#game theory writers do not fucking interact

[secretmason]

Just to fully word out what I think - I think The Coronation Era will be about the cyclical nature of Blaseball- we’re going to repeat it’s most original history, as detailed in the Root section of the Library.

Look at The First Day, Zeroth Edition, Section 1 of Root. Seem familliar?

Sure, we haven’t seen any Strange Attractors Evolving, but the Umpires are imploring us to Read the Rules. On it’s own, this wouldn’t be enough though, except that Root Section 2 is named An Ascension.

“A Raise”, “An Ascension”, early in blaseball’s history, centering around some kind of wager. This was so early in blaseball’s history that I’d imagine this Ascension was to determine the seat of power, but I’d need proof. Let’s see what this Era’s main plot thread seems to be right now:

A Tournament of Champions, to allow one victor to be named the “Ace” and “claim the Mound”. Wait, where have I heard about the Mound before?

The Reader, telling us to charge it, in this case so we could hit the Coin.

So the Mound refers to the seat of power upon which Blaseball rests. Previously held by Coin, and The Shelled One before that. In the event the seat is unclaimed, the best team in the league is invited to become the Ace, and claim it for themselves. But to what end? Reader held off on that detail.

But I think we’re about to find out. And given we see nothing written about Blaseball after that in Root, instead leaving it empty until The First Day, 1st Edition, I suspect it’s nothing good.

[audliminal]

It's Just a Game, Right? Pt 6

Masterpost

"I'm telling you, Fenton!" Wes announces. "I'm onto you." A few of the kids walking past snicker at them, as Danny does his best to look confused. The startled part is easy; Wes is turning out to be a surprisingly good actor. He's been gradually leaning even harder to the image of a conspiracy nut, and the result is impressive. Danny, on the other hand, is simply trying to keep up with the insanity.

"I have literally no clue what you're talking about, dude." Danny says, attempting to push past Wes, so he can enter their classroom. Wes doesn't seem inclined to let this confrontation end, though.

"You may have everybody else fooled, but I know the truth. You made a pact with the so-called ghosts and their efforts to take over our world. You're just manipulating your parents' tech in order to convince everyone that they actually are ghosts, and not the invading fae army they really are!"

"Dude, what?" Danny responds, not quite able to hold back the laugh.

"Honestly, Wes, don't you have any common sense?" Star asks, as she walks up. "Rumor has it that Fenton's failing like half his classes, and you think a bunch of fae lords, or whatever would trust him to help their scheme? Surely they'd choose someone more competent." She flips her hair, and then walks past the both of them, as a couple of the kids nearest to them start snickering.

Outwardly, Danny winces and hunches in on himself a little more, as he takes the opening Star just created and ducks into the classroom after her.

In hallway outside, Danny catches Wes muttering to himself before following them in. No one says anything for a minute, but the moment the bell rings and Mr Lancer shuts the door, Star turns to Wes.

"I think you should be a writer or something after we get out of here." Star tells him. "That theory was honestly inspired."

"It gets even better. I have so much evidence to force on you guys, it'll be great." Wes answers, then turns to Danny. "You good? I know we don't mean any of it, but it's still gotta suck to have us acting like assholes all the time."

"I mean," Danny hums. "I'm not gonna say it's fun? But like honestly compared to everything else, dissing my work kinda seems..."

"Banal?" Sam offers.

"Yeah, sure, that." Danny nods. "Like, compared to people wanting me dead, who cares, I guess."

"Yikes," Kwan mutters. "Your life is a fucking mess, dude."

"Well, i do have some good news about that." Tucker announces, turning his computer to face everyone else. "Looks like the fanbase is making some progress towards finding the real stuff.

Danny stares at the reddit thread Tucker is on. He's honestly been only loosely paying attention to the actual stuff Tucker and Wes have been posting. He's happy to offer his knowledge of space stuff, or engineering, but the intricacies of secret code aren't really something he ever pursued. Well, except for the secret language he and Tucker had made as kids. Wes, on the other hand, peers at the screen and lets out a soft whoop.

"Hell yeah! They found the second layer!"

"Yeah. Which means they've found our first plea for help."

"Oh, wow," Sam says sardonically. "A plea for help that's so great. Why are they gonna think it's anything other than another part of the damn story."

"Chill out, Sam," Tucker responds. "The point is to encourage them to look harder. And once they find the next level, they'll start finding our info on the infinite realms."

"Whatever," Sam says, frowning. "I just... Don't like how much waiting this involves."

"Yeah it would be a lot easier if we could just, like, beat them up and call it good," Dash agrees. "But, like, jail would probably suck."

"At least they're making progress," Danny points out. "I don't really get how you guys are making these layers, but. It's more progress than anything else we've tried."

"Yeah, but like, what does this mean for us?"

"Why not interact directly with that post?"

"Maybe. We'd have to be extra careful about what and how we say it, so they don't write us off as a copycat or anything, but it could serve to reinforce, uh-" Wes leans in, to read the username. "BenBlues379's theory."

"Okay then, let's draft a reply." Danny zones out as they start to discuss the specifics. He hadn't actually had to go deal with any ghosts last night, but his parents had been working on some new invention, and the noise of their trials had made sure he didn't get much sleep despite the supposed reprieve. Luckily, nobody in this class is going to complain if he takes the opportunity to catch up on the missed shut-eye now, so with one last deep breath, Danny folds himself down onto his and relaxes into sleep, as the sounds of his classmates debating echoes around him.

[clegfly]

Woo, it’s about time I made one of these… *cracks knuckles*

MORE ABOUT ME!!!!

HIIII!!!! My name is clegfly, or just cleg!!!! I’m an artist/ writer / professional paint drying critic/j. I’m just a silly girl doing silly things, don’t mind me. I use she/her pronouns and I am aroace!!!

LIKES

BULLET POINTS BULLET POINTS BULLET POI

Pancakes. All day. All the time. Everywhere, anywhere. Pancakes

That goes for bacon too

JELLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!1!1!1!

Why are these all foods what else do I like uhhhh

Warm. And cosy bed. And fire. And all that stuff

OLD COMPUTER AESTHETIC!!!!!! N64!!! WINDOWS XP!!!! ALL THAT SHIT

Bugs in theory

PLANTS

MUSICAL THEATRE

Graphic novels

Video games… ough my beloveds

Books

Okay now this is too long

Oops

Sorry

JELLYFISH JELLYFISH JELLYFISH

The ocean full stop actually

In theory

CHINCHILLAS

Uh

Yapping

Analysis

DISLIKES

anything on my DNI >:((((

Bugs in practice

Sport

Exercise

I’m literally hero omori

Commitment

Stress

Internet drama

Anyone who gatekeeps like. Anything.

INTERESTS???

All day every day, baby.

MAINS

OMORI- main interest as apparent by one peek at my blog… The brainrot is immeasurable and everlasting. Send help. It’s been almost four years. I love this game, its characters, story, EVERYTHING so fucking much. I’m like a billion pounds in debt to it also. I will be homeless but at least I will have my big ass heromari collection.

PMMM/ Madoka Magica- my favourite show! Consisting purely of sparkles and sunshine!!!! Why are you crying??? I’m sure not!!!!

DDLC/ Doki Doki Literature Club- another favourite of mine!!! I see a well-written cast of characters I deeply relate to go through extreme horrific horror beyond any of their comprehensions and I’m SOLD!!!

Coraline- the horrors are all consuming, but at least it’s both a visual and extremely well-written treat!!!!

TADC/ the amazing digital circus- won’t lie, watched this show when the pilot dropped and LOVED it, but forgot about it after a while as it didn’t stick with me. Then episode three came out and I’m now reduced to a blubbering mess whose brain is now significantly comprised of two fictional chess pieces. What happened? I don’t know. Send even more help.

LITTLE GUYS THAT HURT MY BRAIN SOMETIMES

Petscop

Fnaf

BATIM/ bendy and the ink machine

BSD

Deltarune

Undertale

Hawaii: Part II

SUBJECT TO CHANGE BECAUSE IM PROBABLY FORGETTING LIKE 20 AND ALSO HAVE LIKE 20 STILL TO DISCOVER

HOBBIES?!2!2!

