#imagine erol

[jakndaxter-imagine]

Imagine Erol raving all night long after his shift as the Commander of the Krimzon Guard.

Submitted by Anon

[artharakka]

2024 🩸🌱

[black-eco-sage]

...whelp

.

[jak2gooberglub]

Another jak and daxter headcannon because im a completly normal jak and daxter fan 🥴

I headcannon that jak has some internal shame about being able to control dark eco. He's clearly upset and dislikes it, it hurts him and others around him call him the "dark eco freak" when really, praxis and erol are to blame for his dark form. He became the very thing he had destroied in game 1, someone who was changed by dark eco, and he changed against his will. He was TORTURED with dark eco for two years and FORCEFULLY got these powers he didn't want. Teleprompters around haven city mention him as being able to "change into a monstrous creature" clearly putting FEAR INTO THE PEOPLE OF HAVEN CITY BECAUSE OF PRAXIS.

Everyone is either appaled, shocked or scared by his change, by his new dark form. All citizens flee in terror and the guards go to attack him right away, his closest friends are shocked and don't think that he is anywhere near the same person since this new dark jak form, and years of torture had happened.

Even Kira, someone who he loves, tries to seperate the jak he once "was" from who he is now. His motive is to get vengance, and for all we know, that could've been his motive in the first game, he just never verbalized it becuase he was mute. She says he "gets angry and change(es)" That "the jak I knew wouldn't be working for a guy like krew". That the jak she once knew was gone or buried deep, which is most likely true due to his imprisonment and torture. Sure, she tried to reach out for a brief moment when they first reconnected, but daxter is there and says "don't piss him off he's changed" not giving jak and Kira a chance to talk or rekindle much at all. Until the end of the game, EVEN THEN he interupts them.

Samos isn't much help either, when he sees jak after the 2 year gap. He literally yells "what happened to you jak?!"

Not giving him a chance to answer because he only sees the dark eco had changed him. And jak was stunned into silence. Then yet again, daxter interupted because "plot".

Daxter being the comedic relief, repeatedly interupts serious moments to make jokes in all of the games. But what I am focusing on is when jak has his moments when reuniting with the others, like Kira and Samos. He interupts and had not truly acknowledged the pain jak had gone through in the prison. All he does is says "what happened?" And doesn't let jak elaborate. Jak goes in his dark form and daxter just writes it off as him being "pissed off" because of what happened. Whenever jak goes in his dark jak form, daxter either steps away or says "that was cool" or makes it about himself, not acknowledging that it hurts jak whenever he uses it.

Of course jak would be ashamed of his powers, dark eco alone is frowned upon because of its dangerous properties. There must be somewhere in the history of haven city where gul and myia are mentioned and are seen as the potential destroiers of the world at that time. Dark eco had always gotten a bad reputation, just because jak got powers doesn't mean he would be praised for it. Daxter has only ridiculed himself because of him being in his ottsel body. Jak has only ever seen his dark abilities as dangerous or weird or painful. Imagine the atrocities of him seeing fellow prisoners being melted, burned, and killed by the dark eco injections. We know this because jak is the only survivor of this program. All the others had died, and praxis hoped jak would be different, and he was, only when he escaped.

Clearly, dark jak wasn't as utilized in the story or gameplay as us fans would have wanted, but in the jak 2 design bible, it is stated that when in dark jak form, it greatly hurts/drains jak's body, leaving him to have 1hp left. Similar to how Gul from TPL had trouble breathing and was shakey when he talked due to his own dark eco enfusement, as well as his dark form changing his tone and vocal chords.

JAK HAS SIMILAR VOCAL CHORDS IN HIS DARK FORM, HE IS ALSO SHAKEY WHEN HE GETS OUT OF HIS DARK ECO FORM

EVERY SINGLE TIME: HE IS SHAKEY

HE LITERALLY SAYS HE CANT CONTROL IT AND HE LOOKED LIKE HE WOULD'VE FAINTED THE FIRST TIME HE TRANSFORMED.

Of course he would feel ashamed for physical weakness and or lack of control. Everyone belittles him, is shocked, or ignores his change. The change he had no control over.

Back in Sandover village everyone saw him as the reliable good kid that can help, the kid that Samos raised, sure he gets into trouble sometimes. BUT he is a good kid.

But now in this strange new city, everybody is mean or strict or trying to hurt him in some way like the krimson guards, erol, or krew.

That is until he is banished from the only home he had in haven city, by the very people he saved, they kick him out because he is "an abomination" a "dark eco freak" and could have even let metal heads into the city because of what he did for krew in jak2. Which hasnt been determined, but after saving the whole city, nobody thought to give him a second chance, they kick him to the curb because of his dark form and because of what he might have done.

And then he and daxter get accepted by spargas and damas through the means of jak's physical strength rather than what he can "do for people" like all of the missions that torn and krew had sent him on.

