#it was actually so much fun coming up with a backstory to the Fight between maui and tamaota

[toskarin]

A question of curiosity - assuming you play them due to your involvement with a bunch of them, what are your favourite kinds of characters (be it mechanically or narratively) to play in TTRPGS? And do you have any associated anecdotes to go with them?

courtesy readmore

mechanically kinda depends on what's on the menu, but if it's combat-focused, I personally really enjoy characters who "deny" things

not really the kind of character who I'd ever expect a GM to put in their element on purpose (I usually make a conscious effort to remind the GM of things I'm capable of so that I don't trample on any fun setpieces) but definitely the kind of character who modifies objectives just by being in play. I also like magic-users in concept, but that's more of a flavour thing

I think that's reflected a good bit in the kind of narrative play I enjoy, too. when I make a character, I prefer to do it with the rest of the party in mind, less to make the character "compatible" and more to make them sharply contrast in ways that encourage the other characters to have moments where they can reaffirm who they are (both in narrative and out of narrative)

there's a fine balance to strike here. on one end of things, you risk yes-manning so hard that the party quickly becomes a problem solving engine with a single striking surface. on the other end of the things, you risk being The Chaotic Neutral Guy

the space in the middle there represents the characters that people often want to regularly interact with, but rarely want to play. the sort of character who isn't actively disruptive, but raises a lot of red flags when they suddenly show enthusiastic agreement for what you're doing. the kind of character you almost need a diminished sense of discomfort to play without getting in your own feelings about

I adore playing characters who are catered to find plot hooks in other players' characters and tug them just enough to pull them to the surface

most parties have characters who disagree on things that aren't easily resolved. that's always fun, but (because people courteously tend to avoid conflict) it's very rare for those conflicts to come up without GM prompting, and "create productive conflict between two characters without leaving out the rest of the characters or starting a fight between players" is often an equally uncomfortable situation for a GM

lots of fun directions to take it!

have an arc that would benefit from a character taking charge but their player doesn't feel comfortable just Doing That? it helps to have someone else try to take charge who obviously should not be allowed, just to get everyone behind the alternative

have someone with a pure heart who doesn't really get to show that in a party of players who don't want to be mean? maybe someone who's a little more morally-compromised could give them a window for explaining what they actually believe

have a character who's part of some mysterious cult that nobody else is going to find the time to look into? the party could benefit from having a nosy character to justify cracking open that backstory

GM needs to fuck something up to remind the party of how dangerous things are? why not add to the mood by showing what your often-cold character looks like when something manages to actually upset them

[WARNING: DOING ANY OF THIS WALKS THE PRECARIOUSLY THIN LINE BETWEEN BEING COMPELLING AND BEING ANNOYING]

observant readers (well, those who have followed for a while) might have noticed I periodically go on rants about the much-maligned "evil character in a good party" and how both sides of the argument represent a communication and courtesy breakdown. that also very much ties into this sort of thing. I won't go over Tolerable Villainy 101 again, but you get the idea

distilled, I like playing the sort of thoroughly worldly bastards who often end up important in their own right, but mostly on accident, by virtue of being important to what makes other characters compelling

[bambifornia]

huuUOOoLRgGghh fiinnne I can't stay away from you all

i bring more autobot!swindle. plus my attempt at writing his backstory

disclaimer : most of the stuff below isn't canon i just wrote this for fun. if u guys wanna make ur own swindle backstories i invite yall to do so :D we will make our own swindle content

swindle came online during cybertron's early years of the age of expansion. the autobots (with their goal to expand cybertron's empire) engineered a set of bots who would serve cybertron as its intergalactic merchants, programmed to be ambitious bots who sought profit. they also came with bigger processors (for storing transactions and whatnot) and versatile frames (so they could withstand organic climates)

shortly after coming online, swindle was assigned a teacher (another merchant) who'd pass down the knowledge of the trade. swindle did his best to keep up with his lessons

as a student, swindle was determined and clever. as a bot, though...eughh...

- he had less of a filter, and didn't know how to keep a poker face

- his little new England accent used to be a lot thicker (think earthspark swindle)

- very friendly, had a lot of amicas back in the day (he was definitely the "I know a bot" guy). it was a struggle for him to keep quiet

- loved hands on activities, hated sitting still

- kept a journal detailing his intergalactic trips. tried to doodle any organics he found interesting

- LOVED shiny stuff. he was like a crow lmao

- his sharp glossa would sometimes get his aft beat

- despite being a chatterbox, he wasn't as suave back then. he'd often get himself in awkward situations, which he'd try to talk himself out of the embarrassment but he'd end up digging a deeper hole for himself

- petty king. also kinda nosy and had a thing for gossip

- loved pranking, and teased the bots he liked

once he was ready, swindle was given a ship and assigned a trading post (as a starting point). from that point, swindle was a rootin tootin merchant and nothing bad ever happened to him again :D...

...

until the quintessa skirmishes

the age of expansion ended with border disputes between cybertron and quintessa. multiple skirmishes sproutted along the border, and while swindle didn't fight in them, he was certainly caught in the crossfire. swindle ended up with a broken ship, a looted inventory, and a bungled up frame. he had to return to cybertron for repairs

back on cybertron, swindle finds a planet wildly different from the one he knows. tensions between autobots and decepticons are rising, and the banks aren't holding up that great. swindle finds himself in a tight spot (financially speaking) since he still has to deal with his losses from quintessa. unable to go back to his actual merchant job, swindle resorts to taking odd jobs to keep himself afloat (yes, even stealing)

when the war breaks out, swindle gets drafted into the front lines (a decision that still baffles him to this day). since he's not much of a fighter, the autobots have swindle work as a spy, ordering him to smuggle weapons out of decepticon servos...

in future hindsight, that was a poor decision

---

wrapping it up here because i don't want this post to get too long LMAO but I still have more ideas for him if yall are interested. just know that this is not the end of swindle lore

ALSO I finally came up with autobot!swindle designations :D I've narrowed it down to 3 and I need help deciding. it's either between

quickdime - cuz. you know. he's always looking to make a quick buck

treasury - his subspace acts like a treasury if you kinda think about it

fortune - idk it sounds cute. besides fortune tends to "favor the bold and clever"

if u made it this far then congrats. thank u for listening to me yap. have a bonus doodle

[in1-nutshell]

Hello!! I love your work! Everyday i literally check your page to see if you upload! You are the best!

Now, can i please request a human teen buddy ( around 15, small ) who is a genius, but still a kid, loves to have fun and literally seem dumb but is very smart. They end up on the lost light, and they hang around with some of the bots, like whirl, percy, nautica, brainstorm, rewind, domey, ratchet, drift, rodimus and mags & megs.

At first some of the bots had fun, but one time buddy, trusted them with their past. Telling everyone around that they didn’t had a parental figures growing up, they were always in foster care and the only thing that helped them was their intelligence, and because of that ended on a program to the lost light. Most of the bots are shocked, and they comfort buddy. But without buddy knowing, a war starts between their friends to win the custody of buddy and guide them.

Magnus wanted buddy to be in his care because they respected him and always asked him questions.

Rodimus wasn't much on the war, he was going to be the one that anounced the winner, but still wanted the best for their little friend.

Brainstorm and Percy tought of buddy as the little genius since they helped them sometimes in their works, and liked having them around.

Nautica tought of buddy as the sweetest thing and wanted to be around and never leave them like their real parents did.

Rewind and domey were fond of the kid and wanted to help them, and because they had a good taste in movies.

Drift was actually fond of buddy, because they never saw him as a monster or a traitor. They knew his backstory and all his problems, but they always treated him with adoration. He teached them how to fight and how to wield a sword.

Ratchet saw the kid most of the time because they were in the medbay a lot of time, watching when they healed somebot, he saw something on the kid, determination. He liked the kid, it reminded him of Drift. He started to teach them some medicine things.

Ratchet and Drift loved the kid, and they came to think of them as their own. When they heard their backstory they were sad, because, who could leave a great mind to itself, but they took the oportunity to be their guardian.

At the end of the day, ratch and drift won custody. And they were going to talk with buddy that night at swerve's. But as soon as they come inside, they hear crying. They inmediatly ran to the scene. And then they see how Buddy is chewing out some bot just because they talked badly about drift. After the bot rans out crying, drift grabs buddy and spins them in his arms while saying " you did so good, sweetie. You are the best!! That's my kid." Buddy's in shock. The ratchet says " that was awesome kiddo, you are awesome. You are the best kid." That hurt buddy and they answer with tears that they are the best parents in the world. After talking everything down, they become one little family. A little family who takes care of each other.

Sorry if it's to much. You can change or erase what you don't like.

This...I like this...

Let the custody battle begin!

Hope you enjoy!

