#i so agree with you bc some things i feel are done fantastically well and then other things it's just like . What Da Hell...

[bylertruther]

This might be an odd complaint but I really don’t like how people act like Byler endgame would just excuse every other shitty thing that’s been done to everyone but conveniently attractive presumably straight white men in this show writing-wise. I’d be more than happy to have Byler be endgame and I expect it, but the amount of racism that’s been brushed off is ridiculous in and outside of the show. The weird St*ncy moments this season, the fact that she doesn’t get a storyline related to her trauma. Even season three was incredibly white of them. Joyce not getting hardly any scenes with Jonathan and Will these recent seasons. All of it and more—it won’t suddenly go away and make everyone on that writing team geniuses. And this isn’t to sound ungrateful or anything, but it really is disappointing sometimes. They exceed tremendously at some points such as the Upside Down lore but as for other aspects…

i don't think it's an odd complaint. it makes me think of those people who, when reccing something, will just say "you'd like it, it has gay people" as if that's a statement of substance.

there will always be people of the "i can excuse racism and misogyny, but i draw the line at queerbaiting 😤" variety, and while it is important to be critical of the media you engage with, i... have come to accept that some people just don't care lol. even when it comes to the gay shit a lot of people still don't care to engage with it in a deeper, more meaningful way, and instead prefer to just make their own shit up that's more superficial and doesn't even align with the themes of the show or the characters themselves. literally just look at the popularly held fanon here and how people treat anyone that disagrees with it lol.

it's upsetting, especially when you're part of the groups that these writing decisions affect, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. this show is written and helmed primarily by white people, the fandom consists of many people who are nostalgic for the bigotry of the eighties, as well as people who don't particularly care to interact with the deeper themes it contains, and that will chide you for speaking about the actual text of the show. obviously not everyone is like that, but there's a reason why it can be so miserable to engage with st content literally everywhere.

we're inevitably going to see people call them the best writers ever (assuming all goes well lmao), as if they haven't made a million missteps with how they treat their characters of color and their female characters. and if things don't go well, then that's probably when they'll bring up those two issues as a sort of "well, what did we expect when x and y happened" even though they literally never talked about it or cared about it until the writers did something that suddenly affected them personally.

[spocks-husband]

✨Axel's Ultimate Batman Video Game Play Guide and Reviews

You guys seemed to enjoy the previous version of this I did with all the Batman Animated shows, and now that I'm done with all the Batman games I thought I'd post my thoughts on those too! I decided to do this one in just like. Regular text format. Bc I didn't feel like editing all these into images like I did for the last one. So uhhh lemme know which format you prefer lol.

Anyways, please enjoy my comprehensive thoughts and feelings on (almost) every modern Batman game, five months in the making because I have no life. Enjoy!

🦇

Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)

My Personal Rating: 7/10

My Total Hours Played: 17.1 

Steam Rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (96%)

Description: The first game in the Batman Arkham Series. Based off the iconic Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth comic from 1989 (aka the only good thing Grant Morrison has ever produced in his entire feeble life). The inmates at Arkham Asylum have begun a violent riot, and as Batman goes through the hospital to stop them, he uncovers a sinister conspiracy involving his greatest enemies.

Play If You're Looking For: An intro to the Arkham Series, a very different interpretation of Arkham Asylum compared to other versions of Batman, and some really dark aesthetics. Also, this isn't explicitly canon, but according to this series��� timeline, this game takes place in the space between Jason's death and Tim’s arrival, so if you're interested in a very dark, brooding, traumatized Bruce, playing this game with that information changes it a lot. 

Things I Liked:

Genuinely really scary

Incredible atmosphere 

Both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil are featured in their iconic roles

Really well written

Birthed a bunch of really iconic Batman memes (go to the r/Arkham subreddit, it's so funny unfortunately) (OFFICER BALLS.)

This was actually my introduction to Oracle and I love her more than anything in these games

Things I Didn't Like:

The graphics aren't fantastic but to be fair it was 2009 so

THE FUCKING BANE BOSS FIGHT. GOD. FUCK YOU BANE. THAT SHIT TOOK ME SO LONG.

The Killer Croc boss fight wasn't super difficult but it was so scary that I cried the first time I played it so. Keep that in mind.

Batman: Arkham City (2011)

My Personal Rating: 9/10

My Total Hours Played: 27.5

Steam Rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (95%)

Description: The second game in the Batman Arkham Series. After the riot at Arkham Asylum, Sharpton ascends to the mayor's office and cuts off about 6.4 acres of Gotham as ‘Arkham City’; a walled off portion of the city where crime runs rampant and mostly untethered. 

Play If You're Looking For: Agonizing Brutalia angst, a fight with pretty much every Batman villain who's ever existed (except for Scarecrow but that's for AK), a tiny sprinkle of Brucie Wayne right at the beginning, and an INCREDIBLE story that is generally agreed to be the best in the series. 

Things I Liked:

TONS of collectibles

Taliaaaaa my angelllll <<3

The side missions are really great

If you get the DLC, there's a special game section focused around Harley where you play as Tim’s Robin and it's super fun

The story is just. My god. It's so good. It's SO good. 

The map is massive and there's so much to do, I was still playing weeks after I finished the story

Things I Didn't Like:

As much as I loved the collectibles there's like over 400 of them in the game and I couldn't get all of them and it still pisses me off 

You have to play as Selina a few times in order to progress and she's like super weak compared to Bruce (not in a misogynistic way on my part I mean like she genuinely dies after like two good hits) and her dialogue annoys tf out of me. Sorry I'm a hater. 

Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

My Personal Rating: 9/10

My Total Hours Played: 27.2

Steam Rating: Very Positive (89%)

Description: The third game in the Batman Arkham Series– but this one is a prequel! I actually played this one after Arkham Knight but. Shhh. Anyways, this game is based loosely off the world presented in the Batman: Year One comics, and follows a younger Bruce in his early days as Batman, including the origins (lol) to many of his greatest enemies as they try to hunt him down, with their efforts spearheaded by a certain someone behind the scenes. Also it's Christmas!

Play If You're Looking For: Little baby angsty Bruce being a problem child, a game where you get to punch cops, and tiny tiny tiny baby Babs being adorable (she's like twelve and she's so cute).

Things I Liked:

I don't usually care about the soundtracks for video games but. FUCK the music is good. It's all based on Christmas/Nutcracker music and it's really really cool

This game genuinely helped me get over a lot of really deeply ingrained trauma surrounding Christmas /gen

Fun little Mad Hatter side mission!

Batman and Riddler argue like teenage boys (because they are)

Alfred and Bruce's relationship has some genuinely really beautiful characterization in this and their arch is really enjoyable 

Things I Didn't Like:

FUCKING. BANE. HE HAS LIKE THREE SEPARATE BOSS FIGHTS AND THEY'RE ALL SO HARD AND SCARY AND AND AND AHHHH 

The graphics are a little iffy but to be fair my view was skewed bc I played this right after finishing Arkham Knight

Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)

My Personal Rating: 8.5/10

My Total Hours Played: 47.9

Steam Rating: Very Positive (91%)

Description: The fourth and (kind of) final installment of the Batman Arkham Series (not counting Arkham Shadow because idgaf). Scarecrow is back, and threatening Gotham with a new fear toxin compound, resulting in a mass evacuation… but something else is going on here too, and Batman has a new enemy who may be his most dangerous yet. 

Play If You're Looking For: agony, pain, suffering, nightmares, tears, emotional exhaustion, etc. 

Things I Liked:

Really well written story (it's just really traumatizing)

Some of the most beautiful graphics in any video game like. Ever.

The DLC suits are SO COOL, you can play as Flashpoint Batman….

Really really great fighting mechanics that make combat actually really enjoyable even though that's not really what I'm here for

Amazing side missions; there's basically a side mission for every mechanic in the game, so whatever your favorite part is there's a little section where that's pretty much all you do

Things I Didn't Like:

This game took me WEEKS to get through because the story is so painful it was genuinely not fun half the time 

The ending isn't very satisfying (to me)

You know the concept of the “all is lost moment” in story telling? Yeah, this game’s “all is lost moment” is like 80% of the game. Everything is lost like. Most of the time. 

Oh we're just not gonna talk about Talia. After all that shit in Arkham City. Okay. Cool. 

Selina is so annoying in this game, there's this whole side mission that's basically just her and it's really irritating

FUCK YOU EDWARD NYGMA THAT DRIVING COURSE WAS BULLSHIT AND I COULDN'T GET THROUGH IT NO MATTER HOW HARD I FUCKING TRIED

I actually just kinda hate driving games generally and there's a LOT of driving in this game but you get used to it eventually and it becomes easier

Gotham Knights (2022)

My Personal Rating: 10/10

My Total Hours Played: 46.9

Steam Rating: Mixed (68%)

Description: Batman is dead, leaving Dick, Jason, Barbara, Tim, and Alfred to pick up the pieces and finish what he started. 

