#it's fun to have a 'my appearance is a weapon' character who isn't thinking about desirability though

[sith-shenanigans]

The degree to which Ahene cares how she looks or doesn’t care how she looks seems really situational until you realize that she basically always cares how she looks, she just thinks it should be appropriate to the situation. She will definitely pretend she doesn’t care, though.

[girlbowser]

What exactly does "gloves is canon" mean, if you don't mind me asking?

let's just fucking get right into it.

Ultimate Rose Pt. 2: Gloves Are Canon

if you haven't seen part 1, here it is. the tldr version of it was to estabish candy rose (at the VERY least) as a liar. i also have a headcanon about ultrose putting alpha earth rose into front in candy timeline, but that doesn't really matter too much. its just kinda fun

anyway. heres the theory.

so you guys know A Threat, Sensed, right?

it's one of the hs2 bonus comics. originally patreon exclusive, but was made public for everyone during the hiatus. and i think it contains some deeply revealing information.

you may be wondering... hey, isn't that the comic where ultdirk talks to hussie about yiffy? like, its hussie's one appearance in the comic. kind of weird.

ahaha. yeah. so. about that.

let's rewind a bit. what's the contents of A Threat Sensed?

dirk wakes up after having the shit kicked out of him in pesterquest.

rose is like huh? huh wuh? but dirk gives her a thumbs up. and then he goes to sit on his computer, and type to god.

and then after that delay, he gets a reply.

etc etc etc. they talk. they chat. hussie talks about his beloved daughter yiffy. normal stuff. hey roll that last one back

let's play in this space. lets play in this space. perspective. daughter.

who's daughter is yiffy?

---

let's rewind.

when homestuck act 6 dropped, it released with one very important page.

this page.

this page, where someone with seemingly grey skin is typing on a keyboard. holy fuck, what a reveal. new troll. oh my god. this is the 13th troll

like, they have to be a troll, right? theyve got the time stuff. theyve got a symbol. theyve got shit going on with them

ah.

they were wearing gloves.

this? this is fucking huge.

in homestuck we see that shot a lot. of fingers on a keyboard. but every single time we have seen it, we have also seen at least one shot of the person typing, right?

with two exceptions. one is callie in the act 6 reveal.

and the other is andrew.

er, sorry.

"andrew."

from the patreon post on A Threat Sensed:

those are fake hands. what. what . what. what.

so

if this comic has a history of having a reveal when it comes to characters where Only Their Hands are being shown

and gloves are canon to homestuck, and have been used to precipitate this reveal

then perhaps

gloves are canon here as well.

if you'll allow me to speculate. on the gloves are canon in question.

yeah of fucking course rose is pretending to be hussie because WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE adjKFJGSKDHdskjgjkfskjgdsf

ITS ROSE!!! IT WAS ROSE THE WHOLE TIME

LETS REREAD.

"is that why you were lying on the floor" a question that Rose had because she saw his ass lying on the floor!!!!!!!

MY DAUGHTER

MY DAUGHTER YIFFANY LONGSTOCKING LALONDE HARLEY

hm purple background. anyway im sure thats fine

hm. hm. hm. psychoanalysis. hmmm. hm.

now if i was rose

if i was ultrose. and i wanted an ultimate weapon against dirk.

if i wanted to Make A Weapon Against Dirk.

what would i do.

how would i create it.

who would i hurt in the process.

anyway. this is all leading up to part 3 of this fucking nightmare roller coaster. but uh. basically. i think this one is like all but confirmed????

like...

We’ve had quite a bit of speculation on whether this is “really” Andrew. To that, I think we’d say that it doesn’t “really” matter. If you’re asking are those Andrew’s actual hands, then no, of course not. Because those hands are fake hands that are on the computer screen.

this sounds like it's telling us no, it's not "really" andrew. and to look at the hands. and we KNOW from part 1 of this theory that rose is incredibly deceitful.

the delay in "andrew"'s response could have plausibly been rose slipping away into her little hidey hole, putting on the stupid fucking gloves, and only then typing.

andrew never confirms who he is. and i'll admit, some of the lines don't sound 100% like rose. but others do. others really, really do.

i like this theory because it makes rose and dirk's rivalry on deltrius interesting. it means she has legs up on him. he thinks he's talking to hussie, but he isn't. she has plans within plans. she's got shit she's cooking.

i like it because it contextualizes yiffy, too.

hm wow it sure seems like the candy timeline isnt actually all that sealed! it sure seems like theres something in there that is a corrosive paradox! something that affects both timelines!

something

or someone!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway. yiffy is an ultdirk icbm created by rose . rose wore gloves. gloves are canon. that's my theory graaaaaaaaaahhh

part 3 coming soon :3

[dododan]

Thoughts about Alastor after the episode "Hello, Rosie"

Perhaps first such a small summary for those who haven't read my previous posts about Alastor.

Alastor's deal with someone has worked out. Officially we don't know with whom, but my theory is that it is Lilith.

Alastor is obliged by the contract probably to help/protect Charlie. His intentions are not clear, and he harbours many secrets.

He is not fond of Lucifer. Theories are that he either sees him as a threat to Charlie's hotel and dreams, or he is redirecting negative emotions about his own father and how Lucifer treated Charlie onto him.

Alastor enjoys being in the company of women and probably likes/appreciates Charlie. Perhaps he sees himself as her mentor.

His help, although chaotic and initially incomprehensible seems to be having an effect and actually helping the hotel and Charlie.

Alastor has a weakness for jazz and alcohol, but we don't see him ever drinking alcohol in the series.

His enemy is Vox, but he is more annoyed by Lucifer (probably because he is stronger than him).

Alastor doesn't like to lose or be wrong.

Here you have a link to previous thoughts if you are curious.

Alastor’s true motivations? - Why is he helping Charlie?

Dad beat Dad - Alastor, what the hell are you doing?

Traditionally, there are loads of spoilers here!

From the outset, Alastor seems interested/intrigued by Charlie sitting in the room and spinning another plan. Clearly he saw an opportunity in. Charlie was alone, so he could talk to her in peace. A plan was already forming in his head.

On Instagram, one girl made a fair analysis of Alastor's facial expressions. What expression on his face signifies what emotion. Which proved to be very helpful in understanding him! Here you have ig: @/sasha_draws.bg She did a really great job! But back to Alastor.

When Alastor feels some negative emotion, lines/wrinkles appear under his eyes. Which is true when you pay attention to the previous episodes, but in this 'Hello, Rosie' it is particularly noticeable.

For most of the time in this episode, Alastor seemed concerned to me.

When Alastor was talking to Charlie I had the impression that he was provoking her. He made Charlie painfully aware of how badly her plans had failed, which seems cruel. Initially this could be understood as simply an opportunity to take advantage of Charlie and make a deal, but I think this is just an added benefit. Alastor is bound by his contract to the hotel and Charlie, so he can't leave her. But Alastor has besides made Charlie realise that she can't idly brood on the bed because she doesn't have that luxury. Her friends were waiting for a plan, they were waiting for Charlie.

Charlie gave up at that point, and Alastor made her realise that there was still a chance to make things right somehow. He exasperated her, and showed her that she couldn't give up - in a rather cruel way but still, it's not always kind words or words of support that help you up.

Sometimes the painful realisation of the truth is the best motivator to undertake change.

For a moment, Alastor seemed annoyed that Charlie thought she had him figured out because she smiles all the time. He made her realise that the opposite is true.

A smile can be a weapon on many fronts. You could say that he gave Charlie some cue about his own behaviour. His lecture about smiling shows a lot about him.

Alastor hides a lot - his emotions, motivations or goals. He revealed to Charlie that he himself puts on a mask. The smile gives Alastor a sense of control.

The question is, isn't Alastor also lying to himself in this way?

He is creating himself as a cruel overlord, a person without a conscience who inflicts suffering on others for fun. It makes me wonder if he hasn't started to believe himself in the character he wants to pretend to be?

Nevertheless, no matter how good Alastor's goals may be attributed to him, or that his actions have a good effect on the hotel and Charlie, he still made a deal with her. He was aware that Charlie would not give up her soul to him and would not do anything against herself. Their deal is that Charlie is to help him like friend to friend when he needs it without hurting anyone, and he will give her information. Quite a specific arrangement and very narrow. To me their deal is a bit of a lifeline for Alastor when he finds himself trapped by his own contract.

[As an aside, I've noticed that a lot of people think that the stitches appearing on Alastor's lips are a sign that he can't talk about his deal. I doubt this because of the design of his character. Alastor was shown at many points to be dealing with voodoo or somehow connected to it. This is indicated by the green symbols that appear when he uses his powers, and the stitching that appears on his mouth probably refers to the very design of the voodoo dolls, which also had their mouths stitched in this way. Ironically in my opinion, voodoo is generally good magic, focusing on healing or helping, which doesn't really fit Alastor. Unless one considers the distinction between white and black magic as it is known in New Orleans. But I also point out that I'm not an expert, but I'm just partly familiar with the subject of voodoo and just wanted to show a reference to Alastor's appearance here].

I think Alastor's worry or uncertainty is most evident when he leads Charlie to Rossie. You can see the look on his face and those wrinkles under his eyes. This could be interpreted as:

he's upset that the angels are about to exterminate in the hotel and the only person who can oppose it is preoccupied with his love problems rather than more important matters.

He is upset/worried that he realises he won't be able to help Charlie this time, so he leads her to the only person who is more knowledgeable about love than him: Rossie.

He is nervous because he sees that he might fail if the hotel is destroyed, and that this might somehow breach his contract.

Alastor and Rossie seem to have a very intimate relationship, which was implied in the episode " Scrambled Eggs" when they were at the Overlords meeting. Now we have confirmation that they are very close friends. Rossie can afford a lot in Alastor's company and he allows her to do so. It also seemed to me that when he met Rossie he relaxed a bit, as the wrinkles under his eyes disappeared for a few scenes.

All in all, I'm not surprised that Alastor and Rossie are friends.

Rossie is the opposite of Alastor in a way. She seems transparent in her feelings and genuinely cares about her cannibals. But she also has the strength and power to allow herself to do so. Alastor, on the other hand, plays and hides emotions all the time, and gains power through fear. Despite this, he gets along very well with Rossie, which may mean he's not quite what he makes himself out to be.