Human Buddy in the custody battle of the Lost Light (Ratchet and Drift are the winners)

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Human reader

MTMTE

Buddy was sent to the Lost Light via the ‘Young Liaison program’. This program helped get the youth of the nation into space programs at minimal to no cost at all.

Buddy was drawn from a lottery to join a field expedition on the Lost Light.

Their main assignment was to keep an eye out for any potential security risk Megatron may still have for the inhabitants of Earth.

They were certainly one of the youngest to graduate from the program, but that didn’t stop the adults from putting the 15-year-old on the ship.

Magnus and Rodimus making their way to the main bridge to meet with the new human liaison.

“I heard they were their youngest human graduate in the program.”--Rodimus

Magnus nods, showing him a data pad with the Liason’s record.

“Indeed, as well as having excelled in most of their classes, listed top of their classes and highly recommended by their peers-- ”—Magnus

“Sheesh! They sound like a mini you.”--Rodimus

They both stop when they see a small human looking from their perch in wonder at the ship around them.

“Magnus… did you also forget to tell me that they’re a kid?”--Rodimus

“…That explains many of the vague writing…”—Magnus

The human turns to the two mechs smiling widely walking to them with a hand outstretched.

“Hello! My name is Buddy, and I am your new liaison for Earth! You must be Rodimus and Ultra Magnus. It’s an honor to meet you two!”--Buddy

Rodimus flashes a smile at them and holds out a digit so Buddy could shake it.

“Welcome aboard Buddy. Have you gotten the tour yet?”--Rodimus

Buddy’s eyes widen in excitement.

“No sir, not yet. But I was hoping to know more about this ship and all!”--Buddy

Buddy stands up straighter.

“I mean—Thank you for offering me a tour Captain sir.”--Buddy

“You can just call me Rodimus, Buddy. Now, shall we?”--Rodimus

Rodimus offers his servo to Buddy to climb on.

They look a bit hesitant but then throw caution to the wind and climb on.

Buddy relaxes a bit sending him a happy smile.

They turn to Magnus.

“I will be reporting to the meeting room for our review Ultra Magnus sir. I have some paperwork that I need to review with you concerning Article C 4, sub section 3—are you okay?”--Buddy

Magnus is trying to hold in everything together.

“O-of course.”—Magnus

Buddy just had stars in their eyes as they met their new bosses and got the tour around the ship.

Many of the bots didn’t mind the little human now amongst them.

Soon enough Buddy managed to worm their way into the sparks of most of the crew thanks to the time spent together and the adventures they had.

One late night at Swerve’s Buddy decides to open up about some of their personal life before the Lost Light.

They bounced around from home to home thanks to the foster care system their ‘parents’ put them in.

And how their smarts were the only reason they even managed to get into the program.

There are some comforting words passed around.

As the words began to be pass around, many bots suddenly realized something.

They wanted to be there for Buddy.

Maybe even a potential parental figure?

… now let the custody battles begin.

To make things as fair and as safe as possible Megatron, Magnus and Rodimus pulled the entire thing together. Well, more Magnus and Megatron than Rodimus, he just really wants to be the announcer.

Magnus had to go through all the paperwork and applications for Buddy’s custody.

“No, no, no, definitely not them. What—who put Overlord’s name on the registry form!?”--Magnus

Whirl’s laughter is heard at the end of the hall.

Buddy safely in his cockpit taking notes per Whirl’s request.

“You see Buddy, we have to destroy them bit by bit. Sometimes you can’t to the big stuff, but it’s the teeny stuff that can REALLY winded a bot up.”—Whirl

Buddy nods scribbling more in their notebook.

“WHIRL!”--Magnus

“Now for the next part, escaping the claws of authority!”--Whirl

After the registry was filled, the rest was simple count of elimination or forfeit.

Many bots did find themselves thinking twice about becoming parental figures to Buddy and preferred to be friends to the human instead.

Heading into the semifinal’s things got a bit more structured.

Buddy spends about 2 weeks with each bot or bots who are potential candidates for the custody.

At the end of the 2 weeks Buddy is to stay with neutral bots meanwhile everything gets ready. The neutral bots were bots that didn’t want anything to do with the competition and could keep a relatively unbiased opinion of the competitors.

“And the winners for the neutral bots are… Ambulon, Powerglide, Nautica and… Whirl? How did Whirl even—“—Rodimus

Whirl smashes a cube on the ground in victory.

“HAHAHA! SUCK ON THAT LOSERS!”—Whirl

“Whirl, we all—“--Nautica

He tosses Buddy into his cockpit and runs out.

Powerglide, First Aid and Nautica run after him.

“Whirl! Stop hogging Buddy!”--Powerglide

“We’re coming Buddy!”--Nautica

“Don’t try to resist! It’ll only make him angrier!”—First Aid

“WHATS HAPPENING!!!!?????”--Buddy

Oh, that was the little detail that somehow never occurred to anyone on board.

To tell Buddy about how some bots on board were getting into fight to be their parents.

Buddy just thinks that they are holding some sort of ‘Can you stand the Organic’ competition like what happened last Halloween.

The finalist came down to 3 pairs, each with Whirl’s choice of Team name.

Brainstorm and Perceptor aka Simpatico.

Rewind and Chromedome aka RDCD.

And Ratchet and Drift aka Dratchet.

Brainstorm and Perceptor were first.

 They tried bonding with Buddy with all sorts of scientific things.

Trying to reach Buddy the best way they knew how:

Science!

Whether it be lawfully good science or Chaotic good science, that was up for debate on most days.

Perceptor walking back into the lab.

Brainstorm runs out the door with Buddy in his servos.

“Brainstorm! What in the name of—”--Perceptor

“HIT THE DECK PERCY!”--Buddy

Perceptor investigates the lab just as a colorful explosion of confetti filled the lab and part of Perceptor’s face.

“I told you not to do it!”--Buddy

“But it was a challenge! If that inventor could do it, so can I!”--Brainstorm

“Its fictional Brainstorm! Cloudy with a chance of meatballs is a FICTIONAL MOVIE! None of its inventions are supposed to work because its FICTIONAL!”--Buddy

“But—”--Brainstorm

“BRAINSTORM!”--Perceptor

“… I suggest you start running Stormy.”--Buddy

“Agreed!”--Brainstorm

By the two weeks the pair had grown fonder of Buddy, but the pair soon realized that it would be best if they just stayed close friends with Buddy.

It wasn’t anything they did wrong, rather seeing another couple look at Buddy made them forfeit.

Next up…

Rewind and Chromedome.

They do have talks about more sensitive things than Brainstorm and preceptor being slightly more in tune with their emotions than the other pair.

They end up bonding through movie nights and stories.

“No way!”--Buddy

“Yes way!”--Buddy

“Wait, wait, wait! You’re telling me that Prowl and Domey used to be partners?! I mean how?!”--Buddy

“It wasn’t all that bad…”--Chromedome

“What was that Domey?”--Rewind

“Nothing!”--Chromedome

But like the last pair, they saw it better to have Buddy as a close friend or have them see the pair as uncle figures.

Finally Ratchet and Drift.

Buddy eased more with them having spent the most time with them prior to this.

That’s what happens when someone is a bit accidentally prone to bruising and weird unrelated injuries and loves learning about alien culture.

They go well together.

Buddy opens a bit more with them as they also share some advice and stories.

I have something I want to share with you guys…”--Buddy

“We’re here kid. What is it?”--Ratchet

“I…I’m afraid…”—Buddy

Drift raises an optic.

“You’re afraid? Afraid of what?”--Drift

“One day I’ll slip up here and then they ask for me back. I’ll never see you guys again and—and—I’ll be all alone again…”—Buddy

Buddy looks down and shakes a bit trying to hold back the tears.

Drift reaches out first and hugs Buddy close to his spark chamber humming a little tune.

Ratchet makes his way to the two and holds them both.

“You’re not going anywhere kid. You want to know why? Because you’re good at your job and you have help. Do you think any of those scraps for brain peers of your back on Earth could be doing what you’re doing? They’d quit within the first hour.”--Ratchet

Buddy chuckles a bit.

“That and no one will let you go from the ship because of that. You’re stuck with us whether you like it or not.”--Drift

Two weeks are done, and it is time to officially tally everything together, even though it is obvious who won.

Buddy gets sent with the neutral bots to Swerves while they look over the data.

Dratchet wins.

But Ratchet and Drift don’t celebrate their win. They want Buddy’s opinion on this before anything.

It’s their life too, they should have a say in it.

The pair go to break the news when they hear crying and yelling coming from Swerve’s.

Ratchet and Drift are sprinting to Swerve.

They burst through the door to find a bot slightly cowering at a red-faced Buddy.

