#i just want to edit more eu stuff

[letomills]

A set of 23 geneticized & townified skins, including defaults for S1-S2-S3-S4 and the alien skin (choose between 2 alien options). Also, multiple sets of showerproof versions of these 23 skins, for those of you who are interested in custom body shapes.

This set is an evolution of this skin palette & its accompanying showerproof versions. I reused the old files, meaning that you can switch from the old palette to the new very easily (don't try to combine them though - see details under the cut).

Credit for the original skin textures goes to @whysim, @h0nkytonkangels, Nat / @theboldandthebeautifulsims, @pooklet and Tea Leaf, thank you so much to them!

First, let's talk about the regular set for Maxis shapes, then we'll get to the showerproof sets for custom body shapes.

1. The regular set

The palette contains 22 natural shades including S1, S2, S3 & S4 defaults + 2 options for the alien default (choose one). Skins 1-22 are geneticized and townified, the alien skins are townified. If you don't want all 23 skins, you can absolutely pick and choose, the genetic spectrum won't be disrupted.

Download skins: SFS / Mega

original 1 - original 2 - original 3

original 4 - original 5 - original 6

original 7 - original 8 - original 9

original 10 - original 11 - original 12

original 13 - original 14 - original 15

original 16 - original 17 - original 18

original 19 - original 20 - original 21

original 22 - original 23 h0nky - original 23 TeaLeaf

I edited some of the original textures so that: • everyone TU-EU has the appropriate fat, normal and fit states (for the alien textures to show up as they should, please use Argon's alien and zombie fitness fix) • all elders have wrinkles, except on TeaLeaf's Stargazer (I used @simnopke's subtle wrinkles) • all toddlers have the cute toddler teeth and babies have no teeth, • teeth from Nat's, Pooklet's and Tea Leaf's skins were replaced either with ones from the Whysim skins or the ones used on @serabiet's Those Darn Skins, just because they're less bright and I like that better.

I also fixed the toes on the Whysim37 skins and edited some boobs ↓

The number at the end of every file name (e.g. 0.05, 0.08, 0.1...) gives you the genetic value of that skin. To learn more about skin genetics, see Rikkulidea's tutorial.

