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[ask-team-donum]

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[snackugaki-jestsjapesjokes]

blep blah, here have some old ass backrooms doodle content when the topic of "the beach episode" concept came up bluhp blooh brain nyooming but art hand isn't arting

i think what is super cute in modern fandom expression that I've seen is that in terms of making OCs or AUs is that sound seems to have a bigger role now than from what I remember when I was young. which I'm thinking has a lot to do with being able to clip audio easily or being able to make multi-track playlists whenever. y'all out here with reels of your art with voice claims and some of the most thoughtfully and artfully crafted soundtracks-- not even playlists, some of that shit is a straight up soundtrack level be real

89% tempted to try one of those shady "free" video/audio editing programs to make a LoFi chill beats study girl visualizer playlist with my iteration's boys ...

anyway gonna contemplate music headcanons for my iteration under the cut

From Turtle Tracks fan letter section, Archie run, #24

so real quick, my iteration is literally just them chilling, hanging out, being together in their mid 30s- early 40s, and then sometimes flashing back to their child/teen years in the 90s because tl;dr i have miiiiiinor beef my childhood turtles weren't quite as "90s" as they "could have been" (nvm I'm cackling at the milennial pop culture refs in Mutant Mayhem drop kicking me back into my adolescence)

but mehehehehe, keeping that they listened to Public Enemy and The Jungle Brothers

and aside from Top 40 musicians of the time... I feel like being outsiders themselves, having to sneak around to explore and learn about people and what's above the sewers had them eavesdropping into a lot of nighttime venues and getting into the underground and various niche subculture scenes that daytime Top 40 didn't play.

cannot tell me the lights, thumping and noise from bands playing hardcore or house or hosting cyphers or raves didn't attract these curious and funky little green dudes like moths to a flame

... Leo definitely fell in deep with the gregorian chant phase, soothing sounds of nature fads , a big fan of Orbital and he fell into that electronic, house, trance, eurodance rabbit hole right after. he also got into Celtic folk music but when his brothers caught his ass studying Michael Flatley to incorporate Riverdance footwork into his ninjutsu he got teased so mercilessly that he took great care to hide listening to it... which just made his stealth better so joke's on them heehoo

Not to mention they're from New York City, the underground music scene is always bangin' no matter the decade; feel like rap and punk got a lot of tracks on their mix tapes back in the day

Raph getting into the metal scene in his own exploring the city trips, and then progressed to music with that boom bap sound (cuz baby boy needs a way to come down off those high intensity moods idk ijs)

Donnie... just the amalgamation of his brothers, he needs that background noise while he's chewing on schematics and protoype development, he would definitely have been the mixtape maker/recording bootlegger (along with Mikey)

Mikey absolutely tagged along with his brothers sometimes whenever they went to their spots for music, though he himself backflipped into ska 'cuz Mikey is always for the people

my tmnt  iteration (where everyone made it past their 20s, splinter’s alive just old, venus is here, and they deserve some goddamn respite and shenanigans)

tmnt  iteration part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11

tmnt  iteration omake 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

lny visit 1 | 2

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[rondo-of-blog]

On the Beginnings of The Lara-Su Chronicles

Today is, as of writing, the last day you can pre-order The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings if you want to make it into the Special Thanks section of the book. Anyone who pre-orders after will be in the app, still, but I think it goes without saying the significance of having your name make it into the first printing. You can pre-order here.

Whether you go and pre-order it now or later, or if you’re looking back at this after the book’s come out, I think it’s gonna be worth the read. Today, I feel moved to write a little about what The Lara-Su Chronicles means to me.

It all started with the Archie Sonic comics. A gag comic that metamorphosed into the bonafide superhero book it came to be known as, that was inarguably the blueprint for what Sonic comics get published today. These things aren’t predestined, no divine hand laid its knowing finger on it to move it from one to another - no, it was the freelance creators who put in the work to make Archie Sonic what it was.

And no freelancer who touched the book can be said to have had a greater impact on it than one Ken Penders. Not Mike Gallagher, who wrote the very first issues; not Scott Fulop, who oversaw the initial transformation the book underwent as the editor; not even Karl Bollers, an incredible talent whose original concepts & characters come the very closest to rivaling Ken’s.

It was Ken who wanted more for the comic, for it to become what the readers of the time wanted it to be. Ken, whose eyes were trained on the countless fan-letters that flooded in, who would test each story idea of his first on his son to determine if he was going the right direction. Sonic comics and everyone who’s helped make them over the years owe him a great deal, whether they want to admit it or not, but it was the Knuckles comic series where he truly shined.

Though it’s become fashionable in some circles to claim he ‘shoved Knuckles down reader throats,’ it doesn’t take too long a memory to remember how popular Knuckles was - and is to this day. One need only look at the incredible reaction to the reveal of Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and the very fact that there is going to be another Knuckles series on Paramount Plus, to know Knuckles stands out in the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog.

But where does Knuckles come from? Who is he? You can refer to wiki articles that note his species and status as a former rival of Sonic, you can watch YouTube videos collecting all the cutscenes for his story in the video game Sonic Adventure, but, as a ‘life-long fan’ of Sonic who is also a writer, I can tell you none of those get us a true insight into the interiority of Knuckles the Echidna.

You can restate his character’s premise like a dog chasing its tail, you can try and mine his angst at being so alone on his island until you’re blue in the face, but neither of those take the character himself in any kind of direction. Not forward, not backward, but stagnant. Only in the Knuckles comics did we see a true step forward, where words met action and the story of the echidna’s past finally had anything meaningful to say about the story ahead of Knuckles.

In the initial miniseries Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis Knuckles the Echidna, after B-stories and C-stories in the Archie Sonic series had laid the groundwork, Knuckles’s past came back for the first time. This was before Sonic Adventure, before Tikal and Chaos, and crucially… it was Knuckles’s story, first and foremost, not Sonic’s as it was in the end for Sonic Adventure.

