#i understand the appeal and the story is vaguely interesting

[hey-heigo]

one of the big draws for me when watching let's players is watching them achieve something. the progression of it. and even occasional setbacks are interesting because it demonstrates growth and suspense, and 'how're they gonna get out of this now?' but games that try to put in an excess of complex puzzles that aren't the draw, with no real defined goal beyond showing off story that's designed purely to sell, are just frustrating to watch...especially in the case of survival horror if it's a fast-paced sequence and big stakes and the player literally can't slow down and take it in without dying. like hey i get you wanna show off your awesome indie horror Lore while also holding tight onto that golden 'survival horror' selling point. but also. could you not stuff the escape key into a gordian's knot while Poopy Pissfuck is after me

[kazumasougi]

im gonna be real for a second. if fantasy can only be enjoyable to you when removed from any and all real world implications then is it even good

[another-lost-mc]

a new dating sim catches your eye and asmo is absolutely 100% not jealous at all.

a date with death | asmodeus x gn!reader

cw: sfw (slightly suggestive towards the end). pet names (asmo calls reader darling, sunshine). vague spoilers for parts of the game (up to day five). silly fluff and jealousy over 2d characters.

word count: 1.2k words

a/n: I really like this game (a date with death) btw, I definitely recommend it.

"I tried that new game you've been playing."

Asmo's comment catches you off-guard and your eyes slowly blink open. You were on the verge of sleep, warm and content with his chest pressed against your back and his arm draped loosely over your waist. The words are muffled slightly against your shoulder, his lips leaving a sticky trail from the hydrating mask he smoothed over them as part of his nightly skincare routine.

You've been playing a new dating sim lately. You knew Asmo peered at the monitor over your shoulder to see what you were up to, but he didn't seem all that interested. He didn't give any indication that he wanted to play it himself, either.

It's not the first romance-based game you've played in the Devildom and he never cared before. He thinks it's cute when you find a character that appeals to you. Sometimes he watches you play through the stories, or he'll listen with a smile while you talk about the game later.

When you offered to play other games with him in the past, he insisted that was Levi's area of expertise. That didn't prevent him from finding his own ways to enjoy your hobby with you though. He preferred to indulge you with a little bit of roleplay instead: parading around his room dressed like your favourite characters, imitating their speech patterns and mannerisms to sweep you off your feet, and seducing you as if they had come to life.

(Later, he seduced you properly as himself because no one can ever love you as much as he does).

But he knew right away that this particular game was different. You giggled at your desk while you tapped away at your computer. It made you smile in a soft and charming sort of way. It irked him that some pictures and words on a screen drew that sort of reaction from you the same way he did.

You lean back and glance at him over your shoulder. His expression is hard to read in the dark, but you can feel the heavy weight of his stare on your face. "I didn't know you wanted to play it. You should've told me! Did you like it?"

"Not at all," he declares firmly, and you can't help but chuckle at his sharp response.

"Really? Why not?"

"I'm so glad you asked, darling," he says as he turns over and sits up suddenly. He flips on the lamp beside him, and he rubs the back of his hand against your cheek in apology when you wince as light illuminates his room. He plucks something off the bedside table and waves it in your direction with a flourish. "I made a list!"

You give him a skeptical look as you roll over to give him your full attention, and he clears his throat and taps the top of the page. "My first complaint is the ridiculous title: I Made a Bet and Have to Survive the Next Seven Days Without Falling in Love With a Babygirl Reaper Who Wants My Soul! Seriously? The title alone should warn you how terrible it's going to be."

"That's not what it's called in the human world," you explain with a shrug. "I don't understand why they changed it here, it's a little bit silly."

He tsks under his breath. "Silly indeed. Where do I even begin with this so-called love interest? It's almost like the creators have never met a real reaper before. I can assure you most of them aren't as nice or cute as they make him out to be." The look he shoots you next is oddly serious, and it sends a chill up your spine as his words sink in. "I recommend not getting too close to their kind. Thirteen seems docile enough, but I prefer your body and soul to remain in one piece."

You're not sure how to begin to respond to that little speech, but he pokes the paper with his finger and continues reading his list of "glaring issues" with the game. The complaints get more ridiculous and obscure, and it's only when he gets to the bottom of the page that the reason for his sour mood dawns on you.

"...and when I thought it couldn't get any worse, he calls you 'sunshine.' He has some nerve - that's what I call you. Remember when Mammon thought it would be funny to call you his sunshine too?" A dangerous gleam twinkles in his eyes before it disappears just as quickly. "At least he learned not to do that again," he murmurs under his breath.

You shuffle over on your knees and swing your leg over his thighs so you can sit in his lap. "Do you have any other complaints on that little list of yours?" you ask him with a teasing smile.

He huffs in frustration and his frown is adorable - of course he has one more grievance to share. "That stupid reaper doesn't even know your favourite flower. Tomorrow I'm going to buy you the biggest and most beautiful bouquet you've ever seen."

He finally drops the paper but neither of you spare it a second glance as it falls over the side of the bed and flutters to the floor. He wraps his arms around you and squeezes your waist gently, slumping his head against your chest with a drawn-out sigh. "I don't see what you like about him."

"Oh, Asmo." You run your hands gently through his hair as you hide your smile against the crown of his head. "Are you telling me there's a video game character you're actually jealous of?"

"Of course not," he mumbles into your collarbone, mouthing softly at the skin with little flicks of his tongue but it's not quite enough to distract you. "I wanted to see what all the hype was about." His teeth graze the bottom of your throat and you swallow down a quiet moan. "I found it extremely disappointing, by the way."

You cradle his jaw gently and tilt his head up so you can kiss the corner of his mouth. "You're so cute when you pout," you coo softly, just to watch how his cheeks turn pink. "I hope you know that he could pop into existence and appear outside your window right now, and I still wouldn't be interested in him. He's not you."

The words seem to soothe him a bit if the purring in his chest is anything to go by. You kiss the tip of his nose and let out a quiet squeak when he grasps the back of your neck and pulls you down so he can kiss you.

Repeatedly.

"You're right, darling." Kiss. "He's completely irrelevant," kiss "and I've already forgotten what his name is."

The world tilts suddenly as Asmo flips you onto your back and braces his weight on his hands. You giggle when he leans down and noses along your jaw. One of his hands slowly glides down your chest and tugs at the hem of your shirt, lifting it up and tossing it aside without a second thought.

