#for release dates/trailers/etc.

[harocat]

My brain is like a sieve except when it's like a sponge for totally useless information.

[victorluvsalice]

American McGee's Alice - Trailer [HQ] by Alice Liddell

Hey, I put up the trailer for Corpse Bride on the day of its release -- figured I could do the same for American McGee's Alice on the day of its release!

...well, okay, the Corpse Bride trailer went up partially because it was "Song Saturday," and this is only a POTENTIAL AMA release date (with the other main contender being, appropriately, 10/6) -- but it's the release date that Wikipedia uses --

*pauses as she goes to the page*

I SWEAR THAT SIDEBAR USED TO SAY THE SIXTH. *facepalm* Okay, so, I guess there's a possibility that I'm a day late, but 12/6 was the date I remembered, so it's the date we're acknowledging, damn it. Enjoy one of my favorite game trailers of all time in all it's creepy atmospheric glory.

[kukuandkookie]

The end of 2024 has proven that 2025 seems to be a huge year for donghua and I’m gripping everyone to give all these donghua besides just the most popular ones a chance!!!:

Link Click, Yingdu arc: releasing December 27, 2024

Nezha 2, sequel to Nezha 2019 aka Nezha zhi motong jiangshi, confirmed for January 2025

To Be Hero X, likely April 2025 release (I hope people will also support the version with Chinese VAs! 🙏)

Lord of the Mysteries, 2025 summer release—accompanied by more good news: the novel has officially entered the British Library and it will also be translated into English by Yen Press

False Memory, series version, confirmed 2025 release

I am making this post because False Memory just released its new trailer and I am very much so looking forward to it! The series started as an indie short before growing into a bigger thing, much like Fog Hill of Five Elements and The Legend of Luo Xiaohei and Alita’s Trial. We’ve thus been waiting a couple years for news so this is really exciting, especially after it recently got a Twitter account!!

Bonuses:

Ya She, released a couple months ago but late enough into 2024 I’d still love for more people to check it out!

Scissor Seven, another one that’s had its newest season out for a while now, but I assume that for those who have Netflix, it hasn’t been officially English subbed or dubbed yet. We’re also still getting trailers for its game!:

I Am What I Am 2, released Dec 14, 2024 in China!

Reminder that Mo Dao Zu Shi is now on Crunchyroll! They may have removed it from Tencent’s donghua YouTube channel for this, so definitely go support it if you do have Crunchyroll!

Some children’s donghua have also recently released, including news of the new Balala the Fairies season and the other magical girls show, Rainbow Crew! The latter is confirmed for an official release in English.

The Yi Ren Zhi Xia game is also coming soon to global, and Fox Spirit Matchmaker even updated their OP recently after quite a long time of silence.

And speaking of silence, even the long-awaited SVSSS donghua saw some movement recently!?

Now if I could get a confirmed 2025 release for White Cat Legend season 3 (and maybe God Troubles Me and Lie Huo Jiao Chou and Fei Ren Zai and All Saints Street and The Legend of Luo Xiaohei and Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng etc…)), I could die a happy man (gender-neutral)—after watching all of these newly released donghua shows and films and seasons, of course ahaha. 🙏

For more news and info on donghua, you can check here:

There’s a bunch of new donghua information in the above document that came from 2024, even though they don’t have official release dates yet! Including but not limited to:

The announcement and PV of Call-Up Girls, based on a baihe manhua

The announcement of a Nirvana in Fire donghua, based on the danmei novel with a famous cdrama adaptation (with the manhua having recently gotten an official English license via Aloha Comics)

Trailer and announcement for 《向火而生》, based on Shui Qian Cheng’s danmei novel Blazing Armour

More announcements for Jing Wei Qing Shang, based on the popular baihe novel

Trailer for The Story of Rong Song, a spin-off of the famous Big Fish and Begonia movie

and many, many more…!

Hope everyone can join me in watching more donghua for 2025!! :D

[jikooklove9795]

Hi! Have you ever mentioned your thoughts on this whole “keep going” in Jimins MV and AYS trailers etc? (Sorry if you have, tried searching but it didn’t come up!!:))

Hi Anon 😊

There's no need to be sorry.

I just briefly touched on this subject here:

But I'll discuss more about it since I haven't talked about it in detail.