The follow-up miniseries and ensuing ongoing comic series would expand upon Knuckles’s family, the society they had lived in the past as well as where they lived in the present, and even Knuckles himself. While the Chaotix may be familiar to Sonic fans, they and the Knuckles of these comics live lives and make decisions that SEGA’s characters have not and will not ever know.

In the Knuckles series, Knuckles doesn’t just reunite with his mother and eventually his father. He doesn’t just get into battles with greater stakes for his life than anything he had or would later experience in the video games, face foes more personal and meaningful than the leftovers Sonic leaves for him, and accomplish more than his official SEGA counterpart has in all the decades of history he’s had since. He gets a life - a home with people, not just an emerald and an empty island, to protect. And another soul, who starts off as an enemy, for him to fall in love with.

I’ve never met a Sonic fan who’s been able to reconcile this Knuckles with the echidna that SEGA calls Knuckles. In point of fact, every Sonic fan I’ve ever encountered considers the Knuckles series and every story of Ken’s that came before and after to bear so little resemblance to the source material as to no longer have the right to call itself Knuckles or to claim to have anything to do with what SEGA has done with the character. From their lips, this is an insult. To me, it is both the Knuckles comics’ ultimate badge of honor and greatest strength.

What’s the use of perpetually spinning your wheels and refusing to grow and change? What has Knuckles gained in the three decades since the character debuted, sitting on an island as the last survivor of a dead people? The right to mention every now and then he might take a break from being a guardian, and never seeming to follow-through on that? The right to star in animated shorts where he once again illustrates how little has changed since 1998?

I don’t say all this as a hater, either. I happen to like Sonic Team’s video games, I liked Sonic Frontiers, and heck - I’ve even enjoyed some of the comics they’ve printed in the current ongoing series of Sonic books. The simple fact remains that it’s 2024, Knuckles is still on Angel Island and he still has nothing but ghosts. In every way that matters, SEGA’s Knuckles the Echidna is as dead as his people.

Maybe SEGA does something new with the character in the future, maybe the writers they’ve entrusted with the comics become bolder with their plans, I don’t know and I don’t claim to know what will or won’t happen there. My point stands that today, all these years later, there still is no story told of SEGA’s Knuckles that gives him even half the dignity and respect that Ken’s stories have.

Now, all these years later, what is to become The Lara-Su Chronicles series of graphic novels is finally set to begin with the upcoming release of The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings. In it, after a reprint of the unforgettably-excellent Mobius: 25 Years Later story, we’ll be seeing what awaits Lara-Su in the next chapter of her life and in the wake of her father’s death.

I’ve read literal hundreds of Sonic comics over the years. The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings is not one of them.

But that was always the beauty of the Knuckles series, now succeeded by The Lara-Su Chronicles. It started in Sonic, but emerged from it like a butterfly from a chrysalis into something unlike anything a humble caterpillar could imagine - and the sky’s the limit.

[scatterpatter]

you thought i was done with my QuickCut bullshit but NO

I'm gonna post a FIC soon if I can work up the courage

and it will have ANGST

[enigmaticvariation]

as a jughead connoisseur for most of my life my view of him is that in the comic universe he's aro/ace, because I really like the chip zdarsky and ryan north comics where this is explicitly canon, as well as the fact that I appreciate characters who do not care about romance at all and have plot lines very disconnected from it. I am not aro/ace, but I am very romance indifferent and I am normally the only single person among my irl friend group at any given point, so I relate to jughead not giving a shit about any of his friend's romance drama. he's winning the idgaf war. however, in the show riverdale he is so disconnected from comic jughead and the show tries so aggressively to make him act straight despite the fact that at this point every single character is gay or has had at least one gay scene (cole sprouse WILL NOT kiss a man!) it's almost comical. to me it comes off like he's definitely into men but he's too busy being the narrator or whatever tf he does in that show to care. the absence of his gayness makes him gayer.

[mejomonster]

Oh God I'm doing it I'm so sorry yall just blacklist the tag Riverdale if you aren't ready for this spam lmao

I pressed play and I WILL say I do not get small towns so I am open to this one being fucked as all hell

Sort of like Twin Peaks. Derry, Maine. I mean I imagine much different but like. What if.

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

i feel like archie ofmd is getting an inordinate amount of dislike and resentment. (i haven't really seen it around here, but in other spaces online!) i've seen so many posts throughout s2 like, "who is she? she's so random! what is she contributing? why is she here? we know nothing about her except surface level stuff and random backstory details!" but like ... that also describes almost all the men in the crew!!! why CAN'T we have a woman pirate who's got the same kind of chaotic, unburdened-by-backstory vibe? why not, huh??

tl;dr -- i love archie and i'm so glad she joined the crew!

[scatterpatter]

OKAY SO

I haven't finished my version of the DLN-1 bots yet, there's so many sources I want to pick and choose from, and I'll probably reblog this post before the deadline with a full-on infodump BUT in the meantime i need other people to understand my suffering currently

So I like viewing all the light bots as siblings. Which is great in theory, but horrible in practice as soon as age order comes into play. Like yes they have a BUILD order but that doesn't mean they're all the same MENTAL age (mainly how rock and roll look/act younger than most of the others despite being built first)

So trying to cross-reference any other megaman media for any sort of "age order" has been a NIGHTMARE AND IM GOING INSANE

HELP

Please tell me in extensive detail, your thoughts on the DLN 1 bots. Essays due tomorrow at midnight.

[snackugaki]

.... i have been so normal about wanting to draw tactical!Venus and tactical!Jennika.

hey. HEY. y’all need to go check out @donathan ‘s artwork, and if you are the proper age, go throw some money into their patreon for some... some real, real good art. 👀👀👀 ...but do not if you are a minor, that shit ain’t for you.

some IDW TMNT comic spoilers... and.... I guess... Next Mutation ssspoilers? I know some of you kids haven’t turtled up and watched my beloved childhood iteration yet.

alright, so, y’know, completely normal expenditure of my energy and skillset, amirite? big big thanks to @/donathan for allowing me to play around in their AU’s aesthetic because I have severe, terminal VenusAndJennikaDeserveEverythingoccocal SoIWillManifestItMyselfitis.

and tbh, all y’all’s fics have been, mwah, chef’s kiss. but SOME of you put LORE. delicious, tasty, appetite-inducing lore.

and i am nothing but the littlest hoebag for lore.

okay so, quick rundown for those who both A) are immune to spoilers B) also do not know Venus or Jennika’s origins-- bulletpoint time~!

