#every new protag i gotta draw her

[musubiki]

PLZA doodle to celebrate the new protag 💚

[puppy-the-mask]

Today I’ve been imagining The Roommates going to a fancy party. Edge is invited every year and is always stuck talking with the people so he never gets good gossip anymore, so! Cas enters seperately, so she doesn’t get roped in with ‘oh who’s your date?’ Questions and just vibes by the punch bowl snacking away and not drawing attention, she spends the night paying him visits/dragging him away from chatty people who are wearing on his nerves while also finding discreet ways to evesdrop.

But then an anti-harem mini confrontation happens between the protag and antag in the corner and this one she HAS to record- Cas is sure she heard her boys name in all that. Then Antag trips protag as they’re leaving and of course Cas’ gotta day something, she’s all for minding her business but that bitch said some things and went out of her way to do that. Social Anxiety- Forgotten

Which leads to more juicy juicy info, and threats! And guess who’s phone is still on and recording every word~

So she ‘back down’ and leaves the situation- immediately sends Edge the video with an ‘I think this’ll be enough gossip for the rest of the night’ and decides to go get some boba or something. All the party has is champagne and water so she needs some non-alcoholic flavor in her life. Her and Edge work out what she’ll get him while she’s gone, he hands over the keys, and tells her that they’ll be going to an after party the main house holds for their family and friends to cap off the night.

While she was gone they left early so he sent her the adress, and she finally shows up- to the shock and slight panic of Antag (who is trying to either catch or get Edge back)

They have a nice little thing where he asks what flavor she got, which was a new one. She offered him to try and he just, handed her his and kept drinking.

“What No! This ones you’re favorite give mine back!” this point they were sitting down but even still he can hold it far out of her reach. She threatens to do something that will embarrass both of them infront of his family and he relents and switches drinks.

“SHAMELESS HARLOT”

“Saucy Wench”

[ryttu3k]

Finishing up SoNY, ‘bad’ end and final thoughts!

But first, the early game over.

Wow, she just gets shot. Not even slurped? That’s rude as hell XD;;

And on to the ‘bad’ end!

Beginning is much the same, ofc.

“You’re too in love with weaving a good story and establishing a seductive narrative to let facts get in the way.” Foreshadowing for the ‘good’ end, maybe?

God that Embrace scene gives me literal goosebumps.

Alright! Last time I did Danse Macabre and Retributive Justice, let’s try The Risks of Swiping Right!

lmao god I’d eat this guy too. Back to the ghost club! That legitimately is a really neat scene. ...Ooh yes so that’s where the girl was from.

Panhard just lowkey dying at the mental image of Katherine Weise in a fast food restaurant is so good.

The sweet scene between Julia and Dakota hits a bit different after the ‘good’ end XD;;

Went to the park, reminisced, and helped out the guy. That was sweet ;_; High-humanity Julia, this time!

‘Fairy God Mother?’ is great but ‘Vin Diesel?’ is objectively the funnier response.

“Shining even more brightly than usual, Aisling.” Samira got a cru-ush~

Poor Julie. It’s probably been tough without Sophie around :(

Huh. Interestingly, refusing to lie to Mia results in Julia actually feeling genuine loyalty to the Cammies (for now, at least).

Believing Agathon is still alive = more optimistic = different dialogue! See, this is how you make choices have consequences, game!

Oooh boy time to meet Adelaide XD;;

“She uncrosses her legs in a strangely seductive motion. In her mind’s eye, it probably looked like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, but in reality, it had all the grace of a tracksuit Slav squatting.” *snickering*

Fight me, Adelaide >:(

‘sup Nastya. Went with the slightly less disruptive routine here XD Huh, she’s an aspiring DJ! Julia is deeply confused as to how being a DJ and being head of security works together.

lmao Julia referring to Hope as a girlboss. That phrase has lost all meaning to me...

The conversation between Julia and Father Leonard is still really interesting. Man, you know who I want Julia to talk to? Anatole. Interesting insights into balancing being queer Catholic vampires there for sure.

lmao oh my god I want to fight this street reporter.

‘I can almost feel my brain losing its wrinkles.’ *snort*

Yeaghhhh the Abyss bit is still so creepy...

Oops. Being honest regarding Tamika and Torque’s relationships gets a fail :(

Oh, or not XD That works! Also, uh, apparently the giant albino ghoul alligator is real, according to New York by Night. He’s Calebros’ pet.

“Because I think I have a pretty good nose for people’s auras. And when I take a good look at you... ...somehow, I have a feeling you’re a surprisingly decent person. Whatever way of unlife you choose, I hope you don’t change it. And that you remember my advice.” :)

“I know.” Oof.

“Hi.” “WAAAH!” lmao sorry Princess XD;; Just trying to imagine Qadir’s face as he tells Julia to find a 1990 glass statue of Scrooge McDuck... dying...

Oh she’s so a Toreador XD Low art options are a fantasy book, an anime DVD, or a video game... those can all be arty, though! And went with the anime DVD called ‘Ririsu no Daibouken’... that translates to ‘Adventures of Lilith’. How on the nose XD “The cover says ‘Lilith’s Carnal Carnival’.” Oh. Yeah, that’d do it XD

“This 90s original video anime presents us with a tale of five big-bosomed samurai warriors travelling through America in search of General Hastavista, The Incubus King. Don’t let all the titillation misguide you: the main draws here are peerless direction, a nearly avant-garde editing rhythm and dialogue that coyly comments on traditional gender roles in anime. Once you see the animation in the final battle, you’ll understand why it never fails to set a sakuga fan’s heart ablaze!”

She’s my new favourite.

“So can I know your name now?”

“Hmmm... Let me think...

No. <3″

I need to stress that the heart appears in the dialogue box. Like. The actual less-than-three heart.

Didn’t investigate the rat this time, so Qadir did and I die. “Glad you’re alright, little guy.” Qadir...

Still not over the drunk blood doll rats.

Kaiser’s still a goddamn creep and this time Julia is not going too far. She still has her humanity, dammit. Final set of traits:

Loyal to the end

Glass half-full

Not into a bad cop schtick

Honesty is the best policy

No more human, still humane

Onwards to the ‘bad’ end! Oops, and Dakota still did the Single White Female thing XD;;

Man I’m still really curious who the ‘good friend’ is!!

Okay! Time for end game!!

So that’s the good friend, huh? “Let me phrase it differently, then. You’re not Ecaterina the Wise, the Agitator of Prague, a Brujah elder causing turbulences all over the world... are you?”

Mention of Christof! Mention of Christof doing shady shit :| Poor Hana.

“An immigrant from Eastern Europe comes to New York City, takes the position she always expected to find herself in, is molded into someone who is no longer herself.”

Julia and Dakota representing Carthage is kind of neat.

I want to say the mention of St Jude is a reference, but I’m not sure what to XD;; Is that from Redemption? Christof could have been the one to tell Hana that.

“Like a two-person human centipede loop or something. An Ouroburos? Or an, uhh, Mobius strip?” No, that’s the other traditionally Sabbat clan XD

That‘s. That’s a hell of a reconciliation XD “Yeah, let’s give it a try. By the way I’m on the run for my unlife, want to go to California and try to find utopia?”

Julia, wear a fucking mask XD

“Hey.”

“Yeah?“

“Do you love me?”

“... Of course I do. For now, at least.”

I still don’t know if I love her. Or even if I can love anyone, for that matter. I’m a fucking monster, after all. I don’t even know if we’ll exist next month. The prospects are not looking good. But although I can’t see myself in the rearview mirror right now...

...I will remember this image of us leaving the city, somewhat melancholic, and somewhat hopeful, forever. And maybe the meaning of this image will be clarified with time. Or maybe I will just force a more positive description on it, and that is what I’ll believe.

No matter what happens... even if oceans of blood lie before us, I will make this a cherished memory.

Whatever possible salvation still remains for me... ...it probably lies in the eyes of another.

Oh dang I have chills.

So the ‘bad’ ending is about the subverted compromise. Julia resigns herself to letting the compromise about the truth of Callihan’s death go ahead. ‘Catherine’ is a walking compromise to hide the Ecaterina’s real deeds. But while Hana is still stuck in her role for now, Julia refuses to accept the compromise she’s made, both the one relating to the investigation and the compromise she made of her own views and morals. It might blow up in her face, yeah. But damn, she’s going to try.

So, final thoughts! For the sake of completion, this is what I said about Coteries:

And of course this is the part where the game all falls apart :-\

Just… god. This is probably the biggest problem with CoNY, and the reason I didn’t bother getting it until it was like… 60% off. The bulk of the game is great - the writing is intriguing, the design is stunning. But the choices themselves are so limited it’s barely worth even getting it at 60% off!

You have three choices of characters, with their own opening chapters and own individual scenes with their touchstones. You have four choices of coterie members, and three sidequests. You can probably get in at least three full story arcs and a sidequest or two, but you’re only ever limited to two of your coterie members showing up at the not-yet-endgame.

So let’s say you decide to play all three protags, which, indeed, is encouraged (there’s an achievement for it). You are going to repeat coterie arcs and side quests, because there simply aren’t enough for three unique playthroughs.

And then you get to the end and literally everything is scripted. You get attacked by the SI. You get rescued by your two coterie members (and then never see them again, despite the game being called Coteries of New York). You meet Torque, you escape the SI, Sophie reveals her plan to Torque, you go to Ellis Island, Adelaide kills Sophie (and despite the fact that you’re given multiple options there, none of them work), Arturo does his spiel, end of game. You don’t even get to choose between ending up blood bound or going “no fuck you” and at least dying with a bit of dignity!

I just. I really want to like it, and there genuinely is a lot there to like! But uuuugh the ending. Like damn at least give the poor protag the option to choose what happens to them!

Anyway. Not sure what’s next. To get all the achievements, you have to finish with all three protags, so that’s three full runs and a lot of repetitiveness (compare to, say, Bloodlines or Night Road. I have eighty-five hours on Night Road and there’s still stuff I haven’t seen!), so I can’t even just… rush it through up to the meeting with the touchstones on the third play. Nope. Gotta finish it :-\

Final rating: 6/10

8/10 characters, 9/10 atmosphere, 8/10 story aside from ending, 3/10 story ending, 2/10 replayability. Final consensus: get it on major sale if you can, otherwise, you might as well just watch an LP. I might do that instead of doing a third run, although I at least want to do a second.

I ended up revising that 6/10 to 5.5/10 after finishing all runs and getting the achievements just out of how goddamn repetitive it was. So, how does Shadows measure up?

Absolutely continued with all the things I enjoyed about CoNY (characters, atmosphere, and writing), and of the bits I hated (cookie cutter protagonists, lack of real choice, repetitiveness, the godawful ending), every single part has been completely improved.

Instead of three fledglings so similar they even have the same internal thoughts, we have Julia, who’s got such a distinct voice that she becomes the most memorable game protag I’ve seen in years, and I’m including non-VtM games in this. This is absolutely her game, and it’s just... absolutely fascinating to read and watch.

Related - actual real choices. There are five key choices that determine the ending, and every single one has actual consequence in-game. You get different dialogue. Different introspection. Different philosophies. And this carries across - if Julia believes Agathon is alive, she’s more optimistic about her relationship with Dakota, too. And of course, both endings are completely distinct and incredibly written - the ‘good’ ending where Julia gives in to her most Lasombra instincts, plays the game, wins it, gets power and respect at the expense of her humanity and avoiding all those wraiths... or the ‘bad’ ending when she listens to her morals, reconciles with Dakota, and leaves for California, uncertain, but hopeful.