Let's get into, shall we?

This lyrics of WHO:

Who is my heart waiting for?

The yellow background with the purple question mark.

Yellow and Purple reminds me of two people, Jimin and Jungkook. Its their colors

We saw these colors stand out here too:

Jimin released two solo albums: FACE and MUSE.

In both these albums Jungkook was mentioned.

Jimin said that he did not want to include any other artists in FACE because the album was too personal. But Jungkook was a part of FACE. He was credited for doing background vocals for LETTER.

In my opinion Jimin was very much capable of doing the bg vocals for LETTER just like how he carried the rest of the song excellently on his own. The only reason he wanted Jungkook in the song was because:

1) It is a song Jimin wrote for and with Jungkook in mind

2) FACE is an autobiographical album. Its personal to Jimin. And Jungkook is an important and irreplaceable part in Jimin's personal life

3) Jimin is singing (reading a love letter) to Jungkook and Jungkook's voice in the bg is like he is answering/acknowledging Jimin's letter

Now we will get back to MUSE.

In MUSE too Jungkook gets mentioned. Directly and Indirectly.

Directly like this:

Jimin's favorite food: Tteokbokki by JK

And indirectly like this:

Indirect but very LOUD and CLEAR.

That face in the billboard resembles a man's facial structure.

In my opinion, it is Jungkook

Jimin's singing "Who is my heart waiting for" and the billboard falls down as an answer to his question. Cause it literally falls down after Jimin sings "Who is my heart waiting for".

Because its the person in the billboard whom his heart was waiting for all along. Also, there's no question mark after the WHO in that billboard. Again, because the person in the billboard is the WHO he was waiting for. It is no more a question but an answer. He is showing us the answer to his question.

And the MV ends with a little rainbow.

Taeyang had done this exact same thing with the billboard in his ENL MV in 2014.

In ENL Taeyang showed his girlfriend, who is now his wife, on a billboard and later he announced that they were dating.

When I heard about this I immediately got reminded of Jikook in 2016 during their PUMA fan sign event.

On April 2 2016 a fan spotted Jimin wearing a Pororo band aid and asked him where he got it from. Jimin said Jungkook gave it to him. Jungkook was also wearing the same band aid. It was Jungkook's idea that both of them wear the same band aids.

Both of them weren't hurt or injured but was just wearing those band aids.

Why were they wearing it if they weren't injured?

For this let's go back to Jan 2016.

On Jan 24 2016 Zico released I'm You, You Are Me MV. In the MV, Zico and his romantic interest are seen wearing similar band aids.

So, I think its not new for Jikook to do such romantic couple things.

Now, let's come back.

AYS dropped and we got this:

The "Keep Going" in both WHO and AYS. Not a coincidence but a very clear intentional choice.

Also, there's this interesting thing.

This is the song length for each of the songs in MUSE:

What do we see here???

SHOWTIME 1:18

11/8 the Jikook number

And Surprise!!!

11/8 again being the time for AYS Launch Trailer.

SHOWTIME INDEED!!!

While Jimin knows he can't directly share to the world about this amazing person who captured his heart, he knows he can use his art as a medium for this purpose. Art is a safe medium to express his feelings, to celebrate his love and identity while also protecting his and his loved one's privacy. To me it felt like he was subtly asserting his truth to the world.

So, yeah these are my thoughts on the topic.

Have a nice day Anon 👋🏻

Credits to the owner of the video

[saioratral]

so there's this professor... - william j.m x reader

a work from my previous blog

STARING:

william james moriarty

“You could have the world in your palms but that loneliness will never leave”

alvin leroy - oc by aya and eli

“Can you look at me like how you look at him?”

you

“I can’t remember her anymore”

SYNOPSIS : centered around you, who once admired your mathematics professor until his true identity is revealed before your very eyes. As conflicting thoughts arise, your best friend stands by your side, ready to uncover the truth behind mr. moriarty

WARNING: none (will change if needed)

INDEX:

01 Fractured Equations 02 Chalked Hearts 03 Tea with Ghosts 04 in the Name of Justice mini trailer - alvin leroy 05 The Price of My Smile (alvin spin off part 1) 06 Roses Among Thorns (alvin spin off part 2)

TAGLIST (drop a comment if you want to be in it <33):

@fishii28 @ayaswrld @eliasorchard @onna-musha-mari @dija200 @whyamidoingthisrip

@saioratral .ᐟ do not repost, translate, alter, etc on any platform without permission. banner video is made my me and do not use it anywhere

new official release date: 20/11/24

[anim-ttrpgs]

Yet another A.N.I.M. interview! This time with the podcast Not DnD!

