#i'm the number one oracle fan

[4rtificialangel]

if(me.getSensesIndex("vibration")){

me.addFeeling("complete");

}

world.unlock(you);

world.removeThing(you);

me.lookFor(you, world);

me.lookFor(you, world);

me.lookFor(you, world);

me.lookFor(you, world);

me.lookFor(you, world);

if(me.getMemory().isErasable()){

me.removeFeeling("disheartened");

}

try{

me.setOpinion(me.getOpinionIndex ("you are here"), false);

}

catch(IllegalArgumentException e) {

world.announce("God is always true.");

}

OH MY GODDDD IT'S HERE IT'S FINALLY HERE AFTER 11 HOURS

the world.execute(me); oracle art is REALLLLL IM GONNA EXPLODE AAA

background and black and white ver under the cut

[lexumpysfunland]

Fan arts

Alright it's finally over... took me so damn long but I did it, I took almost every one that submitted something so maybe I'll make an additional post on another day where I draw them :') But for now, I shall post what I did, in the order I got them

starting with @britishbiscuits ! Though I would've loved to draw them both, I drew 724 :'0 maybe next time I'll draw both

@tspstuff goes next with Francis! I would've drawn Nge again, but I drew him the other day- so have your Francis x'D

@narrating-the-narrator is next! I hope I didn't mess up with the design, if I did, please tell me so I can fix it-

@unorchido and the wonderful Amadeo! I love how silly they are~/pos

@thenamesmobu is next! I never had the opportunity to draw one of your designs, so I'm finally fixing that mistake/silly I love the fact that they have vitiligo

@finnleyandsillys and the Overseer! It's like drawing Walter again/j/silly hehe na more seriously he's really nice to draw and I still can't wait to see where they go from here!

@xenon784 is next! I have to say I don't see a lot of narrators with wings, so I had to give it a try! Hopefully I did him justice... but you're the one to judge my skills on that ;v;

next is @codenamedgalahad ! I remember seeing your design quite a few times, so I'm happy to draw him! I feel like I made him look like a businessman more than anything though ,help me x)

@ember-nby ! youuuu!! I'll say it, I love the idea of having a narrator that's more feminine! Even if you don't have a ref yet, it was so nice to draw him!

@nineparlor69 and their Stanley! The only Stanley I drew today- he looks like a cutie, so I made him look like so... don't know if I did him justice though... if not I'm sorry ;-;

@robygoonn2 ! a very nice design you have. Some details I may have failed to do or notice, so I may have improvised here and there... if something is off, please tell me!

@bucketfullofstrawberries and the iconic Edgar! I can FINALLY take that opportunity to draw them- the number of times I wanted to but gave up is unfair- I give him a hug if they're fine with rats/silly

@paper-possum-party-pal with the director! I really like the idea you had with this fella, I like the Director :D I made them look more evil than needed I think, but I was inspired-

And the last is @otto-oracle with Leer! he seems so friendly- tell me I can give him a hug 🥺

And that's all I have for today, guys! it was so fun drawing all of your sillies, and though I'm drained for today, I'll have to go back to Walter before he's angry at me/j naa for real I'll take a little time off until my next post like usual... if I can stay still that is/silly

Thank you all for your contributions! As said at the top, I'll see if I can make a little addition to that post to draw the few that were left as well, but for now, it's all I can do （；´д｀）ゞ

[lil-dragon-rawr]

Hear Me Out: TOH x DC

(or: this crossover needs more attention and sometimes you gotta be the snake oil you want to see in the world)

Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

Masterlist

(Luz, Amity, Cass, and Steph are stuck in Riddler's latest Escape Room Of Death (Or At Least Very Threatening Special Effects))

Steph: *starts whisper-arguing with Cass about whether or not to get involved as civilians*

Amity, unaware and moving towards the door with Intent To Slime: want me to-

Luz: don't worry I got this!

Luz, pulling a snake (???) out of her shirt: go, little power noodle, go!

Stringbean: *snakeshifts their tail into a key and unlocks the door*

Cass, slowly putting her lockpicks away: 0_o

Steph, to Cass: was that a snake? That was a snake, right?

(Luz, being Luz, ends up face-to-face with Black Mask in the absolute worst part of town)

Black Mask, one vaguely sarcastic comment away from murdering the random teen that just wandered into his high-profile drug deal: you have one chance to explain who you work for and how you got here, or I carve the answer out of you with a knife.

Luz, squinting at him:

Luz "Belos Was Turning Me To Stone And My First Instinct Was To Sass His Terrible Fashion Choices" Noceda: well aren't you just a ball of sunshine

Red Hood, interrupting the deal with Black Mask and coming face-to-face with a teen who was alarmingly unfazed by the whole event: do you have a death wish?

Luz: no, but it loses its edge after the first time

Luz: I mean, been there done that amirite?

Red Hood, processing:

Red Hood, hoping he wildly misread the context clues: you've died before?

Luz: well yeah

Luz, seeing an opportunity to cause chaos: but I came back thanks to the power of god and anime

Red Hood: ???

Poison Ivy: *minding her own business on the balcony of her suite*

Willow, thorn vaulting her way into the balcony: hi there! Huge fan :D

Ivy, trying to have a peaceful afternoon: wHOMST-

Willow: wanna compare notes on carnivorous plants?

Ivy:

Ivy: ...yes, do you have live examples by chance?

Willow, knowing she can essentially spawn plants at will: :D

(Robin, incredibly suspicious of the group that just moved into one of the worst (but cheap) apartment complexes in Gotham, has a stakeout at their apartments)

Hunter, moving around his apartment with Waffle on his shoulder: ^w^

Robin, immediately switching gears: I wonder if I could liberate the bird and convince Father to keep it since it's rescued from potential rogues.

Oracle, who heard him over comms: you're not allowed to steal pets anymore and you know it

Amity: *gets a job at Barbara's library*

Barbara, trying to keep an eye on her since she's kinda sus: hey, you're new here right? Want to grab coffee sometime?

Amity, just trying to do a good job: sure! :)

Barbara, suddenly acquiring a new sister: [task failed successfully]

King "Technically A Teenager But Really Short So Everyone Thinks He's A Child" Clawthorne: *gets kidnapped*

Kidnapper, calling the number King gave him to ask for ransom: we have your child-

Eda, unamused: oh yeah, which one?

Kidnapper: uhh short, yellow eyes, keeps asking if we have any ice cream?

Eda, annoyed: you have King???

Kidnapper, thinking they're getting somewhere: yes, and if you ever want to see him again, you'll bring $100k to the warehouse on the corner of 5th

Eda, knowing full well King could escape if he decided to use 2% of his power: *pinching the bridge of her nose* I'll be right over

Signal, about to rescue the small child some guy kidnapped: *waiting for an opening*

Eda, strutting into the warehouse on a mission: so you're the guy who kidnapped my son?

Signal, doing a double take because this lady with a hook for an arm has an aura that's oozing black and gray (and it looks like she has two auras for the price of one???): uhh Oracle?

Kidnapper, pointing a gun at Eda: slide the money over or I shoot!

Eda, still unamused: oh I'm sure you will, you spineless snaggleback.

Eda, letting the Owl Beast take over completely: *screeching, swallowing the kidnapper whole*

Eda, reverting back to normal: *burps*

Signal, panicking: Oracle? Hello?

Eda, moving on: so, King, did you have fun?

King, dropping the ropes he burned through with a glyph an hour ago: I had a blast!

