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dunmeshistash · 2 months ago

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G'day, I hope you are doing well.

Ever since I finished the story of Dungeon Meshi (all supplementary material included) I've been writing down bullet points on characters in addition to in-depth synopses as a way to tidy up my rather busy mind. To this end I've also greatly enjoyed reading other folks' interpretations of particular characters, as it gives me further insight into aspects of that character I may have glossed over.

However, there's one character I'm struggling to write a cohesive synopsis about, that being none other than 'miss enigma' herself, Falin Touden. I get that her whole shtick is that she's kind of a mystery, but I find myself drawing a lot of blanks when it comes to her as a character, and while I have nailed down some important bullet points, there are a lot of different interpretations on her, all of which starkly contrast one another. Though perhaps it's just the wording. Hard to say.

It could very well be that I'm being too dense i.e. perceiving "Falin is willing to risk killing others to save her friends." and "Falin, in the heat of the moment, when faced with certain death, was willing to face the prospect of harming potential passersby in a final Hail Mary to get her friends to safety." as entirely different observations. I have a hard time with those kinds of things.

With this being a hub for all sorts of observations, interpretations and cool trivia, I was wondering if you'd perhaps be willing to share how you yourself perceive Falin as a character, so I can compare notes and perhaps gain a more proper understanding of her as a character as a result. I know this question is very broad and kind of vague, but if you could spare the time I'd be most grateful.

Other than that, I wish you an excellent day.

Hello!!! I love Falin!!!!!

She *is* a mystery, we mostly know Falin through the perception other characters have of her instead of a direct deep look onto who she is, which I find very interesting. I think the best post I've seen about her (which as usual I can't remember where edit: someone linked it thank uu) I think called her perceived altruism/love "selfish" and I've been thinking about that ever since.

In that sense the way she cares so much about the comfort of people around her might be a way to keep *her own* comfort because she doesn't want to see other people suffer.

This girly died and came back to life from bones and the first thoughts she has is that she caused trouble for her loved ones

She probably has felt this way since she was a child, "because of her" that her family was torn apart "because of her" that Laios left, her mom was sick, her father had to send her away. (wasn't actually her fault but she might think it is)

I imagine ever since then Falin has done her best to not cause trouble and to make the people she loves happy, everything we know about her and the things she was doing was always for the people she loved, that's why I enjoy the post canon comic where Toshiro asks her hand in marriage again so much. The first time she considers accepting just because "might as well" while for the second time she finally wants to live for herself.

I think Falin herself has lost who she "really is" by trying to accommodate everyone around her and that's probably part of why we ourselves don't really know her, so much so that the most cynical character is uncomfortable around her (probably cause he notices Falin is "hiding" something)

I think Falin is quite the melancholic character to be honest, someone who has lost herself in self sacrifice and who is only now learning how to live for herself doing what she wants.

Both the teleportation scene and the bit about healing show "cracks" in the selfless front she puts out tbh. By context I don't think what she did was only due to "desperation of the moment" she says out loud "Even if I end up hurting others I want you and my brother to live on". She weighted out how much suffering she might cause and decided she wanted to save them anyway, and I'm sure in that calculation she knew that they would suffer because of her sacrifice too.

Falin is saving them for herself, I'm not great with words so this is all over the place and maybe sounds a little negative about Falin but the thing is, you cannot live your life for other people, you can't sacrifice yourself for other people's happiness, you shouldn't erase your own presence so others are happier and I think Falin is starting to learn that by the end.

I'd probably keep rambling without getting anywhere and missing a lot of more meaningful moments but I'll stop here, if anyone has recs for Falin analysis please share!

#Dungeon Meshi spoilers #I think the way Toshiro speaks about the moment he fell in love with Falin to be telling too #He had to see her in the dead of the night finally just doing her thing instead of putting on what others expect of her #to finally notice how wonderful she is #But Falin cannot reciprocate those feelings because as opposed to Laios #She is putting up a front to these other people so she can't engage with them in a meaningful manner #Nobody (besides Laios and Marcille) got past the wall Falin put up so they couldn't reach her #I think in the conversation she has with Toshiro in that extra she's finally letting him thru that wall #instead of avoiding it like she did before #she caused discomfort by saying what she really feels and that's okay #Anyway #dunmeshi thoughts #ask #Falin Touden

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sugudoe · 5 months ago

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⋆ ˚ ཐིiཋྀ ˚ ⋆ 𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗠𝗘 𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝗬𝗢𝗨 ── ✎ ₊· 𝗷𝗷𝗸

✶ 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: in desperate need of a skin, you, a talented beginner tattoo artist, decides to test your partner and his love for you in a comical way — “ can i tattoo you ? ’’

✶ 𝐚. 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: i’ve been drawing for a couple of days now, and this is inspired by my sibling ( a tattoo artist ) and their influence on me, cause i too wish i could tattoo myself whenever i’m bored. ALSO i know we all see geto as tough but i had to!! and nanami surprised even me but the vision is visioning, you can not deny. I KNOW you can’t do many tattoos in one setting but please it’s just for plot. divider by: @cafekitsune

✶ 𝐬𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬: fluff / crackfic / smau with writing / reader has no gender / english is not my first language / there is mistakes because the app beat my ass sowwy / mentions of needles and pain / foul language / suggestive theme and horny police for nanami

✶ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: gojo ﾉ geto ﾉ nanami

──── ✎ ° ⋆ 𝐆𝐎𝐉𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐔

Satoru is sitting in your chair, ankles fully on display for you, but you’re actually occupied with keeping everything sanitized in the makeshift space of your boyfriend’s spacious room. He is laughing and acting tough until he hears the buzz of the machine, then he stops and gulps.

“Shit, sweets. Don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

“It’s too late.” You answer with a devilish smirk, before laughing and putting the pen down. “It’s okay if you don’t want anymore, no pressure.”

Maybe it’s the combo of your puppy eyes with small pout, but Gojo falls for your antics and let you have your way in his skin, it’s takes just a few minutes before you end the drawing of the little ants crawling his ankles. He, obviously, has the limitless off, and that scares him a bit — to feel pain, see dots of his blood. But when he looks at your concentrated face, pain dissolves, and he is happy to have something permanently his made by you, his only love.

By the end, though, he grins at you and asks for another one, bigger, blue! And you make the design and ink him again, before realizing you did not gave him the Suguru cat, but you fall for his dragon. Bitch.

──── ✎ ° ⋆ ��𝐄𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐔

Geto can see black dots in his vision when he lays belly down on the bed. He is a tough guy, been through stuff you have only an ideia about. You could guess by the minimal details and the fucking huge scar on his chest, he has been deeply cut by something. Still, he is scared of the needle you are holding.

But here he is, presenting his blank large and sexy back to you, making you rethink of doing another thing instead of the tattoo, but you have your opportunity and need to grab it.

“My love, are you ready?” You voice has the buzzing sound of the machine in the background, Suguru groans at that.

“Please, beat me to sleep.” It’s all he says before you touch his face. Before you can say anything, he talks again. “I’m fine, I think. I trust you a lot, baby.”

Suguru soon learns how soft and weightless your hand feels, because although something is burning in his back, he thinks is just you rubbing alcohol — that is until he wonders why are you rubbing alcohol for twenty straight minutes now, and then he shifts his face a bit to stare at you. He almost passed out again when he realized the tattoo is already in progress, but he is fine, and simply goes back to his original head position, before deciding to sleep.

Suguru wakes up hours later with this intricate tattoo on his upper back, he smiles and flexes his muscles on the mirror before staring at you, seeing you googling him. Yeah, if you keep looking at him like that and your hands feeling like feather, he may enjoy this whole thing — he does! By the end of the year, his whole torso is designed by you.

──── ✎ ° ⋆ ��𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐈 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐎

Nanami presented you what could be called a slideshow of tattoos he would like to have. Basically he made a pinterest board and added you to put the tattoos you would think he look nice with (basically all you’ve seen).

By saturday, he is wearing a white shirt, showcasing his big arm’s muscles, you get occupied with a little thing before you even start to prepare the living room. Now, he has no shirt anymore.

“So, what did you choose for me, love?” His soothing voice asks you, he is sitting by your dinner table and you smile at him, showing your tablet with the many arts you made based on what both he and you liked.

“Now you pick one and we start.”

“Can I have all of them?” Oh.. “I like the art, you are so talented, love. Let me be your canvas, do what you want.” Yeah, you get occupied again in the day.

It’s nighttime when you crack your bones and look at both of your boyfriend’s arm, all inked up. He stares at you normally, no pain, no heavy breathing. He really was a punk in high school.

“So, since we already did all 12, can we finish the chest as well? I think legs would be nice too, or neck… I can have neck tattoos now!” Nanami says with a energetic voice when both of you are eating pasta later.

“Damn baby, you are getting addicted.” You sit on his lap, eyes focused on the ink all over him. “Yeah, we can do all that.”

#♱ 𓂃 ࣪ ˖ dance practice ! ᯤ #jujutsu kaisen #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk gojo #jjk nanami #jjk geto #suguru geto x reader #nanami kento x reader #gojo satoru x reader #nanami x reader #gojo x reader #geto x reader #jjk smau #nanami smau #geto smau #gojo smau #suguru x reader #satoru x reader

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kyri45 · 9 days ago

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✨ShadowPeach Bio Parents Bio AU Q&A! 7/11✨

Welcome to the Q&A! A space where I can answer related or similar question about the Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU! If you submitted your ask anonimously, then you’ll have to check the whole post if it’s answered here, if it’s not, worry not! Your asks might have been used for a future comic or just in the queue~

Anonimo ha chiesto: AWIUSBSWDN I LOVE your art especially your LMK comic! Wanted to ask if you've seen that one fan art on twitter from @/Jay_chaos_art on twitter (or X) That is the part where little MK is holding Macaque's finger AAAA that scene is too cute! Also poor MK :']

Awww I saw that! It's sooooo good!!! For anyone wanting to see it, check it out HERE!

Anonimo ha chiesto: ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡᴘᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛs ᴀᴜ ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏ ɪ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇsᴜɴ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴ? ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ɪᴛ's ᴀ sᴏɴɢ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜᴛᴜʙᴇ.ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ!

Aw thanks for the song rec!!