In a way, this is the biggest A.N.I.M. interview yet, because it features the largest number of members of our team in a single interview to date! @ashweather and I go over some more of the design philosophy of Eureka, while @chaospyromancy, never before seen on a TTRPG interview, explains her approach to the art direction of much of the rulebook, and where she takes inspiration from for it!

This was a very fun interview and the hostess was very fun to talk to, check it out!

Don’t forget also that we are driving towards a patreon goal for June! If we can get (and, importantly, keep) 50+ paid patreon subscribers, we will be adding one of the unmet stretch goals from the Kickstarter to Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy! That stretch goal is a new type of playable monster, the gorgon! Signing up to our patreon(link) will not only help us (and everyone else who wants to play as a gorgon), it will get you access to so much more! Regularly released beta versions of the rulebook full of new content, adventure modules, short stories, etc.!

If this interview made you want to give Eureka a shot, but you can’t afford the $5/month patreon subscription, then you’re in luck! You can get a free beta copy of the rulebook right now by joining the A.N.I.M. TTRPG book club! Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game we are playing in there for the next few sessions! Join now, and there will probably still be slots for you join in and play! If not, you can pick up a free PDF anyway to read along and listen in to play sessions! Here's the invite link! https://discord.gg/gGdbGfr8F5

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[felassan]

Updates to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's IMDB page Cast section since the last time I looked (other than officially-announced actors like the companions having been added etc). the usual caveat of iirc anyone can edit IMDB applies. the rest of post is under a cut in case anyone considers it to be spoilers.

Ellen Dublin (Wiki, Twitter) is listed as the actor of Evka Ivo. Evka appearing in the game was first confirmed in this video from 2 months ago. (here she is, I think)

Joseph Mesiano (website, Twitter) is listed as the actor of Viago de Riva. Viago was first seen in in-game footage in the release date reveal trailer.

Kate Winter (Twitter) is listed as the actor of a character titled "Commander". from the sound of it this could maybe be a side-quest type character or ambient-dialogue type NPC, like "Templar Captain" or "Soldier".

Ossian Perret (Instagram) is listed as an actor, no character name is present in the listing at the time of writing. he has previously appeared in The Witcher and the tv show The Last Kingdom.

also, previously, Mika Simmons was listed as Queen Anora. this is no longer the case. (I wonder if that listing was an error/assumption?)

[source]

[then-be-a-warrior]

So about this:

*this is about the news regarding the change to the writing team for season 6. The picture is from someone else's post but I'm not saying who because they didn't do anything wrong. These are just my thoughts*

I agree with the message of not taking our frustrations out on the cast/crew/production team. 100%. Be respectful.

But as far as "Spreading too much misinformation"?

I agree that people shouldn't cause unnecessary panic but AT THE SAME TIME, we are NEVER given ANY information. About release dates, trailers, animation changes, etc. We are NEVER told anything so we literally have no choice but to spread the only information we get. Hell, we only know about this because people just so happened to look at David Breen's twitter.

And I guarantee they're gonna wait until season 6 is just about to release to tell us about the writer situation. Just like they did with the animation situation.

I'm not saying we should purposely spread misinformation and I know the people involved in the show sign NDAs so they legally can't tell us everything. I understand.

But like.... we're gonna panic no matter what until we get an official announcement...in like a year.

But the point is: we theorize about this show CONSTANTLY. Of course we're gonna theorize about this too lol.

Just be respectful about it and don't be assholes

[spinnysocks]

hi friends, making an important post today

with the Mufasa movie's official trailer released yesterday, i feel it is important to remind my fellow fans: Do Not Give Disney Your Money.

// pt: Do not give disney your money. //

Disney has donated $2 MILLION to Israeli organisations.