“--AND IF YOU’RE MINISCULAR PROCESSOR THINKS THAT YOU ARE BETTER THAN DRIFT AND RATCHET YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING! YOU HONESTLY THINK YOUR HOT STUFF!? IF I WAS BIGGER, I’D PLANT MY FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR AFTERBURNER THAT YOUR DESCENDANT WILL STILL BE TASTING MY TOES! AND ANOTHER THING—"--Buddy

The bot runs out of the bar before Buddy could continue their verbal rampage.

The bar erupts in cheer and praise when the bot leaves.

It wasn’t often to see the little liaison snap and the utter verbal beating, while well earned, was brutal.

That was something to celebrate.

Drift and Ratchet weave their way through the crowd as Buddy is getting passed around.

Drift grabs Buddy hugging them tightly.

“THAT’S MY KID!”--Drift

Buddy looks at him startled.

Ratchet pats their head affectionately.

“You earned that one kiddo.”--Ratchet

Buddy suddenly understands what they are saying and starts bawling on ratchet’s digit hugging them tightly.

The pair is a bit scared but soon realize that they are tears of joy.

They pair relaxes as they enjoy the free drinks and keep Buddy close.

Some day this turned out to be.

[solspinaa]

Sanguinius is my favorite primarch, yet we have so little lore on his actual backstory. Do you have any headcanons about Baal or Baal’s culture 🥺?

Hello anon! I do actually have a few headcanons about baal and quite a few others about how sanguinius grew up in its environment!

i’m incredibly happy to answer your ask, especially considering that it’s about my favorite primarch too. never hesitate to ask again, this was really fun to write!

─── ⋆⋅ ♰ ⋅⋆ ───

Environment:

I think that the surface of Baal would be a lot like that of Mars.

It’s a very dry, rocky, and hot planet.

I don’t have many headcanons about Baal itself, but Baal Secundis, the second moon of the planet where Sanguinius was raised isn’t much different from the mother planet.

Other than the fact it’s absolutely plagued with radiation and some of the most hideous creatures ever seen.

It’s been mentions in lore a few times that Sanguinius thinks his wings may be a result of the radioactive environment.

Because of this, I think that Baal Secundis is very fallout-like.

Miles and miles of empty and desolate desert, perhaps occasionally some leftover pieces of armor from previous battles, and many, many bones.

Culture:

It’s also canon that Sanguinius was alone in the desert for what you can assume was a pretty decently long time.

He was found either as a very young adult or as an old teenager, probably naked and highly radioactive.

The planet was incredibly war infested as also told by lore, so I can imagine that the tribe Sanguinius was raised in caused him to do a fair share of fighting.

I believe that the war may have possibly been due to a clash of cultures.

Many sources state that the people lived in a Nomadic culture, they were travelers, scavengers even.

For the longest time, the people of Baal had no god to believe in, nothing to tie them together.

But by the end of his time on the planet, everyone worshiped Sanguinius. He had brought them peace and togetherness under his name.

Lore also states that the culture and current customs on Baal are HEAVILY influenced by the angel.

There are holidays after him.

Culture is one of those things that has a million aspects, but my favorite to consider is obviously weddings!

I think that weddings were merely a concept before sanguinius arrived, but once he had and the people learned it was okay to love, couples united together left and right.

He used to attend more official and political weddings on baal, even going as far as to officiate a few of them. Now, this is handled by Dante.

At modern baalian weddings, women tend to string white feathers in their hair as a symbol of protection and honor from Sanguinius.

Much like a traditional American wedding, brides also wear white as a symbol of purity, something the angel had honored. The difference? Husbands wear white too!

Guests are to wear whatever they wish, as long as it honors the primarch, but the bride’s jewelry is traditionally gold.

engagement rings are ALWAYS made of ruby, to symbolize both the blood of sanguinius and a blood covenant between husband and wife.

I think that it’s also a coming of age event for all male Baalians who wish to be accepted by their tribes to make a journey to the sarcophagus of Sanguinius at their coming of age, probably naked to simulate what the angel himself had to go and fight through as a child.

Many young men hope that when they arrive they will hear his voice, or that the luckiest will receive a vision from his spirit within the warp.

Has Sanguinius seen any of them as worthy enough to see his spirit? That’s for you to decide ;)

[perfectlypreservedpie]

MacCready Fanfiction Recs (Fallout 4)

hey everybody, nobody asked for this but in the midst of writing fallout fanfic I was feeling a special kind of love for my favorite fo4 fanfics and wanted to recommend them in case you hadn't read 'em. Because they are VERY GOOD and writing fanfic is hard, so you gotta give props to those who sweat for your comfort fics.

I'm gonna recommend my top three finished fanfics, and then two more bonus fics that are being updated rn. As a clarifier, these are all Maccready fallout 4 fics. so. keep that in mind.

im tagging the authors and also anybody who wants to join and share their favorites too!

3. THE FATHER(S) AND THE SON(S) on ao3 by @sirmanmister

I'm going to preface this rec by saying this: there is Fanon MacCready. There is canon MacCready. And then there is ascended!whatBethesdawishesitWAS MacCready, which exists solely in this fanfiction. The characterization of Mac is so well written. He is snarky, he is vulnerable. He desperately wants to grow up but doesn't know how. He has the most sick character arc in this story!!!

It's not a romance but instead a coming of age story where the sole survivor becomes a de-facto parent to Mac. The heart of the story is about how to raise a child while you're still trying to grow up yourself. The apocalypse setting lends itself well because the Wasteland is a place where NOTHING is beautiful, but the way that M!Sosu and MacCready care for their sons is beautiful. Which makes it special and worth fighting for.

As a fun fact, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy for class a week after finishing this fic and I was thinking about this fic the whole time because the themes of fatherhood during an apocalypse hit a lot of the same beats. Maybe my professor would kick me in the teeth by comparing fic to McCarthy, but @sirmanmister YOU ARE MY CORMAC MCCARTHY <3

2. WORKING CLASS HERO on ao3 by @bluegrasskitty

This is the kind of fic you take with you to toilet, to work, in-between classes. It will suck you in. AND THERE'S A SEQUEL TOO YOU GUYS‼️

The sole survivor in this story is the model for the Nuka Cola girl. You know the hot lady in the spacesuit? SHE HAS A BACKSTORY. AND YALL IT MADE ME WEEP. During some point of the story, I sort of stopped rooting for MacCready to be the narrator and just wanted Nora Cabot to take the reins. When I tell you I think of this oc every two to three business weeks. She's an incredible leading lady. I can't look at Nuka Girl posters in the game without thinking of Nora Cabot, my beloved.

the sequel IS SO FIRE. It's the best reimagining of 'what happened after the institute blew up' that I've ever read. im gnawing at the bars of my enclosure actually.

A VERY GOOD PLOT TWIST I CANNOT MENTION TO NEW READERS BUT IF YOU'VE READ IT YOU'LL UNDERSTAND. AND IF YOU UNDERSTAND DM ME I HAVE TO TALK TO SOMEBODY ABOUT IT. HHh.

The amount of world building that @bluegrasskitty puts into this story is insane. They ARE Beth Esda.

As a fun fact, I didn't know that radchickens were canon in fallout. I thought it was a plot device made up by this author to excuse the ability to make cake in this book, but radchickens ARE real. When I was playing Far Harbor last year, I found radchickens and thought that @bluegrasskitty manifested them into existence because they had that kind of power.

that being said, I still think this author has that kind of power.

1. Atom Bomb Baby on ao3 by @starlightwrites

I think you dropped something....my jaw.

fellas. fellas. this is my comfort fic. You ever had a comfort fic? Something you come back to at least once a year to reread to feel something? the fiction equivalent of chicken noodle soup? this is what Atom Bomb Baby is to me. this is peak literature actually. if I ever figure out book binding, im doing this one first.

Plot wise, it's a retelling of Fallout 4's main story through the perspective of MacCready. But (and im wheezing as I say this) it's also so much more THAN THAT.

this fic author understands that MacCready is not a womanizer but is in fact a touch starved loser. and they are CORRECT.

MacCready spends the entire fic like 'uuuhhhh I dunno about this one, boss!'

ITS BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS RAHHHHHH

it also has a nostalgia feel to me too, because reading it gives me the same feeling as what it was like to play the game for the first time, years ago. maybe it's because I've read it so many times over the years, but reading it feels so satisfying.

The author spends 10 chapters at the end solely dedicated to an epilogue. I wish more stories did this. They go through the wringer in this story, and it's so deeply satisfying to see how cleanly everything gets wrapped up. MacCready and the Lola work really well together as a couple, so it's awesome to see how they work together after the battle is done.

6 out of 5 stars.

