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thankskenpenders · 1 year ago

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Sonic Prime Season 3: Final episodes, final thoughts

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of Sonic Prime are out on Netflix, concluding the story of Sonic's adventures in the Shatterverse. I've previously shared my thoughts on the first and second seasons, which I was pretty mixed on, but there were still glimmers of hope. The fluid animation, Shadow being fun in all his appearances, Nine being fairly interesting as a jaded alternate version of Tails, etc. There was enough to make me believe that after some highs and lows there was still the possibility that this show could end on a high note - or at least a decent note.

This did not happen.

Sonic Prime's final season sucks. The ending sucks, and the road to get there sucks. It's left me wondering what the point of all this even was. There are still moments I like that I'll try to highlight, and the animators and voice cast are still clearly giving it their all, but these efforts sadly don't outweigh the overwhelming mediocrity of the story. I would barely even recommend other Sonic fans who are on the fence go out of their way to finish it. I won't begrudge people who got more out of this show than I did, but I think overall I just really, really dislike Sonic Prime.

...The problem, of course, is that all other discussion of the show has been overshadowed by needlessly hostile arguments over its place in Sonic's canon. So we've gotta talk about that, too.

(This post will contain full spoilers for Sonic Prime.)

The show's out of ideas but they've gotta stretch that shit out to hit the 23 episode mark somehow

Season 2 ended with the big twist that Nine decided to betray Sonic and Shadow, taking the Paradox Prism for himself so that he could go turn the empty world of the Grim into his own little paradise, since he doesn't believe he'll fit anywhere else. Nine has made himself the true big bad of the show.

The main impact this has is that now, instead of fighting endless identical Eggforcer bots and members of the Chaos Council over and over, the good guys and the Chaos Council have to fight endless Chaos Sonic-style robots sent by Nine while he goes "grrrrr I need Sonic's energy to stabilize the Paradox Prism." This continues for six whole episodes until the series finale, when the show decides it's time for Sonic and Nine to quickly make amends, fix everything, and send Sonic and Shadow home.

That's pretty much the whole season.

I cannot emphasize enough just how much of this final season is just fight after fight after fight against Nine's bots, and how fucking boring that gets. The season feels like one long, drawn out final battle that did not need to be nearly this long, but Nine had his big heel turn 2/3 of the way through the show and we've gotta fill up the rest of the time somehow. The novelty of the bots being based off of Sonic's friends (including the Chocobo-sized Birdie from the jungle world) really wears off quickly when they're just used as generic, silent mooks that the good guys have to fight by the dozen like it's the climax of an MCU movie. The first episode of the season with Sonic and Shadow fighting the new bots is pretty good, especially because Sonic and Shadow's dynamic is one of the few redeeming aspects of this show's writing, but after that it just gets boring. Three full episodes in a row are spent showing all the characters fighting robots in an empty wasteland while Nine scowls next to a big beam of energy. I found myself missing the in-your-face attitude of Chaos Sonic so much. He truly was one of the best parts of this show.

While the cast is busy fighting all these robots for what feels like an eternity, various things of varying levels of interest happen. There's a halfhearted attempt to have some kind of rivalry between Shadow and the main Grim Sonic throughout the final battle, but it completely falls flat because Grim Sonic has no personality whatsoever. It's like Shadow beefing with an above-average Egg Pawn. (Actually, no, that would be funny.) There's also a death fakeout with the two other versions of Tails, where they make a makeshift bomb and throw it a little too close to themselves on the battlefield and seem to get vaporized. If they had actually died there they would have had the funniest, most pointless deaths in the entire franchise.

I also realized at one point that they were trying to do the Avengers girl power fight thing with the three versions of Amy fighting a bunch of Rouge bots. This was very funny to me. Actually, so much of this is just following the tired MCU formula to the letter. Fighting over a macguffin, two armies just kind of running at each other and clashing in a big empty field, constant one-liner quips instead of actual jokes, the need to take out key targets to make the whole enemy army disappear, a villain who has a point but has to randomly hurt people so that there's an excuse for the heroes to fight him. When combined with how shit the multiverse stuff is, this whole show really is just Man of Action tackling some of the most played out storytelling tropes in modern pop culture in the most bland way possible. What a bunch of hacks.

By far, the one truly fun thing that happens in this protracted final battle is when a giant robot based on Big appears. It doesn't have arms or legs, but it can swing itself around to use its tail like a giant mace, and it can also shoot Froggy-shaped missiles out of its mouth. I wish the rest of the show was even half as fun as this. Again, Sonic Prime has just enough good moments to make you mad that the rest of the show isn't better.

The thing is, all this repetitive (but well-animated) action and the thin excuse plot would be totally serviceable if I just gave a shit about the characters involved. But I don't. I don't care what happens to the pirate version of Amy who goes "arrr." I don't care about what happens to Hipster Eggman. And unfortunately, by the end, I didn't really care about Nine, either.

Nine as a villain

It's hard to criticize the story here without it coming off as a broad condemnation of the tropes at play. The thing is, I like many stories that try to do similar things. I love clashes between heroes and villains that are really just fantastical exaggerations of more personal conflicts. I love stories where a tragic, sympathetic villain lashes out at the world as an expression of the pain they feel, and a compassionate hero just has to get through to them. I eat that shit right up. Undertale is my favorite game ever made. Shit, I love other Sonic stories that do these exact things. And Sonic having to fight an alternate timeline version of Tails also has so much potential for drama!

So I can very easily imagine a version of the show where all this works for me. That just isn't the version we got.

Like I said last time, Nine's motivation is just too sympathetic and understandable for his sudden turn to supervillainy to make any sense. He just wanted to start over somewhere where he can be happy after a childhood filled with bullying and loneliness. Nine betraying Sonic and stealing the Paradox Prism to go make his own world? That tracks! Especially since we don't even know if Nine will still exist if Sonic goes through with his plan to restore his original world! But trying to kill everyone in New Yolk City by tilting the world 90 degrees, intentionally targeting the civilian population because it'll get to Sonic? Nope! Sorry, that's a bridge too far. I don't buy it. He's jaded and antisocial, but he doesn't strike me as cruel. Writing in an excuse about him needing Sonic's energy to fix the Prism does not make this make more sense.

This was really just one of those conflicts where it felt like everyone should stop and talk it out. Instead we got six episodes of fighting before one of Sonic's many, MANY attempts at reasoning with Nine throughout the season finally works. This isn't me pulling some Cinema Sins bullshit where I complain about characters in a work of fiction not always behaving rationally - the real problem is that it's just so damn repetitive waiting for this conflict to resolve. This could have been wrapped up in two or three episodes and instead it takes seven.

A brief aside about that weird Dorkly-ass Sonic Advance 3 flashback scene hacked together with mismatched sprites where Gemerl happens to be present, presumably just because he's a part of the sprite for the Sunset Hill boss, and seeing him briefly makes me remember the extended cast from the games and how much I wish they had just made a cartoon about them instead of a bunch of stock characters wearing the skin of Sonic's friends, but then Gemerl just explodes with the boss machine at the end while Eggman is shown to get away so I guess Gemerl just dies in this flashback

Yeah that sure happened huh

The ending

Despite having a final battle that felt like an eternity, Sonic Prime is a show that just kind of... ends. And that ending is weird and haphazard.

The understanding I had was that Sonic's normal world had "shattered" when the Paradox Prism was destroyed, and from those remnants these new worlds were created. This is why they use terms like "Shatterverse" and "Shatterspaces" and why there's shattered glass/crystal/whatever imagery everywhere. This is a broken, fragmented version of the real universe. Right? Right?? Isn't that the entire premise of the show? And therefore, if the universe has been shattered, then fixing it means putting all the shattered pieces back together. Which I would assume means that the Shatterspaces cease to exist.

So, in the ending... Sonic's world seems to just exist as another Shatterspace. Restoring the Paradox Prism doesn't seem to combine the worlds or anything, it just fixes the broken portal to Sonic's world that exists alongside all the others. So... what exactly was the point of all the shattered glass symbolism?

Things only get more confusing as the ending progresses. Shadow brings Sonic through the portal before the draining of Sonic's whatever energy makes him disappear, and they're transported back in time to right before Sonic broke the Paradox Prism. Only Sonic seems to remember what happened (Shadow might remember, but he doesn't say anything), and with the Paradox Prism never shattered, it's unclear if the Shatterspaces exist now.