So Venus de Milo, the “girl turtle”, the “fifth turtle” (not counting April’s extremely brief stint as a white-bandana’d turtle in the Archie comics run) was introduced in 1997′s Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation

An episode of “The Toys That Made Us” touched upon Venus’ creation so idk it’ll cover what I won’t deign to acknowledge.

her backtory is interesting (just her show was a trashfire /affectionate)

Master Splinter’s frolicking around in the dreamscape where all the cool enlightened old people hang out away from teenagers, right?

but oh no! dragon lord, a bad dude with a widow’s peak to rival Vegeta Dragonball’s widow’s peak; is there too! stomping around, ruining shit!

Splinter’s dreamscape buddy Chung I warns Splinter to stay out of the dreamscape ‘cuz Dragon Lord’s around

And like in true old people fashion, just ignores his friend’s admonition and tries to investigate himself

bad choice, womp womp

Splinter gets trussed up and rendered “stuck” in the dreamscape

cue the catalyst for Venus to make the 10+ flight from China to the U.S

don’t worry about what the boys were doing, just literal surfing in sewer grey water, breaking their little turtle skulls on cinderblocks, and picking fights in warehouses with Foot clan goons

tl;dr Venus still has Sixth Ranger mode on, so naturally she whoops all of their asses in the dark, ties them up (like how some of y’all enjoy writing Leo does huhu nudgenudge winkwink)

venusistheoriginalshibarienthusiastandteadrinkerfightme

and then, y’know, it’s still the 90s and children’s television so blah blah the usual “oH My gOd a GiRL tURTle???/?? AWoooOOogaaa ga ga ga” 

it’s.... I mean, i’m 38 so it no longer strikes me as bad as just really fucking embarrassing... for them. to be written saying. fuck, at least they didn’t make her bandana color pink.

so fast forward to Venus teaching them to dreamwalk so they can go rescue Splinter from Dragon Lord’s clutches in the dreamscape.

unfortunately, Dragon Lord offscreen murders Chung I so Venus is narratively anchorless post-rescue, so she’s invited to stay with them. thus ensues wacky hijinks with their new pal, Venus Boom Boom de Milo.

I glossed over the urge to write a cumulative review of Next Mutation. Just, take my word as the target demographic of the show during the last gasps of 90s Turtlemania that TNM was a trashfire overall but... y’know... if you ever needed a palette cleanser after some grimdark or angsty TMNT content, give TNM a whirl. The slapstick was intentional and The Point in the show. Venus’ circumstances for coming was as serious as it would get.

... Also, yes, they made them not related in TNM, preteen snackugaki didn’t clock why because I watched a lot of wuxia as a kid so brotherhood is a term beyond blood ties to me (and if I’m being honest, martial brotherhood is fkkn metal) and later I heard tell that it was to lure more girls into the franchise with both a girl turtle and romance options. which idk whatevs man. 

I also have to clear that, actually no, Donatello and Venus did not fight EVERY episode. Donatello, despite sprinkling a little too much barely disguised snobbery, did defer to Venus’ expertise in “the supernatural” when the situation called for it, and Venus would commend Donnie on his scientific ingenuity. They even teamed up skillsets to create surveillance drones! She essentially casted Calm Emotions on him while he tried to hack the controls of the Astro Megaship back for the In Space Rangers. They breached the divide between STEM and Humanities! They only had one “real fight" near the end of the season-- because Donnie was playing his containment breach elevator mid trash copyright strike immune proto-EDM too loud while she was trying to meditate. and that’s just being bad roommates tbh.

...christ I know it’s gonna come up too, but also NO, there was not constant advances made toward Venus during the show. At most was Mikey pulling his ol’ “I work out every day~!” schtick for like 2 episodes of the 5 spent to introduce Venus. And then after? A shipper’s desert, you’d have to dig and peer behind like 8 curtains for any viable fodder. 

...OKAY NOW FOR JENNIKA’S ORIGINS: Jennika is an IDW character specifically so, naturally why she isn’t in (or would’ve been, AHEM) a lot of iterations yet (or at all, COUGH) (but to continue in honesty there’s a lot of legal tape to cut through since Jennika is IDW’s while TMNT overall is Nick’s) Introduced as a Foot Assassin, her place in the Foot Clan shifts when Splinter takes over from Shredder (Saki), eventually she forms actual bonds with both the turtles and Splinter to where it’s implied she also saw him as an important figure to her if not an outright surrogate father figure. And because TMNT is mess and drama the other 50% of the time, Karai takes over the Foot from Splinter and shenanigans compounded by Karai’s then-current machinations for the Foot-- results in Jennika getting shanked in the stomach by Karai during a clandestine meeting to resolve clan rivalry. She’s losing blood fast, Donnie works to save her and it’s Leo who volunteers for blood transfusion to keep her stable mid-transit. 

SURPRISE!

Leo’s blood mutates Jennika into a mutant turtle. And then Casey ghosts/dumps her. My poor daughter. She has a real rough time of it before fully integrating with the boys. Raph falls in with Old Hob, gets hoodwinked, and now they live in Mutant Town. Jennika slowly finds herself again, as a mutant turtle, a Splinter clan ninja, a girlfriend, a guitarist in a band she started, a sister in a found family, and a constable to a very little town.

okay! we’re all marginally informed about my two wonderfull daughters, Venus and Jennika~!

so if I can indulge further, I’m going to use my cognizance and make it everyone’s problem because I have beem quietly foaming with ideas for bg lore for tactical!J&V, more bullet points!

ok so, donathan mentioned a bit about their tac! Leo and Donnie being the snipers, Mikey and Raph spotting for them while also being demolitions and heavy ordinance specialists respectively

I would think, then for Vee and Jen, they’d be classified as close quarters combat specialists, complicated extraction? compromised area? call them to clean up and clear out~

give or take “magic” being a thing used in donathan’s AU, or anyone’s AU of this AU, Vee would probably be a close combat specialist along with Jen.