BONUS FICS !! aka fics that are still updating! I squeal with joy when I get an ao3 email about these: 1. Best Laid Plans on ao3 by @druidgroves - Georgia Tate is an incredible character and sole survivor! She was a teacher prewar, so it's really fun to get her perspective on the world. She cares a lot about education and libraries and I find her really relatable and endearing. It's a cool thing for a character in an apocalypse to care about! It also makes for fun tension with Mac, who's written as a pragmatic survivor. A great take on familiar characters and their dynamics. - And It's a great slow burn! I'm really enjoying reading it. 2. Long Time Running on ao3 by @twosides--samecoin - If you've ever thought that Med-Tek was too convenient an option for Duncan's cure, this fic was written with you in mind. - RJ goes to Canada and im obsessed with it. - If you're interested in fallout lore, specifically the bit where the U.S annexed Canada and wished that there was more info about that, I would highly recommend this fic. Twosides--samecoin put in THE WORK. The world building they do to explain Canada's side of the Great War is so fun!!! its genuinely such a thrill to read!

I'm tagging the authors who I mentioned, if you all have favorite fics (fallout or otherwise, I'd love to hear em!) Thank you for making good art!

[pink-pavlove]

Big fucking spoilers babe

Okay I need to dump. I’m actually gagged Rosie is holding alastors leash. Like GAGGED! I would have never guessed in a million years. Rosie x alastor friendship has been popular in the fandom, ive seen it in so many fics and fanarts. Although when i first watched the series i thought the relationship between them was more of a friendship of convenience and mutual interest (cannibalism, power, murder) more than it was that they actually enjoyed each others company. That being said i still would have never guessed she was such an important character. Now that im over the initial shock lol, im pleasantly surprised.

Alastors backstory. First of all the way it’s presented to us; Alastor going to ask a favor from Rosie and being bitchy about it; is *chefs kiss*. I can’t tell you how much I love seeing this side of al. He’s vulnerable in a way I didn’t expect to see but also stays true to himself trying to smooze or intimidate to get what he wants. Love that for him! I loved his human version. Idc what ppl say about the mustache, *captain holt voice* “that mustache was ERA APPROPRIATE!!”

Oh no, he’s hot! Maybe it’s just cuz his voice doesn’t have the staticy overtone anymore (or maybe it’s cuz he just sounds angry) but his voice is HOT. Human al is a maniacal hottie and I will not apologize for saying it!!!

When Rosie laughs about him getting shot and killed the day after making their bond, and he goes “oh hahahahHaHHAHAHAHAHA! Yesssss… SO! funny…” all sarcastically???? Babe… I’m done. His character is so naturally hilarious they don’t even have to do too much with him.

I’m so excited to see more Vox this season. I love him deerly (haha… ha?) Him absolutely trashing the hotel and making Charlie’s life hell is a great plot point and I honestly want to see it the most. Besides a few quick glimpses of him, there was a storyboard with al and angel dust tied up, apparently Vox kidnapped them. 🥵 girl I’m too twisted to think normally about that. I’ll just leave that one alone….

All the scenes of heaven made me SO MAD!! I hate them fr. Tbh it’s such a great and intelligent commentary on our society and how we treat people we deem worthy/unworthy, (An arbitrary concept that is based in opinion not fact) and how we often let our emotions get the better of us. The way they immediately assume sir pentious forced his way into heaven, that it’s a “trick”. They refuse to acknowledge or even consider that their way of thinking, the things they have been doing, the beliefs they’ve based their society on, might be wrong. They would rather make it almost impossible for new souls (worthy or not) to enter heaven out of fear. Fear that the people they’ve oppressed and abused might fight back, and fear that there actually might be consequences to their actions (if one can be redeemed, than it would be right to assume one can also fall (they even have an example that this is already true, Lucifer!)). It’s disgusting to watch them act this way, but only because it’s so REAL! This is really how people are and it just confirms the theory that the people in heaven aren’t that different than those in hell.

I think all this backs my personal theory that people don’t end up in heaven or hell because of what they’ve done in life, but instead they end up where they THINK they belong. Sir pentious went to hell because he never forgave himself for not coming forward when he should have; for not saving people when he had the chance. So when he did have the chance to save his friends, and he acted on it selflessly, he in his mind believed he had atoned for his past mistakes. Therefore! Landing him in heaven, redeemed.

Further solidifying my theory, he hates it in heaven! I fully believe people end up in hell most of the time simply because they would have more fun there than in heaven! Heaven lowkey sucks. Having to hangout with LUTE? Or stupid fucking ADAM?? Yeah, no, fuck them! Heaven might be nice, but no drugs? No porn? Yeah I’d perfer hell too 😅🤭

Lucifer being a guest at the hotel is also an interesting addition I didn’t expect. The dynamic of the show seems much different than the first season, definitely more intense imo. Didn’t see much or any of angel or husk, (I think there’s a leaked Angel song somewhere but I haven’t found it yet) although I caught a glimpse of cherri bomb curled next to Angel on the couch and I’m really hoping that means we get to see more of her!

Anywaysssss I’m off to look for more spoilers, I’m finding all of the leaks on tiktok btw! I wanna hear you vent so come talk to me about it in the comments or dms 🫶

[failureface]

thoughts on "Welcome Home, Franklin"

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Okay, this special was really great.

I love Franklin. He's a sweet boy who never had a unkind thing to say about Charlie Brown- he was the straight man to the wacky antics of the Peanuts gang. But I never got the feeling he was more than that in the strips. This special serves as the backstory and character that Franklin didn't originally get, but sorely needed.

And this special beautifully and gracefully rights some of the wrongs that past Peanuts media made.

I was surprised this film even went there in terms of discussing racism a little. Peanuts is an IP that you expect people to be overly-protective of. 'No, the scene in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" isn't racist- and it's NOT weird that all the kids are white' is more of what I expected to hear from this. But refreshingly, this special addresses it. Like, YEAH, there IS a lack of diversity! It feels so much better for that stuff to be acknowledged rather than swept under the rug.

I love the fact that Franklin is unsure of himself and his ability to make friends. This makes him super relatable and sympathetic, and also makes a clear connection to why he gravitates towards Charlie Brown. The two of them bond over their shared feeling of being "the Underdog", and not knowing how to make friends or navigate social landscapes. Franklin also opens up Charlie Brown to new experiences and knowledge, telling him about discrimination and introducing him to music he hasn't heard before. Not only that, but Franklin encourages Charlie Brown to be less anxious and push himself further. And Charlie Brown is a much needed friend and sympathetic ear for Franklin. They have each other's back and their bond is undeniable.

That's what this special is truly trying to get at. That friends of different backgrounds and experiences from us can help us to learn and grow as people. I think that's a really wonderful message and one that we all need at any age, and one that we especially need now.

Overall, this special really blew it out of the water, and I gave it five stars.

Special shoutout if you were able to make it to the premiere stream in the Peanuts discord, that made it twice as fun to watch!

Some miscellaneous thoughts under the cut

Franklin's music taste is so elite

The music picks in this movie are honestly fantastic. The soundtrack really elevates the experience and every song is awesome

THE BEACH SCENE! It's so rewarding as a fan to see moments that are plucked straight from the strip. It feels like the people making them really know Peanuts

All the little tiny schrucy crumbs- I eat it up. I know screenshots and gifs will be made and posted and I will be reblogging them.

Lucy and Franklin's beef- I wasn't expecting it but it's so funny and adds some really great dynamics into the fold

Since this is about the friendship between Charlie Brown and Franklin specifically, minor inaccuracies Franklin actually being on Peppermint Patty's baseball team in the strip are forgiven. Some fans more scrupulous than I would probably have an issue with this, but I'm not one of those fans. This isn't 100% faithful to Peanuts Lore but I don't mind.

I LOVED the scene where Charlie Brown wants to pull the breaks and Franklin wants to keep going. It shows so much without saying anything, and it gives way for great conflict that makes sense and comes from real places within the characters

And I love how Franklin is allowed to be mad, and he and Charlie Brown fight. We're not afraid to rock the boat anymore, and it makes Franklin feel so much more human

Just the right amount of Snoopy scenes, this one reached the perfect balance of Snoopy and Story

Everything is just so overwhelmingly cute here I had to restrain myself from writing "cute" or any of its synonyms in my review

"We saved you a seat!" <3333

[cryptids-and-muses]

Post canon homestuck crew play Dungeons and Dragons

Karkat and terezi

Co dms

Unstoppable when actually working together

Terezi will get sidetracked messing with karkat

Karkat trying to write a deep and well fleshed out campaign that’s thematically resonant vs terezi’s desire for chaos and traps and trying to “trick” her players FIGHT

Terezi believes in karma and will make the world bend to this

Karkat is trying to set up romance arcs and argues about how it adds to the theming

Dave draws them fanart of their characters. Terezi loves it while karkat argues about accuracy before admitting yes he also appreciates it

Calliope also does fanart and karkat praises her skill and accuracy unlike some people

John

Arcane trickster rogue

Forest gnome

Just a goofy little guy!