I'm not particularly hung up on the time loop ending. It's very much in line with all sorts of classic morality tales like A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life, where the flawed protagonist goes through some kind of magical experience and then returns home with a new appreciation for the people in their life. It's always been pretty obvious that was the type of story they were telling. I'm more bothered by the fact that there's no time whatsoever spent on whether or not the other worlds and the characters in them continue to exist. Sonic seems to act like the worlds will go on without him before he leaves, but it's not like we get an ending scene that shows how the other worlds are doing, so they really truly might as well not exist anymore. Sonic just wraps up the adventure from the first episode when he gets home, and before he can explain what happened from his perspective he's interrupted by a mysterious energy wave from off-screen and it's off to the next adventure.

(Despite this odd cliffhanger ending, the show is extremely over and not coming back. I have to imagine this is just a "the adventures never end" type ending and not a hint that more shit is going on with the Paradox Prism.)

This ending is also a terrible resolution to Nine's whole arc, despite him being the driving force of so much of the show. The way I see it, there are are three possible fates for him:

The Shatterspaces continue existing, and things go as Sonic expects them to go. Nine is allowed to make the Grim into his own little utopia, and everyone else leaves him alone instead of punishing him for all the trouble he caused. Instead of finding love and acceptance so he can heal from a lifetime of bullying and loneliness, Nine is allowed to run away, isolating himself from every other living being in the multiverse, and live alone as the god of an empty world with only his own creations as company. Sonic was his only friend, and he's gone forever now.

The Shatterspaces continue existing, but because of the time travel ending, most of the events of the show never happened. Sonic never helped defeat the Chaos Council, so they still control New Yolk City. Nine is back to living in this dystopian city with no friends. He never met Sonic.

The Shatterspaces have been erased. After fighting so hard for his right to exist as his own person and not just a "wrong" version of Tails, when the timeline is altered, he just... stops existing. Along with almost every other character in the show.

Do I even need to explain why these are all unsatisfying?

Misc. thoughts

I skimmed over this, but a lot of the final season is just spent seeing Sonic's friends bicker with the Chaos Council and then Sonic has to beg them to get along to save the universe. It gets old.

We also never really got an explanation for why the Chaos Council exists. They can't have come from other Shatterspaces because there ARE no other Shatterspaces. If the original Eggman was just split into five guys or time travel was involved or whatever, it never comes up. I can live with this, but it seems like an odd omission for a children's show that's constantly bogged down in technobabble explaining the mechanics of its extremely small and finite multiverse.

I have no idea where Shadow was for the first part of the final battle. I figured Nine must have captured him off-screen after Sonic first left the Grim, but Shadow was just... hanging around until his cue in the script, I guess?

Sonic saying "help a brother up" to Shadow was funny

Hipster Eggman pointing to one of the few nameless extras who tagged along for the final battle and going "Who are you? Seriously, does anyone know who this is?" was the only funny thing he did in the entire show

Mangy Tails randomly pressing buttons on the Chaos Council's generator like a curious animal and managing to improve its output was cute

Rusty Rose randomly realizes that the Birdie in her chest actually isn't being used as a power source, and that the Chaos Council was just... using that to manipulate her, somehow? I don't really know how that works but whatever

The Sonic Advance 3 flashback uses the actual boss music from the game, but they can't use the real Sunset Hill theme because they didn't wanna pay Masato Nakamura for using the Green Hill motif, I guess

To my fellow fans of bad games: did you know that Man of Action wrote the story for the bizarre Square Enix game The Quiet Man? The one where the lengthy FMV cutscenes play out with muffled audio and no subtitles because the protagonist is deaf, so you can't tell what's going on? And you had to do a New Game+ playthrough to actually hear the audio and understand what's going on? The worst-reviewed game of 2018? That one? I only learned that recently and it blew me away

So yeah, that's the end of the show. I didn't like it, and I don't think I liked the show much as a whole. I am far from alone in this sentiment, but the reasons why people dislike the show... those vary a bit.

The canon conundrum

More than anything else, it seems like most other discourse surrounding this show has been consumed by one talking point:

How can this be canon? Why is it canon?

I want to state very clearly up front that I, too, am a person who's noticed and complained about the inconsistencies with the games in Sonic Prime. Some of the characters are a bit off - or, you know, completely unrecognizable when discussing the writing of some of the AU counterparts. I think it's lame to say Sonic and friends all live in Green Hill and act like that's the entirety of their world. That sort of thing. But if Sega says it's canon to everything else? Sure. Fine. There's weirder shit in the canon.

Really, most of this can be explained away pretty easily. The show was written at a time when Sega was still figuring shit out and there were looser restrictions. Why does Sonic act a little more immature? Probably just because Prime is aiming for a slightly younger audience than the games or the IDW comics. (And also it's, y'know, written by Man of Action, who people have accused of only knowing how to write one kind of protagonist for years.) Why do Sonic and friends live in Green Hill? Because that's the most recognizable location from the games, and the game world doesn't get enough screentime to justify modeling multiple different environments, so they just focus on Green Hill. Why is this considered canon to the games? Because this is the first Sonic cartoon that outright references events from the games as things that have happened to Sonic in the past.

But announcing early on that Prime would be canon certainly let fans' imaginations wander. It was one of the few things we knew about the show before it premiered. People wondered if characters from the games and comics who had never made any appearances in Sonic cartoons might get their time in the spotlight. We wondered if it would tie into the lore or any existing storylines in interesting ways, like the IDW comics do. But above all else, we hoped that its canon status would mean that Sonic Prime would finally be the Sonic cartoon that was faithful to the source material with no catches. We've literally never seen the actual world of the games brought to life in a TV show. Sonic X came the closest, but that still took its liberties. And so hype built for this Canon Sonic Cartoon.

And then it actually came out, and after a brief intro in Green Hill based loosely on the games, it spent most of its running time focusing on things like "what if there was a version of Eggman who was a bratty teen who just wanted to play video games?" The disappointment among fans is understandable. I am disappointed. Look at how much I've bitched about this aggressively mid cartoon.

Some fans, however, came up with an elaborate theory about the series. You see, when asked about the show's place in the game timeline during a live Q&A, Ian Flynn (who only served as a consultant on Sonic Prime and did not write any of it) said this:

"I cannot answer because I know the answer, and you haven't finished watching the show yet."

A couple days later, when answering another question about Prime's place in the timeline and also about a writing discrepancy, he said this:

"As to where it fits on the timeline, I can't speak to it because that would spoil the show to a degree. So you're just gonna have to wait 'til it's done. Towards the other point, I don't know how much I can say, so it's probably better that I not comment. That's a really dissatisfying answer, I know, I'm sorry, but my hands are kinda tied on that one."

I feel the need to quote Ian directly here, because these very basic statements about how he can't talk about behind the scenes shit or anything from unreleased episodes was GREATLY misinterpreted by the fandom. People clung onto Ian's claim that we had to keep watching like a life preserver. Some took it as Ian saying that the ending would explain everything. Finally, we'd have a definitive answer for every little discrepancy and the apparent differences in worldbuilding. An explanation for why Sega and the producers repeatedly insist this show HAS to be canon.

And to these fans, the only explanation that made any sense... would be if the ending of Sonic Prime pulled a Flashpoint.

As this theory explained, the Sonic we were following in Sonic Prime wasn't the Sonic we know from the games and the IDW comics, and likewise the world he comes from isn't really the game world. This is a different Sonic who fights a different Eggman in a world that's literally just Green Hill. It was a hint that something was off all along! But in the end of the series, this Sonic would sacrifice himself to merge all of the Shatter Spaces together and form a brand new world, and that would be the more visually diverse world of the games and comics. According to this theory, Sonic Prime was canon because it was a new origin story for the entire franchise.

I want you to really stop and think about how asinine of an origin story this would be. Really drink this in. The idea that there was another, slightly different version of Sonic who went on a kinda shitty multiverse adventure and then sacrificed himself to create the real Sonic that we've known since 1991. People convinced themselves this made more sense than the simple explanation that a different team of writers got some stuff wrong and Sega didn't make them change it. Interviews where producers talked about drawing on Sonic's "mythology" (ie: they reference the games in the show) were taken very literally - they must be saying that Prime's story is mythological in nature, and that this show would be integral to the games' mythology. Why bother making a show that's canon if it's not going to be crucial to that canon, after all?