Signal, finally getting a good look at the kid and realizing his aura is stronger than the demon lady's: Oracle, please respond

Signal, about to finish patrol: *sees the kidnapper from earlier passed out in a pile of nasty goo (Eda pelleted him up lol)*

Signal, incredibly concerned: ???

Oracle, tracking down all the information she can find on the Clawthornes: so it looks like that lady Signal saw got married in Vegas, stole her husband's car six hours later, and paid for a latte in Connecticut with a live racoon

Spoiler: what a legend. Move over Florida Man, there's a new queen in town

Red Robin: she turned into a monster and literally ate a guy yesterday

Spoiler: exactly, she's iconic

Red Robin:

Spoiler, rolling her eyes: god forbid women do anything

Red Robin, staking out the Clawthorne apartments after The Incident™: *listening in on conversations via the bugs he planted*

Gus, appearing next to him out of nowhere: hi there! Got a minute?

Red Robin: *screeching*

Gus, taking this as a yes: can I bug you with a few questions?

Red Robin, realizing a civilian snuck up on him and his siblings will never let him live this down: ...uhh

Gus, fangirling on the inside because this is a real human hero right in front of him: so what's it like being a human hero?

Red Robin, desperately trying to figure out what on earth these people are: you're not human?

Gus: *bursts out laughing and never answers the question*

(Luz, Vee, Hunter, and King, hopelessly lost in Black Mask's territory while trying to find their way to a restaurant)

Red Hood, recognizing Luz "I Have The Power Of God And Anime On My Side" Noceda: hey are you actively trying to get killed by Black Mask, or are you just lost?

Luz: oh hi again! Guys, this is the vigilante I was talking about!

Vee: *leans forward and sniffs Red Hood before freezing and remembering that's not something humans do* uhh. Ehe.

Red Hood: did you just sniff me?

Vee: uhhhh

Luz, squinting at Red Hood because Vee obviously smelled magic on him: haha, so silly, you wouldn't happen to be magic, would you?

Red Hood:

Red Hood: okay, back up. You can smell magic?

Vee, understanding there's no way out of this conversation: ...yes?

Red Hood, to Luz: and you died?

Luz: that's been established. The real question is how are you magic?

Red Hood: probably cause I died and got dunked in a necromancer's key lime smoothie extravaganza

Luz: cool

(the Batfamily sets up a meeting with Clawthornes & Co, C&C agrees cause they wanna see how the most paranoid member of the JL reacts to Demon Realm shenanigans)

Batman, seeing C&C and immediately clocking them as a bunch of child soldiers trauma bonded for life: .....

Eda, seeing the Batfam and also immediately clocking them as a bunch of child soldiers: ........

Eda, about Robin: why is there a twelve-year-old fighting crime?

Batman, about King: why is there an eight-year-old with more power than most high-level magicians?

Robin and King, at the same time: I'm fourteen!!

Robin and King: *squinting at each other*

Signal, off to the side, seeing the auras of the rest of C&C for the first time: oh my God. Oh my God

Spoiler: come on it can't be that bad

Signal: oh my God if B picks a fight we're all going to actually die

Batman, about Luz: why has your kid died?

Eda, about Red Hood: why has your kid died?

Red Hood, a self-proclaimed unbiased participant: oooooOOOOOOO she got you there *high fives Luz*

Batman, dragging Signal into the conversation because he's the only one who can see their auras: Signal. Ask your questions.

Signal, desperately trying to not get obliterated in a magic mushroom of energy: I plead the fifth

Eda: [Eda was amused]

Signal: so, you have two auras. Is there an explanation for that or...?

Eda: eh, I guess I have my sister to thank for that

Signal: ...can you elaborate?

Eda, sighing: it's a chronic condition. But at least my inner demon is paying rent now.

Signal, wildly confused:

Signal: so, um. You're the kid who got kidnapped a little bit ago, how are you holding up?

King: you call that a kidnapping? At best that was a half-baked attempt at a babysitting extortion scheme

Signal: ...do you know what kidnapping is?

King: yeah?

Signal: and you were unfazed by the whole ordeal?

King: I mean yeah, this was nothing compared to the time I was almost sacrificed by that cult

Batfam, collectively: ?????

Batman: [Batman will remember that]

Signal, to Luz: okay. So, you're the one who died - your aura also has this demon thing protecting it?

Luz and King: !!!!

Eda: hot dang, kid! The Titan's still hanging around!

Red Robin, thinking it's Greek myths coming into play: I'm sorry did you say titan?

Luz, making an attempt at explanation: yeah the Titan gave me the last bit of his power when I died

Luz, with jazz hands: and voila! Not dead anymore!

Spoiler, whispering to Red Robin: so is she...technically a god now?

Signal, increasingly desensitized to the power level of C&C: *pointing to Willow* you're basically Poison Ivy on crack

Willow, who just had her weekly meeting with Ivy: aww, thank you!

Signal, turning to Amity: I don't even know what happened to you.

Amity: oh is my aura all goopy?

Signal, slowly: that's...one way of putting it

Amity: okay it's all good! Probably just abomination slime :)

Batman: ...abomination slime?

Amity: yeah, like this!

Amity: *conjures abominations on the ground beneath the vigilantes*

Batkids: *screaming, cursing*

Luz, kissing Amity on the cheek: ooh another one for vigilante bingo! Nice job, sweet potato!

Signal, squinting at Hunter: uhh you're like, made out of bark and oozing a vaguely concerning substance? Also there's a bird imprinted on your chest

Hunter, tearing up: oh. What kind of bird

Signal: small and red, idk maybe a cardinal?

Hunter, full-on sobbing: I'm fine I just have some dirt in my eye. Stupid dirt

Batfam, putting two and two together about the group's matching bird tattoos: ohhh. Oh. Oh.

Spoiler: kay but why is your aura wood?

Hunter: oh I'm part palistrom wood

Hunter, counting off ingredients on his fingers: and part Titan blood, which probably explains the oozing

Hunter: I have a Galdorstone,

Spoiler, horrified whispering: is that like a kidney stone?

Hunter, still listing ingredients: Stonesleeper lungs, Selkidomus scales, a bone from my former uncle's deceased brother-

Red Robin: is there a reason you treat body parts like they're customizable options in the menu of an RPG?

Hunter, missing the joke completely: I'm a Grimwalker. This is what I'm made out of

Red Robin: ...you lost me.

Robin: but what about the blue jay you had on your shoulder?

Hunter: oh you mean Waffle! :D

Hunter: *pulls Waffle out of his shirt* say hi, Waffle!

Waffle: *un-petrifies himself and chirps*

Robin: 🤯

Spoiler, to Blackbat: it was a snake!

(hard cut to Robin being swarmed by palisman)

Robin, thinking: on one hand, it is foolish to show such obvious weakness in front of potential enemies. On the other hand, their familiars are all very cute.

Robin:

Robin, making a decision: *continues playing with the palisman*

Signal, pointing to Gus and Vee: I don't understand you.

Gus, comfortingly: don't worry, greatness is difficult to comprehend :)

Vee, actually trying to help Signal: ohh it's because he's all smoke and mirrors and I'm not even a witch!

Spoiler, who thought these were all just metas after Eda "It's A Chronic Condition" Clawthorne: you're not even a what now

(Clawthorne & Co, trying to start from the beginning)

Amity: so we're all witches-

Luz: well,

Vee: *laughs*

Hunter, raising his hand: I'm only half a witch on a good day

Batman:

Amity, amending: only three of us are biological witches who use traditional witch spells,

Luz: there you go!