Anonimo ha chiesto: If I remember correctly macaque can hear people thoughts so I just imagine mk having thoughts about ✨courtnapping✨ and macaque just hears it

Macaque is just

Anonimo ha chiesto Mei if she knew what was going on inside MK’s head. Mei: it’s called being a “Furry” MK it’s the biggest plus to have in a world filled with anthropomorphic animal Yaoguai. That and the awesome magic stuffs.

me too Mei, the fuck

Anonimo ha chiesto: Soo that time when shadowpeach were at pigzi's and saw tang with the "bite mark"🌝 Did they realise what was goinn on?? Will they like ask mk or smt about it? *I can imagine the shock on their faces*

They don't know if either to be shocked or not since they called it

@straightally2001 ha chiesto: I love and hunger for Spicynoodles! 🍜🔥 What if during demon courting season, Pif decides that even though her son is strong she doesn't want to risk her son to end up court napped by some demon stranger that he doesn't even like. She wants him to be happy. So, she goes to MK and tells him about Red Son's feeling for him and convinces him to courtnap Red Son.

asjcajcb can't answer yet bc of spoilers!!

@stardynamite ha chiesto: I was desperately searching for another good fandom fanfic to latch onto here because I can’t draw fanart at the moment and you have saved me for my eternal searching with your lmk au, thank you sire🫡 I am forever indebted to you for thouesth servicesth

Aw thank youu!!!

Anonimo ha chiesto: What would a demon do with the other person after they courtnapped them? Like is it just a forced date?

Nah I mean, If they refuse the courtnapping the captors has to release them otherwise they would just look like an asshole. If they agree then it's more of a surprise date.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Other demons who have tried to cournap wukong seeing Macaque do it with ease: HOW THE FUCK DID HE NOT DIE

He has the advantages that Wukong is a Simp

@wolfsonic ha chiesto: AWWWWWW!!! I LOVE THESE MONKIESSS! I just imagine Mk and Mac training with shadows, and Mk decided one day to practice his shadows by trying to tickle WuKong!

betrayed by his own son

@phoenixeclipse-lmkau ha chiesto: Is Macaque going to have to re-courtnap Wukong because they broke up before? Or would Wukong Courtnap Macaque after all this. Or are they just gonna skip the courtnapping part since they already did it in the past?

depends if we go by the headcanon that courtnapping=marriage

@elixcv ha chiesto: HI! first of all, I just wanna say that I LOVEEEEEEE you bio parent AU, it simply scratches something in my brain. I wish you all the good things in the world(⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧ Now, in second place, I have 2 questions (and dw, if it's smth u don't/can't answer i don't mind, i just wanna say it, i guess?): 1. In your AU, pigsy is some kind of lower/not-so-strong demon? And, if he is, did he also Courtnapping Tang in his own way? 2. Can the courtnapping go both ways? Like, it just can happen one time per couple, or is a requirement that u have to courtnapping the other person back to show ur feelings? Bc, I can see a MK Courtnapping RS, and then RS trying to Courtnapping back, and in my head is like they're playing around the city in a complicated game of tag, or a hide n' seek. This can also apply to swk and macaque. I appreciate your thoughts about anything of this, even if I'm wrong in every way. I'm so excited about this AU and really love the way you write/draw it (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤ (sorry for the bad English, I know to read/hear but the grammatical is always a pain in my ass ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ)

Yes, he's a lower demon, but in the end, it was Tang who did the courtnapping bc he thought that Pigsy wouldn't date him if he didn't court him the demon way, while Pigsy was planning on courting him the human way.

Yes. I think courtnapping can go both way but it's not a must or expected to.

@straightally2001 ha chiesto: I was reading your last post about MK and his mortality and I was wondering, if MK was on the verge of dying and there was no other way to save him would Monkey King give him a Peach of Immortality? Would MK be upset about it? Also sorry if this question is too angsty 😅 Anonimo ha chiesto: Isn't redson immortal due to being half celestial or fallen celestial idk? Wouldn't he try to convince mk to take it if they get together? @purpleprinceblood ha chiesto: I think Wukong desperately wants Mk to be immortal but also knows that a) Mk would hate it and b) Wukong would too Like, dude has severe depression from his immortality and his friends leaving him, I think he would hate to watch Mk deal with that I could see Wukong offering Mk a life span growing thing, like in jttw iirc the peaches add like 500 years to your life span, Wukong just eats so many of them that they make him immortal, so I could see him offering it as a "I'm scared to lose you but also don't want you suffering like I do" @sakurablossoms-world ha chiesto: Wouldn’t MK technically be long-living since he’s the child of two powerful entities, I mean Redson is 500 and he’s considered to be in his early 20’s by mortal comparison, so wouldn’t it be expected that he’d outlive everyone (Redson and maybe Mei being an exception)? So while he would still value his mortality, immortality wouldn’t really make that big a difference in hindsight. Then again I could be mistaken.

I think MK wouldn't like to become immortal against his choice regardless. Yes, in S1 we see he wanted to become one, but I think he still was in that phase were he just wanted to be/do everything like his hero. And that included eating a peach of immortality. I don't think he ever thought of the implication of being immortal

@yainmy ha chiesto: If Mk has been developing more of Macaques powers does that mean he can develope shadow clones like Rumble and Savage? Or will it be a chaotic nightmare like that one clones episode in the series?

He can only control one shadow clone: his own shadow!

Anonimo ha chiesto: Hello, I'm too nervous to send this non-anonymously, but I was wondering if I could take inspo from your ShadowPeach Bio parents AU for my own AU called Twins Of The Cycle? It's an AU with my oc, I basically just gave MK a twin.

Nope. If you want to ask for permission, you need to ask me not in anounymous.

@oddogoblino ha chiesto: Random but I find it so silly to imagine Wukong doesn't have the courtnapping instinct bc he's just a stone monkey (made up of pieces of heaven itself + the earth bc...stone), so the times he blushes over Mac are just him imagining cute innocent stuff like wanting to hold Macaque super close and cuddly. Also funnier thing, I was playing with the idea of shape-shifting being gender-limited for most beings/demons and Wukong's ability to shape-shift into women being wukong being an iconic monkey again so your latest update is a very fun surprise ! Yippee!!!

waitwaitwait I got it-

Anonimo ha chiesto: Can they monkeys purr like kittens?? It will be SOO CUTE if they can!!!✨

Maybe???

Anonimo ha chiesto: was Macaque ever more reckless than Wukong ? Maybe in their youth 🤔

Oh definetely

Anonimo ha chiesto: did the Brotherhood in your AU know about Wukong being trans or Macaque courtnapping Wukong? did one of them try to courtnap someone, including our fav monkey boys? 👀👀👀

Yes, the brotherhood knew

@blossomhill36353 ha chiesto: AAAAAAAHHHH THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOOD!!! I love u and your shadowpeach AU with all of my heart u know that!!!!❤️❤️❤️ I have a question tho!! Soo about the glamour thing are they can teach MK how to use one? And since mac has already shown without glamour Infront of MK will Wukong do the same as well??

Yes MK knows the basic of glamours. as for your second question, who knows....

@cutvdo ha chiesto: How oblivious / dense do you think Redson is? like would he notices when MK is blushing?

I'll tell you that, in the last comic, he actually did (the crowd goes in a standing ovation for the idiots of the century)

Anonimo ha chiesto: sooooo a lot of ppl like having Macaque having white hair/fur bc BUT does Wukong have any that he’s ashamed to admit?? 👀👀👀👀

he has but they are only stress related

Anonimo ha chiesto: I like how the shadow tickle courtnapping implies that Macaque could've gained the upper hand during any of their fights in the series, but he chose not to because the feelings associated with it were still raw.

Ah. Ok. Well, thank you but now I gotta stay in the corner and cry after this information

Anonimo ha chiesto: If Wukong and Macaque had been around for school who would the school prefer come if they called home Macaque or Wukong. I feel like Wukong because macaque would be overprotective.

They are the meme where MK got into a fight and they come in a hurry just to ask him if he won

Anonimo ha chiesto: I want someone to call either Macaque and Wukong old, and they get super mad and try to say they aren't old but they are

they are. they are very old.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Has macaque ever had to deal with Wukong having a period?? Does Wukong even have any if he shape-shifts?? Sorry if this feels inappropriate. Anonimo ha chiesto: WAIT, DOES WUKONG BEING TRANS MEAN MACAQUE HAD/HAS TO DEAL WITH HIS PERIODS?!?!.! ANCHHDMSBJFMDBCMDN 😂

Yup, he still has the normal period symptoms and Mac had to stay with him all the time

Anonimo ha chiesto: Who would ask "would you still love me if I was a worm"

Wukong. And he would do it while shapeshifting as a worm

Anonimo ha chiesto: If they where like super angry at someone or something would Wukong & Macaque hiss (not sure what you would call the noise but, full on fangs out.)

I think yeah.

autism-autobot ha chiesto: Are we ever going to see the pilgrims in the shadowpeach bio parents au?

Nope

k4izershasfreakycanon ha chiesto: Hello,so if you dont remember me i was the one who made a custom outfit for mk! i only have the front rendered and coloref so i just wanted to say that you're always allowed to use it in comics! just please credit me:)

Thank you! But I made already his outfit way prior your own post so I already planned to using my original design.

#ask box #shadowpeach bio parents au

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distort-opia · 1 year ago

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This might sound silly and i know bruce is bisexual and all but from a queer standpoint, the scene where he proposes to selina feels a lot like compulsory heterosexuality. "I love you. I HAVE to love you."

And considering the timeline, joker was HIDDEN INSIDE BRUCE'S BASEMENT my god the implications, the metaphor....

Yeah, the whole thing is... [clears throat] very interesting. These two panels, which happen relatively close in time, put it into perspective:

Batman (2016) #32 // Dark Days: The Casting

However, to be entirely honest, I don't think Bruce proposing to Selina, and that whole arc... can be boiled down to just compulsory heterosexuality. It's more complicated than that. Bruce is doing this after interacting with the Batman of Flashpoint, his own father, who begs him to try and be happy. And Bruce's idea of happiness, very much inspired by Thomas', is settling down with a woman and having a family. Gaining peace.

Tom King is the one who wrote the wedding arc, and the whole thing is permeated by this... typically masculine, American idealization of women as this isle of peace that a tortured man yearns for, but can never fully choose. I'm sure there's names for this trope or stereotype, but I'm too lazy to look this up. Think Michael Mann movies, think James Bond movies, think stories about criminals and agents and soldiers leading a dark violent life aspiring to put down arms, and the whole dream being entangled with a woman. A female character who usually isn't fleshed out beyond the representation of leaving a life of violence behind, having a nice wife and nice children in a nice house with a nice white picket fence. Tbh it's not surprising to me that King ended up writing Bruce and Selina with these undertones, because of King's infamous background with the CIA before he became a comic book writer.