Mostly just playing to have fun, starts off with a fun but simple character who develops over time

Ends up SUPER invested and taking this so so seriously

Karkat worked a dramatic reveal into the, in his words, “bare ass bones two paragraphs that a fucking wiggler could have written backstory” and John did not see it coming and loved it

Goes head to head with terezi a lot on her various traps she designs for them. She is getting more and more absurd with it. Karkat had to talk to her about breaking the world building with things she’s introducing. He is the only rogue. Send help.

Rose

Drow warlock

Tries to justify picking drow as anything other than she just thought it was cool

Nearly went old ones for patron but settled on archfey for story reasons

Has a 10 page lore document detailing her tragic past and her toxic relationship with her patron

It became 15 pages after going back and forth with karkat for a bit and adding even more

Only her and one other person are taking the romance arcs seriously and they become karkat’s favorite players

Tries playing morally ambiguous but terezi can be annoying about that and claims it’s just “the consequences of her actions”

Her and karkat both get very very into the scenes between her and her patron, the drama! The acting! Dave is uncomfortable and karkat brushes it off, it’s not like him role playing as his sister’s abusive girlfriend is weird. It’s in fact very important to the plot Dave

Has written fanfic of the campaign

Jade

Dragonborn barbarian

Path of the beast

Don’t ask me I just know

Her GLEE when she says “I’m gonna rage :D”

ANIMAL COMPANION! She nearly went ranger just for that but knew she wouldn’t have as much fun. Found a way to get one anyway.

It was harder naming her animal companion than her character

Having fun and likes the problem solving side of things, but likes breaking things with her massive strength just as much

Terezi likes to throw stuff at her, both traps and encounters, and finds it funny if she can just wreck her way through

“See John that’s how you deal with a pressure plate trap”

Takes the rp side of things very seriously

Once argued with Karkat over if her favorite npc would do that and cursed him out

Has read roses fanfic of the campaign

Dave

Plays a teifling with grey skin and orange horns

“What are you talking about karkat this is just my dude, don’t you like him?”

Hellus Jeffus

He’s a valor bard, eventually multiclasses paladin

Starts out just trying to mess with people but like John starts getting into it, though he tries to down play it

Have hellus more of himself than he realized and it’s making him face things about himself

Eventually hellus self sacrifices to save the party in this deeply intense moment. There were tears, Dave was wrecked, they went on a whole quest to revive him. It was touching and karkat is smug

Dave might have worked through some things

Jane

Halfling cleric

Her and John are small buddies!!!

Started out life but wasn’t having a lot of fun with it so with terezi’s permission switched to war or tempest with later s few levels in fighter

Her John and Jade are the biggest front liners, John’s character ends up really close with both of them as it’s easier for the rogue to bond with the person giving them sneak attack

Jade and jane’s character have an in game arm wrestling match

Took a bit to get into the rp side of things but eventually got the hang of it

Roxy

Tabaxi, easily, it’s so obvious

After much deliberation settles on glamour bard (though wizard and rogue were tempting for the joke, she wanted to branch out)

So many horny bard jokes but very little actual follow through, karkat gets frustrated by this as she’s all this talk but isn’t pursuing any of the romance options he’s giving her

She has SECRETS! She is HIDING THINGS!! Her cheery persona is a FASADE!!!

Cue complaining to karkat about how hard it is to wait to tell the others about her secrets and him threatening violence if she tells anyone before the in game reveal

She tells jake

Lots of egging on Dave and helping him with his fucking around

The BOND between her and Dave!!! They are the duo to end all duos. Team rocket type shit. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the bards of the party. My theory is it has to do with trading bardic inspiration.

Dirk

Half elf Druid circle of spores

Wildfire seemed fun to him but wasn’t as good

Wasn’t originally planning on being a Druid but after going over all the classes he liked all the customization and decisions that go into Druid like prepared spells and such

Didn’t really think about his backstory much, just improved something. He keeps improving new additions and it’s getting more and more elaborate and complicated. He has multiple hidden and long lost siblings by this point. Still doesn’t write any of this down. If he messes a detail up he justified it with more improv.

Yes his character has spiked up red hair and sunglasses. Don’t question how the Druid got sunglasses karkat.

Really likes the tactics side of things, he’s even pitched a few things to terezi she updated and later worked in

Sometimes works on plans and strategies out of game or making a million back up characters that play off the others in interesting mechanical ways

Is considering becoming a dm some time

Jake

Needed some help making his character, he just didn’t know where to start

Eventually after much discussion settles on a teifling bladesong wizard

Wanting to get away from his usual adventurer style Roxy helped with the backstory and they came up with this evil scientist raised in a cult who’s good hearted but was never taught right and wrong

He gets very into playing him and his moral struggle but can lean a little too good for his backstory, karkat points this out and Jake swears to get better at it

Dave pitched a lot of names for them and it was eventually settled on “Bernard Gunn” even though he has a sword. Jake just likes how it sounds

“Why is he blue jake?” “…..uhhh” “why is he blue?”

Calliope

SHE LOVES THIS SO MUCH

Teifling Druid with a focus on healing

Circle of shepards

Not a troll color pallet like Dave though, honestly it might get a bit trickster

Beautiful backstory that she coordinated with one of the others to make joint. The most obvious choice is Roxy but I think it was actually jade, Jane or John.

She gets so into it you guys, like so into it

Gives at least one dramatic speech completely on the fly

The other character who takes karkat’s romance arcs seriously and his other favorite player

Has also argued with terezi about world building and consistency. This may put her above rose in karkat’s eyes

Was also allowed to read rose’s fanfiction and offered full on reviews

Also considering going into doing but for the opposite reasons to Dirk

Vriska

Fairy artillerist artificer with a dip in war magic wizard

Min maxxed to hell and back

(Technically there was a better race, but fairy has its own advantages and she couldn’t resist)

An elaborate backstory too with some secrets of her own, I’m thinking full on lost princess

Yes she is That Player, you know the one

Has nearly been kicked multiple times and now won’t leave on principle

Not the best at sticking with the party and not just doing whatever she wants, but suprisingly Dirk has been able to talk her into it with his talk of tactics and playing smart

Second most effective is John who just looks at her like “vriska you’re not making this very fun :(“

Kanaya

Fire genasi ranger

Really tried to get into it but this just isn’t her thing so eventually decided to leave the group

Karkat came up with a fun story reason for her to leave and eventually brought her character back as an Npc

Did help rose make a cosplay of her character, after which John, Calliope, and Roxy wanted to make ones too

Vriska eventually tried to “manipulate” into helping her make one for her character

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Would you say that the show itself doesn't respect/understand Katara's trauma?

Let's see:

The first voice we hear in the very begining of the show (not just in the first episode, but in EVERY SINGLE ONE that followed), is Katara's. The first character to explain the show's whole deal, HOPE, is her.

Right away she explains to us through narration the whole conflict of the story, and the series itself immediately shows us how it has affected her and her family personally, with the death of her mother, the departure of her father as he goes to fight in the war, her and her brother struggling to get food, the tribe having no defense.

She is the first person to interact with Aang, the protagonist - and we find out about HER life, HER trauma, and see a bit of HER personality before we even see Aang or find out his name. The show introduces us to KATARA as a character, while Aang and his backstory are still always a bit of mystery until episode 13. For fuck's sake, the reason Aang becomes so endearing so quickly is because he brings the fun of childhood back to Katara and HER village.

The idea of traveling to the Northern Water Tribe is introduced because KATARA wants to be a fighter. And even when it goes from a promise of adventure between two friends to an official mission, Aang is happy that they will learn TOGETHER. Hell, excluding the opening, Katara is the first character we see using any kind of bending on screen, in the actual story.

The death of Kya and how it has severely traumatized Katara is brought up three more times in the first season - when she's comforting Aang, and bonding with Jet and Haru.

The first situation is one of the many times the show will make clear parallel between Aang's anger/grief at what was done to his people and Katara's anger/grief at what was done to hers. She comforts him about Gyatso's death by mentioning the death of her mother, managing to make Aang come back for the Avatar state. In the start of season two, we hear her mention just how tough it is to watch someone she loves be in so much pain. She comforts him again when the Sandbenders take Appa. And then in the Southern Raiders, when Katara wants to murder her mother's killer, Aang EXPLICITLY recalls these moments to explain that he DOES understand what she's going through (same thing she said to him the very first time) and still thinks that this is not what she needs to heal - much like Katara telling him not to weaponize the Avatar State, aka his pain.

