#i know i don’t need to read it all but unfortunately i have a completionist mindset so it don’t feel right not leaving things unread

[wishchip106]

i wonder if, hypothetically, cherik were to become canon

where would it happen?

the movies or the comics?

cause like i’m kinda expecting marvel to bring in more mutants to the mcu and possibly after this multiversal saga we’ll having something related to mutants? who knows

but would the writers be like “hey lets not be cowards this time and make the old men kiss!” or just focus more on the actual mutant existence (no clue what marvel has planned honestly)

OR they would somehow make it happen in the comics

fyi, i’m not up to date with the comics and i only have a brief knowledge of them but how would they do it?

would they try and mention a past relationship that was never mentioned until now or would they just have one of them go “i always had feelings for this guy but never acted on them”??

honestly no idea

but it would be cool nonetheless cus cherik canon

me thinking of the possibilities ^^^

[the-endless-storm]

Video game asks. Alk of them (or as many as you feel like doing)!

You come off anon right now and own up!I’ve answered most of them, but there's a few with no answers just because nothing comes to mind right away. I'd have to think about it longer and I don’t have the time or will,power to do so. Naughty anon, asking for so much!

1. Last game you finished

Chained Echoes

2. Games you’re currently playing

I started a mono-team on Pokemon Scarlet, but just to waste time.

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed.

Chained Echoes, Pokemon Scarlet, Metroid Fusion

4. Do you like to get 100% achievements/trophies?

I give it a go, but I’m not a completionist. If getting everything starts to frustrate me, I’ll stop. I don’t want to tarnish my enjoyment of a game with an irritation.

5. Games coming out that you’re looking forward to

Hades 2, Baiten Kaitos HD (as long as it's better than the Tales of Symphonia HD)

6. A series you’ve enjoyed since your early days of gaming and still enjoy to this day whether it still has games coming out or is one you return to

Pokemon obviously.

7. A series you’ve lost interest in.

Unfortunately it's Zelda. I don’t like the direction BOTW went in. I think they games look gorgeous and I’ve been told a hundred times over they are great. But all the things that made me love Zelda have been stripped out (the unique temples, fun items, etc) in favour of crafting meals and breakable weapons.

8. A series you haven’t played but are interested in trying

There are lots of games I see on Steam that I’d love to try, but can’t because I have a Mac and they aren’t compatible. I can’t name any right now, but I know they are there.

9. A game you played completely blind with no prior knowledge of and enjoyed/loved

Hollow Knight. It was on sale in the Nintendo Store and I thought it looked good so I bought it. Not at all what I was expecting but definitely worth it.

10. A console and/or handheld you’ve never played but would like to try

I’m a Nintendo Fanboy for life. So there isn’t one. Unless there's a Virtual Boy knocking around, I could give myself a headache for a day for that.

11. Do you prefer ‘blank slate’ main characters you make yourself or otherwise project onto, or characters with a set personality and backstory?

A character with a story for sure. Blank state works in some situations, but I like to see how the story progresses with the player character and how it changes them.

12. A character you particularly like in the game you’re currently playing.

Gotta be Larry in Pokemon Scarlet. He's the only one that isn't happy 24/7. Man needs a week off. We can all relate to Larry.

13. Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind

Lost Woods theme

14. A song that’s sure to hit your nostalgia buttons

15. Do you have a backlog and do you keep track of it.

Nope

16. A game you’d like to replay but haven’t.

I want to play Secret of Mana again now after listening to the title music.

17. A game you didn’t finish but would like to get back to or restart someday

I never finished Hollow Knight, but I doubt I’ll ever get it done. I won’t lie, I’m not great at some games, and most of HK I fluked my way through by sheer force of will. But the final part of the game required such perfect platform in skills over a long period that I got too annoyed with and rage quit over and over. So like the 100% completion above, I stopped before I ruined the game for myself.

18. A game location you really like

If I can move to my Animal Crossing island please that would be great.

19. A game you started up for the first time and you knew from the start it was going to be great

Chained Echoes. I'd read a couple of reviews that explained what kind of game it was, and once I started it, within a few minutes of the opening scenes I knew it was exactly what I’d been looking for for so long.

20. A boss you think is really cool.

21. A boss that was disappointing

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you

23. A wow moment of awe

Watching the Moon hit Clock Town in Majora's Mask. I wasn’t expecting Zelda to be that dark.

24. A game with a cool art style

Okami has a style that looks like a watercolour painting. It took a while to get used to but is very unique.

25. A game's art style that had to grow on you

Zelda Wind Waker. Like everyone else, I didn’t like it at first, but honestly it's so damn beautiful now. I wish more games were made in that style.

26. Realism or Stylized?

Realism is only as good as the technology of the day, whereas Stylised can be whatever you want whenever you want it.

27. A game you like the atmosphere of

28. Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now?

I’m going to pick the Kingdom Rush series. It's on Switch and Xbox now, whereas I started playing it on ArmorGames when it was first released. But Flash, Mobile or Console, it's a brilliant Tower Defence game and the first Kingdom Rush is just as good as any of the newer games in the series.

29. On average do you have one game or multiple games going?

Just one. I don’t have that much dedication.

30. Game you think you’ll finish next?

No clue. Need to have a game to play.

31. Someone has never played a video game before but is open to trying any genre. What game would you recommend as their first?

Maybe a 2D Zelda game like Link to the Past. Not too difficult with a simple control system, big map and lots to explore and collect.

[fizzbot]

I've been here forever trying to find other words to spell but i've got nothing, here's the rest of the questions i'd be interested in hearing your answers for :33 A B C D F H K M N R S T W X Z

SDKHSDJKSDFHLJK it was a noble effort, thank you babe!!!! o7

fandom ask game og post here!!

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed. our textverse rp au has opened my eyes to so many amazing dynamics.....blitzker my babies <33333 even just their friendship is SO goddamn sweet, i love them <////3 (rewritten) stolitz has also taken up so much of my brain recently ofc since they are lterally so us for real :3 on a friendship note, rosie&striker??? probably my favorite duo weve come up with of all time, the lore is insane!!!!!! sjkdlfhsdjkf honestly ozzie&blitz has been unexpectedly SUPER sweet too, i love when they talk!!!!!! ROSIE X MIMZYYYY MY OLD WOMAN YURRIIIIII!!!!!!!!!! pen x baxter is still in the oven but. soon......

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind. i mean. rosie and striker. we spun a wheel for random character interactions and it changed our lives permanently. OH and romantically, huskerdust!!!!! i did not give a shit about them until you were like "i think we could fix them" one day and you were so right. we could. and we did :]

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will. carmilla x velvet. velmilla they could never make me like you. OH AND CHERRISNAKE. get that woman a girlfriend stat!!!!!!!!!!!!

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t. uhh. ksdfhksdf im not sure there are any?? MAYBE blitzfizz, but not in a "i hate this ship" way, in a "i just like their friendship more and find it more compelling" way

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? i think it depends on whether or not it counts if we take breaks in between. like, some fandoms weve been into for like, months and months and months, and then we get out of it, and then we get back into it for EVEN MORE MONTHS........actually idk if it does, bc i think the answer either way is sam and max??? we were into that for like,,,,,,MOST of 2021/2022, werent we??? and we relapsed SEVERAL times!!!!!!!! fnaf might be a close second. unfortunately

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)? ooh,,,uhh,,,,it depends on a whole lot of things. i dont prefer media that is ongoing. so like, a series thats still running? i probably wont be able to get into it. which i know is hilarious since this is an hh and hb blog, both of which are ongoing. the LENGTH is also a big factor. like, id rather die than get into something like the simpsons, because i have a completionist in my brain that would mourn never being able to watch it all. for that same reason, i dont tend to like media thats episodic, like,,,,,spongebob is the best example i could think of jhksdfhjsd. i dont like shows/media that will do something as a gag, and then everything ""resets"" by the next episode. i need linear growth!!!!!!! books, depends on how long the series is. i like reading, but i just dont have the time to read huge series, and also its a bitch to find something if i need a specfic piece of info that i knew i read. like, the wfrr series is perfect, idk if i could do anything longer than that. movies are......ok??? theyre fine, i prefer movie SERIES tho, for more of that linear growth i was talkin about. and games ALSO fully depend on the length/what kind of game they are. i could never see myself getting into something like zelda, because theres SO much content with not enough consistency, but sam and max and monkey island hold a super special place in my heart. SDKFHJKSDFJHKSDF SORRY SORRY this answer was really really long winded. so im gonna say that my ideal media is a show thats short, finished, and maybe has some extra stuff like books or special features. like, gravity falls was my IDEAL fanom, not just for the nostalgia factor!!! it ticks all the boxes :]

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc? in our fix-verse, striker wins by a goddamn mile. rosie SAVED that man. in cannonnnn.....uhhh......holy shit, does any character have any arc at all???????????? JHKSDFHJKSDF HELLO???? WHY CANT I THINK OF ANY. fuck, i guess striker wins!!!!! congrats man!!!!!

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend. im soooo obviously biased here but ive gotta give it to striker. we could complain about stolas together and i could tell him about the people who wronged me and hed be like 'want me to kill them for you?' and i could say yes. also i could pat his horsey on the head

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice). women. just any women. give me a compelling arc for a woman that has no men getting their sticky hands on it. i have to think of two more things.....uhhh......i want more.....filler. especially in hazbin, i want the characters hanging out and bonding. we read the show bible ep pitches together and im still in mourning. charlie helpng baxter with his experiments??? huskerdust carnival date??? ROYAL PARTY???? MIMZY BECOMING A RESIDENT OF THE HOTEL??????? uhhh one more thinngggg......ummm......fat people. isnt it ridiculous that there are only TWO. FAT CHARACTERS. IN BOTH OF THESE SHOWS COMBINED. two!!!!! and one of them is a villain, and the other is meant to be disliked!!!!! i wonder if that says anything about vivziepop. /sarc

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom? blitzker is up there, but right now the award goes to blitz/moxxie. they are SO. SO SPECIAL TO ME. and weve been sleeping on them all this time!!!!!!!!!! they are best friends in the whole world

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged) uhh. blitz ships appledash. i saw someone earlier say hed ship rarijack and it actually annoyed me a little HAHAHAJKHFJKLDSH come on, look at his goddamn horse ocs!!!!!! this man wants butch4butch horses sooo bad. he literally is rainbow dash. and he loves cowboys. uhhhh on a slightly more serious headcanon note, all members of i.m.p being at least a little trans is so so so incredibly important and special to me. t4t4t

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? blitz is not a goddamn dom. stop making him the top in what is supposed to be loving stolitz art. he doesnt like it. he pretends to but hes lying. wheres that post thats like "when the character is putting on a persona in-universe and the audience falls for it". i have rambled about how much i hate this on this blog before and i will do it again

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom. enemies/rivals to lovers.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom. friends to lovers!!!!!!!!! <3333333333333

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.) AUGHHHJHSKFHJKSD DONT PUT ME ON THE SPOTTTTTHSJKFHSDFJK!!!!!!! uhhhhhhh i hate vivziepop i hope she explodes but i hope she relases all the hb episodes first so we have something to riff on. the fact that full moon has been done for months and shes JUST now chosing to ""let it cook"" a little longer is driving me up a goddamn wall. she has been on VACATION. for WEEKS. and she gets back and is like "what if i delayed full moon even more :3". anyway if it drops on my birthday (the 29th) that Might be my last straw

[kaeyas-beloved]

Be You {Leviathan x Reader}

Leviathan x Reader (They/Them) || Obey Me!

Warning(s): None (Well, actually I make Levi bully Mammon for less than a paragraph)

Note: This was a request I received from someone on Wattpad!

-------------------

Finally, Leviathan’s done it. It’s been a long three days, hours upon hours having been poured into this playthrough. 

“Woop woop! Aren’t I the best!” he praised himself, smiling wide. He’s skipped meals, pushed assignments to a later date and avoided any outside interactions to finish this game. His sight may be blurry and his limbs numb but if those were the sacrifices he had to make to go full completionist then it was all worth it. Now, time to celebrate a well deserved win.

“I think this calls for some of Ruri-chan’s celebratory season 3 limited edition candy and-!”

A chorus of knocks on his door immediately snuffed out his joy. Levi scowled, turning to glare at his door from his chair, it’s gotta be Mammon. The third born is absolutely positive that it’s his scummy older brother - it always is - back yet again to mooch more money off him for a trip to the casino. The usual slander he and his brothers would throw at the second born was on the tip of his tongue, ready to fire at will. 

“Hey Levi? You there? It’s me....”

A voice that definitely doesn’t belong to the second born piping up and Levi, halfway through spouting the first syllable, shuts up all together. That’s his normie. A weight presses on his heart: he was just about to yell and insult his Henry… 

Clearing his throat in hopes of gaining some kind of composure (all previous anger having diminished) the usual “What’s the password?” came out in a stutter. The demon was only acutely aware of his heart beat. How it skipped periodically. How it raced like he himself just ran a marathon. Levi waits a moment for the human to finish reciting the TSL excerpt. His hands begin to shake, his palms exuding profuse amounts of sweat. Gah! Why was he so nervous? Yeah, he’s aware that he’s just some gross shut-in otaku but he shouldn’t be this anxious! It’s not like this is the first time the exchange student has hung out in his room... alone... with him…

“Yo Levi?”

“Yes MC?”

“You think you could open the door now? Please?” Snapped back to reality, Levi hastily opened the door, finding himself regretting it soon after.

“I, uh, MC? What do you…?” his voice trailed off, orange gradient eyes locked on their garments. Immediately he sputtered, taking a step back. A bright scarlet coated his pale cheeks. Levi tried to hide it with his hand, though it was proven useless. The sea demon's at a toss up; should he screech? Slam the door shut? Combust all together!? At the rate he’s going, number three is looking pretty probable.

On the other end of this exchange, the human stood almost timidly out in the hall, fingers fiddling with one another while their eyes darted anywhere but at the man in front of them. The words of the fifth born rang in their ears:

“You absolutely have to wear this dear! My brother would surely fall head over heels for you, even more so than he already is!”

Oh whyyyyy did they trust him? Cause he had knowledge in fashion and love? Yeah, that was it. Still, if this turns south Asmo is going to get a lecture worse than any Lucifer could ever give… Damn, they really should’ve never let the lust demon shoo them into his private bathroom and make them change into this girly outfit. 

And it hit them all at once: Levi doesn’t like it, what they’re wearing. What if he never talks to them after this? Maybe if they leave now then there will still be a chance they can forget about this.

Time went on slowly, like people who walk through mud are, and MC just about tuck tail and ran, what they had planned and gained courage for be damned. 

Levi had other plans though. 

Only now registering that the two were standing out in the open for all to see, in a blind and desperate attempt to save himself and the human from embarrassment, the third born latched onto their wrist, yanking them into the safety of his room. Unfortunately, demon strength is a funny thing and Levi had handled them with more force than he meant to, the human crashing into his chest - hard. 

Perhaps it was instinct -- a need to protect the fragile being within his grasp -- but the demon's arm found purchase around their form, pulling them almost impossibly closer as they tipped. The pair, balance long gone, toppled over, landing with a thud.

Somehow, just like in all the romance anime he’s watched, Levi found himself hovering over them, arms propped on either side of their head. Their noses brushed, both staring frozen into each other's eyes. It wasn’t everyday that either of them were this close to one another, the exception being when the duo falls asleep playing video games. God, with this kind of proximity he was sure that the normie could hear how fast his meek heart was pounding. If this went on any longer he might actually die.

“Levi?” They whispered, their voice so quiet that he almost missed the call of his name. He however did catch their whisper and tensed up before coming back to the here and now, catching sight of the ‘what’ that led to their current position. Standing, Levi’s face burned hotter than ever before.

‘It was all because of them,’ he thought, turning away turning away with tense shoulders as he still tries to mask the red that licked all the way up to his ears. ‘It’s always their fault when I start to feel like I do now!’

“S-stupid n-normie! Why are you even wearing that?” he asked, chancing a glance over his shoulder. Levi did have to admit… they looked kinda cute in those clothes… and it looked like something Ruri-chan would wear too… 

Gah! No no no focus Levi!

The ‘normie’ didn’t answer right away, instead raising to their feet and opting to grab a bag from beside the door. That wasn’t there before. 

“Asmo…” they sighed, turning back to face the demon, nervousness swirling within them. Now or never, “Asmo said you’d like it if I wore something like this” So this is Asmo’s doing? Damn him… “Anyway, here, take it.”

“Wha-?” A shimmering gift bag the same colour of the water Henry his goldfish swam in was thrust into his hands, whatever he was about to say dying in his throat. 

A present? For him? Oh why must a no good otaku like him have to go through such an intimate endeavor???? He just can’t take it! 

Then again, this was like that one scene from season 2 ep. 22 of this anime he binged: I Forget Important Dates all the time which causes me to get into really awkward situations. This time I forgot about my Birthday and my Crush handed me a bag before confessing their love for me!