Amity: those three witches are Willow, Gus, and myself

Amity: and Luz is the first human witch!

Spoiler, whispering to Blackbat: witches and humans are different species??

Blackbat: *shrugs*

Eda: and I used to be the most powerful witch on the Isles, but my curse corrupted my magic. Now I'm a harpy because I convinced the demon in my head to pay rent

Batman: curse?

Eda, waving her hand: yeah, long story

Luz: and like we established earlier, Hunter's a Grimwalker that used a human template, so he's not biologically a witch either. But Flapjack gives him magic!

Hunter, nodding solemnly: the power of friendship

Spoiler, whispering to Blackbat: oh my god friendship is magic My Little Pony was right-

Blackbat: *snickers*

Red Hood: and the weird kid who smells magic isn't magic?

Vee, defensively: magic is yummy!

Red Hood:

Vee "My First Instinct Upon Entering The Human World Was To Tell A Human 'Skin's Sure Weird' To Their Face" Noceda: ...yum yum!

Batfam:

Vee:

Batfam:

Vee: okay okay I'm a basilisk, basilisks eat magic!

Batfam: ...

Vee: ...nevermind.

Batman: that just leaves King. Is he also a pseudo witch?

King: oh yeah what did you call me a couple weeks ago Luz?

Luz, barely keeping a straight face: he's Jesus.

Batman: ...come again?

Vee and Luz: *start wheezing with laughter*

King, after a couple minutes of running with the bit: okay okay I'll explain

King: ...I'm the son of the Titan

Signal, looking between Luz and King's auras rapidly: you...he...oh. Oh

Spoiler: oh my god he's actually Jesus

[ivaalo]

Introduction

This is a fan analysis about the results of 24 polls posted on Tumblr by the user @zeldatourney. Huge thanks to them to have organized this tourney.

(Keep in mind my first language isn't English, so I might make some minor mistakes)

This is a long post with multiple graphs, so I'm putting a "Read more" button here!

For each game, the question asked was "How high does [game] rank?" with 7 answers possible to choose:

S tier (One of the greatest)

A tier (A favorite)

B tier (I like it)

C tier (Meh)

D tier (I'd rather play something else)

F tier (AWFUL)

I haven't played this game

The poll started on the 2nd of December 2024 and ended the 9th of December 2024.

Disclaimer: This is not a representation of the Zelda community as a whole, but a result of people who saw and voted for the polls between those previously quoted dates.

For the rest of this post, I will simplify each game's name by its abbreviations. For example, "A Link To The Past" will be named "ALTTP". The polls didn't specify if it contains the original games or both the original games and the remakes. They will be named as such:

[TLOZ] The Legend of Zelda

[AOL] Adventure of Link

[ALTTP] A Link to the Past

[LA] Link's Awakening (DX) (+ the unnamed 2019 remake)

[OOT] Ocarina of Time (3D)

[MM] Majora's Mask (3D)

[OOS] Oracle of Seasons

[OOA] Oracle of Ages

[FS] Four Swords (Anniversary Edition)

[TWW] The Wind Waker (HD)

[FSA] Four Swords Adventures

[TMC] The Minish Cap

[TP] Twilight Princess (HD)

[PH] Phantom Hourglass

[ST] Spirit Tracks

[SS] Skyward Sword (HD)

[ALBW] A Link Between Worlds

[HW] Hyrule Warriors (Legend / Definitive Edition)

[TFH] Tri Force Heroes

[BOTW] Breath of the Wild

[COH] Cadence of Hyrule

[AOC] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

[TOTK] Tears of the Kingdom

[EOW] Echoes of Wisdom

Collected data

Each poll being independent from each other, the number of votes varies from one poll to another.

For each games, I added the percentage (as picked up from the HTML for a better precision). The result is either 99.999, 100 or 100.001, so I sometimes cheated to add or remove 0.001 somewhere. Tumblr doesn't give you access to the exact numbers of vote per option.

So before ranking the games, I have to show you first what games are the most played. Adding all answers and doing:

Played (%) = 100 - "I haven't played this game" (%)

I'll use colours to differentiate 2D games (in terms of gameplay) to 3D games. I'll also highlight spin-off games and multiplayer games.

Here are the games played by more than 75% of players:

We can already see a huge pattern. All the 3D games are there. And the only 2D Zelda game to be played by 75% of players is ALBW. BOTW and OOT are the most played games of the sample, as those were huge turning points and both cultural and commercial success.

We can also notice the difference of 5% between the least played 3D game (MM) and the most played 2D game (ALBW).

Let's continue to look at the other played games:

EOW is most likely low as it's the most recent game, at this time, but also because it's not a 3D game. And the hype train was low compared to TOTK. (3 months of anticipation compared to 4 years)

And finally, the multiplayer games are the least played games, excluding COH. Also worth noting that all the spin-off games cited can also be played with another player, but it wasn't the main focus of the communication. COH being a musical tactical rogue-lite only appealed to a specific part of Zelda fans.

If these polls contained the CD-i Zelda games, Link's Crossbow Training and Tingle games, the score would probably be under COH, but we never know!

I'll keep these colours as labels, to recognize them better in the next images.

Alright. Time to share the ranking. Here is the global result, sorted by release date in North America:

It's kind of a lot to see! Overall, the games are pretty liked. So first, let's take a look at the disliked games:

Please note that the X-axis was zoomed, so we can see the result better.

We can already notice that AOL makes a huge contrast. As this game is considered as the black sheep of the franchise because of how different it is, its reputation mostly came from the difficulty of that game.

Almost a factor of 0.5 divides the first disliked game to the second. TFH the second disliked and the original TLOZ follows.

ALBW is the least disliked, with under 1%, counting D tier and F tier.

But notice the F-tier (red) line. It varies a lot, so let's take a look at the most hated games:

Yep, TOTK is third, this time. As I don't personally think it's awful, it definitively disappointed many by being too close to BOTW and having a lot of issues BOTW didn't have.

Nobody voted "F tier" for ALTTP nor OOT. Same for OOS but keep in mind this game was the least voted one too!

Alright, enough for the hate! Let's look at the most appreciated Zelda games.

Yep, the majority of Zelda fans like 22.5 out of 24 of the games! (TFH being exactly 50, I half-counted it!)

TWW is being almost unanimously appreciated, with almost 97%, and the second one to get this score is TMC, a 2D game, with more than 96%!

You can notice some gaps, like between ST and COH, and then between the Oracle games and TOTK.

Now let's look at the most loved games:

5 3D games are in the top 5, except for SS and TOTK. TMC is very close to beat BOTW and remains the most loved 2D Zelda game. Notice how SS and TOTK make a huge gap between the game before and the game after, like voters use them as references. The two Hyrule Warriors games are, in a funny way, between the Oracle ones.

Let's add a step forward and look at the S tier only:

Nothing changes for the top 9 games. However, EOW seems more nuanced and is less considered as best than TOTK.

Final results

And finally, let's rank them using the Majority Judgment:

The Majority Judgment was created to propose a more democratic way to vote. Each candidate has multiple mentions, and you (the elector) must attribute one mention to each candidate. Since this poll uses this exact method of vote, I decided to rank them all using the Majority Judgment. To count using the Majority Judgment, you must focus on the 50% axis, and look at the category that crosses it (more than 50%). That gives you the tier, and the best tier wins.

