#is a bit buckwild. but the more I think about it that actually one of the funniest jokes I could accidently make. So it stays

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Remembrance and Forgetfulness

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[leebrontide]

Here's a funny little story about disability accommodation.

So I'm a bit deaf. Like...I have a prescription for a hearing aide but don't own one kind of a bit deaf. And I used to work at this noisy ass addiction treatment clinic. So even in my office I relied a lot on lipreading.

So one day I'm working with this client, and she's getting more and more upset and shut down, no matter how I try to steer us onto a calm, relaxed subject of conversation. And I can't figure out why the conversation has gone so far south.

And then I realize I am sitting at a buckwild angle in my chair, leaning waaaay over to the side. I'm almost falling off this chair. I look like a total goober.

And then I realize I'm doing that because I'm trying to lipread this client, who keeps turning further and further down and away from me. I probably would have noticed sooner but lipreading is actually kind of hard and I was focusing on noticing her upset rather than my body language.

And then it clicks.

She thinks I'm leaning like this because I am being a passive-aggressive asshole who is trying to force/shame her into making eye contact with me. I'd known this client enough to know she hates eye contact- possibly autism, possibly anxiety. Always possible it's both or something else.

I sit up straight and say. "Oh! Hey, I don't give a shit about eye contact, I'm trying to read your lips so I can understand what you're saying to me."

Instant vibe change. She relaxes, and sits upright comfortably in her chair, looking about a foot to the left of my head, so I can see her face clearly but she doesn't have to either fake or evade unwanted eye contact.

From then on things go a lot smoother, and we can get some good work done.

One side benefit from normalizing accommodations and reducing barriers to them is that it allows for low-stress conversations about what everybody needs in order to fully participate in an interaction. If I hadn't named the need I was trying to meet, she wouldn't have realized she could have her need met as well.

[lucabyte]

obligatory ramble about postcanon loop ask

also your art is amazing

Hiiiiiiiii :D thank you :)!!

and thank you for the excuse to post the. just absolute wall of text that i truncated down to form the tags of that post. (i did,,, hit the tag limit. i forgot tumblr had one of those...) so let me just paste that and tidy it up a bit...

I am putting this under a readmore because it's a bit long. but:

This is like. The General Context for all* of my postcanon doodles? (Except AUs obviously) Like this is the base idea I've been drawing them all in. So, feel free to backread with this in mind. I've basically had this 'postcanon' timeline set in my brain since finishing the game...

My general thoughts are that I like the idea of Loop (even if through dubiously ethical means) being able to slowly reintegrate with the party as a whole new person, because they are, in fact, their own person.

It's a muddle of thematic threads im pulling on and "wouldn't it be fucked up if", but. (at its core, it's powered by the fact that like, while narratively isat's theme of 'the only person who can truly take the first step to help you is yourself'. (wrt: loop helping the party help siffrin in act 5) which i LOVE AND IS GREAT NARRATIVELY…. would be super fucked up irl to learn that your friend 'learned as a lesson' while you stood by kinda uselessly. I know i'd be upset about it. but thats mostly background here. doesn't really come up. at least not until loop has to explain who they are and the party realises they had to fall back on literally themselves again for help, but i digress,)

The real core concept is: Occam's razor. It is like, inherently, a buckwild thing to accuse a person of being somehow a clone or copy of your friend. Even if they start vaguely alluding to a backstory it's far more likely they were some other person before all that. (I still think Odile has that theory in the back pocket but she's rational enough to know it's a really long shot without a solid explanation. and i think Loop deep down knows this, and would, if cornered into confessing, turn the situation around to go J'ACCUSE and make HER explain it instead. Ever longer dodging being direct with their emotions...)

And the party are nice! And if someone has changed and wants to keep stuff secret it's kind of not their business? (Though it's hard not to speculate… see: the main joke of the doodles) And they seem important to Siffrin so they just try to accept them abrasive quirks and all. And eventually the question of their prior identity just fades away since, well, they're Loop. Their friend Loop.

but yeah. personal headcanon is that a few months/weeks after picking up and getting aquainted with Nille** (since that was presumably the IMMEDIATE TASK postgame), Loop reappears (either after a literal period of nonexistance, or just spending a few months wandering the french countryside alone being attacked by wild dogs). Since Siffrin has had a while to be therapised by the party they're doing mostly okay, but Loop showing up and still being agitated/aggressive pulls them both into a bit of a backslide behaviourally and puts the party on the back foot again.

Hooowever, I do think that due to no longer being literally stewing in the worst pressure cooker of all time together, the two do mostly actually sort themselves out with productive conversation. (Via a cycle of: genuinely distressing argument -> weeeird lovebombing -> ok we're good -> repeat, that gets less intense over time)

Thus, allowing the party to just. Integrate loop as a new person. They and Siffrin shuffle into different ecological niches (Loop taking over stuff Siffrin is now too squeamish for, etc (see: hunting, mostly)), and while it's not exactly what Loop wanted they generally get that beggars can't be choosers and it's a pretty good deal. And the rest of the party does straight up just like them as a friend, especially when Loop quits trying to actively antagonise them after a few weeks of being around them, since they just can't keep up being mean to people they like forever.

As for how I think the truth eventually drags itself out. This is where I invoke The Isabeau Torment Nexus™. So its gonna get shippy here for a bit hold on.

Which is, I think giving them time before Loop reappears long enough that Siffrin and Iseabeau actually manage to become established, Isabeau has to be the one to nudge the pair of them and go. "Hey. You know we're in Vaugarde right. I'm okay with polyamory if we all communicate." Before Loop and Siffrin actually even acknowledge that whatever the fuck they have going on kinda looks a lot like a relationship of some kind. (or have already been agonising about that via fighting and arguing, depending) (Obviously this comes after Isa "Emotionally intelligent enough to keep a lid on the jealousy" Beau has managed to use that big brain of his to Not just go Scream somewhere on the daily because oh godddd they keep talking like theyre suicide-baiting each other jesus chriiist. is it overstepping his boundaries to bring that up?? god)

This, taking a bunch of the tension out of Loop and Isabeau's relationship (Since I imagine Loop is a. being weird for the obvious reasons and b. feeling kinda guilty about 'getting in the way of' Siffrin and Iseabeau), allows them to actually get close in a normal friend way. (I think an interesting turning point could be Isabeau actually taking Loop's side in an argument vs Siffrin, which would absolutely break Loop's brain. Especially if it's an argument that matters. Like what do you mean he isn't just going to play favourites. What?)

Then Isabeau, just actually open minded and charmed by Loop (and maybe even somewhat at Siffrin's suggestion?) tries to close the final open side on the polyamory triangle here and that's the final straw for Loop on "This lie by omission is too unethical to keep up, this is just actually sick and wrong. I can't do this while he doesn't know who I am." Though. Obviously it probably goes. Very poorly with emotions high like that. And the added element of several months of deceit. Getting dark here for a second but that dagger is going MISSING and so are THEY for a hot minute.

