#i really enjoy my Kirby gods lore

[cits-kirby-brainrot]

[blazingstaro]

Here's my little side AU!

It's not a serious story like Dreams of the Stars, and just something of my own for funsies! I don't intend to make a series of this, more-so just little drawings or mini comics every now and then. DotS is my main AU and comic series still!

This is my SkyCotL Mago AU, and it's a mix of different types of AUs in one. Genderbend? You got it. Roleswap? Absolutely! There's also a personality swap between characters, and what-if scenarios all jammed into one Kirby AU set in a noir/spacepunk + 30s-60s swing era

It's a lot of what-ifs put into fruition while having SkyCotL on the side! It's wholesome, adorable, and really sweet! No serious angst in this (for now), but some heartfelt troubles and such. Absolutely a comfort AU LOL

So here's the whole gang together! Not everyone's roles are swapped, I'll say— it's a mixed bag of this that and whatever because whoever said you had to stick to one particular thing in a swap-type AU HEHEHE

Quick look lore/info on each individual below:

Allow me to tell you a bit about each individual here, starting with our lead, Skye:

The Magolor of this Magoverse flavored AU, this is Magoloria— a rising star from Floralia. She sings, she dances, she's quite the hit for tons of musical shows across the galaxy! Fashionable, fun, and cute as a button, Skye is a pure-hearted and humble gal. She's a young adult for her species!

Both a genderbend and a personality swap! Her personality is swapped with Joronia's (pre-Sectonia). She's as sweet as can be, and enjoys making herself feel pretty with a vast wardrobe of outfits and costumes. Her taste in fashion is impeccable.

The events of Return to Dreamland occur quite a bit differently for Skye, but I'll save that for another post! But the main premise is that following a decisive battle, hopelessly possessed by the Master Crown's evil, Skye and the shattered Master Crown are spirited away to the decaying Kingdom of Sky (hence her nickname), a land time forgot. The power-drained mage must travel across the realms to reclaim her lost powers, which fell into the hands of the sleeping Elder spirits.

Here's Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee! Their roles remain unchanged, but their personalities have swapped! Bandee is confident and outgoing, whereas Kirby's a bit less confident, but aspires to be great— despite the fact that he's the most powerful of the group and constantly Popstar's savior. He and Bandee are besties, like brothers!

King Malcom "Meta" Knytte, the presiding king of Dream Land! He's both role-swapped with Dedede, and his personality is swapped with Taranza. He's got the personality of a sopping wet kitten, but is low-key one of the most devastating warriors Dream Land has to offer. His Galaxia's design is more of the anime's than the games because good god I am not drawing the same Galaxia for two different AUs

King Malcolm is a great whistler and plays the piano, but has crippling stage fright. He owns a venue within his kingdom, which has been host to Skye's shows in recent years. He secretly mans backstage in disguise, so commoners won't recognize him (but it's somewhat obvious who he is). Rumor has it, he has an eye for one of the performers, and is secretly in love...

Sir Dedede of Dream Land! He serves the Kingdom of Dream Land. As it's quite obvious, he's role-swapped and personality swapped with Meta Knight, though there's still a sliver of King Dedede's original ego/pride in this guy. He's aloof, something of a loner, and doesn't talk much, but he has a tendency to take aspiring warriors under his wing. His latest apprentice is Bandana Waddle Dee, who serves under King Malcolm too!

And finally, the lovely couple— King Taranza and Queen Joronia! This is half a role-swap and a whole personality swap. Taranza's personality is swapped with Magolor, and Joronia has a partial of Dedede's personality, but stands alone on her own as well. Taranza also takes on Magolor's role as Manager of a theme park.

Though married for centuries, Taranza and Joronia are still in their honeymoon phase, madly in love and have profound crushes on each other!

The two have made their kingdom into an entertainment capital this side of the galaxy, bringing all walks of life onto Popstar to see a wide variety of shows! From circus acts, to live musical performances, and thrilling carnival rides and games, you name it, they got it!

This spicy pair act as parental figures for Skye, and took her under their wing when she was a lone, young girl selling papers to make do

AND THAT IS ALL FOR NOW! Just a basic look at everyone! I'll do more thorough info-posts later on 'em throughout the week 💜

[pluckyredhead]

We made it, you guys! I'm wrapping up my blitz through all the Fourth World canon. I've already covered the comics of the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, and the 00s, so now let's get into everything post-Flashpoint!

Wonder Woman (2011): I'll be honest: this series is Not Valid, and Orion only shows up as a supporting character for about a dozen issues, so I just skimmed his appearances rather than actually reading the whole volume. Anyway this version of Orion slaps Diana's ass and hits on her relentlessly and isn't even from Apokolips. Highfather is emotionally abusive. No one else from the Fourth World even shows up. Throw it all directly in the trash.

Infinity Man and the Forever People (2014): Genuinely who was asking for a New 52 book about the Forever People (the most optimistic of Kirby's creations) written by Dan DiDio (a man on the record as saying he wanted "to take the smile out of comics")? Shockingly, it's not as bad as I was bracing myself for. I mean, the lore changes are baffling (Darkseid and Highfather are brothers! the Infinity Man is Highfather's conscience and that's why New 52 Highfather's such a dick all the time! Big Bear is from Apokolips and has a secret, angrier face because he's like a bonus Orion now!). And the art rotates through four or five different artists and all of the issues not drawn by Tom Grummett are hideous. But mostly it's just very boring and pointless? Let's all ignore it forever.

Green Lantern/New Gods (2014): Hey, do you remember when Green Lantern was one of DC's most successful franchises and they were publishing five simultaneous GL-related ongoings and they oversaturated the market so badly they could barely keep one GL book going until recently? I'm not saying shit like this is what killed the goose that laid the golden egg, but...I'm not not saying that either. (No seriously, I am genuinely fascinated by whatever the fuck DC did to the Lanterns in the 2000s and 2010s as, like, a publishing cautionary tale, but that's a story for another post.)

This was a three-month crossover across all five GL books - Green Lantern (Hal's book), Green Lantern Corps (John's book), Green Lantern: New Guardians (Kyle's book), Red Lanterns (Guy's book), and Sinestro - plus a New Gods one shot and a GL annual. That's 17 issues that are meant to be read in order to follow the story, and then you can optionally also read the tie-in issues of Infinity Man and the Forever People, which makes a whopping total of 20 issues dedicated to this storyline.

So what was the plot of this grand saga? Uh...Highfather tries to steal all the rings of every Corps like he's the fucking Trix Rabbit or something. The end.

Yeah, it's a mystery what killed the GL publishing juggernaut. 🙄

(Side note: this crossover adds a brand new Original Character Do Not Steal who is from Apokolips and was raised by Highfather and has a Secret Rage Face. After Infinity Man and the Forever People also gave Big Bear a Secret Rage Face. STOP STEALING ORION'S SHIT. You don't need extra bonus Orions, Regular Orion is right there!)

Bug! The Adventures of Forager (2017): This is a very charming, very strange series that isn't in continuity (it was part of the Young Animal imprint) and doesn't really forward the plot of the New Gods in any way, but it's funny and enjoyable. Basically, Forager wakes up after his death in Cosmic Odyssey (29 years prior, for those keeping track) and goes on a time- and reality-hopping adventure in which he interacts with various characters Kirby wrote and drew for DC over the years (although oddly, very few New Gods). It's the sort of series that rewards the long-time comic book reader, but I still enjoyed it even though I was very aware I was missing references. I wouldn't recommend it if you're brand new to comics, though.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (2016): Orion's in a couple arcs of this run, and they're pretty fun. Orion's heart gets removed from his body and Kyle keeps him alive with a construct! Hal races Lightray! Orion helps the GLs fight a shit ton of Darkstars! There isn't much in the way of advancing New Gods Lore (TM) here, but this is a pretty good series in general. A fun time!

Mister Miracle (2017): Sigh.

You know, the frustrating thing about this series is that some aspects of it are really good. The art is superb. Some of the humor really lands. Funky Flashman as the Frees' nanny is an utter delight. (The bit where he retells the Galactus Trilogy as "Jake's story" is especially charming.) The subtler take on Granny and the way Scott is still wrestling with her abuse and his complicated feelings about her is heartbreaking. And the big twist, when Darkseid demands baby Jacob in exchange for peace, and Scott's agony over the decision, is utterly wrenching. It's such a good conflict to give Scott, to have him try to wrestle with the decision his own father made and what the right answer is. I even believe King read more than one issue of Mister Miracle (1971) to research this! I mean, he references the Lump. That's a pretty deep cut.

But it's all undercut by his decision to make Orion a villain. King's Orion isn't just brutal and wrongheaded, like some earlier writers have portrayed him - he's a vindictive sadist who craves power and enjoys humiliating someone who, in all previous canon, he eagerly embraced as a brother. He has elaborately cruel plans and enjoys making others know their place - Orion, who is historically as subtle and refined as a two-by-four to the head. He's out of character in basically every possible way.