I also think that Rossie's words about it being actions that show true nature and feelings may apply to Alastor and his role in season two in the future. But we can already see this now, for example, in the fact that his duet with Lucifer, where Alastor sang that he wanted to replace Charlie's father, ultimately led to a reconciliation between daughter and father which Alastor seemed to be happy with.

We also have it made clear that Alastor is asexual.

Rossie commented that Alastor could learn manners from Charlie. It is possible that what is meant is that when someone annoys Alastor, he does not mince his words. He makes his opinion clear - Susan is a perfect example of this.

Alastor and Rossie really seem close to each other, such as when they look at each other when Charlie panics, or how they dance with each other or their negativity towards Susan. Additionally, Alastor must have had a close business relationship with Rossie since she had an assignment for him and when she said that he never let her down. I got the impression that this gave him considerable satisfaction. Plus it helped the image he wanted to create for Charlie - that he was reliable.

Alastor also seems to put his faith in Charlie after all. Rather than believing in her plan of salvation for sinners, he believes more in the girl's ability to draw crowds and motivate people to action other than through fear or deals. It is hard to say whether he admires this trait of Charlie's, but he certainly appreciates her for it.

Alastor supported Charlie during her song when she had to convince the cannibals to fight - either by giving her the microphone or showing her a thumbs up. I further related that he was slightly worried/nervous, but also pleased after seeing his actions bear fruit.

Alastor also made it clear to Rossie that he valued Charlie and expected nothing less from her than to thrill the crowds. But the important thing is that he referred to her as the Princess of Hell, not Charlie. Alastor has made it clear for the first time that he wants to fulfil Charlie's potential, this shows that despite the faith he has in her, he still only sees her as the Princess of Hell and not Charlie as someone who is more than just a princess.

A break for now, as it's quite late at my place, so expect the rest of the analysis tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the furthest.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 01/07

Anonymous asked:i think youre the first liveblogger ive seen to actually remember that orphaner dualscar was eridan’s flarping name?

Mindfang clearly describes the Serkets, so I wonder if Dualscar says anything about the Amporas?

Eridan's greatest enemy does have a duality theme, after all - and he was certainly scarred when the guy stole his crush >:)

@captorations asked:i have terrible news regarding homestuck and the good place: https://x.com/nbcthegoodplace/status/1039908767763259392?lang=en not to mention that. well. the two share more than you've encountered yet. it's very likely not a coincidence. have fun! oh and. re: my ongoing campaign of pointing out the homestuck ancestry of tlt characters. please compare aradia's "i am very much alive and i intend to stay that way" with dulcinea's "i'm not in the river and i won't ever be again"

...oh my god.

On reflection, this makes a lot of sense. Homestuck's fandom is pretty large, and some of its members were bound to be involved in the production of mainstream media. Still, it's wild to see a Homestuck reference - or, technically, a Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff reference - on the official Twitter for a show this big.

And Aradia does have a lot in common with Dulcinea, doesn't she? For one thing, they didn't really start influencing the plot until after they died.

Anonymous asked: Not really important anymore, but looking at what Gamzee has in his Strife Deck, it doesn’t look like he has any ranged options: he’s got the bowling pins, what appear to be a discarded sickle and lance from Karkat and Tavros respectively, what I’m PRETTY SURE is a whip of some sort, and the Zillyhoo hammer. The closest to a ranged weapon in that stack is the whip, or maybe the pins if he’s willing to throw them, but neither seem like they’d work very well against Vriska. Barring some secret power or other plot twist, I think Gamzee would genuinely be the underdog in that matchup. (Which feels weird, because Gamzee’s been mutating into a slasher villain while Vriska’s still very much an antihero protagonist. Usually the power balance is the other way around with those archetypes!)

On the face of it, Gamzee didn't seem to have great odds in that fight - but it's hard to know for sure with this pesky Bard. His Strife Deck contains plenty of cards we haven't seen, and whatever he did to the Black King is still shrouded in mystery. Everything's just so uncertain with him.

@mimescantscream asked: I've really been holding back all this time, but now that we've met the Grand-highblood, it really is extra painful to see a Gamzee who was once incredibly loving of his friends (despite their constant ridicule) end up falling down the path that fate seems to have pre-ordained for him. Was he truly always meant to repeat echoes of the past? Could things ever have gone differently for him?

Yeah, I've been having similar thoughts. His PoV seemed completely sincere, so I don't think his original personality was a fabrication, or anything. I think there is a part of Gamzee that cares about his friends - and maybe even he wants it back.

@jade-harley-real asked: […] I want a rant on the bad doctor from you pls pls pls

Scratch is straight up the scariest character in Homestuck.

What's he up to now? Hard to say since we're not telling him what to do. Guardians can never be told what to do.

The aura of menace he's cultivated is incredible, especially considering he barely even moves. He's playing the entire cast like a fiddle, armed with nothing but a typewriter and his own supercharged brain - and there's no doubt in my mind that his confidence isn't a mask. He knows he's going to win in the end.

English is coming. He's basically already here.

@elkian asked: I'll probably never be a Vriska FAN, but I gotta admit, she really never had a chance, what with the only adults in her life being: a trollvorous spider 1 missed meal away from eating her, Marquise "I do what I want" Mindfang, and Doc Scratch. Some role models! @manorinthewoods asked: So, now that Mindfang has been revealed, here's a question for you: how much of Vriska's Vriskyness is because she's Vriska, how much is because of Mindfang, how much is because of her lusus, and how much is because of Alternia in general? ~LOSS (20/6/24)

This is why I don't think she'd be like this on Earth. At this point, it's obvious that none of her Incidents were the result of her personality as it naturally arose.

I mean, look how anti-Aradiacide she was! They weren't even really friends!

Anonymous asked: ‘AA: there are all sorts of friends to meet AA: ones you already know and ones you dont’ I mean…couldn’t she just be referring to various doomed selves? I don’t see why the dream bubbles would just be confined to the alpha timeline seeing as the furthest ring is weird in terms of time and space

I was assuming that only Alpha Timeline deaths would be preserved by the Bubbles, but you're right - I'm not sure that was a reasonable assumption.

The Horrorterrors seem to eschew the concept of the Alpha Timeline. and, they've coordinated with both Doomed and Alpha versions of Rose and Dave. Plus, yeah, there is no time in the Ring, so timelines are probably meaningless there. Why would it only interface with the Alpha?

If the Bubbles do preserve doomed souls, then we might also run into the John who died to Typheus, and the Jade he couldn't save. That's a pair of ghosts I'd be very interested to meet.

Anonymous asked: If every Aradia comes back from every doomed timeline, the number would double each time, so you could get over a thousand of her with only ten doomed timelines.

Fair point- although, if an already doomed Aradia went back in time again, she'd be double doomed. Is that even possible? Would she die twice as quickly?

@mhafanlol2000 asked: Your issues with quirks and speech-to-text are pretty simple to explain. If a troll were to speak into a non-modified speech-to-text program, it would output text with their quirk. Because they, quite literally, speak in their quirk. Terezi probably isnt actually saying “YOU H4V3 LOST TH3 G4M3”, each number at a time, but the vibes are definitely there. I don’t know, this is hard to describe if you don’t inherently get it.

I think, jokes aside, it is indeed about the vibes.

In the troll intro pages, you get told a little about how each troll talks, and I think that's how we're supposed to translate their quirks to an audible medium.

Anonymous asked: i think ppl in the fandom have over time kinda built up a like, generally separate understanding of quadrants from how theyre described in the "official" explanation. which is like, not representative of how these terms are used in homestuck, but probably more useful for describing Good relationships that Do Not Suck. like basically making moirails equivalent to being queer platonic partners, making blackrom more about having a healthy fun rivalry, that kinda stuff.

It's funny, actually - I don't think I've encountered a single asker who accepts the quadrants as they're originally described.

The main issue is that, with the possible exception of matespritship, we haven't seen a single troll relationship with reflects the infodump's explanation of the quadrants. I think Hussie might just have jumped the gun a little when dropping it.

Anonymous asked: Shoutout to Karkat poking his friends in the background! Terezi (crying over Dave) and now Soloux (talking to Terezi). Karkat isn’t sure what the right response is but wants to be included! Reminds me of actual cats, just putting a paw on you for no discernible reason. @manorinthewoods asked: I'd like to note that Karkat poking Terezi's tears is the same sprite (and same 'poooke'!) as Karkat poking Sollux's burnt-out eyesockets. ~LOSS (12/6/24)

My man just likes poking.

@alicesoinions asked: not much to say just wanted to say I really enjoy your liveblog!!

Glad you're enjoying!

I've actually got a few new followers recently. Maybe I'm showing up in people's recommendations?

@heliotropopause asked: Dream bubbles are pretty neat, eh? Neat enough to inspire half of HtN, I'd bet.

…wait.

Oh my god, you're right. It's literally a River Bubble. They're both located in afterlives, for crying out loud!

Anonymous asked: Wanted to thank your liveblog for reminding me of a lot that I had flat out missed in canon, due to not putting it together or just reading too quickly. Most recently and notably on my mind right now, is that Feferi is the one who set up the dreambubbles!!! I had always thought that they were just a part of the world that readers didn’t know about yet, like how we weren’t yet introduced to Alternia and it’s moons until act 5. This went right over my head and it has me absolutely REELING (fishing pun included just for fef!!)

Feferi truly is the MVP.

I wonder what happened to dead Players before the Bubbles?

They're certainly not the only type of afterlife in the multiverse. Alternia has at least two types of undead, which implies that the Players are very, very lucky to have retained their personhood postmortem. Imagine this was what Feferi looked like in Jade's dream.

Anonymous asked: Knowing sollux, he probably already had coded his tech to recognize if his speech ever changed, and gave himself a different typing quirk for it, long ago. Not because he knew or thought it would happen, but because he thought it would be a fun coding project ((I know nothing about coding))

And yet, you somehow know exactly how we think.

Anonymous asked: Something I hadn’t really thought about, until I started reading this liveblog, is how much VRISKA ((autocorrect decided to caps that and I’m leaving it in lol)) was manipul8ted into a lot of her violence. Scratch pushed her towards vengeance against Aradia, and she didn’t want to go through with it. Did VRISKA ever tell anyone how much of her live she spent resisting these forces, or even really acknowledge it? She didn’t hide Spidermom, and arguably her need to kill other trolls was to prevent herself from being killed. BUT on the other hand, VRISKA voice would make it sound like a compliment “I almost didn’t kill you why don’t you appreciate me!!!!!!!!”