And thing is, I don't think it's inaccurate to portray Bruce this way. Bruce has lead a long life of violence, and he wants to want to stop. He wishes it didn't define him as much as it does, he wishes there was another path for him-- and this wish drives his attempt to settle down with Selina. "I have to love you" is less about "you're a woman and I should marry a woman", it's more about "if I love you I am more of a human being, and I need that." Yes, it's compulsory heterosexuality too, in the sense that Bruce is drawing from the heteronormative idea that happiness can only be achieved through normality, and normality = wife and retirement. But it's also a sad, desperate attempt at salvaging himself through Selina, whom he does love... but the things he loves about her are less about her, and more about himself. In the end, his own subconscious acknowledges all of it, during the Knightmares arc:

Batman (2016) #69

[sigh] It's all quite sad. And I've said it in a different post, but this is partly why -- in a seemingly paradoxical way -- a relationship with Joker has the potential to work. "You can't love anyone but the Vow, but the Bat," Selina (a figment of his own mind) tells Bruce. And Joker is part of the Vow. In many ways, over the decades, Joker has become the endgame of the Vow, the incarnation of all the things the Bat is supposed to defeat. It's fucked up and makes me want to chew on glass, but the Bat could allow loving Joker, because loving Joker would be a part of the Mission.

Anyway, I went on a bit of an unncessary tangent, but yeah! I do agree, Anon. So many implications.

#asks #batman #bruce wayne #bruce wayne meta #batjokes #batcat

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writing-for-life · 8 months ago

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Hi love, how are you?

Would you like to talk a little about what Morpheus finds attractive, sexy in a woman?

opinions, theories, anything aaaaaa

Hi friend, always so lovely to see you in my inbox! And everyone else: Send me asks, too, I love them!

Oh, an ask about Dream’s sexual/romantic proclivities and his “type”—the excitement!

You could of course read my fic, then you’ll know what he wants/needs 😜

In all honesty though: I’m not in his head, so who can tell? I guess we can only go by certain hints we get in the comics and draw our own conclusions. So here come a few thoughts:

I think he has a thing for dreamers? Sounds obvious I guess, but many of the women we know he got involved with were women with strong connections to the Dreaming (Killalla, Nada, Calliope, even Thessaly), for a multitude of reasons. And having that connection is, by extension, a connection to him. If we’re getting conceptual about it: They are actually, in a way, pursuing him first (and in the case of Nada and even Killalla and Thessaly, we are basically told so in a way). Which then leads to his courting them, because they are interested in him. And I think that’s something very integral to his being: He is extremely, devastatingly lonely. He craves not being lonely. So the very fact that someone would even contemplate being interested in him, giving him their time of day (or night), would probably already mean a lot to him.

I think we can also see a pattern for women who are fairly strong-willed and speak their mind. Whether he always likes that is a different question, but Titania, Alianora, Nada, Calliope, Thessaly are all prone to talk back and not take shit.

I’ll leave the whole Desire-involvement out of the equation because that skews things. He tries to avoid D/desire because of the sibling-conflict yet definitely feels it. So I neither subscribe to the theory that he’s asexual nor aromantic (some corners of the fandom think he is, fair enough). Especially not aromantic. That’s a contradiction in terms. He’s Dream. Dreaming is idealised and unreal. In love, that’s the very definition of romance—having pink goggles on and aspiring to something that’s not grounded in reality (one of the reasons his relationships ultimately all fail).

So I think he’s prone to romantic gestures (we know that from especially Calliope) and would probably also appreciate them from his lover? That also means: If you want to keep it going, there’d probably always need to be something that keeps him interested. Questioning even (but not in the way like with Thessaly, because she completely removed herself). By definition of his being the unreal, reality setting in is the very thing that makes it all come crashing down. Push/pull, back and forth is probably something he secretly likes? It wouldn’t surprise me if he enjoys a certain amount of drama—again, not the type that makes it all come crashing down, but just enough to keep him on his toes and wondering. Just enough to keep the illusion of impermanence and striving for the impossible going, but not so much that it really turns into an issue. And that’s exactly the problem, because that sounds like a fairly tricky line to walk if you ask me. And exhausting 🤣

Now to the more speculative side:

I think he desperately needs someone who removes the proverbial stick from his arse. He needs to learn to laugh again (if he ever did so in the first place). With others and at himself. I spent a lot of time in my fic to build on that. Ultimately, I think he needs to feel safe enough to let his guard down completely with someone, and I honestly don’t think he ever experienced that with any of his lovers. And for that, he needs to be able to trust. Could be via shared experience of sorts, but I think most of all, he needs someone who truly listens and doesn’t try to change him. Because he is D/dream. Being perpetually strange and prone to be misunderstood is the essence of his being, and he needs someone who is comfortable enough with that fact. So weirdly enough, I think he would change if people stopped trying to make him change, if that makes any sense? He needs acceptance, not blunt or subtle force. I guess you can give dreams the space to change and grow, or you can try to control them—and the latter just doesn’t work. We also see that with him—his rigid sense of control is ultimately his downfall, not what truly helps him. And I think that extends to everything he is, including his relationships.

As for what he likes in terms of bedroom shenanigans (and the purely speculative, but obviously what Tumblr seems to be most interested in 🤣): In my mind, he’s the ultimate switch, if you will. He’ll get a kick out of everything that turns you on, because he is D/dream, and I think it is his very essence to also be that for sex dreams (we don’t need to talk about Calliope’s inappropriate speech at the Wake in this context 🙈).

BUT, and I think that’s an important one: Maybe, just maybe, he needs something that is just for him? Giving in to his own desires (there’s that messed up sibling relationship again). Giving himself permission to do that by being given permission. Be very afraid of my sequel… 🤣 No, that sounds all wrong because my sequel is really not about that alone and will be reliably sad and heavy in parts, like the first one, but I wouldn’t be a romance writer if I didn’t explore relationship dynamics through sex. Because sex is never just about sex 😉

@morpheusbaby3 ask answered

#the sandman #sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #sandman meta #sandman character analysis #sandman analysis #asks always open #asks answered

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otherone12 · 4 months ago

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I Can Help You With That (pt2)

Gerard Way x Reader

-> Masterlis

AN: Hey!! Well as i said, here's the pt2 of "I Can Help You With That", I actually didn't like this one very much, but... It took me a while to finish writing because I didn't know how to continue.

- Word count: 1.232

- Warnings: Smut (afab)! Big age gap

- Ps: You and his doughter (i will not use her name 'cause i think it's weird) are 20 years old or something, and he's 47 (current era?).

- Ps2: I'll not use y/n...

- Ps3: I'm brazilian, so english is not my first language ... sorry if i wrote something wrong.

- ps4: Sorry for the poorly written “Smut”, I'm assexual so… it was a bit dificult for me to write this kind of things.

I couldn't stop thinking about what happened a week ago, but now I'm again in front of that door, waiting for him to open it, so we can keep working together and finish what we've begun. I'm talking about the comic, not the relationship, but the sensacion of his lips on mine is still in my mind and I just wish for more in every single time I remember how it felt. Maybe it wasn't that wrong, since he liked it too, right?

___________________________________________

1st person POV

Was weird not to tell my friend about that, ‘cause I usually tell her everything. I don't think that telling her is the best thing I can do. I mean, it was just a kiss, it's not like we're hanging out or something. Still, I wanted to ask what to do, BUT I CAN'T, so I'll have to figure it out alone.

I could be Gerard's girlfriend if he wanted to, and if it’s all alright for his daughter, of course. I know that this will never happen because of the age gap, but I can easily imagine that.

When the door was opened, I saw that adorable smile.

-Hi! - Gerard looked surprised and happy at the same time - I was expecting you to come later, but it is good to see you anyway. Come in!

I never know how to act when I'm with him. I don't want to be rude, but neither be too nice, so he will notice how much I want him. I decided to stay quiet for the whole day, and focus on the work. So I nodded and stepped inside the house.

I took my backpack off my back and took out the materials and drafts from inside it, putting all on the table. I sat on the chair and Gerard did the same, so we began to work.

The first half hour was really quiet, the only sound in the room was the radio, playing some old rock songs, until Gerard breaks the silence.

-Are you okay? - he asked - you're too quiet…

- I'm fine. Just an exhausting week, I guess. - I didn't lie. I had an exhausting week, but i'm not quiet because of it.

- Hm… are you sure? You look like you have something on your mind. - He keeped his eyes on the drawing he was doing.

Fuck. He is like Edward Cullen?! Never age and can read minds. I'm pretty sure that he knows exactly what I'm thinking, I just hope he was at least thinking the same as I.

I'm awful with these “games”. I can't pretend anymore!

-Maybe I haven't been able to get you out of my mind since we kissed. - I said, not even looking at him.

He smirks, and puts his paper away, shifting his focus from work to our conversation.

-Oh, so that 's it? - He raises one eyebrow and keeps that smirk.

-I said ‘maybe’. - I get up off the chair - Do you want some coffee?

My desperation to change the topic made him get up too and stood in front of me. I get confused by the situation, because he has no reason to do that.

Gerard has a confident look in his eyes, i didn't know what he was doing but he was sure of it. He held my chin, making me look direc to his hazel eyes. His thumb rubbed my lip smoothly as he pulled me closer enough for me to feel his warm breath on my face.

-You're so fucking pretty… - His voice reached my ears and made me blush while Gerard smiled - You know that, right, sugar?

I don't know how, but all my discernment disappears when he talks to me, and when he talks like THAT I just can’t help but forget how to even think.

Before I could say anything, it happened again, in the same way it did the last time, he kissed me, and I didn't stop it.

This time, his hands runned under my shirt and I felt my body getting hotter.

A shiver went down my spine when he stopped and looked at me.

-That was what you've been thinking about? - His lower voice is so arousal.

- Yeah… - I wanted to keep kissing him. Wanted to take off all my clothes and… NO! A little voice in my head reminds me of the whole context and I back off. - But this is not right.

- But you like it. - He was right.

- Still wrong…

- It's not wrong! - Gerard was already impatient with my resistance - We're both adults who can decide what to do with our lives. And if we want to be together…

That's what I really wanted, I wanted to be with him, not just have little moments like that. If he's mentioning this possibility, I think he wants that too.