Katara's grief over her mother is explicitly shown as a reason why she wants to protect the innocent, to help anyone who needs her. In the Haru episode, she's explicitly shown as a figure that symbolizes hope in the darkest situations, just like Aang is too her. Once again, the show lets her have some time in the spotlight, even in a plot that could have easily been filled by Aang since the dude is basically a messiah. And in the Jet one, while she's being lied to, she IS trying to do something good - and Aang is there with her. Once again, Katara's hero journey, and all the grief that comes with it, is literally being written alongside Aang's.

The show also places great emphasis on her journey to become a poweful warrior, even openly challenging (and giving some trouble) to a master that is unfairly refusing to teach her solely because she is a girl. She gets to hold her own in a fight against Zuko in the season one finale. In season two, when she expresses the desire to be given the title of Sifu like Toph, Aang immediately accepts. Katara is constantly shown to be pretty badass - including in the Southern Raiders, where she looks the man that killed her mom straight in the face and says she's not a helpless little girl anymore, exposing one of, if not THE, main reason why she wanted to be a fighter so bad. To regain power, to protect herself and those she cared about.

And while the show DID highlight these moments of strength from Katara, it also let her be vulnerable. We see her crying after thinking she saw her mother in the swamp, and when she believes her friends see her more as a motherly figure than a kid because she was forced to grow up too fast after Kya's death - and then Toph comforts her because they DO see her as their friend, not just a replacement mom. There's also the beautiful scene of her and Hakoda, in which she is allowed to admit how badly it hurt to suddenly no longer have her dad around, even if it was necessary/for a good cause.

There's also little things like her being allowed to bond with Bato and reconnect a bit with her tribe's way of life after some time away from it, or the show explictly having her tell Hama that it would be an honor to be allowed to learn more about her culture and heritage, which the Fire Nation obviously has robbed her of as the tribe is struggling to just survive. She also is clearly overjoyed when Pakku says it's about time for the North to help rebuild the South.

And, of course, when she's face to face with the man that killed her mother, she is allowed to stay her compassionate self - while still not forgiving him because, surprise surprise, the writers knew what they were doing and did not want to force her to suddenly ignore all that trauma just to half-ass a lesson about forgiveness is ALWAYS the way to go.

Katara is allowed to be strong AND vulnerable. To help AND be helped by others. The show clearly demonstrates, repeatedly, that she isn't just struggling to deal with the death of a parent, but with having to sacrifice her own childhood, not having BOTH parents around, seeing her home be destroyed both literally and figuratively, the feeling of helplessness as this century old war is taking so much from her and others (both dear friends and strangers). The writting for her wasn't perfect, but it was clearly not an after-thought like part of the fandom claims.

Just because she didn't kill a guy and wasn't okay with using bloodbending unless 110% sure there was no other alternative, it does not mean the show didn't take her character and it's struggles seriously. And if this fandom cared about her half as much as they claim they do, they'd recognize that instead of complaining non-stop about how one of the kindest characters in the story didn't suddenly do a 180 turn and go "Murder is great actually"

[emocl0wnpp]

Finally i had time to write the LJ headcanon post..or well my "LJ rewrite"...so here it is!

My LJ rewrite/headcanons!!

( I'll try to leave my oc x canon stuff out of here as much as i can)

🎪

Basics:

Name: Laughing Jack or LJ (or Jackie if you're very close with him)

Age: probably over 200,but in human years honestly no idea-

Gender: AGENDER/GENDERLESS LJ PROPAGANDA!! (He presents as male and refers to himself as one,but technically he can be anything)

Pronouns: honest to god he doesn't care,but since Issac called him a boy,he uses he/him,but otherwise he don't give a fuck

Sexuality: bisexual

Height: 225cm/ 7"3

Twins with Laughing Jill(he's younger by like 10 minutes,Jill treats that as 10 years)

Idk how to list this but he's british🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

🎪

Personality:

Honest to god i don't remember his canon personality💀💀

Basically,he's a jerk. A little dipshit who will cause trouble with his tricks and pranks,especially if he doesn't like you. At first glance he's quite mean and sarcastic,buuut if he finds you cool enough/gets attached he's a whole different person(totally not projecting onto him rn)

Once he actually likes someone enough to consider them a friend,he's much kinder and sweeter.

He's pretty caring actually

He will hold back on his mean and sarcastic comments..unless you're into that

He tries ANYTHING to keep his friends close,literally anything. Magic tricks,jokes,drowning them with candy and affection,tieing them up in his circus so they can't leave,the usual things

He has trouble understanding emotions in general,especially other people's,and has trouble managing his own,ESPECIALLY his anger and saddness

Terrible,horrible abandonment and attachment issues

He's very impulsive,he usually does/says things without thinking them through first(again totally not projecting)

I'll dare to say that my version of LJ has Borderline personality disorder

Idk if this counts to personality or no but my man is touch starved. Touch him once and he won't let go of you

🎪

Other important stuff idk how to categorize:

Scratches himself a lot,especially when he's uncomfortable or nervous...and since he has sharp claws they leave marks(that's why his arms and stomach are wrapped up)

Used to be ashamed of his freckles so he covered them up with makeup(not anymore tho :3)

His favourite candies are lollipops

Dark humor is his favourite thing in the world

my man can stretch his limbs as long as possible,comes in handy when he's lazy to get up to grab something

His british accent comes out when he talks too fast

Throws around medival knight words for fun/to annoy others

He has a circus :^D

And in that circus he has little ghost kids running around(he won't admit but he's kinda like a father figure to them)

He has a little doll collection at his circus

He mostly kills kids between the ages of 10 and above,unless the kid is like extra annoying or something

Like i mentioned before,he's terrified of abandonment

Claustrophobia. Specifically he's terrified of small spaces(thanks to being locked in a small box for god knows how long)

Also fight me but he has a small fear of the dark,mostly in small spaces

🎪

Design/looks:

CONFETTI FRECKLES!!!

Like a lot of them all over his face and body

He has a little mole under his left eye

Scars on his stomach and arms(mentioned above)

His nose can bend (and it goes limp when he's sad/j)

His tongue is long af and is striped

Now that i mentioned stripes he has some on his arms

Used to wear his hair in a low ponytail,but after some time he just stopped caring about his hair..and himself in general

Okay this one involves a bit of oc x canon but hear me out, he was very lanky and skinny,but after meeting Claws he got a bit thicker and more muscular

Small matching tattoo with Claws!!

(For those who find this post before any of my other posts Claws is my creepypasta oc-)

I'll add more pictures of my design for him but i don't have much yet--

Aaaand I can't add any backstory related stuff cuz haven't really changed anything yet-

But i'll edit this post if anything else comes to mind!!

[geneticdriftwood]

I just finished reading green arrow 2023 and I’m thinking about a pre-nu52 dickroy au set shortly after bruce returns to life and dick goes back to being nightwing, but with lian’s current backstory mixed in. the timeline is pretty much standard pre-boot canon, with the major exception that lian “died” like a month before bruce did, and then got yoinked around through time and space, eventually landing in gotham.

so at the time the story starts, she’s ~14 and running around alleytown doing vigilante stuff as cheshire cat, and befriends damian, who’s ~12-13 and struggling to adjust to life with bruce back. they end up working an investigation together (damian doesn’t tell anyone about this) and end up accidentally teleported to a secret base on a distant planet. cue wacky home alone style alien base sabotage hijinks! but they’re gonna need to get home eventually, so they hack some comms to send a coded message back to dick where damians like “richard come pick me up also btw im here with lian she has blue hair and says she’s your niece”.

meanwhile dick is struggling to figure out how to be himself again now that bruce is back, and is still helping out too much in gotham while repressing his conflicted feelings about everything. he and roy aren’t really talking, because a month after roy’s daughter died, dick dropped everything and got sucked into gotham as batman and wasn’t there for roy at all. and there were reasons for that! bruce was dead! but roy did everything to be there for dick when donna died, and this is part of a pattern of dick’s, and there’s a lot of hurt and they haven’t talked about it at all.

but suddenly lian is alive and with damian on an alien planet! naturally dick and roy go on a rescue mission road trip (kory helps with space stuff), and in the process are forced to actually work through all their many years of built up issues. so they’re having vicious arguments and opening up about grief and working through painful memories, all while fighting their way through an alien jungle full of giant carnivorous bugs or something. and we cut between that and little cameos of lian and damian doing fun spykids-but-with-aliens antics! (and eventually we get a happy ending where dick commits to choosing roy & lian & damian & himself over bruce & gotham.)

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

??? Is this where I drop by to share my headcanons about House of Mouse Yuu? Tumblr is so confusing. Anyway, back on track.

It’s a newer idea of mine but I am kicking and screaming about the idea of a Detective! Yuu!