💞 To the people who were using the old palette and want to switch to this one: all you need to do is delete the old skins from your downloads folder and replace them with the new ones (don't forget to delete the alien default you don't want). The new skins are on the same files as the old ones (although they haven't all kept the same number), except for skin #11 which is new. This means that after you make the switch, your sims who had skins from the old palette will update without you having to do anything with their genetics in simPE. And if you change your mind after having a look at your sims with the new palette, you can always switch back to the old one. The same files being reused also means that you can't use skins from the new palette alongside skins from the old, as they will conflict. The only exception is new skin #11, which is on a new file and can therefore be used alongside the old palette without issue. All of that also applies to the showerproof skins.

~~~

2. The showerpoof skins

What are showerproof skins? They are skins linked to a custom body shape (or body shapes). When you give a showerproof skin to a sim, that sim will have the body shape that the skin is linked to when they are nude (taking a bath, streaking, doing ACR stuff, etc.). Showerproof skins have no effect whatsoever on clothing, because clothes use their own meshes.

These showerproof skins are for: • Melodie9 fat family • Momma Lisa F / Melodie9 Fat M • Androgyny F / Lifa's Trans M • Trans Melodie9 Fat M / Trans Momma Lisa • Dummy Thicc • MartaXL edit • Athletic Girl / Lean Body Builder

They are repo'd to the regular skins above: you need the regular set for the showerproof sets to work. Like the regular set, they're geneticized, except for the alien ones. You'll have to choose if you want them to be townified or not (townified skins can appear on new townies and NPCs that spawn, non-townified skins cannot).

The required meshes are included, don't forget to choose between blockfeet/sexyfeet/Marvine feet and Maxis hands/smooth hands. If you're missing meshes, the affected sims will appear as floating heads or will be missing half their bodies when naked (it won't break your game in any way, it's just definitely not the intended result).

~

❥ Melodie9 Fat Family (M9Fat)

TM/TF/AF/EF are linked to Melodie9 fat TM/TF/AF/EF, AM & EM are both linked to Melodie9 fat AM. Children and younger are Maxis.

Download Melodie9 fat family: SFS / Mega

~

❥ Momma Lisa - Melodie9 Fat Male (ML-MFM)

AF & EF are linked to Momma Lisa, AM & EM are linked to Melodie9 Fat AM, TF/TM are linked to Melodie9 Fat TF/TM.

Download ML-MFM: SFS / Mega

Note on the included meshes: the original nude fat family meshes are from Melodie9's MTS, but turns out those are, well, not how top and bottom meshes are supposed to be: all of them are full-body, doubling the polycounts unnecessarily (I somehow only realized that today). So that's fixed now, and I took the opportunity to add preg morphs to the teen meshes.

~

❥ Androgyny AF-EF - Lifa's Trans AEM (AndroF-AMTr)

AF/EF are linked to Androgyny AF/EF, AM & EM are linked to Lifa / @withlovefromsimtown's Trans Male. Teens and younger are Maxis.

Download AndroF-AMTr: SFS / Mega

✨Alternative set: if you want teens to have trans shapes too (choose either the "AndroF-AMTr" set above or the "AndroUF-UMTr" set below) ↓

❥ Androgyny TF-AF-EF - Lifa's Trans TM-AEM (AndroUF-UMTr)

TF/AF/EF are linked to Androgyny TF/AF/EF. TM, AM & EM are linked to Lifa / @withlovefromsimtown's trans male shapes. Children and younger are Maxis.

Download AndroUF-UMTr: SFS / Mega

~

❥ Trans Momma Lisa - Trans Melodie9 Fat Male (TrML-TrMFM)

AF & EF are linked to @kaluxsims's Trans Melodie9 fat Male, AM & EM are linked to her Trans Momma Lisa. Teens are Melodie9 Fat TF/TM.

Download TrML-TrMFM: SFS / Mega

Note on the included meshes: you'll see that they're available in 3 versions (choose one - previews are included). The "Leto edit" blockfeet & sexyfeet versions better match all the underwear and swimwear that I've shared for these body shapes (especially in the case of TrML).

~

❥ Dummy Thicc (DT)

AF & EF linked to @digisims2's Dummy Thicc, TF linked to my Dummy Thicc TF. All others are Maxis.

Download Dummy Thicc: SFS / Mega

~

❥ MartaXL

AF & EF linked to @brattylulu's MartaXL, TF linked to Melodie9's fat TF. All others are Maxis.

Download MartaXL: SFS / Mega

✨ Alternative set: if you'd rather have M sims linked to Melodie9 fat male (choose either the "MartaXL" set above or the "MartaXL-MFM" set below) ↓

❥ MartaXL - Melodie9 fat male (MartaXL-MFM)

AF & EF linked to Brattylulu's MartaXL, TF/TM/AM-EM linked to Melodie9's fat TF/TM/AM. Children and younger are Maxis.

Download MartaXL-MFM: SFS / Mega

~

❥ Athletic Girl / Lean Body Builder (AG-LBB)

TF, AF & EF are linked to Marvine / @blueheavensims's Athletic Girl; TM, AM & EM are linked to Synapticsim / @blueheavensims's Lean Body Builder. Children and younger are Maxis.

Download AG-LBB: SFS / Mega

Note on the included meshes: you'll have to choose between 2 versions, either "HD" or "low poly" (previews are included). The HD meshes are the top and bottom meshes that BlueHeavenSims shared here, with a couple tweaks (smoothed normals on the forearms, fixed shoulders on the LBB fat morphs) - they have sexyfeet, smooth hands, 3D nipples and are high-poly (6,454 poly for full-body AG; 8,601 poly for full-body LBB). The low-poly meshes are top and bottom meshes I made based on Marvine's original AG and Synapticsim's original LBB v.2.0 (I added morphs with BlueHeavenSims's morphs as reference) - they have blockfeet, Maxis hands and are low-poly (1,960 for full-body AG; 2,186 poly for full-body LBB).

~

Further info

All of these skins are tooltipped, have their custom thumbnails and are sortindexed so that they will appear tidily set after set in your custom skins bin. If you use other skins though, there is a chance that those will appear jumbled up with mine if their sortindex numbers happen to clash. It's only an aesthetic issue but if it bothers you, see this tutorial by Kurimas on how to change the order in which clothes appear in the CAS catalogue (it works for skins and other bodyshop content too).

Why make the showerproof skins repo-only? 1. Repo'd files = smaller files. 2. If you don't like the textures that I picked for the regular set, you can replace them with your favorites in simPE if you know how to do that and all the repo'd files will follow suit. This way you can get all the showerproof skins to have the textures that you like with much less work than if you had to edit them one by one.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Middlemen without enshittification

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me next in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

Enshittification describes how platforms go bad, which is also how the internet goes bad, because the internet is made of platforms, which is weird, because platforms are intermediaries and we were promised that the internet would disintermediate the world:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

The internet did disintermediate a hell of a lot of intermediaries – that is, "middlemen" – but then it created a bunch more of these middlemen, who coalesced into a handful of gatekeepers, or as the EU calls them "VLOPs" (Very Large Online Platforms, the most EU acronym ever).

Which raises two questions: first, why did so many of us end up flocking to these intermediaries' sites, and how did those sites end up with so much power?

To answer the first question, I want you to consider one of my favorite authors: Crad Kilodney (RIP):

https://archive.org/details/thecradkilodneypapers

When I was growing up, Crad was a fixture on the streets of Toronto. All through the day and late into the evening, winter or summer, Crad would stand on the street with a sign around his neck ("Very famous Canadian author, buy my books, $2" or sometimes just "Margaret Atwood, buy my books, $2"). He wrote these deeply weird, often very funny short stories, which he edited, typeset, printed, bound and sold himself, one at a time, to people who approached him on the street.

I had a lot of conversations with Crad – as an aspiring writer, I was endlessly fascinated by him and his books. He was funny, acerbic – and sneaky. Crad wore a wire: he kept a hidden tape recorder rolling in his coat and he secretly recorded conversations with people like me, and then released a series of home-duplicated tapes of the weirdest and funniest ones:

https://archive.org/details/on-the-street-crad-kilodney-vol-1

I love Crad. He deserves more recognition. There's an on-again/off-again documentary about his life and work that I hope gets made some day:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/09/free-sample/#putrid-scum

But – and this is the crucial part – there are writers out there I want to hear from who couldn't do what Crad did. Maybe they can write books, but not edit them. Or edit them, but not typeset them. Or typeset, but not print. Or print, but not spend the rest of their lives standing on a street-corner with a "PUTRID SCUM" sign around their neck.

Which is fine. That's why we have intermediaries. I like booksellers (I was one!). I like publishers. I like distributors. I like their salesforce, who go forth and convince the booksellers of the world to stock books like mine. I have ten million things I want to do before I die, and I'm already 52, and being a sales-rep for a publisher isn't on my bucket list. I am so thankful that someone else wants to do this for me.

That's why we have intermediaries, and why disintermediation always leads to some degree of re-intermediation. There's a lot of explicit and implicit knowledge and specialized skill required to connect buyers and sellers, creators and audiences, and other sides of two-sided markets. Some producers can do some of this stuff for themselves, and a very few – like Crad – can do it all, but most of us need some help, somewhere along the way. In the excellent 2022 book Direct, Kathryn Judge lays out a clear case for all the good that middlemen can do:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/direct-the-problem-of-middlemen/

So why were we all so anxious for disintermediation back in the late 1990s? Here's a hint: it wasn't because we hated intermediaries – it was because we hated powerful intermediaries.

The point of an intermediary is to serve as a conduit between producers and consumers, buyers and sellers, audiences and creators. When an intermediary gains power over the audience – say, by locking them inside a walled garden – and then uses that lock-in to screw producers and appropriate an ever larger share of the value going between them, that's when intermediaries become a problem.

The problem isn't that someone will handle ticketing for your gig. The problem is that Ticketmaster has locked down all the ticketing, and the venues, and the promotions, and it uses that power to gouge fans and rip off artists:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/20/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-will-eventually-stop/

The problem isn't that there's a well-made website that lets you shop for goods sold by many small merchants and producers. It's that Amazon has cornered this market, takes $0.51 out of every dollar you spend there, and clones and destroys any small merchant who succeeds on the platform:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

The problem isn't that there's a website where you can stream most of the music ever recorded. It's that Spotify colludes with the Big Three labels to rip off artists and sneaks crap you don't want to hear into your stream in order to collect payola:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/12/streaming-doesnt-pay/#stunt-publishing

The problem isn't that there's a website where you can buy any audiobook you want. It's that Amazon's Audible locks every book to its platform forever and steals hundreds of millions of dollars from creators:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

The problem, in other words, isn't intermediation – it's power. The thing that distinguishes a useful intermediary from an enshittified bully is power. Intermediaries gain power when our governments stop enforcing competition law. This lets intermediaries buy each other up and corner markets. Once they've formed cozy cartels, they can capture their regulators and commit rampant labor, privacy and consumer violations with impunity. That capture also lets them harness governments to punish smaller players that want to free workers, creators, audiences and customers from walled gardens. It also hands them a whip-hand over their workers, so that any worker who refuses to aid in these nefarious plans can be easily fired:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

A world with intermediaries is a better world. As much as I love Crad Kilodney's books, I wouldn't want to live in a world where the only books on my shelves came from people prepared to stand on a street-corner wearing a "FOUL PUS FROM DEAD DOGS" sign.

The problem isn't intermediaries – it's powerful intermediaries. That's why the world's surging antitrust movement is so exciting: by reinstating competition law, we can keep intermediaries small and comparatively weak, so that creators and audiences, drivers and riders, sellers and buyers, and other groups seeking to connect will not find themselves made subservient to middlemen.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

[ardatli]

I need book recs again, this time for kid 2! 13, "neurospicy," high reading level for vocabulary but has difficulty with parsing subtly-drawn emotional motivations for characters. Fairly black and white worldview / very strong sense of justice and injustice, but he's slowly starting to integrate more nuance. He's bored with the books we have in the house and overwhelmed by the options at the library. Help me narrow it down?

He likes:

Giant robots and mechs - current very well-read favorites are the Pacific Rim novelizations.

Science fiction, as long as the science is internally consistent.

Legend of Zelda - we just got him the graphic novel box set for his birthday.

Star wars / Predator / Megaman / kajiu franchises (Japanese - he's deeply scornful of the US Monsterverse, but loved Gamera: Rebirth. Any book recs that hit similar vibes to G: R?)

(Caveat: any media based on another media property needs to be consistent, or it'll drive him batshit. He still brings up his irritation at inconsistent Jaeger weights and armaments and build dates cross-referenced from design docs on the original PacRim vs The Black vs the info cards on the action figures, etc.)

