#i wanted to retcon the hawke family and do my own thing but the thing is……. that would probably be difficult 😭

[greyswarden]

i have been pondering on this for a while and i decided to make the executive decision to switch ariel over to surana rather than amell simply because of the blank slate background and the freedom i can get from that 🫶

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (April 24th-May 3rd)

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette is exposed to the world as Ladybug by the end of the series. This is largely so Adrien gets to bask in everyone knowing that HE ended up with Paris' protector on his arm, emphasizing her status as a trophy that he won.

This feels too likely, I hate it.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: After being badgered into trusting her with the Fox, Marinette tries to convince Alya that she can't expose herself as Rena Rouge any further, and should take advantage of the Fox's long-range capabilities to stay hidden. Alya dismisses the danger; if she tries hiding at all, it doesn't take long to reveal herself, claiming it's unheroic to hide. Shadowmoth then targets her personally, with Marinette taking the blame.

I WOULD EXCUSE THE FOX THING IF IT STAYED LONG RANGE BUT I’M WAITING FOR THEM TO RUIN IT

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Rather than outing Ladybug, Alya reveals *herself* as Rena Rouge. She claims that this is fine since Hawkmoth already knows her secret identity... and besides, it gives the LadyBlog more cred!

Because why not I guess, the bar for her is already so low.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will be forced to give up Guardianship/go through the memory wipe... but continue as Ladybug. This is mined for Sadrien AND resets LadyNoir; she no longer recalls all the annoying shit he's pulled, offering a fresh start. May lead into Reversed Rectangular Romance with Chat Noir pining after the old Ladybug while she develops a crush on her brooding partner. He's so ~dark~ and ~mysterious~ and gives her such ~wistful looks~!

Marinette gets to give up guardianship but at what cost. (also, that last line about Chat being dark and brooding)

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: In a Shocking Twist, Emilie is revealed to have been evil and manipulative like Chloe/Lila, and presented as solely responsible for her husband's jerkassery. This sets up GabNath as endgame with Gabriel absolved for all his misdeeds. (Any similarities between Emilie and her son's behavior are summarily ignored.)

Because Adrien is male, obviously. He gets a pass.

Anonymous said:

Didn't need the Burrow: A lot of Adrien's supposed childhood friendship with Chloe was actually with Zoe. Which is supposed to give the new character some instant connections and serves as another proof of Chloe being irredeemable. Bonus: Marinette finds out and whether or not she spills the beans, it will be something she'll get called out for.

So, either a retcon or Adrien comes off as even more of a liar in “Origins.”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Su-Han will tell Marinette outright that her responsibilities mean she's not allowed to be happy. This is used to garner sympathy for HIM - Isn't it sad how his duties have completely consumed his life? Clearly he needs help learning how to unwind and relax! Meanwhile Mari's drowning in the background, but this isn't about HER, now is it?

I’M SO SAD

WHYYY

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Adrien discovers Gabriel's secret and hides the truth, forbidding Plagg from telling anyone. Not just to protect his father/family, but because he's not ready to stop being Chat Noir. No villains means no reason for heroes, and he doesn't even know his lady's secret identity yet--! Naturally, his reasoning is treated as totally understandable and sympathetic, even as he enables the conflict to continue indefinitely.

“CHAT BLANC” VERSION 2.0 I HATE IT DX

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Hawk/Shadowmoth starts aiming to *kill* the exposed/temp heroes in order to prevent them from potentially joining battles. This only happens during akuma fights (so that it falls upon Ladybug to 'set things right' with her powers). Chat Noir makes minimal (if any) effort to protect them, relying upon his 'partner' to carry the day instead and bring them back.

Ladybug: *trying to save everyone*

Chat Noir: *filing his claws in the background*

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will be pressured to make others permanent heroes and let them have their Miraculi full-time. This sets up for Hawkmoth to eventually get his hands on the Miracle Box, meaning any Miraculi that haven't been distributed are now in the villains' clutches. Not only does this dramatically cut down her pool of allies, Marinette gets to be guilt-stricken over failing all her duties and not listening to their demands while she had the chance.

Marinette, you’re such a fAilUrE as guardian!!

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Zoe will turn out to be another love interest for Adrien - only it's as the New-Bee with *Chat Noir*, enabling the dreaded Reversed Romo-Rhombus dynamic with Ladybug becoming jealous of their chemistry.

girls are such jealous types, haven’t you guys heard? :)

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Ladybug gets a new default look (for the sake of selling more ML merch in Real Life), trading the spotted onesie for another form-fitting spandex suit that 'highlights her feminine charms' even more. This is treated as a sign of her 'growing up'.

wow i hate it

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya shipping Marinette with both Adrien and Chat Noir after finding out her identity.

I am 100% not here for shipping shenanigans.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will be responsible for leading Lila to suspect that Marinette and Ladybug are connected. Though Alya may actually *realize* that she slipped up, she won't warn Marinette about the potential security breach, not wanting her to get upset/any more paranoid than she already is.

And of course, this will be used to make people “sympathize” with her. See, she cAreS about Marinette’s feelings, how can you be mad at her for this??

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: There will be more plots where Marinette's 'lesson of the week' is that she must learn how to better control and suppress her emotions, and that she is literally not ALLOWED to be upset because Hawk/Shadowmoth will win if she does. At the same time, Adrien is encouraged to marinate in his own unhappiness over Ladybug not giving in to his advances. If the danger involved ever comes up, it's presented as purely Ladybug/Marinette's fault for rejecting him.

I’m starting to think some of you are ZAG insiders because wow that sounds likely. DX

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: A recurring theme in episodes featuring the 'girl squad' will be Marinette meddling too much, as her efforts to help them cross boundaries THEY aren't comfortable with. If she dares to bring up their past insistence that friends don't keep secrets, they'll call her out as a hypocrite while refusing to acknowledge their own hypocrisies.

“Marinette’s boundaries? Who??? No, Marinette, what about THEIR boundaries???” - the writers

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Adrien will feel sorry for Chloe and regret the role he played in her losing her Miraculous. This is mainly a vehicle to help explain why everything that went wrong with her/Queen Bee is totally, 100% Marinette/Ladybug's fault, along with showing how forgiving Adrien is and how he 'sees the best in everyone', and is clearly right to do so. Bonus: this is combined with him distrusting the NewBee for not being Chloe/making her jealous.

*sigh*

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Chloe will get akumatized out of anger over the New Bee, and Ladybug is blamed for her insensitivity/forced to apologize to her.

I’m still stunned at the mental gymnastics they go through to make Marinette/Ladybug apologize to people.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Su-Han will confirm the popular fan claim that Ladybug and Black Cat bearers are, in fact, soulmates/bound together by destiny. Chat Noir gleefully rubs this in Ladybug's face; her disbelief and horror is played entirely for laughs at her expense. Adrien's behavior escalates further afterwards, bolstered by the knowledge that it doesn't matter how shitty he gets, as she belongs to him regardless.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: In addition to confirming the notion that Ladybugs and Black Cats are 'meant to be', it's revealed that other Miracli are destined soulmates, like Foxes and Turtles or Butterflies and Peacocks, and other random Miraculi pairings that 'coincidentally' align with various official ships.

brb, need to step away to scream on my porch

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: At least one episode will have Marinette mess up a potion, preventing her and the other heroes from enjoying its benefits during a big fight. This is blamed either on her anxiety causing her to overthink it or on her being a poor student, lamenting the fact that she didn't have more time with Master Fu. (Bonus if Su-Han takes advantage of this to slam Fu; extra bonus points if Mari defends him by insisting *she* was the one who screwed up, not her master.)