But this isn't just me being like "How dare you get my blorbo wrong?!" (That's my reaction to King's depiction of Lightray as a simpering toady.) Making Orion a villain, as I have said many times at this point, betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the Fourth World's central concept, which is, like...not a hard concept to grok. The point of the baby swap isn't to see whether nature or nurture is stronger. It's that both babies grow up to be heroes. It's that good is stronger than evil. And if Orion isn't a hero, the whole thing falls apart. Instead, we get a bleak and fundamentally unbalanced take on the Fourth World that begins with a suicide attempt and ends with Scott resigning himself to a life from which he desperately wants to escape. And again, again, King's pessimism is mistaken for depth because someone else drew it real good.

Anyway I hate this comic, the end.

Justice League Odyssey (2018): The New Gods didn't really have a home base post-Flashpoint, which is why I'm covering so many books that aren't really New Gods books (Wonder Woman, the various GL books), because my crops are dying and I'm desperate for Orion to show up on his little scooter. Anyway this is actually first and foremost a Jessica Cruz book, which isn't really a complaint because I love her. Basically, Cyborg, Starfire, and Azrael (who is pretty OOC and also why is he here??? he doesn't know these people and he can't breathe in space?????) decide to go on an Illegal Space Adventure and Jessica tries to stop them and they all get swept up into an incredibly convoluted plan by Darkseid to turn everyone but Jessica into a NEW New God and take over the universe? Or maybe destroy it? UNCLEAR. Also the last time they all saw Darkseid he was a baby but now he's not anymore. How? UNCLEAR.

Darkseid kills Jessica but it doesn't take because she's the GOAT, but now he's taken control of Vic, Kori, and JPV, so Jessica has to team up with Orion, Blackfire, and Dex-Starr the Red Lantern cat to defeat Darkseid and rescue the others. Overall this book is so unrelentingly high stakes and cosmic that I kind of tuned out. After a while I just hit "we have to save the universe!!!" fatigue. But a huge part of the second half of the series is just Jessica yelling at Orion until he grumpily does what she tells him, and I truly could have read 40 more issues of that. I hope when it was all over he went and pouted at Lightray about how the Green Lantern was SO MEAN to him (he deserved it).

Verdict: Don't bother to read for New Gods continuity, do read if you love Jessica Cruz.

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom (2021): This book reintroduces Shilo Norman to the post-Flashpoint universe as a celebrity superhero and escape artist who aggressively protects his secret identity, because his predecessor Thaddeus Brown, who is Black in this series (and presumably going forward), had a public identity and dealt with horrible racism from the public. But his mask is partially torn off when he's attacked by N'vir Free, the daughter of Scott and Barda Free - who Shilo has never heard of. While Shilo tries to figure out who the Frees are and why N'vir thinks he stole her father's legacy, he also discovers that Thaddeus was secretly his grandfather, and has to unpack all of his emotional hangups about his own identity and legacy.

This is a great book for the humans of Kirby's Mister Miracle and a terrible one for the New Gods. Scott and Barda are not only dead, but their memories have been erased from most people's minds. N'vir is an awful character with a stupid name, and also a fascist dictator, which is...a choice for Scott and Barda's kid. (I'm assuming all of this is either taking place in a different universe than the main DCU, or has been retconned away, because Barda is currently appearing in Birds of Prey and is perfectly fine. And perfectly perfect. Please read Birds of Prey.) Orion does show up for a bit and he's great here, but he doesn't remember Scott either, which hurt my heart.

But it's a great book for Shilo, who gets to be a complicated, endearing but flawed protagonist instead of a sidekick who tends to get forgotten for years at a time. I'm a bit torn on having him be related to Thaddeus, since I like the idea of Shilo becoming a hero on his own smarts and spunkiness rather than inheriting it, but it allows for some really beautiful themes about legacy and being proud of where you come from, so it suits the story really well. And Oberon is a delight the whole way through (as always). Overall a good book, but somewhat to the side of the overall New Gods saga.

THE END. We did it, you guys! Now DC please greenlight a new New Gods book, thank you.

(Actually it should be double length and reversible so when you hold it one way it's a New Gods book and when you flip it to the "back" cover it's a Mister Miracle book and the stories intertwine. Do you see the vision???)

[aesthetically-meme]

Heard you were having a bad night, can I hear about your characters? Or even a canon character that you just really love? Any specific headcanons that mean a lot to you? Let's talk about it! <3

I have Dusk on the brain. Maybe I'll turn this into a thread but for now enjoy my ramblings of Zephyrus.

Zephyrus, or more commonly known as Dusk/Waffle, is just. god they're tragic. I've set them up for heartbreak without meaning to. Giving them the ability to soul bind has been so useful for many things.

Oh oh I wanna talk about the Soul Bind, there's many people who don't know about that!

Ahem. So, soul binding is a cool little thing I added into my Kirby Lore™ and gave it to Dusk. It's a very unique, only obtainable (naturally) by Soul or Heart Matter astrals. Other methods involve magical enchantments and items that are far more toned down than the original.

Soul Binding allows the binder to connect their soul to another. This let's them know a general sense of where the other is, the pain they feel, their mental state, etc. However the pain the other endures is doubled for the binder. In some cases if the binder is able to, can take up more of the pain, lessening it for the bound. This is on extremely rare cases and can lead to fatal consequences.

A good example of this would be when Twilight Knight (owned by @that-fanperson-meg ) nearly died and used the power of the butterflies to defeat Nightmare. Dusk, having been bound to Twilight for ages, felt his soul nearly dip into the afterlife and felt an immense wave of pain. Xey then felt his power grow exponentially.

It wasn't fun, that's for sure.

Soul Binding is left to the binder, and doesn't do anything to the bound, other than giving them a more innate sense that they've grown closer to the binder. And it's totally up to the binder on why they do it! Romantic, platonic, familial, etc. It's all up to them!

They are essentially weaving a person's thread of fate to their's. Dusk is bound to a couple people: Twilight Knight, Skipper Knight, Eos, Maestro, Fylass, and Selene. However Maestro passed centuries ago, which wasn't really good for Dusk ... Kinda sent em into a deep spiral...

But it allowed em to find Twilight after many years of being separated! So that's something!

.... Right?

[charlezarrd]

1, 2, 6, 11, 12, 27!

1. Last game you finished

Lethal League: Blaze! Story mode is a bit dumb, short, and lackluster, but a solid gameplay!

2. Game(s) you're currently playing

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, Darkness Under My Bed, Devil May Cry 5, and The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk.

Technically if we count mobile games, Gundam Breaker Mobile and Pokemon GO.

Look i tend to start things when i feel like playing them, and then bop around, and lately I haven’t felt like playing things, so I haven’t been getting around to them.

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

Kirby! I love seeing the copy abilities, I love the lore, I love the aesthetic. My first game was Nightmare In Dreamland, but I legitemately adore all of them!

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

I think it depends on what the story needs. Most of the time, I prefer the player character to be their own character. But I get a little annoyed when they let me pick the character’s name and customize their appearance, and then it’s just another character with their own story and personality. It’s like, why the hell did I go through the trouble of making them look kinda like me (at least, like a character I can play) if they’re not gonna be someone I can project onto?? (Thanks for wasting my time in the character creator, FE:A…)

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

I think I answered this question already, in another ask. I’d answer it again, but I haven’t started playing anything new since then. And the other games I didn’t answer aren’t really… Like, DUMB doesn’t really have ‘characters’ per se.

27. A game you love the atmosphere of

You want atmosphere? I’ll give you atmosphere. I’m On Observation Duty. Those games are PURE atmosphere. And god, are they tense.

[otaku553]

Hi! I'm dropping in to say I really really love your art! It's all so pretty and elegant!

Who is your favorite Genshin character(s) and Kirby character(s)? What do you like about them?

Please have a great day! You're awesome!

I’ve already answered the genshin favs, but I want to talk more about why I like them :D

For kazuha, beyond his design being imo the best in the game, I also really like the duality in his character where he is nice and gentle and writes poems but knows how to be lethal and ruthless when he needs to be. I think it’s definitely something that must come from his experience as a traveler and as being a wanted fugitive and being on the run. His character is such a good buildup of his personal experiences- the contrast between his formal politeness and brutality mirrors the contrast between his noble upbringing and his time as a vagrant wanderer running from the law :) I think a lot of people mischaracterize him as a soft boy which I don’t complain too much about but I really enjoy seeing the less nice side of him!

As for albedo, man. He has so much lore. He’s so formal and isolated but he so clearly enjoys the presence of friend and people, since he probably lacked those before in the strict guidance of Rhine. I think he’s just somehow a really relatable character when it comes to his social interactions- in that he distances himself from them but still loves them, in that he’s content just sitting aside listening to conversation. Not to mention the way he gains and loses interest in things and is an artist!

Homuncular nature is pretty much my love letter to albedo’s character lmao

As for Kirby. I’m gonna be basic and say it’s Kirby and Meta Knight.