Enjoyed LotR and has read - and enjoyed! - the Silmarillion. Not currently interested in checking out other high fantasy.

He does play TTRPGs as well as computer and console games, and I can see LitRPG working as a genre, but he hates romance / is uncomfortable with sexualization and sexual references in media, and is very sensitive to racism and discrimination, and there's a lot of not-great stuff lurking in that sphere.

I picked up Iron Widow for him and he says he enjoyed it, but not enough to read a sequel. Too explicit in some sections, I think.

He did enjoy the old Tales Of books from the Star Wars EU, as well as a book of short stories in the Predator universe, so short story collections or anthologies are good too.

We've just started getting into the Assassin's Creed franchise (Ezio series) - any good official novelizations, or recs for non-AC alternate history books set in medieval Italy?

He does not want to read books about romance, or other books that are mostly about Big Feelings or interpersonal relationships. He doesn't mind it as a minor subplot, as long as he can skim those parts.

He's already read as much Warrior Cats as he cares to. Ditto Wings of Fire. He's "over dragons" for now.

He loves the bad guys, and would probably enjoy books from a villain's POV.

Older kid has the first murderbot book and I'm going to ask her to lend it to him to see if that hits the right spot. I'm thinking maybe The Martian would be good?

Edited to add: He's read and liked Percy Jackson, and his sister owns (and he's read some of) all the Rick Riordan Presents books to date. Also already considering Artemis Fowl.

Edit 2: Big sister has added Dark Lord of Derkholm to the pile, along with Artemis Fowl and Murderbot.

Any suggestions welcome!

[therobotmonster]

Let's talk about Toys in Cereal

This is a part of several posts of mine that have gotten big, but I figure it's best to address the phenomenon itself in a new post.

If you want to just browse a ton of cool old cereal toys once we're done, go to: www.cratercritters.com. It's a neat site.

Cereal toys are a long-standing American tradition. Some tag-questions asked if they went away because of greed or because of regulations, and that's complicated.

There are food regulations that complicate things. You may have heard that Kinder Eggs are not legal in the US.

This is usually framed as a "fear the stupid American Kids will eat the toy" kind of thing. This is not the case.

The actual regulation that blocks the Kinder Egg is about food safety from bacterial and undisclosed allergen contamination. Inserting a baggie with a toy into that exposes everything in the cereal bag to the outside of the toy package, and that's a no-no in the US market. The rare thing we're more strict about than the EU.

But that doesn't affect cereal toys, because they can get around it by having it in a separate package outside the food bag, between the inner back and the cardboard box. Much easier on the parents to find when you open the box, too.

Kinder has, themselves, addressed the US Kinder Egg problem the same way, with the Kinder Joy.

Splitting the package. into two sections that are individually sealed.

But a big blow to the practice was the end of the Australian R&L Toy Company.

R&L made tons of simple pack-in Premium toys from the 60s through the 80s. They were the primary supplier to Kelloggs, and made everything from simple one-piece figurines to little build-yourself-action-toys.

For instance, these "Wacky Walkers" worked by tying a string to the figure and the weight, then dropping the weight off a table. The figures would hobble forward on their feet, pulled by the weight. Neat-o!

Then there's stuff like these Toolybirds. I'd sell any one of you to the goblin king for a set of these, because I sure can't afford them at $25 apiece or more. I'll probably just make some dinosaur-knockoff version or somesuch to 3d print, eventually.

R&L went out of business in the 80s and its molds were sold to a toy manufacturing company in Mexico that produced their stuff as bag toys for awhile, before everything just faded away.

Meanwhile, the cereal market was forced to contract elsewhere without a devoted company doing essentially just that.

Liscenses came to the rescue. Fun fact, if you wanted toys from most of the Disney Afternoon, your only hope was Kellogg's.

As time went on, you started even getting software in cereal.

Chex gave out a free, PG-version of DOOM for free. Not a couple of demo levels, a whole game, run on the doom engine, with aliens you zap with a spoon.

But as time went on, companies got less and less into the idea of enticing with freebies, and parents started objecting to the marketing of sugar cereals with toy surprises, because given the opportunity, most parents will blame the company for making something the kid wants for their unwillingness to say "No."

The eternal conflict:

Cool thing the kid would enjoy that you might have to put your foot down over because enforcing moderation is a parent's job, verses unobjectionable conformist mush designed to increase your kids' "goodness levels."

I think the banning of cartoon mascots for snacks in certain countries is also ridiculous.

Thing is, any company could bring them back at any time.

The Monster cereals did figurines of their mascots in cosplay in 2021. Of course, they did it as a limited edition bullshit thing where the actual monster cereal mascots were chase figures, but they made them, they could do them at any time if they wanted to.

They could bring the magic back. Nothing is stopping them.

'cept there's no room for joy on the spreadsheet.

Gotta hit you with a little ennui. It's that ambergris stink that makes the perfume truly sweet.

[nonsensical-pixels]

a bunch of historical hats converted to the sims 2 [download - sfs folder]

hello! recently there has been a MASSIVE rise in popularity for the test of time challenge over on the simscord, and i got roped in to make stuff for everyone, because, well... let's just say there isn't an awful lot of cc for non-medieval or non-modern sims in ts2. so, yeah. have 4 historical hats converted specifically for the early stages of the challenge!

this set includes: - valhallan fortnite flower crown - valhallan dbd babylon plague mask - vintagesimstress bearserker hat - zx-ta tsm fox hat

everything has been compressed and tooltipped, all of the hats have preview included, and are usually for more than just one life stage! wow! if there are any issues with these, kindly let me know 💕

more info for each individual hat + credits under the cut, because this is gonna be a longggg post!

4t2 valhallan fortnite flower crown

this was originally converted from fortnite by @valhallansim as part of their autumn queen conversions, the model was exported by mrshlapa. i only ended up doing it in the 3 wood colors because i didn't want to clog up anyone's cas too much 😅

requested by @aspirationfailuree 💘

4.4k polys, tf-ef

found in the glasses category as an accessory

4t2 valhallan dbd babylon plague mask

this was also originally converted by @valhallansim, but from the game dead by daylight. i did 7 of the 'earthy/metal' tones because i sincerely doubt anyone playing the test of time challenge is going to want a hot pink headdress on their priestess 🤣

requested by shibaharoo on the simscord ❤

4.3k polys, tf-ef

found in the glasses category as an accessory

4t2 vintagesimstress bearserker hat

this was originally an edit of ts4's bear outfit by @vintagesimstress! it's incredibly cute, if a bit morbid when you consider where it probably came from... it comes in the 6 original colors 💞

7.2k polys, tu-eu

found in the glasses category as an accessory

4t2 zx-ta tsm fox hat

this is @zx-ta's conversion of the fox hat from the sims medieval: pirates and nobles! it's only got one color because, well... i've never seen a pink fox, have you? anyway, this is just so damn cute and i could not resist it 🥺

2.3k polys, cu-eu 🦊

found in the glasses category as an accessory

[yellow-faerie]

Could you talk about one of those Doctor Who aus?

Hello! Thank you anon for the ask :) I have a few AUs that I'm currently rotating in my head but my favourite at the moment is the one I just call The Modern AU - it's official name is The Doctor Project but that's not what I call it. This took me a hot minute to write up because it is a lot.

(Also if you wanted to hear about any of my other AUs, I put some brief descriptions in the tags :D)

The basic premise is that the Doctors are all human and a team that worked together for their variety of expertise during the early 2000s to repel an alien invasion and the effect it has on each of them and their general lives. Also the Tardis is there as the only sensible one of the lot.

Some doctors do have more story fleshed out than others, mostly due to the fact that I'm still quite new to a lot of the eu stuff like Big Finish and the books and certain Doctors I would feel better about having engaged with some more of it before getting some proper stories fledged out (mostly because I hope it will give me some more inspiration lol)

I'll put some more general outline below the cut for anyone interested :)

[Warnings: mentions of abuse, discussions of war and the aftermath, complicated relationships to disability, implied torture ]

First Doctor

So the First Doctor is the oldest of the bunch, a retired surgeon and medical doctor (he used to work at Royal Hope Hospital) who was brought into the Doctor project for his research into medicine.

He spent most of the War in London due to his old age making it difficult to run around cities infested with alien invaders but he does get sent out periodically (mostly when one of the others gets too injured to be moved from their current location which happens a few times).

He had a daughter, Gillian, when he was quite young but he and his wife split up, and his daughter spent most of her time with her mother instead. However, he was the one to gain custody of his daughter's daughter (Susan) when Gillian died as his ex-wife had also died.

When the Doctor was conscripted, Susan was about 15 and stayed with their neighbour Steven over the course of the war, and Vicki and Dodo, two girls he fostered as well while their parents were off fighting.

Due to the secure nature of the work that the Doctor Project was doing, she and her grandfather only exchanged a few letters over the course of each year, and they were always heavily edited, and she found herself finding a lot of the emotional support she was lacking from her two teachers at Cole Hill, Barbara and Ian.

When she left Cole Hill Sixth Form, a year before the war ended, she moved back into her grandfather's house but kept in contact with Barbara and Ian who helped her with finding a job and advice on living alone, etc. This would break GDPR and a host of other protection laws these days but it's the middle of an alien invasion, let's pretend that doesn't exist. They didn't know the Doctor at all until after the war when he returns and it's a bit weird for everyone.

Especially since Ian is completely furious at him for leaving his granddaughter alone, mostly because people meet Susan and get the immediate urge to protect her; they do mostly get over that particular hurdle though as more comes out about how the war ended, although the Doctor doesn't help matters much by being his usual grouchy self.

His usual grouchy self made worse by the fact that everything has changed a lot since he had left home. Susan is in training to be a nurse and has these faux-parental figures she trusts so implicitly, and is decidedly more wary around him; he has also been fundamentally changed by living four years in various bunkers while working against an invisible clock to defeat a foe more technologically advanced that they are.

Eventually things do settle down: Ian and the Doctor apologise to each other, Susan and the Doctor have enough heart-to-hearts that it clears the air between them, that sort of thing.

There's not a whole lot of plot to any of the First Doctor's stuff but the vibes and the setting are pretty much in place.

Second Doctor

The second doctor is probably about forty when he's conscripted and he was a physics lecturer at St. Andrews university, specialising in sound and acoustics and waves, that sort of thing. He invented several new versions of sound systems which is what got him noticed for the Project.

St. Andrews is where he meets Jamie, actually, who was working as a guard; they bonded over a mutual love of music, Jamie in particular on the bagpipes, and then over other mutual interests.

I'm imagining they got married before the war (as this is an alternate history anyway, I'm making gay marriage legal earlier because no-one can stop me) when Jamie went on to fight in the army and the Doctor got conscripted into the project. Both of them being in different deployments so regularly meant letter writing was even more difficult.

After the war, the Doctor gives up the whole lecturing thing, as the project had left him with a bad taste in his mouth over the work he had been doing. Instead, he takes his knowledge of music and goes into conducting an orchestra, as well as giving music lessons on the side.

In like...any instrument; he's not even very good at playing a lot of them but he has the technical know-how to make someone else very good at playing them, if they can get past his eccentricities.

Zoe is the first violin in the orchestra who he gives personal tutoring too in a vague attempt to get her to put some feeling into her music. She's technically very brilliant and knows her way around most string instruments with almost military precision, but she was taught in a very wooden way and the Doctor is attempting to bring that out of her.

Victoria, on the other hand, takes piano lessons from him except she's around like four times a week and barely ever actually plays the piano and they always give her supper because her home life is...not the greatest. Her father's very absent and her mother's dead. It's all a bit iffy.

Eventually, Jamie probably calls Social Services who are overstretched in the aftermath of the war as it is, but she manages to find herself to a very nice foster family (the Harris') who make sure she keeps having her piano lessons. Although they continue not to really be piano lessons.