So-! Spurred on by fictional characters and MC’s urging “go on, open it”, Levi tore the tape, presented with his spontaneous gift: a popular multiplayer game from the human world; one near impossible to get in Devildom.

“WHAOOO!” MC couldn’t help but think how much he’s acting like a kid on Christmas, the notion cute in their opinion. The human stood still for a couple minutes, allowing their friend to rant and gush over the game (and how cool they were for even acquiring it).

“But…” the purple haired demon calmed down, “why did you suddenly give me this?” What? Did he not know what today was?

“It’s… it is your birthday isn’t it!?” Don’t tell them Asmo lied to them about Levi’s birthday!

Levi pulled out his phone, his eyes widening to the size of saucers, “No, it is my birthday,” he assured. With all the gaming he was doing he must've failed to noticed, which is strange considering the last time his special day drew near he practically counted down the days. 

“MC.” He got their attention, looking them right in the eye, his words and actions portraying a sureness and sincerity, “Thank you and…” As quick as lightning strikes the ground, the human had themselves pulled flush against Levi once more, his head resting on their shoulder and nose buried in the crook of their neck. His hair, so soft and fluffy, left a ticklish sensation on their skin.

“And about what you said before. With Asmo. I do like what you’re wearing but…” he tightens his hold, “I like you just the way you are. I know you don’t usually dress like this and I want nothing more than for you to be comfortable, like how you make me. If that means dressing tomboy-ish then so be it. I want you to be you: the human only you can be: my Henry.” 

“I’m glad you feel that way…” They smiled, arms wrapping around his torso. They hope their gratitude is able to shine through in the hug, “Now, ya wanna play your new game?”

“Yes!” He smiled, pulling back and raising his hand. They return the grin, suppressing a chuckle seeing as the demon reminded them of the YES demoji. “Oh, but um! Would you like to change first? It’s not that I don’t like seeing you dressed like that or anything but like I said I want you to be comfortable but also I don’t think my heart can take it anymore… wait that’s not what I meant!” That made them chuckle though.

“Do I have to?” They teased, enjoying the reaction they got out of the third born. Levi gulped, ducking his head while whispering a small no. “Then maybe I’ll stay like this a little longer. It is your birthday after all.” Tugging the envy demon towards their usual gaming spot they let Levi set up the game before the two plopped down in their spots.

“Oh and Levi?” He hummed, tilting his head, the light of the screen illuminating the side of his face. They hugged him once more, “Happy Birthday”

-------------------

[Masterlist]

Thank you for reading!

[traincat]

Can you explain the fantastic four volumes? Why are they separated like that, are they different continuities, should i read them all, who wrote which, and such? They���re very confusing to me

Welcome to the terrible world of comics renumbering, aka the reason we have volumes. The long and short of it is, at some point, the big comics publishers got it into their heads that more people would buy their comics if they had easy jumping spots, the logic behind this being wouldn't it be more friendly for new readers to pick up an issue #1 than an issue #389? Which, sure, in theory, until you have, for example, six different Fantastic Four #1s, some of which were published very close together, and then no one knows at first glance where the hell they should start. But Marvel persists in this practice anyway because for some reason they think that one of these days it's actually going to work. So yes, unless otherwise noted -- because volumes are a publishing quirk and not a specific continuity quirk, so for example something like Spider-Gwen, which until recently took place out of the main continuity, has multiple volumes -- they're in main continuity, with the notable exception of Fantastic Four v2, kind of. I'll get to it. As to who wrote what, it varies -- some volumes have a ton of writers on them, some only have the one, like Fantastic Four volumes 4 and 5. It kind of depends on the length of the volume. Should you read them? It depends on if you're looking to be a completionist or not. If you're still confused, that's because it's unfortunately a feature of this particular system, not a bug. It is not a new reader friendly solution to having a huge series with hundreds upon hundreds of issues, despite the fact that Marvel just will not stop doing it.

If you look at most long running Marvel series, you'll probably note that most of their "volume ones" are actually extremely long -- Fantastic Four v1, for example, lasts from issues #1-416. The first renumbering takes place in 1996, and this one kind of has a good reason behind it. In the mid-90s, Marvel was, how can I say this nicely? A complete dumpster fire, and I don't mean from a storytelling perspective. In 1996, Marvel temporarily outsourced production of two major titles -- Fantastic Four and the Avengers -- to the studios of former employees Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. This outsourcing took the form of what appeared to be a "hard reset", especially for the Fantastic Four, who during v2 got an updated '90s origin story with updated '90s costumes and updated '90s personalities, essentially brought back to the beginning of their continuity without memories of their previous iterations. This is because, as it was later explained, though the Fantastic Four and the Avengers seemed to die in the main continuity, they were actually sheltered in a bubble reality by Franklin Richards. It's. You know. It is what it is. So essentially, volume 2 of Fantastic Four (1996) takes place in a separate continuity -- you can skip it and not miss much. Volume 3 (1998) picks back up in the main continuity when the Fantastic Four return to their own continuity and try to pick their lives back up while the world has moved on without them. It's VERY good, from a characterization standpoint -- a lot of volume 3 is written by Chris Claremont, who handles all the characters with an extreme amount of nuance. From a plot perspective -- I mean, it's totally fine as long as you don't care about anything making sense ever. Claremont was not here to write a coherent plot; he was here to write extremely an extremely insightful and sensitive Johnny Storm, and I applaud him for that.

This is where the numbering gets messy again, though! Because you know what looks really dramatic on the front cover of your comic book? A big ISSUE #500. So when volume 3 was approaching what would be, in what's called legacy numbering, issue #500, they switched the numbering again. Fantastic Four goes from Fantastic Four v3 #70 straight to Fantastic Four #500. There is no Fantastic Four v3 #71, something that can be confusing for new readers who are JUST trying to follow a book from issue to issue. From my perspective, I'm generally in favor of a return to legacy numbering, because it really is so much simpler to just have whatever number the issue actually is on the cover instead of having to be like "Fantastic Four issue #499 is actually Fantastic Four v3 #70." But Marvel hates simplicity! Loathes it! We need more new readers! Who definitely will pick up anything labeled #1 and not worry about THAT WHOLE MESS behind them! So while Fantastic Four retained the legacy numbering for 88 issues, it soon switched things up again when the entire title of the book was renamed. When Johnny dies in the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #587, the book was renamed from Fantastic Four to FF (just the initials) to reflect the change. This is a creative decision that I don't personally hate -- I think it makes its point well -- but also it really makes this entire period of Fantastic Four hell to read when the book comes back with Fantastic Four #600 after 12 issues of FF, but the FF title also remains, and the two are supposed to be read interchangeably at that point. Good luck figuring out how that one's supposed to go on first glance and thanks a lot, Marvel.

After Hickman's run wrapped up with Fantastic Four #611, Marvel entered a period where it was relaunching a lot of its main series basically every year. This is why there's a Fantastic Four v4 (2013), closely followed by Fantastic Four v5 (2014). These are basically one writer brief runs that are encapsulated in their own volumes for very little reason, especially since towards the end of Fantastic Four v5 it reverts to legacy numbering once again, with the last four issues of the run being Fantastic Four #642-645. Congratulations, nobody could have thought of a worse system. Then there came the three year Fantastic Four publishing ban (a real thing that happened) and when the book relaunched in 2018, it was with Fantastic Four v6, which is still using its own numbering, with issue #36 just released. It's essentially like that scene from Pacific Rim about how the kaiju keep coming faster and faster, except, you know, with comic book runs.

So here's a very basic reading order: Fantastic Four #1-416 -> Fantastic Four v2 #1-13 -> Fantastic Four v3 #1-70 -> Fantastic Four #500-588 -> FF #1-12 (at which point FF separates into its own book with three separate volumes) -> Fantastic Four #600-611 -> Fantastic Four v4 #1-16 -> Fantastic Four v5 #1-14 -> Fantastic Four #642-645 -> Fantastic Four v6 #1-36.

That brings you up to the present, not counting series like Secret Wars (2015) which slots in between #645 and Fantastic Four v6 #1, or things like annuals, which are issues published sometimes annually that may be standalones or may be important to the main plot, you can never be sure. Comics are terrible.

As for whether or not to read all of that, like I said above, it kind of depends on you as a reader, whether you're a completionist, whether you bounce hard off certain decades or creators, etc. There's really no one right way to tackle a comic series that spans 681 issues and six decades, especially not when the publisher doesn't exactly make it easy for anybody to keep track of what exactly they're supposed to be reading next. I do hope that clears up some of the confusion for you, though, even though the truth is the way a lot of American big two comics are published are, very simply, in an incredibly confusing, extremely new reader unfriendly, archaic way.

[hrtiu]

@flybynite19 come get your man.

Brit’ni haunted the long aisles of the Coruscant Public Convention Halls, her eyes darting from stall to stall. This was the biggest Galaxy of Heroes miniature convention in the Republic, and if she didn’t find it here, she wouldn’t find it anywhere. Finally, in a sketchy-looking booth in one of the auxiliary wings, she saw it.

It was perfect. A mint-condition figure with articulated arms, first-edition armor, and no helmet. It was almost impossible to find a figure of Captain Tabbard without a helmet, and Brit’ni couldn’t wait to get her hands on it. 

She reached out. “How much for-?”

Another hand grabbed the package just before her, blocking her fingers from her prize.

“What’s the price?” the interloper asked.

Brit’ni turned on her rival, ready to throw hands if necessary. “Excuse me! I was here first!”

A Human man blinked back at her from behind huge, yellow-tinted goggles. “As you can see, my hand reached the package first. I believe that means I have dibs.”

“Look, buddy. Just because you have slightly faster twitch reflexes than me doesn’t mean you get this figure. I’ve been looking for it for forever and I saw it first. Run along.” She tightened her grip around his bony fingers and shot him a death glare, then flicked her gaze to the shopkeeper. 

The Ithorian man backed away slowly and raised his hands, his translator sputtering out his apologies. “The price is 70 credits. Whoever can pay gets it. Don’t drag me into this.”

“Please let go of my purchase,” the Human in the goggles said. “I don’t have time for this.”

“I’m not letting go until Captain Tabbard is in my bag. Got it, Goggles?”

He wrinkled his nose and shook his head disapprovingly. “This stalemate is productive to neither of us. I propose a compromise.”

“What, you get the head, I get the body? No way.”

“As humorous as that would be, I was thinking something more mutually beneficial. You seem to be an avid collector, and I have several pieces that might be of interest to you.”

Brit’ni leaned closer to him, but didn’t loosen her grip on the figure. “Something more interesting than a first-edition Captain Tabbard? I don’t think so.”

“If you’re a fan of Captain Tabbard, I’d imagine you also enjoy the Chandrilan Guard. But there aren’t any figures for the standard Chandrilan Guard armor. I happen to have a custom pattern made for their armor. I’d be willing to share as many molds as you’d like if you are interested in creating the whole set.”

Brit’ni salivated at the thought. A whole set of custom CG figures? She’d been doing her best to make her own over the years, but with new resources… She’d be unstoppable.

“You have my attention…”

“We split the cost, 50/50. We store the figure in a locker at Coruscant Central. Then we meet up next week. I show you the goods and we decide on the deal. If you don’t want my customs, you take the figure and we go our separate ways. If you do, we make the trade.”

Brit’ni narrowed her eyes at him. “It didn’t take you very long to come up with this plan.”

He shrugged. “I’m smart.”

Brit’ni leaned closer to him, staring him right in those yellow-tinted eyes. She wasn’t in the habit of trusting strangers on a planet like Coruscant—especially not lately. But she really wanted those customs. 

“Deal.”

---

“Your name is Tech?” Brit’ni asked doubtfully as they walked down to the magtrain platform together.

“That’s what I just said.”

“Ok, sure,” Brit’ni said. What was it to her if he gave her a fake name? They didn’t need to be best buddies or anything.

“We live in a galaxy of billions of planets, populated by thousands of unique species, each with their own distinctive regional subcultures. I don’t see why ‘Tech’ should be a particularly unusual name, considering.”

Brit’ni laughed and shook her head. “Ok, now I get where you got your name.”

They swiped their muni chits and stepped onto the waiting magtrain, finding a spot near the back where they could both comfortably hold to the hand rails. It was a weekend so the train wasn’t as crowded as it would be during rush hour, but Brit’ni still barely felt like she had room to breathe. Just a few inches from her, Tech’s eyes darted back and forth across the magtrain car and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“New to Coruscant?” she asked.

He looked up in surprise, like he’d forgotten she was there. “...Yes.” His expression was oddly guarded, and Brit’ni raised her hands reassuringly.

“You just look like I did when I was still new to the magtrains. Eventually you’ll get used to the close quarters.”

His shoulders relaxed and he nodded. “So many variables, with all these people around. Too many unknowns for my taste. And sentient life is so… unpredictable.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d put it quite like that but I think I get you. There’s a reason we collect little plastoid figures, right?”

A single eyebrow peaked out above Tech’s goggles and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I hadn’t thought about it like that before, but perhaps you are right.”

The magtrain shuddered as it rounded a turn on the old track, and Brit’ni clutched her precious Captain Tabbard tighter to herself.

Why so much interest in Captain Tabbard?” Tech asked. “Some figures are rare because of their popularity, but he was simply rarely produced due to lack of interest.”

Brit’ni bristled like he was insulting her toddling infant. “He’s the best character!”

“I understood that most fans of the serials disliked him because of his treachery.”

“Treachery?” she scoffed. “That’s not treachery. He had good reason to be loyal to both the Old Republic and Tiberian Empire. It was his conflict that made him interesting. And in the end he chose what was right. That’s what makes a good character. Conflict. Struggle. Then overcoming in the end.”

“I suppose.”

“What about you, then? Who’s your favorite character?”

“In Galaxy of Heroes? I don’t know—never seen it.”

Brit’ni’s jaw dropped. “Then why were you ready to fight me over this figure?”

He shrugged. “I’m a completionist. This is the last one I need to complete the set. You know they’re more valuable together, right?”

She just stared at him. Her eyes trailed down to his booted feet, up his khaki slacks, past his drab, navy-colored tunic, and back to those big, yellow-tinted eyes. Who was this guy?

“Deal’s off,” she said.

“What?”

“I can’t give Captain Tabbard to… to someone who won’t appreciate him.”

“I appreciate him! He’s a first edition, mint-condition, ultra-rare piece that will complete my collection! How much more appreciation can you get than that?”

“No.” Brit’ni shook her head. “You’re not worthy.”

Tech pursed his lips and huffed through his nose.”Well I still paid for half of that figure, so what do you suggest we do? Cut it in half?”

She recoiled in horror. “No! I’ll pay you the 35 credits and I take the figure. It’s as simple as that.”

“That’s unacceptable. You have to at least give me a chance to meet your criteria.”

“How could you possibly do that?”

“By watching Galaxy of Heroes. I watch it, I tell you my favorite character, I show my appreciation for Captain Tabbard.”

“Or I could just take Captain Tabbard home now, and have a figure of my very favorite character to display proudly on my shelf.”

The magtrain slowed and a cheery voice emanated from the intercom. “Coruscant Central.”

“We’re at the station,” Tech said. “I suggest you get off, because I assure you my Chandrilan Guard figures are very good.”

He stepped off the train and Brit’ni bit her lip, her grip tightening on the handlebar as she watched. “Ah, sithspit,” she cursed under her breath, and hopped off the train just as the doors closed.

She hurried to catch up to him—he set a surprisingly quick pace considering how scrawny he looked under those pants—and he tilted his head in her direction in acknowledgment.

“Glad you decided to join me,” he said.

“I really want those CG customs. I’ve been saving up for materials for forever but they’re expensive and my job doesn’t believe in working hours that give me enough time to sleep and eat.”

Tech frowned. “What kind of job is that? It seems like a sub-optimal way to treat your employees.”

“I work at one of the Imperial training facilities. I get to clean up after all the sweaty recruits in the exercise halls. It smells and I hate my life.”

He tensed almost imperceptibly at her side and Brit’ni tried not to notice. Plenty of people on Coruscant didn’t like the Empire, but a job was a job. And Captain Tabbard wasn’t going to pay for himself.

“That sounds… unpleasant. I hope you are able to find alternate forms of employment sometime soon.”

“Yeah, me too. But there aren’t too many options these days,” she said with a sigh. “If I had my way I’d be working in the archives or curating the Imperial Historical Society. I have the training for it, too! But I guess they only need a handful of people to do that, and they need thousands to clean the stormtroopers’ locker rooms.”

He nodded sagely, and she wondered if she was saying too much. Scratch that—she was definitely saying too much. But any time her job came up she couldn’t help but try to distance herself from it. To distance herself from the Empire.

“I also wish I could spend my days doing research and furthering our understanding of the universe. But unfortunately I don’t have that luxury,” Tech said.

Brit’ni looked at him out of the corner of her eye, surprised at the wistfulness in his voice. Maybe she’d judged him too harshly. A completionist who’d never watched Galaxy of Heroes he might be, but they might have more in common than she’d thought. He gave the station map a quick once-over, pushing his goggles up his nose as he read the map, and she couldn’t help but notice how oddly endearing the action was. She cursed herself. She’d always had a weakness for hopeless nerds.