Play If You're Looking For: Batfam content, a perfect mix of “holy shit I haven't cried this hard in years” and “this is the funniest thing anyone has ever produced ever, goofy dialogue and one liners, and casual queer rep.

Things I Liked:

The map is HUGE and genuinely feels so unbelievably alive in a way that I don't think any other Batman game even comes close to in its depiction of Gotham– like I could write ESSAYS about how well this game captures the experience of living in a big city like Gotham (let me know if you want me to make a post about that actually lol)

Collectibles that are actually reasonable and fun

Super fun side missions

Absolutely gorgeous graphics 

The characters can emote and all the Batkids have their own dance moves :( and Jason dances like he's 70 years old it's really cute :(

Even after completing everything in the entire story it's STILL fun to go patrolling because it keeps generating new crimes– premeditated or otherwise– for you to fight and it's really fun

The Batkids have a pride flag in their house ☹️ and Dick has a bi flag mug ☹️

Things I Didn't Like:

Literally everyone hates this game for NO FUCKING REASON it's genuinely fantastic you guys are just losers

Talia is unfortunately characterized kinda shitty and it makes me sad bc her design is incredible but she does some OOC stuff :(

You can customize your suit but not as extensively as I would've liked 

This game gets kinda hard to play at points because it's really hard to see your screen through all the tears (cough cough the last boss fight cough cough)

Batman: The Telltale Series (2016)

My Personal Rating: 5.7/10

My Total Hours Played: 9.1

Steam Rating: Very Positive (86%)

Description: A 5 episode point-and-click adventure following Bruce Wayne as he faces some of his biggest challenges, both as Bruce and as Batman. 

Play If You're Looking For: Minimal combat and story-centered gameplay.

Things I Liked:

I love love love the character designs in this game, this is actually one of my favorite versions of Bruce possibly ever

You get a lot of opportunities to make Bruce and Selina kiss in this game and I said no every single time and it was very gratifying for me 

Alfred and Bruce have an incredibly sweet father-son relationship (if you play your cards right, anyway) and it makes me really emotional because Bruce literally loses EVERYTHING over the course of this game and Alfred is there at his side the whole time

The ending was really satisfying overall and actually made me enjoy the game a lot more

Things I Didn't Like:

Chapters 2-4 are INCREDIBLY stressful, especially for me because A) there's an involuntary psych ward commitment and B) there are a lot of themes around the Wayne's developing a bad reputation and being hated, which are massively triggering for me personally and because I don't have the spoons to play through the whole thing at once I had to sit in that stress for a while before it concluded in-game

Batman: The Enemy Within (2017)

My Personal Rating: 4/10

My Total Hours Played: 10.2

Steam Rating: Very Positive (91%)

Description: The sequel to “Batman: The Telltale Series”. John Doe is let out of Arkham and seeks to take you up on that favor you promised him.

Play If You're Looking For: BatJokes, Angst, and a lot of “Is Batman Good For Gotham?” Stuff.

Things I Liked:

The opening chapter with Mori was kinda fun

I think Amanda Waller was written pretty well overall

Things I Didn't Like:

Fucking any of it lowkey 😭

Same as the other Telltale game tbh

For me, it was emotionally exhausting and really upsetting, but that's just kinda because I HATEEEE the “impossible choice” trope in any almost any media, I just never enjoy it, and there's a LOT of it in here

The ending made me wanna kms because there's literally no good option here what the fuck

Like I get that's the whole point but. Okay what if I kms what then. 

[grandlinedreams]

Hi, Salem! I hope you’re doing well! Thank you so much for all of your works! 😊 I looove the way you write and how you’re able to capture the characters so well. It makes my day every time I see you post 😊 Would it be possible to request law x reader on their wedding day? Like would the two of them secretly meet up before the wedding (or sneak off in the middle of the celebrations) just to have a moment with each other away from the crazy? Are they doing a first look? Are there a lot of tears? Just some ideas but would love to see anything about what you think his x reader’s wedding day would be like! 🥹💕 Thank you so much and keep up the fantastic work!!

Hiya papaya bb!! I'm going to do this as more of a hc bc i do have some thoughts about Law that are more suited for that, so I hope I can do this justice for you!!

[Heads up!: fluff, lil bit of angst/touching on Law's past]

Law ㅡ marriage isn't really something that Law thinks about, point blank. Does he want to spend his life with you? Yes, but he doesn't think that it's necessary to get married. To him, it feels like if he starts thinking like that, he's slapping a target on your back. But that's in terms of pre-Dressrosa ㅡ post, when he's getting a little more used to thinking of what he wants now that he's gotten justice for Cora, he might entertain it a little more.

He's still incredibly wary about it though, because y'know, ex-Warlord and post Wano, he's got a really hefty bounty on his head. Not necessarily conducive to stopping somewhere to get married. And in terms of marriage, he also isn't a fan of anything extravagant, either.

No, he'd be more inclined for a quiet ceremony ㅡ and not necessarily with rings, either. If you want them, he'll do it ㅡ but he'd rather exchange hearts. A little daunting yes, but it means more to him in that then you have his heart on a literal scale ㅡ and he has yours.

If you agree to it, it also means that he's a lot more cautious when you get caught in confrontations. That heart beating in his chest isn't his, after all, it's yours ㅡ so he definitely makes note to not be so careless because the last thing he wants is something to happen to you.

And again, with the ceremony ㅡ it's a quiet, private one with just the crew, but that's okay. They're his family and yours too, and there honestly isn't anyone he trusts more than them.

Now speaking if at the end of all of this, when everything is said and done and he gets that happy ending ㅡ if you want something a little more traditional, he's more willing to go with it. Doesn't cry necessarily, but he's definitely only got eyes for you.

(Bluescreens in the best way possible when you call him your husband for the first time.)

Afterwards, when you're cuddled up to him, he thumbs at the ring on your hand with quiet awe. You're married to him, you're his ㅡ just as mich as he's yours. It makes him a little giddy every time he thinks about it ㅡ he's making the most of the life Cora gave his to allow him to have, and he gets to spend that life with you.

[doomreed]

I’m not hyped about the new fantastic four news either. though I think what I kind of hope will happen is marvel doing something like they did in the last mcu spider man movie where we see 3 peter parkers team up.

I think it would be super cool to see the cast from the 2005-2007 fantastic four movie meet with the ones from the newest movie. and have the 2005-2007 Doom (Julian McMahon) meet with the Doom from this upcoming fantastic four film too.

so we have more than one “fantastic four” team and also more than one Victor von Doom in the same movie. that would be pretty epic to see in my humble opinion. (if this really is the case, I still have hope that marvel won’t mess it up, because it sure has the potential to be great.)

I mean marvel did just very recently confirm that all the events prior to the mcu (so… sony’s spider man and fantastic four) are also canon to the mcu, and I doubt they would say that if they didn’t plan to do something with it (they said it after the event of the last spider man movie with 3 peter parkers), especially when mcu is heavily heading towards the direction of multiverse, various timelines, various variants of the same person (character) right now. I mean we basically have 3 peter parkers (from both sony and mcu) and literally a bunch of lokis. so let’s see what’ll happen next.

also not related to the topic but I should just say that I’ve been a fan of your blog for some time now. thank you for all the DoomReed goodies

The only part of the casting I agree with is Ben. It feels like Marvel is playing it extremely safe with casting Pedro, like since Multiverse of Madness they've clearly been aiming for the "soft dad" angle with Reed, probably in an attempt to get ahead of possible complaints about him based on canon? I love Reed Richards to a fault, but he's always been a little bit of an asshole. Not intentionally, and much of that perceived assholeness stems from him being on the spectrum imo but it's there, and ignoring that does him as much a disservice as playing up Tony's alcoholism purely for laughs and then never mentioning it again was to that character--another thing the MCU has done.

The poster, the casting, idk. It radiates a nuclear-family blandness, with a camp overlay used purely for aesthetics that will probably be quite popular with general audiences and leave F4 fans from the comics and old movies and other sources of media quite cold. We are not the audience Marvel Studios wishes to court, they've made that very clear.

I'd love to be wrong about how this will play out, though. Pedro is a gifted character actor when he's allowed to be, the trouble is, studios know too well how much audiences love him as a person, and are too prone to mixing the two to improve audiences' appreciation of a character he's playing, rather than just letting the man cook. 😔

I don't have a firm opinion of the other cast other than: this will be the most money anyone named Kirby has ever made on Fantastic Four, so good on her. 👍 And the Ben casting feels right. I'm outside the Johnny demographic so no real opinion there.

I had read that the baddie for the first movie will be Galactus, which is like leading your football season with the Superbowl? But no one asked me, so... 😅 maybe they have a set up that will make that work, who can say.

I've also read (on reddit, so make of that what you will) that Doom will have a "cameo" in the first movie, but no clue what that means or even of it's true.

