#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

[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."

[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

[paulagnewart]

Sonic the Oz-Hog Act 12/12: Carry On, My Wayward Sonic!

Sonic the Hedgehog issue 266 AU Publication Date: 29th December 2014 Price: $8.50

Carry On, My Wayward Sonic. There'll Be Peace When 'Botnik's Gone. Lay Your Weary Legs to Rest. Freedom Fight No More.

Obligatory parodies aside, there comes a time when everyone has to stop and say goodbye. Sometimes it's sudden, others gradual and methodical, yet its lingering hurt remains the same. As the space year that is 2024 reaches a close, there's still time for one last super sonic spin back to 10 years ago, when Australian fans prepared to pour one out for their favourite comic book.

Farewells were equally present at the box office. After knocking Katniss Everdeen from her three week domination, eager moviegoers entered a war on which final installment of a trilogy would reign supreme. They paid tribute to the dearly departed Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney, neither of whom lived to see Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb while Christopher Lee and Ian Holm bid goodbye to in what would prove their final film roles in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

But with goodbyes came new beginnings. The final few weeks of 2014 belonged to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars when their acclaimed collaboration Uptown Funk worked its magic all the way up the charts. And if someone from the future materialised to proclaim Uptown Funk would not only be among the top 3 selling singles of all time, but remain popular enough to feature over seven years later as part of a dance sequence in the second live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie? Fans would probably reply "There's a *second* Sonic movie?!"

It can be hard to imagine there was a time the Blue Blur's big cinematic feature almost never happened. When news broke in June via The Hollywood Reporter that Sony were deep in developing such a film, fans met the news with extreme trepidation. A live-action/animated hybrid like their successful Smurfs films? The latest news being a conversation a month earlier with co-writer Van Robichaux, whom already proclaimed being a big fan of the series, announced their script was aiming for a PG-13 rating for violence. Fans openly pondered a potential dark and edgy hedgy awaited them. None of which would be found in the equally perplexing rumours of something called Sonic Runners.

So what of the local political scene? After fifteen months in the top job, that oft-quoted "honeymoon period" was well and truly over for Tony Abbott. He may have coerced voters by a grand sweep of electoral reforms including that pivotal "No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS!" promise, but the usually complicit conservative mainstream media smelt blood, and begun the usual trick of turning against their once-adored conservative Prime Minister.

2014 saw the proverbial dominos fell. A harsh annual budget built on electoral backflips and $5 billion dollar deficit, heavy losses in the Victorian election and South Australia by-election, to say nothing of pushing unpopular policies such as deregulating university fees. "Yes, it's difficult..." Abbott (con)fronted the press a week prior. "...but step-by-step it's getting done and I think the public in the end will focus on the substance and not on the soap opera." To Abbott's credit however, he vowed to "sweat blood" in achieving constitutional recognition for Australia's Indigenous population, but not before a pre-Christmas cabinet reshuffle. Ironically said reshuffle played in the favour of conservative colleagues Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton, both of whom destined to play pivotal roles bringing Abbott's leadership, and the prospects of Indigenous recognition, to an end.

As for the increasingly cultural dead zone that was free family entertainment, Toasted TV joined the ranks of trundling over to exclusively digital channel Eleven, and on that day aired a flurry of Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot, Mia & Me, Pokemon XY, Totally Wild and Lalaloopsy repeats. Only a new adventure of Wakfu at 7:30am was there to break up the cavalcade. Channel 9's output offered little better; a whole day of repeats ranging from Digimon Fusion and Max Steel, to Winx Club, Power Rangers Megaforce and Super Megaforce, along with perennial Thunderbirds half-hour 'cliffhanger' edition of 'Brink of Disaster'. As with their competition, only a single new toon that day; the classic Yu-Gi-Oh! episode 'Unwanted Guest: Part 2', ironically once rival Ten's media darling, this and the entire fifth season were skipped, instead chosen to purchase the supposed white-hot Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