"Let's see if I can make you forget his name too, hmm?"

read more: asmodeus masterlist | obey me masterlist

[urfavoritemistake]

fiddleford mcgucket and things that go bump in the night

i understand why people like to explore scenarios in art/fic where fiddleford is aware of bill and has face-offs with him while he's in ford's body, or he works with stanley to try and get ford back post-portal incident, but to me personally? nothing beats the canon scenario where he is left entirely in the dark. because it's so horrifying.

you know the principle of horror that the monster is much scarier when it stays in the shadows than when it's revealed, usually towards the end of a story, because until then, it's left to the depths of your imagination to fill in the blanks? fiddleford chooses to not investigate those shadows, and even further enshrouds what he fears in darkness, because he's too scared of what he might uncover. he's the child who refuses to check for the monster under the bed and instead stays awake all night under the covers frozen in terror. that's the appeal of his character to me.

canonically, he doesn't know bill or stan exist. because ford refused to even trust his best friend with the knowledge of his muse, or anything about his past, even the fact that he has a twin. he actively hides childhood photos of him and stan from fiddleford. presumably, in college he kept all their conversations strictly to their interests and passions.

can you blame fiddleford for becoming infatuated with the guy? a talented, bright, yet mysterious individual. he probably longed to slowly break down those walls and gain his trust, learn more about this man who has made an effort to be unknowable. happily offered up stories of his own life back in tennessee, his family and aspirations, and prayed one day ford would do a little of the same. but he respected him too much to pry.

and then, when they reunite, he slowly notices his dear friend acts a little Off sometimes. unnatural. but how well does he really know him anyway? surely he speculates about the life ford is hiding from him, people he may be talking to, mental afflictions he may have, but he can't pin down anything due to how left in the dark he is, and his own fear of asking too many questions and overstepping boundaries. so he can only suspect. ultimately all he knows is there is some sort of evil afoot, and the machine him and ford are building will bring it about. all he has to go off of is his calculations and a vague dread.

until he starts making the choice to forget, which may be a little easier since there's already so much he knows he doesn't know. what's the harm in losing a bit more, especially stuff that is causing him pain?

and so he starts to lose his mind in turn, and he can feel it as it's happening. he knows he can't trust his deteriorating memories. but he can't stop because of the mechanisms of addiction.

and maybe one day, before everything is entirely gone, he's made aware that stanford pines, his ex-friend, has converted his lab into a tourist attraction. not one fiddleford can afford to attend with his increasing reliance on dumpster diving and beggaring to get by, mind you. but perhaps he gets a glance at the proprietor, this man claiming to be stanford pines, and feels that old sense of wrongness in his gut.

he's pretty sure that's ford's face, but something's off about it. and his hands. something's wrong with his hands. didn't ford have something with his hands? fiddleford didn't notice it at first in college until ford pointed it out because he's mighty insecure about it, but he's forgotten what it was. but honestly, how much of his own fragmented memories can he even trust?

he feels a shiver down his spine. perhaps it's best to forget about stanford pines altogether.

[dayntee]

I have very strong opinions about disaster wizards, and especially THIS MOTHERFUCKER:

Listen, if you haven't played Pillars of Eternity, I understand. It's a bit niche unless you're like us olds who grew up on real-time-with-pause CRPGs in the 90's and early 00's (namely the original Baldur's Gate, BG2, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights). That type of gameplay appeals to a veeeeeery particular crowd of people, and if you weren't either super into the Forgotten Realms or D&D in general, it likely wasn't your bag.

THAT SAID - with Avowed coming out next week, I need to gush about one of my favorite fantasy worlds and its disaster wizard because I just love this stupid man so much.

Mild spoilers for Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire ahead:

Eora is a fantastically interesting world. It has some of the most unique fantasy races to play and explore, it leans into its darkness and philosophy hardcore, and it takes a look at gods and says "What's that, you pretentious fucks? Sit your asses down, you have no power over me."

The combat and mechanics system is intricate and complex, but vaguely familiar if you've played any form of tabletop RPG. It does its own thing while still being reminiscent of stats and mechanics with which you're likely familiar. If you're the kind of person that likes to theorycraft their character into a fine-tuned murder machine, you will like this system. If you aren't, that's fine too - there's an option to take all the thought out of the process and let the game level you up itself so you don't have to worry about it and can just roll around doing story stuff.

Pillars of Eternity had a friendship (but not romance) system, which sets you up to have the best found-family adventure with total nutjobs that also has more Matt Mercers than you can shake a stick at (seriously, if you pick a male PC and the right voice option, within the first 20 minutes, your party can be composed of exactly three Matts). It deals with your character, known as the Watcher, getting the world's worst split personality syndrome and having to hunt down the mystery behind why babies are suddenly being born with no souls.

Stick with me, this ride is WILD.

After you resolve this pretty inconvenient global cataclysm, you settle down in a keep you acquire during the course of the adventure, only for a god to wake up between game 1 and 2 in your basement and *checks notes* CRUSH YOU TO ALMOST-DEATH.

Oh, and he also takes a part of your soul. For funsies!

Berath, the god of death, offers to restore you to life to figure out what basement-god (Eothas) has planned so long as you agree to be their herald. While you can say no, that just ends the game, so your will to live means you're in on this whole thing and now you get to sail a boat to do it, for reasons, I guess.

Several of the companions from the first game reappear in this one, but to keep on topic, the most important one is Aloth. Why?

BECAUSE NOW YOU CAN WOO THIS ASSHOLE AND THE ANGRY SCOTTISH LADY THAT LIVES INSIDE HIS HEAD.

Aloth is one of my favorite disaster wizards because he has all my favorite tropes just... built right in:

Crippling self-confidence issues

A "split personality" (it's more complicated than that) that is both mortifying and also potentially one of the best characters in the game

A maker of Generally Bad Choices™

Canonically bisexual

Entirely non-committal (at least without a lot of work)

A PAIN IN THE ASS TO ROMANCE

I say these are my favorite, but they're really just all the qualities that every other disaster wizard I've ended up falling for tend to have in some way. Aloth just winds up having them all, wrapped up in a handsome elven package, and then voiced by Matt Mercer because fuck me in particular, I guess, god damnit.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk on why Aloth is amazing and more people need to romance this jerk. I say this with nothing but love—it's 100% worth it, even when he's breaking your heart (or his romance flag is bugged and you have to roll back three hours to fix it AHHAHAH GOD WHY).

Should you want to read along with the general flow of my head canon for my own playthrough, which is a helluva slow burn will they/won't they extravaganza, you can find the largely completed series here on AO3. There's even smut now!

Back to Solavellan Hell with me.

[maurofonseca]

Also out recently was Sonic the Hedgehog #64, where I drew the backup story. I've been seeing people be very happy about it, and I'm glad! It was a more challenging story than usual for me lol. I've not really attempted regularly to draw Silver, and I'm generally uninterested in him and Blaze as a character duo, so when I was asked if I was interested in this story I took it as a challenge. And the fans enjoyed this story, so I hope I met said challenge.