They wound their way through the labyrinthine corridors of Coruscant’s largest magtrain station, and Tech seemed to know every turn and forgotten corner. He took them down another flight of stairs to the lower levels, where the storage lockers were, and a squirmy feeling started to bubble up in Brit’ni’s stomach. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to follow a stranger down into the depths of Coruscant Central without telling anyone where she was. But something about Tech felt oddly comforting. Condescending and annoying, yes, but also kind of nice.

Brit’ni cleared her throat and tried to dispel her sudden nerves. “So… what do you do, then?”

“I’m a tech specialist,” he answered immediately.

Brit’ni furrowed her brows. “A tech specialist? Are you military?”

He looked at her like he’d forgotten she was there, then shook his head, oddly flustered. “No, I mean… I do holo repair, comm device repair, droid maintenance—that sort of thing.”

“Oh.” Sure he did.

“It’s, uh, not very glamorous, but it pays the bills,” he said, tacking on an awkward laugh like the world’s worst holo actor.

Brit’ni resisted the urge to roll her eyes. I promise you, dude. Whatever your secrets are, they aren’t nearly as interesting as you think. She found herself wishing he’d just be honest with her, then reminded herself that she didn’t care. She didn’t. He was just a means to the end of collecting Captain Tabbard, not an strangely cute guy she wanted to learn more about.

They approached a squat Rodian manning the checkout counter for locker rentals and paid up.

“And can we get two locks, please?” Brit’ni asked. She needed some assurance that Tech wasn’t just going to come back later, open their locker, and leave.

The Rodian shrugged and tossed them another lock. “Sure.”

They walked down the aisle of lockers and found theirs—locker number 9999. Tech gave a weird smile at the number, but Brit’ni ignored it and opened the locker, carefully placing Captain Tabbard inside and giving him one last look of longing before closing the locker on his beautiful, first-edition face.

They both stuck their locks on the door, and Brit’ni pulled out her portable comm device.

“What’s your comm signature?” she asked.

“I don’t see that that’s necessary.”

“Sure it is. What if I can’t make our meeting time? What if you decide to watch Galaxy of Heroes but its themes and storyline are too complex for you to follow? What if you decide to back out and just want to give me your lock key so I can pick the Captain up?”

He frowned. “Alright, then.”

They swapped comm signatures and Brit’ni stuck her hand out to shake. Tech hesitated a moment, like he wasn’t sure what to do with it, then took her hand.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Brit’ni said with a firm, professional shake.

“Likewise.”

---

A few days later Brit’ni staggered home from her shift at the training facility with a deep and abiding exhaustion in her bones. She swiped open the door to the small apartment she shared with her younger sister and stumbled through the dark room, determined not to turn on the lights. Her sister was already asleep and Brit’ni knew she had an early shift the next morning.

Brit’ni shed her uniform, took a quick shower, and fell into bed. She could easily have fallen asleep right then and there, but she hated going to sleep right after getting home from work. It felt like giving up—like acknowledging that all there was to her life right now was sleep and work. She rolled over onto her side and pulled out her comm device, checking for messages. There were a few from her mom, a couple of taunting inside jokes from her sister, and… one from a signature she didn’t immediately recognize. 

She opened the message, convinced it was some kind of advertisement but curious nonetheless.

I am happy to report that my viewing of Galaxy of Heroes has commenced. Will keep you updated on my progress. -T

A surprised smile rose to her lips. Maybe her evening would be a little more interesting than usual, after all.

She gave it some thought, then typed a response. The first episode is great, but the rest of the first season is a little slow. Make sure you keep watching to season 3.

She pulled out a datapad and scrolled mindlessly through several news updates. There was never anything interesting anymore—not since the Empire had taken over. All the updates felt like propaganda, but there was nothing else to read. Then her comm device pinged.

Then why don’t I just skip straight to season 3? I don’t understand how people can be such fans of a program while disliking a significant percentage of the content. -T

She snorted. Don’t skip to season 3! I thought you were a completionist.

He responded immediately. Fair point. -T

Deciding to let him focus on the show, Brit’ni rolled out of bed, determined to do something useful with the evening before calling it a night. She pulled a case of her in-progress figures out from under her bed and hauled them over to the small work desk she’d set up in the corner. She had some painting to do.

Commander Fes’s helmet was beautiful. The design etched across its surface was gorgeous, with intricately weaving strips of color and textures. That also made it an absolute beast to paint, and Brit’ni extricated her tiniest brushes from the bottom of her brush bag. 

Eyes straining with the microscopic details, she labored over the good commander’s helmet for a solid half hour before setting her tools down in frustration. She glowered at the thumb-sized helmet, as if her anger would force it to cooperate better, and reached for her comm device.

What paint do you use for your customs? she sent Tech. For the fine details? I feel like I’m going crazy with Commander Fes’s helmet.

I don’t hand-paint details that small. I have a three dimensional stamper, so I design the decals at full size then use the stamper to apply them. -T

Huh. Brit’ni had heard of tools like that, but most collectors had to make them themselves. It wasn’t a simple or easy thing to put together.

I’ve always wanted to use one of those! Did you follow the Talatar template or the Bikqwik one?

Neither. I made my own design, though to be fair the base design was inspired more by the Bikqwik one. -T

Maybe I should make one. I’d love to get those fine details right, but I don’t know if I have the time to figure it out or the money for all the pieces.

That’s understandable. I was able to use leftover pieces from my work, so it wasn’t so expensive for me. -T

Images of a perfectly-painted Commander Fes helmet floated through Brit’ni’s mind, and she had half a mind to ask him to lend her his printer. That would probably be too much, though. She was considering what she should say next when Tech sent her another message.

It’s nice to talk to another collector about customs and painting. My colleagues are not very interested. -T

Brit’ni laughed. Same! My sister and mom indulge me, but they definitely don’t care as much as I do.

She set her comm device down and refocused her attention on Commander Fes’s helmet. It might be nice to use a three dimensional stamper, but this was what she had to work with for now. And as she focused in on the tiny design, she had to admit that it was turning out pretty well.

She soon fell into a groove so deep she hardly noticed the next half hour fly by. Then her comm device pinged again, breaking her from her painting trance.

I’m going to sleep now, but I’m happy to report that I’ve finished season one. -T

Brit’ni’s brows rose. You finished a whole season in one night?

I’m watching it at double speed. -T

That’s cheating!

When you demanded I watch the show you did not specify a required playback speed. -T

Do I have to specify things that should be obvious??

Goodnight, Brit’ni. -T

No longer in the mood to paint, Brit’ni set Commander Fes’s tiny helmet on a stand to dry, then packed up her materials. She crawled into bed and set her alarm, her eyes already heavy with how tired she’d be in the morning. Still, it had been a pleasant night.

---

The week flew by, and Brit’ni was so busy with work she hardly had any time to work on her figures or chat with Tech. Every once in a while he messaged her with updates on his viewing progress, and he was burning through Galaxy of Heroes at an alarming rate. His last message he sent the morning of the day they’d agreed to meet back up at the station—a simple statement that he’d finished the series. 

Brit’ni wanted to ask him his thoughts, who his favorite character was, and what he thought of the infamous plot twist in season seven, but instead she’d had to run off to work. By the time her shift ended, she was excited to hop on the magtrain and head to Coruscant Central not only to finally see his promised customs, but also to talk to him. Funny, that.

She walked down into the lower levels of the station and quickly found locker 9999. Tech was already there, typing away on some kind of datapad built into his wristguard. Brit’ni didn’t think he’d worn that the last time they’d met, but she also couldn’t really depend on her memory.

“Hey!” she called out, and he looked up from his datapad.

“Excellent. Right on time.” 

He swung his backpack off his shoulders and rummaged through it, pulling out a carefully labelled black box as she approached.

“Are those the custom molds?” Brit’ni asked eagerly.

“Yes.” He opened the box and she could swear the box was glowing from the inside like some kind of mythic treasure.

“I have molds for the standard shock trooper, captain, commander, and the recon units. Four molds in all.”

With a reverent hand, Brit’ni lifted the silicoid molds from their case. The detail work was exquisite, the edges sharp and defined. “I just pour in molding plastoid and let it cool?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes, that should work adequately.”

She stared for a minute longer, her fingers running over each groove and divet. They were perfect. “Alright, you have a deal.”

“No, but… I haven’t told you about Galaxy of Heroes yet…” Tech said, confused.

“That’s alright, the molds are enough-”

“I watched that entire series in a week. I’m going to tell you about it,” he snapped.

Brit’ni shut the case with the molds and stepped back from him a pace, her eyebrows raised. “Alright then, do you see now why Captain Tabbard is the best?”

“He’s such a minor character, it’s hard for me to understand why he is your favorite. But I do see the nuance and conflict that you mentioned earlier. I can see why you admire him.”

“Who’s your favorite, then?” It had better not be that awful Alduous Rux. Or even worse: Leve Bontera.

“K3WO was my favorite, I believe,” he said.

“The droid? Really?” she asked, though as soon as the words left her mouth she had to admit that it made a certain sort of sense.

“Yes. He always remained level-headed, he was intelligent, but he had his own personality. He was my favorite.”

“Ok, fine, I get it. But what about your favorite organic character?”

“Why does it have to be an organic character?”

“Do you have to argue everything I say?”

“It’s not arguing if-” 

Tech suddenly cut off, his eyes darting down the hall, and Brit’ni followed his gaze. Two stormtroopers had stepped off the landing and were making their way towards locker 9999. Tech glanced quickly away from them, but the tension in his shoulders was clear. 

Brit’ni saw the problem immediately. They looked like they were making some kind of illicit deal here, exchanging goods in the basement of Coruscant Station. The misunderstanding could be easily cleared up under normal circumstances, but Tech obviously didn’t want any attention from Imperials.

Thinking fast, Brit’ni clutched the black case of molds to her chest. “Oh, honey! You shouldn’t have!”

Tech stared doubtfully back at her through his goggles, his eyes growing wide enough to fill the lenses as she grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him to her.

“What are you-” he hissed.

She pressed her mouth to his before he could give them away, her hands snaking around his back to make sure he didn’t pull away while the stormtroopers were still watching. She worried that she might have to fight him the entire time, which would both make her feel like the worst kind of swamp scum and would also make this significantly less enjoyable. But then he relaxed into the kiss and set his hands at her waist, his long fingers careful and hot against her skin. He picked her up by the waist and spun them around, pressing her back into the lockers. Then he kissed up the side of her neck. Heated shivers ran up Brit’ni’s body, and she wondered if maybe she’d gotten in way over her head.

“Good thinking,” he whispered into her ear once he reached the top of her neck. “My apologies for not realizing sooner.”

“Th-that’s fine,” she stuttered, looking over his shoulder to check for the stormtroopers. They were still there. “Still got eyes.”

He nodded, then kissed her again, this time sliding a hand up her back to run his fingers through her hair. She pressed herself further into him, finding surprisingly firm, defined muscle under his plain clothing. Brit’ni doubted that there was an electronics repairman this athletic in the entire galaxy, and the mystery that was Tech just seemed to deepen with each passing moment. 

Then one of Tech’s hands slipped lower on her waist and all coherent thought fled from Brit’ni’s mind. Her teeth caught on his bottom lip and she tugged gently. He started against her, and she took that as encouragement. Then she slipped her tongue into his mouth, and he started again, this time jerking away from her in surprise. 

Brit’ni’s gaze darted to where she’d last seen the stormtroopers and, Force be damned, there they still were. Staring like a bunch of touch-starved morons.

“What are you looking at, you karking pervs!” she shouted at them.

The troopers flinched away like she’d hit them, then sputtered something about their patrol route and orders to “carry on.” They turned back the way they went and soon enough they were up the stairs and out of sight.

Brit’ni let out a heavy sigh of relief and let her weight lean back against the lockers behind her. “Well, that was a lot closer than it needed to be.”

“Yes,” Tech said, a healthy dusting of red high on his cheeks. “Thank you, by the way. I’d rather avoid Imperial entanglements.”

“Wouldn’t we all?” she said with a wry twist of the mouth.

“And, uh… My apologies, for losing my grip earlier. I… well I have never engaged in kissing before.”

Brit’ni sat up straight at that, her eyes going wide. “Really?” she asked, her skin still tingling from where he’d run his hands up her back. “You could have fooled me.”

“Well, I’ve seen plenty of holos,” he said, shrugging with one shoulder. “The mechanics of it seem simple enough. But, um. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of sensation.”

“Ah,” Brit’ni said, feeling the heat rising in her own cheeks. “Well, it all worked out in the end.”

“That it did. Now if we could exchange goods?”

“Sure.”

They each unlocked their locks and there Captain Tabbard was, safe in his perfectly-preserved box. Tech handed her back her 35 credit share of the price, then lifted Captain Tabbard carefully from the locker. Brit’ni checked the CG molds Tech had given her one more time, then closed and locked the case.

“I guess we’re done, then,” she said, suddenly not sure where to put her hands.

“A pleasure,” Tech said, and she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some secret meaning hidden behind the quirk of his lips.

“A pleasure.”

---

A few days later, Brit’ni dragged herself to work feeling particularly haggard. She went through the service entrance and changed into her ugly uniform, then jogged to her supervisor’s office just in time to clock in.

She punched the buttons that would start recording her time, then started to walk away from the desk.

“Brit’ni? That you?” her supervisor asked, turning around in his swivel chair. He was a pale, sleight Human who’d barely spoken three words to Brit’ni before today.

She turned back to him slowly, her body already tensing to expect the worst. “Yes, sir?”

“You have a package.”

“A package?”

“Yeah.” He got up from his desk and pulled a drab grey box out from under the counter, sliding it towards Brit’ni with a look of perfect unconcern on his face. “Someone dropped it off early this morning for you.”

“Oh…” That was strange. In earlier years Brit’ni had liked surprises like this, but ever since the Empire… Well, let’s just say that most surprises were bad ones these days.

She took the package back to the locker room and set it down on one of the durasteel benches. Carefully, like she was defusing a bomb, she opened it up. Inside, the perfectly-painted face of Captain Tabbard stared up at her, a bright orange piece of flimsi stuck to his box just over his chest.

Dear Brit’ni,

Thank you for the other day. I should have just given this to you at the time, but I’m afraid I wasn’t thinking very clearly. I hope our paths cross again.

-T

A slow smile crept across Brit’ni’s face, and she picked up Captain Tabbard, holding his box to her chest. She knew she and Tech’s paths would cross again. She’d make sure of it.

[keep-it-i-resign]

Fic Writer Asks

tagged by the lovely @vampcoffeegyrl23 I am soooo sorry this has taken over a week! I promise I was just busy away from my computer and using mobile is not the way to go about answering these! 😅

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

6 on AO3 and 6 on ffn.net. I haven't used the ffn.net account in years, i.e 2013 (and therefore my user name isn't even the same) so those 6 stories are different from my AO3 ones. I don't post most of what I write and now that I'm in my mid-20s with a few published papers behind me - I'm much more confident in my ability to write a cohesive and interesting story so expect more posted!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

17,425 words which isn't bad for only 6 fics with two of those stories having additional chapters coming soon.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

On AO3? Just 1, which is The Flash and by extension Stargate SG-1 for the crossover I did for Snowells Week this year. Counting ffn.net that's 3 more with Castle, Doctor Who, and Firefly. Over my lifetime of writing fic for myself? I think only 7 more. Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary, Harry Potter, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: TNG, and Left 4 Dead. Left 4 Dead isn't much of a fanfic but I did use the zombie types as place holders in an original story until I developed my own.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'll Be Waiting (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry)

Well... This is Awkward (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry, Frost/Nash, Caitlin/Nash, and Frost/Harry)

Rewind Time (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry)

Through the Gate (The Flash/Stargate SG-1 - Caitlin/Eowells)

Harvest Season (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry)

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I don't write angst much and I haven't posted many stories yet but of the ones posted I guess "I'll Be Waiting" is the angstiest.

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

"Well...This is Awkward" has a pretty happy ending with everyone alive and together. Or maybe "Twilight of the Gods" because ReverseSnow/ReverseFrost happens and there is hope of bringing everything lost back and balance the universe again. I guess it depends on your definition of what constitutes as a happy ending. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I've only written one - The Flash/Stargate SG-1 crossover. I don't normally think about crossovers just because the shows I watch are so vastly different they can't really work or they are already in the same universe with the canon crossovers. I'm also not always a fan of reading them because they can get chaotic quick and characterization takes a dive in order to fit characters into other universes/situations. I admire anyone who can write it well though!

As a side note: I did have a thought about a Snowells into the Arkham universe fic just because I have been replaying the Batman Arkham video games which I might give a shot at.

8. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

👀I wrote one smutty story years ago and it's terrible because I was young and naïve. I haven't tried recently but I'm not opposed to giving it a shot now. I have a few ideas on a prompt list I have for Snowells already so it's really a matter of when will I get to it!