The thing is, VRISKA probably felt a lot of social pressure not to tell people she was coerced into her crimes. That would reveal that she was reluctant to kill, which is the opposite of what the Empire wants.

@manorinthewoods asked: You could have written a great Homestuck if you'd been Hussie. I think your style, if translated from reacting-to-comic to making-comic, would work great with what Homestuck is, and could have made a better product. I think you'd make a cerebral Homestuck, which would have been cool to read, except I would have botched reading it like I botched reading Homestuck in our Alpha Timeline. ~LOSS (11/6/24)

Thank you! I've tried to write before, actually, but whenever I reread my stories, they come off as esoteric, stilted and a little hard to follow. It's not an insurmountable problem, of course, and I really need to take a writing workshop at some point.

I'd love to make a webcomic, too, but my art also leaves a lot to be desired. I can adapt sprites just fine, but original drawings are hard, guys. Did anyone else know about this?

Anonymous asked: i counted just now, and only like 24 out of all 54 paradox space comics have zero spoilers. some of them are certainly more substantial than others (e.g. i counted ones that include jade’s consorts that you havent seen yet as spoilers) but a lot of them have Very Big Spoilers

It would have been awfully messy. I'm probably just going to read it once I've reached the Gigapause of 2013, and no longer need to worry about spoilers.

@bladekindeyewear asked: “Nepeta wasn't trying to pacify Equius, nor did she seem to be fulfilling any rigidly defined 'role' in his life. They just came off as very good friends, and their relationship was much better for it.” Well, maybe we ought to look at it through the lens of real relationships between friends? Once a healthy dynamic and boundaries are established, perhaps Moirails stabilize as long as they’re together.

That's a good way to interpret moirallegence - although, it does raise an issue with the quadrant that I'll be discussing on its own post, once I've finished the comp. There's no point in prehashing what I'm about to say, so I'll see you there!

Anonymous asked: karkats message didn't go through because of trollians narrative awareness feature, where it'll display something different in service of one of the several "all"-seeing entities, of which the reader is one <3 watsonian and doylist explanations are kissing with tongue

Since the fourth wall is an actual, physical piece of technology in this world, this isn't even that far-fetched!

@sashonya asked: So, as the session's timers continues to count down, what do you think will happen after The Scratch?

Beyond 'the session ends', it's difficult to say for sure. I think the two most likely possibilities are that the kids start exploring other sessions, or travel to a location completely outside the current scope of the comic. I am, of course, hoping for both.

@ericvilas asked: "I still believe that out of all the trolls, Karkat’s traits were featured the most prominently in humanity" yeah, I guess even humans aren't free from the effects of carcinization

CG: THERE IS ONLY ONE STEP. CG: AND IT IS ME.

[bunytime]

about Kyle and HUMANCENTiPAD

I only feel comfortable talking on this specific issue because it's not solely regarding head-canons or ships and I prefer to avoid infighting over more inflammatory topics to the best of my ability. Also, Tumblr allows for more nuanced discussion so I'm putting it here

This is not an aimed post, it's just my two cents

I want to start by saying I don't think someone is horrible for preferring to draw the most “canon-compliant” version of characters. I follow this in my own way. I'm commenting on why this is a concern to me as one Jewish fan. I don’t speak for anyone but myself. 

While there are exceptions, it is discomforting to see Kyle with these mouth scars for many reasons. I think S15E1 is pretty torture-porn-y as far as South Park goes (I don’t have a better term for this, sorry). No, I honestly don’t feel grossed out or disturbed by most episodes. Yes, it’s a comedy, and rightfully, if you don’t have the stomach for South Park, don’t watch it; to some extent, this also applies to the fan works which explore canonical dark tones. We also know Matt and Trey can take it too far and have in the past. S15E1 just is one of those personal thresholds for me, although this post isn't really about the morality of the episode.

Anyway, there’s a big argument about Kyle’s scars representing his overcoming of trauma, etc. but I disagree with this defense on why they should be there. If we genuinely wanted to talk about Kyle overcoming trauma, we would talk about the primary source of his trauma: how Kyle, even in more recent plots, is constantly harassed for being Jewish. We would also allow for more open conversation about antisemitism in the fandom, especially in the form of fan art. Kyle’s religion is irrelevant to how he wound up in the situation of S15E1. Therefore, the “overcoming trauma” point feels dishonest and inaccurate to me, especially considering the episode is just one long joke (vs South Park storylines which are more serious). It’d be fairer just to claim drawing it for fun.

For comparison: Butters has an eye scar; this is widely accepted within fanon. I have depicted it too. However, the optics of giving a blond-haired Roman Catholic white boy a minimal scar over his eye is way different than giving prominent scars over essentially half of a Jewish character’s face. Plus, it’s fair to say that an eye scar is usually regarded as a “beneficial” character design element regardless of origin.

Butters’ scar, while it would be a traumatizing injury, was accidental. Indeed, the conceit of “Good Times With Weapons” is the shitty way Butters is treated by the people around him. Kyle’s scars, on the other hand, would be from purposeful torture, and it’s lately been depicted not just as two sutures on the sides of his mouth but as large amounts of scar tissue shaped like an eerie smile. If it's to be scientifically realistic, then fine, but by that logic Butters should be blind in one eye or even more likely missing it, and other characters would be visibly scarred in different ways as well.

In addition, Butters’ appearance is widely and commonly depicted as “cute�� - for lack of a better word - so adding a comparatively small and pinkish scar to a generally positively-regarded character (at least in terms of conventional appearances) is not the same as adding highly exaggerated scars to a Jewish character that fans generally don’t seem to think of as “soft” or even approachable the same way they see Butters. I draw Kyle with his kidney surgery scar, so I hope I am making it clear that scars are fine on characters. Of course, facial scars are very different. Still, when you stretch the scar tissue into an uncanny smile over half the face of a minority character from a one-time torture porn gag, it’s fair for people to be upset.

From my point of view, it’s off-putting because it’s about how a Jewish person (myself) sees fandom treat a Jewish character in particular; one who is frequently on the end of vitriol from within canon (Cartman’s abuse, most often) AND fans (that is: a whole subset of fans who think Kyle is cruel, heartless, and manipulative, and stress it) and it is arguably a symptom of something more insidious and deeply alarming than folks might want to admit. 

I’ll be the first to say that Kyle’s canon features deserve faithful depiction, even within stylization. Moreover, facial scars don’t carry inherent personality traits in real life. But fictional character design does not exist in a vacuum, and some people are virtually insisting that Kyle be as aggressively caricatured as possible. Please remember that for centuries Jews have been (subjectively but societally) associated with ugliness, weakness, dirt, and disease. Be mindful when portraying Kyle as extremely blemished and essentially inferior or ostracized. It’s not because facial scars are these negative traits: it’s about what they mean in context to certain characters. We all internally moralize what we dislike. As such though, it’s troubling to observe that this fandom scrambles to talk about why “feminizing” Kyle is hurtful to Jewish people, yet there’s no such section defending it as there is one defending Kyle's stigmatization.

[ranticore]

i love cain and des and tua and marilyn... do they have any art 👉👈 or any more character description than what is given in the books... theyre so excellent i love cursed weapons and their weary wielders (bowman and esk are also very cool)

i KNOW i have art of young cain and michel hanging around somewhere but i can't find it i'm so sorry... i will say that the 'true' hanged man card for my inver tarot series is actually cain (the scene from the end of tvm u know the one) but i haven't drawn it because it's spoilery. the other hanged man i did was just a placeholder and doesn't even make sense for the meaning of the card.

as for marilyn and tua i have not drawn them (except, of course, the poleaxe on the book cover).

anyway here's some more description for u as an apology for losing my art (tvm spoilers??)

Cain is about 5'8". He has short grey hair and sideburns but is otherwise clean-shaven. He's in his fifties but appears older because stress will age ya. He has an aquiline nose and his build is bearish, he's very strong after an entire lifetime of dragging Des around but he's slowing down with age a little, and his back hurts all the time. His family was formerly noble but they lost their peerage and became lower class. Cain was born after this happened and his family had chosen to stay on inside the citadel as wall guards instead, as they had always been a pretty martial type of family. In his youth he'd hang out with Michel a lot but found Michel to be subtly aggravating, since Michel could just get Esk and LEAVE and it wouldn't even be that big a deal, the longbow is so easy to carry, but Michel just waffled about it forever until Cain had to stop hanging out with him, and eventually his frustration turned to jealousy, and then outright anger. They fought, and Michel died shortly after, making reconciliation impossible and a constant 'what if' floating at the back of Cain's mind that torments him every single day of his life. It's why he jumps at the chance to try to reconnect with other weapon wielders.

Cain has never married and has no kids but he feels fondly about the younger wall guards and thinks of them as his sons in a way. Cain's name has been a placeholder for long enough that I forgot to pick a real name when I publicly released stbh (oops), because 'Cain' is heavy-handed even for me.

Des is a common kingfisher or a big harpoon gun, depending on who you ask. The cradle with wheels is not actually part of the weapon and can be removed without damaging it, they're just there to make transport easier. It can be further apart from Cain than the other weapons can be from their wielders without causing them harm, because the gun is just so inconvenient. You can't even take it up stairs. Imagine. Des is the only weapon name that isn't a shortened form of a more significant word, because I thought it was kinda fun to give it the name of some old fella you'd meet at the back of a pub. Des is the second eldest of the weapons and has a kind of lackadaisical way of looking at the world, mostly born of its own confidence in its power. Very little is capable of breaking Des, so why worry? The last time it bothered to care about the overall destiny/conflict/etc of the weapons was when Cain's family lost their titles, and that was when Des accepted that it was never gonna change anything about the system around itself, so it was best to focus its efforts on keeping its wielders safe instead.