Seem, although was different, she saw through his facade and knew about his dark abilities, mainly because he of course showed his dark form on display in the fighting ring to fight and win. She points out his dark powers, saying he couldn't possibly understand the dark forces in spargas, but jak retaliates, clearly threatened because she knows nothing about his trauma or connection to dark eco.

Damas however saw his dark form as a strength rather than an odditiy, he hears what it is first, then says it can be useful rather than jak being a "freak" or "accursed" Damas even says he is proud of jak, which besides from Samos, nobody has said to jak.

Jak of course sees damas as a father figure, because he didn't have one growing up.

(Spoiler warning)

When damas dies, jak feels immense pain and agony, which fuels his dark jak form for a brief moment. (I may just be restating what happened in the game at this point but if you want, keep reading lol)

After seeing damas as a father figure and relying on him for support, strength and advice, he looses him, which fuels his anger and pushes him to be closed off further, which is shown in the events of Jak X: Combat Racing.

Throughout JakX

Jaks is less talkitive, more closed off and when called a hero, is silent ie. When daxter smacks his head and says "say some hero stuff" jak is silent.

Clearly loosing damas hit him hard. (as well as being poisoned and being out raced by those in the game)

You can even hear jak say "this one's for damas" when you win and get first place in a race in jak x.

Jak is shown drinking, being closer to Kira and has a more sullen attitude throughout the events of Jak X.

This is shown especially shown when at the end of Jak X (Spoiler warning)

Jak walks away from the burning car, and GT blitz asks "you have a habit of leaving people to die don't you?" And jak says with a depressed expression "you get used to it"

He must've been thinking of damas, krew, praxis, and erol. But mainly damas because he was a positive figure that he left to die.

(I know this essay/headcannon has changed from talking about jak's shame to rambling, ill try to stay on topic lol)

Throughout jak X, his reputation is not well known, even though daxter tries to fluf up their story to random people in bars, jak's main focus is to win and get the cure to the poison. Which can be depressing if all the weight is on his shoulders, which it is. Sure he's in a "team" but most of his friends compete to win regardless, and some even "betray him" to win the race themselves. Like Ashlin.

Ultimately, jak has changed, he knows it, his original capabilities of channeling eco has been corrupted due to the dark eco within him, he no longer has the "pure gift" that his younger self once had. And he is ashamed of that.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[hms-no-fun]

Tell us about Dill and Alexander! I kinda picture them in my head as Kermit and that blue eagle Muppet but gay and gamer/greasy mechanic. Is that where you got the idea? Is sburb's frog fascination gonna play into the story of these boyos?

oh what's that? you want to be the captive audience for a lore dump about my very special guys? completely unprompted and with total investment in everything i might have to say? well well, don't mind if i do!

SO, Dill Croaker and Alexander Falcon are members of a now-defunct group called The Falconers. they are modeled after Star Fox (the team) from Star Fox (the video games). we haven't seen Alex on screen yet, but here's @girlpillz's rendering of Dill for B1 verse 1, where Lenore Lehart shows off her sick bouncy ball skills for Dana Straten to get the attention of Dill.

Alex being a blue falcon, i imagine he looks legally distinct from Falco Lombardi from Star Fox (the video games; the team) albeit less cocky and attitudinous.

there are technical reasons for The Falconers' existence. going into 3.2B, i knew i wanted a secondary supporting cast in the margins capable of handling dirtywork off-screen. for instance, they're decrypting and analyzing Lenore's stolen witch data so the main cast doesn't have to worry about it, leaving us more time to luxuriate in what we're actually here for: feelings.

Star Fox 64 is my favorite game, so when it came time to come up with that supporting cast, the possibilities of a knockoff Star Fox team immediately sold me on the idea (especially since this is the only story where i will ever reasonably be able to get away with such a blatant act of self-indulgence. you wouldn't believe it from looking, but i don't actually do a lot of indulging myself with Godfeels. i try very hard to never throw things in without serious calculation. The Falconers are pretty much the only thing i've introduced that came as an inorganic external mandate of my own selfish making, and even then i've worked very hard to integrate them naturally). as a broken up four-person crew, they mirror the Upsilons-- and so, them helping the Falconers reunite in order to find Alphi and Edie gives these guys some juice. their backstory is a shadow of the Upsilons', and a useful point of comparison as the narrative plugs along. i could've made a girl Star Fox team, but frankly Godfeels is just so women-centered, so female-focused, so tgirl-transfixed that i figured it was about time to throw the boylikers a bone.