9. Do you respond to comments. why or why not?

I do when I can! I like to get feedback from my readers and having an open dialogue of what they liked or disliked is important for me! I want to know what my audience enjoyed and what to improve on! Responding to them also shows them I saw that they said and appreciate what they had to say! 🥰

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Surprisingly - no, even on my old and terribly written stuff. I'm perfectly open to criticism but hate? If you don't like it, you don't like it but others might. Why spend the time spreading negativity when the world has enough of it?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know - no.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but given enough time I could probably translate mine. It would be grammatically atrocious because I rarely translate from English into any of the languages I know. It's normally the other way around! I'd definitely need a Beta who is fluent to correct my mistakes.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but it's definitely something I'd try! I co-wrote an original story with a few friends of mine years ago in high school and enjoyed it. I like the idea of getting to talk and bounce ideas off of someone who enjoys the same fandoms and character as me! I haven't really done that since I grew apart from one of my friends from high school who I did that with.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

What kind of question is this? Do people actually have an ultimate ship? Is that even possible? I have ships from several fandoms and sometimes multiple ships within a fandom. Most of the time I have a main ship from a fandom but that doesn't mean I discount any of the other ones that I or others enjoy as well. I'll throw out a few that I still got out and read for in order of what I read most often (either new stuff or re-reads) to what I read occasionally, at least according to my AO3 favorite tags.

Snowells (all variations) - The Flash

Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter - Stargate SG-1

Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla - Sanctuary

Harry/Hermione - Harry Potter

William Murdoch/Julia Ogden - Murdoch Mysteries

Phil/ Melinda - Agents of SHIELD

Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris - Star Trek: Voyager

Kate Fleming/Steve Arnott - Line of Duty

I will occasionally go check what kind of fics the fandom writes when I start a show just out of curiosity. Sometimes you can tell if there is fandom hate between ships by doing so and I know to steer clear, especially if I ship a lesser ship/non-canon ship. Also - the number of canon-divergence or rewrites will tell you if the shows writers start being ridiculous *cough* The Flash *cough* and whether it's worth getting attached at all.

15. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Hoo boy. I have a drive full of them. Most of which aren't even close to being posted. My biggest one right now is a complete re-write of The Flash dealing with a what if scenario of Earth-1 Tess Morgan being pregnant the night that Thawne kills them both and he chooses to birth the kid rather than let it die with her. It's set a few years earlier (so 18/19 years stuck in the past rather than the original 15 that the show has it) so the kid isn't Jesse but it changes how season 1 plays out and definitely how season 2 plays out when Harry finds out about the kid while dealing with the Jesse/Zoom issue. Plus it's Snowells too and I want to deal with Barry's mistakes and the consequences of them better than the show did since the show just kind of brushes them off? For some reason? I wanted things to have a little more consequence because some of the mistakes made are egregious and then they acted like it never happened which bothers me. It's a beast of a project and I'm - unfortunately- a perfectionist and a completionist. I'm thinking an episode per chapter rewrite but right now it's in bits and pieces and a lot of notes on how episodes would play out differently with an added character and dynamic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and scene positioning. I can write out the dialogue for a story quickly with the bare bones of the scene and movements playing out. After that, it takes me ages to expand the scene and fill in the bits between speaking lines because I can see the piece play out in my head and putting that to paper accurately and engagingly without being overwhelming is a multi-layered process.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Some of this is normal, you know, like grammar and spelling. My brain moves faster than I type so words or bit of phrases end up missing and I later have to fix it. I'm also a Southerner who grew up watching a ton of British shows so a lot of the way I phrase things isn't commonly used anywhere. I have to spend a lot of time double checking things like that. I think my biggest one is not knowing how to end stories satisfactorily. I haven't posted many fics because it's hard to post them when you don't know how to wrap everything up.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It depends on whether it's an established part of a character or story and whether or not I'm comfortable with the language. Like with Sherloque - it's established he'll say something in French and then repeat it in English. I took 3 years of French so I'm comfortable writing it and it fits the character and situation. But take Cisco, we know he speaks Spanish, but it's never really shown in the show. So fics that I've read where he breaks into Spanish can be distracting as we've never seen him do it - even in dire circumstances. I also never took Spanish in school and I only know rudimentary pieces (I took Mandarin and Latin instead), so I'm unlikely to use it in any fic I write unless the circumstances warrant it (say - Cisco is talking to a grandparent or a meta struggling with English).

But again, it depends on the situation, what we know of the character, and how comfortable I am with the language enough to get it correct and in character. Any fic writer who can get the situation and character down while using a secondary language, and not make it distracting deserves applause!

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Hit me with a hard one why don't you? 🤣 I think it was Stargate SG-1 or maybe it was Stargate Atlantis. You're asking me to think back over a decade and a half ago to when I started reading and writing fic at the tender age of 7 or 8. I'm fairly certain it was one of those two fandoms and it might've been a crossover. I do remember writing part of it on an old Gateway computer running Windows '98 with a glass monitor that was mine and my sisters. The other half was written on an electric type-writer that I owned because this was before laptops were widely available and affordable.

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

It's a tie between "Twilight of the Gods" and "I'll Be Waiting". "Twilight of the Gods" because I got to show off a few of my degrees (History and Classics, I couldn't shoehorn in my others but they are science related and that doesn't quite fit that story). "I'll Be Waiting" is a favorite because it's a big middle finger to whoever / collective group wrote The Flash season 7. I'm still pissed off at how the Wells plotline was dealt with and let's not get started on the whole Chillblaine/Kramer/Forces as kids of WA plots (ewwwwwww 🤢). I'd need a whole new post to talk about how tired I am of the WA kids showing up (because screw how that'll effect the timeline, right?) and the reliance on the future to drive what decisions are made (because, again, screw how bad that would be for the timeline - it's not like we have seen how much that effects things before right?) 😒

Phew.....That was longer than I expected, honestly, but a lot of fun!

Tagging whoever wants to talk about their works because you are all wonderful people who should get a chance to share!

[rubbrfrk9]

REBORN

I HAD A NAME. I used to be somebody.

I had a profession, dignity, a position in the class structure.

Nowadays, I see through a cracked lens - society is broken, and the people participating in it are all prisoners.  The people you see shuffling in the great to and from, every morning, every evening - they’re miserable.  Ask any one of them if they wouldn’t leave their life, and - perhaps after some hesitation - they would say Yes.  

Even the ones who have kids - the ones in love - all of them.  In fact, those with ties to other people are the first ones to get in line.

For me, it was curiosity that opened the door.  If one follows the classic Hero’s Journey, the arc that every myth and story takes, I heard the Call - just like you - through a buzzing, pixelated source… the great and sordid world of the internet.  

One wrong step can put you on an entirely different path.  

When you look back, the path you were on is obscured by the surrounding environs - pressed firmly closed, as though no thing had ever once passed through.

I should introduce myself before I preach anymore.  I am rubbrfrk9.  You’ve read the stories on the website, you might’ve seen my name watermarked on pics as you scroll by on your tumblr feed.  

That hasn’t been our name always.  But what our name was before does not matter.

All hail the Rubbered One!

And if you’re reading this, then you’re as curious as I was.  

Do you dare follow your own Call?

If you do, keep reading.

THE CALL COMES FOR YOU. You don’t come for it.  The Call has been there, waiting, for you to pick up the other end, for as long as you’ve been alive.

Like I was saying, for me, it was curiosity.  It seems like it is for you, too.

I was always a curious guy.  It’s how I became a teacher, I guess.  I loved to learn about shit.  Endless amounts of shit.  The subjects that interested me were sucked dry by my voracious need to know.  On top of it all, I was cursed (blessed?) by a need to collect, a completionist’s frenzy, and so I found myself needing not just to know, but to know it all.

Everything.  A question could not go unanswered.  I was a very vocal kid, always asking the dread “Why?” to anyone who had the faculty to answer.  Of course, I learned quickly that faculty does not imply ability; and later still, that ability does not imply honesty.  Soon enough, I started shutting up and consulting other avenues of information - books.  I loved books.  I read anything I could find, from my mother’s tawdry romances on the back of the toilet to magazines at the doctor’s office - but my preferred genre was Horror, without a doubt.

I loved to read stories of unfortunate people, blind to their predicament, be lulled to the predator in the story.  I loved how the protagonists were slowly overcome by a sense of dawning knowledge, and were thus able to conquer - or not - the abiding horror.  The best ones were when the hero failed, in my opinion - those dark, twisted passages of despair and helplessness …

I was a weird kid.  

I didn’t have very much luck making friends.  I didn’t really understand what a “friend” should be.  I knew that it was some sort of social construct, but I hadn’t figured out how it worked yet.  Taking the time to do that analysis set me back, quite substantially, in the invisible school of society.  Maybe, at heart, I was always a bit of a freak, even before I came out.  

Funny to think of that, now, sitting here, writing from behind my gas mask and full rubber suit.  

All hail the Rubbered One!

I love how tightly it encases me.  How tightly it erases me.  

Slowly, now.  Don’t give up too quick.  Finish the story first.

As I was saying.  Curiosity.  After college, I became a teacher.  A professor.  Very highly regarded in my field, but poor with social interactions.  Dates?  Of a professional courtesy, only, and as awkward and dry as a lecture.  Actually, for me, lecturing was my second home, aside from my tidy and obsessively-ordered apartment.  I loved standing at the podium, talking about the books we read together.  How they are structured, and how events, following a certain chain, can be transformative.  

Although sometimes, horrific.

Life that is contained entirely within the snowglobe of acadæmia becomes brittle, after a time.  Even the most relentlessly anti-social of us have a heartbeat, a pulse, and a sexual drive.

Most sexual drives will tend towards the obligatory, the procreational.  Attractiveness, physicality, congruence, intercourse, and then the subsequent emotional tangle.  Sex is more than just a body meeting a body a-comin’ thru the rye - it is a rendezvous of energy, some of which we can’t even begin to understand.

Some kind of cosmic interplay happens during sex.  

Something so bright, so chimeric, that I was blinded just thinking about it.

I fled from it, like a medieval monk from a vision of God.

SPARE TIME. I spent most of my time in my apartment in my bedroom, perched with my skinny knees up, my face obliterated by the powder-white light of my phone.  I’d scroll endlessly.  And always pictures of men.

I’d known I was gay way before most people do, but I’d never bothered to “come out” or anything that obvious.  I just kept my feelings to myself, for as long as I could - which may not have been the healthiest thing to do, in hindsight, and when they finally vibrated at the seal on the pressure gauge, I spewed it out all over the internet.

Tumblr was my outlet.  You could find something for every kink, from men transforming into donkeys to using politics as a sexual tool.  I considered myself omnisexual.  I could be convinced, really, to like anything.  Except a few things.

I never really got into the big “full fetish” scene.  I’d, of course, seen the pictures go by - of Folsom, Folsom Europe, even some kinksters trying to make a name for themselves, become influencers, with pictures so heavily edited and filtered they almost looked fake.

But for me, my kink was - get this - intimacy.  I loved pictures of men, beautiful men, kissing, embracing.  Tangling together, with bliss inscribed on their faces.  And it was that expression that did it for me - the bliss, the complete and total walling-off of any worldly concern but the physical, the presence of another’s lips, breath, proximity -

It got me off, every time.  Imagining myself in those positions.  Wearing those clothes.  Caught up in those bedsheets.

Then, I’d stare into the mirror, and flex my coming-along biceps.  My quads.  I’d get dressed for the gym, and I’d go work out for an hour.  

I loved my routine, even if I felt the dreary recalcitrance to wake up every morning and head to work, just another body with the other bodies, shuffling to and from.  The night time is when I felt the surge of life - I would be free of the grimy shackles of the city, I would pound through the tumblr feed, I would shower, I would go workout.  

Life was half-bliss.

But as anyone who has half of bliss will tell you, it is never enough.  You must go searching for the second half of bliss - and I found mine on the night in question.

Knees up, one foot tapping a heel in idle, anxious rhythm.  Eyes greedily consuming, picture after picture, and then -

My thumb hovered over the screen as if about to lay a fingerprint down on a reader.  I stared.

The picture, my gateway, was a bedroom picture much like any other I saw in my daily feed, except for one crucial ingredient - one of the men was entirely encased, from head to toe, in shiny black rubber.

The rubber was so shiny, so depthless, so reflective, that it almost seemed as though its host was Not - as though there were some kind of blotting-out, erasing, blankening … And yet, this Not Person was being encircled by the arms of another man, a strong man, by the looks of it, his biceps bulging around the Rubbered One.

Even now, looking back on it, I find it insanely difficult to pry my eyes away from the memory of that reflective rubber.  That shiny, reflective black rubber.  And the detail!  I could see the hollows of the eyes, the imprint of the big toenail, the curls of the ears down to the tragus - it was truly as though this was not a suit being worn, this was a suit that was animated, had breath and energy of its own.  

Perhaps it was, in hindsight, seducing the man which embraced it.

I don’t know how long I stared at the picture.  A long time.  I was fascinated with everything about it - the mess of clothing on the side of the bed, socks and shirts strewn around, as if someone had melted and left only their garments as markers that they ever existed at all.  Even a pair of glasses lay askew on the carpet, next to a pair of jeans and Chucks.

If I listened, I could almost hear my own heartbeat, beating in time with the glints of light off of that rubber surface, as though the Rubbered One were moving, in infinitesimally small increments, writhing on the bed in either pleasure or agony -

I blinked, shook my head, and pressed down deliberately on the screen, for the little “Save Image” dialog to appear.  I needed to see that again, sometime.

It was a lot sooner than I thought.

I had to excuse myself from my lecture.  I was shaking, and my breath was wobbly in my mouth.  Words had come out gummily, and I was worried that someone would be convinced I was having a stroke.  I’d send in a TA to finish off the lecture, not that anyone in the darkened hall was paying attention anyway.  

I went into the nearest bathroom, a single-room lavatory, and sat down hard on the toilet.  Instantly, my hands fished out my phone from my pocket and called up my Photos.

There, on the top of the digital heap, was the faraway glisten and shine of the Rubbered One.  I sighed in relief, in pleasure.

You would too, if you’d seen the picture.  Don’t judge me.

A whisper of triumph, of pleasure, of satisfaction, threaded through my mind as I opened up the picture.  There it was again.  That endlessness, that Void, that Nothing.  I craved it, and I didn’t know why, and I needed to know why, and to know why, I needed to keep looking.  I needed to keep looking to stop looking.

The Rubbered One had moved.  I remember its legs being in a different scissor - left on top of right, and now it was right, on top of left.  

This did not frighten me.  Perhaps it should have.  Pictures are not supposed to move.

But in my addled state of mind, I was blissfully unaware of the warning - or even, really, of the thought itself.  It slid right out of my head, as if on a glossy sheet of black ice.  I smiled, warmly, the shuddering ceasing.  

Then, surprising even myself, I unzipped my pants, and hauled out my cock.

Nothing would stop me.  I was a man determined.  I could even smell the rubber, could feel it lifting, wafting out of the screen of my phone.  That smell, that smell that I have no words for - something utterly inorganic, but somehow seductive for that very reason.  

I jerked off, right there, in the bathroom around the corner from the lecture hall.  I sat so still, my hand doing all the work, that the motion-sensing lights clicked off, leaving me alone, lit only by the powdery light of my phone.  There, in the enclosing, mummifying dark, I jerked myself off and came with a jagged, oblique moan that slid out of me, catching me by surprise.  

I may have even been in such a hurry to get inside that I didn’t even lock the bathroom door.  This suspicion came to me as I exited, stuffing myself shakily back into my khakis and my blazer.  You see, the door had opened seamlessly, with no hint of a lock dis-engaging.  

In fact, the momentary thrill of being caught as I masturbated to the Rubbered One flicked a little shiver of pleasure up my shaft anew, and I started shuddering so much that I had to grab the wall for fear of falling over.

All hail the Rubbered One!

There was no way I could go back to my lecture now.  I fled the campus for the safety of a local coffeehouse.

OTHER THINGS STARTED HAPPENING. Like how I thought I was having a stroke, before?  I found that, when I spoke, my mouth felt oddly compressed, as though I had lockjaw.  I went to the doctor, but when they told me to “open wide and say ahhh” I had no trouble - my jaw, seemingly re-oiled, complacently opened its full width, and I made the obligatory noise.  

Nothing wrong with my temporo-mandibular joint, advised the healthcare professional.  

And yet, as soon as I left the office, trying to speak to the Uber driver, to give him directions to my apartment, the same muffling, mysterious pressure returned, and I was only able to speak in tight, restrained tones.  

It didn’t occur to me until much, much later, that this was the voice of someone wearing a rubber gas mask, much like the one I am wearing now.

After awhile, I stopped talking altogether.  Of course, this did make it rather difficult to be a professor, and so that had to stop, too.

But what does a mute member of society do, when the one thing they have in life is a degree in English Literature?