Not a lot of repetitiveness. Yes, by design, you’ll probably do two playthroughs. The main plot is much the same, but there are enough options there to get multiple dialogue options and stuff. And for the little sidequests, you can actually get all in with just the two playthroughs, only repeating like... two, I think. Still, I wasn’t feeling actively bored like I was midway through my second run of CoNY!

Loved seeing more in-depth backstory and development for the coterie members. Agathon’s section was particularly fascinating, literally getting into his head.

And just. Atmosphere and music is so, so good.

Final rating: 9/10. Thank you, Draw Distance, you hit it out of the park.

[acflare]

Who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships? Talk about them!

Oh boy let’s see (guess I gotta draw pics too to justify rambling on my sketchbook blog, lol)

Wow picking favorites is hard

Probably the best way to find out would be to write why I love every character and see who ends up with the longest rant but that’d take way too long, lol

1. Zora

Oh boy, Zora is just… 100% my aesthetic. Sharp teeth, edgy, snarky, his magic is awesome As a character he’s just so fun because he looks the ‘doesn’t care about anything’ type, but he had to train SO hard to get his magic to be that way, and he cares a ton about justice and people not being garbage.

2. Finral

My favorite until Zora showed up, lol His character development over the course of the story just… makes me live. No confidence in his fighting ability, literally a coward who develops into one of my favorite fighters. All the moves he pulls in fights are so much fun and well thought out. (Not to mention I totally relate to the inferior older sibling complex 😩)

3. Asta

Frikn He probably makes it into my favorite anime protags of all time Asta is just a ball of love and joy that co-habitates his body with a demon??? (Speaking of the demon, the more lines it gets the closer it gets to being one of my faves) Asta is just so relatable. Also the fact that he has breaking points??? He isn’t always screaming, or happy, he has been terrified, hopeless, full of rage, shocked – the faces he made during the hecking trial chapter made me cry

4. Patri

Such a good villain. Like, he’s a kid who got shoved into the body of the one he idolized in his previous life and forms a cult? When his ‘Licht’ facade wears away and you get to see how petty and angry he is it’s just sooo gooood. And when he just takes a moment to cry in Licht’s arms? Problematic fav.

5. Gauche

Okay hear me out here I firckn hate the whole ‘sisc*n’ gag – but if you take it as just that, a gag, then he becomes a super fun character. Literally alone in the world with only his baby sister whom he loves more than anything, and slooooowly adopting the Black Bulls into his family !!

6. Magna

I almost left him out bc he hasn’t been in any chapters in a while and I forgot how amazing he is Magna feels so deeply and I love it. Nobody is left without hugs due to any attempt to sustain an image – if you need a hug, Magna is there for you. A fantastic senpai and friend. I really hope he’s being left out as a setup to burst in and be a whole new tier of awesome…

7. Yami

Team dad, does not care what anyone thinks and has full faith in his whole team. Like, he recruits all these weirdos, some who don’t even show off combat capabilities, and he only sees their potential. Just… when they live up to his expectations and lights up I just love that. He’s such a perfect captain

8. Marx

He’s very much a side character but he makes me happy every time I see him He’s just got such a hard job (and the Wizard Kind does NOT make it any easier for him 😂) There’s just something fun about a character always 100% stress (someone give him a vacation, please)

9. Gordon

Yo Gordon is so wholesome? He appears creepy by being nonexpressive and ridiculously quiet while wearin heckin Marilyn Manson makeup but he just… wants to be friends. Also, his family is amazing, and with how his father has managed to repurpose his own magic, I have high hopes for Gordon’s in the future

10. Noelle

My precious daughter I love her. Her ojousama/tsundere combination is fun, but her backstory really makes her being adopted by the Bulls that much better, and just makes me root for her that much harder every time she succeeds ❤

Okay, now for fav ships

Oh boy, let’s see

1.Noelle x Asta

Asta’s just full affection toward his friends is such a good combo with Noelle being a tsundere. Not only that, but Noelle has p much been starved of affection her whole life, so pairing her with Asta just feels so hecking wholesome 😭

2.Luck x Magna

Their friendship is already amazingly wholesome, it just makes it that much more fun if Luck has a crush on Magna, haha. Luck has already displayed tsundere-like behavior, and wit Magna being genuine and affectionate when it matters, it makes for a fun (and possibly painful ⚡) combination

3.Charlotte x Yami

It’s a fairytale with a 100% oblivious prince! How much better can it get? 😂 Plus they’re a heckin rad power couple. Plus dat social status gap yo

4.Grey x Gauche

Frikn… I shipped this since the water temple arc for funsies and the CInderella Grey chapter fed me. Any Grey ship is cute, but anxious fluffy Grey clinging to Gauche, who hates literally everyone is just an aesthetic to me.

5.Patri x William

Sort of a ‘you’re the only one in the world who understands me’ feel to it – also Patri is in dire need of affection. Prolly William too.

6.Mars x Fana

Theyre childhood sweethearts that went through wayyyy too much. It’s cute and I want them to be happy

7.Vetto x Fana (Elf)

Give me soft Vetto! We’ve seen how sweet he was before the devil magic made him all angy, and not-psycho Fana looks like she’s on the spunkier side – give me pushover Vetto!

….im a failure of a shipper I think I’m out of romantic ships

I’m not really a multishipper n the show’s done a good job of giving lots of characters cute crushes

I guess I’ll just list fav platonic ships for the last three

8.Finral & Noelle

Finral deserves to have a younger sibling to fawn over and Noelle deserves an affectionate older sibling also seeing all of Finral’s flirting with Noelle as fawning instead makes it cute rather than problematic

9.Secre & Asta

SECRE IS SUCH A GOOD BIG SISTER!!! Gosh she really turned out to love Asta (I mean, so did everyone else, but) also Noelle’s love of her is super cute, I want her to be a big sister to both of them 💕

10.Rhya & Patri

Yo, I love their relationship. Rhya’s always teasing and looking out for Patri, it just feels like he cares about him so much – originally it looked like Rhya was disrespectful, or lazy, but rewatching everything it just feels like he’s looking out for Patri.

[radioromantic-moved]

updated tma s/i storyline/backstory because all of my rusty quill inserts have an entire biography of background information apparently  (this is a Big Fat post. under the cut for length and tma spoilers up until season 5)

-little american smartass moves overseas to go to college, makes two best friends (jon and georgie), together they co-run the gsa and top the honor roll (also, they become a professional third wheel)

-they move back home after college, and keep in touch with georgie and jon as best they can, with life and adult stuff getting in the way. 

-fast forward a couple years and look out, england, they’re back for more! apparently, their two college bffs have both landed themselves paranormal-based careers while they were away, and they’re absolutely getting in on that.

-ze hangs out at the archives, annoying jon. ze befriends the assistants because who DOESN’T want to befriend the assistants. ze gets offered a job a couple times but ze doesn’t take it because getting paid for paranormal nonsense kinda sucks all the fun out of it. also, the boss creeps zir out a little.

-jane prentiss and the close encounter with the creepy crawly kind is what sparks the idea that ohhh, maybe there’s something Legitimately Weird going on here. and it pushes zir to give jon a statement.

-so maybe everything was not so totally normal the whole time they were in america. so maybe one of their friends bailed on a camping trip so they had to stay in a cabin with some guy they didn’t know and sneak out the window in the middle of the night when one of his “hunting trips” went a little fucked up. so maybe they ran over what was probably a werewolf with their car. (they’re actually pretty proud of that last bit. like, they not only survived but they HIT a WEREWOLF with their CAR. they’re totally the best horror protag.)

-they meet helen when she comes in to give jon her statement. they help her calm down and get some basic information out of her. there’s a little romantic tension there from the beginning (what if our hands brushed while you were drawing an impossible map filled with too many turns…hahaha jk…unless?)

-helen remembers that.

-they rekindle their friendship with georgie like they were never apart at all, though she’s not quite comfortable enough to share her fear-based deal with them yet. but they come over a lot and pet the admiral a lot 

-they’re a casual watcher of ghost hunt uk, and they know of melanie cause paranormal nerds attract paranormal nerds, yknow? they’re officially introduced through georgie, and strike up a nice friendship from there (as long as they don’t bring up the archives around her too much).

-in terms of entities they’ve definitely got something lonely-related going on. something about feeling unable to form any meaningful relationships and worrying that no one truly cares about them yet at the same time not having enough motivation to try and form bonds on their own, so they mask their emotions with humor and sarcasm and push away people who would get close to them. peter lukas has them pegged pretty well and is the first supernatural thing to notably rattle them. 

-whether they actually become an avatar probably depends on the storyline

-other entities with an opinion on them…the hunt thinks they’re annoying. most of them probably think they’re annoying, actually, at some point, which is sort of their goal. the eye thinks they’re sort of interesting. the spiral likes them, for obvious reasons.

-they sometimes visit jon when he’s living at georgie’s house in the s3 era. this is around the same time they’re becoming close with georgie like That, meaning that on occasion the tables will turn and jon gets a chance to be the third wheel. there’s also genuine friendship stuff going on, though. they talk. they believe him.

-at some point, helen pays them a visit in her new form. and listen, as a gay horror fan, they’d be lying if they said they didn’t sort of vibe with it.

-she visits them a couple more times, seemingly just to talk. she claims the part of her that used to be og helen missed their company.

-also tim doesn’t die in any of the good storylines because it’s my canon now and i said so. :)

-same for sasha. they’re all safe, actually, and everything is fine,

-they do research and pass it along to the archives team when they can and field a lot of sad calls from jon. he claims they owe him for listening to them cry about helen when they thought she ghosted them. 

-during s5 and the cosmic apocalypse, they take up shelter inside helen’s hallways. they sort of just stay in a little side room that shuffles their things around occasionally but it’s better than being trapped in their own personal fear hell. 

-ze has a domain of their own (cause if you aren’t feeling fear you gotta be making it) but ze doesn’t like spending time there. it creeps zir out and makes zir feel bad. the domain itself is partially spiral partially eye partially lonely. the lights are too bright and the music is too loud and everyone’s looking at you but you can’t recognize anyone or talk to anyone, and every time you try to get away to find a moment of peace you start to forget who you are, and where you are, and what you’re doing, so you ask around to see if anybody knows but everyone still looks right through you and won’t answer your questions. it’s very you’re at the party by lemon demon.

-ze hangs out out with melanie and georgie sometimes during the Stuff but can’t really stay for too long out of fear of putting them in danger. ze stops helen from eating their followers.

-ze eventually runs into jon as he’s traveling back to london and makes a pitstop in the hell hotel. ze initially just lets jon and helen talk but things really don’t go well at all and ze has to step in before they start killing each other. ze convinces jon that helen is trying, and what she says isn’t always truthful but she’s not going to stand in his way if he wants to set the world back to normal. not if it would hurt zir in the process. jon is skeptical but he trusts zir.

-good ends: the apocalypse is over! yay! everyone lives! double yay! they move back into their house but helen still visits them a lot. possibly, they move in with georgie and melanie. whatever the storyline they get at least one girlfriend which is epic and cool for them. they continue to be best friends with jon and complain about things with each other as a love language.

[zmwrites]

Novel Prep Tag Game: Just Jane

Hello everyone! I was tagged in this game by the always delightful @nistrada! Thank you, friend!! (I’m sorry, I know you tagged me two months ago.)

I’ve been putting it off as I haven’t had a new WIP that’s made it past the basic idea stage. But now that I’m working on Just Jane more, I figure it’s a good time to fill this out finally!

First Look

1.) Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences:

Jane, a scrawny street rat who’s made it to adulthood by the skin of her teeth, is taken in by Percival Greystone, a freshly returned war hero, after she’s caught trying to rob his house. They soon find themselves wrapped up in complex political machinations, as Percy is called upon to advise their young ruler, Duchess Anwen, who is being threatened with war by a former ally, and Jane is enlisted for help by the eccentric wizard trying to track down ancient artifacts said to be imbued with magic to protect the Duchy’s sovereignty. 