The Falconers are balanced as a calculated twist on the Star Fox team. the most immediate difference is that here, Alexander Falcon fills the role of Fox McCloud. he's the charismatic team leader, a little surly (especially these days) but good at his job and deeply committed to the care of his team. Dill Croaker is, obviously, only about five runs through the dryer away from Slippy Toad, and fills the same role. my reason for this is that everyone is mean to Slippy and they're wrong. Slippy is a brilliant engineer and programmer, why do you expect him to be an ace fighter pilot too? that's YOUR job, hotshot! Nintendo themselves have been all over the map with Slippy in terms of characterization, pretty much never getting him quite as right as he felt in 64. so, yeah, Dill is my take on Slippy: a clueless gamer frog who plays with a lot of edgelords but is himself impervious to their venom. he never cusses because he's a good boy, and he respects women.

Dill and Alex have lived together on Crime Planet for a long time. are they fucking? no, i don't believe they are. Dill strikes me as something of an ace king, and anyway i don't think he's Alex's type. mostly they work together in the shop and hang out doing bro stuff. maybe Alex lifts weights while Dill plays shitty space MOBAs. but all this begs the question: who is Alex's type?

as of the B1 solo we've learned a little bit about the other two Falconers. first there is Erol [last name unknown], the oldest member of the crew who's likely analogous to Peppy Hare. which leaves us with Yolo Sionnach. a lot of information can be implied about him from this exchange:

yes, a lot of information indeed. but as much as i would love to enumerate the implications, i must hold my tongue. i mean, i would type it all out, but i can't, because i'm literally using my fingers to hold my tongue in place so that i can't say the spoilers out loud

anyway, i like the muppet comparison. that wasn't what i had in mind at all, but now i'm imagining the Falconers as the puppets Nintendo used to advertise Star Fox Zero and........ ohhhh scope creep you saucy temptress

the Slippy slander is rampant! and that's to say nothing of the ad where muppet versions of Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Reggie Fils-Aime slowly transform into Peppy, Fox, and Falco respectively.

i can't say that Sburb/the Universe Engine have much to do with The Falconers' story. they're not godtier, they don't know anything about the UE, they are literally just space mercenary furries. they come from the Lemurian Star System, trained at the Academy on Lemuria, and worked in the Lemurian Sky Corps until starting their own independent outfit as contractors (which i imagine is a fairly common career path in a region racked by interplanetary war and rampant espionage). age-wise, they're in their mid 30s.

thank you for this wonderful question. no one ever asks about the other guys, and i am always dying to talk about the other guys.

[lunarthecorvus]

Alternate Universe - Modern Setting (Not College/Uni) Kanej fanfiction recommendations

part of Lunar's soc fanficiton rec series

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Stains That Don't Wash Out by @SeeMaree

Wordcount: 79,901 Chapters: 19/19

Characters: Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Most other characters

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Some referenced violence, mentions of torture, mentions of rape/non-con, nothing graphic described, basically if you've read the books this is less graphic, kaz is a farmer, and inej works with foster kids, basically an angsty slow burn, but also with attempted murder, and intermittent fluff, quite a lot of fluff really, but quite a lot of angst too, Autistic coded Kaz

Author's summary/notes: To think, when Inej had heard that someone had bought the old Rietveld place that ran alongside her family farm she’d been pleased. That was before she met the man. A more unpleasant and insulting person she couldn't imagine. But she's got bigger problems than an annoying neighbor. And as it turns out, so does he. My summary/notes: This fic was so sweet, I loved seeing older Inej being a social worker and running a camp for disadvantaged kids, it was so nice to see her being in charge and more free. I found it so fascinating to read Kaz and Inej meeting each other for the first time in adulthood, the way it adapted their dynamic was so interesting and I loved reading them get to know each other. There is definitely angst though... also Inej's parents are in it aaaa

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modern setting (series of modern au oneshots) by @whynotcherries

Wordcount: 6,689 Works: 3 Complete: No

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa

Author's summary/notes:

1. For a few moments: "If someone would’ve told her this would happen in advance, Inej Ghafa would’ve laughed in their face. This was exactly where she’d found herself waking rather peacefully, though: Kaz Brekker’s sofa, some blanket she’d never seen before carefully arranged to cover her entire body, and with the sound of someone walking around in the kitchen." Or, an accidental sleepover.

2. Will we last the night?: "He was particularly curious why, of all people, she’d chosen him to climb in a ferris wheel with. At the very least, that meant ten minutes being alone with someone that she hardly knew, and at worst… Well, they’d get stuck." Or, Kaz and Inej get stuck on a ferris wheel as their second time meeting.

3. Don't look back, not for anything: "Thankfully, she’d succeeded in getting out of the house with what they’d needed. She had not succeeded, however, in staying alert for the entire ride back to their part of town. Rather, he was fairly certain she’d fallen asleep next to him, her head resting heavy on his shoulder." Or, Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, and the struggles of night trips.