This was the story I got most notes on so far in terms of art corrections- my brain struggled to understand how to draw Silver. The reason I bring this up is, I didn't get corrections on Blaze! This means I know how to draw her lol. After all this wouldn't mind drawing more stories with them, though hopefully not too many- they're both characters that to me are best done fairly stoically, which is part of their appeal, but can also feel stifling to draw to me. I'm from a much cartoonier background lol.

Although! I got to do a very vague pose reference to an old cartoon! It's a bit uncharacteristic of Blaze I think, but that was the point- that Silver's joke broke through her posture for a moment.

I also had fun with picking BG characters from previous stories and bringing them back. Glad everyone's enjoying Pink Big here, first brought to us by Aaron in issue 48- even if I did accidentally make him more Big-like than Aaron had lol. I'll keep it in mind next time!

As before, shoutouts to Rik for being a wonderful inker who puts up with my nonsense, and Reggie for the wonderful colours that really got the sunset mood I felt the script called for.

Here's the thumbnails for the bit you guys have been enjoying a lot! You can see from this how the Silver I'm used to drawing is a fan design based on his concept art, hence the "palm" leaning back in a streamlined shape lol. Had to shake that off.

(Quick last note I probably shouldn't do- I saw some people lament that a nominally "Silvaze" story was assigned to someone who isn't into that pairing. Guys, I promise shipping isn't so important to me that I'd give it a warning to editors like "don't give me this ship story!". I got offered a job to do because I was available for it, I took it, and did my best of it)

[animsid]

I hope you don't mind, but now that I've finally found someone who's listening to Magnus Protocol but hasn't listened to Magnus Archives I will be studying you like a bug under a magnifying glass. I've been dying to know how the show hits from a non archives perspective. So in that vein, if you don't mind me questioning you, what are your overall thoughts on the show so far? Also what's it like seeing the fandom response from people who have listened to archives? Have you been successful in avoiding spoilers?

Honestly I’ve been loving Protocol.

I’m not 100% sure what to translate since I don’t know what Archives context I’m missing, but I can try to tell you what I really like about Protocol.

I really do love the format of Protocol. It’s mostly an office drama story, which on its own is appealing, but the statements from FR3-D1 put in each episode gives the story this underlying horror aspect to it. So when I listen to an episode, often times if the statement portion feels lacking, the office drama really brings up the episode and the vice versa.

Then things start to get a lot more creepier when the two intersect (The Magnus Institute, Mr. Bonzo, Lady Mowbray, the Drowning Victim, the Archivist, etc.) and by this point in the story, we’re so close to having a full merge.

Since this is my first real dive into horror podcasts, I do want to engage with the fan community, but it’s hard to balance being spoiler-free at the same time. I do know some general spoilers that I haven’t updated in a while, but is mostly still accurate. I don’t know what an Archivist is, but I am aware that AU versions of Archives characters have made their debut here.

I am aware that Protocol is going a lot faster than Archives. From what I understand of Archives, it has a lot more slow build up rather than Protocol which I has a pretty good pace. Might be because Protocol has less than half the episodes as Archives.

It’s really interesting how the fandom keeps losing their minds over stuff that I’m just like “yeah cool let’s see where that goes”. Like E26 where the Archivist was named, I felt like I took on the perspective of Alice/Gwen/Sam where I’m like “okay… and this means what?” while the rest of the fandom is taking the Celia perspective of “OH NO”.

Or even this recent episode where this Minister Trevor Herbert dude was. Like I have no idea what this dude is and why everyone is absolutely screaming, crying, throwing up that he’s here, and that is fascinating.

It’s been pretty interesting when I bring up something that felt weird or off that just went nowhere, and my friends revealing some info. I’m like “WHAT” and they’re just like “oh thats not common knowledge?” And I’m just there like “huh?!?” Which turns out, the Hilltop Centre was actually important.

I mostly wish the fandom would tag archives spoilers with #tma /#the Magnus archives / #tma vague just so that spoilers could be tagged a little bit better, but to be fair I am one of the rare people that doesn’t intersect the Venn diagram between archives and protocol.

But overall, I really am loving Protocol. I don’t know when I’ll listen to Archives (probably after Protocol’s three seasons are over) but I will listen to it eventually. Feel free to send more asks my way.

[gaypleasantview]

hey, since im trying to figure out what would be the best casual hobby/creative energy release thing to do (and also trying to kill the fear of cringe and sharing stuff), i would like to ask everyone a couple of things: do you read sim stories? what do you find appealing about both casual gameplay posting and/or detailed storytelling sim projects, do you think it's something that's worth spending time on? (objectively i get that we ultimately should just do it for ourselves simply to have fun, but i can't help but feel that my inner motivation is enough to work on stuff but not enough to see it through. so i need to understand if stuff like that would genuinely find a reader or if im imagining best case scenarios and im in for a disappointment) anyway, those questions are quite vague but im interested in all thoughts on the topic, personally i love sim stories very much because i find them engaging and really inspiring. but i want to hear other people's pov

[itsanotheridiot]

Alrightly as someone who owns LiS, BTS, LiS 2, and TC. I also had given the benefit of the doubt to DeckNine but after seeing multiple clips and leaked information about development from a confirmed ex employee of DN I am officially not buying double exposure.

For anyone in the unknown or don’t want to read my long rant. TLDR: Life is Strange felt victims to Corporation greed ruining game franchise and character alienation

Also side note I do have to be vague about specific of the leaked content due to post with it getting taken down. Also DO NOT HARASS THE VOICE ACTORS OR DEVELOPERS BLAME DECKNINE, SQUARE ENIX, NARRATIVE TEAM AND EXECUTIVES

First thing first the narrative team did not give a fuck about the game from the starts and didn’t do any research and never attempted to understand the characters or their stories so yup just bringing max back for one big old cashgrab and due to their egos of a executive producer and the lack of media analysis and literacy from the narrative team they decided to cut Chloe from the story all together but should we be surprised this is coming from the DN the company that had a controversy about one of their developers trying to sneak into racist symbols into the game and DN who fought against their team from having Alex be the first confirmed bi lead in LiS (saying this cause it’s obvious the male love interest Warren, Elliot ,and Finn was there to appeal to audience but their interest with the lead isn’t as flesh out as the women love interest Chloe, Rachel, and Cassidy)

Anyways How did they write Chloe out you may ask? They had Chloe tell max “she can’t move on so I has to go” and broke them up like that is the most OOC shit ever Chloe the girl who journal entries from 5 years in the form unsend letters to Max. Chloe who canonically in the comic waits 2 years for max to come back to her.