It’s like a main course of Marinette blame, oh my god.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Su-Han will make various sexist comments about Marinette and the other heroines, implying that they were all poor choices Because Girl. Since nothing says 'Girl Power' like insisting they must prove themselves to doubtful men who will never fully accept them. After all, Marinette is the only one who ever learns lessons; therefore, Su-Han will never grow out of his 'old-fashioned views'.

And when the writers are called out, they’ll go, “bUt hE’s jUst oLd fAshiOned”

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Adrien gets his Ring revoked by Su-Han for misbehavior. This is depicted as a terrible miscarriage of justice, and Marinette must convince Su-Han to return the Ring without learning who Chat Noir is. The more terrible the inciting act, the bigger the bonus points; did he skip another battle like Glaciator? Pull another Syren-level stunt? Cataclysm another innocent? Who cares? Sadrien is Sad, and that's the biggest crisis of all...

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Adrien pulls another Syren-level stunt (or worse); rather than holding him responsible, Su-Han berates Marinette for her poor leadership and failure to keep him in line. Bonus if she confides/vents to Alya afterwards only for Alya to AGREE with Su-Han that she's failed at being a good partner to Chat Noir. Fever Mode activates if Alya implies Marinette's failure is due to her inability to admit her feelings for Chat Noir and/or confess to Adrien.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will pull an Adrien re: Lila, refusing to openly support Marinette against her. She'll claim that they need to 'gather evidence' first before exposing her to everyone. In practice, this means that Alya is willing to continue feigning ignorance, pretending that she's taken in by Lila's lies, while Marinette continues to suffer since she won't play along. Any evidence-gathering we see Alya engaging in is minimal, if she's shown doing it at all.

This is 150% one of the most accurate Alya-Lila confrontations I’ve seen from these predictions.

I hate it.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: When confronting Lila, Alya will insist that 'Ladybug told me herself' that they aren't friends. Lila attempts to convince her that Ladybug is lying to try and protect her; this either works or spurs Alya to declare that LB 'hates liars', making her suspicious of Marinette's potential connections to the superheroine.

Alya

Alya why

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will only treat Marinette with anything approaching a veneer of respect while she's Ladybug. (As in 'Transformed/wearing the spotted suit/actively superheroing'.) Her behavior towards her 'regular BFF', meanwhile, will continue to degrade.

and, as a alternative:

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Having learned that Marinette = Ladybug, Alya shows less and less respect towards the superheroine. (Not that she displayed much in the first place, but you know what they say: familiarity breeds contempt. And Alya's convinced that she knows her SO WELL, despite all signs to the contrary...)

Thanks. Hate them both. T_T

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will end up outing Ladybug in a moment of anger. Though this is treated as impulsive and spur-of-the-moment, the act itself hints otherwise. (For example, she posts it on the LadyBlog; that post had to be *written up* first, and she likely had to think about what evidence she'd use to back up her claim... Not to mention if she includes pictures or video. Showing that Alya thought about it well before her 'tipping point', no matter how she claims otherwise.)

okay but you missed the part where Marinette is blamed for it--

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Tikki's comments about kwamis not understanding love are foreshadowing that they will later claim that Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship has shown them what true love is. Because none of the other relationships they've ever seen or experienced in their long, looooooong history compare to the Four-Cornered F**kery.

Tikki sure knew a lot about love when she commented on all of Marinette’s love issues.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Kagami will come to regret 'impulsively' breaking up with Adrien for being a lying jerkface, while Luka moves on and finds happiness with somebody else with relative ease. Because guys are allowed to move on with their lives while girls have to wallow in the miserable mires of wish-you-were-(still)-mine. Woes--!

no but see Adrien is “worthy” of love while Marinette isn’t

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette is either responsible for the secret Juleka's keeping (such as trusting her with a Miraculous) or inadvertently sets Rose on its scent in the first place, making her *supposedly* responsible for the strife which follows.

We already know that it’s not Juleka’s secret at least but Marinette could absolutely still set Rose off.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will be taught techniques/given a power-up that shuts off her emotions completely, or simply reaches the point where she figures out how to do so on her own. This is ultimately shown to be a bad thing/another mistake not because of the toll it takes on her psyche, but because the fully repressed Marinette/Ladybug no longer has any interest whatsoever in Adrien, and *we can't have THAT!*

Us getting to see Marinette not crushing on Adrien... but at what cost?

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Alya posts more embarrassing content on the LadyBlog, making it look like Ladybug keeps screwing up/making mistakes. Marinette asks her to stop, worried that she's undermining people's faith in her; Alya blows off her concerns and accuses her of getting a swelled head/becoming a 'control freak' about her image, insisting it's no big deal if people see she's human while refusing to treat her as such. (Meanwhile none of Chat Noir's mistakes/misbehavior make it onto the blog.)

“Bonus” if Alya gets particularly huffy because it’s jOunrAliSm and she’d be bIAsEd if she took down something that made her fRiEnD uNComOFTablE.

elflynns-horde-of-stuff said:

Don't need a burrow: The upcoming episode "Guiltrip" is gonna be 50% Sadrien. And we won't even get any new developments on his character for it.

so the usual

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: It's revealed that Ladybug holders are 'natural good luck charms' for everybody around them, but are punished by karmic backlash for even the *slightest* hint of selfishness (or self-consideration). Hence Marinette's whole plight, which is still presented as her fault for not being able to reach an impossibly perfect ideal. (Anything we learn about Black Cat holders, meanwhile, is purely for Agrestangst and has no bearing on anything observable within the show itself.)

Honestly, with the bad luck Marinette had in “Origins,” you’d think she’d be meant for the cat and been taught about the values of destruction and just being able to Go Off on people, or how to spin her bad luck into something good (or the black cat miraculous in general helps her channel her bad luck, such as making her Cataclysm stronger or being able to give her bad luck to others).

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: The show ends with Marinette and Adrien getting together, with Marinette declaring that everything she went through was worth it and that she's 'incredibly lucky' -- that the fact fate brought them together is 'nothing short of Miraculous!'

The sheer level at which I just cringed in immeasurable.

Anonymous said:

Didn't need the Burrow: A S5 episode will drop before S4 is finished.

Oh! Ahaha, we’ve got a wavelength, anon! I actually already added that one at some point.

Anonymous said:

Didn't need the Burrow: The series will not really make Rose/Juleka canon. They will imply it but the official language used in the episode will be "best friends". Yet on Twitter the creators will pat themselves on the back repeatedly for it

I mean, this already partially happened in “Reflekdoll” so--

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: It'll be confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that Adrien 100% knows about Marinette's crush when he uses it to manipulate her. Plagg comments on it, and Adrien affirms that he knows, but her feelings don't compare to his own for Ladybug. ('And aren't worth sparing' goes unsaid, but is naturally implied.) Naturally, his manipulation of her is treated as 'clever', and any pain or mortification she feels as a result is just gravy.

