#death by vending machine

[hambannannah]

Sharks and Vending Machines

Crash

Bite

Blood

Bruised

Trepidation for Selachimorpha

Trust for machine

Mankind again betrayed by our children

[cervideity]

jackpot

The Enemy was published 15 years ago today! Wow! You should go and read it! Check out this scene for yourself! Nothing goes wrong!

[zach-tomfan]

day 2 trying to find gary x death shippers

cmon guys….. im writing an ao3 fic too :/ alot of this art is really really really old 🙏 also benson and gene art because geneson real

[chapterunwritten]

[web-novel-polls]

Silliest Pre-Isekai Death Tournament Round 1

Boxxo from Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon

Cause of Death: A lover of vending machines that died trying to save a vending machine from falling off the back of a truck over a cliff

Shen Qingqiu/Shen Yuan from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Submission 1: He died from reading this long running webnovel that he would faithfully pay for legally, abd then rip apart every little thing about it he didnt like. It was bad. He read the last chapter, and was so angry either he ate spoiled yogurt when he wasnt looking and died of food poisoning, or choked to death on a bun. Later he would meet the author who also isekaied into it, and then said author would say that he was a super fan.

Submission 2: died from choking on a bao lmao loser (affectionate) and then tripped on some wires and extra-died by electrocuting himself

Submission 3: Okay it gets a bit complicated here but. There are a few versions of how it happened. In the first he is reading shitty Web novel and gets so fucking angry at the ending that he just spontaneously combusts and isekai's into the scum villain in the very novel he was flaming. In the second be chokes on a bao (while flaming the novel's ending) and dies, again isekai'ing into the scum villain. The only fact that makes the second death funnier is that the novel he is reading is a heterosexual harem collecting story that is slowly changed into gay fantasy romance through the events of SVSSS's plot, which makes the "choking on balls to death" thing so fucking much funnier

["Anti-Propaganda" that attacks other characters is NOT allowed. Please only give reasons to vote FOR a character.]

[fallloverfic]

I am legitimately confused by repeated comments that ORV's opening is slow or boring or uninteresting, especially people who say you need to read [insert some very large number of pages/chapters] to get to the "good" parts. I've seen this on multiple socials at this point and I originally wrote this post months ago, but recent potential news has brought back people saying this again, particularly in recommending it to other people/trying to get other people into it.

I would personally argue that ORV has a good opening. A very good opening. And the early part of it is very good, too.

ORV opens with a literal train of angst, attempted friendship, workplace harassment (Sangah getting harassed by her boss), some neat Korean folklore (dokkaebis hello), graphic violence (remember when Bihyung just kills the president on TV?), a group of people in a subway attempting to beat an old woman to death, Dokja winning a pissing contest with a teenage edgelord, a bunch of people getting murdered, bonding in times in despair over a really unique form of problem solving, a man breaking open subway doors with his bare arms, young love, and magic, fleeing onto a bridge that gets exploded to bits by an evil gremlin, a horde of zombies appearing, the protagonist getting new magic powers, and then his getting held by the neck over said broken bridge in a complex back and forth with the "true" story protagonist before getting dropped into the mouth of a giant sea monster.

It covers topics like the limits of human compassion in times of strife, the complicated presence of the military (Dokja hated his time being drafted v Hyunsung's military leadership doesn't save anyone), international relations (Sangah is learning Spanish), trope subversion (I mean it is and isn't the entire book and Dokja's character, but he's constantly trying to be 5-10 steps ahead of what's going on, including literally fleeing Joonghyuk until Joonghyuk grabs him by the collar), workplace harassment, bullying, and it's all taking place during multiple apocalypse scenarios.

This is the like first 11 chapters of the book. And it never stops. There are "slower" moments, moments where characters take a breather (like it takes a while for Dokja to negotiate his contract with Bihyung, which is slow if you ignore the fact Dokja is arguing with an interdimensional being/alien for the limits of his own life and autonomy in the most dangerous streaming event imaginable, knowing he may still die if he gambles wrong on his personal wikipedia brain), but it's still frequently confrontational, whether that confrontation is about what characters mean to each other, what lives are at stake, finding your purpose in life, adaptability to complex circumstances, overcoming trauma and self-doubt...

And it's more intense in a way in the manhwa adaptation because you can clearly see most of it visualized (e.g., how visually wrecked the characters get, how young the kids are, how terrifying the monsters are, how scary the odds are, and how dangerous Dokja's gambles can really get with a fickle streaming audience), and Sleepy-C's art is gorgeous.

I just have to wonder (though this is more of a rhetorical question), what on earth do people consider fast? Because I am quite honestly terrified of what the answer is.

Like I get that ORV is long. It can be hard to recommend very long books to folks (and as the manhwa keeps going, long comics). To each their own, everyone is different, what appeals to me won't appeal to others. But there's a difference between "it's hard to recommend a very long work to someone" and "it's hard to recommend something that's long and takes a while to get into", and maybe folks are just writing the former a bit weirdly. I completely understand having trouble recommending long series to people. Also ORV has a very complex plot and I don't blame folks having trouble recommending that. I'm writing fic for later parts of orv and other manhwa and I dread explaining all the context for all that to someone who hasn't read them.

