#i've missed you tons the fox

[directdogman]

Dogman, how do you write SO WELL!?!? I love all your characters and I need to know what/where you find inspo from...

Ha. Every writer is just someone who apes the creative processes of their inspirations. For video game writing specifically, there's two answers for me.

Toby Fox is always gonna be a huge inspiration for me. I've written plots and characters before and had to abandon ideas after realizing I'd accidentally written part of UT again. Even some of the ideas I used were undeniably inspired by UT in a subconscious way and ofc, I included several explicit references to UT in my last series. Toby's a very clever guy who likely pays very close attention to the art he consumes and tries to figure out how to maximize how much his work connects with his audience. Whatever his process is, it works.

The other answer is a lil funnier: Scott Cawthon, but specifically the legend, not the man. For context: Back in the earlier days of the FNaF fandom, people had a hyper-inflated view of Scott Cawthon's writing skills that largely came from how little of a presence he had back in those days. In the vacuum of Scott actually explaining his own process in detail, people got caught up in his genuinely creative way of hiding exposition in his games using cryptid and (then) unexpected methods, and a narrative formed (one that he's since refuted.)

While he never implied it tmk, fans broadly believed that he constructed these sweeping and complex narratives with tons of cohesive moving parts, with the games essentially acting like the mere tip of his lore iceberg. People even thought he wrote so much that he had whole games worth of lore outlined from the beginning! In the first Dawko interview he gave, he clarified that this wasn't the case and explained roughly what his process was (basically just outlining rough theme ideas + aesthetics for future titles.)

However, that legend made younger-me's mind run wild and any time I wrote a story, it became very difficult for me to not keep writing down ideas while completing the grunt work that followed me finishing my scripts. When I finished DSaF 1, I already had DSaF 2's draft written and by the time 2 was done, I had enough lore for a 3rd game on paper (and a lot more stuff that I didn't use.) By the time three was out, I had pages upon pages of unused concepts/story ideas and more or less just had to decide to call it quits or else I'd be pumping out entries forever!

That's why if you go back to those older games, there's references that directly refer to future plot-points in pretty casual/easy to miss ways. (Like Henry's mention in DSaF 1, Dave being heartless in DSaF 2, Jack being soulless in 1, and even Blackjack being Jack's soul in 2. Most of 3's major plotpoints are implied somewhere in 2 and some of 2's in 1.)

DT is much the same. By the time I finished writing it, I had fairly detailed drafts for arcs for each of the characters, some early material ended up getting completely recontextualized (and even modified in small ways to not conflict with the wider ideas I came up with.)

I get really into writing my stories/characters and I always wonder exactly how things ended up where they are, what characters think about but don't say, etc etc. This is why I have an obscene amount of Crown lore that I have very little to do with rn (since he impacted the whole world so deeply.)

This extra stuff also includes plenty of sequel material ideas, though I didn't think I'd even get a chance to use them since DT performed pretty meagerly before the big release and I was expecting to have to move onto something new. Though it turned out that Scott didn't actually write his games this way (by his own admission), it's the correct answer for what my core writing inspiration for writing game narratives is.

Hope this helps!

[kitkinnie]

games w. species euphoria

please don't spoil any of the games with stories in the replies or reblogs!

Ori and the Blind Forest - felinekin, maybe some kind of fae or angel kin too ori is very good little creature design and it moves around so fluidly but there's zero customization, if you vibe with ori it's great and if you don't, might not be for you. it's a puzzle platformer similar gameplay-wise to hollow knight (but not as difficult)

Hollow Knight - bugkin, ghostkin, voidkin difficult but very pretty and atmospheric. i've played some of it before getting stuck/being unable to progress because i'm not good at video game. hard platformer with boss fights.

Stray - robotkin, catkin this is one i've been meaning to play for ages (and haven't gotten around to pirating yet, cough) Stray is a 3d game set in a cyberpunk/sci fi world. You play as a tabby cat trying to find its way back to its home and it looks stunning. I assume the story is great, too.

Roblox Creatures of Sonaria - there are so many creature designs there you're bound to find something that's youcore their colors can be customized. It's a multiplayer survival game so it's more stressful than the other games on this list, you gotta be trying not to die the whole time

Animal Jam Classic / Animal Jam Play Wild - lots of real world animals you can dress up and change the colors and patterns of your animals. ajc is in 2d and ajpw is in 3d and has more animal options, but i find ajpw really confusing personally.

William and Sly/William and Sly 2 - foxkin old flash games available as a set on steam, a quest platformer where you run around a pretty forest environment as a red fox and find various things. the music is lovely, both games have a great atmosphere, played it a ton as kid on armor games. i dont think i ever even finished either game i just loved running around as sly (in the second game there are also little kitten-fairies that you can collect and that follow you around)

Postmouse - mousekin free on steam, 3d puzzle platformer where you're a mouse that delivers letters. it can get a little obtuse and confusing at times which is why i never finished it, but it's very charming and free to play! you run around all these huge and pretty environments as a fancy-dressed little mouse .

Lost Dream 1 and 2 - foxkin abstract/stylized/polygonal walking simulator where you play as a red fox. doesn't seem to be much story and the reviews are mixed because walking sims like this need to be like, your cup of tea.

Spyro Reignited - dragonkin of course had to mention such an OG dragon game. never played it but like, it's spyro. cartoony 3d platformer in a fantasy environment.

Oneshot - catkin pixel rpg where you play as a cat child and the gimmick is that you only have one life. the steam page tags it as story rich and having multiple endings/story choices you can make, and the graphics are beautiful, the whole game seems to be made of dark colors and poppy accents

Honorable Mentions:

Way to the Woods - an in-development 3d game where you play as a deer and fawn exploring different enviroments.

The Isle - an early access survival MMO where you play as a dinosaur and try to stay alive.

feel free to add more in reblogs, i know i'm missing a lot of classics but i'm getting tired

[appleflavoredkitkats]

youve gotta let us know all your fave cfundy fics...the people need it...

hello anon . u have been bestowed a pin that says "best anon" for enabling me to talk about this fox a bunch more

1. banks of newfoundland by honeydowo

genuinely life-changing. writing style alone, i want to put it in my mouth.

but what makes the fic a genuine standout is that it's one of the first i've seen that encapsulates the concept of fundy as nationalism/l'manberg in a way that's super profound and super, super sad.

i love how fundy is portrayed in this. there's so much emotion in this fic, but it's explained in a very low and casual way that makes you feel more terrible for this guy. it's a cyclical showcase of fundy's tragedies, and how he can't even react to it in a visceral manner because it happens so frequently.

genuinely one of the most beautiful fundy fics out there. three years later and i still come back from this fic crying

2. be my home by neg_nancy

this one's a newer gem i found, one that portrays las nevadas as a "family" without making it fall into stereotypical family dynamics. i was simply put in awe by how well the author writes the connections and relationships the characters have with each other, imperfect and untrusting yet ultimately united for the same base causes

i specifically love the way they portray quackity. he's cunning and perceptive, knowing how to extract what he wants from his members without asking them directly. but what i absolutely love is how compassionate he is behind the sternness, and wow, i'm just absolutely floored by how he mobilizes fundy by the end

3. there is a quiet passing into silent, desolate pain (and no one is allowed to see) by readinglass

this one's depressing, but definitely unique. essentially, it's a fic about tommy witnessing fundy clean schlatt's grave. there's a ton of original, religious imagery in there, which i thinks taps into desperation in ways we don't often find with fundy

i love anything that looks into fundy and schlatt, and this not disappoint. it utilizes fundy's desperation and endless devotion to someone as a way to emphasize his ultimate loneliness. it is just so depressing, and the addition of tommy as both a character and a mirror to what we might be thinking is also so great

4. pandora's box by rabbitsintheclouds

saboo i miss u come back /j /lh

for real though, i know this is more of a c!dream fic more than anything, but the way fundy is used in the latter chapters is honestly so fascinating. the juxtaposition between fundy's optimistic, goofy, and unconditionally loving self and dream's charred-ness, memory loss, and pessimism makes for such a lively yet tense dynamic.

i promise you, this does not water down dream's abusive character to anything but that. but fundy reminds dream of what he's uncapable of being, which somewhat pacifies him a little. it hurts to see them relive dream after dream depicting end-world scenarios, especially considering how peppy and depressingly cheerful fundy is in these scenes

those about are my favorite fics but i suppose i can advertise my own as well. love of the fox is my ongoing one atm, a fix it of sorts that focuses on fundy and schlatt during las nevadas. i have 5 other fics, but i mostly stand by the fics "last resorts" and "one less sleepless night" the most. im too lazy to link those but just check em out on my ao3 :3

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 17 thoughts

whispers softly. man... i need a minute. shaky breath.

okay. i'll start at the top like always. AUGH THE TEARS. fighting them. okay. need to put on some sad songs to accompany the 45-60 minutes it will take to type all this up

so, i sat down ready to see where this was gonna go. in fact i noted that i was incredibly locked in. which i continue to believe that i was.

we see a submarine, which is a type of craft i just do not trust. even before all that went down last summer. too scary for me. but they see something giving off a signal. and despite being a cartographer ship, they have missiles. and they're gonna go towards the thing they see on the radar, because they were told to. which seems wrong.

but then all their power is knocked out!!! and they are ordered to surface. but how will they do that under a ton of ice?!?!