Anonymous said:

Didn't Need Burrow: Adrien reveals to Plagg (and the audience) that he's fully aware of Marinette's crush, but refuses to acknowledge it because he doesn't want to 'crush her dreams', comparing it to how Ladybug keeps rejecting him. Making the situation entirely about HIM and how HE feels, even showing some resentment towards her for HAVING that crush for HIM to deal with. Marinette and her feelings are painted as just an ANNOYANCE that he's ignoring, heedless of the impact upon her.

wow i hate them both

thank you, both of you

</3

[nyxetoile]

Can you give a quick summary of Dragon Age & what you like about it?

I don't know if there's such a thing as a "quick" summary of Dragon Age, but I'll try. I have only played the 2nd and 3rd games, so I'm skimming over the events of the first one.

The games take place in a world called Thedas (The Dragon Age Setting. No, I'm not kidding) that has several countries some of which get along with each other, others do not. The main ones that come into play are Fereldan, Orlais, Tevinter, and Qunari. The first three are all populated by humans, elves, and some dwarves (most dwarves live underground) and the Qunari are really tall humanoids with bull horns. (I am not getting into the Qunari retcon stuff, DA fans, don't at me). Elves are seen as lower class citizens, often used as servants or slaves in cities. Clans of Elves live outside the city, free but nomads. There is magic, and mages are seen as dangerous since they can be possessed by demons, so they are often hunted or kept locked in places called Circles so they can be monitored. A group called Templars control/hunt mages.

The first game deals with something called Blight effecting Ferelden. The Blight is both a disease that kills humans and a event that brings forth darkspawn and an archedemon (biiiig evil dragon). You play as a character that is part of a group charged with killing darkspawn and ending the blight.

In the second game you play as Hawke, who is a refugee from the Blight in Ferelden. You and your family end up in a coastal city called Kirkwall with a lot of crime and corruption. The game takes place over 7 years as you gain your fortune and reputation in Kirkwall. It ends when one of your companions sets into motion a mage rebellion and starts a war between Templars and mages.

The third game, called Inquisition, takes place not long after the second. A meeting is being held trying to attain peace in the mage/templar war, held by the Divine, who is like the Pope to the main human religion in Thedas. There is an explosion, everyone is killed except for your character. There is a hole in the sky and multiple rifts letting demons enter the world and you have a mark on you hand that allows you to close the rifts. This is where the game STARTS. It then follows you creating a group (The Inquisition) dedicated to closing the hole in the sky, sealing the breach, dealing with the mages and Templars, figuring out who blew up the Conclave and eventually saving the world from a guy who wants to tear open the barrier between the real world and the Fade, which is where demons and spirits come from.

I love the Dragon Age games for a lot of reasons. Obviously, there's a lot of history and lore to get lost in. Love me some world building. And all the games have interesting plots. But for me, it's mainly about the characters. In each game you recruit and befriend a rag tag group of misfits to help your quest. They usually have their own personal quests to complete, which gets you insight into their history and personality. There's always romance options, and most of them are well written and engaging. Your team becomes your found family, which is my favorite trope ever, and I have real affection for some of these characters. Your choices have far reaching consequences, and you can see those decisions play out over the three games. I have played Inquisition at least five or six times and I never get tired of it. It's my comfort game in the way so many of us have comfort movies or books.

[jojolightningfingers]

thought i forgot to do this, eh? nope! here’s the rundown on dual destinies!

- oof. where to start? as with most things there was some good and some bad. the good things kind of start and end with the characters, while the bad things permeate... much more than that. let’s see if i can stagger them.

- bad: the soundtrack. most of the AJ music is playing on repeat in my head months after the fact; meanwhile the only track from DD i can recall really enjoying is Reminiscence ~ A Sad Memory.

- good: athena. oh my god, athena. blithely honest athena, amazingly competitive athena, athena who busted her ass to become a multilingual fully barred lawyer in less than seven years and before the age of 19. athena who can flip a full grown man over her head on reflex. god bless her.

- bad: the models for phoenix and apollo are. so fucking stiff and ugly. all the ones that were made for DD like athena’s and the witnesses, those are fine, but when you start cribbing directly off of the sprites, it really shows, and it’s awful. the exceptions are klavier’s little laughing one that ends with a hair fwip and phoenix’s front-facing ones. and if you’re gonna have models snap from position to position with no inbetweens, why even have models? just use the sprites that are cleaner and better looking anyway. plus, the breakdowns.... let’s just say that kristoph’s doesn’t look so over the top anymore.

- good: the third case! I really like turnabout academy, even though it was HILARIOUSLY obvious that means did it. the one-off characters were delightful, it was just complicated enough to be a challenge without being too easy or too frustrating. klavier was there. the ending was heartwarming. 

- bad: some of the technical writing is... really handholdy for lack of a better word. and in a game where that handholding necessarily has to be delivered by characters talking to other characters, or thinking to themselves, it comes off as the characters in question just sounding really, really dumb and lacking common sense and basic logic skills. characters who, i remind you, are not only just barred and competent lawyers, but REPUTED for winning cases by thinking outside the box and conjuring hope by grasping at the thinnest of straws. characters who, moreover, didn’t HAVE this problem in their previous appearances. it is a HORRIBLE thing to handhold a puzzle/problem solving game, i will die on that hill. it defeats the whole point.

- good: blackquill is godot, but from an angle that i like a whole lot more. oddly enough i think the localization helped this one: he’d probably come off as pretentious and annoying as i found godot if i were playing the japanese version, where ace attorney canonically takes place in japan (and so an old-fashioned samurai attitude would sound really hoity toity), but in the context of an american-based ace attorney, he just sounds adorably, passionately nerdy for japan. plus, samurai metaphors are just cooler than coffee metaphors. and he just looks cooler. and has a hawk with a little scarf. does godot have a hawk with a little scarf? i didn’t think so.

- bad: dual destinies is bad, so bafflingly bad at relationships that happened in the past. when edgeworth is first mentioned to phoenix in the first game, we get a couple subtle hints before we even meet him that phoenix already knows who he is, and it’s confirmed before the third case even starts. we go for three whole cases with blackquill, with athena being present in all of them, before suddenly being told ‘oh yeah, athena knew him when she was little’. and given that athena has literally the exact same ‘i want to save this person from himself’ motivation that phoenix does, you’d THINK that this would be made a bigger deal of. it’s ridiculous that it’s not! athena deserved better.

- good: what we DID get of athena and blackquill interacting on a personal level, i did like very much. what can i say? i’m a sucker for that kind of dynamic. athena’s bruteforce determination to save blackquill from martyring himself for her sake, using her own abilities honed by her family’s work? that’s my candy.

- bad: i could say lots of things about the climax of the final case but it’d basically just be a retread of this post so i’ll let you look at that one instead.

- good: the dlc case was well thought out and interesting, and more importantly, long and involved enough to be worth the extra money spent. good story too!