- So you're telling me that we could keep doing this and one day become a…

- A couple? Of course! - His hands are still in my hips, I feel him squeeze them and pull me closer, making our bodies collide. - But I'm gonna take you out for dates first.

- What would people say? You remember that you're famous, right?

- How many times have you seen pictures of me on the Internet? How many headlines with my name saying that I did something have you seen?

I took a moment to think about the answer.

- In the last few years? Not much...

He can be a ghost, that's a bit scary, actually.

- See? I know how to hide. That's not gonna be a problem. By the way, I don't want to hide you for too long. - His lips crashed into my mouth again, while I was laughing at the idea of him wanting to be with me and show this for the world. - What 's fun?

- Nothing, I'm just enjoying the moment - I said between kisses.

Gerard walked away and took off his shirt, showing his pale body that even though he wasn't beefy, still really hot. He took off my shirt too and smashed his lips into mine.

I was already wet, but his touch in my body just got me dripping.

He held me by the waist and placed me on the table. Without breaking the kiss, he unbuttoned my jeans and threw them on the floor.

-Are you sure that you wanna do this, sugar? - he asked and I nodded - Use your words, baby.

- y-yes please.

He buried his face on my neck, opening my bra and leaving marks in my body. Gerard took off his black skinny jeans, making his erection even more evident under his boxer. He climbed over me, tracing his fingers down my wet slit and making me moan.

-You're so fucking hot, baby - He whispered in my ear.

He finally took off the rest of our clothes, leaving us both naked.

He insert his hard member into me before I could even think. I waited for this for a long time. The feeling of him inside me got me high when i felt he thrusted his coock. His grunts became louder and I began to feel that familiar sensation.

-Gee, I'm gonna cum…

- Cum for me, baby

I did, and he did too. A moment after we were catching our breath and dressing up again.

-So… I think now you can focus, right? - He said, not even trying to be serious.

- I think so…

___________________________________________

~ Well, that's it... Lemme know if you want a pt3 (when they get caught by his daughter and have to explain what is going on) (:

#my chemical romance #gerard way #gerard way x reader #mcr

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captmickey · 7 months ago

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Shoppy talky, feel free to do all or none: where do you get your cute ideas, how long does it take to make something on average, what program and pens are you using when you go digital, do you color drop or eyeball it, what makes you happy and what's kinda flustering about the hobby in general, who do you love drawing most and from which angle~.

I could (and did) read this in Graham's voice haaaaaa~

1 - where do you get your cute ideas It depends? Comedy-wise, it almost always stems from either a- A conversation that was between me and someone else laugh or b- it made ME laugh. I ah... I have a weird rule where if it doesn't make me laugh, I don't make it. However, the cute ideas? It's usually inspired by seeing prompts or thinking of situations that has me kicking my feet, something that makes chest feel all warm like a big ol' hug and a comfort I desperately want to give the character. (Sorry if I'm vague... even I'm trying to think where I get it from.) 2 - how long does it take to make something on average Haaaaaa that one is tricky if only because it depends on the work? Like, okay... drabbles and quick prompts is no more than a few days (rarely, but sometimes, its on the spot), but a comic page, colored doodle or a longer fic takes easily a week at the shortest and a few at the longest. Sea of Adventurers and 3adv as a whole can easily take a few months if only because I'm a perfectionist and tend to revise. A lot... act 8 has been in the works since like, September? And as I write this have only finished chapter 2 of Sea of Adventurers. Out of three.

3 - what program and pens are you using when you go digital So for my basic drawings, I use Clip Studio Paint and honestly I use the generic g-pen or texture pen (depending on I guess the theme? Like the anniversary page was g-pen, but my recent KQ comic was texture pen). However! When I do a comic page, I use both CSP and Medibang.... I prefer the comic font/texture Medibang has but I looooooooove the cleanliness of CSP so I do all my roughs/lineart on CSP (sometimes even color on it) but I transfer it to Medibang for that grayscale coloring/texture.

4 - do you color drop or eyeball it Both! Like, for characters that pre-exist I've color in the past (e.g. Guybrush, Graham or Neese), then I'll pull up either their original source material and color drop. However, if it's one that never existed (e.g. 3adv!Zelda or Mako) then I eyeball the colors until it's appealing to me. However, once it's set and I'm repeating them several times.... color drop~

5 - what makes you happy and what's kinda flustering about the hobby in general What makes me happy is really having the ability TO create? I know it'll sound vain but honestly, there's nothing that delights me more than knowing if there's something I want to see, and I'm not seeing it, I can pull up a computer or sketchbook and get to making what I want (that was literally what stemmed 3adv haaa). I also love seeing how people react to my artwork as a whole... sometimes I'll get comments about it that makes me really sit and go "wow, people like my stuff" and it makes me happy. But on the other side of the coin, the flustering part about it... there is a few things, but it boils down ti having the time and energy and motivation to create. Like, sometimes I want somebody else to come up with the idea and the drawing and so on and so forth. Sometimes my bouts with depression gets the better of me and I can't bring myself to create. Sometimes I find myself with an idea that looks so cool in my head but when I try drawing/writing it, it's just... garbage. And it's frustrating. (And then I boot up Final Fantasy when I grumble how I should be working on making it work). And sometimes it clicks for me at 2 in the freaking morning and I forget to write it down and poof! Gone it goes. Like my sleep.

6 - who do you love drawing most and from which angle~ Hmm... while I do love drawing Link (especially in action shots) and Graham without his hat, I have to say it's my two favorite captains: Guybrush and Number One. Especially from like... the 3/4 angles because of how their hair is floop.

Also Guybrush lowkey became ten times more tolerable to draw once I fixed his hair for 3adv and I really really really really love drawing No1's stache.

#kings quest #monkey island #the three adventurers #mickey squiggles

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karaokebearwithal · 8 months ago

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Aylin Posting again :)

It's the girls lounging by the lake by moonrise.

Y'know before it all went wrong. (rambles and ideas under cut)

I really wanna draw the scene where Aylin first comes down from the moon bathed heavens to great Reithwin town to great the nobility. Like it starts with Isobel bemoaning the day ahead, her father Kethric is genuinly the most excited he's ever been since its been the first time something like this has happened. Ketheric takes it as a sign from his late wife and therefore is needling Isobel to "put her best foot forward" and "make her mother proud". And like Isobel loves being a cleric, is great at it and is excited about this but at the same time after bearing the burden of her father's grief for so long, she also feels suffocated by constantly being there for Ketheric, clerical duties, being a noble ect.

Like just once she wants to act in her own self-interests.

So like the whole town funnels outside to the gate part near the mason guild sigil. Its a full moon of course Isobel rolls her eyes but maintains stature. Her dad seems elated yet desperate that its the sign he's been hoping for all this time even though he'll never find what he's searching for. The town folk have all these banners and banquets and stuff to greet this heavenly messenger. No one knows what's coming but they know its good. Only for the moon to be eclipsed by an enormous pair of wings. A single flap alone, fluttering the clothes and hair of the whole town. Deep and powerful feather strokes echo throughout the now silence townspeople. A steady rhythm that vibrates in your chest cavity.

Divine moonlight bleeds through the feathers almost blindingly, its not an elegant or graceful creature that Selune blessed the people of moonrise with. She is loud, armed and armored, landing on the ground with a thunderous force. Her face radiant, her smile jubilant to the point of feeling threatening. Some more cowardly townfolk tremble under her seering gaze. A force of nature, a paladin of Our Lady of Silver. She bellows out to the crowd: "FEAR NOT THE GENTLE FOLK OF MOONRISE. FOR IT IS I, DAME AYLIN, DAUGHTER OF SELUNE HERSELF PALADIN OF-" (I assume she goes on for a while, its her first time in the mortal realm she doesn't understand time and the concept of being concise)

And Isobel is just fully smitten. Absolutely floored, completely and utterly in love.

(i always think she fell first, then after Aylin has dwindled out the crowd with her divine ramblings, Isobel greets her formally and that's when Aylin is like <3<3<3)

I Don't know the first thing about writing comics or panneling but I wanna make this happen somehow. Any tips would be amazing!

#bg3 #bg3 fanart #dame aylin bg3 #bg3 aylin #To be honest this got away from me slighlty #Well not like got away from me more like #Theses wings man #they so big and animated but they take SO LONG #Like ugh #Also If I get to be able to draw the scene where they fall in love Y'all get ready #Cuz I will #I gotta its my faves!!!#I need them!!!!!!!

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kosmicdream · 1 year ago

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Well, Chapter 6 of Nasty red Dogs is finally complete. This chapter took about a year to make and it was one of the hardest chapters to make. A lot of factors played into this, but probably the hardest one was my day job making the whole process much slower. This meant that there was a lot more time for me to sit and think, sometimes this was a benefit, but in general I am a massive over-thinker, so that dragged down a lot of my enjoyment of the process as I kept over analyzing all my choices.

But, it wasn’t just chapter 6 that was tough. For a while, i have been struggling with Nasty Red Dogs. This isn’t a surprise, its something i face with every long-term project and it makes sense that I would hit that moment at some point. NRD is 5 years old now and while its getting closer to being complete, we still have a few more chapters to go. My process for it is much slower, so a single chapter can end up taking a long time. Still, this past chapter was both the longest in length for a NRD chapter and also took the longest to make, so it was a very tedious process.

I have dont a lot more writing and rewriting than I normally would do, and while I don’t consider myself much of a perfectionist, it was really starting to creep back in my mind in a way I haven’t experienced in years, but more so targeting my writing than anything. I also got very critical over my drawings, but I have felt that way outside of NRD too. I am still very proud of the end result of this chapter, but I don’t think im out of the storm yet. It took years for me to refind my footing with FFAK and Eggshells, but I eventually got there and both projects, and I, got stronger for it. I expect that to happen here too, its just pretty draining and difficult. Regardless of the struggle, I am glad that it’s bringing deep feelings like that out of me because I feel like that’s the whole point of trying to make something that takes so many years to finish, cuz it really creates a situation where you are having to challenge your own personal demons on a mundane, daily level and sorting through those feelings. I don’t really know if the story is going to end up “good” or even how i want it to, but I know I’ve changed from it as an artist, and that already makes it invaluable to my journey to make great stories, which has always been my deepest dream to do on this planet.