The final episodes dropped, and none of this happened. Because of course it didn't. It was all Sherlock fandom-level copium. But fans were left confused by the lack of a grand reveal of where Sonic Prime fits in the timeline, believing they had been promised this, and they turned to Ian for an explanation. Ian's answer:

It doesn't matter, b/c Prime wipes itself out. It's sometime after Advance 3*, but otherwise, it's moot. I didn't want to sour anyone's expectations or investment by spoiling how Prime resolves, that's all. If you enjoyed it, awesome. Savor it. If you didn't, then you can safely ignore it. Simple as that.

* About a trillion people have um, actually'd Ian to point out Orbot and Cubot briefly appear in the show, but if we're really being pedantic here we don't actually know how long before Colors Eggman built Orbot and Cubot, so it wouldn't be fully accurate to say a story featuring Orbot and Cubot couldn't be set before Colors. Either way, a story set anywhere around Colors, or at any point later than that, could still be described as "sometime after Advance 3." Advance 3 is just the most recent game that has specific in-game events referenced in the show. Yes I can feel myself morphing into the nerd emoji before your very eyes

Anyway, this is the latest reason Ian is getting death threats on Twitter. This time it's over a show he barely even had any input on!

I'll cut to the chase. It is truly wild to me that people are getting this heated over canonical inconsistencies in a series as historically inconsistent as Sonic, to the point that they think threatening Ian is justified. The aesthetics of the entire world Sonic inhabits change every other game. Sonic Chronicles may no longer be canon due to the Penders lawsuits, but it was canon at one point, and it took huge liberties with Sonic's world, moving Green Hill off of South Island and reinterpreting Station Square as a tiny outpost in a snowy alpine forest region. Characters' personalities change from writer to writer and based on what Sega wants at the time, with some being WILDLY different across different games. One game Sonic will be stoic and cool, the next he thinks "Baldy McNosehair" is the funniest thing ever. Sega's STILL trying to figure out what Amy's personality is supposed to be. We still don't have the explanation for how the two seemingly contradictory backstories for Blaze can fit together. There have been multiple huge, sweeping retcons, and retcons to those retcons. Sonic Forces claims that Classic Sonic is from an entirely different universe than Modern Sonic, and the plot only makes any sense if that's true - otherwise, Modern Sonic would have already known Eggman was going to beat him and take over the world when he did, because his younger self had already lived through that war. All of that makes no sense in the newly reunified timeline, but Forces is very much still canon.

For fuck's sake, we're talking about the series where Eggman blew up half the moon and then it looked completely normal in every other game after, explained away as "the moon just rotated so we can't see the destroyed side from Earth." This has never, ever, ever been a franchise where everything lines up perfectly with no issues. It's not that serious.

The real core problem with Prime isn't that things don't line up 100% with our current understanding of canon, or that Sonic's characterization means this can't be the real Sonic, or anything like that. The problem, as I've been saying this whole time, is that the story is bad. None of these discrepancies would truly matter if the story was better. They'd just be nitpicks. The fact that Sonic and friends live in Green Hill would be the farthest thing from my mind if the drama was more engaging, if the villains were better, if the jokes were actually funny, if more of the alternate universe counterparts of Sonic's friends had more than one generic character trait each, if the multiverse was more creative and varied, if the final seven episodes of this show didn't devolve into the third act of an MCU movie and then just arbitrarily end, if Nine's character arc actually had a satisfying conclusion instead of ending with either isolation or nonexistence. Maybe we'd be seeing people talk about more than just whether or not it should be considered canon if the writing was any good.

"Canon" is not real, and it sure as hell isn't worth sending people death threats over. It's a storytelling tool. Real human beings decide what does and doesn't go into that canon, or how much they do or don't want to draw on past stories, when creating a new story. Serving that canon is secondary to creating a story where the emotional truth resonates with the audience. And Sonic Prime failed to do that. That is its true failing.

And finally, to close out...

Since people will ask, here are my current ranking of the Sonic TV shows, now that Prime is finished.

Sonic Boom

Sonic SatAM

Sonic X

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic Prime

Sonic Underground

Yes, I'd say Boom is my favorite. It's far from my ideal Sonic cartoon, but it gets a lot of points for being as funny as it is. But the top four are all shows I'd say I like, more or less. They all have their pros and cons.

So now, uh... I guess let's hope the live action Knuckles show coming to Paramount+ is better than the underwhelming synopsis of "Knuckles helps deputy sheriff Wade train in the ways of the echidna warrior" would imply? Maybe we'll get lucky?

#tkp post #other media

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ofswordsandpens · 1 year ago

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just finished episode 6…. truly don’t know how to feel about these changes. would love to know your thoughts bc i’m just kinda baffled by some changes tbh

Mixed feelings as always:

Percy's dream slapped. I loved Kronos's actor. It felt perfectly eery. No notes.

No percabeth late night convo on the truck. This doesn't surprise me given we sort of did that on the train already, but now there's just another iconic book moment that we'll get bits and pieces of, but never actually get to see in its entirety/original setting.

I did vibe with the glass prism tool for the iris message and it was pretty cool. The Percy + Annabeth argument was great but I'm gonna be honest, Luke being like "you're arguing like an old married couple" was laying it on a tad thick to me idk idk. I know I'll probably be in the minority there lol but I think it would have liked the line better if Percy and Annabeth got more embarrassed to his statement but they both reacted to it like :/ so it just felt heavy handed on the show runners part more than anything

Lotus Hotel vibes? Lackluster. Uninspired. It just didn't capture that outrageous paradise for kids feeling from the book because they turned it into Hermes' hangout so there's a whole bunch more adults than kids. Basically felt like if you took the movie's version and turned down the energy of it by a mile lmao. (Which is also ironic given RR's post about it today).

And of course the kids immediately know what's happening so like. No fun mystery. No Percy figuring it out. Just them being like "omg we need to be careful" and then immediately separating from Grover lmao.

Okay. LMM's Hermes.... it wasn't bad. Thankfully there was no singing. He was fine. It's more or less that turning the Lotus story line into a Hermes' storyline was like an "okay, I guess we're doing this" thing. I mean I guess we finally introduced something for the non-book reader's to pick up on that Luke might not have the best relationship with his dad (and consequently the gods). But like, nothing about this storyline is something that isn't introduced later on in the books. Nor was it better or more interesting than the original lotus storyline in the books.

Again, its the constant replacement of everything fun and silly and absurd in the book and turning it into a very serious moment, is just like, killing the energy. Seriousness is good. Silliness is also good. The book balanced it greatly. The show struggles here.

Glad we got a Pan mention tho!! Finally!

But um 4 pearls, so no dilemma about who to save. A part of me is relieved because the show's created like 3 other sacrifice convo scenarios so its gotten bit reductive, but Sally being a part of the equation is an entirely different dynamic and now that dilemma is theoretically gone. (unless he loses one of the pearls?)

And Percy's missed the deadline?? Right?? So like? I really don't know what we're doing anymore. In the book the deadline was pretty strict lol. Here I guess the deadline was like, a loose suggestion? Percy's walking into the middle of the god's battle field with master bolt in his hand? Idk.

Overall things in the show feel messy and way less cohesive. They seem to know that certain things from the book are important but not necessarily why, or they'll introduce events or plot points strangely late or way too early.

#to summarize: always ending the episodes now with this :/ expression on my face #pjo show crit #there's more but just #yeah

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fandomsfordays21 · 1 month ago

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My "Ink Sans" AU

So, I've had this idea for a while, but I'm sharing it now due to my mutuals @mrgrimreaper1 and @t3m1 encouraging me, and because they shared their own ocs. (Go check them out Sketch!Sans is pretty cool)

Basically, I was thinking a bit too hard about Ink's backstory, and I started feeling really bad about the others in his universe. This was especially true for his Papyrus, since he was the only other person in _____!tale that showed any form of emotions.

Then I got onto a train of thought about Ink's creator specifically. We know they dropped the idea of Ink's universe when drawing became a chore, leaving the sketches unfinished, but nothing else about them. I got to thinking, what if Ink's creator was to come back? What if they came back and finished I _____!tale after Ink was gone?