The carefree days of early morning children's entertainment were long gone, as was the Sonic fandom's critical reception landscape. Social Media had by that point permanently wired itself into its collective consciousness, making it further difficult to gauge unified reactions. Yet at least four vanguards of the message board days remained standing. Sonic Retro… didn't talk about the story, instead focused on speculating the lineup of Sonic and Mega Man's impending Worlds Unite crossover. The fine folks over at Power Rings were in a similar boat. Archie Sonic was still their bread and butter, however its remaining users had shifted more towards sharing their own sprite comics and fanfics. And as for Sonic Stadium, any reviews swiftly disappeared under a flurry of soon-to-be-deleted pages debating Sonic's status as "a Free Spirit that can't be controlled!", or whether Ian would keep his word on Shard making a comeback. It's telling when independent sites like Arcade Sushi were giving the comic more attention.

For any self-respecting Archie Sonic enthusiast still looking to dig deep into their favourite comic, Ian's very own BumbleKing Forums remained the place to be. Cracks were slowly beginning to appear which would ultimately cause the board's demise, but for that moment, its hundreds of rowdy regulars still went about happily posting their comments and speculations. Or at least some were happy.

"Plotwise it was really neat seeing Sonic in a situation like this." They started. "He's so worried about the Werehog hurting people and it makes sense all he knows is he Hulked out and wrecked some stuff and he's not going to let that happen. People keep talking about how a more "Segay" Sonic can't have character development but I've felt more connection with this archie-Sonic than the one Pre-Reboot. I can really truely see that this Sonic is a hero he wants to help people he'll do whatever it takes he'll trin with Moss to make sure he doesn't get anyone hurt.". Such was the enthusiasm that "I never really felt that with Pre-Reboot Sonic he also felt like the moron that SatAM played him as who treated everything like a game and saving lives was an after thought. I really couldn't see Pre-Reboot Sonic staying behind to make sure the Werehog didn't kill anyone. He'd more wing it and hope everything turned out okay."

"Moss is starting to grow on me! :(hearty laughter):" Said another pleased user. "No, but seriously, Moss just became my new fa-vorite character in this universe (Sorry, Relic). Its like, he's cool & calm, can can give sonic a run for his money (In the jungle that is, but probably other places too), & seems like hes trolling even though hes giving wisdom! I also kinda like the idea of Mighty leading his own team of freedom fighters. That would be an interesting concept"

Not everyone shared this sentiment. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have our first post-reboot Mary Sue. Meet Moss: A representa-tive of (some vague version of) a real-world religion, whose teachings in that religion--despite not be-ing at all related to Sonic's beliefs--are just what Sonic needs to hear so he can solve his problem. (Hey, just 'cuz he's not accepting any Personal Lords or Saviors today doesn't mean it's not preachy.)" the complaints began. "Moss is so wise, in fact, that Mighty (who before the reboot was peaceful because that's just the kind of guy he was) now owes his ability to keep his cool to Moss's teachings, and preaches about how wise Moss is at every opportunity. Moss is even so wise that he can crack wise at Sonic, and condescend at every turn, and still have Sonic (grudgingly) respect him! (What is he, the SatAM version of Sally?) But Moss brings more to the story than just wisdom: He can also give Sonic a run for his mony in a race! How does he do this? While he may not possess Sonic's speed, he is able to use his environment to his ad-vantage in ways Sonic can't, just like Knuckles did in the Genesis games. Ugh. If I were in Sonic's posi-tion, there's no way I'd train with this guy to help me control my anger. Every time he opens his mouth, I want to punch him!"

Other users joined in the debate, going so far comparing Moss unfavourably to the likes of Master Spliter or Yoda. A sentiment not universally shared, yet more often than not "…definitely getting on my nerves, and for more than one reason. He's cliched like all heck, but that's not what really bugs me, it's that he's overshadowing Sonic's friends, who belong in Moss's role much more than he does. Tails mentions "we can help [Sonic]", and yeah, he's right. Why is Sonic trusting this random hippie when he has his friends to fall back on to help him control the Werehog?"