title sequence. i was expecting different than the usual "the truth is out there" but i guess it's just business as usual over here despite it all

back to where we left off: scully's on the phone with real mulder and fake mulder is in her room. she hangs up on real mulder and tells the fake one that it was a wrong number, which had to be confusing to real mulder.

she tells him to put his hands on the wall, and he makes some quip about being shot before and not caring for it, and for a minute i'm like oh shit, that's a very mulder thing to do- what if he is, in fact, real mulder, and it's fake mulder on the phone? but that theory didn't make much sense anyway and also it was quickly put to rest by the fact that he started beating the hell out of scully.

so time skip: real mulder shows up to the scene with his "sister", who says the alien hit man is gonna call and ask to make a trade: scully for his "sister", and yeah, quotes are verbatim, i was still not buying this whole family relation thing

but his "sister" says that she knows how to kill the alien hit man: you have to hit the base of his skull. maybe. she isn't 100% certain. and also you can't miss because their blood is toxic. which we actually did already know!

and he's getting suspicious. why won't she explain exactly where she has been all this time? and what's this deal with her "father"? he's yelling at her at this point and i get it because it's not adding up to me either

she says that the aliens have been trying to establish a colony on earth since the 1940's, and:

"it's their belief that the stewardship of the planet is being forsaken" <- okay yeah. can't argue there. some of us are trying, aliens. i am not one of the mega companies pouring nuclear waste into the ocean. but maybe y'all could do a better job. and she continues:

"and that by default they'll someday become the natural heirs" <- well hey. you were sounding reasonable but now you are not. have we considered that maybe the people already here could give it another go free from the shackles of the 1%? you're acting like it's an estate sale and buddy we're still living in the house. you lost me there, and i was willing to hear you out.

she says that all of the clones worked at abortion clinics to gain access to fetal tissue, so they could combine human and alien dna. which i imagine had to be a good pr boost for abortion clinics (heavy on the /s here)

and the killer is after them because their experiments with mixing alien with human dna were not sanctioned, so they're "diluting the race", which i guess seems like the thing they would be worried about.

he doesn't seem to fully buy it, because he says "that's a good story, but i've heard a lot of good stories lately" which is true!!! our old worstie ambrose chapel was a liar, remember? or at least someone impersonating him was doing some lying!

"i'm your sister, fox, you have to trust me" UM PROOF?? have we done a dna test??? you can't just show up like that!!!!!

skinner knocks at the door... but is it really him? or the shapeshifting hit man????

"why are the lights out?" skinner asks quite reasonably "orders from my ophthalmologist" he says, lying very easily for a man for loves the Truth. but it did make me giggle.

sister approves that it is really skinner! only after they set a trap to get him just in case it wasn't. again i ask why she can tell if it's the man or not but okay. we move past that.

he makes introductions: "this is my sister, samantha mulder" to which skinner replies "WHAT"

and yeah. i would react the same!!!!

(also weird to hear mulder used as a last name. to me that's just the guy. you know?)

NOOO his phone rings. it's scully calling from a payphone. "he says he's gonna kill me if you don't give him what he wants" oh. okay.

there's no time to explain to skinner what is going on so!!! just please trust me, he says!!! and he does. another point for skinner, who is like a strange uncle or cousin to me.

they go to do a hostage trade: "samantha" for scully. and is this the same bridge where they did the hostage deal for mulder at the end of s1? do they only have one bridge for hostage deals. might be a bit much to have 2 in one city.

skinner has a sniper in the bush, ready to shoot at the base of the alien hit man's neck during the exchange. okay save the day mister sniper please.

AUGH HOSTAGE EXCHANGE. it's so tense. i paused here to write how tense it was, which did not ease it in the slightest. the hit man has a gun to scully's head and it's recalling mulder's early trauma with hostage exchanges. they're waiting for the right moment to shoot....

scully's in the car!!!! but samantha tried to use the needle that kills the aliens and she MISSED and the sniper shot was messed up and then there's firing and is it the sniper? or is it the hit man? who is hit? it is very unclear!!!!! both hit man and samantha tumble into the cold water beneath.

he's still at the bridge, staring down into the place he last saw her. scully comes out to join him, and he says "you should be at the hospital" (she has gauze on her head and says she was just discharged)

he's staring into the water, trying to come up with different ways she might have lived

"why didn't you tell me on the phone that it was her?" "i couldn't tell you 'cause you'd never let me go through with it" AUGHHHHHHHHH.

(and knowing how the episode ends. i am glad this happened. but in the moment. this was a gut punch)

she asks how he knew it was really his sister (valid question, one i fear he should have asked as well) and he snaps about how could she ask that, and she's like, dude someone with your face and body just kidnapped me???? so the whole who is who thing is a little murky??

(she actually calmly explains this. without any judgement. judgement added was my own. but you can imagine that after this experience, hearing "he's an alien" might still be a bit of a hard sell)

okay, mr. mulder is on the scene. he has to tell his dad he lost his sister. I lost her, he says. emphasis on the I. as if it was an action that he took. fuck.

and his dad hits back with a "you LET this man take your sister?" and son mulder is CRYING. what the HELL this is too much. the man has suffered too much. i'm given flashbacks to the last time we saw him cry when he thought he lost scully forever.

PAUSE. i just know the actors were eating up these lines. ohhh i know they were sinking their teeth into them the way that good dialogue allows you to. when you tap into the soul of a character, a whole person who isn't even real, because the writing cuts to their heart. yeah yeah yeah i knowww they were rolling with it and it felt Good

back to the scene. his father is giving him a guilt trip about how his mother is going to deal with "losing her again". and he's apologizing and crying when his dad pulls out an envelope

"your sis- SAMANTHA" told me to give you this.

the implication that he lost the claim to be considered related to her????? is sooooo entirely messed up?? that is the kind of thing that ruins a person???? holy fuck??

he's sobbing while opening the letter, and it gives an address where she says they can meet up if they are separated... so maybe she's really still out there??? hope has been installed back into "she's not actually dead" camp

he rolls up to the address and parks in an area labeled "NO PARKING". grief will do this to a guy.

but just as he arrives, scully calls and says they found her in the river. NOOOOOO THE NEWLY RETURNED HOPE.... "whatever you're feeling, you can't blame yourself" she says, knowing that he must be putting his whole soul into Blaming Himself

but... her body is melting??? is it an alien body??? is the melting gonna turn into toxic gas?? scully don't stare at it you're gonna get all thick blood!!!!

back to mulder. this man is experiencing all stages of grief at once on the steps of a women's clinic. he goes in and pulls out a gun and boy i sure hope there are no women inside.

someone is in there. it's... someone with samantha's face??? saying that she knows "she's dead"????? "it was all a lie", he mumbles as he realizes he was played

YESSSS I KNEW IT. i knew that was NOT his sister. i knew it was too weird and coincidental to be true. this makes the grief of losing her dissipate entirely so i do consider this a win beyond me just being able to guess where the plot was going

and i'm thinking, how the hell is he gonna explain all this to scully? like, to mom and dad, you will have to play along with the whole "she died" thing, and while that is by no means easy, it is a concrete thing you can say and do. but scully??? how is she going to react to "someone pretended to be my sister and then got killed"

(i suppose mulder could tell his parents that DNA testing on "samantha's body" proved no relation, but that would still be complicated to walk through, because there was no corpse to prove that, you know, because she dissolved- maybe scully could make some paperwork to make it look real?)

back to the matter at hand: these aliens with the same face are saying that he must save their original source. and he says "i am not your savior" which- tea. set your boundaries king. in fact, had i been there, i would have done the opposite of protecting, and instead start blasting these aliens that pretended to be my long-dead sister.

but they have leverage... they know where she really is...... so he doesn't walk out....

hit man arrives!!!!! armed with his needle!!! and mulder goes to confront him, but he knocks him on his back, and sets a fire- mulder's weakness!!!!!!

scully is making a report. she cannot substantiate his claims of aliens. and she's got a cut on her forehead from hit man taking her. my poor queen :(

back to the fbi agent that died in the last episode. he has nasty cuts allllll over. like he was carved with designs. sorry for that imagery but i saw it and must describe it.

she thinks she can solve this case with the power of SCIENCE!!! what killed this guy, exactly? maybe if we can figure it out, the other pieces could fall into place

so the virus that causes the blood to thicken is inhibited by the cold.... which explains our earlier scene of mulder in the ice tub and her yelling about him needing to be cold...

DEEP THROAT 2.0 ARRIVAL? (sidenote does this dude have a real name? like while this was airing what were y'all calling him...)

he tells mulder that the last alien- the one who was sent to kill the clones, our shapeshifting hit man- has been tracked to alaska, and that you have to pick your battles to win the war. telling him not to go to alaska. can you imagine.

scully goes to his place and knocks but no one answers. and his newspapers on at the doorstep. so she busts out her keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey..... heart still melts that she has this.......

and HE KNEW SHE WAS GONNA INVESTIGATE???? he sent her an email..... and he's saying how he wouldn't let her risk her life... nooo don't you weaponize the earlier drawing a line thing, that was about chasing a very vague alien lead to an agent's death, not about investigating ur sister...........

she bursts into skinner's office. and then apologizes for doing so.

