#in terms of characters you could realistically read as love interests

[flawseer]

What's your opinion of what everyone did after the sealing of Darkstalker in the legends book? It just seemed way too quick with how they just moved on from the horrors, as Fathom and Indigo had kids and Clearsight flew off to a new continent to have kids with and create a whole new tribe. On another note, considering how Fathom was kind of banished (from what I remember) and had kids split off from the Royal Family, do you think there may be a descendant of Fathom somewhere hiding with Animus powers? Or do you think they just ended up being adopted back into the royal family after being discovered?

I personally consider Legends: Darkstalker the best book in the series, in part because I believe Sutherland's writing shines when she is not binding herself to the 5 books arc structure.

That said, the ending does have a bit of that one particular prequel problem. You know, the one where the characters are confirmed to be at a certain location in the future, so they absolutely HAVE to end the prequel story getting to that location IMMEDIATELY.

That's what I was thinking with regards to Clearsight's ending. Now, everyone deals with trauma differently, so I can only comment on her actions from my own limited point of view. I don't think I could have done what she did, at least not so suddenly. She had relationships beyond Darkstalker, with Listener and her parents, whom she presumably was still on good terms with. Like, especially her parents I think never actually learned what happened to her. They might have continued living thinking their only daughter died in the evacuation.

When I think of that part of the book, I personally like to envision an epilogue where Clearsight returns to her parents and lives with the Nightwings for a while (a couple years maybe). Her parents are supportive and Listener is grateful and admires her friend for saving her family. So much so that she reverses her stance on futuresight and authors a scroll about it, crediting Clearsight as a master prophet (this is the scroll that Moonwatcher later reads).

But the other Nightwings still fear Darkstalker, and they remember his girlfriend who stood on stage with him and looked at him adoringly as Darkstalker massacred his own father (they don't know she was tricking Darkstalker). So there is public tension building at Clearsight living with them, and it begins to negatively impact the people who support her. In the end, Clearsight decides to leave the tribe, both to protect her loved ones from getting caught up in her fallout and to separate herself from all that trauma and find her fortune on the new continent.

Notably, she actually tells her friends and parents about that plan this time, and they don't spend the rest of their lives wondering what happened.

As for Fathom and any potential descendants, there is a 'realistic but boring' answer, and one that is a bit more interesting narratively.

The boring answer is that, yes, there are descendants of Fathom around. Lots of them. It is inevitable. If you take an individual and step back one generation, you find they will have 2 parents. Above that they have 4 grandparents. Then 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents. At 10 generations back we are looking at 1024 theoretical ancestors. Now as these numbers get bigger, some of these lines will cross-breed with each other again, so the math isn't entirely clean, but just trust me that these numbers balloon really fast the more generations you go back.

Fathom was alive 2000 years ago. If we lean conservatively and say the average dragon has eggs at age 20, that means 100 generations have come and gone from then to today. The number of ancestors over this many generations is so high, you might pick any Seawing currently alive in present day and there will be a very decent chance of them having Fathom somewhere in their bloodline.

You go back far enough and everyone starts to be related to everyone else. Ancestry is funny like that.

For the more narratively interesting answer: I do believe Fathom re-integrated into the royal family again. One thing that needs to be kept in mind is that Pearl, like her brother, also had her entire life uprooted by the Royal Seawing Massacre. She was all at once dealing with the shock of losing her parents and the stress of having to now run the entire kingdom without being prepared for it at all. There was no time to process any grief, or the lingering fear. When she sent her brother away and forbade him to have children, that wasn't an act of malice, it was the only solution she could think of to keep everyone safe from the future threat of magic without also having to execute the last part of her family.

Neither of them ever had any ill will against the other. Pearl was dealt the shittiest of hands and she tried to make the best play she could at the time, while desperately trying to keep herself together. That is what I think.

As Pearl and Fathom got older and the situation in the Sea Kingdom stabilized, Pearl might have finally been able to reflect upon what happened and to process some of her neglected emotional turmoil. I believe Fathom eventually reached out again and they both found a way to reconcile, mending their fractured relationship. I don't know if Fathom moved back into the palace; perhaps he chose to stay away to keep the rest of the populace at ease. But I think his children or grand-children would eventually re-integrate into the royal family.

This turned out a bit wordy and the question was sitting in my inbox for a good while. But I hope this provides an interesting answer.

[manicpixieyandere]

Gushing Over Magical Girls | Confessions of a Rotten Girl

The Journey of Self Accepting Sexuality and Kink

(Censored a bit because boo Tumblr).

More and more lately we have seen people online going on about how they want no more s*x in media, or at the very least no more pointless s*x in media. But trying to say what should and shouldn't be in a story purely because you deem it pointless completely misses the point. If you pay attention to the stories, you'll see when s*x has a meaning.

Usually it's something like showing how close two characters are, or the lust a certain character feels, and yes sometimes it is just fan service, but there is nothing wrong with that either.

Today we wanted to talk about two semi recent (within the last year) pieces of media that have shown s*x in ways that matter to the story. Those medias would be the manga / anime series: Gushing Over Magical Girls, and the song "Confessions of a Rotten Girl.

Both of these works center on the theme of a school aged girl learning about her own kink and sexual identity and coming to terms with the fact. Their ages are important as middle school to high school is exactly when people tend to start feeling these things (sometimes even younger).

Here is where we are gonna split the works into sections! First up is Gushing Over Magical Girls!

Throughout the story Utena finds out she is a sadist who loves to torture magical girls. At first she is disgusted by herself, thinking she needs to stop.

But the more the series goes on, the more she starts to accept this side of herself.

But the thing is; even though Utena is part of an evil organization and is playing the part, she never fully gives in. She isn't evil. She still supports the magical girls and wants to see them thrive with their La Verità forms. Utena is suspicious of Venalita and plans to work against them if things go south (of course this has yet to be seen as the series is on hiatus).

We think it's really cool to show a character come to terms with their kink and even sexual identity (she only ever plays with girls, just saying) through a story. People get so wrapped up in the "rights" of fictional characters that they forget they are just tools for the writer to tell their story. Both manga and anime are visual mediums, you can't just say what a character is thinking, you need to SHOW it. So the easiest way to do so would be having Utena actually preforming these actions on the magical girls. It also just makes it more interesting and action packed.

On the flip side we have Hatsune Miku from Confessions of a Rotten Girl. With music it isn't a visual medium, and thus the song can get away with sharing the character's thoughts through words and not visuals (although the music video does show the content Miku consumes).

In Miku's case we also have a school aged girl coming to terms with her sexual interests and identity. She also is into bondage but she is really into you guessed it, YAOI. Oh Fujo Miku how we love you.

While Utena's version of demonization is more fictional in the sense of being a villain to the magical girls, Miku's is more grounded in realistic depictions of religious guilt and trauma.

At first Miku is at confession and talks about her interests being temptations and that she is burdened by shame. She even goes as far to say she is eating the forbidden fruit.

As most of you probably know, this refers to Eve in the Garden of Eden eating from The Tree of Knowledge. Christians see this event as a tragedy, the birth of original sin. But look what Miku says:

"Could Eve be our idol? Could she lead us through the light? We'd all be disciples of her lemon driven bite".

This isn't someone upset about the bite, she is PRAISING Eve. To me this reads as a little baby Satanist in the making. If you don't know there are two types of Satanists. The first kind do not believe in Satan but instead see him as a symbol of freedom. The second half share those same beliefs but actually believe in Satan. Satanists do not see Eve eating the fruit as a tragedy, they see it as liberation. They see it as the beginning of free will.

Both Utena and Miku chose to live as their own authentic selves. Neither are really evil, but if people see them that way, then so be it.

[blorger]

Hi! What are your thoughts on the Weasleys as a family and each of them?

Hello friend, I have many Thoughts on the Weasleys, so many that I'm going to have to condense things a bit for the purpose of this ask. To make a long story short, I am glad that they are there for Harry as a found family of sort but, at the end of the day, I like the idea of the Weasley family more than the execution.

If you look at what the Weasleys actually do for Harry when he's still a vulnerable minor you realise that they (in this case the adults) are not actually very helpful to him. Like, when your 12 year old son shows you up in terms of caring about Harry's abuse I think it's time to look inward (I'm looking at you Arthur).

Also, as a someone who was raised in a dysfunctional environment, I can't help but raise my eyebrows whenever the Weasleys are presented as the Ideal Family. If those children were real they'd be a therapist's wet dream, just saying.