Marilyn is younger than she seems. She has a deep well of knowledge in a very narrow band of subjects (dancing, some bartending, performance arts, and her own family history), but is profoundly ignorant about pretty much everything else. And she knows it. It's why she goes along with things and accepts them at face value, as best she can, because she knows that she's at a disadvantage and doesn't want to seem childish or stupid. She was not aware that Tua was exerting far more influence on her than it should have been doing (Tua, for example, was the one VERY POINTEDLY asking Bowman how much he trusted and relied on Félix, how much he might miss his friend's absence, even...). She was, ultimately, a little abandoned by the people around her who should have looked out for her - Bowman did his best but he was distracted by all that other shit, and Carmen, despite becoming her best friend, struggled to make herself understood at the Pangur household and couldn't get them to show Marilyn more respect. Marilyn accepted, eventually, that she had to learn fast or simply remain unremarkable and unwanted.

Tua is the third eldest of the weapons and largely considered The Boss due to the Pangur family status, and has always been very proud, sure of its privileged position in the grand scheme of things. The Pangur family never truly surrendered to the Aquitanian werewolves, but kept their customs and language alive, and this contributed to Tua's sense of hope - it always hoped, even right up until the death of Síofra Pangur, that they would win. It hoped far more fiercely than Des ever could, more than Esk for sure, and this made the loss of Síofra more devastating than it could handle. It hates everything and everyone, it even hates Marilyn (at the start. it warms up to her), and sees every other living thing as a tool to be manipulated to its own ends. It has a deep sense of disgrace, it's a temporarily embarrassed millionaire, a noble, not a part of the common rabble, and it'll make em pay. With Cormac deal with, it could perhaps find a way to heal, but only if Marilyn is treated with some semblance of respect.

[dominickeating-source]

TrekGalaxy - "The final frontier has a new beginning." (2001)

Lt. Malcolm Reed: British, male, late twenties. Armoury Officer. In the new age of humanity's enlightenment, Reed is a bit of a throwback. He's a 22nd century 'soldier', all spit and polish and by-the-book. He maintains a rigorous daily schedule; when he isn't on duty, he's working out on a futuristic exercise apparatus he keeps in his quarters, or toiling in the munitions lab, perfecting some new kind of torpedo.

He's the antithesis of our Chief Engineer, Charlie Tucker, who is undisciplined, a 'rebel' of sorts. The two men are frequently at odds. Reed is always trying to expand his weapons inventory, storing munitions in parts of the ship designated to Engineering. Tucker is constantly finding photon grenades cluttering his Jefferies Tubes. There just isn't enough deck space for both men.

Reed is filled with contradictions. Despite his near-obsession with regulations and munitions, he's also soft spoken, shy, and awkward around women.

--From the Official Enterprise Bible

Dominic Keating plays munitions expert Malcolm Reed on Enterprise, the guy responsible for watching the backs of the crew. Reed also goes down in the history books as the man who developed the first hand Phasers for the Star Trek universe. If Keating's face looks familiar to genre fans, it should: the actor has racked up an impressive lists of credits over the past few years with appearances on The Immortals, G vs. E, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Special Unit 2 and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Early one recent moment, trekgalaxy.com caught up with Keating in his Los Angeles home, where the easily-likeable actor shared his wit and insight into this next leg of the Star Trek adventure.

You have a very solid background in the science fiction genre.

It looks that way now, doesn't it?

Can you talk about your relationship with Science Fiction, and how it led you to your role as Malcolm Reed on Enterprise?

It is strange when you think of how much science fiction I've done in recent years. My manager pointed that out to me when we were in the middle of the audition process for Star Trek. He said to me, 'you're so right for this! You've done The Immortals, you've done Poltergeist and Buffy.' I thought, goodness, I suppose he was right in some way! It's not that I specifically set out to do only Sci-Fi, or even Star Trek. It was just another acting gig and another character. But having said that, yeah, I'm perfect for Star Trek when you look at what I've done in the past. I just hope there's a life after Star Trek - and a life in Star Trek, that I'm not just a Sci-Fi actor and that's all I'm going to ever do. 

What is life on Enterprise like for Dominic Keating?

It's very fun. I just love going to work there. It really is the best. I love it all. I came away from work last night, walking through the corridors of Paramount between the stages, and saw the sun setting on the Paramount sign and the famous water tower, and I just had to pinch myself.

So who is Malcolm Reed, and how much of him is Dominic Keating?

Well, ultimately, it's all you, isn't it? (Keating laughs) It's always extensions of you. And yes, I'm taking Malcolm Reed under my wing at the moment, because they haven't quite decided where he's going to go, and how dimensional he's going to be. As he was described in the breakdown when I first heard about the part, I actually thought I wasn't particularly right for it because he was written as being bookish, button-down, a real proper Brit, shy around women. And I'm certainly not shy around women. (Keating laughs) That's really not me. I was talking with Rick Berman when they offered me the part and we were discussing how Malcolm might be and sort of the avenues he might take. I mentioned that when I was in my boarding school in England, at around the age of 17 or 18, I was thinking at that time about not going to University and joining the army. My mother had come from an army family and I'd been a member of the cadet force at my school for several years and had really liked it. Then I told him that soon after that, in training, I drove a tank in Germany - and crashed it!

It's a good thing they didn't make you the pilot on Enterprise!

(Keating laughs) No shit. So that's who I'm taking Reed out of at the moment, me when I was going to join the army. Malcolm is an army man. He's a gun man, and as for the other stuff, the shyness - it's funny when somebody says they saw something of that in you, and if you're truly honest, you can own up to it and say, yes, I can be that way. That's what I'm doing at the moment. It's a very subtle osmosis, where you just start to 'chameleon' into the part. While seeing some of the rushes [daily takes] on the pilot episode we shot, I could sense it. I could see it in my eyes. That's me on the screen, but it's not me.

Can you explain the events that led up to you winning the role of Malcolm Reed?

My manager rang and told me what the part was the night right before the first audition. I'd been playing this very funky role on a new series coming out on Showtime, my hair was all chopped up and sort of funky-punky, and it had just grown out to the point that I could slightly sweep it back a bit. I put my hair back into more of a Star Trek style, put on this little costume that I thought I would wear to the audition - a black v-neck with black pants and a pair of those space-age molded boots that are hip now. And I called my girlfriend through to the bedroom and said, 'look at that - I look very Star Trek.' She went, 'you do!' I kind of got the feeling then.

That's when I had the mental note to tell myself that I could get this. Sure enough, I went in the next day and met Rick and Brannon and the word came back literally the next day that they really liked me for this, and that if I got any other offers for roles, I was to let them know first immediately. It was what they called a 'watch and advise', which got me excited. 

I went in a couple of days later to meet Jim Conway, who was going to direct the pilot, and I think I'd left the office twenty minutes when they rang up my manager to find out how much I cost. I had one more audition with the network. It was pretty painless. I had three auditions in all - it happened in ten or twelve days. There was a brief moment of heart-in-the-mouth, because when I went for the final audition to meet the Paramount execs, as we were walking out of that office, Rick Berman looked at me and said, 'So, Dominic, are you ready for the next seven years?' I went, 'Woah!' then I waited a week for them to contact me. Ron Suma had sort of intimated that I'd gotten the job, but he said it wasn't official until Business Affairs called through to carve things in stone. A week went by where there was some sort of machination at the higher level because the deal between UPN and Paramount hadn't been set [regarding which network would pick up Enterprise]. That was a hard week, I can tell you. Your mind plays tricks with you - like did he really say that to me? Did he really look at me and say seven years? Those seven years are going to go fast!

Yes, I can tell. We're already on episode 4, and it's only just started. 

Just what is happening in the fourth episode of Enterprise?

I can tell you that Trip, the Engineer, is getting pregnant! Make of that what you will. (Keating laughs) The makeup people have already been forewarned. They've been told that he has to have some sort of pregnancy appendage on the side of his torso. Some reptilian species impregnates him, and he's to be the carrier of their alien child. After reading what Charlie Tucker III is like in the series Bible, it doesn't sound like something he's particularly going to enjoy! No, God bless him! (Keating laughs) He'll have breasts on his forearms. The guy will never want to go out of the house again! Previous Starships were armed with photon torpedoes and Phaser banks. 

Enterprise is outfitted with missiles?

You're asking the wrong person - I just press the button! (Keating laughs) I don't know if they're photon torpedoes or a different kind of missile. I knew it was going to come to this - you've found me out. (Keating laughs). They're gray, and yes, they're actual projectiles. Remember that we're going back in time with this series, so we're shooting missiles. They're actual metal projectiles that come out of torpedo tubes on the ship. But of interest, I have the supreme Honor of actually introducing Phase pistols for the very first time in the pilot. They have two settings - stun and kill - and it would be best not to confuse them! For the rest of history, you will be the guy who created Phasers! Tell me! It's very exciting.

There is a really creepy villain introduced in the pilot 'Broken Bow' called the Suliban. What can you tell us about them?

They can seep through anything, as it were. You know, I never actually saw one of them, now that I think of it. I did fire at an 'imaginary' one on the planet Rigel in the pilot episode while rescuing the captain, but it was added in later as special effects, so I never actually got to see one. I've read in the script, though, that they have the ability to be like chameleons, to take on backgrounds that they're standing in front of our clinging to, whether it's fabricated metal or balsa wood or whatever it may be. And they can seep through anything - literally - air ducts, keyholes, whatever.

So they are a mix of live action actors and special effects?

They have actors playing them. But the Suliban's antics are computer generated.

What would Star Trek fans be surprised to know about Dominic Keating?

I watched the original series as a child growing up in Leicester, and I loved it. I have lasting memories of the fried eggs falling on Spock's shoulders [in the episode 'Operation: Annihilate!']. Those episodes were fabulous. I did look at The Next Generation a little out of professional interest, because it had a British actor,

Patrick Stewart, who came to America to do it. Also that I'm an absolute golf freak. I adore golf. I live for golf. And now I live for Star Trek - which will allow me to play golf for a very long time to come!

I hesitate to use the term typical, because how many people get the chance to spend a day in outer space, but what is one of your days like on the set of Enterprise?

As an actor, it's a typical day on the set in a way. Being on a set is like being in the army. It's very regimented. It has a certain way and an only way of doing things, and therefore, everybody knows that they're all on the same page when they are doing what they are doing on a film set. There is that aspect of it. It's exactly the same on any film set wherever you go in that you know exactly what to expect. Now, with a Sci-Fi show like Star Trek in a franchise as powerful as it is that has the money it has to create a playground for actors to act in, it's second to none. It's extraordinary. The first day that I stood on the bridge set of the Enterprise, as I took a step up, I let my foot hover just momentarily over it because it was going to be the first step onto that playground. I let it all just soak in. The sets are amazing. I was on Stage 8 yesterday - I wasn't even in this scene, but the others were on this Nirvana planet, and in four days, the set designers completely changed Stage 8 into something complete with redwoods and trees and grassy brooks and I just had to walk through it for myself. It was really another world on a soundstage at Paramount Studios.