Meta Knight definitely came first! I actually got into Kirby from trying out some smash fics and those brought up often Meta Knight being banned from brawl tournaments, and. Well. Who doesn’t like an overpowered character, yknow. Add on that this character seems deathly afraid of showing his very cute face and takes a mentor-like position to Kirby and boom, you’ve got a character archetype I really enjoy! (Characters with cuter appearances than they try to maintain who are powerful and wish not to be underestimated due to appearance)

As for Kirby it’s just really difficult not to like them. They’re very uplifting! At first it was just the way that they faced gods head on with a smile on their face, and then in my own interpretations they became someone with the responsibility of the universe on their impossibly small shoulders, who tries their best and must succeed.

I specifically enjoy these two characters together because in any configuration, they’re both usually good for each other and help the other heal. Kirby gives Meta Knight hope after all the devastating losses he’s faced, and Meta knight gives Kirby much needed training to hone and control their abilities, and supports them when they need it most. Anyways meta dad meta dad

[timeaussnape]

Hii, I saw your post asking for Severitus recs and I have quite a few!

- O Mine Enemy by Kirby Lane

This one is my absolute favorite, and I never miss an opportunity to sing its praises. The characterization is one of the most canon compliant and on point I’ve ever seen in the fandom; the author has a way of working WITH the characters’ canon versions instead of going against them or finding ways around them, so the whole thing reads like a natural progression of where they stand in the source material. And it’s not just Snape and Harry, either. Kirby’s Dumbledore is the most believable I’ve ever seen in any Severitus work. And the development of their relationship is SO satisfying (it’s one of those slow burn stories that make you feel like you fought tooth and nail for and earned every tender moment and every step forward, but it also doesn’t feel dragged out), and the plot is GREAT as well. Everything feels so high-stakes and so intimate at the same time. It’s got everything: Seer!Harry, alternative Horcrux lore, Dursley family bashing, kidnapping and rescue missions, arcs that progress beautifully and come full circle in more ways than one, and of course the parental/protective Snape of our dreams. The first few chapters are good but won’t blow your mind at first or anything, but the story finds its footing pretty quickly and then you won’t be able to put it down. I swear.

- The Chivalry series (The Guiltless and The Poor of God) by branwyn

I haven’t seen this one mentioned in rec lists nearly enough. The Guiltless is mostly setup, as it is all about Snape’s initial discovery of Harry’s home life. The second installment is where the story really begins to shine for me. The writing is almost lyrical at times and the plot is pretty original, as far as Severitus works go; Harry and Sev establish a tentative (and adorable) correspondence until a Potions mishap offers the most glorious excuse for angst and hurt/comfort I’ve ever seen (to give you an idea, iirc the exploding potion in question was named the draught of waking nightmares). The story also focuses quite a lot on Harry’s recovery from the Dursleys’ abuse, and Luna features prominently as well. Fair warning tho, the epilogue is a tearjerker (the happy kind of tearjerker, I promise).

- Time Left Today by gzdacz

Road trip AU (does being on the run from the cops count as a road trip?) , set immediately after Year One, in which Harry and Snape have to go on the run from the Ministry after Quirrell’s death (a journey which takes them all across Europe, and the author builds each setting beautifully). Snape’s POV here would probably be considered a bit OOC by most of the fandom, but his outer persona and dialogue was sufficiently Snape-ish to make the story feel like an organic continuation of the first book (and his inner life is constructed so well and so subtly that for once I found myself not minding the deviation from his canon harshness). Also, this little Harry is absolutely adorable and one of the most believable portrayals of a child I’ve seen in fanfic. The Lily/Sev flashbacks are yet another highlight; gzdacz’s Lily is my favorite EVER, and I desperately DESPERATELY wish there was even one Snily/Lily-centric story out there that portrayed this version of the character.

- Crime and Punishment by melolcatsi

You’ve probably already read this one since it’s a Severitus classic, but it’s a classic for a reason and I can’t make a rec list without including it.

- I Know Not, and I Cannot Know; Yet I Live and I Love by billowsandsmoke

Ok so this one isn’t really Severitus, but it scratches the same itch and it COMPLETELY blew me away. Plus, it’s only 32k words. It’s a canon compliant look at Snape mentoring Luna through the years. That’s it. I won’t say anything else because I could not begin to do it justice.

And here are a few others that, although they didn’t stand out to me like the previous ones, I really enjoyed:

- A Thousand Words by Ailee17

- It's Delicate (isn't it?) by MellarkandArt (this is only my fav part of a longer series, which I also recommend in its entirety, but I suppose it could be read as a standalone)

- I, Your Glass by koppelkat

- Under Your Skin by waitingondaisies (considerably shorter than most fics I’ve listed; Snape discovers Umbridge’s detention practices)

- Digging for the Bones by Paganaidd

- Life as Dictated by a Talking Hat by RhiannanT

- The One I Run To by Sa-kun

You might want to check for content warnings and completion status on a few of these. All the best!

I 1000% meant to answer this as soon as I got it, but I've been looking for O Mine Enemy for months. I read roughly half of it while delirious with the flu a while ago and could not, for the life of me, remember what on earth it was. Tysm!

I will definitely be checking all of these out. Your explanations made me want to read all of them! Especially the Chivalry series - I'm such a sucker for tearjerkers.

Gosh, and thank you for reminding me of Crime and Punishment. Patiently waiting for the next chapter is so hard!

Thank you again for all of these recs, all the best!

[opal-owl-flight]

Happy Magolor day! Oh my god I had SO MANY THOUGHTS about Mags being a selfish prick even to his friends and I hurt myself

So I drew some Mirrorlor to cope KSJSK. If Mirrorlor is a representation of his deepest, hidden (even from himself) desires…then hes got some good in him, after all.

Uhhh those thoughts under the cut ig?

On the surface, it seems that all he wants is control over things and attention. Because holy hell look at how shit his life went when he was younger. Enforcing a sort of control over the things in his life gives him comfort, and he craves attention bc he had to grow up all by himself.

Dig deeper, and youll find that he wants love and acceptance. He wants to feel home again. Hes tired of hating, hes tired of being angry at the universe. He just wants…to be loved. To be cared for again. He had a taste of that during his younger days, before everything was taken away from him.

Hes getting that now, but heres the problem. He doesnt know how to really reciprocate that. Hes a selfish, egotistical prick. (Related to that desire for control somehow. He managed to survive/raise himself, so he believes himself to be right on everything since he went through so much and survived. Not to mention all the knowledge and power he’s acquired through the years!)

A lot of his relationships started as him seeing a use in these people.

The Four as a form of protection (they drove away the HALTMANNS! And theyd do anything to protect their friends!). Meta specifically as another source of Ancients lore. Dedede specifically bc hes an engineer as well. Kirby and Bandee bc of that whole protection deal.

Taranza, Hyness, and Elfilin (sort of on that last one) as a source of extra knowledge on magic.

With Marx…the guy makes him laugh. Hes the crimes enabler. He doesnt understand how Marx has put up with his behavior, tbh, bc the guy really, really cares about him (surprisingly).

If Susie didnt fuck up big time with deciding to continue the conquest, theres no doubt that Mags would try to befriend her for tech knowledge (and, as he mentioned in that comic I have yet to post the final part of — to move on from that anger, finally drop that grudge).

He befriended them because he saw use in them. And then when he started getting their love alongside what he sought…he wanted more of that. He starts to do things to make them happy. Happy with him. Happy with him so that they’ll give him more love and attention.

…theyre not the best attempts. The gifts he gives tends to either be too extravagant, or halfhearted. (For example, hed give someone a spelled item that he thinks they need. Seems cute, right? Well, he didnt actually make that for them. That was supposed to be his. The spell probably didnt work the way he wanted to so hes going to give it away.)

He would listen to someone talk about lore, but then if he thinks that theyre wrong, he’d shut them down and explain why theyre wrong. And then he’ll start talking about how hes right. How hes always right on this topic. “Im an Ancient descendant, I know this stuff the best!” (Note that he IS one in this interp, but it doesnt excuse this shitty behavior)

And then! If anyone points this shitty behavior out!! He starts being a suck-up! Hes afraid of losing that love, that attention. So hes going to do EVERYTHING to make them happy with him again. Hes going to try harder. Just to make them stay. Does he actually care about how he hurt them? He apologizes, so maybe he does. But he…doesnt know how to move onwards from there. What exactly does he change? Hes not sure. He just wants to stay connected.

…Still, those people are sticking with him, so he must be doing SOMETHING right. Is it because hes manipulating them really well, so they’ll continue giving him love and attention, continue to accept him as one of them? Or is it because they genuinely enjoy his company, his (poor) attempts at genuine connection? Is he consciously manipulating them at all? I dont think he does. If hes pulling that shitty behavior, I like to think that its all…unconscious. Old habits die hard. But hes trying to get better. He doesnt want to lose everyone again, and he can see that being shitty is just going to make that happen faster.