Vee, I feel, would, barring a ...”tactical fan”, (even though in TNM it was just her fists and her little wizard components but her toy came with a fan so.) probably use batons, Jen in lieu of her tekagi-shuko would... most likely use tactical karambit. not that large of a leap really.

for my personal lulz, Vee and Jen are... accurate, height-wise. Raph gets to be the biggest brother since alligator snapping turtles are, in fact, the largest motherfucking freshwater turtles on the north american continent. no getting around it.

my Vee in all Rise AUs is a softshell since the messy hanzi used to write her first given name, Mei Pieh Chi (美鱉气) has the hanzi that’s most commonly translated as softshell turtle (���). eh ‘di wow talaga

snacku what do you mean ‘accurate’???? tl;dr female turtles are usually the larger ones in most species.

and listen, I love and I mean LOVE, how some of y’all have written the tac!boys, mwah; but god I’m a professional turtle bully. I need to see them get dunked on. for nutritional value. and if it comes to it, I will provide that food for myself. brb laughing at eventually drawing Venus just offhandedly tossing Donnie into the air to skeet shoot his ass for fun brings me the greatest joy.

they absolutely dote on Mikey, as is the natural order of things. 

and even tho I stated TNM Donnie and Venus got along in the show, and depending on the existence of magic in this AU; I just really love dichotomous rivalries (in as much “science” and “magic” exist as a dichotomy, much less as “diametrically oppose” fields-- just, opposites man. i’m a simple girl with simple trope needs)

Vee’s arms (and legs) are absolutely covered in burns, scars, and missing flesh divots, just as close to swiss cheese limbs as you can be

Jen and Donnie debate tracks that go into their joint “On Our Way To Commit Murder” playlist

if Vee’s tactical look seem very familiar, and you’re wondering if-- yes, you’re correct. and you can “call her ms. de milo if ya nasty”

Vee was actually pretty calm and rational in TNM... but for this AU, she can be a little unhinged, as a well-deserved treat. (and ‘cuz that specific anime unhinged facial expression is fun as fuck to draw, which is my treat)

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Cale Snow's Chapter 237

TL;DR - Cute Raon and Rasheel interaction. Rasheel happy from being praised by Cale. Cale worried about Clopeh acting like a normal person. Cale meets the chief of the wolf tribe. White snake says Witira smells like mommy.

Cute Dragons Unfortunately, my expectations for DHB naming scene today was shattered. 🥲 But we got a lot of cute and funny moments today! 🥰In fact, half of it came from our tsundere dragon, Rasheel.

Rasheel ate the walnut pie and muttered that he only tasted blood. Hearing that, Raon was shocked and panicked at the thought of Rasheel dying. 😂 Rasheel was confused on how to deal with the panicking young dragon, and insisted that he was not dying.

And when Raon called him a kind dragon despite being rude, Rasheel vehemently denied that. Archie, who was watching them, wondered why Rasheel was more offended by being called kind than rude. 🤣🤣🤣 Rasheel turned to Cale, insisting again that he was not kind. But Cale praised him for doing a good job, making Rasheel feel good.

What followed was another moment of embarrassed Rasheel. He didn't want Cale and Raon to see his current condition, so he tried to make excuses when he stumbled on the ground. Clopeh offered to support him, but Rasheel rejected it, thinking that Clopeh's craziness made him uncomfortable. 😂

Then some more Rasheel and Archie scenes. Rasheel wanted to return quickly because he didn't want to be seen this badly hurt, but Cale instructed Archie to go with Rasheel. Both Rasheel and Archie frowned but obeyed Cale nonetheless. 🤣🤣🤣

There was also Rasheel analyzing his fight and feeling troubled about how powerful their future enemies were.

Rasheel: *feeling troubled as he thought of how strong the future enemies would be* Cale: You're cool. Still, take care of yourself. Rasheel: Hehe. Archie: *feeling very confused* He's cool? Rasheel: Heh. Of course. Who am I? The indomitable dragon himself. I will continue to be cool in the future. Archie: *frowns*

AAAAAAHHHH! Rasheel is so cute! He's so cute the entire chapter! 🥰

Clopeh Acting Like a Normal Person is Abnormal The title says it all. Cale felt it strange when Clopeh was responding to him normally instead of showering him with praises or expressing a desire to be with Cale. But when Clopeh giggled strangely, Cale was relieved that the crazy Clopeh was back. 😂

Clopeh began to spout nonsense that he found his way, and stuff like "The stronger the light, the more visible the shadows are. But the light hidden by the bright light can't be seen by anyone." He thought that Cale was the bright light, Choi Han the shadow, and him the hidden light. Of course, Raon and Cale was confused what he was mumbling about, and gave up understanding him. 🤣🤣🤣

The Wolves are Scared of Lock? We got a brief explanation of what happened to Lock's group. The chief of the Aipotu wolf beastkin heard about the subjugation force and tried to use her berserk transformation, thinking that she could use it to protect her tribe.

But she ended up losing her reason. Fortunately, Lock's group arrived at that time, and subdued her. So when Cale's group finally met her, she was chained tightly. However, she had not returned to her senses yet.

I liked how confident Lock was when he dealt with the Aipotu wolf beastkin. The chief almost broke her chains, but Lock approached and hushed her, telling her to be nice. She immediately cowered and obeyed Lock out of fear. The other beastkin were also in awe and fear, calling Lock as the Blue Wolf himself.