Ya!!!! :D

Art

The main thing I do on my silly little page!!

…in which the art is mostly unfinished doodles… but that’s okay!!!! We ball anyway

YOU CAN SEND THE CLEG REQUESTS!!!!! ALL DAY ANY DAY UNLESS I SAY OTHERWISE!!!! Do not expect premium quality though lmao. (And also nothing related to DNI. Shouldn’t have to say this but. Uh. Yeah)

You cannot yet commission the cleg :(

Writing

Currently on a writing hiatus and have been for a little while (5 MONRHS WHAT) but… i do!!!! That!!!! Aka I write fan fiction AGH

Mostly. Heromari stuff. Actually all heromari stuff. I think I have one fic that isn’t heromari and it’s one I co-authored I love them your honour…

Yeah

DNI

Bit of a bummer, but I gotta set my boundaries to keep the weirdos out!! That being said, do NOT interact with my blog whatsoever if you:

Are a shotacon, lolicon, proshipper, pedo, etc etc etc. (yucky. Yuck yuck yuck. Fuck off)

Are homophobic

Are transphobic

Are aphobic/ arophobic (why. Why are you even still here)

Queerphobic in general actually get OUT!!!!

Actively shit on any of my main interests. Like ACTIVELY go out of your way to tell me how bad it is (what. What is the point. Just go)

POST ANY NSFW FULL STOP!!!!!!! (I am EXTREMELY sex repulsed and have been especially lately, I will block you on SIGHT)

Are racists/ xenophobes

There is likely LOTS more I’m forgetting so I will update this later… also just saying I reserve the right to block ANYONE no matter if you fit into this criteria or not. If I don’t vibe with you I will politely block you and look the other way!!! No theatrics required

Anyway with all the negative stuff out of the way… I really hope you enjoy my blog!!! I’m just here to have fun honestly and express my ideas and passions and work on a little page of the internet so!!!! Hope you have fun too!!!! :D

[thewebcomicsreview]

Woah, it's a hamsteak! Bit early this month, maybe they're splitting it into two parts (Edit: Apparently yes, per a newspost). They've been teasing a big [S] page for a while, probably where the game starts in Meat and The Point is revealed in Candy, and these updates seem like they're getting everyone in position for that. We're now done with the Ship and with DIrk, and we won't see either until the [S] comes, but we still need to pick up the kids and see what Karkat is up to, so I'm expecting this is a setup-heavy update for an [S] page...next month, on 6/12? Let's see.

KARKAT: KEPT YOU WAITING, HUH?

Candy Karkat is blatantly Solid Snake and I'm a bit surprised the old team never had him riff a Snake catchphrase. New team popping that cherry right off. Also, wow, Karkles got swole.

MEENAH: took you long enough bossman KARKAT: I THOUGHT I ASKED YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT WHEN WE'RE ALONE. MEENAH: big bossman KARKAT: NOT BETTER. MEENAH: sweetie-pirate KARKAT: BOSSMAN IT IS.

We're just going all-in on the Metal Gear references, but Meenah loses fishpoints for not calling him Big Bass. It's right there, Meenah.

KARKAT: AS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED THERE'S AN ESCALATING, LARGE-SCALE MILITARY CONFLICT UNDERWAY;

Is there? I hadn't noticed, because the war is entirely fucking offscreen in HS2, to the point where I'm really unclear on if it's huge open battles (as in the epilogues) or a terrorist insurgency (as implied by Jane's focus on PR, the lack of any on-screen fighting, and even here Karket saying he was blowing up "Crockercorp" supply depots instead of "human" supply depots). "Escalating" is an interesting word, though. I have a theory that Jane and Rose both don't consider any of Earth C's population "Real", and in Jane's mind she's basically just been larping as a bad guy up until her dad died and she got serious, and this is why Jane was seemingly cool with helping Jade raise Yiffy, even though Jade is a commander in the anti-Jane rebel army. Jane's going to just stop being evil on a dime and everyone but Rose and Jane are going to be baffled.

There was a writer commentary where they kept making jokes about doing this, but I guess it's real. Why is the Carapacian naked?

These guys, who are not guaranteed to survive to the end of the update, are already fucking great.

KARKAT: ALRIGHT, COMPANIES 1 THROUGH 3 ARE IN PLACE. KARKAT: 4 THROUGH 6 ARE EN ROUTE.

Is this the first 413 in HS2? I'm surprised they're not using 612, the troll number.

KARKAT: ALSO THIS COVERT-OPS SUIT IS TIGHT AS ALL FUCK. MEENAH: well if its any consolation that may be rough for you but its a pretty great time to be your rear admire-all 38) KARKAT: MUCH OBLIGED.

The ship no one expected!

KARKAT: NOT LIKE DAVE. MEENAH: how you feelin about that

I know Karkat hasn't had a lot of screen time in HS2, and I know they've justified why this is coming up now, but as far as Karkat knows Candy Dave A. Married Jade, and then B. Died fifteen years ago. Has this really not come up in fifteen years?

SOLLUX: there's like a bazillion m0oks swarming ar0und my crib and none 0f the grubereats dudes are accepting orders right n0w. SOLLUX: probably 0n account 0f your inc0nvenient ass war. SOLLUX: could y0u pick me something up? SOLLUX: i'm assuming you're 0n your way.

Is this...the first on-screen interaction between Karkat and Sollux since Cascade in 2011? It was worth the wait.

KARKAT: MAYBE YOU'D GIVE MORE OF A FUCK ABOUT THE REPRODUCTIVE FUTURE OF OUR SPECIES IF ARADIA WAS EVER ACTUALLY THERE LONG ENOUGH FOR YOU TO GET SOME. MEENAH: ohhh snapper KARKAT: ANYWAY YEAH I CAN PROBABLY SWING THAT.

This is maybe the most Karkat interaction ever. He's furious for extremely good reasons, he's constantly insulting his friends, of course he'll swing his A-team war truck by McDonalds on the way to the war zone to get Sollux something. Doesn't even occur to him not to.

KARKAT: AND WE NEVER LET IT GO. LOB 4: Well said, sir! KARKAT: WHAT THE FUCK. KARKAT: HOW LONG HAVE YOU ALL BEEN LISTENING? TER 2: Pretty much since the beginning, sir!

It's cool and thematic that these guys talk in Dave's colors but I'm unbelievably sad they don't have names.

KARKAT: COMMANDERS HARLEY, MARYAM, AND LALONDE ARE INBOUND, AND NOT LONG AFTER THEY GET HERE THINGS ARE GOING TO GET BATSHIT STUPID!

Last time we saw Vrissy, she was seeing Yiffy for the first time. I was expecting an update following up on that before the big everything coming together, but maybe they won't get a chance to talk yet

Because this sure feels like the last page before an [S]

Edit: But it isn't, the news post said another update this month.

[rottenzombrainz]

🪦Welcome to the Graveyard🪦

Hey!

I'm Allister, a zombie who likes to write >w<

~Obituary~

-I like a lot of things, but I mainly post about Tokyo Debunker and sometimes Storytaco inc games too! I'm also just getting into What in Hell is Bad

-I'd prefer if minors didn't interact with my content

-In case the previous line didn't give it away, I'm an adult

-I'm a writer! Not a very good one, but I'm still a writer!

-I'm fine with any pronouns. my gender is beyond mortal comprehension

-President of the Lawrence Lover Legion™

-Self shipper!!

-I do take hc and fic requests!! If you wanna make a request, I'd recommend looking at the opinions section of the Tombstone of Contents first!!

-Proud overuser of commas

-I try to put good content labels on my posts but be weary of spoilers and suggestive content

-I have no idea how to fucking use tumblr so please bear with me

Tag Keys

#undead ramblings - regular blog posts

#living inquiries - ask responses

Rising from the grave....