That brings us to Sketchtale, also known as the Completed Concept AU for those outside of the UTMV.

For the basics, Sketchtale is the universe that _____!tale was supposed to be, or at least a reworked version of it. The Creator, after a long while, rejoins the Undertale Fandom and decides to revisit their unfinished au from all that time ago. The name "Sketchtale" is meant to reference that it was left as a sketch for a long time.

Sketchtale is a universe based entirely off of art and multiple art forms, each area of the Underground being based off of certain mediums.

Ruins: Sculpture, carvings, engravings, mosaics.

Snowdin: Graphite and colored pencil, crayon, marker, charcoal.

Waterfall: Watercolors, paints of any variety, resin.

Hotland: Glassblowing, pottery, metalworking. (Art done with/using technology is also found here, but it's more common around the CORE and is not the main art medium.)

New Home/The castle: Knitting, sewing, crotchet, quilt and clothes making.

I'll make posts about individual characters later, but Monsters as a whole have some unique qualities that are important to know.

Monsters in Sketchtale have colored SOULs, with each monster having 1 or 2 unique colors. These colors are not Traits, like they are in Humans, and are instead types of Magic. Each color has specific abilities, with having more than one color being both rare and powerful. (Most bosses in the game have dual-colored SOULs.) A monster who has absorbed 7 Human SOULs gains a special, incredibly powerful SOUL type, called a Prism SOUL or God SOUL, that can use all colors at once.

A Monster's Magic will express its color(s) by binding to one or more specific utensils or mediums, which will be used in battle. (Imagine every Monster in Sketchtale as having their own Broomie, or having the specific paint magics.)

I'll have a separate post with diagrams and charts once I draw them, but I hope this post is clear enough to understand. This is just a very basic rundown of the AU, so if anyone has questions or wants specific details about Sketchtale, my askbox is open.

This is kind of a half-baked idea for now, so things are open to change and I will have to finish developing certain details and characters, but I'm willing to keep working if you guys like this idea. I have a lot of cool stuff planned for the Sans (Doodle) and Papyrus (Sketch) of this au and some angst ideas that I'm excited to share, so stay tuned!

#my undertale au #undertale au #utmv #undertale aus #undertale multiverse #Sketchtale #my au #alternate universe #ink sans #____!tale au #undertale

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bluedalahorse · 2 months ago

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The Season 3 Erik reveal + four coming of age books with similar emotional gut punches

A post written for YRFavesFest2024, graciously hosted by @youngroyals-events. This is in response to prompts #16 and #12.

credit to @scatteredpiecesofme for the screencaps

Disclaimer: I know not everyone feels the same way about this scene. This is not meant to be a persuasive essay about why you should like it. Instead, I am explaining why I liked it as a dramatic moment. If this is one of your least favorite scenes, this might be a good “scroll on by” post, or one where you put on your “agree to disagree” goggles.

I never trusted Erik. Perhaps it is more accurate to say, I never trusted the version of Erik that was a sunny memory. I was too suspicious of the way he laughs at August’s misogynistic jokes in the first episode, the way we know he was involved in the Society, and so on and so forth. I could feel in my gut there was more to know about him, and I knew that we were going to learn something big in season 2 or 3. This was a moment I was waiting for, but in that way where you wait in dread.

(I will admit the dread was tempered with interest; imperfect, potentially harmful Erik was always a more interesting idea to me than saintly, perfect Erik.)

My first time watching season 1, I was primarily orienting myself through the first three episodes. It wasn’t until Erik’s sudden death at the end of season 1 episode 3 that the series clicked into place for me. That’s when I felt I knew what it was about.

I actually think Wilhelm’s arc is not as much about falling in love with Simon as it is about Wilhelm grieving Erik, often in ways that leave him angry and confused. Wilhelm’s love for Simon is tied up in this—it takes root at the beginning of the series, and then it blossoms in a moment when Simon can be there for Wilhelm in his grief. And Wilhelm loses Erik more than once over the course of the series. There’s the obvious loss that happens in 1.3, but 3.4 is where Wilhelm loses the sense of security he feels around the memory of Erik. As viewers of the show, we can probably guess about Erik’s role in the initiations from the beginning of the season. Even though we know what’s coming, we still hold our breaths as we watch the revelation hit Wilhelm.

And then there’s August. August, like Wilhelm, is also grieving Erik, and it’s here we learn that Erik presided over the initiation that traumatized August and others as first years. This scene recontextualizes so much of what we see from August in the first and second seasons. So many of the things August does are driven by him running away from that moment, or attempting to bury it deep in his memory.

Like many fans, I wish we’d learned more about August’s relationship with his father, but I also wonder if we’re seeing it filtered through the prism of August and Erik’s relationship. Both Erik and Carl Johan were role models for August and influenced his sense of masculine ideals. They were people who made him feel as if he had a role and value—as the heir to Årnäs and as a trusted relative to the royal family. At the same time, they also harmed him in ways that taught him how to harm himself and others. We know what Erik did more explicitly, whereas how Carl Johan treated August is more subtly hinted at. But we can also make some educated guesses.

I don’t think the point of this scene is to pull the rug out from under viewers and say, “See, Erik was the evil one all along; August has a Freudian Excuse for his behavior.” We see plenty of indicators that even Erik struggles within the system he’s destined to rule. We know Erik went to Boris for support, but not what he sought support about. We see him day drinking and wonder if there are reasons behind his reckless driving. And yet, he’s gone before he can give us honest answers about who he is and what his true values are. This is what makes August and Wilhelm’s grief for him so difficult for them to process (not that grief is ever easy.) Who is Erik outside of the crown? And who can they feasibly become, if they’re expected to replace Erik in his absence? The system wants to push them one way, but is that going to bring them happiness?

To me this scene captures so much of what I like about coming of age stories like Young Royals: the moment when a protagonist learns that the world is not as clear-cut as they once imagined it. The person they love is imperfect and did something harmful, the person who harmed them is suffering in their own way, and all of them are caught up in systems much bigger than themselves that laid the groundwork for harm to happen. These are the stories that bring me the most catharsis, especially when it comes navigating thornier, more conflicted emotions.

In the spirit of this post, I’m also going to share four favorite coming of age novels that impacted me the same way this reveal did. These stories are often mentor texts for me when I write Young Royals fic. They’re also damn good reads!

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Deposing Nathan by Zach Smedley

A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

I’m not going to summarize each book (I’ve mentioned them in other posts before, and you can easily look them up) but they all feature stories with nuanced characters navigating fraught family dynamics. Most deal with cycles of trauma and abuse. They don’t ignore the influence of systemic injustices, and how power and hierarchy enable abuse and make it easier. And yet, as heavy as these novels are, they also uplift positive connections between humans and the way people find healing and catharsis in the wake of tragedy.

Let me know if you get one from your local library and read it. Maybe we can book club together!

#young royals #yrfavesfest2024 #august horn of årnäs #unprince wilhelm #erik young royals

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m3tr0n0m333 · 25 days ago

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saw you wanted questions!! :-3

in smoke and mirrors, do the hallucinations get worse with the limit of food and water to keep his mind sane? or is it only ever a hallucination of sonic? would he become more 'believable'?

Sonic is the only “hallucination” in this au, and still, not really sure if it’s weird prism energy things or a genuine hallucination with the appearance of a prism just for Nine’s mind to mock him.

I did take the “sentient prism theory” (thanks brainworms) so the prism does have some play in this, which is why Nine doesn’t get many other hallucinations. But it’s enough to question his sanity anyways. He constantly switches from accepting he might be going insane from isolation and withering away in the Grim or thinking about if there’s a genuine, non-mental reason. Tbh I haven’t really thought up an ending for it yet so I can’t say whether he figures it out or not, or if is really is a mere hallucination and he ends up dying eventually, but at least he had company, right? So yeah. Um. No confirmed ending, so no other hallucinations thus far. (But if they were, they would probably be less vivid.