// pt: Disney had donated $2 million to Israeli organisations. (Embedded link: https://www.tumblr.com/beardeddetectivepaper/741952465658953728?source=share) //

they are not a company we should support. they have chosen to use the power of money given to them from producing prominently kids' films to fund the genocide of palestinians.

even if they have made our favourite films or shows, disney do not deserve our support of their company. it is time to separate the art from the artist. we should not and will not support disney's actions against palestine.

this is why i urge you to:

1) Do not pay to see the Mufasa movie, in cinemas or on Disney's streaming service. Alternatively, pirate the film. (Don't worry, pirating websites are very quick and the movie is likely to be uploaded within a day or two of releasing in cinemas.)

// pt: 1) Do not pay to see the Mufasa movie //

2) Do not buy merch, if any is released. If you want the merch, it will be resold second hand etc. Edit: Not sure how I forgot this, but of course buying secondhand still means that Disney has earned money from the merch bought firsthand. My recommendation is to buy TLK or Disney merch from small businesses, such as those making pins, keychains and the like.

// pt: 2) Do not buy merch //

3) Outside of regarding the Mufasa movie, do not support Disney in any way.

// pt: 3) Outside of regarding the Mufasa movie, do not support Disney in any way. //

i understand that this can be difficult - hell, even i've accidentally bought something Disney and couldn't return it before the refund date was up because of my disabilities. we can make mistakes. the important thing is to stay vigilant and remember who we are doing this for: the people who can't, the people who are suffering. Disney is funding their ongoing suffering and we will not give them our support.

if you want to give money to a good cause, i recommend looking under the “vetted fundraisers” tag for displaced Palestinians and others who need our help.

thank you for reading and please reblog/share this for reach if possible /gen, nf, info, advice

[hawkinshistoricalsociety]

ST5 teaser/promo PSA

I don't think it's actually possible to get this fandom to calm down about anything, but I thought I would post anyways for general information sharing and the hope of convincing at least myself to try to just log off on the "WHERE IS THE ST5 PROMO" question until spring at the earliest. :)

Netflix typical promo timelines

Netflix usually announces release dates 3-5 months ahead of time. The earlier New Year's announcement of ST3 dropping July 4th was an outlier. There are other outlier examples among other Netflix shows so it's not out of the question we could get a release date sooner, just less likely. In the past, release date announcements have come with poster reveals and teasers.

Promo usually begins in earnest two-ish months out from release, with first look stills and/or a full-length trailer. After this point, regular content will be released by Netflix (character posters, more BTS content, the final trailer), the cast and crew will do interviews that may come with additional clips, and there will be a couple to a few bigger press features with new info/images.

Anything they release before the above points will be variable. You can make arguments for some patterns based on past ST season promo cycles, but ST5 has already been a fairly big departure (the usual "teaser" we get during filming being a BTS featurette, lots more BTS content posted to socials, no character descriptions or even names with new cast announcements, etc). Unfortunately for us, whatever was motivating the more extensive "pre-release date announcement period" teaser content we got for ST4 does not seem to be informing what they're up to this time around. So it's probably better to temper your expectations and expect that we'll be getting less instead of more.

The "end of January Netflix event"

The "Netflix event at the end of January that will feature Stranger Things" is probably Netflix's big 2025 promo event for their entire slate of movie and TV releases. Last year, it was called "Next on Netflix" and took place on February 1st. Sandman fan twitter accounts are saying that this year's version will take place on January 29. I don't know where that claim is coming from but it's in line with last year's timing so it makes sense. The "Next on Netflix" branding also seems to be carrying over.

you can see the compilation "sizzle trailer" from last year plus the other images & info released at Netflix's website here. basically: I don't recommend getting particularly excited for this, I think it's most likely that ST5 will occupy the "Squid Game" position at the end (probably shared with Wednesday S2 and Squid Game S3) with a 5-15 second clip that will feature a shot or two and a couple lines of dialogue.

At best, we'll get that plus another still or two and the season "logline" but I wouldn't hold my breath (peep The Umbrella Academy and Arcane's 2024 loglines which are basically "this show has existed and been a hit! now the next season is coming out and people are excited" and, even worse, "details coming soon" lmao)

A Super Bowl teaser?