I like your idea a lot. I think the Deadpool & Wolverine movie will have a Fantastic Four cameo of some kind, probably. The comic book we see in the trailer next to Wade's head on the desert world is Secret Wars #5, which is a recap of the story so far and how everyone got to where they are--so it's possible the desert world they're all on is Battleworld, run either by future-verse Doom or (more likely) the Beyonder. I do think the movie will include them in some way bc the studio will want to start building hype for that as their next big project, going into the MCU version of Secret Wars.

And ofc SW will have crossovers galore, since Marvel Studios has unfortunately set audience expectations for that being what it's about 😅 so, worst case, they'll turn up between those two films no doubt.

I'd love to see Julian McMahon's Doom encounter a closer-to-comic-canon version, but a thing to know about Victor is that he kills every variant of himself he meets. Like, historically, that's just his thing (it's an expression of his own self-loathing, which is really tragic in a way) ...I dunno if the MCU will carry that fun little trait over, but as a writer I can say it's an easy, low-stakes way of showing "this character is a bad guy and also there is something very wrong with him" so... yanno. I am expecting it. 😁

Sorry for the negativity on this, I'm trying to stay upbeat about it all but so far they're not inspiring confidence yet. We'll see what future developments bring, if nothing else we'll always have fanart and fics and the comics themselves. It's not like this fandom hasn't dealt with bad adaptations before, I think we'll be alright whatever happens.

[fluffytheocelot]

Okay, I saw your screencap redraw, and as someone else who's *obsessed* with Carmen's parents, I had to take you up on that offer. So, consider this ask license to infodump your thoughts on them! :)

AGH ok so-

Carmen's parents have a LOT of potential narrative-wise, and I really hope one day we'll see more of them in canon. (Maybe comics like the showrunner talked about before?)

Like how in the world did they meet??? Cause idk i feel like Carlotta disappeared way too easily to have just been a civilian. I think she was a thief too, not VILE, she only steals when she needs to, for one reason or another.

this is getting long oops- under the cut!

I think they happened to be going after the same thing, at the same time, and hoo boy do they not get along lol. Turns out Carlotta (telling Dexter her name is Vera Cruz. He does not believe her) had agreed to steal the whatever-it-is in exchange for an under-the-radar trip somewhere else.

They make a deal: Dexter gets her there, and he gets to keep the prize. Yay, roadtrip!

Cue rivals-to-friends-to-lovers speedrun lmao

Some time passes after that (during which they continue to see each other) and many months later they discover oops they made a Carmen

Dexter begins making his much longer trips away from VILE (wanting to support his partner with their unborn kid as much as he can) and starts the process of leaving. When Carmen is born, his trips away get longer and VILE finally catches wind of what's happening, and you know the rest.

AHH ok headcanons about each:

Dexter

definitely shares a lot of personality traits with Carmen. Even just from what we saw during Shadowsan's flashback, they are so so similar :( The two combined chaos energies probably would've driven Carlotta up a wall lmao

woulda been a fantastic girl dad. this man would have sat thru tea parties and played barbies with little Carmen and LOVED IT

dad jokes. that is all.

probably also a very high energy/troublemaking kid, like Carmen

Seriously I picture him and Carmen being super close if he'd survived.

idk i think it'd be funny that this master thief that is 1/5th of the leadership of a massive and ancient crime organization is an absolute dorky dad lmao

bi

was gonna ask Carlotta to marry him after he escaped. but. well.. yk.

Was gonna pick Shadowsan to take his place on the faculty anyway

knows guitar, and probably would've taught carmen how to as well.

is it a universal dad thing to enjoy Jimmy Buffet music or is that just my dad??? Idk either way he vibes. Carlotta has a video of him softly strumming a guitar with baby Carmen in his lap and singing "Little Miss Magic" to her ;-;

also enjoys AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Guns n Roses, all that kinda stuff. Probably projecting my own dad a bit but oh well

As much as he'd hate he couldn't be there for Carmen when she was growing up, I think he'd be glad she at least had Shadowsan looking out for her :)

He would be so proud of everything Carmen has done and accomplished ;-;

Carlotta

its probably been said before, but Carlotta definitely started up the orphanage in Buenos Aires hoping Carmen would end up in it at some point.

Carmen inherited thief skills from both parents idc. Carlotta definitely gave Dexter a run for his money lol

looks a lot like carmen, but with green eyes instead of gray, and more brown hair than Carmen's red/auburn.

also the parent carmen got her freckles from (BC Carmen had em when she was little, and she spent a lot of time out in the sun!! I will die on the Carmen having faint freckles hill dangit!)

also bi. idk these two give bi4bi vibes.

more likely to get into a fistfight out of the two of them ("Carlotta, no!" "Carlotta YES" *cut to Dexter desperately trying to hold her back* "CARLOTTA PLEASE WE'RE TRYING NOT TO GET CAUGHT")

Upon reuniting with and getting to know Carmen, she's very much reminded of Dexter. She'd be all too happy to tell her stories of Dexter.

definitely also has a bit of a mischief streak too.

absolutely did NOT put up with Dexter's nonsense at first lol

was initially terrified of what Dexter would think when she told him they were gonna be parents, but was quickly reassured when the next time Dexter came back from VILE he had armloads of baby stuff from around the world.

Probably has a big extended family but after Dexter's death and Carmen disappears, she gets distant with them. After reuniting with Carmen though, accidentally runs into a family member with her and they're like "wait is that her?? She's alive??" and just like that Carmen has managed to acquire ANOTHER family lol.

Absolutely thrilled to learn Carmen wasn't alone all those years and immediately just adopts Zack, Ivy, and Player lol

Probably a little hesitant about Shadowsan at first, given that he was supposed to assassinate Dexter and did actually take her daughter to VILE, but eventually they're chill and he tells her stories of Black Sheep's antics. Meanwhile Carmen is in the background begging him not to lol.

I think once she got over her distrust of Shadowsan and got to know him, and sees how close he and Carmen are, she'd be glad that he was there for Carmen when Dexter couldn't be.

ARGHSH I have plans for them in many AUs lol. I'll get around to actually enacting em someday XD

[georgieluz]

fuck professionalism and neutrality, i wanna hear alllllllll of your opinions!

okay, you've convinced me!

no, that didn't take much, bc i am, in fact, not professional or neutral at all! i am loud and annoying, so here we go!

musically, soar is my favourite. it just hits all the right spots for me and builds flawlessly. i just can't get enough of it and it really was a 'fall-in-love-at-first-listen' for me. i've had it on loop since the day it was released and there isn't a single section of the piece that i don't absolutely adore. i think it takes care of all its elements so well and transitions between sections beautifully. just truly 11/10, like i can't express how hard this score goes. blake neely truly outdid himself on this one. i have to mention how much i love the rest of the score for the show too, not just the main theme. i know that's not the topic of the poll, but i think he did a fantastic job and some of the scoring for the flight scenes genuinely raised my heart rate up high enough that my apple watch had to send me three warnings whilst i watched episode 5. but yeah, just a perfect score imo! and if i were being completely honest, in a very unbiased way, my outright favourite.

i do have a nostalgia bias for the band of brothers theme though, and i do think it's absolutely gorgeous and has a delicacy to it that the others don't. it gently prises open your rib cage and wraps its hand tenderly around your heart, squeezing just enough for a single tear drop to roll down your cheek. there's something inexplicably sad about it, but because of that tiny silver lining of hope that runs through every note as well, you can't quite pinpoint why you're sad. it's like you've had your memories erased, but you know you lost something more than just that, that something overwhelmingly sad happened to you, but you just don't know what. it builds so gently as well, and then finally, it soars just for a second right at the end, before landing us back down on the ground again ever so lightly.

so, those two are generally my two favourites, i would say, but as someone in the notes called out, i will admit that had i listened to both of them fresh for the first time today, i would feel more drawn to soar, because it's the kind of piece i really gravitate toward. whilst band of brothers is a show that i've held pretty dearly in my heart for about a decade now, so it has an element of familiarity, that comes from loving something for so long, helping it out.

someone else in the notes of the poll made a great point about gen kill's use of music (or lack of it) being a character in itself, and i thoroughly agree with them and think gen kill's handling of sound was spot on. it's whole thing is next-level-gritty-realism and it wouldn't have been as impactful, or successful, if they'd done it any other way when it came to sound design.

plus, ray providing the soundtrack is just top television!

honor is somber but also light in a way, so it doesn't overpower you too much, i prefer the beginning and middle sections, as the end builds into a more standard patriotic sounding piece (still beautiful but i find myself enjoying the earlier section much, much more). but yeah, it's still a favourite to listen to, i just don't tend to feel as drawn towards it as much as the other two.

i'll stop rambling now but i could go on all day about how much i love soar like i can't seem to shut up about it?

there's no right answer tbf like all these scores are great but soar kind of is the right answer really, for me at least.