As for them individually:

Molly: I loathe Molly, she's one of my least favourite characters in all of the books. I hate how she's depicted as the Ideal Mom when in reality she's pretty shit: she blatantly plays favourites among her children; she openly favours Harry in a way that, if I was Ron, I'd resent tremendously; she's a boymom of the highest degree and her treatment of Fleur is straight up vile. On a meta level, I hate that she only seems to exist as a Mother (and, to a lesser extent, as a Wife): The only interest of hers that cannot, in some shape or form, be tied back to her family is her love of Celestina Warbeck (and that is something we are supposed to laugh at her for). 0/10

Arthur: I'm not a fan of him either. Seeing that the Weasley family is constructed like some sort of 50ies white picket fence nightmare, Arthur is by design uninvolved in his children's lives and that is super gross to me. As I mentioned before, I hate that he witnesses firsthand how Harry is treated at the Dursleys and does nothing. Speaking of Dursleys, I very much dislike the patronising way he seems to enjoy muggle culture (and muggles in general); to me, it reads very Noble Savage-y. My favourite thing about Arthur is the 10ft tall hate-boner he has for Lucius Malfoy but other than that I'm not exactly a fan. 3/10

Bill: little to no opinion, canon bill is there to be occasionally helpful (and for Harry to glowingly review). He's obviously the golden child of the family but, considering he fucked off to Egypt as soon as he was able to, he does not seem to relish in the role. 6/10

Charlie: He is honestly barely a character in canon, so I have no opinion of him. He is another example of a Weasley kid fucking off asap after Hogwarts so there's that, also I like fanon gay Charlie . 6/10

Percy: A parentified middle child who struggles to receive attention from his parents and ends up drifting away from the family? Percy is the most realistic out of all the Weasley children (in that I could conceivably see a child like him come out of a family with those dynamics) and the books hate him for it. Personally, I enjoy him and I enjoy reading stories that examine his thoughts and motivations because the narrative doesn't give two shits about him. 8/10

Fred & George: When I was reading the books as a child they were my favourite characters. Looking at them with adult eyes, I'm now incredibly turned off by their mean-spiritedness. 4/10 (they do treat Harry rather well though so kudos to them for that)

Ron: Ron is honestly one of the best-written characters in the books. As readers we see his many faults and mistakes but we also see him trying to improve and we see how genuinely he cares about Harry&Hermione. I like how, even as Ron improves thoughout the books, his core character traits remain the same. I like Ron, not only because he's a good friend, but because he's imperfect. 10/10

Ginny: Ok concept, terrible execution. Ginny is barely a person, her personality gets changed to suit the narrative and her character basically only exists in function to Harry's. Even at her best, when we're supposed to go gaga over her, she's still deeply disappointing. 1/10

xoxo

[whateverisbeautiful]

I was curious about how you think a reunion will go with the group if we ever get one. I don't think Rick and Daryl's reunion should go that smoothly. Especially given the state of their relationship when Rick disappeared. I also wonder about Maggie and Michonne. Some fans like to bring up Negan but I hope the Grimes family never sees him again.

Thanks for asking about this. This one is interesting because there are a lot of in-show and behind-the-scenes factors that could impact which route the reunions take. I wrote out a few of my opinions on it below and somehow I still surprise myself that my thoughts are never super brief lol. ⬇️💗

If the reunion is just a single scene then I think the writers will want it to be positive vibes only and won't allow for them to address a lot of the unresolved history between the characters. I think Rick and Daryl's reunion will likely be smooth both because tptb would want to reinforce the fans' love for the brotherhood but also because Rick will feel like Daryl did something invaluable by watching over his kids while he and Michonne were away.

Knowing that his kids were able to be taken care of by a family member they love would mean a lot to Rick and probably make him feel more forgiving for how things played out between him and Daryl before he left. Especially if he gets the sense from Michonne that Daryl was one of the few people there for her after he was gone, that also would make Rick feel like they can put opposition aside because Daryl was there for his family.

I'm not saying the past should all be swept to the side tho or that Rick isn't the type that would want to address some things because especially watching him in season 9 before he left, he wasn't against calling things out. But I could see the franchise choosing to have a more kumbaya feel for the reunion if all they have is minimal screen time with the characters.

However, if at all they get a bit more screen time to reconnect then it would be nice and realistic to see some honest conversations about how they left off. Especially with Maggie.

Now the Maggie reunion with Rick and Michonne is one I could see being a bit more rocky. Because with Daryl, he and Rick got to at least hash some things out in that pit before Rick's departure and Daryl and Michonne were close and on good terms before she went to bring Rick home. (Honestly, Daryl and Michonne felt like closer confidantes than Rick and Daryl imo, since Rick and Daryl always read more like brothers than best friends to me, but that's a whole other conversation lol. Like pretty much all of season 8 and early season 9 Rick and Daryl's relationship was not in a good state. That's also why I'd be interested in seeing Michonne reunite with Daryl just as much as Rick since they always had a really solid loving friendship). But Maggie seemed to end on not the best of terms with both Rick and Michonne.

Like I could picture that when Rick was taken and having all that time alone to reflect, he probably felt like Maggie must really have strong issues with him if she decided she had to orchestrate a whole plan behind his back.

And then Maggie and Michonne also didn't seem to reconcile after Rick's departure to the point that when Maggie left she didn't let Michonne know. I'd be so curious what Michonne knows about that bridge day. If no one ever told her exactly how those events and schemes played out that day, I could see that being hurtful to now find out that part of why she had to go without her husband for years was because their friends were crafting plans behind their backs, especially when Rick was headed home himself and then got derailed when Daryl offered to take him home instead.

But it's also been a lot of years, and I think Rick and Michonne understand that growth can occur and so they won't hate or chastise people for what happened. I think they'd both be more focused on starting fresh and building a life with their kids. But some apologies from Daryl and Maggie would still be nice. Especially considering Maggie realized Rick and Michonne had it right that Negan being locked up was actually a fitting punishment and was killing him worse than actually killing him would have. Accountability is rare among certain characters, especially when the ones they've hurt are Rick and Michonne, but it still would feel necessary to include it if the story is given more than one scene for a reunion.

And as for Negan, I very much agree with you, anon. I personally have no desire for any of the Grimes family to be seen with Negan again. I've seen that some feel Rick has to see that Negan got 'redeemed,' but that wasn't even what Rick was aiming for. He kept Negan alive to honor Carl's vision but Negan wasn't thrown in a cell to one day get out and become a valued member of society. Rick intended for him to rot in that cell as a consequence of his many deplorable actions. So I could almost see it stinging a bit for Rick to see that Negan got to build a life all while Rick was taken from his life because his friends wanted to kill Negan and then didn't even end up going through with it.

I think Rick would be perfectly happy with him and his family never crossing paths with Negan again because Negan is important to some viewers but he is not on Rick's radar like that. Everyone Rick most needed to reunite with he already reunited with in TOWL. So if they do reunions with the rest of the group it could be interesting but also, like many have voiced before, team family sorta stopped feeling like a tight-knit family after a certain point. Not even in a condemning way because it happens, but they all started to do their own thing and build their own lives. I can think of a few characters that even left or pulled away while Rick was still around and was already content with not seeing him much or ever again.

And so I'm just glad that we already got to see Rick and Michonne reunite with each other and their kids since that's they're heart and these four are the ones who will be most involved in each other's everyday life now.

[d34dlysinner]

Prettybusy Updates/promises for the future. Year 2024

I literally took this from their website so. This was posted today: 10/01/2024.

Hello, this is Prettybusy.

Since the release of <What in Hell is Bad?>, many people have found Hell to support us and tell us what could be improved.

We are most apologetic that we cannot reply to all the voices.

But even when we weren't able to respond to everything, we still read every email, made sure we didn't miss anything,

and kept the production crew together for ongoing discussions.

We would like to apply many new things to Hell, but here's our first response to your voices,

summarizing what we can realistically expect to see in 2024.

More info about content, pricing and improvement of environment under the cut.

[Addition of contents]

Life goes on forever.

To those of you who come to find <What in Hell is Bad?>, we hope to be with you for new stories and new events.

So, here are some new content that we promise to add.

First

The addition of a new main story - Chapter 5 - (within January)

Hell's next story will be added.

What will be added in the new main story are main story episodes including battles, Minhyeok's story, and Hell's chatrooms.

We aim to add new chapters once every 3 months.

Second

The release of the minigame <Catch Minhyeok's Boxers> (within January)

Minhyeok's boxers have flown away in the wind! It is a game where you catch boxers floating in the sky with Ppyong who is armed with shibari.

To satisfy your desire to earn paid currency, we will add a minigame that allows you to randomly farm items alongside light gaming.

You can obtain not only Lesser Keys and Greater Keys, but also Solomon's Seals if you're lucky(!)

Third

The addition of new daily chats (within February)

The interest of all devils which you can see once a day. Daily chats will be added.

We are aiming to add daily chats steadily once every 2 months.

Fourth

The addition of the Friends system(within March)

You are not alone now...!

Adding friends gives you the ability to earn additional items, see what characters your friends have that you don't, and show your profile to other friends.

Fifth

The addition of Realm of the Seraphim(within March)

The closed <Realm of the Seraphim> of the Dark Sanctuary will be opened.

You can now enter Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael's realms to fight them.Similar to the Nightmare Dungeon, you can only face them if you fulfill the conditions, and while it will be a scarier battle, you will be rewarded with better items.

What's unusual about this is that you won't exchange items through an exchange, but rather you get the

items you loot from their realms immediately after the battle.

Sixth

The addition of a birthday system(within April)

The devils understood the human world's <celebration of birthdays>.

Now, the devils will congratulate the day you were born, the most unusual being in Hell.

Devils who are on good terms with you will contact you, and also prepare presents with their hearts.

Seventh

The addition of decorating the lobby icon(within May)

The production crew also enjoy decorating everything with the devils we love.

Like on Halloween, the function to decorate the lobby icon with a single devil's theme will be added.

The icon packages for all devils won't be there from the start, but the icons of all devils will definitely be added.