Does he actually care for them though? Is it genuine love and care or unhealthy attachment? Hard to tell. Really hard to tell.

I can interpret a lot of his friendlier gestures towards others as a way to get them to like him, just so they can continue to give him their attention. Continue being there. Continue accepting him…

Im going to believe that he does care, and hope for the best. If Mirrorlor is this caring, this concerned for others’ well-being…then maybe. Maybe he does. Its just buried so, so deep.

Youre a rotten egg but I love you still.

[cookies-super-secret-blog]

So KaFL spoilers obviously, but like I've got a crack theory:

So you know how Leongar mentioned escaping into "that world of dreams"? Like, just casually recontexualized the lore maybe? I've got some takes about that

Okay, so!

Part 1: The ancients used to be Human, maybe

So it's pretty obvious that the Forgotten Land is Earth adjacent. From the realistic scenery and technology. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that its inhabitants were human-adjacent too? I mean the beast pack was bringing the world back to its natural state, presumably after something changed that.

And Fecto Elfilis, which these people contained and studied, is more than capable of opening rifts to other dimensions.

So my take is this: The humans(?) did their thing, built their cities and parks and kingdoms, but when their planet's resources started to wane, rather than fix the mistake, they sought to flee. Somewhere around this time they managed to find and contain Elfilis, and after studying its rift creating abilities, made technology to mimic it so they could escape into the dimension of popstar and other planets we've seen. The humans(?), soon-to-be ancients decided to leave Elfilis behind, for lack of being able to control and/or contain it. Opting to leave it in the Discovera lab. Then they crossed over. I imagine they got kinda fucked up along the way, kinda like how we see Kirby get wiggled by the rift in Forgotten Land's opening, and in short them's the ancients now.

Part 2: The dark matter Matter

"What the actual fuck does dark matter have to do with any of this?" I hear you, hypothetical critical reader. I hear you and I love you.

So uhhh I know the true arena isn't canon and all but Chaos Elfilis really be having the 02 color palette huh?

And, seeing that, I dusted off the old Dark Matter Conspiracy Board to add some new thumbtacks and connect more strings.

So, the main consensus I've seen is that dark matter in all its forms is concentrated negative energy of some kind. But, whats creating that negative energy? Does everyone's negativity just go into creating these things, is it one being so filled with hate that it multiplies in darkness? No, I think its something else. Elfilis, the god abandoned and chained to the Forgotten World.

One so full of anger and spite thats its only hope split from it in hopes to survive.

Isn't that god already seeking its revenge? With the beast pack, Fecto Forgo (the one in the big tube) was already tearing down its captors' monuments, their creations. The proof they even existed. Who's to say that far off in the deserters' haven that something from that god- its anger, betrayal, sorrow- was stirring and tearing and clawing at the seams of that fragile paradise.

After all, it may be a land of dreams, but not every dream is sweet.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed my theatrical kirby conspiracies. I know these are not very well Based in canon but i thought I'd share anyway? Well uh thank you for reading have a nice day!

[wolftheidioticfan]

How about some rambling on Kirby lore/favorite dynamics?

OUGHHH yes sure. I do enjoy kirby stuff.

Gotta say I love Meta Knight going from literally trying to take over because the king (dedede) was lazy to just being like. Kirby's weird uncle who tries to sword fight and train him all the time. Also love the progression ingame that he's like Dedede's weird bestie too it's really great, the main four (Bandana dee/kirby/meta knight/dedede) is such a funny little found family/found besties group.

I also love how Meta Knight is SUPPOSED to be like mysterious and badass and smart but if you put him in a situation next to Kirby or Dedede or god forbid both, he has the least braincells in the group. It's like they eat his intelligence.

Maybe he's smart but not wise, y'know a 10 intell 0 wis roll.

I fucking miss sailor dee and the others from his old group though. Hal, where is his crew? Hal? Hal? Where is my Son.

[kirfluffbon]

by popular demand apparently

please enjoy this handpicked curation of deepest lore takes on the eight inch tall warrior marshmallows that live in my head rent free.

⭐ puffs have cushiony sleeping spaces that kind of resemble hanging baskets or hammock chairs to accommodate their natural round squishy shape. they’re filled with pillows, blankets, fluff, comfort items (like a magic sock or a crystal necklace, for instance) and various assorted Soft Things.

⭐ due to being traditionally nomadic space warriors, they evolved to have naturally segmented / polyphasic sleep patterns (because the land beyond the stars either has a fluctuating day/night cycle or none at all). to other species it seems like they just take naps but in reality they’re just following their internal clock

⭐ their sleeping spaces are commonly perfumed with aromatherapy sachets like lavender, chamomile and so on depending on their own preference, which also blend with their own personal scent.

⭐ kirby’s favourite is vanilla and strawberries, since it’s a relaxing scent that helps them sleep but also reminds them of sugary baked goods and creamy sweets. mk likes lavender, bergamot and woodsy scents because they’re Classy and fairly non-intrusive. dmk has a preference for hemp and valerian because it knocks him out pretty quickly. shadow’s partial to apple and chamomile because it’s soothing and not too heavy, and so on.

⭐ on a subconscious level kirb sleeps (and eats) all the time because unlimited power(tm) is Taxing, which is why they’re napping and generally lazing around constantly half the time to regain their energy and Absolutely Wired with enthusiasm and boundless energy the other 50%. self-care.

⭐ the fact that they down energy drinks constantly probably does not help but they’re also the kind of person who can chug a can of Monster and then immediately pass out to sleep like it’s nothing so

⭐ dmk also sleeps constantly but he doesn’t really have an excuse he’s just a lazy bitch. being a ronin FUCKS i can sleep ALL THE TIME whenever i WANT. no gods no masters!!!!

⭐ on the flipside shadow does their best to not sleep because they take their role as a guardian of their realm with the utmost of precocious seriousness. they need to be supremely vigilant At All Times and if not then they could let all sorts of horrific dangers and intruders in and they could never forgive themself. ever. this is also why they’re ridiculously physically fragile in KATAM. let the baby sleep

⭐ in a similar vein ever since a certain starfaring soldier found out you can make caffeine taste like a dessert and not like the bottom of an ashtray he’s been waging constant war against his internal clock ever since. sweet merciful god almighty let the poor knight fucking sleep. it’s not a sign of indolence or weakness it is a biological NECESSITY. you dumbass. you fucking fool.

⭐ uh gala’s pretty busy. being stuck in a time loop trying to beat up everything with a pulse and dying over and over and all that. so i honestly think sleep would be the last thing on their mind.

⭐ morpho, sipping honeysuckle nectar out of a World's Okayest Psychopomp mug: welcome to ha- how on earth do you keep ending up back here

[batterypi3]

Sorry, it took a while for me to find you! I'm guessing Taranza's your favorite so what do you really, really like about him character/design-wise? Same thing for your second favorite.

It’s alright! Are you the anon of legend that has been going about?

In general I love most of the Kirby characters initially for the role that they fill, their performance, and just how much I enjoyed seeing them in screen before I ever delved in depth into the fandom. Taranza was not only a fun little boy when he was on camera, but he made me feel less afraid of something I previously feared with all my being: spiders! My favorite thing about him is that he’s presumed to be much kinder and more sweeter than how we met him as a villain and it broke my heart to defeat sectonia after learning their past and that he knew that to save the world, he would have to potentially watch his friend, the girl he loved, die in front of him. Sure, he might be a little bit “wooby” whatever that means, but he’s a delightful boy! He seems like a good friend to have on the quiet days when your just want to sit in fields of flowers and listen to birdsong with the wind breezing through your hair while you just draw, write, or read. Even though his move set was kinda weak in Star allies and he’s definitely one of the lower tier allies to have, I still enjoy him! He has a wonderful mix of magic and nature to his aesthetic. Webs of glowing purple thread, flowers bursting forth from the earth, dark auras of magic, and the ghost of his beloved coming from beyond to smite anyone that stand before them: that makes my monkey brain happy!! In his game alone, he’s one character that people probably brush over in favor of the memorable (and much more talkative) Magolor and Susie, and I find that to be a big disservice to him. He isn’t just a simp, and while his grief is more than evident, he also isn’t just meant to be a little tease at mental health and loss. He’s smart, he knows how to fend for himself, he’s shy, and he’s probably getting the therapy he deserves!

My second favorite character is actually Void Soul! Not much is known about him and he’s single handily thrown the Kirby lore up into the air once again in this series and making everyone question just where Kirby comes from. If you had to ask me what I think of him personally, I think his character falls much within the realm of a “child with the power of a chaos god”. From his curious stare, his little laughing grin, and even his almost tantrum-like anger, he does not read like an adult in my brain-code; he’s either a very childlike or young entity, or he’s emotionally or mentally stunted in a way that has prevented him from acting his age. Which that, in itself, sparks another question for me: what’s caused him tk be that way? Is it from his sealing away? Has he been summoned before? Is this all a game for him? Has he simply been used for his powers? What did he do that sparked fear in the ancients that caused him to be lost to time? I love these questions, and I love the take on him just simply being a child. I love him for the same reason many people liked Eleven from “Stranger Things”. The designs for Star Allies was all around very good, but to see the interior of void Termina in such a none gorey fashion and to find a little swirling orb that just barely resembles Kirby on a technicality is poetic and cool to me.