– ask is in reference to this poll

[1800titz]

Hi! I’ve read everything you’ve posted and I’m on patreon and your stuff is very *chefs kiss* and such creative story lines! I had one thought the other day and I mean this as like. Helpful critique one writer to another. Like in the way that you don’t have to take this advice but I mean to help not hurt. You’re really fantastic at using creative imagery and unique words and you write very poetically. And most of the time it’s so good. But every once in a while it feels like a bit much - like I just want to know where he’s actually touching her or what they are actually doing. Like sometimes it takes a while to get to the actual action or narrative. Other times it’s really beautiful and flows so nicely and you create a really wonderful rhythm with it as well. You use it as a great narrative tool. But yeah in a *critique* way not a *complain/mean* way, you might want to consider pulling back and occasionally putting in some simpler more direct language. Especially at like the climax of a scene when I’m thinking “hurry up I want to know what happens next!” Bc you’ve told such a good story and I want to know! In the same way that the poetic language is a wonderful tool for some things, I think the simpler more direct language can be a great tool for other things. And by incorporating both it might make it more interesting to read. I had a professor talk about how when you change the style of language the reader doesn’t always notice that, but they do notice that the mood is different.

Again I LOVE your work and I intend this to be helpful not hurtful and you know yourself and your work best so if you don’t want to do anything with these thoughts that’s so valid!!

Hi! This is totally valid and I want to thank you for the support and for writing this in such a polite, friendly manner, because other times people don't do it so nicely.

I think I can understand where you're coming from. That being said, I also definitely make purposeful, lyrical prose choices. I'll probably never be able to understand why when you google "purple prose," the first thing to come up is "how to avoid purple prose," because to me, most literature that I enjoy borders on purple prose, if it already isn't. Like, genuinely, the kind of prose that other people hate and actively try to avoid, I will actively look for. It's just a preference thing. It's what I enjoy reading from others, it's what I enjoy writing. I think writing and reading stylistic decisions/preferences are entirely subjective, and I can also agree with you that a line of "he smiles" or "he holds her hand," as opposed to a chunk of flowery narrative, can add a delicate touch of simplicity here and there that I can appreciate. I think, as writers, we're always evolving and experimenting with our stylistic choices. I also am totally down with re-writes, and going back months later to edit things, and add new things, and take whole chunks out altogether, because I feel like that is the essence of writing, and I've done it before for sure! I go back, and I rewrite, and I put things in, and remove things, even if they're already uploaded. I've noticed a lack of ~simplicity~ in the earlier patreon posts for sure, which is why I go through, and edit here and there, and add things, and take things out. That being said, I purposefully avoid depicting actions a lot of the time, unless it's in a passage of smut (where it's mostly touch and movement and it makes sense to spell things out), because those things kind of unfold on their own in my opinion, if that makes sense. You can illustrate the movement occurring in a scene in three or four words if you wanted to, but you can't sense the depth of an emotion/turmoil/context in the same way, which is why that is a massive, massive part of my passages. I absolutely do not claim to be a pro in anything by any means, in any shape or form. I'm well aware that there are people out there who don't like my writing style at all. I just write things the way that I would enjoy to read them, and the way that make my brain happy. The fact there are people out there who enjoy it enough to subscribe and support me is unfathomably flattering, and I am really grateful for that.

But yeah! I totally get what you're saying, and I am no stranger to changing things and trying new things and growing out of/into new things. I agree that direct, simple language here and there can add a nice touch, and I'm totally open to incorporating a "he smiles" or "he holds her hand" here and there. The flowery metaphors and imagery along scenes are just a purposeful stylistic choice that I couldn't ever bear to part with.

Thank you again for supporting me and sending this in a really kindly worded way! <3

[aldi-spice]

Also I’m not criticising Stardew Valley at all - I love that game so much I bought it for PC, Switch and iPad lmao. Compared to FoM the characters are a little more flat but that’s all, otherwise Stardew is a fucking amazing Game.

I’ve played Harvest Moon DS the most followed by Animal Parade for the Wii and Tale of two towns for the 3DS and several others I don’t remember the names of right now 💀 but all in all my criticism goes towards the HM/SoS games post 2016ish I’d say and especially after 2020.

I just remember that huge feeling of disappointment when I started story of seasons a wonderful life and expected a nostalgic feeling and instead got hit with utter shock at how flat (and kinda ugly :| ) all the characters got. I adored Celia in DS, in sos wonderful life she just scared the shit out of me with the horrible design and deadness in her eyes.

And probably unpopular opinion but I don’t like the whole 3D Animating thing going on in the new games, the camera floating around 360 style and all. I loved my little 2D Pixel characters and still do. Celia my beloved…

It’s the same with cartoons, the 3D clayification of Heidi, Biene Maja and more. :(

If well done I ofc love 3D games like Bg3, the forest etc. haha

Also I scrolled a bit down your blog and am wondering if you’re German? Bc if yes, I could’ve done all those essays in german instead 😭

Lmao how did u know I speak German?! Jk, but I agree totally with what you said about friends of mineral town, I never played the og so I was really excited to play the remake and I couldn't even get past the first season of the first year, I got bored so quickly, I think it's because the map feels so claustrophobic again. Like, I'm not asking every farming game to be open world, but SDV did a fantastic job at having a town, a forest and a mining area and not make it feel like I'm stuck in some kind of cultist town where outsiders are not allowed and you can't leave.

I'm not totally against the 3D models, I really just adored trio of towns, the characters are 3D but you still get a cute 2D sprite of them, I found that was a perfect solution for HM games. I think I'm just really nostalgic about classic Disney animation, since I don't like the new modern 3D animation style either. I get it cheaper but it also lost its charme like that, such a shame. (But yes, we can agree on Biene Maja and Heide, keep KiKa shows 2D for the love of god!)

I'm kinda worried if they ever decide to remake Animal Parade (my beloved), that they'll fuck it up like they did with wonderful life, I'd rather they just don't touch it and the game can live on as a pleasant memory from the past.

SDV is obviously an amazing game overall, I'm not hating on it either, it was one of the best modern farming games I've played, it's literally become the standard for farming games (for better or for worse).

But since I don't think we'll ever get that magical, whimsical feeling from HM/SOS ever again, I think FoM might just become a classic in that genre. Of course the game is in ea but I have hopes and dreams 🫶

[monokumafightclub]

I have no idea if you done Genocide Jack for that ask game or not

i have not, but better late than never! bonus toko as well bc why not

Sexuality Headcanon: obviously syo presents herself as a boy-liker and boy-killer, feels like she might be bi after her experiences with komaru, eventually settles on pan. toko insists that she's straight, but she's prob more bi than anything (once again, after the komaru thing). Gender Headcanon: toko rings off as cis female to me, syo probably doesn't give a shit especially when she goes by so many gendered names/nicknames in true crime circles that sticking to one is just too much effort. so agender/genderfluid on syo's part, probably? A ship I have with said character: syomaru and tokomaru, obviously. :'D admittedly i do enjoy syomaru a lil more than tokomaru, if mostly because i feel like they could've been showcased a bit more in UDG. that, and the shenanigan potential with syo and komaru is endless, i want silly casual antics with these two!! A BROTP I have with said character: i feel like syo and kotoko would be good friends, given the proper opportunity? i think she'd be a good guardian for kotoko! as for toko, i'm kinda growing to have a fondness for her and either aoi or sakura, if only toko would give either of them a chance, dangit!! A NOTP I have with said character: for the sake of both syo and toko, keep byakuya several leagues away from them. that being said, i do like syo fucking around with him just to piss him off. also people shipping syo and toko romantically is kinda weird, i don't like it A random headcanon: syo knows how to work with sheet metal and refuses to elaborate how or why. post-UDG, toko and komaru are attempting to collab on a novel together. key word being attempting. General Opinion over said character: even during the somethingawful LP days, i loved toko and syo and that love still holds strong even now. syo's a very fun character, but even beyond that, she adds some interesting facets to toko's character even if she wasn't exactly handled the best in her inception. as for toko, i'm probably one of the few people who did like her even before UDG; comedic assholes are my weakness. i do agree toko felt like she wasn't really fully utilized in DR1's main story though, so it's nice she got some expansion in UDG, as well as a genuine friend. ;o;

obviously there's people more qualified than i am in talking about them (esp in regards to their histories, their arc in UDG, and the whole DID thing), but i can still appreciate syo and toko as characters even if i can't articulate all the more complicated stuff regarding them.

also i REALLY enjoy seeing fun and fluffy stuff with syo, and your animations are a fantastic example of that! yandere/yangire stuff is kinda overplayed, so it's really nice seeing silly stuff with the silly serial killer!