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When We Collide by @rupturedhaven

Wordcount: 106,364 Chapters: 9/? (still being updated)

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Pekka Rollins, Dima (Shadow and Bone TV), Genya Safin, David Kostyk, The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova, Jan Van Eck, Alys Van Eck, Marya Hendriks, Nikolai Lantsov, Tolya Yul-Bataar, Tamar Kir-Bataar, Tante Heleen, Eroll Aerts, Isaak Andreyev

Tags: Kanej - Freeform, wesper, helnik - Freeform, modern day AU, Heist AU, Six of Crows, Found Family, AU/Source material hybrid, Other characters will show up eventually - Freeform, Potentially the start of a multi-fic universe, soc - Freeform, Six of Crows AU, Slow Burn, King of Scars

Author's summary/notes: The Bastard of the Barrel. The Wraith. The gambler. The wayward son. The Heartrender. The fugitive. A thirst for revenge brings the six of them together, but can they weather a storm of secrets, deceptions, unlikely friendships and heartbreak? And if so, who will they have become once the clouds disperse? Modern Day AU with a mix of elements from the books and show. Long-running narrative with plenty of time for all our favourite characters to show up... My summary/notes: I've recommended Rupturedhaven before beacuse they are such a good writer, would recommend every one of their fics. This fic has such good world-building and the heist is so fun to read. You will be sucked into this this fic and not want to put it down. The way it adapted the crows relationships was so interesting, its a modern crows hiest (I don't want to spoil it so go read it :)

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Adiago by @whatanybodygets

Wordcount: 81,074 Chapters: 7/12 (hasn't been updated in over a year but you NEED to read it)

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Nina Zenik, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Matthias Helvar

Tags: the gang's all here, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, mentions of past rape/non-con, Aged-Up Character(s), Touch-Averse Kaz Brekker, Minor Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Minor Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Slow Burn, Canon-Typical Violence

Author's summary/notes: Inej Ghafa is a principal dancer of the Kerch National Ballet, haunted by a past she'd rather forget. Kaz Brekker is a mob boss who holds the city in the palm of his hand. Perhaps if all were right with the world, two such people would never meet. Or perhaps fate will always give those who need each other a push in the right direction. It begins, as so many things in Ketterdam do, with a murder. My summary/notes: Of course I have to include a classic, its just a masterpiece and one of the most popular well known kanej fics. The writing is just so beautiful and this fic will take you on such a interesting journey. I loved reading Inej's pov in this fic, it really showed her struggles and her strength.

This category was asked for by the lovely @martinakl13 (p.s. check out her fics) <3

[farasen]

the whole team's (except for deniz of course) "hear me out" is erol but raban is the only one brave enough to admit it. i could see raban also being into that action hero woman from wreck it ralph for some reason lmao, or Furiosa from Mad Max. I think he likes when girls are badass and boss people around and also have a gun and cool tech. Similarly, based on the tiny crush he appears to have on Vanessa in the show, Jojo strikes me as the kind of bi guy who exclusively is into super nice boys and girls who are mean to him. Vanessa herself ... she might be a classic keira knightley lesbian, but to add some spice to her and Natascha's tension it's fun to imagine her crushing on Regina George or Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body. Marlon's "hear me out" is Kong and even though it is pretty tame all things considered, the rest of the bunch would consider it hugely out of pocket and offensive.

Erol is so real. I actually was making a meme about that, hope I'll finish it eventually lmao

Also now that you've mentioned it, yeah I do see Raban being into badass women.

I think Marlon had a crush on some kind of pirate as a child (dunno which pirate, I'm not really familiar with media connected to that besides Treasure Island) cuz he definitely has a thing for them. And that could be one of the reasons he was crushing on Kong in the first place. He behaves like a pirate.

[chronotsr]

No. 2 - G2, The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl (July 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): Erol Otus, Dave C. Sutherland III, David A. Trampier (cover) Level range: Average of 9, preferably 5+ players Theme: Standard Swords and Sorcery Major re-releases: G1-3 Against the Giants, GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Dungeon #199, Tales from the Yawning Portal

On the heels of being more impressed with G1 than I expected, will G2 be similarly impressing? Time to find out!

The intro blurb is mostly a repeat of the text of G1, including admonitions that running stock is for villains. Our motivation remains: figure out why the hill giants did that, no matter how fucking dangerous it is. Interestingly, the other main objective of G1 (give 'em a bloody nose) is not relevant here, because that teleport means that the frost giants aren't a threat to the villagers themselves. In fact, the room teleportation schtick kind of means G2 is filler? Like, the big reveal that the G series leads to the D series is not really impacted by the events of G2. So, oops!

Conveniently, the magical chain teleports out outside the rift so you can once again have a secret cave HQ. I feel like you have a responsibility as a GM to have a giant counterattack to at least one of these caves.