When two or more candidates get the same tier, there are multiple ways to rank:

The first way is to put a line at the middle and see which line has the higher percentage. (Less precise but more simple)

The second way is to divide it into multiple tiers by doing the first method again and again until each candidates has a unique tier. (More precise but less simple)

But since I didn't want to compare B++++ to B+++-, I used the first method. It's my democracy and I do whatever I want!

Just keep in mind that depending on the way to count these games may be swapped:

ALTTP and LA

OOA and PH

AOC and HW

SO, for the data. Top 5 is TWW, MM, TP, OOT and BOTW. To be honest, I imagined MM to be a more nuanced game, or at least more controversial, since it has a unique concept.

The A tier only contains 2D games, except SS. TMC, ST and ALBW are the favourite 2D games. ALTTP and LA are always very close. The last one of the tier is EOW.

Only mainline games are in the S and A tier.

The first game of the B tier is a spin-off game, followed by TOTK.

TFH was one vote away from being in the B tier. And no surprise, AOL is the last one.

To sum up, according to the participants who voted for these polls:

S tier

🥇 The Wind Waker

🥈 Majora's Mask

🥉 Twilight Princess

⭐ Ocarina of Time

⭐ Breath of the Wild

A+ tier

The Minish Cap

Spirit Tracks

A- tier

A Link Between Worlds

Skyward Sword

A Link to the Past

Link's Awakening

Echoes of Wisdom

B+ tier

Cadence of Hyrule

Tears of the Kingdom

Oracle of Seasons

Oracle of Ages

Phantom Hourglass

B- tier

Age of Calamity

Hyrule Warriors

Four Swords Adventures

Four Swords

The Legend of Zelda

C+ tier

Tri Force Heroes

C- tier

Adventure of Link

Thank you for reading! ~

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

i love thinking about apollos anatolian origins 😵‍💫

It stews in the back of my head too :3

There was this really good podcast on Spotify I found about Ancient Greece, and I listened to his Apollo episode first (because I honestly can't stomach the ones who paint him as 'terrible assaulter'/'epitome of the patriarchy'. Can't stand it. Seriously, there was this so-called 'feminist' mythology podcast i found and I Noped out of there as fast as I could - she didn't even mention Eros's involvement in the Daphne myth! She immediately went 'Apollo: the man who doesn't know the meaning of No' and I was like I'M OUTTA HERE.)

(It's very hard to find good Apollo content out there when you have educated yourself on what he's actually like :( )

(At least you immediately know those people didn't do their research shrug)

Thankfully, this one had a really good, really in-depth discussion about Apollo; his origins, his domains, his myths, ect!

COMPLETELY FREE OF BIAS TOO! HE JUST GIVES YOU THE FACTS, THE SYMBOLISM OF THE MYTHS, HOW THE CULTURE INFLUENCED THEM, ECT!

On my first (and only rn) listen I was like "damn i need to take notes on this sometime" that's how in-depth it is!

Here's the episode link if anybody is interested, btw!

What's cool is that he said that before Apollo came along, oracles and the like weren't as common in Greece - they existed, because Gaea was a thing - however, when he was imported in (possibly also with Leto! She has Anatolian origins too!), oracles became more of a thing as Apollo's popularity skyrocketed!

If you look at the number of Oracles Apollo had, you'd also notice that a lot of them are in Anatolia (Turkey today)!. Didyma, Miletus, Claros, ect ect! I think this just adds to the theory that Apollo's main origins come from Anatolia! When he moved to Greece, oracles came with him!

Which is so cool because in my drafts I currently have a picture of a webchart I made of Apollo's (many) domains, and I narrowed down the ones I think are his Big Ones - and Prophecy is one of them.

Very cool that Prophecy has always been part of him <3

Also, Apollo has many cities he is the patron of in Anatolia - Troy is obvious, but the island of Tenedos was his too (his son Tenes founded the city there), and he was the patron of Miletus (the city where he met Branchus btw for my Branchus fans out there)!

And going to Leto real quick, her migration from Anatolia religion to Greece's is probably represented in the Hymn to Apollo! Sometimes myths about wandering from place to place were meant to symbolize the importation of a god (Aphrodite floating ashore of Cythera, for example), and Leto...well, she was doing a lot more than the typical wandering in the hymn, but it still fits!

Some versions say she was guided to Delos by wolves from Hyperborea, others say Boreas helped her escape Python, still others claim a rooster was present when she finally was able to give birth and thus became her sacred animal (also she apparently gave birth to Apollo as a wolf? I don't quite remember which version says that but it's something I've heard XD).

Also Delos was very self-conscious about Apollo being born on it because it was afraid he would judge it for not being up to typical island standards XD

Moving to Apaliunas now! He's a Hittite god, but I haven't been able to find out of what :( The main piece of evidence we have of his relation with Apollo is Troy - Apaliunas was the god of Wilusa, who has been found out to be another name for Troy! There was a treaty signed between Wilusa and another city, and the representative of Wilusa's name was commonly translated to "Of Ilios" - and Ilios was another name for Illium, aka Troy.

(Fun fact: The son Apollo had with Ourea was named Ileus, after Troy! They are but a footnote in mythology but I made them Important in my Troy fic XD)

Plus, Apaliunas's name was connected to the Hittite reflex of Apeljōn, which scholars have theorized to be an early form of Apollo's name - remember Apollon? :D

Apollo also has connections to various other deities - the Italian Etruscan god Apulu (Aplu), the Celtic god Grannus, his Egyptian equivalent is Horus and his Phoenician one is Resheph! He's also been identified with Baldur from Norse mythology.

Apollo be wearing that trenchcoat, and he is wearing it well XD

[canmom]

Where do you read and find web comics?

that's a great question!

these days the scene is kinda dominated by platforms like webtoon and tapas, which heavily favour vertical-scrolling infinite canvas formats. these environments are aggressively competitive, and getting to the top of the popularity pile requires a pace of work that makes even the manga industry look downright reasonable. I wrote a little about one such comic back in 2022. the 'portal' format applies similar pressures as webnovel sites - somehow that's come down to favouring high-concept premises which can be spelled out in a title, and a fairly homogeneous art style. in general you'll see a lot of romance and isekai.

that said, traditional page-formatted webcomics are absolutely still around. usually I read them on their websites - you can use an RSS reader to keep up with updates for most comics, but I fell out of the habit of that years ago.

as far as finding them, there's not really any centralised place to find them, but often webcomics will promote other authors, and there's organisations like hiveworks which serve to cross-promote members of their network. most webcomics have a 'links' page. it's rhizomatic or some shit.

if you are coming back to webcomics, 'I used to read this comic, is it still going' can also lead to a lot of pleasant surprises - you wouldn't believe the number of webcomic authors who turn out to have transed their gender when you come back a few years later (or maybe you would). 'spend years writing a comic instead of transitioning' is a strangely common pitfall [edit: though I'm not sure 'spend years transitioning instead of making a big creative project' is like. a better strategy lmao. they're both big expressions of agency, it doesn't really matter what order you do em.]

some authors tend to stay on a single perpetual epic that will likely last until they die, but others like to write multiple projects, and usually if you enjoy one thing by a person you'll enjoy the others. for example, @bigbigtruck wrote the excellent The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal back in the day, and is presently writing a story about stormchasers with a very similar vibe. Evan Dahm of Rice Boy went on to write some rather cool comics like Vattu.