Eighth

The addition of line stickers(once registration is complete)

We are preparing line stickers of each devil version.

First off, Ppyong's stickers are ready and we are getting ready to register. It is not up to us to decide whether it will be able to register so we can't give you an exact timeline, but barring any major issues, you should be able to see them in the first half of the year. We will also be creating a number of opportunities for you to join the devils outside of the game this year.

[Pricing system reform]

Once again, we sincerely thank you for finding Hell despite its many shortcomings.

We will continue to improve the parts that inconvenience you in Hell's environments you experience.

So, here is our promise of 2024 to make your experience more comfortable.

First

The function to 'select' when summoning an L grade character (within February)

We confirmed that you have been working hard to get your hands on L grade devils, and we have seen how

frustrating it can be when you have reached your number of guaranteed acquisition but can't get the devil you want more.

Therefore, the production crew discussed this to be the improvement that should be made first.

Now when L grade characters are newly released, you can select the character you want once you

reach the number of guaranteed acquisition.

Moreover, we sincerely understand and apologize for the frustration of those who didn't get their limited characters.

In the interest of equity, we can't directly give you the angels you didn't get, but we have added a system to make it

easier to get Solomon's Seals with the promise of a definitive reprint of the angel characters.

Second

Monthly acquisition of Solomon's Seals (within February)

We have confirmed that people who play the game 100% for free don't have the opportunity to get an L grade character, and that makes them feel a great sense of loss.

We have made all of our stories available for free for those who want to play for free, but we empathize that the devils, especially the touchable ones, tempt you so strongly that it is difficult to resist.

Therefore, players who play for free can also obtain 500 Seals per month through various activities such as quests and attendance.

Third

Pancake Shop renewal (within March)

We have received a lot of feedback about the efficiency of the Pancake Shop and how getting S grade characters and artifacts with pancakes just isn't that much fun.

Also for 100% free-to-players, one of the largest opinions was to to give them the opportunity to

earn L grade characters when they obtain duplicate L grade and S grade characters, even if it costs much currency.

While it is impossible for us to listen to 100% of the feedback we receive, we have been working hard to make sure we are listening to you as much as possible, which is why we are announcing a complete renewal of the

Pancake system and prepare the opportunity to obtain L grade characters.

(1) The Pancake Shop will now be upgraded to the Nightmare Pancake Shop, and free-to-play players will now be able to obtain L grade characters through the Nightmare Pancake Shop.

With the addition of the Nightmare Dungeon and the Realm of the Seraphim, you will need to develop a variety of characters. Gold and Tomes will be much more important, and you will need to be more efficient with limited action power.

As a result, duplicate acquisition of B/A/A+ grade characters will now grant Gold and Tomes, and duplicate acquisition of S grade and L grade characters will grant <Nightmare Pancakes>.

(2) <Nightmare Pancakes> will be used in purchasing goods in the newly opening <Nightmare Pancake Shop>.

In the Nightmare Pancake Shop, you can purchase a monthly rotation of <L grade characters> and <L grade character artifacts>, <exclusive stickers to decorate your chat room profile>, <in-game icon design packages>, and

<Solomon's Tears>.

(Through fun planning, we will continue to add novel and adorable goods.)

(3) The <Pancakes> you already own can be used to purchase items from the existing Pancake Shop, or exchanged for <Nightmare Pancakes> - currency that can be used in the Nightmare Pancake Shop. (*Not at a 1 to 1 ratio.)

This is an upgraded version of the Pancake Shop that we have been working hard to continuously bring you as many opportunities as we can.

Not all functions are immortal, and we are planning to listen to many opinions again after implementing the shop.

Through the renewal of the Pancake Shop, we hope you obtain more efficiency and opportunities.

Fourth

Adjustment of the price of the Nightmare Pass (within March)

The Nightmare Pass was designed to give players a chance to get a guaranteed L grade character and a lot of paid items for a fraction of the cost.

However, there were various opinions ranging from the Pass being cheap to too expensive due to exchange rate

differences between countries (in some cases due to the dual conditions of exchange rate and app store).

One thing we know for sure is that most players had a blast.

We want you to enjoy your visit to Hell, so we have decided to price the Nightmare Pass a little lower than it is now, taking into account currency differences between countries.

We will announce the exact price again.

However, we respectfully ask for your kind understanding that it takes a lot of time and effort to bring

L grade characters to you, including the artwork, Live2D, stories, comics, and voice acting, so we can't just make them too cheap.

[Improvement of environment]

First

Adjustment of staging time of Ultimates (within February)

While we wanted to maximize the spectacle of combat through fancy staging, we found that the pacing of

combat can be a bit sluggish for those who are already used to staging.

The scenes in which the characters' faces appear will be reduced to 1/2.

Second

Enjoying event story illustrations (within March)

We accept wholeheartedly the feedback that after watching an event story, it is very sad not to be able to see the illustrations after the event story period.

You can now rewatch the illustrations you enjoy in the future event stories you meet in the existing album.

Third

Addition of a Boss skill window (within March)

We hear your feedback that when a boss angel appears, it is hard to respond because you don't know what skill they use.

Boss angels will now have skill icons next to the angels, and you can tap on it to see the skill they use.

However, there are bosses that intentionally do not expose their skill icons in some places for the sake of difficulty.

Fourth

Faster announcements

We recognize that announcements about new character additions and release schedules do not give you enough time to prepare, or even make you feel anxious.

To explain the situation so far, the <evaluation> takes a very long time unlike other games, and it is very difficult to confirm the release date.

This is because even if we announce our release date well in advance by the standards of other games, 2-3 weeks can easily pass if we get rejected only a few times.

But this is not a situation that our players should have to deal with, and it is something we must solve.

For a safe announcement, we are planning to update only the main story and minigame in January without releasing new sub stories, new S grade characters or L grade characters.

We will be pulling about two months' worth of evaluation for new characters that are tied to evaluation, so we'll be able to give you a stable schedule ahead of time once we have the results of the evaluation.

We realize that not releasing new characters can be boring for our users. But if you could understand that this was a very difficult decision for us to make, we'll be working harder in the month of January to ensure that we're able to give you stable announcements.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for finding Hell once again.

We would like to say that although we do have many shortcomings, but we never made decisions to give you bad experiences.

And that we'll never stop, and that we'll continue to think and listen every day to keep things moving in the right direction.

We wish we could use large staff to make faster improvements and respond to more voices in real time, but we are deeply sorry and saddened that we can't.

We will repay your love with a production crew that will answer your questions as quickly as we can.

You are the most valuable and appreciated part of the production crew's experience.

Though it may be slow, Hell will not stop. It will become more experienced and faster.

Thank you always.

Link of the website:

http://whb.prettybusy.kr/

[filamentlights]

Welcome to LOVE & HYPERSPACE!

Clone x OC Week - Day 7, Free Space || ??? x OC

SUMMARY: Game description. Hyper realistic new otome game with never before seen immersion full of your favorite clone soldiers! Where all your dreams will come true! 🎀💗🐷

Tags & warnings: otome game, mystery, role-play games, dating sim

Caoimhe isn’t sure what amused deity possessed her to download an otome game of all things when her schedule is up to its eyeballs with essays to write. Between the game’s odd story premise and its boasting “realistic interfaces” that gave an “unbelievably immersive experience”, she doubted this was much more than a trashy romance game. With that said, the game had been downloaded. Caoimhe, fresh off of a catharsis cry after nearly flunking her OCHEM test, needed some trashy romance to soothe her soul.

She clicked on the brightly colored game icon, which showed a handsome man with tan skin and dark curly hair grinning at the camera charmingly. His eyes were a striking gold, and his warm skin stood in contrast to the saturated background.

As the game loaded, Caoimhe’s screen was filled with more eye-catching men. Shy, demure boys posing with wildflower bouquets and flushed cheeks. Men with gruff looks and scars hiding red-tipped ears from her. Playfully smiling guys running off to do something spontaneous.

One thing which stuck out to her however, was that they all looked the same and wore the same type of outfit. A white armor painted over with designs of various bright colors. She knew the premise of the game was odd; clones who fought in a galactic war, vying for her hand. What a weird game idea, but hey at least they were hot.

After a bit of loading, a neon pink square popped up telling her to build her character. Basing it off her own looks, she gave her avatar brassy red hair, freckles all around her face, a sloping nose. Although, Caoimhe did pick out pretty blue eyes with little gold flecks in them instead of her usual brown ones. Once that step was completed, another pop up appeared. This time it was to build her bio.

Out of all the options, being a “Jedi General” sounded most interesting, so she tapped that option. The game mechanics whirred and began assembling her character. Her avatar spun in glowing white and pink streaks until coming to a stop facing Caoimhe with a hand on her hip, swinging around to look at her new outfit: tapered brown trousers that looked a bit like cargo pants, practical boots, and a fitted long-sleeve cream top. Skimming the small biography, it said that she was a 24 year old Jedi learner, which made her a commander of the army. Her teacher was someone named Oppo Rancisis, but she was deployed under one Anakin Skywalker with the 501st brigade.