2.) How long do you plan for the novel to be?

I’m aiming for somewhere between 80k-100k? It might go over that if I go hard on the world building. It’s definitely an adult novel so I’m okay with it being a bit over the 100k marker.

3.) What’s your novel’s aesthetic?

Glowing runes, stone grinding against stone, massive gears opening doors that make the ground rumble, thorns, a river of golden blood, cryptic riddles, impossible trees, swords and shields and suits of armour, pale blue dresses, letters sealed with wax, faces hidden behind fans, regret that clings like burrs.

4.) What other stories have inspired your novel?

Definitely taking from Robin LaFevers’ His Fair Assassins series again, as well as the video game Skyrim and every book where the orphaned nobody turns out to be the chosen one.

5.) 3 images that get the feel of my novel:

Have this Pinterest board I’m still working on. I’m not happy with it, but it should give a general idea.

Main Characters

6.) Who is your protagonist?

Jane, 23. A street rat who steals to survive. She can pick pockets and locks with ease, can find a safe spot to sleep in any district, knows which merchants pay if she makes their deliveries, and knows which taverns are likely to take pity on her and give her a free meal. She’s also adept at climbing just about anything. She’s blunt and often says whatever comes to her mind, a fact that doesn’t earn her many friends once she enters the world of politics and fashionable society.

7.) Who is their closest ally?

At the beginning of the story, either Isaac or Wilamin. Isaac is a fellow thief who brings her jobs and has taught her a thing or two over the years, and is also the only person Jane is willing to try flirting with as she knows he doesn’t see her like that. Wilamin is a childhood friend who is now the top courtesan at the Temple of Saint Syra, the patron saint of pleasure, and allows Jane to sleep in her bed when she’s working in the Temple.

8.) Who is their enemy?

At the start, her only real enemies are hunger and the cold. As she moves into Percy’s world, she quickly makes new and varied enemies with her blunt nature and lack of manners.

9.) What do they want more than anything?

Security and somewhere to call home.

10.) Why can’t they have it?

She’s been on her own for as long as she can remember. She has friends, but when things are tough it’s every person for themselves. As much as she craves a home and security, she also rejects anyone who tries to get close to her who might be able to give her these things. She doesn’t trust that anyone (other than Wilamin) can see her as anything other than what she can do for them. This continuously keeps both things she so desperately wants out of her grasp.

11.) What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

There are a few things! That she’ll never amount to anything more than a scrawny street rat, that she’s not worth noticing, that most people only like her for what she can do for them... the list goes on. She hits a lot of the beliefs one would expect to be held by a young woman who’s had to fight for every scrap she’s ever gotten.

12.) Draw your protagonist!

As anyone who follows me probably knows, I have zero drawing skills. Instead, I offer you this creation from the well-known but now-defunct picrew:

Plot Points

13.) What is the worst thing that could happen to your protag?

To be stripped of her independence.

14.) What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

It has something to do with Isaac that will make Jane have to choose where her loyalties truly lie.

15.) Do you know how it ends?

Nope! I have some vague ideas, but that’s all. I’m on the first chapter and making most of it up as I go along.

16.) What is the theme?

Friendship, family, and what constitutes a home. Because I’m so early in the drafting process, I’m still figuring it out!

17.) What is a recurring symbol?

Again, I’m still figuring a lot of it out. I definitely want some symbols and imagery around locks and keys, but I don’t know the specifics yet.

18.) Where is the story set?

In the Duchy of Chalan. It was founded by Galverel Valynore but is currently ruled by the Keriell family, though they still carry the Valynore blood. The current capital city is called Summerlight, where the Dukes and Duchesses live in Bellsover Citadel. It has a moderate climate, with only a few weeks of extreme temperatures each year. The current Duchess is twenty-four year old Anwen.

19.) Do you have images and scenes in mind already?

A few! Most of my ideas are fairly abstract still bc I’m working with only a very vague outline, but there are a few visuals I’m really excited for along the “quest” plot line.

20.) What excited you about this story?

I’ve wanted to write a story centred around a thief for a while now, so that was the main reason I wanted to write this now. I’ve also been very into subverting tropes and the idea of people stepping up to save the world bc it’s the right thing to do. The opportunity to play with a character who might not always have the best morals (see: thief) but who gets dragged into this conflict where she’s gotta do something or let her country crumble was too good to pass up.

21.) What is your usual writing method?

I’ve discovered I work best when I do a “zero draft” or a “discovery draft” to start off with, then make an outline based on that, then write the story as I’d want to read it. It lets me explore the world and characters before settling on a final plot.

Oh boy, I forgot how dang long these things are!! But it’s done, and if you’ve read all of this, I applaud you.

I’m going to tag @leah-yasmin-writes​, @theouterdark​, @letswritestories101​, @the-orangeauthor​, and @solarflare-ink​! As always, no pressure. :)

[masahikass]

okay so since i couldn’t resist, here’s some info about my random ie:go steven universe!au because i have no energy for online lessons :)

also i didn’t want to post about another au since @/primsbean is making so many posts about her ie:go madoka magica!au which i fUCKING LOVE OHMYGOD- but yeah, alternate universes are my favorite snacc. i have another one to talk about but first let’s say things about the SU one <3

under the cut because it’s LONG - and remember i’m not a native english so i might do some mistakes

okay so first of all, don’t blame me if there will be some events that don’t follow the plot (since i’m NOT remaking steven universe with ie charas!!!!! please keep this in mind) or events that Rebecca Sugar would have never inserted in her show. I respect everyone who worked at steven universe, and my intention is not to say their plot/story was bad, i’m just adding something that did never happen with any chara in the su series to make my au more original, that’s it. peace and love oN THE PLANET EARTH- okay that was the best su song hands down

also keep in mind gems don’t have “gemmic” names (if you know just a little of the su series, you should know all the gems are named after their gem, but i wont give that kind of names to the ie boys - or should i call them gems then? lol)

all the gems - for now - will be males too (as there werent any og male gems in steven universe besides steven, which is an hybrid though so...)

i will list each chara’s gem and ability after the general plot <3

so, the actual protags (though all the charas are!!! these are the two) are Tenma and Fey, who are around 5,000 years old - please if you don’t remember how the gems’ years worked go search it up, there are so many threads about that - and protect inazuma city (insert shooked face) from corrupted gems’ attacks. these attacks are not really frequent and they seem to deal with the situation, but one day they start increasing, being more frequent than usual and also the gems who attack are stronger and different from the previous ones. Fey starts making a theory about a possible new attempt of the homeworld gems (i still haven’t decided which charas will “represent” them, though, since this plot is a kind of season 1 we could say??) to start colonizing Earth via war, as they already did 3,500 years before the current events but failed, with the terrestrial gems rejecting them but also losing a lot of them - since some of them got shattered during the war and others escaped to travel to other planets to start colonizing them theirselves so they could live a new, pacific life. Tenma, at first, isn’t that sure about what Fey said, but as the corrupted gems’ attacks kept increasing he realized he could have been right. as they’re the only two gems who protect their city, they start thinking they should ask help to someone, trying to find more powerful gems. 

Fey suggests to search for a trio (whose name is still not 100% sure... i randomly thought about Prism Trio just because I couldn’t remake Crystal Gems ahahah I still don’t know) which protect old war ruins in a forgotten area which is actually near Inazuma City though - but still, only some gems know about it, for example Fey did researches but Tenma knew nothing. This trio will be formed by your local ie:go chaotic trio aka Shindou, Kirino and Kariya (well, if i don’t get any more ideas for the name, then Gay Trio will be alright), who are respectively 7,600, 8,000 and 7,100 years old and actually fought in the first war. They find them fighting against a corrupted fusion, and try to join them to finish it easily and fastly. As they actually give the trio a good help, they still get scolded by them because they went in an area they shouldn’t have been to. However, the trio is still thankful to them for their help, and when Fey tells them about the situation in Inazuma City Shindou replies telling him his theory might be right as he had heard about the increasing attacks, also because the ruins were more attacked than usual in that period. Tenma kindly asks them if they could give their help back, coming with him and Fey and trying to reject the attacks together, even though he thought they’d never agree. Kirino is absolutely okay with that and shows positivity towards Tenma’s idea, while Kariya isn’t that sure since all of them should get used to a new routine, different from the one they were used to in the last millenniums. Shindou, who was neutral at the beginning, proved Kirino right since that would have been the best way to know more about the new attacks, and finally convinces Kariya to join them.

As they get in TenFey’s temple (which is the only thing IDENTICAL to the original SU one, except for the statue in the original version which is absent now), they start organizing their rooms (you know, in the temple there was that one door who led to each gem’s personal room, so the trio starts get used to them), they also keep fighting against new species of corrupted gems who keep attacking the city.

One day, then, all the five gems get to another ruins area, further from the ones the trio used to fight in, and at a moment Tenma remains alone and encounters... bepreparedtocringeihadnoideassorry... Sasuke. Yes, I did a Lion reference using Tenma’s dog instead. Original af, congrats. BY THE WAY,, he understands this gIaNt DoG (ohmygod the lion sounded better,, damn me and my dumb ideas) is related to gems somehow, and when he gets back - since Sasuke disappears after some seconds - tells the others about it, but everyone gets it as a joke and doesnt trust him. In the next fight, though, Sasuke approaches the gems and gives them help (still idk how, gotta rewatch all the lion episodes 382679345 times to get more ideas), so they all understand Tenma was right.

Some days after that, while Tenma is playing with Sasuke (gOOD BOY,,,,, I MEAN GEM,,,,,,,,,,), the dog drags him into a portal/warp (did i spell it good omg my english gets worse every day...) - just as lion sometimes does in the og series, lol - and since this warp keeps being open for some seconds, the other four gems enter it as Tenma might be in trouble alone. They all discover Sasuke led Tenma to an unknown area, which i wanted to be a desert bUT THAT LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE OG SERIES HOLY SHI- so okay, let’s make it a normal land, where there’s a fight going on. They notice a gem fighting a corrupted one all alone, and this gem seems really in need of help so they try everything to save him (oMg SpOiLeRs ThE gEm Is A mALe ToO!!11!!!111!) as they see he doesn’t have any weapon and only fights with the things he finds around himself, such as common rocks. That gem is no one else (???) than Hikaru *cries in i needed to add him hes so baby* who tells the five gems he had never seen such a powerful corrupted gem before and that he was used to reject the previous attacks in that zone more easily, and when Tenma asks him if he wants to come with him and the others to the temple Hikaru accepts without any doubt. As he gets to the temple, the others ask him if he has any weapon, but he tells them he never had the strenght to “develop” one. Perhaps, his ability (the only i’ll reveal here in the plot!!) is really useful, as he can generate light from his gem and make people and other gems blind for a limited amount of time - which, at the beginning, is really short but always increasing. He also wants to practice it as he wants to control the limit of time (for example, blinding people/gems just for a minute even if he could do for ten). When he shows his ability to the other gems, they all get blind... besides Kariya and here the ship sails *coughs* n-nothing, who is actually immune to the light’s effect. Being the only one who doesnt get blind, he starts helping Hikaru to develop his weapon.