The other big claim people have been throwing around is that we'll get a teaser during the Super Bowl (which this year is Sunday Feb 9). That happened exactly once, for ST2, so I don't know why there is so much confidence that it is inevitable this time around. Netflix doesn't have a super consistent history wrt running Super Bowl ads if you look at the past few years.

If anything, a bigger Netflix ad like the one they did with Will Ferrell & GM in 2023 seems like the most likely scenario for me if they're trying to make efficient use of expensive ad time. Based on the Christmas/New Year's "Netflix 2025" teaser we got, I wouldn't be surprised if, in the early part of the year, Netflix keeps emphasizing that Squid Game, Wednesday, AND ST5 are coming in 2025. I don't know if that messaging comes with new footage or not.

All that to say, the show is huge, the ST5 teaser will get a zillion views and a ton of attention regardless, so it seems most likely they'll just release it online as opposed to shell out millions of dollar to advertise something probably months and months out from release. obviously I would love to be wrong. :)

A few other FYIs

Unless it is part of a larger event (Netflix stuff like Tudum, Geeked Week, etc, or other big advertising opportunities like the Super Bowl or the Olympics), Netflix rarely releases promo stuff on the weekends.

When Netflix does drop something, it will probably be posted between 9am-12:30pm Eastern. that is true for like 90% of the promo content posted to the ST socials according to my nonscientific survey.

It doesn't happen 100% of the time, but for trailers and sometimes teasers, Netflix socials will post a little "the teaser/trailer is coming!" announcement the day before. (ST example 1, example 2, Squid Game example from last year)

TL;DR no one outside of the Netflix corporate offices actually knows anything and and no one can really even guess when we'll get anything promo-wise until we know the release date (which probably won't happen until the spring or summer, depending on if ST5 ends up being a summer or fall release).

[raayllum]

alright so it seems the Aaravos + key posters are going to go in order with the seasons (first one / season was moon, second is sky, third will presumably be sun, etc) with one released per week. that means we have 4 weeks left to go. we also usually get at least 2 clips per season (i.e. S5 got "the beacon" and "stargazing" clips, s4 got around 2 as well). that brings us up to 6 weeks + 1 for a trailer and maybe one for a date tease. so we likely got 7-9 weeks maximum left until the new season is out based on this schedule, putting a rough estimate in late july for a season release.

[satoshi-mochida]

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars adds PS5 and Xbox Series versions, launches March 6, 2025 - Gematsu

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on March 6, 2025, Konami announced. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions are newly announced.

Digital pre-orders are available now for all platforms except Switch, which will begin pre-orders on September 6. Physical edition pre-orders will begin on August 28.

The following downloadable content is included with pre-orders for the digital edition:

57,300 potch – In-game currency

Fortune Orb – Doubles the experience gained by the character that bears it.

Prosperity Orb – Doubles the “potch” gained when winning a battle with the character that bears it.

Here is an overview of the collection, via Konami:

About

A hero’s destiny is written in the Stars. The legendary Konami JRPGs Suikoden I and Suikoden II have now been remastered in high-definition!

The Story of Suikoden I

A once renowned hero turns into a violent tyrant, and an empire falls into decline. A Liberation Army is rising up in an act of rebellion against an oppressive rule. One by one the 108 stars of Destiny gather to shape the course of history.

The Story of Suikoden II

Our story’s hero and his friend Jowy are members of the Unicorn Youth Brigade, which participated in a drawn-out border dispute between the Highland Kingdom and the City-States of Jowstown. A few months earlier, a truth agreement was signed between the two forces, both of which were happy to see an end to the fighting. However, hidden under the momentary peace the fires of a new war continued to smolder…

Key Features

-Graphical Improvements

Pixel sprites and environment art enhanced with new screen effects including lighting, clouds, and shadow animations Flickering flames, smoldering smoke, the movement of leaves and insects, all add up to a lively in-game atmosphere!

The effects and direction have been redesigned, bringing memorable scenes back to life in more beautiful ways!

-New Character Drawings

All character portraits have been updated in HD. Junko Kawano, who designed the characters for the original version of Suikoden released in 1995, has newly re-drawn all the character portraits for Suikoden I HD Remaster: Gate Rune War.

-Sound Improvements

Field Sound – A large number of environmental sounds not found in the original version, such as the sound of running water in the river, wind, insects, and running footsteps, have been added. You can enjoy an immersive experience like never before!