Caoimhe clicked on the Start button. As the game begins to load up, she’s met with an assortment of characters floating on screen, each with their names underneath and little factoids hovering around them. For one, bright futuristic letters read the name Fives. She skimmed the bit of information about him being an ARC trooper and being especially close to his batch-mate Echo. Extra information on the side told her the term ‘ARC trooper’ meant that he was in an elite branch of soldiers, and that ‘batch-mate’ meant that group of other clones he was made and raised with. Traits about Fives also popped up like “courageous” and “loyal.” Another figure with a zigzag pattern on his shaved head popped up, brandishing a suave smile. The pop up read that his name was Kix and he was a medic.

The little loading progress bar hit 100%.

Caoimhe blinked. Her head hurt.

Everything felt fuzzy.

“Commander? You alright there?” There was a man looking at her. She squinted. He had dark curly hair and hazel eyes. His helmet was tucked under his arm so she could see his face, which looked at her in concern.

“Yeah, yeah I’m ok,” she hesitated before adding, “Tup.” She didn’t know why she hesitated before saying the trooper’s name. The 501st, which she’d been assigned to as Anakin’s legion commander, had just returned from a battle on Orto Plutonia, and she remembered she was checking up on him. Before the battle, he was a shiny who’d introduced himself to her, stuttering all the way, when they were suddenly deployed to help Obi-Wan on the Pantoran moon. That had been Tup’s first battle.

“You weren’t responding there for a second, Commander Caoimhe.”

She frowned. She was in a corridor talking to Tup.

“Oh, it’s pronounced quee-vah, Tup. Odd, I know,” she murmured. Tup didn’t seem to notice, and just chuckled.

“Oh, where’s it from?”

Caoimhe paused, trying to recall.

“Oh, you know, it’s just a natborn name.”

Tup chuckled again. “Alright then, see you around Commander.”

She nodded.

Incoming Event: Frozen Hearts

The alarm blared.

Caoimhe looked around. Pulsing yellow lights flared all around her as everything dimmed. For a moment, it was just her in the dark. Low lights along the floor then flickered on, though it didn’t do much for anything but lighting her feet.

A squad of troopers ran by, of which she recognized Fives and Jesse among them.

CHOOSE:

[ASK JESSE] or [ASK FIVES]

The trooper nodded and rushed off. Caoimhe made to run for her quarters and grab her thick robe, but before she left, she watched a small glowing +1 tick off from the leaving trooper’s head before fizzling away.

She turned the corridor, looking for her quarters. Her assignment had been a relatively new one, with her having only seen one full battle before, having been in the Battle of Mumbai with Rex. The Council had assigned both her and Ahsoka to Anakin, Ahsoka as his padawan, and Caoimhe as a…mediator. For Anakin’s temper. Caoimhe chuckled, memories of Anakin throwing a fit at how she a padawan—despite her being three years older than him—was the Council trying to micromanage him.

Caoimhe turned down another corridor, knowing her quarters were somewhere in this area. But she began to feel a chill seep into her. Her fingers were already freezing, so she tucked them under her armpits. She bundled her hands into the long sleeves of her fitted top, but the material was thin. She shivered. Caoimhe realized she could see her own breath puff through the air.

CHOOSE:

[PUSH FORWARD] [TURN BACK & FIND OTHERS]

With a bit of mother-henning from Coric, Caoimhe managed to escape the medbay without too much of a scolding. Luckily, she just had a few mild frost bites, nothing that wouldn’t heal in a bit of time. Although, it did seem like her brief misadventure had quickly spread across the troopers, where more than one had come up to ask about her well being. Thanking the medic, Caoimhe went off to find a group to huddle with. All the troopers had settled into the surrounding armory, three training rooms, and the ship navigation systems center. She even spotted Broadside and Matchstick with a couple other pilots camping out in the hallways. 

CHOOSE:

[BROADSIDE] [MATCHSTICK] [WHOLE GROUP]

Afterwards, Caoimhe made her rounds with the men. She’d checked in with Anakin and Ahsoka and let them know she was alright, and now she was just wandering through one of the training rooms looking for a spot to sit and huddle. Spotting a relatively secluded corner of the gym, she was about to sit down when she heard a voice behind her call her name. 

CHOOSE:

[FIVES] [ECHO] [DOGMA] [JESSE] [REX]

A/N: why did I chose to make this last day so hard for myself. why do I do this to myself. im so sorry if this whole thing is confusing asf LOL. Also I have no idea what Love and Deepspace is like, ive never played it, but I thought it was a cool play on words for the title😁. Anywayssss, hope u guys enjoyed the game!! Hella shout out to @clonexocweek for hosting this and going through all the trouble to make an event to bring together clone wars lovers. Aaaand also shoutout to @orangez3st for being amazing ur probs the only reason I finished the event💀. This wraps up clonexocweek 2025, and it was great! Thanks for reading! ALSO credit for the dividers goes to @/strangergraphics

[aurorawest]

I finished The Mars House last night and have been trying to gather my thoughts beyond ADJFAWEHDHA; and AHHHHHHHH. Let's see how this works out.

In a lot of ways this is a pretty typical Natasha Pulley book, which makes you love complicated people who have done bad things, possibly for good reasons and possibly not. The love interest is to all appearances a xenophobic nationalist, but you better believe I loved Gale pretty much immediately.

In other ways this book is different from her past work—obviously there's the far future setting, but it's pretty clear that Pulley wanted to Say Something about gender with The Mars House. This book is a response to and shots fired at the terf ideology and it is not at all subtle about it. And of course, it's a Natasha Pulley book, so there's still empathy for the far-future Martian terfs.

So I would definitely call it the most...political? of her books, which for me was not at all a bad thing. It has everything that I love about Pulley novels—her gorgeous use of language, her ability to wring beauty and pathos out of the small and ordinary, the gay pining, the morally dubious main characters. I've seen reviews say both that the science is ridiculous and that the book is hard science fiction, and I would come down on the side of the science probably being a bit ridiculous, since it's definitely not hard science fiction (lol at the reviewers who are throwing that term around and not knowing what it means). I actually have no idea if the science is plausible or not and I honestly don't care, because that's really not the point of the book.

Anyway, now I'm just going to list things. Doing a read more for spoilers! And I'm not joking, I'm going to spoil the whole book under here so really, if you haven't read it and you care about that, don't keep reading.

The worldbuilding was so good. I mean, this is one of Pulley's strengths, but I had wondered how it would stack up in a sci fi novel versus her historical fiction. As usual, everything was so visceral and textured. Tharsis and Songshu feel like real places I could visit.

THE MAMMOTHS OMG OMG. When they decided to ask the mammoths for help pulling up the gravity train, I almost jumped up from the couch yelling (I would have, but I couldn't disturb my cat who was on my legs). The entire idea of communicating with mammoths and studying mammoth society almost made me cry. Having spent even a tiny amount of time around elephants in the wild, all of that rang 100% plausible. And true in my heart.

I need a sequel where River and January go to Alpha Centauri to talk to the aliens that the Penglai mission is going to find there.

I'M ABOUT TO SPOIL THE ENTIRE BOOK SO DON'T READ ANYMORE IF YOU DON'T WANT THAT.

Speaking of River, yeah I guessed that "Aubrey" was actually River. The clues were well done and I felt smug when I was right.

But!! I actually thought River knew more than they did! A literal chill went up my back when River revealed they had NO IDEA AUBREY WAS LITERALLY IN THEIR ROOM WITH THEM.

The scene in River's bathtub had me screaming crying throwing up.

Is Natasha Pulley working through something re: waifish orphans? I knew Yuan was going to end up being adopted into House Song within pages of their (his?) introduction.

I love that we never find out if River is biologically male or female. I love that January says it doesn't matter and he means that and never tells us.

Speaking of gender abolition, can I have that please for myself.

All of the animals were, as always, a delight. Shoutout to the puffin at the beginning who we never see again, as well as Shuppiluliuma in her basket.

The ancient Mediterranean references littered through this book (see above) were also a delight.

When you think about it, both of Aubrey's consorts fell for River, and that's funny.

The flashes of love between River and Aubrey were devastating.

The haptic implants are a dystopian nightmare and absolutely a realistic prediction of where we're going to end up.

Mori and Daughter!!

[3deliciousdigital]

Hi everyone,

I'm making a new post regarding my 3D art commissions (NOT AI generated). I'm currently available to take new ones, so if you are interested, please keep reading this post!

Fanarts based on video games or original content, featuring existing characters and/or OCs. My artworks are created entirely in 3D, with the addition of some postwork and enhancement if/when needed. All the characters are recreated by myself, using DAZ Studio bases and fully modeled content.

𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖!

𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓/𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐓:

• With OC (First order, character from scratch): €95

• With OC (From the second order onwards): €65

• No OC (Existing character): €65

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘:

• With OC (First order): €115

• With OC (Second order+): €85

• No OC (Existing character): €85

𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓/𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐓:

• With OC (First order): €150

• With OC (Second order+): €110

• No OC (Existing characters): €110

𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘:

• With OC (First order): €195

•With OC (Second order+): €150

• No OC (Existing characters) €150

By 'existing character' I essentially mean one from this list. You can also keep an eye on the upcoming models that I will be able to use sometime in the future. However, if you wish to commission me a character that I haven't done before, I can consider recreating it for your commission. Just keep in mind that I'd need to apply the same price I charge for OCs, as I'd have to make a new model from scratch.