I still haven’t thought about the rest of the plot, but there are still three characters I wanted to add. In order: Kyousuke, as an hybrid whose backstory will be way different from Steven’s in the og series (as he wasn’t born an hybrid, neither one of his parents was a gem), then Minaho and Manabe who are gems from another planet (not Homeworld, though) that are usually fused all the time... but, still, I have to think abt a plot ahah

If you’ve got this far, well... congrats? I know this is really long oh damn-

Btw, before I go, here’s the gems’ weapons and abilities as I promised! <3

Tenma: bow and arrow, he can control the wind

Fey: he basically makes grow poisonous creepers from everywhere (kind of inspired from Lapis in the og series as she generated water and could control it), controls nature in general

Shindou: sword, his voice can reach really high pitches so if he screams he can destroy things (and, maybe, he could start shattering gems too... who knows)

Kirino: lance, has a really high speed

Kariya: basically can make strong claws grow from his hands (idk how to describe it holy fuck,,, i cant draw either, if i could i’d have showed u), his ability is telekinesis

Hikaru: well, i don’t wanna spoil his weapon as i’m gonna make another post asap... i already said what his ability was, btw. also!! i didnt mention it before, but his age is around 3000 y/o

Kyousuke: katana, he can read any person’s mind for ten minutes if he had contact with them, same goes with gems but he must touch their gem in order to read their mind (age, in human years: 17)

Minaho: guns, he can understand if someone or something interacted with someone/something else just by smelling it (sounds cringe ik,, btw his age is the same as Manabe’s, 6,700)

Manabe: since i had no more ideas, don’t blame me if this sounds Peridot-ish, but he can actually generate small but powerful robots he can control and fight with, his ability is controlling technology in general.

Another last thing... these nine characters are the same of the other au i mentioned (which is way more calm than this,,, i also have more info abt that, too), so look forward to that too <3

I’mma go now, bye!

[beelas-bees]

AU TIME

I had an idea for an AU since the newest episode!

So I’ve always thought Patton was being very unfair recently and he really needs to be stopped plus I’ve also heard of a “twisted sense of morality” and couldn’t help but get an idea once I pieced the two together. 

Plus everyone knows I love my snakey boi! So of course he’s the protag here! I don’t hate Patton (Although I do make him the villain in my head alot) I just think it fits him as a bad character!

So I tinkered with the idea of Patton being kinda evil but not realizing the consequences of his actions, causing Thomas to spiral down a path of self-destruction and the other light sides fiercely defending Patton at every turn (Much to Deceit’s despair).

So I practiced writing a little prologue for the AU. It takes place a bit before Accepting Anxiety where Anxiety is slowly leaving the dark sides to the light. Deceit is noticing more and more that Morality isn’t seeming like he should and goes to confront him.

Spoilers for the new episode! Some blood and violence and just angst. Lemme know if I need to add any other warnings!! <3

Twisted Morality AU: Prologue///

Thomas was being swayed more and more towards Morality's agenda. And that was bad. Morality might believe he is righteous but if anyone would listen to me, they would understand that his judgement is corrupt. Anyone's sense of morality can be twisted but Thomas' was corrupted and no one even knows. Except for me, Deceit. Of course, no one will trust the actual concept of dishonesty, but I have to try to save Thomas. He's my host too, and I will stop at nothing to make Thomas a stable person again. Morality has his grasp around Creativity and Logic tight and now 'Anxiety' is being tricked too. I need to speak to Morality, before he convinces them to shut me out for good. I stepped into the 'light' realm but I didn't get far down the hallway before I encountered the all powerful side. I don't know how he knew I was here so fast as the others couldn't detect me until the kitchen, maybe he was getting stronger... "Morality!" I spoke to the man, standing tall and still in front of me "I wasn't looking for you at all!" I tried to sound strong but the truth was shining through. I'm absolutely terrified of Morality. Morality stared at me, gaze ice cold "Deceit, you know you're not allowed here." he started walking towards me. I backed up "Whaaat!?~ I didn't hear of that rule." I cleared my throat and continued to back out as Morality showed no signs of stopping. "Do you want to speak in the Void?" Morality smiled, but the warmth was absent from his expression "Yes, that'd be great!" he said in his usual tone but knowing the context made it scary. Morality led us to the door I had just walked through and into the Void where the others and I lived. He cracked the door behind him and stood guard in front of it. "So Deceit, what do you need to speak about so badly as you would have to tread on our territory?" I blinked, only a little confused but I wouldn't show that to him "Your territory?" I laughed, unease creeping up on me as Morality dangerously narrowed his eyes at me "I-i thought the mind was free reign to us all?-" "No." Morality shut me down immediately, knocking the breath out of me. "O-oh! I- uh-" I stuttered but Morality cut me off once more. "That's enough, Deceit. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to tell what's going on here." Morality said in a stone cold voice, one that sometimes reminded me of myself. "So, you need to stay out here." Morality started to turn away, holding his right hand purposefully away from me, I grabbed him by his shoulder "Morality! We still need to talk!" I felt Morality stiffen under my grasp and turned quickly to face me again, I stepped back as fear took hold of me. Morality didn't say anything at first, but he didn't need to as his actions spoke a thousand words, words of demise. "Deceit." he spoke, finally, turning to face me fully and taking his hand from behind his back. A barely visible glint of silver metal was my only warning before Morality lunged at me. While I was frozen solid, Morality grabbed me by my shoulder and roughly cut my scales with the kitchen knife he held, as if he knew I was coming all along. I hissed at the sudden pain in my face, I was pushed to the ground as I tried to check the condition of my face. Morality knew he couldn't kill me, of course, but he could still cause me a great deal of agony. "Deceit." Morality breathed heavily "NEVER! Touch me again!" he screamed, as no one but me would hear him. I blinked away the tears before they could even form, I stood up, shaking. "Morality, you listen hard and you listen good, because these words will be the truest I've ever spoken." Despite the pain and the blood on my hands, I stared at Morality ready for anything. "You are unjust and you are leading Thomas down a path of self-destruction and you are not letting me tell you how to fix your way of thinking! I just want to help and you are preventing me!" I was letting out everything, desperate for Morality to understand and change his ways. "You have to understand..." Morality's gaze didn't soften "Heh, no, I don't. You are Deceit, the literal embodiment of lies. I am Morality! I know that you are bad and that's that." I blinked, thoughts becoming gritty "Morality, huh?" I seethed and laughed as the blood continued to trickle down my face "I don't think I can even call you Morality anymore. You've fallen so far from your path, you are... so, twisted now. Your reign of terror will be stopped, Patton, and I will be the one to stop you." I used his real name, to appeal to his sense of humanity but to no luck.

Morality laughed crazed, his face speckled with my own blood and he held up the knife threateningly "Try your best, Deceit. But I'm a light side, you're not. They'll always believe me before you." Referring to Logic, Creativity, Anxiety and Thomas hurt my heart, he chuckled before continuing "Besides, I'm Morality. I decide what's good and bad." He smiled an unfamiliar evil smirk.

I stared, fearful of Morality once more as he laughed. He took a sharp step towards me, making me fall back. "Know your place Deceit, and stay out of the light." he stepped through the door and shut it behind him. I scrambled to get up and tried the door knob but to no avail, Morality had locked me out of the light. Away from Logic, Creativity, Anxiety. Away from Thomas. I screamed and scratched at the door until my claws broke, tears streamed down my face as I finally gave up. I sat for awhile, trying to recover, once my breaths were back to normal, I checked my face. running my now broken claws along the cut line from my ear to my mouth. Angry, I stood up and headed towards the others. Walking in the Void alone gave me plenty of time to think about how to act next. I rushed in to see the Duke still in the kitchen "What are you doing in here?" I hissed at him, it was late and he needed sleep, plus I didn't want anyone to see me hurt. The Duke turned, alarmed, but settled once he saw it was me "Oh! Snakey! It's you. I was just, uh, getting some nice juicy eyeballs to eat." he winked. Without thinking, I used my hand that was covering my face to slap the 'eyeballs', which was actually cold pizza, out of his hands. "You shouldn't eat before sleeping!" a gasp sounded from the Duke, but not because of the pizza. "Deicy! What happened to your face!?" The Duke was panicked, rushing to sit me down and conjure up something to help me. "Gotta take care of mom when she can't care for her kids!" I laughed nervously "I wasn't just scratching at my scales again and scratched too hard!" The Duke looked back at me "I thought you didn't scratch your face? Just your arm- OHMYGOSH!" he grabbed my hands, covered in blood and my nails split horridly. "Your claws! Were you scratching that hard!?" "Uh. Yeah..." I felt too sick to continue, gulping down any bile that dared to rise up. The Duke continued to work in silence until my face and hands were patched up and I began to get drowsy. "Are you sure you're okay, Dee?" The Duke looked at me, sincere. I shook my head "I'm fine. Really! I'm just kinda tired now." The Duke nodded "Oh, okay. Get some rest, please." I stood and stretched, taking off my cloak and hat. "Okay, but don't let me catch you up this late again!" I gave him a toothy grin "Or I won't have to do something about it!" The Duke laughed "Alright! Alright! Let the bed bugs suck the blood out, Deicy!" I smiled "Terrible night, Remus." I headed to my room, setting down my cloak and hat and undressed until I was comfortable. I laid down and let the weight of what just happened slap me in the face. I was barred from the light realm for good. Maybe I could get Remus or someone to go over there and get the door open. But until then, I should work on a plan to stop Morality. He was doing too much and whether he knew it or not, he was destroying the others and Thomas, and I refuse to just stand by any longer. I touched my new scar with my bandaged claws and thought again before drifting off to sleep. I will take down Thomas' twisted sense of Morality!

///

Sooo! That was it! I hope you enjoyed as I’m not good at writing (As my writing sometimes has to be read a certain way ahah) or concepts pfft but I was glad to create the art in between it!

Also! Here’s a concept drawing for the AU I did!

I hope to add more soon! Bye bye!

[twilightvolt]

Twilight Thoughts (BEASTARS First Season Overview + General Thoughts and Feelings)

Ok, after watching the season finale (and proceeding to freak the frig out over that after credits scene), i think i’ll just talk about my overall thoughts about this first season since i picked it up back in October. think of this as my final thoughts on the series for awhile until season 2 drops. though, i don’t think i’ll be doing something like this in particular again. we’ll see.

So, this was a series that i was a tad hesitant on looking at years ago since the art style kinda deterred me a bit. but after the anime was announced, i decided that that would be the time i give it a shot. and i gotta say, i was surprised. like, i had my hopes a little high cuz of Zootopia, but i didn’t expect ANY of the crazy stuff that happened over the course of this first season. like, none of the trailers ever showed any of Haru’s uhh....naked moments or the black market stuff (aside from Gouhin) so had i known about that, i think i might’ve quickly noped outta there. but since it came to me as it happened, i was already so invested in this strange world and it’s characters that i just dealt with it and kept going. and i think that’s something i definitely needed since if imma be honest, i haven’t watched that much anime in recent years.

Yeah, i marathoned Noragami (which i loved to bits and am sad there’s no season 3) and kept up with Boruto and My Hero for awhile last year. and i liked Fire Force and Black Clover this year. but for some reason, Beastars just.....sparked something that made me eagerly anticipate it’s new episodes every week. from beginning to end, i was hooked. not one episode felt like it wasn’t necessary or like it was padding to fill out the season (and even if it was, i like these characters so much that i honestly wouldn’t mind as explained on my meme blog). the plot twists made me genuinely shocked, the goddamn cliffhangers had me at the edge of my seat excited (and in some cases, worried but in a good way) for what was to transpire in the next episode and any preconceived notions i had going into this were just thrown out the window cuz of how things turned out by the end of it. it was such a wild ride that it actually pushed me to want to read the original material. and that almost NEVER happens.