There is a reason they are called partners in time their relationship is crucial to the story and their characters arcs they are linked to take away one of them fundamentally breaks the story because the relationship is at the center of it all

Now I am aware some argue the sacrificing Bae is the moral choice but canonical max by the time of episode 5 wants the town to burn and everyone in it she doesn’t care anymore max is more fucked up then people allow her to be cause she is quiet but while we would sacrificed the bae. Max would never. And trust me this is from someone who also sacrificed Bae but I still understand how important Chloe is to Max’s character

These are a few canon max journals entries these ain’t even all the evidence max has dialogue expressing disgust and hatred for Acadia Bay.

While yes LiS handles heavy topics and tells stories about children with supernatural powers that’s what it is a story and what makes a good story is characters relationship that’s what we connect with not the that’s what makes these heavy topics more personal or easier to handle

LiS wouldn’t be what it is without Chloe and Max’s relationship

LiS 2 wouldn’t be a good story without the wolf brother relationship

BTS expanded the amberprice relationship to make the reveal in the original game hit harder

TC was a interesting case because Alex didn’t have any connects but throughout the story she builds some

LiS is about outcasts craving and finding connect in extreme situations chaos was happening but love still prevailed (romantic, platonic, familial) 

Now away from all the shipping stuff for the moment. The writing in DE from the footage I seen is something like the way they try to make the game seem mature is by making sexual jokes targeted at max but it feels like they are trying to be adult like it feels like jojo siwa’s rebrand the being super sexual because that’s adult like no that’s not (also I’m aware people who experience sexual violence could become hyper sexual due to the trauma but from what I seen in the leaked footage this ain’t it) The pacing is also wonky from what I seen stuff that needed time to set in didn’t get that or they breeze by quickly.

Like comparing DeckNine’s LiS games (BTS and TC) to DONTNOD (LiS and LiS2). BTS to me kinda feel like a fanfic they had a whole game to build off of and expanded on the complexities of the Amberprice relationship which I did really enjoy while having Rachel father be a DA was definitely a writing choice it was vague enough where we can ignore it and it didn’t break the base of LiS too much just made little plot holes Now TC I do think TC is a decent game but is also the blandest out of the LiS games there was a lot of missing potential I feel like they could have done but it does work enough and gave us some nice lore like explaining why Steph and Mike wasn’t in the original game they were out of town or wasn’t at the school. Nice little story moments without stepping on the original too much.

Making a sequel with a beloved character like was a super risky choice one they could have achieved if they had actually cared about the stories and characters. I genuinely thought DeckNine was just hiding Chloe and we was going to get the memorable detective duo again and we could have had a very interesting story about a traumatized max regretting her decision all those years ago and exploring different timelines to revalue if she made the right choice that could have been a good way to expand of how the OG story effect the characters while still respecting both ends but also respecting who the characters are at their core

My last point is also how disrespectful the oversexualized and axing of pricefield is. I would like to remind you that LiS came out in 2015 this was around the time female gaming and female characters in video games were started to be taken seriously JMax and Luc even revealed how at the time Square Enix who gave the game a chance with a female lead that looked like a normal teenage

Also because this game came out in 2015 It was a massive achievement for the LGBT+ community a video game with explicit queer content at the center of the story won 3 categories at the game awards. At the global game awards it won 2 categories and came in second for globe game of the year. life is strange won 6 awards at the golden joystick. That was massive process in 2015 especially since LiS came out January 30, 2015. Gay marriage wasn’t even legal then gay content was barely anywhere this was a important game to people at the time and still is. It’s hard to imagine that now considering how much progress and content we have now.

Double exposure had so much potential I feel like there was so many interesting ideas the fandom has only to learn the game never stood a chance from the start because of a bunch of greedy egocentric executives that would rather destroy the hearts of their story than make a good game

I guess the only bright side is that alternate universe exist in life is strange in a different universe we didn’t get this shit cash grab game we actually got a game that how real love and care put into it the characters weren’t alienated and the heart wasn’t torn out in alternate universe pricefield is thriving after everything romantic or not

[quill-and-paper-cranes]

(My answer to this got rather long, @pepsiiwho , and felt like something that might start some interesting thinkjuice in the tag, so I'm making it its separate post.)

Hrmm. How to encompass all that we've been talking about for like a month now, about why Basilio/Will is compelling.....

To set the stage a little- there's a Metaphor Re Fantazio post I've seen making the rounds that says, to paraphrase: 'the universe of MRF is excellent for fanworks specifically because it is so vague.' I'm inclined to agree even though this is also a double edged sword; we are given little 'meat' on a lot of functions and lore of the overall setting, mere drips and drops of backstories and history, passing one-line mentions of otherwise fascinating topics never broached again..... we're shown just enough to hook us in and make us care, make us wonder, make us want to expand upon what little is given, and no more. It is frustrating, to be sure, but on the other hand, it allows for a LOT of wiggle room for fan creators to sort of just take the slack in the reins and run with it.

For me- and most others, I'd imagine- one appeal of shipping comes broadly from taking something not in canon (usually not even implied) and bringing it into existence. This is typically done by interpreting source material in alternative ways- certain lines can be thought of as more rosy than they are, some canon scenes that end early with a cut-to-black might in the imagination be extended and deepened, the way characters are animated to interact with each other might seem just so.... we know all that, I don't need to explain how we go about fueling the brainworms for pairings in general. What I WOULD like to submit to the class is that Basilio/Will in particular feels, to me, like something that is ripe with narrative opportunity, which makes it FUN both as a creator and a consumer.

Let me see if I can explain what I mean by 'narrative opportunity' and why it appeals to me (and probably others) from a fanwork creator's perspective. Humor me for a minute here.

Let's say you have characters A and B, set in a universe, and lalala the plot happens. A and B are not canon but are the perfect shipbait, are both very fleshed out, they each have defined personality traits and goals and nuances. The universe is also very well established and described. And finally, the PLOT is very well established. These three things are critical. It's a tight story all around: there's few to no loopholes in the timeline or pacing, the characters feel deep and deliberate, the events of [thing] happen in a very specific way/order the whole time. This is a good thing! This is how good stories are often told. When an audience is confused and frustrated and fed bullshit half-answers about a vague world and characters that are shallow or contradict themselves, it typically makes them care less about a subject because there's no cohesion, no common threads to follow. Excessive handwaving is annoying as fuck.

Typically.

I say typically, because sometimes.... sometimes, you end up with what MRF managed to pull off.