webcomics review blogs can also be a good place to pick up recs. yes homo, now defunct, put a few things on my radar (I disagree with many of their opinions but that's part of the fun of it lol), as has thewebcomicsreview.

along similar lines, forums can be a good place to look - back in the old old days, I used to be a big fan of a D&D comic called The Order of the Stick and hang out on its forums a lot, and they had a pretty active board for talking about other webcomics (a large part of which was devoted to literally hundreds of threads for the club of posters making fun of a really mid comic called Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire - don't ask me to explain that...) these days I bet there are webcomics discords that function similarly, though I couldn't tell you which ones off the top of my head.

if you're willing to part with a little bit of money, events like the Shortbox Comics Fair are a good way to gather a huge stack of one-shots. I picked up a bunch in the last one of those, I should really write about them.

honestly I should really just draw up a list of comics I've liked, catch up on the ones that I fell off the update schedule on, and put that list on my website somewhere. writing full reviews is fun but time-consuming and I don't want to make promises with how incredibly ADHD I am (the 'comics comints' series lasted a mighty three posts, and of all the writing-about-stuff projects, the main ones I'm trying to get going again are the tftbn and umineko liveblogs), but it is happy-making to spread the word about good shit I've read. I used to liveblog webcomics quite a bit, you can see some of them over here. (I never got around to migrating the Homestuck sideblog.)

ultimately, word of mouth is queen here. all these suggestions are just different flavours of "find people who like the sorts of things you like and read the stuff they like" in the end!

[androxys]

2024 Writing Review

I was tagged in this by @vechter!

number of stories posted to ao3: I posted 2 works this year, which was a marked decrease from 2023's 7 fics. I guess I needed a break! The two were Hello World, It's Me Again (the first chapter) and I'd Teach My Feet to Fly (a one-shot).

word counted posted for last year: 17,163 words!

fandoms i wrote for: Oh, it was Batman. Because I'm dabbling in a few continuities for Barbara and playing it a little looser, HWIMA got an AMT tag. ITMFTF is very strictly comics-informed, though, so it got some (comics) tags for Batman, Checkmate, and Outsiders.

pairings: No ships this year! Just Sasha Bordeaux & Bruce Wayne; Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne; Sasha Bordeaux & Dick Grayson. All three were from ITMFTF.

stories with the most kudos, bookmarks and comment threads: That's Hello World. It's a bigger fic, with more for people to bite into, and with the benefit of not having been posted in the last week!

work i’m most proud of (and why): Agh, picking children! Nah. I'm more proud of Hello World. It's a bigger project, drawing on a lot of different threads and trying to be my personal love letter to one of my favorite characters of all time.

work i’m least proud of (and why): I'd Teach is one of those fics where nothing happens, and I'm like 95% okay with how it landed... but that 5% is still missing. But, part of the process is making slightly misshapen things to keep working the writing muscle.

share or describe a favorite review you received: I feel like I hold every comment I've ever received dear to my heart, but this one by @scintillyyy really touched me.

A lot of the comments addressed my central goal of this fic--working on giving Oracle's Year One a modern lift and giving Barbara space to experience more messy ups and downs of recovery--and reassured that yes, I was hitting what I wanted to. But I was fully ready for the SCI research I did to kind of slip away unnoticed, so I really appreciated having that called out too.

a time when writing was really, really hard: Most of the year lmao. 2024 was the year of higher education, which left less fic time than I would have liked. But as soon as this degree is in hand and I can go back to full time work, I've got a backlog of writing to jump on.

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: I talked about this a little with vechter in the comments of I'd Teach, but the Bludhaven scene in I'd Teach My Feet to Fly came about kind of unexpectedly. Everything about that fic kind of took the reins from me.

a favourite excerpt of your writing:

“Details are still coming out,” Barbara says, lying like an artist. That’s all this job ever was, lying in the service of what you hope is higher meaning. “But it was overseas. Ethiopia. The funeral will be tomorrow. Mr. Wayne… Bruce… wanted to let me know. Invite me to come, since I knew him.” “That’s… God, Babs. That’s awful.” He shakes his head, unsure what to say. His hand brushes back his ever-greying hair, his other reaching for his pipe. He gets it lit and takes a few puffs, his head tilting back as the soothing smoke drifts from his mouth. “God,” he repeats. “He was young.” “Yeah.” “Are you going to go?” She doesn’t want to. She knows she will. She owes it to him.

I like this sequence because it illustrates the fic's general premise: take a canon moment, expand it a little, and then focus in a little harder on Babs.

how did you grow as a writer last year: I don't know how much I grew this year, honestly. All writing is growth, and doing it is the hardest part. I think HWIMA is some of my best prose, and it's certainly shaping up to be my longest work yet. I think I'm continuously getting more comfortable with larger projects, but I'm also trying to develop more comfort with fics that just compare scenes and have some commentary around them. One of my favorite things to do as a fan is to just hold two different moments in time together, and I have to remind myself that the literary equivalent of that is still a worthwhile fan activity.

how do you hope to grow this year: I want to keep working on different types and formats of fic! I have two fics that I've been meaning to podfic forever, and the majority of a longfic that I started podficcing and then fell way off track with. (@ididloveyou I promise I have not forgotten about you! One of these days I promise I'm going to get back 😭). Otherwise, I'm working on my Wonder Woman fic that's going to end up as a poem, which is a new frontier for me. But largely, I just want to finish some WIPs. I owe a certain dear fandom friend a certain sequel 😉

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): Oh lord, all of y'all. Can I just say that? It takes a village, and I feel like so many folks in my ecosystem help influence me and my writing for the better. In no particular order, @havendance and @mintchocochipsposts and @zahri-melitor and @tevya-fandom, you've all been in my comments or my DMs or on discord, and are my subsequent MVPs of 2024. Jinx, I'm not sure where to find you but you're getting a shout-out too. Thank you for all your help and kind words over the year.

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: Someone in the process of getting their MLS, writing about someone getting their MLS? It's more likely than you think!

any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Never be afraid to put something in a bracket and come back later! I bullet point my fics and write them from there, and sometimes I skip a bullet or describe the action (something like [Barbara looks at the mirror, isn't happy, fixes it]) and just write the next thing. Don't let something break your momentum. The other best writing wisdom I've ever received is that if you feel absolutely stuck when writing, go back about six sentences and see if the problem actually started there. I write myself into corners all the time, and have to retrace myself to solve clunky dialogue or a bad movement rather than trying to brute force my way out.

any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: Definitely HWIMA. Ken and Barbie. The Wonder Woman poem. Those are the big three. After that, I want to get back into podfic and do that for a bit. And then we'll see where we go!

I tagged a lot of people in gratitude through this post (and all of y'all should consider this your tag to participate if you want!), but I'm also going to tag @cuephrase, @themyscirah, @sl-walker, and @clearbluewaters for my due diligence. Here's to a lovely 2025, everybody.

[zahri-melitor]

New(ish) Comics:

Birds of Prey #13: That was a clever use of Cass to finish the storyline. Kelly Thompson's generated enough good will from me at this point that yeah, I'd consider her as one of the strongest Birds of Prey writers since Dixon and Simone, though Sean McKeever probably still edges her out (McKeever had a stronger lead in though to work from, and so many people barely distinguish his work from Simone's).

I'm interested to see where Thompson takes them from here. I certainly still have quibbles (I would love to see a commitment to using Barbara as Oracle only appear on page; I do think Thompson is having way too much fun trying to play with ALL the characters and needs to focus a bit more on the ones she has already), but I'm never disappointed by the title? I enjoy myself.