I really like the imagery of the descent into the rift here. I mean, I don't think this illustration really does it justice, imagining the deep blue color of light barely passing through the ice and how that gives the area beneath the surface an eerie oceanic glow at all times other than noon -- that's some good vibes. Gary opts for green, which is a fair enough choice. Unfortunately, Gary is more interested in simulating the mounting climbing than vibes, which means that at least one of your party members is going to fall face first into the snow drift below. Gary "generously" caps the damage at 10d6 (avg 35 dmg) -- a level 9 fighter, to be clear, has 9d10 hp (avg 45 hp) and a level 9 magic user has 9d4 hp (avg 23), so that's not ideal. Also recall that you recover 1hp per full day of rest normally, so if you fall and survive you're probably still fucked unless your cleric has a lot of spells left. I'm also pretty sure your cave HQ is above the cliff face, so, risking the descent seems like suicide to me. You're going to lose people and even leaving to heal them back up is simply taking another chance at oblivion. Take the stairs.

If you have the audacity to slow fall down, you will be blown 75ft off course in a random direction. Very cool Gary!

Another interesting detail: monsters in classic DND have a pretty short attention span and will lose you fairly quickly if you flee around a corner. This is particularly amped up here to a breezy 4 in 6 odds of success, due to blizzards blocking chase.

Anyway, we're into the room by room, so let's do some room by room shit.

There is a kind "spiked heads of our enemies at the gates" situation, with corpses mutilated and frozen in transparent ice as a warning to not intrude. Honestly that's badass. What's not badass is if the players have the wherewithal to try and free the corpses (for loot or kindness), most routes lead to the treasure being destroyed and the roof collapsing -- probably instantly killing your squishies.

The hill giants from G1 are lolling about waiting for an audience, so points for continuity. I have to imagine they're freezing their asses off, though.

There are yetis here? Which, going on the graphic and the listed intelligence score in the MonMan, I have to conclude are sentient bipedial apes but like, NOT like the Frost Giants. Actually apparently the average yeti is smarter than the average frost giant, so I guess it's a Diogenes situation where they choose to live in a shitty cave when everyone else has a nice cave?

The 5 hill giants visiting the Jarl have 1k to 6k gold fur cloaks, which like. Imagine a 6,000 gold cloak. Not only is it got to be huge (Hill Giants are 10.5ft tall), for it to be worth 6k to a vendor that's got to be a one-piece fabric cloak off a particularly rare and good condition animal. I guess the players could use it as the world's fanciest comforter?

The official appearance of a Remoraz! These are awful creatures. They swallow you whole and then superheat their insides to cook you. Nasty side effect: its outsides become furnace-hot and destroy nonmagical items and burn people to death. Look at this horrible thing! And of course it's guarding the swankiest loot to date -- a +2 Giantslaying Sword and a 3 Wishes Ring. It's been a weird trend lately that the best loot is, not owned by the leader of the Giants? The best hoard seems to always belong to Some Guy. Naturally this awesome loot "sinks into the ice" if you use a fireball, because this adventure has an addiction to telling the wizard to fuck off. Note that the sword being lost punishes the fighter for the magic users' decision. Note also that the Remoraz going into superheat mode doesn't do the same thing? It sucks. This clause sucks. Cut it. The actual room itself is kind of neat, the implication is that the Remorhaz melted a spherical hole into the ice to make a den, which is awesome.

Another iconic Garyism: ". They have had audience with the Jarl, and after a special wassail to be held on the morrow they will depart for home with a treaty scroll." Translation: They're goin to have a drinking party tomorrow to celebrate a treaty signing.

And like, one room later, we get "leman", which means lover, and "durance vile", which means long imprisonment. The text implies that basically, she's a hot butch storm giantess being held in chains until she agrees to fuck the Jarl. Gary, simply ask a tall woman out. You don't have to be weird about it.

Rather than torches, the feast hall is lit with jarred fire beetles, which is kinda cute

There is a thick iron bar that "transports whosoever is standing on the floor to the entrance of Snurre's Hall [G3]". The iron bar is a lever, obviously, but is this a lever-operated teleporter? An elevator that goes straight down? G3 eliminates the elevator theory, since apparently you can arrive here via pegasus and there are caves one can access overhead. So it's a literal teleporter, and at least how I'm reading it makes it sound more science fiction than magic. Weird.

On the whole, G2 is a massive step down from G1. G2 lacks the factionalism of G1, punishes players for damn near anything attempted, and is broadly less imaginative than G1. It's a pity, really, because it's a far more interesting locale on paper, but the reality is that you could generate a cave like this by scribbling randomly. Meh. Next time we poke G3, and hope hope hope that it's more like G1 than G2.

[getvalentined]

fuckin razer (for the meme)

YOU MY FRIEND ARE A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR

RAZER

🎟️ SEXUALITY HEADCANON: Razer is the gayest man on his entire sparsely-populated planet.

⚧️ GENDER HEADCANON: Cisgender man but in the campest way you could possibly imagine.