Rui x Reader

Rui + Subaru FriendFic

Jiro + Ren FriendFic

Tombstone of Contents

Everything is Tokyo Debunker related unless specified otherwise ^w^

My fics ;

Lawrence x Reader(Dangerous Fellows) short fluff

Lawrence x Reader(Dangerous Fellows) part 2 (fluff)

Lawrence x Reader(Dangerous Fellows) part 3 (smut)

Luca + Jiro FriendFic

Zenji + Ed FriendFic

My theories ;

Towa is God

Taiga's prosopagnosia

Jiro's stigma

My head cannons ;

Ghouls receiving a BJ

Darkwick house sports

Ghouls at the mall

Ghouls painting they nails 💅

Ghouls playing dungeons and dragons

Ghouls favorite Bath and Bodyworks scent

Silly/random trait headcanons

Ghouls favorite Tim Burton movie

My Opinions;

I try to not let my opinions and bias get in the way of writing a good fic, but I want to be completely transparent that there're some things I just don't like

Tkdb Ships

Ghoul Tierlist

OC posts; (OC roleplay @askallianything)

Alli introduction and lore dump

Alli character relationships

More Alli lore dump

[thedreadblog]

You are absolutely not alone in it. My bestie and I were watching the gameplay reveal at the same time and I remember us wondering if Solas would show up in the reveal. Then during the combat I screamed "THERE HE IS, I SEE HIM IN THE BACKGROUND" and then we see him, hear him, watch that interaction and I'm just gone. It's like all those years of emotion I've felt over his story and his development and complexity, the research I've done on this man, the essays I've written, it all came flooding back.

I swear, dragon age has consumed me before and it continues to do so, i have cried over this elf so much, and i feel like we will be doing so even more in just a few months. (The table setting detail fucking broke me inside. Like go ahead, please, anyone, call him evil again I dare you, i will fight, right after i stop crying 😭)

Argh I didn’t know how to reply to this; the past week (holy shit it’s been a week??) has been weirdly emotional. For years, whenever I wondered about what the next game might be like, I just feared for Solas. I felt hope bc of allllll the theories out there (especially @corseque who’s always theorized through many storytelling mechanisms that he had a bigger role to play still) and there’s also the Weekes tweet that the romance route with Solas also might lead to a hopeful future.

But then we just don’t know what a whole team of writers will do or think of (and that’s a compliment tbh, writers tend to be excellent problem solvers) in terms of the next story and that had me anxious that Solas might be an end boss or that we would barely see him.

And then we get this. After years of worrying we get so much, and we actually get to know Solas a bit better, we might get to know his and Elvhenan’s past and aaaah. And Solas actually lives and interacts with us! It’s so much more than I hoped for, and after years of worrying…yeah I’m sure I’m not alone in having a little cry. I’ve had several since then too.

But it’s nice to know we’re all crying and excited together!

Also thanks @foxeareddevil for your kind message in the post itself 😊 the next few months leading up to the release of Veilguard are going to be amazing!

[davekat-sucks]

This is was supposed to be a simple ask but it ended up getting long because of there being too many question and discussions but barely any answers so sorry about that.

On the topic of WhatPumpkin sometimes we all have to wonder what the fuck is going on behind the scenes, the latest news we got werent that much and it felt more of a like "Hey guys we are still alive dont forget about us" situation and it doesnt help that we cant really get any info because of how the only guy that Im atleast aware that works on it and is online is James and although I have no source because it was months ago, when beyond canon came back I remember him getting asked about Hiveswap and i dont remember if he answered it on the blog or on a reddit qna but he had said he cant really do much about it because hes just the music guy on that department and not an director or writer and he probably cannot say whats going on if hes aware of even the minimum because of NDAs and you know the situation is weird when not even the new director for post canon can do nothing about it or doesnt know what the fuck is going on over there either (i believe its more of the former).

On the same topic Hussie jumping the ship in my opinion feels like such an awful move in a moral and community sense, he hires fucked up people and ends up going through development hell and instead of trying to fix it he just runs away and gives someone else the work. He becasically invited destruction to that place by not doing background checks and shit and now everyone else but him has to suffer for it. I wonder if WhatPumpkin will close business after they finish Hiveswap (if they even manage to finish it) or if their writting quality wont be bad if they try to do Hauntswitch now.

I also sometimes wonder if Hauntswitch was made first maybe things could have been better. Think about it:

It happens on the Human World and you play as a cool kid looking troll and that could open the doors for a lot of potential to explore more about the Earth on the Homestuck universe and its conspiracy theories and also give us more video game parody mechanics.

The whole conspiracy theory Jude had that iirc had even the USA presidents connect to may be right considering the easter egg that shows some sort of cultists standing outside the mansion we see on the background and watching the events unfold.

We would get more answers for whatever the fuck those creatures that attacked the manor where.

another good dog best friend to fill the bec shaped hole in our soul <:

Exploration of what SkaiaLabs exactly does.

Overall sounding like an awesome story itself, a alien coming to earth and fighting a cult related to the presidents with a human companion. Especially considering how Dammek sounds like hes an asshole and also because of how trolls are usually violent could lead to interesting interactions.

I might be wrong and biased though but I feel like that concept could attract more outsiders than Hiveswap could ever wish to do. And hopefully thats it and that I wont waste almost an hour of my life rambling about this stuff (for my own sake because i feel like i could have spent my time better but i also need to post this somewhere and i dont use social media most of the time and when i do its usually to see fanart, memes and overall discussion of my fav franchises) but I probably will in the future.

It's cool with this ask. You brought up many good points here.

Yes, the question about Hiveswap was asked in a Q&A back in October 30th, 2023 from James Roach here (Archive ver for backup). The news about development should be something more like how Toby does with the Deltarune newsletter. Monthly, maybe do a special event ARG thing that gives insight of what's coming up, or anything like that. Though even with that, it might be probably too little too late since we are at 11 years since the Kickstarter had funded. Probably doesn't help since 2 million dollars was wasted, it's a mystery how the game is still being worked on if the original Kickstarter money that was given to them, had been used up. What is WhatPumpkin's new source of income then? Do they have a second job they aren't telling us about? Are they using part of that Patreon money from Beyond Canon since technically there are some that work within Hiveswap too like James? Then there's the fact Hussie not only wasted the money, but basically left the Kickstarter project he started in the first place. He may own it and be credited as the creator, but he won't be involved in the future Acts and Hauntswitch. I'm surprised nobody is pissed at him for scamming them out of 2 million dollars. Do people not care if the original person who hosted it left? Especially with the truth come to light thanks to Gio's research on this. I wouldn't be surprised if WhatPumpkin does shut down because they couldn't gain the sales needed after releasing Hiveswap Act 3. People will probably wonder if even buying stuff from Topatoco would help or not with HS merch like the prints slowly resurfacing. Drawing in the crowds from old and new to play the game will be tough. I wouldn't be surprised if Hauntswitch was first made in mind before Hiveswap. Dammek even had a 3D model ready too.

Likely back when it was still a 3D game, we would control briefly but then after the cutscene of them being transported to the other planet, we would then have to take control of Dammek, have him meet Jude to possibly have him find a way to help him back home, and the pair would adventure on Earth itself for the rest of the game to find out about the monsters and the cult. Dammek's paranoid nature would play off Jude's conspiracy theory pretty well as it has the two involved looking deep into the mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if something about the cult would eventually tie in to his home planet and the rebellion as a final grand twist. An idea like that sounds more interesting than some girl getting lost on an alien planet and was roped into some rebellion that she has no reason to be part of besides being concerned for a friend.

[two-nines-left-spleen]

Thoughts and rambling about HSR 2.2 (Part 1)

MASSIVE SPOILERS WARNING!!!

If you like discussing characters, lore, theories, headcanons, please share! I LOVE talking about this game so much.

I liked this update (too much actually. I should work on my Thesis and I just spent the WHOLE day playing, I am SO fucked), and I'm still fresh off it, which means I don't have any critical distance yet.

I just make a list of things I noticed/ liked/ put a mental pin in. I go through one Trailblaze mission per post.

Thoughts on Trailblaze Mission:

The Great Train Robbery

Sparkle gave everyone her 'Fun Buttons'. They haven't been used yet - curious to see where this goes, if anywhere. But I trust HSR writers now that they will callback to those details.

Boothill and Dan Heng were hilarious together, and I have many thoughts on Boothills initial character. (I come back to him later)

Blade having a drivers licence implies that he had to take the drivers exam at one point in his life and I doubt it was on the Luofu. I am LAUGHING internally just thinking about the poor soul that had to handle assessing a marastruck maniac on the steering wheel. Also, Blade in a suit is peak and his VA is peak too.