That being said, I need a break from NRD to rebuild my stamina again. As I said, we’re nearing the end of the story.. But not quite there. I do expect there to be at least 3 more chapters, but considering how I originally planned for Chapter 5 & Chapter 6 to be a single chapter, that could change. It is still all written though, and has been, but pacing the scenes often changes as I’m actually “on the set” and “directing” the moments. While NRD is on hiatus, I will be returning to FFAK, which I have been pretty desperate to return to as I’ve been looking forward to ARC2 for literally years. I also know ARC2 of FFAK is tremendously long, possibly 4x longer in length than all of NRD (my expected length of ARC2 is around 4k or 5k pages).. So Of course, i get anxious when I’m not drawing it for too long. As I mentioned before, I already kinda got through a really huge block with FFAK that took years to address & heal from and I’m very happy to say that I’m in a great place with the project again, in a way that i haven’t felt in years (even if it still feels very different and new.) So returning to it makes me tremendously happy, which I will need to be in high spirits to feel like I can tackle the next NRD chapter. Anyway, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on this past chapter and as always- thanks for reading my comics. Every day, Its the first thing i check are comments on them and it is always the last thing i do before sleeping. They are always on my mind, but also so are the readers, and I want to deliver my story to those who are willing to listen to them. -kosmic

#nasty red dogs #feast for a king #BTW not all the pages for NRD are up on the main site yet #but they will be pretty soon #the rest of the chapter is just on my patreon for now #thanks for reading anyway

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hollycreadisserda · 1 year ago

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hi, my name is zoha and i desperately need money

(why do i need money will be at the end of this post)

please reblog!

basic info

i take payments only via PAYPAL in USD

you need to pay me 50% of the price before I start drawing- and the rest of the price after I fiinish the sketch

additional character is +100% of the price

if you want me to draw something in 3 days, you need to pay +100% of the price

UPDATES ON COMMISSIONS/CHANGES TO COMMISSION

i am giving frequent updates about the commission; after i finish a stage like sketching, base coloring, base shading etc- so you can accept the way the drawing looks🌺

feel free to ask for any kind of changes, I am usually up to them, unless they are too major (for example changing the whole pose)

for more info check my carrd

if you are from POLAND, I have a different commission sheet + more payment options

and feel free to dm me ଘ(✿˵•́ ᴗ •̀˵)

why do i need money + about me(tw: mental health related issues)

I am a 21 y/o artist and student from Poland, I am unemployed. I need money for fulfilling my art projects i dreamed about since i was a child. it's not really urgent or anything, but i just want to finally be able to create and tell things I want through my art

the projects i am currently working on are:

my comic on webtoon- story i have been working on since i was 14

my songs! i've written a lot of songs which i want to produce and actually publish +make some cool mvs

overall my youtube channel which is kind of dead but i want to start video essays regarding mental health

I need money so I can actually pursue those projects. I want to fix my guitar, pay my friends for producing my music, want to promote my art (boosting posts etc)

"So why don't you just get a job?"

I've suffered from depression since I was 12. I've developed avoidance and anxiety personality disorder and social phobia. It has always been hard for me to interact with people even through the internet cause i am just simply scared. i am scared of my close friends, family and it is just really hard to live at this point

i had a job till the end of last year. When I was working there i was too tired to do anything that actually made me happy. last summer i was in psych ward because i just was too harsh on myself cause i was working and going to uni at the same time

so it is kind of: if i get a job i will have money- but i will be too tired to create anything

to be honest, the only thing keeping me alive was the thought that one day i actually might live the life of an artist. the life that i am able to do things i actually enjoy

cause for the past years i've been stuck in the same place of doing what people want from me and not what i actually want. i didn't have a chance to say what i want to say

the things i am creating are deeply related to mental health issues. i want to create things that might help people find comfort in them, to create something they can relate to. it might sound cliche but i really believe that it is not the casual s(he's) br(ok)en type of stuff, i try to do a lot of research, talk with other people to understand how they feel

a lot of people are telling me that my words help them and i want to do that. i want to help people by doing what i can do best

i might be oversharing, but it is just, i never had a chance to speak out loud what i want to say. and art was the only way for me to show how i feel

but it also is painful when the creations you poured your soul into is made for no one

so i would be really happy if you would buy my art to support me

and maybe help me live the life i've dreamed about since i was a child

thank you for reading, it already means a world to me

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thatonesongyouretryingtoremember · 5 months ago

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DBD ramblings: episode SIX

Jenny says the thingy!

SYMMETRY

MUSIC

she sounds so mad on nooo

What is that drawing on her wall?? and that weird oval thingy??

I DESPERATELY need to know who told Niko!

help. or support. <-odd phrasing

SYMMETRY

he gives back the seaglass :(((

"I guess it doesn't represent emotional stability" then what does it represent?? and didn't she wear green in the Devlin episode?

wooden armadillo

the Light of Heart has its own soundtrack!

Also why is that one in a box and nearby it are other similar items including an identical white heart gem that are all not in boxes??

they're both like Niko, take a chill pill

the way he says it's just tragic is so funny

ZINEOGRAPH!

Do you think Mick found out about Angie waking in storms because he went outside during one to see if he could talk to Sedna?

why to the walruses never have tusks in this show?

why is there randomly a shot of a hand with one missing finger??

HER EYES

ANYWAYS r u fr?

oh this is the comic ref outfit!

I mean I know it's only a one-time use for por purposes, but it is interesting that someone would make a thing like that and it can only be used once. very odd that it would end up in the shop rather than being used by the creator. I wonder if whoever they were going to keep away found them and they never got a chance to use it.

KITCHEN SHIT

It looks like Monty didn't arrive home until morning, even though it was the middle of the night when he talked to Edwin (I kinda wonder what Esther thought he was doing all night)

THE WAY HE TOUCHED THE CAGE

MUSIC

stuffed meerkat

"hey this plan won't work unless all the of them are really fucking stupid" "slut"

what was she gonna do if Monty said no? I mean, kill him, yeah. but would she, like, get some other ghost to get them to the woods??

The way Monty I SO decisive. He'll get it done... why? Does he hate/think he hates Edwin THAT much? Is he trying to be detached? This is "just" his job. Is he empathizing with Esther?

fun fact: knitwear, in Edwin's time, was still considered rather formal.

he's ALREADY dressed fancy this early in the episode!

I think it partly represents a departure from his school. That controlling environment made everyone wear one uniform, but today he is wearing a unique sweater.

The way he's looking at Charles👀 No WAY Niko didn't catch that!

Charles looks at Edwin when Monty shows up

The way his voice goes UP

Edwin just wants to talk things out with Monty and Monty is NOT having it. I can't blame him, he might not even know that Edwin wants to help him, he hasn't exactly had friends before.

Charles keeps watching Edwin for that whole line and then turns to Monty like "Are you seeing this shit?" and Monty is just like

[ID: Debby Ryan in the film Radio Rebel ticking her hair behind her ear while gazing coyly into the camera : end ID]

and the girls are giving NOTHING. I want to see them!

OKAY EVERYONE'S A BIT OFF TODAY, YEAH?

That's actualy probably really worrying for Charles considering what haltend the day before.

The way Monty cocks his head to indicate to follow him XD

aww Crystal can't share things with Edwin and Niko doesn't wanna lie 😔 😢

Monty: Im so cool and have already moved on. look at me flirting with Charles. As if I'd ever say Edwin was kind or considerate.

Charles: yay we're friends now!

Edwin: Can we be so fucking serious for one fucking minute

This HAS to be when Monty figured it out. Something about Edwin's look..

"unlike Edwin, Gladys doesn't have anyone else" *looks him up and down* "just me"

first of all: He must be taking after Edwin with his dramatic-ass walk

secondly: dos this count as outing someone?? like he is making it very obvious what happened, right?

third: What is he playing at? Is he just being mean because he wants Edwin's feeling to be hurt just like his are? is he trying to make a realistic reaction? Is he trying to tempt Edwin to take the bait by making him desperate for his good graces? probably not the last one, since he thinks Edwin doesn't care. Maybe he is trying to get Edwin to prove he cares.

GENUINE RELIEF

Why would he think someone was missing who wasn't missing??

MUSIC omg this is so funny

Jenny's outfit omg

Niko is the only one to mention the sweater lol

NIGHT NURSE! I guess she was knocked out for the whole last episode.

that music box is still going?? I would go insane.

where are the bodies of the other people she ate? where is the stomach acid?

Lucky Kashi had a lantern when he was swallowed

"dying isn't available to me" TMN generally views death as a mercy. Earth=bad, afterlife=good, but also, if she were a dead soul, she'd be taken care of by others instead of 24/7 work for eternity.

"it would be a shame for you to die" she isn't above death threats, even though having too many dead souls is supposedly part of her problem

NOT THE LIP STARE

do you think Kashi ate the corpses? what did he normally ear?

oh no the music box

Also is that a breathing asshole??

Edwin: don't worry about Gladys :)

Monty: can you not be condescending for one fucking minute?

"clear the air" *rainbow lense glare*

everyone has the capacity to hurt people, Monty. If that's your criteria, prepare to have zero options out of any sign.

Did I mention how badass the visuals for this show are?

are those Norse runes?

kinda weird how there's one big tree separating Monty and Crystal from the boys. maybe a living/dead thing?

Si THAT'S what it takes to convince Charles. People in obvious danger.

Monty's face??

*hits tree with stone*

are these enchanted stones reusable?

Monty's reaction to Crystal losing her abilities!? He's like "oh shit"

I wonder if he was depending on her to figure out the plan so he could blame her to Esther and not be at fault, but also not kill the boys, or something

Edwin in his head: Oh no our friend didn't tell us what was wrong! She was willing to jeopardize a case just to stop us from helping her :(

anyways. "tone" is made up and he had a valid question. Charles already asked if she was okay and he didn't have to be redundant, and he just wanted relevant important information.

why does he randomly add the Monty thing into the conversation?? and how does the not liking her thing relate???

so they think it's a blindness/pain thingy

HER DAD

what are her earrings?

so NOW they figure out that the ghosts are being *consumed*

I see someone say Death picked up the moose, but if she had, the boys would have had to hide.

GHOSTS POSESS ENERGY

complete obliteration

oh my god she literal wanted that twink obliterated

MONTY'S FACE OH NOOO

✨️why would anyone even do that✨️

why's one lantern look like a fucking camera

do characters HAVE to bring up horror movies every time they split up? I mean, I think they do, actually.

the quiet footsteps as they switch spots...

also if peepers in Washington are anywhere NEAR what they are in my state, there is no way those guys could hear eachother at night in the woods.