Star Trek sets are amazing!

You should see my armory. When I walked onto that set, it really touched me that they spent all this time and money building this space for me.

So is the Armory your main hangout on the ship?

Actually my main hangout is on the bridge. I'm there making sure everything's going swimmingly from my command post near the captain. But yes, you'll find me in the Armory over time, because they wouldn't have bothered building this beautiful and extensive set for just a few scenes. That's where the gray missiles are housed.

At this early stage, what is your relationship with your fellow cast mates like?

They suck and I can't stand them. (Keating laughs). I'm not kidding! And you can quote that. No, they're fantastic. We've all gelled very quickly. I'm sure we'll be friends forever. We have a very good understanding that if you've been with each other for five days and for fifteen hours every day solid, perhaps we don't want to call each other on weekends right now. But when we're actually there, we just have a ball. We are laughing all the time. It really is fabulous. And I'd like to give a heads-up to Scott Bakula, because as our captain and as the star of our show, he really has unwittingly set the precedence of being a terrific gent on the top of the show. That's got to have a really good trickle down or rush down effect on the rest of us. Scott doesn't even know that he's such a nice guy and such an actor's actor. He is there every step of the way. He's not a starry star who withers off camera, the kind that won't read lines with you. He's a proper guy.

Isn't he amazing in that he can jump from being a time-traveling scientist on Quantum Leap to the gay next-door neighbor in American beauty to being the captain of a starship so effortlessly?

He's an actor's actor, that's what I say. He has to have a time machine or some painting up in an attic somewhere that's getting very old because he looks better now than he did ten years ago on Quantum Leap.

He's extraordinary, isn't he? He's a very handsome man. I was watching a Quantum Leap the other day. You can discernibly see that there is some aging process that's happened with him, but it's not that he's older. He's more knowing now. I don't know how old he is - he's over forty - but he looks damn good for it.

Maybe Star Trek has something that injects youthfulness!

It might be that we all know we're going to be employed for seven years! That will take a few stress lines off you! I know I'm a lot calmer than I used to be. (Keating laughs)

So who is the clown of the cast?

I guess that would be me. We all have a good clown-around. We all egg each other on. The first couple of weeks, the thing that got us howling was the 'shaking' when our characters went through meteorite storms or were hit by some other projectile. Some of us shook better than others, let's say. 'What are you doing over there? Are you shaking, or do you have to go to the Loo?' (Keating laughs). Jolene [Blalock, 'T'Pol'] set herself up as the ace-shaker, but she was shot down in flames, let me tell you.

Jolene Blalock is a hoot - and she's lovely.

Yes, she's adorable.

Now that Enterprise is the lone standard bearer for the Star Trek franchise, are you aware how critical its success is, and what do you plan to do to make it unique?

Yes, I am aware. I got up to speed on the Star Trek franchise when I was cast and have a good sense of what mantle it is we're carrying. You know, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga are very smart, and just the very fact that they haven't put Star Trek in the title of this series is really smart, that they are now preparing an audience, and a loyal audience, for the fact that the franchise is moving on. And although it had its roots way back in the original series, it's now becoming its own life form. It's now becoming just Enterprise. You know, if one word could say Star Trek as well, that's it. I would imagine that the next seven years after our seven years won't have anything to do with what's come before.

But it will have a harking back to what we're doing now, and everything that's already been done. What can I do to insure that? To show up every day knowing my lines, having thought about how creative I can be today, and to not take any of it for granted. The minute you show up to work on a show thinking that you know it all and you have it all down, you're lazy, and I think audiences can see it. It has to be fun for us as well, and I really can't see when it won't be, even after seven years. The writing is so new and fresh - I don't know how they come up with these ideas. Even to put Trip in a pregnant position is perfect! I mean, the minute you hear that you say, 'well that's just fucking fantastic!' And high marks to them. It makes my job easy. But that's my commitment, that I keep it fresh so the audience will enjoy Enterprise.

Source: www.dominickeating.com

[mackthecheese]

My bestie and I were hanging out today and I brought up the idea of fankids specifically for the Nightmare Mode characters and. We have some fun ones and I wanted to share. I would also like to note the only ship listed here I don't actually support is the first one

Abducius + Zoth + Yog: E. Bola, the Bloodletter (14/15, they/he) A very tall plague doctor looking guy who's "beak" does in fact open like a beak, and is full of razor blades. Their nails are also as sharp as razor blades, and they have like. A whole bunch of arms hidden under their cloak. They can drop and move like a centipede if they wish. They are very loud and annoying, finding everything to be a joke. They literally live in the walls. They mostly avoid their fathers as Yog doesn't seem to actually care about them, Zoth is rarely home, and Abducius is a little to eager to punish him. Very jumpy. Literally the worst instigator ever. Is very protective of the other kids (including Quachil).

Bryn Mawr* + Teutates: M11257403LY a.k.a. Molly (13, they/it) the Weapon. Molly outwardly looks like a bomb. They are made of grey steel and have no facial features except glass eyes that look welded on, and behind them the colour of their eyes shift in a warm colour spectrum. They wear a black military uniform with no medals, dog tags with the nuclear waste symbol painted on them in yellow, and a red beret. Molly is capable of flipping inside out, exposing all around it to radiation and risking an explosion, but that only happens under dire circumstances as it can only explode once. It rarely shows emotion other than extreme anger. It has a very strong bond to its parents and often goes out to help them. It has a robotic voice with no emotion behind it, and speaks like a soldier. It is also very susceptible to manipulation. This becomes important because Yan Luo Wang Diyu realizes they are a weapon and wishes to train it. It scares the other kids, but it isn't bad.

Shub + Ishtar + Lilith: Buggaboo (5, she/her) the Crop Carver. Buggy looks like a giant bug, specifically a cicada. She has big eyes, wings that are almost too big and antennae, as well as demon horns that stick straight up and red runes all over her body. She wears a little yellow and white sundress. Buggy is five. She is happy to do literally everything. She loves to "draw pictures" on farmer's fields and play hide and seek, even if she's bad at it because she gets very loud when she's happy. She's never seen without one of her mamas with her, they take very good care of her. Sweetums. She also is usually seen with E. Bola as he has claimed her as sibling no. 2.

Xezbet + Drugia: Amygdala, or Amy (17, she/her) the Trapper. Amy is a ghost with shackles around her neck and wrists, who is surrounded by floating hands. She wears a long, tattered white dress and glows blue. Instead of a face she has a black void, and she has flowing white hair. She helps her mother and father by creating labyrinths in people's dreams (with her mother's help) to trap them so her father can take their souls. She herself takes pride in her work, and she loves designing her traps to suit whichever poor soul she's tormenting. She's cordial to her neighbors and isn't all the agressive towards them.

Dagda + Izanami: Gl'bgolyb or Gloppy. (18/19, he/him) the Impersonator. Gloppy appears to be a wooden puppet body at first, being held up by something behind it. Its face is worn and scratched, almost unrecognizable as a face. The rest of its body is equally weathered and worn, splintering in off places and moving jerkily. Gloppy himself is actually a flesh creature behind the puppet, a mass of skin and eyes and mouths and ears and anything you can think of. Gloppy is a very jealous person, wanting to be seen as the most disturbing thing here but losing to Molly. Despite this he is the next reasonable of the kids next to Amy. He mostly just acts as a lure.

Chaugnar + Nyogtha: Mal (28, she/her) the Slaughterer. Mal wears a lamb mask with blacked out eyes and a simple red robe. Her hair can be seen, it's sort of fluffed out behind her head. She often visits her parents and helps out with rituals as she carries out sacrifices (she also works with Zoth). She usually babysits the younger kids, or teaches them how rituals work and how they are meant to be done. She's actually a very pleasant person!

Also important to note. Mal and Buggaboo have real world counterparts (Malinda Schmidt, and Sheila Bubbles (Margarette adopted her from one of her friends who couldn't take care of her), but no one else does. Amy and Gloppy may be based off of Roman and Lois' and Alf and Rafttellyn's kids but. Yeah. E. Bola and Molly both have absolutely no basis in reality and only exist in the nightmare.

*Here Bryn Mawr is Francis 2's nightmare form. Bryn Mawr is a spirit from Welsh folklore who goes from house to house during Yule, asking to be let in. If you let her in she'll eat for food and join your celebration, and if you refuse to let her in she curses you. So I feel it fits. Bryn has a pleasant looking face, quite cute actually, but wears a muzzle. He also wears torn clothes that show mouths all over his body, and he has claws and a cat tail. He is usually used as a hunting dog for whoever needs one.

Oh my god these are so fucking sick-

I want to doodle them heheheh >:)

[tsarisfanfiction]

So about Apollo Brats au, is that something like Cabin 7 (and maybe Meg or Nico too) getting trouble or annoying the hell out of Apollo until he cries on floor? Sounds like something that will finallyn convince Apollo to use protection maybe?

Congrats on hitting the one that doesn't actually exist as a doc yet but that I've been marinating in my head for ages because this is so much fun. Buckle in, because this post is probably going to take me until bedtime to write *eyes the time nervously*. It's getting put under a cut because it's long.

Apollo Brats specifically refers to two characters and one of them isn't an Apollo kid at all - hence why I haven't called this AU the Apollo Kids AU.

This AU (and it is, tragically, an AU) actually has its roots in SON, specifically when Gwen is killed and the narrative decides to point fingers at Octavian, despite this never actually making sense to me (but if I go on my Octavian was Wronged by the Narrative rant we'll be here until tomorrow so I'll save that rant for later). This also then springs forward to look at BOO, when the onagers fire without Octavian ever giving the order, and got me thinking (with the wonderful, enabling assistance of @fearlessinger) about who could actually be responsible for these acts, which both frame Octavian as evil but also don't actually match Octavian's character?