2.0 didn't do that much for Firefly for me, 2.2 changed that for the better. I liked her exchange with Blade, her rebuttal to Sunday, I liked that she was portrayed as quick-witted and smart and as someone who drove the plot and the cast forward while still being bound by the inevitability that is Elios script.

Additionally: I also enjoy seeing the Stellaron Hunters interact together. Even if they seem to bound by destiny, I feel like there is at least mutual respect and acknowledgement for each others paths, which I enjoy very much. While I like the Fanon of them being portrayed as "Family" (and I know Hoyo has played into that as well), I still can't shake the feeling that in the end their ties are in some way being revealed as... transactional, in some sense.

The Clockie Statue in the Dreamscape Reef is terrifying. Its eyes move and together with the rather eery music in the background I thought they would go further with the Thriller vibe they had going on in 2.1.

And that's the first mission!

[blackstarchanx3new]

Hi! Uh... I might sound a bit dumb for this question but I really can't think of anyone else to ask, how do you fucking go about on making an au? Because like... I don't know. And it's overwhelming me ngl. I don't know.

You know all those random head cannons that float around in your brain.

Or interactions you've thought of between characters FROM said head cannons:

You just make those a reality. X'D

Welcome to the "Character based AU" Idk what else to call it.

Creations AU for example: Born from me having dumb funny ideas like making Bonnie a stoner, or Freddy a literal prostitute and the Night guard a stone faced bad ass who reacts near emotionlessly/weird no matter what bullshit is in front of him.

Shit like that gives way to a LOT of stupid interactions/comedy. Is if objectively funny? Idk. But it makes me laugh.

Fannon Fan cannon ideas I like from a writing perspective. Not exactly a cannon/theory one lmfao can't stress that enough.

Glamrock Freddy being Michael/Josh in Creations instance, Mikebot, William murdering to try and resurrect his children, Golden Freddy being crying child. Those are just some examples of fannon ideas/theories I liked enough to run with.

Cobbled with: Scenes from the actual games I like

Also: A shit ton of OCs cause we're cringe tonight!~ >:)

I mostly focus on CHARACTER based AUs just cause I like writing CHARACTERS not character concepts.... Multiverse Mayhem is a character concept thing, but I'm not ready to write that yet, and it's way more "Character based" when it comes to how it's actually IMPLIMENTED

But you can do em with random concepts too most UNDERTALE AUs I know are more IDEA based than character based:

CONCEPT AUS!

Have you ever asked yourself:

"WHAT IF INSTEAD OF BEING HAPPY, THEY WERE ALL SAD!" "WHAT IF ALL THE CHARACTERS WERE SHRIMP!?"

And my least favorite: "WHAT IF WE SWAPPED THEIR ROLES!?"

The laziest/my least favorite/fun trope lmfao but a lot of people like that one. it's SUPER hard to make interesting At least to me but my opinions are ass so you can throw em out. X'D but if you're a good writer you can make nearly anything work.

Evil character A is the good guy and Good guy is the bad guy. They swap outfits and MAYBE their backstory's are swapped? Idk there's no consistent rules to this AU idea. Somehow we ended up with the reverse of what was there in cannon. I've only seen it done in a fun way when it's like REALLY detailed Reverse Falls I found interesting for example. Underswap is lazy af and we can all admit we only like the skelebros. I virtually ONLY like them when they're accessories to other AUs/playing off other Sans and Papyrus but that's just me....

There's also "What if x plot point from cannon was changed"

Like uhh, you know. A character NEARLY dies in cannon but ACTUALLY dies in this AU.

@james-p-sullivan wrote a fic about that with Four Swords where Vio dies at the fire temple.

That still has one chapter left that i am waiting eagerly for. X'D

Basically AUs like this are "Cannon divergence." I think is what they're called???

These are super fun.

Because if you know the characters really well you can make em react to whatever divergence in cannon in great ways.

And then there's:

THE PREQUEL, THE SEQUEL AND THE MIDQUEL

Four Swords Returns for example is a sequel with midquel elements.

Midquel: You add scenes where they COULD have fit in cannon or you flesh out scenes mentioned but not seen.

I made FSR: Because I didn't like the ending we were given.

And if you hate an ending: Make a sequel. It's fun.

I started FSR with the simple concept:

How I can split Link in 4 again?

Vaati's curse! :D

Vaati is still alive. Retcon Gannon being in the sword and retcon Vaati being dead. Literally no one has complained because Vaati is wonderful and we love him.

Make it possible for them to split again.

Oh...But what challenges COME from this?

Boom the plot happened.

Basically: Ask yourself a SHIT TON of questions.

"What if this?" "What if that?"

Keep going.

Keep writing cool scenes you would like to see in this AU.

Bam.

You got yourself an AU. :

Hope this helps.

[sapphire-weapon]

I just wanted to say that as a person in their early 20s who only just got into resident evil after re8, it was so fun finding your blog and scrolling through all the little blurbs you’ve got. fandom elders always have the best resources and lore and make spaces a million times better, so thank u for mentioning all the little game details and fandom notes that would’ve been forgotten or missed otherwise to newcomers!!

on another note, i wanted to ask if you had any amusing/chaotic tidbits relating to the re fandom in its earlier days, whether it be speculations of scenes or character directions or interactions that people were so sure were going to happen in later re games that absolutely did not happen, fics that were really influential, insane fanwar stories, memes that used to be rlly prolific and now don’t really come up, etc. it’s something i love to discover about fandoms because it rlly is a “you had to be there,” type of information that people don’t document the way they would with canon developments that you can easily find on wikipages

Anon... I'm gonna fucking cry. 😭 This is exactly what I wanted this blog to become once I realized I was falling back into RE hell. Anything that I can do to make this canon more accessible to new people, I want to do it. I think I've said this before, but I literally cannot imagine what it must be like getting into this series this late in the game, because RE is terrifyingly huge and abstract and very old by video game standards.

As for the second part of your ask... Man, I have so many stories. I won't tell all of them, because if I try to, it'll be weeks before I can post this LMAO so let me just break this up into sections and I'll tell whatever the first stories that pop into my head are.

FAN THEORIES

So, historically, RE fandom was never big on fan theories. Fan theories and meta were something that Silent Hill people did, not so much RE people.

BUT there is one that refuses to die, and I have seen people scream about it as recently as Revelations 2.

People are convinced that Steve Burnside is going to come back. This drum has been getting banged ever since the original Code Veronica released in 2000, and even though it has literally never been hinted at at any point in the 23 years since then that Capcom even remembers that that was a possible thing that was set up, the fandom is still waiting for it to happen.

And it's all because Wesker stole his body and fucked off with it and was a complete asshole about it when he did it. That's it, that's the whole reason.

But then that also ties into the fact that there are still people who are convinced that Wesker didn't actually die in RE5 and that he's gonna come back any day now, guys, really -- and that's just a whole level of death denial I've never seen before. Dude got hit with two rocket launchers in the middle of an active volcano. YOU LITERALLY DO NOT GET MORE DEAD THAN THAT.

INFLUENTIAL FICS

Surprisingly, none. RE didn't have an "I Know What's Beneath the Snow Fields" or a "Walk This World." There were influential authors, though. I won't name them because I have no idea where they are now or if they're still around, but. I will say that there was one very influential fic writer in Cleon fandom who utilized literally so many headcanons in her fics that her characters were utterly unrecognizable. Some of the headcanons blatantly contradicted canon, even. But her writing style and her prose were so, so, so fucking good that it didn't matter. For a while, Cleon fandom almost became like a cult around her fics -- and, as someone who only dabbled in Cleon because my friends shipped it, but I had no personal stake in the ship myself -- it was really, really weird to watch this go down.

INSANE FAN WAR STORIES

I was going to go off on a huge thing about the Aeon vs Cleon wars, but seeing as how they're still fucking happening for some god forsaken dumbass reason, I decided not to.

So, we'll forget that. And while this isn't a war story, exactly, I do need to give a special shoutout to the Wesker wives of old.