This show got me thinkin’ like a crazy shipper too what with all those cute and crazy moments between the characters (ex. literally anyone with Legoshi) and hell, i even feel like this is the one show in existence where i actually kinda feel like an OT3 is very much plausible. lmao

Like, i’m a very emotional person when it comes to consuming media. i let myself feel what’s going on no matter what i watch/play because i know that’s what the people who created these stories would want me to experience. and trust me, i’ve felt a LOT of emotions during this show. especially if anything happened to Legoshi. like, when he gets pissed, i felt worried about him. when he cries, i genuinely feel the pain he feels and wish that things would just lighten up on him for once. like, with most protagonists, i tend to end up moving to a different character cuz usually they’re just written pretty basically (Asta from Black Clover), they’re one note (Davis from Digimon 02) or they’re silent protagonists being molded by the player’s choices (the Persona protags). for example, i like Sora from Kingdom Hearts, but i luv Roxas much more because of his story and all the pain he goes through because of Sora. also Sora in KH3D was such a dumbass and i’m sdadfdfsdf

But with Legoshi, i don’t get that. i get a Roxas tier character that i want so bad to see get a happy ending. i get a protagonist that i would actually choose over the other members of the cast (even though i absolutely luv Louis, Jack and Haru as well for various reasons. hell, it’s hard to even say i hate Juno cuz despite her Rise-level attempts to get into Legoshi’s pants, she has respectable ambitions.) that grows from this socially awkward guy who’d rather keep things lowkey to this badass that would fight through a gang of lions just to show the one he cares about how much he wants be with her and to make amends for almost killing her the night they met and that just hits me in the heart in a way i am totally here for.

Now, over the course of this season’s run, i’ve been making a ton of fanart (some of which is still in the works at the time of this post) and for the first time, i’ve been liveblogging like this. i’m happy that my time in the fandom for this series, while still growing, has so far been a very welcoming experience. everyone i’ve met so far has been encouraging of my content and, coming from fandoms like Digimon where i’ve kinda been scarred by Deviantart discourse, it’s really brought up my spirits. like, i know a lot of you probably don’t like and/or care about reading these walls of text, but i appreciate anyone who does take the time to hear me ramble about this strange gem of a show. hell, me talking and drawing about it has gotten a few of my friends to watch it and honestly, i’m glad. i would totally love more people to talk about it cuz Beastars deserves to be talked about. under all those slightly sexual undertones lies some of the best writing i’ve seen in awhile and i can’t wait for season 2 to continue this story.

And after all this, i just wanted to thank you for reading up to this point. again, this’ll probably be the last liveblog for awhile, but i definitely won’t stop drawing stuff for this series. for those who only follow me for my Beastars stuff, i hope you’ve had a happy holidays and i hope you have a happy new year as well.

See you again! ^  ^

[tumblunni]

Hhhhh i hate when i lose confidence in a drawing at like the 95% point of finishing it

This time is extra frustrating cos its not even just the normal "this is bad" but actually "here is a better idea to improve it"

I CANT ARGUE WITH THAT

Hhhh its the big fancy art i was working on of the yokai watch protagonist girl and im RIGHT AT THE END and my brain is like "but u made so many headcanons about her abd even renamed your version Mallory instead of Katie and gave her a wildly different personality and starter yokai why not actually draw a whole new original design?"

I CANT ARGUE WITH THAT

Hhhhhh

But i was so close :(

Ehh i can still finish this pic i guess and just show it as a beta for the next one, but it still sucks that i gotta restart this whole progress of fancy linearting from scratch. And i know itd look bad if i just tried to do some patch job of a new head on this body. And besides if i make a whole new design she could eveb have a different outfit and wouldnt be limited by the colourscheme of the original AND also that means i have a more reasonable excuse to keep using her as my protag in yokai watch 3 even though you can only play the male character there. Like if she's already a distinct character from the canon one it wouldnt matter if i was ignoring canon and pretending i could keep using the charrie i had in the last two games. Also i could make up a nonsexistant episode where she acfually gets dr maddiman as a playable member of her team because WHY HAS THIS NEVER HAPPENED IN SO MANY GAMES

But man does that mean i should rerecord all the episodes of my lp and try and voiceact new lines in character for this new oc instead of the canon personality? But then itd suck not to actually show the canon personality so maybe just make it more like every now and then you show a lil comic of this oc's adventures based on what happened in the episode, and how it might have been different..

Hhhh i shoupd go at least doodle some desogn ideas and see if u guys like them i guess??

[twitchesandstitches]

When it comes to this "thicc crossover AU", will the girls from Monster Musume be there too? What about digimon since they're interdimentional beings (and in a scrapped script for Adventure02 they were supposed to arrive from space) or maybe humanized version of the Godzilla kaijus? (Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon, SpaceGodzilla and many others either comes from space or have been in space.) Or what about Rayman, Warcraft or Skyrim?

The answer to all of these is a BIG RESOUNDING YES.The first relevant detail is that in the thicc crossover AU, ya gotta be sure whether it refers to membership in the MILF fleet or not; they’re a large group, but they don’t comprise every group in everything, ever, that i personally happen to like! They may be part of other factions, antagonist or otherwise, or be people they meet along the way, or groups with their own agendas, doing their own thing.

Additionally, I lean towards some things where I don’t much care for groups in general or know much abou the canon, but i find species really interesting, and in which case, those species form large amounts of background characters; different factions might have a lot of monster girls, orks, or elves or Digimon somewhere in the background. So even if specific characters aren’t mentioned, the species certainly are there somewhere.

Monster Musume - In this case, the monster people of Monster Musume are explicitly the same kind of beings as the monsters of Undertale, and are either a seperate sub-group tha tsplit off from an analogue to the kingdom of Asgore a long time ago, or have attempted to coexist with humans, possibly in various dangerous environments where they protect humans in exchange for the humans being their lovers to reproduce the monster girls. I have an AU of Monster Musume with a MILF vibe, where the monster gals of canon are notably older than Kimihito and protect him, and the idea of a polyamorous relationship is set up from the beginning. They’re also much bigger than in canon, with even Papi dwarfing a human (and being a major shortstack, to boot), and far more monstrous and inhuman in appearance, leaning more towards the ‘monster’ part of the equation.

As Undertale-style monsters, these gals are effectively masses of living magic, perhaps being species that in the AU taken on a form that has some weight in the collective consciousness; hence, monster girls adopting forms similar to human mythological concepts. They are thus vulnerable to raw hatred, but are enormously powerful, not to mention curvaceous. But that goes without saying in this AU. Assume that the monsters in general are huge, towering over humans by several times.

My interest in the series is limited to mostly liking the fan art, that slice of life monster girl series that preceded it, reading a few chapters, and liking minor character like Cathyl and Tionishia. Consequently, most of the characters of significance are not part of the MILF fleet, though they may be part of associated groups that could merge with them over time or are considered cousin fleets. They’d likely be allies, but not part of the core group? Tionishia would be an exception, and definitely part of the main group. If you like, I can go into more detail about how the monster girls differ from canon, in their size and monstery looks.

Digimon: an interesting case! Digimon was one of my biggest and first true fandoms (alongside Transformers, Gargoyles and similar series, which may explain why i love nonhuman protags so much), so of course they gotta be in here somewhere. In this case, I’m drawing a bit on the old notion of Cyberspace that was used a lot in Digimon, and while I’ve mentioned this before, it bears repeating.

The Digital World here is effectively the old concept of cyberspace as its own realm; all data and information takes on a life of its own, and the Digimon are self-aware emanations of this realm, effectively AIs with inherent power that may or may not be magic-ish in nature. Mostly the tone is inspired by the original Digimon world, with aspects from the first two seasons and Tamers: Digimon are effectively immortal, having a symbiotic relationship with the mortal planes; cyberspace is basically born in individual servers, and may take on its own life if those servers ceased to function, but it would be a chaotic and distressed life.

All Digimon that are canon, and plenty that aren’t, can be in the AU as background characters, with a few rules. Firstly, Digimon normally do not enter into the physical world on their own, existing mostly within the realms of cyberspace. They can slot into mechanical bodies or upload themselves into robots and operate them, but they don’t have any special powers; however, they do have access to a lot of computing power, and serve as the dedicated AI networks of the fleet’s ships, maintaining things for everyone, regarding it as diving into a strange and alien world.

Digievolution levels might be based on an individual Digimon’s complexity, and most spend their time in Rookie or Champion levels, stabilizing there; they can digivolve into stronger forms, but this doesn’t often last long, and as they weaken, they will enter weaker forms until they hit Baby and In-Training, and then must recuperate. ADditionally, they are becoming less complex as they devolve, and find the experience unpleasant, like losing bits of your mind for a while. (if you’re familiar with eclipse phase, they are basically infomorphs.)

Some Digimon can assume hyper curvy monster girl forms, if it pleases their aesthetics. Rarely, they can directly materailize into the physical realm, though this often requires a partner to help them, and its often a revolving set of different people they happen to be friends with. Common Digimon include Guilmon and Tentomon, and canon characters, including Digimon, are present throughout the AU in the different factions, though fairly different from canon; Digi-Destined is not a relevant thing here. They might be technicians working closely with the Digimon or explorers into the data realms, though.

Godzilla: I’m also including Gamera here. And yes, it’s very possible! In this AU, the kaiju of Godzilla and similar series are all canon, and are explicitly divine entities that embody concepts predating humanity. They are god-like figures that don’t hate humans, and at worst are indifferent to them, perhaps embodying the need to achieve symbiosis with the world rather than attempting to dominate it (and the hubris to follow). The ‘Good Kaiju’, such as Godzilla and their followers, may regard humans with vague interest, such as one might give to ants that spell out your name, and don’t mean them harm. They are likely worshiped across the cosmos, and have no direct link to the fleet; Godzilla or GAmera might have some connection to the fleet, but it may be as incredibly potent summons they might put enormous effort into calling forth… and since this involves being pregnant with the being in question before they are ready to materialize, this is a heavy duty. The kaiju might then take on some of the summoner’s characteristics, and take a shine to them.

The malicious monsetrs, such as Ghidorah, are spare-faring agents of raw destruction, gods of annihilation that wipe away all they see, perhaps as primordial architects of the mysterious cataclysm… or involved in it in some way, in the same way that the ocean is involved in the sinking of Atlantis. It didn’t cause it, but it certainly ended the continent all the same. They can also be hyper curvaceous and giantesses, as that seems to be an aspect of enough magic power in this AU? The villains might pregnancy-summon them in a fashion. Possibly the Cobalts have a kaiju or two in their repertoire, but it would have to be one that is sufficiently mild. Or it might be something like Destroyah, a hyper curvy monster girl in their hands, that has been tamed and soothed by their attention. She’s something like their kraken now, or even toes their flagship while slumbering, awakening only when they want something to feed her bloodlust?

Rayman: I can see Rayman being it’s own world/demiplane within the realms of magic, Rayman himself as a kind of protector golem (which is sorta canon) and the fairies as magical lords over their world, with the world itself as their domain. Of these, Edith Up is likely to be the most relevant because have you seen her, she is ADORABLE. The Razorbeard Pirates can certainly make suitable space pirate antagonists, perhaps as part of a criminal organization that tends towards more malicious deeds than suits the like of the Cobalts.

Warcraft: The Blizzard franchises are all looped together here, Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo and the other Heroes of The Storm games are part of a complicated network of alliances, rivalries and foes right by a particuarlly nasty magic rift where all kinds of power leaks from across the planes. Celetials and fiends can emerge here, embodiments of justice and evil alike, and have orchestrated terrible wars and conflict, and so the events of Warcraft may have happened in such a fashion; orcs (or orks) were manipulated by demons that are efffectively the Burning Legion but with a more Diablo aspect into war against the Alliance (a faction of humans, human relations, eldar, and others, all tightly tied to magic more than other spacefaring human societies) in a desperate hunt for a new homeland. Thrall emerged as per canon, rising up and uniting the dispossed into a true Horde looking out for each other, and is heading a tentative alliance between the various good-ish forces against the literal demons from Hell, including the Starcraft, Overwatch and other Blizzard properties.