Then yaaay everything works out in the end 👍 yippieee!! all it took was maybe a lot of harrowed recontextualisation of all the weird shit your new friend said and did when it turns out they're your old friend. It's fine.

But yeah. this is basically the context all of my postcanon doodles have existed within? And those exist to give other people something to chew on. So this does too.

I suppose TL;DR: Imagine if sloopis almost fucking happens before isabeau knows who loop is. can you fucking imagine. can you imagine having to navigate that. nightmare.

*Yes this includes the implied cannibalism comic. Uhh. Comes part and parcel with headcanoning that Loop went way off the deep end similar to A5 Sif But Maybe Worse before giving in. Add weepy half-asleep confessions to murder wherever you see fit in your mind palace. 👍👍👍

**Re: Nille footnote. I don't have anywhere to put this besides here! I have some thoughts on Loop and Nille having an odd dynamic. I don't imagine Nille to be super gung-ho on trusting a bunch of adults (even if they are majority around her age) given their implied backstory. It's probably a big shock to the system, especially since Bambouche is a good couple hundred Kilometers up north from Dormont and these guys don't seem to have trains. She would've been unfrozen and without Bonnie for some time....

Which is to say: I think she's suspicious of them. I think she may be looking for excuses to distance herself, keep Bonnie safe. SO.... A new guy showing up? And antagonising the party? What do they know that I don't...? I should find out.

And since... Loop didn't ever know Nille, they have no ammunition or real reason to be cruel. Plus, if they're trying to stay on Bonnie's good side (SINCE... if Bonnie thought Loop was cringe they may as well kill themselves. In their mind.) they SUPER have no reason to antagonise Nille.

Mostly, they might be able to open up to each other easier than they can the rest of the party?

I feel like this resolves with Loop feeling compelled to apologise for what they and Siffrin let happen to Bonnie, though... Hmm... Depends on how you interpret Nille that they'd be glad nobody else had been told about that yet, or furious it had been secret this long. I lean toward the former.

[skufdaddyswansea]

Okay, I have a few more scattered thoughts in regards to Curly that either didnt fit or I just think are kinda weaker points. (and also there were a couple things i had to go back and get more screenshots for. ...again....)

Also I feel like I should add a disclaimer: I feel like I'm starting to sound like Curly's #1 Hater but I'm really not. I like him a lot! I honestly like all the characters, even if it's in.... different ways. Sometimes you like a character because they're likeable and fun, sometimes you like a character because they're interesting and deep.

(And sometimes you like a character because you want to put them in the microwave.)

Moving on.

At some point this scene really got stuck in my head. It seems pretty innocuous at first, but it actually says a lot.

Technically Daisuke is the one who screwed up here, but the fact that he was even able to mess with the vent long enough to set off the foam is on Swansea. This is his area, Daisuke's his intern (like it or not), he needs to be keeping an eye on him.

Curly can see that! And firmly but respectfully bring attention to it! He can in fact be a good leader, when he chooses to be.

So it's also interesting that this scene is followed by Jimmy's psych eval. While dealing with Jimmy so Anya doesn't have to may have been a good move, his method subtly enables Jimmy's dismissal of Anya and her work's value.

Now I want to pivot and talk about the code scanner a bit.

During Curly sections, it's always in our inventory, and as Jimmy we pick it up in the cockpit where he's... extracted from, so I feel like it's safe to say that Curly is usually carrying it on his person.

And yet.

This is another one of those things that doesnt really seem like a big deal. The Pony Express is pretty buckwild about the kinds of shit it keeps locked up with the code scanner.

But there is one glaring problem here.

Granted, this one is more of a stretch. I can't say confidently that anyone else on the crew had easy access to the code scanner. In fact, given their annoyance with everything being locked up I'd say it's pretty unlikely. It's just something that's been buzzing around in my head, but after writing it out it feels pretty weak.

But it does feel worth mentioning that if anyone other than Curly would have access to both the code scanner and the Pony Express Protection Kit (TM), it would have been Jimmy. Not to mention that if anything were to, say, incapacitate Curly, Jimmy takes over and gains control of the code scanner. Which is exactly what Anya was afraid of.

And he is pretty quick to grab it, isn't he.

Which leads me to my next point.

I touched on this a bit in my last post, but I want to elaborate on this exchange specifically. I think it's pretty revealing.

At this point, Curly thinks Anya is suicidal. He tells her she could have come to him. That he would have done anything to help her. That he should have considered that she doesn't undergo the psych evaluations, he should have thought of that, so that way he could have known.

But he did know. She told him.

Even still, when he saw Anya in this state, the only reason he could imagine for her distress was the company going under.

As long as Anya kept quiet and carried on as normal, he really didn't think it was that big of a deal.

You can see this again when he finally talks to Jimmy about it. It's simply a "difficult situation." But nothing they can't get through together.

Not to mention, Curly twice glosses over Anya's fear that Jimmy will try to kill her. Her second attempt to communicate this is followed quickly by the scene in which Jimmy attempts to kill the entire crew.

Okay, one last thing I want to touch on here. It's about the way Curly (and by extension Jimmy) use the phrase, "We can fix this." And its variations. Again, I brought it up pretty briefly before, but there's always more to say about it.

Now, Jimmy uses this phrase (or more frequently, "I can fix this.") to an almost comical degree ("Almost the entire crew is dead, but I'm going to fix this. With my gun! :)"). But they both use it it in pretty much the same way.

For others, it's an empty promise. "I'm on your side." "I'm looking out for you." "I'll protect you."

For themselves, it's a denial of reality, a self-soothing mantra they use to desperately clutch at the reins of a situation that has long since spiralled out of their control. Everything will be back to normal soon. I just have to fix it.

thanks KC Green

[the-cookie-of-doom]

Kim and Chay Accidentally Develop A Pony-Play Fetish

So I saw this post:

And I thought to myself, you know what would be really funny?

Chay is the first one. Kim goes okay. I'm willing to work with this. A warning would have been nice. But he's going to power through any awkwardness, swallow his giggles, and ride his ass. And Kim gets into it. Not like, personally, but he's going to make damn fucking sure his boy is satisfied.

Kim is saying some dumb pony-play shit trying to play into what he thinks is Chay's suddenly-revealed fetish, grabs his hair and tells him to neigh, or says he's gonna break him in like the wild stallion he is.

Chay thinks Kim is the freak.

They're both like Okay, This Is A Bit Weird, But If You're Into It.

They're both very supportive boyfriends. Goals, honestly. One drops a buckwild (haha) fetish in the middle of sex? Fuck it! Guess we're doing that, now!