Well, the first step is despondency, and denial.  I spent a month at least, just searching tumblr for more pictures of the Rubbered One.  Sure, there were plenty of pictures - the fetish for rubber has never been a subtle one - but none of them had that same irresistable sheen and shine, that fathomless Void, of the Rubbered One.  I’d exhausted most of the blogs.  I kept returning to the photograph I had saved to my cloud - and jerking off to it, again and again, like a desperate man.  Like a junkie.  If I went without, or even thought about going out, my hand developed such a tremor that I looked afflicted with tardive dyskinesia.

It got so bad, and the attacks so frequent, that I eventually just made the picture my home screen on my phone.  That way, if the tremors started, a quick pocket-dig and finger-flip would open up the likeness of the Rubbered One, and instantly, I would calm.

And (he?  It?) continued to move.  Perhaps, now that (he?  It?) knew that I had noticed the movement, it happened more and more, and faster, as though I were watching a video rather than a photograph.

Now, in addition to the slow, sensual scissoring of its legs, the Rubbered One was turning its head, away from the suckling devotion of its prey and turning to look at me, choosing me, directing its energy towards me.

I already had my rubber in the mail.  It took some doing, some difficult work, some self-measuring, but before long the order was placed and the shipment was made.  It was, of course, a link that I’d seen on tumblr, from one of the many rubber fetish sites.  Drone, and a series of numbers, I think.  One of the ones that’s talking about being absorbed into a Hivemind, a Central Core.  Nothing that ever really appealed to me.

The only thing I wished to absorb into was the Rubbered One.  

I ached, yearned, to be the man in that picture.  I was even jealous of him.  Who was he to show his devotion to such a being, such a beautiful entity?  Would not I be a better candidate for the first apostle position?  

But I knew, somehow, deep inside, that I wouldn’t even be considered until I had donned my own rubber.

Here’s where it gets a little weird, right - this is usually the point when in the story, the protagonist gets a little real, sizes himself up, maybe learns something about themselves.  Call me crazy, I know, but at this point, I just knew on the inside, so strongly, that I would never be worthy of the Rubbered One if I wasn’t Rubbered myself.

And so I waited, agonizingly, nearly tearing my hair out, for the package to inch itself across the ocean to my apartment mailbox.  I’d ordered the full suit, of course, the one that most closely approximated my photograph.  

I was utterly consumed, I was ablaze with obsession.  For the first time in my life, I felt an utterly overwhelming feeling - a lack.  I felt as though I lacked something that I had had for just a moment - one sweet moment, hovering, crystalline - and now that I no longer had it, I could never live a whole life again.

And everywhere I went - watching with a hawk’s eye the slow drainage of funds from my bank account - I smelled it.  Rubber.  There was even an auto repair shop, blockaded on one side with piles and piles of tires - I altered my daily neighborhood walk so that I could slowly amble by it, inhaling the thick, gray smell.  The more of it I could get on me, the more I wanted.  If there were a cologne that smelled of rubber, I’d wear it - hell, I’d bathe in it!  I twitched for it to be near me, on me, inside of me.

THE DAY MY NEW FACE CAME IN THE MAIL. I was wearing rubber gloves, made for chemical and construction workers, pressing them to my face, and inhaling as deeply as I could, when my phone made its little ringing noise to signify that a package was Delivered.

It could only be one thing.

It would only be a matter of moments before I could prostrate myself in front of the Rubbered One.

I hooked up my laptop to my flat-screen television, where the Rubbered One had also become my desktop wallpaper.  I opened up the picture file and let it sit, in the middle of my living room, the picture of Him.

Again, I fell far into His Nothingness, His All-Consuming Void - He turned on the bed, in the picture.  He silently got up.  He moved so subtly that it was impossible to tell if my hallucination was real, or some sort of digital magic.  He kicked, as if insulting, the pile of clothes left by the bedside.

The whole time, He kept his head, His black eyes, His shiny face, impassive and monstrous, but so aloof, so superior - His direct gaze - riveted on mine.

All hail the Rubbered One!

With barely a shimmer, He stepped out of the frame of my television and deliberately into my living room.  Tendrils of black squirmed out around the square of my screen, lashing to and fro idly, almost amusedly.

None of this seemed unreal, or even fantastical.  It was simply as it was - I was in a sort of ecstasy, like the kind the saints have, all-consumed, raptured.  The Rubbered One had chosen me!

Go, He told me without speaking.

I was on my feet, I was sprinting, I was dashing, my hands, still in their gloves, slippery on the door knob.  I was down the stairs before I realized I was barefoot, or that I was still wearing the heavy-duty black rubber gloves.  And there it was - my Rubber.  It was, of course, still in the box, it needed to be freed -

I cradled it in my arms.  I inhaled, as deeply as possible, again.  I could smell it, whining at the edges of my nostrils, begging to be freed.  I felt it, inside its cardboard prison, shifting and rustling.  Whispering.

I brought it upstairs with as much care as a mother would bring home her day-old newborn, but once inside, slamming the door behind me, I pillaged the drawers for the scissors, tearing into the box that would dare imprison my -

And there it was.  Still in a sad, folded-up heap, but it was mine.  

Now, said His voice in my head.  I didn’t have to turn around to know that He, the Rubbered One, was standing behind me - had moved silently from the living room to the kitchen.  I felt Him questing at the edges of my consciousness, starting the interview process.  

I felt a strange mix of craven desire and hot-blooded lust twist through me.  How I wished to possess the Rubbered One!  And how I wished to be possessed by Him!

I began to don my Rubber.  I felt it coo as it met my skin, as I replaced my own with its black sheen.  I saw my toes go, then the top of my foot - ankles, calves and shinbones, kneecaps and thighs - I watched as the black tide continued its creep up my body, as quickly as night follows dusk.  

The Rubbered One put His hands on me and I was nothing, I was everything.  I was part of a gigantic, moaning chorus of voices, I was absolute silence.

I saw Him reach out to me, his Nothing fingers and Nothing hands, his Void arms, his Void body.  I saw Him pull my self to His, and I felt us as we docked, somehow, for an imposssible moment, sharing the same physical space.

Then, with a sound that reminded me of a slurp and a sucking, closing noise, I was no more.

RUBBERBORN. I ceased to exist as I knew myself.  

I had a name.  

I wasn’t much of somebody, but I was somebody.  

Now, I was part of a growing, aching consciousness - I was part of a vast, growing hunger.  My thoughts were no longer my own.

All hail the Rubbered One!

I buzzed and chirred, excited beyond words.  I was ramrod hard, even in the rubber, which smoothed everything away, everything - all emotion, all thought, all nerve, all worry.  All features of my face - gone.  All features of my body - slurped up.  

I stood in front of the mirror.  All sign of the Rubbered One was vanished.  I could see, somehow, through my suit, though it had no eyeholes.

I saw through Rubber eyes.

I understood that I was Rubberborn.  That this was my destiny.  

The words “my” and “me” and “I” and “mine” were erased, scratched out heavily.  I was plural, now.

We were plural.

We stand in front of the mirror, staring at ourselves, our new body.  A mere morsel in the face of our hunger.  

Do you feel it?

As our eyes swivel slowly, tracking across the room, away from the mirror.  Looking into the camera lens backwards.  Do you feel the chilly fingers of our gaze landing on you as you read?  Playing along your bare shoulders, the pliable, delicate skin of your arms?

The Rubberborn understand and acknowledge that this body can be used for purposes that satisfy the hunger.  

They gave it the name rubbrfrk9.  The name you know, the author of these stories you read, curious in your own way to know how the rubber feels.  The same name you’ve seen watermarked on pics of us as you scroll by on your tumblr feed.  

Or maybe you already know - maybe you’ve already felt the ecstasy, struggling into your own shirt or pants.  Gloves or socks.  Mask or hood.  

Perhaps all of the above.  

Perhaps the voice of the Rubbered One is even now mingling with your own thoughts.  Sinuous, twisty, shiny and smooth.  Silken whispers, just an undercurrent of sibilant breath in the background, there.  If you strain, you can make it out.  Can hear our voices.  

We can sense you.

We know.

We are coming.

Say it with us now: All hail the Rubbered One!

[christinaroseandrews]

Nine years ago, Olivia and Thorn met. The attraction was immediate, electrical. They flirted. They kissed. They got caught. When Thorn was "encouraged" to make an offer for Olivia, she turned him down. Not because she didn't want him, she did. But because he didn't seem to want her. Olivia believes in love and in chemistry. Thorn doesn't really believe in anything.

The two meet again... this time in the midst of what may be a murder investigation. Someone seems to have been offing his mother's husbands, and they just need to prove it. That's where Olivia comes in, she's developed a process which should determine if Thorn's brother's father had been poisoned. The attraction between them is still there. Still strong. There's still a spark. Unfortunately, Thorn isn't the only one interested in Olivia... can she uncover the truth about the mystery and her own heart before the whole thing goes up in flames.

I've read the previous two books in this series and loved the pieces out of them. The series arc/mystery of just who is murdering... or possibly murdering... the husbands of the five siblings is very clearly reaching a climax, and I've definitely been enjoying the ride. The tension is strong... relevant. While you don't have to read the first two books in the series, I would strongly recommend it... and if possible track down the anthology featuring the youngest brother Heywood (if you're a completionist like I am).

As with the last two books, the story features an older heroine than typically graces Regency romances, and I am totally here for it. I love that we're getting more late twenties/early thirties heroines. It's refreshing. Olivia is also a really fun heroine. She's principled and driven. She's into STEM in a time when women were often discouraged from scholarly pursuits. She knows her stuff and even her thoughts regarding the hero are peppered with chemical knowledge.

Thorn is also very different from the previous two male leads. First off, he's not nearly as endearing initially... he's not supposed to be. He's got some baggage which puts him firmly in the "Hero is not Nice" category. However part of his character arc is him confronting his own prejudices and learning from them. It's a lovely change of pace. The fact that he’s writing plays that he can’t ever take credit for is amusing. He’s got all of the foibles of being an artist but can’t enjoy any of the perks. Watching Thorn grow into the man who deserved Olivia was a joy to read.

For fans of series, the two previous heroes and heroines are back as the supporting cast. But their reappearance doesn't take away from the romance of this book. However, I will admit that I didn’t love this book as much as I loved the previous two. It’s a good book, but the other two were amazeballs. It’s kind of hard to compete with them.

That being said, this is a great, light, fun and charming read. I seriously enjoyed reading this, and I’m looking forward to the finale of the series.

Five easy stars.

If this is your jam, you can get it here.

If you like these kind of honest reviews, please consider supporting us here!

I received an ARC via NetGalley

[extremely-uncanny]

How Myspace and Astonishing X-Men got me into comics.

The Past

It is 2007. I walk into the local Walden Books in the town mall (a phrase that immediately dates this column). I am on a mission. I walk to the corner of the store that I often ignored on my way to the sci-fi paperbacks. In this corner, I find a spinner rack full of comics. With no friends or family into comics, what made this kid from rural Tennessee to seek out funny books? Was it a movie? Was it nostalgia? Nope. The reason I was here was MySpace (This REALLY dates this column).

Specifically, MySpace role playing. That is a story for another column, but I was roleplaying Cyclops on MySpace at the time. I wanted to be good. Scratch that, I wanted to be the best. Turns out the best way to know your character— besides raiding wiki pages and comic vine—was to buy the comics.

It didn’t hurt either if you had a scanner and you could get special unique pictures that you couldn’t find online. I wanted to do my research and I asked around online about what comics had Cyclops in it. I read comics before in the 90’s, but it was only a stack of about 50 books and not one was X-Men. I was lost when trying to parse through what comics I should read. Especially in the X-line at the time. This was the time following House of M and Civil War. X-Men were firmly moved to the backburner. 

(X-Men (vol.2) #199 was one of the X-Men books of the time. Hindsight a really underrated run of the comic but definitely not new reader friendly. Same could be said of Uncanny X-Men that month. It was square in the middle of Rise and Fall of Shi’ar Empire)

The line was starting its long decline into irrelevance like the Post-Lee/Kirby era the mutants found themselves in before Claremont picked them up from the ashes. It wasn’t obvious at the moment, but Avengers was stealing the throne and Iron Man’s release in 2008 would seal it..

I wanted to read comics with Cyclops and I didn’t know where to being.  Thanks to my real dad, the internet, I was told Cyclops was only really in one X-Men comic at the time—Astonishing X-Men.

So, I am browsing this spinner rack looking for Astonishing X-men. I didn’t know how fortunate I was at the time, but I managed to find issues #19-21 all on the spinner rack. This was fortunate because as I would come to find out Astonishing X-men tended to release whenever the moon was in the correct alignment with the constellations. The fact there were comics cover dated for February still sitting on the rack in May was amazing. Speaks volumes about Walden Books, I guess.

I took the issues home and devoured them. I read them multiple times. I marveled at Cassady’s minimalistic art and the general pacing worked. I may have been jumping into the final arc of the run, but damn I loved those comics. Astonishing X-men #19-21 were the first comics I’ve read in 10 years. Last time I read comics, heroes were just reborn and Superman was blue. I had to have more.

I remember sitting down and deciding I can budget my money from the random chores and birthdays to buy a comic once a month. Which was great because Astonishing X-men was “Monthly”. As I said before this was not true. It would come out sporadically for the next 18 months. I needed more comics though. I really enjoyed the medium and I loved superheroes. While nostalgia did not drive me to pick up these comics, it kept me interested in checking out more. I was big into the Marvel hype machine and started buying up comics left and right. My finances were spared though because I would only buy from Walden books or a small game shop in town that had a modest comic section. Little did I know about the dedicated comic shop just a street over. When I discovered the shop. Well, my wallet took one hell of a hit (Still never financially recovered from Blackest Night) 

The Present

Eighteen months ago, I lost my entire singles comic collection (outside of a few random books I kept) in a flood. This unfortunately included my copies of Astonishing X-men #19-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1. I already lost my trades of the remainder of the series to a friend. Sure, I could read them on Marvel Unlimited (and I did, several times), but I missed those single issues. A couple months ago, on a lark, I begin to browse eBay for Astonishing X-Men runs. Mainly looking for the issues I had. What I found were complete runs at affordable prices. I pounced and bought up the entire Whedon and Cassaday run. The nostalgic joy I felt from getting and flipping through those books was hard to describe. As much as nostalgia leads me to check out new things or to revisit things from the past, it doesn’t usually bring me joy like that. I was and still am overly excited to have this run. I am not a completionist or a collector. I don’t have a desire to buy up the remaining issues of Astonishing X-Men that followed. It has inspired me to check into buying other single issue runs of arcs I love. I will post thoughts on the arcs of Astonishing X-Men in the future. Just a preview, I am nostalgic for it, but it is flawed especially staked next Morrison’s top notch run. 

The Future

With this recent acquirement of Astonishing X-Men and deep diving on Jay and Miles X-plain the X-Men, my love of X-Men was rekindled. I think it is time for me to revisit the Merry Mutants that I largely left behind after numerous resets and directions (Lemire was my last attempt to read the X-Men). Hickman has been one of my favorite writers of the last decade of comics and I really love Lenil Yu. I think its time for me to read the X-Men.

-Goes to read House of X/ Powers of X-

Holy balls, I…need to write about this. So next time (maybe? This column has the release schedule of a 90’s Image series) I will try to explain my love of HoX/PoX.

This has been Extremely Uncanny

For more updates or to see my twitter musings you can follow me at  https://www.twitter.com/extremlyuncanny or of course subscribe here to the blog.

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Shadowhunters 3x16, Stay With Me -- Review

Well, it finally happened. Yes, this day, the day that aired Shadowhunters 3x16, Stay With Me will mark the day where the plot for Shadowhunters 3B finally started. Is the plot good? Can't tell yet because even though the plot started, they didn't get very far but hey, at least we got some progress now. It certainly doesn’t make up for the lack of plot all season but at least it’s something. 

I would like to preface this review with saying that I am NOT a huge supporter of this show. I do enjoy certain elements of it but I'm not what would be classified as a devoted fan. For me, Shadowhunters is not a good show and I do get very critical of the show in my reviews. Honestly, for me, I watch the show because 1) I'm too curious not to and 2) I find that this show can be so bad its funny and that's how I reap enjoyment out of it. I am not at all invested in this show or its characters anymore. I'm just watching to see what happens. If you're a die hard fan and you lash out at everyone who has a different opinion than you, you might want to skip these...I'm just saying. My reviews may not be for you. If you do decide to be a total troll, well then pay attention to the below disclaimer. 