- bad: this one’s the really big bugbear for me. do you know what would have been better for the cosmic turnabout than what actually happened? switch the roles that clay and starbuck had in the case. it would have immediately improved the whole thing. there is literally no point other than cheap, easy-bake drama to retconning a childhood friend for apollo and then killing him before he says a word. it has no impact. if starbuck were killed instead of clay? clay could still be devastated and upset that his beloved mentor is gone, which in turn would upset and unsettle apollo. drama would still come about with clay being suspected of the murder, it would only exacerbate the whole situation! hell, it might even be a good starting point for hinting at athena’s black psyche-locks, i’m sure apollo losing his cool and shouting that clay didn’t do it would be similar enough to her shouting that simon didn’t murder her mother to pry open some nasty repressed memories. instead, the way apollo reacted to clay’s death was.... just really weird. this is a guy who broke down in tears (AJ literally lists three different sound effects for it, one of them being *bawl*) when he saw trucy alive and well after apparently having been kidnapped, and he didn’t even know her all that well yet! and dual destinies would have me believe that this same person’s reaction to his BEST FRIEND dying in a senseless murder is one frustrated angry anime scream and going off batman style? like hell.

- overall, i was fine with the game while i was playing it, but i think it’s really telling that it took me two months to get through the whole thing. not because it was hard, but because i just didn’t really WANT to. definitely a big step down after AJ and AAI2.

[thankskenpenders]

Archie presents Ken Penders’ Knuckles the Echidna: A Postmortem

At long last, we’ve come to the end of the Knuckles solo series. Again, this is far from the end of the Penders Knuckles stories, but he no longer gets a whole series to himself. And thank God for that

While a 32 issue run (or really, 35, counting the first miniseries) might pale in comparison to Sonic’s nearly 300 issues, it’s a pretty impressive feat. That’s a lot of comics! A lot of series these days don’t get to enjoy runs that long. Hell, a lot are lucky to even last a year. And assuming that’s 22 pages of story in each issue, that means Penders got a whopping 770 pages of Knuckles comics where he got to do whatever he wanted

What did Penders spend those 770 pages doing? Well, he sure introduced a lot of new echidnas, that’s for damn sure. Let’s break down the Knuckles series arc by arc and briefly summarize what each one actually contributed to the world of Archie Sonic

Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis Knuckles miniseries #1-3

Characters Introduced: Enerjak. Knuckles also first meets Archimedes, who had been previously set up

Summary: Knuckles meets and begins to work together with Archimedes, who he inexplicably trusts right away. Enerjak comes back and announces he still wants to take over the world. Knuckles beats him up

Lasting Impact: Archimedes and Enerjak/Dimitri stick around as important-ish characters

Knuckles #1-3: The Dark Legion miniseries

Characters Introduced: The Dark Legion, Kragok, Steppenwolf, Christopholes, Menniker

Summary: The Dark Legion returns. The founding of the Brotherhood of Guardians is touched upon, as is their dumb pro-/anti-technology feud with the Dark Legion. Locke uses some sort of Chaos Emerald magic from afar to stop the Legion’s guns from firing so Knuckles can beat them up

Lasting Impact: The Dark Legion and the Brotherhood would be major players for the rest of the story

Knuckles #4-6: Lost Paradise

Characters Introduced: Julie-Su, Lara-Le, Remington, Helmut von Stryker, Gerbil, Hawking, Sabre, Wynmacher, some other fire ant whose name I forget

Summary: Ex-Dark Legionnaire Julie-Su suddenly defects from her faction to seek out Knuckles, because they “soul-touched” and now they’re destined to be lovers or something. Echidnaopolis suddenly comes back because reasons, and boy do they sure still have a lot of technology for people who said they renounced it. The dingoes are apparently evil fascists, and Hawking explains how racist he is to Knuckles.

Lasting Impact: Julie-Su and many of the characters here become mainstays in Knuckles’ supporting cast, and obviously Echidnaopolis becomes the main setting of the comic

#7-9: Dark Vengeance

Characters Introduced: The Echidna High Council, High Councilor Pravda

Summary: Enerjak comes back (again) and immediately becomes the new leader of the Dark Legion. Hawking is on life support. Enerjak kills Knuckles, but then the Ancient Walkers bring him back so he can be a Christ metaphor. Enerjak is defeated and turns back into Dimitri, who ages rapidly. Mammoth Mogul shows up so he can be trapped in the Master Emerald in the following Sonic issue

Lasting Impact: Dimitri’s old now

#10-12: The Other Road Taken

Characters Introduced: The Lost Tribe, Yanar, Athair’s mom (I forget her name), Rob O’ the Hedge and friends, Mari-An, Zax, Raynor, Gala-Na. Athair makes his first appearance in a Knuckles comic

Summary: The Lost Tribe is introduced. They’ve apparently been searching for the ancient echidna homeland of Albion in a big caravan for centuries. The Day of Fury happens, which doesn’t amount to much here compared to the literal apocalypses that share the title in the lore. They make a pit stop over in Snottingham in the Sonic series for some Robin Hood shenanigans, then Knuckles walks on water to lead them to Albion and continue being a Christ metaphor

Lasting Impact: These characters and locations are EVENTUALLY revisited, but not in the remainder of the Knuckles solo series

#13-15: The Chaotix Caper

Characters Introduced: Harry the cab driver, Mello (while dying), Unnamed(?) Echidna Doctor and Nurse, Downtown Ebony Hare, his fox girlfriend, his bulldog goon, the scientist guy who was making the drugs, Charmy’s family, Saffron, Jeepers the Bee Butler, a bear biker gang, Bimmy

Summary: Charmy’s apparent best friend Mello dies of a drug overdose. To investigate, the Chaotix all go to an amusement park, eat the drug-laced food, trip balls, and almost die. Charmy’s past is expanded upon so that he can then go home and get written out of the series. Knuckles starts to show off his Chaos powers

Lasting Impact: Harry sorta stuck around. We know more about Charmy, who is now gone

#16-18: Reunions, Deep Cover

Characters Introduced: Tobor, Moritori Rex, Spectre, Sojourner, Thunderhawk, Tobor’s family

Summary: Knuckles finds out his mom is getting married to Wynmacher. We find out that Lara-Le had major problems with the way Locke raised Knuckles, which goes nowhere. The Brotherhood convenes. We find out that one of them has been replaced with someone evil for years through one of the dumbest twists in the history of these comics. Knuckles beats up Kragok in jail, then Kragok and Tobor fuck off into a “quantum beam,” apparently killing them both. I didn’t even realize they died when I first read this. That may be a retcon

Lasting Impact: Tobor and Kragok died I guess. Lara-Le and Wynmacher’s marriage is teased

#19-21: The Forbidden Zone

Characters Introduced: Prince Elias Acorn, Queen Alicia Acorn, the bulldog colonel and his wife, a baby

Summary: Geoffrey and pals show up from the main series to rescue the Queen, only to walk right up to the Acorn family compound on Angel Island with no trouble and meet Sally’s long lost brother Elias, who nobody knew about. The Queen, meanwhile, is in a pod. Locke and Lara-Le meet up and he tries to kiss her for some mindboggling reason. Knuckles gets mad about all the secrets and finally meets the Brotherhood, but his dad isn’t there at the time. He also fights Moritori Rex (fake Tobor), who gets away 

Lasting Impact: Elias would become quite important... over in the Bollers stories in the main series. He had nothing to do with Knuckles.