Name a Horde race, and it likely has denizens aboard the fleet, as well as the other factions present. Something similar would apply for the other factions throughout. Named characters are trickier, since I don’t know much about them in general; the united group of Heroes of the Storm are likely their own entity, and big enough to serve as a proper sci fi fleet that can stop demons and monsters from escaping that area of space, and may regard it as their duty to protect the rest of the multiverse from letting those things get loose. Alextrasza, however, is an exception; I’ve read about her and cool badass dragon mom who is kind to all beings and once swallowed a bad guy whole, WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT HER SOONER. She is definitely on the fleet, but in what capacity I’m not sure.

Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls setting is likely a lage expanse of space, heavily influenced with raw magical energy, but considering the weirdness of the original setting, it might also do as a demi-plane within the magical realms. In any case, the gods and daedra are likely to be worshiped throughout the multiverse. Malacath might have some vague approval of the milf fleet, while Molog Baal is a major antagonist because he FUCKING DESERVES IT THE ASSHOLE. Possibly some of the mightiest fleet moms are plotting to devour him and take his power for their own, or the goddesses associated with the fleet are deliberately scheming to do just that. Sanguine, in contrast, is probably backing the Cobalts for the fun of it.

The races in the Elder Scrolls can make up a wide variety of background characters throughout the cosmos; in general, assume that if you’re talking about actual elf ethnic background, think in terms of Elder Scrolls, with different elf types as more cultural or faction-themed. Dunmer are very common, and make up most of the eldar on the MILF fleet, for instance. The orsimer are orks,with a greater emphasis on martial honor and ferocity, and may be magically altered by a connection to Malacath specifically; perhaps descended from orks thatt revered him and took his essence into themselves. The Cobalts might have Snow Elves and Aldmer as a lot of the elves on their group due to them moving in the areas where those elves have settled over the eons. Argonians are also pretty common in the fleet!

The Empire is known as the Cyrodillic Imperium, and has way more influences from the real life inspirations of the different cultures in the Elder Scrolls to fit a more diverse, old society like a proper space opera should have, and the Aldmeri Dominion is probably the asshole elves you expect.

I’m not sure how to handle the specific characters, but some examples: update the Skyrim Civil War o be a cosmic battle, with the Stormcloaks as a rebel fleet with Ulfric as a somewhat sympathetic warlord. He might be an antagonist, but not one with morals opposed to the fleet; he’s just a human-centric ruler with little interest for others that aren’t ‘his people’. The dragons in general, especially Alduin, would be way more eldritch horror here, with optional hyper busty monster girl forms. With an element of kaiju; they’re probably big enough to wreck starships and can exist in space.

[lia-nikiforov]

Weekly Anime Rambling Re: Creat...ive Conceit

Another week of getting everything mixed up because my viewing schedules are a disaster hahaha! is it very obvious i’m running out of puns

The season’s drawing to a close, and it looks like every show is rushing at full-gear to wrap up all their loose ends or end on a good place before the season break. Which means a lot of shows are doing shitfests and I have A LOT OF WORDS

I haven’t talked much about Fate/Apocrypha in this feature but I must shamefully admit I’m enjoying it way more than I expected. I’ll talk more about that in my final season rundown, so for the time being I’ll just say Astolfo is my waifu and if you use the T slur to refer to them I’ll gut you alive. 

One show clearly struggling to meet its planned middle-point is Altair, with the past two episodes breezing through plot points like a speedcourse on acquiring new party members for Mahmut. The production itself is also clearly suffering, finding an in-model shot of any given character woud be a challenge. I did like the latest episode because we’re finally getting to see more political nuances beyond “Evil empire wants to conquer the world”. I also really liked how they brought the Prenses into the fold by emphasizing her importance in the political moves they’ll carry out next, and that she was the one to come up with them was specially great

Giving female characters agency? What, Like it’s easy?

I’m not even gonna talk about episode 10 of Ballroom because it was so boring I hardly remember anything about it except thinking “is there ever gonna be any dancing” (the answer was no). But I am going to talk about episode 11 because god was it frustrating.

Firstly, this was the episode that featured the most and probably best dancing animation of the entire show. Unsurprisingly, even then it’s overshadowed by the abuse of stills and audience shots. Whatever little magic and good-will they manage to create with, for example, a neat shot of Tatara and Mako hopping is almost instantly voided by a full minute of still frames. Let 👏 me 👏 see 👏 the 👏 fucking 👏 dance 👏 gdi 👏

Of course it wouldn’t be Welcome to the Ballroom without at least a very fine layer of casual sexism and neglecting the female characters entirely, this time awfully noticeable in the second half where all the focus is on Tatara and Gaju having a load of fun with their dick measuring contest! Wait, what do you mean ballroom dancing is a pair sport?

If you ask this show, Ballroom dancing is a sport about men being cool while dragging around women who have no fucking idea of what the fuck is even going on. Add to that all the harping on how “it’s the lead that makes or breaks a pair” “if the leader is bad the pair will look bad” because I guess the follower doesn’t ever matter.Or how only the boys are dead tired after the event, because I gues the girls weren’t dancing at all, what a relaxing job it must be to be a female in competitive ballroom dancing, you don’t have to put in any effort at all!

Also the music choices are atrocious which is finally explained by the Production team revealing they thought the audience would not like “old” music -because I guess the audience is too stupid or smth- so instead they went for completely inappropriate pop-rock themes instead! Maybe don’t underestimate your audience if you want them to buy your produc! (source)

But okay, after god knows how many episodes, the Tenpei cup finally ends, Gaju and Shizuku win but Mako wins Queen of the Dancefloor! At least some recognition fo Mako’s dancing skills, that even in spite of Tatara’s sloppy dancing she managed to outshine Shizuku through her own talents! Wait, hold on, what’s that?

FUUUUUUUUCK YOUUUUU SHOOOOOOW

Adding insult to injury, Gaju doesn’t even apologize to Mako for treating her like crap. In spite of his scummy attitude, Gaju seems to be a good sport, so I thought at least he’d “officially” ask Mako to become his partner again, but no such luck, it’s her who approaches him first. Fuck you again, show.

I also have a lot of thoughts about the garbage treatment of Shizuku, but I’ve talked about the show enough in this week, so that’s another post.

Oh yeah, Vatican is... the expected mess I guess lol. I have literally no idea of what is going on anymore but...

I want some of that cocaine too bruh (i’m kidding, don’t do cocaine my friends)

Also, Made in Abyss is great but can we please drop all the pee jokes.

I’ve technically already watched the final episode of Re:Creators, but I want to address the penultimate episod which is the actual resolution of the conflict because it’s not only a convoluted mess (and if I went into that in detail I’d write thousands of words), it’s ultimately a betrayal of the show’s opening promise.

To elaborate, Sota’s first dialogue is something along the lines of “I’m not the protagonist of this story. This story is about her”. At first I thought it meant Selesia too bad she died meaninglessly and without really doing anything for the story like 99.99% of the creations :’D, but we later learn he’s talking about Setsuna, for whose death he feels guilty yadda yadda Potato McBoring manpain.

But then the show decided to make Altair so ridiculously and unbelievably overpowered that the only way to defeat her is the very predictable “create Setsuna” and this is where the show betrays itself

Because even if the resolution is that Setsuna and Altair go off into this some other world to live as abstract creations happily ever after, the actual emotional climax of the episode is after they disappear:

This is a massive slap in the face to everything the show was trying to do and to Setsuna’s character. Basically she’s stripped of her agency and becomes a figment of Sota’s creation. Sota who abandoned her when she was going through the hardest of times, now gets to be -even if briefly- her creator, her god, and he takes the credit for being the amazing creator that save the world. He even says it out loud in a culminating moment of disgusting conceit.

The whole purpose of the story, of the show, as it turns out to be, is to satisfy Sota’s ego. Setsuna is literally fridged for the sake of Sota’s manpain. This was never a good show, but until now it just felt like a lot of poorly executed great ideas. This, though, is basically giving up on any pretention of being “different” of stepping away from “Blandy McBoring protag saves the world because no one else but him can do it, he is so special”, and it’s made even worse because of the context of Setsuna’s death and the meaning of being a creator. Ugh, I’m coming short of words so I’ll just leave it at this was already a mediocre show and somehow they managed to go all the way and make it terrible.

And now another show that is sadly crapping the bed for its last hurrah, and one I’m very sad to be dissing like this. Yup, I’m talking about Virgin Soul

It’s like 10 episodes late and all the reward we get for waiting so long to hear Charioce’s motivation boils down and awfully rote and predictable to “Bahamut killed my mommy so now I kill Bahamut”. Next we know Charioce’s mom was also named Martha I guess. The explanation is also delivered in the most transparently expositional dialogue possible and seems like a very last-minute attempt by the writers to paint Charioce in a sympathetic light because they realized too late they hadn’t given him anything for the audience to like him beyond his romance with Nina. Somehow their explanation doesn’t even address the genocide against the gods or the enslavement of the demon race, and it seems every insinuation of Gabriel being shady has been forgotten too. Okay...

It’s sad because this feels like a hugely missed opportunity. The first half of the series painted the possibility of a tri-racial conflict in which all sides were to blame, but instead it seems like it was all a fabricated conflict to pad the way so they could have a three-way confrontation bombastic finale, but with none of the nuances and grey morals it initially promised. The characters are still great, but I’m very sad that the story has been reduced to an uninteresting, predictable cliché that doesnt even quite work with all the previously established ideas.

Oh well, the season’s almost over. Next week should be my last Rambling of the season before my Final Review and I also somehow gotta find time to post about my most anticipated shows for the fall. Fun!

[sapphireorison]

Ten Writer Questions Tag PT.2

Tagged by @the-bookdevourer :)

Do you have anyone (authors, family, friends, etc.) that has inspired your writing? I write like I must breathe, and I get inspiration from everywhere. When I was wee, I devoured the teen section at my local library, so a lot of my early author-inspiration is from 80s and 90s scifi and fantasy authors, like Anne McCaffrey and Diane Duane and Jane Yolen and Patricia C. Wrede. And, admittedly, Piers Anthony and Lovecraft, though those latter two... :considers: You know how when you read a book and you go ‘wow this is terrible but I can’t put it down’? Best figure out why you can put it down. I also get a lot of inspiration from my friends in what they yearn to have written that’s not out there yet. It makes me want to write that, and in learning more about what they want that simply doesn’t exist yet, I become a better writer. 

When did you first start writing? And what was it about? Very, very early. I wrote stuff for school, mostly, cute little stories about nonsense based on whatever book or series I was obsessed with at the time. Beyond that, I ‘wrote’ plays for me and my sister to perform for my family, and then in HS moved on to trying to figure out novels. I’ve always created stories in my head, and because I was primed by the types of books I loved (big, epic, glorious) that was always my goal. So I would fiddle around with the beginnings of them. It’s only been within the last ten years or so that I’ve started finishing them, and they’ve gotten closer to what I have in my head as the kind of books I need to write.

 How long have you been working on your current project? It feels like ages, but I don’t think it’s been more than a year and a half at most, perhaps two. This one was percolating for a long time before I started writing because I had the concept first, then the characters, and then the world, and only after a while did I have any inkling of a plot and I know better than to start without a plot by now.