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this episode. If you're the kind of Shadowhunters fan where you only want to hear positive things about the show, this is not the place for you. If you decide to stick around and get offended by what is said, then that's on you. I warned you. Just know that if you send me any rude comments or messages, I will 100% ignore you. I find that's the best way to deal with bullies. I work 14 hour days. Do you really think I want to waste my incredibly valuable free time dealing with derogatory comments? Hell no. This review will consist of my honest opinions. Opinions are never right or wrong. I'm not telling YOU how to think and feel. I'm telling you what I, quirky and socially awkward me, think and feel. So please, lets discuss with dignity and respect. If I'm critical about this show, it's only because I want it to get better. There is, in fact, a difference between hating a show and being critical of it. I do not hate Shadowhunters, I am being critical and analyzing the flaws as I would with any other show. There are positives but there are also negatives. It's great if you want to promote positivity with this show (and I encourage you to do so) but that doesn't mean I'm not going to point out the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do like the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my fondness for the books. I don't really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as the changes are good, it makes sense, and it doesn't create plot holes within the confines of the world the show has created. My problems with this show are problems I would have with any show or book for that matter. I think it's perfectly reasonable to take issue with a show that has plot holes, shoddy world building, and inconsistent characters. There will be spoilers for the books and movie. 

As I said, the plot at last started in this episode, unfortunately this show continues its ongoing trend of having absolutely too much going on with very little going on at the same time. It's extremely difficult too feel anything for these characters when we barely spend any amount of time with any of them before we cut to another group of characters. And then when grand sweeping declarations between characters are made, I'm just like, "wait, how did we get here?" How am I supposed to be invested in any of the characters arcs or relationships when we barely spend any amount of time with any of them? With this episode, I also suffered another episode with some (at the very least) questionable acting choices, to put it nicely. I want to be nice about it but honestly, it feels like the actors aren't even trying. I normally hate criticizing the acting in my reviews but it keeps on popping up in 3B and it's so difficult to just let it slide. Really, all of 3B has been feeling like no one on the cast or crew is trying. Its been really stale and bland performances. It feels like everyone is doing the bare minimum to collect their paycheck. The script was awful, the film production was super bland, and it definitely feels like the actors are "phoning it in". 

You know, while I never exactly liked this show, it was never really a chore to watch it before. While the show is legitimately bad, it used to be kind of fun and I used to enjoy watching the episodes and reviewing it, pointing out parts I found interesting, pointing out parts I found ridiculous. But ever since season 3 started, it's been a real chore to watch this show. I think I can honestly say that I was enjoying Legacies way more than I'm enjoying this show and if any of you have been reading my Legacies reviews, you know exactly how I feel about Legatrash (as I've so affectionately dubbed it). But I am a completionist, so I shall prevail and get through Shadowhunters. 

This the part where I should say The Plot Thickens but this is Shadowhunters so instead we get The Plot Starts

As I said before, not a whole lot actually happened with the plot but at least it looks like something is starting. Jonathon makes a pact with the Seelie Queen to kill Lillith in exchange for her aid. Clary is dealing with lots of anger issues as a result of her bond with Jonathon. Now for the most part in this episode, Kat's acting was pretty stale and bland except for the moment when she yelled her frustrations out at Simon. It had just the right amount of irritation and anger in it followed with the perfect amount of awkwardness following it. This might've been Kat's most believable performance in the entire series so far. But this leads to Clary deciding she needs to get rid of the mark ASAP because she can't stand Jonathon's evilness running through her body. So they concoct this plan where they decide to use Clary's rune-creating powers to summon Lillith and ask Lillith how to remove the mark. They bring Cain in to use the mark as a shield in case Lillith is able to break free of the Malachi Configuration. And when Izzy talks about how she made additions to the Malachi Configuration, first off it was super obvious that the additions was going to be torture but also I was thinking, "how incredibly convenient" and also, "why?" But as they're preparing, for this summoning, Jonathon goes to the hell dimension to see Lillith with the intention of killing her. And what a weird moment to see Jonathon being burned in flames as he's being transported to Edom and Clary is hunched on the ground because she can feel the burning through the bond and Jace is just standing there, not getting down to her level to comfort her or anything, just standing there and watching her. It's weird considering she's supposed to be the love of his life and he's not doing anything to try and get her through the pain. But anyway, Jonathon almost succeeds in killing Lillith, but conveniently enough, right at the moment where he's about to stab her, Lillith is summoned by Clary. I know, right? How incredibly fortuitous and lucky. But after Izzy spends some time torturing Lillith, Lillith spills the beans on the only thing that can break the bond is archangel Michael's sword, Glorious, infused with heavenly fire. There's a little bit of some more torture, honestly its weird considering how the toruture of imprisoned downworlders is a thing happening this season but yet we're seeing Team Good who's suposedly fighting against this torture, so freely torturing Lillith as if its as easy as breathing to them. It's not out of character for the book counterparts but in this context, it's really weird. Jonathon shows up, attempts to kill everyone but Clary uses a portal to send Jonathon to Clave prison. And Cain escapes with Lillith so that's a thing. I"m so not excited about Lillity running around again. She was a bland villain in the books, she was a bland villain in 3A, and she hasn't changed one bit now that she's in 3B. Seriously, who can honestly say that they wanted Lillith back? Izzy then tells them about what she heard from Maryse about their being a project called Heavenly Fire the clave was secretly working on. And I can already tell the show is going to make this way more complicated than it needs to be. 

So once again, I'm left with the thought that I'm not a really big fan of how this plot point of Clary being controlled by the mark through Jonathon's darkness when I think it's far more interesting to have the mark controlling Clary through her own innate darkness. I've said it before, I wish this show would just throw away pure, perfect innocent, delicate little flower Clary and give us dark!Clary where the mark feasts upon her own selfishness and ruthlessness. But the show refuses to acknowledge that Clary is anything but pure and perfect and innocent which is a real shame because dark!Clary is a 100x more interesting. And trust me, the selfishness and ruthlessness is there, the writers just don't want to acknowledge it. I think the writers think that because Clary has that extra angel blood, she should be this pure and innocent creature but my counterargument is: no, she doesn't. Angels aren't always depicted as pure and perfect and innocent creatures. For instance, I love how Supernatural depicts angels. They're soldiers first and foremost and they're willing to sacrifice anything to achieve their task. The plot in this episode would've been so much more interesting if it was less about Jonathon's impulses controlling Clary and more about her own dark impulses controlling her. If you want to keep the same outcome, dark!Clary would make more sense in terms of her telling Jace that he was the one that pulled her back from the brink and allowed her to fight against the mark controlling her. That it was his faith in the good parts of her that called her back. Instead, we got a really cheesy Clace scene where the same line happens but not a whole lot of believability and payoff on it. If we want to go with a different outcome, Clary becomes so controlled by her own darkness and the mark that she portals both her and Jonathon to the apartment and they continue on their adventure for world domination. And then the plot takes over from their. Either way, dark!Clary works far better. If nothing else, it at least gives her a sense of agency, something she really doesn't have currently. 

Is it weird that I'm rooting more for Jonathon in this season than I am Team Good? Seriously, this show hasn't been all that great about humanizing Jonathon but at least he has something resembling a personality as opposed to our heroes where it's become abundantly clear in this season that without Valentine driving the conflict or the political intrigue, none of our main characters have enough personality to really carry the show. When the show focuses on the characters, you really start to see that maybe there's a reason why we don't spend too much time with any particular character or relationship dynamic for more than a couple of minutes in a scene. This could very well possibly be the writers' way of hiding the fact that these characters they've written aren't nearly as rich or deep as they would like their audience to believe. 

And I still maintain that if we're going with this whole role reversal thing with Jace and Clary from City of Lost Souls, then it would be far more interesting to have Jonathon in love with Jace and not Clary. I'm just saying, if you're going to do a role reversal, you might as well go all the way. Seriously, why is Jonathon in love with Clary? What even is the point of it besides Jonathon being evil so of course he falls in love with his sister? The show didn't think incest was okay with Clace so why do they think it's okay here? Thematically, what does it really do for any of the characters?

The fight scene with Jonathon was particularly cringey. Just in general, I've noticed the fight choreography to be particularly bad this season. And I'm always saying, if you have a choreographer doesn't know how to fight with a whip, then please stop using the whip, keep the staff. As someone who finds whip fighting disciplines particularly interesting, and loves how badass book!Izzy is with her whip, it hurts my soul to see the whip in the show be used so ineffectively. 

More Malec Relationship Woes

In which I go back to my old mantra of asking, when is Magnus actually going to put any work into this relationship? Why is Alec always the one having to bend to suit Magnus's needs and not his own. He's always the one having to compromise and work things out and Magnus really doesn't do anything. Like I said in previous season 2 and 3A reviews, there's probably a reason Magnus has had thousands of relationships and I think it has very little to do with him being immortal. 

But the magic Magnus gained from Lorenzo starts to rebel within his own body so Alec has to convince Lorenzo to take the magic away. Which once again, I'm asking myself why is the show doing this? This whole plot is completely pointless. It's literally only here to give Malec something to do this season where instead they could've been working on the whole immortality issue they keep on sweeping underneath the rug, you know, something that might develop their relationship and individual character arcs. It's also really weird that Magnus thinks that without magic, it would make Alec stop loving him since Alec already had that conversation with him a few episodes back and besides, the magic is the whole reason the immortality conflict exists in the first place. Seriously, I don't understand what the writing process is for this show. Do they only take it one episode at a time and treat each episode as a poorly executed one-shot or something? But this whole scare is causing Alec to contemplate marriage to Magnus which I strongly advise against for a few reasons. 1) It's a bad idea to marry someone because you're afraid they might die, fear of your partner's inevitable death isn't going to help you get through all of the highs and lows of marriage. 2) They just decided to move in together, to make that kind of commitment together. Before Alec, has always been more or less a guest in Magnus's apartment. It's a completely different thing to legitimately be co-habiting with where you're always around each other night and day. And 3) As I mentioned before, these two have yet to get through a single conflict that doesn't result in them just sweeping it under the rug and ignoring that it ever existed. Looking at the marriage through the lens of realism, there's no way this marriage could possibly work out or at the very least, it's going to be extremely dysfunctional and not at all healthy. But this is Shadowhunters who hate hanging onto a conflict for more than an episode, so of course I'm sure this'll result in a pure and perfect marriage. 

And whereas all season I've been noticing a lack of chemistry between Matt and Harry, but it was particularly prevalent in this episode's opening scene in that dream sequence. Both actors looked like they were in physical pain in that scene. Just thought I’d make a note of that.

Luke and Maryse Continues to Be a Thing But at Least NYPD: Shadowhunters is Coming to an End

Yup, they're still a thing. And it's just weird that Luke is telling Maryse that he doesn't want her to come visit him in prison anymore when they barely have a relationship to begin with. It's also so weird that he seems to have already been convicted for the pack massacre in a matter of a couple of days. Justice in the American Courts is apparently swift in the Shadowhunters universe. And I also still don't understand why Luke feels like going to prison is redemption for what happened to the pack. As Maryse said, it's dangerous for the inmates around Luke if Luke were to ever lose control. I understand Luke's guilt but I don't understand why he feels like this is the best course of action. But I guess it's all cool because the Praetor Lupus is breaking him out. And honestly, I think the best thing to come out of this whole thing is that we'll no long have to deal with this NYPD plot. It was dumb in Season 1 and it's been continuously dumb throughout the subsequent seasons. The most egregious thing is that it's taken the show this long to get rid of the NYPD angle. 

So it's not a total crap fest on this episode, I actually didn't mind the moment when Izzy and Simon joke about her fear of rats. There was actually some chemistry in that scene. Not enough to sell me on that relationship but I got some Sizzy feels from it. It's still not Sizzy from the books so I don't want it in the show. I still think in the show, Saia is a much better fit but oh well, beggars can't be choosers. 

And speaking of which, in a throwaway line, we learn Maia is spending time with Jordan at the Praetor. Oh joy. She's stuck spending time with her abuser because the show has no idea what to do with her. I remember when the writers said that Maia was going to have a bad-ass character arc this season...I'm still waiting for it. At this point, the only thing that would make me somewhat okay with everything that's happened so far is if it's revealed that Bat is still alive and he and Maia decide to rebuild their pack together. It's still not optimal and it's still a great disservice to her character arc, but at least it's something, you know?

I suppose I'd give this episode a C+. There was plot, but beyond that, I really didn't particularly enjoy this episode. I found multiple aspects of it to be pretty cringy and bland. All in all, I'd say that's pretty much been the status quo for all of season 3, really. Once again we’re seeing that this show has too many characters and they don’t know what to do with 90% of them. For the life of me, I can’t even fathom why this Lillith and Cain thing is necessary. The show doesn’t have the time with this tomfoolery. I thought we were finally getting away from this with the death of Heidi but nope. They just killed her off to make room for undoubtedly another needless subplot. This season has just really been showcasing its lack of direction and that Freeform without a doubt was justified in cancelling it. 

[aion-rsa]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 1 Review: Aftermath

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Wars: The Bad Batch review contains spoilers.

The Bad Batch Episode 1

During the opening scene of The Bad Batch, the new animated series set during the rise of the Empire, the The Clone Wars logo burns away. At once blatant marketing and a promise of something new, the logo neatly explains what The Bad Batch is.

As Jennifer Corbett (producer and head writer) and Brad Rau (producer) said during a press junket ahead of the May 4 premiere, this show is a spiritual successor and also a direct sequel to The Clone Wars. The beginning of the new show draws from the epic scale of The Clone Wars‘ series finale (and the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy which it parallels). But while the action and heart are all there on paper, stock characters and a too-straightforward plot drag down the 70-minute premiere.

The five characters of the Bad Batch, lead by elite clone Hunter, never quite fit in. Like many other aspects of technology in Star Wars, cloning isn’t an exact science, and Clone Force 99 are “deviant” or “defective” depending on who’s talking, but they’re very good at their jobs of fighting on behalf of the Republic. But when the Republic transitions to the Empire, they’re immediately asked to start doing messier jobs, such as hunting down human rebels, whereas they’d usually fight droids. As you’d expect, the clones swap sides and, of course, end up having to fight their way out of their home base. A young girl clone named Omega helps them out, and the stage is set for the rest of the season, which will have at least 14 episodes.

Star Wars guru Dave Filoni is joined by Star Wars Resistance writer Jennifer Corbett on the creative side. Her pedigree in delivering stories for the Sequel-era animated show, and her experience in the U.S. Navy, make her an ideal guide for this war story. As military science fiction, The Bad Batch is serviceable, with the creative action and silly one-liners typical of The Clone Wars. The franchise’s approach to animation is always improving, which in this first long episode manifests mostly in impressive snow and a fun depth of field effect. The sharp corners of armor contrast nicely against soft, blurred lights in the out-of-focus backgrounds.

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

As far as plot goes, it’s pretty simple, leaving me to want to dig into some of the more weighty sections but not sure whether they’re actually statements. The Bad Batch see the other clones turn on the Jedi during Order 66, but for the same reason their other “defects” make them stronger, the inhibitor chips that should brainwash them according to the Emperor’s wishes don’t work. They choose to let the Jedi in their vicinity live. Future-Grand Moff Tarkin sees their rebelliousness as a good chance to prove the Clone Army is no longer effective. After all, conscripts would apparently be cheaper. But after the Batch uncover Tarkin’s true colors, they defect for good.

It’s cool to see this transition happening. What do clones become after the war? It’s a question hardcore Star Wars fans might leap to answer (they don’t all become stormtroopers, and not all stormtroopers are clones) but we haven’t seen it so directly on screen before. It’ll be nice if The Bad Batch addresses some of the practical questions around that.

Meanwhile, Tarkin’s clearly willing to shed civilian blood in a way the Jedi generals weren’t, replacing the clones bred for war with human volunteers. Like many other Star Wars stories set during the Prequel era, the Batch’s choice presents a moral decision with no right answers. The “good” choice here would be to maintain a status quo in which tens of thousands of people are born solely to fight wars with droids, which, while technically enemy soldiers, are also sapient. And while I can generally get lost in the military camaraderie fantasy here, the fact that other clones don’t like them makes what exactly the Bad Batch is fighting for even more muddled. Maybe this is about giving this squad a new cause they believe in outside of the definitely-bad Empire.

Or maybe the fact that it’s hard to tell the Republic’s policies from the Empire’s is the point. This is how the Republic fell after all: gradually.

The strongest character beats involve the characters learning to trust each other in new ways. Team leader Hunter’s superpowers are “enhanced senses,” although that isn’t really on display much. He begins to distrust team sniper Crosshair when Crosshair becomes over-eager to follow their grim mission by the book. Their arguments were most compelling before the inhibitor chip was introduced: while I know it fits with the lore, it defangs the story a little to have the main antagonist’s motivation be “he was brainwashed,” and I was a little unsure of how much the show was willing to either pin blame on him or absolve him of it. Either way, we haven’t seen the last of Crosshair.

The Bad Batch can’t even trust the Kaminoans, their creators and stewards of their beloved home. The one who shows this the best is team heavy Wrecker. His tendency to scream about blowing stuff up I generally find more annoying than funny, but toward the middle of the extended episode he adds pathos without getting away from this broad characterization. Wrecker isn’t programmed, he insists. He likes what he likes. His determination to hold on to a sense of himself as a person with free will feels like the real stakes of the show. It’s a section of the episode that quickly jumps back into goofy, fun action, but for a moment gets at something more serious and scary. Wrecker’s determination to hold on to his individuality shows exactly what Tarkin hates most about the clones. Ironically, in Tarkin’s estimation, he needs stormtroopers that can be even more tractable.