(i love this so much. such a tiny detail that tells us a lot about her character. that Need to be good and do the right thing and please those whom she looks up to. ohhhhh)

he asks to speak to her off the record, and it seems at first promising... but he won't help her get in contact with mulder. EVEN after she says please!!!! she is gonna cry!!!!!

skinner's bitching about mulder's actions being a violation of his oath, and she's saying that he saved her life, and he comes back with a "if he wanted or expected you to do the same, he would have told you where he was going"

skinner being a jerk... at this point i began to revoke the point i earlier gave him...

he looks deeply troubled though, and i was like, ohhh, mulder must have promised him to not tell her where he was going... i see into your plans, mulder (<- this is not what happened)

back at mulder's place. scully's searching for clues. there's an x taped to the window again, which must be something he just does sometimes. and there's ominous music.

she falls asleep on his couch, and i swear i actually felt my heart melting at this moment. the way she was curled up. subconsciously trying to hold onto a piece of him. only finding rest where he did. i can't even wax poetic about this because i can't put the words into the right shape. but it is gonna destroy me.

someone is knocking... but who?

DEEP THROAT 2.0?!?!

he tries to act like he just went to the wrong room, but she isn't buying it, following him and demanding to know where he really is

SKINNER IS HERE? GETTING ON THE ELEVATOR????? SKINNER ATTACKING D.T. 2.0??? the girls are fighting!!!!!!!

he makes deep throat 2.0 tell him where mulder is, even when skinner is pinned up and deep throat 2.0 is the one holding the gun, and he said "i've killed men for less", but skinner says that if you kill him, he'll be killing 2 men....... this gag seems to have worked

SKINNER is AT THE DOOR to mulder's place where scully is staying. and he is bleeding from MANY wounds. tells scully where he is without elaborating on the blood pouring from all over. okay skinner. you're real for that. you get that point i was tossing around back. and a bonus one, in fact.

so mulder's out on the ice, and usually him wearing a big jacket would spark joy in my heart. and i won't lie, it does a little. but there is also a LOT of tension going on, so it's very brief. feels wrong to rejoice in the simple pleasures of man in big funny coat when he just had to lose his sister and then learn it wasn't even her.

but he sees some sort of tower and he's going in!!! and a dead guy is spotted.

pause. at this point i am sitting here thinking, man, these episodes are good, definitely among the best i've seen so far. who let these men cook? can we get them back in the kitchen with more regularity?

someone is leading him deeper and deeper into the maze of this... station? sub? and i fear he is being led into a trap. but he finds a very very scared man and having a big man point a gun at him doesn't help with the fear, i'm sure. but is it really a sniveling coward... or the hit man???

and JUST as he almost had me fooled and wondering if mulder was gonna really shoot an innocent guy, BAM! hit man reveal.

mulder keeps asking where his sister is, even while being pummeled by this alien with super strength. and he says "she's alive. can you die now?"

mulder shoots at the alien and he misses the back of his neck, so his toxic blood is filling up the space, and things are not looking good at all. and the alien takes him out and drops him on the ice!!!!!

he's going to break the ice and let him freeze or hit him with the sub as it goes down, both very bad endings........

CUTSCENE TO WHERE WE BEGAN!!!!

scully is bursting in, telling this doctor that he has a virus that can only be slowed by keeping him cold, and he isn't buying it, but just as he tries to get her kicked out of the room, his heart stops, so she intervenes.

and she's calling all the shots- get 100 grams of this and that and a drip of this- and this doctor has had his shift hijacked by a better doctor. he implies that mulder might not make it, and she refuses to hear this out.

and she's.... gently stroking his hair... while this is going down........

and sitting by his bed while he's getting better...

(so are the counts for who has been in a coma now tied? justice is served)

and now she's doing the case conclusion:

"several aspects of this case remain unexplained, suggesting the possibility of paranormal phenomena" <- OHHH??? is this what makes scully a believer? are we gonna see some character changes?

"but i am convinced that to accept such conclusions is to abandon all hope of understanding the scientific events behind them" okay!!! we are getting a deeper look into her philosophy here. yes yes yes give me more. and more i was given:

"many of the things i have seen have challenged my faith and my belief in an ordered universe, but this uncertainty has only strengthened my need to know, to understand, to apply reason, to those things which seem to defy it"

and i love it. i love it so much. seeing how she understands the world, why she knows that there has to be an order to it all, and if it seems there isn't, it's just because she hasn't figured it out yet... and science did allow him to get better... the need to fight a good fight in the way she knows how... yeah... that's lovely...

and she's CRYING at his bedside and holding his arm when he finally opens his eyes. her smile. her gentle "hey". it's so innocent, seeing that he is okay, that he made it through the worst part of getting better.

"thanks for ditching me" aughhhhghhhhh.......

he says he didn't find what he was looking for, but he did find the faith to keep looking. ohhhhh. ohhhhhhh...

the way his faith was gone at the start of season 2, but now it's back, there's something worth fighting for, his sister is out there, there is a world worth figuring out..........

man.

at this point my friend was sending me texts and i was like queen i need a minute. i need a minute. to put these things in order. and honestly i STILL do!

it was an absolutely amazing duo of episodes. i truly loved the writing, seeing them pushed to the brink with each other and with themselves. seeing skinner come into fruition. seeing what motivates them both and how they see the world and how it is entirely different but still driven by hope and faith and a need to learn the truth. and the tenderness of it all. of her sleeping on his couch in his absence, thinking maybe he'll be home soon. of running her fingers through his hair while he was being revived. the fury of being blamed for the loss of his sister, the fury with which she screamed at deep throat 2.0 to tell him where he went off to, the fury of mulder realizing he had been lied to and that his sister had never come back at all. but there still being hope despite it all. because there are things worth searching for. and they can do it together.

man. it was a very good episode but your girl is gonna go watch a silly video because it definitely hit me right in the Feelings!!

[jinn-exe]

ever since i heard temeura's version of Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, I've been thinking abt modern au codywan where they don't know each other but most of their friends or acquaintances have a mutual group. And they've never met once, not until cody's brother, Fox, gets married to Quinlan, and they're obviously the best man for their respective sides. Okay, so they dont meet during the rehearsal dinner either, bc obi-wans some type of special forces agent, and he missed it due to being off country, but he promises Quinlan he'll make it on the day of the wedding! Fast forward to the reception part, they're all having fun, drinking, dancing, and the general chaos that comes whenever there's a shit ton of Fetts in one social gathering. Anyway, the vocalist they hired for the live band ends up bailing, and they're immediately in an emergency family meeting bc whos going to sing now??? Of course, Rex perks up and says, "What about Cody?" And everyone agrees bc like why didnt we think of that?? And Cody VEHEMENTLY refuses, they're all tackling him to the ground begging, screaming, and using their younger brother privilege until finally, finally, Cody relents with a tired sigh. He goes on stage, and looks a bit flustered, but he ends up singing it anyway and everyones howling clapping cheering him on, and just as he gets to the part of, "Now that I found you, stay" his eyes land on one very attractive and equally curious Obi-Wan kenobi mouthing the lyrics. If Cody's voice wavered a little during the next line, no one noticed or bothered to care. The audience shouts for an encore and Cody has no other choice but to do it, and you can imagine it's a very long night, most of the guests have already made their way home and have trickled into a small crowd of family and close friends. Cody's disappointed bc he didn't get to speak to the handsome gentleman, but what he didn't expect to happen was to find the same man waiting for him at the hotel venue, grinning fondly as if they’ve known each other their whole lives.

[dreaminrainbows]

Happy August! I've decided to start a monthly fic rec and what a better way than with all the lovely fics I've read in July!

Victorian Boy by audreyhheart / @audreyhheart [101k]

Victorian AU. Harry the virgin Duke of Somerset knows little of love, while Louis the sly Duke of Warwick knows too much. When the two dukes come together for the Bilsdale fox hunt in York, Harry finds himself drawn into Louis' bed. But when secrets from Louis' dark past come to light, Harry fears that the fox isn't the only one being hunted.

you are my destiny (you are the reason that i still believe) by alwaysxlarrie / @alwaysxlarrie [98k]

Being a new employee at a company means that you have to learn to brush off the shitty bosses, shitty coworkers, and not getting the credit you actually deserve for things. At least, that's been Harry Styles' experience. Coworkers who steal his ideas in pursuit of getting praise and a raise, and a boss who's indifferent at best and condescending at worst. Harry has learned to expect this reality for the foreseeable future. He's accepted it. What he hadn't expected was for Louis Tomlinson to waltz into their company, and his life, and change around everything he thought he knew about fate. A Cinderella AU.

fondre ton absence by scrunchyharry / @scrunchyharry [41k]

Harry had never really given much thought to the future. He preferred to let life steer him forward and to follow in the footsteps of Louis, his best friend from as far as his memory went, his lover, his everything. Louis knew better than he did what was good for him. It changed drastically when Louis was ripped away from him, drafted and sent to the front to fight in a war that Harry had always been sure would never reach him. Too young and too sickly to follow, Harry was left on his own for the first time in his life. When he thought things could not possibly get worse, Louis went missing at the Somme and was declared dead. While everyone buried and mourned him, Harry never moved on. If Louis were dead, he was sure that he would know it. Their lives were too entwined, he would know if half of his heart had died. Determined to find Louis, Harry did everything he could in his quest to be reunited with him, except prepare for the state Louis might be in. He did not prepare for the harsh truth he would have to face: was love possible without memories?