In short, I love my spider boy and I hope more people love him too because he deserves it and he makes me happy, he’s Magolor without any of the evil. And I love Void and I hope he comes back as a sweet little friend and that he can get help for all his possible trauma

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Annual 1976

Special thanks to @maxwellelvis for taking most of this one off my hands!

Mon Aug 12 2019 [09:46 PM] maxwellelvis: Okay. This is that Event I told you about. [09:46 PM] Wack'd: You tell me about a lot of Events [09:48 PM] Wack'd: Man it's weird that the Fantastic Four have a Danger Room [09:48 PM] Aleph Null: yes but you can't fuck this one [09:48 PM] Wack'd: If this were the 80s and 90s when suddenly the X-Men were the next big thing and people were bending over backwards to make the Fantastic Four fit that mold, sure [09:48 PM] Wack'd: Here in the 70s it's just weird [09:49 PM] Wack'd: God this is such a mom joke

[09:50 PM] Wack'd: A running gag that's gone unacknowledged as of late is Ben interrupting Reed before he can finish his technobabble

[09:51 PM] Wack'd: It's always hard to know spur of the moment what's worth pointing out and what isn't, until suddenly you realize that a pattern has been continuing for like six issues and you haven't said anything [09:51 PM] Umbramatic: rip [09:52 PM] Wack'd: Reed didn't you build a robot to fix things for this express purpose?

[09:52 PM] Wack'd: You did, way back in #119! [09:53 PM] Wack'd: Roy Thomas remembers 1962 better than he remembers his own damn issues

[09:54 PM] Wack'd: "Wait a minute! You guys are Nazis!"

[09:55 PM] Umbramatic: KILL THE NAZIS KILL THE NAZIS [09:55 PM] maxwellelvis: *Venture Bros music* [09:56 PM] Wack'd: I don't think you are going to be embarrassed. Not because these guys are Nazis but because beating up Nazi cosplayers is still a good thing to do

[09:57 PM] Wack'd:

Sue: Why are these men still fighting World War II more than three decades after it ended? Johnny: You might as well ask the Late Late Show the same thing, Sue.

[09:57 PM] Wack'd: Johnny confirmed for a big fan of Irish television [09:58 PM] Umbramatic: pffft [09:59 PM] maxwellelvis: I've got my 2-in-1 TPB with me so I can read this along with you. [09:59 PM] Wack'd: AND NOW THE RESOLUTION OF A PLOTHOLE THAT HAS BEEN BOTHERING PEOPLE FOR YEARS [10:00 PM] Wack'd: Yes, Doom did take his time machine back. Reed just copied the blueprints first and then made a new one [10:00 PM] Wack'd: Problem solved [10:00 PM] Umbramatic: oh my [10:01 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, Reed is started to learn that the Nazis came from 1946 London. Willing to bet this is something to do with the vibranium that fell in there [10:01 PM] maxwellelvis: You skipped over the part where, when Reed and Sue first start puzzling out how the heck these guys got here, the next page shows Ben just WAILING on one of the troops and yelling at him for making his friends all upset. [10:02 PM] Wack'd: I skip over a lot of things if they insufficiently amuse me or aren't relevant to any particular narrative [10:02 PM] maxwellelvis: "Now see whatcha gone an' done, Otto? You got my ol' buddy here upset an' I ain't even hit ya yet." [10:02 PM] maxwellelvis: I know, but I just found that amusing. [10:04 PM] Wack'd: So the Watcher shows up but is doing his damndest not to interfere after having been put on trial over in Captain Marvel [10:05 PM] Wack'd: *siiiiiigh* Okay, guess we're doin' this

[10:05 PM] Wack'd: I hate "what if the Nazis won" stories that don't account for the historical reality that these guys were kind of dipshits [10:05 PM] Wack'd: I hate them so much [10:05 PM] Wack'd: THEY DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO CONQUER THE UNITED STATES [10:06 PM] maxwellelvis: Yeah, but these are comic book Nazis, remember that. [10:06 PM] Aleph Null: not now max [10:06 PM] maxwellelvis: Shutting up [10:07 PM] Umbramatic: oh great the one way you could make Cleveland worse [10:07 PM] Wack'd: Thomas knows juuuuuuust enough history to irritate me

[10:07 PM] Aleph Null: LMAO [10:07 PM] Larena: People like to pretend the Nazis were these tactical geniuses but they really fucking weren't [10:09 PM] Wack'd: Seriously Thomas knows the Lee/Kirby lore better than he knows his own

[10:09 PM] Umbramatic: heck [10:09 PM] Wack'd: Also, all the long-range missiles in the world aren't going to change their lack of tactical proficiency, or Ally advantages, or the fact that the ground war was going poorly... [10:10 PM] Wack'd: Whatever, the longer I complain about this the longer this issue lasts [10:10 PM] Wack'd: Watcher, satisfied Reed has cracked this, vanishes, and the Four head off into the past [10:12 PM] maxwellelvis: Smack-dab in the middle of a strategy planning session being overseen by THE INVADERS in London HQ. They're planning a raid of Castle Wolfenstein--sorry, Castle Cherbelle. [10:12 PM] Umbramatic: lel [10:13 PM] Wack'd: Hey Max? I know you're enjoying having the issue on hand but if I have to wait for you to say things it's gonna drag this out and, as mentioned, I'm not super into this one [10:13 PM] maxwellelvis: Sorry [10:13 PM] Wack'd: Anyway yeah, what he said

[10:14 PM] Wack'd: ...actually...do you wanna do this issue for me? And I'll just put relevant images where needed [10:14 PM] maxwellelvis: Sure. [10:14 PM] Wack'd: Thanks! [10:14 PM] maxwellelvis: So the inevitable fight happens. [10:14 PM] maxwellelvis: Some things of note: [10:14 PM] maxwellelvis: Namor is a hotheaded dick no matter what decade it is [10:14 PM] Wack'd:

[10:15 PM] maxwellelvis: Powerless or no, I feel like Namor calling Ben a Nazi would result in him being ripped limb from limb [10:15 PM] Wack'd: Hint that Ben is Jewish #354

[10:15 PM] maxwellelvis: Johnny is rather awestruck to see the Original Human Torch and Toro, and just barely manages to parry their last volley of fireballs [10:16 PM] maxwellelvis: Bucky is useless as always [10:16 PM] maxwellelvis: and Cap almost immediately realizes that the smart thing to do is to break up this little ballroom blitz. [10:16 PM] Wack'd: THE WINTER SOLDIER EVERYONE

[10:17 PM] maxwellelvis: Reed does the same, dousing the Torches and getting everyone to cool off. [10:18 PM] maxwellelvis: So the FF explain who, what, where, when, and why, a French Resistance liaison confirms that something rotten is up in Castle Cherelle, especially that the operation there is being overseen by one Baron Heinrich Zemo. [10:19 PM] Wack'd: ...was this really their catchphrase

[10:19 PM] maxwellelvis: Probably? [10:19 PM] Wack'd: Hehehehe [10:19 PM] Wack'd: What dorks [10:19 PM] maxwellelvis: I've not read much Invaders, but it seems like they're trying to channel the spirit of the All-Winners Squadron [10:20 PM] Wack'd: Every comic book website ever uses it as a headline when there's Invaders news [10:21 PM] maxwellelvis: So, they make it as far as France in one of Namor's airships, but are ambushed by Stukas. Toro is even more hotheaded than Johnny and wants to go out and flash-fry them, but Hammond tells him to stand down, they can't afford to give away their position to Zemo before they even reach the castle. [10:21 PM] Wack'd: This is even dorky or when you consider that the Invaders are an invention of the mid-century war comics scene [10:21 PM] Wack'd: And not a team that ever actually existed in the 40s [10:21 PM] maxwellelvis: Well, the All-Winners Squadron I think was a thing, not sure if they ever all teamed up though. It might have been before the JSA. [10:22 PM] Wack'd: Oh! Yep [10:22 PM] Umbramatic: oh huh [10:22 PM] Wack'd: Line-up did have Cap, Bucky, Namor, Toro, and Human Torch back in the 40s [10:23 PM] maxwellelvis: Just before the reach the castle, we get a shot of the Watcher's face in the clouds, indicating that yeah, they're on the right path. Bucky gets creeped out by it. Ben just feels even more nervous now. [10:23 PM] Wack'd: The name "Invaders" is a flagrant retcon though, as is the absence of Whizzer, Miss America, Blond Phantom, and Angel [10:23 PM] maxwellelvis: Miss America is elsewhere now. More on that later. [10:24 PM] maxwellelvis: Anyways, they land mostly undetected, have time for a character bit or two, and split up to cover more ground [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Well hang on! [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Don't gloss over character bits! Love character bits! [10:24 PM] maxwellelvis: Ahh [10:25 PM] Wack'd: Oh this is just exposition [10:25 PM] Wack'd: Moving on [10:25 PM] maxwellelvis: Reed realizes that while they're here, he and Ben are also just now signing up and gets goosebumps, which is rare for him. [10:25 PM] maxwellelvis: Namor professes his hatred of stealth tactics, showing yet again why he will be a Good King [10:26 PM] Wack'd: (So long as I'm tracking when the sliding timescale kicks in, the fact that Reed and Ben are still WWII vets is probably worth noting) [10:26 PM] maxwellelvis: Speaking of which, Reed also gets weirded out at teaming up with a younger Namor and scolds himself for playing Jealous Husband [10:26 PM] Wack'd: And Sue is apparently still a bit hot under the collar [10:27 PM] Wack'd: viagra joke