Unfortunately, the moments most important to this theme are undercut by repeating information the audience already knows. If you’ve watched The Clone Wars, you probably know about Fives’ discovery of the inhibitor chips and how Ahsoka helped Rex remove his. But moments like the one above sell the fact that the clones would be shocked to learn the truth about their new Empire.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The brand new member of the group is Omega, a young teenage clone introduced as both audience surrogate and mystery. (She’s also a particularly noticeable example of how the Empire is whitewashing the clones — those further from the Jango Fett template have lighter skin.) She’s a big fan of the Bad Batch because, like them, she’s an altered clone. It’s implied that she’s never really been able to make friends with other humans before, so it makes sense she’d latch on to the other unique clones in her orbit. Her fondness for them sometimes reads like a script for how much the audience is supposed to be fawning over the headliners, but the show never quite really shows the world from her perspective. Nevertheless, I think it’s overall a less jarring introduction than Ahsoka’s, who became a great character as she got more involved with the rest of the saga. It’s a “wait and see” with Omega as well.

I am a bit wary the series might be hurrying to repeat the sleight-of-hand pulled with Rey, presenting a character as both a point of view and a mystery at the same time. The first two episodes provided for review hint something bigger is going on with Omega, and how grounded that thing might be might determine whether it works. It’s become a bit tiring to use “who is this character?” as a jumping-off point rather than providing an answer in the first place and building from there.

As far as connecting to other Star Wars characters we do have answers for, The Bad Batch instantly announces that this will be a cameo-heavy episode, and…that’s okay? Now that they’re not being as coy about it as Rebels was, it’s a lot of fun to see Saw Gerrera and a young Kanan Jarrus. (Even if the latter cameo does instantly contradict the Kanan backstory comic released by Marvel a few years ago.)

When the Bad Batch were introduced in The Clone Wars I found them boring, their action figure-ready powers not any more compelling than the clones and Jedi we already had. They still seem a strange choice for headliners when characters like Ahsoka are operating at the same time. More so than The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch feels like a deep cut, a completionist tale that may struggle to hold fans. While comparisons between the avuncular Batch and Omega’s relationships with Din Djarin and Grogu are inevitable, this is no The Mandalorian in terms of either content or accessibility.

The post Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 1 Review: Aftermath appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3h0ihwc

[tommykaine]

Till Death Do Us Part ramblings

Now that I’ve been tinkering with the game for a bit (two days I have no shame) I feel that I can ramble a bit about it

Warnings for assorted spoilers under the cut and also mentions of things of distasteful nature due to the game in question

First things first I’m gonna get this out of the way because I know it’s just unescapable: whether this is “another BTD”, and just the general comparison that is bound to happen between the two BTD games and TDDUP.

My answer to that is no, it’s very much not “BTD 3 but with a different name”.

Yes, the “genre” is of the same nature, and the way the game functions is similar (but it’s a visual novel pretty much, all visual novels have multiple choices and different story outcomes at the end depending on previous choices). However, there are significant differences, enough to make me come to the conclusion that this is only superficially related to the first games.

Firstly, TDDUP is a lot more story-driven. You still have several choices, but there is a lot more reading involved than in the BTD games. Besides the amount of text, however, the main difference is with the MC:

In BTD, the MC was more or less a blank state. Yes, there was a hint of pre existing characterization (in BTD 1 we know they are a drinker and have trouble socializing) and some that would come up depending on the choices (in one route it comes up that the BTD 2 MC likes to paint, for example), but for the most part, you could imagine whatever backstory and it would fit.

In TDDUP, you still have room for your own headcanons and some degree of customization (name and gender - note that the gender option influences more than just pronouns/titles. If you want to headcanon the MC as a pre-op trans character you might want to pick the “they” option), but there is a whole pre-existing set-up that is different in each story.

So basically in BTD it was more like the MC was a self-insert/your own OC in a story, whereas in TDDUP it’s more like you are playing a pre-existing character.

Same with the relationships - in BTD, you’re just getting to know the guys, and even with the more “romantic” outcomes there is no pre-set relationship. In TDDUP, each pairing has a more specific setting. Either you’ve recently escaped a relationship with an obsessive partner who just can’t let you go, or you’re the main asshole in what ends up being a mutually destructive relationship, or you’re in a loving marriage that is suddenly shattered by a dangerous secret. The same is true in the scenarios with Aria and Ellen, albeit a bit less so in Ellen case as she knows about you but you barely do.

Another major difference is that in BTD, your “goal” was to survive (even if that was not the real goal for most of the players let’s be real ;) ). Most of the endings involved the MC being killed for failing, with a few harder to get ones where you get to survive (albeit how “good” of an ending you’d get was quite arguable). In TDDUP however, there isn’t really a “goal” towards getting any specific ending. In one of the routes it’s not possible to be killed in the first place so all endings are survival endings, in another there are a few death endings but they’re not necessarily the most likely endings you’re gonna get. So the “goal” is not really to survive, but to advance the story (or for a “final goal”, to unlock all the endings and get the bonus content, if you’re a completionist).

Finally, there is as far as I can tell no connection between the BTD characters and the TDDUP characters. Whereas in BTD 2, you had some characters being connected to and/or mentioning BTD 1 characters, so there was an explicit connection between the stories. In fact, TDDUP might not even take place in the same universe as the BTD games, as evidenced by the fact that there are no supernatural elements in it (even Strade, who was the closest to a “regular human” you’d get in the BTD universe aside from the MCs, had a supernatural creature as a pet).

There are some other differences (the obvious one being that this is @electricpuke’s fully own creation of course) but I think that these are the main ones that bring me to consider TDDUP as a completely different creation than the two BTD titles, rather than a spin off or a sequel in all but name.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m gonna talk about some of my first impressions. Please note that this is all very subjective and mostly based on personal taste!

I’m also using pronouns based on which ones I picked in each route, as those are kind of my own “headcanon” for the situations, so it’s not gonna be gender neutral in all of them for that reason.

Also, this is where the most spoilery part starts, so be warned for that!

My first reaction was that I really loved the first endings I got for both Chris and Jack. They are also my two favourites out of the four characters, followed by Aria and Marcus. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t get into Ellen (no pun intended). Her storyline just didn’t click with me for some reason.

.

I think my absolute favourite storyline and pair out of the three might be the one with Jack (unfortunately he hates the memes - btw the first time I arrived at the “stab me daddy” option I was unable to continue for like 5 mins cause I was just stuck there laughing at it). I’m a sucker for fictional serial killers, and as unrealistic as that’d be IRL I love the “one exception” type of dynamic with a serial killer and another character. I really liked how Jack was genuinely in love with the MC, the fact that it wasn’t just an act for him to act like the caring husband. In my first playthrough with him my character was trying to reach out to his caring side, to still accept him to some degree, but in the end Jack couldn’t kill him nor keep him - therefore, the only thing he could do was leave. It was really sad, but I liked that ending the most. I was expecting to prefer the one where MC snaps and comes to love the twisted side of Jack (for example the survival ending in BTD 1 where MC snaps and joins Sano as a fellow killer is still my favorite one out of all the endings in that game) but I actually didn’t. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it either.

I just really like that the ending where he leaves was the closest Jack could get to a genuine love for his partner, as he realizes he cannot have him like he’d want to, and that MC will never see him in the same way he did before, but he doesn’t want to kill him to save himself from the consequences, so the only thing he can do is leave.

.

The first ending I got with Chris (by the way I hadn’t understood from the warnings that the temperament referred to how MC acted, so I went in thinking “I kind of want my character to be a dick to him” and it turned out that was exactly the case, lol) was the one where he gets his revenge, then he just leaves. It felt like the best culmination of their dynamic, honestly. It just was doomed to not end well, and in the end it doesn’t - not because Chris kills MC or tells him off and says they both need help, but he just has had enough, and that’s it. There’s no closure, no lesson to learn, no attempt to salvage what’s left. MC destroyed what they had built together and was left with nothing, and no one to blame for that but himself - if he even could have the self-awareness to do that.

I also really like the ending where he decides to leave but explains you why, and you repent for your actions but too late, which is probably the closest thing to an actual good ending you can get in the entire game with any character. Arguably the one where you stay together and agree to work on your issues is the “actual good ending” but I’m honestly too jaded to believe it. In my opinion it’s just not going to work out, either MC is going to slip back into his old habits and Chris will either tolerate it or break it off, or if things go a bit better then they’re just gonna end up breaking up because they each bring out the worst in the other. It’s also why it’s not one of my favourites, even if I do like it. My third favourite is the one where Chris turns himself in, which is also the saddest in my opinion. MC doesn’t have the self awareness nor the care to realize their wrong-doings in years (unless someone else forces them to), yet Chris cannot cope with what he has done in maybe a couple days, he’d rather face the consequences of that and be done with it. You could argue there is a big disproportion between what Chris and MC did, but also consider that especially in Aria’s route it comes up that MC sexually assaults Chris, and we do not know whether MC has ever been physically abusive as well, plus MC has been abusing Chris for years whereas Chris snaps after years of mistreatment from pretty much everyone (not saying he’s right to be violent, in an IRL situation no one would be innocent, but in the contest of the story it’s hard to argue that Chris is the one to blame).

.

I don’t love any of Aria’s endings to the same extent, but I do like her route nonetheless. I think my favourite ending is the one where you are trapped in her basement until you die and she wants both herself and Chris to forget about you. It’s just so tragic and twisted, plus it low-key references Poe so that’s a plus (I loved the Poe reference in BTD 2 too - sorry for comparing the games again but I’m just a sucker for this kind of thing, plus The Pit and The Pendulum is my favorite of Poe’s tales). I like how her confrontation of the MC comes both from a loving place but also from a selfish one - that’s why you don’t get any “good” endings in her route, not even a sad one. She never actually wants MC to do things right, she just wants her gone so that she can no longer hurt her brother, and she wants her to pay for what she has done.

I kind of would have liked to have a survival ending in which she keeps MC for herself but I definitely understand why that’s not an option. Probably wouldn’t have suited the storyline if there was.

Still, if there is ever a TDDUP 2 or another game involving murder husbandos/waifus, I’d love it if we got a femdom route with that option, JS ;P

.

I liked Marcus’s route, but just not as much as the other ones. It’s the first one I tried, so if I didn’t like it at all I might not have been so inclined to play the others, but I think it just was overshadowed by how much I liked Jack’s and Chris’s routes. So it’s not like I can find any specific fault to it, I just loved the other ones too much, lol. I definitely liked John’s character too (he’s the one true Cinnamon Roll) and his relationship to the MC. Which works very well to make all of the outcomes for MC all the more tragic.

I like that there are ONLY survival endings to his route. MC doesn’t get to escape their fate, not even by dying. They *are* going to stay with Marcus whether they like it or not. The closest they can get to a “good” ending is by getting mindbroken and accepting the situation, which is arguably the “worst” ending you can possibly get as in all of the other ones MC does at least retain their determination.

.

As I’ve mentione before, I’m not a great fan of Hellen. I think the ending I liked the most is the one where she lets MC go because she is now obsessed with both Jack and his wife. I don’t foresee a good future for MC there XDOverall, I just wasn’t as invested. I wonder if maybe if I had played her route before Jack I would have liked it more, as by that point I was so enamoured by the Jack/MC dynamic, and maybe I just saw her as getting in the way of that? No idea. I ended up using guides to get most of her endings to see if my opinion of her changed, but it didn’t make much of a difference, aside from the aforementioned survival ending.

That’s just me though, I’ve seen other posts from people who really liked her! I’m glad she’s there for those who do, I’m just not going to be one of her fans XD sorry.

.

Overall, I really liked the game, might play around with it more (especially if I draw or write something with the characters), it definitely was an experience that I’d like to repeat and a great early Christmas surprise as I only found out about it the other day XD

I’ll definitely be looking forward to other games from EP, whether to continue from where this left off, or to see something new entirely. 

[texasianotaku]

My Fall 2020 Otome Backlog

Crossposted on Otome Amino

Back in May, I got this little bit of a wild streak in trying to write up my backlogs, but in a smaller, more digestible way. For example, instead of overwhelming myself with extremely lofty goals of these massive lists of games and routes I want to play, I made a list of games and routes that I could feasibly complete in a matter of four months (through to the beginning of fall). I took into consideration that since it was summer (and also that I’m home with my daughter in the middle of a pandemic), that I should be able to accomplish it.

I didn’t complete the entire backlog that I had set aside, and that’s okay with me. I found that it was nice to have a directive instead of trying to blindly decide on my next route. Additionally, I feel like following the goals that I had written down in my last backlog blog really helped me with my focus and quite possibly allowed me to finish even more routes than I would have had I not written them down. It may or may not be really the case, but I feel it is. I think that this is something that I’ll want to continue to do seasonally to help me with tackling the monster that is my otome backlogs.

This is the list of routes that I successfully completed from my summer 2020 backlogs.

Abraham Van Helsing (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Arsene Lupin (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Azusa Kuze (Wizardess Heart) Comte de Saint-Germain (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Episodes 3 and 4 (A3!) Impey Barbicane (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Jaehee Kang (Mystic Messenger) Joel Crawford (Wizardess Heart) Karma (Cinderella Phenomenon) Kei Okazaki (Collar x Malice) Kent (Amnesia: Memories) Lupin’s Gang (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Matheus (Beastmaster and Princes) Mineo Enomoto (Collar x Malice) Rod (Cinderella Phenomenon) Satoru (Bad Apple Wars) Souji Okita (Hakuoki) Takeru Sasazuka (Collar x Malice) Toichiro (Ayakashi: Romance Reborn) Toma (Amnesia: Memories) Twilight Common Route (Ayakashi: Romance Reborn) Victor Frankenstein (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Vincent Knight (Wizardess Heart) Zen (Mystic Messenger)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to these routes. I did not take into consideration that Collar x Malice was as long a game as it is. I like to listen fully to the voice acting, so it does take me longer than usual to push through a console route with voice acting than it would take me to play a game with no voice acting. Also, I’ve learned that I have difficulty playing PC games because of the personal setting aspect. I’ve recently set up my office due to starting school again and have found playing games in my office is more conducive to playing PC games in general.

707 (Mystic Messenger) Aiji Yanagi (Collar x Malice) Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome Finis (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Herlock Sholmes (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Jumin Han (Mystic Messenger) Kageyuki Shiraishi (Collar x Malice) Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice Main Route Obey Me Main Route White Mask (Bad Apple Wars) Yoosung (Mystic Messenger)

These are the games and routes that I transferred over to my fall backlogs that I never got around to during the summer. The only ones I omitted were 707, Jumin Han, and the Obey Me Main Route. I’ve found that Mystic Messenger isn’t one of those games that you can play in one go, at least for me personally. Also, I don’t have much motivation to play them because I wasn’t too particularly impressed or touched by Zen or Jaehee’s routes. Additionally, of all of the joseimuke games I play, I’m the least interested in Obey Me’s story line than Mr. Love or A3! So that particular game’s plot is on the backburner for me as well.

Aiji Yanagi (Collar x Malice) Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome Finis (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Herlock Sholmes (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Kageyuki Shiraishi (Collar x Malice) Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice Main Route White Mask (Bad Apple Wars) Yoosung (Mystic Messenger)

For this section, I'll be talking about the new games and routes that I'd like to play and complete by the end of fall (December 20th). Each subsection within this category has a small exposition as to why I'm adding this to my pretty full list of games to play during the autumn season.

I really, really, really love both of these games. I feel like they both need more love, especially Ayakoi. Neither are strongly romantic, if at all, and I think that's a lot of the reason why they don't get as much play as some other games. I base this off of their sales numbers compared to games such as Mr. Love: Queen's Choice and Obey Me, which have made an explosive amount of money.

I have this tendency that if I don't need to read it immediately, I won't. And such is the case with both of these games. I have only played three routes on Ayakoi and am now behind on the new Act 2 episodes for A3!. However, my goal for this season is to simply complete the event stories that I haven't touched yet. That's eleven for Ayakoi and 8 for A3!. At least with A3!, I'm afforded the time to catch up since they are not doing events outside of the gachas (which I'm not counting here) and reading promotion for the Act 2 Episodes. I'm not too far behind, though, because I actually have been acting against character and making the effort to read the event stories as they come out.

I've been playing Ciagram games pretty chill for the past few months. I started Cinderella's Happy End when it first came out with the LOG app ("Love Stories and Otome Games for Girls) back in May. It's a simple game that doesn't require checkpoints or stat-raising. No avatars. Just 5 tickets a day, with the potential to gain an extra 2 tickets by viewing ads. I'm not exactly sure why I gravitated so much to this game. I think that maybe I needed a slice-of-life game in my routine. By now, I've completed the three other routes, and Kyosuke is the very last one I have to complete. 

As I've mentioned before, I've been playing Ciagram games really chill. In the past, you would've probably seen me playing 5+ of their games at a time. Now, though, I just don't want to do it. I think it's getting more stressful in my old age. 😝At any rate, with my full completion of Cinderella's Happy End coming up soon, I set my sights on Chocolate Temptation next.