If you are at all familiar with the stories of old school Final Fantasy VII fandom of girls who convinced themselves that they married Sephiroth on the astral plane -- guess what. RE fandom had those girls, too, and we called them Wesker wives.

There was one really prominent one on LiveJournal back in the day who used to get art commissioned of her and Wesker together, and she would post pictures of herself "in uniform" for him, and like. Would legitimately write as though she was actually married to the fictional character Albert Wesker. She'd answer questions from people and shit.

And she was really, really pretty, so everyone was just kind of stunned by this, because this girl very clearly took care of herself and worked out and knew how to do her hair and makeup -- she always looked really good -- and it was just like... how did someone like you fall so far off the reality wagon?

And then it slowly started to come out that she maybe had some nazi ideology behind her and kept referring to Wesker has her Aryan king or someshit, and that was about the point where my Jewish ass backed away from that whole trainwreck and stopped paying attention to it, so I don't actually know how this story ends.

MEMES

So, uh. If you've been on the fandom side of the internet long enough, you'll at least have heard of the "it's over 9000" meme, even if you're not into Dragon Ball or ever seen an episode of it in your life.

Well, the same guy who started that meme also left his mark on RE fandom, too. The whole "Jill sandwich" thing was always a meme in its own right, but "Hope this is not Chris's blood" was added onto it thanks to this video. So, "Hope this is not Chris's blood" was a big, big meme in the late aughts that I really don't see around anymore. It was used as a sort of... shitpost response to a shitpost, if that makes sense? Like, your friend sends you some obviously stupid bullcrap or a dumb meme and you just respond back "hope this is not chris's blood."

This cap from Code Veronica was a huge meme for a long time, too, and I DO NOT FUCKING KNOW WHY

And then.

There was this masterpiece. Do not watch this with other people in the room unless your willingness to let others bear witness to your own cringe is very high. It's also NSFW. And, actually, this video might be the single oldest meme in RE fandom history. The YT link I provided here is not the original source of it. It was some stupid fan edit that was making its rounds on Kazaa, and I'm not joking. I want to say this edit is no younger than OG RE2 (so 1998).

And I would negligent in my duties as a fandom historian if I did not introduce you to the glory that is Resident Evil 4 Days of Our Lives. I STILL QUOTE THIS SHIT, TO THIS DAY.

Like, this is me on plurk referencing this stupid fucking shit as I'm liveplurking my very first playthrough of RE4R:

There was a part of me that was honestly kind of upset when the two cops at the beginning of RE4make didn't actually say to Leon, "I hear no one listens to you. Is that true, Captain Cubscout?" because that is unironically the single greatest line of dialogue that was ever written to be said by any character to Leon Kennedy, and it was written by some fuckin college kids back in the mid aughts.

And that's all I can think of for right now.

Thank u for indulging my old person desire to ramble on about "BACK IN MY DAY........." I appreciate u.

ETA: ok like i know i said i was only gonna mention shit that i could think of at the time that i responded to the ask but there is one more meme that i would be remiss to not mention

[justagalwhowrites]

AHHH !!! I just finished chapter 11 for Lavender, and I can't wait to see readers interactions with the other characters from the show, and i have a few questions about the series..

How far do you plan on taking the series, based off of the show/games?

Do you plan on killing off Andrew or leaving him behind in the QZ?

If you are, is there a specific reason why?

Do you plan on having more series with Joel?

i hope these questions aren't too difficult and/or spoil too much about the series.. i'm just super excited and i have so many theories

i love your work ! it's some of the best writing i have seen in a long time, i'm literally in love with your series Lavender and Beskar Doll, they're both too good 🥇🫶

OMG hi bestie!

SPOILERS FOR LAVENDER BELOW

I tried to avoid making anything too spoilery but warning anyway!

1) This will run through Season 1 of the HBO show at least! I know fuck all about the games lol. Once we get closer to that point I may look into either a) extending with one shots or b) making this ending different enough that TLOU II wouldn’t happen. BUT we are going to get a “Joel on a rampage through the hospital” scene!

2/3) Andrew will live! He’s staying behind in the QZ. His life is going to be a bit of “what could have been” for Doc had she prioritized different things. Andrew has a few big plot points left (mostly good, one bad) and his relationship toward Joel is going to be a bit of a moving target. Once they settle in Jackson, Doc is going to want Andrew to come there but I doubt she would ask because the journey is so rough.

4) I probably will eventually! I’m definitely going to have a one shot AU with this series where the outbreak doesn’t happen and Joel and Reader have dinner. I don’t have an idea to explore with Joel otherwise at the moment but I’m sure I’ll come up with one once I obsess over the character enough lmfao! I’m a very character driven writer so if I can think up a great character to throw in the mix with Joel and see what happens, I will. Right now, I have a plan for another Mando series with a very different FMC (grumpy/sunshine vibes) and potentially a rivals to friends to lovers with Javier Peña once these are done. I’m also waffling on sharing a few chapters of a novel with all OC to get thoughts from folks as I consider querying and whatnot, so that may pop up here, too.

Thank you so much for reading my fics! It means so much to me that you enjoy them and are excited about where they’re headed!!! Love you!!!!!

[true-blue-sonic]

Supposedly there's an interview that states that Shadow remembers Sonic 06(though I can't find it), Blaze might remember depending on how you take Generations and Elise had the same deja vu as Sonic at the end of the game so she might remember to the same degree he does now.

Although apparently a writer has said that no one remembers that game and Sonic referencing it in TSR is an inconsistency? So either Silver's closest friends in the past know and he doesn't or everyone only has deja vu feelings of 06's events. It's a mess and my research only leaves me more confused.

I think at this point we might need to accept that '06's plot is inherently unclear and messy and its paradoxes and ambiguities all but hang together with duct tape and prayers. Not even stuff that has to do with the ending of the game when the events get erased where they still don't know what the actual consequences are; also things like Elise having the blue Chaos Emerald for 10 years of her life despite the fact it got used in prior games no issue, or Blaze being introduced in Sonic Rush yet no-one recognising or interacting with her to the point it's a common fan theory she's a fragment of Silver's imagination. It also doesn't help that I figure the theories, interviews, and references from official channels are written by different people who have different views and knowledges, and thus what they say could directly contradict what someone else said earlier. It's an all-together chaos, and I think we'll never be able to get a definite answer, because any answer they could come up with other than "we might have completely fucked up here timeline- and canonicity-wise" is probably just going to open up more gaps and confusions.

How I myself see it is that Sonic vaguely remembers and Elise does too (perhaps because they were closest to the flame of Solaris when it got blown out or something, I don't now), and no-one else recalls things other than the occasional sense of deja vu like in Colours DS with Silver and Blaze. Maybe Blaze remembered in Generations because White Space already had interesting timey-wimey stuff going on, since Crisis City should never have been brought there in the first place since it never got created. Or perhaps the fact Crisis City is there means that there is a universe where The End Of The World by Mephiles never happened, which would allow for ESP Silver to exist too. But for me, the mobile games are not really canon to the mainline games; they often have a lot of oddities going on with characters that should not exist or who are dead being brought in (I believe Runners once had Erazor Djinn show up... dude is trapped in a lamp at the bottom of a pool of lava. And Mephiles is in both Runners and Speed Battle as well, despite the fact he probably never existed in the first place now), which is because they can. People like seeing these characters, so of course the mobile games are going to cash on that! But for me, such contradictions and inconsistencies makes their overall bearing on what is actually canon to the mainline games rather low. But I do love taking details from and writing stories about stuff the non-canon games introduce!

[neon-pink-leitner]

You're the resident Johnnyologist so I'm seeking at your expertise. I'm soooo confused on how V's supposed to feel/see Johnny. Is it like Ryuk from Death Note, where they can easily visualize him anywhere around him but he can't physically do anything to other people? Or is he some kind of ghost that can possess V? He can hurt V by hitting them against glass, but he can't stop them from falling over or from getting robbed during that one braindance mission...

A few things before I answer this. Being called the resident "Johnnyologist" made me extremely happy so thank you so much.

Second, I've never seen Death Note but I know roughly what you mean by that. I know, I know, I would love it, its on my list.