That being said, ORV has a very good introduction. Both chapter 1 of the novel and episode 1 of the manhwa are very good. They're not perfect, I can't say I was hooked from the immediate moment I started reading the page, but both of them have good introductions and it doesn't stop, and there's stuff to love in just about every chapter/episode, and I was definitely hooked enough by the time I finished to keep going to chapter/episode 2. Chapter 1 of the novel has great angst and character building, and it's funny and sweet and tragic. When I first read Dokja trying, earnestly, to recommend TWSA and getting harassed about it and worrying it will hurt this art and artist he cares about, but not being able to do much else to give thanks for this experience because of his circumstances, I cried. The first page/episode of the manhwa has them delicious boys love vibes and gorgeous art (and cute baby Dokja, I die for him), and the promise of a fascinating story ahead, and then the following page/episode has more gorgeous art and angst and great characters (combining them cause the first page feels sort of more like a teaser than a first page, though Episode 0 ends with a spread of Kimcom that makes me tear up). We'll unfortunately never know if I'd have loved ORV as much if I'd read the novel first, but I like to think I would cause ORV's opening is just that good.

I just truly, truly do not understand the sentiment that idk the opening and the first [insert large number of pages/chapters] aren't good or interesting or engaging enough. Maybe I'm out of touch. To each their own on what appeals, maybe I'm built different (doubt it though) but it just feels kind of dismissive of ORV's opening, in both the novel and the manhwa, which are both really good. Will it win over everyone? No. It's fine if you weren't grabbed by the opening or the first [insert however many pages/chapters/arcs]. It's fine if you took a while, even a long while to get into it, or never really did, and maybe don't like the manhwa, which is a great gateway into the story, or don't like the novel for whatever reason and prefer the manhwa. And at the end of the day it's just random opinions online, we all have different ones. Make the posts that appeal to you on your blog, complain on your socmed, whatever. But the opening is good, it keeps you very engaged with a lot of difficult scenarios, the characters are great and fun and funny, in those parts especially, and idk why I'm supposed to pretend that's not the case.

Anyway I don't like writing complaint posts. The opening and general start are excellent and Imma go back and cry over Dokja again ty singNsong for my tears.

[forgive-and-take]

Met my husband in New Zealand. It really is the most gorgeous place. Taika's tourism video just barely edges out the Flight of the Conchords' many posters in making me want to go back.

[mumblelard]

saving the world one couch nap at a time and also happy friday imaginary constructs

i dreamt i got hired to do public relations for a collective of sentient alleyways. in the course of interviewing them for their press release i discovered something startling, then i woke up

[torque-witch]

Sticker packs from Death’s Head Divination will be available at Heartstrings art vending machine through December 3rd! We are so excited to be a rotating vendor in this awesome space and hope our art can reach some new faces 🤍

Death’s Head Divination is a queer, disabled witch that uses abandoned statues to repaint into the goddess Hel and other deities for practitioners who are tired of mass-produced spirituality. They also are creating original digital art that uplifts the weird, the witches, and the marginalized ✨

Stop by Birdcage Comics Cafe in San Bernardino, CA to visit the art vending machine and support a growing community of creatives 🤍

Order stickers online ➡️

[fatherfigureneeded]

the grim reaper is cool but I imagine death as a cocky teen chess player. you start the game thinking the guy's fully over hyping himself when he says he's 'the best ever at chess', and you underestimate him, then get completely slaughtered. literally.

[edgarallanpoestan]

hate how early everything closes here dude, im so hungry

[hopefully-multilingual]

books to read if you're in search for something new (in no particular order):

Cardiff, by the Sea

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

A Deadly Education

I Burn Paris

If We Were Villains

The Secret History

Neuromancer

The Woman Who Turned Into A Vending Machine

Salt to the Sea

House of Leaves

The Anatomy of Evil

Good Omens

My Sister's Keeper

Death in Venice

Sing to the Dawn

The Accidental Malay

The Power of Geography

Dead Poets Society

I have not read some of these books, and am unaware of the trigger warnings (if any) so I urge to you to look them up before reading if you assumed that they would be here, thank you and happy reading!

[mariatesstruther]

okay so thinking about the greys episode where most of the staff accidentally eats edible cookies and this happening in the greys x tlou au world lmfao. imagine the residents (ellie, dina, jesse) trying to take care of their high as fuck attendings (maria, tess, joel, tommy, bill) after a parent gives them to tommy and he leaves them in their lounge

@bumblepony @clickergossip @theliterallylee @ameerawrites

[zach-tomfan]

day 3 trying to get gary x death shippers

geneson bonus again because geneson is my favourite 👅👅👅 also the way i draw gary makes him look like weird al which is 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂

[em0-snail]

Whenever they drop the goth punk pins and I finally get them I might do a little ng merch tour. I never realized I had so much shit lmao

[web-novel-polls]

Silliest Pre-Isekai Death BONUS Poll

(This poll will have no impact on the tournament. It's just for fun)

Myne / Urano Motosu from Ascendance of a Bookworm

Submission: Titular 'bookworm' who got crushed to death under a pile of books. This did nothing to diminish her love for reading though. Too bad she reincarnated into a world where printing press wasn't invented yet...

Boxxo from Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon

Cause of Death: A lover of vending machines that died trying to save a vending machine from falling off the back of a truck over a cliff

Pastry from Sweet Reincarnation

Cause of Death: crushed by a giant candy sculpture during the pastry chef world tournament

["Anti-Propaganda" that attacks other characters is NOT allowed. Please only give reasons to vote FOR a character.]