 Of all your OCs, which do you relate to the most? Why? My earlier OCs were more ‘me’ than any of the ones I have now. But the one I relate to most was one from a very, very early attempt at a fantasy novel. She was a bookish protagonist with a demon stitched to her soul whose goal was to usher a younger demon-possessed girl to someone, somewhere, that could help her. :considers: Even that teeny explanation feels like a direct window into my head. My OCs now are very much not me. The only one even faintly close to me is the fellow who I’ve iterated through over the years. He’s the one I relate to the most because I’ve used him the most. He’s full of well over a decade of experiences in various media as I’ve tried to find a home for him. 

Tropes are often looked down on, but which one(s) do you enjoy and use? Fake relationships, mutually requited slow-burn pining, and messy reunions after one of the people thinks they’ve lost the other forever. All of those are for romance. In general, though, I love the ‘weird uncle’ trope, where an antagonist gets beaten and then sort of gets absorbed into the protag’s family because they’re not bad they’re just, you know, themselves. I also fucking love the trope where touch is a huge indicator of trust, where names are important so that when someone start using a different name (for themselves or another) it means a major character change behind-the-scenes, and I really really love affectionate bickering. I don’t even know if that’s a trope, but it’s great.

 Do you have a set schedule for when you write? No. Well, sort of. I prefer to write in the evenings, after about 5 or 6pm, and write for about four hours in a coffee shop or at the kitchen table. This is, mind, the /optimal/ writing situation. I don’t usually get a chance to write as long, or as often, as I know makes me happiest. This was the schedule I used to polish off two longfics I wrote and now that I don’t get to do this every/most nights, my monthly progress is much lower. I’m lucky if I do 10k a month. 

When you’re writing, do you write in chronological order or wherever you feel? I gotta do chronological. But, like, chronological for the *book* not the story. My brain views things very much as cause-and-effect, specifically about what am I causing the reader to think at this point in time and how will that effect how they view this later scene. So even if things are out of place and there are flashbacks and so on, I have to write from the beginning of the book to the end otherwise I can’t develop the later parts properly because I’m missing pieces that need to be included. 

What’s your favorite part about starting a new project? Worldbuilding! I’ll start 600-word prompts, build out a fucking massive world, and then tidy up the prompt and move on to something else. Unique worlds rev my engine, and whenever I feel bored or stale on a current project I’ll build out a world-prompt and it’ll refresh me to come back to my primary project.

What’s one thing about your current project that you’re excited about? It’s so much more action-y than I thought it would be. Stuff is happening! Things are gonna explode!  There’s way more mystery involved than anticipated because there’s so much to explain I’ve had to pick and choose what to reveal. And, honestly, I’ve lived with the characters so long in my head that I’m just excited to find out how they feel about each other and what they want out of the world--the kind of stuff I can only find out by making them interact and seeing if I need to tweak. 

 Do you have any writing goals that you want to accomplish by the end of the year? Halfway through Current Project and hopefully finishing a fic that I, uh, abandoned during the last chapter. The rest is posted and I’ve let it sit for two years. T_T Conveniently, there are several months (including Nano) to work on Current Project, and ‘halfway’ is only another 20k for me. So I am fairly confident I can hit that one at least. :) 

For the 10 new questions, here are the ones I liked from Bookie’s list along with a couple from mine and one or two of my own creation: 

What’s your favorite thing about your writing? 

What’s your favorite character you’ve written and why are they your fav? 

What makes your writing unique? 

Describe your antagonist’s ��villain song’ as if they were a Disney Villain.

Which of your characters (OCs) is the one you most relate to? Why? 

What are you favorite tropes? 

What inspired your current project? 

There are lots of different media types that you could write! What is your ‘primary’ type of media that you write? Short story? Novels? Novellas? Comics? Plays? Roleplays? Video game scripts? TV show or movie scripts? Where do most of your words go? And, to follow up, what type of writing is your current project? Which types have you done? Which do you like? Do you have a favorite? 

What’s your favorite genre to read? To write? Why does it draw you?

Do you have any writing goals you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year?

I’m supposed to tag people, but I am shy and tagging is scary. If you follow me and you do the writing thing, I really wanna hear from you. :D I will even reply and it will be super exciting.

[lesbianalicent]

mass effect: andromeda review

abandon hope of not seeing spoilers, all ye who click the cut

overall: 3/5 main story: 3.5/5 dialogue: 5/5 fuck all of you it was hilarious combat: 5/5 worldbuilding: 2/5 squad: 4/5 overall gameplay: 2/5 side quests: 1/5

this is gonna be long, y’all, i have A Lot To Say

so, first thing’s first: ryder is a treasure and probably the best protagonist that bioware has come up with since hawke or shepard. inquisitor whom??? they’re absolutely hilarious and whenever they open their mouth i know something delightfully terrible is going to come out of it. i find it interesting that the older folks who play this game (late twenties and over) HATE the dialogue but the younger folks who are around ryder’s actual age don’t? it’s an interesting split that i could write essays on just bc of how ryder talks bc it’s so similar to how i talk.

god she’s such a little asshole i love her i would die for her.

THE PROS: -fantastic combat that is probably the best that bioware has ever done, not having a set class is wonderful and being able to switch to do whatever you want is [prayer hands emoji] i can finally be the biotic infiltrator combo of my dreams -I LOVE BEING ABLE TO PROJECT MY DADDY ISSUES ONTO RYDER THANK YOU FOR THAT BIOWARE -kissable!! turian!! gotta Kiss That Turian!! -the tempest crew feels like a tight knit family, they feel Real, hearing them banter on the ship itself is lovely and seeing how their relationship grows over the course of the game is delightful. the movie night single handedly saved me. the emails and the message board killed me dead. -nakmor kesh is my girlfriend -liara t’soni cameos -SAM, i love that ai i hope he knows that. he’s a very different character than edi and i really like that? i like the relationship he has with ryder it’s a lot different than shepard’s relationship with legion and with edi -the little easter eggs scattered around, like hunting dr. okeer’s research and finding zaeed’s son -the main story missions really felt like mass effect, and there’s some great choices you have to make that i hope will have actual effects later in the series -STUNNING scenery, holy shit -nomad banter -peebee/vetra, specifically. thank you sheryl chee for my life. -THE RYDER FAMILY WHAT THE HECK I LOVE THESE ASSHOLES -loyalty missions were a lot of fun, liam’s specifically is SO funny i love that boy -i would die for the tempest’s crew THE CONS: -too big. way, way, WAY too big. like take the hinterlands and make it into several PLANETS big. it’s exhausting and it was neat at first but by the end i just wanted it to be done, i had to resort to doing a speed run just so i wouldn’t burn myself out on the first try. if i wanted to play an open world game i’d play world of warcraft or skyrim, honestly. the open world aspect of it is dEFINITELY one of the game’s biggest weak spots, and i’m def gonna save my completionist run for when some mods and patches come out so i don’t burn myself out real quickly. i still haven’t recovered from my dai completionist run and that was a year ago. -the loyalty missions are fun and interesting, but except for cora’s they really didn’t seem to have much of a point other than unlocking romances. in me2 the point of the loyalty missions was that the crew would draw a line with shepard somewhere, things you said and did could lose their loyalty and if you lost their loyalty the characters could and often did die in the suicide mission. these seemed more like personal quests, they didn’t even unlock new outfits :/ -okay. listen. i understand that garrus is a fan favorite. and i love him too. but holy shit liara had a VOICE cameo and he still got the most references. that goddamn archangel paintjob? “reach and flexibility”? having his picture in the codex? his goddamn father being in a flashback? liam mentioning a scarred turian vigilante? meanwhile kaidan and ashley get nothing, lmao, Okay. like shit even shepard only got referenced ONCE like come on y’all. not even gonna mention the battle of the citadel? that was a big goddamn plot point, especially since ryder was RAISED ON THE CITADEL? you’d think that the sovereign attack would be traumatizing. -dragon age characters got references but ash and kaidan don’t.........lol.........i see you bioware.............. -what was even the point of editing shepard’s gender -if you’re gonna have references you should at least have a little reference for every major character like the game is so fucking big you could have done it without being in your face. ellen’s role with biotics? reference baat. general williams and shanxi. wrex when talking to drack’s clan urdnot friend. -i really wish they’d have at least had some major choices from me1 imported in, like “did the council survive, who was the virmire survivor, was everyone recruited, did wrex survive” etc.  -speaking off, there’s plot holes for days. i can’t get a confirmation on when in 2185 they left, but if they left before shepard woke up and they didn’t ever recruit garrus in me1 then WHY would garrus’s dad talk to alec about it. the fuck my dudes. -yeah. plot holes for days. i’m tired and a bitter OT fucker. -gil’s.......entire.............storyline............lol GOD bioware...... -having the two crime lords being the latino man and the black woman. i see you bioware. -sloane’s entire storyline god bioware........... -the remnant are literally just synthetic protheans and the kett are organic reapers -i’m tired of this trend in bioware games where they use the “SILLY MORTALS YOU CANNOT EVEN COMPREHEND OUR ACTIONS, THEY ARE BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING” like with the reapers it was cool, corypheus was a disaster and quite frankly so was the kett but whatever. -activating the monoliths and having to do sudoku. why.  -not prioritizing quests properly. you could miss one of the biggest twists in the game bc you don’t finish that fetch quest to get all the memory triggers, and that twist was the main one that i actually wanted to see (shepard and the reapers and liara’s SOS) -PEEBEE’S SEX SCENE GOD. TOO MUCH. BIOWARE. -JAAL WITH HIS VAGINA HEAD GOING DOWN ON SARA RYDER. FUCK.

that’s all i can think of atm but my main issue with the game is that bioware doesn’t seem to know how to prioritize quests, it’s SO BIG, and they treat their mlm like garbage. also racist tropes ahoy.

i’m really excited to see where they take the franchise tho! definitely got some solid future plot points with whatever the fuck the remnant were, whatever the kett are after (ugh...), discovering what happened in the milky way, who killed jien garson, who is the benefactor (my money is illusive man and tann’s power hungry froggy ass had her killed and it was unrelated just coincidental), ellen ryder’s recovery, the quarian ark, etc.

i hope they keep the same squad for the next game! continue the romances as well as add in new ones, maybe add a couple of new squaddies. i like having the same characters overlap in different games, it makes you actually care about them. add in scott/sara as a squaddie! LESBIAN/GAY SQUADDIES. keep ryder as the protag or so help me god..........

it really, really makes me miss the original trilogy tho. and playing it knowing there’s a bunch of ppl who wont ever touch it but will play andromeda hurts me deeply.

[literarilymanga]

Hi, guys! This blog lives! In an effort to breathe new life into Literarily Manga, I’m gonna be posting new content on at least a weekly basis. To kick things off, I’m gonna start with an interview with webcomic creator J.M. Henry. Read the entire interview after the cut! 

Me: Would you share a little bit about yourself as a creator? 

J.M.: Sure! As a start, I'm the author of the webcomic The Lostland, a webcomic about supernatural psychics in Post-Apocalyptia! I've been working on Lostland for a little more than 5 years now, and it's been both my baby and a massive testing ground for a lot of art/comicing experiments. I've been drawing since I was a kid, around 6-8 or so, and even back then I had hoped to go into comicing as a serious endeavor. These days, I've made it my goal to increase my skills to the point where I can make a decent living doing what I love most! ...But, I'm still pretty far from that! Haha!

Me: Could you give a short summary of The Lostland?

J.M.: The Lostland is an action/adventure webcomic about four characters braving the dangers of the wild wastes--all while one madman plots to cause chaos in an already chaotic Lostland. Lots of bizarre supernatural action and fun adventures ahead!

Me: Could you introduce the readers to your characters? 