#22-24: Dark Alliance

Characters Introduced: Lien-Da, Benedict, Xenin

Summary: Echidna/dingo tensions rise in the runup to the election. Dimitri is a cyborg now. Lien-Da is apparently the new leader of the Dark Legion, and she kidnaps and brainwashes the High Councilor so they can rig the election. Tons and tons and tons of tasteless allusions to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust are made. Knuckles shows off his Chaos powers a little more. The fact that Remington is Kragok’s son is alluded to, but Penders never actually remembered to reveal this in a comic

Lasting Impact: None

#25: Childhood’s End

Characters Introduced: Harlan, Rembrandt, Aaron, one of Robotnik’s ancestors

Summary: Knuckles finally finds his dad... because he didn’t run away fast enough when Knuckles spotted him. Locke tells him the baby microwave story. He also tells him about a vision of the future he had, which scared him into doing all the horrible things he did, but this future never actually comes to pass in the comics. Knuckles immediately forgives his dad for experimenting on him

Lasting Impact: Locke’s not hiding from Knuckles anymore

#26-28: The First Date (feat. Friend in Need)

Characters Introduced: Raynor (not to be confused with the other echidna named Raynor), a bunch of nameless furry girls for Vector to ogle; Nic the Weasel, the real Fiona Fox, Ray the Flying Squirrel

Summary: Julie-Su is mad at Knuckles, so she goes out with some other guy for half a day. Vector tries to get laid and acts like an incel. Locke gives Knuckles the talk. Knuckles finally actually asks Julie-Su out, then has his 16th birthday party. In the backup story, Mighty, Nic, and Fiona rescue Ray from a time anomaly, and Fiona’s past is explained

Lasting Impact: Knuckles and Julie-Su are dating now. Nic, Fiona, and Ray stuck around as important characters in the main series

#29: My Special Friend

Characters Introduced: None (but this is only one issue)

Summary: Sally tries to get help from the Brotherhood now that Robotnik is back in the main series, but they refuse because Sally won’t use guns. Knuckles is a centrist who won’t firmly side with Sally, so she leaves angrily. Along the way, Sally rationalizes her dad’s attempt at Robian genocide

Lasting Impact: None

#30-32: King of the Hill (feat. Espio the Chameleon)

Characters Introduced: Monk, Hunter, Snowpidgeon, Aryu One-Two; Barney, Liza, and several other unimportant chameleons

Summary: Knuckles’ childhood bully, a large purple gorilla, returns to Angel Island after being yeeted into the ocean by the Brotherhood years ago. A human hunter named Hunter shows up to reenact The Most Dangerous Game. Monk falls during the fight and dies. Hunter is captured. In the backup story, Espio has a run-in with the roboticized Valdez, his apparent best friend, who he then murders

Lasting Impact: Hunter eventually made a minor appearance in a Bollers story years later. Valdez dies

Are you noticing a trend? Things keep happening in these stories, but it rarely has much of an impact. One of the Guardians was a traitor all along? Eh, doesn’t affect much. The Dark Legion candidate in the election ends up being a robot and dies? Eh, they had a replacement ready--but also, the election didn’t matter anyway.

Rarely do we learn anything of value about the characters. Knuckles doesn’t grow much as a person, and he never gets much of a personality. Julie-Su’s whole life revolves around being soul bound to Knuckles with only the faintest hint of her own personality. The Chaotix never contribute anything of value. When something comes up to make us question Locke and the Brotherhood, Penders then goes “No, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Supporting characters and subplots that go nowhere keep getting introduced just so it can feel like a lot is going on, but it’s all shallow. Knuckles has like 12 grandpas, most of whom are still alive, and only maybe three of them are distinct in any way. They all just talk like Penders, just like every character in these comics (except for Vector, who gets to be Urban). Things just keep happening around Knuckles, often without his actual involvement, while Penders says that every other arc is the biggest most important thing that’s ever happened.

It’s the oldest trick in comics. End on a cliffhanger. Say that NEXT ISSUE something interesting will DEFINITELY happen. Promise that the story is going somewhere. Just keep buying more issues! But the payoff never comes

While Sonic’s better stories have him sprinting around the world, the Knuckles series just plops him down on a treadmill for 35 issues. In the background, he’s listening to a boring documentary about echidna lore and genealogies

His life is in shambles

[ghostwise]

Dragon Age Questions

@dirthara-mama tagged me for this! Thank you!! <3 I’ll tag @mabarihounds @antivan-surana and @vlwv 

01) Favourite game of the series?

Origins! It’s the first one I played, and each time I pick it up I find something entirely new in the experience. The characters feel like old friends, and the dialogue is really charming. It also has a ridiculous high-fantasy vibe that I love, which seems to be lacking in later games. I know it’s silly, I know it’s absurd and dated... but you just can’t beat that possessed rhyming oak tree npc…

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

When Inquisition was announced, I started seeing a lot of it on my dash, so a friend and I started playing the series! I was hooked pretty much right away.

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

I’ve finished Origins three times, DA2 twice, and I’m currently playing Inquisition for the first time!!  Exciting!

I also have a handful of unfinished playthroughs on Origins, which were attempts to create new Warden characters, but none of them got past the first quest. I just love my Mahariel too much… 

04) Favourite race to play as?

Elves! I love the worldbuilding behind them, the city elves, the Dalish, and the ancient elves. I hate pretty much everything about how these issues are handled in game, though.

05) Favourite class?

Mage!

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

Pretty much. I have tried to play as different characters so as to explore different outcomes and decisions, but again… I love my OCs too damn much.

07) Go-to adventuring group?

Origins: Hamal, Zevran, Morrigan, Sten. DA2: Renata, Varric, Anders, Isabela. Inquisition: Neluayo, Varric, Blackwall, Sera—so far!

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

Listen, I love creating OCs and putting ridiculous amounts of thought into them. It went from being a coping mechanism as a newly immigrated depressed and anxious child, to something I still love as an adult. I have a hard time picking one OC I put the most thought into…

But because I’ve played Origins the most, and played it first, Hamal has a lot more content in his tag than my other Dragon Age OCs. He’s my baby and I adore him.

09) Favourite romance?

Zevran’s, no question. I think he may be one of my favorite characters in the series, romance or no! I love his background and his personality and his character arc. My boy...

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

Nope!

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

Didn’t read any of them but I do own World of Thedas v1 and v2, and it seems each time I open it I find something new and surprising about the world. I love it!

12) Favourite DLCs?

I really enjoyed Return to Ostagar for Origins, and Legacy for Dragon Age 2. I know Inquisition has some amazing DLC content so I’m looking forward to that!

13) Things that annoy you.

The constant retconning, and rewriting of issues to suit a certain agenda in game. Especially regarding treatment of the mages or the elves. Like, I know this is a fictional narrative, okay? But it’s annoying to watch the story go from ‘Templars are unequivocally abusing their power and oppressing this group of people’ to ‘well they have good reason for it, sometimes you have to massacre an entire population because of one incident, it’s Gray Morality™ sweetie!’