Battle Sound – All sound effects are now in HD. In addition to the impact of the 3D effects, the realistic sound greatly enhances the dynamism of the battles!

-Game System Improvements

Many new features have been added, such as dialogue log, auto-battle, double-speed battles, etc.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

English

Japanese

[strawberrybyers]

hey guys i’m going to be taking a mental health break from socials and texting and just everything for a period of time while i figure out what medicines will work and adjusting to the fact i have to get settled with a new therapist after seeing the same one every friday for 5 years straight. i’m autistic and there’s been lots of changes in my life, so to say it’s been overwhelming doesn’t even begin to cover it.

the byler tag has always been such a safe space for me, but i’m thinking as of right now, i just need to disconnect from all socials in case i stumble upon something triggering and my main focus right now needs to be if my meds are working and decreasing panic attacks/anxiety.

if any of you would be kind enough to DM me updates (i.e. leaks, new pics & vids, teasers, trailers, release dates, etc) if any get released, that way when i am comfortable coming back to social media, i will be able to see what i’ve missed as stranger things/byler is such a big comfort for me!

i love you guys and i’m hoping my stupid brain gets it shit together soon so i can actually enjoy things again 😂

[waytothewoods]

Hey Ant, I don't really wanna ask any updates or release dates but actually just put some thoughts abt how this game, even if it's not out yet, impacted me. Since that trailer in E3 (rip) I fell in love about it, the music, the ambience, DEERS. I even gained more respect with the behind of scenes of it. In a gaming industry that has been impacted with layoffs, scams (Day Before), half baked annual games, and more aggressive lootbox tactics. A single dev making a game he WANTS to make and people enjoy it honestly it feels like a breath of fresh air in the gaming world.

I know it's a lot of pressure and as you mentioned, when you feel it's ready to come out, any year will be the Deer Year, I want to see how you have grown out of this fantastic experience no matter how the outcome of this journey is.

I'm p sure more people still keep with your Pinky Promise, so keep on going!

hey hyper, your message is very kind, and i appreciate it very much :) i do often think, i should have just released whatever i had and got the money, and be working on w2tw right now. and in many ways, i basically am. but year of the deer is HERE. i also feel let down by many games, but now more than ever i understand the difficulties of getting things out the door. financial pressure causing studios to rush, etc. and as the industry seems to be shifting strangely, i love looking at something like bg3, or stardew valley, which are clearly so well crafted over appropriate time scales. the collaborations in wttw, the surprises... it's cookin. i do also apologise again for how long its takin

[obscureaestheticist]

DC & MARVEL are awful at publishing their own amazing stories...

Read some western comics for the first time in a while this year. I wanted to start reading more in general anyway so I added comics and manga to the list. HOOOOOOOOO GGGAAAD DAYUM some of this stuff is good! I wanted to start with DC's Absolute & Marvel's New Ultimate. I've read mostly DC but have never fully gotten into a series or mini series before. These new books were meant to be jumping on points for newcomers so I wanted to give it a try.

And I gotta say... these need more attention... By their own publishers, I mean.