Ending Remarks Today was full of cuteness and funny moments. There was also some info in the end about how the collapsed world was rejecting the dragons, or that Witira smelled like the white snake's mommy because of some spiritual creature stuff. Anyway, I guess Cale's group would finally be returning to the castle now. They will, right? DHB naming scene please, author-nim?

[ask-team-donum]

Comic I just sketched based off of this with baby Pan and Archie!! HEHE

[soldiermom1973]

Charlie's Run (BG3)

Ok, so the TL/DR for this is I started another run with a character named Archie. I was not having fun. At all. I realized I was expecting too much of myself, being the completionist that i am. While grumbling my way through Faerûn, I restarted my original Tav so I could acquire cross save files for my Dear Friend @emmavakarian-theirin I was playing both characters for about a week & realized I couldn't keep that up, so I decided to give the OG tav another run, then go back & finish Archie later.

This is the same character I initially posted about several months ago. I didn't name her then, but since I'm taking this a bit more seriously (from a creative/RP point of view), she needed a name. I settled on Charlie - short for Charlemagne or something stupid like that. She hates her name & much prefers Charlie. She and Archie are sisters. In case you've forgotten what she looks like, here...

She's a half-high elf sorcerer with Draconic blood. She is Very Tall. She will be romancing Gale. I'm planning on using what I learned the first time around & with my Archie run to take care of other things (for instance, I haven't killed Lae'zel and don't really plan to. I want to give her that egg.)

So, let's see.... I'm still fairly early in the game, so I don't have Karlach yet, so Wyll is horn-free. I've talked to Auntie Ethel and am making my way toward her home as well as heading to the swamp to take care of the Shadow Druid thing. I talked to the owl-bear and left the cave with both of us intact. I've found Scratch. I am currently in the Blighted Village and am about to get Shovel/Basket. I will not be making the mistake of not doing the convo to keep them as a permanent summon.

I'll tag this stuff as Charlie BG3, so you can filter out my nonsense if you like. Otherwise, enjoy the ride. Again.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

What do you think about harry given approval to appeal the court's decision about his police protection?

I would think at this point he is a malicious litigant.

He is basically stating that the judge's decision is not fair and another judge could have possibly arrived at different conclusion. Or at least this is how I understand it.

It's judge shopping. An abuse of privilege. I don't think it'll end well for him.

Not going to lie, I did initially think this had something to do with the upcoming election. Again, I don't know a whole lot about UK politics or if there's a separation of powers but my thought was 'ah, the judge trying to give him a chance in case the government changes hands and there are new appointees to RAVEC that are sympathetic.' But then I found this old article from 2022 that said of the 10 positions on RAVEC, only 2 positions are government officials that would probably change if the government administration changes parties.

Anyway. For everyone who needs the TL;DR of what happened, here's the timeline as I understand it:

January 2020: Harry and Meghan announce that they're quitting the parts of monarchy they hate (daily engagements, bread and butter work, and the media) to become content creators but keeping the parts they love (money, foreign tours, and private security). The Queen says "ha, no the fuck you are not" and orders everyone to Sandringham. They demand "in or out." Harry tries to negotiate "half-in half-out". Queen laughs and announces that they're stepping down as royals in March but they remain much loved members of her family. Harry and Meghan go all 😮 because they thought they were getting half-in half-out.

February 2020: RAVEC convenes and decides to downgrade Harry's security status (and accordingly Meghan's and Archie's) because they will no longer be senior royals or working royals.

March 2020: Harry and Meghan come back to the UK on a revenge tour expecting everyone to fall over them sobbing "don't go." William and Kate ignore them at the Commonwealth Service (after they whined about not being in the official profession). They flee to Canada because no one begged them to remain. Then they flee to the US because of COVID.

Harry gets word of the RAVEC decision, collapses on the floor sobbing.

{{{Stuff happens}}}

January 2022: Harry requests a judicial review of RAVEC's February 2020 decision. He basically accuses RAVEC of not fulfilling their statutory duty by including him in risk analysis and demands that they give him back the status he had prior to the February 2020 decision because he and his family feel unsafe in the US because of Al Qaeda.

{{{More stuff happens}}}

November / December 2023: They're in court to hear the case.

February 2024: The judge rules that RAVEC's decision was properly made and within the law. He dismisses the case. Harry appeals immediately.

April 2024: Judge throws out Harry's appeal saying he has no grounds to appeal. Harry's lawyers appeal the appeal.

(Today) June 6, 2024: A judge reverses the April 2024 decision denying Harry the ability to appeal. Harry is now permitted to appeal the February 2024 decision.

It doesn't undo the February 2024 or February 2020 decisions just yet.

A couple of posts earlier I mentioned how quiet it was from Sussex camp and I think this may be it. The judge's ruling reversing the April 2024 decision was made on May 23rd, so perhaps Harry has been meeting with the lawyers to work on the new lawsuit/appeal request.

[cursed-sonic-opinions]

Here to share my unpopular Silver opinions because I've analyzed him and Espio too many times to be healthy. This will get long but I hope someone hears me out on this lol.

TL;DR (because it is definitely needed): Silver's personality hasn't changed, he's just mellowed out because he's matured and if you look at his behavior in 06 and Rivals 2 from an analytical point of view and the times in those games he wasn't aggressive, this actually gets really obvious.

Silver's personality hasn't changed, and that includes the IDW comics. The specific part of his personality that gets highlighted is what changed, and that's normal in real life too (for example, I'm incredibly talkative around people I know but literally can't talk if I'm in a crowded space). Silver's dorky traits exist in 06 and the Rivals duology and they aren't that hard to find either (Silver's also very clearly only aggressive if he feels the need to be in 06 and the Rivals duology). People just don't seem to acknowledge it.

In 06, if Silver's not focused on his mission, he's incredibly awkward and Blaze says when they get separated that Silver gets insecure when he's alone, which seems to stay a consistent trait of his (most notably, he gets insecure about his abilities when he fails to force Duo to transform into Mimic in the IDW comics). I also remember him having some pretty awkward moments in Archie's Silver Age arc, which isn't out of character. He's always been awkward when he has no reason to be aggressive.