💕 A SHIP: Razer/Erol is the OTP but Razer/Jak remains close to my heart even though it's 100% not a preferred ship for Jak.

🖇️ A BROTP: Razer+Jak is honestly up there, but also I really like the idea of Razer being bros with Rayn because Fuck Da Police KG and also because she'd probably be more fun as a boss than any other option on the criminal docket.

🚫 A NOTP: Razer/Rayn is a BIG NO for me, but also Razer with any female character gives me an off in general.

💭 A RANDOM HEADCANON: Razer has tattoos the same as any other member of Mizo's gang, although his are much more extensive because of his rank; he's got the flames starting at his wrists and working their way all the way up both arms, where they wrap around his back. Think like yakuza tattoos but less detailed. This is slightly different from my old headcanon on how his tattoos look, although in my head they're still a different color than everyone else's—not because of his rank, but because he was like "ew" at the standard palette Mizo requires and he's too good at his job for Mizo to reprimand him for going off-color without risking him running off to work for Rayn instead.

🗣️GENERAL OPINION: Still in my top three favorite characters in the entire Jak series, and my second favorite antagonist! Still a damn shame that he's relegated to a single title in the series, and disappears entirely with no explanation 75% of the way through the game.

(For the character ask game.)

[a-tiny-bouquet-of-lizards]

A friend took screenshots of Nowaki and Erol while we were all hanging at the Lo-fi and Art stream last night. Fucking losing it looking at these.

I'm imagining some kind of scheme or situation that plays out with Nowaki innocently suggesting they pose as a couple and Erol reluctantly going along with it, then getting more and more into it because this feels like acting out one of his mushy romance stories.

[seirei-bh]

I can't stop thinking about this Erol's dialogue, it's one of the deleted audios of Jak 2.

I would have liked this audio stayed in the game. The mission about rescue your friends in the prission would have even creepier and more harrowing that way, knowing that your friends are in real danger of being tortured by Erol if you don't get there on time. Specially someone so sweet as Tess.

I can perfectly imagine Erol leaning out of Tess's prison door, threatening to torture her very soon in the same way he did with Jak or something similar or worse, and laughing cruelly. I think it would have been very shocking to see such a scene.

I like to imagine that this really happened, and that sometime later, after Jak and Keira's argument, when Tess and Keira are left alone, Tess told Keira what happened in prison and also what Erol told her, and what he did to Jak too, so that Keira would realize in that moment what kind of person Erol really was, and that's why we never saw her again talking positively about him. Also, Samos was also in prison (both the young and the old) so it could corroborate Tess's words. It would have been a great opportunity to develop more the characters and relationships with scenes like those.

Also, it strikes me that Erol threatens Jak and Daxter specifically with Tess, not Samos. It might just be because he's a psycho who just reveled with her screams (what a disgusting guy, uggh), but I think it could be too because since he frequented Krew's bar and he was able to see them talking to her, and he noticed that she was a weakness for Daxter, or maybe it was because Tess is, along with Torn and Samos, one of the members that has been active in the Underground for the longest time, or because of some personal reason.

And let's not forget to mention details of how it's even creepier that Keira is 16 in Jak 2, while Erol seems to be between 20-25 and he wants her to be his girl (run away, Keira, pls, run very far away). I would have liked to know a lot more about Erol, like if Torn got to know him when he was in the KG and if Erol had any rivalry with him and/or Ashelin, or something personal against Tess too. It's amazing that Erol has been a major villain in TWO entire games and we know almost nothing about him.

All this was pure gold. What a pychopath, whoahh

the "bring the kids" made me laugh though, lmao

[iamhellborn]

DWK characters as camp leaders

Imagine that the entire bunch decided to work together as leaders for a summer camp. This is how they would act as camp leaders:

Marlon would find himself naturally in the roll. He would arrange games, make sure everyone followed the schedule and teach the kids the importance of teamwork. Thus, every kid would show him a great amount of respect and love.

Jojo would find himself quite natural in the role too. He would be the one who comforted the kids with homesickness, reminding them that they soon would be united with their parents again and should not worry.

Raban would tell stories. He would start with reading from books but eventually get bored and move onto telling stories about the bunch. He would tell them with a lot of expression and drama, and once he was finished the kids would beg him to tell another one.

Vanessa would sometimes lose her temper at the kids when they didn’t behave, but it would never last for long. At the end of camp, one of the little boys would propose to her with a popsicle ring, for which she would say yes.

Markus would at first feel a bit uncomfortable around the kids, not really knowing how to behave around them. At one point though, he would come up with a game where the kids would throw balls at him and he would catch them, something the kids would find very amusing. After that, he would become more comfortable as a leader.

Deniz would also be unsure on how to behave at first, until one of the kids recognized him as Erol Yildiz’ son. Deniz would start talking about his dad, and soon move over to talk about himself, the places he had lived at and the teams he had played for. Once he started showing of his soccer skills, his popularity amongst the kids would rapidly increase.