As you can see from the previews, I can do both realistic and stylized/Anime design+shading. If there's an Anime character you would love to see in realistic form, that can certainly be arranged!

For more information about additional content and other extras, please check my carrd.co page.

I have five slots available at a time. Should I receive more requests once they are filled, I will add the person to my Waiting List. Waiting Lists will also feature a total of five spots, and I will contact each person in line as soon as one of the slots is freed.

Once your commission is accepted, I will forward you a PayPal invoice. I'll also provide screenshots with previews through the entire process, so it is important to be responsive should I require your approval or clarification.

Alternatively, you could also purchase a tier on my Ko-Fi page directly, so it is up to your preference.

Note: As soon as you commission me, you automatically agree to my Terms Of Service.

𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓: If you don't feel like commissioning me, I only ask for this post to be shared so that I can reach more people. Every form of support matters, even if it's just a simple reblog! ♥

Divider by firefly-graphics.

[zara-renata]

caleb

i feel like i need to address this because tomorrow is caleb's livestream and the fandom is already being hilarious in the tags, and by hilarious i mean benafflecksmoking.jpg.

I'm really excited for caleb's release. i think infold should have just double downed with the adopted sibling backstory, as it's a cultural nuance that is known and popular in the region where the game is made and where the bulk of its market lives. i understand that they're changing translations and the storyline for the EN audience probably for legal and shareholder, as well as cultural reasons. i have no idea what motivated them to dissolve the adoption through caleb/josephine's deaths, because i know absolutely fuck-all about chinese adoption law--whether the dissolution is realistic in terms of actual law or just for managing the PR of caleb's story, I can't say. but what i do think I know for sure is that the devs always intended for caleb to be a love interest, and I'll be a little pissed if it turns out he's not being released as a LI, won't lie.

i started playing the game back in feb or march 2024 and didn't know they killed caleb, and he was my fav until they blew him up. after i googled and realized they intended to bring him back in the future, i have been excited ever since. If you're bothered by him as love interest, if you are squicked out by the fact that he was raised with mc and was adopted with her, then you're probably not going to enjoy my blog if i end up liking him as much as i hope to like him. i will always love sylus and intend to keep writing about him and enjoying him, but i have room in my heart for more than one LI and the likeliest candidate imo is caleb because of the angst possibilities and meat of his story.

I love dysfunctional relationship dynamics, of the familial, romantic, platonic kinds, and finding the humanity in them. There is potential for so much angst just from the MC and Caleb being raised together aspect alone, and that's delicious to me. And THEN! his death! MC's grief! his coming back potentially a cyborg, and filled with rage, of the trauma of what he went through, MC's rage and trauma of having lost him, there's so much meat. and i like his character model-a guy as big as Sylus, with his soft downturned, pretty purple eyes. before he went boom, he already expressed the fact that he likes to provide for and care for mc, that he wants to protect her. All the things i love about sylus too. sign me the fuck up. And her response was a struggle for him to see her as independent, to prove that she's strong, doesn't need looking after, doesn't need anyone, when he's like please just let me do this for you. I really really am looking forward to them continuing that angle if he hasn't changed so fundamentally because of dying/being brought back.

We likely won't even get half of what i want, if sylus's story is any indication. because despite sylus's introduction, his unhinged, awful behavior has never been properly addressed by the writers. they even make jokes about it in the anniversary event, when we never saw the conversation where sylus is like 'hey maybe i shouldn't have fucking choked and starved you.' So it could be that i end up being disappointed at the writers' lack of exploitation of all of caleb's potential, and he's just a sweet LI in the same vein that the other guys are, and i won't end up loving him like i want to.

but the point is:

i do not have time or interest in arguing with people about why media and fiction are often most interesting when they contain meaty, uncomfortable conflict, and how even silly mobile gacha games can provide a safe vehicle for exploring unhealthy human experiences in an entertaining, thought-provoking, empathetic way. So that's my take, do with it what you will, thanks for reading.

as for my fanfic writing: i have an idea for mc/sylus road trip + hozier lyrics, i have an idea for bestfriend!sylus where mc has a shit boyfriend and sylus just... slowly eclipses him lmao, i have a codependent calebmc fic that i've already started that may never see the light of day because caleb may end up being wildly ooc, but i'm having so much fun writing it, i have a request for zayne + sylus + kidnapped/injured mc, i have some cute ideas for sylus that have come into my inbox in the last week, and of course I'm still thinking about the sylus series, and scenes i want to write now that mc realizes that sylus is in it to win it. I want to do all of these things, I want to enjoy the game. updates may be slower because post-holiday surge at work, lots of contracts to snarl over, and my non-work time is busier this month as well, but i'm still intending to and enjoying writing for lads. thanks for getting this far, i wish you the best of luck and health and happiness whoever you are.

[neerons]

Kind of curious about what you think of Yuzuru. In terms of him as a character, his storyline, and his friendship with Kaz and Kei.

Hi there!

[Warning: Mentions of a spoiler from Yuzuru's S3]

What do I think of Yuzuru's route and characterization?

I will be discussing this more in depth in my character analysis on Yuzuru, but I think Yuzuru has a lot to offer and is equally as interesting as the other LIs!!

Years ago when the title started releasing, Kazuomi had instantly caught my attention, followed by Kei and the Boss who was way too mysterious and handsome to be ignored.

When it comes to Yuzu, I didn't focus on him right away simply because I usually need more time to develop an interest for "cold" characters like him. But back then I didn't know I would become obsessed with this title, so I fell into the abyss and checked out Yuzu's story as well soon after Kazuomi and maybe even Kei, and he then became as interesting to me.

Out of the 3S's, he's the most difficult to approach in his MS and it's harder to really bond with him at first. He basically doesn't give you any space in his heart for you to occupy. He wouldn't give you the time of day if it weren't beneficial for him to have you.

This is why, in the universe of MK, he was probably the hardest target to ever approach for MC. She had to hope she'd be able to see him again to continue her mission, otherwise she'd have been in trouble.

Because compared to Kei and Kazuomi who themselves gave her a reason to meet again, she had to go find Yuzu herself with an excuse that could have failed.

Also, what I appreciate in a way is that he truly is a "cold" character when you first meet him. His words are cold and sharp. His attitude is also pretty shocking at first. And he's not just someone who acts cold for a specific reason.

Being almost robotic and set in his ways is just part of his persona. And he doesn't mean to be cold, he just is, because of his own overly logical mind.

It makes him practically inaccessible, which makes the challenge even more worth it at the end, when you finally find the way to his heart and get to see his human, emotional self.

He is also extremely well developed throughout his stories. I'm currently re reading every MS for the guys' character analyses, and although I didn't re read Yuzu's S3 yet, from what I remember, this is the season that had a lot of moments I loved in his development.

Especially the part about him choosing MC over Victoria... This is the kind of thing that can make me cry 🤣

One thing I also really like about Yuzu's personality is that he is very realistic. I wouldn't know how to explain it, but the way he forces himself to be constantly logical and rejects his emotions at first is something some of us might have experienced, when we try to take the "right" decisions.

Something extremely realistic too in my opinion is the fact that his actions speak louder than any words. Personally, I was raised by a father who is like that, so I really enjoy seeing how Yuzu's personality is depicted. And I appreciate that despite how bad he is at conversing, he'll try his best to communicate with the woman he loves and will work for the relationship just as much as her.

Speaking of MC, what I absolutely love is how Yuzu always respects her and learns to rely on her, even in other routes. (Although all the LIs respect her, it feels even more meaningful with Yuzu due to his personality and the way he used to treat women).

He redeemed himself pretty well after recognizing he didn't compromise enough in their relationship and said he'd respect her more. I absolutely love that side of him. The way he is able to see his own mistakes and then acts to fix his poor attitude shows how truly intelligent and mature he is.

His friendship with Kazuomi & Kei

Now, when it comes to his relationship with Kazu and Kei, I really REALLY love how they all came to meet and share a bond.

Because if we think about it more in depth, how the hell did these three manage to become friends when they're practically opposites!?

We have Kazuomi who is so free-spirited he does whatever he wants, is also hedonistic and can socialize very easily.

Then there's Kei, worshipped by many because of his nobility and charming, angelic looks. Also a social butterfly and can learn anything he wants about anyone.

And finally Yuzu, who focuses all his senses on his work, sucks at handling conversations and understanding others. Hates anyone nosy who might disturb his perfectly organized schedule and lifestyle.

Let's just say that for Yuzu, Kei and Kazuomi simply sound like his worst nightmare. However, they both become extremely important people in his life later on without him even realizing it, when they were simply supposed to share a transactional relationship.

What I personally really love that they all complete each other. While for Yuzu conversing is not really his forte, he has Kei and Kazuomi serving as examples and means to build his network.

As extremely observant people, his friends are also here to notice Yuzu's troubles and help him out even if he insists he doesn't need it. They often make him realize things he doesn't see himself when it comes to his own emotions.

The pattern I love the most in their friendship is whenever Kazu and Kei tease Yuzu 🥺❤ He's just so easy to annoy, I can see why they'd be tempted to do that, since they are both so easy-going and relaxed compared to him, who is always so uptight.

I love when they manage to make him frown just as much as them hahaha:

As I mentioned, I will be working on analysing it all better and more in depth in their character analyses, but I hope I satisfied your curiosity for now!