I honestly can't remember if they really explain this fully in canon so if this sounds wrong or off that's why. My theory is V being able to see Johnny is a form of psychosis. The Relic is writing V's brain and just wrecking havoc on their mental state even if V doesn't openly show it. We know from both the game and the anime that too much cyberwear will make you go fucking crazy. However we've also seen that the Relic isn't going to let V just drop dead so easy. When you mind is breaking apart slowly due to it being rewritten to match another person's mind then I wouldn't be surprised that V would be seeing shit.

But that doesn't explain why Johnny was able to touch V. As far as we know he can't touch or interact with anyone other than V(minus that one weird time the little fucker pulled up a chair but I'm chalking that up to V seeing shit as well). One thing I've seen a lot fanfic writer say and use to explain why Johnny can touch V is that he isn't really touching them. Not in a sense of like what you and I can do if touch something. It's more so of V's body responding as if its being touched due to Johnny overwriting everything. V's brain sees Johnny as real. Because of this if Johnny were to bash V's head into the window or passionately kiss them V's body is going to feel it because of the process of the Relic rewriting them. In short, V is slowly going crazy and their body is responding as if Johnny is a flesh and blood person because V's brain views him as such even if V's mind doesn't.

Johnny can't pocess V in the same way a ghost can per say. With ghost possession its an outside force taking over ones body, mind etc. With Johnny he's not an outside but an inside one. However, you could call it possession and I personally wouldn't disagree with that. I don't think Johnny or V , canonly, can really control (without pills) when Johnny can take control. The times we see him take over were during really bad Relic malfunctions where the walls between them start to break down.

When it comes to the braindance thing, the BD headset was spiked and we know from one of the missions with Panam that the Relic is affected by things jolting through V's cyberwear. I think the reason Johnny didn't help V when they got spiked was because he couldn't. It probably affected him too.

I hope this all makes sense XD my husband and I have talked about this a shit load but this is the first time I've ever tried to put this into writing XD

[masterchef901]

We're weird here, right? Yeah? Good. Let me tell you about the fucking MAGICAL narrative journey that is the CoD Zombies story. It's weird, it's jank as hell, and by the end it has me thinking seriously on the implicit meta-narrative to it. Also, the story ends like 4 separate times.

So we begin with CoD: World at War.

"Nazi Zombies", a minigame unlocked by beating the main story, where you get to feel more justified in sinking lead into a horde than possibly anywhere else in gaming, or life for that matter. Over the course of the original maps, the devs see positive fan response and put a little effort into it. We get perks, fancy technomagic laser guns and wonder-weapons, and even some characters and lore.

That lore, by the way, is "The nazis were experimenting on mysterious rocks that turned out to turn people into zombies. Then the zombies broke out. The end." Our heroes, meanwhile, are all simple as hell. A Japanese honor-obsessed samurai, a German mad scientist, a Russian whose only desire in life is vodka, and an ultra-macho rambo-esque American with an IQ only marginally higher than that of the zombies they'll be working together to slaughter. Basically, all stereotypes, but played for that over-the-top sort of comedy enough that I'll be generous and call them 'caricatures' instead. This group would eventually come to be called "Ultimis".

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Back by popular demand, is the Zombies mode, now no longer exclusive to the nazi brand of zombie, because the story's going international. This time, our heroes are going on a tour of WWII-era conspiracy theories. Ancient Vril mysticism, Shangri-La, nazi moon bases - basically the plot of Iron Sky 2. Simple, except not really, but definitely absurd in a fun, goofy way. Notably, the loading screens and advertising also framed these maps in a sort of "comic book"-y way, to help us understand the level of narrative consistency and complexity we'd be seeing here.

(Before continuing, by the way, we also have the absolute TREAT that is the map "Five". Seriously, go watch its opening cutscene, and then imagine those characters being your friendly voices for the duration of the game)

The critical thing here is that, while WaW had some "easter eggs", they were just cute little bits and bobs. "Interact with some rocks hidden around the map, play a song", stuff like that. But Black Ops easter eggs were something else entirely. Trying to explain these feels like explaining the conspiracy theories that inspired the maps. "Go stand on the floor panels to enter Eclipse mode. Then find the four wall-dials and set them to specific values. Now use the shrink ray on a specific rock, which you must then shoot around the map until it lands on the temple." Stuff like that. And even though nobody realized it until the end, they were all connected - if you do all the easter eggs leading up to it, then the Moon egg culminates in the mad scientist character taking over the zombie horde. And then you blow up the Earth.

That's right, they decide to just go flying beyond all chance of imagining this stuff was happening on the fringes of history, it was all-along the story of an apocalypse enacted by a mad scientist and his rival engineering events against him. The End. This was the BIG moment that grabbed the attention and imagination of me and others as a kid. It took Zombies from "neat" to "COOL", and, for better and worse, secured this storyline and style as the "zombies breadwinner" for several games to come.

Side note: I don't recall exactly when they did this, but at some point Treyarch's writers realized that it's maybe a bad look to have one of the playable characters be "'German scientist who helped create the Nazi Zombies", on account of, y'know, the fact that that makes him a nazi. So at some point they did that thing where they "soft-retcon" in some audio clarifying that actually while he was always a psychopath, he was only ever in it For The Science (tm) and it was actually his rival Dr. Maxis who signed his research team on with the reich.

I'm not sure if there's a term for this sort of the thing - when writers don't really retcon in the sense of overwriting previously established facts, but use "reveals" to try and overwrite the meaning of those previously established facts. Yes, technically that's what all good reveals do, but it's also obvious in times like these that there used to be a clear understanding of the lore on both the authors' and audience's parts, which the author has since decided they don't like and want to redo. "Oops, that previous evidence/event didn't count because of contrived circumstances you knew nothing about and could not possibly have guessed."

If I sound like I'm going off on a tangent, I want to be clear - firstly, this sort of practice always frustrates me, because it makes it clear that the author is readily willing to "cheat" in the game that is the communication of a narrative, and secondly because that's secretly what this whole mega-ramble is actually about.

Black Ops 2: We Care About The Lore Now

So, Treyarch wanted to do more Zombies, and they liked the vibe they had so far, so they decide to stay in the storyline that exploded earth. The characters - now a farm girl, a nerd, a hobo, and a schizophrenic guy, all American, all came off more annoying than the "comedic" take Treyarch wanted. This group would be dubbed "Victis", and not only were these characters poorly received, but the story itself would feel aimless. How do you one-up a grand master scheme and the apocalypse? What are our survivors even doing? Treyarch has our old mad scientist and his rival acting as voices in the Victis gang's collective head to try and vie for control of the zombies, and this story would ultimately culminate in one of them (based on player choices involving arcane steps punctuated by some oddly sexual ones) winning the power struggle, and either way, some type of "the world ends again", either with the mad scientist turning the world into his plaything, or (the canon ending) the rival scientist enacting some weird arcane collapse that will let him be with his daughter. Either way, we don't revisit this world again.

I specify world because the characters will return, and even in the same game, actually.

But first - in the middle of the Victis plotline we take a brief visit to Alcatraz for an unexpectedly great zombies experience that's entirely disconnected from either of the plotlines so far. I bring this up only for completeness sake, and for a point that'll hopefully become clearer later.

Anyway, we now return to our regularly scheduled zombie programming - by which I mean, a whole new experience, Origins, featuring "modernized", more tasteful renditions of our original Ultimis team. We're introduced now to a strong-but-disciplined American soldier, a now safely WWI-era not-quite-mad German Scientist, a world-weary Russian who uses alcohol to tastefully take the edge off, and a Japanese samurai warrior who's struggling with the decaying traditional idea of "honor" in a World-War 1 setting.

This "new" (yet chronologically older) variant of the team would be dubbed "Primis".

And this time the plot has them freeing the spirit of a young girl, Samantha, daughter of Science Rival Guy Dr. Maxis who we'd just seen end the world (twice) from some weird arcane trap on the battlefield "of the Great War" so she can go to a mysterious place called "Agartha". Also, the ending cutscene shows her and "Eddie" (who appears to be a child version of our playable german scientist) to be playing with dolls and action figures of the zombies and the playable characters - implying that in fact our whole storyline thus far was "just a game", and the shift of control over the zombie hordes in the first game to Edward Richtofen was in fact just "Eddie" taking his turn playing as the zombies.