Batman #152: I've got to say, as someone who has also played around with Darkseid powers, I enjoyed that Bruce acknowledged on page that Omega Beams do weird shit on occasion, revolving around what Darkseid wants, and that Bruce would in fact be cautious of them in ways other people are not. I'm not sure as a story it accomplishes a lot as an an Absolute Power tie-in (mostly I think it's just keeping Bruce out of the way while other characters get focus in the main titles), but I did appreciate the use of the Batman #79 callback to the Beach Holiday Of Explicitly Taking Time For Ourselves While The Children Are Dealing With Drama, because Bruce and Selina and holidays at the beach and on cruises is a long running theme together and I never hate seeing it pop up.

Putting the Birds of Prey Absolute Power set up into the back of this made sense in terms of comics pricing and keeping the number of event comics contained, but also probably needed to be better signalled. Read this AFTER BOP #13.

The Boy Wonder #5: and Juni Ba caps his story off.

This was sweet! In the spectrum of non-canonical or dubiously-canonical retellings of origin stories, I think this straddled the line pretty well, particularly in how it was explicitly pitched as a story someone was telling. Some of the resolution in the final issue was a bit pat for me (in terms of we all moved forward and solved things), but the focus stayed where it needed to be (on Damian and Damian's connections), and plenty of the implications were significantly creepier than Smol Damian here realised.

This would sit happily beside the Demon Trilogy as a quasi-canonical Al Ghul story. I think Dennis O'Neil would have appreciated it.

DC's I Know What You Did Last Crisis #1:

Honestly my opening thought on this was 'why did anyone offer Dan DiDio a writing slot'? Because, I've read a bunch of DiDio's work, and part of the situation with him at DC has always been that he's a mediocre writer that wouldn't rate a title if he hadn't already been working in editorial/management. His credits don't actually contain any stories and titles that people are big fans of, and a lot of his work was done collaboratively with stronger writers (if you're writing with Keith Giffen, I suspect Giffen is handling a lot of the actual plotting work and charm).

Okay rant out of the way:

Batgirl-COIE story: I don't mind this, but I feel like if I were going to pitch a Barbara story at this point I'd want it more in communication with Barbara Randall Kesel's work. I'd have Barbara acknowledge the Krypto stuffed dog and maybe bond with the kid over "I had a teddy called Supergirl". Also, this is...very early for 'Waylon likes kids'. Like, decades too early. Croc's characterisation feels far later than when this story is set.

Dr Light-Millennium: It's not bad as a horror piece, but as a few other people have noted, I feel it wastes the aspect of 'the Manhunters are hidden among us' inherent in their portrayal in the event. Nice moment spent with a few characters who don't get much page time though.

Birds of Prey-Final Night: this very much feels like a missing tie in! Which we didn't get, because BOP had the Manhunt mini instead during that period. Ashley Allen has a good grasp on the time frame and events going on for this. My one quibble is having Dinah working in Gotham here, as Barbara still was focusing on world-roaming problems at this point over local ones, but otherwise, it slotted in very nicely.

JSA-Zero Hour: This is fine. I will say the quip about "the number of Bat-people" for Zero Hour feels a bit thin. You mean, Batman, Nightwing, Robin, ... Huntress and Spoiler? Steph has barely had her second ever storyline, the only person in Gotham who trusts Helena is Tim, JPV is busy dealing with having been insane, and Dick's been home for five minutes. They literally just finished a multi-year event about how Bruce didn't have the support he needed.

Nightwing-Infinite Crisis: it's just sad and pathetic that Dan DiDio remains so mad that his staff rebelled and wouldn't let him kill Dick Grayson. It was almost two decades ago. Why are you still having a tantrum about this publicly? It's not even worth addressing the characterisation, as it's just an attempted take-that that makes him look worse.

Scarecrow-Blackest Night: ...if you're going to set something at the Monarch Theatre maybe take 5 seconds to check the wiki about what was happening with the location around the time of the story. It was not a functioning movie theatre, folks, and we're just prior to The Carpenter's Tale. I dunno. This one felt like a waste of the setting.

Lex Luthor-Final Crisis: look I don't enjoy Final Crisis, but this is incredibly set during Final Crisis. This feels like pretty solid Lex characterisation and introspection, and I'm sure he hates that he's hallucinating a Superman to talk down to.

Midnighter-Flashpoint: I dunno, the characterisation feels off for both Pyg and Midnighter. It's fine, but I would have preferred another story that really felt like a missing backup from an event.

My general overarching opinion? Most of the writers could have used a bit closer attention to context for their stories, if you're playing "this is set during". That's something people can check.

The Warlord #66: I just checked and we are so close to halfway through volume 1 of the Warlord! They simply do not commission 133 issue runs plus annuals of random conspiracy titles anymore. Anyway this week in Skartaris Mongo Ironhand remains the worst. Also Mariah and Mikola finally get to talk to each other and Mariah tells her lost werewolf fencing instructor lover that she's actually now got the hots for an ex-gladiator with a spiked mace for a fist. (Oh, Skartaris)

There is tragically very little discussion of communism. Get back to preaching about the benefits of communism, Mariah!

Also we fight a demon (who transformed from the Gollum creature like...30 issues earlier), Mariah tricks him into stabbing himself in the eyesocket with a trick sword, Jennifer defeats him with magic, they throw the magic book the demon was using into a volcano vent to destroy it, and the men are largely all useless.

Thank you, that has been our back in pre-history LOTR rip off of the week.

[havendance]

birds of prey :]

8. Terry Moore -- He only wrote like a three issue story for birds of prey, so perhaps it is petty of me to for one, include him on this list, and two, put him at the bottom, but I am still sore that the moment Dixon left the title this guy gave a story where Barbara gets temporarily magi-cured. Like, come on.

7. Gilbert Hernandez -- The other fill in author between Dixon and Simone. Also clearly suffers from thinking Batgirl is cooler than Oracle. Also metamopho is there for some reason.

6. Duane Swierczynski -- His birds of prey run is just mediocre to the extreme. Yeah, it's the new 52 and the Birds of Prey don't even really feel like the Birds of Prey and whatever, but also it's just too mid to rank lower. Also Strix was kind of interesting at the end of the run.

5. Julie and Shawna Benson -- Okay, here me out. I feel like this is my controversial one ranking them so high, but this is with the context that I've only read the first 6 issues and the rebirth issue. Yes, I'm not a fan of Helena's mom being alive and the amount of contempt they have towards Oracle!Babs fans is not great, but also I feel like they failed in a spectacular way that makes them more interesting than the blah that is Swierczynski's run, I'm willing to give them more ground than Moore and Hernandez who I am just pettily biased against, and also I'm a sucker for legacy characters and I keep thinking about how Gus could've been cool if it weren't for the everything.

4. Kelly Thompson and

3. Tony Bedard

There's a big jump between 5 and 4 and then Thompson and Bedard are really neck in neck for me so I want to talk about them together. Bedard's run I felt was honestly kind of mid. I'd honestly compare it to Swierczynski's in that way. But what it has that Swierczynski's lacks is a) helena b) oracle c) manhunter, d) misfit, and e) it actually feels like a birds of prey run. It also has all of those points on Thompson's run. Now Thompson's run has both Cass and Barda and the art consistently really slaps, but I think that D is the deciding point here. Thompson's run is fun, and it's still ongoing so my opinion on it will probably change over time, but it's also dinged by the fact that the issue 10 was pretty weak and I am susceptible to regency bias.