MRF has an overall plot which on its face it SEEMS cohesive- such and such happens, the cast goes here then here then here, they do this, the day is saved. It APPEARS to be a tidy story, if all you look at is on the surface. But if you dig into this IP, even a little, it falls the fuck apart. The timeline is a mess. Decisions/plans made are a mess. Some of the beloved characters are one dimensional or are a mess (using tropes or singular traits or hints of intriguing nuance that are never again touched on.) The worldbuilding is a mess. And as a writer, I HAVE to dig into these things. My entire craft is based upon my understanding of the source material, and in the case of MRF, the source material is just. Fucking. All over the place, holy shit.

That said.

It is... a fun mess. This is the most important part: it is a fun mess regardless. For all that MRF falls short in many ways, it is STILL charming and nuanced enough to overcome its abject sloppiness or total lack of concrete lore. It has "good bones", as our friend group jokes.

So back to the narrative opportunity thing.

I typed all that shit up there to contrast a theoretical 'tightly woven' linear storydriven IP to whatever the fuck MRF is, through the comparative lens of creating fanworks off of either piece.

For the tight IP, where everything is laid out and makes sense and things are more 'set in stone', I as a writer have less wiggle room to change things- I have less narrative opportunity. Sure sure, as a writer I can do "anything" as long as I'm good, but realistically.... if the original work did not leave me a shitload of loopholes to exploit, or vagueness of characters/history/lore/whatever, if I want these things tweaked to suit the point of my story, I have to do a lot of fucking legwork. It might not even be feasible. Again, this is not inherently bad- it's good, I'd argue. It means the story doesn't suck, it means thought and effort was put into worldbuilding by the creators.

However- with Metaphor Re Fantazio, there are plot holes in that motherfucker so big I can drive a gauntlet runner through them. This is my delicious narrative opportunity.

Because canon in MRF is already so handwaved and vague, if not outright contradictory- as a writer, I have a LOT of freedom to change or fix or completely negate things without it feeling nearly as 'disruptive' to an audience. Let me give a quick one: electricity. You can't recall if MRF uses electricity, can you? I'll save you the hassle- there is ONE undeniable instance of electricity being used. (Sea monster attack, a lightbulb above the table very explicitly shorts out and dies.)

This opens up so many more questions than it answers. Did Neuras alone discover electricty? Is it just not commonly adopted yet? Was it a fluke by the Atlus studio?

Therein is my narrative opportunity.

And that's just one small example. MRF is full of this open ended shit, ranging from the society, to the physical worldmap, to the food, to the clothes, to the tribes, to the history and religion and 'animals' and magla and prince and- you get the idea. The characters, notably, are not exempt either.

Circling back to the original question 800 tangents later, "what is the best part of the Magnus Brothers/BasWill":  I personally like writing and reading Basilio/Will because of this narrative opportunity.

Basilio is incredibly fleshed out. He is, imo, an excellent character on all fronts. His visual design, VA, animations, backstory, interpersonal relationships..... it's genuinely a goldmine. For every one character trait or tidbit a main cast member has, he's got three.

By contrast, Will.... I'm gonna level with y'all here, I think Will sucks LMAO. The game does NOT give that guy more than the barest minimum nothingburger personality imaginable. Will doesn’t say more than a full sentence or single word answers for like half the damn game, and the utter wasteland of a personality for someone who SHOULD have a lot on the line, is... offputting, to me. However, there are still some facts to be gleaned from what little we're given: Will is calm, quiet, to the point, determined, and kind. Generally. Vaguely.

Once we recognize that Basilio as a character is more 'locked in' to believably behaving a certain way given his canon-established facts, whereas Will is NOT- that's where my narrative opportunity comes in. That's where my fun is.

Authors can, within reason, write Will SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS because of this. He's very close to a blank slate, while still showing enough personality that sssssooome things you could still point at and go "uh yeah that feels pretty ooc" but it's much looser. As an author, this means I can bend him into a little pretzel to behave certain ways that suit the narrative of the story I'm telling at that time, and it won't be egregiously difficult to do so nor conflict with canon. As a reader, it means I get to experience other people's Wills and see what THEY wanted to get out of him! And it (probably) also will not feel OOC, even if it's very different from mine! And that is so, so fun.

That is my technical answer.

My personal answer, if we're angling more for a quick bulleted "what do you like about THEM though, Quill," list (keeping in mind this is all personal preference or things that at least captivate ME on some level): size/strength difference, lived experience difference, experiment trauma background, Basilio's accent and personality is fun, his depth of character both in tandem with and apart from his brother Fidelio, his sense of humor and group banter, he's got unique non-human features (humans bore me so much omg), and he's just... a good person. Him and Will are straight up just good people, and that checks a box for me. Boring or simple, perhaps, but I (personally) don't read fanfic to make myself sad and miserable with sad and miserable characters, so Basilio/Will having such massive narrative opportunity to be nice people is pleasing to me and the genres I tend to favor.

That same narrative opportunity in the hands of a good writer can easily extend, though, to making them petty, or reserved, or despondent, or angry, or any number of completely different takes. And again: therein lies much of the fun, because MRF makes it so so easy to twist canon with what it does not give us. It's all in the nuance babeeeeeey.

This is already long so I won't crowd it further with an analysis on the Magnus Brothers- and that would be best under a spoiler tag anyway. But suffice to say, in all regards, it is the depth of character that Basilio has and Will, contradictingly, does NOT have, that makes them fun to write, read, and ship.

[minweber]

The thing about Watchers of the Throne books is that I found them at best moderately interesting while reading through them, but have since thought about their contents much more often than such review would suggest.

It comes down, rather unsurprisingly, to the main characters. Valerian and Aleya are great! Each is interesting to read about solo and they have a great dynamic when put together... It’s a real shame then, how little of them as a duo we actually get. Makes me wish that the whole Tieron/Jek/High Lords/Terran perspective on the historic events thing - which actually is also great! - was its own separate book, while these two starred in a different, smaller scope story.

But the part that really makes me come back is how appealing I find both Valerian and Aleya as windows into mentality of their respective orders. The way they think, act and react gels really well with the way I want to see Custodes and Sisters portrayed - so much so, in fact, that it's almost a shame that both of them are presented as something of deviants within their factions.

Valerian's calm and pleasant, but somewhat detached manner is a great way to portray these nigh-immortal superhumans, I think! Competent and well-meaning, but so far removed from the humans they interact with, that they aren't capable of fully understanding some of their emotions and motivations.

One of my favorite bits of the first book is when Aleya takes her frustrations with custodians' inaction out on Valerian and accuses him of not caring about humans and their lives by mentioning her homeworld and going "Oh, I bet you've never even heard about it". Not wanting to antagonize her, Valerian doesn't object, but in his head begins to reflexively recount a whole ass wikipedia article on the place, to a level of detail that suggests that he probably knows more information about it and its history than Aleya herself. What a delicious moment! Both refuting and supporting her sentiment - clearly this sort of detached, "academic" knowledge does not infer the kind of caring she meant... but it does infer some kind of caring. Even with a magic brain of a custodian, taking time to study something, learn about it in detail, put in effort - it all implies care for the subject - possibly a huge amount of it, depending on the perspective.