It's easy to forget for those of us who've kept up with the story since this, but I cannot overstate how confusing this entire situation was to resolve from a lore perspective. Options were:

1: As implied in the cutscene, acktually "it was all just a game". The lore that players had worked hard to uncover was all, within its own canon, a game being played by children. This was wildly unpopular, but also quite possibly the authors' intended interpretation because in a very real sense, it all WAS a game, and the lore mostly WAS made-up by players out of scraps of lore they'd found.

2: Our four protagonists had acktually all met for the first time in WWI, then again incidentally wound up together again after un-developing as characters due to Magic Rock Exposure (tm) in WWII. Somehow the little girl freed in Origins and her dad whose brain got put in a drone during that process both get put back into their bodies, I guess.

3: It's all a parallel universe with its own separate continuity; the little girl and Eddie believe they're just playing games with toys when in reality they've been shipped off to copyright-safe-Heaven and "games with toys" is how they cope with the trauma of their zombie-filled lives.

BLACK OPS 3: MORE

So, Treyarch picks option 3. Makes sense, it keeps us gamers feeling like our investment was in something worthwhile and not arbitrarily patched together, while also allowing them some more narrative liberty. Easy, right?

WRONG

Rather than just roll with "We're doing zombies again in a newer, cleaner universe", they have to tie everything up ALL together. Our new plotline is that ACTHSDHALY the zombie-rocks came from a bunch of eldritch tentacle-creatures called Apothicons from super-hell. We meet Dr. Monty, who's basically like if Willy Wonka was actually secretly God who's trying to get the kids safe and sound up in heaven and the now eldritch-based zombies sealed back away.

We follow Team Primis as they go back into our first universe to harvest the souls of Team Ultimis (so, their own original souls) which will somehow allow them to go to I-can't-believe-it's-not-Heaven too. They go there, shit accidentally goes wrong when eldritch-satan breaks out, but the gang beats him up with guns and Monty is able to re-establish his perfect world.

Except, uh, he tried to delete the Primis crew while he was it it, but don't worry, that random moment in Alcatraz earlier was act[coughing fit]ally super-duper important and drinking the blood of those prisoners let out heroes survive! BUT ACTASKFHALY THIS WAS MONTY'S PLAN ALL ALONG and he teleports them back in time to fight in-

oh right so "the great war" from origins wasn't in reference to WWI, it was

actually

the site of The Great War between humanity and the apothicons, and Monty time-travels the crew back then to be the heroes of legend that set up Origins to happen, creating a time loop. Characters are, this whole time, saying "the paradox must be resolved" without ever explaining what it is.

But yeah anyway the whole ride this game leads to a big "it was all a time loop" cycle deal, and also the tone has slowly shifted from BO1 comic-style to something that feels more like an "Avengers"-style quiptacular with MORE budget, MORE stakes, MORE lore that actually isn't a good thing because the more lore they pile on the more twisted and absurd the story has to get and also it occurs to me that "going avengers" actually is kinda the natural conclusion to "being like comic books".

BLACK OPS 4: BUT WAIT THERE'S FOUR

So at this point, Treyarch and Activision in general are spending more focus on trying to figure out a new angle to Zombies, but nothing takes off. Infinity Ward's "Zombies in Spaceland" was a whiff, Cod:WW2's "reboot" of Nazi Zombies didn't stick, and their new "Chaos" storyline featuring mixed-religious lore was also met with lukewarm-to-poor response (sidenote here: now that we're in a proper era where it's common practice to ask "What if Ra punched Odin in the face while Ares watches" we really should establish a term for it, like "Mixed-Religious Combat" following the form of "Mixed Martial Arts).

SO They felt some pressure to go back once more to the cash cow what is their absolute mess of an "original" zombies story, now termed the "Aether" arc. They don't have many maps left to develop this but that doesn't stop them from opening the story again, and this time the writers have fucking HAD IT with this story so they decide it's time to fucking END it.

Here's your finale: Victis crew (the all-american team nobody liked) are back, slightly better written this time, on the map that had gone the longest without a remake (notably, in keeping with modern media practice, every zombies map from from the Ultimis-Primis plotline had been remade at least once by now), and they make a macguffin.

Then Primis Nikolai (the russian guy) uses it to wish a new, zombie-free universe into existence and sends the kids away into it.

Also he poisons and kills all of Ultimis and Primis. Then has the kids shoot him. THE ADULTS ARE ALL DEAD NOW AND THEY GOT BANISHED TO SUPERHELL WITH THEIR MULTIVERSE THE END. Nikolai gives us some lore mumbo jumbo about how the arcano-babble and the eldritch-babble had done some techno-babble that "bound the team's destiny forever to the apothicon menace", so that the only way a universe could ever be free of zombies would be for him and his friends to all die.

And the thing is, he's right. Because if you've followed this far, you're probably seeing a pattern: People like these characters, even in their worst-written moments, and Activision isn't going to just let that go unmilked. As long as there is any possible way for these characters to return, they'll be brought back and the lore is going to be held and gunpoint and forced to cook up a reason for them to be there shooting zombies. So the only possible way to let this tortured, tangled mess of a plot finally reach an actual ending is to kill its protagonists - and not just kill them, but write them off so conclusively that there's no chance of resurrection, no more alternate universes containing them, NOTHING. THEY ARE GONE. And true to the Homestuck-ass law that was inspired by this exact effect, the only way death can stick from a narrative sense is if everyone's death is either a Just end or a Heroic sacrifice to nobly ensure a better life For the Kids.

Samantha and Eddie (at this point nobody asks why Eddie even exists or what timeline these kids are from) are finally safe. The end.

COD COLD WAR THE STORY KEEPS GOING

As if to prove my point, Cold War Zombies picks up with a new set of protagonists... and an easter egg featuring the return of Samantha, now slightly more grown up, I guess, and also with superpowers? And then she flies around a bit, before finally heroically sacrificing herself out of the story for good. Eddie - now a full adult Edward Richtofen once more - is a "big reveal" in a cutscene afterwards, confirming that, in fact, there will be no peace fucking ever until every last character from this beautiful, twisted plot is gone.

EPILOGUE

And I want to be clear, it is beautiful. I wouldn't have followed it this far or spent two hours learning just how much I have to type about it if I didn't love every second of it, especially the seconds spent hating on it. I could, and probably eventually will write another essay at some point on how fucking much I love jank-ass "broken" things like this.

But for now, I hope y'all see my points here. It's this weird case you see happen every now and then where people just fall in love with their characters, and won't ever let go. Certainly doesn't help that the authors of those characters can't figure out how to write anyone else decently, but this is just one of many franchises I've seen where the unwillingness to let go of a fan-favorite leaves the plot tied in knots as it constantly has to try and present a NEW BIGGEST THREAT EVER that becomes a BIG DRAMATIC CONCLUSIVE FINALE that then needs even bigger contrivances to bring the favorites back.

It's done a fucking number on Halo's story, which is impressive because a lot of halo's core fans never even really consider that it has one. It's hard for me to talk about Halo here without thinking to myself "STOP TALKING ABOUT JOHN"

Same deal with Marvel, same with Homestuck, same deal in a lot of cases that I'm sure you're aware of too.

So as my closing thought and my reward to you for reading this far, here's some homework! What the fuck do you call these problems? What do you call it when lore starts to go sour because it's spent too long being about the same thing? What do you call it when fan demand forces writers to rethink their endings repeatedly? What do you call it when writers "cheat" their way around prior writing, re-contextualizing everything so much that it's hard to actually believe anything they say anymore and we're just left to sigh and feel odd relief when they say "Somehow Palpatine has returned" without further explanation because at least that means ONLY the ending of the original trilogy has its weight retroactively worsened?

[imustbenuts]

I like your Avatar!Kiran theory and I have Thoughts. Because if that's true, then Kiran exists because Intsys made a game and people played it. We control Kiran as a proxy to interact in the FE world. But we also exist as ourselves here and have power over certain game decisions like CYL. Intsys would be represented then by Breidablik as the artifact that allows "us" to be in the game and enforces summoning rules. (Like gatcha summoning because money.)