[icharchivist]

i completely relate to your feelings for the ff7 remake. its so crushing when you love something and then the remake/sequel/whatever carries its name but butchers the themes so thoroughly that you feel like they didnt understand what made the original so great to begin with. it just feels like a lazy cash grab. looking at every disney remake specifically. or i love this manga that has been going for 1000+ chapters and i wish it would end. i love it dearly its so nostalgic and it was like the first manga i ever read but the characters have become 2d caricatures of themselves and have lost their personality and it just kind of makes me sad. and i agree that a choice like killing aerith hurts because you love the character but it was meaningful and gave characters depth and raised the stakes and just not doing it in the remake because shes so beloved is missing the entire point. i just completely get it and while im not that attached to ff i completely get how youre feeling and why youre so annoyed. it looks great but whats the point if the story doesnt match? themes are so so important and your explanation of how ff7 is about the conflict between nature and industrialization and how aerith represents the planet itself sort of makes a lot of sense. its a really deep story with a lot of thought put into it and her death is so symbolic and important to the story itself. yes shes adorable and beloved but killing her feels like the only right move. its so integral. so yeah jail for square enix for disguising their fanfic sequel as a remake. jail for 1000 years.

aaah nonny thank you 😭💞

while i'm sad the feeling is all too well known it is reassuring at least to find people who relate to it, so thank you for sharing that thought.

the Disney remakes are also a huge pet peeve of mine in term of missing themes or fixing things that don't need to be fixed, but honestly i've given up caring about them at least, and the original always still stand very well on its own even now that it's just *shrugs* whatever yknow, if some people want to connect with the remakes so be it.

for the ff7 remake it irks me a little more since i know people tend to not like getting into older games in general. and with 7 having had many entries to the saga, the original game clashed in gameplay and designs, which threw a lot of people off from playing it.

And it's wild bc i can't exactly call the remake lazy, the amount of work is seen everywhere, but it does feel extremely cynical. Like idk the moment you bring a meta textual level criticizing the fans for wanting to keep the story like it was before, it ends up feeling personal rather than an actual thoughtful approach on the story.

As for like, super long sequels that ends up ruining the spirit of the original, gooood yeah. sometimes it's good when a series can properly end. Fans can do the "keeping the story alive" part just fine we don't need to milk it until the characters are no longer enjoyable...

I am also glad that my POV on Aerith's death and its thematical importance makes sense to you also 🥺 It's a death i feel strongly about because it's genuinely way better done than people give it credit for and i've seen too many takes missing the point that it's something i've been ruminating about for years. (i've read takes about how it's fridging women again for Cloud's manpain and it irks me a lot bc this is not what fridging is and while yeah Cloud suffers from it since yknow, he's the protagonist so we follow his own journey through pain - it's not about Cloud, not just about him anyway. There was also how in ff15 Lunafreya's death was compared to Aerith's by the lead developer and to me it really gives the perfect counter example on how meaningful Aerith's death was to ff7 if you compare it in details to Luna's.)

and of course Aerith is fantastic and i wish, on an emotional level, for her to be alive, but it's not the narratively satisfying ending imo, and any scenario where she doesn't die undo most of the story moving forward.

and honestly it's just. idk kinda sad, that they took back the original dev team from ff7 for this remake, and yet they went into this direction. I do remember that there were tons of interviews about doing right to the fans and honoring the characters the fans came to love so much (it was especially a Kitase's interview where he was especially talking about Sephiroth and Zack, two characters who shouldn't have appeared in the remake at the time, and that i found extremely noticeable bc i have an interview of Kitase in a magazine dating from 2015 where he mentions how much he was always pissed off by Zack's popularity and didn't understand why fans loved him so much.). And so it's like. is it really just fanservice for the sake of fanservice, wanting so much to please the fans you ignore the themes you put in the game? or were all of the themes genuinely accidental??? or the fact it was 25 years ago means it's too far away for them to be remembered as such??

Ad i do think it's even sadder considering how relevant the OG's themes are to our modern days in general.

So yeah, i'm sad the remake went in such a different direction, i feel a bit cheated, but especially i'm bewildered how much it betrays the original themes more than just being different yknow? like i said with the whole "the whole game was about coping with the denial that makes you rewrite your own life and be easily manipulable as a result, so why make the whole remake about "let's rewrite this timeline actually""

but HELP yeah that's definitely a fanfic alright *mumbles* and i've read better ones.

jail!!! jail for a thousand years!!!!!

thank you for your understanding nonny <3333

[daezedglownut]

Vent post, fyi if you want to keep scrolling lol

Waiting for the diazepam to kick in and alleviate some of this chronic pain. Not just my dicky neck, but also my lower back too. God forbid I have a lie-in for once in my life. Apparently my body can only ever be in constant pain, or (in very rare instances) “too relaxed” - which leads to me rolling over in bed and inevitably slipping something and spending the next week in varying degrees of agony.

Last physio was useless. Was referred by the hospital on the understanding that the physio people would be able to refer me for scans and possible injections because of the nerve pains and weakness in my hands.

Only to be told by the physio “no, we don’t do that”, which suddenly changed to “well, we COULD technically, but if that car crash you were in years ago broke anything, that would’ve healed by now, so a scan is just a waste of time/money. Anyway, let’s give you all these exercises you’ve already done ad nauseam that haven’t improved your quality of life whatsoever :)”

Not to mention I have to ration pain pills and muscle relaxants because if I went to the doctor every time I had indescribably pain that almost makes me call in sick at work, I’m made to feel like a junkie chasing their next fix.

All I saw during this last group physio appointment was middle aged people considerably overweight, taking shit like tramadol and gabapentin or pregabalin, and jfc it was like I could see my inevitable future bc my only coping mechanism rn is comfort eating that’s evolved over the years into what I’m pretty sure is binge eating disorder, and I miss the days when I was almost thin, and could walk over 10,000 steps every day, and my lower back only felt a little tight sometimes - not this living hell I’m in right now. And if I see one more fuck say “well you can be obese and healthy actually uwu” I’m gonna McFucking Lose It because I’m one BMI point into obese territory rn and I have never felt so fucking bad in my life.

If I’m addicted to anything, it’s high sugar, refined carbs, and that shit is poison plain and simple. There was a time where I had the willpower to consume the tiniest amount of that shit, and felt infinitely better. I didn’t have brain fog. I wasn’t angry all the time. My general mood wasn’t as reactionary to stress. Even my autism wasn’t as easily triggered by sounds or stresses. I felt fucking fantastic.

And I can’t even begin to drag myself back into that way of living. I’ve been sad and fat and overeating and in pain for too long. It’s easier than ever to make excuses and not go for a long walk - because as amazing as I feel right after, the next day I’ll be paying for it as my entire body protests trying to get out of bed.

The last thing my hyper mobile joints need is for me to be sedentary. I literally need to build muscle around them for the pain to lessen or go away completely. But I’m at fucking rock bottom, and all the doctors seem to want to prescribe me like candy is fucking antidepressants - which I won’t fucking take ever again because every single one does not agree with my autism - and don’t start me on how the only ones left that I haven’t tried are all anti-cholineric. Like I need the fucking added worry that being on that shit long-term could amp up my risk of getting dementia later on in life. No fucking thank you.

The only good habit I’ve been able to maintain recently is taking my various multivitamins every day without fail. But I still feel drained and depleted and haven’t the energy to do anything - and so I’ve also become addicted to high caffeine energy drinks. The best thing I can say is that they’re sugar free, but that’s little comfort given that my cause of death will probably be my heart exploding someday 🙃

[torchiiko]

ok zoochosis review/critique From someone who hasnt even played the game lmao

for those who dont know, zoochosis is a horror game abt dealing with mutated animals while "interviewing" for the night shift at a sketchy zookeeper job. heads up this ended up being WAY longer than i thought itd be & it might not make any sense without having seen at least one playthru. oops!

i think it has a great premise! its got an interesting concept but it isnt done as well as it couldve been. theres a lot of questions that either get left unanswered or the youtubers ive seen play so far just didnt find the answers, which sucks. the story doesnt feel finished, & i will give the developers some slack given that the screenwriter for the game passed, but that doesnt excuse releasing the game in the state ive seen in the gameplay videos

to start, the tutorial doesnt explain everything it should. youre only guided thru Some of the main tasks & sure, ppl can figure the rest out on their own, but when the entire gameplay loop revolves around diagnosing animals you need to make sure the players know how to use all the tools to get the correct diagnoses. maybe its in character for doc, the tutorial npc/antagonist to leave you half-informed, but it can just be frustrating for the player. it isnt Too big of a deal but i have seen ppl make a few easily avoidable mistakes bc they werent properly filled in at the start

next, the bugs are Nasty, to the point of preventing you from progressing or getting the ending youre attempting to get. you have to collect parasites for a shot at getting a good ending (killing "the mother", who ill get to later) but some of the parasites will either vanish when theyre needed after collecting them or inexplicably be dead when you need them alive. ive seen animals mutate while the player was still in the exhibit & be killed, only for the mutated animal cutscene to trigger as the player was leaving. the mutant was already killed, so theyre stuck with danger music blaring & the species name & empty health bar at the top of the screen. i have yet to see manlys playthru, but i hear he suffered at the hands of bugs as well

pausing to say smth positive before i move on to my main issue, the visuals are fantastic! the animals, being the main feature of the game, are very well done & i rlly enjoy how they incorporated certain behaviors, such as the giraffes spreading their legs out to get low enough to eat out of the trough & a few of the animals randomly sparring (giraffes fighting with their necks, moose butting antlers). its a real nice touch & adds a bit more life to the animals. the mutant designs are a little hit or miss, theyre definitely scary & unsettling but some are better than others. it doesnt help that the lights in the enclosures often go out when they mutate, making it harder to even see the monster design as they scurry around