The Haunting of Louis Tomlinson by HelloAmHere / @helloamhere [31k]

“I'm not afraid of ghosts,” Louis said. Every single magnet unstuck itself from the fridge and fell to the floor in a clattering cascade. “I'm only a little afraid of ghosts,” Louis said. OR: Louis is a plucky Gothic Heroine, Harry is a Mournful Spirit, and Big Country Houses are full of mystery and suspense, as Big Country Houses ever are!

come on jump out at me by yoursongonmyheart / @yoursongonmyheart [28k]

“you know, i offered for you to fake out me, but, i don’t know anything about you other than you being my biggest celebrity crush probably since posh spice.” louis almost chokes on his chicken, “jesus christ,” he sputters. harry takes a swig of his beer with a smirk. “i was very disappointed when you didn’t say i was your celebrity crush after you came out.” louis almost cries. “you know i did plan on it. then i ran into you narrating taking a piss and talking about my ass and i thought ‘wow this kid does talk some shit’ and decided against it.” harry barks out a laugh, his ears tinged red. he takes a bite of his pizza. “i suppose i do have no filter while high.” louis rolls his eyes, “bit of an understatement, mate.” harry giggles, “whatever pal,” louis screams internally. Or, the one where actor louis tomlinson and one direction superstar harry styles try to fake a sex tape to help harry get out of the closet and they both get more than they bargained for.

Unbonded by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom [24k]

“Look,” Louis says firmly. “Last time I checked, I’m still the pack leader, so you damn well better listen to me. It was Harry who worked out what I’d been poisoned with, then nursed me back to health. And it was Harry who thwarted the plan for my second assassination attempt by literally throwing himself in front of an arrow intended for me, nearly dying in the process, which is why we’re even having this argument in the first place. So if you think I’m going to set foot outside of this hut until he’s fully healed, you’ve all seriously misread the situation, and even more importantly, you’ve all seriously misread me.” OR the one where Harry is an omega who has been cast out from his pack, Louis is the alpha leader of the pack where Harry finds a new home, Liam is an alpha with heart of gold, and Niall is a cook who can't seem to stop setting himself on fire.

The Capillaries In My Eyes Are Bursting by 5secsoflarry [14k]

Two armoured palace guards stand there, speaking with the old, widowed beta. Harry watches curiously from the space in the back, ducking down a little in an attempt to hide. There have been whispers through the town of omegas being gathered and forced to the castle all week long - something about the King being ill - but Harry had thought they were only rumours….. OR Medieval times where King Louis is in a near death accident and enters a coma. The royal doctor says they have two weeks to find Louis’ true soulmate (omega) or he dies.

oh so familiar by InsightfulInsomniac / @insightfulinsomniac [13k]

When Harry transferred to the University of Mestonwood, he hoped that he'd finally fit in. As a witch, he's much less likely to feel isolated on an entirely supernatural campus, right? Wrong. Thanks to the cold-shoulder efforts of Louis Tomlinson, president of the vampire Coven, Harry still feels the sting of rejection from the most gorgeous boy on campus. It's doubly frustrating that everyone else, even Harry's only close friend, Niall, seems to think Louis is a great guy. Harry vows to actively ignore Louis in return, but his plans are foiled when his familiar, Oli, starts turning off their telepathic connection during Harry's classes. It doesn't take long for Harry to find out where Oli is disappearing to - or, rather, who he is disappearing to. A story of misguided enemies to lovers brought together by a stubborn orange tabby.

Little Dove (Series) by littleroverlouis / @littleroverlouis [11k]

I Can Be Your Vice (Pt.1) It could be his innate flight or fight instincts kicking in. His predator is closing in and he is the prey. Fear would be a rational response. After all, there is a centuries old vampire standing directly behind him. “You’re ahead of schedule, Louis.” Or Harry and Louis are FWBB (friends with bloodsucking benefits)

With Just One Look (Pt.2 prequel to Pt.1) There is no way Harry is over twenty-one. Louis would bet his right fang on it. He has an air of purity and exuberance towards strangers that is generally worn away with age and life experience. Louis has not received such a sunny greeting, bar from some golden retrievers in his neighborhood, in decades. Harry is a precious little dove. Louis feels guilty. Almost. Or Louis meets Harry at a club and wants to suck him dry.

This Is Not the End (Pt.3) “Little dove, could you please come here for a moment? You gotta help me, I’m losing my mind.” It is hard being a ‘little dove’ when you’re fifty-eight years old. Harry will always be Louis’ little dove, but it makes him chuckle as he swallows down his daily Centrum Silver multivitamin. The nickname came into his life as a wide eyed, innocent eighteen year old, along with the love of his life. He wonders, could he still refer to Louis as the love of his life when he joins him as the undead? Or Louis finally turns Harry into a vampire.

so pull me closer, why don’t you pull me close? by alwaysxlarrie / @alwaysxlarrie [9.9k]

If you ask Harry, baking and soccer go together like chocolate and cheese -- which is to say, they really, really don't. But maybe that's just because he’s less than thrilled about the lousy sous-chef partner he got paired with, Simon. If the captain of the soccer team wants to substitute players and be Harry's partner instead... well, Harry's lemons just turned into lemon meringue pie. Who is he to argue with fate?

Standing On the Edge of Falling by therogueskimo / @bravetemptation [5.8k]

“There’s a bit of a situation in one of the tenting areas, and you two are the perfect people to handle it.” “Get on with it, then.” “Some fucker’s brought a whole TV in and is streaming the England/Slovakia game. A whole crowd’s gathered, over a hundred people, at least, and it’s blocking walkways between the tents. I need you two to go shut it down.” ~~~ It’s Harry’s first security gig, and somehow, he landed Glastonbury. Unfortunately, he’s been tasked with telling a very gorgeous man that he can’t stream the football match. Things go … much better than expected.

Scared That My Worst is the Best That I’ve Got by LetTheMusicMoveYou / @letthemusicmoveyou28 [5k]

So while Louis’ proposition is preposterous, it’s also the only compromise his brain seems willing to make at the moment. Harry slowly raises his head to look at Louis. He’s standing on the other side of the kitchen, elbow resting casually on the edge of the counter next to the sink. His expression is soft and patient, and there’s delicate morning sunlight streaming through the kitchen windows behind him, setting his outlined silhouette aglow. He looks like an angel. An angel in an old oversized adidas jumper with tattoos on his knuckles, but an angel all the same. Harry’s voice comes out mumbled and much smaller than he’d like, but it is what it is. As Louis always says. “Just shampoo?” (Or five times Louis saves Harry from himself, and one time when Louis is the one that needs the saving).

we could be enough by HelloLovers13 / @hellolovers13 [5k]

“You know I am flirting with you, right?” Louis freezes mid-bite. Just manages not to choke on his steak. Harry laughs a bit too loudly, almost like he’s nervous. “Yeah, should’ve known you weren’t the observant kind. You think I get this dressed up for a random dinner with a mate on a Tuesday night?” or Louis never imagined anyone could love him for who he truly is. Then he meets Harry.

Rapture by allwaswell16 / @allwaswell16 [3.2k]

It was New Year's Eve in Victorian London, and a lonely vampire could no longer resist the stunning lamplighter he watched night after night. Or, a vampire Harry fic because what says the holidays like Victorian vampires?

Lights Are So Bright by QuickedWeen /@becomeawendybird [2.1k]

Newly first-string quarterback Louis Tomlinson mentions enough times in interviews that he's a fan of mega-famous popstar Harry Styles that people start to notice. At least one person does...

This was really fun to make and I'll do my best to keep monthly recs on some kind of a schedule, probably will be the first week of the next month.

Happy reading everyone!

[catboydogma]

envie si grande et menaçante

grandiose - pomme

wc: 4,475

notes: the long-awaited vox fic for @meerlichtz :) this has been in my drafts for so long that i think it put me on (semi-unintentional) hiatus. yes, this fic is quite possibly the reason why i've written .2 fics for the last 32 years. regardless despite all the horrors i had a ton of fun writing this and hope u enjoy meer :)

summary: one Jedi Shadow Quinlan Vos gets stuck in the Coruscant Guard's medbay recovering from a mission gone meiloorun-shaped. This goes about as well as expected.

“You are not allowed to die on me,” Fox snarled, reining in the urge to shake the Jedi by the fronts of his tabards. For General Gallia to leave Fox to babysit this asshat and then have this asshat die on him was unconscionable. Fox had never failed a mission objective in his life, and he wasn’t about to let some muscle-headed Jedi change that. 

“Me?” Vos grinned. His teeth were stained pink with claret; Fox could see it foaming at the corners of his mouth, lips and tongue a ruddy crimson with it. “Why would I die when I have so many better things to be doing on you?”

Mission parameters could be flexible. Surely General Gallia wouldn’t mind that much if Vos disappeared—quietly—discreetly—

“Whoops. Now that’s a scary face.” Vos mimed zipping his lips shut. The effect was only partially ruined by the tremor in his hands, now getting worse.

“Shut up.” Fox leaned even more of his weight into the hands keeping pressure on Vos’ abdomen and ribs, ignoring Vos when he wheezed something about his ribs. A few cracked ribs wouldn’t kill the Jedi, but the hole in his chest would, even if the blaster shot had only just missed his lungs. “Medevac, ETA?”

“Closing in on your location now,” Thire reported. “Hold your position.”

“It’s worse than it looks,” Vos said airily.

“Commander Thire can be the judge of that.” Fox felt his lips draw back in a near-unconscious snarl but he kept his hands and voice steady. There was no telling how fragile a natborn could be, even one with Jedi capabilities and training.

