yet pulled respectable numbers and local reviews at the time.

Speaking of space, following a successful campaign through latter 1996, the Oddbodz were back. Smith's Chips and Glow Zone launched their second series of 61 collectable glow-in-the-dark cards featuring a myriad of wacky, wicked and occasionally controversial space-themed characters. If gross-out humour wasn't your speed, ripping into packs of Thins, Ruffles, Cheetos or Doritos chips instead offered adventures in a galaxy far far away with official Star Wars 3D Magic Motion and Techno Tazos.

After the toyline's initial launch in January, Beast Wars had successfully put Transformers back on the map, though kids would have to wait at least three more months to see their favourite characters in animated action. To Channel 7's credit, they at least gave the program a decent timeslot. More than can be said for Channel 9's decision that April to broadcast the all-new Star Trek: Voyager season 2 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4 at the ghastly time of 11pm weeknights.

In spite of the former losing 30 minutes off its timeslot, the rivalry between weekday morning children's entertainment continued between Agro's Cartoon Connection and Cheez TV. Both were banking on the spinoff craze, and viewers waking up 14th April could choose between the premiere of Power Rangers Zeo episode 'Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise', or the premiere of Earthworm Jim episode 'Darwin's Nightmare'. For the musically inclined, American rockers No Doubt had enjoyed 8 weeks atop the music charts with the third single on their third album, 'Don't Speak'. At least until April saw them bumped off by Aussie pop prodigy Savage Garden and their third single 'Truly Madly Deeply'.

But of all the spinoffs to arise and bedazzle locals, after three years of development and an exclusive preview party the night prior, SEGA World Sydney opened its doors at 4pm on Saturday 22nd March 1997. Touted in print and on TV as "Australia's Largest Indoor Theme Park!", it offered hours of unrivalled entertainment and programs for Sydneysiders and visitors alike. Anyone who could afford its hefty entry fee lost themselves in all the games and rides they could handle (except Mortal Kombat, which was pulled last-minute). An escape into pixilated fantasy guaranteed to forget their real-world troubles for several hours. Mundane adult things like Victoria and Western Australia's brief yet brutal summer bushfire seasons where 3 lives and some 59 homes were lost. Or how after one year into the top job, captain conservative John Howard faced international anger over comments at the United Nations General Assembly, and local anger over casual dismissing threats by extreme right-wing rival Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

Be it stage shows, costumed cameos and all types of merchandise featuring their antics, fans of Sonic, Tails, Sally and Robotnik were in paradise. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for a fifth member of the cast. For someone who enjoyed strong popularity and a species originating right there, SEGA World put the bare minimum effort into giving Knuckles the Echidna his own time to shine. A remarkable oversight undoubtedly leaving young fans wondering where that embattled echidna was hiding. As luck would soon have it, they needn't look far.

Nestled comfortably among the shelves between Sonic issues 45 and 46 came Knuckles: The Dark Legion. Sales had proven strong enough (or at least stronger than Tails and Sally's comics) to warrant the development of a second miniseries. Exciting in its own right, only amplified when exclusively announced through AOL in January 1997 it would evolve to a fully-fledged ongoing spinoff. No longer was trotting off to the newsagents exclusively a Friday end-of-month treat. Knuckles' arrival meant a mandatory Monday mid-month booster for us deprived of Mobian adventures.

Over the course of its 32 issue run, Knuckles the Echidna was, much like Endgame two months later, once praised as a pinnacle of Archie Sonic. Fans adored the series, giving ol' Rad Red his own unique mythos and adventures. While Sonic naffed around aimlessly in a post-Robotnik world, we saw Knuckles as the cool, 'mature' comic. He had stakes. He had drama. Quite a turnaround after the heavy criticism its writer took in late 1996 over Sally's leaked demise. Within months he was described as "a kewl writer!", or "one of the ONLY "good" and "balanced" writers Archie has", or how they're "so much better then sonic comics now its not funny." with "all the good villains and family members." Fans swarmed en mass to his WWWBoard, creating their own stories, characters and entire websites tied to the Brotherhood and Dark Legion. Not everyone agreed on the book's mission statement "Why does everybody liek it so much? All it is really is a bunch of Penders' characters running around with slight appearacnes by Chaotix and occasionally knuckles himself.", but it made a lot of other people happy. Enough for both The Dark Legion and Lost Paradise reissued as 'back catalogue' orders to selected comic book stores in late 2004.

And just like Endgame, those nostalgic memories have since dissipated when adults reflected on his tales with matured, scrutinous eyes. We grow. We learn. We reevaluate on what was once adored as adolescents, realising perhaps those good times weren't all that good. Maybe the series and characters were fine in concept but lacked competent execution. Maybe our childish expectations meant they were never good to begin with and the critics were right all along.

The youthful, creative glory days from the late-90's to mid-2000's of Knuckles of an Echidna, Kragok Comics, Echidna Gals, Dark Legion HQ, Echidnapolis, Knux Redux, Tisha-Li's Dark Legion Camp, Kensuke Aida's Julie-Su Shrine, Echidnoyle, Shattered Moonlight, Knuckles 9000, Kiri Megami's Chaotix Hideout, Darkest Mysteries, and of course True Red's mighty Knuckles Haven have long passed.

It's from learning said past our futures are forged, but do any of these characters have a future? Do they even deserve a future?

Or maybe it's just best they're all forever banished to the Twilight Zone of cultural irrelevance.

Next Time: For years I said it wouldn't be done. Yet promises, like the hearts and cheekbones of fictitious rodents, were made to be broken. Will May's hedgie rectrospect-y truly be worthy of such hate? Or have revisionists painted a far worse picture over the past two decades?

< Previous \ Index / Next >

[brightlotusmoon]

Ah yes. Future Raph still being practical and introspective, young Raph still being impetuous and instinctual.

Between this and the comic Sons Of The Silent Age, it drives home how much the Ninja Turtles are NOT bound by human rules.

And why it's so fucking funny that purity cult antishippers have chosen this franchise to complain about. The amount of "none of this is real life, it can never be real life" we've had to explain is painful.

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From When You Muse, You Lose, Archie's Pal Jughead #92 (1997).

[sentient-rift]

(Continued from here.) @snatchfreedom

"Yep. The Multiverse. Turns out, there are many out there. If you think a good guy Dr. Eggman is strange, there's also an evil Sonic on the enemy team..."

Meanwhile on the Dreadnought... (@fallen-symphony)

"Alright... Ears are twitching... Who's talkin' about me?"

Back with RiFT's crew.

"Anyway, wanna go meet the guy in charge? I heard he was doing more recruiting, but I'm sure he'll still have time to answer your questions and to send you back to your dimension."