Afterwards goes something like this:

Chay: so you know how we talked about discussing kinks before, like, doing them? Kim, judging him: oh so now you remember? Chay: EXCUSE YOU??? Kim: ME??? Chay: you're the one that started the pony play!! Kim: You said you were a horse!?!?!

Once they figure out the misunderstanding they're going to die. Rolling on the floor laughing, can't breathe, haven't even put their clothes back on yet. Chay is wheezing.

Chay: you told me to neigh! Kim: and you did!!

Kim committed to the bit (haha) so hard. No hesitation. He just fkn went with it. If Absolutely nothing else, that man is RIDE or die.

But then it gets better. This could easily be a one-time occurrence. Something to laugh at later. But then they get kinky another time, Kim brings out a riding crop, and Chay just. Loses it. Then Kim loses it. He can't even defend himself! He's laughing to much to remind Chay that they already owned the damn thing, and he wasn't thinking of That Incident at all!! It takes him at least half an hour to clam down enough to even try fucking, and they're still giggling the whole time.

After that, one of them buys a gag that looks like a bit. Once again, on the floor cry-laughing for at least ten minutes. (But actually it's so much more comfortable than a ball-gag, may as well use it!)

One night Kim is tying Chay up and Chay goes, "Are you gonna lasso me?" grinning like a menace, then honest to god knickers. He's been practicing. He's going to kill Kim.

All that to say- they eventually, accidentally, end up with a full kit of tack, complete with Kim in this outfit:

thank you @snickerdoodlles for not immediately blocking me when I started this nonsense 🤣💛

[allwormdiet]

Interlude 1

Time to meet the parent.

Scion is so fucking weird. Like even being spoiled on what his deal is, what a fucking wild introduction to the world's first superhero. Absolutely buckwild. Naked golden man just floating above the ocean looking depressed. What a way for the world to be changed forever.

Cancer and suicide are both hard things to grapple with, and they're both things that have rocked my family and loved ones. This, I dunno, incidental fucking gesture just feels so. I don't know what to call it, it just feels. Makes me feel. Whatever.

Again, just, that's gotta be so fucking weird for a superhero to just suddenly exist. No way people jumped to superhero first obviously, might as well have been the Second Coming for all anyone would know, but still. I want to know what it is that makes Scion act like a hero when his ultimate desires for Earth are. Pretty unheroic? Maybe there'll be an answer for that, and presumably it's more subtle in the long-term than just immediately going apeshit, but it's still a mystery to me, so I'm left with the speculation.

Feel like I've heard the name Vikare before but fuck me if I can remember the context. Setting that aside, there's something, I dunno, telling? In that the first capes were superheroes, that the villains came after. Even in a world that's as shit as this one, the first instinct people had when they realized they had actual for-real superpowers was to do good. That's honestly a bit less cynical than I was expecting.

It is interesting that the honeymoon period for heroes lasted not even half a decade, that's longer than I'd have expected. And I think this is the first time we hear the word parahuman, which is fun. "Para-" meaning alongside or distinct, they're not superhuman, they're not inherently better, they're just. Different kinds of human. That's a clever pick.

Whatever else can be said about Danny Hebert (and we are getting to whatever else can be said about Danny Hebert, gimme a minute), this is a really really really good way to immediately get us in his head and on his side. When someone isn't where you expect them to be, when it's the middle of the night and they're not in the house like they ought to, that's fucking terrifying. For a parent to realize their child has disappeared, I cannot even imagine.

And yeah, not far behind Danny being terrified for his daughter is this complicated tangle of longing-anger-guilt for his wife. His wife whose death has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of a cellphone I'm sure.

And I'll be the first to admit I was a lot like Taylor back in high school, although I had a friend group and the bullying was a fraction of a fraction of what she's dealing with. My wildest nights were spent in a too-hot garage drinking novelty sodas and playing RPGs with the world's crappiest Dungeon Master. But I'm distracting myself.

"I hope that my daughter's only source of catharsis hasn't gotten her kidnapped or raped or murdered in this godawful city in the middle of the night" is such a horrifying thought to have to grapple with. God.

Speaking of horror.

I know about the thing with the locker, and God what a nightmare. Like, obviously, number one victim here is Taylor, and it is a testament of immense moral character that she didn't kill anybody for that torture, but Danny takes silver in the aftermath. His daughter has been tortured, and nobody will punish wrongdoers, nobody will even say who it was. Taylor won't even say who it was.

Anger and futility juxtaposed again. Danny rages for his daughter but it's fruitless except for a settlement to cover the hospital stay, so all he can do is wait and hope that something changes for the better.

This is actually something I've always wondered about. Taylor goes to such extreme lengths to not tell Danny about her life, and I've never fully understood why. Like the cape stuff I get, or at least mostly get, but Taylor doesn't open up to him about the bullying in anything I've ever seen or heard, and I don't know what's stopping her. It hurts both of them in the end.

And here's Danny's failure, right? He doesn't commit. He's letting Taylor lie to him, he's letting Taylor think she's getting away with lying. That's... kinda useless.

Honestly the fucked up thing is that Taylor's already got that anger in her, Danny worries about hurting her and he's not WRONG to worry about that, but to some extent she's already got that same kind of smoldering emotion as he does.

And the fact that he's tried so goddamn hard to protect her from his anger, the fact that she's caught the edges of it anyway even if it's never been targeted at her, that's just so goddamn sad. The Hebert family makes me sad.

Current Thoughts

The thought I can't get out of my head is that Danny doesn't want to confront Taylor because he doesn't want to chase her away, doesn't want her to feel unsafe with him, but like. One day she's going to leave anyway, drifting apart from him as their lives grow so much more different from each other, and what she's going to remember is that he never tried to keep her by his side, that he gave up on trying to fight for her. And that's worse. That's so much worse.

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

I have kind of a niche Garashir fic idea I want to write but I’ve never posted anything publicly before, so I am nervous. But I can’t seem to get over the idea? You’re one of my favorite fic writers, any advice? 💕🥺

Ooooh, you gotta try to write it!!! I always love to indulge my new ideas that are driving me insane as soon as I can hehe (because part of writing often has to be done after the initial idea no longer excites you quite the same way).

I like that you said it’s a niche idea, too! I do enjoy most of the common fanon tropes and worldbuilding, but it’s always so refreshing when people add something brand new to the Garashir body of literature. And the nicher and stranger the better, in my opinion!! One thing about writing something niche is that maybe it won’t get the same amount of attention as quickly as something that has broader appeal, HOWEVER... I can tell you from experience that when your niche stuff does find its audience (which may take patience and persistence) that audience will likely go absolutely WILD for it. And I always find that very rewarding <3

Is the reason you haven't started yet because you don't quite know how to start? If that's the case, I would recommend writing an outline first. I even sometimes will outline really short oneshots lol, not because I think I really need to, but because that way i at least have a good record of my idea and ALSO because sometimes I can trick myself into just starting to write by taking notes on in outline format until I get to the part I'm REALLY excited about, at which point I realize I'm just writing full sentences instead of notes and I just let it flow from there and go back to fix the beginning later. XD You could also just try to summarize the plot for a friend, that often reveals to me where any structural issues are tripping me up, and identifies what I need to think about more before I set words down on the page.