J.M.: Gladly!  Our Story starts with:

J.M: Volken: A young Shaper (our post-apoc. psychics) who used to spend most of his time secluded in the old city ruins known as The Divide. That is, until another Shaper hunts our protag. down for unknown reasons, forcing him out into the one place he wanted to avoid, The Lostland. 

J.M. :Meri: Our mischievous Lostland adventurer. She starts out working as an assistant medic in a small town alongside her sister figure, Fiona, but her eagerness to find out who she is(and her hopeless attraction to danger) leads her out into the Lostland on the search for Old World technology. 

J.M. : Rosso: The Lostland's most infamous wanted man, also known as "The 10 Million Chip Man," or "Mr. 10 Million". Normally doesn't care much about what goes on around the Lostland, but the strange death of his long time rival in the "New Arum Incident" catches his interest, and he decides to find out just what kind of trouble his old rival got himself into. 

J.M.: Nero: His story begins after finding out that a tip about a man he's been after turns out to be false. Tracing back that info leads to him being framed for the New Arum Incident. Nero is now known around the Lostland as "The Man in Black".

Me: Who is your favorite character—and why? 

J.M.: I like all of them for plenty of reasons, but I gotta say Volken. I think to most readers, even though they don't say it, Volken is probably the most underwhelming character of the bunch, especially compared to Meri and Rosso. He's weak, even with special powers, spends most of his chapters either getting beat up or getting tripped up by his own luck, but I personally like those things about him, because I know he'll eventually overcome those quirks and become a really cool character by the end of his arc. I won't spoil much from there. 

Me: Who is your least favorite character—and why?

J.M.: Ah... Nero, to be honest. Could've been written a bit better. He's not really seen as a protagonist in the beginning, so it was also pretty tough to make him a likable character. It made him the toughest one to write.

Me: You’ve been updating since 2014. Can you offer insight into how you’ve developed your story and your creative process over the years? 

J.M.: I've actually been working on the comic since 2011. No worries though! I switched site hosts since then. On the writing side, I started with just the concept, the setting, and characters that would fit the concept and setting. After that I spent a lot of time fleshing out who the characters were and how they'd react to their surroundings. It makes writing them into the story I plan a lot easier and their actions feel less like they're serving the plot. At least in some places.  On the writing side, there isn't really a whole lot of it, to be honest, and helps get the art done faster. I map out the major arcs of the story, and then break those down into smaller arcs, and in those arcs, I finally get to writing chapters. On chapters, I usually do very short, single paragraph summaries of them, each scene summed up to one or two sentences. Dialogue and everything else gets worked out in my thumbnails.

J.M.: Honestly, once the summaries are done, I rarely ever need to look at them again, since the volume is usually fully memorized by then.

Me: What is your favorite part of the creative process? The least favorite part? 

J.M.: My favorite part of the process is definitely the conceptualization/ brainstorming part. Sometimes, I just come up with some really fun stories while I'm working on something else. I've already got a few that I'd like to try out in the future! Not not sure if it's actually part of the creative process, but trying to get tour stuff up and out to the public is always a pain for me. Sometimes you wind up putting out some of the best work you've ever done, and the ‘net kinda just responds with "eh." Advertising's always been a bit of a bane for me, but again, probably not part of the process.

Me: As you mentioned before, The Lostland is a post-apocalyptic story. What drew you to the genre? 

J.M.: Not much drew me to it except to experiment a bit with an idea: How would characters with special abilities get by in a world where people are mainly struggling to survive? Would they help out? Would they take over and run the place because they have the most power? How would normal people receive them in those circumstances? 

J.M.: I play around with those questions as I write. Haha!

Me: Several of your characters are Shapers, individuals with psychic powers. Do you find it harder or easier to develop characters with supernatural abilities as opposed those that have no special abilities? 

J.M.: I think it's easy to do both fairly well! It would be great to see one normal character reacting to all of this though. I may make it a short story. As for the main characters, the fact that they all have these special abilities works with my experiment a bit, since each views and uses their own powers differently. For example, because of where Volken used to live, a place that was highly paranoid of Shapers, he starts out as being to afraid to use it outside of basic survival. Nero, however, a character used to using his abilities to fight, will usually treat it as his first resort most of the time. Meri and Rosso also have their own reasons affected by the sort of life they've lived, too.

J.M: I also experiment with this outside of main characters, but later into the story!

Me: How have readers reacted to your characters and story thus far? Are there any challenges that you’ve had to overcome when working on The Lostland?

J.M.: I'd say The Lostland's done fairly well, personally. It's not exactly exploding, but it's attracted a crowd of readers who really love what comes out of it. And that feeling of making something that people can enjoy always does a heart good!  As for challenges, I had quite a bit of trouble keeping the message clear in the early parts of the story, but thankfully, that was when I was still new. My biggest challenge right now is trying to get both the art and story to a point I can be satisfied with. There's still all lot I have to improve on my way there!

Me: What do you want readers to take away from your story?

J.M: Hmm... I don't really have any big messages to convey with The Lostland... Maybe "Pencil fights can be fun with a little imagination?" LOL! But seriously, if most people start reading the comic and leave it enjoying the experience, the story, the characters, the world, then I think The Lostland's done its job well!

Me: Who is your “intended” audience? 

J.M.: I was thinking about doing a motion comic in the future, and I'm already working on a game for the comic, but we won't see that for a while... Printing the comic has always been a major goal for me too!

Me: What drew you to the webcomic genre? What made you say, “This is how I want to share my story?”

J.M.: I've always wanted to work on comics since I was a kid, I even tried submitting some of my old work to Tokyopop, back when they were alive [in print]. So when I heard it was not only very possible to self publish comics online, but there were sites that made it easy to do (I started at SmackJeeves way back). I hopped on board! A lack if editors molding your original idea also helped the case for webcomics. LOL.

Me:  Do you have any advice you want to share with other artists and writers?

J.M.: Just two. One: Don't wait too long to start. Sure, take time to plan and improve, but you'll learn faster while you're actually comicing. From personal experience. Two: Don't be afraid to fail a few times or make mistakes. It's all part of the learning process. As a friend of mine once put it, "Don't be afraid to draw it while it still sucks". You won't regret it!

Me: What are your tools of the trade? Any special software? 

J.M.: Mechanical pencil, sketchbook(for thumbnails), Deleter B5 paper. On the digital side, there's my cintiq, Clip Studio Paint, and sometimes GIMP.

Me: Will you be attending any upcoming cons? 

J.M.: I tend to go to Anime Boston almost every year, but not as a seller yet. Feel free to say hey if you see me!

Me: Anything else you want to share? Shout outs? 

J.M: Check out @ComicBookHour if you're a comic creator! Lot of great conversations there!

And that’s it!  You can read The Lostland here on Tumblr or over on Tapastic. Currently, the comic updates every Saturday at 8:00am, but may go back to being updated twice a week in the future. You can follow J.M. Henry’s comic progress on Twitter or Facebook. 

This interview was originally conducted over Twitter. If you or someone you know would like to be interviewed about your comic or comic related venue, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment on this entry or send a message or ask. I’ll get back to you ASAP! 

Don’t forget to check out my previous interview with the Head Librarian at Carolina Manga Library. 

Thanks again for reading! 

[tumblunni]

Ok i'm thinking more about maybe the personality for this protag? Cos it started off simply as 'you are a kid who needs to escape this dungeon, cos adventuree dad/mom/gran/whatever is injured'. Like a protect the parent role reversal thing!! And i don't know much about the parent's personality either yet, just that they'd start off unconcious and be in like a hub area that you keep coming back to, and you could do optional lil sidequests to find stuff to help them out or just have cute family affection moments. Like u could just try every path all in one go and prioritize just finding the exit, but also you could have a lot of sweet lil character moments to make your experience more fun. I'm thinking maybe as an incentive to do that, make it so there's no healing items? Or like you can heal your hp but have a finite amount of MP? So you have to return to the hub area and rest to heal up, and thus you see more of u family and get the cutes moments. Gram gram fusses over u and makes sure youre well prepared for another day of dungeoning!

So anyway what i mean is that all the idea i had of this protagonist is 'they're an ordinary kid' and like.. Nice and cute i guess. I had the bat sidekick a lot more developed cos like lol just being Generally Cute In All Circumstances And Not Much Else is a bit more accepted for a sidekick than a protag. Like seriously personalityless kids always tend to show up when the kid is someone's sidekick, right? I can't get away with that here!

And then the name Tammy sounds cool so i randomly thought maybe she has tomboyish fashion sense i guess and gave her dungearees. Also they're a fun outfit to draw. Poofy trousers physics! Florf florf the farm clothes of underrated cuteness~ So then cos of that I thought maybe she's tough in personality, and i mean that'd make sense for a kid who takes it upon herself to go searching for help all on her own and fight off a bunch of supernatural beasties with a small twig and the power of attitude. Buuuut also if she was like.. Really serious and cynical kind of tough? Like i feel that wouldnt work? I wanted some sort of sunny optimism, i wanted a dynamic with her and the bat bud having lots in common and quickly becoming fire forged friends who totally geek out hyperactive over everything together. And like half their problems come from both of them being easily exciteable and lacking in common sense, so they take dumb risks and stumble into fun mini adventures! A "grumpy one and the cheery sidekick" dynamic is still cute, but its not what i really wanted for this one.

So yeah i wanted a sort of personality thats still adorable and innocent, but also fits as a badass leader type who takes charge while the bat beb is a bit more cowardly. And i was thinking... LOKI?? like a trickster kid!!! Still cute and innocent, like a prankster and a hyperactive rebel but she always has good intentions at heart and is just a lil reckless and weak to her own impulses. And also thatd work good as a way of having her be rough and tumble and fighty while not beibg any sort of battle hardened or serious. She just simply loves adventuring and exploring! And dirt! And throwing that dirt at people, sometimes! And this way she can also be ingenious and think up creative solutions to puzzles, while also being uninterested in boring academic stuff and lacking in common sense. Its like Thinking Is Only Good When Is Thinking Of Prank, Yes? Gotta hate that damn Domesticated Thinking where they squash it in the books and use it for boring NON silly things! Your classic dumb reckless shonen hero but also like she 'could be a genius if she got her priorities straight.

Its also a fun excuse to add more character interaction to the smallest of things, and to have at least one comedy option for everything. I can imagine her basically creating her own puzzles out of simple situations, because the easy option is BORING, yknow? And why would we wanna sneak around this big cool monster instead of fighting??

I was also thinking maybe a running joke of her always telling tall tales? Like i wouldnt really say she's a LIAR, but she likes to joke about everything and make boasts she can't live up to. It could give her a sort of similar charactee development to the old 'tsundere' archetype, without actually being cold. She's just like.. Avoids uncomfortable subjects with class clown behaviour. She'll immediately start goofing around with you like a bff but at the same time she never lets you know anything about her or lets herself be emotionally vunerable in any way. But maybe as she bonds with New Sidekick Monster Pal she could trust him enough to confess that she's genuinely worried about [unnamed parent], and talk honestly about how much she loves them and like.. Whatever their backstory was like before they ended up here in this lil adventure situation. And bat sidekick would also be able to flashback to his own backstory and all that jazz. And they become Even More Fire Forged Friends, United Forever!

So anyway Yeah. Thats why im gonna write a sassy sneaksmaster who jokes all the everyplot. Much more fun than just a standard cute kiddo! :D

Tho i mean not that bat bebby is gonna be boring just because he actualky is the Very Cute And Nice And Does Not Like To Be Mean friend. I just think that in a game with no real huge plotline its important to have a protag with a big kind of personalit who can really take hold od the narrative ans keep you invested, yknow? If i gave this cute lil bro monster pal the narrative he would be like 'oh no i want to share' or like just sit there hugging it XD ...i do love him quite a much too, yes. :3