Elsewhere Sally Acorn was undergoing her now-standard cycle of revolving lovedom and hatedom, some arguing her place as being "bland" and "a blank slate" in the new timeline. A female character put to task by fans over personality problems? What a surprise. Nor would she be the last, when one member emphatically demanded "Why are Cream and Big sidelined ? I mean, Sonic Heroes took place in this world, didn't it ? Like, seriously? I know Cream is a little girl, but come on! Shes like the only one who barely gets do anything! The only thing Ive seen her do was just serve tea & cookies like 2-3 times now! Heck, even Big is at least doing something in the next SU arc! If Heroes, Battle, & Advanced 3 happened in this world, She had at least have some sort of skills that can allow her to go on mis-sions! I mean she can fly, use cheese as a freaking projectile, she can do a spin like everyone else (I think almost all sonic characters, or at least 7 of them can), & with two other people, she can use thundershoot! & Its not like she has to do missions by herself but let her have some of the spotlight at least!". Others agreed, declaring "For cream it's like old continuity amy rose all over again.".

From the more mixed side of Mobius, "I enjoyed the issue, but does anyone else feel like Sonic gained control over the Werehog way too quickly? For all the trouble it's been giving him ever since he got gassed back in "Countdown to Chaos", it feels kind of cheap for him get it under control so easily after only one out of control transfor-mation." however "I'm enjoying Sonic and Mighty's continued interaction in this storyline. They finally feel like actual friends, unlike the old continuity where their friendship was more of something that was just talked about rather than shown for the most part.". Elsewhere fans had just about their fill of Robotnik's newest creations hogging the spotlight, declaring "I really hope the staff is getting all the E-100s out of their system, because that's a ridiculous amount at this point.".

Archie Sonic's sweeping reboot was proving something of a mixed bag among fans both new and old, with a rift forming between the optimistic and pessimistic. "This isn't going to be over in a year." One fan openly opined in what would prove frighteningly prophetic. "It'll be amazing if The Shattered World Crisis is even over in 2016. I say this as someone who's actually enjoying the Arc/Saga/Epic/Whatever and think's it's the bet the books been in a long time but there's such a thing as a story being too decompressed."

It's a story thousands of Australian fans would miss.

Comic imports were in steep decline, and by late 2014 only a smattering of DC, Archie and Dark Horse titles remained. In spite of being one of distributor Gordon and Gotch's longest-running and best-selling comic imports, the future of Archie Sonic was abruptly cut. Issue 267 was still solicited for a 29th January 2015 release but would never see the light of day. How ironic the comic ended on Sally Acorn, once a media darling and face of SEGA World Sydney, take a hit and collapse from Robotnik's horde. Not exactly a subtle "out with the old" policy.

Beyond a handful of sporadic Super Digests, Sonic's near-unbroken streak of 22 years standing proud at newsagents, toy stores and supermarkets across the land down under was over. Sure fans could visit comic stores for later issues, but those were (and still are) rare compared to newsagents.

It outlived Image, Malibu, IDW and even Marvel imports. It continued the adventures of Sonic between the extensive breaks between cartoons. It was readily available to virtually every town who ordered newspapers. It offered affordable adventures for those of us who lived through "the recession Australia had to have".

In an era of numerous self-aggrandising social media infuenzas who claim everything before a certain year is rubbish, or love pedalling out that ever-present pathetically playground-level buzzword about Archie Sonic being "weird", or those superficially pointless debates over what's a superior canon, none of that matters. Above all else, the comics made so many fans happy. It sparked imaginations, driving them to read more, to create stories and artwork of their very own.

Quite the way past cool legacy.

[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."