The whole point of Sonic looking non-believable is so Nine literally can’t convince himself it’s actually Sonic. His mind is logical- he has imagination but it’s not enough to be completely delusional(?) enough that he can see the bright, crystally, Sonic and think “that’s the real Sonic.”. It’s a constant reminder that Sonic had left, he’s supposed to be alone, and he’s cursed with a visage of the blue hedgehog. But still, he can’t help but find comfort in this fake version, which seriously pisses him off, because it’s so illogical to find comfort in something that isn’t real. He might as well be stupid. Nine doesn’t want to become a fool, he prides himself on his genius, after all.

I wouldn’t be able to believe he’s the real Sonic either lol. I KNOW I’VE ALREADY DRAWN THEM LIKE THIS WHERE SONIC IS UNNATURALLY GLOWY BUT ITS FUNNY TO ME. Every time Nine wakes up he thinks he’s being flashbanged /J but he is a HUGE contrast to the dimly lit grim.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic #doodles #nine the fox #smoke & mirrors #sonic au #miles nine prower #sonic prime #sonic alternative universe #sonic fanart #sonk

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skimmingmilk · 10 days ago

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How do you think Sharp and Sonic's relationship would be like, if/when they meet in the Sharp AU?

I love that I got two asks about Sharp and Sonic back to back xD You both were on the same wavelength when you sent these!

So I answered a bit about how Sonic would approach Sharp as a potential threat here.

In terms of how they'd actually get along? Better than Tails and Nine! I think once Sonic realized that Sharp's been helping Tails, he'd be just as friendly towards him as anyone else. He'd probably poke fun at how serious he is and that he needs to loosen up more, but Sharp would just look pointedly at Drift from No Place, then arch a silent brow as he stared at Sonic, daring him to suggest that again.

"I said 'loosen up more,' not lose your grip entirely..." (they're so mean, my boy Drift doesn't deserve this slander!)

At first Sharp judges Sonic hard. Like, this is the guy Tails looks up to and swears is his best friend and big brother? He's a joke. But luckily Sharp's not without a sense of humor, so he probably can't help but say snarky things in time with Sonic. He's not as playful, but Tails has brought that side of him out a bit more. Plus, they can both agree on being protective and making sure Tails isn't in danger. Sharp can respect and admire that Sonic will fight to protect his friends. That he actually has friends to protect.

Sonic also judges him a little, because this guy's been hanging around his little brother and apparently made everyone in his world mad at him, so is he that great of a guy for Tails to be around? But he can quickly tell that Tails basically has Sharp wrapped around his finger, so if anyone's in danger of being influenced by anyone, it's Sharp xD

Sonic can rely on Sharp to look after Tails while he looks after everyone else. Sonic's got his hands full with making sure Amy, Big, Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow are all okay, so once he feels like he can trust Sharp, he can rest a bit easier knowing Tails has some back-up while he's trying to do his part to fix the Paradox Prism.

Sonic is pretty accepting of himself and comfortable with who he is as a person, and I think that would reflect in how he interacts with the other versions of himself. Except maybe Drift xD I think Sonic might think Drift is all the worst parts of him with none of the good to balance him out. He'd definitely take Sharp over Drift, lol.

#drift all alone on his island playing sad songs on his guitar :(#it's okay drift sails loves you!#and the rest of the pirate crew will too!#meanwhile boscage sonic is just minding his own business xD no one's picking fights with him (mostly because he's werehog boy)#skimming asks #sharp edges au #sonic prime au

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eminemily05 · 7 months ago

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Peaceful Mornings

Welcome, everyone, to my obligatory every couple months fanfic posting. Just so everyone knows I’m still alive.

This is an Ink x Reader rewrite from 2018 (Holy Shit), and I’m excited to get this revamped version out to some of you

It’s just straight fluff, hopefully on brand

There’s also a bit of French, so here are the translations:

Mon chef-d’œuvre - My masterpiece

Mon prisme - My prism

Without further ado, the story. It’s gender neutral, at a nice 1.7k words. I hope you all enjoy~

Soft sunbeams leaked past the cream colored curtains. Dust dancing through the shards. Birds sang and called softly from within their trees, enjoying their early mornings without so much of a care. A bed creaked slightly in the otherwise quiet room. The sound of fabric rustling together followed with a gentle groan of movement and life.

Quiet breaths slipped past your lips as you readjusted yourself in a sleep-filled manner. The covers slipped from your body slightly, prompting a whine as the room’s cold air nipped at your skin. Reaching out for any warmth lingering on your skin. You tried to scoot away to something warmer. Curling up, your head bumped slightly against something solid. The object bounced slightly with a silent laugh as your face screwed into one of confusion.

A gentle hand combed over your head, soft skeletal touches pushing you into a relaxed state once more. Your face unscrewed and became peaceful once more. They hummed, stopping as you moved to press into the touch. You couldn’t help the whine that left your throat. You were enjoying that, damnit. Your quiet protest was only met with an equally quiet snicker.

After a couple minutes, they finally spoke up. A teasing coo filled your ears as they seemed to lean in closer.

”Come onnnn, it's time to get upppp” An incessant poking began against your shoulder, prompting a grunt from your sleeping form. Trying to swat the touch away, you moved to roll on your other side. To try and get away from the playful needling. A hand on your arm easily prevented your escape.

“Aww, don’t be like that,” the poking moved up to your cheek, continuing its steady movement without fault. “You can’t sleep foreverrrr.”

You tried, to no avail, to bury your face into the pillow under your head to escape the next round of poking. A tired groan, followed by a loud yawn, signaled your waking consciousness. You blinked quickly, working your eyesight into focus as your brain booted itself to a sense of awareness. Flinching slightly as light flooded your vision.

So much for sleeping in…

A glare was shot at the innocent mask of the skeleton in front of you. Eye lights trailed on your face as he smiled without a shred of remorse. How dare he wake you up so early with the gall to look innocent.

”You wake me up like that again, and I’m tossing your bony ass to the streets.” You huffed, stretching out. “Don’t think I won’t, Ink.”

That innocent look morphed into a smug expression. He was lucky you were too tired to wipe it off that skull of his. And he was fully aware of that fact, too.

Smug little shit.

He snickered, bony arms wrapping around the softness of your waist. A tug and you were pulled against his loosely clothed body. Gentle nuzzles were pressed against your temple. Soft purrs vibrated his ribs and arms, pulling you in close with a slight smile.

Huh. He was being shockingly sweet this mornin-

“I figured it would be bed-er to cover-se with you than Broomie.” The words were mumbled against your skin, a smirk growing at his own wordplay. Snickers were hidden against your shoulder, though they threatened to spill easily,

Welp, there goes the wonderful moment.

Your silence was enough to cause the skeleton a moment of confusion. Thinking you had fallen back asleep, he let out a sound of surprise as a pillow was thrown against his skull. A loud snort followed from under the plush object.

”It’s too early for your puns, damnit!” You growled, with no true malice. “Pack your bags funny bone, you’re living on the streets.”

A loud whine was your response. Oh boy.

“No! Mon chef-d’œuvre! Don’t leave meeee!!!” A hand shot out, phalanges wrapping tight around the skin of your forearm. The pillow lifted, revealing a (somehow) pouting expression. Blurred eye lights enhancing the ‘sad’ emotion he was feeling.

Was that a tear shape, for crying out loud?

You centered a flick to his nose aperture. The pouting instantly melted into one of giggling and snorts. Very cute giggling and snorts.

Aw, hell. You couldn’t truly stay mad at him…

As long as he didn’t dump any more random buckets of paint on you. That was a grudge you could hold for days. You didn’t let him forget that either.

Content he had been thoroughly scolded, you settled down next to him. Your arms wrapped around his covered rib cage, head settling against the rising and falling of his sternum. Once his laughing had died down, he returned the gesture. Skeleton kisses pressed against the top of your head in apology. He would definitely forget about this come the evening time.

You both stayed there for a couple minutes, your brain booting to full consciousness. When you had finally felt awake enough you glanced up at Ink. But he wasn’t looking back at you. Instead, his eye lights were blurred around the edges, flickering slightly to indicate his blinking. He was completely focused on the wall, but you knew full well he was more focused on his own thoughts.

A serious expression dug into his features, surprising you. He could switch moods so drastically, not that it was anything new at this point in your life with him. He did it more times in a day than you could count on your hand. That didn’t keep it from constantly managing to surprise you. No matter how much it happened.