And I really like that! For a setting so obsessed with trans- and post- humanism, warhammer - in my whiny opinion - doesn't seem to delve enough into the way its supposedly hyperevolved superhumans would think. More often that not the depiction of what is supposed to be this whole other mode of human existence is limited to a character being super smart while offscreen and having very hightened, operatic emotions while onscreen.

And on one hand - it is very understandable why it ends up this way. All stories we tell - be their subjects talking objects or space supersoldiers - are, at least in some way, about human condition. So distancing your characters from it may seem counterproductive to telling a good story. But on the other hand - surely there exists enough variance in this incredibly vague term to justify broader exploration and departures? I found Valerian's way of thinking and caring to be a refreshing and interesting character trait. But could it mean something more, be more relatable perhaps, to someone neurodivergent? Or just someone otherwise different from me?

What I am trying to say is that I believe that leaning into exploration of what various "modified" ways of human thinking and perception might look like, is not only worthwhile as a tool for creating better fantasy stories - but also a generally useful literally tool that can help one deepen their understanding of others.

Aleya's side of the story actually feeds into it as well, though, I believe, a bit differently. Where the entertaining thing about Valerian is often how unconscious he is of his differences from those he interacts with, Aleya overcompensates in the other direction. She seems to be very acutely aware of how her condition makes her different from regular humans, and constantly runs her perception of the world through that filter, noting that several times throughout the books how her opinions or reactions are different to those a regular human would have in the same situation.

There are the fairly objective consequences of her powers, like most humans being uncomfortable around her, or her perceiving daemons and all their activity drastically differently. But she also notes herself as being less emotional than humans (which further reading... puts in question) as well as often unable to understand their motivations (which is very much a thing that very regular humans do as well). And while entirely possible as consequences of whatever pariahs' condition in warhammer is supposed to be, it is also tempting to say that it may have much more to do with her self-perception and upbringing. And that, in turn, poses a question about the source of otherness in general - we've all felt alienated at one or another point in our lives, but how much such feeling are to be trusted? When do they come from within and when without? When do we fight them, and when do we embrace them?

Anyway, the books are fine. I am normal about them. They kill a few Minotaurs in there.

[dufferpuffer]

I understand you’re all very smart for revisiting the story with the knowledge that Snape was one of the good guys, and that everything he did was to protect Harry, and I even understand how wrong it was of Lupin to not straight up reveal Sirius was an animagus. But in the great scheme of things, the WAY he outs Remus will never not be an asshole move. He used a stigmatised condition to outrage parents, he appealed to the most prejudiced and unkind side of people.

I really wish people would stop talking about Snape outing Remus like it was rightful. Remus quitting his job was appropriate. Dumbledore firing Remus would also have been appropriate. Snape weaponising Remus condition and ultimately hurting the employability of all werewolves is just bad! I feel insane when I read these takes trying to justify it!

thankyou for acknowledging I am very smart, please add 'beautiful' and 'handsome' next time too B^) if you want to add a little more passive aggressive condescension to it, maybe 'sexy'

Severus Snape told the students Remus was a werewolf. He wasn't writing letters to parents.

Ted Bundy crossed with Harry Houdini was on school grounds - and Severus had just had confirmation that Remus Lupin was helping him, even outright casting spells on children like the pied piper. That's what Severus believed. Sirius Black has been a dangerous, violent man since he was a teenager. Remus is a crafty slimeball who lies through his teeth - and was always in on Sirius' schemes.

They are both hiding nearby, Remus would be turning back into a human soon - what is he supposed to do? Respect Remus' medical privacy when he is armed, dangerous, willing to trick children and at his most vulnerable...?

Nobody is going to listen to 'Lupin is working with Sirius Black - and no matter what he might try to convince you, that's a bad thing' They ARE going to listen to 'Lupin is a werewolf, he is always away on the Full Moons - don't listen to him if he offers you candy'

Is there pettiness in that? Absolutely. Snape is a git and he holds no love for werewolves, who are mostly aligned with Voldemort.

But if he was interested in ruining things for them, he has had 18 years to do something to Lupin. Hes had all year to leak it to the kids. He only says anything when the students are in acute danger. In Harry's DADA class he did his best to arm the children with knowledge on werewolves in the little time he had - and repeats that by telling them of the acute danger in Remus, not just the vague. (Remus cancelled that task. He could have lowered the word count or extended the due date - anything so the lesson wasn't wasted - but he cancelled it out of fear.)

EDIT: I also want to point out: while I think it is implied Remus being outed publicly as a werewolf did lead to Dolores' werewolf legislation being passed to make it more difficult for them to get work - Severus only said he was a werewolf. It wasn't illegal for werewolves to work, just socially unacceptable. If simply stating he was a werewolf was enough to cause it - then it was simply the straw that broke the camels back. Likely why Remus never blames Severus: 'it would have happened one day anyway, and he was good to me overall.' (though Remus has a very low bar in terms of what he regards as 'good to him' tbh)

[itmeblog]

WE ARE LIVE!

You can currently find The Unusual Courtship of Pax the Faerie on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and on my ko-fi! (In both EPUB and PDF)

And now I get to talk about it!

TL:DR This is how I wrote a novella with

Genderqueer faerie

A human who fae find attractive but not for the reasons you'd think

A couple that is endgame and a couple that is very much not not endgame based on two very different relationships with our titular character.

A deep and surprisingly thoughtful search for oneself and soul

A lot of religious references, just so many references

BDSM vibes

You can enjoy the madness with me. Below. Because this is not what I set out to write. I had intended to follow the standard romantasy script and determine if I wrote something that appealed to major markets if I'd manage to snag myself an agent. This is not what happened.

I wrote this book because I became fascinated by ACOTAR. It is imperative that I make it very, very clear, at the point that I started thinking about Pax, I had never read nor picked up anything written by Sarah J Maas. This story will make no sense if I did. I was only vaguely aware of her existence. I had heard some withCindy rants and then decided to get an overview from someone who genuinely enjoyed the book.

I went into this knowing it was a story about big, sexy, well-endowed men and a girl with perhaps too little fire power between her ears. It is also the book that I consider ground zero of the maleness ("he felt very male"? Girl what does this mean??) epidemic.

And I had questions.

If the fae are beautiful, sexy, and promiscuous then why have fated mates? Why make them stop being promiscuous? Wasn't that some of the fun?