She starts to get suspicious of things after Leona’s overblot. Things are WAY too convenient to be mere coincidences. She at first brushed off Riddle’s overblot as a one time thing. It was clear that Riddle was long overdue for his damn to break.

But Leona, a man of great intelligence as well as physical strength that can beat ten men like he’s squishing a cockroach overblotting during the biggest, most important events for him? Plotting against Diasomnia’s team was clearly only the first layer. The time and place was way too convenient. If Yuu hadn’t been there to find out his secret plan and fool him, it’s likely Leona would have succeeded. What Yuu thought was just a petty ploy for revenge against people who always saw Leona as lesser turns into a game of follow the strings.

Don’t even get me started on book three. Illegal scamming and forced labor? Suspicious. Yuu finds it way too odd that she had the perfect team to beat the overblot after she foils another housewarden’s scheme. Any why so soon after Leona’s overblot? A few months between each blot fight might seem large to some but three overblots in the span of a school year? Each one perfectly linking the first to the next? It doesn’t seem plausible that THREE students secretly decided to act out plans of demise only to overblot afterwards?

Yuu knew they all had sob backstories but GEEZE. (Even Idia found it suspicious about the amount of overblots)

And now, how this all plays out into the House of Mouse.

Yuu goes about her work like a normal person, except she’s incredibly talented at solving puzzles or word games. If there’s an accident in the kitchen while no one is there watching, Yuu puts together clues and finds the answers in record time.

Patrons like Roger (from 101 Dalmatians)might bring a newspaper to the club one night to have some fun with the word cross only to get befuddled when suddenly Yuu pops up behind him and gives him the answers to the hardest ones because she knows it’s rude to ruin people’s fun. Yuu gives Roger a pat on the back and continues on with serving the villains’ food and drinks.

Yuu just knowing oddly specific information about things the crew like Donald or Mickey might not know. For example knowing exactly what Goofy had for breakfast despite being in Twisted Wonderland all morning or where Donald left that one CD in his house boat that he could never seem to find. Or if Minnie and the others can’t remember a code for a work computer or something like that, Yuu walks in when she hears about it and simply types in the entire 20 digit code from memory and then walks out again like it was nothing. Even when Minnie is very sure she never told Yuu the code to that specific device. And that no one had told Yuu, either. (I don’t know why they wouldn’t tell her-maybe for security/safety reasons? Y’know, with Pete{is that his name? I haven’t watched HoM lately} always trying to destroy the HoM?)

Omg—I didn’t realize how much I was rambling until I scrolled?! So I’ll leave you with these last few bits!

•Grim wearing a beige trenchcoat and fedora during the second book while they try to figure out what Leona is hiding and Yuu not having the heart to tell him that’s not actually how detectives/investigators actually dress

•Yuu having multiple impossible to solve rubiks cubes and hand written what-if scenario essays scattered inside her dressing room to pass the time

•Yuu having AT LEAST three makeup items like lipstick or a compact mirror that is actually gadgets like a mini sleep-dart gun or just simply using the mirror to spy on people behind her

•Yuu playing video games like ‘bomb diffuser simulator’ or murder mystery board games like Clue when Ace, Deuce, and others come over

•Yuu ironically/purposefully using a cork board and red string when solving cases just because it’s fun

Okay so when you first said Detective!Yuu, my first thought went to The Great Mouse Detective. Like imagine Yuu and Basil of Baker Street being mystery solving besties (with Basil sitting on her shoulder or breast pocket). I feel like detective!Yuu would remind Basil of Sherlock Holmes (especially in that one scene in the Savanaclaw manga where Grim wears the classic deerstalker and is holding a smoking pipe)

Meanwhile Professor Ratigan is sulking because he was supposed to be besties with her.

I remember there was this one Goofy cartoon which was 'How To Be A Detective' and Yuu is just in the sidelines shaking her head and laughing at all of his antics.

Since Yuu is just a teenager I reckon that she wouldn't be an actual detective but would be more like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew or the characters in the Enid Blyton books, 'Famous Five' or 'The Five Find-Outers and Dog.

I bet that she even goes head on with Professor Von Drake for a battle of the minds when he gets too full of himself (and then beats him, much to Mickey's amusement).

[angelmichelangelo]

ugh i was thinking abt karai all of last night and it made me Angry. the missed opportunities of karai in 2012 are TRAGIC. she wouldve been such a good older sister living with the turtles and splinter like can you IMAGINE the antics. karai purposefully pissing off raph and they get into sibling slap fights. she indulges mikey on whatever he wants bc hes the youngest and won her heart immediately. she makes fun of donnie for being a nerd but also consistently brings him snacks and makes him go to bed when hes been in his lab for a while. her and splinter talking about their traumas and healing as father and daughter. AUUUGGHG ciro when i catch you. ciro you mf

oh absolutely!! it's so sad that such a big chunk of the entire tmnt plot was karai's backstory and getting her back to her family, and once that was all achieved she kinda just.. faded into the background like a cousin that occasionally showed up every now and then for big showdowns.

ESPECIALLY since she was splinter's long lost daughter. the daughter he'd told his sons about countless times, the one where he'd mention her, get all sad and go 'but no worries i have you boys now:)' like ??? that could have made for some AMAZING storylines. a little bit of jealousy for angst? splinter's guilt?! them trying to relearn their entire family dynamic.. and they chose to go with 'yeah the whole leo and karai thing was weird. that's still going strong btw just a heads up'

we really were robbed of her interactions with the turtles one to one. i'll say this: the turtles relationships with each other? great, fantastic, love to see it. but outside of their brothers.. yeesh. they don't mix well in terms of how they're written. and a lot of characters suffer for it. i can't think off the top of my head a single time karai interacts with, say, mikey, alone. just even in the background. like yeah they pair her and leo off together a lot and raph chews her out a few times but she really deserved to actually hang out with her little brothers a lot more and that's sad :(

i would have really have loved to see everything you mentioned! i think (and correct me if im wrong) but mikey is like the only one who outright calls her their sister. i would have loved to have seen an entire episode where the rest of the brothers kinda come to terms with that, leo ESPECIALLY! he's a daddy's boy at heart and now his dad's first child is back and he maybe feels a bit put out. maybe don raph and mike already feel like they never got enough attention have to try and cope with the fact that they feel even more pushed out, even if not on purpose.

and then on top of that, the guilt karai feels, torn between feeling glad she has her real father back, and sad because she doesn't know this man like the others quite do and she knows she's taking up his time and attention... :( there was so much they could have done! and yet!! and yet!!!!!!!

ugh. i guess that is what fanfiction is for, huh friend :') lol

[amphiptere-art]

I've been on vacation and I don't know if I've shared any of these ideas. I think they've mostly stuck to discord conversations. So I'm going to post them out here.

Number one thing. Blue Moon will exist in arcade in a more... Standard fashion. Arcade Eclipse. While technically looking exactly like Blue Moon and supposed to be blue moon. Isn't really Blue Moon. They are blue moons origin. They are what Blue Moon was supposed to be. Blue Moon evolved far past that. So I'm going to be making a new Blue Moon in Arcade! As cannibalistic and teenager/child-esk as possible. Now of course dimensional travel does not exist in arcade. Magic does though. And so can shitty parents. I'm still working on this version. So I'm not sure what the new sporadic danger will be. But this is going to be based on after story Blue Moon a little bit. Where they are totally with crimple, and old lunar is a much bigger force.

Onward to objective number two. Which is something I've actually been holding on to for the Stardust arcade storyline. But vapor will be existing. Vapor still has a tragic ass backstory and suffers from abandonment issues. But they will exist. Hopefully I will get to the part where I explain their story at some point. As they will be fading out of Stardust arcade once I introduced them. But the basic is. Vapors smoke still does stuff. But it's more out of a magic-y panic. Vapor wasn't forgotten because of some star juice magic. But instead just because the company was being an ass and told everybody he was dead when he wasn't. Wondering around thinking is abandoned until the Stardust storyline catches up to him.

Another thing! Again to be introduced in Stardust. Sundown, Sköll, Leiðr, code Moon, are all existing. They will be introduced in Sundown for a small scene. Sundowns entire little town is also coming with. And also. For those of you who were really confused about that one post where I talked about how relationships are going by my own arcade rules now. Sundown and Sköll are a thing.

Also! The sulky star cluster. They are also being moved over because I fucking love them. Stories are remaining mostly the same except doled down, and singular worlds are just establishments. I still haven't quite settled on the biker gang concept. But they are leaning that direction. Where they are basically a gang of delinquents that wander around and just kind of do shit. They have a Hangout spot at Sundowns. Also to be introduced in Stardust.