the animals you can visit rotate in & out every time you finish a run, which i guess is supposed to keep things fresh so players replay multiple times but it just gets annoying. 1 new animal every couple hours doesnt make up for the fact those animals will eventually stop being new Or that you get locked out of a different animal. why cant they just all be available & the player can choose which ones they visit each run? probably to force them to see all the mutant designs... which. all the mutant encounters play out almost the exact same way. only the elephant has an interesting mechanic, its got armor plating that you have to get rid of before you can dart it either to cure or kill it. you have to bait it into charging at a wall to knock off its plating, thats cool! it adds strategy to the fight instead of just shooting 3 times. none of the other mutants have smth like this, they just run/climb/fly around

but my main critique is the Story. it feels rushed & poorly paced. a lot of commenters on jacksepticeyes video said it wouldve worked better as a slower burn & i agree. a single night isnt enough time to let anything simmer or have any big realizations or payoff, & it makes replaying the game over & over to see more endings or get more lore incredibly tedious bc of how repetitive the tasks are

the characters motivations are either entirely unknown or not strong enough. the player, paul, takes the job in the first place bc his family is allegedly impoverished, to the degree you have the option to smuggle meat-based animal food to his wife so she & their daughter can have "real food." the reveal happens not too long after; its human meat. which, even if it Wasnt, why would he ever think to give his family animal food?? itd be nice to break things up by days with sections at home so the audience can see what his home life is like & get a better idea of why he would be so desperate

additionally, he shouldve been offered an even higher salary as hush money to give him more incentive to go along with the downright illegal things going on! paul is shockingly nonchalant abt everything going on & goes along with it with little resistance. he just tosses a LIVING WOMAN into a meat grinder bc he was told to!!!! i will say the player can choose not to do this, but itd be nice if paul at least hesitates a little so the player actually knows they have a choice & arent being forced into it to progress

doc, on the other hand, has No known motivations for any of the aforementioned illegal goings on & makes No attempt to hide it!! he doesnt even try to cover up what his whole little scheme is, doesnt try to soothe paul by claiming the woman "deserves" to die bc shes a criminal or smth, or that the bodies are sourced from somewhere "more ethical" or even try to make up some nonsense abt human meat having health benefits to the animals, he just comes out & says "yeah the animals mutate & they can only be satisfied by human flesh. dont tell anyone bc u signed an nda & itll be a violation + ill kill you" ???

he explains "the mother" sends out parasites to infect & mutate the animals but we never get to know Why. why is he going thru all the hassle of appeasing this monster? the zoo has been closed for at least a year, how are there still funds to keep everything running? he supposedly has big connections to the point cops are covering for him, but WHY? why is he so important that the cops cover for him, what do they get out of letting it all slide?? does he actually still care abt maintaining the animals or is the whole zoo now just a front to funnel in more sacrifices?? was it always that way?? where did the mother come from?? what, exactly, is she?? nothing is ever explained abt this!

By the way, theres some extra, completely missable dialogue if you grind the woman right away after being told to. you get another call where paul Attempts to protest, but doc is like "lol lmao btw you have the same parasite the animals do. maybe if you survive the night ill cure you or smth. at least the mutants see you as own of their own. also ur poor & u need the money so do this" & like. the game Starts with paul saying he might get the job if he survives, then he gets locked into the zoo & his phone taken away & it somehow doesnt raise any red flags for him while his wife is like "this isnt normal!!!!"

also, completely irrelevant, but when doc leaves he offers to tell pauls wife hes staying the night bc shes waiting outside bc yknoe. it was supposed to just be an interview. but paul says "nahh dont tell her shell figure it out" so like. wtf paul. its Raining & ur letting her stand out there waiting for you??? some husband you are :/

anyway. if the game took place over a matter of days, we could have time to adjust, rlly let things sink in & maybe get some more answers drip fed to us over time. maybe youve been smuggling meat to your wife for a few days, having it for family meals until you get your first paycheck, but now the zoos supply is out & you need to refill it; cue the human meat reveal. it would also be nice if you could monitor an animals symptoms over days & potentially prevent them from ever mutating! the games subtitle is "rescue the animals" after all. youre supposed to be able to pacify mutants by feeding them the meat along with their regular food, but if you leave to go prepare the food mix, you risk the normal animals in the enclosure getting attacked & dying!

the game leaves clues like "monitor how often an animal sleeps, it could be a symptom of illness" or "look out for wounds on the animals" but when everything can be diagnosed with the main tools, & noticing these things doesnt do anything to prevent mutation, it just ends up being useless flavor text. also, every enclosure has at least one sick animal & a mutant Every Time, theres no variety. maybe its not "scary" to not have a monster attack you every 10 minutes, but itd definitely add some suspense. maybe you cure an animal only for them to remain sick, showing that smth deeper is ailing them

a night by night system would also be more interesting storywise! instead of finding out all thr dark secrets right away, things just seem more & more strange as you go on. maybe youre advised not to look into it if you wanna keep your job so you fall into blissful ignorance so you can provide for your family. maybe you do snoop around & get offered life changing amounts of hush money for your silence, since theyd "hate to lose a good worker :((". maybe there are more employees, some innocently unaware of the truth, some burdened with the knowledge of what rlly goes on but too desperate or afraid to speak out

the woman mentioned a few paragraphs ago, the one who gets meat grinded, shes actually crucial to getting a good ending. shes sarah, an investigative journalist, & you have to rescue her so she can help you get the recipe for a poison to kill The Mother & all her parasites (which will save your life). the motivation for her murder is obvious, she was gonna leak the whole operation, but wouldnt it be much cooler if she was undercover as an employee throughout the course of the game? shes working alongside you, trying to get more info, trying to convince you "hey, isnt this weird?" only for her to vanish one night, fired for "accessing unauthorized locations." if you already have suspicions you might be inclined to dig deeper & be able to rescue her, or maybe you take her firing at face value, thats what she gets for snooping, right?

one last little thing id like to mention here, in the best ending of the game you save the woman & expose the zoo, kill the mother & doc in one fell swoop as her poison needs delivered in live food, & save your wife. thats right, your wife gets dragged into this! yknow why? bc if you dont answer her calls, she reports her worries to the police & they kill her! & you are misled into doing this!!! when you save sarah, she tells you not to call your wife back & to save your phones last bit of battery for the police when you get some more evidence, makes sense right? except if you dont, she gets killed by said police! you Have to call her back & soothe her so she doesnt report you missing at the zoo & get killed. theres No way of knowing this before it happens, forcing you to replay the game to get the best ending even if you already got the good one (but your wife died)

it couldve been so, so cool but the story especially just falls flat. it seems like they either rushed it or just cared more abt having an excuse to show off their scary monster designs & threw the story to the side. ive seen ppl complain that the game was too short for the price, but ironically you have to play it over & over for hours to get more story ...unless you happen to get the default bad/death ending & assume thats all there is. or get too frustrated by bugs & glitches that you drop it entirely. its not Awful but its definitely unpolished & it shows

[bisluthq]

This question occurred to me very randomly, but I was trying to figure out who I think has a higher body-count John or Jake, and while I think it's almost definitely John, I also don't think there is THAT much of a gap between them. Like in terms of highly-publicied hookups, they're actually pretty evenly matched, and even on the less notable front, they both have had "entanglements" with PLENTY of people.

Idk, I think a lot about the differences between these dude’s including on the sexual front. And I think like, as you've been saying on the whole Joe V Matty V Travis thing, I think they're like different archetypes of dude.

Like Joe reminds me of Jake in the way that Matty reminds me of John. And as you've been saying, I think Joe and Jake are probably pretty evenly matched (aka are genuinely quite good) but the difference in Taylor's experience probably played a big role in her enjoyment level. However, despite their presumed skill, we don't have like 100% confirmation of it (outside of like reputation for Joe😭). Like to my knowledge, none of Jake's exes have ever said much about his *skills.

Whereas with John and Matty, though they both kind of give me the vibes of dude’s who think they're better in bed than they are (which could very well be true) they both have like confirmed exes going on the record being like, "The sex was fantastic." And the thing is I don't know, nor do I want to know (though John did give some insight. "When I’m fucking you, I’m trying to fuck every man who’s ever fucked you, but in his ass, so you’ll say “No one’s ever done that to me in bed.” It’s all about geometry. I’m sort of a scientist; it’s about being obtuse with an angle. It’s sort of this weird up-and-over thing. You gotta think “up and over.” - which to this day still confuses me) what exactly it is these men are doing, but evidently it's working.

But again, as you said, I don't think a 19 year old Taylor Swift was looking for like *wild sex (outside of the wall-fucking context) and therefore probably didn't have as good a time with John as she did with Matty.

That being said, I don't think John is like *bad in bed. If he is, several of his ex-girlfriends are lying, lmao😭 and I think the whole hero worship thing probably helped (ew). Like by the description given by Jessica Simpson, it seems like John really makes a Thing of it, which I think would be overwhelming in either a very positive way or a pretty negative one.