There are a few reasons as to why this particular game as opposed to any. For the past couple of years, if I had some time, I'd play the ads on a lot of the Ciagram apps. I kept accruing story tickets, and back then, the tickets didn't expire. Now that it is on the LOG app, I've transferred those tickets as well as tickets to a couple of other games to the app, and now I'm sitting on 650+ free tickets. I need to use them by March 2021, so both Chocolate Temptation and Nightmare Harem are moved to the top of my list of Ciagram games to play.  

I could still also go for more slice-of-life otome. Seriously, I feel like there is a distinct lack of it in the past couple of years. And the art for Chocolate Temptation is among the more pleasing than many other Ciagram games.

I've been steadily playing through the routes that I haven't played on Wizardess Heart. It's not one of my favorite games, but I'm in such dire need for SWD content since they've officially decided to stop updating their still standing games with new content. 😭😭😭 Despite how they have perceptively done us otome players wrong by removing the bulk of their content from mobile game stores, I still have a soft place in my heart for them and will still be a champion for their content.

Guy's route is the last route that I have to play in the Day Class series, excluding all of the sequels that they did. I haven't yet decided whether I want to move forward this fall with the remainder of the Night Class routes I have yet to play. I'll probably take a break until the winter to start back up with the 11 remaining routes I have for Night Class.  😪 

I'm already exhausted thinking about it.

My completionist heart wants me to finish playing all of the routes available in SWD's The Niflheim. I played most of the routes on the standalone before it shut down back in March. I have extra diamonds on my alternate Story Jar account, so I wasn't in a rush to finish JJ and Philippe's route. Of all of the routes, I had the least interest in theirs, so I stopped where I did for a break. I have Jean listed because he's the canon, but I already played his route on the standalone; he's just there because it feels like Niflheim Academy follows as if he were to be the canon for that AU story as well.

 I'm pretty excited about playing these two indie PC titles, Ebon Light and Seduce Me: the Otome. Seduce Me has long been on my to-play list, and I've seen a lot of hype about Ebon Light. Apparently, on the Otome reddit page, it's their indie game of 2019. Tbh, even given the new circumstances of my PC habits, I probably wouldn't have chosen these games as my first games to play on PC, that other PC games held priority. I'm very thankful to the OA Book Club for giving me the push to prioritize these over other games.

I first heard about Piofiore when it first came out for the PS Vita from a friend of me. She effectively built up some hype, but not too much because at the time, I didn't know that it would get localized. I was super psyched when Aksys made the announcement that they would localize Piofiore. I love the mafia-theme as well as the time setting, regardless of whether is is the Taisho Era or the Roaring Twenties. Would the Roaring Twenties apply outside of the US? Idk, but I still romanticize that time period and really like it.

The only reason why Piofiore holds greater precedence on my backlog than Café Enchanté though, is just because of the release dates. Had Café Enchanté released earlier than Piofiore, I would have had that on my to-play list sooner than later. I'm hyped for both games. Realistically, I don't see myself starting Café Enchanté until near the end of the year, and that's me being ambitious. Despite that, I've still preordered both games.

This is another game that would've probably taken me forever to play had it not been for the OA Book Club. We've progressed through two routes, and due to the reading schedule for the remainder of the game, we'll be able to finish right before the long-awaited fan disk, Evermore, releases at the end of November.

 While I'm not dying over Cinderella Phenomenon, I'm floored by the amount of work that went into it. And for the developer to offer such a high quality game for free is astounding. The story is very creative and well-paced. I'm not sure if I'll be playing Evermore shortly after; I suppose that depends on how I feel when I completely finish the game.

 For the past year and a half, maybe two years? I've been working my way through the routes on SLBP. I'm sitting at seven routes remaining that I have not completed at least one ending (excluding Act 2 and Unification). I was a little conflicted about who I should play in this backlog round, but a dear friend suggested I play Saizo for a trope that I love. And she's been wanting me to play Shingen for a long time because he's her best boy. She may not tell me that she wants me to play him when I make my decisions, but I know that she dies a little inside when I tell her the next route that I'm playing. 

...But then, Kojuro's Act 2 Splendor was just announced. 😬 Even though I'm not a huge fan of avatars, there's something about an early completion challenge that brings out the event loving trash that I am.

Did you know that you can still access some of the Shall We Date? premium games that were taken off of the mobile stores back in March? 👀👀👀 As long as you still have the app on your devices, you can still access the content. This applies only towards the premium games that you had to pay for. The free to play games went offline almost immediately. RIP Modern Cinderella, I'll never forget you. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I was able to save these games by recording them on a high speed, but since they're still currently available to access for me, I'd like to go back to record and read them with the sound. This applies to Castle Break and Guilty Alice.

For My Sweet Prince and Ninja Love, I still had them on my iPad and hadn't updated the thing in years so that I could retain the stories. It's time that I finally complete these games so that I could bring my iPad to the 2020s.

If you know me, this one is kind of no-brainer. I usually play IkéSen and IkéVamp routes completely within three days of release, dependent on the story boosting times in the concurrent collection events that they do. Theodorus bears mentioning simply because his route is coming out soon, like a week from when I post this blog.

I will say, when IkéVamp first released in Japan, Theo was the very first I had my eye on. His character design is top notch and hits all of my favorite aesthetics when it comes to 2D boyfriends. However, as time passed, I kind of lost interest in him because of his penchant of calling the MC a dog in Dutch and his sadistic ways. I'm generally not a fan of sadists or LI that treat MCs as an animal. I am hoping, though, that he proves me wrong and I go back to thirsting for him like I did when the game first released. Come ask me again in a week.

This year, I played every route on Amnesia except Shin, whom I completed back in 2018. My friend and I played this together, and if it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have picked it back up again, or at least any time soon. So I have her to thank because it quickly became one of my favorite games that I played this year. We're wrapping up our playthrough of the game with Ukyo, who you can only play once you've completed all other routes. Right now, I'm on Day 6, and I'm still wondering what the hell is going on. I'm looking forward to a wild ride, just like the rest of this game was. Since I played Shin so long ago, I might even replay him.

No outro for this blog. I've got my work cut out for me. ✌️

[jacksgreysays]

"Snapdragon" for Shisui/Shikako, if you feel comfortable with it? I'm really enjoying the Gardens!Shikako verse going on in the Recursive thread on FFnet, and I think these two would have an interesting dynamic in another reality

I had to do some sleuthing to figure out what you were talking about, anon, because while I love the recursive fic forums, they also frighten me a little. My completionist tendencies won’t let me do it unless there’s a specific ‘verse I’m reading, so if nothing else I appreciate the fic rec; wafflelate is a fantastic author!

I am going to specify, though, that this is based mostly on wafflelate’s linked posts… the “canon” thread, if you will, because I’m not sure what else has been accepted as true or not. Although I did like the idea that… wait, hold up, *SPOILERS* y'all. I’d suggest checking out wafflelate’s The Many Gardens of Shikabane-hime before reading this, otherwise it won’t make much sense.

Anyway…

I liked the not-(yet?)-canon idea that Konoha interprets Shisui’s testimony as Shikako being a Senju descendant with the Mokuton and blood access to the vault (in order to steal the lightsaber). And I’m also liking “Kamiko” as her name as derived from “Kako” since “Shikako” is a little too obvious for her parentage, though given her penchant for shadow jutsu, they are aware she is also Nara.

I’m personally going to go with the idea that Shikako’s existence is fairly unique in the multiverse–maybe in the style of Lady Hallen and Fragile Dreams, in that Shikamaru was born a twin but said twin did not live through the Kyuubi’s corrosive chakra eighteen days later–so “Kamiko” is the only (living) Shikako in this universe.

Now, all that being said, anon, Shisui/Shikako as a ship in the Gardens!verse is rather compelling and I love your choice of title. It harkens to both Gardens and DoS, and given the meaning of snapdragons is deception that works pretty damn well for both Shikako and Shisui. Perfection!

Snapdragons can also mean grace under pressure and inner strength which is also pretty apt for both of them as well. However, in Japanese hanakotoba, it can signify a range of meanings, such as foresight, shamelessness, or an intrusive person. Which… also sort of works? And… apparently they look like skulls when they wilt? Dang, I am learning so much.

… er… enough fawning on my part!

So the main problem I’m seeing is that Shikako will always be trying to go back home (after she’s made sure that Kakashi is relatively safe) and unless that can be definitely closed as an option, then that will stay between her and anyone else that is not Kakashi and prevent her from getting close. Then again, Shisui is the kind of person who is best friends with Itachi, so it’s not like a couple (hundred) secrets will frighten him off.

But I do think that is an issue that needs to be resolved before Shikako can start to put down roots (heeeeeey) and get emotionally involved with this particular dimension, much less its people (besides this Kakashi), even much much less some Uchiha who she’s never met before.

A simple way would be to have Gelel tell her that what she wants can’t happen. Sure she can use their power to go into another dimension, but she’ll never get back to her specific dimension. The multiverse is vast with all sort of dimensions forming and dying and brushing past each other. They’re not linear paths she can just jump across, or even tangled strings that–if she just finds the right one–she can just track back home. Each dimension is more like a air molecule, bouncing around and past each other, no bonds holding them in any semblance of order. The dimension she came from has long since blown beyond her reach and there is no wind that can bring her home. At best, she’ll just doom herself to traveling forever, bouncing between dimensions that get further and further away from something she can recognize.

That’s bleak, sorry, but I really do think it needs to be a definitive no, otherwise she will always try to go home. As for how the Gelel know this, well… they did create a massive seal that still worked for centuries after their empire fell and was forgotten so… if Shikako and the Uzumaki could create three dimensional seals (which Konoha are baffled by) then whose to say the Gelel weren’t also super sealing genii.

With that out of the way the story then becomes smaller. It’s no longer about Shikako fighting the cosmic flow of time and space–pausing only to help someone who is very similar to her teacher–but rather a more intimate story about a figurative fish out of water settling into a village which has no idea what to do with her.

That’s the kind of setting we need here, anon.

So as I said earlier, I did quite like the idea of Shikako being assumed to be a SenjuxNara descendant. From there–and I don’t know if someone else thought of this already, but if they have then sorry–I like the idea that in order to resolve Kakashi’s “PR nightmare” (or whatever it was that got him named comrade-killer) with her sudden appearance and bewildering heritage, that they (probably Tsunade) say that he was on a “secret undercover mission from the Sandaime” to protect the last Senju from Danzo.

And, well, he’s dead so who’s to say he didn’t. Also, it worked for Itachi, kind of, so…

Unfortunately, Shikako no longer has her uncle’s earrings–but that could have sort of explained how Kamiko learned shadow jutsu so long Ikoma had a interesting shinobi career with several unaccounted for gaps. Maybe he was ANBU or MAYBE he was training a secret SenjuxNara child?! He’s dead too, no one can say otherwise!

… I’m getting very off track, I think.

Basically what I’m saying is, Shisui would fit perfectly in this political subterfuge campaign and if anyone’s going to bring the Uchiha clan out of their pariah-hood it would be a ridiculously powerful Senju x Nara who has, if not hard evidence, then an easily proven list of Danzo’s crimes and intended crimes.

Also, she killed Orochimaru, so shut up. (FINE, Kakashi helped A LITTLE, but he’s the only one who can say anything)

Speaking of, Kakashi would probably be one of the few people to tease her about the Shisui thing. Like, everyone else is super serious around her and is just “yes, what a politically advantageous match,” or “whatever the crazy powerful badass wants, she gets” whereas he’s just like… “ah, my adorable little kouhai, growing up so fast.”

I think this is all I got, anon, sorry for being slightly incoherent about it and thanks again for pointing me in the direction of Gardens!verse.

~

Ask Box Event Now Open!

[shrimpkardashian]

I originally wrote these reviews for this page, but I decided to go in a different direction with that site (no direction) - so here are two “album reviews”  (sorry)

Watch This Liquid Pour Itself

The first song is "Baby Little Tween" and the lyrics are like "these pills are gonna stop me from getting wet?" This is T.M.I., folks! Women's lib = out of control! Haha major JK, major JK. A few songs in, this is–PERHAPS–as the kids say, "2 twee 4me," maybe (the kids definitely say that! Stop judging me!!!).

Twee, though, not the right word? .... Post-Twee? Hmmm. Not here for some of this lullaby melody B.S. if we're being honest with one another. Ya can't say the word "piss" in a foreign language to win my heart back neither. (OKAY *KAYA*, maybe you can, OKAY?)

So... let's get right down to it: a song like "Psych Ward" has a cool bass line anchoring it and it starts off legit weird but then it is not weird at all, and on the whole that's my main issue. This record def WANTS to feel weirder than it actually is (ie, not that weird). The Gods of False Weird are not your friends, and are in fact a malevolent force. You have been forewarned traveler.

The end of that track is like a different track or something? I.D.K. I have it playing on a YouTube playlist now because my daughter commandeered Spotify to listen to Frozen II. So some of these are music videos is what I'm saying and I don't know if everything I'm hearing is "part of the song" or just like part of the video's intros/outros because I'm not watching the videos. However, if this whole thing was just the spoken words bit (like the beginning of "Asexual Wellbeing"), I would enjoy it more, I feel. It has its moments. Not tryin to totally shit on this project. (In fact, "Asexual" reminded me of the melodic side of Throbbing Gristle and was actually pretty damn good!) Anyway, I'm gonna give it a single * score because it's just too frustrating and maybe goes on a bit too long as well. Trust me, I damn well wanted to give it a higher score because I like the song titling a lot ("Zero Interaction Ramen Bar" is a great title! the song? meh). If grading song titles was a thing I did on this website then these would get an A, but unfortunately I only grade music and album art :( SORRY KAYA

Both

Did you know OKAY KAYA is from New Jersey? Hey that's where I'm from. (There is the potential for a 5-10% in-state bump in my scoring program, grading faculties, because of this, I feel like I need to mention. Although Wikipedia doesn't tell me where she's from. I'm not, like, a weird creep or nothing; just curious.) So, this is the first discography review here on this website RXGAU (legal acronym). It's a pretty random choice, but there are only a couple of releases and I feel like I can "bang it out" to "get the ball rolling" (sports terms).

This is Kaya Wilkins's first record released in 2018 and apparently she released a one-off song called "Damn, Gravity" in 2015 that's not on this record so I'll review that separately. The name of this game is Completion and I am The Completionist. And also what the heck were you doing in those three years, Kaya? Lazy bones.

I am listening to this after her more recent Jagjaguwar record. And right off the bat, there's a lot less going on. Another double-edged sword in my book. My book is very dangerous: lots of sharp blades and edged weaponry.

Also, two things: according to Wikipedia she has another thing coming out in 2020 on Jagjaguwar called Surviving is the New Living which is not a great title, and I'll have to look into that, but also not a lazy bones after all, are we? The second thing is that my damn daughter commandeered the Spotify YET AGAIN. (She really does not want me to listen to OKAY KAYA, OKAY?)

So I'm gonna hit pause on writing this review, which is a review for the debut album by OKAY KAYA and is called 'Both' but first let me say that I like the monicker OKAY KAYA a lot. It's cool looking on the page/screen and has a nice phonetic ring.

OKAY (KAYA) we're back. Before I start talking about the album that you are supposedly reading a "review" for (it shall begin in Paragraph 6, I really don't doubt it!), let me state that OKKLP3 (Surviving is the New Living) which apparently came out in April is gone now apparently? What the heck. Anyway, the only thing my lackadaisical (page 1 only!) googling could conjure is this Reddit thread (say la v):

BOTH. Not just one, but BOTH. It's a simple word. Four letters. Meaningful. Some sources have led me to believe that this was originally released under KAYA's full given name, but the album cover corresponding streams says otherwise. (That's neither here nor there.)

I'm not an alcoholic, but I'm always so tired I am always bored and always feel kinda bad Can't seem to get no sleep at night He used to call me every night this time

track 1 "Vampire" begins. These lyrics manage to feel BOTH confessional and off-the-cuff, in passing; fully inconsequential. The accompaniment is simpler, not necessarily more sparse than LP2 but definitely not as considered. The biggest difference is how she tackles most of the vox: it's much more of a crooning R&B here.

The songs here are short, just a couple eclipse the three-minute mark (14 in 37 minutes total), but they honestly feel even shorter somehow. "IUD" aims high but with a chorus like "Cause, baby, you're so baby, but I don't want your baby" misses the mark entirely. (I swear I'm not a "lyrics guy" unless you come at me with something amazing or something freshman year of college clever cringe until your face falls away; stay in the middle, baby.)

I dunno, I think I've heard enough. Is it ethical to only listen to half of an album and still review it? This one just isn't connecting at all. The other one had some interesting parts; not so much here 😑

I really wish that third record was still around because apparently that was made in quarantine? and I.D.K. I'd like to hear that I think. I think the idea of "quarantine records" even if they're almost guaranteed to let you down, like so many things....