“Commander Thire is calling bullshit on that, unless the blood loss is starting to affect the good General’s vision.” Thire arrived with two full squads of backup: he and another Corrie medic dropped to their knees beside Vos, ushering Fox out of the way as Fox started to direct cleanup efforts.

This Jedi had an uncanny ability for making situations devolve before Fox’s very HUD. General Gallia had left on a relief mission to the Outer Rim yesterday, at which point Fox had met her temporary replacement—one Knight Vos, Jedi Shadow and relentless flirt. From what limited intelligence Fox had managed to gather, Vos was conducting covert ops on Coruscant, which made it convenient for him to be stationed at the CGHQ with the Guard. He’d gone out at some point last night for what he’d cited to be “super top-secret party business,” missed his early morning check-in, and turned up two klicks from HQ mid-afternoon sans four pints of blood. Fox recalled the squads he’d sent out in search of Vos after he’d missed check-in, sent another to scour the area for traces of Vos’ attackers, and ignored the increasingly amused conversation Thire was having with the Jedi behind him.

more on ao3

[tailoredshirt]

I was tagged in this book meme by @lemonlyman-dotcom and @guardian-angle22 a while back, and I'm finally doing it!

Last book I…

Bought

Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger / Trials of Life by David Attenborough

I mostly borrow books from the library these days, so I only tend to buy books my library doesn't have. I'd been really wanting to listen to Apollo 13, and it was part of Libro.fm's BOGO sale. I also added Trials of Life, which is nonfiction about animal behavior.

Borrowed

The Terror by Dan Simmons (audiobook)

I’ve had the paperback for ages, but I've been reading so much by audiobook lately that I thought that might be best, since it's so long. I had to wait quite a while for it to become available, and yesterday it finally was! 🎉 I've been reading a ton about polar exploration lately in preparation. After I finish it I'll finally be able to watch the TV show!!

Was gifted

The Hurting Kind by Ada Limon

I don’t get gifted books very often! Probably because I have too many already, and also because I mostly read ebooks and audiobooks. But it was on my wishlist (I tend to put poetry on my wishlists because I like reading poetry from physical books), and my mom got it for me for Christmas. Haven’t read it yet.

Gave/lent to someone

I usually give my mom a book for Christmas, but I don't remember what I got her last year. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of people in my life who read.

Started

Guard! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (audiobook)

I’ve never read any Pratchett (chorus of shocked gasps), so I decided to start with the first of the Night Watch books. It’s very fun so far!

Finished

Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition by Buddy Levy (audiobook)

I've been obsessed with the history of polar exploration lately, particularly the ones that went horribly wrong somehow (sorry to this man). It's a really interesting story. I found a good map of the region online and was able to track all of the landmarks and locations they mentioned while I listened.

Didn’t finish

A Murder Was Announced by Agatha Christie (audiobook)

I’ve been reading a bunch of Agatha Christie lately, mostly Poirot novels, but this would be my first Miss Marple. I just couldn’t understand the narrator. 😩 The other books were narrated by Hugh Fraser, who I’ve enjoyed. I think this one was narrated by Emilia Fox. I cannot distinguish between British accents, but something about hers was difficult for me to understand against the ambient noise of my bus ride. Two minutes in, I noped out and returned the book (via Libby). I'll probably try it again sometime when I'm at home and can hear it better.

Gave 5 stars

11/22/63 by Stephen King (audiobook)

This gave me the worst book hangover. It’s about a guy who travels back in time to 1959(ish?) and lives in the past for a few years as he prepares to try to stop Kennedy’s assassination. It’s not actually a perfect novel, but I think I listened to it as fast as humanly possible because I was so engaged. (32 hours long!) I love time travel stories.

Gave 2 stars

A Limited Run by Karen McQuestion (audiobook)

This had a Truman Show-like setup, with actors living - in character - in a gigantic enclosed 1940s neighborhood. All of that was an immediate yes for me, but the story itself was very boring and contrived.

-

Idk who to tag for reading memes, but please consider yourself tagged if you want to do it! And tag me so I can see what you're reading.

[soyashi3173]

🇬🇧 “They say that this flower announces death... this flower red like your blood which will flow if you provoke me.”

I haven't posted one for a while... and I admit that I had forgotten it myself a little, in addition to not really having time to do much else... BUT! I've finally been on vacation since yesterday so... it should become a little active again little by little here... but also elsewhere 👀

And admit it... You missed my Foxian, didn't you? 😉

(Plus, we can clearly see his tail this time... his fox tail eh, I see you twisted minds coming there 😏)

🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊

🇫🇷 "On dit que cette fleur annonce la mort... cette fleur rouge comme ton sang qui coulera si tu me provoques."

Je n'en avais plus poster depuis un moment... et j'avoue que je l'avais moi même un peu oublié, en plus de ne plus trop avoir le temps de grand chose dernière... MAIS! Je suis enfin en congés depuis hier donc... ça devrait redevenir un peu actif petit à petit ici... mais aussi ailleurs 👀

Et avouez-le... Mon Foxian vous avait manqué, n'est-ce pas? 😉

(En plus, on voit bien sa queue cette fois-ci... sa queue de renard hein, je vous vois venir les esprits tordus là 😏)

🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊

Photo by : Binaphotographe

[sophieinwonderland]

New to your blog and I saw in one of your posts you mentioned the demonization of DID within media and horror especially. I'm used to knowing this as things like the movies split etc but you mentioned werewolves aswell. As an avid dnd player I never really connected the dots but it makes a lot of sense how things like werewolves could be an allegory for people with DID and perhaps other horror related media and stuff also do that (perhaps jekyll and hyde).

I'm not well versed on the topic and was wondering if there's other creatures through mythology or stuff like that that are possibly rooted an abilism and stuff like that that you could point out for me? Sorry if any of that came across as offensive or anything

-Ben (only asking in anon because my main blog is a fan blog)

Hi there!

And there's a ton of it.

Before going further, it's important to note that pluralphobia can be broken into roughly two categories. The first is the fear of BEING plural. Of sharing your own body with someone else.

The second is a fear of someone else being plural, or otherwise not being the same person they used to be.

Stories of demon and spirit possession will touch upon both forms of pluralphobia and I've talked about them a lot.

But something that's not brought up often that contributed to this is body snatchers.

Many mythological creatures throughout history have fallen into this category. Despite not technically being plural, these stories stigmatize and demonize people for acting differently than they did in the past. For being different people.

Take, for instance, a story of a girl who goes into the woods collecting mushrooms and goes missing. She's found days later by her father who is overjoyed to have her returned.

Afterwards, strange things start happening around the farm. Animals start dying. And the girls' brothers are sent to watch the lifestock at night. One by one, the brothers tell the father what they saw, and he doesn't believe them.

One of the brothers is banished by his father while the others don't speak of it further. He goes to live at a temple for a year when one of his brothers comes to get him, telling him he needed to return.

The brothers return home to find their estate in disrepair, and their livestock and the rest of their family dead. Only the sister is alive, when she's revealed to be a Kumiho: A 9-tailed fox demon who replaced their real sister.

(Note: I'm summarizing the version from the Myth & Legends podcast we heard well over a year ago from memory, so some of the details may not be totally accurate. Also, that's a really great episode and you should check it out even if I did spoil the ending.)

This story isn't intentionally pluralphobic. It's intentionally sexist, with the moral being to believe your sons over your daughters. But the pluralphobia isn't intentional.

However, stories like this and many others created environments where systems couldn't exist.

These stories weren't JUST stories. They were superstitions that shaped cultures.

I don't know if people believed this specific story as an accurate historical account of something that really happened. But they believed in the Kumiho and creatures like them. Just like people believed in similar creatures that could replace your loved ones.

Luckily, I don't know of anyone killed because their relatives believed them a Kumiho. (But we likely wouldn't know. These were peasant beliefs most popular in times when lower classes were illiterate and much of this history wouldn't be recorded. Let alone survive to be translated into English.)

But when it comes to superstitions of Fae body snatchers, Bridget Cleary wasn't nearly so lucky.

Murdered by her husband with several others who accused her of being a Fae.

For other ableism, some have also linked changelings to Autism and other mental illnesses, being used to justify child abuse and torture.

What would it have been like to be plural before the modern era?

With this in mind, I think it's important to consider why we don't hear much of psychological plurality until recently. The body snatching trope may not be a direct allegory for plurality in the same way as demon possession. But it contributed to an environment of superstition and fear.

Today, being out as plural, headmates wanting to go by our chosen names instead of the body's, means that we may be disowned by family, abandoned by friends, harassed on the internet or lose our jobs.

But historically, it's likely that plurals who came out would have feared treatment like that of Bridget Cleary unless they lived in a society with culturally accepted plurality, where spiritual possession might be welcomed.

[501st-rexster]

Can't stop thinking about a Red vs Blue Clone Wars crossover.

I've been watching both shows constantly and I just keep thinking about how many of the characters are actually fairly similar in their either strict personality or absolute dumbassery or just plain similar.

Captain Rex and Agent Washington would be GREAT FRIENDS. Like, BEST BUDS. Because they both follow the rules but won't hesitate to tweak or bend them to finish the mission. Well trained badasses who'll always win a fight. They are also the dads of their squads and will die for their men without a second thought. Also, they have really annoying older siblings. Spend their days talking about how much they simultaneously love and want to kill their men.