[I feel that I should put a note on Ben and Polly here; they are sort of known to both One and Two as Polly is Barbara's niece (and quite close to her aunt) and Ben is Two's half brother (but not that close all things considered) - they are the sort of people who come around for birthdays and Christmas and the one off weekend, and give you very thoughtful advice and presents, but that's sort of the limit of your relationship with them.]

Third Doctor

The Third Doctor studied chemistry at university, trying out multiple different branches, and had managed to get noticed for a variety of things such as creating a few new medications, discovering the compounds of some rarer chemicals, that sort of thing (I will admit, I don't know what makes a chemist famous).

Sarah Jane is his younger sister by about twenty years: when she was younger, she had a bit of a hero worship of him going on but nowadays she's much more sensible.

He worked at Cambridge with Liz before the war, and a lot of the breakthroughs they made together; they (and by they I mean the Doctor has while Liz is facepalming in the background) have a bitter rivalry with the Oxford researcher Emil Masters (the Delgado Master).

They are married but they keep that out of their professional rivalries.

After the war, however, the Doctor stays with UNIT. He's the only one of the doctors to do this and it's mostly because he doesn't trust that unit won't make terrible decisions with the research the Doctor Project produced, so he stays as a Scientific Advisor and pokes his nose into everyone's business to keep his conscience clean.

Jo is his assistant as per canon, only now she is being invited around for supper four times a week at his house and is probably inheriting everything that both the Master and the Doctor own when they eventually die.

They turn up to her wedding to Cliff when her parents don't.

Once again, this is incredibly vibes based rather than very much plot; there's probably going to be something to do with Jo falling out with her family, but that's about as far as I got with it. It's mostly fluff at this point lol.

[Also a note about the incarnations of the Master: while the doctors aren't actually related, the incarnations of the Master are because I find that entertaining, and also there are less of them]

Fourth Doctor

The Fourth Doctor is an environmental activist before the war! He got a PhD in ecology and then proceeded to throw away a promising career in academia (his parents' words) to gallivant around the planet doomsday prophesying.

What he's actually doing is blackmailing people into implementing climate saving machines, etc. so that he isn't Doomsday prophesying; he actually meets Sarah doing this because they both get thrown in prison for getting nosy around a nuclear power plant and thus is the start of a beautiful friendship/relationship, it's really unclear to everyone else.

He has two sisters; Winifred (although everyone calls her Fred) who is Romana I, and Romana who is Romana II. Romana turns 18 just before the war and Fred turns 25 around the same time, while the Doctor is 30ish.

Romana immediately joins MI6 (she had always wanted to be in the secret service) and the Doctor gets roped into the Doctor project, which means that when Fred dies during the war, neither of them get informed for months due to the lack of proper communication channels.

This is something they both feel very guilty about, especially considering the fact that they have two nephews who got immediately lost in the overworked system without any other relative around who could look after them.

Anyway, also during the war, the Doctor gets captured by the aliens, and held for a good few months; he barely ever acknowledges that this ever happened to anyone, even when he is literally hospitalised after rescue. He just...pretends that everything is fine and dandy actually.

His doctor is actually Harry who then gets roped into the whole Very Secret Doctor Project thing for like a month until the Doctor was determined to no longer need constant observation etc and then he's just sent back to his ship.

However, Harry has better communication with home than the Doctor, and also shore leave, so he's sent to basically tell Sarah Jane that the Doctor is alive and alright - they immediately hit it off and so after the war, Harry and she hang out a lot until he's also living in the house with her, the Doctor and their gaggle of foster children (their are a lot of orphans after the war and so the three of them foster).

The actual content of their relationship is debateable - they could be a throuple, it could be that two of them are a couple and the other is third wheeling like a boss, it could be that none of them are romantically involved at all - but they do care for each other a lot.

Also the children are Luke and Sky from SJA and Leela, who's probably about 16. They have a dog, too, called K9 because the Doctor has called every dog he has ever owned since he wasa child K9, and just added a MK on the end; currently they're on Mk IV.

After the war, they just sort of settle back into what they were doing before; Sarah Jane writes for her newspapers and magazines, Harry takes up a civilian doctor's position again at New Hope and the Doctor returns to blackmailing people into Doing Better, only none of them are all that alright after the war and hiding it affects how well they are with other people.

There are some arguments had, mostly with the Doctor and Sarah Jane as Harry is much more mild mannered - with each other, with various siblings, with annoying work colleagues - until they at least admit that something is wrong, and then they go from there.

Fifth Doctor

The Fifth Doctor is the computer guy. He studied computer science at university and as well as developing quite a lot of high level software, he also developed cheaper hardware storage stuff.

With a lack of people I wanted to make him related to, I made him a Cranleigh - I think this was so he could go to boarding school and hate literally everything about it apart from cricket. His notes say that he cuts most communication with his family after going to university so they're not that important to the story.

During the war, he gets caught under a collapsing building at one point which causes nerve damage to his spine which affects the communication between his legs and his brain, periodically causing the connection to short out and his legs to collapse; the collapsed building also means that he can get quite a lot of pain in his legs, and should really be using crutches (only he forgets to bring them with him a lot).

Before the war, he works for some sort of big tech company who fund a lot of his research but after the war he doesn't particularly want to do research any more - nor work for a big tech company - and goes on to lead the IT department at Royal Hope. Which consists of Turlough (who is there because he needs a job after school and he heard that IT jobs were really easy actually) and possibly a few other characters (I've heard of some that exist in audio format, so when I get there, I may edit this).

He also fosters two kids in the aftermath of the war: Adric, who's mother was Fred and who's older brother died in the time that they were lost in the foster system, and Nyssa, who's father Tremas Masters (the Ainley Master) got imprisoned for murdering both of his wives and very sweetly asked his old university roommate if he might very kindly look after her for him.

Tegan is Nyssa's girlfriend and is subsequently always around at their house, to the point that the Doctor just gave her a key and makes supper expecting that she'll be there.

As for Peri, she and the Doctor meet at the local garden centre, and now she comes around to help look after his garden because her apartment is too small for a proper one (she and Six keep saying that they're saving up for an actual house but that might be a commitment too far).

There are the inklings of an actual plot idea I had here? In my head, somehow the Master escapes prison and intends on escaping the country with his daughter, only the Doctor is like no??? You can't do that to Nyssa??? And someone gets hospitalised.

[A note about Royal Hope, and also Cole Hill, and other reoccurring places: occasionally, the characters coincidentally working at these places is an actual coincidence, but the rest of the time it's because the Tardis has a lot of sway with people and she is always pushing the doctors and their friends to work in similar places so that they actually talk to each other again.

Or something like that. Honestly it's just plot contrivance because I like putting them in the same working environment, it makes it easier for me]

Sixth Doctor

The Sixth Doctor studies law and philosophy, being a lawyer both before and after the war. He's a really good one too, just really obnoxious.

I don't have a lot for the Sixth Doctor yet because I know he has a few audios that I want to listen to for some ideas, but I am very fond of the two seasons we got of him so here's what I have:

Peri meets the Doctor because he represents her in court when she's fighting her stepfather over something; after the court case (which they win) they go out for a few dates, and even though he's obnoxious and incredibly big-headed, he's also weirdly sweet and gentlemanly and so they get together officially.

Then the war starts and the idle talk they had of getting married/getting a house gets pushed aside while the Doctor joins the project and Peri helps with farm work by using her botany to develop crop something or other.

The war really did affect the Doctor. When he was younger, he suffered from Bipolar Depression but got it under control with medication and therapy, but the war and it's aftermath dragged that out of the depths which definitely put an extra strain on his and Peri's relationship.

When it's really bad, he did try to strangle her (like in the show) which did cause her to leave; but she does come back eventually, after the Doctor calls to apologise, and he does get it back under control.

At some points, it's really not the healthiest relationship, but it doesn't stay like that forever; it's something I really want to get into with my writing and I have the outlines of a fic over the period that he and Peri spend sort of separated.

On a lighter note, some of the other characters of the era! The Master keeps appearing on his doorstep after escaping prison looking for help and the Doctor keeps refusing to give it because he did try to kill Five; he once is a prosecutor against the Rani for unethical experimentation and she straight up sends a hit out against him; the Valeyard is his coworker who hates the Doctor a lot more than the Doctor hates him; and Mel is straight up just his personal trainer at the gym who got WAY too invested in his life.

Seventh Doctor

The seventh doctor is a high level tactician for the MOD before the war, and is actually one of the ones to help collect the other doctors together. He actually continues to do his MOD job while doing the Doctor Project which means he's the only doctor to really have a good understanding of what's happening around the world in real time.

However, he doesn't really have anyone to write home about. He grew up in foster care and it took a lot of effort to get to where he was at the outbreak of war, and so he didn't exactly have that many friends about.

The exception to that is Mel who he grew up with in part and so he does send her the odd letter.

After the war, he gets made redundant by the MOD and goes on to become a PE teacher at Cole Hill; he always dresses like he might be lecturing on politics or history, and stands on the sidelines while watching the students. Or he actually lectures on history or politics; honestly the amount of PE that's done is reliant on the mood.

He also ends up living with Ace; officially, she's his foster daughter, but she's so fiercely independent that she insists that they're roommates and he was willing to accept that.

I wish I did have more for him but I'm hoping that as I get through the Audios and books and such like, I'll get a better understanding of his era and the characters around it to make something a bit more developed.

Eighth Doctor

I'm only eight or so audios into this doctor's travels with Charley, and I have yet to read the Eighth Doctor Adventures (although I am looking to) so this isn't at all a complete section.

The Doctor is an expert in psychiatry and neuroscience, specifically in memory, mostly due to his own issues with memory throughout his childhood.

I'm still debating what the actual cause of the memory issues are, but I'm thinking that it might be because he had epilepsy as a child that was believed to have gone as he grew into adolescence but returned due to one (or multiple) head injuries during the war. I know there are certain types of epilepsy that can really affect the memory.

Either way, the Doctor also seems to be a bit of a romantic and very easily swept up in someone else's life; I see him, before the war, having a disastrous marriage to Grace Holloway which breaks down over four years of not seeing each other and ends in divorce as Grace returns to the states.

After the war, I think that he rents out the rooms in his house which is how he meets Charley, but that's about as far as I can really go with other relationships in his life because I haven't seen anything else of his stuff.

Ninth Doctor

The Ninth Doctor is an expert in mechanical engineering and is the one who does the main body of creating the Moment (the thing that takes out the alien invader's mothership).

He is the son of the War Doctor who's the General who Seven went to with his idea of creating a project to end the war, and the one who officially leads them. He mostly raised the Doctor single-handedly but was not exactly the most caring man in the universe.

The Doctor has a lot of very complicated feelings about his father which don't really get resolved because he (the War Doctor) sacrifices himself to set off the Moment.

Anyway, the Doctor never really wanted to get into Academics and become some sort of fantastic mechanical engineer but his father really pushed it (especially when it became clear the Doctor would never join the army); so after the war, he becomes a sort of freelance mechanic and works with Mickey.

Which is where he meets Rose. Rose often comes to visit Mickey at the end of his shifts because they're friends and live close together, and so she and the Doctor meet regularly there until they are both like...want to go travelling?

Rose was 19 when the war started, and runs the Bad Wolf magazine which she basically created at the beginning as a sort fo morale booster and also because she didn't like how the newspapers were reporting and wanted to make something that wasn't filtered through a hundred government filters; Sarah Jane actually writes for it during the war and on occasion afterwards, and is quite a good friend of Rose's for all that they don't see each other face-to-face all that often.