Anyway, I've just spent way too long Ranking about the skills of Taylor Swift's exes boyfriends. What else is new?!

But WAIT also I was also thinking about whether I thought Taylor or Travis has a higher body-count. My money is honestly on Taylor even though I feel like Travis is a more frequent enjoyer of like casual sex.

didn’t Katy Perry say sex with John is mind blowing? Which like… gross lol but yeah. There are the rumors of him doing the “safe sex” masturbation thing so his BC might not be as high as we think tbh. But yea it’s supposedly very good which like… gross. I don’t want to think about John in bed. Tbh I didn’t want to think about Matty in bed either so fuck u Tay for doing this to me, really.

The rest sounds about right.

re Travis and Taylor BC idk I rate it’s fairly evenly matched and agree if anything it skews marginally higher to Tay.

[raphaelesbian]

YESSSS I completely agree!!! Like, the fact Raph has so many similarities with him, but he WASN'T pushed out by his family and he DIDN'T end up like Shredder, it kind of tells Shredder that like. The problem wasn't (x aspect that you share), it was YOU. And that ENRAGES him, whether he recognizes it or not. I love how you put it, "feels like a mockery from the universe," bc that's exactly how I view his perspective on it.

Also YOUR TAGS ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I totally agree. A genuinely smart, tactically-minded manchild. And like, he's interesting bc to some degree I DO understand why he's so fucked up! To learn that your family you grew up with isn't actually your blood family, they KILLED your blood family and took you in to raise as their– oh my god that's the plot of Thor 💀 hdhdjjd sorry it literally just clicked why that's familiar LMAO. But nonetheless!! I get why he's emotionally stunted, even if it doesn't in any way justify it lol. But I can absolutely imagine that it would piss him off to see Raph being so much more well-adjusted and accepted and loved, not realizing that he WAS loved (imo, with my interpretation of Saki and Yoshi), and HE'S the one that ruined it... Idk I have a lot of thoughts about 2012 Shredder, he has the most interesting backstory of the Shredders to me.

Like, I think his whole thing with Karai is the best example of his stuntedness. He did the EXACT same thing to Karai that was done to him, and then refuses to acknowledge he was ever in the wrong. He somehow blames SPLINTER, right up until the end. He's twisted himself into believing his own lies and he doesn't even realize he's doing it and it's just. Chef's kiss. Fantastic antagonist imo.

Thinking about @raphaelesbian ‘s fic Puppet Tightly Strung (if you have not read it yet go do it. Seriously.) and thinking about how much interesting it would be for Shredder to really go after Raph instead of Leo in universes where Splinter was human and grew up with Shredder. Like the fic pointing out the similarities between the two has been causing my brainrot about this and I just. Have so many thoughts about it but idk if any of it would make sense.

[theplanetprince]

Pick Your Poison || Invisobang 2022

Fic: AO3 || FNN

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Rating: Teens and Up

Word Count (approx): 38k~

Chapters: 5/5

Relationships:

Valerie Gray/Wes Weston (implied, one-sided)

Danny Fenton & Wes Weston

Dash Baxter & Wes Weston

Jazz Fenton & Danny Fenton

Characters:

Wes Weston

Kyle Weston

Valerie Gray

Dash Baxter

Danny Fenton

Jazz Fenton

Penelope Spectra

Additional Tags: Horror, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Morally Ambiguous Character, Poisoning, Poison, Mental Health Issues, Therapy, Really Bad Therapy, Paranoia, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Psychological Horror, Angst, Teenagers, Teen Angst, Gaslighting, Violence, High School, Bullying, One Shot, Blood and Injury, Animal Death, Origin Story, Not Fanon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, Child Neglect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Anxiety, Separation Anxiety, Family Drama, Family Feels, Villains, Bastardization Arc, Missing Persons, Danny Fenton is a Little Shit, Pretentious, Obsessive Behavior, Feral Behavior, Inspired by Music, Based on a The Front Bottoms Song, Song: I Ran (So Far Away) (A Flock of Seagulls), Inspired by Stephen King's IT, Inspired by Stranger Things (TV 2016), Song: Voodoo Magic (The Front Bottoms), Attempted Murder, Assault

Fic Summary: Grief has a way of changing people. Wes Weston's older brother going missing during the haunted house fire last year had changed him. His therapist would agree. Change isn't always for the better.

What hasn't changed are the countless questions Wesley was left with. Though some had more puzzling answers but answers nonetheless...

Could you kill a ghost?

And could Wes get away with it?

Author's Note: Thank you all to the lovely people who host @invisobang and who let me come back this year. I also wish to thank my lovely fic partner for this year @valpal5117 / @valpal5117-art! Go check out the artwork they've done for this piece, as well as everything else they post bc it's fantastic. I brought you all something a little different from my usual style, something a bit darker and a bit more spooky since the season is arriving. It's my first time writing Wes Weston, and I hope I've done this fan character some justice. Like last year I've included the link to my fic as well as the first chapter under the read more. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it! Thanks again! -Voorhees 🤟

Every morning Kyle would check the rat traps in the basement for his Dad. It wasn’t that he had strong feelings for the creatures, but he still winced at the idea of killing the poor things. It bothered him, but you get used to it, y’know? It wasn’t like he was a vegan or, god forbid, an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian. But death seemed so… permanent, for lack of a better word. It was such a severe punishment for the crime of just existing in a hostile environment. 

Then again, this is Amity Park. Death didn’t seem to stick here. 

It had been more than a year or so since they moved here, and with every passing minute, it felt like an eternity longer. Kyle, like any child, was apprehensive about transition, but when his father said they wouldn’t have to move again after their resettlement to Amity Park… he was more receptive to it. 

But then again, it’s Amity fucking Park. It had this habit of sucking all the good out. As soon as you step into the county boundary, it's like you forfeit all rights to happiness. 

At the bottom of the first-floor stairs, the sixth-grader had sleepily pulled on his socks. He hated going down there. The concrete floor was always so cold. It was like the ice resting on Lake Eerie. It was freezing and— it’d kill someone in this house to break out the broom. Rocks and shards of debris would lodge into his heel, and the youngest Weston would limp around the house. Kyle’s jaw popped as he yawned. The boy organized his choppy red hair into its natural cowlick before stuffing it into his ball cap. He got to his feet and shuffled towards the back of the house. The stairs creaked under his weight as he descended. The basement door caught a gust of wind and slammed against the wall, sending vibrations through the house. 

Damn, I hope I didn’t crack the wall. 

There was no arm rail for the stairs because this architectural nightmare was built before common sense. Kyle turned his head back from the light of the first floor, back into the blackness of the basement. He didn’t want to upset his Dad again.

See, this first year hadn’t been smooth sailing, if you managed to guess. Kyle’s brothers weren’t as ‘go-with-the-flow’ with the move. Or anything that came after. Kyle didn’t believe in conflict. He was the youngest; he was the baby of the family. He was the one who got the pat on the head for every single achievement; before, inevitably, the conversation shifted. It wasn’t his job to rock the boat. It was his job to be a good student, get the garbage out, and of course…

Go into the creepy-ass basement to check for rats that may or may not exist. 

See, Wes was the first one to see the rats. Or, more accurately, he saw the damage the rats did. Some chewed and frayed wires in the power box—things of that nature. 

…Wesley was a lot to unpack. Some would say. 

He was high-strung, had trouble letting things go, and, oh yeah, he kept seeing things that didn’t exist. That was the concerning part. At first, everyone wanted to shrug it off as a 'middle child' thing. That's before he started saying his classmates were… dead. Wes said one of his classmates had been replaced with a ghost. Then there were the weird phone calls at all hours of the night. The obsession with short radios and the police scanners that would buzz and burst to life randomly with noise. 

That’s what led to Kyle and Easton being dropped off at practices and games, while every other Thursday, they had to wave off their brother Wes in the parking lot of a therapist's office. Kyle had only been inside that building once. It didn’t smell like how a doctor’s office should, sterile, harsh, and chemical. Instead, it vaguely had the stench of coffee and cigarettes and was… overwhelmingly stale. It wasn’t a very ventilated place. There were hardly any windows except those in the private rooms where Wes would allegedly spend his allotted hour staring blankly out like he was in The Shawshank Redemption— effectively burning their father’s money.

The shrink— or rather, Ms Penelope, seemed really nice. Teetering on the edge of overkill. Kyle understood why his older brother would be reluctant to share anything with someone who appeared to be trying too hard to seem trustworthy rather than proving it. She didn’t seem too interested in Kyle’s issues per se; they spent their introductory session playing all manner of board games. Her office was plush. The couch was padded arm to arm with throw pillows, the kind with the fur on them. Not that the sixth-grader could get comfortable anyway. It may not have smelled like a regular doctor's office, but it sure was cold like one. What little hair he had on his arms stood on end with the chill. 