Idk if you haven't written before or if you just haven't posted any of it, but I want you to know that a few years ago, when I was easing myself back into writing, I worked on writing like 3 or 4 different garashir fic ideas privately before I actually figured out which idea I wanted to write all the way to the end and actually post. Most of those first wips never got posted (and my wip graveyard is still massive and always growing lol) and that's for the best bc I either got bored of the idea or could not yet achieve the story in the way I wanted to. Which is NOT to tell you that this is inevitable or that you should let your inner editor shut you down, but I just want you to know that it's perfectly okay and normal to, like, have to noodle around a bit before you've written something you're happy with.

Speaking of your inner editor, you gotta tune them out while writing a first draft. Don't even worry if the sentence makes sense, just get the words out, and then get the next words out, and then the next... If there is something stopping you from writing the next sentence (a name you need to make up, or something you need to research, or uncertainty about what a character would be doing, or even if you are just blanking on a word) and you are trying to maintain a flow of writing, then write a note for yourself (e.g, "[insert title of a Cardassian novel here]" or "[Julian makes some kind of expression. Surprise? Anger? idk]" or "[synonym for sinister, bc I've used sinister three times this fic already]") and then MOVE ON. You can go back in and fill in those blanks later.

Also, I really really really really like the writing advice of thinking of your first draft as your worst draft or stupidest draft. It's so true and it helps take the pressure off. One related amazing thing about writing star trek fanfic is that if ever you begin to doubt yourself, you can just fondly think about a beloved episode of Star Trek where something very silly or buckwild happens in a very contrived way, and then remind yourself that people LOVE that episode anyway. This is a genuine way that I have reminded myself not to be so harsh on my own writing lmao.

I really working with beta readers, but I know that's not something everyone enjoys and it's def not required. Still, a beta reader can give feedback on your writing to make it clearer, and they'll likely become invested in your fic and will cheer you on, and if it’s longer than a oneshot you can have someone to talk it through with during the writing process. But it might be hard to find someone you work well with and everyone’s beta reading style is a lil different, so I recommend always being very clear about what kind of feedback you want from them (grammar/typos, plot structure, clarity, brainstorming ideas for how to fix this plothole, does this one specific line of dialogue work, etc! whatever aspects you are uncertain about and want help with for that specific fic). And you should know that it’s okay to not take someone's recommendations too, it’s ultimately your fic, so anyone giving you feedback should just be trying to help you achieve your own vision. Still, even in those cases where you don't go along exactly with their idea for what to change, knowing what parts confused them can help you figure out how to get your vision across more clearly.

If you think concrit might actually be demotivational and intimidating (totally get that, back in high school I actually solicited concrit on my fics publicly, as was the custom back then, and received some critiques from some truly well-meaning friends, and the experience STILL rattled me so bad that it turned me off writing for awhile), or if the process of finding someone to beta read sounds overwhelming, I’d recommend that you instead just find a trusted friend who is willing to read over the completed draft, with the understanding that they must simply give you a sanity check and then tell you yep that’s good! Cannot stress enough the power of encouragement and support and having someone hype you up. ^_^

If you are too nervous to post it under your own name, you can post it to the Anonymous collection on ao3. This is a reversible process, so if you want to reattach your username to your fic later then you can!

Anyway, feel free to send follow up questions about any of this or let me know if there's an aspect of writing I didn't mention that is what you're actually stuck on. I hope this helps and good luck and HAVE FUN! Have fun is actually the most important writing advice haha.

(P.S., anon, if you want me to beta read a draft of a oneshot or at least look over a chapter or two if it's multichapter, I am down to do so, just DM me. If not that's fine too, I'm just so so flattered that you reached out to me and I want to encourage you in any way I can! <3)

[neighboringheart]

I'M IN HARDCORE SUPPORT FOR THE PREDATOR/PREY DYNAMIC YOU POSTED ABOUT !!

I'm an absolute simp for Bumblebee so any ship with him as the prey is perfect in my eyes.

The 3 ships that comes to mind immediately are BlitzBee, StarBee and MegaBee.

The Megabee scenario about a concerned Megatron worrying that Bee is distrustful of him while in reality the autobot is having the most insane thoughts were really funny lol.

So I'm curious in how you would go about the other two ships, if in all cases Bee is already into the idea and find it hot or if it's a life or death scenario as he is being hunted down by various deceptions ?

I'm rambling here, but all Im saying is that I need to hear more from you about this specific Predator/Prey dynamic bc I CRAVE MORE.

(also maybe a crossover with Bee ending up in the shattered glass universe to throw in some twisted autobots into the mix too 🫡)

ough ough ough okay I am home from work and have a keyboard to properly go buckwild with and yeah there's not gonna be much punctuation happening sorry but I'm feral and I am politely grabbing you by the collar to keep you here

adding a read more bc this got a lot longer than I thought it would but I hope you enjoy my brainworms

okay so for BlitzBee it would absolutely be something that Blitzwing brought up first and you might think "oh was it Random joking about it or something?" no it was Icy looking Bee right in the eyes and just going "I want to hunt you for sport. would that interest you?" and at first Bee did not get it at all and was unsettled but he ends up getting curious which is how the first occurrence of them disappearing into the woods for a week happened

Bee would end up finding out that oh it actually is kinda hot to have all that adrenaline going kinda like right after a really tough race except the bit of fear tingling up his spine makes it interesting and then being caught and having Blitzwing roughly fuck into him with barely any prep at all hurt but still felt so so good and after waking up the next morning and thinking for a bit yeah he got it he got exactly why Blitzwing was interested in that and it ends up becoming a regular thing for the two of them where they just disappear and then show back up again like a week later Bee looking like he went through a wood chipper and his abdomen a bit bloated from all the transfluid he's been stuffed with the last week but his field brimming so brightly with a fuzzy happiness that no one wants to bring up that he needs to stop whatever he's been doing

aside from Ratchet that is lol he makes it very clear how much he dislikes having to do a full systems check on him but also does NOT want to know who he's been fucking bc he knows it would have to be a decepticon and he doesn't wanna know a damn thing about it

as for StarBee tbh I really couldn't see either of them being interested in it or bringing it up aside from like...rid15 StarBee bc rid15 Starscream is feral in a very specific way and yeah I could see him wanting to hunt Bumblebee down and then claim him once he's victorious