Still, after the war, sales of Bad Wolf kinda drops off a bit but Rose really loves the magazine and so wants to try something different: she wants to travel so she can see the world, and show people how people are rebuilding and getting their lives back in the aftermath (and help out where she can). She tells the Doctor this and then he offers her his van, and they start travelling together.

They live out the back of his van for years and they're quite happy to do it; they get married in Paris, periodically come back to visit Jackie (who is naturally rather displeased about this life choice they've made - although it's fine because they paid for her to come to Paris for the wedding), and just generally having a good time. They're like van lifers except not obnoxious about it, and when they eventually have Mia, they move back to the UK somewhat permanently (they still travel on holidays) so that she is living somewhere steady and permanent in her upbringing.

We also can't forget about Jack - he was a pilot during the war who also wrote for Bad Wolf, usually entertaining and slightly flirty pieces, and after the war, Rose and the Doctor invited him to travel with them after a few years. When they settle down in London, he moves to Cardiff for a bit on a 'journey of self discovery' where he meets the various Torchwood team (I have to admit I haven't got around to watching Torchwood yet).

He is Mia's godfather (so is Mickey, and Shareen is her godmother) and he dotes on her like no-one's business.

Tenth Doctor

The Tenth Doctor is an expert in anthropology and archaeology. He's Donna's little brother although there isn't much of an age difference between the two of them.

Of all the doctors, he's probably the one I've had the hardest time with.

I know he has a wife who died during the war (I'm thinking that this might be Astrid, for lack of someone better), and that Donna's boyfriend Lee died during the war as well - a lot of people did, during bombings and attacks and that sort of thing - and that with his wife he had a daughter (Jenny) (although I'm also playing around with the idea that he also had a younger daughter, that being Sally - as in Sally from Blink).

In the aftermath of the war, then, he and Donna move in together to help each other out, and eventually their mother and grandfather join them as old age arrives.

Donna meets Shawn in the aftermath and they get on well, and have a very healthy relationship and marriage. On the other hand, we have the Doctor who has the worst situationship ever with Martha.

In the aftermath of his wife's death, he meets Martha who got her medical licence during the war and has been working at Royal Hope since then, and I know that they probably hook up a few times in what is absolutely not recommended.

This is where I get a bit stuck on how things develop from here. I've been getting fonder and fonder of Tenmartha as I think on it more (although Martha does not deserve him) but I do quite like the idea of the two of them coming out of trying to force a relationship and being like...oh we're much better and healthier as friends.

Also, although that epilogue for them came out of nowhere, I do think that Mickey and Martha have a lot of potential as a couple.

There's a lot more I would like to develop here but I shall see what happens as I start writing some more of this.

Eleventh Doctor

The Eleventh Doctor was chosen for his mathematical skill. He's also the youngest of all of them, having just finished his PhD at age 20 as the war broke out.

He's the adopted son of Brian, so Rory's younger brother by a few years, and used to follow him and Amy around like a duckling that had imprinted on the closest moving thing. He did end up going to university quite young (honestly like most of the rest of the doctors) and it's there that he met Strax, Vastra and Jenny who took him under their wing as they were older students.

The war happens before he can really start a job and after the war, he struggles for a bit to find his place, but eventually ends up working with his old university friends in the Paternoster Detective Agency.

Amy and Rory get married after the war - Rory is a nurse at Royal Hope, which he was training for before the war, and Amy is a painter. She always intended on being a model or something like a fashion reporter, but during the war she found painting brought her (and others) the joy that could sometimes be very lacking in such a desperate time.

Her favourite artist is Vincent van Gogh.

They have Melody, although her birth is rife with complications, and so they decide to settle very happily with just the one daughter. She is doted on so completely by everyone, especially her uncle; there's a period when she's like four or five when she is convinced that the Doctor is a secret agent of some sort and gets really into all the spy sort of things.

She makes him play dress up with her and she calls herself River Song because it sounds cool and secret-agenty and the Doctor is her quirky sidekick.

[I debated with putting River Song in as a separate character but I wasn't quite sure what I would do with her? There's potential there for an AU of sorts where she is there, but I unfortunately never quite vibed fully enough with River for her to be a major player in the Main AU]

He lives with the Ponds for a bit after the war, and then moves in with Craig, but when Craig moves out with Sophie, he mopes about it and moves back in with the Ponds.

It's around this time that he meets Clara; she's an English teacher at Cole Hill and her mother went missing nearly five years ago. After trying to get the police to do anything at all, and then saving up the money, she hires the Paternoster gang to find out what happened.

What actually happened is still a bit of a mystery, but she definitely isn't still alive, which the Doctor is the one to tell her the news.

I don't think I'm going to do anything romantic with them but I do think they're quite cute together, so I might dabble. But also I quite like the Doctor being aro and I can see him just living with the Ponds and never leaving.

Twelfth Doctor

The Twelfth Doctor is an astrophysicist. He's spent a lot of his life developing telescopes and astral bodies, but after the war, he mostly just lectures. He's such a longstanding part of St Luke's university that they probably couldn't fire him for anything short of murder.

He's married to Missy quite young, actually, although they never had children; she has spent like half of their marriage in prison though, and now spends most of her time hanging around the Doctor's office being annoying to all his students.

During the war, he did get blinded. It's something he has a complicated relationship with, and does not like it when people mention it around him. He uses a cane when he moves around and wears sunglasses because it hides that his eyes aren't necessarily looking at the person he's talking to.

Again, he has a complicated relationship with it.

Nardole is his teaching assistant, only he's massively overbearing about every aspect of the Doctor's life (only he just manages to be endearing enough that the Doctor doesn't just fire him on the spot).

Bill is, like in canon, someone the Doctor tutors, only now instead of getting to see the galaxy, she has he, Missy and Nardole giving her wildly different yet equally terrible dating advice, which somehow works to get her with Heather.

As for Clara, I genuinely don't know what to do with her; she's such a big part of the Twelfth Doctor's story that I do really want to have her be an important character, but I don't know how. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Thirteenth Doctor

The Thirteenth Doctor is an expert in microbiology. She's a government researcher into disease for the few years before the war, but after the war, she becomes an A&E nurse. She found that she preferred chaos and wanted something that was less science based but still within her interests.

She's fostered by Graham as a child, which is how she knows him, and subsequently how she comes to know Ryan and Grace, when Graham meets them. Her mother was Tecteun who she was taken away from when she was twelve due to the fact that Tecteun was a piece of shit (as in canon).

She wrote a lot to all of them during the war; out of all the Doctors, she probably spent the most writing letters (apart from maybe Six who wrote to Peri...so much, he spent so much time agonising over writing letters to her).

She knew Yaz from school and they both moved to London after the war - they met up again when they both returned from the war, and they decided that a change of scenery from the place they grew up might do them good.

London was one of the main targets during the war so there was a lot of practical work and training to do in both the police force and in nursing (which is what the Doctor wants to go into); they stay in shared accomodation and volunteer to help with the rebuilding effort in some of their free time.

When the rebuilding is mostly finished and everything has started to even out again, they stay in London; the Doctor has a job at Royal Hope and Yaz has found her footing in the local police force. They visit Sheffield a lot though, and invite Ryan to stay with them a lot, so he can get away from all the Old People.

Fourteenth Doctor

The Fourteenth Doctor technically doesn't exist. The Doylist reasoning for this is because there was far too little that separated the Fourteenth Doctor out to make him his own character in a modern AU; the Watsonian is because there was meant to be a Fourteenth member of the Doctor Project but he died in transit to the first meeting. Out of respect, the rest skip over the number that was meant to be his.

I've played around with the idea that the Fourteenth and the Tenth Doctor were siblings/related/possibly twins but I think this might be more of an AU sort of thing.

Fifteenth Doctor

Obviously we haven't had the Fifteenth Doctor's actual first season yet or much of anything for him (very excited for it though) so this is very much a work in progress - I'll make more decisions about his story after the season has come out and I've watched it; from vibes alone though, I think he'd be possibly an expert in sociology, and after the war he would own a club or something similar, where Ruby would get herself a job.

Notes and Stuff

Congratulations for getting this far lol! This AU is very precious to me and gets bigger every time I watch a new episode/listen to a new drama/rewatch/relisten/etc.

There are a few general things I'd probably note: all the Doctors have like...actual names (mostly John or a variation there of) but I refer to them all as the Doctor because that's what rolls off the tongue more easily.

Another thing is Idris/the Tardis - on one hand, the original idea was that she would die and her funeral would be the thing to get the Doctors back together so to say, but the more I think about it, the more I would like her to live.

I'm planning on writing some fic for this AU and posting it to AO3 - there's a Sixperi fic I really want to write, and I'm a sucker for some family fluff with various Doctors - and I might draw some stuff, so stick around if you're interested :)

I've only been really into Doctor who for four or five months, and with such an expansive EU (and frankly, such a lot of main content), there's a lot I don't know (although I very much intend to know it one day). If you got this far, I would honestly love to hear your general thoughts and ideas on the AU, a lot of the Eleventh Doctor stuff I worked out was developed from conversation I had with a friend!

Anyway, thank you for getting this far! And thank you for the ask to let me ramble, it took me a while to get all the rambling together but now I've finished, I'm really pleased I got here.

[generalpierrotdameron]

Fans of the best-selling High Republic books and comics that kicked off the era will recognize Mirialan Jedi Vernestra Rwoh, played by actor Rebecca Henderson. The character makes her live-action debut about 100 years older than the teenage prodigy we first met in The High Republic. “I'm just so excited for people to see her in this show because she is so different,” Headland says. “She’s very rarely in the mission robes adventuring and dreaming. I think, as the show goes on, you'll understand why. She has seen so much and she is so in-tune and in love with the Force. Here she's much more of a high-ranking official. The other Jedi revere her. I'm just really excited for people to see her in this show and to see the performance.” (X)

We know that Vern is in The Acolyte, played by Rebecca Henderson. Will other characters from The High Republic books make an appearance?

HEADLAND: I'm gonna be straight with you. They do not. Part of that is because I wanted to save some people for Season 2. I really focused on Vern. Vern was a character that really jumped out at me immediately as someone that I wanted to see as an arc for where we were with the Jedi when we come into this story. A character that started out as a prodigy, someone powerfully connected to the Force, almost in love with the Force, but also sassy enough to make her lightsaber into a whip. Someone [with] that experimentation, that energy, and then to see who she is in our show, and see what happens over the course of becoming a more and more powerful Jedi, and going from mission after mission, to council meetings, and protocol, and “how do we keep this institution going, how do we check it, how do we negotiate the level of power that we have.” She's massively respected, and considered to be one of the most powerful Jedi at this particular time period. I hope the High Republic fans are excited by the white robes, because we really were intent on using them. Not only because that was a nod to the books, but also because I think it really thematically explains a lot. They're not getting into a bunch of skirmishes, you know? They're wearing all white, because not much is happening. Connecting those with the brown robes that you usually see Jedi in as the mission robe, the robes that would get dirty, those are fun things to pull. You're gonna see some stuff from the EU, you're gonna see some aliens from Clone Wars in there, references to the special editions. There's a lot of fun stuff in there that's not necessarily connected to The Mandalorian or The Skywalker Saga. (X)

[sky-kenobye]