Kyle spent most of his appointment hunched over the coffee table, trying to rationalize in his head which colored 'Sorry!' pawn meant he had the least amount of mental disturbances. The idea behind the practice was to become emotionally vulnerable, but often that feeling overlapped with being completely exposed. Not that the middle schooler had anything to hide. Nothing out of the ordinary for a kid his age. 

Kyle would argue that he was the most well-adjusted in the family, including the two adults, in terms of who needed therapy and who didn't. Ms Penelope agreed and thought Kyle was quite mature beyond his years. However, that wasn’t the thing that stood out the most about that first and last session. Maybe it was something in his mannerisms or when Wes was brought up— perhaps it was what Kyle didn’t say. 

Penelope seemed to believe that Kyle was developing the early stages of SAD. Separation Anxiety Disorder. She said it was completely natural, given what he’s been through. Kyle didn’t like to be alone. Who did? What shocked him was that he didn’t refuse. There was no initial denial when the shrink laid it out like that. With her soft and educated voice, she had smoothed out her red pencil skirt, and lowered her cat-eye glasses to the bridge of her upturned nose. She just said it without any preamble; no fanfare at all. 

Who isn't anxious these days? In this economy? Have you seen where they live? 

Penelope had deduced effortlessly that Kyle used his humor to distance himself from his fear. The facade that took him twelve years to craft had been pierced. 

In even less time, she had come to the conclusion that the trigger for Kyle’s anxiety was… Wes. 

At once, Kyle had leaped to his older brother’s defense. Saying that, while Kyle may have been a bit… stressed , for lack of a less clinical term, Wes would have never done anything intentionally. 

That’s where she stopped him, her pen coming to a halt on her yellow notebook. Penelope dotted the end of her last sentence. Her eyes found him, then the cozy clutter of the office fell away. The maternal cadence dissolved into something cold and purely analytical. 

She told him, ‘The path to hell is paved with good intentions.’ 

Every morning Kyle would check the rat traps in the basement. 

The wooden stairs exhaled—Groaning with each step the youngest Weston landed. The water heater churned ominously. The grey floors were warped with age and stained with damage from times long gone. Kyle carefully found his way to the bottom and glanced up from his feet. He saw his brother now. Wes was hunched over the rat traps. He had one of his freckled hands inside like he was digging something out of it. 

Kyle cocked his head, still blurry with sleep, rubbing his eyes, “What’re you doin’?” 

Startling, Wes didn’t drop the metal box. Instead, the elder brother froze and stared up at his younger with bloodshot eyes. He didn’t answer right away. 

Clearing his throat, Wesley pulled his fist out of the plastic box. He explained, “I thought I’d check the traps for you. I know it's… it’s kinda gross.” 

Kyle let go of a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. He’d rather not look at something that small being dead. He asked, “Did we get’em this time?” 

Hesitant to answer, the elder moved the now closed box into the trash, “Ye-yeah. We did.” 

“Thank god.” Kyle scratched his forehead nervously, “Well, I mean, it sucks that it’s dead-dead, but…” 

Standing, Wes clapped a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, “It's just nature. Don’t feel too bad about it, ‘kay? If it wasn’t us, then it’d be a cat later or somethin’ else. They were already dead when they walked in here.” 

“I guess…” Kyle begrudged and leaned into his brother’s hand, taking him wholly at his word. It was effortless to believe him. Wes had a way with words. Y'know that was his nickname when they were younger; Wesley the wise. Then there was Kyle the kind, Easton the earnest, and Clay… 

Kyle winced. They weren’t supposed to talk about Clay. 

Awkwardly, the older turned and stuffed something into his backpack before zipping it up, “Hey, don’t get too bummed out, alright? It's still kind of early, so now you have extra time to stop by the corner store and get some doughnuts for breakfast.” He threw his bag over his shoulder, “Doesn’t that sound good?” 

Kyle rubbed his arms, sniffling, “Uh, yeah… chocolate milk with a maple bar… what’re you gonna get?” 

Mirroring his younger brother’s body language, Wes shook his head, “You can go on ahead of me; you're old enough.” 

“But Dad says—” 

Wesley cut him off, “What Dad doesn't know won’t kill him.” He extended his pinkie, “I promise.” 

Taking a step forward, Kyle wrapped his pinkie around his older brother’s; he nodded, “Alright. I’ll walk to school by myself.” 

“Get a move on! I wanna hear all about your solo excursions when I pick you up!” Wes coaxed his brother up the stairs and out of the basement, “Talk to some cute girls, put in a good word for me.” 

The conversation struck Kyle as odd. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on why. Maybe because Wes, for once, didn’t have to be dragged out of bed by his ankles. He seemed motivated. 

Then there was the second fact: Wes basically told him everything he wanted to hear. This wasn’t a conversation but the facsimile of one. Like there was a cue card Wes was reading just behind Kyle’s head. Somewhere out there, the same audience that got their kicks from Full House would be cracking up about this. 

He was pretending to be okay. 

Like with every rehearsed motion, the elder was telegraphing silently, ‘Look! Look at me! Look at how good I am! Aren’t I fixed now? Aren’t you proud of me?’ 

There was something quiet about his desperation to be accepted back into the flock. The family didn’t like to acknowledge their blackest sheep. It was almost like an unspoken rule. Wes’ appointments and his antics were written off and thrown under a huge rug. Less like he was a young adult approaching college and more like a precocious toddler or a rambunctious family pet that was resistant to discipline. After all, both of those options bite people unprovoked. 

Kyle could only wince through a smile. What was he supposed to do? He was just a kid, and as life liked to remind him at a near-constant pace— there was very little someone his age could contribute. So, he stays out of the way. What else could he do? 

“Uh…” He asked once more, knowing he wouldn’t enjoy the answer, “Are— Are you sure?” 

Wes silently tilted his head. He didn’t understand the rising fear in his younger brother’s voice. 

Kyle clarified, “Are you sure you don’t want to walk together?” 

“Don’t sweat it, bud. I won’t be late.” 

That was the furthest thing from what Kyle was worried about.

[void-inked-pen]

Sainon strikes again!!

I grew up with tmnt 2003 so I’m biased too but I did like 2012 when it came out, but I didn’t follow it as much as I did 03

I completely agree with you on Donnie and Mikey’s characterization! I really loathed what they did to Donnie with the whole love triangle thing they wanted to do. I absolutely loved Donnie in 03 but 12 Donnie omfg. I blame a lot of my dislikes of the show on the writing itself bc I don’t think they wrote April very well either it’s odd idk.

I thought Donnie’s crush on April was cute, silly, and funny at first but they kept beating the dead horse with this and then Casey showed up, added to it, and I wanted to scream.

They ALL deserved better but how the writers treated mikey and his canonical adhd was TRASH.

This is just me very personally as well but when I was just a wee child I empathized with 03 raph a lot bc, even tho I never acted on it, I was just constantly filled with rage that’s a lie I swung a computer at my bully’s face when I’d finally had enough. I didn’t like how they treated Raph’s anger in 2012 especially during the episode where they specifically addressed it. Splinter basically just said “bottle it” and like kind of belittled him for letting things get to him. When they were insulting him for the sake for the exercise I think I realized that 12 raph has trouble seeing when people are being serious with their insults (like me lol). Those were his brothers, contextually he should’ve known they didn’t actually mean any of those things but that’s not how he takes it. And if slash SPIKE is anything to go by he actually thinks his brothers think a lot of bad things about him. He doesn’t open up to his brothers because he does not trust them with his emotions that he himself has trouble dealing with/interpreting

On a more positive note: I do love Raph and Mona’s relationship ship, it’s absolutely fantastic

12 Raph likes a woman that can kick his ass and I have to respect that

Writing characters with anger is a difficult slope and is often written badly. As someone who has anger issues but learned how to deal with them over time, when I see a character like 2012 raph, who has trouble handling and understanding his emotions, it both points out the issues and also makes it hard for me as someone who deals with the same thing, relate because it’s often demonized.

Literally half the stuff they wrote in 2012 acted like they wanted to talk about heavy issues but it was written in a way that was almost mocking and demonizing with most of not all the characters. Literally it brought out the worse in everyone of these characters and it drives me nuts

April is the “strong girl who don’t need no man/turtle” but written insufferably, Donnie is the swooning brother who basically is an incel but also a genius who seriously deserves recognition for all he’s done (rest PLS), raph and his anger issues and lack of understanding his own emotions and the perpetuated “I’m tough, don’t feel emotion” manly bullshit, the terrible depiction of Mikey and his ADHD, and I’m not sure they did a very good job or not on PTSD with Leo and his whole focus on being the leader isnt… that great from what I know. And Casey… idk tbh??? He also had some “let me fight for the girl” dumb dumb stuff so he was meh. The love triangle with him and Donnie and April was also dumb because if those three just stopped that shenanigans, can you imagine how great they’d be as a dynamic???

Anyway, ye. There is definitely a lot they could have done better with all of them but I know that is more of a time thing~

Thanks for coming back Sai-Non!!

-pen