Nah, it’s just bad writing! And it’s okay to admit that lol

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

I have no strong feelings on the matter. Would love to hear more about Antiva or Seheron!

15) Templars or mages?

Mages!

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

Same universe. I don’t have an interest in having multiple Wardens or Hawkes tbh, I... I get too attached lol

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

Hamal calls his mabari D’alen. He is the most spoiled mabari in all of Thedas, typically guarding the camp, never fighting or being placed in danger. Renata calls her mabari Nicolo, and she loves putting warpaint on him. The dog accompanied Carver at Ostagar and takes care of the family over their years in Kirkwall. I still need to name Neluayo’s hart!

18) Have you installed any mods?

A few for Origins (different robes for Morrigan and the realistic appearance mods for companions), and several for DA2 (dialogue tweaks and new hair/appearance options). But Inquisition seems kinda complicated to mod, and I don’t want to break the game hhhh

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

No, he wanted to find Tamlen and go back to his clan. He actually did take off after Ostagar, driven by anger and fear and homesickness. Alistair was devastated. Morrigan had to go and fetch him, convincing him to return.

20) Hawke’s personality?

A good mix of purple and blue, but let’s be real, Renata is pink. Whimsy, whimsy, whimsy.

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

I haven’t played around with armor creation yet… sounds fun though!

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Hamal would have gone after Tamlen. It’s his greatest regret. Even before encountering him as a ghoul, Hamal was never able to shake the feeling that Tamlen had survived. But Duncan shot down every hope, and there was so much going on after Ostagar… there came a point where Hamal accepted that Tamlen was gone. 

When he shows up again, too far beyond any help but a blade between his ribs? It’s not something he ever gets over.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Oh I love breaking canon.

Hamal never becomes Warden Commander. His political influence by the time of the Landsmeet is as perilous as you might expect of an angry and traumatized Dalish elf whose interest was more on surviving and defeating the Blight, than, say, being on any noble’s good side. The only reason he isn’t immediately executed is because he and his allies called in many favors and made many concessions. One being that he would leave the Wardens and not remain politically involved. Frankly, the crown and nobility hoped he would perish against the Archdemon. But here we are! 

Alistair becomes Warden Commander instead. Receiving the boon comes with challenges of its own. The Dalish receive all the land that was most tainted by the Blight. Reconstruction takes years and is still an issue during Inquisition era.

To that end, the political influence of the Dalish during Inquisition leads to a lot of changes for Neluayo’s canon too. Because the elves have a hold over much of the south, the Inquisition needs to ally with them to even gain access to those regions. Neluayo being Dalish herself smooths things over some, but she is really in a complex position, with the Dalish, with the Chantry, with the monarchy… being stationed in the Free Marches, Clan Lavellan is one of the clans that has yet to join the southern Dalish. It’s a huge stressor for her.

As for Hawke, I keep both her siblings alive. Renata needs her little sister ;; <3 They do all go their separate ways after events in Kirkwall though. Orsino is also alive. Varric was clearly covering for him!

And I know Hawke already has a VA buuuut I headcanon Renata’s voice to sound more like Brittany Howard’s! Because it’s adorable.

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

Not really. I never create them with any one source of inspiration or influence in mind.

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

I’m gonna leave Stroud in the Fade! Makes my life a lot easier lol

26) Favourite mount?

I’ll agree that the harts are amazing! And they’re just so TALL. Love those majestic Thedosian megafauna. The bog unicorns are cute too, they’ve grown on me, surprisingly. Ha!

[yslanam]

Okay, rank the DA games from least to most favorite and say why. :3

Oh, boy. This got long, so I’m putting it under a cut.

3. Inquisition

I hate the combat so much. Nearly ragequit within 5 minutes trying to figure out how to attack enemies. (Turns out you have to hold down a button for basic attacks.) It feels to me like they tried to combine their old combat style with something like Skyrim that’s more single-player, do-a-thing-for-each-attack style. It feels so tedious. They removed tactics almost entirely, and that was my favorite part of combat. Look, Bioware, if I wanted to play Skyrim-style combat, I’d just play Skyrim. Give me the tactics back!

I also dislike the crafting system and I’m tired of getting ambushed by bears that don’t even give me any experience while I’m trying to actually get somewhere.

Story-wise, I enjoyed it a lot, but I think it suffers from a couple major things:

trying to position Templars and mages as equally moral/equally flawed, which felt more strained to me than in DA2

retconning the elves to make them equally responsible for their own oppression

making absolutely vile characters but presenting them in-game as if they’re totally innocent

not giving as much conversational leeway to object to people or express religious opinions other than Andrastianism

needs more women as companions!

For me, the highlight of this game was the Solas/Lavellan romance because, wow, I got sucker-punched with all the conflicted feels.

2. DA2

I’m one of the very few people who likes the crunchiness of DAO’s combat and skills, so in some ways DA2 was a step down from that. On the bright side, I think they did a good job streamlining everything while still giving the player plenty of control. It felt easier to effectively combo or chain abilities. And there were more tactics options, which was super cool!

Biggest combat/mechanics complaint: give me back unlimited stealth! How am I supposed to disable all the traps when I run out of stealth in the middle of the room???

Side note: there were some weird retcons that threw me for a loop the first time I played. When did the Qunari get horns? Why is Anders talking like blood magic = possession? So that was unfortunate.

I love that the story is centered around a single city and a group of friends just living their lives and getting into shenanigans that slowly spiral into something much bigger. I love all the characters and I want them all to move into Hawke’s mansion and be a family, regardless of who you romance.

Their banter is a little more barbed than DAO’s, which is disappointing. Sometimes companions say things that are way out of line and don’t feel true to character, so I do wish that was smoothed out more, or at the very least that those comments could be constructively addressed in later banters. I know all these people are friends with Hawke, but I want them to be friends with each other, too.

Overall, very good. Just needs more friendship juice!

1. Origins

My tried and true favorite.

Yes, I enjoy all the nitpicky ability stacking and tactics choices and deciding between various character builds. Combat is like a puzzle and I love solving it. Get murdered by mabari or golems or your own ghost party? Reload and rotate that rubik’s cube to find another angle! So satisfying.

(I love the Fade quest for the same reason. Puzzle!)

The main narrative is simple but solid, and the various origins can add so much variation to how your character thinks about and reacts to things that it’s easy to replay. Plus, the companions really shine. (Except for Oghren. I hate him and he’s not invited to anything.) I get so invested in watching them grow and making them happy. Pretty sure I cried when Morrigan said how much she treasured the Warden’s friendship.

Big downsides: Orzammar and the Deep Roads. Even though it’s just a game, they feel suffocating.

Special shoutout to Origins for giving me Alistair, the best character in anything ever.

[trulycertain]

Alistair’s Parentage, and why I go a bit Tru Smash

OK, it’s time to talk about why I aggressively dislike the “Alistair’s bloodline” retcons and how they come up in the comics. *sigh* I do try to keep this a positivity blog, but I thought as character arc analysis it might be worth saying. I’ll just thank @aphreal42, @celeritassagittae, @withthebreezesblown, @nanahuatli, a few others. I know we’ve talked about this.

*coughs, shuffles papers* Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Sorry again about the... everything.