idk how Bee would feel about it tho I feel like he'd try it just the one time bc Starscream keeps suggesting they try something more adventurous and Bee would much rather one of them gets tied up instead of being forced to go galivanting through the woods at the behest of his—frankly deranged—boyfriend but he goes with it just to try it once and afterwards they'd discuss it and Bee didn't hate it but again he'd rather that Starscream just tie him up next time which Starscream would be happy to do so they just stick to berth activities that involve less of bee ending up facedown in the dirt...took a while to get everything out of his seams lol

and then idw StarBee it would never happen bc Starscream would be too busy trying to convince Bee to put him on a leash (which Bee is so tired of this conversation he doesn't wanna do petplay) to think about predator/prey shit lmao

and then MegaBee...oh MegaBee my beloved...this could work for so many continuities in my head but yeah earthspark would be the funniest but the extra size difference in tfa is also very sexy I would imagine in either scenario the seed would be planted in Bee's mind after either getting chased by Megatron for real at some point or in a dream and then the image just sticks there for a while

in earthspark it would be easier ofc since they're allies so eventually Bee would get the courage to bring it up to Megatron who would just be bewildered beyond all belief like "you want me to what??? why would you want that?? I've hurt you before!" and it would take a lot of convincing on Bee's part to get Megatron to agree especially bc he'd be like "but aren't you and Breakdown an item? I could have sworn he mentioned it last we spoke" and Bee would just be like "yeah we are but like you know how some humans have an agreement with their significant other about like having one other person that their partner would give them a pass about fragging? mine was you...and his was Knockout but I won't give you the details...he's got some interesting kinks that I don't have the literal claws for"

anyways Megatron would eventually relent in that scenario and agree to it bc he does find the idea of fucking Bee to be much more appealing than he'd expected and he wants to try something new but as soon as he's actually caught Bee and starts to manhandle him a bit Bee would start struggling and begging him to let him go or something and Megatron would definitely end up using their safeword he just wouldn't be able to do it

they'd have to sit down somewhere Megatron shaking a bit bc even tho he knew it was just a scene and that Bee was just playing the part the thought of him returning to how he once was terrifies him and they'd end up having a long conversation that ends with the decision that if they were to try something like that again they'd change it to be more lighthearted bc Megatron did enjoy the chase and doesn't mind getting a bit rough with his partners but even Bee pretending that he's scared and trying to get away is too much but yeah they'd figure it out and have a lot of steamy fun

tfa MegaBee would be wayyyy different tho Megatron would be so into it and Bee would be so in over his head but he'd be wobbling back to the autobot base later looking like he'd been in a ten car pile up but feeling more blissed out than he'd ever been lmao he'd think about it on and on for weeks hoping to get to do it again

as for if he ended up in shattered glass? oh primus help any poor Bumblebee who ends up in that situation and lets hope any of them would already be a little bit of a freak otherwise that would not be a fun trip for him lol

oh boy I ended up rambling a lot more than I thought I would lmao but I hope you're seeing my vision here there are so many Bumblebees and so many of them deserve to get chased through the woods and then bent over and getting their cute little valves stuffed until the only thing they can ever think about is getting to experience that thrill again

ough even just the thought of earthspark Bumblebee with his doorwings twitching and thick transfluid dribbling from his gaping valve after Megatron pulls out makes me feel so so insane I need to do unthinkable things to him

so yeah the individual scenarios would vary a lot but I feel like in most instances it wouldn't be Bumblebee who thinks of it unless there was some kind of inciting incident whether irl or some kind of strange dream but most people who get together with him end up wanting to hunt him for sport bc he's just so cute and even tho he's certainly not helpless he can play that act very well and look real cute while doing it and he's usually enough of a freak that he'd want to try it

...now that I think about it...tfa ProwlBee would also be interesting as I'm sure Prowl would love to finally shut that brat up and chasing him down to stuff him with a spike sure is one way to do it but I've prattled on long enough this post is getting wayyy too long lmao I am nothing if not a passionate man 😂

[shen-daozhang]

ooh i saw your tags in the post about ppl hating female characters for the same things they love about male characters, and i thought about sqt vs jgy, so i wonder what you think about both of them! (if you feel like answering! it's not like a 1:1 comparison)

*vibrating* Yea I like those characters a normal amount why do you ask!! (Also I had a super busy week at work and I kept thinking about this ask and monologuing about it in my head, so thank you for the enrichment in my enclosure)

(very messy thoughts incoming!)

Ngl, I never considered how they are similar until this ask, and there are a lot of ways that they are! A background that includes abuse, being seen as less-than for the circumstances of their birth (SQT as a Butterfly Boned Beauty Feast, JGY as an illegitimate son of a sex worker), both gravitate towards powerful men to protect themselves, both are navigating the confines of society trying to move upwards, again, in order to protect themselves. Also both use torture (or at least the 0.5 timeline SQT does)! So that's a fun little similarity.

Now, a big difference is there is the element of revenge in JGY's actions on top of the base need to survive (and a desire to thrive in a world that looks down on you), and I think considering his intelligence he would have gotten away with his plans if not for the completely buckwild re-introduction of WWX back into the plot after his death. I personally think SQT is just focused on survival, and even when she is cruel to Chu Wanning in the 0.5 timeline, I believe she does so because considering TXJ's own treatment of CWN she thinks that is want he wants, and doing so will improve her standing with him (which, sidebar, I am always floored by people who hate on SQT for hurting CWN while they woobify TXJ). Her accusation of Ye Wangxi is only done in an attempt to survive, and I think should be viewed in the lens of the danger that Mo Ran's planted evidence places her in - she's a known Beauty Feast and you know in the world of Erha the second she is out from the protection of Nangong Si her life is likely literally over.

SQT is also just not as smart as JGY, which isn't a slight towards her, JGY is obviously brilliant on many fronts. But I think there is an element of SQT batting above her level, and that leads to her downfall in both timelines. Another glaring similarity is the fandom reaction to them and their actions being a smidge... shall I kick the hornets nest and say hypocritical especially when compared to the actions of the main character? Or other characters in the story who get woobified? (I will also throw Ye Bingchang from Till the End of the Moon into this category). At the end of the day, they are people who are just trying to survive in a deeply messed up world in the only way they know how. Now! Are they both innocent of any wrong-doing because of this? Of course not! That's what makes them interesting and why I gravitate towards these types of characters. The TL;DR: of this is essentially, "people doing fucked up stuff to survive in a world where you have to do fucked up things to survive? It's more likely than you think!"