Leon would arrive at the camp overly confident, believing all of the kids would love him. So it would come as a slap in the face when he realized they all loved his older brother but not him. Leon would frustratingly attempt to win the kids attention, without any success. It wouldn’t be until Leon humbled his ego and started working along with his friends instead trying to steal all the attention, that the kids would actually start appreciating him.

[sammypersaud]

— erol tilki sam's house, bighorn hills.

It was a nice enough Sunday to justify throwing on a flannel and work on tearing out the worn boards on the wrap-around porch attached to his ever aging farmhouse, thankful that not only was the sun shining at a warm sixty-four degrees and the boards were popping out easily so far, but that he had the company of someone who had grown to be a close friend of his. A few beers and some company, he couldn't imagine a better way to spend the day. He shoed the large orange cat he'd found in his flower field a few years prior away from the spot where she'd chosen to sit on the board he was ironically working on prying off of the base of the porch with the back of his hammer. "How long do you reckon this'll take us? A week? Two? Your professional opinion." Samar questioned, dropping his efforts for just a second as he stood up and squinted at the rest of the porch, hammer still gripped in his hand as he reached for the beer bottle on the banister with the other. "Might have been easier knocking it down and starting from scratch."

@eroltilki

[dndhistory]

82. Lawrence Schick - S2: White Plume Mountain (1979)

A really fun "funhouse" dungeon, this is just a small location with puzzles to solve and McGuffins to get in the shape of three amazing weapons, Wave, Whelm and Blackrazor which have become legendary in AD&D, even if Blackrazor is clearly a ripoff of Elric's Stormbringer from Moorcock's tales. This isn't really Schick's fault though as this was never meant to be published, it was just something he sent in to TSR to apply for a job as a kind of design portfolio. Well, TSR liked it so much that they published it without even letting him revise the adventure. It published in the S series, which clearly had the idea of publishing individual dungeons with S1 being The Tomb of Horrors. 

It is also the first adventure module published by TSR for AD&D that was not created by Gygax, the first of many, of course, but still significant because of that, there had been D&D modules like Mike Carr's In Search of the Unknown published by TSR before, but no AD&D modules. As you can imagine, seeing as this was kind of a showcase dungeon, there isn't much of a plot here, but what there is is a lot of fun rooms with puzzles to solve and monsters to defeat as well as unique loot to get. Schick also writes in an entertaining fashion, making this a really fun adventure to read.

I am sharing images from both the 79 and 81 versions because I won't be coming back to this for the 81 re-edition, which adds some images like those by Bill Willingham and a great map by Erol Otus, as well as a new color cover to replace the original 1979 monocolored one. 

[dearyallfrommatt]

The thing that's so funny about people complaining that Captain Marvel is pro-feminism is that Carol Danvers was originally portrayed as a pro-feminist superhero, something new and daring from your friends at dear ol' Marvel. That's why she was called "Ms. Marvel." A woman calling herself "Ms." whether or not "Mrs. or Miss" applied was a huge deal back then. It was the source of debate on political talk shows and you dickheads that get incensed at someone's use of pronouns, you sound just like them. Congratulations, you're the folks Stan Lee and Chris Claremont were making fun of in the '70s. People who wore flares and bellbottoms unironically consider you a source of mirth.

She was introduced as the Lois Lane for Marvel's Captain Marvel He was an alien guy sent to spy on us but fell in love with humans, yadda yadda; it's an old story. After his debut, it was revealed that the overwhelming majority of his race is blue-skinned, he is white, and "you know about those white-skinned Krees." His commanders looked down on him and gave him shit jobs like spying on Earth so the original Captain Marvel was actually a minority working under a racially oppressive system.

So, Carol was an Air Force major when she ran into Captain Marvel. Probably due to copyright reasons, she soon became part-Kree through comic book whim-wham, and the world was introduced to Ms. Marvel, the one with the sash. When she got her own book, she became the editor of a woman-centric magazine published by Jolly J. Jonah Jamerson. Why they made an Army major a magazine editor, I don't know, but that's what said "strong, independent female" back in them days.

A side note: while I'm not sure how they match up timeline-wise, this is also around the time Power Girl (Earth-2 Supergirl with massive cans) came on the scene and she was touted as a strong, independent female by guys who came of age in the '40s and thought "feminism" meant they were ball-busters. At first, she was going to be called "Power Femme" because, for a brief moment, conservatives were worried feminists were going to make them start calling women, girls, broads, and other assorted chicks and dames "femmes." Yeah, sounds weirdly familiar, doesn't it?