Fives, Jesse, Kix, and Lavernius Tucker would be the "yo, let's go get some girls" gang. They're playboys. But despite putting on that "I'm too cool" persona, they're actually great soldiers.

Hardcase + Caboose = Amazing disaster duo. They radiate chaos. They're funny, they're loveable, they can be dumb but when it comes down to it somehow they'll save everyone. They are the very first ones questioned if something blows up.

Dogma and Simmons. They're kiss assess. Rules are life. Their CO is their god.

I feel very similar energies between Wolffe/Fox and Leonard Church/Epsilon. They both pretend to hate everyone, they are SO DONE WITH LIFE, everyone is amazed they haven't keeled over from an aneurysm by now, but deep down they are as loyal as can be and will do anything for their friends. But they still say "fuck you" to everyone. They're the hate gang. Boil also falls into this category.

Commander Cody and Agent Carolina. They're badasses, they're unstoppable, they're both masters of martial arts, they're both the best in their league. And they both value their friends above everything else. They also have very little patience for shenanigans. And exactly like Cody and Rex, Carolina is fiercely protective of her "little brother" Washington, no matter how dumb he can be sometimes. Constantly ask each other "want to switch little siblings?"

Cutup gives me some Grif vibes. Total sass master, likes to undermine authority, enjoys bothering their teammates (in this case, Echo and Simmons). They come up with new ways to torture their friends on a daily basis while eating all the snacks they can find.

Fox and Sarge. Both gruff and regimented leaders. Very set in their ways. Love to yell at people.

Kix and Doc. Medics. Have to deal with the bullshit everyone gives them and their never ending stupidity. Still love their teammates (though Doc is a bit more hesitant). Constantly vent to each other about their patients.

Waxer and Donut are the adorable innocent boys who put flowers in each other's hair. Tup is adopted by them both and they braid his hair together.

I just can't get it out of my head how much a crossover would be incredibly interesting. And amusing.

If you've never watched Red vs Blue, you're missing out. It's free on YouTube, there's a ton of seasons of nonstop shenanigans, and it's absolutely amazing. Oh, and it's based off the video game Halo but in the most comical way possible.

This ends my TED talk.

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Inspired by fistsofcarnage's post found here:

I decided to share my own opinion on the Tekken 8 base roster while we wait for its release!

A more detailed ranking:

Favourites

1. Nina Williams - My Queen since c. 2005

2. Jun Kazama - I really really missed her

3. Lili - Crazy rich girl? Love it

4. Zafina - Weird spider / scarecrow / praying mantis Egyptian lady? Of course I love her

5. Azucena Milagros Ortiz Castillo - La Reina del cafe is looking GREAT

6. Jin Kazama - Him and Hwoarang have been my main "men allowed on the upper tiers" for a while now

7. Ling Xiaoyu - My love for Xiao is a relatively more recent development but she's a queen alright

8. Hwoarang - Angery kick boi. You love to see it

Love (?) Is a strong word to describe my feelings for the following but I like them alright and maybe even played as them in past Tekken games

9. King - I mean it's king

10. Shaheen - A huge downgrade over his Tekken 7 design, still cool

11. Asuka Kazama - Asuka had tons of potential for me but her one-sided rivalry with Lili and them being positioned as the main female rivalry of the series for a while now (I wonder if it has anything to do with them being teenagers~) has kinda damaged her characterisation a bit for me. She's kinda there for Lili to have something to play with nowadays rather than being her own character. I still like her but nowhere near the amount I liked her in her Tekken 5 era.

12. Steve Fox - Steve is cool. He's okay.

Like

13. Lee Chaolan - This is such a weird redesign... Lee is so extra and fun but I can't stand the new look.

14. Yoshimitsu - Yoshimitsu is Yoshimitsu

15. Reina - Kinda basic but cute

16. Leo Kliesen - Kinda basic but cute

17. Lars - Kinda basic

Neutral / Dislike - My phone and also Tumblr only had an orange-y yellow marker so I merged these two together

18. Victor Chevalier - French James Bond Ninja Noctis Samurai looks kinda cool

19. Raven - I liked Master Raven more

20. Claudio Serafino - I liked him back when he was revealed but he ultimately became too forgettable for me

21. Devil Jin - Edgier Jin. Whatevs

22. Alisa Bosconovitch - Sex slave robot modelled after an old man's dead teenage daughter that a middle-aged man has the hots for will never not be creepy

23. Leroy Smith - Meh

24. Kuma - Even bigger meh, and I'm also still mad that both him and the other fucking bear keep taking up TWO slots but Christie being playable alongside Eddy in Tekken 7 was such a ludicrous idea for Namco

25. Marshall Law - I liked his Tekken 4 / 5 moustached look more. Him gulping all the fucking steroids in the world between Tekken 7 and 8 was not a wise choice

Hate

26. Panda - Read Kuma's entry. She's lower than him because she looks weirder now and I think both look weird when they put clothes on them but she looks weirder this time

27. Kazuya Mishima - Too boring

28. Bryan Fury - Too ugly, boring and loud

29. Paul Phoenix - Too ugly and boring, and also he looks his worst in this redesign

30. Sergei Dragunov - Too boring and ugly but at least he's fun to play with

31. Feng Wei - Too ugly and loud

32. Jack-8 - It's a JACK unit... All these redesigns and upgraded models and Jane still hasn't figured out how to not make him look fucking ridiculous

I'm still missing Anna Williams, Christie Montero and (mum) Kunimitsu. I hope Anna at least fucking makes it as Christie is probably gonna be left out in favour of Eddy again and since they introduced a younger, cutesier and more boring version of Kunimitsu in the form of her daughter I don't think we're ever seeing her again.

I wouldn't mind seeing Katarina return either, Miguel's chest is always nice to look at and I'm DEFINITELY on the Lucky Chloe did nothing wrong camp! I also think that over the years I've grown more fond of Forest than Marshall but unless his dad's liver stops working from all the extra steroids he took I don't see him making it back until the next Tag Tournament

[yellowocaballero]

Are there any fic ideas that you'd want to see but don't want to write?

Oh boy! Of course!

To be honest, the Green Lantern story is one of the big ones lmfao. It would be a massive undertaking for an audience of maybe five people. A niche audience normally doesn't stop me, but for such a long story, there's other uses of my time. There is also the fact that it just feels made for television. Same with my Legion of Superheroes Zoobomafoo thing - it just doesn't feel right in a text format. It's webcomic coded. I wish I could draw sometimes!

Then there's the story ideas for my AUs and other fandoms I've moved on from. There's still a few ideas for the No Chip AU in my back pocket (Cody redemption feat. Boba Fett following him around Tatooine yelling at him; Fox as the vigilante sidekick to his insane PA) and my normal Roleswap (Luke & Leia embark on a Great Father Mystery Hunt and bother Fox in the woods). There's also the continuation stories/sequels I've started but haven't finished and don't know if they will get finished (Roleswap Obi-Wan meets his birth family; my Buffy fic Angel and Cordelia through the years). There's other unfinished stories there (the Frenchie story which is literally only missing the final scene, the Heroes For Hire meeting story which is literally only missing the final scene) which I'm pretty sure I'll finish when I feel like it. I don't consider those WIPs so much as 'when I care again I'll go finish them'.

Then there's the stories that I just couldn't make into a decent story (the Naruto fix-it; the roleswap(ish?) story with adult bounty hunters Boba and Omega teaching runaway clones Luke and Leia the power of family and incredible violence). Not every idea is good outside of concept lol.

TL;DR: If I have a fic idea but haven't written it, it's because of one or more reasons: a) the idea itself is too big, b) the idea just doesn't seem right for fic, c) I've moved on from the fandom and don't want to work on it at this moment anymore, d) it just wouldn't make a good story.

If you notice, these are all active choices on my part. I only mention this because a lot of my friends can't relate, so I don't know how common it is even though I assumed it was common, and it's kind of hard to describe: there's no barrier between me having an idea and writing it. Does that make sense? If I have an idea and it'll make a good story and I want to write it I'll write it, at least until I realize that it wouldn't make a good story and I scrap it. If I think about something for too long I write it [this is why I am easily egged on][this is also why I write things I swore never to write very frequently].

Writing is like. It's easy. You just write stuff. You just think something and then you write it. It's uncomplicated.

If it's bad. Writing is easy if what you're writing is bad. It's easy to write 100k if the 100k is bad. There's a ton of shortcuts you can take, which are really useful for beginning writers and was really useful for me a few years ago. I can describe those if you'd like. It's much, much, much harder to write something good. It's hardest when you need something to be good. Writing a good 100k is really hard. I am constantly telling people not to jump into the novels kjlsdf.

Double TL;DR that has nothing to do with the topic: You can write whatever you want if you're okay with it being bad. Making bad art rocks and is a lot of fun and completely necessary towards my emotional well-being. I highly recommend it.

[aftermoved]

𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 !!

the rules are simple! post characters you’d like to roleplay as, have roleplayed as, and might bring back, then tag people to do the same!

CURRENT MUSE(S): ➥   this blog only dear god so... matthew bronson, xander fox, lillian baker, daisy bronson, zahirith lyvan, haden lyvan, timothy lynch, mara graves, uri holzen-glover, william mason, layla birch, allistair fraser, miguel cortez, cadie baker, daniel fletcher, tomas morte. ALL OC's.

WANT TO WRITE: ➥   carlos reyes (911 lone star), probably my boys from rw&rb.