In Rivals 2 (I don't remember most of the first Rivals game, sorry), he's only aggressive if he thinks someone is in his way. He teams up with Espio and any hostility he previously showed towards Espio disappears and gets channeled into fighting everyone else. The worst he gets with Espio is incredibly bossy, because Silver knows what he's supposed to do and Espio offered to help him and doesn't exactly know what to do.

In Sonic Colors DS, he's snarky with Sonic (saying "Well, that was a letdown" if you fail his mission) but not outright aggressive. In fact he's mostly just enjoying himself. He only gets aggressive with Orbot and Cubot.

In Sonic Forces, he's mellowed out a bit. He's not as snarky (likely because he's helping fight a war) and still gets aggressive when the situation warrants it, but he's not as aggressive as he was in 06 or the Rivals games (which isn't a bad thing and I'm sick of people acting like it is).

In Team Sonic Racing, Silver goes back to Sonic's time period specifically to participate in Dodon Pa's race. He doesn't have any other reasons, the bad feeling he gets comes in later. Here he still has a snarky side and he still gets incredibly awkward (his in-race dialogue gets incredibly snarky at points, and you have the "I'm so gonna own you Silver!" "Okay." pre-race banter between Sonic and Silver). Team Sonic Racing shows all sides of Silver; he's snarky when he wants to be, still a bit awkward, but still serious if the situation calls for it. I think Team Sonic Racing exemplifies Silver's behavior when there's no immediate danger.

In the IDW comics, the most "flanderized" I remember him getting is when he first meets Whisper. He gets excited because Whisper saved his life multiple times so he looks up to her. Of course he's going to be incredibly eager about meeting someone who saved his life numerous times. He is very silly at points but it's not out of character and it never has been.

Look at how upset he is about not being able to save people from the Metal Virus. Look at how upset he gets about not knowing his purpose (which, frankly, is pretty reminiscent of his conversation with Blaze about if killing someone to save the world is the right thing to do in 06). Look at how upset he gets when he fails to force Duo to change to Mimic (and how dejectedly he's tilling the dirt in his garden afterwards).

Silver still has snarky moments in IDW (for example, saying there are days he doesn't know if Sonic's the coolest guy on the planet or if he should throw a car at him) and his dorky traits definitely get played up at points but you need to look at the context for why. Personalities tend to change depending on circumstances, and whether people want to admit it or not Silver has gone through character development. He's mellowed out a lot and that's not a bad thing. If his mentality and personality was one-for-one what it was in 06 and the Rivals duology he wouldn't be able to have any healthy relationships (except maybe with Espio but that's a whole different can of worms I refuse to open right now because this is long enough), and I actually think he'd be a pretty annoying character if he was one-for-one what he was like in 06 and the Rivals games.

Admittedly part of the reason I'm so passionate about this is because my personal development is similar to Silver's (almost identical actually) so I take it personally when people claim Silver's personality drastically changed. The parts of it that are highlighted changed, but his personality as a whole hasn't changed. His development isn't because the writers decided to flanderize him or whatever, it's because he's developed past a point of defaulting to "throw car first, ask questions later."

He doesn't see a reason to do that anymore so he doesn't (I also think it's worth pointing out that while Sonic definitely played a role in this, Silver shows up in Sonic Rivals 2, doesn't get immediately attacked physically or verbally by Espio, and Espio trusts him without having to fight him. I genuinely think Espio played a part in Silver mellowing out).

(I promise I'm not just saying this because I relate to Silver's development either by the way. I've analyzed Silver multiple times, probably at least 10 by now which probably isn't healthy, and I come to the same conclusion every time; Silver's mellowed out because he doesn't have the same mentality he did in 06 or Rivals. He's matured. If the same character development happened over the course of a single game like Sage's character development, I genuinely don't think people would complain about it so much, but because it happens over the course of multiple games and a comic run it's treated like inconsistent characterization. Also I sincerely apologize for this being so long lol)

.

[mushroomweather]

I’m on a reread of tcf so expect more lists soon. This is mostly for myself but have it anyways. I’m just past chapter 200 on the reread so the attack with the northern alliance is underway.

TCF TL/PR notes that made me lol

29 Cat washing face reference

1. Something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J_Bl9f-MTA

50 About Toonka (TL: Yet he got shipwrecked…clearly didn’t survive the sea…(PR: Perservering = Survival)

51 ( It’s a small boat that requires oars but has rooms and windows?! o.O )

57 “That’s enough thanks. If you thank me anymore, it will not feel genuine. Same thing with the apology.”

“Got it. Thank you very much.” ( (PR: You had one job.) )

59 Cale could see the still flawless Violan’s eyes turning chilly. ( :O If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is Beacrox’s mom! )

59 “Yes, daddy.” ( I’m sorry, I just had to. It was the perfect opportunity. )

59 ( … The Henituse family is the Night’s Watch … )

68 Cale knew how Shickler had domesticated the troublemaker Archie. He beat him up. He beat up him so much that the entire ocean seemed to be filled with dust. He really beat him to a pulp while saying that a beating was the best medicine for a troublemaker. ( (PR: I pity Witira and Paseton.) TL: You mean envy. You like the pain as a masochist… )

71 Toonka got up while staggering to the side. At that moment, Cale could hear Raon’s serious voice.

– …Why is he laughing after getting hit? Does he enjoy getting hit? ( Our PR’s masochistic friend. (PR: I’m innocent I swear.) )

74 about Mueller ( (PR: I originally felt pity. Now I am thinking that we can do without one more mage.) )

76 ( (PR: Raon is a yandere…) )

110 Cale looked odd as he suddenly stopped laughing and stoically stood there. A path of silver coins was shining on top of the boiling lava. That silver light meshed well with the red-haired Cale.

“Weak human.”

“What?”