This had us stumped for a few minutes and I was beginning to worry that there was no-one in canon that could take the heat (and at this point, this was just a discussion about Octavian's character, not intended to spark an entire AU). Then I remembered one certain character who always seems to be floating around in Octavian's vicinity, and could be argued (if looked at in the correct light) to have motive for framing and then killing Octavian: Michael Kahale.

Now we spiral all the way down the rabbit hole of who is Michael, really, and what does he have to gain from sabotaging not just Octavian, but also Camp Jupiter - and the answer we came up with was Michael being one of Nero's demigods. He never appears in the same room as Meg (notable, given Apollo's apparent inability to not name every other character in the scene), and when he goes to head off the approaching army of the Triumvirate, there's never a sign of a battle, and we never get a body (the most we get is the nature spirits "seeing what happened" which is extremely nebulous and could easily mean "Michael betrayed you" if that's how we want to twist this).

Where does this spiral into an Apollo Brats AU, though?

Well, what if - what if - Will didn't give up on saving Octavian. Oh, don't get me wrong, Will still hates Octavian with a passion here, but Will knows Apollo and he knows that Apollo wouldn't actually be happy if one of his descendants died. So what if he keeps warning him, doesn't let Nico or Michael or Octavian stop him, and manages to actually tell Octavian he's all tangled up?

Octavian is not stupid. He is many things, and despite my pro-Octavian stance, morally grey is certainly one of those things - but he is not stupid. He is actually highly intelligent. Michael, his right hand man, the man he trusts, not telling him he's about to kill himself? After the weapons have been fired not on his orders (but obviously on the orders of someone high enough up the hierarchy that good Roman soldiers would obey without a second thought?). Octavian realises that he has been betrayed.

From there, it is only a few steps of logic to realise that the Triumvirate have not been helping him, but rather using him, and Will is right there as a handy source to be interrogated regarding what's actually going on with Apollo. No, Will is not impressed about this in the middle of a battle but also we all know Will doesn't stand for Apollo slander and will be ruthlessly fixing all of the misconceptions the Triumvirate have been slowly building up in Octavian through Michael.

Octavian respects Apollo a lot. He's his ancestor, for one thing, but also he's met him, he was willing to help Apollo in his plan (presumably to unite the camps, not pit them against each other - in this AU that's certainly the case but I will also claim that's the most likely reason in canon, too). Realising he's been manipulated into betraying Apollo? Oh, Octavian is pissed.

So is Will.

Not on Octavian's behalf - not in the slightest, as established Will really, really, does not like Octavian and his great-whatever nephew effectively changing sides is not going to magically wipe this slate clean in the slightest - but again, because of Apollo. Because of the slander this is putting to his father's name.

And so the alliance begins. The "the enemy of Apollo is my enemy" alliance. Octavian and Will set their sights on taking down the Triumvirate.

And poor Nico gets dragged along for the ride, because someone has to stop them getting themselves or each other killed and apparently he's ended up in that position. Therefore, we have the brilliant dynamic of Octavian, Will, and Nico. With no adult supervision, because Octavian might be eighteen but he certainly doesn't count as adult supervision here. If anyone's the adult supervision, it's Nico (who is biologically and mentally, if not legally, the youngest).

Highlights of this dynamic include:

Octavian being a smug bitch whenever anyone looks for the "adult" in the group because he's clearly the oldest, and Will being mad about this

Octavian being the only one that can drive. Nico gets so fed up of the posturing and gloating that he pulls out Jules Albert and designates him permanent chauffeur, and dares Octavian to argue with a pissed off son of Hades and his zombie driver. Octavian knows which battles should not be picked.

Will refusing to let Octavian's clear anemia continue - you're a descendant of Apollo, how have you let your health get this bad - and all the iron suppliments in Octavian's diet. Octavian is not happy about this but also can't deny it's doing wonders for his health and is mad that Will's right

Octavian and Will being unable to agree on any single thing and constantly about two seconds away from tearing each other's throats out

Nico ending up as the mediator and wondering when the hell did his life turn into this

Neither Octavian or Will are actually warriors, so Nico is the one primarily responsible for keeping them alive and constantly threatens to abandon them to their fate (but never does)

Likewise, Octavian and Will have mostly grown up inside the safety of their relative camps, and while they have some familiarity with how the real world works, they also haven't really had to nagivate it without a responsible adult (Naomi) before. Somehow, Nico ends up being the leader here, too.

Octavian getting really fed up of the awkward tension between Nico and Will as the Solangelo dynamic starts to develop and becomes the wingman for both of them to stop the damn teenage pre-relationship nonsense already (no, he still does not like Will. But he hates being stuck between two clearly falling for each other but refusing to admit it teenagers even more)

At some point enough time has passed that they unite with Lester-Apollo sometime between THO and TDP. As soon as he is convinced of his legitimacy, Nico hands the metaphorical leashes on these two Apollo Brats over and claims they're no longer his responsibility.

Then Nico discovers that actually Apollo is no better than his Brats and now Nico is holding three metaphorical leashes. He's very pleased to hand Apollo's over to Meg when she rejoins them during the TDP events.

Apollo, meanwhile, is panicking a lot. Firstly, because he's heard Will has allied with Octavian and last he knew, because he doesn't know at this point about the Triumvirate's manipulation, Octavian was betraying him and does that mean Will's turned on him, too?

He is relieved to learn the truth. Until he realises he now has another problem.

Because he's always been the kinda goofy clown dad in Will's vicinity. Nothing to be taken seriously, bit of a well-meaning idiot, Will has no reason to expect stuff from him. Meanwhile, with Octavian he was always the more serious, intelligent god.

Now, he cannot play the fool without getting side-eyed (and called out) by Octavian, and he cannot be serious and aloof and pretending to not actually care on a personal level without getting side-eyed (and called out) by Will. His facets and lies and masks are being shredded by the moment because these two were never meant to gang up on him - certainly not in a situation where he couldn't just poof and disappear in a shower of sunbeams - and now he's being forced to be honest because anything less is getting called out. He's been snared in a trap of his own making and he doesn't know how to get out.

The events of TDP also give us the one moment that makes everyone sit up and take note, and that's the one moment that Octavian and Will agree on something.

Georgina.

The instant the claim is made that she's Apollo's daughter, both of them are scoffing in tandem.

Dad would never forget one of his children, says Will with the same conviction he once declared Apollo would never instigate or want a war between the two camps, firm in his belief that Apollo does love them all and that forgetting one of his children, even with mortal memory issues? Impossible.

Octavian, on the other hand. Oh, ho, Octavian. Don't be ridiculous, he says, because to Octavian, a legacy of Apollo, ancestry is important. Octavian knows the names of every single legacy of Apollo that has ever been in New Rome, not just his own line but the others as well, and he recognises Georgina. She's got the same face as Camilla, a third-generation legacy of Apollo from a different branch who left New Rome for the mortal world a decade ago, it's beyond obvious that this is her daughter. Georgina is a legacy, not a child, of Apollo, and that makes all the difference.

When Will and Octavian agree on something, only a fool would ignore them. So far the only other thing they've agreed on is that the Triumvirate is going to go down and with this duo on the warpath it's clearly a matter of when, rather than if, they'll succeed (as long as they don't kill each other first).

This is about as far as I've got with this AU so far, but I'm having so much fun messing around with the idea of Octavian and Will working together to take down the Triumvirate with their chaperone Nico present to keep them alive (which involves not letting them kill each other), and Apollo having a panic attack or several about the entire situation in the background.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

I was actually just playing Forces to work on 100% completing the game on Steam since I haven't actually done so yet, and part of working towards that is getting max medal honours with all different species of animals. I didn't really put any thought into the types of characters I was making when I did that on Switch, but this time I tried to think a little bit harder about what I was making, and you know what? It clicked. Like yeah the appeal of a canon Sonic OC maker is obvious in theory but I've never really cared about that type of thing myself, but something about this specific instance of me making characters in Forces just made me come to actually understand the appeal myself. Like I felt myself being warped into the mind of someone that genuinely enjoys the process of OC creation and stuff, and I feel like I get why, even despite the limitations, the Forces OC maker really is a dream come true for some sorts of people.

To that end, here are the characters I put slightly more thought into! Since I'm still working on 100% completion I don't have every fashion item so even though I don't necessarily want to turn these into like full blown OCs or something I can at least say their in-game designs might not be finalised yet and whatnot.

This one isn't really much of anything per se, but I unlocked the black and white gothic lolita fit right around when I needed to move onto a new animal for medal honours, and decided to make a female dog and throw her in it. Spotted the spotty body wrap thing and it made her look like a dalmation and works well with the gothic lolita fit. Not the most creative one in the world and definitely not one I'm very attached to relative to this whole thing but it felt fun to do and I think that's why I ended up putting more thought into the others.

When I was making a bear I decided that, since the bear's ability basically makes their homing attack better, I'd give them a weapon that had the two homing attack upgrades on it. That gameplay thing led me mentally to imagine this bear character I was making was like very strong and serious, perhaps even silent and stoic - and I started playing around with the clothing to give him a somewhat similar vibe. Experimented with the more military aesthetic stuff but it didn't feel right, and I was imagining that whoever this bear guy is he probably doesn't want to be like a rank and file sort, so the military gear is whatever. Again this isn't actually like a character I'm desperate to flesh out or see more of or anything like that but I just had a moment while making it of "there can actually be a personality there" and I think that's neat.

And lastly we've got a female bird. I sort of knew right away that I wanted to give at least one of the species I'd make the camera, because I like photography a ton. Female bird gets the big ponytail thing at the back that I thought matched that well. Think the vibe I sort of ended up wanting to go for here is like, whoever this girl is she's probably "pretty" and values her appearance and stuff, so we get like the flower crown and bows on the gloves and stuff, nice colour combo too in my mind. But then also the photography stuff and ofc the setting of Sonic Forces more broadly being in the middle of a war. So she's a war photographer? At least currently? But still has time to look after herself a bit. Something like that.

So yeah I mean, none of these are fleshed out and I can't necessarily say I want to flesh them out either, but I mean the fact that the Forces OC maker is getting me to play around with character concepts at all is kinda wild to me, especially since I basically ignored it the first however many times around. I did make one for every animal although these are the only ones I was really happy with the output for, and even then I can take or leave the dalmation. Maybe I'll have an updated selection once I've 100% completed the game and have all fashion stuffs. Who knows. Will say that while writing this I like passively had the thought of like "what if bird lady is from Spagonia or something" so maybe I'm fully cooked and about to just get into Sonic OCs thanks to playing Forces again 7 years after release. Who can truly say. I think that's the post though. Goodnight gamers.