You grabbed his arm carefully, pulling it close as he stayed unwavering. Tracing the patterned swirls of his gray forearm, a shudder of his lights caught your attention. Then a shudder through his body. A flicker, new set of eye lights, and a turn of his head redirected his attention back to you.

He tilted his skull.

”…What were we doing…?” He asked, confused.

Humming, you intertwined your fingers with his skeletal ones.

”Well I was just about to get up, if you’d like to join me.” You softly explained, working to gently guide his thoughts.

Ink constantly did that, forgetting simple moments. But, you never held that against him. We all get mixed up then and again.

The artist gave you a broad smile, fangs peeking out slightly. The only warning you got before you were snatched from the warm covers.

”You don’t have to ask me twice!” He shot out of bed with newfound excitement, picking you up with ease (despite his much shorter stature). You couldn’t help but yelp in surprise as you’re hauled out of your room, gripping tight to his white shirt.

“Hey!” You laugh slightly as he bounds for the kitchen, “Don’t get too excited, you’re cooking breakfast this morning!”

He did not appreciate that, demonstrated by his mood doing an instant 180. You felt the groan rattling through his body before it slipped past his teeth. Smirking, you poked the black stain on his cheek. “Did you think I’d let you off the hook so easily for waking me up?”

He huffed and pretended to drop you, letting you squeal before quickly catching you. He was such a sore loser sometimes. That big ol’ baby.

You poked his cheek again. And again. And again.

Now he wasn’t gonna answer? What was he, 5?

”Inkkkk,” you whined, looping your arms around his neck. “Don’t be pouty. These are the consequences of your actions.”

Did...Did he just turn his nose up at you? He absolutely did.

Two could play at that game. You mumbled out, ”Fine then….I guess I’ll make breakfast…on my own…and work tirelessly…after being woken up so early…” A faux sigh of resignation followed your words.

There, the trap was laid. This is where he would pity you. Bundle you up in blankets and coo as he pleaded that, ‘No! You don’t need to! I’ll cook it for us.’ It was the perfect plan.

”You’ll cook breakfast? Oh, perfect, Mon prisme!” He gave you a beaming smile.

…damnit…

You groaned and rested your head against his chest. He wasn’t supposed to just give up like that! Ink was supposed to take up the task for himself so you wouldn't be made to cook. So much for convincing him.

“You’re lucky I can’t stay mad at you..”

A brightly colored tongue poked out from his mouth, expressing his cheeky expression. Wait a minute-

He knew full well what he was doing! Bastard!

Resigning to your fate, you let him place you down in front of the stove. As you moved around to grab ingredients, he made himself comfortable at the dining table. Ink hummed a soft tune, letting his sockets slide closed.

You peeked over your shoulder and smiled at the sight. The soft scent of cooking food filled the kitchen. Most times, you didn’t get to spend a day with Ink, never mind even waking up with him. He would usually be out, doing what he does best. Spreading creative inspiration, fighting the forces of evil, (you had told him he sounded like some cliche hero when he told you that. He was not pleased with that), and taking care of his art projects.

As much as you played being annoyed, you couldn’t be more happy. You can’t take any second for granted with his visits. So, you’d cook breakfast this one time and pay no mind. Even if that ‘one time’ was practically every time.

Grabbing two plates, you began to set food when bony arms wrapped around your waist. The skeleton practically purred as he buried his nose aperture against your back. A silent ‘thank you’ for your efforts, you supposed.Though, you’d already forgiven him for his cheeky attitude and turning the tables on you. You reached down and patted a hand against one of his. His grip tightened slightly.

You couldn’t help but chuckle.

“How about after this, we go lay back down? Or, we could go outside and relax in the grass.” You handed him a plate, adding, “As long as it isn’t too hot.”

He pulled himself away from your back, looking up at you. A soft expression coated his features, pink themed eye lights flickering.

”As long as you agree to be in a painting.”

Blushing slightly, you cleared your throat. It wasn’t a rare request from him, but it still got you flustered every time.

”Alright.” You mumbled. He instantly perked, taking the plate with a nuzzle to your cheek.

”Merci, my Muse!”

Ink better thank his lucky stars you were too flustered to chase him with the spatula in your hand. That flirt.

What ever were you ever going to do with him…

#inktale sans #ink!sans #ink sans x reader #undertale #undertale fanfiction #undertale fanfic #x reader #ink sans fanfic #sans x reader

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shiningliive · 10 months ago

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Live Emotion Game Introduction 2 - Home

First Look at the home screen for Live Emotion!

As described on the official twitter account: This is the backstage area where you can access various functions of the app. You can interact with the idols, watch them relax, and have fun in a variety of ways. This way, you can spend time with your favourite idols.

Analysis/translation of the user interface below:

Move between left and right sides of the backstage area/homescreen. Can change to a forwards/backwards arrow depending on where you are in the room (?).

Likely a fullscreen/view mode, that removes the UI temporarily.

Unsure. Something to do with altering the UI for the room like the other 3 buttons in this area. Possibly to do with moving the characters or yourself around the screen. Potentially some other kind of customisation, although that seems to be the function of #20.

Likely a toggle for the text box (#14). It is greyed out temporarily, possibly when moving between left and right sides.

User rank and level up bar.

LP (likely still 'live points'). Used up to play songs in the rhythm game, and replenished by waiting in real time.

Likely a shortcut to refill LP with in game resources.

Likely the Live Emotion equivalent to 'Prisms' in Shining Live. Used for the gacha and other in game functions.

Home? Unsure exactly what screen this may return to, since the official tweet refers to this backstage area as the home page.

Settings/options menu.

News/updates log. Unread information indicated by a red diamond top right.

Missions, goals or achievements. Likely that completed missions with unclaimed rewards are indicated by a red diamond top right.

Giftbox. Unclaimed gifts indicated by a red diamond top right.

Chat box transcribing what the speaking idol is saying, as well as their name.

Text reads: "Beginner Mission". (Text in white below this box just says that the game is still under development).

Speaking idol. There can be multiple idols in the backstage area at once (Camus seen in the background). They are represented by 3d models, and it looks like they will interact with the background and eachother. In this case, Otoya is speaking to the player, and Camus is inspecting a book in the background. Almost certain that the outfits and room can be customised.

Button to navigate to viewing 'Emotional Pieces'. Not exactly sure the best way to translate that, despite it being in Katakana, but 'Pieces' (?) seem to be the equivalent to photos/cards in Shining Live. So I'm assuming this will be the way to view, organise, level up etc all your collected pieces, whatever they may be. The icon makes me think of the cards from Aikatsu, with different cards representing different parts of a while outfit. It makes me wonder if there'll be a bit more of a dress-up element, where you can collect and mix and match different headwear, tops, and bottoms of clothing sets. Please let me know if piece/peace means something in this context that I dont know about!

Button to navigate to the 'Piece Gacha'. The system for obtaining 'pieces' via in game currency.

Button to navigate to the story. Like other things on the UI, it seems like unlocked but unread stories are indicated by a red diamond.

Button to navigate to 'MiniPri'. Likely either or both) a view with cute chibi versions of the characters and backstage area, or the way to customise the members and background of the backstage area. I wonder if you can unlock different furniture, wallpapers, floors etc, and move them around yourself, of if the backgrounds are set.

Button to navigate to the 'Live' screen, the main song selection for the rhythm game.

#live emotion #utapri #uta no prince-sama #live emotion game introduction #interesting #not shining live #game introduction

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schizosupport · 2 years ago

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Psychosis and Schizo Spec Flag Time!

My dear friends of the community! For a community in which so many of us have been called a freak at some point in life, we've had a distinct lack of a coherent freak flag to fly!

Well, no more. There's a new flag in town, and she's a beauty!

The flag is preceded by a number of other flags. @psychotic-pisces collected a number of them, and proposed yet more, here, and there have been other versions and attempts through the years. There can be many flags, and no flag is more right than another, but we did feel that our community might be in need of a simple yet recognisable flag, that would still be rich with symbolism. This is our proposal!

I shall refrain from waxing poetic about the elements of the flag, but the references are as follows:

The symbol used in this flag was proposed by @actuallyschizophrenic here, and has seen fair use in the psychotic and schizo spec communities around these parts.

The colour stripes in the background match the current flag most commonly used for disability pride.