“Let me know if you don’t have enough! I am willing to give you my piggy bank!” ((PR: IT’S ADORABLE.) ) …

The king of rocks, the Giant Cobblestone that is known as the, ‘Super Rock,’ is in the land of boulders. (Really wanted to call it Dwayne Johnson )

112 Cale could see an old Elf with white hair and beard walking toward them. It was the Elf Chief. However, unfortunately, he did not have time to greet her. (I double checked the raw and it does indeed say beard but it is a woman )

114 The group all looked toward Cale at Ron’s question. He had fainted after coughing up blood. They knew that Cale was a good person who really liked to help others, but they also knew that Cale did not enjoy moving around and getting hurt. (Pfft, you’ve all been scammed to believe he’s a good person! (PR: I mean, he COULD have just ignored the Elves’ plight…) )

118 “Just what are you selling to the Whipper Kingdom that Alberu keeps laughing for no reason when he is alone?”

“… His highness keeps laughing when he is alone?” ((PR: Cale broke him.) )

129 Hannah let out a quiet chuckle. Although her poisoned body was still in pain, she was now full of vitality. Cale gently asked Hannah, who seemed to be imagining the opportunity to get her revenge. (Cale just collects people who want revenge. )

135 He could see that Tasha was looking at him with warm eyes and that the black robe was coming toward him. (Author references Mary as black robe frequently because that’s all you can see. (PR: And I hate it.) )

142 “It has been wonderful having Cage-nim here. If it is okay with you, young master-nim, I hope that Miss Cage can stay here longer.” (Went from Cage-nim to Miss Cage in one breath. New ship? Poor Taylor. )

148 ‘It’s not a matter of if I will be fine or not. I don’t think I’ll be able to differentiate. Once I start to see blood, I can’t stop myself from killing anything in front of me.’ ((PR: Hannah was the one who said that a sea of blood would be beautiful. I don’t think her blood addiction is as bad as Redika, but she definitely still has a blood addiction. Why is everyone in this novel a sadist?) )

151 The Count nodded his head multiple time as he answered.

There was a different kind of smile on his face now. Raon, who was watching the father-son duo chat while remaining invisible, started to speak into Cale’s mind.

– Human, the Count is smiling like you do when you are scamming people! It is amazing! It is very similar! ((PR: I wonder what Deruth’s young scamming years were like…) )

158 “Was it you?”

“What are you talking about, your highness?”

Alberu was certain after seeing Cale eating a cookie with an expression that seemed to be saying, ‘I know nothing.’

“It was you.”

“What was?”

“What did you do to the Vatican?”

Crunch.

Cale started to smile as he bit down on the cookie. ((PR: Cale is an innocent lil child.) )

………

‘That knight is originally from the slums.’

‘Apparently, he grew up with poor parents and many siblings, but his good character made him popular with the people in the slums and the general public. They call him a Dragon from the river. (This is an idiom for something rare. You wouldn’t normally find a Dragon coming out of a river. (PR: A-Are dragons common in other places then?) )

Alberu shocked to find out choi han is a sword master ((PR: Oh if only he knew Cale’s party’s full strength…) )

160 Huten and Metelona. ((PR: Their names sound like pokemon.) )

164 Cale ~must~ go home and spend the new year with his family ((TL: such a good boy.))

172 “Just one of the many average people.” ((TL: Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man.) )

174 Cale quickly understood what Hong was trying to say. ((PR: I can’t even read lips, but young master Silver Light can understand animals!) )

[weclassybouquetfun]

Everyone Gets Lost in SALTBURN.

Including me, as I've gloried in this film three times -enduring the annoying Academy aspect ratio format (writer/director/filmmaking genius Emerald Fennell explained this ratio was used to accommadate the squareness of the estate and to enhance close-ups).

I love films that are bold and audacious; ones that are polarizing and divisive because that means it has touched the audience - for good or for bad - they have been given food for thought. Now, you may savour it, or vomit it out but you will wolf it down. I don't see how anyone could look at this film and be bored.

TL;DR

WARNING: MORE SPOILERS THAN ROOMS IN SALTBURN

THE GOOD

EVERYTHING. Barry Keoghan owns every single frame of this film. He gets to use so many colours in his acting palette and while I don't have faith in the Academy, I hope that they nominate him at least.

Same goes for Archie Madekwe as Farleigh. He is the Tom Wambsgans of SALTBURN (complimentary). He's a hanger-on who hates the other hanger-on. Fennell could have just written him as one note - just nasty and cruel bully, but he had more dimensions than that.

We get a glimpse at how he hates that his mother has to beg (by way of Farleigh) for financial support. He could have just been someone who held the attitude of, "I've got mine, now get yours", but it bothers him that his mother is struggling. He hates that he lives a pampered life while the footmen are ignored. I especially love how he has no shame over being taken care of by the Cattons. Kicked out of 3 schools for blowing teachers? Oh, well. Sir James' connections will get him somewhere.

He sets up Oliver to karaoke to The Pet Shop Boys' "Rent" and when Oliver remarks, "Felix, I think this song is yours too." (a line that never failed to pull a reaction from me), Felix doesn't tuck his tail between his legs. He's not embarrased. No, he gladly takes the mic.

Then there is Rosamund Pike who is never not fantastic in everything. Elspeth is so droll, so cutting, yet so loveable.

Pike tosses out these lines that carry such humour in it, effortlessy. Like Farleigh, Elspeth is someone you probably should dislike - not batting an eye when discussing Pamela's death, judgmental, gossipy - but she, like Sir James are charming. Their obliviousness comes across as a mere quirk in their personality versus a deal-breaker.

The humour. This movie is so funny. What I appreciated though is that where most directors would put laughs to diffuse the preceeding scene, Fennell plays it straight. You are sat there without any quip or hammy performance to distract from Oliver drinking Felix's cummy bathwater and lapping the drain for good measure.