HAVE WRITTEN: ➥   haaaaa................. ok. grantaire, eponine thenardier, elsa, merritt mckinney from one of my fav movies now you see me, hazel grace, cosima neihaus, katniss everdeen, scar (yes, that scar), hermione granger, rey (sw), harry potter, ellie satter, allen ginsberg (from kill your darlings), vax'ildan, mollymauk tealeaf, the 11th doctor, amy pond, clara oswald, and then a shit ton of oc's i don't remember the names of but honorable mentions are oliver, jackson, && that poltergeist i wrote once. && i'm also probably missing a bunch here i've been in the rpc for literally 15 years so you're bound to forget some.

WOULD WRITE AGAIN: ➥   vax in a heartbeat, && grantaire my baby boy

tagged by: i stole this

tagging: whoever wants to :)

[popculturebuffet]

Beetlemania: Dan Garret (Mystery Men Comics #16, Blue Beetle V1 #15)

Hello all you happy people and welcome one and all to beetlemania, patreon Brotoman.EXE's brilliant idea; use his patreon reviews for the next few months, take some time off robuts in disguise and onto those boys in blue, the unsung heroes of the dcu, and those who don't know when to give up: The Blue Beetles, covering all three up until the premire of the sparkly new movie in August. This WAS supposed to take up the summer, but with June being a mess thanks to my move, your getting two beetles this month, and then Jamie next month, along with a review of the film once I sees it. It's an ode to two heroes I love dearly.. and a chance to get to know one a lot better That one is Dan Garret and out of the three boys in blue, he's the only one I hadn't read ANY of going into this: I've read a ton of ted appearnces inclduing most of JLI and a chunk of his DC solo and all of the legendary John Rogers run for Jamie that kicked off the character, as well as a smidgen of his rebirth run. This isn't really the characters fault, but more DC Comics. See for those unaware while the beetle is a dc character NOW he has a bit of a complicated publishing history. Beetle started out under Victor S. Fox's Fox Comics. Fox.. was one heck of a character in himself, having been quoted as stomping around going "I'M THE KING OF COMICS I'M THE KING OF COMICS, I'M THE KING OF COMICS" and infamously making up Kooba cola, a soft drink that never existed but was still promoted in his comics and is refrenced rentelessly on atop the fourth wall. Fox was kinda nuts but he manged to still turn out a big star... which weirdly wasn't Stardust the Super Wizard, an actual character I just found out existed but have somehow never heard about and now badly need to cover. He was indeed a super wizard who watched as crime took place, for some reason did nothing, then after horrible things happened sure as hell avenged them with violence.

But since people didn't apparently want to see atomic supermen kill gangsters, Beetle became their breakout. The original Blue Beetle was Dan Garret, who definitely was a cop.

Yeah it's a shockingly common trope for superheroes, Dick Grayson also spent some time walking the beat, but it's really mostly there to set up Dan to be on the scene just in time instead of to beat up the poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to break free. Dan is a second generation cop and became the beetle to avenge his dad, sometimes working with a professor to give him super strength. Later it'd instead be a scarab he found after the silver age shifted dan to being an archeologist. This.. will be important later. For now though dan is flanked by two supporting characters: Joan Mason, an intrepeted reporter love intrest

And Mike Mannigan, Dan's dad's former partner and proof we need to defund the police. He's basically a comic relief grumpus who wants to catch the beetle but couldn't catch a cold and as we'll see is a bit of an asshat of all trades. Today we'll be looking at thereestories of the Beetle: The first is from Mystery Men Comic and both gives us a more typical blue beetle story.. but also has Beetle battling the nefarious crimes of Big Dix.

It's low hanging fruit and both AT4W and ComicTropes have talked about Big Dix, but frankly there's enough Dix to go around. The second is for less hilarious reasons: Brotoman wanted to spotlight Sparky, the blue beetle's sidekick, who most people don't know exist and who remained in comics limbo. Ironically neither of us realized that in the recent mini series Stargirl: The Lost Children... SPARKY CAME BACK.

Yeah. The series is about Courtney rescuting a bunch of sidekicks lost in time, all from the golden age and most being brand new, such as the Boom, daughter of jay garrick, but Sparky.. was also brought alone. He only shows up for one panel in profile, but a missing chapter of the beetle's legacy is something bound to peak ted and Jamie's intrest. So join me under the cut for some Big Dix, some small british children, and some casual racisim and sexisim! ... I don't know whY I ended on the worst part of it but come along!

The Blue Beetle versus the Nefarious Girth of Big Dix Look the name alone would be funny.. but what makes this story special is the horrifying contrast. See we have the funny name.. but Big Dix crimes are dead serious: He's selling faulty playground equipment that causes the death of several children on screen. No blood, thank god, but it's still pretty damn harrowing and not something i'm willing to show you guys. So yeah this is a story about a chlid murderer.. named big dix. Brotoman has a theory about that

Joan mason outs big dix as the biggest dix to the cops, and nearly gets killed for it, but Dan and Mike easily clean house. So now

Soon after Dan goes to get some MMMM drugs to become the blue beetle.. and we get a panel that perfectly sums up the unintentional tonal whiplash of this story

BIG DIX, MURDERER OF CHILDREN

It only gets funnier because they treat Big Dix as the biggest test Dan has ever faced, a true insurmountable wall. And as a villian Big Dix woudl work.. if it just werne't for the name. It'd be like if the Kingpin was named Testicles McGoo. It just deflates any menace you have.

After finding where Big Dix is sheathed, we get this awesome entrance

FUCK YES. Ted may have his bitchin Bug, Jamie may have his armor, but Dan Garret has a fucking mortorcycle. Paint that sucker blue and yellow and it'll join it's friends.. and the beetle buggy in valhalla.

Oh and if that wasn't enough...

Holy shit I think Dan Garret just killed a man...

I'll admit dan is just fun to watch. While he has super strength drugs and bullet proof chainmail, most of his prowess is just pure skill. He focuses more on throws and punches.. mostly throws. Seriously Dan Garret REALLY loves throwing guys.

Look ted has Genius, Jamie has armor , both of them have heart.. but none of them have the power of motorcycles and throwing motherfuckers.

The two face off and while the Beetle Can take big dix, he can't take his mortal weakness STAIRS!

And blunt force head trauma.

So after capturing jone, Big Dix plans to throw Blue BEetle out of his tower, the BIGGER DIX, but Beetle wakes up from his concussion and as his style throws another guy. Big Dix responds with gas.... for some reason, and super runs away. So beetle's response to get him and joan out of the deadly gas filled hallway before they both suffocate?

... why has DC done nothing with this man?

After a "Ray for the blue beetle!" Which.. isn't a ship I ever thought of but nice thought 1940s man, we get our destined showdown

With dan as you can see winning with his deadly THROWING PUNCH. Seriously the man can't even punch without throwing someone. Beetle wins, the world's children are safe from Big Dix, all is well. So ... this story is actually really good. While the name is hilarious, it's a genuinely fun "Superhero vs gangsters story", with Big Dix having disappearing stairs and a big tower and dan throwing people every which way. My only regret is he didn't throw anyone at the screen. Sure some of the mention of big dix can come off as

But that's entirely in hindsight. Hilarious, hilarious hindsight. As a story on it's own it's really good stuff.

Blue Beetle and Sparky Vs Some WWII Propoganda!

Now if you glanced at the covers of the original volume of the blue beetle you'd probably expect sparky's first apperance to be issue 14

For whatever reason all we get in that issue is Blue Beetle fighting the wicked looking RED ROBE OF DEATH!.. and I file that away on the rather massive pile of "Stuff I need to cover another day. " So we're onto sparky's first apperance.. which weirdly ISN'T his origin. Yeah that comes later in the comic and is kinda dry but in short: he's an orphan, he's rich, he can kick ass, as demonstrated on some toughs, and he finds out Dan's identity and asks him to train him. Mike also bafflingly reacts to this like he's seeing double here, four beetles, despite Sparky being younger, not having the chainmail cap and being an actual chlidren.

So our story begins with a splash page foreshadowing the story with nothing in it before we cut to Dan and Mike, given their latest assignment, to extradite Rob Rutter, local thug , from one state to another. They get an unexpected stoaway in sparky.. whose just here now. He's also despite his upperclaass as hell name seen in the panel way up above... a little shit.

This may be the worst thing i've seen a sidekick do. I mean if it was Dick Grayson i'd absolutely get it

But here I Mean where does it end? Will he threaten them if dan dosen't take him to mcdonalds? will he do it anyway if dan just gets a black coffee for himself as he should in response to this blackmail? Will mike be mad he dosen't get his double quarter pounder with extra cheese? These questions will forever haunt me as I doubt JSA will be answering them.

So the extradition itself goes smoothly, but on the way back your standard boiler plate "THE JAPANESE ARE BAD. IT'S OKAY TO BE RACIST AGAINST AN ENTIRE COUNTRY BECAUSE WE'RE AT WAR WITH THEM. THIS WILL NEVER LEAD TO HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES" vilaness, who takes their gangster and leaves them with four flat tires. Mike's reaction.. is half the reason I wanted to cover this story in paticualar. Perhaps even 75%

I just.. I can't.. I just can't stop laughing at this panel. It's so agressively sexist, so grumpy, so over the top. LIke.. how much does he buy into that/ Is it just bluster? did he have a bad divorce? is he just a sexist asshat?