Thank you for the ask, and have an amazing day! ❤

[rainbluealoekitten]

hey so i don't know you at all, but i saw on an old post that you did an IB eng lang+lit extended essay,,, and if you have ANY tips on choosing a topic for that i would literally appreciate it so much,, i have to choose my topic in the next 24 hours (procrastination </3) and i have vague ideas but no clue how i could structure them or what kinds of topics the IB prefers :/ literally any help, via dm or answering the ask, would be so so helpful ((( but no pressure ofc :] )))

omg hi babes, i'd be super happy to give my advice and i hope i'm not too late?

ok so you know the 3 categories i'm assuming? idk what your school is like but if you need more guidance on the ee in general, go to philpot's step by step guide

when you're told to pick something that interests you, DO THAT. you will spend MONTHS on this topic, researching and writing for hours upon hours, so you HAVE to be invested. even if you love love a topic, you might still struggle for a variety of reasons (my tips on this later on). regardless, you are on tumblr engaging in fandom and media for a reason. WHAT is that reason? what compels you? what themes, character dynamics, settings, motifs compel you? what shows, what books, what films? what about in lang and lit class? do you like ad analysis and the societal implications? do you prefer minute details that make a movie just so so good (e.g. lighting)? did you watch the dead poets society and you've been reading poetry aloud ever since?

the ib requires you to write about an "acclaimed" literary or non literary work, which gives you a LOT of choice. you could write about doctor who, for example.

i'll explain my process when i was picking my topic.

i have always liked greek mythology (like a LOT) and my favourite figure is akhilles. i decided i wanted to do something exploring his relationship with patroklos, but alas! i could not look at the iliad as it was not written in english originally, which didn't fit into either cat 1 or cat 2. so... why not the song of achilles? it's well known and acclaimed, plus would be more fitting for a dp level of literary analysis. but how to explore the characters? well... what else was i interested in?

what makes a character a hero?

this was the central question. i ended up changing the specifics of my question a million times which... don't do that. eventually, my question was (more or less), "how does miller conform to and subvert the characteristics of a hero through characterisation?" (that was not the question. i promise that the actual question was a million times better).

NOW. my extra note.

before you start researching and outlining, here is something i recommend you do before starting, based on my own issues. now, i did get a predicted (knock on wood) A, but after way too much deliberation.

make a list of your strengths and of your weaknesses. consider literary analysis vs diegetic and non diegetic sound analysis (idk if that's even what it's called but yk). consider time management skills. consider outlining skills. consider research skills. what do *you* need in terms of help and support from your supervisor? what do you need to do to help yourself? for example, i should have forced myself to pick a question from the start, before even starting research. this is an issue i have in other subjects too, and caused me a lot of grief for my history ia. i also asked my ee supervisor to help me come up with a realistic, step-by-step schedule bc i struggle assigning myself deadlines.

for the second part of your ask, structure is going to be super dependent based on your topic and category. i recommend reading examples similar to your topic (don't waste time reading ad analysis if you're doing poetry aha). i did mine with bg info on the classical view of heroes, then each bp was a different aspect (first conformity, then subversion). i have a friend who wrote hers on a feminist film and her bg was about feminist theory, with mentions of that time period, which then informed her fairly standard-structure analysis.

let me know if this helps in any way at all, and don't hesitate to reach out again if needed! i wish you the absolute best with the ee and dp more broadly :)

[vani11a-ice]

So, any unpopular opinions about Star Wars Legends that you have? I'm perfectly willing to listen.

Lmao hi, I didn’t expect to see you here! I really liked your Mara Jade criticism/analysis, and I saw your thoughts about my silly little hashtags—off topic to the ask but yes I definitely agree it’s too late to do anything with Mara Jade now given her story already concluded in Legends/EU verse, not to mention Disney now own the rights so that couldn’t even happen. If she were rewritten however she definitely could be far greater of a character.

As for your kind ask, when it comes to Star Wars EU there’s a lot to unpack because there’s so much content, but I guess I can give an overall opinion to make it more concise (But brace yourself, I will be yapping quite a bit anyways on here lol).

I generally love Legends. I grew up mainly with the central Lucas canon many years before Disney acquired the franchise: obviously the movies and 2008 clone wars series, and then some small EU content such as video games and some children’s comics/books before I even knew what the EU was. Because of this, I think it’s easy for me and many others to look back on the old stuff and be nostalgic for it.

But now that I’m older and gotten back into Star Wars (after losing interest in it for a while due to the sequels), I now have a better grasp of Legends content as well as a lot of lore I didn’t know as a kid—mainly books about what happens post ROTJ—and one thing I’ve noticed is that the quality highly fluctuates. On the one hand you get some amazing stuff like the Old Republic era, some of the Clone wars comics, old Battlefield games, the Darth Plagueis novel, the Prequel novelisations, Thrawn, Clone Wars 2003 and ofc many more. On the other hand, you get some pretty ridiculous stuff too, like Dark Empire, Shadows of the Empire, the Force Unleashed (Ironically, I actually really like this game for the nostalgia, its gameplay, Galen himself, story potential and the memes but many events of the game itself do not realistically make sense lol) and many books post ROTJ (mind you haven’t read all of them, way too many lol) that kind of have plot points I’m not too happy with and I could go on forever about (and some others I probably haven’t thought of).

My main point is, many legends fans will always advocate that the solution to Disney’s less than stellar Star Wars works recently is doing adaptations of existing legends material. And whilst I do think that there is a lot of lore you can pluck from legends and reuse/rewrite for their potential (I mean Disney already does that with characters like Thrawn), I never would want a 1-1 recreation. First of all, Legends started before the prequels so a lot of it doesn’t make complete sense now anyways (Hot take, but post-prequel-movies legends has always been better overall in terms of quality. For this reason, Old Republic/Prequel era was handled better overall than New Republic era). Additionally, Legends just isn’t as consistent or good overall as people would like to believe. It’s a large universe with several different writers, there’s bound to be mistakes/bad works riddled throughout here and there.

I also don’t think there’s enough people that talk about (especially) the older legends materials’ problematic elements as well. I’m not always a huge fan of how certain writers treat female and even other minority/non-human characters in Legends. I’m sure you’re familiar with this with people like Mara Jade. One of my other personal main gripes just to list another example is Leia. I’ve always hated how sidelined she is because she was always my personal favourite as a child, and the writers throughout the continuity could not make up their mind on whether she should be a Jedi or not to the point where her skills largely varied between writers until they finally decided to make it official when she’s much much older. Even by then she’s already overshadowed by her children/brother. George Lucas himself didn’t always write her or other female characters in the best way either, but I always thought an EU continuity would be the perfect place to give her the attention she deserves, instead all we got was an inconsistent arc, especially after the Thrawn trilogy. Disney could have turned this around but unfortunately the exact same thing happened where they couldn’t make up their mind on whether she was a Jedi or not (and gave her the shittiest excuse for quitting—how ironic that both Legends and Disney write in immediate motherhood and marriage as a sexist obstacle rather than actually letting her character grow before/during these events).

Fanatic Legends fans will, however, unfortunately rarely agree or at least try to understand criticism of their favourite universe, and, in my view, this is no better than Disney Adults who vehemently reject criticism of some of the worst recent Star Wars media that’s been released.

To conclude this long ass rant, I just think Star Wars EU whether that be Legends or Disney could do with rewriting/organisation here and there. But that’s highly unlikely, so a more realistic solution is just to pick and choose the media you enjoy from both universes (or make up your own!) and just accept it as your own personal canon. That’s what gives me peace and mind anyways :)

[qcomicsy]

I have loved reading your comic live blogs and your opinions on characters. Do you have any comic runs that you would recommend for DC or Marvel?

Aw that's so sweet thank you! ♡

And yes I do have! Let's Dive.

Disclaimer: This list doesn't have a particular timeline nor is character driven. It's general runs I had a good time reading it or I find it particularly interesting.

DC

Batman and Associates

Serious Runs.

Prodigal

An old run I cannot recommend enough.

Prodigal is one of the runs entangled with Knightfall¹. It follows Bruce, after being seriously hurt by Bane, Dick and Tim trying to adapt to a new dynamic where Dick fills in as Batman for the first time and Tim works with him as his Robin.

It is interesting because it flips their dynamics for the first time in a long while and has a realistic take on how this affects their psychs but without getting much edgy or losing more light aspects comics used to have. Like the villain of the week and the back and forth where Batman characters thrive when written well.

It's good read if you:

Want to understand Dick Grayson's as character better.

Want to understand Dick's relationship with Bruce/Batman and Tim better.

Want to dive in on the relationship Dick has with the Batman mantle and how evolved over the years.

Like the more easy going aspects of the batfamily with getting too fannon.

Knightfall¹

Another old comic. I don't think you have to read Knightfell to understand prodigal. But I think it helps.

Knightfell is more an event than a comic run, but damn right is worth it.

All you need to know is that Bane hurts Bruce in a way he has to step back from being Batman for a long while, to a point that Bruce considers seriously stepping away from being the Batman all together, and passing the mantle down for other people. It explores how this affects Gotham City, Bruce's personal life and mental health, his loved one's lives and mental health and it has long term consequences in his comic book history.