I will say the fandom's feelings towards JGY has chilled a bit lately, but people were nasty towards him back in the day. Unfortunately, people still are towards SQT and I don't see that changing. I actually ended up including her in my 0.5 fic because I was tired of seeing fics that she either didn't appear at all OR was killed off in a way that was obviously done with malice on behalf of the author. Now she uh doesn't meet a happy end in either of my fics where she features but she's actually a character I really enjoyed writing, and I hope I did it with some sense of sympathy.

There was more I wanted to say but this is already long so I shall post this before it withers further in my drafts! <3

Also gonna link my own fics in case anyone is curious since I mentioned them. SQT appears as a character in this one here - my take on "hanahaki but worse" which has a sad ending - and her death is an inciting incident in this one, an AU where Chu Wanning is the one who got the flower and has become a zealot trying to cleanse the cultivation world (a WIP but I will finish it!).

[daboyau]

Hi!

4.) When did you become a fan of TMNT?

18.) Who is your favorite villain?

19.) Who is your favorite ally?

27.) What is something you love to see in TMNT art/fics?

28.) What is one thing you would like to see explored more in TMNT art/fics?

33.) What is your favorite thing you've made for TMNT?

Sorry there's a lot 😅 You don't have to answer all of them if you don't want to.

I hope you have a great rest of your day/night :]

I once more take forever to answer asks. Thank you for your patience. O7

i do genuinely love answering these, so no apologies for asking a lot allowed! (I am gently whapping you with a rolled up newspaper)

4. I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember! I’ve been watching them for my entire life, and my mom likes to tease me about the fact that if I ever disappeared when I was a toddler she’d inevitably find me planted in front of the tv, watching reruns of the 80’s series.

18. So I love Baron Draxum, but he becomes less of a villain later, so I’m going to say…2012 Baxter Stockman. I think he’s so silly but also he can be genuinely menacing at times, because he genuinely wants to hurt the turtle boys so it is a really interesting and unsettling contrast/dynamic. He’s actively plotting the murder of foes and allies alike, yet nobody can ever get his name right. I love it.

19. APRIL O’NEIL!!!! Every version of her. I love them all. April is universally the first human to throw herself wholeheartedly into their lives, no matter if she plays the role of sister figure, best friend, love interest, etc. It’s fun and sweet and I am a SUCKER for found family.

27. I love everything all the time. Next question. Serious answer though, I think a trope I really enjoy in fic/art/etc is when the boys get to go a little bit feral. Every iteration is so sweet and goofy no matter how serious their series gets, so when that gets turned on its head and the characters get to go buckwild it is soooo cool. ESPECIALLY when they still get to keep their silly traits threaded through the story. Another thing I adore is when they bicker like actual siblings.

28. Splinter gave four siblings who are close in age literal weapons. No way they never had murder games and knife chases when someone got too mouthy. Ngl I think it would be fun to see something about that. On a more general note, I want to see more about April and her thoughts on her place in the world.

33. Oh…. This is hard…. My kneejerk answer was Eat the Dark, because it’s the first fic I ever wrote for Rise and people were so nice when leaving comments on it that it made me want to post more of the things I wrote. But… i think I’m going to go with the Rise Hunger Games au, because that’s the thing that connected me with so many new friends. 💚💚💚

[evermorethecrow]

EVERMORE THE CROW 1K SPECIAL..... EXPOSING MY PAST.................

ages ago when i was younger i had to write this letter talking about times i got injured for school work and it was so bad i went through it with a friend of mine and because i thought i wouldnt hit 1k before the end of the year saying id post it if i did.

AND NOW IVE DONE IT

so heres my letter :(

Dear sir, I chose to write about a dangerous situation I've been in but I found it so difficult to pinpoint one situation.I am such an impulsive and spontaneous person and I rarely think before I act .Therefore instead of just one dangerous situation I have composed. Before i start i would like to issue a warning under no circumstances should a person attempt to recreate any action in this list for it is ill advised and i don't want to go to court again Kind regards -------

Okay so let's start out small ,i mean like when i was small really small i couldn't walk, but oh boy i could climb and unfortunately for the better of my own health climb I did,climb out of my cot and i know because gravity people who drop out of things tend to have this annoying habit of hitting the floor.Lets just say my mum put PE mats on my bedroom floor after that.

Next…uhhhhh incident??? Oooh it's another escaping story  maan maybe i should change my name to houdini or something,anyway this was a little later like i was able to walk (uh oh) i reckon i was good a walking, a little too good, my mum looked away from my pram for a second a second too long when she looked back i was gone, everyone in the park was looking for me and after 10 minutes of looking my mum saw me walk out the playground, i left and went to the playground.We went home after that.

Time for the third story  I was two years old and was running buckwild in Greenwich Park and having a fun time, in fact I was having such a fun time I didn't hear my mum shout “LOOK OUT”.  I had a comically large bump on my head got concussed and had to go to hospital, Not for too long though the very next day i got sent home for using a IV as a skateboard

Just a heads up befor the next story alot of these storys will be me being stupid and endeing up in hospital so if you have idiotphopia or are scared it would be advised to leave now or buy todays sponsor raycon earbuds.

Anyway next accident  When i was five I was in bed as a five year old should be when I had a genius revelation Hmmm i I dont wanna use my legs to get out of bed so why not roll out instead….i did roll out of bed,right onto a plastic dinosaur and cut my eyelid, there was blood all over my face.But hey at least i got to meet an old friend of mine.The hospital waiting room.

So yeah you can probably see how i'm quite an accident prone person but i never really did anything that bad.SO WHO WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT THE TIME I JUMPED OFF MY SCOOTER WHILE GOING SUPER FAST ON IT DOWN A HILL? I was seven and i was at our local park blythe hill and my seven year old brain wanted nothing more than to go down that hill at record speeds on my scooter,and i'm not talking about one of those fancy stunt scooters no i'm talking about a kids micro scooter, you know , the one where you would always put elastic bands on it, any way I was about halfway down the hill when i decided I was going too fast on it and i could get hurt and since id never had an injury before i wanted to prevent that so what did i do? I jumped of the scooter I was a smart kid. I jumped off my scooter and pretty much removed all the skin on that side of my body and too make matters worse it got infected and i had to take antibiotics for 4 weeks. Fun times

As you can probably see i might be a bit reckless and might be a bit bad at planning ahead  Which leads me to our next story, this ones a bit different you see this time  I didn't actually get hurt. I was at a friend's house and that friend's house had a garden with a tree,a tree and a garage which was placed close to the tree, and I, being a master climber since birth, scaled the tree with ease. But that wasn't enough for me no I wanted to climb the garage.So i went across the tree to the branche nearest the garage ,and climbed on top of the garage,the lovely,brick garage.my friends dad came out and saw me on top of the garage simply chilling and as you can probably predict he asked me to get down so instead of doing the rational thing and using the tree to et down.. I jumped of the garage onto the stone floor.I didn't go to their house for a while after that

I have another garage related story,This was in 2017 I was nine surely I was smateer by then and learned my lesson Right……Right? Me and my siblings were playing marco polo out the front of our house (never a good sign) And it was my turn to be blindfolded and find my siblings.I decided to run straight forward and hit the brick wall between two garages , I fractured my nose, chipped my front tooth and had to go to hospital.oops.