13 books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Thanks @willameena for the tag! :D

1) The Last book I read:

Idk if it counts since it's a graphic novel but the last thing I read was Bolchoi Arena, by Boulet and Aseyn. It's a sort of Ready Player One universe (less dystopic i think though). I really like it, but I'm waiting for the fourth volume to come out and there isn't a release date yet 😭

(I don't think there's an English translation (yet) so i can only recommend it if you speak french, sorry)

2) A book I recommend:

Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao. LOVED IT! I'm bad at recommending stuff but: big monsters, pacific rim style machines to fight the monsters, polyamory, ruthless woman, plot twists... So cool!

Also Loveless, by Alice Oseman, because it's about aromanticism and asexuality which is almost non-existent in... any media really, and that book is very dear to me.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

All the ones I really like x) I struggle a lot with putting down a book once I'm into it. The first advice to fall asleep easier is always 'don't use your phone before bed, read a book instead!' but if I do that I won't even try to sleep, I'll just keep reading all night...

But I guess the one that I was the most surprised about not being able to put down is The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. I'm not particularly into historical books, and that's a huge book around the building of a cathedral, so I was a bit skeptical, but damn, it was great! It's over 1000 pages and I still managed to read it in less than a week while on a school trip.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

So many of my childhood books. I almost spent more time re-reading my favorite stuff than reading new books lol. I think the ones I've re-read the most are Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and La Quête d'Ewilan.

5) A book on my TBR:

So many. Soooo many. I keep buying books even though I don't read them, help.

I'll go with the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers because I really want to read them, people keep recommending them, I have them (in a really cool edition), I can literally see them in my bookshelf right now, and yet I don't read them for some reason 🤷

6) A book I’ve put down:

Also a lot. If I manage to put a book down I can forget it exists in a couple of days, even if i loved it, and weeks later I'm like "oh shit, I never finished that book".

One of the few that I put down more or less on purpose is Silo, by Hugh Howey. I'm pretty sure I would like it if I kept reading but something happens only a few chapters in that put me off and kind of annoyed me so I never read the rest.

7) A book on my wish list:

Revenge of the Sith! And many other star wars books. The reason why I still don't have it is that I want it in english so I have to order it online from the UK probably, and between the shipping and the taxes from being from outside the EU (sometimes there are taxes, sometimes not, i don't understand how it works)(one time I had to pay taxes on my own clothes that I sent myself from the UK to France 😭😭 I'm still mad about it) it'll end up being way more expensive than it should, so I'm putting it off x) I looked for it when I was in scotland but they didn't have it :(

8) A favorite book from childhood:

The ones I mentioned in 4) were my all time fav, I can't think of any other right now even though I used to read a lot more books than i do now 🤔

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Honestly I would be so scared they didn't like it that I probably would never give a book to anyone unless they asked for it 😬 (except my family I guess)

Mayyybe a Dan Brown, like The Da Vinci Code? I feel like that would be a pretty safe bet, unless they hate the genre.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own:

I don't think I have any? I had to read Alcools, by Apollinaire for the baccalauréat (french high school graduation exam) but I think it was my mom's copy and i honestly hated it. According to my teacher it was "cubist poetry" which, what? I was not smart enough to understand any of it, and it wasn't doing it for me.

(Literary analysis is my nemesis, I'm usually pretty smart but when I try to analyse a text it's just *no thoughts, head empty*)

I'm really picky about poetry so I don't really know where to start to read any.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

I don't have many: a few anthologies of queer stories, How to Invent Everything by Ryan North (literally what the title says lmao), Eject! Eject! by John Nichol (about the history of ejection seats, super interesting!), Les Guerres de Lucas by Renaud Roche and Laurent Hopman (a french graphic novel about George Lucas), and Tu mourras moins bête by Marion Montaigne (scientific stuff explained, but make it hilarious, also french comics)

12) What are you currently reading:

Ithaca, by Claire North, but I've barely started.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

No idea! Maybe Iron Flame, maybe The Priory of the Orange Tree, maybe Floating Hotel, maybe finally the Wayfarers series, maybe a random other book, who knows 🤷

If you've read all of that, thank you and congratulations!

Tags: @piecesofeden11 @sendpseuds @kingdomvel @bolshoiromanova @renlyslittlerose @intermundia @desmothene @arobiwan @cottonraincoat @starwalkertales @artbythedarkside @shakeskp @somethingsteff (I tried not to tag people I had seen tagged already)(but no pressure!)

[ohmerricat]

if you've watched nightmare in silver i'd love to hear what you think — it's a pretty good episode in my opinion and it's one of the few cybermen-as-the-main-monster episodes i actually liked, but it's also one of those episodes that takes some of its most interesting elements from something i like a lot more from the eu so that coloured my perception a bit (turns out constantly going wow just like zagreus makes you less capable of just enjoying the episode as it is. oops)

it’s… a mixed bag of an episode, honestly, provided how much stuff is actually in it. i liked select parts of it a whole lot, much room for thought there, whereas others … skeeved me out, to put it mildly. i don’t think neil could possibly have topped the masterpiece that is The Doctor’s Wife, and whatever he set out to do here… could have stood a little more editing??

to get the grumbling out of the way: the kids. Most Annoying Who Side Characters Ever award goes to them, singlehandedly taking first place away from that stuck-up nerd in Poison Sky. i don’t know if neil intended for them to act supremely slappable, but christ alive. just the constant dour negativity and ‘bored teenager’ unimpressed commentary … walking vibe drainers. made it hard to care about their fate tbh. oh they got cyberconverted? oh they got rescued and brought back? Whatever. call me a boomer apologist… i’ve never referred to a pair of children (fictional or real) as ‘ungrateful spoiled brats’ before but this could be the day i start.

additionally: the hell was that stuff about clara at the end? “too short and bossy and your nose is all funny” “mystery wrapped in an enigma stuffed into a skirt that’s just a little too tight” go to hell gaiman. genuinely. here i was relying on you, thinking you’re immune to casual misogyny. especially since it doesn’t even make sense… clara’s skirts are never tight? not once? i understand that the former comment was a bluff to get out of admitting feelings but, again it’s not even accurate, since jenna coleman’s nose completely fits the beauty standard?? baffles me

those are all minor nitpicks bc other than that the episode’s fun! and creative, especially all the scenes with the cyber-planner and their high-stakes chess game (you like chess dontcha). i haven’t listened to zagreus (YET) but from what i’ve gathered from internet osmosis the doctor gets possessed by an … evil nursery rhyme? lmao. seems legit

anyway nightmare in silver has unfortunately made me understand people who find matt smith attractive. i’ve cracked it: it’s a dormant gene that only activates when he’s playing an intimidating villain. especially here, when he’s mr clever, a warped mirror of eleven, with the boundaries between the two blurring so far as to confuse even clara. this moment is top notch:

which one of you said that? she’s right to question it.

he’s been quietly manipulative with clara for the entire duration of their travels so far, concealing from her the truth about the ‘mystery’ that her whole existence presents to him, while she remains the object of his puzzle-solving quest. a particularly odious example in this scene in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, where the doctor is fully aware that their impending doom at the cliff is an illusion, but puts on the pretense that they’re about to fall to their deaths anyway, building all that fear just to to coax clara’s “secret” out of her (“since we’re both going to die here, you may as well tell me what you are”). as soon as he gets what he wants — or, rather, doesn’t, because there’s no satisfactory answer yet — he reveals that he’d known all this time that the TARDIS wouldn’t have let them fall.

that’s what makes mr. clever so insidiously, well, clever as a plot device: eleven’s not possessed by an external force, not quite. no: it’s his own shadow showing. he’s always been like this. the cyber-code slowly taking over the right side of his brain is just as smart as him, just as manipulative, just as much of a trickster. all his darker traits turned up to, well, 11 (sorry not sorry). “allons-y!” “fantastic!” “you’ve had some cowboys in here” mr clever is a parasite that takes the worst and best parts of the doctor, cuts them up and re-attaches them in a parodic audio-collage, and isn’t that just so fucking ingenious

another line that’s just a straight banger, not much to say about it really other than the fact that it cuts straight through to the core of the narrative:

this spun out of control and turned out far far longer than expected, my apologies (not really. you asked!)

[potential-fate]

I sorta loathe the ts2 fat morph....

which has apparently become a project of it's own.

so I mentioned this vaguely somewhere, but thought I should make a generalize post about it. Mainly cause it'll probably affect any cc I make in the future so... there's that.

Anyway.... because I've spent the last few months sorta adding fat morphs to some of my really old clothing, I quickly realized that I didn't have to deal with EA's "fat" morph. There is literally nothing stopping me from just... making it look better/how I want it to.

Anyways, long story short, I'm picky. There are a decent amount of nice bodyshapes out there, and while I like them, I don't like having multiples of the same outfit (it's the same reason I ended up going with Sunshine hair.) I like sticking to the game's original setup, which in the case of fit states, is unfortunately limited.

I also spend most of my time posing and doing story posts, so I'm not a fan of the much larger bodyshapes, even though I love them in theory.... because they clip a ton, and make more work for me later. So I wanted something that I liked 🤔 but also didn't fuck with the in-game animations too much.

Also, I just sorta like the pear-shaped chunky body type (it's not at all cause it resembles mine lmao nope.... not at all.)

anyways, idk if anyone is even still reading this, but uh... yeah.

I guess this is me, introducing the "sorta chunky, sorta pear-shaped, 'still not really a fat morph' in my opinion because game limitations" bodyshape/fatmorph? (Or, in short cause filename size 'pfate pearshape'.)

At least as an idea. idk if anyone is at all interested in this. but if they are, I can share whatever people want about it/resources for it? idk it's not like I have WSOs cause I honestly don't know how to use them let alone make them. I tend to just make my morphs by hand.

But on a technical note, I think I have most of the Digi Marvine feet naked meshes defaults changed to this, and some other stuff too. mainly Club Crimson stuff, because frankly, I'm still using the files I had from 2012 so none of them had morphs at all (though I'm sure someone somewhere HAS added morphs to them.)

[[ TL;DR is this: I felt like I needed to make a post about it, cause some of the stuff I'm gonna be sharing coming up has fat-morphs based on this. things like defaults that either didn't have morphs so I added them, or they had morphs but I edited them anyways because I was defaulting them with specific sims in mind (like Jorah, Alex or Ginevra) and I wanted a post that I could link back to for reference on those posts. ]]

in any case, if I make a default and change the morphs from ones that already exist, and you WANT the defaults with the original morphs, that's very easy to switch out and I will gladly do it if you ask lol. otherwise I'll probably edit things as I see fit since uhm. well I make cc 99.9% for myself 😂😅

Other age turnarounds under the cut, cause this is too long already.

EU Bodies (Left: Maxis Standard/thin, right: Pfate-Pearmorphs)

TU Bodies (Left: Maxis Standard/Thin, right: Pfate-Pearmorphs)

CU Body (Left: Maxis Standard/Thin, right: Pfate-Pearmorphs)

CU body changed the least from the original fat-morph, then the elder femme frame, I would say? cause the elder frame already had a sort of pear shape (that sorta inspired the other femme ages.) the others are varying degrees of change, with AM being the strongest change by far.

[number1villainstan]

Sending you a list of villains to stuff on the turbovirgin to megaslut scale:

Megamind, Endeavor, Shigaraki, Overhaul, Nomu, Toga, All for one, Nagant, Dabi, Kurogiri, Spinner, Palpatine Vader the grand inquisitor Dooku and fuckit why not sith obi wan as well, Jango Fett, Zhao, Ozai, Unalaq/Amon/Kuvira if you've seen Lok, Sozin Long Feng Pakku Hama

Putting a bunch of villains on the Ultimate Blorbo Chart, as my name would suggest. Alright let's fuckin do this

alright it's late and i'm using my shitty free came-with-Windows image-editing software that doesn't have a text box option for some unfathomable reason so you get my shitty computer-mouse handwriting. EXPLANATIONS UNDER THE CUT:

Megamind (written as MM): 100% Literal Angel for obvious reasons, 50% Turbovirgin because he did get with Roxanne but it's like his first relationship of any kind outside of Minion and Metroman, and his first romantic relationship period.

Endeavor (written as End): 80% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 100% Turbovirgin because--listen. I know he has four kids. But that man has never had sex in his LIFE it was all artificial insemination Hawks or All Might makes one flirty comment and he combusts on the spot