2. Gail Simone -- The reason that Simone is ranked at number two is honestly because she was cursed with having so many bad artists. She did not get a good artist until Nicola Scott and I was suffering for it. I like that she brought in Helena and I like the ideas behind a lot of her plots though sometimes they feel like they lose something in execution (the art probably does not help there). Her Helena characterization also feels off to me, but there's also a lot of enjoyable comics and moments in there and I did really like the spy smasher arc.

1. Chuck Dixon -- I'm sorry but I just really have a soft spot for Dixon's run. Were there misses? Yes. (eyes that dinosaur island arc he closed off on) but the Dinah and Barbara of it all was just so good. I have a soft spot for Manhunt, and also the art did not consistently burn my eyes.

[emelinstriker]

I'm back, did you miss me?? 🥺

Anyway, I've been thinking about how I could befriend the Oracle and hear me out, a good conversation. He seems like he'd enjoy that.

Now, can he tell me about what he likes please?

-Oracles number one fan

I mean.. That's not untrue- That is one of his jobs he enjoys doing-

[flower1622]

Ranking Female Characters of PJO:

1. Sally

It's Sally. She is totally a survivor. She has to worry many times about her demigod son, who doesn't live for a long time. Despite being a human, she is not afraid to face a god or monster to protect or save her son.

2. Rachel

If People hate her, so I like. She is really amazing on her way. She is nice and kind to everyone else, especially to Percy. She is so much better than another girl that doesn't care to be rude to other people, even her boyfriend. Rachel is a special human since she is an oracle. Despite not being a demigod, she is not afraid to face monsters or gods either. She is really a person that has to deal with many visisons and possible nightmares in her head. For me, she is still the best option for Percy. The most healthy one.

3. Clarisse

Totally a badass. Even though she is a bully, I guess she got a little better over the years. Except maybe for her dad, Clarisse is also not afraid to face any god or monster, even without her weapons. If she has to fight using only her hands, she will. Annabeth is not the only smart girl in pjo, Clarisse is still smart and strong. I guess she can understand about battle strategies since her father is the god of war. Clarisse is a survivor too. She survived with zombies (I don't remember what they were) and went to rescue Chris all by herself (If I'm not mistaken).

4. Hazel

I don't know much about Hazel since I didn't read HOO (I can't even remember much from PJO either), but from I saw people commenting, she seems a nice and kind girl that may have suffered a lot in the past. Just like Nico, I think she is also stuck in time?

5. Silena

She seems really kind and nice. Unfortunately, the girl was manipulated...but in the end became a heroine. Her mother Aphrodite also looks pretty awesome!Like mother, like daughter!

6. Thalia

She is not one of my favourite characters, but she seems the kind of person that would save the world at any costs even if she had to sacrifice her own family and friends. She wouldn't let emotions take control over her. Not only her, but also Artemis and the other hunters.

7. Meg:

She seems pretty smart and cool! I like that she was the only one (from what I could see) that chose stay by Apollo's side even with his arrogance. I think she always saw that he wasn't so bad after all.

8. Persephone

So sweet and kind. I guess she would be Solangelo number 1 fan. She likes them. I think she may see Nico as her own son. She always tries to be friendly to others, which is good because she can kind teach Hades to be more gentle with others. She is really a good influence for him.

9. Demeter

This goddess can be a little scary sometimes, but I understand that she worries about her daughter in the underwold. It's so nice to see Demeter tolerating Hades because of Persephone.

10. Juniper

I don't remember about this character (I'm not reading the books anymore), but from I can see she is the romantic partner for Grover if I'm not mistaken. She seems nice and sweet. I think they would make a cute pair.

[4rtificialangel]

am i the only one thinking how the song world.execute(me); fits oracle in a way..???

i really should make a playlist of all the songs i link with oracle

also im making art based off this song because i can, thats it

[d3zydration]

Digital Sketchbook (06.20.2024)

I'm about to make a big update post for my main website, but I didn't feel like using up storage on some preview shots. At the top, we've got progress on my 2d model for my YouTube channel, along with the many outfits I've made for her. Once I'm done with all the shading, I can break down the pieces and start the rigging process. I've probably got more outfits than I need, and there are some side characters I may make that I've had bouncing around in my head and on my channel for a long time that I'll probably also make, but once the bulk of it is done, I can focus on rigging while that happens.

On the bottom left, we've got a new Hesiodos (Hesiod) piece I'm working on. I wasn't happy with how the first one turned out, and honestly, I need to get back into the flow of more realistic works. Painting pieces directly from photo reference is easy enough, but it's a bit more difficult using a marble statue, as I did with my first piece, and more difficult still drawing from the mind while trying to translate those references as accurately as possible. I'm also using a more gouache-inspired brush set for this one. I've been super fascinated with acrylic gouache lately and am planning to start doing traditional pieces again in marker, watercolor, and acrylic gouache. I've been really into the work of Amina Illustration and I'm A Wonder.

My YCH (Your Character Here) commission piece "Little Witch" still has 5 available slots left on my Etsy shop (which is discounted from what you would pay for a custom commission with those specifications) - but I had also started on a number of other ones back in autumn of last year: A little graveyard chibi pin-up, a chibi girl holding a pumpkin spice latte, a woman kissing the cheek of a scarecrow, and a vampiric take on Klimt's The Kiss. I also started on a few general ones: one inspired by the style of Bratz, one inspired by the style of Monster High, and one inspired by the lo-fi girl. I'll still be wrapping them up and making them available whenever they're complete, but they aren't at the forefront of my workload at the moment - especially since I'm planning on moving away from Etsy.

Along that line, I also have plans to work on a couple of emote, clip art, and marketing packs, some stickers (including sticker sheets for my planners), a magickally-accurate Sailor Moon chibi series, and a couple of fan oracle decks. First on my to-do list, however, is a ton of website graphics for my new websites, the next batch of designs and styles for the Luxe Gothique Boutique, and a rework of my Khthonic Wiccan art series, as it's something else I just wasn't satisfied with.

And that's just artwork! I have a lot of writing in the works now, as well. I've got two books, my Mythos Reimagined series, and my webcomic, A Little Town Called Lorauvial, in the works, as well. This is a lot, I know, but I'm making progress each day. I just want to make so many things. I can't possibly keep it all locked away forever. 👻💚

Anyway, stay tuned for my update article. I'm going to be getting on that shortly with info on my other goings-on. Be there or be square.

[maiji]

Asking on behalf of Sydney: What does she fear about the road ahead of her and what she might experience returning to her old life? Two numbers: 3 and 15!

Oh!! What an honour to get to do a reading for Sydney!

Sydney is one of the protagonists from the awesome webcomic Sombulus, and her journey in it has been a tremendous one of hard-earned growth! As you probably guessed, I shuffled the deck and counted using the two numbers provided to pick the cards. Knowing the trajectory of Sydney's story to date, the resulting combination gave me a good chuckle.

#3 turned up The Man, and #15 was The House.

The Man is a special card in Lenormand. Like its counterpart The Woman, it always represents the most important person of that gender to the question being asked. This is either the querent themselves, or someone who has a big role in the situation. The House is a card often associated with things you think of when you think of "home" - like stability, comfort, and people you consider family.