Even though I only really started in the last 3 months of the year, I get peoples frustrations with these being monthly releases and the fact that a lot these you HAVE to buy individually and not part of a magazine or some other form of collective release. At least until a volume release. On top of that these are NOT easy to find, not where I live, and not online either. You need a subscription service for the digital releases and you need to find a comic book shop to even buy it physical. These aren't cheap either! If I wanted to buy, say, a manga volume's worth of issues to try and catch up, its almost 5x that of a cheap physical manga volume. And the only place you're going to be getting a volume of some of these is at a book store, not a comic shop, just because there's way more bookstores generally. By the time those volumes have released there's no gaurantee the series that you like is even still running, because they havn't made it easy to even find these to read and it might've been cancelled due to low sales. So that leaves me with a problem... I either cave in and get a subscribtion or I pirate it. I'm poor af, of course I'm going to pirate it. MOST people will. Except they won't because barely anybody knows these comics even exist. There's little to NO marketing around any of these comics. Seriously, why aren't these in a magazine?! Why aren't these easily veiwable digitally? I don't want a subscription service just to look at a few books. I'm DONE with subscription services. Even if it's just a website where you pay to read online per series, or even throwing these into webtoon behind a paywall, it'll be infinitly better. At least that way people actually get to see the amazing work they're putting out there. And... yeah, the monthly wait on these is agonising. If the wait cannot be shortened then a weekly magazine is needed DESPERATELY, because there is NOTHING in the way of audience interaction for newcomers except a very limited fandom which might be gone in a few months just cause the series could be up and cancelled at the snap of their fingers. Their websites suck... Like, straight up, they suck. Nothing unique or stylised about them, not even a bit of background music or some flare, it's trailers for games, movies, and TV. Theres not even viewer guides for comics, bits of info on the world, or even those silly "who is the strongest/fastest/richest,etc" graphics like in old magazines. there's no fun. It's painful because the stuff thats out there is genuinly good. A lotta bad, certainly, but the recent stuff is thoroughly engaging. Another thing, the issue 1 crisis. If you don't know what this is, it's publishers resetting issues back to number 1 to bump up the price. It's disgusting. Especially when it makes it a NIGHTMARE to try and find the series you're looking for... and its same name as 8 other series only seperated by a date. THESE NEED TITLES! I was reading Ultimate Black Panther and Black Panther recently... Or rather, NEW Ultimate Black Panther: T'Challa vs. The Moon Knight, and Black Panther[2023]: A King Without A Crown. The naming alone causes frustrations when trying to navigate and find a story you might actually like. King Without A Crown is a title I just made up for the 2023 release. Its a great story, the art is some of the best I've seen in any comic. And the premise is very enganging, about T'Challa having been exiled from Wakanada, returned to watch over it as a secret protector and trying to reconnect with the people in places he believed he'd overlooked. To try and deepen his understanding as a king, and as protector of his country. It's Cyberpunk Crime Thriller Sci-Fi with a mix of central African mysticism. It even comes with an official map.

It got cancelled. Only lasted 10 issues... New Ultimate X-Men / Secret Society X Men is a shojo horror mystery set in japan inspired by major works of J-Horror... and it's FREAKIN' X-MEN Nobody talkin' about it. New Ultimate Spider-Man is about Peter, married to MJ, Father of 2, becoming Spider-Man after receiving word from the future that he was supposed be a hero and that it was taken from him, and Uncle Ben is alive in this... Nobody talkin' about it. New Ultimate Black Panther is kinda slow but it's about 2 warlords trying to infiltrate and take over wakanda who are posing as this world's versions of Konshu & Ra and leads to a greater conspiricy about Vibranium itself. Nobody talkin' about it. I LOVE the absolute series. I'm a DC fan, but these Marvel works also need more love, like... guys. Not to mention Spider-Man and Ult X-Men is fanfic and fanart GOLD! LIKE GET ON THIS SH!T NOW! There are other big issues i've got with western comics but I wanted to talk about it's accessibility. I love comics and manga a lot, it was what got me to start reading in the first place, and I want these cool stories to continue in a way that is like, actually enjoyable. I wanna talk about these with people, but there's no point if nobody is out there to enjoy it with. In the meantime, if you like these stories but can't afford them, make fanwork of it. Fiction, prose, poetry, art, music, silly comments, anything. Same goes for Manga and Indie works that you like. Don't let a company's incompetence stifle your ability to enjoy art that has ACTUAL passion behind it.

[fade-and-loathing-in-thedas]

With the embargo being lifted soon I just wanted to update people on my spoiler tags and how I tag (cos I'm not going to lie, I don't care about spoilers for myself and I will be watching everything)

Anything that has been in the official trailer(s) and/or basic info we've known for a while (that certain characters exist, release date, etc) is tagged da4 and datv

The podcast Dragon Age: Vows and Vengeance is tagged davv

Anything from the gameplay reveals, the bioware discord, or articles are tagged da4 spoilers and datv spoilers

Anything shown after the embargo is lifted (that six hours of gameplay) will be tagged as above but will have an additional tag of da embargo just in case you are okay with all the above but not the additional gameplay.

Also speculation and theories has an additional tag of da4 speculation

I do my best to always tag, but I'm human and mistakes happen. Don't be afraid to let me know (politely) if I miss one or you think a specific tag should apply.

I'll include a link to this in my pinned post for reference.