Hmm I personally don't subscribe to the Avatar!Kiran idea. I subscribe to Deva!Kiran. I'm sorry but I'll be pushing Deva!Kiran hard here bc Kiran is a major anomaly in FE. I've also written this in depth already in this post but well, I'll write some extra stuff here as well.

Kiran does not have an explicit motivation for helping the Order, do not have any lines, are implied to like all the characters they Summon and are often treated as equals by other God characters. They do not level up like traditional Avatars, nor are they implied to have any sort of their own will.

It's all a clear writing decision to make sure that Kiran feels as you as possible. Think about it. Doesn't it feel like Byleth is their own person when they shed tears at Jeralt's death? Or when they pick up random lost items? Doesn't it feel like Robin became their own person when they sacrifice themself to kill Grima, or feel too scared to do it? Doesn't Alear feel like their own person bc they have their own past, future and belief to contend with?

Are those our past, our actions, our instinct? No, these Avatars are Avatars and their own person.

Therein lies the weird thing about all of that:

Kiran is not their own person.

From the writing point of view, at least until the 5.2 portraits went live, Kiran is a faceless being who rarely acts on their own. Their voice has been completely nuked and it's assumed that the opinions they give when prompted are opinions we form ourselves. That's the biggest reason why Kiran is written like this, to make sure as much as possible that they feel like us. Like you.

In fact, running counter to the Avatar idea is that they have memories from the World of Steel. Again I'll reiterate this: Kiran is explicitly stated to be from the World of Steel. In game, Peony remarks that the World of Steel cannot be visited by her kind, and everyone there lives in comfort. (Implying there's no magic at all.)

Now, the writers of these ideas are Japanese. The combo of steel + comfort + Japan immediately makes me think of Tokyo. Alfonse in book 4 is revealed not to be Alfonse at all, but rather Kiran who is stuck in a delusional dream sequence. Then there's a certain shot in Book 4.5's cinematic and it looks so much like Tokyo:

It's too sus.

Then, only time Kiran fights in game is after meeting 2 conditions:

Getting Dire Breidablik (from dead alternate Kiran, its powered up by souls now)

Getting buffed by Thor (Mjonir strikes)

All which imply that Kiran has no magical power to survive in battle, and no physical constitution either. Their stat-line is even average. In short, they fucking suck. They're as strong as the Zubats you encounter in caves in Pokemon. But FE characters can shrug off attacks from Monster Hunter sized weapons and even spells that summons Meteors.

Yet at the same time, they have the ability to summon so much Heroes. Gods, final bosses, bosses, Kings and even Demons at this point. Gods who actually talk to Kiran like equals. Even Serios who says this weird thing:

^The others here includes every other Avatar characters thus far. Byleth even. On that note, Alear, Robin, Eliwood, Lyn, alludes to Kiran feeling like a familiar warmth. If we have been watching, following and helping them fight their battles, then Kiran = Deva = Us lines up far more perfectly than the idea that Kiran = Avatar = Proxy.

Then there's Loki (left) and Thor (right) who says this:

Yeah. So basically what I'm saying is, on the sliding scale of Avatar vs Us/Devas,

Kiran is... this.

And with regards to the CYL, my thinking is something like this:

If the World of Steel is some higher realm, then it kind of qualifies as Heaven from FEH's pov. If Intsys are creator gods, and they conduct a popularity poll, everyone who hasn't been Isekai'd into FEH gets to vote. And that's how CYL winners get decided.

Kiran may be some poor schmuck who got hit by a truck or overworked to death, or just got yoinked in the middle of something into Zenith is my thinking. The details is completely up to us to decide individually. Kiran is as much me as it is you.

Although, if it must be argued that Kiran is actually an Avatar, then there's l everything I just mentioned above gets weird, plus I run into one big thematic issue.

Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is a big slugfest to the death between Gods. FEH is explicitly Norse. If we assume that it's a case of Avatar!Kiran here, then it feels kind of cheap to imply that the Gods of FEH are dying bc some Buddhist Avatar is out here slaying Gods left and right. Arrogant even! A foreign pantheon deity's extension can cause so much damage? What gives?

Thematically at least, framing Kiran as a God would make more sense here. More risky in story theming, even! Because:

Kiran = Deva = Us. So if Kiran dead, bad bad bad. Alfonse & co gone forever! Or we die and leave them behind. Cry. World doomed.

If Kiran = Avatar = Proxy. Kiran dead, np, restart from 0. The Alfonse left behind? Who cares just try again, we can create as many Avatars as we need until we succeed.

One last thing: Intsys.

Intsys here in FEH's context would be the creator gods, right? Where Devas are not creator gods, Intsys is. If you want to bring them into the lore, Intsys is the big bang, the parent of all first dragons, the source of humanity, the god of everyone's fates, the god above all gods, the will of the very universe itself.

This angle is coming from a theology lens, and from not just Buddhism, but what all the Dharmic religion think of the ultimate cosmic 'God'. That it isn't so much an entity, but a bunch of systems.

...Intelligent Systems.

Its all hinged more on Buddhism cosmology and what the practicioners think of the world, which is the angle I'm coming from.

@-@ sorry for rambling anon hrghrgr i got kinda carried away elaborating irrelevent stuff

[jerzwriter]

Okay but don't you think the fandom hate led to it shrinking? I know you've said the people still here don't support each other enough. If that changed maybe the fandom would be more active again.

Hey Nonny,

Here's the thing, you can say something, but you can't talk it into existence. I DO think everyone supporting each other would help, but I've given up hope that it will ever happen.

Right now, I don't know how much the following is the case. I really believe we just may be that small/inactive now. But in the past, the nonsense absolutely impacted people.

Things that really sucked for creators:

A follower saying to keep them on your tag list (non-creators have NO CONCEPT of how hard it is to maintain tag lists on this stupid site), then never interacting. Now, some people have left, some aren't very active. But some would say, "KEEP ME, DON'T TAKE ME OFF!!!" - then never interact - while they leave diatribes on other creators' posts. Honestly, it's better to just say, "Nah, I don't want to be on your list anymore."

Someone discussing your work with you, making it clear they have read it, but they never once interacted with it. Creators can't tell people are reading unless they interact. At least A03 has "hits" (though I don't know how much they help), but with Tumblr, you just don't know.

The games. The games suck so much. The "I read (creator), and their stuff is great! But I don't interact because...." sometimes the because is "my friends don't like them," "my friends don't like their friends," "they're competition," "the creator annoys me because...", "I'm fucking jealous." These are some of the reasons, though not all. It was fucking ridiculous. I say was because nowadays I really think it's more that people just are not here anymore. But if someone wants theories on the decline of fandom/creators... well, here is some theory. lol

The biggie... Anon Hate. I don't have to get into why it sucks. If you need an explanation as to why you're part of the problem. Anon hate can make people go, but I don't think it's the driving factor. Many creators who remain have had more anon hate than most. It's a personal choice, but I don't blame creators who left because they didn't want to deal with that ongoing abuse - and it IS abuse.

Other bullshit. Other bullshit is things like, "You know those anons are self-sent," "Did you see that her character did XYZ? That's so OOC, and OMG, I hate it!" Games and bullshit just get so old and annoying. Personally, I just had to ignore it (as much as I could) to stay on here. TRUST me when I tell you someone is seeing all these anons I'm getting today will be in a private chat saying "SELF-SENT" and being all judgy about it. But I don't give a single fuck. If I did, I would have been gone long ago.

I tried, I REALLY tried to be supportive of everyone in the OH fandom. EVERYONE. They didn't have to be friends, they didn't have to write characters the way I did, they didn't have to be the best writers in the world... I really feel everyone has a story to tell and deserves encouragement. But it took so much time, and it wasn't always appreciated, so I became more selective (though I still try to support all I can). I honestly had a creator DM me to ask why I wasn't RB/commenting anymore, yet that creator never interacted with mine. Now, I DO NOT think it should be tit-for-tat. In fact, I hate that... but it takes some audacity for someone who never reciprocated (for me and many others) to ask, "Why aren't you doing it anymore?"

God, that got fucking long. lmao But you should expect that from me by now. I really, really appreciate the ask and the conversations being had today, though - I really encourage people to discuss, I think it helps. :)