[10:27 PM] maxwellelvis: I can't blame her here. Dude just refuses to age. How DARE he be so good looking for so many decades? [10:27 PM] Wack'd: The Face of Beauty

[10:28 PM] maxwellelvis: The Torches all team up and it's... interesting at least in black and white to see how the pencils and inks try to make three guys with the same power all look distinct. [10:28 PM] Aleph Null: sue was a star trek fan and really liked spock [10:28 PM] Aleph Null: that's what i'm going with [10:28 PM] Wack'd: Historically what happens here [10:28 PM] maxwellelvis: How does it look in color, Wack'd? [10:29 PM] Wack'd: Is that Johnny is stuck with the all-red-with-stripes look, while Jim looks like actual flames are coming off him--in accordance with how he was drawn in the 40s [10:30 PM] maxwellelvis: And Toro has that look even moreso, at least here. [10:30 PM] Wack'd: I'm going to be completely honest, in this issue, I can't tell any of the three apart [10:30 PM] maxwellelvis: So Namor and the Richards' bust up a weapons plant. [10:30 PM] Wack'd: It's all down to dialogue quirks [10:31 PM] maxwellelvis: He floods the place in his temper. [10:31 PM] maxwellelvis: Skipping over that because the NEXT part is fun. [10:31 PM] maxwellelvis: We get to revisit the events that lead up to Cap getting frozen and Bucky's "death" [10:32 PM] maxwellelvis: Johnny's turn to get the willies as he realizes who these two guys are and what's going to happen to them, things he can't try to prevent or risk more damage to spacetime [10:34 PM] maxwellelvis: So they bust up central ops, then Cap has a confrontation with Zemo. The shield shatters the tank full of Adhesive X, trapping Zemo in his hood for the rest of his days, though in this retelling, Cap actually tries to help Zemo, who refuses and says that not only can nothing get it off him, but he'd rather die than surrender, or better yet, he'll just kill Cap. [10:35 PM] maxwellelvis: Zemo escapes down a tunnel and though Johnny CAN keep up with him, he simultaneously CAN'T because he has no way of knowing if the escape tunnel is booby-trapped and so he loses Zemo in his hesitation. [10:35 PM] maxwellelvis: Meanwhile, Ben and the other Torches take out the V2 bay. [10:36 PM] Wack'd: Yeah they're really going all in on the 60s look for all the Torches here [10:36 PM] maxwellelvis: One of the missiles gets fired, with Ben on it. Jim and Toro can't keep up, but Ben manages to sabotage the missile in midair and steer it back to the castle and pull a Slim Pickens. [10:37 PM] Wack'd: Just a little scruff of hair on the top to tell them apart

[10:37 PM] maxwellelvis: Which is weird because you wouldn't suspect that from just the lineart [10:37 PM] maxwellelvis: which is what I have. [10:37 PM] Wack'd:

[10:38 PM] maxwellelvis: "I thought I died an' went ta Heaven, but then how come I'm lookin' at YOUR ugly kisser, Stretcho?" They managed to get out in time and save Ben from scattering himself all over France. [10:39 PM] maxwellelvis: And assuming that no Vibranium survived the explosion, all is well that ends well. [10:39 PM] maxwellelvis: Well... [10:39 PM] Umbramatic: something something dr strangelove [10:39 PM] maxwellelvis: except Uatu is still in the Baxter Building [10:39 PM] Wack'd:

[10:40 PM] maxwellelvis: Ben realizes that, if the Watcher is still here, that means, that not all of the Vibranium was in the castle. Uatu says nothing, but subtly smiles, leading us in to Marvel Two-In-One Annual One [10:41 PM] Bocaj: Dammit Uatu [10:41 PM] Bocaj: And also the Watchers [10:41 PM] Bocaj: Just your presence is interfering [11:01 PM] maxwellelvis: Okay so, on to part 2 of this story: [11:01 PM] maxwellelvis: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1 [11:03 PM] maxwellelvis: I'll just get the highlights out of the way. [11:04 PM] maxwellelvis: Whizzer. U-Man. Giant flying swastika. There's a guy called The Thin Man. Whizzer. The original Patriot. Ben throws himself off a flag pole. Roy Thomas shamelessly inserts himself into the story. Whizzer. [11:05 PM] maxwellelvis: Also there's a superhero called Blue Diamond. For some reason I thought that's funny in 2019.

[lilithmagne]

rules: tag ten followers you want to know better !

tagged: @pxppinmolly tagging: Whoever didn’t do this!

name:  AC star sign:  Pisces height:  5′1? I think? (154cm) middle name ?: Diana

put your itunes / spotify on shuffle. what are the first 6 songs that popped up?’

Doin’ Time by Lana del Rey

Gold by Chet Faker

Big God by Florence and the Machine

Hey you there by Souljia Boy

Laser Gun by M83 feat. Mai Lan

Love Lockdown by Glass Animals

grab one book nearest to you and turn to page 23. what’s line 17?   “The rectangular or long face is generally a sign of steady mood. These people don’t get over emotional and are able to control their moods. It sometimes seems as if they are cold and calculating as they tend to sit on their emotions rather than displaying them. A lot of judges throughout history have had these long-shaped faces.“ - Al Ferasa: The art of face reading by Wael Abdul-Hamid

ever had a poem or a song written about you?    Yes! when was the last time you played air guitar?    Probably a few days ago while listening to either Florence and the Machines or Of Monsters and Men.  who is your celebrity crush?   Jason Momoa. He’s a cool dude! Would invite out for a beer. Aaaand Vanessa Kirby. Her deep voice? Sign me up! 

what’s a sound you hate; sound you love?

hate: sudden loud honking during a stormy weather 

love: Fire burning by a camp, the waves of a sea

do you believe in ghosts ?   Nope how about aliens ? Yes, I’m sure there are other creatures out there!

do you drive ?    nope   /     if so, have you ever crashed ?   n/a what was the last book you read ?   The Republic by Plato do you like the smell of gasoline ?     Sometimes what was the last movie you saw ?     The Shipping News (2001) what’s the worst injury you’ve ever had ?   Had boiling water fall on my left foot. I’m self-conscious of the scar that it left... can’t really wear fancy shoes without getting asked about it. I try to come up with funny and absurd adventures whenever someone asks. It’s my way of getting back some of the power. The faces some people make are hilarious! I love it.  do you have any obsessions right now ? Not quite... been enjoying Lore Olympus, but I can’t call it an obsession.  do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? No. It’s a waste of my time and energy to hold grudges. I feel they hold me back from discovering my full potential... I don’t forget though, but I do my best to find a way to guard myself. Rather avoid a bad situation if I can help it. in a relationship?    Nah, but I’m not opposed to getting into one when the time is right. It’s not a good time now. 

[underpuffau]

Underpuff 200 Follower Retrospective

Well, we’ve done it Underpuff now has 200 followers. How many of them actively follow the AU is impossible to know, but one thing is for sure. That 200 people saw my AU, and enjoyed it enough to hit follow. This means so much you can’t even imagine. No matter how you look at it, 200 people is a fuckton of people, and I couldn’t be more happy you all decided to follow this little ol’ Kirby AU. Sadly though, unlike last time, I really don’t have a way to celebrate this via a sneak peak of the next part. There also isn’t anything I particularly wanna show off either as far as roles or plot goes. So clearly the most logical thing to do is talk about my old work and laugh at it. That’s right, to celebrate this step forward, let’s take some steps backwards, and look at the hilarious atrocity that was the Underpuff Preboot.