IF YOU START TALKING TO ME ABOUT FREE WILL I WILL DROWN YOU OUT MYSELF

I CAN'T SPEND EONS INSIDE A FISH! WHEN THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE!

why is this scene so trippy

redemption arc core

SYMMETRY

oh the music did a weird thing

1. Does Kashi want to stay inside the fish??

2. why would she go back to sleep. She would feed again.

not sure how the glowing works but okay

what do you think will happen by fuckin. poking it

OH RIGHT DAVID IS HERE

they play with *fear* alot for David

the yellow scratch for magic!

Also this is like. the first time he *actually* uses that cricket bat.

why does breaking the constructs of mirrors dispel David?

scratch still there glowing yellow on the ground

me when I climb up a fucking tree

Monty's really just fuckin chillin, huh?

Edwin finally learned how to talk about feelings, y'all!! he interrupts but he is so so sweet about itt!!!

THE WAY MONTY JUST FUCKIN. SPINS AROUND. it's like he was just waiting for a reason! he had that son locked and loaded, man

why are the trees glowing?

oh it's the lantern. kill me.

"but I promise you that I care"🥲🥺🥲🥺🥲🥺🥰

it's easier to go along with killing someone if you can convince yourself they're a terrible person, huh? Makes it easier to pick one side, to stick with the woman you've been following your whole life?

Also both of their facial expressionssss I could DIE

Monty: aww🥺 you care about me🥺🥺

...

aw shit..

um, heyy Eddie boy, let's go NOT be in the middle of the woods in the dark at night haha how's that for an idea uhh

Edwin: *spells out what the fuck in facial expressions*

Cat King: TIME FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT

okay in all seriousness the rise in urgency before CK even shows up is so. I don't even know the adjective! compelling?

Edwin is still all serious and caring and Monty is all of a sudden deflecting even after that moment, so Edwin is confused as fuck, and the rushed tones and fast walking and ask if a sudden the fucking?? lantern??? goes out????

OH GREAT. HERE'S ASSHOLE.

Also the tree-filtered moonlight in this scene!? TO DIE FOR! it's so pretty and pulls the color scheme together.

he's weirdly defensive about the tree thing but okay

this scene never fails to leave me dumbfounded. like, CK kisses this child on the face to prove a point (said boy, Monty, makes a face of "who the fuck do you think you are") then proceeds to call him a gross bird and tell Edwin that he ""owes"" him a thank you kiss.

Honestly I think this really speaks to CK being so entitled. Like, he definitely isn't good to Edwin by any means, but he also wants Edwin to actually like him, so he always gives himself plausible deniability. oversimplified, but I don't want to dwell too much on this fucker for an annotation post. Monty? Monty's just a fucking bird to him, something he would eat, food he can play with. Much less of a person than his own cat self, or than Edwin.

OH SHIT I JUST REALIZED

Esther was cheated on. She was betrayed. She turned to her magic, and eventually her patron goddess, Lilith, who would give her a gift and one day in the future, take it back.

so, in Monty's point of view, Edwin's love for Charles is mutually exclusive with giving any shits about Monty. He hasn't been around very long, he thinks of things in a simplified view because it makes more sense (and what's more human than that?) and Esther's backstory is all he's got for any negative experience with a man. So he turns back to his patron goddess, who would eventually take back the gift she gave him.

holy fuck, I'm actually crying now.

He can barely get out Charles' name awww

the way Edwin has nothing to say when Monty tells him how obvious his feelings are...

Do you think Monty felt stupid for not seeing it sooner?

I am not sure what Edwin's speechlessness means, but it leads to one hell of a falling out.

OH YOU'RE JUST LIVING THIS, AREN'T YOU, CK!?

nobody wants to kiss your tuna-breah ass, cat.

GO OFF EDWIN

nothing about you si far can be classified as 'nice' bro. don't threaten your crush.

I never asked to be human. With all these feelings.

THE BLOOD SPATTER

THE HAND HOLD

Monty comes back😢😢😢

WASHERWOMAN! FUCKYEA

there's a table and a sandwich, clearly means something

^^look who knows symbolism

She just met these ladies and is already ready to spill about her ghost problems! after a minute she stops like wait if three ppl aren't psycic this week sound stupid as hell

I wanna learn about these other ones!! and Iris (eye pun) too!

also I'm not sure what country Iris' accent is from, but her clothes are giving America to me, so we have some idea as to how long Crystal's family have been on this continent. but relevant atm just interesting.

What kind of other powers does she have?

Iris lists off some different types of women in their family with the magic. priestess, shaman, and artists. Crystal's mom, Maddy Surname, is an artist!!

the line "no desperate mistake" always gives me CHILLS

oh, so NOW violence is okay?

teethface, what the fuck

Charles explaining his kiss with Crystal🤝Crystal explaining her inherited magic: IT'S IN HERE *points at skull*

I love Jenny's outfit in this scene

causing the emotions... in your eyes.

the way she needs a cue to sit down

At least Jenny is self-aware

this scene is so sweet and I love the music

DRASTIC TONE CHANGE

I don't think Ed gets your shroom joke, Charlie.

AN APOLOGY (that's like, two now, right?)

GOBSMACKED

SHE SMACK MY GOB UNTIL HE APOLOGIZES

Even when confessing, Edwin can't say it directly (well, until...)

well, y'all didn't know you'd see Monty, right? so are you saying he dressed up nice just to come out to you??

I love that Charles smiles when Edwin starts talking, like.

Charles is like "yay my friend is coming out to me! I'm a cool, safe guy!" then he's like "don't worry bbg hoy don't even have to finish your sentence I can see ur having difficulty there" and inadvertently messes up a little but like. idk. It's a really nice scene.

*hands on shoulders* *eyes locked* "don't matter one bit to me"

He's been waiting entirely too long to have an opportunity to bring up CK LMAO

he's like aw yeah my bud my bro just came out to me as gay he's opening up and being vulnerable hell yeah- wait NOW I can stop acting like I don't think CK was trying to get in his culottes!

SUPERHELL

the angle??

Charles with the debate skills

tHe AfTeRlIfE iS iNcApAbLe Of A fUcKuP well then what's your job? cleaning up nonexistent meses??

*presses paper like button* *intensely breathing hell creature awakens*

so the thingy is caught between hell and not-hell because of what Edwin believes 🥲🥲🥲

me when I question everything

MUSIC

camera thingy??

so how were they planning to get Edwin to L&F with the bracelet?? would it fall off when he went to that plane??

#dead boy detectives #dbd netflix #about the dead boys

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wirewitchviolet · 1 year ago

Text

StarCraft 2's story- Good or garbage?

I'm kind of lurking in the discord of a new RTS that's running a kickstarter right now. I don't know how strongly I want to endorse that because while what they have in the can looks darn good in terms of mechanics and gameplay polish and the people involved seem generally cool, I don't think anything at all is really pinned down otherwise. At the very least though it looks very "I'll make my own StarCraft 2! With blackjack! And hookers!" and I'm down for a game with that flavor of mechanics doing well when made by anyone other than, you know, Blizzard.

It's impossible not to draw comparisons when a game is pretty nakedly marketing itself as "we want to divorce the things we like about this one game from the monsters who made it" of course, and so now I'm thinking about just how powerfully terrible the writing was in StarCraft 2, but I'm not going to go off about it in some poor people who I don't know even have a writer yet's forums. I'm gonna ramble about it on my blog.

Now there's two ways to look at this one. We can look at the story of this game on its own, in a vacuum, or we can look at it as a continuation of the story of StarCraft. It's terrible by either standard, but let's start by looking at it as a continuation first.

Now, I'm not going to jump in here and just slap you with a novella long list of all the flagrant plot holes, direct contradictions, and unrecognizable characters if you actually go through these beat for beat. I've done so in the past. Might have done so on this blog. I mean when StarCraft 2 came out I was absolutely insufferable to everyone around me shouting about these things. Like... I don't even know how you can drop so many balls like that. Maybe they were doing that thing where they didn't even glance at the source material and were just poking around some fan wiki populated with random crap from tie-in novels and comics by people who were just going off on their own things... I do always have to mention though that whether by intent or incompetence they seem to have totally dropped the expansion's story from the canon, at least before 2's expansions came along years later.

But no, I want to focus on just basic themes and character arcs here. So the original base game of StarCraft breaks its story into three arcs, each from the POV of a character from one of the three playable factions in the game. This isn't the greatest structure for maintaining narrative cohesion throughout, especially when one of those factions is the communal hive mind of a big swarm of space bugs who at the end of the day just want to eat everything. And if I'm being brutally honest, there isn't a whole lot to write home about in the back third either. They kinda slipped back into old habits there and it's kinda just the sort of stock fantasy story you tend to get with games. Decadent ancient space elf empire ignores a big obvious problem due to hubris and a frankly incompetent leader, turns out their ancient traditions and prejudices are total BS, go quest for some magic rocks, have your big grand final battle where the hero self-sacrifices to blow up the monsters.

That first third though, and some threads that carry through the rest, have some good stuff going on. We've got a newly appointed magistrate (the unseen unvoiced player) and marshall (Jimmy) on some backwoodsy wild west sort of planet. They're pretty young and idealistic. Space bugs attack, they try to help, trying to help gets them in trouble with their higher ups who don't really buy the seriousness of this space bug invasion. Desperate for anyone to help fight the good fight, they fall in with a fringe militant cult leader (Mengsk) and his right-hand gal (Kerrigan) who he busted out of some government psychic supersoldier program. Jimmy immediately crushes on her, she doesn't reciprocate.

The gang goes along with all of Mengsk's plans, overthrowing the government to gain control of their armies and psychic experimentation programs to deal with these space bugs, and the level of moral compromise this involves gradually ratchets up until everyone finds themselves complicit in Mengsk killing the whole civilian population of the capital by having Kerrigan set up a psychic murderbug attractor and nobody bother's to evacuate her afterwards.

The other two realize they made a really bad choice of who to throw in with, smash up some major military hardware in the process of bailing on Mengsk as he's setting himself up as dictator for life, and eventually throw their lot in with the protagonists in the third arc, just kinda helping out while they do the whole deal of defying the orders of the ancient space elf council, learning the magic arts of the misunderstood outcasts, flying a big spaceship into the main brain controlling the space bugs. Kerrigan meanwhile gets converted into a space bug/human hybrid super soldier which... honestly feels like it's setting stuff up for a big showdown that just kinda never happens.