Another thing. I have been calling this thing the Neptune pack. But it is essentially a pack of blood moons run by a leader. They are going to be a bunch of hyenas. Might play a part with vapor. But either way they are going to be a group of aggressive fighting robots. Only held together by what I can only describe as a gang leader. It's an interesting concept and it will be coming soon.

Another thing. I have been thinking of honey and cider. I'm currently caught between doing a similar thing that happened in sulky star cluster. Or trying to figure out what happened to their singular establishment that would lead to the same results as cannon. Might do a bit of both. But they will be coming. Although I think they will also be separated like it's tough to be a god AU. As their interactions have been quite sparse.

Last thing that is not related to arcade. I have come up with this concept of a clockwork sun, and shipwrecked moon. I have been listing off little scenarios in a discord. And I will definitely make a separate post for them. I'm just not going to post the whole idea here because this is mostly around arcade. But this little silly scenario is currently in the works.

Anyways I think that's everything I thought about over the vacation. Have a nice fun time reading this because I'm not actually going to write a shortened version until I have these figured out all the way. Toodles.

[anthurak]

So after watching Western Energy again, I was reminded of a fun bit of theorizing I’ve seen tossed around and have been thinking about a bit myself:

Just WHO is going to ultimately be taking down or putting down Striker for good?

(Before I go any further, YES it is possible that Striker gets some kind of redemption arc. But nothing we’ve seen thus far in any of his appearances points to him going in such a direction. At this point he’s really nothing more than a narcissistic asshole getting high off his own ego and milking a potentially tragic backstory as an excuse to abuse those he considers ‘beneath’ him. To anyone who’s been following me for a while and is familiar with my RWBY posts, I think we kinda have another ‘Fuck-You-Goatman’ situation going on with this guy.)

To begin with what I think is the most obvious option, I actually DON’T think Moxxie and/or Millie are going to be the ones to kill Striker. Simply because they already GOT their big climactic ‘rematch’ fight against Striker in Western Energy. And while they didn’t take Striker down for good, the M&Ms did pull off a fairly decisive win, so I feel comfortable in saying they ‘payed Striker back’ for what he did to them in Harvest Moon Festival. Unless Striker decides to pursue a rivalry, I think Moxxie and Millie have more or less ‘finished their business’ with him.

Moving on to a character who does have ‘unfinished business’ if you will with Striker, let’s talk about Blitzo. Unlike with the M&Ms, I could see this happening, particularly if Striker goes after Stolas again. Thereby leading to Blitzo fighting and ultimately killing Striker to protect Stolas. That being said, I also can’t help but feel like Striker threatening Stolas would end up coming off like a repeat of what happened in Western Energy, just with Blitzo replacing Moxxie and Millie. Not to mention that Blitzo’s and Stolas’s relationship issues are far too complex to be resolved simply by a dramatic rescue. Regardless, Striker can certainly make for a strong villainous foil to Blitzo, so some kind of big showdown between these two certainly feels plausible.

We also have the possibility of Stolas himself doing Striker in, as a number of people have noted Striker bringing up Octavia in Western Energy, to which Stolas gets pissed. Meaning that we could have a scenario wherein Striker threatens Octavia and Stolas winds up ripping him apart to protect his daughter. That being said, Stolas clearly isn’t that much of a fighter, plus Striker ultimately isn’t more than just the minion of Stolas’s real nemesis; Stella and/or Andrealphus. Meaning that I imagine some kind of dramatic showdown is more likely against them.

Now we come to what I consider to be not so much the most ‘plausible’, but definitely the most FUN option:

Does anyone else remember how Striker was all too happy to go 1v2 against Moxxie and Millie in Western Energy, and before that against Blitzo and Moxxie in Harvest Moon Festival…

…yet as soon as LOONA showed up, he fucking CHEESED it?

Now, we could argue that this is meant as a hint towards Striker not being the hyper-competent badass he likes to paint himself as. Basically, he’s happy to fight those ‘smaller’ than him who he considers ‘weaker’ like Blitzo, Moxxie and Millie. Yet as soon as someone bigger and potentially stronger than him shows up, eg; a hellhound like Loona, Striker immediately legs it. In short, Striker is a bully. (See also, Striker only going after a Goetia like Stolas when he has a full-blown arsenal of weapons and gear meant to hurt and subdue powerful demons.)

That all being said, I can’t help but feel like Harvest Moon Festival indicated that Striker does NOT want a fight with Loona. So what if the show ultimately forces him into one?

For one, it just feels like a great opportunity for Loona to really cut loose and for the show to display just how deadly our favorite goth hound really is. Like I’ve seen some back-and-forth about whether Millie or Loona is really the ‘best’ or ‘strongest’ fighter at I.M.P. and what I think should be kept it mind is that while Millie is certainly deadly, she’s also something of a glass cannon, ie; a solid hit or two can easily take her out of a fight. Something we actually saw both times she was in a fight with Striker.

By contrast, I have a hunch that while Millie is a glass cannon, Loona is a juggernaut. As in, when she’s in a serious fight she can get repeatedly beaten, stabbed, shot, and just not give a fuck whatsoever. Like imagine if she just goes into a feral, berserker rage where absolutely nothing is going to make her let up. For one, I feel like this would make for a fun a very satisfying fight against Striker.

With how much Striker has been riding and playing up his ‘cool, unflappable, stylish badass’ routine, I think it would be VERY cathartic to see that shtick crumble in the face of someone like Loona. As in, we see Striker become more and more terrified as NOTHING in his arsenal is able to take down a fully unhinged, berserk Loona.

And going back to the possibility of Striker kidnapping or otherwise threatening Octavia, I also can’t help but feel like Loona protecting Octavia from Striker is a more fun option. Partly because it’s a bit of a surprise with most people likely expecting Stolas to be the one to protect or rescue Octavia, and also I think we can all agree that Loona being violently protective of Octavia would be both awesome and cute :D

[dapper-lil-arts]

Thoughts on rarijackdash, startrixburst, and chrysarmordance? For me, these are personally my favorite mlp ot3s

I personally hc that Rainbow Dash actually does enjoy dressing up(a la g3 Rainbow Dash, but only occasionally), so other than modeling(cuz she doesn't like sitting still) she actually enjoys Rarity's work(besides, both AJ and RD are like the heroes in Rarity's tropey adventure romance books, with one being strong and brave, and the other being swift and cunning), and there's just something about Rainbow and Applejack's constant competitiveness

I could NEVER break up startrix, and for starburst I really enjoy the childhood friends dynamic. I've actually consumed more mlp fan content than the actual show or comics, so I don't know much about Trixie and Sunburst's dynamic, so they might be better as queer-platonic, but I do enjoy the hc of them both being trans(Trixie being transfem and Sunburst being transmasc)

I think it would be sweet if two beings of love were wives, but it would funny if they were also the wives of Just Some Guy(TM)

Ohhh very very interesting, okay lemme give my thoughts cause this is a good ask

rarijackdash - This one is pretty funny, because i see exactly what you find appealing about it, its like a love triangle that ends in a polycule n stuff. Rarity keeping the competition going because she likes both of them and loves them fighting for her affection is very cute; but i have never even concidered this one, because there is no world in my mind in which between AJ and RD competing for someone's romantic affections (specialy rarity) that applejack wouldn't win by a landslide everytime, lmao. I'm sorry to rainbow dash fans but the girl is tragicaly self centered and nigh charmless; but i definitely see the potential on what you mean! (also ive recently discovered that Rainbow had closer to rarity's personality on g3 which is very fun) Though hey, i see the potential you mean! its a cute trio. (rarijack has made me mentally ill though i love it too much. 20 pages in to writing a shrek1 but its rarijack fic and i'm not stopping) Okay now the case with startrixburst is an peculiar one, because although sunburst is def one of the best male characters in the show, thats also an incredibly low bar, so i never really thought of it; i do find it funny for a failpolycule of unicorns centered around the biggest failgirl of all time, starlight tho. Worth stating i never paid much mind to the childhood friends backstory because it pissed me off that starlights backstory is "i was traumatized bc i was inconvenienced as a kid and now i'll make it everyones problem" its hard to salvage a character after such a weak ass backstory. But hey, it does seem to come naturaly to make this polycule trio, i aint got nothin against it! (lord knows the startrix dynamic is impecable though) Okay in the case of chrysarmordance, this might be my favorite of all three because like. i thought of how bland shining and cadance's relationship was on the show, then i thought of how simple Cadance and chrysalis would be, but if you stick her boy in the middle; suddenly something really fucking funny happens. Whether its two beings of love arguing over 1 white boy, or if its Shining getting cucked by a bug monster, the entire thing becomes fucking hilarious, with such a potential for hilarious jokes. Alright imma do something i normaly wouldnt do and show some disjointed notes of a multiverse story i'm writing because it's pertinent to this ship and also fucking hilarious.