Let’s start from the beginning. Starting from the middle was considered but I thought it was too post modern. Back in ye olden days of Sprite AUs, crossovers were just becoming a thing, the leaders of this format being Undertoad, and the now dead Smashtale.I oved the idea of crossing over Undertale with other series, and the number one AU I wanted to see happen, was of course, a Kirby AU. Every day I prayed for some kind of music track or comic part to be made for one, rather than all the vague concepts I saw thrown around from time to time. I waited an waited, but a Kirby AU never came. One day, on a Meta Knight as Mettaton shitpost on r/Undertale, I talked about this want for a Kirby AU in the comments, and some vague ideas I had for one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Undertale/comments/4h335y/metta_knight/d2nb7p7/

As you can see things, really didn’t pan out like this, but one step at a time. After posting this comment, and reading responses to it, I came up with more and more ideas, and I even drew concept art of all the roles!

Adecryforhelp

Keel me

Kirb stomp me into the ground

LololOH GOD

JOLY SHIT

eta knig.

eta knig period.

Whispy (why) Wood(you do this to me)s

Here take this for your eyes, I bet you need it right now

But yeah, my art and design skills weren’t up to snuff at the time. I’ve obviously gotten much better, but at the time I was a full blown amateur and was blissfully unaware. Gotta love that Dunning Kruger effect huh?

But all these “ideas” and art were for nothing, as I had a shit laptop at home that couldn’t do jack shit without coming close to fucking combustion. Like, it was so bad, I used my Wii U for everything Internet related. The Internet Browser on the Wii U was a better alternative than my actual computer. Let that sink in. However, spending so much time on the Wii U would lead you to discover new games and apps when they popped up, and for me, one of those was the software called Pixel Maker. And this is where Underpuff would get it’s start.

Pixel Maker was a pretty good software. I did exactly as was advertised, allow you to make pixel art on your Wii U. I saw this as my opportunity to finally make my ideas a reality, and when I had enough money, I bought it without delay. I got started making the first stages of Underpuff. I had no way to pull straight from Undertale. I had to eyball the maps and recreate them to the best of my ability, with the Great Cave reskin aesthetic of course. When I went to make text, I tried to recreate the UT font myself, but was unable to do it. With all the pre made fonts in PM not being to my liking, and the software lacking text sizes at the time, I decided to make my own font.

This was a mistake.

It was poorly made and ugly to look at, but I used it throughout all 7 preboot parts. And since this was my own font made in PM, I couldn’t use the text tool to apply it. I had to meticulously copy paste EVERY SINGLE LETTER. It was annoying, and resulted in me despising text. But hey, it’s just the font, so long as the spritework looks good, who cares?

Anymore of that bleach leftover? It’s for me.

But yes, Underpuff, in all awfully sprited and JPGed goodness, was murder on your eyes. (And probably soul too)

Why is the file type blurry ass JPG o all things you ask? Well my fan, allow me to tell you about my process for getting Underpuff to imgur.

Step 1: Create Panel

Step 2: Go to miiverse

Step 3: Save screenshot of the panel into screenshot album

Repeat till part is complete

Step 4: Access album from browser

Step 5: Copy image url

Step 6: Paste this url into imgurs uploader

Repeat until part is uploaded

But what does this have to do with JPG? Well, the answer is that Miiverse’s screenshots save in, you guessed it, JPG! So my images were blurry not of my own volition!

But, even if the visuals are completely, 100% awful, the dialogue must at least make uop for it. Surely I didn’t stoop so low as to just slightly modify Undertale dialogue right? RIGHT?

...

God dammit.

Underpuff was a reskin to the highest degree. Character relationships, dialogue, areas, all just Undertale with a Kirby paint. That’s all it was. And I was sitting here, wondering why the hell I couldn’t break 10 upvotes on reddit. This was why, cause I was a terrible writer, artist, and typographist. But it added up to something in the end, because one day I realized this, and rebooted Underpuff into it’s current state right now. A fully fleshed out, new story, with logical relationships, and a huge focus on lore and characterization. You know why I put those on such high pedestals, because of this. Because of preboot. I don’t want anything like Preboot to ever exist again, and it’s why I want to make Underpuff as sound in the Kirby universe as I can, while still having plenty of characters to work with..

And now, I have an actual computer, that I can actually make panels with. I still go back to PM from time to time, usually for battlesprites, since I like doing those by hand, but most of my work is done on here now. The parts may come out slower these days, but that’s because actual effort is being put forth now. Everyday I think of how to improve Underpuff’s story, fix plot holes or mistakes, all so I can make what I’ve been told is the only good Kirby AU the best it can possibly be.I take my time and not try to rush parts out per month like I did, all so I can achieve the quality I want. (The Reboot battle system wouldn’t exist if I didn’t take so long on Part 2.)

While I may not get the amount of asks, fanart, or music as I would like, one thing remains true. 200 of you appreciate the new Underpuff, and the work I put in. You appreciate the fact it’s not a shitty JPG reskin. You appreciate the fact I try to be lore and characterization friendly. And I appreciate all of you, my friends and fans who support me and what I do. If it weren’t for all of you, I may have given up, but all eyes are on me, and I’m not gonna disappoint. I may be a little sappy right now, but hey, I’m a Kirby AU, gotta be somewhat wholesome right? But to all of you, whether you have been here since the preboot, or jumped on for the reboot, I just gotta say...

-Thank you, Pika

[ahouseoflies]

The Best Films of 2019, Part I

On one hand, I fear the direction of American cinema, and I feel more personally distracted from great art with each passing day. On the other hand, my viewing was up 5% from last year despite my belief that I’ve gotten choosier. I even approve of most of the films nominated for Best Picture. Are the offerings just top-heavy this year? Are my standards declining? Answering questions like those is part of why I present a paragraph or two on everything I see each year, though I can’t even imagine someone sitting down and reading all of this.

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Just Mercy, Monos, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Good Boys, Frankie, For Sama, or An Elephant Sitting Still. The tiers, as always, are Garbage, Admirable Failures, Endearing Curiosities with Big Flaws, Pretty Good Movies, Good Movies, Great Movies, and Instant Classics. GARBAGE

129. Cold Pursuit (Hans Petter Moland)- A film professor of mine showed us Wings of Desire and City of Angels, its American remake, in order to show us how a film can technically cover a story while losing the essence that made it special. I can only hope that Hans Petter Moland's Norwegian original is better than his stab at an English language remake, which fails completely at balancing violence and comedy. The movie almost announces its own boredom with the protagonist as it shifts focus first to the villain and then to cops on the case, all of whom have artificial quirks to try to give them life where there isn't any. The Neeson character's journey toward revenge is empty, so the film drifts from him, but it doesn't have anything to say with the other characters either. 128. Domino (Brian De Palma)- Seeking revenge, a Libyan informant roughs up a potential terrorist by throwing him over a restaurant bar. Cut to two cops driving wordlessly. Cut to the Libyan guy dunking the other guy's head in boiling soup. That interruption spells out what the rest of the film does: De Palma could not be less interested in his replacement-level actor's shoddy policework, especially in the self-parody of the last twenty minutes. Any intensity the movie has comes from terrorists (or Guy Pearce over-salting a salad), and then the police drain the momentum. Just make a movie about terrorists, Brian! And, as I've urged you for years, get rid of Pino Donaggio. 127. Beach Bum (Harmony Korine)- Moondog, the spacey, Floridian hedonist poet at the center of the film, is supposed to be "brilliant" and "a good guy" at heart according to his daughter. But at the daughter's wedding, he shakes the hand of her fiance, whom he usually calls "limp-dick," and he says, "What's your name again?" The line got a laugh in my theater, but is it likely that he didn't know the name of his daughter's fiance? Especially if he's a good guy who doesn't hurt people on purpose? It's one example out of a thousand of Harmony Korine making the goofy decision instead of the one that would benefit character or story. I thought that Korine had taken a turn for the lucid with Spring Breakers, but he just isn't interested in making anything consistent enough for me. There's an hour of consequence-free episodes to follow, though I did cherish Jonah Hill's three improvised scenes, for which he tries a sort of Tennessee Williams voice. You can admire how audacious some of the choices are--describing Zac Efron wearing Jncos makes the film sound more fun than it is--but looking at the poster gives you about 70% of what you would get out of the long ninety-five minutes. Yes, McConaughey's shoes are funny, but what else have you got? 126. Fyre Fraud (Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nelson)- Half as good as the Netflix one. Please, by all means, explain to me what a millenial is again. 125. The Kitchen (Andrea Berloff)- One of my mentors stressed that Shakespeare worked in "cultural touchstones," truisms that weren't difficult to prove but served as a sandbox for all of the juicy stuff. So we all know that, say, too much ambition is a bad thing, but having that North Star at all times allows Shakespeare to ply his trade with character development and imagery and symbol. I know that The Kitchen isn't funny or cool or original, but it also doesn't really have an emotional or thematic core. It's a movie with neither the window dressing nor the window. I don't know what I'm getting at, but I watched the last five minutes twice to make sure that it actually was as anti-climactic and inert as I thought.