Shigaraki (written as Shi): 0% Literal Angel/War Criminal because he's in a weird superposition of being both 100% Literal Angel and 100% War Criminal so they cancel out perfectly, 45% Turbovirgin because he gives me ace vibes, so he's still a virgin but only because he's not interested in sex.

Overhaul (written as CK): 100% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 100% Megaslut because look me in the eyes and tell me the Eight Bullets aren't a harem. If he wasn't germaphobic (and the yakuza wasn't homophobic) he'd have a sexual body count as high as his murder body count. Plus extra points for aroallo swag.

Nomu (not on the chart): THERE ARE MULTIPLE NOMU AND I DON'T REMEMBER THEM ALL HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CATEGORIZE THEM

Toga (written as Toga): 90% Literal Angel because everything she ever did was justified by her being a teenage girl with a Quirk that made her literally thirsty for blood, 5% Megaslut cuz she's flirty and also a teenager but I don't think she's ever gone further than a makeout

All For One (written as AFO): 100% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 10% Turbovirgin because like Shiggy w/ the morality axis he gives me both Turbovirgin AND Megaslut vibes but they mostly cancel out

Lady Nagant (written as LN): 20% Literal Angel because she was justified but also she knows what she did and would do it again, 15% Megaslut because I feel like a) she's aspec and b) she's had sex but it's not exactly a priority.

Dabi (written as Dabi): 80% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 75% Megaslut because he gives me the vibes of someone who sells $5 blowjobs in the club bathroom but can't full on fuck because it hurts too much/his body gives out/his one-night-stands are less-than-understanding.

Kurogiri (written as KG): 10% Literal Angel because dealing with teenage Shigaraki sounds like hell and somehow Kurogiri got through it, 0% Turbovirgin/Megaslut because he knows what sex is (in detail) but has little interest in it. At least in his current form.

Spinner (written as Spi): 20% Literal Angel because he just wants to Do Good, 55% Turbovirgin because he's in the same boat as Shiggy but more awkward about it

Palpatine (written as Palp): 100% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 100% Turbovirgin because he just Does Not Seem Fuckable to me. IDK maybe someone out there wants to fuck that old man but he'd probably electrocute them before they got close. "Palpatine" and "sex" just do not belong in the same sentence.

Vader (written as Vader): 70% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 20% Turbovirgin because he's canonically fucked at least once, but it was only after he got married, and I STRONGLY doubt he ever even THOUGHT about anyone else that way. If either EU contradicts this don't tell me because I don't want to know.

The Grand Inquisitor (not on the chart): I really don't know who that is, aside from the vague notion that it's a Rebels character, and the one I'm thinking of may not be the right one so I'm playing it safe.

Dooku (written as Dooku): 80% War Criminal for obvious reasons (and not 100% because I like Chisaki too much), 100% Megaslut because now THERE'S a Fuckable Old Man

Sith!Obi-Wan Kenobi (written as S!OBK): 40% War Criminal because I can't see him being as bad as, say, Dooku, but he's a Sith and therefore still pretty bad, 100% Megaslut because obvious reasons

Jango Fett (written as JF): 15% War Criminal cuz he didn't really do all that much, 80% Turbovirgin because the only kids of his we know of are actual clones, which I have decided means that he is Simply Uninterested in fucking.

Zhao (written as Zhao): 75% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 60% Turbovirgin because it's funny

Ozai (written as Ozai): 100% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 40% Turbovirgin because--listen, I know some people think he'd be a Megaslut like Iroh, but I will hold onto my demi!Ozai headcanon until the day I die. He is Simply Uninterested in fucking right up until he gets to know Ursa properly and then feels sexual/romantic attraction and is like "HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS"

LoK villains (not on the chart): sorry, it's been a while since I've seen any LoK and it didn't stick in my brain like AtLA's Fire Nation did. Didn't trust myself to make good judgements.

Sozin (written as Sozin): 100% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 90% Turbovirgin because you KNOW he spent most of his life pining after Roku

Long Feng (written as LF): 80% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 10% Megaslut because he kinda gives me slut vibes but not very strong ones.

Pakku (written as Pakku): 10% War Criminal because he's an asshole but more of a garden-variety asshole than someone like Ozai or Endeavor, 100% Turbovirgin because *gestures to the sexism*. Maybe if he and Kanna reconcile properly he'll become less of a Turbovirgin but at the beginning let's just say he is not beating the incel allegations

Hama (written as Hama): 50% War Criminal for obvious reasons, 30% Megaslut because she's definitely taken a few men her age to bed before fucking them up (rather than just fucking them lmao). Maybe this is me falling for the 'witch'/evil woman = sexually promiscuous stereotype but she's definitely not on the Turbovirgin side.

BONUS CHARACTERS (that I forgot to put onto the chart, whoops):

Ursa: 70% War Criminal because Fire Nation Princess during the war and you can't be happily married to Ozai for any period of time without being at least 50% War Criminal even if it ends unhappily, he's a real bastard4bastard type, they both are actually, and a solid 40% Megaslut. i feel like she has a Normal amount of sexuality and is very comfortable with it. at the very least she knows more about and likes sex more than her husband does lolololol

Chronostasis: 20% War Criminal because he does terrible shit but all on Chisaki's orders, he strikes me as very 'no thoughts head empty' wrt to morality. 70% Megaslut, trying very hard to get into Chisaki's pants (good luck with that with how often he cleans them)

Todoroki Fuyumi: Comes across as Turbovirgin and Literal Angel but every day she lives under Endeavor's thumb is another day she inches closer to 100% War Criminal. Likewise, I think she has this secret bad habit of sleeping with random strangers (as in I literally wrote a oneshot about it) that no one knows about. Her smile is fake her dreams are full of violence the end of her rope is near she Cannot Take Much More Of This Shit

[four-loose-screws]

(Apologies in advance for the long ask, there was just a lot I had to say on this topic, and wanted to present my case as throughly as possible)

Hello there, first I just want to say thank you for all the hard work you do, I and no doubt many others truly appreciate it. Anyway, I saw your translation regarding Etie and Goldmary’s support conversations and it reminded me of a personal theory regarding it that I’ve had for some time. When I first heard of the differences between the Japanese and English conversations, one thing that came to my mind was a somewhat similar conversation that was also changed for presumably similar reasons, that being Tharja and Nowi’s Harvest Scarmble conversation in Awakening. Basically that conversation initially had Nowi admiring Tharja’s, umm … “boingy bits” but was changed to Nowi admiring her hair instead. Now this change was only made in the EU version while the NA version kept the “boingy bits” part intact, and the more I’ve learned about how rating systems in different regions tend to operate, I’ve begun to noticed certain patterns. In this case when it comes to places like Australia, they can be extremely strict when it comes to any sort of sexual content particularly when it involves younger looking characters, which in the case of Nowi is very evident thus offering a possible explanation for why that particular conversation in Awakening had to be changed. The reason I bring up Australia in particular, is that if you’re not aware they have quite the history of editing games and even refusing releases for all sorts of reasons, including the aforementioned “sexual content with younger looking characters”. If you want more information, here’s a link to the Wikipedia article that goes more into it with some examples: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_Australia

So what does all of this have to do with this conversation in particular you may ask? Well perhaps due to Etie being 17 there was some concern if this conversation could place them into a similar issue. Now yes the ages are strictly resorted to the data files of the game and whether Etie in particular looks young enough to raise some flags is debatable (especially since she’s not in the same camp as a Nowi per say), but the fact that it’s at all present in the game to some capacity might be enough to err on the side of caution, and even if that wasn’t an issue I still think it’s possible that it could potentially raise the game rating up in some part of the world or worse get the game refused for classification, since it appears that even T (ESRB) or 12+ (PEGI) games aren’t exempt from the latter. And as a result of the change, it had a knock on effect to the B-Support as now the original wouldn’t exactly flow all that well into the revised A-Support, essentially keeping the overall theme of the conversation as close as possible within the limitations. Of course this is purely speculation, as far as I know I could be totally wrong on this but I do find the discrepancy between the aforementioned Tharja and Nowi conversation to be worth bringing up. Perhaps the reason why both NA and EU received the same conversation is that since it’s now fully voiced, they didn’t want to go through the trouble of making an alternative and since NOA and NOE in recent years have more or less unified to have the same English script everywhere in contrast with previous generations where both of them would do their own thing, possibly as a result of games typically coming out on the same day everywhere now.

Personally I like to believe that the issue that the team ran into was the A Support for all the reasons listed above and thus had a knock-on effect to the B Support to make it flow better, as I don’t think they would’ve changed that on its own, maybe they would’ve reworded some things but otherwise keep it relatively close, especially since some other “spicy” stuff like Goldmary undressing in her support with Framme was kept intact, but perhaps the A-Support could’ve be seen as pushing it when it came to getting a higher age rating or worse banned. It’s tough to say since unless someone who worked on the localization ever talks about this, all we can do is speculate and unless something else comes up, this sounds the most plausible to me with my understanding of ratings and how it can affect localizations. But what do you think, have you ever ran into something that made you consider the possibility of tightroping rating boards, whether it be the ESRB or elsewhere, I’m really interested in hearing what you have to say. Once again thank you for all your hard work and I hope you have a great day.

This is great speculation, everyone please enjoy a good read! I don't have too much to add, but here goes!

I didn't think too much into why exactly Etie and Goldmary's supports were rewritten, just had some vague ideas like "them fighting over who's more attractive to men wouldn't sit well with a general audience nowadays." If my thoughts are too speculative, sometimes I'll just choose to keep them to myself, lest the inevitable game of internet telephone turns my vague ideas into some sort of fact or something. It just happens sometimes.

I can't think of any other specific examples right away where the localization team might have had to tightrope rating boards, but I'm sure I've seen some examples in the past. It's just not an angle that tends to come to my mind when doing my original vs localization work.

Your thought that the Etie and Goldmary change was due to rating board guidelines makes a lot of sense, I don't know why I didn't think of that! Everything you say lines up with the general trends I've seen over the years. The Tharja and Nowi convo is a perfect parallel.

While I choose to focus on a USA perspective in my posts, of course, because that's the one I have, I to have read a bit online over the years about what's "too sexy" and "not too sexy" in the US vs. JP vs. Australia. Plus I made several Australian friends while teaching English in Japan, so I learned lots of bits and pieces of cultural differences from them. As a result, I've seen lots of little signs that show Australia was one of the first areas of the world to start to crack down really hard on sexualization of minors (both real and media characters), starting the global ripple affect we continue to see today.

And it's easy to prove that English language localizations are being more and more centralized, because, well, that one's easy - you just don't see differences between NOA and NOE, etc. scripts as much anymore. So that can mean localization teams have to pass multiple rating board "checks" at once.

Is this all for better or worse, that video games are becoming more of a melting pot to sell on a global scale? That rating boards can have such an influence over media? Well, that's hard to judge as a general concept. The answer is different case by case.

In my personal opinion on Etie & Goldmary's supports, I overall like the changes the localization team came up with. Whether the decision to make the changes was made internally or due to an outside influence like the rating boards, I think the team still carefully read the original conversation before making their changes. Even with entire lines rewritten, the general flow is still the same. Localizers can't always keep scripts the same detail to detail, but they can prove that they researched, cared for, and understood the game they were assigned to localize!

And that's generally what I have to say about that. Sorry its not a little more detailed!

[why-rock-look-tasty-if-no-eat]

Silly Game Time: Are you fan of the fantasy genre? If so, what's a fantasy story (movie, show, book, game, etc.) you really like, and why?

Yes! I'm actually a big fan of fantasy, though it's more of the nerdy side than modern fantasy, I could care less for how skimpy armor is for women and how . . . charged shows are. I just want the world building and action 😁