[narastories]

Nara, for once for an ask game I'm not asking you about Philes directly, but about the FPA fandom in general, because the questions are so diverse and interesting in this game. Tell me what you think! 💙

Hi!! Yes, I thought they were interesting questions too!

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: It's boring, I know, but I'm going to say Thurston Niles. Ever since he appeared he's been my blorbo. He booted Hendricks out from my line of sight so easily loool He just checks so many of my boxes, and I think he's well-written. I also project a ton of headcanons onto him.

Least Favorite character: This one is difficult. I don't think I dislike any character who isn't written to be disliked, if you know what I mean? So if I had to pick my least favorite, I would say like Taryn or Tippity. But they are written to be assholes, so it's not personal.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Philes ofc, Fetch/Hendricks/Amari, Simms/Eileen, Loq/Exina, and let's say Fetch/Theo

Character I find most attractive: Niles, ofc. A well-written, morally questionable DILF is always hot to me. That said...

Character I would marry: I would not marry Niles. That would be annoying, because he's such a public figure. Can I marry Eileen? She would be my pick, I think. We could braid each other's hair and talk about books lol

Character I would be best friends with: Khay would be fun to be friends with. I like her appreciation for life in combination with her more shady/ruthless decisions in situations.

a random thought: How the fuck did the human army turn into Mortales? I mean, I get it when the army uses factories to manufacture weapons in times of war, but the other way around? And they weren't even the ones who started making guns? I don't get it, I hope this will be expanded on later.

An unpopular opinion: Speaking of firearms: I said it before, and I'll say it again. I don't think Thurston is as crazy fond of the idea of guns as Lance has been. He knows he can't put this genie back into the bottle, but he doesn't think it is a great idea anymore. Especially since Lance was killed. He very gladly gave the pistol back to Fetch + it's always his lackey pointing them at people. I might be wrong but I can't remember a single instance where he pulled a gun and pointed it at someone...

my canon OTP: ummm. This is difficult. There aren't a lot of canon ships in the books that aren't implied or not one-night stands... Hopefully, Eileen/Simms will be canon! Until then I'll say Fetch/Amari. They don't evoke the most amount of fuzzy feelings in me but I do like them.

Non-canon OTP: obviously Philes ^^

most badass character: I think for me it has to be Khay, just her whole aesthetic, and also how she reacts in dangerous situations is badass

pairing I am not a fan of: again, we don't have a lot of ships, and the fanon ones are all good, so it's difficult to answer this. Whatever Carissa and Harold had, I'm not a fan of that.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Maybe I'm feeling too fond of the author but I don't think he screwed up any character... Sure, they have flaws, but I don't feel like any of them are inconsistently or badly written.

favourite friendship: I will just say that the whole road trip friendship group is my favorite

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: This is a very difficult question. Honestly, there isn't a child character I'm super fond of, mostly because there isn't one who has an important part so far. Georgio is kind of a grandfatherly vibe, but personally I don't think I would enjoy spending a lot of time with him. He's nice, and he's such a good influence on Fetch, but I would get frustrated with him. So. This might be shocking, but I would accept Edmund Rye as a grandfatherly figure. Sure, that's not a very good choice for your health lmao But before all the... stuff... I think he would have interesting stories.

Thank you so much for playing with me! It was fun to think about these questions <3

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary388

10/14-15/24

monday - tuesday

more fear and hunger today...

so i decided, i would try to save daan, and i succeeded, i actually succeeded soooo much today it's a little crazy, but first thing, i went back to the church, shaved off some fights + time (those pillar man guys in the rafters, only killed one), then i proceeded thru the church, i avoided the death mask entirely actually (phew!!!!!) and then got to samarie, the conversation with her is super heartbreaking, seeing it again, it's really up there with other character confrontations in survival horror games, or, honestly, beyond lots of them i think idk, shockingly expressive of a bunch of things, beyond just, people, it like gives this insane impression of fucked desire, or the inability to express desire beyond offerings, it's like the sacrificial economy of the game's world (suddenly, everything gets more grim upon realizing this about things (or finding cause to use/see this term), sadder and more heavy, wow!), seeped into her head to an extreme degree, failure to understand others or bridge the gap, or, to bridge that gap, not realizing the gap is important, she does say she wants to be one with marina. how sad. anyhow, we defeated her, she ranted about being radiant, i opened things up, then i took a gamble, and we fought the sergal, and won! or, he ran off cuz we cut off his arm. eventually, after saving into the next morning, we found him again, and killed him, and then we went off on our next quest, i decided we should try to do all 3 of those weird... electro thingies, in the army tunnels. so i'm doing that now. i've got 2 on, or, okay, for awhile, i kind of looked around for the other one, i know there's 3, i ended up looking up some vague directions (one's in the sewers. one's in the deep forest which is where i'm basically going to pick up heading towards tomorrow, first is in the maiden forest), so with that, i went to the 2nd one, did the sewer puzzle (i would not have figured out you knock the blue box off the thing like that, i didn't even imagine that'd be possible (either i over-assume what a game is capable of or under-assume, this was a case where i assumed that's just not possible, but it is what you do. crazy!), and went through that crazy area underground, and then fought moonless, who i did on my first try (also, i'd managed to get some extra saves (i found a book of enlightenment but also used the fear and hunger god's sigil to create a save)), she was super tough, but fun, i love the panic the game creates, the stress is super rewarding honestly, and having daan super low sanity at the save right after the fight (book of enlightenment used), i went through there, turned the thing on, and fought the doppelganger of tanaka, i also killed the levi doppelganger which was crazy, they're so weird, i think i should try to kill them all, if possible. i wonder where marina's is? i think they all appear on day 3. then i went off to the deep forest, which isn't so bad seeming, except i need to watch out for pit traps (that's what killed me), but since most foes in my way are dead, it's not really stressful, the thought of having to go back, just some books i need to re-collect, some rooms i need to loot once again, but that elevator is really clutch, there's an elevator down at the 2nd station/army zone that leads up to the church, from there, teleport to old town, go to the city, left, up thru sylvian square, and then thru the ruined streets, and then to the freaky forest. then i've gotta pay close attention and go slow i think. that'll be for the best. i also got a really good weapon from the fight with moonless... this black blade, it crits a lot. so swaggy, to be honest. things are looking super up, since this is still day 3 morning, and i think i'm probably gonna be able to make up a lot of time, if i'm behind at all.

here's a funny screenshot:

i sent it to my friend, he said she is like me. i do really like her face, there, i think i feel like that sometimes. like, crazy.

it feels really good to gain like, some sort of mastery over the map, in this game, like the first zone, the outskirts, were a little easier to figure out, the enemies and things, and now, i understand the city really well i feel like. so now i wonder what struggles i'm gonna have, i know after i do the 3 electro thingies, i get to the place underneath the museum... after that? idk. i could also try to just walk up to the tower but it immediately turns someone in my party into a monster... so maybe... i just go there alone? i wonder if there's a way to save the others, though. i'm banking on this thing under the city, from the army tunnels, to really help us out in knowing how to get any kind of happy ending for the people who i have gotten very attached to. oh, one thing, karin (karin, realizing now, blonde and sort of crazily focused on stuff, to the point of coming off a teensy bit crazy, is at least like, a tiny bit like my gf (it's fun to see others in these characters)), anyway, karin shot at august, i told her it was the right thing, said he had some kind of journal about our psych profiles. i'm sad he is dead, i want to understand what he's up to, but we will see, maybe in a future run?

okay, i have to sleep now, i slept so much today, i went to bed at a reasonable hour but slept until noon today, i guess my body is exhausted from the festival, even though it was just 2 bands i saw... sickening...

so,

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rayquaza-is-falling]

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

I will be the first ti admit I was skeptical going into the game. I was SUPER excited about it, but one of my friends played it before me and actually returned her copy. She said it was janky, repetitive, and unimagined. It was super disheartening to hear because she is also the biggest Avatar fan I know, if she didn't like the game then it must be bad.

But I kept it on my Christmas list and old Saint Nick delivered, and boy am I glad.

I literally love it.

Here's why:

- The world, the nature, PANDORA in all of its glory... it looks INCREDIBLE. The world feels so alive and vibrant compared to other games of the genre and even other games by the developer (Ubisoft)

- the characters, the NPCs, specifically Etuwa are all fantastic. They have interesting dialog, dialects, accents, mannerisms, looks, etc. I'm particularly fond of the "Crush" sidequest.

- The combat. The combat is nothing new for ubisoft, but this definitely feels like the best execution of this style they have been working on in a while. Absolutely love the two bows. And throwing bombs at RDA.

-Customization. At first the customization is very underwhelming, bit as you play you unlock hairstyles, paint patterns, all that fun stuff and I like to think of it as my character "growing" as she goes along her journey. Being able to "disguise" armor with the appearance of other armor should be mandatory in every game here on out.

-The ikran. Very rarely do games have a GOOD flight mechanic in them. They are always so junky (looking at GTA) and don't feel good. The Ikran flight however... fantastic. It feels so immersive, and you can really feel that this is a living thing you are flying and not a machine. The scenery is beautiful and even the air is filled with interesting things. No game has given me the adrenaline rush that jumping off of the Ikran nook and taking flight has given me.

- I could go on an on, but I will end it with design. The characters, the world, the biomes, the weapons, the animals, everything. It's vibrant, colorful, and alive. You can tell someone put a lot of detail into every aspect and it's awesome

CONS:

- There have been complaints the game is buggy. I personally haven't experienced any game breaking bugs, but I have had enough npc's not showing up to be considered annoying

- the player character voices. I'm sorry, I'm sure that the actors are talented, but none of their voices fit the player character. All of the Na'vi NPCs have unique voices and Na'vi accents. Even the Avatar characters have better Na'vi voices. The Serentu who is known to be closer to the human word, Teylan, has more of a natural voice. I cringe every time I hear my character speak. I will give them credit for having a nonbinary voice and character option tho (the NB voice is also the most tolerable by far)

- the game doesn't really add anything new. It is a very standard RPG, Ubisoft doesn't really explore new techniques and gimmicks all that much. It feels very much like a reskinned AC odyssey. Which isn't inherently a bad thing, I like AC odyssey, but I would like a little more innovation.