The background is purple, because 70% of all previous proposed flags were purple, suggesting a cultural connection to the colour in our community.

The symbol sits upon a waxing silver-lavender moon, referencing not only tales of lunacy, but also the dichotomous nature of our illnesses, negative/positive symptoms and more.

Finally, the moon acts as a prism on the stripes, creating a disjointed feeling, that we associate with psychosis and disorganization, among other things.

The flag doesn't have a name, I think anyone in the community can call it what feels right. Schizotypy flag, psychosis flag, lunacy flag - you name it! I call it the lunacy flag, but I have provenly bad taste, so call it what feels right!

This flag was a collaborative effort in a community discord for schizo spec folk and psychotic people. There's no way I could have arrived at this design on my lonesome, and I'm forever grateful to our loving, creative, smart and awesome communities!!

Special thanks to a very cool, kind and talented person who goes by 'Orange' in the server, who created the vector file of the finalized flag, which can be found (on Google drive via tumblr) here!

And a userbox template bc why not..

Let's go fly our freak flag! 🧠🔥🎉

(License CCO 1.0 Universal - this flag can be used anywhere, credit is nice but it's not a requirement!)

Other formats, color annotated version and image description under the cut

Long format:

Square:

Version of the flag with names of each colour for accessibility:

Image ID of flag: A rectangular flag. The background is purple, and in the middle there's a circle. The circle looks like the moon, with one side in darkness. The moon is dark grey and light silver-grey lavender. On the moon is a symbol commonly associated with psychosis and the schizo spectrum in white. A beam of stripes cross behind the moon from each corner. The stripes are light green, light blue, light grey, yellow and light red. They are similar to the stripes on the disability flag. The beam shifts position behind the moon, so it is parallel above and below the moon, but not directly connected. End ID.

#pseriouslyschizophrenic #actuallypsychotic #schizo spec #flag #mad pride #disability pride #schizo spec flag #psychosis flag #psychotic pride #schizophrenia flag #schizoaffective flag #stpd flag #lunacy flag #etc etc etc

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larrythefloridaman · 7 days ago

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slow and deliberate bong rip, as if sampling wine. prism and the ciblings are christian but theyre not christian but they are.

Their relationship with Spectrum is best understood as religious, they are the ciblings parent in the divine emanation sense and the portrayal of this is filtered at the meta level through the lens of ryan the creator's christian faith with the structure of Prism's faith, prayer and service to her master. Crimson, who loves to tightrope walk on the fourth wall without ever quite EXPLICITLY crossing it (atleast by the blurry standards of CPUK where the commentators exist as fictionalized versions of themselves and the show is about a show,) says in the same section of CPUK Orange where he foreshadows his spirit by cracking a joke about the college ryan went to and says that if the audience thinks he can't read the twitch chat then they dont know him at all, also calls CPUK Orange a christmas special in an ambiguous smarmy wink wink sort of way that leaves it unclear whether the joke is meant to be him sincerely celebrating but leaning on the fourth wall, him mocking the notion of him celebrating christmas given hes a god by being insincerely festive, or a combination of both, 'isnt it absurd that because this show's run by a christian guy I acknowledge and celebrate christmas, even though im supposed to be a demonic god of a pantheon structure that is fundamentally incompatible with christianity?' A type of ambiguity that goes on to strongly feature throughout the nccts with regard to how it handles the metafictional.

the ciblings are gods and so is prism in some respect but they also decidedly arent THE god, that's spectrum, whom Prism devotes her life to serving and uses the power of to oppress control and orchestrate, to both justify and enact violence, whom the ciblings, spectrums 'children,' have been raised to please, raised in worship of. Cobalt knew of the nelson, a vessel of spectrum's will and voice, as a thing of 'legend,' suggesting they were likely raised on stories of spectrum and the forms it takes. They were also raised to believe they were uniquely chosen, as 'gods,' to do their jobs as caretakers of the world and that they and their immortal souls existed uniquely above and beyond 'mortals' tiny lives and inability to comprehend. They are Superior in their secret knowledge and that is their Burden (which is their business and noone elses no matter who else's lives it may effect) as well as their Privilege (so mortals opinions can be discarded). Of course, this is a crock of shit that largely serves to isolate them from others and keep them under her thumb. Faith in a god of creation and connection's power and influence is warped, in Prism's hands, into a weapon, a tool, of division and suffocating restriction.

cobalt has 'altar boy with Doubts and Questions that keep getting shut down in favor of encouraging blind faith and belief in the unerring supremacy of the divine' issues and chartreuse has 'perfect church girl in love with someone the church categorically rejects' issues and crimson has 'my abusive mother who teaches sunday school and hosts cutesy church ice cream socials like she doesnt try to kill me regularly decided to name me judas did you honestly expect me to turn out well-adjusted' type issues.

But also spectrum definitely isnt a 1 to 1 reflection of any of the mainstream traditional conceptions of the christian god, at their closest resembling the gnostic esoterica concept of the pleroma but not even quite that because spectrum is an amoral gestalt being who Happens to support good more often than not (at least in theory) but also creates awful circumstances because kindness and hope in the face of despair is Compelling, and thats what its really wants, compelling feelings and thought, because it creates and then feeds on the ideas and feelings its creations elicit, which inspire new creations in turn.

#ncct spoilers

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thequeenofmyownscreen · 3 months ago

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My thoughts about episode 9, season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina :

LOVE that they included the moments where Travis' brain just takes control of Grog's. Genius. Very funny.

Return of 2 legends : Kash & Zahra, and the criminally underused spell Floating Disc (Prism ! you're the only one who ever used it in CR ! I love you !).

this exchange is gold :

KASH !! NOOOOOO !

Oh, the shot where the Matron is waiting for him is beautiful.

I don't know if Kash's death will have the same impact on new viewers vs. the Campaign 1 fans. Because we really didn't see him a lot ; don't ge tme wrong, he was cool and all when he was there, and he was very easy to get attached to ! But apart from Zahra, there was no real emotionnal link.

new reaction pic just dropped :

Pike abandonning her goddess symbol... Oh no. Will she truly be fooled by Zerxus ? What is the deal with her blood ? What's the link with the Whispered One ?? The scene where she destroys the Soul Anchor is so good !

So... they are changing the moment where Scanlan falls into a deep coma (in the Campaign, after the 2nd battle with Raishan, and his 2nd resurrection).

Ok so this is where I don't think I agree with the changes, and it all comes back to that "Call me child one more goddamn time !" moment they didn't include, and Keyleth as we know her from Campaign 1, who is young, has a strong moral line AND anger, that push her to do sometimes reckless choices. Like screaming at Raishan, and attacking her just after Thordak's death even though, at this point in the Campaign, Raishan did help them, and that her betrayal is not yet know to Keyleth or VM. That impulsivity leads them to the deadly 2nd battle, where Keyleth realizes she was right to attack Raishan (because she did had nefarious plans !) and she was wrong to attack Raishan (because, near-TPK). Keyleth's character arc in Campaign 1, for me, is where she learns to follow her moral line but in the same time learns what it means to be a leader : some times, you have to not be impulsive and control the anger and let it fuel the actions. That's why her and Grog's conversations about anger is so important to me. The Keyleth we see in TLOVM is not lead by anger. She's unsure of herself, and though she wants her friends to see her point of view about Raishan initially, she's later convinced enough to go apologize to the green dragon that killed dozens of her compatriots on Pyrah. Only to have Raishan betray, again. So I think this Keyleth will have a 'I have to trust my gut' arc, which is character growth also, yes, but is sensibly different from Keyleth's character arc in Campaign 1. It's not bad in itself, I'm just less interested in this Keyleth version.

#my thoughts #critical role #the legend of vox machina #TLOVM #tlovm s3 #obvioulsy :#tlovm spoilers

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thankskenpenders · 2 years ago

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Sonic Prime: "Season 2"

Eight more episodes of Sonic Prime are out! They're labeled as "season 2" despite just being the next eight episodes of the first (and presumably only) season, allowing Netflix to market it as multiple seasons without having to give the cast and crew raises. They love doing that shit to their original cartoons. Ugh.

Anyway! Last time, I gave the show some leeway because it was still finding its legs. This time, though? We're now two thirds of the way through the series, and sadly, I think it's time to accept the truth:

While there are parts I like, a lot of this show... kinda sucks?