Or from Oliver and Venetia's menstrual blood swapping. Or grief stricken Oliver humping Felix's grave. The laughter, however comes from the audience. I've seen it three times so I've experienced three different audience reactions and I was surprised by how much people laughed (and gasped. Or closed their eyes), when to me it was serious bizness.

The first screening I attended had a Q&A with the film's composer, Anthony Willis, and he said that when he does panels with Emerald she always apologies to the audience for the pervisity. Why apologize, Emerald?! Talk your talk!

The only scene I could think of where humour was added to diffuse a scene was when Oliver kills Elspeth and he's draped over her trying (and failing) to put her limp arms around him. I think that was necessary so audiences can go into the end scene of him dancing victoriously through his ill-gotten estate.

-When Felix starts clueing in that Oliver lied. The way the unasked question where they pull up to Oliver's home. You can see that he's taken aback by a supposed addict would live there. Then you can tell the realization is falling on him when he spots the lawn being watered because what hardcore adcict would care about maintaining the lawn? But it's the "Gone Fishin'" sign that made him realize he's been duped. Jacob played it so well because it was very understated. Even the entire scene with Oliver's parents (played by Dorothy Atkinson who displayed that same fierce love of her child in "Pennyworth" and Shaun Dooley who's usually playing a tough nut.).

THE BAD

The bad actually has nothing to do with the film itself. It's the perception of Felix that Jacob Elordi and Emerald Fennell holds. They both paint Felix in the most terrible light with Elordi saying Felix is scarier than his character in EUPHORIA and Fennell calling him callous, misogynistic and racist. While I can see where she paints him as such in the film (leaving Oliver to walk his bike back to campus, not talking to the girl/s he's going to have it off with, just hitting her on the butt and walking off with her, having the very tone-deaf attitude of "not seeing race" by telling Farleigh that he doesn't care that he's "different" from them. But does that make him a truly awful person? Maybe it makes me an apologist because I can see how Felix's life of privilege makes him oblivious on how to treat people.

Fennell says her direction to Elordi was that Felix is a bad kisser and bad at sex because he never has to try; he doesn't need to impress. That makes sense because if one is wealthy and/or conventionally beautifully those things does the heavy lifting and grants you a ton of leeway. Since it works for him, why would he even think he needs to pivot on his behaviour?

I just don't see Felix being a terrible person. He ran interference for Oliver at the bar, he tried to get someone to hook Oliver up with a friend, he ditched the graduation party to support Oliver after the "death" of his father. Duncan was so crushed by Felix's death that he couldn't even close the curtains. Liam or Joshua (the Footmen Farleigh said Felix didn't know the names of) ran off crying after closing the curtains while Felix's body passed by. You would think if he was such a horrid person the staff wouldn't be so affected by his death. He pushed Oliver to stay for dinner at his parents house because he could see how much it meant to them to just have homemade SpagBol and cake.

He may be oblivious and has blindspots, but I'm not buying that he's abominable.

THE REST

-When Venetia is telling the story about the doppleganger, there's a window to the garden behind her and you see a man in a pink shirt walking past, then we cut to the reactions at the table to her story and Felix is wearing a pink shirt. Could it be Felix's doppleganger? A harbinger of his death in the garden? If we take Felix seriously, Saltburn is inhabited by Felix's dead granny. What's one more supernatural occurrence?

-In the credits are images that alludes to what has transpired: we see a spider because Venetia tells Oliver Sir James calls him Spider-Man because she skulks and she says he spins his web, she thinks he's more of a moth (I say he's a kitsune. He's a shapeshifting, beguiling trickster.).

There's a puppet on a string - and that has a dual meaning of the shoebox theatre of Catton family puppets that Felix examines when he first arrives at Saltburn and latter stops in front of at the end when he fixes their memorial rocks atops it; and also how Felix was ultimately a puppet master. There's also an ouroboros and a pair of glasses, which I loved seeing because Oliver sheds his glasses when he gets into Felix's circle. We eventually realize that they were merely an affectation. A costume he adorned to get in order to get into the character as humble, unassuming scholarship kid and shedding him once he was ensconced in Felix's circle.

-I ponder whether Felix truly considered Oliver a friend. Ewan Mitchell's Michael (the other asocial scholarship kid) warned Oliver that Felix would get bored with him. Venetia tells Oliver that she likes him better than the last one. Her words seemed like this is Felix's folly and he does this all the time and Oliver was merely another stray. Then we hear from Felix that a friend he invited had a fling with Venetia and it ruined his friendship. Maybe Felix doesn't get tired of these guys, but they make a mere (perceived) misstep and he ends the friendship. We see it almost happen when Felix yelled at Oliver for making a fuss about the state of his dorm room. Which is why Oliver deployed Operation Dead Dad - he needed a gambit in order to not lose Felix's friendship.

There were a few times where Felix could have ditched Oliver, but he didn't. If he's as flighty as people perceive him to be then I think he would have just made an excuse for Oliver to not attend the fancy dress party. Cancellation wasn't the only option. He could have just pulled an Elspeth and had Sir James make Oliver leave in the dead of the night.

Instead, even after everything he now knows about Oliver's deception, Felix looks crushed after their talk in the maze. His anger from earlier seemingly turned to sadness. Maybe his apparent dejection stemmed from what Oliver said to him: how he was just giving Felix what he wanted; thus (screw you Farleigh, "thus" is a good word) probably making Felix ponder whether everyone around him are playing roles - court jesters trying to appease Felix their king and no relationship he has with anyone outside his family is authentic.

Or maybe Felix had sexual interest in Oliver (because I don't think anyone had a romantic interest in each other in this film; sexual/carnal/opportunistic, yes)? It's powerful when someone obviously wants you. Even if you didn't have any prior interest in that person the, "What if?" or "Why not?" aspect comes into play and you want test how far it could go. Venetia told Oliver, "Felix doesn't like to share his toys. Even the ones he doesn't want to play with anymore." Maybe he just liked male attention, but had no intention of following through. I don't know. Maybe Oliver wasn't the only unreliable narrator.

"I wasn't in love with him."