- you have to pay for the DLCs, even if you pre ordered. I can tell they released "half" the game and are essentially making you buy a "DLC" to get the other half. It's a single player RPG (mostly) enough with the pay-per-use and "season pass"

So TLDR: if you like Avatar, and Pandora, and exploration, this game is for you. If you want to fly around, taking down helicopters and help restore the planet, you will love this game

If you are looking for the next Elden Ring, or fill-in for Baldur's Gate, you will find it underwhelming, and plain.

Rating so far

8.5/10

[gnegon-g]

Having finally watched Arcane I started thinking what other Piltover & Zaun champions I'd like to see in S2 and which I'd rather have the showmakers NOT include and so I assembled a simple list of yes's and no's just so I can be annoying with my shitty little opinions

who I'd LIKE to see:

Renata Glasc: seems the obvious choice, Silco's demise surely left a void to fill and frankly none of the other chembarons introduced in the series seem fit to be anything more than third-rate characters. Plus, Sevika's effectively lost her job and she'd definitely like Renata's business model

Urgot: my man, my boy. Same as above, really. This is a very good moment to introduce him, especially with the whole theme of Zaun barely becoming its own independent thing now. Unfortunately I have little hope since he's unpopular among players, is difficult to animate and would completely fill the frame in every shot

Twitch: what can I say I love the asshole rat. I'd be happy if he even appeared for just a moment, but there could be like a scene where characters end up in a sewer and realize there's something really fucked up there

Janna: I'm always a sucker for Janna representation, especially after her LoR redesign. But I don't so much need her to appear on screen as just be mentioned as something Zaunites believe in. Maybe a statue somewhere? I feel this isn't a good story to get actual deities involved

Ziggs: Heimerdinger needs a buddy now, come on. Ziggs could show him that making deadly weapons is actually very fun and productive and definitely safe

Camille: honestly I don't care much for Camille but I'm willing to believe Arcane could convince me otherwise. She has potential

and now why I DON'T want to see THESE guys:

Corki: who gives a shit about Corki? It's a badly designed character all around and I feel like that's irredeemable. His two paragraphs of entire lore put him in Piltover but honestly if you're not gonna delete him from Runeterra completely then move him to Bandle City with the Bandle Gunners and have him not interact with humans at all cuz there's no way that could work imo

Dr. Mundo: I love Mundo but there's no way in hell he could fit into this series. They'd probably delete everything that makes him funny and turn him into a generic tragic character and I don't care how well that'd be written or animated, I don't want the chadification of Mundo to continue

Orianna: same as above, I love Orianna but she'd require so much screentime to do her justice. Anything less would be an affront to the character

Seraphine: I wouldn't be surprised if they make like a bar concert scene with her or something but I just don't give a shit

Zeri: fuck Zeri all my homies hate Zeri

Ezreal: we are not ready for the YA Netflix side of Tumblr discovering Ezreal. trust me

Blitzcrank: beep boop boring

Zac: absolutely can't fit into the series' mood, don't even try (and 100% they won't, Riot clearly doesn't care about Zac)

[wishingstarinajar]

Hi, on anonymous because I'm shy, but a while ago, I saw your discord status talking about Genshin Impact, and I was wondering what you thought of it. Sorry if that's intrusive! I really like that game and wanted to know.

Le gasp, someone who knows me!... Maybe, haaai~

Genshin, yes (or Genshion, as I accidentally typo-ed it in my status and people were so kind to point out x'D). So my status said I was giving the game another try after leaving my account to rot for almost two years.

I made an account back then and tried to play but was so overwhelmed by it, I didn't find much enjoyment in it. I tried it long enough to get my adventurer rank to 7 or something, but I struggled hard with wrapping my head around the gameplay style. So I left it to the side.

Cue last week, when I brushed off my account and gave it another go.

Day one was hell: I had NO idea what was going on, I didn't remember anything, and once again I struggled with getting a hang of the playstyle. I was having no fun and decided to give up.

Day two was... okay: I figured I gave up too easily the day before and wanted to give the game another chance. It's a pretty game with nice designs and scenery, I like the soundtrack, and if so many darn people like it, then surely I'm not doing something right. I got some online assistance and slowly started to understand how the heck to play it.

Day three was actually fun: Finally, after trying for hours, I was starting to have fun. I could progress, I didn't keep getting my ass handed back to me, I dared to explore and got a better taste of the story. Beating harder mobs/bosses felt really good.

From here on in, the game has been rather enjoyable, but I have hit the "grind wall" now where I need to grind for level boosts, food materials, and other items to upgrade weapons and artifacts, and to ascend characters and weapons so they can gain higher levels. My "main-ish" team is now all in the level 33 brackets and my Adventurer rank/level is 22, so I've been doing okay, I guess xD

I'm still not that great at switching out party members to create elemental chain reactions or what-have-you for good damage; I'm not used to this kind of playstyle, especially this fast-paced, but I'm trying. I usually just go into fights with Xiangling and wreck things (most of the time). Takes a bit longer than it should but it works.

I think the game is pretty alright. I didn't have a high opinion of it before, but that was mostly because my own experience with it was pretty shit. It has a nice story, pretty graphics and a wonderful soundtrack. I like to explore and glide, I think those are my favorite parts of the game, and I do smile when I'm interacting with other characters.

Things I still don't like very much are:

The English voice acting. Some of the voices are pretty grating to listen to, while others sound very forced (aka not genuine or natural). Hopefully this is just throughout the "beginning" of the game and people ease into it better later on. I am considering downloading the Japanese voice-acting pack though.

Being forced to stick with the gender of the Traveler you picked at the very start and being unable to customize their appearance. I'm not going to make a whole new account just to switch gender for aesthetic reasons. Still sucks that this isn't something that can be changed, at all.

Adventurer level hurdles. I hate you... Just let me progress through the story, don't make me wait and grind.

Ice. The Ice element is my worst enemy and the mountain area can fek right off.

Can I have some more dudes on my team? Thanks.

I will say that the urge to make a Genshin OC is there but I feel like I don't have a good enough grasp on the game, the setting and the story yet to justify it. We'll see.

[ragecndybars]

🍈

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

👀👀👀 Anon... I hope you knew what you were getting into when you asked this.

I already went on a rant about Akihiko, so here is my Minato Arisato, aka Makoto Yuki, aka Sakuya Shiomi if ya nasty, rant <3

He only says as many words/syllables as are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to get his basic point across. In general, he isn't a talker, but he isn't the type to say, for instance, "I'm getting a little tired, so I'm gonna head to bed," he's more of a "Tired. Night." type of guy.

We all know that he has that Resting 😐 Face. He has a really nice smile when it's genuine, but if he tries to force it just for the sake of appearances, it looks insanely strained and just... wrong 😅

He can be a real space case sometimes. Take your eyes off of him for too long and he'll drift into traffic or walk into a pole because he's not watching where he's going, he's either doing complex mental math to allocate time and determine his schedule for the next few weeks or he's rotating a 3D model of a snake in his head, and both activities take up the same amount of brain power (all of it).

Though he's hard to read and can come off as aloof, he's a genuinely great friend who's understanding, a great listener, and very attuned to other peoples' moods. But. And I cannot stress this enough. He is kind of a huge asshole sometimes.

Autistic king.

Big fan of music and also weapons. He owns a lot of CDs, including Lotus Juice's entire discography, and can play a fair number of musical instruments to some degree of proficiency, as well as knowing Fun Facts about many other instruments. He also knows Fun Facts about many types of weapons, not limited to just the types he's able to use.

Speaking of which, I've said this before, but I think his ability to use almost any weapon type isn't just because he has an interest in weapons, or because he just has Overpowered Protag Syndrome, but also because he very closely watches his party members' movements during battle and picks up on their technique. That's also why he can't use guns or knives -- the way Aigis and Koromaru use those weapons is unique to them, as a robot and dog, so he can't observe them to see how to use them himself. I think he does know how to do basic maintenance on Aigis's guns, though, since he's seen her dong that as well.

I've said this before as well, but I don't think he's the type to address people directly very often. He's more likely to tap their shoulder, say "Hey," or just start talking without preamble. This isn't necessarily noticeable -- most people don't think to themselves, "Hm, y'know, he's never actually addressed me by name before," because that's just not something people really pick up on -- but, when he does address someone, either by name or just by "Senpai" or another relevant title, it catches their attention because they subconsciously aren't used to him addressing them, and that's why he is 100% capable of saying "Senpai" romantically.

There are very, very few foods he likes to eat, which is why he gets the same thing at every restaurant in town every time he goes, but that also means that he's very used to eating food he thinks is gross, which is why he can stomach Fuuka's creations better than any other character. To him, her burnt food slathered in all the wrong sauces and spices isn't that much worse than just having a regular entree that isn't one of his very few Approved Meals.

He's pretty laid-back and sometimes even lazy, but he HATES having free time. If he doesn't have anything to do, he isn't going to just casually indulge in a hobby or anything -- he has to have something concrete, like a Social Link to level up, or a particular skill he wants to hone, even if that skill is honed by watching a movie or something. His motto is "If I'm not doing something, then I might as well be asleep," and he sticks to that whenever he possibly can.

The only exception to this rule is video games. There are a few games he can play without needed to justify it to himself as honing his Guts or whatever. He likes farming sims :) A couple other members of SEES play them as well, but he's the only one who's remotely relaxed about it. He's just there to have fun, whereas Mitsuru and Aigis are frantically minmaxing to become billionaires in their first season. (Fuuka at least will play with him normally, though she's more of a rhythm game girl imo)

THIS IS GETTING LONG OH GOD LETS WRAP IT UP

He doesn't grasp social cues very well, but if he feels like he does understand a particular social cue, he'll use it as a crutch of some sort. For instance, to use a specific example from a published fic, when Akihiko gives him a thumbs up in Always Wanna Play, Minato thinks to himself, "Ah, yes, a thumbs up. I know what that means, and now I know that thumbs ups are an effective way to communicate with Akihiko," which is why he then gives Akihiko three more thumbs ups throughout the fic (even in very dire circumstances where it doesn't realy fit, lmao)