Still, we've got characters, they've got arcs. Mostly we have Jimmy (and the silent player character) learning the hard way that long-established power structures tend to be too inflexible to be helpful, and you should never trust anyone openly seeking personal power because they will just exploit everyone around them. It all even roughly follows the classic 3 act structure (and I mean, there's literally 3 acts mapping to that too, just that act 2 is all shown from a villain's perspective). In other media, this is sort of just the bare minimum, but games rarely bother with characters growing, changing, or having real setbacks that make them question things along their way.

This was followed up with the expansion, Brood War, which mirrors that same structure. One long story arc for each of three playable factions. Space elves largely doing standard fantasy beats, middle third switching to a villainous POV so radically different the main narrative gets largely put on hold, and some really good stuff with threads stretching through the whole thing.

Here the villain interlude is that it turns out Earth in this setting is run by full-on fascists, they caught wind of everything going on in this region where there'd previously been a big rebellion, and swing back in to clamp down again. They don't interact with the actual protagonists much (generally, they see the space nazis sweeping in and run off to lay low), so we mostly just have them swooping in and quickly mopping up Mengsk's little newfound dictatorship, with the actual story being the relationship dynamic between the guy in charge (DuGalle), his right hand man he's known forever (Stukov), and a local rebel welcoming them with open arms (Duran). Long story short, Duran's actually a double agent and very gradually pits the other two against each other. DuGalle eventually has Duran kill Stukov thinking he stabbed him in the back, realizes that's dumb, ultimately fails at his whole invasion, and in the epilogue kills himself, which if you read the relevant bit of my FF14 summaries, you know is how I like my stories about clear nazi analogues to end.

In the main narrative though, we pick right back up from the big heroic sacrifice with the bummer of a reveal that killing the primary brain of the psychic space bug collective didn't really get the job done, because some of its secondary brains (refreshingly not a concept pulled out of nowhere, these were firmly established to serve the dual purposes of having clear military targets for a giant pile of bugs, and a way to actually have enough characters for dialog exchanges in that third of the story) are trying to put the band back together. In their current disorganized state though, Kerrigan is no longer a semi-autonomous corrupted bug minion, but totally has her free will and sense of self restored, while still being all chitinous and at least somewhat capable of commanding the other bugs.

So as the whole expansion plays out, and the perspective shifts from the space elves doing some real desperate migration and defense because the plan to save their home world from the big bug invasion ultimately failed, through the nazi invasion, and ultimately to the POV of the secondary bug-brain you'd previously played as who'd been buggified Kerrigan's baby sitter essentially, now forced into taking orders from her, we are mostly dealing with this big hanging question of whether she's really good and trustworthy again, or secretly still under bug control, or if she's good for now but any minute that hivemind could properly come back online and take her over again. And of course, Jimmy's all angsty and pining because he never got over that one-sided crush.

While there's plenty of red flags about her being trustworthy over the course of things, the narrative actually manages to play things close to the chest well enough for the ultimate reveal to be a pretty fun twist. She absolutely 100% is fundamentally herself again, it's just that for a series of mostly pretty well-justified reasons, she absolutely hates every other character in the story. Either they've been trying to kill her, they abused and manipulated her, or they've totally objectified her. Or they're nazis who just showed up, who you don't really need a personal reason to want to kill, but just for good measure they're trying to revive and mind control the central bug mind, so, yeah, that's a threat. So at the last minute the whole thing just reveals itself as a big elaborate revenge story with a fairly strongly gendered theme about being denied agency and being othered, where the actually quite clear-headed just ruthless girl wins.

And then, a decade later, we get StarCraft 2. And what's the main narrative of StarCraft 2? We spend the whole time focused on Jimmy, who has somehow gone from this young idealistic biker/space cowboy with thinning hair, talking like a hippie and bouncing around getting in way over his head trying to rescue people from space bugs by just lending a hand to whoever else seems interested in doing that and crushing on this girl Kerrigan who couldn't be clearer about not liking him back to uh... some sort of gruff jaded old former military general with a bunch of old war buddies, a drinking problem, and a full head of hair, cruising around on his big personal battleship saving various worlds from the big space bug threat pretty much singlehandedly, and hoping to rescue his love interest Kerrigan from space bug mind control, with the help of some kind of prophesied magic space rocks you can build a big totem out of. It even completely de-buggifies her in the end, leaving a helpless little naked girl to chivalrously scoop off the ground and carry to safety. P.S. She's white now.

This isn't like, "oh whoops, we forgot the main character lost one of his boots at the end of last season" nitpicking. This is doing complete 180s on the character arcs and backstories of the central characters here. Kerrigan not needing to be rescued from zerg corruption is the ENTIRE point of Brood War's story. Which also establishes there's no longer really a zerg threat of any sort beyond what she personally wants to tell her mindless bug pals to do. And really, even if you want to de-canonize all of that for whatever reason, tacking a "hero saves the girl" ending onto the story we had in the base game of the original StarCraft still just does not work. You're taking a story whose whole theme is "putting faith in the wrong sort of person has serious consequences" and then turning around and going "actually no it doesn't."

And you know, speaking of Mengsk, it's a much lesser point, but StarCraft 2 depicts him like he's some sort of grandiose emperor from some ancient dynasty. Big imperial palace, little silver spoon in his mouth prince of a son who wants to break from his family's legacy, the whole nine yards. Again, this both fundamentally misunderstands his part in the whole central narrative, and everything that happened to him in the expansion (where not very long at all after his big power grab the UED showed up and completely took him apart, and would have executed him but Kerrigan prolonged that to watch him squirm). And when did he have this kid of his? With who? And where is Jimmy getting all these war buddies? He didn't have'em at the start of things or he wouldn't have had to join up with Mengsk. And his war buddies from that war would just be the magistrate and the surviving protoss characters who act like they barely know him here.

So, no. This does not hold up at all as a continuation. How about if we just look at it in a vacuum then?

Nope, still bad. It leans heavily on a backstory we don't get to see. And I don't mean we're missing a ton of StarCraft 1 flashbacks. I mean, we have all these "old buddy" characters, especially Tychus, but we don't get into how they became friends or do anything to show how they still are, so there's no real emotional stakes to where that ends up going. We start with him drinking his life away in a bar over how he misses this apparent old girlfriend, but we never get into the history between them and even the depressed drinking never comes up again past that shot. We vaguely establish some bitter history with this Mengsk guy, but that never really leads anywhere at all. We just kinda have these various vague and generic handwaves at Standard Protagonist Backstory Stuff. Then we actually dive into things, and it's this very episodic affair where you just hop around from planet to planet either showing up to rescue people or showing up to collect a magic rock to help build the magic Toblerone that cures being half-space-bug. And I mean, I already covered how this sort of simplistic no tension, hero always wins, collect all the treasures for victory sort of narrative is the general baseline for game writing, but other people have been trying to move things forward the last couple decades and this is just sitting at the starting line with a princess to rescue.

Now to be fair, the original StarCraft absolutely also had questing around for magic rocks. The protoss have a totally magic rock based electrical grid, the overmind wanted to eat their special magic rocks to make them more vulnerable, the last protoss mission even had a big ancient temple that did an energy blast, but that one just killed all life on the planet outside of its immediate vicinity, which feels like a more grounded thing for an ancient alien artifact to do than... vaporize/purify space bugs and leave everything else alone. And it wasn't scattered in little bits everywhere.

And then of course there's the expansions to StarCraft 2... well the good thing here is they're so divorced from anything in the original game, and even from the base game of StarCraft 2 that you don't have to worry about them messing with the legacy. I mean, OK, Heart of the Swarm has this whole weird reset where we have Kerrigan mostly human again, just so she can go on a big spirit journey and bug herself up again, so that she's strong enough for her ultimate goal of... showing up to take down Mengsk... again. And you somehow end up with a zergified version of Stukov which... OK that's just the weirdest possible way to double back and recanonize that expansion. I'm not sure that Kerrigan and Stukov were ever even really aware of each other's existence, and he died to a bullet through the head in a military base with no zerg anywhere near it. I mean, unless you remember that Duran was a double agent working for Kerrigan. Except the thing there is if you know the plot of the secret epilogue mission you'd know he was ACTUALLY one of the secret ancient aliens who created both the protoss and the zerg just pretending to a horrible bug monster spy for Kerrigan, in turn pretending to be a normal human. And that's a pretty obscure detail I'd forgive someone for missing except that literally in the mission where you're playing as Zerg-Stukov, the whole reason you're playing as Zerg-Stukov is that Kerrigan is busy doing one of those things where the two wizards fire big energy blasts at each other like some kind of tug-of-war with weird phallic overtones, and the big energy phallus she's trying to squish back is FROM Duran, in his revealed-himself-to-be-that-whole-mess glory. They remembered one thing only to get it wrong basically.

But yeah, otherwise that one's just so wild a departure I don't even know what to say. There's just... named zerg characters? They're all like bug centaurs? Because we need people to talk to and they just totally forgot they had cerebrates to get around that problem? Instead of the ancient ancestral zerg being like, psychic ringworms gradually specializing their hosts over generations, here they're like... talking dinosaur puppies who steal each other's "essence" to get huge? Past a point there's so little resemblance to the source material that I can't even be mad. And then the protoss expansion just kinda decides that the whole casting the dark templar out of their society over irreconcilable religious differences is something they've actually done like... 3 or 4 times? So we've got the outcast invisible jedi and the outcast robots and the outcast Darth Vader wannabes with some sort of society-wide ordered queue where there's exactly one person directly ahead of everyone they're allowed to kill to move up in the world. Oh and we're claiming this one robot centaur is Fenix somehow. Despite Fenix being very dead, and this robot centaur neither having that goofy muppet-y orc voice nor the overwhelmingly positive attitude. And he also somehow doesn't notice that he's a robot centaur and not a guy in a life support pod inside a robot spider. They also expect us to believe this little naked twink turned into this pile of steroids and shoulderpads somehow:

Oh! I almost forgot but also there's this thing called the Khala and it's unambiguously this set of religious teachings defining a caste system and such... but then here someone watched Avatar so we're retconning that into some sort of psychic spiritual network you connect to through your hair. You don't plug your hair in though it's just like a wifi antenna. Also it only works if you're part of the main society that keeps throwing other people out none of these other people have hair wifi. Also like the entire deal here is that protoss just are not psychic, it's their one flaw. There's this whole thing with them representing physical perfection but being held back by being a bunch of very religious idiots, while the zerg are mentally perfect what with the hive mind but physically just, like, a ringworm, so the ultimate life form their creators really wanted to create requires the zerg to take over the protoss, or just going screw it and hybridizing the two in a lab. Again, this is one of those really obscure details, it only comes up in the weird backstory in the manual that doesn't even get touched on in the game outside the one secret mission in the expansion... but here we have the same scene both acknowledging that deep lore and totally contradicting it.