On Maric

I was frustrated to see the centering of Maric in the comics, and mention of the hunt for him in Inquisition. It’s something that happens even if you’ve kept Alistair a Warden. And this is my question: Why?

I mean, why should Alistair be hunting for the father who couldn’t be bothered to raise him, when it’s not going to save Ferelden or Thedas? Yes, there’s some vagueness about it, an unrealistic dream of “maybe Maric can go on the throne and be better at it than me,” but that just makes it look like he hasn’t been allowed to learn anything or adapt as king, that he’s still desperately running from it, that he’s still reduced to his bloodline rather than his own choices and personal growth. 

We’ve had this arc of him desperately trying to abdicate responsibility of any kind; we had it in Origins, when he was twenty and green. It’s been ten years. Often, smart, perceptive people like Alistair grow rather a lot in ten years, despite or even because of their own fears.

So we’re right back to the daddy issues. And back to the bloodline. Healing is not always a linear process, but it cannot, by definition, go backwards and plonk you right back to the progress you’d made ten years ago. That’s not healing, and it’s not an arc - it’s a circle. Narratively, it’s not a very interesting circle, either. 

The frustrating thing? BioWare’s story folk can do realistic, beautiful “healing is not linear and sometimes people have days where they look back and want to undo everything because oh god what if they got it wrong” arcs about parentage. See Dorian’s or Hawke’s. Both of those have some big issues (I will never, for instance, be comfortable with how much you can hide from Dorian, or how heavily you can push him towards reconciliation, and have issues with that being a player choice at all), but they’re far more emotionally genuine and allow for nuance. More on that later.

Why do Maric’s growth and arc, considering he’s basically been dead for nigh-on fifteen years by the time of the Silent Grove comics, have to come at the expense of Alistair’s?

And why do we assume Alistair needs dragon blood to be awesome, when he’s been awesome pretty much forever for reasons of his own choosing?

(And OK, this one just bugs me for petty reasons: why does Maric have a less-fun version of Alistair’s self-deprecating humour in the novels? (Though all right, quite fond of the bit about falling off horses; forgive the nested brackets.) There’s a clear “like father, like son” thing there, but they met... what? Twice? Three times? I’m just fascinated by a fantasy world where there exists an “awkward quips” gene, because I must have it in spades.)

On Fiona

Fiona herself is a mid-tier character I don't mind. She has some interesting aspects but we don't see enough of her for me to have a strong opinion. Even the novels are a bit half-baked and inconclusive on her arc.

Fiona as a character with difficult choices to make and ambiguous, pragmatic motivations? Yeah, OK. She’s not one of my favourite DA chars, because she barely appears and unlike Maric, we’re not given much after-the-fact canon, dialogue and extra codices on her (*sigh*, because Daddy Issues are always more important), but she works. Fiona as a Very Special Warden Who Got Blight-Cured and another aspect of Alistair’s "well, he can't just be normal" story? Goodness no. It does both characters a disservice.

The only aspect that interested me with Alistair’s king-as-father relationship was the class stuff and the terror of responsibility. Other than “a fascination with magic” (which I find way more interesting as something he developed himself, as a non-mage but one with basic empathy and a curious mind), Fiona's motherhood hasn't really contributed much to his arc. The deep loneliness was there already. Yes, he has one more person who let him down for at the time seemingly justified reasons. OK. We’ve heard that... a lot of times already.

So Fiona, who already had a serviceable story arc of her own, ends up with it partly centred around Alistair’s for... reasons? I guess? in order to prop up his story, but not to do it in any way that really affects it or offers closure and just makes a hash of hers?

Narratively, I simply don't get why he has to be her kid, or be a half-elf. My interest is in how utterly bloody ordinary he is, because that's what makes him special. Both the "my bloodline is ultraspecial because Maric" and "my bloodline is ultraspecial because Fiona" stories bored me equally. He for all intents and purposes still looks human, and his story already has a pretty big focus on oppression. There’s no reason to pile “have we also mentioned half-elf and abandoned by one more person” on top of it. It’s just... overseasoning.

On Alistair

For me, the entire appeal of Alistair’s arc was that he made himself. His pain and his abuse were a major part of his story, but he chose strength. He chose to centre himself around being a Warden, around helping people. Someone who went through that could have easily wanted to watch the world burn, but he didn’t. He is not his parents, or his blood. That's not why his story is interesting.

Growing up, Alistair’s most formative influence wasn’t his parents; it was the lack of them. Or of family in general. 

If you want to pick major figures in his life, I suppose Maric could be one of them. Fiona? No, he isn’t even allowed to know she exists.

The formative influences we’re given, ones he remembers and mentions and seem to have imparted lessons:

Duncan, the almost-father he idolises, and the first person to believe in him

The idea - rather than the reality - of his mother, a serving-maid whose death he blames himself for; he clings to the idea she would have loved him, hence the amulet

Eamon, who was the nearest thing he had to a father and left him, which clearly affected him, and who continues trying to use him, albeit maybe with some real concern in there

Isolde, who helped seal that he was a dangerous tool or leverage, not a person, and started the chain of events that led to the Chantry

Teagan, who was ultimately ineffectual but made him hope for more, and was one of the few sources of kindness in his life

The Chantry bullies, perhaps

Goldanna, who reinforced that “you’re nothing but an inconvenience” mentality and was his last hope of a loving family

The Wardens, who were the nearest thing he had to a family

The people he meets during the Blight, the Warden in particular but definitely Morrigan, Leliana, Zev and the dog, who all make him question different aspects of himself and broaden his horizons a little

There are a ton of stories to tell there, and certainly, the Warden and their relationship with him - good, bad, indifferent - gets the spotlight, as do Eamon and Teagan. Heck, even Cailan gets a look-in, and Duncan has his moment. So why, ten years later, are we back to the twin spectres of Maric and Fiona?

Look... making an abused, neglected kid still be defined and unable to get away from the parents that walked out of his life, and not letting him have his own story? I don't know, that... bugs me. To put it mildly. OK, I’m probably overstating it and drawing parallels where there shouldn’t be, but it does rather feel like that’s the case. This way, he's never allowed progress, growth or agency. And I just... can't. I can't enjoy a story like that, it's too bloody sad and cheap.

He was an neglected kid who was told, over and over, that he deserved the bare minimum. When you've had no love at all, even a half-hearted grain of it is enough. And that has defined his story so much, but there are other stories to tell with him; one of the reasons I like him is his complexity. I want it to stop defining his story. He shouldn’t have to be hunting that family spectre. It may be something that still hurts him, which would be realistic enough, but it’s not all he is, and it’s not what he is to Thedas.

We have so many stories out there where kids are defined by difficult parents. We have so many reconciliation storylines about the sins of families being forgiven, or accepted. (See also: Dorian’s story, depending on how you play it, and definitely Hawke and Leandra’s. I could write a whole meta post on those.) 

How about some counter-narratives? Maybe the world needs more “Sometimes family isn’t a matter of blood, and sometimes your parents didn’t do enough and it’s OK to walk away from the unanswered questions. You’re not broken or static, you still have stories to tell, and you can still grow” arcs. Because life isn’t a Hallmark card, blood doesn’t equal love, and, to quote Dorian on this one, “Sometimes love isn’t enough.” That could be a healthier, more realistic kind of fiction, but also a more interesting one.