Now they say save the best for last and boy did i. It was 2020(oh god ) and we were celebrating my mom's birthday and all was going smoothly, well until i decided to leave our living room by jumping out the room from the sofa.it didn't go as planned.yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah i jumped off the sofa hi my head on the top of the door landed on my arm and spent 5 hours in hospital on my mums birthday.

That's all we have time for today However here are some honorable mentions 

.The time i used my scooter on a tall thin brick wall (someone really ought to take that thing of me honestly)

.All the times I hit my head on bins 

.And that time this year I literally without thinking put the hairdryer on my face after I used It and burnt stripes into my face 

Well thats the list of the most dangerous things ive done, of course ive done more dumb things but this paper has gone on long enough and I have school in the morning so bye I guess.

-------------

MY LIFE IS RUINED

[kaylor]

Is campaign 3 worth watching 😭 im somewhere near ep 45 and there have just been so many arcs that do nothing for me. The stakes feel absurdly high for uhh level .. 6? and i thought it would get good at some point but if they still cant make a plan by ep 80 i dont think i care to waste my time 😭😭

yuhhhh i don't know man. the malleus key and the fallout of it is pretty dope, and idk how many spoilers you've seen so i'll leave it there. but after that it gets very boring again i can't lie.

you're so right about the high stakes!! these characters haven't had any space to breathe or grow since like episode 20 or whenever it was they found out about predathos and the world ending. they've been chasing a plot they're not ready for without doing any of the character work that makes you care about their goal. it's difficult to see why the party is together in the first place because they don't talk to each other or have any reason care about each other (except fearne/orym and imogen/laudna but the latter is so bland it's actually painful).

the party doesn't gel, there's no motivations from anyone beyond orym having a personal stake in it. imogen is so wishywashy about everything. none of them care about the gods except FCG, and no one in the party cares about FCG. except ashton, who is played so passively and unpleasantly that it doesn't even matter. there's no caleb/vax doing his biweekly checkins with each party member to unlock new dialogue. there's no fjord/grog to make a buckwild (yet thematically relevant) decision to direct the party in any direction. there's no driving force behind any of these characters like sorry liam and travis, turns out if you take a backseat to let your friends have the spotlight, they will do sweet fuck all!!

another problem i think is how they're given so many pieces of the puzzle at once, whilst the big bad is already in play. i don't know if that was matt's intention, but it's led to them barely following up on any character driven plot points because, well, the world might end. so any extracurricular character development is nixed in favor of chasing a maxxed out uberbaddy who is almost definitely going to kill them. any cool character moments kind of happen in spite of rather than thanks to the events, and honestly feel a bit forced sometimes because the characters have all been so stagnant for so long, and honestly the most interesting things about the characters are their backstories, which have already happened. their current motivations are a mystery and none of them seem interested in learning more about each other. it just feels very awkward and stale.

PLUS, the stakes are absurdly high but also there are no consequences for anything!! laudna dying didn't feel important because it wasn't permanent! because they can apparently just ask a member of vox machina for a resurrection!!! absolutely bizarre choice from matt to allow that, if i'm being completely honest. like sorry i know that's your wife but marisha should be 40 episodes deep into her backup character by now because there's absolutely no way anyone in VM would agree to resurrecting a delilah briarwood puppet let's be so serious. the party (especially imogen) dealing with a PC death would have made for some really interesting development, and would have created an opportunity for imogen to either take a leadership role to get revenge on otohan, OR break bad and turn on the rest of the party. some delicious pvp. but unfortunately laura doesn't seem to know what to do with her character and therefore does nothing, so it felt extremely flat and meaningless, which kind of sums up c3 tbh. some of the highest stakes but barely a PC who gives a shit.

the past say 10 episodes have been a slog for only a handful of cool moments, so i really hope post episode 82 it picks up a bit. plot is fun and situations are fun but i'm struggling to care about any of these characters because it doesn't seem like any of the cast care about them either. which is a shame because some of them have huge potential, FCG is literally an aeormaton!!!! my god you have GOT to get into it. why is no one getting into it!!!! will someone PLEASE pick up what sam is putting down!!! the payoff is always so good!!!

[jojolightningfingers]

Pick Your Poison for fandoms and gimmeeeeee 1, 8, 12, 17, 18, 20, 22, 25!

the character everyone gets wrong yes it's a cop out answer yes i realize we have had this discussion before but Handshake Meme on sanji.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about Everything that has anything to do with Gohan and his relationship with training and/or Goku. Yall know the ones. You are all Clowns and Jesters and I will see you buried in my garden by spring's end.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them I don't know if he's unpopular so much as forgotten about like many bit characters in Ace Attorney games are but Uendo Toneido I love you so much. ditto for Sirhan Dogen/Bodhidharma Kanis.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art aside from the obvious answer of 'every single one of my rarepairs, which are Simply Correct', i need more tasteful intimate-but-not-necessarily-sexual nudity in art. that's the shit that makes me go buckwild. also the little hearts and squiggles some artists do for lewd art to indicate that X character is having a good time? goated. god tier. love that visual.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... using 2pov in fics like cmonnnnnn you can do so much with it. you can interrogate a character at the same time that you control them. it's so fun for character study.

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring Fullbringer arc certainly.... existed. And as much as I enjoy them there are some parts of Dressrosa and Wano that drag on a bit for me.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores TURNABOUT BIG TOP WAS NOT BAD, YOU GUYS ARE JUST MEAN!!!!

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing all of them. everyone shut up and turn your critical thinking skills on.

[puckish-rogue-archive-deux]

Lore Dump: Regarding the Supernatural

Note: This is gonna be a bit of a short one as it's more of a clarification for people who have Muses that are tied to the supernatural.

So, let me just get this out of the way and say that yes, there are elements of the supernatural present within the original SR games (although more so the first two, and that expansion I don't even consider canon). And while they aren't exactly anything that substantial, I've always seen that as an invitation to explore the concept further. Cause really, how the hell do you not love the idea of mashing organized crime and stuff that's far beyond the realm of comprehension together? It's definitely had a hold of me ever since a particular boss fight in the second game, but that's something I'll get to in a second.

Anyway, let me just lay it out like this; in the first SR, after the death of an important character (no spoilers on the off chance one of you actually wants to check out the series), you are given the chance to call up a number you might have seen around the map for a business known as Eye for an Eye. They are run by voodoo practitioners who can revive the aforementioned character, and have them come back as a zombie homie. This can also be done in the second game after the death of another major character.