This multiverse sucks and Rouge was robbed

Previously, I noted the pattern of each universe spotlighting a different friend of Sonic's (Tails in New Yolk City, Amy in the jungle world, Knuckles in the pirate world) and predicted that, hopefully, Rouge would get her time to shine next. And with 16 episodes left, surely there's time to explore new worlds that are more interesting than the jungle and pirate worlds. Those were just the warm up act. Right?

...Right?

Nope! That's it! There are no more worlds.

This multiverse show where anything is possible really is just about another Eggman-controlled dystopia world, a jungle world, and a pirate world. That's all they came up with! Just those three, and two dead worlds that don't really count - one a featureless wasteland, the other a ghostly echo of the original Green Hill dubbed "Ghost Hill." (Sonic's friends appear here as holograms stuck repeating a single line each. It gets old immediately.)

The jungle and pirate worlds and their inhabitants being so overwhelmingly generic becomes unforgivable the moment you realize this is all we're gonna get. It just leaves me wishing they'd thrown this whole concept out and finally made a normal Sonic cartoon with no twist in its premise. A few of the new takes here are good, particularly Nine as a darker riff on Tails, but so many of them don't feel anything like the fun characters they're supposed to be. They're stock cartoon characters wearing the Sonic casts' skins.

I'll admit my bias is showing, but god, Rouge is REALLY done dirty by this setup. The normal Rouge we see in the first episode is so fun for how briefly she appears, but then in all the other worlds she's reduced to a generic action girl with zero personality. What's her purpose, exactly, when every AU version of Amy is ALSO a straightforward action girl? It drives me absolutely insane that they gave us a PIRATE ROUGE and she doesn't care about treasure. They do nothing with this! How!!!!!!!! She's just never gonna get her turn. It's so obvious that Rouge is only in this show so that they can have another girl, but you could swap her out with another character like Blaze and it'd make no difference.

Speaking of the pirates, though...

The way things play out in the pirate world is so stupid

Previously, with the Paradox Prism shard within reach, Captain Dread Knux was regressing into his old obsessive personality. I'm fine with this. Sonic and Dread both want the shard, they're gonna fight over it. Obvious stuff. But the actual impact it has on the story is maybe the stupidest bit of writing in this entire show so far.

Basically, while fighting a couple of the Eggmen and their robots at sea, Sonic has to briefly run over to the enemy ship to fight them and grab the Paradox Prism shard while Dread and his crew remain back on their ship. Dread goes "Oh my god, look! Sonic's abandoning us! Traitor!" While Sonic is... like 200 feet away. Still in clear view. Fighting the guys who are trying to kill them. Retrieving Dread's beloved treasure for him.

And yet, Dread's crew buys this! And when Sonic runs right back over with the shard in hand, they're all like "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY US" and turn on him.

It's just. What?!

This isn't a huge part of the "season," but I highlight it as maybe the worst moment of the show's character writing. I'm reminded of Thorn Rose's backstory from last time, where she was depicted as suddenly snapping one day when she saw her friends pick one too many berries in the jungle. Sometimes a character just needs to pivot for the story to work, and they aren't really interested in getting there smoothly.

The Chaos Council fucking sucks

I tried so hard to like these guys, but they drag the show down so much.

The choice to have a team of five different Eggmen really just means that Eggman has been split into five one-note characters. Four of them revolve entirely around the most trite, predictable, boomer-ass jokes based on their ages. The teenage one is whiny and just wants to play video games. The young adult one is a vegan hipster who does yoga. The old one is cranky about all the whippersnappers and has a bad back. The baby is a baby. These are jokes that would've been tired if this show aired 20 years ago.

The odd man out is Mister Doctor Eggman, the middle-aged one with a toupee who's the stand-in for regular Eggman. But even he kinda sucks. The other four all being one-note joke characters means that he has to be the straight man of the group, so he's just very dry and serious and plot-focused without any of Eggman's fun eccentricities. He's neither particularly funny nor particularly sinister, which is just about the worst place for an Eggman to be.

He doesn't even have any incompetent robot lackeys to bounce off of, because the unfunny alternate age Eggmen fill the quota for bumbling secondary villains. But also, like... Orbot and Cubot are in this show! They were in the first episode! Where are they? God, I never thought I'd miss them so much...

But, okay. It's not ALL bad.

The highlights

There's a recurring theme here, which is that the best episodes are the ones where Sonic is pitted against a foe who can match his speed and they just let the animation carry it.

The first of the new episodes is mostly about Sonic fighting Shadow, and BOY is their fight fun to watch. Said fight happens because Shadow blames Sonic for shattering the universe and doesn't trust him to fix things. Shadow wants to restore their world, but he refuses to see the various AU counterparts as the same people Sonic once knew, and he doesn't really care what happens to them. Ultimately, though, he begrudgingly accepts that Sonic really is the only one who can hop between dimensions for Plot Reasons, and therefore lets him go try to do things the nice way. He sadly spends most of his time waiting around in the void between worlds, but in the last episode of the batch he and Sonic get to team up against the Chaos Council's forces and it's very cool.

As far as recent interpretations of Shadow go, this is a good one. He's a great foil for Sonic, which just makes me wish he could travel with Sonic to the different worlds. He's cynical and overly pragmatic in his approach, but his points aren't entirely wrong. His anger feels justified. They even let him have some snark! And Ian Hanlin is really great in the role - definitely a contender for Shadow's best voice ever. He just sounds so natural.

The other speedster Sonic fights is Chaos Sonic, the Chaos Council's take on Metal.

He can talk! Deven is basically doing a Jaleel impersonation for him? People are very mixed on this.

The idea behind Chaos Sonic is to turn Sonic's obnoxious smack talk and zingers back around on him, and I don't hate this idea, even if a lot of fans find him annoying compared to Metal Sonic. (Some comparisons have been made to Archie's Shard, but I assume this is a coincidence.) Like the rest of the script, his dialogue certainly isn't anything to write home about, but the fights he gets into with Sonic and co. are so damn fun and dynamic that I have to like him. I also like how expressive his eyes are on his dome screen face, and the animators have a ton of fun with the fact that his torso and head can rotate 360 degrees.

Unfortunately, he's destroyed at the end of his debut episode. I'm praying he gets rebuilt, because this show desperately needs better villains than the Chaos Council.

Again, the animation in Prime is maybe the best animation in any official Sonic media, period. I just wished I liked the characters and worlds enough to be invested in more of the fights. It's hard to care about the dozenth group battle against the generic Eggforcer bots and the baby in his Fisher-Price mech.

The note we end on

After fighting a giant glowing replica of the normal Eggman for... some reason? Episode 16 ends with Sonic and Nine getting into an argument over what to do with the Paradox Prism shards. Sonic wants to restore his original world, but Nine still wants to create a new, better world out of the one that's just an empty wasteland, believing he doesn't belong anywhere else. Nine angrily runs off with the shards, and Sonic is distraught as he realizes that Shadow was seemingly right about how he shouldn't trust Nine.

I kind of like this conflict, mostly because Nine is the standout character of this show. But my main problem is that we don't know what will happen when everything is fixed.

The logical assumption is that the alternate worlds will just... stop existing, right? That must be the idea if Sonic and Nine are treating restoring the original world and creating a new one in the Shatterverse as mutually exclusive options, right? If the Shatterverse disappears, will Nine and the rest all stop existing, too? The show seems unwilling to discuss this possibility, so I'm left not really knowing what the stakes are in this conflict. Nine becomes a whole lot more sympathetic and Sonic becomes a whole lot more monstrous if restoring the world will erase most of this show's cast from existence, but the thought that this could even happen doesn't seem to have crossed Sonic's mind. Sonic seems to want to take his AU friends back to the regular Green Hill - he at least wants to introduce Nine to his normal friends - but like... he can't really do that, can he? They're not gonna have four Tailses running around.

I don't really know what direction this is all headed in. I guess we just have to keep watching, even if I'm past the point of accepting that this show is mostly very mid.

It's just frustrating that everyone else working on this show is clearly giving it their all while the writers at Man of Action phone it in for so much of its runtime. The scripts drag this show down so, so hard. There are moments and episodes I like, but you have to slog through so much mediocrity to get there.

#tkp post #other media

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