If sex does not have the same weight in their society (presumably) then why is it saved only for romantic partners?

In a world where everyone can shapeshift why so much misogyny? If there is misogyny why do people not shapeshift or dress to pass as male in order to gain some modicum of protection?

Wouldn't it have had to develop in a completely different fashion than we're used too?

Why are the gendernorms so human?

Why would a faerie be interested (romantically and aesthetically) in a human?

So. Many. Straight. Faeries.

Why make the love interest the exception to the cruel nature of the fae when you can just make the human so much worse?

Angels???? ANGELS?????!!

NOTE: At this point I still had not picked up the book.

ALSO PROBABLY IMPORTANT: I am very aro.

Here's what I knew:

Horny

Faeries

Religion??

These are the rules I stuck to. So, while developing Pax, he was meant to be pretentious and very deeply wrong in her understanding of religion and the passages he quotes. I called a friend (from an old school Italian Catholic family, very old school) for some direction.

I explained the premise and she went, "no, you're not looking for passages, you're looking for the Ecstasy of St. Teresa"

This, my friend, is where things got out of hand.

This is the Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Considered one of the most risque statues of the Baroque period. Inspired by this

"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying" - St. Teresa of Avila

Needless to say I became obsessed, which is great because St Teresa of Avila was a fascinating woman who sat in Spain, a mecca of Abrahamic religions, during the Spanish Inquisition (there's a lot of overlap in beliefs here). And she wrote a lot.

NOTE: Very important, I had intended to write this as a sexy l'il romp with a slightly toxic pairing, k? Like Pax's infatuation was 110% meant to be a little tongue in cheek. I wanted this to be marketable, I wanted to maybe get published. Yeah? I went wrong immediately when I decided Pax would be genderfluid but shut up. It's fine. We're here, everything is queer, we are rapidly sinking into a mire of 500 year old esoteric religious subtext. You with me? Cool.

I read several dissertations on sensuality in religion as well as many many things about the unintentional yet constant eroticization of pain (it happens so much omg, I cannot look at crucifixes the same anymore). And the break down of St. Teresa of Avila's 7 mansions of the Interior Castle (which I've also read), which explains in detail how to find god within oneself. Some of these papers were 100s of pages long. The pile of research I did for this was honestly bigger than the phone books of my youth.

As I said, this got deeply out of hand.

It also became the foundation for Pax's personality and the lens through which he experiences the world. Note: the woman Pax falls in love with is very much not God, she is also very much not safe.

So now I have this very raunchy book about faeries, religion, and sex, and finally FINALLY only after I finished, did I attempt to read ACOTAR.

And I fucking overshot.

I overshot so, so, so far.

I was aiming for Mars and I've ended up on Pluto. When all you hear about a book is how explicit it is and how it's the fairy porn book you assume it's more than 2 scenes.

You assume a lot of things about those scenes and the responsiveness of the heroine. Tamlin if that was the best you've ever had... what pray tell was the point of making you fae?? Are none of your lovers responsive or could it be you're a pleasure dom? Please, little fae man who has wild spring orgies, speak to me. What is your story?

So now I have a novella with

Genderqueer faeries

A queer love interest

A human who fae find attractive but not for the reasons you'd think

A couple that is endgame and a couple that is very much not not endgame based on two very different relationships with our titular character.

Way too much sex

A deep and surprisingly thoughtful search for oneself and soul

A lot of religious references, just so many references

BDSM vibes

[nat-the-octo]

man, Splatoon 3 is basically over, huh?

Everyone is doing their Splatoon stories rn, so I guess I’ll do mine I got Splatoon 2 with some Christmas money in New Years of 2020. My only previous knowledge of the series was a vague concept of the game when the first came out and watching old Failboat videos on it like Octo Expansion and photoshopping new weapons. I wasn’t really into video games as an interest (hyper fixation) until the pandemic, where my mom got a switch lite for the family to see the new animal crossing, and me later getting my own console for my birthday later in the year. All of which is to say: I didn’t know what I was getting into with Splatoon.

I sat down minutes after midnight (probably sleep deprived) and I was thrust into this colorful, creative, and diverse world where you’re constantly encouraged to stand out, make a difference, and live by your own rules. It’s difficult to explain why this game where people living how they want get to cover mundane gray cityscapes with color and life was so instantly appealing to me, but it struck a chord that sent me hurtling down a rabbit hole that would without exaggeration, change the course of my life.

I immediately played through the story mode, then played it 8 more times to collect every weapon, got my ass beat by Octo Expansion, cried during Into the Light, 100% Octo Expansion, and was lucky enough to be just in time for the real final splatfest of Splatoon 2. (I lost) This also boosted me to be able to actually experience and understand more video games as a whole, but that’s a different topic. This all led me to February 2021, (yes that all happened in 2 months) where me and my friend skipped online school to watch the direct on a playground in my neighborhood, and saw the reveal of Splatoon 3. From here, everything begins to speed up. I found my way onto Inkipedia, consumed all possible knowledge about this tiny trailer that was available, then consumed all info and lore about the current games, including characters, old splatfests, previous metas, splatband lore, and more. THAT led me to splatoon theories, (shoutout to rassicas), which later led me to splatoon fanon with theories and ships and ocs and suddenly it’s September 2022.

Ironically the section of time with Splatoon 3 might be the part I have the least to say about, mostly because it all feels so recent even today. I watched the trailers, read the twitter posts, thought Shiver was nonbinary, played the testfire, everything. Everything post launch feels so wonderful and great and everything I wanted from the game and more. I actually felt like I was apart of a community as I debated splatfest topics with my friends and complained about my weapons being nerfed. (I still get upset about the tenta missile nerf from like. a month after launch.)

I think this part of the story will hit a lot harder in a few years, when I experience my first actual content drought instead of joining at the end of one, but for now, I can just be satisfied by my memories and experiences with the series so far. This franchise has truly changed who I am today and will be in the future. I’m a completely different gender person now because of playing the game, and now I have my own little theories and ships and ocs that I haven’t put to page and all the things that made me start in the first place, and it feels like I’m truly part of a community for once.

idk how to end this so to whoever read this far, thank you, honestly. I hope we both get to live the lives we want in the future, no matter what life throws at us.

P.S. here’s a pic of my main OC for the first time, might do more stuff with her if i feel like it

[beevean]

What pisses me off the most about NFCV is the way it disrespects the original medium of video gaming. The show sets up a potential action setpiece similar to a level from the game (the turning wheel, s1e3 I think) and then just *walks around it*. Everything about the way "Devil Forging" works in the show demonstrates that Ellis didn't even consult a cutscene compilation, much less the game. And sure enough, the fucker admits he never played them. Why adapt source material you've never experienced?