In this basic spread, what we're looking for is a relationship between the two cards. My immediate thought was Sydney's relationship with Astyr. I am trying not to spoil Sombulus!! but Sydney meeting Astyr kickstarted a whole bunch of things that really shook her worldview, and their relationship evolved a great deal over the course of the series. They've just come to/passed a major juncture. They're both going separate ways big time but at the same time are probably closer than they've ever been… Fears for the road ahead - I'm sure Sydney's worried about Astyr a great deal in so many ways. What might Sydney experience returning to her old life - well, the changes to her outlook as a result of her meeting Astyr have definitely made it a challenge to just slide back into the world she used to fit in. I imagine it's hard to look at anything the same way anymore, to take anything for granted, not with what she knows and what she can do now.

This is a tool for reflection, so that's just one relatively high level interpretation. We can find patterns and make connections in a lot of ways. Also Delphina Probably Knows Things!!! that a mere mortal fan like myself cannot even begin to speculate! If we assume the Man doesn't represent Astyr, who else might we imagine it to be…? If the House is not specifying "family", what other things associated with home might it conjure up…? Real estate? Domestic matters? You can also read it more literally if you want. Maybe what lies in store in the future is that Astyr is gonna find a roomba and help Sydney clean house!! (Maybe "clean house" is more figurative than literal. I have confidence Super Cool Butt-Kicking Times lie in their future.)

I hope that offered some interesting thoughts, or at the very least amusement!

---

Thanks for requesting a limited time free reading to celebrate the new edition of the Fortune Lenormand oracle/art deck!

Want to dive deeper?

Fortune Lenormand oracle/art deck - there's a free downloadable overview of card meanings!

humangray.com/lenormand - more info and resources/links!

(Note: these readings are being done with my old card deck from the original printing. There's not much difference with the new edition available in the link above - the biggest one is that the new edition has a custom box ooh ahh!)

[roxy-morinaka]

I don''t mean to intrude in your ask box but this is actually an interesting conversation and one that doesn't appear often so forgive me fo this super long ask.

Do you think it's a bad thing to have characters that are created to be love interests? I think its worse when you have characters who are popular and have a fanbase and then get reduced to playing second fiddle in a relationship.

A love interest that I'm thinking of that became beloved is Lois but she may be the exception. I think it works better when characters are created to be love interests because then they fit within that world and can be developed from there. Dick and Barbara are more of examples of heroes who have their own fanbases. If you are a Dick Grayson fan you can choose from a number of ships. Barbara Gordon fan? You only have one ship and if you don't like it too bad. In Pre-crisis she dated so many different civilian men but that all stopped and no writer has ever invested in trying to let her date again or if they did a little you knew it wouldn't last because you knew who she was going to go back to.

From 2016-2023 the Nightwing title and Batgirl title were about their romance. There were very few issues where they weren't together or thinking about each other. And its been reinvented over and over again. N52 Dick is older than her and written like a cool older guy. Rebirth they share their first kiss as kids together. Currently they were best friends with each other. Young Justice they were schoolmates. Okay, in the 90s if you shipped Dickbabs there was content for you, and if you didn't ship DickBabs you could easily find something to read that didn't have it and ignore it while still enjoying the characters. You could ship Dinahbabs, or TedBabs, or some rarepair because there was content and flirting between characters to do so. Returning Barbara to Oracle doesn't solve the problem that these two have been at the hip for several years now. You can make that writing better but still doesn't solve the problem. Barbara Gordon was not created to be a love interest. She should have love interests in the same way you can list all of Dick Grayson's. Or Tim's. Or Bruce's. Heck, even Jason Todd has a list and he has the closet gap out of the batfamily in creation to Barbara and he was created after. And this goes for all the Batgirls too.

Not everyone likes romance and that's okay, but it is a part of these heroes lives but it shouldn't be the only part. Comic writers have abandoned the civilians they are supposed to care about. The supporting cast and people they are supposed to help. It's all Batfamily this and Batfamily that. And that's another thing, Dick has soooooo much lore and history. He doesn't get hurt by any changes to his history he just keeps growing. Barbara Gordon almost got her own movie. She's a symbol and considered her own hero but she doesn't feel like it. She gets replaced on the Birds of Prey and didn't even star in the movie. They would never replace Dick on the Titans. Batgirl comic was bad? So was Nightwing's but that didn't get cancelled.

And look, people can ship what they want but there is such an unfairness that has been happening here and been happening for a very long time.

I have always thought the best way to write relationships in comics is with time and growth. You create a whole array of characters that can have non romantic roles in multiple stories and see where the chemistry and story lead you. The relationships feel more organic and the characters less two dimensional.

Then when the romantic relationships end they rarely rekindle and are not forced back together again and again because certain writers or editors shipped it when they read comics.

I hated that N52 thought they could reduce and cheapen backstory to refresh everything but then just tried to force the same familial and romantic relationships in a less interesting way. I am not sure for me that the comics ever really recovered.

While I am not a particular fan of Barbara Gordon I am very frustrated with the dilution of her character over the years to the point where she has been reduced to a love interest and member of the 'bat family'.

I think individual character titles should build thier own characters and only feature cameos from other established characters as a small part of a story. Not move them in as regulars and further reduce thier chances of having thier own runs.

[zevdevsides]

Dumps nameless ocs upon ye. I'm going to start numbering them so every time it starts with the farthest left being 1 and going from there.

1: [she/her] Another witch animal handler and friends with the previous one [I have another lime green witch oc if you randomly find this post] I think I was going for a Mable from Oracle of Ages look alike but changed my mind quickly. She's an herbal witch then is never seen without her familiar. Very picky on appearances and ascetics.

2: [She/it] Originally it's an oc from a vampire oc challenge but I think she gives gargoyle more than anything. It spends days as a gargoyle on top of some castle roof but once the sun sets she comes alive. Often roaming the castle halls and creating an outfit from of the clothes in the closet of one of the many rooms. It's rare it sees people but she's never been too much of a fan.

3: [it/its] It is from a stuff animal oc challenge. So a lot of it is inspired by my childhood stuff animal Knuffle bunny and the outfit was what I was wearing on the day I created it. [Can you guess who is on the shirt I'll give you a hint it's a popular yo-kai] It's a toy that came alive literally. Not all of it came alive so it's never quite been able to fit into society usually scaring people with it's one button eye and the more normal eye looking panicked like it's seen the end, but some day it hopes to make some friends just like when it was simply a stuffed toy.

4: [she/he] I think this was from the some of the hero/villain pov vids I found on youtube. I can't remember what it was exactly but I think it probably remind me of a headcanon I have for Riku [kingdom hearts] because looking at this oc. It gives me either 358/2 Days Riku or KH2 Riku vibes.

5: [she/her] This is also a gacha club oc originally. I used Kokomi [Genshin Impact] to inspire the design and over-all color scheme. She's a fashion model that get's stressed easily. Which leads to her becoming a bit of a cry baby which for some reason all her fans love, and in return makes it worst for her.

6: [she/her] This oc looks better in gacha plus but meh. If you like weirdcore and occasionally get gacha content you're bound to get the mix of the two on youtube. The mix of the two is often some kid that is stuck in a coma and is in a dream world and normally followed by a monster of sorts. That's what this kiddo is inspired by and the way to 'wake up' is to take off the bandages on her eyes. She's a sweet girl that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Getting caught up in a untold mess she's slipped into her own wonderland. Freedom to do anything she wants but that lack of people has made everything seem slightly off.