Anyhow, after becoming a fairly heavy figure in the Marvel Universe and an Avenger, Carol Danvers was mind-controlled, raped, had her best friends and closest comrades in battle tell her it's no big deal, give birth to her rapist thru comic book whim-wham, have her powers drained and personality wiped by Rogue (who was a middle-aged lady back then and not a sexy Southern teenager), and while therapy to reconnect with her emotions, get told by the X-Men, "Yes, that second mind-rapist, the one who destroyed your life and emotional connections. Yeah, she's one of us, is in shit shape, and you're one of them and we'll still help, but we're taking her in. Just before then, the Brood (back before one of them became cute and they scared Wolverine) juiced her up to Binary, and she told everyone on Earth to fuck off while she hung out with space pirates.

Another side note: Carol was the victim of Marvel's mid-'80s attempt to remove pretty much every '70s creation from the playing board and I've never really figured out the rhyme or reason. Johnny Blaze was a '70s horror character but after the Satanic Panic bunch turned their eyes towards media, I don't imagine a superhero who'd made a deal with (a) Devil was long for the decade.

Carol also makes a bit of sense, as even the creative team admits they did her far dirtier than any character deserved, much less a flagship character like Ms. Marvel, and either had to kill her off and get her completely out of the scene for a while. As a Starjammer, she appeared in a couple New Mutant issues and a real fun little two-part mini-series featuring the 'Jammers and Charles Xavier as Bald Phoenix.

A side-note's side-note: I love the Starjammers. Space pirates fighting a repressive regime led by a guy playing Eroll Flynn. How can you not love that? And I'm not going to lie, while there were a lot of extenuating circumstances and it wasn't the nail in the coffin, Chris Summers' death 10 years back or so was one of the factors that got me out of regular reading. I understand they've brought him back but I don't care.

Back to the '70s purge. Spider-Woman was depowered in circumstances I forget. Why? Iron Fist was killed (actually an alien plant clone from his hidden city's immortal rival, one of many we'd learn) and Power Man (Luke Cage for you kids 'cause it's still not as dumb a name as Giant-Man) was accused of his murder, so he went on the run. Why? Marvel dropped a lot of licenses around this time so characters related to them went to the wayside, like Shang-Chi and Fu Manchu. But I never have figured out some, especially when it removed Marvel's really physically powerful female superheroes. Remember Marvel Versus DC when they had Storm beat Wonder Woman by kicking her in the head?

So, why did it happen? A lot of these characters have strong ties to Chris Claremont - and indeed, like Carol, Jessica Drew became a semi-regular X-Men character - and maybe he had issues with incoming Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter. But Claremont's X-Men run is legendary for a good reason and was considered one of the '80s golden titles.

Okay, bringing it all back home. People who complain Carol Danvers and any iteration of Captain Marvel in the past 20 years are "too feminist" are merely a prime example of the intellectual vacuity of cultural conservatism. The targets change because what once was acceptable to attack has been proven to be far too human all along, and they simply do not have it within them to come up with something new.

X-Men is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get X-Men.

Black Panther is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Black Panther.

Captain America literally fought Nazis. He is the embodiment of fighting the alt-right. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Captain America.

The Empire in Star Wars is fascist. The Rebel alliance are Anti-Fascist. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Wars.

The Punisher isn’t meant to be a role model for police or armed forces. So much so that the writers of The Punisher made him actively speak out against it in a comic. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get The Punisher.

Deadpool is queer. He’s pansexual. Fact. If you didn’t get that you didn’t get Deadpool.

Star Trek is about equality for all genders, races and sexualities. As early as the mid-60s it was taking a pro-choice stance and defending women’s right to choose. One of its clearest themes is accepting different cultures and appearances and working together for peace. (It’s also anti-capitalist and pro-vegan). If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Trek.

Superman and Supergirl (and a whole host of other superheroes) are immigrants. The stance of those comics is pro-immigration and pro-equality and acceptance. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Superman or Supergirl.

Stan Lee said “Racism and bigotry are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today.” If you’re bigoted or racist, you didn’t get any of the characters Stan Lee created.

The stories we grew up with all taught us to value other people and cultures and to treasure the differences between us. Only villains were xenophobic, or sexist, or racist, or totalitarian. I can’t understand how anyone can have missed that.

If you’re upset that there’s a black Spider-Man, or a black Captain America, or a female Thor, or that Ms Marvel is Muslim, or that Captain Marvel was pro-feminism, or any of the other things right wing “fans” say is “stealing their childhood” - you never got it in the first place. The things you claim are now “pandering to the lefties” were never on your side to begin with.

If you consider yourself a fan of these things, but you still think the LGBTQ+ community is too “in your face”, or have a problem with Black Lives Matter, or want to “take the country back from immigrants”, then you’re not really a fan at all.

Geek culture isn’t suddenly left wing... it always was. You just grew up to be intolerant. You became the villain in the stories you used to love.

****

Kenny Boyle - Actor and Playwright

07 June 2020