But yeah, taken as their own independent stories... well... what stories? Kerrigan wants to be a big buff bug lady so she can depose a jerk she already deposed, and she does that. There are no complications or twists along the way. "Artanis" has to go collect all the protoss the in-group don't count as people, because Satan got into their hair wifi and anyone who didn't just get a haircut turned evil. So he goes and does that. Again, no complications of any sort along the way. Also no real ideological conflicts.

The deal with the robot protoss is some idiots went "hey what if we took all of our greatest most celebrated heroes and we copied their minds into robots in their entirety" and then got super confused that they still, you know, want to be treated as people with rights and such and not just mindless robots. So, you know, simple fix there. Then the... actually just evil ones are... lead by John DeLancey. Everyone likes him. So, problem resolved? And the dark templar are already befriended from before, so nothing's needed there besides going to their homeworld to pick them up. Their uh.... home world everyone already evacuated to and then that was compromised and their leader was replaced with puppet and then everyone maybe died? But yeah they're fine.

So then after all the racism is solved forever by just... deciding not to do that anymore, Kerrigan jumps in some kind of magic pool to transform into a giant naked golden angel, and she does this to become the embodiment of purity of essence we apparently need (which also purges all zerg-ness I guess?) and... look there's no easy way to say this. It turns into Homestuck. That whole convoluted thing from Homestuck where there's this eternal cycle of universes being created by light and dark themed people teaming up to create the next one and in theory kind of operate as it's gods but not if they don't feel like it... we're just ripping all that off wholesale for this complete asspull of an ending. And then everyone shoots space satan in the face. He's a big squid. And then Kerrigan turns back into a normal human girl so she can go on a date with Jimmy. Oh and then there's a third expansion recycling the scrapped plot from that action game they were going to do back on the N64 or whatever but I learned how awful the company was before getting curious enough on that one.

It's just bad. Even by game writing standards, it's bad. And I didn't even get into how bad it is with women in particular. We've got the big doe-eyed scientist who needs to be rescued from the scary bugs and then oh no it turns out she got bit by a bug and now she's turning into one and has to be put down (and no, this has never been how that worked). Then we've got Kerrigan who aside from needing rescuing and purifying and coming out naked has this whole expansion to herself where in theory she's totally in charge and self-directing every decision, but every time you click anywhere the confirmation is just her getting all pouty and whiny? Like a toddler you're telling to put shoes on so you can go to the doctor or something? Like, is it just me? Is it the direction? Is it the voice filter? Was the actress just miserable in the recording booth?

youtube

Then she's got this little bug girl assistant who hangs down from the ceiling, kinda like the adjutant from the original StarCraft, but instead of being all detatched and robotic she's all uwu pwecious? And the protoss campaign just kinda keeps turning women into mouthpieces for Satan. It's... a whole thing.

So yeah, badly written stories all throughout, no matter how you slice it. No continuity, no consistency, no character arcs or tension, just be the big cool action hero, do some getting the band back together stuff, collect some magic rocks and ritual circles, purify this girl here with the big magic circle (3 times no less) and then whatever there's space Satan. It's a mess... did I even have a larger point with this?

Probably not, but it was entertaining I hope? Maybe throw a little cash my way?

#Starcraft 2 #blizzard #terrible writing #game writing #People always object to me pointing out Kerrigan wasn't originally white but oh wow those people have nothing on the bald Jimmy deniers #like people come up and say OK he looks bald in his chat window animations but it's an old game and they couldn't do hair right back then #except no everyone else totally has hair and mostly it looks fine for real there was a conscious design choice to give him receding hair OK #Anyway Blizzard is terrible and nobody should support them in any way just boycott those monsters please

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the-tzarina-alexandra-paracosm · 1 year ago

Text

Vote based on the design AND the backstory

Thea

(The Imm 14 - 2013)

Role: main character

She is an alien princess. At some point she falls in love with this human guy and it's a controversial thing, and the ending is tragic in that she ends up dying (as a result of leaving the atmosphere of her planet). An alternate ending was that she ended up in some sort of shipwreck and had this fish-out-of-water scenario in which she had to hide and adapt to a completely foreign place.

Hans

(The Hacker: Death off the Internet - 2013-2016)

Role: Protagonist (villain protagonist with a redemption arc)

He is an extremely skilled programmer and hacker. He starts the story having stayed awake for almost a week to work on a very powerful virus. He passes out and ends up in the computer world, where he is treated like a Grim Reaper figure (he does get a sick looking scythe too!). At first, this is a power trip to him, until he meets and gets attached to various people in the computer world, only to see them get disintegrated by the Virus, so now he is desperate to fix the destruction he designed, but he finds himself increasingly powerless, and even begins to feel the effects of the Virus on himself.

For further context:

The Imm 14 - 2013

Status: incomplete (concepts, drawings)

Form: short story

Genre: space fantasy, romance

Thea is a princess from another planet, and her falling in love with this human guy is considered extremely controversial. There are also some other political details. In the first version, the ending included her dying. Another version included her getting stranded and starting over.

The Hacker: Death of the Internet - 2013-2016

Status: incomplete (full outline done, many comics, scenes, beginnings of a script)

Form: script/ novel

Genre: sci-fi, drama

Hans is a very highly skilled programmer and hacker and his current ambition is to create the most powerful virus, that could allegedly wipe the Internet. However, one day, after a week of sleeplessness, he gets transported in the computer world, where he confronts various characters who represent various programmes or sites etc. His main antagonist (arguably much more morally upright than him) is one Mr. G, who kinda represents the whole Internet. He's helpless to solve the Virus issue alone, so he drags Hans into fixing his own mess. Everybody in the computer world dies by this virus (which consumes them by disintegrating them into 0s and 1s), and Hans is very burdened by regret over his actions. (The rest is spoilers; I do really want to write this for real one day).

#my ultimate oc tournament #my brackets #round 6 #part 1 #part 2 #semifinals

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owltypical · 2 years ago

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super long dump post about various irl things

a coworker of mine passed away at the beginning of the week. he’d actually left the company back in september, so i hadn’t seen him in several months, and i wouldn’t say we were super close, but. he was on my team, and we saw each other and talked and interacted and spent time together at work hangouts pretty much constantly over several years.

he was only 29. not sure how it happened, just that we heard from his family that it had, and his memorial page and viewing/funeral times were shared with us. it was definitely a great shock to us, i hid myself in the bathroom for a bit and cried. hadn’t cried properly in a long time due to my brain meds, so i had a sadness headache for a couple days.

he was a very pleasant, polite, and nice young dude. politics rarely come up at work though i knew he came from a religious catholic conservative background, but he was pretty socially conscious and angry/disillusioned about a lot of the shit he saw going on; i saw him grow from those roots over that time and i wonder how he’d turn out in the end if he’d been given proper time to finish growing. one of the kindest, most patient phone voices i ever heard.

it sucks so extra hard when somebody suddenly dies young like that. technically he was already out of my life when it happened, but that’s the closest to someone’s death i’ve been in ages, possibly ever, other than i suppose my cousin who passed away a few years ago. i’ve never been to a funeral, the few deaths i’ve encountered have been very distant and slightly unreal, even with family. but this was someone i knew and saw irl and who was part of my everyday life for quite a while; now he’s just suddenly gone, he’s ceased to exist. just memories and pictures.

literally the next morning after that another of our team members had some sort of medical episode at work; paramedics came and took her away in an ambulance. not sure what happened, she seems to be fine now thank god, but it was very scary at the time. that one-two punch in less than 24 hours made for a very mentally and emotionally strained week for us; so far 2023 for me has been kind of muted and spent grieving.

speaking of brain meds: started a new mixed dosage of stuff just today. the previous prescription was helping, but not enough, and had side effects that i felt were hampering my progress elsewhere. hopefully this new combo works out! i want more energy during the day, i want to sleep better at night, i want to have this dumb brain in a more orderly shape. i want to feel artistic and draw again.

not sure what i’ll do if i start feeling better about art again, though. i keep fretting that i just don’t have it in me to do big detailed print-ready longform comic stories, and never really have, despite how many times i’ve tried over the years. maybe i really do just need a partner to work with, i don’t know. i’m also second-guesing myself about the overall setting of outliers. i was always very tickled by weird/background stuff in comic book superhero settings since my youth, but the last few years i’ve completely soured on exactly that; the absolute glut of comic book movies and tv series have been overwhelming and tiring and obnoxious, it’s made me very jaded about the whole thing. and i don’t want to be seen as part of riding on that particular bandwagon either.

kind of trying to figure out what the hell to do in general. i make enough to survive just fine, but not enough to actually grow or go anywhere or make any real changes. affordable housing is nonexistent these days, absolutely everywhere, not just the places i would actually be interested in moving to. wages suck, everything costs way more now, good luck getting where you’d like to go without selling a few organs and cramming into some hole with three other equally desperate roommates. i’d donate plasma but apparently one of my arms has bad invisible veins so i got told to go away.

it’s real existential crisis times over here, i guess. i’m less than two years away from 40 now; i thought i had more time to figure some things out but an injury and good ol’ covid stole a large chunk of my prime 30s away from me. i want to move and improve my station in life, but how? i want a partner, but dating’s hard, especially the older you get and especially when you’re ace. i want to draw, but i worry that i don’t truly have the stamina and time to do everything i want to do, and that i’m running out of time in general. it’s stupid, i know it’s just youth-oriented culture and the world’s aggressive ageism messing with me, but it’s hard to feel like the countdown to 40 isn’t some sort of doomsday clock terror. too late for love, too late for family, too late for careers and making something of myself artistically. brains are stupid.

well. here’s to the brain in question getting better via updated meds, and here’s to 2023 having something good happen during it, i suppose. i hope.

#the illustrious life of owltypical #long post #very long post #death //

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