...OK, now I’m getting off-track.

tl;dr: I am totally with Alistair that his bloodline is the least interesting thing about him. You go guy.

[blargha-writes]

anyway yeah I kinda learned how to mod inquisition just so I could give Old Lady Cadash her wrinkles back? and then i edited her face a bit while i was at it.

also I’m trying to shake off seasonal depression (aka January Is A Terrible Month And I Don't Like It) & general listlessness, so I’ve decided that this week is My OCs, Let Me Show You Them week, b/c I never actually talk about my OCs even tho it's literally in the blog's description:

-her name is actually malika

-yes that is the default name

-listen i am not good at naming things and i just wanted to play the game

-dual-wielding rogue (assassin) who would've been an archer if i'd known then what i know now but i'm not retconning it

-i am retconning her using the default worldstate tho

-listen i didn't have one ready to use and i just wanted to play the game

-instead she comes after a surana who survived the blight without morrigan's ritual and a hawke that is actually a shepard (... loooong story)

-anyway

-officially Too Old For This Shit

-stubborn and set in her ways

-they're good ways. they've kept her alive so far

-she’s p laid-back and chill, which tends to make people forget that she and her brother p much single-handedly turned the family into a Carta powerhouse

-turns out it's very easy to be laid-back and chill when you can just get people stabbed, js

-was at the conclave both b/c the conclave was Serious Business and to supervise her grandniece (?) who was just about ready to take her succession at the head of the family

-her own survival felt like the punchline to the worst joke ever

-honestly i don't really have anything interesting to say about her relationship with the Inner Circle? she ended up befriending everyone partly b/c it was my first pt and partly b/c again, laid-back and chill

-she treats all of them like they're her kids anyway

-all of them

-drama is for the young

-but mostly like she won't really argue with you, she'll just listen to your take on things and then have you carefully watched should your take on things run counter to her interests and then have you slightly killed should she feel the need to

-y'know. as you do

-for all of that, she herself had hardly ever killed anyone before joining the Inquisition

-she may or may not have some unresolved guilt re: all of the deaths she did order or indirectly caused, in a 'well someone had to take charge of things after everything went sideways in orzammar and besides it was all just business, but maybe i should feel bad about it' sorta way

-that's her private business tho and she's still 100% unapologetic about her past to anyone who asks

-i really need to replay her game so i can take her through the dlc and also possibly maybe write that cadash fic i've only been planning for like two years now

~*~*~*~

other mods used: Deshine Series for stock PC textures || Immersive Starting Armour || No Sideburns || Wavy Hair

[frasier-crane-style]

The DC Comics Timeline (aka, get that Nu52 five year timeline bs OUTTA MY FACE)

Trying my best to put this into an extremely simplified format. This is basically the post-Crisis/New Earth inspired Elseworlds I would write it if DC called me up tomorrow. I wouldn’t want to wade in the Nu52 and start retconning things around to suit me, even if I could get away with it--there’s been quite enough of that from Messners Didio and Johns. I’d rather just tell a damn good story in its own continuity and have that continuity as close to fan-preferred status as possible. Please feel free to debate and comment, I’d love to hear any feedback. 

The Zeroth Generation: WW2 and the Justice Society of America, among others. Through various circumstances, a number of these heroes find themselves in stasis to reawaken in the more proper Age of Heroes.

The Lost Generation: Scattered superheroes between the end of the Zeroth Generation and the beginning of the Age of Heroes. Not many are of note; the frequency and fame of these heroes is more akin to guys like the Viking Prince and Jonah Hex pre-Zeroth Generation. Someone’s putting on tights, but it’s largely unremarkable.

The First Generation: (15-10 years before present day) The Age of Heroes begins with Superman debuting in Metropolis, having wandered the globe on a Quest for Peace (heh) since his high school graduation. Urban legends spread of the Batman of Gotham, while Diana leaves Paradise Island for Man’s World. In short order, the rest of the ‘Big Seven’ show up: Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Over this five year period, the Justice League is formed, then expands its ranks. Many of the heroes acquire sidekicks, who themselves form the Teen Titans. This era roughly corresponds to pre-Crisis comics, John Bryne’s initial Man of Steel comic, Miller’s Batman: Year One (and ensuing stories), the Happy Harbor and Satellite Era of the Justice League, and George Perez’s Wonder Woman stories*. Most heroes are somewhere in their twenties, while sidekicks are adolescents (let’s say Dick Grayson becomes Robin age twelve-ish).

The Second Generation: (10-5 years before present day) The Justice League transitions into the ‘Bwa-Ha-Ha’ Justice League International, the Teen Titans become the New Teen Titans, the Suicide Squad is formed. New heroes are born, following the example of the First Generation. Old sidekicks graduate to higher statuses (Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing, Wally West becomes the Flash, Donna Troy becomes Troia) and new sidekicks take their place (Jason Todd becomes Robin II). This era roughly corresponds to post-Crisis comics of the eighties and early nineties, starting from the Legends miniseries and continuing onward. Adult heroes are entering their thirties. First generation sidekicks are in their teens and very early twenties (Dick Grayson was about 18 and in college when NTT started).

The Third Generation: (5 years ago to present day) The latest generation of heroes and sidekicks arrive, from Tim Drake/Robin III to Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl II to Connor Hawke/Green Arrow II. The Big Seven return to the Justice League, building a new base on the Moon known as the Watchtower. Young Justice is formed. This era roughly corresponds to the post-Crisis comics of the 90s and early 00s, including Grant Morrison’s JLA. It runs until Identity Crisis/Infinity Crisis. Adult heroes are in their thirties and forties (Bruce and Clark have some white hairs). First generation sidekicks are solidly in their twenties.

There’s also a Fourth Generation, obviously, covering the late Aughts and Tens which we’re in now, introducing new heroes/sidekicks like Harper Row, Jessica Cruz, and Jonathan Kent. However, as this period also leads into Flashpoint and strongly features the replacement of legacy heroes with their predecessors--Barry Allen retaking the Flash mantle from Wally West, Hal Jordan doing the same to Kyle Raynor, etc.--I prefer not to acknowledge it in favor of setting my tale within Third Generation and continuing that thread. Also, the new characters I mentioned are largely still being ‘field-tested’ by their creators, so for my purposes, I’d prefer not to give ‘my take’ on characters who largely aren’t established enough for me to give them a take.

I also reserve the right to screw around with canon a bit for the sake of storytelling. So, for instance, in mainstream canon, Barry Allen would die in CoIE right between the first and second generations and by the Third Generation Wally would be married to Linda and starting a family. Because I want to write a love story between them, I put off Barry’s death until the third generation, so Wally has only been The Flash for a few years and is just now meeting Linda. That gives us quite a few stories that strictly speaking didn’t happen, but it’s an AU anyway, and at least I’m not making you read about Barry fucking Allen fucking Patty fucking Spivot.

*Technically, those stories took place during the Second Generation, five years after Superman and Batman had debuted, but no one really likes that retcon and it totally fucks up Donna Troy being a Titan. So... Hypertime.