Now, in addition to Eye for an Eye, we have a character introduced in SR2 who goes by the name of Mr. Sunshine. He is the second-in-command of the Sons of Samedi, a Haitian drug cartel led by a man who goes by the moniker of The General. Mr. Sunshine is important to our discussion because he is the first instance of The Boss encountering someone tied to the supernatural in the main plot, and not have it be just some silly little easter egg.

This is mainly shown during the fight you have with him (the mission is fairly graphic by the end), where Mr. Sunshine pulls out a voodoo doll that's able to both knock The Boss around, and keep himself invincible until the doll is shot out of his hands. Yet even on the brink of death, Mr. Sunshine is seemingly capable of reviving himself over and over again, right until The Boss decides to just decapitate him.

With all that said, you're probably wondering just what in the hell does any of that mean. Well, I think it's pretty simple; if the game is going to go out of its way to depict something as abnormal and clearly supernatural as that was, in a main mission no less, then what does that tell you about the rest of the world? What else might be lurking around that people might not be fully aware of? And yeah, I know it's kinda silly to go that buckwild over tiny little hints of shit being a little weird in this universe. But like hell am I keep myself or anyone else from taking the opportunity to explore that further.

And let me be clear, I'm not looking to do anything totally out there. There is a way to depict something regarding magic, the supernatural, and anything else that may fall under that category in a way that's both very interesting, and acknowledges that in a modern setting such as this, it's not commonplace. So I would absolutely love to do that with y'all. I love those kinds of settings, I love throwing Django into these situations where he has to deal with things that are soooo out of his league. It's a lot of fun! And I hope you can see that vision as well.

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

ive been reading the samurai kirby novel test reads and oh Boy i am so so glad i called dibs on this novel ive been actively enjoying every second of it

tbh if theres like anyone Super looking forward to this novel, i recommend going in completely blind for a number of reasons. but to those who don't care here's some brief rambles

this novel has test reads published every week for a month like the rtdl novel, instead of just one test read about a week before the novel's release date like novels usually do. the rtdl novel i could excuse as being separate from the usual novels, but this is a bit odd. i guess im not complaining though, it means a lot more reading and content for me. currently there have been three test reads released so far

previous post about this novel, if you didn't hear before and want the full rundown

interestingly meta knight hasn't appeared yet, even though he seems to be super important from the synopsis and a duo with kirby for the book's major plot of retrieving the sword technique scroll

also related, the major plot of retrieving any sort of sword technique scroll has not even been remotely mentioned yet at this point

what has been mentioned, then? well first of all everyone lives under a brutal dictatorship. the lord of this place enforces strict and unreasonable laws and anyone who speaks ill of them are arrested. there's multiple occasions of characters freaking out and telling others to shut up in case the authority are secretly listening. according to a rumor from pharmacist scarfy and postman wheelie, dissenters also get taken from their houses at night and thrown into a dungeon never to be seen again, and that there were pained groans heard coming from the dungeon the other night.

its not stated but in my opinion this is definitely a kid friendly version of yeah the police totally torture and starve you. also the police are terrifying animated wooden mechanical puppets, said to be "bloodthirsty". anyways

the animal troupe is in fact this universe's version of beast pack. elfy and them are like a family in this and it makes me buckwild insane. leon acts like an overprotective dad

dedede has been mentioned. he's apparently a double agent against the evil lord and secretly protects everyone. actually really cool

meta knight has not been mentioned. magolor also hasn't been mentioned, but apart from being a sweets merchant he's also apparently a riverman, according to the character introductions.

clawroline wears a kimono. i love her. that's all i wanted to say with that

i was confused about this in my initial post about this novel but bandana waddle dee has been renamed to tenugui waddle dee in this novel, because he wears a tenugui (japanese hand towel) on his head instead of a bandana

oh yeah that brutal dictatorship thing i mentioned earlier? the main ongoing current conflict with that is that no one can eat dango or mochi because of it. that's literally the only thing anyone's mad about. who cares about having your rights being taken away if you can't have mochi i guess. very dreamland-core

anddd the town this takes place in is called pupupu machi (pupupu town) which im considering translating as cappy town, since Dream Town does not have a good ring to it. but i think Some anime haters would get Really upset if i called it cappy town so lol

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #11: Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Completed: June 16th, 2024

Time to Complete: 19 hours, 55 minutes (~20 hours, basically)

alright, I have to be honest here. i've never really been a huge layton fan. i actually did like curious village quite a bit - and it held up when i replayed it, so i know it wasn't just from nostalgia - but diabolical box was a bit of a mess. i did actually like plvsaa but it was more for the AA part and less for the PL part (though it was funny how most of the story is just them doing curious village again). and then. uh. unwound future definitely does some cool things but unwriting and then rewriting its own plot twist to be non-canon/canon again kind of turned me off. it's not even just the plots being buckwild as hell.

however. oh my god. last specter is just. bad. rest of this is under the cut because i dont want to make people mad who actually like this game but the TL;DR is that emmy is good but this game is bad in a boring, lazy writing way and not even in a FUN way which has made it the most painful of the layton games for me to get through up to this point.

the puzzle difficulty balance is off, for one thing - i would say 10% of the puzzles at MOST feel adequately difficulty balanced, and the rest are either way too easy, have instructions so poorly written that I needed to check a guide to make sure i even understood what they were asking me, or they were hard as fuck for no reason. it feels like they get worse and worse with this with every layton game and im PRAYING that miracle mask does not get worse about this because i need to finish this series and i don't think i could handle another group of puzzles like this.

also......i know layton plots are buckwild but this one both a) drags too long and b) is SO LAZILY WRITTEN. every single twist is either fucking blatantly obvious or they made 0 effort to even foreshadow it at all (LOCH NESS MONSTER RIPOFF IM LOOKING AT YOU). it feels like they genuinely did not even write a story for this until AFTER they made everything else, which i know can't actually be true because story-focused games like this aren't written like that, but........man. dude. this is not a good video game. there was absolutely no reason it needed to be 20 fucking hours long. i think they could have cut the story of this one down SIGNIFICANTLY, and/or spent more time on actua

really, the only good thing i can say about this game is that emmy is great and i like her a lot. i'm glad she doesn't get relegated to useless girl who gets kidnapped like flora (unforunately.....) does so, so much. it does annoy me that her entire backstory is in those little bonus story things - side note, why did they not INTEGRATE THOSE WITH THE FUCKING GAME - but it could be worse. would like to know more about her but at least she has a fun dynamic with layton and luke.

praying that miracle mask is better because guys i NEED a more interesting plot than this. even if it's layton insanity. because this one didnt even COMMIT to being insane enough it just felt very dull and gray and like a waste of my fucking time