[exhausted-archivist]

So there has been some conversation around Taash's story that I've seen that has got me thinking about how something I've really liked about the da games is you always have at least one under 25 who is not well established in their identity character.

I think that is genuinely important for the series because it allows younger players to have at least one character they relate to. It also allows older players to relate to any identity issues they're having later on in life. Personally, for me seeing Sera and her struggles with various topics got me thinking not only of my own but how some people in my life struggled with the same things as Sera and how that impacted me.

I was 19 when I started playing Inquisition, and it was my first time engaging in a game that actually tackled the topic in that capacity. I'm not speaking on the quality or delving into opinions on Sera's writing. But just that how Sera was written, and the fact that she even brought up the themes and topics, got me thinking about them.

This leads into the fact that I've come to the opinion that I personally don't want all of the cast in the game to be older and feel established in their identity. I know we have plenty of older characters who have an element of it (Cullen, Morrigan, Blackwall, Bull, Oghren, Isabela, ect) but its not the central focus of their story.

I want the young babies new to adulthood that are exploring and tackling different elements of identity issues. The different flavors we've gotten through Alistair, Carver, Bethany, Sera, Cole, and now Taash. They're all 20 y/o (20-22 for Taash) who are figuring out what their identity is in some capacity.

I would like to see an and instead of an or when it comes to see these stories. Seeing both a young and older character going through identity issues that are the focus of their stories. To have them feel different because of the different sages in life they are but also feel similar because they are tackling similar issues. To see them both talk to each other and muse through the confusing, complex, and messy topics that come when one is questioning an element or the entirety of their identity.

Something else I think is important to contextualize why we're likely getting these stories through younger characters is because of a simple thing people might not like to hear: They are not meant for those established in their identity. They aren't meant for the people who don't want to rehash that questioning period and that's fine. Not every companion is for everyone and nor should they be.

Conversations with Dorian, Krem, Taash, and even Sera are a little clunky and messy because they're meant to be something those who have either never questioned or are actively questioning to explore these topics. They're meant for those new to the journey, new to the conversation. They're written by the writers to be for those like their younger selves and are a type of catharsis, or they are echoing where the writers are right now in their own journey.

I think the writing of these characters as young characters is vital and important. Because it is the Queer community writing stories they want to write the stories they've wanted or needed. And they're dragging them through the mire of difficulties that are game development and capitalism.

Spoilers for Taash's story under the cut. But I broke down the identity stories the young characters work through. I wanted this higher up but to block spoilers is... well down here it goes.

Alistair with accepting his birth/figuring out his responsibility and if he is leader material. With figuring out that his identity as a person exists outside being a people-pleaser or useful.

Carver figuring out who he is outside of Hawke's shadow. How does he make a name for himself, how does he feel like he matters and what his identity outside of "Junior" is.

Bethany with figuring out her identity as a mage, the impact it has on her family, as well as what it means to be a noble woman.

Sera in what her role is in the world to a lesser extent, her internalized racism, and how what she does matter; she struggles with contextualizing her identity in where she fits in the wider world. She knows where she wants to, but she doesn't feel like she fits. Partially due to trauma and her internalized racism as well as her religious beliefs.

Cole is figuring out what it means to be a human. If he wants change and evolve in that or reinforce his own original nature. There is fear over a thing he could potentially become, and we get to watch him learn one way or the other and lean into it while also seeing how the fellow companions are impacted by it.

Then Taash you have not only their gender identity and imposter trans imposter syndrome but also the cultural imposter syndrome they have where they try to figure out and reconcile with their Qunari heritage and the Rivaini culture they grew in and learning that it is an and and not an or.

[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.

[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).

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

Imagine Neil and Jay making out in front of you two, to tease and excite you :3 (Odie and Archie)

Both Odie and Archie said nothing hearing this but both of them were unsure on how to react towards it. It's like they were already trying to start things to make them look to the side from one another. "......."