It's a comic run that can be very overwhelming to read. There's a lot of comics related to it in different places so I'd recommend using a guide.

You don't have to read all of these comics to have the general idea of it. I didn't. Take your time.

It's a good read because:

In my personal opinion shows the exact moment where Bruce actually starts to break down to the character we have today. And this time without going back.

Shows how heroes work can take a tool not only on an emotional and mental aspect but also psychical.

Has a good balance between tragedy and hope that really ties in together. A rare thing in comics these days, respect the characters in their core. Even the ones you aren't supposed to like. Very. Very well written.

Jason's Robin Run.

A controversial comic run and comic era.

Jason's Robin Run is an interesting run, either loved or hated by people since 1983. And if you're a Jason fan I cannot recommend you enough.

The interesting aspect of Jason's Robin run is that the writing of it transcends time and even writers'intent. Where some of them didn't even like the idea of Robin. And yet wrote one of the best poetic ironies that DC Batman's could ever have.

At its worst the writing is classicists and pessimistic. And at it's best turning of your critical thinking is cozy and heart wrecking. It follows Jason's early days from the roots of his character until his downfall.

And I have an unpopular opinion of it.

Personally I think it's a good case study of how DC treats characters who come from lower class and abusive families. It also opens a discussion about how characters that aren't the perfect victim archetype are treated and written, Bruce's different attempts at raising his children and the influence of Mafia Movies from the 80's in western comics. I argue it's absolutely required reading to understand Jason Todd's character and how he works as a person even before the major trauma that changed his life forever.

It's good read if you:

Want to understand Jason's Robin better.

Want to understand Jason's character better.

Want to write Jason Todd, especially as a Robin.

Like Mafia centered stories and not much of large big bad villains.

Likes Bruce as a Good Dad. Or generally Likeable.

Robin War.

Good political commentary. Great Characters. Duke's introduction. Batfamily Shenanigans.

I will always recommend Robin War. It was recommended to me waaay back when I was starting to write the Batkids Podcast (bless you Gotham War anon!). And it's been an all time favorite to me since then.

Robin war is one of the few comics that approaches how Heroes could work as an icon that inspires change not only to individuals but also to social movements and how the youth tend to be on the front lines of change.

It's Duke's major introduction to Batman comics and the kid absolutely nails it. His relationship with Damian is adorable and interesting, so much they deserve more comics together. There are also good moments between the batfamily (Tim, Duke, Damian and Jason) and it tips their toes on how the Government tends to react to political movements from the people in an insightful way I was missing in the comics for a while.

It's a good read if you:

Like political commentary.

Want to understand Duke's character better.

Likes the Batfamily being silly and insufferable.

Want to Write Duke and Damian better.

Red Robin

So good everyone still misses more than ten years from now.

To be honest I don't recommend Red Robin if you're starting to read Tim character. I feel like a lot of people start with Red Robin gets frustrated with his character believe this is how Tim behaves in all times.

And this happens because... Tim is not like that. At least not normally. Red Robin exists after a major trauma that surrounds all the members of the batfamily and even more traumas that surround Tim's life. He had broken up with Steph, His best friend was Dead, Everyone thought Bruce was dead too.

Almost every role of the Batfamily changed at the time, Dick was Batman (not from his volution this time), Damian was Robin, Bruce wasn't there. So it's good to be aware that every character action in this comic will happen in reaction to that.

If you want to understand Tim or learn more about him as a character I recommend you Young Justice early runs or Robin (1993) mind you I am not well read on Tim's cannon.

Disclaimer off? Good because Red Robin is one of the funniest tragedies I ever read. And it's fucking amazing. It has everything. Action, Romantic Drama with Steph (a bit of bitter exes-kind-of-back-and-off-again-thing, Tim being a little shit that bullshits his way out of the most crazy situations he was putting in my himself or other enviroments, Drama, Angst. It's just... genuinely so good. Well written. Oh how we miss well written comics.

Also Tim's narration is so unabashedly funny I kind of wished he had an animated series of this comic except almost like fleabag style.

Fun and Easy reads.

📕 Harley Quinn 52. - One of the few good things to get off from 52. Also one of the first comics that explores Harley as a full fledged character with wants and dreams and aspirations. And the first comics to explore her bisexuality and friendship with Harley into the way we have today. Not all jokes land and honestly most of them aged pretty poorly so I'd read with a grain of salt.

📕 RHATO Rebirth¹. - It's an okay comic, good for a good time, but very hard if you like Bruce or rather him being a better father for Jason. It's a bit ooc, also Jason works too much with luck and plot armor. If you just want to read things without strings and like a more gentle Jason it might be the read for you.

Yet.

¹I don't recommend Red Hood and The Outlaws if you like Roy. Don't recommend if you want to understand Roy. Hell, Don't recommend it if you want to understand Jason.

If you want to understand Jason, write Jason and start to read (In a more serious way) his comics I recommend: Under the Red Hood + Red Hood: The Lost days.

📕 Harley Quinn Road Trip Special - Good if you like the Gotham sirens. Very easy read, unfortunately it's also written by a guy who has no idea how gal pal trips works but really really wants to and his reference was the kind of fantasy you find on AO3 at 3 am. Not much explicit though and I am pretty sure it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. But if you ignore the lack of understanding on how women and women friendships work you can have a good time.

Superman.

I love Superman he and I go way back, though I take easy reading his comics, my love for him comes from many places, and a couple of comics are there too.

Superman All Stars.

Beautiful. Beautiful comic. Changed the way I looked to life. Changed the way I used to see him. Changed the way I saw myself too.

I believe this is the kind of comic the less you know about it the more impact you. So it has no explanation here. Nothing other than it's like falling in love with him and meeting an old friend. Like late conversations on a sleep over. Like looking at Clark and Superman as a character with much deeper sight than people believe. Like seeing a side of him that you only get it if you're open to it.

"Like everything he ever represented and resonate with people. Like getting why he's so beloved. Like never coming back."

Marvel

Deadpool.

I'm going to talk about my wife.

This one is going to be divided by The Good (Comic Runs where I believe understand his character the most and have the best story arcs as well as interpretations and background cast) The nasty (Chaotic, so Chaotic) The dirty (No idea what the hell is happening, will make you laugh tough).

The Good

Comics that took his characterization more seriously and have a slightly more linear written stories.

Deadpool (1997)

Deadpool (2008)

Cable & Deadpool (A favorite by far by far) (2004).

Unfortunately recommended reading with a grain of salt it really really is a product of its time.

Deadpool vs Old Man Logan

This Wade tends to be more heartfelt and compelling, he's also ruthless. And way less likeable. The gags and jokes are more plot devices and aspects of his personality rather than his whole stick.

It also explores more heavy topics and if you're not in a good mental state I don't recommend Deadpool (2008). And works with his character from neutral point of view with a look into his morals and actions with way more depth and thought how that impacts himself and others.

The Nasty.

Comics generally after the movie where the joke matters more than the character, it's written by people who want to make him more likeable because his game flopped or had Ryan Reynolds voice in their head while writing it.

Deadpool vs. Hawkeye

Deadpool / Spider-Man.

The rise of living Deadpool.

He's kind of cute in some of this. It's nice for a good laugh. But background characters, characterization? All over the place. Sometimes I can't even look at it.

The Dirty.

Have no fucking idea why the hell would someone write this. This is not my blorbo much less my baby. I still care about him though. Flandarization from Flandarization. Will make you laugh though. Or at least, it's compelling.

Deadpool vs Carnage.

[todomitoukei]

bruh imagine being a deku stan after reading that ending? you spent a whole decade waiting for your favorite character to be the number one hero (from what i remember) by faithfully reading the manga and watching the anime only to be slapped in the face with the reveal that deku is quirkless (again) and he’s a teacher. i would YEET myself if i were them 😭😭

Also true. To be fair, people have been saying for a long time that he should be quirkless, although I suppose that was more in terms of he should've stayed quirkless from the beginning rather than Hori going for the most ableist take of yeah actually, he can't be a hero unless he has a quirk. In a way, he sent that message twice now! Interesting choice, I gotta admit.

I also love that the story kept pushing the idea of class 1A being a sort of found family where "no one gets left behind" only for us to be told Deku hadn't seen any of them since graduating.

Don't get me wrong, it's realistic for people to go their separate ways after graduating from school and slowly losing touch with one another. But in the context of the story and with the story telling us all the way to the end that the students are tight and stick together no matter what that was another interesting choice Hori made, especially after having Deku lose his quirk.

I wonder if he tried to see how many awful messages he could possibly send with a single story, otherwise I have no explanation for any of this.