124. Climax (Gaspar Noe)- Ah, to be a provocateur who has made his best work already and took all of the wrong lessons from it. I don't envy Noe, who insists on formal rigor even when it adds nothing, who goes to greater, more desperate lengths to shock. A third of this film, embedded somewhere between the three openings, is gross young people talking, lewdly and clinically, about whom they want to bone. I thought I started watching French art movies to get away from locker rooms. 123. The Best of Enemies (Robin Bissell)- The supporting cast of Anne Heche, Wes Bentley, and John Gallagher Jr. avail themselves better than the finger-wagging, scenery-chewing leads, but that hardly matters in a movie this fundamentally broken. Apparently no one saw the problem with making a Ku Klux Klan president the dynamic hero of a school integration that he fought against, but that's how the story functions. He's the guy who casts the deciding vote and gives the speech at the end, but it's a bit anti-climactic for an audience that assumes, yeah, the White race is not morally superior to any other race. Congratulations on your realization, buddy. Long before that, Sam Rockwell’s character is inconsistent. Neither the Rockwell performance nor the Robin Bissell script can thread the needle between showing the heinous terrorist that a Klan member is and revealing the depth that foreshadows the character's change. The answer is to show the character being nice to his developmentally disabled son, which, again, doesn't get all the way there. That's cool that you love your own son, but, uh, that has nothing to do with the hatred that made you shoot up a girl's house because she has a Black boyfriend. Of course you can show these contradictions and changes in a character incrementally--lots of good movies have--but this one ain't going on the list. 122. The Intruder (Deon Taylor)- Probably the most two-star movie of the year. Prototypical in its two-starness. Instructive to me as far as what I give two stars. There’s a point of view error in the first twenty minutes that ruined it for me. ADMIRABLE FAILURES 121. Little (Tina Gordon Chism)- We're all good on body swap movies for a while. This one, otherwise undistinguished in its comedy or storytelling, is notable for just how specifically 2019 it might look in a time capsule: Here's a joke about transitioning as we're on our way to our job developing apps; there's a kid doing The Floss and talking to Alexa. Whoops! Bumped into a guy wearing a VR headset! 120. The Kid Who Would Be King (Joe Cornish)- I appreciate that somebody is still making movies for 9-10 year old boys, but I checked out hard and kind of just left this on until it was done. I don't like lore. Much less funny and urgent than Attack the Block, and it's crazy that this is the only project that came together for Joe Cornish in the intervening eight years. 119. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Michael Dougherty)- Exhausting and joyless in its large-scale destruction, Godzilla: King of the Monsters pitches everything at the same volume, and even the end of the world ends up not mattering as a result. Despite (or maybe because of) the presence of such great actors, the screenplay dilutes the characters by having three fighter pilots or three scientists when all the lines really could have been given to one of these interchangeable figures. That's first draft stuff, homie. Still, Kyle Chandler is kind of awesome as the weathered one shouting about how everyone else is playing God. He reminds me of Larry Fitzgerald toiling away with professionalism on teams that would never sniff the playoffs. 118. Blinded by the Light (Gurinder Chadha)- I made it about twenty minutes into this movie before flipping the switch and making fun of it relentlessly. It tries to strike the heart-on-sleeve authenticity that a Springsteen song does, but if The Boss never overwhelms you with language, almost every line of dialogue in this film spells out what the character is thinking. The overbearing father is especially intolerable: "What is this music? You need to get rid of distractions and focus on getting a good job so that you don't end up a taxi driver. Like me!" I'm only sort of paraphrasing. Blinded by the Light is too well-meaning to be offensive, but it's absurd in its spoon-feeding. LMK, ladies: On the third time that I have headphones in my ears during a conversation with you, and I start buttering you up with lyrics to "Jungleland," will you still love me? 117. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (David Leitch)- What a summer, huh? The go-for-broke final setpiece redeems the film somewhat, and Vanessa Kirby is a welcome addition to the universe. But Idris Elba's first line, responding to a question about who he is, is "Bad Guy," and the characterization doesn't go too much further. I feel as if I have honed the requisite disposition to enjoy a Fast and Furious movie, but that doesn't mean that the most cliched thing has to happen at the most cliched time in the most cliched way.

116. I Lost My Body (Jeremy Clapin)- Not for me ultimately. The film presents itself as above the tropes of cinematic romance but sure seems to circle around them. Clapin is willing to set up the pins of, say, "I'm actually the pizza delivery guy but have kept it a secret for a year," but he is unwilling to knock the pins down with anything resembling catharsis. I don't know if the French bowl, but feel free to substitute whatever kind of metaphor they might get offended by.

115. The Lion King (Jon Favreau)- I saw the original Lion King when I was ten: old enough to think that Disney movies were beneath me but young enough to know nothing about art or the world. And I remember the way that the songs transcended reality: "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" turning into a Busby Berkeley number, "Be Prepared" taking on an expressionist green tint. It was mass entertainment that was far from experimental, but I remember thinking, "Can you do that?" As an artistic experiment, this remake is kind of confounding, to the point that I don't know whether to classify it as an animated or live-action film. The final scene starts upside down, and your eye adjusts to the idea that you're looking at a reflection in a stream, but that stream is a Caleb Deschanel-aided, computer-generated reflection of a reality. However, I return to my original point: You're missing something if you think The Lion King is a better story if it's more realistic. Capably made as The Lion King 2019 is, no one is referencing 42nd Street. These Disney remakes just reference themselves. 114. Stuber (Michael Dowse)- The critical community has been pretty forgiving of Stuber; I guess because it's a type of studio film that used to be common but now is not. Judged on its own merits, however, it's labored. The screenplay circles around questions of masculinity, but not in a way that hasn't been done better in other recent comedies. Perhaps most disappointing of all, I've seen Iko Uwais and Bautista fight before, and it looked a whole lot cooler than the way they're sliced and diced here. The ending's sweet at least. 113. After the Wedding (Bart Freundlich)- Think of what Julianne Moore could have accomplished in the time it took in her career for her to shoot four crappy movies with her husband. This is the type of melodrama that makes more sense after all of the revelations have cleared the air, but that doesn't mean the preceding hour and a half was any more fun because of the aftermath. 112. The Goldfinch (John Crowley)- One day someone's going to figure out how to coherently adapt a Dickensian novel and actually do that thing Crowley is trying to do: condensing two hundred pages of back story into 1/8th of a page here or a line there. Somebody's going to be able to figure out the little moments that are important and the big moments that aren't. And you'll all be sorry. The movie is ultimately hampered by the bad ending of the novel, in which a person who isn't a mystery writer has to solve a mystery. Perfect casting for Luke Wilson though. He definitely looks like a whiskey-faced dad who would steal your social security number. 111. The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)- This movie is autobiographical. The protagonist has the same initials as Joanna Hogg, and she's attending film school at the same time Hogg did. But what a self-own it is for your hero, based on you, to be this inexpressive and restrained and deferential. The film is mostly about a cold romantic relationship--and I guess what the character learns through that experience--but when her beau's friend asks what she sees in him, she can't really say. Neither can the audience. I guess it's a skill to write a scene in which a family is having an argument that is so clenched-jaw reticent that the viewer can't even discern the topic of conversation for a few minutes, but it's not a skill I appreciate. 110. The Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmusch)- Jim Jarmusch must be a very good friend.

109. Velvet Buzzsaw (Dan Gilroy)- If the film were funny, I wouldn't mind the lack of narrative drive. If the film had narrative drive, I wouldn't mind the lack of atmosphere--glaring for a film that circles around to horror eventually. If the film had more to say, I wouldn't mind how pedantically it says it. If the protagonist's change of heart made sense, then I wouldn't mind that his conversion apparently happens off-screen. At least most of the actors seem to be having fun. I wasn't. 108. It: Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti)- I started squirming in my seat during a sequence somewhere in the circuitous second hour. Bill sees his old bike in an antiques window, haggles with a Stephen King shopkeeper cameo, and finishes the scene on a triumphant note, believing that his old bike will ride like the wind. Cut to the bike falling apart on the road, deflating his pride with comedy. Cut to a flashback of him riding the bike with young Beverly, serene and warm. Cut to him riding the bike again with determination until he stops, terrified. Within fifteen seconds, the film jerks us into four divergent emotions at a whim. The overall tone felt just as arbitrary to me, and that's before we get to the always-unclear line between fantasy and reality. And this time, the flashbacks of each young character's encounters with Pennywise are less scary because we know they all live into the present. Andy Muschietti just does not have a light enough touch to make this movie work.The last forty-five minutes are interminable. But I had all the same gripes with the first chapter, so personal taste is a factor. 107. Trial by Fire (Edward Zwick)- Perfect example of a true story that could use some poetic justice. I don't want to give away anything that the first line of the imdb summary doesn't already, but this ending could have been much more satisfying by changing one or two lines. This is a movie that recreates, multiple times, babies burning alive, but the ending is somehow more punishing. It's also one of those films that should have just begun at the halfway point. If we can praise special effects when they're done well, then they should be fair game when they're this embarrassing. Zwick definitely put his flash drive into the Lifetime computers for fire.exe.