Star Wars is at the top of my list because the EU adds so much more depth than you'd think. I'm not a sequel fan, in the first half hour it basically retconned so many stuff. Rogue One, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett are top tier. Even if they massacred my boy, the Kryat. Which fun fact! There's canon and fanon languages that actually work, and you can learn Mandalorian!

LoTR, extended edition of course. Haven't read the books but that's mostly because I'm to poor to buy them and I prefer to read physical (published) books to concentrate better 🫠

Skyrim (SSE, and I have 251 esp. Yikes, but my computer handles it like a dream. ReShade and ENBSeries too after changing a .log or was it .ini? I can never remember. Nemesis, EasyNPC, DYNDOLOD, XEdit, and LOOT on Nexus)

[innitmarvellous]

I would love to hear about you going on a tangent about British politics and stuff. I find stuff like that so fascinating especially as an American so please do tell and any book/media recommendations would be cool Tysm

Whoa, thank you so much and I even feel honoured! :D I'm always happy for an opportunity to bang on about politics. And I'm sorry, but this will be a pretty long post, haha.

Well, I was sort of into politics ever since my school days (oh, the good old days when I had to explain the German electoral system for my exams haha) and I guess I might have studied something politics-related at university if I had the qualifications...but sadly I don't, so it's just something like a hobby for me. Anyway, at first I mostly just followed German politics, but then I got really into British politics in 2016 after the Brexit vote. I started watching the parliamentary debates on Brexit when they showed them on German TV for whatever reason, then later online and idk, that got me hooked. I have been following current events to varying degrees ever since (mostly via the Guardian and the BBC News because I'm sort of a leftie...lol) and I would say it has definitely become one of my main interests. I think nowadays I'm probably better informed about the events in the UK than about the political landscape in my own country (bit sad, but true). Still, I'm definitely no expert and I've got a bad memory, so I find new and interesting bits and books all the time, haha.

Anyway, book recommendations! This will be by far the longest part of this post…of course this is only just about the stuff I've read, so not exactly comprehensive and probably biased because of my personal political preferences, but…hopefully still a bit useful. :) (Sorry for the Goodreads links, but since I use that site to keep track of my reading it was just the easiest solution. Here's also a link to my non-fiction shelf for more stuff…I didn't mention every single book I've read or else this post would be even longer haha)

For a more general overview I would recommend this series of books: UK Politics Annual Update. They are actually for A-level exam preparations, but I found them pretty useful (especially for earlier years when I didn't follow politics yet) and bought almost all of the older editions. Or alternatively, this book was alright if you want want less detail, but still a quite comprehensive overview. Although I didn't really like how the author's personal opinion got obvious from some bits. For a more light-hearted approach, British Politics for Dummies is also pretty good. I've read a few of this series and it's one of the better books.

Getting a bit more specific now…two pretty good books which are mostly about what happens in Westminster and what could be improved about the way British politics work are How Westminster Works...and Why It Doesn't and Code of Conduct. Especially the first one is really good, and it has lots of interesting stuff in the 'further reading' section for the more hardcore nerds. Yeah, I'm currently going through that list, haha.

Also pretty good, but also quite specific are Chums and Butler to the World. The first one is about how modern politics is mostly shaped by people who went to Oxford (and it was quite depressing sometimes, but very interesting), and the second is about how Britain occasionally helps rich people hide their money to pay less taxes and all that. Another good one is The War Against the BBC, but as it's mostly about, well...the BBC it's only politics-adjacent…still worth reading especially since the Tories these days are attacking the BBC all the time and try to undermine it.

As for Brexit, I'm still looking for a really good book about that…but the best one I've read so far is A Short History of Brexit. It's pretty complicated and technical though, and goes into detail about how the UK joined the EU in the first place, so I wouldn't 100% recommend it.

Three quite different, but interesting books written by British politicians are Go Big, Seven Ways to Change the World (ideas about how to improve British or even world politics from two former Labour leaders) and Unspeakable (despite the title it's not just an autobiography but also explains quite a bit about the work of the Speaker of the House of Commons).

Also, no matter whether you're a rather left-wing person or whatever you think about Jeremy Corbyn, this book was really interesting. Of course it's written from a sympathetic viewpoint, but it was generally really interesting to see the phenomenon of Corbynism in the context of the history of the Labour Party. Same goes for this book, although it's also written from a left-wing perspective.

Also surprisingly good and insightful was this short essay about politics by Frankie Boyle. Yes, the comedian.

Oh, and last but not least: I also genuinely think that watching HIGNFY is pretty useful when it comes to getting an overview about current British events. (Well, "current" depends on whether you're watching an old series or the latest episodes, of course. But it's just as good for older stuff, I think. Some things like, idk, scandals usually don't get mentioned in the books, at least not the ones I've read.) Same goes for the Private Eye annuals, although I assume these are more fun if you do have at least some knowledge of what happened in the corresponding year already.

[nevoadecaipora]

Hiiii tagged by @xielianss (thank you darling! <3)

list 13 songs you’ve been listening to lately

Francesca by Hozier this song took me completely when i first heard it, i love the lyrics and the emotions Hozier puts in every verse. i keep singing it non-stop

Enamorado Tuyo by El Cuarteto De Nos that i've first heard in a sasunaru edit tiktok. i have no regrets since i always discover great songs by sns AMVs and they always manage to pull real human emotions from me when i'm feeling disconnected

Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones there's something about this song that sounds so crispy and good to me but like texture wise?? idk how to explain it but it sounds so so good to me

Maar Daala from the movie Devdas so Devdas is one of my favorite movies ever, is so dramatic and the visuals are beautiful, but this song in specific is the reason why i went after the movie to watch and it was super worthy, and this song is so good and the scene is amazing. seriously Devdas is a gorgeous movie and the songs are great, but this one is *chef's kiss*

...IN HEAVEN... by BUCK-TICK i just love the vibe of the song, and BUCK-TICK in general. as jade said, their vocalist passed away, sadly, but the great songs remain with his beautiful voice. since it came out i've also been liten to Mugen Loop a lot too since it came out

Identity by Sakanaction this song is soooo good. Sakanaction in general is a band that i've discovered a few years back and i love their songs and videos, but mostly i loooooove the baseline.

When I'm Alone by Twisted Nerve got addicted to this song since i first heard it in my friend's ig story. really good and idk i really like this texture of old recordings it adds yo the song.

Senhor cidadão by Tom Zé this song is a bit tripy and in general feels like a post-modern play written by liberal theater students and the lyrics are soooo fucking powerful and it never stops com making me feel punched in the chest when they get to "eu quero saber com quantos quilos de medo se faz uma tradição" (i want to know with how many kilos of fear a traditions is made) and after that is just non stop raw feelings

O Mundo É Um Moinho by Cartola i love the guitar of this song it's beautiful, but in genera this song is heartbreakingly beautiful and sad even if it makes me optimistic. i wish i could talk more about it but it's something that you have to listen and read the lyrics and you'll feel

What's Up by 4 Non Blondes i was singing the He-Man meme version of the song one day and then i stopped to pay attention to the lyrics and i thought "oh shit i'm going through this exact same thing right now what the fuck?" so this is the song i'm listening to lately to go through the very difficult days at work

Holy by King Princess i needed to chose a name for one of my fishes and this song was playing and i really liked the melody then i got really addicted to in and listened to it non-stop for four days straight

Baby sung by Gal Costa i love this song so much and i love every single version i've listened to so far, but to me this one is THE ABSOLUTE BEST because the strings and Gal's voice is angelical. and again, old recordings have a specific texture and this one i feel like im in a huge theater as the only person in public listening to them perform. in general is feels very dream like, an absolute fave. and i'm cheating a little bit because i'm always listening to this song not just lately, lmao, but it deserves to be mentioned

Tá Escrito by Grupo Revelação listen, samba and pagode in general are not music genres i'm really into, i have nothing against it, it's just not something that i listen. but one specific hard day i was taking the bus home in a bad mental health day and this song came randomly and saved my day. it's very optimistic and hyper, and now every time i'm needing some hope in my life i listen to it.

So, now that I see it, a lot of them are stuff that i've been listening since teenage years, but i always go back and forth when it comes to songs/artists/genres. this was so much fun!!!

thank you again jade for tagging me!

ill tag: @jcamilov06, @soda-limonada; @happyholand; @adimelo; @zapatism and @corrupted-willy. Feel free to do it if you want, I thought it was really fun!

[g-hua]

Wuthering Waves is pretty nice so far. I really like the plot, the lore, the world, the characters, and their design. The combat looks and feels really nice. I'm fully aware that it's a Genshin clone, but it's the first Genshin clone that I've tried so far that managed to keep me interested.

The gacha system is also less unforgiving (although it's still a gacha system and inherently predatory, so I hope it doesn't lul anyone into overspending on it just because it's slightly more player friendly).

I can't really add any positives that other people haven't already mentioned over and over again. It's actually really fun and pleasant looking with an interesting plot.

But...

1. It's 2024. Why does the android version not have controller support...? Why do mobile developers keep doing this...? Specially Chinese mobile developers, Android based OSs absolutely crush iOS in China due to affordability (and other more shady marketing reasons framed as nationalism). Are they unaware that people use mobile controllers like the kishi or a Bluetooth one? My boyfriend gave me a kishi ages ago for Christmas and I rarely get to use it properly outside of ported Indies... I always have to use Mantis Gamepad, and it's just not the same because I'll still have to use the touchscreen for menu stuff a lot... I usually use my Xbox controller for my chromebook tablet too... Why are these mobile games always so mobile player unfriendly? The lack of controller support makes the platforming and similar activities (like, for example, time trials) so frustrating that I'm ignoring them all... Maybe I'm spoiled by my switch, playing games on it always feels so much more comfortable and fun (that... was a gift from the boyfriend too... I feel like I'm just spoiled in general now).

2. The disconnects, the +200 and +300 ping, the random once in a full moon clipping of character's design elements (like Rover's ponytail, the odd glitch once in a decade... The game feels like they almost managed to polish it fully but ran out of time at the last moment... It's not a big deal at all but it's enough to notice that they don't have the same resources as mihoyo. I don't mean this in a "mihoyo best company" kind of way because no, definitely not, but more in a way where if this company wants to compete with them they need to compensate for their lack of resources with more care for their project. I tried their previous game, Punishing Gray Raven, and I feel like more care was put into it. Maybe they just wanted to rush this one out as quickly as possible to increase profits before people got over games like this or because they were afraid the market got suddenly saturated because they weren't quick enough? The aesthetic things like the clipping and the rare glitch don't bother me, but... The ping and the disconnects... It always disappoints me when that happens during game launches... It demotivates me to play a lot... I used to play MMORPGs on US servers while being in the EU back in 2014/15 and had fewer ping problems... The companies that made the MMOs I played didn't have the resources that Kuro Games has and still managed...

(Edit: I just realised that might sound confusing, I'm playing in the EU server. What I meant was that I had less ping issues playing games on a server that wasn't meant for me back then than I do playing this on a server that is meant for me.)

Putting those two together is shooting yourself in the foot... If a player is already dealing with ping spikes and disconnects and you make aspects of the game that require precision more frustrating due to the lack of controller support... How is the player supposed to become invested in the game? They will get frustrated and go play something else until the frustration passes. They won't feel comfortable investing money into the game because they aren't immersed in it properly. I understand that these companies don't care about the casual player all that much (much less the F2P player) and that most of their revenue comes from the whale players, but this will push possible whales away too... That's mostly why I don't get decisions and mistakes like this... It's in the own company's best interest to fix these things...