*Captain N* (a show I defend to the death) was better than this. It embraces the action montage, and even if things aren't 1-to-1, they do capture the appeal of the gameplay they adapt. It understands people love the original work. NFCV plows through the formalities of adapting a guy skimming the wikipedia summary of the game and then sits everyone in a basement for a full season.

The only times I felt I was watching an adaptation of Castlevania was in S1, with things like the fight against the Cyclop who petrified Sypha and Trevor falling into the deepest catacombs where Alucard hid himself, and in S4, where the last fight before the final showdown with Death happens in a clock tower, his iconic hideout.

As for the rest, I remember some snarky fans defending the show's wildly different direction with things like "what, did you expect to see Trevor jumping on platforms?" I don't know but it sure as shit would have been better than the trio wasting the entirety of S2 cooped up in a library! Yes, I would have preferred to see them travel through forests and caves and swamps, instead of wasting my time watching N!Alucard being a complete jerk to N!Trevor for no good reason! (and no, defending vampires is not a good reason)

bro. bro not even the vampire killer is treated with respect. it's replaced with the morning star which is a different weapon, and then n!trevor drops it in favor of a knife pulled out of the story's ass. the morning star pisses n!dracula off, but a fucking stick is capable of killing him. are you doing this on purpose.

And don't get me started on Devil Forging. I actually don't mind too much the idea of making it more similar to necromancy, because it would fit with the idea that it's a cursed, disgusting, blasphemous art. I also can concede that the knowledge that Dracula infused Hector and Isaac with his own power is very obscure, vaguely implied in one cutscene in CoD and one panel of PtR, and confirmed in a pre-release interview. But everything else is so less interesting. It's an art that apparently N!Hector was born with for no reason and N!Isaac could study on his own, removing the personal connection between Dracula and Forgemasters. There are other Forgemasters in the world: those two are not special (which also makes me wonder why N!Dracula bothered to hire N!Hector with a lie when he could have travelled some more: I'm sure Miranda would have helped him). N!Isaac eventually becomes so OP he can stibby stabby to create new Night Creatures without any effort. None of the interesting themes about dehumanization or forcing pure creatures to sin are hinted at*. Even N!Hector's unique cavalier relationship with death, a genuinely but interesting childish mentality of "oh no, death is sad! but I can fix it!", is never explored, because the story was too busy making him look stupid and breedable. And to top it all off, Nocturne literally introduces the concept of a Devil Forging machine which is so bad it sucks even in universe.

*the closest thing to this is in S4 with this line from N!Isaac: "You believe you are tools of destruction only because this is how your kind have always been used". Admittedly, it's a cool line I would have loved to apply to Hector and Isaac. But it doesn't quite work because by definition Night Creatures are not innocent, being demons from hell... and anyway he keeps using them to kill people in Styria because N!Isaac is a bastard and unlike Isaac he won't even admit it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that line comes off as so self-aggrandizing and I hate how much the show shills him so I won't cut it any slack because I'm petty.

As for Captain N, I will say this: the inclusion of the Poltergeist King is, of course, totally wrong from a lore stand point, but to me it tells that the writers actually read the manual in search of information, and the American manual really was the only resource they had at their disposal at the time. Just like that, they put in more effort than Warren "somehow didn't realize on his own that Mathias Cronqvist was Dracula's human name while reading a wiki page" Ellis.

[intogenshin]

A lot went into creating Alhatham and Kaveh and how they contribute to the major themes of the chapter

I do think Alhaitham was meant to channel some of Nietzsche's worldviews, especially with regards to his elitism (since Nahida voices that concern in her voiceline about him), but ultimately just comes across as an egoist. The fact Haitham references Tagore, whose lectures (some of them) seem to be in response to Nietzsche, in his teaser and the conclusion of his arc being that he refuses the position of Acting Grand Sage both act as a denial of Nietzsche rhetoric

Kaveh has Zoroastrianism, the origin of western morals that Nietzsche was critical of, and Schopenhauer, a hero turned clown for Nietzsche (and Indian philosophy grifter) in his corner of all things, but also, and I don't understand why, fucking Ayn Rand

I want to believe miss Rand ripped off someone else who Hoyo chose as their inspiration and I just don't know who they are, but until then I have to use her name

I think fans find a bit of a dissonance between Kaveh's altruism and his idealism in art, maybe because he used all that money in such a self interested project instead of a selfless cause. Not hoyos best writing imo? Lol

Rand was an egoist who wrote fiction to shape her idea of her ideal man, something she used as a political tool against socialism in favor of capitalism, but hoyo didn't bring up ideology so I won't either.

In The Fountainhead, the protagonist is an architect who often argues with his clients and faces many difficulties in his commitment to his artistic ideals, going against an industry and a society that doesn't value innovation. The character itself and the story are pretty annoying and unlikeable, I'm just making it sound appealing, but it's pretty much the structure of Kaveh's struggle in his own line of work.

The difference is, in the novel the values the protagonist challenges are that of tradition with his ideals of modernism that neglect aesthetics. Kaveh is a pretty grounded architect in that regard, he does prioritize practicality and is realistic with budgets, but he also respects the aesthetic aspect of his work, the main struggle of his character is the devaluation of arts after all.

To me, what stands out is the intention behind this. The Fountainhead is more or less a statement on individuality (though Rand for sure tried to pass it as individualism), of going against what's established and what the society enforced through collective pressure. I think there is value in Hoyo making the same point with a character that embodies everything Rand was critical of (and other egoists like Stirner and Nietzsche): altruism, self sacrifice, compassion, collectivism. Kaveh defends and upholds the value of his individuality while sporting the ethical philosophy that egoists claim does the complete opposite. The message of the novel is something like "only through egoist values can man assert his individuality, altruists are dumb and lose their identity" yet here hoyo does the same with an altruist

The personality of the protagonist fits completely that of Alhaitham, he's a wild exploration of what Ayn Rand characters would look like if they weren't fucking annoying.

Something that immediately struck me was the fact Rand removed all (except for two) instances of the protagonist sharing his inner world, the narration of his inner monologues that Rand wrote in the draft didn't make it to the published version. This is because it made the protagonist come across as calm and collected, logical at all times in his behavior and his decisions in contrast to the other characters who share their anxieties, insecurities and frustrations. Likewise, the audience never finds out what Alhaitham is feeling at any point of the story. Even during the aq when traveler reveals his experience in Sumeru, the narration shares something relevant about Cyno (vague, but personal all the same) yet about Alhaitham it only says he's interested. Other than that, his story quest is also a larger reference to the novel, but not that important in terms of his character.