Or does he genuinely, 100% this in some crazy conspiracy theorist way.

"Think about it HITLER was born by a woman. If she'd just let her husband pull out there'd be no world war 2!" "Polio was made in secret womens only labs!" "Women made the mighty stegasaurs go excitnct by telling him to fix his alchol problem!" "My ex wife killed kaiser wilhelm!" "I saw a woman drive a chicken off a cliff but miraculous survivie!" "A woman cut my breaks after I dated her sister who also cut my breaks! "I saw a woman turn into a griaffe and then back into a car!" 'WWOWOOOOOMMMMEEENNNNNN" Naturally in a fit of karma not only is our heroes savior Joan whose here because the plot says so because scoops, but he falls off the back. Granted Dan casually uses the J slur so I guess EVERYONE in this car except joan is some form of asshat.

At any rate our friends find an abandoned country club. Madam Fang berates Rutter and tells them to TAKE HIM AWAY. So wait.. her whole purpose for doing this, drawing attention to herself... was just to pull a you have failed me? That's what prison shankings are for. Clumsy madam fang, real clumsy.

The Beetles plan to have Joan attentend to Mike . Thankfully before he can club her for mailing all his cats to his ex wife in canada, she's kidnapped by the villians including an awful japanese sterotype. I mean i've seen some bad stertoypes but I forgot just how next level hate mongering Golden Age racisim was. They make the poor guy look like a cromagnon and talk like jar jar binks. I .. I refuse to show it. I just do. It's gross.

So Madam Fang kills plot device gangster and plans to kill Joan and we get a fight scene. Once again the art is top notch. Not as good as the last story, the panels are a touch more crowded and the art a bit muddy (though the last part is likelyin some big part age), Sparky throws out some slurs, and Ted gets beaten by his newest arch foe.. a vase

Sparky is captured because small child

And our heroes are put in the DROWNING POOL instead of letting the bodies hit the floor. Sparky is less than optimistic

Dan however has a pretty clever fix: he got the shards of glass from the vase she broke over him... int he 40's vases were made of glass and elephant bones apparently. This allows Team Beetle Plus Sparky to get free and escape So apparently madam fang's plan is to.. cause a giant flood . She just needs a patsy. Enter mike who dosen't recognize Fang from earlier, suprising no one, and makes a racial slur. I remain not suprised as he agrees to throw a switch for her no questions asked.

Oh and it gets better... when Beetle arrives to stop her, he plans to ARREST HIM FOR DISTURBING THE PEACE.

Thankfully beetle saves the day and Mike.. never figures out the switch was a trap

The Madam Fang story wasn't nearly as good as big dix thanks to a combination of clumiser art, PLENTY of racisim, and Mike having to be so stupid the sun blots out to make this work. That being said Mike's intense stupidity makes it ENJOYABLY bad, not as much as the name big dix, but still a lot of fun. It's like Chief Wiggum because a superhero's bumbling nemisis. It's great.

So that was Dan. He'd gon on to have more adventures, getting rebooted in the silver age as an archelogist, with sparky lost to time till the lost children, and joan still lost to time, with that being the origin brought over post crisis. Next tim we'll see the man that took over him in both Charlton and DC Flavors, get more on that transition as we meet the man, the myth, the bwahahah, mr TED MOTHERFUCKING KORD. Thanks for reading

[jezabatlovesbats]

Unikingdom Day (A Parody)

Last year, we did The Little Mermaid. This year, we're doing the SpongeBob Musical for our spring play, and I'll be playing Mr. Krabs. Why not honor that with a parody?

Unikitty: *yawns* Another beautiful, perfect day!

Jump out of bed!

Then, greet the sun and all the pretty flowers!

Smiling ahead!

There's tons more sparkle matter to be made each hour!

This kind of day

Couldn't get much better, but it keeps on trying!

I'm on my way,

But I'd get there much faster if I started flying!

And who's the lucky cat in the castle who is living her dream,

And always super sweet just like a cone of ice cream?

That's right, it's me!

Happy just to be here

In the world renowned Unikingdom!

How I love this town! The Unikingdom!

When the sun shines down on a wonderful Unikingdom day!

Good morning, Puppycorn!

Puppycorn: It's morning already?

Unikitty: Yep, and I'm singing the musical number we've practiced for weeks!

Puppycorn: Oh, right! Here comes my verse!

I missed a snack.

This planning stuff makes it so hard to be me.

To stay on track,

Now I'll have to eat it while I throw my frisbee.

There might not be time to go digging, but I'll do what I can.

They called me to the park, so to the park I ran.

(Unikitty: To the park you ran!)

There's no time to waste!

I'm spending all day out here with my favorite ball!

(Dinosaur Skaters: Favorite ball!)

In Unikingdom!

Now, what rhymes with ball?

(Dinosaur Skaters: Rhymes with ball?)

In Unikingdom!

Nothing rhymes with ball!

(Dinosaur Skaters: Rhymes with ball...)

It's a regular Unikingdom day.

Unikitty: No, Puppycorn! It's an amazing day! And a lot of things rhyme with ball.

Puppycorn: I don't think so.

Unikitty: Sure! Sprawl, recall, waterfall... dance hall!

Richard: Princess, I've been looking for you.

Unikitty and Puppycorn: Good morning, Richard!

Richard: Could you please try to be on task?

When I want some order,

Not much I can do!

A stern and focused brick

Can never make things quick

When he is always following you two!

Things never go my way...

A typical Unikingdom day.

Unikitty: It's a great day, Richard! In fact, it's a beautiful day!

Richard: You say that every day.

Unikitty: And it's always true! See ya later, Puppycorn!

Richard: Can we get started now?

(break)

(For this part, instead of country music, there's techno music.)

Unikitty: Hi, Dr. Fox!

Dr. Fox: Hi, Unikitty!

Oh, bosons! That was close!

It's just a little smoke. A minor setback.

(Robots: Setback.)

A few more hours at most,

And I will be done with this brand-new jetpack!

(Robots: Jetpack!)

And then this science fox- you know she rocks!-

Will spread her wings and fly!

My orange tail, a comet's trail

Clear across the sky!

Above the town, and looking down

On a typical Unikingdom day!

Hey!

Oh! Sorry about that. I just couldn't resist hitting that note.

Unikitty: It was awesome!

Dr. Fox: Well, I'd better get back to work.

Unikitty: I'll leave you to it, then!

(another break)

Hawkodile: Winds from the west.

Everywhere you look, there's not one raincloud sighting.

Good weather's best

When you're in the mood to do some gnarly fighting!

Bodyguard JUMP!

Master Frown: Laugh while you can

Until the day you laugh no more forever!

Brock: Forever.

Master Frown: I've got a plan.

I do well at my job, so you know it's clever!

Brock: Dude, how many times have your plans actually worked?

Master Frown: Quiet, Brock! I know it'll work this time! I'll hypnotize everyone into feeling sad! It's almost too easy. Soon, they'll all be frowning, and I mean everyone, even Unikitty!

Brock: That would take forever.

Master Frown: No it won't! You'll see! (to the kingdom in front of him) You'll all see!

Hawkodile: I gotta always keep my guard up when I'm doing my work.

In any sector, I could find some frowning, rude jerk!

Master Frown: Soon, the day will come

When this place is mine to run!

I will be feeling so glad...

Hawkodile and Brock: In Unikingdom.

Master Frown: When I get 'em all sad!

Hawkodile and Brock: In Unikingdom.

Master Frown: And it's gonna be rad!

Hawkodile and Brock: Just a typical Unikingdom day.

Unikitty: Good morning, Bim-Bom!

Bim-Bom: Pipe down! I'm walking here!

Unikitty: Hi, FeeBee!

FeeBee: AH! Unikitty, you almost made me drop my flowers!

Unikitty: Hiya, Dino Dude!

Dino Dude: Woah! Watch where you're going. I'm pulling off epic stunts!

Unikitty: Hi, Really Old Edith! Hello!

Really Old Edith: Hello there, darling!

Unikitty: Hi, clouds! Hi, trees! Hey there, TVs! Hi, guys drawing out our every move! Hello, sky! Hello, grass! Hello, Unikingdom!

Citizens: On my way! Hey!

The pulse is pumping and the road is traffic-free!

What a day. Hey!

Looks like the weather is the best that it can be!

Unikitty: We've got the best sun ever!

Citizens: It's sunny weather!

Yeah, sunny weather!

In the glow! Whoa!

Move with the rhythm 'till it carries you along.

Here we go! Whoa!

Another busy day where nothing will go wrong.

All: I will always vow and pledge my heart out to

This kingdom I hold dear

For all are welcome here!

Beneath the sky of blue,

Yes, I'll stay true...

Citizens: To the Unikingdom way!

The Unikingdom way! [x5]

Unikitty: (in a tune referencing the show's theme song) It's a lovely day!

All: Aaaaah!

Hey! Hey!

Unikitty: In the world renowned...

(Others: World renowned...)

Unikingdom!

Our own hometown!

(Others: Own hometown!)

The Unikingdom!

And the sun shines down!

The sun shines down!

Yes, the sun shines down!

The sun shines down!

(Others: Dooown!)

Others: It's a typical...

Unikitty: Incredible!

Others: A regular...

Unikitty: Exceptional!

Others: An ordinary...

Unikitty: Extraordinary!

All: Unikingdom...

Unigang: World renowned!

Others: Day!

All: Hey! The Unikingdom!

Day!