[baiwu-jinji]

I think your comparisons of Ximang to Hualian/Wangxian are so interesting. When I first started reading 2ha, I felt like it was a much grimmer take svss (mostly bc I didn’t realize how big of a genre uh…”shizun-fucking” was at the time) so much that I felt like svsss and 2ha were two works in conversation with each other. Each felt like a parody of the other. Yuwu also reminded of Wangxian. Gu Mang and Wei Wuxian have many similarities. Their mischievous and laid back natures, their impressive genius, their lower-class status (although wwx doesn’t face discrimination on the scale that Gu Mang does), and obviously their eventual fall from grace. Mo Xi actually feels like a mixture of Lan Wangi and Jiang Cheng to me. He posses that cold countenance but also that terrible temper. His regret that he didn’t stay by Gu Mang’s when he was suffering but also his intense hatred at his betrayal. All this is to say, at times meatbun’s novels feel much more realistic and tragic compared to mxtx’s but they often share similar themes and it’s interesting how their two of the most popular danmei authors (at least in the western fandom). I never thought comparing Ximang to Hualian though, and it’s very interesting. Compared to Mo Xi and Lan Wangi, Hua Cheng is less concerned with certain societal and moral viewpoints, so he’s able to devote himself to Xie Lian entirely not matter what path Xie Lian walks. Obviously, the fact that they didn’t support the one they love in their time of need is something that Mo Xi and Lan Wangi both regret later on…but I think that Mo Xi and Lan Wangi’s upper class status compared to Hua Cheng’s lower class status plays a role in how they react to their beloved, for lack of a better term, going ape-shit.

Hi! :) Thank you for sharing you thoughts, and you certainly formed some interesting connections between novels and characters that I never thought of. It never occurred to me to compare 2ha with svsss because of their entirely different tones, like the former is all about shoving the depth and magnitude of the sufferings in your face while the latter is about hiding the tears and blood with irreverent humour.

As for Mo Xi, I keep thinking about him in comparison with Chu Wanning - not least because they both have a temper, and that's because they don't know how to express their emotions so every emotion comes out in the form of anger. But Chu Wanning has led a much more sheltered life than Mo Xi because of his extraordinary talent, which secured for him an untouchable position in the cultivation sect so he can just focus on his geeky inventions. Whereas Mo Xi had to fight through his family's downfall, start from the bottom, and survive the cut-throat palace intrigues etc.

The comparison between Ximang and Hualian that anon mentioned refers to this post I wrote - and I agree that with the romance side of things, meatbun's couples feel more realistic and tragic compared to mxtx’s. I think mxtx's strength is in exploring broader moral questions and philosophical themes, and she could do it in a natural, nuanced, and engaging way. Meatbun's attempts in this regard feels somewhat forced and meagre in comparison.

[phantom-clock]

do you have any jjba fic recs? :]

oh, i have been waiting for this question. I have so many recs.

·Starting off with: STARDUST CRUSADERS (mainly Jotakak, sorry lmao)

"You'll see what you want to see" by CassTheCringe on AO3 - I love love love this one! It's essentially just a really in character interaction between the team, very short and fun. I have to add though, there is quite a bit of foreshadowing for their inevitable fates which is gut wrenching. 4k words.

"He's bad news but i'm no better" by on AO3 - This. this right here. This is somehow PEAK jotakak despite being a gen fic, not intended to be slash. It's insane. This is an AU fic in which kakyoin arrives at the prison to kill jotaro before he has a chance to meet joseph and avdol. After various events, they proceed to leave to egypt together, kakyoin still sporting his fleshbud, and jotaro STILL convinced his stand is an evil spirit. It's great. 80.6k words. Jotakak? arguably? technically platonic?

"In the wrath of dawn" a collection by minamimaru on AO3 - Not sure how to describe this one, but it's a three parter in which kakyoin deals with having been conditioned to fear sunlight by Dio when he lived within his mansion. Interesting idea, good execution. Total word count of 9.3k. Jotakak.

"stand by me" a collection by SourisWriter on AO3 - This one is fluff! It handles stand sentience, which is a concept i adore. In the words of the author: "Stand By Me is series exploring how Star Platinum's and Hierophant Green's unique actions intersect with the steadily evolving relationship between Jotaro and Kakyoin." Total word count of 12k. Jotakak.

"Creep" by Rigmaroler on AO3 - A fun and short oneshot partially told from the perspective of jotaro and kakyoin's classmates after they return from Cairo. Just them being inexplicably odd. 3k words. Jotakak.

"Facets" by Cosmic_dandelion on AO3 - Probably one of my favorite explorations of jotaro and kakyoin's relationship. A 5+1 fic in which jotaro tries to learn more about kakyoin after the yellow temperance fight. I also really like this author's take on kakyoin! 20k words. Jotakak. Background Avpol.

"It'll have to do" by CassTheCringe on AO3 - Kakyoin's scarf rips and he's bitchy about it. While still being in character. It's impressive on the writer's part. Jotaro mends it during the night. this CAN be read as either slash or gen, but i'll be tagging the ship anyway. 4k words. Jotakak.

·Now: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE (there are definitely not as many fics here as i'd like there to be, especially not about the main gang, but i haven't been able to find much yet. might add to this later.)

"Walk with me/Try again" by CasstheCringe on AO3 - Warning for heavy themes. Read the tags. This one is genuinely incredible, this is a genuine hard recommend from me, it is so good. The summary, in the author's own words: "Part 4 AU where Kakyoin is alive but at a cost. As he figures out how to pay that cost, he tries to help wrangle the Morioh kids while also trying not to strangle Jotaro (it'd be nice if they could also learn how to communicate again too, but Kakyoin attempts to be realistic)." Jotaro and Kakyoin are NOT on good term in this one. 218k words. Pre jotakak.

"Caught somewhere in time" by ilikedolphins (nuinsli) on AO3 - Time loop fic centered around Jotaro. It's interesting. 14.5k words.

"Homebound" by Crowned_Ladybug on AO3 - This is very much found family, in which okuyas believes he has no family, until he finds out he does. Also, trans Okuyasu which is neat. Mainly just a character study, but i like it a lot. 3k words. Josuyasu. background jotakak. (in the author's own words, they refuse to write part 4 without kakyoin lmao)

"The Best-laid Plans" by deuil on AO3 - An insanely fun oneshot in which josuke really wants to see what jotaro's hiding under his hat. 4k words.

·Next up: GOLDEN WIND/VENTO AUREO

"Call it selfishness, call it fate" by BlueWonder on AO3 - Starting off incredibly strong with what may be genuinely my favorite fic for all of part 5. Warnings for heavy angst! read the tags! This is a time loop fic, my favorite trope, in which GER gives Giorno a second, third, fourth... chance to save his friends. It's great. Hard recommend. 24k words.

"Passione speedrun any percent (world record)" by nihilego on AO3 - I know you've already read this, but it's so good i wanted to leave this here for anyone who stumbles upon this list lmao. Essentially, a retelling of golden wind except giorno is the only one in the bucci gang with a stand. It's great. 17.8k words. Fugio. Bruabba.

"To love someone is firstly to confess: I am prepared to be devastated by you." a collection by heartstone on AO3 - In which Giorno is taken in by his savior as a child. 10.8k words.

"Riempire il vuoto" by ThisLittleViolet on AO3 - Probably my favorite Dhampir Giorno fic on ao3. Narancia is hit by an enemy stand that can starve someone to death in hours, the catch? this stand can be passed on to someone else if the one affected consents to it. Giorno is hesitant to take it. I think you can see where this goes. (also, interesting tidbit, the story occurs from Fugo's POV, which is fun). 13k words.

"Baby i'm a star" by DairyFarmer on AO3 - Okay. Gonna get this out of the way first. This does has a little bit of giomis. Which i'm personally not a fan of. But the rest of the fic is so good that i'll let it slide. This one is told from Bruno's point of view. Basically, giorno used GER to go back to where it all began and change things himself. Meanwhile, Bruno, as an outsider, is just ??? at the new boss that seems to favor so much for no apparent reason. 9.4k words. Giomis. (regrettably)

"Unbiased opinion/a boss who cares" by Melon_noodle_boi on AO3 - a fun fic in which, during an inspection on a passione team, giorno gets mistaken as a new recruit. He takes advantage of this to get n honest reading on how they work. It's fun. Great use of OCs . 19k words. Maybe giomis, not really, can be read as platonic thankfully.

"Blood is thicker" by JustAnotherFool on AO3 - Your basic dhampir Giorno reveal fic, still really good though. 9.5k words.

"Boys will be bugs" by sunflowergiorno on AO3 - "5 times Giorno Giovanna talks about bugs with the other members of Bucci's gang, and the ways he teaches his teammates to appreciate them--and is appreciated himself." This is a relationship study, and i really enjoyed it! 10k words.

"Weep, and you weep alone" by bagelistyping on AO3 - In which Giorno gets affected by a stand that causes time to stretch out and feel impossibly slow when the affected party is alone. Whump. 4.4k words.

"In the blood" by RainHarmonia on AO3 - Giorno thought he was just sick, turns out he's a dhampir. 3.8k words.

"Where is my mind?" by Balimaria on AO3 - Giorno is affected by a stand that brings out the deppest, most animalistic parts in people. Which kind of sucks when your dad was a vampire. 6.6k words.

·Finally: MISCELLANEOUS FICS THAT I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH OF FOR THEIR OWN SECTION

"Cards of fate" by RedThistle on AO3 - alright, i'm going to need you to trust me on this one. It's a JJBA x MCU crossover. It's a fun and simple 5+1 fic in which various mcu characters meet jjba characters and are just ??? about stands. It's great. Trust me. 6.9k words. Subtle josuyasu.

"Jojo's Bizarre engagement" by Mikomikono on AO3 - Your typical fake relationship fic, but make it caejose! The writing is fun, and the author definitely has the characters down. I still haven't finished this one, but it's great so far! 125k words. Caejose. Obviously.